Jarhead blinks and steadies himself. Looking down, his feet rest on fresh asphalt. Then he hears the screams.
He glances around. He finds himself on a street, one untouched by the apocalypse. Besides the broken windows, the buildings suffer no structural damage. Down the road a car burns while people rush past. Distant skyscrapers stand unmarred. Movement draws his eyes to the roof to his left where a crowd of people climb up the side and out of windows, seeking the highest point with a dazed look in their eyes.
Another knot mobilizes behind him, attempting to scale a street lamp.
he thinks.
.
As he turns, he notices a young boy beside him. Tears leak from the five-year old’s pale blue eyes. Without thinking Jarhead grabs the child and runs.
“Daddy!!” the boy screams.
“Quiet kid!” Jarhead says shushing him.
As he begins to make some distance, the scene shifts suddenly. He finds himself in the wilderness, miles from civilization. Around him armed men and women practice shooting at straw targets across a forest meadow.
The boy stands taller besides him, several years older and dressed in padded vest and some jeans. As Jarhead calms down, a man hands the child a gun.
“Alright, Alex aim at the target down there,” the mustached man says.
, Jarhead realizes.
.
He scans the his surroundings. Above the trees round blue mountain rise. The Appalachians don’t tell him where he is except somewhere between Arkansas and New York.
He turns to the man. “What’s going on here?”
As he guides the boy Alex’s aim, the man explains. “Training. We’ve got to be ready if more infected come by.”
Jarhead appraises Alex’s rifle. The shiny new weapon dwarfs the youth. “What year is this?”
The man looks up at him. “Year? Its 20-”
Suddenly a hiss drowns out the man’s voice and Jarhead’s surroundings turn fuzzy. The ground shakes and everything turns to water for a moment.
he wonders.
As things return to normal, Jarhead realizes no one has taken notice. “Where are we?”
“Tennessee,” the man says. “About of 100 miles from where Memphis used to be.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Jarhead says with a smile. “I wonder if I can go over there and check it out?”
He concentrates on Memphis for a moment.
Suddenly he finds himself surrounded by flames. Heat burns his right cheek. I regret this decision, I want to go back, he panickedly decides.
Suddenly the heat fades from around him except from the pain on his right cheek. Gator’s calloused hand holds him up while the other readies for a second slap.
“Ow! I was in Memphis,” Jarhead shouts. “Man it was hot. Where’s Alex?”
“Who?” Mox says leaning in.
Jarhead’s mind suddenly puts the pieces together. He turns to the slumbering man on the gurney. A.T.’s eyes remain closed, his pale blue eyes hidden.
“Hold on, I got an idea,” he says and heads for his van.
Meanwhile November slips into the back of Jarhead’s van unseen. Carefully she picks up Jarhead’s strange sphere and begins to twist the knobs and dials he’s attached to it. The device begins to glow a faint green and a hum surrounds her.
November calls out to Gator, her voice echoing distantly through the maelstrom.
Gator turns, letting Jarhead slide back to the gurney unslapped. “Hey Gator come over here,” November says softly.
He wander to the van, dazed and slightly unsteady. He tries to shake out the cobwebs of his mind but feels a wrenching instead. Everything seems straight but also at an angle. He lurches into the van to sit down.
As he settles down, November slips up beside him, a soft glow surrounding her. ‘Gator I don’t know how much longer we can talk. Whatever is driving the climbers is inside my brain.”
Distantly Gator’s voice reaches them. “Wake up, Jarhead. Wake up!”
November hurriedly continues. “I’ve made a deal with them so I know what’s going on. But under normal circumstances they can hear everything I say. I had to kill Cougar.
“I don’t have much longer. I had to kill Cougar and Violet came across me and was going to kill me,” she babbles. “I returned fire before I knew who she was. I don’t know what’s become of her. I’m immune to the climbers now.”
“Where’s Alex?” Jarhead asks outside.
“Because of what they can do. They’re serious. I don’t know what else to do. I can’t hold this anymore,” she says as the sphere vibrates in her hands.
“Hold on I’ve got an idea,” Jarhead says.
“What do you intend to do?” Gator quickly asks.
“I need your help taking these guys down,” she pleads.
“The omnipresent psychic maelstrom creatures, they call themselves ‘the gods’,” she says nervously.
Then Jarhead opens up the van. Gator stands behind him and stares in disbelief at November and...himself. The moment of paradox collapses in an instant. Jarhead blinks and Gator stands behind him. The second Gator is nowhere to be seen.
November gently lets go of the Tesla sphere. “Oh good. You are better. I was thinking we’d have to contact with you with the sphere.”
Jarhead reads a person and November interferes. He gets a 11 and she gets an 8, giving him a final result of 9. Jarhead also marks experience. Jarhead asks if she is telling the truth.Jarhead narrows his eyes.
She might be happy to see me but there’s something she’s not telling me about the sphere.Carefully he picks it up and cradles it his arms, his eyes never leaving her. As she tries to shrug it off with a smile, he says, “let’s not be touching other’s inventions again.”
She nods and glances over his shoulder at Gator.
“Jarhead,” Gator says.
“What do you want?” he says turning.
“What do you know about Sir Fredricks?”
Jarhead stumbles. ‘That’s an interesting name, “ he says hastily. “Where’d you hear that one from?”
November tries to read a person and gets a 7. Jarhead interferes and gets a 7. Thus November fails.
Jarhead’s eyes flick to November but she can’t read him before he turns back to Gator.
“An old buddy of mine said he was sent by Sir Fredricks,” Gator explains.”He apparently needs to talk to you.“
“Your buddy, he knows him how?” Jarhead asks.
“Gunge,” he clarifies. “He’s dead.”
“Why are dead friends talking to you?” the thin man says, the corner of his eye twitching. “Does this happen often to you?”
“No.”
“You don’t often meet your dead friends?” he asks. “Are these friends dead because you killed them or-”
Gator cuts him off. “I think you’re deflecting. Number one, I actually didn’t kill Gunge, I tried to save him. Number two, you obviously know who Sir Fredricks is. So here’s the deal, there’s two people who can talk to him right now and somebody’s going to do it. One is you and the other is on the Big Ship.”
Jarhead strokes his goatee. “Hmm, that may be very bad. For everyone.”
“So you going to have the conversation?” he asks.
Jarhead runs his hands through his hair. “Ugh, this is not going to go easy. I guess if I’ve gotta. Do you know where Sir Fredricks is?”
“He said you knew how to find him.”
“Damn it,” he says. He turns to A.T. “Let me do this first. Argh. I don’t think I can take you.” He pauses. “Can I take him? Maybe.”
”Sure you can take him kicking and screaming to the Psychic Maelstrom with your augury. It is however a really bad idea.”
Jarhead shelves that thought and approaches his patient. He adjusts the knobs of the sphere and reaches out to A.T.
Jarhead makes his augury roll, marks experience. and gets a 12.
The we jump back to Violet.
Memo twists the last coil of wire and holds up the odd device to Violet. It looks like a set of bed springs married a rubix cube. “We still need a battery though,” she says.
“Let’s look for one,” Violet replies.
Violet acts under fire to find one and gets a 9.
A half hour later they spot a ruined hardware store. Glancing inside, mostly bare shelves greet them. A few tools and supplies remain however. Violet scans an empty battery section before pressing on to the rear of the store. As she tosses aside some debris from the auto section, muffled conversation drifts in from outside.
Quickly she grabs an intact car battery just as several strangers enter the shop. She waves Memo to stay down and glances up into the dingy bowl mirror above her. The green fatigues and well displayed weapons make it clear these are Militia.
A familiar voice shouts, “make sure there’s nothing left here. Make it quick, we’ve got places to be. Those missiles are not going to stop falling.”
In the mirror the dark-haired woman stand in the entrance, her bulky armor all but announcing her.
Violet has met Fire before we decide.
”She’d probably not kill me outright in cold blood,” she says.
”Yeah most people wouldn’t shoot before talking to a person first,” November says.
Violet slowly rises and calls out. “Fire is that you?”
Several guns turn toward her direction.
“Stop, who’s there?” Fire commands. “Who’s that?”
“Violet,” she says keeping her hands where they can see them.
“What are you doing in here?” the lieutenant of the Militia asks.
“It’s complicated. I’m not in a good way right now. So please don’t shoot me.” She gestures to Memo who holds up the battery. “It’s just me and the girl here. We only came in here for a battery.The rest is yours. We’ve got to get back to the Music Bowl.”
”The understatement of the century,” Jarhead comments.
The scowling woman appraises Violet. “You were not kidding when you said you were in a bad way. Who did that?”
“I’m still trying to figure out the particulars myself,’ she says, keeping her fingers from scratching. “The situation was ... complicated.”
”Unprecedented,” November says.
“You’ve been to the Music Bowl recently?” Fire asks, rubbing at a few minor cuts on her face.
“Last I heard there was a prison breakout. I went looking for Cougar because,” she trails off. “Well I found someone who killed her. We fought and the next thing I know I’m lying on the floor like I am now. I was headed for the Autodoc but it seems I’m needed at the arena. If you see any of the other Republicans could you let them know.”
She chuckles. “Yeah I’ll let them know.”
Violet’s voice hardens. “I think I’ll have a few things to straighten out.”
Fire looks her in the eyes, “I think if it happened to me, I straighten things a little bit faster.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Violet says, moving closer.
Fire flippantly waves a hand. “Right but the little girl needs your help or whatever. Take your battery and go.”
“Thank you.”
As the pair exit, Fire stops her. “One thing. You haven’t seen those mercs around?”
“Not for four or five days.”
Fire nods. “Thanks. We’re heading south to deal with missiles. Who knows when he’ll fire again.”
Violet locks eyes with the young woman. “Get him good for me will ya.”
Fire smiles and cracks her knuckles. “Oh sure, looking forward to it,”
Once outside, Memo hooks up the battery. Instantly, Violet feels a buzzing in her head like an angry wasp. The pair head west.
Back with the others, Jarhead chooses to connect to someone (A.T.) and goes deep and broad.
As the strange sphere hums and glows, Jarhead whispers, “Alex come on back.”
November mingles with the Militia members as they look on, watching Gator as he hangs back with his mercenary band.
Jarhead's words reverberate, echoing in the minds of those present. Outside, those in the arena look up wondering who just said Alex. In the wastes beyond, Violet hears a name whispered behind her. Across Miami, heads turn to the west.
As well as White who will use that burst to triangulate his next shot. I warn the PCs bad stuff is coming but keep this detail to myself for now.
A.T.’s eyes blink open.
“That worked?" Jarhead asks. "Of course it works.”
A.T. shifts his head. “Where am I?”
Mox leans over him. “Boss, you’re in the foundry at the Music Bowl. We’ve got a guy here who managed to patch you up. You are going to be OK.”
As Jarhead congratulates himself, the Militia swarm past him to greet their returned leader. He pouts and wanders over to his helpers. “Don’t you think I was awesome Allison?”
She quickly puts on a smile. “Yeah, you brought someone back from a coma. That’s pretty impressive right?”
"Impressive," he says smiling and surveying the workshop. "See someone else do that. Did you find Memo?"
She shakes her head. “No I haven’t been able to find here. She’s not here. I don’t know where she is. I’m worried she wandered off into the wilds. There could be radioactive boars out there.”
"I knew I should have chipped all of you," he says.
“Chipped? What’s that mean?”
He shrugs. "It's an idea I’ve been working on, you’ll find out. Maybe."
After a short while, the crowd begins to mobilize. Mox helps A.T. to his feet and they begin to shuffle out. The giant man claps Jarhead on the shoulder. "Thanks."
Jarhead asks about payment and I remind him, he was doing it for Violet who helped him repair his head.
She notes she was acting with hope the whole time. I agree, but point out she's not there right now.
The scrawny man smiles. "Glad to be of service, goodbye!"
Nearby Gator's gang start shuffling their feet and looking for something to do.
“Shouldn’t we find some place to rest," Morgana asks. "I don’t know if we should stick around the Music Bowl with missiles flying around.”
"One minute," Gator says as he moves to intercept A.T. He catches the old man by the doors.“A.T.”
“Gator,” the moustached man says warily.
"I understand you were looking for me."
A.T. straightens up. “Yes, about a little mystery about some missing weapons.”
“There was a little misunderstanding while I was indisposed,” Gator explains. “So I wanted to see where you are headed. I’m okay leaving it as it is.”
A.T. frowns. “Some good men of mine died defending those supplies.”
November slides up to the men as Gator says. “How about I give some in recompense.”
“What sort?” he asks warily.
“I got one of the guys who did the job.”
Gator rolls manipulate a person using cool since he is easy to trust and gets an 11. November aids and gets an 8. Bumping it to 12 and turning A.T. into an ally. Specifically a friend.
November whispers a sweet word in A.T.’s ear and the older man loses his frown. “I’ll take that man, but I also need to know where those weapons went.”
November glances at Gator. in his moment of hesitation, she says, “we don’t have time for squabbling. You need to take the offer.”
Using the last of her hold on him.
“You’re right,” A.T. sighs. “There’s those missiles. We need to deal with that now.”
Gator nods. ”We need to get Violet and her crew together and we need to do this.”
“I’ll mobilize my men outside.” A.T. says. “If you find Violet you can tell her where to find us.”
Road gives only a brief struggle before the Militia take him away. A.T. mutters something to Mox about joining the tribunal with him and Fire as they exit the foundry. Gator rallies the rest of his men and directs them to make camp well outside the arena. He also instructs the others to radio the Autodoc to see if they found Violet.
Then he and November talk to Jarhead about some treatment for their wounds.
“I’m going to need some payment,” the wondermaker says.
”That’s the right answer,’ I tell him.
November offers him her tablet and Gator pulls some barter from his bag of gear. Jarhead turns to his supplies.
The following comes from his workshop. Basically heal 1-harm for consequences down the line.
“I can do a patch job. It’s not going to be pretty and there will be some consequences down the line,” he tells them.
“What sort of consequences Jarhead?” November asks.
“Some feelings of sickness and exhaustion,” he says mixing up some chemicals. “For speed, sacrifices must be made. You’ll be fine for tomorrow but expect to crash the next day.” He turns around with a needle filled with a purplish fluid. “Up to you guys.”
Gator considers their timeline. “Can you do it on the way?”
“I guess. Where’s Memo?”
Switching focus.
The ruined arena rises up ahead. Memo tugs on Violet’s sleeve as they quickly walk to Music Bowl.
“We have to go now! Now! there’s no time!” she repeats. Violet and she break out into a run.
Violet rolls acting under fire and gets a 9. I remind the group that a psychic pulse could perhaps help someone aim a missile.
“What is it that’s coming?” Violet asks as they approach the huddled mass of tents and refugees.
“Something really bad is going to happen,” the child gasps, white gown flapping in the evening breeze. “Really really bad.”
“Is it just Jarhead who is trouble?” she asks.
“I don’t know, we should get Jarhead out.”
A motorcycle roars up to them. Lily pulls it to a halt and asks, “Where have you been Violet? We’ve been looking for you for days. What happened to you? What happened to your face?”
Violet tries to walk around the bike. “Let’s get inside.”
Lily grabs her. “No I want an answer now. What happened to you?”
“I got shot in the face, can’t you tell!” she shouts, trying to pull free.
“When, how, by whom?”
Memo grabs Violet’s other arm. “We’ve got to go now!”
Violet fixes her good eye on Lily. “Look I got an upset kid who needs me, I’ve been shot in the face, there’s a good chance I’ve got the climbers, I’m in a bad way! We’ll get this straightened out when I get this taken care of!”
Violet rolls Towering presence, gets a 10, and get marks experience.
Lily lets go and swallows. “Alright, hop on. I’ll drive you in.”
The pair climb into her sidecar. “To Jarhead,” Violet orders.
To November.
A knock disturbs November as she settles down in her private room within the arena. She goes to door.
Outside Wisher puts on his most gracious smile. “I have a wonderful gift for you. I’d love for you to see it. Can you come?”
“I was just getting my things together but sure,” she says. “Where is it?”
“It’s just down by the concessions,” gesturing down the hall.
November reads a person and gets a 10. What do you intend to do? she asks.
”He has a gift but he also wants something.”
“So what going on?” she asks wondering about his true motives.
What does he want me to do? is the question.
As they head down the hallway, he explains. “I was hoping to get your help and perhaps your advice. There’s a project I want your assistance with once the current trouble dies down.”
As she opens her mouth to ask another question, a chill runs up her spine. Insistent whispers hiss, “leave him now, move to the nearest exit.”
Thinking quickly she changes the subject. “Wisher, you know what? There’s something I’d like to show you.”
“What is it?”
She turns for the stairs nearest the exterior. “I’ve been thinking about this performance I want to do. It involves these tree frogs. I think I could get them to sing in chorus.”
As she babbles she hurries him outside and away from the arena.
Back to the others.
The rumble of the motorcycle fills the tunnel to the foundry. Lily pulls to a stop.
“We should probably knock,” she suggests. “The last guys came in here uninvited got really banged up.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me,” Violet says.
Memo points to narrow passageway to the left. ““We can go through this way, there’s a hole in the wall.”
Violet dismounts the bike and follows the strange girl into the dark.
“Look out for the trap,” the child warns partway through.
Stepping over some tripwires, Violet passes a familiar crate. Memo crouches near some poorly placed cinderblocks. “These blocks. We can move them.”
Inside the foundry, Jarhead hears chthunks as something heavy hits the ground. A grating noise follows them. As he turns to investigate. Violet calls out.
“Jarhead!”
“Hello?” he replies.
Violet emerges into the foundry with Memo in tow. “Why is there a hole in this wall and why is it full of traps?”
“Why would it not be full of traps? There’s a hole in the wall.” he says.
Allison and Waters look up from their slow loading of the van. ”Can you grab the crate?” Jarhead calls to them.
Memo grabs his arm. “We don’t have time,” she whines.
“We think something really bad is going to happen,” Violet explains as the small child tries to drag Jarhead away.
“We’ve got to get out of here now, we’ve got to go,” Memo says.
“I don’t even like guns anyway,” Jarhead says stumbling after her. Memo frantically pulls him to the van. “Everyone into the van, we are good to go.”
Violet stops him as he moves for the driver’s seat. “Can you broadcast a message over the psychic maelstrom to warn the other people?”
“I can but not while driving.”
“I’ll drive,” she says taking the wheel.
Jarhead crawls through the packed van to his Tesla sphere. As he powers it up, he says, “get us out of here.”
Jarhead makes his augury roll and gets a 9. He marks experience, reaches out to the people of the arena widely.
As the device hums and glows, Jarhead says, “Get out.”
Gator starts to bed down when the roar of vehicles disturbs his thoughts. A flash of light shoots up from the southeast. It flies straight towards the arena, landing with fierce explosion that topples half the structure and leaves the rest in flames.
I tell them the Militia is okay, Wisher got out, the PCs escaped as did some of the cultists. The rest remains to be seen.
End of Session
November speculates that Memo needed Violet to save others within the Music Bowl. Jarhead admits he never would have thought to do that.
On to Hx!
- November gives +1 Hx to Gator. He resets his counter and gains experience.
”I’m totally confused,” Violet admits, referring to November’s intentions out-of-character.
I clear it up. “November infiltrated the confidence of the gods, probably to betray them.”
”They are worse than White in my eyes,” November says. “But they want White dead so our goals parallel for now.”
As for the exposed secret: November asks Gator what he wants to know.
”Why do you want to play double-agent?” he asks.
”I’ve never met someone I couldn’t manipulate. I’m so full of myself, that I think I can manipulate the gods. But now I have some doubts about it.”
”Why are you so full of yourself?”
”I once started a war between three gangs. I went into a holding and seduced the hardholder of Tampa’s two sons and daughter, a few years back. It was one year after I left home. I got them to fall in love with me and played them off each other to get things. Things got out of control and they murdered each other. They called it the Great Tampa massacre. I still feel bad about it.”
- Jarhead gives +1 Hx to November, since she played with the thing closest to his heart.
- Violet gives +1 Hx to Jarhead as her only choice.
Jarhead gets an advance this session and takes a gang.
- Gator gives +1 Hx to November.
And then weddings and holidays stop any more of the game until June. But I’ll post a new session in two weeks.
