Pax Artificium - Second Half - Thursday 03

Session start: Sunday, January 1, 2034 – 0345 PST – outside Vancouver, BC

Tired from their ordeal, they sleep, except Frank, who feels infused with energy for some reason. Frank notices his plane has more than half a tank of fuel—quite a bit more than it should have, given how far he's flown. The plane seems to be running at peak efficiency—perhaps even slightly better than peak.

Frank cranks the music so loud that no one can sleep. Betty continuously washes her hands with her personal supply of wet wipes. Daniel tries to hack into the plane and shut off the tape deck using the Zodiacs, but the plane seems to resist his efforts somehow. Daniel hypothesizes that the plane may have developed some sort of intelligence.

Daniel ports the tape outside the plane, and the music stops. But the backlash ports Cancer outside the plane as well, and both objects instantly plummet away from the plane, down to the Canadian wilderness below. Daniel tries to hack into the plane again, and after a while, the plane's error messages start printing things like, "Stop it, that's annoying." Daniel has a conversation with the plane, and tries to convince it to land. It tells him it won't cooperate unless it's okay with Frank.

Betty, Dirk and Daniel argue about whether to turn the plane around, but Frank ignores them all and continues toward the base. Daniel tells Frank he has five seconds to open the steel door to the cockpit, and Frank ignores him. Daniel uses destruction magic to burn a large hole in the door. The backlash causes his left pinky finger to disintegrate, and blood gushes forth. He uses the nearby first aid kit to staunch the bleeding.

Daniel attempts to convince Frank to land the plane using mind control magic, but it doesn't work. Frank and Betty both point guns at Daniel until he backs down. For the rest of the trip, Daniel discusses the wireless jamming effect with Gemini.

Frank lands the plane at the base. Eight armed guards surround them. Frank immediately kicks everyone off the plane. The guards search everyone and confiscate their weapons. Frank demands that Dirk fix whatever is connecting him to Betty, saying, "Lock her up if you have to, but turn this shit off."

They are escorted to Baxter's office, where Dirk finds out that Roberts was the lead scientist who had experimented on Frank and Betty against their will. But it's five in the morning, and Roberts isn't in to work yet today. They walk over to the lab where Roberts had experimented on Frank and Betty. Dirk examines Roberts's notes and discovers that a mixture known as Substance P was injected into them and caused a profound anomalous reaction, with nearby items levitating of their own accord. But Dirk does not know what is causing the "rubber band" effect. He wants to perform more tests, but Betty opposes this idea.

Frank wants to go fix his motorcycle, as well as the door to the cockpit on the plane. Baxter orders a guard to escort Frank to the machine shop. The party argues amongst themselves for a few minutes.

Dirk suggests a guard be placed on Daniel at all times. Baxter orders the remaining guardsman to do that job. Everyone except Frank turns in for the night. Frank pulls his plane into the machine shop hangar and begins to repair it, but notices that the door and the motorcycle seem to be less damaged than last time he checked. After fixing the hole in the door, he installs leg and arm restraints. It is around 1300 hours when he finishes the work.

Dirk studies some materials from the plane and determines they exhibit a moderate level of anomalous readings. He also takes Frank to the doctor since Frank's arm feels broken, and Betty's arm aches as well. The doctor says it is indeed broken, probably within the last few hours, and that Betty's arm is fine. The doctor puts the arm in a cast.

Betty retrieves her circlet, but since it doesn't give Daniel a headache when he looks at it, he insists it isn't the same object. Betty, Daniel, Dirk and Erica go to Baxter's office to ask for his assistance. He agrees to go with them to the vault area and check the computer records for access logs. They determine that Baxter himself accessed the vault a few hours ago, but he denies it. Erica accuses him of lying, and Daniel uses mind control magic, commanding Baxter to return the real circlet to them. Baxter falls for it and orders the guards to stand aside as he woodenly leads them down a series of hallways to a high-security laboratory.

Inside, the party sees Frederickson studying a large jewel under a microscope. Baxter tells Frederickson that they will be returning the gem to them. "Like hell we will!" says Frederickson as he pulls his gun. Daniel takes down Frederickson with one solid blow of pyrotechnics. Baxter snaps out of his haze and tells the party that he can't let them take the jewel. Erica sprays Baxter with pepper spray and he drops his gun.

Baxter explains the situation, saying that he ordered Frederickson to study Frank and Betty, as well as the gem, because he believes that anomalous individuals are too dangerous to be running around unchecked. Reluctantly, Baxter agrees to let them leave with the jewel. Dirk orders some of his subordinates to report Baxter and Frederickson's shady behavior to the higher-ups.

Betty takes the jewel, as well as a chicken egg, a hairpin, three pairs of sunglasses, a black t-shirt, a shoelace, five paperclips, and a cell phone from the laboratory along with the jewel.

The party makes their way back to Vancouver, landing at a different airstrip. They steal a jeep from sleeping guy's garage, but realize they can't leave the plane there for the guy to find when he wakes up. They move the plane to a third, safer airstrip, and take the jeep into the city, to the building where they met Anastassia last time.

In Anastassia's study, they see her sitting at her desk, but they sense she is anxious. When they all enter the room, a dozen pixies appear from various corners and sitting on the desk, and have bows trained on both Anastassia and the party. "Hand over the circlet," they demand, "and the flute, too!"

Session end: Sunday, January 1, 2034 – 1800 PST – Vancouver, BC

XP: 5000