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