The Silver of the Sea - Session 1, a VirtualGROGMEET 2021 Play Report

The first part of The Silver of the Sea, this is a Vaesen game.  Vaesen is a game of Dark Nordic Horror from Fria Ligan, designed by Nils Hintze and inspired by the art of Johan Egerkrans.  This game was run over three sessions at VirtualGROGMEET 2021 16-18/Apr.  Thanks to the incredible GM, Martin Cookson and the fantastic players - Fabio, Rick.

Technically this game was run on Google Hangouts for voice and video and used the Foundry VTT for maps, character sheets, dice rolls and handouts.

...Here Be Spoilers...

Upsala, Sweden

Saker som kommer till ditt fönster på natten...

Things that come to your window at night...

I am Henrik Jarv.  Once a respected Upsala police inspector, I now hire myself out to the gentry who need things or people found, or maybe not found.   I am a member of The Society, along with Anastasia and Captain Franz and that mad, old crone Liana Elfenclink.  

We try and resolve disputes between the Vaesen, unseen mythic creatures and humanity, ideally to everyone's mutual satisfaction, but alas, that is not always possible.

Henrik Jarv

A boy has knocked at my door, I am observing him, he is holding out a letter to me, I ignore that for now and inspect his hands.  Dirty, a gutter urchin, obviously paid to deliver this to me, no questions asked.  I move around him, "Oi Sir, it's 'ere.  Letter for ya.", the boy pipes at me, waving the letter in my face, but I ignore it again.  I inspect his clothes, sniff his hair, definitely from the working district, I can smell the fumes from the factories.  I pat his head, surreptitiously wiping away the grime from my inspection and snatch the letter between forefinger and thumb.  He is holding out his hand, but I decline to shake it, I've just cleaned my hands, I bow stiffly and say, "You are welcome!"  I step back and throw the door shut.  As I turn, I hear more words, possibly Anglo-Saxon, from the boy, but the letter is all that interests me, hopefully now, some excitement, a mystery even.

The Society calls

Anastasia has also received the same letter and is making her way into town, she sees an old woman being bullied by students, Anastasia knows wrongdoing when she sees it, she approaches the group.  "Unhand her you ruffians!", she squeaks at the boys, that was supposed to come out with more authority, regardless, she continues, "I think I know you do I not, Tomasz?"  One of the boys goes red, he gestures at the old woman and mutters something about her illegal trading.  Anastasia steps up to Tomasz and prods him in the chest with her parasol.  "This. is. unbecoming. of. a. gentleman. the. headmaster. shall. be. informed."  Each word is emphasised with a parasol prod.  The boys slouch off, looking back as Anastasia stands hands on hips, watching their retreat.

Anastasia Taaltinen

Anastasia turns and picks up the old lady, she seems to be a fortune teller, as they sit and chat on a bench.  The old lady thanks Anastasia profusely and then, seeing a card on the floor, picks it up, looks at Anastasia and cocks her head to one side, "Oh!  I see! This must be yours." says the old woman.  She hands over a card, it is the Queen of Cups, often associated with the ocean, or certainly water.  Anastasia shivers as she inspects up, after a while she looks up, only to see the woman now far away down the street, hobbling slowly onward.

Queen of Cups

Captain Franz is standing red-faced in the middle of the street, waving his fist and shouting at a young motorist, he brandishes his cane, "Damn thrashing, that's what you deserve Sir! The confounded contraption snuck up on me, almost had me down, sir!  You should take it to the scrapyard, best place for it!"  

Captain Franz Nordenfilt

The Captain carries on letting off steam, whilst the motorist continues to beep his horn, his female companion tries to hide her face.  Eventually, the Captain, having made his point, gives way, rapping his cane on the side of the vehicle as it edges past.

Benz Paten Motor-Wagen

Henrik is reading the letter the boy sent, it is clear there is a mystery afoot, this is excellent news!  He grabs his coat and hat and makes for the door, he pauses and looks through the keyhole, good there is no sign of the urchin.  He opens the door and steps out into the street, hurriedly looking about him and making in the direction of the Bhurger and Baker.

As he rushes down the main street, he sees a white ash tree, a tree familiar to him from his childhood, a tree he could often be found atop of, looking out on the citizens of Upsala with his grandfather's telescope.  A group of fellows are cutting large chunks out of it with axes, they've cordoned off the area.  Henrik stops and taps the foreman on the shoulder.  

Ash Tree

The foreman turns and lazily drawls, "What?"  Henrik angrily replies, "My good fellow, this will not stand, cannot stand.  Cease!  Desist!"  The foreman crumples his brow, "What?"  Henrik continues, "Name?"  The foreman is thoroughly confused and dull of intellect, "What?", he replies.  "I see", says Henrik, "Watt. Good.  And your first name?"  "Eh?" says the foreman.  "Excellent, compliancy.  Thank you, Mr A.Watt.", responds Henrik as he jots this all down in his little book.  "Now Mr A. Watt of Watt & Sons.  Stop this nonsense, whilst I prepare a stiff letter to your company on why your actions are unethical, illegal and immoral.  Good day, Sir!", with this Henrik, shuts his book and turns on his heels.  

As Henrik continues on over the bridge, he examines his pocket watch and starts a light jog onward into town.  The foreman turns to his sons, who all bear the same dense, large furrowed brows as their father, "Here, what was that all about?" he says.  They shrug and turn back to the feeling of the tree.

Arriving simultaneously at the Bhurger and Baker, Anastasia, the Captain and Henrik, wave and acknowledge each other, they briefly discuss the same letters they have all had delivered this morning - to meet the head of The Society, Lina, here at 11am.  

As they swap pleasantries, they are interrupted by the gruff owner of the cafe, shouting at an old woman, covered head to toe in scarves and shawls, the weather is hot and humid and the owner is covering his nose as he shouts, "No, not in here, not today.  My custom will be ruined, you have to go.  Go on now, off with you."

Anastasia is probing the owner in his sizeable midriff with her parasol, "That is no way to treat one of our learned elders. No more, I say!"  The owner is red-faced and hands up, trying to gently divert the prods, but Anastasia is a master of this particular weapon and poke after poke finds its ample target.

A weapon fit for a lady

Sweating and angry, the owner agrees that all four of them can sit outside, as long as they order for Lina.  Anastasia nods and goes over to help Lina to a seat.  Anastasia gets a whiff of the elderly dame and tears spring to her eyes, she stops and pulls out a fan, wafting it in front of her nose.  "Gentlemen, please do lend a hand.", she says.  Henrik and Captain Franz carefully herd Lina to a seat, trying not to touch her and to also keep upwind of the reeking old maid.

Eventually, with food ordered Lina gets straight to the point, she pulls out a letter and starts to read from it;

Oscar Uddgren from the fishing village of Fjällbacka is a friend of The Society.

Oscar

Oscar speaks of death - his friend and mentor Vicar Carl Eric Hedqvist.

The cause of death, an apparent suicide, a gunshot wound to the head.

Oscar suspects the clan of one Baron Zacharias Amundsson; his mother Abela aka the Godmother and their sons Paul, Pete and Pace.

Baron Zacharias Amundsson

The Amundssons live on Wrecker Isle, Hedqvist used to visit regularly, trying to persuade the folk of the isle to turn to the good lord, but each time the Amundssons threw him out.

Oscar goes on at length about the ungodliness of the Amundssons and implores Lina to send The Society to investigate...

All three of Anastasia, Captain Franz and Henrik, nod solemnly, they agree to leave for Fjällbacka in the morning, they will go via Gothenberg for supplies.  

The next day they head off, each of them picking up key items they believe they will need, a storm lantern, a telescope.  They stay overnight in Gothenberg and each of them has the same dream - They stand on the shore, an enormous wave builds, towering over them, within can be seen sunken ships and all manner of known and unknown creatures.  Eventually, the wave seems to be on the verge of breaking when - they awake from a knock at the door and they are called to breakfast. 

The waves tower above us 

All three recount the tale, they are shocked to learn they have shared this dream, Anastasia recounts the large voluminous Dura cheese wheel that they partially demolished the previous night, they nod sagely.  Captain Franz though is troubled, this dream reminds him of his past ship The Eagle, sunk as it was, all men lost, the Captain washed up on the shore, the feelings of guilt have never lost him.

Cheese dreams?

Eventually, the train departs and by later afternoon they arrive in Fjällbacka.  Oscar Uddgren is there to meet them, he seems nervous and anxious to get going.  "I appreciate you have had long journeys, but I suggest we head to Wrecker Isle now, we can lodge at the Inn.  Let us depart, yes?", he implores the group, desperation is in his eyes.  Luckily the party has had a comfortable and relaxing journey and agree to depart across the sea to the isle.

The route to Wrecker Isle

On the journey across the sea toward Wrecker Isle, Oscar tells the party more of what he knows.  Oscar is convinced of the guilt of the Amundsson's, though the evidence is scarce.  He knows the family used to be wreckers, preying on the shipwrecks that occur in the cold and unforgiving seas.  Oscar also updates the group that the oldest Amundsson brother, Pete has gone missing.  Lastly, Oscar recounts some history, how a few decades ago the fish started to become more plentiful and this coincided with the arrival of the Amundsson's, the setting up of their herring factory and general prosperity for the isle and Fjällbacka.  

The group listen to this and then, "Like the feeding of the 5000.  Jesus.  Remember?", pipes up the Captain.  Oscar scowls back at Captain Franz, "The Amundsson's have NOTHING to do with Jesus or god.  Do you hear me NOTHING!", shouts Oscar, he then turns to look out to sea, saying nothing more until they arrive.

Henrik has been observing Oscar as he talked but concludes that Oscar believes what he says, he may even lack the imagination to ever lie.  Henrik dismisses Oscar as a somewhat dull and constrained thinker.

Disembarking at Wrecker Isle, the four see a large and impressive Herring warehouse by the docks.   As they head up a path, there is a big home, standing alone, "That is the Amundsson's residence." says a surly Oscar.  Nearby is the Inn and further off a few scattered fisherman's cottages.

They lose no time in heading to The Inn, getting rooms for the night and unpacking.  The weather is stifling, hot, humid and the sun blazes overhead.  As they gather by the bar, everyone is served aquavit and beer, there is a layer of think blue smoke in the bar and a few lonely souls nurse their drinks.

In a huddled conversation, it is decided to masquerade as Salmon businessmen.  This will allow the silver-tongued in the party to flatter the Amundssons under the pretence of learning their secrets of the Herring smoking business.  In particular, we will be business folk hoping to spread the delicay of stinky smoked salmon far and wide.  

Hopefully, this will not be seen as a threat to the  Amundssons but will allow us to observe and pick up more clues.

A brave new business venture

As everyone heads down to the Herring Warehouse there is a brief conversation before Ored, the man in charge, shows all of the group around.  Henrik tries to sneak off to look at things in our own time.  Ored sticks close behind, foiling any chance to divert from the tour and eventually he grows tired of the distraction, ordering them to leave as it is past clocking off time.

Trudging back to the Inn it is now getting dark, there are quite a few more boats down at the dock and as they all enter the Inn, the tables can be seen to be packed out with fisherman and sailors who squint at the group through the smog.

Sitting down and ordering food, a girl comes to the table and nods at Oscar, who blushes.  Oscar turns to her, "H-h-hello, Justina."  She nods again, "Oscar, pleasant to see you."  After she leaves, Oscar explains, she is an old childhood friend from Fjällbacka - it is clear Oscar has feelings for her and he seems worried about her working on this godforsaken isle.

Justina

The stench of unwashed fisherman drifts over the table.  Anastasia again wafts her fan as they all wait for their food.  Looking around, there is a creak and the door opens, standing there is a fierce-looking woman with a shotgun, there is a whisper near the table where the group sits, "The Godmother".  The old woman whirls around and a number of fisherman's heads drop down to inspect the wood grain on the tables they sit at.

"That is Abela Amundsson.", whispers Oscar.  The woman is now sitting at the bar, along with two burly men, nursing their pints.  "The other two are Paul and Pace, nasty brutes." continues Oscar. 

 

Anastasia and Oscar decide to head upstairs to have their food in their rooms, away from the watchful eyes of the Amundsson's.  Henrik has only eaten a few mouthfuls of his food and has left it to sit over with an older group of fisherman.  Henrik is deep in conversation, his hands gesticulating as he explains something to them and they all nod and continue to listen, looking meaningfully at their empty beer glasses.  

Henrik can eventually avoid their looks no longer and calls over Justina to give the men what they want.

Abela, The Godmother

Captain Franz sighs and settles back down to his meal.  It is at this moment that the fish on his plate turns to him, it pushes itself up on the plate with its fins and opens its eyes.  The fish then speaks, "Leave this place."  

The Captain drops his knife and fork and pushes the plate away, he looks up, everyone else seems to be involved in their food or conversation.  Everyone that is apart from The Godmother, she glares at him, her eyes never leaving the Captain, as he stares back open-mouthed.

TO BE CONTINUED