Session 21: Beyond Reality
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Shadowrun
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Chapter 2 |
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Chapter 1 |
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F.A.T.E. PCs |
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The Situation
Barry Stearns and Kefeng Yau sat as their black sedan wove through the hilly countryside north of San Francisco. The windshield wipers worked as a light rain fell over the area.
Dr. Yau continued to explain the importance of astral rifts in his research. The significance was not lost on Barry. He had spent time in the Chicago Containment Zone. He knew that many have died exploring these exotic areas at the edge of reality.
A holographic image of Doc appeared on the dashboard. "Things have calmed down here a little bit. Eric, Ana, and Wex went into the rift to search for the kids. We've appeased this tree spirit... for now."
Yau replied with some concern, "No! Tell them not to go in. We don't know how stable the rift is. They could be lost forever should it close."
"Too late, Eric did not hesitate. I told him it wasn't worth the risk, but he's the Special Agent," his voice had a hint of resentment.
Yau began to speculate. "Oh dear... there is no predicting when they will come back. The metaplanes are not composed of the same 4 dimensions we are used to. Their dimension corresponding to time is not well understood. Some have entered rifts only to exit immediately, but report that days, months, and in one case years, passed inside the metaplane. That man said he died of old age in the metaplane. Others have experienced the reverse effect, their physical body remaining comatose for months at a time while there metaplanar experience lasts hours or days."
Doc replied, "Well... let's just hope they come back in a few hours... this rift seems to be a nightly phenomenon, it might be gone by morning."
Hours passed as F.A.T.E. waited anxiously to hear from their agents. Barry, Dr. Yau, and other personnel had arrived and set up a temporary workplace in the control room at Peters Dam. Desmond and Hector remained on the island, waiting. Eventually, the sun began to peak over the hilltops. The astral rift, in a visual spectacle, receded. The tree spirit dematerialized. The birds began chirping, and the water on the lake returned to an eerie calm. It was like nothing had happened.
The team spent the morning searching for and recovering the bodies of the three F.A.T.E. agents. They were doing okay, in that they were alive and in the comatose state that Doc witnessed from the others.
For the agents to return to their bodies via the astral rift, their bodies needed to be within the radius of the rift. The plan was, on the next evening, to have the 5 bodies, 3 agents and 2 children, lay in the center of the island, where the rift's epicenter was the night prior.
The feeling was like none the agents had ever experienced before. The feeling of having their soul torn from their body, pulled across a metaphysical dimensional boundary, and reconstructed on the other side. The feeling was both harrowing and sublime. Each agent could feel a rush of air flowing against their skin as their senses adjusted to the new properties of reality. Their vision returned slowly, their mind clearing metaphysical threads and artifacts from their vision, adjusting to the metaplane.
They were in free fall. The air was bitterly cold. The scene below was a mix of green and white. A mix of tree trunks, vines, leaves, and plants they had never seen before filled their vision. A few such leaves and branches smacked them as they fell, but not enough to slow their descent.
Notes
- Wireless signals did not seem to work in the metaplane.
Session Synopsis
The metaplanar travelers, Eric, Anastasia, and Gideon, started their journey in a freefall. This was easily solved by Eric, who summoned an air spirit to catch him as he fell. For Gideon and Anastasia, it was a bit more problematic, but their skillful gymnastics skills allowed them to use passing vines and branches to slow their descent enough to make an acrobatic landing on the larger tree trunks criss-crossing the area.
The group found that their cyberware and gear was downgraded to a 2030's version of itself. Additionally, wireless signals were not working, even for equipment as simple as the subvocal microphones. It seemed the electromagnetic forces functioned differently on this plane.
The group wasn't sure the metaplane had a "ground level" but they did find some large pads that were a good substitute. Unhappy that the great form spirit that was supposed to help them was nowhere to be found, they began some simple exploration to get a further grasp of their surroundings.
The first platform they investigated was larger than it looked. After walking for several hours, they began to wonder if this particular platform didn't extend infinitely in all directions. They decided to search out a local spirit for help. They found a creepy beast spirit watching them, but opted to speak to a more intelligent, force 4 plant spirit that Eric detected with his magic.
The spirit provided some useful information, sating that he knew of humans being on this metaplane but not any children. He said that the humans brought increasing corruption to this metaplane, forcing the spirits to seek other homes. He knew of the great form spirit that Eric was trying to contact, but did not know how to contact him.
The group marched on, toward the rumored human sightings and the direction of the "corruption." The location was days away by foot, but Eric and Wex summoned air spirits to transport the three agents at a much faster speed. They arrived in 24 hours, sleeping in shifts to fight fatigue.
They found this next platform to be increasingly toxic. The tree trunks began to look frail and dead, with leaves nowhere to be found. The grass and moss that was prevalent earlier was nowhere to be found. The snow was picking up speed and the air was more frigid. The ground began to turn into a dirty ash as they continued. Soon, Eric's detect magic spell picked up toxic spirits in the area. In the ash, they found the footsteps of the boys they were looking for. They headed deeper.
Soon they came across a chain link fence, a very odd find. What was a man-made construction doing in such a foreign plane? Beyond the fence the ground was green once again, in a man-made way. They found many fields, as if crops had been grown in them at one time. They even stumbled upon a force 1 earth elemental that appeared to be tending to the fields, perhaps fertilizing the soil.
They continued further, spotting a building in the distance. It looked abandoned, at least 30 or 40 years old. Windows were broken and the door was unlocked. The group searched the building, defeating two toxic spirits that inhabited it. They found alchemy setups that looked like they had been untouched in years. They found something they hadn't seen in years - papers and books. Among the papers were memos with Shiawase Agriculture logos on them, logos that the company used in the 2030's. The group was perplexed.
They carefully examined a few of the books. They appeared to be journals or manuals, hand-written, by scientists years ago. They spoke of the frustration of agricultural experiments in this metaplane. The pages documented failure after failure in all aspects of their project, from growing to transportation. The work appeared to be abandoned years ago.
No sign of the children.
Eric's detect magic soon went off. It detected an active focus within 100 meters. Who could that be? Who could possibly be in this metaplane, at this exact time? Wex was the first to investigate. He saw a figure slip behind a large tree trunk behind the building, clearly aware that they were about to confront some hostilities. He cast invisibility, but the man was somehow aware of his presence.
Ana followed, using her air spirit to lift her to the roof of the building so she could get a clear view over the top. As she peaked over, a gunshot nicked her shoulder. It came from the direction of a second tree trunk in the back. There were at least two opponents.
The male of the opposing group called out, asking who they were confronting.
Eric retorted with some profanity. The other opponent, a female, called back, recognizing Eric's voice. "Vincent? Is that you?"
The group quickly realized they were up against Manami Coltrane and Yukawa Sato. It was so unexpected and so out of the ordinary, that they were left to wonder if these were the real people or just figments of someone's imagination.
A standoff ensued as Eric and Manami began to yell back and forth to each other, trying to gather why the other was even here. Coltrane did reveal that she knew where the children were, and that they were safe. Wex used this time to sneak around the building, invisibly, and flank Coltrane. During this time, Sato summoned two toxic atomic spirits. Battle soon broke out. Eric summoned a force 8 water spirit, raising the stakes against Sato's spirit forces. Sato managed to overcast a mammoth mana bolt at Eric before he could take full cover, sending Eric's body flying back and nearly killing him. Meanwhile, Wex successfully snuck behind Coltrane, catching her offguard and blindsiding her with a debilitating slash to her jugular, nearly killing her.
Anastasia, running on pure adrenaline, moved to stabilize Eric's critical injuries, saving his life. She was, however, unable to heal any of the damage, unfortunately panicking in a critical situation.
Wex spared Coltrane's life while the force 8 water spirit took care of Sato's atomic spirits and Sato himself.
The force 8 spirit left after the battle and Anastasia brought Eric's unconscious body off of the roof and over to Wex and Coltrane. They interrogated Coltrane, inquiring why she was here and what the story was behind all the Shiawase constructs in the area. She explained that her goal was to become the first mundane to ever become artificially awakened, and that this metaplanar journey was moving toward that goal. She further explained that the Shiawase complex here was an experiment abandoned years ago, well before she was born. This story fit with the evidence they found inside the building.
When asked how she could even travel to the metaplanes, she revealed that Shiawase had developed some experimental technology to cross over. It involved the exotic awakened fungus that was recovered from the nuclear reactor at Drakes Bay. They used the intense heat and radiation from the reactor to refine the fungus, somehow leading to its use in creating a man-made astral rift.
She led them to the rift she used to cross over, as well as to the two children, Timmy and Gary Pendergrass, who were in good health. Wex allowed Coltrane to heal herself during the interrogation.
With Eric unconscious, the group was at a loss for how to proceed. They had no way of finding their astral rift. They were undecided on what to do about Coltrane. Just before they left to head back to camp, Coltrane said something that hit Anastasia's nerves. Anastasia, in a moment of carelessness and sadistic rage, shot Coltrane in the foot. She quickly passed out from the pain.
They made camp at the other end of the platform, back in the direction they originally came from. It took Eric two days to regain consciousness. The tree spirit found them soon after Eric woke, tracking down his presence in the metaplane. He seemed surprised the group did not have the patience to wait on him before beginning. But since they had found the children, he offered them the astral rift, a way home.
The group discussed how they would handle Coltrane. It was a difficult decision for the team; they considered all possible scenarios and the morality of the various choices. A woman's life was in their hands, and although she had been a thorn in F.A.T.E.'s side for some time, there was a feeling that deep inside, she did not deserve to be so mercilessly killed. She lay there, unconscious, unarmed, and helpless, tortured by the physical and emotional pain of defeat. Eric had spent some time with her on a more personal level, and knew he couldn't be the one to order her death. It wasn't fair, and probably something she did not deserve. However, she had considerable dirt on F.A.T.E.'s operation and its agents. She knew too much to be left working for Shiawase. Especially considering she was the daughter of Shiawase's fabled MFID. She had a direct connection to the top of Shiawase intelligence.
The agents came to a decision. They would wake her up, and offer her a deal - they would let her live if she agreed to turn herself into CFS authorities upon returning to the physical world. Ana took the kids for a walk while Eric and Wex worked the first aid to wake her. With the analyze truth spell activated, they asked her the fateful question.
It was a lose-lose proposition for her. If she turned herself in, she subjected herself to the mercy of the California justice system, to a life at Alcatraz, to the same fate as Senator Yasuji Shimada, if not worse. On the other hand, they could just kill her now. That seemed like the easy way out.
Still clinging to her sharp intellect, despite the pain, she proposed an alternative. She remain free, and become an informant for the F.A.T.E. agents. She would swear to hold the identity of F.A.T.E.'s agents secret, and speak to no one of the events or agreements that transpired on this metaplane. It seemed like a win-win for both sides. F.A.T.E. gets a double agent with direct connections to the highest levels of Shiawase intelligence. She gets to keep her life.
It was a risky proposition for her. Shiawase intelligence has a fierce code of ethics and if she were to be caught, her fate would be far worse than any fate offered to her now. But it was a risk she was willing to take. An opportunity to do something for the greater good in her life, something on her own merit. Apparently working as a CEO of a AAA corporation and associating with toxic mages in the pursuit of gaining magic powers was eating away at her soul. The analyze truth spell confirmed her intentions, and the agreement was made.
The agents left Coltrane and entered the rift, returning to the bodies much to the delight of the F.A.T.E. employees on the other side anxiously awaiting their return. There was one person on Earth happier than any other: Mrs. Pendergrass, upon being re-untied with her sons.
Aftermath
The debriefing took place in a conference room at the control facility at Peters Dam. The south wall of the conference room was one giant pane of glass overlooking the lake. The sky was turning purple as the sun peaked over the eastern horizon. Anastasia, Gideon, and Eric told their story and J.P., Barry, and Dr. Yau took in every detail. Yau must have used the word "fascinating" at least 20 times.
There were periods of silence after they finished explaining each and every detail that occurred. Dr. Yau was deep in thought, processing the new revelations that Shiawase had been experimenting with mundane metaplanar travel for several decades, only to abandon each attempt. J.P. and Barry were also deep in thought, pondering the advantages and inherent dangers of having the daughter of Shiawase's top intelligence officer operating as an informant for F.A.T.E.
J.P. commended the team, particularly Eric, for their heroism and success in rescuing the two children. He asked that all three agents report to Doc to make sure their health was unaltered by the metaplanar events. Eric did have an intense headache; it was clear the impact of the mana bolt had carried into this world as well as the metaplane.
Over the next several days, the astral rift remained visible for increasingly longer periods of time. By May 1, the rift was a permanent feature in the Lake Kent landscape. The CFS government stepped up the security around the Lucas Valley evacuation zone, militarizing it substantially. It had the look of a border between hostile nations, such as the one between PCC and Aztlan.
The F.A.T.E. brass also decided to release Bolum Bolum, sans his foci, to a local hospital with no further interaction with him.
Results
Status: Complete
Dates: April 22-26
Quote of the night:
- Little Timmy: "I'm hungry."
- Anastasia: "Eat your fingers."
Nuyen: 5,000¥ mission award + 2,500¥ bonus for metaplanar travelers
Stipend: 2,495¥ remaining
Karma Awarded: 12 + 3 bonus to metaplanar travelers
- 7 Karma: standard mission award
- 5 Karma: end of chapter award
- 3 Karma: metaplanar travel bonus (Eric, Wex, and Ana only)
Additional Awards:
- Manami Coltrane is now a contact for all F.A.T.E. agents at Loyalty 2, Connections 6.
- Exception: Eric Black, Loyalty 3
- Exception: Anastasia Ellison, Loyalty 1
- Free knowledge skill for metaplanar travelers: Metaplanes 1