Campaign: Facets

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Great job writing up the campaign.

Thanks. I have to be really careful to restrain what I write, or my thread will start to look as dense as Project Jade Serenity. :)

Originally Posted by Icelander

Is anyone keeping a Felony-O-Meter? Because, damn. That's just so many kidnappings!

I think the murder count still beats the kidnapping count, though. The party did a pretty serious number on the Angels of Purity Motorcycle Club.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Somebody should probably teach Randy enough Tactics/TL8 to stay out of kill zones. Or, you know, teach him to coordinate with allies, not risk his life and theirs by ignoring lines of fire, areas of responsibility and pre-planned ambush positions. It's okay to be a conscientous objector and refuse to carry a gun, but field medics have to go through Basic too. Otherwise they are just liabilities who get their allies killed when the metal meets the meat.

G&AInc. deliberately chose a character who goes against the grain of modern settings, a bit. Randy's not a mercenary, or anything like that, because G&AInc wanted a departure from the types of characters the Denver GURPS Group (DGG) guys normally play, and he took seriously my desire to have characters who were good guys.

I think Randy adds a lot to the campaign, when G&AInc is in shape to play. Unfortunately, he works nights and that makes the early-ish afternoon start pretty rough for him.

Originally Posted by Icelander

(SNIP)

Maybe knock-out spells exist?

Those spells do exist, but the group hasn't yet learned them. Don Reyes used some of them during his escape from the police, the month after he'd recovered from his injury, so the group certainly knows that something like that must exist.

Aurelia, as one might expect, has made learning that college a top priority.

As for the violence, I selected the 1918 setting as I did, because I wanted to create a sort of "branching path" for the campaign, from the get-go. I figured that, if the group wanted to go all cowboy, they would head over to La Colonia de Nova España where they had a lot more leeway to do that sort of thing.

By contrast, the 2014 world was supposed to be one that required a lot more finesse -- cloak-and-dagger stuff. It was the one where the face-(wo)man character, Henrietta, would shine, as would Aurelia's subtle approaches and the engineering and science expertise of A.J. and Sunmi. With that in mind, the original law-enforcement character, Diego Torres, was a lot more circumspect, and reticent about violence, than Frank Moses (as Mike plays Frank, he's basically a somewhat smarter Jayne Cobb).

However, that idea pretty much went straight to hell the minute Aurelia's fake identity was compromised, Frank shot Darla St. Cloud in the head, and the Angels no longer had a controller. After that, it was a matter of making sure the violence stayed as clandestine as possible. To his credit, Frank played a major role in monitoring the investigations, and that allowed the group to cover their tracks, well enough, although not perfectly.

As it is, the Feds think the group is involved in something -- there's just too much smoke. However, hard evidence has been awfully hard to come by.

Local law enforcement is less suspicious, because they know the members of the party really well, and small-town communities work the way they work. That said, even in Moab the strain is starting to tell.

Originally Posted by Icelander

I wish we had female players.

(SNIP)

I've gamed with women, before, in my second scratch-built fantasy setting. Carrie and Julie were good friends and had started to play RPGs in college, so they worked together really well. One of my other players, at the time, joked that the presence of one woman in the group didn't seem to make that much difference, but the presence of two meant the men were outnumbered. :)

This group has five women in the core party(Bernetta, Samantha, Rebecca, Debbie and Bennie Rae), but they have a lot less cohesion. For one thing, Bernetta (my sister, who plays Beatrice) is the mother of Samantha (First Niece, who plays Doc Bascher) and Rebecca (Dark Niece, who plays Sunmi Jones).

I had to remind Bernetta early on that, in the game, she's not allowed to exercise any authority over her daughters. That means Sam and Becca sometimes take the opportunity to tweak their mom's nose, a bit, which makes for some "interesting" intra-party dynamics -- especially given that Mike (a former Marine who has never played an RPG, before, although he does enjoy first-person shooters) is Samantha's husband.

Mike sometimes gets a kick out of what goes on between his wife and his in-laws, in an environment where it's usually pretty safe for the "ladies" to rag on each other, a bit. :)

Bennie Rae grew up with Debbie's kids (Jeff T., who created Steven, is Debbie's son and Anten's step-son, and one of Bennie's oldest friends. Tisa, who plays Claudia, is Jeff's wife). Debbie and Bennie Rae get along famously, and both of them like the women in my family. Interestingly, Deb and Bennie play more cooperatively with Bernetta, Sam and Becca than mom and daughters usually play with each other. :)

Bernetta played in my first scratch-built fantasy campaign, back in high school (AD&D), but hadn't played, at all, until I started up this game. Samantha plays WoW, a lot, and wanted to give a table-top game a try. They both seem to be having a lot of fun, which makes me feel good.

Rebecca came along as a lark, and kinda got into it. Her character's self-centered attitude is pretty unique, in my experience. She comes up with some of the funniest ideas, as well as some of the best "out-of-left-field" notions.

Becca had never even played much in the way of computer games, really, so she's not clued in on "how things are done" in table-top RPGs. That's one reason (sheer orneryness is the other) she so often blind-sides the rest of the group.

If I recall correctly, Bennie has been around RPGs, in the past, and may have some limited experience (I don't remember for sure). However, she teaches high school theater arts, and really likes the improvisational acting and comedy that happens in good table-top RPG groups.

Originally Posted by Icelander

I love the two faerie magpie girls. I'm going to try to introduce comic relief characters like those in my next campsign where it would be appropriate, try to spice up the relentless gritty Darker and Edgier feel I always default to.

I wanted Faerie to feel scary and disorienting, and remind the group of the magical wainscot's unique and special hazards. I thought really hard about how to present Hops About and Twirls Thrice, so they were funny but not silly.

I based the characters on some of the "little people" who appear, pretty regularly, in the works of Charles de Lint. However, de Lint's Faerie (while still a bit dangerous) is beautiful and lyrical, but lacks the sense of "walking-on-eggshells" that I wanted.

So, I swiped the definition of fairies from Castle Falkenstein and threw in a healthy dollop of Jim Butcher, and that got me there.

The magpie girls brought a lot of humor, but the laughter was always nervous, which is exactly what I wanted. Once the person to whom the Magpie Girls sold the favors learns the "Friends of Olivia" will probably survive long enough to be useful, the eggshells will once again emerge underfoot. :)

Originally Posted by Icelander

I note that in something like 15 pages, you've gotten through months of time, explorations of two different worlds, development from mundanes into mages familiar with a whole secret history of the world and much, much more. I've covered a couple of hours in 12 pages in my campaign write-up.

(SNIP)

I really have to credit my GURPS: Hârn campaign experience, for much of that. That's a low-fantasy setting, by default (although we amped it up a bit -- more than I'd originally intended, frankly...) and the detailed books spend a fair amount of time on the "cycle of the year." That's pretty important, when the economy is based on subsistence two-field agriculture (albeit boosted by limited blessings from the priests and priestesses of a fertility goddess).

It meant that, in the 4-5 months of "winter," nobody could really do anything on the Misty Isle. The group got accustomed to hustling a lot from the time the early Spring deluges ended until the time the late Autumn deluges began, but then they'd settle in for the dark months and study new skills.

The fact that the portal in this campaign only opens once a month, for a few days, loans itself pretty well to a more measured pace -- as does the need to heal up while maintaining discretion. Also, the much slower pace of travel on the other side helps moderate the frequency of actions. It is a long damn way from southern Utah to Santa Fe, when one is limited to 15-20 mph (24-32 kph) or much less (if using horses) on winding dirt roads through rugged territory.

Honestly, I expected the party to take a few months off and learn spell lists, before they jumped back through to the 1918 side. Instead they've chosen to charge through on every new moon -- which has made their lives more difficult than I expected (albeit more interesting, also).

[tshiggins]

The End of the Beginning

We held the most recent session of Facets, recently, and several good things happened.

Firstly, we’ve kinda shifted over to Saturdays for the game, but Gold & Appel, Inc., was able to join us, anyway, even though baseball season has started.

Secondly, the reason we shifted to Saturdays is that it allows me to pick up two more regulars, Jeff and Tisa, so Stephen and Claudia have become active PCs. It also means Tisa can get out of the house and let other people manhandle the four-month-old baby, while she actually engages in grownup conversations about something other than work.

Mike has changed his work schedule, so he can now play on Saturdays, and that means Frank Moses just went active, again. He’s still on the other side of the portal, but Mike definitely had some good suggestions, this time around.

On top of all that, the negotiations with the Society of the Scarlet Sage went well, in the opinion of most of the party; relations with the Columbine Order improved substantially (and they got free meals at the Academy Club); and they learned more about the world.

So, this wound up being a character-development, info-dump and role-playing session, mostly because Sunmi managed to behave herself. :)


Characters Present:

Frank Moses -- A former Marine who recently resigned his job as a trooper with the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP. In the past, Moses has worked with 4CSAR as needed, and continues to have an interest in Doc Bascher. However, he has begun to seriously consider permanent relocation to the 1914 world. -- 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 childhood. Henrietta speaks Apache, 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. Recently suffered mental damage after an attack by a spirit of pain and violation. -- Played by Rebecca W.

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 “foo” spirit) -- played by Bernetta W.

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

Claudia Abigail Tavulari, member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and an old friend of Arthur Jamison’s. The team has been helping Arthur research the portal physics, on the sly. -- Played by Tisa T.

Stephen Mack, another member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, former U.S. Air Force pilot, and outdoors enthusiast. -- Played by Jeff T.


NPCs Present

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.

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

Stephen Mack pulled into Arthur Jamison’s driveway and parked a bit past the large doors of the combination garage and workshop. He got out of his SUV to bend and stretch after the long drive up from Houston.

The two weeks he’d spent down at NASA had been pretty hectic, after his unplanned five-week absence. His boss, the head of the physics research laboratory, had been reasonably decent about things. Still, even though he’d had plenty of vacation hours stacked up, and had worked remotely as much as possible, he could tell Dr. Ellen Sanderson was a bit miffed by the long absence – accumulated leave notwithstanding.

Under the circumstances, Mack figured he’d have to find a way to get reassigned to either here, in Utah, or over in Colorado. The latter had some real possibilities – LockMart and Boeing both had large offices in the Denver area (Lockheed was headquartered, there) which is why United Launch Alliance had its own building in the Tech Center, just off I-25.

The town was lousy with smaller aerospace and defense firms, too. On top of that, the U.S. Air Force’s Space Command had its headquarters just down the road, in Colorado Springs, while the 460th Space Wing operated reconnaissance satellites (and conducted other activities) out of Buckley Air Force base on the southeastern edge of the Denver metro area.

During the days he’d been free to roam around the area, Stephen had stopped in to touch base with just about everyone, last month, and thought it might be possible to justify an official liaison post, over in Denver. The space agency had no official facility, anywhere in Colorado, nor even a local office.

Based on what he’d seen, Mack thought that might count as an increasingly inconvenient oversight, given the sheer number of vendors.

Not that he felt particularly thrilled about spending his days getting button-holed by lobbyists, corporate contract negotiators and other such trash, but it did mean he could remain within a day’s drive (or a few hours’ flight) from Moab, and that was important.

The people over at the Academy Club hadn’t said much to him or Claudia, but from what little they’d dropped, on top of what the two of them had already seen, the world had gone wild.

On top of that, there turned out to be more than one world. No wonder the numbers from A.J.’s “theoretical experiments,” and the engineer’s odd explanations that only mostly made sense, seemed so strange.

Speaking of strange, Claudia had come up, a few days ago, and her terse text messages had seemed to indicate the situation, up here, had gotten even more odd – and dangerous.

Mack heard the sound of the garage door opening, and turned around to see A.J.’s SUV pull off the graded county road and into the drive. No bullet-holes, and that was good (what a damn strange way to think…), but the normally easy-going engineer hardly even glanced at him as he backed the SUV into the garage. That veterinarian (Bascher?) was sitting on the passenger side, but seemed focused on something in the back.

A.J. asked Stephen to come over and help with something, as the garage door started to close. Mack ducked under and headed toward the back of the SUV. As soon as the garage door had closed all the way, A.J. opened up the back of the SUV to reveal three federal felonies, in the form of gagged and trussed figures, arms pierced by needles from IV bags of saline solution, hanging from the jesus-straps.

Outside, several more vehicles pulled up and the rest of A.J.’s search-and-rescue team members, along with Claudia, hurried in through the side-door. A.J. opened another door at the back of the shop to reveal a steep, narrow staircase that led down.

As Doc Bascher supervised, the group took the three kidnap-vict…, er, captives, down the stairs, where A.J. had unlocked another door to reveal a tiled tunnel that led toward the main house (what the hell, Arthur…). The group quickly carried the figures along the passageway, and soon reached another door that led directly into the basement of A.J.’s house.

There, Doc Bascher flicked on the lights to reveal a room that had clearly been hastily converted to a reasonably well-stocked, make-shift clinic. They put the bound figures on the gurneys and strapped them down, as Doc Bascher hung the saline solution bags from IV stands and checked the bandages on the legs of one man who looked critically injured. As soon as that was done, Henrietta, the pleasant archaeologist lady, rifled through their bags and pockets, and pulled out wallets and cell phones.

After that, the group headed upstairs and gathered in A.J.’s kitchen for a brainstorming session, where they were soon joined by Aurelia and Beatrice (who’d gotten permission). Henrietta wanted some guidance for a parlay with a known enemy, the Society of the Scarlet Sage, and colleague of the three figures (Dr. Lucy Delacroix, former Special Operative Shane Haversham, and a third man identified by the driver’s license in his wallet as Troy Barker).

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

It turned out that A.J. had given the matter a lot of thought. He said he felt the following three items were non-negotiable:

1. The portal belongs to the Friend of Oliva (FoO). All efforts to locate it must cease immediately and the Society of the Scarlet Sage must acknowledge FoO as the rightful owners.
2. All activities to harm anyone in FoO, whether physically, mentally, legally, financially or any other way, must cease immediately.
3. All activities that were meant to harm anyone in FoO needs to be made known, and promptly reversed.

He’d also come up with a couple of “nice-to-have” items, to help out the Columbine Lodge, which would foster the group’s good relations with them.

4. All spies currently embedded in the Academy Club must be removed within an agreed upon time-frame.
5. All activities to undermine the Academy Club will cease immediately.

After chewing those over, a bit, the rest of the group agreed with Arthur’s list, as written, and decided to ask for some territorial concessions, as well. After all, they had mundane jobs and lives that took them all over the Four Corners region.

Moreover, they noted that Doña Eva clearly planned to locate her new life in the Santa Fe of soon-to-be 2015’s New Mexico, and that they’d agreed to provide the vampire protection in exchange for services. As such, it would behoove them to force the Society of the Scarlet Sage to withdraw from the state, entirely – especially since the group had already put a huge dent in the operations of their minions, the Angels of Purity Motorcycle Club.

With that in mind, the group figured they’d try to get the society to back out of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, but said they’d settle for declaration of New Mexico and Arizona as neutral territory (prohibition of Utah to Scarlet Sage sorcerers was non-negotiable), open to both lodges.

As soon as they’d locked down those provisions, Henrietta checked the quick-dial numbers on Lucy Delacroix’s phone, and found one for William DeWinter. She flipped open a burner phone, got his answering service, and told the polite operator that she had an urgent message for DeWinter concerning Delacroix, Haversham and Barker.

Within 15 minutes, the burner phone rang, and Henrietta answered it with a pleasant, “Hello!” A surprised William DeWinter asked to whom he was speaking, and recognized Henrietta’s name, immediately.

DeWinter agreed to meet with the group at 6 a.m. Saturday, December 6, two days hence, beneath the northwest arbor from the old corral gardens, at Amelia White Park, in Santa Fe. He insisted that the FoO follow the “standard protocol” of a lead negotiator, a second, and only one security person. Not sure what else to do, Henrietta agreed.

The group traveled south out of Moab on U.S. Hwy 491 through the Ute Mountain Utes Reservation, clipped a corner of the Navaho Trust Land, and picked up Hwy 550 southeast, just outside of Farmington, New Mexico. They took that across the mountains to reach I-25 at Bernalillo, then took the interstate north.

Within a total of about eight hours, the convoy of two SUVs and a Jeep pulled into the parking lot of the La Quinta Inn, near the mall at Santa Fe Place, after following a route that almost exactly paralleled one that had taken A.J., Henrietta, Frank, Jimmy and Aurelia more than a week to traverse, in the other world.

The group quickly bundled the three unconscious ultors into one of two adjoining suites, while Doc Bascher and Claudia took up sentry and temporary residence in the other and gave Henrietta the spare key. After that, A.J. and Sunmi, along with everybody else except Beatrice (who had to stay home), drove north to the Motel 6 on Cerrillos Road, close to the Railyard Park.

Sunmi and Randy drove off to rent an SUV, and returned within the hour. After they’d gotten settled in, the group took a quick recon trip down to Amelia White Park, grabbed some dinner, and turned in early.

A.J. and Stephen woke up at 2:30 a.m., and rousted everybody else before they left at 3 a.m. The two men took up their posts on top of the adobe outbuilding located just across the fence from the arbor, and then took a look around. They quickly spotted movement on top of a taller building located on the campus of the School for Advanced Research, almost straight north of them.

Apparently, DeWinter had sent along an advanced team of his own, which had demonstrated similar disregard for laws against trespassing.

At about 5:30 a.m., Sunmi pulled the rental SUV into the parking lot at the northwest entry to the park, and backed into a space in the southwest corner, beneath a leafless tree. Henrietta and Aurelia got out of the vehicle and walked down the path toward the arbor, followed a few steps back by Randy, along as security.

Within 15 minutes, a second rental SUV with equally tinted windows pulled into the parking lot, and backed into a space in the northern corner of the small lot, kitty-corner from Sunmi, She saw DeWinter step out into the frosty pre-dawn December morning, accompanied by two women in long coats and professional attire.

One walked alongside DeWinter toward the path to the arbor, while the second – who moved with a liquid grace that reminded Sunmi of a ballet dancer – took up her position a few steps behind.

Shortly after they entered the park, proper, Sunmi blinked in surprise as the driver’s side door of the SUV opened and a young man emerged and glanced across at her. Sunmi started to hunker down, realized that the man was truly pretty, and poked her head back up in interest. After struggling for a few moments with a rush of temptation, Sunmi contented herself with using her cell phone to shoot a few pictures.

A few moments later, DeWinter and his second walked up to Henrietta and Aurelia, as his security hung back a bit and gave Randy an appraising glance that mirrored the one he gave her.

The negotiations started with an exchange of pleasantries neither side actually believed, and then quickly moved to business. Henrietta gave DeWinter the group’s full demands. The Scarlet Sage representative agreed to each of A.J.’s initial non-negotiables and his nice-to-haves, and agreed to acknowledge territorial rights for FoO over both Utah and New Mexico.

However, DeWinter insisted that the Society of the Scarlet Sage would retain absolute rights to all magical activities in Arizona, and noted that they expected FoO to abide by the universal neutrality status of both the State of Nevada, and New York City.

Henrietta concealed her glee at what amounted to a nearly complete capitulation by the society representative, and agreed to DeWinter’s terms. As a measure of good faith, she handed him the spare key to the room at the La Quinta Inn, and said he could pick up his people, there, in two hours.

DeWinter said he would have a formal written document that laid out the terms agreed upon by Monday morning, and Henrietta told him to deliver it to Café Nepenthe. DeWinter told her to expect it, by courier, before noon, that day.

With that, the Scarlet Sage sorcerers turned and walked back to their car, and drove away. Henrietta, Aurelia and Randy followed along, shortly, and Sunmi drove them back to the Motel 6. As they traveled, Henrietta dialed Claudia and Doc Bascher, and told them to clear out.

The two ladies rejoined the rest of the group and, in celebration, the FoO crew decided to have a large breakfast at a nice place in their newly-won territory. After tucking into some chile and eggs, the group decided to drive up to Denver for a face-to-face with Marcus Vaile.

Henrietta and a few of the others briefly met Vaile, about seven hours later, at one of the parlor tables. His face quickly showed surprise as Henrietta informed him of the satisfactory conclusion of the conflict with the Society of the Scarlet Sage, and told him about the demands they’d made on behalf of the Columbine Lodge.

She asked the pleased mage if he’d be willing to look at the contract they’d receive, Monday morning, and Vaile agreed to do so, as soon as they arrived with it, in Denver, Monday afternoon. Vaile said he’d work out of his office, at the Academy Club, and the group should meet him, there. After that, he invited them to dine at the Academy Club, as his guests. The group agreed, and then drove back to Moab.

The PCs enjoyed their first truly restful Sunday in many months, and then A.J., Henrietta, Aurelia, Randy, Sunmi, Claudia and Stephen got up early the next morning for the two-hour trip to Grand Junction. Henrietta walked in, just as Café Nepenthe opened, and hung around for a while and talked to a reserved Krystal, who continued to run the place until the settlement of JoCat’s estate.

About an hour later, the door chimed as a man in a Federal Express uniform walked in, and told a surprised Krystal that he had a delivery for Henrietta. The archaeologist signed for the package, bade Krystal a good morning, and walked out to A.J.’s SUV.

The convoy headed across the mountains toward Denver, ran into a snow storm that delayed them from reaching the Eisenhower Tunnel by about two hours, and reached the Front Range by late in the day. The three vehicles pulled around the corner from 17th Avenue and found places to park on Sherman Street, and walked over to the Academy Club.

There, they were greeted at the door by a shocked Millicent Brown. Aurelia had donned her Olivia McShane identity, once again, and the last that Millie knew, Olivia had been a kidnap victim along with Darla St. Cloud, whose body had turned up a few days later.

Millie escorted them back to Marcus Vaile’s office, he blinked in surprise to see “Olivia,” but recovered quickly and greeted everyone warmly enough.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(...continued)

Henrietta passed over the “Federal Express” package, and Vaile pulled the tab to open it. As he did so, Henrietta’s eyes tingled, Randy’s nose suddenly itched, and the amulet JoCat had given her suddenly vibrated on Aurelia’s chest (nobody else noticed anything).

Vaile reached in and pulled out several elegantly-written documents on expensive-looking parchment, and walked through them with Henrietta. He said the Society had apparently lived up to their end of the bargain and, while the nomenclature skewed any fault for violation of the terms a bit toward the Friends of Olivia (which the Scarlet Sage had noted as the “Friends of Olivia Lodge”), it certainly lay within the bounds of reason.

The elder mage also noted that, by insisting on its monopoly of Arizona, the Society of the Scarlet Sage had moved to protect its magical interests. Vaile explained that Arizona – especially Ancient Pueblo Indian ruins in the Grand Canyon – occasionally turned up American Indian artifacts that had served as objects of veneration for long enough to act as fonts of decanic energies.

In response to their queries, Vaile explained that objects that had been venerated by sufficiently large numbers of people for at least 100 years began to act as “pools” of decanic energies. Usually aspected, these fonts provided a measure of decanic force that renewed itself, every day. If used during a ritual of spell-casting, the mage could tap the font for its energies, and use them to create spells, rather than have to accumulate energy slowly, in the usual way.

While few American Indian civilizations had lasted long enough to create venerated objects that compared in power to some in the Old World, places rich with ruins difficult to access sometimes held less powerful, but still useful, decanic fonts. The Society of the Scarlet Sage very likely employed archaeologists such as Lucy Delacroix to locate and quietly remove them from sacred burial sites and other deposits of First Nation artifacts.

This revelation came as a rude shock to Henrietta, as it very likely meant that some of the most important discoveries of her career, and those of many others, may have come from places already looted of their most significant finds, by sorcerers with the Scarlet Sage. However, A.J. pointed out that the world on the other side of the portal very likely had similar opportunities for such discoveries.

The Columbine Lodge leader also told Henrietta that the contract came with a copy, and both of them held the standard enchantment that detected whether or not those who signed had done so, in good faith. Vaile also noted that both of the agreements had already been properly signed by DeWinter, and advised Henrietta that she should do so, as well, as long as she meant to stand by the agreement.

Henrietta agreed readily enough, borrowed a pen from Vaile, and put her John Hancock on both copies. As soon as she’d signed the second one, it vanished from sight, leaving her with a single long sheet of parchment.

After that, Vaile relaxed and smiled for the first time since they’d met him. He took them down for drinks to celebrate, and the group took the opportunity to ask him about a few things.

Vaile said the entire North America magical community had made the cautious decision to treat Nevada as neutral ground, shortly after WWII, when the Mafia started to build hotels and casinos to launder money. The lodges all knew the Mob had a bad habit of poking into things that didn’t concern them, kept their own secrets close, pried into the secrets of others, and displayed a distressingly violent lack of finesse or self-discipline when it came time to protect those secrets.

As such, the Lodges decided to keep away from Las Vegas, generally, until most of the bad actors had departed (one way or another) and the town had gone (mostly) legit. By then, Vaile explained, the lodges had realized the utility of having a place where mages could quickly make some money and decided to keep Las Vegas neutral for reasons of sheer practicality.

Generally speaking, Vaile explained, as long as lodge mages weren’t so blatantly stupid as to become greedy, or draw attention to themselves by winning big jackpots at a single table, they were free to use any of the Nevada casinos as a source of needed short-term liquidity.

However, when it came to a trip to New York City, Vaile cautioned, lodge sorcerers needed to walk as if stepping on egg-shells lying atop land-mines.

Mundane threats included any number of active operations sponsored by most of the world’s premiere intelligence agencies – including one of the best-funded in the world, run by the New York Police Department. The city also hosted highly experienced, and highly active, FBI counter-intelligence efforts.

More esoteric problems came in the form of a group known as the Esagila Guardians, Vaile said. This group protected access to a magical portal to one of seven “Planetary Realms” or “Planetary Spheres”; the one named for Jupiter. The portal opens in the air above the Empire State Building, Vaile said, and the structure itself has always been owned (through many cut-outs and shell corporations) by the Esagila Guardians.

Tied to the appearance of Jupiter in the night sky, Vaile said, the portal gives access to the planetary realm of Jupiter, at the location of a vast city that resembled a magical version of ancient Babylon, floating as an island in a sky of warm, swirling clouds. The city has portals that open to any number of New Yorks on any number of other dimensions in the material realm of Assiah.

However, travel through the Jupiter Sphere also allows access to other portals that open in the Elemental Plane of Air, the sky above the Pearl Bright Ocean not far from the Mirror Moon gateway into Faerie, and perhaps even Camelot, in the iconic realm of Briah.

As if that weren’t enough, Vaile continued, the massive port city with a population in excess of 8.5 million people also acted as a magnet for beings and creatures of all sorts. While particularly attractive to predatory magical beings able to blend in with the vast population, just about anything could be found lurking in the dark alleys and deep tunnels of the City That Never Sleeps.

The opportunity for magical chaos, combined with the pervasive layers of well-funded surveillance of all sorts, meant the Esagila Guardians sometimes had to work hard to maintain the secrecy of the existence of magic. As such, the magical community centered around the guardians had zero patience with those unable to behave with discretion.

Vaile paused for a moment to let the group absorb those revelations. After a minute or so, Henrietta asked about the history of the Columbine Lodge, to which they’d somewhat inadvertently become attached.

Vaile replied that such information was usually held in the strictest confidence, but that he might be willing to disclose at least some of it, in exchange for serious consideration by the Friends of Olivia to share knowledge of the Utah portal, and allow the Columbine Lodge access about once per year. Henrietta and Aurelia asked why that was important, since they knew the Columbine Lodge already had access, through its allied lodges, to the portal in the catacombs beneath Paris.

While unwilling to dwell too much on the details, Vaile said that the rarity of the naturally-occurring portals, and the fact that travel through them provided the only means to facet new mages, meant those who did control the portals could charge highly for access – in one form of currency, or another. The existence of a second portal, with all the opportunities it implied, gave the Columbine Lodge in specific, and the North American lodges, in general, a lot more leeway and negotiating power with the Old World lodges, in Europe.

Henrietta replied that, while she would need to discuss the matter with the rest of the FoO, she felt she could tentatively agree to provide access to the Utah portal, depending on how the Columbine Lodge planned to use it. Vaile said that annual access would allow the Columbine Lodge, perhaps in cooperation with FoO, to regularly educate small cadres of apprentices and then use the portal to facet them.

The archaeologist said that idea offered considerable potential, and said the other members of the lodge would likely feel the same way.

Based on that conversation, the Columbine Lodge master said his group had, indeed, been founded by architect Oliver P. McShane, who had traveled to Denver in 1909 as a liaison between the firm of William H. Bennet. Once he’d arrived, he realized that Denver provided the opportunity to try out some of his ideas about sacred architecture, and that had led to the creation of a Civic Center designed to concentrate and pool decanic energies.

(continued...)

[tshiggins]

(continued...)

McShane had studied as an apprentice with Great Lakes Lodge, a part of the Enlightened Order, the philosophy of which also governed the Columbine Lodge, generally. The Great Lakes Lodge had played a key role in the development and success of Chicago, and the Columbine Lodge had modeled its activities after approaches the Great Lakes Lodge had used, successfully. The two lodges remained on good terms, and consulted with one another reasonably frequently.

The Great Lakes Lodge had been created as a daughter to the Cluaran-Deilgneach (Spear-Thistle) Lodge in Edinburgh, Scotland. That, in turn, dated back to the late 19th Century, after it had been founded as a daughter lodge by the Order of the Tudor Rose, in London. Vaile said he understood the Order of the Tudor Rose (despite its name), was only a bit more than 150 years old, because it, in turn, had been founded by travelers through the Paris portal, from a much older lodge in the London of that world.

He also said that the era on the other side of that portal currently matched some version of the Paris of the early 1700s, which meant the original discoverers had to have come through during the mid to late 16th Century, of that world. He added that he understood those mages had been astonished at the discovery, since no one had ever encountered a world as advanced as this one, and the date of 2014 remained the latest on any dimension any explorer had ever found.

That made this world tremendously valuable, Vaile explained, not only because of its vast wealth and technological advances, but also because of its advanced understanding of the sciences. The fact that no other world had advanced so far led some to speculate that worlds much more advanced than early 21st Century had such finely integrated decanic energies that magic was essentially impossible, and that the portals to them had all closed.

The visitors found that information fascinating, and it prompted Henrietta to ask if it might be possible to get help removing some of the scrutiny on former Utah State Trooper Frank Moses. Vaile said he could pull some strings to get the DPD to drop its inquiries, but he could do nothing about any official files opened on him, in the State of Utah.

However, he noted that it might be possible to work with some of the sire lodges, in the United Kingdom, since they had a lot more pull with their national governments than the Columbine Lodge did, in the United States. It might be possible to set up a cover for Frank that indicated he had done some research at the request of MI6, on possible links between white supremacists groups in the United States and similar groups in the U.K.

Frank probably still couldn't return to his post as a state trooper, Vaile said, and the U.S. State Department would raise a minor stink because MI6 would sponsor an intelligence op on U.S. soil without notification. He'd probably also get a sit-down with the FBI for a minor roasting about serving as an unregistered foreign agent. However, that would likely blow over quickly, assuming they couldn't prove Frank had committed any violent crimes.

Exercising her hard-learned cautious about favors and costs, Henrietta asked why the Old World lodges might consider such a thing, and asked what they might want, in return.

Vaile replied that he’d begun to hear rumors that the world beyond the Paris portal might face some sort of “difficulty.” Most mages, he said, were academic types who focused on their studies as a means to gain knowledge and power. They tended to create ties to the governments and other key power players, as a way to increase their security by increasing their influence.

As might be surmised by that behavior – which matched what he did, himself – Vaile said most Lodge mages tended toward risk-averse personalities. Those willing to put themselves in the way of physical harm were pretty rare, generally speaking, and most used subordinates for dirty work, in much the same way as the Society of the Scarlet Sage used Briarwood Security Services.

However, a problem that might require a trip through a portal was a special case, and if the rumors were true, the Tudor Rose might be willing to do a lot in exchange for mages willing to put themselves at risk.

With that, the session ended.

The next portal opening takes place at 4:03 p.m., Mountain Time, on Dec. 21, which means the portal would normally remain open from 4:03 p.m., Mountain Time, on Dec. 20 to 4:02 p.m., Mountain Time, on Dec. 22. However, the new moon appears on Dec. 22, as well, which will extend the closing time until midnight, so not quite an extra eight hours.

Based on the group’s last trip through the portal, the Winter Solstice on the 1918 side takes place Sunday, Dec. 22, so the dates, there, will run from Saturday, Dec. 21, 1918, to just before midnight on Monday, Dec. 23, 1918.

##

Funny Quotes
(Not too many, this time, given the careful negotiations and the info-dump nature of the second half of the session.)

GM: A.J. opens up the back of his SUV and shows you three federal felonies.
Jeff : Stephen knows nothing! This is above his pay-grade!

Aurelia: We’re like those cute, awesome teddy bears where you push the button on their feet and they go, “GRRR!”

Sunmi (Sees the handsome driver of the other SUV}: I’ma open the door! Oh, hey boo! Lemme get that number! No, wait. I’d better not. (Rebecca slides down in her seat, and pantomimes taking pictures with her cell phone.)

Stephen (Sees the motion of obvious Scarlet Sage snipers on a higher building, to the north): Man, it would’ve been really awkward if we’d picked the same building.
Randy: It would have been hilarious if I’d climbed up here and seen you glaring at each other through sniper-scopes, from opposites sides of the roof.

##

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

The visitors found that information fascinating, and it prompted Henrietta to ask if it might be possible to get help removing some of the scrutiny on former Utah State Trooper Frank Moses. Vaile said he could pull some strings to get the DPD to drop its inquiries, but he could do nothing about any official files opened on him, in the State of Utah.

However, he noted that it might be possible to work with some of the sire lodges, in the United Kingdom, since they had a lot more pull with their national governments than the Columbine Lodge did, in the United States. It might be possible to set up a cover for Frank that indicated he had done some research at the request of MI6, on possible links between white supremacists groups in the United States and similar groups in the U.K.

Frank probably still couldn't return to his post as a state trooper, Vaile said, and the U.S. State Department would raise a minor stink because MI6 would sponsor an intelligence op on U.S. soil without notification. He'd probably also get a sit-down with the FBI for a minor roasting about serving as an unregistered foreign agent. However, that would likely blow over quickly, assuming they couldn't prove Frank had committed any violent crimes.

Can they?

What is the status on the evidence on the numerous cases of murder, manslaughter and grievous bodily harm where Frank Moses and the other PCs are suspects?

While they are collecting favours from magic users a bit more subtle than the PCs, note that in the real world, evidence gets misplaced, damaged or the chain of evidence broken, pretty much all the time. Ritual magic ought to be able to do a number on any DNA evidence that the police might have found at or near a scene, either by getting it mislabelled, corrupting it or just causing a temporary power outage in a biolab.

A very probable complication of the solution offered by the Great Lakes Lodge (through the Tudor Rose) would be that at least one detective and perhaps a number of them, either from DPD or the Utah State Police, would take it badly to be told to abandon investigation into a case where they suspected Moses of serious crimes. Regardless of the lack of formal evidence and an order to drop the case because of FBI involvement, this could lead to some very negative feelings on part of the detectives involved, which, in turn, could be very bad for Moses if he returns.

Given his profession as a violent outlaw*, it wouldn't take much special attention from law enforcement to get him in trouble again.

Of course, a lot depends on the traits of the PC. If he has a lot of traits that give a positive Reaction for detectives and law enforcement, maybe he could successfully sell a story of working as a cop, albeit a different kind, and being threatened by gangsters, outlaw bikers and racist terrorists. Cops tend to be tribal and if they see him as a cop who broke the rules to defend himself from criminals, they'll react very differently than if they see him as someone who crossed over to the other side.

Does Frank Moses have a Talent for cop work or something like Tough Guy Talent? Or just plain Charisma? Honest Face would be a help.

*From the perspective of normal society.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Can they?

What is the status on the evidence on the numerous cases of murder, manslaughter and grievous bodily harm where Frank Moses and the other PCs are suspects?

While they are collecting favours from magic users a bit more subtle than the PCs, note that in the real world, evidence gets misplaced, damaged or the chain of evidence broken, pretty much all the time. Ritual magic ought to be able to do a number on any DNA evidence that the police might have found at or near a scene, either by getting it mislabelled, corrupting it or just causing a temporary power outage in a biolab.

A very probable complication of the solution offered by the Great Lakes Lodge (through the Tudor Rose) would be that at least one detective and perhaps a number of them, either from DPD or the Utah State Police, would take it badly to be told to abandon investigation into a case where they suspected Moses of serious crimes. Regardless of the lack of formal evidence and an order to drop the case because of FBI involvement, this could lead to some very negative feelings on part of the detectives involved, which, in turn, could be very bad for Moses if he returns.

Given his profession as a violent outlaw*, it wouldn't take much special attention from law enforcement to get him in trouble again.

Of course, a lot depends on the traits of the PC. If he has a lot of traits that give a positive Reaction for detectives and law enforcement, maybe he could successfully sell a story of working as a cop, albeit a different kind, and being threatened by gangsters, outlaw bikers and racist terrorists. Cops tend to be tribal and if they see him as a cop who broke the rules to defend himself from criminals, they'll react very differently than if they see him as someone who crossed over to the other side.

Does Frank Moses have a Talent for cop work or something like Tough Guy Talent? Or just plain Charisma? Honest Face would be a help.

*From the perspective of normal society.

The cops in Denver suspect that Frank knows more about what happened with the Angels of Purity than he's told them. He also has Professional Skill (Police) at high levels, and the reaction rolls he made, initially, were really good.

On top of that, Frank has a Reputation as a "Good Cop" which gives him a positive reaction from other law officers, and a negative reputation from criminals. Plus, until six months ago, he had a spotless record and was well-known as someone who went above and beyond, because of his volunteer work with 4CSAR.

Moreover, the PCs (under Frank's direction) did a great job scrubbing the sites of evidence and the only people who got a good look at them also got their brains scrubbed from the "Forget" potion.

On top of all that, at least two Federal investigations into possible wrongdoing by members of the group have come up empty (Indian artifacts, federal weapons violations), despite what were supposed to be outstanding tips. As part of that, the FBI did check financial records, as part of the initial warrants, and turned up nothing unusual.

At this point, Frank has burned through much of the goodwill he initially established, with the DPD, but it's really hard for them to wrap their heads around the concept that he would engage in kidnapping and mass murder. The most plausible explanation is that the Angels got mixed up with another drug gang -- perhaps the Cartel that Jose Redshirt, aka Señor AKA, aka Don Reyes purchased the guns to fight, six months ago? -- at about the time Trooper Moses started his unauthorized investigation.

Shortly thereafter, Frank dropped off the face of the Earth, about the time Beatrice did something really, really stupid for understandable reasons that seemed have little, if anything, to do with drug trafficking. Subsequent investigation of the guy she killed revealed absolutely nothing, either, and triggered some political flack from movers and shakers in Texas (the Society of the Scarlet Sage pulled strings). However, forensics clearly indicated somebody tried to shoot up Beatrice with a sniper rifle, at the meeting site.

The most plausible explanation is that Frank's clandestine investigation drew the attention of the mysterious "Cartel," and they've been trying to shut him down by either killing him, or threatening his friends and associates. As a consequence, JoBeth Catherine McShane is dead, the false Olivia McShane has disappeared (and was probably a part of the "Cartel"), and the Angel's probable money-launderer (Darla St. Cloud) wound up in the bottom of an abandoned mine-shaft, along with several Angels.

They think Frank is either running scared, or dead, at this point. If he's alive, they'll want to bring him in so he can tell them what he knows about this appallingly violent, incredibly competent criminal gang he's stumbled into.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

The cops in Denver suspect that Frank knows more about what happened with the Angels of Purity than he's told them. He also has Professional Skill (Police) at high levels, and the reaction rolls he made, initially, were really good.

Do you mean Savoir-Faire (Police)?

Originally Posted by tshiggins

On top of that, Frank has a Reputation as a "Good Cop" which gives him a positive reaction from other law officers, and a negative reputation from criminals. Plus, until six months ago, he had a spotless record and was well-known as someone who went above and beyond, because of his volunteer work with 4CSAR.

That is most excellent. It pretty much means that the detectives will be sifting through and interpreting all evidence with a firmly held bias, i.e. that Frank Moses cannot possibly be a criminal and whatever mistakes he might have made, he's still a Good Cop.

Originally Posted by tshiggins

The most plausible explanation is that Frank's clandestine investigation drew the attention of the mysterious "Cartel," and they've been trying to shut him down by either killing him, or threatening his friends and associates. As a consequence, JoBeth Catherine McShane is dead, the false Olivia McShane has disappeared (and was probably a part of the "Cartel"), and the Angel's probable money-launderer (Darla St. Cloud) wound up in the bottom of an abandoned mine-shaft, along with several Angels.

They think Frank is either running scared, or dead, at this point. If he's alive, they'll want to bring him in so he can tell them what he knows about this appallingly violent, incredibly competent criminal gang he's stumbled into.

Assuming that the FBI does call him in for questioning due to string-pulling through Great Britain, Moses will be able to refuse to officially answer any questions that the DPD or any other local police department want to ask him, all the while going aww shucks, looking sorry as hell and pointing at the FBI involvement and claiming that he signed documents that he is not allowed to talk about any of this.

Which the locals will interpret as Moses having been working for federal law enforcement, at least in the absence of leaks about the foreign intelligence element.

He should even be able to strategically hint at various things to local law enforcement, while being very sorry that he cannot officially tell them anything, which might be a useful tool for bringing police attention to the sort of rogue elements that tend to accumulate as enemies of PCs.

How is he at deception? Could he sell a cover story told through innuendo, if he never had to deal with actual interrogation, because he can't answer questions?

More generally, what traits should a character need to be able to sell investigators a concocted story designed to hide supernatural elements, anyway?

It always feels wrong to use a straight contest of Acting or Fast-Talk vs. the highest of Detect Lies, Interrogation or IQ in such cases, as reliably telling when somebody is lying is a lot harder than lying successfully.

And how much of a bonus should one get for spending several hours beforehand coming up with a carefully edited version of the real story, designed to be as much of the truth as is possible, without admitting to having powers that will land you straight in the biolabs of Area 51 or the equivalent?

I might be wondering because if any of the PCs survive Jewell Island in our Jade Serenity campaign, they'll have to talk to expert interrogators, psychologists and investigators about what happened. And the Acting skill scores range all the way from skill 12 up to skill 18, while the investigators will have Body Language, Detect Lies, Interrogation and Psychology (Applied) at 12+, with some experts having 15-20.

If there aren't substantial bonuses to be had, it's pretty much inevitable that the PC with Acting 12 will be comically transparent to the interrogators, which would realistically probably result in none of the PCs ever being seen alive by anybody without a Top Secret - Special Compartmentalized Information clearance.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Do you mean Savoir-Faire (Police)?

Oh, yes. He has both, but I thought one and typed the other. In point of fact, he made a good roll against Savoir-Faire (Police), followed by a really good reaction roll by the DPD detective. That's why he got so much info, from them. They liked the guy.

Originally Posted by Icelander

That is most excellent. It pretty much means that the detectives will be sifting through and interpreting all evidence with a firmly held bias, i.e. that Frank Moses cannot possibly be a criminal and whatever mistakes he might have made, he's still a Good Cop.

Yep, exactly right. Moreover, because neither Colorado nor Utah have state police, but only state troopers (traffic cops), ad hoc task forces between federal agents and local PDs and sheriff departments take place, all the time. So, Frank's original story was quite plausible, on its face.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Assuming that the FBI does call him in for questioning due to string-pulling through Great Britain, Moses will be able to refuse to officially answer any questions that the DPD or any other local police department want to ask him, all the while going aww shucks, looking sorry as hell and pointing at the FBI involvement and claiming that he signed documents that he is not allowed to talk about any of this?

Which the locals will interpret as Moses having been working for federal law enforcement, at least in the absence of leaks about the foreign intelligence element.

(SNIP)

Yep, and the FBI will chew him a new one, as the State Department sends the Foreign Office a sternly-worded letter about operations on U.S. soil without official notification. The misfeasance means he can never work again for anything other than a Po'dunk PD, but as long as the story is good, he'll avoid any other repercussions.

Originally Posted by Icelander

How is he at deception? Could he sell a cover story told through innuendo, if he never had to deal with actual interrogation, because he can't answer questions?

More generally, what traits should a character need to be able to sell investigators a concocted story designed to hide supernatural elements, anyway?

It always feels wrong to use a straight contest of Acting or Fast-Talk vs. the highest of Detect Lies, Interrogation or IQ in such cases, as reliably telling when somebody is lying is a lot harder than lying successfully.

And how much of a bonus should one get for spending several hours beforehand coming up with a carefully edited version of the real story, designed to be as much of the truth as is possible, without admitting to having powers that will land you straight in the biolabs of Area 51 or the equivalent?

(SNIP)

I generally do the contests of Acting or Fast-Talk against Detect Lies, Body Language, Interrogation & etc., but I like to reward players for extra creative effort. So, if they come up with a good story, and have support from other people, or come up with good documents (forged or not), then I give bonuses. Also (and I know you know this), any relevant advantages or disadvantages must be taken into account.

Generally, I give no more than a +1 or +2 to the roll, for good stories and such. A +3 requires substantial extra effort, and a +4 in anything but a cinematic campaign is just an ungawdly bonus.

As for supernatural elements, most official stories would shy away from the mention of any such thing, since nobody wants to endure that sort of psych evaluation. In this setting, just about anything is more plausible than that.

[tshiggins]

We held the most recent session of Facets, a few weeks back. I also just started a new job and we’re in the midst of moving, so I put this off a bit.

However, since we plan to play again, June 10, I needed to get it done.

Sam and Mike couldn’t make it, this time, and Bennie Rae and G&AInc., each had responsibilities that pulled them away from the game, early.

We also added two new players, to the party. Debbie’s son, Jeff, and his wife, Tisa, played as guests a few months ago, and Tisa put in a return appearance. Apparently, they enjoyed it enough that they wish to play in the campaign, full time.

Given what happened, I’m fortunate it wasn’t their last time. Whew!

Characters Present:

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.

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.

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. (Present for the first half of the session.)

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. (Present for the first half of the session.)

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. (Not available, this session.)

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. Recently suffered mental damage after an attack by a spirit of pain and violation. -- Played by Rebecca W.

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 “foo” spirit) -- played by Bernetta W.

Claudia Abigail Tavulari, member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and an old friend of Arthur Jamison’s. The team has been helping Arthur research the portal physics, on the sly. – Played by Tisa T.

Stephen Mack, another member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and outdoors enthusiast. – Played by Jeff T.


NPCs Present

Trooper Frank Moses -- A former Marine who recently quit his job 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. Frank finds himself attracted to what he perceives as the much simpler life on the 1918 side of the portal.

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, Doña Eva, only to find himself in a strange, alien world to which he must struggle to adapt.

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit. (Finally healed!)

##

Once the party made it back to Moab after the parlay in Santa Fe, and the confab with the Columbine Order in Denver, they focused on the next task – the Winter Solstice portal opening set for December 21. That made for a three-day opening (December 20-22), extended by only a few hours because the New Moon also took place on the 22nd.

A.J. hoped to make the best of the time by moving some heavy equipment, including a front-end loader and even an armored van, through the portal in the Dark Canyon Wilderness Area, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). He reluctantly agreed to let most of those plans go, once he was convinced that the BLM rangers would raise an ungodly stink.

The engineer argued that the land was already closed to tourists at Henrietta’s requests, and the rangers regularly allowed him to install electronic equipment. However, it was pointed out to him that the reason Henrietta managed to get the slot canyon closed off was because she’d found delicate, unique petroglyphs there that deserved special protections.

Also, despite some of the pyrotechnics experienced during A.J.’s experiment, the party consisted of experienced, well-trained SAR personnel who took special pains to clean up after themselves and prevent small surprises from growing into big problems for other people. That differed substantially from the notion of deliberately moving construction equipment and armored vehicles through protected BLM land into an area known to possess archaeological finds of the Ancient Pueblo culture that had, thus far, been found nowhere else.

Under the circumstances, A.J. settled for upgrading the two buggies to use compression diesel engines instead of steam boilers, and early tests indicated they could reliably make 35-40 miles per hour, even hauling trailers, on reasonably maintained dirt and gravel roads – which described pretty well the Camino Real del Norte, that ran alongside the 1918 version of the Colorado River, on the other side of the portal.

He dragooned Beatrice into helping him, and even Sunmi came down for a few hours at a time, between finals. However, after finals ended, Sunmi, Claudia and Henrietta went over to Denver to start work on the de-consecrated church the group had purchased through A.J.’s shell corporation.

(This building actually exists, at 999 E. 22nd Avenue, in Denver’s North Capitol Hill neighborhood. In reality, since 1990 the old church has held a number of high-end lofts called, appropriately enough, “Sanctuary Lofts.” You can take a look at the structure on a mapping program. In the campaign setting, the renovation hasn’t yet happened.)

Anyway, A.J. asked Claudia, who has good skill with mathematics and finance, to take a look at the corporation. She made enough helpful suggestions that he basically turned responsibility for the shell corporation over to her.

Meanwhile, Stephen (a former USMC harrier pilot, before he joined NASA) helped A.J. assemble and test a couple of ultra-light aircraft, before he, too, drove across the mountains to Denver. A bad winter storm made for a miserable nine-hour drive from Moab, instead of a fairly pleasant six-hour jaunt, but other than that the trip passed uneventfully enough.

The group also laid plans for the next round of studies. Sunmi and Henrietta, both gifted linguists, had gained enough mastery of Greek during the previous 3-4 months that they could work their way through the spell books pretty easily (Claudia, a first generation American of Greek ancestry, could already speak and read it, although she struggled some with the archaic dialect used in the tomes.) A.J. could also make out some Latin, but needed additional study to get really good at it.

(Again, we’re using versions of the GURPS original spell colleges, only with the spells, themselves, rewritten as Ritual Path Magic. We’re not going with the free-form, high-power RPM found Dungeon Fantasy, although once the group gets comfortable with the system, some of them will likely wish to design their own spells.)

Henrietta, as a college professor, has the teaching skill, so she decided to study the incredibly-useful Knowledge path, so she could teach everybody else. Claudia, also a teacher, decided to go with the more utilitarian Protection & Warning path, which Aurelia, in particular, lobbied for, strenuously.

After some hesitation, the group decided that Sunmi should learn the Gate path, so as to give the group better command of portals of all sorts. While he raised no formal objection to the plan, A.J. wished to note for the record that, given Sunmi’s past behavior, this could turn out to be a Really Bad Idea ™.

Once the group finished planning spell acquisition, taking finals, rebuilding buggies and doing home improvement, everyone (except Beatrice, who still wore a tracking bracelet on her remaining ankle) gathered on Dec. 19 at the mouth of the portal. It opened in the early morning hours of Dec. 20, and the passage proved uneventful (the rape spirit either wasn’t present, or had decided to keep out of sight). The group soon emerged on the other side to find a roaring bonfire built to welcome them by Izzy and Heck, the blood-slave Apaches (who didn’t get many visitors).

(continued...)