Drinking & Dragons

Cold:Session/5 Chthuter on the Loose

From Drinking and Dragons

← Prev: Cold:Session/4 Chadioactive Maze   |   Next: Cold:Session/6 Quinn's Homecoming

Starring: 💳 Ciarán, 🧟‍♂️ Louis, 🗽 Quinn, 📎 John
Guest Starring: Franko Yegorovna, 5-story Chthonic Computer, Marsha Sweet, Scientists and Soldiers
Location: Juno Station, Raytheon Deep Vault
Date Played: 11 Aug 2022


Agent Jones and Franko

Daryl's notes: Yegorovna is here to help with an extraction. She doesn't have too many details. She and John play a game of sexy cat and mouse, and she's convinced that she's supposed to help us once she learns of the object: "The Script", which is the continuity of governance plan of the US and information of its shadow government. "The KGB has a copy of course". She needs John's help with some things, though, too: the operation directions are in Esperonto.

John sends us a pneumatic tube sandwich to show he's on the job.

🧟‍♂️ Louis: So, fun fact: US top secret research labs and USSR top secret research labs tend to send each other papers to share research. Scientists gotta science. Usually we steganographically encode it in something anodyne that can get through customs. The last one I received was a shipment of vodka and the data was encoded in the bar codes. Don't tell John.

Inside the Deep Vault

💳 Ciarán Inside the vault is: a giant computer that's powered by the vacuum of reality in some giant Chthonic beast rather than vacuum tubes. Its tentacles blend with wires and go everywhere. The room is filled with soldiers and scientists as well.

(This situation seems to set something off in Quinn's face and they give Louis a really dirty look.)

And, wouldn't you know, that infamous Squad 69, lead by Marsha Sweet, is here. They're still not happy about the time I had to send them to collections (which in turn leaked their info) because they went all bloodthirsty barbarian on a room full of incubi and succubi that was taking care of them!

Uh, and someone must have pressed the wrong button, because the monster running the chthuter seems to have been released from service.


🧟‍♂️ Louis: A Cthuter! As I do most of my research a little closer to Earth, I've never seen one. This is exciting! And I'm in an unusually receptive state to meet such a thing, since I'm, well, a little less/more myself. Shut up back there, I'm in charge of this behemoth. I want to meet it. Interface with it. Especially as it's starting to wander around the space.

🗽 Quinn: Giant freaking cephalopod computer...thing. Fifty feet tall, looks like it came straight from the nightmares of a luddite sailor. I'm not entirely sure what went on, but I am pretty sure this thing got loose...in orbit. A full AU isn't a big enough distance between me and...that. We got the information we needed, though. Somehow we got to the ship and are on our way. Leaving that thing behind us won't bite us on the butt...nope.

Escape

🧟‍♂️ Louis: Since that Cthuter is wandering around, it might as well be useful. I focus my collective energies on having it fetch the data we need. It takes a lot- parts of us slough off, but I don't think it's anything important, at least, I mostly don't. I overpower the cthuter, and that's the last I've got in me- we get the script, but I also lose all those other scientists that I merged with. Of course, that's when I realized that not all is as it should be- one of my arms is not original parts. It belonged to someone else. It doesn't exactly match my complexion, and it certainly is going to make pretending to be Ham a bit harder.

Daryl's raw notes to format later:

Louis goes, other minds get an action:
Dr Hughes: Infernalbiologist

Louis connects to Chthuter.
Marsha, "I was thinking of going private..."
Jones smashes Chthonic computer containment.

Recruited Marsha Sweet (ding!)

Louis "Interfaces" with with the Chthuter to pull out the right crate.

Dr. Woods, she's an urlinguist (psycholinguist)

CIA TRACKER FILLED!

I concde: Marsha leads me out, she orders the soldiers back to "clean up"/"cover up".

*** LOUIS HAS AN AFRICA-AMERICAN ARM INSTEAD OF HIS OWN ***
It probably has a useful finger print.

Quinn uses their mother's credit card to expediate departure.

Complete hiring paperwork for Marsha.

Tape package in mail:
Morse code: It's a book cipher.
At the beginning is a series of numbers... That's a date.
The cipher is Homm's sister's wedding invitation.

Immaculate Conception Station next after dropping off script.