Our gaming group was fortunate enough to come together over a weekend to play in person - only the second time we've been able to pull off this feat. We played two sessions on back-to-back nights, so this is a combined recap.
The team finally returned to New York City on April 17. Caduceus had been kind enough to give them a few days off in Hawaii will transportation was sorted - the massive destruction on North Borneo having caused a humanitarian crisis that the organization was helping the British support.
During the return travel Ralph busied himself studying the viral analyzer instructions. He learned that any of the color results, like those of the drops used to detect yellow death, could be different if testing something other than what the book described as a "baseline human". The same was true for people with lower or higher hemoglobin levels.
Vivienne had a telegram from her grandmother waiting for her when she arrived.
GRANDDAUGHTER I FELT WHAT HAPPENED ON THE MOUNTAIN. MY PROPHECY TO THE BRITISH SOLDIER ALL THOSE YEAR AGO CAME TRUE. I FEEL YOUR PATHS WILL CROSS AGAIN.
VISIT UNCLE AND ASK HIM FOR MY MEDALLION. IT MAY BE OF HELP TO YOU. THERE ARE DARK FORCES AT PLAY. YOU MUST STAY VIGILANT AND BE CAREFUL WHO YOU TRUST.
MY BLESSINGS TO YOU.
GRANDMOTHER
Ralph too had something awaiting him - a postcard featuring a colorized picture of a rattlesnake.
Congratulations on creating such a Big Bang in Borneo! I'm sure Caduceus told you it was for the greater good - just not so great if you were a local farmer, I think. I wonder how many more they are willing to kill in support of the Yig worshippers?
It seems like Caduceus has taken a shine to Maddie and Colt. you should probably keep a close eye on them lest they stray past the point of no return.
S
The "S" signature was drawn in a way that resembled a snake.
The team members spent some time in NYC on various pursuits. Ralph worked up a weird science device - a thermometer that could read the temperature of an object from about a foot away. It wasn't super sensitive - it was calibrated to freezing, room temp, Ralph's normal temp, and boiling. But he felt it was good enough for what he had in mind. He also helped Maddie make two shotgun shells that included the leng spider poison she brought back from North Borneo.
Ralph also popped over to Caduceus headquarters and ran into Conners, asking if they should be expecting bonuses for their North Borneo Work. The quartermaster apologized, waiving his arms in exasperation at his paper-filled office, and indicated he'd been dealing with a lot of shipping work for things entering and leaving Red Hook.
Maddie and Colt spent some time scouring the occult shops in the city, looking for anything that might explain any of what they'd experienced over the last month. Unfortunately they came away empty handed, with the notable exception of one of those waving cat statuettes.
Vivienne went to visit Uncle, who provided her with an eye-shaped medallion that grandmother had asked him to hold onto decades ago. The note that came with it indicated it may have some unique properties that could help Vivienne in a jam. She also spent some time in Uncle's basement dojo working out with some of his men, and she felt the time on the practice mats helped sharpen her already deadly martial arts skills. Perhaps she'd get a chance to leverage them at some point.
Vivienne let the group know her friend Domino (The Honorable Lady Dominique Marinos-Saint Clair) was havng her birthday party at Ilya's Russian Teahouse, or more precisely in its basement speakeasy, and they were all invited to attend. Vivienne was making a custom outfit for Domino, and also agreed to make something appropriate for Maddie to wear.
Earlier in the day the group all went to see the movie "King Kong". It was Maddie's first time ever going to a picture show and Colt insisted they had to go. Everything went fine until the scene when Kong fought and killed the massive serpent creature. During that scene Ralph noticed that Maddie and Colt both tensed up, grabbing the armrests of their chairs tightly, looks of revulsion on their faces. Afterwards Maddie admitted being confused why she found that scene so sad...
They almost got turned away from Domino's party when the guards told them guns were not permitted and Colt and Ralph would need to be searched. However, Ralph knew one of the guards and did some fast-talking, while Vivienne provided some distractions of her own, and they were allowed in. In the basement things were hopping. Before they could even get to the bar, however, Casale approached and had a chat with Ralph. He invited the foursome to dinner the following night with his family's boss, Joe Bananno. Ralph knew this was an offer he couldn't say no to, and agreed to bring his friends.
Domino then joined the conversation, quickly being fascinated by Maddie's monkey Don Juan (sporting a custom waistcoat Vivienne whipped up for him) before raising an eyebrow at Ralph, looking a bit standoffish by well-dressed (Ralph felt a man should always have two very nice suits). Vivienne did introductions and the team learned Domino was minor English royalty on her mother's side, while Daddy was Greek and in the shipping business. She waived over a rather heavyset, middle-aged woman in a green dress who she introduced as Eileen Garrett, an Irish psychic who had been in the papers over the last few years and was known in wealthy circles for her seances. Eileen was helping Domino on her own pet project of studying missing ships. Eileen and Maddie shook hands, and Maddie special gifts allowed her to sense that Eileen's own skills were not necessary innate, but instead... gifted to her by some other presence she couldn't quite pin down... Domino's father Nico Marinos also stopped by and mentioned his firm did a fair amount of shipping for Caduceus.
A woman in all black approached - slacks, man's-style jacket and shirt, and a hat with a sheer veil. She was almost identical in height and shape to Vivienne and introduced herself as Rose Meadham, a friend of Domino's. Facial scarring was visible behind the veil. Rose recognized the names of the characters and indicated she was familiar with their files, as she too was doing special operations work for Caduceus.
An English-accented voice said, "Hello, Vivienne". Turning to look they saw none other than Captain Lancaster there, holding two glasses of champagne, one of which he handed to Rose. Apparently she was a friend of Lancaster's uncle and, hearing of his involvement in North Borneo and his disillusionment with the military, offered him a job working directly for her with Caduceus. The pair just arrived in New York that day.
Ralph invited Rose to join him at a screening of King Kong the following day, and Vivienne arranged to have lunch with Lancaster. Ralph was curious to see if Rose would react to the serpent scene in the movie in the same way that Maddie and Colt did, but she did not seem bothered. Afterwords he tried to see if he could get any useful info out of her, but the only thing he came away with was when he used the phrase "baseline human" she didn't seem phased, and in fact used it in responding. Meanwhile Vivienne learned that Rose and Lancaster were attending some kind of high-roller donor dinner that evening.
But the characters had a dinner of their own to go to in Brooklyn. Ralph did his best to prep them, emphasizing that being respectful was of the utmost importance. He suggested that if anyone felt uncomfortable at any point they should excuse themselves to go to the restroom.
Arriving at the restaurant they were met at the door by Casale. Two mafia soldiers stood smoking outside, and upon entering the small dining room they saw that mafioso were also sitting at the three smaller tables, with another guarding the back door. In the corner was a round table set for eight, with four men in suits already sitting at it. Casale escorted them to the table, then took up a spot next to the man guarding the rear entrance.
Asked about the work they did with Caduceus, Maddie excused herself to go to the restroom and Vivienne followed her. Once inside, Maddie, held her necklace, looked into the mirror, and asked her mother for guidance. This was the first time she'd ever used her powers directly in front of someone before, but she trusted Vivienne, who had been very much like an older sister to her, even helping her find her own apartment in the city. The voice that spoke to Maddie was not her mother's, however, but Tyranissh's, who told her that while the mafia couldn't be entirely trusted, they weren't dangerous in this setting and in fact Maddie and her friends could use the mafia to achieve some of their own ends.
The ladies returned to the table as Bonanno asked Ralph if he'd told them the full story of the work they'd done for Caduceus. While Bonanno spoke calmly, his voice indicated that Ralph was being given one more chance. Ralph admitted he hadn't shared everything as he didn't want Bonanno to think he was crazy, then proceeded to tell the mob boss that they were in fact tasked with returning a living mummy from Bolivia.
Ultimately the mafia told the team that they believed Caduceus was importing illegal drugs and wanted the group's help in investigating. The mobsters indicated they perhaps would be able to provide the group with some useful information in return, and an accord was reached.
Leaving the restaurant, Ralph showed the group his new temperature reader and used it on Maddie. As Ralph expected and feared, her temperature read somewhere close to room temperature - so well below what a normal human should read. Maddie made Ralph promise that if she started turning into a snake that he would shoot her.
The next day the team went to Caduceus HQ for a briefing. In the elevator they noticed that some of the floor buttons had small covers over them. The guard escorting them used a key to open the one for the seventh floor, and up they went. Colt and Maddie felt pressure building in their heads as the elevator rose, reaching a crescendo as they arrived and walked down the hall toward an open door, two guards outside and a bright, multi-colored light emerging. A voice called out in Naacal. "Ah, I see two of my lovelies have arrived."
The guard attempted to escort them into a conference room across the hall, but Maddie pushed forward to look into the other room. She saw Tyranissh strapped to a table, a group of white-coated doctors poking and prodding her with various instruments hooked up to strange looking machines.
Eventually they were ushered into the conference room, where Goncalves sat waiting along with a mountain of a man introduced simply as Canning. A few minutes later Joshua Meadham arrived and the briefing began. After complimenting the team members on their past exploits, Meadham explained that a Yig cult appeared to have popped up in Oklahoma and the team was asked to take a look. Ralph showed off his new temperature reader, demonstrating it on Goncalves who found it fascinating and possibly useful as a way to identify a disguised serpent person.
As they were wrapping up, an explosion happened across the hall. The arm of one of the guards flew into the room, sliding across the conference table and leaving a trail of blood. Canning immediately took Meadham from the room, while the group went into the hall. They saw a rainbow-colored swirling portal on the wall of the examination room and watched as Tyranissh stepped into it, saying that she would see them again.
Goncalves needed to take them to the eighth floor to finish their briefing. After he unlocked to the cover to floor #8 and put his key back in his pocket, Vivienne pretended to faint and fell into him. He caught her, but didn't feel her fingers go into his pocket and steal his elevator key!
On the 8th floor Goncalves played some recordings of Reverend Kornfield's radio broadcasts. It was the typical fire-and-brimstone fare, but referred to God by the name of Yig. There was also a hidden, almost subliminal message in there as well. According to Goncalves, the records came to them through a contact named Jacob who worked at WFUK radio in Springfield, Missouri.
Once Goncalves left, they tested the key and it appeared to give them access to all the elevator floors, but did not work on the stairwell doors. Before leaving the building, they stopped by to see Conners again. Ralph casually mentioned having run into Rose Meadham. This confused Conners as he said she hadn't worked there for perhaps 10 years or so - he even checked the payroll records and didn't see her there. But he did have their bonus money, and each member received $1,000 in cash.
They also tested the temperature reader on Colt and found that he too was reading at room temperature....
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