Just ran this module - it was a blast, and the best one-shot I’ve run all year! Here’s the session report.
Spoilers if you haven’t read the module, obviously, but I highly recommend purchasing it.
Party
The party are members of the rock band “Rusty Gibbs and the Midnight Truckers”, being put up by Jenny Wicks in 5 Richter St: Joe (F2 N), Garth (T1 N), Jessie (F2 N), Suzie (F1 N), Frasier (F2 N)
Day 1
- The party wake to news of Joseph and Harriet Waterman getting killed in their summer home - strangely enough, with no money taken.
- The party, due to going to Sunday service during the previous month, have met the child prophet Vance Fisher. Vance pled for their help, claiming that the Dogsaint prophesized that a band of outsiders shall expose his father’s evil. The party was able to sneak into the Fisher residence and obtain evidence indicting Stanford Fisher, Vance’s father, as the Ocean State Slasher, killer of 13 children.
- While trying to find a place to stash the evidence, the party found a wooden cabin wherein a mother and daughter simultaneously poisoned each other and wanted the other exorcised.
- One of the PCs, Garth, gets stressed and attempts to light up a joint of weed. The mother and daughter react to this with hostility, thinking Garth was about to exorcise both of them or worse. They paralyzed Garth who critically fails his saving throw and drops the lighter. The flames spread, burning Garth alive and setting the wooden cabin ablaze. A junior officer later reported that along with the smoke there were dissipating wails, implying the PCs exorcised both ghosts in holy flame.
- PCs fled the scene as several Black Moon Coyotes leapt out, attracted by the fire. The party piled into their truck and drove away, causing the coyotes to instead attack the party’s neighbours. The party intended to drive through the blockade, but changed their mind once they saw the large amount of backup that was being called in by the National Guard.
Day 2
- The party goes into hiding, but are found by Vance Fisher, who proceeds to take the evidence of his father’s crimes and attempts to convince the neighbourhood that Garth was acting alone and that the rest of the party is innocent of arson. He is able to convince some church-goers but not the National Guard. However, due to the evidence, Stanford Fisher is arrested and the party has tracker bracelets forced onto them, with a proper ruling in court delayed till after the Black Moon passes.
- During this time, the party also learns of the deaths of Joe Kramer (by Mandog) and the Koepp family (by the Black Moon Coyotes who were then dispatched by the National Guard).
- The party, now stuck in Providence, investigates where they think the coyotes came from - Gretchett Park. There, they meet the 11-year-old wild boy Yul Herman, headbanging to heavy metal in the middle of the four statues. He reveals that he is a fan of the party’s music, and insists on sparring with Jessie, the toughest member of the party and a black belt in Karate. Jessie dodges his charge and roundhouse kicks him in the face, winning the match and Yul’s respect.
- Yul tells the party what he knows - of the Wythe coven nearby and how it is rumoured that they’ve captured a dog and of the horrible rituals that happen within. This lines up with what witnesses have told the party about the killer. Yul is worried that the nightly kills have made the neighbourhood too dangerous even for him and volunteers to help the party. Vance is called to cast a blessing over the party and Yul. They then arm themselves with daggers (and a rebar iron for Yul) and make for the Wythe coven.
Day 2 - Assault on Wythe Coven
- Coming in through the back yard, the party sees a man digging a trench in a series of unnatural motions. Yul leapt over the fence and smashed the man’s head in with a rebar iron, despite the party’s desire to resolve the situation non-lethally. Earthworms burst out of the man’s neck and fill the trench.
- The party continues further into the house, triggering a shotgun trap that blasts Frasier, killing him on the spot.
- The sound of the shotgun attracts another of the coven, who utilizes a hidden trapdoor in the hearth to ambush the party, grazing Yul in the shoulder and then blowing Suzie’s brains out onto the walls. The party successfully dispatches the cultist - Jessie stabs the creature in the face and Yul yanked off what remained.
- Proceeding upstairs, the party sees the attic door but inspects one of the bedrooms instead while Joe keeps watch with a shotgun. He hears loud footsteps from the corridor. Peeking out, Joe comes face to face with Mandog.
- Mandog lowers his shotgun calmly and raises his hands in a gesture of peace. Joe beckons his friends out of the room, gun trained on Mandog. Mandog, hands still up, points at the floor and whispers, “Fireball”. A fiery explosion engulfs the party and takes out a chunk of the building, ending the game on Night 2 with a total party kill.
