Left to right: Malcolm, Theodore, Enlighten, Surety, and Thrug
played by Brad, Tabetha, (no one), Ry, Dan

So we started along the way, got really sidetracked by Hwll the dwarf (they decided to go see the play, as they needed to determine if it was in fact the same one - they decided that yes, since there was a prince and princess screaming at each other in both plays, they were similar enough to warrant an Investigation)

So then they went to find CMOT Dibbler (since I told them that the play was "Rose Red and the Seven Gnomes" as edited by CMOT Dibbler) and Thrug got it into his small brain that "Me make him say where Cohen is!"

But of course they only found SOL Dibbler, who promptly evaded the question: "Where CMOT??" although he felt relieved that they were looking for his uncle about the *play* and not the Burfies. But then Malcolm whacked his toe (and broke it, btw) and he gave in, telling them where to find Throat Dibbler.

So anyway, that being on their route, they decided to leave it until later because it wasn't that important *right now* to do, and they'd get to it. So they continue on, finally getting to Grimbly's and panicked Mr. Grimbly. They actually came up with the idea of asking Carrot to be the Hogfather, but promptly dismissed it. See Pyramid's article for what went on.

SOOOO.... Thrug and Surety (Shorty, as called by Thrug) dress up and Theodore and Malcolm go off to the other store to see what's up there.

So, Malcolm and Theodore first: They get to the other store (Drimble's), and see the same scene and hear the yelp of pain. They rush in (breaking down a side door) and see the Man In Black trying to escape.

At this point, a series of damn lucky rolls on their parts and a botch on Mervyn's part, puts Mervyn asleep 10 feet in the air on the carpet. Let me paint the scene: Mervyn, ducking to avoid the shillegah hurled at him by Malcolm, almost falls off the carpet but manages to grab onto it. He casts a beautifully done levitate spell, and floats back up onto the carpet. At this point, Theodore throws a sleep spell at him, and he topples headfirst onto the Burfies. Malcolm, seeing Theodore's outstretched arms, runs really fast and jumps....

.... .... .... and misses the carpet and falls on the floor.

So Theodore uses his staff to smack the carpet down onto the floor and they tie up and gag Mervyn while he's asleep. By this point in time, the crowd outside Drimble's is almost to riot point...

The crowd outside of Grimbly's is already restless because they've been told that the store will be opening late. Surety tells Thrug "Let's go calm them down! That'll help! You shout, I'll tell you what to say!"

Thrug, who is having trouble pronouncing "Burfies" (it comes out more like "Buh-fy"), agrees and they go outside. "Tell them 'there are no burfies right now but they'll be here soon" says Surety. Of course, it takes time for Thrug to process and he stops after "No Buh-fies." The crowd... well, starts to become a tad restless.

But they manage to shout enough that they'd get here soon and don't worry. The crowd grumbles a bit but does indeed calm down (partly helped by the fact that it's a large number of housewives with children and it's Thrug speaking)

So they go back inside and look for Clues(tm). Well, Thrug just accidently breaks things with Mr. Grimbly following along: "No, please don't... *whimper* touch... that...." Surety tries to find Clues(tm) [Oh, they all did examine the bodies, etc earlier on and get relevant information] Of course, there really aren't any other Clues(tm) to discover, and the crowd begins to grow quite restless again and so Thrug goes back outside. At which point he says "No Buh-fies here." (Not having Surety to help him on this)

The crowd riots. Thrug veritably swims across the crowd, which has converged upon Surety, eyes wide, trying to convince the stampeding crowd (unsuccessfully) that "It's HOgswatchnight, we should all be good...."

Thrug shouts "Buh-fies at DRIMBLE's!!! PEOPLE STOLE AT DRIMBLE'S BUH-FIES!!"

The crowd, having someone now to vent their frustrations on other than Grimbly's departs (Grimbly's is, of course, pretty destroyed at this point) in the direction of Drimble's (across the Maul). Being a mob, they travel slower than Thrug-carrying-Surety who manage to take a "shortcut", which I must say, was quite excellently described by the players - Surety giving directions and Thrug crashing thorugh things "Ok now jump over the turtle *crunch* Ok that works too.... Ok now over this wall *crash* Ok .... Now open the grate *thunk-crash-clatter* Ok that works too...."

Theodore goes out to find Mr. Drimble, and talks to him, and he panics (much like Grimbly did of course). At the same time Malcolm kicks (violently) Mervyn awake and carries on an Interrogation. Mervyn is given a piece of paper to write on, so he can't cast any spells. Malcolm misinterprets what Mervyn wrote to mean "I'm going to summon Evil Nasty Things using the Burfies as a sacrifice"

Fortunatley, Theodore comes in as Drimble goes out to try to calm *his* crowd down and offers an alternate explanation. They argue about it briefly and are then aware of shouting outside and a growing noise....

Outside, Thrug and Surety have arrived and are shouting at the crowd: "No Buh-fies!!! People at Grimbly's stole Buh-fies!!!" The crowd in front of Drimble's riots but turns to head down the Maul toward Grimbly's.... encountering very quickly the crowd *from* Grimbly's which was more or less al most to Drimbles.

So.... now you have two pissed- off crowds, rioting in the Maul and trying to kill each other. They are looting and various other fun things that rioting crowds do.

What do our Heroes of the Watch do at this point, you may ask? Of course, this is the time to Run Away.

They decide to take the carpet and Mervyn back to the Watch Hall and Interrogate him in the Safety of the WAtch Hall. But the problem is, only Mervyn, Theodore and Malcolm (because he's small) fit on the carpet. The others will just have to walk.

Theodore and Malcolm toss Mervyn onto the Burfy pile and Theodore tries to get the carpet to move. It does but he can't control it and it heads to the UU. Mervyn to all intents and appearances looks sullen and just scowls when Malcolm asks him if he's controlling the carpet... they eventually screech to a halt over UU and start descending.

However, Mervyn makes both a stealth roll and a dex roll and manages to get his hands free. But by the time he manages to get himself free, they've gotten to his room. He puts the two of them to sleep and starts about his business of sending them back...

Meanwhile, Thrug has decided to lure the Mob away from the Maul by waving the one and only Burfy that's left (Surety had taken one). He is subsequently chased toward the Ankh....

Surety, being left more or less alone now, decides to try to see if she can't find some information about Evil Things. She decides the best way to do this is to go to the UU and see if she can't find something in the Library. She sneaks in via the servant's door and finds the Library. She then sits on the Librarian's lap "Oook?" and tells the story of what's happened ...

So, we have Thrug screeching to a halt at the edge of the Ankh, chased by a Very Large Mob of Angry and Rioting People.... Surety trying to find out about TTMWNMTK via the Librarian, and Theodore and Malcolm asleep.

The mob does, indeed, convince Thrug to walk across the Ankh and then they get the lovely idea of "Hey, let's light the Ankh on FIRE!!!!" This, of course, causes Problems. A) The fire starts spreading rapidly toward Thrug. B) The buildings on the bank start to catch fire. Shortly, C) the buildings on the OTHER side will catch fire. Thrug yells: "PUT OUT FIRE OR BUH-FY GETS IT!!!" and threatens the Burfy. This actually WORKS and the crowd attempst to do fire control.

Meanwhile, the Librarian heads off into the Library and gives Surety a book which is in a language she cannot read. (Basically the Primer on TTMWNMTN: Just Hide And Hope It'll Turn Out All Right) She gets directions to the UU party, and corners a senior wizard into helping her.

Which basically ends up with him not reading her the book, and leading her to Mervyn's room.... This wizard slips in and (locks the door behind him) and talks with Mervyn for a bit. At which point, malcolm wakes up and takes his shillegah out and goes to bash Mervyn on the head.

Mervyn doesn't notice this, unfortunately, but fortunately the Other Wizard does and quickly casts a spell, leaving the shillegah hanging in midair with Malcolm swinging off it (and particularly angry as all get-out and trying now to KICK Mervyn)

At which point in time, Surety (hearing the commotion inside and Malcolm's voice) decides to take a look at the doorknob (hoping to pick the lock, I think) -- it looks back (and blinks a few times) SHe asks it nice-like "Will you let me in preeeeetty please??" It blinks at her. She takes out the needles from her sewing kit. "PREEEETTTTY please?" It unlocks.

So at this point, Theodore wakes up, malcolm decides to let go and start playing his bagpipes in the hopes of getting Mervyn to stop chalking stuff on the floor and falls --- right into the circle of Burfies.

The scene, as Surety sees it is: Mervyn and the other wizard talking hurriedly, Mervyn explaining that they need to send the Burfies back NOW because at midnight they'll all turn into horrible things with teeth, Malcolm in the circle of Burfies which is, by the way, bending downward. Theodore has just woken up and is staring intently at the circle as well.

Let's go back to Thrug. Thrug tries to continue walking across the Ankh toward the other side. Step...Step... CRUNCH...Slog...sink....slog....ARGH.... The fire is approaching rapidly now. Thrug tries to bat at the Burfy, as it is attempting to be singed.

He shouts "SOMEONE HELP OR BUH-FY ON FIRE!!" They throw him a rope. But they forget (botched the idea roll) to tie it to the bridge. Thrug stares at the rope. Thrug makes an idea roll, ties the rope to himself, ties the other end to teh Burfy and throws the Burfie into the crowd.

He is subsequently pulled rapidly out of the river (*ow crunch bonk ow whap*) into several buildings and finally comes to the conclusion (about 10 minutes later) that maybe CUTTING THE ROPE would be a Good Idea(tm). He does so. He then heads off to find CMOT Dibbler through some convoluted misguided reasoning. "He tell me where Cohen is. Cohen give advice!"

He arrives at The Street of Cunning Artificers, finds Dibbler, and sees the Burfies. (Fake Burfies, of course. Not that Thrug would know. But Thrug does not know that the Burfies are Evil, given that he had run off before this became Known. Or even Discussed.) He tells Dibbler about the Fire and that Dibbler will get smashed if he doesn't give the Burfies to Thrug. Dibbler wisely decides to get the hell out of Ankh at the moment and flees. Thrug takes a cart, piles with Burfies and heads back to the crowd....

So... back to the others. Surety, seeing Malcolm in the circle try to run OUT of the circle and bounce back, takes her sling and tosses one end to him (holding the other end). He grabs this but she is unable to pull him past the circle. It's odd - the sling on *her* side of the circle behaves normally. But on the *other* side, it just stretches....

So, anyway, Theodore does a Thaumatergy roll (sp?) and decides that maybe a "dispel magic" spell would be Bad(tm). He asks Mervyn "So what happens if we erase just a small bit of the circle to get him out???" "I dunno, you can try it fast just redraw it!!! It's almost midnight!!" Mervyn is frantically drawing chalk things on the floor again. "Hey Mervyn, asks Surety, "What does TeeTeeEm" stnad for?" "THINGS THAT MAN WAS NOT MEANT TO KNOW!!" he shouts frantically. Theodore quickly grabs some chalk, erases the bit of circle closest to Malcolm, Surety yanks hard on the sling as Theodore also casts "HASTE" on Malcolm who runs real fast and just barely gets out of the circle. Theodore re-draws the circle, and Mervyn chants and then screeches "I NEED A VIRGIN!!!" He looks at her frantically and hands her a piece of paper "Chant this!! It's not working!!" She chants it and... a few seconds before midnight the Pit opens up and the Burfies all fall down into it. Everyone pointedly Does Not Look, excpet for Theodore, who starts to gibber for a while as he goes to a happy fun place.

So. At this point, Thrug is convincing people that he will give them Burfy if they put out fire. They try to help. The rest of the group is ushered quickly out of UU and so they go to find him. The do note that there is Fire, and quickly someone (I forget who) decides that the way to put out the fire is to use a) beer b) people who have drunk a lot and need to relieve themselves

"Hey everyone!! Let's play Piss on the Fire!!!" *crowd roars and follows*

They also recruit Catp Carrot (Surety - "Hi Captain, um... the town's on fire." "Do you need help or can you handle it" "Well... we *could* handle it but if you *want* to help..." "Sure, I'll help!!!"

And then Theodore attempts to use Edgar's Extinguishing Elixar to levitate something useful out of the Broken Drum (it's broken again at this point...) to help but BOTCHES seriously, turning the beer into water and starting a bar fight. He nonchalantly walks away...

Not that more rioting (especially there) would be too noticable. The others, seeing that the fire is mostly put out and that Capt Carrot has things in hand, decide to collect the four of them together. It's been a Bad Night. They need to make some arrests.

OH! But one other thing. Before they go arrest people (and after they leave) they trace the other end of the rope (I was being nice to the wizard player because she was a newbie, and not pointing out that she didn't have enough magic pool left for this last spell) to find the one real Burfy left in the Disc.

They trace it to the 13/15 Scours warehouse, upon the floor are some octagrams (5 complete, 6th not finished) adn no one in. The octagrams glow slightly, the finished ones, and it takes significant effort to get them off the black loam (eep! hard to scrape something off *dirt??*) Surety and Thrug open doors: "leads to alley... leads outside... closet... YIKE!! *slam*"

Then they frantically get the pentagrams (using their swords helps significantly) off the floor (they stop glowing) and look cautiously back in the doors... turns out the tentacly thing was a statue and the other thing was a poster. They take said things back with to the Watch with them, as evidence.

So they head back to the Maul, find a cart, knock the few people still looting there out and haul them to the Watch House. On the way they look for the dwarf (Hwll) and try to arrest him for illegal playwrighting, but by that point he's long gone.

And thus ends the night.

Malcolm writes up the report and explains how they *helped* stop the riot (no mention that they'd actually *caused* it) and they *helped* put out the fire (no mention that they'd caused it...) and they are commended by Sgt Colon.

Post game GM note: Game went *really* well, by the way. They almost burned Ankh-Morpork to the ground.

Again.

And they used Mr. Dibbler's fake Burfies to placate the rioting crowd. (In fact they failed in almost all ways... they almost managed to stop Mervyn from sending the Burfies back but at the last second decided to let him) They did arrest some of the rioting folks, afterwards, for thieving without a license.....