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Old 03-18-2016, 06:34 PM   #71
tshiggins
 
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc View Post
Thanks! I try to have fun with it.



Not much discussion took place prior to the game outside of the forum thread on my end. I think it was the second or third session before I even realized that the setting is drawing heavily on Cabal; we witnessed monsters and a time portal in the first, but no spell-casting that I recall until much later. That said, I did build some of the samples with high IQ partially with the thought in mind that the potential for the party to learn magic could exist.

ETA: Upon a quick re-skim, tshiggins nearly explicitly indicates this in reply #30.
Yeah, I didn't want to give away too much, so I didn't go into the exact direction of the campaign -- although, a reasonable analysis of the influences I listed meant it wouldn't have been too tough to figure out.

I intentionally left out references to specific GURPS books, though. For one thing, I never do anything straight -- I always mix and mash and twist and alter. While G: Cabal is the GURPS book I use, the most, Voodoo: The Shadow War is pretty key, as well, and I draw bits and parts from other stuff, too -- in addition to the television and book series references I did list, in detail.
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Old 03-26-2016, 12:54 PM   #72
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

We managed to get in another session of Facets, this past weekend. It was a lot less harrowing, than last time, but we laid some foundations for future events. I also got sent home early, from work, during Wednesday's howling blizzard, so I managed to get this written up.

Characters Present:


Trooper Frank Moses -- A former Marine currently working as a trooper with the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP), based out of the Section 13 office in Moab, under Lt. Lee Exeter. Moses works with 4CSAR as needed, and has an interest in Doc Bascher. -- Played by Mike H.

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Randy "Random" Shoop -- a twenty-something, semi-pro mountain-bike competitor who has trouble staying focused, but is basically a good and reliable member of the team, with an unexpectedly strong moral character -- Played by Gold & Appel, Inc.

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet. -- played by Samantha H.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. Considers himself responsible for Sunmi Jones, who is enough of a science-geek that the two of them can actually hold a conversation. -- Played by Anten S.

Sunmi Jones -- A Korean-American prodigy and student of chemistry at Utah Valley University, who spent most of her childhood with her deceased mother's family in Korea, but has come to Utah to attend college and work with her father's petroleum exploration firm. Somewhat moe, awkward-but-cute, glasses-wearing nerd girl, who only volunteers with 4CSAR because volunteer work is required for her degree. -- Played by Rebecca W, who was absent, this time.

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. A cynic about men, and accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign spirit) -- played by Bernetta W.

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P.

Jimmy "Blusher" Ehrland – A fugitive from the 1918 Colonia de Nova España, on the other side of the portal, he had fled from his vampire mistress, only to find himself in a strange, alien world to which he must struggle to adapt. – Played by new player, Kyle H.

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

Hops About: A nunnupi (one of the "Little People" from Comanche folklore) who frequently takes the form of a quadruple-sized magpie. The party has determined that she is a faerie, and as such is mischievous, rather random, inhuman and appallingly dangerous. Likes ants, ham sandwiches and Looney Tunes.

Twirls Thrice: Another nunnupi, and the sister of Hops About. More laconic and observant than her rather hyperactive sister, but at least as dangerous in her own way. Likes ants, ham sandwiches, and particularly Bugs Bunny.

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

The session began with a discussion amongst the group about how best to approach the Academy Club, when to do so, and with what information, and promptly degenerated into an argument.

For one thing, the group didn’t know the exact nature of the professionals who had Café Nepenthe under observation, and that had them worried about the security of the books they’d sought for so long. So, the first thing group did was increase the speed and complexity of the “shell game” to conceal the library.

After JoCat vetoed a suggestion they move the books to an abandoned missile silo near Byers, Colorado, on the Eastern Plains about five hours from Grand Junction, the group decided to shift them to the basement “safe room” in A.J.’s house. Given that it takes less than two hours to travel to Moab, JoCat was willing to make that commute, at least for a few weeks, until they could stabilize the situation.

By the time they’d completed the shell game (including leaving a few copies of fake books in the evidence room at the District 13 office of the Utah State Patrol, and placing other fakes at various rental storage places, in the area), the portal date lay only a week away – and that triggered the argument.

One faction, led by A.J. and Beatrice, favored an immediate meeting with the Marcus Vaile, the head of the Academy Club. They wanted to try to lock down the situation a bit better, given the fact that the three-day Equinox opening would start Sept 21 (the day before the Equinox proper), and continue through Sept 23, and then promptly open again for the New Moon on September 24, for a total of four days of nearly continuous availability.

However, Aurelia and Frank (who wanted to keep his head down, anyway) thought it best to wait until after the trip through the portal, since they could see no urgency.

Eventually, A.J. proposed a compromise, and the group agreed to telephone the club’s executive director, Dave Shelton, and use him as a go-between to set up a meeting with Vaile, on a mutually-agreeable schedule.

With that, Aurelia used a burner cell to telephone Shelton and, to the considerable consternation of the gentleman, called herself “Olivia McShane.” She told him to contact Mr. Vaile about the “Order of the Scarlet Sage.”

The flabbergasted Shelton said Mr. Vaile wasn’t in the club because he was attending a meeting at his office, and likely wouldn’t be available. Aurelia replied that Mr. Vaile would willingly accept an interruption of his meeting, once he heard the message, and that she’d call back in 25 seconds to confirm that. She then promptly hung up the burner phone, handed it to A.J. to destroy, and opened up another.

To the surprise of no one in the party, Shelton said he had reached Marcus Vaile and the gentleman had agreed to speak with them. However, they were to call back in 15 minutes, so he could speak to them, privately. Aurelia readily agreed, hung up the burner phone, and A.J. promptly destroyed that one, too.

The third call was forwarded by an increasingly-stressed Shelton, and Vaile answered. He insisted upon a meeting by noon the next day, and tried to select a location. Aurelia interrupted with an agreement to meet, but said that since he picked the timeline, she would pick the spot, and hung up the phone and handed it over to A.J.

At that point, the group realized that A.J. had used the “compromise” to get exactly what he’d wanted, because he’d guessed correctly that Vaile would want to get a handle on the mess they’d left in Denver, as soon as possible.

With that, the group discussed various potential meeting places, and decided on the Windy Point Campground, in Dillon, Colorado. They figured that, even though the weather had gotten a bit nippy, the site would still have enough civilian visitors to encourage everyone to remain on their best behavior. Also, surrounded as it was by water on three sides, and with only sparse tree cover, it provided a lot of visibility for everyone.

http://www.recreation.gov/camping/wi...O&parkId=70503

The group then decided to travel to Dillon, themselves, and then call Vaile for the meeting, giving him only about 90 minutes to get there from Denver (quite do-able, given reasonable traffic). They made the call from Dillon, and Vaile agreed. In the meantime, A.J. set up on the lake shore to the north with a fly rod, a radio bud in his ear, and a pistol in his jacket.

Beatrice parked the group’s SUV in an appropriate spot, cracked open a window, pulled the drapes and propped her .30-06 on a tripod so she could cover the top of the hill to the east of the campground, proper.

Up on that hill, Henrietta and Aurelia waited patiently, as Randy rode his mountain bike around the vicinity – not close enough to be perceived as with the pair, but not so far away that he couldn’t get to them, quickly. Doc Bascher, meanwhile, remained in her 4x4 pickup, parked in the lot with the engine running, in case she needed to get to the top of the hill, in a hurry.

(Sunmi and Frank stayed in Utah, but the nunnupi assumed their standard appearance of oversized magpies, and perched at the top of the lodge-pole pine that gave them the best view of the proceedings.)

About 95 minutes after the call, Randy spotted three approaching late-model Chevy Suburbans, dark blue in color, with Denver Broncos license plate frames. He alerted the rest of the group that their “guest” had likely arrived.

(continued...)
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Old 03-26-2016, 12:58 PM   #73
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

(...continued)

The party members watched from their various vantage-points as the three vehicles pulled up to a stop in the parking lot. The front passenger doors opened and two tall, lean individuals in unzipped heavy parkas (it was cool, but not that cold…) got out and took a look around. From inside her truck, Doc Bascher saw that the second vehicle had a Marcus Vaile in the back seat, as well as two people up front.

The two hard guys took a look around, noted the presence of what were plenty of civilian campers and visitors, and quickly spotted Henrietta and Aurelia up on the hill. After a moment, the front passenger door of Vaile’s vehicle opened, and a thin, wiry man emerged, followed shortly by Vaile, himself, dressed in top-quality REI gear that hadn’t seen much use.

Vaile and his companion began to walk up the hill toward Henrietta and Aurelia, as the first two guards moved to the front and back of the row of three SUVs and kept a watchful eye on everything.

Henrietta stepped forward as Vaile arrived, and the man stepped forward to meet her as his man hung back in a way that mirrored Aurelia.

The anthropologist exchanged greetings with the businessman, and got down to details. Henrietta said her group had discovered that Darla St. Cloud had been an infiltrator from the Order of the Scarlet Sage, and that they’d taken care of her. They knew the order was likely responsible for the death of Oliver McShane, the founder of the Academy Club and the embedded Columbine Lodge.

The order also had goals with which they disagreed, Henrietta explained, and noted that the Academy Club and the Columbine Lodge had apparently used their power in a responsible way, for the good of the area. As such, her group did not want the Columbine Lodge as enemies, and would prefer a mutually-beneficial arrangement.

Vaile took a moment to digest that, and then shifted to hard negotiation mode. He pointed out that the Henrietta and the group she represented had displayed a profound lack of subtlety, as well as a propensity for violence. Moreover, Henrietta had provided no proof to corroborate her claims about St. Clair’s connection with the Order of the Scarlet Sage, or her purpose in joining the Academy Club.

This was highly problematic, Vaile said, because during the course of its troubled history, the secretive practitioners of magic, whom he called “the Cabal,” had created a code of conduct designed to keep the larger world unaware of the existence of magical powers and supernatural beings. Generally speaking, he said, firefights with automatic weapons were frowned upon.

Also, he said, because the power exercised was so profound, the Cabal had nearly destroyed itself, numerous times in the struggle to control magic. As such, Vaile explained, they’d developed a protocol to deal with the death or disappearance of a member mage – Darla St. Cloud likely had two colleagues from the order designated as “ultors” – those charged with investigation of the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, and extraction of appropriate vengeance.

Henrietta absorbed that revelation for a moment, and then moved on. She asked if the people who had Café Nepenthe under surveillance reported to the Columbine Lodge, or if they worked for the Order of the Scarlet Sage.

Vaile acknowledged that the Columbine Lodge had sent the men and, under the circumstances, he would have them back off, for a time, so as to give the new group (“What do we call you, anyway?” “Uh, the Friends of Olivia!”) time to provide proof of their claims. Should they do so, he said, that would establish a more solid foundation of trust, which could lead to a better relationship between the Columbine Lodge and Henrietta’s organization.

Until then, Vaile frankly stated, the Order of the Scarlet Sage (if their story was, in fact, true) was primarily the problem of Henrietta and her crew. He could afford to sit back and observe events, he said, and make decisions based on the outcome.

With that, the meeting ended and the two groups went their separate ways.

(...continued)

During the course of the next week, the party noted that Vaile seemed true to his word. While they occasionally spotted someone in the vicinity of Café Nepenthe who might work for the Columbine Lodge, they didn’t see such people in Moab, where they’d have had a harder time concealing their activities, anyway.

Soon enough, the time came for the portal to open, and the group found itself with two heavily-laden, steam-powered dune-buggies, camped alongside the road through Dark Canyon that came closest to the portal site. In addition to the high-quality goods to activate as spell components, each member of the group had picked up about 50 lbs (24 kilos) of stuff, each, as trade items.

Henrietta and Aurelia had gone for beads and costume jewelry, while Frank had opted for black powder and shot. A.J. and Beatrice laid in some inexpensive spices they’d bought in bulk at Wal-Mart, and then transferred to cloth sacks (A.J. had said to avoid plastic containers, since light plastics hadn’t even been invented in their own world until after WWI, and didn’t move into mass production until WWII). Doc Bascher brought medicinal herbs, aspirin and other over-the-counter analgesics.

For his part, Jimmy got backing from JoCat, and the two of them had visited a Lowe’s Home and Garden Center. There, he’d raided the hardware section for the heads of axes and farming implements, and metal and canvas buckets. He also picked up some inexpensive surgical steel folding knives.

During the evening before the portal opening, a park ranger they knew trotted up on his horse, and greeted them. He eyed the dune buggies with their attached, heavily-laden trailers, and noted that he’d seen some tire-tracks leading off the trail, the previous month. Ranger Lucas declare that he would get rather dismayed were he to discover they planned to do some four-wheeling through sensitive riparian areas.

Frank, who had taken four days leave with the permission of his increasingly stressed boss, reassured Lucas that the group had no such intentions. Rather, they’d decided to camp out as training for the Four Corner SAR Organization, and would notify him if they spotted anyone misbehaving.

Lucas moved on, and the next morning the group left the road and drove carefully up the streambed to the slot canyon that held the portal (to their credit, they did try to avoid doing too much damage – and they also raked over their tracks) A.J.’s instruments registered the opening of the portal exactly on time, and the group drove into the canyon. They passed through the gateway, and emerged in the box canyon the other side, where the two Apache blood slaves greeted Jimmy with smiles and eyed the dune buggies with interest.

Ehrland introduced the two Olleros Apaches as Izzy Norroso and Heck Chalipun – good friends of his, since the Olleros had taken him in, the previous year. The two Apaches seemed to have accepted their new conditions rather philosophically, and pointed out that the group had yet to pay the blood-toll – one gallon of animal blood, or one pint of human blood, per person, per passage.

With that, Doc Bascher pulled out her medical kit and tapped Frank, and Jimmy realized this may have been a mistake. One of the reasons Izzy and Heck had spent so much time on raids and such, away from the rest of the Olleros, is that both men had drinking problems and time in the desert kept them away from the booze.

However, as the blood from Frank’s arm began to fill the bag, Jimmy saw that both Apache blood slaves had started to jones pretty bad – worse than he’d ever seen them crave liquor. He immediately distracted them by asking them about how things had been going, the last two months (reasonably well), and if they’d gotten in trouble because of his flight from Doña Eva (they hadn’t, yet).

That seemed to work, since Izzy and Heck managed to maintain control long enough to slurp down the first two pints. After that, they relaxed considerably, and Jimmy could tell the crisis had passed. They kept up the chit-chat, and Jimmy learned the Apaches had started to explore the area, despite the fact that every Apache considered Dark Canyon a taboo area (the figured they were part of the taboo, now).

Frank, with a bandage on the inside of his elbow, joined the conversation, and disclosed that the group had decided to set up a permanent base camp on this side. Izzy and Heck seemed amenable enough and, struck by inspiration, Jimmy asked it it might be possible for them to round up some mustangs for the use of the party. The two Apaches agreed that would be a good idea, and said they’d gladly do so – for sufficient remuneration to be discussed once they’d found and broken the horses.

By the time they’d reached that tentative agreement, Doc Bascher had completed the phlebotomy work, and handed over the rest of the blood pints to the pleased Apaches. The group hopped in the dune buggies, and headed toward the camp A.J. and Beatrice and found, the previous month, less than a mile away.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...rness_Area.jpg

There, they policed up the area and then built three Tuff Sheds beneath the overhang, into which they locked the items they’d brought through to activate as spell components.

http://www.tuffshed.com/product/garden-barn/

(continued...)
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Old 03-26-2016, 01:00 PM   #74
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

(...continued)

After that, Jimmy advised them that, if they wished to explore the area, they might want to head toward the Rio Grande del Norte (the name of the Colorado River, in this world). The Spanish had built a wagon road alongside it, from the confluence of the Rio San Juan, down south, to the confluence of the Rio de San Javier – which the natives called the Rio Tomichi (the Gunnison River) in the Valle Grande.

Wars fought between the Spanish, and the Dineh and Hopi, a couple hundred years back, had forced the two agricultural peoples to migrate north along the Rio Grande del Norte, Ehrland explained, and they’d built permanent settlements in the Valle Grande and effectively controlled it. While that had created friction between them and the Utes, early on, that had been resolved a long time ago, and the three tribes mostly lived in peace – and each benefited from the presence of the others.

In the Valle Grande, the Hopi and Navaho traded grains and other farmed goods, plus craft items such as pots and blankets, to the Utes. The Utes, in turn, provided wool from sheep and goats, as well as meat and leather from cattle, in exchange. Additionally, the markets in the Valle Grande acted as the main destination north of Santa Fe for merchants from the United States, who braved the narrow passes to bring in inexpensive manufactured goods by mule and (if lucky) by wagon, from Denver.

Jimmy said he understood the trade between the Valle Grande Indians and the Denver merchants took place because of the lack of Spanish presence, this far north. Mostly, he said, the Spanish only sent soldiers up about once per year to suppress banditry (which the Utes, no fools when it came to their economic self-interests, mostly took care of, themselves), and to pick up treaty tributes from the various Indian nations.

As such, Ehrland explained, the Camino del Norte probably offered the best way for the group to explore the region, quickly.
A.J. made some estimates, and said that if everything went well, the trip to the Valle Grande might take 12-13 hours, and they could make it halfway by nightfall if they left, now. At that point, Frank and Randy decided they’d prefer to stay behind and guard the camp and make improvements, especially since nobody wanted to risk the vital spell components on a long trip.

Moreover, if something went wrong and the exploration party couldn’t get back, in time, Frank and Randy wanted to be able to get through the portal before it closed, so they could protect JoCat and the books, and watch for St.Cloud’s ultors.

The rest of the group agreed, and they packed up the trade goods. The two buggies with A.J., Beatrice, Aurelia, Henrietta, and Jimmy, headed east, toward the mountains. At one point, Beatrice got her buggy stuck, and the group had to curse and sweat it clear, again. After that, the group proceeded more cautiously.

The reached what Jimmy called the old Elk Mountain Mission site by late afternoon. The Utes had burned it down, a hundred years ago, and replaced it with a well-supplied campground that stood alongside a good ford across the Rio Grande del Norte. The group paused for a moment, in the location of the town of Moab in their world, and then crossed the ford and found themselves on the Camino del Norte.

They traveled north at a faster pace for another three hours, and sometimes reached speeds of 30 mph (they didn’t want to go much faster, because of the trailers). They stopped at another well-supplied campsite (Jimmy wasn’t kidding – the Utes were no dummies) and pitched their tents. Jimmy experienced a moment of surreality at the sight of brightly-colored, lightweight polymer shelters in his own world.

The group set up a watch schedule, with A.J. and Beatrice on the dawn watch so they could get the propane-fueled, steam-powered buggies ready to go while everybody else was waking up. As such, Beatrice was the first to spot a half-dozen approaching Indians, with a couple of pack animals.

She quickly alerted the rest of the group, and Jimmy said these were Utes who probably lived in the area. They’d likely spotted the arrival of the group, the night before, and had thrown together whatever they could find to trade.

That proved to be the case when the Indians arrived and greeted the group in Spanish. Henrietta replied in Ute (which she spoke fluently), and the group broke into smiles at the sound of her outrageous accent.

The Utes and the party exchanged pleasantries, and got down to business. The Indians had brought some blankets and pots, but mostly thought to supply grain for horses which they were surprised to see the party didn’t have. They took a few minutes to look over the dune buggies (unlike anything they’d ever seen, before), while Henrietta, Aurelia and Doc Bascher checked out the blankets.

As one of the Indians unfolded the blankets, Henrietta experienced a shock, while Aurelia and Doc Bascher blinked in some confusion – these Indian trade blankets were unlike anything they’d ever seen, before.

Henrietta excitedly explained that Indians on their own world had started to weave trade blankets at the end of the 19th Century, after they’d all been relegated to reservations and the U.S. government made efforts to somehow integrate them into the larger economy. At that time, she said, blankets and rugs made in the northwest territories of the British Raj – mostly in the area now known as Pakistan – had been very popular.

The traders had shown the Indian weavers the Pakistani blankets and rugs, to provide examples of popular designs that would likely sell well. In the more than a century, since, the Indians had taken the basic patterns, changed them and made them their own, Henrietta said, but those who knew the history could still see the influence of Pakistani designs in the Indian trade blankets.

These blankets, she said, showed no Pakistani influence, whatsoever. They incorporated some Spanish influences, Henrietta said, and featured Kokopelli and figures from Southwest Indian legend and folklore, but otherwise featured designs that had no match, in their world.

Quite excited, Henrietta decided she wanted some of them, only to have Jimmy pull her aside. He said the quality of these blankets weren’t all that great (although a couple were fairly decent), and she’d probably find a much better selection of much higher quality goods, in Valle Grande’s Dineh and Hopi markets.

Enthusiasm dampened. Henrietta nonetheless decided she needed at least one, and Jimmy willingly traded a small knife for it. After that, Henrietta asked the Utes to meet them, on the way back, with a better selection of goods.

The Utes agreed readily enough, and asked where they were headed and when they’d return. Henrietta said they planned to travel to Valle Grande, but would likely return by tomorrow.

Once they heard that the group planned to travel more than 100 miles, and return, in a day, the Utes figured these Anglos were having a joke at their expense. However, they agreed to keep a watch on the road, and come by to trade when the group returned – whenever that actually happened.

With that, the session ended.

####

Funny Quotes

Aurelia (on the difference between cutting out someone’s tongue, and shooting them in the head): We had lots of choices, and then we didn’t have any choices.

Randy (noting that Aurelia was not yet fully healed): The whole “got blowed up” thing, is a setback.

Frank (during a discussion of how much trouble the party had found itself in): Could we pick different body parts? We’ve got male penises, and female penises, and now balls. Some of them might get chopped off!

Henrietta: Well, if we have to, we can always just go live in the wild west...
Aurelia: Screw the wild west. If we have to ditch reality, I'm going to the Pearl Bright Ocean and being a pirate.
Randy: Look, if we have to peace out for real, I'll be a pirate with you. I'll even be the first mate! But I’m not ready to give up on this world, yet. I have a good life, here. I’m famous!
Frank: I’m pretty famous, too. I’m on an FBI watch-list!

Henrietta (on negotiation tactics with Marcus Vaile): If something goes really bad, and we have to destroy him, the mine is close by. We could add him to the collection!
Randy: Could we not think like that?!

Jimmy: How’s it going?
Izzy (now a vampire’s blood slave ghoul): Oh, you know. Still making some adjustments…
Jimmy: So it doesn’t completely suck?

Randy: Everything is plastic, on the other side.
Jimmy: Even the women?
Randy: Parts of ‘em are.
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Old 04-23-2016, 01:18 PM   #75
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

Okay, I've been motivationally-challenged (mostly) and I had to move everything over to a new computer, too (legit, but mostly an excuse). Sorry for the delay in getting this posted.

The group did make it through the portal and, due to some sensible choices, managed to avoid any violent incidents during their four days in the other world. Unfortunately, Kyle had to work and Rebecca had school stuff, so they couldn’t make the session.

That meant Jimmy went into NPC-mode, and Sunmi didn’t come through the portal, at all.

###

Characters Present:


Trooper Frank Moses -- A former Marine currently working as a trooper with the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP), based out of the Section 13 office in Moab, under Lt. Lee Exeter. Moses works with 4CSAR as needed, and has an interest in Doc Bascher. -- Played by Mike H.

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Randy "Random" Shoop -- a twenty-something, semi-pro mountain-bike competitor who has trouble staying focused, but is basically a good and reliable member of the team, with an unexpectedly strong moral character -- Played by Gold & Appel, Inc.

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet. -- played by Samantha H.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. Considers himself responsible for Sunmi Jones, who is enough of a science-geek that the two of them can actually hold a conversation. -- Played by Anten S.

Sunmi Jones -- A Korean-American prodigy and student of chemistry at Utah Valley University, who spent most of her childhood with her deceased mother's family in Korea, but has come to Utah to attend college and work with her father's petroleum exploration firm. Somewhat moe, awkward-but-cute, glasses-wearing nerd girl, who only volunteers with 4CSAR because volunteer work is required for her degree. -- Played by Rebecca W. (Not present, as Rebecca had school responsibilities.)

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. A cynic about men, and accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign spirit) -- played by Bernetta W.

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P.

Jimmy Ehrland – A fugitive from the 1918 Colonia de Nova España, on the other side of the portal, he had fled from his vampire mistress, only to find himself in a strange, alien world to which he must struggle to adapt. – Played by new player, Kyle H. (In NPC-mode, since he had to work.)

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

Hops About: A nunnupi (one of the "Little People" from Comanche folklore) who frequently takes the form of a quadruple-sized magpie. The party has determined that she is a faerie, and as such is mischievous, rather random, inhuman and appallingly dangerous. Likes ants, ham sandwiches and Looney Tunes.

Twirls Thrice: Another nunnupi, and the sister of Hops About. More laconic and observant than her rather hyperactive sister, but at least as dangerous in her own way. Likes ants, ham sandwiches, and particularly Bugs Bunny.


The rest of the trip to Valle Grande passed uneventfully (good Driving rolls by Anten and Bernetta meant A.J. and Beatrice didn’t break the buggies, or anything). The Camino del Norte continued to mostly parallel the Rio Grande del Norte (the name for the Colorado River, on this side), only departing to bypass particularly rough areas in what would be Canyonlands National Park, on their side of the portal.

The familiarity of the SAR team with the region on their side meant they had fair confidence the road took them in the proper direction and, by mid-morning of the second day, they began to see increasing traffic. This seemed to be mostly Indians leading pack animals, all of whom moved to the side of the trail, to stop and stare as the buggies steamed past.

Once the group estimated they had traveled to within about five miles from what on their world would be the confluence of the Colorado River and the Gunnison (and well inside city of Grand Junction…) they found a thicket of scrub oaks and pulled off the wagon road. After a brief discussion, the team decided not to take the buggies into the settlement, and instead pack in some samples of the goods they’d brought.

That triggered a discussion about who would go, and who would remain behind to guard the buggies. In the end, A.J. (along with Jimmy in NPC-mode) chose to remain with the vehicles.

That meant Henrietta, Doc Bascher, Beatrice and Aurelia (accompanied by Grunt, who expressed considerable doggie interest in all the new smells) loaded up their packs and headed toward the confluence of the Rio Grande del Norte and the Rio Tomichi. (Jimmy also went along, in NPC mode, since Kyle had to work.)

As they traveled, the increasing quantity of horse-apples on the dusty road told them they must have gotten close. Sure enough, within about 90 minutes, they began to see sturdy pueblo structures with Indians of all ages working around them. After about another 15 minutes, they saw what had to be a large town of hundreds of pueblo buildings, and thousands of Indians, sprawled along the confluence of the two rivers.

The dispersal of the buildings meant the smell wasn’t staggering, but they caught more than a few whiffs of human sewage mixed in with the odor of thousands of equines. Appalled, Doc Bascher warned everyone to not eat or drink anything they hadn’t brought with them.

The wisdom of the veterinarian’s advice (as well as her personal discomfort) became increasingly apparent as the group moved into the settlement. Doc Bascher started to see pox-scars and other indications of what would have been childhood diseases for which the people on her world would have (should have…) received vaccinations. At one point, she stopped short, aghast at the sight of what she realized must be scars from the ravages of smallpox, and the crippling effects of polio.

(At that point, Beatrice noted that, as military veterans, she and Frank had both received vaccinations against every disease anybody could think of. However, she commented that everybody else needed to report planned trips to Africa or Southeast Asia, so they could get similar vaccinations, themselves.)

Eventually, the quartet reached what had to be a large marketplace in the center of the city. Surrounded by thick-walled buildings of stone, heavy timber and pueblo, the market place thronged with Indians (and a few others) circulating amongst tightly-packed booths, roofed by brightly-colored blankets or sheets of old canvas, to keep out the hot, early-autumn sun. Price negotiations seemed to be the rule of the day, conducted rather loudly.

At this point, the smell of close-packed humanity and horses were joined by the more pleasant odors of cooking food, of all sorts, as well as the aromas of garlic and other spices that could be grown, locally. Doc Bascher noted that the fresh produce was open to elements, and that flies buzzed everywhere, and reiterated her warnings against eating or drinking anything.

Henrietta saw booth decorations that indicated the presence of Navaho (Dineh), Hopi and Ute traders. However, Beatrice and Aurelia quickly noted that trade wasn’t restricted to the natives. Up on the north side of the marketplace, they noted a some Cyrillic writing, while on the south they saw what had to be an American booth with prices written using dollar signs. Across the way, by a large mission-style church, they saw a large semi-permanent structure casually guarded by Spanish soldiers.

For their part, the women received almost as much attention from those near to them, as they paid to everything else. Dressed in sturdy outdoors gear, bearing large backpacks, and festooned with what were clearly identifiable as holstered pistols, sheathed knives and slung rifles, dozens of people looked them up and down and made comments amongst themselves (some of which Henrietta reported as variations on, “What the hell?” and “Where the heck did they come from?”)

Aurelia remained at the edges of the marketplace hubbub, while Henrietta plunged right in, accompanied by an enthusiastic Beatrice and a rather less-so Doc Bascher. The anthropologist’s first stop was a blanket-weaver, where she saw some excellent wares (as Jimmy had predicted). She entered negotiations and, with some difficulty, traded some beads for blankets.

As soon as she’d done so, several interested onlookers approached and said she’d get a better price for her beads and trinkets at a nearby playa used by local craftsman families. After receiving directions (from obvious representatives of those families), Henrietta and Doc Bascher set off in search of the smaller marketplace.

(continued...)
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Old 04-23-2016, 01:21 PM   #76
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

(...continued)

Meanwhile, Beatrice worked her way south toward the American booth. For her part, Aurelia kept Beatrice in view, at all times, but remained at the fringe of the market hubbub.

Upon reaching it, Beatrice saw a well-ordered setup, with a middle-aged man in good condition clearly in charge. The group seemed larger, healthier and better-fed than most of the people they’d seen in this world, thus far, and packed well-maintained single-shot bolt-action rifles and revolvers. The khakis they wore showed the stains of use, but no holes, tears or frays.

In looking at the goods for sale, Beatrice noted they seemed to skew heavily toward industrial ironwork, especially hammers, axe-heads, farming implements, and even a couple of three-bladed plows in the back. The booth was doing a brisk business, which meant Jimmy’s decision to raid the Lowe’s for similar goods made from steel was likely a smart one.

The older man greeted Beatrice on slightly accented Spanish, but then quickly switched to English once she replied in that language. He promptly expressed amazement that a woman would be traveling alone, and wandering around in such a lawless place, and asked where she came from. Beatrice replied that she’d been traveling, a while, and wasn’t alone, and asked if they might be interested in some spices from the Far East. (“How far east?” “All the way.”)

The man expressed interest and she pulled out some of the cloth sample-bags of Wal-Mart spices from her backpack. The man expressed amazement at their quality and freshness, and asked how she’d managed to bring them to Valle Grande. Beatrice replied that she’d arrived on the West Coast “awhile back” and her group had made their way across the country, from there.

The American trader asked what varieties she had, and then blinked as Beatrice zipped open Grunt’s bright red doggie-pack. She pulled out several other varieties, and the man agreed to purchase all she had.

At that point the dickering began, and Beatrice eventually settled on a price of about $10 per pound. She unloaded 40 lbs of spices, and received in exchange 11 gold double-eagle $20 coins, with the rest in silver dollars.

During that time, Henrietta and Doc Bascher had found the crafts playa, and enjoyed similar results. Henrietta received a mix of gold and silver coins (more silver than gold), mostly Spanish colonial reals, along with some United States currency. Looking carefully, Henrietta noted that the U.S. gold and silver coins all bore the tiny “D” that indicated they’d originated at the Denver Mint.

Doc Bascher had considerably less success with the sale of her goods, and asked directions for the nearest doctor. After some confusion, the Dineh traders said the Spanish medicine-man had a building on the main square, near the iglesia Católica, in the Playa Central.

The two women worked their way back to the main marketplace, and kept to the edges as they worked their way over to the building described. Once they’d located it, Doc Bascher and Henrietta entered the thick-walled stone and pueblo and found a surprisingly cool and relatively clean interior that smelled of detergent. Two young indian men in clean shirts and trousers attended to the half-dozen or so sick patients seated on benches.

After a moment, one of them approached the two, paused when he realized their sex and, in Spanish, asked their business. Henrietta replied that she and her companion need a few moments to see the doctor, and politely declined his polite efforts to brush her off (“He is an important man, and very busy.” “He’ll want to hear what we have to say, without any delay, then…”).

The young man reluctantly took their message deeper into the building, and soon returned with a Spaniard in his 40s, who looked rather impatient with the interruption. That verged on annoyance, when Henrietta said they wished to speak with him, privately, but he agreed and took them to an empty room with a high bench.

His reluctance abruptly changed to confused amazement when Doc Bascher unzipped her backpack and handed him a small box of individually-wrapped Bayer aspirin and a sealed box of sterile gauze. She then set the heavy pack on the bench, and asked him, “How much?”

In heavily accented English, the doctor asked to see more of what she had, and Doc Bascher spread out an array. She’d shopped carefully to avoid plastic bottles and boxes, as much as possible, but couldn’t bring herself to tear off the packaging of the gauze. She’d also avoided syringes and liquid bottles -- figuring alcohol would be available, in one form or another, anywhere humans gathered, and saline was just too heavy. The veterinarian had focused mostly on over-the-counter analgesics and sterile gauze and bandages.

The doctor said he’d like to purchase all she had, but asked if she could come back the next day for payment. To his frustration, Bascher said she could not, as she would remain in town only for the rest of the afternoon. At that, the doctor asked if she could wait for an hour, or so. Bascher replied that she could return, in about that time, and the two women took their leave.

Outside, Aurelia and drifted close to Spanish soldiers, nodded politely at their stares, but didn’t get close enough to make for an easy greeting. She noted that the soldiers bore single-shot breech-block rifles, which seemed to have cloth and paper cartridges.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasse...t-p1000739.jpg

She also noted that, periodically, indians in richly-decorated attire (but no headdresses) would appear and exchange coinage for receipts. From this, she concluded that the Spanish booth was an official place where the subject indians paid annual taxes or tributes. That meant the market was likely particularly active, because the passes through the mountains would start to close, within a month or so (which made it the last trip of the year, for American traders). Also, while much of the harvest wasn’t in yet, the Indians probably had a decent idea of the year’s yields, by now.

With that, Aurelia and Beatrice decided to go check out the booth on the north side. As they got closer, they saw a booth about as well-appointed as the American booth on the opposite side of the playa. However, this one featured dried salmon, as well as cured and smoked meats of different sorts, and plenty of alcohol. The proprietors also seemed primarily interested the purchase of turquoise and silver – especially jewelry using semi-precious stones native to the area.

Aurelia moved in a bit closer, and was greeted courteously in lightly accented Spanish by a tall, handsome Russian man with dark hair and a neatly-trimmed beard, who introduced himself as Sergei Kalugin. The conversation soon switched to English, once he learned she was more comfortable in that tongue, and he asked that she try a drink.

Game enough, Aurelia did so and found the liquor was vodka, and of better quality than she’d anticipated (although still not great, by 21st Century standards). After that, the conversation moved in a direction Aurelia found quite pleasant, and Sergei eventually asked her to have dinner with him. She tried to beg off, saying she was in town with friends, at which point he promptly invited all of them to dinner.

Aurelia reluctantly declined, saying they had arrived in town just for the afternoon, but asked if he attended the market, regularly. Sergei replied that he mostly did, but would make a point of appearing the next time she came to town. Aurelia replied that the soonest would be just before Christmas, assuming the weather was good. If not, she said, it would be springtime.

Sergei expressed considerable dismay at the long delay, and noted that Christmas could be quite difficult. However, he always traveled to the area in the spring, to purchase furs from the trappers who had wintered in the mountains.

During this pleasant interlude, Beatrice had quietly examined the gear carried by Sergei and his workers. She noted they all bore bolt-action single-shot breech-loaders, also with paper cartridges, and what appeared to be large-bore revolvers both holstered, and on lanyards. Also, while the tall, healthy, dark-haired, swarthy men each had individualized attire, they also each had knee-high leather riding boots in good condition, and their weaponry seemed uniform and very well maintained. (“Cossacks! What are Cossacks doing in North America?!”)

Henrietta and Doc Bascher had arrived during the conversation, smiled politely at the offer to dinner, and gave Aurelia the excuse she needed to pull away, soon after the flirting started to intensify. They all agreed to head over to the doctor’s “office,” as the hour had nearly passed. The veterinarian and the archaeologist went back inside, while the other two ladies remained outside and kept an eye on things.

Inside, the two women found that the doctor had been joined by a Spanish officer who introduced himself as Capitán Luis Hector de la Toya y Rivera. He asked them a number of questions about their identities and their travels, and the two women stuck to the story about traveling from the “Far East” to this area, by way of “the West Coast.”

(continued...)
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Old 04-23-2016, 01:23 PM   #77
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

(...continued)

During the conversation, el capitán’s eyes went repeatedly to their excellent gear, especially their weaponry. He also seemed a bit flabbergasted by their sex and asked them about their husbands or fathers.

Eventually, though, the impatient doctor interrupted and asked to see the medical supplies, once again. Doc Bascher unloaded everything on to the bench, and in so doing riveted the officer’s attention. He opened up several of the items and discussed the goods, in Spanish, with the doctor, who assured the officer of their superb quality. The two men then offered Doc Bascher about $800 for the whole lot – minus 30 percent for the required taxes.

Doc Bascher thought that through, for just a moment, and responded that the deal seemed okay, but that she wanted payment in gold. Capt. De la Toya said he’d brought the currency he had available, and that would just have to do, but that the transaction would take place, as agreed.

Immediately.

The veterinarian asked to see the cash and the officer called in two of his men, with a heavy leather satchel. Doc Bascher opened the bags inside, counted a six gold reals and a couple of double-eagles, amongst all the silver coins, and agreed to the deal.

With that, the afternoon was getting on a bit, and the quartet (conscious of their newfound wealth and not wanting to get caught in town after dark), hiked back to the camp, as quickly as possible. The sun had touched the western horizon, by the time they arrived, to find that A.J. and Jimmy had dinner going.

The six of them ate as the four women reported the events of the day, and A.J. stashed the coins in locked strong-boxes in the buggies. They then divvied up into a watch schedule, and settled in for the evening.

During the night, Grunt woke up a couple of times and growled softly, into the darkness, which didn’t exactly make for a restful evening. However, the group didn’t see anyone, and nothing else occurred. Nonetheless, they decided to depart early, and were up before dawn and moving as soon as the sun cleared the mountains.

That decision proved prudent, as Aurelia glimpsed a couple of horsemen who seemed to be trailing them several hundred yards back – too far away to identify, clearly. With that, A.J. and Beatrice accelerated the buggies as much as they dared, and after about 90 minutes, or so, the horsemen proved unable to keep up.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and they arrived back at the Ute trading campsite by the end of the day, to find a sizeable number of indians waiting. They traded Jimmy’s agricultural implements in exchange for good-quality blankets and fine pottery and some jewelry with equally unique designs.

With her background in the arts, and hers in archaeology and recent discussions with JoCat, Aurelia and Henrietta concluded that a couple of the blankets they’d bought at the settlement, plus some of the pots, here, were of such quality they might get faceted upon transportation through the portal.

The evening passed pleasantly enough. The Utes had set up their own camp a short distance away, but the two groups shared a drink, or two (over Bascher’s quiet objections for sanitary reasons), but nobody had too much. Both groups broke camp, before dawn, and had taken to the road by sunup.

By mid-afternoon, the buggies had negotiated the ford at the site of what would be Moab, in their world, moved carefully down the trails into Dark Canyon. They arrived at the permanent camp by about 4 p.m., to find that Frank and Randy had completed and anchored the modular sheds, and had started to work on a fence of piled sandstone.

They’d also moved the toe-poppers around a bit, and mapped out the new locations to the rest of the group.

Upon hearing of the night-time visitor, A.J. called up the recording of the surveillance from the previous visit, and noted that the new arrival seemed to move with the same ease and comfort of the Apache blood-slaves. From that, the group concluded that the new individual was at least similar, if not a full-fledged vampire, himself.

The women exchanged news about the trip to the settlement, and Doc Bascher insisted that everybody monitor their health, closely, once they reached the other side. She also seconded Beatrice’s suggestion that everyone report planned trips to somewhere in the developing world, and get vaccinated for everything.

For his part, Jimmy complained that the women had gotten rooked on the shopping deals, and that the quality of the goods should have gotten them at least 50 percent more than it did.

In response, Beatrice told him the value of the gold and silver coins, in the modern world – which meant the group had likely walked away with at least $60,000 -$70,000 for a bunch of stuff they’d bought at Wal-Mart and Lowes for less than a thousand bucks.

With that, the session ended.

###

Funny Quotes

Beatrice (upon arrival in the Playa Central): Who’s got wood for my sheep?

Aurelia (who kept getting looked at, even though she tried to stick to the edges of the market): I was awesome at being sneaky!

Henrietta (sees Aurelia and Beatrice up by the Russians): They look like they’re okay.
Doc Bascher (on a completely different wavelength): Nope! They’re being breathed on and drooled over!

Bernetta (OOC): Tell me there’s vodka!
Mike (OOC): We should’ve brought potatoes.
Bernetta (OOC): We should’ve brought olives!

Doc Bascher (sees Aurelia sharing a drink with Sergei): Ah! What part of, “Don’t eat or drink anything,” did she not get?!

Mike (OOC, upon hearing about the rifles carried by the Americans and the Russians): It’ll go through your plates, through you, and blow your buggy up. It’ll go in the size of a quarter, and come out the size of a Big Mac.

Aurelia (trying take her leave from the charming Sergei): The problem is, we have to leave, soon....
Beatrice (whispers in her ear): We’ve got an hour….

###
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Old 04-24-2016, 05:55 PM   #78
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

As usual, it sounds like you had a good session. Some good thinking on your players part(s) You are blessed to have a good group of players there. I'm enjoying the funny quotes and the character journals.
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Old 04-24-2016, 10:54 PM   #79
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

Quote:
Originally Posted by SionEwig View Post
As usual, it sounds like you had a good session. Some good thinking on your players part(s) You are blessed to have a good group of players there. I'm enjoying the funny quotes and the character journals.
I actually stole the funny quotes idea from the Serena Dawn Spaceport page. They used to post the quotes from their sessions on the front page. A lot of them were just hysterical.

[Goes to check.]

Oh, hey! Some of those quotes are still there!

http://serenadawn.com/

The players are great, and they key off of each other, really well. Fortunately, I throw enough stuff at them to keep them involved.

However, the fact that the majority of the players are women (and one teenaged girl), means that sometimes the sessions take some unique directions. For instance, G&AInc pointed out the last session consisted entirely of shopping and flirting. :)
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Old 05-01-2016, 09:22 PM   #80
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

We played the most recent session of Facets Sunday a week ago, at Wizard’s Chest, again. That venue works pretty well for us. It’s centrally-located, has two large tables in a room we can put together into one huge one, and it has fewer distractions than at people’s homes.

Kyle made this session, so Jimmy went active just in time for the group to return to the 2014 world. Rebecca was fighting off some nasty illness, and stayed home. A cold-front blew into Denver, late last week, as well, and destroyed a tree in Bernetta’s yard, so she had to stay home for lumberjack duty, and that meant Beatrice went into NPC-mode.

###

The group compared notes during the last evening of the four-day visit to Nova España. Doc Bascher said everybody definitely needed to get a bunch of different vaccinations, and the group expressed keen interest in continued pursuit of the economic opportunities offered by the technological disparities between the two universes.

For their part, Frank and Randy noted the changes made to the camp, and pulled up the recording of the visitor from the previous evening. When he saw it, Jimmy said his former vampire mistress, Doña Eva, had a minion named Arturo and he’d been the visitor. That convinced the group that Doña Eva meant to keep an eye on them, so Frank and Doc Bascher cobbled together some casts of the of the footprints using some cast plaster the Doc had brought along. Then, the group created a watch schedule and turned in.

The next day, they learned they may have missed something. The group paid the Apache blood-slaves, Izzy and Heck, the blood-price for the passage back, and started down the slot canyon toward the portal. They immediately saw a set of footprints that matched the smooth-soled, heeled riding boots they’d found after Arturo’s visit. He had apparently preceded them down the passage to their world, the previous evening.

The group returned to the box canyon and asked Izzy and Heck if Arturo had, in fact, gone through ahead of them and, if so, the nature of his business. However, the pair clammed up and the group realized they must have received compelling orders from Doña Eva to keep the group ignorant.

With that, they returned to their own world, to find Arturo’s footprints around their campsite. They followed them south, for a bit, but noted they kept going – which meant Arturo’s business may not have concerned them, directly. Aurelia said the presence of a likely blood-slave in their world put innocents at risk, and she didn’t want that on her conscience. Randy agreed, but the rest of the group decided that, with the pending arrival of Darla St. Cloud’s vengeance-seeking ultors, they had more pressing problems.

The group returned to Moab and spent the next three days, with the help of Aurelia’s ally, Wren, doing research on the four names they received from St. Cloud before Aurelia cut out the Texas mage's tongue and Frank shot her in the head. They discovered:
-William DeWinter works as an exploration planning executive for the firm, Island Petroleum. He apparently managed several different exploration teams, and the local business press had interviewed him, several times, about the new technology of fracking, as well as petroleum prices, in general.
-Dr. Lucille Delacroix, Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology with an emphasis on Egyptology, lectured at the University of Texas, in Austin, about the cultures of that ancient land.
-Alvin Carr worked as a loan officer at Gulf Coast Bank & Trust, which formerly employed St. Cloud, as well.
-Shane Haversham worked as an auto salesman at Fort Dallas Toyota-Lexus (“We defend your right to a great deal on an automobile!”).

A.J., with Wren’s help, did what he could to secure online images of all four, so the group could recognize them. DeWinter’s photo proved trivial to get, as he’d appeared in Dallas-area newspapers. Dr. Delacroix took a bit more effort, but A.J. hacked into the university’s security database a retrieved the photo for her campus ID. Carr’s employment at a financial firm posed a particular challenge, but they managed to access the building security records, and got the one from his ID badge.

However, the group ran into a problem when they tried to hack into the Texas DMV system to get Haversham’s license photo. Wren discovered the system would trip flags if anybody tried to access information about Haversham, and A.J. had them log out, in a hurry.

As a next step, Aurelia made come telephone calls, and pretended to be business associates or family members of each of the possible ultors. She learned that DeWinter had no plans to travel outside of Dallas, any time soon, and Dr. Delacroix’s only travel plans had been canceled due to political unrest in Egypt.

However, Alvin Carr had apparently taken a leave of absence from his job (although the bank offered to let Aurelia talk to a colleague). The operator at Fort Dallas Toyota-Lexus said the salesman had been suddenly called away for a “family emergency.”

At that point, the team decided they needed to take a road-trip to Dallas, to see if they could get a line on Haversham, as he was the only one for whom they didn’t yet have a photo. So, A.J., Henrietta, Randy and Aurelia hopped in A.J.’s SUV and headed south, bright and early the next morning. About 16 hours later, they arrived in Dallas.

Doc Bascher decided to stay in Moab and focus on her business, and Frank had been pulled into an investigation. A body had been found in Dark Canyon, not terribly far from where they’d emerged from the portal. The circumstances looked bad, and as one of the best detectives in southern Utah, the coroner in San Juan County had requested Trooper Moses come to the scene.

Suspecting the worst, Frank made his way to National Forest land, and hopped a ride to the crime scene with a grim-looking ranger. Upon arrival, he found the body of Ranger Andy Lucas surrounded by San Juan County deputies, as well as the coroner and a few of Lucas' other colleagues. The body lay with its chest and head in the stream (quite low, in the early autumn heat), and its lower body on the bank.

The coroner greeted Frank, and took him to the corpse. Frank looked it over, carefully, and found a wound in the jugular vein. The coroner said it appeared to have been done with a small knife-blade and, because the body lay face down in the water, Lucas had bled out into the stream, leaving exsanguinated remains. By the looks of things, the coroner estimated the murder had taken place three days prior.

Frank agreed with the assessment, and began to look around the area carefully. Soon enough, he found the prints of Arturo’s boot-heels, which led him to the spot where Lucas had picketed his horse. The marks indicated Arturo had saddled the horse, and rode away south.

The trooper remained silent about the likely identity of the assailant, but said he and the SAR team had seen Lucas the previous week, and described the horse the ranger had been riding, then. A deputy took careful notes and then a ranger took him out of the canyon, back to his vehicle, so he could put out an APB on the stolen horse (everybody knew Dark Canyon played hob with radio signals). Meanwhile, Frank remained behind to help take (much better) plaster casts of the boot-prints and help finish processing the scene.

Within a few hours, the deputy and the ranger returned, and said the horse had been found about five miles south, in a field near a busy campground. Frank and a couple of deputies hopped in a ranger jeep and headed over to the site. They found the horse in good condition, but still wearing its saddle and harness.

The trio then went and talked to the ranger in charge of campground management, who said he hadn’t seen anybody unusual in the area, although some clothes had been reported missing from a tent, a few days back. The ranger also provided the list of campground visitors during the previous week, and the deputy and the ranger headed back to Monticello to make a copy and start the calls. The site manager took Frank back to the scene, and then later up to his patrol vehicle.

Given the circumstances, the players hypothesized that Arturo had most likely headed toward Santa Fe, NM, since Doña Eva apparently lived in that city on the other side of the portal (the capital of La Colonia de Nova España). That made the modern version a likely first destination for one of her minions.

Frank showed up to work bright and early, the next day, to continue work on the case, only to discover that his boss, Lt. Lee Exeter, had gotten another call from the Denver Police Department. They wanted Frank to drive over the mountains, again, and answer a few more questions. Exeter said he’d tried to deny the request, given the trooper’s involvement in the murder investigation, but the DPD had insisted.

So, while the rest of the group drove down to Dallas (and Doc Bascher remained behind to keep an eye on JoCat, still living at A.J.’s place, and to ride herd on the nunnupi, who still lived in her garden shed.

Frank arrived in Denver by late afternoon, and DPD Det. Dave Hamilton immediately pulled him into an interrogation room and started the third-degree. Frank learned the Denver cops had released to the press photos of Darla St. Cloud and the fake one for “Olivia McShane,” and asked for any information the public might have available about the “kidnapping victims.”

(continued...)
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"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.
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