Episode 24: To the end of the Earth / Adagio (Last Episode)

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Slipstream
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Episode 24: To the end of the Earth / Adagio (Last Episode)

Post by Slipstream »

EPISODE 24

<No intro music>

…Kobotai salutes and steps back as the two tilt rotors fire up. The group looks back and salute.

The two tilt rotors lift into the sky and move away from Section 10, never to return…

TO THE END OF THE EARTH / ADAGIO

Doing a pass is not wise so the tilt rotors land off island. They approach by stealth. Radiation is nominal but enough to make therm-optic only 50% effective. The remnants of the airport that lead to the resort is here, and it is fortified. One Type 101 Multi-Ped and two Light Multi Ped tanks guard four large hangers. There is no information what’s in the Hangers. However, one has a very large transmission dish. The group decides to split up. Ben, Boma, Saito, and Togusa will offer a diversion. Ben, in the Type 1 Arm Slave, will assault the main tank while everyone else will fire their one-shot rocket launchers and try to take out the other two. Meenwhile, Greg and Motoko will infiltrate the Hanger with the large Dish. However, unlike the GOLEM AI, controlling all the ghostless cyberbodies on-site, the tanks and other AI vehicles are controlled by another system…the Military AI stolen from the Battleship Kuma. Section 10 still has access codes for that brain, given to them from Mark 13 when Section 10 personnel were hacked, believing they were Section 10 when they weren’t. They could shut down the AIs Firewalls and put it into sleep mode. However, to shut down the tanks, they must go through the tanks. Using the information they retrieved when they rescued the pilot from China, they know Legion must have a chopper, which they cannot see. So it’s around here as well. Batou and Sharron will take the other Hangers, looking for the Kuma AI. With the help of Elina Clarke, Section 10 has an evasive virus for GOLEM that should shut down at least half the GOLEM controlled cyberbodies on sight. This cuts down possible enemies from 200 to maybe only 100.

Hanger three holds some automated combat guns that will roll out to help defend the installation from attack.

Hanger One holds a massive maze of communication gear. A few of the cyborgs lay dead from the GOLUM virus but a few still fight.

The group splits up with mixed members of Section 9 and 10.

Well-placed missiles and fire from the Type 1 Arm Slave take out two of the Light Multi-Ped Tanks. Batou and Sharron barge into the second hanger…that holds 200 Class A blank cyberbodies, all with the GOLEM AI. The others, although without mods, are a force to be reckoned with. They all guard the military cyberbrain stolen from the Japanese Destroyer Kuma. Batou and Sharron charge in.

Motoko and Greg run into the first hanger. Motoko dispatches some remaining cyborgs and they reach a huge door leading into Legion’s main cabin. Greg jacks in…he enters the same system as Legion. He moves through the building network and attacks Legion’s Firewall. Only by breaking through can he open the door. Motoko, after killing the last cyborg, jacks into the back of Greg and guards him from back-hacks.

Outside, the Type 101 fires a single shot and takes out Ben’s Arm Slave. Boma offers covering fire as Ben ejects from the destroyed unit. The sound of an approaching Jigibachi signals the arrival of Legion reinforcements. The Type 101 tears up yards of the forest around the base. Ben uses his railcannon and finally brings it down.

Greg breaks through multiple layers and enters Legion’s ghost. He sees multiple ghost barriers but is met by Manji. She tells him death is the only way to defeat them. Greg understands. He knows Manji is the best Hacker and she should try to upload her thoughts online and see if her Ghost will go along with it. She adds that is just a legend and no one has even proven its accuracy. Greg contends that if anyone can…

Batou holds off the dozens of cyborgs while Sharron dodges and weaves past them. He jacks into the military cyberbrain and gives it the instructions to shut down. Outside, the Jigibachi turns off and lands. None of them know that Legion’s Botanachi (the same Section 10 used while hacked) sits in the last Hanger. Hanger four holds the Botanachi equipped with the Nuclear warhead. It also has an extra large freight module on it, which holds the nuke and a rear loading dock where a vehicle can drive in from the back.

Greg opens the door to Legion. He and Motoko run in and see a man in this late 40s sitting on a recliner with 15 QRS wires running from his head, watching dozens of screens. He doesn’t even acknowledge the two intruders. Greg offers Taigo one last chance to shut everything down. He knows that Taigo’s memories are encrypted but he can jack into Taigo’s memory into death if he has to.

Outside, the Botinachi escapes. A Hummer is seen racing to the rear-loading ramp. This is one of Legion’s personalities known as Robert. He has deposited a copy fragment into a cyberbody and is racing to board the Botanachi with a key that will open a hatch on the nuke. Ben jumps onto the Hummer just before it enters the cargo hold of the transport plane. However, since Ben and Robert were fighting, the vehicles rammed the back of the plane. The parachute platform the vehicle should attach to breaks off its base. Even though it is secured onto the vehicle, it bounces around inside the plane.

Sharron taps into Section 10s Tilt Rotor and remote pilots it to retrieve them. Greg offers one last chance…when Legion ignores him; he fires into the base of the spine, killing Taigo. Greg hacks into memories and realizes the truth. Today is October 1st. The target is the Shanghai International Circuit. It’s going to strike the Formula One race. 200 000 people are there today. He now has the access code to shut down the nuke but the code entry sits behind a quadruple-layered military attack barrier with a maze network. Greg needs to be on that plane.

Ben and the Robert-Simulant cyberbody fight inside the Hummer while inside the Botanachi. Finally, the platform breaks off. The parachute drag cables snag onto the superstructure of the Botanachi. The Hummer, still attached to the parachute platform, falls out of the plane via the cargo platform entrance. However, the cables stop the Hummer 30 feet outside the plane. Ben and Robert now fight inside the Hummer while it is being dragged 30 feet behind the Botanachi, 2 000 feet above the ground. The Hummer tumbles and spins in the air currents. Ben is almost thrown out. Robert drops the key inside the Hummer. Ben tosses Robert outside and Robert grabs onto the hood. Ben yanks the hood release the hood snaps back. Robert falls back and grabs onto the rear of the Hummer. Ben searches for the key inside the vehicle. Outside, the cables keeping the Hummer tied slowly start fraying.

Ben, Elina, and Roy hop on board their Tilt Rotor. Section 9 will remain to clean up this mess. They will also contact Kobotai and inform him of what they know. The Tilt rotor takes up. Roy closes in on the Botanachi. It will enter the city before they can reach it.

Robert bursts back into the Hummer and tries to grapple Ben. Ben grabs the key, throws Robert back down, and jumps from the front of the vehicle. He grabs onto a loose cable before the platform breaks off, sending the Hummer 2000 feet below. With the chute ripped, the truck slams into the ground and vaporizes.

Ben is onboard the Botanachi with key in hand. He uses it and opens the hatch on the nuke, exposing the QRS jack on the weapon. The plane is rigged for automation. Any heat detection, radical pressure change, or any attempt to change the course triggers the bomb.

By the time the Tilt Rotor catches up, the Botanachi has reduced altitude and is now weaving through the buildings only a few hundred feet above the ground. Roy lowers to match altitude and speed. Greg fires the grappling hook to connect to the Botanachi. Greg rappels down to Ben. Roy is forced to keep close as the plane in front bobs and weaves buildings in front. Overtop, they see a missile soaring ahead. It detonates over the sky, raining shiny particles over the city.

Ben jacks into the Nuke. He cannot use a dummy barrier less he reduce his ability. He looses a few synapses breaking through the barrier. Outside the planes continue their approach. Only minutes now away from the racetrack, Greg finally breaks in and shuts down the nuke. Now it can crash without causing further damage. With hope, it will only crash into the tarmac and not cause any casualties. However, they are still on the plane. Sharron was forced to sever the cable. Ben grabs onto Greg and using himself as a shield, he jumps from the plane and slams through the windows of a building. During the crash, a jagged piece of metal tears off Ben’s scalp. The Botanachi slams onto the starting grid in front of the grandstands. Cars avoid and crash…but cause no fatalities. The missile was Japan’s peace offering…the Japanese miracle. China agreed to give Section 10 a chance to stop the detonation…and they succeeded.

Roy lands the plane on top of a parkade and he and Elina make a quick exit. The group gathers inside a small house. They know this is the end. Ben, severely injured, dons a cap. Elina will go with him to safety and then vanish herself. Once they reach the crowd outside, they will all go separate ways. They say one final goodbye and exit.

Endo bursts into the Section 10s computer room at their HQ in Etorufu.

“Link the Decatoncles into the SDF satellite. Scan through all IFFs in the computer. Scan through the city. They are there…!” He snaps. Dozens of identical Androids enter and start linking into computers.

Back in Shanghai, the group enters the crowd. Elina thanks them all.

“…We may have a hit.” Says an android to Endo. “Section 9 recorded IFFs which we are picking up in downtown Shanghai.”

“Lock on them…that’s Section 10…I know it.” Endo responds.

“Attempting to lock on.” The android announces.

Ben, Elina, Greg, and Roy take final glances. When Elina hugs Greg, she turns and sees Roy already gone. She looks back to Greg and he vanishes in the opposite direction. She grabs Ben and walks into the crowds.

“Moving in.” The android reports. “Locked Greater Shanghai, Locked Downtown area, Locked 500 block area, 200 block area.”

“We have four targets from the IFF.” Says another.

“Lock on.” Snaps Endo, “I want geosynch over that area. No matter where they go, it will track them--”

“Sir…I lost them!” Reports the first android.

“WHAT?”

“The satellite just lost its buffer, it’s rebooting. I don’t have any data.”

“How is that possible?”

“Sir the IFFs are no longer listed.” Reports another android.

“What going on?” Endo shouts.

“We have no uplink,” Reports one.

“Someone hacked the satellite,” Reports another.

“Who the hell could hack a JSDF satellite?” Endo finally asks.

The satellite image on the main viewer shorts out…

…And is replaced with a painted image of the Manji…


A final view of each member of Section 10 as they walk away.


In finale, the members of Section 10 vanish into the grid, into the sea of population and information…


THE END
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Slipstream
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Post by Slipstream »

So...some thoughts. After the game finally ended, my players said "bravo".

I think the BAAL story arc was weak, having been taken from a previous game I ran years ago. They did enjoy the Legion story and were happy the game had a well conceived, although somewhat downbeat, ending.

There are no plans for a sequel game. It was fun while it lasted. I had ideas but I could use those for another game.

My favorite episodes would be difficult. I could limit it to four:

Nomad, I liked because it was based on a script I wrote and that is had a great ending

I also liked Departures because it offered the most freedom for the characters, had a great car chase, and allowed the hacker to kill the main bad guy.

I also liked Mark 13 because it was just straight gunplay. A pure first person shooter like F.E.A.R. and allowed every character to shine.

Finally, I enjoed the finale episode because it had several choreographed action set peices, and they all worked perfectly.

I am not sure if the PCs had their favorite episode. I know Ben's PC probably enjoyed Mark 13 as well. I imagine Sharron's PC would pick Camoflauge ad is centered on his character a lot. I know that Greg's PCs favorite is Session because he solved the big twist....and he said so.

In the end it was fun...and only the second game I have ever finished to completion....
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Jeni Nielsen
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Post by Jeni Nielsen »

Congratulations on completing your game! If I ever have time I'll go back and read all of it. :)
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Black Mamba
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Post by Black Mamba »

Although I have not had time to go through and read it, I would definatly like to congradulate you on completing this large project.

May I ask why its called a game, isn't it more like episode scripts?
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Gillsing
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Post by Gillsing »

It's a game because they played it as a (scripted) game, and then Slipstream wrote down what happened. But yeah, they do read like episode scripts.

And bravo indeed. I could never have pulled anything like this off myself, because I love freedom too much, and there didn't seem to be a lot of that in this campaign. And thanks for sharing! :D

So Manji managed to upload herself into the net, huh? How about that. :wink:

I must admit that I barely have any memories of individual episodes, but judging by my comment I apparently thought that "Episode 5 -- Actions Speak Louder / Showdown" and the plot leading up to it was cool, so I think I'm going to go with that one as my favourite. "Episode 10: The Tomb of Secrets / Dungeon" remains as my least favourite episode, due to the D&D stuff. And that's where you mentioned that you had 26 episodes to write, so it wasn't all in my head when I was surprised at an early ending. :P (I also naturally assumed that you'd have the same number of episodes as the series)

And yeah, I haven't been back to these forums since July 1st, so that's why it's taken me this long to comment. :oops:
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Post by Slipstream »

It wasn't scripted. It depends on what you call scripted. I had a premise that I give my players who play the characters...like Aramaki giving Mototko an assignment at the beginning of an episode. Where they go and what they do is laregly improvised. I give my guys a lot of freedom, able to adapt depending on where my guys go and who they ask. Sometimes I am amazed at the brilliance of my players. This is not like D&D where characters can go anywhere and do anything. A cyberpunk game is slightly more narrow.

It wasn't me that cut the game down to 24. My players wanted fewer Stand Alone episodes and more complex ones...but that resulted in a shorter game length.

This is a pen and paper RPG for those who don't know, like Dungeon and Dragons.,..but set in Ghost in the Shell.
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Post by Jeni Nielsen »

From what I remember about my limited experience with D&D and Vampire games is that it all really comes down to how good the person leading the thing is. They have to exert a certain amount of control but also give players enough freedom, but not too much to the point where things get out of control. It's a fine line. Which is all to say that I think Slipstream did a great job. :)
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Gillsing
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Post by Gillsing »

Slipstream wrote:It wasn't scripted. It depends on what you call scripted.
Well, I meant that you had prepared a scenario for each session/episode. I didn't mean that everything was already decided from the start. That's just what it looks like after the fact! :wink:

So I take it there were a lot more freedom than I thought. I'm used to have quite a bit less than I'd like, since the main adversaries and plot points tend to be prepared in advance by the company that publishes the campaigns. Sure, there's still variances depending on the group of player characters, but that's pretty much a matter of how well we manage compared to what one might have expected. Or perhaps I'm just becoming to cynical to truly enjoy RPGs. All that is left is to roll the dice and hope for a splattery result. :roll:
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