The campaign opened with Billy Jo, Calvin, Cyan, Edward, and Marcus waking up to find themselves hanging upside down in the remains of Flight 903 to Bermuda. The section they were in consisted only of the fuselage and the wings. The tail end (with the engines) and the nose (with the cockpit) were gone. After getting out, the characters spent some time looking around. The weather was cool, the local flora was mostly evergreen and bamboo, and the idea the PCs were in Bermuda was quickly squashed by the sight of an immense Himalayan-looking mountain range to what as eventually labeled “south.”
The PCs debated what to do, and ended up deciding staying put was the best option. All of the spilled carry-on luggage was collected and gone through. Anything useful was removed and sorted. The emergency doors were blown and the life-rafts removed. The rafts were cut up and used to shelter the open ends of the plane.
Marcus spent some time trying to decide where they were. He noted the sun was too low in the sky and there was no real horizon. The curvature of the Earth didn’t cut off his view of distant objects, instead things just went on and on until they faded into the distance. To make matters worse, cell phones, GPS, and compasses all failed to work.
While outside looking around, Billy Jo spotted a large flying “thing.” It wasn’t a bird (no feathers) and not a bat (far too big.) Other PCs spotted tiny lizards flitting about.
That night Marcus made another discovery—there was no moon. And no stars either. Night was dark. Very, very dark. However, there was a faint aura that played over and came from behind the mountain range. Eventually, it allowed a small degree of night vision.
The next morning, the PCs were awakened by the bellowing of what they called the “hippo-croc.” Said hippo-croc was nearly 20’ long and massively built. It was rummaging in the debris path left by the aircraft as it came down, eating just about everything it came across. The PCs, realizing said path led straight to their camp, decided to move out. Packing their gear (they had more than enough carry on bags), they started to follow the local stream, knowing that A) steams led to rivers, and B) rivers usually meant people.
They followed the stream and eventually came across a herd of woolly mammoths grazing some distance away. After some debate over the idea of woolly mammoths (in Bermuda of all places!) the PCs moved on, but not before Marcus noted a feathered head poke up out of the tall grass. Seems science is right, velociraptors did have feathers.
After a few hours of travel, they came to a long straight furrow in the ground. While overgrown with a layer of grass, it didn’t look to be a natural feature. Hoping it might have been caused by another section of their flight, the PCs elected to follow it. They found the wreckage of a strange flying car, overgrown with weeds and the like. Edward said it looked like something from Bubblegum Crisis. Curiously, they could read the model (“Vector”) but didn’t recognize the maker’s logo. There was also a registration plate on the vehicle, reading “HART JR.”
At about this time, Donovan Knight stepped out and introduced himself. He’s been towards the tail end of the plane, and had woken up a few hours ago. Marcus found this interesting, as his group had been up and about for well over 24.
The PCs took a longer look at the car and even managed to open the driver’s gull-winged door. There was a collection of bones inside, along with ragged clothes, and a really nice jacket. Closer examination of the jacket indicated it was made by Arasaka and had a tag stating it was 100% biosteel. Inside the jacket was a slipcase holding (among other things) an identification card for [name obscured] Hart Junior. The card was registered to the City of Angelus and showed that Hart had been born in 2093 and had gained his driver’s license in 2111.
Burying the bones and keeping the jacket, the PCs headed “north” (per Marcus.)
As the day drew to a close, the PCs encountered a huge stone plaza. 100 years square, it featured an assortment of pylons and obelisks. The one in the center was probably 100’ tall before it fell, the ones on the corners are 50’, and the ones in between those are 25’. At some point the ground sank, and a whole section of the plaza went withit, causing the collapse of several pylons. One, however, was open, the door laying on the ground.
Marcus took a look inside, and found bones, leaves, debris, and... a computer system? Touching what looked to be the control surface resulted in everything lighting up for a moment. Then dying out. The PCs decided to stay in the room, and good thing to, as a massive thunderstorm rolled through in the middle of the night. As the lighting flashed, Edward had his head out the door when a bolt split over his head and struck all of the still standing pylons. While Cyan attended to Edward’s eyes, Marcus saw the monitors light up, displaying some sort of diagram (or map) before everything shut down again.
The next day the party continued north, or as Donovan claimed “to the center.” The center of what, being the new topic of discussion. Donovan himself wasn’t sure what the center was, only it was “there.”
While passing a thickly wooded area, the air was broken by a woman’s scream, and a female figure dashed out of the trees and bounced off of Edward. He had only a moment to realize she was blue (as in blue-skinned), when she gasped out (in English!) “Giant Person!” and then dashed off again. Immediately afterwards 9-10’ of massive humanoid came out of the trees as well. There was a bit of panic and/or heroics, as the PCs reacted to this strange set of events. Edward, armed with a flare gun from one of the life-rafts, fired a flare straight at the “Giant Person.” The flare hit home and with a cry of pain and fear, the giant left.
The blue-skinned woman (girl actually) gave her name as Guthny, and thanked the PCs for saving her from the Giant Person (who are known to carry off livestock, raid crops, and kidnap people.) She also called for her friends, who had been with her gathering herbs, nuts, mushrooms, and the like. They were Dalla, a cat-eared and tailed “Hunting Person” and Vilgerthr, a “Leaping Person” who looked to the PCs live a svelte human crossed with a rat and/or ferret. Guthny, it turned out, was a Farming Person.
Asking if they were traders, the three girls agreed the PCs needed to come back to their village, to speak to the elders about the attack of the Giant Person. If there’s one, there’s more. Along the way, the PCs were introduced to one of the village elders, Mister Grim, a laconic Leaping Person who smoked a pipe and carried a hoe on one shoulder.
Once in the village, the PCs found it to be roughly 100 strong, split 50 Farming People, and 25 each Hunting and Leaping People. Much to the PCs’ interest, everyone looked to be in excellent physical shape. While there were signs of age and injury, illness seemed to be non-existent. Also, the villagers were all well-toned and attractive. Dress was Nordic (although everyone sort of thought “generic Hollywood middle ages”) as was the general culture.
Brought to the village elders, the PCs met Váli, an aged (very aged) blue-skinned Farming Person, Mister Grimm, Vidar, a red-skinned blacksmith (and quite young compared to the others), and Mother Gytha, an aged Hunting Person who must have been devastatingly beautiful when she was younger. Seeing as the PCs were hungry, they were fed and allowed to hold their own council before meeting with the elders directly.
Notes
The PCs have seen the following animals: the hippo-croc, the flying not-a-bird, wooly mammoths, the feathered dinosaur, numerous small ground lizards, a Giant Person, chickens, goats, sheep, and horses. The latter four look normal enough, but you never can tell.
There is no horizon, moon, or stars. Also, the sun is too low in the sky.
Everyone speaks English. Actually, the PCs aren’t sure what the villagers speak. Everyone hears English.
Marcus has a 100% biosteel armored jacket from circa 2100.
Edward has a flare gun and 2 flares.
Someone has the other flare gun and three flares.
Cyan has a bag of assorted medical supplies.
You’ve met the following people:
Guthny (gooth-nee) the blue-skinned Farming Person. She won’t stop talking.
Dalla the Hunting Person. She has tanned skin and white hair. She’s the tomboy of the three.
Vilgerthr (vil-gerth) the Leaping Person. She has white fur and hair. She’s the quiet one.
Váli (vow-lee) another blue-skinned Farming Person. He is the oldest person in the village.
Mister Grimm the Leaping Person farmer. He’s more gray then white, and has a pipe.
Vidar (vee-dar), a red-skinned Farming Person blacksmith. He was seen dressed in only trousers and leather work apron, and has an impressive physique.
Mother Gytha (gee-tha) the Hunting Person. Likened to Sophia Loren, she’s akin to the village doctor.
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