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Pt. 3- The Innsmouth Trail (or, "Is That Fish I Smell?") During this adventure, the investigators were introduced to Higgins, Wilkes enigmatic butler. At the end, he ends up getting hired on full time by the group, and proves himself a valuable, if mysterious, ally. In addition, the group met “Thug” Douglas, who ended up, for a while anyway, becoming a player character. Wanting to weave the Innsmouth campaign in with the current Day of the Beast campaign, the next scenario was "The Dreamer", wherein Paul LeMond, noted psychic and séance master, was found to be missing by his mother, Irene. Turns out some of the Yithians wanted his brain, and would do everything in their power to get it. Fortunately, our intrepid adventurers stopped the Yithian from snatching his brain. Nothing exciting, but some excellent roleplaying by the group to get into the mental hospital to find LeMond made for a great scenario. Another great bit of roleplaying during this adventure, but had nothing to do with it, was some infighting on the part of the characters. I forget the reason why, but there was some subject that two of the characters, Nicolas and Lucy, started arguing about, and actually came to blows over. This resulted in Nicolas leaving the group. After cooler heads prevailed, the rest of the investigators went to track him down, ultimately finding him in a rundown house, located on a beach not far from Innsmouth. This was pure genius on James’ part; it reflected how his character was slowly changing into a Hybrid. All I had to do was sit back and watch the fireworks. After this, I had another Innsmouth-related adventure take place. This time, the adventurers are asked to investigate the imprisonment of one Brian Billingham, who until his arrest, worked at the (only human-run) grocery store in Innsmouth. Billingham was accused of robbery, a charge which was only half-true; he and his (unknown to him) hybrid girlfriend had attempted to rob the house of old Whately for a peculiar book of rumored power. But, according to the local constable, he'd broken into the very store he worked at...even though he had a key to the place... Having visited the Whately house, the Gilman Hotel, and other fascinating places of interest, and determining that Something Isn't Right Here, the group decides to bust Brian out of jail, which doesn't please the local constable at all. What ensues is a mad car chase out of town, and into the nearby swamps; the group loses their car, and has to hoof it on foot. Fortunately for them, they're picked up by Albert Ryan, agent for the Treasury Dept. (who had met the group before when the investigators visited the Gilman Hotel in their search for Wilkes), who whisks them away in his car. From this, the group was thrust into the Escape from Innsmouth campaign. Each player's main character was assigned to a specific mission, which worked out great, since we had five players, and five primary missions to complete. To make sure everyone wasn't bored, the other players were given secondary characters to play out- Red Shirts, we began to call them- so while Dr. Sothby was the main investigator in the Raid on the Order Of Dagon mission, the other players had grunts to control. A lot of fun was had with this, as the players didn't really have to concern themselves whether they lived or died. I'm not going to try and summarize the entire Innsmouth campaign, as it would take too bloody long, and my memory just isn't that good, but I can offer up some highlights: - Thug Douglas attempting to punch an avatar of Nyarlathotep, only to have his hand eaten away - Dr. Sothby tossing a few grenades into the basement of the Esoteric Order of Dagon's temple, killing more than a few women and children in the process. This would result in recurring hauntings by ghosts every morning at 3:15 am... - Hayashada becoming trapped on a sinking submarine, and subsequently developing a severe phobia to enclosed places - Finally, poor Nicholas reappears, this time having fully transformed into a hybrid Deep One. Rather callously, the group kills him - Masrick consistently blowing Sanity rolls, and finding himself mentally trapped in World War I Amazingly enough, however, none of the main investigators got killed, (well, with the exception of Shmuntz, tho that seemed to be inevitable), and only a few of the Red Shirts bought it. Psychologically, however, things with a few of the characters were never to be the same. |