Adventures in the Strange (Inactive)

Game Master Keith S.

"That sounds like a plan. It'll be interesting to see if the cars work."

Tanya takes the thumb drives as well as one of the hard drives. Sure they may not have much in the classified style info but this is a recursion so it may give further insight into who resided here. Some may even contain passwords or other juicy information. If not she could always use a few thumbdrives at the low price of free. She puts them all in a plastic bag and stores them in her backpack. If there is any jewelry, cash or other valuables she will take them too.

She looks to Ollie and says, "Does your laptop work here? I want to see if there is anything on these USB sticks. My iPhone is an apple device so can't read them."

Your phones and laptops work. But there is no cell service. Same with the wireless network - nothing there.

Tanya finds nothing of interest on any of the jump drives - photos, movies, recipes, etc.

You can open a car and hotwire it as a difficulty 4 task, intelligence based, and modified for any skills or talents you may have.

If you elect to smash a window you can decrease the difficulty by 1.

"I'm not really a hot-wiring kind of guy .... but if you need a window smashed?" Loren offers.

Tanya says, "Just leave it to me. I've broken into and hotwired a good deal of cars in my time."

Tanya will take out her lockpick kit and get to work picking the lock (Reducing the difficulty by 1 by having the proper tools as she has both a Lockpick kit to open the car and a pocket knife to cut the wires for the hotwire process). After breaking in she hotwires the car starting up the engine.

Lockpick & Hotwire: 1d20 ⇒ 19

Excellent, a minor effect. As for the minor effect, if there is alarm in the car I disarm it as well. If there is no alarm, I do the job quickly and expertly.

Tanya breaks into the car like a pro and hotwires the car with skill. You definitely see that she's got skills and was not lying about her experience.

Vanessa eyes Tanya's work curiously. "It's amusing to watch a proper thief at work. Being on the other side of the law has kept me from getting a true understanding of everything a criminal might now and the skill they have. Maybe you and I can teach other a thing or two, Tanya." She gets inside the car, taking the back seat. "So where are we heading to?"

"I mostly just hurt people ...." Loren mumbles as he gets into the back seat.

Ollie nods approvingly, "Well done there Tanya. Very impressive. If we can get onto a network here, maybe I'll get a chance to show off. What do you all think of starting at our rooms?"

Tanya says to Vanessa, "We can't all be born with a silver spoon Vanessa. When your family is as poor as dirt and you've got a criminal record the choices are work in illegal enterprises for good money or flip burgers at Mc.Dicks for the rest of your life. The Estate gave me a clean slate and well paying job to use my skills to the fullest for a cause to save the world. A good deal if I've ever seen one."

You drive off through the Estate Campus heading toward your rooms. You can easily get there and park outside the building where you are staying in your world.

It is eerie how quiet it is. Everyone is very jumpy.

You need to take the stairs up (or down to the basement) as the elevator won't work without power.

Checking out your rooms, they appear to be occupied but not by you. That is to say, nothing in the room is something you recognize as your stuff.

Is there anything on the radio? loren asks.

It all seems deserted, like when a character in a movie wakes up and discovers he's the last man on earth.

Nothing on the radio.

At the room, Ollie will try connecting to the network to see if there is any connection available or if everything seems dead due to the lack of electricity. Assuming things are still silent he suggests, "Let's head out of the campus and into the city. We can see if that is deserted too."

You begin to drive off the Estate Campus. Just a few blocks off campus and Tanya stops the car. Her hands are literally shaking and she looks very spooked. As do you all.

You have a massive sense of dread that something is ...waiting... for you above the clouds.

"Easy Tanya. I feel it too. Anyone know of any helicopters on campus? Oh wait, I have a better idea. Why the hell didn't I think to pick up a drone. They have to have one here someplace."
What would we roll to figure that out or would it be common knowledge for us where we might find one?

You figure they would be in the science building. Not sure where but expect the directory posted in the building to tell you.

Tanya says to Ollie, "Yea, figuring out where the drone went might tell us more about what is going on in this weird recursion. But whatever we do, we'ed best be quick about it. I got an edgy feeling that something is up in the clouds there. Something ready to strike us with a death from above attack."

"That what I mean Tanya. We'll grab a drone, fly it up into the clouds, and see what's creeping us out up there. There should be a drone in the science building. Let's go."

"That sounds like a reasonable plan. I've got that same itchy feeling about those clouds."

"Sounds like a plan then. Tanya, should be a left right there." says Ollie, pointing to a corner up ahead. "Let's park and head inside. I don't know exactly where they keep them, but we should be able to figure it out."

You move into the building and find a lab labeled Drones and Remote Viewing, and sure enough you find a drone in there.

You also find something odd in back. Several sets of clothes, laid out on the floor. White powder leaks from the sleeves and pant legs and through the buttons on the shirts and where the shirts are sort of tucked in.

You guess there are several peoples worth of clothes here, lying in a dark closet.

"Here we go. Now we can figure out what is up there in the clouds. But what do you suppose is going on with those clothes?"
Does it seem like the clothes are filled with this white powder...like whoever was wearing them got turned into this stuff? Or is it more that there is just a small amount of residue in the places you described?

There is not a lot of residue. But the clothes are lying in such a fashion that it looks like a person lay down - and then the person went away, and the clothes just sort of settled out flat.

"This looks like something Hertzfield will want to know about. Let's collect some of that powder and see if we can analyze it." He looks around for an envelope or piece of paper, uses his hunting knife to scrape some of the power onto it and then closes the envelope (or folds the paper). "Think we should have a look now or when we get back to earth? We ought to be able to find some instruments here."

"It looks like they were trying to hide from whatever got them ...." Loren says.

"We definitely need to collect some to try to find out what happened."

"Lets stay focused on the drone for now."

Tanya looks at the powder and the setup of the clothes and says, "Reminds me of some old batman movie where the Joker dehydrated people by shooting them with a gun that took all the water out of their bodies, leaving only piles of dust. There could have actually been people in those clothes at one time by the way those clothes are positioned."

"Ok, I've got the powder. We can always check it out back home if we have to leave in a hurry. Let's get a drone up next. If they have a portable rig, maybe we should try it from the room with the mirror in case we need to make a quick exit."

"Hold on just a moment. I'm going to look over the room one more time."

Vanessa gives the lab a quick scan, tapping into her inexplicable understanding of reality. After her flash of insight, she turns back.

"Okay, let's keep moving."

Premonition (2 Intellect points): You learn one random fact from a person or location that is pertinent to a topic you designate.

When was the last time there was a living creature in the room, other than us?

The drones in the room are "hover" type (if such a terminology exists?). By which I mean they are round and have 4 sets of blades in each corner. You can lift them pretty easily and move them outside. These appear to be some sort of electric powered device, with on board batteries, and everything has a charge, although not quite a full charge.

They are about 3 feet in diameter and maybe 9 inches tall, and also have a camera mounted on the front and the top and the bottom.

So .... drag it outside and launch it, or drag it back to your (borrowed) car to drive back to the room with the gate?

Whoops - sorry Vanessa, missed that. I swear that wasn't on my screen when I answered (I think I had it open, got distracted by kids, and answered an old screen ... my bad).

It has been several days (76 hrs) since anyone has been alive in this room.

As much as Ollie is "brash", I think I want to be close to the gate in case we need a hasty exit.

Tanya says to the group, "I say we activate the drone once we get outside. Finding out what is going on here is a part of our mission and we should not leave until the job is done or a threat presents itself. Ollie, can you link the Drone's telemetry to your computer so we can track the data given by the drone? That way we can move back toward the portal while gathering the information that the Drone is giving out."

So what is the final vote on how to go with this?

I vote we drive to the building with the gate home and fly the drone from our parking spot right in front of the doors. Something comes flying down at us and we run like hell. I'll wire it up to my laptop so we can have a visual of what the drone sees and telemetry on the data. Hack the impossible (3 Intellect Points if necessary).

Sounds good to me.

Good plan

OK. You drive back to the building that houses the lab.

You begin setting up the drone and hooking up the laptop and etc. Ollie can easily make the drone connect to his laptop - its actually designed to do that. He is a bit concerned with battery life as all energy sources seem dead here, but that is a worry that is a few hours away from becoming a serious reality.

The drone launches and the telemetry is working well - you can see what the cameras see on Ollie's laptop.

Where do you want it to fly? Over the nearby city streets, up into the clouds, ?? I think you may have said but I can't seem to find where, so maybe that is just my mind failing.

"Oh what the hell. I'm curious where all the people have gone, but I'm more curious about the weird feeling we've all got about what's above the clouds." Ollie sends the drone flying up into the sky, seeking to get it up over the top of the clouds.

The drone rises into the clouds, swiftly climbing. You lose visual contact with the vehicle but the camera works fine.

The image on the camera is gray cloud for a few moments, and then suddenly clears. You see a blueish purple sky, the color of a dark bruise, filled with a chaotic flow of spiraling fractal patterns, iterating around and back onto themselves in a fashion that gives you a headache to look upon.

No stars, no moon or sun (it should be late afternoon - say 5p at this time).

The image on the screen is not moving as it was. It seems the drone is not necessarily moving anymore under its own power but appears to be moving sideways or drifting sideways - but it is hard to tell for sure as the background of patterns is moving too, removing any frame of reference you may have. Perhaps the drone is on course and it is the sky that is moving?

Vanessa gasps as she looks at the screen That is the Strange itself! she blurts out.

"I may not be an expert on this stuff, but that means it's time to leave .... right?" Loren says to the group.

Tanya looks at the images and her eyes widen as she says, "Yea, that might be a good idea. Who knows what could be lurking out there in that chaotic mix of patterns. We'ed best head back and make a report to the boss back at the Estate."

Have we lost some players?

Tanya figures she is looking right into the Strange, which means that somehow this recursion has been torn open to the dark energy network.

While watching the screen, it suddenly shakes and then shows static. You are not sure what has happened to your probe.

And gazing up at the clouds, you see some things come rushing down out of them. At first they look like birds....then you realize they are not birds at all! You are not sure what they are!

the things

They look like sheets of fleshy clay shot through with undulating, mouth-like openings that appear, disappear, open and close in rhythmic pulses.

Everyone needs to make a level 4 intellect test; those that fail panic (meaning they get to choose if they stand rooted in one spot, run off shrieking, or faint for a round).

The things are at long range but are closing swiftly.

"I agree with you Tanya. I don't think this is what he was expecting!" As the screen shakes and turns to static, Ollie grunts "Nuts! I was afraid that was going to happen. Now, we'd really better get going." He snaps the laptop shut, opens the car door and begins heading back into the building when the birds that aren't birds appear.
Ok, before I roll, I could basically add 3 points of effort from my Intellect pool to reduce this to a level 3 test, but since Ollie has an Intellect edge of 1, it would only cost 2 points of effort. Or he could add 5 points of effort to reduce it to a level 2 test, but it would only take 4 points of effort for Ollie. Correct?

I'll use 3 points from my intellect pool to reduce it to a level 3 intellect test

intellect test to remain calm: 1d20 ⇒ 11

seems like that was a good choice

"Everyone remain calm. We've obviously outstayed our welcome here. We just need to do our jobs and get everyone back to earth." Loren says to the group.

Ollie, I believe at your level you can only reduce the difficulty by 1 level at this stage unless you can justify a skill or an advantage that will reduce it further. But yes, having an intellect edge does reduce the cost for effort use from 3 intellect to 2 intellect.

Anyway here is my intellect roll to resist (not spending effort on this roll as I want to save my intellect points).

Intellect Test: 1d20 ⇒ 8

Failure!

Tanya looks up at the terrible creatures and it triggers a memory of her time in Ruk and the hideous bio-constructs that infested that recursion. Memories trigger of the numerous times she had to run and hide to avoid losing her life. Her eyes widen in absolute terror and she screams, "NO NO NO! NOT THEM! NOT THEM! AEEEEE!" Her fight or flight response triggers and she bolts away from the creatures as fast as her legs can carry her.

@ Ollie - Tanya is correct on the use of effort and edge - you can only use one point because your effort is 1, and it reduces the cost by 1 (your edge number).

Tanya runs off shrieking and Loren stays still, calmly staring at the sky.

What sort of test is it to grab hold of Tanya?

"Hey! Don't run off .... we've gotta keep cool and get out of here!"

Gotcha. I will go ahead and spend the two points of effort.
Intellect Test: 1d20 ⇒ 18
The bird-like creatures barely faze Ollie, but when he hears the shout from Loren, he spins in time to see Tanya fleeing. [b]"Oh s$~$! We'd better grab her now Loren. Throwing his laptop into his bag, Ollie joins Loren in the race to grab Tanya and get her into the building.

It would probably be a Speed Test to see if you can catch up to my character as she runs away. Although I would also justify a Might Test if you were trying to barrel Tanya down and tackle her.

Tanya sprints running directly away from where the creatures are coming from and rushes towards a nearby alleyway in attempt to draw on her hiding skills to escape the creatures.

barring the intervention of the other PC's of course