Hello, Kultists! Last year on this blog, I presented session recaps of my ongoing Kult campaign titled Jessy’s Story. It got so far as eight sessions in, when I decided that a hiatus was in order to allow my wife and artist some time to move on to other projects and commissions. At long last (read: a bit overdue), Jessy’s Story is finally returning! The preliminary schedule will be to have one session posted every three weeks until the campaign is DONE! There is quite a ways to go, so there is lots of content to look forward to if you enjoy Jessy’s descent into madness (and eventual rise to power). However, I imagine there are those who either haven’t read all the first eight sessions, or have forgotten much of the details. Not to worry – below is a summary containing some of the major characters of the story, and what happened in each session.
Jessy’s Story – Session 9 will be posted on Friday, February 28th, some time in the evening (GMT -5)!
Characters
Jessy Button – Real name, Jessica Buckle. The deceitful homewrecker whose life this story follows. Sleuthing about for details about the strange ring she inherited from her mother, Jessy comes into contact with dark and alluring forces. Some are her enemies, with others it is not so easy to tell. Jessy’s greed, both for money and for knowledge, knows no bounds, and through stubbornness and an infinite stream of lies she always gets what she wants. No matter the cost.
Tan – A rich and incredibly charming man, interested in both Jessy’s ring and her body. He is deeply religious, worshipping a strange and obscure twin deity represented by a pair of goats. It seems to be in his and his religion’s nature to be socially and sexually dominating at every opportunity.
Wilma – She appears in Jessy’s dreams, a vicious woman wearing gorgeous jewelry and an unchanging mask of anger and resentment. All she wants is Jessy’s ring, creating nightmarish visions to wear Jessy down until she finally gives in and hands it over.
Artyom – This emotionless Russian man, bald and clad in expensive suits, is what Tan refers to as a razide. Beyond Artyom’s human visage lurks a ragged shape of rusted metal and torn flesh. Jessy cannot help but pursue this enigmatic being who revels in causing others pain and suffering. Whatever his true purpose, he offers Jessy deep insights at the cost of her sanity.
Carl Hunt – An older man whose money Jessy has been taking in exchange for charming smalltalk and the occasional private picture on Instagram. Seems to have a fascination with Jessy and her likeness to his own daughter.
Jeremiah Redwood – Cofounder and senior designer for Granger Fine Jewelry, the business from which Jessy’s ring originated.
Abbas Ali – A former developer for Instagram, somehow involved with Granger Fine Jewelry and associated with Artyom. Appears ageless.
Session 1
At a party for developers and influencers of a recently launched app called MyGems, Jessy seeks out woman named Andi to discuss with her the design and history of her ring. Andi explains that similar rings, also from Granger Fine Jewelry, have been seen on the fingers of powerful people all over the world. This is also where she runs into Tan, dressed in a colorful suit, who she immediately takes an interest in. Her curiousity is reciprocated, and Tan invites her to a private room with the founder of MyGems, David Clap, and many other influential men and their dainty dates. Tan seems to know all of them, and after many drugs and celebrating with a drink which tasted suspiciously like blood, Jessy agrees to go to an afterparty with Tan. She doesn’t remember any of it the day after, waking up in her own bed with vomit-covered clothes and a strange goat mask in stone strapped to her face.
Session 2
The morning after, Jessy receives a message on Instagram from an anonymous and seemingly glitched account, asking her pointed questions about her night with Tan. The person on the other side offers up money for any information she can get on Tan, and encourages her to see him again. She spends the day with her friends, but when a snowstorm hits Toronto she’s forced to go down into the underground PATH to find her way to a hotel. Unwashed homeless people seem to stare her down, but she hurries along and tries to put them out of her mind. At the hotel, a young girl named Elise tries to hide in Jessy’s room before being dragged off by men who, according to Elise, intend to kill her. Hotel security does nothing. Jessy is beset by nightmares, concrete corridors and vast abysses guiding her into the deep.
Session 3
Jessy meets with Andi, who has some contacts which may prove valuable in finding out more about Granger Fine Jewelry and the tumultous crimes attributed to the company in the late 70s, right around the time Jessy’s ring is estimated to have been made. The nightmares continue, leaving Jessy sleepless and disoriented. At a breaking point, she descends again into the paths beneath Toronto in hopes of finding a clue as to why these dreams persist. Instead, she is lured deep down into maintenance tunnels and filth-caked corridors where she encounters a truly horrific beast. Lost for what feels like an eternity, she is eventually drawn back to reality by the sound of a subway train.
Session 4
A elderly woman with alzheimers named Agatha serves as Jessy’s emotional dumping ground and fake grandmother. Her week of hellish nightmares is capped off by accompanying Tan to a luxurious party hosted by a man named Eduardo Sarmento. Here, Jessy meets Artyom. She recognizes him as one of the men who kidnapped the girl at the hotel, but after Tan aggrevates him she sees him for what he truly is – a monster. Jessy becomes absolutely fascinated with Artyom and can’t get the image of his tattered body out of her head. The evening ends in disaster as Eduardo dies a grisly and public death, though with nothing to go on and lab results inconclusive, the police eventually lets everyone go. Tan, seemingly unphased by the horrific fate of his acquaintance, offers Jessy to come stay at a hotel with him and not let the night end just yet.
Session 5
Alone with Tan at an upscale hotel, Jessy speaks with him at length about his worship of the Twin God. He lights candles, decorates the room with figurines of goat-headed men, and seduces Jessy with a promise of transcendental knowledge. Through harsh love, he intends to reveal higher truths to Jessy, but she is not ready and is hurt deeply both physically and emotionally. Once asleep, she is drawn deeper into her nightmares and finally meets Wilma, the woman behind Jessy’s sleeplessness. She demands the ring, threatens a defiant Jessy, and eventually shunts Jessy out of her short rest for yet another night of staring at the dark ceiling. Once she finally leaves for home, Jessy discovers that her apartment has been broken in to. Someone was hunting for her, and she recognizes the threat Wilma poses.
Session 6
Jessy speaks with Carl Hunt about her apartment being broken into, since he is the one who pays for it. They agree she should be staying with friends until he can sort something out, so Jessy drifts in and out of the homes of people she’s lured into her orbit online, boyfriends and girlfriends all. She also digs deeper into the dealings of Granger Fine Jewerly, discovering that the man Abbas Ali which she saw at Eduardo’s party apparently worked for them in the 70’s and looked no different then than he does now, as if he hasn’t aged a day. She gets into contact with Abbas, who in turn helps her reach out to Artyom for a private meeting. Jessy visits him at a rundown hotel in Etobicoke, where they discuss many things, including Tan’s foolishness in playing with powers far beyond his control. She is unexpectedly forced into performing torturous acts on a man named Simon. He seems to be enjoying the entire procedure, and Artyom allows Jessy to delve deep into the euphorias of causing others pain.
Session 7
Leaving her ‘boyfriend’ Ethan’s apartment to buy some food, Jessy is stalked and assaulted by two homeless people seemingly working for Wilma, but with pepper spray in hand she disables one and forces the other, Honey, to become her guide. She learns from him that Wilma abuses them through their nightmares and keeps them sleep deprived and tortured until they have to do her bidding, and that they’ve been hunting Jessy for at least a year. They descend beneath Toronto together, but after a skinless monstrosity attacks them Jessy kills it and unwittingly uses the magic of her ring to bring them much, much deeper. Now lost and fumbling in the dark, they stop to rest in an abandoned cathedral to some unknown god. In a dream, Wilma appears again before Jessy and the two exchange threats. Jessy is coming for her, not to deliver the ring but to put an end to this lunacy.
Session 8
With her arm wounded from the monster’s attack, a deranged, sleepless mind and filth covering her entire body, Jessy forces herself and Honey to press on. They don’t know where they are, but must continue to move until Honey might recognize their surroundings. Silence rules these parts of the world, only broken up by the strange beings which live in the dark. After a long while and with both of them hungry and thirsty, Honey finally sees a path he knows will lead to Wilma. They push onward and enter the bunker complex which she has made her lair, home to folks in tattered clothing and gruff looking squatters. Brought before her tormentor, Jessy sees that Wilma is in fact an old woman, decrepit and withering with a shrill voice, hard on the ears. She demands the ring, and with her servants keeping Jessy under close guard the situation seems hopeless until she manages to incite some doubt and dissent into their ranks. Chaos erupts, and Jessy leaps onto Wilma. Her knife is plunged deep into the hag’s body, but she has no time to celebrate before a hard object strikes her in the back of her head and the world goes black.
And, of course, don’t forget to check out my artist’s Instagram and Facebook pages, where she posts the art made for Beyond Elysium along with some of her other work. She also has a personal website with more projects and contact information.
Beyond Elysium 