The Electric State, Into the Dust 2.2 of 3
2.2 is Stop Two of Three, and it’s called Roadside Murder. Time to throw in some oddities, a large Drone pokes its head out of a barn as the group stops to stretch their legs. The Drone beckons to them.
Session Four
Cade is, of course, the first to go and investigate. He tries speaking to the Drone or its operator, the Drone gestures that it will hide, Willy also joins in this impromptu game of hide and seek. After a few games, they start to leave, and the Drone grabs Cade. Billy-Lee intervenes and is thrown bodily through the air, landing with a grunt as the Drone starts squeezing out of the barn.
The group pick up Billy-Lee and starts running towards the Buick, they shout for Nantz to fire it up as they hear the heavy thud of the Drone’s feet behind them. With a screech of tyres, they hit the road, seeing a sad-looking Drone stop and sit down on the road, waving at them.
These little encounters helped build atmosphere, and I remember the whole group talking about who was controlling the Drone, maybe a child just looking to play or some kind of artificial intelligence. What was happening to the world? The debate raged.
Passing through the town of Liberty, the group is faced with a roadblock, some kind of police investigation. Billy-Lee talks to the officer in charge, and it seems they are both ex-military. Billy-Lee gets the lowdown, a murder and the town is in lockdown, best to book in at the Amador Inn.
The Blocker in effect. The group did try to double back, but a second roadblock on the entrance to Liberty pushed them back to the Amador.
Arriving at the Amador Inn, they meet Lolly and Jack, the owners and Ranielle, the janitor. It’s a weird place, offering food made from ants and poisoned flowers! The officer at the roadblock had mentioned they’d found a jury-rigged machine for collecting flowers in an abandoned car. Suspicions are raised.
As they book in, Sheriff Toby arrives, orders everyone into the car park and gives them their orders. No one is to leave town. Everyone is under suspicion. He seems like a bit of an asshole.
Afterwards, Lolly and Jack curse his name; they are not on good terms with him, they believe he’s not even a real Sheriff but a criminal, Allan Brown, who killed his sister and left Liberty 20 years ago.
Nantz checks out the hotel register whilst Lolly and Jack are distracted, she sees two more guests, one is an old Neurine dealer, and Cade’s face pales, he owes him money.
A good time to introduce another PC Countdown, this time for Cade, Cade is an ex-addict and owes various dealers back west, looks like one of them has caught up with him.
I’m starting to realise it’s hard to introduce a countdown per PC too regularly it starts to distract from the main scenario/stop. Also, Nantz and Cade’s countdowns are quite similar, I ended up doing less with these than I initially envisioned, but I can see with a lull in play they become a useful tool for the GM.
Meanwhile, Willy goes down into the basement, seeing a whole workshop for Drones and Neurocasters. Ranielle surprises him; she’s friendly but also creepy as hell, so he makes a quick exit. But something looks off; there is some sophisticated tech being built here.
Cade decides to do some Neuroscape research and goes to his room. The Neuroscape glitches, he’s suddenly in some weird mansion, then he’s back in the familiar warm, neon space. He digs out details about the Sheriff. Seems the Sheriff is not who he says he is, he has a criminal record, but he’s been clean for ten years. He’s not Allan Brown either, who is now dead, OD’d. Cade exits, or tries to, he’s back in the weird mansion, something in the dark, with red eyes is watching him, claws clicking.
The player playing Cade had to go on holiday, so Cade got stuck in the Neuroscape, but it also tied in with the corrupted local Neuroscape, the Fear System that is causing Ranielle and others to dissassemble people!
Willy comes flying up the stairs straight into Billy-Lee, and behind Billy-Lee, a large crowd of people are in the lobby. Lolly and Jack address them, saying that the Sheriff is not who they think he is, and they should break through the roadblocks and depose him. Behind the crowd, through the glass window, Billy-Lee sees the officer at the roadblock approaching. He shouts a warning, but the crowd surges forward. The Officer pulls a gun, punches are thrown, and a shot is fired.
A lot going on with the Sheriff, Lolly and Jack, the general creepiness of the motel, Ranielle, a drug dealer looking for Cade, Cade trapped in the Neuroscape. Perhaps the players felt a little overawed with so much thrown at them, but they were enjoying it. Lots of cries of “oh no” whenever there was another revelation.
Session Five
Billy-Lee saves the day, fighting off the crowd to get to the Officer and agreeing to bring him into the motel to question him. As he does, a couple of bikers and a girl head out of reception, possibly in the confusion, they’ve stolen from the motel rooms.
Adding a bit more paranoia with the bikers, are they looking for Cade or maybe Nantz. The past catching up.
The officer refuses to answer too many questions, suggesting that Lolly and Jack know more about the murders than they are letting on. Murders plural, as it seems there have been a couple of other deaths in the town.
At this point, one of the service robots enters, holding up a severed arm, “There’s been an accident in room 12.” Screams as the emergency shutters and doors come down, locking everyone into the motel. Then the lights go out.
The group and Lolly, and Jack try to bring some calmness to the crowd. Nantz, Billy-Lee, and Willy go and investigate, finding a room with a corpse in it, chopped into bits by an axe. On the mirror in the bathroom is scrawled DECONSTRUCT.
Jack is working on the automation systems, trying to fix them and free everyone in the motel. Lolly is heard downstairs, screaming. The party rush down, seeing a robot attacking Lolly, Willy hacks into it, sending it scuttling back into the dark, but then more lights appear, robot eyes, they advance.
The group rushes upstairs, carrying Willy. He is trapped in the Neuroscape, his voice high-pitched, “I’m coming for you, Willy.”
A figure is now glimpsed at the far end of the motel, the fire exit opened, allowing her in. It is Ranielle, taser in one hand, axe in the other, she starts running towards the group. Nantz fires, and Billy-Lee also pulls a gun and fires; they both miss. Ranielle fires the taser at Willy, but Nantz jumps in the way, shuddering to the floor. Billy-Lee aims carefully, and Ranielle falls to the floor, a clean hole in the centre of her baseball cap.
As Ranielle dies, the shutters lift, and the light comes on. Sheriff Toby and his officers are armed with shotguns, standing outside. They enter and bring calm to the situation.
After some fraught conversations, the group is eventually allowed to leave Liberty. Sheriff Toby promises to deal with whatever is causing this. They hear another scream, rushing to Cade’s room, they tear off his Neurocaster, he sits bolt upright in bed, fear in his eyes, then collapses.
The next morning, the group have loaded provisions and can observe Liberty fading away in their rear view mirror. Just as they come to the brow of a hill, they see the Sentre local Neurosphere blow up, the Sheriff and his men watching from a safe distance. Cade mumbles, “The Fear System. Gone. Escaped.”
I am planning to run Roadside Murder as a oneshot at a face-to-face con in September. Out will come the matchbox play mats and cars from my son’s room!
I think this is my favourite of the three stops and scenarios, more horror aligned and some excellent characters and situations to work through.
Some adjustments to be done though to get this into a single con session, as each stop has been a good 5-6 hours across two sessions.
Next, we’ll finish up the journey with Stop Three: Droneship Graveyard.