The GLOW 1996: Psychic Eustace Delmont, Episode 16 - One Last Ride?
- Reader Options/Controls
- The Final Stretch
- "Previously..." and Campaign/Arc Summary
- The GLOW 1996: Psychic Eustace Delmont Episode 16 — One Last Ride
- Doug's Commentary
- Credits
The Final Stretch
This post is going to be laid out a little bit oddly.
We are either at the final "real" location or at the penultimate one. Partially, I am unsure. When this campaign started, I was thinking that it might be nice to have the Rescue Amy Patel moment kind of early. Then Dave Akari, Magnus Odinson, Juan Uno, and the Moonblink showed up. There were Fractal Apocalypses, Heretics, and Shaolin Dragons. Eustace went from being a decent psychic to a scarred Witch King on borrowed time burning up his own life force to finish a mision. It's been ups and downs.
Therefore, there has been this notion of some estate somewhere — not the Rambler — where Amy Patel was being held and that freeing her would unlock the final gap. There's stock art of Amy Patel sitting in my bookmarks. She was initially conceived as being a somewaht major ally/foil (she would be a bit of both, kind of an unstable companion who had her own agenda). However, because of all the other stuff and the entirely unexpected meta-game that has developed about what the events Johnny Blue kicked off actually mean, Amy has been a bit downgraded. Rescuing her will no longer open the final stretch. We are in the final stretch. This leads me to a bit of a coin flip.
Will this estate also house the final fight with the stuff involving the Rambler being kind of a epilogue? OR, will there still be one final showdown afterward?
I think a fun way to figure this out will be to draw three cards. Card A will represent the human-based active defenses: guards and Patel thugs. Card B will represent non-human active defenses: turrets, robots, ServiSynth, and tech available to group A. Card C will represent security features and passive defenses: locked doors, computer security, possibly magical traps. For each card I get the "intensity number" [looking it up, it's called the Difficulty Generator]. I've been using this to generate a kind of swing value for scene interrupts and twists. It's a bell-curve centered around 5-6 with 4s and 7s next in line. There's one 1 and one 10. I think. At any rate, I'll pull the three cards in order and generate "two details" for each: how strong that category is (from 1-10) and use the other elements on the card to generate a few keywords.
If the total is greater than 17 — i.e., greater than the statistically average of 5.5 x 3 = 16.5 — or if any single value is greater than 8, this villa will essentially be the final showdown and we'll trigger a last Advance. Roman Patel will also be here. However, if neither of those are true there will be at least one final fight at the Rambler.
Group A: [c56] 6. A normal amount of resistance for this time in the game, just slightly tweaked up. Some keywords/icons: There's "jumping puzzle" icon and the phrase "On the water". Since this is all about human guards, I like the idea of there being a moat and this is attached to some canals in a classic Grand Theft Auto boat race type scene. Not a full on chase, just more a few boats full of heavily armed guards. A lot of the heavier enforcement will be outside the parameter.
Group B: [c88] 2. Not a whole lot at all. Clues from the card include references to stealth and military vessel. Maybe a single military-grade piece of equipment that cloaks the user from human sight. A small mech type option? That sounds fun.
Group C: [c10] 6. Kind of like the human guards. Solid, but not super punchy. The only keyword/etc on the card that sparks joy in this regard is the phrase "grinding gears..." which kind of makes think of big, strong doors and systems that open slowly.
This brings the total to 14. Not enough to trigger this as the final final fight. You have a villa surrounded by water. Guard patrol in boats. In the area between this and the courtyard is a stealth suit that represents something like a mini-boss. Past that is the interior which does not have much in the way of active defenses. Instead, it has large and heavy doors and a small, single contingent of troops inside. Not the siblings. I want to save them to be Roman's elite guard. Roger and his folks, maybe. We'll actually find out if Roger sides with Amy or Roman during the fight.
This sets up 3 fight sequences: boats (can be bypassed by flight but what's the fun in that?), the stealth suit, and the inner guard. There will be some skill needed to get inside. Amy, Bee, and BrokenRecord are being held inside.
Is Amy's Mantis also inside? (Good) → [c50] Yes? It's there but it has been deactivated so it has to be found AND restarted.
Since this will not be the showdown with Roman, it is not yet time for the Advance but that will be very, very soon.
Previously, on The GLOW: 1996 Psychic Eustace Delmont
Eustace has enlisted Detective Aurora Hernandez to help with the corruption in the MUNI and Sofia Rodriquez to being building up a new group of witches to help his plan: to protect the GLOW and its people by "destroying it." To rebalance The GLOW to be more compatible with human life. Now the time has come to finally fight back against Roman Patel but the first stop is Patel's private villa where Amy Patel, Bee, and BrokenRecord are being held hostage.
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.
The GLOW: 1996 Psychic Eustace Delmont. Episode 16 — One Final Ride?
Setting the Scene, e16s1: Back to Square Juan.
Date: June 5, 1996.
Time: 3:00pm.
Place: Juan's Cafe.
The crew is all together at last while the various cogs that Eustace have set into motion do their thing elsewhere — will find out how well this works when we get to the scene of storming the Rambler.
This one will be quick and mostly lore with maybe a few oracle pokes. Basically just a set up for what will follow where things should speed up until the end.
DATE PLAYED: May 12, 2025.
Back to Square Juan
Date: June 5, 1996.
Time: 3:00pm.
Place: Juan's Cafe.
Hitomi looks around at the gathered folk and thinks how many of them had been here just thirty-six-hours ago to talk about Eustace's death. Now they are all watching him. With a look of fear. Maybe. A look of awe. It's a lot to process and she would be willing to bet none of them feel these feelings as hard as she does.
When you look at him directly, he looks like a body-builder who has been through a couple of chemo treatments. That's before you get to the scars or the beard that is moving fast into gray and already showing signs of white. Eustace was in his late-thirties when she met him just a few days ago. Now he looks like he is pushing his early fifties. And it might be paranoia, but she thinks he already looks more wasted than when she met just a few hours ago. Whatever is happening to him is happening fast. He might only have a day or two left at this rate. She wants to scream at him to slow down, to just give it up, but she also knows that that he won't. It's up to her to go with him — and, in the process, kill him — or walk away. She knows she can't walk away.
The other problem is when you don't look directly at him. Out the corner of your eye he no longer looks like Eustace at all. He looks like some other. Huge. Larger than life. Head bent over because it no longer fits inside of Juan's cafe. That other explains the first problem. Something inside of Eustace is eating him alive. That thing is most likely himself. He'd likely call it a metaphor.
How severely is everyone acting towards Eustace being back? → [c117] 5. About average, a mixture. Neither greatly elated or deeply scared. Wishy-washy enough that we'll mostly just leave her earlier statement to hold.
Eustace has been answering Genny's question about what happened with Dave Akari. "...lucky that Lamark's process was flawed and unrefined enough that the essence of the beings from Yuggoth — so called Mi-Go though the variations of the fungoid beings is quite large — was too..."
Juan interrupts, "Is this necessary to understand what struck down Akari?"
"Sort of. The basic principle is that too much knowledge is a bad thing in this case. Once you reach a higher degree of refinement — which the that Hitomi helped steal — sorry Hitomi — does — the fungal nature of the original beings can infest new hosts. Dave Akari is around 220% Yuggothian at this point."
"I think your math might be off," Jones says.
"No, Soulburn spores do not play by the rules of reality. They are filling up until..."
Genny makes a exploding gesture with his hand. "Like stepping on a puff mushroom."
"And then exponentially expand from there. What's more, based on testimony from the future — it would help if you would stop interrupting — the second impact in 2012 will actually be even more infected by Yuggothian spores. Though by then the process will be so refined the entities will be able to hide the process."
Varvara lets out a sigh. After a day of straight Contemplative Bliss™ she has actually taken the night off any Artificial Moods, and it seems her natural disposition tends to a bit sad and forlorn. Or maybe it is just her Eastern European accent.
Hitomi feels the need to ask, "What is the Order going to do with Dave?"
What is the order going to do with Dave?
[c52] Strengthen. [c44] Callous. [c24] Wreckage.
"Their plan is to actually increase the process in Dave. They think that he represents self-sustaining Soulburn potential. A self-Harrowing. What...well, someone...called the Crucible."
"There's no way we can let that happen," Genny says.
"I said that's the Order's plans. Other entities have already started working to foil them. I think they will succeed."
Will the Witches Three be able to disrupt the Order's foolish plan? (Good) → [c70] Yes.
"Who?," Hitomi asks.
"The Witches Three."
At that, the room goes silent. Hitomi can see a range of questions on people's faces but there's a part of her that notes the reaction is muted. After a moment it occurs to her that everyone here is a transplant or too young to really know the lore. She's been in the GLOW for a few years. Genny a few years more and Jones with him. Juan has been here a bit. Eustace probably has the most time in the GLOW. One of the few who actually remembers the strange acts of terror the Witches performed to protect the city and Lamark's legacy. How would someone like Mrs. Yuuki react, she wonders.
Genny continues to steer the conversation forward. "Ok, let's trust those three old biddies can carry it off and stop the Order from making a big mistake. Let's look to the present and what we need to do. Roman's little home in rich-folk-town. What's the schematics say?" This last bit is directed towards Hitomi was to try and dig up information.
Will do a Crime (3) + Know (1) + Laptop (1) + experience with the Patels and previous rolls (1). This would be "The Top," though, so she doesn't get her free reroll due for Sprawl. Still, manages an Extreme success so has good surveillance information. The slight boost will give them +1 Help to any sort of navigation or location rolls they might need while on the outside. Not for every roll, but if it comes down to them finding their way while fighting.
"Quaint little bank vault pretending to be a villa from the outside. Surrounded by a canal system. Fresh water. To show off. A good old fashioned moat. Interior has some military tech but it seems Patel prefers the human touch."
Jones: "Can we land on the property?"
Hitomi: "Maybe. But getting access will require us punching through the kind of heavy duty doors that would seem ridiculous on a space ship. Meaning it would take enough time that any and all guards will have to be dealt with."
Genny: "We split, then? Some on boat, some...," looking towards Eustace, "...maybe fly in?"
Eustace shrugs at this. "We would do best if we're a team, I think. We go in on a boat first and then maybe cycle around to flight approach if it looks clear enough."
Genny looks to Juan. "You wouldn't happen to know a boat we could borrow, would you?"
Does Juan know of a boat they could "borrow" [in other words, a boat that they could get that will likely not make it back in one piece]? (Even) → [c26] No? So, not at those terms. But a boat they could buy, sure.
"I know a man who could sell you a boat, no questions asked. One suitable."
"Fair enough. Let's go get some shopping done and prepare for one last ride, eh?"
Setting the Scene, e15s2: Prepping for the Ride (Actual Play).
Date: June 5, 1996.
Time: 3:30pm to 9:30pm.
Place: Around Pensacola.
In the official rules, there is something called a GEAR UP! where you emulate movies and shows where the good guys show up at their supplier and start stockpiling. In Outgunned, these are meant to align with Turning Points and Showdowns. This session isn't quite either but I want to do two things that fudge the rules because I think it makes storyline sense.
One, I want to have a GEAR UP! here because a GEAR UP! later will make very little sense.
Two, I want to go ahead and give Genny a "free" Advance because he has generally been left out. It makes sense that Jones and Varvara would be a bit "behind" but Genny has been somewhat attached for around half the sessions.
Note: This means Genny will still get an Advance before the assault on the Rambler but I think this will bring his character up to aligning. Hitomi and Eustace are still a bit ahead. Then Genny as the heavy secondary character. Then Jones and Varvara as the tertiary ones.
The rulebook says that GEAR UP!s should be dramatic but I also want to blend a lot of "shop" talk in with this one so am just running it actual-play style rather than mechanics + GM + player style.
Boosting Genny
Genny gets 2 Skill Points and 1 Feat. For Skills, I think Stunt and Dexterity to show a bit more aplomb in the field. For Feat, hmm. I think I like Selfless. He gets a Free Re-Roll when saving or defending others. His general character arc has been to move from a selfish sort of guy worried about his bottom line and considering himself something of a leader who is taking care of his troops.
He also gets +1 Adrenaline. Which likely won't last long.
Shopping Spree
Just to speedrun this part a bit and get back into action (well, back into action next time): the team will spend ALL their money to get 3 Bullet proof vests (One for Hitomi, One for Jones, One for Varvara, Eustace is a bit past worrying about his damage taken). They will have maxed ammo for Genny and Hitomi and 2 extra clips for Jones. And they will get an ex-Muni boat that will grant +1 Help to dodging gun fire while on board due to its armor.
DATE PLAYED: May 13, 2025.
The Briefest of Respites
Date: June 5, 1996.
Time: 9:45.
Place: Jal Pilkin's Military Surplus, the back lot.
Genny is laughing at some raucous joke with Jal. Jal Pilkin is a fat, one-armed drunkard that traffics in second-hand military gear. Stuff from The GLOW, the US, India, Japan and others show up here. All, technically, above board. Then there is the back lot. Stuff not so decommissioned. Stuff that would summon MUNI down on the place with haste. At least, if Jal wasn't bribing MUNI to look the other way and swapping a few military-grade pieces for a few MUNI-grade pieces in trades that seemingly favor MUNI enough to keep them satisfied all the while running a hefty profit on Jal's side of things.
Genny's truck has a boat hitch so they have a way to get it to the water. The cover will hide the fact that it is not a fishing boat hopefully long enough for them to get it into the network of canals and artificial rivers that cover that stretch of The GLOW: an artificial area so fake that fake nature is on the minor side of the true expense. It's not like fishing boats are allowed there. Of course, it's not a fishing boat. It's a MUNI intercept boat. Armored. Fast. Lots of places to hide out from gun fire. The hope is that Patel's folks will assume it is one of theirs until too late.
Jones will be in the Green Lady. As soon as the ground is deemed clear, he'll come in for a landing and they will enter into the faux villa together.
Genny, still laughing, is strapping a bullet proof vest on Varvara, instructing the young woman on how to get out alive. "You see me go down, you don't stop for me. I'm an old soldier, right? You keep moving."
"Genny has changed, hasn't he? Gone from a fussy, selfish bastard to a over-caring, doting bastard," Hitomi says to Eustace beside her. He's now wearing a shirt and clothes that no one has died in so the improvement is notable. The past six hours, though, has aged him another half-decade. Hitomi watches him for a reaction while strapping on her own bullet proof vest and pulling her shirt down over it.
"I think we're seeing what he was always like. Sometimes when you care about a lot of people, it becomes a kind of selfishness. If you are gone, who is going to take care of folks?" Eustace says that not with any sign of psychic awareness, just a person talking about a new friend they are getting to know.
"I'd feel better if you were wearing one of these vests."
"I...don't think it matters. I'm not sure I can die. Until..."
"Until your time is up?"
"Yeah."
"How much longer do you have?"
How much longer does Eustace have? (We'll say 5 = 1 day and the results are a bit exponential [3 would be 6 hours, 7 will be 2 days]) → [c54] 6.
"36 hours, give or take."
"If you die before we get to have sex one more time, I'm going to be irate."
"I love you, Hitomi."
"Jesus. What did I say about the el-words."
"It's true, though."
"I know, goddamnit. Fuck. Shit. Ass. Fly north, you fuckhead. Get past The GLOW and just be a dumb, normal person."
"I think it's too late. I take the GLOW with me, now. If I flew north, it would be the city left behind by Soulburn, not me."
"I hate this."
"I know."
"I don't think I can say 'I love you,' back. It would hurt too much."
"Ok."
"But..."
As she starts crying, he picks her up. Despite the obvious loss of muscle mass, he is still strong as an ox.
Genny looks over to tell them it is time to go and sees the two kissing. And, inside, the old soldier knows it might be for the very last time. So, he gives them the briefest of respites.
DOUG'S COMMENTARY
This is somewhere between an interlude and a play session. More "gamey" than the pure lore post that preceded it, less "gamey" than the "it's going to be mostly fight scenes" post that is likely to follow. Unless we get a few MAJOR TWISTS, which could happen.
Nothing much else to say right now. I feel like I have set this up just right for the kind of story that I like to play. I am glad that Eustace has more than, say, 6 hours to live. If the Magnus Odinson "1 hour until..." thing is any indication, time gets away from me.
Jal Pilkin is a somewhat obvious Grand Theft Auto: Vice City reference, because I can't not see this as a bit of a tribute to GTA:VC. I love those old PS2 games.
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
The Juan's cafe post used second is possibly the most used recurring theme image in the campaign. Also the one I used to demonstrate some of the tools I use to tweak the photos while making the art for this campaign.
The first one, though, is from a fairly similar looking cafe [at least, at a glance] and is from: Photo by Darya Luganskaya on Unsplash.
Since that is likely the last ever scene at Juan's, it's kind of a goodbye. As the hero's leave, the literary "tavern" becomes empty.
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