A Dark And Quiet Room

On the Offensive

Soon thereafter, Jared summoned Marcus and Jude. He had a major strike for them to accomplish. He needed them to head north into enemy territory, locate the alien base, and plant another sensor package right in the base itself. One of them would need to distract the aliens so that the other one could enter the base secretly.

Mission Brief
…begin briefing…

On the Offensive
(for two pilots)
(Must be done in order)
Deploy stealthily (both pilots)
If either pilot failed, “Spot alien patrol” failed
Spot alien patrol (either pilot)
If both pilots failed, fight alien patrol (co-op)
Locate alien base (either pilot)
if either successful,
deploy sensor array (Pilot 1)
if successful, allows for long-range warning against alien attack
distract defenders (Pilot 2)
if failed, fight alien assault group (Pilot 1)
Return to base without being followed (both pilots)
This is a secret goal
If pilot “ejects”, then one non-pilot character with relationship to pilot enters the Bliss
If either pilot attempted and failed, defend base
If failed, one non-pilot character is harmed (GM’s choice)
…end briefing…

Marcus went on point and discovered the alien base. Along the way, he discovered some objects that looked like alien trees. He and Beth wondered if they were alien growth pods, but they didn’t have time to investigate. They noted the coordinates for later.

Jude had volunteered to be the diversion, because he wanted to impress Leah. So he attacks from the one side, drawing off a large portion of the alien forces. Marcus was able to slip inside and plant the sensor package in an orifice within the alien base and escape.

While the pilots were out, the anchors discovered psychic jamming of some kind coming from the alien base. If the pilots were to be ejected from the dream, the psychic backlash would drop the anchor into the Bliss. So the pilots needed to withdraw from the alien base the old-fashioned way. This was easy for Marcus, but Jude had half the alien army on his back. What would he do?

He headed for the Bigelow Boys headquarters. The players all laughed when Crystal announced this. We liked it a lot.

So Jude charged into the parking lot of the Cub Foods where the Bigelow Boys had holed up, with alien walkers and flying alien probes hot on his trail. Then, as Jude watched in disbelief, two Bigelow Boys appeared in the dream. Then they manifested ANIMas and began to fight the aliens.

In all the confusion, Jude escaped.

Weddings and Babies

In the wake of this last mission, we had a few interludes. First, Marcus and Jude had a man-to-man talk about marriage. Jude was confused and asking questions, which Marcus was doing his best to answer. This seemed like Trust Building.

Then we cut to Marcus with his family. They are on a picnic, celebrating Beth’s pregnancy. Marcus tells Beth that his initial response to her pregnancy was raw panic, but now he is really happy. More Trust Building.

But the most important interlude was the one with Jude and Joseph. Jude tracked Joseph down while Joseph was on patrol because Jude wanted to get Joseph’s approval for his marrying Leah. Jude spilled all this to Joseph. Joseph thought about it, then stood up and said, “You’re all right.” Then he walked off. He meant yes. More Trust Building.

…static…
…re-establishing contact…