The First Contact Campaign
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:35 am
As I do with all of my DC groups, I spend the first session gathering the party together. The way I like to do that is by roleplaying each and every player's character background with them individually.
The system of Dark Conspiracy has opened up way more doors than any other roleplaying game I've every played. For example, because the character's "grow up" during generation, there is a pretty extensive history involved with a starting character. That history is easilly manipulated by the Referee in order to help the players flesh out their characters as well as expose each PC to the darkness in the world as it is in the campaign. Ultimately I work through their background until they end up in the city or place that I am starting the first adventure and have a way to tie them all together.
Following I will recount each individual player's session and what they encountered:
Jonathan Livingston Neuropath Age - 37
Damian Ross started out his life at 9 years old as a street urchin. He continued to live on the streets until he was the age of 17. He wanted a different life style than the rest of the street rats and and adolescent gangs. Damian walked into a navy recruiter's office in Mike Town just outside of the Dreamland gates. Shortly thereafter, Ross was enlisted into the Military Academy. As everything in the military; housing, meals and clothing were all supplied to Ross. This was a serious change from what he was used to. Before Damian lived on the streets, he lived with his parents in a prole complex. They were neglectful and irresponsible drunks who'd spent all their corporate scripts on booze and what little food it took to sustain their miserable lives.
Damian received an opportunity to join the ranks of the Navy SEAL, that is if he made the cut. He did, and so began his life as a SEAL. He had various missions to OCONUS locations, like Somalia and France as well as some others not mentioned.
On Damian's final mission, they were ordered to France to abduct the Minister of State by a commanding officer who was told to do so by your typical puppet stringed government official. Their mission; to abduct, detain and interrogate the Minister to find out what he knew about shipments being made from one company to another. Ross' team prepared for their mission, leaving the getaway pickup truck well off the Minister's land and went into stealth mode through the woods surrounding his elaborate house. After sneaking in and busting into the official's study they bagged him without much trouble other than a few stray bullets flying wild from an untrained hand. While running to exit the building, guards began tailing them. Through the woods, weapon smoke blew in the wind as firearm discharges echoed off the trees. The team made it to the getaway vehicle with little problem. As the sped off to the rendezvous point, their assailents were in hot persuit. One of Damian’s men took a hit and fell from the truck. Making a commanding decision, Ross pressed on. Well on the outskirts of town, at an abandoned farm house they comondiered for the mission at hand, they pulled up and unloaded their prize. They took the Minister into the house and strapped him to a wooden chair and removed his hood. Then began the questioning, at first subtle then much more violent. Ross attempted to use his “intuition” to gain a feel of this fearful and pitiful government official before him. All he could tell is what you or I would tell from a man who was recently abducted and brought to a strange place; fearful and scared for his life. After about a half an hour of questions and beatings, the Minister gave Ross all he needed. Ross had his second in command end the miserable man’s life.
Upon returning to CONUS, Ross was called into meet with the commander of the medical department, Colonel Gary Michaels. At the Colonel’s request, Ross had a seat. Michaels proceeded to ask Damian about his intuitive “abilities”. Ross only gave vague answers as he was not truly aware of his mental capabilities. After many questions, Michaels entered Damian’s mind and “introduced” himself. Since Damian had never experienced someone touching his mind before, he fought back as white blood cells fight an infection. The Colonel tried his hardest to maintain a connection and awakened something he didn’t anticipate. Damian pushed to the brink of bursting blood vessels and “awakened”. (At this point I should interject to say that I don’t agree with the Neuropath rules of pushing. I believe they are nothing more than an Empathic Luck roll and therefore have changed the rules to either increase power level, targets affected, or range.) Damian left the Colonel catatonic and himself falling uncocious, slamming to the floor.
When Ross awoke, he could not remember who he was, where he was, or anything prior to this very moment. He looked around and the only thing he could tell was he was in a hospital ward, in a hospital bed and that he was in a hospital gown. As he took in his surroundings, he saw a man in a bed next to him and could not recognize. The man was Colonel Michaels. He was hooked up to various monitoring equipment and seemed to be out cold. Ross saw some fatigues folded on the chair next to his bed. They didn’t have a name on them, nor any other discernable markings. Shortly after putting them on, he snuck over to the door to the ward and had a listen. Hearing no sounds from the hall on the other side, he broke for the nearest exit door. He opened the door to a stairwell and began making his descent to the ground floor. He stopped as he heard voices enter the stairwell above him. After he heard them exit the stairwell on the next floor down, he continued on his way to freedom. He barged through the exit door to an opened parking lot and ran across to the tree line, disappearing from the scene.
When he next awoke, he did not remember how he got there. The previous day was a mystery to him. He wandered the city, sleeping on benches and in alleys as he came to need rest.
The following is direct from his journal (SPOILER ALERT some of the contents of his journal disclose a first person account from the first parts of my campaign) (credit must be given to Matthew Weaver for this writing):
Jon Livingston’s Journal – August 2075
(written on the inside cover of the journal)
Your name is Jon Livingston. You have no idea what your birth name is. This name is from the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, written by Richard Bach. You found this book in your coat pocket.
You’re a psychic (yeah, it’s real) and you suffer from some form of amnesia. Once you fall asleep, you will forget everything you’ve experienced. For some reason, you will remember skills and basic knowledge that you learn, but people, places, relationships…those will be gone. You’re what the doctors call a “functional amnesiac”. It sucks, get used to it.
Captain Robert "Bull" Stockton is the captain of the Merchant Marine lake freighter American Spirit. He’s based out of Chicago, and is your only real friend. It was his idea for you to keep this journal. You’ve done some work for him in the past. Some as a crewman on his ship. Some doing odd jobs around his dock and warehouse. He’s a good man. He thinks that you might have been part of the military or a paramilitary group. This is just based off of some of the knowledge and skills you have.
Your home is a one-room apartment above one of his warehouses. It’s not much, but it’s a place to stay. Old journals, pictures and some other stuff are in a safety deposit box at Safety Net. Owner is Ralph. Key #652. Check this vault if you need info on your past experiences.
And remember…Take Good Notes!
(journal)
August 1, 2075
Went to Safety Net and skimmed old journals. Began this new journal even though the old one wasn’t filled yet. Have this bad feeling I’m going to need a lot of space to write soon. Looking at some of my old writings, it looks like these feelings aren’t something to be ignored.
August 2, 2075
Worked for the Captain today. Grunt work. Bull invited me to dinner with him and his wife Sandy. Truthfully, she doesn’t cook well. Still better than some nuked burrito from the Qwik-E-Mart.
Bull told me about one of his crewmen who’s disappeared. Guy’s name is Charles Michaels. Seems he was in Miketown visiting his family. The Captain asked me to look into Michaels’ disappearance. Looks like his family lived in some prole housing. (address as well as pic of Charles) Will begin looking into it tomorrow.
August 3, 2075
Fuck! That could have gone better!
Found the prole housing building for the Michaels (see pics of street and building). Spoke with Charles’ mom and step-father, but they hadn’t seen or heard from him since his visit a couple of days ago. Didn’t read them as lying. They seemed genuinely concerned that he was missing. I guess he had told them he was going back to the ship the next day.
Asked around at some of the other residents. Most didn’t want to talk. Few we did speak with new nothing, but seemed scared. Read them as just being distrustful of strangers. Some also were afraid when they heard of a disappearance from the building. No one seems to know anything specific, just that a few residents have gone missing recently.
One old-timer named Fred, did seem to remember seeing Charles in the building. He remembers because he thought it was odd that Charles was going into the maintenance room. Seems no one but the maintenance guy ever goes in there.
Tried to find the maintenance man, but he wasn’t around. Did a little recon and found the maint room myself. Everything seems in order, except for a manhole in the floor of one room (see pic). Grease and an odd rust colored smear (blood?) surround the hole. Marks on the floor show where the cover has been moved across it. Tried to move the cover myself, but couldn’t. Was looking for something to use as a pry-bar when security showed up to escort me off the premises. Got roughed up a bit by them, but managed to “convince” them to let me go and not mess with my notebook or camera.
Have a really bad feeling about that manhole. Feels like crosshairs on the back of my neck. Need to try again tomorrow…maybe sneak in after dark.
August 4, 2075
Day’s missing with no idea what happened. Fucking frustrating as hell!
Woke up early this evening in an alley behind the Anchor Bar (address). Killer headache, but doesn’t seem like I was mugged. Gun, camera, wallet, book…all still on me. Nothing in the journal to tell me what happened during the day. Had pics from Safety Net, my apartment door, and the Michaels’ prole building.
Will return to the building tomorrow.
August 5, 2075
Slept later than I think is usual for me. Head still hurts but not as bad. Not quite up to following up on Michaels today. Maybe later tonight.
Got a call from Mr. Steven Riley of Lee & Associates. He called me Mr. Ross. Maybe my birth name? I didn’t let on that I didn’t know who he was talking about. Seems Riley as a job for me. Supposed to meet him at his office tomorrow…10am in Dream Town (DT)(address).
Cleaning gun and prepping for the meet tomorrow. Going to bed early.
August 6, 2075
Dream Town security won’t let you in with weapons. Turned pistol and knife over to security to hold until I leave. Conceal weapons in the future!
Made it to the meeting with Riley. Seems he’s a Loss Prevention Manager for Lee & Assoc. His secretary’s name is Elizabeth.
Met three other’s that have also been hired for this job. Yamiko, a young Japanese woman (good with computers and a gun). Father O’Reiley, an Irish Catholic priest who seems to know his way around knives and guns). Professor Faraday, a physics professor at the University in Dream Town (pics).
Riley’s job involves finding out what’s happening to residents (ballot men) of a prole welfare compound in Miketown. A number of them have gone missing. We have 2 days to complete the job and report back to Riley. He gave us the address and a list of the missing ballot men (address). We are each to be paid $1500 for the job.
Met with the rest of the team at a coffee shop in DT, and then went out to the prole building. Faraday drove us out. Had an incident with some of the locals due to something Faraday said to them about “getting a job”.
Impression of the rest of the team…
Yamiko: smart. Is a bit trigger happy. Pulled a gun and fired at the prole thugs. Just a flesh wound, but fists would have worked fine. Thugs were unarmed. Have also asked her if she can hack into Lee and Assoc. and find out what kind of file they have on Mr. Ross. Offered to hire her. She said ok, but that she’d have to hack from their building.
Father O’Reiley: seems like a clam and reasonable man. Probably a prerequisite for a priest. Made a comment about having a military background. Probably a reliable teammate.
Professor Faraday: the man might be smart, but has NO common sense. Don’t think he’s been outside of DT in years. Has no idea how the world truly functions. He’s erratic, temperamental, and ignorant of the world outside of DT.
We talked to some of the residents. The professor chose to lock himself in the car and wait there. Some of the residents acknowledged that some proles have gone missing, but had no idea what’s happened. Seems like many of the missing people have been sick lately, and have visited the local clinic.
Learned that Mitch (Jones) is the maintenance man, and will most likely be the person who will have the best idea of what’s going on in the building.
A local told us that his friend has gone missing. Said his friend had mentioned seeing a person coming out of the sewage drain and into the ditch behind the building. Friend then disappeared. The local gave us the key to his friend’s apartment (apartment number).
In the friend’s apartment had been trashed. The place was a mess. Blood covered sheets (pics of the room). The team found his employment contract and a diary. Mitch showed up and wanted to know what was going on. Tried to get a read on him, but couldn’t. The man’s coveralls were covered in grease and rust (blood?). We told him we were there on behalf of Lee and Assoc. to learn what had happened to the missing ballot men.
We checked out the apartments of a couple of the other missing prole’s. Yamiko can pick locks. One was high up in the building and had a shattered window. Claw marks in the carpet as if someone was crawling across the floor towards the door, and was pulled away from it.
Also learned that many of the missing people have had scratches and illnesses prior to disappearing. We’ve decided to check out the clinic. Going back to the car to get Faraday. He supposedly knows about medicine and biology and such.
Went back to the car, but Faraday’s gone missing. Window broken in. Some notebook with Faraday’s ramblings. All I remember from it was something about his wife dying, liver-eaters, and him working on some machine to travel to other dimensions. Might have this wrong, but I think he was getting at his wife being killed by liver-eaters from another dimension. Not sure. Like I said…old man’s crazy.
Got jumped by several of the local thugs behind the cafeteria. Same ones we roughed up when we arrived. They weren’t pulling punches, so we used lethal force to take them out. Might have been unnecessary for me, but I don’t think Yamiko or the Father had anything better to use in the situation.
Found Faraday bound and gagged in the dumpster.
We went to the clinic and also ran into a couple of other men that Riley had hired. Guess word travels fast, and Riley didn’t feel we were being discreet enough. Their names are Hawk Wilson and Terry Richards. Both are cocky bastards for having been sent to “babysit” us. Assholes.
Doctor at the clinic has a drinking prob. Dirty and rundown place. No patient records other than a sign-in book. Most of the missing people have been in to the clinic shortly before disappearing. No record of what they came in for though (sign-in book at Safety Net).
Doctor had a patient behind a screen. Woman yelled and then exploded into some kind of pink goo. There was literally nothing else left of her. Everything had been turned into this goo. Doctor fled the clinic after that. Faraday has some samples of the goo.
We decided to check out the maint room. Went down the hole into a steam or power room of some sort. Faraday decided to stay above, and Richards stayed back to play bodyguard.
Found a shotgun wired trap that caught Yamiko and Hawk. Injuries could have been much worse. Faraday came down to tend their wounds. He’s going to continue on with us while Richards stays above to keep watch.
Trapped door leads to Mitch’s (maint guy) room. Place is a sty. Various bloody, mis-matched shoes under his bed…male and female. Looks like he has something to do with the disappearances. Trophies maybe?
Passed some storage rooms and piles of debris and pink goo. Blood. Rats. This place has to be crawling with diseases. Yamiko got us into the sewer tunnel, and then both she and Hawk collapsed with some fever. Faraday got them stable and we secured them in a room while we continued on.
The sewer is a sewer. Remember to bring a flashlight in the future. Found a young woman’s body. Head nearly severed and she had given birth. The birth was very messy and most likely killed her according to Faraday. Father gave her last rites. There was also a hatched pod of some kind in the corner of this sewer room. We believe the pod came out of the woman, moved to the corner, then hatched. Really having a hard time believing this shit (see pics).
Found Mitch, another man, and some fucked-up alien baby in another room of the sewer. Mitch and man were talking, but didn’t make out what they were saying. Baby crawling around. Father and I opened fire on the men. Man exploded into pink goo and the puddle tried to escape into the sewer water. Killed it. Mitch was also taken down. Before we could deal with the baby, a line of light appeared in mid-air, and a cloaked man stepped out of the line. He picked up the baby and stepped back into the line and disappeared. Faraday has seen something like this before.
Cloaked man had an odd symbol on the back of his robes. Mitch has the same symbol scarred into the back of his neck (see pic). We got $1000 off of Mitch, along with a note. The note mentions a Lord Balin being pleased with Mitch’s work in taking these people and their souls having gone to this Balin person. Note is signed “T”.
Mitch’s hands had claws. Body turned to ash shortly after his death.
We left. Got out of the hole and no sign of Terry Richards. The guy seemed a little odd. Don’t know what’s up with him.
The group decided to meet at the Father’s church the next morning to talk. I agreed to call Riley and set up a meeting for later that same day. We want to tell him that Mitch was a serial killer. We don’t want to tell him about the crazy alien baby and the goo. Father and Faraday took Yamiko and Hawk back to the church. Father will keep an eye on them. I took the bus home. I have the pod.
Dropped off camera for developing. Have the pics now.
August 7, 2075
Just read my notes. What a fucked up mess! Is this real? Did these things really happen? Looked at the pics. Am I going crazy?
Called Riley this morning. He wanted details before we meet. Just told him that the maintenance guy was a serial killer and that we found the shoes he was keeping as mementos. Told him Yamiko and Hawk have gotten sick from being down in the sewers. Meeting set for 1300 today at his office.
OK, we’ve had the meeting and the day’s gotten stranger by the minute. Have a little better idea of what’s going on…but not really.
Met the others at the church. No change in Yamiko and Hawk. Told the Father and Faraday about my call to Riley. Tried to stress to Faraday how important it is to not tell Riley about the odd “alien” stuff we found out. I don’t know why, but I don’t trust Riley. He’s definitely a greedy corp type, but I think he had an idea of what we would find at the prole building.
Anyway, I decided to see if I could do something to aid Yamiko and Hawk’s recovery. I could see a halo or aura around them. Could also tell that something “foreign” had attached itself to their auras. Was able to push it off a little from Hawk, but not Yamiko. I think I bought him a little more time. Not sure though.
Then a woman named Lila showed up (description). Seems both the Father and Faraday knew her. The Father also seemed to recognize the symbol that had been on the guy who took the baby, as well as on Mitch’s neck. He stepped out of the room and made a call…to the Vatican I think.
This Lila woman’s like me…only much more powerful! She seemed to read my name from my mind. She also immediately recognized what was wrong with Yamiko and Hawk. She also said that the Father and I were infected. Hawk recovered almost immediately, and she said Yamiko should recover in a day or so.
She also told us a little of what’s going on. She talked about the collapse of the governments, the destroyed environment, and all the missing people around the world. All the troubles that have happened since 2005. Said it’s all part of this shadow group that’s manipulating things. That the things we saw in the sewers is part of this “alien conspiracy”. Seems she’s part of an underground resistance movement to stop them. She said that there’re cells of rebels, but it sounds like them mostly work independently. For security reasons, I won’t mention any of the groups’ names here.
Lila told us that Mitch is what’s called a “plagueling”. That they carry and spread disease (like the pink goo disease), and that they are from a different dimension. The Lord Balin from Mitch’s note is most likely also from another dimension. Not sure about the cloaked man who took the baby. Might be someone like me and Lila. Also don’t know about this “T”. Guess there’s not much difference whether they’re alien or human pawns. Both are now our enemies.
She doesn’t know for certain if Riley or Lee & Assoc. are pawns or not. She thinks Riley might know something of what’s going on, but she just doesn’t have enough information on him/them yet. Lila said her group is strong on information gathering, but they need some muscle. She’d like us to join them now that we have seen some of what we’re up against. We told her that we needed to talk, and we’d get back in touch. Faraday knows where to go to contact her once we decide.
Father O’Reilly said he had to rush off and he’d be in touch once he returned. This was shortly after his call, so no idea where he’s going. A little after he left, we heard a crash and the sound of broken glass. Hawk and I went to investigate and found two large rats had broken in through the windows. By large…I mean the size of German Shepards! Hawk and I shot them. Faraday investigated them and said they were mutations. I saw a man running away from the church and down the street. Shot him in the leg and chased after him. He got in a car and sped off. Got the license plate of the Yugo…745TDT. Will have Yamiko or someone in Lila’s group see if they can track down the owner.
We left Yamiko in the care of another priest and the two altar boys. Faraday, Hawk and I went to our meeting with Riley. Faraday was extremely erratic and difficult to manage…nearly late for the meet. I took the bus to DT, but Hawk went with Faraday. Having Hawk as his handler is for the best. I’d end up putting a bullet in Faraday’s head if I had to manage him.
Riley was a dick. We gave him our story. I think he knew we were leaving parts out. We got our pay. Yamiko and Father won’t get theirs unless they report into him by 1000 tomorrow. Riley’s not happy with how we handled things and the deaths of the three thugs. Took notice of cameras and security personnel on the way out (rough sketch).
After the meeting, Faraday decided to go back to his lab. Hawk and I returned to the church to check on Yamiko and decide if we wanted to join Lila’s group. Personally, I’m all for it. I want someone to actually teach me to better use what I’ve been seemingly doing instinctively. Being able to step out of thin air…that would have great tactical potential!
When we got back to the church, there was a man waiting outside for us (description). He didn’t give us his name, but said you were interfering in things that were not our concern. Knew about our job for Riley. Said Riley would be dealt with. Got the impression that he and the rat man might be connected. Said he knew where we were and could track us.
Went into the church and found Yamiko and the altar boys tied up. No sign of the priest. Untied them and checked them out. Other than the altar boys having some bumps on the head, they all seemed ok. Put them on the cots in the back room.
Hawk and I decided to join Lila’s group. Hawk called Faraday to arrange to meet him at his lab to get the address. Faraday was addled and thought Hawk wanted to ask Lila on a date. This man is a serious liability.
Went to DL and met Faraday. He couldn’t give us the address…had to drive us there. After one wrong address, we met with Lila. As we began talking with her, short goblin-like creatures broke in the door. There were a lot…a couple of dozen maybe. Lila yelled for us to get out. We fought our way through them to Faraday’s car. They’re fairly weak individually, but definitely a threat en mass (description of critters). Just as we got to the car, we heard a roar behind us. At the end of the alley was what I could only call a demon. Wings, tall…10 feet at least, claws, kind of a cross between a bipedal bull and lion (description). It picked up a dumpster as we got in the car. It threw the dumpster at us, but Lila did something that caused a hole to open in the air, and the dumpster vanished into it. I think she opened a door to another dimension between us and the demon. The dumpster went into it.
We sped off. Lila figured we had been followed. She closed he eyes, then told hawk to remove his shirt. She found a bug on it. A real bug…some kind of beetle. She said it was something like alien tracking tech. She crushed it.
She directed us to a farmhouse (deliberately not putting location here, again for security). The setup there appears to be off the grid. Met a few of her fellow rebels. Man named Thomas appears to be some of her “muscle” (description). I was concerned about Yamiko, so asked if someone could drive me to the church to get her. Was taken to another of Lila’s people named Michael (description).
Michael’s like Lila and me…definitely strong like Lila. He’s in a room covered with scraps of paper with symbols on them. Kind of like the symbol we saw with Mitch. Michael was sitting on the floor and reading a book. He asked for my name. Said he preferred to ask for it, unlike Lila who prefers to read it from a person’s mind. Michael opened one of these doors to another dimension, took my hand and brought me with him. We walked a short distance, then he opened another door and we stepped into the church. Then I began vomiting. Horrible retching. He got Yamiko (and checked her for bugs). As we started to leave, more of the goblin things broke into the church…along with the demon. We stepped into the other dimension, and were being followed by the demon. We came out in the farmhouse and Michael closed the door behind us. He thinks he closed it before the demon could track where we are.
More violent retching!
OK, feeling a little better now. If Lila and Michael can do this without being sick, I can definitely get used to it.
A quick note regarding the dimension travel. It’s not teleportation, that I’m sure of. We traveled…had to actually walk…to cross the distance. We just didn’t walk as far as we would have had to in our own dimension. As we walked, I saw trees and terrain around us. I couldn’t focus on it though. It seemed to warp and blur around us. Intense colors, like some fevered dream or hallucination.
I’ve taken long enough to recover and write my notes. I need to get downstairs to the others. We need to find out if we will stay here, or find our own place to hole up. We need supplies…resources. If corporations have become the puppets of these aliens, then they can fund our little resistance. Not sure the others realize how expensive this could get. Then we need to secure intelligence and find a target. Something that will hurt these bastards. Then find allies. Surely others have seen some of what’s going on. Not all of them are pawns. Not all of them are already working in groups like Lila’s. We establish a beachhead. Bring in reinforcements and supplies, and then strike out. Once we liberate Chicago, we can move on from here.
The system of Dark Conspiracy has opened up way more doors than any other roleplaying game I've every played. For example, because the character's "grow up" during generation, there is a pretty extensive history involved with a starting character. That history is easilly manipulated by the Referee in order to help the players flesh out their characters as well as expose each PC to the darkness in the world as it is in the campaign. Ultimately I work through their background until they end up in the city or place that I am starting the first adventure and have a way to tie them all together.
Following I will recount each individual player's session and what they encountered:
Jonathan Livingston Neuropath Age - 37
Damian Ross started out his life at 9 years old as a street urchin. He continued to live on the streets until he was the age of 17. He wanted a different life style than the rest of the street rats and and adolescent gangs. Damian walked into a navy recruiter's office in Mike Town just outside of the Dreamland gates. Shortly thereafter, Ross was enlisted into the Military Academy. As everything in the military; housing, meals and clothing were all supplied to Ross. This was a serious change from what he was used to. Before Damian lived on the streets, he lived with his parents in a prole complex. They were neglectful and irresponsible drunks who'd spent all their corporate scripts on booze and what little food it took to sustain their miserable lives.
Damian received an opportunity to join the ranks of the Navy SEAL, that is if he made the cut. He did, and so began his life as a SEAL. He had various missions to OCONUS locations, like Somalia and France as well as some others not mentioned.
On Damian's final mission, they were ordered to France to abduct the Minister of State by a commanding officer who was told to do so by your typical puppet stringed government official. Their mission; to abduct, detain and interrogate the Minister to find out what he knew about shipments being made from one company to another. Ross' team prepared for their mission, leaving the getaway pickup truck well off the Minister's land and went into stealth mode through the woods surrounding his elaborate house. After sneaking in and busting into the official's study they bagged him without much trouble other than a few stray bullets flying wild from an untrained hand. While running to exit the building, guards began tailing them. Through the woods, weapon smoke blew in the wind as firearm discharges echoed off the trees. The team made it to the getaway vehicle with little problem. As the sped off to the rendezvous point, their assailents were in hot persuit. One of Damian’s men took a hit and fell from the truck. Making a commanding decision, Ross pressed on. Well on the outskirts of town, at an abandoned farm house they comondiered for the mission at hand, they pulled up and unloaded their prize. They took the Minister into the house and strapped him to a wooden chair and removed his hood. Then began the questioning, at first subtle then much more violent. Ross attempted to use his “intuition” to gain a feel of this fearful and pitiful government official before him. All he could tell is what you or I would tell from a man who was recently abducted and brought to a strange place; fearful and scared for his life. After about a half an hour of questions and beatings, the Minister gave Ross all he needed. Ross had his second in command end the miserable man’s life.
Upon returning to CONUS, Ross was called into meet with the commander of the medical department, Colonel Gary Michaels. At the Colonel’s request, Ross had a seat. Michaels proceeded to ask Damian about his intuitive “abilities”. Ross only gave vague answers as he was not truly aware of his mental capabilities. After many questions, Michaels entered Damian’s mind and “introduced” himself. Since Damian had never experienced someone touching his mind before, he fought back as white blood cells fight an infection. The Colonel tried his hardest to maintain a connection and awakened something he didn’t anticipate. Damian pushed to the brink of bursting blood vessels and “awakened”. (At this point I should interject to say that I don’t agree with the Neuropath rules of pushing. I believe they are nothing more than an Empathic Luck roll and therefore have changed the rules to either increase power level, targets affected, or range.) Damian left the Colonel catatonic and himself falling uncocious, slamming to the floor.
When Ross awoke, he could not remember who he was, where he was, or anything prior to this very moment. He looked around and the only thing he could tell was he was in a hospital ward, in a hospital bed and that he was in a hospital gown. As he took in his surroundings, he saw a man in a bed next to him and could not recognize. The man was Colonel Michaels. He was hooked up to various monitoring equipment and seemed to be out cold. Ross saw some fatigues folded on the chair next to his bed. They didn’t have a name on them, nor any other discernable markings. Shortly after putting them on, he snuck over to the door to the ward and had a listen. Hearing no sounds from the hall on the other side, he broke for the nearest exit door. He opened the door to a stairwell and began making his descent to the ground floor. He stopped as he heard voices enter the stairwell above him. After he heard them exit the stairwell on the next floor down, he continued on his way to freedom. He barged through the exit door to an opened parking lot and ran across to the tree line, disappearing from the scene.
When he next awoke, he did not remember how he got there. The previous day was a mystery to him. He wandered the city, sleeping on benches and in alleys as he came to need rest.
The following is direct from his journal (SPOILER ALERT some of the contents of his journal disclose a first person account from the first parts of my campaign) (credit must be given to Matthew Weaver for this writing):
Jon Livingston’s Journal – August 2075
(written on the inside cover of the journal)
Your name is Jon Livingston. You have no idea what your birth name is. This name is from the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, written by Richard Bach. You found this book in your coat pocket.
You’re a psychic (yeah, it’s real) and you suffer from some form of amnesia. Once you fall asleep, you will forget everything you’ve experienced. For some reason, you will remember skills and basic knowledge that you learn, but people, places, relationships…those will be gone. You’re what the doctors call a “functional amnesiac”. It sucks, get used to it.
Captain Robert "Bull" Stockton is the captain of the Merchant Marine lake freighter American Spirit. He’s based out of Chicago, and is your only real friend. It was his idea for you to keep this journal. You’ve done some work for him in the past. Some as a crewman on his ship. Some doing odd jobs around his dock and warehouse. He’s a good man. He thinks that you might have been part of the military or a paramilitary group. This is just based off of some of the knowledge and skills you have.
Your home is a one-room apartment above one of his warehouses. It’s not much, but it’s a place to stay. Old journals, pictures and some other stuff are in a safety deposit box at Safety Net. Owner is Ralph. Key #652. Check this vault if you need info on your past experiences.
And remember…Take Good Notes!
(journal)
August 1, 2075
Went to Safety Net and skimmed old journals. Began this new journal even though the old one wasn’t filled yet. Have this bad feeling I’m going to need a lot of space to write soon. Looking at some of my old writings, it looks like these feelings aren’t something to be ignored.
August 2, 2075
Worked for the Captain today. Grunt work. Bull invited me to dinner with him and his wife Sandy. Truthfully, she doesn’t cook well. Still better than some nuked burrito from the Qwik-E-Mart.
Bull told me about one of his crewmen who’s disappeared. Guy’s name is Charles Michaels. Seems he was in Miketown visiting his family. The Captain asked me to look into Michaels’ disappearance. Looks like his family lived in some prole housing. (address as well as pic of Charles) Will begin looking into it tomorrow.
August 3, 2075
Fuck! That could have gone better!
Found the prole housing building for the Michaels (see pics of street and building). Spoke with Charles’ mom and step-father, but they hadn’t seen or heard from him since his visit a couple of days ago. Didn’t read them as lying. They seemed genuinely concerned that he was missing. I guess he had told them he was going back to the ship the next day.
Asked around at some of the other residents. Most didn’t want to talk. Few we did speak with new nothing, but seemed scared. Read them as just being distrustful of strangers. Some also were afraid when they heard of a disappearance from the building. No one seems to know anything specific, just that a few residents have gone missing recently.
One old-timer named Fred, did seem to remember seeing Charles in the building. He remembers because he thought it was odd that Charles was going into the maintenance room. Seems no one but the maintenance guy ever goes in there.
Tried to find the maintenance man, but he wasn’t around. Did a little recon and found the maint room myself. Everything seems in order, except for a manhole in the floor of one room (see pic). Grease and an odd rust colored smear (blood?) surround the hole. Marks on the floor show where the cover has been moved across it. Tried to move the cover myself, but couldn’t. Was looking for something to use as a pry-bar when security showed up to escort me off the premises. Got roughed up a bit by them, but managed to “convince” them to let me go and not mess with my notebook or camera.
Have a really bad feeling about that manhole. Feels like crosshairs on the back of my neck. Need to try again tomorrow…maybe sneak in after dark.
August 4, 2075
Day’s missing with no idea what happened. Fucking frustrating as hell!
Woke up early this evening in an alley behind the Anchor Bar (address). Killer headache, but doesn’t seem like I was mugged. Gun, camera, wallet, book…all still on me. Nothing in the journal to tell me what happened during the day. Had pics from Safety Net, my apartment door, and the Michaels’ prole building.
Will return to the building tomorrow.
August 5, 2075
Slept later than I think is usual for me. Head still hurts but not as bad. Not quite up to following up on Michaels today. Maybe later tonight.
Got a call from Mr. Steven Riley of Lee & Associates. He called me Mr. Ross. Maybe my birth name? I didn’t let on that I didn’t know who he was talking about. Seems Riley as a job for me. Supposed to meet him at his office tomorrow…10am in Dream Town (DT)(address).
Cleaning gun and prepping for the meet tomorrow. Going to bed early.
August 6, 2075
Dream Town security won’t let you in with weapons. Turned pistol and knife over to security to hold until I leave. Conceal weapons in the future!
Made it to the meeting with Riley. Seems he’s a Loss Prevention Manager for Lee & Assoc. His secretary’s name is Elizabeth.
Met three other’s that have also been hired for this job. Yamiko, a young Japanese woman (good with computers and a gun). Father O’Reiley, an Irish Catholic priest who seems to know his way around knives and guns). Professor Faraday, a physics professor at the University in Dream Town (pics).
Riley’s job involves finding out what’s happening to residents (ballot men) of a prole welfare compound in Miketown. A number of them have gone missing. We have 2 days to complete the job and report back to Riley. He gave us the address and a list of the missing ballot men (address). We are each to be paid $1500 for the job.
Met with the rest of the team at a coffee shop in DT, and then went out to the prole building. Faraday drove us out. Had an incident with some of the locals due to something Faraday said to them about “getting a job”.
Impression of the rest of the team…
Yamiko: smart. Is a bit trigger happy. Pulled a gun and fired at the prole thugs. Just a flesh wound, but fists would have worked fine. Thugs were unarmed. Have also asked her if she can hack into Lee and Assoc. and find out what kind of file they have on Mr. Ross. Offered to hire her. She said ok, but that she’d have to hack from their building.
Father O’Reiley: seems like a clam and reasonable man. Probably a prerequisite for a priest. Made a comment about having a military background. Probably a reliable teammate.
Professor Faraday: the man might be smart, but has NO common sense. Don’t think he’s been outside of DT in years. Has no idea how the world truly functions. He’s erratic, temperamental, and ignorant of the world outside of DT.
We talked to some of the residents. The professor chose to lock himself in the car and wait there. Some of the residents acknowledged that some proles have gone missing, but had no idea what’s happened. Seems like many of the missing people have been sick lately, and have visited the local clinic.
Learned that Mitch (Jones) is the maintenance man, and will most likely be the person who will have the best idea of what’s going on in the building.
A local told us that his friend has gone missing. Said his friend had mentioned seeing a person coming out of the sewage drain and into the ditch behind the building. Friend then disappeared. The local gave us the key to his friend’s apartment (apartment number).
In the friend’s apartment had been trashed. The place was a mess. Blood covered sheets (pics of the room). The team found his employment contract and a diary. Mitch showed up and wanted to know what was going on. Tried to get a read on him, but couldn’t. The man’s coveralls were covered in grease and rust (blood?). We told him we were there on behalf of Lee and Assoc. to learn what had happened to the missing ballot men.
We checked out the apartments of a couple of the other missing prole’s. Yamiko can pick locks. One was high up in the building and had a shattered window. Claw marks in the carpet as if someone was crawling across the floor towards the door, and was pulled away from it.
Also learned that many of the missing people have had scratches and illnesses prior to disappearing. We’ve decided to check out the clinic. Going back to the car to get Faraday. He supposedly knows about medicine and biology and such.
Went back to the car, but Faraday’s gone missing. Window broken in. Some notebook with Faraday’s ramblings. All I remember from it was something about his wife dying, liver-eaters, and him working on some machine to travel to other dimensions. Might have this wrong, but I think he was getting at his wife being killed by liver-eaters from another dimension. Not sure. Like I said…old man’s crazy.
Got jumped by several of the local thugs behind the cafeteria. Same ones we roughed up when we arrived. They weren’t pulling punches, so we used lethal force to take them out. Might have been unnecessary for me, but I don’t think Yamiko or the Father had anything better to use in the situation.
Found Faraday bound and gagged in the dumpster.
We went to the clinic and also ran into a couple of other men that Riley had hired. Guess word travels fast, and Riley didn’t feel we were being discreet enough. Their names are Hawk Wilson and Terry Richards. Both are cocky bastards for having been sent to “babysit” us. Assholes.
Doctor at the clinic has a drinking prob. Dirty and rundown place. No patient records other than a sign-in book. Most of the missing people have been in to the clinic shortly before disappearing. No record of what they came in for though (sign-in book at Safety Net).
Doctor had a patient behind a screen. Woman yelled and then exploded into some kind of pink goo. There was literally nothing else left of her. Everything had been turned into this goo. Doctor fled the clinic after that. Faraday has some samples of the goo.
We decided to check out the maint room. Went down the hole into a steam or power room of some sort. Faraday decided to stay above, and Richards stayed back to play bodyguard.
Found a shotgun wired trap that caught Yamiko and Hawk. Injuries could have been much worse. Faraday came down to tend their wounds. He’s going to continue on with us while Richards stays above to keep watch.
Trapped door leads to Mitch’s (maint guy) room. Place is a sty. Various bloody, mis-matched shoes under his bed…male and female. Looks like he has something to do with the disappearances. Trophies maybe?
Passed some storage rooms and piles of debris and pink goo. Blood. Rats. This place has to be crawling with diseases. Yamiko got us into the sewer tunnel, and then both she and Hawk collapsed with some fever. Faraday got them stable and we secured them in a room while we continued on.
The sewer is a sewer. Remember to bring a flashlight in the future. Found a young woman’s body. Head nearly severed and she had given birth. The birth was very messy and most likely killed her according to Faraday. Father gave her last rites. There was also a hatched pod of some kind in the corner of this sewer room. We believe the pod came out of the woman, moved to the corner, then hatched. Really having a hard time believing this shit (see pics).
Found Mitch, another man, and some fucked-up alien baby in another room of the sewer. Mitch and man were talking, but didn’t make out what they were saying. Baby crawling around. Father and I opened fire on the men. Man exploded into pink goo and the puddle tried to escape into the sewer water. Killed it. Mitch was also taken down. Before we could deal with the baby, a line of light appeared in mid-air, and a cloaked man stepped out of the line. He picked up the baby and stepped back into the line and disappeared. Faraday has seen something like this before.
Cloaked man had an odd symbol on the back of his robes. Mitch has the same symbol scarred into the back of his neck (see pic). We got $1000 off of Mitch, along with a note. The note mentions a Lord Balin being pleased with Mitch’s work in taking these people and their souls having gone to this Balin person. Note is signed “T”.
Mitch’s hands had claws. Body turned to ash shortly after his death.
We left. Got out of the hole and no sign of Terry Richards. The guy seemed a little odd. Don’t know what’s up with him.
The group decided to meet at the Father’s church the next morning to talk. I agreed to call Riley and set up a meeting for later that same day. We want to tell him that Mitch was a serial killer. We don’t want to tell him about the crazy alien baby and the goo. Father and Faraday took Yamiko and Hawk back to the church. Father will keep an eye on them. I took the bus home. I have the pod.
Dropped off camera for developing. Have the pics now.
August 7, 2075
Just read my notes. What a fucked up mess! Is this real? Did these things really happen? Looked at the pics. Am I going crazy?
Called Riley this morning. He wanted details before we meet. Just told him that the maintenance guy was a serial killer and that we found the shoes he was keeping as mementos. Told him Yamiko and Hawk have gotten sick from being down in the sewers. Meeting set for 1300 today at his office.
OK, we’ve had the meeting and the day’s gotten stranger by the minute. Have a little better idea of what’s going on…but not really.
Met the others at the church. No change in Yamiko and Hawk. Told the Father and Faraday about my call to Riley. Tried to stress to Faraday how important it is to not tell Riley about the odd “alien” stuff we found out. I don’t know why, but I don’t trust Riley. He’s definitely a greedy corp type, but I think he had an idea of what we would find at the prole building.
Anyway, I decided to see if I could do something to aid Yamiko and Hawk’s recovery. I could see a halo or aura around them. Could also tell that something “foreign” had attached itself to their auras. Was able to push it off a little from Hawk, but not Yamiko. I think I bought him a little more time. Not sure though.
Then a woman named Lila showed up (description). Seems both the Father and Faraday knew her. The Father also seemed to recognize the symbol that had been on the guy who took the baby, as well as on Mitch’s neck. He stepped out of the room and made a call…to the Vatican I think.
This Lila woman’s like me…only much more powerful! She seemed to read my name from my mind. She also immediately recognized what was wrong with Yamiko and Hawk. She also said that the Father and I were infected. Hawk recovered almost immediately, and she said Yamiko should recover in a day or so.
She also told us a little of what’s going on. She talked about the collapse of the governments, the destroyed environment, and all the missing people around the world. All the troubles that have happened since 2005. Said it’s all part of this shadow group that’s manipulating things. That the things we saw in the sewers is part of this “alien conspiracy”. Seems she’s part of an underground resistance movement to stop them. She said that there’re cells of rebels, but it sounds like them mostly work independently. For security reasons, I won’t mention any of the groups’ names here.
Lila told us that Mitch is what’s called a “plagueling”. That they carry and spread disease (like the pink goo disease), and that they are from a different dimension. The Lord Balin from Mitch’s note is most likely also from another dimension. Not sure about the cloaked man who took the baby. Might be someone like me and Lila. Also don’t know about this “T”. Guess there’s not much difference whether they’re alien or human pawns. Both are now our enemies.
She doesn’t know for certain if Riley or Lee & Assoc. are pawns or not. She thinks Riley might know something of what’s going on, but she just doesn’t have enough information on him/them yet. Lila said her group is strong on information gathering, but they need some muscle. She’d like us to join them now that we have seen some of what we’re up against. We told her that we needed to talk, and we’d get back in touch. Faraday knows where to go to contact her once we decide.
Father O’Reilly said he had to rush off and he’d be in touch once he returned. This was shortly after his call, so no idea where he’s going. A little after he left, we heard a crash and the sound of broken glass. Hawk and I went to investigate and found two large rats had broken in through the windows. By large…I mean the size of German Shepards! Hawk and I shot them. Faraday investigated them and said they were mutations. I saw a man running away from the church and down the street. Shot him in the leg and chased after him. He got in a car and sped off. Got the license plate of the Yugo…745TDT. Will have Yamiko or someone in Lila’s group see if they can track down the owner.
We left Yamiko in the care of another priest and the two altar boys. Faraday, Hawk and I went to our meeting with Riley. Faraday was extremely erratic and difficult to manage…nearly late for the meet. I took the bus to DT, but Hawk went with Faraday. Having Hawk as his handler is for the best. I’d end up putting a bullet in Faraday’s head if I had to manage him.
Riley was a dick. We gave him our story. I think he knew we were leaving parts out. We got our pay. Yamiko and Father won’t get theirs unless they report into him by 1000 tomorrow. Riley’s not happy with how we handled things and the deaths of the three thugs. Took notice of cameras and security personnel on the way out (rough sketch).
After the meeting, Faraday decided to go back to his lab. Hawk and I returned to the church to check on Yamiko and decide if we wanted to join Lila’s group. Personally, I’m all for it. I want someone to actually teach me to better use what I’ve been seemingly doing instinctively. Being able to step out of thin air…that would have great tactical potential!
When we got back to the church, there was a man waiting outside for us (description). He didn’t give us his name, but said you were interfering in things that were not our concern. Knew about our job for Riley. Said Riley would be dealt with. Got the impression that he and the rat man might be connected. Said he knew where we were and could track us.
Went into the church and found Yamiko and the altar boys tied up. No sign of the priest. Untied them and checked them out. Other than the altar boys having some bumps on the head, they all seemed ok. Put them on the cots in the back room.
Hawk and I decided to join Lila’s group. Hawk called Faraday to arrange to meet him at his lab to get the address. Faraday was addled and thought Hawk wanted to ask Lila on a date. This man is a serious liability.
Went to DL and met Faraday. He couldn’t give us the address…had to drive us there. After one wrong address, we met with Lila. As we began talking with her, short goblin-like creatures broke in the door. There were a lot…a couple of dozen maybe. Lila yelled for us to get out. We fought our way through them to Faraday’s car. They’re fairly weak individually, but definitely a threat en mass (description of critters). Just as we got to the car, we heard a roar behind us. At the end of the alley was what I could only call a demon. Wings, tall…10 feet at least, claws, kind of a cross between a bipedal bull and lion (description). It picked up a dumpster as we got in the car. It threw the dumpster at us, but Lila did something that caused a hole to open in the air, and the dumpster vanished into it. I think she opened a door to another dimension between us and the demon. The dumpster went into it.
We sped off. Lila figured we had been followed. She closed he eyes, then told hawk to remove his shirt. She found a bug on it. A real bug…some kind of beetle. She said it was something like alien tracking tech. She crushed it.
She directed us to a farmhouse (deliberately not putting location here, again for security). The setup there appears to be off the grid. Met a few of her fellow rebels. Man named Thomas appears to be some of her “muscle” (description). I was concerned about Yamiko, so asked if someone could drive me to the church to get her. Was taken to another of Lila’s people named Michael (description).
Michael’s like Lila and me…definitely strong like Lila. He’s in a room covered with scraps of paper with symbols on them. Kind of like the symbol we saw with Mitch. Michael was sitting on the floor and reading a book. He asked for my name. Said he preferred to ask for it, unlike Lila who prefers to read it from a person’s mind. Michael opened one of these doors to another dimension, took my hand and brought me with him. We walked a short distance, then he opened another door and we stepped into the church. Then I began vomiting. Horrible retching. He got Yamiko (and checked her for bugs). As we started to leave, more of the goblin things broke into the church…along with the demon. We stepped into the other dimension, and were being followed by the demon. We came out in the farmhouse and Michael closed the door behind us. He thinks he closed it before the demon could track where we are.
More violent retching!
OK, feeling a little better now. If Lila and Michael can do this without being sick, I can definitely get used to it.
A quick note regarding the dimension travel. It’s not teleportation, that I’m sure of. We traveled…had to actually walk…to cross the distance. We just didn’t walk as far as we would have had to in our own dimension. As we walked, I saw trees and terrain around us. I couldn’t focus on it though. It seemed to warp and blur around us. Intense colors, like some fevered dream or hallucination.
I’ve taken long enough to recover and write my notes. I need to get downstairs to the others. We need to find out if we will stay here, or find our own place to hole up. We need supplies…resources. If corporations have become the puppets of these aliens, then they can fund our little resistance. Not sure the others realize how expensive this could get. Then we need to secure intelligence and find a target. Something that will hurt these bastards. Then find allies. Surely others have seen some of what’s going on. Not all of them are pawns. Not all of them are already working in groups like Lila’s. We establish a beachhead. Bring in reinforcements and supplies, and then strike out. Once we liberate Chicago, we can move on from here.