Investigation 1 Aftermath

Investigation 1, Day 5 - Aftermath
Moon Phase: Waning Crescent
November 5th, 1920
I’m going to be honest: there is a void here. Presumably people rested, recuperated, continued to read their books as applicable, and did their jobs. It was a Friday, so I’ll say they went to A&W and had a celebratory meal together. Asif is at some point informed of his critical role in passing the information of where the book had hidden from Steve and Fawn to the Athenaeum, and everyone  breathes a sigh of relief that the mystery is solved. The first mystery, anyway. The party regains 1d8 Sanity points.

With Kind Regards To Victor Pelevin

 Investigation 1, Day 4
Moon Phase: Waning Crescent
November 4th, 1920

Steve and Fawn decide to return to the site where they had previously seen the crack in the rock face. Fawn asks Steve to take him to the crazy woods where all the dangerous and strange stuff has happened. They’ll be fine because Fawn has a gun and “[is] hot.” They drive there, parking halfway up the mountain in an awkward make-out spot. They don’t end up damaging the car (much) but do get it stuck between some trees. A problem to be solved later. The two of them find themselves at the top of the cliff which the crack (which widens at the base to a hole) is. Fawn demands Steve carry him down, while scaling the near vertical cliff face. No one thought to bring rope, but they make their way down without harm. Fawn succeeds on a listen roll and hears ominous chanting coming from the crack in the cliff. He sees this as perfectly fine and decides to head down the crack after it. As he approaches he can make out a few facts about the ominous singing. One: it’s Russian, linguistically. Two: based on what few words he can recognize, he gets the vibe it’s probably about a wolf eating the sun. He shouts back out the hole to inform Steve, and gives away his position, causing whatever being was singing to stop.
Fawn makes his way into the cavern, slowly, and with his hand on his gun, which he knows how to use, Fawn says, “I am not threatening! I am very frail! Please, if you’re going to hurt me, tell me what you’re going to do first!” to which the only response is a young, feminine voice, coming from all around him in a seemingly empty cavern asking:
“What… is the sun, to you?”
“I have… never looked my best in the sun, and recent tidings… mean I’m… led to prefer other sources of light.” He replies.
His attention is caught by a mysterious book sitting on an altar at the center of the strangely lit cavern. Looking at it, he asks “Man cannot serve two masters. Am I to sign a name, or am I to read?” and is not answered. Fawn takes the book. The lights go out, with just enough time for Fawn to see another person in the chamber. Someone in tweed. Said figure invites Fawn out into the sunlight.
There is an altercation in which Fawn seems to get the upper hand on the professorly type man, disarming him and holding him at gunpoint. The following conversation is had:
Fawn: “Tell me, do you think homosexuality is a sin?”
Interlocutor: “I’ve seen too much to be religious. If there is a god, then he’s already angry at us, and there’s no way to abate it.”
Fawn: “Excellent!”
Interlocutor: “So may I please have the book it is my job to come get.”
Fawn: “What would you do for it?”
Interlocutor, with far less remorse than one might expect: “Well, I came prepared to kill you.”
Fawn, more predatory than offended: “What ELSE would you do for it.”
At this point, Steve arrives, interrupting what might have otherwise gone certain places. Immanuel, the professor and agent at Lacuna Bay Athenaeum, as he introduces himself, retrieves the book from Fawn, in exchange for a promise of goodwill and a favor. He reveals to Steve that yes, werewolves are real, and no, they aren’t what caused this. Werewolves were more of a symptom of the book infecting people with negative chakras that gradually transform them into werewolves. Immanuel was led here by information shared the previous day by Asif, who has spent the day caring for a comatose Ernest. Won’t he be pleased to know he was helpful!

Asif does quite a number of useful things!

Investigation 1, Day 3
Moon Phase: Last Quarter
November 3rd, 1920

Ernest wakes up in the Clinic, feeling a bit wolfish. In specific, he is convinced he’s transformed into a wolf. He has not. Yet. Ernest attempts to break the window, and hits it without issue, but can’t deal enough damage with an unarmed blow to break it. Asif notices the escape attempt and enters to grapple with Ernest. Ernest remains ungrappled until Asif jabs him with some sleep juice. Dreamlands time for Ernest again! While not busy dealing with his wolf-minded patient, Asif spends his day visiting the Athenaeum trying to get information. He goes to the clerk and asks for directions to a book that might be related to the experiences he’s had. While sharing these experiences, he notices the clerk taking shorthand notes, seemingly about what he’s saying. He decides not to press matters in this case, instead checking out The Unexpurgated Autobiography of Efraim Krantz the First, the only title in English seemingly relevant to his current line of inquiry. It deals with Efraim’s own experience with psychosomatic werewolfism, and explains some of what has been happening, if not entirely “how” or “why”. At the clinic, Asif fails a pushed pharmacy roll, causing an almost-overdose to poor Ernest, who pushes through with a hard CON roll, managing to not be damaged and instead just be EXTREMELY asleep.

When you feel like a wolf

 Investigation 1, Day 2
Moon phase: Waning Gibbous
November 2nd, 1920

Ernest wanders back to Asif’s clinic, is treated with bandages, stitches and opiates, sending him on a bit of a trip to the dreamlands. He spends the day sleeping, the rest of the party spends the day hitting the books. Steve finds a copy of Sacred Mysteries of The Wolf, Fawn comes across Prehistory in the Pacific: A Preliminary Investigation. Steve, Fawn, and the npc Emmett, who'll definitely survive, go looking in the woods for interesting things. They find a crack in the cliff, with a small clearing around it. And decide not to go in, wisely returning to society to report their learnings. Asif exchanges information with the clerk at the Laguna Bay Athenaeum public library.

That's Not A Wolf But it Bites Like One

 Investigation 1, Day 1
Moon phase: Waning Gibbous
November 1st, 1920

Ernest decides to go into the woods by himself and is attacked by a crow with the mind and aura of a wolf. Where the bird’s talons should merely scratch, and its beak merely peck, instead large claw marks and phantom fangs meet Ernest’s pretty face. He ultimately loses 10 APP from the wound and scars to be. Ernest gets a little lost in the woods, and a little bit infected with the idea of being a wolf. While Ernest is dealing with finding his way back to civilization, the rest of the party start doing some research.

Where Wolf, Club?

Investigation 1, Day 0
Moon phase: Waning Gibbous
October 31st, 1920

Steven “Werewolf Steve” Lowell, a heretofore fledgling parapsychologist studying at the Laguna Bay (no actual body of water involved) Athenaeum, founds Werewolf Club, formally called [something that I’ll have the recording experts forward to me when possible] on Halloween Night. The members are a wealthy dilettante with certain occult learnings, who goes only by “Fawn”, his well-paid and long-suffering doctor, the former field surgeon Asif Macrae M.D., and Ernest Elliot, who, commissioned to print the posters advertising this first gathering, had himself found the event interesting enough to be worth joining. They do some preliminary searching in the woods but find nothing but a misidentified paw print and a herd of deer so nice that everyone regains a little bit of sanity, thanks to a critical success on listen. They do also encounter a cougar that acts strangely wolfish. As they approach a section of the Diggins, some of the members find themselves briefly influenced by a psychic field, pulling their chakras into unnatural alignments reminiscent of psychosomatic werewolfism. Both Ernest and Steve are temporarily reduced to animal (wolf, specifically) intelligence and ability to speak. They take shelter from the moonlight - which they blame for their affliction - in the mouth of an abandoned mine. Eventually, after stumbling around in the forest, they return to their homes and beds. Little do they know, their activity has drawn the attention of Steve's alma mater, and unseen eyes are already upon them.

Character Creation In The Volutions

 When initially creating your character, make sure each skill in which you have points is something that it makes sense for your character to be good at. You can get away with a couple of “hobbies” as freebies, but not every point can go there. Discuss your character’s backstory with your GM before finalizing it and your initial skills.

Each character starts with certain balances between their Aspects: Body, Brain, and Belief. Distribute 11 points between stats of your primary aspect, 7 points between stats of your secondary aspect, and 5 points between stats of your tertiary attribute. All stats begin at 1(before distributing points)

The Body aspect governs and represents the muscular force and motor coordination of a character.
Strength is used for Body tests requiring brute strength.
Finesse is utilized for tests requiring manual dexterity.

The Brain aspect governs and represents the mind, recollection, and thinking.
Memory is used for Brain tests requiring recall of specific details, an exercise of willpower, or long durations of academic study.
Acuity represents the speed at which a character solves a problem, and whether or not a problem can be solved at all in time.

The Belief aspect represents disillusionment from consensus reality, and comprehension of the more accurate lie beneath.
Sanity measures how mentally stable, calm, and able to cope with the horrors they witness a character is.
Attunement measures the level of understanding and intimate experience a character has with the voluted world, and is used to fuel spells.

When rolling a test using any stat, from any aspect, roll a d10 (ten sided die). If the result is less than the stat, it is a success. If it’s greater, it has failed. If it is equal, it’s a complicated success - you achieve the goal, but something goes awry. A 1 is always a full success, even it it’s equal to the stat, and a 10 is always a failure.

Health Points are equal to twice a character’s strength score plus their finesse score.
Magic Points are equal to a character's memory score plus their acuity score plus twice their attunement score.
Sanity Points are equal to ten times a character's sanity score minus their attunement score, with a minimum of 1.

There are twenty skills, but you may need to add more to suit your story. In any case, players start with each skill at a base level (indicated next to the skill) and have 280 points to allocate between them as they choose. The total number of points allocated to a skill indicates its percentile chance of success. Roll a d100(100 sided die) and compare it to the relevant skill.
Result 96-100: Failure
Result Less than or equal to skill: Success
Result Less than or equal to 1/2 skill: Strong Success
Result Less than or equal to 1/4 skill: Extraordinary Success
Result 01: Critical success

List of Skills
Academics 40%(Reading, Study, Research) [Brain]
Art/Craft 1%(Painting, construction, etc) [Brain/Body]
Athletics 35%(Dodging, running, climbing) [Body]
Biology 5%(How bodies and organic chemicals work. Making and curing diseases both fall under this.) [Brain]
Chemistry 25%(How inorganic chemicals work. You could make bombs! Or acid!) [Brain]
Disguise 5% [Brain]
Firearms (Handguns) 20% [Body]
Firearms (Longarm) 20% [Body]
Firearms (Special, choose) 10% [Body]
Larceny 10%(Picking locks, pockets, etc) [Body]
Linguistics 15%(Translation, decryption, and similar)[Brain]
Medicine 10%(Basic to advanced medical care. Knowing what to apply and how.) [Brain]
Melee 20%(*) [Body]
Occult 5%(Knowledge of the occult. Used in conducting rituals properly.) [Brain]
Persuasion 50%(Convincing someone of something.) [Brain]
Physics 5%(Knowledge of how things move. Rocket science.) [Brain]
Repair 10%(How to fix mechanical or electrical things.) [Brain]
Stealth 10%(Not being perceived.) [Body]
Perception 20%(Hearing, Seeing, etc) [Body]
Psychology 15%(sense motive, detect disorder, treat stress, etc) [Brain]

Each skill has a Body or Brain tag. This is used for an optional rule with 3 variants.
1: If a character has the matching aspect as their primary aspect, they receive a bonus die on tests with that skill. Conversely, if that aspect is their tertiary aspect, they receive a penalty die.
2: If a character has the matching aspect as their primary aspect, they receive a bonus die. If that aspect is their tertiary aspect and the skill is untrained (has never improved), they receive a penalty die.
3: If a character has the matching aspect as their primary aspect, they receive a bonus die.

An extra die, bonus or penalty, is an additional d10 rolled in the 10s position of your d100. When rolling with one or more bonus dice, you take the lowest. When rolling with one or more penalty dice, you take the highest. Bonus and penalty dice cancel each other out on a one for one basis. If you have one of each, you simply roll a normal roll. If you have two bonus dice and one penalty die, you roll with one bonus die.