Thanks to Eva for this session summary.
These session notes are from Rae’s perspective, and are originally from [http://www.digitalchangeling.com/gaming/session_notes/deus/060401.html].
Session started at 2:21 pm on 4/1/06
Attending players: Mike, James, Eva, John, Nate
Presiding GM: Curtis
Major NPC’s: the Caretaker, Eddie (sort of), Merlin Huntington, Matt’s Mom
(For a while we discuss the subject of handcuffs and how our characters feel about them.)
(Vadril feels the Caretaker focus a small fraction of its attention on him while it is mostly focused on the ship. Unfortunately, the Caretaker seems to want to know about what’s going on and what Eddie is. Vadril tries to convey how the current situation has given him inspiration into the AI problem he has been trying to solve. The Caretaker seems to agree with him and suddenly Vadril can see a whole other pathway through Eddie back to the Caretaker. The Caretaker explains to Vadril that his body has been destroyed by the Void, but if he choses he can return to the Caretaker and he will be restored.)
"Oh… Do I need fingers?" ~ Vadril
(Eddie is apparently very very upset, because the Caretaker has discovered him. The Caretaker says that they will need to use Eddie to drive the great machine, and that Eddie will need to be modified. Neither Vadril nor Eddie are very happy with this idea. Eddie engages his star-drive and flees. The connection to the Caretaker becomes more tenuous but remains open.)
"It’s like your connection goes from T3 to dial up." ~ Curtis, about Vadril’s contact with the Caretaker
(Vadril is trying to find some way they can be prepared for the completion of the great machine and not utterly destroy someone who has trusted him. Overall it is not looking good for Eddie.)
("I can’t save state Eddie?" ~ Mike)
The doctor has sent me an email saying that the Caretaker has decided that "modifying" Eddie’s mind to use him in the great machine is the only way to meet the deadline for the ritual. Nasty. Eddie is apparently terrified. At the very least we should try to calm him down a bit.
Since nothing else is immediately pressing on me, I try to convince Eddie to calm down and that we will do our best to make what is happening the minimal amount of terrible. I am not sure if I am helping at all, but hopefully I will get through to him eventually.
(Meanwhile, Max and Merlin discuss the crown and Bryant. Max has stopped Bryant’s growth for now, so the danger is not immediate. After a while, they come to the conclusion that Harry’s only real hope is if they could find the Ambrosia.)
One of the pixies healed Ti-Lung fortunately, so he has woken up. We all seem to be okay for now. Matt wants to know what happened to Cassenti. It seems likely to me that she died, but Ti-Lung is convinced that she is not dead. He is not sure how she was saved.
Matt’s mom is going to go find an android to jump out of in a safer place and we seem to have decided to head to another nearby city that is not in chaos.
(Meanwhile, in a warehouse on the other side of Luna… Merlin uses the crown and examines the remains of Bryant’s mind. He estimates that it would take months or years to fix the damage that the occultem lapidem did. For the moment, Bryant is not a danger, since the crown can keep him quiescent. The situation still needs dealing with though. Matt and Vadril spend a little bit of time trying to discover who owns this warehouse. They follow it up through a chain of companies, but do not find anything definitive. It seems likely that it might indirectly belong to Bryant.)
Because the cities on Luna are in immense pressurized domes, we will have to take a bullet train to reach another city. The when we arrive the station is closed because of the damage from the riot. So getting to another city will be difficult at best. We can not seem to come to a consensus on where it would be safe to hide.
Since we can not figure anything better than going to Matt’s apartment, we head there. It will be good to get some rest. While I watch, Matt rigs up a complex mechanism that will drop a frying pan full of metal nails on to whoever opens the front door. Heh.
I bed down and catch some sleep behind Matt’s couch.
(The session continued on from here but Rae was NPCed by Curtis.)
Eva was not present for the session’s second half. The remainder of the notes follow:
The party rests for 15 hours, until midday July 19th.
Vadril begins work with Alfadir and Regin on prepping the Deus Ex Machina for use.
Matt learns that he has been put on "extended leave of absence" by his boss (as his legal counsel suggested), until things settle down.
The bullet train station has been brought online.
Max asks Vadril to research Ambrosia – how to procure it.
Meanwhile, Zee claims that a thought – more of a demand – has crossed his mind. Zee expresses a desire to speak with the Caretaker. Matt has nothing better to do, and thus tags along. Zee requests that Matt "jimmy the lock to the Caretaker’s office" if the Caretaker is not willing to speak with Zee.
Zee contacts Dr. Korlax and requests to speak to the Caretaker regarding the Oversoul. Korlax acknowledges the request, then goes back to work.
Max, meanwhile, is using a sample of his own blood, plus a blood sample given to him by Nikolai, to attempt to create a homonculous using his own knowledge coupled with that from his interactions with Harry Bryant. The process will take three days to complete.
Vadril does some quick research on the Ambrosia. Regin asks why Vadril is delegating his work temporarily, and Vadril explains about Bryant’s current predicament. Regin suggests that Vadril speak to Hoenir, who worked with Adam and might know more.
Vadril learns that the Ambrosia is capable of curing any ailment, and restoring a person to his "perfect self." Vadril tells Hoenir about the Bryant situation, and asks about Ambrosia. Hoenir says that Vadril’s "timing couldn’t be better," and that the Ambrosia, though mysterious, always grows as a fruit on newly born Heart Trees.
Max reviews the list of artifacts, and concludes that the most likely one his arm could be is the "body part": the Hand of Cain, the Eye of the Crone, etc.
Vadril mentions to Max that Zee "is the Oversoul," so Max sends Zee an incredulous email about it. Matt asks Zee about the Oversoul, and Zee explains: undead souls are tainted, and must be cleansed. They are thrown into the Sun to accomplish this goal. The souls on the Sun, over time, began to merge into a single large consciousness known as the Oversoul. The arrival of the souls from Mercury bolstered its strength.
Matt and Zee meet up with Max in Valhalla to meet with the Caretaker, who contacts Zee almost immediately. Zee asks about the fate of the Oversoul. The Caretaker explains that there is no other choice. Zee addresses Gaia specifically, who says that life is change, that change must be embraced, and that being merged with Cain and then Luna is merely one stage of the Oversoul’s existence. Zee states that he wishes to coach the Oversoul through its coming ordeal, and the Caretaker does not object.
Matt, Zee and Max discuss where DEE came from, and also whether another ship exists that could carry them to the sun to recover the Ambrosia.
Zee engages his connection to the Oversoul (Omniscient Whispers) to pose the question: "How do we retrieve the Ambrosia from the surface of the sun?"
The voices whisper that "the trees are linked," and that Zee is "born of fire." Ti-Lung remembers squeezing through the tree, and thus can teleport to the tree. Zee uses Mind Control to convey the location to Matt, and they both (with Ivan’s help) transport there.
Zee speaks to Sledge and Elana about their plan to recover the Ambrosia. After speaking with the Caretaker, Elana agrees to Zee’s plan, appearing somewhat shaken by the knowledge of Bryant’s lunar infiltration.
Zee buffs himself, and Elana opens the portal within the tree. Zee gingerly steps through… and steps into white-hot flame more intense than anything he had ever experienced (but it was oddly comfortable and familiar to Ti-Lung).
His body burns away. But the flames feel like they are scouring him clean, rather than simply destroying him. When he exercises his will, his body reforms as living flame. He spots the fruit on a high branch.
Suddenly, he has a flashback from his past. He is staring out a window, looking at the sun on a spacecraft, as a voice spouts factoids about the sun. Zee cannot take his eyes off the sun’s surface, despite its brightness (though it is filtered heavily by the window material). Without warning, a solar flare boils up and lashes toward the ship – toward Zee – and his world goes white.
Zee finds himself back on the sun, and remembers a strange echo of the same memory, this time from Ti-Lung. From the surface of the sun, she looks toward the skies, and perceives the nearby ship. Inside is the answer she has been seeking – the way out of this place. She reaches toward the ship…
Zee concentrates and uses the sun’s power to cut the fruit’s stem. He catches it as he falls, then carefully but quickly steps back through the tree.
His body emerges burned and blackened. Matt catches the fruit as Zee collapses, while Elana heals Zee.
The party regroups outside the warehouse in Lunar City, and discusses how to proceed. Some of them would prefer to eat some of the fruit themselves, while others want to feed it to Bryant in his entirety. Max expresses the concern that it will make Harry too powerful to contain.
(Earlier, research yielded that the building is owned by West Fork Enterprises and was recently purchased by Blackwell Investors.)
Entering the warehouse, they realize there are two people still inside. One of them is sitting on a crate and injecting himself with something (a drug known as "rhapsody" – also present was a related drug mixture called "harmony"), while the other is already in a drug-induced stupor, lying directly over the spot where Bryant infected the moon, slowly being pulled inside. Zee and Max attempt to free him, but he is already partially submerged and the nanites are holding fast. "Throw the fruit in, NOW!" Zee tells Matt.
Matt does, and Max, through his arm link to Bryant, senses its hunger for the fruit. It lets go of the man and immediately swirls around the fruit, consuming it. The nanites calm, and are still, for a long moment.
Then the earth begins to rumble and the nanites begin to bulge upward. Over the course of ten minutes, they form into a man shape, and Max senses the underground being repaired by the fruit’s power as the nanites’ mass is converted back into normal matter. During this time, Matt tells the druggies that it is time to evacuate, and drags their bodies outside the building.
The metal-looking man, once fully reformed, takes on the appearance of Harry again, who takes a moment to consider his situation. "I feel better," Harry acknowledges. He glances at the backs of his hands, and feels his forehead, and quietly says, "They’re gone." Matt inquires as to his propensity to eat the moon again, and Bryant responds, "Somehow, I doubt it."
Bryant says he plans to ask the Caretaker if he will continue to have a role in upcoming critical events, and the party continues their activities during the next few days.