When Nightmares Come Game #4: "The World is Full of Kings and Queens..."

With the heatwave broken and the sanitation strike lifted, the Irregulars can breathe a quick sigh of relief; the city’s rats no longer seem to be boiling out of every sewer grate and basement apartment. This relief is short-lived; the coven is operating more openly now, and unnatural phenomena have returned to the university district.

 

"So you've seen some of these red bathrobe guys?" Guy asked as he handed over a pack of cigarettes. The old guy nodded, pulling a cigarette out and lighting it. 

"They've been all over the damn place," he said. "Never seen nothin' like it."

"Hey, thanks man, that's a big help," Guy replied. 

***

"Aw hell no, Carpenter! Ain't you supposed to be retired or somethin'? Get outta here!" Captain Loomis said, waving Paul away with a pudgy hand. 

"C'mon, Cap, it's me," Paul said. The captain shook his head.

"If I'm seen talkin' to you, Carpenter, it's my ass in the smoker. Commissioner's orders! You pissed off somebody real high up with this voodoo bullshit!" 

[With one success and one failure in the narrative scene, it's a Draw. Half the Irregulars deploy on one randomly-determined table edge, and the other half on the opposite.] 

Turn 1

With no enemies to be seen, Paul moved into the doughnut shop to look for clues, but didn't have the actions available to search. Meanwhile, Lisa investigated the ramen restaurant, collecting a Clue from one of the booths.

 

Guy moved up and snatched a Clue from the open window of the Mustang and then continued on his way, pausing to examine the menu at the taco truck.

 Carrie entered the liquor store and successfully found a Clue there - with three Points of Interest cleared, the Nexus would be appearing soon. Steve moved towards the center of the board, ready to support his teammates [went on Overwatch against potential Dark Spawn appearances].

 Two cultists spawned from Portal #1, while the Nexus erupted from the ground in Quadrant 3.

 Steve, prepared, hurled a Repellent at them; choking on fumes, the cultists lost their activations for this turn, pinned where they were.

Turn 2

Paul and Guy moved forward and opened fire on the cultists, with Paul killing one of them. 

 Steve moved forward, threw a flashbang at the remaining cultist, leaving the red-robed foe stunned. Steve then moved up and tried to stab the blinded, flailing cultist and missed.

 Meanwhile, Carrie and Lisa move into contact with the Nexus, but don't have enough activation dice remaining to start harvesting Arcana.

 Cultists spawned from Portals 1 and 2. Steve got slashed by one, while the other charged towards Guy but couldn't reach him.

 Turn 3

Paul snapped off a quick shot at the cultist charging Guy, dropping him. He then twisted and aimed carefully.

"Down, Carter!" He barked, squeezing the trigger. 

The cultist attacking Steve took a bullet to the head and dropped like a marionette with its strings cut. 

 Steve dropped to one knee, stabbed the still-blinded cultist, and then sprinted towards the portal. Guy chased after him, pulling a First Aid kit from his bag. He performed some First Aid, restoring a wound to Steve.

 Lisa pulled a Clue and 5 Arcana from the Nexus, while Carrie pulled 8 Arcana and then closed it [her "Arcane Dominion" ability, which lets her auto-close portals and Nexuses by spending an action die, has come very much in handy this campaign!].

Cultists spawned at Portal 1 (again!) and 3, and Guy and Lisa were targeted by attacks, injuring both of them.

 Turn 4

Guy clobbered the new cultist, but was injured in the robed maniac's death throes. He still managed to harvest 4 Arcana from the portal before Steve shut it down. Steve then took off running for the next portal.

 

Paul moved towards Carrie and Lisa, gun drawn, adrenaline surging. He stopped next to the VW van, aimed, and shot the cultist threatening Lisa. Carrie cast "Heal" on Lisa, then moved cautiously towards Portal 3, taking up an Overwatch position.

 Lisa moved carefully towards Portal 4, stopping a healthy distance away.

Two cultists each emerged from Portals 3 and 4.

 One charged and slashed Lisa, while the other rounded the ramen restaurant and closed with Paul, though didn't have enough action dice left to attack.

 Carrie swore and spat. "I don't have time for this," she growled, raising her hand, arcana crackling between her fingers. She cast "Elemental Fury" on the cultists, blasting them off their feet and into the next world. 

Turn 5

Lisa spent two action dice to Slip Beyond the Veil, teleporting 8" away from the cultist threatening her (and thus escaping combat without the cultist getting a free attack on her) and then chugged a Kaiju Energy Drink and tried to taser the cultist but missed.

 Carrie moved up to Portal 3 and extracted 4 Arcana. Steve moved into contact with Portal 2 and extracted 5 Arcana.

 Guy moved across the table, while Paul withdrew from melee with the cultist, getting hit with the cultist's free attack and then tried to shoot, but the cultist succeeded on his Dodge Defend roll to resist.

 A new foe, a Succubus (a Terror-level Dark Spawn) emerged from Portal 3; there was supposed to be a second one, but she rolled a "1" twice, meaning she was trying to come through the closed portal. 

 Spreading her wings, she flapped across the table and sank her claws into Carrie's back. Meanwhile, cultists moved back into contact with Paul and Lisa but failed to injure them.

 Turn 6

Paul pulled out his pistol and shot the cultist attacking him in the belly, killing him and then moved to support Lisa.  

 Steve closed Portal 2 and moved off the table. Lisa tasered the cultist in front of her in the neck, dropping him, and left the table. Guy also left the table.

 Carrie twisted and blasted the Succubus with a bolt of Elemental Fury, waves of arcane energy washing over the demon who simply shrugged it off. 

"You have no power here," the demon purred, licking her lips. "My sisters are on their way, and together we will clear a path for Malphetorix' rise to power."

"Go to Hell where you belong, you bat-winged bimbo," Carrie snarled.

"Hell is coming here, Carrie Ravencroft. Then what will you do?" 

The Succubus slashed again and again with her claws; Carrie managed to block two hits, but one got through, leaving her bleeding.

"What...where are my sisters?" The Succubus hissed, looking around.

Carrie chuckled.

"We blocked enough portals to keep 'em out for now," she grunted, clutching her stomach.  

"This isn't over, mortal," the Succubus hissed and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

***

 Another successful (?) mission! All of the Irregulars survived, we closed two portals and the Nexus and gathered enough clues to advance to game 5. All together they harvested 26 Arcana, a respectable amount that will help a lot going forward. I haven't calculated out the rest of the experience points yet. 

Astonishingly, no enemies spawned on Turn 6; I rolled a 1 and a 2 to determine what portals a total of four Succubi would be spawning from, which were the closed portals. I re-rolled, and the dice came up 1 and 2 again, meaning nothing showed up.  

In order to achieve my goal of playing Game 6 on Halloween, I'm going to play Game 5 tomorrow, so keep an eye out for the next play report then!  

When Nightmares Come Game #3: "Abandon All Hope..."

The sanitation workers’ strike is entering its third week amidst an agonizing heatwave and tempers throughout the city are running higher than the mercury in the thermometer. Disappearances among the city’s poorer working neighborhoods have drawn limited media attention, but the Webster Street Irregulars recognize that there’s something awful hiding among the heaped trash of a boiling city.

 "Obviously, Mr. Carter, I'm not at liberty to discuss the current negotiations between the mayor's office and the sanitation workers' union," the bureaucrat said nasally, looking over the tops of her glasses at Steve.

"Oh, of course, miss," Steve replied. "I mean, I know everyone is dealing with the same garbage issue we are at the apartments I maintain, and the garbage is a breeding ground for rats, which means disease. And I'm sure you've heard that the rats are getting more and more aggressive, right?"

The woman paled slightly. Steve knew he'd hit a nerve.

"Let me just go make a phone call," she said nervously. "I'll be right back."

As soon as she left, Steve lifted the manila folder that he'd spotted on her desk. Inside, a list of missing persons reports.

"Jackpot," Steve whispered, sliding the folder into his coveralls and getting up to leave.

[I only needed one narrative success, which I got, meaning the hunters can deploy one move in from any table edge, effectively gaining an extra free move.]

Each Point of Interest can yield two Clues this game; the rules are unclear so I decided each POI would stay on the table until it had been searched and yielded clues twice.  

An "Alpha Dark Spawn" is also added to what spawns on turns 1 and 2.  

Turn 1

Lisa, desperate for knowledge, bee-lined for the burning dumpster and began to investigate, discovering a pile of chewed bones, marked up by chisel-like teeth.

 "That looks like... a dog's bones..." she whispered to herself, and continued to dig.

Steve entered the Planet XXX adult bookstore, while Paul began searching the Off-Track Betting, each turning up one clue in the process.

 Carrie moved up to support Lisa, while Guy approached one of the portals, gun ready in case anything emerged. (He was on Overwatch.)

 Rats began to pour out of portals 2 and 3, while a filthy woman covered in sores and wrapped in a ragged blanket emerged from portal 4, cackling as she pulled out a rat and sank her own long, crooked teeth into its neck. Guy unloaded his pistol, scattering rats and sending them scurrying back to the sewers. The second rat swarm approached Paul but couldn't attack, and the woman entered the Planet XXX and shambled towards Steve.

 Turn 2

 Lisa frantically tossed trash around, looking for more information in the dumpster. Finally satisfied (with a successful Interact roll after two failures), she moved on to investigate the EZ Pawn.

 Paul managed to stomp enough rats to disperse the swarm, and collected his second clue.

Steve said, "Oh, hell, no" when he saw the Rat Queen, and tossed a homemade flashbang at her. While she reeled from the blast, Steve grabbed his second clue and then walked over to the gibbering, filthy woman.

"I don't have time for this," Steve said, drawing his knife. "Maybe the others would approve, maybe not, but you're gross and scary and I don't want you sneaking up behind me." He plunged the knife downwards into her back.

 On the Dark Spawn's turn, the Nexus appeared in the first quadrant, with two rat swarms spawning at each of portals 3 and 4 [this was a mistake on my part; it should have been one swarm at each] and a giant rat, as big as a Saint Bernard, red-eyed, slavering and covered in oozing postules, emerged from Portal 1. With a screech, it charged Carrie, who lost one of her action dice for the next turn due to Terror.

 Rats swarmed Steve and Paul but failed their attack rolls, while the giant rat failed to hit Carrie as well.

Turn 3

Paul dispersed the rats before they could attack him, and moved out into the street to support Carrie against the giant rat.

Lisa ignored the rats approaching her, and focused all her obsessive attention on collecting the final clues, which she did. 

Carrie managed to inflict a wound on the giant rat, but it was not enough to kill it.

Steve stomped out the rats in contact with him, moved away and tossed a bundle of Repellent at a second rat swarm, driving it back away from him.

 Guy moved into contact with Portal 2, successfully harvested Arcana, but struggled and failed to close the portal.

Rat swarms spawned from portals 1 and 2. The swarm at portal 2 attacked Guy but were stymied by his puffy coat. Lisa got swarmed and bitten by rats, and the giant rat tried to bite Carrie but she blocked the attack.

 Turn 4

Steve dashed through the back door of the Planet XXX, rolled a critical success to harvest 5 Arcana from portal 4, scoring a bonus action die that he then used to close the portal.

 Guy failed multiple rolls to hit the rats, despite melee combat being his specialty and getting to roll two dice and take the better with each attempt. Lisa, meanwhile, attempted to fight back against the rats, but every hit was blocked by the swarming rodents.

Paul swiftly dispatched a swarm of rats that was blocking his path and moved forward to support Carrie, passing his Terror test to get close to the giant rat.

 "I've got this bastard," Carrie snarled. She grabbed the giant rat by the throat, holding it at bay, its four-inch teeth inches from her face. She squeezed and twisted. Neck bones snapped, and the giant rat went limp. "Cover me while I harvest the Nexus!" 

 

Rat swarms boiled out of portals 1 and 3. Carrie, Lisa and Guy all took wounds from rat swarms, though Steve remained unharmed.

 Turn 5

 Steve tried and failed to kill the rat swarm attacking him.

Paul successfully dispersed a swarm then moved into contact with the swarm attacking Carrie (see picture above), and failed to do anything about them. 

Carrie rolled her eyes, stomped a few rats hard enough to send the rest scattering, and turned back to harvest 8 points of Arcana from the Nexus. 

Lisa chugged a Kaiju Energy Drink and then proceeded to fail repeatedly to kill the rats attacking her. 

Guy killed the rats in front of him but continued to fail at closing the portal.

Red-robed cultists spawned at portals 1 and 3, with the first charging Paul and immediately beating him to the ground.

 The rats swarming Lisa also pull her to the ground, biting and clawing.

 Turn 6

 "Christ, do I have to do everything myself?" Carrie raged, pulling her pistol and shooting the cultist in the stomach before turning back to harvest another 4 points of Arcana and then close down the Nexus.

 Guy finally managed to close the portal in front of him, while Steve failed to kill the rats in front of him again. 

Another four cultists spawned from Portal 3, but were not able to reach and attack any of the remaining hunters on the board.

 A rat swarm moved to attack Carrie and failed, and the rats in contact with Steve also failed their attack rolls, and with that, this episode draws to a close.

***

Lisa tossed and turned in bed, her limbs bandaged tightly. She'd been bitten so many times, and lost a lot of blood. She vaguely remembered a transfusion, multiple courses of antibiotics. She was sweating, feverish, in and out of consciousness.

Lisa... Liiiiiisa... a voice purred in her head. 

"Wha... Who's there?" She groaned.

You don't know me yet, Lisa. But I know you. And we're going to be grand friends. You'll see.

"Who are you?" 

Another voice broke in, one Lisa recognized. One that made the pit of her stomach drop out.

"It's okay, Lis. He's cool. We're cool."

"Muh... Melissa? But you... I saw... You're dead..."

Yes she is, Lisa. Your friend Melissa is dead, and we both know it's because of you, don't we? Melissa got torn apart at that rave. You could have been there and gotten her out safely. You know you could have. Except you were doing lines in the bathroom, weren't you, Lisa?

"God damn you... Who do you think you are?" Lisa thrashed in bed, bandages darkening as she reopened the day's injuries.

I'm the one who's giving you an opportunity to make things right, Lisa. A chance to redeem yourself after what happened to Melissa. All you have to do is say 'yes' to me...

*** 

Another game where the Webster Street Irregulars achieved a measure of victory - enough clues collected to move on to the next game, two portals and a nexus closed, plenty of dead Dark Spawn including two Alphas - at a heavy cost. 

Both Paul and Lisa developed some new emotional traumas after surviving this ordeal. Paul is now Bloodthirsty, which means he has to spend his actions approaching and attacking Dark Spawn, while Lisa is Cursed; their ultimate enemy, the Prince of Hell known as the Knight of the Black Blade, has a connection to her now, whispering seductively in her dreams and slowly corrupting her. If an antidote is not created and administered before Game 6, she may become a Dark Spawn herself under his control during the final battle. However, this connection goes both ways; she can now get flashes of insight that give her and her companions a temporary bonus to fighting Dark Spawn. 

This marks the halfway point of this campaign, and the last game that the rat swarms are going to be showing up in; narratively, the destruction of the Rat Queen and the Giant Rat break the Knight of the Black Blade's power over the sewer rats of the city. Starting next game, the cultists are going to be the lowest level enemies, with minor demons showing up in turns 5 and 6. I'm not sure the Irregulars are up to the challenge, but we'll find out!

All total, they harvested 21 points of Arcana and gained 14 points' worth of advances to be doled out before the next game.  

Looking at the calendar, I'm anticipating Game 4 on either the 24th or 25th, Game 5 on the 29th, and Game 6 on the 31st. I think I can pull off my goal of getting the entire campaign in before trick or treaters arrive on Halloween.