Turn 1 - Ma's Boarding House
Special: Instead of having an encounter here, you
may spend 10 toughness worth of monster trophies,
2 gate trophies, or 1 gate and 5 monster toughness
to make an aly.

The hour is late, the sun having long disappeared below the horizon, and we find Mr. Digguns pacing Ma's living room nervously. Today's newspaper was spralled on a nearby table, turned at the page proclaiming that Darke's Carnival had arrived in Arkham. He'd given it a quick scan, but had quickly resumed to his pacing.

Having set shop in Arkham's northern district, the freak
show carnival is set to stay for an undefined period of time.
The Carnival's owner, 'Darke', expects that people will flood his
gates later on after sunset when the shows are set to begin.

"Come and get your fortune's read, or try your hand at the games...
everyone sure to find something that is to their liking."
Admission is free.
Tonight only!

Elsewhere in the house, 'Ma' was on the phone with one of her many friends. Thresh was pretty sure it was a priest of sorts with the way she kept calling him Father. "Ms. Jamieson...? She's seeing lights at the place next door again, poor thing. Insists that there's something bad about the place. Oh no, Father...! That place's been abandoned for years..."

Thresh frowned, and pulled back the curtain to look outside again, pondering what to do next.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:46, Sat 31 Oct 2009.

Ma's voice waited for a moment as she listened to the person on the line: "I'm getting too old to check out things like that. I also have a new guest over, and I should be getting to him," the elderly woman's voice wasn't quite pleading, but she was concerned. "I hear that they've sent her to St. Mary's psychiatric wing, luckily they didn't think she needed much else than a good night's sleep... but if she starts talking about lights, they're sure to lock her up at the Asylum..."

[Private to GM: OOC I'm torn. In game turns, there seems no better place to go then the forest, but role-playing wise, it seems like I should either go to that place next door, or check out the carnival.

Can I say that I am going to the carnival, by way of the forest, but stop at the forest this turn?

I can see how it is going to be hard to mesh role-play with game reasoning.

I almost wonder if the game wouldn't work better without the map, but I think that would be changing things too much.]

Thresh glances over the top of his newspaper at his landlady. Ma was good folk, but simple, and down to earth. Little did she know just how right Ms. Jamieson was, though in today days and age, sanity was an over valued trait. Being a little bit off the mark could save many a mind from snapping out right, when brought face to face with the truth

"I think I shall head out Ma, maybe I will look in on Ms. Jamieson, then I think I will take in the carnival."

He put one hand into his pocket, and felt at the handful of coins that were his remaining assets. He dreaded wasting and portion of them on a child's entertainment, but something told him this carnival was no ordinary collection of unsavory carnies, and rigged games of chance. He would take the back way, through the forest, to avoid the police...
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:12, Mon 02 Nov 2009.

In reply to Thresh Digguns (msg #3):

[Private to Thresh Digguns:
You can go through the woods if you like, and it does make sense. Make a Speed Check (ie: roll Xd6, X being your current speed, so 3d6) to see which player gets there first. We could say that that's where you got framed?]

Ma looks at you as she hangs up the phone, "What was that?" she asks as you turn to leave. "Oh! Well, that would be mighty nice of you, sir. Yes, Mighty nice, indeed," she says beaming after you repeat yourself. "The girl was released this afternoon from St. Mary's and she returned to her house in the Merchant District. Thank you so much for looking into the mater," she said as she reached for your head with her two hands and kisses your forehead.

"Now I don't know or care about the events that led you to my front porch, but you're always welcome here son," she says as you open the door. She looks at you intently, concern raking her grizzled old face. "You be careful now, them woods aren't safe... weird things happen there of late, I hear..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:16, Mon 02 Nov 2009.