Session started at 6:52 pm on 2/17/06
Attending players: James, Eva, John, Jon F., Alex, Andy R., Alan D., Nate, Joey, Mike (It is possible that I missed someone here, if so, please tell me)
Presiding GM: Curtis
(I am sorry if I am not always clear about what everyone is doing. Two full parties is an awful lot to describe at once.)
Major NPC's: Hoenir, Alfadir, Merlin Huntington, Harry Bryant/the terrorist, a whole lot of hostage statues
It is the second of the month and knowing that we will have to face Bryant to recover the crown, we are trying to figure out how we can best subdue him without great danger to ourselves.
While we are discussing what we can do to protect ourselves from Bryant's nanites, Z chimes in with the strange clarity he sometimes exhibits, "no power without the source, destroy the Occultem Lapedim". The doctor says the phrase occultem lapedim has something to do with the a "philosopher's stone", which is some sort of powerful mystical alchemical component of human legend. It is said the stone could grant eternal life or turn lead into gold. Sounds like crock of shit to me, but perhaps it is a timeless magic like the crown and the other artifacts. The runes on Max and on the man from Max's vision are related to the stone and apparently stand for the chemicals: mercury, sulfur, and salt.
(While researching, Vadril notices that parts of the Royal electronic libraries are inaccessible. He contacts the systems administrator, and they discover that Vadril is personally being blocked from large sections of the library.)
The doctor is apparently having some trouble accessing the records he wants to look at in the Royals libraries. I can not access any of the libraries, so I do not think that I can help much.
(While reversing the hacking, Vadril discovers which Royal it is who has blocked him out of parts of the libraries. He hacks into the offender's system to figure out how to get access again, but is unable to make headway.)
The doctor says that someone, named Hoenir, has interfered with his research, and that there is a specific academic paper that might be the reason. It is called "New Techniques for Using General Purpose Nanites to Duplicate Life". Also Hoenir and McClean are its authors. Yea, that sounds relevant to me. I wonder what Hoenir is trying to hide from us.
While the doctor is poking around Z begins a conversation about souls. I am not sure that souls matter as much as he seems to think. If a thing can walk and think, can feel and bleed, why would it matter what it has inside? I mean something like DEE might not have a soul, but it is still alive.
(Vadril discovers that Hoenir's, current research is studying ramifications of certain variants of Forterol on mystics. Forterol is a drug that messes with the powerfulness of mystic effects. More information about it can be found in the technology section of the Deus wiki.)
The doctor says that he's going to visit Hoenir to try to find out what is going on. He asks Z and I to come with him.
Z's sense of humor is very strange.
(Retcon, because we remembered that we had stuff: Ivan's id card, which Max gave to Matt, dissolved into goo shortly after Max died, but we have a sample of it! Woo!)
We head over to where the doctor says that Hoenir currently is. When we are almost there, the doctor says that Hoenir is trying to escape and we hurry to try to catch up with him. The ceilings are high enough here, so I take off and follow after Henier. Watching my computer for the map the doctor has given me is difficult while I am flying, but I manage not to hit any walls. I catch Hoenir fairly easily and land in front of him blocking the direction he was running away.
He seems resigned when I tell him that we wish to speak with him. He accepts that he will have to talk to us and he sits down on the floor and sinks into deep meditation while I wait for the doctor and Z to catch up.
When the doctor asks him about the paper, Hoenir says that it was written about 4 years ago. He claims that the paper has been classified and he will not produce it for us. We manage to browbeat Hoenir to consider cooperating with us, but he will not go against the royal edict that forbids sharing knowledge of this research. The doctor had already requested an audience with the King of the Royals, Alfadir. We will meet with him in two days time and try to get the edict lifted. Hopefully he is a reasonable individual.
In the mean time the doctor wants to figure out how the nanites and the white stuff are interacting. The question of how the crown and the nanites will interact has also come up, but since we only had the artifact for such a short time, none of us know much about it. I am a little worried that if we destroy the occultem lapidem the crown may not separate from Bryant when he possibly dies, but rather be lost. The alternative of convincing him to give it up peacefully seems unlikely at best.
In our audience we tell the King about the current situation and our need for information, to protect ourselves and others from Bryant. We manage to convince the King that we need the information and that the Caretaker's plan is probably at stake. He claims that all the notes and copies of the paper were destroyed after Mercury. This seems like a really stupid tactic to me. Having created such a horrible weapon, I would have wanted to use my knowledge to make some defenses against it. Anyway, the King orders Hoenir to tell us about the research they did leading up to the paper. The doctor further asks for physical resources to try to work on solving this problem, but it looks like we are mostly on our own for that part.
Talking to Hoenir we manage to learn a lot about the course of their research, up until the Mercury incident. Apparently Bryant created the Occultim Lapidim, the three runes he had in Max's vision, on his own. I am not very clear on how much actual science was involved here, as opposed to Bryant just going off and performing a miracle. If it was as miraculous as I am guessing, I can not believe the Royal scientists were stupid enough not to pry. Hoenir thinks that the best way to protect ourselves from the nanites is to destroy the Occultim Lapidim, as Z said. He thinks that destruction magic or energy weapons would be able to do damage to the glyphs. He also suggests that we could use personal force fields or kinetics magic to keep the nanites from touching us. Once they do touch us, we are probably doomed though. Considering that Max did not manage to consume us all, I think there is a chance that we could resist the nanites, but I do not think I want to take that chance.
With Hoenir's help we spend some more time trying to research the crown and the Occultim Lapidim; how they might interact, and how the nanites and white stuff work together. The doctor seems to think that the nanites and the white stuff have become integrated in a strange and disturbing way. If Max was absorbed by Bryant than Bryant may be infected with the white stuff as well. In other news, I do not much like being a lab technician. Though the work is interesting, human glassware is very fragile.
We purchase personal force fields for each of the members of our group, as well as Nikolai so that we will be at least a little safer when we confront Bryant. (Unfortunately I failed to get Nikolai's shield to him before we confronted Bryant, causing some issues.)
It is the 12th and a major news report hits the net that a man has taken the mystic port on Lupus hostage and is killing hostages, demanding that Merlin Huntington "pay for his crimes". The man claims that he will kill 20 hostages an hour until Merlin shows himself. The reports suggest he has about 200 hostages and made short work of the assault team that was sent into the mystic port after him. It is probably Bryant, though the man looks different. I do not see who else it could be. I wonder what he wants with Merlin.
Matt still has Merlin's card, so I try to email him to offer our help. I am not sure how fast the email will reach him. I try to question my computer about it, but the damn thing is evasive about what it is actually doing with the email. I will have to try to drag more answers out of it when things are less urgent.
Suddenly, I receive an email from a Ned Solomon who claims to want to resolve the situation on Lupus and wants our help. I remember Nikolai mentioning a Ned as a turning point attraction for the crown. Apparently the others have similar emails from this Ned person.
I collect the rest of my comrades together and we decide that we should at least meet Ned and give him a chance to tell us what what he has to say.
When we reach the place mentioned in the email, two men are there waiting for us. One introduces himself as Ned and the other as Vittorio. Vittorio reminds me of my mother; he has that predatory air about him. Ned greets us all by name. He is a bit creepy.
Ned tells us that he and some others want to try to resolve the hostage situation and get the crown back. They are sort of claiming to be agents of the Caretaker. I think they are the same people who subdued Kane. When we begin talking with all of them over the computer network, I recognize Nikolai among the faces and voices. It is the same illusion that he wore after we first met him. I am not sure if he will know us, since this Nikolai is of a different time than the one we met, I think.
The others are generally loud and unorganized. They seem individually smart, but lack cohesion or resolve. I am not sure that I trust them all, but the Nikolai I know has made a good impression on me, and I doubt in their state of incoherence his friends could hide their intentions from us.
Once we agree to help them, one of them, a young woman, appears through a portal near us. She is playing a flute. When she stops playing the portal collapses closed again. She mentions that we are all going to go out to DEE where the rest of them are in order to get to Lupus somehow. It is nice to know that DEE is in one piece after that disastrous jump.
I should note that all of these people seem to know Z somehow. Vittorio greeted him by name when we first met and said that he looked particularly healthy. I think perhaps Z must have been with them before the accident threw him onto the other world with us. Unfortunately, I do not have any time to question them about their past travels, given the current crisis.
The young woman is named Ariona. She offers to transport us back to DEE in order to then reach Lupus, and we all agree. Things are moving faster than I am comfortable with. I hope that this all does not lead to some sort of trap.
Ariona takes up her flute again and as she plays another portal opens. I pass through it, but only after Vittorio and Ned have already stepped through. I find myself on DEE again, though things look a bit different. I do not have time to pin down why. Ariona looks a bit different. I could swear her ears are more pointed now.
Someone comments that we are going to have a hard time finding the occultem lapedem, since Bryant has coated a bunch of people in nanites. Z very clearly says that no matter how they are disguised the symbols will be on the hands and forhead, then he passes out. I am not sure what this means for when Bryant is a puddle, but at least when he reforms we will have a chance to hit them.
Apparently one of the bunch, called Brice, I think, is able to instantaneously see video feeds on other worlds. He shows us what is happening in the mysticport and manages to contact Huntington, who is hiding out in a mystic transport-box somewhere.
Ned is demanding some sword from other Nikolai. Nikolai is reluctant to give it to him. There seems to be some question of whether or not Bryant could absorb this sword and cause even more trouble. Ned promises to keep the sword on DEE and Nikolai finally agrees and goes to get it. He returns carrying a sword, but when he hands it to Ned it becomes a spear. I wonder if this is the legendary spear? That would explain why, like the crown, it can change shape.
Ned considers the spear for a moment then plunges it into his left hand! I do not think that anyone in the room was expecting that. A terrible shattering noise rends the air and green blood splashes from the wound. Ned is shaken and passes out. He must have the third part of the occultem lapedim in his hand, because the feed from the mysticport shows the terrorist fall to his knees and clutch his head in pain at that same second.
I think Ned might have hurt himself worse than he meant to. When Vittorio heals him the symbol becomes visible as a scar on his hand as I had suspected. I am not sure how he can carry it if he is not made of nanites like Max and Bryant, but perhaps McClean carried them as a human before the accident. I do not remember Max ever bleeding, but I am not sure. Now is not the time to confront Ned about what he is.
According to Brice, Huntington is willing to accept our help. Ariona again opens a portal and we travel to the transport-box where Huntington is waiting. Huntington says we have about ten minutes before the General bombs the hell out of the mysticport. Somehow I am unsurprised the lunatic tin can would resort to that. I try to give Huntington a very brief summary of what we know of Bryant's weaknesses and we all rush to portal to the mystic port before the situation collapses.
As we step out of the portal and Matt immediately fires his EMP weapon at the figure of the terrorist. A vague crackling wave rushes through the air and splatters in a sphere around the man; throwing him across the floor. He lands on his back and twitches violently. Matt drops the EMP and draws and fires the negative-energy weapon that Nickolai gave him in one fluid motion. A ball of black energy flies from the gun and smashes into the terrorist. When the ball impacts him it sort of squishes and then pops unleashing a massive blast of energy. I dive backwards away from the blast. I think Nikolai underestimated his guns. Fell off a truck, my ass.
The others appear to have gotten themselves out of the way of the blast as well. When I look back, about a 40 foot diameter sphere of the mysticport, along with the terrorist and the clump of people he was threatening, is simply gone. With a surge of adrenalin I get myself the hell off the ground. I am not sure if the terrorist is still alive, but I keep my eyes open and prepare to attack him with destruction magic if he appears.
The others are pausing trying to assess the situation. Ariona is giving the hostage-statues a glance and the doctor is glancing around nervously.
Ned advances back over to the edge of the crater as I notice that the blast blew through to a lower floor. Crap! The terrorist could have escaped down there! Ned spreads his arms and calls out "Sulfur, Salt, Harry! Here I am!" Wait! It is not Ned anymore, he is Max now! What the hell?!?
I am never going to stop being amazed at how the people around me can screw a simple plan all to hell.
Merlin casts some sort of mystic spell and looks around warily. He glances over at the wolf in alarm. I guess that the thing's anti-magic affect kicked in. Merlin moves away from the wolf and gestures away from us. He says, "It's moving too fast." so he must know where Bryant is, but this does not help us target him any.
Suddenly there is a fiery explosion around Huntington. What the fuck? I did not think that Bryant could cast magic away from himself like that. Either he has gotten a lot more powerful or that was someone else in the group. This is why I hate groups; things get crazy bizarre sometimes.
Nikolai moves over to one of the hostage-statues. He rubs some weird tentacle across the statue's face and it melts away some of the nanite shell. The hostage starts speaking, so at least he is alive. He is afraid and starts yelling for help. Nikolai tries to reassure him and when that does not work he covers the man's mouth to keep him quiet.
Z charges up some sort of electrical effect in the direction that Huntington pointed but the effect fizzles in the air. Z is very still and I can make out his fists shaking in frustration or rage. He opens his mouth and breaths fire at the hostage-statues. The flames lick around the statues but do not appear to do much damage.
A statue just past the arc that Huntington was pointing to shifts and launches itself at Huntington in a torrent of nanites. I mange to strike it with a destruction effect and seem to have made a dent in the volume of the attack, though it is still speeding towards him. Huntington smirks and vanishes. The nanites overshoot Huntington's position and puddle, forming into the terrorist again. His eyes are glowing with a red fire. He looks over at Max and yells, "This is all your fault Cohen!"
As the terrorist reforms, the doctor moves with remarkable speed and launches a destruction effect at him. The fire-eyed man seems affected by the magic but not as badly as with my spell.
Vittorio growls a yell and charges the terrorist, stabbing him with a semi-etherial blade. The terrorist's form quivers and a whole layer of his substance sloughs off onto the ground and does not move. The terrorist staggers back a bit.
Suddenly a whole flock of benches are flying across the mysticport at and crashing onto the terrorist. It is a good thing that Vittorio is ghostly and will not be hurt by flying objects...
To add further to the insanity, Matt pulls a gavidic grenade from his vest and tosses it at the terrorist's feet. The grenade explodes in a small blast and a wave of gravity yanks me a foot or so closer in the air. The form of the terrorist nimbly splashes out of the way of most of the blast.
Z seems to be incensed by the terrorist's constant evasion of our magic attacks. He gestures at the terrorist and lighting shoots out of his fingers, striking right on the terrorist's forehead. The same terrible noise we heard when Ned stabbed his hand rends the air and the salt symbol glows briefly on the terrorist's forehead before it explodes violently, destroying his head. One down!
Ariona rushes towards the terrorist and yells, "Bryant, get the crown off your head! This is not what the Caretaker wishes!" I am not sure what the hell she is thinking getting so close to him without a shield. (She is dumping a level 15 warded effect into Bryant's will save.)
The chest of the figure ripples and forms a mouth. "Consume," it growls and the figure explodes into nanites everywhere! The echos shake me, and Nikolai vanishes before the goo can reach him. The halfling and Vittorio dive down through the floor, though I am not sure how the halfling managed that. The shield keeps the goo away from me but the wolf thing, Ariona, and Max are engulfed.
"You know, on one hand, I am glad that Max is still alive... because now I can bitch slap him."
~ EvaThe goo begins to evaporate but all of the hostages are gone... It looks like they were all consumed. Crap. This is definitely not what I was hoping for. At least it looks like Max, Ariona, and the wolf monster survived, though Max and Ariona have passed out.
"Worst rescue ever."
~ MikeInstead of dissipating, the echos are converging into a swirl of blackness that dives down through the floor twards the halfling. A horrible screeching wells up from under the floor. (Eddie is desperately trying to escape the void by fleeing like all hell. Making a mess.) There is a huge cracking sound and a spiral of destruction rips a cylinder deep into the ground under where the halfling dove below the floor.
The doctor and Z both rush over towards a puddle of the remaining goo.
(Bryce grabs a feed from down in the basement where the crown separates out of the goo and clangs to the floor. He shares the feed with the rest of the folks who have internal computers. Bryce appears and moves over to pick up the crown. Huntington appears and looks up at the goo that is dripping down through the ceiling. In a rather dry way he says, "Die you son of a bitch," and much of the goo on the ceiling explodes. A blob of it splashes on the floor near where the crown is. As soon as Bryce touches the crown both he and it vanish.)
I hear a crackling explosion and swoop over to the crater to see what is happening. Huntington is down there slowly destroying what is left of the Bryant-puddle.
Matt teleports away.
Huntington curses. I gather from the comments of others that some of the Bryant-goo managed to teleport away under Ivan's spell. Huntington manages to trace the teleport to Bryant's office on Luna, but by the time we get there he is already long gone.
End of Session