Everyone, please copy and paste your character sheets when you post your actions. This speeds up action processing on my end!
Dereham OutskirtsP4 acts defensively, focusing on staying out of reach against the tailed and the club-wielding mutants, and looks for a opening to claw and bite at the croc-headed one.
[P4 rolled 3+1+1wits=5]
P4, as a cyberleopard, paces around. He tries to stay out of the way of the mutants, keeping his eyes on Yuuki, with the crocodile head. He's distracted by the uniformed woman, Kateryna, rushing in to his left, when Keiko darts round at incredible speed from the right and smacks into him with a heavy spanner she's produced from somewhere. P4's vid-feed shakes as he snaps around. Through the spinning, he sees Yuuki's huge maw lunge toward him.P4 gains condition: shaken. He is in a morph-threatening situation. (Note: if something would kill you, or in this case, destroy your morph, you automatically lose 1 luck and recover, if you have luck to lose though you can opt not to do this. This hasn't happened yet, but could do on another critical failure.)
Cromer Road -> Norwich KeepYeah, let's continue southwards. After all, we've got a delivery to make."
The rest of the ride south is uneventful so soon Darrin and the others ride into Norwich city. The crumbling city is gradually becoming more habitable. Weeds in the roads have been trampled. More of the buildings are showing signs of habitation: smoke curls from chimneys, plastic sheeting is nailed over some broken windows, people can be spotted here and there. The come to the Keep. The remains of a medieval castle, kept up in the last days as a museum, it's now the core of Norwich. A makeshift wall of broken cars rings the hill where the castle stands.
In the yard within the gate, Darrin's friend Cass helps unload the nutrient mix. "Good journey?" she asks.
"The Doc totally wrecked this GML sucker," Murray enthuses. "He went to town with his mutations. It was really something."
Cass rummages in a bag. "I don't know if this is useful for you, but it's kinda sciency right?" She passes Darrin a glass thermometer.Walt Caravan Guard quest has been completed!
Darrin gets quest reward: +2 tallies, a thermometer.
Road near Spooner RowFinding this particular scenario somewhat dubious, Issac decides make a few inquiries. While he would like to keep the outfit, it wasn't quite critical for him to do so.
"Well if I am to pay taxes to the Postwick Mob, then it stands to reason that I should granted citizenship within New Anglia. On that note, I have a number of questions in regards to how dual citizenship would work, Postwick tax law, the location of government institutions, where I would need to go in order to obtain a passport... I have a lot of questions that any legitimate tax collector such as yourselves would definitely know the answer to."
[Isaac rolled 4+1-2empathy+1lawyer+0mob=4]
The man laughs. "I don't think you understand how this works. Show him Darlene!"
The woman sends a jet of a flame bursting above Isaac's head. She levels it straight at his face. "I don't think we mind if the suit is a little bit crispy..." she says.
"Oh I think I could stamp out the flames in time..." says the man. "Now, cough up, whateveryournameis."
Deep in the BroadsGrab the diamond dust sack and follow the calls. Note the location of this spot.
Name: Auze
Appearance: Slightly on the tall side, brown hair, male.
Profession: Engineer, seeks to become a Tortle trainer
Faction: Unaligned Saviour
Type: Human
Stats
Body: 0
Wits: 2
Empathy: 2
Den: In the area South-west of the broads, a shack with gathered equipment and books salvaged from the plane.
Conditions:
Luck: 3
Kudos: 0
Rep: +0walt +0london +0mob +0keep -1church -1gml -1legends +0terra -1eyes +0pirates
Signature Gear: Tortleing gun, combining old weaponry with new electronics, it is capable of shooting someone, bashing someone's head in, and receiving and decryption radio signals... so long as the encryption is Morse code. It is not very good at bashing someone's head in unless you get the add-on whip... which Auze didn't.
Saviour: Auze is the guide and leader of the once-prestigious-but-now-banned-from-Ecuador-for-life Carolinian-Galapagosian Hallockes de Pinta family. His fellow relatives are:
Father, Auze Sr: An experienced tortle trainer who was fairly powerful in the Galapagos, and has fought off some monsters in his day. Preferred weapon: scourge followed with a dagger
Brother, Josh: Much more into weaponry than the Engineering-minded Auze. Is stronger, and likes the idea of revenge against the non-humans. A good tortle trainer himself.
Sister, Layla: Good with people, she likes to convince others to do something with charisma. The reason the family got banned from the Galapagos for life.
Cousin, Carol: The less said 'bout 'im, the better. There are only 3 extra members in the family.
Personal Quests:
1 - Establish a population of trained attack tortles - Part 1 - Tortle capture
The bad news is, tortles aren't normally native to the Broads; the good news is your family stuffed half the plane full of them; the worse news is that this is mostly why the plane crashed here and all the surviving tortles escaped into this interminable marshland. Time to catch some!
Reward: 1 tally per tortle caught
Location: deep in the Broads
2 - Restore humanity to its former glory and kick out mutants and uploxed - Part 1 - Alliance
It'll be tough to fight against killer robots and rampaging mutants just as a family. Perhaps human allies in the fight could be found? The Land Pirates are most militant about getting rid of the mutants, while the Keep fight a good fight against the uploxed. The Postwick Mob are a bit more ambivalent, but their base is closest to your home.
Location: Norwich outskirts, or Norwich Castle, or Postwick
Reward: +2 tallies, possibility of +1 faction rep
3 - Secure the future of the Hallocks de Piñta dynasty - Part 1 - Meeting People
You could be cut down at any moment: you need to create a new generation of tortlers. That means meeting other humans... either a nice Señorita, or a lost child that could be adopted. There are plenty of humans at the Keep...
Location: Norwich Castle
Family Quest
* - O Brother!
Josh claims that a harpy flew off with his favorite sword. He says he thinks its hiding out in a boathouse on the river. If you help him get his sword back, he says he'll finally get around to adding the whip attachment to your Tortling gun.
Location: The broads
Reward: +2 tallies, a whip.
[Auze rolled 2+1+2wits=5]
Auze grabs the dust and marks the location down for future reference. Then it's Tortle hunting time! He follows the calls deep into the broads. The trees hang thick overhead and the ground is boggy. He takes one wrong step and ends up waist deep in the mud. As he tries to wriggle free he realises it's only pulling him deeper in! There's rustling in the trees and he can almost swear a tortle is up there laughing at him.Auze gains a sack of diamond dust.
Auze gains condition: sinking into the mud. This is a life-threatening situation (see above).
WattonBio
Name: Sandra
Appearance: Millipede with antennae, mandibles and the ability to roll into a ball
Profession: Teacher
Faction: Eyes of Gaia
Type: Robo-bug uploxed
Stats
Body: 1
Wits: 2
Empathy: 1
Connexion: 1
Health
Conditions:
Luck: 2
Distance: 1
Rep
-1walt -2london -1mob -1keep -1church -1gml -1legends +0terra +1eyes -2pirates
Kudos: 0
[Mutants only]Mutation:
Experience Tallys: 1
Stuff
Den:
Spalding's Chair Hill
Signature Gear: (choose a single notable handheld or wearable item that says something about your character & gives +1 to relevant rolls)
Inventory:x4 Wd40 cans
Relationships:
Tas, a rebellious child in the Church.
Helen, a determined robo-squid in the Eyes of Gaia, usually lives in London.
Natrix, a grumpy robo-cranefly in the Eyes of Gaia.
Sable, a kind robo-scorpion in the Eyes of Gaia.
Personal Quests
- Help Tas escape the Church - Part 1 - Asking the Assassin
After raiders destroyed Tuckwood, the Church retreated to Ipswich. That'll be where Tas is kept. Unfortunately, it's in the Dead Zone and the jamming tech prevents Sandra moving her morph there. However, in Nexus there are rumours spreading around of an assassin-bot who claims to be able to receive a direct controlling signal from the satellites above. If that technology could be shared (or stolen) this would be a game changer for the Eyes!
Location: Apparently this assassin, Killazilla, has a den in Watton where it resides between jobs.
Reward: 2 tallies
Destroy the Church of the New Millenium - Part 1
research on Nexus brings up that before the end days a mycologist at the West Suffolk College had been breeding on a fungus that rapidly eats away at dead flesh. If this was released among the population of the Church, it would destroy all of the walking corpses and leave the non-uploxed women and children alive. Perhaps a sample could still exist at the college?
Location: West Suffolk College, in Bury St Edmunds, near the Buried Saint Tower.
Reward: 1 tally
Protect the forests - Part 1 - Anti-Road Clearance
The Keep and the Londoners have been working to clear a series of roundabouts in Scole which are completely overgrown, this would allow their convoys to drive through the area much more easily. If someone were to destroy the road and plant some new trees there, that would hinder their destruction...
Location: Scole
Reward: 3 tallies
"My name is Sandra. So far, what I have is 4 cans of WD-40, I'm sure you are after something else, like money. Is there anything I can do for you, Glitterbox?"
Glitterbox laughs on the television. "Hah! Money! That's a good one. What year is this? 2020? You slay me Sandra. For a can of WD-40 I'll set up the meeting."
As this is reasonable enough trade, Sandra gives away one of her cans. On the screen, Glitterbox's avatar disappears off, leaving only a background of white noise. After some time, he returns and says, "Sandra Dee, meet KZ."
Sandra swivels around and sees six foot high yellow robotic dinosaur (though more Reptar than Raptor) with razor-sharp spikes along its spine. The dinosaur starts emitting a syncopated drum beat. It flails its arms and legs in a horrible simulacra of human dance. It sings, "Killazilla's the name, you know killing's my game. Three kudos is my pay, who d'you want me to slay?"Sandra loses one can of WD-40.
Paradise SolutionsUse the razor-tail and my rubber hammer to try and knock out a clean bit of glass, so that I can unlock or open a door or window through the resulting hole. Try to get in that way.
Name: Sandeep Singh
Appearance: middle-aged turbaned Sikh with the characteristic thick mustache and short beard. Beginning to gray.
Profession: Architect.
Faction: Unaligned
Type: Mutant Pariah
Body 3
Wits 2
Empathy 0
Weird 1
Mutation 2
Den: house deep in the Norfolk Broads
Inventory at den:
Razor-tipped Cyberwolf tail.
Lighter. (just sparks)
Scissors
Plastic Funnel
Rubber hammer
Screwdriver
Thin Wires
pack of water filters
On person:
Knife
Overclocking Laser: powerful device that can cause a feedback loop that permanently corrupts the uploxed data.
Telepathy:
You can communicate with anyone within a few miles. You need to focus to pick out their mind, but once you've connected with someone, you can communicate with them mentally whenever you like so long as they're within range. And, until you break the connection, they are able to speak with you mentally at any time.
Powerful Jaw:
You have an immensely powerful bite. You can chew through anything as strong as bone without effort, and bite through much harder materials with focus.
Signature Gear: Narrow, wire-rimmed glasses.
Conditions:
Hunger: 0
Relationship: Harjinder. Spouse, had terminal disease before being frozen, now works for Walt Labs. Tim Tam, wild mutant child he abadoned in Norwich.
Rep: -1walt -1london -1mob -1keep -1church -2gml -2legends -1terra -1eyes -1pirates
Experience Tallies: 9
Personal Quests:
1 - Attacking the Nexus - Part 1 - Research
The Nexus must have been built on Earth so it stands to reason that there must be information about it still here. From the job page of a faded old newspaper, Sandeep has learned of a Research Park near the university in Norwich. Perhaps there would be a good place to start?
Location: University, Norwich
Reward: x1 tallies
2 - Establish mass communication method - Part 1 - Radio Free Wasteland
All the existing radio towers are corrupted, allowing Uploxed to piggyback on them. But if a short-wave radio network were set up, anyone with a HAM radio could communicate with each other, and anyone with any kind of radio could receive messages. First step is to get one.
Location: Arctech Radio Supplies, Norwich OR wander the backstreets in Ipswich on the off-chance there's an appropriate shop.
Reward: x1 tallies
3 - Buff the Base
Some Razorwire would really improve this base. Sandeep has learned of a factory where a large quantity of razorwire could be obtained, on the outskirts of Lowestoft.
Location: Lowestoft
Report location: base (wherever that is)
Reward: x1 tallies, razorwire
[Sandeep rolled 4+6+3body+1tools=14]
[Sandeep rolled 6+3+2wits=11]
Sandeep efficiently carves out and gentle pops in a section of window in the main door. He reaches in the clean hole and pulls the handle, letting him in the building.
Inside, it's dusty, but mostly untouched. There are all the usual features of an office block: row upon row of offices, the occasional bathroom. It doesn't look looted, but it does look like the workers cleared out most of the valuables before leaving. There are still a number of computers and after some careful searching on the first floor, Sandeep finds an external hard-drive plugged into the back. Someone has taped to it the note:stop unplugging this! its auto-backup for project!! do you WANT to lose data on the nexus-2 project Kyle???This looks like a promising research item, but Sandeep would need a working computer to access the data. Unfortunately, there's no power in the city outside Postwick and the Keep...Attacking the Nexus - Part 1 - Research has been completed!
Sandeep gains quest reward: +1 tally.
Sandeep gains Research Hard Drive.
Sandeep now has a free personal slot. He can fill it with Attacking the Nexus - Part 2 - Find a Working Computer if he wants to, but doesn't have to.
BlimpName: Jägermörder
Appearance: A metallic humanoid figure made out of a titanium-gold alloy that contains a metallic hood, in the digital realm the avatar is a living wraith that travels from place to place.
Profession: Warlord
Faction: Unaligned (Assassin)
Type: Uploxed
Stats:
Body: 2
Wits: 0
Empathy: 2
Connexion: -1
Health:
Luck: 2
Distance: 0
Rep:
-1walt -1london +0mob -1keep -1church +0gml +0legends +0terra +0eyes -2pirates
Kudos: 0
Experience Tally: 0
Stuff:
Den: In the middle of Great Marmite League,, Thetford Forest, and the Keep’s Radio Towers where no connection can connect. It’s an antique nuclear shelter.
Signature Gear: Scythe, an arm on the robotic chassis that can transform into an autoloading rotary minigun from the ammo reserve in the torso region.
Equipment: Bipedal Armored Chassis, Scythe, PSG1 (Sniper Rifle), Shadozer Teleportation Device (Temporarily turn the robotic body into a shadow and then travels hundreds of miles, appearing as a shadow temporarily then morphing back into robotic form. Highly experimental: prone to flickering back into physical form mid-journey). (All Integrated, Assassin’s Gear)
Personal Quests
1 - Harden physical form against radio jamming - Part 1 - Catching the Oystercatcher Watcher
The kind of broad-spectrum radio jamming that the Church use has thus far eluded the Uploxed of East Anglia. Jägermörder has learned through nexus that an uploxed signal engineer who specialised in this kind of technology is birdwatching in the Alde Mudflats right now. She might be persuaded to help develop hardening against jamming.
Location: Alde mudflats
Reward: x2 tallies
2 - Make shadow tech more reliable - Part 1 - Quantum Interpretation
Some people say the uploxing was a botched singularity, and that the people of Earth put their minds into machines before they could develop real runaway AI. But it's indisputable that in the final years of Earth civilisation, there were immense leaps in technical capability, and experimental applications of new dimensional technology began to proliferate before being abandoned as their creators uploxed into a digital paradise. Jager has heard a rumour that the Postwick Mob are now dealing in dangerous prototypes- perhaps they have something that could improve the shadow step? They have an agent called Murdok in the neutral town of Watton.
Location: Watton
Reward: x1 tallies
3 - Terminate members of the Church of Milennium - Part 1 - Bash the Bishop
Hacked communications show that a church delegate is coming from London way to Ipswich. This would be a great opportunity to hit the Church without needing to get into their jamming zone.
Location: Dedham Vale
Reward: x2 tallies
”Destabilization of technology, assuming physical morph, need to escape”. Jäger sees that it has teleported into a blimp and utilizes it’s thinking to try and get itself out of there
Jäger explores the undesignated Blimp, most likely probability of being the Terraterror or GML Blimp. Doing parkour with its advanced mechanical body, if direct itself to the service hatch and tries to see where the Uploxed nodes are.
[Jäger rolled 1+1+2body=4]
Jäger swings off a gantry, but the light metal buckles under him and he slips and hits the balloon floor hard. His scythe catches on the material and he tears straight through, venting helium out! The blimp careers sideways and Jäger slams down into a large basket-like cabin under the main balloon.
The cabin is a makeshift attachment at the back of the main blimp cabin. It's a large bamboo cage with a solid floor, but grated walls which let in dim light, the balloon its roof. Jäger notices a few other things about this cage: there's a giant robotic cranefly, training a laser point on Jäger. The cage has a covering of hay and troughs filled with water and chopped meat. And the cage is full of wolves. At least a dozen of them.Jäger is in a morph-threatening situation. (See above.)
Lost in Blizzard -> Kingdom Forge"Damn this weather."
Go among the elms.
Name: Dr. Burt Goldstine
Appearance: He looks like middle aged man with thinning hair.
Profession: Medical Doctor, Veteran
Faction: Unaligned
Type: Mutant Popsicle
Stats:
Body: 1
Wits: 2
Empathy: 0
Weird: 0
Personal Quests:
1 - Find some armour.
You found a faded brochure which showed a number of full suits of armour on display in Castle Rising, a 12th century castle deep in GML territory.
Location: Castle Rising, Kings Lynn
Reward: x2 tallies, armour
2 - Get rid of the Eyes of Gaia - Part 1: Catching the Oystercatcher Watcher
Rovin tells you that if the other Uploxed could stop the Eyes using their signal towers, they would do. The trouble is, there are no signals mechanics left alive and the ones in Nexus are enjoying paradise too much to be of any help... until now. One, Elsbeth Perotti in life was a signals engineer with a love of bird watching. Rovin has learned that she's currently piloting a drone looking at rare Oystercatchers in the Alde mudflats.
If she could be found she might be pursuaded to work on the signal towers to prevent the Eyes from using them.
Location: Alde mudflats
Reward: x3 tallies
3 - Make a warhammer
Making a decent lump of metal that won't fly off the handle is harder than it looks. Rovin has identified three different places where blacksmiths operated before the collapse, there's bound to be good metal in any of them.
Location: Steele's Smithery (Norwich), Metal Designs (near Buried Saint), Empire Forge (near Laxfield).
Reward: x1 tally, warhammer materials
Mutation:
Prodigious Growth: You are much taller than you used to be, and with concentration you can grow even bigger still.
Lightning Touch: You can arc electricity from your fingertips.
Hunger: 0
Luck: 2
Kudos: 0
Condition:
Den: farmhouse near Scole
Signature Gear: An torn old white lab coat
Inventory:
Whistle
Rebar club
Cyberdog head hat
Unstable Cabinet Armour
scoped Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk 1
box of .303 British
Stuff Back at the Den:
Raincoat
Small rock
Bag containing 3 zip ties
Flyer
Printed news story
Powdered caffeine pack
8 sugar sachet
Relationships:
Benny the crazy homeless guy that lived behind an office building, Burt's only real friend.
Rovin the Red Cap, a cunning and violent pike wielding uploxed in the Legend faction.
Experience Tallys: 9
Reputation: +0walt +0london +0mob +0keep +0church -1gml 1legends +0terra -1eyes -2pirates
[Burt rolled 1+4+2wits=7]
Burt walks for hours in the wet. Eventually he finds his way back on track in the direction of Laxfield. He's exhausted and alone, but after an hour of walking up and down almost identical lanes, he finds behind a vast weeping willow a faded sign saying EMPIRE FORGE.
There's a long workshop outside a country house. The wood frames of the workshop are rotten and the roof is sunken in from weather damage. As he opens the door to the dim interior, the whole thing shakes dubiously. Inside though, in the dim light of this rainy day, he sees a magnificent iron blacksmith's hammer that would work perfectly well as a war hammer. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it would be very safe to walk into the building and get it...
Burt gains condition: tired.
ScoleBen stared at this strange apparition for a moment, then blinked and rubbed at his eyes before taking another look.
These long, lonely walks across the zone could play tricks on the mind, of that he was well aware...
Take a second glance and make sure this critter is in fact real, and not a figment of my imagination.
If it is real, then my next concern will be whether this is some sort of trap, or if any more threatening beings are after it. Take a quick look around, then if the coast is clear, cautiously approach the tree to see what manner of creature this is and how I might potentially assist.
[Ben rolled 5+5+2wits-1hungry=11]
It's not just his eyes (or his stomach) playing tricks on him: there genuinely is a vocal teddy bear clinging to the tree. He can't hear any more of the vehicle sounds, so he approaches the tree. Up close it's clear that this is a large child's teddy bear, perhaps three feet high. It doesn't have hands, but obviously has strong enough arms to grasp the branch.
The teddy speaks again. "I was twying to cwoss the wiver. Some gang had me! Wescue me and I'll give you wealth beyond measure outlander!"
He's currently on a branch dangling over the river. It's near to another branch from a tree on the other side, which is presumably where he climbed from. The branch is perhaps six foot away, and is long, thin and light. If he could reach, Ben could pull it closer. Or he could try climbing the tree (though that would be a bit more marginal).