LogDunslough Cartographic Society-Jason-3

Game log for the 2018/03/25 session of Blades in the Dark: The Dunslough Cartographic Society, as taken by Jason

We discuss our options for getting hold of some informants on campus, and conclude that making a move on Nora Bronze and the Church would be our best bet. Clip works with Jeren to see if there's any history of Church-related criminal activity at the University. There isn't. Dr Oz decides it's time to get occult and discusses the situation at school with a ghost named Ezekiel. The room fills with ghostly blue light as a 6'1" heavyset bald phantasm appears. He's not remarkably friendly. The Dr wants Zeke to go snoop around the hidden areas of the Church, which doesn't exactly thrill the ghost, but he doesn't have lots of choices. Ezekiel disappears in a poof, leaving the room super cold.

Pool goes to take a look at the temple in person. It's not a big temple but it's one of the bigger buildings in the area, and the only one that's all one thing, rather than partitioned into multiple uses. There's a small outdoors remembrance garden, entrances in the front and back, and a small side entrance that leads to the cellar. It would fit about 80 people at full capacity. The priest, Father Stance, lives alone in the adjoining apartment.

When Ezekiel returns, he reports that he found nothing surprising. Father Stance has a large library. A young lady lives with Father Stance in the rectory, but she just sits in the corner, unmoving. The ghost describes her as "strange."

We decide that Dr Oz will openly enter the church, then Pool will sneak in and see what she can see, with Clip following behind, and Dr Oz will show up for the meeting as though he belongs there. Father Stance comes to talk to Dr Oz as college-age kids filter in. Oz engages in discussion of the building and how it sits in the neighborhood, making it clear that he's new to this church. Father Stance takes an interest in the possibility of adding a new member to his flock.

Pool and Clip get up into the gallery without being noticed, but it's hard to move from there without potentially being noticed. All that up's there are structure and the gallery catwalk. The chandelier lighting makes it hard for anyone to see them moving around, but noise will certainly give their position away.

Washout enters openly under the name of "Hal," admits that he's on hiatus as a student, and that the resulting life crisis has him re-examining his faith and looking for inspiration. He meets a fellow student named Mary.

Father Stance talks to Dr Oz about the importance of a man's legacy, put tries to lead him out to the garden as the students fill in. Oz tries to talk him into the rectory. He convinces the Father to usher him into the rectory for a glass of water and a chat someplace quiet, but Stance is beginning to smell a rat. Still, he's willing to actually offer gin in the vestibule of the rectory, off of the church. He calls for "Eleanor" and a young woman walks in, addresses him as Father, and accepts the task of fetching the Iruvian gin. They sit and talk about abstract semi-religious ideas.

Pool tries to survey the place, with Clip providing advice on which vantage points she can use. A young woman mounts the steps near the pulpit and begins addressing the meeting of the Booster's club. She introduces herself as Nora Bronze and makes a nice little speech, but then Pool accidentally bumps a chandelier mount, and it draws attention up to the gallery. Luckily Clip had also given her some suggesntions about where to hide, and she quickly jumps to a new rafter that will put her where people aren't looking. Nora makes a bad joke about old buildings and how the rats have come to the meeting as well.

Washout asks Nora some questions about the Boosters, to get her mind back on the meeting and off the gallery. She offers community service in lieu of dues, talking about sweat equity. Once the ice has been broken, several other students express an interest in avoiding the need to pay any dues.

Clip studies Nora and concludes that she's a true believer. The popularity of the meetings might be entirely driven by her personality and charm. She seems confident and smooth.

Washout studies Mary to see what she's all about, with an eye to possibly seducing her. Nora finishes her pitch and lets the meeting descend into individual conversations. It's Mary's fifth meeting, and the first one was just four people, but now it's five times the side. The Church helps her to stay on track and focused on what's important. Washout tries to make a really aggressive move to seduce her, and totally misjudges Mary's personal morals. She goes from smiling to slapping in a heartbeat. Bradley comes over the tells Washout that he needs to leave now.

Father Stance hears the ruckus and goes to make sure everything's OK, leaving him along in the chapel. Dr Oz observes his behavior and concludes that he's basically what he seems to be, but he does seem a lot more relaxed now that he's gotten Oz out of the rectory. It seems like he doesn't want the good Dr to be right here, right now, although he'd happily talk to him under other circumstances. When he returns, Oz excuses himself and goes to spend some time in the garden.

Eventually the meeting peters out. Nora thanks everyone for coming and reminds them of upcoming events. Only Mary, Bradley, and Nora remain. Mary brings Father Stance over, and then the four of them head over to the rectory. Pool and Clip duck downstairs and listen at the door, but we can't really hear. Pool tries to open the door to get into the rectory, but when she does, Eleanor is sitting right there, and says "Hello." Pool asks if there's a meeting, and Eleanor says they're in the kitchen. Pool says she thinks this is the wrong place and ducks out. Clip hides.

He's behind a tapestry in the nave of the chapel, and when Father Stance steps out to look around, he's not seen. Eleanor says there was a lady dressed in dark clothing. They go back into the vestibule.

Pool, Washout, and Dr Oz all meet in the alley. None of them have anything to work with yet, but Pool thinks that she might still overhear something, lurking outside the rectory window. Washout heads to a spot around front of the church, with a line of sight to the alley. The glass window and incidental noise make it hard for Pool to hear. She finds out that Bradley wants to do more, because he finds like outside the Church overwhelming. Nora knows what he means and tells him to come with them to the sanctorium tomorrow night, where they can show him the way. They drink their tea and make small talk.

Washout waits for them to come out of the church, looking nervous. He waits about half an hour. Nora, Mary, and Bradley all come out together and see him there. Bradley immediately gets a little macho on him, but Washout stands his ground and makes an apology, asking them to let him show his gentlemanly side. He somehoe absolutely nails it, convincing them that he's a nice guy who had one bad moment. When Father Stance comes to see what's going on, Nora stands up for him.

Mary and Nora live in the same dorm, so they allow Washout to walk them back to the dorm. He asks if he can buy them coffee, and especially works on Mary, hoping to keep her interested long enough to outlast the other. It's been a long day for them and they make it clear that he should go away for now and come to the next meeting. He eventually feels compelled to do so.

Clip waits for his moment to leave, everyone else ducks out, and we safely escape.

Washout waits for the group to break up, then tries to follow Bradley. Bradley sees him and confronts him. Washout hits him with trance powder, then leads him into an alley, where Dr Oz catches up with them. Bradley has the hots for Mary. He's under stress because he father wants him to take over the fishing, but he just wants to paint. He tells them all about the plan to take him to the Sanctorum and "show him the way." Washout gives him some suggestions while he's under the influence to try to set up his future entry into this social circle. Washout closes it out by taking Bradley to a pub and buying him a drink.

Washout shows up to the Sanctorium a little early. Pool's already inside in a pew, and Clip's in a different pew. Bradley shows up by himself, looks around, and spots Washout instead of Mary or Nora. Bradley's confused as all get-out. Nora shows up and seems nonplussed to have Washout there, but Washout explains that Bradley invited him when they were at the pub. Of course, Bradley was in a trance, so he doesn't recall well enough to say that he didn't invite his new buddy. This is embarassing for Bradley, because Nora's clearly not super stoked to have Washout here. Still, since Washout is here and his story checks out, she just needs to go talk to the Father. Pool overhears all this.

Pool, under guise of being a believer, surveys the place and finds a way downstairs that isn't covered. It can potentially take her all the way down to the catacombs. She sneakily looks around down there and eventually hears Nora and Father Stance. Nora sounds stressed, and doesn't know what to do about "Hal's" presence. Stance says that Bradley is useful but Hal is flotsam, and he'll figure something out if Nora will delay them. They leave. Pool investigates the room they just left, using her darksight goggles and map to figure out where things are and what's going on. She sees the usual shelves in the catacombs and a baptismal font, all lit by candles.

Back on campus, Dr Oz knocks on the rectory door. Eleanor answers. The good Doctor tries to attune to the spirits and see if she's a Hollow, and immediately senses Ezekiel standing behind her. He's not happy to see Oz at all, and he charges, Dr Oz asks what he's doing, pulls out an ectoplasm bottle, and commands the ghost to stop. Ezekiel stops short and possesses Eleanor. Ezekiel's ranting about how Dr Oz needs to leave continues without pause through the act of possesion. Oz throws electroplasm on her, but Ezekiel-Eleanor jump on him so quickly that the plasm covers them both. Dr Oz tries to fight but he's outmatched by Ezekiel's sheer frenzy, even in Eleanor's body. Oz changes tactics and tries to break free, but he can't. In desperation, Oz pulls a gun and shoots her. That kills her, and Oz has to go running for it. He hears whistles.

Nora comes back upstairs to find Washout chatting with Bradley. Nora begins telling them about the ritual they're about to perform, which will help Bradley become more in tune with himself. She and Mary have both been through it. It's something Father Stance found through his studies, and it's really helped them to clarify their minds. Washout realizes that she's stalling, but lets her stall. Once Stance waves them over, she stops, and they go down to the catacombs, where Pool is still hiding.

Clip tries to spot anyone who seems to be paying too much attention to the stairs that Nora and her friends went down.

Father Stance introduces himself to Washout. When they get to the chamber, he sarts in with a description of the rite he'll be performing, warning Bradley to follow his instructions exactly. They start out with a prayer. As everyone else closes their eyes, Stance pulls a pistol on Washout and tells him, "I don't know who you are, but this can't happen." Nora seems unsurprised. Washout flings a smoke bomb as Stance shoots. He avoids getting shot, but the noise and the lack of visibility disorients him. He tries to get out but trips into the baptismal font. Pool jumps out and KOs Father Stance with an urn.

Clip hears the shot and walks quickly toward the stairs. A priest goes running to call the cops, who are not far away, and Sanctorium guards begin heading for the main stairs into the catacombs. Since Pool found a different stairs, she's able to lead Washout away. Everyone gets clear.

After a couple days, one of the crew approaches Nora and makes a deal that her boosters will be informants for us and in exchange, we will not reveal anything we know to the Bluecoats.