View source for LogApocalypse World: Black Rain-Jason-7

{{Gamelog
|Session Date=2021/05/02
|Campaign=Apocalypse World: Black Rain
|Author=Jason
|Session Title=Ceilings and Sybil fall down
}}
{{npcref|Paradox}}, {{npcref|Deadeye}}, and {{npcref|Depthcharge}} are watching the trail up to the promonitory. They aren't actually up there, they're just watching the trail.

Fisher goes to meet String at the Grotto. It's an overcast day, cool, but not raining yet. Most of the inhabitants are still passed out, so the grotto's pretty quiet. They exchange terse greetings and go to the market, near the well by the dyer's. They observe that the population of the settlement, and the market, is going up again now that there's food to be had here. It's far from busy, still, but no longer deserted. Fisher's trying to read the situation but String is unhelpfully helping by trying to point various things out to him. He does notice that there's one more rock on the point of the butte than there ought to be. Someone's up there. Then there's a muzzle flash. Fisher hits the deck but not in time; he's lying on the ground, no visibility into the butte, bleeding badly. He tries to low crawl away, but he's somehow tangled his legs with the rope that ties the well-dipping bucket to the spindle, and he can't get very far.

String sees all this, and also hits the deck, face hard to the cobblestones. The shooter takes another shot but this one hits Fisher's armor, so it's not nearly as destructive. The gunlugger cuts himself loose and slithers into one of the market stalls. He's got a little protection here but going anywhere means leaving cover again.

The market's in complete chaos now. The shooter is so far away that when the first shot was fired, people didn't realize what was happening, but the second shot makes it clear, and people are trying to get away. String keeps her head down, and so does Fisher, thinking the Captain's men are going to arrest the shooter. There's an uncomfortable wait, but no gunfire, no all-clear, no developments whatsoever. A few people start moving about, so String gets up and moves to Fisher's location. She hears what sounds like SMG fire, probably outbound, and flinches but doesn't stop. It's followed by a muffled crump. String lays hands on Fisher, and she can see that the first shot went right center mass, straight through both sides of his body armor. She's able to close it up just a wee bit, and then Fisher asks String if she thinks they got the shooter. She can see a plume of dust rising from near the overlook, so... maybe. She starts making her way over there to see what's what, moving as quickly as she can, and spots Paradox and Deadeye in the street covering the mouth of the alley where the trail comes out. String asks what's going on, and Paradox says he thinks the noise was Depthcharge. Their orders aren't to go investigate any further, but she's welcome to do so. They warn her to yell the password "kite" when she returns, so they'll know not to shoot her.

She moves down the alleyway and onto the trail, headed up. She makes it about two-thirds of the way up there and sees Depthcharge behind a rock at the bend in the trail. He sees her and gets very confused about her presence, but confirms that there was a shooter up there. He was moving up and then saw the explosive right before the shooter tripped it. He caught a little frag, and he's just been watching ever since, too nervous to step out of cover and withdraw. She reads the situation and tells him everything looks clear. He gives her a three-count with his fingers, then bounds down toward her, unimpeded. They get to the bottom and start calling out the password. The guards figure the shooter has to come down this way, so they're just going to be on stakeout. This is when String realizes that nobody was actually watching the spot where the shooter was going to shoot. The guards do eventually ask after Fisher, and when they hear he's going to live, Depthcharge is pleased and Deadeye is sad.

In the market, people are trying to help Fisher, but he'd rather they didn't crowd him. He just wants some clean water. Eventually String comes back and helps Fisher get to someplace safe, like the keep. {{npcref|Bento}} lets them in, and they notify the Captain of these developments. Fisher mentions something about the shooter stealing his gimmick, and String remembers that the Old Doctor had pulled one of Fisher's bullets out of Sybil. How 'bout that?

There's no staff medic at the keep, so Fisher's in a bit of a bind here. The Captain sends someone to the Syndics to see if there's a medic in town. There is, indeed, a guy who just rolled in that has some first aid experience and some antibiotics, and they'll have a go. It turns out that this {{npcref|Gwen}} person is usually a butcher and used to the other side of this trade, but she's more or less able, and gets talked out of using a hot poker through-and-through to cauterize the wound. Fisher's going to be stuck in a bed for a couple days. Gwen wants to put him out, but String wants him conscious so he can guard her.

Xander's also in the keep at this time, but he's talking to {{npcref|Cadbury}} about the history of the keep and what rooms might have been changed or forgotten about. Three hardholders ago, the Captain ordered all the maps of the keep destroyed, and then he vanished, so knowledge of what might have been there once and bricked up is largely forgotten. After talking awhile, Xander goes to the Captain and suggests they do something more active than just waiting for the next incursion. He wants to make maps anew. Maxwell points out that since the keep is built into the rock, there's no telling what tunnels might be covered up, but if Xander wants to work on it, he's welcome to. The savvyhead gets to work.

Overall, the spring is on the bottom level of the keep, though there are some cistern areas that extend lower. There's a mechanism to direct water from the spring to various areas to make full of use of their reservoir capability. This is all music to a savvyhead's ears.

String really wants to get out to the wasteland, and puts the word out that she'll pay to get there. Someone's leaving soon but they're going by way of a detour through the badlands. String tries to use her hire of Fisher's services as leverage, but these people would rather go without him. They believe the gunlugger's more trouble than he's worth. String tells {{npcref|Aster}} and Sybil about this plan. She also uses her flock's insight into the maelstrom to get advice about going after her double, and {{npcref|Bucket}} encourages her to confront her demons.

Xander finds three problem spots. There's a stairwell that ends in a sheer rock face. It seems likely they made a stairwell to nowhere. There's another door that's bricked up. There's a passage that goes to what's supposed to be the #4 cistern that's dry and hasn't been used in years, but the passage to it has a door that's rusted shut. Xander asks but Cadbury has no idea where the bricked-up passage goes. It's above ground, so Xander can do some surveying and math and conclude that it's a small passage that goes around the great hall. He puts his mojo into it and feels that a young man, a mason, missing two fingers on his right hand, bricked up the doorway, in a triple course, and he was scared when he did it. He also senses that there's no echo on the other side of the doorway, which is a little disturbing. It will take some skull sweat to figure out what to do about that. Xander thanks Cadbury and offers him a drink any time he wants to come visit the Airstream. Cadbury says he'll do that, in a way that makes it clear he won't. As they wrap up their conversation, Xander reads Cadbury, and figures that the only way to get him to open up more would be to get him drunk or stoned. That will be hard, since Cadbury neither drinks nor smokes. He senses that Cadbury feels trepidation and evasiveness. This conversation worries him. Once Xander leaves, he reckons Cadbury might just start sealing off some of the accesses Xander just used. Xander goes back to Captain Maxwell hoping to forestall any such notion.

As they talk, Xander realizes that his dad probably knew that mason. At least, he remembers his father playing cards with an old man who was missing the same two fingers. Anyway, the boss knows that cistern #4 is out of operation and has been for years, but isn't familiar with the other trouble spots. Xander wants permission to look behind the bottom of the spiral staircase. The Captain's not feeling that idea, so Xander suggests that instead they need to completely block it off. Maxwell's game. He also wants Xander to accompany his men on weekly inspections of the rockface around the keep, to make sure nobody else tries to tunnel in.

Out in the wastelands, Sybil, Fisher, and String survive the side trip, which includes a four hour layover from which their transportation return carrying sacks. Several days later, they're at the cattle clans, which have moved since the last trip out there. {{npcref|Pullo}} seems very happy to see Fisher, which proves that he's a great liar. Pullo recognizes String's face right away, admits that her "sister" was with them for a week, and then went off to a lantern deep, an old ruin a few hours (on horseback) east. Pullo does mention that the sister left some things, in a satchel just like String's. It contains some random oddments and a few weird sketches, one of which has a note at the bottom saying, "If you're reading this, follow me." The handwriting is of course written with the opposite hand from what String would use. Nothing in the bag has a printed label.

String asks if anyone can rent her a horse. One strapping lad offers to give her a ride if she'll share his bed when they return. She declines and pays someone for the service instead. One of the guys they hire has a motorcycle with a sidecar, in which Fisher rides, since he's not well enough to ride a horse with confidence.

This lantern deep was once some sort of industrial complex. String and Fisher agree that the password for recognizing the real String is "dandelion," and that Fisher should straight murder the other String if he sees her. String also tells Sybil to stay real close.

It's dark as hell inside, and full of random crap impeding progress. Sybil and Fisher both have their heads on a swivel. As they descent some gantry steps into a flooded area, Sybil notices ripples in the water. She points it it out String, who wants no part of it... except that she's already in the water. She scrambles back out of the water. Fisher spots that looks like an air duct at ground level. It would probably keep them all out of the water, but it limits where they can go. They decide to go through the ducts, Fisher on point, moving very slowly and noisily because Fisher can't stop complaining about his wound and because the ducts echo a lot. They're moving deeper in, feeling they're sometimes above ground level and sometimes below, and then the duct ends in a twister pile of metal. They find themselves in what seems to be some sort of turbine room. There's a door on the far side, partially ajar.

Fisher sneaks up on the door, tests it, and finds that it does not swing freely. The next room is very dark. He procedes in, high crawling, and finds that it's a corridor, full of shattered linoleum, moldy ceiling tile, peeling paint, etc. He backs out and invites the rest of the group to come with. They move carefully through the corridor, and find themselves at a stairwell behind a double door. When Fisher pulls the door open, it opens about two feet, and then it hits a bunch of rubble that slides. When he enters the stairwell, he finds the ceiling partially collapsed, and the stairs full of rubble. They only go up one more flight, and in the rubble, he can make out footprints. At the back of the line, Sybil hears a sound behind her, and opens her brain. She can't hear the whispers or make out anything. All she hears is static. When she looks behind her, the static is stronger. When she looks at the stairs, it's weaker. She shakes her head and moves to the stairs.

Fisher asks String if she can tell where her hand's opposite is. It's above them, close, maybe reading a book? It's turning a page. Fisher tries to be quiet and sneak up on whatever's up there, but as he moves through the double doors at the top of the stairs, there's a creaking, rumbling noise, and part of the ceiling in the corridor falls in and blocks the door. Fisher's on his own. The debris is heavy as hell and he's not going to be able to move it any time soon. String's hand starts to whisper numbers at her. They sound like measurements. Through the window in the door, String motions for him to keep going, while she and Sybil try to find a way around.

Fisher quick-walks about twenty feet to clear datum and then looks around. It's a lot like the corridor below, but brighter, since there's light coming in where the ceiling collapsed.

String and Sybil backtrack and look for a way around. They back track and then try to climb up to the second floor. They're partway up when the entire gantry just falls away from the wall and comes crashing down. The fall beats them both up pretty well, and String gets pierced by a piece of rusty metal scrap. She's leaving a blood trail now. Fisher hears the noise, spins, and then realizes it's probably the other two screwing up somehow. He continues moving forward, trying to move tactical so that he's the hardest possible target for anyone waiting to ambush him. When he gets to the end of the hall, he sees there's a light coming from one room. He carefully slides over there and sees a latern sitting on the table.

String and Sybil think they ended up lower than they started, in a machine area. They move through the corridor with haste, not worrying about noise. At the far end, there are double doors, leading to a landing which overlooks a big empty area. There's a ladder gantry next to them, which offers a possible way up. Then they hear a clanging noise like someone running along the gantry.

Fisher tries to see the rest of the room, but it's hard. There's glass or something reflective on the wall, creating many different flickering lights. He opens the door with the muzzle of his carbine and it opens freely. He asks if String is in there, but there's no answer. He enters fully and discovers that the walls are all glass-covered gauges and dials, pipes with inspection windows, etc. The lantern is sitting on top of a bunch of consoles, every one of which could hide an ambusher. Fisher pulls out his grenade and pulls the pin, moving into the room with the grenade in his weak hand and gun in his strong hand.

String makes it up the ladder, circles halfway around the room, and approaches the next ladder up. She makes the same noise someone else made. This new ladder she found goes up for three levels. String begins climbing, Sybil on her heels. The ladder ends at a landing which exits onto the roof.

Fisher makes sure nobody has been messing with the controls. They're covered in dust, and look like they have been for decades. He notices that there's a desk area with a lot of open books on it. He takes the top few books, puts the pin in his grenade, and goes looking for the other exit.

String and Sybil step onto the roof, which is exactly what you might expect. It's collapsed in a few places, which would be unsafe. Over to the west, with her back to the girls, is the other String. Without turning around, she says, "I wondered if you would come." String rushes her, Sybil right behind. Sybil pulls a knife as she goes. The double has a technical manual in her hand, and as String runs at her, the double says, "Wait, I'm not supposed to be here, and neither are you." String tries to wrap her up and drag her away from the edge, and ends up in a sort of standing wrestling match. The double also maneuvers to keep String between her and Sybil. She then says, "I didn't ask for this," grabs String with her porcelain hand, and makes String's skin start to turn black. Both Strings go to the ground. Sybil rushes in and stabs her. It's not a killing blow, and now all three of them are in a ground fight. String tries harder to lock the double up, so that Sybil will have a clean shot. Sybil starts trying to talk the double into surrendering, but String yells, "Kill her kill her kill her!" The double grabs Sybil with the hand this time, shouting, "I'm sorry," and Sybil's hand starts to turn black. She tries to extricate herself, trips, goes off the edge of the building, and just barely catches herself.

Fisher starts looking for the tracks of the person who left, sees a door ajar, and goes through it, moving a little faster now. He figures anyone who wanted to ambush him would have done it in the control room. He finds himself in a warren of office space, smells something bad, and has just an instant to get ready for something to attack him. The thing lurches out of a side office, tackles him to the ground, and envelops him in an absolutely horrid smell. It's humanoid, mottled purple, hissing, and, in Fisher's opinion, badly in need of a stabbing. It does not like being stabbed. He rolls away and starts to stab it some more, just because he's so sick of this shit, until he hears another similar noise coming out of the same room this one came through. He decides to leave now.

String and not-String continue to wrestle on the rooftop. String wants to strangle her opposite number. She starts to cut off the double's air but it's fighting for its life here, and yet, it's holding the magic hand away from String while repeating, "I don't want to hurt you." Sybil tries to climb back up, but the flashing she's hanging on to tears away, and she falls. She hits a few things on the way down that break her fall, but she still lands hard enough to KO her.

Fisher's outrunning the stench monster, moving quickly through some hallways and doors, and finds himself on a gantry overlooking a wide open space. He follows the path of scuffs on the stairs, up the stairs and out onto the landing and out onto the roof. At this point he hears the sound of a scuffle.

He sees the two Strings fighting, points his gun, and tells them to break it up now. String shouts "dandelion!" and continues fighting. Fisher tries to find a shooting angle where he can get bad String but not good String. At one point, the bad String asks Fisher to help her. He begins to hear the whispering. He knows he's never going to avoid hurting String if he fires AP ammo into a melee, so he pulls a knife and moves in. String manages to hold not-String in place long enough for Fisher to stab up under her rib cage into her heart. Fisher gasps out, "Nice work!" String breaks loose and says, "Help me get the hand off!" He warns String about slime monsters, and then notices Sybil isn't there. String points him in the direction she fell, he looks over the edge, and spots where Sybil fell through the roof and landed at an unnatural angle. String cuts the hand off her double and stuffs it in her pack. Fisher grabs the books he was carrying and the one not-String was carrying and stuffs them all in String's pack.

They look for a way off the roof, and aside from going inside, or using Sybil's rather steep route, they figure they could slide off where the roof collapsed. It will takes them around and back through some overgrown spaces but it's basically manageable, and it strikes Fisher as the safest way to go. He glides down the roof; String follows but gets herself cut on the sharp edge of some flashing. They go to collect Sybil and find that she's extemely fucked up. String lays hands on her to help get her stable, and they return to the cowboys. As soon as they get there, the cowboys settle their bet as to how their little expedition would go. They have to ride back slowly since Sybil is so messed up, but they get back to the cattle clan. String hires the local vet using Sybil's barter. Pullo wants to feast them all and hear of their adventures. String tells them about almost all of it, including that she found her sister but her sister turned bad. Fisher asks about slime monsters and discovers nobody has heard of them. String seeks out the vet after the feast and gets some proper health care. Fisher decides to pay too; they'll be there for some days, and he may as well get help healing up properly. He knows how this works, after all.