DrummerDave

The End… Or Is It? – Session 5

We all convene for the final session, and we get everyone together to ensure a great finale, backtracking a bit for some PCs:
- Sara the reporter (Scott)
- Branson the Dog-handler (Charlie)
- Leslie the Dilettante (Jeff)
- Buster the PI (Karl)
- Nicolas the Antiquarian (Josh)

We open with a panicked Nicolas running through the woods after escaping the gun battle. He comes across a gravel road, where we finds a car running and a man who looks like Henry calls him over. Once Nicolas gets in the car, though, the driver becomes J Edgar Hoover (or that’s who he thinks he is – the picture that’s been floating around also seems to be Future Leslie), who begins to question Nicolas on who he is and what he can accomplish.

As the car ride to Brooklyn goes on, the driver changes again and again, from Hoover to Leslie to the Deputy (Josh’s previous PC), shifting and morphing. As they arrive in a riot-torn Brooklyn, the final question posed to Nicolas is ‘What mask do you wish to wear?’

At the same time, Branson watches Nicolas leave the scene without him, and, clutching Clara’s dead body, decides to follow Nicolas to Brooklyn, having lost a source of Stability and not knowing what else to do. Soon, everyone is converging on Buster and his Black Marble, standing atop a large building in Brooklyn, as the glowing star of Azathoth gets closer and closer.

From here, things move quickly.

Buster’s Black Marble is nearly full of its charge, and all around people are drawn to its power. Sara and Leslie arrive first, and clearly things are building to a head. Nicolas and Branson show up as well, adding to the confusion. Talking Buster down does no good, and things quickly go downhill.

First, Branson tries to shoot Leslie, who Branson believes is the cause of this all (but is really his own son). However, Leslie casts his ‘use Azathoth to travel along light’ spell, which he finds only brings him to Azathoth, who is so close that it just absorbs Leslie into the light. Scratch one PC.

Then Buster realizes he has enough power to cast his spell that will reverse the summoning of Azathoth. However, the spell just opens a gate that seems to reach back in time, showing Buster, Branson and Leslie hanging around the Hoffman estate, ‘back when things were normal.’

Just as Buster finishes casting the spell, Sara shoots Buster, thinking his casting the spell is bringing the end times about. The shot hits Buster, who, as a last act, decides to pitch himself forward into the gate, which closes around him…

…

And he finds himself standing outside the Hoffman estate in Arkham, smoking a cigarette, while Branson plays with the dogs on the front lawn, when Leslie drives up in the car, gets out with a bundle of papers, and says ‘You won’t believe the meeting I just had with Henry Armitage.’

End game.

…

And that was it. We spent nearly an hour debriefing the game, and I’ve captured a lot of those thoughts to post in the Keepers section of the forums. But Jeff did not strangle me, and everyone thought I did a great job of wrapping up the game both cinematically and thematically, which was very good to hear. Seems taking the month off to figure out how to make my third act sing paid off.

One final thought – Laws mentions a couple times in The Armitage Files about building toward a climax that matches up with the pipe lain during the game. While I didn’t do a great job of laying that pipe, apparently I did a good enough job with the time travel and Azathoth (who’s my favorite GOO) themes to bring things to a satisfying end. I made a lot of things up as I went, but with a great group of players and some focus, this was a really good campaign.

And I would run it again, which is the best indication of a game’s quality, don’t you think?