GM: Paul
Players: Bill-Chet
Game Date: April – December 2018
When winter became manageable April of 2018, Chet Orlowski had enough of his isolation. The long, hard winter had gotten to him and he decided it was time to leave his retreat north of Merrill. He packed as much gear as he could on his two horses and began making his way southeast. He had relative in the Menomonee Falls and Mequon area so that seemed like a good destination. He had a solid 5 months of travel time which seemed reasonable for that distance.
By the beginning of June he had made it about 10 miles southeast of Plainfield. It was a beautiful sunlit morning. The light glistened off the dew covered grass field that he was crossing. About half way across the 40 acre field Chet noticed that his horse was experiencing some distress. He reined up and suddenly the horse faltered and fell over. Chet was able to roll off the horse in time not to be pinned under it. He stood and brushed himself off just in time to see his second horse fall.
He rushed to the horses and looked them over. He could see that they had small paper cut nicks on their legs. He also noticed that there was a slime on them. That was not dew on the grass. He retrieved a bottle of whiskey from his belonging and proceeded to wash off the slime. Chet too began to feel woozy. He grabbed his go bag and rifle to try to make a dash for the edge of the field. When he stood up from grabbing his gear the toxin hit him like a train. He passed out on top of the horse.
As Chet faded in and out of consciousness he thought he saw someone on the edge of the field.
Brief consciousness again; all he could see was sky. He was being carried in a wheel barrow or wagon.
______
Bryna had been out on her usual walk around the farmstead when she noticed some fool in the middle of the dew-grass field. She quickly ran to get her hip waders, raincoat, rubber barn glove and face protection on. After ensuring the duct tape had all the seams sealed, she grabbed the wheel barrow and hastily made for the person in the field.
It was not a good scene. Two horse down and one man. The man and one horse were responsive. She took two epidural pens and injected the responsive horse. Then she quickly loaded the man into the wheel barrow and made her way back to the house as fast as she could. She was glad to see that he responsively swallowed the herbal tonic mixed with antihistamines that she kept on hand. She stripped him down and washed him off. Then she applied another herbal paste to his legs, arms and face. Given that it was a warm day she left him lying there as she put her gear back on to try to save the horses.
When Bryna got back to he horse the one horse was definitely beyond saving. The other horse she duct taped trash bags to his legs and was able to coax it back to standing. She led the dazed horse back to the farm where she, once again, performed the same ritual she had done on the man.
She hauled the man back into the house and put him to bed where he stayed sleeping for 4 days.
_______
When Chet awoke he could hear someone in the kitchen. Every joint in his body felt like it had been hit with a hammer and his nerves were on fire. It took all of his effort just to sit up. He could see his cloths on the dresser next to him. He tried to stand to dress himself but that was not happening. Instead he just called out to the person in in the kitchen. Bryna, a nice looking woman in 40s or 50s, walked over and stated “It is good to see you up and around”. As they talked Bryna explained that it would probably be a couple weeks before he was full strength and ready to travel.
As Chet recovered he got to know Bryna. By the time he was full strength they had talked about and agreed to move on together. Bryna was also tired of the isolation and Chet seemed like a good person.
The last week of June the two packed their provisions and belongings onto 4 horses and began to make their way for southeastern Wisconsin.
The trip was slower than they had anticipated and by mid September they were about 20 miles northwest of Hartland. They thought it best not to push their luck and they began scouting for a home they could winter over in.
Eventually they found a great house. It had one of those giant fireplaces with a cooking swing arm already in place. The two spent the next couple weeks gather wood, food, and scavenging supplies that they would need for the long winter.
In the early hours of December 6th Chet and Bryna awoke to a fire in front of the fireplace. An ember must have popped over the safety screen and landed on the floor starting the rug on fire. The fire was already beyond a manageable state. They could try to fight it and chance loosing their gear or they could just grab their gear and get out safely. They chose to get out.
Hartland was only 20 miles away and they could easily last for 7-10 days on the move. The deep snow was hard on the horse and they only made a few miles each day before finding a building they could use for shelter.
By the morning of December 11th they had made it all the way down highway 83 and were near highway 16. The winter silence was interrupted by a call for help. Bryna noticed a slight movement on the overpass in front of them. They plowed their way through the snow toward the calling girl as Chet readied his gun.
At first glance the two noticed a young woman dangling in her backpack by a piece of rebar. As they got off their horses and got a closer look they could see that there was also a young man who had fallen to highway 16 below and was impaled on a piece of rebar sticking out of a chunk of road that had fallen sometime before.
Blood covered the scene below and time was critical. Not able to use his horse to drag the woman up over the edge of the hole (due to the rebar and other sharp hazards) Chet positioned himself next to the hole and attempted to pull her up. He grabbed her backpack and pulled. She was just about to safety when her nylon backpack began to slip out of Chet’s snow covered gloves. Bryan seeing what was happening and grabbed the pack. This allowed Chet to get a better hold and they two pulled the young lady over onto the overpass.
Chet and Bryna then ran around and down the snowy embankment to the road below. The young man was bleeding out. After quick assessment they pulled him off the rebar and Bryna began to apply first aid. Chet could see she was having a hard time of it. As Bryna caught his look she said “What? This why I do herbs and acupuncture.”
Out of the corner of his eye Chet noticed movement. He looked east down highway 16 and saw 3 people on horses making haste toward them. They stopped about 200 feet away and called out. “Are you guys OK? Do you need any help?” Chet responded with “We could use whatever help you can give.” With that they began riding forward again.
When the new arrivals got the the overpass they hopped off their horses. The group was made up of two women and a man. The lead woman quickly slid off her horse and threw the reins to the man. She jogged over the the injured man and began pulling items out of first aid bag. She obviously knew what she was doing. She mentioned to Bryna that she had done good work but needed to do a couple of adjustments. After doing a bit of repacking of the wound the woman stapled it shut. “That should hold until we get him back to our base.”
On the ride back Chet and Bryan found out that the young man and woman were Lisa Sabre and Mark Leonard and the three on horse were Michelle Bacallao, Gracie-May Middleton, and Farid Sargsyan. They rode next to Gracie-May and she filled them in. Michelle was the group leader and a member of the Menominee Tribe. She and Farid had joined up with this group over a year ago. Then she dropped the SciFi on them. The base was actually set up by aliens. There are three species at the base. The Talolan, the M’ket, and the Cotyledian.
The group arrived at the base just after sundown. The base was built in the middle of the Ironwood golf course. You could see the complex by the rising moon and it was amazing.
Category Archives: Savage Worlds
Session 22a – It Never Hurts To Help
GM: Paul
Players: Jon-Simon
Game Date: December 22, 2018
Dec. 22, 2018, the same day that Alex, Zerk, Ian and Meaghan headed out to meet up with Zerk’s friends, Scotty was putting the finishing touches on re calibrating the cloning pods so that humans could use them also.
Scotty had run all his tests, diagnostics and simulations and was confident that the chamber was ready to scan the first human. The first human to enter the lab area was Simon. Simon was his usual inquisitive self and Scotty decided to take advantage of that. Scotty explained that the project the team had talked about to create back up copies of people was ready. Simon was interested. Scotty then hit him with the “Would you like to go first?”
Simon is pretty taken aback by this. “Uh, thanks for thinking of me first, Scotty, but…I’m not really an ideal male specimen? I’m nearsighted, I have allergies, acne, my metabolism isn’t that great so I have a hard time keeping my weight down. Wouldn’t you want someone else?”
Scotty explained, “You misunderstood. This will only be used to clone you if something would happen to you. There will only be one of you at any given time. Think of it as a safety net. But don’t forget it will only create you as you are now. Anything you experience between images is lost. Remember, we decided to do this as a way to preserve humankind. Someone will need to be first.”
“Uh, okay then, I guess I will do it. What does the process involve?” Simon replied.
Scotty continued to explain. “This is a painless procedure much like a CT scan from what I understand of your medical machines and there will be a couple pokes for genetic samples. It will take a little bit of time but that is about it.”
With that Scotty gets Dr. Odom (just in case) and begins the procedure. Within a minute of the procedure starting Simon is drifting off. He feels a soothing hum and a warm tingling sensation all over his body and mind. This is the most relaxed he has felt in a long time and wishes it could go on forever.
Outside the chamber that Simon is in there is a sudden sonic boom as something passes over head. (Unbeknownst to those in the room the sonic wave is also accompanied by another wave that causes the chamber to glitch.)
As he drifts ever further down into the pool of bliss there is a sudden stab of pain. It is as though another body was thrown on top of him from a tall building. Then there is a swirl of images, memories that are not his own. Strange planets, voices, creatures; Where are you? He feels a stabbing pain in his head!!
This seems to go on forever. Simon feels trapped. The exhaustion is overwhelming. Just as he feels he can’t bear it anymore there is a light and he is pulled back to consciousness.
As Simon regains his senses he sees Scotty and the doctor over him working feverishly. The doc is on his chest giving him CPR. When they see his eyes open and he gasps for air the doc stops. The doc says, “Lie still!” He gives Simon a shot of something that burns through his veins. As the burning sensation fades Simon feels more relaxed and a bit more alert. The only lingering effect is the massive head ache Simon has. he feels like someone hit him in the back of the head. As he think about it he is suddenly sick. He quickly pulls himself up and heave over the side of the cloning capsule. The sudden movement makes his head feel even worse and he heaves a second time.
The doc works on Simon for about an hour and eventually Simon is stable enough to move on his own. Simon continues to have one of the worst headaches of his life, but physically he seems good enough to go. The doc is able to scare up some migraine medication which calms the pain to a dull head ache.
Episode 27 – Bravely Brave Sir Fossar…
We rise early in the morning knowing this will be a fateful day. Thaddeus presses a potion into the hand of each party member saying to drink it when we find the dragon. It will help fortify you for the battle head.
At the blacksmith shop, Roland is finishing the assembly of an 8 foot tall iron man with a ghost rock boiler. It emits a scream as the boiler comes to life, the robot stands and looks at Roland for a command. At this point there is a rumbling in the town, and the skies start to darken.
Meanwhile back at the cabin we notice the weather is turning. It is getting darker and cold. Fossar notices a small girl right outside of the cabin. She asks to see Maverick. She introduces herself as Sally and says we helped her family when we first got into town. She says she thinks we are heroes and she needs our help. She says her mother is ill and the doctor is busy. Thaddeus agrees to go with her. Maverick goes as well.
As we leave it feels like an earthquake. We see a huge tendril burst out of the ground by the horses. It grabs a horse and decapitates it. The other horses runn oft (O Brother Where Art Thou), and three zombies appear from the hole the tentacle made.
Jimmy flies out of the cabin and attacks a zombie. He slays it with his tomahawks. Maverick shoots the tentacle and it falls and shrinks back into the ground. Thaddeus throws a potion that explodes and shakes the zombies. Fossar engages them in lively conversation. They respond that they are here to destroy, which the posse can’t understand but somehow Fossar can. He attacks one of them and wounds it. The zombie swings and misses. The girl cowers in fear, and starts to ride away.
Another tentacle and two more zombies appear. We also hear the outhouse break apart. Lucille jumps on a horse and get ready to ride. Fossar kills one zombie but then his shovel flies out of his hand. Jimmy kills the last zombie near the cabin, but we have more to deal with. Maverick shoots the tentacle to the south and kills it. The zombies close with him but they miss him. Thaddeus shoots another.
Maverick takes out the the remaining zombies. We all jump on horses and ride for town, except for Lucille who rides north. Before she leaves she gives a slip of paper to Maverick. We don’t see her anymore.
Once in town we goes to the girl’s house and find her mother. Thaddeus treats her with his medical knowledge. Maverick goes to talk to the blacksmith and sees the automaton.
At that moment, more tentacles and skeletons break out in the town. Roland commands the automaton to attack with its buzzsaw and flamethrower. They attack and bind several party members. Bat Masterson and the Russian engage but have no success. Fossar dispatches a tentacle. Jimmy tomahawks a zombie. Thaddeus entangles a tentacle and zombie. Maverick finishes off the tentacle and the zombie. The party that is left regroups and talks. Maverick and Thaddeus decide to head out of town and meet up with Lucille, who gave Maverick the location she was fleeing to, somewhere in Saskatchewan. Jimmy goes to assist the Dust Boys and they head out of town as well. Fossar heads to the mine alone.
We see a plume of black smoke rising from the area that was Paradise Falls. The townspeople are never seen or heard from again. Fossar’s fate is unknown.
Episode 26 – The Breaking of the Fellowship
Mav, Jimmy, Magnus, Alice and the lawmen get into town. The law starts taking charge of the town and Mav and Jimmy are taken to the jail. They are not put in a cell but they do take their weapons. Some of the lawmen spread out and head out of town. Magnus and Alice are also in the jail. Everyone stares at each other.
Marshall Carr comes into the jail and starts questioning the group. Mav tells him we are on the same side and we helped clean up the town. He explains about the dragon and how it has controlled the town.
Carr shows a picture of Lucille (by another name) and asks if they know her. The party says they do not know her. After some back and forth a deputy comes in and whispers to him. Carr is upset and says “Two hours. “ He is not happy about not getting answers from the group.
Jack from the Pinkerton Agency comes in with a large black man behind him. He introduces the large man as Colby Spencer, his boss. Colby Invites everyone to sit at the table and have some whiskey. He tells the group that sending us here was an agency operation working with Magnus. Many things did not go to plan, but we did succeed in unearthing some stuff. He knows about Lucille and that she is with us, but Carr does not and will shoot her if he sees her. He asks again for our story, including the weird stuff. Mav spills the beans. Much whiskey later, he asks what help we need to wrap this up. Mav says there is no play here, grabs his guns, and heads to the back at theTriple Tap. Magnus follows with Alice. Jimmy too.
Back at the cabin we succeed in translating the book. It is a book of evil powerful spells. Including controlling people. Anyone can read the symbols and gain control. We decide to burn the book. The hide has the beginnings of a spell to bind spirits to this realm but it is not finished. We need to find the other half or write it ourselves.
Jack runs after Magnus and tries to convince him to stay. Magnus says there is nothing here for him and wants to head back east. Jimmy goes to the Triple Tap. Mav talks to Ben at the Yellow Canary to see if he wants to run the Triple Tap. He agrees and they send Freddy over to run the Triple Tap for a cut of the action. Jimmy is talking to the blacksmith. The blacksmith is working on a way of protecting the town based on some plans from Jenkins. Jimmy also warns the Dust Boys. Bat Masterson also comes up and asks what is going on. They explain, then head to the cabin.
When they get there (minus Magnus and Alice) Fossar tries to convince everyone that we should help the town. Maverick is less interested. Lucille succeeds in creating a spell that connects to the dragon and will bind him here.
Maverick heads into town in the morning to have the blacksmith make bullets out of the sacred metal we found. There is a lot of activity around city hall and the jail house. He also notices that the blacksmith has a furnace that can smelt ghost rock, and he is building a large man shaped device. Mav heads to the Triple Tap.
The bar is dirty because they had a good night. That made $98 which Mav goes to gamble right away. The Russian at the gambling club draws 5 of a kind (2 jokers) and wins everything. Poorer but wiser Mav heads back to the blacksmith. He gets the bullets and returns to the cabin.
Episode 25 – Judas, We Forgive Ya
We get to the cabin and set up accommodations. There is a fight for who gets to sleep on the bearskin rug. We all go back to trying to translate the book, including Jimmy, Fossar, and Maverick. We get more successes for a total of 15 against translating the book. We are tired now and decide to cook, rest, and set watches. Maverick heals Fossar.
While Magnus and Fossar are on watch, Poker Alice appears. She climbs up and sits near Magnus. She tells him that a bunch of miners came down and excavated the landslide found some ghost rock and silver that was missed before. Everyone in town wants to go get it, so there will be a dance tonight and go into the mine tomorrow. They talk quietly. <pause, more pause, Cary makes off color joke, more pause, Jeopardy theme, more pause>
Alice comes into the cabin and wakes us up. She says that people are crazy ghost rock and silver fever. She also wants us to know that Fossar is evil, and is maybe working with the dragon. As she died, she saw a vision of him being captured by the dragon. Lucille casts a mind reading spell and finds out that Fossar is indeed in league with the dragon. Poker Alice wants to kill him, but we want to talk. Thaddeus goes out and confronts him. Fossar admits he was saved by the dragon. The rest of the party comes out of the cabin.
Fossar explains that he was saved by the dragon, but he is not in league with him. Alice interrupts and says a bunch of people died because he knew Eva was working with the dragon and didn’t stop us. Fossar says that they were idiots because they are church-goers, so they deserved to die anyway. He also admits that he destroyed some wards to help the dragon, but he thought it would all balance out. Gray Owl asks if he means the wards in his sanctuary, and Fossar says yes. Gray Owl says that what he did put the whole town at risk because of his actions, as the evil is growing in the town due to his wards being gone.
Poker Alice says “I’ve heard enough” and raises her guns to shoot at Fossar. Fossar shovels her and she falls down. Magnus heals Poker Alice, and Thaddeus tells Fossar to stand down.
Fossar explains that he saw himself dying alone but then the dragon appeared to him and said he would bring him back if Fossar would do him a favor. We decide to sneak into the north entrance of the mine, go to the south entrance, and then blow the south entrance so no townsfolk can get in. As they are speaking, they notice that Gray Owl has disappeared.
Maverick, Fossar, Thaddeus, and Jimmy head into the old section of the mine through the north entrance, which takes about 90 minutes to ride to. As we move into the mine we hear miners working. They notice us before we approach and ask who is there. Maverick talks to them, and we find out that they are actually finding more ghost rock in areas that we know were dry before, and there is a large vein of silver as well. Thaddeus inspects some of the ghost rock and sees that it is genuine. Maverick tries to convince the miners, of which there are about two dozen, to head back to town early and that drinks are on him. He flashes some cash and the miners are amazed. They take the money, $10 each, and some of them leave. Others will not leave so he gives them only $5, and we head back to the cabin.
When we get back we see that Magnus and Poker Alice have left. Magnus has left a note that says “It’s been good, but this is where our paths will part.” Lucille didn’t realize that they had left for good. Fossar inspects the letter to see if Magnus has put a secret message on it, but he hasn’t. Maverick and Jimmy jump on horses and follow the trail of the horses while the rest go back to the book. Lucille, Fossar and Thaddeus keep on the book for a total of 21 successes.
Jimmy and Maverick see a large cloud of dust as a wagon train is heading up the mountain. They see a large posse of law enforcement, at least 50 men with three wagons. Several riders approach and see Jimmy, who has not hidden, and spot Maverick, who did try to hide but not very well. A man who introduces himself as Jack Calderon comes up to Jimmy and says that he needs to come with them back to town. Jimmy feigns ignorance but Jack says that he recognizes him as one of Magnus’ friends. Maverick agrees to head back to town with them. Jimmy also agrees but only if he can have Jack’s fashionable hat, a bowler. Making a pretty easy decision, he gives the big Indian the bowler and they all head back to town.
Episode 24 – Magnus Pokes Poker Alice (Again)
We take stock of the battle aftermath. Fossar gets to work burying the bodies of which there are 7. The blacksmith’s kids start to wake up. The messenger takes off, shaken but seemingly unharmed. Robert Ford comes stumbling out of the sheriff office and says “What the hell is going on here?” At first he seems to blame the posse for what went on, but Magnus and Lucille remind him that they deserve his trust and he shouldn’t be so quick to judgement. He agrees but seems frustrated. Rusty comes out of city hall and joins the posse, also trying to figure out what is going on. Robert says that he is not sure that he wants to be sheriff any longer because there are so many strange things going on, all of which seem connected to the posse. Rusty tries to bring him around and seems successful. We invite them all back to the Triple Tap to discuss what’s been going on and give them the full story.
In order to get some more help to protect the town, Fossar and Jimmy go and talk to the Dust Brothers in their camp west of town. They explain to them what has been going on and Glenn agrees to send some men to help. He remarks that it’s strange that Jimmy is talking and that all of this has happened in the past couple of weeks. Glenn and eight men come back to town with Fossar and Jimmy and meet up with the rest of the group at the Triple Tap.
Meanwhile, Magnus has been helping the town doctor fix up the people who were hurt in the melee at the center of town. They are able to stabilize all eight of them. The ones that wake up, including the blacksmith’s kids, seem to have no memory of their violent actions just a couple of hours before. They don’t seem to be affected any longer. Magnus leaves after making sure everyone is tended to and heads back to the bar.
Once everyone is gathered including Rusty, Robert Ford, two of his deputies, Glenn and the rest of the posse, Thaddeus starts to tell them what has really been going on. He goes through the whole story from Jenkins’ spirit being captured to the zombie miners and all of the creatures they’ve encountered the past couple of weeks. Everyone seems to agree that weird things are happening except Rusty, who seems confused and very much a Doubting Thomas. Lucille decides to demonstrate by turning him into the puppet. She makes him stand on one leg and almost dump his beer. He goes white and now believes us. Rusty asks how his father is wrapped up in all of this, and Magnus says that he doesn’t know but he is working on figuring it out. It may have something to do with the town’s founding papers which Rusty has in his care. Rusty reminds us that Otto Stauss was on the first set of papers that founded the town, but then Otto did not like sharing the wealth and left town, after which the town papers were redrawn with just Jenkins name. Otto has disappeared, over 20 years ago. The real problems started 9 months ago.
After agreeing to help guard the town from supernatural threats while the posse goes into the mine to face the Dragon, the visitors all leave and agree to keep the town under guard. The posse goes back to looking at the book for several hours and working on the translation. It is slow going but they are making progress.
Magnus goes to the hotel and pokes Poker Alice. Ok they just go for a walk, but I am a fan of alliteration. Magnus questions her more. <long pause while they talk>. Then he comes back to the bar. We go to bed and plan to start on the book again in the morning.
Magnus takes watch and at around four in the morning he notices someone prowling in the alley next to the bar. He goes down to confront the stranger. <long pause while they talk>. After coming back in, Magnus wakes up the rest of the posse and says that they need to pack up and leave the Triple Tap right away. The same group of lawmen that raided Salida including a county marshal and judge are on their way to Paradise Falls tomorrow. Likely they will take over the town and will not think kindly of the posse when they do. It’s decided that they will relocate to the Kid’s shack which is near the back entrance of the mine but is far enough out of town that no one will disturb them there. When there, they can finish translating the book and hopefully get an advantage to defeating the Dragon.
Jimmy and Fossor travel quickly back to the Dust Brothers’ camp and asks Glenn for some supplies. He is able to spare several bedrolls and two tents. It’s about 5am now. They head back to the Triple Tap where the rest of the posse is loading up more supplies in a cart. Thaddeus and Maverick take the wagon of supplies on a roundabout route east of town and then north, and the rest of the party leaves VERY Obvious tracks that lead into the mine. Then Magnus teleports them away several hundred feet so there are no connecting tracks and they start walking to the shack. They are just out of town when we notice some creatures heading toward the town. They are a group of zombies and skeletons looking for food.
Magnus casts silence to protect the wagon from drawing their attention. Thaddeus hits two of them with an entangle potion. Fossar shovels the motherfucker. Maverick kills one and they wound Magnus and Fossar. Jimmy tomahawks another. After a long combat they die. Since the cone of silence kept Maverick’s pistols quiet, the town is not disturbed. We continue to the hack and set up camp, finishing up by mid-morning.
Episode 23 – Lobster for Dinner
We are outside the church with the clawed dudes and drag them into the center of town to show why we attacked them. Robert and several deputies come up. We explain that they attacked us. The critters start to move so we gag them. Then we kill them. Then we melt the butter. Thaddeus tries to convince the town but fails. Magnus convinces the townsfolk to go home and secure them against any other possible critters. Fossar buries the bodies.
We take the unbible, wrap it up in a skin, and then take it back to the triple tap. We also search Eva and find $180. We also find a piece of metal with hieroglyphs similar to the map and the mine. Grey Owl could not translate them.
We go back to the triple tap to reconvene and decide what to do next. We also look at the metal piece and the map and see if we can translate it. We realize hat the metal piece is a key but we need more time to translate, and we need to look at the book. Maverick helps Lucille as she reads the book, by covering her with a gun. Lucille opens the book and feels the book try to course through her, but she resists. Thaddeus helps her.
Magnus checks in on Alice but she is still groggy. She remembers being in Fossar head. She says he is going to betray us. He has been communing with dark forces. Magnus takes her out of the triple tap and back to her place. On the way back he runs into Grey Owl/the kid, who is puking in a horse trough. He asks him who can be trusted in town. Grey Owl will check on the town leaders to see if they are possessed. He also agrees to come back and help with the book.
When he looks at the book, he fails miserably, but Lucille saves him with the black chip. When he looks again he is shaken but OK. We keep working. There is a a knock on the door of the Triple Tap.
Magnus and Jimmy answer it and do not recognize the man. He is looking for Mr. Effing. The man is collecting letters and will take them back east. He asks about the commotion earlier. They go off and talk.
We keep working on the book, with some success. Then Jimmy and Lucille hear some noise from out on the street. There are people gathering in the center of town. Jimmy looks out and sees the crowd. The blacksmith comes toward us and asks what’s going on. His kids just left his shop and he doesn’t know what s going on. We haven’t seen them. We stash the book and head toward the commotion. Magnus notices his messenger buddy in the crowd. There is confusion as some people are milling about. People are talking about the Lord’s will. 4 people seem to be causing the problems.
Jimmy throws a knife and disables one of them, and kills another. They attack and nothing happens. Fossar kills two more, so does Maverick. Magnus zaps another. Thaddeus throws a slumber potion and knocks out the blacksmith’s kids plus two others.
Magnus and Jimmy drop two more, and Thaddeus entangles the remaining antagonists. Fossar taunts them to no effect. Jimmy hits two more with knives. We render the others unconscious.
The messenger keeps going out of town and we check on the other townsfolk. We still don’t know what caused some of the townsfolk to turn. We realize the aggressors were all at the church earlier. We decide to burn the church down.
Session 22 – The Year 2018 in Review
GM: Paul
Players: John-Alex, Cary-Zerk, Brad-Ian, and Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: Sept – December 22, 2018
The year 2018 was a busy, productive and revealing year. After the discovery of the Transportation Hub the beginning of Sept word was put out among the local population that they were welcome to settle in the vicinity of the Hub. Within weeks dozens of people had shown up from Lapham Peak, Yerkes Observatory, the metro Milwaukee area and the area around Franksville.
Ian directed the growth of this new little town with input from the other founders. Time is of the essence as everyone knows winter is coming. Housing, medical and latrines are the first order of business. People are sorted by their strength and set to tasks. Those with lesser skills are tasked with cutting wood, helping with food prep, and tending animals.
After discussing with the founders, Zerk returns to Lake Geneva to recruit Sean Ferguson and his family. It was decided that Sean would make a good community manger for the new little town around the Hub. Sean is reluctant but Zerk is able to bring him around. The family packs a car and trailer that Sean had prepped just in case they every needed to make a fast get away. The family secures (hides) the remaining supplies in and around their house.
Once the buildings were put up Scotty was able to wire them for electric and heat using the large generator in the hub. Wells were also driven and water made available. With winter coming, it was not possible to provide bathrooms in the buildings. A common bathing/restroom was constructed until a sewage solution can be devised.
During preparation of the town Alex, Ian, Zerk and scavenging for parts and equipment when they came across some Holstein cows in the nearby woods. They noticed that the cows had fungus/mushrooms growing out of them. Alex thought that some of the fungus looked similar to something that used to grow on his home planet. Alex approached one of the cows to examine it. To his surprised the cow nudged him with its head and knocked him to the ground and then went back to scraping for grass. Alex got back up and tried again to get a mushroom and milk sample to run some experiments on. The second attempt was successful.
Alex ran the samples back to the Hub while the rest of the group kept an eye on the small heard of 6 Holsteins. Alex quickly came to realize that the cow’s milk contained enzymes which would act like an antibiotic for humans if ingested daily. He ran back to the group with some of the other Hub inhabitants and herded the cows back to the Hub.
As the end of December approached Zerc spent his time on the short wave radio collecting news and contacting other locals who might not make it through the winter. By this time there had already been 4 feet of snow and not much had melted. Much to Zerc’s surprise he made contact a past acquaintance named Kira. She and 6 of her crew were in Genesee Depot and were attempting to make their way closer to Milwaukee or Waukesha to find more resources. It was also the 6th anniversary of the Cataclysm which meant the Earth was passing through the debris field again. This always brings new debris storms. Needless to say Kira and friends gladly accepted the offer to be picked up and join the Hub group.
Zerc had scavenged up a couple old snowmobiles and two brand new pull behind sleds earlier in the month. He prepped these two vehicles and gathered up Ian, Meaghan and a very reluctant Alex. They packed their gear and left. Meaghan hopped on the snowmobile with Zerk while Alex buried himself under furs in the sled attached to Ian’s snowmobile. The group set off northwest for Genesee Depot early on the morning of Dec 22, 2018.
Though the snow was fairly deep the snowmobiles handled it well. Being careful not to dump the pull behind sleds Ian and Zerk navigated to find the most opportune paths. The group was making good progress when there was a sudden sonic boom. Ian and Alex happen to be looking toward the east and saw a Talolan drop pod streaking overhead toward the east. Its descent trajectory was taking it to Lake Michigan or beyond. Know that it was debris storm season the Ian and Zerk punched the throttles on their snowmobiles to be able to reach an overpass some 100 meters away. Debris began falling almost imediately. Luck and skill was in their favor and the group arrived unscathed.
The group sat and watch as small and large chunck of space garbage rained down into the snow. One large item as big as an oversized couch hit the ground causing the snow to explode like a nuclear bomb. The other noticable item that fell was a shiney square container the size of a breif case. This thing slammed into the top of an abandoned car and stuck there like a throwing star. From Zerks angle he could see that there were three foriegn characters on the side facing him. The group waited the storm out and then gave it a few extra minutes just to be sure.
When the storm had stopped the crew made a quick recon of the area. First they went to the obvious item; the case. They gathered a piece of metal from a broken sign and pried the case from the car. Much to everyone’s amazement the case did not have a scratch on it. As Alex grabbed the case to read the letters on it, which were Talolan for TEF, the case popped open. Inside were 8 pipe looking things, a piece of clothing, a geometric device the size of hardball, and two protractor looking things. Alex explained them to be signals, a high tech Talolan jumpsuite, a focus, and two utility devices controlled through psionic.
The group then policed the area for additional items. The only other item found was the large thing that hit the ground. That turned out to be a cryo pod but the Talolan inside was nothing but paste. Giving the pod the once over Ian figured out that the power unit was salvagable and removed it. The rest of the debris was just junk and rocks. The group loaded up and continued on their way.
After a couple hours the team arrived in Genesee Depot. Cautiously, the group scans the area and see one guy on the roof a building on the corner of Hwy 83 where it turns north. Deeming it safe enough, they continue on. As they approach the front door the the building opens and a woman, obviously Kira, waves to the group and motions them in. Both snowmobiles are brought to a halt and the group dismounts. The guy on the roof slides down a ladder against the side of the building.
Inside everyone cautiously measures each other up. Zerc and Kira embrace and begin the conversation. As quickly as the conversation starts it screaches to a halt when Alex takes off his helmet and warm weather gear. A woman from Kira’s team whips out a pistol with a “What the Fuuu….” but before she can get the word out Ian steps into the line of fire, Meaghan draws, Kira grabs the womans gun forcing it to point away from the group, and Zerk calls for calm. As quickly as it begins it ends. Kira, a full 20 years old, introduces her team – Brent Fields, Lori Schock, Simona Giacintucci, Gia Tyson, Maxim Markevitch, Erin Azuse, and Stephen Berry. Kira and team had found a building with a wood stove and sealed the room with plastic to keep in as much heat as possible. They offered their guest a meal of mixed canned goods with some venison. When it was time to retire Meaghan offered to take first watch and Erin echoed the offer. It was evident that trust had not been completely established. Through the night both groups provided people to pair up on watch shifts. Zerk and Kira talked quietly much of the night catching up.
As morning broke, Ian and Maxim noticed 4 people walking down the street toward their location. Quietly and quickly they called to the group to wake. The group inside the building positioned themselves by the windows pulling back the plastic so they could see better. When the strangers got about 100 feet away Ian called to them. “Stop right there. Who are you?” He then pointed his gun out the door. The four people stopped where they were. Zerk noticed that only two of them were carrying weapons and relayed that to the group. Ian called out again “Drop your weapons and take two steps away from them.” The two men in the back complied.
At this same time Alex had developed a focused look on his face. He then stated the two in front are Talolans. “They want to know if we are the ones who salvaged the debris. I told them that we were. We should let them in before they freeze.” Much to the dismay of Kira’s team two more aliens and two others, obviously Native Americans, were let into the building.
Episode 22 – Aquarium of Death
Magnus is working in his office, building something, Thaddeus is brewing his potions. In the morning he comes downstairs with this huge machine and uses it to bring Alice back to life. She says WHAT THE F*(% and passes out. That’s what happens when you have been in Fossar’s head. Magnus is tired, but Lucille restores him.
Maverick tests his new gun. It does more damage but he feels it trying to pull the life out of him. We then head into town to see if we can find the kid/Grey Owl. We find him in the bar and he is drunk. We get him back to our place so he can sleep it off.
About 10 some of Lucille’s followers how up and ask when she will have her service. Lucille sends them off to find the others, so they an help build a new chapel for her. Her flock has dissipated, and they aren’t coming back.
Once Grey Owl is awake we ask if there is anything we can do to help him. There isn’t, and his body is lost. The dragon spirit that caused this seems to be more closely bound to this plane. That might allow us to destroy him, or we could just leave.
Maverick commissions the blacksmith to build us a still, to help make liquor for the bar. Lucille goes to find one of the followers who left her flock to work ones farm. She senses that there is something arcane about him. She confronts him. Argue, argue, argue. She tries to cast a spell but fails miserably. She has a crisis of faith, and has reduced powers until she successfully performs another miracle.
She decides to approach another ex patron. This one is also under some sort of spell but she casts dispel and he is suddenly free. He was holding a pistol and a bible, but doesn’t remember why. He comes back with her to the Triple Tap.
We decide to go check out the church, and Eva, since the patron muttered that name by mistake. As we arrive there are a bunch of people going in to get food, and the bell is ringing.
The service starts and the dudes in white robes appear. Eva appears and starts the mass and says food will be handed out after. Maverick speaks up and asks for thanks for the people who brought in the food. Eva lets the crowd applaud then continues. She begins the mass and it sounds similar to a regular one, but slightly different. There is something different about her cadence that doesn’t sound natural. We realize that we do not recognize the guys in white robes.
Magnus tries to read her mind, but fails. We realize that she is casting a spell on the crowd but we all resist. Now the fun begins.
Lucille casts havoc which hurls the parishioners in front of her at Eva and one of the white robes. Several of them hit Eva and one of the guards. Maverick shoots another guard and drops him. Magnus whips out another device which silences Eva. Fossar sneaks up toward the altar. Eva runs toward the back of the church. She gestures and Magnus flies back. She yells kill them all.
One of the white robes run up to Magnus and wounds him, but Jimmy returns the favor and ends the white robe. Thaddeus throws a potion and entangles Eva and two guards, then gives a healing potion to Magnus. Fossar drops another two of the white robes.
They attack. Jimmy and Fossar are shaken. Maverick shoots Eva and critically wounds her. Jimmy drops another white robe in front of him. Then he runs toward Eva and throws Bloodseeker. She drops.
2 jokers later, Maverick drops a white robe and Magnus bolts another. Jimmy runs up and dispatches the one bound white robe, and Thaddeus shoots the other. Fossar dispatches the last one.
Jimmy recovers Bloodseeker. The robe guys actually have talons growing out of their hands, and they look like distorted humans. Lucille checks out the Bible. It is not the Bible, but rather an evil book with no writing. She opens it but it does not kill her. It has symbols similar to the map we found in the shed. Suddenly the white robed bodies start moving. Lucille realizes they are harrowed so we give them the elixir that Thaddeus made. They come back to themselves, but they still have claws. They are furious with us, so we kill all but two and knock out the rest.
Episode 21 – New Bar Name, The Cock and Ass
Maverick (the fake one) says I’m leaving now and backs out of the back door to the bar. A bunch of the locals rise from the tables and say you should let him go. Thaddeus tosses a slumber potion and two of the townsfolk fall. He and Jimmy run out after Maverick. Meanwhile Magnus, the blacksmith, and the others wrestle with the remaining townsfolk. They seem to be not themselves, and several other townsfolk are trying to pull them back.
While the fight goes on in the bar, Jimmy and Thaddeus run down the alley after Maverick. He obviously mounted a horse and rode off. We regroup and Lucille casts mind rider on one of Mavericks possession. Meanwhile Thaddeus goes back and grabs our horses from the Triple Tap. He is headed east out of town, so we follow. One the way we come up with new bar branding, complete with animal themed symbols. Not to mention the loincloth waiter uniforms. (Thats what you get for missing a session Brad and Cary)
Jimmy and Robert Ford keep tracking the horse out of town. We are at least 10min behind him. We notice that he jumped of the horse but the horse kept going. We stop and Thaddeus shouts we know you are here, come out and we will not kill you. He is floating in the trees above us and says You stupid f***ckers.
He gets a Joker (he really is Maverick) and shoots Thaddeus, the blacksmith, and Grey Owl, who is seriously wounded and falls off the horse. Magnus blasts him with a bolt. Lucille casts a spell but nothing happens. Glen shoots and misses. Thaddeus hits him with another slumber potion and he falls to the ground. Jimmy runs back and tries to heal Grey Owl. He succeeds (thank you Great Spirit of bennies).
Jimmy moves toward Mavrick’s unconscious body. Magnus runs back to Grey Owl and heals him of one wound. The blacksmith closes on his body, and Thaddeus also runs back and heals Grey Owl. The blacksmith asks Lucille what to do, and she says she thinks she could do it but it would take half a day.
Suddenly the man in black rides up behind us. Thaddeus cries out a warning. Robert finishes tying up Mavericks body. The man in black shoots Magnus. Thaddeus throws a glue bomb which traps the man in black so he can’t move. Jimmy rides up and hits him with two thrown knives and wounds him. (Cary,Matt has put his stink all over your pink dice)
The man in black breaks free somewhat but Jimmy rides up and tomahawks him for serious damage. Thaddeus blasts the man in black with a scattergun, ending him. Jimmy recovers his knife and gun. The gun feels like it is drawing heat out of Jimmy’s hand, and the knife feels like it has murderous intent. Jimmy also uncovers his face and sees that he is a normal guy but we don’t recognize him. His clothes are completely black, as is his horse. His horse also has glowing red eyes, but gets spooked and runs off.
We head back to town with Mavericks body and the Man in Blacks corpse. We get back around midnight and Lucille starts the ritual to banish the spirit and put Maverick back in his body. By dawn she is getting really loud and sweaty, and soon after Maverick wakes up. We realize that Edward O’Kelly is the spirit that was inhabiting Maverick. Magnus casts a barrier to try and contain it, but he floats throw but we see his spirit dissipate. Maverick feels himself float out of his hosts body, but does not end up back in his own. In the darkness he hears the voice of his manitou offering to gamble his life, but Maverick refuses and says he puts his trust in his friends. Lucille rests and tries again. Maverick hears the voice again and agrees to give him a favor in order to help Lucille. She is able to put his spirit back in his body. Maverick wakes up, but owes a favor to the manitou.
Maverick gets the knife and gun from the Man in Black. The gun feels cold to him as well. <scene>