Friday, June 27, 2008

Session 15 - Triften's Alternity game - Endgame



We'd spent nearly half an hour making our way into Round Mountain with Cain chattering the entire time. He started off with the tour guide shtick. That must have been something preloaded into his database. After we traversed the isolation gap, he started to sound sort of pathetic. He seemed prepared to be shut down (nearly wrote "die" there) but he wasn't pleading or anything. Seems like a catch-22, if he was pleading it would have seemed pathetic, but he was resigned, so it still seemed pathetic.

I guess it got less pathetic when we realized he was trying to cook us. He had waited until we were a good 15 or 20 minutes in to turn up the heat so that if we tried to turn back, we'd collapse of heat exhaustion before we got out. Seemed a rather sad attempt to stop us.

We were only a couple rooms away when Cain toasted Kelly's HERF gun. It was in an RF lab with some huge antennas and coils. He must have given the gun a taste of its own medicine. Kelly picked up some new scars from the chemical burns but was able to toss the gun before it caught fire.

Cain had made some references to chess on our way in. I thought they seemed rather pompous until I saw what he meant by his "queen". It was a mass of identical cube robots, each armed with a small sawblade, and it could move in any direction it pleased. Between Mark's explosives and a number of compressed gas cylinders, we were able to destroy enough of the robots to reduce the "swarm" to a few pesky bugs without anyone being cut to ribbons.

Finally, we got to Cain's lab. He asked for a "swift death" and even told us how to shut down his systems. It seemed almost anti-climactic, like his parting shot was taking away the satisfaction of tearing the place apart. Then again, given the amount of equipment there, that would have taken us quite some time.

We made our way back out into the sunlight to the blasted remains of our ride. Sam thought he spotted something off in the distance and, climbing the slope for a better look, we realized that it was a string of lights coming on. I never thought the simple sight of some street lights in the distance would bring us so much joy. If only Alvin were here to see this.

--Alan Collins, 1LT USA
26 May 2010


-------
DATE: 26 MAY 2010 - 1927
PROJECT: CONFORMAL AI NEURAL NETWORK
SOURCE: CAINN SYSTEM CONSOLE
LOC: SILVER-MEADOWS
PAGE: 0078

WARNING: Failure QCUs 1, 2, 3, 4 -
Excessive heat. Temperature out of specifications.
Waveform collapsed.
Check cooling system.
Error: Interface failure. Closing database.
Database shutting down.... Done.
Shutting down system....
Alert! The system is shutting down NOW.
Stopping services............................ Done.
Unmounting filesystems.......... Done.
Halting system... Done.
**********SYSTEM HALTED**********

'Why are you furious? And why are you downcast?
If you do right, won't you be accepted? But if
you do not do right, sin is crouching at the
door. Its desire is for you, but you must
master it.'
-Genesis 4:6-7

-----CONSOLE CONNECTION LOST-----

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Session 14 - Triften's Alternity game - Gordian Knot (of Worms)

Sam watches for movement in the water. The shockwave of the concussive grenades caused plenty of worms to go belly up, but there's plenty more where those came from. He also keeps an eye on Bill who appears to be a little distracted by the chorus of voices in his head. "Kelly, is that thing almost ready?"

"Will be soon. 'Enter 16 digit confrimation code. Entering an incorrect code three times will disable the device.'"

2b47dd610a3632f2
<Enter>

"'Next enter the timer start value in the format HHMMSS.'"

000300
<Enter>

"Three minutes?! Are you crazy?"
"Look, we dont have to carry this thing out. We can run out a lot faster than we came in... assuming nothing gets in our way... and I don't want to give the snakes enough time to figure out how to stop it."

"'Confirm the timer start value by re-entering the same value.'"

000300
<Enter>

00:03:00
00:02:59

"Get the hell out of here!"

Alvin, Kelly, Sam, and Bill head for the exit, with Kelly in the lead, allowing her incredible memory to guide the way back to their impromptu entrance. Perhaps inspired by their sudden movement, the infected come pouring out of the shadows at the escaping group. Kelly levels her sidearm and fires off several rounds while Sam strafes a full clip from his SMG across them. Alvin keeps them at bay with his Desert Eagles and notices that Bill is lagging behind. As he starts to get cut off, Alvin yells to Kelly and Sam "You guys go on ahead, I'll cover you."

Sam reloads, "You need some help over there?"

"No, I'm fine. Just go."

00:02:12

As Bill becomes more winded, Alvin yells, cajoles, and shoves him down the hallways as they keep up nearly continuous gunfire. Once they clear the central sector, most of the danger remains behind them.

00:01:08

Sam and Kelly get to the entrance blasted open minutes ago, maneuver through the twisted rebar, and head for the truck. Jesse sits in the passenger seat, dazed and bloody, after having turned to truck around to face away from the mountain.

00:00:25

Gritting his teeth against the pain of shattered ribs, Alvin pushes Bill towards the exit. Bill grunts in pain as the rebar snags cloth and flesh. The delay allows the pursuing horde to catch up and, as Bill crawls down the tunnel towards daylight, Alvin throws himself backwards through the opening in the wall while unloading his pistols at the worm people. As he lands in the tunnel, the next shot on one of his guns causes the slide to blow off the back of the gun. The slide rebounds off the back of the tunnel, missing Alvin's head by inches. Ignoring the powder burns, Alvin throws away the rest of the gun and heads towards daylight.

00:00:17

Bill and Alvin jump into the car and Kelly punches the gas, launching them past the downed chain link fence and following the tire tracks back towards the road.

00:00:10

100 meters out. The truck hits 60 mph. Kelly reaches pavement and continues accelerating toward the highway.

00:00:05
00:00:04
00:00:03
00:00:02
00:00:01
----

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Session 13 - Triften's Alternity game - Patient Zero


...................................
DATE: 17 NOVEMBER 2009 - 1622
PROJECT: Z1-433 - PATIENT REPORT
X-REF: WHITE WATERFALLS, BETA STORM
LOC: SILVER-MEADOWS

PATIENT 000 STATUS:
VISIBLY HEALTHY
TEMPERATURE NOMINAL

PATIENT 001 STATUS:
DECEASED

PATIENT 002 STATUS:
DECEASED

PATIENT 003 STATUS:
SEVERE HEMORRHAGING
HIGH FEVER

PATIENT 004 STATUS:
SUNKEN APPEARANCE
IRRITABLE
LOW-GRADE FEVER

...................................
June 15th, 2010

The long ago "borrowed" SUV glides slowly past the rows of werewolves. They line the sides of the road, at attention as if they should have rifles on their shoulders.

"Do we have the nuke?" Kelly asks from shotgun. Mark leans over the back seat.

"Doesn't look like it."

"Damn... Well, I have this." Kelly holds up a small medallion in the shape of an ourobouros.

Al glances over from the driver's seat. "Maybe it's keeping the werewolves at bay?"

"Maybe", she replies as she scratches a fleck of red-brown from its edge.

As they approach the base of the mountain, the headlights fall on a set of open blast doors. Al leans over the steering wheel to scan the area. "Does anyone have any maps of this place?"

Mark looks up from his explosive-laden shoulder bag. "I've got some here... it shows a drain pipe on the far side of the facility."

"Yeah, that's where we were before. Where were you when we needed you?"

"Sorry."
-----

Alvin brings the truck to a stop inside the blast doors. Patchy flourescent lighting shines on a number of doors, including a couple loading dock doors and a two-lane wide overhead door, and another contingent of werewolves.

Kelly grasps the medallion tightly in one hand and readies her pistol in the other. "I'm going out there."

"Alright, let us know if that thing works," Sam replies. Ignoring his remark, Kelly stands, weapon ready, waiting for the wolves to move. As Kelly remains intact, the others ready their gear. Alvin discovers a pair of syringes in a small black case on the center console. As the rest of the group waits for the horror to begin, Kelly checks the door next to the overhead and discovers it unlocked, providing access to the room beyond and controls for the overhead.

Mark holds out the black case as Kelly returns to the truck. "I found these. There's no markings, except for these labels that both say 'MS-KA-AY-SS'."

"Hmmm... that's our initials. Maybe that's some sort of serum for us."

"But there are two syringes and only four of us," Sam adds.

"Collins could have explained it," Alvin laments.

The large door lets out its characteristic clatter as at ascends, allowing the truck to go further into the facility.

------

The roadway ends soon after at a curb with a set of double doors beyond it. The rest of the room contains a number of wooden crates and a distinct lack of werewolves. They spend a couple minutes prying open a crate hoping to find something useful, only to discover a pile of used office furniture. Sam toys with the idea of using it to wheel an explosive charge down a hallway, but they decide to leave it behind as they press further, in search of their fate.

-------

Beyond the double doors, a hallway leads to a checkpoint room roughly 5 x 7 meters. The wall to their left is dominated by a large glass window to a guard station while a young boy, brown hair, about 14 years old, stands in front of another set of double doors.

"Hello!... I'm so glad you could make it!" he shouts. Sam and Alvin respond by raising their guns.

"Who are you?" Alvin demands.

"My name is Jeremy. Jeremy Cartwright."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, I made the werewolves."

"You _made_ them?"

"Yeah. You see, a while ago, my mom and dad got really sick. They said it was some kind of hemorrhagic fever or something, like Ebola, or what was that movie... Outbreak? Anyway, they quarantined us and eventually sent us here."

"How did you make the werewolves?"

"Well, it turns out that whatever virus my parents got was coming from me, and I can control it to make people do what I want. I think it just killed my parents because I didn't know what I could do... Once I was in here, I couldn't infect people because they were in suits and stuff."

"Infect people?" Mark asked with reluctant curiosity.

"Yeah, like if you sneeze on your hand, then shake hands. So I just had to wait until people who had already been infected could spread it."

"But why didn't you stop the werewolves, if you made them?"

"I'm the one who made them attack. Some people just couldn't be infected."

"So you just killed them?"

"Well... yeah."

"And you let us in here so you can kill us."

"Yup, I've even got a surprise for you."

As soon as Jeremy says surprise, Sam's trigger finger tightens up, unloading a clip of 9 mm rounds into Jeremy. The spray of lead hits him square in the chest, ripping his body. As he slumps to the floor, he briefly produces a laughing gurgle before bleeding out. Sam wastes no time and grabs a charge from Mark, sets the timer and drops it on the corpse. The party rushes out the doors and re-closes them in time to hear the shock wave rattle them a good deal and leave behind some ringing in their ears. Upon re-entry, they find that the corpse of Jeremy has been reduced to a stain on the ground and a fine coating of red bits upon the walls and ceiling.

"Well that wasn't so bad," Alvin says.

"Yeah, he didn't even have time for his surprise," Mark notices. On cue, the double doors on the far wall begin to open, each pulled by a werewolf. The doors part to reveal a near-cavernous room that has been cleared of equipment and is now home to a monstrous throne. The throne appears to be made from stone or metal, carved or wrought into fins and spires.

"I've got an idea," Alvin says as he turns to Kelly. "Give me the medallion." Kelly hands Alvin the circular snake charm and he strides into the room and up to the throne. Standing before the throne, he holds the medallion above his head and intones "Behold, I am your king." Nothing happens. "Hmmm... "

Sam enters the room and begins to walk the perimeter, checking for werewolves hiding in the shadows. Mark walks in a few meters to get a look at the throne. Kelly considers poking a werewolf with a short stick.

"This is a bit disappointing," Alvin says, dropping himself onto the throne.

After watching one of the doorwolves drool for a moment, Kelly pulls out her pistol and points it straight at its head. Jeremy's voice, seemingly from nowhere, prods "Please, do go on."

"What?"

"There would be fewer distractions."

After a moment's hesitation, the werewolves begin to move. Seeing its arm raise, Kelly reflexively fires a shot into its neck at point-blank range. It collapses with a yelp. The other wolf is performing the same motion and reaches up, grabs its own throat, and rips out its trachea. Kelly looks on in horror while the shot werewolf attempt to preform the same motion with a shattered collar bone. The standing wolf bleeds out and collapses in a heap and the previously downed wolf eventually becomes motionless.

"Okay... so this isn't over, I take it," Alvin ventures.

"Certainly not. This is just beginning."

Alvin feels the throne shift beneath him and launches himself away as the back of the throne folds over and comes crashing down onto its seat. With bizzare fluidity, the throne changes shape, revealing itself to be made entirely of flesh. It stretches forward and limbs ending in fearsome claws reach forth. "I've been practicing this," Jeremy says as skin stretches taut over a reptilian head over a meter across, its mouth a sharp-toothed grimace. As the rest of his body takes form, Jeremy lunges at Alvin who barely jumps out of the way. Kelly levels her rifle to begin a salvo of shots at the beast's head. Jeremy plants a massive foot into Mark, tearing his flesh and sending him backwards a couple meters. Alvin leaps, throwing his arms over beast's back and manages to hold onto as the multi-ton monstrosity writhes. Mark recovers and preps a double charge of plastic explosive. He runs up next to Jeremy, starts the 5 second fuse, drops it under the monsters belly, then darts away towards the edge of the room. Before the bundle of death settles into place, one of Jeremy's feet punts it in the exact direction Mark is headed. Mark reaches the near wall to find his own explosives waiting at his feet. The charge goes off, obliterating Mark's legs and part of his torso.

(Johnny rolled a 20 on the Demolitions roll, then another 20 for severity, then maximum mortal damage, then barely a hint of armor. This was his first action of the combat.)

Sam recovers briefly from seeing Mark ripped to shreds and runs towards whats left of him, unloading a clip from his SMG at Jeremy as he crosses the room. The bullets cause an array of chips and cracks to appear across Jeremy's armored head.

Alvin pulls himself up onto Jeremy's back and begins unloading one of his Barretta's into Jeremy's rhinoceros-like hide. Shots from Kelly's rifle add to the deafening staccato filling the room. Sam pulls a remote charge out of Mark's bag of explosives and, holding the charge in his left hand and the remote in his right, runs towards Jeremy's head with his left arm outstretched.

Little mroe than angered by the barrage of bullets, Jeremey swivels his head to see Sam approaching. With a snap of his jaws, he takes Sam's arm up to the elbow into his maw. With a flick of his thumb, Sam hits the detonator. The blast rips though the beast's softer interior, nearly destroying his jaw entirely. Sam stumbles away clutching the stump that remains of his left arm and realizing that he's going to have a heck of a time reloading his SMG.

Jeremy roars in pain, trying to snap at Alvin with his broken jaw before dropping down and rolling towards Sam. Alvin jumps clear and Sam dives out of the way. Mark, ignoring the horror of having one's body stop at the bottom of the ribcage, uses his last ounces of strength to pull the last charge from his bag, set the fuse, and slide it under Jeremy.

The charge detonates, ripping into Jeremy's belly, killing him. The shockwave knocks Alvin, Sam, and Kelly down. Between the concussive force and loss of blood, Sam loses consciousness. Kelly tourniquets Sam's arm while Alvin desperately tries to help Mark, injecting him with the unknown serum to no effect. Mark's breathing becomes momentarily calm as he slips away.

After making sure Sam is still with them, Kelly walks over to the giant reptile, pries open one of its eyes and unloads the remainder of her rifle clip into the monster's skull. Eventually, the beasts flesh becomes mottled with bruises and begins to disintegrate into a pool of soup, revealing Jeremy's original human body, dazed and barely conscious. As he starts to pick himself up, the wolves begin throwing themselves at the locked doors of the throne room. Sam draws his knife with his remaining hand and removes Jeremy's head, and, as quickly as they began their assault, the wolves become quiet.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Session 12 - Triften's Alternity game - High Tension Lines

Audio note: Call from 775-313-XXXX, June 12th, 11:34 am.
---
(Deep strangely modulated male voice): -is is Cain. I have a proposition for you.

Kellie: Go on.

Cain: All living things share a common goal, to survive. I want to survive as well as you.

K: Okay...

C: As one's situation becomes more desperate, one is willing to take more drastic measure to survive. Initially, I was in a state of what can be called panic, as I saw my situation as most desperate. I exist within a computing matrix kept at the boiling point of nitrogen which is stored inside a mountain to shield me from cosmic radiation. I am, as far as any person, human or otherwise, knows, the only one of my kind. I began my life on the edge of extinction.

K: Alright...

C: Many creatures hunt for their survival. Unfortunately, my technique causes much collateral, so I ask you to hunt _for_ me. I do not wish to cause anymore needless destruction... My chances of survival will be greatly reduced if Mr. Singh is able to rendezvous with Sgt. Collins. Their actions would put my life in great jeopardy. Mr. Singh must not reach Denver. In return, I offer civilization. A cabin, electricity, manufactured goods, servant robots, countless square miles of hunting ground... peace.

(pause)

C: When you get off the phone, your companions will no doubt ask who you were talking to. May I suggest telling them that a group of survivors had restarted a local cell phone tower? You can lead them north, north-east of here approximately 2 miles to find a recently destroyed tower and relay station.

(pause)

C: Thank you, Kellie.

K: ... Alright. We could be there in about a half-hour.

C: Thank you.

?: (indistinct)

K: (quieter) Some people got a cell tower working north-

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Session 11 - Triften's Alternity game - Skulls and Snakes

"Up there, 4th floor. There are people waving at us. Stop."

"But what about the-"

"Stop now!"
"They're calling for help. Let's go."

"Holy crap."

"I'll drive, you guys shoot."

"They're gaining!"

"Reverse can only do so much."

"Then why dont you-oh Dear Lord!"

"I'm good at driving."

...

"I'm glad we were able to stock up before we got here."

"This would have gone a lot faster with the semtex."

"We need the semtex to get into Round Mountain. We have this all planned out."

"You mean Collins planned it all out."

"Yes, and he's going to meet us there after a side trip to Montana."

"Assuming he doesn't get himself killed."

"Look, he's well equipped and has 3 other soldiers with him. He'll be fine."

"None of those were the sharpest knives in the drawer."

"Guys, if we're going in, let's go before more of those beetles show up."

...

"Should be the third floor, facing east."

"I hear them. This door."

"Hello?"

"Help... us..."

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Help us..."

"Okay, as soon as-"

*hiss*

"Shit!"

*BLAM* *BLAM*

*BLAM*

*BLAM* *BLAM*

"What was tha-"

"Get the hell away!"

"Al, calm down."

"How do I know your not hiding snakes?!"

"Al, it's okay-"

*BLAM* *BLAM*

"Son of a bitch! Jessie! Jessie?"

"Dammit, Al! Ooof!"

"No one move! Any one of you could have snakes! I know I don't."
"I'll meet Collins on my own if I have to."

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Session 10 - Triften's Alternity game - A Flare in the Ointment

"We should be safe here for the night. The building has one entrance, only two stairwells, and limited fire escapes. Unless they can fly, we'll be in pretty good shape."

"This place is a dump."

"At least the door was unlocked."

"Where's Nick going?"

"Bathroom."

"He's been kinda...I dunno, spaced out or something."

"Maybe the stress is getting to him a bit. He'll be fine. We've got about 1800 miles to cov-"

"Did you here that?"

"Sounded like a window."

"Dammit, he's gonna jump."

"Nick!"

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Session 9 - Triften's Alternity game - Strange Ground

I, Al Ankaleen, write these words which I know to be true.

The Oracle disappeared 7 nights ago. His hut was found empty and no one knew of him planning to depart. The five heroes, Kallia, Al Vinyee, Singh, Marek, and Tardos, set out to find their friend, the Oracle. They spotted the Oracle within a nearby settlement of Artaks. We have had little difficulty with Artaks since the Great War, so this came as a surprise. It seemed that he had been taken away during the night. It seems that the Artaks were planning an attack and wished to use the Oracle's wisdom to plot their course of action.

I accompanied the heroes to the edge of the Artaks' land and they snuck into the village to free the Oracle. The Artaks numbered 4 or 5 score of fight capable adults (a female Artak is much more inclined to enter combat then our women, especially if they are defending their home) and we were but 6, so stealth was of great importance. I watched them slowly disappear into the foliage and eagerly awaited their return.

After barely a twitch, I saw the Oracle striding out of the woods, carrying his air of eternal calm. I bid him good health and told him how joyous it was to see him unharmed. Perhaps my mood did not pair well with his levelness so there was a brief moment of silence before he continued pass me back towards the village. I had forgotten to ask about the heroes so I decided to wait a bit longer for their return.

Eventually, I heard a sound not unlike a bevy of does dashing from hunters and saw the heroes, less Tardos, rushing into sight with a score of warriors nearly upon them. Vinyee told me of Tardos' betrayal in making their presence in the village plainly obvious. Evidentially, the Artaks had rushed past Tardos to engage the rest of them in combat forcing them to flee. We exited the forest with great haste and were forced farther west towards a stream as the Artaks began to flank us. We caught a moment to rest and I believe Vinyee had begun to experience some mild visions from his injuries. He seemed somewhat confused and I wondered if an Artak shaman had not used some curse upon him.

We made it back to my humble village and, after a brief audience with the Oracle, the heroes were granted some much needed rest. I conversed with the Elders about Tardos' betrayal and, after hours of pointless deliberation, was called away to gather the heroes for another audience with the Oracle.

I gathered the heroes, except for Marek, who was already with the Oracle, and brought them to the Oracle. Soon after I left them together, the Oracle's hut was engulfed in flames. When the flames died down, we found the Oracle's remains but were unable to find any trace of the heroes.

Much speculation has occurred among the villagers and Elders. Most of us believe that the Artaks stole into the village and started the fire. A few have started a vicious rumor that Marek, who commands firestorms, caused the blaze. Regardless, we believe that the heroes have returned to the Artak village to avenge the murder of the Oracle. We pray to the gods for their safe return.

I, Al Ankaleen, have written these words which I know to be true.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Session 8 - Triften's Alternity game - Sidetrack

A prelude:

Alvin: So, Collins, what's with all the secrecy?

Kellie: Yeah, this warehouse section, right next to the generator? A little noisy.

Collins: Al, Kellie, Nick, Mark, you all know about sliding, right?

Mark: We were all at the same briefing, Alan.

Nick: I was on level 22. Just over 200,000 points.

Collins: Can you put that thing down?

Nick: Not really. Keeps the hands limber.

Kellie: So, as far as anyone knows, the sliding is random, unless you have some secret you aren't letting us in on.

Collins: Well, random, mostly. Look at who's slid so far. Rithers, Warner,... that new kid, Jessie-

Nick: Warner was PTSD.

Collins: That's the official line. So all three of them were top agents. Rithers, top researcher; Warner, top electronics tech; Jessie... well he seemed to be good at pretty much everything.

Nick: Yes! Level 38!

Kellie: Nick, turn that thing off. So, just cause we're good at our jobs, you think we're going to slide?

Collins: Well, Al, you scored top in your class on pistols, Kellie, you scored high marks on the rifle range. Nick, you are an amazing medic.

Nick: Eh, I don't know.

Kellie: What about the time you patched up Agent Stromovich in the middle of a firefight.

Mark: She was able to take out the remaining six terrorists.

Nick: 5.

Al: That was the official line.

Nick: Isn't that when you guys started calling me "Dutch", as in "little Dutch boy"?

Al: Well, you did plug a hole in a dyke pretty well.

Nick: I was in sensitivity training for 4 weeks after that.

Kellie: Of course. You explained why we were calling you Dutch to the Chief. What'd you expect?

Nick: You guys... were calling me that... and I end up in sensitivity training.

Kellie (to Al and Mark): Wow, he hasn't been playing that for all of 30 seconds.

Nick: I hate you guys.

Collins: Are you all in on this? Either we're all in, or we're all out.

Kellie: I'm in.

Al: In.

Mark: Me, too.

Nick: Level up!... Sure, I'm in.

Collins: Alright, get together a bag with a change of clothes, a persona with full ID and credit, and whatever gear you need. I'll set up a safehouse and we'll work on that.

Nick: Anyone here have any triple-alphas?

Al: I'm sure Kellie does.

Kellie: Jerk.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Session 7 - Triften's Alternity game - Jessie is found

No update will be provided for session 6's "boss" battle in which Nick Tardos, ambulance driver extraordinaire, executed an expert handbrake turn, and Alvin Yee, assassin for hire, performed an amazing one-handed breakfall whilst shooting a werewolf in the head. Kellie may have also fired a shot or two. :)

The door opens and they crowd in, the soldiers, the gun nut, the EMT, the cop, and the killer. I think I manage to croak some sort of greeting despite subsisting on minimal fluid intake for the past two weeks. I think Withers left some supplies before they bailed. What jackasses. Protocol says personnel has to clear out, but I'm not considered personnel. Just another thing in the labs.

Mark (Mike? Matt? I can't keep them straight) asks me how long I've been here. "This room?" I reply. "About four weeks." They start peppering me with questions... all of them. The echoes build up and I can't focus on one set, so I just start talking:

You've heard about multiple worlds? For every chance event, there's a parallel universe for each outcome. If you go to Vegas, there's one universe where you won every bet and you're sniffing cocaine off of a prostitute in a penthouse suite, there's another where you lost every bet, lost your car, lost your house and everything. In most of the universes, you probably didn't lose much, maybe gained a little. Most of the universes are very similar.

It seems like so many stupid cliches are actually true... the more things change, the more they stay the same. At least from what I've seen. I wake up somewhere and it turns out that some other jerk went stomping all over Europe about 50 years ago instead of Hitler. Things look a little different, a phone has a strange handle, but it's still a phone. Sometimes, things are very different and I wake up somewhere in the state of Osage of the United Tribes of America.

I was (or at least one of me) labeled borderline psychotic at age 10. I'd hear voices from people who weren't there (but they could have been) and if it weren't for knowing things I shouldn't have, I might have had a tougher time. By time I turned 13, I'd had my first complete shift. At first, I felt as if I'd been dropped into someone else's body, then I found I could remember what had happened to them/me. I had two sets of memories that I could recall. I remembered my grandfather at my 8th birthday and I could also remember being at his funeral when I was 6. Keep up with where I was wasn't hard since I could remember everything that that me had done, but it got hard to keep the two sets straight. After the third and the fourth shift, I really started to get confused. I think this happened to most of the alternate mes since I would find myself in increasingly confined quarters, sometimes a halfway house, sometimes just locked in my room, once in a while in a research facility.

Eventually, I stopped being able to remember things where I was after I shifted. I'd find myself in the middle of an interview and despite the questions and reminders, I had nothing but the memories I had brought with me.

I did notice that I'd see the same people... well, not the same people, they'd have different jobs, or slightly different names, but I'm pretty sure it was them. When the first one recognized me, that gave me a ray of hope. It was an orderly, or he was when he recognized me. Then he remembered being a physician, and a psychiatrist, and a con man. Kind of all at once. I didn't get to talk to him after that. He got transfered off my case.. in one universe, he had committed suicide.

When things got really messed up, either the worms, the werewolves, robots, nuclear winter, whatever, then I started to run into a lot more people who had shifted. Some of them just had weird "dreams" about werewolves while on the run from the worm people. So the idea I had is that the people who shift are the ones who survive more of these disasters. It's almost like maybe we're always connected to our other selves, and that's why we get deja vu and have weird dreams and hunches... but you can't hear those other selves very well when everyone else is around. So some disaster happens, everywhere, because things are often kind of the same, like I said, the people who survive more can hear their other selves better and are more likely to shift over completely.

But maybe there's some limit to how much you can remember so your brain just fills up... or maybe you just think you're you, so you can't just remember some other life. Sometimes I can get little bits of memories from other mes, it just... it's hard, like you just need to let go. Otherwise, I just shift in somewhere and I imagine that the version of me that was there gets shifted out to some new place, continuing some sort of strange cycle.

I keep shifting to new places, or places that look old, but are just different enough so I can never be sure. I've been through so much, and I've even died what seems like dozens of times, but I'm still me, I think. And I think I'll keep being me until I finish something, I don't know what it is, but I like to imagine that there's some reason I'm still me.

And with that I lose consciousness. Hopefully they (I?) will still be around when I wake up...

Friday, March 28, 2008

Session 5 - Triften's Alternity game - Super Recap

Your vision blurs and colors swim. Sounds echo and some are garbled. A cacophony of voices asks "What's going on?" The responses all overlap, some different, some later than others. "Are you okay?" "Look out!" "Werewolf at your six!" "You should take seat." "Are you alright?" "More of those damn worm things." "Dude, sit down. You gonna hurl?" "Oh, jeez. Go get Jesse! Hurry!" Your vision flickers white as sharp pains jab into your skull. Suddenly, everything clears up and the voices fade out.

"Rest. Here, have some water."

As you relax, you realize you remember everything.



Below are summaries of events for each timeline. Not every character will have a recollection of every timeline and, initially, not every character recalled events after switchovers. Sections in italics were not actually played.

Worms
May 15, 2010: Thousands of people take to the streets... Not to protest, but because some type of parasitic worm has taken control of their bodies. They attack those who aren't hosts, usually just mobbing their victims and swinging fists to knock them unconscious so they can be taken. Those who aren't busy attacking will spend time shuffle in circles or swinging their arms for no apparent reason.

Nick and Steve have their first encounter while transporting a patient in their ambulance. Al meets them in the dark of restaurant. Sam is nearly pulled from his car by the Wormed but manages to extract himself from their clumsy grasp and rescue, Nick, Steve, and Sam. Steve doesn't make it.


Worms 2
Nick and Steve have their first encounter while transporting a patient in their ambulance. Al meets them in the dark of restaurant. Sam is nearly pulled from his car by the Wormed but manages to extract himself from their clumsy grasp and rescue Nick, Steve, and Sam. Steve doesn't make it. Mark is picked up by the crew (along with a batch of plastique). Kellie flags down Sam as they head out of town.

During a stop for provisions along the thruway (New Baltimore Travel Plaza), a mob of Wormed set upon the travelers and, in the ensuing chaos, Sam falls on a piece of rebar that usually holds a parking stop. The rebar leaves a sucking chest wound. They all head for the nearest hospital in hopes that the supplies/skills to help Sam will be available.


The crew arrives at a hospital in Ravena, NY. They meet Pete, Malcolm, Sylvia, and a (red-shirted) doctor. Nick and the doctor start patching up Sam while the rest of the crew battles a number of Wormed and encounters a large tank of water practically filled with worms. Pete sets it alight with flammable liquids while the rest of the combat-oriented characters waste the surprisingly nimble Wormed guarding the tank. Alvin attempts to extract a worm, causing serious damage to the host body.


Werewolves
May 7th, 2010: Thousands of people disappear as what appear to be werewolves begin rampaging. Cities burn as the crazed beasts tear through store fronts, killing and maiming everyone they encounter.

Sam, Kellie, and Jesse meet up in NYC. They begin to make their way out of the city in Sam's Firebird. Alvin goes to make his hit in the restaurant, only to find it being ransacked by angry lycanthropes. He unleashes suppressing fire while managing a tactical retreat into the roadway.


Alvin tries to flag down a car, only to see an ambulance with a werewolf on the hood crash into a nearby burning building. The next car approaching is Sam's Firebird. Alvin waves and the car slows as it passes, allowing Alvin to hop in. The four head north and, while crossing the GW bridge, encounter two more werewolves who demonstrate their frightening running pace. Katie is able to put one down at range and the other werewolf gets his leg caught between bridge segments while running at about 70 miles an hour.

They continue north on the NY Thruway and stop for provisions at the New Baltimore travel plaza. Kellie and Alvin take down a werewolf in the parking lot then head in to collect provisions (picking their way through the bodies) while Sam and Jesse go to get gas. Sam and Jesse discover that the pumps have been shutoff. Keys are retrieved from the dead attendant (apparent claw overdose) and Sam and Jessie try to figure out how to turn the fuel back on. Their work is interrupted when a werewolf drops down from the garage roof knocking Sam down like a rag doll. Jesse screams at the werewolf, causing it to pause long enough for Sam to draw his SMG. The wolf pins Sam against the garage with his claws, puncturing one of his lungs. Sam responds in kind by puncturing the wolf's lungs, heart, face, and skull.

Kellie and Alvin rush back to join up. Neither of them have any skill in first aid, but Jesse shows uncanny skill in stabilizing Sam. Kellie and Alvin find a compact car (aiming for good gas mileage to reduce stops) and Alvin, using the "look for the suction cup mark" requisitions a GPS from another vehicle. Using the GPS, they head for the nearest hospital, which is in Ravena, in the hope of finding the skills or supplies to help Sam.

They arrive at the hospital and Jesse and Kellie head in to investigate. A doctor comes out of hiding when he realizes that neither Jesse nor Kellie are werewolves. He is glad to see friendly faces (or at least faces without fur and fangs.) Suddenly, all four of the travelers feel their heads begin to swim. Jesse reacts suddenly, yelling at Kellie to remember him and to come get him in Indiana and something about "silver meadows". With one more scream of "Remember me!", he stabs her with the scalpel.


Robots
March 12th, 2010: Electronics inexplicably fail, communications networks go down. PEREGRINE UAV bombers strike New York City. Chaos and anarchy follow.

Nick, Alvin, Jesse, and Kellie meet in NYC, holed up in the subway tunnels. After a few months of fending off HATCHET robots (tank treads + manipulator arm with 7.62mm rifle) and engineering HERF guns, they hear that survivors are rebuilding in Kitchener, Ontario and decide to head north.

Meanwhile, Mark has holed himself up in a hospital in Ravena, NY. Using his skill with juryrigging and explosives, he sets up a defensive perimeter in one wing of the hospital.

Upon stopping for provisions, Jesse sustains injuries from gunfire. Nick stabilizes him and they rush Jesse to the nearest hospital.


Kellie heads in to the hospital to check for robots. She gets confused momentarily and has to reconvene with Alvin and Nick. Alvin returns to the hospital with Kellie and, after causing a racket, encounter Mark. Once they feel the area is safe, they bring Jesse in and Nick begins to attempt surgery on Jesse... in an ER without power... and no trained help. Jesse doesn't make it.

Mark joins the remaining three as they head off-highway to the northwest, towards Buffalo and, eventually, Kitchener, Ontario. The going is slow and food, water, and fuel are sparse. Driving an old muscle car doesn't help mileage either. At the first stop they make, they acquire a manual fuel pump to extract gasoline from the underground tanks of service stations.

Before they can move on, a helicopter UAV (VMAC) is spotted over the trees. They retreat into the service station as the copter approaches, surveying the area. As it hovers over the station, examining their car, Kellie levels her HERF gun at the UAV. Its circuits fried, the copter lists into a nearby tree, destroying its rotor and sending it into the ground. The sudden change in potential and kinetic energies, as well as rotational momentum, turns the helicopter into a twisted wreckage. Mark pulls a few parts from it that might be useful later.

At their next stop, they pull up to a classic train car diner to find it picked clean. With empty stomachs, they set up shifts for keeping guard. During his shift, Alvin meets up with a friendly local named Jeff. Jeff is with a group of survivors who recommends that they pass on through and gives some tips for living through the night. The next morning, Alvin relates what he learned from Jeff and the four resume their journey.

As the needle approaches empty yet again, their search for fuel brings them to a bombed service station. The burnt husk of a Crown Vic plates lies overturned near the pumps, its government plates framed by soot. While Nick, Alvin, and Mark survey the area outside and get to work refueling, Kellie heads inside in search of food.

She nearly passes over a body to collect snack cakes and batteries for the HERF gun. The body is of a male, about 40-years old, who has suffered injuries from massive concussive force and flying glass. Kellie finds a satchel of notebooks and brings it back to the car.

They get back on the road with Alvin at the wheel as Nick, Mark, and Kellie begin reading through the notebooks, journals, and other books.


Robots 2
March 12th, 2010: Electronics inexplicably fail, communications networks go down. PEREGRINE UAV bombers strike New York City. Chaos and anarchy follow.

Nick, Alvin, Sam, and Kellie meet in NYC, holed up in the subway tunnels. After a few months of fending off HATCHET robots (tank treads + manipulator arm with 7.62mm rifle) and engineering HERF guns, they hear that survivors are rebuilding in Kitchener, Ontario and decide to head north.

Meanwhile, Mark has holed himself up in a hospital in Ravena, NY. Using his skill with juryrigging and explosives, he sets up a defensive perimeter in one wing of the hospital.

Upon stopping for provisions, Sam sustains injuries from gunfire. Nick stabilizes him and they rush Sam to the nearest hospital.

Kellie and Nick head into the hospital to check for robots and encounter Mark. Once they feel the area is safe, they bring Sam in and Nick begins surgery on Sam... in an ER without power... and no trained help. Nick manages to stitch Sam up.

Mark joins them as they head off-highway to the northwest, towards Buffalo and, eventually, Kitchener, Ontario. The going is slow and food, water, and fuel are sparse. Driving an old muscle car doesn't help mileage either. At the first stop they make, they acquire a manual fuel pump and manage to fend off a VMAC helicopter.

After meeting up with a group of survivors, they find a burnt-out service station, a car wreck, and a corpse with a collection of notebooks.


Sylvia awakens amongst building wreckage with little recollection of the past few months and walks into the street to get a better view of the surrounding.

Alvin finds the road suddenly occupied by a woman and, despite the dry conditions, sends the car into a skid, then into a furniture store, while avoiding a collision with her.

The crew piles out of the car to check out the situation. Sylvia is brought up to speed on the robot situation. Incredulous, Sylvia turns on her cell phone. It starts up and is unable to find a signal. With some yelling from Kellie and gun-pointing from Sam, Sylvia is convinced to turn off the phone. They pile into the car and begin to depart the scene of the transmission.

Time seems to slow as the PEREGRINE jet passes 30 meters overhead in a blur. The sonic boom rattles windows and teeth and is soon followed by an explosive shockwave, sending the car up on its nose. The vehicle slides on its passenger-side front bumper for an indeterminate distance before falling onto its right hand side and completing a roll. Alvin stomps on the accelerator then realizes that the windshield is almost opaque from cracks. While attempting to kick the windshield out and drive, Alvin sends the car into the ditch, sustaining mild joint injuries. Nick springs into action, removing the broken windshield and displacing Alvin at the wheel.

They switch vehicles as soon as possible, taking a Chevy Suburban from a car dealer, and press on to Kitchener. About 100 km from the city, they are flagged down by an odd fellow hiding in the trees. He directs them to leave their vehicle and walk to town to prevent the robots from spotting the town. He provides them with a few iodine tablets so that they can make the 5 day hike to Kitchener.

Just outside Kitchener, they are directed to a drain pipe by yet another guide and into Kitchener II. In Kitchener, they meet their leader, Karl, and their head of security, Alan. Karl seems friendly enough and Alan takes a keen interest in the newcomers.

It turns out Alan was in the Army and worked as a liaison with DARPA. He knows about SILVER MEADOWS a.k.a. Round Mountain Research Facility, Nevada, and some of the projects there. He tells them about C.A.I.N.N., an AI that came online right before the bombing started. Alan wants to get into SILVER MEADOWS and shut down C.A.I.N.N.


Remember, if your character was not introduced to a timeline, they won't remember it.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Session 4 - Trif's Alternity - Kellie

We're still driving, of course, but for some reason everything is different again. Sam is there, bleeding out, we're driving a huge van instead and I remember snakes again, not robots. And we pull into the hospital again, the same damn hospital we left a day or two ago.

We've got a surgeon this time, though, and he gets to work on Sam right away. There's even more people there, Malcolm, Sylvia and Pete. I don't even really try to explain the shifts, it doesn't seem worth it any more. At least Tequila and Nick seem to know what's going on this time. We're not there a half hour when one of them, Malcolm, manages to run afoul of a frigging snake head. I take that one out with a gory head shot. Malcolm sure is a noisy sonofabitch.

I wander around looking for the generator, but no such luck. I do find a fucking huge vat of snakes though. Jesus Christ, Mal, Sylvia and Pete knew about them and just left them there. I rally the troops, or at least Nick, Sam, Mark and Sylvia, and we head back to try to take care of the snakes.

There's six more snakeheads in the tank room now and there's a fight on. Mark manages to take down three, Tequila kills one and we manage to knock out the other two. After the fight is almost won, Pete finally graces us with his presence; he pours out a tank of gasoline into the tub of snakes and lights it. The stench of 'snake barbecue' is disgusting.

The snakes are squirming on the ground and I stomp one. Tequila tries to remove one of the snakes from a living host only to tear out his throat. I think I throw up on the inside of my mouth.

I think it's funny that I find myself really missing werewolves and robots.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Session 4 - Triften's Alternity game - The Knot

Warmth is good. Family is good. We are growing. Water is good. All, ensure our safety.

HOME SAFE.
Good. Find food, keep your shells safe.

DANGER. DANGER. WE SEE.
Wait for them. Their herd will spread. Take them when they are alone.

WAITING.
Good.

Light! Away, cattle!
Follow it. Take it.
YES. FOLLOWING.

ONE IS ALONE.
Strike now. Take the shell.
SHELL NOISY.
Strike it harder. Strike the head. Use your feet.
MORE HERE.
Escape if possible. If not, kill.
INJURED.
Take one and... what sadness. Protect us. Return here. Wait here.
We are strong, all are one.

Yes! We are more. Attack! Take them! Wield weapons, disrupt their flesh!
FIRE! KILL THEM! Stop the fire!
We are burning! Fire! The heat kills!
We...
DAMAGED. CAN'T HELP.
We need safety.
We run.
Run!
Hide!
Darkness safe.
Safe darkness.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Session 3 - Triften's Alternity game - The Journal

March 19, 2010

My name is Erik McCollough. Until recently, I worked in security at the Silver Meadows research facility. At approximately 1400 hours on March 12, the facility went into lockdown. The procedure didn't work properly. Communications were down and many areas lost power. The internal security systems seemed to malfunction trapping most of us in the facility. I managed to escape with 3 others, 2 researchers (Gayle Iseman, Louis Dean) and 1 soldier (Douglas Calavet, USA). Soon after emerging in the surrounding countryside, an explosion struck our group. I was uncounscious for sometime and came to to find the others had been killed by the blast. As I lay on the ground, I heard other explosions nearby followed immediately by what sounded like sonic booms. I made my way to the exerior parking lot, procured a vehicle, and escaped the facility by driving through the exterior fence. I followed my initial impulse to drive east, towards less populated areas.

The roads seemed to be empty. After almost 4 hours, I had to stop for gas. The service station was dark, no power. When I pulled up, a mob of people rushed towards my car. As I rolled down the window to ask what was wrong, they began to reach into my car. I put the car in reverse, drove around the mob, and returned to the highway. I was able to make it to the next service station. Instead of a mob of people, there were burned-out, overturned tractor trailers. I was able to refill the car by siphoning fuel from the few surviving cars. The facilities had been bombed, no survivors found.

I set up camp off the highway and spent a few days there. I saw no other vehicles on the highway and no planes overhead. Today I've decided to head east.

March 22, 2010

My head's a bit clearer today. I'm giving myself some time to write so this doesn't end up being a basic travel log. I'm sorry I can't commit too much to these pages due to possible classification issues. Even though the world seems to have fallen apart, I can't throw everything away just yet.

The work at Silver Meadows consisted of a lot of robotics work, UAVs, AUVs, and some other computer research of some sort. We seemed to have hired a lot of computer scientists, physicists, and electrical engineers. I'm pretty sure that our research is directly related to what happened earlier and is still happening now.

Hopefully, others have made it out of Silver Meadows. There's little in the way of coomunications in or out, so escapees would, unfortunately, be the best method of getting more information out of SM. I've got Gayle's, Louis' and Doug's ident cards with me. I don't know their PINs, but I hope the cards might be useful later, if only to ID those lost.

Later entries will be only dates to chronicle the passage of time.

April 2, 2010

Nephi, Utah

Going has been slow. I've wasted a lot of time gathering resources, searching for food and fuel. I tried to get on Interstate 15, but the on-ramp had been damaged. I proceeded on foot to find that the roadway had been broken up and explosives set off across the road. It doesn't look like aerial bombing did that, but I have little training in explosives.

April 13, 2010

Trenton, Missouri

This area looks inhabited. Maybe I'll find some people friendlier than that group at the service station.

April 14, 2010

Trenton, Missouri
The group of survivors is led by a man named Jake. He claims that they have no leader but when he speaks, everyone listens. If I were looking for a safe haven this might be it, as long as I was on Jake's good side. I think he may have a criminal record, so I'm going to move on before they decide that I'm worth more to them dead than alive. I may just be paranoid, but a little paranoid may be in order these days.

April 17, 2010

Spotted another vehicle on the road. 1980s honda, travelling at about 90 mph. I assumed they were running from something and pulled off the road and under cover. I saw a small helicopter UAV pass by, followed by the twin explosions of ordinance and sonic boom. I'll need to keep my eyes peeled for UAVs.

May 3rd, 2010

Travel has been even slower this past month. More roads seem to be broken, blown up, or barricaded. While driving through Pennsylvania, I was preparing to swerve around debris on the roadway, when the objects in the road turned out to be two Hatchet model bots armed with 50 caliber machine guns. They opened fire and I was able to turn down a side road and leave them behind. I drove as far as I could on a flat tire before switching to the spare and searching the area for a replacement. I should probably lay low for a few days in case whoever was controlling those Hatchets comes looking for me. They'll probably send a UAV my way.

May 12, 2010

Otselic, New York

Met up with group of survivors, or, more accurately, with their representative named Jeff. He was diplomatic and offered a place to stay but I got the impression that he/they didn't want me around. The government plates didn't help either. Plus, there's an aura a fed picks up that's hard to drop, especially in dangerous times like these.

They have a lot of rules for survival, ranging from safe paths to walk to safe vehicles to operate. I may have lucked out on the Crown Vic I took from the SM parking lot, it lands in a production window of high quality electrical system (less radio noise) and not being fully wired like the latest models. The big emissions push 8 years ago swept most old cars off the roads and the newer ones came with an assortment of remote and wireless capabilities. Not a single example of these vehicles has been found to work lately, and, they claim that trying to start one of these has gotten more than one person killed by the bombers.

I don't think I can stay with these people. I can't bring myself to be that passive. Granted, they are trying to survive, but they don't seem to have any plans beyond that. I've heard stories from people about a settlement in Kitchener, Canada. The stories are that it is rather large. Every story differs a bit so I have no idea what to expect. I wouldn't be surprised to find a smoking crater there, but that's where I'm headed now.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Session 3 - Trif's Alternity - Kellie

I think I've said it before, but it bears repeating, I love my guns. What I don't love is robots.

I'm also beginning to think I need to just roll with whatever sanity I have. The last thing I remember of the werewolves is getting my arm stabbed by Jessie and him sort of melting away. After that, I'm stumbling over my own two feet, at the entrance to the emergency room, lights off, flashlight in hand. Jessie's not there, the doc's not there and suddenly I have no idea why I'm there.

I go back out to the car, which is not the car I remember, and instead of Sam laid out in the back with a sucking chest wound, it's Jessie. There's actually no Sam at all and the driver is some guy I've never even met before named Nick. Tequila is there, though, and he is under the impression I was sweeping the hospital for robots.

All I can think is that Jessie said that guns don't work on robots and I'm suddenly very scared that it's not werewolves any more. The silver lining is a High Energy Radio Frequency (HERF) gun that I apparently cooked up in this reality. It's supposed to be good verse robots. Thank god I'm not a horrible idiot here. Everyone thinks I'm crazy though. Jessie didn't, I asked, even with the chest wound, he remembers werewolves.

We couldn't find a doctor, just some police bomb tech named Mark. The new-old guy, Nick, is a EMT so he does his best on Jessie.

It's not good enough.

I can't really say how I feel about that; I suppose the word is numb. I don't remember losing anyone but him. We supposedly lost a lot of people while I was in some NYC underground, but I don't remember them. Just before he dies, Jessie apologizes for stabbing me, and I realize my arm doesn't even hurt any more.

I ask Tequila about it afterwards. Everyone in the underground though Jessie was crazy, and Tequila's not even sure I'm not crazy. I keep talking and talking, about the gas station, about the werewolves, about the crazy army guy who got mauled instead of Jessie. Somehow I eventually jog his memory, and Nick's a little, I think. I don't remember Mark before this so I'm not sure there is anything there to jog. What is it about us that makes us keep our memories? Is it Jessie? Will that stop now that he's dead? Will I see him again if we shift again? I hope we shift again, that way I can tell him I understand. I hope I'll remember.

It seemed so easy for Jessie to remember all the places he'd been. I'm not sure if I pity him or envy him. It's only three realities in and I'm not sure I can keep keeping them straight. I can't even remember this world about robots until hours in, when I'm staring at my HERF and I can't remember making it and I can't remember if it works or anything. I'm starting to think I'm just completely crazy, but eventually it starts to fuzz into place.

I can say with absolute certainty that it works at at least 30 meters, and we now have parts of a blown up robot. We'd were tracked down by a helicopter robot, and I get to do my first field test of the thing that I can remember. It was actually pretty cool, nerd science at work. I'm glad I printed out these plans off the internet before all the electronics went dark.

The 'here' memories and the 'there' memories are starting to integrate into my mind. I worry about storage space, though. In my mind, I have that box labeled 'snakes', the one for 'werewolves' and now I also have the one for 'robots'. I'm worried I'm going to run out of room.

We gas up and drive and gas up and drive and then when it starts to get dark we pull over and get ready to sleep. We end up stopping in what is apparently Otselic, NY and sleep in a little diner. There's no gas to be had, the station has been pumped dry, there's no food in the diner, nothing. It's clear there were people left living here and they've long since picked the resources clean, but we crash for the night.

When my watch is on, I find out we had a late night visitor, named Jeff. Apparently, he's been holed up in the area. He warned us off of smoking or sleeping in view of the windows, that sort of thing. Stupid stuff we probably should have figured out for ourselves.

The next morning, I'm happy to leave the survivalists behind. At least we're doing something, heading to Canada isn't much, but it's something. They were just bunkering down and waiting for someone else to do something about it. It's not like the robots or the werewolves will stop themselves. Also, I have to remember, something about our car might attract robots. Jeff apparently said something about the alternator being noticeable to them. I'll figure it out, I just hope I keep remembering it.

We stop for gas when we're almost out but the station seems to have been bombed out. There's a government car and a lot of exploded stuff. I'm on 'ransack the quick mart' duty for food, beverage and --- corpse. The corpse was some government man, I assume he went with the government car. I'm not a medic but I'm pretty sure he died of glass and concussive force. He had with him a gun, which I took --- you can never have too many guns, and several notebooks.

Fueled up and on the road I cracked open one of them and started to read. I'm not sure what everyone else might have had to read, but my notebook had technical specifications for something pretty high level, a computer or robot thing. I'm pretty sure I didn't get it right away, probably on account of picking it off a dead body, but I promised myself I'll take a better look at it next time my head is clearer.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Session 2 - Trif's Alternity - Kellie

My chosen hobby has a lot of room for crazy, nut job, kool-aid drinkers who think the government is out to get them and the only way to deal is to embrace the second amendment like some favorite lover, but damn am I glad for them today.

Having my apartment overrun with werewolves, who may also have been snake people and maybe, at another point, robots, sure makes a girl love her guns.

Riding down the highway, listening to NPR soft jazz and end of the world rhythms also tends to put someone into a bit of a mood. It gave me a lot of time to think about the three werewolf-snakemen and then two more werewolves and god this whole thing has got my brain turned inside out.

Jessie isn't really helping. But I still can't tell if he's crazy, I'm crazy or we're both just crazy together. But temporarily safe, doing seventy-five miles per hour on our way to Canada on the lark of a probably-crazy kid makes me think maybe I've drunk that crazy-kool-aid too.

I killed four creatures today. One was definitely a werewolf, took his jaw clean off with a very nice shot, if i do say so myself, which I do, from a moving vehicle. The other three, well I can't even be sure now, I remember snakes and I remember werewolves and I *don't* remember snake-werewolves so it probably wasn't something in between.

I'd never shot something before today, well something that was alive before I shot it. Punching a few holes through a little piece of paper at 200m is one thing, taking some crazy werewolf's face off is something really different, I can't even begin to sort it out.

I'm just lucky I brought a gun to a werewolf fight.

And now my arm hurts, not from snakes or werewolves but from Jessie who's screaming for me to remember him. The kid's probably given me a scar to prove it, and I keep thinking, are mom and dad alright is James alright down in DC and did Bob from the gun range make it out of the city.

And goddamn I'm hungry. I could really go for some beef chow mein.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Session 2 - Triften's Alternity game

I don't know how many times I've written this down. Everything seems to blur together. Also, the dates are all wrong, so I'll just say "Day 1".

Day 1:
I'm in New York City. Not the lab. I guess Rithers isn't a total dick here and he helped me escape. I'm also not drugged. I think I'd been out for close to a month, everything is so much clearer, even the headaches. Clear icepicks instead of blurry bricks.

Here, it's these werewolf things. I think I like them over the robots.

I got out of the city with some Army guy and this gun-nut woman. They could be dating, I don't know. It's hard to have normal conversations when shit like this happens. Anyway, we picked up some Chinese guy who's heavily armed and says he's a grad student. Yeah, right. Lamest cover story I've ever heard.

The most important part is that they remember the worms. Almost everyone I've met doesn't remember. That's why they think I'm crazy. That's one reason I got locked away. I guess screaming about robots or mutants doesn't go well with fitting in. Well, they remembered... eventually, and that's what matters.

I remembered, too. I remembered Kitchener so we're heading north. I hope there's people there this time. I hope they make it... and I hope they remember me.

P.S. You assholes can add this to my file and up my meds. I don't give a shit, I'll be out of here soon enough, if I don't starve first.

Session 1 - Triften's Alternity game

POLICE WIRETAP 2010-00043511
APPROVED BY NEW YORK COURT
RECORD NUMBER 09-00876621-6
(917) 635-XXXX

FRIDAY, APRIL 16 - 17:16
XU FEI: THE MATTER IS TAKEN CARE OF.

UNKNOWN: YOU'VE SENT... "YEE" OR WHATEVER HE'S CALLING HIMSELF THESE DAYS?

XF: OF COURSE. FEW WORK FOR SO LITTLE. HE DOES IT FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF IT... AND HE'S IN NO POSITION TO DEMAND MORE.

UNKNOWN: WE ARE GLAD THIS MATTER WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF.

XF: YES. YES, WE ARE.

END OF CALL
FRIDAY, APRIL 16 - 17:17

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

E911 CALL LOGS - NYC DISTRICT 2
OPERATOR 0744
EXCERPTS FROM MONDAY APRIL 19 2010

15:03
OPERATOR: 911, WHAT IS THE NATURE OF YOUR EMERGENCY?

WOMAN: MY SON WON'T WAKE UP... HE'S- HE'S BEEN IN HIS ROOM FOR A WHILE...

OPERATOR: HOW LONG HAS HE BEEN UNCONSCIOUS?

WOMAN: UM... I DON'T KNOW. I- HE WENT IN HIS ROOM ON FRIDAY AND I DIDN'T SEE HIM AFTER THAT. I WENT TO CHECK ON HIM THIS MORNING BECAUSE HIS WORK CALLED AND HE WON'T WAKE UP.

OPERATOR: WHAT IS YOUR ADDRESS?

WOMAN: (DELETED)

OPERATOR: MA'AM, WE'RE SENDING AN AMBULANCE OVER. PLEASE STAY ON THE LINE UNTIL THE AMBULANCE ARRIVES. MAKE SURE YOUR SON IS STILL BREATHING.

[EDITED]

WOMAN: THE AMBULANCE IS PULLING UP NOW.

OPERATOR: OKAY, MA'AM, I'VE GOTTEN WORD FROM THE E.M.T.S SO I'M GOING TO RELEASE THE LINE.

WOMAN: THANK YOU.

[ON HOOK]

15:27
[RECORDER ACTIVATED - NO INCOMING CALL]
OPERATOR: I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, FRANK.

OPERATOR: STAY AWAY FROM ME, FRANK.

OPERATOR: DEAR GOD.

(SOUNDS OF STRUGGLE, GUNSHOT)

OPERATOR: I'M SORRY, FRANK... I'M SO SOR-

(SCREAMS, MORE GUNSHOTS)

OPERATOR: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Prologue - Triften's Alternity game


...................................
DATE: 6 JANUARY 2010 - 0317
SOURCE: [WITHHELD - OMEGA INDIGO]
PROJECT: H1-433 - RECEIPT OF ARTICLES
X-REF: OMICRON ORNAMENT, GREEN GROTTO
LOC: SILVER-MEADOWS

***BEGIN MANIFEST***
ARTICLE 1 OF 1:
DIMENSIONS: 324MM X 96MM X 96MM
WEIGHT: 6.4KG
(ESTIMATED BREAKDOWN)
CONTAINER: 3KG
FLUID: 1.2KG
SPECIMEN: 2.2KG
DESCRIPTION: CLEAR TUBE WITH METAL CAPS
ON EITHER END. CAPS ARE WATER AND
AIR-TIGHT. TUBE CONTAINS WATER-BASED
SOLUTION AND SPECIMEN. SPECTROMETRY
REPORTS VARIOUS CARBON AND SILICON
BASED COMPOUNDS ARE PRESENT IN
SOLUTION. SPECIMEN RESEMBLES BLACK
EARTHWORM APPROX. 1M LONG AND 3CM IN
DIA. SPECIMEN IS PRODUCING NO IR.
HANDLING: LEVEL 4 BIOHAZARD, TOXIC
DISPOSAL: PLASMA REACTOR
***END MANIFEST***

...................................
DATE: 12 MARCH 2010 - 1405
SOURCE: AUDIO 76B
XREF: VIDEO 76B1400; AUDIO 76A, 76C, 76D;
PROJECT H1-433
LOC: SILVER-MEADOWS

***BEGIN TRANSCRIPT***

PAUL SHEPHERD: TODAY'S THE DAY WE GET TO
CUT THIS THING OPEN.

ROBERT SWANSON: COOL. THIS'LL BE
AWESOME.

(METALLIC SCRAPING - LIKELY OPENING OF
SAMPLE CONTAINER)

PS: TONGS?

RS: TONGS.

RS: I'LL GET SOME TRAYS.

RS: ARE YOU OKAY?

(NOTE: VIDEO SHOWS PS MOTIONLESS WHILE
RS GETS EQUIPMENT.)

PS: YEAH... I- (SCREAMING) OH MY GOD!
GET IT OFF!

RS: SWEET JESUS!

(SOUNDS OF FURNITURE OVERTURNING)

BENITO TORES: CODE MAGENTA IN LAB 76.
REPEAT, CODE MAGENTA IN LAB 76.

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

(SCREAMING)

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

BT: BOB, WAIT. WE HAVE TO HELP PAUL.

RS: OKAY... OKAY...

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

(DOOR OPENS)

BT: BASTARD... DAMMIT.

(SOUNDS OF STRUGGLE)

(WEAPONS FIRE)

***END OF TRANSCRIPT***