The Nocturnum
Episode 9: Nuprin Ftaghn
Original Air Date: 4/10/2005The original text and notes on which this adventure is based can be found here. This was an original adventure, and is not as complete as some of my others--it's a bit disjointed and is mostly a synopsis, but some folks may be able to use it in their home games.
Special Guest Stars:
Stephanie Romanov as Lilah Morgan
Juliet Landau as Drusilla
Brief Synopsis
Anita is stricken with a severe migraine and goes home to lay down. When she wakes up "the next morning," she discovers that she has actually lost three days of her life, and that the bizarre nightmare she had about being violated by a black cult may in fact be hazy memories.
Investigation reveals that she has become a pawn in the machinations of some dark Mythos cult led by the Black Sorcerer, who has teamed up with Brigit. The two, it seem, intends to bring about the physical incarnation of the Djinn with the Black Sorcerer as the father, and Anita as a "Black Madonna" of sorts. Worse, Draco is involved with the dark cult.
The group meets the new CEO of the Pittsburgh Branch of Wolfram and Hart...Lilah Morgan, back from the dead.
Drake vanishes right before Cyan's eyes as a new prophecy appears magically in one of Anita's books. The group fears that Draco is now permanently in control and if they don't stop him, they may never see Drake again.
Complications arise: Draco’s sire, Amara Dolunay, arrives in Pittsburgh and reveals herself and her intentions; she has been tracking Draco since the night she sired him in 1512 and has never been this close to finding him. Amara works for the Powers that Be and is powerful enough that she is forbidden to directly interfere in the events of history, though she is permitted to act as a guide and counselor, a role she takes on for the group until she helps put Drake back on the path.
Upon her return, Anita calls the Twilight Order and is given a directive not to have any contact with any members of other Covenants; the Order believes that the other covenants are rife with servants of the Mad God and that the Reckoning is at hand. Anita fears a conspiracy. The Covenants’ suspicions of one another grow, and it looks as though Alan’s suspicions about the Rosicrucians may in fact be true.
The group discovers that Draco is in league with another formidable vampire: Drusilla. The two, along with a small coterie of vampires, conduct a massacre at the Upstage, forcing the crowd to sing "Ode to Joy." Those who sing off key are murdered. Those who sing on key are bitten and their bodies taken.
Great Quotes:
John: So I've had reports from the Demon Underwear...Underworld.
Cyan: Call Joe and tell her...him...that Anita is safe.
John: Oh, no. She's having Nyarlathotep's love child, isn't she, Drake?
Cyan: Geez, call him to tell him you're back and no "I missed you, I love you," nothing.
Anita: Cyan, enough.
Alan (on phone, to Anita): I do, you know.
Anita: Do what?
Alan:...
Lilah: I didn't come here to trade threats with you. Well, actually, I did. I mean, I didn't come to trade threats. I came to threaten you.
John: Wolfram and Hart? Surely they're not working with the Combine. I mean, they might be, but that'd be a really strange partnership...
(Anita smashes a bottle in frustration. Drake, hearing it smash, shows up with a broom and dustpan.)
Anita: Oh, honey, you don't have to do that. I can get it.
Drake: Yes, I know you can. I just thought it'd be nice to bring you the broom.
Anita: Thanks a lot, Drake! Feeling the love, here!
Drake: Nobles don't sweep.
(as he walks out)
Anita: You're a peasant, now, bitch!
Anita: I should try to eat something. Cyan said it's a good idea.
Cyan: Yes, and Cyan's ideas are always brilliant!
Dana: Anita, I know exactly how you feel. But look at the bright side. At least you're not a serial killer.
Anita: Now, now, Dana...we don't know that for sure, yet.
Anita: What, do I have a stalker, now?
John: No, if I was stalking you, you wouldn't see me.
Anita: Drake, you want a bagel?
Drake: What's a bagel?
Anita: Well, it's like a doughnut, but made with bread dough and not necessarily sweet. There's a hole in the middle...
Drake: Okay. What's a doughnut?
Cyan: Anita!!! Oh, God, Anita, go take a pregnancy test, now!
John: No...no...Anita, you are having Nyarlathotep's love child! Your day really is getting worse!
Father Bob: Did you ever have a normal life?
John: Oh, yeah. Growing up in Ohio, had a family friends, turned 18, joined the Marines. Then came Haiti. After Haiti, everything changed. I don't recommend Haiti as a vacation spot.
John: And I suspect if we say "Nyarlathotep, Nyarlathotep, Nyarlathotep, then...
(Nyarlathotep appears and claps John on the shoulder.)
Nyarlathotep: John. Good to see you again, buddy. How you been?
John: Well my day just got worse.
Nyarlathotep: That's what I'm here for. So, figured it out, yet?
John: What? That you're trying to knock Anita up?
Nyarlathotep: Now, now...does that really sound like something I would do?
John: ...Yes. Yes, it does.
Nyarlathotep: Moron.
(Disappears)
Cyan: This is one of those times when I should just look pretty and keep my mouth shut, isn't it?
John: Yeah.
Amara: Wait a moment...Wolfram and Hart? What do they have to do with this?
John: All those people you killed to get our attention? They were clients of Wolfram and Hart.
Amara: Well isn't that funny?
John: You think it's funny?
Amara: Well, my day just got a lot better.
Anita: Glad someone's did.
Anita: John, back up a second! How the Hell do you know about the Twilight Order all of a sudden!
John: I asked around. I'm making friends.
Anita: You're grounded.
Amara: How is it that you know a Slayer who has been dead for hundreds of years?
Anita: You're not the only one with power, sweetie.
John: There were these demons...jagoff demons...
Anita: Lyrok demons.
John: Whatever.
Cultist: My soul is ready for you, my lord! Take me now!
(John, Amara, and Cyan notice a buildup of Taint, and run into the office to find the Cultist has simply died.)
John: What the...how the...who...Hmm...now we have a body to get rid of.
Drusilla: Has my Draco gone bad again?
(Drake bows)
Drusilla: ooooooooooh, fun. Wicked, naughty Draco! Spank him! Spank him!
Draco: Later, Dru.
Drusilla: (pouts) It's been so boring since my Spike left me.
Draco: Really?
Drusilla: He went and got himself a soul. They all get souls. And I try to count the stars, now, but they all...keep...moving!
Cyan: Dana, I have to ask you something. Let's say someone got pregnant by a Mad God.
Dana: I can't hear this (walks away).
John (indicating Cultist): Can you like, give him last rites or something?
Father Bob: I don't think he was Catholic.
(John calls Father Bob at 6 am)
John: Father? Do you know where Anita lives?
Father Bob (sits bolt upright): Book of Revelations! I mean...wha?
John: That's right, Father. It's John. And not John the Apostle.
Father Bob: Anita, what you need to understand is that you haven't done anything wrong, and the best way to help you is to make sure the bastards who did this to you never do it again. So we hunt them down, and give them the Heavenly Gift of a .40 caliber handgun shell to the head.
John: Wait a second...you mean my plan was right?
Father Bob: yes. Yes, it was.
John: Wow...my plans are never right!
Father Bob: Let's say, hypothetically, that you had a power which allowed you to rewrite the Bible and change the meanings of the words within.
Anita: I'd rewrite the bit about Eve and the apple.
Father Bob: And then we'd all be walking around naked.
