Freedom's Ring -- Session 2
Oct. 21st, 2014 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
Once again, we got together for another session of Apocalypse World and once again, I took some notes. Not quite as narrative as my other campaign notes, these mostly help me remember the broad strokes of what happened.
In the morning, Ponch gets up and takes the report from Lance. Some scuffling and unrest in Prosperity because of the water restrictions but nothing too serious. More troubling is that a number of water treatment workers have become sick. They aren't dying but they ain't healthy. Good thing there's no water for them to process. Apparently Tai also came down somewhat ill as well. [Ed Note -- Tai's player was out sick actually] Tai went to Lance in the middle of the night and had him send out some buggies to take samples up and down the river before committing the larger water haulers to a fruitless journey.
Ponch heads down to the vehicle bay to get a feel for hwo things are going in his gang. The day shift seems pretty collected, but down in the bay is a crate of ammo and a large scavenge truck (a makeshift monstrosity capable of hauling away lots of heavy scrap or towning another vehicle). This is all from Vega in fulfillment of her promise for a discounted shipment of ammo in exchange for a security escort out into the salvage reef to find her missing salvage team.
The truck is manned by more of Vega's workers and a couple of her security guards led by a guy named Foster. They're obviously looking to take off right away and Ponch lends them a buggy crewed by Rash and Sky Boy. They'll act as additional muscle and the little search party rumbles off into the salvage reef.
High above, in the Warden's lofty quarters, the Warden wakes to find a note from Vega. He'd used his prodigious charm to seduce her the previous night. [Ed note: a bit of a retcon here] After a mutual enjoyable evening, they'd split a rare bottle of wine and discussed the Warden's small library. Many of the books are actually journals. Each Warden maintains a journal detailing their reign. But there are other books and the Warden gifts Vega with a book of poetry.
Talk then turns to the City and its mysterious inhabitants. Warden confesses to having a great deal of anxiety about the people who live their and an interest in escaping the City's occult domination. Vega is surprised at this (it was the Krewe who selected the current Warden and loyalty/respect/fear towards the Krewe is the usual attitude Wardens have). She herself is uncomfortable about the city but bullets are no good against ghosts. The Warden suggests that when the ghosts are rendered corporeal he might have need of her. Vega agrees her opinion would be different then and they go back to sleep. Vega taking off early in the morning.
At stand-up Ponch shares his information. The Warden re-assures Ponch that assisting Vega was the right thing to do. At the last, there's a note from Tai -- the riders Lance sent out to get samples have come back. The sample taken at the spot the water is normally collected at shows contamination. Unfortunately, so do the samples take further up and down the river. So whatever is wrong with the water, it seems to be present in the river (and wasn't added in later) and it's being introduced well upstream...possibly in the dense forests to the north.
There's a short conference and it's decided that an expedition up the river must be made. Ponch, Warden and Skel will all go. Tai will supply them with a half-dozen sample jars that will turn blue if there's contaminant in the water. The crew will go up on a barge that's normally used to dredge up silt for the farms. The barge will be piloted by Grome, who's head of water collection operations. Ponch will bring along Packard (who's had some experience in the forest) and Smith for backup and Warden grabs Rothschild to provide a bit more muscle.
So everyone rides out to the rotten landing where the barge is tied up. They board and proceed up the river. Skel is less than happy about this situation. She fled from something terrible in the forest a little over a year ago and has been very happy in Freedom since then. Even now, the forest chitters at the edge of her mind. The water remains contaminated and they'll have to head into the woods. Although likely to be a bad idea, she opens up her mind to the maelstrom to see if she can find out more about this contamination.
Skel normally sees the psychic world in a cyberpunk vision of neon lines and nodes. Here by the jungle the world is a blinding light of dense intelligences. She does make out the river flowing through it and she gets a sense that the contamination might be coming from a few more miles up the river and into the jungle. Too late, she detects a rather large presence near the barge, just as a spike-tipped tentacle lunges out of the water, spears Rothschild and drags him back below the water. Fire from the barge produces nothing.
Rattled, the barge and its crew continues up the river. Eventually, they round a bend and they find a small clearing with a complex of kudzu-covered buildings next to the river. The complex has a small dock attaches to it where a couple of small boats are tied up. Looking out from the compound are a number of shabbily dressed people. Some of them are geared up with the usual improvised protection denoting security, others seem to be works. Most have masks of some kind. On the dock, more of the security people are waiting. They're joined by a larger, better dressed guy with a gun.
Stopping just shy of the dock, the Warden attempts some negotiation with the leader. His charming efforts are curtly rebuffed by the leader (named Jake as the PCs will later learn). The facility is uninterested in letting the barge stop here and is uninterested in trade with Freedom...unless perhaps they have some centrifuges. Then there might be some interest but they clearly don't have them now and had best run along.
A messenger comes out from the complex and whispers to Jake. Apparently Doc has an interest in Skel and she's invited to come inside. There is a quick conversation. No one is terribly interested in going into the complex alone. Skel again opens her mind and gets an impression of a cloying, suffocating, honey-like sweetness that makes her uncomfortable.
With negotiations at a standstill, Ponch decides that this is absolutely the time and place to open his fragile mind to the Psychic maelstrom. [Ed. Note: Although anyone can open their minds to get useful information, Ponch and the Warden are have terrible stats for this task.] To Ponch, the psychic world is a world of sound and here in the jungle it turns into a sonic kaleidoscope where sounds echo and reverberate and morph into pattern after pattern after pattern.
His mind echoes with the past when Warden prevented him from getting himself killed by going up against T-Bone before he was ready. A surprising revelation that he cares about Warden like a brother because the Warden is willing to stand up to him and speak the truth to him and generally looks out for his best interests.
Then the present batters down the past and his mind fills with the noise of the inhabitants of the complex. Most of it is unintelligible gibbering, but eventually his mind brushes up against Jake's and what he hears bothers him. Jake's thoughts aren't the unfocused ramblings of the others. Jake is coldly assessing the barge and its occupants, identifying threats and weaknesses and how he will react depending on what the PCs want to do. Ponch is troubled because Jake is no raving loon, he's smart. Smart like Ponch and Ponch isn't used to that.
All this happens in a stretched out space internally, but externally Ponch faints away. Skel, who's rather used to this sort of thing, deftly grabs him as he starts to fall and lowers him gently down. The Warden is rather concerned over his Chief of Security fainting and there's some concern about what to do next.
Perhaps deciding that one bad decision deserves another, Skel decides to accept Doc's invitation. She hands Warden her psychic relay so she can send a message back if something goes wrong. Jake leads Skel through the complex taking a circuitous route to avoid showing her a lot. The building is a solidly built research facility (think Black Mesa from Half-Life) and she sees a sign for Kayquodek Research. Jake leads her to another building and up to an old boardroom where she's ushered in to meet Doc.
Doc is a kindly-looking older black man with wire-rimmed spectacles (think Washington Carver). He seems to know all about Skel and Freedom and...Tai interestingly enough. They have a short, non-committal conversation and finally Doc invites Skel to stay with him and work on science together (and certainly Ms. Tai would also be welcome). Skel is not terribly convinced and Doc is more than happy to let her return to the barge but before she leaves, he takes her downstairs to show off the fruit of his endeavors.
In a disused kitchen, Doc opens up a functioning refrigerator and pulls out an epi-pen device that will administer a drug to make the recipient more receptive to Skel's psychic intrusions. Doc offers it as an example of his work and an enticement to return to him. He also describes in more detail the type of centrifuge he's looking for. Skel has one in her medical lab but she never knew what it was for and in any event, Doc's looking for a larger, more complex arrangement. (The PCs are relieved that it's biological and not nuclear centrifuges Doc is looking for) After that, Doc has Jake take her back to the barge.
Meanwhile, back on the barge, Ponch has been revived and the crew moves the boat a bit upstream ostensibly to turn it around and get it pointed downstream for the trip home, but also to get a good sample upriver from the complex. They get their sample and it comes back clean (well, it's still river water, but it doesn't have the specific poisons in it that triggered all this effort). Shortly after they return, Skel rejoins them and they head off back down the river.
On the way back, Skel shares what she learned and the Ring makes Plans. Although it seems pretty clear the complex is poisoning the water, the Warden still wants to keep his options open. Kayquodek might prove a valuable (if contaminating) trading partner and they consider talking with Tai about building that centrifuge they want. They also discuss putting a large water tank on the barge and using it to go upriver and collect water above the facility and return with it to Freedom. Obviously a bit more time and effort but perhaps negotiations will win out.
The Warden also considers plans to take out Kayquodek. Ponch doesn't have a lot of good options for him. Going overland through the forest is probably suicide. The forest is dense and filled with lots of unpleasant things. Coming up by the river is faster and safer (Rothschild's demise notwithstanding) but they'll be quite visible. Combined, Ponch and the Warden have a gang that's larger and better armed than what they could see of the compound but they'll still have to storm the buildings and while they could win, the casualties will be very high and might leave them weak to other threats.
In the end, they decide to address the water problems by converting the barge to a tanker and they'll speak softly to Kayquodek while searching for a bigger stick.
Finally they return to Freedom. As they pull into the vehicle bay, Ponch spots Rash and Sky Boy, apparently back from their escort mission. But they, and their vehicles are looking quite a bit more...bullety than they were in the morning. There's a tangle of explanation but Ponch gets the whole story out of Rash.
The search team went deep into the salvage reef. Not mapped in the traditional sense, the names of prominent wrecks are used as landmarks. The Claremont was a coastal lighter and now is the eastmost landmark of explored salvage reef. The search team went out past the Claremont and in the canyons of wreckage, a sniper took out the driver of Vega's salvage.
That was the opening volley of a fierce ambush. Rash and Sky Boy returned fire as best they could but they didn't have a lot of room to maneuver and they were seriously out-numbered. The attackers focused on the salvage truck and soon everyone aboard was dead. Rash and Sky Boy, already injured wheeled around and took off out of there.
Ponch glares at them, but he buys their story. His gang looks to save their own skin first, but they wouldn't risk his wrath by bolting at the first sign of trouble. They've clearly taken fire and he knows they probably did their best. Still. There's someone out there in the reef and now they've jumped two of Vega's teams. Vega isn't going to be pleased by this.
We called the game at this point. I continue to be really happy with the system and I like the way it provides a short, focused prep session for the GM after the first game and then you can just let things roll, but also leaves room to improvise as players come up with stuff. Originally I was going to hold Doc in reserve, but Skel accepted the invitation so he came on a little early.
I'm also super pleased that Ponch opened his mind. It's always fun when characters operate outside their areas of specialization and mind-opening is something that has an enormous risk/reward potential. I'm hoping to get everyone to open their mind at least once, but when the Warden finally does so, I think it'll be something special.
later
Tom
Once again, we got together for another session of Apocalypse World and once again, I took some notes. Not quite as narrative as my other campaign notes, these mostly help me remember the broad strokes of what happened.
In the morning, Ponch gets up and takes the report from Lance. Some scuffling and unrest in Prosperity because of the water restrictions but nothing too serious. More troubling is that a number of water treatment workers have become sick. They aren't dying but they ain't healthy. Good thing there's no water for them to process. Apparently Tai also came down somewhat ill as well. [Ed Note -- Tai's player was out sick actually] Tai went to Lance in the middle of the night and had him send out some buggies to take samples up and down the river before committing the larger water haulers to a fruitless journey.
Ponch heads down to the vehicle bay to get a feel for hwo things are going in his gang. The day shift seems pretty collected, but down in the bay is a crate of ammo and a large scavenge truck (a makeshift monstrosity capable of hauling away lots of heavy scrap or towning another vehicle). This is all from Vega in fulfillment of her promise for a discounted shipment of ammo in exchange for a security escort out into the salvage reef to find her missing salvage team.
The truck is manned by more of Vega's workers and a couple of her security guards led by a guy named Foster. They're obviously looking to take off right away and Ponch lends them a buggy crewed by Rash and Sky Boy. They'll act as additional muscle and the little search party rumbles off into the salvage reef.
High above, in the Warden's lofty quarters, the Warden wakes to find a note from Vega. He'd used his prodigious charm to seduce her the previous night. [Ed note: a bit of a retcon here] After a mutual enjoyable evening, they'd split a rare bottle of wine and discussed the Warden's small library. Many of the books are actually journals. Each Warden maintains a journal detailing their reign. But there are other books and the Warden gifts Vega with a book of poetry.
Talk then turns to the City and its mysterious inhabitants. Warden confesses to having a great deal of anxiety about the people who live their and an interest in escaping the City's occult domination. Vega is surprised at this (it was the Krewe who selected the current Warden and loyalty/respect/fear towards the Krewe is the usual attitude Wardens have). She herself is uncomfortable about the city but bullets are no good against ghosts. The Warden suggests that when the ghosts are rendered corporeal he might have need of her. Vega agrees her opinion would be different then and they go back to sleep. Vega taking off early in the morning.
At stand-up Ponch shares his information. The Warden re-assures Ponch that assisting Vega was the right thing to do. At the last, there's a note from Tai -- the riders Lance sent out to get samples have come back. The sample taken at the spot the water is normally collected at shows contamination. Unfortunately, so do the samples take further up and down the river. So whatever is wrong with the water, it seems to be present in the river (and wasn't added in later) and it's being introduced well upstream...possibly in the dense forests to the north.
There's a short conference and it's decided that an expedition up the river must be made. Ponch, Warden and Skel will all go. Tai will supply them with a half-dozen sample jars that will turn blue if there's contaminant in the water. The crew will go up on a barge that's normally used to dredge up silt for the farms. The barge will be piloted by Grome, who's head of water collection operations. Ponch will bring along Packard (who's had some experience in the forest) and Smith for backup and Warden grabs Rothschild to provide a bit more muscle.
So everyone rides out to the rotten landing where the barge is tied up. They board and proceed up the river. Skel is less than happy about this situation. She fled from something terrible in the forest a little over a year ago and has been very happy in Freedom since then. Even now, the forest chitters at the edge of her mind. The water remains contaminated and they'll have to head into the woods. Although likely to be a bad idea, she opens up her mind to the maelstrom to see if she can find out more about this contamination.
Skel normally sees the psychic world in a cyberpunk vision of neon lines and nodes. Here by the jungle the world is a blinding light of dense intelligences. She does make out the river flowing through it and she gets a sense that the contamination might be coming from a few more miles up the river and into the jungle. Too late, she detects a rather large presence near the barge, just as a spike-tipped tentacle lunges out of the water, spears Rothschild and drags him back below the water. Fire from the barge produces nothing.
Rattled, the barge and its crew continues up the river. Eventually, they round a bend and they find a small clearing with a complex of kudzu-covered buildings next to the river. The complex has a small dock attaches to it where a couple of small boats are tied up. Looking out from the compound are a number of shabbily dressed people. Some of them are geared up with the usual improvised protection denoting security, others seem to be works. Most have masks of some kind. On the dock, more of the security people are waiting. They're joined by a larger, better dressed guy with a gun.
Stopping just shy of the dock, the Warden attempts some negotiation with the leader. His charming efforts are curtly rebuffed by the leader (named Jake as the PCs will later learn). The facility is uninterested in letting the barge stop here and is uninterested in trade with Freedom...unless perhaps they have some centrifuges. Then there might be some interest but they clearly don't have them now and had best run along.
A messenger comes out from the complex and whispers to Jake. Apparently Doc has an interest in Skel and she's invited to come inside. There is a quick conversation. No one is terribly interested in going into the complex alone. Skel again opens her mind and gets an impression of a cloying, suffocating, honey-like sweetness that makes her uncomfortable.
With negotiations at a standstill, Ponch decides that this is absolutely the time and place to open his fragile mind to the Psychic maelstrom. [Ed. Note: Although anyone can open their minds to get useful information, Ponch and the Warden are have terrible stats for this task.] To Ponch, the psychic world is a world of sound and here in the jungle it turns into a sonic kaleidoscope where sounds echo and reverberate and morph into pattern after pattern after pattern.
His mind echoes with the past when Warden prevented him from getting himself killed by going up against T-Bone before he was ready. A surprising revelation that he cares about Warden like a brother because the Warden is willing to stand up to him and speak the truth to him and generally looks out for his best interests.
Then the present batters down the past and his mind fills with the noise of the inhabitants of the complex. Most of it is unintelligible gibbering, but eventually his mind brushes up against Jake's and what he hears bothers him. Jake's thoughts aren't the unfocused ramblings of the others. Jake is coldly assessing the barge and its occupants, identifying threats and weaknesses and how he will react depending on what the PCs want to do. Ponch is troubled because Jake is no raving loon, he's smart. Smart like Ponch and Ponch isn't used to that.
All this happens in a stretched out space internally, but externally Ponch faints away. Skel, who's rather used to this sort of thing, deftly grabs him as he starts to fall and lowers him gently down. The Warden is rather concerned over his Chief of Security fainting and there's some concern about what to do next.
Perhaps deciding that one bad decision deserves another, Skel decides to accept Doc's invitation. She hands Warden her psychic relay so she can send a message back if something goes wrong. Jake leads Skel through the complex taking a circuitous route to avoid showing her a lot. The building is a solidly built research facility (think Black Mesa from Half-Life) and she sees a sign for Kayquodek Research. Jake leads her to another building and up to an old boardroom where she's ushered in to meet Doc.
Doc is a kindly-looking older black man with wire-rimmed spectacles (think Washington Carver). He seems to know all about Skel and Freedom and...Tai interestingly enough. They have a short, non-committal conversation and finally Doc invites Skel to stay with him and work on science together (and certainly Ms. Tai would also be welcome). Skel is not terribly convinced and Doc is more than happy to let her return to the barge but before she leaves, he takes her downstairs to show off the fruit of his endeavors.
In a disused kitchen, Doc opens up a functioning refrigerator and pulls out an epi-pen device that will administer a drug to make the recipient more receptive to Skel's psychic intrusions. Doc offers it as an example of his work and an enticement to return to him. He also describes in more detail the type of centrifuge he's looking for. Skel has one in her medical lab but she never knew what it was for and in any event, Doc's looking for a larger, more complex arrangement. (The PCs are relieved that it's biological and not nuclear centrifuges Doc is looking for) After that, Doc has Jake take her back to the barge.
Meanwhile, back on the barge, Ponch has been revived and the crew moves the boat a bit upstream ostensibly to turn it around and get it pointed downstream for the trip home, but also to get a good sample upriver from the complex. They get their sample and it comes back clean (well, it's still river water, but it doesn't have the specific poisons in it that triggered all this effort). Shortly after they return, Skel rejoins them and they head off back down the river.
On the way back, Skel shares what she learned and the Ring makes Plans. Although it seems pretty clear the complex is poisoning the water, the Warden still wants to keep his options open. Kayquodek might prove a valuable (if contaminating) trading partner and they consider talking with Tai about building that centrifuge they want. They also discuss putting a large water tank on the barge and using it to go upriver and collect water above the facility and return with it to Freedom. Obviously a bit more time and effort but perhaps negotiations will win out.
The Warden also considers plans to take out Kayquodek. Ponch doesn't have a lot of good options for him. Going overland through the forest is probably suicide. The forest is dense and filled with lots of unpleasant things. Coming up by the river is faster and safer (Rothschild's demise notwithstanding) but they'll be quite visible. Combined, Ponch and the Warden have a gang that's larger and better armed than what they could see of the compound but they'll still have to storm the buildings and while they could win, the casualties will be very high and might leave them weak to other threats.
In the end, they decide to address the water problems by converting the barge to a tanker and they'll speak softly to Kayquodek while searching for a bigger stick.
Finally they return to Freedom. As they pull into the vehicle bay, Ponch spots Rash and Sky Boy, apparently back from their escort mission. But they, and their vehicles are looking quite a bit more...bullety than they were in the morning. There's a tangle of explanation but Ponch gets the whole story out of Rash.
The search team went deep into the salvage reef. Not mapped in the traditional sense, the names of prominent wrecks are used as landmarks. The Claremont was a coastal lighter and now is the eastmost landmark of explored salvage reef. The search team went out past the Claremont and in the canyons of wreckage, a sniper took out the driver of Vega's salvage.
That was the opening volley of a fierce ambush. Rash and Sky Boy returned fire as best they could but they didn't have a lot of room to maneuver and they were seriously out-numbered. The attackers focused on the salvage truck and soon everyone aboard was dead. Rash and Sky Boy, already injured wheeled around and took off out of there.
Ponch glares at them, but he buys their story. His gang looks to save their own skin first, but they wouldn't risk his wrath by bolting at the first sign of trouble. They've clearly taken fire and he knows they probably did their best. Still. There's someone out there in the reef and now they've jumped two of Vega's teams. Vega isn't going to be pleased by this.
We called the game at this point. I continue to be really happy with the system and I like the way it provides a short, focused prep session for the GM after the first game and then you can just let things roll, but also leaves room to improvise as players come up with stuff. Originally I was going to hold Doc in reserve, but Skel accepted the invitation so he came on a little early.
I'm also super pleased that Ponch opened his mind. It's always fun when characters operate outside their areas of specialization and mind-opening is something that has an enormous risk/reward potential. I'm hoping to get everyone to open their mind at least once, but when the Warden finally does so, I think it'll be something special.
later
Tom
