Be Vewy Qwiet, We’ew Hunting Monstews

Things have taken a turn of the Supernatural/Buffy/X-Files variety as we waded into the Powered by the Apocalypse game Monster of the Week. Our group of monster hunters are as follows:

• Demington, The Chosen (played by Ben), is a fastidious, albeit somewhat cranky individual who has been chosen by an ancient cult to protect Morgan and keep him alive until he can fulfill his destiny. He has been gifted special abilities and a bitchin’ spiked chain with which to kick ass.
• Marston Fairey, The Flake (played by David), is a conspiracy theorist with an arcane library that is growing in size and questionable in origin. He seeks truth, justice, and the occasional oil change coupon.
• Parisia, The Divine (played by Noe), was living the angelic good life until she realized that being bad was more fun. De-winged, de-immortalized, and memory-wiped, they are trying to find their balance between doing good, keeping off the heavenly radar, and still taking advantage of opportunities to “find” interesting and valuable items with the help of Pfutz, their 5-fingered ferret-like thief…thing…critter…partner.
• Morgan, The Mundane (played by Adam), spends time working odd jobs, fighting monsters with Cousin Marston and the gang, and unknowingly being protected by Demington until Morgan can fulfill his ultimate destiny which may or may not have anything to do with his Norwegian revival dance band.
• Jen Doe, The Monstrous (played by Bryce), is a special agent with the mysterious XYZ Corp., a well-funded yet sketchy organization with an interest in all things arcane. A botched resurrection attempted has left Jen half-human, half-ghost which comes in handy when needing to walk through walls or locked doors.

Well ain’t this place a geographical oddity?

The hunters find themselves in Hendersonville, IA investigating the disappearance of two local teens who were UFO hunting next to a huge crop circle that appeared in the cornfield of farmer Nikos Cristos and his son Pavlos. The investigation is made difficult by the lack of cooperation from the Cristos’ and the appearance of Marston foil, and YouTube D-lister Paddington Reynolds. Reynolds is a self-styled UFO “expert” who has all the tact and finesse of gum on a park bench. He is in the area to treat his YouTube faithful, who number in the tens, to his investigation of the crop circle, which he claims will provide irrefutable proof of the existence of extraterrestrials. After a vision of being lost in a maze, Demington hits up the local feed & seed to buy up all of their spools of twine. In a town like Hendersonville, when you walk into the building that isn’t the post office or the feed store, you’re in the bar. That’s where the hunters met the parents of the missing boys, who required little convincing to throw their lot in with the hunters for help. It seems the local sheriff thinks the whole crop circle is a teen prank and the boys are just holed up at a friend’s house to add to the story, so even when a group of weirdos show up offering help, that help is welcomed.

Straighten Up and Fly Dizzy

A quick drive-by recon of the area and the gang is ready to execute what passes for a plan to find out what happened to the boys, discover the origin and purpose of the football field-sized crop circle, and maybe, just maybe, save Paddington Reynolds from an untimely, albeit not entirely undeserved fate. Or not. If it’s convenient. When Morgan finds the boys’ flashlight it seems they headed into the crop circle, so that was super good news (it wasn’t really. I just wanted to mention that because sarcasm doesn’t always come across in written word. Anyway…).

Gifted with the power of flight, Demington heads skyward for a better look at the crop circle, but the properties of the crop circle leave him feeling disoriented, dizzy, and unable to make sense of the circle, or locate Reynolds who has plunged into the corn maze seeking the center and the adoration of…well…himself. Plan B is put into effect and the hunters approach the Cristos farmhouse looking for clues, information, and perhaps something vaguely bullish looking (I mean come on, they’re Greek, there’s a maze, how is there not a minotaur running around somewhere?). With Demington flying high-surveillance, Morgan in a sniper’s perch in the windbreak, and Marston standing in the place danger is least likely to befall him, Parisia sends Pfutz into the dark house to see what he can see, and Jen passes through the wall into the house. After a quick check of the run-down main floor, she discovers the basement stairs. Since nothing bad ever happened to anyone who went into a strange, dark, basement of a potential evil-doer/monster, Jen headed down the stairs guided by the light of her smartphone.

You can see where this is going. Honestly, what was she thinking? Call yourself a professional?

As Jen descended into the basement and began to look around, her flashlight fell on a very large, very angry looking bull-headed creature (and by bull-headed, I don’t mean it was stubborn. Although if I were six-and-a-half feet tall with the head of a bull and massive muscles, I’d be inclined to let you try to change my mind.

To be continued…