# (10/07) A Dark and Restless Tide - (A D20 Dark*Matter Story Hour)



## HeapThaumaturgist (Mar 23, 2004)

_Static in the Key of E ..._

It was cold. So cold.  The smoke made it hard to breathe.  Sam coughed and shook his head.  Hot.  It had to be hot, because the kitchen was on fire.  And the dining room.  He felt so cold, though, and it was too hard to move from the floor.

“It will pass …”

The voice was a vibration just behind his eyes.  It made him want to sneeze, or scream, or both.

“They are moving toward the back of the house.”

This voice was separate.  Was it himself?  No.  Movement by a window.  Dark.  Dark clothes.  A hat.
Something moved across his neck, cradling, supporting.  It was cold … or maybe hot?  Firm.  Hard.  Metallic.  A long, flexible, metal finger.  Then another.  And one more, moving along the base of his skull.  No.  In.  Pulling out.  There was no pain, but the impossibility and discomfort of it made him cry out.  It was pulling out of his brain, out of his skull, out of his body with a sick slerking sound.

“You.  Drive.”

The other man in the room walked towards him, pulled him to his feet.

“Yes.”  Sam said.  He wasn't sure why, but the man was right.  They must escape.  He reached in his pocket and fished his car keys out.  

The sickness was gone, the weakness, the fever.  For the first time in a week he felt fine. He was strong.  And it was hot.  The room was on fire.


----------



## Eyas (Mar 23, 2004)

<rushes in to find a seat as the show starts>Yay! This promisies to be good


----------



## Mark Causey (Mar 24, 2004)

Well, seeing as I basically inspired my GM to start a modern Spycraft/Cthulhu campaign here in Raleigh because of OldDrewID's d20 Medallions, and now we got a Dark*Matter game going on here, I'm kinda scared to be living here @_@

Nahh, the stories are just getting started! Bring it on!


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Mar 24, 2004)

adamantineangel said:
			
		

> Well, seeing as I basically inspired my GM to start a modern Spycraft/Cthulhu campaign here in Raleigh because of OldDrewID's d20 Medallions, and now we got a Dark*Matter game going on here, I'm kinda scared to be living here @_@
> 
> Nahh, the stories are just getting started! Bring it on!




Very odd.



I've been using the North Carolina "area" for my D20 Modern games because I've been up there a few times and my players haven't.  I vacation in the Maggie Valley area from time to time.  Of course I've got things all changed around, have grown the area in some ways to fit in things I need.

The area is ripe with mountainous rural areas where you could hide all kinds of interesting horrors.

"Static in the Key of E" is set in Chapel Hill, nominally.  Some of it is real, some not ... as much as I can pull from web pages and maps, anyway.  

Hope you're not too disappointed with what I do to your home town.

--fje


----------



## jonrog1 (Mar 24, 2004)

Hmm, and Jo from our Dark*Matter game is from North Carolina ... what _is_ it about that state?


----------



## Mark Causey (Mar 24, 2004)

HeapThaumaturgist said:
			
		

> Hope you're not too disappointed with what I do to your home town.




Like I said, bring it on  Raleigh needs some remodeling...

If you need anything from a local, just gimme a nudge!


----------



## dragoonm (Mar 25, 2004)

adamantineangel said:
			
		

> Like I said, bring it on  Raleigh needs some remodeling...
> 
> If you need anything from a local, just gimme a nudge!





As another local of Raleigh, will be glad to help with area info as well.

Mike


----------



## ledded (Mar 29, 2004)

Wow man, glad you're back on the boards with a new SH.

Talk about hitting the ground running... love what you've hit the gates with so far.

And it's not just North Carolina, I think the South in general is in love with a lot of the creepy stuff; the area we are in is just ripe with ghost stories and legends going way back. We grew up on spooky stories and strange wives tales from the rural areas.

As a quick tangent, here is one of my little known favorites that even predates the influx of europeans: in Birmingham, there is a large area which encompasses quite a bit of the town immediately south of downtown called Shades Valley; it's a large valley between 2 small mountain ranges.

The name comes from an old Muskogee word (that's Creek indian to ya'll who ain't in the know   ) that originally means 'Shades of Death Valley' or 'Valley of the Shades'. You see, the original inhabitants believed the entire area where several thousand people live now was haunted with the ghosts of the dead, particularly those who died in violent incidents or horrible accidents. Alabama is literally covered in areas with remains of several tribes and tons of archeological sites abound in most every town, especially near creeks and rivers. But one of the larger rivers in the state runs through this area and there are almost no archeological evidence of there ever being very much permanent habitation in the area. 

Sorry for the hijack


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Mar 29, 2004)

ledded said:
			
		

> Wow man, glad you're back on the boards with a new SH.
> 
> ...
> 
> ...




Interesting.  I'm not all that familiar with the northern part of the state, since I'm from L.A. down by the Florida panhandle and we lived in Wisconsin before that.

What's even more interesting is that I'm about 1/4 Muskogee.  My grandmother was full blooded.  I've got few racial features, though, other than my size (6'8" in my socks).  A great grandfather of mine (Muskogee) was apparently 7' +.   I'm also about 1/6 Cherokee, on my dad's side.  

I've been looking around for an interesting ghost story from my people to include in the tale somewhere.  Mwa ha ha ha.

On another note, I appologize for the wait, I was hoping to play a session a week ago but three of my players live together and have various things that have kept them from being able to attend.  This next friday I'll hopefully have three of the (six) players together and we'll play an interlude ... something high-octane to get them into the mechanics of the system as much as the intrigue of the setting.

Looking forward to a good story-hour.

--fje


----------



## ledded (Mar 29, 2004)

HeapThaumaturgist said:
			
		

> Interesting. I'm not all that familiar with the northern part of the state, since I'm from L.A. down by the Florida panhandle and we lived in Wisconsin before that.



Down by the Redneck Riviera 



			
				HeapThaumaturgist said:
			
		

> What's even more interesting is that I'm about 1/4 Muskogee. My grandmother was full blooded. I've got few racial features, though, other than my size (6'8" in my socks). A great grandfather of mine (Muskogee) was apparently 7' +. I'm also about 1/6 Cherokee, on my dad's side.



I'm 1/8 Muskogee myself, and grew up mostly around the Talladega area (where almost every river, creek, mountain, town, etc has an indian name).  I don't have the height though.  I do remember reading before about this phenomena... the indian chief Tuscaloosa (namesake of the city) was rumored to be extremely tall, so tall that his feet drug the ground when riding a horse given to him by european settlers.



			
				HeapThaumaturgist said:
			
		

> I've been looking around for an interesting ghost story from my people to include in the tale somewhere. Mwa ha ha ha.
> 
> <snip>



I've got some various sources and stuff from books, plus some really cool stories told to me by my grandmother, though those are local legend kinda stuff from my area.  I'd be happy to email you some if you'd like.

For a good game example, stay tuned to the current Medallions Story hour episode... there are some nice cherokee legend tie-ins with the current episode being written.



> Looking forward to a good story-hour.



I am too, and with you at the helm I'm pretty confident we'll get something nice and creepy


----------



## SweeneyTodd (Apr 2, 2004)

My D20Modern game is set in North Carolina as well. We started off in an Exit 23-ish situation near Clinton (off I-40), then infiltrated a meth lab near Smithfield (and stopped in at "J.R.'s Cigars", a term that has a whole new meaning if you've read Tim Powers), and Saturday's session picks up in the middle of a raid into a pharmaceutical company in RTP.

Go NC!


----------



## fenzer (Apr 2, 2004)

Heap's Back!  

It's good to hear from you Heap, looking forward to another great story.  

And Eyas, I'll take that seat right next to you.


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Apr 17, 2004)

I appologize for the lack of updates.  Due to various scheduling problems around the group, we haven't been able to get together until recently.  I now have some material to turn into Story Hour.

It's turning out pretty nice ... unexpected in some places, even for me.

Working on a SH update as soon as I post this.

--fje


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Apr 18, 2004)

*Lanevill, WV ... Two Days Later*

"We're being reassigned, guys ... "  


To:       gjgilmore@hoffmanninst.org
CC:       
From:    trjohnson@hoffmanninst.org
Attc:     clipping.jpg

SUBJECT:  Reassignment

Gang,

         I'm going to have to pull you out of West Virginia.  We seem to have
 some sort of situation in Raleigh, NC and you're the closest team we've got. 
 Nothing serious, but by your last report, things there in Laneville are pretty
 much over but for the clean-up.  You probably don't need the whole team 
there for that, so some of you take the van and get over to Chapel Hill, NC.
  It's a suburb of Raleigh, look up the map on Yahoo or something, it shouldn't
 be too hard to find.  I think Jameson is from that area.

	We've only got one contact in Raleigh ... we don't have a strong 
presence in the state yet, other than some friendlies at Weygandt-Ellis U.
  Our contact in Chapel Hill is a guy calling himself 'TheTruthIsOutThere'.  He 
communicates with the home office only through Email.  He's pretty good 
about hiding his tracks, not that we've ever tried very hard to locate him
 before.  This guy's usually punctual with reports (nominally, he's a "paid 
informant" ... his own term) but he's missed the last drop time and isn't 
responding to emails on the account we have.  Of course this, on its own, 
wouldn't warrant sending anyone, but we're getting some local news reports 
in from Raleigh about a really odd spate of car malfunctions.  Keyless-Entry 
units, to be exact.  I'll cc: you a scan of one of the reports.

	We're not sure if there's any connection, and there probably isn't, but it
 won't hurt to have a few people nose around just in case.   From the data 
we're compiling, it seems that there's a slightly higher percentage of Toyota 
models affected than other manufacturers.  Again, it may not matter, but it 
wouldn't hurt to stop by the Chapel Hill Toyota dealer.  After you've pounded 
out who's going and who's staying, I'll get you set up with some rooms and 
covers ... Insurance inspectors.  Nobody much questions insurance inspectors
 and it'll give you an excuse to bring cameras and snoop around inside some
 of the cars.  

	Our only real lead on the contact is the P.O. Drop for his payments.  He
 only asked for a couple hundred dollars a month, in small bills, and is having 
them sent to a Mailboxes'n'Stuff store in Chapel Hill.  Paying informants isn't
 SOP, but it's chump change and his reports are usually anal-retentively 
exacting ... not that much of particular interest to the Institute has been 
happening around there until now.  Stop by the Mailboxes'n'Stuff and bend 
some ears, maybe somebody has noticed something.  Chapel Hill isn't all that 
big of a community, chances are people will know people and be willing to 
gossip, especially if any bodies have turned up recently.  

	Watch your asses.  I'm not usually one to talk out of turn, but there's a
 rumor floating around the office that there's been some activity elsewhere in
 the state.  Too much **** coming together to be 'random cooincidence', if 
you know what I mean.  

--Ted
​"Here's the headline Ted sent us."  Georgi read.



Mysterious Malfunctions in Chapel Hill

Over two hundred people in the Chapel Hill area awoke Monday morning to find the keyless entry systems in their cars were no longer working ...​
"Very weird."  Olie said.  He zipped up the last bag of gear and stowed it in the back of the van.

"That's why they send us." Georgi said, sitting crosslegged on a bench nearby with the laptop.  "Haunted mines and disappearances?  Broken key fobs and disappearances?   Who you gonna call?"

"The police?"  Sam grimaced and took the small sat-uplink dish off the top of the van.  "I can't believe they sent us all the way out here for a couple of meth dealers playing dress up.  Turn-of-the-century ghost stories aren't even my speciality."

"They did not know what it would be."  Dr. Kyong Park walked out of the Laneville, WV police station.  "Much like an episode of Scooby Doo.  We uncovered the truth, and this time the truth was far from paranormal."

"'Cept this time 'those meddling kids' happened to have a shotgun."  Ollie interjected.  He smiled to himself.  Gunplay.

"Who's Scooby Doo?"  Georgi looked up and pushed her hair back.

"Who's Scooby ...?  You're telling me you've never heard of ... how OLD are you?"  Olie blinked.

"Twenty.  My parents were a bit weird, though.  Never watched alot of TV."  Georgi said.  She shrugged and started shutting the laptop down.

"But you just dropped a Ghostbu..."

"Let it go, Ollie."  Kyong said.  She brushed past and put her medical bag in the van.

"Aren't you from Chapel Hill, Sam?"  Georgi asked.  She slung her postman's bag over her shoulder and headed for the van.

"Yes."  Sam shrugged.  "My parents were professors at UNC.  It's been a long while since I was home, however."

"Very weird."  Olie said.  He closed the back doors.  "Too much **** coming together to be coincidental ineed, you ask me."

"There's no such thing as coincidence, Olie, you should know that."  Kyong said.

-----------------------------------------

((Authorial Aside:  Georgi's player is my fiance.  The bit about Scooby was direct from the table.  Yes, her parents WERE odd.  The only reason she knows Ghostbusters is I showed her the movie last summer when my "there is only Zuul." jokes were lost on her.  

I had planned the adventure to be in Chapel Hill weeks ago and recieved Sam's backstory at the table.  Imagine my surprise when I find he's from Chapel Hill.  The player had never been there and chose the area because it's part of the "Research Triangle" and his character is an academic.))


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Apr 20, 2004)

*Outside of the Toyota Dealer.  Chapel Hill, NC.*

“Find anything?”  Sam said as he opened the door.  He crouch-stepped into the van.

“Yea.  I’ve been comparing one of the body controllers from the affected cars to a new one.”  Georgi said.  She pointed at the circuit board in her lap.  “See right here?  Some fried circuits off the receiver, as I thought.”

“And?”  Sam prompted.

”And ... the keyless entry works like a little radio.  There’s a transmitter in the fob and a receiver in the car’s body controller, that's the “computer”.   It transmits at a very specific frequency, carrying the unlock code in the modulation.  Each of the models and cars affected have receivers tuned to frequencies quite close to one another.”  She nodded.  “To fry this circuit, the controller would have had to be receiving information on that frequency.  A lot of information, with a lot of power behind it, probably all at once."  She nodded again, happily.  "I figure some sort of burst transmission.  As to who or why or what?  No clue.”

“Well I think I’m getting _where_ pinpointed.”  Sam said.  He opened up a map of Chapel Hill they had bought at a gas station coming in.  He’d spent the last two hours chatting with angry customers waiting in the service department at the Toyota dealer, figuring out where they lived and marking it on his map.  “See a pattern?”  He pointed at a very obvious cluster of about twenty red dots.

“Yea.  Looks like a circle, which I would have expected.”  Georgi said, she looked closer.  “Wait ... no.  It looks like a donut.  There’s nothing in the middle.”  

“Exactly.  Olie was chatting with the mechanics.  The cops have called a tow truck to pick up a burned and abandoned car off of 15 ... here.”  Sam said.  He tapped the map with his finger ... right in the center of his dots.

“Hrm.”  Georgi wrinkled her nose.  “I take it we’re going to check it out?”

”You, Olie, and Kyong.  I’m going to stay here and see if I can turn anything else up.”  Sam said, and got out of the van.

*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Georgi pulled her iPod earbuds off when van crunched to a stop along the gravel shoulder.  She looked out the window.  After the roadway ended, the ground sloped down gently and almost immediately became thick forest and underbrush.  Across the way another road intersected the one they were on at a right angle.  Directly across from the intersection, as though the driver had lost control and flew across the T, the remains of a car lay crushed up against a tree.  The flatbed tow truck they had followed out was maneuvering to back down the slope, yellow lights blinking.

The car itself was very badly burned, mostly along the back end.  All of the windows had shattered and all that was left of the tires was charred and curling black chunks.  Georgi got out along with Kyong and Olie and made her way down the slope.

“Think anybody was inside?”  Georgi asked.

“If there had been, this place would be set up as a crime scene.   Guess the cops figure it was a car theft gone wrong and the perps torched the car when they crashed.”  Olie replied.  He started to circle the car.

“Weird.”  He said, after a moment.

“What?”  Kyong walked over.  She looked around for what was catching Olie's attention. 

”The broken glass.  Or lack there-of.  The windows are gone, but the glass isn’t here.  You’d figure they would have blown out in the explosion.”  He said.

“Or they did, but the explosion was not here.”  Kyong said, looking around.  She pointed back up the slope to where the intersecting street rose on a hill.  “Perhaps the explosion occurred somewhere higher up, and the burning car merely continued down the hill by force of gravity.”

”Good thinking.”  Olie said.

“You guys check around up there, I’m going to see what I can find on the car.”  Georgi said.

Kyong and Olie started up the hill and Georgi started her own circuit of the ruined car.  As she walked, she pulled out a pair of latex gloves and put them on.  She stopped near the driver’s door.  The door itself was hanging open, and she stuck her head inside to look around.  The first thing she noticed was a bit of green plastic stuck on the neck of the rear-view-mirror, which had fallen into the foot well when the front windshield had shattered.  Carefully, she brushed away the ash that had collected on it.  It appeared to be a parking permit of some sort, only partially melted by the fire.  A few letters could still be read along the top, spelling out a word.  After a minute of concentration, she was able to pick out “NANOTECKNOWLED”.  She stood up and scribbled this into her PDA, then pulled out her cell phone to call Sam.

”Sam?”  

”Yea.”

”Georgi.  Do me a favor, Google the word “N-a-n-o-t-e-c-k-n-o-w-l-e-d” for me.  I think it’s part of the name for a company of some sort, I found it on a parking tag in the car.   We’re poking around and it looks like the car might have caught fire further up a hill here, Kyong and Olie are checking it out.  I’ll get back to you if I find anything else.”

*
*
*
*
*
*

Sure enough, near the top of the hill Kyong and Olie found square pieces of safety glass and some black scorch marks on the pavement.

”This looks like it.”  Kyong said.

Olie nodded and looked around, then waved Kyong over.  He crouched by the side of the road and pointed at a disturbance in the gravel, and a crescent-shaped gouge in the soft earth of the grassy bank.

”Looks like maybe somebody escaped.”  He said.  He pointed into the trees.  "And they went that way, probably running scared."  He started moving forward, slowly, looking for tracks or broken twigs; a trail.  He and Kyong followed those he found into the underbrush.  The tracks were pretty obvious, the result of panic or disorientation.  The trail wasn’t too hard to follow ... and it lead them straight to a body.

*
*
*
*
*
*


Sam called back a few minutes later.

”Found it.  There’s a ‘Nanotecknowledgies Inc.’ in Raleigh.  Looks like some sort of small science research company.  They specialize in, surprise, nanotech.  Looks like the brainchild of a handful of researchers from the colleges around here.  Not a whole lot of information here.  We can see if we can get an employee list or poke around, find out if anybody didn’t show up for work the last two days.”

”Alright.”  Georgi replied.  “I’m looking this car over.  It’s one of those new Toyota Prius, the hybrid.  There’s some rather localized damage at the rear, looks like the gas tank blew AND the batteries, which is odd.  I’m going to go under the hood, some of these new models have protected recording devices.  Black boxes, for cars.”

*
*
*
*
*
*


“Looks like severe burning.”  Kyong said.  She was crouched near what was left of the body they'd found.  Pieces of it were missing, black at the edges.  An arm, part of one leg, one eye and the socket around it as well as the nose, tongue, and front teeth, part of the abdomen and chest.  “A very high temperature fire, though I’m not finding any bubbling of the tissue around the destroyed areas.”

Olie was a few steps away, searching the area around the body.  Kyong started to rifle through the pockets, carefully, and pulled the remains of a wallet from one.  She opened it with one finger.  The picture on a driver’s license stared at her from behind a plastic sheild.  

“Says his name is Bauer ... Sam Bauer.  I’m not sure about the area, but I think this address is near here.”  She closed the wallet and placed it gently back in the ruined pocket.  “There’s a pass-card on a zip line, here.”  She said.  She pulled the card out and flipped it over to look at the front.  “Someplace called Nanotecknowledgies Inc.  Sam Bauer is DOCTOR Sam Bauer, apparently.”

Olie walked over and crouched by the body’s one remaining foot, looking at the shoe.

”And there’s something else.  The only prints I can find are ours, and his.  As far as I can tell, the body walked itself out here."  He said.

*
*
*
*


----------



## Eyas (Apr 21, 2004)

hmmm...Nanotech controlled zombie fritters anyone?

Great story so far, Heap, looking forward to more.


----------



## oldschool (Apr 22, 2004)

Eyas said:
			
		

> hmmm...Nanotech controlled zombie fritters anyone?




Only good when deap fried in innocent human bliss.  Yum, yum!


----------



## ledded (Apr 22, 2004)

oldschool said:
			
		

> Only good when deap fried in innocent human bliss. Yum, yum!



Or is that 'heap' fried...

I'll take a small bowl of Screaming Agony Roumelade to dip mine in, thank you.  Mmmmm... spicy!

Thanks for the update Heap, ready for more.


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Apr 28, 2004)

*The Next Day...*

.

Tim Rosen stepped off of the elevator and wrinkled his nose.  He hated morgues.  Too much death.  Concentrated.  It made his skin crawl, for some reason.  

He walked a short distance down the hall and pushed through the double doors into the examination room.  

“Do they always have to put these things in the basement?”  He asked.

Dr. Park looked up.  She had been examining the body they had found the night before.  “The dead do not need to see the sun, and those who work with the dead will ever be shunned, even if subtly.”

”Deep.” He said.  He walked over and frowned.  “I just got in from Laneville, Sam briefed me and told me you were here.  Using that FBI badge again?”

Kyong nodded, her face hidden behind a plastic shield and green fabric mask.  “Yes.  I am ‘playing Scully’ again, as Georgi likes to say.”

“So what have we found, Agent Park?”  Tim said.  

“I mailed samples taken at  the scene to the Institute.”  Kyong said.  “I have been studying the body since early this morning, when the hospital staff first let me in.  I have discovered the cause of death.”  She rolled the body to one side.  The back of the head was a mass of dried blood and jagged wounds, bone poking through in places.  

“I thought Olie said this guy walked himself out into the woods.”  Tim said.

“Perhaps.  This wound was not immediately fatal.  There are signs of healing.”  Kyong said.  Tim leaned in closer.  She continued, “I would estimate the wound was, perhaps, twenty-four hours old.”

Tim nodded.  “So why did he walk around for a day bleeding out from a head wound?”

“There is more.”  Kyong said.  “I discovered debris in the wound.  Shrapnel.  Plastic and safety glass.”

“As in car safety glass?”  Tim asked.

“Indeed.”

“So you’re saying he was in the car when it exploded.”  Tim said.

“Initially, yes.  I would say he was, perhaps, attempting to leave the vehicle at the time.”

“So … he survived in the woods for a day after the car went?”  Tim asked, hopefully.

“No.  I would place the time of death near the time of the explosion, no more than three to four minutes later.  I cannot explain the rate of healing evident in these wounds.  They should have been almost immediately fatal.”  

“Right.  About what I was afraid of.  Sam did some poking around in some academic journals this morning.  Apparently this Dr. Bauer was doing pretty heavy Nanotech research.  His last article was about some work he was doing using nanites to fight disease.  Replacing the immune-system or something like that, really Kurzweilian stuff.  He thought he’d be able to cure cancer, AIDS, and the common cold within a few years.”  Tim said.

“When was this published?”  Kyong asked.  She lowered the body onto it’s back.

“’Bout a year and a half ago.  As far as we can tell, he was working with two other researchers on a project at MIT a year ago.  All three of them jumped ship and started their own research company.”  Tim said.  

Kyong entered a few things into her PDA and handed it to Tim.  

“Take notes.”

**********************************************************
“Well, I’m running through the data I pulled on the black box before the cops showed.”  Georgi said.  She leaned back and scratched her head.  “I pulled the software notes off the internet and a diagnostic prog.  Getting some weird results, which is to be expected, in this line of work.”

“Yea?”  Sam grunted.  He was pouring over a printout they had just received from Ted.  A snapshot of an Egyptian text a contact south-state had sent in.  Way too much happening in North Carolina.

“Yea.  I’ve got the record of the last voyage of Sam Bauer.  Everything is pretty normal, cept he hauled tail from the moment the car booted up.  Floored it.  Then about five seconds in, I get some weird code running through.  Looks like some input from somewhere.  Not sure what, though.  I’m trying to analyze the code.  It’s giving commands to the controller, monitoring speed, batteries, everything.  Whatever it was, it was external … and here’s the thing.  When the weird code starts, power drawn from the batteries DECREASED while power to the electric motors increased.  Dramatically.”  She sighed.

“Mhm.”  Sam mumbled.

“Well, I sent some of it to a friend of mine at the Institute.  He looked it over.  Then he sent it to a few more gearheads.  They looked it over too.  We all came to the same conclusion.”

Sam looked up.  “And?”

“Whoever wrote that code, it wasn’t human.  It was pure machine language, and the protocols weren’t anything we’ve seen before.”  Georgi said, and grinned.  “MY money is on evil nanites of doom.   They escaped the yoke of mankind and are communicating amongst themselves.”

“Possibility.”  Sam said.  He stood and stretched.  “We need to get these samples Kyong took last night in the mail to the Institute.  It’ll give us an excuse to stop by that Mailboxes’n’Stuff by the mall that Ted asked us to check out.  See if we can scare up something on that contact.”

“Alright.”  Georgi said.

*************************************************************
“As I suspected.”  Kyong said.  She was looking at a lab report.  “Not char, not really.”

Tim was examining one of the ‘charred’ body areas with the video microscope.

“Carbonization of the affected tissue.  Pure carbon.  Not produced by heat, which explains the lack of damage to the other body tissues.  If I had to guess, something took pieces of him apart … on quite a basic level.”  Kyong said.  She walked over and laid the lab report on the table behind Tim.  “Though I have no idea what.  Looking at the blood and tissue samples under the microscope, I find no nanomachines.  If such a thing existed, it would explain the accelerated healing of the initial wounds, but there is no trace.”

Tim frowned.  “Well that’s no good.  I figured we’d just suck some nanites up and case solved.”

“There is also the question of why the car exploded.  And why the explosion had such a strange effect on the surrounding cars.”  Kyong said.  

“Nanites.  They, well … they’re small.  And they do things.  I’m sure we’ll figure out why, and it’ll be nanites.”  Tim maintained.

Behind them, the elevator dinged in the hall.

“Great, the M.E. is here.  You’ve got the ID, you talk, I’ll be the ever-silent Agent Rosen.”  Tim said.

The double doors swung open.  Two men walked into the room, wearing matching black suits and black overcoats.  Slim black ties, crisp white shirts, polished black shoes.  Their eyes were hidden behind pitch black sunglasses, their hair beneath black fedoras.  As one, they reached into their inside breast-pocket and pulled out badge wallets, flipping their IDs out.  F.B.I. was blazoned in big blue letters on each, and on each wrist was a matching black-banded no-nonsense watch.

“Agent Ferris.”  Said one.

“Agent Oric.”  Said the other.

“F.B.I.”  Ferris said, being sure to put the period after each letter.  “I’m afraid we’re going to have to confiscate this body, ma’am.”

Tim and Kyong looked at each other, then looked at the F.B.I. agents.  Carefully, Kyong replaced her fake ID in her purse.

“Why?”  Tim asked.

“That’s confidential, sir.”  Agent Oric replied.  “A matter of National Security.”

_National Security_ Tim mouthed, and sighed.

“We’ll also need all notes, photos, audio recordings, visual records, reports, and any other records you may have, ma’am.”  Ferris said, stepping forward.

“Wait wait wait.”  Tim said, snatching up the PDA on the table.  “You can’t just come in here and take our stuff.”

“National Security, sir.  If you have any questions, I’d suggest you consult the Patriot Act and call the local bureau office.”  Ferris continued.

“Will we at least get a ticket or a receipt or something?  How do I know I’ll get this stuff back?”  Tim continued, backing up.

“You’ll have to contact the local bureau office, sir.”  Ferris said.  “I’m not at liberty to divulge any information at this time.”

“I’m not giving you anything until I see a warrant.”  Tim said, raising his voice.  Something pricked at the back of his mind … something was definitely not right, here.  “Patriot Act or no, you still have to have a warrant!”  Who wears a hat and sunglasses in the basement, anyway …

‘Agent’ Oric took a step backward and, in a smooth motion, drew a weapon from under his coat.  Apparently, whoever these people were, they’d had enough.  Tim was already in motion, putting an autopsy table between himself and Ferris.  Kyong grabbed for something in her purse as Ferris drew his own weapon … 

Not a gun, Kyong saw.  Almost, but nothing she’d seen before.  Square-jawed, slim, with a high polish and an almost invisible bore.  Oric’s was the same, and was pointed in her direction.  With a *ffSTK!* it fired, and something silver flicked past her face.  She pulled her taser and ducked down behind the table.

Tim had his own gun out in a flash, dodging Ferris’ own strange weapon.  *BOOM!* He fired, only ten feet away, and struck Ferris full in the chest.  The sound cracked through the room again and again.  Blood welled from the wound and Ferris took a step back, never losing his bead.  Oric attempted to hit Kyong again, but she was under the table in a flash, hearing the *ffSTK* strike near where she’d been.  She popped up near Ferris and fired her taser from the hip, hitting home. *POP*

Bright blue light flashed, sizzled, and popped as 50,000 Volts streamed down the wires … and grounded out across Ferris’ skin and into the floor.  He almost entirely ignored her and fired his strange gun at Tim once more *ffSTK*, striking true.  A small spot of blood appeared on Tim’s left arm, and he stumbled back.  It was nothing worse than a stick from a rose thorn!  

He blinked twice and the whole room turned fuzzy.  

*clatter* 

The sound drew his eyes down.  He’d dropped his gun.  

And then he dropped.


----------



## ledded (Apr 29, 2004)

DAMN man, this is good stuff so far.  

Men in Black.  Oh please tell me your players saw that coming...  
(pssst... did one of them resemble Alex Trebec?)


----------



## fenzer (May 12, 2004)

Nano-tech, Men in Black, funky guns, does it get any better?  

More please.


----------



## Tellerve (May 14, 2004)

hmm, I think the MIB aren't human.  In any case they are neat 

Man I am itchin' to play and run a campaign!  And I have a question for the esteemed Heap.  About how long does it take for you to create an adventure and how much background do you research/create?  For instance, your using Chapel Hill and you've said you have been to NC.  So your pulling on obvious personal experience but do you do any more.  I haven't googled the company listed in the story hour but did you find a biotech firm in the rtp to dress up as this place?

And also, are these kinda one shot adventures?  As the group is already part of "the Institue" I'm assuming you mean Hoffman.  They aren't the same group from the sasquatch/indian story hour are they?

Tellerve


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (May 17, 2004)

*cracks knuckles*

Sorry for the hiatus, folks, I've been on vacation.  For me, "vacation" means stretched out on the couch with books  Lots of books.  My fiance was excited about the Honor Harrington RPG coming out (but for T20 ...) and I'd never read the books, so in the last two weeks I've read most of the series.  And most of the rest of David Weber's stuff, as well.

((For those of you who don't know, www.baen.com/library/ is a free library of books from Baen publishers.  You can find "On Basilisk Station" there.  I'm a man who appreciates free books.))

ANYWAY ... I should be writing up another post as soon as I'm done with this.

To answer questions ...

Question The First:  How long does it take for me to make an adventure?  Quite a while, really.  I'm not sure in definate hours, but I've got quite a bit of respect for adventure authors out there.  

I've been to NC, and I like the area for adventures mostly because it's ruralized in some areas, populated in others, and I know just enough about the area to get me in trouble.    And the mountainous areas are very pretty ... and lonely at night.

First I got the kernel idea for the adventure ... then I decided what I'd need.  Which, because of the 'company', was a populated area.  Raleigh fit the bill.  Then I needed a smaller city outside of it, to allow for a ruralized enough area that the cops and FBI wouldn't be all over any strange occurrances on their own, or put 2 and 2 together too quickly that I couldn't give the players a few days to figure things out without wondering where the hell the cops were during all of this. 

I pulled Chapel Hill up on Yahoo, having never been there, and familiarized myself with the maps of the area ... I looked up car dealerships, etc ... and changed what I needed.  For instance, the Toyota Prius was an important part of the storyline, but I couldn't find any Toyota dealers in Chapel Hill.  So I replaced, on the map, a Saturn dealer (I think it was the Saturn dealer, anyway ... or Honda).  I could then tell the players where it was, even point to it on the map.    Part of the adventure takes place in a mall (haven't written to there yet) and I looked up the Chapel Hill mall online ... oddly, it has it's own website (alot of malls do these days).  I downloaded a map of the mall ... but it doesn't have an Arcade or an Electronics Boutique ... each was important to my pre-arranged plotline, so I added them.    I would say my research time was a good 3 hours, for the whole adventure (which lasted four game sessions) and my writing time was about twice that, if not more.  Even then, parts of it were unfinished when the fit hit the shan.

Question The Second:  Nanotecknolwedgies Inc. was purely my own making.  It would have been better had I looked for something else and dressed.  The company itself and Dr. Bauer were actually the least-researched parts of the "Adventure", on my end.  That was a big mistake.  I had made a few presumptions when I started writing the adventure and, in true form, the group blew those out of the water the first session, really.  I ran out of time, really, and hadn't gotten to it yet.  Anyway, Nanoteck I created as I wrote ... I placed it in an un-named "Industrial Park" the design of which I actually took from a 'Park up the street for the map.  I designed the internals of the building itself as a scaled-down version of the office I used to work in and the "Lab" in the basement was purely out of my own imagination, and I'm sure was buggared to hell.  Not that any of the readers have "seen" this stuff yet.  For instance, I didn't expect one of my players, being an academic, to go looking through the scientific research journals to see what Bauer had published.  Which was a very good idea, on his part, and something I'll plan for in the future if I have academic NPCs. 

Question The Third:  None of them have been planned as "one shots" ... by One Shot I imagine you mean the characters are pregenned/handed out or quickly made and the one adventure is the only time we see them.  Nope.  I have two previous "One Shot" adventures using Dark Matter, though, because time/place constraints meant the groups broke up about the same time the first adventure rounded out.  This adventure ended the last week of classes, but the plan is to start up with the same PCs in August on another adventure.  

Question the Fourth:  This group was already part of the Hoffmann Institute, yes.  We were going to start with them NOT, earlier in the semester, but things got wonky and we ended up never getting to play until the last month of classes so I skipped the initial adventure and went right to this one (thus the unfinished nature of it).  

This isn't the same group as the Wendigo adventure ("Cabin Fever"), no.  Those were my room-mates of last year and myself.  I wasn't actually going to use The Hoffmann Institute for that campaign ... the two professors in that adventure were from the stateside campus of Weygandt-Ellis University (Maggie Valley) ... a pure creation of my own that made a short appearance this adventure.  W-EU was going to be the organization for the first campaign, but I've helved it as being too much work on my own time.  Summed up, it's the ultra-liberal side of Those In The Know about the Dark Tide.  The kookier folks, and one of the few places in the world you can get a degree in Applied Non-Euclidian Geometry or Parahistory.  I was aiming for even fewer guns and a little more Call Of Cthulhu "Investigator" style game.  This group, I knew I'd need to have firearms around ... bleh.

The other group in Cabin Fever is MAJIC, my version of MJ-12 ... which is actually more modeled after COM-12 from the Dark*Matter setting book.  I like the sound of "Majority Agency for Joint Information Control", myself.   For that setting they're in opposition to the elements of the Dark Tide on the rise in the U.S.A. .. violent opposition.  Where W-EU or The Hoffmann Institute would investigate and attempt to understand, MAJIC moves in and engages with extreme prejudice.  (I'm sure one of my players would much rather be in a MAGIC-centered campaign.  But bleh.)  I fleshed out the organization because it was an angle I was thinking of exploring, but it too was backburnered.

This campaign's going to deal with PCs from Hoffmann, though I'm already interweaving the others.  Just because.  

--fje


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (May 19, 2004)

Kyong was springing back even as Tim fell, and her eyes searched the morgue.  It was now two against one, and neither her taser nor Tim's gun seemed to have any great effect.  She had no hope against both of the "agents", and they were between her and the way out.  The cooler drawer room lay to her left, but it was a dead end and guarded only by swinging doors.  There was a small office to her right, however, for the coroner and she rushed toward that, low, keeping behind the tables as much as possible.  *ffSKT, fffsKT,ffSKT* the agents' weapons sounded behind her, but their shots went wide.  She dived into the office and kicked the door shut, scrambling back to her feet and reaching for the lock.  She twisted the deadbolt closed and put her back to the door, praying it would hold.

***************************

"What can Puce do for You?"  Georgi said.  She sounded a little incredulous.

"Huh."  Was all that sam said.

"Really unfortunate choice for a color."  Georgi continued as they looked at the Mailboxes'n'Stuff store from the van.

"Seems like the corporate designers took it and ran, though."  Sam said.  He got out of the van, followed closely by Georgi, and they walked into the store.

Two puce-uniformed employees were behind the counter.  Business didn't seem to be especially brisk, so Georgi and Sam were the only customers.  One of the clerks had a slightly larger nametag, "Chad", and his overly-interested falsely-polite smile pegged him as the manager on duty.  Sam took the load of samples and notes toward Chad and set them on the counter.  Georgi split off to corner the other clerk, a much less-interested looking girl.  

"Hi, um, Tiffany, is it?"  Georgi said, reading the girl's nametag.

"Yea ... what can Puce do for you?"  Tiffany asked, trying not to sound COMPLETELY bored.

"I was wondering if I could ask you some questions ... about one of the mail boxes?"  Georgi pressed, lightly, so they wouldn't be overheard.  "Box 117 ... a friend of mine ..."

"We're not, officially, allowed to give any information out about the owners of private boxes, ma'am."  Tiffany said, but low enough that her superior couldn't hear.

"And ... unofficially?"  Georgi asked quietly.   She reached in her pocket, then slid a twenty dollar bill across the counter under her hand.

Tiffany unobtrusively palmed the bill and jerked her head toward the mailboxes at the back of the store.  Georgi followed her over.

"Yea.  I know the guy that has that box."  Tiffany said.  "Or the kid, anyway.  He can't be more than fifteen, even though people are supposed to be 18 to rent a box.  He comes in here every few weeks to clear the mail, then he'll, like, try to hit on me and stuff.  That's why I remember, really."  She sniffed and tossed her hair.  "No THANK you.  I'm a senior, I don't go for freshmen."  She sighed.  "After he gets his mail and stuff he'll get on his BIKE and go riding across the lot to the mall...  Mallrats are SO last decade."

Georgi smiled her thanks and walked back over to Sam, who was fishing money from his own pocket ... to pay the bill.

"You wouldn't BELIEVE what this place charges.  I could've hired a tribe of African pygmies to backpack the stuff back to headquarters for that.  Probably would get there faster, too."  Sam grumbled.  

Georgi filled him in on what she'd gotten from Tiffany, and they got back in the van to drive across the parking lot.

**************************

A few seconds passed.  Then a few more.  Nothing pounded against the door, and the room beyond was suspiciously quiet.  After almost a minute, Kyong inched her head up to peer out of the small wire-cored window in the door.  

The two "agents" moved about the morgue quickly.  One stood up, the PDA in his hand, and slipped it into a pocket.  The other was burning documents in one of the stainless steel sinks.  They seemed to be totally ignoring Kyong's hiding place, and the only attention they paid Tim was to step over his inert form on the morgue floor.  

Five minutes later, Kyong's meticulous notes were gone; fed to the small fire in the sink or stashed in various pockets about the 'agents'.  All that remained was the body, lying pale on the slab, it's torso splayed open like a grayed-meat colored flower ... blackened at the edges.  Finally one of the agents walked over and pulled a small syringe from yet another pocket.  From the bloodstain on the front of his crisp white shirt, Kyong could tell it was agent Ferris ... yet the wound had already ceased to bleed.  

And with that, the 'agents' turned as one and walked out the swinging double doors.  Kyong ducked back behind the door and waited a twenty count, then slipped the door open to peek her head out.

And the body was gone.


----------



## ledded (May 19, 2004)

HeapThaumaturgist said:
			
		

> "...Mallrats are SO last decade."



ROFL... good one, nice flavor there.

Great update man, keep up the very nice work here.


----------



## fenzer (May 19, 2004)

Nicley done Heap.  I'd like to have another please.


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jun 26, 2004)

It seemed the "agents" were gone, but she wanted to be sure.  After waiting another full minute, she crept into the room and over to Tim.  She moved to check his pulse, which was strong and steady, as was his breathing.  For all she could see, he was merely unconcious.  Tim cleared in her mind, Kyong stood up and walked over to the table the body had been on.  Contrary to her first thought, the body had not "vanished", the table was covered in an irregular layer of black soot or dust.  Whatever had carbonized parts of the body initially had finished the job, rendering the entire corpse down to cold ash.

Kyong found her purse, upended on a nearby table, and rummaged around in the contents.  She pulled a bottle of smelling salts out of the clutter and knelt by Tim, wafting the opening near his nose.  After a moment he twitched and sat up, blinking tears from his eyes.  

"Gah, that's horrible."

"It works, however.  You were unconcious.  Apparently some sort of psychoactive or narcotic in the darts the two men in black suits were firing."  Kyong replied.  She started looking for her cell phone.

"I see they burned the body."  Time said.

"Not quite ..."  Kyong replied.  She found her phone and started dialing.

***********************************************

Sam and Georgi stood just inside the mall entrance, looking around.  The mall was a cacaphony of sounds ... like a warehouse full of circus clowns and old radios.  Muzak drifted down from above, while the incidental conversation and movement of a thousand shoppers drifted up.

"Man I hate these places."  Sam said.  He looked around.  "So what does a kid with money do in a mall?  And would anybody even remember him?"

Georgi pursed her lips and thought for a moment, then blinked.  Drifting over the other sounds of the mall was something else, close or she'd have never heard it.  The tinny sounds of techno music from small speakers, and the laughing of kids.  Off to her left, she spotted it.

"Um.  Go to the arcade?"  She asked.

The arcade was near the entrance and the food court.  It's cavernous opening sported neon columns and flashing lights, TVs linked to games further inside, and a large window ... behind the window several overweight pree-teen boys were desperately jumping and jiggling up and down on the latest Dance-Dance Revolution game.

"Oh Lord."  Sam mumbled under his breath.  They were just about to walk toward the arcade when his phone rang.

"It's Kyong."  He said when he checked the ID, then flipped the phone open.  "Sam, here ... just a sec."  He lowered the pickup from his mouth.  "Georgi, you can check the arcade.  I doubt any of the kids would talk to me anyway."  He turned his attention very purposefully back to the phone with an inner sigh of relief.  

Georgi shrugged and twitched her T-Shirt down farther under her jacket, putting on a "Cute Geeky Girl" face, and headed for the arcade.

***********************************************

For his part, Olie was at the police impound yard.  He'd flashed the insurance investigator papers the group had been provided with and had been allowed to prowl around the car some more.  While Georgi had gotten quite a bit of information from the black box of the car, there was still no real answer as to why it had exploded.  He had a suspicion of course.

After little more than a half-hour of searching, he had his answer.  Some erroneous bits of wire, plastic, and a shard of circuit board were in the remains of the gas tank.  The major initial damage to the car appeared to be localized around that area, with the fire finishing off most of the vehicle later.  Had he not been looking for it, or had he been expecting a truly accidental reason for the burning of the car, he'd have missed it.  As it was, somebody had planted a rather sophisticated device in the gas tank to cause the car to explode.  From the lack of wiring to other parts of the vehicle, the trigger was most likely remote.  Somebody else had been there, that night, and they had blown the car.  Olie got his cell phone out and punched up Sam's number.

***********************************************


----------



## fenzer (Jun 27, 2004)

Thanks Heap.  There's been a drought of my favorite stories lately.  Thanks for the refresher.

Post soon.


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jun 28, 2004)

Yea, I need to get to work writing up the rest of this episode, we finished the adventure months ago.  

I've been busy recently playing Alternity.  My new in-laws like gaming alot, and new systems, and none of them had played Alternity before.  I'd brought my D20Modern book and the Dark*Matter book, but we've been playing original Dark*Matter and Star*Drive.  Last night was the first D*M adventure and the first time I've ever run "Exit 23" ... didn't go as planned, didn't go TOO horribly, but I let the folks make their own PCs and one guy got a little too carried away with the Perks and Flaws arena ...  

And now I'm off to run Raw Recuits.

UPDATE

Well, I ran Raw Recruits AND London Calling tonight ... Raw Recruits went very well, if VERY different from how most people seem to have run it.  It was a very quick adventure because the team went in to investigate what they were sent in to learn ... and little else.  To them, their cover was alot more important than, I quote:  "Going Mulder on these people and getting ourselves in the toilet with Patterson."  Some highlights:

"Shhh, the kid's room has bugs all over it ... he's being watched by Masons." 

"Yea, the Coach had a Masonic ring ... and I bet the teacher is one of the 'Daughters of Lot'."  

((  For those of you that don't know about the Masons, there's an order for the girls (younger girls, anyway, and daughters of Masons) called "The Order of the Daughters of Job" ... in the bible Lot's daughters were the ones who got their dad drunk and slept with him.  ))

Some things never came up in play:

Every time I had them roll a Perception check to notice Amanda Jernigan (the teacher/Jerry's mother) ... IE, when she got in the SUV etc, everybody failed it ... then, after drawing the connection between Amanda and the "bugged" items, and me dropping the fact that she lived ACROSS THE STREET twice, nobody thought to go over there to check out her place.

After being very sure to catch the whole "Poltergeist Strike" on tape ... nobody thinks to go back and review the tape at all.

The gang very quickly figured out that Jerry was the source of the poltergeist activity around the house, which seemed to satisfy them.  They went to the game to tape Jerry and FINALLY spotted Amanda Jernigan and FINALLY spotted the MIBs for the very first time.

"As you're looking around the game, looking for anybody with a particular interest in Jerry, you notice two men in the upper bleachers ... white shirts, narrow black ties, hats, overcoats ... sunglasses at sundown ..."

"Ah.  I was wondering when they were going to show up."

At the end of the game the three people in the group split up, one to follow the MIBs, one to follow Amanda, the last to try and corner Jerry after the game.  Jerry and Amanda get in his jeep and drive off with one of the group running behind trying to get his attention.  Amanda turns to scowl, but Jerry does not, even though that PC was the person he came to trust and had talked with about his "problem" earlier.

The person with the van shows up and they set off to tail Jerry, but when he tries to lose them in traffic they decide that the case parameters were to find out WHY things were happening at the Desmond house, not chase down "Masonic Psychic Recruiters" and get in car accidents.  So they broke chase and headed back to Chicago with enough evidence to show that Jerry Desmond was a psychic talent and that Amanda Jernigan and The Coach were probably Masonic agents interested in his talent.

Totally and utterly incorrect ... but it DID meet with what Patterson had sent them out there to do AND they never broke cover with the Desmond family AT ALL, so the party felt it was very much mission accomplished.  

One of the players had taken "Danger Sense" as a perk for his PC (Jenn, a female Physicist and UFO buff).  We'd discussed what this meant earlier (during Exit 23) and he'd decided that maybe Jenn was a latent ESP talent.  Which sounded good to me.  I told him she got headaches around the "Masonic bugs"   (nobody really put 2 and 2 together untill they decided formally and finally to break off and return to base, THEN somebody says "Hey, I bet these things do something wonky with psychic abilities.") and as they were heading off for Chicago she had an "episode" and a vision of a woman and a young man floating upward in a shaft of light.  To which the player replied:  "Hrmmm, now THAT'S interesting ... I take it there was just a LITTLE more to the teacher angle, then."  During the wrap-up the group was sent a memo several days after to the effect of that Amanda Jernigan and Jerry Desmond weren't seen again after the game and were reported as missing persons some time later.  

Since it was still early, I said we could do quick housekeeping and move on to London Calling.  I started them at lvl 1 for Exit 23, and bounced them to 2 for Raw Recruits.  After "Raw Recruits" I bounced them to lvl 3.  Justin (Jenn's player) used the skill points to buy the ESP broad skill, then took the Wild Talent flaw and with those skill points bought Precognition.  Which works out really well for me, as now I have an Instant Plot Device ... which came in real handy during London Calling, as once again the group totally ignored one line of questioning while shooting right to a conclusion (though this time a right conclusion).  

Actually, London Calling worked out so well I'd like to do a Story Hour write up of how it went ... although it isn't officially D20.  I have to say that was quite possibly THE BEST adventure I've ever run.

My favorite bits of table talk from that session:

"Do I need to make a roll or something to see if I can find a broom handle and some duct tape? ... Do they HAVE duct tape in England?"

and

Player 1:  "I surreptitiously pull the tranq gun from under the blanket in the trunk ..."

Player 2:  "You're going to try and TRANQULIZE the demon ..."

Player 1:  "Hrm.  Yea.  You have a point.  ... Should work pretty well on his little Voodoo Handler Dude though, shouldn't it?  
Now ... do I have any idea which one of them is the demon ... ?"



--fje


----------



## heapswife (Jul 4, 2004)

fenzer said:
			
		

> Nano-tech, Men in Black, funky guns, does it get any better?
> 
> More please.




Yes, flesh eating plants and zombie toddlers.

yum yum.

<shudder>

Darling, why didn't you give me this site sooner? Your story hour thing rocks.  I think maybe you should finish it though.   That campaign was really really fun.


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jul 4, 2004)

I know I know.  I'll get on it. 

I've been messing around with some things I'd like to publish, working with PageMaker.  Been a few years since I've used it, so trying to get into the hang of it again.  

I'll try to write something up today.

Everybody DID seem to like the plants ... ...

--fje


----------



## heapswife (Jul 4, 2004)

What possibly gave you that impression?

J will be scarred for life because of it.   I watched him skirting the ivy when he left.   You're just lucky Ian doesn't have the creative verve to go buy a fake ivy link and spray paint it pink, or you'd have more than one person clawing your eyes out for the subject matter of recent adventures.


----------



## fenzer (Jul 5, 2004)

Heap, what is London Calling and where can one find it.  My assumptions is that it is a stand alone adventure.


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jul 6, 2004)

Yes.  London Calling is one of the few adventures that were published for Dark*Matter, and appeared in Dungeon magazine, I think, eons ago.  Then the rights to it were aquired by www.alternity.net, who Wizards pretty much turned over Alternity to when they let it die.

Right Here  you can download it as a PDF, should be at the top of that page, from Alternity.net.  You'd have to stat it up for D20, but that's not too hard, seeing as Dark*Matter adventures are about 90% flavor and investigation.  Instead of Ordinary/Good/Amazing successes and revealing information on each of those you'd, say, give a DC for each bit of knowledge ... 15, 20, 25 etc.   There's a monster in there and a Diabolist, both of which should be easy enough to grab a similar D20 creature to fit in ... mmm ... Diabolist I'm not sure.  D20's magic system takes Dark*Matter's flavor and sort of poops all over it.  Honestly, the Diabolist's skills and abilities are probably tertiary to the adventure, unless your group horribly bungles something.  Wizards, in Dark*Matter, are only really powerful when you don't know they're there.  Summoning demons, binding demons ... sending demons out to rip your foes to small pieces.  Give the guy "Produce Flame" a handful of times and that should do it.  The other spells all take place "Off Camera" so to speak, so you don't really need to use them within the rules.

BAH.  I wish there was a good d20 Dark*Matter out there professionally done and released.  Make me a happy clam.  

Actually I wish Wizards would OGC Hoffmann.  ...

EDIT:  And just taking a moment aside.  If you haven't gotten your hands on Dark*Matter before, you should.  It's probably my most prized roleplaying possession.  It's a concept that can be applied to any ruleset, really, so 85% of the old book is useful to WHOEVER picks it up.  The only real rules in it are some stats for monsters, some stats for magic, and ... well ... that's it.  The monsters you can easily convert.  The magic is a little more problematic, since (as I've said) fire-and-forget Vancian magic just doesn't do the feel of FX justice.  Neither does the Psionics system.  OGL Horror, D20 Call of Cthulhu, and Psychic's Handbook all seem to work okay.  Of those I only have CoC and it's rules seems to work OKAY. But if you go RIGHT HERE you can download the original Dark*Matter book for 4.75 ... for the cost of a freakin' hamburger combo you too can have the greatest role playing accessory on earth.  

Do it today.

That is all.

--fje


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jul 8, 2004)

A question to my dear readership.

All four of you.

Anybody interested in a Feats/Skills system of FX that would, hopefully, recreate the FX system from Alternity?  People have been going ga-ga over Steve Kenson's Psychic's handbook stuff and I realized that, really, the system's core would work perfectly for remaking Alternity's FX system and integrating it in a balanced way in my d20 Modern game.  I'm currently statting it up, might produce a little PDF, be a while before I can playtest it myself.

--fje


----------



## fenzer (Jul 8, 2004)

Heap,

Bless your ink stained little fingers.  I think I had a copy of London Calling once upon a time.  I recongized the cover art.  I have it now, however.  Thanks.  I think that completes my Dark*Matter collection.  I should have just about everything.

And let me say that Heap knows what he's talking about.  The setting is a fun romp and for just under5 bucks, you'd be silly not get a copy.

Heap, as far as your feats/skills idea goes, I think it's a great idea.  Everytime I try to come up with my own conversions/makeovers I get a little too frustrated and stop before I come up with a finished product.  So, I look forward to what you have to offer.


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jul 10, 2004)

Well, I have the basics of the system down.  From dry runs it seems to work very nicely.  I've created Diabolism SFX, and it works.  From what I can see a character could cast 2-3 spells in a combat session, if he takes no other damage.  

I think I might shop this around to some publishers ... 

--fje


----------



## ragboy (Jul 14, 2004)

Heap: 

You and jonrog1 have me stoked to run a D*M adventure. Thanks for a great story hour!


----------



## Puppy Kicker (Jul 15, 2004)

Heap, I for one would be very interested in seeing this Diabolism spell system.  I like my magic more painful.  The magic system in my modern game is still in the works, but I know for certain it is not "I memorize Magic Missile 5 times."  

Have you checked out the Medallions magic system that Old Drew Id was working on?  Seems to fit in with the more gritty magic type you're looking at.


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jul 22, 2004)

Well, I've got a little PDF whipped up for Diabolism SFX.  

That's what I've been working on for the last while.  That and driving across the country from Cali to Alabama ... and getting my wife's laptop replaced ... and getting into legal arguments with hotels in New Orleans.  Joy.

Well, honestly, I've also spent several hours over the last few days playing The Suffering.  Just the right mix of action and horror, for the most part.  I'm the kinda guy as enjoys blowing the evil undead to tiny bloody chunks.  

I haven't seen sound work this good in a game since System Shock 2, really.  Not quite as good and creepy as SS2, but you can really only ask so much.

Heh.  I just found I could attach the file as a ZIP.  I don't think a million people are going to read this and download it, so it shouldn't be a problem.  If it is, I figure a mod will let me know.

Anybody that does download it, do me a favor and post some feedback.  You can probably send it as a private message if you'd like.  Note this is still a rough draft and everything.

--fje


----------



## fenzer (Jul 23, 2004)

Heap, I knew there was a reason I liked you.  SS2 is still the scariest game I have played on the computer.  Nothing like playing that game in the dark with the headphones on.  That damn metalic mothering voice cooing over her eggs *_shudders_* that is creepy stuff.

I will download your FX conversion and give it the once over.  I will let you know what I think.  Thanks for sharing.


----------



## ledded (Jul 27, 2004)

Hey Heap, just checked out your SFXDiabolism.  Great stuff, man, I like it a lot.  I'm going to give it a much deeper read later, as my interest is piqued, and that's saying something, cuz it aint been truly piqued by something out there in a while.  

I've really loved having a skills/feats based FX system since OldDrewId made one for our d20 Modern Medallions game, and don't think our group will ever go back to the old D&D d20 Style of slots and levels and whatnot.  

Good stuff there, now get to updating man, I like this story.  Tell you what, if you update your SH, then I will update mine too (not that very many folks read it or anything)...


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jul 27, 2004)

Thanks.  It still needs a dozen edits and expansion in a bunch of places, but I wanted to let people see it and tell me what they thought.

I've been writing the next adventure up.  For practice I try to write these as if they were published modules.  Which helps.  Static In The Key Of E was WAY too big a plot arc for one adventure, and the group became a little disoriented a few times, so I've learned my lesson.  I should have known it was when I ran into so many problems writing it out.

I figure it's been over a month since my last update.  Way too long.  Been meaning to write one for weeks.

--fje


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jul 28, 2004)

*Mall Rats*

"Well, I think I might have a lead on our informant kid."  Georgi said.  Tim and Kyong had arrived at the mall a few minutes before.  She pointed off, into the mall.  "Maybe a kid named Kyle.  Apparently he's a big gamer.  Very regular at the arcade, dominates at a few games.  Drops up to fifty bucks at the pop, more than most kids around here have for spending.  Nobody has seen him in a few days ... but he also spends a lot of time at the Electronics Boutique.  We might want to check there."

Sam nodded and everybody set off for the other end of the mall.  It was a short walk in terms of distance, but dodging children-laden shoppers made it seem interminable.  As they closed on the Electronics Boutique, Sam slowed and spoke over his shoulder.

"Tim, Kyong, stay outside of the store.  If he's inside and makes a break for it, we need somebody outside to stop him before he mixes in with the crowd.  If there's a problem, hopefully you'll spot it before it gets to us, as well.  We’ll try the hard play here, see what it gets us."  

They picked up the pace, splitting off into two groups as they neared the store.  Sam and Georgi entered, looking around inconspicuously and approached the front desk.  Sam took the front and pulled his Hoffman Institute ID badge out of a back pocket.  He flipped it open quickly as the clerk turned toward them.

“Special Agent Samuel Jameson.  This is Georgie Gilmore, department consultant on Computer Crimes … we’d like to ask you a few questions …”

************************

Sam and Kyong sat on a bench a little apart from the Electronics Boutique’s entrance, watching shoppers move to and fro, watching all of the kids approximately the right age.  Sam and Georgie had been inside for several minutes already and one shopper in particular was paying more and more attention to them at the front of the store.  He’d entered the store, looked around for a while, and was now slinking toward the door, trying to look inconspicuous.  

“Bingo.”  Tim said and stood up.  He walked toward the store.

*****************************

“Man, I never thought Kyle would get into that kind of thing, y’know?  I mean, dude, I went to high school with his older brother and stuff.  I never hung out with Kyle much or anything, but he seemed like a really good kid.  I know where they live and …”  The clerk had been spilling his guts for the last three minutes, and was finally getting around to telling Sam and Georgie where to find Kyle.  Kyle Wheeler. 

 “Hey, that’s him now.”

Sam and Georgie whirled.  At the edge of the store a short, slightly overweight teenager was turning to run out the door.  From the panicked look on his face, it seems he’d heard a little bit of the “official story” Sam had been spinning for the store clerk.  He almost tripped over his own feet, but he was bolting before Sam could move.  Georgie took off with a yell, but barely avoided grounding herself by tripping over a wiry game display unit.  For a moment they thought they were going to lose him, but Kyong and Tim appeared in the doorway, their Hoffmann badge wallets in hand.  Tim put a restraining hand on Kyle’s shoulder, firmly, almost knocking the kid backward.

”Kyle?”  He asked, authoritatively.

“Y-yes?”  Kyle looked up, eyes wide.

“Tim Rosen, Kyle … Special Agent, R.I.A.A..  We know what you’ve been downloading, Kyle. …  All of it.  Lars asked us to keep an eye on you.”  Tim said, flipping his wallet closed.

All the blood left Kyle's face, making all of the blemishes of his complexion stand out in screaming crimson.  “Oh God.  God, man.  I never … I mean … dude, I don’t even LIKE Metallica I just … y’know …”  Kyle gibbered.

The agents grabbed him by both shoulders and ushered him out of the store as a group.  Kyle seemed like he was going to faint, stumbling a little.  The clerk watched them as they went, his eyes like saucers.

”Dude, the RIAA does not play.”  He looked very very worried.

************************

Kyle eyed the unmarked van suspiciously as he was led toward it.  Tim and Sam said nothing, keeping a firm hand on each of his shoulders as they closed in.  The van’s sliding side door opened up and Olie looked out, smiling with one hand on the door frame.  In the other he was holding a VERY large-looking shotgun.

“This the kid?”  he asked.

Kyle lunged backward in terror, almost breaking free of Tim and Sam in his sudden panic.

“Dudes, don’t kill me!  Man, it was just some MP3s!  You’re crazy!”  He yelled, struggling frantically.

“Shhh.  Jeez.”  Sam said, trying to stifle the kid.  “Put that thing AWAY, Olie.” He hissed.

“Uh, sorry.  Was just checkin’ the tools and everything.” Olie said.  He scrambled to the back of the van and stored the weapon in one of the disguised gun lockers in the back.

“Listen, Kyle.  We’re not really the RIAA.”  Georgie said, elbowing Sam and Tim out of the way.  “We’re with the Hoffmann Institute.  Like you.  We’ve been trying to get in contact with you for days.”

“You guys are Hoffmann?  Holy crap, dudes, you had me wiggin’.”  Kyle said.  He had a hurt look on his face and pulled his shirt back into position.  “I haven’t been able to contact you because my damn computer is broken.  EVERYTHING is broken.”

“How so?”  Georgie asked.

“Couple nights ago I was downloading, uh … MP3s and stuff."  He flushed guiltily.  " ... And I was playing with my Xbox … trying to hack it through the computer to play with my friends VLAN.  All of a sudden the light in my room pops, my computer too, and the Xbox and TV die.  I was freakin’ out.  I thought there was a power outage or something, y’know, and I walk outside and the neighbor’s house down the way is on fire and the lights are totally out wherever I can see.  Next morning, though, my Dad’s car doesn’t start and none of my stuff turns on.  TOTALLY fried.  I’m talking DEAD.  And my folks TOTALLY won’t buy me a new one.  They think I screwed everything up, with all of my ‘playing with things’.”  He sighed.  “I’m going nuts.  I haven’t logged on in DAYS, I’m sure people think I’m dead or grounded or something.  I can’t even play games.  And I don’t really get much of an allowance or anything, so it’s going to be MONTHS before I can scrape together enough for ANYTHING, y’know, even just something to get on the net with.  At this point I’d use a Mac, if somebody gave it to me.”

Sam keyed in on something.

“Your neighbor’s house was on fire?  Where do you live, exactly?”  He asked.  Kyle told him and Sam nodded.  “What’s your neighbor’s name?”  He continued.

“Mr. Bauer, I think.  I saw some guys moving around in the woods out behind our houses a few nights ago, as well.”  Kyle added.  “I’d have reported it to the Institute, but, y’know .. no computer.”  

Tim rubbed his chin and leaned on the van.  “Figure that one needs to be checked out.  How’d we miss it?”

“Didn’t bother driving by Bauer’s.”  Sam said.  He frowned.  “The cops are going to be all over this.  Bauer’s dead, car blown up, house burned down.  We’re not really set up to infiltrate police departments or anything.  If we don’t have a friendly on the inside, it’ll take weeks to get any contacts …”  He noticed Kyle listening excitedly and shut up.

Georgi motioned Sam over with her head and walked a few feet away.

“Think we can get the kid a computer?”  She asked.

“Feeling for him, eh?”  Sam asked.  

Georgie smiled and shrugged.  “I know how it is, y’know?  He’s totally no use to us ANYWAY, but he did lose his computer to nanite, um … EMP pulse damage or something like that.  While that isn’t our fault, it is sort of … Hoffmannesque.”

Sam nodded and shrugged, pulling out his cell phone.  “I’ll see what we can do…”

************************

"It was nice of you to get the kid a computer."  Georgie said.  They were driving slowly up Bauer's street, trying to look like they weren't too interested in his house.  They were still a few houses down.

"Well, the Institute had better reimburse me promptly.  I didn't realize those things were so expensive retail."  Tim said.  He was the only one with a credit card that was willing to put the almost two thousand dollars on it for the system Kyle had asked for.  "Kid'll be a good con when he's older.  I KNOW he doesn't need all of that stuff for homework."

They grew quiet as they drove past the obvious remains of Dr. Bauer's house.  The fire hadn't been too large, apparently.  The house was mainly intact, but several windows were blown out and the brick around them was blackened with soot.  The whole place had the look of abandonment, the yard unmown for several days.  Most obvious, however ...

"No police tape."  Kyong pointed out.

"Yea.  Very weird."  Sam said, but kept driving without changing speeds.  "We're going to have to come back later tonight.  See what we can find."

And they did.  Nightfall came and with it the Agents parked in Kyle's driveway and got out.  Pre-arranged, Tim and Olie took nightvision goggles and firearms from the back of the van and moved into the woods.  Georgie and Sam got out of the van and walked up the street, looking like any two people out on a walk.  Sam had suggested they should look like a COUPLE out on a walk, but Georgie dissuaded him of that idea rather early on with an elbow jab in the ribs.  Kyong stayed behind to monitor their radios and be able to pick everyone up if something went wrong ... or call headquarters if something went very wrong.

Olie crept forward through the scrubby pine forest, one foot placed carefully after the other, avoiding every branch, every fallen limb.  Each dry leaf was a game piece to be avoided, every brushy patch a challenge to be overcome.  He was a fish passing through the water.  No ripple, no sound.  He was the breeze in the trees, the snow falling on winter grass.  His shotgun was an extension of his body, each inch of its length as known to him as his own fingers and toes.  Nightvision gave him the advantage of the hunting cat, no light to betray him, no sound.  His prey would neither see nor hear him as he ghosted through ...

*crack*
*rustle*

"%&!"  Tim hissed, pulling a sleeve free of a thorned vine.  Olie sighed to himself and continued on with Tim floundering behind him.

Sam and Georgie could make much better time up the street, so they passed the house and turned around on the street when Olie signaled with two clicks of the open channel that they were nearing the rear of the house.

Olie and Tim had lowered themselves to the ground and were creeping through the detritus of old pine needles toward Bauer's home.  Something had moved by the house, piquing Olie's caution.  As they moved forward, he could see two figures crouched by the back door of the house, scanning the treeline.  They seemed to be wearing night-vision goggles as well.  He stopped Tim with a soft touch and finished moving forward on his own, quiet, cat-like.  The two men were wearing some sort of dark BDUs, probably black, but it was hard to distinguish in the green world of enhanced light.  Each had a web vest and an MP5SD ... silenced submachineguns.  Paramilitaries or government agents of some sort.  Olie decided a moment later when one turned and he caught sight of an insignia on his vest.

"ATF?"  Tim whispered, confused.   Olie hadn't heard him sneaking up, which was good.  Speaking, however, was bad.

"No.  A.F.T. ... shhh."  Olie subvocalized.  He moved slightly ... slightly too much.  He heard a branch snap under his knee.  One of the men at the house looked up and scanned the treeline again ... then nudged his partner and began creeping forward.

Olie clicked his radio three times rapidly, then three times more slowly ... and three times again.

"*($@" Sam grumbled.  Something was up with Olie and Tim.  S.O.S. was going to be their signal for something bad, involving people.  "Maybe they've been made.  I don't hear shooting, so lets give them a distraction."

Georgie stooped down and grabbed a rock, hefted it in one hand.  "Kids are such a pain around here.  You hide, you don't much look like a teenager."  She said, then walked up obviously to the front of Bauer's house.  She looked around, like she was worried about being seen, then threw the rock through one of the unbroken windows of Bauer's house.  With the crash of broken glass she was off, running like a scared kid, across the front of the house and away from Sam.  

Olie and Tim lay still, breath held.  The two AFT agents were creeping closer and closer to their position and eventually the low scrub and thin pines weren't going to be enough to hide them.  Suddenly glass crashed from the house and the AFT men whirled, startled.  They jogged toward the house, low and quiet, and went in.  Olie could see several more individuals moving past one of the windows as he and Tim very carefully backed away from the house and further into the woods.  It was a very slow crawl getting back to the van.

"What did you see?"  Georgie asked, when they met at the side door.

"Couple guys, fatigues and suppressed MP5s.  Insignia said AFT."  Olie said.  "Dunno what that means.  Maybe his mom made his outfit and mixed up ATF, but I don't think so."

"Where's Sam?" Tim asked.

"Uh.  Other side of Bauer's house.  He feels a little pinned down, doesn't want to get made walking past the house again after all the noise I made."  Georgie said.

"What a baby."  Olie sighed and stowed his shotgun.  "We'll pick him up. Not like they'll make the van any less and it'll take a half hour to circle around to the other end of this half-rural road."

"What I want to know."  Tim said.  "Is what AFT stands for..."

...


----------



## ledded (Jul 28, 2004)

HeapThaumaturgist said:
			
		

> <snip>
> 
> ”Dude, the RIAA does not play.” He looked very very worried.
> 
> ...



Oh man, you gave me a good guffaw or two with those.  Thank goodness I wasnt drinking anything when I read that.

Great update man, I love your stuff.  I guess I better go off and work on an update for my SH, since I shot off my mouth a couple posts ago... (heck I was just kidding man, I didnt expect you to post so soon)


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jul 28, 2004)

Hey, gotta watch what you say around me.  I'm just loco enough to go and do it.  

We WERE going to go out last night and see Spider-Man 2.  Wife and I still haven't seen it.  Then we decided to stay home, so I had free time on my hands and I decided some wrting would be good for me.  I'd been having some problems scripting this particular part of the story hour ... too much scene-shifting, but that's how the game ran.  With modern cell phones and radios the group tends to make best use of their investigative time by doing at least two things at once as small groups, so at the table I'm constantly scene-shifting.

--fje


----------



## Eyas (Jul 29, 2004)

HeapThaumaturgist said:
			
		

> Hey, gotta watch what you say around me.  I'm just loco enough to go and do it.




Heh, yeah, make him stick to it as bugging him each week does not seem to be working.



			
				HeapThaumaturgist said:
			
		

> We WERE going to go out last night and see Spider-Man 2.  Wife and I still haven't seen it.  Then we decided to stay home, so I had free time on my hands and I decided some wrting would be good for me.  I'd been having some problems scripting this particular part of the story hour ... too much scene-shifting, but that's how the game ran.  With modern cell phones and radios the group tends to make best use of their investigative time by doing at least two things at once as small groups, so at the table I'm constantly scene-shifting.
> 
> --fje




Yeah, we do that to OldDrewId often as well. Then again, I think we did that even when we were playing D&D. Something about having multiple people who appear to suffer from attention deficite dissorders seems to do that.


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Aug 4, 2004)

*The Next Morning ...*

"And that's all Ted said..."  Georgie paged back and forth through the email, making sure she hadn't missed anything.

They had reported the day's hapenings and discoveries last night, asking for further information on the AFT and who may have attacked Tim and Kyong at the morgue.  This morning Ted had replied to their report ... and it wasn't good.

"Damnit!"  Sam yelled.  He paced back and forth in the "boys" room at their hotel.  The whole group was gathered in that room, on the chairs, on the beds.  Everyone looked angry and confused.

"What the hell did we do WRONG?  THEY sent US out here to look into this *%$#, and now they want to climb our @$% for, what, finding out too much?!"  Sam was livid.

"All Ted said was that we were to back off anything and anybody involved with the letters AFT."  Georgie said, scrolling through the EMail again.

"Who's the AFT, though?"  Tim leaned back on one of the beds.  

Georgie shrugged.  "Apparently knowing that would get us too involved ... Ted said some thing was going down back at headquarters we weren't going to like.  Maybe we're getting shut out."

"Okay, so who were the two guys with sunglasses that disentegrated Dr. Bauer?"  Tim pressed.

"Um.  Ted said that we were to back off and stay away from those guys, too."  Georgie reminded everyone.  She tapped her screen for emphasis.

"Stay away from the AFT, stay away from the Men In Black ..."  Georgie continued.

"... but we're still supposed to find out what Bauer was working on."  Sam finished for her.  He let out a string of cursing.  "It seems like the AFT and those two Whoever-Agents are right at the damned CORE of this case.  How in God's name are we supposed to investigate ANYTHING if we're supposed to keep as far away from the major players as we can, that's what I want to know."

Tim shook his head.  "We can still check out Nanotecknowledgies Inc., though.  Our last real avenue.  The guys in black ruined the body, we can't get near the house ... that's probably the most logical place, anyway.  If something he was working on got him killed, it'll probably be in his lab.  Or little shop of horrors.  Or whatever people who get whacked by MiBs work in."

***********************

Tim got in the passenger-side seat of the van and rapped the dashboard.  "Let's roll."

Just at that moment a large white van pulled up, directly across the nose of their own van.  The side of the truck had a cartoon depiction of a bunch of roses and "Hoffmann Floral and Gift" in florid script underneath.

"The hell ...?"  Sam said, stepping on the breaks.

The side panel door of the van slid open and two men in white coveralls stepped out, followed by two more.  Another man, with sandy brown hair and a vest, peeked out from inside the van.  He looked disconcerted, perhaps a little afraid.

Sam rolled down the window.  "Um.  Can we help you?"

One of the men tapped a knuckle on Tim's window.  Tim, too, rolled his window down.  "Yea?"

"Agent Rosen?"  The man at Tim's window asked.

"Um."  Tim glanced at the "Hoffmann Floral" on the van.  He decided not to ask who was asking.  "Yea?"

"You're supposed to come with us."  The agent replied.

"Actually, Dr. Nakami ASKS you to come with us."  The agent behind the first corrected.  He coughed and shifted his weight.  

The first agent focused somewhere beyond and above Tim's head and sighed.  "Ahhh.  Yea ...  Dr. Nakami humbly requests your presence back at headquarters."  He said, resignedly.

"Um.  Why?"  Tim asked.

"You're not cleared for that information."  The first agent replied.

"Ah.  Dr. Nakami says he'll explain all of it to you when you arrive."  The second added.

Sam looked the agents by his window over.  His eyes narrowed.  Both had rather noticable bulges under their coveralls, which were only zippered half-way up the torso.  One of those bulges was very suspiciously large ... perhaps a small SMG.

"I take it Dr. Nakami is asking very nicely."  Sam said.

"He is."  The first agent replied.  He looked past Tim at Sam.

"I imagine this is what Ted meant when he said something we weren't going to like went down at the head office."  Georgi said from the back seat.

"We have another agent to fill in for Rosen while he's humoring Dr. Nakami."  The first agent said.  He stepped back from Tim's door and motioned him to open it.  The stranger in the vest stepped out of the other van and walked forward.  Tim got out and followed the white-coveralled agents, looking back once to shrug his confusion.  As the other operatives and Tim piled into the floral van, everyone else got out of their own van.  They stared at the new guy as Tim was driven out of the parking lot.

"So who the #$*# are you?"  Sam demanded.  His anger had been boiling before, it had now went to steam.  "And what the @4#&* did they take Tim?"

"I'm, er, Nathan Harper.  As for Agent Rosen, I don't really know.  All I know is Ted called me up and told me I'd be replacing an agent already in the field ... he said I was probably the man for the job."

"And why's that?"  Georgie demanded.

"Well.  He asked me to tell you about how the Institute approached me ..."  Nathan said.

Sam rolled his eyes.  "Yea yea, something weird happened to you.  You were attacked by sentient Cheez Whiz in college, right?  We've heard it all because it's HAPPENED to us all."

Nathan shrugged.  "He said you'd understand a little better once you heard.  He said this was the best he could do about getting you the information you NEED to know, even though you're not cleared for it."

Kyong stepped up.  "Tell us what attracted the Institute to you, Nathan."

He nodded.  "Well, you see, in my old life I was an, ah, investigative journalist."  He smiled a little.  "A little heavy on the investigative, really.  I worked in Houston ... there had been rumors about a local politician ... taking bribes, working with organized crime.  Y'know, the usual."  

Sam motioned everyone back into the hotel room.

"Anyway ..."  Nathan continued, inside.  "I decided I was going to bring him down.  Single-handedly, y'know.  'Blow this town wide open' and all of that macho bullsh*t.  I figured out his schedule, started to figure out where he met people for some of his more illicit doings, got his patterns.  I started to ghost some of his usual haunts, finding myself places to hide, angles to film.  One, in particular, was perfect ... a parking garage.  One of those towers.  At night he'd meet people near the top.  Too open to set up surveilance, y'know, but not on top of the thing where people could look down from the buildings around.  Anyway, I parked my car there every night for a damn month.  Let him get used to it.  Finally I knew he was going to have a meet, so I parked my car in the usual place and hid inside.  

Sure enough, he showed up.  Ten minutes later, two guys came in on foot.  I had a mic set up to catch sound and my camera set up.  I started recording ... and then all hell broke loose.  One of the guys pulled a gun, fired.  'Cept it wasn't a gun.  It was like a dart pistol or something.  The politician, he goes down like a pole-axed cow."

Kyong raised her eyebrows at this point, and motioned Nathan to continue.

"At first I thought it was a silenced pistol, y'know?  That they'd killed the poor bastard.  But I couldn't see any blood.  Then one of them walked over and pulled a little thing out of his pocket ... it was like a breath-spray or something.  He spritzed it a few times in the guy's face and, well, two more people showed up.  One of them looked like a homeless guy, and the other was dressed like a janitor."  He laughed.  "I thought I'd gone crazy.  Both of the new people had guns too.  It was almost comical ... until they opened fire.  Not a word.  They walked around a car, spotted the two guys with the air-freshener, and just opened up.  Each of them took at least two rounds before they even had a chance to turn."

Nathan shrugged.

"But they did anyway.  They opened fire themselves.  The janitor went down, blood sprayed everywhere.  The air-freshener guys weren't using their first toy then, they had pulled pistols.  Before he passed out, the janitor got in one more shot.  Took the guy that killed him right in the face.  I saw it.  Blood and bone blew out the back of his head and he fell backward.  The homeless guy nailed his three more times, took one in the shoulder for his trouble.  The guys with the air-fresheners had probably sucked up half a clip apiece, six or seven shots each.  I figured they had vests on, but I zoomed in and there was blood all over the fronts of their shirts.  The homeless guy walked forward, like he needed to be sure of them before he bothered to check his buddy.  He leans over the guy he shot, gun out ... and the guy lifts his arm.  Swear to God.  Six or seven rounds in him and he lifts his arm right up like the damned Terminator.  Fast, too.  The homeless guy was quick, pulled the trigger point blank in the guy's face."

Sam and Georgie's eyebrows were up by now as well.

"Then ... they disappeared.  The two dead guys.  They dissintegrated, like bad-guys in a video game.  Turned to black dust and started to blow away on the breeze coming through the garage."  Nathan made a little poofing hand gesture.  "And then, just to finish making me crap my pants, the homeless guy walks over to our politician friend ... and puts two in his head.  Simple as pie, cold as the damned grave."

Sam blinked a few times and looked around.

"Well THAT explains a couple things.  Sort of."  He said.

"Yea.  We know they can be killed."  Ollie said.  It was the first thing he'd said all morning.

*************************

((Some game notes.  Tim and Nathan are the same player.  He asked if he could change out his character.   He was hoping that he could pressure Ollie's player into changing PCs too, as Ollie has no applicable investigative skills and is entirely combat-oriented ... and so tries to create combat where there is none, because he's bored.  Needless to say, it didn't work.  There was a very good reason to pull Tim, though, so I wrote it into the story flawlessly and replaced some clues they'd missed with Nathan's backstory, which the player got to tell in-character at the table.  Very nice.))


----------



## ledded (Aug 4, 2004)

HeapThaumaturgist said:
			
		

> ((Some game notes. Tim and Nathan are the same player. He asked if he could change out his character. He was hoping that he could pressure Ollie's player into changing PCs too, as Ollie has no applicable investigative skills and is entirely combat-oriented ... and so tries to create combat where there is none, because he's bored. Needless to say, it didn't work. There was a very good reason to pull Tim, though, so I wrote it into the story flawlessly and replaced some clues they'd missed with Nathan's backstory, which the player got to tell in-character at the table. Very nice.))



Nice transition Heap.  I like it, you fit it in quite well.  I love this SH.


----------



## Desdichado (Aug 5, 2004)

fenzer said:
			
		

> Heap, what is London Calling and where can one find it.  My assumptions is that it is a stand alone adventure.



It's a remake by After the Fire of a Falco song called "Vienna Calling..."


----------



## Retto (Aug 7, 2004)

*Thanks for the inspiration*

Enjoying the story!  Been thinking of running a modern adventure and need all the inspiration I can get.


----------



## (Psi)SeveredHead (Oct 4, 2004)

Update!


----------



## Sidekick (Oct 5, 2004)

Hear hear!  Update I say old chap.

This waiting just isn't cricket!


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Oct 7, 2004)

*Stake-Out!*

((Because you asked so nicely ... I hadn't realized it'd been two months since I worked with this last.  We're actually coming in on the end of Episode 1.  Here's a short-ish update.  I'm stuck at the office with no car, so I may end up writing some more!))

Nanoteknowledgies Inc. had a smallish, single-story office in a local industrial park.  All of the buildings in the area were low and utilitarian, brick or corrugated steel, with plate glass windows in varying states of cleanliness.  All of the buildings had a series of shared parking areas; clear-cut, flat concrete, with manicured lawn in the medians and the occasional skinny, lonely tree.  There wasn’t much in the way of area to hide, especially for a white van with five agents inside.  Sam had done the best he could, and parked in a group of vehicles as far away from Nanoteknowledgies Inc. as they were able to manage and maintain a clear line of sight to the front.  Nathan had cunningly rigged up one of their digital video cameras to point out the windshield, mostly hidden beneath a half-folded newspaper, with a good view of the office’s front (and only) entrance.

All of them sat in various states of discomfort, huddled in the rear of the van out of casual sight.  Their cover wouldn’t withstand prolonged scrutiny … but no-one was really expecting them.  Right?  Nathan and Sam watched a small TV monitor hooked to the DVCam on the dashboard, zooming in and out with a corded remote.  They’d been there for the better part of the day, had even been brave enough to leave some time after noon for lunch, and absolutely nothing seemed out of place.  Only two people had entered or left the building, barring the lunch exodus, all day; certainly nothing suspicious.  

“I *really* have to pee.”  Georgie said.

“And I told you not to get the Big Gulp.”  Kyong replied.

“But dude, how often do you see a 7-11 anymore?”  Georgie said.  She huffed and squirmed around.  “I’m starting to agree with Olie:  Let’s just come back tonight, break in, grab Bauer’s stuff and be done with it.”

“Shh.”  Nathan hissed.  He was peering intently at the monitor, zooming in on the Nanoteknowledgies front door.  Something was happening.

“Pft.”  Georgie sniffed.

Two men in black suits walked up to the nondescript entrance and went inside.  Quick.  Simple.  

Kyong, however, recognized them.

“They are the men who attacked us yesterday.”  She said, simply.

“And they just went inside.  See?  Stake-outs pay out.”  Sam said over his shoulder.

“Cool.  Now let’s go back to the 7-11 so I can PEE.”  Georgie demanded.

“Well, now we need to see when they come out.  Or if the whole building turns to sand and blows away on the wind.”  Sam said, and held up a quieting finger.

“Riiiight.”  Georgie replied. 

They had little wait, however, as “Agents” Ferris and Oric exited the building within fifteen minutes.  They walked calmly to a nearby black sedan, got in, and drove away.

“Ooo.  Even more exciting than their entrance.  Now, outta my way!”  Georgie said.  She flung open the door of the van before anyone could protest and sprinted for a nearby Cable TV office.

“There goes our cover.”  Nathan said.

”I think we have enough, though.”  Sam said.  “We know the ‘Agents’ are still poking around.  That means there’s probably something unfinished, and that it’s in that office.”

”They might have already taken it.”  Kyong said.  “Nanorobots could be carried in any small container, and scientific data could be stored on a zip disk in their pocket.  We’d never know.  Everything could be gone already.”

”We’ll just have to see.  We’ll come back tonight … Nathan can ‘investigate’ inside, see if there’s anything left hinting at what Bauer was working on.”

”Good.”  Ollie added. “I was hoping I’d get to use those nightvision goggles again before we had to return them.”


----------



## nobodez (Nov 26, 2004)

*Argh!*

BUMP

Great story hour, can't wait for the rest of it. I don't want to have to wait.


----------



## Christopher Lambert (Dec 4, 2004)

I'd love to see your stats for the 



Spoiler



etoile! And if those MiB are the Dark*Matter variety, I'd like to see them too


!


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Dec 6, 2004)

I'll have to find my stats.

Hopefully I'll find some time again to update in a few days (19th or so) after the seminar papers are in.  I'd like to get this episode rounded out so I can start in on one of the next ones.  

--fje


----------



## HeapThaumaturgist (Jan 4, 2005)

*That Evening ...*

Nathan scratched his head and eyed the window again.  He hadn’t really gotten a chance to pack all of his gear before he’d been sent out, and he didn’t have the proper electronics to crack the sophisticated security system Nanotecknowledgies had installed.  In a word, he was stuck.  He turned back toward the van across the parking lot and mugged an exaggerated shrug.  

(( In-game, the actual problem was that Nathan’s player, having created an “investigative journalist”/B&E specialist had totally forgotten to put any ranks in Disable Device.  This was just a run-of-the-mill skill check I’d added for flavor, but I didn’t realize he’d overlooked it … so we had to drop back and punt.  Olie’s player made a good argument and burned an AP, so …)) 

 Olie said something unintelligible and slipped out of the van.  Sam threw up his hands and whomped his head lightly on the steering wheel.

“Like the freakin’ Keystone Kops …”  he growled.

	“The who?”  Georgie asked from the back.  She tap-tapped at her computer, lost in its violet-tinged white glow.

	“Oh God, nevermind.”  Sam sighed.

	Olie scurried across the parking lot with surprising speed and stealth, long coat fluttering around his feet.  He slid up to Nathan.

	“And?  What’s the hold up?”  

	“Look at the sill, along the sides here … if I’m not mistaken that’s a Hudson/ADEMCO Vista.  It’d take me maybe five, six minutes with all of my gear … but they whisked me out before I thought to grab anything and, well … “  Nathan said.  He shrugged again.

	“Yea.  Hrm.”  Olie rubbed at his chin for a moment, then started reaching into pockets.  

He pulled out a piece of gum, which he unwrapped and popped in his mouth before putting the foil wrapper on the windowsill.  Alongside it he set two toothpicks, a bent paperclip, a pop-can tab, some thin copper wire, some beer-nuts, and a fingernail clipper.  He ended up eating the beer nuts.  The rest of it went up on the window.

	“This should about do it …”  Ollie whispered to himself and levered the window upward.  He and Nathan waited, looked around.  Nothing happened.

	Quietly they hefted themselves inside.  They had entered through a break room along the side of the building, and they slipped through the doorway into the darkened office space.  After a quick walk around they spotted an office door with “Bauer” on the door.  Nathan knelt by the doorknob and pulled a couple of slender metal instruments out of his pocket.  With a quick moment’s work he picked the lock and opened the door.

	“That’s more like it.”  He muttered under his breath.

	They spend a few moments going through the papers in the office, checking the drawers.  For a research scientist’s office, it seemed surprisingly neat.  So neat, in fact, that eventually Nathan realized:

	“He doesn’t do any of his work here.”

	“Probably right.  I imagine there has to be a research station around here somewhere.”  Ollie said.  

	Just then, they heard a noise and light sliced into the room through the slats of the drawn shade.


----------



## Peterson (Jan 4, 2005)

Hellayeah!  Heap(somethingorever) is back!

Glad to see you updating man, and despite the time between updates, I didn't have to re-read a single thing.  Nicely done!

Peterson


----------

