Session #3: Whatever Happened to the Man of Yesterday?

Choice Quotes:


Freedom Ranger's player to GM: "I just want you to know you're evil."

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Don: "Doris! It's good that you weren't eaten by a reality-munching bug monster! That said, we need to hunt a reality-munching bug monster!"

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GM: "Baby, did you fall out of heaven? Because it looks like you might have consumed it with your dark power."
Doris' player (to Sergei's): "Did you write that one down?"
Sergei's player: "No I did not. Nor am I going to."



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GM to Jack's player about Cosmic Coffee: "Everything in here is coursing with cosmic power... and also delicious flavor."
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Kay: "So, like, what's the legal status of clones?"
Egaru: "Well, we mostly just grow organs. We don't grow them to maturity just to harvest them. That would be morally repugnant... and terrible paperwork."
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Sidrophael: "If you ever need to talk, remember I'm your friend."
GM: "My boss works in mysterious ways."


Events:

Location: Tunguska Parallel, somewhere in Seattle 

Doris went looking for work at a pub with a 'help wanted' sign in the window that she'd seen earlier with Don. A harried looking waitress welcomed her with open arms, explaining that their last bartender had had a stroke. Doris took to the job and managed to keep up with the strange drink orders, although the presence of absinthe on the world sort of threw her.

On her break, she went rifling through the lost & found, as is her way*. She found a copper ring in the basket with a strange symbol on it that she recognized as 'special.' When she touched it, a spark of her Rift energy flew from her fingertip to the ring, which absorbed it. The symbol flashed brightly for a moment, then died down.

She pocketed the ring and went about her business.




Location: Tunguska Parallel, elsewhere in Seattle

Freedom Ranger had changed into civvies to send a message to the future, but as he wandered, he saw a number of details that did not match 1929 of his world. (He was about 8 years old for his world's 1929, so he had a sense of how it should look).

Among the dissonant details:

• This parallel had lush vegetation in Death Valley, instead of a scalding desert.
• There were zeppelins.
• His favorite chewing gum was blue, not green.
• He was having an allergic reaction to something in the air. (Likely fine particulate Element-X, but possibly also 'an evil curse.')

Freedom Ranger concluded that nobody who could put him in a full sensory hallucination would get the details wrong like that. It didn't make sense. He also did not believe he was just dreaming, as the details were too weird for his subconscious.

As he tried to decide what to do, he saw a paperboy step into the road, with a truck bearing down on him. The boy would obviously be hit - he was looking the wrong way. Freedom Ranger dove into traffic, deftly scooping him up and depositing him safely on the ground. He also snagged a paper and looked at it, only to find the headline indicated 'tensions rising between the U.S.A. and Britain,' which he found very disturbing.

The  paperboy panted and wheezed. Freedom Ranger asked if he was all right, and the boy straightened up and asked him to sign Freedom Ranger #83. Ranger protested he had no idea what the kid was talking about, though at first he wondered if he was Sidrophael.

The boy assured him it was 'okay,' speaking like a creepy adult. The 'boy' took him to a donut shop - donuts being a classic Freedom Ranger favorite - and told him that while his 'people' were not responsible for Freedom Ranger's transportation to this world, they believed he was needed. He said that this world - and the worlds nearby - lacked *real* heroes, heroes like Freedom Ranger, and that he needed to offer them an example.

The boy then gave him a silver quarter and said, "We can't help all the time, but in your hour of greatest need? Call upon us, and we will come." Then, whatever entity possessed him left, and the kid returned to selling papers without any obvious realization about what had happened.

Greatly disturbed, Ranger went looking for a library to better understand where he was. Unfortunately, no libraries were public, so he ended up going through a skylight into a private collection. He discovered many disturbing things:

• Russia underwent a catastrophe in this world after the Tunguska event, toppling the monarchy and leaving the Communists in charge of the ruins. Russia is no longer a world power, and he knows Sergei is an expat, not a Communist.
•  Catastrophes that left millions more dead in this world than his, because there were no superheroes to help save the day.

Ranger left the library hours later, heading back for Cosmic Coffee.

Location: Task Force Starbase


Vunot finished the meeting by offering them limited starbase access, equipment and quarters. Several team members took tablet computers to study with. Don expressed an interest in biological samples from the creatures. Vunot revealed that they had several dead ones in the lab, but no living creatures. They resolved to go hunting live beasts, but not until the group was together again - leaving Doris unattended was regarded as too dangerous, and going into combat without Freedom Ranger seemed unwise.

Vunot agreed to just grant docking clearance to Cosmic Coffee, but he requested that Kay remain aboard to help work on the project the Alliance had originally wanted the Akashic Amplifier for: a weapon. Kay agreed.

Vunot also asked if Sidrophael would accept a cloned host body. Sid agreed to try, next time he was around. Vunot gave him a passphrase to use to verify his identity if that failed, and he had to take another human host somewhere on base.

 The group split up.


Kay worked with a scientist named Dr. Egaru while Sergei observed. The Alliance project was a gun designed to amplify the Akashic Amplifier's transdimensionally stable energy to project a beam of energy reliably through an open Rift, destroying whatever was on the other side. Sergei deemed the weapon 'brilliant,' and tried to get a handle on how it worked.

After showing them the device, Dr. Egaru asked Kay to exercise her powers at a firing range while he scanned her to attempt a non-invasive means of channeling her energy through an Element-X plinth into the gun. Kay agreed, and gleefully destroyed numerous targets.

While she worked, Egaru expressed surprise that all she could do was telekinesis. He said that, according to legend, wielders of the Amplifier had other powers: healing, lightning bolts, etc. Kay revealed she had a motion detection ability - telekinetic sonar - but nothing else.

When they finished, Kay was disturbed by this. She asked Egaru for access to cloned tissue to experiment with healing powers on, which he said would have to wait until Sid's host body was grown. She also asked for a tablet to research the Amplifier.

Kay read about the Amplifier, discovering that the Sertai used to have one in an energy containment unit, but during an accident, it got loose and sought out a host. Apparently, Akashic Amplifiers are designed to want a human host.

Sergei continued to study technical manuals.

Location: Tunguska Parallel, somewhere in Seattle 


Sid searched for Doris in incorporeal form. He found her tending bar, introduced himself, let her know they'd need to leave in a while. She agreed to go after her shift was up, as she'd been getting great tips. Sid said that was fine, and sat down for a drink.

Don and Jack used Cosmic Coffee to back to the Tunguska parallel, parking in their old space.

Jack discovered his new power of 'True Seeing,' and used it to examine Cosmic Coffee in more detail. He also noted a strange light across the Seattle skyline, like a false dawn.

Using a Sertai scanner capable of detecting Rift energy, they were eventually able to locate Doris as well. Once together, the group realized their best method of contacting Freedom Ranger would be to hack into his communicator again at Cosmic Coffee. By the time they returned to the stand, Freedom Ranger was already back.

The five of them returned to the station. Once aboard, Sid was able to possess the cloned host body.



Location: Task Force Starbase


Jack requested a Sertai weapon. They gave him a plasma rifle and some ammunition on the condition he leave it in Cosmic Coffee while they were docked.

Vunot requested - but did not order - that Doris remain in specially shielded quarters while aboard, agreeing to send her anything she needed to be comfortable. She agreed.

The soldiers tried to get Freedom Ranger to leave Liberty in Cosmic Coffee, but finally relented because "It's really Freedom Ranger!" They harassed him for autographs and such until he hid in his quarters a while.

The group took advantage of some much needed down time.

• Kay switched from studying the Amplifier - an avenue largely exhausted by then - to  working with cloned tissue samples. 

She found herself unable to heal, but her studies indicated that the Amplifier relied on her own thoughts, so she began to study medicine to try and give herself a grounding in tissue repair.

• Sergei slept.

• Jack researched his aliens in the Alliance database. 

He learned more about the Raxomacrux: that they jealously guarded this whole domain of space, wiping out races that got too advanced, including - rumor had it - the Lemurians. He discovered that his tech probably came from a race called the Rakqua. They were enemies of the Raxomacrux who developed his probability mechanics power as a sort of 'chaos-fu' to battle the more advanced Raxomacrux. Unfortunately, it failed, and they've been extinct for thousands of years as far as the Alliance knows.

Jack also researched the starship, discovering that it belonged to an Alliance race called the Toizis.

• Sid visited Jack to try and make sure he was okay. Sid reasoned Jack is mentally disturbed in some way, and wanted to offer his help. 

• Don and Sergei went to study the bugs, while Freedom Ranger observed. They worked with a biologist named Dr. Nysver.

 Details learned about the creatures included:

- The creatures were not genetically diverse. Don reasoned that they were either clones, or from the same 'colony.' Their environmental adaptations - arctic survival, desert survival, etc. - were done after they were born, either in the form of scar-free surgery or self mutation.  Don checked for serial numbers, but didn't find any.

- The creatures had very acute senses, including broad spectrum vision, parabolic hearing and pheremone based communication. There were no indications of any ability to speak verbally.

- The creatures were incredibly tough, requiring massive firepower to defeat. Their nervous systems were broadly distributed, armor the product of exuded bio-epoxy, circulatory system self-repairing, etc. It was unlikely natural selection could produce such a perfect predator to begin with.

- They didn't find any indication of how the creatures were sensing Rift energy, but that didn't surprise Don due to the primitive nature of Alliance medical technology.

The group also studied footage of both the creatures and associated monsters, such as the tentacle beast beneath the ground that Don saw with Losora in a previous session. Vehicular weaponry was reasonably effective, while personal weaponry didn't fare well. Aerial strikes were the very best, but the bugs liked to tunnel to stay out of the way of that.

Don shared the stapler trick with the group at this time.

They discussed weapon options, including:
* Sonics. Sertai sonic weaponry is not very robust, but Don thought about looking into it.

* Flashbangs. Given the creatures possessed enhanced senses, they reasoned that it might be possible to construct flashbangs that would not impair humans.

* Acid, designed to dissolve their armor.

They decided they needed a live specimen to find out if the creatures adapted personally, or if that was done by a controlling intelligence. They feared that the creatures would simply evolve around any weapon they developed.

After this research, Sergei headed for bed, as he'd been up 30 hours straight. Don and Ranger - neither of whom slept much - continued to work.

•  Doris studied the ring she found. 

She discovered that Lerlwar (an Alliance race) social scientists had records of the symbol. It was an icon of the Cult of Myaldarr, an ancient group of demon worshipers with no presence on the Tunguska parallel... making the ring highly suspicious. The cult itself was a group of demon worshipers who believed that material reality was a prison for their saviors, and sought the end of the world to free all of humanity from the 'curse of material existence.'

Doris called Don to warn him, at which point, all hell broke loose:

A warding symbol appeared over the door of Jack's quarters to seal Sidrophael in. The doors locked, and the atmosphere began to vent. Jack tried to call for help, but the comm was down. He began to suffocate.

Jack tricked the door open through a highly improbable feat, This got him more air, but it also sounded general quarters. He saw that their entire wing was sealed.

Similar scenes happened in Kay and Sergei's quarters.

Sergei began to try and hack the system through his tablet.

Kay casually forced her doors open and stepped into the hall, miffed. She wrenched open the doors at the end of the hall.

Sid told Jack he couldn't escape even with the doors open - the ward sealed him into the room just by covering the door because it took away the means you are 'supposed' to enter and leave a room. He told Jack he needed salt to break the seal.

Jack looked up and saw a smoky demonic creature, but he ignored it. He asked Kay to hold the doors to their wing open and asked where the kitchen was. She pointed, and he ran to look for salt.

The fear demon coalesced into a clawed, humanoid form and assaulted Kay. She let go of the doors Jack wanted left open, and they slid shut.

The demon's psychic attacks were ineffectual against Kay's superior willpower. She flung it at the barrier and ended up breaking Sid's warding seal using it as a battering ram. Sid let go of his host and joined the battle, contributing while Kay bludgeoned it into nonexistence. Sid then reclaimed his host body.

Sergei tricked the doors to his quarters open and stepped out, breathing heavily.

Jack went to the kitchen, turning the place upside down to find salt. At first, all he found was soy sauce, but he eventually found salt packets. He grabbed a double fistful of them and ran back... only to find the door jammed shut again.

Don and Freedom Ranger began to run for Doris' quarters.As they did, a crewman walking down the hallway with a tablet dropped it. His eyes switched from blue to gray, he pulled a pistol and tried to shoot Don. Ranger blocked the shot with Liberty and disarmed him. Don used his multitool to instantly dismantle the pistol. The crewman blinked, eyes switching back to blue, clearly confused. Freedom Ranger decided 'better safe than sorry,' and knocked him out with a single punch. Don scooped up the tablet the possessed man had had, and found that it was displaying the icon of Myaldarr. He casually whipped it aside, warned Ranger not to look at any screens, and began investigating what was going on.

General quarters sounded and Ranger picked up Don to carry him to Doris faster. Don worked anyway, not wanting to waste any time.


Don discovered several attacks simultaneously:
- Atmospheric venting in crew quarters.
- Destruction of the bug tissue samples.
- An overload of one of the station's nuclear reactors.

Don initiated a system reset of the entire station, reasoning it was the fastest way to purge all enemy trojans/viruses/etc. This cut all power for a few seconds.


Meanwhile, Doris tried the intercom to find out what was going on. The station warned her about a venting of the atmosphere in crew quarters. She realized everybody was in trouble and rushed to help. She asked fleeing station personnel for directions to crew quarters. They pointed her to the escape pods instead, so she just ran the opposite way. The lift doors wouldn't open for her, so she blasted them open. Unfortunately, she tripped and fell into the elevator shaft. She caught herself on an emergency ladder right before the lights went out.

She blasted her way out anyway, meeting Freedom Ranger and Don.

Power returned, and the danger appeared to be averted... for now. The party regrouped in crew quarters.

Sidrophael revealed one or more of the Fallen were almost certainly behind the attack. Most demons could sense angels, and vice versa, but some demons cloaked themselves. It reduced their power in a direct confrontation, but made them extremely difficult to detect. He also revealed that he could have conducted similar sabotage if he'd tried.

The group shared what they knew about the attack, and the session ended.

Additional Notes:

• Jack developed the power "True Seeing" during this session, which needs a more detailed write-up.

• Addendum about the bug monsters: they are not carnivorous.