LogGhosts in the Grid-Munin-1

Game log for the 2014/04/04 session of Ghosts in the Grid, as taken by Munin

The story begins in the Ash Wastes. Methane, accompanied by Din, is on a scrounging expedition escorted by The Jokers, led by the steely-eyed Ace. Burrows, one of Abilene's Jurors is tagging along for his own inscrutable reasons - perhaps simply because it gives him an excuse to miss out on the boredom of today's Jury deliberations. Folded awkwardly into the sidecar attached to Moose's cycle, Burrows' three-piece suit and dusty retro flight goggles make for an incongruous sight. The group pulls up outside a cluster of buildings out in the Ash Wastes almost a day's ride from Abilene.

At a signal from Ace, the Jokers come to a stop, the high-pitched whine of their electric speedbikes dying off and being replaced by only the gentle sounds of the breeze, the fine powdery grit stirred up by their passage slowly blowing downwind. In his brightly colored cycle suit, Ace dismounts and removes his helmet. Without a word needing to be spoken, the Jokers roll out their solar mats, connecting them to the bikes' internal batteries to replace as much juice as they can for as long as they're standing still. The gang knows their business. With a gesture, Ace directs Snitch to get to high ground and stand lookout. Eager to please, the scrawny teenager rushes off to a four-story building at the edge of the cluster, reappearing on the roof a few moments later. After a brief comm-check to ensure all of the Jokers are ready, the group proceeds into the cluster of buildings, headed north along what used to be a two-lane street. Jokers Moose, Larry, and Gopher are left behind to guard the bikes. As they walk, Ace notes a vibrant splash of color amid the dun-colored ash, a Kit-Kat wrapper unfaded by the sun - clear sign of recent human activity. He tells everyone to stay sharp.

Methane, decked out in goth leathers, wearing too much eye makeup, and sporting ratted hair dyed synthetic black leads the way. Out here, she's the expert. It is her critical eye that is most likely to spot the profitable treasure amongst the detritus. Close by her is Beatrice, a member of the Jokers who has taken a recent carnal interest in Methane. As Methane makes her way through the first few buildings, she sees that they have been pretty heavily picked over - little of value is likely to remain, but it never hurts to check. Most Drifters and Scavengers are looking for the big-ticket items - dry goods, canned food, batteries, books, undamaged LEDs and lightbulbs. And anything that looks like electronic storage media from the Time Before. Today Methane is looking for particular chemicals. As luck would have it, the basement of one of the first buildings she searches contains a few buckets of old, dried-up paint. Jackpot.

On the street the Jokers fan out, keeping an eye on their assigned sectors, making as little noise as possible. Burrows, unconcerned by matters tactical, walks openly down the middle of the street. Sarah, one of The Jokers, accompanies him closely, keeping an eye on him. Whenever she's drunk or high, Burrows finds her fascinating for reasons he does not or cannot articulate. But right now she is stone sober, and therefore utterly boring to him. Instead he idly takes note of the architectural details of the abandonded town through which the group moves. Meanwhile, Din works to control the street, the muzzle of his M249 SAW sweeping menacingly back and forth as he scans for threats.

After the group has moved but a short way into the town, Ace's attention is drawn to a flashing light from above - Snitch, signalling him with a reflecting mirror. At a mere 15 years old the boy is already smart enough to maintain radio silence when he is on his own - there's no telling what noise might attract a Ghost. Once Ace looks in his direction, Snitch signals by hand that he sees movement, four people in a building just up the street from the Jokers' position, northeast corner of the intersection, 2nd floor. Down on the street, Ace radios terse orders to his compatriots. The gang splits up, with members going into several buildings, trying to disguise their tactical dispersal as a group fanning out to search more ground.

Din and Kurtz move into the building on the southwest corner of the intersection. Wild-eyed, Kurtz has trouble containing his chuckle at the thought of potential mayhem. Din is more measured, moving to the second floor of his building and taking up a firing position covering the building kitty-corner across the intersection. He sees a brief stir of movement, but no obvious targets. Beside him, Kurtz is almost vibrating with excitement. Across the street, Torque, Baptist, and a few other Jokers move into the building on the southeast corner.

Meanwhile, Sarah pulls Burrows into a building. She holds him close, gives him a peck on the cheek and says, "Stay here. And try not to do anything stupid, love." She then moves forward to a position covering Ace.

As Ace, still walking in the street, approaches the intersection, a voice hails him: "Don't come no closer!" To which he answers: "No problem. But I sure would love to trade for a Kit-Kat if you've got more of 'em. I haven't had chocolate in a long time." As soon as he hears the voice, Burrows moves from his designated spot into the middle of the street to stand beside Ace. Sarah curses under her breath, but it's too late. Burrows is exposed and shows no sign of wanting to take cover. Indeed, he is wearing his best winning smile, a rictus grin that is at once both charming and alarming.

From the building ahead, Ace, Burrows, and Sarah hear some muffled, heated conversation, making out something along the lines of, "how many times have I told you to police that shit?" The speaker returns his attention to Ace, shouting still unseen from the building, "Mayhap we would make that happen. What do you have to trade?"

Considering his options, Ace replies, "Well, I've got some whiskey. The real original stuff, not that swill they make now in Abilene."

Still cagey, the unseen man shouts, "OK, but I wanna see it first."

After a brief delay during which Ace sends Sarah back to the bikes to retrieve what's left of the flask of Jameson's from his saddlepack, Ace is ready to make the trade. In the meantime, word of the presence of the Drifters and the ongoing negotiations has reached Beatrice and the other Jokers with Methane. Always thinking ahead, Beatrice asks, "Hey, do you think we could get to the building they're in without using the street?" Methane explains that many of these old settlements have storm drains and utility tunnels running beneath the streets, and that in all likelihood there is a way. The group heads back into the basement and begins searching. After a short while, they find a back room in which a hole as has been knocked in the wall, exposing access to a pitch-black tunnel. Motioning Methane to stay back, Beatrice steps into the tunnel at a crouch, brief flashes from the foregrip tactical light on her M4 showing the subterranean passageway clear in both directions. She nods to Methane and the group enters the tunnel, quietly heading north.

When Sarah returns with the bottle, Ace holds it aloft to illustrate its veracity. "Advance one!" comes the voice from inside the building. As Ace steps forward, a filthy Drifter emerges from the building, Kit-Kat in hand. By the looks, this guy has been out in the Ash Wastes for a while. The Drifter holds up the Kit-Kat so Ace can see the back, saying "factory-sealed," and after a brief taste of a capful whiskey to determine its authenticity ("Oh, damn, that's good stuff!"), the trade is made. A brief conversation ensues in which the Drifter remarks on the overall cleanliness of Ace's cycle suit, and how that kind of clean only comes from a place where they've got water. Ace mentions that the group has come from Abilene, where civilized amenities can be had.

At the mention of his fair city, Burrows pushes his way forward. "It just so happens that you are in the presence of a member of Abilene's Jury. Pleased to meet you, my name is Burrows!" Extending his violation-gloved hand, Burrows again smiles his 'winning' smile. The rapid approach and overall weirdness of Burrows puts the Drifter off, making him take a step back and put a hand behind has back, presumably to a weapon. He looks at Burrows as though he's grown a third head, making no move to accept the Brainer's outstretched hand. Instead he turns and addresses Ace (who sighs and rolls his eyes, as if to apologize for Burrows' awkwardness), "so about this Abilene place. How far is it?"

Ace admits that it's the better part of a day's ride to Abilene, and offers the Drifter and his companions a ride. "It might be cramped, but we can make it work."

From their vantage point overlooking the intersection, Din and Kurtz see a man flit from one building to another, crossing the street quickly several blocks north of their position. Kurtz looks at Din dumbfounded. "Did you see that?" With his helmet off, they can't communicate this information to Ace, so Kurtz takes it upon himself to act unilaterally - "I'm gonna go head him off." Without waiting for objection or permission, he jets from the room, leaving Din by himself. The silence is palpable.

As the negotiations progress upstairs, Methane, Beatrice, and a pair of other Jokers enters the basement of a building in which they believe the Drifters are holed up. They come out in an ancient, dusty boiler room. The beams of their flashlights show a tangled mass of rusty pipes and ductwork. As Beatrice and Tug begin looking for a way upstairs, Methane contents herself with examining the boiler itself, looking for anything useful. From within the boiler she hears whispering, "This is taking too long. What's he doing?" Initially alarmed, Methane quickly deduces that the voices are not coming from the boiler itself, but rather are a facet of the strange acoustics of the ductwork. Assessing the situation clearly and logically, she deduces that the voices are coming from a room several floors above her. Immediately suspicious of their motives, she formulates a plan.

Quickly moving about the room, she gathers some rust and old fibrous insulation. Mixing it with some powdered aluminum from her pack, she fashions a hasty thermite burner. Stepping inside the main air handler itself, she begins fashioning a baffle from some downed and discarded ductwork. Alarmed, Beatrice hisses, "what the fuck are you doing?" But Methane is in the zone, has tuned out all external distractions, and makes short work of her project. Using a tiny oxy-acetylene torch (modded from an old cigar-lighter) as an igniter, she lights the charge. Quickly, thick, voluminous grey smoke begins billowing up the duct from which the sound of hushed conversation had emanated.

Out on the street, the Drifter seems unhappy about the prospect of hitching a ride with a group that so vastly outnumbers his own and is trying to talk Ace into heading out with most of his party, leaving only five or so behind. Amidst this back-and-forth, the sound of shouting is heard. Smoke billows from a second-story window of the building behind the Drifter. As soon as the Drifter's attention is diverted, Burrows leaps forward, attempting to grab the man's shoulder such that his violation glove may be put to use. The man catches the sudden motion out of the corner of his eye, turning and drawing a pistol. Reacting to the rapidly deteriorating situation, Ace attempts to draw his machete and cut the Drifter's gun hand before he can fire. Missing by the slightest of margins, there is a loud report and Burrows falls down, hit in the chest.

Pandemonium is unleashed. Fire from the Drifters' building rakes the street around Ace, Sarah and Burrows. As the face-man Drifter runs for cover, Din opens up on him. The unfortunate takes just a few steps before a long full-auto burst from Din's weapon drops him in a spray of gore. Din then smoothly shifts his fire upwards to the windows of the building, providing suppressive fire to give his companions in the street time to get to cover. Though return fire comes his way, Din calmly continues to shoot, walking his fire, sweeping his targets, and reloading in a way that is all business. As he does this, Sarah beats feet back across the street, while Ace grabs Burrows and charges forward, under the theory that the best cover is to be tight up against the building from which the fire is coming. Burrows proves to be little more than dead weight, the odd man more involved in ensuring that the shot he sustained didn't harm his suit than he is with avoiding further fire. With an exasperated groan, Ace leaves him in the street seconds before the space Ace had been occupying is riddled with fire.

In the basement, Methane is suddenly gripped by a new inspiration. Using her understanding of the ductwork's acoustic properties, she begins making noise reminiscent of that made by an approaching Ghost. Out on the street, a scream emanates from the smoking room. A hoarse cry of "Ghost! Ghost!" is heard above the gunfire, followed by a man jumping from the smoking window to the street. He lands heavily, his ankle severely sprained, possibly broken. It matters little, as Din quickly relieves the man of his life in a hail of bullets.

From beside the door, Ace shouts to Burrows, "Get the fuck out of the street!" As if to emphasize his point, a man appears in the doorway, AK-47 leveled at Burrows. Burrows merely meets his gaze and...thinks. Suddenly fearful, the man shakily lowers his rifle and backs away deeper into the building. This gives Torque and the other Jokers from across the street the opportunity they need to make their move. They rush across, taking up positions on the other side of the doorway from Ace. At his nod, the combined group charges in and begins clearing the building. They meet Beatrice and Tug coming up from below. Once out of the basement and clear for comms, Beatrice reports, "The 'Ghost' was Methane playing tricks. No Ghost, I repeat, no Ghost."

For a few moments, silence reigns. Relaxing for a moment, Din lets his mind touch the spirit world, and that might be what saves his life. A sudden sharp shiver down his spine is all the warning he has, but he knows beyond doubt that a Ghost is screaming through the wall behind him to his left, surely drawn by all the noise. He turns, knife drawn, yelling for all he's worth and cutting them empty air with a fury borne of terror. Whether it's the force of his will, the knife striking something momentarily corporeal, or sheer luck, Din gets the impression that he's hurt the thing and it quickly retreats. A quick examination of his own body reveals deep gashes and punctures in his skin, though not a mark shows on his flak jacket. Retrieving his machine-gun, he stumbles down the stairs and back out onto the street.

Arriving in the intersection to find Kurtz dragging a wounded, half-conscious Drifter down the street by his hair, Din says simply "Ghost," which gets everyone's attention like a cannon at a tea-party. Torque, having heard Beatrice's report says, "No Ghost, no Ghost! Stand the fuck down!" but everyone who can see Din knows otherwise, including Ace. "Jokers, saddle up. We are leaving." Kurtz gleefully beats his captive Drifter to death with the butt of his rifle, harvests an ear, and rejoins the others as they regroup in the intersection and pull out.

When the party gets back to the bikes and begins packing up for a hasty departure, Ace notes ruefully that Gopher (who had been tasked with sentry duty over the bikes) is trying to nonchalantly cover his absence. Clearly he'd been doing some opportunistic searching of his own. With nervous backward glances the group mounts up and rides out, their progress southwards marked by billowing clouds of fine ash rising up into the bright afternoon sky.