We were warned OOC about these themes ahead of time, and went ahead. We did occasionally lighten the mood with OOC jokes, but we all pushed hard to save the NPCs ASAP. Very much to our own disadvantage, really. We broke moral limits as we brutally interrogated rapists and collaborators. At one point one of us attempted a cold-blooded execution, but mechanically missed the point blank shot, and was talked down. My character considered a separate execution, as we listened to their admissions - it reminds me of that early level of SWAT 4.
Instead we recorded confessions. But we determined that the local sheriff was part of the ring, so it was up to us to save these people.
We slogged through a swampy sewer to the main hideout, which had just been abandoned. We were specifically seeking one victim in particular, a fence who had been ambushed before she could sell us an eldritch item. We found a message she had hidden, but then encountered a vicious ghost guarding her own executed corpse. And... the secrets of her abuser, we later determined. "Stockholm Syndrome" is a trite summary of what went on, there. Very unsettling.
We used our tokens of true faith to discorporate the ghost, which was possessing dogs to attack us, then destroyed her body so she could move on.
The last location was a remote farm house, lights out. We breached from two sides, but the
slasher ringleader was ready for us. 6 successes on 5 dice, he sliced the throat of our main combat character. We two survivors only survived the confusion by using vampiric vitae for supernatural agility (also my character could see in the dark). She fired repeatedly into the slasher's corpse until the bullets ran out, while I made medical rolls with 1 skill to stabilize our friend. It was kinda close, and we both were out of willpower, but we survived the night.
Oh, and yeah - two of us are ghouls, thanks to an "EPA" experimental treatment. We don't know what they gave us, we're mostly assuming it's long-lasting meth or something.
In the basement we found our fence, who was... Well, I won't describe it, but then the GM literally retracted it. According to the module, because we worked desperately fast, we actually got a relatively good ending. She was only captured for a few hours, and was basically unharmed. We gave her one of our jackets and tried to comfort her on the way out, such as we could.
The impact of that description, followed by the relief of our efforts paying off, is really why I wrote this up. It was also a good session, though, with a lot of non-combat roleplaying as we gathered information. Insight was as important as intimidation, as we confronted the suspects with inconsistencies. Also guns, of course.
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Topic: Re: Dungeons & Dragons / PNP games thread: COBRA!!! (Read 941407 times)