Book 8, Chapter 3: Holodeck

At the Hamilton Art Gallery, ancient suits of armor come to life, attacking the attendants. While the heroes attempt to stop the armor, something attempts to steal a golden statue of a dragon that many parties are interested in. Book {{{book number}}}

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{{#set:

  | title  = Holodeck
  | is a   = chapter
  | chapter of = Humans are the Worst
  }}{{#set: chapter number = 3 | ordinal = 3 }}{{#set: has parent story = {{#ask: is book of::Humans are the Worst has book number::8 |link=none|limit=1|searchlabel=}} | chapter in book = {{#ask: is book of::Humans are the Worst has book number::8 |link=none|limit=1|searchlabel=}} }}{{#set: book number = 8 }}{{#set: blurb = In which our heroes learn the disturbing truth of where they have wound up. }}{{#set: content = The setting was Ancient Japan.  At least, that is what everyone assumed based on the garb and environment.  Had the characters really travelled through time?  Did breaking the Laws of Magic even apply to them?  These questions had to wait, because the heros were on the run!

Allan and Jack, being hunted and hunting in turn, had "hid" in a cabin they had found.

Moments later, Maia, Jack and Anton wander up to the same cabin. Anton was in a harness. He then caught a whiff of Allan and Jack's sent and wandered to the door. When Anton opened the door (in dog form), Allan reached out and pulled him in quickly. All Maia saw was a hand reach out, catch Anton and pull him in. She decided to sneak to the back and see who was inside. After seeing that it was only Jack and Allan, she went in. James stayed outside with the cart.

It was at that moment that a better looking (and smelling) version of Anton walked out of the bathroom, and doggy Anton fell unconscious. Clean Anton began to explain a few things. The characters were, apparently, inside of Anton's mind; and Clean Anton is Anton's subconscious mind. He was using us (James, Maia and Allan) as batteries. We were in a living history lesson. Since Anton had been in the energy path between the book and the sword, he got to play host to the history lesson. Clean Anton's cabin was the only place that he could manifest. Despite this setback, Clean Anton figured out that the three artifacts - the sword, the dragon and the book - were meant to work together in harmony; and that Jack and Shreader must resolve their conflicts for the heros to get out of this lesson (and Anton's mind). He also figured out that anyone could change the environment; but the "heirs of the dragon" were compatable with the energy within this history lesson. It may be harming everyone else. And there were many "heirs of the dragon" inside this lesson. All previous weilders of the sword, book or dragon were known as Shades. Jack and Shreder were not shades because they are the current owners of the artifacts - but if either of them died, a shade could take over one of their bodies.

At this news, Maia started to talk about the philosophy of liniage. The group also wondered if they were now breaking the second law, and realized that the White Council was taking all the fun out of star trek.

The heros began to discuss how to attract Shreader. Allan had a Wesley Crusher moment when he tried to apply science to this situation.

The heros also learn that Jack's book had not been fully written. In fact, it ended right at the lesson that Jack had mastered.

The next question was if the next move was to go towards the mountains or the city. They chose to go to the mountains, partly because when they went outside, James had disappeared and his tracks lead into the bush and towards the mountains. As the characters track, animals that look like wolves skitter away. The heroes eventually end up following the wolves. They were lead into a clearing, where four red-eyed wolves were sitting beside a Shade, who's eyes were also glowing red. It turns out that these "wolves" were lesser hell-hounds from the Never Never. Jack calls them Cushies. Both Maia and Jack meld into the shadows while the wolves begin to flank the party.

"Convince me that you are worthy, and he is not" said the shade. The shade's name was Chung. He was talking to Jack about Shreder. Apparently, Chung had written the last chapter of the Book. But Maia thought he was bluffing about being as advanced in the book as he claimed to be. She calls out that Chung has a tell (a twitchy eye), that his bark is worse than his bite, and that he only wrote the third chapter of the book, not the last! (Of course, when Chung wrote it, it was the last chapter...)

"I am not a faker!" responds Chung. "I am a master of Tiger Style Kung Fu!" and he does an elaborate kata to prove it (to himself).

In response, Jack also does an elaborate kata with his sword, in an attempt to show that he actually is worthy of the book (and Chung is not). Chung starts to stutter.

Maia mocks Chung by also stuttering and taunting that he doesn't even know what beasts he has. The creatures may not be as under his control as he thinks they are. He has a "tiger by the tail" and is out of his depth.

Allan builds up Jack's reputation by showing that he os more worthy than Chung of the book, based on the adventures they had and what Jack had done.

Ch-Chung tries to intimidate Jack. "I am the master of the book! I am the master of the cushies!!" Apparently, he had Cushie envy.

Jack, however, tries to make it seem like Chung does not have the same amount of control that he thinks he has by manipulating the environment. The Cushies turn towards Chung and growl.

Cowed, Chung agrees to help Jack with his fight. All they have to do is call Chung's name when they find Shreder.

The heros continue towards the mountains, deciding to travel at night. Eventuially, they get to a village. Allan and Maia manipulate the environment to change what they look like (more like locals). It hurt. The village was very low-tech (early iron age). Maia decides to go to the village well to draw water and spy. "I'll be fine" she says. As soon as Maya looks into the village fordge, she sees the village smith (Tanaka), and the ghosts of his ancesters helping him do his work. She also sees general village equipment, but no ninja weapons out in the open. As far as she can tell, the iron is good qualtiy.

Maia decides to bluff the smith. She deals with the language issue by ignoring it. This is like a dream, after all, and she tries to use his ancesters to convey the words and not notice what is happening. M-"My master has asked me to check up on the Project" T-"Who master?" M-"I'm not allowed to speak his name, if you know what I mean." T-"No." M-"He said you would know!" T-"Starmetal sword. Two weeks." Maia sees a long ingate of metoric iron that will eventually become a sword. She takes a few pictues with her phone (secretly), and leaves, thanking the Smith and the Ancesters.

The heros make a plan to get Jack involved in the sword's creation, and become more aligned with it. Maia presents Jack to Tanaka. Tanaka was happy with Jacko-Mackason. "Many jobs for new slave!" That got clarified fast...

Tanaka was told that "Jackason is strong and skilled, dedicated and talented, but lacks practice and is mute as a result of being kicked in the head by a mule as a child. He makes nonsential sounds, and Tanaka should not be offended by those sounds. Tanaka was still pleased, and gave Jack all the crappy jobs.

Allan manipulated time around the area so that two weeks passed in the forge, while only an afternoon passes outside it. Part of the spell was to keep Tankasa from noticing what was going on. People noticed a long high-pitched wine coming from the fordge, a great cloud of smoke above it, and decided to leave the iron outside the fordge.

At the end of the afternoon, the villagers make sure Tanaka is alright; Jack smells very ripe (until he manipulates the environment to be unripe); Tanaka is confused and out of iron; and Allan takes a very long nap. }}{{#set: starring = Allan Tarik }}{{#set: starring = Anton Jackson }}{{#set: starring = Jack Marks }}{{#set: starring = James JustJames }}{{#set: starring = Maia Guarao }}{{#set: guest-starring = Clean Anton }}

Holodeck

{{#set: location = Anton's Brain }}{{#set: location = Art Gallery of Hamilton }}

Anton's Brain, Art Gallery of Hamilton, timestamp::2012/05/23 (played session date::2012/04/25)

In which our heroes learn the disturbing truth of where they have wound up.

The setting was Ancient Japan. At least, that is what everyone assumed based on the garb and environment. Had the characters really travelled through time? Did breaking the Laws of Magic even apply to them? These questions had to wait, because the heros were on the run!

Allan and Jack, being hunted and hunting in turn, had "hid" in a cabin they had found.

Moments later, Maia, Jack and Anton wander up to the same cabin. Anton was in a harness. He then caught a whiff of Allan and Jack's sent and wandered to the door. When Anton opened the door (in dog form), Allan reached out and pulled him in quickly. All Maia saw was a hand reach out, catch Anton and pull him in. She decided to sneak to the back and see who was inside. After seeing that it was only Jack and Allan, she went in. James stayed outside with the cart.

It was at that moment that a better looking (and smelling) version of Anton walked out of the bathroom, and doggy Anton fell unconscious. Clean Anton began to explain a few things. The characters were, apparently, inside of Anton's mind; and Clean Anton is Anton's subconscious mind. He was using us (James, Maia and Allan) as batteries. We were in a living history lesson. Since Anton had been in the energy path between the book and the sword, he got to play host to the history lesson. Clean Anton's cabin was the only place that he could manifest. Despite this setback, Clean Anton figured out that the three artifacts - the sword, the dragon and the book - were meant to work together in harmony; and that Jack and Shreader must resolve their conflicts for the heros to get out of this lesson (and Anton's mind). He also figured out that anyone could change the environment; but the "heirs of the dragon" were compatable with the energy within this history lesson. It may be harming everyone else. And there were many "heirs of the dragon" inside this lesson. All previous weilders of the sword, book or dragon were known as Shades. Jack and Shreder were not shades because they are the current owners of the artifacts - but if either of them died, a shade could take over one of their bodies.

At this news, Maia started to talk about the philosophy of liniage. The group also wondered if they were now breaking the second law, and realized that the White Council was taking all the fun out of star trek.

The heros began to discuss how to attract Shreader. Allan had a Wesley Crusher moment when he tried to apply science to this situation.

The heros also learn that Jack's book had not been fully written. In fact, it ended right at the lesson that Jack had mastered.

The next question was if the next move was to go towards the mountains or the city. They chose to go to the mountains, partly because when they went outside, James had disappeared and his tracks lead into the bush and towards the mountains. As the characters track, animals that look like wolves skitter away. The heroes eventually end up following the wolves. They were lead into a clearing, where four red-eyed wolves were sitting beside a Shade, who's eyes were also glowing red. It turns out that these "wolves" were lesser hell-hounds from the Never Never. Jack calls them Cushies. Both Maia and Jack meld into the shadows while the wolves begin to flank the party.

"Convince me that you are worthy, and he is not" said the shade. The shade's name was Chung. He was talking to Jack about Shreder. Apparently, Chung had written the last chapter of the Book. But Maia thought he was bluffing about being as advanced in the book as he claimed to be. She calls out that Chung has a tell (a twitchy eye), that his bark is worse than his bite, and that he only wrote the third chapter of the book, not the last! (Of course, when Chung wrote it, it was the last chapter...)

"I am not a faker!" responds Chung. "I am a master of Tiger Style Kung Fu!" and he does an elaborate kata to prove it (to himself).

In response, Jack also does an elaborate kata with his sword, in an attempt to show that he actually is worthy of the book (and Chung is not). Chung starts to stutter.

Maia mocks Chung by also stuttering and taunting that he doesn't even know what beasts he has. The creatures may not be as under his control as he thinks they are. He has a "tiger by the tail" and is out of his depth.

Allan builds up Jack's reputation by showing that he os more worthy than Chung of the book, based on the adventures they had and what Jack had done.

Ch-Chung tries to intimidate Jack. "I am the master of the book! I am the master of the cushies!!" Apparently, he had Cushie envy.

Jack, however, tries to make it seem like Chung does not have the same amount of control that he thinks he has by manipulating the environment. The Cushies turn towards Chung and growl.

Cowed, Chung agrees to help Jack with his fight. All they have to do is call Chung's name when they find Shreder.

The heros continue towards the mountains, deciding to travel at night. Eventuially, they get to a village. Allan and Maia manipulate the environment to change what they look like (more like locals). It hurt. The village was very low-tech (early iron age). Maia decides to go to the village well to draw water and spy. "I'll be fine" she says. As soon as Maya looks into the village fordge, she sees the village smith (Tanaka), and the ghosts of his ancesters helping him do his work. She also sees general village equipment, but no ninja weapons out in the open. As far as she can tell, the iron is good qualtiy.

Maia decides to bluff the smith. She deals with the language issue by ignoring it. This is like a dream, after all, and she tries to use his ancesters to convey the words and not notice what is happening. M-"My master has asked me to check up on the Project" T-"Who master?" M-"I'm not allowed to speak his name, if you know what I mean." T-"No." M-"He said you would know!" T-"Starmetal sword. Two weeks." Maia sees a long ingate of metoric iron that will eventually become a sword. She takes a few pictues with her phone (secretly), and leaves, thanking the Smith and the Ancesters.

The heros make a plan to get Jack involved in the sword's creation, and become more aligned with it. Maia presents Jack to Tanaka. Tanaka was happy with Jacko-Mackason. "Many jobs for new slave!" That got clarified fast...

Tanaka was told that "Jackason is strong and skilled, dedicated and talented, but lacks practice and is mute as a result of being kicked in the head by a mule as a child. He makes nonsential sounds, and Tanaka should not be offended by those sounds. Tanaka was still pleased, and gave Jack all the crappy jobs.

Allan manipulated time around the area so that two weeks passed in the forge, while only an afternoon passes outside it. Part of the spell was to keep Tankasa from noticing what was going on. People noticed a long high-pitched wine coming from the fordge, a great cloud of smoke above it, and decided to leave the iron outside the fordge.

At the end of the afternoon, the villagers make sure Tanaka is alright; Jack smells very ripe (until he manipulates the environment to be unripe); Tanaka is confused and out of iron; and Allan takes a very long nap. {{#ask: |Holodeck |?title |?chapter number |?blurb |?empty |?label |?image |?parentordinal | sort = chapter number | link = none | format = template | template = SMW campaign chapters level 3 }}