The Red Box, part 2

Armitage Files Session 2... continued

Driving around for a while, the investigators figured it was time to revisit Kittrell. It was late night by the time they knocked on his door and Kittrell seemed distant and blurry when they tried to speak with him, the same foul dusty smell in the air. Dr. Krombach was observing keenly and quickly noticed when Kittrell slipped up and mentioned that "those stupid gangsters wouldn't be able to tell one red box from another".

Suddenly realizing that Kittrell had kept the original red box and sold the gangsters a substitute they demanded to see it. Mr. Perrin became quite physical and roughly slapped the playboy. Kittrell laughed. "When an empty cigar box from hell in a burst of flame, what do you do with it? You put cigars in it and then smoke them!". Moving up to his desk Kittrell continued, "only I didn't have any cigars, so I dumped in cigarettes". He brought a dusty cheap red cigar box onto the table and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it. Wreaths of smoke surrounded his face, his eyes suddenly glowing through with a hideous wormy light.

After I finish this smoke,  I'm gonna
unleash some eldritch whoop ass.

The investigators were stunned as Kittrell dragged on his cigarette, "Somehow these have helped me see more clearly, see things others can't see, invisible things all around. And now that I can see them, I can ask them to do things.." and suddenly he raised his arm and twisted his hand in a complete circle. Mr. Cameron felt something hideous, cold and worm like wrap itself around his legs with a crushing strength. Of course, all chaos then broke loose. In the ensuing struggle it became apparent that Kittrell had somehow gained control over invisible entities of some kind. Guns were fired, legs were cracked by unearthly worms, punches and kicks thrown, as the investigators tried the wrest the red box from Kittrell. It ended with an epic toss of a pistol down a hallway into the outstretched hand of Mr. Perrin as he grappled with Kittrell, allowing him to fire point blank into the villain's forehead.

And with that the investigators fled, red box tightly in hand, broken, bruised and with sanity on the edge. Mr Perrin dumped serval hundred dollars into the doorman's hand on the way out of Kittrell's apartment "Tell them it was Walsh's men" he implored. They drove far out of town, finding a cheap hotel along the main road. Checking in they repaired themselves as best as possible and wrapped the red box in bed sheets. But not before a curious Mr. Perrin stole a look inside - to be confronted by a fairly ordinary interior, but with a sudden ominous feeling of staring down a dark tunnel.

The next morning, after a sleepless night, the three headed back to Arkham to make themsleves as presentable as possible for their meeting with Armitage later in the day. For Mr. Cameron and Dr. Krombach, this was uneventful. Mr. Perrin, however found the gangster's roadster waiting at his mansion. he soon found himself seated in his living room two gangsters standing to the sides while the weasely fellow who had purchased the fake red box identified himself as Henry Nugent, a lawyer in the employ of one Diamond Walsh. Walsh was interested in why the investigators thought the box was dangerous, and was "concerned" about the nature of his dealings with the Kingsport Yacht club, specifically the president of the club, a Mr. Oliver Gardener.

Mr. Nugent had a deal. The blame for Kittrell's shooting had somehow, and here he grinned knowingly, been pinned on Walsh's men. It was an easy wrap to beat and no one would be the wiser. In exchange for keeping Mr. Perron's name from the police, Walsh would be asking Mr. Perrin and his associates to do a little digging for him. Mr. Nugent would contact them with the details in a few days time. Exhausted and bloodied, Mr. Perrin agreed...

And that was the end of the first session. Whew. That was a slightly more verbose summary than I intended.

Comments on the session:

• The players were in top form, with lively in character banter and hypothesizing. They get so much momentum going, that I hardly need to do anything at all.
• Special kudos go to Todd, Dr Krombach's player, who actually seems to be studying up on Jungian psychology. I'm almost afraid of the next time he talks shop with Peaslee.
• "It's not a 14th century spice box! It's 16th century!" - Mr. Perrin. Better words to start a fight with a wizard, I've never heard.
• Gotta add more... something... to combat.
• Gotta remember to reward following drives - Mr. Cameron's player was exceptional at allowing curiosity to get the better of him.