LogAWBO Smoke On The Water-Jason-12

Game log for the 2023/02/19 session of Apocalypse World Burned Over - Smoke On The Water, as taken by Jason

Churban has remembered his cache of weapons is stored in a submarine, which he hid near Upwell. He stashed an SMG, an assault rifle, some armor, a pistol, a painwave projector, and a pair of anti-painwave projector-earplugs.

Live day to day rolls:

• Churban finds living space free and connections easy. He's staying at Momma June's, and he's been there long enough that people are opening up to him. Temujin, in particular, has had some conversations with him, and Snapper makes up a sort of trio with them. All three are orphans.
• Jacob finds news easy but liberty hard.
• Finch finds favors are easy but raw materials are hard.
• Crill finds ammo is free and access is easy.
• John Paul Jones finds information is easy, but jingle is hard.

Some time has passed since last session. Reports are coming in of rogue waves and gas clouds, and pockets of boiling water.

John Paul Jones discovers that Fillmore has abandoned him. He goes to Churban and asks if they knew one another, since they have the same sorts of designs on their hands. As they're talking, they both feel a tremor.

Finch is in Finnegan's Shoal when the first tremor arrives there. The water there is shallow, but on the other hand, the entire community is afloat. The water goes from pretty calm to very choppy instantly. Some of the ropes and gangplanks that hold the shoal together break, causing the Shoal itself to break up in places. This all passes fairly quickly, but the locals are a little on edge from the waterspout, so for some, this is the last straw, and they decided to leave. The market becomes a madhouse.

Jax finds Finch and asks if he's heard anything from Crill. He has not, since he tries to keep a certain safe distance from Crill. He does relate that Crill got shot full of holes recently, though since he made it to the clinic, a full recovery is likely. Finch asks if she's ever considered relocating, and when she expresses some interest, he mentions he knows a location that needs someone with some business sense to run things. He also tells her that he thinks he knows that caused the tremor, and that if he's right, it won't be the last. In that case, both her current situation and his opportunity are time-bound. He tries to convince her to duck out and take a look, but she's just too busy. She's also worried that if she left, Wendigo would loot the settlement and haul ass. Finch goes so far as to mention a source of unlimited power from before the world ended. She sees the danger and the opportunity, but just can't do it. She asks him to come back in a week. Finch notices that Frank seems to like Jax. The price of fuel doubles over the course of Finch's time in the market. He then sets sail.

Back in Upwell, Churban asks JP for a lift over to the spot where he left his stolen minisub. It's a wet sub, and he'd tucked it into a delapidated building that doesn't protrude. The No One dives and comes back up with a pair of large watertight cases, which turn out to contain armor and weapons. Churban dons the armor, puts the smaller weapons in his pockets, and stows the large weapons below decks. He thanks John Paul for the lift.

The two of them then go to the market, and Safford tells JP he's heard some things that the captain ought to know, things about the Tarawa. He wants a little jingle for the news, and JP is not inclined to pay. He offers to swap Safford what he knows about the tremors in exchange for Safford's news. The new gossip for JP is that there's been a boat tied up at Greywall for a couple days, and the person who came off that boat was hired by the survivors from the Tarawa to get a little payback. For his part, JP tells Safford about the strange waves and odd clouds he saw on the way back from Hoddard's Rock. JP is concerned that these tremors are just the beginning of the trouble. John Paul offers to compensate Safford for whatever he can learn about these people who might be coming after him.

Crill checks out of the clinic and finds the Betty Jo tied up at the market, where JP and Churban are shopping. As usual, wherever Crill does, the Grey Cutters are aware of what he's doing. Crill asks John Paul if he could give him a ride back to Finnegan's Shoal. As they talk, Crill learns that the Kite is back in town, so he decides to go visit.

Crill has no trouble finding Benson and the Kite. He tries to approach unobserved, but he's also armed with a flamethrower, and it's real hard to sneak around a busy place with a flamethrower. Benson is not happy to see Crill, and even less happy when Crill asks how much he likes his boat. Benson cannot believe this shit. The nearby Grey Cutters start preparing for trouble. Observant boat owners begin slipping lines.

JP and Churban are untying, and JP notices someone who's coming while everyone else is going. He mentions him, and when Churban looks in that direction, he picks the guy out right away. There's a rifle and a sword strapped across the guy's back, he's moving with purpose, and when he gets to a spot he likes, he readies his rifle, puts in on a table, and takes aim at the Betty Jo. Churban begins screaming in fear about the guy with the rifle and why doesn't someone do something about the guy who's going to shoot him? Only Torren, Crill, and JP are able to look away. JP, of course, is pulling the boat the hell out. As he backs the boat out, he bumps something, which knocks Churban over, and that stops his little display. The rifleman fires at JP. He misses but JP takes some glass shrapnel.

Crill is in a slightly awkward spot now. A lot of people were ready to shoot at him, and while he didn't actually start anything, that gunshot may have been the starting gun for a big kerfuffle. He throws his hands in the air and yells, "woh woh woh" and people just barely keep their fingers from applying that last gram of pressure. Crill says he has no problem with the Grey Cuters, he just has business with Benson. Torren warns him not to start anything. Crill turns off the igniter on the flamethrower. Crill still wants to talk to Benson. Benson will have a talk with Crill at Greywall, if Crill really wants to talk. He calls Crill a psychopath and some other names.

Churban, regaining his footing after falling and having his skipper shot at, sees the shooter sling his rifle and move on. He and JP talk, and decide to go back to where they once did some trawling for cable. Maybe, if the shooter is mobile, they can spot him and do something about it.

Crill still wants Benson to go back to Finnegan's Shoal and talk to Jax. He will not. Crill finally gives up and says, "I'll tell Jax, and maybe now she'll put a proper contract out on you." At that point even one of the Cutters tells him it's time to calm down a bit. He goes to Smokey's and gets a beer. Of course, having a new patron walk into the bar wearing a flamethrower can change the vibe of a situation. Crill senses that, slams his beer, and leaves, to find a boat that will take him to Finnegan's Shoal.

The boat he finds is a classic go-fast, and the eyepatch-wearing captain, Lefty, says he's headed in Crill's direction. There might be a detour. The other guy on the boat, who apparently asked for a lift first, has a rifle over one shoulder and a sword over the other.

Churban sees this go-fast following them, and asks JP to make a sharp turn, so he can verify that they really are being pursued. They are! Churban prepares to unleash the maelstrom, while JP tries to find a more sane way to evade his foe. He spots a fog bank, which would offer him opportunities to be cute. The fog bank, he senses, portends a storm, carried by a warm front. Then he hears Churban making a weird sound, inhuman, that almost makes the deck plates vibrate.

Crill sees the Betty Jo duck into a fog bank, and the guy with the sword taps Lefty on the shoulder and points after it. Lefty turns. Crill senses the weather turning, in a way that doesn't seem to make sense. The hair on his arms stands up, and whitecaps appear on the water... in a circle around their cigarette boat. Then the lightning strikes. Crill instinctively grabs a flotation device and hurls himself overboard just before a bolt hits the boat. The boat is obliterated.

JP can't believe what just happened and asks Churban if he saw it too, and then notices that his deckhand is bleeding from the eyes and ears. He offers Churban a hot beverage and notices that the implant on the back of Churban's head is smoking. Churban does, in fact, want a hot beverage.

From his elevated position, Jacob can see the cloud forming, an astonishing flurry of lightning, an explosion, and then the clouds dissipate. He decides to open his brain and try to discern whether this situation concerns his community. He feels the wind, the thunder, and the crashing waves of the maelstrom, and beholds a light shining in the distance. The wind pushes him closer to the light. When he gets close enough, he realizes the light is Churban, glowing, suspended several meters above the water, in a Jesus Christ arms outstretched pose. He comes to and realizes that whatever Churban just did, someone noticed. As the vision fades, he hears whispers.

Salvagers rescue Crill later on, and take him back to Upwell.

Several days pass. Finch spots the Betty Jo on the horizon, and the two boats exchange compliments and approach. Finch, of course, is cagey. John Paul explains that he needed a change of scenery. They discuss the tremors. Finch also mentions that the Shoal is on edge and prices are way up.

Finch makes it back to Upwell and ties off at Jacob's. Jacob fills him in on recent news and gossip. They determine that the tremors were worse at the Shoal, and Finch shares his theory that the volcano is the source of the tremors, and anything in that direction (westerly) is in a bad way. He thinks Finnegan's Shoal is going to break up, and that the power plant is too big a deal for him, so as alluded to earlier, he wants to barter the coordinates to Jax. Finch returns to the Shambles, and Jacob goes to work on improving his facilities.

Crill goes to visit the clinic. He arrives at the top of the elevator as Finch and Jacob finish their conversation. Pickles, of course, is very happy to see Crill. Finch agrees to take Crill to Finnegan's Shoal, if he can pay for the trip.

Crill goes looking to make some deals and amass trade goods. It goes too well. He gets the feeling that maybe Stempler has told people that he'll compensate them for selling stuff very cheap, if doing so gets Crill the hell out of Upwell.

JP and Churban find that the Shoal is a seller's market, and that it's shrinking steadily. The captain picks up some news. The Skagway, a boat which had been the local saloon, has left for Brennan's Fetch. The Kite hasn't been back. The Tuscany is gone, and it's even money whether they're raiding to bring stuff back, or robbing people leaving. Some people think that the tremor and the freak waterspout together add up to proof that the mer-folk have cursed this place. Prentiss is reportedly moving out, in a barge with a helicopter.

Finch and Crill arrive a few days later. Finch has told Crill he has one day before Finch departs. Of course the question of what happened to the fast boat Crill was on comes up. JP denies knowledge. Crill believes him. Nobody asks Churban. What would Churban know? Crill tries to convince John Paul to sell fish here on the regular, apparently thinking the Betty Jo can replace the Kite.

Finch goes to see Jax, and finds her shouting at someone who was planning to leave. He mentions that Jacob might support the new settlement proposal he brought up last time they talked. Jax is having trouble with the idea of starting over. Finnegan set up the Shoal and established some rules that lasted. A new place means having to establish a set of rules. She doesn't want to leave now because she's holding the place together with her bare hands. She suggests that maybe Prentiss could be her representative, but Finch doesn't think he's trustworthy.

Crill then comes in, and reports his failure to sway Benson. He doesn't focus on his own possible errors, just the bare fact that Benson has a bit of an attitude and isn't coming back. Jax doesn't know how to feed the settlement if Benson stops trading there. Jax decides she has to go take a look at Finch's opportunity, but she needs Crill to stay and keep Wendigo from stealing the entire settlement. After conferring with Finch on the likely duration of their trip, Jax deputizes Crill as a sheriff's deputy.

Just then, another tremor hits. People start leaving.

Eloise tells Jacob there's something he needs to see. She takes him to a disused section of the building and points out the huge crack there.