World War Cthulhu/Achtung Cthulhu - Rome, September 1939, Episode 2
The Cast:
The Deniable Assets (British SIS)
Victoria - Classical education in Archaeology, Leftist leanings
Clifton - Daredevil pilot
Mr. Phillips - 65 yo, retired Dutch Engineer
Giovanni - Italian hitman (working for the SIS). Captured by OVRA (Italian secret police). Prisoner at the dig site.
British SIS:
Max Weber - anti-Nazi Germany, formerly of Vienna Station
Niccollo - Milanese former communist artist, Agent in Charge Rome Station. Missing.
Lucretia - Daughter of wealthy nobles, exiled by Musselini. Called for help when Niccollo goes missing, now prisoner at the dig site.
Early September 1939
Rome
The session begins with the party retconning having all moved into a new (middle income area) hotel, and Clifton trying to deal with Niccollo, the now insane SIS agent who had gone missing in Rome. Clifton gets Niccollo undressed and in the tub (the man was filthy having been homeless on the streets, but also simply covered in dried mud. Max Weber comes back to the room and is helping Clifton when one of the two (sane) agents heads out to get Mr. Phillips and Victoria. While gone, Niccollo pulls a baoie knife from his cloths and tries to kill (Max or Clifton - whichever one was in the room), but then just decides to kill himself. He is stopped, then tied up. The rest of the group shows up and hears some more rants from Niccollo, who acts normal long enough to kill himself with a pencil (A f*cking pencil! - sorry, John Wick reference...) but only after drawing a map of the mysterious dig site. This leads to a midnight effort to dispose of the body and remove evidence of violence, which works out after several high stress encounters.
The group shifts hotels to an upscale place near the Vatican (considering seeking asylum if all things go bad). After touristing around for a few more days they make the move on the dig site. They get into the wire and into the catacombs. The group follows the lights until they run out and then use Mr. Phillips flashlight. They discover a fissure in the rough cave-like wall and using the compass/toga man/statue enter. Its claustrophobic, but the small crack opens into a larger chamber, with another mouth-face. Mr. Phillips knows this is what is needed and sticks his hand in the mouth, activating a SLOWLY opening portal. In the rear, Max and Clifton see a gang of strange on armed reptilian humanoids sneaking through the cracks. In a brutal fight scene - Phillips continues to open the door while Max, Clifton, and Victoria empty their pistols into the lizardmen. After many wounds, the door opens and Phillips starts shooting lizards and Victoria has a chance to reload. Eventually the lizardmen are put down, although the party is bloodied (and Max is hallucinating/poisined).
In the hidden room, the party finds a strange pool with a clamshell statue with the same face/mouth on it, surrounded by weird mermaid figures. {It was late, but the whole clamshell/weird mermaids is another "echo of Atlantis) Half figuring he's dead anyway, Max climbs up and sticks his hand in the mouth. The shell opens and reveals a shining round shield with a red 2' figure of what looks like Athena. Max grabs the shield and the party finds an access to the sewers behind the shell.
SO...we finished with a narrative. The party waited in the catacombs for the morning, then grabbed their captured comrade Giovanni and the agent Lucretia and made off through the sewers. The group made their way at dusk to the small airdrome near the Vatican and Clifton hotwired a plane. Slipping out at night over the Mediterrainian, they made contact with a SIS post in Gibraltar and were directed to fly to Cairo...Egypt!
In Cairo, Clifton decides to leave the party and Giovanni seems determined to depart as well. Lucretia may stick around - if nothing else, than long enough to get some payback for Niccollo. The whole group is checked into some quality hotels in Cairo (or a hospital) and gets some deserved rest.
The Deniable Assets (British SIS)
Victoria - Classical education in Archaeology, Leftist leanings
Clifton - Daredevil pilot
Mr. Phillips - 65 yo, retired Dutch Engineer
Giovanni - Italian hitman (working for the SIS). Captured by OVRA (Italian secret police). Prisoner at the dig site.
British SIS:
Max Weber - anti-Nazi Germany, formerly of Vienna Station
Niccollo - Milanese former communist artist, Agent in Charge Rome Station. Missing.
Lucretia - Daughter of wealthy nobles, exiled by Musselini. Called for help when Niccollo goes missing, now prisoner at the dig site.
Early September 1939
Rome
The session begins with the party retconning having all moved into a new (middle income area) hotel, and Clifton trying to deal with Niccollo, the now insane SIS agent who had gone missing in Rome. Clifton gets Niccollo undressed and in the tub (the man was filthy having been homeless on the streets, but also simply covered in dried mud. Max Weber comes back to the room and is helping Clifton when one of the two (sane) agents heads out to get Mr. Phillips and Victoria. While gone, Niccollo pulls a baoie knife from his cloths and tries to kill (Max or Clifton - whichever one was in the room), but then just decides to kill himself. He is stopped, then tied up. The rest of the group shows up and hears some more rants from Niccollo, who acts normal long enough to kill himself with a pencil (A f*cking pencil! - sorry, John Wick reference...) but only after drawing a map of the mysterious dig site. This leads to a midnight effort to dispose of the body and remove evidence of violence, which works out after several high stress encounters.
The group shifts hotels to an upscale place near the Vatican (considering seeking asylum if all things go bad). After touristing around for a few more days they make the move on the dig site. They get into the wire and into the catacombs. The group follows the lights until they run out and then use Mr. Phillips flashlight. They discover a fissure in the rough cave-like wall and using the compass/toga man/statue enter. Its claustrophobic, but the small crack opens into a larger chamber, with another mouth-face. Mr. Phillips knows this is what is needed and sticks his hand in the mouth, activating a SLOWLY opening portal. In the rear, Max and Clifton see a gang of strange on armed reptilian humanoids sneaking through the cracks. In a brutal fight scene - Phillips continues to open the door while Max, Clifton, and Victoria empty their pistols into the lizardmen. After many wounds, the door opens and Phillips starts shooting lizards and Victoria has a chance to reload. Eventually the lizardmen are put down, although the party is bloodied (and Max is hallucinating/poisined).
In the hidden room, the party finds a strange pool with a clamshell statue with the same face/mouth on it, surrounded by weird mermaid figures. {It was late, but the whole clamshell/weird mermaids is another "echo of Atlantis) Half figuring he's dead anyway, Max climbs up and sticks his hand in the mouth. The shell opens and reveals a shining round shield with a red 2' figure of what looks like Athena. Max grabs the shield and the party finds an access to the sewers behind the shell.
SO...we finished with a narrative. The party waited in the catacombs for the morning, then grabbed their captured comrade Giovanni and the agent Lucretia and made off through the sewers. The group made their way at dusk to the small airdrome near the Vatican and Clifton hotwired a plane. Slipping out at night over the Mediterrainian, they made contact with a SIS post in Gibraltar and were directed to fly to Cairo...Egypt!
In Cairo, Clifton decides to leave the party and Giovanni seems determined to depart as well. Lucretia may stick around - if nothing else, than long enough to get some payback for Niccollo. The whole group is checked into some quality hotels in Cairo (or a hospital) and gets some deserved rest.
Comments