Session Eight - Half of Everything is Luck ...

This session introduces us to a new player character by the name of ED. This is actually ANDY'S new character who, perhaps because of his previous death at the hands of his lack of expertise at surviving in the wilderness, is a wilderness scout, at expert at surviving out in the open wilderness. One note I wish to add here is that I don't go out of my way to make the players lives difficult, everything that happens is either based on their actions or random dice rolls governing the nature of their luck. With that in mind, here's what happened next ...


Day 17 (continued)

Having loaded up on supplies to rebuild his farm Alan goes in search of a truck driver he can hire and decides it would be wise to hire some mercenaries as well for protection. He hires three discount mercenaries from a dive bar for a couple of hundred credits each, one of whom is our new friend Ed. Alan, truck, mercenaries and supplies get prepped and ready to leave. Being a little too poor to kit out a professional medical facility Matt and David buy two hammocks, a few scalpels and a handful of medicinal drugs before heading back to the slums to try and drum up some business.

Ian meanwhile, thanks to his early start, has his journey well under way and is on the road south following directions barked at him by the borg leader of the guards. They don't seem to think it is necessary to tell Ian where they are going they simply instruct him step by step like a needlessly aggressive sat-nav. They drive past 'the farm' an enormous food production plant that grows supplies for most of the county and turn west. This leads to them traveling through a wide twisted valley the entrance to which has a twelve mile long bridge built across it. This bridge has become a shanty town community where people with nowhere else to go can come and make a home by building one within the legs of the structure. This has turned the bridge into a kind of barrier that has to be crossed to get into the valley and since the community is largely the poor and those living outside of normal constraints of society they aren't too friendly with the rest of the county.

Into this comes Ian driving his prison bus of convicts. As soon as the bus is within range the residents of the bridge begin pelting it with rubbish, shortly followed by light gunfire. However, it doesn't seem intended to do any real damage and is more a display of dominance, plus the bus is heavily armoured so it's pretty safe. Until they get beneath the bridge. Once beneath the bridge the residents seize the opportunity to up the ante and begin throwing down much larger obstacles to try and stop the bus. Ian takes evasive action as the scene begins to become comical as anvil like slabs of metal are dropped on them as well as a couple of safes and a piano.

Forced off the road by the onslaught Ian weaves expertly between the legs of the bridge and over the rough ground surrounding the dirt road that wasn't all that smooth to begin with. The bus rumbles almost uncontrollably until it exits the far side of the bridge and charges out into the desert to the howling taunts and laughter of the residents of the bridge. Hitting open terrain Ian start to lose control and is forced the bring the bus to an abrupt stop. The people of the bridge continue to taunt them but the guards know they have a job to do and once the bus is restarted they order Ian to continue onwards which he dutifully does.

Matt wanders into a cheap saloon on the edge of the slums in search of business and spies someone at the bar trying to sell batteries and watches (but not watch batteries) to the drunks. It is clear he has a less than legal attitude towards business so Matt approaches him. The man introduces himself as Shanks and whilst disappointed that Matt isn't looking for any batteries or a nice watch he is intrigued by the business proposal put forth in spreading the word about the doc and the mechanic who have set up shop in the slums. He agrees to help.

Alan, Ed, his driver and the other two mercs head out of town. Unfortunately before they can leave the boundaries of 'The Fort' they're path is blocked by a vehicle that flies in at them from a side road. The vehicle narrowly avoids hitting them but skids to a stop in the middle of the junction ahead. This is shortly followed by a variety of police cars swooping in and blocking all the exits, including the way back behind Alan and his gang. The occupants of the first vehicle hop out and begin opening fire on the approaching police who diligently do the same. This leaves Alan and his troop accidentally caught in the middle of a police shoot out, literally.

Their truck blocked and unable to go out on foot without running directly into gunfire from either the criminals or the police our heroes decides to the only choice is to try and help. Alan winds down his window and begins throwing magic nets into the fray whilst Ed hopes out and opens fire. Ed and the police prove themselves relatively inefficient but Alan manages to capture two of the three the men bringing an end to the fight.

Despite this unfortunate beginning, having not managed to even leave town without incident, the group continue on their journey assuming the bad luck is all behind them. It isn't. Less than thirty minutes into their journey the front tyres of the truck suddenly burst and they come to a crashing halt. Shaking it off they realise this could be more than a simple accident and arm themselves. As it happens they were right the do so, the tyre trap was part of an ambush and the truck is quickly set upon by dimensional beings known as "two-faced star people" who essentially look like humans without skin.

No one in the group knows much about them but they are clearly a threat so they decide to shoot first and ask questions later. The star people are not that tough but they are savage and don't give up as a gunfight ensues. Whilst the star people outnumber our heroes they are quickly gunned down by superior skill, superior skill not, however, displayed by Alan as he leans out of the truck and accidentally unloads his rifle into the engine block instead of the enemy ahead of him.

Once the star people are all either dead or have fled the group exit the truck and check out the damage. Despite a few bullet holes the vehicle itself seems to be running fine but it is not going anywhere without two new tyres and they don't have any spares. The road is quiet and they can't afford to stay out here any longer than necessary so it is quickly decided that the driver and one of the mercs will hike back to 'The Fort' to buy new tyres, as long as Alan will pay for them, not that he has much choice. Alan, Ed and the remaining merc wait with the truck hoping there will be no further activity and that the others will get back to them with fresh tyres safe and sound.

As Ian continues his prison run the bus passes by a camp where a tribe of "Cactus People" live, alien life forms who vaguely resemble the native cactus, and reaches a point in the road where the guard commander instructs him to turn left ahead, but there is no road to the left. Ian argues this point but follows order anyway only to find himself driving directly at a cliff-face. The guard commander informs him that as long as they aim for a specific point the cliff is an illusion that they will be able to pass straight through. Ian only half understands and accelerates to full speed. The guard commander tells him to slow down but Ian calmly explains that if they are to get through a cliff face they are going to need to be traveling with some force.

The guard commander calmly explains that it is unnecessary as the cliff is merely an image, it represents no physical threat. Ian calmly explains that he is the driving expert and he knows about these things, if you want to break through rock you need to be going fast. He continues to accelerate. The bus bounces along the rocky terrain. The guard commander becomes more aggravated now, ordering Ian to slow the bus. Ian attempts to state his case again but it is too late to slow down now and they rocket into the cliff wall. The guard commander braces himself as the bus passes through the image of rock and onto the smooth tarmac surface on the other side, however, there is a speed bump just inside the cave and the bus hits it at it's full speed of eighty-five miles and hour.

Alan and Ed look out over the road as the hours tick by. Eventually another traveler comes by and they flag them down and commission them to look out for their comrades on the road ahead. The travelers agree and continue on their journey. Another hour or so passes and the missing members of the group come back on horse drawn carriage complete with replacement tyres. They fix up the truck and begin their journey anew.

Meanwhile the prison bus crunches, bounces, cracks and crashes to the ground again as it jumps of the speed bump sending everyone inside flying around wildly in surprise. No serious injuries are incurred but the bus buckles and screams to a halt in the tunnel. Ian, pleased with himself, looks over the other people inside who just look back in shock and anger. He barely notices and turns his attention back to the task at hand. By sheer luck the bus starts up again and trundles onwards at greatly reduced speed and mobility.

Similarly Alan and his cohorts truck stumbles the remainder of it's journey and with the time lost already on the tyre fiasco it is well into the night before they arrive with no hope of returning before the day is out and Alan will be forced to pay everyone for an extra days work if he wants them to hang around. Unfortunately the truck struggles into the farm and once it comes to a stop the engine coughs a great cloud of black smoke out into the air and splutters it's last. The driver opens it up and looks over it but it is beyond his skill and is going to need professional work which means that for the foreseeable future he, Ed and the other mercs are under Alan's continued employ until they can move on. This simple journey is costing Alan more and more money by the minute.

Earlier in the day the remainder of Ian's journey passes uneventfully and they exit the tunnel onto a dirt road leading up to the heavily fortified, heavily guarded prison know simply as 'the institute'. It is an imposing grey block on the landscape and the bus enters the loading bay where the prisoners are removed. The guards working in the vehicle bay look over the bus with curiosity viewing the variety of damage it has taken. The bus is going to require some work which will delay it's departure but they should get away before nightfall.

Ian keeps his nose clean, just hanging around the vehicle bay as the engineers work on the bus and eventually they are ready to go. They set off in their now slightly dodgy bus, just the guards who travelled up and a couple of prisoners traveling back, either on release or to see out the rest of their sentence elsewhere. The area around the prison is a bit more wild than Ian has seen before and they spy a few of the more terrifying members of the animal kingdom that can be found in the county, but they don't seem interested in the bus. The bus enters and exits the tunnel with Ian continue to drive as fast as he can but nobody bothers to argue with him about it any more.

As the bus pulls onto the road home they turn down towards the "cactus people" camp and as they approach they see an unusual sight, a hefty black storm cloud squatting menacingly over the camp itself. It is an ominous blot on the otherwise bright sunny day. The guard commander stands up to the front window and looks out with curiosity. Ian says nothing but soon the cloud is the least of their problems and the road is suddenly occupied by a herd of stampeding rhino-buffalo, a creature that is basically a crossbreed of those two animals. They storm towards the truck and the guard commander begins barking orders in panic.

Ian screeches the bus to a halt and slams it into reverse pulling a J-turn in order to make their escape. The rhino-buffalo surround the bus, none of them intentionally attacking but a few brush against it as they thunder along. Ian follows the road as best he can avoiding being pushed off onto the rocky terrain around but as it starts to weave the bus overbalances and flips up onto two wheels. Driving at a diagonal angle Ian attempts to keep control of the bus as the rhino-buffalo herd rumbles by, trying to keep them from turning over at least until the herd has passed by. Fortunately his expert driving pays off and the stampede passes leaving Ian free to weave until he manages to right the bus.

Ian brings them to a stop and they examine the bus but no further damage seems to have been done. They regroup and set off back on their pre-arranged route to find that in the scuffle the cloud has vanished. As they pass the "cactus people" camp they see some evidence of destruction but it is not as bad as the beating that the station took and the "cactus people" are tidying themselves up. They choose to continue onwards and make it the rest of the way back to the capital unharmed.

As Alan forks out the money needed to put Ed, the mercenaries and the driver up for the night, not wanting to take them into the farm partly out of paranoia they'll rob him but mostly because he doesn't want them spotting his zombie workforce, as well as paying them an extra days wage. He turns the truck in to a local mechanic who says he'll get it up and running in the morning so he can get back to town with his team and tie up his remaining loose ends. He relaxes and thinks to himself that things could have gone worse.

More to come ... Session Nine - ... the Other Half is Fate

Previously on 'The Unsimple Life'

Been a while since I posted so here's a quick recap of what's been going on ...

We meet our heroes:

Alan - publicly he's a farmer, lives on the edge of town and grows crops. Privately he's a reformed necromancer from eastern Europe trying to lead the nice normal life of a farmer, but it's not so easy to leave your old life behind you and rather than hire farmhands grave robbing and resurrecting a few zombie minions seemed a whole lot easier. Keeps to himself mostly to avoid people finding this out.

Andy - the town smith, originally from Russia, makes tools and basic metal supplies that famously never breaks. This is because he's a mage whose training is specifically in the forging of magical weapons, however, he has an oath to only ever provide weaponry to a worthy hero so relies on making basic supplies but instills them with magical energy making them stronger and more reliable than normal. Unfortunately is an alcoholic and also brews his own alcohol, though doesn't sell it as it's not entirely user friendly.

Dave - the town mechanic, originally from south America specialising in enhancements and modifications that push equipment to the max and beyond. The beyond element will often push a machine to it's breaking/exploding point, but until then it will run like it's never run before. This is due to a unique range of psychic abilities that he has which means he can create devices that mimic those psychic abilities.

Ian - professional driver, originally from Australia, who worked mostly on deliveries between his home town and the surrounding areas, however, his skill goes far beyond that and he is an extremely skilled stunt driver  who is somewhat obsessed with car crashes, something he has a unique talent for surviving. All in all a slightly unhinged person.

Liam - the only local boy of the group, having grown up in the county itself. At some point in later life decided he wanted to become a gunslinger, but with no desire to undertake the years and years of training that requires decided to have a whole load of dangerous brain implants to simulate that training, becoming what is known as a "wired gunslinger". His brain implants give him heightened senses and allow him to always act first in any given situation making him nearly impossible to surprise. Unfortunately wired gunslingers advanced reactions mean they act before they actually know what's going on. This is just as likely to helpful as it is unhelpful and results in the accidental shooting of so many innocent people that suicide is quite high amongst wired gunslingers.

Session One:

Our heroes hometown is ravaged by an attack cloud of mysterious origin. They manage to shoot the cloud with a tank cannon and it flees but the damage is down and most of their homes, workplaces are destroyed and death amasses in the streets.

Session Two:

Desperate for work and/or some stability our heroes board a bus heading for 'The Burrow' a small community of miners where ready work in the mine is always available for the downtrodden. They set up temporary home here but mining is not among many of their skill sets and a variety of work related accidents causes most of them to give up and decide to seek their fortune elsewhere. Ian manages to get into a conversation with some of the locals and accidentally kicks off a series of illegal races through the mines themselves.

Session Three:

Andy has set himself up create brik-a-brak out of a homemade forge in an abandoned building in 'The Burrow' and is gaining some small interest, however, some local gangster spotted the magic knife he was using to advertise his business and come requesting more weaponry. He impolitely refuses setting fire to the money they brought with them and in retaliation they destroy his forge.

Ian, Andy and Liam leave the mine as part of a delivery convoy and once they arrive at their destination, the capital of the county known simply as 'The Fort', Andy takes off with no intention of coming back. Ian and Liam wander around the town, Liam accidentally getting into a drug deal and subsequent gunfight, before the two of them returning to the truck and then back to the mine.

Session Four:

As preparation for the upcoming race comes underway at the mine Ian realises he needs to buy a car so steals a truck and enlists David and Alan to help him return to town and come back with a suitable race vehicle. Andy wander 'The Fort' and seek employment in the rich district at the bank/jewelers so they give him a trial job. Liam meanwhile enjoys a few fun and games at the mine and befriends one of the race groups, offering some muscle to their group. Once in town Alan wanders off not intending to come back while Ian and David seek out a racing car.

Alan meets up with the local mages guild and takes up residence a few door down from Andy but neither of them notice the other. When he returns from the bank Andy is attacked by the gang who tried to bully him before but this time more aggressively. They nearly kill him and demand that he assist them in the robbing of the bank he has just weaseled his way into. Ian and David return to the mine in their stolen truck only to be met by hostility from local law enforcement. The truck crashes, David is nearly killed but Ian is fine, although he is arrested.

Session Five:

Alan befriends a small group of young mages planning a trip to a nearby nexus point at the summer solstice. Andy continues his work at the bank even though he is under the harassment of the gang. Ian is taken to prison and David to the prison hospital. Here he meets a new player character, Matt.

Matt - a cyberdoc (doctor who specialises in cybernetics if that wasn't obvious from the name) who owned a shop in one of the southern towns of the county and is currently serving a three year sentence for, among other things, public nudity. He refuses to divulge any more information than that. With only one week left on his sentence and a long history of good behaviour he has been put to work in the prison hospital.

Ian begins building a convincing insanity defence (partly because it's true) whilst David awakens to find he has lost a leg. Matt works off the last week of his sentence peacefully. Andy seeks help from the police but there is little they can do for him.

Session Six:

Andy is kidnapped by the gang for not cooperating and they push him off a cliff. Alan goes with the mages group to the nexus and a rift opens. The group are attacked by demons but fight them off with heavy casualties so they have to flee the scene, however, Alan manages to acquire a few demon body parts. Ian goes in for psychological testing and based also on David's new testimony they decide Ian is unsuitable for prison and they offer him a position as a prison guard. Technically he is still locked inside the prison but is offered some freedoms whilst under the constant supervision of the other guards. Andy survives the fall and using the parts from a crashed van forms himself a van door shield and front bumper club.

Session Seven:

Alan gets a job at the local hospital and Ian goes out on supervised visits around the town. Andy makes his way north and finds a washing machine that he forges into body armour. David and Matt are released from prison and decide to set up shop together in the slums seeking out an abandoned building in there. Ian is offered employment driving one of the prison buses transporting the more dangerous employees to a more secure facility. Alan manages to sell the demon parts to the head of the mages guild for several thousand credits and he sets about buying supplies to rebuild his farm back in his home town.

Andy continues his journey but his washing machine armour, van door shield and front bumper club are no match for a giant armadillo dinosaur creature that comes storming out of the jungle and attacks. Andy is killed.

Next Session Coming Soon ...

Session Seven - Travelers Beware

Day 15

The sun rises and Andy sets out on foot in the direction he hopes will lead him to the ley line. He travels along the cliff not wishing to venture into the jungle of the crater and soon discovers the crater is a common dumping ground.  A variety of smashed vehicles line the bottom of the cliff as well as assorted other pieces of rubbish. He decides to sort through them and uncovers one of the smaller items, a washing machine. Having already travelled the bulk of his first day he decides to set up camp and sets about using the rest of the day to forge the washing machine into a makeshift suit of armour.

Ian takes advantage of his new prison guard status and goes on a supervised trip out of the prison. Although he doesn't really have anything to do so he and his guardian end up wandering around pointlessly until Ian leads them up to the military base where he was cautioned for snooping around before. He enters the front of the building and approaches the sergeant at the front desk with a cheerful "morning private". The man looks up at him curiously and Ian asks him if he can join the army. His guardian interrupts and explains to Ian that technically he is in servitude to the prison service at the moment so he can't actually join the army until he has finished helping them. Ian nods in comprehension, turns back to the sergeant and asks him if he can join the army. The sergeant looks curiously to Ian's guardian who just shrugs so the sergeant tells Ian he will look into it for him. Ian thanks him, tells him his shoelaces are untied and leaves.

At the prison the day goes by relatively uneventfully. Ian takes up his duties with apparent efficiency and after a quick word with the warden David secures a letter of recommendation from him regarding his work on the psychic diagnosis machine. This will go a long way to helping him get set up as a legitimate business once he is free. Matt helps him as best he can and allows his remaining days in prison to pass. Alan is back in town with his windfall of demon body parts, but is unsure the general opinion of necromancy in the county although it's usually frowned upon so decides to wait until the following night when he can attend another meeting of the mages council so that he can attempt to casually slip it into conversation and test the waters of tolerance.

Day 16


Andy smiles with satisfaction as he dons his washing machine armour and enchants it with superior strength. Dressed in a washing machine and armed with a car door shield and car bumper club Andy of the dump sets out on his second day of travel towards the ley line. Unfortunately his weakened physical condition is taking it's toll and he needs food, water and rest, the first two he can't get and the third he can't afford, it's too dangerous to spend any more time than necessary in the crater.

David and Matt prepare for their release tomorrow and discuss their plans. Initially their thoughts are to set up in town and advertise their individual skills as mechanic and doctor respectively. Problem is that they do not have the money to set themselves up with legitimate headquarters in the capital itself and neither has any transport so travel is a dangerous prospect.

Ian is approached by the warden once more and told that if he feels up for it he can join one of the convoys leaving the prison tomorrow as a bus driver. With gusto and excitement Ian volunteers for dangerous prisoner transport. That is the bus line that transports prisoners too dangerous to be kept in the regular prison to a more secure facility. These prisoner are borgs, d-bees and powerful mages/psychics who require extra security and are housed at a secret location known simply as 'the institute'. After careful thought the warden and his men agree. Ian is happy and asks to go on another supervised trip out of the prison.

Ian and his guardian wander the streets once more but more purposefully this time Ian finds his way back up to the military base and approaches the sergeant at the front desk again with a cheerful "morning private". The sergeant recognises Ian and his guardian from the day before as Ian proceeds to ask the exact same questions about joining the army as he did then. The sergeant masks his confusion with the same answers he gave the previous day but he does go to explain to Ian that his application is pending and he doesn't have to come back everyday to check on it. Ian says "okay, see you tomorrow" and leaves.

Alan goes back to work at the hospital but as soon as he finishes for the day he goes straight to the mages guild meeting room to wait for the others to arrive. Talk in the meeting is largely about the "success" of the solstice gathering at the nexus and how important it is to show solidarity and strength in this time of magic oppression by the current government. Alan isn't sure the event showed all that much solidarity or strength and he doesn't feel particularly oppressed but the older members of the guild seem to be enjoying the argument so he doesn't feel the need to raise his thoughts.

Once the meeting winds down into a casual discussion Alan wanders the various groups of people showing off some of the demon claws he obtained at the nexus. He presents them as amusing trinkets rather than dangerous magical components and he receives amused smiles but little more than that ... until ... as the evening draws to a close the head of the mages guild takes Alan aside and asks for another look at the claws. He tells him he'd be interested in purchasing such "trinkets" for ornamental purposes, perhaps they'd look good on his fireplace or he could turn them into novelty salt and pepper shakers. Alan smiles politely and the conversation continues cautiously until Alan agrees to bring them over to the guild leaders house later that night and a price can be negotiated.

Meanwhile Andy decides he has to venture into the jungle in search of water at the very least and finding a few wrecked cars that have been launched into the crater he sets about making a secure camp he can return to first. Using the cars as walls he builds a kind of fort against a cave in the cliff face and then sets of into the denseness of the trees. Before too long he manages to find some animal tracks and follows them back the way they have come from to avoid encountering whatever it is that made them. Fortunately for him he's in luck and eventually comes across a small watering hole that could perhaps more fairly be called a puddle. The water is brown and filled with debris but his options are limited and he fills a canteen.

Tracing his own tracks back he sneaks through the jungle as it becomes increasingly alive with life around him, but he seems to avoid any direct conflict as he emerges and returns to his car fort in his washing machine armour with his car door shield and car bumper club. He boils the water over a small fire, drinks the now slightly less disgusting mix and settles in for the night, however, he keep his washing machine armour on and his weapons at his side.

Alan approaches the mansion owned by the apparently oppressed head of the mages guild and knocking on the door he is answer by a pale faced butler. Alan immediately recognises the man as a very well constructed zombie and follows him inside to be greeted by the head of the mages guild who introduces himself for the first time by his first name, Bob. Alan takes a risk and drops the pretense announcing that he knows a zombie when he sees one. Bob confesses that he skilled in the necromantic arts and his interest in the claws is on a professional basis. He invites Alan in for a drink and they discuss their craft and come to a very reasonable price for the claws which Alan is more than happy with.

As Andy sits in a kind of half slumber he is suddenly wide awake when a creature resembling a giant armadillo exits the tree line a little way down the cliffside. As it makes it's way towards him searching the wreckage strewn across the bottom of the cliff with it's snout Andy attempts to hide but dislodges some rubble as he pushes himself against the wall and his actions only serve to call attention to himself. The creature looks up to him and uttering a low growl it lowers it's head an charges in his direction. Andy manages to dodge the attack but the creature hammers into the rock and gouges out a chunk. However, the impact appears to have done little harm to the creature itself as it turns it's attention back to Andy who scrambles to hide behind his makeshift wall of cars.

The creature charges again and crashing violently in the wall sends one of the wrecked cars flying backwards. Once more Andy manages to avoid the attack but this time leaps towards the creature and takes a swing at it as he runs by. He cracks it's back leg with his car bumper and the creature howls in pain and tries to take a bite out of him but Andy is moving too fast. Andy puts some distance between him and the creature and finds he has some time to think as the creature slowly turns round to face him. The creature stands between Andy and his camp but the terrain to either side of them is open land and the only other option is the dark of the jungle behind him and Andy doesn't fancy his chances in there.

He stands firm as the creature charges again and Andy fumbles his dodge but manages to take the force of the blow into his car door. Unfortunately the car door is all but destroyed by the attack and Andy is knocked off his feet. On the plus side Andy has plenty of time to pull himself up as the creature has rocketed past his position and has to turn around again. As the creature lines itself up and charges once more Andy is on his feet and stares into the creatures eyes as it storms straight towards him. Jumping at the last second Andy swings down striking a blow across the creatures head as he flies over the marauding monster. The creature is disorientated by the blow and stops in it's tracks turning to stand face to face with Andy.

Andy throws his smashed car door aside and grips his car bumper with both hands as the creature lashes out at him with it's front legs, tearing at the air with it's claws. Andy swings wildly getting in a few good blows in but the creature isn't doing too badly itself and Andy's washing machine is taking a kicking. In a surprise move the creature turns sideways and takes a swing at him with it's barbed tail, which strikes Andy hard in the side and sends him flying into the cliff wall. Andy lands in a heap and looks up to see the creature retreating to the tree line.

But his luck has not turned. The creature reaches the tree line and turns to face him. Looking over the distance between them and into Andy's eyes it charges once more. Andy scrambles to his feet but is too slow and cannot gain a footing as the creature crashes head first into him crushing him between itself and the cliff face behind him. The washing machine crumples like paper and Andy's chest takes the full force of the impact. The creature plows through him flattening him against the rock and crushing the last breath out of his body. Andy and the remains of the washing machine are left in a crumpled heap on the floor and his travels come to an end.

Day 17

David and Matt awaken to their release date in high spirits. Their personal effects are returned to them as is a fresh set of clothing, and a set of crutches for David, and they are escorted out of the prison. Having made the decision to stay in town the two of them seek out the slum district, an area made up largely of self built homes and run down shacks, hardly an ideal living area but beggars can't be choosers. They split up to try their luck in a search for an abandoned shack. David finds one first, it is a rundown corrugated iron single room building with no windows or roof. He looks it over and claims it as his own (remember, beggars can't be choosers) as it doesn't rain that often out here in the desert and he goes off to find Matt.

On the other side of the slums he meets up with Matt who has discovered his own abandoned shack. A largely sheet metal building about twice the size of David's with a separate back room, a pretty decent door with locks on it as well as a couple of barred windows, a solid roof and a fully functioning, although very illegal, connection to the towns electrical grid. Matt asks David how he's doing and David smiles through gritted teeth and tells him he's doing fine, he found his own great place too.

They decide to use Matt's shack as their place of business and since Matt may have a patient to take care of every now and then he will live in the back room whilst David can stay at his new place. With this decided they head out into town to buy rudimentary supplies.

Alan is doing much the same. With the several thousand credits he has gained from the sale of the demon  claws he can now afford the remaining supplies he needs to set about rebuilding his farm and heads into the town centre to gather said supplies as well as keeping enough money aside to hire a truck and a handful of mercenaries to take him back up to his farm at his hometown of the valley station.

Ian meanwhile enters the bus yard of the prison on this fine morning. There are a variety of buses in the yard, some of them transporting prisoners to work details dotted around the county, some on their way to collect prisoners from local sheriff outposts and some there to run military detail in taking "volunteers" from amongst the prison population to perform menial task at the various military outposts across the county.

However, the bus Ian is interested in is the last of the group. It's big and black (largely it seems from excessive fire damage than any actual paintwork), heavily armoured and wrapped in a steel cage. As Ian watches it a seven foot partial conversion borg in a prison guard uniform approaches along with the warden and a handful of other officers. They greet Ian and usher him into a side room away from the buses.

The warden explains that the prisoners on the bus Ian will be driving are extremely dangerous and a very special countermeasure has to be taken to prevent escape. They hand Ian a bulky vest and ask him to put it on, which he does. The warden explains that the vest he is wearing is very difficult to remove and packed with more than enough explosives to blow most any humanoid life-form in half. Ian listens with interest but slowly realises no one seems in any hurry to help him take the vest off. The warden continues his explanation; the prisoners in the bus are all wearing on of these vest and a sensor to the vest is installed inside of the head prison transport officer, namely the seven foot partial conversion borg standing next to him. If the prisoners get further then two hundred yards away from the officer their vests will activate and they will be blown up.

They go to leave the room and Ian calls them back. He asks if they can take the vest off for him as he doesn't know how but the warden tells him not to worry about that, they'll take it off when he gets back and him and the other officer leave the room. Ian watches them go curiously but quickly follows, unsure how far away two hundred yards is.

The prisoners are led out, all them equally, if not more intimidating that the seven foot partial conversion borg barking orders at them and all of them wearing the familiar explosive vests. Once the bus is full Ian is led up to the drivers door and into the front compartment where he and the transport officer will reside for the journey, several layers of caging between them and the prisoners who are firmly manacled to their seats. A few other officers are aboard the bus watching over the prisoners from inside the prisoners compartment. A final check is run over the bus from outside, the outer gate is opened and Ian is instructed to move on. The warden waves them off apprehensively as the bus leaves the prison compound and hits the open road.

More to come ... Session Eight - Half of Everything is Luck

Session Six - Only The Good Die Young

Day 13

Having spent the entire night drinking the cheapest homemade alcohol that the bar could provide Andy spends much of the morning vomiting into a corner of the room. He stumbles outside and stops again to vomit onto the pavement as a van pulls up in front of him. In his weakened state he puts up little fight as the gang surround him and the mountain giant pushes him forward into the back of the van. Alan awakens and makes his way downstairs to get ready for tonight when he is dues to travel to the nexus point in time for sunrise on tomorrow's summer solstice. He exits the building in time to see a van hastily driving away closely followed by a mountain giant driving a specially constructed motorcycle that still looks ridiculous with his enormous frame on top. Alan shrugs it off and continues with his day.

David becomes accustomed to his new surroundings in the prison hospital and it isn't long before he finds himself being questioned by the warden in regards to Ian's curious behaviour. They confess to him that they are a little unsure what to do with Ian, they aren't exactly equipped to deal with the mentally disturbed and he doesn't seem like a threat. That with his constant insistence that all he was trying to do was return the truck it seems like he is guilty of nothing more than "being a bit off" and with guidance could become a functioning member of society. David agrees with them, explaining he had no idea the truck was stolen and  that in his experience Ian can be a little unpredictable.

In addition to this David decides he wants to sue Ian for his lose of leg (and general emotional damage). The prison authorities say they'll see what they can do. In speaking with Matt, David discovers how woefully under-equipped the prison hospital is and offers to build them some psychically powered devices out of the scrap they do have to help them out whilst he is stuck here. Under Matt's supervision he gets to work on this.

Alan picks up a few ritualistic supplies, candles and such like, before meeting the group of mages outside of the saloon where the guild meets. They have hired an armoured bus to take them to The Hunt Lodge where they will be flown by helicopter to the nexus point in the middle of the ancient jungle that fills the crater. Alan climbs on board and decides to get some sleep on the journey over so that he is well rested by the time they get there.

Earlier in the day Andy has been traveling in a similar direction. As the van makes it's way he makes one last attempt to escape and jumps at the two gang members guarding him. Unfortunately this fails spectacularly and he falls into them. He succeeds in surprising them but now lying at their feet they respond by unloading their shotguns into him, well aware that he can take the hit but only really trying to hurt him. Andy passes out from the pain and awakens some time later to find himself still in the van but tied to a chair which has been bolted to the floor.

He is facing the backdoor which sits open and the four man gang is standing outside looking in at him. An old man approaches who is recognisably the same old man who was being eaten by the giant spider before. He explains that he thinks Andy needs to be taught a lesson in manners and since he seems to think he's such a tough guy maybe that should be put to the test as well. He encases Andy in a forcefield of psychic energy and Andy hears the van start up, apparently by itself. The doors close and the van lurches forward and it is suddenly very apparent where they are as the van goes flying off of a cliff edge. It tumbles down the rock face, smashing itself to pieces for what seems like forever with Andy being kept relatively intact with the psychic forcefield before it comes crashing to a halt at the bottom, leaving Andy stranded and alone inside the crater, the mysterious jungle surrounding him.

Day 14


Alan awakens as they arrive at 'The Hunt Lodge'. The lodge is a lavish mansion bigger in itself than some of the settlements in the rest of the county. There are two other buildings, one on either side, an extensively stocked armoury and a vehicle bay equipped with a wider array of militarised vehicles than the army itself. Alan and the mage group board a combat helicopter and are joined by five heavily armed mercenaries from the lodge who make them all look pretty weak and pathetic by comparison. The flight sets off for the nexus, an hours journey over the dense jungle of the crater.

The nexus point is alive with energy as dawn approaches on the summer solstice, the ley lines converging into a glowing mass that is visible long before the group arrive. The chopper lands at a strategic position, weapons pointed square at the nexus and the mercenaries file out to scan the surrounding area for threats. Alan and the mages exit more cautiously and set themselves up around the nexus as the mercenaries take up sentry positions.

Ian is called in again for more psychological testing and given a proposition. Unfortunately the prison and the sheriffs office in general is extremely overworked and there's no place for treating psychological disorders (if there was half the people in the county would probably be candidates). Ian doesn't seem to deserve incarceration, but conversely they're not convinced he should be allowed back out on the streets unsupervised. To try and find a happy medium the warden offers Ian a job, sort of. Ian will remain on at the prison as a guard, unpaid but with a guards living quarters and free food, as well as supervised leave out of the prison within certain limitations. Ian only seems to have been half listening and agrees without any further questioning or putting much thought into it at all really. The warden and his guard team are apprehensive but glad that a compromise has been reached, although they watch Ian with suspicion as he skips away.

David is largely healed and working hard building a psychic diagnosis machine under Matt's supervision and since Matt's release is coming up in three days they decide to release David at the same time, the idea being that if David requires further care Matt can look after him as a condition of his release.

In the crater Andy awakens. He is badly hurt, barely living and still chained to the chair in the back of the smashed up van. Fortunately the chair has loosened itself from the floor of the van and Andy manages to break the chair free completely and shake free the chains that bind him. He clambers out of the broken structure of the van and sees his surroundings for the first time, one side dominated by the thousand foot cliff face and the other by the jungle with a small clearing between the two running the length of the cliff. Andy is too weakened to venture forth and risk coming face to face with any of the carnivorous life forms that might inhabit the jungle of the crater so he takes refuge in the van to rest up.

Alan sneaks off from the rest of the group to search the surrounding jungle in the hopes of something dead being nearby but isn't equipped to venture too far from the group and isn't lucky for anything to be nearby so returns to the camp that is being set up in front of the nexus. Several of the mages are busy preparing rituals but many of them have just come along for the ride are already busy building a barbecue and getting drunk as dawn approaches. Alan looks over the group and decides these probably aren't the people to help him further his magical studies.

Dawn arrives and with it the surge of magic energy that the group has been waiting for. The problem is that the surge also opens up a rift right on the nexus, a gateway that could lead anywhere with any number of unspeakable horrors on the other side. This wasn't an entirely unexpected occurrence, actually it was quite a high probability so the mercenaries are on immediate alert. For a moment the scene is quiet before a small group of humans exit through the rift and enter the clearing. They wander towards the mages who stand transfixed by what is now clearly a group of extraordinarily beautiful women.

As they approach the mages their abnormal presence doesn't go unnoticed by the mercenaries and one of them opens fire, blasting one of the women to pieces. The others freeze in place and utter an unearthly monstrous scream and proceed to morph into hideous demonic lizard creatures (succubi - although nobody in the group correctly identifies them). The majority of the mages scatter in fear, those that can fight prepare themselves and the mercenaries move in. Alan falls back and begins throwing magic nets into the fray. As the succubi pounce upon the mages the mercenaries unload laser fire into their opponents, and unfortunately mistakenly injuring some of the mages who luckily paid in advance. The only real slip up is when one of the mercenaries slips and unloads half a clip into the side of the helicopter.

Back in the prison Ian decides to strike up a conversation with Mouse who is surprised by his advance. Ian enquires as to the proposition Mouse was talking about in the cupboard before which confuses Mouse further since he took being locked in a cupboard as a sign of hostility. However, Ian seems quite  friendly, almost disturbingly so. Mouse can't handle it and confesses his true motivations. The reality is that the man he works for likes him to identify new comers who are alone and vulnerable and can be exploited for cheap labour. However, after their previous encounter Mouse would rather not have to deal with Ian any further so tells him to just move along and they'll speak no more about it. Ian shrugs and walks away.

At the nexus the battle with the succubi continues but the mercenaries are winning and the mages retreat has saved them any heavy casualties. Eventually the succubi are defeated with only three deaths amongst the mages, one of which turns out to be merely a death trance, one of the mages pretending to be dead and allowing the battle to take place around him. He casually stands up and rejoins the group unscathed. Unfortunately there have also been half a dozen serious injuries amongst the group and it is agreed that once the the helicopter is loaded up and the handful of rituals underway with the shortest timeframe remaining completed the group will return to the lodge.

As the group pack up Alan looks over the battleground and sees all the dead bodies a young necromancer could want but no time to do anything about it. Not wanting to waste the opportunity he sneaks away from the group and on the pretense of helping pack up ransacks the bodies. He goes unnoticed as he manages to gather three arms and ten claws from the succubi corpses. He packs them in amongst his belongings and goes back to the helicopter whistling nonchalantly.

The helicopter returns to the lodge and as the day draws to a close Ian is greeted by the warden once more as his team prepare him for his new job and show him to his new guards quarters. Once this is done and Ian is donned in a shiny new guard uniform one of the other guards enters and speaks privately with the warden. The warden turns to Ian and asks if he remembers the prisoner by the name of Mouse, the one he locked in a cupboard once. Ian remembers and asks why. The warden explains that Mouse has just been found dead in his cell having apparently hung himself.

Ian seems shocked and the warden asks if Mouse seemed suicidal to him. He says no but explains what Mouse told him before about the man he works for. The warden nods, it doesn't seem entirely new information to him, but he and the guards have much work to do so they leave Ian in peace in his new chambers. Before going they explain that since Ian is a skilled driver they will see if they can fix him up with some work along those lines to keep him busy.

Back at the lodge the mages regroup and those of them fit enough to travel, including Alan, board the bus that brought them down the previous night to return to their homes in The Capital Fort. Alan looks over his gains, not massively impressive a haul but worth a pretty penny and could be just the windfall he was looking for, if he can find somewhere to sell it.

As nightfall approaches Andy feels his strength returning and inspects the van. The passenger door hangs on by a thread so he breaks it loose and enchants it with superior strength. He then pulls off the front bumper and does the same. He know has a shield and a weapon, sort of, and inspecting the area using his knowledge of the land he decides that tomorrow morning he moves north hoping the join the ley line that should be a couple of days journey away. Coincidentally, if his calculations are correct, his arrival at the ley line will coincide with David and Matt's release from prison. The two of them eagerly plan their next move and as David finishes up the psychic diagnosis machine and sees how impressed the warden is with his work he realises there could be some money to be made here once they are free to make their way in the world.

More to come ... Session Seven - Travelers Beware

Session Five - Talking Turkey, Turning Canary and Doing Bird

Day 10

Attending another meeting of the mages guild Alan manages to befriend a group of young mages planning a trip to the nearby nexus point for the summer solstice which is in four days time. This trip is half to use the power of the nexus to do some high level enchanting and half to drink beer and party (they're not exactly the smartest or most disciplined group of mages you ever met). Fortunately they are smart enough to have hired out some heavily armed mercenaries to escort them and if Alan picks up his fair share of the bill he's welcome to tag along. With a skip in his step Alan leaves the meeting but the motel is a bit too pricy for him on a regular basis so he moves to a rundown saloon on the other side of town.

Meanwhile Ian has spent the night quite happily in a holding cell at the sheriffs office and is due for processing this morning. They charge him with stealing the truck and attempting to kill Ramirez, Ian argues he only borrowed the truck and Ramirez was in the way of him returning it, and he sticks to that defence rigidly. If nothing else this confuses everyone else involved in the trial, but they take it as some sort of confession and put Ian in the prison whilst they decide on a sentence. David is in a coma in the prison hospital where he is being treated by a new player character, Matt.

Matt - a cyberdoc (doctor who specialises in cybernetics if that wasn't obvious from the name) who owned a shop in one of the southern towns of the county and is currently serving a three year sentence for, among other things, public nudity. He refuses to divulge any more information than that. With only one week left on his sentence and a long history of good behaviour he has been put to work in the prison hospital.

Unable to save David's crushed leg and with somewhat limited resources at the prison hospital Matt has little choice but to amputate David's left leg. With this done Matt's daily duties mostly consist of trying to maintain the poor quality equipment the hospital is supplied with, as well as assisting the rest of medical staff as necessary.

Outside of the prison Andy attends work at the bank as usual knowing that he must meet tonight with the gang who assaulted him. He goes to the bank, signs in and is put in the workshop with a variety of others to see what he can make out of the raw materials they have available for sale on their shop floor. He carries on as if nothing is out of the ordinary, finishes his first working day and proceeds to his meeting the trio who stabbed him the night before. His instructions were simply to go to a shack in the slums and when he arrives he sees it is a very unimpressive ten by ten structure with no windows.

Cautiously he pushes open the door and goes inside to find nothing but a chair sat in the middle of the room. He wanders round the interior of the shack but finding nothing of interest reluctantly decides to sit in the chair, at which point the door blows closed. After a few seconds he decides to get up and reopen it and in doing so discovers that the door now leads to a deep cavern where a variety of stone structures are built creating a small community where people wander around. This curious event draws Andy out of the shack, which has apparently been transported in it's entirety to this new location.

He watches the variety of people wander around this elaborate underground structure before he spots a recognisable face, the mountain giant who destroyed his makeshift workshop back at the mine, approaching him at speed. The mountain giant stands before him and instructs him into a temple like building at the far end of the cavern. Andy enters the temple to find the other three familiar members of the gang standing by whilst an elderly man floats in mid air on the other side of a large table. The man addresses him telepathically, Andy, however, is unimpressed by the elaborate arrangements of this meeting. The two of them enter an argument regarding the unfriendly way in which Andy has been treated thus far, with both sides seeming to think they deserve more respect from each other.

With the argument going nowhere the elderly man is suddenly ripped in half by an invisible assailant and moments later a giant green spider-like monster appears behind him, apparently having been invisible this entire time and using the man as a puppet. Andy seems unsure how to react to this latest bizarrely theatrical change to the meeting and as the giant spider asks "impressed yet?" Andy shrugs and says "I suppose". With the conversation making slow progress the mountain giant takes Andy from behind and stabs him in the neck. The giant spider informs him that they have just implanted a bomb into his spine and if he fails to cooperate with them they will detonate it. He is to draw them a detailed floor plan of the working area of the bank and report back to the shack the following night where he will receive further instructions.

Andy is promptly thrown out of the temple and presumably returns to the shack because the next thing he remembers is being inside and opening up the door to find himself back in the slums. With a sore neck and a throbbing headache Andy seems not one hundred percent sure that what he witnessed actually just happened so he returns to his motel room to sleep.

Day 11

Ian wakes up to his first day in prison and starting as he means to go on walks up to the first prison guard he sees and asks a series of innocuous questions about prison life. The guard answers happily enough and at the end of the questioning Ian says thank you and tells him his shoes are untied, which they aren't. The slightly confused guard then watches as Ian walks up to the next nearest prison guard and asks him the exact same questions again (yes, he really did) and ended that conversation by telling the guard his shoes are untied, which again they weren't. He proceeds to do this as many times as possible.

Meanwhile Matt continues to work off the last of his sentence as trouble free as possible and David remains in a coma. Alan continues his attempts to look for work and in a bid to get his hands on a dead body secures himself a custodians job at the hospital.

Andy on the hand goes in for his second day working at the bank. As he moves through the building he makes a rough sketch of the layout but decides to try and secure some help to get out from under the thumb of this gang. He goes about this in a slightly unusual way though and makes a gold statue of the giant spider-like d-bee he saw the previous night in the hope that somebody will recognise it. Nobody does, they just give him strange looks for his bizarre creation.

That night Andy returns to the shack in the slums and enters as before, but familiar with the set up he simply closes the door and opens it again. This time the door opens up onto a small desert island where the three gang members are lounging around in the tropical sun. Andy approaches and they give him a small device that they instruct he is to plug into the banks computer system so they can download the security schematic and access codes to all of the doors. They then shove Andy back into the shack and he finds himself back in the slums once more.

Day 12

At the prison Ian awakens to find himself being beckoned by a guy in an adjoining cell to join him for a private chat in a nearby supply closet. Without a thought in his head Ian follows him and the man introduces himself as Mouse. He goes on to explain that he represents somebody on the outside who is always looking to recruit new "help" and for prisoners he is the only outside contact they will have as he is the only psychic powerful enough to penetrate the protections that the psi-nullifiers and nega-psychics amongst the prison guard can offer. Mouse's boss can make prison life much more bearable for a few small favours. Ian hears him out, tells him his shoes are untied, picks up a mop from the cupboard and leaves, but before returning to his cell he jams the supply closet door closed using the mop, locking Mouse inside.

Andy awakens and comes to a decision he probably should have already come to and decides to actually seek help for his situation. He starts by going to the bank and talking to his would be boss. He takes out the giant spider-like d-bee model he made the previous day and puts it on the desk and tells the bank manager "that told me to rob the bank". The manager stares back at him in confusion and replies, "okay, is it telling you to do anything now?".

It's hard to express quite how poorly worded Andy's first attempt to explain his predicament was, you really had to be there, but eventually Andy manages to explain himself and presents his would-be boss with the device he was supposed to install into the banks computer system. The boss looks it over it, wraps his elongated fingers around it and snaps it in half. Andy explains he was hoping to use the device to trick the gang and at the very least it was evidence against them. The boss simply tells him that he should have explained that earlier. Unfortunately for Andy no sympathy is going to be found here and the boss calmly tell him that he can't risk the banks security, suggests Andy goes to the police and has him thrown out.

At the prison following his locking a fellow prisoner in a supply closet Ian is called in for psychological evaluation. He is requestioned regarding the truck incident but his story remains the same and with David in a coma it seems his version is what they are stuck with for now. However, several guards can attest to Ian's curious behaviour and they feel it is necessary to study his state of mind a little further. They begin with an inkblot test to which Ian gives the same response for every picture, a brief questionnaire follows to which Ian gives random and pointless answers to every question and the meeting ends, although as Ian leaves the room he makes sure to tell the psychiatrist that his shoes are untied, which they aren't.

Andy swings by the hospital on his way to the police station to look into getting the explosive removed from his spine, but a quick examination reveals that there is nothing there and only a flesh wound at the impact site. Andy runs to the police station and tells his tale to the man at the front desk who defers him to a deputy who takes him to a private room. The deputy asks Andy who it is that he is being forced to work for and Andy replies by showing him the spider-like d-bee statue and explains (exact wording) "when I first met him he was sucking all the juices from an old man" (I promise you, exact wording of what he told the deputy).

Fortunately rather than assuming he was a crazy person the deputy knew who Andy was talking about. The man in question is named Marvin and is not a giant spider, nor is he an old man, although he likes to appear as those two things. Truth is nobody has the slightest idea what he looks like as he is an extremely powerful psychic who only ever appears as visions or illusions to trick feeble minded individuals into doing his bidding. The four men Andy met are the only real members of his gang. He asks Andy if he knows a location of the gangs hideout. He doesn't. He asks if he knows anything about them, about their lives. He doesn't. He asks if he has any way of contacting them, of forcing them into a trap. He doesn't.

He asks Andy what exactly he's supposed to do about this. The sheriffs office is stretched pretty thin as it is, they aren't exactly in a position to put him into protective custody, the best they can offer is locking him up in the prison so they can keep an eye on him, an offer Andy refuses. On the plus side the gang have very high bounties on their heads so if Andy can help to trap them he could make some serious cash.

Disheartened Andy wanders the town making sure to stay to well lit crowded areas trying to find somewhere safe to spend the night. He ends up at 'The Truckers Saloon' a favoured dive of the various delivery, mercenary and general travelers that come through the town. The advantage here is that there are people coming and going all through he night so Andy finds himself a seat in the bar and settles in for the a night of drinking.

Coincidentally Alan has a room in this saloon but doesn't notice Andy as he returns from working in the hospital and goes up to bed. He enters his room and starts packing as tomorrow night he travels with his new mage friends to the mercenary town where they are to meet the group they will be flying out to the nexus point with. The nexus can be found in a dense patch of otherworldly jungle and during the solstice it's a dangerous place to be as a rift could open and anything could come through. Alan realises it's unfortunate he can't afford a gun, but figures he'll probably be okay.

Ian wanders back into the prison under the watchful eye of the guards who are now viewing him as some sort of special needs/straightjacket worthy case. Mouse also watches him return with disdain and immediately goes to contact his boss on the outside.

Matt wanders the hospital wing keeping an eye on his patients safe in the knowledge that he will be a free man in less than five days time. All he has to do is bide his time.

David wakes up.

More to come ... Session Six - Only The Good Die Young

Session Four - Divided We Stand

Day 8 - additional


With a fair bit of cash in his pocket Andy sets himself up in one of the nicer rented accommodation in town and pays for a week in advance whilst he figures out his next move.


Day 9

At the mine word of the race through mineshaft two is spreading like a virus and preparations are well underway. Our heroes awaken to find many have been working all night and a selection of super-powered cars are on display as the other miners add armour and weaponry to what is evidently going to be quite an enthusiastic race. The contestants currently include:

- a group of crazies who are attaching weapons to places weapons should be, assuming they don't blow themselves up they might do quite well

- a group who have gotten their hand on a pre-rifts mini cooper in full working condition and have covered it in so much armour plating it's now too heavy to move (they're working on it)

- a group run by a techno-wizard who are building a car from scratch with as many enchanted parts as possible

- a motorcycle and sidecar, the sidecar equipped to rotate one hundred and eighty degrees to make use of the cannon that is also equipped

- and finally a very secretive group who seem to have customised their car with a variety of spiked rams

Ian realises he has fallen behind and needs to kick it up a notch, or at the very least buy a car, and enlists David to help him. However, lacking a way of getting back to town Ian decides, quite nonchalantly, to steal a truck and get there that way. David asks no questions as Ian returns with the "borrowed" truck to pick him up.

Liam decides the capital isn't for him but not really feeling like mining he decides to enter a few games of chance with whoever is hanging around at 'The Burrow' saloon. But Alan seems to think he missed out the first time and with no idea they're in a stolen truck he tags along.

Andy wakes up and goes out to explore the town looking for work. He finds his way into the upper class district where he sticks out like a sore thumb and approaches a jewelers which also operates as a bank for the rich and powerful. He blunders inside and is immediately stopped by a guard who can see right away that he is not one of the select few who would make it onto their client list. Andy explains he is a specialist and is looking for work, but worried his appearance will reflect badly upon the company the guard escorts Andy outside and tells him that if he is serious he can wait around back and somebody will come find him.

Our new trio of Ian, David and Alan roll into town and not wanting to raise questions by turning up in a stolen, sorry, "borrowed" truck they park outside of the town and hide the truck in a cave. Approaching on foot, which still gets some curious looks as it seems to the town guard that the three of them have been walking through the desert without armour or very much in the way of weaponry, the trio enter the town. David and Ian progress to a car lot David spotted the last time he was in town whilst Alan goes exploring, specifically looking for a local mages guild.

Back at the mine Liam carouses three of the miners into a few trick shooting games, namely shooting over bottles, shooting coins out of the air and going on a short hunt to catch the best local critter. They start with the bottles, six shooters only, the simplest game, in theory. Liam goes first to show off and whipping out his hand mirror decides to shoot over his shoulder at the targets. His first shot misses wildly and hits a passerby knocking him down. The game only pauses briefly, once they see the man getting back up they decide to continue and Liam shoots down four of the bottles with his remaining five shots.

His opponent then sets himself up. He shoots down four bottle with his first five shots but his sixth shot goes much too wide and hits the passer by as he moves away from them, this time killing him. The group decide to leave it as a draw and move away from the scene.

Finding a new clearing they take to the second game, shooting coins out of the air. The opponent this time is a partial conversion borg with three arms who wants to make it interesting by throwing a whole bag of coins into the air and seeing who can shooting the most before they fall to the ground. After a moments hesitation Liam agrees and the game begins. This time the borg opponent goes first and when the coins fly she draws a gun with each of her three hands and proceeds to shooting into the cloud. They gather the coins up and seperate the damaged and she scores and impressive tally of seven hits.

It comes to Liams go and the coins are thrown high once more, but noticing a small flaw in the fine print of the competition Liam pulls out his shotgun instead of his revolver and unleashes both barrels into the cloud of metal. The coins are largely obliterated and Liam is declared the winner. Having made a pretty penny and receiving the evil eye from the borg Liam decides to quit whilst he's ahead and declines from entering the third challenge. He returns to the living quarters where the cars are being prepped for the race decides he would mind a piece of this action. Liam tries to befriend the techno-wizards group and offers the group some advise on weaponry. They decide to take him on board and he becomes a part of their team.

In town Andy waits outside of the rear of the bank and eventually somebody exits one of the employee entrances and ushers him inside. He is led through the workshop to the bosses office to meet the man in charge. The man in question is a seven foot tall extremely thin humanoid whose legs and arms are freakishly disproportionate to the rest of his body. Unfamiliar with the mans (if it is a man) species Andy smiles politely and tries desperately not to offend him. The boss asks him what makes him think he qualifies to work in such a prestigious establishment and Andy produces an exquisite dagger he made early, encrusted with some of the jewels from his personal collection.

What it lacks in material value it makes up for in detailed craftsmanship, but the boss seems unimpressed though a little surprised somebody who looks like Andy (a scruffy, leathery skinned Russian who stinks of alcohol) could make something so exquisite. He decides to give Andy a trial run, taking him on as an unpaid assistant for a week to test his skills. Andy accepts.

Ian and David go to the car lot and find they can't afford a decent vehicle so David decides to buy an old banger and a broken down armoured vehicle to harvest for parts. This works out considerably cheaper but they don't have the facilities to do the work their car needs so after a quick negotiation with the car lot's mechanic they secure the use of his garage to work on the vehicle for the rest of the day. Meanwhile Alan has managed to track down the mages guild but unfortunately it's less of a well organised group of like-minded mages trying to further the study of magic so much as it is a group of grumpy old men who meet three times a week in the back room of a nearby pub to gripe and moan about the state of the town.

He does however learn a little bit about the state of the county and how the mages guild used to be important until the mayors office shuffled them out in favour of a new magic advisor who does not represent them at all, the main gripe of the grumpy old men. Despite this Alan decides he'll have better luck finding magic related work in town so decides to stay and coincidentally rents a room in the same motel as Andy, although neither of them have any idea the other one is there.

Andy returns to his room and gets some rest, feeling satisfied with his days activities. Before he has time to relax however, he is awoken by a strange feeling and finds that he cannot move. Looking around the room he sees Raz and the two thugs who destroyed his homemade foundry up at the mine. Raz calmly explains that they didn't like the way he spoke to them so decided to keep an eye on him just out of idle curiosity, but when they saw him entering the bank in the rich part of town they realised an opportunity may be presenting itself. Seeing where this conversation is going Andy reacts by unpolitely telling them to leave and Raz summons a sword of psychic energy into existence and stabs him through the gut with it.

Andy screams in pain and confident he now has his full attention Raz explains the situation to him. He represents a very powerful psychic who watches over the entire county, escaping from his gaze is impossible and getting away with murder is not a problem for them. The bank is obviously a very high profile target but being so closely guarded they've never had the opportunity to make a move on it, until now. Andy's unique position could be used to their advantage. He instructs Andy to come meet with them the follow night, giving him an address in the slums to go to. To make sure Andy agrees they ransack his room, taking a few items and all of his money, leaving him one hundred credits only behind to pay for another night in the room.

The three of them leave and after a few moments Andy finds he can move freely again. Severely wounded and slowly bleeding to death he performs a quick patch job on himself using supplies from inside the room and does a remarkably good job, in fact he pretty much sews himself back up. Not wanting to have to answer questions at the local hospital and with no knowledge of a freelance medic around he decides to leave it at that and get some rest.

David finishes his work on the car and him and Ian drive it out of town, returning to the "borrowed" truck and loading it into the back. They climb back into the cabin of the truck and head on back to the mine. As they approach the road leading up to 'The Burrow' they see a roadblock ahead, along with Ramirez and his gang on patrol. The roadblock is a series of concrete barriers preventing anything from coming in or out of 'The Burrow' just past the fork in the road leading up there. Ian and David now have a choice, they can stop and turn back or take the turn and drive to what on their map is a dead end down at a lake. Either way they have to hope they can outrun the law enforcement who have surely spotted them.

Unfortunately for David, Ian is driving, and stubbornly determined to return the "borrowed" truck he chooses the third option which is that he reckons the truck will make it through the barrier. What he'll do after that is a bit of mystery, but he's not one for forward planning. David can do little to stop him as Ian accelerate to the trucks maximum speed and heads straight at Ramirez who stands defiantly in the middle of the road. Thinking fast David puts on one his own psychic inventions, a cowboy hat that calls down an ectoplasmic disguise making him look like somebody else. Theoretically if they get through the barrier there's a good chance they won't know he was in the truck and he can scurry and hide.

As it becomes apparent Ian is going to ram them Ramirez's gang start to scatter but Ramirez himself remain still and simple pulls out a hefty magnum and begins firing into the truck. He causes immense damage to the engine block but not enough to keep Ian from accelerating towards him so as they approach he removes an explosive device from a pack he is carrying and throws it out into the road in front of him. David braces himself but Ian continues ramming speed. As they pass over the explosive Ramirez detonates it and ducks down as the truck is launched upward and flips over the top of him and the concrete barrier, landing upside down on the other side.

Ian is barely hurt, David's has been crushed and is unconscious. As Ian looks out of the cab windows from his upside down position he sees Ramirez and his gang surround the vehicle so he fumbles to get out his uzi and fires wildly out of the front windscreen at them. He misses but the gang panic and begin firing back. They miss Ian but a couple of them shoot David's unconscious body. Ian calls out a surrender and pulls himself out of the cab. The gang surround him as he drops his weapon and allows Ramirez to handcuff him and put him into a nearby car.

He watches as the gang pry David's body out of the cab and they run for 'The Burrow' doctor who comes back with a stretcher. They load David into another vehicle and move enough of the concrete barrier for the two cars to get past and drive away. They drive to town and Ian is immediately put into a holding cell whilst they rush David to the hospital for treatment.

As the day draws to a close Liam returns to the living quarters and climbs into his bunk. He looks around and realises the surrounding four beds are all empty. He shrugs it off and goes to sleep.

More to come ... Session Five - Talking Turkey, Turning Canary and Doing Bird

Session Three - Road Trip!

Day 7

Andy's wares are suitably impressive and he has managed to gain some interest but so far everyone seems to just be window shopping and few paying customers are coming forward so in order to tempt people in he fashions an exquisite knife of the greatest quality and ornate design you could imagine. This works ... in a manner of speaking.

Around midday three visitors enter Andy's makeshift workshop, all three too smartly dressed to be part of the mining crew and a little too familiar with Andy's capabilities, seeming to be aware of exactly how powerful Andy can make his magical weaponry. The leader explains that he will pay handsomely for some powerful weaponry and produces a bag of money. However, if you recall Andy's character description he doesn't make weapons for just anybody, he only works for a worthy hero. Not being very good with words Andy decides to express this by reciting a simple incantation and setting fire to the bag of money.

After stamping out the fire the leader of the group, Raz, lost what was left of his patience and called in his reinforcements, a ten foot tall seven hundred pound mountain giant who unsubtly enters the building by kicking down one of the walls. Andy holds his ground and makes no reaction as the leader attempts to threaten him into working with them. Become increasingly irritated by Andy's ignoring of them Raz orders his mountain giant cohort to tear the makeshift workshop to pieces, which he dutifully does. As they do so Andy calmly walks away refusing to allow them the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of him.

Meanwhile work carried on as usual for everyone else though as word got around about the race Ian's interest in being a driver brought him to the attention of the foreman of mineshaft two who runs the deliveries around the county. Mineshaft two is short one driver and need someone to do a deliver to the county capital tomorrow. Ian jumps at the opportunity and they advise him to put together a group to act as guard since the deliveries sometimes get attacked by bandits.


Day 8


Ian gets Andy, who thanks to his encounter the previous day wants to get away from the mines as quick as possible, and Liam, who has recovered from his illness, to come with him as his protective detail. Several of the miners who have been caught up in the excitement of the upcoming race are powering up their cars and planning for the event and having some technical knowledge David stays behind to get involved. Alan stays behind to work and gather more body parts, animal or human, whatever he can get his hands on.

The delivery truck is a large vehicle, not normally something Ian would choose to drive as it's hardly sporty with a top speed of 40mph, designed with a separate front cabin and cargo area. With Ian driving and Liam riding shotgun, Andy chooses to ride in the cargo area and they set off. The truck joins the main highway through the wilderness as the group leave the area of 'The Burrow' but they are not alone, already driving the highway are a gang of three vehicles, their occupants off their faces, driving erratically and shooting at anything that moves.

One of the three pulls up along the drivers side of the truck and matches speed with it whilst the other two weave in behind. The gang are clearly high on something and not acting rationally so in an attempt to calm them down Ian unloads his uzi into the vehicle at his side, killing the gang member hanging out the passenger door and waving a shotgun around. Suddenly the group are in a fight.

Andy kicks open the rear doors to see what is going on and watches the other two vehicles swerve back and forth across the road. Liam uses his door mirror to get much the same view and takes aim at the cars behind them. The gang themselves are obviously enthused by the sound of gunfire and start firing wildly back at the truck, although Andy is now the most prominent target. Ian continues to offload his excess bullets into the car beside him sending it out of control. Liam shoots at the vehicles to the rear using the cars mirror and his trick shooting skills. He manages to hit one of the gang who is standing atop of the vehicle firing an automatic pistol at Andy and blows his head off.

Forced into taking action Andy grabs his hammer and leaps from the rear of the truck, still traveling at 40mph, onto the gang vehicle immediately behind. He lands on the front of the car as he swings his hammer down through the engine block. The car goes into a spin and Andy allows himself to fall free of it and roll onto the roadside. He takes some damage but he can handle it (it probably would have killed any of the others). As this car spins out of the control the third car plows into it wrecking both of them.

Meanwhile as Ian continues to fire until his clip is empty the front car swerves wildly and goes straight under the enormous tires of the truck squashing it flat, the truck only taking minor damage. Ian brings the truck to a stop to inspect the damage and loot their would be attackers. This also offers the opportunity for Andy to rejoin them although this is more of a lucky coincidence than anything else as neither Ian or Liam noticed him jump out of the rear of the vehicle. The gang don't have much that wasn't destroyed by the crash but the group salvage some ammunition and Ian picks out some car parts but the real find is by Liam who comes across the gangs stash of illicit substances. However, since none of the trio have any knowledge of such things they don't actually know what they are so Liam pockets the "drug portions" for later use.

The rest of the journey continues relatively uneventfully although they do pass a side road that's not on their map and is blocked by a police barricade, which they make a note of. The counties capital is a large fortified structure, the entire town enclosed in a circular wall with armed guards at the only three roads in or out. Being an official vehicle the truck passes through the checkpoint without any problems and our trio deliver their cargo to a factory on the south side of the town. Whilst the truck is being unloaded and refilled with equipment that they need to take back to the mine the three of them have time to explore the town.

Andy immediately takes off with no intention of returning whilst the others explore the town. Liam approaches the sheriffs department in the hope of getting his old job back as a prison guard but the department is stretched pretty thin as it is so no real luck there. Ian goes about looking into getting a vehicle for the race and finds a car lot and a mechanics, but he needs some cash so goes off to familiarise himself with the rest of the town.

Discouraged by his trip to the police office Liam wanders into the nearby slums in an attempt to become a drug dealer. Of course with no real knowledge of the streets or any idea what it is that he's selling this generally consists of him walking up and down the slums approaching any disheveled individual and asking outright if they want some drugs. This largely gets him a lot of strange looks but eventually he finds somebody interested in what he's selling. Attempting to be smooth he offers the man the goods and dances around a price until the guy suggests one himself. Unfortunately he has simultaneously attracted the attention of some real drug dealers an as he exchanges "drug portions" for money with the man a local thug approaches and catches the corner of his eye and his enhanced senses kick in.

Having to react without knowing what to react to Liam grabs the man he is dealing to and puts a gun to his head, holding him hostage as he turns to the thug who also has a weapon drawn. They are frozen in a curious stand-off, Liam with no idea what's really going on and the thug not understanding too well himself. Liam's twitchy demeanor manages to scare the thug away and now alone in the street with the addict held hostage Liam proceeds to mug him, take back the drugs he sold and run away. Before he can find his way out of the slums Liam notices he is now being followed by two men. Again his brain implants kick in and he makes a snap decision, that decision being to jump for cover whilst shooting wildly at them. The street clears in a panic as the gunfight breaks out and with the police surely incoming the situation needs a quick resolution.

Ian returns to the factory to collect the truck with no obvious sign of his friends so he decides to give them an hour or so before going back by himself.

In the slums Liam continues his shoot out with the two stalkers having seriously wounded one of them with his initial diving attack. The wounded man stands stunned and Liam quickly finishes him off with another shot. The other man has taken cover and knowing he needs this to be over sooner rather than later Liam jumps from his hiding place and unloads his gun into the remaining guy taking him down before running from the slums as quick as he can.

Meeting back up with Ian the two them wait to see if Andy shows but when he doesn't, worried their pay may be docked for being late, they leave and return to 'The Burrow'.

More to come ... Session Four - Divided We Stand