Staff Blog: VCON Demo: “The Ballad of Perry Steiner”
Ashe McBain stopped in her tracks. They had the book. This was bad. Ashe was well trained in awareness skills. It took her but a moment to survey the gruesome scene before her. Father Cyan recovered from his asthma attack only to try and intimidate the Cultists with his crucifix. They were nonplussed. The priest ran for the van. Sean Ford was already in the driver’s seat. He had hot-wired the car, but many of the Cultists were on the heals of the priest. When he got in the car, they only saw fit to try and break in.
Perry was alive, his clothes soaked through with blood. Some of it belonged to the Cultist he had just pancaked on the pavement. As he stood and looked for his next victim, Officer Gregory snipes sailed out of the window, through the air, and planted her boot in the back of the Cube’s neck. Even Ashe could hear the snap! Perry heard a familiar voice in his head once again. Petey managed to extricate one of the blades and graciously return it to one of the Cultists, pointy end first. They still had the book. Ashe had no choice.
She ran at the nearest Cultists with her sword drawn, using his knee to launch her into the air. She flipped once and came down right on his head, driving her sword through his throat, all the way down and out the other end. She stood up and watched the poor zealot melt off the sword and crumple to the ground. Just then, she felt a knife in her back. Ashe fell to one knee and found herself surrounded by four more Cultists. How many of these assholes were there?! Dying in battle was the only way for her to go, but she decided that she hadn’t taken enough of them with her to go just yet. She waited until the four were within the reach before standing and whirling around, blade extended, and swiftly beheaded all four in one fell swoop. The McBain clan claimed descent from the Nordic monster hunters of old, and Ashe figured she had just done Beowulf proud.
Sean Ford jammed the mini-van into reverse. He had to shake these bastards off before they broke in and ended his adventures for good. He had already taken a hooked knife in the shoulder. A few cunning maneuvers and a trick of the hand-brake later, which he didn’t think would work in a mini-van, and the Cultists had been flung to the ground. Sean had been too busy looking around and behind for any lingering bad guys to notice that Gregory had been running toward the van to join Sean and Father Thomas. He didn’t hit the brakes in time, and Officer Snipes was sent flying backward. The impact wasn’t hard enough to flatten her, and Gregory pulled off an amazing roll and recovered with only a few scrapes and bruises. She stood up and gave Sean a look filled with incredulous daggers.
Father Thomas opened the side door and shouted, “Get in, quick!” Gregory did so without mincing words. Ashe tossed Petey in, who had managed to get her claws on the Book before the Cultists could recover, and then followed suit herself. Both of them were a bloody mess. Sean floored it, hoping to make a speedy getaway, when the van lurched. The Cube dove halfway through the front passenger window, his face now in Father Thomas’ lap. The priest, who had been praying furiously, fought another panic attack. Perry reached for Petey and the book in the back seat. Gregory drew her gun and shot him. It didn’t seem to help.
Father Thomas, so far a complete waste of oxygen, was tired of this insanity. He was a devout man of the cloth, God damn it! He bellowed a command that sounded to the rest like he was trying to banish or exorcise a demon, and struck Perry in the head with his crucifix. White light flooded the van. Perry screamed.
The Cultists outside were nowhere to be seen and Perry no longer heard voices. He looked almost thrilled to be in the van driving the hell away from the half-ruined hotel. The mini-van progressed slower than it could have and awkwardly, with several hundred pounds of muscle hanging halfway out of one side. Everyone’s distracted, thought Petey to herself, I have the book. I’m next to the door. I could still make it to my car!
Ashe was sitting behind Petey, and kept a close eye on her. She saw it coming, and was just looking for an excuse. Petey gave it to her. As she swung open the sliding door to make a swift exit, Ashe reached out with her sword and let gravity and inertia do all the work for her. Petey fell on the broadsword, instead of the ground moving beneath the van. It pierced her side, and she slid down to the hilt. Ashe decisively put Petey back in the van. She lay on the floor, still impaled on Ashe’s sword. Why bother taking it out? She’s just try to run again.
The rest of them had had enough. “Give us our damn book back!” yelled Sean from the driver’s seat. Petey tried to strike a deal – a hard thing to do with dignity while stuck like a pig at the same time. Ashe was amused. Sean was able to persuade her with promises of the savings he had from previous discoveries. And hell, even if she was currently being run through, Petey was a hot blond chick! She had to throw in promises of sex. With that, the party of bloody strangers made their way down the road to find a priest who could actually prove useful.
This was one of the most fun, most ridiculous nights of role-playing I’ve had. Thanks to all those involved. You played your parts brilliantly (if insanely), particularly Perry Steiner. Perry would go on in later sessions to be hit by a flaming police car, have his chest caved in by a shotgun blast, become a corpulent zombie thing, and help kill everyone. He died almost half a dozen times, hence the title, “The Ballad of Perry Steiner”.
Jan Bosman is the Lead Designer, Webmaster, and Community Manager of The Triune Legacy. Find out more about Jan and the rest of The Triune Legacy Team.
This Staff Blog entry was posted on October 13th, 2009.
I had a great time playing, and am happy to say that I just received my copy of Triune Legacy.
The only downside is that I will never get to play Perry again.
Hi there, Cube. Petey here. I was wondering if you’re planning on attedning Vcon next year.
I know rag (Sean Ford) and myself definitely want to.
Regarding the game, it was so much fun! I didn’t even come to play originally, but to watch (it was my first time roleplaying at a table, I was nervous. For the first minute of so, that is).
I definitely hope to see everyone again next year. Hopefully in a hotel that doesn’t ring an alarm when you try to use the stairs >.>
The demo was a blast, it’s a shame I could only play Sean the first two of the three sessions.