Let me tell you a story Part One
Our Discord has recently started a new community area - Story Games. The first of these is Lovecraftesque from Black Armada Games, by Becky Annison and Josh Fox. In it you tell the story of a single protagonist’s descent into madness and terror.
I'll not go too deep into the mechanics, suffice to say there are various rounds as clues are played and the mystery develops, the players take on the role of Narrator (setting the scene, directing the actions), the Witness (responding to the events and horrors that befall them) and Whisperers (adding flavour, answering questions from the Narrator and becoming NPCs).
So on with the story… We Serve and Protect by Ken Hite.
A long hot summer of protests rocks the streets of Chicago in the 1970s, and you rock with them. Until the cops pen you in, snatch you up, and take you to the precinct house, where worse things than rubber hoses wait in the basement. The Chicago Police Department serves and protects… but what inhuman entity do the cops who have you serve? What dark secrets do they protect?
My Story…
Scene One
Leigh and Donnie are penned in, surrounded by cops and cops on horseback. The sun is hot and they are buffeted by the law enforcement officers. Still Leigh starts up a chant, Freedom for the kids, Down with the Pigs! Suddenly Donnie let's out a cry, “It's looking at me man, get it away, get it the fuck away!” He's staring up at a horse, the horse implacable, stares back. Donnie falls, scrambles away, the cops laugh, Donnie moans, pulls at the grass. Then Leigh is by his side, “Jesus man, what have you taken? Come on, we're heading to Water Tower Place. Get a grip!”
Scene Two
Donnie and Leigh are in cuffs, pushed through the Police station at Kuttener, cops barely glance at them, the occasional crass comment. Two large bulls take over, Donnie struggles and is slammed against the wall, “You trippin’ punk? Don't give me an excuse.” Leigh spots a tattoo on the cops arm, a star spangled banner but white, yellow and green almost an insult to the flag. Leigh starts to feel sick, dizzy and is shoved in the back, onwards into the building.
Scene Three
A dark set of stairs, the heat oppressive, Leigh spots Marlon being taken into a cell, “Take your phone call, they play by the rules, we don't!” Marlon starts to reply, throws up a fist and is bundled into an interrogation room.
Further down the stairs, away from the sounds of the police station, the burly police officers silent. A door, Donnie and Leigh pushed against a wall as the cops unlock it. A name scrawled on the wall, Sheila H., Sheila Harrison? She went missing, a few years back and Leigh organised posters, but nothing came of it. Why is her name here? The cops pull them through the door, a series of cells, solid, old brick, heavy iron doors with a small window, they are thrown in and the door closes.
Scene Four
Leigh rubs at a bruise then glances at Donnie, he's mumbling, “Not real, can't be, not real.” Leigh stands up and looks out of the cell, she sees other fingers in the cells across from her, pale, sickly and odd looking, they chant something, it sounds synchronised. She tries to wave, they seem to mimic her, is the chanting higher pitched now, almost like a bell in slow motion, a ringing. The same noise comes from Donnie, Leigh is starting to freak out, “Hey! Hey! Where's my goddamn phone call!!”