LogApocalypse World: Black Rain-Jason-6

Game log for the 2021/04/25 session of AW: Black Rain, as taken by Jason

We open at the Grotto, in the middle of the night. There's a pounding at the door, and one of the followers opens it and brings in a bedraggled old man. The Old Doctor is back! The visitor complains about not wanting to make a habit of this, and asks who it is who needs tending to. Sybil leads him to Xander. The doctor begins removing the shotgun pellets from Xander's wounds, and also gives him instructions on how to manage his broken collarbone. There's no anasthetic, so the savvyhead distracts himself by talking to the doctor about what they might add to the rain water to make it more healthy / less poisonous. They also chat about how Xander got shot. The Doctor asks who was with Xander at the time, and when Xander mentions Fisher was there, the old man sourly tells him he's lucky he's not dead. The doctor admits he has some history with Fisher, and clearly isn't a fan. The conversation ends when the doctor applies the graft worms, who crawl under his skin and through the bone. Somehow they solidify his collarbone as they go. That just about wraps things up, but the doc also cautions Xander not to let the cultists give him any of the rain water, because losing nutrients to the leaching drug would be the last thing he needs.

The Old Doctor then goes to find String, and repeats the warning abuot not giving him rain water. She's fine with that. He then explains that he doesn't want to make coming there a habit, and he knows how to keep it from happening. He needs her to get Fisher to the well in the market by the dyer's, eight days from now, at noon. This is his price for saving her friend. He further suggests that she should wear a hat.

The next morning is drizzly and overcast. The convoy to visit the Cattle Clans is formed up and ready, and the Captain gives he order to move out. He's got a half-dozen members of his gang and Fisher, in two armed vehicles and some trucks. The Captain's in one armed vehicle, Fisher in another, with Fisher's vehicle designated as scout vehicle. They're about two hours outside Running Rock, moving at modest speed because of all the places where the prairie transitions to badlands, when Fisher sees a small group of people on motorcycles glassing them with binoculars. He looks around and figures the raiders are likely strung out along their entire route, maybe using radio, maybe just shadowing until the time is right. He figures the best way past, given their lack of speed, is either to lose them in the terrain or lure the shadowers into a trap. Being a violent sort of fellow, he chooses to try to bait them into a trap.

He tells the driver to zip ahead into a box canyon he knows is there, thinking to head into a draw he knows will hide them, and discovers someone's already blocked it with a boulder. Fisher realizes they've anticipated his idea and orders the convoy to reverse, which puts Captain Maxwell on point. He begins taking fire at the entrance / now their exit from this little arroyo. Windows break, frag scratches people, but nobody's seriously hurt, and the Captain orders fire returned. He wants to kill the raiders rather than try to win free. The gunner on the twin .30s in the bed of their truck begins blazing away, and puts rounds on target. The truck starts to look quite a bit the worse for wear but at least one of the hostile bikes is on fire, and now Fisher has gotten turned around. He doesn't have sight of any targets, so he dismounts and begins climbing up. He hopes to stay low and remain unseen until he gets to the lip of the arroyo, but as he gets to the top, he takes fire right to the gut. He drops prone and looks for his attacker, but he just gets shot again for his pains, and this time it's in the head. Someone with a high-powered rifle has developed a keen dislike for the gunlugger.

Captain Maxwell's truck is rocking and rolling but the situation hasn't developed, so he orders his men to dismount and start getting more guns into the fight. He gets a flesh wound on the way, but that doesn't stop him. Bento has left the driver's seat as well, so the pickup is now in pillbox mode. He waves for the other gang members in the other trucks to move up and engage as well.

Fisher slithers forward, trying to get into the fight, also hoping to keep some terrain between himself and the enemy sniper. He pops out, sees a cluster of three bad guys, shoots one, and causes the other two to relocate to get cover. That keeps them from shooting at Captain Maxwell's truck.

The Captain notices the change in incoming fire and orders his men to push. Incoming fire slacks off, and then he hears the sound of motorcycles fading into the background. Fisher joins up again, looking vastly the worst for wear. Maxwell orders the scout car to press on with all haste, trying to get Fisher to the Cattle Clans for treatment before he gets much worse. Captain Maxwell takes a little more time looking to see if they can salvage anything, but the enemy has policed up their casualties and gear.

By the time Fisher gets to the Cattle Clan, he's lost a lot of blood. He's been riding in the trunk where there's the most armor, and the discomfort has done nothing to improve his chronically surly disposition. When the trunk opens, the gunlugger's greeted by a lot of armed men, and he just shows them his hands. They carry him over to a big yurt, which seems to be the veterinary tent. A cross-eyed woman comes over to poke at him, and a few minutes later, Pullo comes over and asks what's going on. Fisher explains what happened, that the full convoy is coming behind, that he can pay for treatment, and that his head hurts. For 2-barter, they begin treatment, which starts by feeding him something called "klot", a nasty chunky fermented dairy product. The rest of the convoy pulls up a little later.

Captain Maxwell goes to see if Fisher made it. He's still talking to his own people when Pullo calls out, "Captain Maxwell, you son of a bitch!" He gives the Captain a big hug before noticing that he's hugging a gunshot victim. They briefly discuss the raider situation - the clan hasn't noticed any particular problem. They discuss trade. The delegation can buy many head of cattle, which will solve the food problem, but it's going to mean the return trip will be even slower than the trip out. Pullo insists that the delegation stay for the night and enjoy a meal with the clan.

Back at Running Rock, Sybil has noticed that half the Captain's gang have left. She asks Xander and String if either of them would like to check out the keep with her. Xander has no business there and knows that it's been restricted to necessary traffic only. String doesn't want to stop Sybil but has no desire to stop her, because she refuses to be the boss of anyone. She's going to the market instead. Sybil decides to scout the outside of the keep and see what she can see. Hotdog is on gate duty today, with the gate closed. Sybil strolls up and says hi, thinking to make small talk. Hotdog says things are quiet and creepy in the keep. In the wee hours they heard someone crying, but couldn't see where it was coming from. Sybil very helpfully offers to investigate, but Hotdog reminds her that there's no visitors allowed, only important business. She tries a little fast talk, but Hotdog reminds her that she, in particular, is on the shit list and will not under any circumstances be allowed in before the boss says so. Sybil shrugs and says she'll be in the grotto if/when they need her. She tries to look at the security on her way out and sees Sleaze watching her from the battlements. She's surprisingly undisturbed by that! She figures that her best bet under current circumstances is to try to disguise herself in return laundry.

String goes to check out the well that the Old Doctor had spoken of. She knows of this well; it's not pure like the spring in the keep, but it's safer than rain water. This water tends to get used by the dyers for industrial purposes. She looks into it. It's about 4' across, stone, and the water is abuot 15" below the top of the well. She sits, puts her left hand on the stones, and tries to figure out what's so special about this well. She begins to hear the whispers again, and the words she hears the most are "look" and "over here." There's a chunk of the butte the keep is built on that has a perfectly clear line of sight to this spot. She decides to go walk up to that spot. It's sort of a well-known place since it's one of the highest places in the hold outside the keep. It faces north, doesn't get great light, and doesn't have a view of anything important, but it is high. She figures someone's setting up Fisher to get sniped. When she gets back to the Grotto, she finds Xander left to return to his Airstream, so she goes to the trailer.

Xander's reclining in an aged and someone disreputable-looking Barcalounger, and he offers her one of the chairs at the small table there. They discuss the poisonous nature of the rainwater. The Doc got Xander and String both thinking, but String's the one who's most worried about who exactly this guy is. String reaches out to touch Xander but he wants to know what she's planning first. She's going to help with the pain. Once she explains she plans to ease his pain, he's all for it. The feeling of her touching his collarbone makes him feel that sensation of something moving within the bone again. He doesn't love it. String ends by asking Xander to tip her off if she learns anything more about the Doctor, especially where he's coming from. As she's about to leave, Xander asks if she has any tips on how to get Cadbury on his side. She does happen to know that Cadbury has a son who likes to party with the cult, but she doesn't pass that on yet.

String and Sybil meet up as they return home, and Sybil passes along news of the spookiness at the keep. String thinks it was the Other Sleaze she saw. Neither one of them has any idea what the Other String has been up to. It comes up that they both know about Carter's interest in the cult. At this point String offers to help Sybil get into the keep, if she promises a favor later. Sybil's nervous and doesn't want to go right back, since she knows Hotdog does not want any part of her. They both head back to the Grotto.

Back at the Cattle Clans, the people from Running Rock get to eat their full, for the first time in a couple weeks. Pullo wants to get caught up on all the news and rumors that Captain Maxwell might have heard. Maxwell gives him pretty much everything except the miner plot in the hold. He does mention the weird incursions inside the keep, though he downplays their significance. They shoot the shit until late. In the morning, the delegation picks out 40 head of castle from the herd. Once done with all that, Maxwell checks on Fisher, who is still intoxicated with evil nomad herder beverages. He won't be able to move much for another day or two. The boss decides to head home and send someone to pick up Fisher in a couple days.

As they're leaving, Captain Maxwell sees someone standing near one of the herders in the distance reach up and push the hair out of her face with a ceramic hand. The trip home takes a bit longer than Maxwell was hoping, not least because his people aren't professional cowboys. They lose about 1/4 of the cattle one night, and don't pursue because they need to be headed back to the hold. In about three days, though, they get the remaining 30 head back to Running Rock.

Fisher's in the veterinary yurt, recovering, lightly drunk, and it's late. He's kind of lost track of time. He can tell that someone is moving furtively in the tent with him. He can tell it's two people, and he thinks they might have cut their way in. One is coming at him, knife in hand. The other is wearing a backpack - the same backpack that was missing when Fisher made his little gas raid. Fisher calls out, "Why is there someone coming toward me with a knife?" The prospective attacker, through tears, says, "Sshhh, it will all be over soon." Fisher tries to wait for an opportune moment to produce his own knife, but the attacker figures it out just a little too soon, and says, "Kyle, you're going to have to hold him down." Kyle turns around and is revealed to be a young woman, and she comes over to help. Fisher loudly calls out, "Fuck, I guess I'll stab you both then." Then he rolls off his cot and through the yurt wall, and hastily relocates. The potential attackers curse when they realize they've lost sight of him, and bugger off. Fisher looks around to see if help is coming. It's not. There's a feast going on for some other folks. He stashes his knife and goes to report an attempted stabbing. They send him to Pullo right away.

Pullo gets real excited, and the cross-eyed woman is brought before him right away. Her assistant was supposed to be watching over Fisher. The gunlugger says he saw no sign of the assistant, unless he was one the people who attacked him. He was not! The two match the descriptions of people who came in today, just passing through. Pullo rejects Fisher's request for the return of his weapons, but does order a guard placed over Fisher at all times. The assistant vet turns out to have been passed out drunk.

Time passes. People heal! There's food in Running Rock and many people are happy, but there's sickness among the cult at the grotto. Captain Maxwell has sent a car to pick up Fisher.

It's the day String is supposed to bring Fisher to a certain point, and she comes to the keep to find him, Sybil in tow. The keep is no longer in lockdown mode. Bento lets both of them in, though he tells String she'll be held responsible for any trouble Sybil causes. Once they're headed up the stairs, String finally asks Sybil what she's trying to do, and she explains that she just wants to explore. They go to Captain Maxwell's office, and find Cadbury there too, as per usual. String mentions being worried about the void problem, at which Cadbury scoffs. That reminds the Captain to tell String that he thinks he saw the Other String with the Cattle Clans. She's disturbed, but she doesn't want to deal with it right now. She asks permission to visit the old office, and Maxwell grants it, but goes with. They go up to the roof and climb down, using the recently installed rope ladder. Sybil goes to the boarded-up door to the abyss and opens her brain, trying to figure out what the duplicate her means. The walls of the keep begin sweating, and she begins to hear whispers. She thinks she overhears a conversation she had with Xander, three weeks ago, in the hallway on the other side. She relates this to everyone present and tells them she thinks more investigation is needed. Maxwell shoots String a disgusted look. Sybil tries to slap him.

He grabs her wrist, deflects the blow, and tells her this is why he didn't want to let her in. She says this is all because of the persistent negativity. He's not impressed by her logic and tells String to come back when Sybil can behave in a civilized fashion. Before leaving, String confirms that she heard about her double, and then says she may need to visit the Cattle Clan. She offers to help the boss with his head pain, but he declines. String tries to figure out how to get Maxwell to allow physical contact, and concludes that he'd have to be in dire need of healing for that to happen. String reaches out to touch him unconsciously, and he recoils from her hand. Captain Maxwell sees them both out of the keep.

On their way out, String sees Fisher and tells him they need to talk. Captain Maxwell allows String to stay and talk to Fisher as long as Sybil leaves. String asks Fisher why someone might want to kill him, and he thinks she's asking about the last people who tried to kill him, so he says it's because he did them wrong. She mentions that someone is going to try to kill him, and she still wants someone from his person. She also offers to heal him a bit, and he takes her up on that. They agree that it's nice to have tricks. They also agree that Fisher will get someone to check out the obvious point of view on the butte, so that he might be safe. String and Fisher agree to meet up at 11 at the Grotto.

Fisher then goes to Captain Maxwell and explains the whole problem. Captain Maxwell agrees to have the guards patrol the sniper perch on the butte, and sends for Paradox to stop the sniper. Ideally, he wants the sniper captured, but not at the expense of anyone's safety. Paradox grabs Deadeye and Depthcharge. They catch Fisher in the hall and assure him that the Captain briefed them on the plan and it's all set.