AP: Appalachia, Windmills, Treehouses

State of the Windmill Hold after Session 6

The Hold PCs
Barbecue - m, hardholder
Burroughs - ?, brainer
Hooch - ?, chopper
October - f, skinner

The Hold NPCs
Jones - m, 10 year old kid, weird
Dusk - f, works for/with October
Jennette - f, works for/with October
Frog - f, doc, from Valley camp
Frankie - f, quarter-master
Waters - m, tinker, dislikes brainers
Crille - m, 38, always-armored and paranoid ex-miner who does odd jobs, looks a little like Jones
Silver - m, lost a finger
Sun - m, tailor, has a family - who are they?
Massey - f, Sun's daughter, about 8
Honeytree - f, brewer
Winkle - ?,
Jackbird - f, preggers, interested in gardening
Bullet - m, T-jack, is going to be a dad, still in the trail-jacks
Tinker - ?, T-jack, translates for T-Bone
Baby - f, T-jack,
Spice - f, T-jack,
T-Bone - ?, T-jack, Trail-jacks crack mechanic,
Stinky - m,T-jack, yep he does
Pinky - f, T-jack,
Shithead - m, T-jack, old guy, pathological liar
Ribbons - m, T-jack, scarred face

Newly Detailed Hold NPCs

Shooter, m, 18 or 19, wiry and Ginger, he can hit a squirrel at 150 feet with the wrist rocket he likes to use.

Blues, f, 16, tomboyish African American. Kills with a harmonica, best eye for salvage in the gang.

Dice, ambiguous, roughly 20. Androgynous plain and quiet kid with a fierce stutter but good with an airbrush or spray can, decos the bikes.

Hammer, m, 17 or 18, big good-looking kid with a mean streak. Likes to drink. Has a shit bike that looks good so attracts interest in other holds.

Drew, f, 30, Sun's wife, former slave from the Warrens; introverted to match her daughter Massey's extroversion

Hope, f, 22 months old, the baby Drew has been keeping secret from Barbecue and the rest of the holding for some reason

Nash, m, 14, storytelling puberty-stricken boy whose recently become interested in medicine, thanks to now living in the same quarters as Frog

Marlene, f, 45, Nero's adopted mom, a loner, lives at the edge of the holding, does a lot of hunting and trapping.

Lark, f, 21, Jackbird's sister, into gardening.

Eliza, f, 40, African American, A former teacher or librarian, she has a gift for foreign languages and a collection of books, she likes tea.

Nightingale, f, Waters sister/daughter/apprentice (not sure which is most appropriate or interesting), likes to take things apart and make new things out of old stuff, helped October repair her record player.

NPCs Outside of the Hold:
Harrow - m, hardholder at the Valley Camp
Cookie - ?, Vallley C
Enough-to-eat - f, hardholder at the Warren
Newton - f, Warren
Grome - m, Warren, hunter
Princey - m, Warren, buys from October, Sun, and etc

Dead NPCs:
Nero - m, drowned trying to make Trail-jack
Dremmer - m, stole a ring, got fed to Old Red-eye
Jackabacka - m, pissed off Hooch, got fed to Old Red-eye
Fleece - m, was an agent of chaos, got brained by the brainer

From Hooch:

With Jackabacka down Hooch is thinking about calling a Run to try and get a couple more riders. maybe when they get back from the mine....

From Burroughs:

Burroughs doesn't talk about the haunted windmill not because he doesn't know about it.  He doesn't talk about Them because, as far as he's concerned, They're the ex-lovers he's trying to put behind him.  Burroughs used to go over and have great crazy spirit-brain-sex with those whom he calls "the Historians" – he was practically one of them for a while – but then they had a falling out of sorts.  Over what?  Burroughs is still too flustered to say, but Jones has taken the hint from him that they're not to be trifled with.  Best left alone, if you ask Burroughs.

From October:









First some images of October and her ladies to give you a  visual on them (ed: top to bottom: Jeanette, Dusk, and two pictures of October). I wanted to include a photo of Tilda Swinton from "Constantine" but couldn't find a good enough image. If you've seen the movie Swinton's character is totally dapper, androgynous and otherworldly, which is how I picture October. One of the October images is the Endless from Sandman, one of October's inspirations is Desire (the one in the suit). The other image is actually a man, but he's suitably androgynous and I loved his outfit combining a bunch of different materials.

October's Record Collection:

Eurythmics "In the Garden" - http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Reis-Dlx-Eurythmics/dp/B0000CCZ3F/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1297436259&sr=1-1

Yo-Yo Ma "Japanese Melodies" - http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Melodies/dp/B000002628/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1297436159&sr=1-1

Moulin Rouge: Original Music and Songs by Pierre Porte - http://www.amazon.com/Moulin-Rouge-Original-Music-Songs/dp/B00005NTOZ/ref=sr_1_7?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1297436208&sr=1-7

Kate Bush "Never For Ever" - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000DQSS/ref=s9_simh_gw_p15_d6_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=01KQ2SJ7WNN7DV2QJPEJ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

And some more Moulin Noir inspiration from Meg:

http://freespiritspheres.com/accommodation_staying.in.htm

Apocalypse World -- Appalachia, Windmills, Treehouses -- Session 7

"Anxiety"

Last time, we found ourselves at a somewhat divisive moment on this crisp November afternoon.  This session picked up right where we left off, with Barbecue (hardhold roll: partial success) finding anxiety abounding, which he attributes to the supply of liquor being low (only one of three stills is still functioning, remember?).  He spends 2-barter to begin fixing the damn liquor stills.

Burroughs, Hooch and the Trailjacks are rolling down the mountain trail toward the Pit Mine with Bullet in the lead, and he wants to know what's going on inside his head (read a person: success).  The results are fairly straightforward. What's Bullet really feeling?  He's feeling angry about being gang-pressed into this trip, but he understands.  He intends to go along with the group the absolute minimum distance required, and he will fulfill his side of this bargain only to permanently break ties with the Trailjacks.  Fairly self-explanatory.

Some kids – Massey, Trout and Katinka – are drawing on the side of the Moulin Noir, hoping to get some fresh-baked cookies later.  October talks to them (read a person: success) and discovers they're feeling uneasy, they want to hear a story from Nash, and then have cookies.  October offers them cookies, noticing Katinka's nasty-sounding cough.

Hooch and the gang are barreling down the trail, which is narrowing and becoming more treacherous.  Hooch exchanges some words with Burroughs (read a person: fail) when a dire situation suddenly presents itself.  The sweaty dynamite apparently went off, splattering Princey and/or Grom all over the place and taking out a large section of the path.  The hesitation in the gang is palpable.  Hooch yells "Gun it! Fucking jump it!" (Pack alpha: partial), and they do.  Except Pinky, who stalls, and Hooch runs her over (3 harm).  After all the bikes are over the ruined path (which can no longer be used), Pinky lies broken in the dust, shouting incoherently. Burroughs uses direct brain projection (goes aggro: success) to get her screaming brain to SHUT. UP.  Hooch open his brain (success) to see everyone in hyper-strange BMX armor, with Pinky envisioned as a bike and Burroughs "riding" it.  Hooch interprets this as a kind of psychic "cheating" in their relationship.  He yells: "Cut the shit!" and elbows Burroughs in the face (go aggro: success).  Burroughs wasn't expecting this (act under fire: fail) and he falls off the bike, but Hooch had been slowing down anyway (Hx with Burroughs: fail -> partial).  Burroughs doesn't take any damage, but his face (which Hooch worked on) has been knocked askew, so now he looks kinda like a bog person.  He gets back on the bike without a word and they drive on.

Barbecue is meanwhile still fixing the still.  Waters' sister Nightingale, who's quite good at making stuff, is helping out.  So's Honeytree, who's not that helpful, and Marlene the old woman.  Now Barbecue recalls how Marlene came to the windmill holding with the original crew, so he mildly pays attention when she begins asking how long he is going to put up with Hooch killing people… like Nero (her dead son), for example.  Barbecue talks her down with reason: (read a person: success… though you'll notice he doesn't really use it in the scene) "There are two things at work here - sometimes people run the course and fuck up, and sometimes Hooch kills them who need killing."  She informs Barbecue that the mean-spirited Hammer is trying to get Nash to join the Trailjacks, running the course and all.  "It is not my job," Barbecue says. "It is not my job to worry about someone possibly choosing to agree to something they want to agree to."  Marlene clearly wants to go after Hammer, and Barbecue clearly wants to just maintain order.

October goes over to Nash's place for storytime, while the kid Gabriel begins to draw gears and wheels in between Barbecue and Ol' One-Eye.  Nash is invited to the Moulin Noir. "How do you feel about tea?" October asks (read a person: partial) and discovers from his eager "Okay!" that he wants The Obvious -- some kind of sexual activity (remember: he's 14).  October has him over (seduce/manipulate: partial) and has him tell her a story about the picture the children grew, promising him quality time in her garden after tea.

Nash's Story: "Once upon a time, there was a great explosion and the minds of the people were scattered far and wide.  … Barbecue is now working to collect the pieces again.  Once all the pieces are gathered, a great weapon will be forged.  And with that, they'll have the means to kill Ol' One-Eye."

Hooch and Burroughs cross into the area where there's a metallic "tang" on the wind.  There's also some slimy oiliness on the ground.  With that, they reach the entrance to the Pit Mine, which now looks like a craggy, mossy mouth with a moustache.  A sweet smell, like rotting fruit, emanates from the orifice.  The mine's shack is inhabited and its resident watches them nervously with a shotgun.  One of Hooch's gang, Blues, finds under a hollow metal rock a giant gun cache (justifying Hooch's upgrade of his gang to "well-armed").  The Trailjacks are now frightening, with Hooch carrying a riot shotgun and Burroughs now given a Glock.  Burroughs releases Bullet from bondage, figuring his "go the absolute minimum" attitude wouldn't be of much help down in the mines.  Hooch orders that his bike be in the pavilion when he gets back to camp.  Hooch then scopes out the mine (read a situation: partial) and sees someone on the hill above is watching -- a sick looking person with a bandana -- and the oily patches on the ground actually corrode objects upon long-term touch.

Burroughs approaches the ominous cave opening and utters two words: "I'm back."

Nothing like a couple of nice fat slow pitches over the plate to make for a happy GM. And I have to say, getting to see Nash tell his story was super-fun.

Nothing like a couple of nice fat slow pitches over the plate to make for a happy GM. And I have to say, getting to see Nash tell his story was super-fun.

What in the world is it that compels us to write dumb stuff like "He's a good-lookking kid with a mean streak" when describing gang members, and not "Like everyone else, he's easygoing and steadfastly loyal to me?"

It's a sickness.

*cackles wickedly*

Can't wait to see what a bunch of heavily armed Trailjacks are going to do down in the creepy mines...

Here's some more (terrifying) mountaintop renewal goodness to contemplate.

Can't wait to see what a bunch of heavily armed Trailjacks are going to do down in the creepy mines...

Negotiate, of course.

-JC

Apocalypse World -- Appalachia, Windmills, Treehouses -- Session 8

"Hearing Things"

(Our love letters were written this session as simple questions on notecards posed to each of the characters.)

To October: "Where is your lost love, and why did you lose them?"
October's Answer: "My lost love is dead.  She died back in the city where I come from, and it was because I couldn't protect her." (She also looks like Kate Bush, justifying October's obsession with that one Kate Bush album)

To Burroughs: "Where did you get your hat?"
Burroughs' Answer: "The Historians in the Haunted Windmill gave it to me, but only after I consented to do some unspecified weird and kinky acts for them."

To Hooch: "When your family was killed, someone saved you.  What do you owe them?"
Hooch's Answer: "Ol' Left-Eye saved me.  That's why I owe him human flesh."

To Barbecue:  "What food do you long for that you know you will never have again?"
Barbecue's Answer: "Mushrooms! I never learned which ones were safe."

It's the same day as Session 7.  Barbecue has no further problems with the hold today (hardhold roll: success), but there's kind of metal squeaking noise resonating throughout the hold today, like an old sign incessantly rocking in the wind.

Marlene is helping October with the gardening around the Moulin Noir.  Given her stewing problems with Hammer regarding Nash, she asks October for a favor.  October will grant it if she fetches a few dried herbs for her from the woods.  The favor is: Marlene needs some poison.  She's just not that complicated, it turns out.

Barbecue is still working on the banged-up still.  Waters approaches him and suggests rather bluntly that the hold keep Burroughs from returning.  Barbecue (read a situation: success) calms him down by pumping him for information.  What's the real force at work here?  Eliza, with her teachings.  Her position?  Well, she's got all them books.  The best way in?  Attending Eliza's study groups on Friday nights.  Rolling his eyes internally, Barbecue says "I think I wanna come along to the next one."  Waters is pleased to have him on board, even if he hasn't yet agreed to Waters' witch hunt.

The Trailjacks, now with Hooch and Burroughs in the lead, are rolling into the mine with head-lamps ablazin'.  Burroughs examines the slimy walls (read a situation: success) and correctly evaluates that the walls have been altered since the last time he has been here.  Now it seems there are new pits and organic chunks of some icky substance everywhere.  Expecting some kind of revelation, Burroughs recedes into the disappointment of the world having moved on.  Hooch cannot figure out (read a person, read a situation: fail) where they need to go or what Burroughs wants from this trip.  Suddenly, metallic sounds begin to echo everywhere and Burroughs has Hooch stop his gang of loud motors to listen.  Hooch opens his brain (fail) to feel that Dead Man's Pit is certainly _someone else's wheelhouse_, and that they shouldn't be here.

Meanwhile, Jackbird talks with October about her concern for Bullet, and would like to stay with October's ladies if, say, Bullet doesn't make it back.  They then discuss the primitive means of midwifery at their disposal in the holding.  "Have you talked to Frog (the doctor)?" October asks her.  Jackbird shakes her head, but then mentions that "a couple more babies are on the way."  More gossip comes out: Honeytree apparently has a thing for Barbecue, but he doesn't seem to care.  October (read a person: partial) figures out that what Jackbird really wants is for October to be in her corner, to have her back.

Eventually some of the Trailjacks play around with their guns and unleash some gunfire in the enclosed mine, and Hooch joins in recklessly.  Burroughs opens his brain (partial) to find Hooch's bullets splashing off the walls rather than sparking.  Dead Man's Pit is alive.  Ribbons the Trailjack examines one of the pits and yells "Hey yo! There's something back there!"  The "something" turns out to be a giant pile of broken animal bits and assorted junk.  After scavenging for useful stuff (Burroughs gathers a sample of the slime on the walls, Hooch finds some metallic bits), Hooch (read a situation: parial) decides to leave the bikes there and use the steeper path down.  They leave Baby behind with an extra gun and proceed, creepy footsteps scuttling in front of them.

Barbecue is repairing the still (opens his brain: fail) and is suddenly besieged by a psychic attack.  As is characteristic, he wanders off as he is assaulted by noise of something chewing through metal.  He finds a female child with no eyes doing exactly that on the still.  Barbecue kicks her (go aggro: success) and she whimpers away.  But then he has a second thought (read a situation: partial) - he should be on the lookout for her parents.  Shit.  "Dammit, I need the Trailjacks!" he mutters and heads straight to the Moulin Noir to get October's help as well.  He tells October: "There's something weird gnawing at the manufactory.  There's a creepy kid chewing on the metal."  He gathers up a team of his men and a lot of guns, including his fearsome chainsaw.  October just brings some cookies, and asserts that they don't need the Trailjacks' presence - just the two of them will be sufficient.  When they get back to the shed, the kid is gone.  October doesn't know where (read a situation: fail) but she and Barbecue search the area (Hx: fail -> partial) and she suspects the fertile women are somehow in danger.  She opens her brain (success), and discovers the child is just part of the general psychic ecosystem surrounding the holding, rare and uncultivated.  The child is different from Jones or Burroughs, and is gnawing on the building because she's teething.

The Trailjacks and Burroughs reach a shaft leading down into darkness.  Hooch gets some telephone cable from Dice (fucking thieves: partial) and they use it to scale down the side.  Hooch goes first and lands on a giant centipede.  He gets jumpy (go aggro: full) and blasts it repeatedly with the shotgun, which barely phases it.  It does, however, stop moving and look at him with its disc mouth, feely tendrils and many eyes.  He stares it down (manipulate: partial) and tendrils snake out like cobwebs to brush along Hooch's face.  It wants iron, and Hooch will give it to it.  "Stinky!" Hooch yells.  "Get your bike and toss it down here!"  He promises Stinky Bullet's bike in replacement, which doesn't convince him, and then Spice's exclusive ministrations for a week (pack alpha: success), which does.  Burroughs comes down and faces the centipede (read a person: success).  The centipede is hungry, wants Burroughs to provide it company and could open its brain if given some metal.  Burroughs feeds it the sharp knife he used to brain Fleece a couple weeks ago, then joins brains with the centipede.  He finds that down where his head exploded is the origin point of the Maelstrom, but it doesn't matter; the Maelstrom is here, it's adapted, and it's never going back.  Suddenly Burroughs has his answer:  the mines now belong to the centipedes, and the Maelstrom is something he must fight on the surface.  As the centipede east Stinky's bike, Burroughs calls off the mission and the Trailjacks return to the surface.

Barbecue and October  are having tea at the Moulin Noir when Marlene comes back with the dried herbs October asked for.  October gives her the poison she wanted – "powder to sprinkle wherever there's a problem" and Marlene leaves satisfied.  October tries to figure out what's going on (read a person: fail), but it doesn't take a genius to figure out (Barbecue Hx: fail -> partial) what she intends: to kill Hammer.  She's just not that complicated.  Barbecue to Marlene: "Don't try to kill Hammer."  She gives him a hurt look and walks off.

For the next session, we already foresee several events.  October took an improvement in "Followers and Fortunes," which is bound to piss off Dusk.  Hooch has lost a couple of gang members recently and will likely want to do another run for recruits.  And Bullet might just return on his bike with Pinky's body sprawled across it...

Good stuff guys. So this campaign has been going since November? How often do you play? Mind me asking what the characters look like now, mechanically? Or should that be a different thread?

Thanks,
-Don

Good stuff guys. So this campaign has been going since November? How often do you play? Mind me asking what the characters look like now, mechanically? Or should that be a different thread?

Meg can nuke this or move it if it's too much thread drift, but I'm certainly happy to share!

We TRY to play every 2 weeks or so, when life/holidays/spring conventions aren't getting in the way (cue PAX East, the GAMA Trade Show, and several academic conferences).  We've done 8 sessions thus far as you can see from the post, and I've missed one that I recall, but typically we have everyone there.

Hooch the Chopper has taken, um, 3 Improvements thus far (in order as I recall): Daredevil from the Driver playbook, +1 Hard (to +3), and added the Well-Armed perk to his gang. He seems to be gradually heading the direction of 'Warlord'. Meg has our playbooks, but I do know I took the -1 Weird build for the Chopper, so I am pretty much perpetually screwed whenever I Open My Brain. : )

The Trailjacks started as a Small 2-Harm 1-Armor gang, not Savage, with the Mobile advantage. They suffer from Disease when they're in want, and the bikes are all big, fat ATVs, rugged and powerful but slow.

Our games seem to run a bit shorter than most of the APs I've read, and we do a lot of scene-setting and chatting, so if our Advancement rate seems a bit slow, that's probably why. It's a very fun setting, and I feel quite privileged to have been invited to join in. We're just starting to get into the really strange shit, so it's killing us that we've got a month between sessions right now!

-JC

it's killing us that we've got a month between sessions right now!

As players.  As characters, it's probably keeping us alive.

FYI, Burroughs is on his 6th advancement or something.  That's because his chief ability is Weird and he tends to use it a lot.  Then again, I myself am in no hurry to advance him much further.

Apocalypse World -- Appalachia, Windmills, Treehouses -- Session 9

"Fucking Up Your Shit"

This session began with some love letters clearly designed to arouse a response from the PCs, which was OK given that Barbecue (hardhold roll: success) didn't have to worry about everyday chaos happening to him.  In fact, Barbecue has received a long-term perspective (love letter: fail) to come after having his tea with October (Hx: fail -> partial).  He knows the hold has plenty of water, but A) Katinka's cough is not fine, B) soon Hammer won't be fine, C) Frog can't hack it as a doctor, and D) Frankie the corrupt quartermaster has vanished.  October's love letter is that her new Followers have plans for her jingle (love letter: partial).  Fortunately, her tea with Barbecue (Hx: partial -> success) provided perspective as well:  Eliza is channeling something powerful, and October needs to learn what that is.  Burroughs discovered down in the mine that he is not an abstract individual seeking to probe the depths of the community's brains, but a part of an organic brain ecosystem that he must protect (love letter: partial). It also turns out that someone will view him as a hero.  Finally on the way back from the mine, Hooch has been testing out his new guns (love letter: fail) and making a lot of noise.  Burroughs (Hx: fail -> partial) alerts him to the upcoming ambush in the swampy area ahead, where one of the attackers (Polly) jumps out from behind a tree just a fraction too soon.

So the Warrens are outright attacking the Trailjacks, apparently sent by Enough-to-Eat to kill the them and take their stuff.  Hooch (read a situation: success) ascertains that his biggest threat is a sniper named Always Flowers, their weak spot is a kid named Clearasil, and his best way into this battle is off the path.  Hooch screams at the top of his lungs "GET OFF THE TRAIL AND KILL THESE COCKSUCKERS!" and then does that.  Burroughs singles out the sniper Always Flowers and (read a person: success) pries into her brain.  He discovers she's really feeling kinda sick, she'd rather the Trailjacks were somewhere else or were dead, and they could get her to defect by offering her creature comforts – a hot bath, food, medicine.  Then the gunfire starts and Burroughs stays the fuck down (partial), so that only a ricocheted bullet hits him in the armor (0-harm).  Meanwhile, Hooch does a follow through maneuver (success) and rolls over Polly as his bike careens off the trail.  He has his riot shotgun on the handlebars of the bike, and blazes away at the boss-like guy named Peterbilt (seize by force: success), which spooks the shit out of everyone when his gore spatters everywhere.  The Trailjacks also lost a gang member, Dice, to the gunfire. The beleaguered Warrens fighting force quickly breaks after having lost their leader, and so the fighting ceases once the Trailjacks have the upper hand.  Burroughs opens his brain (success) and connects again with Always Flowers: "The invitation is open," he tells her.  Always Flowers is convinced that she should take it and follows the Trailjacks back to the Hold.

In the meantime, October's tea session is now with Frog outside the Moulin Noir at a a table made of license plates.  Suddenly, Bullet rides up with a dying Pinky strapped to the bike.  "Get the doc!" he yells.  The water on the tea just begins to boil, and at that moment Frog freezes up.  She takes one look at Pinky and says: "That's a lot of blood!"  October discerns (read a person: success) that Frog is overwhelmed, decidedly not a doctor and can only be calmed down by convincing her it's not her fault.  Barbecue comes storming in (read a situation: success) to the mess caused by Bullet's surprise arrival, saying: "Bullet, what the hell?" He discovers that his biggest threat is Pinky and he himself is in full control here.  October tries to whisper for Dusk (fail) but instead has a mild flashback in the maelstrom…  What was October's childhood like?  She spent it scavenging, with a general lack of nice things.  When she was 12, she beat a child to death with a rock over a can of peaches.  Needless to say, Dusk doesn't show up.  Barbecue pulls Bullet aside and gets the full story about what happened down at the mine.  He then grabs Pinky's body and heads over to T-Bone and Shithead at the Trailjacks' garage.  Jackbird is absolutely thrilled to reunite with Bullet, showering him with kisses.  Barbecue more or less deposits Pinky's body in front of the Trailjacks present and watches her choke to death on her own fluids.  One less mouth to feed.  October even dissuades Frog from intervening in the situation any further, sending her back to her quarters.  Finally, Marlene is looking around for Barbecue, when she runs into October, and they share information.  "Hooch is a problem." Marlene says, putting pressure on October. "What do we do?"  October responds coldly: "_We_ don't do anything.  You find people and convince them of your position."

Hooch has rounded up the remaining Warrens besides Always Flowers : Two Bit, Clearasil and West. "What the fuck was that all about?" Hooch asks.  "We were to kill you. Take your stuff." one of them says.  The order had come down from Enough-to-Eat, who apparently is having a rough time governing the population where they're from.  Disease and famine has run rampant.  The ultimatum Hooch gives to them is simple: either they go back to Barbecue's hold, or they kill most of them and leave one sole crippled survivor to send as a warning back to Enough-to-Eat.  This intimidation attempt (go aggro: success) proves successful:  they all decide to return to Barbecue's hardhold.  The Trailjacks give the deceased Dice a rough burial in the swamp, and then discover Baby has been hurt as well.  Burroughs uses this opportunity to grab hold of her side (healing touch: partial) and force the wound closed with his newfound Weirdness.  Hooch (Hx: partial -> success) is awed by the magic worked on her and invites everyone around to see the miracle.  In turn, Baby intimates the true nature of Hooch and Burroughs' relationship.  He picks up Clearasil and puts him on a bike and the Trailjacks roll out.  With Burroughs' healing touch, he switches playbooks from Brainer to Angel.

The Trailjacks finally arrive back at the hold.  Burroughs hands Barbecue a Glock, and he in turn invites everyone to have a drink with him.  During the celebratory drinking, West is interrogated about her abilities (Barbecue's read person: fail; Hx with October: fail -> partial) and it's revealed that foraging for food's about the extent of them.  "What's our problem with Enough to Eat anyway?" he asks to the room.  October responds: "She's fucking up your shit!"  True statement.  He offers her and the rest of the Warrens a deal about staying in the handhold.  Barbecue (read a situation: fail) begins to think the following:  his holding has no defenses against Enough to Eat were an attack to come, he doesn't want West to betray them, and she can only convince Hooch not to gun her down later (for murdering his Trailjack) if Barbecue orders it.  He does.  Jackbird finds herself hugging Burroughs – she is his hero for releasing Bullet back to her.  Always Flowers, Two Bit, Clearasil and West all begin circulating in the holding.  Burroughs sees Two Bit has taken a bullet in his leg, so he reaches into the wound (healing touch: success) in a disgusting fashion and closes it behind his fingers.  This second miracle has everyone excited, but worried about what the ex-Brainer's newfound powers mean for Frog, who's clearly no trauma doctor.  October and Burroughs go to see Frog, and agree that they shall play different roles – Frog as a regular doctor and Burroughs as an emergency trauma surgeon.  Everyone goes away satisfied.

Barbecue and Hooch are still sitting around the booze.  "Hooch," the former says to the latter. "We need better defenses."  "What the fuck does that have to do with me?" Hooch asks.  Barbecue: "Just saying."  He openly ponders who blew up the stills as well.  Hooch alerts Barbecue that he needs new blood in the Trailjacks, and that means running a new course.  He's even chosen Clearasil as his new recruit.  Clearasil's fine with that, except he left his mandolin down in the Warrens and he kind of wants to get it before joining the hold permanently.  Barbecue is left sitting around with Two Bit, getting shit-faced.

October takes West back to the Moulin Noir and shows her an excellent time:  a nice dinner, a bath.  No roll required for initiated sexual activity.  Burroughs takes Always Flowers up to his windmill, complete with its ratskin insulation and notable cloth piece of the mural from the haunted windmill.  They begin talking (read a person: partial) and really connect with each other.  Then Burroughs lets her take a look at the holding from the rooftop hatch and the great feeling of openness Always Flowers feels infects him as well.

We can finally say that the day that began on Session 6 has finally ended...

Apocalypse World -- Appalachia, Windmills, Treehouses -- Session 10

"Six Months Later"

The title says it all.  That day dominating sessions 6-9 was set in October, so the next session happened after the winter in early April.  That meant we went through a brutal winter (aren't they all in AW?), though Barbecue (hardhold: success) had little trouble in keeping the hold together.  So what happened? Cue love letters… and action!

The nasty cough Katinka had turned out to be pneumonia, which then spread as winter gripped the hardhold. Fortunately, Burroughs stepped on up as the resident physician.  Hooch now calls him "Dr. B" rather than "Crazy B," and he's got two assistants – Frog and Always Flowers – along with a makeshift infirmary out on the northeast edge of the hold.  He (love letter: success) prevented an epidemic from devastating the hold, but that didn't mean people didn't die:  Winkle (a tinker and Lark's partner) and Spot ("a stand-up guy") both passed away under Burroughs' care.  Speaking of deaths, several other respectable hold members lost their lives too:  Hooch's mechanic T-Bone, October's new girl/lover Jeanette and Crille all bought the farm.  And Hammer's gone mysteriously missing.  October learns about Hammer's disappearance and, though nobody liked him anyway, (love letter: success) is not implicated in any of it.  Hooch has a run-in with Ol' Left/One/Red-Eye while he's offering the giant boar some of the bodies of the dead (love letter: partial), which Baby and Stinky are both complicit in.  Admittedly, other bodies he just threw over the side of the cliff, a kind of "sky burial" that everyone except Barbecue approved of (Hx Barbecue partial -> success).  Anyway, the boar told him that Enough-to-Eat's weaknesses were all from within, given her starving populace, etc.  Hooch also chanced a question about controlling the ghosts in the windmill, which was met with the response: "You'd have to die."  He established that he had been visiting that windmill over the winter, and was beginning to take more than a passing interest.  Finally, Barbecue has reckoned the Warrens are going to be attacking soon, so he'll need to beef up his defenses (love letter: fail).  He has few tinkers left after the winter – Waters and Nightingale – so with the help of the Trailjacks (Hx Hooch:  fail -> partial) he erects some sharpened sticks around the holding.  Jackbird is now eight months pregnant.

It's nighttime: Lark is out finishing up in the garden, and October goes to check on her when she notices a light off in the distant woods.  Opening her brain (success), she senses the light is actually a glowing single eye… of a metallic-green skinned cyclops wolf!  Actually, there are three of them, and they're hungry after that rough winter.  Barbecue is meanwhile enjoying Honeytree's new pine beer this lovely evening, with music in the air.  Trout, a 9 year-old orphan, is hanging around Barbecue in a needy sort of way.  Burroughs and Hooch are also present, enjoying the company, when October comes in and tells everyone about the wolves.  Without so much as a moment of thought, Hooch rounds up the gang to take care of them - Shooter's (fucking thieves: success) even got a cargo net to take at least one wolf captive. Barbecue follows, and is handed an assault rifle for his own protection.  Burroughs meanwhile goes to ready the infirmary for any casualties from this expedition, and finds that a metal pan and a knife handle are missing, and there are bitemarks in the metal doorframe.

The gang rolls out to where the wolves were last spotted.  Barbecue assesses (read a situation: partial) that they will be confronted with an equal and opposite coordinated pack attack.  When the gang goes thundering up the trail toward the haunted windmill, Shooter's in the middle with a net and Baby and Clearasil are armed and ready on either side of a pincer attack on one wolf.  Shooter nets the wolf (seize by force: success), suffers little harm and scares away the other two wolves.  Barbecue is super-paranoid (read a situation: partial) and thinks they should drive away right now with the wolf in tow.  The two wolves jump at that moment, with one dragging Shooter off his bike with a solid bike.  Gunfire drives away the two other wolves, but doesn't kill them.  Hooch looks at the wolf in the net (read a person: success) to read its motives, which are transparent: it wants to eat them, and the only thing that might call it down is if someone sings to it.  So Hooch has Clearasil get out his mandolin and they plink out an awkward duet of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" before Barbecue's shooting at the wolves in the darkness and desire to get home pushes them back.  They wind up tying the captive wolf to the flagpole in the center of the handhold, and Hooch calls it "Blinky."  Burroughs comes out of the infirmary: "I heard shooting. Is anyone alright?"  He's given Shooter, who has a bitten arm that has paralytic mold growing on the outside of the wound.  Burroughs diagnoses (read a situation: partial) the arm mold as hostile and goes to the infirmary to remove the mold as quickly as possible.  October follows them, because obviously Shooter is freaked out by Burroughs' efforts, not the least because he has a big machete that he uses to chop off offending limbs.  Fortunately, he (healing touch: success) grabs the arm and forcefully burns off the mold with his brain, with October patting Shooter on the back.

Barbecue's still on high alert (read a situation: success) and puts out a regular patrol consisting of Marlene, Always Flowers (who now has a rifle) and various Trailjacks.  He's scared because he know A) neither he nor Hooch really have control over their security situation, B) they are surrounded by hungry enemies and C) somebody could tunnel in and take out the whole hardhold.  Ouch.  After cleaning up, Burroughs saunters over to the wolf in the center of the hold and (opens his brain: success) finds out what its deal is.  Its physiognomy is most strange - it isn't mammal (a cross between a reptile and a plant maybe? a reptoplant?), has a venomous bite, and is some kind of creature directly generated by the maelstrom.  Hooch is talking about keeping it around as a pet, but Burroughs advises against it: "This thing wants flesh. Yours."  So everyone agrees it should be released in the Warrens to wreak some havoc.  Both Barbecue and October are running kind of low on personnel anyway, and so a trip down there to rustle up some more hold members might be in order.

October meanwhile sees the eyeless girl who chews on metal near the Moulin Noir.  He hands the recovering Shooter over to the care of Dusk, who notes in passing that Frog has been coming by October a lot for company, etc.  October gathers some metal scraps left over from her homemade lanterns and uses them to bait the eyeless child behind a nearby building.  As the child gnaws them, she (opens her brain: fail) remains perplexed by this creature in front of her.  The child's brain repels her - like a brain frequency experience akin to biting into a fork.  She asks the kid a few pointed questions (read a person: success) to discover that she is cooped up in the day by her parents, who don't want the hold to know the child exists.  It's pretty clear this is Sun and Drew's hidden child.

Burroughs meanwhile brings Barbecue a request for a few items that the child gnawed on from the infirmary.  He passes the list to Waters, who throws a fit about helping Burroughs, his sworn enemy.  Barbecue (manipulate: partial) manages to calm him down and has him add them to the list of things needed by the holding.

"I heard shooting. Is anyone all right?" is how I think of Burroughs from now on.