Thanks to Eva for this session summary.
A copy of these session notes from Rae’s perspective can be found at [http://www.digitalchangeling.com/gaming/session_notes/deus/050903.html].
Session started at 2:15 pm on 9/3/05
Attending players: Mike, Nate, Griffin, John, Eva Presiding GM: Curtis
(Each of us go off to talk with Curtis one at a time to do our individual character introduction.)
(Rae’s introduction) After teleporting to Percepi {in the Lalande 21185 system} I manage to hitch a ride on a mystic transport to New York City, Earth after a very unpleasant run in with some echos (I hope its not following me!). I explore the city and spend the night in a tree in central park {out of the reach of muggers}. When leaving the park three men in suits with some sort of laser guns try to kidnap me. I flee but one of them manages to hit me with his laser gun (7 wounds). If I meet them again I don’t think I can risk being shot another time. When I land about 10 minutes later, far off in a suburb I am greeted by a man calling himself Harry Bryant. He says that he saw what happened and followed me. He must be some sort of mage, I guess. He offers to help me since the suit wearing men work for one of his enemies. I’m not super sold on this, but it seems better than being hunted constantly and he mentioned he could fix it so I couldn’t be tracked {then I can flee him as well if all goes wrong}. He doesn’t seem to be planning to hurt/kidnap/dissect me, but he does suspect I’m not just a normal human. I agree to go with him. He gets me an ID {"Rae Denison"} and takes me to the Earth’s moon colony with him. He tells me he has meetings he must attend and if I want to come with him on his trip to retrieve some artifact from some asteroid {he’s very vague} I should meet him back at his company’s headquarters in the "evening". I go off to explore and hopefully find a book store.
(Curtis makes all of us swear the laptop oath out of character.)
(We make mean jokes about Jesus out of character.)
Rae manages to find a book store and buy an electronic book that will help her learn to read English. After wandering around for a bit she returns to Harry Bryant’s office and talks to him. They plan to head out that evening if all goes well, otherwise Rae can stay at the hotel he booked for her. At 2100 they meet Matt and Bryant introduces Rae to him.
Meanwhile, Maximilian and Vadril Korlax are heading to a VIP landing strip in the Pax Artificium spaceport (separately). Vadril passes through an extra security gate and the security lets him in when he shows his identicard. Maximilian approaches security and they demand his ID; he backs off and hangs around waiting.
Matt, Bryant, and Rae head into the spaceport and head down towards the VIP landing strip. They pass Maximilian, who hasn’t gone through security yet. At security, Bryant shows the guard his ID and says that they are with him – he also whispers to the guard that the guy Max Cohen who is down the hall is with him as well, though he may not know it. The guard lets them pass through. We meet Dr. Korlax and Bryant tells him he’s early. The doctor stays back in the VIP lounge to wait for us.
A ship lands at the port where they are waiting. It is a lightning-class frigate, a decently large ship, and it looks rough and unfinished.
A creepy droid disembarks from the ship. Matt heads for the ship but pauses when he sees the guns on the ship that are trained on the entrance plank.
The droid greets Bryant: "Greetings prospective employer. I have arrived for my interview."
Bryant is getting agitated; he quietly tells Matt to hurry up and fire "the thing." Matt shrugs and sets off a directed EMP, hitting the ship. The lights on the ship go off, the door stops closing, and the droid falls over. Matt runs for the ship’s door and leaps inside.
Matt races through the inside of the ship and installs a chip somewhere deep in its main computer room. About four minutes later, the ship and droid power up again. The droid gets back up.
The partially closed hatch opens again. Bryant asks the droid if it is ok, it says it is. Bryant asks the droid to take us on board the ship and take us to a prearranged spot. The droid rattles off coordinates in Barnard’s star system, which Bryant confirms. The droid asks about his compensation for the trip. Bryant asks what it thinks is fair. The droid quotes back a price and Bryant agrees happily. They have an amusing exchange, then shake on it. Bryant goes off to talk to some other folks, saying he will be right back.
(Curtis and Mike go off to talk in private.)
Bryant speaks with Max, trying to convince him to come with him. Max is extremely distrustful. When Bryant says he doesn’t know who Max is, Max senses that Bryant is lying. He tries to grapple Bryant but misses. Bryant is amused by Max’s distrust. Max "lights up." Max demands the truth from Bryant. Bryant backs away and admits he knows who Max is, and tells Max a little more information about what is going on. Max babbles something about revenge and games, but agrees to go along with Bryant. Max lights a cigarette as they head towards the lounge.
Bryant stops in the lounge to talk to the doctor. Max leaves and heads to the landing strip. The doctor joins Bryant and they return to the landing strip.
Korlax, Max, and Bryant join everyone else at the landing strip. Max is very nervous. Matt asks Bryant about his payment. Bryant pays him and asks if he will come along in case anything goes wrong (with the droid).
Matt talks to his boss via his data jack. He decides to take the job and go with us. He sends his mom an email.
People talk about money for a while…
Everyone gets on the ship. The ship takes off. Bryant asks when DEE will be starting "the thing up." DEE declares that the computation will take 26 hours. Rae finds a more spacious part of the cargo hold and stay there.
Briant asks about food. The droid responds, "Do you require food?"
We land again. Briant gets some food and other supplies while the droid is calculating something about our trip.
Max and Vadril discover that everyone has lost all contact with Persepi colony. Its all over the news.
The droid researches why he was hired by Bryant’s company.
Vadril does some research about how the ship and Bryant’s company are related, and generally what’s going on.
After a while we get back on the ship and take off. Rae stashes some of the food that Bryant brought back in the freezer for later. The ship jumps. It is kind of unpleasant – like being stretched from one location to another. We appear at the location of the asteroid. It’s a single star system, but we’re relatively close to the star.
Bryant tells Rae that they are looking for something on the largest asteroid here when she asks. DEE begins scanning to find something at Bryant’s request.
We land on the asteroid. Everyone except Rae puts on space suits to head out onto the asteroid. Max isn’t using an air tank with his suit. Matt comments on this and the doctor seems surprised by it as well.
The folks outside find some sort of dead man with a gross rotting, withered, twisted hand. They take the man back to the ship.
They come back carrying the body, not in a suit. Bryant goes and gets a kitchen knife and cuts the man’s hand off. The man screams and sits up. He is bleeding but not as badly as would be expected. Bryant starts talking to DEE about "ejecting the cargo."
The man starts talking to us. The doctor tries to help him, but he unfortunately doesn’t know much about first aid. The man says he doesn’t remember his name. We talk to the man, who is confused, and impressed by DEE. He seems to think it was 2050-ish the last time he knew. He’s surprised when Matt tells him it’s 2299.
Bryant starts getting freaked out by the hand, which has begun to jitter. He drops it and it starts wiggling on the ground. Its flesh begins to wiggle and bubble and it grows rapidly into a twisted creature with the hand in place of its mouth. DEE’s mechanical voice sounds over the intercom, "It would be best if you leave the cargo hold."
End of Session