Dramatis Personae

• Allissa “Lisa” J. Zamarripa aka Dreamweaver (NPC): Annoyingly mysterious. Poet laureate. Sees the future Power: Dream Control. Tagline: “I had a dream about you.”
• Carol W. Pfeifer aka Burn (NPC): Pyrokinetic. Linguist. Very intense person. Power: Fire Control. Tagline: “I’ll show you how I burn.”
• Felicity E. “Flit” Chou (NPC): Talks to fast. Hopeless romantic. Musician. Loves to skateboard. Power: Teleportation. Tagline: “Here. There. Everywhere.”
• Lynne C. Duane (NPC): Holder of Bachler’s degree in neurobiology Daughter of a famed neurosurgeon. Athletically gifted. Withdrawn and not herself. Power: Telepathy. Tagline: “…”
• Raymond J. Parrish aka Raybeam (NPC): TBA. Power: Hyper-Intelligence and Technopathy. Tagline: “This is going to be great. Look what I made?!”
• Tabitha E. “Tabbs” de Orellana (NPC): Latina from the Bronx. Aptitudes for mechanical engineering, chemistry, and materials science. Speaks her mind. Bossy and cocky, but not arrogant. Powers: Hyper-Intelligence and Kyberic Energy Control. Tagline: “No me respondas.”
• Warren P. Clark (NPC): Computer and electronics nerd. Very tall for his age (over 6′) and big. Powers: Hyper-Strength and Technopathy. Tagline: “Oh. What does this button do?”

Previously . . .

After having dealt with the monsters that had attacked them in the hospital and meeting Gabriella Legend, Lynn is now temporarily alright and they’ve got a lead towards a person named Glydon Hardison to help with the parasitic entity that’s been attached to Lynn’s mind. She’s also made sure to get it so that Lynn isn’t going to be going into a psych ward after she has healed up enough. It’s been quite a day and, on the way back to the school, Harvey takes a look at the arm they’ve captured under the microscope, it’s technically got DNA but looks more like what one would see if they stared at things under a kaleidoscope. Fiona, on the other hand, wonders if they should contact Ulrich for more information about these things by dropping by the café.

They get back and shove samples into places and discuss what to do with the arm itself which ends up being to just leave it in its current containment, which is a duct tape covered trash can. It seems to have calmed down and just seems to be waiting and watching. Deciding that contacting Ulrich after he already sent Gabriella to help Lynn would be redundant, they get Steve to give them a ride to Greenwich Village to see Hardison.

So Many Teeth

Benjamin, Fiona, Harlowe, Harvey, and JJ
Hardison’s Antiques
Wednesday October 26th, 2005, 1200 hours
36 E 12th St # 1, New York, NY 10003

Once they get to the address, they find themselves outside an antique shop with a large storefront and multiple nice-looking things inside the window and a name proclaiming itself to be Hardison’s Antiques. Entering in with the arm in a trashcan, a bell rings which causes the trashcan to start shaking immediately like it’s trying to get out before letting out a low animal sound like it’s in pain. JJ tests it by causing the bell to ring repeatedly which causes it to shake even more.

The person manning the counter is staring at them a bit oddly since they’ve got trashcan in arms that’s visibly shaking. She asks if they can help them and they say they need to meet Hardison and they’ve got a card. Fiona offers her help for which Harlowe says that two people wanting to get into his jeans/genes are enough, then corrects himself saying three listing off Harvey and Chessur and now Fiona. Harvey asks if he meant Tabitha in that list much to Harlowe’s confusion asking him what he meant since he thought they were just friends. Tabitha starts cursing really fast in Spanish and walks away when Harlowe mentions that she taught him Spanish as well with Carol in tow.

Handing the card from Gabriella over to the clerk, she calls the group “one of them” and points them down the hall towards a door. Calling for the girls to come back, they go through the door and descend down the stairs behind it to a door with another bell that upon closer look seems to be made from the same metal as that which came from the orbs in the cave. Ringing this bell causes the trashcan to shake even more violently which Harlowe barely keeps contained with his powers and strength combined.

Within an older man in jeans and t-shirts welcomes them in and questions why they’re there where they mention Gabriella and makes him perk up. All around him, is a large amount of various strange devices. He’s even got an electric pendicle from a long time ago that he’s tuning and working on something with a soldering iron. Off to the side of it is a really large and box-y device that’s pulsing at low levels causing the arm pain and making it whimper almost animalistically. Harvey takes a look at it, whatever the light that the thing is producing is on a wavelength that they’ve never seen before, at first it seems like white light but looking closer looks like it’s made from a lot of impossible colours. The sounds it’s producing is very low, but listening to the tone and whatever is in there is like a music box using a specific harmonic frequency that causes harm to whatever is in the case but whatever is within is causing harm to the arm. It’s a good guess that what the circle is on the table is a containment area.

His assistant obviously wouldn’t send them down if they were interested in antiques so he asks them what they’re there for where they explain that their friend is possessed and they’ve got a jar of arm, well trashcan of arm. They show him Gabriella’s business card and mention the arm again much to his alarm that they brought an entity into his shop and insists that it gets put into the circle even in the trashcan. They explain even more to the man, presumably known as Hardison who looks very concerned. Once it’s inside the circle, it throws off the trashcan and tries to escape only for the light above the table to shine brighter and the rainbow-like impossible colours shine brighter.

Hardison identifies it as a class seven entity and it was broken off of something much larger. JJ offers to show him video of the event which fascinates Hardison, looking between the video and the entity. Looking back at the creature, he asks for a copy of the video for his archive which JJ also wants a look into. Harvey also offers his notes on the genetic structure where Hardison says it’s much like Harvey’s mother in a muumuu, just throwing something together. He tells them not to try to understand them with science, that way lies madness as he knows since he was in an asylum for a decade.

He offers them some coffee while he hears the entire story leading them to a sitting area with a large wall full of coffee machines, including an old brass-like thing with lots of tubes. Taking for himself a tiny cup of coffee from the intricate machine, he also offers tea where Harlowe takes a bottle of Lipton’s cold brew for himself. The door to the lab is still open so they can see the creature moving and failing to escape. They even mention the creature’s name of Amon. He explains that they just like to use names from history to talk big and that they’re just right outside of reality. They’ve really stepped into it and things are going to be complicated a bit and they’re going to need some money.

He tries to go for Steve’s bank account when Fiona asks how much he’ll need. About $50,000 or so. Though Harvey and the rest suggest they build some things for him instead, perhaps by using the energy detector goggles which amazes. He’s amazed by how small Harvey got it and moves to show them his version which is almost fifty pounds and connected to cords and using sunglasses with LEDs inside and jumps slightly when he get shocked turning it on. Harvey suggests working on it for him only to hear that Hardison never got it working and puts things away. While Harvey draws down the schematics for his goggles, Hardison goes over their story.

Gabriella was right, they’d need to get close and figure out where it’s tapping in and destroy the metaphorical object that represents the link to Lynn. Even bringing them into their reality, it normally just ends up banishing it outside of reality again. Fiona asks if there’s anything that could cause some real harm to it while Benjamin asks if they sever the link, could they just make another link? Not likely and hurting them would require something that’d actually be able to harm them.

Harlowe, meanwhile, has been staring at the machine holding it captive and then back to the doorway that enters into the room where the bell is. Asking who made the bell, it came from France years ago where it was used by a bellmaker. Benjamin shows him one of the small minerals collected which causes an immediate flash of greed from him before being disguised again when he asks where they collected it when Fiona gets in between Hardison and Benjamin. Harlowe, before he can ask more, inquires after the machine asking if it was using that same metal to create a sound that is then translated to light via some kind of program which shocks Hardison, calling it proprietary technology, but yes.

Harlowe and the rest negotiate with him, a pound of raw minerals in exchange for his laser and a containment device. It’s definitely something that they’d have to look into getting it miniaturized. They’re going to have to go into her head, break the metaphorical link and then zap her with the light gun to finish off breaking the link. Fiona asks what it’s been eating while it’s been eating at Lynn’s, possibly spirit, possibly other things. He takes a picture of Fiona with an odd camera, showing her a photograph of herself with swirling auras around her, that’s her animus. Fiona is still trying to imagine what else could harm and kill it, possibly by poisoning it. There’s not much to really poison a soul, possibly through very bad actions that accumulate in the soul. Fiona suggests maybe bottling up the emotions and whatnot from an asylum and feeding him that.

Asking how they’ve fought it before, they said they use several different methods but mostly they end up with dynamite and just burning them, but the latter doesn’t always get it a hundred percent. They ask if they’re going to have to do things, then he’d need to get building stuff which Harvey and JJ want to help with. Hardison can create a containment device that goes around Lynn, make a synesthetic light/sound weapon, and a way for one person to get into Lynn’s head though since they’ve got Lisa they don’t need it.

Aftermath

They’re going to have to take some time to build the device and by the time they get done then Lynn will be able to get her over to the antique shop where Hardison does have a spare room they could use to contain her while they do everything. Harvey pulls Warren and Ray into things as well and the gadgeteers get together to talk until Hardison accepts that he knows what is going on and they get to work.

Harlowe takes Benjamin aside to ask if he could take some of that metal to create a reed plate for his harmonica, suggesting that if those things get back outside, they could probably use something to get an edge on it, make containing it easier. Hardison says that getting the metal out would also make it easier on him to build these devices as well. Taking on the task, Benjamin overtaxes himself to draw the metal from all the minerals, their outer shell turning to dust and the malleable metal gets placed into molds that Harlowe has created, managing it just barely and tuning it to a perfect G which Harlowe then places it into his harmonica and testing it, causing no end of pain to the arm inside the containment field.

Harlowe wonders if the reason why it’s turned into light is to bleed off the energy that the metal accumulates. Hardison is amazed they don’t know the properties of what they have dubbed Orichalcum. Apparently it will absorb any kind of energy before expelling it, often explosively, in the form of kyberic energy leading to multiple theories before they get to the nitty gritty on how to create the devices they need.

After Action Report (GM)

I got to introduce a weird/crazy NPC and that’s always fun. We kept having to pause the session – and that was annoying – but necessary. When we did play I felt everyone got the spotlight time they wanted and no one felt useless. That’s important to me. Gotta keep the players feeling like they have agency and are getting their due.

This session moved right along and went right to the clock even though the players were still into it I thought. The “techheads” will be doing some in between session stuff to create the tech they discussed with Hardison. As usual, Chris D. remains extremely observant and along with his information synthesis talent has put some stuff together in the game’s deep lore that only a few people know – and only two know it within the campaign. So that’s fun. Overall, I liked it. I hope the second part to this remains equally entertaining.

Other Notes

None.

Soundtrack

“What’s He Building” by Tom Waits
“Hurt (Harmonica Cover)” by The Harmonicist
“No Time To Die (Harmonica Cover)” by Paul Lassey