Monster:Uhura Sighting at DragonCon
| Monster of the Week campaign | |||
| Clayborne, the Professional | Rocky, the Mundane | Valora, the Divine | Corwyn, the Monstrous |
From the Cup of Divulgements, by Corwyn.
Clayborne, the human professional in our group, gets a call from ASGRD on his special black rotary telephone. ASGRD is a secret agency run by the government to monitor and handle paranormal threats. Apparently Nichelle Nichols, aka Uhura from the original Star Trek series, has been sighted earlier today at a signing event in Atlanta. The problem is: she passed away a day ago. They have reason to believe the fake Uhura is a paranormal creature of some type, and Clayborne is tasked with putting together a crew and investigating it.
Clayborne gathers the usual crew, without Valora though who is not answering, and we spend all night travelling. Arriving in Atlanta early on Friday we learn the event is called DragonCon, and it's a hugely popular convention for all things related to popular culture focusing on science fiction and fantasy. The first thing I notice when we arrive is that just about everyone is cosplaying, aka dressed up in some type of costume. "Guys, the first order of business is to get some costumes or we'll going to stick out!" I tell the group.
Everyone agrees, and I set out to steal one of the many suitcases that the hotel staff have set aside while people check in. I was about to grab one of them unnoticed until I suddenly hear a staff member about to round the corner. Fortunately Clayborne intercedes, distracting him sufficiently that I can get away with the luggage. We learn later on, safely back in our room, that what we managed to steal are Sailor Moon outfits, those cute little anime magical girls, but sized for grown men. Not a lucky break.
Fortunately, Rocky our thoroughly mundane human managed to come through for us. He wasn't going to have any part in our effort to steal luggage, so he talked up some other attendees that were wearing Battlestar Galactica outfits and managed to buy their outfits for a princely sum. No worries, ASGRD will foot the bill! Now appropriately garbed, our crew sets off in search of Uhura.
Some of us mix with the locals, trying to find out more about the event and the people while we're waiting for the next signing event where we expect fake Uhura to appear. Rocky learns about the Yellow Kings group, some type of Heavy Rock (possibly Death Metal) band that will be playing at DragonCon. We also narrow down the identity of the fake Uhura to a Tulpamancer, essentially a mystic that is able to create Tulpa constructs with their mind.
It's finally time to head down to the signing area, and when we get there we see that the Uhura signing booth is empty. A short while later a DragonCon staff member replaces the sign for a different minor celebrity, a book author. It's at this point that we're able to decipher that the "author" is actually the Tulpa, while the thoroughly non-descript woman handling the money is the actual Tulpamancer. With this info in mind we set out to try and ascertain its weakness. I try brushing the lady with the tip of my silver staff, and no reaction. Rocky tries touching it with some rock salt, but again no effect. Clayborne smears it with garlic while shaking their head, but still no reaction. We decide to move into action anyways.
The Tulpamancer woman and the author (the Tulpa construct) get up to leave, so Rocky goes off by himself to try and sneak after them. I use magic to scry them past the curtain wall behind the signing booth. It's at this point that things go badly, fast. Rocky gets spotted, and a white small furry creature with sharp teeth attacks him, viciously biting its neck. I try to trip the Tulpamancer with my staff, but I then proceed to get attacked by the short vorpal bunny. Clayborne moves to grapple the Tulpamancer, but out of nowhere a red person moving ridiculously fast rushes at him and body-checks him, freeing the Tulpamancer. The whole scene is causing panic, and the hotel security is arriving, so we decide to high tail it out of there at this point.