Category Archives: Cataclysm

Session 32 – The Rebirth

We take out the last of the cosplayers and enter the house. The hired guns watch outside while we go in. There are five hostages in here all zip-tied. Meaghan doesn’t know any of them but clearly they were abducted and mistreated by the cosplayers. We cut them free and ask if they have any place to go. They say no, as all of their companions were killed when the cosplayers snatched them.

We find Meaghan’s brother Blake in the other house and there is a tearful reunion. We organize everyone into the vehicles including the hostages and head back to the compound. Meaghan appreciates Simon’s efforts at the house and gives him a more-than-friendly kiss on the cheek.

Scotty has continued to work on the teleporter and he has people getting space suits together for us. He will come along to help with the technology we may find up there. We start training in the suits. They have grip so we will not fly around inside the ship if there is no artificial gravity. Ian tells us not to bring along any firearms as things up there will “not react well to bullets.” Meaghan will not be coming with us but Scotty does.

We teleport and Chet manages to keep his lunch down even though this was his first time. It is dark here and there is only one door. We manage to pry it open and we work our way through the ship. Ian checks to see if others have been walking around up here but there are no tracks.

We see all the way down toward the engine and it’s like a highway, very spacious and long. We work our way through and open several sets of doors. On the last one we see out into space as there’s a huge hole. We use our zero-g boots to walk on the ceiling across.

We come to the area with the pods and we see that there are around a thousand. This is the remainder of five planets’ worth of alien refugees. We should launch them all, because that would cause the ship’s orbit not to decay, or at least buy us time.

Simon and Alex determine where to send all of the 1000 pods and do math calculations on our orbit to make sure things land properly. Simon pushes the button and they start launching. It is a pretty violent process as the thrusters fire, and the whole ship lurches.

We find two space shuttles that seem to be operational, about the size of a fighter or shuttle. We wake up a group of 20 Talolans (and others) to help us.

We spend a few more days here and Alex creates an environmental bubble for us to take a break from our suits. After this we fly the space shuttles back down to the compound.

–end of this book–

Session 31 – Bristol

We survey the crater and Simon consults Ser and he says that the engine or whatever it is seems to still be active, and the time pulses are going to continue occurring until we can shut it off.

He lets the others know and they start talking with AJ, who says that he was able to change the past and survive. We are also shocked to see Simon’s dad, Ian’s wife, and Dusty’s brother alive after all of them have been assumed dead for years. They explain that they had to try very hard not to make any changes to the timeline after they were saved.

We hunker down on the other side of a hill so the pulses don’t hit us again. They are occurring every 90 minutes but seem to be increasing by 15 minutes each time. During some of the pulses, animals appear from nowhere.

We call Scotty at the compound and ask him what to do. He says that it will take all of us to shut it down and we run scenarios to figure it out and train. After we feel confident enough we head back after the last pulse and start to work on shutting it down. It takes a very long time and we think we are making a lot of progress, but Simon accidentally hits a switch and things start to power back up. We work on it for another 45 minutes or so and are finally able to turn it off.

We talk with Scotty about what we could scavenge from here but he says not much. We decide to head back. AJ goes back to Milwaukee but leaves us a couple of Sno Cats.

As we return we see a bright star up above. It is apparently the main part of the ship that the Talolans call Rebirth. Simon asks if we can teleport up there, and Scotty says that he’s trying to work on it. We spend several months talking about plans and scenarios as he’s working on it.

April 10th comes around and Scotty gets abnormally excited and calls us down. He was able to connect to the ship with the teleporter. It may be how it is currently oriented in relation to Earth. We worry about getting back but he says that it should be possible.

On April 25th, Meaghan comes in while we are having breakfast and says that she got a pager message from her dad just this morning. She had turned on her pager for the first time since the disaster and messages began popping up, and some of them are quite recent. In the oldest messages, her father advises her to get to a shelter and lists off several places near where she was staying with her brother Blake in Illinois but also in other states. In the most recent messages her father and brother give their location where they are in shelters. Her brother is in Bristol and are surrounded by the cosplay idiots that we dealt with last summer.

Meaghan says that she’s going to go right away to save her father and brother. Ian says that we will come to help her, and recruits a few others to come as extra guns. We pack up supplies and 12 of us go in one of the Sno Cats toward Bristol.

On the way, we ask Meaghan about her family. Her father was an executive at Northrop Grummen and also a survival nut. She went from base to base when she was a kid and wherever he went, he built a survival shelter at each place. She learned survival skills and self defense from him and took many classes, and though she resented it at the time she was able to survive on her own because of it.

We stop the Sno Cats more than a mile away and Ian and Meaghan and a few others get out and look for sentries. They find two and take them out quietly, then come back to tell us in the Sno Cat to come up the drive.

We drive up and Alex creates a barrier in front of the Sno Cat for protection. We start shooting at the cosplayers, and we manage to take them out except for two who start running away.

Alex hears the roar of engines from the house behind us and our hired guns turn around to face them and see what happens next.

Session 30 – Future History

GM: Paul
Players: Ian-Brad, Alex-John, Dusty-Matt, Jon-Simon, Bill-Chet
Game Date: Oct 28-Nov 6, 2003 / Jan 19, 2019

We get off the street into an alleyway. Luckily, Ian says that he knows someone who lives a few blocks away from here that he was in the service with in basic training. We walk toward there and Ian knocks on the door. A man answers but he doesn’t recognize Ian until he gives him more info. After the two catch up, the man agrees to give him some food and $60 cash.

We go to CVS to Ian gets a hair kit and some razors, as well as a new shirt and pants from a thrift store. He cleans himself up and then is able to go to the bank. When the rest of us see him, he actually does look a few years younger. We head to the bank and he withdraws $5000 in cash.

We head across town to a motel and get two rooms for the night. We clean up and get a good night’s sleep. The next morning we wake up and head to the store to get some clothes. We pay $2400 for a used minivan — Ian talks the guy down from $3000. We load up and head north to Milwaukee.

We stay another night in a different hotel, then head into Milwaukee the next afternoon. Ian drives us to Donges Bay Rd. to his uncle’s summer home and picks up his stuff, as well as his SUV.

Simon remembers that AJ is living on the East Side, on 1509 E. Kane Place and Oakland, right near Pizza Shuttle. Simon and Alex go to AJ’s apartment and knock on his door. He agrees to speak with us outside at a picnic table. Simon tries to explain that he knows things about AJ and that he needs his help. AJ doesn’t believe in the supernatural but agrees to the “mind link.” Simon tries and the mind link and it goes horribly, creating backlash on Simon. He crumples in pain.

Alex does a mind link with AJ and shows him some Talolan things, and he seems curious. Simon recovers and he shows him things from his life and also from the future. He starts to believe us.

We head up to his apartment and he sends his girlfriend out for pizza. While she’s gone we start telling him about the future, but Alex is not sure that we should share specifics. Ian and Simon disagree, saying that more information would be the most helpful, because we don’t know how it will affect the future. Alex agrees but says we should also tell him of his death. Ian tells him and he takes it pretty well.

After a while, his girlfriend Karin comes back and he tells us to zip it. We head down to  Caesar Park and talk for a couple of hours more, and Chet goes to get a case of beer. At 11 PM, we all have a strange sensation like our souls are being pulled from our bodies, but it goes away. We can’t figure out what caused that.

AJ says that he needs to get to bed, and we thank him for his time. He tells Ian to ditch his phone since that could be tracked. He will get a burner phone or call from a payphone. He gives us his cell number. Before we leave, Chet asks him if the government is aware that this disaster may happen, and AJ says absolutely not — there are not even scenarios being run for this.

The next day we meet again and he says that he was able to find something. He says that the sun is going through a very active period, and the time we arrived coincided with a huge solar flare. It was so large that it actually took out the “SOHO” monitoring satellite. We don’t know if there was another solar flare at 11pm the previous night.

We head back to St. Charles, thinking that we should be there when it’s time for us to go back so we can help those who need us. Also, our stuff will be there. We spend some time buying things at CVS so we have drugs and other supplies, knowing that these will be useful if we get snapped back to the future. We even sleep in our clothes in case it happens at night. However it’s several days and we haven’t gone back. We start thinking that it may not happen. But on the 6th of November, we are suddenly snapped back into our time.

It is very cold here, even with our clothes on. We hear rumbling in the distance and there are two Sno Cats coming toward us. Ian uses his scope to see who is driving and he sees AJ. We are all pretty shocked but happy. He comes to meet us and asks us if it worked out. Dusty shows the T-shirt that he was wearing over 15 years ago. We have changed the future, but who knows how much.

Session 29 – Future History

GM: Paul
Players: Ian-Brad, Alex-John, Dusty-Matt, Jon-Simon, Bill-Chet
Game Date: January 5-19, 2019

We return from the museum. Ian looks at the gear that was found in the sheriff’s office and finds a smartwatch of some type; the backpack seems to hold data and provides power. He gives it to Simon to see if he can do an object reading. Simon does so, and he is able to rewind back really far — to the time that the watch was created. It was given to the man, “AJ” Gary Johnson who was an agent with a Division-like organization in Milwaukee.

From his POV, Simon sees the events that happen during the cataclysm including AJs wife’s death and his subsequent work helping with the aftermath. He was one of only five agents in the Milwaukee area and all of the others were killed between 2012 and 2018. He went into the Sheriff’s office to scavenge for supplies. There he was stabbed by the beast we ran across and bled out.

From this, we find much more information about the state of the government after the disaster. There is part of a functioning government but everything seems to be mostly local like it is here, since there are no communications. At one point martial law was declared, and there have been several presidents in the past few years. DC was nuked, there was radiation fallout in New York, and also in the Dakotas. We also find info on the Talolans; there are some in the southeast US.

The watch is functional and has maps and reports on it. Reports still came in after AJ passed away. He has some areas tagged on maps — The Orphanage (run by Cassidy MacLoughlin). 18 kids are here, 8 adults, etc.

AJ was getting people in touch and helping them, but in many cases it’s only 5-10 people.

Alex is working on the Blues project with Lucy over the next couple of weeks and things are quiet. However, on the 18th of January during the day we see a big fireball coming through the southern sky and we see a mushroom cloud. There is basically an earthquake here and a wall of snow blasts toward us. Some people are hurt from falling ice and all the glass is shattered on the cabins here. We figure that the impact happened in Chicago.

We work on getting those who are injured to the infirmary and board up the windows. Dusty checks on the livestock and they are very anxious but okay.

We check in by radio to all the people we know and everyone south is in trouble. We decide to head south and see what we can find out. Meaghan goes to the southwest to help some people and the rest of us go straight south.

The Ironwood Golf Course sends some sno cats and a bunch of people and supplies. Ian coordinates with several other settlements. He goes to address the hub before we leave. He asks everyone to be prepared to suffer some hardships in the short term as we are helping more refugees and everyone needs to help out in order for this to work.

We pack up our gear, food and medical supplies and head out the morning of the 19th. We camp overnight and the next day we find a settlement near St. Charles, IL. There are several people here who are injured and one with severe internal bleeding. We patch them up and Alex uses his psionic healing on the one with internal bleeding, however we don’t let them know that he’s a Talolan. We offer to have them come with us. Simon finds an old snowmobile in a small shed. The spark plug is messed up and we replace it. Then we head to bed as it’s 11pm.

The next morning we head out, leaving the people some supplies and instructions on where to go if they want to start moving.  We see multi-story buildings that are flattened. We find another group with lots of people injured, and help them out. We search around and find 5 more survivors. They are trapped underneath a building, but we’re able to dig them out.

We head out and suddenly there are wooly mammoths. We try to skirt around them and suddenly a group of sabretooth tigers jump out and attack us. We gun the snowmobiles and barely escape. As we zoom away, one slashes at Chet and his thick jacket just saves him.

We head closer to the impact site and see a huge crater, over 3.5 miles wide and as high as the Empire State Building. We see something huge and Alex and Simon recognize it as a main drive from one of the ships. Suddenly there is a huge flash and we all feel strange. Some of us feel like our clothes are loose and we realize that all of our buttons have been pulled out, and anything metal is completely gone. We see grass underneath our feet and look around to see Halloween decorations.

We realize that Chet has a length of rebar stuck into his leg. Alex helps him pull it out and heals it almost immediately.

A man pulls up in a car and asks us if we need help. We are confused and not sure what to say. He asks why we are wearing such warm clothes and we say that we’re getting ready for a Halloween party.

Simon checks out the man’s license plate and it says that it expires in Feb of 2004. So, apparently it’s Halloween 2003. We discuss and decide what to do.

Session 28 – Sheriff’s Office Scavenging

GM: Paul
Players: Ian-Brad, Alex-John, Dusty-Matt, Jon-Simon, Bill-Chet, Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: January 3-5, 2019

We are back at the museum, which has piles of books taken from the library. The corridor between the two buildings is no longer used. Chet has a suit of armor that he wants to take back, but he can’t carry it. He puts it on the sled to be dragged back to the Hub.

We head into the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office to look for leftover cop gear. As we head inside, we are all shocked at the sight of a huge mass with tentacles everywhere. The stench is horrible. Simon falls to the ground, stunned, and the others unload with firearms on it. The thing strikes back with a tentacle and nearly impales Meaghan and then Dusty, but they are able to dodge out of the way. Simon stands and takes a shot at the thing, then Alex uses his psionics to put it to sleep.

Simon asks Ser about the beast and he says that it’s fairly common, and predatory. Best to be avoided.

We sneak past the thing and Ian and Meaghan look in the storage closet. Someone had barricaded themselves in here in an effort to get away from the beast, but he’s been dead a long time. There are some supplies that he had with him. Ian picks them up.

On our way out we decide that we should kill this thing so no one else can get attacked by it. Ian puts his gun into its strange beaked mouth and blows it away.

We follow Ian through the rest of the Sheriff’s Office. It seems mostly undisturbed because this monster ate anything that came in here. We find a few other items in the building including a parking boot that Simon finds.

In the last area, we notice a police tactical SUV that has fallen off of a ledge. We hook up a winch to pull it up so we can get inside and get some of the tactical gear. We find a bunch of things that are really helpful.

We stay another night at the library and give them some 7up and also some of the guns we find. We head back the next day, January 5th.

Session 27 – VA bound and down, loaded up and truckin’…..

GM: Paul
Players: Ian-Brad, Alex-John, Dusty-Matt, Jon-Simon, Bill-Chet, Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: December 27, 2018 – January 3, 2019

The party returns to camp bearing the remains of 4 blink racoons.  Alex immediately sets to work analyzing them, specifically looking for differences in their DNA.  Meanwhile Ian starts getting organized for the visit to the VA center.  He collects some climbing supplies so we can scale the elevator shafts if necessary, to avoid fighting in stairwells.  We know the blues are attracted to noise, so we should try to have suppressors if possible.  He suggests bringing melee weapons and pry bars, both for close combat and to get into locked rooms.  Ian succeeds in building a door pry-opener.  He also is looking for anyone who is familiar with the layout of the facility.  Barry Marshall says he was just in Stallis,  He thinks there still are some people on the grounds, up on the hill but not in the hospital itself.  We also look for snowshoes, but no luck.  Something to look for in the future.

We also radio Lucy and arrange to meet her at the Milwaukee Museum/Library on Jan. 2 so we can travel to the VA together.  We start north on 94 with 2 snowmobiles with sleds behind each one.  We make it to the library without incident, and meet Lucy there with her friend Roxy.  We look around the library and museum to see if we can find snowshoes there.  There is a French Indian war exhibit where we find two pairs of snowshoes.  We spend the night.  Lucy and Alex review what information they are looking for, including reports from early cases, and reports from the analysis of samples from people who died of the initial exposures.

By January 2nd everything is in order and we start for the grounds with the snowmobiles and sleds.  We park them near the old soldiers area, and we pick up the faint smell of smoke.  We gather our gear and head of toward the VA.  Ian goes up and checks the door while we wait.  The doors have safety glass which is smashed but still in the frame.  The coast is clear, so we all sneak up and start clearing the snow from the doors.  Alex and Dusty are able to slide the doors open.  We start into the building.  The long hallway is in view, but it is only intermittently lit by the daylight coming in.  We move past the hallway to Elevator A and try prying the door open.  We succeed and see that the elevator car is there. Meaghan pops the hatch in the roof and starts climbing.  She gets to the 8th floor.  Dusty follows and together they set a belay.  Chet starts to follow but falls back after just a few floors.  He lands on a bolt.  Lucy is able to heal him.  He then climbs up, followed by Alex, Lucy, and Ian.

The hallway is dark.  We move to the double doors that open into the 8101 suite.  There are a number of offices in this suite, so we start looking for the research office.  We find it, and start looking for the files.  It takes some time, but we the right filing cabinet and collect all of the information.  We also collect some other basic lab supplies, including microscope, slides, etc.  We hit the wound clinic in the same suite and get first aid supplies, sutures, etc.  After loading up our backpacks, we head back to the elevator.  Everyone descends safely, and we are standing on the top of the elevator car.  We pry open the doors and go to the Ultrasound lab on floor 2.  We find two ultrasounds machines and add them to the backpack.

As we are gathering the supplies, Dusty sees movement in the hallway.  The whole party goes silent.  We see 5 blues heading down the hall.  We all crouch down and wait to see what they do.  They charge into the room.  Chet stabs one of the blues, while Meaghan takes out two other with her hand axes.  Dusty finishes the same blue that Chet attacked, then steps up and wounds another.  Ian guts another one with his knife.  Chet and Meaghan finish the last one.

Meanwhile Ian can’t even find a garbage bag to put the heads in.

We take the heads for further study, then head down to the pharmacy.  Meaghan picks the lock and breaks into the cage that is protecting the drugs. We collect a bunch of things, based on what we need.  Painkillers, antibiotics, etc.  Lucy directs us and we fill up what ever empty space we have in our packs with meds.

We hustle back to the sleds then head back to the library.  We divvy up the spoils between the library group, the Menomonee Falls group, and the hub group.  We spend the night at the library.  During that time we all go over the materials we have found.   People also look at the books to find out information about veterinary medicine, how to build snowshoes, etc.

The next morning Ian wants to makes a stop at the sheriff’s  office near the library before we head out.

 

Session 26 – Blink Raccoons

GM: Paul
Players: Dusty-Matt, Jon-Simon, Bill-Chet, Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: December 26, 2018

It’s the 26th of December. Ian, Sean and Alex have an “emergency” to attend to and leave. We’re not exactly sure what it is. Simon, Dusty and Chet are in the bunkhouse and Meaghan comes in and asks us how we are doing. Dusty didn’t get much sleep last night

We get a call from the Milwaukee Library that they heard an SOS from a local couple in Mount Pleasant have been raided and people stole all of their food stores. We decide to go and help them.

We get some supplies together and some very warm clothes and gear as it’s extremely cold, around -10 but sunny. We take 2 snowmobiles with a sled behind each and Dusty’s two dogs.

Mount Pleasant is only a few miles to the northeast but it’s rough country. After a while we stop to check if we’re going the right direction and we do see some smoke. Meaghan is getting a bit cold but the rest of us are doing okay.

We get to the house and Simon and Meaghan go in and introduce themselves. The couple are named Jay and Jaclyn. They say that someone or something broke into their garage and took most of their stores, and smashed the rest.

Dusty and Chet check out the damage and it looks like a mess. There are a lot of pawprints. They think it might have been raccoons but they aren’t sure.

Simon takes a look around and decides to use his newfound Object Reading power to look back a day and see what happened. He is very surprised to see that a raccoon teleports itself inside the garage and lets several others in. They coordinate and put things into bags from the storage, and then make off with it. He tells the others about it and they are pretty astonished.

Jay is confused as to how the raccoons could have gotten in and Simon says that one must have hid inside and let the others in somehow. He seems to accept this.

Jay and Jaclyn say that they will come to the Hub, if we have room for them, as it will be nice to be around other people for once. We say that we’re happy to help them get there and we have room for them to take some things. They start packing things up.

In the meantime, the rest of us go to check on the raccoons. They are holed up in a culvert with piles of rocks on each side, clearly not enough room for raccoons to get by. They must be teleporting in and out of here.

We start digging out to see if we can get a glimpse at them, the dogs doing a great job. Meaghan carries two rocks at once, impressing everyone. Dusty pulls a rock out and it rolls against his leg, injuring it pretty badly. Chet binds it up but Dusty decides to sit out the rest of the excavation.

After a while we are able to clear enough space to see through and suddenly raccoons start piling out and attacking us. Some of them seem to be teleporting. One jumps on top of Angelo, Dusty’s dog, but Meaghan is able to slash it with her axe. Simon tries to slash at one with his knife and misses, hitting Chet instead but it doesn’t go through his armor. Red, the wolf dog, grabs one of the raccoons and shakes it to death. Chet blasts another one with his shotgun.

There are many more inside, we hear them screeching and chattering, so we decide to retreat. We have two dead raccoons that the dogs can chew on. We head back to the house and the husband and wife are almost done packing. We help them finish up and then head back to the Hub.

Session 25 – Christmastime

GM: Paul
Players: John-Alex, Brad-Ian, Dusty-Matt, Jon-Simon, Bill-Chet, Laura-Lucy, Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: December 24-26, 2018

Alex explains that the citadel is a floating rock that has been carved into a fortress. It’s where the people from his solar system would come and use their psychic powers to communicate with one another. It’s the equivalent to a spiritual city like Shangri-la.

We ask Ser what happened the last time he was here, and he suddenly remembers that there was a creature that prowled around him and then chased him through the woods. It was a big red lizard. Sure enough, soon we see some movement and the lizard emerges from the bushes and takes off after us. Alex turns and waves his hand at it and it falls asleep. We continue to run away.

Soon after, several plant-people approach out of the woods with bows drawn and surround us. Ser speaks with them and they explain that they are helping those are disoriented with the conjunction happening. They assist us to the citadel and it’s indeed floating. There are only vines going up to it and Simon expresses concern about climbing, as he has a fear of heights. The plant-people activate a stairwell that grows downward for us, so we can walk up.

In the citadel, Simon, Ser and Alex meditate together and suddenly something clicks. Simon feels strange buzzing as he can now access psionic powers and understands the Crintar language. Ser now understands English and Alex understands it better as well. Suddenly we wake up in our beds and it is 3 o’clock in the morning.

Simon and Chet wake up and Chet asks what happened. Simon references a bunch of pop culture (Star Trek, Stargate and Captain Marvel) to explain but Chet doesn’t understand very much of it. Simon says that he’ll explain in the morning because others in the bunkhouse are telling them to shut up.

The next morning Simon takes his migraine medicine and feels pretty good for a change. All of the kids are going nuts and asking for Christmas gifts.

Ian talks with Jo and she reveals that she is pregnant. He seems stressed and

We all head over to the main building for the gift exchange. Meaghan gives all of us gifts that are personalized for us. We are impressed and Simon apologizes that he didn’t get her a gift. Alex gets electric socks, Simon gets a leatherman and some comic books, Ian gets a night scope for his gun, and Dusty got a dog whistle and some treats and toys for the dogs. She gives Chet an orange.

Chet is confused as to why there are oranges, and we explain that there is a teleporter that sends things to and from Lordville in Florida. He seems to accept this as things are just generally weird with this crew.

Simon goes off by himself and starts talking with Ser. Ser has all kinds of questions for him about the Christmas traditions and gift-giving. Simon explains and Ser offers to help him get a present for Meg. Simon dashes off a card and gives it to her, and she is appreciative and also says she appreciates him saving her during the dream. She gives him a kiss on the cheek. It’s awkward.

Ian introduces Chet to Sean and he talks about his time in Central Wisconsin and being a ranger there with the DNR. He knows a lot about trees, the land and animals as well as hunting.

Ian takes Chet outside and relieves two of the guards so he can show Chet around. After they get back, Hector Nuñez approaches Ian privately and says that one of the guys who came with Zerk is probably a raider. He says that the guy, Brent, killed someone in their group named Martin Kominsky three years ago in October 22, 2015 while they were trying to fend off marauders. They were unsuccessful in driving them off and they got away with a bunch of their stuff.

Ian asks Brent to come up to his office and talk, and he asks him about the incident in West Allis. He says that he was just trying to survive and the guy leading him convinced him that the others were also marauders.

Ian tries to mediate the situation but does not want to make a judgement because he feels it’s not his place. He realizes that the Talolans have the ability to mind link and revisit memories directly. Alex connects up with Brent who says he has nothing to hide and that those were just “dark days” where he was doing what he had to. He hasn’t taken anything in over two years. After digging into his memories, Ian decides to give Brent a second chance but that he is on notice.

A couple of days later, Alex connects with Lucy by radio and they talk about how the blue virus is a combination of a Talolan substance that was supposed to help with psychic brain function and a human flu virus. Transmission is fastest if you are bitten by someone who is infected. Blues are drawn by noises but have motor difficulty which may be due to the nerve damage inflicted by the virus. Some people die and some turn into zombies. They are starting to understand how the virus affects the body.

Lucy says that in order to understand it better, a live (or recently dead) Blue may be helpful so they can study the blood. The VA hospital may be a hotspot for Blues,  and they also have some research that would be helpful. Chet says that he can set some traps to capture some of them so they can be studied.

Ian remembers the VA’s layout and it might be dangerous. Lucy says what we need is room 8108 in building A. Our primary goal is to get the research but if we can trap some blues, that may also be helpful.

We spend some time

Session 24 – Into the Jungle

GM: Paul
Players: John-Alex, Brad-Ian, Dusty-Matt, Jon-Simon, Bill-Chet, Laura-Lucy, Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: December 23, 2018

Dusty, Ian, Alex and Meghan along with Va Roln, KiSi, Huey and Mahwaew roll into Ironwood with their snowmobiles. The snow is quite high in mid-October. They have two hab units and three manufacturing hubs that are Talolan. The people in the manufacturing building wave them in. The facility is pretty open and they are working on some vehicles. They have big power units like the Hub has which are giving heat and electricity.

Alex asks the two Ironwood men if Talolans are welcome here, nodding to the other two that are traveling with them. They say “of course” and offer to bring the group to one of the hab units for some coffee, though the evening meal is done. One introduces himself as Edmund and the other is Bobby Turner. Edmund seems friendly and Bobby is kind of a goof.

There are several people gathered in the hab as the newcomers come in. One of them is an older Native American-looking man. The four the party are traveling with wave to him, and when Ian asks who he is, they let him know that he is Mac. Ian asks if he is a leader, but they say there isn’t such a thing here, but he’s done some organization into scouting groups and watches — he is a former army ranger.

Coming into the mess hall, everyone sees a four foot pile of granite and some sort of a plant creature. The others are puzzled but Alex explains that there were other races in the Talolan solar system that they also tried to save. The M’ket – crystaline creatures and Kalydians are the plant people. In all, there are eight people who are not from Earth here. There are six people with heavily Native features, a couple of kids and five others who appear to be joiners.

The hosts bring out some stew and coffee for the newcomers. Everyone introduces themselves and Chet asks about Dusty’s dogs. He tells his story about living in north central Wisconsin and as things got difficult up there with equipment breaking down and strange creatures and razor grass, he ended up in Ironwood. He came with a woman named Brynna who also introduces herself, she is an acupuncturist and herbologist.

Ian goes to talk with Mac and salutes, but Mac says “that was a long time ago, sit down.” Ian asks him about his service and he says that he served all over the place in the Marines for over 20 years. Ian was an MP in the army and served in Abu Ghraib but not as long. Ian says that he’s the leader of the group by default as most people come to him with questions. Mac says that he’s in the same boat. He talks about how he was here and several pods fell down and created the buildings here.

Chet asks Alex about the “pods” that have come down, and Alex explains about how the Talolans and others came here, the pods, mutations, etc.

Alex says that he’d like to go to Menomonee Falls to speak with a doctor who might know something about the blue virus. Chet asks about that too and they explain. Meaghan offers that these are “still people” but sometimes we have to put them down.

Ian expresses concern that it’s almost Christmas and they’ve been gone from the Complex for two days. He asks Mac if they have a radio.

They come back a while later and Alex explains that they will head out in the morning to go to Menomonee Falls to talk to a researcher there about the blues, and then head home. Ian says that there are “other things” that happened as well. He lets Meaghan and Dusty know that they spoke with Scotty and he told them that after a cloning accident a Talolan had taken up residence in Simon’s head. Everyone makes light of the situation, Meaghan saying “That’s unfortunate,” Ian saying “I hope the Talolan is okay” and Dusty saying “That’s got to be pretty bad to have Simon inside you, you know about that, right Meg?” She rolls her eyes.

Chet asks to come along to Falls because he might have family that’s still there. Ian agrees, but then Chet starts talking about coming to the Hub. Ian doesn’t seem comfortable with him “inviting himself” to the Hub.

Back at the complex, a doctor (Amir) comes in to check on Simon and he says that the rest of the group made contact and they will be back in the next few days. Simon is in a bad way with his headaches and thanks him, then goes back to sleep.

The folks in Ironwood head to sleep. The next morning a woman named Gracie May is making food for everyone. Brynna is there too. After everyone is finished, Edmund takes everyone back to the manufacturing building and says that he topped up the gas tanks and checked the oil on the snowmobiles. Ian is very thankful.

A blast of cold air comes at them as the garage door is opened. The going is pretty quick to Falls as it’s a big stretch of country and no cars.

There is an old Army listening post west of Falls that is abandoned and it’s now a medical facility. They are welcomed inside but Ian asks Chet and Meaghan to stay outside. Dusty stays outside as well. They meet Lucy who is a scientist. She says that she was infected with the blue virus and she was cured, and they are studying that with the limited facilities they have here. She also serves everyone in the community and spends a lot of time going out to people in the area as well. She also mentions that there are some crazy people up at Holy Hill. They may need more protection.

Ian suggests that those at the Hub help out to get Lucy some power for her facility that’s more reliable or to have her come down to the Hub, and she appreciates the help.

Also, Ian asks for some migraine medicine for Simon, and she says that they have some in stock. She has 20 doses of Triptan that she gives to Ian.

Afterward, Meaghan gets a physical exam done by the staff.

Chet talks with Lucy and asks about his family. They ran a machine shop in Falls and owned a feed store near Germantown. Lucy doesn’t know them in particular but asks the staff and they say that off of Donges Bay Road near Mequon there is an Orlowski farm.

Chet asks Ian if they could make a stop and he’s not sure, because they wouldn’t be getting back home until after dark. He radios Scotty and lets him know that they will be coming back later.

The group heads out from here and goes up to Donges Bay and Granville to the farm. Unfortunately there is no one here. They quickly turn around and head back to the Hub so they can get there before dark. It is a long, cold ride.

Ian loads them into a small shack and tells the newcomers not to come out. They are curious what is going on and Alex explains that there is a security system, and he needs a swab of their DNA to add to the system so they don’t get zapped. Meaghan stays with them.

A woman in her late 20s comes into the door and says “I’ll take it from here.” She has a clipboard and asks all kinds of questions about their medical history. Brynna is confused as to what is going on but Chet just gabs away telling his whole life story.

After a short while, Chet is brought into the compound. He sees the main building and the pylons all around which look to have major weapons on them.

Ian brings the meds up to the doctor so he can give them to Simon. The doctor says it’s exactly what is needed.

Simon is happy everyone’s back but complains about the pain. The narcotics that he’s on are making him feel better but very foggy. Having someone in his head who doesn’t speak his language has been very hard. Ian is worried that the Talolan may take over Simon’s mind. Alex says that he has a device that creates a field that’s helpful for calming his mind that the Talolans use for meditation. He turns it on and tries to mindlink with the alien, but he can’t quite make it work.

Simon asks to head back to the bunkhouse with the others, and the doctor agrees. Simon feels ashamed that he caused trouble and got sick on the doctor, and thanks him.

The others take Simon back to the bunkhouse and crash. Ian is concerned about Simon having a gun so he takes it for safekeeping for now. Chet is given a spot in the bunkhouse and is happy to have heat and hot water.

As we fall asleep, a strange lucid dream begins. Oddly everyone is there including Chet. Everyone is in their jammies, and Dusty is naked. There is another Talolan here as well, and Alex tries to mindlink with him. Simon doesn’t have a migraine any longer and is very happy.

We look up and see that a huge planet is above us. The Talolan urges Simon to run away and Alex repeats it. We all run and see some strange foliage. Suddenly there is crazy gravity pulling us upward and we try to make for shelter. We see a hollow tree ahead of us but Meaghan trips and falls. Ian and Simon grab onto her and Chet onto them. Chet almost loses his grip but is able to pull us in.

The tree is uprooted and we float upward. We continue going up and after 15 minutes or so there is a bright flash. We seem to go unconscious for a second and after waking up, we feel a weightlessness and we are falling. Alex concentrates and puts up a barrier. We hit the ground and the tree smashes.

We pick ourselves up and Alex tries again to communicate with the alien. He is successful this time and is able to discern that his name is Ser Tomertoni, and that we are somehow in the Crintar system (where the Talolans lived) and we just experienced a conjunction between two of the planets. Ser seems to be reliving the events that he’s already seen, so he may know what to do. He urges the group to go to the “citadel” so we decide to follow his lead.

Session 23 – Sno Cat No Go

GM: Paul
Players: John-Alex, Brad-Ian, Dusty-Matt and Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: December 23, 2018
Originally published on: Published on: Aug 3, 2020 at 17:46

The morning started a bit stranger than most days lateley. The group in Genesee Depot welcomed in four new visitors. Two Talolan aliens and two humans of the Menomonee Nation. As is often the case with initial contact both sides apprehensively proceded with establishing a conversation. This was expidited by Alex and the other two Talolans who were communicating at the speed of thought. Alex began the introduction and everyone followed suit. In the new group there was Va Roln a female Talolan, KiSi a male Talolan, Hewitt “Huey” Lambert, and Dire “Mahwaew” Simonds.

The night before it was decided that the group would need the last snowmobile and sled from the Hub. The group radioed back to base to let them know. Dusty and Alissa Sharp volunteered to drive the snowmobile up in the morning to help. This left a couple hours for the group to get to know each other.

As Huey and Mahwaew removed their heavy coats Ian, as he does, looked them over with an assessing eye. Huey was short stature well spoken older man with long black hair containing streaks of silver. Ian noticed noticed a Greek letter Psi “Ψ” on his left inner forearm. Mahwaew was a tall man with green eyes and shoulder length black hair. This man had many tattoos on both arms but the one that stood out was the prominent display of the US Marine Corp on his right arm.

Ian keyed in on this and began a conversation with Mahwaew. Soon they were swapping service records and stories about their times in the service. Besides the war stories, it was discovered that Huey and Mahwaew were part of a pow-wow group that was supposed to perform at the Potowatomi Casino from Christmas to the New Year 2012. When it all hit the fan they stayed for a few days but then their leader Marcus thought it might be better for the group to make for his relatives place in Brookfield. They met up with his relatives where they stayed for awhile. Then, after meeting up with some other people, they all moved out to an area next to the Ironwood Golf Course north of Pewaukee.

Alex, Kisi and Va Roln had a similar exchange but it involved much more information about what each group was up to and it took only minutes via telepathic conversation.

By the end of the reminiscing the new visitors had extended an invitation to the Hub group to come up to their base. Ian decided that since they were over half way to where their new friends were located that it would only make sense to go now.

Dusty and Alissa showed up late morning. After sorting out who would be going were Alissa, Zerk, Kira and Kira’s crew hopped on two of the snowmobiles and headed back to the Hub. Everyone else hopped on the remaining snowmobile and sled (large pull behind sled) and the Sno Cat the other group had been traveling in.

The north bound group was making good time toward the Ironwood golf course north of Pewaukee. They were just about to I94 when the Sno Cat cut through the side ditch to get around a long past multi car pile up in the an intersection. As a result of doing this the Sno Cat suddenly came to a shuddering stop. The crew on the snowmobiles pulled up along side. There was obviously something wrong with the Sno Cat. As they looked it over they saw that the Sno Cat had picked up some barbed wiring which was attached to a metal post. The wire had wrapped around the tracks drive mechanism and the post had been hurled against a support which broke and disabled that drive mechanism.

This was fixable but they would need parts and hopefully a welder or torch. Ian and Dusty had both recalled that there was an auto parts store about a mile or two east of their location. The Hub group volunteered to get the parts since Ian seemed to know what they need and the Ironwood group would work at prepping the machine. Though it was earlier afternoon both groups worked with haste not wanting to be caught in the sub zero outdoors once night fell.

The Hub team made good time and were made it to the AutoZone parts store in about 20 minutes. The group cautiously stopped their easily noticed (i.e. loud) snowmobile about a block from their objective and slogged the rest of the way through the deep snow.

The AutoZone was mostly intact. A few of the windows and the glass doors had been broken the brick building looked solid. The four made their way to the building and proceeded to view in to the dark store from the windows. Dusty, his two dogs went in to the left while Ian went to the right and Meaghan made her way to the middle isles. Alex hung back by the doors. Everyone checked the isles looking for useful items – tools, an acetylene torch, parts, etc. Ian had made his way to the back isle when he pulled out a flashlight and shined it back to the farthest opposite corner of the store. This startled a large creature that had been nesting there.

Upon seeing the creature Ian and Meaghan began firing at it. Dusty looked to dive behind the service counter with his dogs. The large creature which looked like a cross between an 18 foot crocodile and a polar bear hastily clawed its way over the racks and down the isle toward Ian. Ian and Meaghan continued to fire at it while it took a swipe at Ian. Alex put a barrier up between Ian and the creature just in time to prevent Ian from being sliced in two.

Dusty, who was now behind the counter, quickly looked for the items that they needed. He figured if they just grabbed what they needed they could all get out of there and leave to the beast to its home.

With the barrier up and only large enough to block most of the area the beast was like a cat pawing at a mouse under a door. Though Ian did take a wound in doing so, the space gave Ian the ability to duck around it and blast it with his shotgun. After a couple rounds of that Ian was able to hit it enough times and eventually blast one of its limbs off. That was enough to take it down.

Once it was confirmed that the creature was down the group tended to Ian’s wound and then continued to search for the needed equipment. Dusty had found a lot of great supplies but it was Ian who found the acetylene torch. Of course it was in the isle that Ian had killed the beast. The group grabbed all that they could carry and made their way back to the snowmobile and sled.

After another 20 minute ride back to the other group they were set to begin fixing the Sno Cat. The Sno Cat was all set to be repaired having had a set of blocks placed under it to hold it up. Mahwaew expertly grabbed the torch and began cutting the barbed wired and post free. A length of steel that Dusty found in the AutoZone was used to weld the broken support arm back together. Va Roln provided the workers with environmental protection which really sped things along. In less than a half an hour the vehicle was operational and the group continued on their way.

After an hour and a half of careful driving the group arrived at the Ironwood complex.