Shaun Rice
United States
Long Island City
New York
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So I finally managed to play a series of 5 adventures in a row before dying (lol). So I thought I'd post them here in a session review and story format. Here is the first of Five - took me all day to plan and write out...its fairly long - but I'm happy how it turned out. Let me know what you think
Prologue
The Doctor (12/7/7)[Aware, Domination, Engineer, History, Medicine, Running, TARDIS, Tracking]
0a: Rolled for Psychic Paper & Adventure a426 (Earth 1962)/0b: N/A
1a: Rolled for Relax (May not relax again in Adventure)
The Doctor shook his head to clear his thoughts, which kept wandering back to Marcus- A good friend and companion who gave his life so he could reach the TARDIS and escape. He vows that it will be a long while before he lets anyone tagalong with him again – danger seems to seek him out. The loud wheezing of the TARDIS materializing at its set coordinates brings The Doctor to his senses again. Earth.
“Ah, good”, he said to himself, straightening his jacket. Earth was one of his favorite planets – So beautiful and often serene. If there was ever a time for some quiet reflection and relaxation, it is now. He pushed the big red button in the center of the TARDIS console, stuffed his Psychic Paper into his pocket and headed towards the sound of chirping birds and a not-so-distant Church bell.
The Doctor stepped out of the blue Police Box into the morning sun. He was in a large grassy green area surrounded by a sleepy village that had to be in England – early 1960s if he had to guess by style of cars parked here and there. He took a deep breath and the air seemed to soothe his soul. Looking around the village, his eyes were drawn to two large stone statues over near the far end of the green. They appeared to be stone Angels blessing the little village. “There we go”, he said as he headed that way. After about three strides, though, he stopped dead in his tracks – One of the Angels had just turned its head to look at him.
Part 1
1b: Rolled for Enemy Encounter (v529 Weeping Angel Scavengers). Roll for Enemy 2 Angels (4/8/5)
Round 1: Failed to Confront. Failed to Evade. Fight: Dr(12) v A2(11) = 1 Angel Stunned
Round 2: Failed to Confront. Failed to Evade. Fight: Dr(8) v A2(13) = Dr. Wounded
Round 3: Successful Confront.
“Weeping Angels…here?” thought The Doctor as the horrible realization of what these ‘Statues’ were hit him. Being careful not to take his eyes off the ‘Statues’, The Doctor began to back away from them- towards the village. The church bells had finished their ringing, signifying that it was 10 AM. He walked slowly as to keep his footing in the unfamiliar setting. 10 feet. 20 feet. 25 feet between him and the Angels. The Doctor stepped backwards and felt his balance being yanked out from under him. Two sounds filled the air: the cracking sound that the bottle made, slicing into The Doctor’s hand as he fell to the ground on top of it and a slight intake of air as he whipped his eyes back towards the Angles who had already covered the distance. Without blinking, he pulled a large shard of glass out of the palm of his right hand, and felt the blood start to flow. Then a thought occurred to him. He wiped the blood from the glass and held it in front of his face, still watching the Angels through the glass. Slowly he stood up and began to rotate on the spot, angling the glass so that as he turned it into the sun, its reflective surface still showed him that the Angles stood silently weeping. This remained the case as he walked down the road toward the old Church whose bells had just tolled. Once he reached the Church, he noticed that the streets of the village had started to show signs of life. Dropping the glass, he turned to glance toward the green, knowing that the Angels would have vacated the area for fear of being stuck in stone form by the looks of the coming villagers. He needed to find out how they got here and why.
Part 2
2a: Rolled for Rest (Failed to Heal)/2b: N/A
3a: Rolled for Rest (Healed Wound)/3b: Rolled for Location (e259 Church) + Location discovery (e253
Secret Passage) + Location discovery (e236 Old House)
4a: Rolled for Seek Information w/History (Add +1 to Seek Info on next turn)/4b: Rolled for Character
Event: (e224 Louisa James (7/4/6) [Charisma, History, Running, Screamer]). Failed Companion Role.
Successful Brain Roll (She knows something useful). Rolled for Goal Event (e237 Steal TARDIS)
The Doctor briskly strode toward the old stone church that lay at the end of the cobbled street. He rummaged in the pockets of his jacket for something to stop the bleeding of his still bleeding hand to no avail. “Blast,” he thought to himself – making a mental note to stuff some bandages in his pocket the next time he left the TARDIS for a quiet afternoon’s rest. The stone walls of the church made the air inside a little cooler and damper than it was out in the streets. The Doctor glanced around at the wooden pews and carvings on the wall – thankfully seeing no Angel statues in here, weeping or otherwise. The place seemed to be deserted. He noticed a small doorway off to his right, which appeared to lead into an office-type room and headed that way.
The office of the church contained a desk, small table with 2 chairs, several religious paintings on the wall – and an absolutely beautiful ornate bookcase that seemed to be chiseled out of the stones that made up the back wall. The Doctor, closing the door behind him, sat down at the desk and started to rummage. In the bottom drawer he found a small first aid kit and quickly fixed up his hand. Again, his attention was drawn to the bookshelf and the carvings that adorned the wall on either side. Here were some bas relief angles – on the left side was a stone depiction of the virgin Mary being visited by the Angels and on the right showed the Angels speaking to the shepherds in a field. He stood up and walked to the right side of the bookshelf – noticing that one of the animals in the sculpture seemed to be inverted. The shepherd was surrounded by 5 sheep, 4 of which were carved in great detail but the 5th was a mere outline. “Odd,” he said to himself and moved over to take a closer look at the Immaculate Conception on the right. No outlines here – just beautiful details. Though something seemed a little off about the Angel floating over Mary. The stone to the left of it seemed slightly worn, not so much as to be picked up by a casual observer – but The Doctor was hardly that. He reached out and touched the Angel and found that it easily slid to the right causing a faint clicking sound behind the bookshelf. He gave a quick glance around the room and then pushed the bookshelf open into a dark and dusty secret passage.
The Doctor walked through the cobweb filled tunnel for what he calculated was a quarter mile, sloping downward gently the entire time til he reached a door about 4 feet in height. The knob turned easily and opened up into the basement of one of the local houses. Dusty boxes and lawn upkeep equipment cluttered the room. Before he could open any of them or explore any further, however, the light popped on and he heard footsteps descending down the wooden steps to his right. Looking around, The Doctor stepped behind a large stack of boxes labeled ‘Books’. The footsteps reached the bottom of the staircase and started moving directly towards him. Suddenly, the box at the top of the stack he was hiding behind was moved away and before he could register who was looking back at him- the woman let out a horrified scream.
A young woman with mid-length brown hair pulled back in a pretty but scholarly way stood before him. She was dressed in that same pretty but scholarly way in a green top and flowered long skirt, reflecting the spring season – and had dropped the box of books, scattering them on the floor. “Sorry to startle you, Miss. My name’s The Doctor,” said The Doctor as he stood up and took a step towards the young lady.
“Oh, goodness…” said the young woman, shaking her head and laughing at herself a bit. “You gave me quite a start. Father O’Malley left a note at the school saying I could come over and pick up the books his congregation had collected for the library. I wasn’t expecting to find anyone down in his basement. My name’s Louisa. Louisa James, I’m a teacher at the primary down the road. You’re a Doctor?”
“Just a nickname of sorts – nice to meet you,” he said shaking her hand.
“What are you doing down here?”
“Building Inspection.” He held out his psychic paper, showing her the orders for an emergency inspection and bending down to start helping her re-box her spilled books.
“Oh, I see – checking for damage after that horrible electrical storm we had earlier?”
“Electrical storm?” The Doctor paused for a moment, thinking . “Yes. That’s Right. It seems beautiful out now at least – did you witness the storm?”
“Oh, yes. I’m sure everyone in the village must have seen it. Very odd – Not a cloud in the sky and then about 9:30, all of the sudden, the thunder started. It was the loudest thunder I’d ever heard – and Lightning struck 10 or 15 times out in the village green. Actually struck the ground – we were lucky there wasn’t a fire actually. The strangest thing was the sun was shining the entire time – and obviously there was no rain. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
The Doctor’s brain went into overdrive – he began thinking aloud, as he was prone to do. “Sounds like a rift – a Temporal Rift. That’s how they got here. Stranded probably. Damn. They’ll head straight for the TARDIS. They’ll be drawn to its energy like moths to the flame. I’ve got to do something soon or the TARDIS will be destroyed. If only there was a way to reopen the drift…”
“What,” Louisa started. “A rift? What are you talking about Doctor? Whats a TARDIS?”
“Oh,” said The Doctor, coming back to his newly found ally, “My…lab you might say. Louisa, I’m not just here to look for damage. That electrical storm you saw wasn’t a normal run-of-the-mill storm. I believe it was something we scientists refer to as a Rift or crack in Space. And I think something may have come out of that crack – something not very nice.”
“A crack in Space?” said Louisa skeptically.
“Yes – these cracks don’t just appear anywhere – there has to be something special about the village green that made it more susceptible to a rift. I need to find out what that is – and fast. Or everyone in your village will be in terrible danger.”
“Well,” said Louisa, “we can go visit my aunt Jean. She’s an archaeologist and probably knows more about this area than anyone around. But what kind of danger, Doctor. It was just lightning.”
“The worst kind – where’s this Aunt Jean of yours?”
Part 3
5a: Rolled for Research History (No Effect)/5b: Rolled for Character Event (e050 2 Local Police
(3/6/6)[Marksman,Tracking,Toop] – Nothing useful to tell us)
6a: Rolled for Move (Move to Jean Martin (8/2/6)[Aware, Charisma, History, Science] ). Successful
Brain roll.
Louisa led the Doctor upstairs and out of Father O’Malley’s house. The house itself had seen better days and the grounds were in desperate need of a gardener. “So this house belongs to Minister of the local church?”
“Well, it belongs to the Church. Father O’Malley sort of inherited it when he came to the village a few months ago. Very nice man. Father James passed away earlier this year. He’d been the local minister ever since I was little. Very sad – he died very suddenly in his sleep one night. No one even knew his health was failing. The whole village was heartbroken when Father O’Malley was sent here – and he worked very hard to help us though. He’s been doing a lot of charitable works lately – like the book drive for the school library and organizing a baking ring that visits the local hospital once a month with cookies and things.”
“Sounds like a lovely man, I hope I get to meet him while I’m here.”
The pair turned a corner at the end of the road and passed 2 local policeman, who were laughing and heading into a café. “Quiet town,” he noted.
“Oh yes – very. I love it here. Ah, here we are”
Louisa knocked on the door of a quaint little white house with an earthy colored tile roof. A few moments later, Jean Martin opened the door. She was a little elderly woman of about 70 with a puff of slightly unkempt white hair and a pair of blue eyes that still had the fire of a 20 year old behind them. “Louisa!” she exclaimed at the sight of her favorite niece and her companion. “What a pleasant surprise – I wasn’t expecting you until dinner on Friday. Come in. Come in.” And shuffled the two into a very homey living room area. “Who is your handsome friend?”
“This is The Doctor, Aunt Jean.”
The Doctor shook Jean’s hand with great enthusiasm and proclaimed, “Pleasure to meet you Mrs. Martin. Louisa tells me you’re THE authority on this village – and what lies beneath it. Of which I am very interested in talking to you about.”
“Oh,” laughed Jean, “she’s right of course. And call me Jean – Mrs. Martin makes me feel like I’m 100. Let me put on the kettle – have a seat,” and she gestured to a set of cozy chairs surrounding a coffee table as she strode out of the room. A few moments later, she returned saying, “Unusual weather this morning. Did you see the lightning storm earlier?”
“No, must have just missed it actually – but that’s what I wanted to speak with you about.”
“The lightning?”
“Aunt Jean, The Doctor seems to think that it wasn’t just lightning – but that a, what did you call it? A temporal rift opened up letting some aliens loose in the village”, Louisa laughed slightly at the last part of her statement, glancing at her Aunt.
Jean simply looked back at Louisa and said, “Well, with the Salt and Nickel saturation in the ground under the village green – I can see why the lightning behaved that way, but aliens…”
“Salt and Nickel saturation?” questioned The Doctor.
“Oh yes,” replied Jean, settling into her academic posture, “It made the whole area unfit for farming back when the village was first established. Before this area was populated at all, there were Salt and Nickel mines below the town. There was a huge collapse of the mines in the 1790s that cause the saturation. Oh the land here is perfectly safe now – but with so much salt and metal in the soil for so many miles down, it made it impossible to farm. In the early 1830s, the locals started hauling soil in form surrounding areas, trying to build up the tolerance for crops – but it never took. The grass grew well enough, but nothing that would producing a profit. When the village started to grow, they just built around it and kept it as a common area. So you see – with all the concentration of salt and metal, lightning would almost be drawn to it.”
“That’s it!” cried The Doctor, jumping to his feet. He sat right back down and turned to Jean and Louisa. “Now listen to me very carefully. What I tell you is going to sound fantastic – but this is a matter of life and death not only for us but for the entire planet. The saturation of Nickel and Salt in the soil must have made this spot susceptible to drawing what is called a Temporal Rift. When a star collapses, or dies, it sends off massive amounts of energy that diffuse the longer they travel through space –but sometimes remnants of energy from opposing stars collide. The collision causes a tiny crack or rift in space that can last a moment or last a lifetime. They form a sort of gateway between other rifts. I believe one such rift opened in your village green this morning. And very unfortunately for this planet, I also believe that Temporal Creatures known as Weeping Angels were somehow caught in this rift and stranded here on Earth. These creatures are not like anything you’ve ever seen before – they live in a Temporal state, feeding off Energy. Their physiology is quantum-locked, so that they only occupy a single position in space when seen by an observer. When they are not observed they become a "quantum wave form" that occupies many positions in space. Therefore, they turn to stone when observed- often covering their eyes so that they will not see each other and lock them forever in stone form, but can move extremely quickly when unseen – literally in the blink of an eye.”
“But Doctor, how do you know what these creatures are? How can you be sure?” asked Jean.
“They are something we’ve been studying for a while from afar you see.”
“We?”
“Yes,” he said pulling out his psychic paper, “I’m from a ‘top secret’ government branch that studies outer space phenomena. “
Jean looked at Louisa, “I knew it – he gave off a ‘government’ vibe – no offense Doctor, I do quite like you anyway.”
“None taken… Now, what we have to do is figure out how to spark the rift open – that is, assuming that the other side hasn’t fizzled out yet. “
“How do we do that?” asked Louisa, still a little unsure of how much of this she believed.
“What I need from you, Jean, is surveys of the land the village was built on. I need to see where the greatest saturation of minerals lies.”
“Oh, I’ve got plenty of surveys from throughout the years – I’ve just got to find them…”
Several hours later, the plans had been found, several sausage sandwiches had been eaten and The Doctor had figured out where the densest saturation of minerals was in the land underneath the village green. “Right here, in the dead center of the green it looks like. I believe that’s near where I left the TARDIS actually. Right.”
“Now what?” asked Louisa.
“I think I can find a way to use the TARDIS to open this rift – but I’ve got to get back to the green. Jean…have you got any mirrors handy?”
“Mirrors?”
Part 4
6b: Rolled for Enemy Event (2 Angels (4/8/5)). Successful Bravery Roll (Louisa). # Angels < #
Characters (Angels frozen). Successful Aware (End Event)
7a: Rolled to Plan to Increase Brains (Fail)/7b: Rolled for Event(1) (e151 Brutal Death). Successful
Medicine roll (Gain Clue)
8a: Rolled to Plan to Increase Brains (Fail)/8b: Rolled for Event(2) (e124 Full Moon). Rolled for event
modifier (e229 Night Terrors). Successful Bravery roll (Jean)
9a: Rolled to Plan to Increase Brains (Fail)/9b: N/A
The Doctor led the way back to the green, all three of them carrying full length mirrors with them. The village seemed abandoned, with all the windows shut and hardly any sounds coming from the houses. ‘At least I won’t have to explain to any of my students parents why their teacher is running around town with a bunch of mirrors,’ thought Louisa. As the reached the edge of the green, The Doctor stopped.
“What is it?” asked Louisa.
“A pair of Angels…there,” he pointed to the 2 stone statues near the blue Police Box in the center of the green. “Not to worry tho, Since there’s more us than them – they’ll be stuck in statue form, but lets make sure they don’t bother us while we work shall we… They proceeded to set up the mirrors so that a reflection was caught in every direction – keeping the Angels at bay for the moment.
“They are magnificent,” said Jean as she looked at the terrible statues, “like a Michelangelo.”
“Except a Michelangelo doesn’t want to eat you – don’t get to close Aunt Jean.”
“I’m just going to pop in the TARDIS for a moment to see if I cant find something to help reopen this rift…won’t be a moment,” said The Doctor as he strode toward the Police Box.
Louisa looked up at the sky – a full moon. ‘Great,’ she thought, ‘and the crazies are definitely out tonight.’ She’d been backing up slowly, further from those horrible statues, when she felt something behind her. She turned and screamed. On the ground in the grass lay Father O’Malley – obviously dead. The Doctor hadn’t quite closed the door to the TRADIS when he heard the scream. Both he and Jean ran to Louisa’s side.
“Father O’Malley,” said Jean, “how awful – he was such a nice man.”
The Doctor bent down to examine the body. The man was dead – his neck had been snapped –well, more like twisted completely backwards. He also had horrible scratches up and down his body, his clothes were in tatters. “Interesting,” he said, “ The Angels generally don’t physically attack someone this way – they sort of just drain you of your energy. It appears he either made them very mad….or they were looking for something that he had on him.” A few feet away from the body, The Doctor spotted something familiar. “Ah, I’ve seen this before,” he said as he picked up the stone carving of a sheep.
“What’s that Doctor?” asked Jean.
“This is why Father O’Malley was attacked – lets go find out why shall we….”
Part 5
10a: Rolled to Plan to Increase Brains (Success)/10b: Rolled for Event(2) (e250 Time Lord Fob-watch).
Being a Time Lord (e005 A Time Lord Quest). Rolled for Quest (2/The Master Reborn).
11a: Rolled to Defeat Enemy (Enemy Event). 5 Angels (4/8/5). Unsuccessful Bravery roll (Louisa).
Roll to Confront/Oppose (Success).
The trio entered the church and headed for the office, The Doctor leading the way.
“Louisa,” Jean said a little shakily, “you go with The Doctor. I’m going to stay in here for a moment. I think we could do with a little prayer – and I think Father O’Malley deserves a prayer in his name as well.”
“Of course, Aunt Jean. We won’t be long.”
Louisa left her Aunt to her prayers and ran into the office just as The Doctor was placing the carved sheep into the bas relief of the Shepherds and Angels on the left side of the bookshelf in the back of the room and heard a faint clicking sound. To her amazement, she watched as The Doctor began to push the stone further into the wall, revealing a small compartment beneath. The Doctor reached into the compartment and pulled out a silver looking pocket-watch covered in strange symbols.
“What is it, Doctor?” she asked as she walked up next to him.
“Its called a Fob-Watch. I don’t know how Father O’Malley would have come to own this – but I think it is just what we need to trigger the remnants of the rift.” He grabbed a paperclip off the desk and began tinkering with the insides of the watch. “There …” he said smiling, “I can short circuit it here – and if I’m anywhere near the center of the green – and the remnants of the rift are still active – then the it should open just long enough to send the Angels back where they came from….as long as they’re in the green with us.”
“That’s not much of a sure-fire plan is it?”
The Doctor looked at Louisa for a moment and then smiled, “Nope…” he said as he strolled out of the room and called Jean and Louisa to follow him.
“Doctor,” how are we going to get those creatures down into the green so you can send them off?” inquired Jean. She looked much more composed after her moment in the church – that fire back in her eyes.
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” he said – looking towards the TARDIS at the 4 Angel statues that were now surrounding it. “Common – and try not to blink…”
The trio slowly started to walk onto the green towards the statues – suddenly Louisa began to shake. “Doctor, I can’t….I can’t do it…” Jean glanced at her and looked as though she meant to chastise some bravery back into her but as she watched, a fifth Angel appeared right in front of Louisa. Louisa screamed and froze in place – lost in the Angels eyes.
“Jean – keep you eyes on the other four in the center of the green!” shouted The Doctor as he ran towards the TARDIS and the stone circle surrounding it. Jean turned her attention to the quartet as The Doctor dove to the ground and pulled the paperclip out of the clock. Suddenly a huge crash rumbled through the area and several excruciatingly bright flashes of light cracked through the air. Jean blinked, trying to clear the spots from her eyes. The statues were gone – all of them. Louisa lay on the grass a few feet away. She ran over to her, joined by The Doctor who began to examine her.
“She’ll be fine,” he concluded as she began to come to – moaning and blinking and generally disoriented.
“Aunt Jean? What’s going on here? Who are you?”
“Yes, dear – you’re looking much better,” said Jean smiling.
“I’m The Doctor Ms. James. You’ve had a nasty fall, but it looks like you’re going to be fine now. Whats the last thing you remember?”
“uhm….I was heading over to pick up the books that Father O’Malley had collected for the school library.”
“Father O’Malley!” Jean exclaimed, standing,”I’d forgotten all about him. Doctor…he was lying right over there…where’d he go?”
The Doctor walked over to the spot where they had left the body of the dead priest. She was right – it was gone. As he bent to examine the ground – he heard a maniacal laugh in the back of his brain. One that he knew very well. One from his past. It was the laugh of The Master – his oldest enemy. But The Master was killed long ago…or had he survived and been hiding out here on Earth. Somehow, even though it seems impossible, it began to make sense. The only reason a country priest would be in possession of a Time Lord Fob-Watch...The Master. Waiting for a temporal event to jumpstart his Fob-Watch and be reborn.
“I’m afraid he may have been taken into the Rift.” Said The Doctor to Jean. No reason to bring them into this plot any further. “For the best, actually. Now people won’t be searching for a murder that doesn’t exist. He can have been ‘called away’ to a new location by the Church.”
“Father O’Malley?” questioned Louisa “I don’t remember anything….”
“Yes that’s best, Doctor.” said Jean turning back to Louisa. “I’m afraid he had to leave dear – called away by the church. Don’t you worry about it. Lets get you back to my house and I’ll make some of that potato and leek stew you like so much.”
“Yes – lots of rest – Don’t over-exert yourself…you’ll be right as rain in a day or two Miss..Doctor’s orders.” smiled the Doctor as the two woman walked away from the green.
“Good-bye, Doctor,”called Jean over her shoulder, “Thanks for everything!”
The Doctor waved and walked slowly to the TARDIS. Earth- one of his favorite planets – So beautiful and often serene. He listened to the crickets chirping and glanced up at the full moon overhead before opening the door of the Police Box and going inside.
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“I knew it – he gave off a ‘government’ vibe – no offense Doctor, I do quite like you anyway.”
Fabulous!
I liked it. And I liked the foreshadowing. I assume we'll see the Master later in the pentology?
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Shaun Rice
United States
Long Island City
New York
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Thanks
Yeah - when I rolled for my Time Lord Quest, the result was the rebirth of the Master and to face him as your next enemy. It was a tough one since he's a Dm -1 and TECHNICALLY I was playing with Scaling which means I shouldn't have had to face him for a bit (lol) - but it worked out....
It was fun to go back through the game results and work out plot points to tie everything together, knowing the end so I could work in bits to come back to lol.
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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This is an absolute belter of a session report - thanks for sharing it.
Getting players to have such a great thematic experience that mirrors a TV episode is why the game was designed in the first place.
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