LogApocalypse World: Black Rain-Jason-15

Game log for the 2021/07/18 session of AW: Black Rain, as taken by Jason

String asks Captain Maxwell if she can start opening doors, so she can find the right path to the other side. The boss agrees, so String takes Xander (still high as a kite off grey water) by the hand and start taking him toward one of the voids. The Captain hastily tells her he means tomorrow and she needs to slow her roll.

The dusty abyss looks deeply into Xander and finds that his biggest sorrow is that Luna has friend-zoned him. He's hoping that his work on the nuclear reactor will impress her so much that she'll change her mind. He sleeps it off in his trailer and wakes up feeling hung over. String crashes in the Airstream so she can be there for the big event. She's easy to start. He needs a little water and a little time. Xander also wants to go get explicit permission to unbrick a void, whereas String things they're good to go. She finally persuades him and then he says he wants to open cistern #4. When String realizes he's never opened that one before, she puts the kibosh on it. They're going to go after the void in the old Captain's office instead. String and Xander agree on a sign and countersign to prove that they're the correct instances of themselves.

A couple Seekers show up to observe as Xander's exposing the office door. One of the keep staff leads them to the office. He then opens the other side as well, leaving String alone in the office with the Seekers. Oh, and the Captain has left orders for Depthcharge to kick Xander into the void if things get too crazy. Strings politely greets the Seekers and explains what's going on. They wander around the room, which is pretty bare these days, doing weird stuff. At one point they stand still facing one another, and String gets an overwhelming feeling that information has been exchanged.

Cardstock takes position guarding the top of the stairs, and Slingshot stands at the top of the ladder. In this way, they can relay shouts and commands back and forth. Xander can't help noticing that wherever he goes, Depthcharge is always between him and the stairs.

He opens a door and sees the office on the other side.... waaaaaay far off. He and String exhange sign and countersign, so it's a failure. They count ten and try again. This time the door is 30 ft away and String's not there from Xander's POV, but Xander sees an open door with no String. They yell back and forth to trade notes. Next try, he sees String about six feet away, and it's the real string. He ties a rope to his belt, tell Depthcharge to secure the other end, and jumps across. Except he change his mind and decides to just throw the rope instead, which String catches, and then Xander rides the rope to the other side. String's not prepared for Xander's weight and only has one (porcelain) hand, and he starts to drop down. He hurriedly scrambles back and tells String to tie the rope off. There's nothing to anchor it too, though, and the Seekers are observing rather than participating. He decides to make a running jump instead, and it works out just fine. Maybe the extra adrenaline helps? Maybe the rope is anchoring things? Whatever, it worked. This proves that the void can be crossed if you go between open doors. When he's inside the void, he feels no difference in gravity or noise transmission, but it feels a little cool. He thinks he hears a roaring sound, like a waterfall, but he's in and out so fast it's hard to be sure.

One of the Seekers extends a hand to help Xander up, but he doesn't take it. The savvyhead declines to jump back, preferring to go up and around. Before he does that, though, he sticks his head in to the void from the office side and looks around. He hears the same noise, but can't tell where it might be coming from. He and String confirm that they're both looking for the moment that they open the door and it's both a door between worlds and a short gap. One of the Seekers also peeks in to the void, then steps back. String keeps Xander from going all ADD with messing about and gets him to start doing more door tests. The next time String sees the other Xander, but it's a long distance. The time after that, all black. The Seekers ask to look into the void this time. The one in front seems to be moving oddly - like there's something moving around under his cloak. He stands in front of the void, reaches up and pulls off his mask and drops it, shrugs out of his robe, extends his wings, and dives in. The other one follows him. They stand revealed as creatures of tenebrous darkness. She opens her mind and asks what those were, and remembers one of them saying something about putting information into the void.

The next time, it's the usual String and Xander, only inches apart. Xander steps through, sees the empty masks and robes, and gets the story from String. He opens his mind, String's hand replays the entire conversation to him, and it occurs to him to wonder what information they might be adding to the void. String tells Depthcharge to go tell the Captain about this, and he does. On, and when Xander looks at one of the mirrored masks, he finds it's opaque on the other side.

Depthcharge reports in to the Captain, who isn't happy to hear of more weirdness.

Xander and String close the door, and are just about to reopen in when Captain Maxwell comes back. He tells them to stop the experiment just as String opens the door and sees an empty door about 20 feet away. The door on Xander's side is closed. This is therefore a gate to the other universe! String dismounts the door on her side. Xander goes up and around. The Captain tells Depthcharge to kill anything that comes through and for Cardstock to stick with him. String sticks her head in the door and hears nothing. She does notice that her hand, which had been whispering to her, stops when she sticks her head in.

String catches the boss up on what he missed. Xander comes to the office and sees what String saw, the open door to the other universe. String excitedly points out that a good extension ladder could cross this gap. Xander's worried that if this door closes, the alignment would change, and they might not get it back. String explains that she took the door off the hinges so that nobody can close it. The Captain worries that they have no defense against winged creates of tenebrous darkness coming out of the void. Xander tries to talk the Captain into letting him cross directly, but he doesn't make a real persuasive argument. String chimes in, and manages to better articulate the case. Maxwell still doesn't like it, though. He wants it on hold while he figures out some precautions. String offers up her people as observers or tripwires or alarms, however you want to look at it. The hardholder rejects that plan because her people aren't his people. He wants the to close up and the try again when they have a more comprehensive plan. Xander bows to orders and re-hangs the door. String, disgusted, leaves. The Captain tries to make sure Xander hangs the door properly and closes it fully, but doesn't notice that Xander wedged his sonic screwdriver in there so that it feels latched but isn't.

The savvyhead and the hardholder disagree about whether it's more important to investigate the void or protect themselves against it. The Captain wins. He sends for Kruger and tells him about the Seekers. Kruger doesn't entirely believe this, but the Captain says that since Xander saw the same thing, he's inclined to believe. Kruger does mention that he's heard rumors of people in the keep hearing wingbeats in the night, which the Captain hadn't heard about. They both go up to the old office, and Maxwell opens the door. The sonic screwdriver falls out of the doorframe and into the void. Kruger notices the empty robes, gloves, and masks on the floor, and realizes how screwed up all of this is. Maxwell closes the door properly this time.

Xander goes back to the Airstream and builds Fisher's silencer.

Luna observes that there's some hubbub. She asks Slingshot what's going on, and hears all about today's wacky experiment. Luna asks if she can see the void, and Slingshot can't understand why she'd want to. Slingshot tells Luna about how Sybil vanished entirely into the void. Luna offers to trade Slingshot tickets to her next show for help seeing the void, but of course Slingshot lives in the keep and would be there anyway. Luna tries grabbing her arm and convincing her that looking at the void would be a fun thing they could do together. Slingshot thinks this is a dumb idea, and also that Captain Naxwell would be in the office and see them doing it. Luna likes the idea of going to see the Captain, so they do that.

Said Captain hears voices on the roof, as Luna comes to see him. He says he's coming up and tells Kruger they need to see how many Seekers there are in town and whether they need to be dealt with, and then heads up to the roof to meet Luna and Slingshot. Kruger says, "I'll take care of it for you, Captain," and Slingshot stares daggers at him. Luna expresses her curiousity about the void. The boss tries to figure out whether she'd stop all this if he let her see the void, or if she'd become another nuisance like Xander or Sybil. For her part, the skinner can tell that he'd share more information with her if he felt that he could trust her. He decides to show her the void, and leads her down to the office and opens the door for her. On the other side, about 50 ft away, he sees Depthcharge, who yells, "oh shit," and opens fire. They both dive for cover as bullets perforate the door. The Captain tells Sybil about how complicated the void can be.

Fisher's out and about, trying to find anyone who might be after Luna. He happens to see a single file of Seekers walking out of town. In the afternoon, he finds Axelrod in his usual market stall. Fisher asks Axelrod if he knows anything about the job out on Luna, and Fisher can tell Axelrod's denial is a lie. He grabs the dealer's arm and threatens to beat the information out of Axelrod, Axelrod goes for his shotgun, and Fisher slaps it out of his hands. This violence is beginning to draw attention as Xander walks in, carrying Fisher's silencer. Xander steps back, keeping himself out of it. Now that Axelrod's at Fisher's mercy, he admits that he hooked some guy up with Cabot. Fisher tells him he should kill Cabot on sight, which Axelrod declines, and also that he's fining the fixer that shotgun, which makes Axelrod whiny. Axelrod mentions seeing Cabot at The Hole.

Xander waits for Fisher to disengage with Axelrod, then offers him any help he needs. Fisher suggests Xander should poke his head into The Hole and let him know if anyone's there. Xander opens his brain instead, asking where Cabot is, and the whispering starts for everyone in the area. Xander hears heavy breathing. Someone is running. It's someone telling Cabot that someone just grabbed Axelrod and he has to get out of town, and Xander thinks it came from near The Hole.

They run over to The Hole. Fisher walks in and asks the room at large where Cabot went. Xander, more cerebral, looks around and sees that the back door is open. He knows that someone in this room is probably on Cabot's side, and that the safest way through is to go out and around. They do that. Fisher sees the signs of people recovering from a hubbub and runs in that direction. People jump out of his way, one of them clutching a bloody nose, and then spies Cabot rounding a corner. Fisher readies his AR and gives chase. Xander asks the maelstrom how he can help, and the voices, coming from Fisher's direction, say "stop, look out, turn around." He shouts out a warning just as Fisher rounds a corner, allowing the gunlugger to drop and roll as Cabot's shotgun blast goes over his head.

Fisher looks around. He's near the dyeing vats, and there's a lot of fabric out there, so he tries to use a strip of fabric to bait Cabot into taking a wild shot. Cabot does so, Fisher rolls out as he pumps the shotgun, opens fire with the AR, and riddles the ex-Syndic guard with bullets. Only, it's not Cabot, it's just one of Cabot's men. Fisher searches his body, confiscating his shotgun. The dead guy has a goathide waterskin on him, and it's brand new, even though the goat clan hasn't been in town for weeks. A clue! When Cochise comes by and asks if the victim was a scumbag, Fisher fills him in on everything he learned, and asks them to tell the boss that if he wants Fisher to go all the way to the Goat Clan to investigate, it's going cost more. Xander asks the guards to escort him to safety. They're wondering what he's being a wuss, but Fisher volunteers to get him to the keep.

They pass the grotto on the way. Fisher attaches his silencer as he walks. When Xander asks, Fisher tells him that Cabot is actualy beyond kill on sight, that Fisher would shoot any object he thought Cabot was hiding behind. They split up when they get to the keep, with Xander going in and reporting to the boss, and Fisher going back to the market.

Captain Maxwell grabs Slingshot and heads into town. Slingshot opines that Cabot's a blunt instrument and wouldn't be behind any actual plot, he's just a guy who does the work for a living. As far as she's concerned, the boss should hire Cabot, since he knows the town. When they arrive at the Rusty Nail, Kruger is there, and reports that the Seekers have left town, and that Fisher was in the market. The Captain finds him and Fisher finishes briefing him. The Captain talks about wanting Cabot alive, and Fisher hesitates and suggest maybe the Captain should hire someone else, but eventually Fisher caves. The Captain gives him 1-barter now to get going, makes it a three-barter gig to go out and deal with Cabot / the Luna situation, with a fourth barter if Fisher brings Cabot back alive. Fisher leaves as soon as he can arrange it.

The next day, at Dawn, Xander goes through his junkyard, trying to figure out how to make a working augury antenna. (He doesn't yet know his sonic screwdriver is lost, but he knows it's busted, so....) It will cost a ton of jingle, and attuning it will put him at risk.

Xander and String then return to the keep, Xander toting an extension ladder. Xander notices that Luna's following behind them. The Captain meets them up on the roof, with Slingshot and Depthcharge. He confirms that Xander and String want to restart the experiments, and when they agree, he tells them the rules are changing. There are going to be armed guards on both sides. He tells them they're both going down to the office with him first. Xander reads him and senses that the boss really resents Xander's difficulty with following his rules. They follow Maxwell down into the office, where Xander and String see for the first time the bullet-riddled door. String immediately worries that the holes in the door might keep it from closing with sufficient metaphysical certainty. The Captain's less worried about that then he is about security. He wants the door fixed. He also explains to Xander that the gunfire came from the other side, though Xander initially takes it as a threat. Xander tries to get more detail, but the boss just tells him he has tasks to do.

Slingshot spots Luna sneaking onto the roof and asks what she's going there. Luna just wants to satisfy her curiousity. Slingshot tells her to go away. Luna tries to turn her around, so Slingshot points a gun at her and says, "GO!" Luna realizes that Slingshot will not let her pass, period, and she needs to try another way in or another time. Luna backs down the stairs.

Maxwell tells Xander he wants removable barricades in front of both doors before they open them again. Xander's real pissed about the door being perforated and shouts at the Captain about it. Maxwell's sick of Xander's excuses and tells him to shut up and do it, because he's sick of the savvyhead's backtalk. Xander cooperates. The Captain tells Depthcharge to make sure Xander follows orders, and Xander gets to work patching the door, putting bars in and fortifying the crap out of it. String reads him and thinks that all Xander cares about is getting into the void and across to the other side.

The boss then goes back to the roof and gets Slingshot's report, at which point he adds Luna to his list of problems.

Once the work is done, Xander and String get back to work. They open the door into blackness, at which point Xander realizes his screwdriver is gone. They both go to the hallway side, whence String helps Xander fortify the other side of the door. Then they agree on a new sign and countersign, and resume the experiments. The first time they open the door, they see each other from a very long distance. They can't hear each other at all. Second try, String sees black, Xander sees an old and dusty version of Captain Maxwell's office, with carpet on the floor, 20-30 ft away. He tells Cardstock this might be a chance and he needs the ladder. String gets the message and closes her door, hearing the sound of leathery wings as she does. She then goes to the hallway, where Xander is discovering that the ladder won't reach. He thinks that if he secured the ladder, he could leap from the end. Instead, he decides to put a couple planks down to give him more distance. String suggests safety harnesses and lines, sunk into the new wall secrity hardware. Xander goes in, String right behind. She hears cracking, shoves Xander forward, and leaps herself, just in time to avoid falling in. She looks back at Depthcharge and tells him not to close the door. Slingshot calls out for a password, and String calls out, "Raindrops." The void begins whispering that word back and forth. Xander notices that String's hand is whispering again, tries to open his mind to it, and gets overpowered by the maelstrom, becoming catatonic. String, for her part, asks the maelstrom how to hide here, and senses that for the locals, opening their brains lets information out, rather than in. She looks around the office and finds a bare overhead light fixture. She rifles Xander's pants for tools and then disassembles the fixture, retrieving some heavy-guage wire. She returns Xander's tools and tries to bring him around by slapping him. Xander comes to but he still can't keep the voices out, so he's very distracted. String goes to look out the window. It's raining. She shows Xander the wire she retrieved, and he tells her it's too thick to work in her hand. She checks the door and sees that it's been reinforced. They'll have to take it off the hinges to make sure they retain access. Xander gets to work. It takes a while and makes some noise, but they end up throwing the door into the void.