DiscoDude: ---BEGIN SESSION---
DiscoDude: Session logging commenced
Ryusui|GM: Righto, so, <@!Casper>!
Ryusui|GM: It's been a couple days since the two of you busted out of that military facility.
Ryusui|GM: Where exactly are you and <@!Zeta> holed up while you plan your next move?
Ryusui|GM: Also, <@!Zeta>, what outfit are you wearing now that you're out of that orange prisoner's jumpsuit?
Casper: He has an old safehouse set up for emergencies - one of several, in fact. Enough canned meals to last through the apocalypse.
Zeta: Okay, regarding vestments, Zeta will definitely go for a heavy winter coat in lieu of not being able to secure a Cowl without looking suspicious in it, combined with a whatever shirt in discount and sport shorts.
Ryusui|GM: The TV is tuned to the news, and your little incident has been a subject of discussion. Talk of "domestic terrorism" at the military base. Interestingly, there's been no mention of the betentacled horror the general transformed into right in front of your eyes, or even any intimation that the general has gone missing or turned up dead. Canned statements about the "insult to American honor" and "finding and rooting out these threats to national security" are issued, purportedly from the general himself, but the man unsurprisingly never makes an appearance.
Ryusui|GM: For a blessing, neither your names nor your faces have made an appearance yet. As far as they know, the "terrorists" involved are complete unknowns, at least as far as four different TV news networks are concerned.
Casper: "Right." Casper rolls out a white-board, picks up a marker from its tray, taps the board with it, and hands it to Zeta. "Show me what needs to be done. I'll be taking notes."
Zeta: "Hmm, News news networks are as incompetent as I remember them..." Zeta mulls over a can of canned beans, she is not eating it, just playing with the unopened can, squatting over a chair. "As for our first objective...An art exhibit...err...Auction? Im not sure, but there is something there...that needs to be gone."
Casper: (It's not a museum.)
Casper: (Did you read the scenario opener?)
Ryusui|GM: (how about i take the floor for the overall details?)
Ryusui|GM: Zeta's account is a bit unsteady and vague in places; if you hadn't seen firsthand evidence she's not completely off her rocker, you might be tempted to dismiss it as just lunatic rambling. But the basic gist of things is this:
As you've been told already - and not 100% sure you believe - Zeta is from about 10 years in the future, where a massive creature called Cthulhu erupts from the deep and lays waste to mankind. Her mission, as you've chosen to accept it, is to attempt to prevent or at least mitigate the events leading directly to this world-ending catastrophe.
First on the agenda is a foot-tall statue, an effigy of Cthulhu himself, carefully shaped over the millennia by various hands from a variety of unspeakable materials. At its heart is understood to be a fragment of Cthulhu, torn free by a sorcerer of eld and sealed within an amulet. Since then, the amulet - and the idol built on top of it - has been a focus of Cthulhu's power on Earth, an effigy through which the eldritch entity has channeled his will, enticing countless fools to help it bring about the doom of humanity in exchange for promises of power.
In ten years, it will be the linchpin of the rite that finally aligns the stars and paves the way for Cthulhu to emerge.
Right now, it's a curiosity up for auction at Plimpton & MacReady's auction house in Edinburgh, Scotland, part of an estate sale from a recently-deceased collector of the strange and occult. After its sale to a wealthy Chinese investor, it mysteriously disappears, making this auction the one and only opportunity you'll have to remove this piece from the board.
Casper: "Alright. Plimpton and MacReady's... and what was the investor's name, for the record?"
Zeta: Zeta ponders for a few moments... "His name...Zeong...Xiong...Char....Chia?" She can't quite grasp Chinese words...
Casper: "'X-I' is pronounced 'sh' in Chinese."
Zeta: "Uhuh... Shiong...Shia, weird, weird names..." She checks the expiration date the can she has been playing with... "Well, either way...this person is too rich, and will get the statue if we don't stop them..."
Casper: "I thought you said it disappears before he can get it?"
Ryusui|GM: (it does; he buys it but the statue vanishes)
Zeta: "...After... I said..."
Casper: "As in, between when he buys it and when he's supposed to pick it up."
Zeta: "Yes, in that moment it is gone...Poof, sham, like the wind."
Casper: "Then where in this equation does the 'person who is too rich' actually get the statue if we don't stop 'them'?"
Zeta: "..." Zeta just looks at Casper. "...The person gets the statue, but the Statue disappears after they buy it..." Oh, she realized now. "...We have multiple angles from where to get the statue, okay?" And she is trying to save face.
Casper: "And I suppose it's part of my job to figure out what those angles are exactly. Understood. How many days do we have before the auction?"
Zeta: "Uhhh...Do you have a calendar...?" she look around to find it herself, or a clock.
Ryusui|GM: "In other news..." The TV news anchors are moving on from yet another discussion about the recent "domestic terror" attack. "In three days, one of the most valuable collections of religious and occult artifacts in history will go on sale at Plimpton & MacReady's in Scotland. Protesters are already lining up, demanding the repatriation of some of the artifacts, many of which are claimed to have been unlawfully taken from their rightful cultures over the past 200 years..."
Ryusui|GM: The news anchors continue to discuss the controversy surrounding the collection and its sale, but both of you glimpse the statue as the camera flashes through a montage of artifacts. Zeta, you'd know it even if you didn't recognize it, from the searing headache and familiar flesh-crawling sensation the moment you see it.
Casper: "Three days to get to Scotland... Joy."
Casper: (Also, strange that this auction is global news...)
Ryusui|GM: (i know, but it was fun to use that as the excuse for why you'd know XD)
Zeta: "Ghhhh....Three days, I think I share the sentiment..." She looks away from the television with a deep breath.
(News are weird like that sometimes.)
Casper: (So I take it this means no prep-time before show-time for us? I was hoping to infiltrate/subvert the auction house and possibly approach Xiong Xia before the big day. (Remember that we have a whole year to work with here.))
Ryusui|GM: (you have prep time, I just wanted to give you a sense of time being tight XD)
Casper: (Of course, unless you plan on squeezing the schedule down into a critical month instead of a critical year, this is the only Event where you can get away with this. XD)
Ryusui|GM: (hmm?)
Zeta: "Should we be on our way to Scotland? It's quite a distance from here to there."
Casper: "It's in Edinburgh, right? We should still have some time to prepare once we're there. The auction itself is the easiest point where we can actually take the statue." He starts writing down bullet-points in his notes, circling "THE STATUE" and noting it as the final goal. "There's an investor hoping to buy it. If we can get him on our side, even if we have to lie about our intentions, he can likely help us." He writes "XIONG XIA." "Or if he proves to be more involved than we first thought," he slashes the pencil through that item, "we eliminate him from the equation, leaving the enemy no time to produce a replacement."
Casper: "More important, however, is infiltrating the auction house itself." He writes "PLIMPTON & MACREADY'S." "If we fail to get Xiong Xia to back us up, that simply seals off the easy way in. At some point, we need to infiltrate and scout out the auction house, and identify whatever threats it may house. The bidding investor is simply the only piece we can reach before that point."
Casper: "So the question is; do we approach him before we enter Plimpton and MacReady's, or after?"
Zeta: "...The statue disappears after...Maybe before then, but if this buyer is not related at all..." Zeta keeps on pondering, rolling the can around the table... "We will need a lot of "Plan B"s I think..."
Casper: "Before, then." He walks up to the white board now, and takes out a marker, writing out XIONG XIA. "If he's involved, we need to take him out. If he's not, we want him on our side, even if our true motives conflict with what he wants."
Casper: (Does that seem like a good plan? Haul ass to Edinburgh and try to approach the investor before the day of the auction?)
Ryusui|GM: (if that's how you wanna roll :3)
Ryusui|GM: (to be clear, what is it you want to do with him?)
Zeta: (Hopefully convert him to our side, except not like cultists do XD)
Casper: (I mean, first I wanna get his measure; what we do with him depends on where he stands.)
Ryusui|GM: (gotcha)
Ryusui|GM: (right, so)
Casper: (So, last lines?)
Ryusui|GM: (do we wanna finish up this sesh for the night, or do we wanna skip ahead to the team trying to get in touch with the investor?)
Casper: (I say we wrap for tonight. My day went downhill in the hours leading up to this, so I didn't go into this with the greatest of moods, and our rhythm is stumbling.)
Zeta: (I agree, I could have done much better)
Ryusui|GM: (it's fine ;))
Ryusui|GM: (in that case, last lines!)
Casper: (You first, <@!Zeta>; Casper just spoke.)
Zeta: "I Agree...I think." She gets up. "...Do you think Plane flights are nice?"
Casper: "It's a plane," says Casper with indifference, as though that answers the question.
Ryusui|GM: (all right, then let us...)
Ryusui|GM: !end
