The Reach — Episode Two
Come to the Garden
Previous episode:
https://plus.google.com/107856115406205338162/posts/4pj1gDQkT2Q
Episode 0:
https://plus.google.com/107856115406205338162/posts/QzSQXJCyWWx
[CN_ableism]
Situation: After Drop Troops surgically landed in the city, a majority of Districts have gone dark. Corporate arcologies have put themselves on lockdown, automated traffic has come to a standstill and there are reports that gangs of Devis are creeping up from the industrial Downlows, Surge City’s bottom.
Beliefs
Emet Kessner — The Honed
Belief 1: People are in danger, and as the honed I must aid them. I will save people from the disaster that fell upon the city.
Belief 2: The Mayor of the city is a horrid corrupt person whose mere rule is pain to his people, if I see him close, I’ll punch him.
Belief 3: Enhanced humans can never hope to be as perfect as me and my kind. We are better in everything.
Dr. Veleris Grant — The Catabolist
Belief 1: The city is in chaos, I now have the opportunity to go out and get some cyberware without getting noticed, I seek out a battle ground for some good junk
Belief 2: Dealings with the Yavlin are considered uncouth by many; to keep it a secret I will have to create an illusion emitting implant, and investigate how to manipulate the Yavlin in to a more acceptable appearance.
Belief 3: People have free will and choice, someone should never be forced/forbidden to get cyberware(removed), I wil defend choice. Once I am presentable I will seek out Sarah Kessner.
Andronicus Philotheos — The Seeker
Belief 1: The garden and its followers are my responsibility; I need to understand the factions within the system better. Therefore I will research the Ni Tai Mercs and look into why Skyler Addison asked for asylum.
Belief 2: The loss of contact with Dr Veleris Grant concerns us greatly; I need to secure the Yalvlin.
Belief 3: The needs of the faith go before my own; I will do whatever is necessary to strengthen our stronghold in the Maenalu system, so that no human will be left behind when we transcend.
We get this great interview of Emet as he is being rushed by reporters, only as he is finishing up, his connected device buzzes (miss on Potential): It’s his venerable father, Dov Kessner, the patriarch of the family and the Kessner Mining Corp./Fleet.
With a dry acknowledgment of his deed saving these kids, he then goes to let him know that he expects him to extract himself from the situation, collect his cousin (who they can’t reach) and head to the city’s space elevator. The Kessner family is heading home, he wants no entanglement with the local politics of “these people”.
A horizon stretching meadow, we see Andron, clad in full vestement, approaching a group of others of his order. He exchanges ritual greetings, sits and they talk. He passes little figurines containing memories he shares. He asks if truthfulness and honesty will serve him better should he pursue them. One of the others tells him a tale relating to his situations, a violent revolt on a station, with a lesson to not throw his allegiance to any side lightly but to look out for the common people. (success on Communion; +answer, +insight, +1 cred)
We pan up, high and see the lush green is but part of an island floating in the clouds among a handful of others.
Dr. Grant aches as he collects himself, the damaged scout mecha had set him down and is moving, drawing one leg after itself at the end of the valley. With the security to the power node that the spire is breached, he decides to investigate to better understand what the mercs’ objective is.
With the Yavlin, that is a bulge replacing his left shoulder/upper arm underneath his cloak, and his good hand he interacts with the exposed terminal: apparently this spire is shut down, down to the lowest levels of the city. This means power is out in an entire network, not just one district. But it is not damaged, it is just… in a complex series of dependencies, to restart this one you’d need to be at one of the other spires that have been attacked.
It all seems like a ploy to cover up an entirely different operation. An expensive one and one that’s been done without regard for the consequences (success on Lift the Veil).
Thinking for a moment, he calls up a contact in good standing (success on Links): Koda Shune, CTO of C-DISC Inc. (Chiba Department of Infrastructure for Surge City), a man out for his own who previously achieved good success with research Dr. Grant gave him access to, for the use of construction workers enhanced by specialized industrial cybernetics.
He strikes an easy deal: the info on the shutdown spires for a claim of first salvaging rights and some specialized AR tech.
The call is cut short by a bang from way back in the streets, a flash of light and the sound of automatic gun fire.
You do what you are told to do when it is your dad telling you to, even if you can’t keep yourself from whining to him. But it’s no use; and what is more frustrating, with the bike confiscated… Emet’s got to walk back. Traffic is either completely stuck, or on this highway almost deserted. Automated public transportation refuses to carry anyone.
And now he’s got even a group of hunched peeps clad in dirty rags climbing up on the way and pointing towards him (miss on Lift the Veil to find the way home).
With his curiosity he approaches to greet them… until they very obviously try to surround him. He lunges into a sprint as they try to close the circle, sliding underneath the swings of some extended batons, breaking out of it.
But not before one of them fires a taser gun at him, its hooks burying itself in his jacket and frying his com-device (taking a risk to breaking free).
With this momentum, he vaults off of a lamp post and makes a leap onto a an outside structure of a building over a gap off of the high-way. First shots ring out and miss, he slides down some steel piping to gather more speed and then pushes off.
Landing with an elegant roll on the concrete on a crossing ramp below he can also see the zip lines used by those thugs to get up above: these must be these pitiful people the city calls Devis.
As he scans where to go next, and the first ones trying to make their way down here, he hears the screeching of an engine: a flashy sports car turns a corner, passes him and comes to a sliding stop. Through a lowered window, a quite surprised Sarah Kessner give him a questioning eyebrow (that whole thing: partial success on Parkour, choices: Escape an enemy and avoid all harm; Escape an enemy and avoid all harm).
With Emet giving a cheeky wave from the car at the chasing Devis, we see Sarah punch the throttle (she has stumps for legs).
They exchange a round of quibs, as is the family fashion among peers, but Sarah appears a little pre-occupied, multi-tasking something on a console as she evades the question where she’s headed.
Though it’s apparent that it’s not the Space Elevator, and that it’s a shame about her phone—she must have lost it in the confusion (note: not having a neurochip is a family/culture thing).
As Dr. Grant is creeping along the alley wall, he gets the text message from Sarah: “Hey! U remember the family trouble of mine? Yeah, I need a place to stay… can i count on u?”
Checking on his situation before he replies, he makes out that a unit of TAA security has managed to surprise the scout mecha and has brought it down.
Approaching an officer and using his just procured license for first pick of salvage, he agrees to Sarah’s request and asks her to pick him up.
Just after this exchange he gets a call from Andron, slightly apprehensive he picks up. With his memories of his past with the Dr. back, Andron is immediately concerned, seeing him with his eyes missing and the bandages.
In the ensuing conversation, where Andron openly brings up his concerns about the Yavlin he gave him for safe-keeping, Dr. Grant manages to placate the Seeker nonetheless. He’ll join him soon at the Garden administration buildings.
(Andron’s probing is a clean miss with interferenece from Dr. Grant who wants to hide what happened with the Yavlin, basically letting him probe the surprised Seeker. Andron still gets some insight into Grant which helps establish a basis of trust through his Piercing Gaze.)
As Dr. Grant emerges from the wreckage of the mecha, having scrounged valuable junkware that is to serve as his eyes replacements, Sarah and Emet pull in on the scene.
There is an awkward scene of Dr. Grant maneuvering to the right side of the car, Emet getting out to let him into the back seat and realizing who they are picking up.
A couple of pointed remarks, questions and realizations, Emet asks Dr. Grant if he can help him out, as he needs to get in touch with his father. Sarah ignores to comment on this and Emet informs his father that their trip is going to suffer delay (a “miss” on the Refute roll) but he promises to bring Sarah back with him.
We get the aerial shot of the Garden’s administrative building, temporary housing erected in its courtyard. The place is bustling. Andron has been organizing, using the reserve of power cells to display a beacon promising refuge.
City counselor Skyler Addison has led part of her constituents here: people from lower levels of the street, who while having all of their needs met by technology, live in very packed and dull housing, their Maslow’s pyrimad topped off by a life in the Digisphere. They had to flee as gangs of Devis started to rise up out of the depths as the power failed.
There is a meeting in one of the meditation rooms in the basement that’s been converted into a situation room.
Next to the present Skyler Addison, Andron and another Garden Caregiver, the nervous Raphael Bentzen, we see Sarah on her hoverchair leading the blind Dr. Grant in, followed by a very out of place feeling Emet.
Andron leads the pooling of information. A major point of contention becomes when he openly drops the information that the captain of the attacking mercs stationed herself right here in the Garden: Caregiver Bentzen has serious concerns for the people’s safety, especially as Counselor Addison gets agitated. She needs to report this information, everything else would basically mean treason. Bentzen warns that this place would become a war zone. Dr. Grant urges her to keep this to herself, for the safety of everyone gathered. She turns back to the AR display.
As Andron reads the room during this (success on analyze), he notices the strange bulge where the Dr.’s left arm used to be (what’s out of place?), takes stock of the Counselor and of Emet (how are they vulnerable to me?). He recognizes that Addison is genuine in her concern and dilemma; and to get Emet involved he’ll need a concrete task of helping people.
Emet feels quite out of place, among all these adults trying to discern the situation, he is busy worrying how to get Sarah out of here and why she is here in the first place.
As Andron engages Emet to ask if he might be able to procure help with dwindling resources through his father, Dr. Grant uses the opportunity to get a quiet word in with Sarah.
He suggests that it might be the safer option to bail, if they can. She whispers firmly to him that this is her chance to get away. If she leaves she’d be back on 9-month tour flying a mining ship through the hazardous courses of the outer rings—not that much safer.
With no clear course set, the meeting disperses as Dr. Grant is the first to leave, he’s got some work to do on himself, finally.
This leaves Andron behind with Bentzen and Addison. The counselor pushes her dilemma on him, again. As he shows her that in the end this will need to be her own decision. She rebuts that she is seeking guidance. They share a long look and Andron lays out his thinking to her, how he feels the people close to one are the ones we can really care for. She slowly nods, it’s clear she also understands this that he will be on her side to achieve this (success on sway, option Andron “needs to give a piece of his heart”).
This triggers the Seeker’s special move: they each have a hold on each other now, to get a guaranteed help or hinder on each other.
And he has an answer to his question.
“We gotta talk”—Sarah knew this was coming, so they find one of the few private spots, some cooling storage room. As she turns to Emet she braces herself for him to say what he needs to say. He wants to know what they are doing here, wanting her to lay it out plainly. She fesses up: she is going to get cyberlegs.
Emet is taken aback and tries to grasp with that she seriously would want to alter her body.
Full success on a probe roll.
He realizes Sarah is plagued by the feeling that no one will ever understand her; “what I wanted more than anything since being a girl is to run, feeling the wind in my hair”.
And that she wants him to just let her go her own course.
He is getting exasperated: “If you do this, you won’t be the same person anymore; you’ll be different, not the Sarah I know.”
Emet squats down to her eye level.
She turns herself away from him, closing up.
The player’s last question is “How could I get you to not do this?”; she is determined, Emet can prevent her from doing this, now, by doing [Humanity harm]:
“Sarah, they like to put me forward as the exemplar specimen, as the Honed. But in truth, it is you who is perfect.”
Sarah breaks down into a silent sob and when he touches her shoulder, she twists, slings her arms around him and buries her face against his chest.
I think as the credits roll, we see the blurry images in the background, Grant with the Yavlin doing active surgery on his own eyes (full success on Junkware; +magnification, +threatassessment, no negative tag but harm).
#########
Thoughts & Reflections
Uhm, well. That ending. Ooph.
I think I am still processing this session. There was not much action but a lot of drama.
If the first session was about seeing the characters in action for the first time, this was all about seeing what their relationships look like. It’s a good basis for the future, I feel.
Oh, one note on mechanics: It’s tricky to root the beginning of session move Potential in the fiction, somehow. Currently, thoughts come to mind to have flash backs/scenes where we see the Honed training (or having family issues, depending on the outcome).
Haven’t spoken with the respective player about this, yet. Might be a bit cheesy?^^ (someone brought up the workout scenes from Arrow).
Comments & questions welcome.