We took a break from our regularly scheduled Fall episode to have a flashback into Victorian times. Sophie took over as GM and Dan became a player. The frame for the episode was Alex reading an old watcher’s journal while Darius, Megan and Calvin slept.
The setting is London in 1888. Norman played Anastasia, a veteran slayer who has had her powers for five long years. Dan played Mr Butterworth, her watcher. I was Penny, a psychic member of the lower classes and Bryn played my younger brother Charlie. The game opened with us in combat with a demon. The watcher told the slayer not to kill it, they needed information it had. Anastasia beat it up for a while, Charlie tried to jump in and shiv it, Butterworth watched and made helpful remarks and Penny had a cripplingly painful vision and fell down.
…It has just occured to me that I shouldn’t do a full actual play report on this, as Sophie may want to use it for a con game. So I’ll skirt around details. The Victorian Scooby gang were investigating the Jack the Ripper murders and found much more than they bargained for.
I found it quite difficult to play Penny, she had the cowardice drawback and was terrified of the world around her, pretty much she was as different as it is possible to be from Calvin. Which may have been the point. I was trying to play her as realistically as I could, which unfortunately meant that I couldn’t move the plot forward very much.
I had an awesome moment in the final battle though, when I thought of a good use for the telekinesis she had on her character sheet. I did a Supernatural style ‘throw you against the wall and paralyse you there’ move, with Penny in some sort of mystical trance.
We had a lot of fun with the setting, Dan being the quintessential Watcher who Knows Best, Bryn having fun with his loveable street urchin. Norm trying to use her character’s society connections to get to the bottom of things. The atmosphere was very easy to buy into.
Once the Big Bad was vanquished (and the final blow was not by the slayer’s hand I might add), the Fall characters woke up.
Megan keeps sleeping, the trauma of the mystical mirror taking its toll on her. Calvin, Alex and Darius talk for a while about what to do with the enchanted mirror, now removed from the wooden vanity itself. Calvin suggested sticking it behind the fridge, but Darius’s kitchen was all one unit so that was a no go. Eventually they decided on putting it in the basement with a tarpaulin over it. Which doesn’t seem that safe, but whatever.
Alex became suspicious of Megan again, until Calvin pointed out that we knew we had the right Megan because the bad one chased us with fire balls. Mirror world Gina was getting freaked out so Calvin took her home.
The next morning before school Alex went over to Megan’s house. There was a man there fixing the broken door handle. Alex spoke to Megan’s mother before going upstairs to confront Megan about the whole mirror thing. Megan told her the whole story – so far as she knew it. This weird vanity had turned up, she didn’t know where it came from, she had started talking to it, reading from her diary about the girls at school who were mean to her. The mirror started talking back about things she could do…suddenly she’s queen of the school and everything’s perfect.
Megan: It’s ok now, the mirror’s gone, the vanity has mysteriously disappeared, everything’s alright.
Alex: Your evil twin through the mirror manipulated fire and threw balls of it at us.
M: Yeah, but it wasn’t me….
They walk to school while the whole story comes out, Alex trying to get Megan to see the possible down side of the whole mystical twin thing. As they arrive at the gates and Alex moves off Megan reaches out.
M: I’m sorry.
A: What for?
M: If I’ve done everything wrong.
Alex pauses, turns and gives Megan a hug.
The school day passes in a quiet way. Calvin doesn’t show up to school. Instead we see that he is spending time with Gina, driving her to the coast to see that there’s more to the world than just the one town. Taking her to the mall so she can pick up more clothes. They have long conversations where they seem to really hit it off, looks like they have lots in common. Plus mirror world Gina seemed a lot more….relaxed…than real world Gina. Many less acerbic comments.
Mason texts Calvin ostensibly to ask what’s going on. “Dude” is the whole message. Calvin texts back “Yup.”
After school Megan goes home with Darius to do some research and he gets the mirror twin story out of her as well. They do research, I can’t remember if they were looking up anything specific. There was some concern that she was going to vase her in the back of the head but nothing eventuated.
Alex plans to spend time with her family to cheer herself up, but they seem fixated on Mason. Her little brother Jared can’t believe that they broke up. Her mother has got used to Mason coming around. Is it possible that Mason is the only thing she has in common with her family? And what does that mean for the future, given she broke it off with him? Alex retires to her bedroom to blast emo music and stare at the ceiling. After dark she goes out patrolling, she texts Calvin to let him know that she’s going out. The only reply is “Have fun.” In the cemetery she is attacked by flying monkeys. She is somewhat unimpressed, and doesn’t fight them off until one gets a good bite in on her ankle. A tricky fight ensues, they can fly so they’re hard to hit. Our slayer eventually prevails and takes the dazed monkeys to Darius’s house. In the basement they locate Nebby’s dog cage and stick the monkeys in.
Darius and Alex are both curious to check the magic mirror, and are disturbed to see that it shows the mirror world version of Darius’s basement, complete with cages and manacles. Nothing seems to be happening though, so they cover it back up.
The next day at school Calvin still doesn’t show. Megan is getting worried and asks Alex if she’s talked to Mason. “Uh, no. We broke up.” Megan steels herself and talks to Mason herself, asking him if he’s heard from Calvin. Mason’s monosyllabic responses frustrate Megan but it was quite a cute interchange, really.
There was an interlude with Darius’s beret-wearing film club friends and a scene where Calvin took Gina to The Limit and a bunch of people recognised her, but I think that’s all we got done. Another session tomorrow! Will Calvin ever again interact with the other scoobies? Will Megan actually try contacting him herself? Will Darius be killed in his sleep by mirror-world Megan or flying monkeys? Will Alex find anything to talk about with her own family? Tune in soon for the next installment of Fall!
Previously on Fall…..Episode one
Epsiode two
Episode three
Episode 4 “Watch Your Back.’
Episode 5 “Worst Day Ever”.
Episode 6 “Vanity”.
Sophie’s recaps.
Talula 