1890s campaign!

Gawd, what fun we had gaming last night! *laugh*

Our friends Pat and Melissa decided to join the game, so we actually have SIX players! Wow! SIX! *falls right over* The game is set in 1890s New Orleans, and we’ve come up with a fairly astonishing array of characters, ranging from my quadroon street rat to Jack’s linguistic scholar, whom he is playing so well it’s screamingly funny. The character is a terrible bore and keeps cornering people and going on about how electricity is the way to go, and the exciting development of ‘air screws’ (propellers). Pat’s playing an entrepreneur (because ‘whore’ wasn’t available as a character occupation) who has made a Great Deal Of Money Indeed off Christopher-the-war-hero’s wealthy family, and both of them, upon being cornered by Jack’s character, glaze right over and start looking around at the beautiful women surrounding them. Shaun’s playing a half-Japanese adventurer from San Francisco, and Melissa’s playing an octoroon investigative babe who can almost pass. But she’s got 17s in 4 of her stats, so it doesn’t matter if she can’t quite pass; everybody kind of falls down in worship anyway.

More behind the cut tag, ’cause I could (and probably will) go on for ages about this game. :) But boy, we’re having fun. :)

miles to Lothlorien: 343

Ok, so the cast of characters:

Jean Bougouise, played by Christopher. A captain in the U.S. Army, he fought in the Indian wars and is now home from battle. Comes from old New Orleans money. Age: 24. Character class: Tough.

Charles Schwab, played by Pat. An entreprenuer, in the kindest terms. A con man and a gambler in more honest terms–but a very good one. Has clawed his way into Society through charm and improving the Bougouise family fortune. Age: 29. Character class: Charismatic.

Jack’s character; can’t remember his name, played by Jack. A linguist, a scholar, and a medical doctor. Employed by the Bougouise family. Age: 36. Character class: Smart.

Mia, played by Melissa. An octoroon (less than 1/4th black or Indian blood) assassin, not that we actually know that last bit. Works in security through sheer force of will. Employed by the Bougouise family. Age: 23. Character class: Strong.

Ki, played by Shaun. A giant of an Oriental, half Japanese & half Mysterious Other; he does not know his mother. An adventurer from San Francisco, he’s currently employed by the Bougouise family. Age: 19. Character class: Dedicated.

Tersa, played by Catie. A quadroon (1/4 black or Indian) swamp rat thief with ambitions of being a voodooine. Her Catholic mother got her a nice safe job working for the Bougouise family. Age: 15. Character class: Fast.

And, The Prologue:

Captain Jean Bougouise is recently home from the wars. His younger sister, Jaqueline, has just turned sixteen, and so in an all-out bash, their parents throw a debutante ball and welcome home party. The upper crust of New Orleans is invited; professional leech and businessman Charles Schwab, who has made a great deal of money for the Bougouise family, attends, as does Jaqueline’s tutor, Jack.

Also in attendance are the head of security, Mia, and many many more or less invisible servants, including a sullen Tersa and the gigantic Chinaman, Ki.

After dinner, during dancing, Mia notices an upper-crust fellow named Robert sneaking around the dance hall with a piece of chalk, writing arcane symbols on the walls. He heads for the doors; she follows him. Ki also notices one of the symbols and tries to clear it away. Instead, faintly glowing chalk ends up smeared all over his arm. He notices Mia approaching Robert over at the terrace doors and decides to flank him, heading for a servant’s hall that leads out to the gardens. Tersa follows him.

(“Do I know she’s there?” Shaun asks, and does a spot check. Rolls a 2. “You wouldn’t know if I was groping your ass,” I sayz. Sniky sniky t’ief.)

All Jean, Charles and Jack notice while this is going on are BOOBIES! Which becomes the catch phrase for the evening and probably the rest of the game. :) Actually, Jack doesn’t notice BOOBIES; he’s too busy lecturing a glazed-over Charles on air screws.

Out in the garden, three shambling creatures appear, terrorizing both Tersa and Ki, who couldn’t make will checks to save their pathetic lives. Ki starts backing up, but doesn’t get too far because Tersa’s behind him with an already-drawn knife.

(“Of course I have my knife out. THere’s this GIANT FREAKING CHINK RUNNING AROUND THE HOUSE. How the hell do *I* know what he’s doing?” Shaun: “I’m Japanese!” Game as a whole disrupts while we argue (gleefully) over semantics of 1890s insults; it is quite rapidly determined that anybody with Oriental blood is a chink by 1890s standards. It becomes clear this is going to be a game full of insults being flung at one another. (Duh. 3 rich whites and 3 poor coloreds. Ya think?))

Mia gets Robert, who has Freaky Black Glowing Eyes, into an armbar. Tersa, who knows a goddamned zombie when she sees one, leaps on the closest zombie and knifes it once. She spends the next five rounds screaming like a banshee and flailing wildly with her knife, rolling nothing above a 6. Ki turns and runs, with Tersa’s accusing, “COWARD!” flung after him.

The zombies crash through the terrace doors. Even Jean is distracted from the BOOBIES! by this, and comes over to see what’s going on. Robert’s Freaky Black Glowing Eyes reduce him to being frozen in place. Jack and Charles, not being fighter types, very sensible edge away from the problem, though neither of them leaves the room with the other three hundred guests. (Charles figures he can’t afford to let the Bougouise heir get killed, so he better stick around just in case he’s *really* needed, and Jack just doesn’t believe this is really happening. It’s unscientific!) Mia bashes Robert’s head into the wall until he falls unconscious (which takes three rounds) while a zombie attacks Jean, shaking him out of his stupor. He stabs a zombie; the zombie cold cocks him (AUGH! He PULLED HIS COCK OFF AND HIT HIM WITH IT? (You can see that this is not a game of great class…)).

Ki reappears on the scene with swords; Charles is Extremely Dubious about the Giant Chinaman with swords, but fortunately Ki goes after the zombies, thus proving himself to be on the right side. He rolls a 19 on his first hit, then in typical first-level fashion, follows it up with a 3. (Oh my god! I hit something! *panic*!)

Tersa is screaming, “Fire! Fire!” as she fails to knife the zombie whose back she’s on. Mia takes this as “Shoot them,” and does so with a FORTY CALIBER double-derringer pulled from her bodice. She pings one; Tersa screams, “Flame, FLAME, *BURN THEM*, you stupid fucking whore!” (and you should have seen the look on Melissa’s face. It nearly made me cry with the laughter.)

Mia, in a response which was immediately characterized as, “Oh no you did *not*!” complete with the head waggle, turns around and shoots a different zombie instead of the one Tersa’s on. (“’cause hey, she called me a whore!”) That zombie goes down. Jean meantime gets hit again, having gotten in one good stab, and hits the deck himself.

Jack decides at this point perhaps he’d better do something, as does Charles; the former picks up a candleabra and caves a zombie’s chest in, reducing himself to frozen-rabbit state for the rest of the fight. Charles uses his sword cane to get in a few glancing blow, Ki makes another good hit, and Tersa finally rolls two crits and gets to double her damage, and kills the third zombie by driving her knife into its skull. She immediately leaps off it and races for Jack, demanding the candelabra, as she thinks these things need to be burned.

Startlingly enough, it’s Charles who agrees with her, although she has to get a different firestarting source, because she ends up in an argument with Jack about whether those really *are* zombies (“You can’t desecrate those bodies by burning them!” “Dey ZOMBIES! Dey ALREADY desecrated! An’ dey come back to life if we don’ burn ’em!” Jack, however, clutches his candelabra and Tersa, being only 4’9″, can’t get it away from him.). While she’s looking for something to burn ’em with, Ki pokes at the bodies and discovers a strip of symbols tattooed onto one of them. Mia notices him cutting away the strip of skin; nobody else does.

When it becomes clear Tersa intends to burn the bodies and the Bougouise household with them, if necessary, Charles and Mia help her get the bodies out to the terrace while Dr. Jack stabilizes Jean, who is still unconscious. The constable arrives; Tersa disappears, Mia and Charles, between them and their 17 charismas, convince the constable that everything’s under control. (“What’s dat Chinaman got on his back?” “…gardening shears. He’s the gardener.”) The Bougouises’ bring Jean back to his town home; Tersa follows them, and the evening is concluded.