kaijubot
2nd Incarnation
Kicking Evil Very Hard in the Face
Posts: 12
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Post by kaijubot on Sept 4, 2011 13:51:25 GMT
S1E01 – The Lost FutureIt’s almost Christmas, 2009. Lisa Fielding has been having bad dreams… Jimmy “Maverick” Smith is let out of his cell in the Young Offenders Institute for breakfast. As he leaves the cell the camera zooms in on the window as a Smart Car appears to be fading in and out of existence, finally settling on “in”. And there’s a noise… Med student Tom Weaver gets up early; classes are over for Christmas and he has reading to catch up on. The camera tracks him walking down a corridor towards the university library only to stop and focus on a wall as that sound plays again a door marked “Broom Cupboard” appears on the wall… And we cut to the Opening Credits. Weaver gets to the library, where the Librarian is surprised to see him. Librarian: “Back again, Tom?” Weaver: “I have reading to do.” Librarian: “Don’t most students your age have parties this time of year?” Weaver: “I think it’s a little too early in the day for that.” Lisa’s up and on her way to the lab. She has the day’s set up when Jack, one of her colleagues shows up. Jack: “I thought you were off today.” Lisa: “Don’t think so.” Jack: “Did you forget today was your day off?” Lisa: “Um…” Jack: “Rotas are behind you. Sure enough, she has her dates mixed up. And that’s not the only thing. Lisa: “I should do some Christmas shopping, then. Who am I buying for?” Jack: “Well, start with your family. And I wouldn’t say no.” As she’s putting stuff away she seems someone looking into the lab. A hooded figure in a silver mask. It turns and walks away. Curiosity piqued, Lisa follows it down the corridor to a stairway, where three more masked figures are waiting. The first turns around. Masky: “Target acquired.” Lisa: “Uh oh.” Lisa runs, the masked figures following with a slasher-movie-villain-power-walk. It’s not long before they catch up. And then she trips. The four figures stand around Lisa as she looks up. Everything goes white, then the corridor is empty. Jimmy is minding his own business with a book when Marcus, one of his fellow offenders, taps him on the shoulder. Marcus: “Jimmy, I just want to check, have you been seeing things?” Jimmy: “No, why?” Marcus: “Because I could have sworn I just saw a girl in here.” Jimmy: “A girl? A girl wouldn’t last five minutes in here.” Jimmy ends up going back to his book as, in the background, President Obama is about to take the podium for an important speech. Just outside of London, The Doctor fails to stop The Master from using the Immortality Gate and overwriting the human race. Suddenly, every human in the Naismith estate, save Wilf, begins to glow a sinister blue in a twisted parody of Regeneration, and become The Master. In the library, Weaver hears screaming. Looking around he sees the other patrons glowing and changing. Briefly wondering why he hasn’t been effected, Weaver has an urge to open his diary. As he does, yellow light begins to pour out from the pages… Jimmy watches as the Detention Centre’s human population, offender and otherwise, begin to scream and glow. He looks around to figure out what is happening, suddenly and oddly realising he needs his compass, currently in storage with the rest of the belongings taken when he was arrested. Said storage being on the other side of the security stations… As the Masters turn on Jimmy he runs, using every nook and cranny to hide from his disturbingly alike pursuers. Confident he’s lost them, he turns back, easily getting through the hastily abandoned security doors and bypassing the lock on Storage. Grabbing his compass, something tells Jimmy he wants to be somewhere safer when he opens it. Looking out the window, Jimmy sees the Smart Car, alone a field. It takes him surprisingly little effort to overcome the fences around the site and Jimmy runs to the Smart Car, chased by a small army of Masters. Handily the car door is unlocked. Jimmy opens the door to find a cavernous chamber inside. It’s bigger on the inside. More importantly, the Masters are closing. Jimmy climbs inside and shuts the door. A ring of spotlights in the floor around the edge of the chamber begin to light up, revealing a gleaming metal room. Three more doors lead away while six consoles form a ring around a clear pillar containing several interlocked crystals. Jimmy: “I’ve died and gone to the Federation.” A quick check of the consoles reveals a plaque: Type 72 Travel (TARDIS) Capsule. Feeling much safer inside, Jimmy opens the compass. The screen does a funky split-screen thing to show Jimmy and Weaver reabsorbing the Time Lord essences and regaining themselves. Weaver glances around the library as the Masters approach. Spotting a fire escape, he runs at it, slamming into it as he forgets to push down the leaver. Forcing the lever down Weaver dashes outside into the street as more Masters approach from one direction. Weaver almost dashes into the silver-masked figures advancing from the other direction. Backing into the wall, Weaver finds both groups penning him in. Weaver: “I will happily surrender to either of you, as long as you deal with the other one.” The Masters look at each other and shrug. The silver-masked roboforms reveal weapons and turn to face the Masters. The Masters start throwing lighting bolts around. Weaver runs for it. He runs past the battle into the next street, and spots a broom cupboard. He can tell it’s a broom cupboard because that’s what the sign says. The fact that its outside the building is rather strange, but it makes a good hiding place. Jimmy hides as the TARDIS door opens, watching as Weaver enters and looks around. Realising Weaver isn’t a threat, Jimmy reveals himself. The two are somewhat wary of each other. Weaver: “Let’s find some points of commonality: It’s December 21st 2009 and we’re in London.” Jimmy: “We are?” Weaver: “Where were you?” Jimmy: “Devon.” Weaver: “Well, at least we’ve established we’re on Earth.” Elsewhere, Lisa wakes up to find herself in what looks like a warehouse, trapped in one of those spotlight-of-doom forcefields. The silver-masked figures patrol the warehouse while a black-masked figure attends some kind of large console or machine. Lisa tries to get his attention. Black-masked Man: “I see the abomination is awake.” Lisa: “Excuse me?” He explains that he is ensuring a future for their race free from genetic corruption, and makes allusions to Lisa not knowing who she really is. Lisa starts unconsciously playing with her locket. Back in the TARDIS, Weaver: “Ooh, red lights are never good.” Hologram: “Emergency Protocols activated.” Weaver: “At least we have protocols.” The Hologram goes on. Hologram: “Zeta cell member designation Setoc endangered. Rescue mission authorised. Initialising transport to location.” There’s a thud as the TARDIS lands. Jimmy: “Ever get the feeling we were plan Z?” Weaver: “Yeah, but it’s Greek letters, so that would make us plan omega.” Jimmy sits down at a console to try and see if they find anything about the location they’re arrived at. Weaver: “Oh mighty TARDIS, without whom we are lost…” Jimmy: “Are you praying to the spaceship?” Weaver: “It couldn’t hurt.” (Screen comes on) “See, I told you prayer never hurt.” Jimmy gets the scanner working, showing the street outside the warehouse, along with the main entrance to the warehouse. He also finds the glove compartment, finding a glove (with small computer attached) and a silver rubix cube. Jimmy grabs the glove and throws the cube at Weaver. Inside the warehouse an alarm sounds. Black-masked Man: “And here we go.” Weaver plays with the cube, figuring out the forcefield function quite quickly. They head out, Jimmy rather surprised the TARDIS is no longer a Smart Car. Weaver: “A working chameleon circuit.” Weaver: “You think it’s a trap?” Jimmy: “I always think it’s a trap. That way, I’m pleasantly surprised when it isn’t.” The boys run into the warehouse, right into a pair of spotlight-of-doom forcefields. Weaver: “We’re the rescue party.” Black-masked Man monlogues a little about ensuring a proper future for the Time Lords. Lisa still has no idea what he’s going on about. Jimmy: “I don’t think she’s opened it yet.” Black-masked Man: “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be taking your TARDIS.” Gas starts to pour into the forcefield-encased areas as the BMM walks away. Weaver: “We appear to be in a moderate amount of peril, we should probably pay attention.” Jimmy starts fiddling away on the wrist-mounted computer, while Weaver begins twisting the cube in new directions. Lisa opens the locket, screaming and falling to her knees as her Time Lord nature reasserts itself. Setoc stands up and looks around for the BMM. He feels wrong, like his mind is much more distant than his body is. Jimmy gains access to the warehouse’s systems, dropping for forcefields. The roboforms advance upon them as Setoc runs after the BMM. She catches up with him and pulls the mask off. As she does he collapses into a puddle of milk-like goo. Jimmy shuts down the roboforms. The three Time Lords inspect the machine, which turns out to be a computer analysing quad-helix DNA. Setoc realises that it is Time Lord DNA. Jimmy realises that the building is about to fill with the clone-race the humans have turned into. They quickly download the data from the computer and rush back to the TARDIS. Inside, with the rescue complete, the consider what they know. Firstly, that whatever happened to the humans resembled Regeneration so its possible a Time Lord was involved. The set the scanner to look for other Time Lords. Hologram: “Unable to contact Gallifrey. Unable to contact Alpha cell. Unable to contact Beta cell. Unable to,,, Weaver: “We get the idea.” Hologram: “Unable to scan local timeline due to interference from a Time Lock.” Whatever is happening, the can’t access it. The Cloister Bell starts to ring. Hologram: “Temporal Anomaly detected. Initialising dematerialisation.” The Broom Cupboard door disappears, and the End Credits roll. CommentaryAnd so went the first session of this short Doctor Who: AITAS series. The basic premise is that during the closing stages of the Time War, roughly two dozen young Time Lords were hidden using Chameleon Arch technology. During the events of The End of Time, one of those cells were activated. So this session was largely about getting the crew together and on the TARDIS, as well as introducing the bad guy. Also, this series assumes the Matt Smith era never happened (The Tenth Doctor being pulled into the Time Lock along with The Master and Gallifrey), although elements from the Smith era will probably show up. Jimmy "Maverick" Smith is 15 years old, and began play serving an 18 month sentence in a Young Offenders institute for a crime not yet disclosed to his comrades. His gadget is a scanner-gauntlet. Tom Weaver was a 19 year old Med student with an interest in genetics. His gadget is the AnGEL; Ancillary Guardian of Environment and Life; a rubix cube like protective device. Lisa Fielding/Setoc was a 24 year old researcher and lab technician. She's prone to distraction, and psychic. Her gadget will be a compass that always shows you where you want to go, once it shows up. This was my first time running the game, and everyone's first time playing it. For the next session I'm going to have a better idea of what target numbers should be used because for this session the "Yes, but" result never really mattered outside of the short chase scene (that involved totally the wrong character for chases). So I'm looking on improving on that. 3 Time Lords, 1 TARDIS, all of time and space. As the Doctor would say, Geronimo!
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kaijubot
2nd Incarnation
Kicking Evil Very Hard in the Face
Posts: 12
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Post by kaijubot on Sept 10, 2011 17:55:05 GMT
S1E02 – Howl of the WolvesThe woods are dark, and something is howling as it races after The Girl, the girl who was foolish enough to believe she could escape the monster in its home. She stumbles, and suddenly something is stood over her. We just see the indistinct, almost human silhouette as everything goes white… Cue titles. Picking up with the Time Lords, we find them where we left them as the TARDIS detects an anomaly and hi-jacks its crew to go investigate. Jimmy checks the read-out, which claims the year to be 1250. Weaver, however, has a slightly different priority and asks if they have time to get changed. Setoc: “What’s wrong with what you’re wearing? Weaver: “I look like a student!” Setoc and Jimmy consider this; Jimmy realises he’s still in “uniform” from the Institute. They find that the TARDIS wardrobe runs in a spiral column, heading both up and down from the Control Room’s level. So the audience get treated to a fashion montage as the three Time Lords choose what to wear… Jimmy ends up with a red hoody with a series of sown-on patches down the right sleeve. (NASA, Martian Rocket Sled Racing League, a Galliferyan symbol). The left sleeve is cut-off at the elbow to fit over his scanner gauntlet. Over the top of the hoody he's wearing a black tool vest with lots of pockets and a name patch over the left breast reading "Maverick". Finishing off, he dons dark grey cargo pants, stained with oil and engine grease, and rugged boots. Setoc goes for baggy tan trousers tucked into black knee-high Cossack style boots with a loose white blouse and fitted dark red waistcoat. Over this ensemble she wears a flared knee length brown coat. Weaver settles for a grey 1980s suit with high collared shirt and red 1880s cravat, plus a pair of Napoleonic era high boots. Almost ready to go, but Setoc wants her compass. Jimmy checks the glove compartment, this time pulling it all the way out. Sure enough, the compass is at the back. Jimmy: “Is that one of those weird ones that don’t point north?” Setoc: “It points where I want to go.” And, all ready to explore, they step out of the TARDIS, into some dark and twisting woods. The TARDIS resembles a wattle and daub hut. Weaver: “Everybody remember where we parked.” They try to establish where they are in addition to when, knowing only that there’s some kind of anomaly nearby. Jimmy decides to reconnoitre the old fashioned way and starts climbing a tree. Weaver doesn’t understand why Jimmy doesn’t just use his scanner gauntlet. The debate moves on to the skill necessary to fly the TARDIS, something Setoc is confident she can do. The boys challenge her to do so. The TARDIS ends up invisible. Oops. Luckily, the have scanners to find it again. Jimmy spotted a village not far beyond the woods, and a stone keep beyond that. Must have been a tall tree. And the smoke implies the village is inhabited. So, finally, off they go. Trekking through the woods they are slightly surprised when they hear Ulthgar: “Greetings, travellers!” Jimmy: “Yo.” Ulthgar: “That’s the strangest greeting I have ever received.” Jimmy: “So was yours.” Weaver: “You’ll have to excuse him; he’s Cornish.” Setoc raises the point of what the man is doing there; he explains he was investigating tales of monsters in the woods, before finally introducing himself as Ulthgar. Wait, monsters? Sure enough, it seems that some of the villagers have disappeared in the last six weeks; most recent was the daughter of Aedric the Smith, before that the sons of Samson, one of the farmers. The villagers are somewhat spooked. Ulthgar suggests there may be safety in numbers and so the four head to the village. Ulthgar is happy to chat as they walk. Soon afterwards they arrive at the village. Ulthgar heads to speak to the local priest while the Time Lords consider their options. Weaver: “Let’s see if we can solve this mystery. Ooh, we need a talking dog.” He gets blank looks from both his companions. Setoc wanders off to go speak to Aedric, finding him more than rather drunk. Aedric: “Why is the mead always gone?” Setoc: “I think you’ve had more than enough.” Setoc explains that she’s looking into the disappearances. Aedric explains that his daughter Theresa had been picking herbs near the woods that night, when a storm came out of nowhere. Theresa never made it home that night, and with all the beasts in the forest Aedric’s resigned to her meeting a messy fate. Setoc asks about finding Samson; Aedric directs her to the fields down the road. She meets up with the boys, who, well… immy: “The local witchdoctor.” Weaver: “What doctor?” Jimmy: “Which doctor?” Weaver: “That doctor.” Jimmy: “Oh shut up.” Setoc relates what she was told and says she’s going to see Samson. Jimmy’s gauntlet beeps. Jimmy: “TARDIS went ding.” Weaver: “Is there stuff?” Setoc walks off while Weaver tries to decide who to go with. So that leaves Jimmy as the only option. They head back towards the woods. Setoc marches down to the fields, where Samson is the only one tending to the crops. He’s rather surprised to see her, or that anyone is bothering with the missing youths since Lord Patrick doesn’t seem to be interested at all, and barely bothered with the village since his visitor arrived. Samson’s sons, Garrett and Simeon, had been down by the woods when the wolves started howling and a storm came up out of nowhere… Wait a second. Wolves? Well, that’s what Samson thinks. He’d headed off to gather a rescue party and never saw anything else, but some of the others claimed to see some kind of monster. Oh, and the storm was a bit odd as well. Setoc pulls out her compass and it starts pointing towards the woods. Off she goes. Jimmy and Weaver track the signal through the woods until the come to a bit of a clearing and the scanners go ding. A quick scan reveals that there is some kind of hi-tech device under the ground in that clearing. Jimmy tries to access the device’s operating system but instead trips an alarm and the device powers up, just before a storm starts to form. The boys take the chance to hide as a lightning bolt hits the clearing. The boys’ vision clears and they see the creature. Part human, judging from the torso, with grafter on wolf heads and legs with cybernetic augmentation to finish off. Weaver: “It’s either a were-borg or a cyber-wolf.” In any case, it’s definitely in the wrong time and place. The boys run and the were-borg follows. Jimmy handles the woods well but Weaver trips. Picking himself up, Weaver gets a good look at the were-borg as it leaps at him. Weaver throws himself out of the way and pulls out the AnGEL cube. Scanning the were-borg he discovers part of the purpose behind the cybernetics is dispensing chemicals to prevent tissue rejection. He quickly decides to try and disable one of these, but the were-borg is too fast and throws Weaver around, knocking the Time Lord unconscious. There’s another flash of lightning and Jimmy realises Weaver isn’t with him. He heads to the TARDIS. Setoc’s compass suddenly spins to point in the opposite direction. Setoc spins round to follow the new path, heading towards Lord Patrick’s keep. Jimmy buckles himself in at the TARDIS controls and is relieved to see the “Limited Access Granted” display lit. He brings up the Chameleon Circuit controls to find something less conspicuous than a flying hut. He picks a condor as a suitable disguise, and the TARDIS takes to the sky. Setoc looks up to see a golden condor flying overhead. But before she can deal with that, she has to get into the keep. The guard seems reluctant to pass: No admittance without an appointment, it seems. However, Setoc opens her compass and shows it to the guard as she explains that she is, in fact, expected, and that the guard has been told this. The guard suddenly feels very foolish and promises not to mention his mistake. The golden condor lands on the ramparts and shifts into the form of an extra tower. Somehow, this goes unnoticed by anyone in the keep. Jimmy exits the TARDIS just in time to see Setoc disappear inside. He decides to find an alternate entrance. Jimmy: “Breaking out of prison, breaking in to prison, breaking out of prison again…” Weaver wakes up to find himself in what, from the inside, seems a lot like a bacta tank. He can see several other tanks like his, some contain more were-borgs but a handful contain three youths. Setoc has the choice of up or down. She chooses down, then rethinks it when she arrives at the dungeon door, guarded by a familiar looking silver-masked Roboform. She heads back up the stairs before it can shoot her. Setoc and Jimmy find themselves in the keep’s audience chamber, with Lord Patrick and a Sontaran. They weren’t expecting that. They raise the issue of Patrick allowing his human villagers to be used as test subjects. Sontaran: “That’s interesting. You speak as though you are not human yoursel” Jimmy: (beat) “Oops?” Turns out the Sontaran has a scanner gauntlet himself and is rather surprised to see Time Lords. Jimmy convinces him that there are ten Time Lords in their group, which prompts the Sontaran to begin emergency clean up and activate the were-borgs. A high-pitched tone fills the keep… … in the dungeon, Weaver sees the were-borgs activating and heading upstairs. He gets out the AnGEL and begins finding a way out of his tank. Setoc used Jimmy’s accidental but convenient distraction to hide and sneaks up on the escaping Sontaran. She throws the her compass at the probic vent… …were-borgs pour into the audience chamber. Lord Patrick and his guards ready themselves… …Jimmy counters the control frequency, freeing the were-borgs from the Sontaran’s control. Now they’re wild were-borgs… …Weaver escapes the tank as the Roboform walks in, weapon in hand. Weaver just about evades the shot, which damages the environmental systems. The human captives life-sign displays turn red… …The Sontaran collapses, stunned from the impact… …Jimmy finds a frequency to stun the were-borgs, effectively shutting them down. Weaver uses the AnGEL to restore function to the tanks, before being shot for his trouble. Jimmy hears the scream from the dungeon and runs downstairs, slam-tackling the Roboform, smashing it on the ground. It ceases to move. Setoc recovers the Sontaran’s scanner gauntlet as she hears the sound of a mob outside. It turns out the golden condor was taken as some kind of sign by the villagers and now they’re doing something about their no-good Lord. Setoc convinces them that Patrick had been under the influence of a Warlock and therefore not entirely responsible for his (lack of) actions. Then she notices the gauntlet beeping. Emergency Temporal Shift. She dashes back to replace the gauntlet on the Sontaran, then uses telepathy to inform Jimmy and Weaver. They usher everybody out of the keep before the Time Lords head to the TARDIS. Just before he shuts the door, Weaver notices a teenage girl in sunglasses, peeping around a corner holding some kind of gadget. But there’s an Emergency Temporal Shift about to happen. Jimmy buckles in and metaphorically fires up the engine. The TARDIS lands back in the woods. A quick trip reveals that the villagers are fine, though the entire keep is now missing. Satisfied that the village is safe the Time Lords return to the TARDIS. Weaver is wondering why The Puppeteer would run experiments on humans given how much he appeared to despise them back in London. And how does Weaver know that he’s called The Puppeteer? Questions for another time. Jimmy finds the TARDIS controls remain unlocked. All of time and space is there before them. Time to go. Audio Commentaryn finding the teleportation device Jimmy’s Player: “So what is it?” Weaver’s Player: “Well, I’ve never seen one before but I believe it’s a white hole.” Setoc’s Player: “Saw that one coming.” immy’s Player: “I can change the Chameleon Circuit from hut to condor.” Weaver’s Player: “Where do you put the door?” Setoc uses the compass’ Hypnotism function. Jimmy’s Player: “You don’t need to see my identification.” Setoc heads to the keep’s dungeon Setoc’s Player: “Down?” Weaver’s Player: “She chose down!”
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kaijubot
2nd Incarnation
Kicking Evil Very Hard in the Face
Posts: 12
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Post by kaijubot on Sept 15, 2011 10:54:53 GMT
Now with added plotholes... S1E03 – Deathrace 7000Weaver and Setoc are running around a commercial space station, desperately trying to find Jimmy, who they seem to have lost right after boarding the station. They meet in the viewing lounge, where holographic banners announce the Centennial Skeksis Rift Grand Prix. Jimmy wakes up in the cockpit of a modified Jathaa Sunglider, just as a voice comes from the comms. Announcer: “Competitors, start your engines.” And looking around, Jimmy can see almost two dozen other races, engines flaring up. Cue titles. The Skeksis Rift, year 7000, six hundred lightyears from the Medusa Cascade, a netural area between eight interstellar nations. Every century a prestigious grand prix is held. Extra security is provided by the local Cyber-Legion in exchange for a recruitment station, having adopted a non-violent approach to conversion in this sector. And our Time Lords have landed just in time… Barely able to remember arriving at the station, Setoc and Weaver consider their options before Setoc remembers she’s telepathic and manages to establish a connection with Jimmy. Setoc: “Where are you?” Jimmy: “I’m in number six.” And sure enough, as the list of drivers/teams comes up, “Maverick” is listed as the pilot of craft six, driving for McLaren. He doesn’t remember how he got there, but it’s too late as the signal lights go green and the race begins. From the observation lounge it looks like a barrage of missiles, small glinting objects with ion trails tailing behind them. The racers dash towards the first checkpoint, with Jimmy guiding his craft nimbly through the scrum to end up with the leading pack. Weaver: “Tell him to try not to crash and we’ll see him at the finishing line. Dacquin?” Setoc is trying to relay this when Jimmy goes out of range. Jimmy: “Of all the times to go through a tunnel! Metaphorically speaking.” And Jimmy starts approaching the first asteroid field. Meanwhile, Setoc and Weaver are arguing over what to do, and Weaver’s feeling that he has little to contribute given the current situation. Weaver: “I have a very narrow field. I do not go outside that field. You have a field, I have a field, he has a field: the three-field system.” They decide to investigate just when Jimmy got grabbed, remembering that he was with them when they entered decontamination but not afterwards. Setoc leads Weaver back to the security check-in desk. Upon inquiring, the Desk Sergeant directs her to place her hand on a scanner. Desk Sergeant: “Hmm. You appear to have been checked in twice, once in a party of three, once in a party of two.” They check the security footage, which shows them checking in then being attacked by a group in armour that appeared from nowhere, grabbed Jimmy, and teleported out. As they teleport out everyone’s expressions go vacant and the Time Lords are directed to check in again. Checking the security footage across the station, ten feeds cut out after the teleportation. The desk sergeant mentions having to tell his superior before the Time Lords walk away. As a missing persons report goes up on the displays around the station Setoc realises she forgot to hypnotise the desk sergeant into forgetting the conversation. Out in the asteroid field Jimmy is living up to his nick-name (and name badge), effortlessly weaving his way between the lumps of space rock, coming out of the field in the lead, ahead of racers 1, 17 and 21 with 17 in second place. Jimmy takes a moment to showboat and catch a glimpse of 17’s pilot, who turns out to be dressed in some very fancy clothes. Heading back to the TARDIS, Weaver proposes the idea that they were drugged, thus causing their amnesia and blank expressions and performs a scan on himself and Setoc. He finds no evidence of poison, but there’s something screwy with their memories. Out in space, the race leaders come across some stray asteroids. Jimmy glides between them with ease but spots the pilot of racer 1 trying to force craft 17 into one of the asteroids. On board the TARDIS, Setoc decides to try and use her telepathy and hypnotic compass to try hypnotic regression on Weaver to find out what happened. Her attempt is rather too successful and they both find themselves in Weaver’s memory. Checking into decontamination went fine and the Time Lords were checking into the station proper when armoured soldiers appeared around them and went to capture Jimmy. Equally out of nowhere, a tall thin creature in a suit and a girl in sunglasses appeared. The creature fought with the soldiers but took too many hits and was forced to withdraw with the girl. As it vanished it appeared to be saying something to Setoc and Weaver.Even as they snap out of the trance they realise the memory is trying to hide again. They realise the soldiers all wore the same crest and that they had been hiding out of temporal synchronicity, rendering them almost undetectable. Setoc scans the TARDIS database for the crest, identifying it as the crest of the Imperial Mravok Army. In the year 7000 the Mravok Empire ended up at war with the Yhrostangur over the death of the Yhrostangur crown prince, a pilot in that years Skeksis Rift Grand Prix. Although ruled an accident by race officials the Yhrostangur blamed the Mravok pilot and declared war. Jimmy is about to enter thesecond asteroid field as Setoc’s voice comes through the craft’s comms to inform him of the situation. Jimmy clips an asteroid, taking out his starboard thrusters and hampering his mobility. Glancing behind him, he sees the Mravok pilot blocking the Prince’s path away from a large asteroid. Jimmy throws the shutte into reverse, forcing the Mravok racer out of the way. Jimmy uses his gauntlet to access the racers comms system. Jimmy: “I’m on to you.” Mravok Pilot: “So I see. Arming weapons systems.” Jimmy: “Now that’s just not cricket.” Mravok Pilot: “Bah! Foolish human sport.” But Jimmy’s distraction is enough. “Jimmy: “Oh, and look up.” The Mravok does, just in time to collide with an asteroid, rupturing his plasma tanks. The Mravok racer vents the plasma and pulls out of the race. The TARDIS materialises inside the hidden Mravok battlecruiser and Weaver emerges dressed as a Mravok priest, followed by a disguise-less Setoc. They sneak through the ship to find its temporal engines, setting them to cut out in five minutes. They run back to the TARDIS, getting back to the station just in time to see Jimmy win the race. A few moments later the Mravok battlecruiser appears, followed very quickly by a Cyberman battleship. Setoc and Weaver fill Jimmy in on what he missed, before they all hear the Cloister Bell ringing in their head. Running back to the TARDIS they find the lights set to menacing red and the bell ringing. The console display glows with the message “Threat detected to Alpha Cell.” The door shuts and the TARDIS starts to dematerialise. CommentaryMinimal prep and not entirely clear thinking resulted in one massive plot hole that I've still not worked out how to resolve. Aside from that, this was a good (albeit short) session. After Setoc in the first session, and Weaver last week, it was Jimmy's turn to get captured this week. I figured I'd get it out of the way and start the session with Jimmy captured (how and why being one of the mysteries this week). So that girl's back, and she has a friend. Interesting, no? Lots of story points spent this week, even with me forgetting the penalties for wrong-era-tech use. Gave them back a few at the end of the session because I don't want them running out before the finale.
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kaijubot
2nd Incarnation
Kicking Evil Very Hard in the Face
Posts: 12
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Post by kaijubot on Sept 21, 2011 16:49:45 GMT
S1E04 – The Masks of VeniceThe Time Lords scramble into seats as the cloister bell rings, a sinister red glow filling the control room. The console announces the detection of a threat to Alpha Cell as Weaver and Setoc buckle themselves in. An extra alarm sounds and another message flashes up: Collision Warning. Something is in the Time Vortex with them. Weaver: “Oh no, we’re going to crash into ourselves coming the other way.” Jimmy “ Maverick” Smith manages to manoeuvre the TARDIS to mostly avoid whatever it is; there is a loud grinding sound as objects scrape past each other. The TARDIS reports no damage to significant systems. Though Maverick may have scraped the paintjob. We move onto the opening credits, then back to the TARDIS control room. The console has a new display. New Venice, Earth, 3315, September 20th (Local Calendar) Following the evacuation of Earth due to solar storms in the twenty-ninth century the human home world was re-colonised in the early thirty-first century. This happened to coincide with the awaking of several draco sapiens (commonly referred to as ‘Silurians‘) colonies. Total War over Earth’s remaining resources was avoided due to a shift in human perception following encounters with other sapient life in the galaxy. Consequently most major urban areas now host significant draco sapiens communities. Due to the above mentioned solar storms the polar ice caps melted, causing vast tracts of land to become submerged. Although reclamation efforts are ongoing the majority of settlements are now floating structures, usually located close to remaining land masses; land is now careful managed for the purpose of sustaining food supplies. New Venice is the capital city of the Neo-Roman Alliance. It hosts a population of 2.5 million (approximately 60% human, 40% draco sapiens). The city is styled after the famous canals of the original Venice, with bridges connecting structural units allowing aquatic vehicular transports to pass between and underneath. New Venice is a major trading centre and while ruled by an elected council the most wealthy merchants also hold a significant degree of political power. September 20th is the anniversary of New Venice being made capital of the Neo-Roman Alliance; a celebratory city-wide Masquerade is held each year to commemorate the event. Zeta Cell discuss their options, realising that they can’t just scan for creatures with two heartbeats because Alpha Cell may not have been activated yet. Weaver: “Let’s get out there and…” Maverick: “Mingle?” Weaver: “Meddle!” Emerging from the TARDIS they find the Time Capsule disguised as a twentieth century boat with no controls, the door masquerading as the door to the cabin, handily moored quite heavily. The climb up onto the walkway surrounding a large habitation block. Weaver tries to sense any temporal disturbances in the area, noticing something odd about the three story house behind them, right before he lands in the canal; Maverick pushed him in. Maverick: “Now that’s out of the way, we can focus on finding the Alpha team.” Setoc helps Weaver out of the water. Weaver reveals he noticed something odd about the house. Zeta Cell head over to investigate, finding only a single door and no windows. Maverick tries to trigger the door with his gauntlet, getting an “Incorrect code” error message back. Refusing to be defeated he tries climbing up the balcony, almost loosing his grip on the overhang as his head goes fuzzy, but managing to make it up only to discover the balcony is a ledge with no access to the interior. They realise that their TARDIS has landed next to Alpha Cell’s TARDIS, which is gene-coded to the members of Alpha Cell. There’s a suggestion of trying to materialise their TARDIS within the Alpha TARDIS, but Maverick remembers what he was told about the last time someone tried it: Big badda-boom. Maverick: “As much as being God, the creator of the universe, appeals to me, I’m not going to start another Big Bang.” Setoc: “Why not?” So they’ve found a TARDIS but not Alpha Cell. Setoc ducks back into their TARDIS to use its scanners to try and detect any Artron radiation in the city: A concentration shows up in a nearby market square. Maverick uses his scanner gauntlet to try and locate any roboforms or non-congruent technology. He gets nothing. Weaver: “We’re Time Lords, we can do awesome things! We can intercept transmat beams, detect Artron energy, build time machines that are bigger on the inside…” Setoc: “Find Alpha Team?” Weaver: “When I saw ‘we’ I meant ‘we, the species’, not ‘us’…” The arrive at the market square as the last few decorations are being put up. Maverick expresses some desire for food. Well, he is looking a little under the weather. Weaver: “When was the last time any of us ate?” Setoc: “You mean you didn’t find the galley?” Weaver: “I think we’re bait.” Setoc: “I think we’d better find Alpha Team.” Maverick slinks off for food. Weaver goes to question one of the people putting the stage decorations up. Setoc pulls out her compass, which seems to point to her. After a moment she realises it means behind her and she turns around. At the other end of the square, standing over a full head taller than the pack of Silurian youths in front of him, is Mr. Tall, Dark and Not-So-Faceless. Setoc heads towards him. Maverick finds a selection of human and Silurian snacks on sale and hands over the psychic money he grabbed from the TARDIS. Weaver is busy pestering the head decorator about what he’s looking forward to, the rewards of a job well done, and how its much easier without people pestering about the details. Setoc meanwhile is lead to an a small side street by the creature. It hands over a sonic screwdriver. Him: “She will need this.” Setoc: “Who will?” Him: “You must find her.” Setoc: “I can find myself most days.” Him: “Trust in yourselves.” Setoc: “Why are you helping us?” Him: “I do what I will be told to do. The Puppeteer is here; his puppets are moving.” A mixed group of human and Silurian partiers distract Setoc. By the time she looks back, the creature is gone. Weaver and Maverick meet up and realise Setoc is missing. Weaver pulls out the AnGEL and tries to scan for her. Setoc: What are you doing?” Weaver: “Looking for Sutekh.” Setoc: “Setoc.” Weaver: “No, you’re Seto… oh” Setoc reveals that she’s learnt that the Puppeteer is around. Weaver: “How do you know he’s called the Puppeteer?” He never told anyone that. Then she reveals the screwdriver. It doesn’t seem to be working. Maverick: “What, a tech scan device that can’t pick up things unless they’re turned on? That’s, that’s, that’s just, just… that’s just… common sense, really.” Pulling out her compass, she realise it is pointing in three directions. And they have three Time Lords. Maverick: “In the short time we’ve been together, we’ve never solved anything by sticking together.” Weaver: “Let’s split up. We can do more damage that way.” Setting their own gadgets to scan for the Artron radiation, Weaver and Maverick head off deeper into the city while Setoc turns and goes towards the swanky part of town. Maverick ends up at a gondola maintenance depot with the scanner indicating a young man in overalls named Ubaldo. He pauses to consider his options. Weaver ends up at the University of Venice where his target is listening to an open air lecture on Human-Silurian History. He lingers just on the edge of the lecturer’s field of vision. Setoc finds herself before the door to the important looking Bracci family mansion and estate. Inside a combat butler greets her. Setoc claims to be performing a hush-hush security sweep, and (following a bit of psychic wizardry on Setoc’s part) the butler seems to buy her story. They start a sweep of the house. Maverick realises something is up when he hears ticking coming from two silver-masked figures behind him. He manages a quick look beneath their robes, revealing clockwork mechanisms. Maverick: “I need a wrench.” Ubaldo: “Why?” Maverick: “Clockwork robots here to kill you.” Ubaldo: “What?” He gives Maverick the wrench. Maverick goes for a swing but collapses. There’s a faint clanging sound as he passes out. Back at the university… Lecturer: (to Weaver) “You’re not one of my students. Can I help you?” Weaver: “Dean’s Office sent me. (Points at potential Time Lord) You need to come with me, there’s been an issue with your fees. Office needs you so they can sort it out.” Lecturer: “Very well then, Enzio, go.” Weaver escorts him away. Enzio can’t believe there’s a problem; he’s certain his fees were paid in full before the semester began. Weaver: “Yeah, I made all that up. This is going to be hard to believe, but you’re actually a time travelling alien in hiding. There’s something you have, that you always have with you, like a locket, or a diary, or a pocket watch, or a stash ring… (Enzio pulls out a pocket watch) Always a pocket watch. It doesn’t work, never worked, but how do you know that? It wouldn’t hurt to open it. Go on, see if it really works…” Enzio opens the watch. Setoc’s compass is pointing at the Bracci family library where, she has been told, master Ferranti is studying. She insists on inspecting it, doing a sweep of the room before asking if she can have a moment alone with Ferranti. The butler waits by the still open door. Setoc: “Can I interrupt you for a moment?” Ferranti: “Apparently you’re capable of that, yes.” Setoc: (Telepathically) “There’s something you’re forgotten. You need to remember.” Ferranti almost falls out of his chair. Ferranti: “Music box.” Setoc: “Show me.” And sure enough, in his room is a music box covered in Gallifreyan circles. Ferranti opens it. Maverick comes round to find Ubaldo racing the motor powered gondola down a canal, with a Plague Doctor looking over him (Maverick) and a needle mark in his arm. Doctor: “Insulin.” Maverick: “Huh?” Doctor: “I gave you insulin. You were in a diabetic coma.” Maverick: “Diabetes? That’s a human ailment… dammit, I did it again.” Next to him are the remains of a clockwork roboform. Ubaldo apparently took care of them. Maverick: “Where are we?” Ubaldo: “Somewhere near…” Maverick: “No, I mean, where are we? Have you opened it yet?” Ubaldo: “Oh. Yes.” There’s the slight problem that they’re being chased by more roboforms in a gondola. Maverick suggests ramming theirs, since the right angle with sink the pursuers but leave their gondola intact. Ubaldo doesn’t think he can do it. Maverick: “I can fly a stolen helicopter, I can fly a gondola… OK, maybe sailing it would be better…” Maverick takes the wheel and turns the gondola around. They collide with the pursuers, sinking the chasing gondola and cracking open the hull on theirs. The Time Lords and Plague Doctor clamber out before it, too, sinks. Each pair of Time Lords head back through the city to the TARDISes, weaving through the growing crowds as the Masquerade and festival start to kick off. Weaver: “Well, hear we are, three for free.” Enzio: “There’s four members of Alpha Cell.” Weaver: “Four?” Ubaldo: “There’s a girl.” Setoc pulls out the sonic screwdriver. Setoc: “That’s why she needs this.” The six Time Lords climb into the Zeta TARDIS and Setoc fires up the scanners, locating a concentration of Artron energy in a square at the other end of the city. And by concentration she means that there’s a group of new arrivals closing in on one person. Maverick fires up the TARDIS’ engines and races through the canals of New Venice. Ubaldo: “You can pilot this using just that console?” Maverick: “Of course.” Everyone is shaken about by the wildly veering vehicle as Maverick tries not to collide with the civilian vehicles. Weaver: “You have the screwdriver?” Setoc: “Umm…” (Searches her pockets to no avail) Elsewhere, two dozen roboforms are closing in on a teenage girl and her family, guns brandished. There’s the roar of an engine as an antique motor boat races up a launch ramp into the air, crushing two roboforms as it lands. Inside the TARDIS, everyone is shaken about as the craft is crashed onto the square. Setoc falls over from the impact, finding the screwdriver as she does so. The Time Lords pile out. Weaver: (to Maverick) “I was under the impression you couldn’t loop-the-loop in a boat.” They find themselves facing a line of a dozen roboforms, ready to fire. Maverick can’t remotely hack them, much to his annoyance. Weaver comes up with a plan to use the AnGEL’s environmental systems to heat the roboforms, causing the gears to jam. He manages to get half a dozen of them. Weaver: (to Maverick) “You start pushing them in the canal. You’re good at that.” Setoc disappears into the still-lingering crowd, screwdriver in hand. Alpha Cell, well, aren’t to sure what’s going on, especially when another plague doctor teleports in with two more roboforms. The Puppeteer has arrived. Puppeteer: “Do you like my new roboforms? I thought these might last a little longer than the other model.” As they talk, the Puppeteer gets to Ulaldo, while the roboforms manage to grab the other males of Alpha Cell. A kill order is issued and suddenly the Puppetter and three quarters of Alpha Cell are gone. Setoc manages to reach The Girl and give her the screwdriver. It leaps into life instantly and The Girl screams as her Time Lord physiology reasserts itself. Maverick and Weaver run for the TARDIS as the roboforms open fire. Maverick manages to make it inside but Weaver is clipped by a shot as more roboforms move, acquiring better lines of fire. Setoc is likewise clipped by a shot, but The Girl takes a hit to the chest. Setoc grabs her and starts dragging The Girl to the canal. Weaver clambers into the TARDIS as Maverick starts up the Time Rotor. Setoc and The Girl leap into the canal. Before they hit the water the TARDIS materialises around them and they land on the control room floor. The Girl starts to glow and her regeneration begins. Weaver: “We need to get her to the Zero Room.” Weaver takes her upstairs and leaves her in the Zero Room, returning to the control room. Maverick takes them back to the Alpha TARDIS just as it dematerialises, and discovers the Zeta TARDIS won’t let him chase it. Instead, he has another plan: Go back to the twenty-first century to get some insulin. The others ask why. Maverick: “I got screwed by the Chameleon Arch.” Weaver: “Oh?” Maverick: “It gave me diabetes. Time Lords can’t get diabetes!” The Girl: (entering the room) “What do you expect from unfinished technology? Whichever Time Lord invented the device must have been too desperate to escape something to develop it fully.” Zeta Cell are a little surprised to see her up and about already. The Girl: “Still blind. That’s interesting but not unexpected. Sonic Screwdrivers are handy things.” Weaver: “Sonar. Here’s some dark glasses… wait a minute! We’ve met already.” The Girl: “Not before now. Anyway, how’s the cargo?” The cargo? Turns out each Cell’s TARDIS contains a portion of the Time Lord’s genetic library, so that (with the right equipment) the race can be brought back from the brink of extinction. Weaver dashes off to find it. He finds a chamber in the depths of the TARDIS, four smaller circles in a diamond around a larger circle. The Girl gestures for everyone to stand on a circle. Once they do, the centre circle rises to reveal the Genetic Library Setoc: “This is what he’s after.” Cue End Credits. CommentaryShe’ll get a name next week. Finally a few answers are given and we have more of a main plot: Motivations on both sides and a small set of definite goals. I’d actually forgotten my original plan for the session by the time I got round to properly planning it. Oops. So a few things were late reveals, and I never got to use the line “You may experience some tingling, and then death” as a room is sterilised of plague. Oh well. All the important stuff was put in place, more or less.
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kaijubot
2nd Incarnation
Kicking Evil Very Hard in the Face
Posts: 12
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Post by kaijubot on Sept 29, 2011 14:38:31 GMT
S1E05 – Chasing GhostsEarth, from orbit. The camera pulls back, revealing a computer display showing Earth. As the camera continues to pull back it reveals two aliens watching the screen. Alien 1: “This is the target, then?” Alien 2: “Indeed it is. Prepare the strike force.” And on that sinister note we move on to the opening credits. Picking up with the Zeta Cell in their TARDIS, Maverick is guiding the time capsule back to the twenty-first century in order to obtain some much needed insulin following the discovery that the Chameleon Arch somehow gave him the ailment. As the TARDIS touches down they begin by checking that the human population is no longer transformed into a race of blonde, spiky-haired clones. Luckily for them, everyone outside if back to normal. Well, as normal as the human race gets. Weaver and Setoc end up arguing over something. Pandora: “He’s gone already.” Weaver and Setoc rush out, leaving new recruit Pandora alone in the TARDIS. Maverick, meanwhile has arrived at the local shops. Maverick: “Lloyds Pharmacy… never trust a chemist’s shop owned by a bank.” And somewhat apprehensively he approaches the counter. Chemist’s Assistant: “Yes?” Maverick: “I need some insulin.” Assistant: “Do you have your prescription?” Maverick: (Rummages in his many pockets.) “Yes!” He has half on hour before the drugs will be ready for collection, which gives Setoc and Weaver time to catch up. And they’re still fighting. Weaver tries to cover for Setoc’s strangeness. Weaver: (To the Assistant) “It’s fine, she’s just psychic.” Assistant: “Right.” The assistant excuses herself and goes to sort out Maverick’s prescription. Maverick suggests they get breakfast while they wait. Turns out there’s a handily placed café across the road. And a quick cut back to Pandora in the TARDIS, alone, examining the consoles with her sonic screwdriver. In the café Maverick has ordered some incredibly greasy bacon butties while Weaver is introducing Setoc to English Tea. Weaver: “This is English breakfast, this is Lady Gray, this is Earl Gray, do not confuse the two, and that’s Darjeeling. You take these with lemon, that one with milk and this on its own. Knock yourself out.” Setoc: “Why would I want to knock myself out?” Weaver: “Good point. Don’t knock yourself out, drink tea instead.” Maverick: “You know, in all of space and time, this is the only planet to invent the bacon butty.” Setoc: “It’s also the only planet to have pigs.” Maverick: “Good point, and yet it doesn’t stop every planet from having its own version of Swedish meatballs.” Weaver: (re: Maverick) “He’s older than both of us together.” Maverick: “What?” Setoc: “How’d you figure that one out?” Weaver: “The whole youthful body thing, just a disguise. He acts like an old man.” Breakfast is interrupted when they notice a pair of military jeeps pull up outside the café, and black uniformed, red bereted soldiers step out. Captain Erisa Magambo approaches the trio of Time Lords. Capt. Magambo: “James Smith, Lisa Fielding, Tom Weaver, it would be greatly appreciated if you could come with us.” Weaver: (to Setoc) “Lisa? Lisa?” Maverick has a bad feeling about this. Magambo: “We are not in the habit of dissecting potential allies, Mister Smith.” Maverick: “Wow, that’s the first time anyone’s ever called me that.” Weaver: “What, mister?” Maverick heads back to the pharmacy to get his prescription before UNIT take the Time Lords to a lab under the British Museum. Captain Magambo reveals that UNIT obtained an alien device that they have been unable to identify the origin or purpose of. They had been trying to reach The Doctor, but he doesn’t seem to have been seen since Christmas 2009. Magambo is hoping that a trio of Time Lords may be able to help. Weaver: “You have to hand it to the British, they build their secret bases with style.” Inside UNIT’s secret lab they are taken to a vault containing a cylindrical object 1.5m long with no apparent controls or labels. A scan reveals life support systems and compression field technology, along with life signs. Setoc tries to contact the mind of whatever is inside, but the device is fitted with psionic shielding to prevent such actions. Weaver: “You may want to step back a bit… thirty or forty miles. You just put three incredibly curious technologically minded people in a room with a mysterious object, and you’re letting them poke it.” Maverick manages to access the locking and (de)compression systems and decides to let whatever is inside the device out. A large, reptilian creature appears in the room with them, and then runs at the door. Weaver’s phone rings. Pandora: “I’ve just been speaking to the [name]; they’re demanding the return of their prisoner. Weaver: “Your timing is impeccable. Also, how are you reaching me? I’m underground.” The Prisoner, meanwhile has run into the door (leaving an impressive crater in the door) and then phased through the rest of it. Oops. Pandora: “I put them on hold.” Two UNIT soldiers are busy opening the door to let Setoc out to track it. Weaver is hot on her heals. Maverick is studying the device. Maverick: “I need a plutonium rod six inches long, one inch wide, a thirty litre backpack mounted weed-killer spray and a spanner.” Capt. Magambo: “The plutonium rod may be difficult to acquire at short notice.” Maverick: “Pull on out of the weapon pod of a Jathaa Sunglider. Every time period has a Jathaa Sunglider lying around.” Capt. Magambo: (to Soldier): “Can we check that?” Equipment in hand, Maverick is escorted back to the TARDIS by Private Hamilton. Hamilton is… not impressed by the TARDIS’ disguise. Setoc and Weaver have tracked The Prisoner to the Thames. Setoc connects telepathically, sensing the creature is trying to find the deepest location possibly. Back in the TARDIS… Maverick: “Pandy…” Pandora: “What did you call me?” Maverick: “…dora, Pandora, I need the workshop.” Pandora: “Two floors down. Why?” Maverick: “I have to build a technological abomination.” Maverick: “They’ll give a plutonium rod to any kid who asks these days.” Pandora: “Jathaa Sunglider?” Maverick: “Yeah.” He takes the bat-pole down to the workshop while Pandora puts the capsule into a temporal loop. There’s a call from the aliens, who have a distinctly low opinion of Earth’s natives. Alien leader: “This is a level five planet; they don’t have subspace communications.” Maverick: “They’ve been invaded by level seven races seven times in the last century.” But the aliens aren’t taking the excuses, giving the Time Lords five earth minutes to deliver The Prisoner before they send down the storm squads to retrieve it themselves. Four earth minutes by the time the conversation is over. Maverick: “Why is it five earth minutes?” Alien leader: “Because an earth minute is six galactic standard seconds shorter than a galactic standard minute.” Maverick: “So why not just say five minutes?” Alien leader: “Because protocols require us to specify the local time measures.” Three and half minutes by the time Maverick has realised the alien leader has hung up on him. He contacts Weaver to inform him of the time limit. Weaver and Setoc have tracked The Prisoner down to a secret chamber under the Thames; the UNIT soldiers with them inform them it was an alien base of operations, dealt with by the Doctor a few years ago. The Prisoner manages to shunt Setoc out of its head so Weaver starts tracking it using the AnGEL. Weaver: “Ah, I have this upside down.” And The Prisoner is right behind him. Setoc uses her telepathy to try and get The Prisoner to “sit”; instead it bolts away. Weaver chases it down the corridor, only to realise it he’s now alone. The creature turns. Weaver runs. The TARDIS begins to materialise in front of him. Maverick returns to the control room, device apparently ready. Pandora points her screwdriver at the TARDIS door; it swings open just in time for Weaver to run in, followed by The Prisoner. Ryan fires the proton packminiaturisation ray. The creature shrinks. Maverick grabs a waste bin and dives for The Prisoner, trapping it under the bin. Maverick: (to Pandora) “Press the blue button followed by the lever.” Pandora: “One problem with that.” Maverick: “You’re blind.” (to Weaver) “Press the blue button followed by the lever.” Soon enough they’re on the bridge of the alien’s mothership, handing The Prisoner over. Maverick: “And next time make sure you contact the correct authorities.” Weaver: “So what did it do, anyway?” Alien Leader: “Tried organising a coup against the royal family of Klom. It was eating it’s way to the throne.” And back to Earth… Maverick: “Now press the red button.” Weaver: “What’s that button?” Maverick: “Undo. There are three buttons; blue, red and green.” Weaver: “What does the green one do?” Maverick: “No idea.” The TARDIS takes them back to Setoc and the UNIT soldiers, now joined by Captain Magambo. The boys ignore Setoc as they discuss what to do with the prison capsule and miniaturisation ray. Weaver: “Do we trust them with that kind of knowledge?” Maverick: “They still watch X-factor.” Weaver: “Sorry, Captain.” And then the TARDIS dematerialises as the girls head to Space Vegas, leaving the boys on Earth. Luckily for the boys, the TARDIS returns only moments later (for them, at least) and Weaver has not had time to fill in an application form for UNIT. Piling into the TARDIS the boys express a desire to go after the Puppeteer, even if the TARDIS so far has found neither the Puppeteer nor the other Cells. Weaver: “What is the mission, anyway?” Pandora: “Classified.” Maverick: “Really? That’s really what you’re telling us?” Setoc: “You could have said that you weren’t told.” Pandora: “Anyway, while you were puttering around on Earth I found a lead.” Pandora plugs her sonic screwdriver into the TARDIS console and the holographic projectors hum into life, displaying an image of their Not-so-Silent ‘friend’. Zeta Cell remember seeing the creature as it tried to prevent Maverick’s abduction on Skeksis station. Maverick remembers it telling him to find a safer place to open his compass while evading the clones. Setoc remembers her encounter in New Venice. Weaver remembers the creature warning him about the Puppeteer in 1250 England. The holographic recording describes a set of temporal coordinates. Setoc writes them down as the hologram shuts down. Maverick forgets about the creature instantly; Setoc and Weaver struggle to cling to their memories of it. Setoc: “Quick, enter these before I forget them.” Maverick: “Before you forget the thing you wrote down?” Setoc: “Yes!” Maverick enters the coordinates but has no idea what creature Setoc and Weaver are talking about. Pandora observes that they’re all forgetting whatever was on the holographic recording. She puts it on again. Zeta Cell are shocked by the appearance of the creature they remember trying to save Maverick… wait a moment. Weaver starts describing the creature to Pandora, who appears to be protected from the amnesia effect by not being able to see the creature. The TARDIS shudders as it lands, and Zeta Cell step out onto a desolate wasteland. The TARDIS’ chameleon circuit finds nothing to disguise itself as, so the TARDIS reverts to its undisguised form, a gleaming silver archway with sliding doors that disappear into nothingness. The Time Lords find themselves unconsciously on edge as they walk towards a bunker in the distance. Again, Pandora remains in the TARDIS. Closing on the bunker Zeta Cell spot of trio of familiar roboforms on patrol, and throw themselves into a nearby crater to hide. Once the patrol passes they trace the route back to the bunker’s door. Maverick hacks the door but triggers an alarm in the process. Inside the bunker it’s definitely Gallifreyan construction: hexagonal corridors and bigger on the inside. They find a room marked “Maintenance” but plans to disguise themselves are scuppered by Maverick’s lack of height. They do manage to get plans for the clockwork roboforms, however. As they step back into the passageway, a patrol of roboforms approaches. Zeta Cell rush to a stairway and head down only to hear another patrol approaching from below. Setoc: (pulls out compass) “I really want a say fruit right now.” Maverick: “What?” Setoc: “I really want a safe route right now.” A quick scan reveals a Time Lord and one unknown creature two floor downs. Maverick runs towards the approaching patrol while Weaver runs to intercept the pursuing group. Setoc heads downstairs. Maverick runs into the patrol and puts his hands up. Maverick: “Take me to your leader?” The roboforms surround him and gesture for him to move. Weaver’s approach… Weaver: “Change of plans, I’m in charge now and you’re to do whatever I tell you.” Sadly doesn’t work on the clockwork machines. He runs back downstairs. Setoc heads downstairs and her compass starts buzzing as it senses a direction for Setoc to follow. It leads her to a room with a bank of storage tanks. One contains Noise, the other contains… Maverick? Setoc starts the systems to release Noise from its tank as Weaver catches up with her. He’s likewise startled by the contents on the tanks. And to bring the group back together, the roboforms bring in Maverick, who is entirely baffled by his presence in-and-out of the tank. Setoc tries to scan the brains to see if one is on remote, as it were, but senses a mind in both. Then, just to add to the fun, The Puppeteer arrives. Puppeteer: “I had thought this installation was better hidden than that.” Maverick: “Meddling kids and a Time Machine.” Puppeteer: “Well, since you’re all hear, let’s see what your TARDIS holds.” He triggers the bunker self-destruct and teleports away to steal the Zeta TARDIS. Maverick gets a message off to warn Pandora, who replies that she has a plan. While The Puppeteer was talking Setoc managed to trigger the release process for Maverick. As the Maverick in the tank wakes up, the other one collapses into a puddle of artificial Flesh. That’s when Setoc notices the system labelled “Psionic Amplifier”. Maverick: “I feel violated.” The TARDIS arrives. Weaver: “Now let’s the three of us get on the TARDIS… what?” Noise: “Behind you.” Weaver: “Argh! OK, the four of us get on the TARDIS.” The Time Lords and Noise head into the TARDIS, which dematerialises just in time to escape the explosion that contains the time-pocket they were just in. Cue End Credits. CommentarySo two NPCs got named this week. Pandora is the blind Time Lord picked up in New Venice. Noise is the Silent that has been apparently helping Zeta Cell through the series. Maverick being a Flesh avatar was based on something the player said, and was the only way I could make sense of the plot hole in Deathrace 7000. I decided not to tell the player in advance since the nature of Flesh avatars doesn’t undo or invalidate anything the player has done. So Maverick (and Blaster219) was as bewildered as the rest of the players. This was supposed to be a nice little run-around on Earth session with no ongoing plot elements; a nice little standalone episode
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kaijubot
2nd Incarnation
Kicking Evil Very Hard in the Face
Posts: 12
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Post by kaijubot on Oct 5, 2011 8:42:33 GMT
S1E06 - Conqueror WormA Japanese Imperial Army patrol out in the desert, hunting nomadic bandits. The squad do not see the guy at the back being dragged underground in an instant. Or the next guy… They do notice the third soldier being grabbed by something under the sand. It sends the squad into a panic but to no avail. Quickly, mercilessly the soliders are reduced in number until finally… The last soldier runs. It is not enough, and something pulls him down so he’s waist deep in the sand. He screams as whatever it is pulls him fully under. Then the desert is empty again. Roll titles. Zeta Cell are alone in the TARDIS, two weeks (for them) after their trip to Earth and rescue of the creature known as Noise. They have vague memories of Pandora arranging to go looking for leads on the Puppeteer. The TARDIS’s phone starts ringing it. Weaver answers to find Pandora on the other end. She doesn’t fall for his attempts to convinvce her she has the wrong number. Instead she sends a data burst through the phone line as a sonic pulse. Weaver: “That was my ear.” The burst turns out to be temporal coordinates for Manchuria. When pressed on why she’s there Pandora answers… Pandora: “Heard some Noise.” Weaver isn’t convinced about the why they should go. Or the why of several of other things. Weaver: “Why is there a ship’s steering wheel on the console?” Maverick: “Because it’s cool.” Maverick starts up the TARDIS while Setoc straps herself into the seat. Moments later Zeta Cell have landed in Manchuria, 1935. They step out of a hut in a run down, almost shanty town looking area where Pandora is waiting for them. Her outfit has changed, she’s now wearing what can only be described as Hogwarts meets the Matrix, complete with sunglasses. Oh, and pigtails. Weaver realises that she was wearing this outfit when she appeared in their pasts (before they found her). Weaver: “OK, what are you really doing here?” Pandora: “I caught a lift here with a Time Agent. She’s gone missing.” Turns out the Time Agency discovered was some kind of anomalous reading in thMongolian desert and sent someone to investigate. They got a little off course and then Pandora ended up separated from the Time Agent. Getting back into the TARDIS they head off to Mongolia, landing in a small border town currently run by the Japanese Imperial Army, landing in the middle of a fire fight in the town square. They find this detail out as they step outside the TARDIS and are almost shot. It’s a battle between the Imperial Army and local bandits. Weaver jumps back into the TARDIS while Setoc and Maverick dive for the dirt to avoid a bullet related unpleasant incident. The two sides are arguing other who has captured members of the opposing force; the Imperial Army officer claims not to have the bandit’s leader. The bandits claim not have any captive soldiers. Some of the Imperial troops have entered the base have mounted horses and rush across the square towards Setoc and Maverick. Maverick throws himself into the side of the TARDIS, injuring his shoulder. Setoc tries to pick herself up and run but is distracted by the gunshots and narrowly avoids being ploughed into by a speeding horse; she’s thrown back to the ground and bangs her head. Weaver comes up with a cunning plan to change the appearance of the TARDIS into something that will stop the two sides from fighting. Pandora: “Are you setting the TARDIS to impersonate a deity?” Weaver: “No. Buddha is not a deity.” Setoc manages to drag herself behind some conveniently placed crates as the TARDIS shimmers then changes to a giant statue of the Buddha. Weaver emerges from the belly button and implores both sides to put down their arms and cease violent conflict to resolve the disappearances from both groups. The locals take this sudden appearance… not well. Bandit: “He knows what happened to them! Get him!” Army Officer: “Arrest that man!” Weaver goes quietly. Maverick complains about people being captured and put in jail. Setoc points out that he was the last one to be captured. Maverick claims that being put into a biological storage tank doesn’t count as jail. Pandora: “Are you two arguing over who was captured last?” Setoc and Maverick: (together) “No!” Pandora has decided that now the fighting is over she can start looking for the Time Agent. Maverick is contemplating how to break Weaver out. A little bit of GTA seems to be appropriate and he sneaks off to the Army vehicle yard. Setoc goes to follow Pandora. In the jail’s single cell a heavily beaten Weaver meets Han Feng, a local who is being held over the disappearances. Han managed to escape from an attack, seeing his companions dragged beneath the desert before he ran. Weaver asks how many people are missing. Han Feng: “Let’s see. An army patrol. The bandit leader’s daughter, two sons, third wife, another patrol and three or four villagers.” Han also warns Weaver about the Mongolian death worm. Han has a map of where he was attacked. He gives it to Weaver, but doesn’t want to go looking for the things again. Outside, Setoc has caught up with Pandora, who has a question. Pandora: “The outfit, does it work? Does it look OK?” Setoc: “Yeah.” Because being blind does not stop her being conscious of her appearance. There’s the sound of a very loud engine being started. Pandora: “Is that a tank starting up?” Setoc: “That’s why I came with you.” In the jail… “Weaver: “You might want to step back a bit.” And moments later the tank is reversed through the jail wall. Weaver climbs on the back and we cut to the interior, where Maverick is at the controls. It doesn’t take long before the Imperial Army are in pursuit. Soldier: “Quick, get the rocket launchers.” Weaver clambers over the top and climbs into the tank. Weaver: “We’re TWOCing the tank?” Taking With Out Consent. A tank. One problem; no ammo for the main gun. Or any guns. But a full fuel tank. Elsewhere… Pandora: “Back to the TARDIS?” Setoc: “Seems a good idea.” Weaver reveals the map to Maverick. They have a destination, out in the desert. And they’re under fire. Weaver sets the AnGEL’s force field to protect the tank. They realise there are practical issues with taking the tank inside the TARDIS. Maverick: “The belly button isn’t big enough.” But they have a tank. Off they go, out towards the desert as the Imperial Army’s APCs start up a pursuit. The girls make it back to the TARDIS unharmed. Setoc’s first order of business is turning it back into a hut. Pandora sets about moving the TARDIS. A quick check of the readouts indicated the TARDIS has been returned to a less conspicuous appearance as the TARDIS dematerialises. Pandora: “I may have pressed the wrong button.” Setoc checks the scanner as the TARDIS lands. 1935 is a good start. Hyde Park, London… not so useful. She hit’s the red “undo” button and the TARDIS heads back. In the tank the boys realise their pursuers are falling back. So they’re out in the desert, in a tank, looking for worms and missing people. Weaver: “Why are we looking for them, again?” Maverick: “Because the scary blind girl asked us to?” The girls arrive back in Manchuria, and start following the traces of Artron energy to track the Time Agent; they end up at a car rental shop and discover that the Agent rented a car and headed north to look into some disappearances. They realise they’ve been going in circles. In the desert the boys hear a loud screech. Maverick opens the hatch to look out, and sees a giant worm-like creature with a mouth big enough to swallow the tank. A Mandagorian death worm, fully grown. He tries contacting the girls but gets the voicemail instead. In the worm’s wake follow dozens of smaller worms; some several meters long, others only a few feet long. Maverick volunteers to drive the tank away as a distraction while Weaver runs for it. The biggest worm and most of the swarm follow the tank; some of the smaller worms are hot on Weaver’s heals as he races across the desert on foot. The TARDIS appears in front of him. He rushes towards it, slamming the door behind him but three worms made it into the TARDIS. Weaver: (to Pandora: “You want to be elsewhere for this fight?” Pandora: (Starts for the stairs) fight?” Weaver: “Mandagorian death worms. They spit acid apparently?” Setoc and Weaver start to warily step away from the worms. Weaver: “If that sonic screwdriver has a stun setting, now would be a really good idea.” Pandora: “Cover you ears then.” There’s a burst of noise and the worms stop moving. Setoc covers her ears a little late. Outside, Maverick is making the tank look like a sports car as he weaves around the desert evading the kaiju-worm as it slams down and dives into the ground only to burst out elsewhere. Again and again the monster narrowly misses the tank. The TARDIS sensors have found the Time Agent, inside the worm. Weaver does some thinking, remembering that Mandagorian death worms use living creatures as hosts for its young, storing them inside the body of the adult. He tells Setoc and Pandora the Time Agent may still be alive. Setoc runs to the TARDIS controls. The TARDIS dematerialises. Maverick gets a phone call. Pandora: “Setoc landed the TARDIS inside the worm.” Maverick: “”Oh, well, that’s all fine and… she did what?” Pandora: “I have a plan. I’m about to transmit some new settings to your gauntlet. You need to attack it to the tank’s barrel.” Maverick: “But it’s attached.” Pandora: “The gauntlet? I thought it was a glove.” Maverick: “No, it’s… never mind, there’s a button right here. Now, what am I doing?” Pandora: “We’re going to turn the barrel into a sonic stun pulse emitter.” Maverick: “Won’t I need to aim the barrel at the worm?” Pandora: “No, sound has this wonderful omni-directional quality.” Maverick: “But the barrel is a linear emitter.” Pandora: “You can point the barrel at it if it makes you feel better.” Setoc and Weaver, meanwhile, a crawling inside the moving internals of the worm towards the hatching chamber, where they find the Time Agent and several others in a drugged state, restrained by… things sticking into them Weaver: “You see, the death worms use living creatures as incubators for the larval stage.” Setoc: “You could have told me that earlier.” Luckily, they’re not too close to hatching. They start extracting… things from the captives, but Setoc pulls something out the wrong way and suddenly there’s lots of blood. Weaver rushes over and starts using bits of his jacket to staunch the blood flow. Outside, Maverick’s about ready and pushes the button. There’s a shriek as the devices activates and all the worms go still. Inside the worm, they get everyone on to the TARDIS and Pandora lands it outside. Weaver rushes the Time Agent down to the surgical suite to remove the worms. Pandora and Maverick discuss how to deal with the worms. She knows how to set up a force field/tractor beam combination that will let them haul the worms to wherever and whenever they want to take them. Pandora: “But it requires switching the coloured wires.” Maverick: “Ah.” Pandora: “The sonic screwdriver will tell me where the wires are, but not the colours.” Maverick gets to work. With the rest of the rescued locals in stasis Setoc uses her telepathy to scan the Time Agent’s mind. The Time Agent was assigned to investigate, picked up Pandora on the way, arrived in the wrong place, rented a car then got grabbed out in the desert. Setoc also learns that under the Shadow Proclamation dropping one of these worms on a planet is classed as a war crime. Once she’s recovered, Time Agent Rita Kerrigan is quite grateful for the Time Lord’s help, although she heard they were all dead. The TARDIS appears above the surface of Mandagoria; they drop the worm back on its desolate wasteland of a home planet (other native life being long extinct on the planet). Some time later they land the TARDIS back in the village, in the army’s vehicle yard. The TARDIS disguises itself as a APC. Weaver: “The TARDIS is a clown car!” The locals are let out. Weaver: “So why were you here again? Really.” Pandora: “Noise told me to come here.” Weaver: “Who’s Noise?” Pandora brings up the hologram again. Weaver: “You know, giving him a name doesn’t help if we can’t remember him.” Maverick: “Write it down then.” Weaver: “I have seventeen photos of him on my phone; it doesn’t help.” Maverick: “That’s why I write it down; since the forgetting thing is based on the image having that many pictures probably doesn’t help.” Pandora: “That’s apparently why I can remember him. It. Because I’m blind.” Setoc: “It’s why I write down what it’s about. “Go here to stop the Puppeteer.” I won’t remember who told me but I’ll remember what it’s about.” Maverick is eager to get back to hunting for the Puppeteer. Pandora suggests a spa in Andromeda, circa 6400AD, as a way for everyone to relax. Maverick: “I know we have a time machine, but… we don’t have time for that.” Before they can argue a whispering noise fills the TARDIS and a holographic message from Noise starts. It gives the Time Lords a set of temporal coordinates. Maverick punches them in and the TARDIS dematerialises. The TARDIS shakes violently and energy erupts from the console. Zeta cell look around to see half the console room now resembles a gothic cathedral. Setoc: “What did you press?” And an older version of Weaver steps in through a doorway. Weaver2: “It wasn’t anything he pressed.” Maverick: “Great, now there’s two of him.” To be continued… CommentaryNot much to say about this one except that I’d decided to have a slightly silly episode and was inspired by the Mongolian Death Worm (and Dune, Beetlejuice and Tremors) and the Korean film The Good, the Bad and the Weird. I could have played up the cowboys-and-Indians elements a little more, but overall the session went quite well.
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kaijubot
2nd Incarnation
Kicking Evil Very Hard in the Face
Posts: 12
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Post by kaijubot on Oct 12, 2011 20:31:06 GMT
S1E07 – ShatteredInside the TARDIS… The TARDIS shakes violently and energy erupts from the console. Zeta Cell look around to see half the console room now resembles a gothic cathedral. Setoc: “What did you press?” And an older version of Weaver steps through a doorway. Future Weaver: “It wasn’t anything he pressed.” Maverick “Great, now there’s two of him.” And then the TARDIS console erupts again, knocking everyone away and unconscious. Maverick’s vision unblurs as he comes to find himself in a vastly more steampunk version of the console room. Weaver is also coming to, as is an unfamiliar woman; short, athletic, blonde haired, apparently in her Thirties and not too attractive. Maverick: “I had the funniest dream.” (to Weaver) “and you were there,” (to Woman) “But I don’t remember you.” Cue opening credits. They quickly discover that the woman is a future version of Setoc. None of them recognise the console room, Future Setoc’s console room looking rather more gothic than this one. Needing to establish what’s going on… Weaver: “We could pump her for information.” Future Setoc: (Indignant) “Excuse me?” Future Setoc refuses to explain how she came to be there, or any details of Zeta Cell’s future, answering such questions with the Raised Eyebrow of I’m Warning You. Weaver, however, just won’t give up. Maverick quickly gets fed up. Maverick: “I didn’t think holes in the ozone layer could damage the Gallifreyan brain but apparently they do.” The other two aren’t listening, being instead engaged in a rather heated discussion of the correct terminology for future and previous incarnations of a Time Lord. Future Setoc: “They’re older than you, just say ‘older’.” Weaver: “I think for a future regeneration you should use a separate word. Maybe ‘up’ for regenerations you’ve not yet been, ‘down’ for those you have…” Future Setoc: “No. Older or Younger.” What they haven’t heard in the midst of this is the loud roaring from a connecting corridor. Maverick, however, has, and is acting accordingly: Running directly away from it. This, they notice. Weaver: “Where are you going?” Maverick: “Away from the hungry, noisy, scary monster.” Somewhere else… Our Setoc, Setoc1, wakes up in the gothic console room, with a ginger haired dwarf, much older than her companions, and very good looking. Setoc1: “Who are you?” Weaver2: “Weaver. Pleased to meet you, again.” Setoc1: “Right.” Weaver2 explains that, somehow, future versions of the TARDIS have ended up nested inside their version of the TARDIS, so that leaving a section of one TARDIS will take them somewhere in another. Setoc1: “There is no way this is a good thing.” Oh, and just to add to the fun, juvenile Mandagorian death worms start pouring into the room. Time for some running, it seems. Weaver2 reminds Setoc1 about her telepathy and she tries to scan for brainwaves; she finds three Weavers, 2 Pandoras and only 1 Maverick. Weaver2: “I still prefer ‘Up’.” Setoc1: “What?” Weaver2: “Never mind.” Setoc1 very narrowly avoids running into Noise, who has not seen Pandora. Noise steps back to let them pass, seemingly focused to the approaching worms. Setoc1 and Weaver2 keep running, Weaver2 cursing his lack of height and corresponding lack of long strides in the face of ravenous flesh eating annelids (albeit not in those words). And somewhere else… Pandora is in a distinctive console room, scanning the area with her sonic screwdriver. She looks, even with the expression masking sunglasses, somewhat concerned. Possibly because where the time rotor should be there is instead a glowing crack in time. She finishes the scan. Pandora: “That’s not good.” Back in the corridors with Maverick, Weaver1 and Future Setoc are still running And arguing. Weaver1: “Maybe Setoc1’s with an older version of me?” Maverick: “Maybe in the future you’ve learned some restraint?” Weaver1: “Maybe after I regenerate…” Maverick: “Maybe that’s the reason you regenerate?” Future Setoc: “You don’t seriously expect me to answer that?” They run through a doorway and find themselves in the shiny, silver Zeta TARDIS control room we, the audience, are used to. The time rotor is shattered and in pieces across the floor. Weaver1: “The glass is broken. That means the timey-wimey has escaped!” Weaver also doesn’t understand why they’re running when the State of Temporal Grace prevents violence within the TARDIS. Setoc is quite insistent that violence can and will happen. Future Setoc: “Trust me; there’s been enough fights in the control room.” Suffice to say, a broken time rotor is a problem, especially if the ever plan to untangle time within the TARDIS and get things back to normal. Future Setoc manages to bring up a map of TARDIS1 so that they can find the secondary control room. So, Maverick, Weaver 1 and Setoc3 head upstairs towards the Zero room and secondary control rooms. The camera, however, pans down, through the floor, past the workshop, past the medical wing, to a set of gothic corridors where a tall, leggy redhead in her twenties and a young, tall, blonde male are running towards the camera… …because right behind them are a bunch of Roboforms. Yeah, those guys again. And that’s when a still-injured-from-battle Pandora2 steps out in front of them. She points a sonic screwdriver at the roboforms and they explode. Pandora2: “If you were the Puppeteer, and you’d found a way to get inside another TARDIS, where would you go?” Setoc2: “He’s after the gene samples.” Weaver3 suggests she try to warn her earlier and later selfs via telepathy. And elsewhere, Setoc1 gets the message from Setoc2 regarding the Puppeteer. She relays it to Weaver1 and Maverick, on their way to the Zero Room. Maverick: “Finally! The violation of temporal mechanics finally works in our favour.” Maverick, Weaver 1 and Setoc3 find Pandora1, who has bad news. Pandora1: “Time within the TARDIS is irreparably broken. I need your help to fix it.” Weaver1: “What about the part where it’s irreparable?” Pandora1 and Maverick: “We’re Time Lords.” Maverick: “It’s what we do.” However, the need to stop the Puppeteer, so they leave Pandora1 and head down to the gene storage bank. Setoc1 and Weaver2 make their way towards the gene bank, but are surprised to find themselves in a jungle. They’re even more surprised by the Tyrannosaurus Rex. And cut back to Setoc2 and Weaver3 Weaver3: “…and that’s when I realised I should do something to get on well with animals.” Back in the jungle… Setoc1: (quietly) “Sit?” Weaver2: “No, you have to do it with authority.” (to T-Rex) “ Sit.” Setoc1 manages to establish a telepathic connection between herself, Weaver2 and the dinosaur. Weaver2 tries to tell the dinosaur to sit, which confuses it for long enough to let the Time Lords get a good head start and they vanish into a denser part of the jungle. In the gothic corridors, Pandora2 is busy scanning the remains of the roboforms. Seems that these models are environmentally shielded. Weaver3: “Which means I can’t use the trick with the AnGEL.” Pandora2: “And you just sent your younger selves straight towards them.” They decide that they need to fix the internal timeline, so Setoc2 and Weaver3 head off to find Pandora1, reasoning she’d be working on the problem already. Maverick, Weaver1 and Setoc3 make it to the gene bank and find a small army of roboforms making withdrawals from the gene bank. Maverick uses his scanner gauntlet’s remote controls to close the bank and lower it back into the floor but several roboforms use their bodies to hold it open. Maverick: “Hey! You stole that from… that film!” Setoc3 uses the extra features of her compass to hijack one of the roboforms, turning it’s gun against its fellows, but its aim is somewhat off. Discovering the roboforms are environmentally shielded, Weaver1 uses the AnGEL to create a trasmat blocking zone, preventing the roboforms from teleporting out. Maverick manages to rig his gauntlet to produce a single-element disintegration pulse, using it to remove the protective layers on the roboforms. Setoc3 takes some time to fine tune her control; the hijacked roboform blasts clear through one target into the power supply of another. The subsequent explosion takes out several more roboforms. Setoc2 and Weaver3 track Pandora1 to an art deco console room where Pandora1 is sat cowering on the cosole. Probably due to the floor being covered in juvenile Mandagorian death worms. Weaver3 pulls a musical pipe from a pocket. Weaver3: “Mandagorian death worm charm pipe.” Setoc2: “Really? You need a fez.” Weaver3 uses the pipe to gain the undivided attention of the death worms. Setoc2 makes her way around the swarm to Pandora1 and the console. Pandora1 explains that they first of all need to contain and close the temporal rift before they can untangle the time line. She guides Setoc2 through the process. At the gene bank Weaver1 is trying to get the samples back into the gene bank, finding himself in the centre of the storage chambers; a bad place to get himself trapped if the chamber closes. Maverick has taken a more direct approach, jamming wreckage from one roboform into the joint mechanisms of another, causing a critical malfunction. And Setoc3 is still piloting one roboform, shooting down any that threaten to make it beyond the teleport jamming range. Back in the art deco room, Setoc2 has isolated and contained the time leak. Pandora1: “OK, now we need to resynchronise the time rotors in order to re-establish internal continuity.” Across the TARDIS, the Time Lords can fell the timeline groaning as it is slowly forced back into proper shape. In the jungle, Setoc1 and Weaver2 are still fleeing the Tyrannosaur when they come across an archway marked ‘Data Core’; they head inside, and find The Puppeteer. Weaver2 starts setting up the jamming field, but The Puppeteer beats him to it, putting Weaver2 in a stasis field. The Puppeteer: “He will become quite fond of that trick. And it seems I’ve run out of time, as it were. Never mind, I have what I wanted.” And he teleports out. In the gene bank, the roboforms shut down. Setoc1 and Weaver2 check what The Puppeteer was downloading: Zeta TARDIS’ internal logs and transport history. Who’s been aboard it, and where and when it has been. Weaver2 fades away. Pandora: “Ladies and gentlemen, the internal timeline has been restored.” The boys realise Setoc3 is gone. But the T-Rex is still there. Weaver: (to Setoc): “If you’re going to keep the T-Rex, you’ll have to feed it and walk it every day.” But they have a problem. The Puppeteer now knows where they have been, back to the points in time that they discovered they were Time Lords. And, apparently, a way to interfere with their timelines. Fade to black. The TARDIS materialises in a heavy industrialised area reminiscent of the set of the Nostromo. Noise is waiting for them. Noise: “You are in grave danger. The Puppeteer has a Paradox Engine.” Setoc: “I think we just discovered that.” Pandora starts to put things together. Pandora: (to Weaver) “You told me you’d seen me before we met.” (to Zeta Cell) “And you all said you’d seen him,” (gestures at Noise) “before we met him. Apparently our timelines have already crossed.” Weaver: “But you haven’t done those things yet.” Pandora: “I think we’re about to.” To Be Continued… CommentaryAnd we’re into the home straight. One more week. So, this was supposedly a “bottle episode”; normally a cheaply produced episode of a TV show using few, if any, guest stars and only existing sets and locations in order to save money. Yeah, right. I’d asked each player to come up with 2 later versions of their characters. Everyone took this to mean future regenerations, which was probably the more fun interpretation. One player decided to deliberately not create future versions; whether Maverick leaves of suffers a final, permanent death, well… Spoilers. So this episode features 10 Time Lords, 1 noisy Silent, 1 T-Rex, uncounted death worms and several dozen roboforms plus one unseen menace, plus five console rooms, two interior themes and a jungle. If this was a TV show, this would have been an expensive episode. Luckily, we mostly managed to keep track of which versions of which characters were with who. Definitely the most complicated storyline I’ve done (and likely will do for a while, despite threats otherwise I may have made). But what can I say? Timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly can be a whole lot of fun, even if it is occasionally headache inducing. I had a great time running this session, and the players seemed to have enjoyed it. The actual idea was that that the TARDIS had been hit by some kind of Time Lord weapon that shattered the internal chronology so that everything that happened within the TARDIS happened at once (thank you Mr. Moffat) thus allowing the cast to interact with future versions of themselves. This wasn’t explained within the session, but the immediate issue of the timeline being broken was covered, so it’s good. And the T-Rex? Because why not.
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kaijubot
2nd Incarnation
Kicking Evil Very Hard in the Face
Posts: 12
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Post by kaijubot on Oct 20, 2011 11:25:07 GMT
S1E08 - The End is the Beginning is the End…Somewhere else… In a dark, dark room in a dark, dark house there lived a dark, dark lord called The Puppeteer. And he was gloating. Puppeteer: “I should thank you, for enabling me to secure a future for our race, a future free off genetic infection and your abominations. So, Engineer, thank you. And now I have to go. It’s time to finish off your chameleons.” And the camera pans around to reveal The Engineer, mastermind behind the Chameleon Cells, restrained in a cell. Run Opening. Devon, Earth, December 2009. Maverick: “What are we doing here again?” Making sure Maverick becomes Maverick is the answer. Because the scanners show a significant population of… Pandora: “Human-wolf hybrid cyborgs.” Weaver: “We do not want robo-puppy to commence licking procedures.” Zete Cell, Pandora and Noise emerge from the TARDIS outside the Young Offenders Institute Maverick’s human disguise was being detained in. Weaver: “What were you in for?” Maverick: “Temporarily borrowing a helicopter.” Weaver: (Beat) Maverick: “I took it back. That was my second mistake.” Weaver comes up with the idea of using Pandora’s sonic screwdriver as a dog whistle and drawing the were-borgs away. He and Maverick play rock-paper-scissors to determine who’ll actually carry the device (after ties of scissors and paper Maverick wins with rock); Weaver gets to try and outrun the cyborgs. He dashes off, almost catching up with the pack of monsters. Inside the Detention Centre there’s a blue flash as humanity is transformed into the Master Race. Weavertries to trigger the device, but realises he has no idea how to work it. He phones Maverick for advice. Activating the screwdriver has exactly the effect they wanted: Weaver has the were-borgs’ undivided attention. The rest of the Time Lords have headed back to the TARDIS. Weaver starts running. The were-borgs chase. Inside the Detention Centre, Jimmy Smith makes it to the storage room and finds his compass. Looking around he’s shocked to see Noise. Noise: “This is no safe have. Do not open it here. There is a sanctuary outside.” And Noise points to the TARDIS, disguised as a Smart car, outside. Weaver’s doing a surprisingly good job of outrunning the were-borgs as the TARDIS materialises around him. The were-borgs vanish as their mission fails. New Venice, Earth, September 20th 3315. The TARDIS again materialises as a boat as the Time Lords arrive to ensure that Pandora gets her sonic screwdriver and becomes herself. Maverick pilots the TARDIS through the canals towards Pandora’s home. Arriving, they discover that Pandora’s earlier self is still home; Pandora checks the time and states she’ll leave the house in half an hour. Waiting for this, Weaver tells Maverick not to eat anything; he may eat the food his earlier self will eat later in the day, therefore creating a food paradox. Maverick is… dismissive of the notion, being reasonably sure they’re nowhere near where his earlier self was eating. Setoc, meanwhile, is scanning the local area using the TARDIS’ sensors and finds roboforms with cloaking devices on a nearby building, clearly also waiting for the house to empty before snatching the screwdriver. Maverick decides to head up the fire escape to get there first, Weaver follows him. Pandora gives Setoc her sonic screwdriver just before Pandora’s earlier self leaves the house, electing to remain in the TARDIS to avoid any issues. Maverick: “Despite what you may think this is the first time I’ve broken in to somewhere.” Maverick breaks in through the window with Weaver right behind him. Setoc goes in through the front door, using the screwdriver to unlock it, then scans for Gallifreyan metals; she gets a ping from the vault. She also spots shimmering in a mirror; most likely cloaked roboforms. Upstairs, the boys can’t find the screwdriver but do hear the roboforms landing on the balcony. Maverick hides while Weaver switches on the AnGEL’s force field. One of the roboforms opens fire at him; the force field takes the edge off but it’s still a severe hit. Setoc almost manages to slam the vault door shut but one roboform jams itself into the gap; it opens fire but can’t aim and the shots go wild. Weaver hides as Maverick searches for the spray-in poly-filler he knows he put in a pocket somewhere. Works a dream on jamming up the clockwork mechanism in the roboform. Sadly, the other is still active and levels its gun… Setoc spots the inactive screwdriver in the vault as lightning seems to arc outside it. She runs for the screwdriver… Weaver jumps out of cover. Weaver: “Shoot me! Shoot me!” It provides enough of a distraction to allow Maverick to jam up the systems of this roboform as well. He takes a look at the roboform and pulls out a unit from its chest. Setoc emerges from the vault to find Noise stood in a pile of partially exploded roboforms. She gives Noise the screwdriver and struggles to remember what he said to her the first time she was there (so what he’ll say to her in several hours). The boys head downstairs to regroup, then back to the TARDIS. It turns out Maverick grabbed an intact and active temporal transceiver; Pandora quickly explains what Maverick realised: They can trace the transmissions through time to wherever the Puppeteer is hiding to shut down the paradox engine the Puppeteer is using to interfere in his own timeline. Why shut down? Maverick: “Big badda-boom?” Pandora: “A tear in space-time.” Maverick: (re: size of) “Luxemburg or Belgium?” Pandora: “United States of America.” Scotland, Earth, 2462, during the Human Diaspora. The TARDIS arrives at a castle. Maverick uses the TARDIS to create a counter-signal to shut down all roboforms in a hundred miles. That would be when the squad of Sontarans emerge to investigate the TARDIS. Maverick and Weaver aren’t sure how to get past them, but Maverick is considering the “surrender and let them take me to the bad guy” plan. Maverick: “Last time I got captured I found myself.” Weaver considers cooking up a super-flu that only effects Sontarans. Setoc, however, has ventured out, using her telepathy to create a perception filter around herself. The Sontarans don’t notice as she walks past. Then she hypnotises one into spotting flaws in a comrade’s uniform. A brief fire-fight ensues, and four unconscious Sontarans end up on the floor. The boys see this as their chance. Maverick: “Lock and load.” (clicks object into gauntlet.) “Fresh battery.” Pandora: “Oh.” And the boys head out. The Time Lords find the paradox engine, built from a harvested TARDIS matrix. They can tell it’s the paradox engine because being anywhere near it makes every cubic millimetre of their body want to run away. They’re evaluating options when the Sontaran Geneticist arrives. Geneticist: “The Puppeteer requests your presence upstairs.” The Time Lords are reluctant to go, but Setoc manages to scan the geneticist’s mind and discovers what is upstairs: A device that will turn humans into a primordial soup that can’t be called anything, then re-evolve the soup into a new Time Lord race. Setoc realises she needs to be upstairs. The Sontaran steps back into an alcove to let her pass. On her way up, she telepathically informs the boys of what she’s discovered. Weaver: “So come on, what did you do that’s so shameful you got bounced back down to geneticist?” Geneticist: “There is no shame in trying to create a better soldier.” The boys hear more Sontarans coming and acquiesce, heading upstairs. Weaver does his best to remember the weaknesses of the Sontarans. Maverick demands an armed escort, and can feel the gun barrels pressing into his back. Outside, the TARDIS disappears. It reappears in a castle in Yorkshire-to-be, 1250, where Pandora and Noise ensure the earlier TARDIS is safe. And it reappears again, on Skeksis Station. Noise tries to prevent Maverick being abducted, but is shot/ Setoc has re-established her perception filter and is discreetly interfering with the equipment as the boys are brought up. They are shown an archway like device hooked up to a large computer and several power supplies. Weaver realises the Puppeteer has constructed a galactic-scale Genetic Loom. Weaver: “We have a working paradox engine downstairs; anything you do we’ll just undo in five minutes and it will all have been pointless.” Then the paradox engine shuts down (their lack of screaming nerves wanting to flee tells them). The Puppeteer presses the button. Then he notices Setoc. Puppeteer: “All you’ve done is delay the inevitable.” Weaver: “Apparently he is a Saturday morning serial villain.” Setoc’s tampering has delayed the system; it will take five minutes to generate the field needed to wipe out humanity. Weaver twists the AnGEL cube into a new pattern and creates force fields around the Sontaran troops. Setoc runs off, following the power cables. Maverick runs to the device and starts pulling parts out. The Puppeteer grabs Maverick and pulls him away. Downstairs, the TARDIS materialises. Pandora and the still-wounded Noise step out into a room filled with Time Lords in stasis tubes. Pandora heads to the controls. Setoc follows the power lines to a large black box which, she discovers, has psychic controls; it tests her to find out if she’s the Puppeteer. Maverick clambers to his feet and bull-rushes the Puppeteer into the gathering energy field. Looking at the missing parts Maverick realises he’s removed the power regulators and the whole thing will explode. Setoc manages to hack the box and initiate a power drain. Upstairs, Maverick notices the power drain but it isn’t fast enough. The explosion will be lesser, but it’s still going to explode. Maverick: (to Weaver) “You should be running.” Weaver runs downstairs, finding Setoc. Weaver: “We need to run. Now.” They run, finding Pandora and the Time Lords. Weaver: “Run. Faster. Faster. Faster would be better.” Setoc: “Where’s Maverick?” Maverick’s still in the audience chamber, making sure the Puppeteer doesn’t escape. All goes white. The device explodes. Outside, the castle roof goes up as the explosion rips through the upper levels. Twenty-two Time Lords emerge, led by Weaver and Setoc. Pandora, bruised, cut and looking like the future Pandora from the previous episode, is the last out. No sign of Noise. The Time Lords other the other cells extract their TARDISes and depart. And the last shot of the series is Setoc and Weaver in the remains of the audience chamber, with no sign of Maverick or the Puppeteer.
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