AEON E1-Team: Season 1, Session 3 – Skulls

Dramatis Personae

• Hannah “Hot Lips” Hayes (NPC): TBA. Tagline: “TBA.”
• Li “Cookie” Xuan (NPC): TBA. Tagline: “TBA.”

Previously . . .

The group continue to head back towards the plane with the lone dog and crazy unconscious woman in tow. Back in town, Hux and Electro throw some of their electronic equipment and skills at the skull to see what it reads as, but it has no reaction, literally. It’s also getting harder to perceive it, normally any otherwise, attaining an illusory quality to it. Apex explains how she communicates with it when it’s mentioned that it doesn’t seem like it wants to go into a box. Nero agrees that since it’s apparently contrite, sending it to a box doesn’t seem like a good idea considering he doesn’t like being sent to a box either.

Mother

Apex, Boombox, Electro, Hux, and Nero
Malvinas Argentinas International Airport
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020, 1000 hours (GMT-3)
V9401 Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina

After some investigation, Hux declares it’s magic and therefore he has nothing to do with it. As Hux mentions it, a radio on the plane starts playing Everything She Does is Magic much to Hux’s concern as he attempts to determine what’s controlling it. He’s able to detect what’s controlling the radio but not where it’s coming from, seeing it as a radio wave that just comes from a different energy. Hux asks if the skull is doing that and the song changes to Yes by Usher. Electro and Nero get distracted by some Pringles as Hux asks if the skull has a name when Mother by Danzig comes on. It’s confirmed that it calls itself Mother. Boombox attempts to smooth over relations and asks that it promises that it won’t affect them like it did the other people.

When asked what they want from them, the song You’ve Got A Friend by James Taylor but falls silent when asked how old it is which suggests that Mother doesn’t know before Riders on the Storm starts to play. They ask if Mother was conscious previously which is answered by The Lions Sleep Tonight. Hux gets close to Electro before suggesting that it might not be a benevolent intelligence. Apex asks the skull if it thinks that the people petrification may happen again, to which No Diggity starts to play in response. When asked if it knows who or what did it, Apex (and therefore Boombox) get the feeling of regret from the skull. Boombox, as they communicate, starts to play songs back.

Electro asks how protected the internet connection is as he wants to check online for occult and historical things to see if a crystal skull has appeared previously. Crystal skulls have appeared through history. They don’t have defined looks, some are animalistic, some are human, some are polished into shape and some are carved. There’s the Hutchin skull collection in the British Museum and this one is similar to it in its unusual construction. It defies a search engine description and there’s too much to draw useful information.

Apex speaks with the skull, asking if it can emit specific notes such as a C-Flat which it does. Mapping notes to letter when Hux starts working on a speech synthesizer based on that concept for it to put out complete sentences. While Hux is still working on the vocoder, Apex asks if its name is Mother or if it’s the closest one that it could find in a song. It replies with AMA and Boombox introduces each other. Nero asks if it ever had a body, curious if there’s a crystal body somewhere only for it to remain silent. When asked if there’s something they could help it with, it replies SOON, SLEEPY, WAKING. Hux asks if there’s a way to help wake it up, it replies NO. Electro suggests some kegs of coffee. Asking if the petrified people can be recovered, it says NO.

Asked if it needs more bodies to wake up, it says NO. Asked if it was in danger, it says YES. That something was looking for it. The orichalcum balls are just metal now, nothing to do with the people that they came from. It indicates what it did to the people was a defensive mechanism. Nero suggest that they were digging and it was perceived as danger and the backlash occurred. The cave itself seems like it had been closed up a long time ago and them opening it back up woke it. Nero suggests not telling people they’ve got a crystal skull which the rest agree with.

Vilnian Revealed

Boombox and Nero
Alverz Free Clinic
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020, 1600 hours (GMT-3)
De la Estancia 1925, V9410 Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

Nero suggests that since it can control a radio, perhaps give it a drone to ride around on, possibly with a large gun or bomb. Electro waves it off and suggests they read up on the computer for the archaeology logs. Apex asks what it was in danger from and when she wakes up five minutes later, she cannot remember what she was shown. Her system is going wild while she was out, her heart getting close to exploding from how fast it was going. She isn’t able to describe what she learned from the skull. Nero tells the skull that they’re a lot more fragile than it may think. It speaks into Nero’s brain saying SORRY in what can be considered all caps.

Nero questions how the doctor knew that there were rebels and hostages and all and suggests that he sent them there to investigate and possibly find the skull. Boombox suggests sending him so they don’t end up with a wreck of a conversation. Nero turns into a tiny bug, leaving most of his biomass behind, and Hux outfits Boombox with some electronic bugs. When he arrives at the clinic, he finds it dark and closed but obviously with people inside. He listens in on what’s happening inside where they’re just talking about various medical things, nothing nefarious. Boombox makes a loud knocking sound to see if anyone actually opens the doors since they’re closed.

A nurse comes to the door and speaks to him in rapid-fire Portuguese saying that they’re closed at the moment. He tells her that he’s not there for medical treatment, that he’s there to report back to Dr. Alvarez. She invites him inside with a bit of a blush. Dr. Alvarez is inside the office which is crowed with files and all sorts of supplies where Boombox reports in that there’s no rebels or hostages and they couldn’t find anyone in the village itself and asks if he’s got any news.

Alvarez reveals that he was originally planning to keep several layers between himself and the team, but as it’s obvious that they’ve found something, he reveals himself as the villain. Or at least that’s what people will say. He refuses to monologue as he’s not a Saturday morning cartoon villain, and if there was anything that can stop it then he wouldn’t have even said anything. Boombox tries to suggest that if there’s nothing to stop it then he’d need to know what it is that he cannot stop so they have a chance to stop it. Alvarez just looks at him as though he’s an idiot and says no.

Boombox suggests that Alvarez tell him why he’s going to be considered a villain as he’s standing in front of someone that can literally blast him apart with soundwaves, only for Alvarez says that he admires Boombox’s tenacity. As Nero runs off of Boombox, Alvarez says that he appreciates that Boombox may be able to vibrate him apart at the atomic level, the thing that he’d need to take into account is what if Boombox couldn’t. The nurse that Boombox spoke to a moment ago comes up from behind with waves of energy coming off of her in a colour that is impossibly coloured like she’s pulsing and Boombox can tell that he’s being suppressed when he fails to make his hands vibrate. Boombox immediately requests for help under his breath so that the others can hear it before turning to the nurse and trying to suggest that it’s all a misunderstanding before she shoots him with a dart which he dodges and impales itself into a chair.

A flash of light occurs and suddenly the nurse and Alvarez is gone and Boombox’s powers return. A tiny Nero comes forth from the cockroach form, saying that there’s no one there. When they all get back together, they suggest that maybe next time they just start off by blasting them. It’s suggested that Electro comes along next time as he’s apparently the only guy that wouldn’t have screwed up a conversation. They discuss safe words and what people should look out for and say when they need help immediately. Apex asks AMA if it knows Dr. Alvarez, showing a picture when suddenly Danger by Mystical comes playing over the radio.

Aftermath

There’s suggestion that he was someone that was a part of that group when things started happening and there’s no real innocents there. That they were hired to retrieve the skull as they had the powers to be able to do it. Electro suggest they grab the computers and check out files while Nero suggest that they look into travel arrangements, checking everywhere even in the trash. They don’t find anything of actual interest while Boombox decides to fly into the air and listen for their voices, going into a meditation to listen. He can hear near everything, but not the two he’s listening for. There is an odd vibration in the air though, something that is weird and unlike the world he’s familiar with and causes him to shudder to the bone.

He flies back down and informs the team of what he’s determined much to their consternation. Nero asks AMA if it’s the only one of its kind to only receive silence in return, even Hux’s prodding doesn’t return anything. Nero says they’ll need to think of one thing, that they’re assuming that the flash of light originated inside the room. That the flash could have come from anywhere or anyone so they move to look at the camera. The flash occurs, they’re there one frame and gone the next, Apex is able to tell that there’s something there but can’t tell quite what. Alvarez isn’t making a gesture, but his eyes are looking at something in the corner.

They move to look at the corner, Electro finds a hidden camera in the wall, cleverly hidden in the stucco. Hux moves to plug into the camera when several danger senses go off saying they need to get out of the room right there and then. Electro grabs Hux’s arm and immediately smashes through the window. They get away from the building only for nothing to happen for a long time and then it explodes. Hux is able to determine that it was an electronic ignition of a block of C4 that was homemade. It’s suggested that they get out of there immediately as explosions tend to draw attention, especially ones in a hospital. Boombox asks why they can’t just go after someone that’s committing tax evasion.

After Action Report (GM)

CRYSTAL. SKULLS. I love the skulls. They are one of the glues that hold AEON together and I’ve only just started to be able to use them in a more pronounced way. This makes me happy. Session was good. Players got annoyed with the radio broadcast bit I was doing so Mother switched over to a yes/no/unknown/maybe replies. Is there a reason other than malicious gamemastership? Yes. And no, I’m not gonna tell you. Not yet at least.

Other Notes

None.

Soundtrack

“Mother” by Danzig
“Everything She Does is Magic” by the Police
“Danger (Been So Long)” by Mystikal ft. Nivea
“Enemy” by Imagine Dragons x J.I.D

AEON E1-Team: Season 1, Session 5 – Low