Wednesday, October 20, 2010

[WOD] Austin By Night- Session 9 as Eile

The fixture in the city of lust
What the hell's your name?
What's your pleasure and what's your pain?
Do you dream too much?
-   Green Day, Homecoming   [Part 1: The death of St. Jimmy]


Somebody get me out of here
Get me the fuck right out of here
- Green Day, Homecoming    [Part 2: East 12th St.]
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Persona vitae of the scenes:
Eile- Changeling (Myself)
Bruce- Hunter (M)
TK- Geist (E)
New Character- Changeling (B.B.) [Ogre seeming, Gargantuan kith]
Raaf -Werewolf (B)
Avere- Changeling (K)

Last session ended with Eile in the paddy wagon along with her boyfriend (TK), her roommate (Bruce) and her potential kidnapper [new player, character name not revealed at this time] due to the serepticious suggestion made by Coyotoe Joe to the police.

Eile quickly deduces the new Changeling was under the mental influence of an Other (Gentry) and realizes he's absolutely fresh out of Arcadia, the place she's been trying to ignore for over a year now. She quietly advises the Ogre not to say anything while the other two men are talking to each other. She now has a way to influence each of them in some way, and she hopes, a way to get out of the mess as well.

They are taken off the paddy wagon and taken aside one by one. Eile is offered the following, after being read her Miranda rights- twice:

Look, we just want to know what happened. Please answer a few questions and if everything checks out, you'll be free to go.

Eile gently declines to speak, instead pointing, nodding and gesturing during the intial processing. She's put into an interview room and waits a while. Shortly after, Raaf walks in. He begins asking her questions, and she continues her silence.

[Completely unknown to me, at least one other player did the EXACT SAME THING.]

Raaf is more than a little frustrated and decides to try to find a way to make Eile look guilty for various crimes- including arson, embezzelment, insurance fraud and murder. Eile is more than a little amused by all this- with the exception of murder, she actually accomplished or contemplated each of those crimes in recent memory. [Most of them in backstory.]

Raaf finally brings out his big guns- he shows some pictures of murder victims, one of which is Eile's neighbor and Eile believes [right or wrong I don't know], a regular customer. Eile is offended by the idea of a source of tips drying up, and is mystified at Raaf's thinking that she'd destroy a steady revenue source. She absolutely fails a willpower check to stay quiet [Hey, I'm playing her, and my name IS Loquacious] and begins discussing the situation. Raaf has offended her, and he is a member of David's family. Eile has absolutely no respect for David whatsoever, and that disrespect bleeds over to Raaf. The interview quickly turns into Eile using every question as a chance to mock Raaf in some way (some much more obvious than others) while still maintaining as much of the truth as possible without explaining much at all.

Raaf doesn't believe anything she's saying, and her taunting only causes him to be even more hostile to her. He takes her to a holding cell, where Bruce and the New Changeling are already being held. She finds out that the Ogre listened to and followed her instructions, and that Bruce is being coached on what to say. The things that Bruce is being encouraged to say could easily fit with Eile being framed, and the Gargantuan has said nothing. Eile tries to come up with a plan, but realizes she has liabilities when she needs serious advantages. She makes an offhand remark that leads Bruce to believe she's strictly using TK and doesn't have any feelings for him, as well as dismisses the severity of the situation. All the while, New Guy is quietly wondering if Bruce has to go and if the cuffs can or should be broken. [Eile says no to both -at least for now.] They wait a while as TK is being questioned.

Eile asks to talk to Raaf again, and tries to imply that everything he's said about her is right. Eile's approach is rough, overtly direct, and very specific in details in regards to some aspects of her potential tale. Raaf doesn't seem to take that bait either, and Eile goes back to the cell.

[Unknown to Eile, while she is talking to Bruce, the new guy and Raaf, TK is off spilling his guts to the police about everything that happened- dragon and all.]

TK is brought into the holding cell area, and New Guy is taken back out.  There's a little more conversation. Eile spends some time fishing for information, and then asks if TK had anything to do with the murders. [Yes, she's got balls of steel.] He of course denies it, but Eile sees Bruce's reaction and knows the effect she was after has been achieved.

A little while later, Raaf comes down and wants to talk to Eile. He pulls her aside and tells her that the New Guy needs her  - for two specific things. He needs her to give him permission to speak, and he needs Eile to give him a name. Eile asks if she cann talk to him, and she goes to the other worm.

Eiele comes to the door and sees Avere in a chair facing the back of the room. The big guy is facing her, and Eile hesitates at the doorway for a long moment as she debates dealing with Avere.[There's a very cool, hard to describe, completely non-verbal moment between Eile and the New Changeling here while Eile debates.]  She finally enters, and before she has a moment to sit or speak to the new Changeling, Avere chimes in, demanding that Eile give him permission to speak.

Eile asks the Ogre if he wants to speak, and he indicates through writing that it's Avere that wants him to be able to talk. Another question and answer reveals that New Guy only wants to talk if Eile wants him to. Avere badgers away at Eile, trying to insist that he be allowed to speak for himself. Eile tells Avere very seriously- "I don't have to do anything". Avere isn't phased, she declares that it's the "right thing to do". Avere then goes on, in her somewhat childish and naive way, talking about the "dream out there" (meaning outside of jail) and how the new guy won't be able to function if he can't talk. Eile snaps- "I don't dream, and I don't want to; if it means I turn out like that" [implying Avere]. Another comment makes it obvious- the new Changeling WON'T speak until Eile releases him from his prohibition, and only if she wants him to. Eile now knows she has control over his entire world, and is shaken to her core, flashing back to moments in Arcadia. Eile debates and considers what to do, and nearly loses clarity again.

[An important note on the sequence of events and what Eile considered.

Eile was told that someone needed her- in a way that offered her power and control. For Eile, this was a huge and scary responsibility. She wasn't sure how to handle it or how to react. She arrives to find Avere, who she doesn't like or trust, "meddling" in her private domain. [Having one is rare enough for Eile- this is probably the first time she is in control of anything since her escape from the Hedge.] She then finds out that the new Changeling is literally hers to control; which is heady and horrifying. She also learns that Avere has obvious and easily manipulated desires, which flash across Eile's mental control panel in bright displays.Eile's greed and hope for something to call her own are in a vicious duel for Eile's heart as she considers. Eile is literally forced to chose between something -anything- to have as her own and refusing to be like the Fae.]

Eile releases the new fellow, and the two talk for a few moments. In this discussion, names and their power are discussed, as well as the fact that Eile's name is not of her choosing. [This is an important clue for a later scene I want to do] New Changeling wants a name- any name; just not the one he had before he was Taken. Eile admits he reminds her of someone, and he allows her to call him by the name of the person in question. Thus, Terrance is born.

The two are sent back to the holding cell for a while, and then later released for good.

This ends the night for the most part.Other things happened outside of my scenes, but I don't really know anything about them.

8 comments:

  1. I've not tried the new Changeling. I'm keep meaning to do so. Not enough time in life.

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  2. Excellent write up! I love the new Changeling system, though I've only run one game of it. Now if I could just find some other people to play with...

    I'll have to go back through your archives, cuz this looks like some cool stuff. Thanks!

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  3. I like the ogre. But did his player just sit there, communicating through notes, the whole session?

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  4. Oh, and the verification word on that last comment was 'nuffed'... Does that mean I should spend less time on-line?

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  5. Yeah, and if you thought all of that was interesting, wait till you hear what happened Monday night.

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  6. Max: Thanks. I hope you enjoy. There are also some MUCH older materials from a character I played in this Chronicle before he died- look for the Jak files. Eile's write ups are all pretty well labeled.

    Kahos: you'll have to email me. I saw your bash & lethal on the board. OUCH!

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  7. As an innocent bystander I found the whole night very interesting. I watched all of the interviews in the police station and at least two other characters gave the police Lieutenant the silent treatment. It was a lot of fun to listen in to his comments.

    And it seemed to me that there was at least one interesting power play going on in that same office.

    Tom

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  8. Harald: He did a lot of miming, gesturing, using facial expressions etc. He also used a whiteboard with very short sentences, rather than paper.

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