(10/07) A Dark and Restless Tide - (A D20 Dark*Matter Story Hour)

[SweeneyTodd]

My D20Modern game is set in North Carolina as well. We started off in an Exit 23-ish situation near Clinton (off I-40), then infiltrated a meth lab near Smithfield (and stopped in at "J.R.'s Cigars", a term that has a whole new meaning if you've read Tim Powers), and Saturday's session picks up in the middle of a raid into a pharmaceutical company in RTP.

Go NC!

 

[fenzer]

Heap's Back!

It's good to hear from you Heap, looking forward to another great story.

And Eyas, I'll take that seat right next to you.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I appologize for the lack of updates. Due to various scheduling problems around the group, we haven't been able to get together until recently. I now have some material to turn into Story Hour.

It's turning out pretty nice ... unexpected in some places, even for me.

Working on a SH update as soon as I post this.

--fje

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Lanevill, WV ... Two Days Later

"We're being reassigned, guys ... "

To: gjgilmore@hoffmanninst.org
CC:
From: trjohnson@hoffmanninst.org
Attc: clipping.jpg

SUBJECT: Reassignment

Gang,

I'm going to have to pull you out of West Virginia. We seem to have
some sort of situation in Raleigh, NC and you're the closest team we've got.
Nothing serious, but by your last report, things there in Laneville are pretty
much over but for the clean-up. You probably don't need the whole team
there for that, so some of you take the van and get over to Chapel Hill, NC.
It's a suburb of Raleigh, look up the map on Yahoo or something, it shouldn't
be too hard to find. I think Jameson is from that area.

We've only got one contact in Raleigh ... we don't have a strong
presence in the state yet, other than some friendlies at Weygandt-Ellis U.
Our contact in Chapel Hill is a guy calling himself 'TheTruthIsOutThere'. He
communicates with the home office only through Email. He's pretty good
about hiding his tracks, not that we've ever tried very hard to locate him
before. This guy's usually punctual with reports (nominally, he's a "paid
informant" ... his own term) but he's missed the last drop time and isn't
responding to emails on the account we have. Of course this, on its own,
wouldn't warrant sending anyone, but we're getting some local news reports
in from Raleigh about a really odd spate of car malfunctions. Keyless-Entry
units, to be exact. I'll cc: you a scan of one of the reports.

We're not sure if there's any connection, and there probably isn't, but it
won't hurt to have a few people nose around just in case. From the data
we're compiling, it seems that there's a slightly higher percentage of Toyota
models affected than other manufacturers. Again, it may not matter, but it
wouldn't hurt to stop by the Chapel Hill Toyota dealer. After you've pounded
out who's going and who's staying, I'll get you set up with some rooms and
covers ... Insurance inspectors. Nobody much questions insurance inspectors
and it'll give you an excuse to bring cameras and snoop around inside some
of the cars.

Our only real lead on the contact is the P.O. Drop for his payments. He
only asked for a couple hundred dollars a month, in small bills, and is having
them sent to a Mailboxes'n'Stuff store in Chapel Hill. Paying informants isn't
SOP, but it's chump change and his reports are usually anal-retentively
exacting ... not that much of particular interest to the Institute has been
happening around there until now. Stop by the Mailboxes'n'Stuff and bend
some ears, maybe somebody has noticed something. Chapel Hill isn't all that
big of a community, chances are people will know people and be willing to
gossip, especially if any bodies have turned up recently.

Watch your asses. I'm not usually one to talk out of turn, but there's a
rumor floating around the office that there's been some activity elsewhere in
the state. Too much **** coming together to be 'random cooincidence', if
you know what I mean.

--Ted

​

"Here's the headline Ted sent us." Georgi read.

Mysterious Malfunctions in Chapel Hill

Over two hundred people in the Chapel Hill area awoke Monday morning to find the keyless entry systems in their cars were no longer working ...​

"Very weird." Olie said. He zipped up the last bag of gear and stowed it in the back of the van.

"That's why they send us." Georgi said, sitting crosslegged on a bench nearby with the laptop. "Haunted mines and disappearances? Broken key fobs and disappearances? Who you gonna call?"

"The police?" Sam grimaced and took the small sat-uplink dish off the top of the van. "I can't believe they sent us all the way out here for a couple of meth dealers playing dress up. Turn-of-the-century ghost stories aren't even my speciality."

"They did not know what it would be." Dr. Kyong Park walked out of the Laneville, WV police station. "Much like an episode of Scooby Doo. We uncovered the truth, and this time the truth was far from paranormal."

"'Cept this time 'those meddling kids' happened to have a shotgun." Ollie interjected. He smiled to himself. Gunplay.

"Who's Scooby Doo?" Georgi looked up and pushed her hair back.

"Who's Scooby ...? You're telling me you've never heard of ... how OLD are you?" Olie blinked.

"Twenty. My parents were a bit weird, though. Never watched alot of TV." Georgi said. She shrugged and started shutting the laptop down.

"But you just dropped a Ghostbu..."

"Let it go, Ollie." Kyong said. She brushed past and put her medical bag in the van.

"Aren't you from Chapel Hill, Sam?" Georgi asked. She slung her postman's bag over her shoulder and headed for the van.

"Yes." Sam shrugged. "My parents were professors at UNC. It's been a long while since I was home, however."

"Very weird." Olie said. He closed the back doors. "Too much **** coming together to be coincidental ineed, you ask me."

"There's no such thing as coincidence, Olie, you should know that." Kyong said.

-----------------------------------------

((Authorial Aside: Georgi's player is my fiance. The bit about Scooby was direct from the table. Yes, her parents WERE odd. The only reason she knows Ghostbusters is I showed her the movie last summer when my "there is only Zuul." jokes were lost on her.

I had planned the adventure to be in Chapel Hill weeks ago and recieved Sam's backstory at the table. Imagine my surprise when I find he's from Chapel Hill. The player had never been there and chose the area because it's part of the "Research Triangle" and his character is an academic.))

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Outside of the Toyota Dealer. Chapel Hill, NC.

“Find anything?” Sam said as he opened the door. He crouch-stepped into the van.

“Yea. I’ve been comparing one of the body controllers from the affected cars to a new one.” Georgi said. She pointed at the circuit board in her lap. “See right here? Some fried circuits off the receiver, as I thought.”

“And?” Sam prompted.

”And ... the keyless entry works like a little radio. There’s a transmitter in the fob and a receiver in the car’s body controller, that's the “computer”. It transmits at a very specific frequency, carrying the unlock code in the modulation. Each of the models and cars affected have receivers tuned to frequencies quite close to one another.” She nodded. “To fry this circuit, the controller would have had to be receiving information on that frequency. A lot of information, with a lot of power behind it, probably all at once." She nodded again, happily. "I figure some sort of burst transmission. As to who or why or what? No clue.”

“Well I think I’m getting where pinpointed.” Sam said. He opened up a map of Chapel Hill they had bought at a gas station coming in. He’d spent the last two hours chatting with angry customers waiting in the service department at the Toyota dealer, figuring out where they lived and marking it on his map. “See a pattern?” He pointed at a very obvious cluster of about twenty red dots.

“Yea. Looks like a circle, which I would have expected.” Georgi said, she looked closer. “Wait ... no. It looks like a donut. There’s nothing in the middle.”

“Exactly. Olie was chatting with the mechanics. The cops have called a tow truck to pick up a burned and abandoned car off of 15 ... here.” Sam said. He tapped the map with his finger ... right in the center of his dots.

“Hrm.” Georgi wrinkled her nose. “I take it we’re going to check it out?”

”You, Olie, and Kyong. I’m going to stay here and see if I can turn anything else up.” Sam said, and got out of the van.

*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Georgi pulled her iPod earbuds off when van crunched to a stop along the gravel shoulder. She looked out the window. After the roadway ended, the ground sloped down gently and almost immediately became thick forest and underbrush. Across the way another road intersected the one they were on at a right angle. Directly across from the intersection, as though the driver had lost control and flew across the T, the remains of a car lay crushed up against a tree. The flatbed tow truck they had followed out was maneuvering to back down the slope, yellow lights blinking.

The car itself was very badly burned, mostly along the back end. All of the windows had shattered and all that was left of the tires was charred and curling black chunks. Georgi got out along with Kyong and Olie and made her way down the slope.

“Think anybody was inside?” Georgi asked.

“If there had been, this place would be set up as a crime scene. Guess the cops figure it was a car theft gone wrong and the perps torched the car when they crashed.” Olie replied. He started to circle the car.

“Weird.” He said, after a moment.

“What?” Kyong walked over. She looked around for what was catching Olie's attention.

”The broken glass. Or lack there-of. The windows are gone, but the glass isn’t here. You’d figure they would have blown out in the explosion.” He said.

“Or they did, but the explosion was not here.” Kyong said, looking around. She pointed back up the slope to where the intersecting street rose on a hill. “Perhaps the explosion occurred somewhere higher up, and the burning car merely continued down the hill by force of gravity.”

”Good thinking.” Olie said.

“You guys check around up there, I’m going to see what I can find on the car.” Georgi said.

Kyong and Olie started up the hill and Georgi started her own circuit of the ruined car. As she walked, she pulled out a pair of latex gloves and put them on. She stopped near the driver’s door. The door itself was hanging open, and she stuck her head inside to look around. The first thing she noticed was a bit of green plastic stuck on the neck of the rear-view-mirror, which had fallen into the foot well when the front windshield had shattered. Carefully, she brushed away the ash that had collected on it. It appeared to be a parking permit of some sort, only partially melted by the fire. A few letters could still be read along the top, spelling out a word. After a minute of concentration, she was able to pick out “NANOTECKNOWLED”. She stood up and scribbled this into her PDA, then pulled out her cell phone to call Sam.

”Sam?”

”Yea.”

”Georgi. Do me a favor, Google the word “N-a-n-o-t-e-c-k-n-o-w-l-e-d” for me. I think it’s part of the name for a company of some sort, I found it on a parking tag in the car. We’re poking around and it looks like the car might have caught fire further up a hill here, Kyong and Olie are checking it out. I’ll get back to you if I find anything else.”

*
*
*
*
*
*

Sure enough, near the top of the hill Kyong and Olie found square pieces of safety glass and some black scorch marks on the pavement.

”This looks like it.” Kyong said.

Olie nodded and looked around, then waved Kyong over. He crouched by the side of the road and pointed at a disturbance in the gravel, and a crescent-shaped gouge in the soft earth of the grassy bank.

”Looks like maybe somebody escaped.” He said. He pointed into the trees. "And they went that way, probably running scared." He started moving forward, slowly, looking for tracks or broken twigs; a trail. He and Kyong followed those he found into the underbrush. The tracks were pretty obvious, the result of panic or disorientation. The trail wasn’t too hard to follow ... and it lead them straight to a body.

*
*
*
*
*
*


Sam called back a few minutes later.

”Found it. There’s a ‘Nanotecknowledgies Inc.’ in Raleigh. Looks like some sort of small science research company. They specialize in, surprise, nanotech. Looks like the brainchild of a handful of researchers from the colleges around here. Not a whole lot of information here. We can see if we can get an employee list or poke around, find out if anybody didn’t show up for work the last two days.”

”Alright.” Georgi replied. “I’m looking this car over. It’s one of those new Toyota Prius, the hybrid. There’s some rather localized damage at the rear, looks like the gas tank blew AND the batteries, which is odd. I’m going to go under the hood, some of these new models have protected recording devices. Black boxes, for cars.”

*
*
*
*
*
*


“Looks like severe burning.” Kyong said. She was crouched near what was left of the body they'd found. Pieces of it were missing, black at the edges. An arm, part of one leg, one eye and the socket around it as well as the nose, tongue, and front teeth, part of the abdomen and chest. “A very high temperature fire, though I’m not finding any bubbling of the tissue around the destroyed areas.”

Olie was a few steps away, searching the area around the body. Kyong started to rifle through the pockets, carefully, and pulled the remains of a wallet from one. She opened it with one finger. The picture on a driver’s license stared at her from behind a plastic sheild.

“Says his name is Bauer ... Sam Bauer. I’m not sure about the area, but I think this address is near here.” She closed the wallet and placed it gently back in the ruined pocket. “There’s a pass-card on a zip line, here.” She said. She pulled the card out and flipped it over to look at the front. “Someplace called Nanotecknowledgies Inc. Sam Bauer is DOCTOR Sam Bauer, apparently.”

Olie walked over and crouched by the body’s one remaining foot, looking at the shoe.

”And there’s something else. The only prints I can find are ours, and his. As far as I can tell, the body walked itself out here." He said.

*
*
*
*

 

[Eyas]

hmmm...Nanotech controlled zombie fritters anyone?

Great story so far, Heap, looking forward to more.

 

[oldschool]

hmmm...Nanotech controlled zombie fritters anyone?

Only good when deap fried in innocent human bliss. Yum, yum!

 

[ledded]

Only good when deap fried in innocent human bliss. Yum, yum!

Or is that 'heap' fried...

I'll take a small bowl of Screaming Agony Roumelade to dip mine in, thank you. Mmmmm... spicy!

Thanks for the update Heap, ready for more.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

The Next Day...

.

Tim Rosen stepped off of the elevator and wrinkled his nose. He hated morgues. Too much death. Concentrated. It made his skin crawl, for some reason.

He walked a short distance down the hall and pushed through the double doors into the examination room.

“Do they always have to put these things in the basement?” He asked.

Dr. Park looked up. She had been examining the body they had found the night before. “The dead do not need to see the sun, and those who work with the dead will ever be shunned, even if subtly.”

”Deep.” He said. He walked over and frowned. “I just got in from Laneville, Sam briefed me and told me you were here. Using that FBI badge again?”

Kyong nodded, her face hidden behind a plastic shield and green fabric mask. “Yes. I am ‘playing Scully’ again, as Georgi likes to say.”

“So what have we found, Agent Park?” Tim said.

“I mailed samples taken at the scene to the Institute.” Kyong said. “I have been studying the body since early this morning, when the hospital staff first let me in. I have discovered the cause of death.” She rolled the body to one side. The back of the head was a mass of dried blood and jagged wounds, bone poking through in places.

“I thought Olie said this guy walked himself out into the woods.” Tim said.

“Perhaps. This wound was not immediately fatal. There are signs of healing.” Kyong said. Tim leaned in closer. She continued, “I would estimate the wound was, perhaps, twenty-four hours old.”

Tim nodded. “So why did he walk around for a day bleeding out from a head wound?”

“There is more.” Kyong said. “I discovered debris in the wound. Shrapnel. Plastic and safety glass.”

“As in car safety glass?” Tim asked.

“Indeed.”

“So you’re saying he was in the car when it exploded.” Tim said.

“Initially, yes. I would say he was, perhaps, attempting to leave the vehicle at the time.”

“So … he survived in the woods for a day after the car went?” Tim asked, hopefully.

“No. I would place the time of death near the time of the explosion, no more than three to four minutes later. I cannot explain the rate of healing evident in these wounds. They should have been almost immediately fatal.”

“Right. About what I was afraid of. Sam did some poking around in some academic journals this morning. Apparently this Dr. Bauer was doing pretty heavy Nanotech research. His last article was about some work he was doing using nanites to fight disease. Replacing the immune-system or something like that, really Kurzweilian stuff. He thought he’d be able to cure cancer, AIDS, and the common cold within a few years.” Tim said.

“When was this published?” Kyong asked. She lowered the body onto it’s back.

“’Bout a year and a half ago. As far as we can tell, he was working with two other researchers on a project at MIT a year ago. All three of them jumped ship and started their own research company.” Tim said.

Kyong entered a few things into her PDA and handed it to Tim.

“Take notes.”

**********************************************************
“Well, I’m running through the data I pulled on the black box before the cops showed.” Georgi said. She leaned back and scratched her head. “I pulled the software notes off the internet and a diagnostic prog. Getting some weird results, which is to be expected, in this line of work.”

“Yea?” Sam grunted. He was pouring over a printout they had just received from Ted. A snapshot of an Egyptian text a contact south-state had sent in. Way too much happening in North Carolina.

“Yea. I’ve got the record of the last voyage of Sam Bauer. Everything is pretty normal, cept he hauled tail from the moment the car booted up. Floored it. Then about five seconds in, I get some weird code running through. Looks like some input from somewhere. Not sure what, though. I’m trying to analyze the code. It’s giving commands to the controller, monitoring speed, batteries, everything. Whatever it was, it was external … and here’s the thing. When the weird code starts, power drawn from the batteries DECREASED while power to the electric motors increased. Dramatically.” She sighed.

“Mhm.” Sam mumbled.

“Well, I sent some of it to a friend of mine at the Institute. He looked it over. Then he sent it to a few more gearheads. They looked it over too. We all came to the same conclusion.”

Sam looked up. “And?”

“Whoever wrote that code, it wasn’t human. It was pure machine language, and the protocols weren’t anything we’ve seen before.” Georgi said, and grinned. “MY money is on evil nanites of doom. They escaped the yoke of mankind and are communicating amongst themselves.”

“Possibility.” Sam said. He stood and stretched. “We need to get these samples Kyong took last night in the mail to the Institute. It’ll give us an excuse to stop by that Mailboxes’n’Stuff by the mall that Ted asked us to check out. See if we can scare up something on that contact.”

“Alright.” Georgi said.

*************************************************************
“As I suspected.” Kyong said. She was looking at a lab report. “Not char, not really.”

Tim was examining one of the ‘charred’ body areas with the video microscope.

“Carbonization of the affected tissue. Pure carbon. Not produced by heat, which explains the lack of damage to the other body tissues. If I had to guess, something took pieces of him apart … on quite a basic level.” Kyong said. She walked over and laid the lab report on the table behind Tim. “Though I have no idea what. Looking at the blood and tissue samples under the microscope, I find no nanomachines. If such a thing existed, it would explain the accelerated healing of the initial wounds, but there is no trace.”

Tim frowned. “Well that’s no good. I figured we’d just suck some nanites up and case solved.”

“There is also the question of why the car exploded. And why the explosion had such a strange effect on the surrounding cars.” Kyong said.

“Nanites. They, well … they’re small. And they do things. I’m sure we’ll figure out why, and it’ll be nanites.” Tim maintained.

Behind them, the elevator dinged in the hall.

“Great, the M.E. is here. You’ve got the ID, you talk, I’ll be the ever-silent Agent Rosen.” Tim said.

The double doors swung open. Two men walked into the room, wearing matching black suits and black overcoats. Slim black ties, crisp white shirts, polished black shoes. Their eyes were hidden behind pitch black sunglasses, their hair beneath black fedoras. As one, they reached into their inside breast-pocket and pulled out badge wallets, flipping their IDs out. F.B.I. was blazoned in big blue letters on each, and on each wrist was a matching black-banded no-nonsense watch.

“Agent Ferris.” Said one.

“Agent Oric.” Said the other.

“F.B.I.” Ferris said, being sure to put the period after each letter. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to confiscate this body, ma’am.”

Tim and Kyong looked at each other, then looked at the F.B.I. agents. Carefully, Kyong replaced her fake ID in her purse.

“Why?” Tim asked.

“That’s confidential, sir.” Agent Oric replied. “A matter of National Security.”

National Security Tim mouthed, and sighed.

“We’ll also need all notes, photos, audio recordings, visual records, reports, and any other records you may have, ma’am.” Ferris said, stepping forward.

“Wait wait wait.” Tim said, snatching up the PDA on the table. “You can’t just come in here and take our stuff.”

“National Security, sir. If you have any questions, I’d suggest you consult the Patriot Act and call the local bureau office.” Ferris continued.

“Will we at least get a ticket or a receipt or something? How do I know I’ll get this stuff back?” Tim continued, backing up.

“You’ll have to contact the local bureau office, sir.” Ferris said. “I’m not at liberty to divulge any information at this time.”

“I’m not giving you anything until I see a warrant.” Tim said, raising his voice. Something pricked at the back of his mind … something was definitely not right, here. “Patriot Act or no, you still have to have a warrant!” Who wears a hat and sunglasses in the basement, anyway …

‘Agent’ Oric took a step backward and, in a smooth motion, drew a weapon from under his coat. Apparently, whoever these people were, they’d had enough. Tim was already in motion, putting an autopsy table between himself and Ferris. Kyong grabbed for something in her purse as Ferris drew his own weapon …

Not a gun, Kyong saw. Almost, but nothing she’d seen before. Square-jawed, slim, with a high polish and an almost invisible bore. Oric’s was the same, and was pointed in her direction. With a ffSTK! it fired, and something silver flicked past her face. She pulled her taser and ducked down behind the table.

Tim had his own gun out in a flash, dodging Ferris’ own strange weapon. BOOM! He fired, only ten feet away, and struck Ferris full in the chest. The sound cracked through the room again and again. Blood welled from the wound and Ferris took a step back, never losing his bead. Oric attempted to hit Kyong again, but she was under the table in a flash, hearing the ffSTK strike near where she’d been. She popped up near Ferris and fired her taser from the hip, hitting home. POP

Bright blue light flashed, sizzled, and popped as 50,000 Volts streamed down the wires … and grounded out across Ferris’ skin and into the floor. He almost entirely ignored her and fired his strange gun at Tim once more ffSTK, striking true. A small spot of blood appeared on Tim’s left arm, and he stumbled back. It was nothing worse than a stick from a rose thorn!

He blinked twice and the whole room turned fuzzy.

clatter

The sound drew his eyes down. He’d dropped his gun.

And then he dropped.

 

[ledded]

DAMN man, this is good stuff so far.

Men in Black. Oh please tell me your players saw that coming...
(pssst... did one of them resemble Alex Trebec?)