In the aftermath of the Cat People attack the crew decided it would be smart to retreat and try to find the correct path to Rail City. At some point during the backtrack, they stripped the late Auron of his gear and dumped his body unceremoniously off of the Rail Tank to land on the side of the tracks. The crew makes in back to the small switch yard and they find a sign which was written in sloppy spray paint that says, "Rail City This Way".
After some switching of tracks the get on the right track and start heading towards Rail City. Along a deserted stretch they come across a tall person who is walking down the tracks. They notice that this person is dressed in dark baggy pants, a black sweatshirt, with a wide brimmed hat, and a large wicker basket on the persons back. Parrot decides to slow the train down to a stop to interact with this new mysterious person as Parrot announces to the rest of the crew to not shoot first. As the the Rail Tank comes to a noisy stop along side the mysterious person that said person gives them a wide birth and moves next to the edge of the trees for a quick escape of need be. The crew trains their weapons on the mysterious person and are able to get a closer look. The crew notices that the right side of his face is robotic and his right leg ends in a metallic three toed claw.
The mysterious person holds up his hands in not aggression and says, "I do not mean anyone any harm. I am just heading towards Rail City, my name is 9 of 12". Parrot takes the lead in interrogating 9 of 12 and they quickly learn that 9 of 12 does not like the Star People, has had negative experience with other groups of people, and has his own business in Rail City. After the crew lowers their weapons and friendly conversation is happening all the way around 9 of 12 decides it is safe to introduce everyone to Ren. 9 of 12 points to the basket and makes the introductions. The rest of the crew gives each other odd looks as they do not see anyone in the basket but 9 of 12 does not acknowledge this or notice this interaction. After some hushed whispers they decide to allow 9 of 12 to join the crew. Once onboard, 9 of 12 points out all the cool things on the Rail Tank to Ren and sets the basket down next to him to feed ran a snack.
The crew heads down the tracks and after sometime they break out of the wood lines area into open fields on each side. Off to the right they notice a hover car with a well dressed person working in the dirt who is apparently collecting various plants and other specimens. On the back of the hover car there is large planter with tentacles coming out of it that are wiggling around and various small animals and bugs in cages. The crew decides to slow down and stop to to see if this person needs help.
As the crew, some members dismount and approaches cautiously with weapons drawn. The man looks up and says "Its a wonderful day in Detroit". The man pronounces it Detroit instead of the universal slang of "Troit". The man notices all the carnage on the Rail Tanks (the bodies of Star Children, etc.) and responds, "It is obvious that you guys do not like the Star people". He then goes on to explain that he is just out collection samples. As the conversation continues, Rail City is brought up as well as rations and wounds. The man finally introduces himself as Professor Arrod and explains that he has been working on some formulas to help the mutated folk. He slowly reaches into his bag and grabs a number of metal cylinders and tosses them Lladmar. The Professor exclaims, "You do not have to trust me but I promise they will help with healing". Then the crew asks The Professor about the red light and The Professor explains that is a very bad place and it is where the Star Children come from. He describes their leader and the crew realizes that that was the person on the big screen back at the lab.
The Professor explains how he has been around a long time and has a facility not to far from here and as 9 of 12 hears this, he stands up and The Professor whistles and exclaims, "Your an old one, I thought you were all destroyed. Hold up your arm." 9 of 12 holds up his left arm and his Metallica sweatshirt falls past his hand and reveals a metallic hand where the fingers end is vicious claws. The Professor then looks toward Wilhelm and explains how he can help him train the his Po Dog and reach in his pocket and pulls out a metal disc with some wires dangling it from it. The crew immediately takes a step back and aims their weapons at The Professor who then snaps his fingers and two large crabs with AK-47s come out of the ground and become defensive of the Professor. Parrot and Lladmar explains they were attacked by two of the same crabs and they both pull out their same metal discs they removed from the fallen crabs bodies.
The Professor waves his hand and the crabs back up behind him in a more a relaxed position as the Professor apologies and explains that they were way out of range and he could not command them. He continues that he will make it up to everyone and passes out more healing cylinders and gives 9 of 12 a book on firearm repair and history. In addition he explains the black boxes they found are communication devices and they should not be used as someone is listening to them. The professor finally says it is getting late as he loads up the last of his specimens and invites the crew to visit them at his faculty but he will be gone for sometime yet collecting specimens - at least a season. The professor waves the crew goodby gets in his hover car and takes off with the crabs flanking him on each side.
The crew continues on and as 9 of 12 is playing patty cake with Ren he notices out of the corner of his eye that there was a group of four legged animals keep pace with the Rail Tank. 9 of 12 lets the crew know about the situation as he tucks Ren back into the basket and puts her in the corner for safety and whispers some instructions to her. Wilhelm looks up and notices that the four legged creatures is a pack of Po Dogs and he decides to hold up the puppy. The entire crew heals a rough voice in their heads that say, "Give us back what belongs to us". Parrot stops the train and the Po Dogs take up attack positions and start to growl with a few barks mixed in-between. Wilhelm lets the crew know to relax and he will take care of this. Wilhelm steps off of the train, gets on all fours, and lets the puppy go as it runs to one of the adults. A loud voice in Wilhelm's head says, "My name is Drax, I am the alpha. Why do you habe one of our pups?" As Wilhelm starts to explain the story and him and Drax continue their mental conversation the rest of the crew remains tense surrounded by growling Po Dogs. The rest of the crew is unaware of the mental conversation between Wilhelm and one of the Po Dogs as forty five tense minutes pass.
Wilhelm eventually stands up and the entire pack of the Po Dogs take off except for one. Wilhlem walks back to the Rail Tank and explains that the Pod Dogs left him Kara to help them on their mission as they do not like the Star People or Masters of Clean as well. It is also as a token of good faith because Wilhelm took care of the surviving pup. Wilhelm also explained that he was given advice they they should clean up the Rail Tanks and remove the Star Peoples symbols (as Rail City does not welcome the Star People).
The crew then takes the time removing all of the carnage and tries to scratch off the symbols but the scratching is ineffective. 9 of 12 explains he can handle this task and goes around all of the vehicles concentrating on the symbols and the dried gore. The gore and the paint quickly starts to bubble and burn off as 9 of 12 then cools the metal to help prevent damage and to temper it.
The crew once again head downs the track and they finally see the twinkling lights of Rail City after the sun sets. Parrot slows down the train as they get closer and see that Rail City is surrounded by a wall made of stacked rail cars three or four high that is topped with turrets and guards walking around the top. They are stopped at the main gate and asked to state their business and the crew explains they are hear for supplies and to trade. The head guard spits on the ground ans asks for three gold for the entrance and parking fee. Huey and a few other members start to argue with the guard about the price and as the tensions start to rise a very large cactus man walks over and asks is their trouble. 9 of 12 pipes up and explains that there is no trouble and apologies for his companions behavior and hands the closest guard three gold. The big green man greens a horrific smile and talks about people don't have brains these days and how lucky we are as we just made it under curfew.
The crew is lead into the two large gates and directed to a parking stall. The crew realizes that the entire city is build using rail cars and the place is full people and some scattered mutants. The crew decides it is smart to lay low tonight and set off in the morning in groups because everyone was given things to do in addition to their own personal agendas. The crew decides who is going to do what and settles in for the night. 9 of 12 says he will take watch as he does not sleep.
Just another day in Detroit Suck City...
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PLAYER THOUGHTS: This was a great session full of exclusively role play and I really enjoyed the introduction of my new character to the group and the interaction with the Professor. It was great to see some of the things the characters experienced being connected to a larger picture. 9 of 12 is an synthetic form the old world that has been experimented on and is insane (and has a chance to go crazy in stressful situations). If you have not picked up on it, Ren (his 7 year old companion) is not real but an imaginary friend - though 9 of 12 does not know this. This has been one of my favorite characters I have played in a long time and I have been really able to get into the role play aspect of it.
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