Manhattan Knights Act 3 part 1

Living Lands Act 3 Scene 1-2

[NOTE: As of this ACT, I started each game by redoing the final scene from the previous act as the start of the game] This whole series of Stories starts at ZERO and for last week’s post you can go HERE. For more information about the Game check HERE for background and HERE for the Wiki.

So, we start with our heroes out of breath and inside an airlock which quickly cycles through and opens into the main Dome. The main dome is nearly 2 kilometers across and almost as high. Inside this massive area is a city of skyscrapers, parks, and a strange college-like collective at the centre of the Dome.

Scene 1:

The streets are clean and stretch in a gentle curve around the outside ring of the dome. Streetlamps softly light the streets and there is a general light from the dome itself. At even marks along the road there are small parking garages or lots with identical electric cars and vans are parked. There are signs everywhere, and the Kimiko thinks she can read the one in the car lots saying that the cars are for public use.

Kimiko’s phone chirps, surprising everyone. A text message?

Checking her phone it has loaded a map of her current location onto it and is showing a complete layout of the dome. Parts of the city are covered in red and have flashing icons over them.

Kimiko: There is danger in the center of the city.

Sasha: How can you know that?

Kimiko: <Shrugs> It’s getting easier to read I guess.

Sasha has another freak out session about brain parasites and then admits that she has been finds that some of the signs on the walls are also starting to make sense to her. The girls turn to Carlisle, the old man just shrugs, its all a mess to him.

The Warning:

After calming down Sasha, Kimiko turns back to her phone and taps the red square on the map. The area expands and shows several buildings, 4 red moving blips, and symbols on several of the buildings, in what the party is now calling the Campus.

Text across the top of the screen reveals that the Campus is in lockdown and that security measures are active. It also tells all employees to take caution if they work in the area as not all badges have proper clearance.

Sasha pulls out the keycard and they match the symbol on it to two of the buildings in the campus. The dead man apparently worked at one of these two labs.

As the girl’s discuss whether or not their badge will have the “proper security clearance,” Carlisle notices a length of cloth on the ground.

The sleeve:

It is a full-length sleeve to a military style jacket, and still bears a bunch of patches and marks.

Carlisle: Is this important do you think?

Both girls stare at the patch on the shoulder, which is partially torn of an covering an older shoulder badge. After a few minutes they all admit that not a single one of them is an American and it looks like an American military insignia. Carlisle pockets the sleeve not understanding the importance of a MarSOC badge, nor the Force Recon it covered up.

They only knew that it belonged to a very large man who was an American and that meant they weren’t the first people to get into the Dome.

Moving On:

Sasha uses her telepathy to link the party so they can communicate silently. And Kimiko keeps her face in her phone. She is delighted to discover that she has access to regular Earth internet. Google and her Email are available to her!

When asked if she wishes to maybe pay more attention to the current situation, Kimiko replies that she is learning all about the Campus. With the keycard she insists that the Campus is the only place they really need to go.

But Kimiko does finally put her phone away and activates her mind sense as they walk through the city block. As her power manifest she stops the group, there are minor intelligences all around her. Belaying panic the party quickly figures out that every streetlamp and most of the billboards have a low-level intelligence to them.

The lamp-domes are sensor arrays similar to the one that was on the gun emplacement outside the dome, and the billboards seem to be running a low-level psychic field that is starting to explain why the language is getting so easy to ready. It is adapting to their thoughts.

First Ring:

They keep moving through the first ring toward the center of the dome. Slightly disturbed by the fact that once living brains have been placed in every street lamp and that every sign and billboard is telepathically reading them.

The very language of these people is a living telepathic thing. Just before they reach the end of the street at a T intersection with the second ring road, Kimiko senses a sentry unit of 6 of the insect creatures in the building to her right. Luckily, they seem to be slumbering.

As they step into the second ring street, they see that next area is a massive park land, again stretching out in a ring, it is nearly 300 meters across before the next Urban ring starts. The park is well maintained and contains playgrounds, trees, waterways, and picnic areas. It is idyllic and if it weren’t for the massive dome overhead and the eerie lack of people it would be a lovely sight.

Scene Two the Middle Rings:

The peace is broken by Kimiko sensing a unit of sentries entering her mind sense area. The ‘bugs’ will be on them within seconds if they don’t do something.

The first thought it to rush across the park, but even heading for the various trees, it is far to open a place. So, they fall back on previous tactics and back up to the corner building and use their keycard to enter.

The building proves to be a twenty-story apartment building. Ignoring the bank of elevators, the party enter a stairwell and decide to climb to the third floor, wherein they pick a random apartment that should have a view of the street and Sasha uses her Psychometry to figure out the door code.

The apartment is slightly cluttered but relatively clean. Kimiko sits on the couch and checks out a tablet computer left on the coffee table while Sasha wanders around looking for anything interesting. Carlisle hides behind the current and watches the sentries on the street.

Observations:

The Monster hunter is starting to put things together and seeing this unit of guards is the final key to the puzzle. At least one of the puzzles. This unit of “bug” guards seem slightly different, half of them look scalier and more reptilian, with long tails.

Between the biological material in the lamps, sensor arrays, and even signs. The various biolabs on the map and the keycard. He is quickly realizing that living matter was considered raw materials to the people in this society. As social as they were and obviously interconnected, they continued to serve after death.

Meaning that the reason they hadn’t found any bodies yet was because the sentries were made from the dead. The scaly-bugs were created from Edeinos or dinosaur dead. Which made him wonder if perhaps there was a guard unit that was made from the DNA of the Marine missing his left sleeve. Perhaps the Brute that had charged them before they got away in the airlock?

Sharing and Shopping:

Carlisle shares his ideas as the Sentries move away down the street.

The girls stare at him and after a few minutes start picking apart his ideas;

Why would the guards attack their own people, after all the scientist we found was hit with energy weapons?

And if the entire population was turned into guards wouldn’t the bugs be everywhere? I mean they are small and a human body is double their size. Plenty of raw materials to make thousands?

With all the points argued away to a null point the trio decide to move on while the getting is good. They run across the park ring and enter the next urban sprawl. This area is less habs but is full of offices, media stations, and a massive multi-story mall.

Even the old man from Victoria thinks that a shopping spree might be in order. The trio breaks into the mall and quickly find a “you are Here” kiosk. The girls excitement is somewhat ruined when Carlisle reaches between them and places his finger on a store; “Outdoor Sporting Goods.”

They stare at him. Carlisle: What?

You’re starting to read the language. We thought it was only affecting us due to being psychics.

The “Cabela’s” of the Dome:

The trio enters a massive multi-department two level store. It also has a map; “Hunting, Fishing, Camping.” All in one area.

The group goes wild… breaking into the gun case only to find that all of the weapons have the palm needles in them. Cases full of knives from simple folders to knives that would make Rambo proud.

Carlisle finds an air rifle that doesn’t require needles in his palm, a machete, an entrenching tool, and then rain poncho.

Kimiko outdoes him by finding solar charging units that can be used to keep her phone alive and then a poncho that has built in digital camo. And I mean literal digital camo in that the pattern shifts and moves based on your surrounding and has a built-in solar panel as well. Carlisle is impressed with the poncho but distrustful of the power source.

Sasha loads down with a bunch of knives and then stuffs her pack with more cloths. She also finds a bunch of atlases and survival books, but based on the reality the Dome came from. As much as that reality no longer exists it is still information. Kimiko and Carlisle take the books between them.

Getting a View of the Campus:

Finished with their shopping spree, Carlisle says that he wants to get to the roof of the mall and get a view of the Campus through his rifle scope. He’d like to see if he can get a view of Campus.

Sasha snags a new, better scope from the gun counter and the group tromps to the top of the building. She hands the scope to Carlisle before he can pull out his carbine and he looks over the Campus.

Though still at a great distance and having to angle around a skyscraper he does get a view of the wide green lawns building up to the main central building of the Campus. He also gets an eyeful of the thing guarding the main door.

C: Well that is a big mother****er.

Girls: What is it?

C: Remember the big thing that chased us to the airlock?

Girls: Yes.

C: Ain’t that. Its bigger, nastier, and looks like its armed to take on tanks. Like a massive man on top of an armored crab.

S: Man on a crab?

C: No, half man waist up, all armored, four-legged bottom. And lots of guns. And the map says four of them are wandering around the Campus.

He turns away from the Campus and faces the girls.

C: So how the hell do we get into there?

The Plan:

Kimiko pulls out her phone again. And they all stare at the map and watch as the 4 red blips patrol around the square. After a while of watching the screen for a while Kimiko points at the screen.

K: There is how we get in.

She points to one of the four main buildings in the campus square. A third of the building is outside of the “red area” on the map. It is outside of the patrol of the 4 guardians and it is one of the buildings that bears the same symbol as their keycard.

K: We hope for a back door along this side of the building and then we enter through there. After that we’ll figure it out and make it up as we go.

With nothing better in mind, the trio accepts the plan and they move out to find a back door to the building.

Thus ends scene two. Next week we’ll have scene three and beyond.