Eustace & Hitomi, Chapter 7. Pressing Play on Death [Tricube + Mythic]
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| "Familiar Faces Seen at Halloween Parade." Maidenstead Monitor, November 1, 1992. |
- "Previously on..." and Campaign Summary
- The Full Cast: Main and Secondary
- CHAPTER 7
- Eustace Gets a Makeover But Remains a Complete Idiot
- Tropical Storm Morgan Makes Landfall
- Hitomi and Daphne Avoid the Hounds
- Daphne Reminds Hitomi This Is a Mystery Story
- Pressing Play on Murder
- Updates to Progress Tracks and Threads This Session
- Behind the Scenes: Rescuing Eustace + Hitomi
- Doug's Commentary
- Mechanical and Story Notes
- Credits
Previously, on Eustace + Hitomi
Eustace and Hitomi have joined forces with other Maidenstead locals as Eustace tells his story of finding a secret love den under the Rambler's Inn and the apparent scene of something terrible that happened there. Eustace stole a security tape which might explain the situation but he is wanted by the police. A plan arises to sneak Eustace by into town dressed as Velma from Scooby Doo.
About Eustace Delmont
It is 1996 and Eustace Delmont is a geek in his mid-20s who has moved back to the town of Maidenstead and now drifts as a slightly big fish (with curly hair and a beard) in a small pond. One day, while helping a minor electronics kerfuffle at town's main landmark—the weird and overlarge Rambler's Inn Hotel—with a long and storied past, Eustace met the girl of his dreams: Hitomi Meyer. Staying with her estranged father and step-sister, Hitomi is down and out and distressed as she gets caught up in a scheme to help launch a subscription VHS ghost hunting video series. Eustace and Hitomi team up, and fall in love, while trying to solve a constantly spiraling collection of mysteries.
Content Warning: Smoking, Drinking, Drugs, People Being Held Against Their Will, Dog Theft, Definite Language, Murder (?), Other Crimes, Some Off-Screen Violence and Sex, Some "on-screen" Pornography.
This post is in the standard Doug Alone post style. See Anatomy of a Post for more details. The Image Oracles described in the post (gamemaster phases and mechanic notes, especially) are from the Maidenstead Mysteries one-sheet. They can be seen on the Tricube Image Oracles page.
Attribution for the tools and materials used—including the splash art—can be found in the Credits below along with some details.
The Full Cast: Main and Secondary
I have been quite busy this past couple of days, Space Pilgrims, and have spent a lot of time fixing up older Eustace + Hitomi posts. Correctly logic. Smoothing over glitches. Changing the name. Etc. Down below I will discuss it.
For now, wanted to bring together all of the current cast since part of the project was to go ahead and stat out nearly everyone from the Main and Secondary groups. This also brings together their current versions which might not really reflect their initial versions if they have been played differently or changed over time. Note that I consider the default Perks, Quirks, etc to be mostly suggestions, which they are.
Main Cast
Eustace Delmont. Brainy Tech Nerd with Many Friends and Lateral Thinking but Prone to Daydreaming. He has 3 Karma and 3 Resolve.
Hitomi Meyer. Alert Amateur Detective who is Determined but Chainsmokes. She has 3 Karma and 3 Resolve.
Secondary Cast
I have been lately playing that secondary cast members get Trait | Role | Perk | Quirk but do not get Karma.
Morgan Carter. Charming Bank Teller who Knows Everyone but is Very Naive. She gets 3 Resolve.
Isabella "Elly" Lopez. Brainy Engineer who is a Natural Leader but Handles Stress Poorly. She gets 3 Resolve.
Jennifer "Jenny" (aka Firestorm) Adams. Alert Designer who is Exceptional at Crafts but Distrustful. She gets 3 Resolve.
Office Raymond Clark. A Charming Young Cop who Is Good at Keeping the Peace but Has a Past. He gets 3 Resolve.
A Couple Notes on the Changes from Original
Eustace and Hitomi have swapped around some parts. Initially, she was a paranormal detective and a lateral thinker. Only, she is skeptical of supernatural things, did not like the paranormal stuff, and was more defined by her constant drive to move forward. Her quirk was initially that she was "young" but that has barely played out. Instead, her heavy smoking habit is showing up since she more than the others (several of the characters smoke, just not as much) tends to rely on nicotine on a regular basis.
Eustace has been very prone to thinking outside the box to solve problems. He gets lateral thinking. He is also established as the kind of guy who knows a lot of people and is friendly with a lot of them. So he gets two Perks.
Hitomi's "young" goes to Morgan.
Jenny definitely has a jealous streak (especially when it comes to Elly) but it's less of a specific jealousy and more she just assumes the worst of people.
Resetting Values
Reading back over the adventures so far, Eustace had 2 Karma and then spent 2 or 3 Karma. Hitomi has gone back and forth a couple of times. For simplicity, everyone will be considered rested and reset for Chapter 7 and I will try and keep up a lot better.
Eustace + Hitomi Chapter 7. Pressing Play on Murder
Came to the party
But I got my own signals crossed
Thought I was welcome
But I felt like I should get lost
—— Buffalo Tom, "I'm Allowed"
Setting the Scene. Eustace Gets a Makeover But Remains a Complete Idiot
Friday. June 21, 1996. 3:45pm. In an apartment off Jefferson Avenue in Maidenstead.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: Eustace has a Velma costume made by Jenny as the two kind of make-up (pun!).
Actual Scene: Altered. What is altered? The potential for most drama, so to speak, is to say that Hitomi gives up trying to meet up with Patrick Yost and joins them (along with Morgan).
The getting dressed part will be a Standard Charming Roll requiring 2 Effort (on both Eustace and Jenny's parts). This was determined by the 3d6 method. 1: { Alert | Brainy | Charming | Alert + Brainy | Brainy + Charming | Alert + Charming }, 2: { (1) Easy | (2-5) Standard | 6 (Hard }, 3: { (1-4) No Effort | 5 or 6, reroll to find effort → (1-3) 1 Effort | (4-5) 2 Effort | (6) 3 Effort }. Adjust or "Lock" any as befits the scene.
A secondary task roll for the scene will be Eustace and Hitomi finally realizing that they feel the same way. How? Let's try the same again but in this case each gets their own task to solve. Eustace has an Standard Alert Challenge. Hitomi has a Standard Brainy Challenge. In other words, she has to find out how to explain things and he has to find out how to listen.
Eustace Gets a Makeover But Remains a Complete Idiot
There are three rough facts about Aunt Elvis you should know, and two are germane to this story. First, they put the absolute Queen in Drag queen. Started doing shows around Maidenstead in the 70s, joined up with some drag queens in Mobile a couples years later, and had a very successful tour.
Second, more important to the story, Aunt Elvis was big compared to Eustace the way Eustace is big compared to most other people. Which means if Eustace is going to pick up clothing, in a hurry, that no one would suspect Eustace or any Delmont of ever wearing, Aunt Elvis is the most likely candidate.
Third, most importantly, when Jenny was seventeen, her parents went through some issues. Aunt Elvis took Jenny in, no questions asked, and even curtailed the tours for a few years to become a surrogate mother. Took good care of Jenny. Introduced Jenny to a scrawny little nineteen year old named Isabella Lopez that had been off in New Orleans at school and suddenly Jenny felt like the world mattered again. Jenny and Elly fell in love, Elly graduated, and the two eventually moved in together—with Tammy as a third wheel for some reason Eustace still ponders regularly—and Aunt Elvis whisked off to Vegas to be Queen once more. Leaving behind enough boxes of clothing to clothe an entire community of quite immaculately fabulous people.
That's why Eustace is currently standing like a scarecrow in the middle of Elly and Jenny's (and Tammy's) living room while Jenny, on her knees, is doing her best to rip out some of the more elaborate decorations on a sweater and only occasionally poking Eustace with any needles.
"Why did Aunt Elvis have a sweater with only two gaudy patches of glitt...OUCH!"
"Sorry. Elvis contained multitudes, Delmont. You should practice your girl voice."
Eustace gives a falsetto a whirl and the effect is like a gruff DM trying to play a lovestruck elvish princess on the shores of Harn. [1]
The first thing that happened upon arriving in a rush back here and Chez Elly-Jenny-Tammy was have Elly shave off the beard and then the curls. Morgan and Hitomi sat back and watched the show, barely talking, just staring. Hitomi seemed to tear up a little.
Then, shortly after Jenny identified the plainest sweater in the bunch, a massive fluffy green number having two cats made of glitter in what archeologists would call "high relief", Hitomi had gone out to smoke. Morgan followed right away. Elly eventually followed after. Every once in a while Morgan will peak back and let out a stifled giggle and run back outside and laughter from all three drips in as a kind of ambient noise of mockery and joy.
Besides that, Eustace and Jenny have been alone longer than any previous stint in their history.
Almost alone.
Tammy is still right there in a corner chair, watching. Slowly, very slowly, eating a bag of chips. Watching. Not once saying a damned word.
"Got it!," says Jenny, as she pulls the stitching out to get one of the glitter bomb cats free and then sets to repairing the stich underneath.
"Doesn't Velma wear orange?," Eustace asks and Jenny scoffs.
"We can't dress you up just like Velma or then everyone will stare at you. We are going Velma-adjacent. Now, shut up and talk like a girl."
Eustace thinks back to the way his sister Milly might talk about her day in math class. Or the way she implies that maybe Eustace is a big boy and can maybe move out and get a girlfriend so that she can have his room. Not exactly feminine. Just, cute. He gives it a try and it kind of works. He tries to stand like his sister. To move his arms like his sister. She does have a similar bone structure as him, right? Just wears it a lot better. [2]
"See, Delmont, you got this," Jenny says, stifling a laugh. Jenny Adams laughing, will wonders never cease?
From that, he develops a personality to fall behind. Eulilly Delmont. A bit big boned for a lady but comfortable in her massive green sweater.
Right as he is warming up entirely to try and make Jenny laugh, he smells the remnants of smoke as the balcony door opens and the other three come inside. Only, not to the living room but to Elly and Jenny's bedroom, where they shut the door. Jenny yanks hard enough on the remaining glitter cat that it tears the sweater a bit. [3]
Jenny hangs her head and goes completely quiet. Eustace looks to Tammy who just looks back, eats another chip and slowly chews it. He wonders if this is some sort of bit he doesn't understand. Old folk humor for the surreal horror set.
Eustace decides the best way forward is to try and explain the truth he sees in a way he's never quite spoken out loud, before. "She loves you, you know? I mean, loves-you loves you in a way that we don't often get. I've known Elly a long time and she was always just a bit sad no matter how much I tried to cheer her up. She met you right around the time she was so unsure of who she was or what she was doing that I was thinking of dropping out of UAH and following her out to her school just to be a full time jester. She called me at 3am after your first date and cried on the phone telling me about you because she was so happy. Thank you."
Jenny looks up, on the verge of full on crying herself. Eustace feels a vague second-hand embarrassment of the first good moment he and Jenny has ever had being while he is wearing a ridiculously huge sweater and she is around five inches from his crotch, but for now he'll take it.
"That's kind of it, though," she says, "She always runs to you for everything. Like a first instinct. She has gotten out of bed with me to call you and ask you to bring her medicine. It's like she is always so afraid to trust me."
"No...that's..."
In the other room, laughter erupts and one of the three, Eustace has no idea which, let's out a loud, appreciative whistle.
Jenny sighs loudly.
Eustace tries to comfort her more. "I don't think Hitomi is going to try and steal Elly or anything, I overheard her and Morgan talking about..."
"No, you dolt. I don't think Elly is going to leave me. I think people are going to hurt her like I was hurt and I don't want to think about it."
"Ah."
From the corner, Tammy lets out a snort that might be a nose clear or might be a laugh. Eustace stares at her and Tammy stares right back. For far too long.
"Anyhow, I have finished your sweater, Ms. Delmont. Put on the wig. Are you ready for you night on the town?" Saying that, she sits back on her butt and lays her head on the couch, nearby. [4]
"I am ready to see this. Oh, ohhhhh. You know what, it does it for me. Adams, prepare to ravish me."
Eustace turns around with the wig about 70% in place and there's Elly all smiles, appreciating Jenny's transformation of Eustace. Elly truly is the kind of person born with dimples and big dreams. He can appreciate why Jenny wants to protect her. Only, sometimes, you got to give a person like Elly a chance to protect themselves. He's known Elly for years and she has been his best friend for most of it. She goes into anxious giggle mode whenever she is stressed but she comes out on top. He has never minded being her handyman. She inspires it in people.
"Oh, it does it for me, too," adds Hitomi, who has entered the room while Eustace was paying attention. He turns to her to give his best Eulilly impression and stops cold.
In the bedroom, she has changed out of her usual oversized t-shirt and jeans into an outfit that says, "Preacher's daughter and chief financial officer," but with an adorably sexy twist. A soft coat over a tight fitting shirt with a skirt that is just the right size to be too large and too small at the same time. Black stockings giving away to shoes tinged red enough to bring attention down to her legs. An outfit both demure, official, sexy, and playful. Complete with what Eustace assumes is costume glasses unless Hitomi has been hiding contacts this whole time. Something a rather sinful children's librarian might wear to attract a few divorced dads.
On Hitomi, it goes beyond attractive and makes Eustace feel dizzy.
Only there are bunny ears.
Elly sees the direction of his confused stare and fills in. "Jenny has a whole set of quirky headbands. We figured why not. She'll take them off. Or not. I think she is super cute with them on."
"Super cute," says Jenny in a sudden acceptance of Hitomi into the circle.
Morgan has been standing behind Hitomi and prods her forward. She walks towards Eustace and tries to explain the plan.
"Before we saw you, we picked this up from this a woman that might be part shark. I saw that... We were going to...ah. Um, well, I had to meet, I mean..." [5]
Eustace, misreading the situation entirely tries to shove down a deep sadness welling upside him and turn to his default bland helpfulness. "Ah, right, you were going to meet Patrick." [6]
Eustace sees Morgan make a strange face a few seconds before Hitomi switches from stunned confusion to outright anger. "You were listening in to our conversation, you creep! God!" She turns back to snatch up her her jeans, stops only long enough to snag stuff out of the pockets, and then flings the jeans haphazardly into space near Eustace. He catches them and she stops like she is going to say something but just shakes her head. Then goes to the front door and storms out of it. Slams it behind her.
With a slight "eep" sound, Morgan runs after her.
The room is super quiet in the aftermath as Elly and Jenny share a glance and decide standing as still as deer in headlights is the best approach.
Finally Tammy speaks, the sound of crunching chips mixed into her words, years of heavy smoking evident in her throat. "Eustace, you are a fucking idiot."
Setting the Scene. Tropical Storm Morgan Makes Landfall.
Friday. June 21, 1996. 4:30pm. In a sensible car, heading south on Pine Street.
Rolled on the Actions table to get an idea for what Hitomi might do next since she's not exactly in precise control of herself. 3 Activate 93 Value. She is going to try and use the outfit for its initial intended purpose (of course, Elly and Morgan have figured out she had switched to wanting to show it off to Eustace but he is so self-doubting and inanely-helpful that he let it slip that he had heard them talking about Patrick Yost).
Chaos Factor: 6
Expected Scene: Hitomi has Morgan drive her back down to Gulf Shores with an intent to go through with the plan to meet Patrick Yost (even if Hitomi is kind of out of wanting to help Eustace right this moment, she can't quite help herself).
Actual Scene: Expected Scene.
Ok, time to test a couple of boundaries of Morgan. Well, maybe three.
First, I think Morgan has figured out the whole missed connection going on. Let's test it though. Has Morgan figured out that Eustace and Hitomi keep flirting but getting it wrong? (Very Likely) → 63 Yes.
Second, will she try and bring it up? (Unlikely) → 33 Yes. But this also triggers a Random Event. NPC Action. Control Suffering. Choose an NPC. I think it might be a good time to bring back in Daphne who is dealing with a lot of stress (Vern and technically Hitomi have left, Frank is tossing away the original plan, Daphne is a bit of a bitch but she's also in her early 20s and has been on the road for weeks living someone else's dream while folks ignore her actual cries for help). Daphne is doing something to control her suffering and Morgan is going to see this.
Third, which feels a bit less important now, but is useful for Hitomi's Quirk. Will Morgan let Hitomi smoke in her car? (50/50) → 50 Yes.
What is Daphne doing to try and control her suffering (that Morgan might see)? Image Oracle 6,2 Steering Wheel + 4,4 Padlock. Daphne has { rented | borrowed } → borrowed a car only now she has locked the keys inside and is trying to not have a melt down at a gas station.
Just to give one last piece of information, what can Hitomi do to help her sister? 3d6 method but lean it one step towards hard (+1 on the second and third dice). Success isn't necessarily the goal, here. Standard Brainy + Charming.
+ Keyed Scene: Whatever scene or two brews with Hitomi here, once that gets to a good stopping spot, we are going to get to see what's on the tape. Any altered or interrupted scenes will be treated, instead, like...stuff that happens right after.
Tropical Storm Morgan Makes Landfall
Friday. June 21, 1996. 4:30pm. In a sensible car, heading south on Pine Street.
By the time they turn from Jefferson onto Pine and start heading south, Hitomi is on her second cigarette since storming out of the apartment. Morgan had joined in briefly but around a third puff had tossed the rest of hers out the window with a look like fear on her face. Poor girl is probably going to be on juice and chips only parties for the rest of the summer. Hitomi forgot this is Morgan's first hangover. All four windows are rolled down now to air out the cab as much as possible.
"He is such an asshole," says Hitomi who has been essentially silent after asking Morgan if she was up for a trip back to Gulf Shores. Despite the time spent shopping, meeting the Eustace "the jackass" Delmont, and then heading back to Maidenstead to do the whole costume game, there was just a sliver of time to get back down and maybe meet-up with Patrick before he slothed off for the weekend. [7]
"Eustace?," asks Morgan, who looks like she has to chew glass to associate Eustace and "asshole" in the same sentence, despite normally being all in on Team Hitomi.
"No, the pope, Morgan, I...look, I'm sorry. I just need to know. Why is almost every damned person in this town so apt to help him? I've talked to Ralph a couple of times. Sounds like Eustace is liable to screw up as much as he fixes."
"Well, he..."
"Idiot boy running his dumb fat ass down into tunnels or..."
Hitomi stops herself because now she remembers Eustace running with her to try and find her dog and having no hesitation. Eustace moving what has to be around a fairly hefty 18+ stone body over a fence to literally save said dog. "What can I do to help?" as a life motto. She wants to scream, cry, demand answers, and a stack of other things. She might settle for slapping and kissing him at the same time.
And, she thinks to herself, she is still trying to find a way to get a jerk to give her information she can help the jerk that creeps on her conversations and assumes she's the kind of girl to want the other jerk. She feels tired and disgusted and suddenly misses her days shopping in a Tesco in Bicester where no one paid her any mind.
"I'm an idiot, Morgan."
"I think he has the wrong idea."
Hitomi lets out a loud scoff and flings the cigarette out the window. For the first time in a couple of days, she doesn't feel like lighting another just at the moment.
"He has quite a few of those, the dumbass," says Hitomi, already around 30% deflated from her anger bubble, earlier.
"Yeah...," says Morgan, "He took my sister to the prom." Realizing to whom she is telling the story, she quickly fills in, "It was awful for him. I don't know what he did it. My sister is the taller, thinner version of me. She's pretty...um, but not like a truly hot way. They had a class together. That might have been enough. She was kind of intimidating and boys sort of assumed she was a lesbian, I think. I think most of us assumed he was dating Elly. Hell, a lot of people still assume he is dating Elly.
"This was seven years ago, mind. I was just twelve. Shorter than now. Still as stout. My mom called me her little tea pot. I had a little bit of of a crush on Eustace. He was all curly haired and serious about stupid things. No beard yet. Not quite as tall. Anyhow, my sister ditched him at the prom and apparently made fun of him while he was still there. She actually joked about him leaving early. Which I guess he did when the sound crew asked him to fix some things. Maybe it was too much for even him.
"I saw him in the park a week or so later. I walked up to him. I think I was going to apologize but I started stuttering and you know what he did?"
From some deep heartbroken recess of herself, Hitomi replies, "No."
"He told me he saw me playing with some He-man figures. When he stopped to get Sally. I was this stupid little fat girl in the corner too shy to make eye contact and he noticed. Sally always made fun of me playing with boy toys. Anyhow, Eustace bragged on how cool I was and told me stories about the show and the toys and just let me talk and talk and he..."
"...listened."
"Right. So then I really had a crush on Eustace but he is the kind of person it is easy to have a crush on when he's not around, maybe not so easy when he is right in front of you and ready to run off to help someone else. Like despite being shaped like a defensive lineman, he acts like the guy in football who...well, he acts like the assistant coach, but a very squirrelly one."
"I have no idea about American football."
"Forget you, I have no idea about American football. I am just saying that there are a lot of people in this town and a lot of them know Eustace and a lot of people appreciate Eustace but I am not sure people really stop and talk to Eustace. Except Elly. And Raymond, that hottie policeman."
"Ok."
"He tris to turn himself into a mirror and reflect back what folks need. I think that's why he's back here instead of off doing something bigger and brighter, he just washed up. Looking for someone else to tell him where to go."
Hitomi chews on her fingers for a second. She's actually impressed to hear Morgan fire off. Damned girl is a gorgeous little spitfire of a people watcher.
"Morgan, I promise to not call Eustace an asshole or a creep, again."
"I mean, he can be an asshole or a creep, sure...he is a bit weird, it's just that...oh shit, is that your sister?"
At the Spur station right where Pine was about to merge with 59, Daphne is standing beside a car that Hitomi does not recognize and looking like she is about to lose all her crap.
"Oh, shit, you are right."
Without even asking, Morgan pulls of the street and right behind Daphne.
Setting the Scene. Hitomi and Daphne Avoiding the Hounds.
Friday. June 21, 1996. 4:50pm.
In a sensible car, heading south on Pine Street.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: The whole thing about Daphne and the car will actually be here since the last scene surprisingly shifted to Morgan's time to shine.
Actual Scene: Altered. What's altered about it? Remove a Character. Morgan is going to give the two sisters some space. Also 59 Leave 63 Official. Daphne isn't just doing getting a bit of fresh air. She has actually broken up with Frank and left the "Mystery Machine".
Hitomi and Daphne Avoiding the Hounds
Friday. June 21, 1996. 4:50pm.
In a sensible car, heading south on Pine Street.
Hitomi walks up to her step-sister and, as gently as possible, asks, "Hey, Daph, what's going on?"
Daphne turns and sees Hitomi. "I locked my stupid keys in my stupid...no, sorry...I locked Mike's stupid keys in Mike's stupid car." She points to the car she has been leaning against. A light-blue Geo Metro that has been waxed enough to shine in the late afternoon light. [8]
"Mike?"
"Anderson. Throaty guy who talked Frank into staying at the Rambler?"
Hitomi would argue that Daphne was all on board a couple days ago but lets it go. She looks around and notes that the car is blocking the gas pump and another car, a fancy black Jaguar, has pulled up behind (in the spot that Morgan had dropped Hitomi before pulling up to the store front itself with a claim she was going to snag some snacks). "Um, Daphne, should we..." [9]
Before Hitomi can offer to do...something...she was still trying to figure out what, an older man gets out of the car and comes over. He is all smiles but Hitomi senses a bit of wolf in his teeth. The sort of Alabama businessman who dresses in an old jacket and jeans, wearing a baseball cap like a uniform. Meant to give the appearance of an average joe but the quality of the black jacket and white shirt underneath makes her think of a traveling preacher like might visit with her and Daphne's dad. [10]
"Can I help you two lovely ladies?," he asks in a voice somewhere between grandfatherly and pick-up artist.
Before Hitomi can try and blow him off, Daphne pipes up, "Oh, Mr. Reed. I accidentally locked Mike's keys in the car while trying to get gas." [11]
"Oh dear, oh dear. That will not do, you silly billy."
Hitomi again sorts through words to tell this "Mr. Reed" off but Daphne is settling into preacher's daughter and ambassador mode better than Hitomi ever could. Creepy old pastors are an occupational hazard.
"Mr. Reed, could you please call a tow truck and get this back to the Rambler. Michael was a dear to let me borrow it. Mike Anderson? The one wanting to do a documentary about your lovely inn?"
"Of course I know who Mike is. Don't you worry your blonde head, missy. I will take care of this."
Hitomi starts counting backwards from 10.
Mr. Reed continues, "Why don't you, and your friend, come along with me while we wait for this to be taken care of? I was on my way to dinner and the two of you are dressed so nicely. My treat?" He says "treat" in a way that rhymes with trap. "We can talk about your daddy and the opportunities the Rambler might offer him and his congregation."
Hearing a mention of scheme very much like what she was going to pretend to offer to Patrick Yost cuts off Hitomi's counting at 3 and she snaps out of her background-scenery status and grabs Daphne by the shoulder. "That sounds like a great idea, Mr. Reed, but my sister and I are very late for meeting with a sick parishioner and my friend...yep, she has just pulled up. How about we meet you next week to talk about the plans? Thank you very much for offering to tow the car back to the Rambler. We'll let our dad know you are a stand-up businessman and the Rambler gets our vote. Anyhow, got to go..."
Hitomi hears Mr. Reed saying, "Sister? oh..." but she is pulling Daphne nearly forcibly towards Morgan's car and then pushing her inside where Morgan has moved on to eating some beef jerky with relish. "I'm sorry, Morgan, but I need you to drive and we need to probably drive right now..." [12]
Morgan gives a thumbs up with her mouth of full of jerky and pulls off in a hurry.
Daphne Reminds Hitomi This Is a Mystery Story
Friday. June 21, 1996. 5:21pm. Back n a sensible car, heading south on 59.
Chaos Factor: 6
Expected Scene: Daphne discusses Amy being missing while the sisters make up.
Actual Scene: 10, as expected.
This one is going to be another talky scene, so for now, no new details not already established except for one based on an idea brewing in my head that I will work out in a bit.
Did Amy Patel's mother leave for Hong Kong around a month ago? (50/50) → 99 Exceptional No. Okey doke.
Make it two. Did Daphne know Amy Patel? Going by the aspect of two rich girls in a city the size of Mobile, it's a flip of the coin, going by the expedience of fiction, it feels (Very Likely) → 10 Exceptional Yes.
Might have to figure out how to gently retcon something.
Daphne Reminds Hitomi This Is a Mystery Story
Friday. June 21, 1996. 5:21pm. Back in a sensible car, heading south on 59.
Morgan is driving. Jerky is finished and she has moved on to a bag of salted cashews with glee.
Hitomi is in the front passenger seat, her right leg propped up while she half turns to face Morgan and Daphne.
Daphne is in the backseat behind Morgan, in what one might call upright fetal position. It is her turn to smoke as she stares out the window, tears slowly dripping down her cheek.
"Ok, what the flying fuck was any of that about? Daphne? DAFF NEEE!"
Daphne slowly snaps back to reality and stares at her younger step-sister. "I, um, broke up with Frank."
"Ok."
"You don't seem very shocked?"
"It has been a shitty day. If you remember, it was just...oh, six or seven hours ago you called me a bitch for not appreciating the immensity of shit on Frank's shoulders because Vern ran off."
"Oh." Daphne takes a long drag on her cigarette. "This would be better if it was weed, you wouldn't....holy shit!?"
"What?!"
"Hitty, you are gorgeous! Wait, what did I say...," actually noticing Hitomi's wince for once.
"It's Hii Toe Me. Not Hitty. My mom's Japanese. You met her, remember?"
"I know it was, I mean...she was...she is...sorry, Frank likes...I'm sorry."
"It's...ok, just please stop."
"I mean it. I am sorry. You were right about Libby. We were assholes. We could have at least found a..."
"Daphne, please...it's ok."
"Ok. Enough apologizing. Time to get serious. Girl, you are fucking hot. Whose the guy?" Seeing the look Hitomi shoots her, Daphne nods like she understands as she reaches to place her hand on the back of Morgan's seat. "Oh, is it..."
"Is it what? Oh, no, this little hottie race car driver only dates the really sexy chicks."
Morgan chuff-giggles loudly enough that she shoots bits of cashew all over her steering wheel.
Hitomi smiles and reaches over to rub Morgan's right shoulder in a show of support and thanks. Bank Teller by day, awesome friend by night...well, late afternoon.
"Let's just say there's no guy and leave it at that."
"Um...ok," Daphne sounds unconvinced but willing to pretend to concede.
"Sometimes a girl can dress up for herself, really."
"Right."
"So, no guy."
"I am 100% convinced there is no guy."
"Or girl."
"Or girl."
"Except me."
"Except you. You are smoking hot, though. Good thing we're related or I'd be jealous, Hiii...tomi."
Perhaps Daphne isn't so bad when she isn't trying to follow in Franky Boy's footsteps, Hitomi thinks. Daphne was the whole reason she moved here, after all. They used to get along great. Speaking of...
"Why'd you break up?"
"Amy."
"Hold up, back up...Amy?"
"Amy Patel, dipshit. Remember, the girl that went fucking missing?"
"Oh. Right. Sorry. My brain is fried."
"You met her, you know?"
"I met Amy? When?"
"Umm, first Christmas you were here. I took you out to Marsha Tannebaum's lake house? You got really smashed on a half-case of beer and then smoked way too much weed? You had a good old time. Oh, and you made out with Ephy James?"
"I sure the fuck did not make out with Ephy James!" Morgan already has her mouth open and is about to pounce with questions as Hitomi makes zip it gestures. Hitomi only vaguely remembers that night and while there is a sense of lips and pot smoke and warm hands, there's also the sense of cherry lip smackers and a...memory that cannot surface. Note to self, never get that blitzed again. You want to know who gets the thank you card."
"Oh, he said you did. That he made out with someone. And you were definitely sporting the ruffled clothes look after so I made the connection. Ohh, maybe it was with Vern. Shit, I drank too much too. Shame. He's cute. His dad's a jeweler. Ephy, not Vern. Vern's dad's a mechanic and not a very good one. Could have been a useful brother-in-law to have."
"Ay. Mee. Pah! Tell." Hitomi would prefer all conversations about Ephy James to cease.
"Right, sorry, you were out on the balcony looking at the lake and smoking despite it being like, zero degrees."
"Right..."
"Hot girl? Really hot? Made you sweat to look at her very long? Scary in a really sexy way? She smoked weed with you for like, a whole-ass hour? When I went out she was showing you her mantis tattoo on her...back...inner, the sexy bits," Daphne twisting in the seat to try and show which particular inner bits, being, as they were, very particular inner bits. "Showing it off to you, God, and all Creation? Said she liked mantises because they eat the men after sex? Which sounds way too Freudian now that I play that mental tape back."
"Her?" Fingers and stars and an outdoor sofa and a big blank spot in Hitomi's normally ok memory. A big warm blank spot.
"Yeah, that's Amy. You and her chatted about what was like having famous professors as moms. Hers was from Hong Kong by way of Vietnam. Genetics. Taught in. But also, like, I guess that's how you become a mom."
"Oh, shit." That part she remembered, now.
"Exactly. I used to go horse-riding and shit with Amy. Like, we were besties. Did a lot of stuff together. Our birthdays were close so we had this huge-ass 16th birthday bash on a boat paid for by our dads. Hell, we had our first kiss together. I mean, not together together, but on a double date with a couple of snob boys from Montgomery."
"How come I have barely seen her since that night?"
"She went Ivy League. I stayed local. Met Frank. Well, re-met Frank. He's been there for years. By the time she got back, we were in different circles. I knew the name when Mike brought it up but I was...well, Frank has a way of dragging us along."
"Right."
"After you and I fought this morning, I got into a mood. I realized that whether Vern is missing or not, someone that I should have been concerned about was missing. I told Frank I didn't think I could turn an old friend into a VHS tape and he got mad. Said that I was just like Vern and you and were betraying the vision. I said he was betraying the vision and to never talk shit about you again. He didn't or anything but I felt like he could have slapped me so I told I was fucking done and left. I met Mike in the lobby—Vern was right, the guy is hanging around the Rambler a whole lot—and he asked me what was wrong. He told me that I should borrow his car and drive around a bit before I 'quit the team.' So I took his keys and well, kept driving until I was damned near out of gas. Figured I'd gas it up, get back to the hotel, drop it off, and then call dad to come get me.
"Maybe try and really help with the Amy case as soon as I can talk to a detective on Monday."
Hitomi reaches back and squeezes her sister's hand. "I like that. I was looking into some stuff before the whole...absolutely not a guy...situation showed up. I'd be glad to help. Anything you can think of for us to start?"
"No, like I said, different circles. Last thing I heard about her before this was that her mom took off like...a month ago to head back to Hong Kong. Really suddenly."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. On the down low, Mom (Julia, not hers) said that her dad was into well, some kinky shit. It's not how Julia talks but she's a pastor's wife. Think of the things she overhears. Anyhow, that was apparently part of the different circles. Stuff our dad was trying to stay out of completely and without doubt. Maybe Mrs. Patel got fed up. Sorry, Doctor&;Patel. Huh, oh yeah, they are both Dr. Patel."
"Kinky shit?," Morgan asks.
"Right, don't know what. But if Amy's missing I want...what's up?"
Morgan has just hit the brakes pretty hard and whipped the car into an old movie rental store lot. Jan-Z-Moo-V with a faded cow sign holding a real VCR. A prop to stand out for beach traffic. Likely lost the rental war to Movie Gallery.
Morgan stares at Hitomi who has joined Daphne in the confused looks. Morgan says, with emphasis, "Kinky shit and going missing at the Rambler."
Hitomi's mental gears start to turn. "Oh, shit."
"Right."
"OH. SHIT!"
Daphne in the back, sits dumbfounded. "Are you too having a moment? Is this some sort of bit you do together?"
Hitomi ignores her sister and looks at Morgan, facial expression swinging from the lightbulb moment to being told you need to eat fried liver when you really hate fried liver and Hitomi hates fried liver slightly more than she hates discussions about Ephy James. "Oh, Morgan," the name comes out with a tinge of a whine to it.
Morgan finishes the unspoken sentence. "We might need to go and talk to Eustace, again."
Daphne leans forward and puts her hand on Hitomi's head an turns her younger sister's skull hard enough that Hitomi is forced to make eye contact. "Who, or what, the fuck is a Eustace and why does a Eustace know kinky shit?"
Morgan says, in some apparent answer, the most specific yet unhelpful phrase Daphne can recall in her life. "The Love Tunnel."
Hitomi continues to face Daphne until Daphne's eyes properly locked into the younger sister death stare. "Absolutely. Not. A guy.
Daphne catches up on a lot of conversation at once, not exactly correctly, and definitely not unhappily. "Haha, oh shit indeed." [13]
Setting the Scene. Eustace. Pressing Play on Death
Friday. June 21, 1996. 6:05pm. The Back of Ralph Harley's Shop.
Chaos Factor: 7
Expected (semi-Keyed) Scene: Eustace (along with Jenny and Elly) watch the tape.
Actual Scene: Altered. How? An ongoing activity increases in scope or intensity. First one that comes to mind is police presence watching Harley's (which was going to be a question I was about to ask the oracle anyhow).
What does Eustace have to do to get past the police successfully? +2 Difficulty due to the intensity. Hard Alert, 3 Effort. Neat! He's toast.
Is Ralph around? (Very Unlikely) → 12 Yes.
Did Ralph comment at Eustace's appearance? (50/50) → 25 Yes. Won't be anything rude or chide. Just something like "nice sweater." This is all background fluff (pun!) so we get right to the scene.
Pressing Play on Death
Friday. June 21, 1996. 6:05pm. The Back of Ralph Harley's Shop.
"That was embarrassing."
"Hit the play button, Delmont."
"I mean, it's a nice sweater and Ralph said it was a nice sweater, it's just..."
"Less yapping, more hitting play..."
"He didn't even say anything about the skirt, and I think that's the..."
"Elly, I am going to hit your boy if he doesn't hit the play button like right now."
Elly giggles but does not defend Eustace's honor.
Eustace looks up and focuses eyes as if he just now notices Elly and Jenny behind him. All three are hunched over inside of each other's personal bubble while also violating the personal bubble of a Betamax player and a small TV screen. They are in the back of Harley's shop. Eustace let himself in, thinking Harley was gone, and Ralph was there, smoking his evening cigar. Ralph looked at Eustace. Made a sort of tongue click sound. Then looked down and said, "Nice sweater," with no further comment. The three had slipped past Ralph into the back, into Eustace's domain.
Eustace is just glad no one else saw him. [14]
He hits play and the scene on the TV shows one of the rooms from the Love Tunnel. One with a maroon sort of them. In it, a group of people, very naked and on display except for...accessories...are in the room and a guy...well, the guy is standing and making broad hand gestures like he is directing a scene. Eustace realizes this is exactly what he is doing. He is giving instructions to four women. [15]
"Of course, the cameras," he says, "Why would a secret sex dungeon be crawling with cameras? It wasn't about the sex. It's a damned big hotel. Lots of places for sex. It was about recording sex. They were making porn."
Elly and Jenny keep chewing their lips and trying to enjoy the show. The guy is older. Maybe of Indian or Middle-Eastern Descent. Well hung. One of the women is older, same rough age. Very fine. Very fit. Asian. Chinese? Korean? Eustace can't tell. She's on the bed with a couple of other women. Those two are black. Younger. About Eustace's age maybe. Kind of hard to tell at this angle. A fourth woman, somewhere in between as far as ages go, is white and very curvy and smoking a joint at the back of the room. The older woman and one of the younger black women has on...well...
"See, I told you, intimacy devices. Attachable intim..."
"Shut up, Eu," Elly says.
"Oh wait, there is sound, let me turn it up."
With sound, they can hear the directions the older guy is giving that are clearly putting the older lady as the center of the shot with the others essentially fitting around her like jigsaw pieces. An argument starts up when the very stoned white woman makes a joke about the older lady being too flat chested to be the focus of the scene. The white woman points to her own much larger breasts and says she should be the start of this production. The older lady starts shouting something about how the white woman should take the money and keep her mouth shut, only...
The clearly agitated, and decently drunk or stoned sounding older lady goes to crawl over the other woman on the bed and hop out to get closer to the insulter in an almost overly dramatic, amateur acting sort of way—Eustace can not tell if this is part of the production or not— and stumbles hopping down, catches one of the cables on the floor that hooks up to the camera. The older lady tilts forward as the person who had been previously taunting her tries to catch her, and then falls fully into the shelf near the bed—holding more of those so-called intimacy devices—and her head striking the corner makes a sound not unlike a watermelon being struck by a baseball bat.
The room goes quiet as everyone else is staring down. Then the man barks to clear the bed. He bends over, picks up the either clearly dead or clearly incapacitated body, attachment and all, and toss it on the bed. He grabs a candle and...
Elly gasps loudly and Eustace can hear her tears without looking. "He set her on fire. OH fuck god fuck shit he fucking burned her. Was she dead? Did he kill her?"
Jenny is visibly shaking and starting to freeze up and Eustace shouts, "No, wait, Jenny, don't..." and starts to slap his hand down to turn it off or break the TV or whatever comes first so Jenny can get clear when he hears the voice from behind them...
"What are you watching?" [16]
Morgan is slowly rocking back and forth, going, "Oh!"
"Um, Hitomi, what is this?," Daphne asks.
Across the street, a cop car is parked with its lights flashing. Someone is moving around in Ralph's shop. Hitomi cocks her head but does not hear sirens of any other cops approaching, so they probably have a little time. [17]
"Daphne, I need a huge favor. Big time, full on, younger sister needs her bigger sister to take care of her favor. No shits. No giggles. Do not pass go."
"Ok."
"I need you to run to that payphone. Take this quarter. Call dad. Tell him to get Jeremiah."
"James? The lawyer?"
"Yes. Tell dad that the man I am going to marry has just been arrested for a crime he did not commit."
Daphne stares before asking, loudly, "The WHAT?!"
Morgan let's out a particularly shrill little "oh" but keeps rocking.
"Fuck it, I got you, bitch, but you owe me a long story...absolutely not a guy my ass..." says Daphne as she takes off running to do what Hitomi asked.
Updates to Progress Tracks
Nothing gained on the dog show arc (which feels very minor and might be more a coda) but the Rambler arc gets another flashpoint with watching the tape and its aftermath while there will be two more points of progress for Daphne connecting the Amy thing when no one else had. Martin Reed being a bit slimy I will not count as progress, yet, but that fact will likely show up in later scenes of progress. It feels like it is going to go quickly after this.
| The Mystery of the Rambler's Inn | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5F | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10F | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15F | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20E |
| P | P | P | P | F | F | P | P | F | F | ||||||||||
| Shenanigans at the Dog Show | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5F | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10E |
| P | P | P | P | F | F | ||||
New Characters and Threads
+ Character: The other three women. They are significant enough that they should likely be separated but for now until we know more, it will just be "one".
+ Character: Dr. Roman Patel. Once we got love tunnels, with cameras, and the site of an accident, I figured the primary justification to both earlier hints that Dr. Patel was talking about buying out the Rambler and as to why Amy might be staying there was something her dad had did. I tested to see if the mom had left or not, got the very much not (not just a no, but exceptionally no, which felt significant), and what the dad did grew from there. Only, I tried to make the mom a much more willing participant (a joyful star, up until the accident). It's not so much murder as a panicked husband trying to protect his wife's honor, essentially. Only with witnesses that may or may not be ok. So maybe murder.
+ Character: Ephy James. I haven't a scooby doo who Ephy James is but I typed it as a joke and he will remain in until this entire arc is complete. I dare you, RNG.
+ Thread: What Happened to the Other Women? Likely the biggest question. We know someone, maybe not Amy Patel, did something to sneak into those tunnels. A friend of theirs? I don't know.
+ Thread: The Break Up. Kind of like Ephy James, this is here for flavor. We know from 2027 Hitomi Delmont's version of how her and Eustace met that Frank and Daphne get divorced. This suggests they get back together eventually.
+ Thread: The Disappearance of Dr. Patel. I need to come up with info about Amy's mom but that can wait until next time.
Behind the Scenes: Rescuing Eustace + Hitomi
If you go to the commentary of the very first Eustace post, before it changed to Eustace & Hitomi, I have a long list of the kind of changes the series went through over the past week. What we might call "The Great Rewrite" though very little was actually rewritten on the front-end. It was Operation Rescuing Eustace + Hitomi.
The series stalled and slightly restarted three or so times before finally fully relaunching with Chapter 6 which was kind of meant to be the original final ending of Chapter 3. Frankly, I am glad it stalled long enough that I had to spend some time thinking about it.
The individual changes are too numerous to list again but here are the many main highlights if you want to just keep going with this post and not go back:
- Hitomi was back-written into the narrator from the start and was given a voice, albeit as 51-year-old Hitomi Delmont, right off the bat. As I mention in one of the updated commentaries, the original editor was just sort of myself self-inserting and "fixing" the story. It did not get fully locked down as Hitomi in the end of the first chapter and then was sort of awkwardly added through Chapter 3 after which it was chopped. The original idea is kind of clever and I might revisit with the dice rolls and such being a fiction retelling of a story I have to convert into real-world-language after the fact, but no promises.
- The series now acknowledges that Hitomi is not some "main-secondary" character but as a fully main-main character which she has been since she was introduced at the end of Chapter 1. Eustace Delmont and the Case of the Rambler's Inn is dead, long live Eustace & Hitomi.
- Likewise, some characters added later were cheated into early patches. Morgan is the most obvious example. We find out that her and Hitomi are still friends 30-years-later and she was the maid of honor at Hitomi's and Eustace's wedding.
- Nearly ever bit of AI-generated art was removed except for the cover of Ghosthearts in Chapter 3 which pre-existed the blog and was a joke between another librarian and I about 90s-young-adult fiction. I have no regrets about it.
- In its place, fake-newsprint art was created to head the posts and act as additional backstory and commentary.
- The series was generally rebalanced as a lot more slice-of-life with mystery elements rather than the slice-of-life bits being written as a temporary distractions.
- Maidenstead was regularly talked about being pretty tiny early on but now is, essentially, big enough. Like a lot of fictional towns, it kind of grows where it needs and shrinks if it gets too big.
- Future sight was mostly stricken. Daphne and Frank are no longer said to die at the end of this story. There is no guarantee there will be a "surprising gunfight." A few pieces were left in but mostly have already come to pass. Except broad claims that Eustace & Hitomi go on to have a fruitful career being together and solving other mysteries.
- Several bits of dialogue generated via oracle roles got cleaned up to feel more natural while still honoring the rolls.
- Lots and lots of grammar and logic patches.
- Which means I probably broke a lot more grammar and logic. That's fine.
Overall though, I did not change the overall format or mood of the original posts and I did not change any of the oracle tests or roll outcomes though a couple of times I did call out where some of my past decisions were a little strange. It was clear that I had a few places, especially in the middle, where I would make two or three rolls and then get it wrong where they applied.
New posts will continue the news-print art at the top with the CREDITS discussing where it came from and how I got it to where it was (and why). Songs from the 90s will show up as lyrics. The days of the week and dates got confused several times so I mostly ignored all that and just set a specific date for this post that will be the new calendar.
The ten or so hours it took me to do all that really helped to remind myself of characters and ideas and such, while giving me the freedom to tighten up the story so characters can be better explored and explained.
It was very worth it.
DOUG'S COMMENTARY
Fun fact, this post was originally posted with the title "Pressing Play on Murder" but I realized that as of yet, probably no murders took place. Probably.
Before I get into the more serious elements I want to state that Tammy might be my favorite character in this whole campaign.
This is very much so a "Why we play solo rpgs" example. It had a slight road map—mostly meant to balance out the Eustace and Hitomi scenes and really catch the series back up to a more reasonable pace—that went from 1) Eustace gets the costume, 2) They go to Ralph's, 3) Hitomi talks to Patrick. See where it went from there. Instead, a few prompts and a few moments of intuition brought back a character that had essentially been cut—Daphne Meyer—and gave several secondary characters—Jenny, Elly, Morgan, and Daphne—and, to a lesser degree, a couple of tertiary characters—Amy Patel and Martin Reed—development and very necessary "screen time." In the latter cases, they were meant to be the secondary characters and pre-date Hitomi as being added.
That is all good and great and I adore just letting things go so they can settle back into the more slice-of-life mode of this overall campaign which helps to actually drive it deeper into the current mystery harder than the previous few posts (love tunnel episde excepting).
Only, several bits were fairly tricky if not outright rough to write and play. Let's address them in essentially the order they show up.
The Cross-Dressing Gag: I am against gender-swapping as a source of humor or ready gags—clearly I violate this own rule since Hitomi = gender-swapped Shaggy has been used at least once as a kind of joke—but that doesn't mean someone is going to be comfortable being gender-swapped. In the same way that I am open to gender-queerness and sexual orientations as just a default state of reality in all of my game worlds, I also consider defending someone's cisgender-ness or heterosexuality as important. My main characters tend to be broadly pansexual—because I am broadly pansexual (hah, fat queer man humor), though at my age, I prefer "tired-sexual"—but Eustace strikes me as the sort of guy wouldn't necessarily like sticking out from his kind of bland nerd clothing. I had to give a fair amount of thought about how he would respond to it. Not really upset (besides the beard). Just kind of put out. I am not sure if I got it right but I gave it my best.
Jenny's Backstory and Implied Trauma: Since Jenny was created as Elly's partner but I tend to leave things like gender-identity to the random rolls, her being a her leads to lesbian relationship. The problem being is that when working out she was bothered by Elly's relationship with Eustace I first went with jealousy. I didn't want this to turn into a toxic relationship so there ended being a bit where I tweaked that to her having trouble trusting people and free-wrote a bit about there being some issue with her parents. Aunt Elvis (purely a background character for now) took Jenny in and helped Jenny to heal. Still, some scars run a bit deep. I don't want Jenny to become a stereotype of the partner that can move past her past, so the main point of the first scene was Jenny making a kind of peace with Eustace as a step towards growing. Then when the tape showed up and I played that out in a way that made sense, I had to deal with the fact that someone who has some trauma in her past has just seen some new trauma. I will need to actually contemplate what this means.
The Disappearance of Dr. Patel: We now know at least some of the bad stuff that kicked these things off. Only, even knowing that I would broadly lead to Dr. Roman Patel being why his daughter showed up to investigate the Rambler [from an early stage, there were hints that something was up with Amy's dad, if nothing else because we know the newspaper article about the Rambler case reads, "Local Nerd Nearly Dies Exposing Corrupt Banker"]. It was kind of my story note to myself from near the beginning, but one I was leaving vague. The problem was that the main mystery has been so back seated by other things that it never really had a chance to come about or get disproven. Humorously, maybe, Amy Patel and her issues with her dad—as well as an absent mom—were first "spoiled" by The GLOW. The trick being that having the mom being sucked into some kink she was not willingly participating was right out and I also didn't necessarily like a woman described in both series as a fairly strong character being too milquetoast—Dr. Patel would gladly bust Dr. Patel's balls—so I wrote the scene in a way that it clear she was not only a participant but also a driving force. It was a mutual adult experience until an accident flavored it. What happens next I do not know.
Finally, let's get to the MUSICAL SHOUT OUT. Today's album was Buffalo Tom's Big Red Letter Day. Despite being a kid very much of the late-80s and early-90s, I am not greatly nostalgic about the music and culture. Which has been a slight problem with this series since it inherently should lean into nostalgia or why not just set it in 2024-2025? I have been slacking but in the "Great Rewrite" I started thinking about ways I could not only anchor the posts into 1996—besides the much more casual smoking—but also deeper into the culture and types around the Gulf Coast region of Alabama. My lack of nostalgia means a lot of my old albums have lapsed. The physical media has either been put into storage or ceased to work except for the few I converted to as Ogg-Vorbis files since around 2004. When I decided the series needed some flair, I thought about how to gently incorporate music from the time period without going broke re-purchasing a bunch of albums I have not listened to in 20 years. I figure about once a week I'll pick up an album or two that might match one that Hitomi Meyer would play and then use that as a backdrop to flavor the post. The first one goes back to that first meeting when she mentioned Buffalo Tom. I picked up Big Red Letter Day and Sleepy Eyed, the only two albums by Buffalo Tom I played "back in the day." Several of the songs filtered in the mood of the session, but special shout out to "I'm Allowed" which was the first BT song I ever heard and one of the first "alternative rock" songs I fell in love with. It and "Summer," from Sleepy Eyed where often played by me in the swamps of Lower Alabama where it seemed like no one else knew who Buffalo Tom was. It was nice revisiting them.
MECHANICAL AND STORY NOTES
- Eustace gets no successes. Jenny gets no success. Both are at 2 resolve.
- Eustace gets a success. Jenny gets a success.
- Eustace gets a success. He has embraced the role. Jenny gets none. 1 Resolve.
- Jenny gets a success. She has finished the costume but is pretty tired.
- Hitomi gets zero successes.
- Eustace gets zero successes. Ah, well. Young love, eh?
- Is there still time to get to Patrick if they head right there? (50/50) → 38 Yes. Though with things happening in this scene, that might be shot.
- The Book of Random Tables: 1980s - 1990s, 90s Cars #2 → 69 Geo Metro ($8000). Knave, Colors → 52 Lilac. Meaning Tables: Descriptions → 33 Ferociously 8 Bright.
- Is Daphne parked near the gas pumps? (50/50) → 22. Yes, and Random Event. NPC. Martin Reed. Hinder Adversity. When I first glanced at that, I took that as him being a hinder, but rereading, I think this means he will try to help.
- Universal NPC Emulator 67 Plebeian 18 Preacher + 80 Corrupt 58 Vagrant. Motivation is 63 Offend 74 Modesty + 17 Contact 46 Faith. Like a randomly generated people, Martin contains multitudes.
- Does Daphne know Martin Reed? (Likely) → 41 Yes.
- I don't know if it was Brainy or Charming, Hitomi rolls 2d6 for both, but she got 1 success (a 6).
- Rolled 2d6 for Daphne in a more open roll. She get a single 4 as her highest. She has some idea of what is happening, but also not really.
- Eustace gets 0 successes. Down to a single Resolve. Eustace gets another 0 successes. He is out of Resolve which means he is out of control for the scene, basically.
- Knave, Colors, again → 65 Maroon. I hope Ben Milton is proud of what I am doing with his book. Eustace would normally have rolled here to recognize people but since he is out of resolve, tough for our boy. Image Oracles for the scene 5,3 Jigsaw Puzzle Piece + 6,3 Bank Vault. Speed puzzling to win a prize! I knew it! No, we'll take a slightly more metaphorical approach...things which lock together and a cash payment.
- You know, I was originally going to roll and figure out which cop it is and then play at that some but again, Eustace is out of Resolve for right now, instead, we are going to get a cheaty-little mid-scene shift to dial the tone down a little.
- Are there sirens? (50/50) → 76 No. Well, that's probably a good sign.
CREDITS
Eustace Delmont and The Case of the Rambler's Inn is played primarily using Richard Woolcock (Zadmar Games)'s Maidenstead Mysteries Tricubes one-sheet and Tana Pigeon's Mythic Gamemaster Emulator is used to handle a lot of the scene management and basic oracle checks. Various tables Tricube Tales Solo (also by Woolcock) and various articles from Mythic Magazine also show up.
Other sources used include:
- Cesar Capacle's Random Realities
- Madeline Hale's Table Fables: Modern
- Matt & Erin Davis's Book of Random Tables: Modern, Book of Random Tables: Eldritch, and Book of Random Tables: 1980s - 1990s
- Zach Best's Universal NPC Emulator.
The art from this one was modified from "Halloween Parade 2007: Scooby and the Mystery Machine Gang" by Gene Han, provided through Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial [ CC-BY-NC 2.0 ]. As is the standard for this series (at least, lately), the concept is to use art that could have been featured in the ficitional Maidenstead Monitor in the 80s and 90s (not always easy to find photos that do not obviously feature things that would have made no sense in context). Modifications to the original were made by using GIMP, running desaturation → distort/newsprint → posterization. I knew I wanted a costume party for this one and found a 2007 Halloween photograph that was perfect considering the theme of the first scene (and the running joke of the whole campaign). Thanks to all the people who posed and all for Gene for taking such a fun shot. Sorry I sent you all back in time to a place like Maidenstead.
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