2/13/99
People have been coming into Regina Trauma with odd wounds, wearing odd clothing - sword and war hammer injuries, chainmail armor, etc. Chuck manages to get one of his patients to tell him there's some kind of rich eccentric running a big SCA-esque event; he didn't want to tell Chuck, as he had signed an NDA. Will joins Regina Trauma (working as a resident), and Chuck is taking him out to dinner. On the way, they stop at MilTech so Will can get a gun.
At MilTech, Mikie is near one of their high-tech, black glass displays, when he has what Will interprets as a “petit-mal” episode, so Will goes over to help, not realizing Mikie is just in the midst of a psionic contact. When Will and Chuck get near the display, they also hear a female voice asking for help with a “plague” on their world. Hunter is in the store, and hears some one mention something that sounds like they're recruiting, so he goes over.
It's the traditional “portal to another world” kind of thingie. A “wizard” from Regina (apparently) has come through to “Charlesport”, has some “magic eggs” (bio-weapons, carrying cholera), and has taken the king captive. Will wants to know when the holo-program ends, and what time's dinner? Okay...
Lady Allison Hawkins is the patron, and when the bad guys show up, and start trying to break down the door, she arranges to meet the party in the Tavern of the Dolphin, by the river. Clarissa helps the party get to the rooftop while Allison stays to provide a distraction.
Much sneaking around, then to the tavern. As some time needs killing, there is much bashing and bonding, and some boinking. Also the usual bad guys in search of good guys. Sort of a usual night in a theme bar on Regina. A number of very interesting people come and go, several of them asking after Lady Clarissa; they don't get her.
Eventually, back into the night, to one of the bridge towers. The first of the “eggs” is set there to contaminate the water. There's something in the room with it, after the party gets past the booby traps, that Mikie can sense, and it's not good. The device is disarmed, and removed. The thing doesn't do any damage, but it definitely disliked Mikie, a lot. Hunter, on the other hand, thinks Mikie is nuts, and wants him to stay away from Clarissa (Hunters rather smitten...).
The next “egg” is down river, so the party needs a boat. Clarissa is kind of concerned that the captain, Sweet William, is not trustworthy. She's right. William tries to lead the group into an ambush, but he's evidently not used to people from Regina. Hunter breaks off to ambush the ambushers. The dense fog is a hindrance, especially since William was supposed to light a torch as a signal, but the party wouldn't let him. The ambushers fare badly, none of the party is more than slightly damaged, Mikie ends up using a psionic attack on one of the ambushers (William sees one of the bad guys grab his head and fall over, so he's convinced there's a wizard in the party, and that it's Hunter). Mikie ends up with a splitting headache after something really nasty goes by him (psionically speaking), but as he shielded right after he took out the one ambusher, it's just a headache. Chuck also saw something whiz by, as he had his infrared visor down, but he wasn't sure what it was.
William will now take them anywhere they want, with no arguments. One down and two to go.
The next site is King's Isle - a fortress, prison, storage facility. Oh joy. Will is wondering why they would release cholera at a prison, but it's just upriver from the main part of Charlesport (the upper class ones, at any rate). An associate of Clarissa’s is supposedly meeting the party at the East gate. He turns out to be an older, greying one of the satyr-like creatures (they're evidently one of the local sophants), named Percival. When questioned about how they know where to find the devices, he says they “look for what guards them” - something conjured from a “dimension of crystal creatures”. Oh, goodie; that explains why Mikie’s bothered so much.
The party goes into the keep, near the cells, to look for the next device. On the way in, Mikie has an “episode” - it's like looking through some one, or some thing else's eyes. It's looking at some “lumpy creatures” approaching, in a pretty, white room; the “lumpy creatures” are inefficient... Chuck gets impatient, and uses a pain-compliance point to get Mikie’s attention - it works. Chuck is getting kind of annoyed, and wants to know what the hell's wrong with Mikie.
Inside, Clarissa indicates a cell, and the door is removed. Hunter goes in to take care of the very similar device, and a “man of bricks” starts to leave the room - only Will and Chuck sees him, and Will thinks he's looking at some one using chameleon 3. Chuck ends up fighting the brick guy (or the invisible man, depending on your point of view), and the door slams shut on Hunter. When Hunter goes to disarm the device, it disappears (“Damn hologram.”). Chuck knocks the creature down, and some of its bricks come loose, then slowly start to reassemble. Will picks up one of the bricks, takes it out of the room, and it crumbles; once he does that, everyone can see the brick guy. Mikie picks up one of the bricks and it crumbles immediately. Will tries to tell the creature that we just want the cylinder of “pox”, and a small section of wall moves, revealing the device, which Hunter disarms. Chuck goes berserk, and attacks the brick guy, and won't stop. Eventually, he gets a grip, and the party takes off towards the egress, with Hunter in the lead. Naturally, a fight ensues on the way out, with swords, firearms (of various tech levels), fire, etc. The party emerges only slight damaged. Sweet William arrives - at gunpoint, and another fight ensues, followed by additional minor damage.
Unfortunately, on the way to the estuary, and the third device, a fight ensues with two other boats, and various people on shore. Everyone except Clarissa is wounded, Sweet William and Percival are killed, Hunter blows up one of the boats, and the party limps away.
The last device is on an island covered in shanties. Many strange, unnatural icky creatures stand between the party and what they want, and Hunter is not in the mood to “negotiate”. Several creatures back off after shooting Chuck in the chest with poison arrows, and he doesn't keel over (armor). After a bizarre fight between a security bot and Hunter, during which Mikie gets glued to the wall of the shack, the third container is destroyed in the burning bot.
On to the meeting at the Dolphin, where the remaining containers are turned over to the patron. Hunter makes some comment about “next time give us more notice, and we'll be better prepared”. A tentative agreement is made, that the party would consider coming back to help, IF they are given more notice. Hunter gives Clarissa his snub gun, in trade for one of her pistols, then gives him a flamboyant kiss good bye. The party is returned to the shop
Hunter, who spent a considerable amount of time complaining about what he didn't have because it was in his pack, decides to start carrying a smaller version of his pack with him everywhere he goes. Just in case.
Hunter then goes to his preferred bordello, and hires some one who looks like Clarissa. Mikie gets cleaned up and changed in the office, then takes Theresa out to dinner at “Demonslayers Up”, since Chuck had told him he needed to see the place.
And life on Regina goes on...