Notes taken by Alastair and Samantha Beadle.
Session 3.8 Index Session 3.10
Events While the Characters Were Away
Truth continues to hunt for her impostor through her old haunts in the East End.
The rest of the London Knights continue breaking into Canary Wharf. Servo cuts through the wall of the heavily armoured central core of the tower (the bit Truth couldn't desolid through). It is very slow going - the material of the wall is very tough. After using up all the fuel for his cutting torch he has a made a roughly manhole-sized gap in the wall, its edges glowing red-hot.
Blitz is unconcerned by heat, and so flies through. Inside is a corridor going off to left and right the turning the same way. John Doe catapults himself in through the hole to avoid the hot edges.
Looking around Blitz notices various protrusions from the ceiling - cameras, perhaps. There are also two large Brood-sized doorways visible on the inner wall of the corridor (not the one they just cut through), without visible handles or locks.
The rest wait for the edges to cool down then Servo goes through, followed by Chronos and Noesis.
Blitz heads for the nearest door, examines it, and goes to the corner. The corridor goes on to another corner and turns so that it looks like it's maybe a square corridor about a central core. Halfway along the corridor seems to open up on the inner wall. Blitz investigates. The opening is actually into a large shaft that seems to go way up and down some way. Servo has a look, and thinks it goes down to the bottom of the wharf. Blitz goes down to have a look, and discovers that there is a lift platform at the bottom. However, the shaft is easily big enough for Brood to fly up and down with ease (strangely!).
They explore all around the corridor, finding another shaft opposite the first; it is basically a square corridor about a central shaft that joins back to itself. There are various other doors into the core, all with no handles or visible locks.
It is noticed that there are panels on the doors with a different texture to the rest of the doors and walls. They do not do anything when touched by a human hand, so John Doe turns a hand into a Brood tentacle and puts it on the panel. The door opens. The hand is having evil impulses...
Inside, the core of the building seems to be an engineering space of some kind. Five hexagonal metal columns (in a square with the fifth in the centre) go from the base of the building to way up above. They hum with power. There are lots of catwalks at levels up and down, plus consoles and what look like Brood seats - a spherical 'seat' on a tapering column.
John Doe creates some stale chewing gum and sticks it on the seats.
Everyone comes to the conclusion there is little of interest here, so they go back out to the corridor and make for the upper stories, above this space.
In East London, Truth enters another pub and chats to another of her contacts. After a while she can't help but notice, over the smell of beer, people and cigarette smoke, an old scent - it is the same as her, when she is solid. --
The group go up the shaft, to above the space with the columns. The shaft carries on up, with more exit platforms. Noesis carries Servo; Blitz carries Chronos, John Flies on his own.
They stop at the first one to look around. Doors go off to either side (again opened by John Doe with his Brood tentacle). Inside each one is a smallish room with seems to have the inner walls covered with equipment of some kind. But no door into the rest of the tower.
They carry on upwards.
Suddenly four panels, one on each wall of the shaft flicks open and four blasters extend, firing bolts of energy down at the group. John Doe, Servo and Chronos are hit. Everyone takes cover in the next platform up, out of the blaster's line of fire.
John Doe grows organic rockets and makes for the guns. Unfortunately, he is shot down and falls. Noesis telekinetically grabs him and pulls him back into cover.
Servo has a look at John Doe, and doesn't find out much a John Doe's physiology is too weird, apart from that he is probably just stunned. Sure enough John Doe recovers after a bit.
They plan what to do next. John Doe produces a hollow papery duplicate of himself and pushes it out into the shaft. It is shot to pieces. He produces a lot more which he hangs off himself so he looks like a human mobile.
The group designate a gun for each group member, which they each attack. Servo attacks one gun, but doesn't do it any damage. Blitz blasts his gun into slag. John Doe attaches himself to his.
The guns fire. Servo is hit. Chronos time-stops a blast which would have hit him into oblivion. Noesis telekinetically waggles the remaining gun around so it cannot fire at anyone.
John Doe tears his gun from the wall. Cables spark and fizz.
Blitz fires again and another gun is destroyed.
Servo attacks again and knocks his gun aside. Blitz fires at it, melting a little but not destroying it. John Doe leaps at it, turning into a huge set of jaws with a little stubby body, and tries to bite the gun off. He fails, just putting tooth holes into the guns casing. The gun fires through him. He inflates like a balloon.
Blitz grabs at the wiring John Doe has exposed and blasts it. The gun falls off the wall. John Doe spits it out.
Blitz thinks this level is around the level the London Knights previously entered the tower.
They continue upwards. Noesis carries Servo with his telekinesis.
Suddenly a loud 'clank' echoes down the shaft. John Doe flattens himself against the wall. Everyone sees a cloud of large spikes falling from above. Servo tries to scatter them with a grenade but it goes through the cloud and explodes above them, speeding them up. Oops!
Noesis (carrying Servo) speeds down the shaft at about terminal velocity, so the spikes are only going very slowly relative to them and do little damage. Blitz and Chronos attack the spikes but cannot stop them all, and are hit by some, taking damage; Chronos goes briefly unconscious. The spikes go past.
Everyone continues up the shaft.
In the East End, Truth takes off her normal clothing, revealing her costume underneath. She stashes her normal clothes. She follows her own scent to various pubs and about the streets, then down a tiny storm drain (just about big enough for a normal sized human to get down with difficulty). It leads down to the river, coming out of the river wall. She detects her scent on the shore, but also recognises the area as where she became Truth. This does not make her happy. She sits down and cries.
Another panels opens in the wall of the shaft above the group, and a different type of gun emerges. John Doe flattens himself against the wall (literally). An energy net is fired and catches everyone else. Electricity crackles around them, but hurts only Servo. The force fields of the others seem to protect them.
Noesis twists the net-gun with his telekinesis and it moves but does not come free.
John Doe leas at the gun and attacks it by squeezing, also with not too much effect.
Blitz fires on the net-gun and it explodes.
Chronos time-accelerates the energy net into oblivion. Servo starts to fall (as Noesis is using his telekinesis for something else); Noesis quickly catches him again.
They continue up.
Noesis (with Servo) lags behind the others.
They notice a mist in the air above them.
John Doe grows a large air bladder and Noesis puts Servo into it. Chronos and Blitz follow.
Four more blasters appear from panels in the shaft walls and open fire on John Doe. His bladder is ripped apart and Servo and Chronos start to fall.
John Doe repairs the bubble, catching Servo and Chronos. He closes the bladder about Blitz' wrist so he can fire without doing it out through John Doe. Blitz does this, firing on one of the guns, which is blasted apart.
Noesis telekinetically attacks one of the guns, waggling it. John Doe puts out a tentacle to test the cloud floating above. It is some kind of unpleasant burning acidic stuff. John Doe retracts the tentacle, and tells the others about the gas.
Truth sits on the river bank and gibbers for a while. Then she pulls herself together ad carries on following the trail. It leads, eventually, to a block of flats. The scent trail gets newer as she goes, and when she gets to the tower block she can detect much newer scents of herself coming and going.
She goes up the stairs, following the trail. The stairs have been used as a toilet on many occasions, and are covered in graffiti. She reaches the tenth floor and the trail leads to a flat, number 43.
Truth goes invisible, as well as desolid, and enters the flat to one side of the door. She passes through a coat closet and into the living room. A big window looks out over London. An old lady sits watching the TV and drinking brandy, completely oblivious to Truth's presence.
Five door go off the living room (including one back to the hallway and out); Truth checks the other four - bathroom, kitchen and two bedrooms. One is obviously the old ladies. The other is a mess, and Truth's scent is strong there. Truth starts to search the room, in detail.
Strangely the shaft at this point has no platforms off to the side, as if it was made to be a kill-zone.
Blitz (whose powers are still boosted by the blaster bolts he has absorbed) blasts another gun; it explodes, destroying it and blowing a hole in the wall of the shaft.
Noesis waggles another gun around.
Another clang is heard from above, and more spikes fall towards the group. John Doe starts to fall and after a while the spikes hit, but to little effect. John Doe grows rockets and zooms back up the shaft.
The remaining two blasters go to fire at the group. One malfunctions and explodes. The other fires at John Doe to little effect. Blitz fires at it and it blows up.
John Doe powers upwards, then switches off his rockets and armours himself as much as he can before he ballistically flies into the cloud. In he goes (with Servo, Blitz and Chronos inside him), and through. The cloud is acidic and burns him badly. It also horribly burns Blitz' hand that is poking out of John Doe's bladder. Ouch. Noesis remains below the cloud.
Once they're through the cloud John Doe grows rockets again and they power upwards again. Servo uses his healing box on Blitz and heals his hand.
Eight more blasters appear from the walls at two levels and fire. Another one explodes, some miss and some hit, but to little effect.
John Doe sticks to the wall and tries to get his breath back. He opens the bladder and lets Blitz, carrying Chronos, out. Blitz fires at a gun but screws up horribly and hits John Doe instead. John Doe stops moving. Oops.
Servo ignites his rocket pack and gets to the blasters. He smashes one with his truncheon, then fires glue up the shaft at another gun, sticking it in place.
Back in the tower block, Truth searches the room that seems to belong to that of her impostor. It has lots of clothes scattered around, in many styles and sizes, plus more hung up in wardrobes and the like. There are lots of mirrors. Hidden about the room in places that could only really be reached by a person with a power like desolidification, Truth finds various papers detailing lots of different scam schemes, and some stashes of cash - several thousands of pounds worth. There are also some repossession notices and other similar things addressed to Verity - Truth's real name.
Truth removes everything of value, and all the papers detailing the scams. She makes a huge pile of all the clothes and rearranges everything else. She sticks some of the papers she has found up about the room and writes "Naughty Naughty" across them.
In Canary Wharf, the remaining blasters are neutralised in various ways. Everyone recovers.
Noesis (still below the acid cloud) retreats down the shaft and takes cover on a platform out of line of sight to the blasters. He recovers.
More spikes rain down, again to little effect. Apart from to Servo, who is stunned by one with his rocket pack still going. He starts to tumble about the shaft, bouncing off things. John Doe grabs him, points him up the shaft and lets him go. The stunned Servo carries on up the shaft. When he reaches the top, blasters open fire from all sides, hitting Servo quite nicely. Servo's falls. John Doe catches him.
Everyone recovers again. Servo comes round.
Blitz notices that his (and the blasters) energy blasts make holes in the acid cloud when they go through it. He fires a wide angle energy beam through the cloud and Noesis flies up through the hole.
Servo is (not unexpectedly!) not too happy with John Doe for aiming him into danger while he was stunned - he wasn't unconscious, and remembers it being done. He fires some grenades up and over the top of the shaft to get whatever lurks up there.
John Doe skibbles up the wall disguised as part of it. He oozes over the top to have a look at what is up there. Everyone else goes up slowly. John Doe sees twenty Brood (ten of whom are unconscious) scattered about the square platform that runs all round the top of the shaft. He tells everyone else what he saw. They quickly formulate a plan.
Noesis launches himself upwards at high speed.
John Doe leaps over the edge of the shaft and attacks in the form of Paul Daniels. He distracts the Brood, and the rest of the group a bit, too. Blitz and Chronos fly up. Chronos boosts Blitz's attacks. Two Brood fall over.
Noesis mentally attacks a Brood to little apparent effect.
Servo lands on the edge as his rocket pack fuel package burns out. He launches a lubricant spray all over one of the sides of the platform and the four Brood there start sliding around, losing their footing and going out of control unable to attack.
'Paul Daniels' grabs the blaster of one of the fallen Brood.
Servo attacks, but misses.
'Paul Daniels' fires randomly while giggling maniacally.
Blitz puts Chronos down, then blasts a Brood into unconsciousness.
Noesis mentally attacks a Brood, and it stumbles around, stunned.
Chronos zooms up behind a Brood and ages it. It shrivels and falls over.
The remaining Brood open fire on everyone except 'Paul Daniels', who seems to be avoiding their gaze. Servo is hit and falls over.
The building begins to rumble and shake.
Back in East London, Truth finishes her search and exits the flat. The old lady is still watching TV and drinking brandy. She follows the trail down out of the block of flats and off. Eventually the trail leads to the side door of an abandoned cinema. She goes invisible (as well as desolid) and slips inside.
From the auditorium Truth can see that up on the stage a folding table has been set up. On it is a storm lantern, and around the table are sat three people, two of Truths former contacts, and someone who looks exactly like Truth herself...
Back at Canary Wharf, 'Paul Daniels' grows a sword as a hand and spikes a Brood.
A Brood slips out of Servo's lubricated area and fall into the shaft; its wings extend and it takes to the air.
Noesis mentally attacks another Brood, who falls over.
Blitz fires and knocks out another Brood.
Another Brood slides out of Servo's lubricated area over the edge and takes to the air. It fires, but musses.
The building continues to rumble.
Chronos shrivels another Brood into unconsciousness.
'Paul Daniels' attacks again, scratching a Brood.
Blitz fires again, and another Brood goes down.
Noesis mentally attacks another Brood, one of the flying ones, and it loses consciousness. It begins to fall, unconscious, down the shaft.
Chronos attacks again, knocking out another Brood.
'Paul Daniels' attacks, and another Brood plummets down the shaft.
Noesis telekinetically picks up all the unconscious Brood and throws them down the shaft. As they fall he follows them down and smacks them against the walls of the shaft to ensure they don't wake up. They land on the pile of spikes at the bottom of the shaft. A lot of them die, and their bodies start to dissolve into slime, which evaporates. They didn't do this back on the Brood world.
Noesis telekinetically picks up the surviving Brood, flies back up, and starts looking for the level where they entered the core of the tower. He bangs the heads of the Brood on the walls as he goes.
Up at the top of the shaft, the others look around. There are four doors going off the platform at the top of the shaft, one each to left and right (a single door), and two in towards the centre of the core of the tower (both double doors). John Doe manages to open the ones to left and right using the hand-into-Brood-tentacle trick. The one on the left seems to be a laboratory of some kind. The one on the right contains a row of glass tubes along each side, inside some of which people hang suspended in liquid, perhaps in suspended animation.
Chronos zips in and breaks all the tubes with people in. They slump to the floor in a gush of liquid, but do seem to be alive, just unconscious.
Back at the doors into the core of the tower, John Doe smashes at one of them, to not much effect. Blitz blasts at the door and melts part of it.
The tower rumbles again, and starts to move, accelerating upwards.
Blitz blasts the door again. John smashes it, again to little effect. Servo boosts his armours strength and attempts to force the door open. He fails. Servo and John Doe launch a joint attempt to pull the doors open. It fails.
Chronos leaves the people who were broken out of the tubes where they lie and goes back to join the others.
The tower lifts into the air.
Blitz blasts the door again followed by a joint attack by John Doe and Servo. A narrow vertical crack opens in the door. Blitz peers through.
Inside it seems to be a control room of some kind. There are Brood on seats like those in the 'engine room' downstairs, control panels, a large view screen and a Brood Queen on a larger seat behind the rest, looking towards to door. The other Brood are busy at the controls.
Blitz fires through the crack at the Queen. She can't help noticing this.
Down towards the base of the tower, Blitz flies out through the hole in the ships hull, telekinetically carrying all the Brood with him. He races through the corridors of the tower and bails out. He radios the others and tells them they are about a mile up, and rising.
Blitz thinks it's time to leave, but John Doe and Servo refuse. Blitz fires into the control room at the Queen again. It does not look happy. It opens it mouth and breathes fire towards him. A lot of it is absorbed by the door through which Blitz is firing.
Just as Truth is entering the abandoned cinema, she can't help noticing the Canary Wharf tower rising into the sky on a brilliant white light (which does not seem to be a rocket exhaust).
Noesis starts to follow the tower as it accelerates into the sky, but it is accelerating too fast and he cannot keep up. He gives up and flies back down to the waiting STOP personnel around where the tower was. A lot of them are gaping at the tower rising into the sky. And who can blame them?
The outside of the tower (the bit outside the spaceship core) seems to be breaking up and falling onto London. Fortunately it seems to be breaking up into relatively small pieces.
He hands his Brood prisoners over to STOP.
Back in the tower, the Queen glares at Blitz through the crack in the door, and says, "You again!"
Blitz blasts in again, and it falls over.
The tower continues to accelerate into the sky...
Session 3.8 Index Session 3.10
Events While the Characters Were Away