18/09/2025
"Downfall"... between sessions 2 & 3... Maud and Leah...
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
[Roll of "Wanted"; 1 Hold]
Maud woke in the hospital, met with the... was visited by the ghost of Thomas, Noah's roommate that "Leah" had shot. Thomas warned her of answering the phone, which she naturally did not follow, Thomas asks her to "make the bastard pay", and Maud answers the phone - heavy breathing, nothing else - and Thomas explains that "now it knows where you are".
Thomas tells Maud about the attacks, that it is not the same Noah from before, hopes Maud will stop "Noah". Thomas approaches cursing the "crazy sister and crazy girlfriend", blood is dripping from the gunshot wound in his chest, but the curtain should have moved as Thomas moved... Maud panics, rolls off the bed [Stability -1], causes machines to start alerting nurses.. who rush over.. no more Thomas, or any signs of his visit.
It is Sunday afternoon, the doctor will be over shortly to check Maud out, and as she mentions the shooting of Thomas the nurses exchange a glance (Maud takes notes), and she picks up the phone - still the heavy breathing. She hands the phone to nurse Rachel... who listens, agrees to something... and then explains that "you must make sure the birth happens". And then claims there was no-one on the line.
Maud gets aggravated, demands to be let out immediately, no time to wait for any doctors! But before he shaky hands & legs have allowed her to dress the nurses return with a doctor and a security guard.
Apparently there might be need for further examinations, and the police would like to talk to her, too [hold from Wanted spent]. And it is an older detective, overwight, sweaty, asking Maud about her relationships with her students, rides in her black Porche... Maud tries her best to scramble clear of this... but the detective is calling her again on Monday, "miss".... "Captain"...
Maud is let out, pain medicine and a demand to contact university medical office as soon as anything changes in her condition.
A taxi ride, with a vodka in paper bag, to East Village. The car is ok where she left it. And the deli... open. And it's "J's Deli". She gets coffee and bagels. Maud tries to dig into the last assignment from Noah (original she burnt, two copies exists), but this place just bugs her [-2 due to previous Keep It Together roll]. She would need more original texts from Noah... maybe in the suit case that Leah got from the dorm?
SHe asks this server about Noah... nope, not familiar... but this place... something very off... then there is an older man behind the bar... and the place looks older... he offers his arm for Maud... for a bite... Maud nibbles... gets complaining, breaks skin, tastes blood... "that might be enough, we'll see"... The place is "Jacob's Deli"
Maud is perplexed, lost, the male server licks the blood off his arm, Maud offers herself to him... she turns away, tilting her head for a proper neck access... and sees one of the nurses passing by in a cab... frantically looking left and right.
Maud dashes out, tries to catch... but the cab vanishes behind the next corner, gone. Which nurse was it... probably the one that answered the phone (her arm aches slightly where she bit the man).
Back to the Deli... it's again J's, and the younger server is not getting her questions, does not even want to... but she gets him to help her search for facts about this all (a boring day)... the arm aches... maybe a small knife... but facts... used to be "James' Deli", owned by James Tiptree, and this place has nothing to do with "Jacob's Deli". Maud asks for the knife, the server goes beyond the counter... and rushes out the backdoor.
Maud finds a knife, letting some of it on the counter... and it's Jacob's Deli... bloody people her and there, maybe 10 years older by the look of fashion... the man drinking blood from a... patron lifts his head.. it's the server from before... Maud panics [Stability -2].
"Is this the real reality...."
The man with bloody mouth turns to Maud.. and Maud is again in J's Deli, with taste of blood on her tongue. Time to hit the books on supernatural at her house! She wipes the blood from the counter, throws the rag into the trash.
Back home... her personal library on all thing weird.. so, this... entity needs to finish what it has gotten a hold of, or it will be destroyed itself. The birth must happen... and if the something don't get to it's goal it will be destroyed itself... but Noah is hidden away, no-one can get there to stop the birthing!
Maud needs to call Leah!
They need to talk about Noah's writings, gives her address with all info Leah has. And... they did not shoot Thomas, right?! Nope, she did not. It was her... Dostojevskian double that did that. She tells Maud of her "body switching" withe "the other Leah" (Maud don't seem to taken by this), and both have bad dreams, which leads to the birthing... which must be stopped, to destroy that whatever.
Leah leaves Emily her own notebook, and a sticker hoping that it will clear something for Emily, and rushes over to Maud's. With fear that the last drop of trust with Emily has now been burnt. And she still has that CD... with whatever on it.
At Maud's vine & Lynyrd Skynyrd on vinyl (black leather couches, glass tables, well equipped bookshelves, artistic, only a small TV as a sidenote on a corner table).
Maud reads the notes by Noah, retrieved from the broken case, relays the words from "Thomas" at the hospital... stopping the birthing... and the visits to the deli, the blood drinking, the nurse following her... she is no longer sure what is real.
Leah gets that, with her dreams... and now the Preventer & Birthee.. Reality... has always been shaky... so what is the truth about Noah in the cellar, near a construction site? The Preventer is like an owner about Noah (slave? dog?, and Noah.. is two.
Noah is being used, and this hits Maud, too.
There is this party starting later this evening, a party where "everything goes"... but the shooting of Thomas, not by her but the "other Leah"... and Maud has this phone breather, which the nurse heard, too... and then she was rolling past the deli.
Leah is getting again more afraid, as she might have been able to stop all this [Stability-1].
Maud tells of the original text from Noah that she burnt... and this connects a few dots for Leah; there was burnt paper in the locked case! Leah gets to read the copy.
Should the deli be visited together? It might be Noah related.. the party is that for sure... what about the p**n shop... Äfterbørn... did the blood sucking / giving mean something here... the Deli was Noah's favorite place... whichever it is called... "Jacob's Deli"... "J's Deli" or earlier "James's Deli", and there was happened the "eating su***de" that Maud might have caused
Leah has "the cellar like room... near a construction site"... anything goes party... ritual.. birthing... Maud reads deep on all they have...
The "persecutor" arises from the wants of men... and it's weakness is Maud herself!
What about the other friends, are they all aware of this?
No friends, those, probably not that to even Noah. They are all evasive, hiding something... are they of any use to us?
Next threads to follow - the party where anything goeth, and the p**n shop!
Are Noah's writings connected to each other? With Maud's help they reach an answer: ONLY THAT WHO IS BEING BORN MATTERS, NOT THE ONE THAT GIVES BIRTH!
