Many Fires Play Report Session #1

I'm in the process of running Many Fires by Jason Morningstar.  I did a recruitment drive on twitter and the Pelgrane Press discord and also with my regular Thursday and Sunday group, we ended up with five players from across the UK and Europe.

We use Roll20 for maps, dice, handouts, and discord for voice.  I've created a few google sheets, docs, slides to help track things.

The sessions run from 19.00-22.00 UK on a Friday, roughly monthly.

From here on in, there will most definitely be spoilers. 

1928, San Antonio, Mexico

Dr Julius Penn (Rich), Anceleto Bracada (Daniel), Benjamin Delahauf Foulois (Clemence), Warren Pershing (Andy) and Tsutomu Dyo (Ian) have all arrived in Benjamin's Fokker F-VII aircraft.  The plane made an emergency landing in a bean field out of town.  After paying off the irate locals, the group gather their equipment and head into town to look for accommodation.

Fokker F-VII

The group have come together to track down and oust the last remaining Villista, General Marcano Chimones, it is rumoured he is still active, with his army, somewhere in the Valle de Bustillos, each of the group has their own agenda to track down Chimones - revenge, greed, duty - whatever the reason, they have come together to seek him out.

The investigators trudge down the dry and dusty streets of San Antonio, seeing up ahead the centre of town and the faded sign of a hotel, Hotel Calibri, their destination.

The group are greeted warmly by the owner of Calibri, Jesus Herrera, "Come, come, have a drink Senors, please I am the mayor, I can get you whatever you need, just let me know.".  The team decide to turn down Jesus and head into town to find some bars and sources of information.  

As they wait to be booked in, Anceleto notices the same beggar sitting opposite the Hotel, this fellow seems to have been on every street corner since they entered the town, Anceleto quietly informs the others, "We got trouble."

Pedro Gaheh

Anceleto stands over the beggar, and nudges him with his foot, a dirty, cracked face looks up, the man gets unsteadily to his feet, the smell of stale beer wafts from his mouth.  "You want something from us friend, you been following us since we hit town.  What gives?", says Anceleto menacingly.  The beggar screws up his face and sticks out his chin, "Fuck you man, I got a right..."  The beggar, Pedro Gaheh, doesn't finish the sentence, a fist connects with his chin, he groans and slumps back against the wall sliding down it.

Across the street, the mayor calls out, "Senor, everything okay?".  A few of the other investigators are also with Anceleto, they crowd around the fallen beggar, blocking the Mayor's view.  Given this distraction, Anceleto leans down, quickly fleecing the stinking bum and pulling out some documents from his inside pocket, covering his nose with one hand as he does this.

The Doctor calls to the Mayor, "Seems this fellow tried to take advantage of some well-meaning tourists, we had to protect ourselves, it's all okay now."  The Mayor nods, trying to look past the group at the fellow on the ground, he replies, "Ah, it is Pedro, poor guy, he's fallen on hard times, but I did not expect this of him.  Come please, drinks for all."  The Mayor beckons them all back into the hotel, a worried look on his face.

Everyone is in the bar of the Calibri, reading over the papers found on Pedro, seems something is not right, Pedro had newspapers cuttings on the death of Warren's father, his mother and siblings all perished in a fire.  Also, there are pages from General Pershing's personal diary, describing some occult fire ritual.  Warren pipes up, "This fellow is certainly not all he seems, we must be on our guard."

"Look", Benjamin points out of the window.  A smartly dressed fellow with a straw hat is leaning down talking to Pedro, in a few moments he helps Pedro to his feet.  The Doctor is the first out of the door, he strides across the street smiling at the newcomer.  The smartly dressed man smiles back and tips his hat, he speaks in a thick, Germanic accent, "I was helping a fellow man here, he looks the worse for the drink, yes?"  As Pedro sees the Doctor, followed closely behind by the Doctor's friends, he pushes away the man and starts loping up the street.  The Doctor and the other's give chase.

The Doctor manages to grab Pedro as he stumbles, falling on top of him.  Pedro makes some strange gestures with his hands and mouths some incoherent syllables, greasy drops of living fire start to form on his fingertips before spraying out at the doctor.  The Doctor flings up his arm but is engulfed in flame, screaming he tries to roll on the dirt to put it out.  Tsutomu is on hand and aims a kick at the beggar, connecting with the side of his head and sending him sprawling and unconscious for a second time.  He helps to put out the fire on the Doctor, who is unconscious, the others arrive and carry both the Doctor and the Beggar back to the hotel.

To make the small fire

Back in the hotel, the group are upstairs in the room of Anceleto, a bribe has kept the Mayor quiet and some interesting information has been learnt from the smartly dressed man, the man is a Mennonite, Isaac Dyck, he's come over the sea from Germany to set up a community, Schönwiese, further up the valley but he's had trouble of late, Chimones and his men have been raiding the town, hurting his people and stealing goods.  He offers to tell them all where Chimones can be found if they will help put a stop to things.  The group agrees and Dyck draws a rough sketch of a Ranch, north of Lake Bustillos and the similarly named ghost town.

Isaac Dyck

The investigators get to work on Pedro, he rambles and rants but after a few blows, he tells them all he knows; he's from a tribe, called the Shaa and something big is happening, he was told by Chimones to watch for them and put a stop to the group.  Pedro again tries to light up the room, so he is thrown, tied up, into a full bathtub.

The group then head to the nearby school, there is a rumour of more information to be found in the library, and then, next door, they will pay a visit to the hospital, news has come in of a number of burns victims being registered.

At the school, they are met by Heriberto Uriarte, the headmaster of El Politecnico, a small trade college in town.  Uriarte is very proud of his school and shows the investigators around, they pay particular attention to the school library and browse around finding various historical accounts of an evil tribe at the time of the conquistadors, who used fire magic.   One of the investigators ask about the Pershing collection and Uriarte proudly opens up a case but the articles are gone, as it turns out they were stolen by Pedro Gaheh and they are safely returned.  

An old map is also found, showing the route that General Pershing took when tracking down Pancho Villa, a few red crosses mark stops along the way, the largest one is high up in the Sierra Madre.

General Pershing sketch

The team thank the headmaster and decide to head next door to the hospital before following the lead from Isaac Dyck on to Rancho Bustillos and the possible hiding place of Chimones.