Last weekend was the final weekend for Millie's 7th grade team, and after finally getting a solid look at the dynamics, I say good riddance.
We were down in Lancaster for another tournament, and for once both Millie and Maja played at the same location. Of course one played mid-morning and the other late Saturday night, so it's a loooong day.
I've been house-sitting for my sister and brother-in-law in Philly, as they take a cross-country tour through the Midwest and back through Canada, so I was just over an hour away. I got to the site, saw gross disorganization from the tournament staff, and some of the most eclectic teams they could assemble for 26 out of the 32 available courts. I knew there was an issue when, with a backed-up registration line, parents who needed to pay told their kids to simply run through and find their team at their court (which was permitted). Almost to the person, each one said they couldn't because they did not know the facility because it was their first time here. Given some of the poorer teams in our programs won more games on Saturday than they had all season,
Millie's group wasn't so lucky. The Genesee Vipers always looked like a quality organization that put other Upstate New York programs to shame. The refereeing was horrible, the scorekeeping atrocious, but with one of the girls missing to play in the World Games in Italy, the remainder of the team just didn't look like they wanted to play together. Even if everything was corrected, it would still be around a six-point victory, but those girls wanted to avoid each other, and there was nothing the coaches could do.
Their second game was against Central NY Savage, a group of sizable girls, but nothing Millie's team hasn't overcome with tenacity.
There was zero tenacity. I really don't want to blame them, as nine straight possessions constituted the ball being inbounded to the one particular player, and that player dribbled up court and shooting at/driving to the basket, with no other passes to teammates. That large pattern was endemic to the first half, where they were down 18-10. The pattern continued, until every other single player simply stopped playing, because the particular player wasn't passing, wasn't using screens, and just focused on scoring, until the lead grew to 18 points and the coach finally sat them for the rest of the game. The bleeding stopped, the team started scoring, but the best they could do was a 43-25 loss.
By the end of Saturday, we were all essentially done with the season, even with Maja's three more tournaments for June and July. Between the game play, and the absolutely atrocious uniforms (Millie's seam on the backside of her shorts split), I didn't anticipate her returning for the Fall, or possibly ever.
Maja's situation isn't as dire, but the only reason she tried out at all this year were true rumors of her favorite coach returning "one more time" With two injuries and one player returning from vacation, Maja got the rare start in the afternoon. (She had three starts last year, and only one the year before). She performed well, even if the stat sheet was empty in spots, with 48-6 rout. The second game was against the hated Bensalem Chargers, but this year's iteration was no match for Maja's team. An opposite of Millie's team, they LED 18-10 at half, then blew the doors off of them in the second, 25-4, for a 43-14 win.
Maja loves her coach, but is planning on AAU volleyball or track and field jumping camps with all the time basketball takes up.
Despite my bickering I was appreciative of their wins on Saturday because we didn't need to be on site for games until after noon!
Maja's team showed no mercy for their play-in game, proper passing and their star player made better choices.
Despite the spelling error on the schedule, I knew the team Maja's group was up against wasn't much of a challenge. They were regulars in the C and D-Level tournaments around Philly, so a 45-23 win wasn't a surprise with our bench playing 3/4 of the game. Maja graced me with actually taking and hitting two shots, so the Father's Day was improving.
Maja's championship game was against a solid program, but when they brought six to the court, and their tallest girl was shorter than Maja, I knew it would be about executing early. The team shot 50% overall, 50% from the 3, and 100% of their foul shots to win by almost 40.
We raced over the other side of the facility for Millie's championship, a rematch with CNY Savage. Following the formula for the first Sunday game, these 7th graders bent, but did not break in the 1st half, only trailing 27-24. Better shots fell in the 2nd, and the larger girls on Savage seemed to start making costly mistakes. Once Millie's team took the lead with a minute left, the Savage coach was broken to discover his girls needed to commit seven fouls even to reach 1-and-1 foul shooting, which drained all but twenty seconds ... and then the girls hit enough shots to seal the deal.
Millie's team has won 4 out of 6 tournaments this year, and two of them have involved them beating a team in the championship that they lost in pool play (Maja's team has one such instance). Not bad for a team of guards.
 |
| Nothing like two championships (and two trophies) for Father's Day |
School Ball: The Adventure Continues: Actual school ball started up after the last update, and so far there's zero complaints for the girls, and a bunch from me for other kids.
Maja's getting plenty of varsity time, and as much JV time as she wants. Millie is playing alongside Maja on JV. They've won their only game of the summer thus far 32-26, with a 16-1 run in the 2nd half, the only time where they played together.
I'm being far more vocal for the 7th/8th grade division, even though Millie (8th grader) has been told to stick with JV. They brought up other 8th graders to fill JV, while they let a lot of 9th graders languish in Jr High for the Summer. Having finally made a game on Monday, I understand why.
The 9th graders (and the one 8th grade "ringer") were simply miserable playing against an equally miserable team. The team leaders were an 8th grader starting their second year of basketball ever. She ended up with 2 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals. The other star was one only new 7th grader invited to play who had 8 points and 4-for-7 shooting, 3 rebounds, and 7 steals, in twenty minutes. They did lose in what I could only call Double Secret Probation Sudden Death Overtime 27-25, but the summer is young.
ghjk
I try to separate from it, and it pulls me back in....
Free RPG Day 2024 is this Saturday, June 22, 2024. Hopefully there's a participating game store (check the website) that's going to offer RPG events and giving out free swag from multiple publishers, including Paizo, Free League, R Talsorain and many many others.
Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, investigating Rho Facility, to aid the Hissers of Notex
=================
Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout. Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.
Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often. Previously "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies, but recently has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.
Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend. He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters. Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does. Looking for trouble in all the right places. Recent jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.
RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now!
================
With a now-furry Squiggles saved a second time within the day from the research of RHA-9, it was determined that the earthworm needed to stay with RHA-9 in the lab and simply rest. The rest of the group would travel back to level 4, and continue their search. With the rest a safe distance back near the lift doors, Lathar searched the large lobby again before investigating the wreckage of the living metal that nearly killed everyone.
Lathar reminded everyone that he was as dumb as his classic barbarian look inferred by disassembling the fuel cell from the wreckage and obtaining one fragmentation grenade. Wedged within the bottom of the cell was a white keycard.
With the elusive white keycard in hand, the explorers immediately travelled back down to level 3 and tried it against the windowless door in the medical wing. The doors swung in opposite directions, one swinging out, one swinging in. Ten beds, stripped of linens lined the outside wall, while dented steel cabinets lined the inside wall. A strange-looking device was position in the corner.
A whirring sound alerted everyone, as a bipedal living metal staggered towards them. Something appeared to be wrong with its hip.
It stopped three foot away from the explorers, "Are you in need of **bzzzbzz** care?" was spoken in a feminine voice.
Lathar immediately grabbed the white keycard from Sonny and displayed it to the living metal, "YES!"
 |
| RHA-1, with a sketchy voice modulator |
Lathar tried to change the subject, grabbing Pete, "What can you do for my friend? He's injured."
The living metal moved towards Pete, scanning him up and down. It grabbed the weasel by both arms, picked him and deposited him in the odd device in the corner. Pete disappeared inside while the device came to life. After two minutes, the device turned off and the doors opened on the side of it. Pete was intact, feeling a bit tingly, but completely unaffected otherwise.
Sonny tried to wave down the living metal, but it did not seem to recognize the mutant sunflower. He decided to investigate the strange device while the others searched the room. Unfortunately both Pete and Lathar were wary of the sunflower tinkering with ancient technology, and couldn't find anything useful. Once Sonny confirmed that he could not figure out how to turn it back on, or what it even did, the trio turned back to search the room a bit more thorough.
Sonny picked up an old dirty towel, revealing an intact metal cabinet leaning up against the wall, covered in wreckage. The door to the cabinet had a keycard pad. The white keycard opened the door. Inside were a variety of syringes on a shelf, and a cardboard box below.
The asked the living metal for what the syringes were, but the machine continued to emit screeching gibberish.
The group agreed to fetch RHA-9 for help, but first they wanted to open the box.
A quick movement with Lathar's sword opened the box. Inside were nine packages made from shiny plastic. Each 6"x9" package felt like there were multiple contents inside. The only writing that survived on each package was:
CRATI
MWW-LRP
They collected the syringes and box, and with Lathar pointing the blaster rifle at the living metal, they slowly backed out of the room.
Once the coast was cleared they moved over the laboratory and made inquires with RHA-9. The furry earthworm was sleeping on the table.
RHA-9 identified the eight syringes:
RHA grabbed an Accelera, "This the Squiggles needs" and a Cur-in-Dose "...and one of these for the fungal infection."
The party concurred, while Lathar injected himself with the other Cur-in-Dose and the Stim-Dose. The human felt stronger, but unsure by how much.
Leaving Squiggles and RHA, the party moved back to Level 4 and continued searching the rooms.
The first door had a small window, with a pulsing red light from the inside, as they stared in, something quickly moved in front of the window, shocking them all.
Wary of any more encounters, they avoided that room and the next door, coming upon a set of double steel doors. A metallic dome above the door emitted a slight hum. The letters "SE" and "Y" were still painted across the doors
The group went into a tizzy trying to figure out what keycard to use, and if they needed to cobble together the remnants of a uniform. Lathar simply walked up to the door and used the blue with gold keycard.
***WURRAP*** INTRUDER - INTRUDER ***WURRAP***
The lobby lights dimmed and small red flashing lights illuminated the area. Two concentrated red lights shot out of the metallic dome, one striking Lathar square in the chest.
Pete yelled "RUN!!!"
Lathar fumbled for the white keycard and tried that.
***WURRAP*** INTRUDER - INTRUDER ***WURRAP***
Two more lights came out of the dome and struck Lathar in the chest for more damage.
Sonny took a pot shot with his flintlock pistol, "This is Colonel Ratcliffe, identification code...."
"....It's not going to work," Pete screamed. "Just shoot it!"
Pete didn't give the sunflower time to react, pulling out his blaster pistol and firing two crack shots at the dome, exploding it. The lights and alarm ceased.
Reloading his pistol, Sonny nonchalantly said, "Maybe we should use the red card on the red level."
With the red card, the double doors slid open without issue.
This room was another familiar corner room, slightly smaller than the cafeteria. The room was filled with several desks, cabinets, and terminals. The far wall had four very familiar killer living metal that they experience in the lobby, lined up and plugged into some receptacle in the wall.
Pete stepped forward to investigate, but Sonny pulled him back by the shoulder, pointing down to the floor. Several nearly invisible red beams crisscrossed the first ten feet of the room.
Next: #38 -
If it's the middle of June, that means #RPGaDay#RPGaDay is but a few weeks away!
It wouldn't be the first year without worry, but there are some rumblings about not formally doing it for Year Eleven. Even in the unlikely event that the good folks who set this up decide to take a year off, I would simply recommend using the #RPGaDay2015 list. It's a fresh list for new participants, and it's fun to look back an compare my answers from ten years ago.
There was a streak of UBCons we attended in the mid-90s, thanks to Larry Sims and Optimus Design Systems (Battlelords of the 23rd Century) putting us on the con mailing list. I can't remember if this is the con we transported underage people to Canada, other members of our group ended up in dog collars, or the one we accidently whipped our friend Scott in the junk with the buckle portion of a belt. All of them involved Wooly and I running some iteration of Burning Plastic, the sci-fi rules set another friend wrote up, using Green Army Men as killer robots.
Hell, the five-hour road trips up to Buffalo and back were epic in their own way, and that's with the large Elmo as our traveling companion.
 |
| With Phil and Scott (and Elmo) for UBCon '96. The Belt incident happened then. |
Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, investigating Rho Facility, to aid the Hissers of Notex
=================
Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout. Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.
Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often. Recently "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies.
Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend. He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters. Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does. Looking for trouble in all the right places. Recent jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.
RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now!
================
Upon receiving their physical boosts from RHA-9's "laboratory research," the explorers gathered their wits and decided to take the lift further up. Swiping the yellow keycard inside the lift, only
4
1
...showed up on the display. Sonny pressed four.
The door opened up in the center of a large room. The room was littered with desks. Some were flipped, some crushed, others with crushed bodies of soldiers beneath it. Some intact terminals were on the ground, most were smashed. Numerous blast marks and bullet holes covered the walls. The group cautiously stepped out, spread out and slowly worked their way through the carnage.
Pete was first to detect the noticeable path through the debris. It looked relatively recent and had crushed weaker items under foot.
The weasel whisper-shouted to the group, "There's something on the opposite side of the room."
The group hunkered down in position. Pete skulked around desks, barely getting glimpses of a living metal moving slowly through the room.
Sonny asked "RHA-9, are there other bots in this facility."
Silence.
"Squiggles, the damn bot doesn't think I exist, can you ask him for me?"
The worm obliged.
"OF COURSE," RHA-9 replied to Squiggles, "BUT I DO NOT RECOGNIZE ANY MODELS RIGHT NOW."
As Pete continued to track the living metal, his eyes caught a red light that appeared to stare back. |
| The actual security bot was much taller and had a grenade launcher. |
Sonny reloaded and cursed their living metal companion, "RHA, if you could listen to me, I'd ask what to do, you stupid tin can."
Squiggles, still amazed RHA could talk to him again acted as the middle man.
"THAT RHA UNIT IS FOLLOWING IT'S LAST PROTOCOL INSERTED BY PERSONNEL. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DESTROY IT BEFORE I DESTROY EVERYTHING."
Meanwhile Lathar turned the remains of the corner and fired a center-mass shot at the enemy living metal. It exploded in sparks and it finally stopped firing.
Combat ended, RHA-9 began beeping faster and faster.
"RHA-9, the threat is over, stop beeping!"
"OK!" and the beeping ceased.
RHA-9 explained that if he taken any damage, his protocol was to detonate his "Yorkum capacitators."
The group went eerily silent. The last time they dealt with a Yorkum resulted in the destruction of Koto damn and the Caves of Ulmin below. They immediately ordered RHA to head back to his lab and initiate any repair protocols he was capable of.
Squiggles expressed his injuries, "I'm a step away from self-destructing myself." He and Pete were given the last of the healing syringes.
Lathar was dead set on opening some of the doors bordering the large rooms. Sonny convinced him to search the desks first before kicking open doors.
The search of the desks revealed four items:
.jpg) |
| A picture of furry Squiggles in the style of Dr Seuss. |
GM Notes: Lessons learned (A) security bots know angles (B) Gamma World has death's door rules!
I also don't profess to be an artist, but AI art generators are not having a fun time with Gamma World characters and situations. Not many references for human non-artists to draw a furry earthworm, either.
As I look thorough my copy of the Colonial Campaigns: The Zulu Wars, I'm just not enthused to play Isandlwana. Perhaps I've seen too many games, the movies too many times, or the terrain pieces intimidate me.
I also realized I already Roark's Drift, many many moons ago.
Twelves years ago, almost to the day, I ran Roark's Drift for my girls, technically, just Maja, although I'm sure Millie got a hold of some dice. Below is the exact recap from the original post:
Saturday had my wife working, so I had a full day with the kids. After coloring, puzzles, and Play-Doh, we proceeded to the next logical step for a three year old.
We played Rorke's Drift.
Well, not quite. While I do have an interest in the Zulu Wars, it would require me to hit a couple of banks to get started, so I did the next best thing: I present to you the GNOMES of Rorke's Drift.
No, it's not a proper historical representation, but I wanted to do something more fun than realistic. Plastic Easter eggs over mealie bags. Plus, the only British gnomes available are of a maritime variety.
In the Gnome Wars universe, the pointy hatted Swiss and the picklehaub-wearing Germans are the central powers, so colonial forays into the untamed wilderness which is Deepest Darkest Gnomish Africa would be expected. My friend Michael Lung has already composed an excellent write-up for Bore Wars (spelling intentional). It explained the use of Swiss, German, Australian, and even British gnome in a new environment. It also allowed ins to use Eureka frogs, turtles, and teddy bear zulus. Heck Mike even put in data to use Brigade "Gnomans", Eureka teddy bear Romans, and even the old Heritage frog Romans!
After this masterwork, I have to cobble together something for the Zulu Wars. I embrace Mike's all-inclusive approach, but I have neither the collection, nor the funds and time to assemble one right now.o
I did, however, have a nearby Michael's, a pile of coupons that even work on clearance items, and some time to shop after Easter.
I present to all, the most dangerous enemy to gnomes settling Africa, the Chicka Zulu
For rules, I based them off of what I remember from Uncle Duke's Isandlwanda/Rorke's Drift game that I played at Historicon 2010. It was simple and didn't require the purchase of thousands of Zulus. The hashed together recollections of rules worked well for my daughter as well.
Chicka Zulus
Move: 6 inches per turn
Once a stand of 9 chicks is reduced down to 3, it is removed off the board. Once the army loses over 50% of its stands(in this case 6), the Zulus immediately retreat to form the next wave. If three waves are stopped by the gnomes, the Zulus give up.
They also wield primitive firearms. At the end of the 1st round, each unit with at least 5 chicks will make one roll to represent ineffective firepower. A 6 on 1d6 per unit hits. During the 2nd round this improves to 5-6. It is assumed that by subsequent rounds, the chicks have engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand.
The Gnomes
The Gnomes follow their rules per nationality. The Swiss have rifles, but also a large number of pickaxes. No use for firing, but definitely devastating in close combat.
Medics: In Gnome Wars, the medics have a phase after each turn to run around and revive the fallen. To recreate a more accurate situation, I didn't allow a medic phase until the Swiss dispatched one of the Zulu waves. If they still controlled the hospital (the large MBA Customs House) they had a 50% chance (4-6 on d6) of healing each one. If the Zulu occupied it, it dropped to 5-6, and if Zulus successfully torched it, it dropped to just 6.
The First Wave
I gave Maja no pointers on how to move the Chicka Zulu, simply that they had to kick the gnomes out of their "farm" and capture the golden egg hidden inside. Immediately she sent her flanks around to the undefended side walls, a perfect application of the "Feet of the Chicken" tactic. She also put the pink (unmarried) chicks in the center of the battlefield in a column formation, but that's okay. I'm not asking her to conquer Russia (yet.)
Of course, to preoccupy a three-year old, she also rolled all the dice for the Swiss. Her rolls rang true and two units had been whittle down to five. Her Zulu firing rolls were just as effective. Five Swiss lay on the ground from Zulu rifles. This did not bode well for the gnomes.
I
With the hospital in flames, and few men left to put it out, the medic phase was a complete failure.The last seven Swiss: (two officers, the alphorn player, three rifles, and two pick axes) fortified the ruined building as a redoubt and waited for the final onslaught.
Third Wave
The few Swiss rifles shot true, and two entire units fell before the Chicka Zulu reached the redoubt. I had some difficulty finding a proper defensive modifier for the redoubt, particularly since the majority of the remaining Swiss had developed good, balanced bonuses from the earlier fighting. The Chicka Zulu took out the majority of the enlisted, and with afternoon naps pending, I declared the Chicka Zulu escorted the two Swiss officers, the Alphorn (essentially a flag bearer), and one rifleman to the Zulu border, with honors.
So, I'm getting a new job. It's in a different industry, but I will be doing a lot of the same day to day operations.
The biggest concern is that I have exactly a month before I start, and money's going to be uncomfortably tight, so I made the decision to sell off some of my remaining vintage Magic cards.
A lot of local stores my way won't even talk cash unless its ridiculously expensive, so I took some time out of my afternoon to venture down to Cloud City Games' newest location outside of Stroudsburg in the Stroud Mall.
Everyone was extremely nice, extremely professional, and I have a significant wad of cash on hand now. Funny thing, not only did they pay me more than I had expected, they didn't even take the two most expensive cards I had brought in.
 |
| My excess Treefolk collection was much appreciated by the store. |
Issue #292 of Game Trade Monthly can be found at your FLGS or in digital pdf form here.
Progress! The literal "junk" is finally off the painting bench! While they could be ultra-detailed, a few extra food containers now can be used as filler for the sci-fi games.
I seriously could/should add some ladders, but like last week's bunker, I'm satisfied with the result, they'll find some use, and I can move onto other projects.
Project 350: 509 (330/179) already down from 512 (334/178) I have 10 posts scheduled to go in June, but realistically, only two more drafts turning into posts. International Gnome Week is later this month, so anything is possible.Next: Gnomes, Gnome Terrain Zulus, Pulp, and more Gnomes are staring me down.
The Jarldoms of Zieland
 |
| One of the Retreating Fjords of Zieland |
 |
| Limited information on the extent of Zielanders western travels. |
Religion: Zielanders are strict Norse adherents, focusing on Odin, Thor, and Freya. Any other proselyting is met harshly, and repeat offenders can be executed.
Points of Interest:
The fjords of Zieland run the almost the entirety of the western coast and can be quite spectacular.
 |
| Commander Rolf HouseKarl (d. 1043) |
Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, investigating Rho Facility, to aid the Hissers of Notex
=================
Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout. Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.
Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often. Recently "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies.
Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend. He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters. Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does. Looking for trouble in all the right places. Recent jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.
================
The taste of the burning gas was still in the air as the lift doors opened, but not enough to irritate the explorers. Nothing appeared to have changed, skeletons still littered the floor around the corner. They attempted the doors situated around the lobby, but none of their keycards worked. They then moved down the hallway marked with "MEDICAL" and a large arrow in that direction. The doors at the end of the hallway were free-swinging and did not require a card, leading a T-intersection with doors at each end. The one end had double-doors with small, human height windows. Peering into the windows, they could see a number of skeletons, many on steel gurneys. Ancient dried pools of bloods covered the floor.
None of the key cards worked on this door, nor the single door in the opposite direction. The explorers decided to work over to the opposite hallways.
The far side had the same push doors, but that T-intersection led to two doors without windows.
The green keycard to the first door worked!
The room on the other side had two medical beds, with restraints attached to them. There were three standing chambers on the far wall, and several utility carts with beakers, test tubes, and empty syringes lay scattered across the floor.
The group kicked around the premises. Lathar cracked open a cabinet and found three filled syringes. The syringes were different than the healing ones, and he seemed quite enthused to be strapped down and tested upon.
Squiggles managed to open up the middle chamber along the wall, a voice spoke from the opposite side of the room.
"I AM HERE TO ASSIST. WHAT TASKS SHALL I PERFORM."
Everyone turned to find a 3-foot tall piece living metal, with four arms, staring at the earthworm.
"Hi!"
"HELLO! I AM HERE TO ASSIST. WHAT TASKS SHALL I PERFORM."
"Are you able to open doors?"
"ONES THAT I HAVE ACCESS TO, YES!"
Lathar interrupted, "Wait have him fix us up! We're in a medical facility."
Squiggles questioned the living metal, "Can you heal."
"CERTAINLY, I AM CAPABLE OF THAT. FOLLOW ME!!!
They followed the living metal out the door, through T-intersection, and flashed his own green keycard to gain access into the other room.
That room was full of even more glass beakers, dishes, and unlit burners. There was a skeleton of a human wearing the remnants of a long, white coat, on the floor. The faint sound of bubbling water could be heard.
The living metal scooted towards a small refrigerator, where it pulled out two syringes, one blue, one yellow.
Lathar investigated the skeleton, discovering it was two skeletons intertwined together. Moving the bones to reach for a keycard, an amorphous blog of gelatin could be seen moving within one of the rib cages. The gelatinous entity launched itself onto Lathar's face.
Pete unloaded with both pistols into the blob still emerging from the skeletons. Lathar, panicking with the creature on his face, trying to enter him through his nose, his ears, even , reached into his pants to pull out the big black gun tucked within his pants.
**CLICK**
**ZOT!!!!!!!**
For a second, it appeared that lightning erupted within the room. The next moment, any trace of the the slimy creature vanished. Outside of a wincing pain on his face, everything seemed back to normal.
Getting Lathar back to his feet, they wandered over the living metal, holding the syringes and talking to Squiggles.
Sonny asked, "What are in these needles."
The living metal did not respond to his question.
"Squiggles, I think it thinks I'm decoration. Do your magic?"
"What are in these needles?"
"WHAT YOU NEED. BLUE... OR YELLOW?"
Squiggles sat on a chair and selected blue.
The living metal responded, "YOU SHOULD BITE DOWN ON THIS" and shoved a piece of wood into Squiggles orifice.
The blue liquid, Squiggles felt immense pain. Squiggles screamed, falling onto the floor in the fetal position.
"TEST.... IN PROGRESS...."
After two minutes, Squiggles stood up, steam rising off his hulking body. He stood a full foot taller than he was before, covered in huge muscles. He was not amused.
"That... was not healing!"
"You're huge!" was all Sonny could exclaim.
"TEST #1024.... SUCCESS"
Pete had Squiggles ask the living metal about the what happened to the bodies on the floor.
"TEST FAILURE"
Lathar jumped in the chair, "I'm next!"
The living metal injected him with the yellow syringe. A wave of calm swept over the barbarian. A few caught his grievous leg wound instantly scabbing over, his body re-energized.
Further discussions were made between the living metal "RHA-9" and the group determined that no other test syringes seemed viable, and that "RA" only had access to certain areas. White access was needed for the medical bay.
 |
| "RHA-9" is just fine. |
What RA did have access to were the doors on level 3's lobby. Each door was to a utility closet for the facility. Many pipes and wires were intentionally damage and one of the closets emitted a constant barrage of sparks No further access was discovered, save a lone YELLOW keycard
GM Note: The blue syringe caused immense pain, some damage, and permanently boosted Physical Strength (PS), boosting Squiggles the Earthworm from 12 to 18!!!! The gold syringe completely healed Lathar and would have removed a deficient mutation, if he wasn't a Pure-Strain Human..jpg)
Saturday was a cakewalk, as the teams on the schedule were programs that honestly should not have left their area. 54-32 and 67-24 wins were closer than they actually were.
Sunday was a playoff bracket, starting with the very first team they played to start the spring season. They got out to a 14-2 lead to start, but the other team came back within one with a minute left. However, the team got their act together in the final seconds to win 37-34.
A trip to my beloved Wawa across the street from campus and some team bonding and they were back to the championship game, against the team they lost to on Friday.
Maja got limited time in the big games (and a lot in the blowouts), but she continued to be a high percentage shooter on limited shots.
