Convergence, Session 9

General Summary

A Brief Rewind

We briefly flash back to before the Convergence Player Characters discover the Underwater Desert to remember that Rainy Day handed them some Cyphers for their expedition.

Arriving at the Source Tower

The group descend through the sea to land safely on the top floor of the Convergent Source Tower, where Lagann sits disused in a corner and several groups of Molepeople are lounging about. There is a water tower that reaches up into the sea above, as well as an unstaffed bar and several groups of chairs, tables, sofas and the like.
Toho "Ultrathem" Tanaka, Dvorak-46 and Iolo investigate Lagann and slowly figure out how to get it working. Dvorak interfaces with it to download an understanding of how to pilot it.
Meanwhile, Cyprian Kernow talks to the molepeople to try to discover their beliefs / religion. He struggles to get through to them, because they all put on an edgy façade and mostly imply that they don't really care about anything. They indicate that The Source (they point to the water tower) is some sort of phenomenon that some worship, but they're not really from here and they don't really care about it. He retreats to meditate with his skull. A couple of molepeople clearly think it's cool and want to talk to him about it, but won't openly admit to that. He lets them know that they can get involved in the group's investigations.
Also meanwhile, Taxi Varlik takes a drink from the water tower - from The Source. The water is delicious - the best she's ever had. It is also freshwater, despite the tower being fed by the saltwater sea above. Those in the group with magic ability realise that the water in the tower is indeed magical - it has some power and connection beyond being magically pure. Leofe scans the tower to reveal that there's nothing inside but the magic water (no filters or similar).
The group ask the molepeople about The Source and Lagann. They say that Lagann was here when they got here, along with other mechs. They have come here as part of a coming-of-age, in order to learn how to pilot mechs and then go out into the world and join the fight. Many of their fellows have done so already, but most of the ones that are still at the tower found it too difficult to learn mech piloting and the other knowledge needed to head out. The thought that they'd be shown how to do the things they wanted when they got here, but The Source only gives them the information they need to master their own skills - they need to put in the work by practicing and investigating on their own. Many of them don't want that.
The group look out to the giant battle raging in the east - the molepeople say that this is where they go when they learn how to pilot a mech. Leofe notices mech-like shadows in the dust, as well as some other shapes that she can't make out. She also spots another stationary mech not far from the tower - Buntline.

Leaving the Tower

The group head out to retrieve Buntline and head to the battle in the east. As they exit the tower, they are approached by a wounded figure, limping towards them from the south. He is a Dogperson with a strange aesthetic - ridiculously defined musculature and strange fur colouration (neon blue, black and green, with heterochromia). He says that he has come looking for aid - his people are trying to repel invaders from the Convergent Blasted Lands in the south, but they are being overwhelmed. Taxi heals his wounds as he explains more. After the giant white cube appeared south of the Blasted Lands, forces started emerging from it. They are people, but enhanced with cuboid metal and machinery. They use weapons formed of small metal cubes that they seem able to direct at will. They capture defeated opponents and take them back to the cube - some of them end up returning, augmented with cuboid metal and brainwashed into fighting former allies. The dogpeople are skilled guerrilla warriors and have turned away countless invaders in the past, but this new force has them outclassed. They are worried that the invaders will move onto the molepeople and The Source before long.
The group agree to investigate the situation between the dogpeople and the invaders, though they seem undecided on whose side they're on. They first retrieve Buntline and spend some time figuring out how it works. Atreyu relatively quickly settles into piloting it, with Dvorak's help.

To the Broken Lands

The group arrive at the Broken Lands and meet more of the dogpeople. They universally have strange fur colouration, no two alike. They are also all strangely muscular and weirdly proportioned in ways that seem to deliberately accentuate stereotypically sexually attractive physical characteristics. Some of them are akin to centaurs, in that they have four legs and two arms, except the lower portion of the body is like a dog while the upper portion is humanoid. They all have names like DarkMasterXO, 66-Fox-Friend-99 and so on. ShadowLord_96 is introduced as their strongest warrior. He leads the group to the front lines, where the invaders are currently fighting a small group of defenders.
On arrival at the fight, Dvorak leaps forward in Lagann (with Leofe as a passenger) and attempts to greet the invading forces. They interpret this as a threat and attack. The group is pulled into combat. Leofe reads the minds of the standard enemy troops, understanding that they are under some sort on incomplete mind control - they are intensely focused on their commands (attack, defend, etc.) and have no other real thought processes occurring. Taxi summons her future self in a time loop. Dvorak and Leofe are knocked out of Lagann by an attack. Cyprian uses a Cypher that destroys the metal armour and weaponry of the leader of the group of invaders, leaving him vulnerable and scared.

Rewards Granted

• 3 Cyphers (2 Fantastic, 1 Manifest)
• 1 GM Intrusion XP for Dvorak-46, with the other going to Atreyu 
• 4 Post-Session XP for all

Character(s) interacted with

Molepeople, Dogpeople

Created Content

I had to adlib quite a lot of detail around the lifestyle and culture of the Molepeople, including specifics about how their studies work (which I hadn't really thought of in advance).
Similarly, there was some adlibbing around the lives of the Dogpeople, though some of this was done collaboratively as we riffed off each other's ideas.

Notes

Too Tired Again

Due to work and other personal commitments, etc., I knew that I was going into this session with less prep than I would like - Chapter: The Desert Under The Water is quite freeform. This would probably have been fine if I had more energy available to wing things and go with the flow on the night. As it was, I kept getting distracted and wasn't able to effectively react to the group and throw in cool content when needed. We ended up finishing early because I felt like I'd reached my limit. Maybe I should have called the game off, but it's important to me and I didn't want to give it up. I think the session was still enjoyable, but I really want to get out of this recent funk of low-energy sessions and feeling like I'm not putting enough in.
This campaign has been quite challenging, I think because it's a weird structure, mostly built of disparate concepts and not-quite-stories. It's been hard to hold it all together and try to make it into something that feels like a cohesive experience with a direction, because it was never really built that way. I'm used to building my stories around central, cohesive themes or circumstances, etc. It's some good practice, I suppose.

Related Adventure

Campaign: Convergence, Chapter: The Desert Under The Water

Report Date

11 May 2021

Primary Location

Convergent Source Tower

Secondary Location

Underwater Desert