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Medallions d20 Modern (Update Wednesday 09-20-06)
- Thread starter Old Drew Id
- Start date
Broccli_Head
Explorer
Aha! Made it to page 11...the beginning of episode 2!
Like the development of Willie's character...a lot.
Kinda cool how I wandered over to Medallions d20. It started with C. Baize's Amerianarchy, which led to ledded's SH, We were like Gods...., plus it helped that ledded checked out my story
And I realize that I've been missing the party. Everyone is over HERE. Mabye Joe's right about Conspiracies after all
Like the development of Willie's character...a lot.
Kinda cool how I wandered over to Medallions d20. It started with C. Baize's Amerianarchy, which led to ledded's SH, We were like Gods...., plus it helped that ledded checked out my story
And I realize that I've been missing the party. Everyone is over HERE. Mabye Joe's right about Conspiracies after all
ledded
Herder of monkies
Thanks. I'd like to take all the credit, but playing off of the other cool characters and OldDrewId's masterful storycrafting/GM'ing have helped lead me on the path that I'm on. Stay tuned, though, some very strange and traumatic things happen to Willie in the future that take him down some... different... paths.Broccli_Head said:
Americananarchy is one of my fave's right now, but I'd like an update. Thanks for checking out my little corner of the SH world too. Your story has actually inspired me for a few places in my own SH.Kinda cool how I wandered over to Medallions d20. It started with C. Baize's Amerianarchy, which led to ledded's SH, We were like Gods...., plus it helped that ledded checked out my story
Oh yeah baby, *all* the cool people come and hang out here every now and then. If you ain't reading this Story Hour, you ain't hip. It's got everything... evangelical preachers, hip black PI's, action, mystery, adventure, intrigue, humor, pain, horrible monsters and completely certifiable, socially inept comic book store owners.And I realize that I've been missing the party. Everyone is over HERE. Mabye Joe's right about Conspiracies after all
What more could you want?
It's funny in how the coming episodes there is an eerie undertone of Joe being right about things that noone else believes, especially when he is so far in left field with some of the stuff he does. And it rubs off on us too. Willie no longer bats an eye when Joe links some strange happening to an obscure issue of Green Lantern; he just sort of nods his head and goes on about his business.
Ok fenzer, THAT is going in the sig real soon. Thanks from all of us.fenzer said:
Oh, just wait until we find out that Joe's "uncanny" driving and piloting abilities actually stem from his many, many hours of driving/flying simulations on playstation. Of course, we also find out that his playstation doesnt have those funny pedals and stuff like real helicopters do...Broccli_Head said:<snip>...Joe Empire reminds me of some of the players I game with....if you had him addicted to a multiplayer online rpg, he'd be a deadringer
I want to get Pierce to do a one-off again for the group (he guest directed episode 5) because he wrote an "in-between episodes" scene like the one I did for Willie a while back that was pure gold; I think he would write a spectacular story hour if we could convince him to do it.
Old Drew Id
First Post
Episode II – Session I - Revelation
Episode II – Session I - Revelation
The guard grabbed his head, screamed, and dropped to his knees. He looked up at Joe, with his eyes wide, clearly in a panic, with a trickle of blood leaking down his upper lip. Joe yelped in surprise and took a step back from the guy, and even Brother Cooper jumped back across the room to stand over by the curtained wall.
Joe glanced over at the door. With the guard disabled, they could make a break for it. But then the guard was saying something, choking out the words through clenched teeth. Joe looked back over at the guard for a second, trying to decide.
The guard gasped out the words, “It…hurts!…Make…it…stop!”
Joe cursed. He wanted very much to get out of here. He had seen Alien, and he sure as hell had seen Outbreak. He didn’t want to get stuck in here while the nosebleed-migraine monster worked its way through the Men-In-Black, and he damn sure wasn’t gonna let them inject any kind of Mr. Weaver disease into him, whatever that was. But now here he was, the hero of this group, the one everybody looked to for guidance, and the guy really did seem to be in pain. And more importantly, there was something in the way the guy was kneeling there, wild eyed staring across the room, with blood on his chin, that reminded Joe of something.
It reminded Joe of Taylor Chu.
Joe cursed again. He could help this guy. At least, he thought he could. He made a decision. Joe Empire was not gonna let somebody else die on his watch.
Plus, he would probably need to swipe that guard’s keys to unlock the door out of here anyway.
Joe unzipped his backpack and removed two white candles from a pack he had been carrying with him now for weeks. He knelt down next to the guy and laid his hand down on the guard’s head. Brother Cooper started in behind him with a worried tone, “Joe…”
Joe shook his head, “Not now, preacher.” Joe used his free hand to break both candles with a pair of audible snaps. Then Joe thought.
The world swam around him. He was a speck of dirt in a swirling cloud. He was lost: one speck among billions of specks of dust in a tornado-universe of chaos.
He had no control over where he flew. Every particle around him swirled and circled, trapped and held by the maelstrom. None had power. None had control. None had the means to change their path.
And then Joe moved of his own accord. He willed into existence the Healing Vishanti Touch.
The room came back into focus. Life-giving, healing energy was flowing through Joe like an electric shock. It flowed from his mind down through his heart, through his arm, into his hand, and then hit a barrier. The energy back-lashed sharply and bent backwards. It tore back through Joe’s arm like a needle of hot fire sliding through his veins heading back through his heart. He felt his pulse stutter as the energy-fire sweep up through his neck into his mind. Pain tore through his head.
Joe pulled his hand back from the guy’s head and put it to his own nose. The spell had failed. His nose was bleeding, and his head was killing him. He sat down hard on the floor and cursed. He had messed up somehow, and the spell had misfired. He sure as hell paid the price for it too.
The guard didn’t even seem aware that Joe had ever touched him. He was still wailing and holding his head. His nose was bleeding the same as Joe’s, and he was staring wild-eyed over at Brother Cooper.
Brother Cooper called out again, “Joe…”
Joe shook his head. Jeez, stupid Men-in-Black with their stupid Mr. Weaver injection disease, and Joe feeling sorry for them and trying to save them and live up to this stupid heroic image that everybody had of him, and now Brother Cooper wouldn’t even give him a minute’s peace. Joe patted the guard on the shoulder while he spit a gob of blood onto the floor. “It’s okay, preacher, I was just trying to heal him…” Joe dropped his hand down to the ring of keys on the guard’s belt and tugged it sharply. The key ring pulled away, and then snapped back sharply to the guard’s belt on one of those spring-lines, like a measuring tape. Joe spit again, “…and just make sure his keys were firmly attached to his belt…”
The door exploded inward. Joe looked up to see Dr. McGovern enter warily, with Willie right behind him, followed by two more guards. Joe noted proudly that Willie had his gun out. What the hell, it was worth a shot. Joe grabbed his head with both hands, letting them all see his bloody nose, “Aaaagh! You gave me SARS!” Blood dripped freely from Joe’s nose onto the tile floor.
Joe opened one eye and glanced over at Dr. McGovern to see if he was buying the SARS story. The doctor looked a little angry, maybe a little worried, and a little confused, but he did not seem to be fooled. Willie looked completely lost. Well, so much for that plan.
Joe looked down at the bright red droplets scattered about the room, as he and the guard both bled out onto the floor. He suddenly remembered the freaky Indian chief at the magic shop saying that they used blood as currency. Well, as long as he was here, might as well make a profit. He grabbed at Dr. McGovern’s lab coat and pointed at his nose, saying, “Hey, doc, can I get a beaker for this?”
. . .
Guyzell’s heart raced. Bad things were happening here, and they were happening quickly. Joe may well have gone mad. The guard had collapsed with the same sort of seizure that the dear woman in the hallway had experienced. Something was harming these people, and it was acting fast.
Guyzell watched Joe accost the man on the floor. He was trying to do something to the man. Guyzell wasn’t sure if he was out to help the man or harm him, but he didn’t know himself what the right answer was right now. There was just too much going on, and none of it made any sense.
The guard was gripping his head like he was in pain, and his eyes were wild with fright. But there was something else there. Guyzell saw something in those eyes. What was it?
Joe was doing something to the man, then he collapsed next to him, his nose bleeding freely. He mumbled something about healing the man, but it made no sense. Was he somehow affected to?
Still the man’s eyes were wild. They darted back and forth across the room. He must be in a seizure of some type, but no, there was a pattern there. Then Guyzell saw the pattern.
The guard kept looking back at the curtain on the wall. And every time he did, it seemed like his fear took a stronger hold on him, and his screams grew even louder.
Guyzell looked up at the curtain. He had ignored them when he had entered the room. He assumed they were a covering for a chalkboard, or a window. In truth, he had just ignored the curtains altogether, with everything else that had been going on.
But whatever was going on with that guard, right now he was very scared of whatever was on the other side of that curtain.
Willie burst in to the room, with the doctor and a few more guards. Willie looked relieved to see them relatively unharmed, although Joe had clearly become completely irrational. The guards stood at the door, not sure if they wanted to enter or not. The doctor stood there next to Joe, now completely lost for a suitable response.
Willie yelled out in a commanding tone, “Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on up in here!” He looked over at Guyzell for support.
Guyzell didn’t know what to say. He took a quick step forward, and yanked the curtains apart.
The curtains parted, revealing a window into a huge room that was the size of a gymnasium. The lights in the room were a dim orange color, and details were hard to make out, because the window, and indeed the entire room, were covered in a substance that could only be described as webbing. But it was not the yards of glistening web that worried Guyzell.
No, what worried Guyzell was the indistinct, shadowy, but unmistakable shape of a twenty-thousand pound spider moving through that room, slowly ambling its way in front of that window.
Episode II – Session I - Revelation
The guard grabbed his head, screamed, and dropped to his knees. He looked up at Joe, with his eyes wide, clearly in a panic, with a trickle of blood leaking down his upper lip. Joe yelped in surprise and took a step back from the guy, and even Brother Cooper jumped back across the room to stand over by the curtained wall.
Joe glanced over at the door. With the guard disabled, they could make a break for it. But then the guard was saying something, choking out the words through clenched teeth. Joe looked back over at the guard for a second, trying to decide.
The guard gasped out the words, “It…hurts!…Make…it…stop!”
Joe cursed. He wanted very much to get out of here. He had seen Alien, and he sure as hell had seen Outbreak. He didn’t want to get stuck in here while the nosebleed-migraine monster worked its way through the Men-In-Black, and he damn sure wasn’t gonna let them inject any kind of Mr. Weaver disease into him, whatever that was. But now here he was, the hero of this group, the one everybody looked to for guidance, and the guy really did seem to be in pain. And more importantly, there was something in the way the guy was kneeling there, wild eyed staring across the room, with blood on his chin, that reminded Joe of something.
It reminded Joe of Taylor Chu.
Joe cursed again. He could help this guy. At least, he thought he could. He made a decision. Joe Empire was not gonna let somebody else die on his watch.
Plus, he would probably need to swipe that guard’s keys to unlock the door out of here anyway.
Joe unzipped his backpack and removed two white candles from a pack he had been carrying with him now for weeks. He knelt down next to the guy and laid his hand down on the guard’s head. Brother Cooper started in behind him with a worried tone, “Joe…”
Joe shook his head, “Not now, preacher.” Joe used his free hand to break both candles with a pair of audible snaps. Then Joe thought.
The world swam around him. He was a speck of dirt in a swirling cloud. He was lost: one speck among billions of specks of dust in a tornado-universe of chaos.
He had no control over where he flew. Every particle around him swirled and circled, trapped and held by the maelstrom. None had power. None had control. None had the means to change their path.
And then Joe moved of his own accord. He willed into existence the Healing Vishanti Touch.
The room came back into focus. Life-giving, healing energy was flowing through Joe like an electric shock. It flowed from his mind down through his heart, through his arm, into his hand, and then hit a barrier. The energy back-lashed sharply and bent backwards. It tore back through Joe’s arm like a needle of hot fire sliding through his veins heading back through his heart. He felt his pulse stutter as the energy-fire sweep up through his neck into his mind. Pain tore through his head.
Joe pulled his hand back from the guy’s head and put it to his own nose. The spell had failed. His nose was bleeding, and his head was killing him. He sat down hard on the floor and cursed. He had messed up somehow, and the spell had misfired. He sure as hell paid the price for it too.
The guard didn’t even seem aware that Joe had ever touched him. He was still wailing and holding his head. His nose was bleeding the same as Joe’s, and he was staring wild-eyed over at Brother Cooper.
Brother Cooper called out again, “Joe…”
Joe shook his head. Jeez, stupid Men-in-Black with their stupid Mr. Weaver injection disease, and Joe feeling sorry for them and trying to save them and live up to this stupid heroic image that everybody had of him, and now Brother Cooper wouldn’t even give him a minute’s peace. Joe patted the guard on the shoulder while he spit a gob of blood onto the floor. “It’s okay, preacher, I was just trying to heal him…” Joe dropped his hand down to the ring of keys on the guard’s belt and tugged it sharply. The key ring pulled away, and then snapped back sharply to the guard’s belt on one of those spring-lines, like a measuring tape. Joe spit again, “…and just make sure his keys were firmly attached to his belt…”
The door exploded inward. Joe looked up to see Dr. McGovern enter warily, with Willie right behind him, followed by two more guards. Joe noted proudly that Willie had his gun out. What the hell, it was worth a shot. Joe grabbed his head with both hands, letting them all see his bloody nose, “Aaaagh! You gave me SARS!” Blood dripped freely from Joe’s nose onto the tile floor.
Joe opened one eye and glanced over at Dr. McGovern to see if he was buying the SARS story. The doctor looked a little angry, maybe a little worried, and a little confused, but he did not seem to be fooled. Willie looked completely lost. Well, so much for that plan.
Joe looked down at the bright red droplets scattered about the room, as he and the guard both bled out onto the floor. He suddenly remembered the freaky Indian chief at the magic shop saying that they used blood as currency. Well, as long as he was here, might as well make a profit. He grabbed at Dr. McGovern’s lab coat and pointed at his nose, saying, “Hey, doc, can I get a beaker for this?”
. . .
Guyzell’s heart raced. Bad things were happening here, and they were happening quickly. Joe may well have gone mad. The guard had collapsed with the same sort of seizure that the dear woman in the hallway had experienced. Something was harming these people, and it was acting fast.
Guyzell watched Joe accost the man on the floor. He was trying to do something to the man. Guyzell wasn’t sure if he was out to help the man or harm him, but he didn’t know himself what the right answer was right now. There was just too much going on, and none of it made any sense.
The guard was gripping his head like he was in pain, and his eyes were wild with fright. But there was something else there. Guyzell saw something in those eyes. What was it?
Joe was doing something to the man, then he collapsed next to him, his nose bleeding freely. He mumbled something about healing the man, but it made no sense. Was he somehow affected to?
Still the man’s eyes were wild. They darted back and forth across the room. He must be in a seizure of some type, but no, there was a pattern there. Then Guyzell saw the pattern.
The guard kept looking back at the curtain on the wall. And every time he did, it seemed like his fear took a stronger hold on him, and his screams grew even louder.
Guyzell looked up at the curtain. He had ignored them when he had entered the room. He assumed they were a covering for a chalkboard, or a window. In truth, he had just ignored the curtains altogether, with everything else that had been going on.
But whatever was going on with that guard, right now he was very scared of whatever was on the other side of that curtain.
Willie burst in to the room, with the doctor and a few more guards. Willie looked relieved to see them relatively unharmed, although Joe had clearly become completely irrational. The guards stood at the door, not sure if they wanted to enter or not. The doctor stood there next to Joe, now completely lost for a suitable response.
Willie yelled out in a commanding tone, “Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on up in here!” He looked over at Guyzell for support.
Guyzell didn’t know what to say. He took a quick step forward, and yanked the curtains apart.
The curtains parted, revealing a window into a huge room that was the size of a gymnasium. The lights in the room were a dim orange color, and details were hard to make out, because the window, and indeed the entire room, were covered in a substance that could only be described as webbing. But it was not the yards of glistening web that worried Guyzell.
No, what worried Guyzell was the indistinct, shadowy, but unmistakable shape of a twenty-thousand pound spider moving through that room, slowly ambling its way in front of that window.
ledded
Herder of monkies
GREAT update, man. Bravo.
Also, a player's update:
Last week, we had a session of Episode 7 of Medallions.
At one point, all of the players at once went perfectly quiet, looks of incredulity on their faces, for at least 10 seconds, staring at OldDrewId.
Fludogg broke the silence as he rose up from his seat, finger jabbing at OldDrewId, and said:
"you... You... Rat... BASTARD... DM!!!", and the room erupted in various vocalizations along the same theme for at least 5 minutes, OldDrewId just sitting there grinnin' like the friggin' Cheshire Cat the whole time.
A few minutes later, as Willie thought nothing of the fact that he was smoking a Kool and rapidly drinking whiskey straight out of the bottle in Brother Cooper's new house, he was even more amazed that he didnt even react when Brother Cooper lit one of Willie's Kools and took a long, hard swig off the bottle himself before handing it back. Didnt. Even. Flinch.
OldDrewId... you are the RBDM that the world's greatest RBDM's should fear.
A RBDM's RBDM, of epic proportions. Thank the powers that be that you are the twisted, creative individual that you are.
Also, a player's update:
Last week, we had a session of Episode 7 of Medallions.
At one point, all of the players at once went perfectly quiet, looks of incredulity on their faces, for at least 10 seconds, staring at OldDrewId.
Fludogg broke the silence as he rose up from his seat, finger jabbing at OldDrewId, and said:
"you... You... Rat... BASTARD... DM!!!", and the room erupted in various vocalizations along the same theme for at least 5 minutes, OldDrewId just sitting there grinnin' like the friggin' Cheshire Cat the whole time.
A few minutes later, as Willie thought nothing of the fact that he was smoking a Kool and rapidly drinking whiskey straight out of the bottle in Brother Cooper's new house, he was even more amazed that he didnt even react when Brother Cooper lit one of Willie's Kools and took a long, hard swig off the bottle himself before handing it back. Didnt. Even. Flinch.
OldDrewId... you are the RBDM that the world's greatest RBDM's should fear.
A RBDM's RBDM, of epic proportions. Thank the powers that be that you are the twisted, creative individual that you are.
PennStud77
First Post
Wow, I need to throw my voice into the herd... I found this SH only a couple of days ago, and have read feverishly every available moment until the most recent posts. I've been so riveted that I couldn't even post ahead until I got the the end. Can't wait to hear more, this is fantastic!!
The group I'm in now has lost a couple of players some months ago for various reasons, and now we are playing D&D and Star Wars. Before that, though, one of the players who left GM'ed our first game of Spycraft, in which he interlaced some themes from CoC. The frustrating part, which eventually led to the game's end, was that he didn't lace the group together any more than the mission-based format allowed, and the injection of the mystical and horrific elements of CoC only made our characters realize how unprepared for those elements the agents were.
All in all, I love the way these characters are brought in as part of the story; they're destined as part of this group, but yet still choose to be a part of it all the time. I love the way the mystical elements are brought into the story, Joe learning magic as a new thing, and the way that the magic has such high prices. The way Willie picked up that gun and shot that guy on the crane, I almost cheered, and having a character (yes, an NPC, but one that had been with them from the beginning) die as part of the climax. I'm speechless.
The group I'm in now has lost a couple of players some months ago for various reasons, and now we are playing D&D and Star Wars. Before that, though, one of the players who left GM'ed our first game of Spycraft, in which he interlaced some themes from CoC. The frustrating part, which eventually led to the game's end, was that he didn't lace the group together any more than the mission-based format allowed, and the injection of the mystical and horrific elements of CoC only made our characters realize how unprepared for those elements the agents were.
All in all, I love the way these characters are brought in as part of the story; they're destined as part of this group, but yet still choose to be a part of it all the time. I love the way the mystical elements are brought into the story, Joe learning magic as a new thing, and the way that the magic has such high prices. The way Willie picked up that gun and shot that guy on the crane, I almost cheered, and having a character (yes, an NPC, but one that had been with them from the beginning) die as part of the climax. I'm speechless.
Old Drew Id said:
Oh. my. son. of. a. damn. That was too sweet for a single expression. Drew, you amaze me, shock me, utterly twist a story into reality. I envy and feel sorry for your players at the same time. I have no idea what they saw in their mind's eye, but if you ever again make me see something that damn creepy so completely that I actually said, outloud, in a medical clinic with my boss just down the hall a certain four letter word that isn't spelled c-r-a-p but means the exact same thing... er, I mean - wow, good job at translating a verbal/text medium into such an effective, jaw-dropping mental imagery! Especially after reading Ledded's reply post about Ep. 7 - I can't wait! I want to know what it takes to make Fludogg actually get that worked up - especially if the events you've chronicled (so well I should add) so far has not done so already.
Brother Cooper drinking and smoking? I flinched at reading that!
Peterson
ledded
Herder of monkies
Oh, and you can't hear the horrifying spider-walk sound that he makes when he describes something like this coming at you. *shudder*caixa said:
Yeah, well, this is the *very* reason that we only play at the only single guy's house. The actual screaming that goes on would unsettle most people with wives and family. That, and he's the only one with a basement large enough to house all of our stuff.
But don't feel sorry for us players, we *love* this kind of abuse. Thrive on it.
Sheesh, Fludogg is always worked up about something. You don't think that OldDrewId makes all that crazy stuff up that Joe does do you? That's pretty much 99% all Fludogg, a constant attention-deficit whirlwind of chaos and pop-culture. Of course, this time he had damn good reason to freak out.caixa said:
Dont worry, I'm sure it wont become a habit. Unlike Willie, who's been drunk since the second episode. But when we get to the Story Hour with that part, all of you folks going *gasp* and *omigod* at that now will in turn just sit there, shocked, bewildered, and befuddled and go "yeah, that's about what I'd do" and take another hit off the bottle.caixa said:
Sometimes I actually think I'm becoming afraid of OldDrewId. I mean, any *sane* man would be.
But it's that good, healthy, "I know I heard a noise and I shouldnt open that door and check it out because guys like me are always the first ones to get whacked but man I gotta know what's out there" horror movie kinda fear.
Damn it Drew! Between you and Ledded I can't get any work done. Here I am like some kid trying to sneak in a quick puff on a cigarette without his parents noticing. I'm on the job in a server room reading instead of finalizing an image I need to roll out to a bunch of computers.
Damn you guys all of you, Fludogg, Pierce, Eyas, Ledded, Drew! You're all like some kind of crazy addiction.
It's just a story hour, you say, just a game. We're all friends just having a good time. Well let me tell you something people, it's more than that and I thank you for it. You guys are carrying on in the tradition set up by the likes of John Rogers and "p-kitty" and if I may say, taking it to a higher standard.
Thank you again for the time and energy it takes to bring us along on your great adventures. Here's hoping for a great many more!
Damn you guys all of you, Fludogg, Pierce, Eyas, Ledded, Drew! You're all like some kind of crazy addiction.
It's just a story hour, you say, just a game. We're all friends just having a good time. Well let me tell you something people, it's more than that and I thank you for it. You guys are carrying on in the tradition set up by the likes of John Rogers and "p-kitty" and if I may say, taking it to a higher standard.
Thank you again for the time and energy it takes to bring us along on your great adventures. Here's hoping for a great many more!