Gallowglass

Well it was fun for awhile. I'm more into character driven games, with evolving stories and lots of interactions. Not so fond of heavily scripted games, even if they do have an interesting story to tell. I kind of want to be involved in the storytelling myself. Anyway, take care. Maybe see people in other games in the future. I'll probably look in from time to time to see how the story turned out, but bye for now.

Grima looking around the room for suitable hiding spots. roll

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse As his feet got back in contact with the ground, the feeling of vulnerability receded. He gave Ellie a slightly aggrieved look for having dangled him in mid-air and his tail flicked, thumping lightly against the floor in his agitation. “Master, I’m not sure why you want to prove that I’m different, but if you really want to do that we could have had a game of chess, or perhaps bridge instead. My old master used to like beating me at those games”. He paused for a moment. “Of course I’ll have to brush up my knowledge of the Stayman convention and the criteria for Take Out Doubles. It’s been a long time since I played”. He didn’t really like the human, intellectual games his master had taught him, nor was he good at them. Playing them seemed to exercise a part of his mind that he rarely used. A part that wasn’t really him. In fact his strong suspicion was that the only reason his master had insisted on teaching the games to him, was as a kind of test. Perhaps he shouldn’t have mentioned his old master teaching him those things? Could that admission get him into trouble? With renewed anxiety he surreptitiously glanced around the room looking for suitable hiding spots that he might make use of.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse Grima was happily minding his own business and idly wondering if Ellie was going to direct any difficult questions his way, when his master suddenly picked him up with her hands gripped just underneath his forelegs and dangled him in midair, vulnerable belly exposed toward others, his legs helpless, his weight all wrong. He let out a frightened "yowl", ears flat against his head and squirmed vigorously in her grip, his legs thrashing around, claws out, trying to get purchase on something, but unable to. Almost immediately he regained his senses and went limp, trusting her to not let him fall. His master continued with the indignity by bobbing him up and down. What had he done to upset her? “I swear I wasn’t going to kill your pet rat”. The statement was true enough. Play with it, torment it, scare it to death? That was a possible yes to all three, but he hadn’t been going to attack it with his claws. Another thought occurred to him. “Is this about the emergency, hidden, secret stash of cat treats in your bedroom that went missing? Because that wasn’t me”. It totally had been him, but he considered hidden food stashes to be fair game. And lying about it, as long as he didn’t give his word, was also fair game. His mind spun back to the moments before she picked him up, had she said something about talking to the others? He craned his head around to look up at her. “Meoow?” “I can’t talk master, didn’t you know that?” There was however the possibility of him being stuck in an undignified pose in mid-air until he obeyed his master. What to do? He turned his head to face the others, gave a cute and ordinary cat “Meeow” as though to say, ‘see perfectly ordinary cat here’ then cocked his head to one side and very deliberately winked.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse The cat continued the important task of getting his fur back the way he wanted, his body twisted around as his rough tongue got to work on his left flank, combing through the hairs to straighten and clean them. He was however still paying attention and his ears flicked around when his name was mentioned, concentrating momentarily on what else was said by that person, before resuming his grooming. However, Ellie stating that she had no craving to suck the life force from others, did surprise him a little. By now he would have thought the hunger would have been making itself known to her, but when all said and done, although he had a lot of knowledge about one particular vampire, he had only had the one master. Maybe Ellie was different? He paused for a stretchy yawn, tensing his muscles briefly before his mouth snapped shut again and he looked about the room to recheck his surroundings. There had been a second rat skittering around Ellie’s feet only a minute ago, was he in the mood for a hunt? He thought about it for a moment as he licked his paw and then dismissed the idea. He wasn’t particularly interested in rat blood and they didn’t taste as good as grey tree-rats. Some people called the animal a squirrel but his master had been very firm about the fact that real squirrels were red. The thought brought recollections about his old master to the surface again.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse The revelation that there were no cat treats available, came as a mild disappointment to him, but since the alternative would have been rat-nibbled cat treats, he considered that on the whole he had come out ahead. Plus alive of course and… he gave a purr at a particularly good chin-scritch, some nice attention. All in all life was good. He was however aware that the others were waiting for an explanation and Ellie seemed unsure where to start. Perhaps she needed some advice? “Master. You have all those clippings on the board so tell them that the supernatural is real. Tell them you are happy, but confused about what has happened. Tell them you need their help. Lets see how they react”.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse Grima padded down the hall keeping a little distance between himself and the three history club members walking in front of him. It was best not to draw further attention to himself until they were somewhere private. Thinking of which, he noticed Ellie stopping before a wooden door and producing a key. A key? That meant the area was off limits! He purred happily. Off limit areas were the very best, anywhere that he wasn’t supposed to be, was always worth investigating. As Ellie opened the door he shot between her legs and into the room, coming to a quick stop as he twisted his head about, surveying the place. It did not disappoint. A big cloth curtain that looked just perfect for sinking his claws into and having a good stretch, or simply hiding behind; a window sill for perching on; various chairs for lying on; there was even a board with newspaper clippings and drawings on it, which had a very narrow ledge on top. Too narrow for him to walk on? There was only one way to find out. He was still perusing his options when there was the scrape of a chair along the ground and Ellie sat down by the window. A warm lap to curl up on, was added to his list. His nose twitched and a scent reminded him of something more urgent. Ellie had removed the bandages but there must have been a small amount of dried blood underneath. The light drizzle outside had dampened it. Only the urgency of getting Faro out of class had driven it from his mind. Now he was acutely conscious that his fur urgently needed grooming. Padding over to Ellie he resisted the urge to twist around her ankles, rubbing against her. He needed to clean himself before he did that. He settled down at her feet and twisted around to begin licking his fur. He gave a little meow. “Brush?” It was both a noun and a verb. Did Ellie have her brush on her? Was there any chance of being brushed?

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse With the small box about to be refilled by the two girls, they would need it empty, Grima leaped down to the floor of the hall and got out of their way, sheltering against the wall where he would be a little harder to see.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse It was a little known scientific principal that the ability of a cat to get into a small box was directly proportional to whether it was allowed to be in there. Set up a large cardboard box to film a cat-in-a-box short for you-tube and the cat would be very reluctant to cooperate. Try instead to film an unboxing video for a new pair of beat-sabre handles and the cat would inevitably photo-bomb the session by diving in to the tiny box before the second handle could be removed. It was therefore the case that when Dareia picked up the small box, there was a cat snugly fitted within it. On cue as Dareia mentioned him, he popped his head out with an innocent ‘who-me?’ expression on his face. “Remember the plan. I’m a replacement cat”. He paused thoughtfully, then added. “My ear did grow back didn’t it?” He raised his paw and began rubbing at his left ear which still had the small, but very distinctive bite mark of an old wound on it.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse Grima padded along behind Ellie as she walked toward the school door with the rat on her shoulder. All was going well until the rat let it’s long tail hang down over Ellie’s rain jacket. The tail dangled provocatively and the pupils of Grima’s eye shifted as he began to focus on the dangling, twitching object, his senses focussing, judging distance, waiting for Ellie to pause long enough for him to be able to jump at the target and attack it. His chance came as Ellie paused to look around. He crouched, gathering himself, muscles tensing for the spring which would hurtle him towards his prey. As though sensing it’s serious error in dangling it’s tail in front of a cat, the rat rushed down Ellie’s arm and settled in the palm of her hand. Safe once more. With provocation gone, Grima came back to his senses and remembered the plan and the rat’s part in it. Even though he had been awakened, some instincts were buried deep. Slightly shamefaced he padded along behind his master as they approached the outside school door. The rat, with it's confidence now restored, scurried back onto her shoulder as she opened the door. Grima noticed it's baiting him and silently promised himself that if it ever became surplus to the plan, then he and the rat would have a little 'chat'. As they walked down the hallway there was a thump as someone emerged from the school supplies room and the two teenagers walked into each other. Papers rained down on him, which caused him to scoot quickly out of the way and then there, only a few feet away from him was a now empty cardboard box… he pounced, disappearing within the box. A thought emerged from within the cardboard box. "Do you think these boxes are going to the biology class?"

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse It was still drizzling and Grima reluctantly gave up his position sheltered under her rain-jacket, to leap down to the ground and look around for nearby shelter. “Biology class is it?” he mused as he considered the problem. It was his first task for his now-come-of-age master. A chance to say thank you for having saved him. A chance to show her how useful he would be to her. A chance for some rapscallion mischief! Rain forgotten, he glanced around at what he had to work with. The classroom was on the ground floor which meant it’s windows were easily accessible. The path they had cycled down led back to the car park, with it’s cycle stands and a dumpster. There was woodland nearby, would that be useful? His sharp eyes noticed a tiny movement by the dumpster. That gave him an intriguing thought. Just what abilities had his new master inherited? Well only one way to find out. He glanced back over to the classroom windows, then back to the dumpster, a plan forming in his mind. “Master. I love your idea of the fire alarm, but as you say, something a bit more subtle might be preferable”. “Firstly we need something to create a disturbance. You said it was a biology class. How about we give them a living subject to interact with, namely a rat? I can see one sheltering in the lee of the dumpster over there. No doubt it’s been investigating the contents of the bin for any student snacks which have been thrown in there. Why don’t you approach it calmly and see if it will let you pick it up by the scruff of the neck?” If it ran off then they could try a different approach, but it would ascertain whether his master had gained an affinity for such beasts and more importantly, it might give Ellie yet more proof that she had changed. “If that works, then the second part of the plan is that we need Faro to react differently to everyone else in the classroom. If I leap up onto the window sill and walk along it, everyone else will just see a cat, but Faro will recognise me and want to investigate. That’s the point at which you slip the rat into the classroom via the door. Hopefully he will think about making an escape, turn to the door, see you and then grab his stuff and join you”. The plan was not completely foolproof, since it was possible that some of the other kids might recognise him, but it was the best he could think of and he saw not reason to be pessimistic about it’s chances of success.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse "Wait, don't you mean, You will be fine?" Ellie said. Her cat looked at her quizzically. It was Ellie who had changed, did she not realise that? There was a distinctly worried note in his ‘voice’. “Master. Did nobody tell you that a day like today would happen? Perhaps stories when you were little, maybe a letter from your father that you were never to open until you came of age?” “Um Ellie. When you woke up this morning did you feel different? Hungry? and when you brushed your teeth were they all the same length as before? Because you see, you’ve changed. You’re riding your bike without wearing glasses, that wound on your arm healed instantly, we’re talking…”

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse Reaching his paws out far in front of him, he dipped down into a really nice stretch, loosening up his muscles and getting the kinks out of his body. It felt so good to be himself once more. His mood improved still further as the itchy bandages were removed and he was all set for an extensive grooming session to get his fur all combed out, when the small noise from the window opening, reminded him of his priorities. Bounding down to the floor he indulged himself with an affectionate rub against Ellie’s ankles before leaping up to the window sill and slipping outside. The rain had eased to a drizzle, but getting damp was a small price for freedom. A quick series of leaps and he was down to the ground and scampering around the buildings exterior to find Ellie’s bike. He knew deep down that she wouldn’t leave without him, but he couldn’t still the anxiety that maybe her parents would intervene in some manner. As Ellie emerged from the building on her own, he sprang out from under the geranium bush where he had hidden and ran over to her side, scrambling up her jeans and jacket to perch briefly on her shoulder. It took him a moment to get comfortable, pushing his furry head down her back beneath her rain jacket, before squirming around underneath it so that only his head and front paws were visible, with his front paws draped down her front and his body protected from the rain beneath her jacket. It felt like he had twisted around so that his back claws could dig into the underside of the rain jacket, but he seemed perfectly content with the position he had adopted and a little purr sang in her left ear. They had been cycling for some time when a thought struck Grima. “Oh, by the way. If the sun does peek through those clouds you’ll be fine. The whole bursting into flames and turning into a pile of dust thing? It’s not true”.

Oh, that's interesting. Thinking back on it I guess my view of vetinarian practices is greatly coloured by all the James Herriot dramas that I've seen on TV. He was a British Vet who wrote a series of books about his experiences. The books became so popular that a long running TV series was based on them, with re-runs occurring from time to time. In the 30s to 60s nearly all doctors and vetinarians operated out of old victorian houses which were spacious and had therefore been re-purposed into medical centres, usually with a staff of two to three doctors with a housekeeper/receptionist.

Theatre of the Mind. I'm assuming that for 'common or garden' things we can just assume they would be present, such as windows and contaminated waste bins in a surgery. Whereabouts is the dividing line between things which can be automatically assumed to exist, and things where we might need to roll to determine the result?

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse Ellie almost calling out to her parents, pulled Grima’s mind back to their immediate needs. “You can’t tell them. They would have questions. Many, many questions and we can’t afford the delay”. The cat glanced around at the room, looking for likely routes for their escape, his gaze coming to rest briefly on the contaminated waste bin in the corner of the surgery before checking out the window. “If you open the window I can get outside, but the itchy bandages will have to go. They will attract attention. They threw my old bandages into that bin over there”, he gazed fixedly at the contaminated waste bin in the corner. “If you dispose of them there then they probably won’t notice”. That would deal with him getting outside and not drawing attention, but Ellie still had to get away. There was a slight scent of oil on the hem of her jeans, so she likely had come by bike. “Perhaps if you told them you wanted to be alone for a while, they would let you go outside and I could meet you by your bike? There are things you need to know and we mustn't get delayed here. It’s important”. He rubbed his head against her and gave a happy purr. “Thank you”.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse His body shook as the change rolled through him, the pain receded, his pupils shifting as his eye sight sharpened and focussed on the details of the room. Smell, hearing, all singing a chorus of renewed information about his surroundings, his whiskers almost vibrating as he sensed the small movements of air as Ellie breathed in and out. Concern about his bite made him twist around to see the wound he had inflicted, only to reveal that it had already closed up leaving only a few, perfect little droplets behind! Ellie must have changed, she had become her true self. Almost absent-mindedly his tongue flicked out and lapped up the droplets. His spirits continued to rise, happiness eroding his ability to think clearly. “Danger… we need to leave… get to Faro… make a plan… you need to know…” he lost control to the rising euphoria and a loud purr vibrated through his body as he began to gleefully head rub and head-bump against her. “Need chin scritches, need head rubs, so happy, so happy” more purrs erupted from him as his tail twitched around animatedly and he enthusiastically rubbed his head against her hand and arm. Then his mind briefly regained control. “No, no, need to tell her… oh so happy” more purrs erupted as his mind drowned in endorphins.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse He tried not to appear too eager to bite his master, but his need was painful in it’s intensity. Even driven on by his hunger he passed up the offer of her wrist. Too much blood. Too obvious and hard to conceal. Too risky for Ellie. He nuzzled up her forearm and gave her a little nip. As the blood began to trickle out he lapped at it, his rough tongue scraping at her flesh. “Plaster” he told her as he lapsed back onto his side, she needed to stem the trickle before it stained her clothes and invited comment.

Eclipse A voice reverberated in Ellie's mind, otherworldly vibrations translating into meaning. "Ellie… you need lifeforce…" Ellie felt drenched in something warm and wet; it trickled down her skin in little rivulets, the color of dark crimson coppery on her tongue. She felt… sated. …but then the trickles dried away, and without them, the gnawing returned. "...We need lifeforce." She was back in the clinic for a moment, eyes locked with her cat's black orbs. "Ellie..." "Beware… of anything… holy." This time, Ellie felt bathed in radiance - but the light seared, setting her skin alight as if tiny tongues of flame danced across them. A flash of steel passed across her mind's eye, ancient text etched into an unfathomable blade. She heard a choir, and the sound of heavy bells, and then those too fell away. … She was back in the clinic again. Left to grapple with what she had just witnessed.

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse A slight twitch ran through the cat’s body as his mind wandered in reminiscences of his old master. Vision A thump, thump of his master’s walking-cane against the roof of the Hansom cab, elicited a grunt of acknowledgement from the driver above and the slowing of the steady clip clop of the horses hooves on the old cobblestones. “Anythin wrong govner?” asked the cabby, opening the ceiling hatch and leaning forward into view. “Nothing wrong, but I wish to stretch my legs for a moment”. There was an acknowledging touch of the cap from the cabby, who having been hired for the entire evening, did not much care how his patron chose to spend the time. Grima perked up, indulging in a quick stretch as he waited for the evening’s hunt to begin. When the cab came fully to a stop, the cat leapt down to the pavement, nose twitching and ears swivelling as he tried to locate their prey, good as his eyesight was in the gloomy evening weather, the person he was searching for might not be in sight. A trace of cheap perfume in the air, distant footfalls from down the alley, was that the trail they were on? His master paused briefly after having alighted from the cab and then strode rapidly and confidently into the darkness of the narrow alleyway, his cane tapping on the ground as he walked. As they passed the first side-door there was the familiar smell of linseed oil, but faint and mixed with a mineral tang, not strong enough to be a cabinet maker, perhaps an artists studio? It would account for the mineral tang since artists used the oil to mix up their paints. The cheap perfume had emerged from that door. An artists model? Ahead of them the footsteps had speeded up and then broken into an uncertain run, progress no doubt hampered by the darkness. His masters pace also quickened in response as they hurried past doors, somewhere with expensive dyes which was perhaps a milliner, then turned left at the cobblers with it’s scents of leather & glue, into a small courtyard. Grima caught sight of her immediately. She was cowering in the corner of the courtyard, back pressed up against the brick wall, fear radiating from her. The hulking figure near her, turned to face the intruders who had been heralded by the tap, tap of the cane along the ground. “Ain’t nuffin to do with you. Be on your way sharpish like ifin you know what’s good for you”. The figure flourished the knife in his hand for emphasis, it’s blade dimly gleaming in the poor visibility. His master did not take the hint to leave, but the woman did. While the stalker was distracted she took to her heels and ran out of the courtyard with Grima in hot pursuit. His task was to keep an eye on the woman, make sure she didn’t run into further problems, keep her safe. His thoughts bounded back to the present. “Keep her safe. Keep Ellie safe". He was going to die, going to let her down and there was nothing he could do. A tear formed glistening at the corner of his eye, then his thoughts were interrupted by a sensation he hadn’t felt in long years. Was he deluding himself? Tricking himself with something he so longed for? Was that Ellie?! A loud purr vibrated through his entire body, sending his tail twitching as the vibration reached it.

I think the confusion comes from the difference between rules and scenarios. A dnd module will specify what level characters it is designed for, what level the opposition is, what powers they have, how many of them there are, what puzzles / obstacles there are etc. All the things you say are missing from the rules are all scenario details. Does Blades in the Dark have pre-made scenario modules to run? Sorry it’s not that sort of game. If you’re the kind of gm who finds it easy to write their own scenarios, then maybe Blades is worth investigating. If you prefer to run pre-made scenarios then Blades might not be the best fit for what you want.

Grima The revelation that there were no cat treats available, came as a mild disappointment to him, but since the alternative would have been rat-nibbled cat treats, he considered that on the whole he had come out ahead. Plus alive of course and… he gave a purr at a particularly good chin-scritch, some nice attention. All in all life was good.He was however aware that the others were waiting for an explanation and Ellie seemed unsure. “Master. You have all those clippings on the board so tell them that the supernatural is real. Tell them you are happy, but confused about what has happened. Tell them you need their help. Lets see how they react”. Stats Temporary stats. Fate Points 4/3

Grima aka the family cat Eclipse Eclipse had been about two years old when the Llewellyn family found & adopted him, at least that is what the vet’s estimate had been, and for all the years since then he had been somewhat of a rascal. Never a problem as regards scratching the furniture, or anything like that, for which Mrs Llewellyn was very grateful, but he did have a tendency to get into places he shouldn’t. Neighbours would greet Mrs Llewellyn with words such as “Oh I saw your cat the other day and you won’t believe where he was?” It was her introduction to that portion of the internet labelled “My house, not my cat”, in which cat owners & lovers posted photos of cute, furry friends making themselves at home in other people’s houses. Eclipse himself starred on one of the videos. From Mrs Llewellyn’s viewpoint the cat’s escapades had introduced her to most of the nice people in her neighbourhood, so the net result had been a beneficial one. Her husband’s younger sister, who worked in the local library, had always maintained that cat’s had an almost supernatural sense of whether people were inherently good or bad, but then Aunt Rhonwyn had quite a few theories about cats. Especially cats that were found during a lunar eclipse, or as ancient societies used to call them, A Blood Moon! Eclipse was however not the cat that he had once been. Two weeks ago he had started into a sudden decline. He had become lethargic, stopped eating and begun wasting away. The vets could find nothing wrong with him and recommended a change of diet, but after a week of lying around the house instead of being his usual active self, not only was his hair greying rapidly, but he had become so emaciated that his bones could be felt when he was stroked. Finding a patch of hair matted with dried blood on his fur, had been even more alarming and instead of the daily visits or phone calls, which had become the norm over the previous few days, the family had decided that Eclipse needed to stay full time at the vets where he could be treated for his condition. The vets had tried their best to diagnose what was wrong, but they could come up with nothing except theories. There were no pathogens in his system, at least none that they could detect, but clearly something was seriously wrong. Suspicions fell on some kind of exotic waterborne microbe that the cat had inadvertently lapped up, but there had been no other similar cases amongst humans, pets, or livestock in the area. They were stumped. Now, two weeks after he had become ill, Eclipse lay on his side, his fur now grey instead of it’s usual warm black, eyes slightly sunken, his body motionless and wrapped in fresh bandages. The assistant had changed the bandages just before the family came, but already there were slowly spreading, blood red stains on the clean, white cloth. Blood was slowly seeping through the dried skin which stretched over old injuries and the veterinarians were at a loss to explain why it was happening. In the circumstances they had felt it prudent to wear gloves when handling the sick cat and even the three Llewellyns had been issued with surgical gloves. The cat was dying in a room full of people worried about touching him. Time passed, the buzz of whispered conversations about him, but not to him, surrounded him. He was alone. Her voice. Her scent. There was a feeble flick of the very end of Eclipse’s tail and he strained his head up to see her, his eyelids half opening as he craned his neck around. His eyes locked with hers for a moment and then his head slumped back, eyes closed again. The effort had cost him and a fresh drop of blood seeped out of his bitten ear and gleamed ominously in the sterile, clinical, white light of the surgery.

Yes, the colour may well vary depending on lattitude, though I don't know if it would be more intense if it was higher in the sky, or less. There are a lot of variables I believe. It would be kind of interesting to know how much that affected it. I would describe what I saw as a 'thin red'. Imagine getting a bloclk of red watercolour paint and thinning it right down with water and then giving the moon a kind of blush with it. It's definitely red but it's just a blush over the moon's features. At least that is my memory of it's appearance. That said I can understand why it would have caused such great concern in the past. Seeing the moon 'stained' with blood is going to give rise to some pretty wild theories.

National Geographic video on Lunar Eclipses. It explains things in a bit more detail.