More Dead Men Stomping

[Grognardsw]

"Leroy - call off the dogs!" barks Thurston as he opens fire on the dog lunging at him.

The .38 pistol spits lead - BAM BAM BAM!

Thurston leaps to the side in an attempt to dodge the undead dog.

- Pistol [_3d100]=(69+38+51)=158, damage [_1d10]=(7)=7 The 38 hit. I'll use 11 Luck to make the 51 hit. I computed damage wrong in the macro, so I'll roll second shot damage:
- second damage [1d10]=9 So 16 total.
- Dodge [1d100]=69 No.
- The bonus die is offset by the penalty die of multiple shots.
- Rene's bonus die could make a difference in him hitting? Ash you have the option to shoot multiple bullets.

[OGRE MAGE]

The End Is Neigh!

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Thurston fills the dead dog charging him with hot lead, stopping it in its tracks and reminding the magician of the horrible scene he witnessed back on the sidewalk with their friend Calvin earlier.

Charles tries to smack the dog charging him with the shovel but missis badly, allowing the threat to get up close and personal, biting into his shoulder with powerful jaws, ripping away skin and muscle. -5 hit points

Rene fires wildly from a distance and the groundskeeper whiffs with his rake as well, leaving only the empty handed Leroy to pull his pistol. He fires into the dog again and again, killing it once more. Though brains and bloody meat fly in every direction, the musician continues firing until his gun is empty, leaving the investigators with ringing ears to match their disturbed stares. Even still, the trigger continues to click over and over as the blank faced Leroy cant seem to stop clenching his finger.

Looking beyond the carnage that is over as quickly as it stated, Rene spots something strange on a headstone in the distance. It looks like a swirling mass of blackness, narrow at the bottom and bell shaped near the top, almost like the shape of a huge trumpet.

"Them aint my dogs," is all Leroy says after the ordeal is over.

Actions?

[Grognardsw]

“Leroy, where did the trumpet go?” asks Thurston as he reloads the .38. “Rene, did you see where it went?”

“Let’s get you to the car Charles and bandage those wounds, if we can’t find the trumpet.”

[Rex]

Charles

Charles will try and make sure the bleeding has stopped.

"Yeah, that is a good idea."

[Ashuaps]

René Vézina

It's almost like D&D we've had combat Grognardsw: thanks for the info. Looks like I should have reread the rules in details. OM was nice and we're not dead yet so I'll know for next time.

"I am not sure Thurston," says René. "but there's something strange up there."

René walks carefully in the direction of the strange headstone to get a better look.

[Grognardsw]

Thurston follows, reloaded gun in hand.

Observation / Spot Hidden / Occult / whatever roll [1d100]=80

[OGRE MAGE]

What Just Happened?

Leroy just stares blankly at the growing mist in the distance. The groundskeeper brandishes his rake and slowly walks towards the strange black anomaly.

René and Thurston follow along as well, reloading their pistols, while Charles holds pressure on his bleeding wound with a clean handkerchief.

As the group closes in on the swirling black mass, a frightening visage appears to them for a moment.

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The scary figure opens its mouth and blurts out a loud blast of piercing black energy in your direction, like a sustained off key note from a broken musical instrument. The blast crushes your eardrums and fills each of you with utter dread. Everyone can give me a Sanity check, along with a Willpower check (POW).

In a sudden flash of silver lightning from nowhere, the black mass and any sign of the cursed trumpet has vanished. The groundskeeper clearly loses it, falling to the ground and clutching himself in a disturbing fetal position, babbling incoherently. Leroy’s expression doesn’t change. He simply turns around, his empty hands dangling loosely at his sides, and starts walking slowly back towards his murdered lovers gravestone.

Actions? (only if you succeeded with both rolls)

[Rex]

Charles

Sanity (50) [1d100]=41
POW (50) [1d100]=87

[Grognardsw]

Thurston’s mind is overwhelmed at the sudden sight of the swirling black man, knowing this is supernatural. Here is real magick, not the stagecraft Thurston practices. He tries to close himself to the possibilities, erecting a wall of denial.

S & P [_2d100]=(96+79)=175 No San, yes Pow.

[Ashuaps]

Rene

Sanity check vs SAN 54 [1d100]=52 POW check vs POW 60 [1d100]=82

[OGRE MAGE]

The Final Set

Thurston suddenly blacks out from the wicked attack on his sanity, finally realizing the power of real magic versus a staged act after seeing what could have been a real ghost or maybe some other monster. He falls to the grass as René and Charles look on, somewhat dumbfounded themselves, but still able to function normally. After everything they have seen lately, a dark figure suddenly appearing with a flash of lightning that wasn’t really lightning doesn’t shake either of them too deeply.

Now seeming almost numb to the entire affair, they slowly turn from the empty scene in front of them and look around for Leroy, who they eventually find sobbing over Marnie’s grave. The young man has his pistol in one hand and his bottle of cheap hooch in the other as he cries and berates himself for how his life has turned out recently. “First my Marnie an now my career? It’s like the whole world is against me. But I know now I ain’t helping myself at all with this shit!”

When the mind addled investigators approach him, he looks up, throws his half empty bottle to the ground and shoots it with his gun, the noise it makes loud enough to wake the dead. The jazzman sets his pistol down on the gravestone and slowly walks away. The report from the gunshot rouses Thurston from his unconsciousness and the trio see him rise from the ground, look around, start screaming wildly, before he sprints from the cemetery as fast as he can, suddenly terrified of their existence.

With the mysterious magic horn now vanished, the investigators wonder what might have become of them had they not been able to stop Leroy from playing it in here. Maybe it’s best they never know.

Any final actions or dialogue?

[Rex]

Charles

Charles will try and catch Thurston before he hurts himself. "Stop Thurston!"

[Grognardsw]

"NO No no!"

Thurston disappears among the gravestones, as the sun begins to set.

What was the effect of the Pow roll, which Thurston made while the other two didn't?

Thanks for running this Rob! A short and sweet one.

[Ashuaps]

René Vézina

"Leroy!", René shouts, "You have not lost your career. Take a train North, come see me at The Commodore in Montreal. You have talent, you'll be appreciated up there. And you'll get to play with snow too"

On that, René runs to try to catch up with Charles who is trying to catch Thurston.
"It's over, it's gone... whatever it was"

I second the thanks for running this. I really enjoyed it. It had been a long time since I'd played.

[OGRE MAGE]

To A Brighter Future

Thurston eventually calms, but not until he is well outside the cemetery grounds. Even looking at a gravestone now causes his mind to whirl and fade, making him sick to his stomach.

Leaving the groundskeeper rolling in the grass with his small fortune, the others, including Leroy, race after the frightened magician, finally catching up to him a street and a half away. After a conversation with few answers but a positive offer, none of the men are really sure what they should do about the situation now, or if there is actually anything they can do.

Leroy gladly accepts the offer to move north, despite his dislike for cold weather. "After all this, I think I could use a change, if ya know what I mean. Tell you what mister. You throw in a new horn fer me, and you got yerself a deal, sir." He looks at all of the men who helped him kindly. "But how about a normal brass one with only three valves, if ya don't mind."

Swearing off the booze from now on, Leroy is ready to move on as soon as Rene wants to head north.

So that ends this short and sweet scenario. (I did warn you it would be a quick game ) I appreciate everyone who played along and kept me on my toes with great action posts and ideas. I thought it actually went pretty well, considering there is actually nothing in the written works about how to handle the cursed horn once the investigation is over.

If I do decide to run another CoC scenario on here, I will give you guys first opportunity to join, if you want to. Thanks for playing everyone!!!

(The final Pow roll only came into play if it was failed by a PC who also failed their San roll, so luckily for everyone, that didn't happen.)

[Rex]

Thanks Rob! Great game, I really enjoyed it.

[Bluetongue]

The ghost of Calvin Beauregard looks on appreciatively.

[OGRE MAGE]

Glad to see that Calvin was reading along to the end as well.

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Poor guy.

Sorry......too soon?

[Ashuaps]

Thanks for the game Rob.

I am sure Rene would have business reasons to come back to New York or most of New England in the future if the opportunity arises.
I also figured out that one can enable Private Messages to email via the control panel