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lex1nat0r · 2 months ago

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White Elephant: For Answer

AAR #23 & #24

Session reports from my ongoing Lancer game.

Characters (LL 3):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Heavy Gunner 1/Nuclear Cavalier 3, Barbarossa 3) - HA Barbarossa “Counterproposal”

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey 2/Technophile 2/Engineer 1/Gunslinger 1, Pegasus 3) - HORUS Pegasus “Exchange of Affection”

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory 1/Brutal 3/Leader 2, Balor 3) - HORUS Balor “Your Burden”

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Engineer 3/Ace 1, Vlad 3) - IPS-N Vlad “Look What You Made Me Do”

Magpie (They/Them, Hacker 3/Technophile 3, Goblin 3) - HORUS Goblin “Destructive Interference” (player not present for session #23)

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prometheus Antichiral - fork of a cascaded NHP from the Sanctuary Blue cloning facility - projects as a wizened old man - unshackled

Alex - library administrator, rescued from the RimTech corporate archive - projects as a librarian - shackled, currently in low power mode

Sisyphus - Via Sunshine’s Pegasus 3 - no known projection habits [ha ha ha you can’t see me] - shackled

Osiris - Via Magpie’s Goblin 3 - projects to seemingly puppet around Destructive Interference - shackled

Prev session writeup

With the recovery of the militarized printer cores, things are looking pretty good for Stefan's planned planetwide demonstrations. The Lancers agree to help out on the day of, which means Stefan owes them a favor.

After getting the list of places Stefan thinks are most critical to protests:

Raiju and Sunshine decide to hold the line at the MilAgro Enforcement Armory, to keep an eye on where any organized police or military response is going to come from

Rook oversees the main protest in the plaza in front of MilAgro corporate HQ

Daylight parks her Vlad in the clone housing district since that's the most likely target of reprisals

(Magpie is off-screen doing e-war stuff)

Once the protest kicks off things seem quiet but Rook notices increasing police presence in the plaza, Daylight gets word of mechs approaching the clone district, and when Sunshine and Raiju scan one of the green-striped helicopters traveling to and from the Enforcement Armory, they find that military equipment is being brought in instead of shipped out. Not wanting to get caught flatfooted, Raiju just blows one of the transport helicopters out of the sky.

Things kick off rapidly from there, though the opfor doesn't have the initiative they expected. A hurried broadcast by one Lucien Trulock indicates a faction of the MilArgo board supports the Guardian Fleet, and have thrown in with the Shield Frontier who have supplied equipment and mechs that are now marching out of the Enforcement Armory. Sunshine does their best to combat Shield Frontier propaganda broadcasts while helping Raiju slow their advance. Rook makes a hole in the constricting police cordon around the plaza to evacuate protestors, and Daylight starts conducting hit-and-run attacks on the mechs advancing on the clone housing, eventually bringing down a block of apartments to cover the evacuation of civilians.

In a second broadcast, Trulock triumphantly announces that the Shield Frontier has taken control of MilArgo's experimental land battleship the Argo and it's superheavy ship-class weapon is pointed at the Eye of the Tiger, which is being herded into range by Shield Frontier subline warships. The Lancers advise Captain Borrego to take the Tiger out of range of the Argo's main weapon even though that means it will take some hits from the Shield Frontier wolfpacks. But even with the Tiger safe, there's still the Argo to deal with...

Combat 4.2: Shipwreck

Sitrep: Behemoth Brawl (from Enhanced Combat)

OPFOR:

The Argo (Vehicle Behemoth)

Flight Deck x2 (produce T2 flying Cataphract Grunts)

Gun Emplacement x2

Point Defense

As the Lancers head to the battlezone, the massive enemy warning flashes on their consoles. This isn't the first time they've seen it - the same warning pops up when they get too close to a battleship. But this time, the warning flickers and is replaced with something else:

Shoutout to Magpie's player for taking a screencap of this because I did not

With that message of encouragement from Arjhet and Tehjra, the lancers engage.

Outcome: The Argo destroyed on round 7

(Tokens by Retrograde Minis (on the basic blank hex tokens that come with Lancer so they show up well), map by Interpoint Station’s Lancer sprites, VTT is Roll20)

Analysis:

Every Lancer GM, deep in their heart, wants to run something like a Behemoth one day. Despite that, I knew going into this that I didn't actually like the Behemoth Brawl setup. It's basically a damage check - can the Lancers do x damage in y rounds? I felt - and still feel - that it doesn't provide enough back and forth as regular sitreps. I tried to remedy that by providing two twists.

The first twist: Lottie Wisely, a reporter from Argus Syndicated Networks (seen above hunkered down on the top-left rocks) was watching the fight. The players decided not to interfere with her drones, which worked out well since they ended up winning the fight.

The second twist: the Shield Frontier is using hardcopy orders and intelligence, scrubbing as much of their footprint as they can from the omninet. The Argo had a signals room where a lot of this was stored. A PC (in this case Magpie) could dismount their mech and board the Argo to try to recover this intel, which they did, along with some MilAgro cultural artifacts that can be used as leverage to help resolve this attempted coup.

Despite all that, the actual fight got very same-y once the PCs destroyed the Argo's hardpoints. Behemoths was reduced to launching missiles at everyone within range 15, which is kind of a boring thing to do multiple times per round. It did destroy Destructive Interference, which isn't really impressive since it's a Goblin, but that did leave Murgatroid and Osiris bickering over whose fault it was.

The Argo's missiles are Knockback 1, which is kind of cheap especially as they can prevent an Apocalypse Rail from charging. There isn't really anything to counter Knockback aside from being flat-out immune to it. So overall I feel like the Behemoth statline needs to be reworked to work for me.

I think next time I run something on the scale of the Argo (and there will be a next time) it's going to be treated more like terrain than a specific thing to shoot at. Turrets popping out of armored blisters, on-board mechs deploying, maybe some fuckery with control points moving around, that kind of thing. I think I've been proven correct in my assumption that basically having one thing to shoot at doesn't work for Lancer.

Next Time: the new MilAgro?

#the danse mechabre #tdm white elephant #lancer

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willinglyghoulified · 2 years ago

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We don't talk enough about how amazing, smart, buff, kind, and selfless Sturges is.

#fallout 4 #sturges #grease monkey of Sanctuary

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hancocksspouse · 6 years ago

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Ch 10

Muscular, nice hair, charming, looked good covered in dirt or grease.

The look had a name and it went by Sturges. Hell, who didn’t love the rugged grease monkey with the southern sounding accent?

Everyone found him attractive, even Hancock, who definitely wouldn’t deny taking a gander at him while he worked, his overalls hugging him just right around the thighs while he dabbed at the sweat going down his neck with his bandana and god in heaven, his arms.

He was starting to notice a pattern here but didn’t have time to think on it as the eye candy he was taking in turned his head to him and gave him a nod.

“So, how’s y’all’s adventures through the commonwealth goin’?” Sturges asked, doing last minute checkups and inspections on Doll’s power armor. Hancock smirked and shrugged.

“Ah, you know. Raiders, ferals, radiation, the Institute. Same old, same old, brother”, he said, lighting a cigarette and taking a long breath. “Speakin’ a which, how well is that armor gonna hold up in the glowing sea?”

Sturges raised his brows a bit, running diagnostics on the armor.

“Should hold up just fine, really”, he said with a nod.

“That’s good to hear”, Doll said, popping up behind him, almost scaring the man. Sturges shook his head and chuckled before turning back to the armor.

“Ya did some damn fine work on her so gettin’ through the glowin’ sea should be a cake walk. Best suggestion I can give ya is to use your vault suit under it since it’s a long walk”, he said, jerking his chin to her torn jeans and flannel. “Them suits are made for long term wear in weird conditions”.

She nodded her head, patting her hand against the chest of it.

“I’ll make sure to change into it before we leave. Gotta get some stuff here fixed up before we head out”, she said, heading towards the bridge leading into Sanctuary Hills where turrets were sitting, awaiting maintenance. Between her backside in those ripped jeans and Sturges’ backside in his overalls, Hancock didn’t know which way to plant his line of sight and took a long drag of his cigarette, smirking to himself.

“Real blessin’ in disguise, huh?” Sturges said. Hancock blinked and turned his attention back to him.

“Whatdya mean?” He asked. Sturges smiled and looked from him to Doll.

“I mean that one over there. Can’t think of a time a vault dweller came out into the ‘wealth ready to take on the world, but hell, I guess they’re real”.

He was about to agree until he saw the other man bend over to pick up some tools, making him glad he couldn’t sweat anymore when he followed up the motion with standing up straight and rolling his shoulders, making his back muscles flex against his shirt. Hancock was good and spaced out, not realizing Sturges noticed him staring and chuckled.

“See somethin’ there ya like, Mr. Mayor?” He laughed, actually flattered by the obvious gawking. Hancock smirked again and shrugged.

“Quite often these days. Gotta appreciate it while I can, ya feel me?” Sturges chuckled, walking towards Hancock while tinkering with something in his hand before locking eyes with him.

“Not yet, I haven’t”, he smirked and winked, before walking off to the other half of the settlement. Hancock stood still, thrown for a loop before shaking his head and smiling to himself.

“Yea, I still got it”.

Every time she had to climb into a suit of power armor, she was suddenly all too aware of how claustrophobic she was and it made things difficult sometimes.

She just zipped up her suit when it hit her and she clenched her eyes shut, taking in a deep breath as she laced up her boots.

‘You’re not doing this for fun. You’re doing this for Shaun. Pull it together’, she thought to herself, pulling her hair back into its half bun and walking out of the house to the power armor stand where her suit was sitting, back facing outward so she could crawl right in.

It was just her at the moment and she took a second to shake out her hands and legs and take deep breaths to get her nerves in check.

‘It’s just for today. You’ll be fine. It’s for your own safety’, she told herself, eyes still shut as she lightly jumped up and down on her tip toes, rolling her neck.

“You’re fine. Pull it together”, she murmured to herself as she bounced in place to try to loosen up and relax.

She was stuck enough in her own head to not notice Hancock coming out of the house after chatting with Mama Murphy and the first sight he was greeted with was Doll’s backside jiggling around as she jumped.

‘Maybe today is gonna be good after all’, he thought, watching for a moment longer and lighting another cigarette. A sigh escaped him once he realized why she was shaking herself out so much and he almost felt bad for ogling.

Almost.

“Ain’t a fan of tight spaces, huh?” He said, making her turn his way. She let out a dry laugh and clenched her jaw.

“Nope. Hate ‘em. Can’t really be helped, though, so I’m gonna have to suck it up and just do it”, she said, squatting as she put her hands through her hair before resting her elbows on her knees. “Can’t trust anybody else to do this and I ain’t gonna risk someone else getting hurt trying to find this guy”.

Hancock squatted down beside her and offered her a cigarette which she gladly took and stuck between her lips. He went rummaging through his pockets for his lighter until she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him forward, almost forehead to forehead, and pressed her cigarette to his, taking a few breaths until it was lit.

“Thanks”, she mumbled, pulling back and taking a deep drag. He grinned and waggled his no brows.

“Anytime, sunshine. ‘Course, if you wanna just lay one on me next time, you don’t gotta use the cigarette as an excuse”, he teased, making her laugh and loosen up a bit, distracting her from the claustrophobia.

“I’ll remember that”, she smiled.

A few minutes passed and Doll flicked the butt of her cigarette away as she stood, her knees popping.

“Alright. Enough stalling. We gotta go”, she said, shaking herself out and turning to the power armor hunched over. Hancock stood as well, looking at the suit.

“Ya know, if it helps, I’ll carry your helmet for a while”, he said. “You don’t have to actually wear it til we get to the edge of the glowing sea”. She mulled the thought around for a moment and smiled.

“Sure. Thanks, Hancock”.

She carefully climbed into the suit and let it clamp shut around her as Hancock carefully took her helmet off, stuffing it into his bag.

“Does that help at all?” He asked, brow raised in concern. She nodded and took a deep breath.

“A lot actually. I appreciate it”.

“Eh, it’s what I’m here for. Now, let’s get this freak show on the road”, he grinned.

I have been very busy and tired. I have not abandoned this, I promise. I know it’s short but for now, it’s all I’ve got.

#fallout 4 #hancock #fallout #fanfiction #john hancock #sole survivor #writing #power armor #sturges #fallout 4 companion

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liiahearts · 6 years ago

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Babynort centric fic

Chapter 1

The story was perfect. Mostly because Xeha thought it was. The edginess, dark humour, unexpected climax and finally the unhappy ending. Surely, it was relatable in somewhat’s standards. Now all he had to do was add on the finishing touches. Grammar, spelling, all the visible critical mistakes he hadn’t noticed while writing. Just before continuing his work, he took a glance at the beeping clock next to him. His tired eyelids rose a little when he realised the time. It was about 4 a.m. when he finally realised he’d been burning the midnight oil working on this god forsaken story. As he leaned back on his chair, he took off his glasses and pinched the space between his eyes. Sighing, then stretching out his whole body where he sat.

“Sleep’s overrated anyways.” Blinking his eyes several times to test wether or not he’d fall asleep anytime soon. ‘Still not that tired, maybe I should go for a walk?’. After a moment of debating if he should risk himself getting caught by his grandfather for staying up so late ‘or waking up early if he’d ever assumed’, he was already at the door.

Coat ‘check’, socks and shoes ‘check and check’. He wasn’t planning on touching anything covered in snow, so gloves weren’t necessary. Going out this early in the morning before sun rise won’t hurt anybody. He would just be out for a moment before anyone in the household realise. ‘Just a quick walk’ he thought, justifying that nothing could go wrong from just a small jog. There wasn't any school that morning, so it won’t be such a big deal if he just slept in after breakfast.

Upon opening the door that made the oh so squeaky, lack of grease sound, the night wind that blew through the slight door crack gave him the first taste of sweet mother nature. The one he avoided at all cost by barricading himself in his own room. “Okay then. Let’s go.”

Just as he suspected, the sun had yet to rise and the air was a freezing cold. It made him feel shivers crawl up his spine. ‘What was it? December?’ He held himself together not wanting to tumble all over the place just because of the north pole in his backyard.

Walking over towards the the wooden fence, he simply opened the the door and he was met with a slightly snowy street. He stuffed his hands into his pockets when he felt the cold risen there. ‘Maybe I should’ve worn muffins.’ There was no point of turning back now, so he made his way down the narrowed path along the streets.

The neighbourhood felt like a ghost town at the dead of night. At the most on normal days, it was quieter. More peaceful. Noting that only a few people from his school lives here. Which included him and- “Xeha?”. At the sound of his name being called, his eyes lifted from the slim path to a boy covered from head to toe with warm clothing. He was around Xeha’s height, maybe a bit shorter.

His face was barely visible, alas the winter hat and scarf that covered only but his eyes. At first, Xeha failed to recognise him from sight but it was unlikely for a stranger to even know him. His best guess was the only person other than his family to even remember his name.

“Well that’s my name, Era. What in the world are you doing around this hour?” Coming closer to the heavily clothed boy, he had to bend a bit of his body forward to get a good look at him in the eye. There was no bother asking why he’d been so overly dressed this early in the morning. Knowing perfectly how low Era’s tolerance were to the cold.

“Well, I knew you’d be here despite your granddad grounding you for it.” The old coot however, had more of a name than Xeha could get from winning an essay writing competition. Everybody knew who Master Xehanort was, the next best thing were his twin sons. One that happens to be the father of a total nobody.

The urge to roll his eyes out hoping he’d see his brain at the back caught him. At least he’d knew he had some. Which he’d also noticed he made Era chuckle from his eye rolling movement. “Hey! What are you laughing at?”

Era continued to chuckle through his warm knitted scarf. “Your face!” He pointed at his in a humorous gesture. “Well at least I don’t have a stick up my ass, huh?” Xeha cocked his body straight up and lightly placed both his hands on his hips. Confidence wasn’t a stranger when it came to these sorts of accusations. Especially coming from Eraqus. Who abundantly filled the air with more laughter. Still, he was a bit strange sometimes enough to even leave a garboil look on Xeha.

On the contrary, the raven did agree with his silver haired friend. “You always seem to have the same syndrome. What? Does it run in the family?” He replied with the same amount of cockiness and attitude. It was the same foreplay they’d have before going down to real importance. Not that Xeha was really expecting to run into him this early.

Nor was he expected to narrow down a look of annoyance this early too. “Hey! What do you mean-hmp!” A scarf was quickly wrapped around his neck until it covered half his face. Noted that it also smelled like fresh baked cookies. “Grandma’s visiting?” Even though his voice was off and muffled, he knew Era heard the tease.

Eraqus only chuckled and ignored that statement and got to his point. “Didn’t bother getting a scarf out of that awful pile of laundry again. This is what I’m talking about.” Abruptly he turn completely the opposite direction and cocked his head to give Xeha a full view of his smug response. “Stick stuck up you’re butt?” He taunted as Xeha had just stood still.

Predictably, Xeha was ready to clobber the life out of Era as he attempted to jump him. That was when the other shoved a sealed letter onto his face. Evidently it was slapped right onto his nose. “Ow! What gives?”

Jokes were over. And so were the foreplay, as the mood turned serious when Xeha saw Era’s head was down facing the hard cobblestone. Xeha held onto the letter, then finally looked at it. Then finally understanding the slight change as his grey eyes swapped from the letter to his friend.

No, he wasn’t shocked. To be fair, he saw this coming but knew truly how hopeful his friend had been for him. “Eraqus, it’s okay. I’ll just try again-“. Surprisingly, Eraqus found his voice to protest. “I don’t think you’d wanna waste your time on them. You’ve sent your stories countless of times and they still rejected you. You’ve fixed everything they deemed flawed and it’s still not enough! Why do you even-“

“Because I want to, Era!” he said sternly. Facing Eraqus’ venting demands and standing for his own choices. Slowly, his features softened and he let out a huffing breathe. “I want people to read my stories and enjoy them. But I’ll see to this” he gestured to the damned thick letter, “and ask Mr. Eden what he thinks.” He made sure to give Era at least a reassuring smile. Noting that this wasn’t a big deal.

“I’m sorry, Xeha. All this fuss so early. I was actually planning on giving it to you later but-“ he felt a palm on the right of his shoulder. “There’s no time like the present my friend.” Lastly, he put it off with a big smile.

Finally, Eraqus returned the smile. When all that drama had cooled down in the matter, Xeha looked back at the letter. “Wonders me what they’re complaining about this time. Huh! Eden will give me an earful.”

Taken back by the suspicious look Era had suddenly threw him, he cocked up an eyebrow. “What?”. Era looked away from his questioning friend and tried a graceful swayed. “Oh nothing,” though Xeha could definitely sense the malice, “I for one, think your writing is great, but apparently ‘you’ need an excuse to see Mr.Eden.” He pointed an accusing finger at Xeha.

Abruptly, Xeha made the effort to loudly clear his throat to avoid the heat that was mercilessly running up his face and to throw off Eraqus’ ridiculous superstition. “Well, he has been helping me a lot with it. Of course I’m supposed to seek his help. Besides, he’s our ‘teacher’” Xeha sent him an equal look of glee.

Deciding to ignore the unconvinced scoff he received, he turned to move them to other discussions. While they were still together at this rare time.

“Well whatever.” Taking the gloved hand of his friend, he guided them to a different area. “Where are you taking me, Xeha?” Now, it was his turn to chuckle. Barely turning but he knew Era could hear him. “You know where!”

When they arrived, it had been an abandoned playground. The area was awfully neglected, with the snow almost covering the entire ground. Monkey-bars with only a few bars left. The swing set looking so rusty it would break. The slides were filled with holes.The field full with snow covered over grown grass. None of the apparatus were even safe for kids to use anymore. Yet, nobody had bothered to do anything about it.

Reasons hadn’t mattered, they never did because to Xeha and Era, this was their sanctuary. Nobody came here but them. And since the whole residence were filled with workaholic adults, it was really just for them anyways.

Xeha still had a handful of Era’s soft muffins. He pulled them towards the tallest slide. “But Xehaa! It’s like an hour before sun rise”. Regardless, they were already on top before they could debate anything. With that Era let out a sigh of defeat. While Xeha just chuckled in victory as he hugged the heavily clothed arm.

“Aww, come on Era. It’s usually the sunset. Rarely we get to watch it rise.” Nothing Era could do would stop Xeha if he was determined. So, he just followed his demands as his arm was being snuggled like by an oversized kitten. “The sun isn’t even up yet- Are you cold?”

Concern for the other’s well being, he considered taking off one of his coats. “Nah, I’m quite comfortable like this.” With that Era pushed the decision for later and instead let the other snuggle up him arm. “Then don’t blame me if you freeze to death.”

He noticed the other puff up a cheek and lightly heard mumbles of ‘you’re such a jerk sometimes.’

“Only sometimes hun.” He laughed it off.

Then having some of more things to talk about, like how much of a pain school’s gonna be the next day, the good and the bad. Good; when the nerd next to him finally gets to see his favourite teacher after only two days apart. Bad; when hell breaks, as freshmen gets put in their place by the Queen Bee on the first day.

If Jennifer Mckenzie were to ride a BMW, pressing the oil paddle with her high heeled boots, it’s better for even the police to get out of the way. For their own sake since she apparently have power on their own insurance. The chick was seen as flawless. A pictured goddess of the school, no, maybe the whole city.

But she didn’t exactly mattered to them. As long as their not the victims of her car crash, they were safe from her peripheral view.

All that chitter chatter finally got Xeha to fall sleep on Era’s shoulders. Peacefully he purred like a sleeping Cheshire cat waiting to pounce him if he’d dare let himself be off guard. Sighing, Era thought to himself if he’d know Xehanort that well to predict such movements. They were best friends after all. The best guess Era could make up for was as long as it’s them against the world, everything will go fine.

As long as NOTHING changes, everything will remain the same.

He smiled at the thought of being like this forever. And how naive and regrettable it will be.

After a few deep thought moments, he saw a small glimpse of light crept up from the horizon. Quickly he woke up the sleeping silver head next to him. “Xeha.” Softly at first. “Xehanort!” Then began the wild shaking.

“Uuhu! I’mupimupwhodied? Oh, it’s just you.” Letting out a big yawn, and allowing his retinas to readjust to his surroundings, he finally remembered where he was. Adding the note he was wearing a scarf and extra coat that wasn’t his.

Finally he took in the sight of that perfect sunrise. He smiled. Again, he let a tired yawn and leaned his head against Era’s shoulders. “Don’t you wish these moments would last forever?” Eraqus’s suddenness took him a moment into reality. Would he wish it? Yes. Did he realise how temporary it was? Also yes. In deep thought, Xehanort knew these moments only last in the present. And he’d doubt they’d have them again. It would only be wishful thinking. Alas to just satisfy Eraqus’ question, he decided to push those thoughts away and ignore the justification of his opinions. “Yeah, I kinda do.”

A/N: this is absolutely an AU and I’m getting used to writing the characters. So bare with me💓💓💓

Anyways... where em EraXeha/Xehaqus fics at!

#kingdom hearts #fanfiction #young xehanort #xehanort #kh3 #EraXeha #Xehaqus

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xxxdragonfucker69xxx · 7 years ago

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Calibration is a holiday celebrated, or feared, across Creation. For five days at the end of the calendar, the laws of Fate bend; demons slip through the cracks between worlds, ghosts walk in the daylit lands, and raksha stalk the earth. Many cultures treat it as an inversion festival, where the normal social order is turned upside down and all rules are suspended; others treat it as a time to be feared, when literal monsters walk among us; still others treat it as a time of carnival, to celebrate surviving another year and to make merry in light of the fact that they might not survive the year to come.

It was in this context that Leo had tentatively tried to explain Halloween.

+++

"What the fuck are you supposed to be?" asked Seal.

Des twirled to show off her cape. "I'm Dracula. Obvioushly," she said, drooling only a little. She was wearing something not too different from what she normally wore, black accented with purple and red, save for three additions: a floor-length cape, the slicked-back hair above her forehead, and what appeared to be false teeth. False fangs.

"Dracula fucking who?" Seal asked. He had opted to dress as Jason, the cool guy from that movie Lion had shown them; the mask was easy enough for Harv to sculpt, and Des had managed to find a spirit who could disguise Glorious First Light as a hockey stick. Perfectly reasonable. Des rolled her eyes. "Dracula fucking Dracula, idiot. Vlad Tepesh. The Impaler. It'sh a classhic. Barbarian." She rolled her jaw for a minute, then spit the false teeth out. "Actually, fuck these though. I feel like Star."

"Not sho eashy, ish it?" Star crowed. He was dressed with a similar cape, but in more fashionably cut clothing that Seal had to admit suited him. Over his mask he wore another half-mask, white and sculpted to fit the right side of his face. Seal had the vague recollection that he was supposed to be some sort of singer or musical performer, but frankly Seal had been distracted by the costume and not paying attention while Star talked or sang or whatever.

"You have fangs, idiot," Seal agreed. Des smiled at him and let her fangs slide out smoothly. Seal snorted and looked around the room to take in the rest of the costumes. Lion had appeared earlier in a buff jacket, with his head made up to look like a flaming skull. Tower had a white cloth draped over them with eyeholes cut out, and claimed to be a ghost when anyone asked. Shadow was covered in dirt and cloth intestines, and claimed to be Harvester when asked. Harv, on the other hand, was dressed as finely as Seal could remember ever seeing him; he was wearing what appeared to be jewelry made of bones, and....black lipstick? Seal raised an eyebrow at Des, who followed his gaze and started preening. "I helped him pick it out," she explained.

As they watched, Harv pulled a flask from beneath his costume, took a swig, and started heading unstably but steadily towards Shadow. Des sighed. "I'm gonna go take care of this," she told Seal, and headed to intercept.

+++

"We have a problem," Star hissed to Des urgently as he accosted her.

Des squinted as she poured herself a cup of (unfortunately nonalcoholic) punch. "What problem? Nobody's even here anymore."

It was true; Lion had excused himself early, and Harv and Shadow..... had disappeared somewhere. Star flapped his hand dismissively. "Whatever. Not that. I wasch, uh, shnooping, a little, and I maybe broke into the closhet."

Des' eyes flew to the closet, adorned with warnings and arcane symbols. Sure enough, the padlocks were hanging off the latch, snapped and rusted. Des turned back to Star and raised an eyebrow. The Day Caste blushed and looked away, muttering about Chains-Cannot-Hold Technique.

Des sighed. "Whatever. That's just where Harv and Shadow put the stuff they don't want us to mess with. Old Artifacts, gross necromancy stuff, candy stashes, that kind of thing. It's fine if you didn't take anything."

Silence.

"Star, did you take something?" Des asked with deceptive calm.

"It washn't sho musch that I took shomefing," Star hedged, "asch I let shomefing out."

Des narrowed her eyes. "Explain."

Star broke immediately. "There wasch thish ugly little monkey shtatshue with shymbalsch, right, and it wasch jusht labeled Horrid Fucking Monkey, sho I picked it up to look at it but then it shtarted fucking clapping, on itsh own, like shome fucking demon --"

"Star, calm down," Des said. Star was pacing back and forth in front of the doughnut table. He stopped in his tracks. "Anyway," he said, "I dropped it on the ground, and it rolled under a shelf. And I got down to look for it, but I couldn't find it, and then I heard it. Over there!" He pointed, and Des looked.

Sitting atop the TV cabinet was a small monkey statue, either taxidermied or lovingly upholstered, holding a pair of cymbals. Its glassy eyes gleamed in the Sanctuary's harsh light, its smile stretched wide to show all its teeth. Des had faced ghosts and zombies and hekatoncheires, had dueled a Deathlord singlehandedly, but she felt a shiver run down her spine. Next to her, Star was probably hissing at the thing.

"Okay," Des said. "You've convinced me. Shitheads, assemble."

+++

The Shithead Squad had been named by Seal, probably trying to fill a hole left by his old gang, Des rationalized. The name had grown on her. It had begun as just her and Seal, but Tower went along with whatever they cooked up and they'd somehow pulled in Star as well. Des liked to think that they were fostering cooperation between the young Deathknaves. At least Star and Seal fought less when they were aimed at the same thing.

Currently the Shithead Squad was assembled under the Sanctuary table, which was actually two tables under one tablecloth. Des and Star had lost their cloaks; Seal had dropped his mask just beyond the table but refused to reach for it. Tower was still covered in a cloth.

"Thisch ish shtupid," Star whispered. "I'm just going to --"

"Shh," Seal hissed. "I think I hear it." The assembled Abyssals fell silent and strained to hear.

Nothing happened.

"I'm making a run for it," Star said, and moved toward the edge of the table. As he did, his head bumped against the support of the table above, causing him to reel backwards clutching his face and whispering "ow, ow, ow," repeatedly. As the Shitheads fumbled to catch him, Seal jostled the leg of the other table.

Immediately, there was a screeching noise from above, accompanied by repeatedly crashing cymbals. This set off a panic underneath the table, all the Abyssals tangled up and struggling to get free. "Get off -- no you -- ow, that's my fucking leg -- Sol's sake, Star, you're gonna stab my eye --"

As they struggled under the table, the screeching proceeded closer to the edge, and closer, and closer, until there was a thump from beyond the tablecloth. Silence fell and the Deathknights froze. Slowly, Des reached out to lift the tablecloth.

The Horrid Fucking Monkey was sitting there, on the ground, upright. The moment Des made eye contact with it, it was banging its cymbals again and screeching like it had never stopped. Its eyes gleamed an unholy red, and Des could feel them burrowing into her Essence, into her very soul.

"Fire in the fucking hole!" Seal shouted from behind her, and Des launched herself to the side to avoid a cascade of golden spears aimed at the monkey.

+++

"Oh Schol, oh Schol, oh Schol," Star muttered, holding himself and rocking slightly. He was curled up next to the oven, in a puddle of what might have been grease.

"Shut up," Des hissed at him from the kitchenette door, peering back out into the Sanctuary. Seal was standing just behind her, ready to summon Glorious First Light. "Why won't it die," he muttered to himself, "why won't it just fucking die..."

"We shouldn't have sent Tower," Des said finally. "I don't care where Harv and Shadow are, we should have stuck together. Come on, let's go look for them."

Star's head shot up. "What? No, no, you're crazhy, I'm not going out there --"

"Yes you are," Des snapped. "Do you want us to leave you here instead?"

Star scrambled to his feet. "No it's ok I'm good," he said hastily. "I got the Wingsh, I can murder, I can fly, I'm sho ready for thish. I'm sho fucking ready for thish." He moved to join them at the doorframe, holding onto Seal for support. For once, Seal didn't shoulder him off.

"Okay, everyone get ready," Des whispered. She pulled up the deadliest necromancy she knew, and behind her Seal pulled out his spear, and the feathers on Star's wings bristled with deadly intent. Slowly, she swung open the door.

The Sanctuary was a mess. The tables were overturned, the chairs were scattered, costume pieces were strewn everywhere. In the middle of the carpet, however, there was a stain that all their senses immediately pegged as blood, and sitting directly next to that stain was --

"You horrid fucking monkey!" Seal cried, hurling himself at the statue. It started screeching as soon as he set foot outside its kitchen, banging its cymbals more loudly than Des thought was possible. Star dropped to his knees next to the stain, wailing, "it got them, it fucking killed them, it killed Tower, they were so young....."

Seal was wrestling the statue, trying to keep its cymbals apart. It was apparently possessed of unholy strength, because nothing should have been able to overpower a Dusk Caste, but Seal was rolling around on the carpet like he was fighting an attack dog and every so often the cymbals managed to crash together anyways. Pushing where she could, Des helped steer them to the Sanctuary door and hold it open, revealing a dark hallway beyond. "And fucking stay out, you devil fucking bastard!" Seal shouted, hurling the statue into the darkness and slamming the door shut.

+++

"HOW DID IT GET BACK IN!" Seal howled, holding the bathroom door shut with all his strength. Something thumped against it on the other side. Star was sitting on the toilet with the lid closed, rocking back and forth, muttering "we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die."

"Okay, get ready," Des said, reaching deep within her. "Ready, steady, go!"

Seal flung open the door and Des retched, throwing up a mass of black slime. Sure enough, the monkey was on the other side, screeching and clapping its cymbals, and Des directed the spell towards it. She felt the slime lengthen into the shape of her shadow and begin creeping towards the monkey. "Close it, close it, close it," she yelled, slamming the door shut.

The two of them braced their backs against the door, sliding to the floor together. "Do you think it got it?" Seal asked.

Des shook her head. "I'm afraid to check," she confessed.

Seal snapped his fingers at Star. "Hey. Hey, birdbrain. Snap out of it."

Star whipped around to glare at Seal. "What the fuck did you call me, you little shtringy bashtard?"

Seal grinned. "Yeah, that's the spirit. You got Stealth Charms, right? See if Des got it."

Star muttered, but Seal's taunt seemed to have broken him out of it. He rolled up his sleeves and concentrated, and Des watched him fade out of sight. She cracked the door open for a second, then closed it again.

"Well, shomefing happened," Star said when he was visible again. "I don't know what you did to it, but shomefing."

Des opened the door again, and she and Seal peered out. The monkey was visibly straining to clap, embroiled as it was in the tarry shadow-substance. Its screeching was muffled, but its red eyes shone with just as much hatred.

"Quick!" Seal yelled. "Fire! Fire cleanses!"

"I'm the occultist here!" Des yelled back, but she picked it up begrudgingly. The shadow-stuff was oily and sticky, but the monkey-fur was pulsatingly warm in a way that was simultaneously disgusting and terrifying. Star held the kitchenette door open for her, and she set it on one of the burners then cranked it to full blast. The Hungry Creeping Shadow spell quickly burned away, leaving the statue free to clap and scream, but Des captured it under a pot and weighed it down with all her weight. They listened to it crashing and banging inside the pot, but eventually the noises quieted down.

Des turned off the burner and cautiously cracked the pot open. No noise emerged. She lifted it higher, then cursed. "Shit," she said. "It's still here."

Seal demanded to see, shoving her aside and throwing the pot off. Sure enough, the monkey was sitting on the burner, its fur streaked with black. "It'sh not making any noishe, though," Star said hopefully. "Maybe that meansh it'sh dead?"

The monkey's eyes lit up red.

Seal's anima erupted to iconic, but before he could do anything, Harvester walked into the kitchen. "Oh, hey," he said. "You found the monkey." The Daybreak picked it up, fiddled with something on the underside of the base. The light in the monkey's eyes died away.

Des' jaw dropped. Harv called out through the door, "Is this what you were talking about?" And Tower's head poked through the door.

"Yeah, that's it--" they started to say, before being ambushed by all three Shitheads flinging themselves onto them. Even gargantuan as they were, they staggered backwards a little. "We thought you were dead!" sobbed Star dramatically. Seal stepped away hastily, muttering about how he didn't, no, he knew they were fine --

Tower blinked confusedly. "No. I cut myself on the cymbals and went to go find bandages so I didn't spill blood on the walls. It's very hard to clean. Then I found Harvester. He said he knew how to fix it."

Harv poked his head out of the kitchen, frowned at where the four of them were sprawled on the Sanctuary floor. "Did you guys try to set this thing on fire?" he said. "You know there's an off switch, right?"

The Abyssals, looked down, unwilling to meet each other's gazes. Harv chuckled. "What's that thing Lion was saying?" he said. "Trick a fucking treat."

#sanctuary in black #emetophobia for ts?#i thought about having it be longfurby but in the end Horrid Fucking Monkey is an institution #hour in black

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texanredrose · 8 years ago

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RWBY Fic Master List

Alright! So! Here’s a masterlist of everything I have posted for RWBY! I’ll try to keep it up to date but... ya know... sometimes I forget things. Broken down by main pairing and listed alphabetically! Also, an asterisk (*) denotes part of a one shot collection on FFN/AO3 and bold indicates explicit NSFW elements.

Monochrome (Weiss x Blake)

Black Cat Song (Nightmare Before Christmas AU) | FFN | AO3 Catlantis (Atlantis AU) | One Shot Defector (AU) | FFN | AO3 Expectations (College AU) | Part 1 Fighting for Us (Military AU) | FFN | AO3 Fortune (Rags to Riches) | One Shot Day Off (Holiday) | One Shot It’s Funnier in French (Modern AU) | FFN | AO3 | One Shot Just Go With It (Booty Call AU) | One Shot Leader (Voltron AU) | One Shot Let It Go (Frozen AU) | One Shot Little Steps (Angel and Demon AU) | One Shot Looking Back (Modern? AU) | FFN | AO3 Loyalty (quasi-military AU) | FFN | AO3 Of Love and Politics (Escort AU) | FFN | AO3 | Part 1 | Part 2 Pour Enough (Prohibition AU) | FFN | AO3 Private Dance (Stripper AU) | FFN | AO3 | One Shot Risque (Generic AU) | One Shot Saga of the Dango (Future Fic) | FFN | AO3 | Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 Speak Now (Canon Divergent AU) | FFN | AO3 Stranger Than Fiction (Actor AU) | Part 1 The Partner Swap Mission (Canon Divergent AU) | FFN | AO3 | One Shot Tis The Season (Black Cat Song Universe) | One Shot This and That (Sharing) | One Shot Truth and Fiction (Writer/Editor AU) | One Shot Wrong Side of Heaven (Angel and Demon AU) | FFN | AO3 | Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6

Elderburn (Winter x Yang)

Monochrome & Elderburn

Freezerburn (Weiss x Yang)

Pyrruby (Ruby x Pyrrha)

Expectations (College AU) | Part 2 / Part 5

SolarFlare (Yang x Sun)

Expectations (College AU) | Part 3 Planning Ahead (Generic Future AU) | One Shot

Ladybug (Ruby x Blake)

Birthday Present | One Shot

Winter Rose (Ruby x Winter)

Iced Coffee (Weiss x Coco)

Cuddle Bug (White Tiger!Weiss AU) | AO3 | One Shot

White Tiger (Winter x Sienna)

Carry Me Home

Bee’s Schnee (Weiss x Blake x Yang)

Bee’s Big Schnee (Blake x Yang x Winter)

Going Long | One Shot

Frappuccino (Weiss x Blake x Velvet)

Frappuccinhoes (One Shot Collection) | AO3 Happens So Fast (Grease AU) | One Shot Hell Hath No Mercy (Overwatch AU)* | One Shot Overload (Blake is a Tattoo Artist AU)* | One Shot

Northern PolariBees/Gaytorade (Weiss x Blake x Yang x Pyrrha)

Celebrity Matchmaker (Game Show AU) | FFN | AO3 | Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

Greek Snowdragon (Yang x Winter x Pyrrha)

Eavesdropper | One Shot Take a Break | One Shot

Snowdragon Witch (Yang x Winter x Glynda)

Trial With Fire (Teachers AU) | One Shot

Stripes (Yang x Winter x Sienna) (It’s a shitpost and a crackship y’all)

Knowing

Weiss!Harem

Symphony of Souls (Reincarnation AU) | Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 /

Hunting for Haunts (Supernatural AU) Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 /

Fairytale of Remnant The Secret Ingredient |

Runner Up (Ruby x Blake x Pyrrha, Weiss x Coco, Yang x Winter, Summer x Raven, Raven x Taiyang)

RWBY RWKS AU (Weiss x Blake x Velvet, Ruby x Pyrrha, Yang x Winter, Summer x Raven x Taiyang, Kali x Ghira) Blindsided by the Beat |

No Ship Specified

Communication is Key Mother’s Day

Works in Progress

#TRR writes #TRR Masterlist

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tifanykbaret84 · 8 years ago

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How a Goofy Southern Sitcom Became the Vanguard of the Neo-Confederacy

On Sunday afternoon, in a tent packed with fans of a television show that last aired on prime time 32 years ago, a fictional grease monkey donned a gray tailcoat and accepted an honorary promotion to Major General in the Confederate Army. The crowd of roared approval as Ben Jones, the real-life TV actor turned Congressman turned entrepreneur, accepted a plaque from a group called the Virginia Flaggers, applauding him “For meritorious service rendered in the defense of Southern heritage.”

During the six years from 1979 to 1985 that the “Dukes of Hazzard” ran on television, Jones played Cooter Davenport, the resourceful sidekick mechanic who kept the Duke boys’ beloved muscle car The General Lee tuned up and always a couple of miles per hour faster than the hapless sheriff of a made-up Georgia county. Fourteen years after he left Congress after two terms, Jones, a native southerner who turns 76 this month, has parlayed his fame as a good-natured good ‘ol boy on TV into an indefatigable supporter of southern heritage and the battle flag of Dixie that has become one of the most divisive symbols in the real-life modern culture war.

And this explains how Jones came to organize “Cooter’s Last Stand.” Nominally it was a two-day fan fest and promotional event for his new restaurant and shop in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but in no small measure it also served as a kind of political rally for the neo-confederacy movement that has grown in direct proportion to the number of Civil War monuments that have been yanked down in town squares throughout the South.

As the crowd hooted with delight—"That's a good-looking Cooter right there!" someone shouted—Jones launched into a stump speech that dialed into the indignation of a largely white crowd, more than a few of whom wore Make America Great Again hats and a staggering variety of Confederate flag insignia.

"These people—these political radicals—are asking us to turn our backs on our ancestors. That's not going to happen!" vowed the former Georgia Democrat, who quit his party after it turned into what he calls an "urban liberal party." Like many other rural white men, Jones voted for Donald Trump. This spring, Jones moved his franchise to Page County, which went for Trump by 73 percent in November. It was friendlier territory, he says, than the snobbish Rappahannock County, on the other side of the mountains, where the restaurant had been located and where he and his wife, Alma Viator, a former publicist for Broadway's Shubert family, still have a home.

Over the two-day event—a Southern gothic extravaganza that was part county fair, part bluegrass music festival, featuring pro-wrestling matches and muddy monster truck rides, not to mention dozens of replicas of the famous 1969 Dodge Charger they called the General Lee—it was difficult to identify a clear dividing line between a benignly apolitical television show and a political ideology premised on the split between rural and the urban elite. Though no politicians were invited to the event (not even Corey Stewart who ran an unsuccessful bid for the GOP nomination for Virginia governor on an explicitly neo-Confederate platform), it was not an accident that one of the most popular booths among the crowd of some 30,000 people was the one belonging to the Virginia Flaggers, the controversial group that had given Jones his battlefield promotion.

“Every time they take one down, we put one up,” boasted Susan Hathaway, founder of the organization whose mission is to redecorate the Old Dominion with various battle flags of Dixie—most notably the "Southern Cross.”

Even the weekend’s entertainment came with a thick barbecue sauce of red-meat partisanship.

The pro wrestling match on Sunday featured a lumbering, baby-faced villain who wore a Hillary Clinton shirt and "trash talked" about clean air protections, sanctuary cities for immigrants and, most heinous of all, his hatred of the Confederate flag.

"All those stupid flags gotta come down!" taunted the 37-year-old wrestler, whose real name is Daniel Richards, a real-estate agent in Richmond. The crowd booed as he pranced around in briefs emblazoned with "Progressive Liberal" across his rear end.

"We want Trump! We want Trump! We Want Trump!" the crowd chanted. With that, the Progressive Liberal pulled out a Confederate flag in one hand, faked spitting on it, and stuffed it in a trash bag. The climax of the match was the arrival of his opponent, Beau James, who, unlike his namesake, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, vanquished his enemy and restored the flag to prominence.

***

Not so long ago, this Trump territory was not so long ago—like other rural areas across America—home to Yellow Dog Democrats who, no matter how socially conservative or culturally different they were from their city-slicker party elders, wouldn't have considered shedding their Democratic identity. But that has all changed as the party's leadership has consistently ignored the concerns of rural “Bubbas,” says Democratic political strategist Dave "Mudcat" Saunders.

Saunders, who grew up in the Shenandoah Valley of southwest Virginia, built a career around promoting Democratic candidates in his state, including Mark Warner and former Senator Jim Webb. He has known Jones, whom he calls Cooter, for years. Saunders got so sick of his party’s "arrogant" neglect that, after supporting Bernie Sanders in last year’s Democratic primary he voted for Trump, just like his friend Jones. "It took my great party a while to tarnish its brand in rural America, and it's going to take a while to shine it up again," says Saunders, who didn't attend the event at Cooter's.

But unlike Saunders, who says he'll always be a Democrat, Jones became an independent after he felt the Democrats had become "unbearably politically correct" and turned into an "urban liberal party." In spite of thinking the Republican nominee was a "loose cannon," and despite having voted twice for Barack Obama, Jones couldn’t countenance a vote for Clinton, who represents all the errors of his former party. ("90 percent of our customers feel the same way," Jones says. "They were Democrats.")

"[Trump] has a screw loose really and he doesn't understand the requirements of the office," Jones said. But Jones is more offended and upset by the media, which he feels has "given up on objectivity and balance" in its coverage of Trump. "He may be impeached or put in a padded cell some place. We all know that. But he's still being treated unfairly."

Jones’ beef with the forces of political correctness is personal. After Dylann Roof, an avowed white supremacist murdered nine black people at a week night Bible study, Jones rallied to the defense of the Confederate flag which he felt was being unfairly maligned as a symbol of racism. Within days of the massacre, Warner Brothers, which owns the rights to all “Dukes of Hazzard” merchandise, announced it would no longer manufacture toy General Lee cars with the Confederate flags on the roofs. About the same time, Viacom, owner of TV Land network, dropped “The Dukes of Hazzard” from its lineups on the grounds that its Confederate displays were insensitive at such a painful moment.

Jones, who grew up poor in Portsmouth, Va., is proud of his record as a civil rights activist in the 1960s. As a student on and off at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, he said he participated in lunch counter sit-ins and other demonstrations to advance equality for blacks in the South and was "even shot at" by the Ku Klux Klan, whose members he calls "vile, horrible people." But the move to eradicate Confederate iconography is "Orwellian," he says.

But the corporate clampdown only seems to have produced a backlash among Hazzard fans —and a financial bonanza for the Joneses, who appear to have made an untold small fortune off the Cooter brand. They charged $40 per adult for a two-day admission to Cooter's Last Stand and they regularly charge guests at their Nashville and Gatlinburg, Tennessee stores for photos taken in the General Lee or in Cooter's Tow Truck. DVD and download sales for “The Dukes of Hazzard” have soared since the Warner Brothers decision. On a recent morning, on Amazon’s list of the top DVD sales this morning, season box sets of “The Dukes of Hazzard” dominated the top five slots.

“It’s a wacky, crazy thing,” says Jones of the show’s enduring popularity.

Viator bought up the remaining 20,000 licensed toy cars after Warner Bros. stopped making them. She estimates they sold about 400 of the cars over the weekend for $100 each inside their merchandise store. And she predicts the remainder will be "gone by Christmas."

For some, though, a toy car can be a vehicle to distribute a more sinister message.

Julian Maxwell Hayter, a 42-year-old African-American historian at the University of Richmond, was a big “Dukes of Hazzard” fan as a child growing up in Iowa. Watching the Duke boys outfox Boss Hogg and his toady sheriff was a Friday night ritual for him. The Confederate flag atop the General Lee and the car horn's Dixie tune never struck a nerve with him and today, on a personal level, he isn't offended by flag wavers whose ancestors fought and died in the Civil War. But Jones’ profit-motive puts him in a different category, he says.

"At best he's capitalizing off the mythology of white Southern heritage; at worst he's capitalizing off hatred," says Hayter. "They're not always mutually exclusive."

***

It was a silly sitcom about a couple of paroled moonshiners that one critic predicted wouldn’t last past the first commercial break. Nearly four decades later the line for autographs from surviving members of the original cast, all of whom were in attendance, stretched for hours, hundreds of people willing to fork over $20—or even the $30 that John Schneider ("Bo Duke") charged—for the privilege of a photo with an actor and signature on a ball cap, or even a full-size car door of a replica General Lee.

Certainly there were plenty in the crowd who had no interest in debating the cultural rift manifested by Trump’s victory in November, but it was hard not to find people for whom the event was much more than a nostalgia kick.

One of those was Russell Pipkin, 37, who lives just south of the Mason-Dixon line in Mount Airy, Maryland, between Washington and Gettysburg. Pipkin, a warehouse manager, traces his roots to North Carolina and wears his Confederate heritage on his vest, his belt buckle, his earrings and a ring on his finger. On his right arm he has tattooed the Southern Cross battle flag with the words Crazy Rebel.

"It has nothing to do with race," he said, wearing—on top of all his accessories—a battle flag t-shirt as he waited for a mounted cavalry re-enactment to get underway. "It's more, for me, about just the way our country is headed...Anything that's Southern is viewed as hatred. That's not right."

After the cavalry charge—the men in gray won this time—and after the last wrestling match and the bluegrass bands ended, the mood shifted back toward a less politically fraught vibe.

In the finale of “Cooter’s Last Stand,” the other six surviving members of the cast—most notably the three stars Catherine Bach (Daisy), John Schneider and Tom Wopat (Bo and Luke), along with Don Pedro Colley (Sheriff Little), who walked with the aid of canes —joined Jones on stage for the sham battle of the shindig: a rowdy but teary rendition of the show’s opening tune that Waylon Jennings made famous with his baritone twang. Schneider and Wopat, who now acts on Broadway, picked their guitars and tried to do justice to the original: "Just the good ol' boys, wouldn't change if they could...making their way the only way they know how; that's just a little bit more than the law will allow."

"God bless y'all!" Jones shouted over the band between verses. "And God bless the United States!"

from Tiffany Favorites http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/02/neo-confederacy-dukes-of-hazzard-cooters-last-stand-215450

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tomdwilliams32 · 8 years ago

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How a Goofy Southern Sitcom Became the Vanguard of the Neo-Confederacy

Even the weekend’s entertainment came with a thick barbecue sauce of red-meat partisanship.

***

“It’s a wacky, crazy thing,” says Jones of the show’s enduring popularity.

For some, though, a toy car can be a vehicle to distribute a more sinister message.

"At best he's capitalizing off the mythology of white Southern heritage; at worst he's capitalizing off hatred," says Hayter. "They're not always mutually exclusive."

***

After the cavalry charge—the men in gray won this time—and after the last wrestling match and the bluegrass bands ended, the mood shifted back toward a less politically fraught vibe.

"God bless y'all!" Jones shouted over the band between verses. "And God bless the United States!"

from Tom Williams Blog http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/02/neo-confederacy-dukes-of-hazzard-cooters-last-stand-215450

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lex1nat0r · 8 months ago

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White Elephant: "I'm not above drugging a priest."

AAR #14 & #15

Session reports from my ongoing Lancer campaign.

Characters (LL 2):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Heavy Gunner/Centimane/Nuclear Cavalier, Barbarossa 2)

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey/Technophile 2/Engineer/Juggernaut, Pegasus 2) - (player not present for session #14)

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory/Stormbringer/Brutal/Brawler 2, Balor 2)

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Engineer 2/Infiltrator, Vlad 2)

Magpie (They/Them, Hacker 3/Technophile 2, Goblin 2)

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prometheus Antichiral - fork of a cascaded NHP from the Sanctuary Blue cloning facility - projects as a wizened old man - unshackled

Prev session writeup

Since they have some leftover cash, the lancers decide to hire a pilot for the bomber chassis Rook won in the dance marathon. They decide on Zephyr of Goblin Riot, and also allow Arjhet and Tehjra to tag along. All three are filled in on the fact that the Eye of the Tiger as a seemingly-functional blinkspace drive.

The group blink to X-9-237 to look for any information on the local blinkspace disturbances. The ship receives another garbled omninet message while in transit, this one seemingly a little more coherent than the last but still unintelligible. Scans of the planet pick up some kind of facility that still has power, as well as the fact that its atmosphere is both corrosive and invasive. There are also two wrecked ships in orbit and both seeming to have suffered explosive hits.

The lancers head out in their mechs to investigate the more intact ship. They find that its escape pods are missing and its NHP and flight recorder have been pulled. They are able to hack the computers in the medbay to discover this is the Pillar of Salt, ostensibly a merchant frigate but with possible ties to the Horizon Collective. The second ship presents some difficulty navigating through due to its radical reconfiguration but the lancers are eventually able to reach its flight recorder. This ship is the Electric Eye, and its flight recorder reveals that it's operated by a HORUS cell out of Metahome. It was here for the same reason the Eye of the Tiger is - to investigate whatever data the planetside station may have on blinkspace. Unfortunately they weren't expecting the facility to have such sophisticated planetary defenses.

This presents the lancers with the question of how they're going to get down safely to check out the facility. They eventually settle on using their mech systems to cover the Kingfisher. One hive drone, two false idols, some smoke grenades, and a couple of close calls later they make it down to the surface of X-9-237 in one piece. The facility's in bad shape, but the lancers are able to pull what data they can. It seems that the place was forgotten about by Union during or shortly after the ThirdComm revolution and the staff decided to take what data they could and leave. Some planned to sell to MilArgo, some to Rimtech, and a few went to Agatha's World to hand it over to the Church of Starcount Saints. That last one interests the lancers, as it implies some sort of theological significance to the data. From what's left in the facility, the lancers can piece together that there is some kind of anomaly in the local topography of blinkspace.

While debating their next destination the Eye's sensors pick up some kind of ship approaching. They decide to just blink out immediately to Agatha's World, raising the ship's Suspicion but leaving the unknown contact with no information.

No strange messages arrive at the ship during the blink, but Raiju does pick up a suspicious omninet message originating from the ship. They can't break its encryption, but they do determine that Arjhet & Tehjra have sent a message to the Horizon Collective cell on Metahome.

The data the lancers want is restricted, so they make their case to the Space Deacon in charge of the archives, who allows them to make a copy in exchange for allowing a member of the Church to tag along to record what they encounter. Sunshine manages to find the chillest member of the clergy, who they're reasonably sure won't be too interested in the Eye of the Tiger's blinkdrive.

With that settled, the group decides to travel to Metahome next to investigate the Horizon Collective and HORUS cells they suspect to be active there.

Next time: omninet slapfights?

#the danse mechabre #tdm white elephant #lancer

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rubyredbusser · 6 years ago

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Muse Verses (A WIP Guide)

Current Verse (if non is stated):: Sammy lives in Sanctuary with Moxxi, sometimes fast traveling down to multiple scrapyards on Pandora

Grease Monkey AU:: Sammy lives with her still living mother in The Parched Fathoms, she travels a lot to T-Bone Junction, visiting family here and there.

Runaway:: (Definitely a WIP) Sammy’s a runaway, plain and simple, leaving Sanctuary to hopefully make a living for herself

I may add more but other than that these are the AUs I’ve mostly thought up

#[holla holla; ooc]#Versestuff

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lex1nat0r · 10 months ago

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White Elephant: The Pasta Interlude

AAR #12

Session reports from my ongoing Lancer campaign.

Characters (LL 2):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Heavy Gunner/Centimane/Nuclear Cavalier, Barbarossa 2)

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey/Technophile 2/Engineer/Juggernaut, Pegasus 2)

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory/Stormbringer/Brutal, Balor 2)

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Engineer 2/Infiltrator, Vlad 2)

Magpie (They/Them, Hacker 3/Technophile 2, Goblin 2)

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prometheus Antichiral - fork of a cascaded NHP from the Sanctuary Blue cloning facility - projects as a wizened old man - unshackled

Prev session writeup

Safely in orbit, Director Prinzivalli once again reassures the lancers that she's good for the money she promised them. Magpie doesn't quite believe her and attempts to sneakily insert a tracking program onto her communications device. Prinzivalli notices, but keeps the tracker online as a show of faith.

Back aboard the Eye of the Tiger the lancers are greeted by Lt. Nightingale, the ship's tactical officer, and informed that Neuropa has transferred all the money they were promised for the contract thanks to some pressure by Cortex Concord. The lancers have already had their share transferred to them. They are also met by Ivan, Rook's husband and part of the ship's medbay staff. While the lancers are getting tested for any alarming diseases they may have picked up planetside, Nightingale asks why they didn't just follow the letter of the contract. The group responds that the did not trust Neuropa from the jump and they couldn't just leave the people there once they found out about them. They may be time-displaced by 500 years, but there's still causes worth fighting for. Nightingale says they are relieved that the lancers still believe in fighting the good fight.

Prinzivalli skips off as soon as Ivan clears her, saying she'll contact the lancers tomorrow with their reward. Ivan says none of the lancers picked up anything nasty while planetside, but Daylight does have some unknown prions in her bloodstream. She blames Willow.

Raiju uses their old SecComm clearances and backdoors into Harrison Armory's systems to grab the Barbarossa 2 license, then gets playfully needled about hogging the ship's one Schedule 2 printer for hours to fabricate parts for the biggest mech any of the crew have ever seen.

Sunshine continues to decrypt the HORUS omninet package they found, and when they go to test-print Exchange of Affection with some new systems out pops a Pegasus.

While Rook is waiting for Raiju to finish assembling a Barbarossa lego-style he fires up the PROMETHEUS fork they took from the facility. Prometheus is predictably confused, but is okay working with Rook (who Prometheus assumes to be the whole crew given his problems distinguishing one human being from another). Rook places Prometheus in charge of his new Balor, and Prometheus finds controlling a greywash swarm a lot easier than trying to deal with individual humans.

Magpie prints out a goblin suit without issue, but expresses concern about how fragile it is.

Daylight uses Brian's discount to pick up the second Vlad license then goes to find a drink on the station. She goes to check out the options available on the station. First is Shell Casings, which is advertising a dance marathon(*) starting tomorrow night and going until there's only one person left to claim the grand prize, a lightly-used tactical bomber. Organics and androids can both compete, though organics get a 5-minute break every 3 hours while androids don't.

Across the causeway from Shell Casings is Servo Assist, advertising a regular dance competition tomorrow night. That has separate android and organic brackets, with the winner from each being able to pick from the bar's big bin of mech parts.

But what really catches Daylight's eye is Comrade Fettuccine's Pasta Dispensary(**), a franchise she remembers from 500 ago and is surprised to find still around. She quickly texts the rest of the lancers to get over there because they still have the vodka-infused pasta that was a big hit back in the day. Rook drags Ivan along as well and the group has a pleasant meal chatting with the proprietor, Big Larry, who tells them the rumor about the ghost ship that visited the station a few months back. The session ended with the group discussing which bar's event they would participate in tomorrow night.

(*) sausage-making: the day before I ran this session I watched Ebirah: Horror From the Deep, the beginning of which involves a couple of people meeting at a dance marathon. I figured that was the kind of thing a bar on a mercenary space station would have. Once again Godzilla shows us the way.

(**) sausage-making: way back when I ran Pastel City Blues one of the players asked if there was an Italian restaurant they could raid for garlic before confronting some vampires. Off the cuff I said yeah, Fettuccine's Pasta Palace is a block away. Ever since then I've had the name "Comrade Fettuccine's Pasta Dispensary" rattling around in my head for when I needed an establishment in a sci-fi setting.

The best downtime Lancer session I've run so far, I think. Tentatively, I suspect my problem goes thusly: because Lancer's Downtime Actions are so well-defined and have built-in mechanics for generating complications, I'm tempted to just let downtime be the players picking one of those each and improvising what happens based on the rolls. But I don't think that works that well for me. I'm going to try out running downtime/non-combat sessions more traditionally by having things happen to the PCs not prompted by their rolls, and defining things beforehand that the players might want to interact with. Fleshing things out outside of the defined results of Downtime Actions. We'll see how that does for me.

Next time: Nuclear war on the dancefloor?

#the danse mechabre #lancer #tdm white elephant

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lex1nat0r · 5 days ago

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White Elephant: Business As Usual

AAR #25 & #26

Session reports from my ongoing Lancer game.

Characters (LL 4):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Heavy Gunner 2/Nuclear Cavalier 3, Barbarossa 3/Monarch 1) - HA Barbarossa “Counterproposal”

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey 3/Technophile 2/Engineer 1/Gunslinger 1, Pegasus 3, Black Witch 1) - HORUS Pegasus “Exchange of Affection”

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory 1/Brutal 3/Leader 3, Balor 3/Gorgon 1) - HORUS Balor “Your Burden” (player not present for session #26)

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Engineer 3/Ace 2, Vlad 3/Nelson 1) - IPS-N Vlad “Look What You Made Me Do”

Magpie (They/Them, Hacker 3/Technophile 3/Drone Commander 1, Goblin 3/Hydra 1) - HORUS Goblin “Destructive Interference”

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prometheus Antichiral - fork of a cascaded NHP from the Sanctuary Blue cloning facility - projects as a wizened old man - unshackled

Alex - library administrator, rescued from the RimTech corporate archive - projects as a librarian - shackled, currently in low power mode

Sisyphus - Via Sunshine’s Pegasus 3 - no known projection habits [ha ha ha you can’t see me] - shackled

Osiris - Via Magpie’s Goblin 3 - projects to seemingly puppet around Destructive Interference - shackled

Prev session writeup

A few days after the destruction of the Argo the lancers meet with Stefan at MilAgro corporate headquarters to pick up the blinkspace data they were after. Rebuilding around Angelus Prime is underway and with MilAgro now mostly under the control of Stefan's faction the megacorp is gearing up to resist the Guardian Fleet. Lucien Trulock and most of the other Shield Frontier-aligned MilAgro upper management managed to escape and are probably looking for supporters but they're currently low priority. On their way out of the HQ the lancers are ambushed by Lottie Wisely, the reporter from Argus Syndicated Networks who covered their battle with the Argo, asking who these mysterious heroes are. Sunshine does the talking but Magpie steps in to end the interview when Sunshine almost reveals that the Eye of the Tiger has a blinkdrive.

Possible targets for next steps.

Back on board the battleship, the group discusses what to do next. They now have the complete set of blinkspace data but that will take time to interpret. The Tiger's systems can do it, but it will take time. The lancers decline to meet back up with the Horizon Collective or make contact with HORUS on Metahome, and after some debate decide not to take the data to Union on Cold Comfort. The question of how much to trust Union is still up in the air. From the data on the Argo they know the Guardian Fleet's next targets, but the Tiger sustained some damage in the fighting above Angelus Prime and while it's still fully functional it will be in real danger if it has to get into another space battle. The lancers decide to transmit the intelligence from the Argo to their allies in the sector and blink to Smogless for repairs.

Approaching the Rimtech shipyards above Smogless the lancers find ex-Director now Senior Administrator Prinzivalli running the dock they've been assigned to. After catching up with what she's been doing since getting her off of Sanctuary Blue the lancers finally defrost the refugees from Angelus Landing and take some R&R planetside.

(It is only writing this up now that I realize I have forgotten to determine if the NHP Alex wants to be dropped off as well or is willing to stay on board the Eye of the Tiger. For next time.)

During their planetside stay Daylight notices a Neuropa drone keeping tabs on her and Rook. Prinzivalli gets in touch, letting the lancers know that she has an urgent mission for them: the Rimtech shipyards are under widespread attack by Blackspine terrorists and Rimtech security can't protect them all. So she needs the lancers to come help. They scramble into orbit and get filled in: all the other strikes by Blackspine look like they're causing damage at all the other sites, but here they're trying to get into Rimtech's deep omninet.

Combat 5.1: Script Kiddie Showdown

Sitrep: Control + Terminals (from Enhanced Combat)

OPFOR:

Shattering Disease (T1 Veteran Witch, Hacker/Chain)

T2 Aegis x1 (Ring of Fire)

T2 Spacer Mirage x2 (Metafold Shove)

T2 Spacer Scourer (Supercharged) x3

T1 Witch (Chain) x1

(Tokens by Retrograde Minis (on the basic blank hex tokens that come with Lancer so they show up well), map by Interpoint Station’s Lancer sprites, VTT is Roll20)

Outcome: PC victory, 8 to 7 + terminals activated

Analysis:

Maybe this one was a little mean but Exchange of Affection only exploded after the sitrep was completed so it's all good.

The PCs took a lot of Stress and will probably go into the next combat with some lingering Stress, but Lancer giving characters two separate HP pools kicks ass because it allows a GM to mix up heat-focused and damage-focused sitreps without worrying about being too harsh.

Running a sitrep with no grunts physically pained me and these are going to be rare.

Because they activated the terminals (blinkspace monitoring devices to verify the integrity of Rimtech's omninet) the lancers are able to figure out what Blackspine was after - the location of a Rimtech deep space shipyard where they are in the process of building a battleship. What the lancers do with this information remains to be seen.

Next time: sabotage?

#lancer #the danse mechabre #tdm white elephant

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lex1nat0r · 3 months ago

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White Elephant: Heating Up

AAR #21 & #22

Session reports from my ongoing Lancer game.

Characters (LL 3):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Heavy Gunner 1/Nuclear Cavalier 3, Barbarossa 3) - HA Barbarossa “Counterproposal”

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey 2/Technophile 2/Engineer 1/Gunslinger 1, Pegasus 3) - HORUS Pegasus “Exchange of Affection”

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory 1/Brutal 3/Leader 2, Balor 3) - HORUS Balor “Your Burden”

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Engineer 3/Ace 1, Vlad 3) - IPS-N Vlad “Look What You Made Me Do”

Magpie (They/Them, Hacker 3/Technophile 3, Goblin 3) - HORUS Goblin “Destructive Interference”

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prometheus Antichiral - fork of a cascaded NHP from the Sanctuary Blue cloning facility - projects as a wizened old man - unshackled

Alex - library administrator, rescued from the RimTech corporate archive - projects as a librarian - shackled, currently in low power mode

Sisyphus - Via Sunshine's Pegasus 3 - no known projection habits [ha ha ha you can't see me] - shackled

Osiris - Via Magpie's Goblin 3 - projects to seemingly puppet around Destructive Interference - shackled

Prev session writeup

With its cryo deck full of frozen Rimtech civilians, the Eye of the Tiger blinks into orbit around Angelus Prime. They have a semi-legit mercenary contract to provide training for planetary militia, but the MilAgro battleship Repulse adjusts its orbit to let them know it's keeping an eye on them. The lancers, with some of the ship's marines, drop into a MilAgro training ground in a ruined city, abandoned due to heavy pollution on the planet's surface. Their contact is Stefan, an aged MilAgro clone who's become a labor organizer since Union's laws gave clones full human rights.

Stefan informs the lancers that he's organizing planetwide strikes and protests to force MilAgro's leadership to not side with the Guardian Fleet. What Stefan needs right now is help breaking other agitators out of a MilAgro prison. They would normally have been transferred to the prison planet Nohope, but that's been delayed since Nohope fell inside the Guardian Fleet occupation zone.

The lancers free the prisoners without much trouble, following Stefan's plan to tunnel into the mines under the prison. Sunshine works their charm to distract the guards, allowing Magpie to gather all the targeted prisoners in the infirmary and sneak them back out through the tunnel. As an encore, the group backdoors into a MilAgro corporate media station so Stefan can do some Max Headroom shit when the time comes.

Aside: given Sunshine's previous questing for an Eye of Midnight I figured I'd award them with some exotic equipment. Behold possibly the most broken thing I've wrought with my own hands:

Next, the lancers choose to defang the local MilAgro enforcement mech squads by stealing MilAgro printer cores under the cover of a vicious sandstorm.

Combat 4.1: Coarse, Rough, Irritating

Sitrep: Extraction

Environmental effect: due to the sandstorm clogging vents, all sources of Heat generate 1 additional Heat. (I don't think it actually happened in the fight, but I was willing to waive this slightly for Overkill - only the first instance of Overkill triggering gave the additional Heat. I didn't want someone to take Stress because of a bad string of Overkill rolls.)

OPFOR:

HALT (T2 Elite Archer - Covering Fire, Impending Threat) (it's important you understand that the pilot speaks like Yosemite Sam)

The Shield That Sleepeth Not (T2 Elite Goliath - Power Knuckle, Crushing Embrace)

Goliath x3 - Power Knuckle

Support x2 - Defensive Pulse

Berserker Grunt x10

Outcome: PC Victory on round 7

(Tokens by Retrograde Minis (on the basic blank hex tokens that come with Lancer so they show up well), map by Interpoint Station’s Lancer sprites, VTT is Roll20)

Some thoughts:

The colored auras are each character's Threat radius for Overwatch, having those visible always was helpful because I'm pretty sure we hadn't been tracking Threat accurately

I could have gone with Cataphracts or given the Berserkers Harpoon Cannons or Nailguns (probably replacing their Chain Axes because they're just grunts) but having that much forced movement felt like it would get annoying

Yes I had one of the Berserker Grunts try to melee the Vlad. You've got to feed the Vlad melee grunts occasionally, it's enrichment.

HALT was a very fun boss for this fight, but with a range of 10 he wasn't as useful in locking down the map as just having two Archers would have been. Next time I might make Veteran/Elite/Ultra increase an Archer's range.

2 grunts is not a threatening number of reinforcements. Should aim for 3 or even 4 at the end of a round if the reinforcement wave is just going to be grunts

All of the Goliaths could maybe have stood to be T2. My hesitation there was each Goliath suddenly being able to put out 2 attacks in what was already a pretty high-damage sitrep.

One of these days I'm going to figure out an excuse to have grunt Goliaths in a combat

With the organizers freed and the printer cores secured, the protests are all set to go ahead.

Next time: For every action...?

#lancer #the danse mechabre #tdm white elephant

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lex1nat0r · 4 months ago

Text

White Elephant: Moral quandaries are for people without freezers

AAR #20

Session reports from my ongoing Lancer game. The big two oh. It's a long one, I'm showing off how much work I put in.

Characters (LL 2):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Heavy Gunner/Centimane/Nuclear Cavalier, Barbarossa 2) - HA Barbarossa “Counterproposal”

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey/Technophile 2/Engineer/Juggernaut, Pegasus 2) - HORUS Pegasus “Exchange of Affection”

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory/Stormbringer/Brutal/Brawler 2, Balor 2) - HORUS Balor “Your Burden”

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Engineer 2/Infiltrator, Vlad 2) - IPS-N Vlad “Look What You Made Me Do”

Magpie (They/Them, Hacker 3/Technophile 2, Goblin 2) - HORUS Goblin “Destructive Interference”

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prometheus Antichiral - fork of a cascaded NHP from the Sanctuary Blue cloning facility - projects as a wizened old man - unshackled

Prev session writeup

With opposition in front of the corporate archive cleared and the massive blast doors rolled back, the lancers proceed inside. Sensors pick up several people hiding and it takes a while before a shaky Rimtech security guard comes out to challenge the five mech jocks on what they're doing. After assuring the guard and civilians that they aren't with the Guardian Fleet he takes them to a meeting room where everyone's holed up.

Several of the civilians want off-planet, which raises the question of whether the group should risk civilians running around on their highly secret, blink-capable battleship. Daylight resolves the issue by saying they should put all the civilians in cryosleep and only defrost them after a reasonable amount of travel time has passed. The group agrees to this.

The security guard leads the lancers (minus Raiju, who's watching the entrance) to the blinkspace topographical data they were after. Along the way they meet Alex, the facility's NHP, and decide to take them along. With the data and Alex's NHP casket secured, the lancers make their way out of Angelopolis to the marines' landing field. The civilians go up in the marines' lander while the lancers ride the Kingfisher back up. The civilians get safely tucked into cryosleep for what they think is a regular months-long journey while everyone else starts sorting out what to do next.

While the Eye of the Tiger is powering away from Angelus Landing on conventional drive to make it look like they're accelerating to near-lightspeed, Balboa notifies everyone that a broadcast from the Guardian Fleet has hit the omninet.

People of the Adramalech Sector: I am Thomas Angelgrave, Chairman-Martial of the Guardian Fleet, speaking on behalf of the Fleet. We have sojourned long in the dark beyond Union, and you do not need us to tell you that outer space is hostile to human life. We salute your hard-won lives and prosperity, and we are saddened to see that the so-called Third Committee of Union has failed you and is failing you. War with a hostile power is erupting in Boundary Garden, and the charlatans who claim to look after your interests show in the Dawnline Shore that they cannot even hold Union together. It is clear that their illegal coup of five hundred years ago has only served to weaken the once-great Union, allowing it to drift from the light of Cradle and humanity’s virtues.

We of the Guardian Fleet have decided that we can no longer wait in the dark as our beloved Union crumbles. Our time has come to act.

To the so-called Third Committee, our demands are simple:

Officially recognize the governance of the Guardian Fleet over this sector Immediately cease construction of the blink station Provide a timetable for dismantling the blink station Provide a timetable for the withdrawal of all Union fleet assets from the sector Agree to a defined border between the Adramalech sector and wider Union

In return, we are open to peaceful relations. We ask only that you let this sector stay as a shining beacon of what Union could be, and a place where Union and Cradle’s true values may live on should the worst come to pass. To the people of the Adamalech Sector: we welcome your cooperation in this difficult time. The recent bloodshed is regrettable. You have my and the Fleet’s apologies if your first contact with us was with our fists raised in anger. We can only hope that it will help to establish a foundation for a stronger, more prosperous sector. If we are to survive out here in the dark, we all must join together. We will not allow the so-called Third Committee’s disunity to infect your homes. With your help, we can safeguard this sector against the chaos brought on by Third Committee’s Union. The Guardian Fleet is the true heir of Union. And we are here to help.

The lancers are having none of this and start thinking of ways to fight back. Fortunately Arjhet and Tehjra are one step ahead of them.

A small glimpse of the sector-wide vibe check, which will be representing the state of the campaign for the foreseeable future. These are all basically Clocks off of Blades in the Dark, but I thought with this many that representing them as bars would convey the information better. I started working on this like a month before my players actually got to see it and their response was exactly what I was hoping for.

After some deliberation on the state of things, the lancers take their downtime actions. Magpie and Raiju hack into the Guardian Fleet's network, allowing them to stir up dissent and confusion in their battle net. Sunshine, Rook, and Daylight focus on coordinating resistance on the omninet, and do so well that they manage to turn MilAgro neutral in the vibe-check. Remembering that the last piece of blinkspace data they're looking for is on MilAgro's homeworld of Angelus Prime, the lancers set on that as their next destination.

Next time: fight for your right (to party?)

Postscript: You never really know what's going to end up mattering in a campaign like this. I introduced Arjhet & Tehjra because I had a funny idea for a pair of NPCs, but they've turned out to be extremely important to the campaign. Similarly, Scholar Blyden just kind of fell out of a couple of narrative rolls and now the PCs have a direct line to one of the big factions in the sector. Just goes to show that you shouldn't be afraid to put stuff in a campaign and let it roll.

#lancer #the danse mechabre #tdm white elephant

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lex1nat0r · 4 months ago

Text

White Elephant: Rumble in the Jumble

AAR #19

Session reports from my ongoing Lancer campaign

Characters (LL 2):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Heavy Gunner/Centimane/Nuclear Cavalier, Barbarossa 2) - HA Barbarossa “Counterproposal”

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey/Technophile 2/Engineer/Juggernaut, Pegasus 2) - HORUS Pegasus “Exchange of Affection”

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory/Stormbringer/Brutal/Brawler 2, Balor 2) - HORUS Balor “Your Burden”

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Engineer 2/Infiltrator, Vlad 2) - IPS-N Vlad “Look What You Made Me Do”

Magpie (They/Them, Hacker 3/Technophile 2, Goblin 2) - HORUS Goblin “Destructive Interference” Player not present this session

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prometheus Antichiral - fork of a cascaded NHP from the Sanctuary Blue cloning facility - projects as a wizened old man - unshackled

Prev session writeup

The Lancers attempt entry into the Rimtech corporate archive but are blocked by Guardian Fleet forces already on the ground. So just a fight for this session.

Combat 3.2: Difficulties in applying for a library card

Sitrep: Beacon Recon (from Enhanced Combat)+

Rimtech forced in the area had left a high-powered transmitter buried in some rubble (the yellow-outlined area on the left of the map). It could be reached by a dismounted pilot, and a Quick Action could be used to clear Lock-On from all friendlies.

OPFOR:

80-ton Gorilla (Veteran MBT (from Winter Scar) - Stabilized Railgun, Marker Nexus, Secondary Gunner, Legendary)

Stingbringer (Veteran Vehicle Rainmaker - Endless Rain, Shock Armor, Flier, Hover)

Scout x4 - System Flayer

Hive Grunt x6 - Tier 2, Seeker Cloud, -HK Nexus, -Razor Swarms

Outcome: PC Victory

(Tokens by Retrograde Minis (on the basic blank hex tokens that come with Lancer so they show up well), map by Interpoint Station’s Lancer map creation tool, VTT is Roll20)

Thoughts:

This is the first fight I've run that had a real Plan. Namely to inflict Lock-On on as many PCs as possible and then use Stingbringer to hit three targets a round with AP, Smart, Seeking missiles.

I thought this was going to be a tough setup, but DPR was lower than I was hoping for as the lancers predictably focused Stingbringer down in the first few turns. Its Shock Armor did nothing as it was hit with either Heavy or Auxiliary weapons. Giving it Lightning Reflexes would have made more sense (it's a helicopter) and might actually have dodged a hit.

80-ton Gorilla's railgun was the secondary source of damage for the fight and it did manage to structure both Counterproposal and Exchange of Affection, the only major damage from the combat. Still, I should have made the tank Elite instead of Veteran, giving it an extra turn each round to make up for the fact that the Scouts don't do damage.

That said, the Scouts' System Flayer annoyed the hell out of the players, so they did their job.

Making bespoke Hive Grunts was fun, and I liked that stripping out their options meant they had obvious actions each round. I bumped them up to Tier 2 since the PCs are LL 2, but 4 kinetic damage a shot isn't a whole lot of hurt with a Balor in the party.

More grunts in general per sitrep, I think, given we have a Pegasus and a Balor. And more activations on the damage dealers to put the squeeze on the players. It seems they can take it.

More Tier 2 enemies?

The Apocalypse Rail once again proved underwhelming for a 4-turn charge up. Going to tweak that.

It sounds like I'm being negative here, but it was still a solid fight that everyone enjoyed. Plus I have some definite takeaways and it definitely simulated a pack of lancers surprising a group of regulars.

Bonus thought:

As I was finishing preparing the setting Retrograde added a bunch of vehicle NPC sprites and I am very excited about finding excuses to use those. Love throwing combined arms opposition into a fight.

Next time: Adrift in a sea of manna?

#lancer #the danse mechabre #tdm white elephant

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lex1nat0r · 5 months ago

Text

White Elephant: Hell of an arm on that Barb

AAR #18

Session reports from my ongoing Lancer campaign

Characters (LL 2):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Heavy Gunner/Centimane/Nuclear Cavalier, Barbarossa 2) - HA Barbarossa “Counterproposal”

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey/Technophile 2/Engineer/Juggernaut, Pegasus 2) - HORUS Pegasus “Exchange of Affection”

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory/Stormbringer/Brutal/Brawler 2, Balor 2) - HORUS Balor “Your Burden”

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Engineer 2/Infiltrator, Vlad 2) - IPS-N Vlad “Look What You Made Me Do”

Magpie (They/Them, Hacker 3/Technophile 2, Goblin 2) - HORUS Goblin “Destructive Interference”

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prometheus Antichiral - fork of a cascaded NHP from the Sanctuary Blue cloning facility - projects as a wizened old man - unshackled

Prev session writeup

Having successfully disabled the battleship's linear accelerator the lancers flee back through the maintenance corridors to the Kingfisher. Unfortunately the battleship's crew have realized they've been boarded and the escape is a little tight, meaning that as soon as the lancers make it back to the Kingfisher they have enemy fighters on their tail. Lt. Nagase starts heading towards the Eye of the Tiger, now reaching low orbit above Angelus Landing. She alerts the lancers that there's a ruined Rimtech frigate a little off their flight path that will allow them to hide and lie low until they can safely get to the Eye of the Tiger. The party decides to take advantage of the wreckage instead of trying to go full speed to the Tiger.

With the Kingfisher safely nestled into one of the wrecked frigate's hangers, Lt. Nagase reports that her sensors are picking up faint readings from the frigate's reactor. Deciding that they can maybe use the reactor to recharge their mechs, the lancers set off into the wreckage. The party has to deal with some unexploded ordinance on their way, but aside from that the journey goes smoothy. The lancers are able to jury-rig connectors for their mechs to draw power, but the power draw turns out to be too high and draws the attention of a patrolling corvette. The corvette deploys boarders, cutting off the lancers from the Kingfisher. Raiju doesn't want to use their newly-recharged apocalypse rail so they instead backtrack to the frigate's magazines to arm a missile which Counterproposal then flings at the corvette, grievously damaging it and forcing the boarders to retreat in a panic. Getting back to the Kingfisher is easy after that, and they make it to the Eye of the Tiger without issue.

The lancers don't have time to rearm on the Tiger as Rimtech's defenses are rapidly collapsing under the unknown assault and things on the ground are only going to get worse. The lancers are able to get some important information: first, Scholar Blyden was able to get in contact with a colleague on one of the evacuation transports and learned that the information on blinkspace the lancers are after is likely airgapped in a corporate archive in Angelopolis, the planet's capital. Second, Balboa has analyzed the profile of the battleship the lancers boarded and discovered that it matches (accounting for 500 years of maintenance, less subjective time if it's been traveling near-c) the UNS-BB Cleveland, a battleship known to be active during the Second Committee period. Disturbed by this, the lancers get ready to go planetside with Maj. Miller's marines, to secure an evac point, and Zephyr, to provide close air support. Before they leave, Daylight gets a dataspike from Arjhet and Tehjra to suck as much data as possible out of the Rimtech corporate archive.

The group lands outside of Angelopolis, Maj. Miller dispatching squads to recon the cities as the lancers stride towards the archive. Along the way they rescue a Rimtech platoon pinned down in an apartment building. Daylight pauses to use the dataspike on one of the wrecked enemy vehicles to hack into their battlenet. They find that the force they're fighting calls themselves the Guardian Fleet, with ties to the Shield Frontier, the reactionary group on New Aeonia. Knowing they're throwing down with remnants of Second Committee Union, the lancers are eager to get into a scrap when they find that the Guardian Fleet got to the entrance to the archive first.

Lessons learned: If you use the full range of difficult/risky/heroic rolls and put some thought into consequences, Lancer's default narrative system is actually pretty robust. Should be good enough for my group for this campaign at least.

Next Time: Finding it really difficult to get a library card

#the danse mechabre #tdm white elephant #lancer

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