‘The New Age’ Playtest Transcript 4

PREVIOUSLY: PART 3

Call of Cthulhu Online Game
Sponsored by Pagan Publishing
Transcript of fourth session — April 17th, 1993

Players:
Mr Shiny — Agent Kyle Fenemore, F.B.I.
The Gamer — Clarence Starbird, F.B.I. trainee
Don Rice — Gary Nedler, new age bookstore owner and long-time govt. consultant

Transcript
4/17/93
11:55:13 AM
Opening “DG Game 4” for recording.

Pagan Pub: Agent Starbird was at the door.

Pagan Pub: Agent Fenemore, hair gone white, was lying on the floor nearby.

Pagan Pub: Mr. Nedler was mumbling someplace close by as well.

Agent Starbird: :: opens the door ::

Pagan Pub: There’s a guy standing there wearing a bellhop’s outfit.

Pagan Pub: He looks a bit panicked.

Pagan Pub: “Sir, I have first aid training…the ambulance is on it’s way, I heard the sirens…”

Agent Starbird: Didn’t someboy holler “We’re the paramedics” on the other side of the door last time?

Pagan Pub: (could have been “here are the paramedics” or something similar…this guy seems rather flustered)

Gary Nedler: “mmmm bbbbb llllll”

Pagan Pub: He’s holding a box with a red cross on it

Pagan Pub: “Is there anything I can do?

Agent Starbird: Ok, fine … “come on in, and monitor that white-haired guy closely.””

Agent Starbird: “Tell me if there’s any change in his condition.”

Pagan Pub: “Uh, right away sir!”

Pagan Pub: Down the hall, elevator doors open and there’s a bunch of shouting.

Agent Starbird: :: go over to Nedler, try and make out his mumblings ::

Pagan Pub: Nedler mumbles away…

Gary Nedler: “mmmm bbbb llllll”

Pagan Pub: You hear noise in the hallway like they’re rolling carts down the hall or something.

Pagan Pub: Bellhop checks Fenemore’s pulse, etc.

Pagan Pub: Paramedics burst into the room with gear, leaving carts in the hall.

Pagan Pub: To make a long story short, they bundle up Fenemore and Nedler, give them the once-over, and then beat feet for the hospital.

Agent Starbird: I flash my FBI credentials and hitch a ride in the ambulance.

Pagan Pub: No problem.

Agent Starbird: When in ambulance, I call Gaston and inform him of our situation and destination.

Pagan Pub: He’s en route to the hospital as well.

Pagan Pub: He’s sending some agents to your hotel room to secure the scene.

Pagan Pub: At the hospital, they check over our two addled heroes.

Pagan Pub: Nedler is revived in short order. Fenemore they put on an IV and run some tests.

Pagan Pub: (Nedler, you’re in bed but you can talk freely.)

Pagan Pub: (Fenemore, you’re still out for now.)

Gary Nedler: “mmmm bbbb llllll did anyone get the number of that crystal?”

Agent Starbird: “Take it easy, Gary. What happened?”

Gary Nedler: “mmmm bbbb llllll” [looks around room]

Agent Starbird: “That’s OK, Gary. Take your time…”

Gary Nedler: “I was meditating, man, real peaceful.”

Gary Nedler: “I just got more and more into the zen state, but then I couldn’t get out man. I had no will power.”

Gary Nedler: “I was like one with all and it was using me.”

Agent Starbird: “Using you for what? How?”

Gary Nedler: “I don’t know man, but I have no energy.”

Gary Nedler: “Does anyone have any wheat grass juice?”

Agent Starbird: “I’ll check, Gary. You just rest.”

Gary Nedler: “mmmm bbbb llllll”

Agent Starbird: :: going to check on Kyle ::

Pagan Pub: Kyle is lying quietly.

Pagan Pub: Docs are monitoring him. Say he’s in a mild coma, and they’ll try to bring him out of it in a bit.

Pagan Pub: But first, some rest and medication.

Agent Starbird: Is Gaston here yet?

Pagan Pub: Gaston arrives during this time.

Agent Starbird: I make my report.

Pagan Pub: Okay. He listens sagely.

Pagan Pub: “Why do you think you three were affected by the crystal, when the lab boys weren’t?”

Pagan Pub: (you’ve discussed the possibility of it being gas or something, and that’s being checked on)

Agent Starbird: “Nedler was doing some sort of meditation thing, concentrating on the crystal….

Agent Starbird: “That might have triggered something, or maybe Nedler and Fenemore are more sensitive to this sort of thing.”

Pagan Pub: “Hmm…”

Gary Nedler: “Standard zen meditation mantra trance, man.”

Agent Starbird: “Gary was burning incense, all sorts of things.”

Pagan Pub: Gaston’s phone rings.

Pagan Pub: He puts it to his ear and talks for a moment.

Pagan Pub: Then he’s yelling into the phone. “A-12 at the hotel, stat! Get the SLPD to cordon off the block!”

Pagan Pub: He starts running. “Come on, Starbird!”

Agent Starbird: :: following at full sprint ::

Gary Nedler: “mmmm bbbb llllll what about me?

Pagan Pub: A nurse gives you jello.

Pagan Pub: (hang out for a bit…won’t take long)

Gary Nedler: “No, man, this is full of preservatives.”

Pagan Pub: [jello??? I thought it was inert or something..;-) ]

Gary Nedler: [I don’t know, it sounded good … ;-)]

Pagan Pub: Starbird, you and Gaston pile into the sedan outside and rocket towards the hotel.

Agent Starbird: [something Starbird should know: what’s an A-12?]

Pagan Pub: [A-12: rapid armed response team]

Pagan Pub: “The team I sent to secure your room ran into resistance. We’ve got casualties…I don’t know what’s going on.” He yaks on the phone some more.

Agent Starbird: Great. Just great.

Agent Starbird: A hectic car ride later…

Pagan Pub: By the time you arrive, there’s police cars swarming around.

Pagan Pub: Gaston has gotten confirmation that there are three agents down, two still up.

Pagan Pub: Sirens coming from a dozen directions it seems.

Pagan Pub: Ambulance followed you from the hospital by a minute or so.

Agent Starbird: Any dogs growling?

Pagan Pub: Nope! 😉

Pagan Pub: As the two of you run into the lobby, you see a group of guys in FBI jackets holding assault rifles and various gear.

Pagan Pub: They’re checking over stuff. Gaston is still talking on the phone.

Agent Starbird: It’s not really my place to take the lead here. I stay by Gaston’s side and look eager.

Pagan Pub: He barks at the agents: “Three down, two up. I’m in contact with Agent Matthews, he says the corridor is clear but doesn’t know about the room.”

Agent Starbird: “Any clue on who or what we’re dealing with?”

Pagan Pub: The team hustles up the stairs. Gaston and you take another stairwell with some other agents, at a slower pace.

Pagan Pub: “Matthews wasn’t in the room. He says Iron saw a dog.”

Pagan Pub: (Gaston is almost babbling, trying to make out the voice on the phone.)

Agent Starbird: Have I seen the bellhop Rex since I returned to the hotel?

Pagan Pub: Nope.

Agent Starbird: Rex — what a giveaway! I completely missed it…

Pagan Pub: (tsk, tsk!)

Pagan Pub: You race up the stairs. Emerging onto your floor, you see the armed agents positioned in the hall.

Pagan Pub: The lights are flickering.

Pagan Pub: There’s a foul smell coming from down the hall a bit. The agents are at your door.

Pagan Pub: You smell cordite.

Agent Starbird: Drawing my 9mm auto, unless I was issued one of those nifty assault rifles downstairs…

Pagan Pub: The agents go in, there’s quiet for a bit. Some voices.

Pagan Pub: Gaston is talking to Matthews, standing here. “Iron and I were at either end of the hall. I went into the stairwell to check it out, and I heard shots.”

Pagan Pub: “When I came back in, Iron was lying at the end of the hall. I went to the room, and the guys were down, they’d been torn apart. Blood everywhere. I ran down to Iron, he was bruised, but okay so I took off down the stairwell. Found nothing.”

Pagan Pub: Iron said a big dog knocked him down and took off down the stairwell.

Pagan Pub: That’s about it..”

Pagan Pub: Agents come out of your hotel room, give the all clear.

Pagan Pub: Gaston sprints down the hall.

Agent Starbird: [considering requesting a hotel suite with no corners…]

Agent Starbird: :: sprints after ::

Pagan Pub: Coming into your hotel room, it’s a mess.

Pagan Pub: The room has been tossed, or was being tossed: drawers out, suitcases open, etc.

Pagan Pub: Three agents are scattered about the room.

Agent Starbird: I guess I’m gonna need a new suit…

Pagan Pub: Their injuries are bloody and rough.

Agent Starbird: Like they were mauled by an animal?

Pagan Pub: Could very well be.

Pagan Pub: Throats torn out, arms mangled, cheeks torn off.

Pagan Pub: Two have weapons out, you see bullet casings.

Agent Starbird: I think Gary tripped the equivalent of a supernatural car alarm, and this was the armed response…

Pagan Pub: Looks like one was caught in the bedroom where Nedler had been, the other two in the main part of the suite near the door.

Pagan Pub: The agents are definitely dead.

Pagan Pub: Gaston curses. “Alright, out, out, let’s leave forensics SOMETHING to look at!”

Pagan Pub: Questions, Starbird?

Agent Starbird: I scan for anything that might be missing from what I remember, expecially my computer.

Pagan Pub: You see it. Hasn’t been touched.

Agent Starbird: Anything else missing or destroyed?

Pagan Pub: Can’t tell yet. Nothing obvious.

Agent Starbird: I tell Gaston I want to talk to a bellhop named Rex.

Pagan Pub: “You’ve got a badge, get down there.”

Agent Starbird: OK. I head downstairs, taking the stairwell Iron says the dog bounded down, checking for clues along the way (blood spatters, hairs, anything).

Pagan Pub: Roll percentiles…

Agent Starbird: 71

Pagan Pub: (Nedler and Fenemore: you are both conscious at this point, feel free to talk to each other)

Pagan Pub: Don’t spot anything.

Agent Starbird: Great. Just great.

Agent Starbird: [BTW, do I have just my pistol, or did I get one of those assault rifles?]

Pagan Pub: (just pistol. you can ask for one downstairs, if you wish.)

Pagan Pub: Downstairs, no employee named Rex.

Agent Starbird: I describe Rex. Anyone recognize the description?

Pagan Pub: Doesn’t sound like anyone they know.

Agent Starbird: Great. Just great.

Pagan Pub: (he was short, kind of pasty-faced, slightly oily brown hair, skinny)

Agent Starbird: I talk to the bellhop staff. Anyone remember my phone call to the front desk? Anyone come upstairs? Anyone missing? Anyone see a big dog?

Pagan Pub: No, no one remembers a phone call, including the initial room service request. Nothing in the log.

Pagan Pub: None of the staff knew an ambulance was coming, in fact.

Pagan Pub: No dog, either.

Agent Starbird: Interesting. I call up to Gaston and ask him to check the phone in the room. Does it connect to the front desk?

Pagan Pub: “I’ll put it on the list of things to check.”

Agent Starbird: Fine.

Pagan Pub: More agents, cops, etc. are piling into the lobby. They’re taking the guest register, etc and doing all that stuff.

Agent Starbird: Does the hotel have a first aid kit?

Pagan Pub: Several, including one on each floor by the fire hose stuff.

Agent Starbird: I want them all checked. “Rex” was carrying a first aid kit.

Pagan Pub: One on your floor is missing, but is found in your hotel room.

Agent Starbird: I want it dusted, etc. (though that probably was already being done).

Pagan Pub: No problem.

Pagan Pub: Agents are securing the scene. Cops are running interference.

Pagan Pub: Things slow down and get dull in short order.

Agent Starbird: Give me the exact details of my parting with “Rex.” Did I leave with him still in the room? Was he out in the hall with me? I didn’t get the specifics down, and maybe that was a mistake…

Pagan Pub: You said you locked the door, so yes, he was out in the hall when you left.

Agent Starbird: OK. Just checking.

Pagan Pub: There are, of course, numerous questions/requests about the scene of the crime. We’ll handle those later, since they will take time. Any immediate stuff?

Agent Starbird: If things are really bogging down into the routine, I’m heading back to the hospital.

Pagan Pub: Okay.

Gary Nedler: Nedler goes to talk to Fenemore.

Agent Fenemore: Why are you looking at my head?

Pagan Pub: (LOL) [FenemoreÕs hair turned white from his experience in the hotel room]

Gary Nedler: “Good hairstyle, man. Very distinguished.”

Agent Fenemore: What do you mean?

Gary Nedler: “Come on, don’t kid me. Those older women will really go for you now.”

Pagan Pub: Starbird, you’re en route to the hospital.

Agent Starbird: OK.

Agent Fenemore: Nedler, give me a mirror.

Pagan Pub: You arrive in short order. You meet Nedler and Fenemore in Fenemore’s room.

Gary Nedler: “Here, man. It’s the new you.”

Pagan Pub: Fenemore is looking at a mirror as you walk in.

Agent Starbird: “Bad news, guys. Something hit the team that was securing our suite. Three agents went down.”

Gary Nedler: “Major bad scene.”

Pagan Pub: Worse news: Fenemore, you’ll need a big bottle of hair dye.

Agent Fenemore: I try to comb it down. Interesting phenomena

Agent Starbird: Either of you remember anything? What did you experience while you were out?

Gary Nedler: “I told you man. My zen energy was being sapped.”

Agent Starbird: But did you see anything? Shapes? Voices? Temperature? Anything?

Gary Nedler: “No man. Just a calm blackness. ”

Agent Fenemore: I drempt

Agent Starbird: Of what did you dream, Kyle?

Agent Fenemore: I had two dreams. In the first I was the Major. It was a ritual involving the crystal.

Agent Fenemore: In the center of the party, I was waiting for the crystal to release the energy it had been storing from the people at the party .. could some one get some donuts? I also know the name of the person who gave the Major the crystal.

Gary Nedler: “Who, man? Was he a reputable New Age source?”

Agent Starbird: Isn’t “reputable New Age” an oxymoron of sorts?

Gary Nedler: “I don’t know what you mean, man.”

Agent Fenemore: The name was Valiant.

Pagan Pub: [orderly brings powered, jelly, and chocolate]

Agent Starbird: That’s all of the first dream? You were waiting for the crystal to release energy, but it didn’t?

Agent Fenemore: I didn’t get to the release on energy. I was high on drugs in felatio with Charlene, waiting for the crystal to ‘cut loose.’

Gary Nedler: “Psychic metaphor, no doubt.”

Agent Starbird: Y’know, Kyle, I think your first reaction wasn’t far off — they were using this crystal as some sort of sex-enhancing magic, and it literally blew up in their faces…

Gary Nedler: “I told you man, psychic metaphor. The mind is a powerful force.”

Agent Fenemore: The second dream was . . . odd.

Agent Fenemore: I was in space and saw a reddish planet surronded by small satellites with shapes flitting between them.

Gary Nedler: “Man, are you sure of the scale? Cosmic things are sometimes bigger than they appear.”

Agent Fenemore: I didn’t have much to judge size against.

Agent Starbird: Either of you have any recollection or impressions that involve a dog?

Gary Nedler: “No, no animals or ecological impressions at all.”

Agent Starbird: Kyle?

Agent Fenemore: no no animals

Agent Starbird: Let me bring you up on some other things…

Agent Starbird: After the two of you went unconscious, I tried to revive you and called downstairs for an ambulance and some first aid. Later, a bellhop showed up with a first aid kit.

Agent Starbird: While he was in the room, I thought I briefly heard a dog growl, but didn’t think much of it at the time.

Agent Starbird: Later, the paramedics arrive, and we go to the hospital. I locked the door with the bellhop who called himself “Rex” outside. Gaston sent a team to secure the room, and they were attacked by a large dog-like creature that killed three of ’em.

Agent Starbird: It also turns out that there’s no such bellhop on staff as this “Rex” guy, and the front desk had no record of my phone call for help.

Agent Starbird: Any ideas?

Gary Nedler: “‘Rex’ is a common name for dogs. Possible semiotic significance here, man.”

Agent Starbird: I was thinking that, too — in hindsight, unfortunately. Many agents of evil like to taunt humans that way.

Gary Nedler: [Agents or GMs of evil, hmm?]

Pagan Pub: (hey now!)

Gary Nedler: “Also, who *was* on staff that night at the hotel? Did they report anything? …

Gary Nedler: Are they still around.”

Agent Starbird: I interviewed the staff — they didn’t know anything was up until the ambulance pulled up.

Pagan Pub: Staff is being questioned.

Pagan Pub: (in addition to what Starbird already found out)

Gary Nedler: “Any reports of loose dogs? Long shot, but we have to check, man.”

Agent Starbird: Kyle — what about this Valiant guy? You see a face? Or get a first name?

Agent Starbird: I dunno, Gary — I saw the bodies. The thing ripped three trained agents apart, one before he got a shot off. I don’t think it was an escapee from the pound.

Agent Starbird: But no harm in being thorough…

Agent Starbird: I’m going to place a call to Gaston and see if he’s got any new developments…

Pagan Pub: He says they’re talking to staff, guests, etc.

Pagan Pub: Found a splitter in a phone junction box on your floor. Re-directed the call to a small cellular unit.

Pagan Pub: Someone using a cellular phone with this stuff would have answered calls you made to desk.

Pagan Pub: Which means they could have been anywhere in the area.

Agent Starbird: Finally — a non-supernatural answer to a question…

Gary Nedler: Ah, who knew we were booked at this hotel?

Pagan Pub: Well, the suite has been booked since before you arrived this morning, by the Feds.

Pagan Pub: But they’ve taken rooms and suites in a number of hotels across town. It’s no secret the Feds are all over St. Louis. BUT, as to which room would hold you guys…???

Agent Fenemore: Didn’t see Valiant or get any other name?

Gary Nedler: Could we have been followed from the hospital to the hotel?

Agent Starbird: Suggest they check if communications are secure in those other suites…

Gary Nedler: Are these government vehicles we’re using easily identifiable?

Pagan Pub: Followed: could have been. Communications: it’s being checked. Vehicles: they’re official cars.

Agent Starbird: I dunno — I have a feeling we’re not exactly hitting on all cylinders. We were dog-tired when we got to the hotel in the first place — it’s got to be pushing midnight by now, right?

Pagan Pub: Yep.

Gary Nedler: Either they’re using a mundane means of singling us out, or psychic. Either way they’ve got to be after the crystal.

Gary Nedler: The odds of them hitting our group of Feds randomly is pretty high.

Pagan Pub: Okay, let’s wrap it up here for this week.

NEXT: PART 5

Shane Ivey runs Arc Dream Publishing and is lead editor for Delta Green.
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