Season 14, Episodes 7-8

Yes! We’re back – already!  Season 14 of Lady Penelope’s Odyssey was supposed to be on a break for a few months – but we’ve decided to go on. To cut a long story short: covid-19 lockdown, necessary dose of escapism, change of plans. 

Here are the blurbs of the two latest episodes, which took our Time Lady to 17^th century France, in the time of Cardinal Mazarin…

Episode 7: The Ravens of Despair

In 1648 France, Lady Penelope, the Count of Saint-Germain and the musketeers Taillefer and Bellegarde find themselves investigating the mysteries of a demon-riddled nunnery - but the devils tormenting the local sisters are of a most unusual type: no mass hysteria, debauched orgies or spectacular possessions. Only despair – dark, bottomless and all-engulfing…

Episode 8: The Marquis de Carabas

Paris, 1648. Following the events of the previous episode, Lady Penelope and her companions Saint-Germain, Taillefer and Bellegarde decide to investigate the enigmatic, eccentric and extravagant Marquis de Carabas… Yes, it’s the same name as the imaginary character from Puss in Boots – a fairy tale dating from 1695 or so… But what is chronology to an Eternal?

Episode 7 marked a long-awaited return to the era of the French Musketeers – for quite some time now, Penelope had wanted to pay a visit to the characters of Taillefer and Bellegarde, whom she first met in Episode 10.2. The plot was loosely based on the infamous Loudun and Louviers cases of demonic possessions, which occurred respectively during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV – but the “devils” involved here were (obviously) the Ravens of Despair, which proved a perfect fit for the atmosphere of the adventure. As I often do, I had tweaked a few things here and there – e.g. my Ravens had not come in a “rookery” spaceship but had been summoned through dimensional “wizardry” by a revenge-driven would-be sorceress – thanks to the arcane secrets of the Book of Eibon / Liber Ivonis, an eldritch tome which had already featured in the very first season of our campaign! It worked really well, with Saint-Germain proving a very useful companion (as a social chameleon, hypnotist and master of imposture). Penelope managed to counter the Ravens’ soul-crushing influence by engineering a fake (but miraculous) apparition of the Virgin Mary herself (actually a holographic projection of her TARDIS’ persona).

The link between episodes 7 and 8 was provided by the Book of Eibon, which had been given to the vengeful dabbler in the dark arts by a mysterious gentleman known as the Marquis de Carabas – a name which immediately rang an alarm bell in Penelope’s mind. Her investigations quickly led her to a regal parisian hotel particulier, during (of course) a masked ball. De Carabas proved to be a rogue Eternal, who had escaped from Eternity because of the Dissonance (last season’s timey-wimey McGuffin) and was busy playing games with  Ephemerals (i.e. toying with insects), leaving a trail of broken dreams and twisted destinies. And of course the Marquis had a Game in mind for Penelope – a Game she (of course) refused to play, managing to banish the creepily suave Marquis back to the nothingness of Eternity, thanks to her particular link with the aforementioned Dissonance. Penelope’s encounter with De Carabas also allowed me to present her with quite a few fascinating factoids about the Eternals, the Chronovores and the (now retired) Guardians, mixing some established elements of Whovian lore with my own personal interpretations. It was not a gratuitous info-dump, since Penelope had a harrowing near-encounter with the great Chronovore Kronos a few episodes ago and – sorry, SPOILERS!

See you soon for some new episode blurbs. Bon courage à tous!

Season 14, Episodes 5-6

Episode 5: Secrets of Atlantis

Taking a touristic break, Lady Penelope and the Count of Saint-Germain decide to visit ancient Atlantis at the time of its splendor, in the mythic age of pax atlantea and orichalcum, well before its fatal destruction. But soon, the two travelers draw the attention of the hidden force at the heart of the Atlantean empire – Kronos, the imprisoned god of Time…

Episode 6: Hidden Agenda

After her narrow escape from the temporal clutches of Kronos, Penelope crash-lands the TARDIS in 2020 – in one of the safest places in the universe: Ashworth Manor, her stately family home in Kent (UK, Earth). While her ship is self-repairing, important guests start arriving. Torchwood. UNIT. The British Army. And, of course, the Prime Minister himself.

Episode 5 drew heavily on The Time Monster Atlantean background, mixed with various elements of my own creation about Atlantean culture, the influence of Kronos on the very reality of Atlantis and how the power of the crystal-imprisoned entity was exploited by its so-called “Eyes”, a group of time-sensitive seers acting as the power behind the throne (a bit like the Euphors in 300). The ending was particularly dramatic and stressful for Penelope, who had to cross the Minotaur’s labyrinth to rescue her abducted TARDIS from the clutches of Kronos himself!   Her departure from Atlantis was very chaotic and resulted in an emergency re-materialisation at a safe, familiar location (Ashworth Manor!), providing me with the setting for the next (very different) story.

Episode 6 took place entirely within the confines of Penelope’s stately family manor – used by Torchwood to host a very important conference regarding the future of UNIT in the UK; in our campaign (which follows an alternate continuity after the 10^th Doctor era), UNIT has not already been mothballed and the episode focused on this very idea… which was actually a devious “soft invasion” plan devised by the Zygons to get rid of the only force able to prevent their intended takeover of the country, with the Prime Minister as the top-level infiltrated Zygon. For this pro-Brexit, anti-Harriet Jones PM, I used a NPC of my own invention (the honorable Rupert Dorrington), who could be described as a mix of Boris Johnson (of course) and Jools Siviter (Hugh Laurie’s character in the early seasons of Spooks).

Season 14 is now taking a break and will be back in a few months!  See you then!

Season 14, Episode 4

Episode 4: The House That Was Not

1974. A team of parapsychological investigators enter Belmont Hall, aka “the most haunted house in England”, to unearth its secrets and solve its mysteries. They are soon joined by two strange interlopers, the enigmatic “George Saint-Germain” and his “assistant” Lady Penelope Ashworth), who seem to have an agenda of their own…  And then all Hell breaks loose!

As can be gathered from the above blurb, episode 4 was created as a homage to Richard Matheson’s awesome Hell House novel – but I borrowed the central idea (a monstrous, extra-dimensional entity disguised as a haunted house to lure and devour psychically-gifted individuals…) from The Haunting of Hex House, the second story of 2000 AD’s excellent The Alienist comic book horror/SF series, set in the Edwardian era (and not to be confused with the book and TV series of the same name).

Actual play was just fantastic. The pacing, the dialogue, Sylvie’s decisions… everything just flowed perfectly, with an ideal mix of quick-thinking, tough choices and improvised embellishments. A very memorable episode – which also had a very memorable epilogue. King Fenn’s psyche is now fully restored – but the special, unique link which tied his destiny to Penelope’s own fate is now unraveled. A page has been turned – and new adventures await – with the Count of Saint-Germain as Penelope’s travelling companion !  

Next stop: Atlantis!

Season 14, Episodes 1-3

Episode 1: The Shadow King

As Lady Penelope prepares to leave the court of her lover, King Fenn of the Tanu, Little Nuada, Princess Dana Ashworth’s 3-year old son and Fenn’s adopted heir, is suddenly robbed of his psyche and lifeforce by an invisible enemy. Penelope must race against time to prevent the Dying of the Light and save the child from the clutches of the mysterious Shadow King…

Episode 2: The Companions of Demnos

While enjoying a short trip to 1956 Paris, Penelope once again crosses the path of the Comte de Saint-Germain!  Soo, the Time Lady and the dear old (more or less) immortal rogue join forces to thwart the nefarious plans of the mysterious Companions of Demnos, prevent an atomic disaster and defeat the terrible Helix Mandragora before it changes history! Mais oui!

Episode 3: The Emperor’s Talisman

On her quest to find the scattered remnants of King Fenn’s psyche, Lady Penelope arrives to Charlemagne’s palace in the spring of 803 AD, with the Comte de Saint-Germain at her side… just a few days before a terrible earthquake ravages Aachen! Are the time travellers ready to face the Judgment of God? A tale of court intrigue, historical destinies and human ordeals.

Episode 1 focused on Lady Penelope’s long-time relationships with the Tanu people, a race loosely based on the species of the same name from the Many-Coloured Land book series by Julian May – and more specifically on her very peculiar rapport with King Fenn, who first started out as a full-blown enemy of the Time Lady (that was back in season 1!), before becoming her ally (that was in season 8)… and then her lover. The romantic evolution of their relationship was completely unexpected and developed in actual play, at Sylvie’s initiative, providing us with one of those fascinating story twists that make some episodes unforgettable. Since then, Penelope and Fenn’s story had acted as a recurring plot device within the larger context of her alliance with the Tanu… and it needed a new twist, which The Shadow King delivered. At the end of this season opener, King Fenn ended up in suspended animation inside the TARDIS’ clinic, with his psyche scattered all around the vortex. Thus, Penelope started a new quest to recover, collect and reconfigure these psychic fragments in the hope of bringing back the Sleeping King alive, adding an extra dimension to her usual travels through space and time… And for those wondering, here is what King Fenn looks like...

Episode 2 was great fun. It started with Sylvie expressing an interest in travelling to 1950s Paris… a setting which I knew quite well but which, somehow, gave me absolutely Zero Inspiration as far as the character of Penelope and our chronicle was concerned. I just couldn’t figure out what kind of strange adventures I could develop in this context… until I got hit by The Idea: to bring back the Comte de Saint-Germain, a character first introduced in season 8 (how time flies…) and who later played a major role in season 10 and, to a lesser extent, in season 11, just before Penelope’s latest regeneration. Not only did the Count gave me the perfect catalyst for a typically Parisian adventure – but he also proved to be the perfect kind of temporary travelling companion Penelope was needing at this very moment of her odyssey. Their reunion was actually quite moving… For the story itself, I used the Mandragora Helix and the cult of Demnos from The Masque of the Mandragora, transplanted into the Parisian catacombs, with an extra “1950s atomic research” twist and a few meta-references to Les Compagnons de Baal, a French TV series from 1968 which featured an occult cabal of masked conspirators whose look was oddly similar to the Brethren of Demnos’ (just see HERE).

A quick note about our version of the Comte de Saint-Germain: when Penelope first met him, he was a flamboyant charlatan, claiming to have lived for centuries and doing the classic “immortal ascended master” act – a complete confidence trickster, with a fair amount of flair and panache… and it was Penelope herself who actually made him (more or less) immortal (or, at least, very long-lived) by giving him some Elixir from Karn to save his life, after he was critically wounded by an alien entity… thereby causing the Saint-Germain legend to come full circle!  Later, in season 10, she took him to the fabled Library of Alexandria because he wished to trace the true origins of the mysterious manuscripts of Hermes Trismegistus (what else?) - which he ended up writing himself, making once again things come full circle and reinforcing his status as a truly unique, time-defying character!  Here he is - in his 18th century attire, back when Penelope first met him.

Episode 3 was originally intended as a purely historical story, in the style of, say, The Aztecs – but with an obviously very different historical period! No alien threat to defeat, no otherworldly menace to tackle, just a tale about the challenges and problems of temporal travel… In the end, it did include a small (but decisive) fantasy/SF element about Charlemagne’s famous talisman, which allowed me to make a nifty connection with the ongoing theme of King Fenn’s scattered psyche fragments AND the “psychic stones” encountered by Penelope back in episode 8.05, when she first crossed the path of the Comte at the court of Catherine the Great.

See you in a few weeks for a couple of new episodes!

2019 XMas Special

In a few weeks, Lady Penelope’s Odyssey will be back for a new season - the fourteenth! 

In the meantime, let's start 2020 with a Christmas (well, technically, New Year’s Eve) Special!

Holiday Special: Christmas in Red

Advent 1869. Penelope has decided to spend a traditional Bavarian Christmas in the charming town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, with its bustling Christmas market, medieval cobbled streets and quaint local legends… But the Time Lady finds herself on the trail of TWO mysterious creatures: the ancient Red Rider and the all-new Red Devil of Rothenburg!

This episode actually borrowed one of its core elements from the Sarah Jane Adventures story “The madwoman in the attic” – i.e. the red-skinned, psychic alien child, though I ignored her time-altering abilities and boosted her psionic ones, giving her the ability to create “psychokinetic holograms” drawing on the surrounding persons’ inner fears. And of course, the quaint, 19^th century Bavaria setting gave it a completely different atmosphere.

So to cut a long story short, my “Red Devil” was actually the poor, Earth-stranded alien girl, whose barely-controlled powers were the origins of the terrifying apparitions of a Red Rider, lifted wholly from Terry Gilliam’s Fisher King movie (BTW Rothenburg does have a corresponding local tradition – see here for more details).

Actual play was really great, with a lot of quick-witted dialogue, fast-paced detective work and insightful empathy from our favorite Time Lady – the perfect mix for a Xmas Special!

See you soon - for SEASON 14!

Season 13 Finale

Episode 15: The Music of Time

On the heels of their uneasy reunion, Penelope and her former travelling companion Dorian go back to the Paris of the belle époque - only to discover that the eccentric musical genius Erik Satie, who once graced her TARDIS with a private piano recital, has disappeared from Montmartre… and from History itself! Did he even exist at all? In order to save the unique composer from oblivion, the Time Lady will have to create a temporal Dissonance of her own.

So here goes another season of Lady Penelope’s Odyssey! 

This season finale was really emotional, starting with a bittersweet, awkward, not-as-I-had-planned reunion with Penelope’s former travelling companion Dorian / Miranda… and ending with their heart-rending farewell, which was somewhat reminiscent of the Tenth Doctor’s adieu to Rose in “Doomsday”.

One of the most interesting aspects of this very moving denouement was its unexpectedness.

When I built the plotline of this episode, I had (somewhat naively) thought that Lady Penelope would be delighted to be reunited with Dorian / Miranda, considering they had got on like a house on fire while they were travelling together across time and space – and indeed, I was more or less expecting this NPC to be welcomed back aboard the TARDIS, embarking for at least another season…

But things didn’t take this direction. At all. Penelope was completely caught off-guard by Dorian’s sudden reappearance. Following the harrowing events of the whole Avalon/Gallifrey crisis (including her encounter with a new incarnation of the Master), all she wanted was to “turn the page”, as we say in France. Dorian’s departure (back in episode 7 – only eight episodes ago but it felt more than a lifetime away to her…) had deeply saddened her – but it was now in her past, a finished story, with Dorian / Miranda living the high life of a galactic singing superstar of the 40^th century. He was safe. He was no longer in danger. Penelope felt ready to move on to other things.

And then Dorian was back, without a warning, her responsibility once again. He was no longer safe, once again vulnerable to the perils of travelling along the Time Lady – and it was too much for her.

Needless to say, this added a very intense, almost brooding emotional mood to the whole episode – and the difficulty and consequences of this (from Penelope’s perspective) unwanted reunion quickly became at least as important as the “mystery at hand” (a timey-wimey conundrum about musician Erik Satie).

In the end, I did what I always try to do as a GM – follow the players’ decisions and their logical consequences, even if it takes things in a completely unexpected or unplanned direction. The final scene of the episode was, as I said, almost heart-rending - but also solved the problem in a very neat way, with Dorian now living in an alternate 1978, as one of the companions of an alternate, earthbound Doctor (first met in the final episode of season 12)… an unexpected but perfect conclusion for a season where alternate timelines and parallel continuums featured prominently.  

The Parting of the Ways…

See you in a few months for a new season!

Season 13, Episodes 13-14

Episode 13: The Darkest Hour

The fall of Avalon is at hand. The home of the free Time Lords is under attack! The Master has breached the quantic gates, opening the way for hundreds of Cybermen, who are now wreaking havoc on the once safe haven created by Penelope and the Doctor. As Jack Harkness, a newly-regenerated Doctor and the other valiant defenders prepare for the last stand, the Time Lady must evacuate the entire civilian population before it is too late...

Episode 14: The Hand of Harmony

Avalon has endured. Lives have been lost – but the Darkest Hour is now over. The Cyber-Master and his legions of steel have been defeated. But what about Gallifrey, still shut off from the vortex and the rest of the universe? With the Dissonance under control, it is now time for Avalon to extend the Hand of Harmony to the Time Lords of the Capitol, with Lady Penelope as the peacemaker. A tale of power plays, diplomatic intrigue and hidden agendas.

The Cyber-Master mentioned above is actually The Master (or, more properly, one of his incarnations from an alternate continuum - but this doesn't really change anything, really, since He Is The Master And You Will Obey Him) after a partial cyber-conversion - yes, that is a weird idea but one that made perfect sense in the context of our storyline. Having forged an alliance with the Cybermen of the Cyberiad, he was supposed to offer them full time-travel technology and capabilities, in exchange for their services as a tireless workforce and as an armed force to carry out his grandiose plans of conquest of the universe...  But after Penelope's daring deeds in episode 12, he was put in a very difficult position with his Cybermen allies, who demanded a solid proof of his loyalty and commitment - and (you guessed it) decided to partially cyber-convert him against his will. 

How THIS will affect his next regeneration remains to be seen - for yes, the Cyber-Master did suffer some heavy physical damage before escaping from the Avalon debacle in his special stealth-model TARDIS... Needless to say, I plan to answer this particular question in a forthcoming episode, probably in the next season of Lady Penelope's Odyssey.

NEXT POST: Episode 15, the Season Finale!