Fury Road (Worlds Beyond)

Fury Road is the sixth episode of the first season of Worlds Beyond.
== Summary ==
=== The evil you know and the evil you don't know ===
Jade and Dale, having just taken a portal — the Extreme Cypher in pursuit of which they all came to Shalmarn—find themselves a few meters away from the group of four thugs led by a woman they were fighting on the other side. The blizzard has left place to a bright light and miles upon miles of sand dunes. Vehicles are visible in the distance, and they're approahing.
Jade is in a hangover state from the bad translation. Her right arm is just not there in this new place. The other woman is smiling. She and her lackeys have different clothes: leather jackets with the same symbol, leather gloves, belts, boots... Jade has also traded her Ardeyn looks for something more biker-like.
The hot weather and translation sickness don't prevent Jade from lunging at her foe and punching her. Despite the 6 damage, she is not KO.
The lackeys draw their weapons, which here have become baseball bats, and the fight starts anew. Dale, who has been puking, charges like a very drunk person and falls on the ground, where sand enters his mouth. In this recursion, he is extra-greasy, with motor oil all over.
When their leader orders her minions to Deal with them and disappears after stepping through a bubbleShe used a portal sphere, a one-use cypher that sent her to a recursion she had planned to return to all along, probably Ardeyn. The cypher was smashed on use. Jade has seen this before., Jade, who, on the one hand, has realized part of her group is still missing and, on the other hand, looks scary in her bad mood, asks the remaining thugs:Do you really want to do this?Dale is hit by a bat, Jade gives diplomacy another go and helps the message sinking through by pulling out her knife. There is indeed a pause; then a lackey tries to smash at Jade, and misses; Jade, in return, punches him very hard in the crotch: after that, it's only a matter of time before they’re all left unconscious, except for one, who gets to flee the scene.
Five minutes pass. The rest of Jade's group has not arrived yet, but the shadowy figures now visible on their rigs are very close, and howling like wolves or coyotes. Jade and Dale are in the middle of a desert and have nowhere to hide: they really are in a crappy situationAnd gain 1 XP each for it. Jade eventually cedes her XP to Dale..
The dilapidated rigs are now in full display. Dale imitates the noises he hears; when he is grabbed a voice says: I like this one, put him in mine. Jades confronts the aggressors with aplomb, but is soon hogtied herself. She has time to drop the reader part of her trackera.k.a. the Pip-Boy. and to hide the tracker part on herself. With the knocked-down lackey also captured in the same fashion, it becomes clear that these people are prowling the desert for people to grab.
=== Friends, or more foes? ===
When Pine, Inan and Oz arrive, still holding hands, they see the same desert scene as Jade and Dale, who by this point have been taken away. The newcomers haven't had a bad translationAnd, by this time, Jade and Dale’s nausea clears off.. Inan looks for tracks, applying real effort to it. After moving away a bit, she sees vehicles' tracks and footprints. She also finds a gauntlety thing with a screen readout on it.
Pine is wearing sleevelessOr mostly sleeveless. They probably have one sleeve among the three of them. armor, owl regalia, and has scars across his face, which is smudged with oil. The quagmire-glaive is now a metal pole, with some kind of blade and barbed wire. His hair is still braided. His tabard has become a triangle of fabric wrapped around his chest.
Oz has on a jacket with one arm missing; he wears a bandanna but no bandages on his fire arms. With a rifle and a pistol, he is ready for adventure. He also has a weird accent. Oz's genre knowledge allows him to run through hypotheses: Sand, dune — Arrakis, Tatooine; post-apocalyptic environment — Down Under. He saw the sequel first.
Inan has a white dress on. Despite wear and tear, it fits and looks lovely. She also sports combat boots and huge hair. Inan picks up the device she found: it's an activated tracker; with it, she’ll be able to track the orientation and distance to Jade for 24 hours, as long as they all stay in this recursion and within 10 km. At least she thinks Jade left it, she doesn't think Dale would do such a thing.
They start walking after Pine offers to carry Inan. The 1 he rolls on a Might test materializes as quicksands in which he gets stuck knee-deep. Oz helps Inan onto solid sand (with a 20) before Pine pitches himself out, after which there is sand everywhere on him.
Oz cannot carry Inan, who slowly drops down. As she gets out of Oz’s hands, they all hear engines. Motorcycles. Oz has a cypher that allows him to catch radio signals: he hears the crackling voice of an announcer — in a sporting event somewhere, Lions are winning. Meanwhile, the dot on the Pip-Boy is moving away. The engines are coming closer, from a different direction than the one shown on the tracker.
There are six motorbikes. Inan hides the display in a boot. After some confusion, they all lie on flat, doing not that good of a hiding job. Still, Oz has time to have a look at the rusty, cobbled-together motorcycles and to take up his rifle before the bikers spot them and ultimately come to a stop a mere 10 m away. One of them asks:What are you doing in the desert?Oz fails to convince them that they were just looking for water, he realizes, as the other person pulls out a pistol and says:You were ambushing us.The situation grows tenser, until the biker says thatEverybody is a threat here,and Pine confirms: We're a threat. You've just said we're all threats. So let's be threats together.The biker agrees it's Fair, and Oz successfully defuses the situation:Since we're mutual threats, how about we cut the tension: do you know where we can find safe water?NftE: according to my notes, this is not necessarily an exact quote.The leader does know some places... In the meantime, she reaches into a saddlebag, pulls out a wineskin and throws it at Oz. Oz reaches out for his currency, which has now changed into collectible trading card with an amount of Gas Packs scrawled on them in Sharpie. The leader sees, and takes, a shiny oneNftE: I managed to grasp the difference between holographic (shiny) and non-holographic cards. My non-knowledge of Pokémon, Digimon & al made it hard for me to catch any card names, though..
Oz, with help from Inan who points in the direction shown by the tracker, inquires about his friends. The leader tells him that You don't wanna go that way, because that would take them to New Roma: sure, they would find water there, but they would also find a Colosseum, a terrible city of butchery and a beehive of scumming villainyNftE: not entirely sure of my quote here.. It's one of the few cities with supplies and materials; it's on top of an aquifer, that's why they have plenty of water. New Roma's leader is named Agusta Lupe
Oz has never heard of her because he's not from around here; he's from Nebraska — What the fuck is that? — Nebraska town, that is, a settlement — It's up and coming, I'm sure you'll hear about it soon, Inan adds. It's across the salt flat, Pine confirms.
The leader is not tempted by the shinies Oz offers for a drop-off. She can't see how they could drive through Lupe’s groups of Howling Hunters. As to their friends, if one of them is the best fighter Pine knows, that one is already destined for the Colosseum; if the other one only has many stories — Pine's words — he could be turned into fodder, or put to work somewhere; he could even be unlucky enough to fight in the Colosseum, and did there.
The conversation continues, Oz seems to not be OK, Inan explains it's been a vey long journey and they introduce themselves: Oz — Oswald —, and the bikers' leader — Terra, of the Libera Forte, Freedom Riders. These are in no way affiliated to the trash over in New Roma.
While Oz and Terra weigh the odds, basically, of six people on motorcycles taking on a fortress, Pine is fascinated by the motorcycles that he sees, essentially, as horses. Oz ultimately convinces Terra to take them to New Roma, for six shinies — half now, and half when we get there. Oz even tries to give Terra the kind of card she wants. Pine is not sure whether Terra's terms mean she'll rob them later or kill them but once Terra says: Get on!, he asks:How much for me to drive this? I miss having a horse between my thighs.One lady who's a little bit younger looks Pine up and down, and because he can't have had a lot of horses here in the Wasteland where they don't exist, she winks at him, pretty sure that he was using a euphemism. She says, eliciting new chuckles after those caused by Pine's offer:Alright, ride it. Show me how!Pine runs his hand over the motorbike, softlyAnd Lauren explains how he holds it by the handlebars, and more., before getting on it and asking the girl whether she'll be riding as well. She takes the offer with enthusiasm and puts her arms around Pine who, Lauren explains, feels she's being very freshThen Lauren proceeds to explain where the girl doesn't put her hands — on Pine's waist — and where she does put them — probably on his beautifully toned, sculpted pecs.. Pine tells her thatYou must be very scared.Pine, who knows how to ride basic stuffNftE: quoting the GM, here., makes the simple task: he knows how to turn itNftE: the bike. on, all of this just makes sense to him; the girl shows him some of the intricacies of her particular bike and then You're tearing off through the sand. To Pine, this is fun.
=== All roads lead to New Roma ===
Meanwhile, the hot, kind of gross, sweaty vehicle in which Dale and Jade have been riding pulls up to a massive, hodgepodge steel wall. Outside it are houses and buildings and settlements and a lot of shacks. The five vehicles stop in front of the gate. It slides open after some yelling at the person on top. The convoy drives through a shantytown built on top of itself in massive corrugated steel structures made out of whatever the people here have on hand. They keep driving, to a big space partially on a cliff, with a drop-off on one side that doesn't need a wall for protection. On one side sits a larger structure, an amphitheater or a coliseumNftE: I've decided to use both Colosseum and coliseum to refer to that amphitheater., with more elevated buildings.
While they keep getting closer to the amphitheater, Dale chats with their captors, the kind of people who stab one another or throw one another to the sideAs @ImpInMyHead put it in chat: That's how they say "good morning." "HEY FRANK!" *stab* "Hey Larry" *stab*. Dale's danglies, in this world, are on the outside, which may prove useful. Dale tries to convince the not-too-bright baddies that he is a wise soothsayer: These are my tonics, they help me see better, see the world beyond ours. With his audience laughing in excitement, he continues:I've see many things, let me tell you all the stories. The message gets through, sort of: Yeah, yeah, yeah, YEAH. Hey, Steve. Hey, Steve. Hey, Steve. This one should go down in the mechanics' pit. They'really good at stuff. They know all the things, they're real smartNftE: Another approximate quote, according to my notes. . Dale tries to press his advantage, to convince his interlocutor that Jade is also a mechanic, not the fighter she seems to be. After all, She's got one arm!
As Dale's new pal also has one arm, albeit with an attachment, the discussion moves to making an arm for Jade in the workshop.
Dale and Jade are led to separate cells. They hear people nearby, coming up to the steel bars of their own concrete cells and shouting Lemme out!Dale's roll, in the paragraph below, caused a backtrack on this part.
As Dale and Jade are led down an underground hallway by, among others, the Howling Hunters forever known as Steve and Stabbin' Terry, Dale tries to convince this entourage that he is an oracle that was sent to talk to their leader. He rolls a natural 20, and succeeds beyond measure with this tale:The fumes ... I see it ... I see water gushing from the ground, I know where it is [...] They told me. One of the keys to finding this is ... is ... this womanPointing to Jade., along with three other people. They're coming, they are coming to save you, to save you all. Because I have seen it. The fumes, they tell me.
=== An audience with Agusta Lupe ===
Dale having convinced his audience that he is the Oracle, he, and Jade — Dale insists on this, and she adds that she is his bodyguard — are led to Agusta LupeThat Jade is taken with him is the major effect Dale gets for his natural 20.. They go through a corridor, down winding paths, and finally up stairs into a tower they saw beforeNftE: Inserting a clever comment by @ImpInMyHead here: They built this city on rock and roll! Because easy listening was found to be structurally unsound.. This ramshackle structure goes up, its bunch of layers ends in a throne room at the top. The very pompous circumstance makes Jade mutter about toppling another governmentTo which Nathan/Oz quips: Must be Tuesday.... The throne is behind slightly rusted oversized steel double doors. They open and Terry introduces the guests he has brought:
Mighty Agusta Lupe, er, I bring you the Oracle who says they can end the ... the drought ... The CalamityNftE: what this Calamity is remains forever unknown. See the glossary for more info., they can undo it.
Jade and Dale are ushered forward, what they have in front of them is definitely a throne, and it's made out of car parts: wheels, bits of cars; it's like the Iron Throne, but [...] made out of gears, and, like, exhausts; it's, like, just a massive set of exhaust pipes [....] It's like handlebars for armrests, like, a seat from a car and there is this woman, and she is not tallNftE: Not sure, here., she is very broad-shouldered, very muscular, tan for being out in the sun for a long time; her hair is very voluminous; she's wearing half a cropped leather jacket and, like, chainmail; gauntlets on her hands, with spikes on the knuckles, spiked earrings...The throne lifts up, and then moves slightly downAs first suggested by Nathan.. Lupe calls out to Dale:Come! Come forward, Oracle!Jade manages to keep it together and not laugh while Dale gives another demonstration of tremors.
Dale introduces himself to Agusta Lupe:Oh my leader, my name is HazmimamaNftE: I didn't get confirmation of this name or its spelling.. I'm graced to be in your presence. I've seen many things ... Fumes told me. Have you seen this symbol? These guys will bring you doom, I've seen it.Lupe will keep a look out for them, but she's more interested in the Calamity. Dale reiterates it will take him and four special individuals to end it. He also needs more fumes right now, but fails to convince Lupe.
Jade looks at the people in the room: the aforementioned Stabbin' Terry and Steve are still present, as well as two guards who were there when they entered; these two — 1 male, 1 female — wear armors and shoulder pads — same desert punk as everyone else. There are a total of six people in addition to Dale and Jade.
As Dale complains that My vision is getting blurry, for lack of fumes, Lupe, who has seen this before with oracles, sends Dale and Jade to suites where they can rest and relax. She also invites them as guests of honor to the games that will take placer later in the night.
Jade makes out Lupe's full intentions: they are indeed guests for tonight, but Lupe is suspicious of the oracle act, andShe may or may not be pleased by the presence of someone who can end the Calamity, because she's made a lot of money off of that; she makes a lot of money off the fact that she's in power because of this horrible wasteland.The bottom line for Jade is that they are on thin ice but have not fallen through yet.
=== A room with(out) a view ===
They are escorted to a room that's nice on the scale of this place: a bed, probably no bedbugs; no windows, before they're not trusted enough yet; a basin and at least some water; also basics such as a towel to scrub themselves down. There are probably guards posted outside.
Dale keeps a gift ready for the queen, a very, very shiny Pokémon Spinarak. When Dale eventually gives it, she sneers at it: Whatever! but takes it. It is tribute, but not that valuable. This gift is also a cursed cypher, originally from the Spiders' Mansion.
Jade takes a bath.
The food the get a little bit later is neither good nor bad, and made of stuff that can be efficiently grown with little water: cactus; a source of proteins they fear could be human meat and doesn't taste great.
While bathing, Jade looks at her right side: the whole arm is gone; only part of her shoulder is still there; there is black ink going up across her collarbone — necrotizing skin. It's not clear to Jade or Dale why, in this translation, Jade just doesn't have an arm. And, by the way, it would be hard for Dale to fashion a useful arm here.
Jade assures Dale she doesn't find him useless. She also tries to convince him to take daily baths while they're hereBut I look more oracly this way, don't I?Dale eventually complies ... like a raccoonComment by Lauren: you disappear like corn candy..
Then Jade surveys security: the purposefully windowless roomIn Lauren's words: smasy, smashy window — escapy, escapy. just has one door and a screen they can hide stuff behind. Their weapons were taken from them back in the cars. The real pat-down, however, would only have happened in the gladiatorial area, if they had been full processed. Jade can hear the two guards' chitchat. Jade and Dale discuss evasion option; the GM draws their attention to the fact that, with all the armed people around, escaping a building they don't know much about seems hard. The Colosseum would at least have a crowd to get lost in. But, obviously, that would put the Oracle act to an immediate end. And they probably want to find the rest of the group, or wait until the rest of the group comes for them, anyway, so that they all translate outLauren, about Jade & Dale leaving translating without the others: As a GM, maybe don't do that.. 
=== Interlude ===
Where we learned that Lauren has one job on this show: make the 'ding' sound in 'j-a-k-i-d-a-s-h ding'.NftE: thanks for that too, Claudia.
=== Fight with the Howling Hunters ===
Pine, Oz and Inan are riding through the desert toward new Roma. The six bikes are in a diamond formation: Terra leads, with Oz as passenger; Inan went with Trix, the androgynous person she found most appealing in the group; the lady named Wreck is a passenger on her bike, which Pine chose for himselfNftE: See the glossary for all the info I got on Terra's group.. All is well until Oz and Inan hear howling that's getting closer fast: vehicles are coming from a large structure they now see looming in the distance. Terra makes clear it's bad news: Oh shit, Howling Hunters. Get to weapons!Her people pull out lances, a pistol; they'll have a hard time driving and shooting, though. Terra asks Oz to use his rifle, because he's good enough with it; Trix hands a gun to Inan, who goes Oh; boy! then suggests she start driving instead, but ultimately realizes she can stop the attackers while Trix drives and grabs Trix because we might die.
Wreck pulls out a gun. Pine can drive and use his glaive because I used to when I was a childThe trick is to choose, each turn, between fighting and driving. Pines fleet-foot helps with the driving.. He is the first to charge at the approaching vehicles, namely one car-like rig with four passengers, including a gunner, and two motorcycles with one rider eachNftE: I did some math with the numbers I caught. I'm probably wrong.. His impeccable driving is followed by a missed stab at a biker. 
Inan instructs Trix to give it some space; Terra and Oz get close to the car, at which Oz successfully lobs the grenade-like cypher he charged earlierAt the gate that brought them here. See .. As the grenade explodes and deals 4 damage to everything in the vehicle, Oz puts on his sunglasses.
Pine tries to swerve out of the way when three people with lances charge, stabbing at them with lances. A passenger on the car deals him 3 damage, which cause Pine to be impairedIf the damage Pine had already taken was from the hurroks, it would have been erased. Claudia chose to keep that damage no matter what, even if Pine being impaired meant he was one big step closer to death, which would only take bringing two more pools to 0. Lauren's conclusion: so, please don't do that.. Then Pine takes 3 more damageWith his Might pool down to 0, his Speed pool is now the one being depleted by damage.: his armor only negates part of all that damage. Wreck, still holding on to Pine, goes no-nonsensically, and maybe helpfully: Move us further away, or stab them better!Meanwhile, Inan, still holding Trix, points the gun but instead of using it tries, and fails, to Shatter a lance: Well, that normally does something — she says, as if the gun had misfired.
Pine now jumps off, like from a horse, to leap onto the carWhich, again, leads to a remark about Wreck and euphemisms.. As he misses his roll, Lauren seizes Claudia's gifta.k.a. GM intrusion. Pines gets 1 XP for himself and 1 XP Claudia gives to Oz.: Pine is grabbled, wrestled, tied up and put in the back. When he is restrained, his captor shouts: We got one!Time for Wreck to start driving away.
Oz shoots at the guy standing on the car. Once Pine is tied up, the car starts back for New Roma. Oz dodges one last shot from the car's gunman, wonder-womaning it with the metal plate on his arm.
Terra takes stock of the situation: Fuck, they're picking us off. We need to fall back, not go to New Roma just yet.Inan still takes One minute, dear to shatter a tire on the car and make it swerve. Someone is not happy after Inan.
Pine still tries to kick his way out; a 1 on a roll results in 2 damage and a bruise, caused by someone stepping on his face while standing up.
Terra orders to Regroup!, and the Libera Forte pull back. 
=== A painful, Pineless camp ===
It is only when they reconvene that Wreck gets the opportunity to tell the others about Pine's capture. Terra makes it clear that they are in no shape to go after the Howling Hunters right now. Terra still offers to lend – or rather give – Oz and Inan a bike. She'll take Gas Backs in exchange, to cover some of the costs. Wreck offers her own bike, because she likes Pine.
Terra, who is sorry that Pine was captured, is interrupted by one of her people when conveying her hope that Inan and Oz get him back: Oh, a Mew.
They all patch up. Before they part ways, the Libera Forte give Inan and Oz information about New Roma, Agusta Lupe's iron fist rule, and Pine's probable future as a gladiator in the Colosseum. Terra makes it clear that there are no civilians in New Roma, there are only slaves, servants, and Howling Hunters, all serving or working for Lupe. Pine will die if he fails in combat, but it may be possible to get him out with Gas Backs ... unless it's just a tale they gladiators to keep them compliant. Oz and Inan will only enter the city if the guards let them in, they won't be able to climb the walls. They might buy their way in with tribute in supplies. 
While speaking, Inan has been braiding Trix's hair. When it's time to say goodbye and good luck, and all shake hands, Inan kisses Trix. 
=== A new gladiator ===
Pine is taken to New Roma: in a way, he can say that: I made it!After he's thrown into a cell, a burly but short, stocky 5-foot tall person who introduces himself as Hard Nox asks if he is a fighter. As Pine answers Yes, Hard Nox welcomes him to the Pits and barks an order: Get this one outfitted, I think they'll make a pretty fighter — Strong fighter, Pine corrects him — for tonight! 
Pine is dragged elsewhere, they take off his clothes and hack off his braid with a machete. They throw his cloak away, give him leather gear and put a helmet on his head. They can't remove his tattoos, but brand him with the symbol of a wolf. Pine screams. On the plus side, he is also punked up with stimulants that bring him a free recovery roll and a +3 bonus.NftE: Lauren handled this scene with tact, making sure that Claudia was comfortable with it, especially the hacking off of the braid. My own reaction — real shock — to seeing Claudia removing her braided wig and her cloak helped me realize how distressing this could have been to a player. At any rate, Claudia would be free to erase whatever she may dislike in the next recursion. 
=== Panem et circensesNftE: My Latin n longer being what it used to be, I had to check the spelling. Here is the wikipedia link. ===
After their meal, Jade and Dale dress for dinner: they are beautiful and lovely. Well, Dale is just slightly cleaner than before. 
They are led through a tunnel (down, flat, up) into the Colosseum and up to Lupe's Diamond-Club-like Box, separate from the rabble they hear around, and then below them. Dale fails to find any cyphers on the way. 
Lupe is wheeled up in her version of a palanquin: she is well-cushioned and there is fire behind her. Dale introduces himself as the Wizard, Lupe welcomes them and motions them to a seat where they are served food — better food. Lupe keeps speaking, she likes the Games we have here. This form of entertainment keeps the people amusedAs an aside, Lauren adds that Lupe didn't get her position through the games: she created them.. Lupe is aware that new gladiators — fresh meat — were brought today. 
Pine makes his entrance; he stands out among the malnourished fighters. There are cheers in the crowd, as Dale recognizes Pine despite his changed appearanceAnd, with a 19, gets a minor effect.. 
Lupe stands up, walks to the front, and addresses the crowd: Citizens of New Roma, are you ready for blood tonight? [...] Release the lion!There is snarling and yelling, and Pine sees two glowing eyes. 
Dale booms his voice: I see it, this will be a great battle.Jade seizes the opportunity to shove Lupe, even through the guards are gonna kill you. Lupe takes some damage from her tumble down. 
Dale keeps speaking: Nobody can give you freedom, you must take it!Clearly, the guards have to take action before Lupe comes back up. 
Pine has a better look at the "lion": it's a scaled creature, with two heads, a lizard's tail, scaled underbelly, and a lion body otherwise. 
The crowd, half of which sees Lupe, half the lion, is yelling. This is when Oz and Inan arrive at the wall, in front of the giant gate of New Roma.NftE: I finished taking my notes just before the start of ep. 7. They are a little patchy in the last 5 minutes. 
== Notes ==
Category:Worlds Beyond