A week later at Heroes’ Guild celebrating St. Victus’ Day. Receive a letter from Lady Rayna Starkweather seeking aid. Murdok is unable to go due to Smith’s Guild obligations.
The Company kits up. Ser Kenrick has letters to carry to Stagwood, Dustan receives a mission to seek out a book for Magister Hokus. They depart the following day.
Reach Stagwood Castle late in the day. Kenrick delivers letters, visits family, visits his mother’s grave as tomorrow is anniversary of her death (and thus, his birth); Leo has Loner time; Dustan visits small library; Maykew spends time in kitchen.
Depart following morning and reach Lordsbury late that eve. Depart again very early. Reach Draftley Keep late in the day. Inquire of Mayor Robard of Fortsbury about book; sent to priory where they retrieve an immense tome that weighs as much as a man. Quickly opt to purchase a cart that Getwelle can drive.
Head to Guffinhall where small wedding feast for local kids is winding down. Lady Starkweather is pleased to see them. Meet her reeve, Dorran, who reacts to Kenrick, claiming he looks just like his former lord, Randyl Starkweather. At Guffinhall proper, observe a portrait of Rayna’s father, Lord Randyl, who looks very much like an older Kenrick.
Lady Rayna explains how she reclaimed her lands – the sale of it to an Antagonese baron was declared illegal by the duc – and she’s been dealing with the aftermath, including a “monster” causing trouble that she’s convinced the baron is behind. They decide to patrol around midnight, which gives them time to relax. Ser Kenrick, to avoid staring at the portrait some more, deals with Ser Magnus shenanigans; Dustan spends time reading through this massive Tome; Leo patrols; and Maykew discovers Randyl Starkweather’s “conquest” cards, one of which has his mother’s name upon it.
Around midnight, they join the patrol and, after several hours, the monster appears. The Company attacks what seems to be a construct of bones; it flees and Ser Kenrick orders that they let it go but follow it to its master. The thing enters Antagonese lands and enters some barrows where the Company discover a man named Sorcil, who Lady Rayna recognizes. He wants her – she reacts with an Ewwww – and states that when he finishes the spell, great fame and wealth unimaginable will be his. Skeletons are raised and attack!
The battle goes ill for Sorcil who is captured. He admits that the Antagonese baron is responsible and that he was given this spell by the Magpie. Lady Rayna declares him Outlaw and Dustan burns the spell. The Company helps her take many loots that she will sell to help her people.
Successful, the Company departs Guffinhall the following day after Ser Kenrick tells Lady Rayna (who might be his half-sister) that, should she need aid, she only needs to send word to him and he will come. Maykew borrows the cards, intent on asking questions of his “landlady” (whose name is also here).
Player Notes:
Fronjavier was out this session due to other obligations
So now, Kenrick knows – or at least strongly, strongly suspects – that Rayna is his half-sister, and Maykew is on the verge of realizing that he is also their half-brother.
Next up is the King’s Wedding and Tourney … troubling for Kenrick is that he’s not received an invitation, which has been his objective for quite some time now.
We’ll be off for two weeks due to a scheduled break for some vacation stuffs.
A fortnight later at the Guild tavern, receive a new mission from Joquo the Spider to accompany him as a bodyguard into the city. Go to the “Locksmith’s Guild” in East Side where Joquo has meeting with Boss Kappo.
Joquo returns, reveals attacks on Thieves’ Guild and on Gambee family in Burrow Hill. Now Kappo’s daughter, Vesta, has been abducted; they know where she’s held, but cannot assault due to The Agreement with the city.
The Company recon the building, then assault it with Leo going through upper window. The fight goes ill for the thugs, with one dying outright due to Dustan’s ice knife, another going catatonic due to fear of Murdok, and the rest yielding.
Escort Vesta back to Guildhall, discover Vigo Gambee present and accusing Kappo of attacking his son. The Company convinces him to allow them to retrieve the halfling.
At the Red Rondel brewhouse, the Company enters and politely informs they are here on a mission for both Bosses. Access the cellar to discover young Wido with some thugs, all of whom are drunk.
En route back to Thieves’ Guild, a black-hooded man appears on the rooftop and announces that great fame and wealth unimaginable was promised to him if he started a gang war. He bolts, but Getwelle shouts a magical command to STOP and Leo shoots the man, then pursues, easily capturing the badly injured man.
Learn that the black-hooded man was hired by the Magpie, then turn him over to the local constables.
Vigo Gambee is grudgingly satisfied by the Company’s actions and acknowledges he owes the Heroe’s Guild a Favor; Thieves Guild does the same. The Company returns to the Guild, victorious once again.
Player Notes:
The fight versus the thugs was kind of hysterical as it wasn’t really a proper fight … which made sense to be honest as it was a group of highly trained and badass warrior types against a handful of thugs. Fronjavier kind of lost himself to giggles over when his foe freaked out.
Kenrick was pretty … uncomfortable with this whole working with thieves and brigands, even though technically, the Thieves’ Guild is a proper Guild so its technically legal.
Fronjavier is going to be out next week, but we’re playing anyway.
Begins 1 month later at Heroes’ Guild Tavern, following a training session with Tancred of Stonewall; he gives them a Job to travel to Chopwood to assist the Shariff, Coffur Oldmoney in hunting the down the Laughing Bandit who has seemingly taken to now abducting children!
While prepping, Dustan encounters Magister Mintôr, his instructor, who gives him an iron key when he learns that the Company are venturing into the King’s Wood. In case of Faeries.
Arrive at Chopwood ahead of shariff and meet with some of the locals, including Patron Morrell, the reeve, and the local senior hunter, Hewe Farwood. Learn a bit about the situation from the local perspective.
Following day, the shariff arrives and has a meeting with locals at church. Locals want shariff to “do something”, but he thinks this is a trap by “Laughing Bandit” who he suspects locals to have been assisting. A local druid named Oddmar enters the meeting and claims that faeries took the children, though no one believes him. Shariff announces intent to enter Wildwood to find Laughing Bandit and, oh yeah, retrieve the missing girls.
Druid to lead expedition at Company’s suggestion (even though shariff doesn’t trust him) with Hewe Farwood backing him up to keep him honest. Once past the small wall denoting border of King’s Wood and Wildwood, things start to get weird. Encounter several strange magical traps that claim some of shariff’s men: a basket of fruit that puts one man catatonic when he bites into an apple; a ring of mushrooms that result in another dancing like a crazy person until Dustan blasts him out of it with an air jet; pixies that attack like rain; vines coming alive to drag some men away.
Brother Getwelle asks Oddmar the druid if something has changed lately, and the druid says (ominously) that yes, everything has changed. He’s a traitor to whom great fame and wealth unimaginable has been promised. Goblins attack from a sinister-looking tree. A wild melee ensues where both the druid and many of his goblins are felled.
Inside the tree, the Company discover a golden magic mirror, as well as baby goblins growing out of the tree roots! They further discover the catatonic girls. Dustan uses the key Mintôr gave him against the mirror (while ignoring ominous whispers), which breaks the glass; later, Murdok will gather up the gold parts of the mirror to assuage his Greed.
The sinister tree is burned at the Company’s suggestion and the weirdness seems to recede. The shariff is pleased with their aid, happy that they’ve rescued the missing girls, but confused at the druid’s sudden by inevitable betrayal.
Mission successful!
Player Notes:
Two times in this session we had a spell-casting critical fail. The first one was admittedly more entertaining, with Getwelle essentially buffing his foe.
This is thrice that we’ve run afoul of someone using the ‘great fame and wealth unimaginable’ line has been used. As a player, I recognize that Gigermann is ripping off the (vastly underrated) “Middleman” TV show (which I think I need to rewatch) bad guys’ line of “my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity”, but I think the the players (or at least Kenrick) is starting to suspect a greater Foe at work behind them. He’s going to include that as part of his report to the Heroes’ Guild.
The trip through the actual enchanted forest part with the traps didn’t work quite as well as it should have from a player’s perspective. I think, in retrospect, it would have made slightly more sense to randomly roll which PC was closest to the action and ask that player what he’s doing to try and prevent the loss of the men-at-arms. Still, I definitely liked the tone of the traps – they were very faerie-like.
No game next week as it is the Independence Day weekend and at least two of the players are unavailable.
Begins at Heroes’ Guild Tavern, catching up. Given a task by Reyvanna the Black to escort Ser Bryton Good-Heart who needs some muscle to wipe out a necro cult. They are to meet him at the Low Market at dawn near fountain. Everyone departs to prep.
Meet Ser Bryton in morning. Several of the characters fanboy over him. Depart and travel; the Company are surprised that Bryton removes his kit to be “incognito.” Stop overnight at traveling hostel. Murdok has a dream regarding a dude suffering from Burning Pox.
Arrive at Taxford. Pay toll. Bryton sends the Company to deal with some tasks while he goes into a brothel!: Dustan goes shopping; Leodan finds a beggar to pass on a message; Murdok goes to collect a 50 pence debt; Getwelle goes to a church to get a relic (the REAL one) (which he ends up stealing); Kenrick loiters and is spoken to by a man wanting to speak to Ser Bryton.
Camp overnight, then in the a.m., Ser Bryton goes fishing while sending PCs to scout out possible village. PCs have Leo scout ahead, then circle back to keep an eye on Ser Bryton. Village seems semi-deserted with skittish locals & a super pissy church leader. Return to Ser Bryton to let him know.
Leo observes Ser Bryton interrogate a dude (water board). Learn of cult at village due to Truthsayer spell. Kit up and attack. Ser Bryton reconsecrates altar while we hold off cultists. Getwelle hits the cultist leader with Command, causing him to drop several magic things so Leo & Murdok are able to drop him. Kenrick & Magnus lance a foe, slaying him instantly. The rest break.
Ser Bryton reveals that he’s going east to investigate the growing Evil that has been chasing him.
Mission successful!
Player Notes:
Getwelle’s attempt to get the relic was an amusing mess as he failed a Fast Talk check, thus angering the priest. He ended up grabbing the relic and running. This marks the second time that we’ve failed a critical event in this run.
Everyone kind of figured out (or at least started to suspect) that Bryton was sending everyone off in random directions to distract attention from the bad guys chasing him.
As before, this is missing a bunch of background stuff. Just doing the minimum for the outline!
Begins at Heroes’ Guild Tavern, catching up. Summoned to Válaris who has a new job for the Company: giant rats the size of dogs being an issue in the Old City (East and West Side).
Kenrick & Dustan meet with the mayor who wishes this to be resolved before the King of Naboria arrives in one week, get info & list, while the rest wander around and scope the area. Once the team reunites, they now have a list and decide to begin canvassing witnesses the next day.
The Company splits up: Kenrick & Getwelle are together with the brother acting as the talker, Dustan leads Leodan and Murdok. The former encounter John Thatcher at the docks who had an encounter with a ROUS when it broke into his house. Learn of link to apothecary (owner asked about them) and sewers (how the rats move around). Dustan’s group meets with a city watchman who was attacked by a big ass rat some nights ago.
On the third day, Getwelle and Ser Kenrick meet with a merchant who has a servant who slew one; they investigate the week-old corpse and Getwelle does detect a very tiny spark of magic. The other team encounter some kids looking for their dog that chased something off the night before. They determine that the apothecary is the next destination.
Go to apothecary, hear a scuffle so they break in to discover a big rat attacking “Eyan Vestôr”. Head into the sewer … for a couple of days. Enter the lab and thoroughly crush a small mob of dire rats. Discover a pair of corpses present as well as notes indicating this is an alchemical experiment under the auspices of someone called “the Magpie.”
Summon the authorities to deal with the bodies. Later learn that “Eyan Vestôr” they met was probably the Magpie as the real one was one of the corpses.
Mission successful! And with a single day to spare!
Player Notes:
First time we’ve played this in several years. We’ve had some roster changes since last we played: three players are no longer active, so Dustan and Murdok are now played by different people and Rayna has “retired” from active play.
Gigermann used a variation of the Zombie mob rules for the rat swarm to ensure it didn’t take forever and a day but, in retrospect, that surprise round may have been too much. Most of us kept forgetting the SM -3 for the swarm, but also forgot to use Telegraphed Attacks (since the swarm wasn’t dodging) so it ultimately worked out. GM thought it was anti-climatic, but the rest of us didn’t.
We spent a lot of time in the sewer because he failed our skill challenge.
There was a lot of background stuff that I didn’t cover in this, the most important of which being that the King’s Wedding is coming up.
Everything goes to crap straight away. The bugs smash into the house and open up with non-lethal munitions clearly intended to capture. James, J.P. and Shane are quite promptly glued in place, while Damien is partially webbed. Meanwhile, John – who had been sleeping in a guest bedroom – reacts to the sound of the attack and lunges out of bed, grabbing his rifle as he does; at the same time, Reece is outside the house with Woola, working on the truck, and responds as well … though it’s a considerable distance for him.
When John enters the fray, he does so with gunfire, which shifts the tempo of the engagement. Using cover to his advantage, he manages to avoid getting webbed and critically injures one of the bugs and outright kills a second. Simultaneously, Chandler manages to work himself free and retrieves his weapon to engage a third one before pursuing his fleeing ex-wife, Valerie. Reece finally enters the engagement and uses his shotgun to excellent effect, though he is unable to prevent Damien from getting gooped once more which ensures that Valerie can escape. Wells finally manages to get free and fires a single shot with the Desert Eagle he took from the prepper’s bunker; he quite quickly learns that he isn’t anywhere strong enough to use it effectively, but by this point, the fight is nearly over. The last of the battle bugs are taken out and Damien has an eyewitness view of Valerie fleeing into a waiting craft of some sort. There’s nothing he can do to prevent her from escaping…
Over Buffalo, additional bug ships can be seen and the locals take numerous ineffective potshots at the craft overhead. Realizing that Valerie was after the photos that Damien informs them of, the “book club” gather their gear and plan for a rapid departure, pausing only long enough to warn the local authorities about the dead bugs now in Chandler’s backyard.
Pressing on to the south, the group continue for a bit, pausing long enough for Reece to swap out as driver in a vain attempt to get some sleep; he suffers from intense insomnia and has not been able to sleep properly over the last few nights. While dozing, he has a strange, lucid dream of an odd-looking man standing before Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. The next time they stop, he quizzes John about this, knowing that some of Heinlein’s odd training under his Grandfather included dream interpretation. Though it about two hours out of the way, the crew decide to head to Devil’s Tower out of curiosity, some of them halfway convinced that this is just another example of the ongoing weirdness.
They arrive to find … nothing. This seems like it was a monumental waste of time and gas, and Reece is exceedingly embarrassed about the fact. Chandler decides that, while they’re here, he’s going to climb Devil’s Tower; everyone else just begins setting up a camp for the night.
And then, they see aerial combat between several unfamiliar but terrestrial-looking warplanes and bug ships; the bugs are shot down, much to the great delight of those on the ground, though they quickly go back into survival mode when the planes begin circling the area. A third aircraft approaches – it is clearly a transport craft of some sort and displays VTOL ability as it approaches and lands in the parking lot before deploying a small robot thing to sweep the area. A grizzled badass-looking old man exits the plane and Reece gets up to meet him. The man informs Sheriff Burroughs that they’ve been looking for the group. And who are they, Reece asks?
They’re X-COM.
Player Notes:
OMFG, the opening firefight was so irritating from a dice rolling standpoint. Heinlein could not roll under 14 for entirely too long and two of the PCs were either completely out of the fight or so far away that it took forever to get into the fight. Lessons learned. We need AP rounds.
Evidently, we completely threw the GM for a loop when we simply threw our plans out the window and headed toward the dream location instead of continuing toward Cheyenne Mountain. Meanwhile, we all thought that was what he wanted us to do. I’m sure he’ll gripe about it on his blog.
No game next week, but the week after I (Rigil) will be running Banestorm III: Embers of Defiance, season 3. Wheeeee…
At about the same time that John realizes there is a flying saucer in the sky, multiple characters also recognize that little grey aliens are near them as well. Closer to the plane, Chandler sees one of these creatures and is psionically stunned, while Wells finds himself puppeted and sent toward the plane to retrieve something. Eventually, the two will manage to struggle free of this alien’s control, likely due to its decision to bug out following the events that surround his ally below.
Simultaneously near the truck, Robert (who was going off to take a leak) cries out in shock and dismay when another grey alien mentally dominates him. Multiple people converge upon them – John with the squad automatic weapon (SAW); Reece with his pistol; Shane with a rifle – and the alien (who is keeping Robert between him and them) mentally attacks them. Heinlein responds with a burst of gunfire that misses the alien … but tears into Robert, killing him instantly. Reece opens up with his pistol, but finds it to be not very effective against this thing, and as Shane gets into position, John opens up again with the SAW and cripples the little grey bugger by mostly blowing off a foot. As it starts to crawl away, Shane will take a shot with his rifle and cripple one of the thing’s arms. To their surprise, it then vanishes (much like the one that Chandler and Wells are dealing with does as well.)
Unfortunately for the alien, John visually follows a trail of ammonia-like blood and fires a short burst that miraculously catches the grievously injured alien and kills him instantly. Later, when they rejoin one another and discuss options, they decide to take the Grey with them for further study, but have to wrap it up in a tarp due to the acrid smell of its blood. Robert is also wrapped in a tarp for the time being, until they can figure out what to do with his body. The saucer itself has departed and the second Grey has vanished, so at the plane, they discover that there are numerous crates within, though there is a suspiciously blank space where one should be, indicating these aliens got what they were looking for.
As an extremely ominous storm front races toward them, the team press onto the town of Ten Sleep where they quickly determine to hold up at the nearby school to ride out the storm. This proves to be a little more difficult than expected as the precipitation and wind are brutal, tearing open roofs and flooding the streets. They emerge on the other side a little worse for the wear, and opt to shelter in place overnight rather than press onto Buffalo.
In the morning, John and Reece bury Robert in the nearby cemetery while James watches; Wells conducts a rudimentary autopsy of the Grey alien with a little bit of assistance from Chandler while they’re doing this and learns some things. They briefly consider ditching the alien here, but decide to hand it off to the Buffalo authorities once they arrive as proof of what just happened.
Arriving in Buffalo soon after, the crew promptly split up, with Damien heading straight to his home while the rest coordinate in their usual manner with local officials who are hesitant to take the alien corpse off their hands but do so. When they track down Chandler at his home, they find that he has already located the photos he came for. They begin plotting their next step: travel to Cheyenne Mountain while steering clear of Denver. A circuitous route is hammered out…
Later that evening, as Damien is gathering supplies, he hears someone using a key to unlock the back door. To his surprise, it is his ex-wife, Valerie! She expresses surprise to find him here and they exchange cool pleasantries before she asks about their wedding photos. Damien pretends that he has no idea about them, and the two basically circle one another like hunting cats. Valerie notes the presence of others and abruptly notes that she brought friends as well. She gestures to the back door…
And Damien sees soldier bugs outside!
Player Notes:
John shooting Robert was absolutely hysterical. In any other game, I would never have taken that shot because there was an ally in the immediate vicinity … but John is Impulsive so I decided, what the hell? Missed the alien, then Gigermann had me roll again, capped at 9 and I rolled a critical success. One of the rounds that hit Robert nailed him in the skull and that weapon does 5d pi so … oof. John has already convinced himself that it was the alien’s fault and, luckily for him I suppose, all three of the other PCs got mind-whammied at least once during the fight so it isn’t entirely unbelievable.
Killing the alien was also an instance of unexpected critical success. Once again, I probably wouldn’t have taken a blind shot with most characters, but the Impulsiveness gave me an excuse.
Wells conducted an autopsy of the dead Grey and the GM declared that he’ll know “some things” should it actually come up later.
As soon as “Boomer” showed up, absolutely everyone jumped to the conclusion that she was a cylon.
We begin with a quick flashback to establish Chandler’s “MacGuffin.”
Back to the present, John and Reece have come under fire from Howard the prepper but, with Shane’s assistance, they talk the guy down and manage to convince the guy to let them enter. Not trusting this guy entirely, John decides to stay outside with James. Everyone else (except Robert who continues lounging in the truck) descend into the bunker where they discover that in addition to the dude, there is a timid-looking woman named Michelle present.
In the bunker, pleasantries and information is exchanged before Howard shows the team around the bunker itself so they can admire how well everything is setup. During this, first Chandler, then Reece are able to discreetly chat with Michelle, during which they both learn that she’s not here willingly. While Howard is showing Chandler and Wells the gun room, Reece tells Michelle to get out … this leads to Howard wildly overreacting to the sound of the door being opened & closed. He locks Chandler and Wells in the gun room and charges out, opening fire on Reece the moment he sees him. Reece retaliates with better aimed shots and drops Howard (but doesn’t kill him.)
Following this, the team attempt to figure out their next steps with Reece opting to take both Howard and Michelle to the local Jackson police department. While there, they learn that a large majority of the people are packing up and getting out of Jackson because, since the EMP, they’re now down to the last dregs of their supplies. Meanwhile, back at the bunker, the rest of the team are raiding the heck out Howard’s guns and other supplies, opting to “borrow” his better truck.
The team spend the night at the bunker, then head out the following day, intent on heading toward Buffalo where Chandler has certain photographs stored that he wants to recover. While en route, they find themselves pausing in various communities to pass on information, much to Heinlein’s frustration who thinks that’s a waste of time.
En route to Buffalo, while on a causeway that leads to a bridge, the team observe a bus approaching from the opposite direction. Chandler actually notes that these guys are armed and passes on a warning to his allies; as feared, the bus turns hard in an attempt to block the route and armed thugs pile out and begin setting up ambush points. Far behind them, the crew can hear motorcycles revving up as they lunge out of concealment. Unfortunately for these ambushers, John now has a squad automatic weapon in his possession and he pops up onto the roof of the truck to clear the path. Wisely, the would-be ambushers opt to get the hell out of the way and not pursue.
After pausing to warn the various communities about the would-be ambushers, the team press on toward Buffalo. A little before they are able to enter the city, they observe an old plane that has crashed in a nearby field. This is a very old plane, but has obviously recently been downed. Chandler immediately diverts his ATV toward the plane to investigate while Reece stops the truck to wait. Heinlein setups to provide cover with the SAW.
And then, he sees a freaking UFO…
Player Notes:
The delay in this recap is entirely my fault. I was feeling lazy. Again. Plus, I was reading the new Dresden Files book.
Not a whole lot to actually discuss here. The game was fun and we managed to avoid getting sucked into a potentially ugly firefight.
Inside the bunker, the team begin discussing what they’ve found and the electronic voice announces that it is changing to English for understanding. A recorded message of Heinlein’s Grandfather appears, though he does not have the stoop and appears to be moving more quickly. This recording begins in a language that no one recognizes but shifting to English and stating that he is not from Earth, but rather from a world far away. His name of origin he gives as Rabaka Wepwety Arth, and he is a “Bystander of the Glorious Taareh Kingdom of Qebe.” His entire crèche was inserted onto Terra in 1909 after being surgically altered to blend in; they were tasked to observe and report sign of the “Defector,” known to them as Gen-Hisis, one of the “Masters” who fled the “Sk’ranu”. He adds that these Bystanders have been noting increased solar and NEO activity, so they expect an invasion soon and will likely be the first targets.
Terra’s best hope for survival is the Defector, according to Grandfather … er … Rabaka Wepwety Arth. Gen-Hisis has been kept in secret under a “Project Genesis” and was recently relocated from Area 51 to somewhere in Colorado, probably Cheyenne Mountain, after some sort of “incident.” The recording also references a datachip with all knowledge about the Sk’ran – which the team presume is the name given to the bugs – and states that this bunker will be destroyed once they leave to avoid it falling into enemy hands. With that in mind, the team spend the rest of the night studying what they can in shifts.
Despite there now being questions about his origin, Grandfather is laid to rest in a traditional Arapaho ceremony attended by many of John’s cousins. They look at him askance when he tells them the truth but generally shrug when he offers to show them the proof in the bunker below. His son, James, is a little troubled too; if they’re part alien, does that mean they’re going to develop powers? John has no idea but promises to be there for him nonetheless.
In the morning, after sealing up the bunker so it can self-destruct, the team set out once more, aiming for Fort Washakie, Wyoming. They are not on the road for very long when they observe a cloud of flying insects. They do no real damage – apart from smearing themselves all over the windows and exposed people – but it is still a troubling event regardless. A plague of locusts … is a rain of frogs next?
They pass on, eventually reaching a bridge that is partially out. Even worse is the presence of an old station wagon that is tottering on the lip, barely balanced in place. Calls for help from the car reveal that it is occupied by injured! The team scramble out to assist, with everyone but John actually being rather helpful; in the water nearby, Jules notes another of those drop-pod things. Based on the angle, he suspects that the pod smashed into the bridge and broke it. As everyone is coordinating to rescue the trapped civvies, a new kind bug waddles up on the bridge. John is having none of this, however, and goes for his rifle immediately, riddling the thing with bullets; later, he will note that the bug’s dangerously sharp-looking “beak” and opts to cut it free with an intent on turning it into a makeshift katar or hay bale hook for later. The others will successfully extract the injured men from the car, one of whom needs some emergency medical attention from Jules. They exchange stories, learning that these men are heading toward Seattle despite the fact that it seems to have been lost because one of them has a fiancee there! Damien, being a selfless sort, gives the men some extra rations to make up for their lack, earning a grumbled complaint from Robert.
While investigating, they also discover what appears to be a bunch of bug eggs under the bridge. No one questions the decision to use some of their fuel to set these eggs on fire.
From the bridge, both groups backtrack a bit to find an alternate route over the river, then continue on their respective ways. The team observe a wandering herd of bison on the road which slow them down a bit, before passing through Dubois – hilariously pronounced “Dew-Bois” in Wyoming instead of the more traditional French “DOOb-WAH” – though they do pause briefly to pass on the usual intelligence to those in positions of authority.
Some distance north-west of Dubois, they encounter a wildfire on one side of the road; some campers are present along with some local, mounted ranchers, and they tell a tale of a surprise attack by some sort of … fire creatures. There is some discussion about how best to proceed – everyone is quite concerned over the fire spreading, but none of them have the ability to properly fight it – but both John and Reece are not caught by surprise when they see a trio of unusual-looking bugs creeping out of the forest. Recognizing these from the bunker’s data as fire-breathers, the two immediately open fire and cut down the creatures; one of them explodes upon death, causing another fire. An effort to retrieve the campers’ gear is considered but promptly discarded as they all note the scope of the fire. Instead, they pile the campers into the truck and backtrack to Dubois to drop them off before resuming their trip, this time having to brave the fires a bit.
Entering Jackson a short time later, they proceed directly to the prepper’s bunker, halfway expecting everything to blow up around them while they’re there. They discover the prepper’s house to be effectively abandoned, but there is an entrance to the bunker nearby along with an outbuilding some distance away. While John bangs on the bunker’s door, everyone else mostly spreads out to investigate; Damien will discover that the owner appears to have been a SeeBee in the Navy and Reece discovers someone has written HELP ME in the outbuilding window. John momentarily observes a woman with a cast on her foot appear inside the bunker through a second door but she’s wrestled out of sight by another man. When Reece joins him, they discuss options before John hits upon using the super-sharp bug’s beak to cut in. They are surprised at the the ease with which it cuts through the steel (though cutting through metal is rather loud) and in mere moments, they’ve got a fairly decent-sized hole that they can shout through and be heard.
And then, the man John saw earlier pops into view, shouting “Die, commie alien scum!” before opening fire with a firearm!
Player Notes:
The delay in this recap is entirely my fault. I was feeling lazy. Again.
Giger and I have worked a bit on figuring out the Taareh culture principally for The Verge, my Traveller campaign set in this same universe (though many centuries later and thousands of light years away.) He used the same naming sequence for Grandfather – translated, his name would be Rabaka, Bystander, Earth – that we developed there, though the addition of dogs not liking Taareh is new to this game … but will show up in mine at some point as well. It’s kind of neat to see how that back-and-forth has worked out.
Lucky for us that Heinlein decided to take a trophy from one of those bugs! I’d already considered having him start taking trophies from these critters, but the way Gigermann described the one with the long beak made me think it was important. When I had Heinlein use it against the steel door, my thought was “Huh. That was some pretty good set-up on his part.” Imagine my amusement when he told me later that it was just a happy coincidence and he’d already forgotten that I had the pseudo-knife.
Speaking of it, I was envisioning making it into a jury-rigged katar or maybe a hay bale hook; CommJunkee suggested the fishing gaff but strongly recommended not just Googling “gaff” … I second that recommendation after having accidentally done so.
I was amused that Gigermann did not expect me to have watched 10 Cloverfield Lane which he’s ripping off and was quite surprised when I recognized that plot device; I don’t recall it very well, but I did watch it once. Sorta. Though it’d be more accurate to say I just sort of let it play in the background while I was doing something else. I think I only watched it because I like Elizabeth Winstead.
The massive … thing descending from the sky passes over the now stopped truck and heads in the direction of the immense crater that was a large section of Cody, Wyoming, hours earlier. Tentacle-like things emerge from it and meet similar ones now reaching up from the crater. To the horror of those in the truck, the tentacles combine and the larger craft appears to dock … or at least that’s what they hope it’s doing. Soon after, the ground shakes and hundred of missile-like things are launched from the alien construction and vanish over the horizon in all directions.
Pressing on to the south with Chandler acting as a scout on his ATV, Reece angles the truck toward a known ranch where he wants to regroup and figure out their next steps. They find the ranch empty of people and spend a few minutes confirming that there are no surprise bodies lying around. After finding none, they turn toward examining the corpse of the bug they took with them from the firefight earlier. It is quickly determined that this thing is only superficially a “bug” as it seems to be a mixed up mess of numerous different species…
And then, to their surprise and horror, the corpse begins to move!
Burroughs and Heinlein react first and unload on the body to ensure that it stays dead; when it seems to pull something from his belt, Heinlein, thinking it is a grenade, soccer kicks it away, then turns to cover his son. It does not explode, however, and several of the team decide to investigate it in more depth. They discover it seems to be a smaller bug of some sort but it has been smashed so its functionality is unclear.
There are four survivors in the truck, three of whom are injured. Curtis Washington is a local deputy and has a head injury; Sandra Hart is a rancher with a broken arm; Shane Reddy is from out of town and was on vacation – he is the only one uninjured; and then, there is Robert Little, whom John has little respect or interest in. Robert immediately seeks out alcohol and begins guzzling it. At the same time, Sandra begins pestering the team for a return to Cody to rescue her husband who she saw being abducted, by the bugs; when it is properly pointed out that the team needs more people and a lot more guns, Shane mentions off-hand that he knows a guy who is a prepper with actual machine guns and rockets.
John and James go apart from the others along with Julie’s body. Together, they assemble a small cairn of rocks over her while John gives her a traditional Arapaho funeral service. Reece discreetly joins them and uses this as a way to momentarily allow his grief for his parents to come to surface. Robert is noticeably absent, which John notes with some fury.
Upon discovering a diesel-fueled ranch truck that still runs, the team load up the two functioning vehicles up with spare supplies before finally crashing for several hours. When they depart the still empty ranch, Heinlein pauses long enough to free the animals, much to the approval of Reece and Sandra, both of whom have ranching backgrounds. Along the way, overhead, they observe a pair of Air Force jets engaging against one of the bug craft much to everyone’s pleasure, but this turns to despair when both jets are easily shot down.
They press on to Meeteetse where they discover the locals are trying to determine their next course of action. Some Cody survivors have managed to stumble their way into the town, so the locals are aware of the attack in some capacity. Here, Curtis and Sandra intend to remain behind due to their injuries when the team depart, intending on heading west to Jackson where Shane’s prepper friend resides. Heinlein is all for leaving Robert as well, but young James asks the drunk to accompany; unwilling to let his son down, John snatches the bottle out of Robert’s hands and warns him in a low voice to get his shit together or Heinlein will bury him somewhere in the desert. He isn’t joking.
At dawn, they set out again, leaving the diesel-powered truck behind. They head south for some time until they note a crashed … pod of some sort in the yard of a house. Realizing that this is one of the things launched the previous night, the team decide to investigate further, leaving behind Shane, a now sober (and freaked out) Robert, and young James (who is wearing Burroughs’ second-chance body armor). Advancing tactically, they discover the house has been broken into and is filled with some sort of strange secreted resin. Inside, they discover at least one person who is stuck in the resin … and then, strange critters start lunging out of the darkness to attack! The team withdraw, though Chandler tears the survivor free. Outside, Pratchett-Wells goes into full-on medic mode and stabilizes the mortally wounded man. Deeming the house a lost cause, the team pull back to the truck and ATV.
They press on to Thermopolis where Burroughs debriefs the local authorities who are ignorant of Cody’s fate; the badly injured man pulled from the house is given over to local medical experts. Not seeing anything else they can accomplish here, the team mount up again and head out. They pass through Shoshoni some time later, pausing long enough to update the local authorities in the same way.
Upon reaching Grandfather’s house, John and James enter alone, knowing that the crotchety old man probably won’t react well to a bunch of strangers on his property. They find him in the basement, sitting in his chair and mummified. It’s another loss for John and an unexpected one at that. He brings the others in to let them know and have Pratchett-Wells check out the body to ensure it isn’t foul play; the EMT looks over Grandfather’s body and theorizes that this is due to a massive dose of radiation.
At about that moment, James speaks up: Grandfather’s “no-no room” is unlocked. John steps into the closet to investigate and is momentarily blinded by a flash of light. An electronic voice speaks, using a foreign language that John does not recognize; the back of the closet slides open, revealing … an advanced-looking control panel in a bunker of some sort.
Player Notes:
The delay in this recap is entirely my fault. I was feeling lazy.
Well … crap. John was expecting to get a data dump from Grandfather … and now he’s dead! It’s been a tough couple of days for Heinlein (and Burroughs too, since he lost his parents the night before. But he doesn’t count since he’s not writing these!)
I was fully expecting facehuggers in that house because Gigermann has an unhealthy attachment to the Aliens franchise.
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