Summerwood (Monsterhearts 2)

Game Master neonblues

As JJ reads the last of the incantation, Trixie continues to sink into the floor, a pitiful and fearful expression on their slowly liquifying face. They are now an amorphous, kaleidoscopic blob with some vaguely human features left, and those are gradually melting away.

"I guess I can't blame you... hahahaha....."

With that, Trixie disappears beneath the floor's surface and the glowing runes fade away. The six of you are now alone in the library.

"Okay, hands up. Who knew demons were a thing?!"

"Not me, that's for sure. And I guess you're a warlock, JJ?" says Ashton, looking in his roommate's direction. "Oh, that's why you didn't want me to talk to Deirdre. You knew! Man, and I guess I kind of owe you an apology, Deirdre. In my defense, Trixie did a killer Deirdre impression. And you did actually threaten to beaten me up."

"And I guess a deal's a deal," says Ashton, who then starts to take his shirt off; he's still kind of tipsy, after all. "This is just for JJ, everyone. Hayden, you better keep your phone in your pocket, okay?"

"This? This isn't even my phone. I'm just checking to see if it has charge..." Her smile made it clear she wasn't even trying to be convincing.

"Keep your shirt on, man. I didn't do it for that." JJ says, with a small amount of internal reluctance. "And no, I didn't know what she was, at the time, I just had a bad feeling about the situation."

"As for the warlock bit.. Something like that." He closes the book, tucking it firmly under one arm, spine hidden. "It's all fairly.. new."

"Well, my shirt was going to come off at some point tonight regardless," says Ashton, but he stops disrobing. "This does raise a lot of questions. Why was that thing so fascinated by us? It seemed determined to make us, specifically, miserable. And how'd you know how to stop it, JJ?"

"Well I kind of assumed they exist, you know with every culture having some sort of demon or evil spirits. Never thought I'd actually interact with one..."

"Well, the demon could read our minds, knew 'our darkest secrets', and probably wanted to use them against us. Create conflict, sow chaos."

JJ looks around at everyone. "The question is, what ARE those secrets? Given that we've just seen a demon, I just used magic to banish it, and who knows what else might be real, I doubt it's little crap like being in the closet or cheating on tests..."

"The more people who know a secret, the less threatening it getting out becomes. You already know mine. So fess up, guys. Now's the time."

"So it was a demon? And JJ is a warlock and sent it back to Hell! And Ashton is a werewolf! And Xavier is a ghost!" Deirdre babbles with wide eyes, trying to understand everything that just happened. She feels a bit light-headed. "I think... I think I need to sit down for a bit..."

"I got nothing. Maybe it was going after us in order to get to you, JJ. Since you are a warlock and everything. When did that happen, exactly? Have you been casting spells in our dorm room without telling me?" says Ashton, raising an eyebrow. "And where'd you get that book? It's hella creepy."

"No offense, JJ, but there are people here whose full names I don't know. Not really excited to have people paw through my underwear drawer and read my diary on a first date, y'know?"

Shut Down JJ (Pest?): 2d6 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (2, 5) - 1 + 1 = 7

"Dee's got a good point though; there's other spooky going on tonight. X? You want to show off?"

I'll say the Pest bonus will work for Hayden's Shut Down.

One of the books slides out of the bookshelf and onto the floor. You can see that it's a copy of Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor.

"Well, that's a yes. Those assembled, Xavier; Xavier, this is JJ, Eva, Ashton, and a dark, handsome, and mysterious stranger. Dee you've already met of course."

I'll take a string then

"Oh great, now there is a ghost. I guess next one of you will tell the rest of us you're a vampire, werewolf, or some sort of Frankensteinian monstrosity..." Fahed said rubbing his temples

"Wait, a ghost? Named Xavier? Uhh..." starts Ashton. "I'm gonna suppress my inner skeptic for a moment given all that's gone down tonight but are we sure we can trust him? The last spooky creature that we dealt with was dedicated to messing with us, after all."

Shut Someone Down: 2d6 - 1 ⇒ (3, 4) - 1 = 6

The talking board that Deirdre is holding rattles twice in protest.
Xavier takes a string on Ashton.

"This is all very interesting." Eva says with a pleased smile as she curiously looks at each of the group. "My reading would suggest that ghosts, demons, warlocks, and fairy princesses are generally considered to be fictional entities and yet I have experienced each of these in just one night. I am learning much that I did not expect to."

"I'm gonna need you to repeat that last one," says Ashton. "Who's a fairy princess? Also, who are you again? How did you get caught up in all of this?"

Eva looks at Ashton and blinks before repeating herself, as requested " I am learning much that I did not expect to." That done, she holds out her hand and smiles. Hello Ashton, my name is Eva and it is very nice to meet you. I am a student from Iceland. I was invited to this party where I have made friends with Deirdre and Hayden, who is a fairy princess. I also met a boy called Sam who told me about the monster that looked like his dead friend but was a demon."

"We've really gotta get you those 'I'm Kidding' signs, Eva." Hayden rolls her eyes with a grin and explains to Ashton, "Eva's sarcasm detector's on the fritz. I do actually have a pair of undies that say 'Faerie Princess' on the butt, but tonight's been odd enough without reading too far into that."

Eva shakes her head. "I do not have a sarcasm detector," she says to Hayden. "so it can not be broken. Perhaps I should acquire one? I am not very proficient at detecting sarcasm."

"I got nothing. Maybe it was going after us in order to get to you, JJ. Since you are a warlock and everything. When did that happen, exactly? Have you been casting spells in our dorm room without telling me?" says Ashton, raising an eyebrow. "And where'd you get that book? It's hella creepy."

"The whole magic thing is all new, believe me. Nothing before tonight."

He glances down at the book under his arm. "As for this, I don't know where it came from. I think it's alive, to some degree. It definitely likes me. "

"And now 'living' looks get added to the list... awesome."

"I do actually have a pair of undies that say 'Faerie Princess' on the butt, but tonight's been odd enough without reading too far into that."

Deirdre turns away from the crazy revelations going on around her and leans closer to Hayden. "I'd like to read into that sometime. Maybe you can show me those panties later..." she whispers, breath tickling the blonde's ear.

Turn On, Lover Bonus: 2d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6, 4) + 2 + 1 = 13

I'll take a String on Hayden and she can choose how to react.

Hayden gives Deirdre a twinkling smile, a little more heat in her eyes than is purely mischievous, and replies, "Later it is. But for now we've got to play Show-Sam-and-Dean before we can play Sam-and-Dean-from-my-fic. But I promise, I won't keep you from climbing my tower forever."

"I never thought I'd be the first one to say this but...maybe we should call it a night? Try to figure out what's going on in a quieter place, where we aren't all drunk? Or at least, where I'm not drunk?"

Deirdre nods. "Yeah, let's head back to the dorm before another creepy creature comes out of the woodwork."

"Well before we leave..." Hayden's gaze fixes on a spot a little bit above the Ouija Board, "Xav? Can you follow us out of here? Or would we just be ditching you?"

The Ouija board struggles its way out of Deirdre's hands, falls to the floor, and opens up. The planchette spells out: CANFOLLOWBOARD
And after a short pause: TAKEBOARDPLEASE

"Sure thing! You've got that right, Dee? Hey, umm... how far away from that can you see us?"

Xavier writes back: NOTSURE

Deirdre picks up the spirit board. "Don't worry, I'll keep it close by."

Hayden quirks an eyebrow at Deirdre, "But maybe not too close all the time, right?"

Deirdre gives Hayden a wink. "Of course. Only when it's appropriate."

You all meet back up with Jess and learn that she has some personal business to attend to elsewhere. The rest of you manage to squeeze into Deirdre's car and she drives you all to Fitzhugh Hall without incident.

Nobody is currently in the dorm's lounge area; this would probably be a decent place to discuss the events of the night in relative privacy.

"Well Jayj, I guess my first question is is Trixie coming back? Or did you and Superbook there get rid of them for good."

Fahed stops at the entry way to the building as if waiting for something...

As the group enters the dorm, Deirdre looks back at Fahed. "Oh, you can come in. It's a co-ed dorm."

"Ah, thank you." Fahed smiles at Deirdre as he crosses the threshold.
Gain a String on Deirdre
Continuing on to the common area with the group, "Still very curious why it seemed to target us?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Hayden, but I think Trixie's out of the picture." JJ grabs a single armchair, slipping the book next to him between his hip and the side arm, out of view.

He eyes it, caught between his desire to open it and start reading, and not wanting anyone else looking over his shoulder. If they think he's a 'warlock' in the "quirky magical Sabrina the Teenage Witch from the 90s" style, and not the "demon-bound dark-magic-using Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" style, he'd rather not give them cause to think otherwise...

"Well, what does your book say?" says Ashton, sitting down on the arm of the chair where JJ is sitting, perhaps a little too close to JJ--and definitely too close as he reaches across the chair and tries to slip the book out from where JJ has hid it, his face coming inches from JJ's as he does so.

Turn Someone On: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 6) + 1 = 11

I get a string and JJ has to choose how he reacts.

JJ blushes as he grabs at the book, keeping it out of Ashton's hands. "Don'tdothat!" he stammers, as he clutches the book.

JJ will act embarrassed.

JJ opens the book on his lap, going back to the page with the banishing ritual, and flips around, seeing if there's a description or other information about trickster demons on the adjacent pages.

"Aww, c'mon dude. It probably doesn't bite. Let me take a look?" Ashton says, looking at JJ with what could only be described as 'puppy dog eyes'.

I'm going to spend the string I just got and offer you an experience point to let me look at the book.

JJ: You do find a description of trickster demons, though it’s mostly information you’ve already gathered; they can shapeshift and read minds, and are known to sow conflict and exploit emotional weaknesses. This particular portion of the book doesn’t get into the specifics of banishment and how permanent of an effect it is. It does, however, refer to the trickster demon as belonging to something called the Circle of Chaos (but doesn’t provide context for what that means).

"Fine, here's what I found, but it's not much. Just don't flip around too much, I don't know what else is in here." JJ holds the book up to Ashton to read, though he keeps a hand on it to control the pages.

JJ accepts the XP.

All those horrible rhymes He taught me about the things that could treat me or eat me, bate me or fete me, and He never told me about Trickster demons?!

Gaze into the Abyss: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 3) + 1 = 6

"Okay... Did you call Trixie here, JJ? Is that why you have the book?"

Hayden: Your experiences with the fey realm seem to have left you somewhat unprepared to deal with infernal affairs; it seems these two worlds don’t interact with each other very much.

Ashton flips through the book, not really looking for anything in particular, but he keeps his eye out for anything that might seem relevant to his moonlight extracurriculars.

Ashton and JJ: You spend some time skimming through the book, which seems to be a sort of encyclopedia of demonology, describing the complicated hierarchy of the infernal realm and the various species of demons that call it home. From what you can tell, in theory, all demons have the same basic goal: to corrupt mortals and take ownership of their souls. In practice, however, they seem to be prone to infighting and are divided into two major factions: the Circle of Order (which tends to employ temptation, unsavory deals, and strict rules) and the Circle of Chaos (who are more about wanton destruction and torment).

From what you can tell from the section on banishment, it's usually quite difficult for a demon to manifest physically on Earth. It typically requires a summoning ritual or a great deal of effort on the demon's part, and it becomes even more difficult for them to be summoned or traverse realms after they have been banished. Demons who are banished from Earth also tend to receive punishment from their masters in the form of long, drawn-out sessions of torture that can potentially last for millenia. Long story short: it's not impossible for Trixie to return, but it seems fairly unlikely.

Of particular note to JJ: you notice that the name "Malphas" is referenced in the book's table of contents, in a section that would suggest he belongs to the Circle of Order. I imagine you might try to guide Ashton away from that section, but when you get the book back and examine it privately, you discover that Malphas's page seems to have already been torn out.