Bad Blood, A weekend with Good Friends Play Report

A one-shot play report for Liminal designed by Paul Mitchener.  Bad Blood was written and run by Sue at the 2020 - A Weekend with Good Friends Con, a virtual gaming conference organised by the discord community of The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast.

...Here Be Spoilers (and a slight amount of artistic licence)...

Milton Keynes isn't exactly known as a hotbed of paranormal activity...

...but here we are, Simon "Fizzy" Popwell runs a hand through his shock of red hair, a cyber investigator of dubious renown and is on the blower to DI Shar Patel and it seems that his next case will indeed be in the land of concrete cows.  He gathers the rest of Triple D, a rough grouping of gutter mages, dhampir, eldritch scholars and dubious criminals that are interested, obsessed, appalled by the hidden world, but all come together under Fizzy's banner/barely-there-organizational-skills to earn a crust.

Triple D

"Listen, the DI called, she has a case, it's come right from the top, a young guy, 20 years old, Andrew Smith, he's missing, was supposed to spend the night at his mates, Jason Williams but after heading out to The Crauford Arms regular Goth Night, he's not been seen since."

"What else can I tell you?  He seems normal enough, aside from the layers of greasepaint and dubious sounding nickname of Dark Arachnid, he studies maths at the open university with Jason, his mum, a Sarah Smith, works in HR at a local business. Father is up in Scotland, parent's divorced."

"It will be the standard rate, to find Andrew and the reason for his disappearance and slide under the carpet any paranasties, only other link is with Manchester, been a few people missing linked to the goth scene, not sure if it's connected."

The team decide to take the case and travel down in Eric, their trusty Nissan Cube, a squeeze but it will save on the train fare.  Priority is to speak with the mum, Sarah, so they head to her house, a vacuum of interest in a cul-de-sac of normality.  Jerry, the Dhampir will lead the interrogation gentle questioning given his quite charming disposition, Fizzy will observe and the good Doctor Miles there to provide any psychological profiling.  Thomas our resident thief, desperately trying to get on the straight and narrow and Brian our gutter mage, hang back.  

Jerry looks into the sky, bright, clear and hisses.  Jerry nods at Brian and Brian starts to curve his hands into a ball, small sparks drift out and as Brian throw his hands up into the air, the clouds gather above them and the light begins to darken.  Jerry grins a pointy, toothy grin, puts on his shades and heads to the house.

Interview Sarah Smith

After tea and digestives, Jerry grimaces, as Sarah Smith asks, "Where did you say you were from?".  "Triple D!" he spits out.  Fizzy looks worriedly at Jerry putting a hand on his arm.  Jerry has delusions of grandeur and always says Triple D sounds like a drain cleaning firm, but Deep Data Delving is tied to his day to day work and his tax returns, it is also dull enough to avoid further investigation by person or persons of an otherworldly nature.  Jerry needs to keep his cool with the norms, thank god he isn't a werewolf!

They learn that Andrew is a "good boy", his friend Jason is "boring" and that he was "excited" about going to the goth club night at The Crauford Arms to see his favourite band Lost Hearts.  Fizzy gives the double thumbs-up sign, she's telling the truth.  The Doc starts to research Lost Hearts on his tablet.  They get permission to check out Andrew's room, there are posters of Lost Hearts, the Doc points out that there are two different line ups, it seems Steven Wilde, the original guitarist passed away and was replaced by Eddie Church, joining the singer Lisa Field and the drummer Damien Slade.  The Doc expands that there have been a series of attacks at Lost Hearts gigs and the band themselves don't seem to be based anywhere, constantly gigging around the country.

They continue the search of Andrew's bedroom, apart from a few occult books (popular stuff, nothing sinister), some spliffs and a laptop, nothing else is of note.  Jerry calls downstairs, "We need to access his laptop, that okay Mrs Smith?", "I'm... I don't... are you sure?"  "Ma'am, this is police work, there could be vital clues that lead us to Andrew, we are imploring you?".  These last words seem to echo dizzily around the house, the power of Jerry's voice but something otherworldly too, the dhampir charm works and Mrs Smith agrees.   

Fizzy connects a device to the laptop, incomprehensible code whizzes past on the front of the device, until a clear phrase comes up Bauhau5, Fizzy types it in and gets access to the laptop.  He starts trawling through folders, files and social media profiles - not a lot there, but there are some good Instagram pictures of last night, it seems Andrew won a raffle to meet the band, along with another goth guy.

They promise Mrs Smith they will do everything they can to find Andrew and armed with a little more information they decided to head over to interview Andrew's college friend Jason.  Fizzy and Thomas are dropped off at The Crauford Arms, Fizzy stays outside, watching the comings and goings, he recognizes a guy behind the bar from the Instagram photos, probably the landlord.  Thomas goes around back, bumping into the cleaner, who tells him that the drummer of the band just left in a Red Citroen Berlingo, he was the only one to stay over at the Arms last night.

Interview Jason Williams

Meanwhile, Brian, Jerry and the doc pay a visit to Jason, an uneventful few minutes, Jason is indeed dull, enjoying the delights of Radio 3 - Bach is a favourite but Mozart too adventurous then spends time explaining the intricacies of leg sping bowling before becoming serious on the difficulties of pursuing a career in project management (the author at this points sheds a tear).  Seems it WAS unusual for Andrew not to turn up and crash at Jason's, he's usually very reliable.  The group leave, stifling yawns and rubbing sleep from their eyes, heading to rendezvous at The Crauford Arms with the remainder of Triple D.

Interview Landlord of The Crauford Arms

The group crowd into The Crauford Arms, it's just opened up and customers are scarce, Jerry and Fizzy corner the landlord, Jerry croaks the magical "Triple D" phrase and they explain their semi-legal status in investigating Andrew's disappearance.

The Crauford Arms

The Landlord is per the script avuncular and only too happy to help, he explains that Andrew along with two others at the goth night won a raffle to meet Lost Hearts.  Andrew, Kelly Parish and Raven Knight, the landlord rolls his eyes, "We hope he'll grow out of it." went backstage to get photos.  The group head backstage too, Brian gets an immediate tingle, some kind of magic has been disbursed in this room.  Fizzy checks the laptop pictures, now on his phone, there is no sign of a girl in the photos.  The landlord insists that Kelly was there, he remembers because she'd not been around much since last summer, they were all pleased to see her out again, seems she now works the night shift in a local call centre.  After a bit more of Jerry's charm, the landlord gives out both the address of Kelly and Raven Knight, the landlord implores, "Please.  Have a word with Raymond, you know, Raven Knight, he needs to dial it down a bit, it's... embarrassing."

The group also ask for any CCTV footage of the night and the landlord hands it over with a smile.

Review CCTV Tape

Fizzy pulls out his portable player in the van and they go over the footage from The Crauford Arms CCTV.

02.00 Club night ends and crowd leaves

02.15 Raven Knight leaves in an Uber, seems to hold the door open longer than necessary

02.16 Andrew is seen leaving and walking in the direction of Jason's house

02.17 A white van heads off in the same direction as Andrew, a number plate is visible, this van was not seen in the pub car park

     - The Doc traces the van to a local van rental company, Thomas checks police records, it's been reported stolen

    - The team deduce (are prompted by the GM) that such a van may have a GPS tracker in it

02.18 A black van, which was parked at the pub, heads off in the opposite direction to the white van and Andrew, a number plate is visible

     - The doc finds the registration to an Edward Chuch, with a London based address

We don't see any sign of Kelly on the CCTV.  The doctor has been doing a bit more research on Lost Hearts, seems the previous guitarist died of heart failure.

Investigate Crime Scene

Whilst Fizzy dials up the rental van company to get a location of the white van, Brian and the others trot down the road, following the path Andrew took.  Immediately they see signs of a scuffle, drops of blood and van tracks.  Fizzy and the Doc drive up and Fizzy pokes his head out, "We've got a current location on the van, it's stationary at the Milton Keynes Coachway, jump in!"

Talk to Andrew Smith

In the corner of the bus terminal, they spot the white van from the previous night.  Thomas is pushed forward to open the van, he creaks open the door and sees a figure lying prone in the back, his hands bound with cable ties and a bag over his head.  Brian pulls off the bag, it's Andrew, "Doc, check him out!"  Andrew is in a bad way, bruises, bites and cuts cover him, but he'll live, her probably needs to get to a hospital to get properly checked out.  The Doc gently brings him around and he stares uncomprehendingly at the group.

After calming him down and explaining who they are and why they are there, he recounts the evening.  He remembers having his photo taken, but only with Lisa and Eddie, the drummer wasn't there. After leaving, he heard a van screech to a halt behind him and then he was pounced on by three people, they all had  balaclava's on and long hair, one of them shouted, "This is for Steven!"  He remembers nothing after that.  He says Kelly is a good friend, has been reclusive after something happened to her up in Manchester, whilst she was leaving a Ghost (goth band) concert.

We search the van, finding hairs, further analysis shows these are from a wolf or werewolf!  Tracks lead off from the van, wolf and human before turning into just human before they are lost in the urban sprawl.

We get a promise from Andrew that he will call his Mum and Jason, before dropping him off at the local hospital.  We also call into DI Patel, "Andrew is safe but werewolves are involved, you know this ups the deal?"  "Sure, sure, danger pay on top of the standard fee, find out whose behind it and why.  Sorry, still don't know why this has come down from the top, I'm trying to find out."

Interview Kelly Parish

Kelly eventually answers the door and looks bleary-eyed, her eyes are in fact redder than the worst, atomic hangover, almost glowing, Fizzy looks at Jerry, eyebrows are raised.  Kelly stammers, "W-ww... What do you want?"  "Triple D, investigating the disappearance of Andrew Smith." says Fizzy, brandishing a bent and stained card.  Kelly sits down with an opened mouthed look of concern.  Jerry puts her at her ease, Andrew has been found but his assailants are still at large.  Kelly explains that she left the club with Raven Knight and got the bus home, she's been a big fan of Lost Hearts and it was a great night, Lisa, the lead singer is so charismatic, it's a shame the drummer was ill and couldn't hang around.  Lisa knows there is some bad blood between Lost Hearts and Wrekk-Age, rumour has it that Lost Hearts stole Wrekk-Age's guitarist, Steven Wilde.

Fizzy and Brian think Lisa is holding something back, Fizzy gives Jerry the sign, two thumbs down.  Jerry pushes Lisa, he removes his shades, his red, demonic eyes glow back at Lisa, she stifles a scream, "You're a... one of... like me!".  It turns out Lisa was bitten at a Ghost concert in Manchester, she's transforming into a vampire, strange things are happening she can't explain, mirrors still work, but not cameras.  She's been hiding out in Milton Keynes, just doing night shift work to pay the bills, she's worried whoever bit her will find her and take her back to Manchester.  Jerry promises to help, he's been through the same and perhaps some regular sessions could help, he'd been thinking of starting something like this up anyway, she could be his first customer.  

Lisa thanks the group, especially Jerry, she promises to be in touch, should she remember anything else that may help, she explains that she doesn't know Raven Knight, and doesn't want to, he's a plastic goth.

Research Wrekk-Age

The Doc has been listening in and tapping away about further information on Wrekk-Age, aside from the crimes against the English language, it seems there are a lot of libellous claims about Lost Hearts involvement in Steven Slade's death and more recently the illness afflicting the Lost Hearts drummer.  Their albums are both derivative and having an over-reliance on wolf motives.

Call Andrew

Thomas calls Andrew to check in on him, he's doing good, should be out of the hospital later today, when asked about Wrekk-Age, he knows of them, but no interest, not his thing.

Interview "Raven Knight" aka Raymond

Leaving Kelly's Triple D make there way over to Raven Knight aka Raymond Rombolini, he stands on the door in his dark robe-like dressing gown, it barely covers the mickey mouse slippers.  He used to be a fan of Wrekk-Age until Steven Slade left, now he follows Lost Hearts, they are incredible, last night was amazing, but such a downer not to meet the drummer.  He looks confused, embarrassed and there is the sign of a bottom lip wobble, when Jerry says "Cut out the Raven Knight crap, one day you may have kids, what will they think!?"

Text from Kelly

Back inside Eric, the group are deep in thought, they posit a few investigative paths they can follow, but nothing really seems concrete.  The silence is interrupted by the beep of a text message.  Jerry reads it and looks up, "It's from Kelly, she says Lost Hearts usually travel around in a campervan, staying at local campsites, that's a good lead.".  The Doc finds that there is only one recognised campsite in Milton Keynes - Gullivers!  The Doc fires up the engine and they roll.

Gulliver's Campsite

Our heroes drive slowly into the campsite, eyeing from side-to-side, there they spot a single, lonely campervan.  Also, there is another van, that has just parked up, three tall, broad, hirsute fellows get out and walk purposefully towards the campervan.

Gulliver's Land

Brian and Thomas get out of Eric and sneak around to the back of the campervan, Brian has clocked the three long hairs as shapeshifters. Thomas winks at Brian, "Stealth mode, right?" Brian looks at Thomas, smiles and shakes his head, "No my friend, it's time to burn!".  Brian turns his palms upward and looks to the grey clouds above, energy crackles all around him, a bolt of lightning traverses from the sky, into the midst of the werewolves, blasting two of them to the side and engulfing the leader  As the smoke drifts away, the leader is spreadeagled on the floor, the other two are slowly getting to their feet.   

At this moment the campervan door opens and Lisa looks out.  Jerry, Fizzy and Doc, jump out of Eric and rush to the scene, the Doc bends over the fallen leader, his name is Twisted; Broken, one of Twisted's bandmates gets up and places himself in front of Jerry, his nostrils twitching and a deep snarl coming out of his mouth, the final shapeshifter, Torn, gets more slowly to his feet, groggily shaking his head.

"You're with her, aren't you?" sneers Broken to Jerry, Lisa screams at them "What the hell is going on?  Who are all these loonies?"  Jerry raises himself to his full height, he slowly puts his palms up, face outwards, "Everyone needs to breathe deeply and calm. the. fuck. down!" Doc looks up from attending to Twisted, "He's hurt badly, but I think I can stabilise him."  Broken now looks confused, looking backwards and forwards between the groups.  Jerry announces to the groups, "We're going to step inside, put the kettle on and sort this mess out."

After a few frosty moments, the various factions relax, the Doc and Brian see that Lisa is not a vampire, but there is some kind of immensely powerful Faerie force around her.  The shapeshifters admit they have been trying to frame Lisa as a vampire, attacking their fans, to bring suspicion on her, it was payback for what she did to Steven.  

The Lost Hearts drummer is lying sick in the back of the campervan, there is a curse upon him, it appears to be Dark Muse, the victim's lifeforce is being drained but he gains tremendous artistic powers, the origin of the curse emanates from Lisa.  After consulting Brian and Miles agree that if Lisa transfers her affection from the drummer to someone else and that person rejects the affection, then the curse can be broken.  Everyone turns and looks at Jerry.

Jerry enquires with Lisa "Do you see anyone dashing, handsome, desirable in this room?", "Well yes" blushes Lisa, "you."  YYyyyoouuuuu echoes around inside of Jerry's mind, she is indeed desirable, mesmerising, how could anyone resist, and yet... a stinging blow jolts him out of his reverie, "Thanks Fizzy, remind me to return the favour." Jerry steals himself and the faerie force starts to dissipate, sweat stands out in his brow, he feels his body tingling, almost vibrating,  It is like an explosion is imminent, he glances at Brian - he gives the universal shrug of not me guv - with one last effort Jerry rejects the advances of Lisa and he sinks back down into his chair, wasted.  A calm descends on the campervan.

A little while later, Fizzy is on the phone to the DI, he explains,

"It's as we expected a simple case of vampire goths meets werewolf speed metal freaks, all is now forgiven and they can live in perfect harmony... happily ever after."

"No nothing else, should there be?  No.  Okay, case closed.  I'll expect the money by end of the day.  You're welcome."

A few months later Jerry is setting out a circle of chairs, in walks Kelly, he nods at her and she takes a seat, next to her is Lisa, they both say hi to each other.  He swears he sees Lisa's eyes go full black, like the pupil has expanded completely, then they light up, almost luminescent for a moment, before he blinks and they are normal.  

The camera pans back on the scene, there are a number of other seats filled, CCTV up in the corner of the sports hall blinks with a red light.  "Well." says Jerry, "Who wants to begin?"