Content Warning: Strong Language
Thursday, October 17th, 1996. 10:21pm
Scene Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: Getting out of the area around the car wreck site
Testing the Expected Scene: 9 - Expected Scene
Added Discover the truth about Mardom's prophecies to the Threads list from Summer's background.
Added Survivalist hunting Albey to the Threads list from Albey's background.
I lifted my head up out of the dirt and looked across at the others. Summer was still sitting with her knees pulled right up against her chest, and Albey had rolled over onto his back, and was staring up at the stars and panting heavily.
"Is everyone OK?" I asked. "Anyone hit?"
Summer just shook her head, and kept on crying softly.
Albey turned his head and looked at me. "That was too fucking close!"
"Yeah, no shit!" I said, as I climbed back to my feet. My heart was still racing and I still couldn't quite believe that we'd managed to kill that goddamned drone without any of us getting hit.
I looked across at the other two. "We need to get the fuck out of here, right now. I don't know who was piloting that drone, but if they came in guns blazing for no reason, then there's a good chance they're going to come up here in person and try to deal with us for killing their toy."
Walking across to Albey, I extended a hand and helped him to his feet. "You changed your mind about coming with us yet?"
Albey stuck his pistol into the waistband of his jeans, and dusted himself off a bit. "Yeah," he said, with a sigh. He leant down and grabbed his backpack from the dirt. "I still fucking hate the idea, but right now, we need the speed to get away from here, before someone shows up."
"Good. Get in the truck, while I sort her out."
I went over and knelt down beside Summer, and laid my hand on her shoulder. "Hey," I said quietly. "Are you going to be OK?"
She lifted her head up and looked at me. Even in the dim light, I could see the trails on her face where her tears had left streaks through the dust. "Why? Why would someone just attack us like that? We hadn't even met them, or done anything to them!"
I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Some people are just assholes," I said. "Come on, we really need to get out of here, while we still can."
"Mardom said that when we show people the light, they would find their inner peace and join us."
Has Eamon heard of Mardom? Likely - 22 - Yes, with a random event
Event Focus - 65 - Move away from a thread
Which thread? 1d10 - 5 - Discover the truth about Mardom's prophecies
Action Meaning Table - 30, 18 - Deny Danger
She looked up at me, with hopeful eyes. "Can we go find them and share the light with them?"
Mardom? Fuck me. She's one of those nutters. Could this night get any worse? I'm way too tired for this shit right now.
I helped her to her feet, and then grabbed her bag. "Look, right now, we need to get moving, OK? I need to get the hell away from here."
"But you'll take us to them, and we can show them the light?"
I ushered here into the backseat of my truck. "We'll talk about it when we're rolling." I closed her door, then grabbed the rest of my stuff and threw it in the back of the truck, before running around and climbing into the driver's seat. As I kicked the engine over, I looked across at Albey. "Which way?"
He glanced over at me. "Fuck, I don't know, man! Those cocksuckers might be anywhere!"
"You're supposed to be the guide!" I said, as I flicked on the truck's headlamps.
"Turn the fucking lights off!" Albey shouted. "Out here, those lights are going to give us away, and right now, we want to make it as hard as we can for them to find us."
"Drive in the dark? Are you insane?"
"Look," he said. "You want me to guide you out here, you need to listen to what I got to say, OK? Otherwise we're going to be having real fucking short trip together."
I flicked off the lights. "Fine," I said through clenched teeth. "We'll probably have a real short trip together when we crash into something in the dark, but what do I know?"
Has the brief time with the headlamps on wrecked Eamon's night vision? 50/50 - 17 - Yes
He'll suffer a -1 penalty to his Agility check when he's driving until his night vision gets better. Had it been an Exceptional Yes, it would have been a -2 penalty.
Summer started mutter something to herself in the backseat. It sounded like some sort of mantra she was chanting quietly to herself, as if she was praying.
I kicked the car into gear, and started moving. "Which goddamn way do you want me to go then?"
"Fuck man," Albey said with a sigh. "Head north, OK?"
"North? I thought you and Summer here wanted to head south to Santa Clarita?"
"She wants to head to Santa Clarita. I actually don't give a fuck where I'm headed, as long as its away from here. But that drone came out of the east, and they're going to be looking for us. If we head north for a while before we turn back, we might be able to throw them off our trail."
I got the truck moving slowly, trying to make out the trail that I'd followed in from the highway earlier in the night. My eyes still had the after spots from when I flicked on the headlamps, which made it harder to make out where the track was an where it was going.
Agility check to drive safely in the dark
Eamon: Five dice (4 - 1 + 2 for the truck's Maneuverability) - 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 - One success
Eamon manages to keep the truck on the trail safely, but he's not able to drive very fast at the moment, because he's having trouble making out the dangers.
We're moving, but for how long? Right now, I have no clue. This is fucking crazy.
End of Scene Bookkeeping
Due to the increased tension in the group, the Chaos Factor rises to six.
Changed tension between Albey and Eamon to +2.
Because Summer and Albey are now effectively PCs, I've removed their occurrences from the Character List, and shuffled the rest of the list up.
Added Survivalists to the Character List for the third and final time.
Added Mardom to the Character List.
Added Escape the pursuing Survivalists to the Threads List.
End of Scene Notes
After several months of feeling lost, and a few weeks of meta discussion, it feels good to get back to actually playing the game again. This scene is the sort of scene I love to see in RPGs: the player characters having intra-party tension. They’re all vying for status and it leads to lots of character and relationship development. It’s also a fundamental part of what The Electric State RPG is all about.
Tense scene. It will be interesting if they can hold together as a group for very long.