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Boneyards & Boojums is a casual Actual Play podcast of an 1879 TTRPG campaign. Learn more about 1879 at https://fasagames.com/1879-home/
The regular characters and cast includes:
- Madam Truffeni, the Medium: Pam
- Amos Blackstone, the Big Game Hunter: Noah
- Jacoby Bucklebury, the Snark Cowboy: Erik
- Gamemaster: Rob
The rotating guest characters and cast includes:
- Missus Cross, the Investigator: Kirsten
- Dr. Glynis Winter, the Doctor: Dilia
- Charlotte Tiddlewink, the Weird Scientist: Makoto
- Lazlo Richards, the Gambler: Sean
- Pierre, the Brassman: Kenneth
Some episodes will feature the same cast with alternative characters -- see the show notes for those!
This podcast does not update according to any predictable schedule. We will tend to release episodes in short bursts.
# Discord
Come chat with us about our shows on the Actual Playce, a Discord dedicated to TTRPG Actual Plays like ours: https://discord.gg/v6K4ArjBmN -- see the #namegivers channel!
# Credits
1879 is a registered trademark of FASA Corp and used without license. Any use of FASA trademarks or copyrighted material is not intended as a challenge to those trademarks or copyrights.
More about 1879: https://fasagames.com/1879-home/
Salutations,
dear listeners.
This is Boneyards and Boojums,
an 1879 RPG actual play podcast.
Part 1.
All Hallows' Eve,
1879.
♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Chapter One.
It's Punky Night Tonight.
27th of October,
1879.
Madam,
forthwith you are requested to investigate supernatural affairs encompassing the village of Bucklebury in Berkshire.
Discretion and secrecy are of utmost importance.
Your findings are to be reported in writing to Miss Galvary Wells Morton of 47 Kings Road,
Newbury.
Gramercy.
So out of the characters of Mrs.
Cross,
Manotrofini,
Dr.
Winter,
and Amos,
which one would be the one who received this correspondence,
do we think,
who may have actively been looking for work.
Not a...
I mean...
Part member of the elite.
Madame Trefini could,
I mean...
Yeah,
because that was my thought.
Madame Trefini is,
like,
probably seeking this stuff out.
I'm going to say the individual looking to hire people is...
If you think your character would not normally do this thing or would not seek this out,
then this person has maybe blackmailed you or convinced you otherwise to take the job.
You don't have to reveal what the situation is right now.
We can get into that later,
but that's how I'm kind of seeing this.
Okay,
because it's sort of up her alley anyways,
investigating supernatural affairs.
Yep,
that's what I figured.
She might be really interested in this stuff.
Oh yeah,
this is sort of up her alley,
her actual alley,
as opposed to gamming people with,
you know,
the fake readings.
Yeah,
so was Madame Trefini like a false medium before this?
she was a,
she like,
she's always been a medium.
It's just that all of a sudden she actually does see things and know things.
And she's a little bit,
it was a little freaky at first,
but she's gotten the hang of it.
But she was totally like a charlatan before that,
you know,
tarot cards,
reading your palms,
looking into crystal balls,
reading tea leaves,
you know,
that whole,
the whole shebang.
You know,
the worked with somebody who like helped her,
Jimmy Rigg,
like so the table would shake,
things like that.
Okay,
so why don't I set a scene that you are all on the train bound for Reading,
UK,
from London.
You have all been organized in some way.
We will...
Pam,
do you think Benotrophie would have hired us,
you know,
organized things,
or do you think you just showed up and these people were already there?
I mean,
she's worked with Mrs.
Cross before.
Okay,
excellent.
You know,
they worked together on something else before.
So she would have gone to her friend,
Mrs.
Cross,
and tried to lure her in with the mystery.
Oh yeah,
she's totally down.
Absolutely.
It gets her out of the house.
Yeah,
and probably,
but she might not have,
like,
organized the other two because she doesn't know them yet.
Okay.
And,
uh,
Amos,
how do you think you got into this situation?
I mean,
one of the others would understand that I am a hunter of beasts and men.
Okay.
And being as this is a hunt for something,
that they may have hired me for my services in order to find whatever it is.
Mrs.
Cross is definitely into getting a bodyguard.
Yeah,
we would have needed some help,
so maybe leave Mrs.
Cross in charge of finding somebody a little more burly.
Get much burlier than a dwarf,
unless you go up.
And for Dr.
Winter,
who do you think would have introduced her into the group?
Are you asking Dr.
Winter?
I don't know,
I'm asking anyone.
I mean,
because we probably,
especially Mrs.
Cross and Madam Trefini from last time,
know that having somebody maybe with a little more medical knowledge could be useful.
We got shot at a lot last time.
Poor Charlotte.
Rest in peace.
I don't know if she lived or not.
Yeah,
I'm not sure if she made it out.
But perhaps went looking for somebody who could help us with that.
Sort of on the sly.
Because we obviously don't want to be too out and open with what we're doing.
Okay,
so that makes sense.
So maybe we'll go with,
yeah,
Madame Truffini.
You have been commissioned by whomever.
It's a bit of a mystery in this one.
But you do know you're being paid quite well for this.
So you're able to kind of split the amount amongst some other folks to get the job done.
And maybe they have interest or maybe they have interest in the cash that's being offered.
Maybe they have interest in the supernatural affairs part of it.
We're not sure.
But I would say,
yeah,
you're able to organize everyone together,
get them onto a train right away out of London,
heading towards Reading,
UK.
And,
um,
well,
we sort of seen as,
Hmm,
would you probably take coach or coach class,
but still have like a table and like a little booth or something like that?
Yeah.
Like sort of like the,
the coach,
but like our own little,
cause a lot of the trains had their own little sort of units.
Yeah.
So imagine you're all sitting.
Yeah.
So you're all sitting in a,
uh,
yeah.
One of those train,
one of those units.
That's a,
that's kind of a booth.
Yeah.
If you've seen Harry Potter,
you've seen what they are.
Oh,
yeah,
okay.
A lot of the older trains in Europe had that.
That was how they were set up.
Okay,
so you got your own little private thing then.
Yeah,
with the sliding door.
Nice.
And maybe what we'll do is we'll go around the table and everybody describe what their character looks like around this,
in this little cubby.
I don't know what they call it.
Let's start with Mrs.
Cross.
All right.
Mrs.
Cross is a human.
So she'd be considered dressed smartly if she'd had a little more money to put into her outfit as it stands.
You know,
everything's just a little bit dusty,
a little bit wrinkled,
a little bit well-worn.
But she's sort of got a keen eye and stuff.
And how about Amos?
Amos is a very well-dressed gentleman.
When he walks in,
he actually takes a large hunting rifle off of his shoulder and plunks it down beside him and flops down.
He has a very well-trimmed beard,
and he is extremely burly,
but he is only four feet tall.
And he's a Bujum,
right?
He is.
He's a dwarf.
So for those who are not aware,
what Bujum means,
that's anyone who's transformed from human into either dwarf,
elf,
snark,
or troll,
and survived the transformation at that.
suddenly two years ago,
or within the last two years.
I think it's still spreading as kind of like a disease almost.
As far as I recall.
As he plunks down,
he will go,
Hmm,
how quaint.
Ah,
Madame Trefini.
What does she look like?
She has dark hair.
Right now it's just sort of piled up and pulled up high with sort of a headscarf on.
She's dressed fairly well,
but in slightly brighter colors.
more to catch your eye.
Like,
the jewelry,
everything.
Well,
it probably isn't real.
It's made to be eye-catching to draw you into her and keep your focus away from other things that she might be doing.
She's got a nice,
you know,
her coat is to the side and she's got her bag to the side,
just a nice cloth bag.
She kind of eyes the new people up as they come in and she's just idly has a deck of cards in her hand that she's just idly shuffling through.
And how about Dr.
Winter?
What does she look like?
Well,
she has her hair parted in the middle and pulled back into a bun.
And she just has a sort of slim fitting dress on,
but quite long to her,
to her feet and with a little bit of a puff sleeve,
but very kind of demure and not showy because she wants to be seen as a professional and she has her doctor's bag with her which is like a black leather bag just filled with some supplies nice and uh yeah i'd imagine this is a few hours of a trip um along the western railway um the oh let me think here uh is there anything anybody wishes to do during the train ride i guess is what i'll ask at first or should we cut to approaching the station sort of as each person sort of joins them as she's like
as they're moving along she'll pull out a card for eat you know she'll like first look at amos pull a card out just look at it herself put it down and repeat the process with all looking at each of the three other people okay so that's really interesting so i gotta hook on to that what do you think uh comes up comes up for amos let me just see do you have a deck of cards with you?
I do.
I knew you'd do that.
I actually have a tarot card generator online.
Oh,
nice.
But,
yeah,
because I don't actually have cards in my house.
That's neat.
Yeah.
So for Amos comes the Page of Wands Reversed,
which is no new opportunities,
no good foresight,
not focused on growth,
and no real passion.
So she just sort of looks at him,
looks at the card and tucks it away again appropriate and sort of looks over to dr winter flips up the seven of pentacles upright so patience like being patient waiting for the right moment and a little bit more neutral and has no no feel no need to rush things at the moment so again just sort of and then she looks at her good friend mrs cross and pulls the death card upright which does not always symbolize death itself it is a natural end a time for things to end the old needing to give way to the
new and unstoppable change or perhaps liberation from something so again she just sort of looks at it smiles smirks and tucks it underneath just to get sort of to get her feel for each of her new her companions oh that's so nice um love it yeah especially the one for mrs cross because i think that's actually really appropriate i would i would assume that maybe she's trying to get out of the thumb of her employer somewhat out of the shadow yeah a little bit yeah and did we talk about who that was
that you had been employed with um yeah It's actually my dearly deceased husband's cousin who essentially gave me the position because he was a soldier,
etc.
I'm not going to go on and on about it.
But now she's sort of building up herself and wants to get recognition for the things that she does.
She is an investigator.
Yeah.
Excellent.
So maybe we'll skip ahead and say that you all have your pleasantries and light,
simple discussions,
wondering what's going on in this town of Bucklebury or village of Bucklebury.
And when the train comes to a stop in Reading,
it is late in the afternoon,
probably an hour's ride to Bucklebury.
All you know is some arrangement has been made by whomever this individual is that has left it.
Madame Trefini,
what is your assumption of who sent this message?
I'm just curious.
Let's take another look at the correspondence here.
She has a feeling that it could potentially be the same group that they interacted with last time.
Okay.
I can't remember what they were called now,
but...
Fagin?
Yeah.
Templars.
The Templars.
Oh,
the Templars.
Okay.
That perhaps it's somebody from within that,
since maybe it's one that they can't interact with again themselves.
that's her thinking on it alright I'm going to get you to roll since it has just an address and nothing else I'll get you to roll a perception check or awareness no no perception unless you have like knowledge of I don't know if you can argue that one of your knowledge skills will work for this let me just see I don't even remember what I have haggle and bribery my knowledge is occult I don't know not quite no there's no evidence Well,
there's minor evidence that there's a cult involved here,
but I'll get you to roll just a straight perception,
I think.
Okay,
so that is a step seven.
That is a seven.
One,
okay.
All right.
I'm going to say there's a good chance that you're thinking that it was signed Grimersi at the end,
and you're thinking that might be a name.
Okay.
And,
okay,
to give you a sense of what I'll do on low rolls on investigation and perception in this game,
I think I'm going to take,
again,
a cue from Monster of the Week and games like that,
and basically say if you get a low perception check,
I may or may not give you the truth of the situation.
Yeah.
So it might be right.
I'm not going to give you the wrong thing necessarily,
but I'll give you something that you're not sure.
You're not going to be sure.
Yeah.
Or if that's not possible,
I'll give you a situation that is misleading in some way.
Okay.
So did you share this note with anyone else?
I'm wondering.
Probably on the train while we were talking about what we were doing,
like having a little getting to know each other and talking a little bit.
We'd want to make sure people knew what we were up to.
Okay,
excellent.
And if anyone wants to do anything with that or has any questions of me,
let me know,
but otherwise I'll just continue on.
All right,
sounds good.
So when you're exiting the train,
you'll see there's a handful of people at the train station there,
but only one that's carrying a really poorly lettered sign with your names sort of scrawled across it.
Really not artistically.
Very simple looking man.
If he wasn't the only person with a sign,
you probably would have missed him.
You just blend right in.
Looks kind of like a farmhand or something like that.
And you'll hear it coming from,
Oi,
you the people?
We are people.
Right.
Come with.
I guess this is our ride.
He's going to look at Amos and say,
I will come off the train with my large hunting backpack with me and my rifle slung over my shoulder and go,
Ha!
How quaint!
Right.
Never said there were no boojums in this quarry.
Well,
no matter.
Eyes gets paid anyway,
so yous have business in Bucklebury?
Yes.
Seems like you're the cladestines types.
I'm not going to say anything beyond that.
I'm just going to kind of stare at him.
All right,
come on.
You're the one with their names on it.
And they say not to ask questions,
but I get so little entertainment in my life here.
So he's going to lead you out of the station to what looks to be a quote unquote carriage.
It's a generous term for a carriage.
It's a barely covered wagon.
That's going to greet you.
But it is a solid enough ride.
It's not going to fall apart or anything.
It's just not going to be very comfortable.
I'm going to ask,
who do you report to,
sir?
Oh,
I,
uh,
Mrs.
Grantham's,
uh,
ma'am.
And what does Mrs.
Grantham do?
She,
uh,
uh,
manages the,
the pumpkin operation in Bucklebury.
And,
uh,
oh,
she said there was a special,
uh,
need for transport to the town.
Thank you.
And,
uh,
he'll set you all up and try to,
he notices that probably Mrs.
Cross might be a little uncomfortable with the uncomfortability of the ride.
and offer some extra hay or straw or something like that in a sack.
This cross is not fancy.
Oh,
okay.
All right.
So if anyone is feeling a little uncomfortable or looking uncomfortable,
he will stuff a sack full of straw.
I take the sack full of straw.
I will,
I will,
oh,
oh no,
madam.
Here,
use this,
and I will hand her my bedroll.
Why,
thank you.
And I'll take a seat.
So it's about a one-hour carriage ride from Reading Station to Bucklebury,
and as you're approaching the town,
you'll hear,
and you'll find out this gent's name is Mr.
Godfrey.
That's all you really get from him.
And he'll say,
oh,
well,
tonight's Punky Night.
Hope yous don't frighten easily,
as he kind of winks at Madam Trefini.
And what's Punky Night?
Oh,
it's a night when the children go around.
They march around with one of those jack-o'-lantern things,
you know,
the night before Hall Isles Eve.
And yeah,
I forgot to mention,
this is October 30th at this point.
Excellent.
1879.
And they go through the town and they kind of sing songs and ask for candles for their jack-o'-lanterns.
And they,
you know,
they'll get a little rough with people who don't offer them candles.
You know,
not physical violence,
but they might pelt you with eggs maybe or something.
So I've got some candles in the back there if you want to have some with you so you don't get pelted.
I would quite appreciate that.
I think we all would.
And as you're approaching the village of Bucklebury,
which has a very small,
very straight looking river passing through it.
It's barely a river at all and more of a short,
very narrow stream.
There's not going to be any kind of boat on this river,
unless it's a toy boat or something,
some tiny little thing.
And there's a number of buildings,
most of which seem to be pretty inactive.
And as you're approaching the town,
it's getting close to sunset,
you're seeing a group of children marching around.
They're all of the human type,
none of them are the Bujums.
They're marching around with jack-o'-lanterns,
and you can hear them singing,
actually.
You hear this song that goes,
it's punky night tonight,
it's punky night tonight.
Adam and Eve would not believe it's punky night tonight.
And then you start hearing,
give me a candle,
give me a light,
but if you haven't got a candle,
a penny is all right,
as they approach the wagon.
And what do you do as they're approaching the wagon?
We're still moving,
or has it stopped?
It's slowed down quite a bit,
and Godfrey is kind of reaching out for some of those candles now.
I'm going to just go and hop right off the back with a couple candles in hand.
Thank you,
miss.
I will actually pull out my small change and we'll start handing out,
I believe they are the silver,
not penny.
Sorry,
what's the next one up?
My brain's on a minute here.
I don't even know.
Pounds,
is it shillings?
Shillings,
yeah.
And then pence,
right?
Yes.
Okay.
He will take out silver pence coins and hand them out instead of pennies.
wow that's a 12 pence right i'm just good no no no the uh the small coin i believe it's a it's very small silver coin if i remember correctly i can't find my little cheat sheet here so yeah all right and they were going to be at first they were enamored with you just because you're a boojum you're a dwarf you look different um and they're a little afraid to approach but now with the coins uh now that hearing that you're handing out coins like that uh they're all just not afraid anymore.
I'm handing out candles.
I just don't have any smaller change,
so this is the best I can do.
And Dr.
Winter going to hand them a candle as well?
Yes,
she is.
Alright.
I'll join the candle train.
I do not have the ability to lose shillings.
And as they continue on,
in your approaching what appears to be the inn you're headed for,
or tavern,
actually,
this case you're headed for.
There's actually another smaller group of children approaching,
and they're all boojums.
Although one is big,
and you're presuming this is the troll kid,
5'6",
probably like 7 years old and 5'6".
I smile warmly at them.
And they come by,
and they actually come around Amos,
not knowing,
of course,
they don't know at all that you were handing out coins,
but they do see you as another boojum and are like,
a candle,
sir?
I don't have the candles.
I have this for you,
and I will give them the same thing.
Yep.
I move over and start to hand out some more candles for them.
Thank you,
miss.
Of course,
of course.
You need to have your candles,
don't you?
So as you're into this,
they move on,
move along,
and continue singing.
And this town or village is very small,
quaint,
a number of homes,
workhouses,
church,
a few shops,
and a tavern,
which has the sign of the Knight's Rook.
There are,
yeah,
and the wagon is going to come to a stop,
and Mr.
Godfrey will step off and help anyone who wants assistance off the wagon.
What do you do?
I'm a pacer.
And,
yeah,
Mr.
Godfrey will offer assistance.
He'll pull out a crate so you can step down.
I was already still off of the cart from handing out,
just sort of walking along with it,
with a bit more of a bounce to my step now after that.
Excellent.
I just sling my bedroll back into my pack and jump off with my rifle.
All right.
Is Mrs.
Cross hopping off or taking a crate?
Assistance with a crate?
I'll take assistance.
Okay.
And you'll offer that.
I wish you well in Bucklebury,
madams and sir.
And with that,
he sets up his wagon again to take off to the north.
We'll throw him one of those coins as well and say,
thank you,
good sir.
Oh,
well,
thank you,
Mr.
Um,
I didn't catch your last name.
Amos Blackstone.
Blackstone,
Mr.
Blackstone.
Well,
I will remember you,
sir.
Have a good time.
I shall.
Yeah,
let me see if I can find my note here.
All right,
uh,
everyone roll perception or awareness.
So that's in the Dice Rolls channel,
for those who aren't aware,
and,
uh,
ampersand,
and then a step.
So for Delia in your step sheet,
or on your character sheet,
There is,
on the left side,
it says Dex Strength,
or Dex Strength Toughness Perception.
Unless there's a 16 and a 7,
it's actually the 7,
the step thing.
So,
ampersand 7.
Excellent.
Rank in Awareness is 3,
so that makes it 10.
All right,
did I get everyone there?
I forgot to draw a line here.
Yeah,
sometimes I can't tell.
Okay.
I got a 21.
Oh,
my.
Oh,
jeepers.
Madame Trefini is the most observant who immediately your eye is caught to the poster that is on the signboard beside the entrance of the inn or tavern that is seeking information about a missing pumpkin.
Apparently,
as far as you can tell,
a prize winning giant pumpkin has gone missing.
And if you have any information,
please go see Mrs.
Grantham at the Grantham Farm.
I'm going to look at Amos and say,
how quaint.
Amos is silent.
Sorry,
that didn't work.
I actually grump a bit and go,
agreed.
I'm going to just glance at them.
I think it's charming.
I've been brought here to hunt pumpkins.
You've been brought here to protect us and hunt local superstitions.
Sometimes they turn out to be quite right.
and I'm going to head into the tavern.
Everyone else going in the tavern?
The knight's rook?
Yes.
Alright,
what you enter into is a fairly simple but very dusty space.
It's got a simple bar area lit by a few candles.
A few macabre decorative skulls have carved pumpkins and turnips around.
Kind of like jack-o'-lanterns,
basically.
There's a young man at the bar.
He's maybe 18,
but at most,
maybe younger.
He seems to be the barkeep,
serving up only a couple of local men who look like they basically live there.
And there is a very off-key trio of musicians in the corner trying to play sea shanties.
We'll wince.
What was that?
I said,
I will wince.
But there is a table available if you wish to take it.
What do you do?
I'm going to sort of do a glance around to see if it looks like it's the kind of place where you just grab it and go to the table.
Or if you sit at the table and they bring it to you.
You probably have to go ask at the bar for stuff,
it looks like here.
Well,
who's buying the first round?
I guess I might.
Excellent.
I will go over and say to the barkeeper,
I would like drinks at the table,
please.
I will have an assortment of ales and a light snack,
as well as a decanter of wine.
It's Punky Night,
though.
Don't you want to try the pumpkin moonshine or pumpkin brew?
Right.
Yes,
I would.
All right.
I'll bring some over.
Would you like that other stuff,
too?
Yes,
why not?
Just in case.
All right,
sir.
Give me a few.
And you'll notice that he's excited because this is the most orders he's gotten for anything in a long time,
probably.
Other than just the couple local guys who drink there all the time.
And he'll come over with the drinks later on,
and he'll seem really unusually proud of his pumpkin drinks for those who will partake.
It seems they've been making use of the local pumpkin farm and fermenting them to make their quote-unquote pumpkin moonshine and another kind of pumpkin-ish flavor,
but really it's quite terrible,
ale as well.
Can I get a tea?
Yes,
madam,
let me see.
I will,
after I get these drinks,
I'll do that.
Thank you,
sir.
And he seems overwhelmed.
He doesn't have waitstaff or anything.
And I'd imagine you spend some time here and just kind of relax and unwind kind of thing after a long day of travel.
And as the musicians leave and the kind of couple barflies leave,
Madam Traffini.
Yes.
You're looking around and then as you've gotten to know this barkeep a little bit,
his name is Timothy Tanner.
And he generally seems pretty bored in general of this place.
He was excited to see you folks,
but generally he seems pretty bored.
And you're kind of surprised as for a second there,
you're kind of looking at the bar,
just kind of yourself,
probably ready to sleep soon.
and you see,
I think you saw one of the bottles just kind of float from the bar,
behind the bar,
over to the table.
And that Timothy saw this and just seemed to not even blink.
I'm going to sort of look a little closer at that spot and then look at the others.
I think the mystery begins.
We have a floating bottle.
Is there anything in the bottle?
Well,
it stopped floating.
What it did was it kind of flew from the shelf over and just landed on the bar.
Like it sort of floated over on its own.
It looked like it was,
you know...
Like somebody picked it up and...
Yep,
someone picked it up,
set it down there.
And Timothy was just kind of like,
yeah,
that's normal.
You mean that's normal.
So I'm going to...
Go ahead.
No,
no,
go ahead.
I'm going to get up and walk over to the bar.
Yes,
madam.
Curious.
Do the bottles do that often?
You saw that,
didn't you?
Gran,
you can come out now and you see this apparition up here of an old woman in what would be old garb for those days even probably 18th century outfit.
Why?
I'm just gonna grin.
I'm not even gonna like jump or anything like that at this because this is exactly my wheelhouse.
And she will bow and say Oh,
greetings.
Oh,
you're a medium.
Of course you saw that.
Of course I saw you.
Mrs.
Agnes Tanner is my name And you are?
I am Madam Trishini Excellent Are you the folks that I sent for?
Are you the one who asked for help with the supernatural occurrences?
Yes There's something a might bit supernatural going on here And I don't mean me Don't worry Then that would be us indeed Ah,
good Yes,
I waited for the rest to leave before revealing myself I wanted to see what you lot would be doing what you're like.
Tried to listen in,
but there wasn't much of interest to me,
I guess.
But anyways.
We're getting used to each other,
some of us.
Yes.
Could I ask you to do something for me?
Look into something.
Here,
come.
Sit.
Join us.
Tell the group.
Come on this way.
It would be quite silly of us to do.
As I go and sit back down again.
Our employer is here.
Well,
call me in.
What was that?
I sort of watch everybody's reactions to this Barrett employer.
Isn't this interesting?
Curiouser and curiouser.
And she'll say,
well,
I'm not technically the employer.
You could probably see that I don't have much in means of fortune or gold and silver,
but I know people who know people,
and I let it be known out there there's something worth looking into around these parts.
Here to look.
Well,
there's,
I have to say,
there's something a might-bit supernatural going on in this town.
And outside of this building,
though,
clearly me in here,
yes,
that's supernatural.
But I'm talking about more troublesome affairs.
Not just some spirit roaming about,
but some harm being done.
Can you describe what is being done in more detail?
Here's the thing.
I have to kind of get this information secondhand.
People come in here,
they talk,
I hear.
You know,
I hide in here.
And after what I heard,
I really didn't want to be leaving this building.
I don't want no sorcerer possessing me,
or banishing me,
or making some kind of thrall of me,
or whatever they do.
So I figured I was safe here.
But I may not entirely be safe in here,
because there's a room upstairs I cannot enter.
And it doesn't matter what anyone does,
you open the door,
whatever,
I can't go in there.
It just burns.
I don't like that.
And that's everything then?
Or you said that there's something outside of here?
Well,
there's some nasty sights coming from the direction of the old Bucklebury Boneyard.
And then I hear today that his donkey has gone missing too.
The old bench from the Bucklebury estate.
And they've been missing.
Livestock has gone vanished the last few weeks in rather mysterious circumstances.
at first we thought somebody was just stealing it but um the traces left behind that i hear are rather more of the predator uh type but too big to be anything natural excellent this sounds more of my interest well i dare say we start upstairs while it's late and get some rooms on the way and we can start outside tomorrow is the room that you can't enter currently occupied by somebody or is it free?
As if we have customers here.
Excellent.
I'd like to get that room,
please.
Excellent.
So few come to Bucklebury anymore,
especially with all these disappearances and things,
so we don't want these rumors to be spreading more about that,
if it's true.
So yeah,
she'll actually kind of float away,
and I don't know which of your characters have even seen apparitions or anything of that manner yet.
the whole opening of the rabbit hole and all that was only two years ago,
so your character may or may not have had time to see apparitions.
Other than Madame Trefini,
obviously.
That's what she deals with.
That's what she deals with.
Yes,
I would assume I've seen some as well,
being as I am a Bousham as well,
so.
Yeah.
What about Dr.
Winter?
Do we think Dr.
Winter has seen a ghost before or has this just freaked her out?
I think given that,
you know,
I'm pretty practical,
this is kind of a little bit outside of my real house.
So,
keeps that neutral look about,
I guess,
just like the tarot card said.
My eyes a little bit popping out of my head,
seeing this apparition kind of floating away here.
And what about Mrs.
Cross?
She's never seen an apparition.
May have come across weird things before,
and she's,
you know,
wearing her poker face,
but she's a little unnerved.
Alright.
She'll lead you upstairs,
and there's only about four rooms here anyways.
She will point at the one in the northeast corner of this floor,
and the door's open,
but she says,
I can't enter there,
I don't understand.
I'll take that one.
I'm going to just walk straight towards it.
Okay.
Are you going to walk right in?
Yep.
I'm going to stop first at the door and kind of look over it,
just on the off chance that anything was like marked onto it somehow like the door frame and things like that okay and i am going to reach into my backpack and grab my goggles and i will put them on top of my head and okay go ahead as well you're gonna go into the can't read room the ghost can't enter it room do you of course but yes okay and uh do you does madam trefini have anything like evidence analysis or anything like that uh no evidence analysis i've got um just wondering if you had any no
yeah we could go straight perception here it's a knowledge of cult right yeah knowledge of the occult oh okay roll that how about that okay i'm just because i didn't mark in the attributes what do you anyone would be perception perceptions So that would be a seven.
That would be a nine.
Okay.
Okay.
That's enough to know that you think you,
the first thing that comes to your mind is you might be looking for some salt on the floor.
Okay.
And lo and behold,
you do see the remnants.
There's not much left,
but of a salt line on the floor.
Okay.
I'm just going to like crouch down right away and just lick my finger and run it along to try to get as much of the salt up as I can.
And yeah,
you're able to kind of scatter that.
Do a little taste test to make sure it was salt.
Yeah,
definitely salt.
It's an odd flavor for salt.
There's something else mixed into it too,
you think?
Nothing that causes any pain or poison or anything,
but you're wondering,
okay,
what else is in this?
I don't know.
Maybe ash,
you think?
Hmm.
I'm going to collect as much of it as I can,
get a little hanky and fold it up for later.
I'm going to crawl down on the floor and flip down my goggles and start crawling around looking,
seeing if there's any interesting sign.
Okay.
How about I almost roll perception or awareness?
Okay.
Basically,
I'm looking for any signs of tracks or anything like that.
Oh,
okay.
Yep.
Should I just use perception or tracking?
I think tracking,
you have to know who you're tracking first.
Okay.
You've already found the tracks that you're tracking.
Yeah.
six okay that's pretty good it's yeah you don't think there's necessarily tracks here but you do while you're looking through here uh you're able to detect that there may have used to have been some kind of sigil drawn on the ground with this salt and um ash mixture on closer look it appears there used to be some kind of sigil here would this be something you would know of madam trefini i'll go to try to see if i can sort of with his help pointing it out see if i can figure out what it was or at
least part of it and trace and copy it out yeah maybe i'll get you to roll um again perception on this one we'll go with the actually go occult occult with it actually yeah oh 14 okay that's a lot uh you're thinking this has to do with a mage um something involving a mage uh probably a ritual of some kind was done here you have no idea what the reason might be but there's definitely some magic has been active here.
Okay.
And maybe you presume with the word at the door,
they didn't want to be seen or interfered with by spirits.
Fair enough.
So I'm going to glance back.
Mrs.
Tanner,
would you be a dear and try coming in?
It should be fixed now.
And she's going to sort of wince to Brace going through this,
and then it goes through no problem.
Oh,
well,
what did you do?
There was salt on the floor.
Well,
is salt a problem?
I mean,
we use it in our food here sometimes.
With the food,
it should be fine,
but one can place a line of salt to protect against spirits,
or prevent spirits.
Okay.
Huh.
Well then,
I'm glad that mystery is solved,
but...
I would suggest perhaps the floors be swept a little more thoroughly,
if you notice a problem like that.
Just have someone sweep the floors a little more thoroughly.
And you see her kind of disappear through the floor go downstairs basically just right through the floor and yell,
Timothy you need to clean more And yeah she'll come back up and say well thank you for this Feel free to stay here the night It's a modest place and no charge but we will,
do you need anything else from me?
I don't tend to like coming out in the day so I don't have any questions Madam,
might I ask who had this room last before this happened?
Well,
we haven't actually had any customers staying over,
so someone must have just kind of snuck in during the day and done this.
That's never nice.
Is there anybody in town who might be of the sort who would draw sigils on floor?
Heavens no.
We have nothing like that around here.
Hence why I wanted to alert certain individuals who want to know more about the supernatural.
I'd like to relieve ourselves of the more unsavory types that get attracted to the supernatural in exchange for those who,
you know,
are just curious and not meaning harm,
if you know what I mean.
I know exactly what you mean.
Then have you had any...
you say you've had no travelers recently either.
Well,
not no travelers,
but no one who stayed overnight.
Certainly there's travelers through town now and again.
for various reasons and businesses.
And how many days has it been since you haven't been able to get into this room?
Ooh,
it's been,
uh,
oh,
when did I send the note out?
It was,
oh,
at least a couple weeks now.
God.
All right.
Or just moved to a different area.
Possibly.
Anyone else have questions for Mrs.
Agnes Tanner?
At the moment,
at least I am.
Everybody else?
Last question.
How might we reach you if we do need you during the day?
During the day?
Well,
talk to Timothy.
He can help with that.
I prefer not to come out during the day,
but if you must.
And anyone else doing anything tonight before we move on to the next day?
Nope.
I'm going to still stay in that room and do a look around.
Just a general look around the room once I've settled in and shoot everybody out.
I mean,
you can take this room.
There's only four anyway,
so.
Yeah,
I'm planning to take the room because I think it would be lovely to stay there.
And you'll find the bedding isn't actually too bad here.
Made a good goose down or something like that.
Until next time,
dear listeners.
Blessings and good health.
Salutations and valedictions for the Boneyards and Boojums podcast are narrated by Andromeda.
To learn more about the 1879 RPG,
please refer to the episode notes.