Double Feature: The Pharaoh's Curse and Halloween

I'm writing this from the end of October and the end of my two month period of horror movie watching. This week we've got a 50s horror movie and a remake of a classic: The Pharaoh's Curse and Halloween, respectively.

Warning: lots of spoilers!!

Pharaoh's Curse

This short (just over an hour) black and white movie came out in 1957. Its brevity was virtue for me, as finding time to watch all these films isn't easy when you have a toddler running around.

Set in 1902 during an uprising in Egypt, the film follows a squad of British soldiers (led by Captain Storm) sent out to an archaeological dig to retrieve the expedition before the public gets wind of it. Joining the team is Sylvia Quentin, the wife of the expedition leader.

Along the way they are joined by a strange native woman named Simira, who seeks to save her brother Numar who has also joined the expedition. It's obvious from the start she's hiding something, demanding they take a different (faster but more dangerous) route. Her untiring nature and impractical dress suggest she's something supernatural herself. They ignore her and soon water and food goes missing. Oases vanish and eventually her magical mischief results in Sylvia suffering a scorpion sting. With the medical kit missing, they have to take the Simira's path to save Sylvia.

All this trouble turns out to be for nothing as the expedition opens the cursed tomb before the soldiers arrive. Inside they find a mummy. When they cut away the bandages, Numar suddenly grabs his face and collapses.

Then the spirit of the mummy possesses him. A scar resembling the slice on the mummy appears on his face and he begins to age rapidly. As the others take care of Sylvia (who is here mainly to break up with her husband), Numar vanishes and stalks the expedition. He devours the blood of his victims. The mummy also vanishes, removed by something with cat-like prints.

Quentin, the husband, meanwhile is focused on finding the true tomb of the Pharaoh. For him it's all about the glory.

The team hunts for Numar, exploring secret chambers and passages and running into an older and older Numar. Eventually he is little more than a walking mummy with powdery flesh and wisps of hair.

Simira however remains enigmatic. Her shadow resembles that of the Bast statue from the tomb. She only wishes to confront her brother alone.

In the end the mummy isn't that dangerous. Our hero accidentally removes an arm and it only manages to kill three men and a horse. The last one of course is Quentin who chases Numar to what he thinks is the Pharaoh's tomb. Instead he is crushed by rocks.

As the survivors resolve to leave, Simira vanishes leaving only her Bast amulet behind. The mummy returns in its coffin, but this time they discover it looks exactly like Numar under the wrappings. They determine that the mummy was that of a priest, Nu-Ma, who sacrificed himself to protect the tomb. He is destined to reincarnate to protect it.

Which begs the question why did Bast/Simira care to stop them? Nu-Ma was doing his duty. Also given the Egypt-mania of the time period, Numar was doomed. Somebody (or more likely several somebodies) would find the tomb, triggering the trap. Though I guess the next expedition probably would only need to face a child mummy.

Overall the film has some interesting ideas but is a bit dull in execution.

Gaming Ideas

A couple of ideas come to mind looking at this movie. First is a monster concept: an ancient spirit that jumps from body to body but which rapidly ages its host until consumes enough life force to compensate for its advance age. I think that would be fairly original and the idea of following a trail of mummified serial killers sounds cool.

The second idea was sparked by considering one of my general criticisms of the mummy monster in general. Thousands of mummies were ground up to make mummia, in a 19th century version of the Oriental ivory trade. Given that, how come only one or at most a handful arise as undead in fiction? It seems like plenty of angry mummies should be out there. Even if we assume only high priests are so doomed, we have 3000 years of high priests to choose from.

So let's turn that on its head. Maybe the real reason for the British Empire lasted so long was that they powered themselves mystically by grinding up and consuming remains of previous empires.

Halloween (2007)

This would be the remake of the 1978 classic. I'm not generally a fan of remakes but I’d heard good things about this one and decided to give it a chance. Plus it was free. I don't regret it.

Warning: this film features plenty of nudity and violence (though I suppose you should have guessed the later).

The film takes a much different tack than the original, giving a background to the sort of monster Michael Myers grew up to be. It is less supernatural horror and more a picture of the ultimate psychopath. The result I would argue is more of a different movie than a weaker one.

The film portrays Myers's home life as fairly horrible with an abusive alcoholic father, strained relations between his parents, a dismissive sister, and rough times at school. We see his sociopath tendencies already at work as he kills his pet rat and tortures local animals.

Dr. Loomis arrives too late, hoping to help the child. Instead Myers flees once his psychopathy is revealed. He finds his schoolyard bully and murders him. The beginning of his mask fetish also appears, in that he only kills while his face is hidden.

As to his iconic mask, that apparently belonged to his sister's boyfriend. He adopts it as he turns on his family.

The film makes me wonder what was the final tipping point for Michael? Was it the bullying? The discovery of his sociopathic tendencies?

In any case, he easily murders his step-father, bludgeons the boyfriend and then stabs his older sister to death. Each successive murder is less sensible than the last, each victim more a target of opportunity and less a form of revenge. Michael Myers is not a serial killer, he's a spree killer with a knife.

He stops before killing his little sister, taking off his mask and waiting on the front steps for his mother and the police to arrive.

The movie then flips between black and white footage, news pieces and live scenes, giving us a sense of movement and time. His time at the asylum starts off well enough. He blocks out the murders, befriends a janitor, and begins building masks. But slowly he shuts down, withdrawing and relating to others only through violence. His mother destroyed by the tragedy around her commits suicide. His little sister vanishes, for now.

We pick up 15 years later. Loomis is leaving, having profited from his study of Myers but no closer to actually helping him. Even the janitor is retiring. Myers sits in his room, the walls decorated with masks.

As one expects, things go wrong. A new guard mistreats him and leaves him a gaping opening. Myers kills everyone in the asylum. Even his old friend.

He steals a truck and heads for his old home to get his old knife and mask. If this looks like a plot hole, it's not the remakes fault. The original film similarly had Myers somehow learning how to drive despite a lifetime of incarceration.

At this point things begin to follow the pattern of original movie. His sister, growing up under a new name (Laurie Strode) and with no idea of her connection to Myers, is babysitting on Halloween while her friends make out with their boyfriends. Myers stalks and kills them before moving in on Laurie. Loomis pursues Myers but is always a little too late.

Eventually Myers catches Laurie and tries to connect to her, to tell her in his own silent way that they are family. She doesn't get it and flees through the old family home. Loomis arrives and shoots him seemingly dead. Of course it is too early for that.

My favorite line has to be when the pair are just about to drive off and Myers smashes the window. Loomis shouts, “Jesus Christ! What the hell?” Which is the appropriate response to the monstrosity that is Myers.

Eventually though the film comes down to a struggle between Laurie and her brother. His sister unloads Loomis's revolver into Myers's head. Loomis is badly injured but survives.

We then end with some family footage from the Myers home.

I liked the switches between documentary/home video style footage and the 'current day'. The action was done well without too much gore and with eerie menace. The movie pays homage to the original but is clearly its own beast. My only issues with the film are that it is a remake and that by explaining Michael it loses some of the power of the original. But it is well worth watching.

Gaming Thoughts

There's an adventure seed in World of Darkness; Urban Legends where candy infused with traumatic experiences gets given out to children. Early on in the film, I wondered what sort of story could be crafted out of candy filled with the rage and murderous desires of a serial killer? Child serial killers, both victim and monster, might be a touch too dark though.

Not quite a gaming thought, one thing I loved about the original series was watching how Loomis grew more and more scarred as the series progressed. There was a sense that he was almost as indestructible as the monster he faced. It occurs to me that it is not too dissimilar to how a high experience monster hunter might look after a long campaign. It might form the climax of a Hunter: the Vigil game focused on Slashers as the group, now grizzled and scarred, must face the return of an early foe.

The Climbers: Finale, Part II

Now for goodbyes. My 18 episodes Apocalypse World game is at an end. Now to see where people ended up.

As in my earlier actual play reports, small green text indicates out of character talk, mechanics and other game aspects outside of the fiction.

Our main characters are:

• Gator (the Gunlugger/Hardholder) was once a turnip farmer until his family was stolen from him. He became an assassin and eventually ruler of decaying aircraft carrier. His face was ruined in a fight with an alligator. His eyes are always sizing things up and his brutal life has left his body a hard sheet of muscle. But his daughter is searching for him.
• Jarhead (the Savvyhead) is a thin African-American man with a short goatee, long dreads, and clothes covered in pockets and gear. He repairs items for a living and occasionally builds death rays. He currently employs a young woman Allison and her brother Waters as well as a little girl named Memo and a pack of violent tech lovers. They seem to be addicted to the psychic maelstrom. Also he is pretty hurt. 
• November Orleans (the Skinner/Battlebabe) is descended from a family which left New Orleans before it sank. She is a beautiful woman of mixed heritage with dark eyes and skin, a sweet face and lush body. She dresses herself in a mix of scavenged clothing that somehow works together and wears a necklace made from rows of antique coins which jingle and shine as she moves. Her main profession is as a dancer, especially belly dancing, but she has a sideline business in cooking and animal training. She's promised to help Shadow save his people and resettle them someplace with food.
• Violet Jefferson (the Touchstone/Scholar) is descended from survivalists and her clothing and gear reflects her origins. Plain looking but fit, she carries a pocket copy of the Federalist papers and founding documents of the United States of America, an idea she hopes to revive. She recovered from the wound November inflicted but they have not reconciled. 

The highlighting is:

• Violet: Hot, Sharp. 
• Gator: Cool, Sharp. 
• Jarhead: Hard, Sharp. 
• November: Hot, Sharp.

Finale, Part II

And back to November as she makes her way to Gator.

The tower looms over November as she heads across the top deck. A chiming like glass bells draws her attention behind her. Turning she spots Lafferty hurrying through the shanty town.

“Hi Lafferty, how did it go with the Kite family?” she calls to him.

The giant strides over. “Violet wouldn‘t let me bring one of them back,“ he grumbles.

“They wanted to come back?”

“No they didn’t,” he states.

“I’m confused.”

“I was going to drag one of them back so we could talk to them about manners.”

“I see.”

“She shut me down,” he says grinding his teeth.

November frowns. “She doesn’t like see people giving orders unless it is her. Were you able to talk to them at all?“

He shakes his head, sending the lightbulbs hanging from his hat swinging wildly.

“I’ll have a word with them then,” she says. “I’ve got another fire to put out now. Have you managed to touch base with everyone else to make sure they are still on board?”

“Yeah, they are.”

“And can you make sure Tern doesn’t head down to Jarhead’s workshop at any point?”

“Alright I’ll keep an eye on her.”

“She’s been acting a little weird,” she warns him.

Next onto Violet.

Violet joins the growing delegation on the port side of the Big Ship. In addition to Boo and AOL, Wisher and Morgana make an appearance.

Fire tromps in as Boo starts. “I called you all here because we have an opportunity. Those slavers, the ones from the theater we want to claim for our new holding? They are here.”

“Here?” Violet asks.

“Over in the market, right now,” he explains. “There are six of them, not including the slaves. If we want to avoid any trouble, we could stage an ambush once they leave here. What do you think?”

“We should have a vote on it,” AOL says.

A murmur of agreement moves through the group.

“Well what are our other options?” Wisher says. “Maybe we can talk these guys into moving on or joining up?”

Violet speaks up. “The issue I have with that is...slavers. The slaves are not in a position to make a choice.”

Fire nods grimly. “We should bust them up now. If the slaves want to join us once they are free, that’s great. If they want to go their own way, that’s their choice. But I don’t think we should give the slavers a chance to escape.”

Violet looks over the group. ”We need to consider that this attempt to take the slaver’s hideout is our issue. We don’t want to involve anyone on the Big Ship. We should stage an ambush a ways from the ship. That way if anything gets complicated for us, it won’t get complicated for them.”

Boo nods. “Let’s vote,” the older man says. “Who wants to ambush them once they leave the ship? Opposed?”

I have Violet roll +hot to determine the vote. She gets a 10! I give her +1 forward as everyone rallies behind the final vote. She also marks experience.

Wisher votes against it and AOL abstains. Everyone else votes for the ambush on Violet’s terms.

“We will not tolerate slavery in our new holding,” Violet adds.

As the group rallies to divide up the task, Fire turns to Violet. “I’m going to be a little bit busy. If they leave before tomorrow, I’ll catch up.”

As she walks off, Morgana begins picking out snipers. She turns to the others. “AOL, you’ve got the radio right? You stay on the ship and tell us when they leave. There’s a nice path six blocks up from shore that they will most likely take. We can set up snipers at a ruined office building there.”

”We seem to have a person in charge of our military,” Violet says.

Back to the workshop.

Jarhead puts his tools away. Other than the soft breathing of his coma patients, the workshop stands silent. He looks one last time at the disabled God-Smiter and heads out the door. He slams it shut and keys the electronic lock.

Stumbling up the hall, he turns into room prepared just for him. As he steps inside, a bushy bearded mercenary calls out. “Oh hey Jarhead! I wanted to talk to you real quick.”

“Argh,” Jarhead says slumping against the door.

Wire pauses. “Sorry you probably want to sleep or something. I guess you do that sometimes.”

“You think?”

“Well I don’t know,” he says flipping through his notes. “I’ve got some records here and they say you are almost always awake, but maybe they are wrong. So anyway Gator is interested in getting you to fix the big guns.”

”Can it wait?”

“Sure, sure. You can rest.”

Jarhead stands up straighter. “Good, are there any emergencies?”

“No we are good now, we can finally get to maintenance.”

Jarhead sighs.

“Are you okay?” Wire asks.

Jarhead just points to his ears. Lines of blood crawl down to his neck.

“You’ve got to get that looked at!” the mercenary exclaims.

Jarhead holds his tongue as his complexion darkens.

“You don’t look good man,” Wire says backing away. “Alright, you do what you need to do.”

Jarhead turns and stops. He calls back, “before I go, could you tell Gator that his daughter is somewhere on the ship?”

“Okay. He’s got a daughter?”

“Yeah, I wanted to tell him earlier but he was busy.”

“Alright, you rest.” Wire glances down the hall to the workshop. “I see you locked up everything, I guess you are going to rest for a bit. You crash, I envy you.”

“Yes, envy me and my bleeding ears and swelled brain,” Jarhead grumbles.

He pulls the door closed and locks it.
Next back to Violet. She decides to open her brain while she waits with the other snipers. She also retroactively spends a barter for a sniper rifle. She gets a 12 on her roll and sees beyond the maelstrom!

The sun slowly moves towards the horizon. Violet crouches in the ruined building with a dozen other men and women, waiting for word that the targets are on their way.

Violet lets her attention move outward, away from the street and to someplace else. She closes her eyes and sees the fog clad swamp. The maelstrom seems emptier without the dark presence of the gods, less tangible and suffocating.

Marshall smiles at her from a nearby tree. Her lost love’s hair is a little longer and a few wrinkles blemish his face. But his smile remains the same.

Violet rolls Read a person and gets a 10. She also marks experience.

“I guess things must be better out there now,” he says. “And I guess in here too.”

“Yeah,” she says studying him.

“So Violet, how are things out there?” he asks walking closer to her.

“Okay in some ways and not so okay in others. We are going to try to make it happen though.”

He leans forward. “Really? Your dream?”

“Yes, there’s a place out there, it’s a slaver’s hideout right now, but I figure if we can clear it out-”

“You can make it your own little place of paradise,” he finishes looking into her eyes.

“I don’t know about paradise,” she says. “But we can make a stab at making it work.”

“That’s great.” He looks away. “I don’t know if it matters to you anymore but now that the gods are gone, those of us who are stuck here have been trying to figure out what comes next.”

“That was one of the reasons I came,” she explains. “Is there anything I can do?”

“I think we need to figure that out for ourselves here. But I heard White’s still out there though.”

“What?” she exclaims.

“I don’t know what you know about White. He’s sort of the bogey man here, part in the Maelstrom and part in your world. He got killed in your world, but he’s not dead here. Some people say he’s still active and he’s got some sort of deal with someone on your side. Somebody building him a body.”

Violet’s thoughts flash to the robotic skeleton in Jarhead’s workshop. “Why in the hell did he do that? Why would Jarhead want to bring him back? I may have to take that matter up with him.”

He shrugs. “Okay, I figured you’d want to know.”

“I appreciate it. Is there anything else?”

“Well nothing you can help with but things are changing over here,” he says. He turns and points into the mist. “We have been finding these and we don’t know what it means. Look through there.”

Violet looks forward as the mist parts. The earth and sky beyond are pitch black, illuminated only by green lines stretching to the horizon.

November finally catches up to Gator.

Someone knocks on the door to the bridge. Gator looks up from his desk. “Come in.”

November slips in. “Hey how are you doing?”

The scarred leader leans back in his chair. Behind him the sky darkens into a deep blue. “Doing okay. Things are calming down which is nice. It sounds like all the other players are getting ready to move along.”

November reads a person and gets a 5, Gator also hinders her and gets a 9. At least she marks experience.

November studies the cryptic hardholder. “I can see you are pretty busy so I won’t beat around the bush. There’s a threat against you but I don’t know how you want to deal with it.”

Gator reads a person in return. November helps and gets a 10. I forget she has Cooperative so I neglect to point out he has a 12+. He at least marks experience.

“What type of threat?” he says sitting up straight.

“To be blunt someone wants to kill you.”

His shoulders drop slightly. “I’ve had that before.”

“They were planning on coming straight here,” she explains, “but I talked them around to expect you by the reactor. Actually I had a really great idea for fixing it but now is not the time. Well not fixing it but if you could just realign...sorry sorry.”

Pushing the lore of the gods from her mind, she starts over. “The bigger point is apparently, and I don’t know how Jarhead figured this out, but apparently she’s your daughter. I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

”Are you telling the truth?” he asks. Obviously she is.

He narrows his eyes but holds his tongue.

“She also believes you are her father,” she continues. “If I found that out I wouldn’t want to kill you.”

“Wait, back up,” he says. “So Jarhead told somebody I’m their father?”

She nods. “And then she said that you’d been screwing up her life this whole time.”

“So why are you here?”

“I was there when Jarhead told her. She started heading right for you so I had to delay her. I figured you should at least know what is going on. I didn’t want you to blow her away without knowing. Also we are friends.”

“Thank you, what do you intend to do about this?”

Another question.

She throws her hands wide. “This is it. If you want, I can lead you to this ambush. I was hoping you could, with your superior strategy, capture her and then talk her down. I’m happy to facilitate that in any way I can.”

“So who is this?” he asks.

“Fire.”

Gator’s mind kicks into high gear. It could be her. She’s the right age. She actually looks like him, at least how he did before the alligator bit off half his face. “November, would you mind giving a minute?”

November nods and turns to leave. Outside a voice booms, “No I need to talk to her now!”

The dancer slips back into the hall. Lafferty looms over a pair of guards. He relaxes the moment he spots her.

“What’s going on?” she asks.

“I was following Tern and they ganged up on me,” he says, removing his wide-brimmed hat

“Who?”

Lafferty rubs the back of his head. “You know that scrawny little girl that Jarhead’s got? Also that freaky guy with the three slashes on his face. I didn’t see the third one but he hit like a girl, a girl with a lead pipe.”

“Are you okay?”

“Bruised up but yeah.”

“What were they doing?” she asks.

“I don’t know. It felt weird. Not right. I got away.” His hand wraps around one his axes. “One of them is wounded.”

November opens her brain to Lafferty and gets a 11.

November notes the drying blood on the axe blade. Then she turns to the giant himself. The smell of blood mixes with something else, a hint or perhaps a memory of ozone. Something like what the God-Smiter emitted. Weaker however and fading swiftly.

Due to people moving in and out during the game, I fill in November that Jarhead knows how to fix the addicts but that he intended to lock up and heal first.

“I think I know what’s wrong with them,” she says. “They got affected by that machine Jarhead built. I think that’s what affected Tern too. Was Tern involved in this?”

“Yes, I was following her,” he explains. “She tried to get back into the workshop. The whole crew was there, messing with a lock or something.”

“OK I’ll take care of it. Do you think you can get some handcuffs for us?”

He puts his hat back on. “Might take a little jingle but I can get a hold of some.”

“You can take those leathers I have.”

He nods. “I can get a couple of pairs and maybe some rope.”

“As much as you can get, enough for all of them,” she says.

“Do you want the gang ready?”

“Yes,” she says after a moment.

“We’ll be back at your tent.” Then he takes off down the hall.

Back to Gator.

Gator holds his head trying to work how to fix this.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” Violet says.

Deciding, he gets up and exit the room. As he heads down the hall, November trails after him.

“I need to talk to Jarhead,” he tells her.

“He might have some problems of his own,” she warns him. “A bunch of people, Memo, Shazah, Rox and Tern, they were affected by the machine. Not like the comatose guys. They are addicted to the maelstrom. I let him know about it but I don’t know what he did in response. He had figured something out to fix them but it would take time. Anyway a whole bunch of them tried to jump one of my guys. I’m readying my gang to tie them up but he said they were messing with some locks down by the workshop.”

He turns to her. “So Jarhead’s helping these people-”

“No. He knows how to help them but he hasn’t begun the treatment. Otherwise they wouldn’t be free. At least I don’t think his treatment involves them beating people with lead pipes.”

“So Memo is in a gang trying to hurt people?” he says disbelievingly.

“My guy, taking his own initiative, was following one of my girls who was affected when they jumped him,” she explains. “I was going to take care of this myself but they seem to be working in on Jarhead. So if that is where you are going you might want to be ready.”

Gator’s jaw tightens. “That’s enough of this crap. Gremlin, round-up a team. We need a police force. We have some unrest we need to deal with.”

His men jump to attention as Gremlin begins organizing the squad. Gator follows them down to the armory where his man begins handing out weapons.

“Alright guys, only clubs!” Gremlin orders. “Hey put down the machine gun!”

Gator nods as a couple dozen men arm up. “Yes, clubs, stun guns, whatever we’ve got.”

Gremlin looks over. “Oh we got authorized for the stun guns.”

He turns to a tall woman in patched up Kevlar. “The Tazer too.”

A huge man breaks open locker and pulls out two large steel devices. “Ooh,” Gremlin says, “some cattle prods! I think that’s fine. Is that allowed boss?”

“Yeah that’s cool,” Gator says, “just don’t hold it on for too long.”

“You heard him.”

They do have a well equipped armory.

Gator grabs a Tazer for himself.

Gremlin pulls some bulky items from a crate. “You want one of these plastic shield things? You can see through them.”

He nods and picks it up.

As we idly chit-chat about Fire I point out she does +1 harm. “Just like daddy,” November jokes.

On to Violet.

The radio crackles to life. AOL’s voice pushes through the static as Violet and the others lean in. “They are on their way. I think there’s something else going on around here. I saw Gator’s men moving around. They’ve got these clear plastic shields and stun guns. It looks like they are moving to bust heads on something. Just thought you should know.”

“Thanks,” Violet radios back as the others ready themselves for the ambush.

A half hour later they spot a half-dozen men and women leading eight slaves down the crumbled asphalt. Violet scans the slavers: three men, two women and a child. Slowly she lines up a shot on one of the men.


I have Violet roll acting under fire to see how the plan works out. She gets a 11 and the slavers move into range. As they open fire she seizes the slavers by force and gets a 9. She decides to take definite hold and suffer little harm.

The slaver return fire dealing 2-harm -1 (since they are small gang and she has a medium gang) -1 for little harm.

The slavers though take 2-harm +1 for the larger gang. They are unarmored.

The first volley drops two of the men instantly. The survivors fire back but the fighting ends before they get a good idea of where the shots are coming from. One woman lies face down in a pool of blood while the other cradles the final man in her arms. The child crouches behind them.

Violet hurries down with the others to investigate.

Violet says she’s not crazy about shooting the kid.

”But orphaning them is fine,” November says. “You could be his second parents.”

Boo gets to them first. He crouches by the man. “I don’t think this one is going to make it.”

He glances into the woman’s blank gaze. “This one is already gone,” he calls back.

“Noo!” the child cries.

”Poor child slaver,” November says.

Violet orders Boo to grab the kid. She crouches by the dying man to check his wounds. Both rounds passed through his gut and blood pools rapidly beneath him. She presses a rag to the wounds and calls Garber over. “Take him back to the Big Ship as fast as you can. Get him to Jarhead, he can save him.”

Onto the Big Ship.

I have Jarhead roll acting under fire to see how good a job he did on the locks. He rolls weird since he is spooky intense and gets a 13!

Gator’s posse fill the hallway to Jarhead’s workshop. A small LCD screen on the locked door displays a cartoon version of Jarhead repeating the words, “Ha-ha-ha please use the magic word.”

“Was this where they were Lafferty?” November asks.

The giant warrior nods, “They were messing with that thing.”


November reads a charged sitch and gets a 11. This also earns her the experience to retire to safety.

“I think I know where they are,” she jokes, “I’ll be right back (and you never see me again).”

Instead we presume she retires at the end of the scene.

What is my enemy’s true position? she asks. She follows it up with What should I be on the lookout for?

“You should be able to leave right now and retire to safety.” I do point out that Jarhead locked himself into a room further down the hall and might be unavailable.

November scans the area. A trail of blood runs back down the hall. “Look they must have gone this way.”

Gator decides to reads a sitch as well. He gets an 8 and marks experience. What is my best way to Jarhead?

Gator’s eyes seize on the one door in the hall that’s locked but shouldn’t be. As he reaches for the latch, he realizes that if Jarhead locked himself in he had a good reason. At best he’s drugged up. At worst he’s in a coma. He lets go of the latch, he needs Jarhead functional. He will have to wait for now.

I point out he could break down the door but letting him rest is best.

Gator says, “I kinda want to do that (break down the door) but yeah.”

Gator leads the men down into the ship, following the blood trail. In a dimly lit chamber two floors down, they find four people crouched around a fifth. Memo looks up and freezes, Rox and Shazah move to the exits only to find more men moving in from all directions. Surrounded they form a rough circle around their fallen member, Tern.

Blood oozes from a wound on Tern’s chest.

”Lafferty!” November says.

“They were coming at me from all directions,” he protests.

“I told you to look after her.”

“They got in my head!”

Gator moves closer. “Memo? Hey Memo.”

“Yeah,” she says slowly.

“I think you may be sick,” he says.

“I feel okay. But Tern’s really hurt. We tried to get into the workshop to patch her up but Jarhead locked it up.”

“Yeah,” he says thinking. “Alright, medic!”

November signals her people. Silently they surround the affected, handcuffs and rope at the ready.

Initially I misunderstand her plan thinking she intends to attack them.

“First the bondage, then the dominance,” she corrects me.

As the medic looks over the wounded woman, Gator leans over Memo. ”Memo, we’ll take care of her but we’ll need to put you in a room until Jarhead gets up.”

Gator reads a person. He gets a soft hit and marks experience. What does she intend to do?

“But we’re fine, we’re okay.” She shivers slightly holding her hands like she wants to reach out grab someone. “I feel great.”

She wants to share her sickness.

He stands up. “We’re going to have to put you away for a bit.”

“No!”

“You’ll be fine.” Slowly November and Gator’s people move in.

”If they should resist, I take my clothes off,” November says.

”I still don’t get how that should work!” Violet complains.

Gator manipulates a person and gets a 8. November helps (since I finally remember she has Cooperative) and gets a 9, pushing Gator to a 10. Since he rolled cool with Easy to Trust he marks experience.

Memo and the others look around. Outmatched they allow themselves to be restrained.

“Put them in the brig," he orders. "Separately.”

"One more session where I don’t have to sleep with someone or strip to solve a problem," November says. "I've grown as a person."

Then she retires to safety, taking her gang with her. She plans to establish a new holding on the west side of Florida using the "lore of the gods."

As the men move the wounded and affected, Gator calls Wire over. ”I’m going to need somebody to walk into the Gap. They are going to be bait.”

Wire strokes his beard as Gator continues, “I’ll try to keep an eye out for him but let’s get him some real good armor. Actually let’s use my armor.”

As Gator strips out of custom-made military gear, Wire pulls out his papers. “You know I’m looking over these notes. We’ve got a guy we can expend, he got lost in shuffle when we were dealing with White. We never handed him over to the Militia.”

Gator looks up. “We still have Road?”

“He’s in the brig.”

“Alright let’s use him.”

Wire moves closer. “I feel we should let him go if he survives. I mean he’s out but he can go someplace else.”

“Yeah I’ll let him know,” he says doffing the last of the gear. “I’ll try not to let him get killed.”

“OK he’ll be there.”

While Road stalks along the base of the Gap, Gator skirts along the ruined edge. Nearby another patrol moves conveniently close by in case things go south.

Gator acts under fire to sneak and gets a 13! He also marks experience.

After several minutes of climbing and swinging from rusty beams, he spots Fire in a shattered stairwell. Her dark hair and blackened armor blends into the shadows. He watches as she scans the area for him, her assault rifle ready and equipped with a grenade launcher.

Deftly he swings silently to a beam directly above her. His leather hands quietly find purchase in the crumbling concrete. He climbs up to the level above her and then slips down behind her.

Gator decides to seizes by force.

“It’s a whole lot easier to talk to people when they are not holding a grenade launcher,” he says. “I know this because people have had to deal with me.”

He gets an 8 and takes definite hold of the rifle and little harm.

She deals 1-harm as she kicks but his armor absorbs it. His 1-harm is likewise absorbed.

In a single motion, he sweeps the rifle away from her. She delivers a powerful back kick that pushes him back an inch. He feels an odd swell of pride for a moment. She finishes her turn with a combat knife suddenly in her hand.

“Let’s talk,” he says holding the gun by the barrel in front of him. “I could have ended this differently.”

“I don’t know what we have to say.”

“I’ve heard that I’ve failed you,” he says, lowering the gun.

“You let us get captured,” she yells at him. “You never came. And then I find out you’re this freaking killing machine. And you took over this place? We were trying to establish democracy and you perverted the cause.”

“Perverted the cause?”

“You’ve got A.T. wrapped around your finger,” she says, shifting her stance.

“We just agree on some common ground,” he says. “Listen to me. I didn’t let you get caught. This is a shitty world that we live in. I looked for you for years. That’s how I got to be like I am now. I came looking for the people who took you.”

Gator rolls manipulate a person and gets a 10. He rolls cool since he is easy to trust. He marks experience again.

Fire lowers her blade. “They sold us two days after they hit our home. I don’t know where mom went. I was a slave,” she says blinking away a tear.

“Your mother is gone,” he says calmly. “I saw her in the Maelstrom.”

“I had to fight for my freedom. That’s why I joined the Militia. So I could end it. Slavery, all these tyrants, people controlling people.”

“Was the Militia any different?” he questions. “I thought they just wanted democracy.”

She meets his eyes. “Some of us were in it for more than just democracy.”

“I am no fan of slavery either and I don’t hold any here. And I never have.”

“But now you’re controlling people yourself,” she says.

“No, now I’m making a system that works. Getting people to honor what they say they are going to do. So it’s not just chaos. Just look at the people out there. You’ve seen them, I’d say they are considerably better off than before I came. This isn’t something I want to do, it’s something I need to do.”

Another manipulate a person to convince her of his point of view. Appropriately he gets a 5. At least he marks experience.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” she spits back.

Gator spreads his hands wide. “I’m just glad you’re alive. And I’m sorry you’ve taken a life similar to mine.”

“Well you said it was a terrible world we live in, I guess it is, it makes us terrible people.” She drops the knife on the ground. “Alright fine, I’m done here. I’ve got business to do, Violet needs me.”

As his daughter stalks away he calls out to her. “Just keep an eye on her.”

Fire never looks back.

Then Gator retires to safety.

“Terrible lonely safety,” November says.

“I’m Conan sitting on his throne,” he says.

Last scene, or at least last choice. I turn to Violet, “what do you do with the slaver kid?”

She decides to keep him close as a prisoner.

”So he eventually escapes and vows revenge?”

In the coming months, Violet’s holding gets off to a good start. Swelled slightly by the slaves they freed, they convert the old movie house into a home. They elect a leader. They vote. A lot. Gator sends messages to Violet asking about his daughter. She mostly keeps “the dictator” informed. In her spare time she teaches ethics to a new generation.

Many miles away on crumbling highway, November builds her own holding. Her followers mingle with the hungry inhabitants of Willowtree. Together they farm the ocean and build new machines to ease their lives. In time she opens a school with courses in the culinary arts, electrical engineering, and exotic dancing.

This starts a discussion of rival colleges with regular football and debate team match ups. November’s team just starts stripping which wins some football games but not many debates.

Back on the Big Ship, Jarhead wakes up feeling refreshed and well rested, good for the first time in months. He finds his problems have evaporated while he slept.

“I’m one XP short of riding off into the sunset,” he says.

As he enjoys some sunshine in the salty air, his head suddenly hurts. White’s voice rasps inside his skull. “I want my body now!”

”Jarhead’s story never really ends it just snowballs endlessly.” I add, “AW games tend to end with question marks.”

The End

Disease and Ruin: More Moves from the Climbers

My long running Apocalypse World game, the Climbers, is complete and it is time to reveal yet more material, used and unused, from that game. This time I'm bringing the disease that ended the world, the Climbers, and horrors born from it.

The Climbers

The Climber were the one consistent Threat throughout the campaign. This fungal infection spread by spores, infesting their victims and driving them to climb to the highest point in the area. Then the fungus would punch through their skulls with rigid stalks, spreading its spores through the air and starting the process all over again.

Symptoms included itchiness and fever as the fungus moved through the skin and lymphatic system, followed by green dots in the eyes called 'the spots'. Eventually the infection spread to the brain causing sleepwalking and eventually sleep climbing.

Kind: Affliction – Disease
Impulse: to saturate a population

When exposed to climber spores roll acting under fire. On a hit you are uninfected. On a 7-9, your immune system is weakened. Gain a -1 forward to your next roll against the climbers. On a miss, you become infected.

Each day you are infected roll +Hard. On a hit the disease doesn't progress. On a 10+ you begin to recover, go back a step on the progression. If you roll 10+ twice you recover fully.

Countdown: Itchiness or fever, itchiness and fever, the spots, sleep walking, sleep climbing, death.

White

A freak of nature, born of a woman dying of the Climbers, White was only 12 when he died. His power came from being present in both the psychic maelstrom and the real world at all times. It gave him a strange power over the climbers and made him wise beyond his years. Horribly scarred from an alligator attack when he was 7, he was also known as a fierce fighter.

He and his minions took over the Big Boat and threw out or killed any who disobey them. All knew he messed with black magic and could control people via zombie powder. He was not above using those infected with the Climbers to get what he wants. He was slowly taking over all the holdings in Miami until Gator shot him in the head. His mind continues to wander the maelstrom.

Kind: Grotesque – Perversion of birth
Impulse: craves overthrow, chaos, the ruination of all

Zombie Powder: when exposed to Zombie Powder, you suffer s-harm and roll +Hard. On a hit, you are okay, more or less. On a 7-9 White tells you what to do. If you do it mark experience. If you don't you are acting under fire from the drugs. On a miss, your will is not your own. You come to a bit later having done what White commanded.

The Music Bowl

The home of the strange cult of music is no more. A ruined sports arena, this collapsed dome was dominated by a rebuilt church organ in its center.

During the struggles with White, it served as a refuge. Despite repeated assaults it stood firm until White successfully launched a rocket at it. Now the smoldering ruin sits abandoned.

While it stood the inhabitants of the ruined stadium sustained themselves primarily on the mushrooms that grew in the basement levels of the structure. They were mostly harmless until White infested them with the climbers.

Bad Mushroom: while eating at the Music Bowl for the first time roll +Weird. On a hit you are fine. On a 10+ gain +1 forward to open your brain. On a miss, you suffer a vision due to a toxic mushroom. Take 1-harm ap and hallucinate.

Really Bad Mushrooms: if the food supply is corrupted by White, roll as if exposed to the Climbers as well.

The Gods

Behind all the threats lurked the gods. These entities knew much about the Golden Age and reached far through the psychic maelstrom. They could protect against the Climbers or direct the infected against their enemies. These mad demented minds of Golden Age climber victims sought to devour the blood of the living to slack their thirst for the living world.

Instead the living fought back and destroyed them.

Kind: Grotesque – Mindfucker
Impulse: to craves mastery

Here is a move they used as things became desperate for them.

Nightmares: roll opening your brain when you sleep. On a 10+ you have a good night's sleep. On a 7-9, you sleep safely but fitfully, take -1 forward. On a miss you survive an attack but choose 1:

• -1 ongoing against the gods. They know you now.
• Choose a memory you cherish. It is gone.
• You did something while you were asleep, you're not sure what.

The Damaged

When the gods were destroyed, not everyone escaped unscathed. Those exposed to the fullest force of the maelstrom became addicted to it. Worse they found they could spread their addiction to others.

Kind: Grotesques – Disease Vector
Impulse: craves contact, intimate and/or anonymous
Cast: Rox, Waters, Shazah, Memo

All members possessed the following moves:

Immune to Psi-harm: the damaged suffer no ill effect from Psi-harm.

Mental Static: if a person has intimate contact with the Damaged, roll Psi-harm (at +1).

Double Feature: Spring and Monster Squad

I have two more horror movie reviews for your reading pleasure this week: Spring and Monster Squad. Spring is a recent horror romance while Monster Squad is a cheesy action horror comedy about a pack of kids fighting the iconic monsters of Universal Studios.

Warning: lots of spoilers!!

Spring

Spring is an interesting and slow building romantic horror movie. It chronicles the experiences of a California man, Evan, who after the death of his mother and violent fight at a bar decides to travel to Italy. There he meets a strange and enchanting woman Louise who has a terrifying secret.

After travelling with some British tourists he met in a hostel, Evan encounters Louise when she propositions him for sex. He rebuffs her offer of a one night stand only to spend the rest of the film wooing her. Louise claims to be a student of genetics but it may be better to say that she's studying herself. Each night she begins to transform into a different monstrous creature mutating into things that resemble werewolves, vampires, and worse. She tries to drive Evan away but he finds himself more and more in love with her.

Ultimately Evan discovers Louise's secret. She tells him that she's an immortal creature with a rapidly mutating biology. Despite the supernatural tinge to her transformation, she claims to be just the result on as yet unknown science. She feeds on animals to replenish the stem cells that keep her stable and human. To fully stabilize, she must mate and use the cells of her fetus to give birth to a new version of herself. She'll be a new person, in a way Evan's daughter.

But Evan persists and learns there is another way for her to stay human. If she really falls in love with him then her body can use her adult cells to stabilize instead of her fetus's. She'll remain her current self and become mortal. But she's never had that happen, even over 2000 years of existence.

Evan accepts her for her monstrosity and spends the final day before her transformation with her. She warns him that before her rebirth, she will become a ravening beast. She tells him to run. They visit her home town where her parents died when Vesuvius blew. Her condition allowed her to survive but her mother who had found mortality did not. They wait for the coming dawn as he holds her.

There is some real tension in that last sunrise. Will she transform and kill him or does love win out? Meanwhile in the background the volcano smokes.

The special effects are good and the cinematography is excellent. The film frames most of the scenes with a wide shot of this beautiful seaside town, adding just a hint of the menace to come. In some cases it is just a spider catching a fly while other later scenes show the bloody marks of her carnage.

The rest of the cast manages to feel real in way that characters in many other films don't from Evan's dying mother who goes out after telling a dumb joke to the drunken Brits crudely sharing their feelings to Evan's idiotic friend talking about the fish smell that clings to him.

The weakest part of the narrative is perhaps the beginning. Given that Evan has lost his job (a subject that concerns him), where does he find the cash to go to Italy? Trans-Atlantic travel is not cheap and he needs a ticket (and thus cash) to get home.

But otherwise the film is excellent, short on scares but high on creepy imagery and dramatic tension. The main characters are quite engaging. Lou Pucci portrays Evan as earnest and sweet without any of the naiveté or simpleness that would otherwise doom such a character while Nadia Hilker's witty dialog as Louise makes you love her.

Gaming Ideas

My first thought in adapting this to a game would be Beast: the Primordial, even though that game line doesn't actually have obvious monstrosity in it. I just think Louise as a Beast just looking for love and trying control her hungers would make for a good concept.

My second thought is to create a science fiction version of all those urban fantasy horror settings. So much like Underworld, all the monsters have a scientific explanation. I've had ideas recently for a while of a world of genetic abnormalities hiding in the world, mutants manipulating humanity and/or struggling to blend in. It strikes me that Spring might be set in such a world, where monsters are rare, appearing when only the right set of genes are expressed.

Monster Squad

One of my favorite monster movies from childhood, Monster Squad unites the classic Universal Horror monsters and pits them against a team of kids.

The premise is that a hundred years ago, Van Helsing tried to banish evil from the world using a magic amulet (a plan that involved an incantation done by a virgin). The plan fails and now Dracula seeks to destroy the amulet to alter the balance between good and evil. He calls to him various monsters to help his search: a werewolf, a mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Frankenstein's monster.

Meanwhile our heroes, led by 12-year-old Sean, uncover the plot via Van Helsing's diary, which Sean's mother picked up at a yard sale. Sean also learns about the involvement of Dracula (who calls around for the diary as Alucard), the mummy (whose disappearance from the museum he hears about though his father, a police detective), and the werewolf (who gets shot by the cops but reanimates).

The rest of the "Monster Squad" includes Sean's best friend Patrick, "fat kid" Horace, the much younger Eugene, and Rudy, the new recruit and junior high student. Later they add Phoebe, Sean's little sister, Patrick's older sister and "Scary German guy", a holocaust survivor who helps translate the diary. Phoebe gets to officially join the club because she brings Frankenstein's monster who she's befriended. The monster however warns that Dracula sent him to kill them.

So with the plot spelled out, they have to steal the amulet before nightfall and before Dracula can destroy it. Cue 80s action montage! The team grabs a bow, makes stakes, a silver bullet and writes the army for help as they prepare for the night's action.

While half the team head for the creepy house where the amulet is hidden, Patrick and Rudy suss out if Patrick's sister is a virgin. With some blackmail (in the form of an exposing photo accidentally taken by the monster while at the squad's clubhouse), she agrees to help.

The rest of the team manages to escape the house with the amulet, though Frankenstein's monster is crushed by some falling debris and possibly killed. Their German friend gives them a ride to town square to do the ritual, despite some mummy trouble along the way. Unfortunately the ritual fails because Patrick's sister is not in fact a virgin.

Eventually Sean's dad, Del, sorts out there is trouble brewing though he's too late to help the kids before the final showdown.

The movie possesses an interesting mix of humor and seriousness. On one hand the monsters are scary and the effects are done well. On the other hand the dialog is full of jokes, including how ludicrous this all is. My favorite line has to be when they pose Rudy the question of the second way to kill a werewolf. Turns out none of them have an idea, though the option of "falling out a window, onto a bomb" comes up and is later tried (it doesn't work).

In the final showdown, Scary German guy leads Phoebe through the ritual instead while the others try to hold off and many cases eliminate the monsters.

Only Dracula remains in the end and I have to say his final entrance is awesome. He simply moves forward, killing and incapacitating police officers as they rush forward to stop him, never breaking stride. Overall this film's Count scores highly. He transforms credibly into a bat, possesses a ghostly car, can summon lightning, shoot beams of magical energy, and appears somewhat super strong. Garlic burns him but at least in bat form, daylight doesn't hurt him.

Of course his match comes when Frankenstein's monster returns, saving Pheobe and hurling Dracula on a wrought iron fence. That buys enough time to complete the ritual. A vortex then sucks up the forces of evil including Frankenstein's monster (in a tearful goodbye).

Gaming Ideas

Part of me wonders what comes after this movie. The major monsters have been defeated but surely evil exists elsewhere. While many of the kids might not become professional monster hunters, Rudy essentially already is, having slain 3 vampires, a mummy and a werewolf. Perhaps the military forces that arrive at the end are really a branch of Task Force: Valkyrie?

In any case this scenario suggests a couple mashup games: World of Darkness: Innocents and Hunter: the Vigil (with "Kick Him in the Nards" as a Tactic!) or Bubblegumshoe meets the Dracula Dossier (combination I'm tempted to run with now).

The Climbers: Finale

So we reach the final session. I didn’t make it my goal of 20 episodes but I think I had a good run. After a lot of false starts we finally got a date everyone could make and got started on time...mostly. After sorting out some stupid mistake on my end, we got going, working through challenges in-game and out.

As in my earlier actual play reports, small green text indicates out of character talk, mechanics and other game aspects outside of the fiction.

Our main characters are:

• Gator (the Gunlugger/Hardholder) was once a turnip farmer until his family was stolen from him. He became an assassin and eventually ruler of decaying aircraft carrier. His face was ruined in a fight with an alligator. His eyes are always sizing things up and his brutal life has left his body a hard sheet of muscle. But someone is searching for him.
• Jarhead (the Savvyhead) is a thin African-American man with a short goatee, long dreads, and clothes covered in pockets and gear. He repairs items for a living and occasionally builds death rays. He currently employs a young woman Allison and her brother Waters as well as a little girl named Memo and a pack of violent tech lovers. Also he is pretty hurt.
• November Orleans (the Skinner/Battlebabe) is descended from a family which left New Orleans before it sank. She is a beautiful woman of mixed heritage with dark eyes and skin, a sweet face and lush body. She dresses herself in a mix of scavenged clothing that somehow works together and wears a necklace made from rows of antique coins which jingle and shine as she moves. Her main profession is as a dancer, especially belly dancing, but she has a sideline business in cooking and animal training. She's promised to help Shadow save his people and resettle them someplace with food.
• Violet Jefferson (the Touchstone/Scholar) is descended from survivalists and her clothing and gear reflects her origins. Plain looking but fit, she carries a pocket copy of the Federalist papers and founding documents of the United States of America, an idea she hopes to revive. She recovered from the wound November inflicted but they have not reconciled.

Gator gives his dice some practice rolls. First roll is a 2. The second is a 12. “It’s going to be one of those sessions,” I suggest. And it is but not just for him.

We left off last time with the gods dead but with lots of collateral damage in real world (though not the psychic maelstrom thanks to good rolls on Gator’s part). Many of the inhabitants of the Big Ship got infected with the climbers. Some were hurt or killed and some hurt and killed others. Things however are now under control, Gator’s control.

Violet’s losses were minimal: her ex-follower Lily. Jarhead however has five members of his gang whose minds were lost in the maelstrom. The others who were present seem to be acting oddly including November’s second in command Tern.

”I have a gang?” November exclaims. “It has been a while!” she says referring to the month and half between sessions.

”It’s unclear how damaged they are,” I tell the players. “The person most qualified to answer that is Jarhead and he’s not qualified to answer that.”

Also Jarhead remains at 3-harm following the psychic damage of killing the gods.

Start of Session

We start off with highlighting:

• Violet marks Sharp (from Gator) and Hot.
• Gator gets Cool (from Jarhead) and Sharp.
• Jarhead highlights Hard (from Gator) and Sharp.
• November marks Sharp (from Jarhead) and Hot.

Next we go to my love letters that cover the action in the week since the battle with the gods. Things have quieted down some and have reached some sort of order. It could even be called normal, though that is “distinctly not normal for Gator.”

Violet

A week has passed and the survivors are recovering. Fire arranged for you to talk to the Militia and it was a big success. People from all over seem interested in forming a new holding.

Roll Fortunes first (the bonus is + 1).

She gets an 8 and chooses +hunger as a want, something she plans to resolve via her loads and loads of barter.

Then roll +Hard (with a +1 bonus) to figure out the fallout from your speech. On a hit pick 1. On a 10 + take +1 forward. On a miss get both.

• You don’t steal anyone else’s followers, crew, or gang.
• You weed out the bad apples.

She gets a 11 on this one and chooses to weed out the bad apples. People come from all around including members of Gator’s gang, November’s gang, and so on. She is however able to keep the evil Council of Elders from the Music Bowl from joining.

”Why do they have to be evil?” Gator asks.

We point out all of their evil deeds/intents in-game.

“They’re relatively evil, not super evil,” I say.

”The only reason they didn’t (wipe out Tatters) is because I scared the living...out of them,” Violet mutters.

For this session you only have the following options for advancement:

• raise one stat by 1 (Max +3) or choose an option from your playbook.
• raise one stat by 1 (Max +3) or choose a move from any playbook.
• retire to safety.
• remove one Threat from the game.

Gator

A week has passed and things are beginning to quiet down. Clearing up the Climber infected took time and money.

Roll Wealth first.

He gets 13 so everything is good on the Big Ship.

He also immediately chooses Sharp +1 to +3 since he had some experience left from last time. “It would be nice to retire,” he says of his next advance.

Then roll +Sharp. On a hit choose 1. On a miss choose 2. If +disease is a want, choose another.

• Take -1 forward as your troubles dog you.
• You use up all your barter curing the citizens of the Big Ship of the Climbers.
• Your gang is busy handling the infected and recovery. Only a small gang’s worth is available for any trouble for the next week.

He gets a 10 (yay! for +1 sharp) and marks experience. He chooses -1 forward.

For this session you only have the following options for advancement:

• raise one stat by 1 (Max +3) or choose an option from your playbook.
• raise one stat by 1 (Max +3) or choose a move from any playbook.
• retire to safety.
• remove one Threat from the game.

Jarhead

A week has passed and you’ve managed to get the augury working again. You’ve got some shock collars and think you might be able to recover those lost minds.

But first roll +Sharp to deal with your distractions. On a 10+ choose 2, on a 7-9 choose 1.

• You manage to stall White (on giving him his new body) while you conduct your experiments/preparations.
• You notice how Memo, Rox, and Shazah have been plotting together every night.
• You keep Allison from realizing how much more damaged Waters is.

He gets an 8, marks experience and chooses to stall White. I give him a 3 scene countdown until he turns up. I mostly forget it.

For this session you only have the following options for advancement:

• raise one stat by 1 (Max +3) or choose an option from your playbook.
• raise one stat by 1 (Max +3) or choose a move from any playbook.
• retire to safety.
• remove one Threat from the game.

November

A week has passed and everything is ready to go. If it wasn’t for your nightmares you’d be on the road already.

Roll +Weird. On a 10+ ask 3. Otherwise ask 1. On a miss take -1 forward from lack of sleep.

• Who did Jarhead agree to help that he shouldn’t have?
• What new threat has emerged from the Maelstrom?
• How is Violet’s goal of a democratic holding in danger?
• Where is Gator weakest?
• Who isn’t who they say they are?

She gets a 9 and after some discussion we adjust the move to give her +1 ongoing to deal with the answer to a question.

What new threat has emerged from the Maelstrom? she asks.

I tell her the nightmares are indistinct, crazy mish-mashes of visions. It feels like a strange static, a mixture of confusion, pain, pleasure, and chocolate at the same time. She gets flashes of other people feeling this. They are addicted to it and have been since they were exposed by the backwash of the God-Smiter.

For this session you only have the following options for advancement:

• raise one stat by 1 (Max +3) or choose an option from any playbook (including advancing moves).
• you find a legacy of the gods.
• retire to safety.
• remove one Threat from the game.

Finale

Jarhead fumbles with another set of leather collars. Electrodes puncture the straps to connect skin to disabling current. On Allison’s worktable another pair sit complete.

He smiles and stumbles over to the medical bay. His five patients remain comatose, their minds lost to the maelstrom. Waters stands there ready, his face slack.

“Water’s get me some rags,” Jarhead orders as he feels another warm trickle down his neck.

The boy moves mechanically to the supply cabinet as Jarhead dabs at the blood oozing from his ear. When the child returns he orders him into a makeshift brain scanner.

Jarhead reads the zig zagging green line showing the operation of Water’s brain. Some part of him appears lost. Jarhead glances to the coma patients.

“Probably where they went,” he mutters.He peels the white rag from the side of his head. Brilliant red blood stains it. “I need to fix myself first though.”

The inventor grabs some magnets and wires and snags a pair of big saline bags as well. Re-aligning his brain will take a few days.

“And then you are at the whims of your help,” I inform him.

“As I much as I trust my crew,” he says before outline his plans to lock himself in an isolated room.

As he finishes the device, the sound of two women arguing emerges from the workshop door.

Allison raises her voice higher than he’s ever heard it. “I’ve got to talk to him first!”

A moment later the door clangs open and Fire and Allison push their way in.

“Can I help you ladies?” he asks.

“Yes-” Allison starts.

Fire cuts her off. “Alright I’ve got the money. I need to know where Adam is.”

Jarhead searches his mind. “Okay. Give me a few minutes.”

As he turns to Allison, she yells, “Jarhead! What happened to Waters? What happened in this room? What did you do my brother?”

”Rewind, a little bit,” he says. I explain the situation and remind him what Allison knows about the machine.

“Personally I think it’s a victory that he is not comatose,” he says. “His mind, well it’s kind of what happened to them.”

She turns her gaze from the coma patients. “Are you going to fix this?”

Jarhead rolls Manipulate a person and gets a 7.

“Yeah!” he says. “I mean I’m going to do my best. I’ll fix them and him all at the same time. Would you prefer I screw with them first so I can do Waters right or would you prefer I fix Waters first without any test subjects?”

“How could you ask me that?” she sputters. She looks away. Waters stands quietly in the corner. “I guess...just make my brother well again, whatever it takes.”

“Excellent.”

He adds, ”basically if anything screws up with them and someone complains, I’m going to say she asked for it.”

Fire looms near the tinkerer. Jarhead digs into his workshop for the Tesla Sphere. “Okay let’s see what I can find.”

He rolls Augury and gets a 8. He chooses to look into the maelstrom widely. So we have some bleeding.

He tunes the dials on the device to align with Fire’s mental wavelength. Quickly he scans the frequencies for someone who aligns with her, this Adam who she shares a tie with. A green glow envelops him. Someone resonates nearby. Someone in Miami. Thoughts, alien memories bubble up in Jarhead’s mind. The presence is on the ship. He recalls a turnip farm. Blood and fire fill the night. He sees murders, feels the shock of combat. Adam is on the Big Ship. He feels flames, exit wounds, the feel of metal sliding into flesh. A vision of an alligator lunging for his face almost makes him stop. Adam is Gator!

At the same moment Jarhead realizes something else. Gator is Fire’s father. And she really hates him.

“Give me a few moments to figure out what I just saw,” he tells her, powering the sphere down, “and then I’ll let you know. Would you mind getting Gator in here first? I need to talk to him about something.”

“I’m not going to talk to that dictator,” she says.

“Well I need to let him know I need some security here,” he says.

“Why don’t you send one of your flunkies?”

Jarhead turns to one of the muscle hanging by the entrance. ”Flunky, go get Gator for me!”

“Okay boss!” the eager minion says before jogging outside.

Elsewhere...

Gator settles into the worn leather chair on the bridge. Red check marks cover the papers littering the desk in front him. So many infected, so much to patch up.

The door bangs open and a man with half shaven head enters.

“Jarhead needs to talk to you,” the Flunky says. “Uh Sir.”

Gator eyes the young man as the youth rubs the tattooed part of his scalp. “Well Jarhead can come to me.”

Flunky looks at his feet. “Um, alright. I think he wanted you to come to him. I mean every other time he’s come here, so I figure if he sent me, then he meant for you to come to him. I think. I’m confused now.”

The man behind the desk sighs and cracks his neck. “That’s not really how this works. What does he need?”

“He didn’t say, he just said he needed to talk to you. He was doing some business with that Militia lady.“

Gator pinches the bridge of his nose. “I don’t have time for this. If he needs to come talk to me, he can come to me.”

“Alright,” the young man says as he shuffles out. “I’ll go tell him.”

On deck.

November wakes up with a start.

The nightmare fades like a sour cotton candy. Blood mixing with rotten turnips. Fires and someone shouting. A man who stood like Gator but with a face marked only by worry. He was standing over a child, his child, who was somehow also Fire. That didn’t make much sense, she thinks to herself.

A mighty first raps at her tent flap. Tossing on a coat, she slides it open.Lafferty towers outside.

“Hey Lafferty what’s up?” she asks, shielding her eyes from the setting sun.

“We’ve got deserters,” he says struggling with the word. “I guess. I don’t know how tight a ship you want to run.”

“Who?”

“The Kite family. They all up and left last night.”

November frowns. “That wasn’t nice of them. Where did they go?”

“I asked around,” the giant says. “You know that big crowd that’s gathering for that woman Violet?”

November strokes her chin. “They were extra hands but they were also extra mouths.”

“I figured you would want to know.”

“Thanks, I might have a word with them. They could be polite about it,” she tells him.

Lafferty rests a hand on an axe handle. “I can take care of it if you want.”

“Eh, I guess. I’d like to know if someone scared them off or something.”

He nods, the light bulbs hanging from his wide straw hat clinking together like bells. “Okay, I’ll drag one of them back and find out what the story is.“

“Be nice about it.”

As Lafferty heads off, she considers the dreams of the past week. She can feel the strange static even now, the mixture of confusion, pain, pleasure, and chocolate at the same time. Others felt this, others touched by the backwash of the God-Smiter, others who want to feel it again.

November reads a charged sitch with regards to these addicts and gets an 8 with her +1 ongoing. She marks experience. Who is control here? she asks.

None of those who were subjected to the machine’s fury had tipped their hand yet. Except Memo. The strange girl never leaves the workshop, spending all her time there. November recalls that others, even Tern, visit the workplace from time to time, perhaps to plan with her.

November gets dressed and heads down.

I take a quick break to start dinner and my son begins to abuse my mouse.

Violet surveys the fields of tents on the north end of the Big Ship. Over seventy souls from Militia soldiers to Music Bowl refugees had pledged to follow her vision. Her Republicans were stretched thin supplying this crowd. She hefted a heavy bag of barter and headed for the market.

Violet buys a month of food for 4 barter.

A few hours later, she pulls a trolley stacked with supplies back to camp. She finds a family blocking her path.

The matriarch, Bes Kite, extends a hand. “You know we could help you with that. You look like you spent good money on the supplies but we’ve got some skills in decontamination.”

”Sense motive!” she cries. Violet reads a person and gets a 10. She marks experience. Is she telling the truth?

Yes.

What do they intend to do?

Bes is looking for cash.

Violet shakes her hand and searches the broad woman’s face.

“Yeah we could make that nice and pure,” Bes adds. “No potential radiation hazards. For a couple of barter perhaps?”

How could I get her to do it for a reasonable price? Violet asks.

You could haggle or maybe deal with the giant guy coming up behind them.

Violet considers a counter offer before looking past the Kites. “Who’s that?” she asks.

A massive man strides up behind them. Light bulbs hang from the brim of his straw hat. “Alright one of you is coming with me,” he booms.

Violet steps around them. “Is there a problem?”

Lafferty looks down at the rough woman. “Yeah these are deserters. I’m taking one of them back to answer to November.”

“It’s not like they signed a contract,” she tells him.

“I’m bringing one back because they need to learn their manners,” he says grabbing a young woman with a peg leg.

Violet puts her hand on the butt of her shotgun. “I don’t stand for that kind of man handling.”

Violet rolls Towering presence and gets an 11. Lafferty decides to freeze.

Lafferty stops moving and stares at her and the gun. She continues, “look here, this is not how civilized people behave. If November wants to talk to them she has every right to come and talk to them herself. But I’m not going to tolerate you kidnapping somebody.”

Violet rolls manipulate a person with the threat of violence. She gets a 9 and marks experience. Her concrete reassurance is the willingness to bring violence in the form of her shotgun. I’m iffy if this should be go aggro in retrospect. I don’t think Violet was serious initially but she had to become serious to move him.

The giant drops the girl. “Fine,” he says flatly. “I’ll let her know. Be seeing ya.”

Bes pulls her daughter to her feet and turns to Violet. “Thank you for that. That was a bit tense there. Maybe I can knock that treatment down a bit. We can take care of it for a barter. I do have to feed the family you know.”

“Much obliged,” Violet says.

And I never got to use my radioactive food rules...

November tells Violet, “you found the secret to success in politics, money.”

Flunky runs back into the workshop. “Boss! Uh, unfortunately Gator said if you want to talk to him, you have to go talk to him. I couldn’t convince him to come down here.”

As November walks in Jarhead loudly says, “So he doesn’t want to know that his daughter is standing right here!”

November reads a person on Fire and gets a hard hit. She marks experience. What is she feeling? she asks.

She glances at Fire. The young woman mouth drops open. Slowly she shakes her head.

“Did you know?” November asks.

“That can’t be,” Fire says, her voice rising with each syllable. “That bastard!”

“Wait, what are you going to do?”

Fire clenches her hands. “That man has failed me my entire life. And now he has failed this holding.”

“How so?” November says.

“We came to bring civilization and democracy!”

”This keeps getting better and better,” Violet says.

“Well you did, yes. I think the first step was taking down White, which he did.”

“And now he’s just replaced him.”

November takes a different tack. “Have you talked to him about it? It seems like he would listen to you.”

She tries to manipulate a person, marks experience, and gets a 6.

”He think he would listen?!” Fire says. “You really think he would listen!”

“He’s always listened to me.”

“I’m not an orator like Violet and I know she’s talk to him,” the armored woman explains. “And if he’s not going to listen to her, the woman who hired him, then the only thing he’s going to listen to is cased in brass.”

Fire draws a massive pistol.

How could I get her to slow play this? November asks. I tell her she needs to provide a better if slower plan.

November holds up her hands. “Wait, wait. You know he’s surrounded by a whole bunch of guards? And he’s not a stranger to sniping himself. You are not going to do your cause any good going out in a blaze of gunfire. It’s really not going to work if you can’t get him alone.”

November leans in slightly. “But I can.”

Jarhead apparently decides not to listen in.

November earns an advance and asks about the legacy of the gods.

”I’ll let you know if you take it.”

Which she then does.

I explain that thanks to the gore for the last god (who died inside her head) she now knows all the lost lore of Golden Age.

“Cool does any of it help me in this current situation?”

”I don’t think so.”

“Awesome, glad I spent my advancement on that.”

Fire stops moving to the door. “Alright, if we do that, then we do that. Where are we going to set this up?”

We establish that the Gap is best ambush spot, the massive chasm in the bowels of the ship.

“You know what? I just realized that they can optimize their reactor if they extract several of the control rods and use some centrifuges to refine the old fuel rods.” Jarhead’s head swivels rapidly in her direction. “I can show him what I mean and you could set up there. I probably can’t get him there until four hours from now though.”

Fire smiles. “I’ll be there.”

November lets Fire leave first, pausing at a piece of machinery in the workshop. “Oh that would actually work better here,” she says moving a wire.

Jarhead hurries over. “Don’t touch that.” He notices the power output increase. “Wait! What the hell did you just touch and why?”

November just smiles. Then she recalls her original reason for being here.

As Jarhead puzzles over the “repair”, November makes a beeline for the now defunct God-Smiter. Memo crouches near it polishing part of the machine.

As the dancer moves in the girl looks up and freezes.

”I know what you are up to,” November says.

She also reads a person and gets a 9. She also marks experience.

”What?” the pale girl says. “Hi November.”

“Hi. What have you got to say for yourself?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she stammers, letting her long dark hair fall over her face.

November smiles. “You know. All those great feelings flooding in. I know what that’s like.”

Memo’s eyes search around and she whispers, “Did you feel it too?”

“We were all in this room weren’t we?”

“Not everyone had the same reaction.”

November decides to fish for more information. “Yeah but everyone can, everyone has the capacity and everyone should right?”

“Yeah,” the child says.

“In some ways, it even makes it feel better when you can share.”

What does she intend to do? November asks.

Memo smiles. “Yes, it feels so nice. We are trying to find people who would be interested. I think Jarhead would enjoy it.”

“Yes but he gets his pleasures from other places.”

“But it’s so nice.” Her slender fingers stroke the machine. “Everyone should get a chance to feel it.”

Basically she wants to spread the addiction.

November looks at the machine and opens her brain, she gets a 8.

November focuses on the machine. The odor of scorched metal tickles her nose. In the background some tool whirs. She puts her hand to its cold dead surface. The God-Smiter remains dormant, dead since the battle with the gods. Without the Tesla sphere, it can’t hurt anyone outside this room. The memory of the blue back wash surfaces. It could still expose those nearby to the raw maelstrom. At some point Memo and her fellow addicts will try to start it again.

”Could Memo rebuild this machine?” she asks.

”You don’t know. It would be difficult.”

November turns to Memo. “Hey if you ever going to do again, let me know.”

Then she walks over to Jarhead, catching him out in the hall as he moves the last of his equipment into a side room. “Hey, Jarhead, what are you doing?”

“What now!” he says, his hand on the locking mechanism.

She steps back. “Oh gee, I’m sorry.”

“Can’t you see I’m bleeding from my ears!” he says pointing.

“You should do something about that.”

“I’m trying. I’m working on it.”

“So you are going to treat yourself in isolation and leave the whole rest of the workshop open to other people?“ she says glancing down the hall.

Jarhead reads a person and November interferes. Jarhead gets a 9 while November gets a 13. The final total is 7.

What do you intend to do? he asks.

”Warn you about an imminent threat to your workshop. I’m being my sassy sexy self but underneath it all I’m deadly serious.”

Jarhead narrows his eyes. “Why? What do you know?”

“Well you know that creepy kid you found?” She nods back through the open door. Memo strokes the machine mouthing her pleasure. “Haven’t you noticed that she’s acting even more creepy than usual?”

“Everyone’s acting more creepy.”

“Well I’ve been having dreams about her and other people. They all became addicted to opening their brains to the maelstrom through that machine. I’m not exactly sure if it’s going to affect the world but it’s definitely going to fuck them over. And they are definitely going to power that thing up once you go under. I don’t know what security you have in place but I don’t it’s good for the rest of them. I’m a live and let live kind of girl but it is your stuff and I hate to see good people go to waste.”

Jarhead reads a sitch and gets 11. November helps and gets a 7, thus pushing him to a 13. Since he advanced read a sitch, Jarhead can ask any three questions.

Memo glances over at the pair.

”What is the best way to secure the device without destroying it?”

I outline two options. The vindictive (and quick) one is to wire the device to electrify itself if turned on. Alternatively he could spend a few hours to make it nonfunctional without his knowhow.

”How do I break their addiction to the noise?”

You could put them under, secure them, and given them a form of methadone with magnets and electrical current. It will take a couple of weeks however.

This happens after the next scene but Jarhead eventually gives me third question. Is there any way to absolutely secure the workshop?

You could lock it. You are on an aircraft carrier, it will be harder to go through a wall here. They could cut through a wall but it will be pretty obvious.

Jarhead tells November he’ll take care of it. Over the next few hours he sends all of his ‘employees’ on menial tasks. After some protests he’s finally left alone. He quickly rigs up an electronic lock, disables the God-Smiter, and makes sure his coma patients won’t need food for a few days. Satisfied, he locks up and heads down the hall.

Next we jump back to Gator.

Gator looks out over the bustling market, one hand propping up his chin.

Morgana knocks on the side of the bridge doorway. In one hand she holds a crude slate. “Looks good boss. I know you want to rest, but we’ve got the Big Ship cleaned out and under control.”

“Oh good,” Gator says letting his hand drop to the desk.

The plain woman tightens her jaw. “Well not entirely great. There’s a little issue.”

“Spit it out.”

“Maybe it will better for your leadership in the long run,” she says quickly. “You heard Violet’s speech for the Militia? They are moving on, which is good because you don’t need a lot of armed folks running around.“

“Agreed.”

She tries to keep her eyes on Gator. “But a few of the men and some of the citizenry are joining her. I don’t think there is anyone in the citizenry you care about and it is mostly low-end people in your forces. I think you’ll be able to make them up easily.”

“Okay,” he says slowly.

“So just a few people. But I, uh, respect you. I think it’s time for me to strike out on my own. So,” she gulps. “I think that Wire will make a great second in command for you. He’s looking to settle down, he’s got great experience, I’ve had him overseeing people for quite a while now. I think he’ll make a great lieutenant for you.”

“What do you mean on your own?” he asks.

“I think there are opportunities to be had at this new holding, Things I can’t do here. I think you understand.”

He leans back in his chair. “I get it. Are you going to be close?”

“Yes the place Violet’s leading us to is a half day’s drive away,” she says breathing more easily.

“So you going to be working for Violet?”

“Nobody is working for Violet,” she says. “She’s just going to lead us there and then we will organize.”

“Really? Cause it seems everyone there is working for Violet.”

She smiles. “I think you’ll agree with me that she’s not the leader type.”

“But somehow people still follow her around,” he muses.

She shakes her head. “I think I heard this conversation before when you talked to Violet. There’s not much more to say. I’ll be seeing ya.”

“Alright. Good luck out there.”

“Good luck to you,” she says stepping back to the entrance.

“Hope it doesn’t descend into chaos,” he calls after her.

”I hope you don’t crash and burn,” Jarhead adds.

”I hope you don’t live to regret your decision in horrible ways,” November says.

Morgana nods and steps out. A moment later Wire steps into the room holding a stack of papers.

“Hey Boss!” he says.

Gator leans forward. “Hey I just spoke to Morgana.”

Wire scans the wall and furniture for signs of damage. “Yeah, how did that go?”

“Not bad.”

The bushy bearded man sighs.

”Hopefully she can make it out there,” Gator says.

“Okay boss what’s the deal of the day?”

Gator half turns to the window. “Keep it up, Make sure things are still running here. I’ll make an announcement that you are second in command.”

“Alright,” Wire looks over his papers. “I’ve got a list of all the things that need doing. There’s quite a bit.”

“At least we are mostly stable now. I’ve got some extra barter so I think we can upgrade those machine guns.”

Wire smiles broadly. “Then we don’t have to worry about anyone coming after us. Do you want me to get Jarhead?”

Gator looks around. “He sent somebody to talk to me a little while ago, He’ll come to me.”

“So let him come to us?”

Gator taps his chin. “Just let him know I’m ready to see him and I have a deal for him.”

Wire flips through the papers. “I’ll be swinging by there a little later. Alright boss, get some rest. You look a little bit tired.”

Gator rests his head on his hand and nods. “I need to sleep.”

“I know, I look forward to sleeping,” Wire says flipping through his notes, “next week.”

And in two weeks I'll deliver the finale half of the finale session!