Session 26

Session 26: "The Devil's Hands are an Idle Plaything" is in store for us, the very last of this season, Saturday after next, May 12th. You are all encouraged to attend, though I'll be damned if I know what some of you would come as...

A fine mess we have, and not all of it would be solved in-play, or even in-game, 'cause maybe the plot would come to an end, but probably not your questions. I urge you to tell your loved ones this would be a long one, not because it would be (it actually shapes up to be a pretty short session), but because I'd like very much to sit with all of you for a post-season, post-campaign, pre-break party. With Cake. I'm bringing Cake. Shiffer is bringing cookies. You are encouraged to contribute other tasty things.

So... that's it for now. Questions, complaints, and just general gabbery in the comments, e-mail, or just call me up.

See you,
Greif.

Recap Session 25: "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid"

Confused? Lost track of what's going on and who's fighting whom? Too many things to keep in mind?

Me, too. Welcome to Owl Cross...

OK, this was a really busy session, and trying to sound clever is making my head hurt, so I'll try to be brief:

The session started right after the last one ended:

• Hill is gathering influence and terrorists into Owl Cross, with two new organizations, the Red Hand and the Three Burning Embers wishing to join him.
  
  
• Powell is running Owl Cross, as Patrician (sort-of) but has many problems: he lost virtually half his business plan in one blow, his Traders and Nobles are shouting at him to take care of Hill, and the Station's systems are falling apart and no-one knows why (but do we know? We know!)
  
  
• Zeb is coming with his brother from near-war experience, the chips are starting to fall and light bulbs are lighting everywhere: the WDF, working on information from three different PCs (hey, I urge them to talk to each other) figured out the Theocracy are moving forces through the Black Wormgate in Oceania, into Eden, and out to Assyria through another Black Wormgate. Zeb, reading the invaluable (yet dully named) Khabir Khan File, figures out who Darkwaters is, and the shit is truly about to hit the fan...
  
  
• Rain and Anansi work hard to find the key; Rain wants to get into Celerity Greenway's office (she has a box; not a big box, and everybody knows the Key isn't in it, but he wants in anyways) but as soon as Anansi steps into the Grid, Fenris tries to kill him (Fenris? Here! What are the odds?) they fight, Anansi has the edge, at least until Morgana scrambles in a nano-second before the Red Queen (cue threatening music). This massive, shielded, AI is about to have Spider Kebab for lunch, but Morgana brings help and the Queen chooses to flee before the Cheshire arrives (is it because she's allergic to cats?)
  
  
• While this is happening, Rain is elsewhere, being ambushed when trying to get one of five crew members of the Helcyon, the ship that dropped off the Key. He figures out something fishy is going on, but has no idea what - so he gets back to the Veil. Some good news, though: a shifty man called Maynard and his bitch, Relyon, wish to help with the Rain Clouds endeavor. Rain conscripts their help fighting the Theocracy: they are to find agents of the Theocracy, and figure out how to stop them.
  
  
• Anansi decides to do something else, and turns out to be smarter then anticipated: his clever Seeker sniffs out De Vinci, sitting and eating shrimps at the Zocalo. He brings De Vinci to the Veil, only to see Alan Shepherd, sporting a nasty bite scar on his left cheek, smiling and waving. Back the ship, Rain and Anansi fail to convince De Vinci to stay and help. He does, however, tells them everything he knows about the Key: how he created the Encoder/Decoder (the Gi helped, a little), how he found out the crystal the Key is made out of responds to Wormgates, and how he used that knowledge to create a Gate Detector, and then a Gate Changer. He claims the way to open the Third Face of the Key is to bring it to Eden, to the original Wormgate that taught him how to use the Key as...well... a key. He also tells Anansi, who boasts he will destroy the Key, that he probably won't: he too would want to open the elusive G351, the closed gate that was opened and closed with the same technology as the Key's by... someone else... (all this is starting to sound suspiciously like something that should have taken several session to uncover...)
  
  
• Emboldened, Rain goes out to find the remaining Helcyon crew members before they catch a bullet, and Anansi goes to create a Key detector. Half way through, Sunamoon, the Witch of Night's Hunting and Crossroads, pays him a visit, warning him that someone is trying to hurt him (this friendly advise, meant to help, would only hurt later on; but that's cause Sunamoon is by definition bad news...) Rain and his crew get to Anansi, and are attacked. Seraph dies, but the rest get back to the Veil, where Anansi operates the Key Detector to find the Key in the Morgue.
  
  
• Meanwhile....
  Hill is gathering support and supporters, and is virtually "King of All Terrorists" - this side of the Galaxy, anyways. Even Leah and Yehuda, of the former "Insane Terrorists Club", want in.
  Powell cuts a deal, and Celerity Greenway pays him 430,000,000,000 $OC (wow!). He sold something, we just don't know what...and frankly, he doesn't either. We also find out Johanna Banecraft no longer loves him, and pulled her Trust Fund for Rising Young Stars back from his control.
  Just make sure they remember each other, they keep causing each other troubles: the Station is constant unrest, with the terrorists coming to town and Powel apparently isn't doing anything, while all those terrorists are still trying to figure out what Hill's big plan is. All this energy and nothing to do is abound to cause trouble.
  
  
• Zeb gets into Owl Cross System, ahead of his brother and his fleet, and docks in Owl Cross with the Libby (oh, joy of joys!). The Theocracy invaded Jackson and soon Avalon System. Cyprus is up in arms, and Zeb gets the summon, informing his "brothers-in-arms" that his fighting the same enemy but elsewhere, which they think is very cool. Between Powell's mercenary legions, the Star Diamond of Avalon and the Cyprian troops, the full might of the South Wing needs to stop for a few hours to deals with things - this allows Simeon and his mighty fleet to enter the system and assume defensive positions around the Jockville/Owl-Cross Wormgate.
  
  
• Key location ascertained, our heroes spring into action... er, more action. Rain has Mirror, so Anansi goes and gets back-up, as well. Cheshire left to get help, we'll recall, and Morgana is still hiding on board, but the Cat gave Anansi the number of a couple of friends: Spirit of the Gaming doesn't want to help, though, but the Dodger, does. However, mindful of Sunamoon's warning, Anansi decides to ditch the dodgy decker, and go about it alone, ignoring the old Zelda adage.
  
  
• Our crafty politicians finally decide to do something, so first Yehuda dies, then the "Real Faithful" declare war on Hill and his organization, and finally Powell is having Hill and Zeb for a sit-down. Those of us with the gift of being in more then one place, knowing what Hill and Zeb know or suspect, wander at this. Could it be some clever ruse? Nope. Zeb and Hill are actually going to the meeting... On the way, "Faithful" attack Hill and his posse, prompting riots downtown, since everyone is certain Powell tried to kill their fearless leader. Vi going about saying Hill ain't coming back is not reassuring. But Hill survives, and gets to the meeting.
  
  
• Rain has still to solve the Helcyon crew members mystery: he gets nothing other then learning they were given five pages out of some tourist guide, told to make hats and see the sights. Not exactly a killing offense (well, at least not in most parts of the OC...) When Anansi tells Rain that the Key is moving, they decide to act. Rain and Mirror get on the Magline to the Main Dock of Owl-Cross, to intercept the Key. If Anansi wishes to help, he has to go into the Grid, so he takes a deep breath and dives in.
  
  
• At the Patrician's Palace, John St. John stays outside, and Hill, Saif, and Zeb go in. They are met by Karen, Powell's head of security, who refuses entry to Saif. Refusing to part with his survival insurance, Hill stays put and Zeb goes upstairs. Then the comm in the Palace crashes. Powell and Zeb have words in the Crescent Office, while Hill and Saif discuss things in the Lobby. She wishes to leave, he wishes to stay, she gets up to leave, and Karen comes back. Saif can't go in with Hill, so the meeting is postponed. Wishing to avoid the media's attention, Saif leads Hill the backdoor.
  
  
• On the way to the Main Dock, Rain speaks with Hill, requesting riots in the dock to delay whoever has the Key. Hill sends anonymous messages to his followers that SSF is moving his dead body to the Main Dock, and the Station's corridors, predictably, burn, and the SSF is pressuring Powell to let them use lethal force. Also, Maynard calls Rain to tell him he knows where Tzefa is, and that "his people" are ready to help Rain dispose of him. They set up a meet, which presumably Rain is going to get to, if he survives.
  
  
• Back on the Libby, the Circle Breakers are having lunch, when Hill tells them Zeb left. They don't believe him, and are forced to leave the Libby when Hill and Saif take it out.
  
  
• On the Grid, Anansi finds the Queen waiting for him, with the Big Bad Wolf. The Wolf attacks, the Spider bobs and weaves, cause he doesn't want to kill the Wolf, but has little alternatives, since the Wolf is pretty rabid. Finally the flaming diva burns a hole in the Wolf's thick hide, and Anansi sticks in the "Queen Black Heart" code he got from the Gi. The code kills Fenris, and Anansi then uses the code to stop the Queen in her place. He runs to the center, where he finds out what the Gi was doing: in the center of Owl-Cross's system is a chrysalis, with an evolving AI in it. Tending to it, is Sha Shi Chi An, the Nanny. Without thinking once, Anansi curls into a tight ball of flaming code, and jumps right in...

And now what?


What did Anansi do?

Where is Zeb? Will his minions come through, or is he lost for good?

Can Simeon and the WDF withstand the onslaught of the South Wing?

Are Hill and Saif really leaving? Will Galaxy Adams let them?

And what of Rain? And the Key? Is Tzefa really dead? Is the Patrician?


And will the enchanting, awful, dangerous, expensive, romantic, elusive and too damn big and complicated space-station we call "Owl-Cross" doomed, burned by greed, power-hunger, and all-consuming faith, or is there still a chance?


Anything can happen in the very last episode of this wonderful first season of "Owl Crossings"... where things can end before somebody sings... believe me, you don't want me to sing...

Recap Session 24: "Time Keeps On Slipping"

Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away

Things kept sliping and sliding, and no-one had enough time... suddenly everything was happening, and almost, almost, all of it can be told...

Last time, on "Owl Crossings", a couple of ships rammed into the Bacchus, and in one shot left the SSF, and the whole station, leaderless and ruderless. Normally, this would lead to chaos and confusion. But it so happens, people were actually waiting for something just like this to happen. Did they know 2 ships would slam into the hottest party of the year, killing hundreds and hundreds of people? We would like to believe they didn't. It helps us sleep at night.

While Powell siezed the day and took charge of the situation, others did the same with the SSF. Unlike Powell, though, we had two instead of one - both Captain Burke, self-proclaimed patriotic Crosser, and Captian Willson, self-proclaimed patriotic Crosser, pulled on the rains. Eventually, Powell made them share the power. We are yet to see how well that would work.

While this was happening, Hill was every bit as busy. Captain Willson tried to arrest him for charges of terrorism, murder, and damage to the station (perheps more serious, in Owl Cross, then the other two...) but was quickly rescued by Vi, the fearless leader of Local 37. She squirled him away in secret, making like friends, but in the halls and corridors of Owl Cross her bullies and Sidney's cousins were having at it like mad bulldogs.

And of our others heroes when Owl Cross was all madness and mayham? Zebulon Amberley was in Cerberus, facing a difficult choice: while one brother was trying to rescue their father and save Hera, the other was threatening to restart the war Zeb just helped prevent by invading Guy-ben-Henom. And then, just to make matters worse, Job Blackburn (remember him?) pops in with earth-shattering news Zeb decided, for some unknown reason, to share with no-one at all. Instead, Zeb took to try and convince Simeon to avoid ruining everybody's life and play nice with the Dogs. Very fortunate for all of us, as we'll soon discover.

Back in Achaea, Anansi and Rain take their dark sparkling vassel into muddy waters, flying back to the OC. Along the way, Rain has what had to be one of toughest conversations in his life, with Flame. She decides to skip the rehab and the physio and go straight to Heaven - sorry, I meant Shangri-La, the famed pleasure-station on the other side of the super-cluster. Rain declines the invitation to join, but Flame remains hopeful. In Oceania our two hush-hush heroes stumble on another amazing, though less surprising, discovery: the Theocracy is moving troops through the fifth, black, Wormgate. They take pretty pictures and send them to the WDF, so that's better then telling no-one at all.

When Anansi and Rain get to Lima, they find there the "Fleet from a 100 Worlds", led by Johanna Banecraft, who valiantly decided to break into Testra. Sure, she has an alterior motive, but who doesn't? This spell more bad news to Powell, since the fleet actually brings stability to Lima. The Guild slinks away, and the Theocracy withdraws back to the Wormgate. So there's peace in Lima at last, with death and destruction on the horizon as Johanna prepares to break through the gate. With the North Wing caught between Hera and Cerberus in Arcadia, what can be so important?

Back on Owl Cross, Powell and Hill consolidate power, each inside his own nest of vipers and thieves. Hill tells his organization he stopped "Reaping the Wind", getting much points, and eventually stopping the war-on-the-street. Powell quickly makes a political profit from that, leaving no-one surprised.

And how did Powell spend his first two days "in office"? Building a huge statue for himself, in space? Bringing back Prima Nocta? Marrying into a better title? None of those. He spreads rumors that the Theocracy is going to attack....from behind! The man is crazy! Could be right, but still, crazy! Anyway, he gets what he wants, with some forces moving his way, most notable Avalon and Simeon's fleet. Will they help OC in case of surprise attack? That remains to be seen.

When Anansi and Rain get to Owl Cross we finally find out why those ships, despite a terror organization called "The Red Hand" claiming resposnsilibty, were all about. Powell, the greedy bastard that he is, apperantly joined all of Owl Cross' expert systems into one, huge, complex. At the request of none other then the Gi him(it?)self. Powell thinks the Gi is moving in, leaving behind a broken society, deprived of its culture and morality. Anansi thinks the Gi would never leave, but suspects other plots in store. And Rain? Rain remembers the Key is still at large, but if it's nowhere on the Helcyon, did Celerity get it? Or is it somewhere else?

We ended the session with bad news for some, but good news for all peace-loving people: Hera surrendered her control over Arcadian space, ending the Calorix embargo, and bringing Elysium and Lima to join her almost immediatly. Now Heran vessals are in Arcadia again - and the short ceasefire is probably over...

Next, on "Owl Crossings"...
War will break out, in more then one place;
Terrorists converge, causing less violence;
Owl Cross is invaded by Digital People;
The Key is found, and lost, once again;
And somewhere in all this, traitors and plotters will take Owl Cross by surprise...

Session 25

Session 25: "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" will take place on Saturday, the 28th, probably at Tal and Efrat's place. (I say Efrat's place cause last time she made pizza...)

Session would start at 11:00 and would probably be long. I would like the session to last till 21:00, at least, so see if you can make it happen.

Amir send me a nice e-mail with some things he wants to accomplish... see if you can at least talk among yourselves concerning what you want to do. I know Alon had some wild theories, there's the whole question of the Key, and Tal's character is stirring up a shit-storm, so some cooperation and coordination would do wanders.

As usual, if you have questions about things, drop me a line.

Greif.

Resources - revisited

Wanted to revisit the issue, since it started to come up with Rain vs. several characters and issues, and even Hill spend a few hard-earned Artha on it...
The basic rules are here so just a few extra points:

1. Resources are used to "achieve things" - not just buy things. You want to acquire equipment, get upgrades, kill or hire people, get information... Everything and anything can be done with Resources.
2. You can do all those things without Resources - for example, Helpful NPCs can do it for you. Or you can substitute Resources with other rolls and with much time and roleplay. Instead of rolling Resources to try and find out who wounded Sativus, you can talk to witnesses, scan for information, walk around the station, and roll a bunch of dice, to get slightly better results. But this consumes much time.
3. You can get Bonus Dice. These are usually very exceptional bonuses from someone for doing something. They work like regular dice - but they are gone after one roll.
4. If you're taxed, you can get dice back by working. Instead of worrying how much you're getting paid, the dice you lost are simply returned to you.
5. Paying someone involved a Resources roll; the ob is determined by the level of service, and has no relation to other party's Resources or tax. For example, is Rain is taxed by one die, and works for someone to get it back, his service is probably ob 4-6, depending on the job required. If the other party successfully pays him (meaning succeeds in a Resources roll), then Rain gets his die back.
6. Characters can give other characters some or all of their Resources dice. They can do it for one roll, or for a period of time.
7. Resources rolls are always voluntary and always known to the player rolling. No one can roll with your Resources without your knowledge or consent.

Recap Session 23: "Obsoletely Fabulous"

Areas and Arenas of conflict abound, Characters scattered or secreted away... Where is Arsinios? Where is Saif? What did Ardemos do that made him so late to arrive at Cyprus? More questions then answers in another conspiracy-filled episode of "Owl Crossings"...

At the beginning of this session, Hill and Xian, under cloak of total secrecy, snailed their way towards home, while Powell was stirring the Station. Rumors thrived of the Patrician being bought by the Theocracy, Anarchy spread like poisonous fog in the lower corridors, as SSF clashed with bullies and rioters, trying to contain the violence; a familiar brutal attacker, armed with two knives, deeply wounded popular Captain Sativus (but didn't kill him? Hill wandered) - Owl Cross is boiling like a volcano before eruption, and Hill and Powell are dancing right there on the precipice, danger be damned.

Meanwhile, Rain wakes up Gail and Flame, receiving shock and anger from one and mostly silence from the other. Extinguished is the bright, energetic, joyous Flame; one more sin in the Shepherds' dark history. The sisters disembark, and the Veil carries on, to Cerberus.

On Cerberus, the Many Men of Molotov plan and plot their coup, and spend many hours and days doing so. Much drink and meat is consumed, many people are consulted, and eventually the coup takes place. There is much rejoice, since many people lose their lives due to vile treachery on the Cerbrian side... in these dark times, this is a good thing.

Back on Owl Cross, Hill meets with Violet Anderson, reaffirms his obligation to escort her to the Rome Day Party, and goes to get a haircut. Powell's (or should I say Brutii's?) Party is a Smash, cause Julii's party is a bomb - Lady Diane and Minister Johanna arrive to Powell's party, but the Patrician graces the other one. The evening is ruined when two Celestial Heaven ships smash into the Bacchus's upper observation-deck, probably killing everyone who went to the party.
[Pause for tears]

So, the final tally is Hero Party: 2 - Unknown Parties: also 2. Sure, Cerberus turned and bit the hands that fed it, so the Northern Wing is friendless, but Hera is still in Loxely's grasp, and the Wing is still a massive military presence in Elysium and Arcadia, holding Heran space and planets. Powell did good, but death and destruction spread on OC Station like the pox; could the station go back to being the home it once was?

Next session we'll have happy Cerbrians and grim Herans, soldiers of fortune and the fortunes of war, riches and dangers on Owl Cross, and one, very pissed-off, girlfriend. Maybe even two.

See you there, on the next episode of... "Owl Crossings", where if Hill and Zeb aren't betrayed, the session isn't done yet!

Session 24

Session 24: "Time Keeps On Slipping", will be held Saturday, March 22nd, after you've all said you can do. This week I have two long shifts, which I hope would translate to Pop-Ups for everyone.

I understand some of you are thinking of going to Hera, others are thinking of going after the Key, and two of you are already deep in Crossing's mud. I urge you to speak amongst yourselves, decide where to go, and stick to it. It would help me immensely when I plan the next session.

Until next time,
Greif.

Session 23

Session 23: "Obsoletely Fabulous" will be held, All Mighty God willing, Saturday, March first. If you have any problem with this date please let me know.

Also, please send me five things you want to do next session. This isn't hard, or time-consuming, and is very helpful for me and my horde of GMs.

Thank you.

Recap Session 22b: "War is the H-Word - Dogs of War"

Non-stop action, non-stop talking, non-stop... happenings? This session was so busy, that some of things that happened in it never got on screen! Sheesh. No matter; at least we had as many GMs as players. GM Unemployment is a bitch, and we're doing what we can to fight it.

Anywho, onwards and upwards we go, with the second part of our two-part epic "War is the H-Word!"

While War is indeed the H-word, and some other one-letter-words as well (like the F-Word, or the B-Word), it was somewhat absent from this episode as the Theocracy maintained cease fire with Elysium, and Hera in fact did not fire a single shot all episode. Others, however, were not as benign. Cerberus continues to raze fields and steal calories to deal with the Embargo, while the worlds of Oceania are burning... But all this is the background for other, exciting things. Things which are, unfortunately, secret things, that each player chose to keep to himself, and not share with others... Hill went away, supposedly to Owl Cross, but then sent out cryptic messages. Zebulon went away, supposedly to Elysium and then Eden, and wasn't heard from since. Powell simply went away. Rain and Anansi went away, came back, lost the key, fixed their ship, and then? The viewers at home know, but the players on the couch? Not so much.

Maybe someday, when all this is over we can share funny tales of games of chess, little girls called Jasmine, and waking Derek Bacon... but until then we shall keep the peace. For War, as we know, is the H-Word.

Join us next session, as we may or may not battle the Theocracy, may or may not celebrate Rome Day, may or may not save Hera, and Rain may or may not have a girlfriend. Or two.

All this, and oh so much more (though you might not hear of it!) on the next episode of..."Owl Crossings"! Shoosh....

Session 22b

Session 22a "War is the H-Word: the Sting" is behind us, now it's time for:
Session 22b "War is the H-Word: Dogs of War".

Yes, I'm that corny.

Saturday, the 16th, 11:00 AM at either Tal's or Or's place, please let us know which. Alon won't be there, so I heartily advise you all to avail yourselves of his wisdom before the session. There might also be more gamemasters then players, I ask you to bear with me.

As usual, any special requests or notes should be sent ASAP to yours truly. Furthermore, please send me 5 things, and 5 things only, you want your character to do this session. Not character goals, not jokes, just 5 things you want to get to. You probably won't, but it's nice to know.

Cheers, and see you all Saturday.
Greif.