The Dee Sanction #4: Campaign climax

This is the final part of my short campaign for The Dee Sanction. Part 1, part 2, part 3.

Jon is playing Margaret Chatwyn, temple clerk, and Terry is playing gardener Samuel Hodgeson. We are using Trello as our virtual tabletop.

Session #11: On the road

Hah! Players! 

I spent all week thinking about what was going on at Kenilworth, but Jon and Terry decided to intercept Abaddon instead.

Terry remembered that in their first adventure, Lost in Translation, Dee provided a mysterious compass to track the relic. They wanted to know if Dee could provide them with a similar device to track Abaddon with. The PCs had already provided Dee with a blood crab (so the request seemed reasonable) and a successful die roll meant it would be ready in a day’s time.

(The device was delightfully macabre—a bull’s eye suspended in liquid, always looking toward Abaddon.)

They tracked the crate to an inn in Bishop’s Itchington, accompanied by five people (two they haven’t seen, and three guards). The Agents got friendly with the guards, incapacitated them, and snuck off into the night with the wagon and Abaddon (in a box). And just as we closed for the night, the Agents heard ‘help me’ from inside the box…

Now, however, I need to decide two things:

• What does Abaddon want? (As the Agents will probably want to open the crate.)
• How does the School of Night react to the disappearance of their wagon?

Session #12: Demon in a box

Before the next session I worked out the answer those questions:

• Abaddon wants revenge on its tormentor (Abiathar Crescas, the Spaniard who controls him) and will then go to ground and prepare for the coming War of Heaven and Hell.
• When they discover their precious box is missing, the two remaining School of Night agents (one of which is Crescas, the Spaniard), race to Kenilworth for reinforcements.

As we approach the game’s climax and the PCs are less likely to veer away in unexpected directions, I have fewer things to think about.

We started the session where we left off last time, but Jon and Terry couldn’t decide what to do. They discussed their options, and I chipped in as Philip as I thought of things they hadn’t considered. They finally headed towards Oxford, travelling at night and hiding during the day.

As they had no means of contacting Dee, Philip rode ahead to London. He had the bull’s eye compass with him, so he could find them if they moved. If he didn’t return in four days, the PCs should start worrying.

After talking to Abaddon and their prisoners, the Agents finally had a clear idea of their enemy’s plan: it’s a Spanish/Catholic plot to use Abaddon to turn Elizabeth into a puppet, then have her step down as queen with Mary Queen of Scots taking her place.

On day two, one prisoner tried to escape. He bested Margaret (Jon), but Samuel (Terry) accidentally killed the prisoner while trying to restrain him.

We ended the session with the PCs slowly working their way back to Oxford, Abaddon still locked in the crate. Will Phil turn up as hoped? What are the School of Night up to?

Session #13: Murder hobo

Well, we ended on a great cliff-hanger, but I didn’t like how we got there.

We started the game a couple of days after the events of session 12. It was getting dark, and the PCs were holed up near a village. About a mile away they heard sounds of riders dismounting and saw Marlowe and six others at the local inn. Marlowe pointed in their direction, and the PCs noticed a captive, and correctly surmised that Marlow captured Philip and used the compass to track them.

As Marlowe and the riders could easily outpace our heroes, they realised they had three choices:

• Flee and let Marlowe recapture Abaddon.
• Release Abaddon, if they can trust it.
• Try and take Marlowe out.

And this was where we went a bit too murder hobo for my liking. I didn’t expect them to take the third option. There were too many opponents, and the PCs were a gardener and a clerk. But that’s what they did.

The PCs planned to attack at night, and things went well at first. They took out three guards and Crescus’ pet monkey, but struggled when Marlowe and reinforcements entered the fray.

We ended with a brilliant cliff-hanger though: Samuel, wounded, fled and left Margaret to be captured by the villains.

It was never a good plan, but I found that The Dee Sanction’s system didn’t help. Combat is weighted towards the players (particularly if you have boosted Physicall to d8) so that even a gardener is more than a match for an armed guard. To me, The Dee Sanction characters aren’t fighting men, and I was a bit cross it seemed to encourage that kind of play.

But anyway, we ended up with a great cliff-hanger, with several options:

• Marlowe now knows that Abaddon isn’t far away. Does he chase Samuel (who has already killed three guards) now, or wait until daylight? (The latter, as I want to give Samuel options.)
• Can Samuel release Abaddon?  (Of course!)

Session #14: Abaddon Unchained

We started with Samuel, who returned to the wagon and bargained with Abaddon. Samuel wanted Abaddon to help deal with Marlowe, but was worried about releasing a demon. In return for release, Abaddon agreed not to kill Protestants. Unfortunately, Samuel forgot the blood crabs, so when Abaddon was freed it put blood crabs onto the two remaining guards, paralysing them.

(Despite Samuel having nothing to back up his agreement with Abaddon, I decided that Abaddon would be honourable. After all, it had been locked up for centuries, and was grateful to this pathetic human. The bargain had enough holes in it for Abaddon, who would ignore it after a while anyway.)

Meanwhile, back at the inn, Marlowe locked Margaret away with Philip.

As Samuel led Abaddon back to the inn, Abaddon’s two puppets (the previous guards), joined them. Then Abaddon entered the inn. The first thing it did was reveal its true form—Samuel did not see its face, but saw black bat wings spring from its back. Samuel made his unravelling roll, but the others weren’t so lucky. (This was the only die roll of the evening.)

Abaddon turned Marlow’s remaining guards into puppets, killed Marlowe, and tortured Crescas to death. While Abaddon was busy, Samuel rescued Margaret and Philip and they fled into the night.

And there we ended.

Back in London, Margaret was worried about Dee’s disapproval, but when Dee learned that they faced a demon (a fallen angel), he was not upset. He knows that angels are powerful.

As for Abaddon, it disappeared and is not heard of again. (Maybe I’ll bring it back in a different game…)

We ended with two lovely end-credit scenes:

• In the first, Samuel and Margaret hear a strange noise behind them, they react—and we cut away.
• In the second, Samuel feeds his pet blood crab…

Overall

After 14 sessions, it’s time for something new. So that’s it for The Dee Sanctuary for the foreseeable future. Next time I’ll post my thoughts on the game itself.

Now that we’ve finished, I’ve written up the adventure (Abaddon’s Puppet) and posted it on my Itch.io page.