Summerwood (Monsterhearts 2)

Game Master neonblues

"Oh! Xavier mentioned that to me the other day," Deirdre says. "He's not sure how he's able to do it, but he wants to try it with the rest of us sometime. Other than that, everything's been normal with Hayden and me."

Woken by the sound of her phone alerting her to a text message, Eva reached over and picked it up, looking at the screen. Seeing the invitation from Deirdre, she tapped a few words into the touch screen and hit send.

"I will be pleased to attend."

Deciding that she would benefit from learning more about her new friends, she browsed through various social media platforms, examining the profiles of the various people she had met the night before. Eva tilted her head as she studied Sam's profile, noting that he had a room in the building. Standing, she made her way to the door of her room and glanced around, noting that Hayden's door was closed. Turning to her left she made her way to the stairs and onwards to Sam's room. For a few moments, she paused outside the door before knocking.

Eva:

Assuming this is happening before the study group meets up.

Sam opens the door looking a bit groggy. "...Hey." He squints at you as though you look familiar, but he can't quite seem to place you. "Uh...what's up?"

When the group meets, JJ finds an empty chair, dropping his bookbag by his feet and slinging into the seat.

He looks up and offers a brief wave, but focuses his eyes on the textbook spread across his lap. One leg idly taps his bag, where the Codex is also stowed.

He eyes Hayden, wondering how true Deirdre's statement is. He does need 'a vengeful lover's tear', after all...

Eva smiles as the door is opened. "Hello." she says, "I would like to tell you that one of my friends banished the demon that was pretending to be your dead friend last night. I thought you might be pleased."

Eva:

Sam stares at you blankly for a moment, then a dawn of realization appears on his face, followed by a look of embarrassment. "Oh. You were at... the party." He shakes his head and laughs nervously. "I was pretty wasted. I think I said a bunch of stuff that..." He pauses. "Wait... what?"

Eva blinks. "I said that you don't have to worry about the demon that was pretending to be your dead friend last night." she says, and then pauses uncertainly. "Aren't you pleased? You seemed very worried about it last night."

Eva:

Sam frowns. "Look, I know I said some crazy sh*t the other night, but I'm pretty sure somewhat spiked my drink or something, and you really aren't being funny right now."

Hayden nods somewhat vaguely at Deirdre's explanation. "What about you Jayj? Raise any goosebumps with your new book?"

"Nah, haven't summoned any demons yet. Summoning, banishing, and info on demons therebouts. Not much else in there, it's pretty single-focus."

"You did have a not-as-special gummy," Eva replies, titling her head, "but I do not believe that it caused any significant mental disturbance. I was not attempting to be humorous. I hope that you are feeling better now. If so I will leave, as I am late for a 'study group'".

Eva:

Sam gives you a perplexed, apprehensive look. His expression softens a little. "Yeah... okay. Thanks." He pauses for a moment, then closes his door.

"Still can't believe demons are real," says Ashton, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet on the table, glad to have an excuse to not actually study biology. "And ghosts. What else do you think is out there? The likelihood that we run into anything else is slim but--the likelihood that we ran into both is pretty low, if I'm doing my math right. Which I may not be."

Deirdre shrugs. "Vampires, maybe? Werewolves? Or is that just Twilight I'm thinking about?"

It appears Xavier is present at the study group, as Deirdre's pencil levitates shakily and scrawls several words on a piece of nearby scratch paper.
WITCHES
LIKE ME
There's a brief pause.
SORT OF

Hayden gives a lazy shrug, "If it turns out the Sookie Stackhouse books are nonfiction then there's really no end to the weirdness we can have piled up. If it's just the stuff you can find in the used RPG section of a gamestore, then vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts, and frankensteins are still on the table.

"But it's really only unlikely to run into more than one of them if the chances are independent. This feels more like a nexus of weirdness kind of situation to me. I mean, demons wandering around dispensing mischief and knowledge beget witches and grimoires, ghosts poking around in people's heads beget mediums and psychics, vampires hopefully beget lots of sexy shirtlessness, that kind of thing."

"Well. That's new," says Ashton as the pencil spells out the words. "Xavier mentioned being into some occult stuff. I said it might work better now that he's dead. I guess I was right? But what do you mean by witches, Xavier?"

"And this does raise the question: why Summerwood? What's going on with this place that we run into ghosts and demons in one night? Or I guess, what was going on with Gavin? Since it was his family's house and all..."

The pencil writes back:
NOT REALLY SURE WHAT MAKES A WITCH
HOW MUCH MAGIC DO YOU HAVE TO DO?

"Umm. I guess I don't really know either," says Ashton. "What sort of magic did these witches do? And how did you know them?"

Xavier writes:

NEVER KNEW ANY
JUST FOUND SPELLS IN BOOKS

After a short pause...

THEY’RE GONE NOW

"In books, huh? Did you ever see this one before?" JJ holds up the Codex in a waving gesture. "Or do you have any idea where the others went?"

Xavier writes:

THAT ONES NOT MINE
DENNISONS COLLECT LOTS OF WEIRD RARE STUFF
PROBABLY DONT KNOW ITS REAL MAGIC
MIGHT NOT EVEN KNOW ITS MISSING

Notably, Xavier has not answered the second part of JJ’s question.

"Maybe it was the book collection? One of them could have summoned a demon on accident. Or on purpose. Rich people get up to some weird stuff."

Eva:

Assuming you are headed to the study group, you arrive outside the lounge area just in time to see a guy with long blond hair opening the door and walking inside.

Everyone else:

Ross, the long-haired guy that Gavin was talking to at the party, enters the dorm's lounge area. Deirdre's pencil abruptly clatters onto the table and rolls off. Gavin glances at it curiously for a moment, but then seems to ignore it.

"Hey. I've been looking for all of you." He pauses. "I could kinda use your help. Um, if you've got a minute."

JJ: Ross has a reasonably strong aura.

"What's going on? And why do you need us?" says Ashton, arching an eyebrow.

"We are pretty fabulous, it's true, but I'm guessing you aren't just looking for some kind of Fantastic Five?"

Deirdre smiles and laces her fingers through Hayden's as she waits for Ross to answer.

Ross fidgets awkwardly before sitting in one of the nearby chairs.

"Okay, so... you guys know this isn't really a normal school, right? I mean, nobody really talks about it, but all kinds of weird stuff happens here. The music coming from the dining hall at night... And Dr. Beacon, my Computer Science professor, has some weird project she's working on that she won't tell anyone about... And like, there's this one kid in my dorm who I'm pretty sure doesn't sleep. Like, never sleeps.

"It's about Gavin. We've been..." He grimaces a little. "We've been, like, hanging out. Like, Gavin doesn't really get attached to anyone, and that's fine. But... you know that Fahed guy? I guess he had some sort of sudden family emergency and flew out yesterday to be with them. And when Gavin found out, he started acting sorta weird. He missed lacrosse practice today, which he never does, and when I went to his place to check on him, he just said he was busy doing 'research.' But he wouldn't say what about. And he sorta had that 'posting photos on the wall with string connecting them' look in his eyes, you know?

"I dunno, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but my 'vibes' are just kinda going off about the whole thing. And I was kinda hoping you could at least, like, keep an eye out? I've got this bad feeling, and I don't want anything to happen to him."

"I don't know how much we can really do, but sure, we'll keep an eye out. Anything aside from Gavin being really into Fahed? I mean, bad breakups are bad breakups, you know?"

Ashton shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah, it doesn't sound like there's a whole lot that we can do? None of us really know Gavin. Do you know why he's so upset about Fahed leaving?"

Ross shakes his head. “That’s the weird thing, I get the feeling that’s it’s not even really Fahed he’s missing. When I saw Fahed the other night, the vibe I got from him was sort of... addictive? Like, there’s something about him that makes you feel needed, like you belong. I think maybe that’s what Gavin might be chasing... a way to feel needed.” Ross laughs a little. “I’m not really making any sense, am I? That’s sort of how this thing works, unfortunately. It’s like Cassandra’s curse.”

He turns to JJ, and he smiles. His aura pulses a little.

"No, I totally get it." JJ stands up, quickly letting the tome drop into his bag without drawing attention to it. He approaches Ross, putting a consoling hand on his shoulder.

"Gavin's not going to come down from it easy, whatever it is. And when he does, he'll need someone to lean on. You're a good.. 'friend', man." He shares a meaningful look into Ross's eyes. "I hope when he does, he appreciates what you're doing for him."

"We'll try to do whatever we can. If you get any other.. ideas, let us know."

Deidre fishes in her purse and pulls out the business card Fahed gave her the other night. "Hey, JJ, do you think you could use a spell or something with this? Maybe like an object reading or something to learn more about Fahed?"

Deirdre: Do you say this in front of Ross or wait until he's left?

JJ: You recall a minor demon mentioned in the book (an imp, part of the Circle of Order) who has the power of psychometry. The summoning and binding rituals are fairly simple and don't require any material components.
Alternatively, you could always ask Malphas for help, but he would require a price of some kind and it could have unwanted consequences.

I'll wait until he leaves first.

"So, I know we had that talk about 'no more summoning demons'.." JJ goes on to explain about the psychometric imp, and how it would be a small, easy summoning which could garner the information they need.

"So what do you guys say?" He looks around, seeking their approval.

"I say do it," Deirdre says, morbidly excited to see another actual demon.

"No. Noooo. This is a very obviously bad idea. We already saw what one demon can do, why would we go and summon another one? And whatever the hell is wrong with Gavin I don't know that we've crossed into the point that demon summoning is necessary. And do we actually even care about helping him in the first place? We don't really know him. Have any of us even actually met him?"

Shut Down JJ: 2d6 - 1 ⇒ (6, 1) - 1 = 6

Note for JJ: Based on what you've read about imps, they seems to be considered one of the more harmless demons in the Codex. Still technically evil, but more slothful and lazy than anything else—not particularly smart, powerful, or malicious.

Hayden grins lazily, "C'mon Ashton. Aren't you curious what Jayj can do? Let's see his moves."

"This is entirely different, man. That trickster was entirely loose, but this would be controlled. It would do what we need it to do, then sent home, no trouble."

JJ thinks for a second, then tries another tactic. "Think of it like the difference between a feral dog on the loose, and a calm dog on a leash. One's loose and dangerous, the other controlled."

JJ will also spend a string to sway Ashton to his side.

"Controlled and ready for scritches."

"Please don't scritch the demon, hon," Deirdre says to Hayden.

"Ugh," says Ashton, rubbing his temples. "If you're sure you know what you're doing. But I'm going to get a baseball bat so I can squash it if anything goes wrong."

JJ rolls his eyes, and starts the ritual for summoning.

Preparing the summoning and binding rituals provides enough time for Ashton to grab a bat (presumably, you also bar the door of the lounge in some way from the inside, in case there are any other unexpected visitors).

A glowing red circle of runes appears on the floor and some formless energy rises from it, coalescing into the shape of a small, rotund, winged creature with grayish skin, pointed ears and horns. It floats a couple feet off of the ground and blinks groggily at all of you. "Hey, how's it goin'." It speaks, inexplicably, with a thick Bronx accent. "You got anythin' to eat?"

When Ashton returns, not only does he have a bat, but he's also wearing his cleats, a mouthguard, his shinguards, and an extra set of shinguards on his forearms.

"What do you eat? he slurs, his tongue impeded by the mouthguard as he grips the bat in his hands. "I've got a protein bar."

JJ digs into his bag, pulling out a candy bar. "How's this?" He jiggles the candy in his fingers, temptingly, but doesn't hand it over just yet.

Did the ritual give us a name to refer to him by? If not, JJ will ask for a name or nickname.

In his other hand, JJ holds the business card. "You can have this candy bar, but we've got a little job for you first. Tell us whatever you can about the owner of this card, and why someone else might be hung up over his absence."

Hayden's eyes light up with delight at Ashton's... armor. "You'd better hope it's not athletic-wear."

As JJ gives his terms, Hayden's eyes get briefly serious, and she adds, "That is the extent of your payment unless explicitly bargained otherwise."

The imp picks his teeth with a claw. “Yeah, okay. Name’s Gregorinox. Call me Greg.” He sticks out a grubby arm. “Lemme see that card.”