Impossible Landscapes Play Report, Part 5 - The End Of The World Of The End

This is the fifth and final part of my Impossible Landscapes play report. You can find part four here. The first part of this series can be found here.

The player characters are:

• Agent KATE, FBI agent. She has the second-highest Corruption of the group and she has only 14 SAN left at the start of this part of the campaign.
• Agent KIERAN, author and occult expert. Has read the play and consumed several gold bugs. He has the highest Corruption.
• Agent KRATOS, diplomat at the UN. He is the most cautious and has the lowest Corruption and highest SAN. He suffered a serious leg injury, which reduces his DEX to 3.
• Agent KONSTANTIN, former US Army physician. With his still robust SAN score, relatively low Corruption and no permanent injuries he is the least troubled Agent.

The End Of The World Of The End

The Agents wake up in Carcosa on the shores of Lake Hali. After orienting themselves they make their way to the ruins of the city. There are no signs of life, but KIERAN knows from Abigail Wright's letter that the lake is somehow important to get to their goal.

In the city the Agents stumble upon a large number of boats. When they enter one of them the lake turns into mist and KIERAN realizes that he can control the boat with his thoughts. He steers the boat towards the middle of the lake and then let's it descend into the fog, towards points of light that seem to come from the bottom of the lake.

The Agents see shapes in the mist, of huge whale-like creatures and smaller flying creatures that surround them. They continue their descend and are luckily not noticed by the beasts. They arrive at the twin city beneath the lake and can now see the King's palace looming in the distance.

The Agents head in the direction of the palace, but the city seems to shift around them and progress is slow. The city seems abandoned, like the citizens left in a hurry, fleeing some kind of threat. Agent KIERAN wonders if they will ever meet other people. Shortly after he utters this wish, they hear noises coming from a house. Agent KATE enters and sees signs of violence. When she goes deeper into the house she finds a kitchen. Inside, a man, a woman, and a child sit around a table and are eating soup. All three have pillow cases over their heads and have obviously been shot. KATE quickly retreats and tells her comrades that they have to leave.

As they continue their travel through the streets of Yhtill, the Agents are approached by a nervous man. He asks them to come into his apartment. The Agents find that the man is constructing bombs inside his living room. The man hands them a bomb and tells them that they have to kill the King. He says that they have to find Ambrose, who can get them into the palace. Shortly after the Agents leave, the apartment explodes. The Agents decide to leave the bomb behind, no longer trusting that it has been crafted by an expert.

The Agents hear gunshots and explosions as they slowly come closer to the palace. They come across an abandoned roadblock and enter the war zone. At a junction they witness how a soldier in a black uniform gets shot by a sniper. The shot man sees them and pleads for their help, but the Agents are afraid to become victims themselves. To avoid that the sniper shoots at them the Agents recover a heavy front-door from the ruins of a nearby apartment. They paint the Yellow Sign on it and carry it across the street, using it both as a shield and as a signal that they are not the enemy. They are lucky and the sniper does not shoot at them.

Deeper into the war zone KONSTANTIN recognizes the sound of incoming artillery fire. The first barrage misses and the Agents seek shelter in a basement before a second attack can hit them. A mother and her boy have hidden themselves in the shelter as well. The mother tells the Agents that they have to go through a factory to reach the palace, but that this factory is also the place where the fighting is most intense.

After the artillery has stopped firing on their positions the Agents continue towards the palace. They see a group of soldiers approaching, but hide before they are seen. It turns out that it is a group of Wehrmacht soldiers with two teenage prisoners. The Agents witness the soldiers hanging one of the boys, but are too afraid to intervene. They sneak away before they have to witness the death of the second boy as well.

They pass another entrance to a basement. From inside they hear a child calling out to them. It is the same boy that they have met in the basement where they sought shelter from the artillery. The boy promises to take them to the factory, in exchange for KONSTANTIN's wedding ring. After a failed attempt at bartering KONSTANTIN agrees. The boy leads them into the sewers, which seems to connect several basements in the city.

When the Agents emerge from the sewer network the factory is in sight, across open ground with hardly any cover. Heavy fighting is going on, explosions of artillery and machine gun fire can be heard, seen and felt. The Agents see the blown open doors of the factory building and it is clear that there is no other way than going straight through the chaos and hope that they don't get hit.

Agent KATE is the first to go. She is fast and able to cover a great amount of distance towards her goal. Next is KONSTANTIN. As the strongest member of the group he piggybacks KRATOS, who believes he is unable to speedily cross the battlefield with his crippled leg. KONSTANTIN runs as fast as he can, but he hardly makes any progress as Carcosa shifts around them once more. KONSTANTIN and KRATOS are slightly hurt when an artillery round explodes next to them. KIERAN, who followed right behind them, is hit be shrapnel as well. He is hurt, but still able to run.

KATE leaves the cover she has found and continues to run towards the factory. She is lucky to not be hit and reaches the blown open gates of the factory. When she looks back she sees KONSTANTIN and KRATOS following her, this time with more success. They soon reach the factory as well. When KIERAN tries to run the last 20 meters he is suddenly hit by a bullet and goes down. KATE once more runs into the kill zone and is able to recover KIERAN's body. KONSTANTIN applies first aid immediately. KIERAN is alive, but barely.

The group makes their way through the tractor factory and into the Silent City. They find the clockwork factory on the pier and enter. Ambrose greets them and is very friendly, but the Agents don't seem to trust him. Still, they accept his gifts of masks and costumes and let him take them to the palace on his orrery.

In front of the palace is a long line of people waiting to be let in. The Agents see Moseby in the crowd and once again meet Emeline Fitzroy, who seems very interested in KIERAN. The group leaves all their weapons with the guards at the entrance and finally enter the palace.

Some of the group are lost in reverie when they see the sheer opulence at play in the ballroom of the palace, but with the help of their comrades they can shake off this trance. They start the search for Abigail Wright and are able to find her relatively quick. Abigail is overjoyed to see them. She tells them that they have to find Jaycy Linz and bring him his bottle. It's the only way for them to escape.

The Agents split up in groups of two, KIERAN and KRATOS are one team, KONSTANTIN and KATE are the other. KONSTANTIN/KATE keep close to the wall of the ballroom, when KONSTANTIN is approached by a man with a monkey mask. He recognizes that this is Timothy Bael. Bael tells him that an "old friend" is also here at the masquerade, someone that KONSTANTIN "took care of", but apparently not for good. He also makes allusions that this person has KONSTANTINs wife as a hostage. KONSTANTIN realizes that Bael must be talking about Ophelia Sitri. He starts looking for KATE, but can't find her.

While KONSTANTIN was talking to Bael, KATE heard a familiar-sounding voice from a side room. She looks inside and sees her husband Bob, kneeling next to a bathtub. He is holding their son, Jacob, who is dressed in a clown costume and apparently unconscious. Bob is crying and wailing. When he sees KATE he begs her to drown Jacob in the bathtub. He says that it is the only way to "save" Jacob before the King arrives. KATE is distressed but refuses. She leaves the room and starts looking for KONSTANTIN.

In the meantime, KRATOS and KONSTANTIN continue looking for Linz. KRATOS is stopped by a woman, which he recognizes as his dead lover Isabella. Isabella seems happy to see him and asks him to stay with her in Carcosa. KRATOS tries to disengage, but Isabella grips his wrist and tries to hold him in place. KRATOS sees the looming figure of the King in Yellow approaching, the same creature he once saw in a dream. He unsuccessfully tries to dodge as the entity rushes towards him.

KIERAN meets Emeline Fitzroy in the crowd. She says that she knows why he is here. She passes him a knife and tells him that he should be the author and not that loser Linz. He explains that she lured Linz into a side room. KIERAN has to kill him and take his place. She leads KIERAN to the room, where Linz is waiting. KIERAN is torn and unsure if he should kill Linz or not. Finally, he passes the bottle to Linz and in doing so makes him the Author. He immediately regrets the decision, after seeing Linz opening the bottle and listening to it. He storms after Linz and tries to kill him, but is suddenly confronted by the King in Yellow. The King passes him another bottle, with KIERAN's name on it. KIERAN opens it and holds it to his ear.

KATE and KONSTANTIN go back to Abigail, in the hope of meeting their comrades their. Abigail tells them that the bottle has been passed to the author. They now must find a way to escape. KONSTANTIN immediately goes back to Bael, joined by KATE. Bael tells KATE that she has to find her own way out, that he can only take KONSTANTIN with him. Then he points her toward Madame Sosostris.

Bael leads KONSTANTIN into the hallways of the palace and deep into the basement. There they find Sitri in a room that resembles an old operating room. Sitri is in the process of stitching up wounds on KONSTANTIN's wife, Molly. KONSTANTIN does not hesitate and kills Sitri. Afterwards, Molly tells him that Sitri put something insider her flesh and that he has to get it out. KONSTANTIN begins operating on his wife and pulls paper from her fresh wounds. It seems like Sitri has inserted pages of the play into Molly's flesh. After he is done KONSTANTIN hears a noise. He turns around and sees the Dog, the same animal he saw 20 years ago in the Night Floors. When he looks back there is no trace of his wife. He follows the dog, who leads him to the Night Floors.

KATE approaches Madame Sosostris, who begins shuffling and fanning out her Tarot cards. Then she throws the card directly at KATE's face. KATE blinks. When she opens her eyes again she is alone in the gigantic ballroom. A trail of cards leads her back towards the side room with the bathtub. A single card is floating in the tub. It depicts the Emperor. While looking at the card KATE feels a sudden presence behind her. She turns around and sees the King in Yellow. The entity comes closer and takes of his mask. KATE loses what little of sanity she had left, as the King puts his mask on her face.

KRATOS awakens in a hallway of the Dorchester House. From just around the corner he hears Mr. Ed shouting. KRATOS tries to escape and hides in a closet, but is seen by Mr. Ed. A fight breaks out, but KRATOS is no match for Mr. Ed, who knocks him out. He wakes up, once more bound and gagged onto a gurney. Dr. Friend approaches and extracts Patzu from KRATOS' eye socket. Then he performs an ice pick lobotomy and injects a black substance into KRATOS' brain. After the gag is removed KRATOS begins reciting the text of the play The King In Yellow, while Dr. Friend makes notes.

KONSTANTIN follows the dog through the Night Floors. At one point he sees himself and his comrades from afar. They are 20 years younger and are searching for Abigail Wright. KONSTANTIN briefly considers to call out for them, but then continues to follow the dog. They arrive at the smoking lounge and KONSTANTIN exits the Night Floors into a parking garage. He leaves the building and realizes that this is where the Macallistar once stood. KONSTANTIN pulls out his cellphone and calls Molly. While he is on the phone a homeless woman approaches. She is wearing a cloak fashioned from a yellow tarp and wears a Scream halloween mask. KONSTANTIN recognizes the voice of Agent KATE, when the woman starts shouting: "I'm the King in Yellow. Kneel!"

KATE, as imagined by Stable Diffusion

KIERAN opens his eyes. He is sitting on a bench in Madison Square Park. All seems normal, except that all the people around him are replaced by marionettes. They are controlled by strings that disappear into the sky. He hears a familiar voice next to him asking: "Is everything alright, darling?" He turns towards the voice and sees another marionette, dressed exactly like his girlfriend Henriette.

Henriette waiting for KIERAN

Final Thoughts

After ~15 months and 23 play sessions we have finally finished Impossible Landscapes. The last chapter is quite linear, but I don't think my players were bothered by that. None of them wanted to explore Carcosa more than necessary, they were determined to make their way to the palace as fast as possible.

The encounters in the war zone are quite deadly, so I kept them to a minimum. Having a character die so close to the end would probably have been unsatisfying, but I also did not want to remove all the danger. It is Carcosa, after all. If KIERAN had died on the way to the tractor factory, he would have returned as a Repeater, but doing this for more than one character feels cheap to me.

We did not spend much time in the Silent City, because the characters were so suspicious of Ambrose. They also had only one invitation to the masquerade, the one meant for Ian F. Decraig. They thought this invitation was for valid for the whole group. I let this slide, because I wanted to get the Agents into the palace and it seemed boring if they have to return to Ambrose and the Gallery of Shades just to get additional invitations.

The masquerade and the endings for the characters worked really well. I drew inspiration from the suggested endings in the book, but I customized them to the actual Agents:

KIERAN is/was an author and wanted to write his own version of the play ever since he read the original. So I had him choose to either to kill and replace Linz or to give him his bottle, and possibly return to the "real" world. He chose the latter, but acquired a mental disorder in the process. He managed to return home, but it will never be the same again.

KRATOS was crippled during the campaign and lost most of his dexterity. I found it fitting to have him pass a Dodge check to evade the King. He failed, which meant that he once again found himself in the Dorchester House. He was already Dr. Friend's chosen victim in AVOSF, though it was a natural choice to have him end up here. He actually had another chance to escape, if he could make his way to the library, but unfortunately he failed once again.

Due to his low Corruption and general compentence during the campaign, KONSTANTIN had the easiest task. He "just" had to kill Sitri and save his wife from the influence of the King. This mirrored the events that happened during A Map Made Of Skin. KONSTANTIN succeeded at his task and got a "happy" ending.

KATE went into our last session with a SAN of only 11. And due to her high Corruption an encounter with the King was inevitable. But first, she had a chance to make up for what she did to her husband. But by refusing to drown her own son she condemned him to be a puppet of the King as well. Had she survived her own encounter with the King with some sanity left, she could have returned to the real world by drowning herself as well. But it was not meant to be.

My players liked their endings and it was a very memorable session. And while this campaign had some weaknesses, it was still a great experience.

I will write another blog post in which I will collect all the tips and advice I can think of, for everyone who wants to run this campaign as well. But for now, this is

THE END