Altamont
⌼ Frank's Bus
Michael
So, you know, most of the time the track sits idle; it's February and there won't be actual national circuit racing here for another couple of months. I would imagine they have various events here but obviously the stigma of '69 has stuck to the place to some extent.
I would imagine that while the place is closed the front gate is locked. But as you can see there are a number of hills over which you could approach the place overland on foot if you wanted (kind of like how the concert-goers got onto the grounds back in '69).
Bill
What, and not get to drive the track? If there isn’t a posted guard or cameras or something, I’ll pick the lock.
Michael
Yeah, there's a little ticket office and a couple of outbuildings (and of course the pits and the various tin-roofed shacks near the track's starting line) but there doesn't seem to be anybody here and certainly no cameras. Give me a Lockpicking check, take +4 for having tools and time.
>> SUCCESS by 4
Michael
Roger pops the lock easily. So the front gate is off the parking lot (outside of that picture) but as you two start walking toward the racetrack proper, the sky goes grey and cold. The green grass, trampled to mud four years ago on that fateful December day, starts to look brown and dead under the now-occluded sunlight. I would say Mitch gets one of those "someone is walking over my grave" shivers.
The air gets palpably dry, somehow, suddenly. It's almost like the two of you are viewing the track, the stands, and the surrounding hills through a scratchy pane of glass. Both of you give me a Hidden Lore (History B) roll at a -4 to your skill.
>> FAILURE by 1
Jeff
Dang.
Bill
Yeah, was gonna miss that.
Michael
All right. What do you two want to investigate here? We got the pits, the stands, the fields and hills around the racetrack, the track itself ...
Jeff
Any of Mitch's supernatural lead-generating advantages apply?
Michael
I have rolled to see if Detect History B triggered and it did not.
Jeff
Fair enough!
Michael
As far as Serendipity is concerned, Mitch can certainly wander around the grounds and see where it leads him!
Bill
Roger’s keen to drive the track. Fastest way to cover ground, right? “Mitch, you good walking?”
Michael
A joyride, excellent. With the gate open you can drive your car right on there. (Now we haven't done the scene with Roger's mechanic yet, we can say he's been really busy the past couple of weeks or say this happened afterwards, your call Bill)
Bill
Hopefully this trip is after, considering the 5 hour drive tomorrow.
Michael
Fair enough. The Chevelle is purring.
Bill
Sweet!
Jeff
Hmm, what was the center of the disaster. The place where the people were. The stands? Mitch will wander in that direction.
Michael
Mitch has a bit of a wander around behind the stands, over by the pit area, and then walks behind to where the pit outbuildings sort of drift onto the soft earth surrounding the track. This would've been where most of the crush of humanity was during the concert, considering the stage was mounted just outside the racetrack proper. There's a parking/staging area for cars, trucks, and dirt bikes back here, with some tarps thrown over some go-karts, trucks, and a couple of big pieces of earth-moving equipment. Behind THIS is a massive 12-foot deep hole about the size of a school bus. Mitch gets dizzy all of a sudden. Give me a Detect History B activation roll.
Roger! Give me a Driving roll!
Bill
>> SUCCESS by 3
Jeff
>> SUCCESS by 7
Michael
Okay, for Mitch it's now a Perception roll and if that succeeds an IQ roll.
Jeff
>> SUCCESS by 6
>> SUCCESS by 6
Michael
A couple of tight corners but Roger gets up to a decent speed on the track. The steering feels good, the engine is nice and responsive. I think Roger needs to give me Perception check too.
Bill
>> SUCCESS by 1
Michael
Okay, Jeff: you are standing inside a subduction zone to History B, here, at the racetrack. While this is not the spot that Meredith Hunter got pool-cued by a Hell's Angel, the energy of the Altamont Free Concert is heavy here and seems to have dislodged History B from its more or less usual peaceful nonexistence. And it's clear Frank sought to jar loose this subduction zone. But it is stable. Now, what you see when your Detect goes off ... beyond the mass grave for kids that Frank planned, is a field of what look like giant seed-pods, dotting the landscape, which now looks sepia, faded like an old photograph. Buzzing around them are giant mechanical dragonflies with buzzing rotor wings and jeweled eyes. Occasionally one will dart down and extend a clanking proboscis to sup upon one of the giant pods.
As Roger rounds the final turn of his final test lap, he swears that the entire landscape beyond the racetrack flashes from green to full-on sepia for a moment, like Roger has just donned tinted aviators. But then it vanishes, and the landscape looks normal again. Car's getting warm, though. And what exactly is Mitch up to back there near the pits?
Bill
Roger will take a pit stop and check on his crew.
Michael
Roger pulls in neatly to the pits, gets out of the car and walks back to the car staging area where Mitch is sort of staring out at the surrounding hills. And staring ... down at the ground in front of him, maybe? It's warm over here but not 240 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jeff
Pyro 6 activates Uncontrollably on 15+
>> SUCCESS by 9
Mitch declines to operate his Pyrokinesis 6
Michael
(See, Sheila and Lynn were right, you're training already!)
Bill
The Chevelle is many feet away ...
Jeff
"This is a bad place, Roger!" Mitch shouts. "This is where he was going to plant them!"
Michael
And as Roger gets close enough, he can see in the soft earth a big, school bus shaped hole. Right behind a pair of heavy earth-movers.
Bill
Yes, you mentioned the school bus shape before. Oh boy.
Michael
Roger's definitely been getting odd vibes but nothing he could put his finger on. But yeah, Mitch seems pretty freaked.
Bill
“So this is the Place of Sacrifice? Madre de Dios.” Roger crosses himself. Then he looks around, carefully, mindful of glyphs.
Michael
Another Perception check for Roger?
Bill
>> SUCCESS by 3
Michael
No sign of any glyphs or weird inscriptions visible from the standpoint of this spot near the bus-grave.
Jeff
Man nothing here outside the unholy pit, surely that means there's nothing inside the pit, surely
Michael
Mitch isn't officially freaking out, of course, he did make his Fright check and Pyro check.
Jeff
Mitch has had a very stressful day.
Michael
Pit's empty. There's, like a steep ramp of earth that leads into the grave of course. He was going to drive it in and then presumably use the earth mover to cover it up.
Jeff
OK so the giant mechanical insects are ignoring us, right?
Bill
Yeah, covering it up sounds good right now .... wha?
Jeff
I could try cooking one.
Michael
They're not noticing you, no. But the view into History B is startlingly clear. Like the Ralph's that blew up.
Jeff
Might set them all on us, if I cook one, that'd be bad, probably.
Michael
The fact that this is a subduction zone—a stable one, by the look of it—means that things are... thin here, but nothing's going to bust through without some kind of stimulus.
Jeff
So, wait, I can snipe across reality and kill things with my mind from a position of safety? That doesn't sound right.
Michael
Like, you want to hope that no other concerts using Hells Angels as security will ever play here again.
Bill
We gotta check out the pit, make sure there’s no weird thing in it. Keystone or something.
Michael
You can see these elements of History B clearly. You're not using pyro across the boundary, though.
Jeff
I'm not! I'm just speculating about trying. Mitch has been in situations not wholly dissimilar to this before, and in those situations the Red King's minions tended to be flammable.
Bill
Given Mitch is freaking out at things Roger can’t see (but maybe hears), he’s going to warn Mitch, then go down.
Jeff
But this could be a pretty different situation than the Ralph's, or the thing in the canyon. That's absolutely possible.
Michael
I can tell you that both the insects and the pods, your Detect tells you that neither are Irruptors proper. They are machines and plant life (?) respectively.
Jeff
Ok. Fun as it would be to snipe across dimensions at mechanical insect-monsters, Mitch isn't going to risk the many catastrophes that he can imagine spinning out from it, not unless a bug suddenly eats Roger or something.
Michael
Okay, so Roger shuffles down the slope into the pit. This feels like a Search roll ... which is Perception minus 5.
Jeff
Mitch watches Roger shuffle.
Bill
>> FAILURE by 1
“So Mitch, I’m getting a sense that burning or killing here would be Bad.”
Jeff
"Yeah, probably."
"Usually is."
"You want I should go down there?"
Bill
Roger’s thinking about Not Opening the Way, and is distracted.
Michael
Yeah, Roger does a survey of the ground here, nothing. I mean, a more formal dig here would use Archeology, which SANDMAN trains you goofs in. But that would require, like, little sticks with string tied to them and sifting pans, etc.
Bill
“If you can remain ... calm.”
Jeff
Ok, Mitch will slide down to Roger's level, then.
Bill
Doesn’t look like Archeologists have been here, no.
Michael
Now Mitch has Observation, and he's going to get a +2 because his Detect (History B) is going off.
Jeff
>> SUCCESS by 6
Michael
Mitch senses with his Detect (History B) power a sizeable object, on this side of the ontoclastic barrier, buried another 8-10 feet below his and Roger's feet. That's going to require some work and effort to excavate. And that is where we can leave off for now.
Bill
Woah.
Jeff
Cool. "Further down," Mitch tells Roger. "We gotta go deeper."
Michael
Plus, you know, you might want backup. More archeologists!
Bill
“Yeah, let’s get someone else to dig it up …”
Michael
This seems like the kind of thing you could call Granite Peak about.
Bill
“We gotta road trip tomorrow.”
Or Archie. I’m sure he lives for that kind of thing. Old stuff in the ground. Sure Sophie would bust a gut researching it hard.
⌸ The Dig
Michael
SANDMAN has decided to hit this subduction zone quick. Knowing thanks to Mitch's abilities that there is some chunk of History B buried underneath the mass grave that Frank dug for the schoolkids allows them to excavate in a manner that will do the least amount to trigger any kind of reality temblors. The idea here is to solidify History A here.
There's a team of grunts from the Project: probably Army personnel from Granite Peak who are doing the physical digging. They're not using earth-moving equipment, just spades and bucket brigades. The SANDMAN members in charge of the expedition are four personnel from Granite Peak. Three men and a woman, all white. The oldest man, balding and stooped, introduces himself as Professor Peters. He is an archeologist. The other two men are both in their late 30s or early 40s, one has a shock of red hair going white at his temples. He is Quarles, a cultural anthropologist. He's doing something odd as Archie and Jo arrive; he has a portable tape player with a hand-held speaker and is walking the perimeter of the bus-sized grave; he seems to be playing some sort of loud rock music backwards. The third man, tall with fair hair, named Merrick, is a little younger than Quarles and he does most of the talking to Archie and Jo: he introduces himself as an esmologist/strategist. The woman hangs back near the large unmarked black van parked about 60 yards away from the dig. She is wearing severe businesswear and has a little black doctor's bag at her feet. Two SANDMAN commandos stand next to her and the van. They're not talking to anyone.
"Mr. Ransom," Merrick says, "So glad URIEL could meet us here. Ms. Menos," he nods at Jo. "You're welcome to observe—this was URIEL's find, after all—but please allow Professor Peters to manage the scene."
After "fumigating" the scene with his tape player, Quarles heads over to the black van and pulls out from the passenger side a mobile phone receiver on a long extendable curly cord. He beckons Archie and Jocasta over.
"Ransom, Menos. So what I'm doing here is trying to counteract some of the poking and prodding that people have done at this subduction zone. What we've got to do is make this place normal again. Now, that is exceptionally unlikely to happen to the extent we'd like, given what happened here at the concert four years ago has become a memetic watchword worldwide for hippie excess and anarchy, but any little gesture helps. We're moving a fairly major speed race here in April in an attempt to help defuse that association. It would be very good if URIEL could help with the stabilization in the coming months. Pop over every night now and again with Hort, maybe send an observer or two to the race next month. Once we've removed the presumed pragmaclast, this stabilization process should get easier."
Leonard
"Of course, Dr. Quarles. Any assistance we can provide, we're happy to offer," Jocasta says, outwardly responsible and helpful, respecting a perceived chain of command. She'll pitch in with any asks, especially anything involving archaeology or sketching. Quietly, though, she's going to keep a close eye on the woman and the commandos, see if anything sticks out to her Occult-wise, and very pointedly not use Psychometry if she can help it, as this place is giving off major bad vibes to her.
Michael
A sketch of the dig would actually be really useful and I would say that Peters might actually notice Jocasta drawing and break off from the dig to ask her, "Young lady, would you mind if we got a copy of those sketches when we're all done here today?" Give me an Artist (Drawing) roll when you get a chance.
Leonard
"Certainly, Doctor. I have a ... history of noticing things, maybe my little drawings will help." (She's playing dumb to try and get any of the brass to open up, to a degree....)
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
You know, I almost think a Savoir Faire roll would work well here. I think Peters is in the right zone to fit in High Society.
>>>> SUCCESS
Leonard
Sure thing, rolled another 8, so that's a success by 8. (She's not trying to con anyone, really, just ... let her get a glimpse behind the door, so to speak.)
Michael
"I had a feeling I'd read something about you before, you're Menos, aren't you?" Peters extends a hand. "Do you want to come down and give us a hand? If and when we excavate any artifact, it would be good to have someone do a detailed sketch of it."
It seems like Peters has given you entre into the inner circle of SANDMAN archeologists here.
Leonard
"Yes, sir, Jocasta Menos. I'd be happy to oblige." Jo will head down and do as asked, downplaying (but not ridiculing) her own archaeological knowledge but pitching in if an opportunity arises. She'll do ask good a sketch as she can but will also be keeping a (third) eye open for anything that tickles her occult sensibilities. (She's also going to look for familiar symbolism, but will keep stumm about them unless they seem relevant.)
Michael
So I think one Archaeology roll would be great. That will tell you a lot.
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
So what you can see as the dig gets bigger is that Peters and his assistants are supplementing standard archeological methods with some SANDMAN-specific mojo to protect everyone. You notice that Peters engages in what looks like ritual behaviors: occasionally muttering what sound like sing-song incantations in Akkadian; here and there he hangs a quartz crystal on a post near the center of the dig. The soldiers digging great gobs of earth get to a certain level and Peters holds up a single hand and says, "That's all, gentlemen. It's down to picks and spades and brushes now. We're close."
As that happens, both Archie topside and Jo in the pit can feel a change in the light in the morning air; the sun passes behind a cloud and the air gets chilly. A wind blows across the makeshift SANDMAN camp. Leonard and Rob, can Archie and Jo both give me a Hidden Lore (History B) roll at a -4 to your skill?
>>>> FAILURE
>>>> SUCCESS
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
Peters looks up at the sky and checks his quartz crystals. "Better hurry," he mutters to himself again, as he bends his old bones down to the floor of the pit and begins excavating by hand. It takes a couple more minutes for the dull glint of verdigris'd bronze to appear in the dirt. It looks like the edge of a hollow cone? A funnel? Judging by the arc of the circumference you're guessing the funnel is about 5 feet wide. Jocasta gets to sketching.
Rob
The one thing Archie will ask about is this request for Mitch to come back every day or so. Is that going to be safe for Mitch? He has reacted unpredictably to exposure to subduction zones in the past. (Archie's not refusing an order, just being responsible, looking out for the safety of his team.)
Michael
After a couple of hours of careful excavation, the Object is fully revealed, more or less. It's definitely an intact ... machine. Jocasta has heard Peters exclaim under his breath, "Extraordinary" more than a few times while gradually revealing more of it. It's clear he's never made a find like this before. The object is about eight feet tall when fully exposed. The presumed top of it is dominated by a wide, flat funnel, five feet wide at the top, narrowing to a six-inch wide recess that leads into the machine. The entire body of the machine is made of cunningly-wrought bronze. Pipes and (intact!) glass containers dominate the middle part of the machine, along with four very prominent smoky crystals, mounted on four sides of the machine. At the bottom is a small chute, very much reminding you of a dispenser of some kind. Peters is stunned once it's revealed. He stands back and wipes his brow with a handkerchief. Peters shouts up to Quarles and Merrick.
"We're going to bring it up. Carefully. But before we take it back to Granite Peak, I want the Indigo to read it in situ. Can you please let Dr. Haynes know we will need her services?"
Rob
When Jocasta first jumps down into the pit, and Archie "felt" the subduction zone, he called down to her, kind of pointlessly/ineffectually to "be, um, careful!" During the several hours of digging, Archie strolls around Altamont trying to get a better sense of just how big the zone is. Later, when we're actually looking at the Object, can Hidden Lore (History B) or Archaeology tell me anything about it? And there's no need to be shy: Archie will at the very least ask one of the experts (Peters if possible, otherwise Merrick or Quarles): "What is it?"
Michael
Awesome. [Archie's] previous Hidden Lore (History B) roll will give you a sense of the subduction zone's size: basically it encompasses the entire area around the raceway, extending far far out into the bare hillsides surrounding it. Archie probably doesn't do a complete perimeter walk of the property but for as far as he can sense, there is a sense of History B rubbing up against our world. Again, the boundaries between worlds here feel quite solid all things considered; there is a sense among the team and among the Project (especially from Merrick, as he exchanges occasional words with Archie over the morning), that the Free Concert back in '69 and specifically the death of Meredith Hunter caused a minor temblor which has settled down in the 3+ years since. Looking at the object, Archie can definitely give me another Hidden Lore (History B) roll. As he peers at the Object, Quarles sidles over, hearing the instruction to the woman, Dr. Haynes, to bring out the "Indigo." "I'm hoping that an asset of ours in the van will be able to tell us exactly what it's used for. But we usually don't find pragmaclasts this big or as intact as this. And usually they take a form more amenable to the conceptual precepts of History A. But when you get into less-populated areas, ones without influence from the History A human noosphere, sometimes you find that History A hasn't been able to "cover" for the pragmaclast as perfectly, and you get objects that look like they came straight from the Red Kings' history. So, this is rare on two levels."
Michael
"In other words," Quarles continues, "if we'd found this in Iraq it might look like a stone jug with a bunghole at the bottom. In Europe, maybe a mysteriously preserved Roman wooden barrel. But this area ... even when the Indians were abroad in northern California, this area's population density was extremely low. So you end up with features of Irruptor craft and technology predominating."
Rob
Nice.
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
Well, SANDMAN training certainly covers the topic of reality shards, but with an eye towards their being useful for SANDMAN technological/warfare research. So you end up with lots of files and dossiers on artifacts that can harm people or mind-control them or any of that sort of purpose that SANDMAN classifies under "Irruptor powers." But Archie can tell this thing isn't a weapon, it isn't any kind of technology meant to help Irruptors control minds or bodies or souls. It looks like a very functional machine, one with a purpose tied to the nature of History B on the other side of the subduction zone. You put something in the funnel at the top, and something presumably comes out the chute at the bottom. It almost feels quotidian: a piece of processing equipment of some kind. Of course what kind of exotic History B substances might be processed within this machine is far beyond Archie to speculate.
A young girl of slight build stumbles from the van. Her hair is roughly cut, short and blonde. Her eyes are large and blue. They dart about quickly absorbing her surroundings. Probably the first thing you would notice is the Panasonic RD-60 Headphone Radio she is sporting. The headphones look too large and heavy for her small head and the antennas are just begging to take out someone’s eye. The flash ends there. Her outfit is simple and drab. She wears a dark short sleeved top, grey slacks, and navy slip-on shoes. She is led over to the object where she stares at it for what seems like hours... but only minutes have gone by. She whispers, but audibly enough to be heard by both Jocasta and Archie, "It's for making food. Space-age food. The crops go in the top, and then a little pill comes out the bottom."
Dr. Haynes looks down at the girl with wide, watery eyes—pupils dilated from sadness ... or from fear?— and says, "Thank you, Charley. We can go back home now." Dr. Haynes pats her on the head and the two commandos lead the little girl back to the van. Before she is taken back to the black van, she looks over at Archie for just the briefest of moments, and smiles.
Rob
aaagh Indigo child with same name as Archie's dead son
Yeah, I can't think of anything useful to say. Archie tries his best to give her a smile back.
Michael
That's fine! I will give Leonard another little bit to see if Jo's going to do anything.
Leonard
Jocasta doesn't want to fuck up getting in with the brass, but will silently add "Do we use psychic child slaves?" as a question about SANDMAN to be answered with the application of heavy drugs.
Michael
After the Object is hauled out of the pit, not sure if you two have anything else you want to speak with the Granite Peak team about. If not, we can go back to Livermore where I'm sure Roger is just about back from his overnight at Mt. Shasta.
(Job, I was thinking about the conversation with Quarles about buried parahistory on the American continent and thinking whether it rung any alarm bells for Archie vis-à-vis the Golden Plates.)
Rob
Oh yeah, it's great to think about History B connections/explanations for the Golden Plates, etc. The most positive reading in Archie's mind is that Mormon and Moroni were somehow part of the human rebellion that triggered the Ontoclysm and freed us from History B. The timing is just about right, as Mormon theology has Mormon and Moroni living circa 400 AD. Archie's smart enough to have doubts about that, just as he's smart enough to have doubts about all this shit he believes in. But he Pushes All That Away.
Case in point: on the drive back to Livermore, Archie breaks the silence, feebly, by saying something half-hearted and inadequate to Jocasta like, "I'm told they treat the children very well."
Leonard
Jo takes a drag off a smoke (Virginia Slims in a holder, for the modern gal) and gazes out at the landscape as they cruise down the 580 back to Livermore.
"Yeah, that's what I hear. I hear a lot of things like that," she sighs. "Look, I'm not naïve, Archie. I think what we're doing is right, at least as far as I can get my head around it, which isn't far. Maybe right and wrong aren't big enough words to cover it. But I believe it. And I know there's a lot of...things that have to be done that we'd rather not do. I saw stuff in Africa, in Vietnam ... hell, I saw things right here in California a lot worse than I imagine that girl is being treated."
She pauses for another long moment and stares a long way past the bay, across the expanse of the real. "It's just that I keep hoping that there will come a time when what we're doing makes sense to me, you know? That it'll be as plain and simple as the people giving the orders make it sound. But every day, that time seems a longer way off."
Michael
(Man.)