Monsterhearts – The Mirkshires – Session 3 (well, actually 4): La Ronde[Author’s Note: Everybody was back and in good form for this session. Sex and violence and high school, all mixed with a hefty dose of dramatic irony that only
Monsterhearts can really provide.]
[Author’s Sidenote: Something just struck me about our RPG lingo, namely: we frame units of time in terms of rounds, scenes, sessions, and campaigns, incorporating the respective discourses of boxing, film/drama, psycho-therapy, and war all at once. So the macro-scale level of an RPG story lets us perceive a field of conflict, the actual sitting with the players is just a form of group therapy, the scenes moments of acting, and the rounds as boundaried units of micro-conflicts. Hmmm...]
Love Letters: Because we have 6 players and 7 characters, the resolution of the love letters took enough time to merit its own section of the AP. Seth and Levi get to mark 2 experience as their consolation for not being able to make it last time. Here are the love letters verbatim, along with their results.
---
“Dear Six,
The psychic shock of losing your other body rips through you, and suddenly voices tear through your head.
Roll to hold steady.
On a 10+, you cling to the fantasy about a character of your choice, and it calms you down.
On a 7-9, you fantasize about Terrifying Fake Gerard and it feels wrong, but you calm down anyway.
On a miss, your “haunted” condition becomes “terrified.”
Your doting MC - Evan”
Six gets a miss, and winds up utterly terrified. Fortunately, she’s a Hollow and can easily resolve that situation by acting it out. More on that later.
---
“Dear Ping,
As you set up your yurt next to the Unseelie camp, you realize that your trusty bow is missing.
Roll to hold steady.
On a 10+, wait – there it is! You grip it with renewed confidence and take 1 forward as you prepare for the Wild Hunt.
On a 7-9, an Unseelie imp ran off with it. You catch her, but the Goat God gets another string on you.
On a miss, an Unseelie imp ran off with it. You hunt her down and, in a fit of rage, strike her dead. Congratulations - you’re now your Darkest Self!
Your doting MC - Evan”
Ping gets a success and it’s no big deal.
---
“Dear Gerard,
You are woken in the early morning by your men: the Boar-Headed Fiend (one of your sergeants) wagers he could command this bunch better than you. He calls for a challenge!
Roll to lash out physically.
On a 10+, you whip him soundly and he’ll actually support you from now on.
On a 7-9, you beat him, but take 1 harm and a hard-to-conceal wound to show for it.
On a miss, he whips you, you take 2 harm, and now the Goat God has to get involved...
Your doting MC - Evan”
Gerard gets a partial success, meaning he beat the Boar-Headed Fiend into submission, but not before it bit off his index and middle fingers on his right hand. He starts the game with an open wound.
---
“Dear Terrifying Fake Gerard,
You ate recently, and that was good. But you’re still badly wounded from that fracas with the doll and the ghost.
At some point this morning, choose a character who, if they agree to help heal your harm, can mark 1 experience.
In exchange, you not only heal all 3 of your harm, but you also get to activate your Sex Move with this character.
Failure to do this in the morning will give everyone a string on you.
Your doting MC - Evan”
The time frame wasn’t all that generous, so he failed. Everyone got a string on Terrifying Fake Gerard, which pretty much represents the fact that by the end of the first 15 minutes of the session, word got around about his ‘condition.’
---
“Dear Olivia,
After a terrible evening, you crash and begin another round of blaming yourself for all that transpired.
Roll to gaze into the abyss.
On a 10+, you see an apparition that jolts you out of your self-hatred and blame.
On a 7-9, you see an apparition that jolts you out of your self-hatred and blame, but it takes advantage of your wounded state and takes 2 strings on you.
On a miss, you see only the world around you and it continues to suck. Everyone gets a string on you in your insecurity.
Your doting MC - Evan”
She gets a partial success. As she and Tyrone walk through the streets of the Mirkshires (more on that later), she spots the Hanging Tree where there once was a horrific mass hanging. Some of the more capricious ghosts spot her as she passes, and it’s obvious to them what just happened to Olivia.
---
“Dear Seth,
You arrived home late last night after dropping off Six, only to find your father hopping mad about your consorting with the Unseelie - and at this late hour!
Roll to manipulate an NPC.
On a 10+, he lets up after you give him a bribe, threat or motive.
On a 7-9, he simmers down, but sends you to spend the rest of the night with your sister as penance.
On a miss, same as a 7-9, only your father gets 2 strings on you and will be mistrustful for the near future.
In all cases, mark 2 experience points for the stress.
Your doting MC - Evan”
Seth gets a partial success. He spends the rest of the night in the basement feeding his sister the dead mice she likes and reading her an endless array of bedtime stories. He won’t be in great shape come dawn.
---
“Dear Levi,
Upon completion of your shift at 7/11, you come home to find your Uncle Snarls at Death’s Door thanks to that chill he picked up a few weeks ago.
Roll to hold steady.
On a 10+, you do what must be done.
On a 7-9, you do what must be done, but have to either openly express your grief during the process or take the condition “haunted.”
On a miss, it’s messy, emotionally painful, and disruptive to your sleep to boot. Take the “haunted” condition too.
Mark 2 experience points for the pain.
Your doting MC - Evan”
Levi gets a partial success. He takes Uncle Snarls to the nearby cliff where, after a long pause before the sun rises, the dying wolf throws himself off. Because Levi’s a teenage boy, he swallows the pain and takes the condition “haunted.”
---
What Happened: The following events encompass the 21-hour period between 3 a.m. until midnight on the Friday on which supposedly the Wild Hunt is to take place. Having been discovered as a goat in the Unseelie camp, Tyrone is wandering naked around in the forest near the Veil back into the human world. Olivia meets up with him and chats about his disappearance. It turns out that he was running away from his abusive home situation and wound up goatnapped. His memories from his time of being in a goat skin at the Tree of Darkness are pretty hazy, but involve eating grass and bleating. They pass through the Veil and back into town. Olivia sees the horrific apparition of the Hanging Tree with all of its ghostly hanging bodies, but it at least jolts her out of her self-hatred and blame for the whole situation – especially Six getting devoured and all.
Homeroom. Terrifying Fake Gerard is there, as are Levi, Six, and Olivia (Seth wanders in a little later and sleepy). Terrifying Fake Gerard immediately locks eyes with Six and totally falls in love with her. Six is called to the principal’s office, but decides to just go to the bathroom instead and ignores the call. Terrifying Fake Gerard tries to get Olivia’s help in wooing Six, but she (after last night) outright refuses. Oh, and Levi’s heightened senses absolutely tell him that Six and Terrifying Fake Gerard had sex (they didn’t). The rumor spreads anyway and Seth gets really angry, because of his feelings for Six. Mr. Vanze says some boring things and doesn’t care enough to force Six to go to the Principal’s office. After class, Sheldon asks the group for 2 volunteers to help out on the Harvest Dance committee for this coming Friday: Terrifying Fake Gerard and Six volunteer. Asha doesn’t like the way that Terrifying Fake Gerard and Six now have a thing, so Six gives her the condition “bitch” she gives Six the condition “slut,” which has a profound effect on her as a Hollow. Later, in Ms. Akin’s English class, Six, Levi and Terrifying Fake Gerard read passages from the old English play
Everyman. They read about Death giving Everyman a choice between Heaven and Hell, and he’s like “Can we wait a while before I have to decide?” They muddle their way through the text, unconcerned with its relations to their own existence.
Meanwhile, in the Unseelie camp, Ping wakes up and finds Gerard with his missing two fingers. Sie takes him over to a nearby healing pool. Sie undresses and expects Gerard to do the same. He is so turned on by the situation that it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that they’re having sex (Ping as a “girl” by request) on the bank within half-an-hour. While they’re having great sex on the beach, the Goat God has mounted a phallus-shaped branch on the Tree of Darkness and made some sort of grand speech to the assembled Unseelie camp. Gerard missed it entirely. As per their Sex Moves, Ping and Gerard extract promises from each other: Gerard has to trust Ping completely, and Gerard gets Ping’s blue glass bottle pendant with “girl” faerie essence in it. After donning their clothes, Ping and Gerard discover from Griswold that the Goat God has capriciously delayed the Wild Hunt to the next weekend. This means Gerard has to get his Unseelie band in shape by then, and Ping has to go back to school. Gerard doesn’t think it’s a bad thing that there’s another form of him wandering around, attending classes with him. Once Ping leaves, Gerard drills his troops and gazes into the abyss. He realizes that his rag-tag Unseelie band are no different from high-schoolers, and he must rise to the level of “role-model teacher,” rather than general, to get them to behave. That or some strong teenage discipline.
Lunchtime. Seth walks up to Terrifying Fake Gerard and punches him in the face. This compounds Terrifying Fake Gerard’s harm (Vincent chooses to lose all his strings) and give him a bloody nose to boot. Terrifying Fake Gerard responds by biting Seth in the face. Six realizes this is over her and (to work off her “Terrified” condition) runs off to the crafts trailer, while Seth just gives Terrifying Fake Gerard the condition “snake food” and walks away. Olivia and Levi meanwhile debrief about last night by the trees... and share an awkward make-out session. Seth and Terrifying Fake Gerard later wind up at the nurse’s office, separated with just a thin curtain. They are both served detentions by Assistant Principal Grumley, who’s too over-worked to be otherwise bothered with conflict resolution. Nurse Hilda bandages up Seth’s face and leaves for long enough to let Six slip in unnoticed. She and Terrifying Fake Gerard make plans for later (with Seth overhearing them) and then turns to talk to Seth. Seth makes a direct suggestion (via the Temptation move): “I think you should stay away from Terrifying Fake Gerard.” Six absorbs the power and will now be able to use it in the future. Ping calls Six via her mirror and is confused that she picks up. Sie then makes the mistake of holding up Six’s doll parts and Six hangs up out of horror.
After school. Olivia watches Levi at his first football practice where, despite being super-tired and haunted, he pummels the crap out of the tackling dummies. This intimidates the entire team, and he’s pretty much appointed a linebacker position on the spot. While Olivia watches him (and the nearby cheerleaders), the trio of girlfriends Jennifer, Wendy and Emma start talking about her and giggling. Jennifer condescendingly asks Olivia “What’s your name?” and Olivia immediately goes to her Darkest Self. She vanishes, and loses any significance. Embarassed, she leaves. Seth surprisingly walks out and takes Olivia’s spot. After practice, Seth and Levi converse: Seth tempts Levi to cross over into the Fae realm with him, and Levi considers it.
Ping is waiting for Six when she gets home on the bus. When they go into Six’s living room, Ping examines the pictures of Six’s mom and gets a flash of recurrent images of violence surrounding the previous versions of Six. Apparently, Six’s mom is a doll-maker who is very disturbed and does not quite understand the havoc she’s wrought and wreaking. Six uses Seth’s power to tempt Ping not to hurt Terrifying Fake Gerard. But that’s not why Ping came over: Ping wants Six to make another whole double of herself in order to trade that with the Goat God for a whole Gerard. Six requires that Ping find her a doll that Ping “really likes.” And then Six and Ping have sex, this time with Ping’s both sexes exposed at once. They afterward extract promises from each other: Ping won’t tell Seth they had sex, and Six won’t tell either Gerard about it. Ping gets out of the house before Six’s mother returns, but only to find that her Seelie parents are still not back from their travels.
Levi comes home to find an invisible Olivia waiting for him. Her dress flutters to the ground, and Levi gets the hint (her Darkest Self goes away). He bowls out his family, and then they have werewolf-ghost sex. Afterward, Levi has formed a spiritual bond with Olivia, while Olivia sorts out the fact that she’s a ghost with Levi. She tells him about how she died and checks to make sure it’s OK that she’s a ghost from the 1960s (it is). In fact, Levi remarks “I’m totally a wolf dating a cougar.”
Seth goes home and talks to his father, Petros, about possibly helping out in the family business in exchange for some tools and connections needed to go into the Fae realm. Petros likes the way Seth is talking and promises to let Seth in on the reason why they actually moved to Mirk Manor in the first place... if he captures 2 fae and put them into cages he provides. He also gives Seth a sharp dagger that can cut through the Veil, but it is “not to be used on anything else, as it dulls the edge.”
11 p.m. Terrifying Fake Gerard meets up with Six, who climbs out her bedroom window in order to be with him. They go on a walk in the nearby bland suburban streets. They both ruminate about being doubles of other folks. Six wants Terrifying Fake Gerard to eat Asha at the Harvest Dance, and Terrifying Fake Gerard considers doing it in public. A police officer drives by and, in typical small-town cop fashion, tells the kids to go home. Terrifying Fake Gerard is hungry, so he throws a rock at the cop car as it passes. The car screeches to a halt and the officer (who shall be named next session) gets out to teach Terrifying Fake Gerard a lesson, but the Ghoul is already on him. Terrifying Fake Gerard takes a savage bit out of the cop’s flesh as he draws a pistol and desperately shoots him in the leg. Then his teeth sink into the cop’s jugular vein, and the cop goes limp. Six watches Terrifying Fake Gerard feast and goes limp like a doll to gaze into the abyss. She gets flashes of Terrifying Fake Gerard’s origin story: he was created as an ugly grey doll with nasty teeth in an Unseelie doll shop at the whim of the Goat God and then sewn into a skin copied from the real Gerard, which then filled with Gerard’s organs and memories. Once Terrifying Fake Gerard eats his fill in a fashion reminiscent more of a wolf attack than that of a human teenager (foreshadowing future badness), they hobble across the suburbs back to Six’s ranch home, where her mother is up and waiting for them...