TUELLER: “Anyway, we got ahead.”
TUELLER: “Get it? Huh. Get it!”
MILLICENT: “Did you adopt?”
MILLICENT: “I really wish you’d talk to me before you adopted.”
MILLICENT: Millie considers. “I mean, she’s cute, but we should have had a conversation.”
TUELLER: “The doc didn’t get it.”
TUELLER: Tueller shakes his head.
TUELLER: “It’s because I have a head in my bag.”
TUELLER: “Your coparent’s.”
MILLICENT: “Oh a head!”
MILLICENT: “We do have fun!”
STORY: The three of you, dressed in Gerry’s Fusion Reactor Repair jumpsuits, step up to the gate of the top secret Exodus facility on Titan.
STORY: You’ve got a work order in hand. What do you do?
MILLICENT: Can we assume that we were able to pull the schematics? The plan was to figure out the model of reactor, so I assume from that we know where we’re going, yeah?
STORY: Sure.
MILLICENT: Millie has the boys carry the toolcases. She’s got the clipboard. She strides with confidence toward where they need to be.
STORY: All right, clipboard lady! Talk your way in with that work order, please.
STORY: The guard at the gate looks underpaid and hot.
ALEJO: Alejo awkwardly lugs a couple of heavy cases, frowning at Tueller who has at least twice as much and doesn’t seem to be struggling at all.
TUELLER: Tueller’s just exuding bored handyman energy.
MILLICENT: “Good morning,” pause. Looks at clipboard. “Name’s not here. Good morning! Here to take a look at the reactor, please.” Millie points to where it says Gerry’s Fusion Reactor Repair We Fix ’Em So You Don’t Blow It on her chest
STORY: They take the clipboard, look it over briefly, and raise a finger.
STORY: The guard pinches the radio on their shoulder, mutters into it.
STORY: Leaning forward. “No logged issues with the reactor.”
MILLICENT: She laughs mirthlessly. “Yes sir, that’s why we’re all still able to talk about it.”
STORY: FA + Influence for me!
MILLICENT: Any bonus for having the gear and the unies?
STORY: That’s not how this game works!
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 0
STORY: josh rolled 12 + 0 = 12
MILLICENT: I mean, it’s how some of this game works. There are certainly items that add + Forward.
STORY: Nice! The guard looks over your paper one more time, shrugs, and buzzes the gate open.
MILLICENT: But Space God has decided I didn’t need it anyway
STORY: There aren’t! That’s MoTW, there’s no Forward in this game
MILLICENT: Okay!
ALEJO: Alejo lugs his cases past the guard, giving him a quick nod. Once they’re a good distance away, he leans over to Millie. “Wow! You’ve gotten really good at this.” He smiles.
MILLICENT: “I had great teachers.” She smiles back
STORY: You cross the large open lot between the front gate and the building entrance, under the gaze of at least six armed guards on raised posts.
STORY: Alejo! What’s the facility like inside?
ALEJO: Where we’re at, it’s mostly functional, but with wide hallways and tall ceilings. This place is old. It was built to accommodate huge terraforming equipment and other gear needed to build Titan. It’s busy, but not bustling. Small groups of people who obviously work here walk by us, a little anxiously. It’s the sort of place where people are always watching.
STORY: A docent-looking person looks up, hair in a prim bun, and walks over to you. “Can I help you?”
ALEJO: “Hiya. Oh, uhh, we’re here for the reactor.” Alejo gestures with his chin to the logo on his chest.
ALEJO: He then steps back to let Millie take the lead again.
MILLICENT: Millie turns the clipboard around.
MILLICENT: “Got the work order here. Mandatory maintenance.”
STORY: He gives you directions.
STORY: The hallways are fairly busy, everyone in uniforms. Some in lab coats, some in jumpsuits, some in crisp military gear. You don’t really recognize this, Alejo – you were more used to the unwashed masses, banding together for common purpose.
STORY: Why don’t you give me an Assessment + Mettle to see what you notice on your way to the reactor?
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 9 + 2 = 11
STORY: Okay. Alejo, you pick up a couple important things. First off, you get a good sense of the floor plan and you’re reasonably confident you could run back to and out of the front door if for some reason you needed to do that, take a Data Point for the base geography.
ALEJO: Got it!
STORY: Also, you notice a sort of… deflated quality of the people here. They’re not passionate about the work they’re doing – they’re just at work. It’s an unfamiliar feeling. You see a small pack of kids being bustled along to some other room, and they look highly disciplined, except for one – you catch her watching you, something in her look both pleading and hunting.
STORY: 
STORY: The adult herding them smacks her hands with a ruler and she flinches, nostrils flaring, and goes along with the other kids.
STORY: As you watch her go, you catch sight of someone you know from the old days. Who is it?
ALEJO: Dr. Amela Harrington. A “teacher” here.
STORY: FA + Influence, let’s see if she recognizes you!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 7 + 2 = 9
STORY: You watch the woman who taught you how to pick locks glance your way and furrow her brow. She is going to figure out who she’s looking at. What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo drops one of the cases, bending down awkwardly to pick it up and turning mostly sideways from her. He can keep in his peripheral vision, but he’s shielded. He coughs to get Tueller’s attention.
TUELLER: Tueller bends down to help check the case for damage.
TUELLER: Nonchalantly. Tueller looks soooo bored.
ALEJO: “At the end of the corridor,” Alejo whispers, almost imperceptibly,
TUELLER: Grunt.
ALEJO: He stands and and picks the case back up. He turns away from Amela entirely, letting Tueller keep the watch. He starts back on their original course unless Tueller does anything.
STORY: Okay! You leave without her putting it together.
TUELLER: Tueller keeps an eye on her with guy-who-doesn’t-fix-your-cable energy.
STORY: Millie, you lead the boys down a series of hallways and down a few sets of stairs, following the signs. You reach the door to the boiler room, and another guard outside it. What do you do?
MILLICENT: Millie waves the clipbaord. “Morning! Here for the reactor maintenance.”
STORY: She checks your credentials.
STORY: A nod, and unlocks the door.
STORY: Tell me about the boiler room!
STORY: Anyone!
TUELLER: It’s weirdly grey, like a damascus steel room.
TUELLER: It’s got the very persistent hum, railings going around the side looking down at the boiler system, with tubing that seems like an Escher drawing.
TUELLER: With computers glowing green on one side at a standing desk.
STORY: Excellent! It’s noisy in here.
STORY: Millie, what do you do?
MILLICENT: Millie looks for the reactor’s main controls. From there she should be able to enact her part of the plan.
STORY: You got ’em! They’re down a little ladder at a specialized console.
ALEJO: Alejo sets his cases down near the top of the ladder. “Jesus.” He rubs his hands and forearms. “How can you not be sore after that? You haven’t really worked out in like . . . a while.” He looks at Tueller.
ALEJO: “And you still are twenty times stronger than me.”
TUELLER: Tueller cocks his head, confused.
TUELLER: “Yes, of course I am.”
MILLICENT: Millie starts the opening diagnostics on the console. She’s getting a sense for the regular levels and the exchange with the cooling pipes.
TUELLER: After a pause, “I’ve been working out again.”
TUELLER: “Just a little. While you guys make out.”
TUELLER: “Or whatever.”
TUELLER: “it helps with the silence.”
MILLICENT: She’s going to try and show a critical pre-meltdown state that will require all manner of manual venting and oxidizing and such. Basically, she’ll oversee a catastrophe that will require dozens of volunteers to follow directions and pop open pipes and spray them down, all the while the real reactor is just going through a cleaning cycle. It should look just like the real thing. That should give the boys cover to go do their business.
ALEJO: Alejo nods. “Sorry. I miss her too.” He gives him a friendly pat on the shoulder and then looks down at Millie as she works.
STORY: All right! Millie, let’s have a FA + Interface to see how you do.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 7 + 2 = 9
STORY: Okay. You can definitely set off a fake reactor meltdown, but not without causing a real overheating of an air purifier panel across the compound. If you want the base to be okay, you should go fix it before you leave. Proceed?
MILLICENT: Proceed!
STORY: You punch in a couple commands and hear a pleasant beep acknowledging the very bad news you are about to give the base.
STORY: Time to scurry.
MILLICENT: “Okay, so I’ve got this set, but it’s going to cause a problem across campus. I’m going to actually need to get to the air purification room while this is all going on.”
TUELLER: “You’re okay on your own?”
TUELLER: “Or, well, Alejo knows the base; we can sic him on you if you need.”
TUELLER: “If we want this base to be okay.”
MILLICENT: “I can take care of myself, thank you, gentlemen.”
STORY: You’ve got limited time to pull this off, to handle both you’ll have to split up.
ALEJO: “I don’t want it to be okay, but those kids . . . .” He trails off.
ALEJO: “Doc. Be careful.” He turns to Tueller. “Let’s get this done and get outta here. Too many ghosts for me.”
TUELLER: “Fine, do it, and let’s get this over with.”
ALEJO: Alejo turns to go, stops, turns back and gives Mille a quick kiss, and then heads to the labs.
TUELLER: As they’re going out, Tueller tabs the comms, “Keep in touch, dear.”
STORY: Lab team! What’s your general demeanor as you go?
TUELLER: Business like!
ALEJO: Yup. All business.
TUELLER: Continuing with the terminally bored worker.
STORY: Okay! You start up the long series of hallways back to the main area and hear alarms. Millie’s trick has worked. People rush past you, barely noticing you.
STORY: It gets quite a bit more hectic in these already busy hallways.
STORY: How do you plan to find Alejo’s head?
TUELLER: We haven’t established anything about the lab so far, correct?
STORY: Nope!
ALEJO: Yeah, I was thinking that we know where they are but that’s about it.
STORY: You don’t even know where the lab is, necessarily
STORY: Presumably you can find your way there but we don’t know! That’s what dice do!
TUELLER: We got a map!
STORY: You do have a map. There are a bunch of labs. You don’t know which one has a head in it!
ALEJO: Are they all roughly in the same part of the station?
STORY: Nope!
TUELLER: Tueller is working under the assumption that he’s looking for weaponized biotech.
ALEJO: “We’re gonna need some help.” Alejo starts looking for the most lab tech sort of person he can see who seems to be on their own in the crowds.
TUELLER: So he’s looking for the intersection between meat and weapons. Looking for freezers and surgical equipment.
STORY: Alejo! You see a young man in a lab coat standing in the hallway, trying to figure out what’s going on with the alarms. There are dozens of people moving around, but he doesn’t seem to be with anyone.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo elbows at Tueller and nods towards the fellow. “He’ll work.”
TUELLER: Tueller does not follow Alejo’s train of thought.
ALEJO: “We could hunt and peck for hours. We need someone to help us out.” Alejo starts to move towards the guy, slipping by and between people in the crowd. He sees the the man is standing very close to an open doorway. Alejo keeps moving, trying to see if there’s anyone in the room. It doesn’t look like it so he steps up to the fellow.
TUELLER: Tueller follows.
ALEJO: “Hi there.” Alejo gently but firmly pushes him back into the room before he can say anything.
ALEJO: Alejo is smiling warm and friendly.
ALEJO: Once inside, Alejo quickly surveys the room to make sure that they’re alone.
TUELLER: Tueller comes in and hangs back, available
STORY: He makes sort of an “ahh-“ noise before you push him out of the hallway’s view. He looks at you, frightened.
STORY: You’re alone.
STORY: “W- we have protocols for this. Please. There is no money here. Take what you want.”
ALEJO: “Oh, no, no. Nothing like that, mate. I’m an operative here.” Alejo raises his hands. “Same team. It’s just . . . those alarms make me and my bosses anxious. I was supposed to going on an op, then this all started. I think someone might be after something. Think you can help me find it before they do?”
ALEJO: He leans in conspiratorially. “I think those alarms are fake.”
STORY: FA + Influence please!
ALEJO: “Or, the emergency is, any way.”
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 7 + 2 = 9
STORY: “W–what are they looking for?” He peers around you and looks out toward the hallway. He looks ready to shout.
TUELLER: “Keep it down,” Tueller steps in.
ALEJO: Alejo grimaces. “I don’t know why it’s so damned important, but . . . a head?”
ALEJO: “Does that make any sense to you?”
TUELLER: Tueller looms.
STORY: He furrows his brow. “A head?”
ALEJO: Alejo nods and shakes his head all at once. “Weird right? Can you help me find it? We don’t have a lot of time, if I’m right that someone’s after it.”
STORY: He thinks hard. Then nods, decisively. “Sure. Yes. I’ll take you.”
STORY: He moves for the door. What do you do?
TUELLER: Tueller looks to Alejo, frowning.
ALEJO: Alejo smiles and steps in front of him. “Could be dangerous. You could just tell us where to go.”
TUELLER: Tueller is suspicious, but not sure..
STORY: He holds up a keycard. “You’re gonna need me. Come on.”
STORY: He steps out into the hallway, darting to the right.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo nods and smiles and then sticks to the guy like glue.
TUELLER: “In for a penny…”
TUELLER: Tueller mutters as he follows.
STORY: There are so many people standing around looking confused in the hallways. Some people running along, mostly security and techs.
STORY: But generally speaking just a lot of people looking around and wondering what’s going on.
ALEJO: “Stay close, mate. If anything goes down, let me deal with it, okay? Don’t want you getting hurt.”
STORY: You head up one set of stairs, down a long hallway, then up another. “Just down here,” the doctor says, moving fast. “You’ll keep me safe if those people show up?”
ALEJO: “You have my word.” Alejo is right behind him.
STORY: You move quickly down the hallways, but you hear something that makes you turn your head and see, through an open doorway, the kid who looked at you earlier.
STORY: She’s in a blue hospital gown, and four men are trying to strap her down to a gurney. She’s fighting them, thrashing her body, mostly silent, using her training. But she’s going to lose. They’ve already got one hand strapped on. Machines line the walls, and a doctor stands back, waiting for her to be subdued.
STORY: Your helpful doctor is continuing down the hallway. What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo pauses. Grimaces. Looks at the doctor and then at the room and then at Tueller. “Fuck. Go with him.”
TUELLER: Simultaneously: “I’m sorry Ejo, you go on.”
ALEJO: “I got this.” Alejo steps back towards the room.
STORY: The doctor turns back briefly. “Everything ok?”
ALEJO: “My associate is going with you. I think we’re being followed. He’ll keep you safe.”
TUELLER: “He’s got a brief detour, but I’m still your huckleberry.”
TUELLER: Tueller pushes the doc on.
TUELLER: “What’s your name? Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself earlier. I’m Hamish.”
STORY: He paces ahead. “Jeter.”
STORY: Millie!
STORY: Where are you going?
MILLICENT: I’m headed for the air purifier room!
STORY: You’ve got a lot of people to make your way through to get there. How do you manage the crowd?
MILLICENT: Clipboard and air of authority
MILLICENT: “One side, please. Emergency technician coming through!”
STORY: Excellent! FA + Influence please
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6
STORY: josh rolled 8
STORY: Okay! You make your way through the hallways with surprising alacrity!
STORY: You of course do not notice that a security guard has noticed you and is following you.
STORY: Tueller! What do, my man
TUELLER: I pushed the guy on and try to hurry him to our destination.
TUELLER: Not so much push as put my hand on his back and inexorably move him on.
STORY: You get there! He triumphantly swings open a door for you, smiling when he sees the room is empty.
STORY: It’s rows and rows of heads in jars, all floating in green liquid that bubbles. There must be two hundred here.
STORY: Alejo!
STORY: There’s a small antechamber between you and the OR.
STORY: There’s no one here, and you’re a few meters from the door that will bring you to the kid, the four orderlies, and the doctor and presumably some nurses and assistants.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: Alejo looks around for anything that might be useful and sees a doctor’s coat flung over a chair. He grabs, throws it on, and takes a sturdy looking clipboard and bursts into the room. “Stop this at once!” He bellows and pushes past a nurse. He closes space on the orderly nearest to the girl while sizing up the other three.
STORY: They’re shocked into stopping, for the moment. What’s your next move?
ALEJO: Alejo slams the clipboard into the neck of the orderly nearest the girl while kicking the legs out from one just to the side of him. Assuming that all works, he’ll move at top speed to get between the other two orderlies and the girl.
STORY: Launch Assault, please!
ALEJO: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: ablair01 rolled 5 + 2 = 7
STORY: Okay! You take out two of them, but you know the other two have the drop on you. One punches you in the neck for a Minor injury – roll that armor thing!
STORY: Brace for Impact, that’s what it’s called
STORY: Just 2d6 + armor, and you have none right now
ALEJO: Got it
ALEJO: /roll 2d6
STORY: ablair01 rolled 8
STORY: You take a minor injury, losing your breath for a second.
STORY: The kid watches what’s happening, and recognizes you from before. She kips up, her hand still pinned down, but swings a leg over, catching one of the orderlies in the balls. He falls to the floor. One left.
STORY: The doctor and nurses take a few frightened steps back. One looks over at a desk, and you see a panic button under it.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: “Don’t do it, Doctor!” Alejo gets between the doctor and the desk.
ALEJO: “Just let the girl free, please.” He moves closer to the doctor but keeps his eye on that orderly.
STORY: The last orderly moves on you, coming over to give you a good punch to the head. That’s gonna be another minor injury! Brace for Impact
ALEJO: /roll 2d6
STORY: ablair01 rolled 3
STORY: Uh oh. He really rings your bell. That’s gonna upgrade your Minor injury to Major, and give you a Minor debility – you are dazed for a few moments.
STORY: You fall to one knee, can’t get a clear look at anything in the room.
STORY: Millie!
STORY: You find the air purifier station. It is in fact overheating and badly needs your attention. You have to squeeze in behind a big water unit to get access to it.
MILLICENT: Millie squeezes!
MILLICENT: She’s wee!
STORY: You slip right through! What now?
MILLICENT: Millie’s going to find the overflow valve and reroute it so it can vent the excess strain she’s put on the system
STORY: FA + Interface, please!
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 5 + 2 = 7
STORY: You access the system and get to work fixing it, and just as you’re about to enter the last command an arm thrusts through the gap between the railing you’re leaning on and the water tank. It grabs your arm firmly and yanks you back out to the hallway.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: Slam the final button in the sequence and let myself get pulled. Is that cool?
MILLICENT: A good trade-off?
STORY: Sure!
STORY: You fix the thing. But also, you’re for sure grabbed by a big security man.
STORY: Tueller!
STORY: There are so many heads.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: “Oh man, this is exactly it. It looks like we got here in time; I don’t see any missing.” Tueller pauses.
TUELLER: “Though maybe the theft has been covered up. Can you pull up the inventory to make sure the count is right? I wouldn’t like to be tricked by a simple switcheroo like that.”
STORY: “Oh, I, uh. I don’t have access to that. I could… well, we could just look for a missing one?”
STORY: He starts to walk into the room, to peer around for an obvious gap.
TUELLER: Tueller does the same.
TUELLER: Though, obviously, looking for Alejo instead. Or other people he might recognize, of course.
TUELLER: Is there any obvious markings?
STORY: Nope, but you can spend a few minutes looking for Alejo’s head. Assessment + Mettle please!
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+1
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 9 + 1 = 10
STORY: You find it! You also gain a certain confidence in handling it, should that become necessary, and gain a Data Point in Alejo’s Head
TUELLER: Best Data Point I’ve ever gotten.
TUELLER: Multipurpose data point.
STORY: It’s surprisingly well preserved, considering you definitely saw someone shoot a hole through it. There’s a little spot where that happened, but they cleaned it up.
STORY: It’s also VERY UNNERVING to look at your friend’s head floating in a jar.
STORY: This was your actual friend, the real one. Not the copy.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: (He was a copy)
TUELLER: (We all are)
STORY: You’re all copies! But this was your copy.
TUELLER: Tueller carries on a search for awhile longer, not calling attention to that particular head, and then leans back and casually triggers his comms, saying, “Well, looks like no one’s stolen any of the heads yet; but I think we should be wary. It could happen at any moment.” Tueller crosses his arms and looks at the doctor. “Thanks for your help!”
TUELLER: “What an interesting project! Are you part of this?”
STORY: “Me? Oh, no, I’m only Level 2, I just do the maintenance on operative tech.”
TUELLER: “You ambitious?”
TUELLER: Tueller is killing time, for now, waiting for a signal from Millie, of course.
STORY: “Oh, I mean. Sure. As much as anyone, I guess.”
STORY: Millie!
STORY: You’re grabbed.
STORY: And yanked.
MILLICENT: “Rude!”
STORY: The security guard pulls you up to his face, talking too loud. “What are you doing?”
MILLICENT: “Have you had a really serious talk with your dental hygienist lately, sir?”
MILLICENT: “Because. Well, not my business, but. From a friend, talk to them.”
STORY: He shakes you a little. “You want to do it that way, fine!” He starts to drag you back to the main hallway.
MILLICENT: “I’m venting the excess waste so the air purification system doesn’t pump poison into every room, asphyxiating everyone here. Check your CO levels, you gorilla!”
STORY: “Reactor techs aren’t in charge of air purifiers.” He keeps dragging you along. You’re close to the doorway.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: “Sure, and plumbers aren’t in charge of gas lines, but if you see a nick you patch it you absolute gorilla put me down and check your damn levels!” There’s some flailing that goes along with this.
STORY: Let’s make that FA + Influence
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6
STORY: josh rolled 4
MILLICENT: Millie reaches a hand up to open comms, “Will you please unhand me, you brute?”
STORY: Yeah, I mean. He’s not buying it. He wrestles your hands behind you and zip ties them.
STORY: He points to a corner. “Sit.”
MILLICENT: Do I get the message through?
STORY: Yes!
TUELLER: To who?
STORY: One or the other, who is it Millie?
MILLICENT: Oh no!
MILLICENT: Tueller! Millie suspects that this place is a bit much for Alejo. She doesn’t want to crowd him.
STORY: All right! Alejo, you shake the cobwebs out. You’re chest down on the ground, with a knee in your back, and ope, seems like the doctor definitely pushed that button you didn’t want him to push.
STORY: There’s no sound from the kid’s gurney.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: “Get off me! Do you have any idea who that girl is? There’s no time for this.” As Alejo says this, he pushes up against the knee in his back to get a sense of how much this orderly really knows about a pin hold.
STORY: He’s more used to subduing kids. You could get out of this.
ALEJO: Alejo adjusts himself under the knee and then bursts free, grappling with the orderly, pulling him to the ground and knocking him out, if he can.
STORY: You do it! You also see, as soon as you flip, that the kid has unbuckled herself and has been waiting for the right moment to spring, which she now does, grabbing a scalpel and waving it at the medical professionals.
STORY: “¡Vete a la mierda!”
STORY: The doctor and nurses cower.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: “Whoa! Easy.” Alejo stands. “Did you press that button, Doc?” Alejo looks around the room for any other makeshift weapons and notes that there’s only one way in or out of the room.
STORY: “Y-yes.”
STORY: There are so many scalpels in this room!
ALEJO: Alejo frowns. “How long ago?” He grabs a couple of scalpels. He looks at the girl. “Fácil.”
ALEJO: He herds the medical staff away from the door and moves him and the girl towards it.
STORY: “A– I… a minute! I don’t know!”
STORY: Tueller!
STORY: The doctor with you is sort of anxious. He hears additional, new sirens.
STORY: He doesn’t love being in this room alone with your large self.
STORY: And you’re making small talk, but in a way that he can tell you’re making small talk.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: “Oh shit! It’s happening!”
STORY: He tenses. “What is?”
TUELLER: “I don’t know. Whatever that is. You hear where that’s coming from? That’s the OR.”
TUELLER: “I hope Eric is alright. Sorry to rope you into all of this.”
STORY: “The–” His eyes widen. “The subject!”
STORY: He rushes out.
TUELLER: “Well. That was easier than I hoped.”
TUELLER: Tueller counts off ten seconds in his head, then turns out the contents of his tool case and puts Alejo’s head into it.
TUELLER: And then heads out to the air purifier. “On my way Doc with the package, hope to find you soon.”
STORY: Okay! You head out into the hallway and make a sharp right, heading for a stairway away from the OR.
STORY: Alejo! You leave the room with Maya, who looks at you for guidance, a bit wild. You see your doctor friend coming your way. What do you do?
ALEJO: Does he see me yet?
ALEJO: Alejo whispers to Maya. “¿Confías en mí?”
STORY: You have a moment!
STORY: She looks hesitant, then nods.
ALEJO: He smiles quickly. “Bueno.” He rushes with her towards the doctor. “Doc! I’m so glad to see you. They were after the girl. I was wrong. Can you help us get out of here?”
ALEJO: “Where’s my associate?” He quickly glances behind them to see if anyone’s coming yet.
STORY: No one yet. The doctor looks confused.
STORY: “They… were after the subject?”
ALEJO: Alejo nods and moves him with them back towards the heads.
STORY: He makes a decision, gesturing you to the stairs. “Come, come. This way. Take the back stairs.”
STORY: “There’s a safe room on the ground floor.”
ALEJO: “Thank you!”
STORY: He leads the two of you to the stairwell, and follows. Tueller is ahead, two stories down, already on his way to Millie.
STORY: Millie!
STORY: Do you sit?
TUELLER: Alejo sees Tueller? Or this is one of those farce things?
STORY: Farce. You might hear the door above open.
MILLICENT: Is the ape standing over me?
STORY: Nearby. He’s radioing.
MILLICENT: Millie waits until his back is turned and she runs toward the panic from the meltdown
STORY: Hahah
STORY: Okay!
STORY: Let’s call that a FA + Physique
STORY: possibly your first of the game!
MILLICENT: haha okay
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 -1
STORY: josh rolled 8 – 1 = 7
TUELLER: Heeeeeeeeeey
MILLICENT: Just under the wire!
STORY: Oh hey! All right, you run, but you run straight into the crowd with your hands tied behind your back. People notice. They call out. More security is alerted. You’re out of the range of the guard who found you, but you’ve gotta get somewhere out of sight now or more will come.
STORY: What do you do?
MILLICENT: “Hi there, excuse me, sorry! One of your overeager security goons tied me up during a meltdown because he doesn’t understand quantum reactor physics. Can someone with a brain and a knife, you know, cut me free so I can do my job and stop this meltdown?”
STORY: Tueller!
STORY: You’ve got a head in a jar in your bag.
TUELLER: Normal day, then.
STORY: And you just popped out of a stairway to see a crowd with a big empty space in the middle, and a tiny lady with curly hair and her arms zip-tied behind her in the center.
STORY: It’s all about ten meters from you.
STORY: What do you do?
TUELLER: “Hey! Who the hell did that! She needs to deal with this reactor breach!”
TUELLER: Tueller hurries towards her as fast as possible.
STORY: She’s doing her Complaining Voice, you can already hear it.
TUELLER: Tueller is doing his GIANT STRONG MAN voice.
TUELLER: booming.
STORY: The crowd doesn’t seem to know what to do with her just yet, but you clock three security guards thinking about coming to get her.
TUELLER: “The reactor could go at ANY MOMENT!” Tueller says as he rushes in.
STORY: It’s a power educated women are given along with their diplomas.
TUELLER: “Bunch of Dyatlovs here, Christ.”
STORY: Let’s make that a Command modified by Physique.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 6 + 2 = 8
STORY: Because you’re being a big strong man
STORY: Good enough! You collect Millie and can get her moving, though you don’t have anything on you to deal with the zip tie unless you open up your bag and reveal the head-jar.
TUELLER: I am big strong man.
STORY: Alejo! You and Maya and your doctor friend emerge at the bottom of the stairs. Alarms are going off, more than before. There’s rather a large crowd milling around as if something has just happened, and you see Tueller moving Millie towards the door and three security guards starting to move toward them through the crowd.
STORY: What do you do?
ALEJO: “My team is over there. Doctor, do you see those three people posing as security guards?”
STORY: He looks as you point them out, nodding.
ALEJO: “¿Ese tipo enorme? Es nuestro amigo junto con la mujer menuda,” Alejo says quietly to Maya.
STORY: She nods, watching the crowd.
ALEJO: “We need to distract them so my team can get out. But we need to get out as well.”
ALEJO: “With the girl. Up for a bit of adventure?”
STORY: He takes a deep breath. “I think so!”
STORY: They’re close, but the guards will get to them first.
ALEJO: Alejo smiles and nods at him. “Can you run over to them and act like they are real security. Just tell them that three people have stolen a head. Be very, very intense about it and get them turned away from that exit. They won’t hurt you. Not in this crowd. We’ll slip past, meet my team, and then I’ll find you once we get the girl safe and deal with these guys? Got it?”
STORY: “Wh– are you sure I’ll be safe?”
ALEJO: “Yes. Just make a fuss and then point a lot and disappear back into the crowd. Whatever happens next, don’t talk to anyone about this until I find you again, okay? Don’t trust anyone until we’re sure we know who to trust. Okay?”
STORY: He nods, making himself brave.
ALEJO: “And thank you, Doctor. Truly.” Alejo smiles and gives him a pat on the shoulder.
STORY: He smiles. And sets out waving his arms, shouting. “Security! Security!!”
ALEJO: Then he nods and let’s the doctor go make a fuss.
STORY: You’ve got your opening.
ALEJO: Alejo ushers the girl with him, trusting that she’s sneaky as hell like he is. They slip through the crowd and catch up to Millie and Tueller as they are exiting the building.
STORY: The four of you slip out in the confusion.
TUELLER: “Hey, where’s the doc?”
TUELLER: “I was waiting for the other shoe to drop with him, but he seems a pretty good guy. Or the most gullible motherfucker in the universe.”
TUELLER: “Anyway, we got ahead.”
TUELLER: “Get it? Huh. Get it!”
MILLICENT: “Did you adopt?”
MILLICENT: “I really wish you’d talk to me before you adopted.”
MILLICENT: Millie considers. “I mean, she’s cute, but we should have had a conversation.”
TUELLER: “The doc didn’t get it.”
TUELLER: Tueller shakes his head.
TUELLER: “It’s because I have a head in my bag.”
TUELLER: “Your coparent’s.”
MILLICENT: “Oh a head!”
MILLICENT: “We do have fun!”