The GLOW 1996: Psychic Eustace Delmont, Episode 10 - Tracking Dave Akari
- "Previously..." and Campaign/Arc Summary
- Turning Point 2
- The GLOW 1996: Psychic Eustace Delmont Episode 10 - Tracking Dave Akari
- Sometimes They Come Back
- In the Skurry
- Commentary: After a Few Days' Break
- Said the Spider to the Fly
- The Crow Takes Flight
- Doug's Commentary
- Mechanical and Story Notes
- Credits
- Taxonomy and Technical Data
Previously, on The GLOW: 1996 Psychic Eustace Delmont
About The GLOW: 1996 Psychic Eustace Delmont
Eustace Delmont is a psychic on the cusp of "graduating" into a full-blow Field Psychic. He requests his right to Walk, a brief period of freedom to encourage psychics to see the other side of The GLOW. He tries to finish his long-time partner Jani Blum's final unfinished mission: to find a mini-disc and crack open the Patel crime family. He meets Hitomi Meyer, a criminal hacker. The two are now on the run between a powerful crime family and an even more powerful adversary: The Order and its plans for Eustace.
Content Warning: Occasionally very foul language, lots of smoking, quite intense violence, drinking, gambling, non-graphic sex, drugs, criminal behavior, and black magic. The GLOW is a world of spiritual torture and weird horror.
This post is in the standard Doug Alone post style. See Anatomy of a Post for more details.
Attribution for the tools and materials used—including the splash art—can be found in the Credits below along with some details.
Turning Point 2
Getting the "bad" out of the way, the Heat is up to 7. That doesn't mean much for the moment but it is a good indicator of where things are.
Now for the other math. With Turning Points we get a Chance to Advance.
For Eustace, I am going to make a special Feat: Witchery. Spending an Adrenaline: he can rewrite threads. Effect will determine the difficulty. For now, we'll treat each as a Gamble since it will drain you to use it often. He gets a free reroll when using his Witchery powers. This is a Super Feat.
For his Skills, I'll give him a point in Speech because he talks all the time and it's in his character. Also to Awareness because my god. The boy has to pass a roll at some point.
For Hitomi, she'll get the Feat "Shadow," meaning she gets free rerolls when sneaking about. It's a pretty common thing her to try and stealth.
Her skills will be Awareness and Heal.
Both will get 1 Adrenaline for the Advance and 2 for the previous session. A goal this time will be to spend Adrenaline with Hitomi and maybe save some with Eustace but it's so fun to pop his abilities.
The GLOW: 1996 Psychic Eustace Delmont. Episode 10 - Tracking Dave Akari
Setting the Scene. Sometimes They Come Back.
Before we figure out exactly what this scene is, let's ask a simple oracle question? Would Hasan's be something that Hitomi would be able to find out with just her Sprawl/GLOW knowledge? (Bad) → [c116] Yes? Then let's do a roll. Crime + Streetwise + 2 Help. She snags a Critical and with a reroll [she gets a free one] it becomes Impossible. She knows exactly whom to contact. Going with the card in question, I see two names "Mei," "Flavio," and "Zombie." Does the name Mei "Zombie" Flavio make sense? It does now.
Hasan has a Terminal Farm. Is Hasan a person? (Even) → [c97] No? In this case, let's say there is a Hasan but this is a brand name. Someone running a in-GLOW business though located elsewhere.
The business will be Hasan Information Solutions and HIS has a local terminal farm. I don't think I have any tools to generate a full Arabic name so let's come up with some backstory. Hasan's family is from Jordan but currently work out of London. There is some connection to the Patel's as his (and HIS's) "in" to The GLOW. Feeding a bit of that into ChatGPT, I get a d66 list and rolling 4,1 on that I get his full name as Hasan Adel Al-Kurdi. How legit is that? No clue! It's just flavor that might not ever show up again but I like to stack the pieces.
Going all the way back to Episode 2, I came up with a chart to map out places. Rolling 18,12 gives me a spot currently over the Gulf. That's fine since this means it is in the new construction. A place a bit more Top. It's going to take more clearance and fights to get inside. I'd like a different sort of fight. A tank-drone. Like the spider tanks from Ghost in the Shell. Tough nut to crack.
How intense is Mei's fee for this? [c21] 8. Very. Let's roll d6+1 Creds to start: Just get a 1. I'll bump that up to $3 in game currency. A chance to haggle it down.
These two factors suggest we need at least a scene to figure out how to get inside. ADO Security Zone. Full of the kind of start-ups where corporations split off a smaller company for tax purposes. Or, in this case, to get access The GLOW.
Date: Monday, June 3, 1996.
Time: 11:28pm.
Place: Near the entrance to ADO Security Area.
Expected Scene: Hitomi and Eustace have to find a way to get into ADO.
Scene Test: [c17] 5. 2d10 = 10 + 10. hahaha. Ok. Shit. Um. "Foe's local presence increases." And it's a big deal. Did Mei tip off the Patel's? (Bad) → [c92] No. You know what, I don't really need a good excuse. It's just that scene in a movie where the bad guys show up because they were chasing the hack or something.
Actual Scene: Yori and Ambra (from Episode 6) are back as Eustace and Hitomi are trying to get into ADO.
Yori and Ambra will get combined. Boss Template 1. Extreme/Critical. 6 Grit (hotboxes on the evens) with a special move of their final hotbox will trigger them escaping again. These are those bad guys. Bulletproof vets (-1 to Range), Hard to Kill (each Hot Box stops damage even if damage goes over), and Martial Arts (-1 at close). Special actions include Disarm (1, Critical vs Brawn vs Dexterity or lose weapon), Don't Think So (1, negates on Adrenaline special move), Weak spot (-2 to next Reaction roll), and Escape Clean (2, as it says, Impossible to stop it).
Got to love when a scene takes possibly longer to set up than it will to play. Maybe.
Scene Played: March 13, 2025.
Sometimes They Come Back.
ADO Security Zone is a tiny, by The GLOW standards, dense area around 10-15 miles off the old coast in the NewGLO construction. Around 10-15 stories below would be water. Sort of water. What water becomes when it is infused with so much Soulburn that it has a personality. The in-between holds enough room for subway systems, cables, conduits, office space, and an entire nightmare world where sunlight never approaches and is never needed. Average cost of living? Yes. If you have to check your bank statement, you may not be able to afford it.
ADO's specialty is non-GLOW citizens — read: corporations from other countries including the United States — setting up a tiny bank head so that traffic in aether-tech becomes feasible. A few countries — Japan and Taiwan for instance — just push through and make formal, above board contracts. Others have stacks of reasons to avoid such paperwork. For them, there is ADO. A dozen city blocks of rectangular buildings, shipping crates, empty storefronts, and even a few cubicle farms. All granting them an in-GLOW address. The clever ones sublet their spot down to square-meter marks.
Apparently not Hasan's. Hasan Information Services. HIS. Started by Hasan Adel Al-Kurdi last decade in London and shipped around the world to get ahead of what most people would call the World Wide Web. One of the first international investors in The GLOW but also deeply suspicious of getting too entangled. Keeps ridding the razor's edge of full buy-in and interloper. Hasan has picked an entire quarter Block at ADO prices to host a bank of mainframes and then takes subletting to a whole new level. Claims it is encrypted against magic and psychic energies. Salt. Iron. Sage. The old classics.
They found out Mother_Bored's meaning behind her final few words after talking to Zombie. Mei Flavio. Another of Hitomi's many contacts. This one a bit more contentious. Eustace doesn't know the history of what soured, but on the working side of things they settle it by way of monetary exchange.
"I can't believe she charged me 2 Creds," Hitomi fusses as her and Eustace approach a back gate to ADO Security Zone. [1]
"She was going to charge you 3," Eustace tries to console.
"And I can't believe you shoved Mother_Bored's body on a train!"
Even without stooping to reading her mind, Eustace can tell this is more upsetting to Hitomi than the loss of the money. Even thought Eleanor, aka Mother_Bored, betrayed her. It was a sense of another young female hacker chewed up by Dave Akari and fed to The GLOW. The brief hope that Eustace had gotten to Ell makes the seemingly tossing away of the body a harsh metaphor. Possibly a fear that Hitomi has of Eustace doing the same to her when she is dead.
"Hitomi, I'm sorry. They found her so quickly I suspect that Dave had a tracker implanted. Or psychics. Though in that case, we might be in..."
"Trouble?," asks a voice that Eustace recognizes. "My mom said I had the gift. Could always guess whatever surprise she had for me. Never realized I had hacked into her bank account."
Eustace turns and sees the man from outside the Knives compound. Well, the man and the woman. She has on a new set of glasses, still glowing. He however has avoided putting his own. Or the cowboy hat. Or some of the twang. The bravado is still there.
The man points as Eustace and Hitomi. "The Doctor wants to see you. Please let's make this super easy. Just give him the disk. Make an apology. Maybe get paid. No need for blood."
"The Doctor? You mean Roman?"
"Ah, a man of culture. This makes it easy." The man holds up a scrying glass showing video of Eustace swatting down drones and then running off after Mother_Bored. "Such great footage. They really captured your rage. Your murderous rage. Shame you killed her. That little trick with the train almost caught us off guard but you didn't realize the Doctor owns that shipping line and her tracking flagged the very next stop."
"How'd you find us?," Hitomi asks, trying to stall for time. Her hand has been frozen over her laptop she was prepping to follow Mei's instructions. ServiSynth brains pilot secure trolleys into and out of ADO. Empty buildings acting as address forms rarely need human bodies to enter it. Convince a ServiSynth trolley you are a piece of cargo and presto!
"Nah uh! That would be telling," finally speaks the woman. Her voice a strange blending of accent somewhere between Chinese and French.
While the conversation goes on, Eustace is searching for two things. First: any sort of advantage he can have in this fight. Second: if there are any psychic threads connecting to him or Hitomi. For the first one he realizes that the man is starting to shake the longer it goes on. The woman is also nervous. Eustace frightens them. For the second he finds a thin red line broken and half-formed like a discount laser shining through thin fog. He reaches out and snaps it in a way it will take some time to reattach. [2]
"I'm going to be honest," Eustace starts, taking just a moment to search the man's mind, "...Yori, we're not going with you. Or your...sister?!"
The man, Yori, coughs. Sweat starts beading on his face as he pulls out a large pistol. Ambra, his sister, pulls out her katana.
"Well, then," Yori starts, "I guess we'll..." And Eustace hits him full on in the face. Yori's nose explodes in blood but as Eustace's left arm is bringing the blade to bear, the gunman is spinning to his left long enough for Ambra to leap at Eustace and block the strike with her sword. Then herself has to dodge back as Hitomi starts squeezing off shots. [3]
Hitomi knows that the gunfire will bring ServiSynth guards soonish. However, she first to take care of the gunman before Eustace is dealing with two on one. She keeps her gun up as the swordswoman uses her left hand to send a small kunai flying and knocking Hitomi's gun out of her hand. As the gunman targets her, Hitomi leaps over a power box she had been using as temporary laptop desk — grabbing up her laptop — and dives hard behind. The swordswoman tries to use the momentum to chop down into Eustace who repeats her previous success by bringing up his arm blades to jam the katana back up in the air. [4]
Eustace uses this momentum to lock her Katana in his twin blades and then brings his head down hard against hers, knocking her down to her feet. He sees the gunman circling around to get to Hitomi. [5]
As Eustace watches Yori go to leap out and catch Hitomi off guard, the lights of a trolley swing right at him and a few seconds later a loud crunch is heard as his body is snapped off its security shielding. The gunman hits the ground and rolls. Ambra shouts his name and runs over to grab him and get him up as Hitomi shouts for Eustace to get on (calling him Nurse). [6]
He takes off running for the trolley, stopping just for half a second to grab up Hitomi's gun, and then the two of them are riding past the security gates into ADO. [7]
DOUG'S NOTE: I actually screwed that up in three different spots: Hitomi's shot, Eustace's deflection, and Eustace's hit. I basically ignored the Bulletproof Vest and Martial Arts feats. That's probably ok since they made it by more than enough to damage/avoid in both cases and such things happen. I won't punish Eustace or Hitomi for it but we'll play it out that the siblings were actually going a bit easy on them for some reason. Like, maybe they are secretly working with Amy and trying to slow down Roger or some such. We'll find out next time they show up which should be in the final arc (even stronger).
Setting the Scene. In the Scurry.
Date: Monday, June 3, 1996.
Time: 11:41pm.
Place: Inside of ADO.
Expected Scene: Hitomi and Eustace have to avoid security while getting to Hasan Information Services.
Scene Test: [c120] 4. 2d10 = 3 + 4. An expected scene!? IN THIS GAME!? Hot diggity!
Actual Scene: As expected.
I want to set the avoidance up sort of like a Brawl meets a chase. Critical difficulty. Getting spotted is a Danger. Once they accumulate 12 successes, they have completely lost the guards. However, if a character fails more than twice in a row then it will turn into a combat.
The guards will be humanoid ServiSynth firing high speed dry ice bullets designed to not damage property.
Getting into the lock will be a Critical roll that can happen after either the guards are evaded or after they are beaten in a combat. With a combat, more guards will be dispatched after 3 additional turns.
Combat: 2xCrit/Crit/6.
In a mood shift for this one, will be using a different sort of soundtrack. This one will have Proleter's new album — Temperamental Cats — which was just released the day I am playing out the scene.
Scene Played: March 14, 2025.
In the Scurry.
The water kicks up as the pair are running in front of an elaborate building marked as ADO Management. A large, shallow pool was easier to run through rather than around. In the distance — and not much of said distance — a strange "WumpWhumWumpwum" sound can be heard as the ServiSynth guard's are communicating in a strange frequency code low enough down that it is very nearly sub-sonic. You can feel it in your chest. Eustace pulls Hitomi close to him as they hide behind a tree that is older than the GLOW and so was transplanted as a fully mature tree to this spot. Where very few people might ever set foot. Fancy building. Fancy sidewalk. Only seen by ServiSynths not even given human speech because the average population of the area has to reach in the low decimals.
"Why in Dr. Hell's glorious earth do they have such a nice pool?," Eustace asks Hitomi.
"Money talks, wealth whispers, massive wealth fucking screams. Look, you want to sell a bunch of business folk on spending thousands and thousands of Creds just to host a few bricks here, you need some nice photos."
It's her turn to pull Eustace back as that "WhumpWumWooooo" sound passes nearby the pool. The ServiSynths look like humans in livery, only with dark blue heads with only a hint of eyes and nose and mouth. They are scanning using some internal organ — or maybe echolocation — but do not spot the couple behind the tree. [8]
After the ServiSynths pass, they are running down the side of the ADO offices and passing by a storage shed marked Nakatomi Trading Corp. Behind that, Wilson Mechanics inhabits a plot of land consisting mostly of a fence and a mailbox currently crammed full of mailers.
As automatic sprinklers come on, Hitomi lets out a slight gasp before diving over the fence. If the ServiSynth security has eyes, it would be hard to miss her but she is banking on them tracking by sound. Sure enough, the WumWum sound comes around the corner and seems to scan the area. Eustace, for his part, is on top of the Nakatomi shed, holding still. Once again, the ServiSynths are moving on. [9]
Hitomi approaches Eustace, crawling down from the shed. "They use sound. We need to be extra quiet even if that means we are moving slowly." [10]
"Makes sense, people who pay for a spot here are probably the kind of people that wouldn't want a guard to see any definite details," Eustace agrees. With this new knowledge, he moves a bit slower but quieter. Hitomi moves nearly silently in front of him. Right as Eustace comes to close to stepping on a metal grate she slaps back to stop his foot. [11]
After this they keep close by each other for a bit and keep an eye out trying to find the terminal form. They see dozens of business — Channel ZA (South African Broadcaster that dabbles in war reports and small military arms), Barnabas Infotech (out of the Caribbean), and Niet Exports (Slovenian front for Greek Business that traffics in Middle Eastern properties) — but no Hasan. At least they keep quiet enough that they have not heard the guards for a minute. [12]
Hitomi is craving a smoke but the sound of her lighter would no doubt ring out like a gunshot in this quiet place. Plus, she can't be absolutely sure they don't have some sort of chemical detectors. Smelling smoke would seem to be a useful function to have. Glancing around, she realizes she is getting her bearings and recalls the address that Zombie gave her. She motions to Eustace to move slow and runs off quietly and circles back in a moment. She has found it. [13]
On the outside, you would think something like a post office. Thick brick walks, a few perfunctory windows. A metal door with a glass pane in the middle frosted enough to not be able to see inside. HASAN in clear letters on the front. A building not to impress but to protect. A few wards glow in the brick to try and stop any sort of exterior mystical attack. The door has a intricate electronic lock but Hitomi brings out her aether-board and types a complex series of symbols. After a few seconds the door releases with a hiss and the two are disappearing inside into the artificial light as the WumWump starts moving in their direction. [14]
Commentary: After a Few Days' Break
March 18, 2025
It's been about four days since I last got to play.
A bit of that was a few rounds of storms passing through the area.
Some of that was my family returning from an out-of-country Spring Break trip. They got back and so we spent the weekend in our makeshift storm cave and also just hanging out a bit.
Finally, I have moved up to an even stronger dose of my meds and while they is doing wonders to help my health and to improve mobility overall, the first day or so after I start just wipes me out pretty badly.
Figured it would be good time to go ahead and play out at least one more of the projected two scenes left in this week's play, one of which I've known since more or less the start of this episode, and then from there figure out what next week might look like since it should wrap up the middle third of the campaign arc.
Now that I am treating this not as 4-5 quick-scenes over 1-2 sessions but 1 big+ scene (at least in development, worldbuilding, and such) per shorter session it makes sense to maybe throw in a few intermediate commentaries to sum up some things and thoughts.
The previous two scenes were full of lots of references without any real common sense as to what got reference where. ADO Security was simply because I was listening to albums by Ado while playing through the first part of it before switching to Proleter. Nakatomi would be the sort of the same but not the same company from the first Die Hard movie. The idea in The GLOW is that the entire reality of the planet is shifting around the effects of Soulburn so people and events are purposefully given in the wrong order. I forget when it was but the Moon Landing happened several years earlier, for instance. People's ages don't line up.
The ServiSynth guards that hunt by sound were, in my head, a sort of stockpile "baddie" based on the weenie/minions from various Super Sentai series. A lot have a kind of repetitive sound phrase they use now that we have mostly moved past them being various paramilitary fascist organization troops. Super Sentai and other tokusatsu flavor a bit of the action sequences already — Yori and Ambra are kind of a tribute act to various Kamen Rider baddies — so expect more such silliness.
Setting the Scene. Said the Spider to the Fly.
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 1996.
Time: 12:26am.
Place: Hasan's Terminal Farm.
Expected Scene: Eustace and Hitomi have to fight past Hasan Security.
Scene Test: [c23] 5. 2d10 = 3 + 1. That's two expected scenes in a row. Strange.
Actual Scene: As expected.
The plan here is to have a single, tough enemy. Literally tough. A tank. I'm going to be picturing, essentially, the spider tank from 1995's The Ghost in the Shell. Feel free to do the same. However, this is going to be a spider ServiSynth designed to protect a server farm. Blaster guns or tank shells wouldn't make sense. Six arms for mobility, two that have stun-gun type arms.
It definitely will get the Titan Feat (each hit does only one Grit). And tough armor: Extreme defense. Attack will be on the slightly lower side: 2xCritical. Non-Lethal. If you get knocked out you are trapped more than killed. Right now three Grit. It also has (for its other two Feat points) Exoskeleton. -1 to ranged attacks. I'll do my best to actually remember this. For Special Actions I think Tackle (Critical Dangerous Brawn + Force or get knocked down) and Clamp Down (Brawn + Stealth Basic roll or get trapped and fail Reaction automatically, Critical Brawn + Force to break free).
For the hacking, I am going to use Chase rules. Hitomi starts out with a Speed of 1. A Need of 12. Most rolls will require Critical. Note: Once she gets into the mainframe, she will get + 2 Help to "fight" the ServiSynth Spider. She'll also get + 1 to "fight" since she has an experience of making friends with ServiSynths.
Date played: March 18, 2025.
Said the Spider to the Fly.
In the style of the whole Security Zone, Hasan's Information Service's Data Center is strikingly clean. Massive banks of both aether- and digital-servers line the walls and aisles. The air smells of ozone while the dimly lit space is kept at a chilly 10C. As soon as Eustace and Hitomi enter into the space through a UV-charged airlock, dehumidifiers click on and start cleaning the space of any possible human infestation: dead skin, hair, or other unwanted materials. Standing still for a moment, the lights start to brighten slightly. No doubt there are switches and controls somewhere to actually increase the light but the off chance of a on-site human is low enough that they are not given a priority.
Hitomi glances around for any terminal input spot. "There's a lot of shit to sift through. Look at the size of it!"
At least a hundred displays show a variety of blinking lights with a number of short screens showing various codes and symbols. No wonder this building dwarfs many of the other false fronts. Hasan is no doubt trafficking in terabytes of data. Exactly what the data is is unknown. Eustace asks Hitomi about it. She shrugs.
"A lot of family photos," she quips. She gets around 3 meters into the place before a loud voice shouts at them both.
"PLEASE. PROVIDE. IDENTIFICATION."
It repeats the command in Japanese, Arabic, and Spanish.
The voice comes from a large, human-sized spider-shaped ServiSynth. The eight-eyes — glowing faintly glow in the half-light — are currently split between tracking Hitomi and Eustace. Despite the appearance, high-volume, and size: it does not seem threatening. Yet.
"We were sent by Hasan Breach Insurance Services to validate data against potential code loss," Hitomi tries. She smiles and holds up a laptop. The Spider scans her and then its eyes flag from green to amber. It repeats its request for ID in multiple languages, the eyes growing redder with each syllable. Its front pair of legs lifting up and showing voltage flowing across them. [15]
"Eustace!," she shouts as she runs to keep searching for a way to plug into the terminal. He steps forward with his blades extending and tries to chop through one of the shock-pads in its forearms. The Spider slams Eustace's blades up before they can cut too deeply and then turns to face him down. [16]
Eustace tries to step back as the double shock pads crash down around him but sparks fly up as the Spider gets a solid zap. Eustace grunts as his feet buckle. [17]
As the Spider turns to press its advantage, Eustace pushes off with his powerful legs and leaps on top of the Spider and with a heavy kick cracks into its "head" while also flinging himself up to the top of one of the server banks. Sending out a silent prayer to the Witches Three that this isn't the one that has the data they need, he shoves his blades down in-between it and the support structure and pulls the bank from the shelving to collapse it on the Spider, trapping it underneath. The Spider's shock pads turn off as it tries to hold the server up and prevent damage to the data. [18]
Hitomi asks if everything is ok as she is trying to get into the system. She has plugged her laptop into a terminal port near the back of the room and is starting to get through to the data but it is a long process forward, still. The shallow security layer — aether-program designed to unwrite random memories of the person doing the hack — gets caught up in her laptop's defense matrix but it suggests that Hasan is not playing around. [19]
Eustace slaps at one of the back leg's of the Spider as it struggles to set the server back into place. His blades cut through its exoskeleton. In response, one of its shock pads retracts as a pincer claw comes out of its left front leg. It reaches for Eustace who steps back from it, right into the right leg's shock pad which punches him in the side. He finds his nerves starting to shred from the heavy shock. A weaker man might have already collapsed. [20]
Trying to ignore Eustace's grunts or the sound of shock pads connecting with flesh, Hitomi brings one of her favorite particular hacks out of her grimoire. She acts the triplets. Three aether-synth programs which act like her and look very much like her own self-representing avatar as they dive off in different direction through the aether-space. The only difference is hair color and personality. Green, Blue, and Red hair with aggressive, playful, and dominant personalities. Each a bit of Hitomi. The effect works well as the majority of the middle security functions chase after them. Unfortunately, a simple nerve shredder gets through the ruse and Hitomi feels her fingers tingle as it very nearly punches through the laptop's net. [21]
Back up front, the Spider lunges for Eustace and then swipes as Eustace backs up and manages to duck his head. Looking around for anything to use, Eustace takes a gamble and dives forward to roll under the legs of the Spider. Lifting it up, ramming blades into its underside, he pushes well past reasonable limits as he pulls the blades further and further apart. Sparks and ServiSynth oil pour down on him as the Spider twitches heavily. Eustace's knees buckle as his feet slip on the floor and the entire weight comes crashing down on him. Trying to extract himself from the wreckage he hears whirring muscle motors as the ServiSynth prepares for one last death-throe-leap and flings itself back on top of Eustace to finish crushing him, which Eustace just barely manages to avoid by rolling hard against another server bank. [22]
"Fuck...," he croaks, barely able to move after that fight.
Hitomi resists the urge to go and check on Eustace — the sudden silence slightly more worrying than the loud smashing sounds that proceeded it — since all of her concentration has to focus on navigating through the back-end of Hasan's security. Soon enough she, and her three duplicates, are through and into the major file structure. Flying across an avatar of the city itself. She retools the duplicates to start sorting data and look for keywords that might match "Dave Akari" and "hover boat." What did Mother_Bored call it? The "Moonblink." As the data processes, the various buildings shift and resort until the entire simulacrum of the city is just a single building of data. She flies down into it and soon enough has the data needed. She begins setting up her own hooks in the system so that her laptop can continue to track the hover boat. At least until the data breach is found. They won't have forever, but she has hopefully bought them about a day. [23]
Eustace limps back to where she is. She lets out a small grunt at how bloodied he is — mixed with the blue oil that runs a ServiSynth's internal organs — as she is wrapping up.
"Now we have to get out," he says in a voice that is half a groan.
"Let me see if the guards outside are controlled at all from here or if I can at least get to any kind of control interface for them." She redirects her duplicates to search for any kind of interface into the ADO Security Zone's internal system and they bring it up. With a few more symbols sent into the system, she conjures up a large non-existent goose to flap a lot of wings in the pool. It will buy them some time for the guards to be distracted and then to report an animal. [24]
"Come on. Let's get you patched up, again, and see if we can get a way to get on a hover boat."
Setting the Scene. The Crow Takes Flight.
Eustace got completely walloped in that last one. Narratively appropriately so. It was a rough fight for a number of reasons. This does mean that all things equal they are not going to rush into another fight or dangerous situation until he's had a decent chance of being patched up. Now, the "You look SHOCKED" condition would likely heal up on its own over time (being the direct result of being SHOCKED). He still is going to have his other condition "You look SMASHED" until a Time Out.
Expected Scene: E+H have to find a helicopter to get on board the Moonblink.
Scene Test: [c60] 3. 2d10 = 4 + 8. A major twist. In this case, the fact that the card has the catalyst of "New tech changes the game..." makes me think this twist is actually somewhat positive. You know what, let's put it to the test. (Even) → [c66] Yes. So there will be something else that gets Eustace and Hitomi on-board the Moonblink. Flight based? (Even) → [c33] Yes. Magic based (Bad) → [c95] Yes. What the hell. Let's go....
Actual Scene: As Hitomi is trying to find a way to intercept the Moonblink, the Witches Three make a deep alteration in Eustace.
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 1996.
Time: 3:42am.
Place: PS Nontooth Fillup.
This is going to hurt. The way I understand it, it doesn't matter how much excessive Grit he takes, it's going to trigger a death roulette. In this case, if he dies I'll play it out in one way and if he does not I'll play it out in another.
He will need to resist Extreme Brawn + Endure. Good luck to us all.
Date(s) played: March 20-21, 2025.
The Crow Takes Flight.
Despite the obvious flaw in her behavior, Hitomi has walked towards the gas pumps to smoke. And to shout into her Scrying Glass. She's talking to Genny. Maybe Genny's wife, again. About helicopters and needing to rent one in eight hours. Based on her shouts and scoffs, the conversation is not going greatly.
After fleeing ADO they made it back into terra firma GLOW and then drove north until property values dropped enough that the chance of anyone caring about a large, very smashed up looking man on the bike of a red motorbike dropped considerably. They found PS Nontooth Fillup, a gas station with a distinctly clashing retro motif mixed with Tourist-level New Orleans Voodoo. Actual gas, not Soulburn. Economic realities mean the lower your yearly pay the more likely you stick to unleaded petrol power.
Plus, for those who might be looking to flee north out of The GLOW, having a car that can keep driving past the Soulburn barrier is a pretty big deal. At least right now, when there is some place on this planet that has not been devoured by The GLOW.
The station is in automated mode right now. The storefront dark. Sounds of Dr. John's Gris-Gris are currently playing. Early it was Scientist ridding the world of the evil vampire curses. A few pumps are lit up and watched over by ServiSynths made to look like tall skeletal humans in top hats. It says something about the place that all the graffiti on display is purposeful kitsch. Skulls and spray paint totems. Looks like for all the shallow charm — pun not intended — the place has some real power. Locals fear the curse. Eustace wonders what Soulburn version of loa might look like.
At any rate, Hitomi took over driving duty after they got of ADO — Eustace's injuries being notable enough that he was not sure he could drive, even holding on felt like a challenge — and pulled in and then called some folks. Then some other folks. Then she called Genny. A few seconds into that Genny's wife snatched the phone and demanded to know what young woman was bothering her husband at 3am. After that shouting match went on for a moment, Genny got the phone back and they talked logistics and why Hitomi did not have any.
Eustace, after filling up the bike, pushed it over to the side and has been licking his wounds. Some of his blood has mixed with blue ServiSynth fluid and he is wondering about toxicology reports.
It actually takes him a moment to realize that he can no longer hear Hitomi talking. Or anything, really. No cars on the highway behind him. No more Dr. John. The world has fallen into silence. What's more, glancing at Hitomi, the first thing he notices is her cigarette smoke has stopped moving. The fog around her has turned into a still life. The second thing he notices is that a few meters behind her is a woman. Well, a person. Dressed head to toe in a black cowl that obscures any details.
Even a school kid in The GLOW would know exactly what he is looking at.
His heart drops, trying to race and give up at the same time. All the moisture in his mouth is gone. A scent much like what he would imagine a world made of cockroaches slams into his nostrils. Eustace is more afraid than any previous time in his life.
He contemplates running. Surely they are after him. If he leaves, they would not stay to pick the flesh from the reality around this gas station, right? Only has he turns to look behind him, another one is there. Closer. He does not look around to confirm the third one. Of course the third one is here. Somewhere.
And no sooner has he thought this that he sees the third one right there. Right in front of him, like she has always been there. For the first time in two decades, he sees something that no one else in The GLOW has. The Witches Three.
The one closest to him pulls a hand out from under the cowl but it is not a hand. It is a crow's claw. Talons long and sharp and bloody. That terrible scent intensifies. As she reaches out and starts to traces lines on his chest, the one behind him is whispering in his ear. The one near Hitomi is now on his left side. They not so much move but cease to exist at one point and then exist elsewhere. Maybe everywhere. And all three are speaking words now. Words that have never in the history of the universe been uttered by any human lips. Words that are shapes and symbols and realities and death and chaos and life and birth and fire and ash and freezing bright light.
Those crow talons tear through his flesh. This time, his heart stops for real. [25]
He feels himself falling into darkness. Down. A forever space wider than a life is long. Centuries pass. His flesh withers into dry dust and falls apart. His bones become brittle sand. The centuries stretch into eons. Epochs. Large shapes in the darkness break down into dead matter. Universal forces give way between their atoms. Existence shatters again and again. Reality becomes once more just a long sigh of a dreaming god. The beat of Skarl's drums threaten to cease and the great mad eye of Mana-Yood-Sushai threatens to open.
Only it is Eustace's eyes opening and he is not falling down but up. Up through the sky above a primal world. Down below, great behemoths and leviathans toil through an environment rich in warmth and food. Beasts the size of cars and houses feeding upon the great plenty that is everywhere while small mammals and early birds scurry about madly. Other living forms, not present in the fossil record, are also there. Aquatic humanoids. Great star spawn. Strange extra-dimensional beasts slithering into the higher dimensions between cracks and shadows. Odd bulbous beings built like the trunks of trees waving three arms into the air in their esoteric science.
Into the sky a great shape falls. The Chicxulub impactor. It catches fire as slowly — to Eustace's eyes — slams into the atmosphere. Mere moments in reality, it falls for a decade as Eustace continues to rise up and gives witness to the destruction of an entire planet. The spirits bound to the impactor also extinguish. The massive city of star spawn sinks beneath the waves. Those strange plant-like beings find themselves trapped by the plummeting temperature as odd black blob-like beings rise up and overthrow. The fish men dive deeper and deeper to wait. And all those leviathans and behemoths find themselves scurrying as the mammals realize that the tables have turned.
From this great scene of destruction and death, Eustace continues to fall up and up. Only not towards empty space but towards an ocean that has swallowed the world. And as he speeds up to slam into the waters at a speed that would eradicate most any other matter in known existence he glances himself in its reflections. Behind him, large black wings spread out. His body covered in scars that are an ancient language dead before Sol was cool enough for the planets to properly condense. His arms have become blades and he is writing upon himself.
And the words say...
Hitomi turns around at the sound of the crash and sees Eustace falling back over the bike and staying prone. His blades have been extended and by all appearances he has either been carving deep gashes into his own chest or somehow fending off a nearly silent foe. Still holding the phone she runs in his direction and and stops short. She doesn't even realize she is crying until the voice of Genny cuts through, asking what is wrong.
"Eustace.....he's dead."
DOUG'S COMMENTARY
March 21, 2025
That is the classic Doug ending, eh? I think in most of my main solo-play — excepting Shadowdark — someone dies and goes through vision space to learn new powers and abilities. Maybe I should play a bit more cautiously but ehhhhh...
Anyhow, it is very nearly time to hit post on this for the week so it won't be a huge amount of commentary at this point. I'll likely have to do some editing in post. I'm liking to what degree that the story feels properly emergent. My only idea initially was to get the disk out, avoid Patel goons long enough to have a story, and then fall back into patel goons. Only now we are dealing with primal truths of the world, have some fun bad guys, and all that.
PS Nontooth Fillup is a reference to "Paul Simon Nontooth". No clue why I wanted something with kind of a hokey but maybe authentically magic gas station. Just made sense at the time. There was a bit about abandoned cars as people get out and flee The GLOW and like, maybe that is still true but also I wanted to dial it back.
Also, we mash in Dunsany and Lovecraft mythos pretty distinctly into this one. The Deep Ones first showed up near the end of Jani's arc. There have been a couple of Lovecraftian moments under Eustace's tenure — the Patel masterplan involves channeling energy to bring up R'yleh — but again this is the most concentrated it has been. Or maybe not. The vision sequence is just that: visionary.
Alright, time to do a few last edits and click submit. I'll try and get next week's finished early enough that I have time to ponder more.
MECHANICAL AND STORY NOTES
- We'll give Hitomi a single chance to haggle. Crime + Speech. She gets a Critical. Drops it by $1.
- Spends an Adrenaline to search for two weak spots. First: 1,6 (Enemy is Afraid of You, gain 2 Adrenaline). Second: 6,2 (Situation is Right for a Crazy Stunt to work, Gamble for +2). Will go for the first. Makes sense since Eustace did a lot of damage last time they fought. Second, IS a psychic tracking them? (Bad) → [c2] Yes? Like with the Knives, not very good ones. Focus + Fix nets Eustace a Critical. More than enough to sever it.
- Spends an Adrenaline and goes all In. Ends up with 2xCritical which is maximum damage per hit. Hitomi spends an Adrenaline to get +1 and rolls 6 dice. Humorously, she gets a full straight. With a reroll she gets to a Crit and we'll hold there.
- Will security ServiSynths be here soon? (Good) → [c28] Yes. We'll say 3 more combat rounds. They will spend the Adrenaline to try and disarm Hitomi. Hitomi fails her Reaction and drops it. For avoiding damage: Hitomi versus Gun is Brawn + Stunt. We'll spend another Adrenaline. Hey, she gets it, plus a Basic. She'll use that to jump behind a power box and get back to her main task. Eustace spends an Adrenaline to Counter. He also manages the Extreme + Basic but can't really dodge out of fighting.
- Needing to conserve ADR, Eustace just uses his Blades + Brawn + Fight. Will give + 1 Help for countering her hit last turn. Gets Critical + 2xBasic. This takes them to the second hotbox. With the double basic we'll say he puts her off footing. Will reduce her attack by 1 tier to Double Critical.
- Hitomi will spend one of her Spotlights to get an Extreme. Enough to hack into the computer and to pull a quick one. Just for the sheer cinematic nature of it, the other two 'successes' will be to direct the trolley to hit Yori. She loses the Spotlight on the coinflip.
- Brawn + Stunt Gamble. He gets it but takes one Grit.
- Hitomi gets Extreme which is enough for two clicks on the track AND to cover Eustace. We won't give a click on the track, but that means he doesn't have to roll which is maybe for the best.
- Both make a Crit doing another two 'damage'. 8 successes remain.
- Since Hitomi is good at this, I will ask with (GOOD), do the ServiSynth guards track by sound? → [c65] Yes! Entirely by sound then, perhaps to stop from having a visual record. Makes sense.
- Eustace only rolls 2xBasic but Hitomi gets 2xCritical and uses hers to prevent his loss. 7 remain.
- Business names come from three cards: 62, 64, and 25 with minor changes. Eustace gets Critical. Hitomi the same. 5 remain. They will get +1 Help for this.
- Hitomi gets Extreme + Critical. Eustace gets Critical. They have found their way.
- She gets +1 Help and gets 3xBasic for a single Critical to open the lock.
- Why not, let's give Hitomi a chance at Extreme Criminal + Speech to see if she can wing it. She gets a Crit + Basic, enough to gain a second of confusion so they can attack first but not enough to convince it.
- Preserving ADR for now. Eustace gets a Critical and does no damage.
- Only gets 2xBasic trying to resist so takes 4 Grit!
- On second thought, we will not preserve ADR. Spends one for +2 to Fight. Actually manages a Jackpot. Only one damage can be done so the other two 'Impossibles' will be used as such. We'll give Eustace a freebie weakness gauge + a dodge. Weakness will be either 6,1 (Enemy is under a precarious structure, +1 to shoot out the ceiling) or 3,5 (enemy is trapped, free attack for 1 Grit). I like number 2.
- She gets a Critical + Basic for both the hacking roll and the resisting security roll. Speed of 2 and Need of 2.
- Eustace gets a free hit on the armor. Eustace dodges the clamp down pretty easily. Only gets a Critical + Basic to resist the attack and takes 2 more Grit. This refills the Bad Spot which gives him a condition: We'll call it Shocked and is -1 to Nerves.
- Hitomi gets Impossible on her Crime + Dexterity. Speed is up by 3 to 5. We'll play exactly by Chase rules so this puts her React at -1. 2xBasic but takes 1 Grit. And yes, it's the Powerpuff Girls. Need = 7.
- All in with ADR to make it a full 9 dice. Unfortunately his Extreme needed is all 1s. That's 4 Grit lost filling up the rest of his Grit track. He gets double basic which will be kind and apply to his avoiding the tackle. He gets an additional Basic which all three equals the needed Critical.
- Hitomi wraps up the 12 Need without needing to make a roll. However, will have her do one last hacking roll to see how well she hides her tracks. She gets an Extreme. This will give them about 24 hours or so. For the visual, thanks to Kamen Rider W and the 'library' scenes...with an added mix of Gridman.
- Can she control the guards from in here? (Even) → [c5] Yes? Kind of. Will take an extreme roll. It takes going All-In but she actually manages it.
- Eustace gets nada. And fails his death save. Plan B it is.
CREDITS
The GLOW 1996: Psychic Eustace Delmont is played using Two Little Mouse's Outgunned and Outgunned: Action Flicks (especially, but not limited to "Neon Noir" and "Great Powers"). It uses Larcenous Designs' Gamemaster Apprentice Deck: Cyberpunk 2E as its main oracle.
Other sources used include:
- Zach Best's Universal NPC Emulator.
- Cesar Capacle's Random Realities
- Kevin Crawford's Cities Without Number
- Matt Davis' Book of Random Tables: Cyberpunk 1, 2 and 3.
- Geist Hack Games and Paul D. Gallagher's Augmented Realities.
ART CREDIT AND EXPLANATION
I've had the photo for Dave saved up for a good minute now. It's base is this photo by Wilmer Martinez on Unsplash.
ADO's exterior is photo by Robert Tjalondo on Unsplash. Originall of the Netherlands.
Yori and Ambra are once again Nick Fancher's awesome looking models.
The interior scene of ADO: Photo by Arvin Mantilla on Unsplash.
Hasan's Terminal Farm is a composition of this 3D render with a photo by Christine Trewer from Pixabay.
PS Nontooth is Photo by Thomas Thompson on Unsplash. With some color shifting to make it more purple. And some tweaks to the graphic to hide that it's actually a Quebec gas station.
Taxonomy and Technical Data
- World: The GLOW
- Campaign: The GLOW
- Arc: 1996 Psychic Eustace Delmont
- Post: Episode 10 - Tracking Dave Akari
Comments
Post a Comment