Roger at Point 1
Monday, October 8, 1973.
Michael
Roger at Point 1 (epicenter 30° 28' 26.292" N, 88° 24' 11.3394" W, Moss Point, Miss., right off I-10: As mentioned at the initial briefing, Point 1 contained the strongest electromagnetic disturbance of all the 12 initial subduction zones tracked since Friday. Aerial reconnaissance has been particularly heavy, with field teams on the ground since Saturday. Visual confirmation of subduction, however, has been minimal; other than some high-altitude "foo fighter" type sightings from SANDMAN-suborned USAF jets over the Gulf of Mexico a few miles off-shore, the Sandmen on the ground haven't seen hide nor hair of History B. But the concern here is the energy readings, which remain quite high, and the area affected, which Sandmen on the ground have been able to confirm stretches in a 10-mile radius around Point 1: westward to the outskirts of Biloxi, eastward to the outskirts of Mobile. Locals along the Alabama-Mississippi state line have been complaining loudly about radio and TV interference, and there have been more car breakdowns on Interstate 10/US-90 along that stretch than can be statistically explained.
Roger's role in the Point 1 SANDMAN detachment: The Point 1 detachment is the largest by number. 35 Sandmen are on the ground around Moss Point, Mississippi and are being quartered in local travel lodges all along I-10/US-90 in coastal Mississippi and Alabama. The Point 1 contingent is heavy on boffins, technicians, and scientist-types, which means Roger is on call for any kind of surveillance, skullduggery, or black bagging. The scientists in charge say this will likely boil down to waiting for the esmologists on the Point 1 team to find something off-kilter in the local news reports and sending Roger to investigate/inveigle/eliminate. Until then this mission will likely be some hurry up and wait type stuff. Roger is free to do any freelance investigation in the area, getting a sense of what's up and abroad among "his people" (that's the connotation Roger gets from the white scientists and esmologists at his briefing, anyway) and report into Point 1's field HQ (situated in a rented warehouse on the outskirts of Mobile) via cell phone with whatever he might find.
Bill
Before deployment from Huntsville, Roger will ask for Renshaw access. Given what the “Prof” explained (his old nickname for Hilary), it might help to have a head full of ancient Indian intel, esp. myths. He might need the Prof’s help getting the proper tape: there’s no way he knows the term Pre-Columbian, at least not until he’s Renshawed the stuff. Skipping a sleep to do it.
I’m assuming they’re airlifting the group through Kessler AFB in Biloxi. Roger will offer to shuttle eggheads to their motels if so: less chance of a traffic stop with one of them in the car. Same offer, but more formally requested of the brass, if they’re driving from Huntsville to Mobile. He’ll try to use the drives to befriend some of the other agents: feigning curiosity about their realms of expertise and prompting them with questions or misinterpretations to get them blathering about it — that will be his ice-breaking technique.
Michael
So it looks like just like Jo and Charley at Point 9, Roger will head out early early Tuesday. That works.
I was looking at skills that would fit this request for Renshaw Method and I think I'm going house rule this a bit (this is a house rule we can use later too). Mostly because Religious Ritual or Theology doesn't quite fit here. This is really anthropological, but you want to specialize. Alas, due to the vagaries of GURPS skill-age, Anthropology does not have a mechanism for specialization. But there is the Technique rule-set. Let's say that Roger spends two hours renching Anthropology at IQ minus 1 (12). Then SANDMAN can lay on specialized Renshaw tapes about the Mound Builders which would effectively be a Technique that specializes this Anthropology in Mound Builders for another 2 hours. That Technique will put you at skill+2 for Mound Builder-specific Anthropology, so Anthropology (Mound Builders)-14. Let me know if you dig this idea, Bill. It gets you less Anthropology generally than four hours would, but it does make you more expert in Mound Builder anthropological facts. And for incidental physical examination of course you also have SANDMAN-standard Archaeology.
I’m assuming they’re airlifting the group through Kessler AFB in Biloxi. Roger will offer to shuttle eggheads to their motels if so: less chance of a traffic stop with one of them in the car. Same offer, but more formally requested of the brass, if they’re driving from Huntsville to Mobile. He’ll try to use the drives to befriend some of the other agents: feigning curiosity about their realms of expertise and prompting them with questions or misinterpretations to get them blathering about it— that will be his ice-breaking technique.
This schmoozing and socializing among the brass in the Point 1 taskforce will be a simple Soldier-13 roll.
Bill
>> SUCCESS by 2
Michael
The general sense Roger gets from toting the brass around (and Roger does notice that the technically-oriented staff are being commanded by Sandmen whose day jobs are at NASA, the NSA, at DARPA, with a few military officers mixed in managing the commando teams) is that the Point 1 team is dealing with a lot of geopolitical and economic ramifications to a subduction zone in this particular area. With this war starting in the Middle East, domestic oil production will likely be more important than ever in the short term and between Galveston and Mobile you've got tons of shipping, drilling, and refinery production in play. Having History B abroad amongst this is a huge headache for SANDMAN to keep the US energy-secure.
But mostly the brass are rattled because of the size of this subduction zone. More than one officer tells Roger that EM anomalies have now been recorded as far west as Lake Borgne and as far east as Pensacola, Florida. That's a lot of ground to cover and Point 1 has two taishers trying to get a better sense of the ontological battlefield. But like every other point, the tangible effects are subtle to non-existent on the ground; there's no retrocreations, no odd visible phenomena (other than the high-altitude lights and objects seen above most of the Points), and no weird belief structures coming into being. But especially on the memetic and belief side, Point 1 HQ needs more info. So more than one of the higher-ranking Sandmen hopes that once Roger is done doing his logistics duty, he can get out there and do some shoe-leather research. It might be needle-in-a-haystack type stuff, but anything that Roger's "senses" can tell him (it seems pretty clear Point 1 team management knows the bare outlines of the fact he's a cheval/has a "spiritual" side), the better off this squad will be.
Bill
Speaking of the "spiritual" side, Roger has a side-gig mission. It's like an itch he has to scratch: he has to know more about the place from the dream, if it's coming real. There's a problem that's worrying him. He doesn't like to think about it, but after so many years, he knows how le Maître usually works. The loa can see a person's death, the death to which all their self, all their free will, all the choices they will make, will drive them anyway. It's the irony El Diablo loves: mortals are free, but not of themselves, so if you really look, you can see where they will go. And then make deals with them to bend them away … or more towards it. Roger has been seeing such visions with le Maître Carrefour for decades. So it would be just like him to show Roger his death after he just died.
So, he puts into his friendly banter questions about shrimping on the Redneck Rivera. Kalfu will no doubt be entertained by this, whether the dream was for that or not.
Michael
If Roger asks around and gives general descriptions — maybe dropping in a hint about areas where the petroleum infrastructure from the vision might be along with the shrimp shack and the general sense of decay outside the oil processing, I would imagine most of the folks briefed on the Gulf Coast would aver that that sounds precisely like Louisiana, south of Lake Pontchartrain, outskirts of New Orleans to the south and west. No one gives Roger an exact town or anything, but on a purely cuisine basis, the few locals Roger drives do say that the best shrimp and crawfish is around Lafayette and Broussard, west of Baton Rouge. "All along US-90 right down into the bayou. Maybe little outside of our area of interest but well worth a visit when this is all said and done."
Roger wonders if the meaning of the location of the dream is that getting that clear of the Mississippi/Alabama subduction zone was what allowed his dream-self to avoid the effect of the "time distortions" that dream-Archie mentioned.
Bill
“Hmmm, maybe it’s still later. I guess there’s no substitute for wearing out some shoe leather.”
Putting the side-gig aside, Roger will check in with the brass, and propose a ground level recon: he’s going to go for an exploratory drive through the zone, and see what he “senses”. He doesn’t think he should go alone, in case of equipment breakdown. If they’ve already got grid assignments or some other search pattern, he’s fine just taking a slice. But in any lack of orders, he’s grabbing a game honky partner and taking a drive where he feels.
Michael
At Point 1 HQ, Roger gets matched with a white man, short-cropped black hair, maybe in his mid-to-late 20s, who greets Roger ebulliently with a neutral, midwestern-sounding accent. "Joe Robertson. Good to meet ya. So we're going to drive around a little?" In the car, Roger gets to know a little more about Joe: grew up in Iowa, long-range patrol scout in Vietnam, a little after Tet he was in the field and saw some Weird Shit, and SANDMAN came knocking. Stayed in-country until early 1970 and then rotated back home, stayed on reserve with SANDMAN domestic ops as a surveillance/black-bag type, mostly gigging out of Chicago. He's undergone Renshaw training and learned some Project martial arts but he doesn't seem to have any preternatural abilities … although the guys in his platoon did think he was inordinately lucky. "I had quite a few close shaves in-country, including the time I saw the Enemy for the first time; an ugallu had us stuck in a swamp trying to drown or electrocute us out, but I found a VC tunnel that let us survivors get out of the fire zone so they could napalm the Leo from the air."
Joe smokes Camels and ashes politely and cleanly out the window. Joe does note that Point 1 doesn't feel very much like that subduction zone in Vietnam. "There, you could feel it in the air. But right now..." he says, as he looks around at the glittering sea out over the Gulf coast and the ordinary tourist/beach landmarks on the side of US-90, "I dunno... it just feels like home."
Bill
Stuck with time in the car, Roger shares a bit of his own 'Nam experiences, although he doesn't say anything about a certain river trip. Like soldiers do, he rattles off the kinds of Enemy he's encountered with evaluations of weapons that worked, or mostly didn't. He's honest enough to admit it was the whole team or commandos that usually took out the baddies. But machismo being what it is, he has to humblebrag about taking out a kulullû solo at a point-blank with a pistol, despite its seduction of everyone around him. "...but it'd hit me with some kind of poisoned hook that eventually knocked me out. So yeah, backup. Always gotta have some." He'll also while away some time exchanging legends of the Project. He'll casually bring up weird things like the Cheval program, sticking to the pseudo-science jargon.
Having run down US-90 between Biloxi and Mobile and around, with nothing wafting up to them but fresh Gulf sea breezes, Roger will pull over for a break near the AL/MI state line. To avoid the speed trap and state cruiser hanging around, or any other travelers, he'll drive down a little further from the actual line or any official rest stops. Somewhere a little more lonely, down a side access road, but not that far down from the highway. Then he does a little explanatory for his partner. "So, Joe: this next part is gonna get a little weird. You've probably been waiting for it: here's the shoe drop. I'm in the Cheval Program. And I need you to help me have a little conversation with one of the... personality constructs... in my head. You pick up any French in 'Nam?"
Michael
"Un peu," Joe says. "So we're going to do some literal voodoo here? You're gonna have to pardon my ignorance. A 'conversation'? You want me to interface with, uh, spirits, through you? What are the parameters here? How do I handle it? What do I need to look out for? Are we gonna ask them about the subduction zone? Sorry, I'm clearly laying too many questions on you." It's clear to Roger from this set of responses that Joe is intrigued by the whole thing, to the point where he's asking a bunch of rapid-fire questions like a little kid.
Bill
Roger lets out a laugh. "Cool your jets, corn-fed. Yes, you get to talk to a real, live voodoo saint. Op parameters? You just gotta be real cool, respectful, and stick to a script. The spirit you're gonna talk to is one of the friendliest, but that's not to say you can't screw it up, piss him off, and set this back a bit. You're just gonna ask him some questions about what's going on, what's opening. It's kinda his thing." Roger gets out his detective note pad, and starts writing a trial script. He stops, gives Joe and look up and down, and starts writing some more. "Give me a bit here. Gonna have to trim it down to sound honest out of your mouth." (edited)
Michael
Joe nods. "He probably trusts the dudes on your team out in California a little better than someone he doesn't know from Adam, huh? I never understood Control's obsession with 'mixing and matching' teams on big ops. They did it to us all the time in-country, too. The suits always said it would keep the Enemy guessing but... what about unit cohesion, you know? That's got to count for something."
Bill
"Don't worry — the dudes — and chicas — on my team aren't so used to it either. Hell, recently Papa stopped talking to me too for a while, so this is just as much on me as you. Relax, be cool, and just be kind to the old man. Your best face, like for your favorite grandfather or old uncle.
So, we'll keep it real simple. I'll do all the setup and entreaties. You keep this cigar and ready a light for Papa Legba. When he rides me, and believe me, you'll know when that is, you welcome him all smiles, offer him the cigar, and ask him, humbly, as the Opener of the Way, to please see for you, and tell you, what is the key the Enemy seeks to open these giant doors to their realm? If he is good enough to answer, then ask him how, as the Guardian of the Threshold, to tell you, how can mortal men close these thresholds against Them?" Remember whatever he says. He may be kind, and I'll remember too, but I can't be sure, so it's on you. Word for word, pause for pause, French/Creole whatever. Even if it doesn't seem to answer the question. And whatever he does, thank him; I don't care if he made you crap your pants, you thank him for it."
(Roger will do his best to make the roadside ritual a pleasing one, full chant, gifts set out. He'll improvise a few flourishes, like Smoking the Mirror using his car side-views and his own cigarette. So Ritual, Autohypnosis, and calling on Legba's Oracle.)
Michael
Two ways we can do this, Bill: we can roleplay this out with you as Papa Legba and me as Joe, OR we could flash through the trance and Joe could "read back" what Papa Legba says. Given you're initiating this riding expressly to get at the Oracle, I was thinking the latter could be interesting (and avoid the awkwardness of me feeding you your lines to Joe when it comes to the Oracle) and give you a little more leeway in interrogating the experience and Joe. Your call! I'm down to do it either way.
Bill
(It makes sense in another way: that Papa is still being a bit stand-offish. Let’s go with Joe’s transcription!)
Michael
Yes, I was also thinking that as well! Will do.
(Rolls for Ritual/Autohypnosis can be taken as read I think. And obviously, I'll roll the Oracle stuff secretly anyway.)
Roger "awakens" with his throat raw from the cigar, its stub smoldering between his fingers, slumped against the hood of the Chevelle, his leg slowly straightening out from its cramped "lameness" while ridden by Papa Legba. Joe's face is a mix of horror and wonder, but mostly wonder. He immediately says, "I want to get all this down for you before I forget any of the details, okay?"
Joe says, "He came... he came into you looking at me, peering at me out of one eye, saying he didn't know me, I wasn't part of le cercle. I very humbly apologized, explained the situation with SANDMAN being stretched across multiple states, bowed a little bit, and asked you—him, sorry—the first question about the Enemy's key. He looked around, smiled to himself, saying, 'It is good mon cheval has taken seriously what he owes to us and to notre cousin.'" Joe clears his throat and recites what he heard from Papa Legba in response to the question.
"'The door, it is open a crack now, They are here creeping in like burglars, non? Or maybe the burglar who unlocks the door before going in to steal. Thinking They already own the place. The key They already use is fear. Everyone here already knows something is going on beyond their control; there is fear of war, strife, bad rulership... They have laid the groundwork well. What They have to do next is reach into people's hearts, intensify the fear to widen the gate.' At that point, he looked off in the distance at that overpass there." Joe points to the US-90 overpass a few hundred yards away, where Roger can see two anglers dropping their lines into the alluvial waters. "He laughed long and hard at the sight of those fishermen. Then he said, 'You watch, mon ami. The hidden Kings are about to become pêcheurs d'hommes. Do you know some fish, before the club comes down on their head, look at the fisherman as a kind of god?'"
Bill
Roger will just nod, and keep quiet. Corn-fed Joe is doing great.
Michael
Joe continues, "After this, I could sense him starting to flag a little bit. He, and you, looked tired. But I asked him very politely the second question, about closing the thresholds. He said, 'The fisher man is gonna take who he take, gonna scare who he wants to scare. This isn't done until Their business is done. They have unfinished business here. With both the living and the dead. Which puts this partly en les mains de nos cousins.'" Joe pauses. "This guy seemed really concerned with your cousins. Is that a metaphor? He said, 'Only once the door has been fully opened will you see the method by which you will close it. But the dead will need to aid you, to make the righteous decision. Those lost below the waters.' He said that statement with the kind of emphasis that you warned me about, the kind that might frighten me to the bone. He went on: 'The Kings seek to lead the dead astray, making them false promises even They can't keep.'"
A sharp inhale of breath. "Anyway, after that he faded even more and you started to slump against the car. Almost immediately after that, you woke up. It was a few minutes, tops."
Religious Ritual (Voudun)-17, I'm gonna give it to you with the Papa Legba bonus.
Bill
>> SUCCESS by 8
Michael
More signs and words from the Gede, Roger thinks to himself. Brought to him on a silver platter via the Opener of the Ways. This message about the Kings looking to divert or recruit the very dead from the righteous path... that's a new concept. Roger's not sure if Papa Legba is talking about the literal dead or those who never got to be born because of a change in histories, but that phrase "those lost below the waters" is the one that sticks with Roger on a basis of Voudun belief. That phrase encompasses the innocent, unavenged, unmourned dead, the kind of lost children that Gede Nibo dives into the deep afterlife to retrieve and usher back to the light in his role as liminal psychopomp. Obviously there are echoes of the Middle Passage in this concept as well, but Roger bets that Papa Legba wasn't talking about his ancestors literally under the waters here, but instead evoking in more general terms to those lost and forgotten, the victims of unjust, systemic violence and...
Mon dieu, dios mío. The Indians.
Bill
Shooting back any amount of rum left from the nip he used, Roger lets it wash his mouth of the cigar, then blows it out in a burst, followed by thanks to Legba. Coughing a little, he catches Joe's eye with his, and gives him that classic man's single nod. He clears his throat. "Well, I know it doesn't sound like your typical reportable intel, but that's what you captured there, Joe. We should go report into the boffos, but then it's Miller Time."
Michael
"So what does this mean... we're dealing with ghosts? The Kings recruiting the dead to scare us?"
Bill
Roger clears his throat again. "My throat's a bit dry to talk too long about it, and I can't explain everything anyway. I gotta head Renched full of science terms I could try to use for you if that'd help. But I can't imagine it would: right now it's already pretty strange to me knowing phrases like 'liminal psychopomp,' so I can't imagine it'd go over too well for you. Let's just say 'recruiting the dead' is maybe too plain a phrase in English, too messy in what it calls to mind. It could use some dressing up. Maybe 'mental wave form potentialities contributing to Their irruption via shared ancient traumas'. Ugh, no. That was weird to say — too weird. Definitely needs somebody who really gets this to come up with something in between."
"Fear though. That's pretty clear. Papa usually is crystal clear when it comes to the keys and locks. The thing the brass and eggheads need to look out for is a mass wave of fear that's coming. I don't think we're gonna stop it, but maybe we can get them thinking about what to do after it goes rolling out. Shit, this had better not be another missile crisis."