Friday morning, Toby caught sight of Mikey - in non-zombie form - coming out of a Junior-level philosophy class. He stopped him and asked if he was feeling all right. Mikey, somewhat confused, said that he was fine. Toby pushed, providing some details, and Mikey muttered, "Stupid!", then quickly excused himself.
Zac, Toby, and Will dropped in on GlenMac, who was of course quite interested in the developments. GlenMac suggested perhaps catching Mikey when he was changing from "model student" to "zombie monster," in case there was some obvious trigger.
Zac attempted to visit the young woman in the hospital, but was turned away. He did learn that she was barely conscious. He also left a Zombie Manual with the front desk...
Meanwhile, Toby and Will headed to BZT to check in on Steve. After facing a few very high students, they made their way to Steve's room, and found him playing computer games. Mikey was under a pile of ratty blankets, snoring. Steve laughed. "Bro, he never gets up before noon. He must've been on quite the bender yesterday, right? I don't know how he's passing, like, any classes!"
Toby asked a few questions, but Steve's information wasn't terribly useful. They left, again passing the trio of stoned students, who attempted to pass off their bong as a fishbowl ("Dude, like, I think he bought it!").
During supper, the group caught sight of Mikey in the cafeteria, studying; Zac hopped on his motorcycle and followed him north, to some apartments. Mikey was greeted at the door by a young woman, and the two sat down to watch some Netflix together.
Oddly, Toby noticed that Mikey was wearing different clothes. After classes, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt; in bed, the one arm dangling out was wearing a T-shirt; in the cafeteria, he was wearing the same long-sleeved shirt. He hypothesized that one of them was not actually Mikey, but a doppelganger of some sort, bent on evil.
Returning to campus, Zac caught sight of flashing lights in front of Tyler Hall. Two police cars and a paramedic were parked out front; the police were just wrapping up. It seems someone dressed as a Zombie bit one another student! As Toby and Will walked up, Zac convinced the bitten student that his assailant was, in fact, a zombie, and if he didn't get immediate medical attention, he would likely turn into a zombie himself. The student, already frazzled, believed every word, and quickly convinced his roommate to drive him to the hospital.
Walking back to their dorm, Toby caught sight of Zombie Mikey! He shouted, and the three charged after him, Zac in the lead. They chased him around the washeteria, then came up short when he stopped and took a swing at Zac. Zac hauled his shotgun out of his backpack (laws be damned, there's a zombie loose!), and fired, putting some shot into the zombie's leg. Toby and Will tried to get a few punches in, but were mostly ineffective; even Zac's shotgun seemed to only scratch the creature. Zombie Mikey, meanwhile, landed a few heavy hits on Zac, staggering him. Realizing the fight was not going his way, Zombie Mikey dashed for the fence. Toby was right behind him, and in an impressive leap cleared the fence. Unfortunately, the zombie crashed headlong into the fence, and never made it over...
Toby managed to leap back over the fence, trying to head off the creature, as Zac took aim with his very last shell. He fired, and the shot tore through the zombie's leg. The creature stared down at the stump, then tilted over, landing facedown on the ground.
At that very moment, UPD rounded the building, mace and tasers at the ready. Someone heard the gunfire, and eventually realized it might not be fireworks. The three were taken in for questioning, and Zombie Mikey was quickly rushed to the hospital.
The three were released after sunup the next morning. Tired (and in Zac's case, quite sore), they headed back to their dorm. Toby, however, caught sight of... Mikey? He quickly caught up with the man. "Hey! Did you hear what happened last night? Someone got shot on campus!"
Mikey seemed nonplussed. "Oh, er... how terrible?"
Toby pressed, working more details in, and eventually telling him that the person looked a lot like he did. Mikey blinked. "Really? Just like me?"
After a little intimidation, Mikey broke down. Or rather... Richard broke down. It seems Mikey had a twin brother!
Richard explained that Mikey got a scholarship to come to school, but wasted his time partying, rather than studying. Richard, always passed over, started going to his classes for him, and even changed his class list. He was in the process of moving all Mikey's info into his own name, essentially pushing Mikey out of school to usurp his scholarship. However, as little as he liked his brother, he realized that something like this needed family. Sighing, he asked if Toby and Will would accompany him to the hospital, so he could check in on Mikey.
Though there was an officer posted at the door, Richard and the others were allowed in to see him. Mikey was in bed, his face and arms wrapped with bandages were the doctors had surgically removed the makeup. Somehow, it has begun to bond with his flesh. Under the sheets, it was obvious that his left leg ended just below the knee.
Richard walked over to his brother, who painfully opened his eyes. "Bro?"
Richard nodded. "Yes, Mikey. It's me. Man... what did you get yourself into this time?"
He reached out a hand, placing it on Mikey's shoulder, then leaned down to give his brother a hug. As he did so, Will and Toby could feel a charge growing in the room, like static buildup. A wind from nowhere blew past them into the hall. Before their eyes, they watched as Mikey's arms healed! They stared as Mikey's leg suddenly... grew back! For a moment, Mikey and Richard were surrounded by a faint blue glow, and the mystical energy seemed to fill the room, then all at once, it was gone.
Toby stepped outside, motioning for Will to join him. They paused in the hallway for a moment, before heading outside. At the end of the hall, they heard a snippet of conversation: "Just like that! One moment she's moaning and feverish, the next, poof, perfectly fine."
GlenMac, of course, had a few theories; perhaps Mikey had some sort of curse placed on him, forcing him to make amends with his brother; or maybe it was Richard that was cursed. Or, for that matter, maybe the skull really was the root of it all. A zombie certainly could consume things, but what would have healed the two who had gotten bitten? A broken ritual? Perhaps, or perhaps something more. He suggested handing the skull over to Dr. Wells, a physics professor, to study.
Up until this point, things have been... a little slow. Details and clues are out there, but they don't make sense on their own. After this point, though, things are going to start ramping up. This is a mystery, after all... I can't give it all away at once.
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Halloween Hijinks
Wednesday, Oct. 31
Feeling worn out after finals, the gang met up at the annual Greek Street Halloween Party, an all-out attempt by the various greek societies along Green Street to attract new pledges and be recognized as obviously superior party-throwers.
Prior to the arrival of the group, one frat got into some Halloween trouble...
Though the houses vary in quality, one of the worst houses is Beta Zeta Theta, dedicated to athletics and the betterment of physical skill - or in the case of most of those living there, the quickest way to get expelled.
Mikey Oldsen and his buddy, Steve Greeno, went looking for Halloween decorations at a resale store. They found a bunch of old junk, plus an old skull in a glass box. Steve was a little freaked out by it, but Mikey had a brilliant idea, and decided to use it to play a prank on a fellow BTZ member. Halloween night, the two decorated a table in the backyard with the plastic bones, spiders, occult symbols, and the skull. They claimed they had discovered a "magic ritual" that would allow them to transfer the knowledge of a book into their very minds. Wary but willing members of BZT joined them, and while Steve spouted his magic incantations, Mikey pretended to drink himself under the table. At the conclusion of the ritual, Steve shattered the skull-box on the ground next to Mikey, who suddenly "rose" from the ground, having applied some hasty (though believable) zombie makeup, and began wandering around, moaning, "Bros..." Their buddies freaked out, and a good time was had by all. Zombie-Mikey then collapsed for real, and his laughing buddies carried him to the frat-house couch for him to sleep off his booze.
Meanwhile, the group arrived. Alistair was dressed as William Wallace (the movie version, with a kilt); Michele Kuhns, Alistair's new girlfriend, was dressed as Bible Girl, the sidekick of the cheesy 90s "superhero" Bible Man, and Toby was dressed as Polycarp (not, you're thinking Magicarp, I mean Polycarp). Will arrived later, dressed as a generic college student.
A few minutes later, the group heard a scream, and rushed to figure out what was going on. They found a young woman holding her arm; they probed the gathered crowd for answers, and eventually asked the girl outright what had happened. Someone in zombie makeup had jumped out from a bush and bit her arm! A thorough investigation of the bush in question resulted in a few footprints and a shred of what turned out to be rubber zombie-skin from a mask.
Michele demanded to know why Alistair was snooping in a bush, and if there was another girl involved. Alistair managed to talk his way out... this time.
Scouring the street for more information, the party found Steve, sitting on the side of the road and cradling his arm, muttering, "What did I do? What did I do?"
He spilled the whole story of his buddy Mikey, adding that Mikey had attacked him. He lead the group back to the table. After a cursory glance, the party left in search of Mikey again. This time, they found him, prowling in the bushes. Toby, eager to bring down the menace, hefted the nine-iron he found in a golf bag, and took a swing at the zombie from behind. While it connected, it didn't do much damage. Alistair fired a rock from his slingshot, and Michele planted herself between Alistair and Mikey, taking her role of the shield-toting Bible Girl seriously. Will jogged over to Toby's side, attempting to fend off any blows his friend might take.
Mikey turned and took a swing at Toby; Toby swung back. At one point, Mikey managed to land a punch on Will, who moaned that he hit like a truck! Toby took a batter's stance and swung for the back fence. The golf club clipped Mikey's shoulder and glanced off the side of his head; Mikey dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Toby and Will hauled the unconscious Mikey to his frat house, where a grateful Steve pointed to a well-used sofa. Congratulating themselves on a job well done, the party returned to the festivities.
Thursday, Nov. 1
The next day, Alistair caught sight of Mikey in the hallway, exiting an early Advanced Physics class. He caught up and asked how he was feeling; Mikey seemed not to recognize him, though oddly, seemed none the worse for wear after his drinking and head wound. He didn't even have a bruise...
After classes, Alistair and Toby visited BZT again, and went through the junk used in the "ritual". While most of it was cheap dollar-store props, the skull on the ground seemed remarkably realistic. Toby carefully lifted it up with a plastic bag found under the table.
Alistair took it to GlenMac, who seemed very interested in the whole ordeal, but was unfortunately late to a long-running class, and couldn't help out. He suggested that it was unlikely the skull would injure on touch, as a plastic bag wouldn't protect from an airborne contagion or similar.
The group poked and probed the skull, attempting to uncover any secrets it may contain. The skull was hollowed out, and seemed to be covered in tiny holes, rendering it light as a feather. Toby, shining his phone flashlight into it, caught sight of some old writing; eventually, Alistair thought to grab a blacklight, and the text was revealed:
Mortuo homine comedit omnem animam viventem, mors venit cito. Cave! Mors venit!
Toby quickly ran it through Google Translate, and came up with the following text:
"When a wicked man hath devoured every living creature, death comes quickly. Beware! Death is coming!"
Ominous indeed! More research netted a match for the text.
In the 1700s, a group of monks lived on an island, north of England. One summer, monks bringing supplies to the island found the other monks entirely gone; nothing remained but a skeleton. Written on the ground was the warning, translated to: "bodies were consumed... death inside... I'm already dead..."
The monks, terrified, assumed that one of the monks had died, risen as an undead, and eaten the others, before falling again to death, leaving only his skeleton. They buried the bones, blessing them with holy water, and took the skull back to have it further blessed. The warning was written on the skull, and it moved from place to place, eventually being stored in a glass box, and kept in a collection in Longview.
All seemed to be going well, until that evening at supper. Will saw Sarah, the girl who had been bitten, and realized she didn't look too well - pale and shaky. Her friends were discussing taking her to the ER across the street, and eventually helper her up. Will, nudged by his friends, walked over and asked how she was doing. Her friends told him that she hadn't been feeling well, and they were going to driver her to the ER. Sarah looked up from the floor and stared at Will. She muttered, "Bros...", then her friends lead her away.
Across the street, Will caught sight of Mikey, again in his zombie makeup. He alerted the others, and they crossed the street. Mikey charged out of the trees; once again, Michele planter herself in front of her boyfriend, yelling, "Leave him alone! He's foreign!"
Without the aid of a set of golf clubs, Will and Toby decided to grapple Mikey, grabbing his arms and legs and hoisting him off the ground. Alistair tried to thump him with his slingshot, and even Michele joined in at one point, kicking him ineffectively. While Will and Toby managed to keep him restrained, he thrashed and kicked, once almost biting Will. After a minute of fighting, the campus police showed up. Alistair, thinking quickly, yelled something about ponding him; the officers asked them to put him down, and the moment Mikey's feet hit the ground, he bolted. The police asked a few questions, then left.
Thinking about it, those who had tried to fight Mikey realized his makeup seemed a lot more firmly attached this time... and he was tougher, too.
Did the skull turn Mikey into a real zombie? Why did he seem so normal during the day? What really happened on that island, long ago? Just how cracked is Michele, really? Will Mikey-Zombie return? Will Sarah be ok? Learn all this and more, assuming the group solves the mystery!
Feeling worn out after finals, the gang met up at the annual Greek Street Halloween Party, an all-out attempt by the various greek societies along Green Street to attract new pledges and be recognized as obviously superior party-throwers.
Prior to the arrival of the group, one frat got into some Halloween trouble...
Though the houses vary in quality, one of the worst houses is Beta Zeta Theta, dedicated to athletics and the betterment of physical skill - or in the case of most of those living there, the quickest way to get expelled.
Mikey Oldsen and his buddy, Steve Greeno, went looking for Halloween decorations at a resale store. They found a bunch of old junk, plus an old skull in a glass box. Steve was a little freaked out by it, but Mikey had a brilliant idea, and decided to use it to play a prank on a fellow BTZ member. Halloween night, the two decorated a table in the backyard with the plastic bones, spiders, occult symbols, and the skull. They claimed they had discovered a "magic ritual" that would allow them to transfer the knowledge of a book into their very minds. Wary but willing members of BZT joined them, and while Steve spouted his magic incantations, Mikey pretended to drink himself under the table. At the conclusion of the ritual, Steve shattered the skull-box on the ground next to Mikey, who suddenly "rose" from the ground, having applied some hasty (though believable) zombie makeup, and began wandering around, moaning, "Bros..." Their buddies freaked out, and a good time was had by all. Zombie-Mikey then collapsed for real, and his laughing buddies carried him to the frat-house couch for him to sleep off his booze.
Meanwhile, the group arrived. Alistair was dressed as William Wallace (the movie version, with a kilt); Michele Kuhns, Alistair's new girlfriend, was dressed as Bible Girl, the sidekick of the cheesy 90s "superhero" Bible Man, and Toby was dressed as Polycarp (not, you're thinking Magicarp, I mean Polycarp). Will arrived later, dressed as a generic college student.
A few minutes later, the group heard a scream, and rushed to figure out what was going on. They found a young woman holding her arm; they probed the gathered crowd for answers, and eventually asked the girl outright what had happened. Someone in zombie makeup had jumped out from a bush and bit her arm! A thorough investigation of the bush in question resulted in a few footprints and a shred of what turned out to be rubber zombie-skin from a mask.
Michele demanded to know why Alistair was snooping in a bush, and if there was another girl involved. Alistair managed to talk his way out... this time.
Scouring the street for more information, the party found Steve, sitting on the side of the road and cradling his arm, muttering, "What did I do? What did I do?"
He spilled the whole story of his buddy Mikey, adding that Mikey had attacked him. He lead the group back to the table. After a cursory glance, the party left in search of Mikey again. This time, they found him, prowling in the bushes. Toby, eager to bring down the menace, hefted the nine-iron he found in a golf bag, and took a swing at the zombie from behind. While it connected, it didn't do much damage. Alistair fired a rock from his slingshot, and Michele planted herself between Alistair and Mikey, taking her role of the shield-toting Bible Girl seriously. Will jogged over to Toby's side, attempting to fend off any blows his friend might take.
Mikey turned and took a swing at Toby; Toby swung back. At one point, Mikey managed to land a punch on Will, who moaned that he hit like a truck! Toby took a batter's stance and swung for the back fence. The golf club clipped Mikey's shoulder and glanced off the side of his head; Mikey dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Toby and Will hauled the unconscious Mikey to his frat house, where a grateful Steve pointed to a well-used sofa. Congratulating themselves on a job well done, the party returned to the festivities.
Thursday, Nov. 1
The next day, Alistair caught sight of Mikey in the hallway, exiting an early Advanced Physics class. He caught up and asked how he was feeling; Mikey seemed not to recognize him, though oddly, seemed none the worse for wear after his drinking and head wound. He didn't even have a bruise...
After classes, Alistair and Toby visited BZT again, and went through the junk used in the "ritual". While most of it was cheap dollar-store props, the skull on the ground seemed remarkably realistic. Toby carefully lifted it up with a plastic bag found under the table.
Alistair took it to GlenMac, who seemed very interested in the whole ordeal, but was unfortunately late to a long-running class, and couldn't help out. He suggested that it was unlikely the skull would injure on touch, as a plastic bag wouldn't protect from an airborne contagion or similar.
The group poked and probed the skull, attempting to uncover any secrets it may contain. The skull was hollowed out, and seemed to be covered in tiny holes, rendering it light as a feather. Toby, shining his phone flashlight into it, caught sight of some old writing; eventually, Alistair thought to grab a blacklight, and the text was revealed:
Mortuo homine comedit omnem animam viventem, mors venit cito. Cave! Mors venit!
Toby quickly ran it through Google Translate, and came up with the following text:
"When a wicked man hath devoured every living creature, death comes quickly. Beware! Death is coming!"
Ominous indeed! More research netted a match for the text.
In the 1700s, a group of monks lived on an island, north of England. One summer, monks bringing supplies to the island found the other monks entirely gone; nothing remained but a skeleton. Written on the ground was the warning, translated to: "bodies were consumed... death inside... I'm already dead..."
The monks, terrified, assumed that one of the monks had died, risen as an undead, and eaten the others, before falling again to death, leaving only his skeleton. They buried the bones, blessing them with holy water, and took the skull back to have it further blessed. The warning was written on the skull, and it moved from place to place, eventually being stored in a glass box, and kept in a collection in Longview.
All seemed to be going well, until that evening at supper. Will saw Sarah, the girl who had been bitten, and realized she didn't look too well - pale and shaky. Her friends were discussing taking her to the ER across the street, and eventually helper her up. Will, nudged by his friends, walked over and asked how she was doing. Her friends told him that she hadn't been feeling well, and they were going to driver her to the ER. Sarah looked up from the floor and stared at Will. She muttered, "Bros...", then her friends lead her away.
Across the street, Will caught sight of Mikey, again in his zombie makeup. He alerted the others, and they crossed the street. Mikey charged out of the trees; once again, Michele planter herself in front of her boyfriend, yelling, "Leave him alone! He's foreign!"
Without the aid of a set of golf clubs, Will and Toby decided to grapple Mikey, grabbing his arms and legs and hoisting him off the ground. Alistair tried to thump him with his slingshot, and even Michele joined in at one point, kicking him ineffectively. While Will and Toby managed to keep him restrained, he thrashed and kicked, once almost biting Will. After a minute of fighting, the campus police showed up. Alistair, thinking quickly, yelled something about ponding him; the officers asked them to put him down, and the moment Mikey's feet hit the ground, he bolted. The police asked a few questions, then left.
Thinking about it, those who had tried to fight Mikey realized his makeup seemed a lot more firmly attached this time... and he was tougher, too.
Did the skull turn Mikey into a real zombie? Why did he seem so normal during the day? What really happened on that island, long ago? Just how cracked is Michele, really? Will Mikey-Zombie return? Will Sarah be ok? Learn all this and more, assuming the group solves the mystery!
Monday, November 19, 2018
Cryptid Underground Breaking Story: ¡El chupacabra vive!
After the events of the previous week, the crew began having strange dreams of money, ants, fear, and loss...
Tuesday, the 4th of September, about two weeks after the events of the previous adventure, several members of the gang were sitting down for breakfast together when another student approached them. She introduced herself as Leslie Merspin, and asked if they were willing to make a little money. She explained she worked for a tiny magazine and blog company, called Cryptid Underground. They had heard rumors of a creatures in the nearby woods, and hoped to get a picture of it.
After some thought, the gang agreed to meet with her boss. That afternoon after classes, they drove to the Cryptid Underground offices behind the News Journal. They met Eric Granger, the editor and owner, who explained what was going on. There had been sightings of a creature in the woods near the Walmart, south of 20; a couple fishermen had spotted a creature the size of a very large dog in the underbrush, with a ridge of quills on its back. Whatever it was, it sounded like a cryptid of some sort; Eric promised a reward of $50 for a single still image, $20 for each additional image, and $100 of clear video of the creature.
The group stopped outside for a few minutes to check prices on cameras and equipment, then split up to go to various stores and pick up some cameras and memory cards. Equipment in hand, they headed to the woods. After hiking about a quarter of a mile into the marshy brush, they stepped out into a clear area, and came face to face with... a creature! Toby fumbled with his camera, but Will, who had been poking at his camera earlier, managed to get a perfect video of the creature before it dashed off into the brush. Toby was quick to follow it, tracking its footprints and taking a few pictures of them along the way. They moved diagonally to a nearby trail, then looped north, finally stopping at the edge of a cleared area under some power lines.
As Zac stepped into the clearing, he suddenly stopped, staring into space... a vision overwhelmed his senses. He saw through someone else's eyes as they moved into the clearing, carrying a bag. He caught sight of two linemen, and stopped until they left, then moved forward and dropped the bag on the ground, pulling out a shovel and digging. He dug a hole a few feet deep, and stopped to wipe his brow; suddenly, there was a flash of movement at his side - and the vision popped and stuttered like a bad transmission. When it cleared, he was laying on the ground. He was rolled into the hole, then the bag dropped on top of him... then covered with dirt.
Zac relayed this to the others, who quickly began searching the area, the cryptid all but forgotten. Will found a $100 bill, stained with red ink; Toby and Alistair found a patch of disturbed earth, and began scooping it out, using Toby's machete to clear were roots had gown. Only a few scoots in, they realized the hole was adjacent to a fire-ant mound, and had to move carefully to avoid the swarming ants! Eventually, they uncovered a bag... and a human skeleton. Only a few scraps of cloth remained, and it seemed to be missing a femur. Carefully opening the bag, they found about $700 in badly stained bills inside, and wrapped in a plastic bag, a leather necklace with an arrowhead on it.
As they uncovered the arrowhead, the city sounds and skyglow faded as the sounds of the forest grew. In the distance, a police siren dropped into silence... and the shriek of a wildcat echoed through the suddenly silent woods.
Alistair racked his brain, but couldn't recall any specific folklore concerning being transported to another world, or similar; there were plenty of tales, but none stood out from the others. Toby, however, remembered a story he had read at a museum; the arrowhead was knapped, using a Caddo Indian technique, and he had seen other similar arrowheads and knives. The strange atmosphere reminded him of the story: not terribly long ago, some burial mounds were discovered; inside one was buried a Caddo Indian chieftain. As far as the researchers could discover, he had ruled for a long time, protected from evil spirits by a magical arrowhead necklace. Another member of the tribe grew jealous, and stole the necklace, but knowing he would eventually find it again, had it cursed.
Toby pulled out his phone and made a call to the police, alerting them to the body and stolen funds. However, halfway through the call, it dropped; even though his phone had recently been charged, the screen flickered and went dark. Alistair pulled out his flashlight, which blinked twice and refused to turn on again. Whatever the strange effect was, it didn't seem to like electronics...
(this is the place where Zac and Alora decide if they would grab the necklace or leave it)
Alistair and Will heard a rustling, scraping sound. No... not scraping... it was the sound of ants, a huge swarm of them! The group bolted for the path. Will easily dashed ahead, but Toby tripped on a root. Alistair smacked into a low-hanging branch, and Toby, coming up behind him, plowed headlong into a tree.Stumbling to his feet, he managed to shake off the ants already at his heels and bolt for safety - just past a sign reading "Keep out, private property."
Just up ahead, Will caught sight of a flashlight, flickering dimly. He and the others stepped off the path into cover. When Toby saw that it was a police officer, he stepped out, with Alistair behind him. The officer, shaken by the strange night, treated them perhaps a little more harshly than he should have; after a bit of back-and-forth, he took them to his squad car, and from there to the police station, where they gave their testimonies, and were charged a $50 fine for trespassing.
Will, Zac, and Alora stayed hidden until the officer left, then returned to their vehicle. As they neared the edge of the forest, the strange aura lifted, and the city sounds and lights returned. They picked up Toby and Alistair when they were released, and eventually, they all made it back to the Cryptid Underground offices. Eric originally offered them $100 for the video, but Toby convinced him to pay the $100 of fines, plus another $20 for the photos of the footprints. After paying the fines, everyone gets $24 from the ordeal.
Time passed; Alistair, Toby, and Will each had their birthdays. Alistair and Will each got the fancy cake-and-gifts package, while Toby got a lovely card, and some home-baked cookies. Since Will is 21 now, he can put in for his concealed carry license, if he wants.
Of course, school is still a thing; midterms rolled around (and Zac and Alora will need to roll for those). Will and Toby passed their tests; Will caught the eye of one of the financial aid supervisors and gained a Connections edge with them. Toby got to know one of the secretaries, and also gained a Connections edge.
Alistair, however, attracted... a different sort of attention. Sitting down to work on some homework in the Library, he got an instant message from a fellow classmate. "Hey, I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date with me! We could meet after your 11:45 class, because that's your last class of the day, and I switched my schedule so I'd be across the hall from you. I'll even wear your favorite color!"
Alistair, somehow not realizing how much of a stalker this person was, agreed. Which, by the way, means you've replaced your Extracurricular Activity with Romance: -1 to your Finals' Academics roll, and over the course of the semester, you'll spend $100 on her. But, any time you spend a benny on a roll that "reflects your will to press on for your loved one," you get an extra d6, so at least there's that?
Alistair's new girlfriend is Michele Kuhns, 17 (birthday January 29), a Biology major from Vernal, Utah, and God says that you are going to get married and move to Vermont when you graduate.
Aren't you glad you spent that green chip on that? Oh, and speaking of that...
Shortly after midterms, the group was invited by GlenMac to go out to eat; Cornerstones is done, but after seeing your names in Cryptid Underground, he wanted the whole story over a meal at GZ's - his treat. He introduced his girlfriend, Monica Dragic, a businesslike woman in her late 40s. As you filled him in, he raptly hung on every word. Monica listened as well, though only asked if you had any more pictures of the creature.
Tasks:
Zac & Alora must decide if they kept the arrowhead necklace, or left it behind
Zac & Alora also must roll Academics (at -2 because Honors Society) - remember you can use chips on the roll
Everyone gains $24, thanks to Toby's fine Persuasion
Alistair must change Extracurricular Activity to Romance
Alistair is now 18; Toby is now 20; Will is now 21
 |
| [Crazy hair] "Aliens!" |
After some thought, the gang agreed to meet with her boss. That afternoon after classes, they drove to the Cryptid Underground offices behind the News Journal. They met Eric Granger, the editor and owner, who explained what was going on. There had been sightings of a creature in the woods near the Walmart, south of 20; a couple fishermen had spotted a creature the size of a very large dog in the underbrush, with a ridge of quills on its back. Whatever it was, it sounded like a cryptid of some sort; Eric promised a reward of $50 for a single still image, $20 for each additional image, and $100 of clear video of the creature.
 |
| Croiky, look at that beut, mates! |
As Zac stepped into the clearing, he suddenly stopped, staring into space... a vision overwhelmed his senses. He saw through someone else's eyes as they moved into the clearing, carrying a bag. He caught sight of two linemen, and stopped until they left, then moved forward and dropped the bag on the ground, pulling out a shovel and digging. He dug a hole a few feet deep, and stopped to wipe his brow; suddenly, there was a flash of movement at his side - and the vision popped and stuttered like a bad transmission. When it cleared, he was laying on the ground. He was rolled into the hole, then the bag dropped on top of him... then covered with dirt.
Zac relayed this to the others, who quickly began searching the area, the cryptid all but forgotten. Will found a $100 bill, stained with red ink; Toby and Alistair found a patch of disturbed earth, and began scooping it out, using Toby's machete to clear were roots had gown. Only a few scoots in, they realized the hole was adjacent to a fire-ant mound, and had to move carefully to avoid the swarming ants! Eventually, they uncovered a bag... and a human skeleton. Only a few scraps of cloth remained, and it seemed to be missing a femur. Carefully opening the bag, they found about $700 in badly stained bills inside, and wrapped in a plastic bag, a leather necklace with an arrowhead on it.
 |
| Actual Caddoan Indian arrowhead |
Alistair racked his brain, but couldn't recall any specific folklore concerning being transported to another world, or similar; there were plenty of tales, but none stood out from the others. Toby, however, remembered a story he had read at a museum; the arrowhead was knapped, using a Caddo Indian technique, and he had seen other similar arrowheads and knives. The strange atmosphere reminded him of the story: not terribly long ago, some burial mounds were discovered; inside one was buried a Caddo Indian chieftain. As far as the researchers could discover, he had ruled for a long time, protected from evil spirits by a magical arrowhead necklace. Another member of the tribe grew jealous, and stole the necklace, but knowing he would eventually find it again, had it cursed.
Toby pulled out his phone and made a call to the police, alerting them to the body and stolen funds. However, halfway through the call, it dropped; even though his phone had recently been charged, the screen flickered and went dark. Alistair pulled out his flashlight, which blinked twice and refused to turn on again. Whatever the strange effect was, it didn't seem to like electronics...
(this is the place where Zac and Alora decide if they would grab the necklace or leave it)
Alistair and Will heard a rustling, scraping sound. No... not scraping... it was the sound of ants, a huge swarm of them! The group bolted for the path. Will easily dashed ahead, but Toby tripped on a root. Alistair smacked into a low-hanging branch, and Toby, coming up behind him, plowed headlong into a tree.Stumbling to his feet, he managed to shake off the ants already at his heels and bolt for safety - just past a sign reading "Keep out, private property."
Just up ahead, Will caught sight of a flashlight, flickering dimly. He and the others stepped off the path into cover. When Toby saw that it was a police officer, he stepped out, with Alistair behind him. The officer, shaken by the strange night, treated them perhaps a little more harshly than he should have; after a bit of back-and-forth, he took them to his squad car, and from there to the police station, where they gave their testimonies, and were charged a $50 fine for trespassing.
Will, Zac, and Alora stayed hidden until the officer left, then returned to their vehicle. As they neared the edge of the forest, the strange aura lifted, and the city sounds and lights returned. They picked up Toby and Alistair when they were released, and eventually, they all made it back to the Cryptid Underground offices. Eric originally offered them $100 for the video, but Toby convinced him to pay the $100 of fines, plus another $20 for the photos of the footprints. After paying the fines, everyone gets $24 from the ordeal.
Time passed; Alistair, Toby, and Will each had their birthdays. Alistair and Will each got the fancy cake-and-gifts package, while Toby got a lovely card, and some home-baked cookies. Since Will is 21 now, he can put in for his concealed carry license, if he wants.
Of course, school is still a thing; midterms rolled around (and Zac and Alora will need to roll for those). Will and Toby passed their tests; Will caught the eye of one of the financial aid supervisors and gained a Connections edge with them. Toby got to know one of the secretaries, and also gained a Connections edge.
 |
| She wouldn't actually say this. You'd find the tracker! |
Alistair, somehow not realizing how much of a stalker this person was, agreed. Which, by the way, means you've replaced your Extracurricular Activity with Romance: -1 to your Finals' Academics roll, and over the course of the semester, you'll spend $100 on her. But, any time you spend a benny on a roll that "reflects your will to press on for your loved one," you get an extra d6, so at least there's that?
Alistair's new girlfriend is Michele Kuhns, 17 (birthday January 29), a Biology major from Vernal, Utah, and God says that you are going to get married and move to Vermont when you graduate.
Aren't you glad you spent that green chip on that? Oh, and speaking of that...
Shortly after midterms, the group was invited by GlenMac to go out to eat; Cornerstones is done, but after seeing your names in Cryptid Underground, he wanted the whole story over a meal at GZ's - his treat. He introduced his girlfriend, Monica Dragic, a businesslike woman in her late 40s. As you filled him in, he raptly hung on every word. Monica listened as well, though only asked if you had any more pictures of the creature.
Tasks:
Zac & Alora must decide if they kept the arrowhead necklace, or left it behind
Zac & Alora also must roll Academics (at -2 because Honors Society) - remember you can use chips on the roll
Everyone gains $24, thanks to Toby's fine Persuasion
Alistair must change Extracurricular Activity to Romance
Alistair is now 18; Toby is now 20; Will is now 21
Friday, November 16, 2018
Local Teen Rescues Fellow Student, News At 10
A note I mentioned - this is based on a collection of memories of my time at LETU, merged with the modern campus, so there may be a few things that seem a little odd. For one, no one calls it MSC anymore, it seems; it's the Nursing building. If anything seems off, well, it's because this universe is a little different from reality, ok? Also, any reference to people real or imaginary is purely fictional, as are the events described here.
After the excitement of orientation, the first few days of school seemed fairly tame. Will and Alistair met Dr. Wells, an excitable physics professor; during lunch, GlenMac introduced them to his protege, Jackson Green, the very definition of cowboy.
That night, Zac had an odd dream...
After the excitement of orientation, the first few days of school seemed fairly tame. Will and Alistair met Dr. Wells, an excitable physics professor; during lunch, GlenMac introduced them to his protege, Jackson Green, the very definition of cowboy.
That night, Zac had an odd dream...
Monday, November 5, 2018
ETU: Freshman Orientation
This campaign is based on a strange amalgam of my memories of college, the university as it is now, and the various additions and subtractions required for ETU. As such, I'm sure some of the school will be very recognizable, while other parts... won't be. Or will be if you're an alum. In short: some of the characters are totally real people, or at least caricatures of them!
High school was done, testing was complete, and the incoming students were beginning their first steps into college life. Everything started with an invitation to Heritage Weekend, where students would compete against each other for a pretty decent scholarship.
Alora, Will, and Zac did well enough that they were invited to join the Honors Society! All three accepted. Alistair, jet-lagged from his journey, flubbed his chance. Oh well.
The week before classes began, the students gathered on campus to go through the horrific ordeal that is orientation...
Thursday, August 16th, 2018
Check-in was a whirl of students, parents, and staff. After the four students filled out the mountain of required forms, they were given a dorm assignment and pointed in the right direction. Zac and Will ended up together in Honors Apartments (11A), along with another freshman Leonard Johnston, and an upperclassman named Jun Han (not present, at least for the first week). Alora was next door in 12B, with her roommate Niki Maslanka, and suite-mates Sarah Murray and Anissa Stevenson. Anissa was the only upperclassman, but being a part of student ministries, she was there early, with the other freshman. Alistair was placed with the other international students in South Hall room 132, and met his roommate Soo-Jin Choi, a Korean student. The students unloaded their belongings and set up their rooms before supper.
After the usual underwhelming parties and overwhelming welcome ceremony, the students managed to get back to their rooms for some much-needed shut-eye.
Friday, August 17th, 2018
Friday started with course registration, which is as painful as it sounds. More meetings, lunch, a campus tour that seemed oddly fixated on sports for an engineering school, yet more meetings, supper, and then... game night! Which is where the fun really starts, if the overwhelmingly bubbly student volunteers were to be believed.
The students found themselves organized into the same group - green - and were forced to undergo the usual torture of telling everyone their name, major, where they were from, and one interesting thing about themselves. The horror!
Eventually, they got to the game portion, and were handed a clue for a scavenger hunt. Putting their heads together, Green Group managed to figure out the clues and stay on the right track. Of course, clues aren't everything; they managed to make a wrong turn, and instead of heading the the baseball diamond, went past the Pond towards the maintenance buildings. Realizing their mistake, they cut across on a dirt path. A few of the students happened to catch sight of a figure, standing in a small copse of trees; as they slowed, he freaked out, and dashed out of the trees, shoving them out of the way before jumping over the fence. In the dim light, they could only make out that he was dark-skinned, tall, and very thin.
Excitement aside, their team managed to place first, for which they were rewarded with tickets for free drinks.
Returning to their various floors, they attended their floor meetings - mostly just another "welcome" meeting - and headed to bed.
Saturday, August 18th, 2018
After sleeping in, the group dragged themselves to yet more meetings, lunch, and the Church Fair. Eventually, the parents and assorted relatives were shooed away, and the students were left to enjoy the "block party", along with the first of the returning students.
Zac and Will heard a pair of young women discussing a strange figure they had seen earlier in the day - a tall, thin, homeless man, talking with another fellow. The two decided they would grab Alora and Alistair and check it out - that, and the location where they saw the man they believed was the same thin man.
After a careful search of the Pond - including hurling in a big rock - the four trekked over to the trees. Alistair found a set of footprints, while Zac and Alora found some disturbed earth. The two began digging, and were soon joined by Will and Alistair. Together, the four managed to uncover a large bone and a paper bag. Alora held the bone up - using the edge of her jacket - and let out a yelp, dropping it. It was a human femur!
Zac tore the bag open with his knife, and uncovered $2000 in hundred dollar bills! The bills were stained with red, though he quickly realized it wasn't blood, but dye, the sort banks use in exploding dye packs. It would seem these bills were stolen...
Will volunteered to hang on to the bone, and the four divided the money between them. Alistair pointed out that there were two sets of footprints: one set from a very worn pair of shoes that came from the direction of the Pond, then continued to the fence (obviously the man that had shoved past them), and a second set that came from the pond as well, then veered off, back towards campus.
After a quick trip to Walmart, they set up a smart camera at the site, hoping to pick up more movement. While they waited, they did a bit of research, and uncovered a recent bank robbery! Called the Valentine's Day Robbery, a trio had robbed a local bank, and made off with $50,000, as well as the contents of several security boxes. One man was ID'd, and there was a photo of him and another man: Jake Busar, a scruffy, chunky, white man, and a tall, thin, black man he called "Maliek." The third man, a getaway driver, got away. Three vehicles were suspected to be the getaway vehicle: a white-panel van, a yellow truck, and a green sports car. A fourth vehicle, a blue truck, was cleared.
Sunday, August 19th, 2018
After church (or just hanging out in town), the four returned for lunch, then an "all-campus competition". The four managed to stay out of most of the competition, eventually retreating to the BBQ being set up near the Pond. After loading up on food, they met a fellow in overalls (and little else), who introduced himself as Nicky. After a bit of conversation, Alora attempted to push Nicky into the pond; Zac, seeing her attempt, gave a shove of his own. Nicky managed to effortlessly avoid both, saying "Woo! Woo!" and doing a little dance. Zac only just managed to stop Alora from tripping into the brackish pond herself. Of course, Nicky wasn't entirely off the hook; several other guys, laughing, chased him around the pond, and eventually managed to fling him in (though he took someone else with him!). Nicky slopped out of the pond, and started chasing them, attempting to give them a big, muddy hug...
Soon, it was time for a meeting with faculty; each student was given a location for dessert and their first "intro to college" meeting, which would turn into a class. The four happened to be in the same meeting, and soon found themselves standing in the home of a professor, Dr. Glen MacLanahan - "Or GlenMac to my friends! Er, please help yourself to the snacks - I may have, er, overindulged."
He explained that he was a professor of history and humanities, with a special interest in some of the more... unique aspects of East Texas.
A phone call from campus police alerted him to the presence of a strange man on campus - likely a homeless man.
A student, coming back from using the bathroom, asked GlenMac what the equipment in the other room was; the professor replied simply that it was private... which of course sparked the interest of Alora and Alistair. With Alistair running interference, asking GlenMac about his hobbies (which seemed to include various ghost stories, cryptids, and other strange myths and creatures), Alora crept into the other room. Pulling out her phone, she snapped pictures of the various equipment, as well as some cryptic documents on the desk, which she later realized were covered in occult symbols.
Sneaking into the next room, she nearly let a small, white, long-haired terrier loose! It yipped and jumped, and she only just managed to get the door closed and dash into the bathroom before GlenMac walked by. She quickly flushed the toilet and washed her hands; as she exited the toilet, GlenMac walked back past, shaking his head. "I swear that dog knows how to open doors sometimes!"
The group, done for the day, headed home. On the way back to their dorms, Zac and Alora caught sight of someone hanging around in front of the women's dorm; they approached, and when he saw them coming, he took off. Zac was hot on his heels, and Alora took a shortcut to catch up. The man was fast, and lead them on a merry chase, but they eventually cornered him. Realizing he wasn't going to be able to get away, he stopped, and after some questioning, admitted that he was trying to spy on the "girls". Zac let him go with a warning, and he took off.
As Zac and Alora headed back towards their dorms, Zac felt a pinch, and then another - fire ants! He quickly ripped his shirt off, swatting at the bugs, and Alora splashed some water on him to wash them off. Grumbling, he wondered aloud how they could have climbed up his leg and onto his back without biting him anywhere else. Oddly, the stings seemed to be grouped in a strange pattern - a circle with a line through it.
Will, meanwhile, had his own things to do, which he may or may not disclose to the others...
Normally, this is where I would write down XP gained, but ETU is a little different - XP is gained through time, not through actions. Instead, you'll get bennies, items, money, contacts, etc. Speaking of which:
Zac, Alora, and Will each get an extra benny for their scholastic prowess; Zac gets... well, an ant bite; Will (due to undisclosed shenanigans) gains a contact (check your email if you haven't), and Alistair... Alistair needs to stop trying to purchase lethal weapons. C'mon, man, you're 17, nobody is going to risk jail to sell you a gun!
High school was done, testing was complete, and the incoming students were beginning their first steps into college life. Everything started with an invitation to Heritage Weekend, where students would compete against each other for a pretty decent scholarship.
Alora, Will, and Zac did well enough that they were invited to join the Honors Society! All three accepted. Alistair, jet-lagged from his journey, flubbed his chance. Oh well.
The week before classes began, the students gathered on campus to go through the horrific ordeal that is orientation...
Thursday, August 16th, 2018
Check-in was a whirl of students, parents, and staff. After the four students filled out the mountain of required forms, they were given a dorm assignment and pointed in the right direction. Zac and Will ended up together in Honors Apartments (11A), along with another freshman Leonard Johnston, and an upperclassman named Jun Han (not present, at least for the first week). Alora was next door in 12B, with her roommate Niki Maslanka, and suite-mates Sarah Murray and Anissa Stevenson. Anissa was the only upperclassman, but being a part of student ministries, she was there early, with the other freshman. Alistair was placed with the other international students in South Hall room 132, and met his roommate Soo-Jin Choi, a Korean student. The students unloaded their belongings and set up their rooms before supper.
After the usual underwhelming parties and overwhelming welcome ceremony, the students managed to get back to their rooms for some much-needed shut-eye.
Friday, August 17th, 2018
Friday started with course registration, which is as painful as it sounds. More meetings, lunch, a campus tour that seemed oddly fixated on sports for an engineering school, yet more meetings, supper, and then... game night! Which is where the fun really starts, if the overwhelmingly bubbly student volunteers were to be believed.
The students found themselves organized into the same group - green - and were forced to undergo the usual torture of telling everyone their name, major, where they were from, and one interesting thing about themselves. The horror!
Eventually, they got to the game portion, and were handed a clue for a scavenger hunt. Putting their heads together, Green Group managed to figure out the clues and stay on the right track. Of course, clues aren't everything; they managed to make a wrong turn, and instead of heading the the baseball diamond, went past the Pond towards the maintenance buildings. Realizing their mistake, they cut across on a dirt path. A few of the students happened to catch sight of a figure, standing in a small copse of trees; as they slowed, he freaked out, and dashed out of the trees, shoving them out of the way before jumping over the fence. In the dim light, they could only make out that he was dark-skinned, tall, and very thin.
Excitement aside, their team managed to place first, for which they were rewarded with tickets for free drinks.
Returning to their various floors, they attended their floor meetings - mostly just another "welcome" meeting - and headed to bed.
Saturday, August 18th, 2018
After sleeping in, the group dragged themselves to yet more meetings, lunch, and the Church Fair. Eventually, the parents and assorted relatives were shooed away, and the students were left to enjoy the "block party", along with the first of the returning students.
Zac and Will heard a pair of young women discussing a strange figure they had seen earlier in the day - a tall, thin, homeless man, talking with another fellow. The two decided they would grab Alora and Alistair and check it out - that, and the location where they saw the man they believed was the same thin man.
After a careful search of the Pond - including hurling in a big rock - the four trekked over to the trees. Alistair found a set of footprints, while Zac and Alora found some disturbed earth. The two began digging, and were soon joined by Will and Alistair. Together, the four managed to uncover a large bone and a paper bag. Alora held the bone up - using the edge of her jacket - and let out a yelp, dropping it. It was a human femur!
Zac tore the bag open with his knife, and uncovered $2000 in hundred dollar bills! The bills were stained with red, though he quickly realized it wasn't blood, but dye, the sort banks use in exploding dye packs. It would seem these bills were stolen...
Will volunteered to hang on to the bone, and the four divided the money between them. Alistair pointed out that there were two sets of footprints: one set from a very worn pair of shoes that came from the direction of the Pond, then continued to the fence (obviously the man that had shoved past them), and a second set that came from the pond as well, then veered off, back towards campus.
After a quick trip to Walmart, they set up a smart camera at the site, hoping to pick up more movement. While they waited, they did a bit of research, and uncovered a recent bank robbery! Called the Valentine's Day Robbery, a trio had robbed a local bank, and made off with $50,000, as well as the contents of several security boxes. One man was ID'd, and there was a photo of him and another man: Jake Busar, a scruffy, chunky, white man, and a tall, thin, black man he called "Maliek." The third man, a getaway driver, got away. Three vehicles were suspected to be the getaway vehicle: a white-panel van, a yellow truck, and a green sports car. A fourth vehicle, a blue truck, was cleared.
Sunday, August 19th, 2018
After church (or just hanging out in town), the four returned for lunch, then an "all-campus competition". The four managed to stay out of most of the competition, eventually retreating to the BBQ being set up near the Pond. After loading up on food, they met a fellow in overalls (and little else), who introduced himself as Nicky. After a bit of conversation, Alora attempted to push Nicky into the pond; Zac, seeing her attempt, gave a shove of his own. Nicky managed to effortlessly avoid both, saying "Woo! Woo!" and doing a little dance. Zac only just managed to stop Alora from tripping into the brackish pond herself. Of course, Nicky wasn't entirely off the hook; several other guys, laughing, chased him around the pond, and eventually managed to fling him in (though he took someone else with him!). Nicky slopped out of the pond, and started chasing them, attempting to give them a big, muddy hug...
Soon, it was time for a meeting with faculty; each student was given a location for dessert and their first "intro to college" meeting, which would turn into a class. The four happened to be in the same meeting, and soon found themselves standing in the home of a professor, Dr. Glen MacLanahan - "Or GlenMac to my friends! Er, please help yourself to the snacks - I may have, er, overindulged."
He explained that he was a professor of history and humanities, with a special interest in some of the more... unique aspects of East Texas.
A phone call from campus police alerted him to the presence of a strange man on campus - likely a homeless man.
A student, coming back from using the bathroom, asked GlenMac what the equipment in the other room was; the professor replied simply that it was private... which of course sparked the interest of Alora and Alistair. With Alistair running interference, asking GlenMac about his hobbies (which seemed to include various ghost stories, cryptids, and other strange myths and creatures), Alora crept into the other room. Pulling out her phone, she snapped pictures of the various equipment, as well as some cryptic documents on the desk, which she later realized were covered in occult symbols.
Sneaking into the next room, she nearly let a small, white, long-haired terrier loose! It yipped and jumped, and she only just managed to get the door closed and dash into the bathroom before GlenMac walked by. She quickly flushed the toilet and washed her hands; as she exited the toilet, GlenMac walked back past, shaking his head. "I swear that dog knows how to open doors sometimes!"
The group, done for the day, headed home. On the way back to their dorms, Zac and Alora caught sight of someone hanging around in front of the women's dorm; they approached, and when he saw them coming, he took off. Zac was hot on his heels, and Alora took a shortcut to catch up. The man was fast, and lead them on a merry chase, but they eventually cornered him. Realizing he wasn't going to be able to get away, he stopped, and after some questioning, admitted that he was trying to spy on the "girls". Zac let him go with a warning, and he took off.
As Zac and Alora headed back towards their dorms, Zac felt a pinch, and then another - fire ants! He quickly ripped his shirt off, swatting at the bugs, and Alora splashed some water on him to wash them off. Grumbling, he wondered aloud how they could have climbed up his leg and onto his back without biting him anywhere else. Oddly, the stings seemed to be grouped in a strange pattern - a circle with a line through it.
Will, meanwhile, had his own things to do, which he may or may not disclose to the others...
Normally, this is where I would write down XP gained, but ETU is a little different - XP is gained through time, not through actions. Instead, you'll get bennies, items, money, contacts, etc. Speaking of which:
Zac, Alora, and Will each get an extra benny for their scholastic prowess; Zac gets... well, an ant bite; Will (due to undisclosed shenanigans) gains a contact (check your email if you haven't), and Alistair... Alistair needs to stop trying to purchase lethal weapons. C'mon, man, you're 17, nobody is going to risk jail to sell you a gun!
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Aliens, and Resolution
After safely exiting the space station, leaving it to burn, the Tempus Frigate settled in for some repairs. And, during those repairs, Daisy found something that... shouldn't be there. In fact, a bug. It seemed to be super complex, and upon cracking it open, started to degrade almost immediately. After showing it to the captain, the crew realized that Daneel Kaspar had been tracking them the whole time! Just like Caelie had planned for the crew to disrupt Kaspar, Kaspar had been using Caelie!
With that in mind, the captain proposed one more trip: back to the day she stole the ship.
The space station looked just like it did before - with the addition of a very strange ship. Strangely organic, it's odd shape prompted a memory. Julius had seen this kind of ship before! It held the strange, teleporting aliens the Shifting Horizon had run into - the servants of the Entity.
Caelie's codes were, oddly, not valid; it took some hacking to get in. And indeed, just inside the small space station, the group met four of the self-same aliens! Their technology was a little older, but it was obviously the same species.
After a quick battle, in which the leader was absolutely shredded in the first volley of gunfire, the party mopped up and continued on. Only a single alien escaped. Daisy reached for the strange staff the leader had been carrying, and was zapped with a burst of lightning! After some poking and prodding, Julius recovered the leader's gloves, and handed them off to Samuel, who was able to pick up the staff without any trouble. A little experimenting found that with certain gestures, he was able to use it to see through walls!
Quickly, they made their way to the ship - the earlier version of the ship, that is - and removed the bug. Slipping out, they took out some guards, passed the earlier version of Caelie Kay, and finally reached the exit. And right behind them was a huge, organic, mech. It tossed the crew around a bit, but the heavy gunfire from them began taking its toll. Finally, the mech collapsed, fluids leaking out as it sagged into mush. Daisy, realizing there may still be a driver inside, pulled out her brand new last sword and poked a lovely hole in both the mech, and its driver. Julius and the other pumped a few extra rounds into the mass.
Struggling free, the pilot burst out with a snarl - none other than Daneel Kaspar! And, a burst of gunfire later, little of him remained... and he fell into dust, and vanished.
Back at the Tempus Frigate, the crew reached battle stations as the strange organic ship turned towards them. A salvo of missiles slammed into the ship; a direct hit nearly knocked out one of their lasers, but luckily, no one was injured. After two rounds of firing, the enemy ship suddenly stopped returning fire - or, indeed, moving at all. One of Julius' shots had blasted through the cabin, and neatly decapitated the pilot!
From out of range, the crew watched the younger Tempus Frigate jump out of the system; they returned and grabbed the alien ship, towing it to somewhere a little more private to work on it.
The Captain thanked each one - she knew that AlSec would no longer be able to time travel, and if they were, the Tempus Frigate would be able to stop them. She offered each of them a place - or, if they wanted to go back, then enough information to be able to handle their careers from that point forward.
Daisy, excited as she was with technology, decided to stay, and help the Captain. Julius, along with Samuel Green, asked that they be taken to near the time of the Shifting Horizon, to hopefully recover the crew that went missing. He took the alien ship with him, now in working order.
Henry decided to return home; the captain, with a knowing smile, handed him a small business card. On it was written a name and an address: "Peregrine Cycle, 1313 Warehouse Rd., Boston, MA." When he found the address, he recognized the man inside, as well - a tall, thin man, bald, and with a strange accent. "Ah. Henry. So good to finally meet you. It seems the years ahead will be... fraught with peril, I believe the phrase is. And I hear you have information about a certain upcoming alien crash?"
Amy Wilson returned home as well; after a terrible disaster, she moved to Texas, to assist with the Agency there.
Finally, Charles Greene returned home - to more familiar territory. He kept his laser gun, but under lock and key. He'd only been home for a few days when a tall, thin man with a dark beard and a black stetson knocked on his door. He introduced himself as Andrew Lane, and said the Agency was looking for a few good men to head out west... he had a job in Arizona.
-------
This may be the end of this adventure, but I can assure you that the world isn't through. There are yet more adventures to have here, folks! Keep watching this space!
With that in mind, the captain proposed one more trip: back to the day she stole the ship.
The space station looked just like it did before - with the addition of a very strange ship. Strangely organic, it's odd shape prompted a memory. Julius had seen this kind of ship before! It held the strange, teleporting aliens the Shifting Horizon had run into - the servants of the Entity.
Caelie's codes were, oddly, not valid; it took some hacking to get in. And indeed, just inside the small space station, the group met four of the self-same aliens! Their technology was a little older, but it was obviously the same species.
After a quick battle, in which the leader was absolutely shredded in the first volley of gunfire, the party mopped up and continued on. Only a single alien escaped. Daisy reached for the strange staff the leader had been carrying, and was zapped with a burst of lightning! After some poking and prodding, Julius recovered the leader's gloves, and handed them off to Samuel, who was able to pick up the staff without any trouble. A little experimenting found that with certain gestures, he was able to use it to see through walls!
Quickly, they made their way to the ship - the earlier version of the ship, that is - and removed the bug. Slipping out, they took out some guards, passed the earlier version of Caelie Kay, and finally reached the exit. And right behind them was a huge, organic, mech. It tossed the crew around a bit, but the heavy gunfire from them began taking its toll. Finally, the mech collapsed, fluids leaking out as it sagged into mush. Daisy, realizing there may still be a driver inside, pulled out her brand new last sword and poked a lovely hole in both the mech, and its driver. Julius and the other pumped a few extra rounds into the mass.
Struggling free, the pilot burst out with a snarl - none other than Daneel Kaspar! And, a burst of gunfire later, little of him remained... and he fell into dust, and vanished.
Back at the Tempus Frigate, the crew reached battle stations as the strange organic ship turned towards them. A salvo of missiles slammed into the ship; a direct hit nearly knocked out one of their lasers, but luckily, no one was injured. After two rounds of firing, the enemy ship suddenly stopped returning fire - or, indeed, moving at all. One of Julius' shots had blasted through the cabin, and neatly decapitated the pilot!
From out of range, the crew watched the younger Tempus Frigate jump out of the system; they returned and grabbed the alien ship, towing it to somewhere a little more private to work on it.
The Captain thanked each one - she knew that AlSec would no longer be able to time travel, and if they were, the Tempus Frigate would be able to stop them. She offered each of them a place - or, if they wanted to go back, then enough information to be able to handle their careers from that point forward.
Daisy, excited as she was with technology, decided to stay, and help the Captain. Julius, along with Samuel Green, asked that they be taken to near the time of the Shifting Horizon, to hopefully recover the crew that went missing. He took the alien ship with him, now in working order.
Henry decided to return home; the captain, with a knowing smile, handed him a small business card. On it was written a name and an address: "Peregrine Cycle, 1313 Warehouse Rd., Boston, MA." When he found the address, he recognized the man inside, as well - a tall, thin man, bald, and with a strange accent. "Ah. Henry. So good to finally meet you. It seems the years ahead will be... fraught with peril, I believe the phrase is. And I hear you have information about a certain upcoming alien crash?"
Amy Wilson returned home as well; after a terrible disaster, she moved to Texas, to assist with the Agency there.
Finally, Charles Greene returned home - to more familiar territory. He kept his laser gun, but under lock and key. He'd only been home for a few days when a tall, thin man with a dark beard and a black stetson knocked on his door. He introduced himself as Andrew Lane, and said the Agency was looking for a few good men to head out west... he had a job in Arizona.
-------
This may be the end of this adventure, but I can assure you that the world isn't through. There are yet more adventures to have here, folks! Keep watching this space!
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Tempus Frigate: Mech Tech Mash Test Makes Mass Mess
Floating outside in the serene emptiness of space, Daisy decided to do a little recon. The observation window was set into a shallow on the side of the enormous space station's hull; flying to the outside of the area revealed a number of super-heavy quad laser turrets, and shielded anti-missile minigun placements. After some exploratory shots, Daisy realized the miniguns were too tough to blast away, and with them in place, she was a prime target. Chagrined, she headed back to the observation window. A second observation window proved much tougher to enter - the glass was hardened against outside entrance - and so she returned to the smashed window.
Julius managed to get himself upright, and was checking himself for bruises. Seeing her return, he unleashed a stream of what was intended to be verbal lashing, but mostly was just waving his arms around - his coms were temporarily damaged. Oblivious, Daisy explained the gun placements, and squeezed past him into the hallway. She sized up the door for any possibility of shooting through it...
Meanwhile, in the medbay, Caelie, Samuel, Henry, and Charles tried to figure out why the door suddenly slammed shut. Caelie contacted Daisy on coms, who filled her in on her actions. After the collective facepalm from the occupants of the medbay, Daisy added, "And I'm going to try to shoot through these doors!"
Before Caelie could stop her, she fired, cracking open the decompression doors! Confused by the hiss of air, Daisy fired into the opening blindly - "There are snakes on the other side!"
Thankfully, once Julius moved out of the observation deck and moved the broken door, the decompression shields were able to slam shut, and the air quickly equalized. Pressure restored, the med bay door opened, and the only-slightly-woozy Samuel stumbled out, supported by the others.
With two of the gunners gone, Julius was able to successfully sneak down the hallway, and knifed the other two gunners. Around the next corner were a number of well-armed AlSec agents; co-opting the heavy guns, the party began firing at the agents. The flying mech proved to be quite resilient, and soon, the squad was dealt with - including a fellow in heavy power armor.
Julius, lusting after the well-armored suit, used his black chip o keep it at least somewhat functioning... it'll need repair, of course, but here are its stats:
Heavy power armor: $2,221,000
Armor :16
Jump Pack: jump up to 2x pace horizontal, 1x pace vertical
Self Sealing: holes caused by taking 1 or 2 wounds are automatically sealed
Strength Enhancement: +3 die types
Targeting System: remove -2 of any ranged attack penalty
3x Strength Enhancement (raise player's strength die type 3 times)
Weapons:
Grenade launcher: 24/48/96, RoF 1, 20 shots, any grenade
Auto cannon, medium: AP 6, HW, 50/100/200, 3d8, RoF 3, 100 rounds, $400 to reload
2x Light MG: AP 2, 30/60/120, 2d8, RoF 4, 200 rounds; $150 to reload (each)
The light machine guns and the auto cannon cannot fire on the same round, due to manual weapon switching (either the cannon, or the dual MGs). Granted, if you need that much firepower, you probably should have chosen a vehicle...
After finishing off the squad of goons, Caelie lead the party to the main medical facility, and got everyone healed up (though Samuel's genitalia are still only in the possession of his younger self, much to his chagrin). Not far from there was a control room, where she settled in for some good ol' hacking, as goons poured in from all over the station.
After five rounds of fighting off the growing hordes of enemies, Samuel's flying mech was shut down by a combined EMP effort; Daisy, with the heavy power armor, managed to hold her own, and Henry and Julius blasted through the last of the resistance. The station alarm began to sound, a new sound this time - one that Caelie acknowledged with grim satisfaction. She had set the main gun turrets to fire on all available targets, including friendlies... and additionally set the station to self destruct.
Just as the began to leave... the flamethrower mech arrived. The combined firepower of the party proved too much for it, however, and it was reduced to cinders and scrap.
The group fled to the nearest airlock; they were small enough targets that the main guns didn't fire on them, though they got to watch several of the AlSec ships get blasted. They floated out of the range of the station, pulled by Daisy, and rendezvoused with the Tempus Frigate.
Comm chatter revealed there was at least one ship that got away: the ship carrying Captain Daneel Kaspar.
There are some repairs to make, but it looks like the party has but one final target... but where? And more importantly... when?
Julius managed to get himself upright, and was checking himself for bruises. Seeing her return, he unleashed a stream of what was intended to be verbal lashing, but mostly was just waving his arms around - his coms were temporarily damaged. Oblivious, Daisy explained the gun placements, and squeezed past him into the hallway. She sized up the door for any possibility of shooting through it...
Meanwhile, in the medbay, Caelie, Samuel, Henry, and Charles tried to figure out why the door suddenly slammed shut. Caelie contacted Daisy on coms, who filled her in on her actions. After the collective facepalm from the occupants of the medbay, Daisy added, "And I'm going to try to shoot through these doors!"
Before Caelie could stop her, she fired, cracking open the decompression doors! Confused by the hiss of air, Daisy fired into the opening blindly - "There are snakes on the other side!"
Thankfully, once Julius moved out of the observation deck and moved the broken door, the decompression shields were able to slam shut, and the air quickly equalized. Pressure restored, the med bay door opened, and the only-slightly-woozy Samuel stumbled out, supported by the others.
With two of the gunners gone, Julius was able to successfully sneak down the hallway, and knifed the other two gunners. Around the next corner were a number of well-armed AlSec agents; co-opting the heavy guns, the party began firing at the agents. The flying mech proved to be quite resilient, and soon, the squad was dealt with - including a fellow in heavy power armor.
Julius, lusting after the well-armored suit, used his black chip o keep it at least somewhat functioning... it'll need repair, of course, but here are its stats:
Heavy power armor: $2,221,000
Armor :16
Jump Pack: jump up to 2x pace horizontal, 1x pace vertical
Self Sealing: holes caused by taking 1 or 2 wounds are automatically sealed
Strength Enhancement: +3 die types
Targeting System: remove -2 of any ranged attack penalty
3x Strength Enhancement (raise player's strength die type 3 times)
Weapons:
Grenade launcher: 24/48/96, RoF 1, 20 shots, any grenade
Auto cannon, medium: AP 6, HW, 50/100/200, 3d8, RoF 3, 100 rounds, $400 to reload
2x Light MG: AP 2, 30/60/120, 2d8, RoF 4, 200 rounds; $150 to reload (each)
The light machine guns and the auto cannon cannot fire on the same round, due to manual weapon switching (either the cannon, or the dual MGs). Granted, if you need that much firepower, you probably should have chosen a vehicle...
After finishing off the squad of goons, Caelie lead the party to the main medical facility, and got everyone healed up (though Samuel's genitalia are still only in the possession of his younger self, much to his chagrin). Not far from there was a control room, where she settled in for some good ol' hacking, as goons poured in from all over the station.
After five rounds of fighting off the growing hordes of enemies, Samuel's flying mech was shut down by a combined EMP effort; Daisy, with the heavy power armor, managed to hold her own, and Henry and Julius blasted through the last of the resistance. The station alarm began to sound, a new sound this time - one that Caelie acknowledged with grim satisfaction. She had set the main gun turrets to fire on all available targets, including friendlies... and additionally set the station to self destruct.
Just as the began to leave... the flamethrower mech arrived. The combined firepower of the party proved too much for it, however, and it was reduced to cinders and scrap.
The group fled to the nearest airlock; they were small enough targets that the main guns didn't fire on them, though they got to watch several of the AlSec ships get blasted. They floated out of the range of the station, pulled by Daisy, and rendezvoused with the Tempus Frigate.
Comm chatter revealed there was at least one ship that got away: the ship carrying Captain Daneel Kaspar.
There are some repairs to make, but it looks like the party has but one final target... but where? And more importantly... when?
Tempus Frigate: Hot and Breathless
Arriving at the outer airlock door, Daisy immediately began searching for an access panel, and hacked in with ease. After a short wander down a hallway, the group found themselves staring at the back of a rather large mech - a walker, actually!
Julius crept by, his suit making him nearly invisible. Past the mech was a human-sized door; sneaking inside, he found two techs, working at the controls. Drawing his mono-filament knife, he stabbed one, and grabbed the other around the neck! After a short struggle, he killed the second tech. One by one, the crew sneak past the walker, who manages to not spot a single one of them. Even Daisy's cartoonish sneaking managed to get past the apparently sleeping driver.
Until Samuel Green, that is. Only he and Henry were left; as he tried to creep past, he must have made some sort of noise, because the huge machine finally spotted him. As it turned to fire, it caught sight of the others, hiding in the control room! It fired its cannon at Samuel, then hosed down both he and the others with its flamethrowers! Luckily for Samuel, the cannon missed... but unluckily, the flamethrower did not. His suit burned beyond recognition, he collapsed; Caelie dragged him into the control room. As Henry booked it past, everyone ducked out the other door, just out of range of the next gout of flames.
A few minutes of first aid later, and everyone was at least stabilized; Samuel was still down for the count, but at least he wasn't bleeding out. Though... the direct blast of flames had removed his lower anatomy. Specifically, his reproductive anatomy.
Julius crept by, his suit making him nearly invisible. Past the mech was a human-sized door; sneaking inside, he found two techs, working at the controls. Drawing his mono-filament knife, he stabbed one, and grabbed the other around the neck! After a short struggle, he killed the second tech. One by one, the crew sneak past the walker, who manages to not spot a single one of them. Even Daisy's cartoonish sneaking managed to get past the apparently sleeping driver.
Until Samuel Green, that is. Only he and Henry were left; as he tried to creep past, he must have made some sort of noise, because the huge machine finally spotted him. As it turned to fire, it caught sight of the others, hiding in the control room! It fired its cannon at Samuel, then hosed down both he and the others with its flamethrowers! Luckily for Samuel, the cannon missed... but unluckily, the flamethrower did not. His suit burned beyond recognition, he collapsed; Caelie dragged him into the control room. As Henry booked it past, everyone ducked out the other door, just out of range of the next gout of flames.
A few minutes of first aid later, and everyone was at least stabilized; Samuel was still down for the count, but at least he wasn't bleeding out. Though... the direct blast of flames had removed his lower anatomy. Specifically, his reproductive anatomy.
As the somewhat singed crew made their way down the hallway, they came across a door with an interesting symbol: a line with a starburst at the end, and a second symbol with a lightning bolt. Opening the door revealed a bank of electrical equipment; every few minutes, an arc of electricity accompanied a building light-source. They shut the door before the light was entirely blinding...
Next they found two very useful entrances: first, a hangar bay, and second, a medical facility. The medical bay's occupants were quickly dispatched, and Samuel was set up on a healing table, as the other wounded were tended to.
Daisy, Henry, and Julius went across the hall to the hangar bay. Daisy, no good in a firefight, decided to take a closer look at one of the large mechs - a flying design with sharp talons and mounted lasers. She managed to figure out the controls, and took off. As Julius and Henry took out the techs, Daisy decided to get into a fist fight with the ship's defensive turrets. Ha! Who brings a laser turret to a fist fight? She tore the two turrets off the wall.
Samuel, meanwhile, managed to recover. His first thought as he woke up was that he needed to devise a heist to steal back his family jewels from his younger self... "He didn't use them anyway, and I need them!"
The fight over, Daisy went exploring, kicking in doors with her hallway-filling mech. Julius peeked inside each one. Just as he was checking out the observation deck, Daisy turned a corner and was met with a hail of heavy gunfire! She doubled back and rushed past Julius, yelling, "They're shooting at me!"
Now... in her defense, Daisy is from the 1930s. She really didn't know there wasn't air in space. As she rushed past Julius, she opened fire on the observation window, and slammed into it at full force. Julius only just managed to turn on his mag-boots before the air in the room was sucked out into space!
Right behind him were two of the four heavy gunners, but unfortunately, they didn't exactly have mag boots. As the decompression doors slammed shut, the two gunners were flung into space. Julius flapped in the wind like a flag, slamming against the deck, but luckily managed to hang on long enough for the outrushing of air to stop.
And on that cliffhanger, we will rejoin you next week!
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Tempus Frigate: Roswell That Ends Well
Finally having a moment to think, Julian decided to rename himself Julius, to bring himself out from under the shadow of his original.
He, Henry, and Samuel carefully scanned the area, using the remote and any sensors they could cobble together, but the nanites that escaped were well and truly gone. Whatever will come from that is anyone's guess.
Leaving the others to repair the ship, Julius headed in a spiral, keeping an eye out for any activity. As Amy warned, in a few days, interest would begin to pick up, and soon they would be overrun with government and military officials; he didn't want to get spotted early.
Up the road, he found a farmhouse and some outbuildings; there was a car in the drive, and he could hear music playing on a radio. Sneaking up to the building, he peeked in - a housewife was preparing dinner, it looked like. He crept around, then through the open back door and into the study. Finding a map, he began to leave, then paused. Pulling out his knife, he carved a "crop circle" into the wall of the house, then waited for the woman to notice. When she did, he revealed himself - a tall man in a power suit, standing in her kitchen! She screamed; he introduced himself. She dove for a gun, and he decided to head outside. After a bit of dialog, where he suggested she remain inside and stay away from the crash landing - the first she heard of it, by the way - she firmly requested he leave, mentioning she had a shotgun pointed at the door, so no funny business.
Julius circled the house, not finding any dish or communication equipment; over comms, he asked Henry, sho said to look for a box with a wire that ran into the ground. Julius found such a wire, pulled out his knife... and cut the wire to a blast of sparks. As it happens, he cut the power line, not the phone line; lucky for him, his knife survived. The front door... not so much. Startled, the woman of the house left a gaping shotgun hole in it. Julius continued around the house and found the phone line, and cut that with much less drama.
Unbeknownst to him, the woman had already called her husband, who returned from the far pasture with his head farmhand. Julius waited until sunset, when a car drove up, and the woman's husband stepped out, rifle in hand, and called out to her. After a bit of watching, he finally told the men to stay away from the field to the south, and left.
Meanwhile, Daisy continued to fix components. She fell asleep at 5, gently snoring into an access panel... and at 6 AM, a sharp knock sounded on the ship's door. Charles answered, finding a thin, bald man, wearing a black suit and tie. A Man in Black! The man suggested that, perhaps, could they finish repairs to their ship in the next 2 hours? Additionally, he asked Henry how Daisy was doing, and showed him his badge - a member of The Agency, with an identification number of AA-56.
Henry, groggy from missed sleep, found and woke up Daisy, and together they continued working on the ship, with Samuel assisting. The Man in Black - a member of the Agency, actually - bid them good day, and returned to his (spotless) black car.
Just in time, the ship lifted off, heading for a beacon that showed up on their screen.
Meanwhile, the Agent and several members of his team returned to the site, playing the rubber and metal to be found there later; he also paid a visit to the house just up the dirt road...
The beacon was, in fact, the warehouse. Oddly, it looked much the same inside in 1947 as it did in 2882; the door was blasted off its hinges, and the roof was slightly warped from where they had run into it, fleeing from AlSec.
There was one difference... Caelie Kay was waiting for them. She produced a part for Daisy to repair the time drive, and explained just why she had to be gone...
Captain Daneel Kaspar erased his past. He is, at the moment, a non-entity; while he can no longer return to his own time, there is no way to remove him from the time stream except by finding him and taking him out. Whatever his true mission is, it likely has to do with the Entity - AlSec has always planned on breaking the Entity out of its jail, and this is a last-ditch method to do just that. She also found their base of operations - they jumped around in time, setting up bases, all funnelling to this one location: 2268, in low orbit around Jupiter.
Julius wasn't quite ready to give up command, but Calie opened the ship's door, and gestured behind her. "Would you rather stay?"
Behind her, the walls of the warehouse were beginning to go gray; objects fell into nothingness. Grumbling, Julian agreed, and the ship lifted off. Behind them, the open roof of the warehouse fell inward, fading out like a hologram, leaving the warehouse untouched. No trace of the time-traveling interior remained; only a blocky street address: "Warehouse 13".
The ship finally in working order, all the guns and shielding intact and functioning, the party made their way to the base. They fired themselves out of the airlock, and using their space suits' controls, managed to make a perfect landing on the far door of the base. They were ready for battle... or at least as ready as they would ever be.
He, Henry, and Samuel carefully scanned the area, using the remote and any sensors they could cobble together, but the nanites that escaped were well and truly gone. Whatever will come from that is anyone's guess.
Leaving the others to repair the ship, Julius headed in a spiral, keeping an eye out for any activity. As Amy warned, in a few days, interest would begin to pick up, and soon they would be overrun with government and military officials; he didn't want to get spotted early.
Up the road, he found a farmhouse and some outbuildings; there was a car in the drive, and he could hear music playing on a radio. Sneaking up to the building, he peeked in - a housewife was preparing dinner, it looked like. He crept around, then through the open back door and into the study. Finding a map, he began to leave, then paused. Pulling out his knife, he carved a "crop circle" into the wall of the house, then waited for the woman to notice. When she did, he revealed himself - a tall man in a power suit, standing in her kitchen! She screamed; he introduced himself. She dove for a gun, and he decided to head outside. After a bit of dialog, where he suggested she remain inside and stay away from the crash landing - the first she heard of it, by the way - she firmly requested he leave, mentioning she had a shotgun pointed at the door, so no funny business.
Julius circled the house, not finding any dish or communication equipment; over comms, he asked Henry, sho said to look for a box with a wire that ran into the ground. Julius found such a wire, pulled out his knife... and cut the wire to a blast of sparks. As it happens, he cut the power line, not the phone line; lucky for him, his knife survived. The front door... not so much. Startled, the woman of the house left a gaping shotgun hole in it. Julius continued around the house and found the phone line, and cut that with much less drama.
Unbeknownst to him, the woman had already called her husband, who returned from the far pasture with his head farmhand. Julius waited until sunset, when a car drove up, and the woman's husband stepped out, rifle in hand, and called out to her. After a bit of watching, he finally told the men to stay away from the field to the south, and left.
Meanwhile, Daisy continued to fix components. She fell asleep at 5, gently snoring into an access panel... and at 6 AM, a sharp knock sounded on the ship's door. Charles answered, finding a thin, bald man, wearing a black suit and tie. A Man in Black! The man suggested that, perhaps, could they finish repairs to their ship in the next 2 hours? Additionally, he asked Henry how Daisy was doing, and showed him his badge - a member of The Agency, with an identification number of AA-56.
Henry, groggy from missed sleep, found and woke up Daisy, and together they continued working on the ship, with Samuel assisting. The Man in Black - a member of the Agency, actually - bid them good day, and returned to his (spotless) black car.
Just in time, the ship lifted off, heading for a beacon that showed up on their screen.
Meanwhile, the Agent and several members of his team returned to the site, playing the rubber and metal to be found there later; he also paid a visit to the house just up the dirt road...
The beacon was, in fact, the warehouse. Oddly, it looked much the same inside in 1947 as it did in 2882; the door was blasted off its hinges, and the roof was slightly warped from where they had run into it, fleeing from AlSec.
There was one difference... Caelie Kay was waiting for them. She produced a part for Daisy to repair the time drive, and explained just why she had to be gone...
Captain Daneel Kaspar erased his past. He is, at the moment, a non-entity; while he can no longer return to his own time, there is no way to remove him from the time stream except by finding him and taking him out. Whatever his true mission is, it likely has to do with the Entity - AlSec has always planned on breaking the Entity out of its jail, and this is a last-ditch method to do just that. She also found their base of operations - they jumped around in time, setting up bases, all funnelling to this one location: 2268, in low orbit around Jupiter.
Julius wasn't quite ready to give up command, but Calie opened the ship's door, and gestured behind her. "Would you rather stay?"
Behind her, the walls of the warehouse were beginning to go gray; objects fell into nothingness. Grumbling, Julian agreed, and the ship lifted off. Behind them, the open roof of the warehouse fell inward, fading out like a hologram, leaving the warehouse untouched. No trace of the time-traveling interior remained; only a blocky street address: "Warehouse 13".
The ship finally in working order, all the guns and shielding intact and functioning, the party made their way to the base. They fired themselves out of the airlock, and using their space suits' controls, managed to make a perfect landing on the far door of the base. They were ready for battle... or at least as ready as they would ever be.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Tempus Frigate: Oops, Did I Be That?
While Julian and Samuel explored the pirate base, the others cautiously filed out of their rooms. Daisy got upset at Julian, seeing as how he left the ship with only 8% working systems. It would take a drydock to get everything back online.
She, Henry, Charles, and Amy put on their suits (Charles luckily remembered to put his guns on the outside of his suit) and space-walked into the pirates' base. Whoever was there originally seemed to have either fled or died; there was no more noise from them, at any rate.
Julian and Henry picked a different door, and continued through it. This one lead to a large, heavy door - the entrance to the mining operation. Inside, they found a lot of broken and abandoned equipment, and a very well-secured door, with a strange image on it:
Of course, it wasn't labeled or anything, so they had no idea what it was... but if it needed a strong door like that to keep it from getting out, then chances are, it should be left alone. They headed back to the main entrance.
Meanwhile, Daisy and Charles were sorting through the parts, prioritizing what they needed. This being Daisy, she also took a lot of stuff she didn't need, but just in case, right?
Julian and Henry next found a row of offices, and then the security building. Meanwhile, Amy, Charles, and Samuel headed for the last door, and found some interesting treasure - artwork, books, and other tangible, but non-liquid items (as the accountant would put it). At the end of the hallway, they found several barrels, similar to the ones Julian had found earlier. These were marked Repair #37 (4), Repair #12 (1), Replication #7 (2), and Experimental #119 (1). Each had the same symbol as the door marked on it. The barrel they opened seemed to contain a fine gray dust. After some debate and experimentation, Julian tested out his remote - the barrels were full of nanites! Daisy immediately began using the nanites to repair the ship; Cleo suggested that maybe, they might want to make haste, as the pirates were due back any moment.
It was that moment Echo showed up. Just a kid, he had stowed away when they were last in their base, having arrived from the year 2107.
With some money, they take the ship to 2882, where Daisy continues repairs. Henry, meanwhile, gained some new eyes, and lost his fancy helmet; he was a little weirded out by the fact that the doctor that saw him was... not there. Remote, or android? You decide!
Daisy, tired of poking the nanites along, hooked the remote up to Cleo, and suddenly repairs were taking place in the blink of an eye! Once Henry returned, Julian called a ship meeting, suggesting that perhaps he should be made captain, with Henry as first mate. Daisy is not entirely for it; Henry seemed ok with it, and managed to convince Daisy that they will still be fighting the bad guys. Amy suggests that the next time they see Capt. Kay, they try again; Julian agrees, though likely with his fingers crossed...
In the warehouse, Julian and Henry poke around, eventually finding a small room at the back, with a cot and part of a timeline. Interestingly, even their recent escapades were noted on the timeline, as if someone had forecast their actions. They took the timeline, and were poking around some more when suddenly, someone tried to break open the door! Henry raced back to the ship, and Julian (in his fancy suit) zipped past him, grabbing the kid on the way past. The Tempus Frigate closed her door just as the warehouse door crashed open, revealing AlSec agents, who began pouring in! With the shields up, small arms fire did little to harm them; Cleo opened the roof of the warehouse, and gunned it the moment some agents began setting up a shield-busting weapon. Wrenching the doors slightly, the ship jumped for the past, narrowly missing a rather large battleship cruising in.
With the engines barely functioning, and the time drive on the fritz, they had no idea where they were heading... or when. The ship blinked back into the timestream about a desert; only Daisy's expert piloting managed to land the ship in one piece, though it temporarily shut down the shields and jostled everyone around a bit. However, the damage was enough to wreck some of the more delicate patches in place, and Cleo suddenly went offline. Worse, one of the barrels of Replicate #7 broke open, and the nanites escaped through the ship, heading into the wild!
Careful tracking found only that the nanites had been given some gibberish signals; they were well and truly gone. There was nothing left but to figure out where they were, and all they had was a set of coordinates, and no way to check them. At least they knew when they were: June 13th, 1947.
Amy racked her brain... why did that date seem familiar? Suddenly, she realized - they were in New Mexico. Specifically, Roswell, New Mexico. They were the Roswell Crash!
She, Henry, Charles, and Amy put on their suits (Charles luckily remembered to put his guns on the outside of his suit) and space-walked into the pirates' base. Whoever was there originally seemed to have either fled or died; there was no more noise from them, at any rate.
Julian and Henry picked a different door, and continued through it. This one lead to a large, heavy door - the entrance to the mining operation. Inside, they found a lot of broken and abandoned equipment, and a very well-secured door, with a strange image on it:
 |
| NANOHAZARD |
Meanwhile, Daisy and Charles were sorting through the parts, prioritizing what they needed. This being Daisy, she also took a lot of stuff she didn't need, but just in case, right?
Julian and Henry next found a row of offices, and then the security building. Meanwhile, Amy, Charles, and Samuel headed for the last door, and found some interesting treasure - artwork, books, and other tangible, but non-liquid items (as the accountant would put it). At the end of the hallway, they found several barrels, similar to the ones Julian had found earlier. These were marked Repair #37 (4), Repair #12 (1), Replication #7 (2), and Experimental #119 (1). Each had the same symbol as the door marked on it. The barrel they opened seemed to contain a fine gray dust. After some debate and experimentation, Julian tested out his remote - the barrels were full of nanites! Daisy immediately began using the nanites to repair the ship; Cleo suggested that maybe, they might want to make haste, as the pirates were due back any moment.
It was that moment Echo showed up. Just a kid, he had stowed away when they were last in their base, having arrived from the year 2107.
With some money, they take the ship to 2882, where Daisy continues repairs. Henry, meanwhile, gained some new eyes, and lost his fancy helmet; he was a little weirded out by the fact that the doctor that saw him was... not there. Remote, or android? You decide!
Daisy, tired of poking the nanites along, hooked the remote up to Cleo, and suddenly repairs were taking place in the blink of an eye! Once Henry returned, Julian called a ship meeting, suggesting that perhaps he should be made captain, with Henry as first mate. Daisy is not entirely for it; Henry seemed ok with it, and managed to convince Daisy that they will still be fighting the bad guys. Amy suggests that the next time they see Capt. Kay, they try again; Julian agrees, though likely with his fingers crossed...
In the warehouse, Julian and Henry poke around, eventually finding a small room at the back, with a cot and part of a timeline. Interestingly, even their recent escapades were noted on the timeline, as if someone had forecast their actions. They took the timeline, and were poking around some more when suddenly, someone tried to break open the door! Henry raced back to the ship, and Julian (in his fancy suit) zipped past him, grabbing the kid on the way past. The Tempus Frigate closed her door just as the warehouse door crashed open, revealing AlSec agents, who began pouring in! With the shields up, small arms fire did little to harm them; Cleo opened the roof of the warehouse, and gunned it the moment some agents began setting up a shield-busting weapon. Wrenching the doors slightly, the ship jumped for the past, narrowly missing a rather large battleship cruising in.
With the engines barely functioning, and the time drive on the fritz, they had no idea where they were heading... or when. The ship blinked back into the timestream about a desert; only Daisy's expert piloting managed to land the ship in one piece, though it temporarily shut down the shields and jostled everyone around a bit. However, the damage was enough to wreck some of the more delicate patches in place, and Cleo suddenly went offline. Worse, one of the barrels of Replicate #7 broke open, and the nanites escaped through the ship, heading into the wild!
Careful tracking found only that the nanites had been given some gibberish signals; they were well and truly gone. There was nothing left but to figure out where they were, and all they had was a set of coordinates, and no way to check them. At least they knew when they were: June 13th, 1947.
Amy racked her brain... why did that date seem familiar? Suddenly, she realized - they were in New Mexico. Specifically, Roswell, New Mexico. They were the Roswell Crash!
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Tempus Frigate
I have to admit... this is going to be a little bit long, because I took way too long to actually write all of this down. Nonetheless, onward!
Our adventure begins in... well, a lot of places, actually. Each hero received a message of some sort; Daisy, Henry, Charles Greene, and Amy Wilson each received a note from a mysterious figure in a duster. I'll get back to them.
Meanwhile, Clone-Julian, of Shifting Horizon fame, awoke in the year 2882 to the sound of gunfire. Trapped in some kind of cryo-pod, he could only watch through the viewing window as two figures floated into the room. They seemed to make some adjustments, then gave him a thumbs-up, and floated out. Not long afterwards... the ship cracked apart, sending him floating into deep space. He slept, and when he awoke... the pod was open, and a message played, beamed directly into his eyeballs by laser. A zoomed-in face appeared, sideways, then adjusted, revealing a young woman wearing a long coat. She nodded smartly and said, "Greetings! I am Captain Kay. I am putting together an elite team of heroes for a special mission. This message supersedes any prior orders; by responding, you will help protect the very foundations of our civilization! The meeting location is just across the walk-junction, at 1900 hours. Entry password is Umbra. Kay out!"
Somewhat confused, Julian stepped out of the pod, and into a busy city. He found the warehouse and used the password, then stepped down a set of stairs to find a ship, waiting within.
A few years prior, in 2152, a man named Samuel Green found himself in a bit of a predicament. He and his crew were to be the first successful pilots of a jumpship... but unfortunately, jumping was not entirely safe. After the first jump, he found himself staring out at a blanket of stars, far from Earth - in fact, far from his solar system. There was a celebration, but then... not so much. The second jump did not return them home. nor did the third, nor the fourth. The pilot snapped, and strangled the captain with his own seatbelt, leaving Samuel to scramble for the lifeboat. As oxygen ran low, his eyelids drooped... then he saw a ship suddenly loom in his viewport. When he awoke, he was in a large, white room, laying on a soft cot, next to a ship sitting in dock.
Back again, to 1982. Amy Wilson, an accountant with an eye for solving mysteries, met the mysterious stranger. Having nothing better to do with her time, she followed the instructions on the note - and found herself in that same hanger.
In 1937, two strangers - Daisy, a naive we-can-do-it mechanic, and Henry, a blind army vet, met the same stranger, followed the same instructions, and found themselves in the very same hanger.
Finally, way back in 1882, a gentleman gunslinger named Charles Greene (no relation to Samuel Green, by the way) followed the stranger's note, and found himself in a strange, white warehouse.
Julian, Henry, and Daisy met; Henry scoffed at the very idea of a "space ship," but Daisy was quite interested. Suddenly, the door swung open, and Captain Caelie Kay stepped out. "Greetings!"
It took a while to convince the first three; Captain Kay explained that she had brought them together to stop a threat, and she needed each of their particular skills. She gave the standard time-traveling hero spiel: while you won't amount to much in your own timeline, if you come with me, you can be awesome!
Clone-Julian, of course, was having none of it - he was sure he was the real Julian, and had been kidnapped. Henry didn't believe they traveled through time at all, even after encountering some space-pirates. Only Daisy seemed to trust the captain - and, frankly, Henry and Julian are both irritated with her bubbly personality.
While leaving the space-pirates, Julian caught sight of a logo on an approaching ship... AlSec. Swearing, he realized that somehow, some of them had escaped his wrath. Grudgingly, Julian accepted Caelie's offer, if only to destroy AlSec entirely. Henry only accepted after getting a set of digital eyes - not as fancy as the real thing, but they seemed to do the trick (though it was fairly painful getting them in the first place). Daisy accepted almost before Captain Kay was done speaking, and was soon tinkering with the railguns and lasers, managing to fix one of the guns.
In a slightly alternate future (past? I'm not actually sure), the other three met up together: Charles Greene, sure he was getting hired for something interesting; Amy Wilson, confused; and Samuel Green, saved from space. Once again, they attacked the ship, retrieving the same fluid link the good Captain had saved before. Interesting how that worked out...
Of course, this time, it wasn't a far-future spaceman with lasers and skills in shooting just about everything, but a cowboy, an accountant, and a astronaut with an AK-47. The enemies (this time on a different side of the station) were about the same number, but the fight took quite a bit longer. Finally, Amy managed to fire her dad's handgun through a pirate, and the two Green(e)s managed to finally spray everything with enough lead that it stopped moving. Everyone took a few hits, but even without armor, they managed to hold themselves together.
These three accepted right away.
Finally together, the six found themselves back on Earth. Well... Earth-ish. This was Earth during the cleansing of Earth - the great battle with AlSec forces. While the space battle raged overhead, the security forces on the planet were besieged by (the real) Julian's forces, backing up freedom fighters. Unnoticed in the fray, the group moved to a nondescript building. On the second floor, they encountered some guards, and made short work of them; continuing up, they met a few pockets of resistance, and eventually made it to the building core, where they found a safe, and Captain Kay began hacking some information out of the terminal. In the safe were the following items, some of which were used in the ensuing firefight:
2 EMP Grenade, 2 Frag Grenade, 2 Smoke Grenade, 1 Thermal Grenade, 2 Sonic Grenade
1 Sonic Shotgun, 1 Shotgun, full-auto
1 JumpVodka
1 Smartshield: +4 armor, negates AP; if it sustains 20+ points of damage in a round, it flickers off and needs a repair roll to fix.
Outside the security room, forces gathered. Those inside took up defensive positions, covering Caelie as she worked on the computer. After a rough battle, the Captain had finally gathered the information she needed. The party was forced to allow the commander of the forces to flee.
As it turns out, that man was none other than Captain Daneel Kaspar of AlSec; it seems he was in charge of a secret time travel device... built according to the specifications of a certain "mad sage," Dr. Vincentius Becly. The same man who was murdered on the Shifting Horizon. Kaspar worked his way up through the ranks with ruthless efficiency, and took over the time travel program. He set up bases in three time periods: 1992, 2082, and 2222.
The group finished looking over the documents, and suddenly... the papers began going gray. In a moment, they had fallen into gray powder, then even that vanished. Caelie sighed, dusting off her hands. That was the dangerous part of time traveling... paradoxes are not allowed to resist, and the universe will attempt to right any wrongs.
Every decision ever made existed at one time, but as time progresses, the "unused" decisions are lopped off. Even with time travel, it is very difficult to change the future, simply because the universe has built-in rules for holding itself together. Breaking those rules may result in you being lopped off. The papers were affected by something Kaspar had done - in that reality, at least, he never existed.
Of course, time travel is hard, and there is rather a lot of science that can't explain how it works, so suffice to say that while those papers ceased to be, the memories did not. Usually, no one would notice when things vanish, simply because they really had always been that way, at least for anyone who hadn't traveled through time. There is a great many papers written about the subject, but I'll leave it at this: changing time can be very bad for anyone after that point. Little changes are fine, and get reabsorbed without much fuss, but big changes can result in you never having existed in the first place.
Which lead to the next problem: Kaspar. The party knew he was in one of three locations, in one of three time periods. A little research later, they found the locations. Daisy, meanwhile, pulled up some tool manuals, and started working on the laser again.
The first time period, 2222, resulted in nothing but an empty ship. But 1992 turned up just what they were looking for. The Captain left them to fight on their own, staying back to pilot the ship. Inside, the team fought through several waves of goons... and after the first wave, found themselves fighting a very strange man indeed. He appeared out of nowhere, shouted, "In the past!", and opened fire. He took quite a lot of damage, and managed to nearly injure several of the crew, before popping back out.
Further inside, they found Captain Kaspar himself. After a rousing battle which included Kaspar mocking them all, Kaspar left them with a parting remark: "Check your histories!"
Daisy, realizing she wasn't going to be much good in a firefight, left to pilfer parts.
After the mission, Julian and the others used the Tempus Frigate's computers to search their pasts... and found just how ignoble their lives really were. Daisy was killed a day later in a gang war; Henry stepped out into traffic and died. Julian discovered he was a clone. Samuel found he died in space. Amy tripped headlong off a building. And Charles shot himself while cleaning his gun.
Julian, of course, decided the best course of action was to get drunk out of his head, then go fight pirates. Sans Captain Kay, who said she had another mission to work on...
After using the ship's guns to great success, Julian gained access to a pirate stronghold. Inside, he and the others found little to no resistance; apart from two voices on the radio, he met no one. Granted, his firefight with the station resulted in the ship gaining 3 wounds - it was in bad shape before, but at this point, it is barely hanging together.
Exploring the quarters, Julian and Samuel found a secret passage. Deeper in, Julian came face to face with a strange, fast-moving rock-creature, who left him alone. Finally, the two found the treasure trove, containing a bit of cash, some basic guns... and a set of light power armor: 8 Armor, Pace 10 with a Running Die of d10, and Stealth Systems, giving a -4 to hit or scan. It is also Self Sealing, so able to be used in space or underwater.
***
Whew. Join us next time, for more time-travel shenanigans!
Our adventure begins in... well, a lot of places, actually. Each hero received a message of some sort; Daisy, Henry, Charles Greene, and Amy Wilson each received a note from a mysterious figure in a duster. I'll get back to them.
Meanwhile, Clone-Julian, of Shifting Horizon fame, awoke in the year 2882 to the sound of gunfire. Trapped in some kind of cryo-pod, he could only watch through the viewing window as two figures floated into the room. They seemed to make some adjustments, then gave him a thumbs-up, and floated out. Not long afterwards... the ship cracked apart, sending him floating into deep space. He slept, and when he awoke... the pod was open, and a message played, beamed directly into his eyeballs by laser. A zoomed-in face appeared, sideways, then adjusted, revealing a young woman wearing a long coat. She nodded smartly and said, "Greetings! I am Captain Kay. I am putting together an elite team of heroes for a special mission. This message supersedes any prior orders; by responding, you will help protect the very foundations of our civilization! The meeting location is just across the walk-junction, at 1900 hours. Entry password is Umbra. Kay out!"
Somewhat confused, Julian stepped out of the pod, and into a busy city. He found the warehouse and used the password, then stepped down a set of stairs to find a ship, waiting within.
A few years prior, in 2152, a man named Samuel Green found himself in a bit of a predicament. He and his crew were to be the first successful pilots of a jumpship... but unfortunately, jumping was not entirely safe. After the first jump, he found himself staring out at a blanket of stars, far from Earth - in fact, far from his solar system. There was a celebration, but then... not so much. The second jump did not return them home. nor did the third, nor the fourth. The pilot snapped, and strangled the captain with his own seatbelt, leaving Samuel to scramble for the lifeboat. As oxygen ran low, his eyelids drooped... then he saw a ship suddenly loom in his viewport. When he awoke, he was in a large, white room, laying on a soft cot, next to a ship sitting in dock.
Back again, to 1982. Amy Wilson, an accountant with an eye for solving mysteries, met the mysterious stranger. Having nothing better to do with her time, she followed the instructions on the note - and found herself in that same hanger.
In 1937, two strangers - Daisy, a naive we-can-do-it mechanic, and Henry, a blind army vet, met the same stranger, followed the same instructions, and found themselves in the very same hanger.
Finally, way back in 1882, a gentleman gunslinger named Charles Greene (no relation to Samuel Green, by the way) followed the stranger's note, and found himself in a strange, white warehouse.
Julian, Henry, and Daisy met; Henry scoffed at the very idea of a "space ship," but Daisy was quite interested. Suddenly, the door swung open, and Captain Caelie Kay stepped out. "Greetings!"
It took a while to convince the first three; Captain Kay explained that she had brought them together to stop a threat, and she needed each of their particular skills. She gave the standard time-traveling hero spiel: while you won't amount to much in your own timeline, if you come with me, you can be awesome!
Clone-Julian, of course, was having none of it - he was sure he was the real Julian, and had been kidnapped. Henry didn't believe they traveled through time at all, even after encountering some space-pirates. Only Daisy seemed to trust the captain - and, frankly, Henry and Julian are both irritated with her bubbly personality.
While leaving the space-pirates, Julian caught sight of a logo on an approaching ship... AlSec. Swearing, he realized that somehow, some of them had escaped his wrath. Grudgingly, Julian accepted Caelie's offer, if only to destroy AlSec entirely. Henry only accepted after getting a set of digital eyes - not as fancy as the real thing, but they seemed to do the trick (though it was fairly painful getting them in the first place). Daisy accepted almost before Captain Kay was done speaking, and was soon tinkering with the railguns and lasers, managing to fix one of the guns.
In a slightly alternate future (past? I'm not actually sure), the other three met up together: Charles Greene, sure he was getting hired for something interesting; Amy Wilson, confused; and Samuel Green, saved from space. Once again, they attacked the ship, retrieving the same fluid link the good Captain had saved before. Interesting how that worked out...
Of course, this time, it wasn't a far-future spaceman with lasers and skills in shooting just about everything, but a cowboy, an accountant, and a astronaut with an AK-47. The enemies (this time on a different side of the station) were about the same number, but the fight took quite a bit longer. Finally, Amy managed to fire her dad's handgun through a pirate, and the two Green(e)s managed to finally spray everything with enough lead that it stopped moving. Everyone took a few hits, but even without armor, they managed to hold themselves together.
These three accepted right away.
Finally together, the six found themselves back on Earth. Well... Earth-ish. This was Earth during the cleansing of Earth - the great battle with AlSec forces. While the space battle raged overhead, the security forces on the planet were besieged by (the real) Julian's forces, backing up freedom fighters. Unnoticed in the fray, the group moved to a nondescript building. On the second floor, they encountered some guards, and made short work of them; continuing up, they met a few pockets of resistance, and eventually made it to the building core, where they found a safe, and Captain Kay began hacking some information out of the terminal. In the safe were the following items, some of which were used in the ensuing firefight:
2 EMP Grenade, 2 Frag Grenade, 2 Smoke Grenade, 1 Thermal Grenade, 2 Sonic Grenade
1 Sonic Shotgun, 1 Shotgun, full-auto
1 JumpVodka
1 Smartshield: +4 armor, negates AP; if it sustains 20+ points of damage in a round, it flickers off and needs a repair roll to fix.
Outside the security room, forces gathered. Those inside took up defensive positions, covering Caelie as she worked on the computer. After a rough battle, the Captain had finally gathered the information she needed. The party was forced to allow the commander of the forces to flee.
As it turns out, that man was none other than Captain Daneel Kaspar of AlSec; it seems he was in charge of a secret time travel device... built according to the specifications of a certain "mad sage," Dr. Vincentius Becly. The same man who was murdered on the Shifting Horizon. Kaspar worked his way up through the ranks with ruthless efficiency, and took over the time travel program. He set up bases in three time periods: 1992, 2082, and 2222.
The group finished looking over the documents, and suddenly... the papers began going gray. In a moment, they had fallen into gray powder, then even that vanished. Caelie sighed, dusting off her hands. That was the dangerous part of time traveling... paradoxes are not allowed to resist, and the universe will attempt to right any wrongs.
Every decision ever made existed at one time, but as time progresses, the "unused" decisions are lopped off. Even with time travel, it is very difficult to change the future, simply because the universe has built-in rules for holding itself together. Breaking those rules may result in you being lopped off. The papers were affected by something Kaspar had done - in that reality, at least, he never existed.
Of course, time travel is hard, and there is rather a lot of science that can't explain how it works, so suffice to say that while those papers ceased to be, the memories did not. Usually, no one would notice when things vanish, simply because they really had always been that way, at least for anyone who hadn't traveled through time. There is a great many papers written about the subject, but I'll leave it at this: changing time can be very bad for anyone after that point. Little changes are fine, and get reabsorbed without much fuss, but big changes can result in you never having existed in the first place.
Which lead to the next problem: Kaspar. The party knew he was in one of three locations, in one of three time periods. A little research later, they found the locations. Daisy, meanwhile, pulled up some tool manuals, and started working on the laser again.
The first time period, 2222, resulted in nothing but an empty ship. But 1992 turned up just what they were looking for. The Captain left them to fight on their own, staying back to pilot the ship. Inside, the team fought through several waves of goons... and after the first wave, found themselves fighting a very strange man indeed. He appeared out of nowhere, shouted, "In the past!", and opened fire. He took quite a lot of damage, and managed to nearly injure several of the crew, before popping back out.
Further inside, they found Captain Kaspar himself. After a rousing battle which included Kaspar mocking them all, Kaspar left them with a parting remark: "Check your histories!"
Daisy, realizing she wasn't going to be much good in a firefight, left to pilfer parts.
After the mission, Julian and the others used the Tempus Frigate's computers to search their pasts... and found just how ignoble their lives really were. Daisy was killed a day later in a gang war; Henry stepped out into traffic and died. Julian discovered he was a clone. Samuel found he died in space. Amy tripped headlong off a building. And Charles shot himself while cleaning his gun.
Julian, of course, decided the best course of action was to get drunk out of his head, then go fight pirates. Sans Captain Kay, who said she had another mission to work on...
After using the ship's guns to great success, Julian gained access to a pirate stronghold. Inside, he and the others found little to no resistance; apart from two voices on the radio, he met no one. Granted, his firefight with the station resulted in the ship gaining 3 wounds - it was in bad shape before, but at this point, it is barely hanging together.
Exploring the quarters, Julian and Samuel found a secret passage. Deeper in, Julian came face to face with a strange, fast-moving rock-creature, who left him alone. Finally, the two found the treasure trove, containing a bit of cash, some basic guns... and a set of light power armor: 8 Armor, Pace 10 with a Running Die of d10, and Stealth Systems, giving a -4 to hit or scan. It is also Self Sealing, so able to be used in space or underwater.
***
Whew. Join us next time, for more time-travel shenanigans!
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Musgrave Adventure: The Missing Musgrave
One fine day - August the 4th, 1937, to be precise - Lady Evangeline Musgrave received a letter from her husband, Lord Geoffrey Musgrave.
Lady Evangeline Musgrave is a “reformed” tomboy who secretly yearns for the life of adventure she used to have with her husband, before their families put their foot down and forced her to stop adventuring and stay home to care for her daughter, Veronica. She still has some of her old skills, especially that of linguistics.
Her daughter, Veronica, never knew her mother to adventure, and grew up as a True Believer in aristocracy, the Upper Class, and Being British In General. She takes her role as the daughter of a lord seriously, though she looks down on "common people," much to her parents' disapproval. She is studying to become a nurse. While she inherited her mother’s good looks (and improved on them, to most accounts), she doesn’t believe a word of the stories her parents tell of mystical, magical artifacts.
The two were summoned by Geoffrey to visit the latest dig he was heading; he, his best friend (and idle rich) Desmond St Price, an investor named Hardy Fenton, and the German construction expert, Gerhard Stein, had uncovered what Geoffrey believed was a lost treasure, of the goddess Wurt! Hardy's two daughters were arriving by way of an airship, the Graf Zeppelin, to arrive in Frankfurt on the 10th of August, and he hoped his daughter and wife could meet them.
Josephine Fenton - Jo to all but the “stuffy grownups” - is Hardy Fenton's youngest daughter. She has the soul of an outdoorsman, and tends to trust her luck over skill. Her curiosity and stubborn nature frequently cause trouble for the siblings, but Jo sticks by her sister no matter what.
Francis Fenton, the elder sister of Josephine, is the more level-headed of the two Fenton siblings. Charismatic and smart, Francis has a very inquisitive nature. Though he has a habit of retelling war stories he’s heard… which may be a problem in Germany. Even so, he is always willing to help those in need.
Desmond St Price's daughter, and friend of Veronica, is Penelope St Price. Where Veronica is ladylike and polite, Penelope is strong, agile, and skilled with sword and gun alike. Her combination of a big mouth and insatiable curiosity frequently get the two girls in trouble.
...Though not as much trouble as Cuthbert Trillicker. Known as “Bertie” to his friends, and “that troublemaker” to nearly everyone else, young Bertie is the charge of his cousin Penelope and Uncle "Dizzy". Even though he is but the tender age of 8, he is still a formidable fighter.
And last but not least, Piper Ubend, son of Gregory Ubend, has worked for the Musgraves his entire life. Fast on his feet, and faster with a wrench, Piper can repair almost anything that moves, and quite a few things that don’t. Not only that, but Piper can drive and pilot with some of the best, though his overconfidence and big mouth can sometimes lead him astray.
The women, plus Bertie and Piper, traveled from London by plane, landing in Frankfurt. The next day, the Fenton sisters arrived, introducing themselves to the Musgraves and St Prices. Bertie, of course, plied them with many questions about their amazing trip on a floating airship.
Together, they traveled by train to the south, but when they arrived in Kößlarn [Kosslarn], Lady Musgrave found a telegram waiting for her. It warned that her husband had gone missing! Furthermore, it suggested that she return home, and let the authorities deal with it. Of course. Lady Musgrave would have none of that. She immediately checked into her hotel, where poor Penelope and Francis were put to bed - neither agreed with travel by air or train. The next morning, Lady Musgrave, Veronica, Jo, and Bertie headed to the police station (Piper remained at the hotel, to keep an ear out for any information).
Inside, Lady Musgrave insisted on meeting a Walter Böhm, the signer of the telegram. In a moment, a laconic figured strolled out, leaning on the counter. In broken English, he explained to Lady Musgrave that he was in charge of the investigation into the disappearances. He had been alerted to the vanishing of the men when a worker, employed by Herr Stein, had come to the camp and found it empty. Again, he suggested the womenfolk leave the investigation work to the authorities.
Meanwhile, Bertie discovered some pre-chewed bubble-gum and a 5-Reichsmark banknote under a bench. Jo's investigation was a little more fruitful - she found a poster that seemed important. Showing it to Lady Musgrave, they learned that it was a warning from Hitler himself; any treasures, artifacts, or historical findings were property of the Third Reich.
Back at the hotel, Bertie taunted the poor elevator operator to tears, and managed to get to push the buttons. After a quick meeting, they decided to first go shopping (for supplies, food, and a new machete for Jo, among other things), then found a taxi and went to the base camp, with Bertie spitting out the window, naturally.
At the dig, Bertie found the supply tent, and lifted two shovels; the ladies found a calendar, with the dates crossed off until the 9th, and a strange set of runes written on it, then circled: ᚹᚢᚱᛞ. A note to Lady Evangeline clinched it - Geoffrey thought he was double-crossed by a certain captain, and was setting out with his friends and workers to finish the dig at night. Jo found tracks leading from the camp - one group of leather work shoes, and a second group of jack-booted soldiers. They followed the footprints until they found the old ruins, pictured in the original letter; the soldier's footprints split off, as if searching, while the other footprints lead to a hidden cave.
Trying to hide their own footprints, Lady Veronica carefully scratched each out with a stick... until Jo sent her into the cave, and brushed the trail with a branch, doing a much better job. Veronica shuddered at the damp cave, but followed. Inside, they discovered a natural exit at the back of the cave, and continued deeper in - though the passage turned to worked stone, with a well-made archway overhead before long. On one side of the passage, a set of runes were all but illegible, worn down by age.
They followed the passage, taking the turns indicated by the runes in the letter. Behind them, the German soldiers found the cave, and began filing inside. As the reached the end, they could hear the soldiers being ordered into the various side passages, followed by sharp screams... it seems the wrong passages were very wrong indeed.
At the end of the passage was a room, filled with natural light from above; a single plinth stood at the end of the room, with a rather plain rock perched on it. While the others looked around, Jo found a footprint, and scrape marks; it seems there may be a hidden door somewhere! Searching for a key, she looked closely at the rock on the plinth. Acting on a hunch, she tried to turn it to the right... nothing. Switching hands, she cranked it to the left, and it suddenly shifted with a clunk! A grinding sound echoed through the room, then suddenly the entire floor tilted! As Bertie and Lady Musgrave slid down, Jo quickly tossed a hook around the plinth. Veronica tried to grab her hand, but slipped past. The two women and Bertie slipped down a clay-covered slide; at the bottom, they called up that it was safe. Giving the plinth a twist, Jo leaped into the hole as the floor slammed shut.
Bertie, ignoring the clay and mud on his clothing, began digging happily in the mud, and uncovered a pocket watch - Geoffrey's pocket watch, in fact! Moving on, they found four bowls - ceremonial alters, in fact. Lady Musgrave recognized the names: Wuotan, Donar, Nerthus, and Wurt.
Nerthus is also known as Mother Earth; Bertie heaped a shovelful of mud into the bowl, and it spun downward; the offering was a success! Wuotan, otherwise known as Odin, was offered a limerick (complete with dirty words), again by Bertie, and again it was accepted. Third was Donar, aka Thor; Bertie, hearing that he was the god of oak (among other things), tossed a burning torch onto the bowl. It seemed to be accepted, and the bowl once again sunk down and was covered. Finally, for Wurt, or Wyrd, the goddess of Fate, Bertie offered a single flip of a coin - change, from when he purchased some brass knuckles. As the coin spun in the bowl, it too slowly sank down. And then, the whole bank of bowls sank down into the ground!
Behind the bowls, a diffuse glow hid what was behind... as the four stepped through... they found themselves in a walled garden, outside! Behind them, there was nothing but a blank wall. Bertie immediately stepped forward, squirming out from Veronica's grasp, and darted aroudn the tree in the center of the garden. A woman with long, dark hair and a simple robe greeted him. "Hey! Who are you?" Bertie demanded.
The woman merely smiled. Bertie, seeing the cards in her hands, asked what they were for. "Oh... I can do a few tricks, I suppose."
Bertie, of course, was eager to see. The first trick - the woman tossed a card into the air, and it turned into a butterfly! Bertie... was unimpressed. He asked for a different trick. With a laugh, the woman asked for Bertie to pick a card. He pulled one - the Ace of Spades, she guessed, correctly. Scoffing, he pulled another. "Ace of Spades." Correct, again; confused, Bertie checked the card already in his hand. Huh. Tossing the other aces over his shoulder, he pulled a third card. Also an ace of spades! Finally impressed, Bertie asked about other games. "Oh... you will see, my child."
Meanwhile, the ladies looked a little further. On the other side of the garden, a cage held... the menfolk! Geoffrey, Desmond, Hardy, and Stein! However, the bars on their cages were too strong to bend, and there didn't seem to be any locks to pick. They turned to the woman, as three men came through the wall...
One was a man in a black leather outfit, complete with flowing cape and snazzy cap, and SS label on his sleeves. Beside him was the man on the poster - Captain Böhm! The third man was a very confused looking soldier. The woman clapped her hands, and between them, a chessboard grew - well, technically a Draughts board. On one side, the three Nazis. On the other, the four adventurers. Lady Musgrave stepped forward, tossing a knife at the SS officer - a hit! Jo followed up with an ax, another hit! The SS officer was looking pretty bad from the start. Bertie, too, tried firing a stone from his slingshot, but fired wide.
The SS agent fired and missed; the captain stepped forward, firing and missing; the soldier charged forward as well, firing at Evangeline, but the bullet glanced off her corset. He charged, his bayonet forward, but Evangeline dodged to the side, and coolly pulled her derringer. One shot later, and the soldier fell to the ground, a smoking hole in his chest. Jo slashed at the captain with her machete, but missed.
Jo, meanwhile, was joined by Bertie, charging the captain; he fired at Jo, but the bullet only grazed her arm. Bertie struck out with his knife, leaving a gash in his leg; Jo stepped back, took aim with her throwing ax, and sank the blade right between his eyes.
The SS officer fired wildly, missing Evangeline. Striding forward, she held out her derringer and fired. With a gasp, the SS officer fell to his knees...
The sound of applause sounded behind them; as they turned, the Draughts board vanished, as did the bodies of the Nazis. Behind her, the iron cages bent and twisted, becoming no more than simple bushes. Lady Fate (for, obviously, that was who she was) thanked the four for their help, and accepted the abashed apologies from the men. "The artifacts I protect are not meant for mortal men. But, what I have, I will share. For one, if ever you need assistance... call on me."
With a gesture, a door opened in the wall. Bertie, remembering the coin he offered, asked if, perhaps, he could have it back? With a wink, Lady Fate tossed him a coin. Not the single reichsmark coin he had tossed in, but a much larger coin... made of gold!
Heading out the door, the eight stepped into early morning light. Behind them, the four workers Stein brought stepped out, confused - they had stepped into the light behind the altar, and stepped out having lost four days!
Spotting a lone German officer guarding a car, Bertie dashed over, and immediately began making fun of him. Shaken by the sight of a British child waving a bloody knife and shouting, the guard nearly swallowed his cigarette. When eleven more figures stepped out, holding throwing axes, knives, guns, and other weapons... he quickly agreed to give them a ride to town.
On the flight back to London (with the Fentons, who cordially accepted the offer to stay for a while), the families caught up; Geoffrey, finding himself in the garden, first attempted to gather the items Lady Fate was guarding, and in trade found himself captured. However, it was the captain and the SS officer who posed the greatest threat. While Geoffrey merely wanted to collect the items for a museum, the Nazis, it seems, were under the impression the items were, in fact, weapons.
What further adventures await our adventuresome companions? Only time will tell!
Lady Evangeline Musgrave is a “reformed” tomboy who secretly yearns for the life of adventure she used to have with her husband, before their families put their foot down and forced her to stop adventuring and stay home to care for her daughter, Veronica. She still has some of her old skills, especially that of linguistics.
Her daughter, Veronica, never knew her mother to adventure, and grew up as a True Believer in aristocracy, the Upper Class, and Being British In General. She takes her role as the daughter of a lord seriously, though she looks down on "common people," much to her parents' disapproval. She is studying to become a nurse. While she inherited her mother’s good looks (and improved on them, to most accounts), she doesn’t believe a word of the stories her parents tell of mystical, magical artifacts.
The two were summoned by Geoffrey to visit the latest dig he was heading; he, his best friend (and idle rich) Desmond St Price, an investor named Hardy Fenton, and the German construction expert, Gerhard Stein, had uncovered what Geoffrey believed was a lost treasure, of the goddess Wurt! Hardy's two daughters were arriving by way of an airship, the Graf Zeppelin, to arrive in Frankfurt on the 10th of August, and he hoped his daughter and wife could meet them.
Josephine Fenton - Jo to all but the “stuffy grownups” - is Hardy Fenton's youngest daughter. She has the soul of an outdoorsman, and tends to trust her luck over skill. Her curiosity and stubborn nature frequently cause trouble for the siblings, but Jo sticks by her sister no matter what.
Francis Fenton, the elder sister of Josephine, is the more level-headed of the two Fenton siblings. Charismatic and smart, Francis has a very inquisitive nature. Though he has a habit of retelling war stories he’s heard… which may be a problem in Germany. Even so, he is always willing to help those in need.
Desmond St Price's daughter, and friend of Veronica, is Penelope St Price. Where Veronica is ladylike and polite, Penelope is strong, agile, and skilled with sword and gun alike. Her combination of a big mouth and insatiable curiosity frequently get the two girls in trouble.
...Though not as much trouble as Cuthbert Trillicker. Known as “Bertie” to his friends, and “that troublemaker” to nearly everyone else, young Bertie is the charge of his cousin Penelope and Uncle "Dizzy". Even though he is but the tender age of 8, he is still a formidable fighter.
And last but not least, Piper Ubend, son of Gregory Ubend, has worked for the Musgraves his entire life. Fast on his feet, and faster with a wrench, Piper can repair almost anything that moves, and quite a few things that don’t. Not only that, but Piper can drive and pilot with some of the best, though his overconfidence and big mouth can sometimes lead him astray.
The women, plus Bertie and Piper, traveled from London by plane, landing in Frankfurt. The next day, the Fenton sisters arrived, introducing themselves to the Musgraves and St Prices. Bertie, of course, plied them with many questions about their amazing trip on a floating airship.
Together, they traveled by train to the south, but when they arrived in Kößlarn [Kosslarn], Lady Musgrave found a telegram waiting for her. It warned that her husband had gone missing! Furthermore, it suggested that she return home, and let the authorities deal with it. Of course. Lady Musgrave would have none of that. She immediately checked into her hotel, where poor Penelope and Francis were put to bed - neither agreed with travel by air or train. The next morning, Lady Musgrave, Veronica, Jo, and Bertie headed to the police station (Piper remained at the hotel, to keep an ear out for any information).
Inside, Lady Musgrave insisted on meeting a Walter Böhm, the signer of the telegram. In a moment, a laconic figured strolled out, leaning on the counter. In broken English, he explained to Lady Musgrave that he was in charge of the investigation into the disappearances. He had been alerted to the vanishing of the men when a worker, employed by Herr Stein, had come to the camp and found it empty. Again, he suggested the womenfolk leave the investigation work to the authorities.
Meanwhile, Bertie discovered some pre-chewed bubble-gum and a 5-Reichsmark banknote under a bench. Jo's investigation was a little more fruitful - she found a poster that seemed important. Showing it to Lady Musgrave, they learned that it was a warning from Hitler himself; any treasures, artifacts, or historical findings were property of the Third Reich.
Back at the hotel, Bertie taunted the poor elevator operator to tears, and managed to get to push the buttons. After a quick meeting, they decided to first go shopping (for supplies, food, and a new machete for Jo, among other things), then found a taxi and went to the base camp, with Bertie spitting out the window, naturally.
At the dig, Bertie found the supply tent, and lifted two shovels; the ladies found a calendar, with the dates crossed off until the 9th, and a strange set of runes written on it, then circled: ᚹᚢᚱᛞ. A note to Lady Evangeline clinched it - Geoffrey thought he was double-crossed by a certain captain, and was setting out with his friends and workers to finish the dig at night. Jo found tracks leading from the camp - one group of leather work shoes, and a second group of jack-booted soldiers. They followed the footprints until they found the old ruins, pictured in the original letter; the soldier's footprints split off, as if searching, while the other footprints lead to a hidden cave.
Trying to hide their own footprints, Lady Veronica carefully scratched each out with a stick... until Jo sent her into the cave, and brushed the trail with a branch, doing a much better job. Veronica shuddered at the damp cave, but followed. Inside, they discovered a natural exit at the back of the cave, and continued deeper in - though the passage turned to worked stone, with a well-made archway overhead before long. On one side of the passage, a set of runes were all but illegible, worn down by age.
They followed the passage, taking the turns indicated by the runes in the letter. Behind them, the German soldiers found the cave, and began filing inside. As the reached the end, they could hear the soldiers being ordered into the various side passages, followed by sharp screams... it seems the wrong passages were very wrong indeed.
At the end of the passage was a room, filled with natural light from above; a single plinth stood at the end of the room, with a rather plain rock perched on it. While the others looked around, Jo found a footprint, and scrape marks; it seems there may be a hidden door somewhere! Searching for a key, she looked closely at the rock on the plinth. Acting on a hunch, she tried to turn it to the right... nothing. Switching hands, she cranked it to the left, and it suddenly shifted with a clunk! A grinding sound echoed through the room, then suddenly the entire floor tilted! As Bertie and Lady Musgrave slid down, Jo quickly tossed a hook around the plinth. Veronica tried to grab her hand, but slipped past. The two women and Bertie slipped down a clay-covered slide; at the bottom, they called up that it was safe. Giving the plinth a twist, Jo leaped into the hole as the floor slammed shut.
Bertie, ignoring the clay and mud on his clothing, began digging happily in the mud, and uncovered a pocket watch - Geoffrey's pocket watch, in fact! Moving on, they found four bowls - ceremonial alters, in fact. Lady Musgrave recognized the names: Wuotan, Donar, Nerthus, and Wurt.
Nerthus is also known as Mother Earth; Bertie heaped a shovelful of mud into the bowl, and it spun downward; the offering was a success! Wuotan, otherwise known as Odin, was offered a limerick (complete with dirty words), again by Bertie, and again it was accepted. Third was Donar, aka Thor; Bertie, hearing that he was the god of oak (among other things), tossed a burning torch onto the bowl. It seemed to be accepted, and the bowl once again sunk down and was covered. Finally, for Wurt, or Wyrd, the goddess of Fate, Bertie offered a single flip of a coin - change, from when he purchased some brass knuckles. As the coin spun in the bowl, it too slowly sank down. And then, the whole bank of bowls sank down into the ground!
Behind the bowls, a diffuse glow hid what was behind... as the four stepped through... they found themselves in a walled garden, outside! Behind them, there was nothing but a blank wall. Bertie immediately stepped forward, squirming out from Veronica's grasp, and darted aroudn the tree in the center of the garden. A woman with long, dark hair and a simple robe greeted him. "Hey! Who are you?" Bertie demanded.
The woman merely smiled. Bertie, seeing the cards in her hands, asked what they were for. "Oh... I can do a few tricks, I suppose."
Bertie, of course, was eager to see. The first trick - the woman tossed a card into the air, and it turned into a butterfly! Bertie... was unimpressed. He asked for a different trick. With a laugh, the woman asked for Bertie to pick a card. He pulled one - the Ace of Spades, she guessed, correctly. Scoffing, he pulled another. "Ace of Spades." Correct, again; confused, Bertie checked the card already in his hand. Huh. Tossing the other aces over his shoulder, he pulled a third card. Also an ace of spades! Finally impressed, Bertie asked about other games. "Oh... you will see, my child."
Meanwhile, the ladies looked a little further. On the other side of the garden, a cage held... the menfolk! Geoffrey, Desmond, Hardy, and Stein! However, the bars on their cages were too strong to bend, and there didn't seem to be any locks to pick. They turned to the woman, as three men came through the wall...
One was a man in a black leather outfit, complete with flowing cape and snazzy cap, and SS label on his sleeves. Beside him was the man on the poster - Captain Böhm! The third man was a very confused looking soldier. The woman clapped her hands, and between them, a chessboard grew - well, technically a Draughts board. On one side, the three Nazis. On the other, the four adventurers. Lady Musgrave stepped forward, tossing a knife at the SS officer - a hit! Jo followed up with an ax, another hit! The SS officer was looking pretty bad from the start. Bertie, too, tried firing a stone from his slingshot, but fired wide.
The SS agent fired and missed; the captain stepped forward, firing and missing; the soldier charged forward as well, firing at Evangeline, but the bullet glanced off her corset. He charged, his bayonet forward, but Evangeline dodged to the side, and coolly pulled her derringer. One shot later, and the soldier fell to the ground, a smoking hole in his chest. Jo slashed at the captain with her machete, but missed.
Jo, meanwhile, was joined by Bertie, charging the captain; he fired at Jo, but the bullet only grazed her arm. Bertie struck out with his knife, leaving a gash in his leg; Jo stepped back, took aim with her throwing ax, and sank the blade right between his eyes.
The SS officer fired wildly, missing Evangeline. Striding forward, she held out her derringer and fired. With a gasp, the SS officer fell to his knees...
The sound of applause sounded behind them; as they turned, the Draughts board vanished, as did the bodies of the Nazis. Behind her, the iron cages bent and twisted, becoming no more than simple bushes. Lady Fate (for, obviously, that was who she was) thanked the four for their help, and accepted the abashed apologies from the men. "The artifacts I protect are not meant for mortal men. But, what I have, I will share. For one, if ever you need assistance... call on me."
With a gesture, a door opened in the wall. Bertie, remembering the coin he offered, asked if, perhaps, he could have it back? With a wink, Lady Fate tossed him a coin. Not the single reichsmark coin he had tossed in, but a much larger coin... made of gold!
Heading out the door, the eight stepped into early morning light. Behind them, the four workers Stein brought stepped out, confused - they had stepped into the light behind the altar, and stepped out having lost four days!
Spotting a lone German officer guarding a car, Bertie dashed over, and immediately began making fun of him. Shaken by the sight of a British child waving a bloody knife and shouting, the guard nearly swallowed his cigarette. When eleven more figures stepped out, holding throwing axes, knives, guns, and other weapons... he quickly agreed to give them a ride to town.
On the flight back to London (with the Fentons, who cordially accepted the offer to stay for a while), the families caught up; Geoffrey, finding himself in the garden, first attempted to gather the items Lady Fate was guarding, and in trade found himself captured. However, it was the captain and the SS officer who posed the greatest threat. While Geoffrey merely wanted to collect the items for a museum, the Nazis, it seems, were under the impression the items were, in fact, weapons.
What further adventures await our adventuresome companions? Only time will tell!
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