Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Entry 14:City of Angels

We arrived at a town near Lost Angels and left the wagons there with Cookies staying behind to guard them and walked the rest of the way to the city. We went into the city and passed through the checkpoint leaving our obvious weapons behind to be picked up when we leave, luckily I was able to sneak in my electroshock rifle.

Smoke cursed at some minor thing and reacted poorly when told that he should refrain from cursing in a city with extremely strict punishments for things like that, which if he paid attention to the dossier I so kindly let him read he should have known. It was about this time that we noticed how underfed and hostile the populace of the city seemed to be towards us, since we were well fed.

We quickly headed to Hardwick's and to the presidential suite where there had been a large amount of explosions. We bribed Hardwick to allow us to investigate and when we examined the place and questioned Hardwick on what happened, we were told that Grimme himself and 2 guardian angels had come for jasper and that the room had scorch marks which didn't seem to have radiated in any way, which was completely abnormal. We tried to ask around for who may have ratted out Jasper and told Grimme about the Happy Dance, and we found that the inquisitor of the guardian angels might know. When we got the the inquisitors office we saw one of the most obese men I have ever laid my eyes on, when we asked who the informant was, he pushed a file on the table that was open on the table into a drawer and told us they don't reveal who the informants are.

Luckily for us I was able to read where the informant was located and saw that he was in Murphy's Flophouse, so we headed there. When we got there we found that Sneed was there and had been drinking for a few days strait and sharing drinks with all of the other patrons, with the large sum of money he had obtained from delivering the Heart of Darkness to Jasper and then selling both of them out to Grimme.

Apparently Smoke was an old friend of Sneed's and managed to talk the other patrons down from a fight and subtly asking Sneed about why he did what he did and where the heart was. Sneed was not responsive at first, but Smoke managed to calm him down and convince him to tell us, after getting him back to his room, he fell unconscious after talking to Smoke for a bit. Leaving us slightly at a loss as to what to do.

Soon after that a man showed up and told us that he could help us, he admitted to being a thief who had managed to escape from The Rock, Grimme's island prison, a feat which drew my attention, and said that he knew where Grimme had the heart and that if we helped him free his partner from the rock, he would help us get the HoD back. He told us to meet him in the labyrinth where we could speak more freely.

We met him there and he took off the mask he was wearing to reveal a maimed and repulsive face with a pentagram carved into his forehead, and told us it was from his torture at Grimme's hands. We were convinced to help him rescue Jasper in exchange for his help, maybe look around a bit in the rock for my mysterious benefactor while I was there. He told us to talk to the innkeeper and tell him the password of "Pi" to get directions to where we needed to go. So we got directions from him to an abandoned warehouse full of individuals who were ready to shoot us down until we told them the password and who sent us and our plan to break into the Rock. Upon hearing our plan they equippedd us with some of the highest quality armor and weapons, and we were equipped with matching black leather dusters, except for me of course as I already had one, in exchange we promised them that while we were in there we would try to find out how Grimme was keeping all of his followers fed in the barren desert so that they could rebel and eliminate him without causing the entire city to starve. So now we are training and waiting for nightfall to begin our infiltration, they also kindly provided me with a new rifle to use.

Entry 13b:Lost Angels Dossier








Entry 13a:Secret Messages

I have decoded the shorter message I found with the dossier
"Be mindful of trusting the ghosts of the
 past they ended my life and began yours
Miranda  Dethewright"

And upon reading that I recalled an vague memory of a lot of anguish and pain, and I remembered a 5x5 grid along which diagonals are drawn.
 ----------
a b c d e
f g h i j
k l m n o
p q r s t
u v w x y

I have decoded the message that  I was given with the dossier and it reads:

"I know you've never liked relying on typed briefings but please trust the cipher and my personal
assurance that these measures are necessary. If I could show my face to anyone without half the
Agency going apoplectic, you'd be the first one I'd visit.

I'm told your last assignment was completed in exemplary fashion; everything went off perfectly,
and the oddest thing left at the site is a funny smell. As well know by now, we can't keep you
in-house for long enough for anyone to get to know you, and that's a risk we can't even think of
taking now of all times. We need you out of here. You never existed, of course, but It's time for
no one in our happy family to be able to count heads and come up one too many. (If we're only one
off, I'd put on a parka and get to hell, but the point remains.)

You're going to Lost Angels. (Yes, I'm comfident enough in this cipher to use proper nouns.) As
for what you're doing, I'd tell you to check the dossier and make the logical assumption, but
since you can't access the dossier officially anymore and I'd rather not have you sneaking into
our facilities just to check out books again, I'll give you the short version.

It is, I'm afraid, more troublemaking. The Guardian Angels, Grimme's local army, have been
"taking care" of non-cult in the city in a fashion so quiet even you would admire it. They're
busy making unpeople of people few would miss, and while it's raising hackles it's also beginning
a pattern. If allowed to continue, the Guardians will get confident, and then they'll get cocky,
and then they'll start branching out. We need that pattern disrupted.

Basically, we need people disappearing that the Angels can't account for. Guardian Angles would
be nice, albeit above the bottom rung; so would affluent, faithful Angels. Don't have a pattern
on this one. Just go in and pick off the most upright pillars of the community you can find. I'm
hopeful this will appeal to your sense of humor.

As usual, leave no traces.We don't want to send people into a panic, we just want the region
destabilized. Do that, and keep doing that, until your recall button pings you. Then come home.
And do be careful; this is a cooling-off period for you, not a major incursion. That also means
"please don't steal quite as much from our resources as usual". You have carte blanche as always
given your lack of officicial support, but we have trouble getting supplies out there.

One last thing: If you get a chance to safely learn anything about the Rock, that would be a very
good thing.

Good luck, Miranda

-    A Kindred SpiritX"

Entry 13:On the road again

After the fiasco at the inn, and collecting our bounty for ... "catching" most of the Tremende gang, we were deciding what to do next. Colleen helpfully pointed out that she found someone named sneed escape on his whirligig and when we investigated we found evidence in his house that he was leaving for LA1. I decided to share with them the dossier I had for Lost Angels with them, after properly disposing of any reference to the Agency in the (it seemed like the right thing to do).

During the trip Smoke managed to lose all of the wheels on the wagon he was driving, so we had to collect and  repair them before moving on, while we were repairing the wagons, Ziggy went off to hunt for food, and only succeeded in scaring of a camel that was apparently on fire but not being burnt, I suppose its called the weird west for a reason.

During the trip I have been working to decode a note my mysterious benefactor had left me with the dossier and upgrading my shock rifle to be concealable since Lost Angels does not permit people,  who aren't one of the Angels, to carry weapons.

1I am starting to think that me having the dossier was not a coincidence, did I prepare for this before losing my memories, possibly warned with visions?

Entry 12:Wild Night

I should have seen that coming, of course Rex's posse wouldn't just ignore us after snooping around.  Last night Rex and his posse surrounded the inn we were staying at, the first found Smoke who was downstairs drinking, and began interrogating him, like smokes would ever give in, he of course tossed a flash grenade and dove for cover instead. Rex had brought a decidedly ugly woman with him and she was using the stolen launching knife as one of her weapons, as well as several other hidden knives. After the Maxis incident I had decided to get myself a lethal weapon, especially considering the possibility of needing to deal with the undead, so I had bought myself a .50 Caliber Bullard express, which I have used in the past if the familiarity is any indication. I shot Rex in the head then with a perfect shot, or I would have if he hadn't managed to dodge using some unnatural speed at the last second.

While this was happening Ziggy jumped out of a window to engage Casper Zed who was guarding the side of the buildings. Casper pulled out a deck of cards and reached out in the direction of Ziggy's chest, presumably in an attempt to stop his heart (which may have explained why some of the guards of factory 13 died of seemingly natural causes), but given that Ziggy was already dead that was not successful. Ziggy then tossed a knife at Caspers head nearly killing him, Casper reponded by making a massive cloud of explosive gas (which smelled like swamp gases similar to what we observed at warehouse 13) , which promptly detonated and shook the building we were in.

The ugly woman engaged in combat with Cassanova and Malady, while Colleen began taunting Rex to break his concentration. I tried to eliminate the ugly woman so we could focus on taking down Rex but shooting in a melee is not as easy as it sounds and my rifle was deflected away before I could shoot.

Ziggy snuck around to the window and threatened Rex with a flask full of Nitroglycerine, which he apparently pulled out of his hat, apparently I underestimated him as a magician. This works about as well as it could be expected to when threatening someone with explosives you are holding. Rex panicked and shot the flask of Nitro. causing a massive explosion shaking the foundations of the inn. I am honestly amazed it was still standing, which was sufficient to take Rex down, causing the ugly woman to Rush to him. I shot her in the back of her head, never turn your back on an enemy you are fighting.

After that the entire police department showed up with tanks and steam-wagons and enough firepower to level the city block, apparently the explosions drew some attention.

As we were recovering and licking our wound we discovered unsurprisingly the Ziggy was dead (re-dead?) and that there was a corroded bullet in his heart. Vuduladi offered to use her magic to return the body to the state it was at the point of death (the first one), which was sucessful and repaired all of his wounds except a single wound to his chest. Ziggy demanded a mirror, and I cracked a joke to alleviate some of the tension in the air (something to the effect of "I'm right here" , since my name is Mirrors). However curious to find out what is going on we got him a mirror.

Looking into the mirror, Ziggy begins to berate himself and tells himself to take better care of himself and to get his body pickled (with alcohol) so it doesn't rot as much.  Smoke at this point was impatiently demanding to know what was going on, in between cursing. Ziggy just stared into his eyes and Smoke went dead silent and retreated.

When questioned on who he was the second person responded that he was Ziggy's 'roommate' amd gave Ziggy back control. I am starting to think this is not just a case of multiple personality, there is something off with his roommate, I have never seen Smoke cowed that easily by anyone.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Entry 11:They do not Bleed

When we got to the sheriff's office we turned in Brunhoff, who was unsurprisingly panicked and made a deal with Ziggy that if Ziggy saved him from the hangman's noose he would pay him quite a bit of money. We also convinced the sheriff to tell us about the marshal's badge we found and he told us it belonged to a local crime lord Rex Tremende, and told us that if we caught Rex it would be greatly appreciated (in the form of money from the sizable bounty on him and his gang).

Since we were no longer forced to stay in the city they  returned our wagons and replaced the parts they removed from them. We then began looking around for parts to use in the construction of devices, which we were unsuccessful at.

During this time Ziggy went off alone to try and find out more about Rex, after a while we became concerned that he was missing, and so malady, who is apparently a huckster of no small skill used a spell to look through Ziggy's eyes, and was treated to the sight of a gun barrel to the head, so we quickly fired up our steam-wagons and go towards where Ziggy was. When we got near, he jumped out of the window and ran into the wagon, and as we were making a hasty retreat, he informs us that the people in there were not alive, triggering a memory of mine1.

The rest of them were somewhat concerned as entered what seemed to be a trance and repeated a mantra "They do not die, they do not feel pain, they do not bleed ... they do not bleed". It would appear that this is not the first time I have heard of the walking dead, and I got the feeling dealing with them was unpleasant to say the least.

An equally surprising revelation was that upon treating some of Ziggy's wounds he was not properly bleeding and his body didn't appear to be healing at all, or living at all, with the exception of a faint unusual rhythm for his heartbeat. We then began questioning him on what was going on, but he replied that he had no idea what was going on either, however given the circumstances the rest of us were still somewhat suspicious of him. So Colleen used some sort of magical power to ask a question that baffles the person asked into an incapacitated state, however when she did this instead of being incapacitated Ziggy underwent an extreme personality shift and became quire annoyed at the troupe, but revealed little of value. When the effect wore off and the original Ziggy returned he demanded that she never do that again, and when we questioned him further on what he said under the effect he claimed to have no recollection of saying any of it.  Logically I have concluded that in addition to being dead, he also suffers from multiple personality disorder.

Having had a busy day, we have decided to sleep at a local inn, and I found an entire Dossier on the city of Lost Angels, in a stitched seam in my duster which I plan to read after writing this entry.


1 The memory involved someone talking to me and saying "These are some of the hardest to take down, they do not die, they do not feel pain, they do not bleed, they do not bleed ..." and then the memory faded.

Entry 10a: Dream of blood and fire

I had a horrid nightmare that started out with what looked like Mormans in black dusters (which I assume were the Danites). I then saw a factory (Factory 13?). A river of sludge (likely the river in junkyard). Next I saw a small town on that outskirts of town known as a hacienda, then it faded and I  heard someone announcing the showing of Brunhauf's new invention, somehow I also knew it was 3:00 Wensday August 14th 1877. Then I heard a small whirring sound, what looked like blueprints of something, which were not written in english, quickly followed by screams of pain and blood. Then I awoke and we tried to get there as quickly as possible.

Entry 10:Hangin' Offence

During this nap I had a horrid dream of blood and pain, which I awoke from screaming. After I calmed down somewhat I asked what the time was and where the 'hacienda' was.I then explained that I had a nightmare involving blood, pain, screaming and that it would happen soon or had already happened1. The troupe having no other lead and trusting in my visions quickly rushed to the hacienda, where a scientist named Brunhauf was supposedly going to be exhibiting his newly made mech-suit "The Maxix", which just so happened to be the same name as the war machine stolen from factory 13. The show was beginning at the same time that my vision had indicated the event would occur.

Unfortunately or Fortunately we arrived late to the show, and when we got there we heard the sounds of screaming and gunfire. We also saw a man launch out of one of the buildings on a whirligig (a mad science bike/helicopter), who Colleen decided to try to chase down, while the rest of us dealt with the issue at the hacienda.

We decided to take cover behind the walls of the hacienda, and when we peeked in, we saw a person in a large mechanized suit firing a machine gun at people, who were hiding in buildings and shooting back. Luckily I had my electroshock rifle, which I charged and fired at the individual in the suit, Cassanova, ever the showoff, charged the person and hit him in his unarmored head, and Ziggy threw a knife at his head to finish him off.

Smoke wanted to explode the maxis and potentially the rest of the hacienda with some low quality rockets he found in one of the buildings that he did not know how to use, in a place filled with rockets and explosives. Smoke then went to try and pull the driver out of the Maxis, hoping to get some answers, but when he tried the top half of the man ripped out into a gory mess. Apparently the man had been attached to the device with spikes inserted into his spine, effectively killing him if he ever left it.

Ziggy and I quickly found Brunhoff, who had claimed to have 'made' the Maxix, despite his prior projects being complete failures. Apparently one of the people working in factory 13 had worked for Brunhoff before and when they had talked about stealing from Helstrome, Brunhoff had asked them to steal the maxis for him, which had been delivered to him in a large crate, by two people named Ludovik Zilanskee and Casper Zed. Reading Brunhoff's Diary revealed to us that he was an incompetent scientist who wasn't really successful at anything, and when he obtained the Maxis he immediately set up a public demonstration without having looked at the manual, which had also been stolen for him or looking at how it works, so that when he told his assistant to get in and activate it, it basically killed him and caused him to go berserk with pain and grief, killing many more. I stated that since he was responsible for the theft of the Maxis, the biggest and most important item on the list of stolen goods we were provided, it would be a good idea to turn him in to hang in our stead, which I further explained was logical since he was guilty of the theft, and killing many innocents due to his complete incompetence and negligence. Ziggy and Smokes both strongly disagreed with me on his guilt in the matter. However presented with the fact that someone was going to hang, and that currently we were the prime candidates for hanging, the grudgingly acquiesced. So we headed to the sheriff's office with Brunhoff in tow.






1I am gifted and cursed with the powers of foresight, that have proven to be accurate in the past, so I trusted the vague visions I occasionally got to be accurate for the most part.