The Strange: Whose House?

Today we finished up a story arc in The Strange, which is good, because we're not playing again for the better part of two months.

Last time, the characters discovered Mr. Priestly shot dead, and learned from their handler in the Estate, Vernon Belding, that the likely culprit was a recursion intruder called the Gravedigger.

As we open, the characters are waiting for Belding. They decide to search the house, since they haven't really seen much of it (it's a damn big house). They go up to the attic and hunt around, and Edward finds drag marks leading to a corpse. The unfortunate fellow looks like he's been dead a couple of days, and he's undressed - someone based him in the head and stole his clothes. They search around a bit and Carmen senses Strange, but residual only - probably means this was the Gravedigger.

They call the police, and Belding arrives with the cops, using a cypher that seems to make the cops think he's one of them. He takes the characters aside to "take their statement," and gets brought up to speed. He tells them that they need to find the Gravedigger. His real name is Gregory Test, and he's a serial killer native to a recursion called "Serial." Serial is caused by fictional leakage - not horror movies, but procedurals. In Serial, serial killers are much more common, much smarter, and much harder to catch. Also, they have a predilection for picking someone to be a nemesis, and Test picked Belding, apparently following him here to see their little dance through. Belding warns the characters that they can't let Test escape. Here, he's just a serial killer, meaning he won't sicken and die the way a dragon or something would. He'll just keep killing.

The characters decide to call in all of the temp employees, figuring that the corpse in the attic might be one. Roxanne approaches Norris, who is talking with Mrs. Brewster, and asks for a list of the temps. He goes to get it, but asks Roxanne to stay with Mrs. Brewster; she's upset and doesn't want to be alone. The old lady talks with Roxanne, and asks who she is and what she's doing here. Roxanne tells her (she's here to appraise things), and Brewster asks if she's expected to die soon. Roxanne says she's not, and in fact she has a lot of life left, if she wants it. Brewster says that she was never fond of the things she was expected to do as a rich woman and hostess, and Roxanne says maybe it's time to travel?

Norris returns with the list, and the characters assemble the temps. And indeed, one Dwayne Walker is missing, and the others haven't seen him. The characters go looking for his car, and find it in the back lot of the mansion. A duffel bag in the back seat holds Dwayne's uniform, a bit of blood on the collar. This looks like a go-bag, but it probably means Test is still on the property.

They split up into two teams - Carmen, Belding, and Oakley on one, Arnauld, Edward, and Roxanne on the other, and head in opposite directions.

Near a mausoleum, they lose track of Belding, and then see someone dragging him around a corner. They take cover and Carmen calls the others. Arnauld takes off at a sprint and leaps up on top of the mausoleum, and sees Test with a shovel and a gun, Belding at his feet. He plans on dropping onto him, but Test grabs Belding and pulls him into the crypt. Oakley snaps off a shot and misses, but then Carmen uses Exception and floods Test's brain (it works extra well on things from different recursions!).

Arnauld takes the opportunity, runs in, and puts Test in a chokehold with his chain, while Edward grabs Belding and drags him to safety. Oakley, no longer having a clear shot, whacks Test with the butt of his gun, but Test lashes out at Arnauld with his shovel. Arnauld disarms him, and Edward jumps back in with a knife, but isn't able to get a solid hit. Test shoots at Arnauld, but gets disarmed again, and Arnauld kicks his legs out from under him. Test stabs Arnauld, and then stands up and flings a knife at Oakley.

Oakley, like a boss, catches the knife and flings it back ("it's all in the reflexes"), stabbing Test in the shoulder. Test keeps fighting for a moment, but then Arnauld grabs his gun off the floor and puts a bullet in Test's skull. It's over.

The characters collapse with exhaustion, and spend the night again at the mansion. In the morning, they discover that Mrs. Brewster has decided to go travel the world, and in the meanwhile she's letting the Estate use the house and the grounds - which includes the weird stone circle that goes to different recursions. Belding tells the characters that they can stay here and experiment with the circle, see where all it goes, and generally try and figure out how it works.

Next story arc, then, will take us to some new and fantastical world!