Session 18 Notes
Recorded September 7, 2024
General Summary
- Floyd yells out that the mardi gras hat is just outside of the room. We all start to react and move toward the Strange Pianist.
- He takes off running and Cillian and John take off after him. The Doc follows and Boris sticks with the doc.
- We all try and give chase with varying degrees of success.
- In a flash of lightning Boris and John see that the guy is moving strangely and seems to use his arms in a way that makes him look like his is loping.
- John is all nimbly pimbly and actually manages to gain ground on the guy. He sees the figure of the man lope around the corner into an alley.
- John calls out which way to go and continues to chase.
- As John tries to make a quick corner to try and follow but wipes out.
- Boris is able to leap over John and finds that the alley is a dead end and the guy is standing there at the end.
- Boris calls out to him to try and get him to stop and the guy just looks over his shoulder, lifts something over his head, and then drops into a hole in the ground. As he disappears there is a metallic thump.
- Boris investigates and finds a metal grate of a storm drain.
- Looking down into the drain we see that there is a flow of water directly below the drain.
- We decide to not follow the guy down into the sewer. We know that the last act of the show was supposed to be at the Faucher crypt so we resolve to go there to try and find Elias. We know that Irina has the keys to the crypt so we decide to go see if she is still at the restaurant. To get there we have to pass by Irina Martin's bookstore, Le Petit Arcane, and we find that she is trying to get into the store.
- Mike rolled a Crit luck roll.
- Boris calls out to her and she allows him into the book shop.
- The rest of us wait outside while he tries to charm her into giving us the key.
- He doesn't do well so Cillian goes back and appeals to her to try and get the key to go so they can try to go check for Mr. Jackson.
- She comes out and says she is going to take us to the crypt.
- He doesn't do well so Cillian goes back and appeals to her to try and get the key to go so they can try to go check for Mr. Jackson.
- We head back up Conti street and we head away from the river to Saint Louis Cemetery #1.
- Irina knows exactly where to go to get to the crypt we are trying to get to. We quickly realize that there was no way we could have found this on our own as quickly. The cemetery is a maze of closely spaced mausoleums that project an uneasy feeling and a sense of claustrophobia.
- There are gates that closed. We are standing there talking about what to do next.
- We say that the group definitely came through and as we do so Jackson Elias steps out of the shadows.
- He says that he has been keeping watch because someone locked the gate and he was waiting for them to come back because there are innocent people inside. Jackson believes there were at least a dozen people that came inside.
- Cillian is able to see that he seems genuine, though a little stoned from the same sort of effects that were at the Absinthe House.
- There are folks that succumbed to Tristan Torne's odd theatre.
- He says that he has been keeping watch because someone locked the gate and he was waiting for them to come back because there are innocent people inside. Jackson believes there were at least a dozen people that came inside.
- Irina unlocks the gate for us but she seems unsettled by everything that has been said.
- Cillian leads the way inside.
- There are multiple levels of niches for burials inside the crypt there are pedestals that holds urns.
- There is a thick yellow smoke that roils over the floor obscuring the floor.
- There is no obvious source of the smoke.
- Floyd finds a coil of rope at the back of the mausoleum. It is attached to an iron spike that has been driven into the ground. He is right next to a specifc crypt that has been broken open and inside the crypt there is a hole that leads down below the crypt. The smoke is coming from the hole and there is flickering firelight at the bottom.
- Evangeline Faucher, beloved daughter and blessed host, 1827-1847.
- There is also the sound of lapping water coming out of the hole.
- Cillian ties the rope around his waist and is going to have the rest lower him down.
- Cillian slips and slides down the tunnel and finds a forty foot square chamber. There are candles burning and the room is filled with water. The candles are floating in the water and there are also coffins floating in the water that have people in them. Each of the people have one of the candles in their clasped hands. There is also a pedestal that has a bat winged cardboard cut out on it. There are other cardboard cut outs that have fallen over. There is something written on the wall on the far end of the chamber but Cillian cannot see what it is.
- He moves forward to check the closest coffin and as he does he feels something slither across his ankles.
- IN the coffin is a man in a white suit. He is sallow, but it looks like he could just be asleep.
- As soon as Cillian touches him to check his pulse the man sits up and screams. Cililan looks to the center of the room and a man is standing up in the middle. He covered in cardboard pieces, there is some cardboard coming from his mouth area that looks like tentacles. As he stands Cillian sees that the guy actually does have tentacles and his eyes are glowing a vibrant yellow.
- This takes us into initiative.
- Floyd leaps to jump on the spike to prevent the rope from sliding into the hole. He is able to stop the spike, but he is down on his side and in a precarious position.
- The tentacle man starts talking to Cillian and tendrils and ropey vines begin to shift and wrap around him, others reach into the water and all the coffins are rapped with tendrils and vines and they are pulled toward the center.
- Cillian starts moving backwards away from the creature, gun out, and gives the signal to pull him the fuck out.
- John and Elias start hauling on the rope to get Cillian out of the hole.
- Boris runs over to help.
- Floyd starts hauling as well.
- Cillian starts getting hauled back by the rope, one of the vines launches at him so Cillian opens fire.
- Cillian hits twice but does only a little bit of damage.
- The rounds just seem to get absorbed into the body, but it does rock back with each shot.
- The tentacle wraps around Cillian's waist and begins to constrict him.
- it also starts pulling him toward the water.
- John and company begin to pull and they are able to pull Cillian away from the tendril.
- On the creatures turn it begins to attack the people in the coffins, but a tendril does lash out at Cillian and wraps around one of his legs. It begins to squeeze and pull him back down toward the water.
- One of its tendrils plunges into a woman's body and she begins to scream and the tendril begins to worm into her body. Its eyes start to glow brighter as this happens.
- Cillian opens up on the creature and the last hit shoots it in the head and there is a spray of red, brain matter comes out, and the creature slides to the ground and rolls into the water.
- We start slowly trying to get people pulled out of the room. While he is getting the people out he sees the writing is a carming in the wall that says "do not wake the lord of worms and dirt. — ML" (maybe Marie Laveau, the vodoo queen of New Orleans.)
- The body near the pedestal is floating in the water now looks like a regular man that looks like he is wearing stage makeup and cardboard.
- After he gets the innocent people out he goes to the body pulls it onto the pedestal and goes through its pockets. There are ledger books that are soaked. One appears to be the music of the swamp song and a journal that is titled, "My body Torne".
- The people slowly wake, the woman that had the tendril plunged into her chest seems more lethargic than the others.
- The design of the pocket watch upon inspection appears to be eastern European.
- The Doc and Cillian decide to stay behind to try and clean the site.
- We believe that there are a few things that we still need to look into in New Orleans.
- We ended the session there.
Session 18:
Swamp Song
Every second I was consumed with a mixture of fear and curiosity. What would the storm call forth—or was there anything left for it to call?~H. P. Lovecraft
Report Date
07 Sep 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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