The Black Drop Play Report Session #4
Okay, another session of The Black Drop, a one-shot for the Gumshoe RPG, Trail of Cthulhu.
Day 7, Port Couvreux-to-Beau Temps Harbor-toMount Valdivia, Kerguelen Islands
The team waits on the beach as the German's make their way to shore. Dr. Schneider (who the professor recognizes as the current leader of the Black Drop society), Thomas Faber, a nazi and fascist supporter and friend of Dr. Waechter and a young man barely out of his teens, greet them, they look tired and wish to speak to everyone back at Port Couvreux.
Back at Couvreux, Pamela busies herself and the other women with setting up an impromptu meal, once all is organized, the German's get to business, Herr Buschner is missing, he's a drunk, but they really need him back and unharmed, he's their meteorologist and with the occultation of Venus happening soon, he must be found. As the team was planning to head west to search for Pierre Pettit, the Germans decide to head east, planning to meet back the next morning, to see what has been found.
As the German's depart, the team boards their skiff and after a few choice words between Maurice and the Professor, they head to the shepherd's camp, planning to check out the light seen on the beach on the way back.
Arriving at the camp, they follow signs south where a large flock of skuas have gathered, normally a sea bird, it is unusual to see them so far inland. Arriving at the base of a cliff, they are shocked to find the body of Pierre, his neck broken from a fall and his eyes pecked out by the birds. Leaving him they head on up a cliff path to the top, where the majority of the birds gather, another horrific site, 200 sheep dead, their throats ritualistically cut and placed in a 50ft wide circle, the ground around them black with blood!
Shaken and mystified, the team carry Pierre's body and items back to the boat and head off to investigate the light. Approaching, they see a small camp, they land, but Maurice refuses to leave Pierre's body and stays with the boat. They call out and a very drunk German lurches from the tent, rambling and stumbling around them. The Doctor and Lieutenant administer some cold water, rough treatment, and doses of smelling salts until at last Herr Buschner, for it is he, is sober enough to talk... and talk he does...
The God of the Black Stone will return in two days' time, the Black Drop Society has known this and they also know that only a blood sacrifice when the occultation of Venus occurs will be able to force the God back down into the earth again. But Buschner will have none of it, he wants to live and implores the group to leave the island and take him with them. He searches in his pack and brings forth an exquisite crystal diadem, thrusting it into the hands of the professor... "This is what Schneider seeks, he needs it to complete the ritual, but such nightmares it gives me, please you must take it, I cannot be with this thing anymore!".
The Professor, Lieutenant, and Doctor decide to hide Buschner from the Germans and agree to head inland towards the mountains, where the Lieutenant believes the natural volcanic landscape should afford shelter and caves for Buschner to hide out in. As they shout out their plan to Maurice he implores them to head back to Port Couvreux but when they insist, he starts up the boat and leaves them stranded.
As the group accompanies Buschner, they head south and spot a cave mouth halfway up the side of Mount Valdivia, entering the cave they find a mummified corpse, clutching a diary. Reading the diary, it recounts a desperate journey from shipwreck to this lonely place of death but describes "a great building in the Hindaloo mode beneath I believe Mt. Lyall in the Studer Valley and a great many scattered crystals of quartz, etc. Before it is a terrible black stone and I felt the presence of the very devil...".
Meanwhile, as Maurice approaches Port Couvreux he spies a plume of black smoke, stretching up into the pale, blue sky. He lands the skiff in a cove and climbs up the slope, he sees the buildings of Port Couvreux in flames and starts to run down towards them.
Keeper Thoughts:
I'm not sure if I've messed this up, at the time of writing, I'm yet to play the, probably, final and fifth session. My concern is that the scenes above seem to be uncovered as the group heads off on a journey from Port Couvreux to either Mount Lyall or Betsy Cove.
Somehow, I've got to get Maurice and the others over to Mount Lyall for the end, but the party is split and most of them stranded. I'm really not sure how this will pan out, likely the cultists will ambush Maurice, will he survive? Will he leave the others stranded without a boat and probably not enough time to reach Mount Lyall before the occultation and the Black God appears?!
I also got a bit tied up in some of the logic and timing, the German's mention Buschner has left them and taken camping equipment and plenty of schnapps and when the players mention seeing a tent, surely, they'd be heading straight there?! I played the Germans as possibly not trusting these civilians and they had other areas to search but would come back the next day and compare notes, but it felt a bit weak, given the desperation for the German's.
Again, another cliffhanger ending as Maurice rushes down to Port Couvreux, as the others ponder whether to wait or to strike out on their own.
...Here Be Spoilers...
The team waits on the beach as the German's make their way to shore. Dr. Schneider (who the professor recognizes as the current leader of the Black Drop society), Thomas Faber, a nazi and fascist supporter and friend of Dr. Waechter and a young man barely out of his teens, greet them, they look tired and wish to speak to everyone back at Port Couvreux.
Back at Couvreux, Pamela busies herself and the other women with setting up an impromptu meal, once all is organized, the German's get to business, Herr Buschner is missing, he's a drunk, but they really need him back and unharmed, he's their meteorologist and with the occultation of Venus happening soon, he must be found. As the team was planning to head west to search for Pierre Pettit, the Germans decide to head east, planning to meet back the next morning, to see what has been found.
 |
| The Black Drop |
As the German's depart, the team boards their skiff and after a few choice words between Maurice and the Professor, they head to the shepherd's camp, planning to check out the light seen on the beach on the way back.
Arriving at the camp, they follow signs south where a large flock of skuas have gathered, normally a sea bird, it is unusual to see them so far inland. Arriving at the base of a cliff, they are shocked to find the body of Pierre, his neck broken from a fall and his eyes pecked out by the birds. Leaving him they head on up a cliff path to the top, where the majority of the birds gather, another horrific site, 200 sheep dead, their throats ritualistically cut and placed in a 50ft wide circle, the ground around them black with blood!
Shaken and mystified, the team carry Pierre's body and items back to the boat and head off to investigate the light. Approaching, they see a small camp, they land, but Maurice refuses to leave Pierre's body and stays with the boat. They call out and a very drunk German lurches from the tent, rambling and stumbling around them. The Doctor and Lieutenant administer some cold water, rough treatment, and doses of smelling salts until at last Herr Buschner, for it is he, is sober enough to talk... and talk he does...
 |
| Herr Buschner |
The God of the Black Stone will return in two days' time, the Black Drop Society has known this and they also know that only a blood sacrifice when the occultation of Venus occurs will be able to force the God back down into the earth again. But Buschner will have none of it, he wants to live and implores the group to leave the island and take him with them. He searches in his pack and brings forth an exquisite crystal diadem, thrusting it into the hands of the professor... "This is what Schneider seeks, he needs it to complete the ritual, but such nightmares it gives me, please you must take it, I cannot be with this thing anymore!".
The Professor, Lieutenant, and Doctor decide to hide Buschner from the Germans and agree to head inland towards the mountains, where the Lieutenant believes the natural volcanic landscape should afford shelter and caves for Buschner to hide out in. As they shout out their plan to Maurice he implores them to head back to Port Couvreux but when they insist, he starts up the boat and leaves them stranded.
As the group accompanies Buschner, they head south and spot a cave mouth halfway up the side of Mount Valdivia, entering the cave they find a mummified corpse, clutching a diary. Reading the diary, it recounts a desperate journey from shipwreck to this lonely place of death but describes "a great building in the Hindaloo mode beneath I believe Mt. Lyall in the Studer Valley and a great many scattered crystals of quartz, etc. Before it is a terrible black stone and I felt the presence of the very devil...".
 |
| Studer Valley |
Meanwhile, as Maurice approaches Port Couvreux he spies a plume of black smoke, stretching up into the pale, blue sky. He lands the skiff in a cove and climbs up the slope, he sees the buildings of Port Couvreux in flames and starts to run down towards them.
Keeper Thoughts:
I'm not sure if I've messed this up, at the time of writing, I'm yet to play the, probably, final and fifth session. My concern is that the scenes above seem to be uncovered as the group heads off on a journey from Port Couvreux to either Mount Lyall or Betsy Cove.
Somehow, I've got to get Maurice and the others over to Mount Lyall for the end, but the party is split and most of them stranded. I'm really not sure how this will pan out, likely the cultists will ambush Maurice, will he survive? Will he leave the others stranded without a boat and probably not enough time to reach Mount Lyall before the occultation and the Black God appears?!
I also got a bit tied up in some of the logic and timing, the German's mention Buschner has left them and taken camping equipment and plenty of schnapps and when the players mention seeing a tent, surely, they'd be heading straight there?! I played the Germans as possibly not trusting these civilians and they had other areas to search but would come back the next day and compare notes, but it felt a bit weak, given the desperation for the German's.
Again, another cliffhanger ending as Maurice rushes down to Port Couvreux, as the others ponder whether to wait or to strike out on their own.
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