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}}}
Book {{{book number}}}, [[{{{page}}}|Chapter {{{chapter number}}}]]
Book {{{book number}}}, [[{{{page}}}|Chapter {{{chapter number}}}]]
Book {{{book number}}}
Book {{{book number}}}, [[{{{page}}}|Chapter {{{chapter number}}}]]
Book {{{book number}}}, [[{{{page}}}|Chapter {{{chapter number}}}]]
{{#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 "hidden" in a cabin they had found.
Moments later Maia, Jack and Anton wandered up to the same cabin. Anton, harnessed to a cart containing an unconscious man, caught a whiff of Allan and Jack's scent 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 was Anton's subconscious mind. He was using James, Maia and Allan as batteries. They 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 Shredder must resolve their conflicts for the heroes 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 compatible with the energy within this history lesson. It may have been harming everyone else. And there were many "heirs of the dragon" inside this lesson. All previous wielders of the sword, book or dragon were known as Shades. Jack and Shredder were not shades because they were 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 lineage. 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 heroes began to discuss how to attract Shredder. Allan had a Wesley Crusher moment when he tried to apply science to this situation.
The heroes also learned 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 whether the next move was to go toward the mountains or the city. They chose to go to the mountains, partly because when they went outside, James had disappeared and his tracks led into the bush and toward the mountains. As the characters tracked, animals that looked like wolves skittered 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 named Chun, whose eyes were also glowing red. It turns out that these "wolves" were lesser hell-hounds from the Nevernever. Jack called them Cooshees. Both Maia and Jack melted into the shadows while the wolves began to flank the party.
"Convince me that you are worthy, and he is not" said Chun to Jack, talking about Shredder. Apparently Chun had written the last chapter of Jack's book, but Maia thought he was bluffing about being as advanced in the book as he claimed to be. She called out that Chun had 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 Chun wrote it, it was the last chapter...)
"I am not a faker!" responded Chun. "I am a master of Tiger Style Kung Fu!" and he did an elaborate kata to prove it (to himself).
In response, Jack did another elaborate kata with his sword, in an attempt to show that he actually was worthy of the book (and Chun was not). Chun started to stutter.
Maia mocked Chun by pretending to stutter and taunting him. She said that he didn't even know what kind of beasts he had, that the creatures were not as under his control as he thought they were, that he "had a tiger by the tail" and was out of his depth.
Allan built on Jack's reputation by telling of adventures they had had and of things Jack had done.
Chun protested, "I am the master of the book! I am the master of the Cooshees!!" Jack, however, tried to make it seem like Chun did not have the amount of control that he thought by manipulating the environment. The Cooshees turned towards Chun and growled.
Cowed, Chun agreed to help Jack with his fight. All they had to do was call Chun's name when they found Shredder.
The heroes continued towards the mountains, travelling at night. Eventually they got to a village. Allan and Maia manipulated the environment to make themselves look more like locals. The village was very low-tech (early iron age). Maia decided to go to the village well to draw water and spy. "I'll be fine" she said. When Maya looked into the village smithy, she saw the village smith, Tanaka, and the ghosts of his ancestors helping him do his work. She saw plenty of general village equipment among his wares, but no ninja weapons out in the open.
Maia decided to deceive the smith. She tried to deal with the language barrier by circumventing it: using Tanaka's ghostly ancestors as translators in such a way as to keep him from noticing that she wasn't speaking Japanese. By pretending to be the servant of someone who had commissioned a secret project from the smith, Maia learned that he was working on a starmetal sword, and that it would take two weeks to finish. She snuck a few cell phone photos and left, thanking the Smith and his Ancestors.
The heroes spawned a plan to get Jack involved in the sword's creation, in the hopes that this would attune him to it and give him a potent weapon against Shredder. Maia returned to Tanaka with a gift from her fictional master: Marukusu Jaku-kun, an apprentice to help Tanaka hurry the forging of his sword. Maia told Tanaka that Marukusu-kun was strong and skilled, dedicated and talented, but lacked practice. She also said that he was mute as a result of having been kicked in the head by a mule as a child, and that if he made nonsensical sounds Tanaka should not take offense. Tanaka was still pleased, and gave Jack all the crappy jobs.
Meanwhile Allan wove a difficult thaumaturgy, manipulating time around the area so that two weeks passed in the forge, while only an afternoon passed outside it. At the end of the afternoon the villagers came by to make sure Tanaka was alright. Jack smelled very ripe; Tanaka was confused, tired and out of iron; Allan was so exhausted from this effort that he fell into a long sleep. }}{{#set: image = File:Forge2.jpg }}{{#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 }}
- 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 "hidden" in a cabin they had found.
Moments later Maia, Jack and Anton wandered up to the same cabin. Anton, harnessed to a cart containing an unconscious man, caught a whiff of Allan and Jack's scent 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 was Anton's subconscious mind. He was using James, Maia and Allan as batteries. They 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 Shredder must resolve their conflicts for the heroes 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 compatible with the energy within this history lesson. It may have been harming everyone else. And there were many "heirs of the dragon" inside this lesson. All previous wielders of the sword, book or dragon were known as Shades. Jack and Shredder were not shades because they were 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 lineage. 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 heroes began to discuss how to attract Shredder. Allan had a Wesley Crusher moment when he tried to apply science to this situation.
The heroes also learned 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 whether the next move was to go toward the mountains or the city. They chose to go to the mountains, partly because when they went outside, James had disappeared and his tracks led into the bush and toward the mountains. As the characters tracked, animals that looked like wolves skittered 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 named Chun, whose eyes were also glowing red. It turns out that these "wolves" were lesser hell-hounds from the Nevernever. Jack called them Cooshees. Both Maia and Jack melted into the shadows while the wolves began to flank the party.
"Convince me that you are worthy, and he is not" said Chun to Jack, talking about Shredder. Apparently Chun had written the last chapter of Jack's book, but Maia thought he was bluffing about being as advanced in the book as he claimed to be. She called out that Chun had 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 Chun wrote it, it was the last chapter...)
"I am not a faker!" responded Chun. "I am a master of Tiger Style Kung Fu!" and he did an elaborate kata to prove it (to himself).
In response, Jack did another elaborate kata with his sword, in an attempt to show that he actually was worthy of the book (and Chun was not). Chun started to stutter.
Maia mocked Chun by pretending to stutter and taunting him. She said that he didn't even know what kind of beasts he had, that the creatures were not as under his control as he thought they were, that he "had a tiger by the tail" and was out of his depth.
Allan built on Jack's reputation by telling of adventures they had had and of things Jack had done.
Chun protested, "I am the master of the book! I am the master of the Cooshees!!" Jack, however, tried to make it seem like Chun did not have the amount of control that he thought by manipulating the environment. The Cooshees turned towards Chun and growled.
Cowed, Chun agreed to help Jack with his fight. All they had to do was call Chun's name when they found Shredder.
The heroes continued towards the mountains, travelling at night. Eventually they got to a village. Allan and Maia manipulated the environment to make themselves look more like locals. The village was very low-tech (early iron age). Maia decided to go to the village well to draw water and spy. "I'll be fine" she said. When Maya looked into the village smithy, she saw the village smith, Tanaka, and the ghosts of his ancestors helping him do his work. She saw plenty of general village equipment among his wares, but no ninja weapons out in the open.
Maia decided to deceive the smith. She tried to deal with the language barrier by circumventing it: using Tanaka's ghostly ancestors as translators in such a way as to keep him from noticing that she wasn't speaking Japanese. By pretending to be the servant of someone who had commissioned a secret project from the smith, Maia learned that he was working on a starmetal sword, and that it would take two weeks to finish. She snuck a few cell phone photos and left, thanking the Smith and his Ancestors.
The heroes spawned a plan to get Jack involved in the sword's creation, in the hopes that this would attune him to it and give him a potent weapon against Shredder. Maia returned to Tanaka with a gift from her fictional master: Marukusu Jaku-kun, an apprentice to help Tanaka hurry the forging of his sword. Maia told Tanaka that Marukusu-kun was strong and skilled, dedicated and talented, but lacked practice. She also said that he was mute as a result of having been kicked in the head by a mule as a child, and that if he made nonsensical sounds Tanaka should not take offense. Tanaka was still pleased, and gave Jack all the crappy jobs.
Meanwhile Allan wove a difficult thaumaturgy, manipulating time around the area so that two weeks passed in the forge, while only an afternoon passed outside it. At the end of the afternoon the villagers came by to make sure Tanaka was alright. Jack smelled very ripe; Tanaka was confused, tired and out of iron; Allan was so exhausted from this effort that he fell into a long sleep. {{#ask: |Holodeck |?title |?chapter number |?blurb |?empty |?label |?image |?parentordinal | sort = chapter number | link = none | format = template | template = SMW campaign chapters level 3 }}