My group decided to try an aWoD game. San Francisco was the mutual choice for a setting, and, given that only one of my players has ever played ttrpgs before, an Origin Story style game seemed like the best idea.
The characters are as follows:
Steve "Chuckles" Lamarr-Child of Æther
Steve currently works as a doctor at Stanford. A lifetime of self-experimentation and willingness to do new things for SCIENCE!!!!!! eventually transformed him into a supernatural creature. Before going (relatively) legitimate, he was an arsonist (and a good one at that), and, as a result, some government agencies still keep a watch on him. He still retains a large cache of various weapons from these days.
Melachai Mortimer-Khaibit
Melachai is/was a British noble whose love for ancient Egypt led him to go there a lot for archaeological digs. During one such visit, he found a copy of the Book of the Dead, which he used to transform himself into a Khaibit. For reasons that have not yet been explained, he was exiled from England by his family, and he now lives outside SF in a castle called The Volcano built for him before his exile. He still retains a lot of political clout and wealth. He has a butler named Jeeves who was formerly in the SAS and is still a total badass.
Dace-Bagheera
I'm honestly not sure what Dace's precise backstory is, as his player seemed to be changing it as suited his needs during character creation. As far as I can tell, it goes something like this: Dace was a circus kid who spent most of his life homeless. He's done a huge number of odd jobs; his current fascination is with medieval weaponry. He lives on Melachai's property (but not actually in the castle because Melachai finds him kind of annoying), and works at the Palace of the Legion of Honor as a weapons expert person. He was wandering through SF one day when he was mauled by a random "tiger." Because of the severity of his wounds and their unwillingness to heal properly, he was placed under the care of Steve at Stanford. He has extremely impressive physical stats and skills, but his mental and social acuity is somewhat lacking.
Sophia Alaric-Reborn
Sophia is a parttime artifact smuggler who also works at the Palace. She uses her natural social abilities and sneakiness to steal shit from the museum and sell it with the help of a smuggler contact. At some point she also offended another smuggler, who now has her on a deathlist of sorts.
Overall, the party composition is pretty decent. Pretty much everyone is talented at things like sneaking, medicine, perception, and combat. Dace is the most focused character; the others are more balanced.
aWoD: On Being a Fairy in San Francisco
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aWoD: On Being a Fairy in San Francisco
Last edited by Blicero on Tue Nov 16, 2010 1:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
Out beyond the hull, mucoid strings of non-baryonic matter streamed past like Christ's blood in the firmament.
First Session: Welcome to the Masquerade, Part I
The game begins with Sophia and Dace being called to the office of Edward Nimms, one of their bosses at the museum (his position is "Director of Assorted Interests"-an almost absurdly vague title that I had hoped would spark more curiosity than it did). Nimms tells them that he needs them to go pick up an ancient Welsh sword from a seller the museum has been in contact. The catch is that the meetingplace is really weird: a warehouse in the Oakland dock area. What's more, the seller (named James Thrimbach) is wants the meeting to be at 3 AM, and he's been saying that unless the museum picks up the sword soon, it will be "forcibly removed from his possession." Nimms suggests that they try to find a bit of extra help, as the area's kind of rough. After a bit more discussion, the two leave.
The only other important detail is that Thrimbach claims that his sword is actually Dyrnwyn, the famous Welsh blade that many see as an inspiration for Excalibur. Nimms states his disbelief at this.
Surprise surprise, Dace mentions that the guy whose property he lives on and the doctor who cared for him might be good choices to help out. Sophia agrees and, after hacking into the museum's computer system to get The Volcano's number and address (since that's simply how she rolls), a meetingplace is set up that night at midnight. Meanwhile, Dace drives out to Stanford and catches Steve after one of his classes. Steve agrees to help out.
The meeting at midnight is really surreal: the room they're in done over in this garish black and red colorscheme, and there're a bunch of random people doing odd shit during the planning. The oddest is probably this fat old dude who just sits in front of the fireplace without ever moving or saying anything. Melachai: "No one knows who he is, so we just ignore him." During the meeting, Sophia has a pastlife flashback of another group of supernatural creatures planning some great attack in a similarly-styled room.
Some research earlier in the day revealed the following: Welsh folklore states that Dyrnwyn was the blade of the mythic halfelf king Pwyll. Wielding this fearsome weapon, Pwyll was able to drive the forces of the demon king Arawn out of the mortal world and set up his own kingdom. (The players: "So we're going to end up fighting a demon lord. Awesome.")
The plan is that the group will go and scope out the warehouse that night and hide some of Steve's plastic explosives in strategic places so that the group will be able to make a quick and violent escape should things get rough. For the actual meet, Dace and Sophia will actual do the taking of the sword while Steve and Melachai hide nearby, ready to give support. Jeeves (Melachai's butler) will be on the standby with a car.
Their various preparations are made, and finally the time of the handoff arrives. The novel idea of the day is that Melachai will use some improvised pulley systems to create a way for him to move quickly through the rafters. (The player was very eager to find a use for his 5 dots of Rigging (with a specialization in Pulleys).)
When the Coterie returns to the warehouse the actual night of the handoff, they discover a bunch of gangmembers dressed solely in pink chilling by the warehouse entrance. They identify themselves as "The MotherLovers," a fearsome group of badasses. The Coterie debates among itself over the best course of action. The possibility that the gang may be connected with the sword is raised, which could necessitate more care in the interactions. Melachai is all for killing and zombifying them, but he is dissuaded. Finally, Dace just walks up and scares the shit out of them (seriously, 6 or 7 hits on his Intimidate check). As he growls at them, his inner tiger seems to growl menacingly.
Finally the appointed time arrives and Thrimbach shows up. He's small, shifty-looking, and very nervous. He's extremely eager to hand over the sword, but, before everyone can gtfo, 6 mirror goblins led by an asura pop in and kindly request that the heroes hand over Dyrnwyn. They justify it as being the command of their master, Lord Arawn. The Coterie is understandably a bit miffed about this, so combat soon ensues. Or it would, had we not been forced to end the session.
The game begins with Sophia and Dace being called to the office of Edward Nimms, one of their bosses at the museum (his position is "Director of Assorted Interests"-an almost absurdly vague title that I had hoped would spark more curiosity than it did). Nimms tells them that he needs them to go pick up an ancient Welsh sword from a seller the museum has been in contact. The catch is that the meetingplace is really weird: a warehouse in the Oakland dock area. What's more, the seller (named James Thrimbach) is wants the meeting to be at 3 AM, and he's been saying that unless the museum picks up the sword soon, it will be "forcibly removed from his possession." Nimms suggests that they try to find a bit of extra help, as the area's kind of rough. After a bit more discussion, the two leave.
The only other important detail is that Thrimbach claims that his sword is actually Dyrnwyn, the famous Welsh blade that many see as an inspiration for Excalibur. Nimms states his disbelief at this.
Surprise surprise, Dace mentions that the guy whose property he lives on and the doctor who cared for him might be good choices to help out. Sophia agrees and, after hacking into the museum's computer system to get The Volcano's number and address (since that's simply how she rolls), a meetingplace is set up that night at midnight. Meanwhile, Dace drives out to Stanford and catches Steve after one of his classes. Steve agrees to help out.
The meeting at midnight is really surreal: the room they're in done over in this garish black and red colorscheme, and there're a bunch of random people doing odd shit during the planning. The oddest is probably this fat old dude who just sits in front of the fireplace without ever moving or saying anything. Melachai: "No one knows who he is, so we just ignore him." During the meeting, Sophia has a pastlife flashback of another group of supernatural creatures planning some great attack in a similarly-styled room.
Some research earlier in the day revealed the following: Welsh folklore states that Dyrnwyn was the blade of the mythic halfelf king Pwyll. Wielding this fearsome weapon, Pwyll was able to drive the forces of the demon king Arawn out of the mortal world and set up his own kingdom. (The players: "So we're going to end up fighting a demon lord. Awesome.")
The plan is that the group will go and scope out the warehouse that night and hide some of Steve's plastic explosives in strategic places so that the group will be able to make a quick and violent escape should things get rough. For the actual meet, Dace and Sophia will actual do the taking of the sword while Steve and Melachai hide nearby, ready to give support. Jeeves (Melachai's butler) will be on the standby with a car.
Their various preparations are made, and finally the time of the handoff arrives. The novel idea of the day is that Melachai will use some improvised pulley systems to create a way for him to move quickly through the rafters. (The player was very eager to find a use for his 5 dots of Rigging (with a specialization in Pulleys).)
When the Coterie returns to the warehouse the actual night of the handoff, they discover a bunch of gangmembers dressed solely in pink chilling by the warehouse entrance. They identify themselves as "The MotherLovers," a fearsome group of badasses. The Coterie debates among itself over the best course of action. The possibility that the gang may be connected with the sword is raised, which could necessitate more care in the interactions. Melachai is all for killing and zombifying them, but he is dissuaded. Finally, Dace just walks up and scares the shit out of them (seriously, 6 or 7 hits on his Intimidate check). As he growls at them, his inner tiger seems to growl menacingly.
Finally the appointed time arrives and Thrimbach shows up. He's small, shifty-looking, and very nervous. He's extremely eager to hand over the sword, but, before everyone can gtfo, 6 mirror goblins led by an asura pop in and kindly request that the heroes hand over Dyrnwyn. They justify it as being the command of their master, Lord Arawn. The Coterie is understandably a bit miffed about this, so combat soon ensues. Or it would, had we not been forced to end the session.
Last edited by Blicero on Tue Nov 16, 2010 2:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Out beyond the hull, mucoid strings of non-baryonic matter streamed past like Christ's blood in the firmament.
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CatharzGodfoot
- King
- Posts: 5668
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
- Location: North Carolina
I don't think it counts as an "origin story" if the characters are already supernaturals.
...anyway, the game looks like a lot of fun. The 'Rigging (specialization rigging)' is pretty amazing. How have the dice pools worked out so far? Are the characters min/maxed?
...anyway, the game looks like a lot of fun. The 'Rigging (specialization rigging)' is pretty amazing. How have the dice pools worked out so far? Are the characters min/maxed?
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
It's an Origin Story in the sense that the first few adventures are about the Coterie discovering the fact that a wider supernatural world exists beyond them. The characters (and the players, for that matter) are still basically newbies who don't know how the masquerade and such function.
So far the game (mechanically and thematically) has been going pretty well. The biggest slowdown is probably that we only have like 12 dice, since I neglected to bring my rpg shit with me to college. That'll change after thanksgiving, though. The actual rolling does take a bit of time as well.
And the characters are really not all that minmaxmed. The players were careful to try to cover most of the bases during charactercreation, but the creation rules are generous enough that strict specialization wasn't really necessary. I mean, even Dace, the most focused of the group (combat), is still pretty skilled with medicine, persuasion, and intimidation.
And everyone's stealthy as well. There are very few limits on what I can expect them to be able to accomplish.
But everyone still has an identifiable niche so that they won't feel crowded by the others. Sophia has all the "thief" skills (electronics, sabotage, larceny, etc.), Steve has a lot of Logic-based Technical skills, Dace gets to be the undisputed combat master, and Melachai is a social animal.
So far the game (mechanically and thematically) has been going pretty well. The biggest slowdown is probably that we only have like 12 dice, since I neglected to bring my rpg shit with me to college. That'll change after thanksgiving, though. The actual rolling does take a bit of time as well.
And the characters are really not all that minmaxmed. The players were careful to try to cover most of the bases during charactercreation, but the creation rules are generous enough that strict specialization wasn't really necessary. I mean, even Dace, the most focused of the group (combat), is still pretty skilled with medicine, persuasion, and intimidation.
And everyone's stealthy as well. There are very few limits on what I can expect them to be able to accomplish.
But everyone still has an identifiable niche so that they won't feel crowded by the others. Sophia has all the "thief" skills (electronics, sabotage, larceny, etc.), Steve has a lot of Logic-based Technical skills, Dace gets to be the undisputed combat master, and Melachai is a social animal.
Out beyond the hull, mucoid strings of non-baryonic matter streamed past like Christ's blood in the firmament.
So, the second session.
Initiative is rolled. Dace rolls really poorly, so he starts to move toward the goblins and asura at the entrance. Everyone else pretty much stays where they are (Melachai in the rafters with his pulleys, Sophia hanging behind Dace, and Steve hiding behind some crates); the goblins move toward Dace while the asura is simply all taunty. It does, however, peg Dace with a Dread Gaze that puts him out of commission for two rounds (his player is not happy with this).
The goblins start mobbing him but are unable to get past his skillful defenses. The rest of the combat goes rather well. Steve rocks out with his glock out and Incapacitates two goblins while Seriously wounding another, while Melachai lowers himself into Near Range and blows apart another goblin with his assault shotgun (most of their weapons are from Steve's past; Dace does carry two bastard swords that are actually his).
Sophia tries to plug the goblins as well, but she's unable to hit. At some point in the confusion, the nervous Thrimbach slips away totally unnoticed.
In no time at all, the surviving goblins start retreating; they are rallied at the entrance by the master. As soon as Dace has recovered himself, he's nailed by another Dread Gaze that has him cowering yet again, this time for only one round. A lot of "scaredycat" jokes are made at his expense.
Two more of the goblins are killed by skillful gunfire (the last one just runs away while being sternly upbraided by the asura), but not before one of them gives Steve a Serious Wound. By this point, the party figures they more or less have the fight in the bag, so they all start congregating around the asura, Melachai already eagerly anticipating zombifying it. Then it draws its sword and totally Incapacitates Steve, all the while taunting Dace for being useless and weak. Said taunting finally gets to his head and he totally hulks out. The asura, who up until this point had not realized the party had supernatural powers, stops and sez, "Oh, this...complicates...matters."
Dace rips into the demon with his claws, and Terminals it. As it falls, though, it doesn't sink to the ground so much as sink through the ground. Much concern is had about the table.
Some hasty medical attention has Steve up and on his feet again with only 8 damage. Just then, however, they hear a loudspeaker from outside proclaiming that the police have surrounded the warehouse, and that everyone inside should exit with their hands up. Thinking quickly, Steve Mask of a Thousand Faces himself into a policeman and walks outside. He tells the assembled cops that he was jumped by a group of MotherLovers who stabbed him after exchanging a bit of gunfire and then proceeded to run off "in that direction. And there's a lot of them. All of you guys should go chase after them." A rather lucky Persuasion check allows his bluff to succeed; the other officers still insist on calling an ambulance for him before heading out.
[Group sighs with relief.]
Quickly quickly quickly, the group calls for Jeeves to come pick them up. They take one of the unconscious goblins with them for interrogation and possible raising as a zombie; the others are shot. Then, to murk-ify the evidence even more, they decided to blow up the warehouse with the plastic explosives they planted earlier. I mean, why not?
A fast getaway is made in a very stylish and expensive automobile. They drop Steve off with Jeeves at a hospital, but not before Melachai calls one of his contacts (a SF councilman), who promises that Steve's presence will not be recorded.
Their teammate taken care of, they return to the (burned out exploded ruins of the) warehouse to "look for clues" about what may have happened to Thrimbach. Unsurprisingly, there's a crap tonne of policeman in SWAT gear holding down the area. Some quick and very skillful bluffing, however, convinces the Extras that they're representatives from Fluor Enterprises (the company that owned the warehouse) sent to assess the damage.
They then accomplish two things: 1) the destruction of any remaining bloodstains with some skillful Sabotaging, 2) a clue as to Thrimbach's true nature, achieved with a Spirit's Touch from Sophia. She sees that he extremely sneakily crept out of the warehouse and then jumped into the water. This closer look also reveals something "fishlike" about his appearance.
Having done so much skillful adventuring, the characters return to the Volcano for some rest. Steve remains in intensive care at the hospital, Jeeves at his side.
The next morning Dace and Sophia head in to give their boss the sword. (I really expected them (especially Dace) to try and keep the sword, but he's hoping the museum will let him "borrow" it from time to time.) En route, they listen to the news and discover there appear to be no conclusive leads about the true events of last night. Nimms is delighted to get the sword, but he can't help but inquire about if they had anything to do with the explosion. At first they place the blame for the explosion solely on the MotherLovers, but he remains unconvinced. Dace draws up, about to go for an Intimidate check, when Nimms goes, "You know, Dace, I'm sure the fight would have gone a lot faster if you had just turned into a tiger at its beginning." Nimms smiles, revealing some impressively-pointed teeth.
[Players: "Awwww snap."]
The session ends with Nimms saying briefly that the Coterie is not alone in the supernatural world, they need to learn this if they wish to join his great covenant, etc... The PCs share their discoveries concerning Thrimbach's fishy appearance, and Nimms raises the possibility of him being a Deep One. Finally, he sez simply, "Welcome to the Masquerade."
[/curtain]
We're probably not going to get another chance to play until after Thanksgiving, but the next step will presumably be exploring the different covenants and cults available for joining, and so on. The next mission will, assuming they stay with the WCL, be to track down Thrimbach. I'm thinking he's going to be connected with a group of Deep Ones that live in Maya. Said group has come into territorial conflict with Arawn's demons and fairies (who live in Maya and not Limbo for reasons that are mostly due to SF having a strong Maya presence, not any concrete story needs. I guess he got exiled or something, either by Pwyll or another demon lord.).
Initiative is rolled. Dace rolls really poorly, so he starts to move toward the goblins and asura at the entrance. Everyone else pretty much stays where they are (Melachai in the rafters with his pulleys, Sophia hanging behind Dace, and Steve hiding behind some crates); the goblins move toward Dace while the asura is simply all taunty. It does, however, peg Dace with a Dread Gaze that puts him out of commission for two rounds (his player is not happy with this).
The goblins start mobbing him but are unable to get past his skillful defenses. The rest of the combat goes rather well. Steve rocks out with his glock out and Incapacitates two goblins while Seriously wounding another, while Melachai lowers himself into Near Range and blows apart another goblin with his assault shotgun (most of their weapons are from Steve's past; Dace does carry two bastard swords that are actually his).
Sophia tries to plug the goblins as well, but she's unable to hit. At some point in the confusion, the nervous Thrimbach slips away totally unnoticed.
In no time at all, the surviving goblins start retreating; they are rallied at the entrance by the master. As soon as Dace has recovered himself, he's nailed by another Dread Gaze that has him cowering yet again, this time for only one round. A lot of "scaredycat" jokes are made at his expense.
Two more of the goblins are killed by skillful gunfire (the last one just runs away while being sternly upbraided by the asura), but not before one of them gives Steve a Serious Wound. By this point, the party figures they more or less have the fight in the bag, so they all start congregating around the asura, Melachai already eagerly anticipating zombifying it. Then it draws its sword and totally Incapacitates Steve, all the while taunting Dace for being useless and weak. Said taunting finally gets to his head and he totally hulks out. The asura, who up until this point had not realized the party had supernatural powers, stops and sez, "Oh, this...complicates...matters."
Dace rips into the demon with his claws, and Terminals it. As it falls, though, it doesn't sink to the ground so much as sink through the ground. Much concern is had about the table.
Some hasty medical attention has Steve up and on his feet again with only 8 damage. Just then, however, they hear a loudspeaker from outside proclaiming that the police have surrounded the warehouse, and that everyone inside should exit with their hands up. Thinking quickly, Steve Mask of a Thousand Faces himself into a policeman and walks outside. He tells the assembled cops that he was jumped by a group of MotherLovers who stabbed him after exchanging a bit of gunfire and then proceeded to run off "in that direction. And there's a lot of them. All of you guys should go chase after them." A rather lucky Persuasion check allows his bluff to succeed; the other officers still insist on calling an ambulance for him before heading out.
[Group sighs with relief.]
Quickly quickly quickly, the group calls for Jeeves to come pick them up. They take one of the unconscious goblins with them for interrogation and possible raising as a zombie; the others are shot. Then, to murk-ify the evidence even more, they decided to blow up the warehouse with the plastic explosives they planted earlier. I mean, why not?
A fast getaway is made in a very stylish and expensive automobile. They drop Steve off with Jeeves at a hospital, but not before Melachai calls one of his contacts (a SF councilman), who promises that Steve's presence will not be recorded.
Their teammate taken care of, they return to the (burned out exploded ruins of the) warehouse to "look for clues" about what may have happened to Thrimbach. Unsurprisingly, there's a crap tonne of policeman in SWAT gear holding down the area. Some quick and very skillful bluffing, however, convinces the Extras that they're representatives from Fluor Enterprises (the company that owned the warehouse) sent to assess the damage.
They then accomplish two things: 1) the destruction of any remaining bloodstains with some skillful Sabotaging, 2) a clue as to Thrimbach's true nature, achieved with a Spirit's Touch from Sophia. She sees that he extremely sneakily crept out of the warehouse and then jumped into the water. This closer look also reveals something "fishlike" about his appearance.
Having done so much skillful adventuring, the characters return to the Volcano for some rest. Steve remains in intensive care at the hospital, Jeeves at his side.
The next morning Dace and Sophia head in to give their boss the sword. (I really expected them (especially Dace) to try and keep the sword, but he's hoping the museum will let him "borrow" it from time to time.) En route, they listen to the news and discover there appear to be no conclusive leads about the true events of last night. Nimms is delighted to get the sword, but he can't help but inquire about if they had anything to do with the explosion. At first they place the blame for the explosion solely on the MotherLovers, but he remains unconvinced. Dace draws up, about to go for an Intimidate check, when Nimms goes, "You know, Dace, I'm sure the fight would have gone a lot faster if you had just turned into a tiger at its beginning." Nimms smiles, revealing some impressively-pointed teeth.
[Players: "Awwww snap."]
The session ends with Nimms saying briefly that the Coterie is not alone in the supernatural world, they need to learn this if they wish to join his great covenant, etc... The PCs share their discoveries concerning Thrimbach's fishy appearance, and Nimms raises the possibility of him being a Deep One. Finally, he sez simply, "Welcome to the Masquerade."
[/curtain]
We're probably not going to get another chance to play until after Thanksgiving, but the next step will presumably be exploring the different covenants and cults available for joining, and so on. The next mission will, assuming they stay with the WCL, be to track down Thrimbach. I'm thinking he's going to be connected with a group of Deep Ones that live in Maya. Said group has come into territorial conflict with Arawn's demons and fairies (who live in Maya and not Limbo for reasons that are mostly due to SF having a strong Maya presence, not any concrete story needs. I guess he got exiled or something, either by Pwyll or another demon lord.).
Out beyond the hull, mucoid strings of non-baryonic matter streamed past like Christ's blood in the firmament.
-
CatharzGodfoot
- King
- Posts: 5668
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
- Location: North Carolina
It's nice when things work out the way they apparently did with Dace and the asura.
In terms of dice pools, I was mainly wondering how extreme you had to make challenges to actually challenge some of the characters, and whether such challenges completely blew away other coterie members.
In terms of dice pools, I was mainly wondering how extreme you had to make challenges to actually challenge some of the characters, and whether such challenges completely blew away other coterie members.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
There haven't really been any problems like that. Everybody tends to throw around ~10 dice on tasks they're relatively specialized in (again, except for Dace in melee combat; he has has something like 14 or 16 when he's in War Form), and 6-8 for tasks they're just sort of trained in. That's an expected divergence of like 1 hit. But even Origin Story characters have enough points to put 3-4 dots in skills like Perception, Stealth, or Combat, where everyone in the party is probably going to be expected to contribute.
Dace's vast combat prowess would be worrying in D&D or whatever, but I'm hoping that because combat isn't aWoD's focus, this won't be too problematic. I figure that I can just make sure to include a nastier opponent or whatever in fights surrounded by weaker foes like I did for this one.
The one major divergence I did notice is Athletics. Everybody but Dace has like 3-4 dice for that; he has 10. That could honestly cause some problems later on, depending on how physical things end up getting.
Dace's vast combat prowess would be worrying in D&D or whatever, but I'm hoping that because combat isn't aWoD's focus, this won't be too problematic. I figure that I can just make sure to include a nastier opponent or whatever in fights surrounded by weaker foes like I did for this one.
The one major divergence I did notice is Athletics. Everybody but Dace has like 3-4 dice for that; he has 10. That could honestly cause some problems later on, depending on how physical things end up getting.
Out beyond the hull, mucoid strings of non-baryonic matter streamed past like Christ's blood in the firmament.