GM: Brad
Players: Simon – John, JD – Bob, Alex – Jon, Zerc – Cary, Meaghan – Paul
Game Date: September 13-14, 2018

Alex reads the label on the canister that we found and he sees that it is for a nutritious plant that was edible on the Talolan planet, but it is unknown whether or not it is digestible by humans.

We continue our travel and make it to Menomonee Falls. Alex picks up all of the things that he had stored in the cave and we stay here the night. The next morning as we get up and see that it has started snowing. We figure that it is going to accumulate into a couple of inches of snow, but it’s better to get started moving. We load up everything with the horses and start off.

We stop in Franklin at the prison, though it is not a swap meet time now. The person at  the gate asks us who we are and we discuss the Templars being around here and he says that they are called “The Crusade”. He seems concerned that they are so close. He offers us a spot to stay for the night and we bed down. Before heading to sleep we look to trade. JD is interested in some grenades and we find only one. He negotiates with the man and convinces him that his .357 is the one Dirty Harry used in the movie. He is convinced and gives him the grenade. Zerc is not able to sell any of his toilet paper unfortunately.

The next day we hit the road and after a couple of hours we see a pile of bodies the road. Looking around, we see smoke off in the distance. Meaghan, Zerc and JD go off to take a look while Simon and Alex stay with the cart. After a few moments Alex and Simon hear noises north and south on the freeway. Simon jumps underneath the cart and suddenly huge mutated wolves converge on us. Alex creates a barrier around the cart just in time and the wolves bounce off of it and cannot get through. They seem momentarily confused. The others hear that something is wrong and start running back. Meaghan and Zerc start shooting and take several of them out, almost all of them with headshots. Alex struggles but manages to keep up his barrier for several more moments until the others can shoot all of the other wolves. We pile the dead wolves on the cart to keep their pelts and continue on.

We see from their tracks that the Templars are near Caledonia, but we do not pursue them now. Later that day we finally make it back to the compound. We have been gone about 4 days. Alex begins to connect up his nanotech and prepares to grow more Talolans. Meaghan skins the wolves for their pelts.

GM: Brad
Players: John, Bob, Jon, Cary, Paul
Game Date: September 12, 2018

We continue moving north, on the east side of Highway 45 across from the zoo. We see more of the pink mist in that area and are looking for high ground to get a view on where it might be coming from. Alex thinks that they may be a kind of a mutated spore from Talol that can knock you out.

We come to San Camilla’s hospital as a good option. Of course it has been completely ransacked and a lot of the windows are broken. Most of the supplies have been raided as well. In one area we see some evidence of a fight. There are blood spatters, drag marks, spent casings and a makeshift barrier here. Even a bloody hatchet. We all grab a handful of the brass so that they can be refilled later.

We head to the top floor and look out toward the zoo. We don’t see any lights, movement or smoke from here. From the vetrinary center  at the zoo, we see the smoke and a bunch of pods with vines around them. They are writhing around. Zerc also sees some things that look like alien technology. He suggests that we go down there and check them out. JD and Meaghan agree, but Simon and Alex don’t want to. They are overridden and we head out.

On the way across to the zoo, we see some people approaching. Meghan recognizes them from the observatory. They see her and they greet each other. They see Alex and are surprised but Meaghan quickly explains about him and the compound that we’ve used as our base. We also talk about the Black Templars and they say that they’ve seen them as far west as Madison. We let them know about the shortwave radio as well. We show them the map, and they mention that there is an airport and also a National Guard Armory in that area. We thank them for the share and tell them to stop by the compound sometime. We bid them farewell as they are off to Milwaukee now.

We head to the fence line and cut a hole. We head in with hatchets ready for any vines that may attack us. We see bones that Alex identifies as both human and animal. They seem not to be too disturbed but there is a thin crust of dried goo on them. We find a backpack with a few items in it. While we are looking around a vine snakes its way over to Meaghan and tries to grab her. She gets away from it and we start running toward the building. Before Simon gets into the building a vine grabs him around the waist and hauls him off the ground something that looks like a venus flytrap comes down to try and eat him. JD pulls his machete and hacks the vine off, and Simon falls to the ground. Zerc fires his rifle at it. Simon pulls out his machine pistol and fires a burst into it, and it falls dead. He yells in victory, and Meaghan shouts “All right Simon!” He gets up and runs into the building along with JD.

In the building we find some oxygen gas tanks and some acid. Alex rigs up a rudimentary flamethrower and acid gun. JD and Simon take them, respectively. We head outside toward where we saw the canister. We see two more of the venus flytraps in trees nearby. JD torches one of them with his flamethrower and Simon shoots the other with acid. He tries to cover all of the vines on the ground with acid but the sprayer breaks and he gets acid all over himself. He quickly runs and jumps into the nearby flamingo pond.

Zerc finds and grabs the cannister and starts running toward the fence. Meaghan fishes Simon out of the pond and they start running as well. Alex creates a barrier in the shape of a tunnel to protect us from vines as we run.

GM: Brad
Players: John, Bob, Jon, Cary, Paul
Game Date: September 11, 2018

Back at the compound there is a discuss regarding what to do about the Black Templars. We hear from others in Beloit and the Milwaukee hub that they’ve found dead bodies in exactly the same configuration. We decide that we are going to head up to Menomonee Falls and grab Alex’s gear. We are heading straight up Highway 45.

The air is crisp and cool here in mid-September. After a bit of travel time, we see ahead of us a pinkish cloud, like a puff of vapor, is rising through the air. We observe it and see another one come up. We move toward it and see some houses here. We see some activity at a house on the other side of a divided highway with a barrier down the middle.

As the wagon trundles up, a shot rings out and Zerc cries out in pain. He has been shot in the arm. He returns fire right away to what appears to be a sniper in the upper level of one of the houses. Alex creates a barrier to try and protect us but the bullets continue flying. We take out several guys with guns. After a few moments it is quiet again and Meaghan tries to see if anyone else is in the house. She looks into the front door of one of the houses and suddenly a man with a knife attacks her. JD runs up to the house to help her just as she jams her knife into the man’s throat. She then stabs him in the groin for good measure.

We decide to search the houses and find tons of equipment, supplies and weapons including a sniper rifle and kevlar armor. JD finds a cache underneath a loose floorboard with maps and notes outlining Milwaukee and Beloit as operation areas. Most of the information is in code, though, so not possible for us to read. There is a picture of an airplane and a picture of a handgun near West Bend. On one sheet there is a picture of a Black Templar logo. The dead guys are basically cosplayers as their dress is almost exactly like Black Templars from 40K. They have purity seals, and under their armor they have ritual scarring. Meaghan takes a machine pistol and gives it to Simon as a present.

We look through the third house but don’t find anything. As Alex is looking over the bodies he notices a psionic vibe on them. He thinks that they were being controlled by someone using psychic power. Zerc also is glowing with energy because he was just healed.

GM: Brad
Players: John, Jon, Bob, Matt, Paul, Cary
Game Date: August 26-29, 2018

We have invited some folks from Beloit to live at our compound. Some have also come from Orlando to live in Wisconsin, and others went to Orlando from our group.

Ian begins showing symptoms of some illness. Alex checks him out and finds that he has the beginnings of the Blue virus. Alarmed, Alex gives him the only dose of the antidote that he had previously synthesized. We allow him to rest.

Scotty, who is the leader of the Beloit group, suggests that we travel back to the observatory and let them know about the new compound. This will also give Meaghan a chance to get the rest of her things.

The next morning we travel to the Observatory, and arrive there at the end of the day without trouble. They welcome us and ask what has happened since we left. We fill them in.

JD calls Sean and lets him know that we are back in town. He doesn’t want to say too much as others may be listening on the channel, but Sean says that he may come down to the observatory in a couple of days.

Meaghan speaks to the observatory’s medical “doctor” for a while then returns reading a letter. She says that her previous boyfriend (Robert “Bobby” Williams) has left her a cache a few miles from here in a greenhouse.  She says that she would like to go take a look at it, and wouldn’t mind some company.

We stay the night, and Meaghan spends some time talking to the others here and reassuring them that the new compound is safe. In the morning some of them already have their things packed.

The next morning we have our things packed and move out. Meaghan says that we need to bring a shovel.

Several hours later we arrive at the Pesche’s Greenhouse north and east of the observatory, just off of Hwy 50. Zerc and JD watch the road while the rest of the group looks for the cache. Right by the wooden sign is the spot we need to dig. It takes us a while to dig deep enough, but we are rewarded with a nice hunting rifle and an extremely powerful assault rifle with an under-barrel mounted grenade launcher. There is also two pistols, a bunch of ammo, MREs, water purifying tablets, some backpacks with Camelback hydration, some multi-tools, butane lighter, and a few more things.

As we are finishing bringing things out of the cache, JD hears some crunching nearby. He looks around and doesn’t see anything. After a moment he sees through one of the nearby greenhouse windows a humanoid shape. He throws a rock at the rest of the group to get their attention. Meaghan jumps down the trench and readies the gun.

A moment later a Blue smashes through the window and starts running toward us. Meaghan pops her head up and fires at it and kills it instantly with a headshot. We breathe a sigh of relief but then over a dozen more start coming at us from several angles. We all fire weapons at them. JD tosses a grenade and Alex uses his psionics to create a 40 foot wide barrier in front of them to slow their progress.

Suddenly we see a huge Blue come out of one of the buildings toward us. Dusty’s dog and wolf begin to attack it. JD aims an assault rifle at it and fires several shots. The first takes off its leg and the other two go into its chest, killing it.

Meaghan fire grenades behind the barrier and kill a bunch of the Blues. The barrier goes down and one more Blue comes out but slips on the guts of his friends. While he is down, Alex creates a new barrier right on top of him so he is like a specimen on a slide. Alex will use him as an experiment to find a cure for the Blue disease.

Looking inside, we find a pistol and a few other items, as well as gardening supplies.

After we are done, we head back to the observatory with the Blue bound and gagged. When we get back, the people who are coming with us are all packed and ready to go. Only a few are planning to stay behind. JD gives them the pistol for self defense.

The next morning we head back to our compound. Less than a mile away, we see three bodies in the middle of the road. We investigate and Simon sees that they have a symbol from a video game, the Black Templars from Warhammer 40,000. The others don’t believe him at first but Meaghan agrees with him. Dusty suggests that they were “Nerderers”.

GM: Paul
Players: Brad, Cary, Jon, John, Bob, Bill, Dave Z, Dave L
Game Date: May 29 – June 1, 2018 / June 30, 2018

We are in a shipping container and a curtain opens. We see a heavily tattooed Latino man and he asks us who we are. It seems to him that we have been here for a long time. We tell him that we’ve just arrived and we are from Wisconsin. During this, Simon introduces Meghan as his “friend” which she clearly doesn’t like. Glaring at him, she introduces him as “my boyfriend Simon.” The man we met says that we are in Orlando. We smell a lot of burning wires and see some smoke.

Everyone especially Joseph bring up their guns but we agree to de-escalate. We see that their generator is completely toast.

A man they have called Dave says that it seems like alien technology. Alex asks him why he might think that, and he explains that his theory is that the meteor that was seen during the solar flare was an alien spaceship, and it crashed and spread radiation, mutating plants and animals. He thinks that either the aliens were just passengers and are friendly, or that they are evil.

Amazed at Dave’s guess, Alex reveals himself as an alien and explains his backstory and about his people. Shocked but seemingly accepting this news, the Orlando colonists explain that they had brought the shipping container here recently and just powered it up. When we came it it had blown the generator, though. We explain that we have our own compound similar to this in Wisconsin, and we could make a teleport connection between us to trade and communicate.

We are inside an old resort that used to be known as the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, and there are around 200 people here. This is the largest colony that we have ever seen. They explain that the place is now called Lordville. They offer to give us some steaks and fresh fruit. We have not seen an orange in 5 years.

Dave goes to a council meeting and tells them about us. They come back and give us a tour of the compound. We see many young children, more than we’ve seen anywhere else. Dave explains to the people that the generator is down and it is going to get very hot in here for the time being. It is also said that they have Seekers here in Florida (they call them Blimpies) and need to be careful about major power sources.

Flaco, the latino man, stays up and drinks with us. In the morning, he comes to our room and tells us that breakfast is ready. We go downstairs to a large buffet.

Later it is decided that we should take a small boat up Bonnet Creek. From there we can get into the Magic Kingdom park and find some generators.

After we have been traveling in the boat upstream for a while, using an electric trolling motor, Ian and Simon see some large (4 foot long) iguanas in a tree ahead. Simon sounds the alarm to stop the boat and shoots at one of them, but misses. The lizards spit goo down on top of us and it paralyzes Cody. Dave falls backward into the creek.

JD, Branson, Ian, Flaco, Simon and Megan all begin shooting at the Giant Geckos. JD lets loose with a spray from his AR sending some of the Geckos fleeing.

Alex runs to the back of the boat and shuts the motor off. He tries to throw a rope to Dave to pull him up but misses. He creates a psionic barrier behind him so he can’t go downstream any further. He tries again with the rope but accidentally gets it caught in a tree and tangled in his leg. He falls out of the boat upside down into the water, hanging from the tree.

A few of the geckos jump into the boat with us, and we are able to attack and kill them. We pull Alex and Dave out of the water and clean out the boat before we continue on our way.

We get to Bay Lake, the west side of which has the Disney Contemporary resort which is adjascent to the Magic Kingdom. We hug the east shore of the lake just in case there is something in the deeper water. Flaco notices that there is a curved structure above the trees ahead.

Suddenly a huge crocodile leaps into the boat and tries to attack us. He grabs Scotty in his jaws and goes underwater. Joseph tosses Ian a grenade. Ian pulls the pin and shoves it down the croc’s throat. It explodes but the croc doesn’t immediately die. Flaco tries to pull Scotty out of its mouth. Dave throws a bag of goo that he had collected from the geckos but it goes onto Scotty. Branson shoots him with a shotgun and it finally is killed. Flaco and JD try to pull Scotty out of the alligators mouth. Branson heals him as he is a pre-med student. Ian takes a couple of teeth out of the gator before we leave.

After the altercation, Meaghan approaches Cody and expresses how impressed she is with his actions during the battle. Simon seems a bit dumbfounded and doesn’t say anything. Flaco tells Simon that he will help him win the girl back.

We bale out the boat as we troll away since it has taken on some water. We get to the north side of the lake and see some slips where boats were but they have sunk. We see ahead the structure that we saw earlier, and it appears to be a part of the Talolan ship. Underneath we see a lot of overgrown flora, some of which are Talolan.

We go to the warehouse nearby but the area is protected by a sonic field just like the compound in Wisconsin. As we are checking it out, Dave is grousing about the “aliens”. Ian confronts him and says that if he doesn’t stop verbally attacking the members of his team, he will take him out. They yell at each other for a while.

Alex and Scotty go inside the warehouse. They find the controls for the sonic security system, and also two generators, cloning vats and robot tugs that can move things for us.

We decide to add the people here to the system so they are not affected by the sonic barrier. Then we go to take some of the nearby boats in storage out so we can take a generator back to the base. It takes us a couple of days to organize everything.

We check out the other nearby warehouses and see all kinds of materials, solar panels, and lots of decorations. Simon has a field day here and takes lots of merchandise with him. Flaco sees this and advises Simon to tone it down so he can get Meaghan’s attention back. She actually does notice, and Simon invites her to take a look at the things he’s gotten. She agrees. But later, Ian, Joseph, and Simon are walking through the warehouse and see Cody and Meaghan together in one of the aisles making love. Simon does not outwardly react but is very upset.

The group spends two days referbing two more tour boats so they can bring back the plasma generator, large generator, 3 smaller generators, and the Disney trappings that Dave gathered for the residents of Lordville. Dave explains that the Disney stuff should help morale.

After a few more weeks, we have the plasma generator in place and determine how to set up trade between the colonies. Dave allows anyone who wants to go up to Wisconsin from Lordville to do so. There is still a lot to be determined.

GM: Paul
Players: Brad-Ian, Cary-Cody, Jon-Simon, John-Alexander, Brandon-Prof. Politavo, Bob-Joseph/JD , Matt-Dusty, Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: May 1 – 3, 2018 / May 28 – 29, 2018

We decide that we have all we need and start heading back from town, with the cart in tow and two motorcycles. We load our things onto the boat and Sean takes us back. The boat trip is about 45 minutes. When we return it is evening and we pretty much crash.

Simon goes off with Meaghan. Her mood is completely changed from before the trip, and she is really excited to have been part of the action. She drags him off to her bedroom.

The lead professor from the observatory asks Alex some questions about his physiology and his home planet. The Prof joins in on the conversation. Information is shared and the professors from the observatory share info about the Near Miss Meteor:

Length 3200m
Diameter 900m
Speed 195,000 km/h
It was roughly cigar shaped
It had a slow rotation along its axis

Ian cleans up one of the shotguns we found and gives it to Sean.

The next morning, Meaghan and Simon look exhausted. Everyone has breakfast and then Cody and the Prof begin working on the telescope. Cody brings jacks in and lifts the telescope up and the Prof replaces the wheel. The project takes all day but they make good progress. One of the female students is on the telescope near Cody and she loses her balance. He barely catches her and she is very grateful.

Ian continues to work on the guns.

Later that evening, the Prof gets the telescope prepped and turned the right direction to see the satellite. The students help him. Focusing in, he sees that it is a cylinder with a cluster on one end that looks like a dandelion in bloom. It looks like a satellite of some sore. The professors share information that they observed the night of the launch and, with the observations from Lapham Peak, calculate that it originated from between Union Grove and the freeway.  When zooming in, it’s seen that there is writing on the side of it. Alex translates that it is “Travel Relay 23”. He explains that this is a relay satellite.

The next day we decide to head out and go toward Union Grove. We leave the motorcycles because they don’t have any fuel. Meaghan comes with us. On the trip, we see a dog, what looks like a wolf hound, following us in the woods. We stop the cart and the dog stops too. Its fur is matted and it smells terrible. Dusty is able to bring it in with some jerky and it seems tame enough. He decides to bring it with us.

We set camp but after it gets dark we see a light in the distance. There is a house nearby. We set up watch but do not disturb them. In the morning we see a farmer outside the house. We break camp and leave toward Union Grove. The town is much like the others that we’ve seen. The Christmas decorations are still up and there are rotted out homes. We stay to the outskirts and move to the east side.

We get to the area that was marked on the map. We split the group into two — Cody, the Prof, Simon, Meaghan and Ian (along with the horses) go off following Cody. Alex, Dusty, the dogs and Joseph go the other direction. After a while of looking, Alex’s group runs into an invisible field that makes them nauseous. They call the other half of the group on the walkie and they meet back up. Joseph and Dusty are recovering and Alex comes out of the woods. He says that he has found the base station for the satellite. There is a sonic defense of some kind that turns on when it senses a non-Talolan.

Cody and Alex walk toward the relay with difficulty because of the sonic defense. They take a look and come back. Alex decides to go by himself and the defenses allow him to get in. There is a power station, defense turrets, and force fields around it and the crater from where the station launched. However, he can’t take down the defenses or use the station to teleport anywhere.

Alex relates all of this to the group, and we decide that we need Scotty’s help in order to help us with this. It takes a few days for us to get back home and then return with Scotty. He looks at it for about an hour and then he asks us to follow him. He will be entering our DNA into the system so we can enter the base and others that may exist.

Scotty says the facility is fully operational. There is a plasma generator and the guns are plasma cannons. The generator is extremely valuable and we must protect it. We decide to relocate the supplies and as many people as we can from Beloit to here. And since the satellite has the ability to relay a teleport signal, we could conceivably build or fix other stations like this around the area and teleport ourselves to them.

A while later, we have relocated things to the base and settled here a bit. On May 28th there is suddenly there is a notification on the computer that another relay has come online. Alex lets us know that we can now use the teleporter to go somewhere else but we won’t know where. There may be other aliens there.

May 29th, 2018 – After preparing their gear Alex, Scotty, Joseph, Ian, Simon, Meaghan, and Cody all go through the portal. Everyone but Alex is woozy. We see humans here, well armed and with cables everywhere. We ask them where we are and they say we are near Orlando.

GM: Paul
Players: Cary-Cody/Zerk, Brad-Ian, Jon-Simon, John-Alexander, Matt-Dusty, Bob-JD and Brandon-Prof
Game Date: April 30 – May 1, 2018

Sean leads us into the observatory. The building is shaped like an “L” and is quite large. There is a fountain and green space in the front that is pretty overgrown. We see about a dozen people who are coming out as we approach. Some of them have guns.

They greet Sean and Joseph and the Prof let them know what we are looking for. They say that they can help us out, but the big telescope is broken. They also saw the launch but don’t know that it is either.

We notice someone we know — it is Dusty along with his wolf companion. An older man introduces himself, and there is an attractive couple. A woman with a 12 year old girl. Finally, another older guy standing back from the group.

They invite us in and we go to the telescope to take a look. Damian Martin (the young man), Andreas Baraza (a bookish looking man), Mikayla Abravski (younger woman who looks like a student). Andreas says that he was an instructor here and some of these people were his students.

We introduce Andreas to Alex and he reveals himself as an alien. Andreas is surprised but immediately says “I knew it!” and discusses how they saw the spaceship crash. He is very interested in speaking more with Alex and learning about his planet and history.

Simon goes off with a girl named Meaghan and they bond over comics and pop culture from the past few years. She confides in him that someone from the group very recently died. We hear from Andreas that the person was killed by a huge wolf. She also says that one of the group members was trying to go south and was captured by raiders. She managed to escape and made it back.

The group diagnoses the problem with the telescope and see that we need a 12 inch steel wheel and jacks to hold up the apparatus while we replace the broken one. We will go into town to find a new one.

Simon invites his new friend Megan to come along with us, but Ian thinks that she will be a liability. She convinces him that she can hold her own by showing him her Glock and that she knows how to use it.

Alex, noticing that Megan and Simon are taking a liking to one another, says that he is interested to see human mating in action “for science.” Joseph says that he may want to “skip this one.”

Joseph asks Megan why there are more women in their group than men. She comments that it’s because men are more likely to get killed because they go off thinking they have something to prove. Alex tells Joseph that sometimes after a person has lost someone of a certain personality, they tend to seek someone who is the complete opposite. (Referencing that if her ex-boyfriend was adventurous, she may be interested in Simon now because he is the opposite.)

On the boat, we head out and almost immediately we see a ripple in the water. The big fish is back. Everyone starts firing on it including Meagan with her glock. Alex uses a “spell” that creates a long wall in the way of the fish and it slams into it instead of the side of the boat. It does not break. Simon fires on it with his gun.

Ian saunters up to the side of the boat, raises his enormous Peacemaker pistol, sighting the gun with one eye, and blows a massive hole straight through the fish’s brain, spraying innards over the water and into the boat. A massive cloud of smoke rises from the gun and he blows over the end of the barrel, grunting as he lowers it.

Alex asks for a sample of the giant fish so we slice some off.

We get to shore and start looking through town. Meagan nudges Simon and tells him that there is an old comic store near here. They peel off and no one notices. The Prof is actually so distracted that he trips and falls and hurts himself. Alex fixes him up.

Everyone notices that Simon and Meaghan are gone and start looking for them. They are found in a comic book shop down the street looking through longboxes. Ian is angry that they are wasting time here but Simon shows him a very rare comic book that is in pristine shape. Ian asks if it is made of iron or something that we can eat. Simon retorts that “this is culture, if we don’t have this then we have nothing!” Meaghan pulls him by the arm and suggests that they go.

The group finds the Post Office and goes inside. Suddenly Meagan pulls her pistol and grabs Simon’s arm and says that she sees something. There are a group of shapes ahead. Joseph sees it and tosses a grenade into the mix and it explodes. We see several blues and start gunning them down. One attacks Simon but Meaghan shoots it down. The group shoots several more and Meaghan kills another one. Simon’s jaw drops and he asks her how she learned to shoot like that. She nonchalantly says that they practice a lot.

After the commotion is over, Dusty bursts in expecting a fight.

We clean things up and do find a wheel that should work for what we need on the telescope. Joseph also finds a shortwave radio and two handheld radios that work with it.

We go across the street to the Harley Davidson dealership and find some leather jackets. Alex finds one that has heavy pads on its elbows. It is large enough to fit him with all four arms. There is also a gun safe in the back that is turned on its side. Everyone grabs the safe and rights it, then the Prof walks up and says that he could probably beat the lock. He explains the science behind the locking mechanism and listens for the tumblers as he turns the dial, and it pops open a few moments later. Everyone just stares at him. The gun safe contains several nice guns and ammunition which we take. There is also some food and a solar charger.

GM: Paul
Players: Cary-Cody/Zerk, Brad-Ian, Jon-Simon, John-Alexander, Matt-Dusty, Bob-JD and Brandon-Prof
Game Date: April 29 – 30, 2018

As we are approaching the house, which is a large modern home on Lake Geneva. We hear dogs barking and two gunshots. One of the dogs lets out a high pitched whine. Ian and Joseph pull out their guns (Joseph has an AR-15) and run toward the house. Cody, Alex, Simon and the Prof hang back but also draw guns and go up slowly.

They see a bear-like creature at the house. Joseph aims with his AR-15 and his night vision scope, and fires a shot. Upon hearing this, the others behind begin running up the hill but they are a ways behind.

Joseph and Ian see Sean open one of the windows of the house and start fire a pistol at the bear. Joseph opens up with his AR-15. The bear slumps over, dead. We move up to examine it, and it looks like a normal bear. When we get closer, we see that it has strange bifurcated claws on each paw and massive teeth. It is also bleeding black instead of red.

We go inside to check on Sean and his family, and they are okay. One of the dogs was eaten, but the three kids (Zane, Robert and Anneke) and his wife Rhea are okay. There is a support beam in the home that was completely sheared in half by the bear.

The Prof attempts to take off the bear’s claws with a hacksaw but it is difficult to do. We start doing introductions when they notice Alex and start freaking out. Ian explains that he is indeed an alien but he is friendly. The Prof immediately begins explaining how the solar flare coincided with Alex’s ship going through the solar system causing it to crash, but their heads are spinning.

The Prof helps Sean’s attractive 17-year-old daughter to bury her deceased dog, which she appreciates.

Speaking more with Sean and his family, he offers us some alcohol and some take it. He asks what we are doing here and we explain that we are trying to get to the observatory to study the satellite that we saw go up a few weeks ago. He says that they saw it go up but don’t know what it is either. They offer to let us use their 30 foot steam boat to traverse the lake. We figure that we could fit the cart and horses on it.

Sean lets us know where we can sleep, and we all start heading to bed. Anneke has been flirting with Cody, and she invites him upstairs, grabbing a bottle of alcohol first. The parents don’t seem to mind as clearly she doesn’t get a lot of company. They go upstairs and visit for a while and listen to music and snuggle. Simon walks past, slightly jealous.

Simon finds some books on local history that he reads about the region and the observatory.

In the morning, we wake up to food cooking. They have root vegetables for us to eat. They offer to let us use their shower, as well. Joseph takes advantage of it.

Cody asks the Prof to help him load all of his music on Anneke’s iPod for her, which she appreciates.

Sean gives Ian and Joseph some ammunition for their guns. Joseph gives him a fragmentation grenade for defense, which Sean really appreciates.

We load up the cart and horses on the boat along with the rest of our gear, and we cast off with Sean driving the boat. Sean tells us that the people at the observatory are pretty friendly. He usually deals with one of the students named Damien Martin. He also knows the Faldors who live across the lake. There are others who have migrated in as well over the past couple of years so it is a bit of a mix.

We get to the middle of the lake and the boat suddenly rocks to the side. Everyone loses their footing but is able to recover except Alex, who has a high center of gravity. Cody grabs him. One of the horses falls into the lake. We see a huge fin come past us. Joseph raises his rifle and shoots it, wounding it badly and forcing it to move off. It is a giant sturgeon, at least 25 feet long.

We scramble to help the horse back into the boat using ropes and the boat’s cargo winch. It takes us quite a long time and we are all exhausted from the effort, but the horse is brought back on board. It is wounded but okay.

Sean says that he will come with us to the observatory. He also muses about improvements that he needs to make on the boat, including a harpoon gun and some steel reinforcements to the hull.

GM: Paul
Players: Cary-Cody/Zerk, Brad-Ian, Jon-Simon, John-Alexander, Matt-Dusty, Bob-JD and Brandon-Prof
Game Date: April 28 – 29, 2018

After two days of travel from Lapham Peak, the Professor and JD arrive in Beloit on his electric bike. The Professor finds the complex and askes for Zerc, who he says sent him a letter. Zerc doesn’t recognize him at first since he has lost weight, his hair has grayed and he is wearing road clothes and carries an M-16. They begin to talk, catching up. Prof thought that Zerc was dead.

The conversation ends abruptly when Alex walks in and JD begins to freak out. He explains who he is and the planet he comes from, and the Prof starts asking all kinds of questions. Alex explains that he arrived on earth a few months ago after millions of years traveling from his dead planet. He was on something of an “ark” that had the genetic material of all species on board. The Prof actually pulls out one of the vials that he had found through his travels and gives it to Alex. Alex sees that it is the material for another Talolan (one of his race). He thanks the Prof.

Scotty comes out and meets JD and the Prof. The Prof continues to pepper him with questions about where their planet is in the sky, and if it’s in this galaxy or another. Scotty actually doesn’t know where their planet was located. The Prof says that there was a launch that occurred 3 months ago and a new bright light has appeared in the sky and hasn’t moved — something is in geo-synchronous orbit directly above us. The Prof says that he would like to get to the Yerkes Observatory, the largest refraction telescope, in Lake Geneva to study the object and determine the possible origin of the Talolans. Zerc remembers vaguely seeing the launch a few months ago.

We pack up and leave the next morning for Lake Geneva. We take County Highway B using the electric scooters (the Prof and Bob) and the rest of us on a horse-drawn cart. We stop for lunch to eat and recharge the solar batteries. As we start moving again, Ian and the Prof see what looks like a thunderstorm ahead. The Prof thinks that it is something much more dangerous, so we start to look for cover. Some of us remember that there is an electrical substation.

We get to the substation in a few minutes, just ahead of the storm. There does appear to be some sort of precipitation coming, and we can taste and feel something strange in the air. The door to the station is locked, and Zerc and the Prof pick it after a few minutes. We get everything inside and shut and bar the door. There is a hatch in the middle of the room to an underground room. We get it open and climb down. As the storm goes over us we see the electricity in the pipes around us and the horses are spooked.

After about 15 minutes it subsides and we go up and check things out. The horses are okay but looking outside, it has rained and there are trees down. It looks like scorched earth with grass and foliage burned up. The storm is moving northeast toward Milwaukee, and we worry about who may be caught outside in this.

Thinking about what may have caused this, Simon thinks that perhaps it is instability in the earth’s magnetic field that is causing all of the problems. The Prof takes all kinds of readings and records them for later. There’s a good chance that we could get more of these.

We pack up our gear and continue on toward Lake Geneva.