We returned, this week, to The Magic Circle by Jason Morningstar, in which we play the supernatural monsters living in the titular cul-de-sac. There are four of us. Ylda the writer is a werewolf who lives in #25 with her werewolf husband and two children. Zaragoza the injury attorney lives at the corner of the Circle and Joy Lane, from where he watches the whole neighborhood. Vedette Rasep is a former psychic whose soul is trapped inside a doll and who gets around by controlling the mind and body of whomever “owns” the doll. She lives at # 17 and makes a good living selling doll clothes for dolls and people on Etsy. Finally is Townes the golden retriever, who lives with a family with three children at # 26 and became super-intelligent after having been abducted by aliens. Townes leads our monthly council meetings.
Our first meeting is at Vedette’s house, although she fails to provide much edible for the group. Ylda begins the meeting by lamenting the teenagers hanging out in the forest and seriously interfering with her and Hordlak’s werewolf activities. She suggests we need a better youth center to keep them occupied elsewhere. Vedette thinks we should make them sick, or make one disappear, to ward off the others. Townes proposes the community build a skate park over in the undeveloped expansion lot. Ylda says she can speak to the other parents at school about where else the kids might go and gauge interest in a skate park. Townes agrees to follow the kids into the woods and see what they’re up to.
Zaragoza is irate about all the geese in the neighborhood and their droppings everywhere. Someone mentions geese love water; if there was a larger body of water nearby, perhaps they would simply leave. Zaragoza agrees to talk to the developer, who he knows from his legal work, about building a skate park and a water feature.
Townes brings the meeting around to the major problem facing the community: the recent disappearance of normal folks. He reveals that the father of his family has gone missing, and learns so has the friend of one of Ylda’s children. Zaragoza mentions that if a dozen people disappear, we can demand the state investigate rather than relying on the local police. We worry that state police might bring too much scrutiny to the area. Vedette suggests we publicize the disappearances, putting up flyers and signs, to scare folks into staying home and keeping their kids at home. It would help with the teens in the woods and maybe cut down on the vanishings. Along with these flyers, she will be putting up signs throughout the neighborhood directing people to her house because delivery people, who she depends on for her business, keep getting the addresses mixed up.
At our next meeting, Townes reports that the kids are out there being rebellious teens: smoking, drinking, littering, etc. Ylda says that the parents at the school are excited by the skate park idea, and Zaragoza says the developer is too. He won’t build a water feature to occupy the geese, but the skate park promises to be a big hit. We discuss whether and how Ylda’s family could hunt and drive off the geese, since the water idea fell through.
When we get back to the issue of the disappearances, Townes says he feels he must take direct action and plans on running away to begin searching for the vanished people. Vedette is concerned about him going alone and insists on accompanying him. Her psychic powers could be useful in finding and following clues, she says. Likewise, Ylda says that she can come to use her wolf-senses to get the scent and lead a chase. Zaragoza mentions he could release a bottled soul and ask them about the vanished, but makes no promise to do so. In the end, we all agree to meet the next morning after breakfast at Townes’ house to examine the family’s recovered car, then to follow the clues wherever they lead.
This is where we close the neighborhood meeting, and end our session. Could the disappearances be caused by a rival demon of Zaragoza, or aliens like those who took Townes, or some as yet unknown threat?
Story Games Club 