Roleplaying

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Don't Rest your Head

Session 1 part 2 – watch out for district 13

Status: Active

Click here to return to Session 1 - pt 1 - Trial by Fire

“Can I see your library card, I am a librarian” spoke the man in tweeds. After a series of questions with the one dimensional character they decide to venture outside the grand building, and make it to the hospital, figuring that this is all a response to the smoke and shock in the collapsing building. They also found out that in order to obtain a library card they must go to City Hall in district 13. It was now night, which is especially strange because it was midday when the accident happened. There were many people moving around, a grocery store across the road, people carrying palettes, cars moving around, all perfectly normal, but everyone had a feeling of unease. Then the bell rang, not an ominous steeple bell, but an innocent bicycle bell. People ran, doors were closed, shutters were closed, and in the distance they could see a small figure on a bicycle cycling towards them. Not understanding but taking the hint Jacob and Jonathan retreated inside the library.

The librarian ushered them in before closing the shutters. After a few questions they found a map so that they could find the way to the Hospital or district 13. Their expressions were priceless as the parts of the map moved, the hospital visibly moved from the north of the map to the east into an area marked district 7. The librarian did not seem too surprised by this development, saying that “things move from time to time”. They both asked where they were to which the librarian replied, “you are in district 1 . . . I am a librarian”. They went into the staff break area which didn’t seem to have been used for quite some time, indicated by the dust and the “Vote for Richard Nixon” poster on the wall. They then heard the clatter of something hitting the shutter. That must be the, paper boy.

They then exited the building picking up the paper, The Maddening Herald, there were some interesting stories about a plane crash, and a building collapse. When they explored the article about the building collapse, it said some weird things about the sleeping world, the division between and an explosion resulting from them trying to hold the doorway open between the two worlds. It didn’t make much sense but the more worrying part was a small article that followed.

Mugging increase
Jacob Klein and Jonathan Solomon, new arrivals to the city today were mugged outside the library. This is yet another event highlighting the degeneration in to lawlessness the city. . .

To the best of their memory neither of them could remember being mugged, at least not yet. And then before they knew it they were against a wall with cold metal touching the back of their heads with little hands rifling their pockets. Before their assailants left one of them said "Getawaydafug ya wee gat. Who'd ya fink y'are? Wee Slabber......" and then disappears off, Jonathan turns around to see midgets with ginger beards running off down a drain pipe. Ahh leprechaun muggers, fun. After this encounter the intrepid adventurers decided to vacate the area and head towards the hospital in hopes of reviving themselves from this smoke induced hallucination.

As they continued on they entered an area known as district 4 by the sign on the street corner where the street name should be. Having no idea how to get to the hospital Jacob decided to go into a nearby grocery store on this street to ask for directions, meanwhile Jonathan waited outside.

“Hello, I am a customer assistant. How may I help you?” came from the man behind the till. The doctor Jacob crudely conversed with the man behind the till asking for directions which he found to be just following the street, at least for the moment.

Meanwhile, outside Jonathan waited on the curb for Jacob to return. As he waited he looked towards a sewer grating from which a semi translucent white oil like substance was pooling out of the drain. The people around him did not seem too disturbed by these events though Jonathan suspected at this point that a bomb could go off and these people would not notice and just continue on with their jobs. Then in a fashion befitting the T-1000 from the second terminator movie the wax formed into four humanoid figures and moved towards the store Jacob was inside. With this motion Jonathan chose to make an escape.

Inside the store Jacob heard a yelp from his patient Jonathan outside and saw him run back the way he came. Thinking that this was very unusual actions by him Jacob had a look out of the window to see what Jonathan was running from, and realised that they were heading towards him. So Jacob took this opportunity to run, he darted through the store and out the back entrance into an alleyway with large steel bins which must have been recently emptied as none of them had anything in them at all, and in fact many had dust and cobwebs on them. A little weird but the way things are going it is not the worst thing that Jacob will encounter today. He then exited the alleyway and ran into Jonathan.

Now they both faced a problem the direction they needed to go was back and neither of them wanted to go back to those wax creatures, especially after they congregated towards where Jacob was. To solve this problem they decided to take a parallel street to the one they were on. Half way along this street towards the exit of district they heard the bark of dogs and then saw a number of dogs appear around the corner and start running towards them. From their experiences so far they decided that luck was not really on their side and so ran as fast as they could, but the dogs were fast, too fast, biting at their heals. Jacob lost his nerve and ran as fast as he could, proving the old adage, “I don’t have to outrun the dogs. All I have to do is outrun you”.

Jonathan however was not so successful in escaping, he was pounced on and before he knew it was sewn to the ground by the hounds that had sewing needles for heads and the thread of which went down their spine to form a tail. When they were done and Jonathan could not move the dogs sat patiently for their master. Not wanting to meet their master Jonathan put all his effort into breaking the bonds that bound him and wriggled free from his jacket. The dogs gave chase but minus a jacket and not wanting to contemplate what they would do to him if they caught him a second time he dove through alleys and over obstacles eventually escaping into another alley and up into the fire escape.

Meanwhile Jacob finally ran out of steam and had conveniently arrived at the hospital, Mercy West. He proceeded inside and sat in the waiting area near the entrance to wait for Jonathan.

Jonathan from his ascended position waited and saw the needle nose hounds pass the entrance to the alley. Following them however appeared to be a slender man wearing a rumpled 1940’s cheap grey reporters suit with suspenders and a fedora hat. Which was not the scary part it was what was in between the hat and the suit, not a head but a forward pointing thumb tack. A voice came from the tack, “have you found nothing boy. Where could the good doctor have gone? Ah the Hospital. I think you are right we will head there.”

Not wanting to go back down into the alleyway Jonathan looked up to see how far up the steps went to try and get to the roof. The steps went up and up and up and up, into the darkness of the sky, so far up that he could not see the top. But he ascended and after the gruelling climb of nearly 100 floors reached the rooftop. And to his surprise, every conceivable surface was covered with doors of various shapes and sizes. Opening one at random, he looks into what appears to be a retirement home, there were elderly people below him playing backgammon and checkers. Another yielded a black void, and finally he found a door which went out onto street level and there appeared to be an open market. He decided to go through.

“Welcome to the bizarre bizarre. Remember to come back at 13’o clock for our most interesting items”. Intrigued by this market Jonathan decided to explore and see what they were selling, honestly looking for a gun but not patient enough to actually look for one, a young boy moved out in front of Jonathan asking him if he wanted directions and that they would cost 1 wax coin. Not having any money never mind this weird currency he poked his head into a few of the tents. The first one had an old lady inside in front of her sat a file of broken and worn down toys, others contained “Hope, hope, everyone wants Hope”, “Happiness”, “baby’s first nightmare”, “the feel of a lover’s caress” and many more like that, it was very strange. He then left the Bizarre not looking back and headed towards the hospital, getting directions from a local.

Arriving at the hospital, Jonathan tried to convince Jacob that this was not a good idea and that they should leave as soon as possible. Having not been given any reason and convinced of his condition being caused by smoke inhalation he declined the offer and went to the reception desk to seek medical attention which he ad up to this point postponed until his patient had arrived. Meanwhile Jonathan left the Hospital in fear for his life. Jacob went to the desk to be met by a tall shapely woman in her early 20’s with a very pale complexion, very sensuous features and long black hair worn in the style of the 1940’s capped with a little nurse hat with a little red cross on top. All the nurses looked the same like clones. “How can Mercy West help you today, sir?” explaining what had happened the nurses guided Jacob through to an examination room, which actually looked like a surgery room, if fact it was a surgery room. On the way Jacob mentioned that he was a medical resident at another hospital, hearing this, the nurses giggled and smiled more than before.

“If you please wait here we will go and get the surgeon general to see you, he will be most interested in your story”. One of the nurses disappeared, and a second went into an adjoining room and returned with a covered metal tray. Moving this tray up to the edge of the bed she removed the cover to reveal a bone saw, a number of hypodermic syringes containing a luminous green liquid, a hand drill, a half-dozen lollie pops in various colours, and a few instruments he had only seen in history books. Asking what they were for, the nurses giggled and said “well we have to get the smoke out of you of course”. Feeling extremely nervous at this point Jacob tried to excuse himself several times, the surgeon general arrived, and then another doctor to consult Dr Edward Bonesaw. They seemed insistent that he try one of the lollie pops, and that they would make him feel better. Not believing this Jacob excused himself with a bathroom break, which the other doctors said was fortunate as a urine sample may help. As he was leaving the doctor shouted would he like his wallet which panicked Jacob as he did not want another encounter with the leprechauns. He was escorted to the bathroom by two nightingale nurses. Inside the gents there were cubicles with floor to roof doors but no windows to the outside. Given no option he opened the door to one of the cubicles and went in but before he realised it he was on a rooftop somewhere. Well that escape was easy.

The rooftop was similar to the rooftop that Jonathan had visited earlier but obviously not the same rooftop. In the corner of the rooftop was a cardboard fort with no less than 6 boys wearing Dennis the Menace attire, and were between the ages of 10 and 12. One of them spotted Jacob and ran over, kicked him in the shins and shouted “Give me your lunch money”. He tried to explain that he had no money at the moment and asked how to get back to the ground level. The boys were less than helpful. So he decided to randomly pick out doors, they all had black surfaces covering what was on the other side, like a film of oil was being used to keep what was on the other side of the doorway hidden until a traveller went through. While looking at one of the doors he heard sniggering and the words get him followed by the patter of small feet running up behind him. Feeling an immense need to get away from there he turned around and the boy froze in mid kick, in fact nothing was moving he could see the other boys shouting and jeering but frozen in their actions, he moved around to see that the flying boy was still moving just very, very slowly. Not wanting to jinx his good fortune having seen this event twice already today, he made his way to the fire escape down the side of the building. As he is climbing down he visibly sees time speed up to normal speed and the boy who was going to kick him into the open doorway get a flash of panic and confusion on his face before falling into the doorway himself.

As Jacob climbs down the fire escape he notices that there are doors seemingly randomly placed along the walls, some with nothing underneath then other than air and a long drop. From one of these doors a small child is propelled across the chasm and he collides with the fire escape that Jacob is trying to climb down. He now had one child below him and the group above and the one below was climbing. The child barged past Jacob pushing him to the rail but was of no further inconvenience. Jacob reached street level and with no reason to think otherwise headed towards district 13 to get his library card.

Continuing on from earlier Jonathan left the hospital and took shelter, not knowing what to make of this place or what is going on, he needed information and shelter. He searched for a hotel, he went into a convenience store to ask for directions and the store clerk directed him upstairs into a lush hotel with thick soft carpet, it was warm, well decorated and there were bellboys to take his bags if he had any. A little more than he was expecting would be fair to say especially in contrast to the conditions downstairs. He approached the desk and a middle aged man wearing a waistcoat with tails and a small badge that said Miles, Hotel manager. “Hello I am the hotel manager”. After a brief discussion Jonathan found out that he needed Wax coins to get a room in this place and that nobody sleeps in this hotel and that if he should want more information or wish to trade something for money he should visit Daniel at the bizarre, which was currently in district 14 and should be opening for full business soon as he pointed to a 13 hour clock the hand passing the 13th hour.

As he arrived at the bizarre he was greeted by a very strange creature who was dancing about, doing cartwheels, and rolling its head and eyes. The creature was naked and sexless, but had the physique of a male teenager; it had large syringes poking out of it at various points around its body pumping a green liquid in and out of the creature. When the syringes went in it smiled with joy. Wanting nothing more than to share the love it offered Jonathan the chance to fly away from this scary world, all it would take would be one kiss. Jonathan declined and went in.

Searching he eventually found Daniel in a small tent which looked a lot more spacious from the inside than from the outside. He found out that during the 13th hour travel between the awakened city and the sleeping city was closed off. That he had been in the newspapers again “Jonathan Solomon involved in accident” but didn’t pay it much heed. That entering district 13 during the 13th hour was very dangerous because the chief of police patrols that area and if he has a gripe with you or you are unfortunate enough to commit a crime and be found out. Officer Tock is a very scary nightmare which is almost infinitely intensified in district 13 on the 13th hour. Fearing for his friend the doctor he knew as Jacob, remembering that he was heading in that direction.

Daniel mentioned that a taxi was probably his best bet for getting to his friend, but Jonathan pointed out that he did not have any money. Daniel then asked him what his most recent happiest memory was. Thinking for a second about how he felt when he came out of seeing 28 weeks later on opening night, that feeling of elation he described it to Daniel who said, that will do you for 10 wax pieces, Jonathan agreed. Pinching the right hand side of his head near his temple Daniel pulled a piece of string about 10cm long from his temple saying perfect. He then coiled the string up in the palm of his hand and concentrated for a second opening his hand and there was now a small happy face pin badge in his hand. I have taken your last happiest moment, when you saw 28 weeks later, Jonathan couldn’t remember seeing it or anything from the 3 hour block that marked when he was going to go and see the film. “Now go save your friend” said Daniel.

He exited the bizarre and hailed a cab which turned towards a wall and accelerated, fearing that this was the accident he had seen in the paper he braced himself but then the cab did something like what the bus in a Harry Potter movie would do squeezed through a sewer grate and on he went.

Jacob entered district 13 and was no further than 30ft in when he heard a noise and to his surprise a London city taxi cab jolted out of a sewer pipe far too small to fit the cab and came to a screeching halt at Jacob’s feet. “That will be 5 wax coins please” proclaimed the driver, Jonathan paid the man and climbed out the taxi. He ran up to Jacob and in a frantic hurry told him that they had to leave now before they were found. Seeing the panic in his eyes Jacob agreed to turn around and exit district 13 when round the corner strolled 4 figures wearing London police officer uniforms dating back to the 60’s and in the middle was a portly police officer with a stopwatch for a face which broke into a gaping maw about half way down. The clockwork creature approached the two. “Ahh new faces, and who might you be?” giving two fake names, Jonathan then broke out and said the stupidest thing that he could have possibly have said “Those dangerous criminals Jonathan Solomon and Jacob Klein were running off that way” to which Officer Tock replied “Dangerous Criminals you say, I will have my men take them in for questioning as soon as I can draft a warrant, we don’t want dangerous criminals running about on our streets do we?”. Shaking their heads and heading in the opposite direction to where Jonathan pointed they swiftly exited the area.

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And that was the first session, went quite well, I thought.

Marin got a swift telling off at this point as Jinty correctly pointed out, Officer Tock had nothing on them at this point and he has now get them both in trouble with the law.

I realised that I made a bit of a mistake earlier in the game when Martin’s character Jonathan was in the bizarre talking to Daniel, I told him that he would die if he fell asleep. Which though it is true, I realised afterward that it was a mistake, if the characters are designed so badly that they do not have a reason to stay awake then I should let them sleep and get them to draw up a new character. I blame this on the first time running this system. Other than that I really enjoyed the first game and I believe that the players did as well. On to next week.