Panic in Polaris

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Title Panic in Polaris
Number 6 Quests Total, & 1 Boss
Date * Q1: 15 & 16 June 2012
* Q2: 22 & 23 June 2012
* Q3: 30 June & 1 July 2012
* Boss: 6 & 7 July 2012
* Q4: 8 July 2012
* Q5: 21 July 2012
* Q6: 25 & 26 August 2012
Players Isabel (GM), Tyler, Daniel, Robert, DS
Characters Karr, Cordelia, Simon, Adrien, Adrienne Lapointe (NPC) (Cameo Q1), Reisner (NPC) (Q1, Q3 - Q6), Nytia (NPC), Zhi (NPC) (Q1 - Q3, Q6), Jun (NPC) (Q2 - Q6), Unnamed Mechanic (NPC) (Q2, Q5 - Q6)
Setting Polaris


Timeline Summary

Backstory

50 years after the establishment of Polaris as an independent nation, the second ever offer of transport to the space station has been opened to the public. Advertising both a massive celebration in honor of the station's anniversary, and the opportunity to establish a home at the supposedly stable and exciting community of scientists.

You were among a select few who won free trips, both there and back. Your rooms would be paid for, and several tickets for events were already provided in the congratulations letter. While you may not be sure how you got entered into the giveaway that you apparently won, the papers and everything look pretty legitimate. The letter itself is even signed by Adrienne Lapointe herself.


Quest 1 - Bears and Cyber Wares

On 16 June 2324, Polaris' 50th anniversary, Adrienne LaPointe gives a speech, and a man named Lionel Arkansas Reisner claims to be a deity, causing power failures and explosions, blowing up the booth of a woman named Nytia. He is soon arrested.

The next day, some of the power goes out on Polaris. Simon, Adrien, Karr, and Cordelia end up in a group that goes to the same safehouse where Reisner is being held. Cordelia questions him. Shaomei Zhi explains what she can of the situation with the power, but is worried about her missing brother, Jun. Karr seems to recognize his picture. They agree to look for him, but the first priority is investigating the power outage. The five leave together, hoping to find him on the way.


Quest 2 - Scalpel Shenanigans

The group meets with some looters and are inadvertantly locked up by a mechanic trying to stop the looting. After being freed, they reach the power station and are affected by Sleeping Draught. Cordelia finds Jun with a new prosthetic arm, connected to a computer. Unhooking him sets off a low power alarm. Cordelia fixes this problem by severing potentially critical wires, which restores the station's power, but somehow opens up Polaris' streets, revealing a hidden level beneath them.


Quest 3 - Cybernetic Dice Snafu

Investigating the generator room, they find a large hole in the wall. Cordelia shoots at a noise, and they discover Nytia hiding there. Jun wakes up, and is left alone with Zhi. The power goes out, and they soon find that Zhi is missing, having headed into the hidden part of the city. Nytia reveals that she had given Jun the arm on his request, doing the procedure in the power station to be secret, and had plugged him into the system because the power went out while he was in there and she panicked. Cordelia acts like a jerk. They head into the hidden area and learn Nytia, Reisner, and some others had been in a group operating out of this area. They encounter Reisner, who prepares for battle.


Boss - Reisner

Cordelia, Simon, Adrien, and Karr battle Reisner, who dances on a fountain even as Cordelia shatters it. Thinking he's a Dragon, Reisner blasts everyone but Simon with electricity, nearly knocking Karr and Adrien out. As they get to safety, Cordelia shocks Reisner into submission.


Quest 4 - White Noise

Cordelia and Nytia treat the others' wounds, and it's discovered the Jun is missing. Cordelia takes Reisner's weapon. They enter the nearby building after seeing evidence that Jun may be there. They soon discover an odd sound coming from the speakers in the hallway, and find the source in a side room's computer. They discover an unresponsive Jun in the room, and they begin to feel unusual disorienting effects, with Cordelia and Karr hit particularly bad.


Quest 5 - The Dice Hate Everyone

After bringing Jun out into the hall, the group does a bit of investigating, discovering empty bottles in a box labelled maintenance. Simon hears a voice in his head telling him someone is downstairs. After being unable to find a way downstairs, they check upstairs in case it was someone up there regarding them, but find nothing but more white noise. Meanwhile, Adrien and Cordelia interrogate Reisner and learn of an actual way downstairs. All of them but Nytia go down into the basement, where the mechanic from earlier in the day is working on a machine in a lab. They catch him off-guard, and he explains he's been taking very small amounts of energy from the people of Polaris to make artificial Keystones, and suspects Reisner knew about his work down here. When learning of Jun, he grows concerned and helps them bring him back down to the lab.


Quest 6 - Adrien the Omniscient

The group investigates a nearby room, where they find a batch of the artificial Keystones being shipped up on an elevator. They attempt to catch it in time, but only Simon manages to make even minor progress. Karr and Cordelia return to the other room to find the mechanic working the controls. Cordelia gives him a warning to stop or she'll kill him. He ignores her, and she blasts him with a lethal shot. The group discovers that he had set the elevator to ship the Keystones into the maintenance tunnels, where they'd be dispersed through the station. Cordelia tries to shut down the process, but only manages to slow it. In desperation, Simon cuts all of the wires, which does actually halt the process. Meanwhile, they discover that Jun has somehow managed to take control of Reisner's body, as he can no longer control his own from the artificial Keystones in it. The group and Jun head for the tunnels and sever the conveyors so the Keystones cannot continue moving. After a great deal of debate on what to do with them, they settle on Adrien's suggestion of returning them to the hidden room from before and sealing it, at least until they have a better idea. They find Nytia and Zhi, and Jun decides he wants to go to Disparatus, promising on Karr's urging he'll let Zhi know as he's leaving.


Notes

  • First appearances of Adrienne Lapointe, Lionel Arkansas Reisner, Nytia Santana, Shaomei Zhi, Shaomei Jun, and the Unnamed Mechanic.