All posts by jon

Chicago Runners

Session 3 – Isaac pumps up Franz

Things have calmed down after the action from last time.  Mari got a settlement from Saeder-Krupp to keep it hushed up.  She is going to use it to help her mom, and she is incredibly happy and thankful around us.  She knows we saved her from a bad situation.  We are finally back on regular duty.  The runs have been mostly boring, but there does seem to be an increase in gang violence.

Things have gotten a little rougher around the neighborhood, and the regulars at the Triple Tap are carrying more weapons.  We still hang out there several times a week.  One night we are hanging out there when Isaac gets a high priority message from Dr. Hyun.  Her 20-year-old nephew Ayun has been missing for 3 days.  He was part of a young person’s organization that went on a humanitarian project in the slums.  He has not been seen since.  They have not found anything around his last known location.

We recognize the symbol as the Universal Brotherhood.  They have a cover as being an organization about the sharing of universal truth and companionship.  However, we know they have a violent side as well and they have gathered weapons.  The founders of the group created it to promote peace, however they both got sick and committed suicide.  At a guess there are 18,000-20,000 members in the Chicago area.  We decide to keep our eyes and ears open but keep doing our regular runs.  We cannot afford to get in trouble again.

The next day we go back out on patrol like normal.  We get a call around midnight on Thursday.  We notice that the name is Franz Donner, Thumper’s cousin.  The signal is coming from down by the docks, which is nowhere near the restaurant.  It is coming from a warehouse.  As we pull up, we see several Eagle security units with bullet holes in their cars.  The ping from his bracelet is coming from inside this building on the south side.  We get the cops to move and then pull the ambulance to the south east corner of the building.  There are no doors on this side.

We sneak around to the West side and find a side door, along with Edge and Scales, the shadow runners we ran into before.  They try to wave us off, but we come up anyway.  They say there is a blood bath in there and we might not want to go in.  Thumper tries to break the door but fails.  He shoots out the hinges and then runs into the room, yelling for Franz.  We see the same orcs that were bothering the Triple Tap, part of the Sewer Rats.  As we move into the room, we see a group of trolls on the other side.  Many of them are people that Thumper knows, but some of them are dead and others are wounded.  They are in bad shape.

We manage to stabilize Franz and get him on a stretcher.  As we are loading him up one of the trolls says they were selling the weapons so that the gangs would destroy each other.  As we start moving towards the door, the big garage door explodes inward and a combination of Eagle Security and Corp Sec busts in.  They immediately start exchanging fire with the orcs.

The EMTs look in the bins and find some riot shields.  They grab them and use them to cover the stretcher as the group starts moving towards the door.  The trolls start following us, and the orc gang members start shooting at them and us.  Espadas drops one gang member who gets close to us, and Bright swings at another and wounds him.  The orc gangers and the corp sec keep exchanging fire.  A couple of the troll gangers take wounds.

Icebox gets the stretcher and Franz out the door, while Espadas drops another ganger.  Thumper also kills one.  The group piles out into the alley and runs for the ambulance, with Ryoshi and Thumper covering the rear.  We all head for the ambulance, and two of the troll gangers also escape.  Isaac keeps working on Franz, who seems to be getting worse.  We keep driving to headquarters and rush him into emergency surgery.

Isaac helps with the triage and surgery.  Thumper waits at the emergency room.  Franz is in surgery for three hours, but he does pull through.  Espadas and Ryoshi go back to the restaurant.  A few of the trolls that are usually there are not anymore.

Franz wakes up around mid-morning.  He is covered in bandages and very weak, but lucid.  He says that 3 months ago he was approached by corporate guys who said they could make money while the gangs tear each other apart.  Franz wants to get rid of all the other races, metahumans and otherwise, then trolls could take over.  Corp security shows up soon after to question Thumper and Franz.  Icebox rolls up behind them and starts telling them they cannot question him now.  They leave.

Thumper gets the details from Franz about the weapons shipments.  There were 8 shipments with assault rifles, pistols, armor, shields, and cannons.  The shipments come from Germany and are smuggled through customs then they sell them to the gangs at cost just to move more of them.  The meetings were anonymous (his face was masked), but we have the location and time.

The cops come back and separate Thumper and Franz.  They grill Thumper in their paddy wagon.  He cooperates and tells them what he knows.  Eventually they let him go and he comes back to the restaurant.  Ringo had no idea that any of this was going on with Franz.

Our next move is to try and meet with Edge and Scales to see what they know.  Thumper’s fixer does not know how to contact them, but suggests we get a message out on Noose-net.  Isaac wows us with his hacking skills and can find a way to contact them.  We also find out there are possibly thousands of sewer rats and other gangers underground that come out at night, commit crimes, then go back underground.  A user named SuperWiz has tons of information about them including maps of activity.  We also find that Edge and Scales work with SuperWiz, and they are helping law enforcement.  We decide to try and meet them at a restaurant near us and send SuperWiz a message.

We agree to meet at a nearby noodle bar in the afternoon.  SuperWiz shows up and asks is we have some information on the Sewer Rats.  Thumper and Icebox talk to him and agree to share to their knowledge about the weapons deals.  Icebox will give him the video from the warehouse fight (minus Espadas face of course).  They arrange for a drop point.  The decker reveals that his actual handle is Charlie Zero, and SuperWiz is an alternate username. After the drop we get a message says he has it and will be in touch.  We go back to work for Doc Wagon.

Chicago Runners

Session 1 – A baseball bat and two grapefruit

It’s September 2054 in Chicago, more than a year after the Spiritbane incident. We are a team of medics and security personnel for a DocWagon High Threat Response (HTR) unit that patrols the streets and rescues clients.

John – Ryoshi, elf physical adept and sniper
Bill – Thumper, troll street samurai
Matt – Icebox, human medic
Paul – Espadas, troll physical adept and sword fighter
Jon (NPC) – Bright, human street samurai and former medic
(NPC) – Mari “Gearz”, dwarf rigger
(NPC) – Dr. Hyun, human doctor and team leader

We spend the end of our shift at DocWagon sitting around the station and talking.  Thumper shares that his family has a restaurant nearby and invites us all for dinner and drinks, including Mari.

We go to the restaurant and meet his wife and daughter.  Some sewer rat gangers come in and start pushing around his daughter and other customers.  Thumper goes and and speaks gently to them, at which time they decide to leave.

The next day we spend most of a boring shift just riding around in the ambulance.  However towards the end of the shift we get a call about a car accident with gunfire.  We pull up and a green car with gangers has crashed into a silver coupe that has our patient and four others.  We pile out of the car and the gangers seem like they are threatening the car.  Ryoshi quickly shoots off the side mirror of their car and the gangers all hit the dirt.  There are also two shadowrunners there, Scales and Edge, who say the green car rammed into the silver one and they are there to help.

The runners stay out of our way as we move in to stabilize the patient.  Just then the window of the building next to the scene explodes as a desk come flying out of it…followed by two grenades.  Everyone dives for cover.  Thumper and Espadas dive on top of the victim and his friend.  Dr, Hyun and Icebox are stunned and knocked flat.

Espadas runs and vaults off the desk up into the open window.  He hits and kills one of the 3 guys there with his vibrosword, effectively cutting him in half.  The rest of the team starts to move the patient to the ambulance.  Ryoshi drops another ganger in the window, and Espadas slices the last one.

Just then another truck crashed into the intersection.  The team is able to get the victim in the ambulance, along with Dr. Hyun who is still stunned from the grenade.  One of the gangers shoots at Bright as he is moving back, but Ryoshi shoots the ganger.  Thumper drops a ganger and Scales drops another ganger.  Dr. Hyun finally gets up and is able to get in the ambulance.  Scales waves at us to indicate danger and shoots at the truck.  We start getting the other people into the ambulance, but the panel of the truck pops open and a ganger pops out.  He shoots a missile launcher that catches our med tech, two of the victims, and Icebox.  The medtech is down.

Bright pulls out his SMG and drops the guy with the missile launcher.  Another jumps out but Thumper drops him.  Two more gangers pop out from the van and shoot at Thumper, but miss.  Ryoshi kills one of them.

Eagle Security shows up and the last ganger cowers against his car.  We get the rest of the people in the ambulance.  The last ganger shoots at Thumper but Ryoshi drops him.

The gangers all had Sewer Rat paraphernalia. However they usually do not attack in large groups in public, and they usually do not have this kind of hardware. The med tech expires.

The original victim who called us in is Locus Pendleton.  Icebox recognizes him as the son of a Corp from Shiawase.  Locus is a well known celeb partier, and we recognize his girlfriend as well.

Eagle Security contacts DocWagon and lets them know that the danger has passed, and they are investigating what happened.

The next day, Dr. Hyun is reassigned to a post at the hospital across the street as the director of the ER department. As a result, Isaac “Icebox” is now the team lead on the ambulance and will have two med-techs under him.

Cataclysm

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.

Cataclysm

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.

Cataclysm

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.

Cataclysm

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.

Cataclysm

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

Cataclysm

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.

Chicago Runners

Session 1 – The best spirits are the ones you drink

Chicago, the year 2053. It’s been fourteen years since the terrorist organization Alamos 20,000 destroyed the Sears Tower, and that areas is still haunted — literally — by the ghosts of the thousands who died on that day, but also by ghouls and other nasties. The area is referred to as the Shattergraves, and the neighborhood by the unpleasant name “the Noose.” The group is located only a dozen blocks away in Little Italy, right near the University.

Bumble (Dwarf Rigger, John), Dusty Raven (Street Shaman, Paul), Zed (Physical Adept, Matt) and Thumper (Troll Street Samurai, Bill) are a group of runners staying over at their friend Shades’ house (Dwarf Investigator, NPC).

The group has been running together for about six months and have pulled a few jobs for different corps, working through a fixer friend called “Grizzly” and otherwise using the local hacker-run “Noose-Net” to keep in touch with other runners in the area.

It’s been mostly smooth sailing with a couple of close calls, particularly on a Shiawase job that almost went sideways when Bumble’s cyberware malfunctioned and one of his drones were seen by security. They got away but are all still getting the scorch marks off of their armor after that one — Shiawase probably won’t be hiring them for a while.

Partly because of that snafu, things haven’t been great for the past few weeks and creds are starting to run dry. Most members of the team have been crashing at Shades’ place, since he is the only one with a nice apartment, much to his annoyance.

On night, the group talks about their history together and the general state of things. Thumper talks about how he has to support his ex-wife and children, which has been hard, but he appreciates being part of the group.

Dusty says that he loves having his spot on the roof where he can see the sky, and that he has all he needs here — he doesn’t want to leave.

Zed says that he doesn’t approve of Dusty’s spirits hanging around, because spirits have it out for him. The only good spirits are the ones you drink, he says.

Finally, Bumble professes how much he likes being with the group and that he will do better during the next run, after his cyberware conked out on him last time.

Early the next morning, Shades rouses the crew and lets them know that a vid-call came in from Grizzly that he has a juicy job for the group — minus his usual finder’s fee, of course — with a Johnson who represents an up-and-coming biotech firm called Grail Biogenetics. He says that if the runners take this job, they may finally have enough cred to stop squatting at his place.

When asked for details, Shades says that according to Grizzly, this corp seems hungry to prove themselves. They have some strong investors but haven’t produced much revenue in the two years they’ve been in business. They seemed eager to get some help on one of their recent projects, and want a team that can be discreet. Shades rolls his eyes at that. Dusty says “So who are they going to get?” Undeterred, Shades says that the Johnson wants to meet at Leroy’s Cafe at noon.

Shades then announces that he will go make some coffee. Dusty comes with him and asks to make it, to which he agrees. Dusty makes it extra strong.

Leroy’s is a throwback cafe with approximations of 20th century diner dishes — still mostly made from soy, of course — but they do the best they can. Once seated with the Johnson, the waitress wearing a large nametag that reads DOLORES pours everyone a soykaf and then leaves them to their business.

The Johnson considers all of them carefully, and then gets right to business. “Mr. Grizzly assured me that your group would be able to handle matters of discretion, yes?” he says with a raised eyebrow. “Grail Biogenetics has a very sensitive matter that they need independent assistance with. As you undoubtedly are aware, the area around the Shattergraves has been unusable for many years due to the…strange creatures that roam there. Grail has been working tirelessly for the past two years to create a compound that these…emanations would be abhorrent to, and their tests have been going well. Unfortunately a rival corp — we suspect it to be Ares — sent a team in and they stole a sample of the test substance, called Spiritbane. Luckily it’s only a small sample, but the substance is extremely toxic to humans as well as spirits, so could be dangerous if it has fallen into the wrong hands. We engaged a local hacker to track it down through net chatter, and set him up in a safehouse. Your first task is to meet up with him and together determine where the sample might be, and then get it back to by any means necessary. For your efforts, we are offering 30,000 nuyen. We hope this sum is acceptable. Here is a datachip that shows the location of the safehouse and the dropoff point.”

The group agrees to do the job, but asks for more money. Dusty says “That’s a nice watch, you must have a lot of money.” The Johnson agrees almost immediately to do an additional 10k. Thumper stares him down and tells him to give Dusty his watch. The man looks perturbed but agrees. He says that the group must do the job to the best of their ability, to which they agree.

On the way to the safehouse, Dusty tells Bumble to stop at a small shop. He goes in to see his friend Corman, an apothecary. He has all kinds of herbs, mixtures and strange things in his store. He is mixing something and takes too much of a swig, and his eyes go wide. He then sees Dusty and greets him. Dusty asks if the old man has heard anything about a substance called Spirit Bane, but he hasn’t. He does recognize Grail Biogenetics and says that they are a decent company — he knows someone who works there — but they are a bit too eager and are bordering on reckless. He suggests to be careful when dealing with them. Dusty thanks the old man and asks if he has any filtration masks, which he does. Job complete, he goes back to the van.

The safehouse is further uptown, and takes Bumble about 20 minutes of driving in the team’s van. Pulling up, the neighborhood the place looks normal enough — nice, even. They take the elevator to the 40th floor and arrive at 4023, the address of the safehouse. 

Dusty hears the sounds of a struggle within and tasks a spirit to go inside and look around, then report back. It does and says that there are 2 people in the room.

Bumble knocks loudly on the door and at first there is nothing, so he pounds on it. Gunfire erupts through the door and a couple of shots spang off of his armor.

Zed  breaks the door down and they rush inside. There are several Ares corpsec men in here, and the group takes them all down. Thumper blasts several with his roomsweeper shotgun.

From the next room they hear someone yell “back off, or the kid dies!” The group continues through undaunted, and the corpsec guy follows up on his promise by shooting the young man he has captive, an elf. The shot goes through his shoulder and he seems to be in a lot of pain. Blood is leaking from his cheek and he is holding his chest.

The runners take out the last two guards and ask the kid who he is. He says that his name is Zippo and he was hired by Grail to track down the sample. He found out through the NooseNet that Ares fumbled badly and had the sample stolen by a bunch of gangers called the Sewer Rats. He was tracking the rats’ movements with a program but his hard line was cut off when the Ares goons broke in. He will need to find a safe place to finish his search.

The group takes him to a local net cafe, and they try to break into a back room to get some privacy, but the proprietor notices and kicks them out (TWO CRIT FAILS!). They decide to go right from a line in a nearby alleyway, the group doing surveillance while Zippo decks in. He makes quick work of it, getting the data in under fifteen minutes.

When the trace is completed, Zippo tells them that they are likely in the tunnels beneath the old Garfield Park Conservatory, which has been abandoned for twenty years. He gives the runners a likely entry point but there are no known remaining maps of the tunnels beneath that area.

As the runners enter the sewers, it takes them a while to wind their way down into the tunnels, following a trail of footprints that are likely from the Sewer Rats gangers. Descending down a long ladder, they see disused caverns, and the smell down here is horrible. They are orks, after all. The group dons their masks.

Moving further down, they see some bodies here. It looks like they have been torn up. A group of gangers are barely alive in the next room, and Dusty heals them. When they are able to speak, they say that they did steal the sample from Ares, and one of the gangers busted it open down in the tunnels. Strange things started to happen — they were attacked by something and some of the gang members were acting crazy. They ran away but the things attacked them and killed their friends. Then, only a few minutes prior, some “people like you” came — people with guns.

The group surmises that Ares has beaten them here, and rushes down the caverns. They hear gunfire and Bumble sends his drone through the doorway which is slightly ajar. It smells bad in here, and there is a green mist. The drone sees that some of the gangers have been turned into zombies, and the corpsec guys, along with a female elf, are shooting at them.

Thumper rolls a grenade into the room and it kills two of the gangers. The rest of the party busts in and begins shooting, taking out corpsec guys and also zombies. Everyone is fighting each other.

Bumble’s assault drone takes out one of the corpsec guys, but another shoots it down and it is wrecked.

As the battle comes close to the end, the runners hear a sound from the chamber to the west of them. Two strange shambling spirits come through and begin to attack them, seemingly drawn to Zed first. The thing exhales a cloud of poison around it, but Zed’s mask is able to keep him safe.

Dusty comes from around the corner and uses a spell to banish one of the spirits. The other ones continues to attack, but Zed slices it with his magically-enhanced sword.

Thumper takes the last guy down with his monosword, finally changing things up from simply shotgunning people.

Bumble gathers up the sample, which seems to have some chambers still intact. It is sort of like a half of an egg carton, with two of the sections broken and four unharmed. He wraps it up tightly and grabs the remains of his drone, then they head for the surface.

That night the runners go to the drop off point and return the sample, as well as Mr. Johnson’s watch. The courier is confused but accepts it. The runners get their 40k nuyen as well.

Later, Shades congratulates them on a relatively “easy” run, which the others groan at. He says that finally they may be able to get their own places, but Dusty says that he likes it there, why would he move?

Border Princes

Session 22 – Here Be Dragons

The dark elves are out of cannon range at this point. The elves in our party know that these dark elves attack using huge floating fortresses, and sometimes summon deep sea creatures to help them. These smaller ships are sent out to do smaller raids.

We see Giovanni coming out on a war horse loaded for bear. He has six other mounted warriors with them, all with heraldry of the hound. They have lances and cavalry spears with plate mail. They seem to be surveying the damage.

We speak to Giovanni and Jean asks if the elves raid here often. He says not usually, they must be probing the defenses. He says that we should meet him at the palazzo as soon as we’re ready.

We head back, and they don’t ask us for our weapons this time. Giovanni arrives and shrugs his armor off. He simply says “Dazzle me.” Jean says “We need to talk to the elves, dwarves and others to see what we can raise from them. We need to get some security on the road and also have people come here to help. The dwarves we know are also very fine armorers, which could be a good source of trade. Is there anything you can do to help send the word?” Giovanni says that he has a ship that’s bound for Britonia that is leaving in three days.

Jean spends the next three days copying the maps that he’s done so far and also a letter to Duke Adalhard. Our plan is to follow the trail north and stop off at Din Borim and grab some more of the treasure.

Giovanni calls out for someone named “Guido” and has him bring in a huge box the size of a coffin. He says that he will send some of the Hounds along with us on our trip, and if we run into Sasha’s raiders we will kill them and plant the things in the box on them — they appear to be greenskin weapons.

An apothecary asks to see Brokk. He warily agrees and is led to the man’s office. Apparently he was put up to this by Tobruk. The man explains that he can “cut” the insanity out of him, and explains that he’s done the surgery for others successfully in the past. Brokk finally agrees, thinking that nothing can be worse than the nightmares he’s had. Miraculously, the surgery is a success and after three days he’s gathered most of his strength back. The nightmares seem to have ceased.

In the meantime, Jean has sent off his package and Giovanni’s men have mustered with all of their equipment. The captain’s name is Lorenzo and he has twenty men. They have packed provisions for us as well.

Brokk gets some manacles and a few extra daggers before we leave.

We head north with the company of Hounds and move through the mountains for several days. The night before we arrive we are camping on the road and suddenly we hear a sound of massive wings. A huge dragon comes over the hill and begins attacking us. The group fires off several shots right away, hitting him in the head and arm many times. Brokk runs up and tries to scramble up and hit him, but can’t. It flies down and roasts three of the men and singes a few more. Jean fires an arrow through his eye and kills it. (He has 85 wounds and we killed him in 2 rounds.)

We cut off the head and take it with us. We arrive at the keep the next day and the dwarves go in only. We preserve and mount the head, then we move on.

Later we arrive at the forge of the two dwarves and let them know that the keep is open (and chaos dwarf free) and that we’d like them to go there and run the forge. They agree without question to pack up and head to the keep, and will bring others. Tobruk and Brokk give them the master craftsman tools. They are extremely excited to see it.