The Electric State, Into the Dust 2.3 of 3
Again, the group make progress down the road, until they are waved down by some hill billy types. Getting out of the car, they see the group they have encountered have patriot badges and baseball caps on. Things seem to be turning nasty, a possible interrogation, when Willy turns on the waterworks and the patriot’s mamma takes pity on him, berates her sons and sends the team on their way.
This could have been quite a nasty Encounter and there is a growing mantra with the players, “Never get out of the car.” But some excellent empathy rolls from Jon, Willy’s player and to then I invented the character of Mamma to get them out of trouble after such a roll.
Session Six
The group enter Death Valley, and things are positive in the car as their destination, Blackwelt Exclusion Zone, is almost in sight. The only downer is Cade; he’s not recovered from his exposure to the Fear System, a corrupted local Neuroscape that he became trapped inside. He lies in the back of the car, eyes closed, tossing and turning.
Dust is blowing, and their vision is unclear. They go flying over a bump in the road and skid to a halt in front of a massive dune that blocks their Journey.
Spot The Blocker! Blocker 1 = A burst tyre, blown battery. Blocker 2 = A Police Roadblock. Blocker 3 = A Barchan Sand Dune, one for the geographers out there.
Billy-Lee climbs up to the top of the dune and hears melodic sounds drifting in the wind, and then spies what seems to be a music festival; tents, a stage, a drop zone for supplies, an RV parking lot and all of this seems to be on a plateau surrounded by broken-down military drones. Right in the centre is a drone piled high onto kindling, as if it’s about to be set on fire.
As Billy-Lee surveys Soleri, down below, Willy crawls into a half-buried car, coming out with a cassette, Mazzy Star’s, So Tonight That I May See.
Nantz spots some digger tracks, leading away from the dunes towards the festival. The group’s mind is made up, there must be help and something that can shift this sand down amongst the tents and hippies of this end of the world place.
As they reach the halfway point to the festival, a girl pops her head out of a tent, and two more girls peer through the gap. They introduce themselves as Molly, Shana (wearing a Mazzy Star t-shirt) & Pru. They explain that there are two cults in this place, as well as a lot of festival goers, and it’s coming up to Burning Drone week. But the girls want out of here, a ride away from the madness, the cults are at each other’s throats, bad shit is about to go down. Willy hands Shana the Mazzy Star tape, and she smiles at him.
A rough understanding is that there is a cult, Analog Heaven, that forsakes all Neurocaster and Neuroscape tech, led by Gary and a cult New Vision that embraces the tech and has improved it to new, unseen levels.
The group are somewhat non-committal but agree to pass back this way, once their friend, whom they point to, Cade, is fixed up. Cade’s head lolls to one side, drool forming at the side of his mouth, as he grins.
There is a large RV trailer park with shops, and a sign RV Row is emblazoned above this area. Billy-Lee tries to convince a thrash metal band to take Cade in and look after him, whilst they look around for that digger. The metal heads look uncertain, and so Cade is hoisted up between Billy-Lee and Nantz, the search continues.
Eventually, they bump into a cultist from Paul’s camp, and they are politely invited to visit and meet with Paul. The cultist believes Paul can help cure Cade, and the group promises to turn up first thing in the morning.
The group totally mistrusted this cultist and had no intention of having anything to do with them. Even though I played them polite, persuasive and logical. Just like a proper cultist. 😀
Wandering what to do as darkness falls, they bump into a small Drone, Aubrey and his robot dog Hachiko. After a brief conversation where Aubrey suggests they cheer up by playing hangman on his digital display, they instead are led to the shell of a drone where Aubrey and Hachiko live, over a fire and some food, Aubrey explains more about the two cults, shots were exchanged in the last few days, though sometime in the past Paul and Gary were friends, even lovers. Aubrey believes that both Gary, via some cactus-based serum used to help Neurine addicts and Paul, using advanced Neuronic skills, have a chance of curing Cade.
Weighing things up, the group believe Gary seems the safer option and opt to visit him in the morning.
Not much action in this session, but a lot of setup and introduction to many characters. All fun stuff as it gave lots of roleplay opportunites for different members of the group. Gareth, who plays Cade, was still away, so it felt a little bit like Weekend at Bernies, as we dragged the half comatose Cade around, tyring to palm him off on to various NPCs. But Cade’s moment would come!
Session Seven
Arriving at Gary’s tent city, he requests them to renounce the Neuroscape and then agrees to attempt a cure for Cade. He forces a thick green, floral liquid down Cade’s throat, who tries his best to hold it down and then proceeds to projectile vomit it around the room. After collapsing onto the floor, he rolls over and grins, “I’m back!”.
The whole searching for a cure for Cade had nothing to do with the scenario as written, but it seemed to work well and it did dovetail with Gary’s cult trying to wean people off of the Neuroscape.
Down to business, Gary will loan the Bulldozer drone to the group, but only if they help him disable a military drone that Paul has. It is agreed that the group will scout things out. All has been polite and convivial, but as they wave goodbye, Gary fixes them with a steely-eyed look, “Cross me and I will kill you.”
Cade is full of beans; he’s very excited to hear about the bands and the stage that is set up for the Burning Drone festival. He goes back to the metalheads, who are known as Voidfire Dominion, and he plays them a song, Spiritual Road to Nowhere. They love it! Cade is asked to close the festival with this song tomorrow night.
There was almost a cheer from the players when Cade aced his performance roll in the audition. Three previous attempts to use his guitar and muscianship had resulted in abject failure. A memorable moment during the campaign, no bum notes!
Billy-Lee heads over to another veteran that Gary mentioned, Wild Willy. Wild Willy is somewhat out of it, talks about the ghost in the machine, but also seems to work for Gary and Paul, or Cain and Abel, as he calls them. He mentions to Billy-Lee that he’s encountered his old squad, travelling through Soleri, flashing the cash, like they just came into a lot of money.
A third Countdown, this time for Martin’s character, Billy-Lee, just hinting that he was now close on the trail of his old army buddies, his Dream to find and reconcile with them was near.
Also why call him Wild Willy when you have a pre-gen also called Willy. Gah! 😄
They can put it off no longer and go to meet with Paul. His vibes are hinky, arrogant and aloof; he tells them that the Neuroscape is the next stage of human evolution. Though he and his followers look like poster children for Neurine Addiction, pale, wasted and thin. He says that showing is easier than telling and asks them to put on his enhanced Neurocaster. Cade refuses; he’s born again into a clean world without the Neuroscape, but Billy-Lee agrees. As Paul places the device on Billy-Lee’s head, he whispers into his ear, “Prepare to meet God.”
Session Eight
A wonderous, lush farmland stretches out in front of Billy-Lee… and Willy, who wants to see the “singularity” for himself and has joined. People tend the crops and smile and nod at the two of them. Paul appears in robes of silver; he looks slightly ridiculous, and he points away to the north. “Devils haunt the land, be wary, my friends.” They see a series of fields, burnt and corrupted, with demons stalking the hedgerows.
It’s quite a drain on improvisational energy to keep inventing virtual realities 😀 Maybe one for the designers to have some ideas for at least each of the local Neuroscapes in the campaign.
Also Alex’s character, Nantz was another who had avowed never to enter the Neuroscape. This approach worked really well, though I can imagine if a group decides they are all going down this route… they will be screwed!
Willy has had enough of this bullshit and calls Paul out for being a fraud; both Willy and Billy-Lee can see a crude representation of Analog Heaven with the members cast as demons, but despite some strong Neuroscape influence, they see through this and run down the hill towards the burnt fields.
Willy is lagging, fighting off Paul, until neither of them can move, their powers exhausted. Billy-Lee drops out of the Neuroscape, pulling Willy with him; luckily, no lasting mental damage to the young boy. Back in the real world, they gather the others and run.
They make a beeline for RV Row, just as a large drone ship, carrying supplies, heads over to the drop zone. They fight their way through the crowds who pile out of tents, desperate for the weekly food and water.
At this point, a shouted plan is hatched. Billy-Lee will hack into the Military Drone and disable it, Nantz will cover him and Billy-Lee and Cade will head to Wild Willy, as the only other drone operator, to make sure he doesn’t interfere.
Hell is breaking loose. Paul and a posse of his armed cultists have come out of New Vision and fire upon the supply ship, which banks away from the drop zone, making a sharp exit. The crowd turn their anger on Paul and his cult. Things look like they are about to turn even uglier.
Meanwhile, Willy is battling with Wild Willy for control of Paul’s military drone. Willy, as Donkey Kong, is throwing exploding barrels at the Gundam Mech of Wild Willy. The battle rages until both Willy and the Wild One are out for the count. In steps Cade, piloting the drone crashing it into Paul and his followers. The drone lifts, damaged but serviceable, and Cade sends it out across the desert, trailing smoke.
The crowd dispersed, shocked. Gary steps through the drone carnage, kneeling and cradling Paul.
A long story now made short; Cade joins up with Voidfire Dominion, taking on the gig of his life. And winning. He has found his people, and Burning Drone is where he will Live on Forever. Nantz and Willy decide too that the festival, the community, is what they’ve been looking for, an extended family with Aubrey and Hachiko.
Only Billy-Lee hits the road, carrying on to the Blackwelt Exclusion Zone, hugs all round and a final toot of the horn as the Buick Roadmaster disappears over the horizon.
In the final blog in this series, I discuss my experience with the system and setting, and share my overall thoughts on it.