|
Unstrung Heroes is a free form super hero game set in some unknown time and place. Or, to be more precise, none of the PCs have any memory of the world. All they know is that it's a world of science and that they're being hunted by armoured men who claim to be government agents.
Origins:
This campaign began out of a desire to continue an old super hero game using some of the PCs. The world itself evolves each session and not even the GM knows what is what or even when the campaign is ... for all the PCS know they could be on some colony or in a domed or underground city.
 |
"Humans are creatures who spend their entire lives in an attempt to convince themselves that their lives are not absurd."
- Albert Camus
Pick a name for your PC.
Write up a description.
Think up a power and talk it over with the GM (Alcar)
Figure out the PC personality as you go along.
And that is UH PC creation. Sort of gives new meaing to rules lite :)
 |
"Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps." - Emo Phillips
Baliadoc, playing Clay - Clay is a telekinetic who can make things stop or not hit him so far, whcih was useful when government agents tried to kill him.
(No description yet)
Caltak, playing Andrew - A cat-person, Andy is strong, tough, heals quick and has also grown a foot taller since the game began. He also has very enhanced senses.
Andrew is, simply, a humanoid puma. You get the impression he's a late teen, and he looks athletic. But then he's a puma, so... well you get the idea. He's wearing a grey/brown one peice suit thing that covers everything but his head and hands. He made a hole for his tail. He's also 8 feet tall.
Elana, playing Gwen - a young girl with surprising strength.
Gwen stands about 5'6" tall, has short bright apple-red hair and is wearing a black T-shirt with red stripes on the shoulders and black panties w/red trim, she has no shoes or socks
SilverHorse, playing Silrvan - A young man with the power to heal or harm with a touch, Silvan has survived some really naster injuries already, even death if the world of a rather hysterical NPC who claims to have slit his throat can be believed.
Silvran is a young man of average size, about 5'7", sexy build (don't make me show you sexy). His hands have a slight glow to them, as do his eyes. He is wearing an outfit that is silver in color, but currently has pockets full of twinkies.
Alcar (me), NPCing Greg - A shape shifter who is unable to keep to one shape (skin colour changes etc.) he's been able to make his body tougher, stretch his arm over a distance, become a wolf and walk though a wall once.
Greg is a male of average size, about 5'5", stocky build. The rest seems to vary from moment to moment, hair changing or vanishing, eyes altering colour and texture and face doing the same, eat facet flowing from one look to another at random. Under the suit the rest of his body seems to doing the sane, causing the suit to ripple and change disconcertingly, as if someone had a small turbulent lake in it.
 |
Before you suspect conspiracy, don't rule out incompetence.
From Then What? A Funquiry into the Nature of Technology, Human Transformation and Marshall McLuhan
This was Andrew's introduction to the world and sort of sums up the setting so far:
| You waken in the back alley of a street filled with garbage and the smell of cheap food and body odour fills the air. You're lying in something sticky and feel like you just got run over by a truck. You're wearing rags that have seen better centuries and carrying no ID of any kind. You're palms feel funny and you're eyes are burning as if you'd been up over 48 hours. working .... you hit a wall, a gap. You don't remember what work you do. But you're damned sure it didn't involve dressing up in a cat suit. |
As I'm making the setting up as I go along (a wonderful change for me), I have no idea what this world is myself, at least not as a conscious level.
From what's been seen so far, the PCs appear, then get hunted quickly by flying armoued men who seem to be government agents and eventually meet each other, either because of the Law of PC Gravitation or some other purpose. So far the world the PCS are in is either domed or underground and consists of lots of technology, but most of it is either not working, not used here, weapons, or in bad shape. WHy the government wants them dead, the organisation of the gangs that run the area the PCs are in and the like are all unanswered questions thus far.
 |
I haven’t a clue as to how my story will end. But that’s all right. When you set out on a journey and night covers the road, you don’t conclude that the road has vanished . . . how else could we discover the stars?
- Unknown
Note: The first introduction of a PC or important NPC will have the name in italics. As the game is run on IRC, some of the summaries may contain game information, which will be quoted in the tables with a white background.
Session One
Andrew woke in an alleyway surrounded by garbage, technology, and the smell of a decaying city. He had no memory of who he was save his name and a feeling that he definitely wasn't what he is .. a humanoid puma. Leaving the alley in confusion he stumbles into various people, most who try and get away from him in disgust.
After a few confused minutes he comes accross some .. creature ... trying to fight flying mein in grey and black armour. The creature seems to be an odd, flowing thing, mostly tough skin, claws and teeth currently, and since the armoued men fly it's losing.
Another group of them arrive, see Andrew, and assault him as well. Between them, they manage to kill them. (One Andy hits has bones erupt from it's body as if they'd grown, weirdly enough) and kintroduce themselves, the other creature focusing enough to take a normal human shape and naming himself Greg. The street has largely cleared of people, self preservation being an important thing, and left the two of them alone. As they look for somewhere to come to, a woman in a thin grey suit - unarmed - appears before them, gives they looks of revulsion, and smells of lavender. She saays a word and the three of them appear in a large office with an older, blind man sitting at a desk.
| The woman kneels on the ground and cuts her hand thruogh some line drawn in the dirt. then says "I found them, sir." The man looks over at the two of you, then nods. "Please be seated." He gestures towards the chairs. There is no door out of the room. The woman hesitates, then vanishes again The man sits back in the air and looks at a spot 2' to your left. "I am calld Hollis Warner" |
Hollis Warner calls the woman The Lady after she vanishes and walks unerringly to the PCs and touches them. As Greg's arm is "metal, flesh, fur, scales, feathers and sand" at the same time he's rather confused, as he is by Andrew's fur.
He tells them they are at his home, the Sanctuary, then says it was that it might not be one anymour and makes a cryptic reference to seeing nothing but "power perverted" and seems worried.
When Andrew asks about Sanctuary Hollis just says it has other rooms in other places. When asked if he knows what they are, Hollis is evasive but ...
| "As for what you are, that I do not know. Something's should never be .... but as for who, well..." he hesitates. "After finding some worldnet files I shouldn't have and some checking, and the mission... " His gaze locks on your eyes as if e could see you and then on Gregs. There is no expression in his face when he says "Shouldn't every father want to see his children?" |
Session Two
Unfortunately, I don't have any logs for this session, but it took place a few days after the first one.
Hollis told Andrew and Greg that some of his DNA had gone into making them, entirely without his consent. He doesn't say why, but that fact that he moves around like a sighed person may have offered them some clues.
A door opens on the far wall and he tells them to follow the tunnel until they end - the government will suspect him of abducting the PCs and he's not about to go to war against it. With little choice in the matter they leave and are forced to break the door down at the other end since Hollis forgot to give them a passcode.
The two wanderers quickly find themselves in trouble with the local gang (to use the term loosely - it seems to be more of a self-governing area outside the government itself, in an older run down area). With no ID and no goodwill tag from the gang letting them into their terriytory or mark of another gang they ae seen as spies, halfheartedly. (A spy dressed up as a cat man and another on some weird transform virus makes no sense.)
During their questioning a young man comes upon them named Silvran. Also missing his memory, he refuses to run once the gang gets violent and finds out his touch makes people feel better or hurts them but as Andrew runs away carrying a hurt Greg he's left with no time to experiment and knocked unconscious.
The session ended at this point.
The gang leader, a woman simply called The Boss (aka Gina), has a gang member take him to the home of someone who wanted into the gang between sessions.
Session Three
A fair bit of time (over a month or two or three) passed between the 2nd session and this one since the game was just a quick "we're bored, lets play this world again" originally. Silvran's player actually forgot he'd played and thought someone else has used the same nick for a pc, which was highly amusing Anyhow....
| The people chasing you have been reduced to odd sounds echoing through stone and steel and lost in the hum of machines under conrete beneath your feet. The buildings rise up at least 10 stories of brick and motar and grafitti around you and you pass the occassional form in a alleyway either sleeping or dead The sky above you is a nice, cheerful blue at least. But if you look to closely it seems to fuzz and you see darkness above it, grey and black smudges that could be the sky, or pipes A low droning noise sounds overhead and you see some of those men in silver and black armour flying around in formation, practising for something. |
Greg seems to be healing quickly, so Andy and him take refuge in a warehouse like building, after Greg walks through the wall to see if it's empty. Regretably, it wasn't, and Andrew breaks a hole in the wall to hear a young girl and someone else (her brother, it turns out) talking. She's saying it's a ghost, he's saying he doesn't believe in ghosts. The brother - Ben - enters and Andy easily subdues him.
While he tries to bluff the two of them, Silvran wakens in a nearby alley feeling like someone just ran him over and killed him a fw times. He gets up - barely - and stumbles to the end of the alley only to see ben's sister running past, thinking the ghosts took her brother. She sees him, screams, and he touches her. He feels better as a result, but she drops dead.
Picking up the body he sees Greg, who informs him he looks like a walking corpse, hardly a friendly greeting. Going inside, Ben sees his dead sister, and then Silvran. He begins screaming "Dead, you're dead!" rather hysterically until he's put to sleep rather forcefully. Silvran continues to heal and finds he can speak again since his throat has healed from whatever happened to him.
They end the session trying to manage some sleep and honest rest in Ben's home.
Session Four
This session began with Andy and Greg being woken up by 2 youths coming in through the hole to Ben's home they'd made. One of the kids was called J - the other remained unnamed. Both began taking about how Ben was almost on the gang when they were interupted by an explosion close by. Both assumed it meant The Boss had gotten really pissed off at someone, or perhaps died.
Confronted by Andrew, they demanded to know where Ben was and attacked. J, seeing Silvan and Ben, tried to flee through the normal exist and Greg attempted to stop him but had accidentally melted with the shadows he was hiding in and J ran right through him out into a gunfight between Clay and more government agents.
Interlude
| You come to a larger alley - perhaps a street. The sky is a pale, uniform blue above you and you can see two men at the end of the street, standing among 10-20 prone bodies. They're both wearing some grey/black armoured suits of some kind and the first is holding up a young woman. "Wrong answer. We know they're in your area, scum. Give them up, or you die as well." * Clay heads for them, checking to see if anyone else is doing the same <Clay> "Hey, what's going on here?" The woman says something you don't catch and the man holding her sighs. "Damn." and begins crushing her throat. "Wrong answer. We know at least 3 are loose, and we want them." The dead bodies around them seem to have been heading that way, until they died. The 2nd man turns, then says "Get lost, kid. Government business," flatly <Clay> "It's government business to kill its' citizens?" The woman held by the first struggles, then says "My ... place. Right. Screw. You." The second armoured man hurls over your head as the woman explodes in a flash of light/noise that reduces the man who was holding her to a pile of boiling blood and melted circuits. The bodies around her are burning or ash. * Clay jumps back in fright The 2nd man gets up slowly, blood and electricity leaking out of his armour .. if that's what it is. He ignores you, staring where the other one was. "a whole unit. The wipes took out a whole unit," in disbelief |
Clay's confusion about how he got here gives way to danger as the remaining government agent attempts to kill him after asking ofr ID< and getting none deciding to preform a DNA scan. He then tells Clay to come quietly, or die. Clay evades his first attack.
| He frowns. "Huh. Good condi - hey! I don't want to kill you, but ... " <Clay> "I don't care. Your hands glowing, and you want me to come quietly. I'm pretty sure i remember that being a bad thing!" The man shakes his head, then sighs. "Always had to do things the hard way, didn't you?" andhis fist detaches and flies at you <Clay> "What're you talking about!? I don't even know you!" * Clay dives out of the way The fist goes over your head, then spins around back to him. "Faster than expected.... we wanted the wipes to give us pond scum, not use them. She tried to hold out, she's dead. So you can tell me where the others are, or I kill you too." |
Clay begins to defend himself oddly, finding missiles miss him or he dodges at the last minute, or they just stop in thin air. A troop of 5 more guards arrive just as Clay makes an impossible leap to a building, and then jumps onto the agent and rams his fist into the man, causing him to crash into a building.
End Of Interlude
J, scared out of his wits, runs outside into the firefight. Greg, attempting to follow, sees Clay being attacked by the lone guard and stretches his arm, managing to stop the men but when he lets go the recoil hurts like hell, incapacitating him.
Andy drags Greg back inside as the fire fight begins in earnest ...
Session Five
| The five armoued men are trying to shoot Clay. Trying being the operative word since the bullets are either stopping in front of him, avoiding him like a plague or missing entirely. it's hard to tell which is which in the chaos if machine gun and missle fire being directed at himand the general vicinity. J is lying in a crumpled heap in the middle of whwt was once a road and now looks like a swiss cheese exhibit. |
Clay begins to get a massive headache and eventually runs away from the guards, causing them to give chase even as Andrew manages to rescue J and Silvran heals the boy even as he, Greg and Andy leave the ruined area and look for reliable shelter and food.
As for Clay...
| * Clay is attempting to keep on his feet and concious, trying to make the headache go away, and dives under some newly made rubble to catch his breath, worming his way into a newly created door in some random building One of them lands, then begins breaking a doorway in via brute force. After about 2 minutes, he stops, then calls out "Guys, you having ... uh huh. ... Damn it. ... Stupid body. ... Ok. ...They'll be mad, but we won't be dead. ... The containment team is dead? What hit .... Oh. She wasn't kidding about the "boss" part we got over comm, then. Crikey." Then flies away. |
Greg turns into a wolf and looks for food for the others, finding Clay instead.
| <Greg> Oh! Sorry. I'm Greg. I was, uh, looking for food and smelled you." <Clay> "Right..." * Clay backs a little further up the rubble * Greg looks shocked. "I don't want to eat you!" He stops moving. "I mean, we were just hungry, and I was trying to smell living things, for food? Crap. This isn't going well, is it?" <Clay> "I'd say not. You'll have to excuse me, five cyborgs just tried to kill me." <Clay> "So i'm just a little jumpy." <Greg> "I noticed. I tried to help ... we got the kid out..." *shakes his head* "Andy and the others are outside. Do you know why they're after you?" <Greg> "Because you survived a war zone?" dryly. <Clay> "Okay, so I seem to be omnipotent. I wish they would've at least told me why, or how." |
Andrew meets two humans who are looking for survivors and are relieved J is alive. Upon being asked, Andy admits the government is after him but can't confirm if the Boss is dead or alive to them. Silvran goes inside to see what's keeping Greg ...
| <Clay> "So, you have the same problem as me?" *to Silvran* <Silvran> "Naw, I don't have any problems. Except whoever I touch either is healed miraculously or dies. Instantly." * Clay blinks <Clay> "And that's not a problem?" <Silvran> "Naw." <Clay> "Right." <Clay> "So you've always had it?" <Silvran> "Er, well, I don't know." <Silvran> "I woke up here not too long ago, killed someone, and its been downhill from there." <Clay> "You know, for someone having the same experience as I have so far, you've got a weird way of looking at things if it's not a problem." <Silvran> "Someone has to be the optimist." *smiles* |
The session ends with a walking humanoid cat trying to be nice and friendly to two humans, Clay having a massive headache and all the PCs really wanting some food.
Session Six
The unnamed man talking with Andrew advises that the PCs head into the server levels and follow the grey corridors to leave this general area before a lynch mob accuses them of killing The Boss and of causing the massive destruction involved in fighting the armoured government agents.
The four of them (Clay, Andrew, Greg and Silvran) head back to the battle zone and Andrew finds one of the missle-caused holes and smashes his way deeper into the ground, punching through layers of fibre cable, old pipe3s and crystal for a good three feet before falling into a grey, stucco-type corridor with some lighting. The othres follow, and Greg takes a wolf shape again to find food. After about an hour, he leads them onto some of the yellow tunnels and refusing to turn back, apparently having shape shifted a bit too well.
The wolf/greg leads them to an indented wll area that turns out to be a keypad and door, with food behind it.
| <Greg> The keypad has the numbers 1 to 5 on it, but that's all. * Andrew enters the code he used on the other numberpad <Greg> The door doesn't open. * Silvran enters the code "4-3-1-1" <Greg> The door shivers, then opens abrutply with a sigh <Andrew> "Oh, nice." <Silvran> "Whoa." <Greg> A sexless voice chimes "Thank you." * Andrew looks at Silvran. "How'd you know it?" <Silvran> "I was entering a numeric 'Hello' without the O." * Andrew thinks about that a minute. <Andrew> "OH! I get it." <Andrew> "But wait, isn't Hello with the O He-- you know what? Nevermind, I'd better not mention it." |
Upon entering they find three sleeping bags with the bones of whoever was here and lots of boxes of .... Twinkes. Gorging themselves, they all sleep and wake up, preparing to set out when Andrew hears footsteps. Silvran orders the door to close and it does so so efficiently it gets stuck. The girl on the other side eventually gets in by tryiong ot usre the keypad and breaking it out of frusteration, then ripping the door off when she tries to slide it open.
She then finds the other 4 in a room of twinkie wrappers.
Some questioning reveals she also has no memory save for her name, Gwen, and no idea how she got where she was. Worried that if she found them, the government agents could the PCs bring her with them and begins to head back to the grey corridors and hopefully towards some kind of freedom.
Session Seven
Missing: Baliadoc (Clay) - NPC'd and SilverHorse (Silvran) - for some of the session.
This session (played December 13h) began with the PCS walking back down the gret corridors and looking for an exit from whatever place they're in. As they walk, Andrew's hearing picks up a conversation in the distance:
Voice1: "I heard it was 2," skeptically.
Voice2: "Oh, 5 of them."
Voice1: "Five units of the City guard? Right. And the 2?"
Voice2: "That was just yesterday."
Voice1 (after a long silence) "You're kidding.:"
Voice2: "Nope, heard it from a tech. They got wiped."
Voice1: "No one wipes out five units!"
Voice2: "Then be happy, because we're looking nothin... :"
Voice3 (authorative) "Shut up you two. Do your job,. Readings, remember?"
Voice1: "Sir, the last time we found *ourselves* about 5 corridors away. This this isn't reliable. The servers screw things up enough as it is."
Voice3: "Nevertheless, we have a job to do."
Voice2: "Oh, hell. Err, sir, I'm getting 5 readings. It might be us, but they're .. well... odd."
Voice3: "Well?" Voice1: "Uh, 2 human normal, 1 below .. err .. somehwere between human ans pet." pause. Voice3: "and?"
Voice1: "One a bit above. Erm, 10 degrees or so. And the fifths gotta be a mistake." longer pause.
Voice2: "Wow, it's above, normal, below and .. err ... do things get that cold?"
voice3: "That has to be more than a problem reading. it's flucating in heat insanely."
Sound of men stopping, then. Voice4: "Report it?" nerovusly.
Voice3: "I can't raise Command. We do this by the book. If it's not pond scum we go back and get this piece of crap repaired."
Well, they found it was "pond scum" - namely the PCs. THe 1st fellow fired a shot at Gwen when she bolted at the sight of the gun and was disarmed by Andrew. Gwen plowed into the captain (voice 3) and sent him flying through the air. Finding no one else in that tunnel Gwem calmed but couldn't shake the eerie feeling someone was watching her.
The other 2 men were stopped, one by Clay using martial arts he never knew he knew and the other by Greg changing into some weird scarecrow with chainsaw arms and the face of the man he attacked. Greg has no idea why he took that shape. Andrew pinned #1 (soon identified as Corp Anderson) easily and when the captain stirred, Gwen went over and slapped him, inadvertently breaking his neck.
| <Gwen> "Well they managed to do something to kill their own captian in all the confusion" <AlcarGM> The man glares at all of you. <AlcarGM> <Clay> looks at gwen. 'What?"' <Gwen> "Well they did, you saw him" <AlcarGM> <Clay> "..... That was your hand." * Andrew`- looks at clay and shakes his head pointedly <Gwen> "i already told u i only punched him" <Gwen> "it wasnt that that got his neck broke, those guys are just way un carefull" <AlcarGM> <Clay> blinks <AlcarGM> <Clay> look at Andrew .. then decides to let it rest. For now. |
Greg heads to find if the men had food and walked into some barrier that zaps him. Clay goes through it, then pulls Greg through, slapping him to walk him up, though it feels like slapping Jello. Gwen decides to just walk through and a loud humming fills the air. Clay grabs er and the sound abruptly stops, Andy finding the smoking box that was the generator for the perimeter along with some food and water tablets. Silvran takes the guns from the men and ties Corp Anderson up in their clothing. Clay takes clothing from the tohers and gives it to Gwen.
Corp Anderson - even when Andy and Greg talked about eating him as food - refuses to talk but conversation with him is cut short as Silvran decides to remove any tracking devices he has, Clat figuring they had to trakc their men somehow. Whatever Silvran removes turns out to be machines or something present in his whole body and he begins dying without them. Silvran returns as many as he can back in, then decides to check and see if the dead Captain had the same things in him.
| <AlcarGM> Ok, Silvran ... you're about half way back when you come to the source of that clacking noise .. a blue globe floating through the corridor with lots of mechanical tentacles coming off of it. it e its a dangerous looing glow and it's light is scouring the ground and walls and roof. behind it, where those men should be, there is no .. nothing. not even scraps of clothing. |
Appeared, and Silvran wisely decided to run. Inexpicaply, Corp Anderson was was overcome by hysterical giggles. Gwen, for reasons known to herself, decided not to get out of it's way and Silvran recommended throwing the Corp Anderson's body at the machine.
| * Gwen stepa towards it, probobly to interested * Silvran picks up the man and throws it at the globe <AlcarGM> <Clay> looks at Gwen disblelivingly <Silvran> (<( ...lol What if I hit gwen instead.. )>) <AlcarGM> <Clay> looks at Silvran. "No." and the man stops in mid air, between Gwen and the Blue Thing. "We've done enough to him." <Silvran> "Holy.. <AlcarGM> <Clay> looks at the man in mid air, then says "Ah, could you put him down now?" <Andrew`-> ""hey wait!" <Silvran> "I'm going for the lesser sacrifice. Don't make me make it you." * Andrew`- grabs the man out of the air. "Hands off, Silvran." * Silvran is visibly extremely angry. <AlcarGM> The thing movies closer to Gwen. Clay glares at Silvran. "You want to sacrifice him? Sacrifice yourself first!" <Silvran> (<( ...I try to save Gwen... and somehow I end up being the bad guy.. )>) * Silvran throws himself onto the blue globe <AlcarGM> <Clay> "Wait!" Silvran feels something tug him back, too late, and hits the blue thing head on. <AlcarGM> It stops moving abruptly and Silvran slides off of it. |
The sanitation robot is stopped and after an arguement between the PCs (getting rather heated) they calm a bit.
| <AlcarGM> The man is still laughing uncontrollably, perhaps because the people thay destroyed his squad, broke a perimetre fence as if it didn't exist and killed his commander ran in terror from a sanitation robot. <AlcarGM> But that might be a coincidence. |
Silvran then tries to alter Corp Anderson, to calm him a bit and makes him all goofy-happy, sort of like Barney for a week.
| <Gwen> "Wow that was funky, you messed with his mind or sumthin" <Gwen> "Wish I had some nifty power like mind screwing or cat-power" <AlcarGM> <Clay> "You've got terminal stupidity." <John_Doe> (( lol! Bali's pcs are great even when he isn't here ;b\ )) <Gwen> What!? <AlcarGM> <Clay> "Why else would you stand in front of an unknown creature?" |
Settling this, and armed with food and water taken from the 4 men, they continue on their way, eventually finding a quiet spot to sleep once tired and so the session end
Oh, yeah, and John Doe has to enter the game sometime, but the PCs have scared him off :) For some weird reason he thinks
| <John_Doe> (( lol, it's like watching a circus of retarded psychopaths )) |
I wonder why?
Session Eight
Missing: Baliadoc and Elana (full session), SilverHorse (first half)
|
The five of you have walked through the grey tunnels for perhaps a day or two, judging by when people felt tired. Nothing else has assulted you but you have seen toe occassional robot trundle past without regarding you. Corp Anderson is currently really docile thanks to Silvran and essentially is following him around like a puppy. Even so, perhaps because it's peaceful, you can't shake the uneasy feeling that you're begin watched by someone, or something... |
This session was played with one player (Caltak, playing Andrew) for the first half. SilverHorse (playing Silvran) joined in the second half during the teddy bear incident. The other players were absent, but it's not their fault since they didn't know there was a session being played :p
Andrew and Greg scout ahead of the others and find a doorway of sorts, with the sound of a machine and two people doing smoething behind it. They're talking and Andrew makes out the words:
| <AlcarGM> The corridor takes on a lighter tone of gray and seems to slant upwards slightly. The ground is smoother and less rough and it begins to get a little narrower. You hear voices, furtive whispers "It's working?" "Yeah." "Stormy." "That too. What if they come?" "The city has enough problems. *pause* Spooks." "Riiiigghht. Well, it works. Ok...." <AlcarGM> Theres a louder hum that even greg hears then "holy mother of ...." "Err, it worked. " "I know, but ... what IS it?" * Andrew`- sneaks over quietly <AlcarGM> The corridor turns and ends in a door,. There's a keypad beside it that is missing the cover. The inside is very fine wires and glass and seems to be smoking gently. The door is most definitely closed, and metal. <AlcarGM> "It might have .... limits, you know. We'd better be careful. Try that one." Another hum. "Oh. *nervous laughter* Oh, my....... oh .... " "Get ahold of yourself!" "You should have seen . .your face.." "Well, I can;t believe it!" Laughter from the second person again. "Well, I can't! To think they'd use this to make .. make .. .toys!" <AlcarGM> The voices are coming from the other side of the door. |
Greg sticks his head through the door to spy on them and finds they're at some 2 by 3' box in the middle of a room that contains a skylight and nothing else besides junk. Both the men are in faded jeans and wearing coats like the clothing Hollis gave Andy and Greg, but theirs look thin and worn. One of them is holding a small box, the other is staring at something in his hands in horror, which turns out to be a sex toy. The door is barred from their side, but Andy easily rips it off it's hinges.
The men look scared, thinking they're "soup". The first man tries to clarify it:
| <Alcar GM>"Alphabets." he looks at your still-blank expression. "Government people. Enforcement types." The second man adds, cheerfully, "The acronym people." |
Realising that Andy can't be a fed, they offer to share the box. Andy says he just wants to leave and asks where the skylight leads. He's told it leads to "hex" one of the "free burbs". The first man gets suspioous and begins asking where Andy is from when Andrew asks questions they think he'd know the answer to (like "what is hex like?").
| <AlcarGM> Suspicous Bastard: "if you don't know, explaining it won't help. Where're you from?" sharply <Andrew`-> "A laboratory of some sort, apparently. Let's just say we didn't find the city very accomodating, so we've been looking for somewhere a little less... violently oppressive." <AlcarGM> <Greg> steps out from behind you. "Much less." Though you're mostly used to it, they find looking at someone who never has the same features from moment to moment and currently has one human eye, onr reptilian eye, no nose, a mouth of fangs, arms covered in what might be slugs, fur on the rest of his body and a small tail rather disconcerting. <AlcarGM> The bastard backs up to the box, muttering something about weapons. The second man looks shocked, then *looks* at you. "That's not a costume, is it?" numbly |
The first man (aka Suspicious bastard) runs over to the box, saying something about needing a weapon rather frantically.
| <AlcarGM> The box hums loudly and there is now a short metal rod on it. The first man blinks, then says "Voice activated?" in a strangled whisper and grabs it, pointing it at you both with a speed born of pure desperation. "Stay back!" |
The man fires the black rod with sparks at his end and shoots a bolt of energy at Andrew and Greg. Andrew avoids it, but Greg (even phased) is hit and alters his body, becoming thinner and recreating his arm from that mass. Needless to say, it hurts a lot. Andrew disarms the man as the weapon goes off again, firing bakcwards so it's second shot would have hit the user. (Gotta wonder about whoever made them....)
The second man leaves, quickly, dragging his friend out and glad they're alive. Andy opens the skylight with his claws and Greg has the machine make a ladder so the others can come up.
| <AlcarGM> Ok, you exit the skylight and find yourself on a street, of some sort. The buildings around you are grey, uniform and depressing (3 storeys, no windows, one door). The street is pavemen, though badly cracked and the sky is a pale blue with no sun or clouds in sight. <AlcarGM> Fortunately no one seems to be around right now, except a small stuffed bear walking around the corner of the street <Andrew`-> (( Ah, a small stu-- wha? )) <AlcarGM> « yep » <AlcarGM> about 3' tall, furry, cuddly and cute <AlcarGM> oh, and walking like a person |
The bear finds the PCs suspicious and says a few odd things to Andrew about thinking he was some female, or her husband or son. It's not alive at all to Andy's senses. It tells the PCs they may have to hit the road because they're not "right" for Hex yet. Andy asks if it's a hint they should hti the road.
| <AlcarGM> The bear looks at the two of you, then says "Maybe, but you don't belong. We can tell that, here. Our Maker allows that and draws others even to defy The City." he looks saddened. "But you're hunted, and not human, and there are dark things in you....." then shakes his head and looks rueful. "sorry." |
Seeing Silvran, the bear gets really excited and claims to have seen him before, even though silvran has never been there...
| <AlcarGM> The bear looks up, obviously happy. "She said you'd come back." <Silvran> "I've.. been here before?" <AlcarGM> The bear frowns, then looks at you carefully, assessingly, something ... not-bearish in his cute brown eyes. "Not yet." <Silvran> "So this is my first time here, yet I have been here before. Too confusing. Lets keep hugging!" <AlcarGM> The bear "Oh, you haven't been here yet. it'll be after you die. i was confused." * Silvran shudders as thoughts of death fly through his head.. while hes still hugging the bear, nonetheless. <AlcarGM> Bear: "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you sad. I just forgot that you've been here, but that will be later, and you die in this life to be here then in your past life which hasn't happened yet." <Silvran> "So I'm going to die trying to save this place." * Silvran looks around <Silvran> "Wonderful."" <Andrew`-> "Ah. I see." <AlcarGM> bear: "Oh, no. You did save it. Then you die and become you." <AlcarGM> Bear: "it just hasn't happened yet." <Silvran> "Wait.." <Silvran> "That would make this a loop.. wouldn't it?" <Silvran> "If it hasn't happened yet.." <Silvran> "But then it does.. <Silvran> "And I die doing it.. <Silvran> "Then become me... * Silvran shakes his head hard <AlcarGM> Bear: "But they you can die as you and become someone else." <AlcarGM> Bear: "I don't get it either, nbut that's because I have stuffing for brains." |
Of course, finding out the bear hasn't seen you but has been told he will and you died in the future or something weird like that (the PCs think the bear was just nuts) makes Silvran to leave.
| * Silvran whispers to Andrew. "Lets get a move on." * Andrew`- whispers back "Get a move on to where?" * Silvran whispers back "Anywhere but with that." <Andrew`-> "I thought you liked him." <AlcarGM> but it's nice and friendly! And a bear! <Silvran> "Until it told me I was going to die. I'm going to rip it limb from limb if I don't get away from it soon." * Silvran has went from content to a manic depressive, be warned. <Andrew`-> (( well as long as you aren't muttering "I wonder if stuffed bears feel pain"... :P )) <Silvran> "I wonder if stuffed bears feel pain.." <AlcarGM> The bear looks up at Silvran, something in it's eyes you have no words for, then just says "Yes," simply. "Everything does. Most real wounds are in here," taps his chest with a furry paw. "To be forgotten, or ignored, or replaced by that fucking other bear that talked when you pullastringandgetlockedinacloset ... " takes a deep breath. "yes." |
Andy quickly intervenes and asks if they can find Her (whoever the owner/maker of hex is)
| <AlcarGM> Bear: "I don't know. You're not part of here, yet. There's something in you that feels funny ..... like a person, but not a person here, or anywhere i know." he sighs. "Simple things are always too complicated, but She can be found if you ask the right person." |
The bear either won't or can't tell more and begins to bid the PCs farewell.
| * Silvran thinks happy thoughts, and attempts to send them into the bear <AlcarGM> Bear: "It'll get dark soon, so you might want to .... find a place to stay, or hide. not all things here are nice, just safe from The City." <Andrew`-> "What are these buildings for? Could we use one, maybe?"AlcarGM> Bear: "Oh, they're all empty. most of the time. I'm not sure what they are, but they're always nice inside and boring and ugly on the outside. I think it's one of her metaphors or something like that. They should be safe, though." <AlcarGM> The bears begins to walk away * Andrew`- waves. "Thanks! Good luck, and... have a nice day!" <AlcarGM> the bear waves and slips between two buildings, gone before the other pcs arrive.. just so you can explain how your knowledge here came from a stuffed bear :p |
After session comments:
| <Alcar> hehe. I have this horrible notion for your pc to somehow be some sort of prophet here :p <SilverHorse> silvran is too stupid :P <Alcar> Tha's not a disqualification :p <Alcar> Bear: "And then he said . .he said .. "I wonder if stuffed bears feel pain.." It was .. wow. he opened me up, and he listened to me, and helped heal me." <Alcar> as oppossed to 'I think he was considering killing me' :p |
Session Nine
Caltak was the only player for this session.
As it was so short, I turned the log into the session summary (I know, I'm lazy, but some of it applies to other pcs and quite a few of the visions offer clues to what the PCs might really be).
<AlcarGM> Morning comes, or at least you all wake up, which amounts to the same thing. The building you're in is that dull, boring grey on the outside byt the inside is done in wood flooring, brick walls, having a nice country and homey feel at odds with its exteriour. it consists of one large room with some cots.
* Andrew`- wakes up leisurely and stretches, looking to see if anyone else is up yet.
<AlcarGM> You can smell people outside, but there aren't any close by yet. The street seems mostly silent and has a deserted look to it.
<AlcarGM> Clay and Gwen are sleeping. Silvran is eating twinkies, which means he's likely not to want to kill anyone for a few hours. Greg is outside looking around.
* Andrew`- strolls outside
<AlcarGM> The alleyway you're on is mostly broken pavement and these hourses that are all boring on the inside, but somehow something more on the insisde, something beautiful. You suspect there's a moral or reason for it, but you're cat enough not to care :)
<AlcarGM> No one is outside that you can seem, but you smell greg .. a weird sort of smell that's never quite the same, but somehow not like others enough for you to pick it up easily, even if that is a paradox.
* Andrew`- follows the strange almost collection of scents that is Greg at a strolling pace, taking his time.
<AlcarGM> The buildings remain the same but take on a more whitewashed tone, sort of a weird grey/white that gives you the odd feeling that they;'d vanish if you looked away from them. The street becomes white gravel as it connnects to a boulevard lines with tall trees of varying species, from evergreens to plams. the buildings themselves are shops, some quaint places that smell of fresh food, antiques and something like sadness, but more longing
* Andrew`- continues, looking around at stuff as he passes.
<AlcarGM> the road stretches west and east, the west side having a forbidding aspect to it as the buildings seem further apart, huddled in odd clumps and the trees are thin, wispy things. Greg is standing in the middle of the street looking that way, lost in thought.
<Andrew`-> (( west siiiide :P ))
<AlcarGM> « lol »
* Andrew`- walks up. "Hey Greg, what's up?"
<AlcarGM> <Greg> turns, startled, and for a moment seems to look completely, normally human. "Huh? What?"
<Andrew`-> "You seem troubled."
<AlcarGM> <Greg> "I .. don't know. I was thinking.." He shakes his head, which has dog ears, then doesn't. "I don't remember about what. It was some memory, of something... or someone."
* Andrew`- considers, and looks that way himself a moment.
<AlcarGM> For a moment you see something further down the road, a person, or a place .. or perhaps both .... and realise that the feeling the street is engendering is homesickness
<AlcarGM> You find your claws have unsheathed without you consciously thinking about them :p
<AlcarGM> <Greg> "I don't like this," abruptly. "it feels like me..."
<AlcarGM> There seem to be moe trees on the boulevard, but it could be your imagination...
<Andrew`-> "Yeah...."
* Andrew`- suddenly, and without much apparent reason, starts walking that way. :P
<AlcarGM> <Greg> shakes his head. "Well, the bear said to find the boundari ... hey! what about the ...." trails off.
<AlcarGM> The road you came from is gone. All there is now is the two of you and the boulevard. stretching ahead and behind.
<AlcarGM> <Greg> doesnt' say he has a bad feeling about this because it's a cliche but follows Andrew quietly.
<AlcarGM> The buildings get narrower and taller, resemblink bulwarks, but most looks to be in poor repair or falling to ruin. The image/vision/whatever it was you saw seems in front of you again, and clearer. A woman with eyes of pure darkness, unreadable but somehow afraid. the rest of her seems blurry at the edges but you could swear for a moment you hear her scream.
* Andrew`- halts a moment, blinking.
* Andrew`- squints thoughtfully.
<AlcarGM> The image is gone as quickly as it appears. Behind you greg stiffens and you smell a confused fear coming off of him for a moment, but he says nothing.
* Andrew`- mutters "I wonder who she is..." quietly to himself... then starts walking again, though staying cautiously observant of the surroundings.
<AlcarGM> The buildings and trees become less frequent, looking ruined and ... broken. The trees are dying, or dead and all around them is a strange emptiness, like a grey fog with dimly remembered places in it
* Andrew`- (( half exepcts to see a broken sign with "I'd turn back if I were you" scrawled on it any time now :P ))
<AlcarGM> You catch an image of something at the corner of your eye, comething long, metal and thin that strikes an unreasoning terror into you. Then it's gone and you see 5 men with eyes like doctors, cold and empty and disspassionate, but somehow they're disgusted by you.....
<AlcarGM> « Oh, no, you passed that a long time back! »
<AlcarGM> « :p »
<AlcarGM> behind you you hear a muffled cry
<Andrew`-> (( so this is all like, a hallucination or a memory not a "I actually see them standing there" thing, right? :) ))
<AlcarGM> you see them, but you don't smell them :p
<AlcarGM> and they vanish when you move closer
* Andrew`- steps forward threateningly and notices they vanished. "Fake! It's all fake..." and starts walking on, a bit more quickly.
<AlcarGM> No steps follow you
* Andrew`- pauses to look behind himself.
<AlcarGM> you see a small... you don't know . .where greg is. it's curled up in a ball, of thorns and .. you're not sure what else, but it hurts to look at, making your eyes water
* Andrew`- looks away slightly. "Get a hold of yourself, would you? It's not real."
<AlcarGM> There's a long pause, then "it was real ... I felt it .... needles."
<Andrew`-> "Yes I know, but they're not here now, are they?"
* AlcarGM blurs and looks more normal, but somehow transparent. "They were," harshly
* Andrew`- shakes his head defiantly, and states simply, "It's not real." As if to convince himself as well as Greg, and starts walking again.
<AlcarGM> <Greg> whispers "don't you see them? They did it ...... " and doesn't move.
<Andrew`-> "Well I'm going to keep going. Stay here-- all alone-- if you want."
<AlcarGM> <Greg> doesn't move.
* Andrew`- sighs. "Fine, but at least go back, or something. Don't just stand around in a place like this." and keeps walking.
<AlcarGM> Before you you see a man. He smells .... real. He's tall - close to 8', muscular in a lithe way and wearing a simple one-piece black suit that covers all his body except his head. The centre of it looks like something, perhaps a logo, was ripped off by it and his eyes ... there is something deep and terrible in them you can't ignore, a pain and pride and something else no word exists to describe. He's looking at you, confused.
<AlcarGM> The man looks at you some more. He's not afraid, but just ... puzzled.
* Andrew`- tries to look him in the eyes at first, but then is grudgingly forced to look slightly away. "Who are you?" He demands.
<AlcarGM> There is a pause, and his voice is rusty with disuse, but still stirs something in you, an odd feeling to come to attention, or submit, or die for him. "Someone seeking penance," in a deep voice, like an orator or a charismatic, but itls all natural and unconscious. (The cat in you sees this as part of his lure, his power... the fact that he's unaware of it.)
* Andrew`- is at a loss for words for a moment. "Wha-- Whe... Huh?"
<AlcarGM> He steps back, looking oddly hurt. "I am ... sorry. If I did something? I am called.... " he hesitates, then says "Quinn."
<Andrew`-> "What... What's going on around here?" In a tone quite less demanding.
<AlcarGM> <Quinn> looks at you consideringly, then says "You're walking the boulevard."
<Andrew`-> "And whats so special about this boulevard?"
<AlcarGM> <Quinn> "This part of it, this place is the boulevard of broken dreams." he smiles. "Some say it's what exists on the other side of every mirror, and in the eyes of anyone you love if you look hard enough. What have you lost?" gently.
<Andrew`-> "I don't know. My memories, if I even had any... though I don't think i want them back... Perhaps a purpose. But all I really want is a home, but I'm not sure I can say I lost one. *blinks* I think I'm rambling..."
<AlcarGM> <Quinn> frowns, then says slowly. "You shouldn't be here. There is no dream you have sought that has yet to be lost. Unless you wish to be normal.
* Andrew`- pauses for a moment, as if in thought. "...why?"
<AlcarGM> <Quinn> looks startled for a moment, then laughs. "Why indeed?" he chuckles, then shakes his head and smiles. "My apologies. But you should not be here. There are dreams about you, but you don't see them."
<Andrew`-> "Oh." *pausesa again* "So... should I just head back that way, then?" *pointing a thumb back the way he came*
<AlcarGM> <Quinn> frowns, then says "I would not advise ... going on. Here be nightmares, eventually. And other things. You have done no evil, broken no dreams, lost nothing. You are young, not old. The future is ahead of you. And you made be laugh."
* Andrew`- smiles slightly. "Okay then. Thanks." *and turns to head back*
<AlcarGM> The man says nothing but watches you as you walk away, smelling of something like .. shame? sin? something not cat: that's for sure. And sadness. You get the feeling he wants to speak to you, but he never does.
* Andrew`- waves after a bit and says "Seeya." but doesn't bother to turn around as he does, since he'd probably be gone anyway. :P
<AlcarGM> lol
<AlcarGM> You don't pass greg on you're way back
* Andrew`- hopes Greg took his advice and headed back.
<AlcarGM> After some time - a shorter time than you'd expect - you find the white path
* Andrew`- heads back along it, idlely wondering how long he's realy been gone... since when one ends up in a strange place like that, they usually return to find they have been gone longer than they thought, or something to that effect :P
<AlcarGM> You return to find Silvran still eating that twinkie. Greg isn't back.
* Andrew`- sighs.
* Andrew`- goes off looking for him.
<AlcarGM> You can't find the road again ...... even though you're bloody sure where ti is, it's not just a boulevard.
* Andrew`- tries just searching for Greg's trail again
<AlcarGM> you don't even smell if, or if you do it's vague thing, like an itch you can't scratch. He's somewhere here, but it's not the here you're in.
<Andrew`-> "Damn it Greg, I told you not to stand around there..."
<AlcarGM> No one replies
* Andrew`- looks at where the Boulevard should be. "Hey! Quinn! Greg doesn't belong there either as far as I know!"
<AlcarGM> lol. Interesting idea....
<Andrew`-> (( what is? ))
<AlcarGM> You hear his voice, faintly. "Who si greg?" like it's being shouted from down a long tunnel surrounded by water
<Andrew`-> "That guy I was with until he went all chicken-shit and froze up. The guy who shapechanges and whatnot."
<AlcarGM> Pause, then "I see. He sees them, where you wouldn't. All of them. Weak."
<Andrew`-> "Who, now?"
<AlcarGM> <Quinn> "The shifter. He fears what he sees."
<AlcarGM> <Quinn> "But I owe you, something. And perhaps him...." his voice gets fainter,then fades out
* Andrew`- waits.
<AlcarGM> There is no reply.
<AlcarGM> As you stand there, nothing unusual happens.
<AlcarGM> Nothing continues to happen :)
<Andrew`-> "Um, Hello?"
<AlcarGM> No voice, but you smell greg suddenly, sharply, and close by
* Andrew`- looks around
<AlcarGM> You see him by one of the buildings, leaning against it.
<Andrew`-> "There you are! Man, I told you not to wait around like that."
<AlcarGM> <Greg> looks up sharply at you, smelling of anger and a strange hate at himself, but looks away abruptly. "I couldn't."
<Andrew`-> "Well anyways, seems we got out of that okay, though it looks like you might be reliving that for a while in your dre-- er, sorry, best not to rub it in.... Well let's go then, shall we?"
<AlcarGM> <Greg> nods and walks back after you, not saying anything
<AlcarGM> You arrive back at the others to find them just stirring, so they can talk with your pc next session - need ot get them not too far behind :P
Sessions Nine And A Half & Ten
Caltak, SilverHorse and Gwen played in this session. Clay was NPCd.
Greg and andy return to find that about 10 minutes have passed during their trip into the Boulevard. Silvran has finished eating and comes outside in time to see 4 men appear out of thin air at the end of the street. Greg finds that they feel strange, Andy that they smell unlike anything else, of fresh air and other things he's never smelled and Silvran finds they seem to glow with good health. One of them sees the PCs, and says something about spawns of chaos and creates a sword out of thin air and advances on Andy and Greg, He seems to consider Greg this chaos-spawn and Silvran kin, but isn't sure what Andy is. He says a word none of them know that makes andy feel Funny and causes Greg to scream in pain but when the others turn Greg looks "normal" and says it just hurt, whatever it was. Silvran steps between them, trying to get an answer,
The man simply runs Silvran through the heart with his sword and continues, attacking Andy and unnerved that Andy is almost as fast as him. Corp Anderson leaves the building and runs to Silvran's side, babbling things about "the master" then falls into a coma as Silvran stands up, healed and unharmed. The man looks positively astonished, and uneasy.. He says something to Silvran about allowing kin to be infected by chaos and all four men touch their belts, and vanish.
Gwen and Clay are awakened by the shouting and come outside.
| <AlcarGM> Outside the small grey house, Andy, Greg and Silvran are standing, their opponents having vanished into thin air as if they'd never been at all. The sky is a deep purple currently, but off to the south it seems to take on a darker tinge.
<AlcarGM> Corp Anderson, the unfortunate guard you captured, is currently in a coma. Silvran is covered in blood and rubbing his chest absently where he got stabbed through the heart by a sword <Andrew`-> "Dammit, people are the same everywhere, it seems..." <AlcarGM> <Greg> chuckles. "Most of them don't make swords out of thin air." <Andrew`-> "Yeah, but they all would if they could." <AlcarGM> <Greg> blinks, thinks about that, then says "I guess so...." |
As the PCs begin to try and figure out how to reach the Boundary places, a young girl in a red cloak comes down the road towards them, looking unafraid. Gwen decides to speak to her
| <Gwen> "Hi there little girl, are you lost too?"
<AlcarGM> She shakes her head. "I was but I got better." <Gwen> "I guess thats good..." <AlcarGM> <Little Girl In Red> "I think so, too. Short cuts suck. You take them and end up killing your grandmother and can't explain why you thought she was a wolf just because she hadn't had electrolysis. Then you find you're being hunted for the murder of a werewolf you never met and were married to a lumberjack who dressed in womans clothing and hung around bars. . I wish I was lost. it made more sense." |
Gwen says the something about what the girl says seems vaguely familiar, but can't place it. The gril replies slowly, in a distracted voice "It was familiar once. Then everything fell apart because They're here and The City is angry and the Maker is somewhere .... else." Then normally: "But I bet you want to find the shortcut! I'm a guide, you know." On being asked questions, she replies that Hex is surrounded by The City. The PCs begin grumbling about The City, understandably not liking it.
| <AlcarGM> <Jenny> "Oh, the City's not *that* bad!"
<Gwen> "What exactly constitutes "Not *that* bad"?" <Andrew`-> "I don't like it. It's too... artificial. Plus I realy dont like the whole wanting-us-dead thing they had going on there." <AlcarGM> <Jenny> "The city is really cute. Well laid out," seriously. Then she frowns. "Oh, you mean the people! Well. Nothing wrong with being artificial, is there?" <AlcarGM> She says the last in a queer tone of voice, almost playfully angry... <Andrew`-> "No, no I did mean the city when I said artificial. I just get a bad vibe off that place. No... well, plants." <AlcarGM> <Jenny> "Oh, that's just some parts. I've been told they even have hanging gardens they don't hang people in. Besides, I bet it's just the government that wants you dead. They want everyone dead. Easier to govern." She grins impishly |
Jenny doesn't know if there is more than The City, isolated places like Hex, and the boundary places between said realms but agrees The City can't be everywhere, since everything ends. Then, she change,s and something else takes her over...
| <AlcarGM> <Jenny> looks about to say something else, then says in a very adult, woman's voice. through unmoving lips. "So. Quinn was right. Needles and foolishness...."
* Andrew`- looks at her. "Are you 'Her'?" <AlcarGM> <Jenny> "Everyone here is Me, just not all at once. Except you. You're story has not been written by the Three, nor forgotten by the One or Many." <Andrew`-> "...Sorry, but the vagueness is throwing me a little..." <AlcarGM> <Greg> "Was that suppossed to make no sense?" <AlcarGM> <Jenny> "Everything makes sense, if you make it make sense. But you are not Mine, so .... go South, to where the road becomes a ruin and find a Boundary House. They offer sanctuary, even from the City, but at a price. I cannot offer that kind of sanctuary." <Gwen> "You dont want to come with us Jenny?" <Andrew`-> "What kind of price, exactly? Is it some hidden thin we regret losing later on?" <AlcarGM> <Jenny> "Nothing of Mine can leave Hex, for many reasons. I do not know of the price of Boundary Houses any longer, just that it's best to ask up front and to bargain." <Andrew`-> "Oh, super."*sarcastically* <Gwen> "we could barter with the twinkies ^u^" <Andrew`-> "Hopefully." <AlcarGM> <Jenny> smiles at that. "You can offer things others cannot and are hunted by things other are not. Make what you can offer worth more than the wrath of the Protector." <Andrew`-> "Well, I'm assuming that doesn't mean the twinkies, then. Unless they really, really like snack cakes." |
She, aka The Maker, aka the possessor of Jenny, tells them to go south to the Boundary House and leaves without another word. The road turns into a gravel path as you begin to find more empty lots, without any number and to an almost visible barrier ... the dirt ends and you see large buildings, 20-30 stories tall, with a deep green sky above them ahead of you, and rubble between them. Most of the buildings have the tops missing and a fainly acidic smelll hangs in the air. Just between this place and Hex there is a sign on the road. The sign, which only Clay can read (everyone else seems to be illerate) says "Here Be Dragons" on both sides, as a warning to people going to the Boundary and those from it going to Hex. The road eventually leads them to a large building shaped like a reverse cone (each floor is round and larger than the one below it and there are no windows).
| <AlcarGM> The front of the building moves slightly, a doorway sliding into the ground. Two men - both humans - and a woman walk out. They're all wearing simple one-piece blue suits. The men (brothers or close twins, 6;' tall, dark haired, muscled) each are holding a rifle of some kind but the woman - who seems to be in charge - is unarmed. She's smal, with deep blue eyes and looks at you all in puzzlement.
* Gwen waves and smiles <Gwen> "Hi there" <AlcarGM> The woman says something to the men quietly, then walks forward with both of them trailing her and pointing their guns at the group of you warily <AlcarGM> The woman looks at all of you, then says "What are you?" |
Andy tells her they're travellers and she responds that they must be more than that, and that anyone travelling with freaks would be a freak as well. Andy gets angry and calls her a bigot. She simply says that telling the truth is not bigoted and begins to stare at the PCs, but stops after 5 minutes,confused.
| <AlcarGM> The woman steps back, then looks at the two men. "I get nothing from them. Except .... dark eyes. Someone with dark eyes. VERY dark eyes." Both men look at the 5 of you uneasily. The woman snaps "Stay here." to you all and takes the 2 men back inside.
* Andrew`- rolls his eyes and waits. <Andrew`-> "Well of course they'd be dark; he's blind." *muttered* (( :P )) <AlcarGM> « LOL » |
Andy then has to explain to Clay about Hollis. Shortly after, an older man, about 50, grey hair, baldin, scraggly beard and wearing a white lab coat comes out of the same door, looking worried. "I told her not to do that. I did tell her," to no one in particular. He bustles forward. "James is the name." The man tells them the woman was Vivian and seems to be rather put out by whatever she did but is rather friendly. He begins talking about the price and figures that the PCs must have some people after them. Gwen continues to demonstrate her almost super-human power of denial :)
| <Andrew`-> "Well, I'm strong and fast. Greg turns into stuff. Gwen is strong too, but refuses to realize it. Silvran can heal people, but he also has to harm in order to heal sometimes. CLay moves things with his mind, it seems."
<Gwen> "Whatta ya mean I'm strong Andy?" |
Silvran begins thinking to himself, which is always dangerous, and decides to see if he can heal a buidning. He touches a building, causing the ground to rumble eventually.
Interlude
| <AlcarGM> THe storm rises, you get a feeling of somethign .. alive .. flowing through you, and a humming sound resonates through your body from the below the ground, getting louder
* Silvran moans, but continues his hold on the building, concentrating as hard as possible <AlcarGM> Sometjhing ... the storm? whatever it represents? seems to reach for your mind and you feel a presence, human-thought but not a human. There is a feeling of ... connection .. then "unknown pattern" flickers into your mind, and the feeling is gone abruptly * Silvran attempts to grasp for the presence again <AlcarGM> You feel a mind, now, bright and cold and hard, so large you can' grasp it;s dimensions .... knowledge .. .centuries. . millenia .. then "Error. Access is denied. Repeat. Access is denied. Non-human genotype inadmissable." |
End of Interlude
Finally letting go of the mind that somehow becomes below him and at the very stars themselves, he returns to the others as a mechanical voice begins blaring warnings.
| <Silvran> "I'm.. not.. human.."
<AlcarGM> <Greg> "There were needles," quietly ... <Silvran> "And we need to get inside." <Silvran> "Fast." <AlcarGM> <James> looks at all of you, puzzled. <Silvran> "I don't know what I just did." <Silvran> "But I somehow accessed.. something." <Silvran> "But it said I was a non-human..." * Silvran wipes a tear from his eye as he walks towards the group, regaining his posture as he gets closer to them * Andrew`- looks at James. "Sorry, Silvran from time to time goes off and does something bad." <Gwen> "Rather most of the time" <Silvran> "Bad?" <Silvran> "I just attempted to heal a building." <Silvran> "And there were... storms.. and light.." * Andrew`- looks at Silvran ut of the corner of his eyes. "I didn't say you mean to, but the fact is, thats often how it turns out." <Silvran> "And.. it...was thinking... almost.. human.." <AlcarGM> <James> "Accessed ... hrm. There are stories about the knowledge of the ages in the earth...." he trails away, muttering something to himself about myths then blinks and looks up at Andrew "oh, it's only a problem if it decides to resume old commands and start a war, or try to solve for pi or solve alien DNA something foolish like that." |
James decides to be prudent and finishes bargaining with the PCs (he wants them to use their talents to help The House and maybe get some blood samples but is shocked Andy would think he'd cut someone open. He leads the PCs inside, the elevator rising to the 5th floor.
| <AlcarGM> The door opens with a hiss of fresh air into a large room filled with plants growing under various lights and lots of tasbles set up with beakers and the like taking up the left side. The right one consists of a kitchen and large living area. Both sides have doors that must lead to the rest of the floor.
<AlcarGM> <James> "This is my area of the house. Feel free to explore the rest whenever you wish." <AlcarGM> The living and kitchen area are rather simple and look underused. The plants are of a wide variety of species, with the largest being 7" tall and covered in nasty looking thorns. James mildly asks Andy to avoid them,. since they're guarding plants. <Andrew`-> "Ah." * Andrew`- looks at the other plants, then ;) <Andrew`-> (( man I so want to poke one with a stick. )) <AlcarGM> The tables with scientific equipment are immacualate. There's a small grey box in the middle of the tables much like the one the PCs came accross that involved a weapon, ladder and toy. There are also some computers, all running various odd graphs and charts you can't read |
James leaves - likely to talk to Vivian - and the PCs are left to eat and sleep and try to rest for the first time in a long time, hoping the House can actually offer protection from The City.
Session Eleven
Elana, Caltak and SilverHorse were present for this session.
The PCs awaken in the Boundary House the next morning, feeeling refreshed and relaxed for the first time in what feels like years. Silvran makes breakfast, finding out that he knows how to cook in the process (though the PCs would have loved raw tofu after all those days of twinkies). They explore, Andy hearing no people at the right door from James' quarters and people at the left one. Both doors have a keypad, but the elevator door has none. None of them have handles. Gwen attempts to push the keypad, gets frusterated, and punches her finger through the bad, destroying it. She is shocked it was made so cheaply, but they do find out that the pads connect to nothing - they're for show. Gwen tries to open the door like she did that first one, ignoring Greg's comments that ripping a door open is not opening a door.
With Andy's help, Gwen manages to open the door.
|
<AlcarGM> Ok, by your powers combiuned you are captain pla - maybe not, but the door is ripped and shoved back into it's housing (you were opening it the wrong way...) and basically ends up looking like an accordion.
<AlcarGM> The wall is now rippled as well. <Gwen> "see, just like the other door" <AlcarGM> <Greg> stares at the two of you. * Gwen smiles <Gwen> "Youd think they'd make better doors tho, these dont open very easy" <Andrew`-> "Oops. Looks like it goes the other way. *shrug* Ah well, its open now." |
On the other side are two menm a Cyborg named Eric and a human named Carlos. They're having a heated arguement
|
<AlcarGM> On the other side of the door you see 2 men at a table arguing. The one man is a cyborg and mostly mertal, the other a normal man who looks angry, ticked off and annoying, shouting "I told you, Eric, we're not....:" besides the two of them, there is a woman who is wearing a simple one piece wite suit and staring at the three of you in shock/.
<AlcarGM> She is unarmed, but moves towards the door with a cat-like grace, putting herself between the PCs and the men <AlcarGM> The cyborg - Eric -yells at the other man "AndI'm telling you we don't have a choice! They've sent them already, you honour-bound idiot!" They both seem to be ignoring you all ocmpletely, no mean feat unless they're related to Gwen in which case it might be easy for them to not see what is there :) <Andrew`-> (( shes the kind of person who runs someone over in a crosswalk and says "Now what was that guy doing running out in the street for?" )) <AlcarGM> The woman walks closer, brown eyes studying the 3 of you impassively. She's bald as well. She stops 10' from Andy, and says "I assume you're new here." <AlcarGM> The woman looks from Andrew to Gwen, then says "Did you try *asking* the door to open," in a bemused tone of voice. "They're voice activated you know." <AlcarGM> Human: "And I told you we gave our word, Eric. We intend to kieep it. When you came you, you agreed.." Cyborg: 'I agreed to sense, Carlos. Not to .... stupidity." <AlcarGM> Carlos can be heard yelling "That was an honest mistake, you ..." Eric: "honest, human? You have no idea what is coming. I was Their when the rumours began 30 years ago. I know what they can do!" the rest is lost because the woman tells them to calm down. |
The PCs leave before the NPC coversation ends, at the strong urging of the woman and check out the left door, never seeming to realise Eric and Carlos were talking about them....
The right door leads to a room of incubators with baby machines in them. It has another door to the right and behind door #3 the PCs find ... a beach. Along with a boy playing in water and an old woman sun tanning. The woman sees the PCs and gets rather uptight, thinking Gwen is their "keeper" and they should be on the first floor where mutations belong. James arrives - literally running in - and the "boy" does something to the woman to silence her, some sort of drug, and takes her away when James asks. It turns out she is the person who built this place centuries ago.
When the PCs seem awed about the centuries comment, James seems puzzled and thiks they're referrng to the building itself having survived the succession wars, whatever they were. He offers to bring them someone to open their minds, an old man named Oma, and the PCs eventually reluctantly agree, despite Silvran being worried not about what he did do, but about what he didn't do. [And no, I have no idea why the PC was worried about that either....]. Oma is an ancient human who subjects Silvran to a touch then recoils after a few minutes, saying "She speaks to you, now .. but...... :" he shakes his head slowly. "That is not .... possible..." He refuses to speak further, but whoever the woman he saw in Silvran's mind was seems to be known to him. He quickly begins on Greg, and seems annoyed at not finding the woman. He pushes and Greg recoils as they break contact, horrified by whatever he found out:
|
<AlcarGM> <Greg> shivers and steps back abruptly. "That ..... can't .... "
<AlcarGM> Oma: 'It can, it did. Stupid fools .... to use her that way, then her..." <AlcarGM> <Greg> looks at the old man "Luggage. I was made from some alien woman's luggage." <AlcarGM> <Oma> nods. "Yes. It explains much.:" He looks at Gwen "I am trying to open your minds for you, but there is .. resistance." <Gwen> "open our minds?" <AlcarGM> <Oma> shrugs. "Yes, to your memories. I had thought them erased Now I am not as sure.:" <Gwen> "oh" |
With that cryptic comment, Oma tries Gwen next, the suddenly speaks in a voice not his own....
|
<AlcarGM> Oma blinks and shudders then cries out in a voice hard and cold and not his own "Go! Leave this place!" and jerks away with a sob. "Too strong .... too strong....."
* Gwen falls down to the floor and tries to push/crawl herself away from him until she finds a corner to curl up into a fetal possition and cry absolutely hystericly obviously intensely scared <Gwen> "I, I, I dont k, know what they, why was there blood, I mean, I, I didn't I..." * Gwen trails off into unintelligable sobbs and ramblings, words choked by fear and crying heaves * Gwen is fairly oblivious at this point to anything else happening around her <AlcarGM> <Oma> shudders and says "One sleeping a tool, and traitors sleep in his mind." looks at andrew "No more gentleness." and Andew sfalls back as if someone punched him in th face and crumples unconscous. <AlcarGM> <Oma> "No more! her .... the voice... :" he stumbles towards the elevatgor blindly |
James just stands and looks horrified until Greg tells him to go. Andy won't awaken and Greg, trying to deal with hi own relevations, snaps that Gwen "must have killed too many people" for Oma to come to terms with. It's rather fortunate Gwen doesn't hear him.
Session Twelve
Everyone except Baliadoc present.
Andrew receives his own visions from Oma even as the others try to understand whatever happened to them. Silvran notics Gwens distress (and that Oma went a bit loopy after her mind) and tries to see inside it, getting some images and The Voice before Gwen breaks away. Desperate, he asks Andy to hold Gwen while he reads her mind. This lasts until Gwen - hre hair now bright red nd her eyes red - throws Andy through the aiir, no mean feat when he'd become 30' tall just to try and pin her. Gwen flees into the elevator and tries to go up to the top floor but finds she is really going down, which makes no sense.
The others are recovering from her anger when they hear an expolosion above, as if something crashed into the top floors. Trying to get out, Andy smashes the wall of the 5th floor only to find that it is dirt on the other side, discovering that the architectural imposssibility of the Boundary Hourse is a fraud - it really goes underground, not above ground, Gwen comes out at the top (1st) floor to see a human desroying the floors beneath him, ripping them into pieces with pure will as he destroyeed the 13 fake floors that went above ground level. Two other men are with him and one of them sees Gwen and lights her on fire. Gwen dodges, ignores the flames, and leaps at him, inadverdantly killing himv by punching him. The first man turns his disintigration talents to Gwen but, even though it hurts like hell, it doesn't seem to be distintigrating her. The second man, a telepath, tries to intervene by sceaming Gwen's mind to dust.
Hearing Gwen's battle cry of "You guys SUCK!"Andy leaps up and begins breaking his way through the ceiling as Silvran hitches a ride and Greg becomes a small bird. They all here a telepathic sending directed at the entire House: "Fools! Surrender the altereds or face the wrath of ....*pause* Us. we need a name ... And The City!" Then telepathic shout ends smugly. Reaches the remains of the 2nd and 1st floors, Silvran leaps at the telepath to distract him and Gwen kills the distintigrator. A fourth member, a woman, sees Gwen and calmly walks over to her and takes some of her strength even as some City Guards shoot at Andy and don't really manage to do much. Greg senses another shape shifter and engages him.
Andy helps kill the telepath but the telepaths mind survives and attempts to take over Silvran's body and kill Silvran. After a desperate struggle, Silvran manages to expelll the telepath as if he was a disease and manages a desperate "die!" command at the woman called Judgement, who is advancing on Andy for his powers and ignoring Gwen attacking her, even when Gwen tries to poke her eyes out. Judgement, either do to underestimating the power she took off Gwen or arrogance, is struck by Silvrans command and falls, technically dead. Gwen regains her strength, Andy scares the city guards away and Greg defeats the other shapeshifter by literally absorbing it.
Silvran realises Judgment isn't dead and has some weird regenerative power. Perhaps bcause of stress, or his own psychosis, he tries to convince people to rip her head off so he can take it away from the body and rip her heart out. For some reasdon, the other PCs refuse and get a bit worried when he sticks his hand in the head of the dead distintigrator, hoping to somehow tap his power and kill Judgement. When he somewhat recovers, he heads downback to the fifth floor to retrieve Corp Anderson, their captive in a coma, but he, Andy and Greg find Clay is missing, though they do find another dead shapeshifter.
The City begins sending troops to apprehend the PCs and Silvran has the bright idea of capturing a vehicle and taking it, but even though they sense Clay on one, the aircraft are too high fr any of their powers to reach and Andy, with Silvrans help, manages to shrink back down to 10', somehow shrinking Silvran to 3' in the process. The PCs flee from the people in the Boundary House who want them dead and the City people into the ruins, looking for some place to hide.
Session Thirteen
Baliadoc, Caltak and SilverHorse played this session.
Clay RPs his getting caught by the City, and a conversation with one of them that is:
A) Classified by the GM
B) None of your business!
C) Results in the airplane capturing him exploding into pieces
D) None of the above.
E) All of of the above.
As E isn't possible (think about it .. ) you'll have to settle for A, B, and C.
Aside from that, Clay landed with the others, talked to them, and errected a TK shield against the plane the City send to investigate the downed craft, which they then destroyed.
Session Fourteen
Caltak and Elana present.
PCs talk and travel.
PCs reach a big black wall.
PCs knock on it.
PCs wait about 3 minutes.
PCs try to leap over it.
PCs try to punch through it.
PCs try to walk through it.
PCs a) fail, b) fail, and c) fail with lots of pain.
PCs tunnel under the wall.
PCs travel through old sewers.
PCs get wet.
(Some) PCs should drown, but GM forgot they'd shrunk, so they don't.
PCs passd wall and break up to the surface.
PCs find a McDonalds.
What, you thought I was serious?!
PCs find themselves in a field, and eat.
PCs sleep.
Session Fifteen
Present: Bali, Cal, SH
Played, in the usual UH way, of over 6 months between this and last session, which is sort of a new record.
In brief, the PCs leave the cornfield, and end up in the woods and find a strange, oriental man in a hillside, making smoke signals.
|
* Andrew`- walks over and kneels down. "Hiya. Whatcha doin'?"
<Greg> He looks at the giant cat person., then says "Playing with fire," very calmly. <Andrew`-> "Won't you get burned?" <Greg> Man: "Of course." * Andrew`- shrugs. "Having fun then, at least?" <Clay> "Pleasure to meet you, by the way. The name's Clay. Say hi to your friend for me too." <Greg> He doesn't smile and just looks at Clay as if he was just told the meaning of life. "Ah. I see." He claps his hands and the fire goes out. <Clay> "Pretty good eyesight, for just getting a guys' name." <Greg> The man stands, brushing lint off his blue jeans and eyes Clay rather coldly, but not quite as coldly as if he knew what he doesn't know and not as much as if what he suspcted was what he knew. "Contacts." |
The man asks who they are, and seems to think they're people he should know of. He calls himself Goldwyn. Sam Goldwyn, Jr as they're asked to leave the area by a warening female voice as the area is destroyed by red fires fromthes yk, presumably killing the man as well.
Fleeing the scene of the crime* the PCs find themselvces on a plain and larege stone pillars ahead that could be buildings.
* Not that it's their fault, of course. In any event of destruction, the psychopathic healer, giant cat, telekinetic and shapeshifter have the same rights as everyone else and are presumed innocent. Really.
Session Sixteen
Not played yet. But might take less than 6 months to play! Honest!
This page isn't part of it because Geocities javascript won't let the one on this page work. |