Monsters of Rock

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

just started my very first Nightbane game and thought I'd keep a game post here for everyone to follow along with. Enjoy!

Premise: A promising young garage band with aspirations of stardom find themselves in the middle of an ancient war of the shadows. Changed forever after the coming of Dark Day, they must use the power of Rock to thwart the evil of the Nightlords...but first, they need a record deal...
(so the game is a bizarre mixture of Josey and the Pussycats, Jem, Hellraiser and Tenacious D, and riffs off the premise of the Nightlords being psychic vampires and thus reveling in pain and terror, but music is the ultimate catalyst for emotion, inspiring anger, pain, love, hope, rebellion and everything in between, so not only are our young Nightbane Rockers front line in the war between Earth and Nightlords, but they may also be Earth's greatest weapon!)

I've moved the timeline ahead to present day, having Dark Day occur on July 2nd, 2016 (we had our first game on July 1st), and the game starts in Berlin, CT (which some may recall as having a huge massacre of the population on DD, with people turning into crazed maniacs and killing their family and neighbors in abhorrent numbers...so good back drop I think!)

Behind the Music: The 13th Annual Battle of the Bands at The Wall is being held in Berlin, CT on Saturday July 2nd, 2016, which as always draws a large crowd of music lovers and rock die-hards, as well as a number of up-and-coming bands. Our "heroes"; Chromed Mayhem, a throwback band to the days of big hair and big songs, have made the several day drive from their home in Detroit, MI in their van "The Dream Machine" (name still pending). There they hope to compete for the Battle's 5,000 dollar grand prize, and the recognition of winning the title of Champion from this Indy Rock hotspot.
The Wall is a local legend and a must-stop for any would-be rock gods hoping to make a name for themselves. Owned and operated by Lothair Sweitfeiger, the bar sports an pre-Regan East Berlin theme, with recreation of the famous Berlin Wall, complete with anti-communist propaganda and other political art. Unbeknownst to most is that Lothair is a Nightbane, known to all though is his propensity for Rock!
Unbeknownste-er to them, Berlin (and The Wall) is also ground zero for Dark Day and the madness that follows...

Chromed Mayhem: Tiberius (vocals), Dorian Roquemore (lead guitar), Blitz (bass), Lead-foot (back up guitar and keys), and Bam-Bam (drums)

ROCK ON!: The band arrives at the venue, a sprawling indoor/outdoor mess of a bar and rock arena (some Old Nightbane invest in stocks and bonds, stockpile hordes of cash and valuables for the coming centuries, Lothair blew his nest egg on a really big bar and rock n' roll destination!), there they meet up with some of the other bands playing The Battle, including; Fatal Face Punch (this year's favorite to win), Foo Moo Lilies, Blak Kase, Todd, Darkest Knights, Twisted Weasel, Ax Killerz, Black Ballad Serenade, Ink, The Fat Yiddish, Atomic Griswalds, Grown Ass Music, and Telemetry of a Frown. They trade some good-natured back n' forths with some of the bands, make some friends and get a cold stare down by Darkest Knights (two of which are dressed in flat-black full plate style armor?!?).
While taking in the venue and scoring some brews with the sweet fake IDs provided by Blitz, they take note that the beer is skunky as all get out, which seems to be a common theme as they listen to other concert goers, as brews and chews seem to be well past their prime, which they and others just chalk up to the bar trying to unload out-of-date stock to the unsuspecting crowd. After smoozing a couple of rock groupies and "showing them the van", the group meets back up in time to witness a massive migration of birds of all kinds high-tailing it out of town that stops the noisy crowd from the spectacle...
Later they have a quick run in with Lothair, who seems to being run ragged with all the problems popping up with his bar's food and drink, but the old rocker senses something about them, and asks that they find him after their set. Which is just about to take place...
First round, they find themselves up against Telemetry of a Frown, a garage shoe-rock band who are as about as exciting as room temp pudding, while our heroes open up with one of their original songs "Amp Grinder!" and light up the crowd and put Telemetry on a course for Loserville...sorry. The other bands rock, but Darkest Knights seem to be the story of the evening as no one gets the crowd moving like these Death Metal gods. Their mosh pit is the mosh pittiest, with bloody faces and broken bones galore and everyone agrees after the set that they felt "carried away" by the music and unable to control themselves...Luckily round two sees Chromed Mayhem vs. Death Knights!

The group takes the stage and after a little microphone mishap, they get onto their second original offering "Can't Melt Faces All The Time", a power ballad and the groups "panty dropper". The song goes well, but an ill wind picks up, distracting the band somewhat and seemingly the crowd even more, as at the end of their song, not a person stirs, but stares blankly at them with too-wide eyes. Then Death Knights begin (inserts Iron Maiden's Fear the Dark), as they do, Dark Day begins...

The next few moments are panicked and confused as the Earth is covered in unnatural darkness. The power goes out and the crowd starts to react. At first with fear and panic, but with the Death Knights somehow still playing despite the lack of power, the crowd turns to violence and anger, as people begin to assault their fellow concert-goer with anything at hand...or just their hands. The band, who can somehow see despite the perpetual blanket of night, see people ripped apart by their fellow rock fans as they begin to rush the stage! The band tries to get away but the stage is toppled by the wave of humanity and Tiberius gets caught in the rigging, snapping his arm at mid-forearm! Leadfoot, makes a line for the Dream Machine in hoping of getting the van and getting back to the band, but finds the groups van missing, though he does notice the fire hydrant he parked in front of for the first time...With Tiberius close to passing out from shock and bloodloss, the group battles its way into the bar through the throng of berserking party-goers and barely makes it through after being thoroughly assaulted. Lothair appears out the back, with a scraggly crew of assembled survivors and rushes into save the last of the band and pull them inside the relative safety of the bar. Once inside, he directs them behind the bar and reveals a trap door leading to the bar's cellar. Once there, they have but a moment to take a breath and ask just what the F is going on, before their forms begin to ripple and tear! Lothair quickly ushers them into an adjoining chamber and closes a air-lock like door behind them, giving them relative peace in which to experience their first Becoming.

(for creating their Morphus forms, I let everyone pick which kind of Morphus they wanted, but then rolled on the chart's randomly...how well they seemed to match up with the character's was pretty creepy.)
Tiberius got Animal Magnetism, Facial Tentacles, Prehensile Tail and Long Fingers (we decided to make the tentacles and tail "hair" but was microphone cords that acted like Medusa's from the Inhumans)
Dorian transformed into a raven feathered birdman, with metal endoskeleton, antenna, and a death metal battle-axe guitar!
Blitz's skin split off of his head, revealing a burning skull, his body covered in bloody nails and blasted into the ceiling when his feet turned into a rocket stream of fire.
LeadFoot became a Horseataur (Minotaur, just with a horse head), that had curving black horns, glowing eyes, with patches of skin missing and tentacles growing out of his back.
Bam-Bam shrunk to doll-like proportions with smooth ceramic skin except where eruptions of crystal, barbed wire, and pieces of armor burst thru. This was completed with an additional set of arms and a unhinged jaw capable of eating whole cats!

They took a moment to freak out and point and scream at each other, before Lothair got their attention. He gave them a quick talk about what they were, and that what ever was going on was connected in some way, but stressed the point that they were all in danger and that they needed to get out of town as quickly as possible. It'd be up to them to make it to safety and hopefully meet him at a cabin in the woods not far from Berlin, but that he had to try and get as many people to safety as possible, and with that, he left them to their own devices.

What followed next was a running, confused mess of a fight and/or flee as they navigated the streets of Berlin as its populace went stark-raving mad, killing seemingly at random.
(I used a couple sets from Zombies!!! to map out the streets and the zomb...I mean crazed citizens) During their escape they all started to manifest Talents in unexpected and bizarre ways; Tiberius ran past a department store window and saw a image of the groups van in a mirror, sitting in the police station impound lot (Mirror Sight), Dorian was seemingly ran over by an out of control bus and exploded into a cloud of ravens only to reform unharmed (Swarm Self). Leadfoot was the victim of a drive-by, but the hail of bullets was stopped cold by a shield of shadows (Shadowshield). Bam-Bam was suddenly disappeared while trying to avoid a crowd of crazed maniacs (Shroud). Blitz saw the true intentions of a crazed group trying to lead others to safety (who would then murder the heck out of them down a dark alley) (See Truth).
Finally making it to the police station, they decided to avoid the police kill squad that was mowing down citizens left and right and instead high-tailed it to the impound lot.

As they reached it, they sensed something great, terrible and powerful approaching and looked to see the Dread King Moloch take his first steps onto Earth! His breaching and presence being the reason behind the madness that was so centralized in this one small town. As they see his terrible form begin to manifest though, they see another, a tiny pin-prick of light, like a diamond against the black velvet backdrop of the eternal night. Soon the figure grows to match the stature of the terrible Nightlord, an angel of light and hope to battle the Dread King...

And there we stopped for the night. Hope to be back next week to continue our adventure.

[Marcethus]

Sounds like a hair raisingly good game session. Look forward to hearing more of what happens.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

After a quick "Behind the Music" -style recap, we rejoined our newly minted Nightbane heroes as IT was about to go down.

As they watched the battle unfold above them, a pair of Priests of the Night along with a Hound and several more crazed citizens surrounded them. The Hound proved to be a difficult combatant for Dorian and Bam-Bam while the rest tangled with the cultists and the maniacs. Tiberius unleashed a primal scream as his battle cry which turned out to be the Talent Darksong, stunning most of the crazed individuals and one of the Priests. With the numbers now down to reasonable numbers, they quickly made short work of the mobile crazies and eventually with Leadfoot joining in, managed to crush the Hound against the side of the Dream Machine.

As their battle finished up, so to did the epic throw down between Moloch and the Angel. Unfortunately for the Angel, Moloch proved to be a powerful and tricky opponent, and after disarming the Angel of his magic blade, sought to lay him low with his own weapon. Strangely though, the blade shattered into a dozen pieces before the blow could be dealt, which seemed to make Moloch happy, who tossed the ruined hilt of the sword away and proceeded to maul and stab the Angel near-to-death, before also casting his broken form aside. "Strangely" both landed in the vicinity of the Band, the broken sword at the feet of Leadfoot and the dying angel upon the roof of the Dream Machine. While dying, the angel said something they vaguely recognized as "important" while staring at the sword, which convinced Leadfoot to pick it up. With that, the strange angelic being passed away, so the band unceremoniously dragged his body off the roof and jumped in the van and got the hell out of town!

Several near-crashes later, they found themselves fleeing New Berlin and heading for an address given to them by Lothair. Arriving at the point deep in a nearby park, they found a large farmhouse, with a couple of cars parked out front with three figures standing on the porch. Two of the figures approached and introduced themselves, seemingly comfortable with the still monstrous looking crew. As they asked what they were doing there, Lothair appeared from inside the house, scaring the third figure on the porch. He quickly invited the Band inside to rest and maybe get a little explanation of what was going on.

Lothair did his best to suss out what was going on, giving a quick explanation about the Nightlands and Nightlords and how the magical darkness seemed related (it in fact is, but Lothair ain't no Nightbane scholar, nor was he present in town when Moloch appeared). The other three also introduce themselves, the woman Nigella Ross (or as they will know her Morphus: Ashiel), the grown man; Paka Chuumapakra (or Smoke) and last, a younger looking version of Napolean Dynamite; Chadwick Moisenthal (or Chomper), who also seem just as lost as the rest of them. Lothair fears that the Nightlords have gone and done it and have brought the Nightlands to Earth, so he tells the group they have some waiting and figuring out to do, but that they are all worn and need to unwind. So each finds a room and finds restless sleep or the bottom of a bottle to get some rest.

Finally sometime around 8 in the afternoon, Dark Day ends, just long enough for the sun to poke out before setting in its natural rhythm, much alleviating the group. They begin then to find out as much about the state of the world as they can (insert most of the Nightbane Dark Day meta, with some modern age twists). In the next couple of days, Lothair explains to the group that he and the others are part of the Railroad and explain that it's their job to make sure they know what they need to know to survive and he won't take "no" for an answer. What follows is the group getting to learn about the rest of their powers, abilities and Talents as well as getting to pick up an O.C.C. all set to a montage (with soundtrack of course!), some of the players excel at being put on the spot for describing their montages, others maybe panic a little...either way it was great fun and a riot!

After the montages are complete, about three months have passed, with Tiberius becoming a Nightbane Sorcerer, Dorian a Nightbane Warlord, Bam-Bam and Blitz becoming Freedom Fighters and Leadfoot becoming a Sword-Bearer after learning in his montage that the fragment of the sword is "aware" by sending him numerous dreams all centering around a central theme of him being small and powerless, being afraid of a blue door or a familiar yet "dark" man... Smoke tries to take the sword for study, but it "refuses" to go, so it is decided that it should remain in Leadfoot's hands for the time being. The sword is the shard of a Greatest Artifact that we'll get into later as its revealed, but suffice to say it will play an important part in the fight against Moloch and the Nightlords.

Finally ready to face the world, the group decides to follow-up on a possible lead provided by Smoke about an ancient Nightbane named Old Scale that runs around the American South-West and may be the only person alive that can tell them anything about the sword fragment and the events they witnessed. So after plotting a course and buying some "merch" they plan a couple of bar shows and a carnivale on the way there and head out for the open road!

What craziness will they encounter? Tune in and find out party people!

[Marcethus]

Good stuff, sounds like your players are having a blast and even you as GM seem to be enjoying yourself. This is how the game is meant to be played. Everybody having fun. I know I enjoy reading of it.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

Finally, after months of tedious training, all summed up with tidy montages, the Band finally sets out on the road, to both discover more about the strange events of Dark Day and to find fame and fortune on the Rock circuit!

Traveling by Dream Machine proves to be a costly affair, with the '79 Dodge van getting less than stellar gas mileage, but always by some weird chance of fate, always seems to hold on to enough fumes to get them to the next fill up. Fortunately for them, they've planned some gigs along the way to pad their meager savings. First stop is Columbus Ohio and Dante's Pit, a dive bar of no great fame, but a paying gig nontheless.

After a cramped 8+ hours, they find themselves on a dark and lonely stretch of the west bound interstate nearing Columbus, the Clash's "I fought the law..." playing on the radio to keep Leadfoot awake at the wheel, when flashing blues light up the interior of the van and let them know that one of Ohio's finest is on their tail. Stashing booze, weed and the Dark Spear that Bam-Bam took from the defeated Hound as best they can, they pull over and await the officer's approach. Soon a powerful beam of light blinds all inside as the State Trooper tells them to roll down the window. He tells Leadfoot that he was speeding and that a rear tail-light was out and asks the typical questions. The band grumbles some sorry responses and fishes out their real ID's and registration, handing them over. The officer takes the cards and retreats back to his cruiser. While they wait however, another car joins the party; a sleek black chase car, no insignia, no lights, just mean speed and dark tint, though government tags are on the plates. It pulls in front of the van and two black-suited NSB agents step out and approach the van. At their appearance, the highway patrolman gets out and walks back towards the Band. The agents begin to ask in monotone voices where the Band is from and where they are going. About that time the officer reaches the van and tells the agents that he has everything in hand, no need for them here, they respond that they will be taking over this traffic stop and that he is free to go. He waits for a moment, unsure of the situation, but eventually hands the IDs over and starts to slowly move back to his vehicle. All this time, Tiberius is constantly shouting off about brutality and 7th amendment rights, etc...The group does not exit the vehicle when instructed, so the Agents begin to open up the vehicle, but find the doors locked, and each time Leadfoot unlocks them, they re-lock. Eventually though they exit the vehicle, though still being loud about their civil liberties, which causes Agent 2 to bounce his head off of the side of the van, denting it! Agent 1 radios in the stop and then says that they have an officer down and then pulls his big agent hand-cannon and shoots the highway patrolman in the back! Then all hell breaks loose. Agent 2 moves to slam Tiberius into the van again which will probably snap his neck, Bam-Bam runs towards the downed officer, Blitz and Dorian begins to take on their Morphus as Agent 1 throws Leadfoot to the ground and Leadfoot tries not to let that happen. Bam-Bam makes it to the officer who is wheezing and moaning, though it looks like his vest stopped most of the bullet (I rolled like 5 damage...pathetic). Agent 1 cracks Leadfoot in the collarbone, snapping it like a twig, while Agent 2 kicks Tiberius into the bushes. Blitz and Dorian finally change as Blitz wraps up Agent 2 in Darkbonds while Dorian leaps over the van and cuts at Agent 1 with his axe. Tiberius recovers and takes his Morphus while the rest tussle with the Agents as Bam-Bam helps the wounded cop to his cruiser while trying to convince him that he's in shock and not actually seeing monsters having a kung-fu battle...

Blitz goes speed bag on the bound Agent while Dorian fights Agent 1 and eventually Blitz knocks the Agents head off, revealing a hollow neck stump, that is quickly filled as a giant black insect crawls its way out! Tiberius soon guts Agent 1, pulling his chest off and revealing another of the insects crawling around inside. They scream like little girls, squash the bugs and then wonder what the hell that was. At that time, the Highway patrolman has recovered and found that while trying to radio in the attack, that his radio is not working. Fortunately for the group, he is no stranger to weirdness, as few people are after Dark Day, and just tells Bam-Bam to get his friends and get the hell out of here, more are probably on their way. So the group loads back up in the Dream Machine and takes off down the road, hoping to get away from what ever the hell that was all about.

Later they roll into Columbus, exhausted. But not to exhausted to party! Some crash in the janky motel outside of town, while others look for a party to crash and perhaps sell the weapons and IDs of the Agents that they had recovered. The offload some of the weapons and learn of someone who may be interested in the IDs, and the party it up to end the night.

The next night finds them tuning up on Dante's small stage to a crowd of about 30. Fortunately Dante's is a rock bar, so at least they are playing to their type of crowd...Then they begin to melt faces, moisten ladies and generally rock the house. (I've created some Rock N Roll rules, to make performances kind of like combat. For two reasons mostly; 1) to make performances a little more interesting than a skill check, especially for rock-offs and 2) because as should be evident by now, they will actually be fighting some forces of darkness with their Rock, and so a ruleset was needed to bridge the gap between skill use and actual combat rules). Their set list only comprises of 3 songs, but they are the bands specialty; Amp Grinder (a powerful face-melter), Can't Melt Faces All The Time (the bands power ballad and panty-dropper) and Backdoor Mayhem (the um...finisher), at the end they have sufficiently rocked the crowd and sell shirts and CDs to everyone present, making a nice little payday out of their first gig. With their rock, comes groupies and the band is inundated with rock-chicks ready to party. Two groupies stand out among the rest though, heads and shoulders above the small stable of party-girls. Though the two look like they stepped out a 80's White Snake video, that just adds to the allure, and soon they have Tiberius and Blitz "showing them the van". While out in the parking lot and putting the moves on the ladies, Tiberius goes to check his hair in the side-view mirror while talking up himself to "seal the deal" when one of the ladies startles him as she's right behind him...but not in the mirror.

And that's where we stopped for the night.

[Marcethus]

Nice storytelling. I am thoroughly hooked and waiting for the next chapter.

BTW, IIRC I think 1st Ed Robotech Lancer's Rockers might have some combat oriented music rules if you wish to add some more fuel for your rockin' the house combat.

[Marcethus]

I just found something that might be of interest to you. In Rifter 1 the Psiren PCC might be of use to your game since it focuses on music. When I ran across it again in my research for my own Nightbane game I immediately thought of your game for the Psiren.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

I just found something that might be of interest to you. In Rifter 1 the Psiren PCC might be of use to your game since it focuses on music. When I ran across it again in my research for my own Nightbane game I immediately thought of your game for the Psiren.

actually the lead singer of Darkest Knights is a evil Psiren. And yes they were perfect which is why I just had to have one, but since my group all elected to play Nightbane, I had to make him a badguy.

[Marcethus]

Nice, A lot of the early rifter stuff, other than the wonky Morphus tables, was really good. Your campaign story has gotten me hooked. You are really good at writing up your sessions into a kickass story.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

thanks I'm glad you enjoy it!

as an aside, if you have Netflix, I suggest everyone everywhere watch DEATHGASM! This movie kind of sums up how I want this game to feel and I plan on thoroughly stealing as much imagery from it as possible! It's always weird how serendipitous roleplaying and life are, I start planning on this game and then last week I see this and I was blown away by the similar themes

[Marcethus]

I will have to check it out. I have seen it floating around netflix and was 'I might watch that... eventually"

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

While various bar flies and patrons buy rounds of drinks for most of Chromed Mayhem, outside in the parking lot, Tiberius and Blitz were getting their own fan rewards. The two vampireresses, Candy and Sheila stared deep into the eyes of the two up-and-coming Rockers, trying to put the mental equivalent of a choke hold on their brains. When both failed to respond, Candy looked over at Sheila and asked her; "Isth yourths broke?" (with a noticeable lisp, thanks to her extended fangs). Blitz took the moment of confusion to change into his Morphus, which startled Candy who had thought she had somehow ripped the flesh off his skull and then set it on fire, though no explanation for the sweet leather long coat and chains...Anyways, Tiberius soon followed with his own transformation, but he had other ideas, being a lover and not a fighter...His smoozy words along with his irresistible animal magnetism soon had Sheila convinced that perhaps a "romp in the back" would be fun, though Candy was more hungry than horny and was eager to find out what a Nightbane tasted like (insert line from Tiberius telling her she could still find out *wink, wink*). Soon Blitz (or Reaver as he is called in his Morphus) soon are going at it, hot and heavy, as are Tiberius and Sheila, with Reaver figuring out that vampires aren't anything to mess with as she scores some pretty nasty hits in the opening exchange and soon he has to retreat into the shadows as he pulls them around him with his Nightbringer talent. Seeing himself outmatched physically by the deadly vampireress, he sets about to psychological warfare the crap out of her, and fills the shadows with eerie whispers, demonic howls and phantasms and apparitions galore! All which soon send Candy backpedaling in confusion and terror. She looks for Sheila, but as they say, if the van is rockin' don't come a knockin' and so transforms into a massive bat and takes to the sky and away from the monstrous Nightbane.

Blitz has only a moment to recover before a sparkling purple caddie with gold rims and a white leather interior pulls up next to the bouncing Dream Machine. Driving the pimp mobile is what looks like an extra from Miami Vice, a handsome latino man in a pastel suit and an impeccable mustache...also, red glowing eyes...The man introduces himself as Jesuve Ricon and immediately apologizes for the rude manner of his girls, Candy and Sheila, all the while never batting an eye at the flaming skulled leather fetish in front of him. Getting right to business Jesuve begins to question Blitz about the appearance of two Nightbane in "his" city and wonders if they might be open to making a deal. In exchange for their considerable talents that they would use at his discretion, he would pay them a considerable sum of money. He further sweetened the pot by reminding them of their common enemy, the Nightlords and that they could band together for mutual protection. When asked what they would be doing for him exactly, he simply responded; Many evil things my friend...with that he told him to think on it, and that he would return the following evening to gather their answer, so gathering Sheila and a returned Candy, he set off into the night to do whatever it is master vampires do (most likely many evil things...or maybe saw a movie, I dunno).

Interrupted from his "romping" Tiberius was less than pleased with the encounter but was oblivious to the conversation had by Blitz, but after being filled in, it was agreed by them that getting the others, and then getting the hell out of Columbus was probably a good idea.

So early that morning they once again set off, heading for their next stop, Joplin Missouri. Along the way, Bam-Bam learned that leaving an STD alone for 3 months isn't the best idea and after a quick stop at a pharmacy and then an "amusing" talk with the pharmacist who recommended the scissors on isle 3, a fake prescription a few minutes later, followed by the same pharmacist having pity on the poor boy, Bam-Bam was in possession of a topical ointment to clear up whatever nasty case of crotch-rot he had acquired from a groupie. This of course led to practical joke where Tiberius replaced his creme with glue, which then necessitated a stop at a interstate rest stop to peel his jeans off of him and clean up. During his shower the rest sat and ate vending food dinner while discussing what they should do when they need to transform like they had to with the NSB. Someone suggested a code word, like Autobots, ROLL OUT! and all agreed that was a terrible idea and pelted the offender with peanuts and combos (nacho flavored, of course). Along the way, while grooving to their favorite rock station, they heard a wild rumor that Phish was going to tour with Justin Bieber on a highly publicized tour that left fans of both scratching their heads...more on that later.

Arriving in Joplin and their destiny at The Crazy Horse, a little country-rock joint that they hoped to make some much needed gas money off of. Exiting the Dream Machine, they find themselves right in the middle of cowboy country as they get all manner of strange stares in their tights, leathers and big hair. Inside they are quickly met by a large haus of a man who introduces himself as the manager. Sheepishly he tells them that he goofed and double-booked tonight's entertainment. They grumbled and cursed, but couldn't get him to pay them anything, until finally it was decided that they could "duke it out" with the other band and let the crowd decide who got paid. The agreed and moved to the small stage to set up, while across the way they recognized the other band as the Atomic Griswalds, a perennial on the indy circuit and road friends of the band...though the last time they had seen them, they were being killed in the Battle of the Bands back in New Berlin with the rest of the town, but here they were, tuning their instruments and being all not killed. Tiberius approached them and at first they didn't seem to recognize him, but after a few tense seconds greeted him and wished him and the Band luck in the rock-off.

And so soon the battle was joined. The two titans of indy-garage rock battled it out with face melting licks and pounding beats, monstrous power solos and triple-threat playoffs! Chromed Mayhem opened up with a salvo from Amp Grinder, to which the clean cut group who looked like they stepped out of Leave it to Beaver replied back with the crowd favorite cover of Buddy Holly. Back and forth they went trading lyrical blows and guitar shots as they moved into their next sets; Chromed Mayhem's "The Beast Inside" answered with their own song; Atomic Wonderland. After the two songs, the bands found themselves drenched in sweat, each knowing that the possible future of the their respective bands hung in the balance, and with them, maybe the fate of the world and definitely $60 bucks in prize money! The last songs were brought out, the "big guns" from each of the bands, Chromed Mayhem's battle cry "Cry of the Hounds" and the Atomic Griswald's commercially viable "Make IT Great Again" a pop rock piece about how this country is going to be saved from the darkness its experienced by rallying behind its leaders...It was one for the history books as the two bands went back and forth with each other, blasting amps and minds with the sound of their rock, but after a wayward jump kick by the lead singer of the Griswald's caught the chin of the bassist, sending her crashing into the drums, Chromed Mayhem brought it home and had the crowd firmly on their side, once again defeating the Griswalds in a rock-off!
(This was a test of the rock rules for band vs. band, and I must say they worked really well, the battle was intense as many times throughout the night, everyone is hovering over a spinning dice that will decide if a cord is played correctly or a power-slide ends up sending someone flying offstage, I have never seen more people with their heads in their hands from worry in any combat I've ever ran in my 20 years of GM'ing, including TPKs and the like! It was great!)

Their fame cemented and 60 bucks richer, the band celebrates with a few beers and takes up the Griswalds' offer to come out and party with them at a place they know. So the group begins to follow them to the edge of town in its rundown commercial/manufacturing district when they get a call from Lothair asking for their help. A Railroad safehouse has just sent word that they are holed up in a small town about an hour away from the groups current location and are being tracked by Hounds and Hunters. Tinderfoot, a relatively new Nightbane himself has a group of potentials with him and he is in need of immediate evac! With them being the closest Nightbane by far, Lothair hopes that they can make it there in time to save Tinderfoot and the Potentials. The Band decides to help out and after a few calls to the Griswalds that they can't make the party, but they'll catch up with them in Mesa.

Arriving in Loma Linda, a small village just south of greater Joplin, they find a quiet little town all buttoned up for the night, but even so, it "feels" quiet, like the town is holding its collective breath and afraid to make a noise, lest whatever hunts the night find it. Putting the strange feeling aside, they make it to the address given to them by Lothair and find a bloody and slightly-panicked man with four young kids inside. Tinderfoot explains the situation while the group begins to gather whatever they can from the safehouse to get out of there. Soon a scream is heard from the bathroom from one of the kids, a young girl named Bethany who is shrieking and pointing at a small compact she has dropped on the floor. She babbles about seeing some black demon in it, and the group figures out that much like Tiberius in New Berlin the girls is starting to manifest and peeked into the Nightlands. So now knowing that Hounds are in the immediate vicinity of the Nightlands, they know it won't be long before they find a mirror in a neighboring house to cross over (the safehouse has removed all of its mirrors to prevent such). As they gather the rather impressive if few weapons in the safehouse, they hear a far away scream and the breaking of wood and stone as those watching the outside see a half-dozen hounds shatter the doors and walls of nearby houses as they make a bee-line for them!

Soon battle is joined between the Band and the Hounds and Hunters and despite being outnumbered and Dorian struggling to shift into his Morphus, they quickly turn the tides, especially once Leadfoot brings out the shattered sword which gives the assembled Hounds pause and then cuts through them like a scythe thru wheat. A few minutes later and not one of the minions remain alive to tell what they had seen, but reinforcements are not far away as more black shapes begin to move from other houses and move towards the group. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, they shove the panicked kids in the van and take off into the night, hoping to outrun the monsters on their heels...

[Marcethus]

Rock On. That sounds like a fun adventure. Keep it coming.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

unfortunately due to a nasty stomach bug, I was unable to run this weekend, but if nothing else it gave me more time to plan for next weeks adventure

[Marcethus]

You're not supposed to swallow bugs. They really do a number on one's stomach. Especially if they're the ones from Systems Failure.

All kidding aside I hope you feel better.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

*insert Dukes of Hazard theme song* As we rejoin the Chromed Boys we find them on the run from Boss Hound after a good bit of fun and never meanin' no harm rescuing some Potentials and a member of the Railroad in the little town of Loma Linda. If not for bad luck, they wouldn't have any luck and wouldn't you know it, soon their rearviews are lit up like a duo-tone fourth of Ju-Lie as the law joins the fray. They make their way the only way they now how, fast and loud as they tear down back country roads, hoping the conditions and some expert driving will allow them to shake their tails, when speed isn't an option (thanks Dream Machine!).

[I like to play with rules, so I'd modified some chase rules I've used with great success in other games to work in Palladium, just this time I've incorporated a deck of playing cards for the random elements that come up during the chase]

As they speed thru the night, the law and minions of the Nightlords hot on their tail, and a gaggle of screaming teenagers inside, Dorian and Blitz, both in their morphus forms ride the roof, Teen Wolf-style, and try to hold on for dear life as the overly-burdened '79 Dodge van bumps and bounces its way down the "road". Thrilling though the ride may be, it gets a whole lot wilder when Hounds who had previously caught their own 80's teen werewolf movie ride on the pursuing cop cars, leap atop the roof of the Band's van and begin to try and murder the strings section of Chromed Mayhem! They are soon joined in their endeavors by a flock of Hunters who buzz around the group and get all stabby. The others inside begin to try and make their way outside, as Bam-Bam crawls his way on to the roof to lend one of his many hands to the fight up top, as Tiberius opens the back door and unleashes a speaker blasting scream, stunning several of the Hunters! As his Metal Cry fades, a new sound is heard as the roar of a powerful engine brings an all too familiar black chase car into the mix, it's pair of black suited and shaded agents clearly visible to the special eyes of the Band. The passenger leans out the window as the black NSB car pulls alongside the trudging Dream Machine and opens up with a chopped down assault rifle, adding a lot of character to the side of the van, though Leadfoot manages to keep it on the road. Up ahead, the group sees flashing warning barrels and beyond that a bit of construction equipment that hasn't quite finished repairing the washed out bridge up ahead. As luck would have it though, one of the equipment loaders seemed to have left it's ramp down...While everyone inside screams in panic, Leadfoot decides to General Lee it and hits the ramp at full speed, sending the van soaring over the expanse of water! Miraculously he holds the road like a pro and even more so the Dream Machine does not explode on impact with the road when it lands! The NSB agents give chase, their much faster and modern car handling the jump, while the Dopple-Cops behind have less success, one ending up in the river, one missing the ramp entirely and running into the back of a back-hoe and one deciding to just navigate a couple of roads over and find a working bridge. The Band peels down the road, narrowly avoiding a few more, though less death-defying obstacles and complications, all the while being continuously harried by the NSB and Hunters. Finally, Blitz manages to wrap the driver of the NSB car in chains of shadow as Tiberius blinds the rest of the pursuers, just as a wandering herd of cattle crosses over the back country road from Farmer Magillicutty's pasture (night...cows?), which thanks to be both blind and chained to his seat, results in the NSB agents eating cow and wrecking, while the lone remaining cop car actually explodes on impact with a dynamite cow...apparently.

So having finally lost their pursuers they drive on for nearly a half hour, taking side roads and hunting trails as they weave their way southward and away from the hunting party. After a bit of stop, mostly to untangle the knot of arms and legs from five extra people squeezed into the van, Tinderfoot leads them to another safehouse about an hour away in Hornet, Missouri. In this tiny, one street village, they pull into what appears to be a hunting camp and as they step out of the van, hear the sound of tire on the gravel and dirt road as huge black muddin' truck pulls to a stop behind them. Guns come out, but Tinderfoot tells them that he's expected as a tall, thick man in jeans, boots, and T get out and approaches, a sawed-off shotgun in one hand. The fellar introduces himself as Haas and congratulates them on being alive. They give Haas the quick rundown on their escape and it is decided that they should be safe enough here, so they pile into the little shack, raid its ramen stores and pass out until the crack of noon. Haas keeps watch outside, lighting up the night as he takes his Morphus form (a walking, talking version of this ---->)Neon Cowboy

Noon comes and they begin to move around, Leadfoot heading out to the Dream Machine to assess the damage from last night and is surprised to find it's not as bad as he feared. None of the tires are flat, there are only about a half-dozen bullet holes and even his tail lights are intact (though he swears he remembers them being shot out), but not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he shrugs and tells the guys they're good to go. After trading digits with Tinderfoot and Haas (still in his neon glory), they head out, once again on the open road to their next gig.

Somewhere near the Oklahoma panhandle, at about 2 in the morning, they spot a lone hitchhiker walking along a stretch of lonely road. They of course pull over to pick up the wandering vagabond, but as they do so, the brakes seem to go out and it takes Leadfoot standing on the brakes and about 200 yards before the van finally decides to come to a halt. Seemingly unperturbed the nameless wanderer continues his approach as he closes, they all sense a fellow Nightbane. Finally making it to the van, he accepts their offer of a ride, and beer, and weed as the Band and he, feel each other out. Soon, they bring up Dark Day and the weirdness they witnessed, to which the man, who has introduced himself simply as Jeff, only smiles and nods. He says he's seen some weird stuff as well, especially since he's been traveling the roads of America since that day not so long ago, and trades his own story of being a junior paper-runner on Wall Street before it all went down. This, and the small collection of Hound spears laying in the back give Jeff a pretty good idea of what they are, so they just continue to talk and trade stories of their recent adventurers. Jeff is friendly and listens to everything they say and tells them about some of his own run-ins, how most of the cities aren't so bad, that the Nightlord's minions only seem to really be holed up in the really big cities like NY, tells them that Dallas is pretty much clear of their influence and so on. They tell him about some safehouses, Tiberius asks him if he'll be their manager, and so on...eventually they come to gas station on the border of Texas and Oklahoma, at which point Jeff makes his leave, telling them that he's going to see what the small town nearby has to offer, but promises that he'll catch up with them again, real soon...
[I assume those of you gentle readers who are up on your Nightbane lore know what is going on here?]

Continuing on, they make it to Amarillo, the destination of their next and last gig on their New Berlin to Mesa Tour, a sizeable sports bar called Throwbacks. Good news is, the bar is packed, the bad news is, it's a Cowboys game night (vs. the Eagles) and the crowd seems to be made up of a lot of rowdy looking young men wearing "America for American's" T-Shirts, "Preserver Party" pins and hats and other such paraphernalia. After the group sets up their play list and takes the small stage, a special news report breaks in over the commercials during a break in the game. A national news report goes live to the scene of a terrible plane crash that was captured on film moments before. There a local reporter on scene tells the camera that they have received reports that the downed plane belonged to the singer Justin Beiber, who along with the band Phish had planned a nationwide Tour only weeks before, and all had seemed to have perished in a fiery ball of flame on impact.

Spoiler:

If I forgot to mention that earlier, about the second session, the group heard that over the radio, much to many's disbelief

The bar is silent for a moment, before jeers and intensely homophobic slurs are shouted from the patrons of the bar, most noticeably coming from the dudebro's wearing the Preserver Party slogans. Seeing the crowd's reaction and maybe then for the first time realizing that they are a rock glam/hair band in Turbo-Redneck country, Tiberius calls an audible, changes up one of the songs and decides to add some lyrics that may mollify the crowd.

It doesn't go well...

From the get go, the crowd is definitely more interested in the game than the band, which makes the band nervous, who then begin to miss cords and notes, which only agitates the crowd, who then begin to heckle and shout obscenities at the Band. This begins a downward spiral, until final a bottle sails towards the group. This being the last straw, Leadfoot, retrieves the bottle and hurls it back into the crowd, and then all hell breaks loose. Soon a running, punching, kicking melee ensues as the band tries to grab their instruments and make for the back door, while the "Preeverts" try and tear them apart, using pool ques, chairs, mugs and even broken bottles to get their pound of flesh. After warding off some of the more serious combatants, most of the group finds themselves outside, except poor Bam-Bam who was just not going to leave his drum set behind and finds himself quickly outnumbered and being curb-stomped by several Preeverts. Tiberius panics and goes for one of the guns the group still has from the safehouse and points it at their assailants, though, this being Gun Country, mostly just incites a few of the denser members to scream; "ONLY A GOOD GUY WITH A GUN" or "NRA SAVE US!" and also pull their firearms. A few shots are exchanged and now things have gotten serious, with one of the Preeverts sporting a gut wound and another running for his truck to get his "Freedom Stick" (read; rifle). Tiberius moves inside to get Bam-Bam, while Dorian fights off two Preeverts, as Blitz loads into the van and Leadfoot chases down the man going for heavier artillery. Inside the bar, Bam-Bam has managed to turn the tables on a couple of the Preeverts with a baseball bat he pulled down off the wall, as Blitz & Tiberius try to even things even more by yelling for everyone to; BACK THE F UP! Unfortunately it is too loud for anyone to really pay attention, save one more would-be "hero" who sees his chance to stop a vicious terrorist lead mass shooting and pulls his gun on the lead singer. Back outside, Leadfoot gets the drop on the rifle-bearer with a Bruce Lee inspired flying kick, followed by the ancient technique of; Bash Head with Door Many Times, as Dorian slips behind one of his attackers and applies...a tender caress to his cheek, soft, yet powerful and moving...instead of the choke hold he had planned (natural 1's are fun!), this confuses and stops his attacker though, as he struggles with a conflicting torrent of feelings inside himself, his partner just tries to cave in Dorian's skull with a tire iron while screaming homophobic obscenities.

Eventually Bam-Bam, Blitz and Tiberius escape the bar, some of the drum set in tow, while Tom, the now-slightly less confused Preevert straddles Bob, the typical Preevert, and goes all Fight Club on him yelling about how word's hurt and now he knows who he really is. The group wisely decides to get the hell up out of there, just as police sirens can be heard in the distance. The group hightails it out of there, having somehow avoided killing anyone, despite the gunplay involved, but the Preeverts will definitely know they scrapped with Chromed Mayhem!

Pulling up outside of town, they ring up Chompers back in Connecticut and ask about this group, who in typical social network nerd fashion, goes on a tirade about the "jackbooted, turbo-rednecks and their recent rise to power and popularity within American politics", and that basically they are; " the worst". They then find the local Preserver Party chapter house after a quick stop by taco bell. A bag full of chili-cheese burritos later, and Dorian in "Flock of Crows" form, practices biological warfare on the cars and grounds of the Preservers. Their revenge complete, the Band once again sets off into the night, away from the scourge that was Amarillo and the Preserver Party and towards adventure!

[Marcethus]

Sounds like a action packed riot of a session.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

[so this last weeks session was a little bit different than normal, as you'll probably soon discern for yourself]

Finally arriving at their planned destination of Mesa Arizona, the group nabs a cheap motel room and huddles up for a plan to find the mysterious Nightbane scholar Old Scale...and also how to sell the van load of guns they acquired at the safe house in Missouri. Deciding that two of them could cruise the city "feeling" for Nightbane could give them a lead into Old Scale while two others will board the city bus with a couple of duffle bags and guitar cases full of automatic rifles and handguns to try and sell them off...

Taking the city bus proves to be not as suicidal a plan as they thought as the only people on the late night bus ride are tweakers and others who keep their heads down and law enforcement tend not to suspect gun runners on city buses, and so a few stops later, so exchange of money and a few Streetwise checks later and the group finds themselves in local barrio walking down the street while being eyed by numerous unfriendly eyes. Finally a well-built latin-american man approaches them and asks them if they are lost (obviously), but fortunately Dorian grew up in gangs and easily navigates them not being shot and stabbed for being two leather clad, feathered haired rockers in latin gang country. Teaujo even invites them up on his porch where his abuela is shelling peas and asks to get down to business. The boys open up their bags and cases and show a couple of AKs, Thompsons, Uzis and the like, so Teaujo tells them that they are packing a little more than what he can afford, but tells them to sit tight while he contacts his jefe. Ten minutes or so pass when a all black low-rider with chromed wheels and a black-light interior pulls up and six more latin gangmembers exit the vehicle, including one extremely heavyset individual who the other refer to as Gordo. Gordo steps up and then immediately gets a funny look on his face and steps back and motions for his boys to present, who all begin taking threatening postures and show weapons. Gordo then leans in and tells them that the Runners have some major heuvos walking into Noche Puerco territory. Dorian and Bam-Bam are pretty shook up by this change in demeanor and stammer out some excuses and platitudes as Gordo's boys begin to get real twitchy, looking around and fanning out as if they were expecting an ambush. With no ambush forthcoming and the metalheads seemingly honestly confused, Gordo relaxes a bit and asks them who they are and then chastises Teaujo for not "checking them out" beforehand. Teaujo gets slightly embarrassed and then Dorian and Bam-Bam catch on as they feel out for Nightbane and feel a dozen or more in their vicinity. They convince Gordo and the rest of the Night Hogs that they aren't there to start trouble and just want to sell some guns. After a little more cajoling, they finally get down to business and make some serious bank off the firearms and score a quick bit of info about the various power groups in Mesa as far as this Warlord gang knows. They then treat the gang to a dizzying amount of mexican food and drink before heading back to the motel to share their spoils and gossip.

Meanwhile, Leadfoot and Blitz have taken to the town in search of random Nightbane. But given the size and relatively limited area that their Nightbane radar functions at, they spend nearly two hours fruitlessly. They do however see that Mesa seems to have a decent nightlife, given that its a pretty large city and a college town to boot! But despite these two things, Leadfoot senses that the crowds aren't what he expect from such a place. The streets have people, but then are bunched in large groups, nobody walks alone or in pairs, smaller members of groups are instinctively or perhaps purposefully herded to the inside as they walk, etc...Being Mayor of Partytown, he then decides he must personally figure out why people aren't Partying MORE (it's a runoff year and Andrew C.K. is leading in the polls apparently), parking on the street, he walks up to one of these groups and asks why they aren't partying...he is met with confused stares. He asks again, and finally someone answers that they are just going out for drinks and they don't want any trouble while the rest of the group tries to move around him. He then maybe realizes that he is being intensely weird (ah roleplayers and their attempts at social interaction...) and turns to go back to the van and an absolutely aghast Blitz.

As he does so, blue and reds light up the van from behind as some of Mesa's finest take offense at him parking on the side of the street. They approach the van and see Blitz in the passenger side and ask him for his papers while asking where the driver is. Blitz points to Leadfoot approaching who then finds himself staring down the barrel of a service piece and and ordered on the ground. They comply and still find the officers to be jerks about everything who then begin a search of the van, which at this time is carrying a couple of bags of "party favors", open liquor containers, three Hound spears, a NSB sidearm, two NSB badges, a mini-uzi and body armor...Blitz and Leadfoot try and talk quietly among themselves trying to decide if it's time to "roll-out" or what, as one officer tears apart the van while the other generally makes a pain of himself, simultaneously questioning and insulting the two. After about 15 minutes, the officer searching the van curses that he hasn't found anything and yells to the other if they should get the K-9s?!? Leadfoot and Blitz can't believe their ears at that, but decide not to say anything to antagonize the officers further. The other officer radios in requesting a K-9 unit, but they hear the response over the radio that all units are currently indisposed. With a tossing of their ids, keys and the snare drum of Bam-Bam's set into the bushes, the cops tell them to have a nice day and drive off. The two gather their things and begin to load the stuff pulled off the van back in, taking great note of all the illicit material sitting in plain view in Dream Machine, and chalk it up to incompetence...

Finally the group meets back up at the Motel and trades the stories of their night, while Tiberius tells them that the AC works. They all agree that Mesa PD is stupid.

They also contact Chompers and see if he has any leads on Old Scale. He sarcastically replies back that is their job...but asks if they met up with Thorn-Hound. They all seem intensely confused (as is normal) as we flashback to their training montages and the group doing anything but paying attention when they were given some of the basic information about being Nightbane, the Railroad, the Night Net, etc...
So they check their emails on the Night Net and find a little info package that has been blinking at them for a week now about the local Railroad cell in Mesa. Seeing that Thorn-Hound is the leader of the cell, they should probably contact him and see what they can find out. They then set out for his "day job" at a local commercial nursery on the outside of town, at around midnight, to see if they can find him. Arriving there, they find that the nursery is indeed closed and is a sprawling multi-acre farm filled with various plants and trees of all sorts. Feeling the rebelliousness of Rock n' Roll surging through them, or perhaps that is just a bad taco, they (or just Dorian) decides that they must break in and see what they can find. Dorian soon finds that combat boots don't work well for climbing chain-link and finds himself sucking dirt on the otherside after having to throw himself over. The rest watch and video the shenanigans on their phones. He creeps around for a bit, finding indications that yes, it is indeed a commercial nursery and that the azaleas need more fertilizer, but little else...falling back over the gate, Leadfoot asks him why he just didn't turn into a bunch of crows and just fly over the fence?

They decide to leave a message for Thorn-Hound on the Night Net who almost immediately responds that he will meet them tomorrow at a small commercial nursery on the outside of town after nightfall, they tell him they know the place. They show up at around 3 in the afternoon and find a surprised worker named Trent glaring at them as they walk up. He reads as Nightbane when they feel out. He tells them that he will meet them after closing hours and tries to get them out of there. They are successfully "shoo'd" out of the store front and then decide to do an agri-tour to kill the next 5 or so hours.

The band finds strange enjoyment on the tour, as their guide Jorge tells them and several other tourists all about the difficulties and joys in making the desert bloom. Of particular fascination to the group is Jorge's recount of the remarkable network of canals built several thousand years ago by an ancient Native American civilization called the Hohokam. He tells them how the canals were used by these ancient people to bring water from the nearby Teddy Roosevelt Lake and from as far away as the Colorado River and which stretch thousands of miles all over Arizona and Southeastern California and even into some parts of New Mexico. Tiberius doesn't pay much attention to the softly glowing blue wall emanating from the remnants of these canals, that only he can seemingly see, chalking it up to maybe too much smoke, or perhaps heat stroke. They end their tour in the gift shop of the massive farm, buying some local produce, shirts, hats, and belt buckles (many with a native design of the Man in the Maze)

[I know this all seems rather random, but this was sort of the point, the group didn't really have a plan except get to Mesa, so I just did a little bit of research on the area, made up some of the factions in the city and then let them loose. Their decision to go to the agri-tour gave me a perfect opportunity to introduce the canals and the Hohokam which will become important later]

Finally done seeing the sights, the Band returns to the commercial nursery and find it closed for the night, but three cars remain in the parking lot and the lights are on inside the main building. Stepping in they are confronted by three Nightbane, Thorn-Hound (a plant and leaf skinned wear dog of sorts), Shived (a disgusting display of a knife murdered victim, complete with cleaver nearly bisecting his head) and Lady Bug (a giant leather clad dominatrix Lady Bug). The three introduce themselves and greet the Band, having heard good things about them from Chompers and Tinderfoot, tempered with an actual assessment by Lothair, but still they offer what little help to the group they can. They tell them that they mostly keep their heads down among the factions in Mesa, seeking only to help newly turned Nightbane come to terms with their new life and getting them to safety. They can tell them however about some of the other groups. They know that the Nightlords have a sizeable presence in the city, most likely under direct orders from a Night Prince, the also tell them about the Noche Puerco (whom they've already met), The Death Road Runners; a vicious Warlord group made up of former biker gangs that melded after Dark Day and who deal in nearly every vice imaginable and that roam the highways and interstates around Mesa and most of southern Arizona. Then there is the Resistance group led by a Nightbane by the name of Scorpio with whom the Railroad has a tenuous relationship at best with. The last group just so happens to coincide with what little information the group has on Old Scale and that is by way of one of the older Nightbane in the area, a lady who goes by the name Weaver and who belonged to a group who call themselves the Seekers. If anyone would know anything about Old Scale, they are sure it would probably be her, but they harbor a deep distrust of the Seekers and thus do not know their whereabouts or habits. Finally, the group offers the Band a safehouse for as long as they need it in Mesa (a huge mistake) and Lady Bug offers to make these nice boys a home-cooked meal once a day as well (a huger mistake). Tiberius does now bring up the glowing blue lines he saw in the canals, which confuse the other three Nightbane, so he decides to ring up Smoke (his teacher and pseudo-mentor), he explains what he saw to Smoke, and then we have another Flashback of him jotting down some killer lyrics and licks instead of paying attention to Smoke as he was explaining what a Ley Line is...so with that, they figure out that there is a Ley Line in the Canals, but even more strangely is that they follow the canals, and that as far as Smoke knows, that should be impossible. So it is quickly decided that some of the Band will begin moving into the safehouse, while Tiberius, Dorian and Shived will go out and look at the Lines.

Arriving back out at the agri-tour site, Tiberius can now clearly make out the glowing blue walls against the backdrop of night and can follow them as they jump and hop from canal portion to canal portion (much of the ancient canals are still in use, but a lot has also been destroyed by time and man's encroachment), but they definitely determine that the canals follow the lines...or vice versa.

Eventually the groups meet up at the safehouse and immediately throw a house party after gathering some ladies from a nearby sorority house and after nearly avoiding having the police called on them, they more-or-less quietly party the night away.

Come the next noon, the band has peeled themselves off the floors of their new temporary home and have emptied the fridge of anything edible, leaving a note for Trudy (Lady Bug's facade) to please get more chips and dip...

They make up a loose plan to borrow Shived's truck to follow the canals out into the desert and head out to follow them back to the source, in the hopes that finding a great magical source like this may get them closer to find the Seekers, and thus Weaver, and thus Old Scale. At some point in their journey though, someone floats the idea that maybe instead of finding the source, that they should instead go to where the canals end, to see what these ancient people were "watering", as that might be a better spot for the Seekers to gather. A quick Google search later, reveals that there is indeed already maps of the entire known canal system and actually a huge historic archeological site in Mesa that specializes in the canals and the ancient peoples who constructed them. So they arrive at the Mesa Grande site and again take a guided tour. Learning a little about the Hohokam people, the canals and a general bit of history of the area, all while accompanied by a gaggle of grade-schoolers who find their odd appearance; "just the bee's knees". As they leave off from the group and once again find the gift shop, to stock up on bottled water and jerky before heading off into the actual dig sites, we end there for the night, as I wonder just how in the hell my game turned into an PBS episode...Gamers are weird.

[Marcethus]

ROFLMAO. Yes Gamers are very weird. Sounds like a very cool session with lots of RP time.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

no update this week. Unfortunately the player of Tiberius had to put his kitty down short notice and wouldn't be able to play. Which did show the one weakness of this premise; the need for the entire band. Other games, a player is out and you can normally easily play without them. In this band though, that means that an essential member of the experience is gone (even worse with this one since he's lead singer), plus he's the only one who can see the ley lines they were following.

All this can be mitigated of course, but with such short notice (literally told us about 3 hours before game time) we just decided to sit around and BS instead.

[Marcethus]

Awww, Give Tiberius' player my condolences. I have two cats myself. Losing a pet is very similar to losing a family member, because pets are a member of the family.