Asteroids and Athletes Ch. 04

__Campaign Session 4__

It was hard to focus during school, because I kept thinking about what would happen next in the game. When I got to Cesar's house, the following week, I grabbed a beer and sat down with my character sheet and dice in my spot on the table with everyone else. The guys were already there, Evan in his preppy clothes and Justin in his Goth gear. I made small talk with Cesar, Justin and Evan until Heidi got there. When she sat down and took off her jacket, I was amazed by her deep v-neck blouse that showcased her stunning cleavage. It made it tough to keep eye contact with her throughout the night. Maira came in later wearing a long brown skirt and cable knit sweater that was cropped slightly showing her navel. I suddenly felt underdressed in my ripped jeans and tee shirt.

As we began playing, Heidi voiced her concerns about exploring any further because the team was so hurt. Justin agreed with her, but Evan was still pushing. In the end they decided if Evan was so interested, he was the one that should go first. He could sneak in ahead using his high stealth skill. But before that, they decided to stay a day to rest and regain their hit points. As we looked over the map everyone had a different thought on where to go next. There was the Main Facility, the Living Quarters, and the Mining Site. Maira wanted to go straight to the mining site to get the zynium ore along with me, but we were out-voted by everyone else. So the following day those that weren't as hurt went to the front of the lineup and those still recovering fell to the back.

Their team had small earpieces to communicate, so when Evan's character Fanvo snuck back into the Docking Bay to examine the dead bugs, he could still talk to us. The plan was the first sign of trouble, he would run back to the group and we'd take out any bugs. But when he looked through the bodies, there wasn't anything on them of importance. Still, because they were a new species, Cesar said there could be people interested in their parts. He couldn't tell us what they might be worth though. We dragged one of the corpses into the cargo hold of their ship. Then we went back and started looking through the office area of the Main Facility. Zarasti, Heidi's character, was able to hack into some of the working computer systems. She found a report about how the mining colony was founded. An explorer had found a nugget of one of the rarest metals in the universe, zynium, on the surface of the planet nearly two years ago. The Zyn-Mining Corporation moved in quickly, but it took them months with many exploratory drills to find a decent ore vein. This particular mining station had discovered the biggest zynium ore vein on the planet. It was so much rock that it was difficult to transport.

Fanvo (Evan) searched every desk for something useful, but found only papers and office supplies. He became pretty frustrated, but kept looking for some sort of treasure. Zarasti hacked into another computer that had more information about recent events. It was a report that said the Mining Corporation was looking at alternative shipment options because of the four day transport across space.

Then, after a bad stealth roll by Justin, a Roach found us. Maira and I were excited for another battle, but the others were worried because we didn't have much health. Cesar set out a new battle map and a Roach miniature that looked different. It had yellow stripes painted on its shell and a larger mouth, but smaller claws. Like a bug version of a T-rex, but half as tall. It screeched loudly, sounding eerily like a person screaming. Cesar usually does most voices, but not this time, he said his voice couldn't go that high. The noise caused two of the regular Roaches to come into the room. The striped one went down easily with a grenade from Fanvo. I took a hit, but still we were able to make quick work of the others. I rolled a critical hit on one, nearly taking it out with one shot. It was amazing.

Afterwards, Zarasti hacked another computer and found a report that mentioned Project Sartyon Yuga. Cesar told me that my character Yaae knew that name was a mythological figure on the planet she grew up on. Sartyon is the deity of Quickness and Speed that ancient Jozans believed in. Justin thought it was some sort of clue, though we didn't find anything else about it.

So next we head to the storeroom, the other half of the Main Facility building. While going down one of the halls Grita (Maira) found my father, a Jozan man who was hiding in a closet in the hallway. He seemed upset and tried to close the door but Xoragol prevented him from doing so. In the commotion the noise alerted more Roaches. Our group was victorious, but during the battle, my father was wounded, slowly dying, and Fanvo only had two hit points left. The heal bot was running low on supplies and could only heal one person, so I had to make a difficult choice.

Maddy: I'll heal my father.

Heidi: That's such a waste. He's just an NPC.

Maddy: What?

Heidi: A non player character. It's not one of us.

Maddy: If I don't heal my dying father I'd be the worst daughter ever.

Heidi: For RP, fine.*sighs*

Cesar: Ok. Yaae's heal bot slaps a medicated bandage over your father's large wound and then injects a red liquid. *rolls dice* He gasps and sputters blood from his mouth, but he's steady.

Heidi: Great, now we have a liability.

Maira: Come on Heidi.

Cesar: Please speak in character.

Heidi: Am I the only one with the balls to say it? A lot of us are close to death.

Maira (Grita): Zarasti, it will be ok. We have more healing supplies at the ship.

Evan (Fanvo): I'll be fine. He's worse off than me.

Maddy (Yaae): How about we take him back to the ship for safety?

Heidi (Zarasti): Back to your ship? Go ahead.

Maddy: He's passed out right?

Cesar: Yes.

Maddy (Yaae): I'll take him to my ship.

Cesar: Ok, you take him back while the others rest?

Justin (Xoragol): I will help Yaae as well.

Maddy: Thanks.

Cesar: When you get back only 10 minutes in game time has passed, unless you wanted to spend more time with him?

Maddy: Does he wake up?

Cesar: No, he's still sleeping.

Maddy: Ok, I'll go then.

Cesar: Ok-

Maddy: Wait. I'll leave Diaz behind to watch him.

Cesar: No problem, he seems stable. Diaz can send a message to your datapad if there are any issues. Anything else?

Maddy: No that's it.

Cesar: Alright. To regain HP you'll have to rest at the end of the day. Are you all going to rest or continue to explore?

Maira (Grita): It's early, lets go slowly, through one of the pinch points, so if we do get attacked it will be easier to take them out. Evan has to stay in the middle.

Heidi (Zarasti): That should work.

Despite the brief argument I had with Heidi, we continued to explore the storeroom. There we found three crates of raw plasteel. Cesar explained that plasteel was used throughout the civilized galaxy for construction and would be worth quite a bit. Around 400 creds a crate.

Some of the group thought that we should cut our losses and not explore anymore. I had found both my mother and father, which was what my character was worried about, but they had almost died several times and I could tell they were getting scared. I'm not sure we would survive another battle, but something was pushing me to continue to explore. At that point Cesar stopped recording, saying it was a good place to stop, while we thought about what to do next week.

They others mentioned they would discuss it over their text group and add me. It was something they used when there were big decisions before the next session. I was starting to feel closer to Cesar, Maira, Evan, and Justin. I couldn't break through Heidi's hard exterior though. She was... aloof. Maybe she resented me for breaking into their inner circle?

I said goodbye to everyone. Cesar called out to me before I left.

"Hey you ok?"

"Yeah why?"

"Chill with me for a bit, I have a question after everyone else leaves," he said quietly. It took about fifteen minutes or so of small talk and goodbyes from the others until we were alone. I helped him clean up a little while we talked.

"Heidi is really passionate about the game, so sometimes she can be a bit intense," he said.

"Yeah I noticed," I smiled, looking out at her red car as it drove off.

"Like anyone, she doesn't enjoy losing. So she tries to control everything that she considers a variable."

"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"Ok, just let me know if you ever want to talk. I want the game to be fun, not stressful."

I nodded and we shook hands.

"See you at class," I said as I slapped my hand on his shoulder.

"See you later."

__Campaign Session 5__

As Wednesday night came around again, I arrived at Cesar's garage, the door already open. Evan and Justin were sitting and talking to Cesar. I asked him how he spoke so gruffly like his character Xoragol when his normal voice was quite a bit different. He said he had loved to do voices ever since he watched TMNT back when he was a kid. He started doing a skater style voice that sounded familiar and then another more sinister voice that reminded me of a villain. I admitted that I tried to do a few voices after the last session, but they sounded ridiculous.

Cesar said it was more important to try and get into the character's head and motivations than actually speak a different voice. But not everyone was really into the roleplaying part of RPGs. At that point I wasn't sure exactly what I liked about the game so much.

When everyone from the group arrived, Cesar closed the garage door and we all sat down with a drink. I sipped a beer as we discussed what to do with the plasteel we found last time. We had discussed over the text group to split it. I would take one crate and the other team would take the rest. Then Fanvo brought up the good point that we hadn't even explored the living quarters yet.

We didn't find much, except for a few cred sticks when the group looked through the area. And unfortunately we did come across another Roach with yellow stripes on its head. At the start of its turn it screeched. Justin whispered into Cesar's ear.

"Go for it," Cesar said. Then the tall emo kid screamed like a woman being tortured.

"Jesus!" Heidi said.

"Shit man," I said.

Justin's interpretation of the Roach scream made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight.

"Excellent man," said Cesar with a clap of his hands.

"Sick," smiled Maira.

"That's frightening," said Evan.

Then the fallout happened. On the battle mat that Cesar had set up, he brought out one more bug alien. I didn't think it would be too much of a problem, but our health was already low.

"Fuckin' roaches," Heidi said in annoyance.

We're able to take them all down, but only by using a hallway as a pinch point in the living quarters. That way they couldn't swarm around Xoragol. Still, at the end of battle he was very low on HP. As we left the last area in the living quarters that we explored, Zarasti (Heidi) found a datapad left over from one of the occupants and was able to hack into it. The person had recorded an audio journal that Cesar narrated to us. He described an unstable portal the company was trying to use to transport things planetside. They called it Project Sartyon Yuga that we had found out about before from one of the computer terminals. The journal also said that their bosses were pushing too hard to get the portal running. They were told to speed up transportation by 100% in sixty cycles by their bosses.

Maira asked everyone what they wanted to do. I wanted to find the zynium ore and Evan agreed. The others were mostly ambivalent, except Heidi. She wanted to leave. She thought they had already risked too much. I got into another little argument with her about this decision. I didn't even realize it until later, but I was speaking from the point of view of my character. I wanted to stop the bugs. They had basically killed Yaae's mother and almost her father.

Cesar decided to end the session so everyone could think about what to do next. We could explore the last area, the mining site, or take the Plasteel and sell it. Maira (Grita) said I could join their group if I wanted because of how I was pretty much alone.

I hung back after the group started to leave and helped Cesar clean up.

"That got intense again huh?"

"Yeah, I'm fine though. I mean it's just a game, but I wanna be true to Yaae right? I kinda see her like me, someone who wants to help people."

"That's sweet Maddy, but it's just a big corporate entity that wants that ore back."

"Right, but we still haven't explored the last section of the map!" I said suddenly. I smiled a bit embarrassed at how excited I got. "And those bugs should pay for what they did to my parents."

"Sure, I can see that," he replied with a wan grin.

I put the last of the trash away and Cesar finished sweeping.

"See you next time," I said.

He held out his hand. After shaking his hand warmly, our eyes met and we smiled. Then I pulled him in for an embrace. I meant it just as a friendly hug, but it went on longer than I was expecting. He rubbed my back and I knew if we were going to keep things platonic we should stop. Although Cesar was quite attractive, I didn't want to add unnecessary drama to these new friendships I had just made.

I pulled back with a smile and noticed he seemed a bit flustered

"Uh sweet... I'll see you next time, right?" he said.

"Yeah." I said. "Thanks for being a good friend Cesar."

"You too Maddy."

__Campaign Session 6__

I got to the game really early the next week. The dice I had ordered online had finally arrived and I was eager to show Cesar. I had them in my hand as I walked up to the garage door and knocked. They were black with fluorescent yellow numbers. I stood there for a few seconds, but there was no response. Next I went to the front door and knocked. No answer again. Just as I was about to get out my phone from my bag to text him, I heard the click of the door opening.

I held up the dice and saw a beautiful woman with golden blonde chest-length hair, brown eyes, dark eyelashes, shiny salmon colored lips, and a pale peach complexion. She was wearing a deep plunging black blouse showing cleavage enhanced by a pushup bra. She also wore a mustard-colored cardigan, silver hoop earrings, and a few gold wristbands. Across her hips was a pleated black miniskirt belted high to her small waist. The skirt reached a few inches above her knees, with black leggings and oxford style black shoes.

When I looked at her, I felt like someone had a remote control and pressed pause on me as she gave a disarming smile.

"Hello?" she said with a smile, "Can I help you?"

"Hi," I barely managed. "Is Cesar here? We were going to-"

"Play a game?" she said, pointing to the dice in my hand.

"Yeah, that's right," I replied.

"He's taking a shower, why don't you come in," she said, going inside.

"Thanks. I'll just set my stuff down," I said, walking past her down the hall and to the garage. I pushed open the door and found it dark inside. I started looking for the switch when the light suddenly went on. I turned and saw her smiling, her delicate hand on the dimmer. The gaming table was already set up, but a little messy.

"Get you a beer?" she asked.

"Thanks," I said.

She opened the refrigerator and leaned forward, sticking out her ass. I tried not to stare, but she was quite something. She popped the top of the bottle with an opener and handed it to me. My mouth was almost watering with anticipation. She leaned forward one of the chairs on the table, as she smiled at me.

"Cesar told me he had a new player. You must be it. I would have remembered you if I'd met you before."

My mind raced as I set down my dice on the table. How long did Cesar have this white hottie as his girl? And was I imagining things or was she all up on my jock? Maybe she was diggin' my abs that were visible between the red cropped hoodie and jeans I was wearing.

"None for you?" I asked.

"I'm going to be driving soon," she said, sitting down at the table.

"I see."

"Why don't you sit and join me. Cesar should be out soon."

I smiled and sat across from her just as Cesar opened the door to the garage.

"Hey, you're early," he said.

"Y-yeah."

"You met?" Cesar says.

"Not really," she said. "I'm Jasmine," she laughed, turning to me.

"Sorry, I'm Maddy," I said sheepishly. I shook hand which felt a little cold. "So you're Cesar's..." She just smiled and played dumb. "Are you together?" I asked.

"We... are not labeling anything," she said.

"Ok, lit" I said with a nod. Cesar sat next to her at his usual seat. I had to admit that they were a hot couple. "Uh, have you ever played?" I asked her, gesturing to the table.

"Yeah."

"You like it?"

"She doesn't-" Cesar started.

"Would you let me-" She continued, but he cut her off.

"Doesn't like rolep-" Jasmine covered Cesar's mouth.

"Not with this group. They're too... non-linear for me. I like my games-" Cesar moved her hand.

"She likes Go Fish instead."

"Fuck you," she said with a halfhearted punch to his shoulder. Cesar laughed. I smiled at their antics, but it was almost too cute. "I like straight forward goals, not sandbox," she explained.

"Sandbox?" I asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"I mean being able to go wherever, not really knowing the goal. And really I'm more into competitive games."

"I mean I am competitive when it comes to sports, but I like exploring everything too. I guess I like sandbox?" I admitted. Cesar put his hand on my shoulder.

"That's why I like you. You seem to be up for anything."

Jasmine smiled at me, not saying anything, but just looking at Cesar and back to me. There was a second when I considered she might be jealous, but then there was a knock on the garage.

"Guess it's about time I head out," Jasmine said as Cesar opened the garage door. "It was good meeting you." She held out her hand. I shook it again. "See you," she said as she left.

"Bye."

She waved goodbye at Evan and Justin as she left.

Heidi seemed to be in a better mood than last week when she arrived. We had discussed all the choices over a text group so when we got there it was pretty much decided. We'd rest for another full day before going into the mining site and looking for the zynium. Cesar explained that zynium ore was one of the most valuable materials in the universe.

After resting and healing a few HP, we walked back through the Docking Bay and Main Facility to the entrance of the mining site. Heidi had a feeling that it would be some sort of trap. That's why she had wanted to avoid this area. We all made sure we had on space suits to enter the mining site because it wasn't pressurized with a breathable atmosphere. Luckily we were able to put our armor over our suits, but the problem was any significant damage and our suits would be breached.

We had Fanvo sneak ahead while we stayed safely behind. Sneaking with a space suit was difficult. We couldn't find anyone left alive. Fanvo radioed back to us, describing a grisly scene of body parts strewn about the mine's entrance. He came back and let us know there were no Roaches that he could see, just an empty room. We went in all together through the airlock and into the mining site. The room was littered with blood and bones. Right in front of them was a rough square of metal standing upright like a doorway without a door, covered in wires and flashing lights. Connected to it on one side was a blank computer display. There was a track that led from the portal and out the other side of the room through some large double-doors. One of the doors was off its hinges and resting on the ground.

Fanvo moved stealthily through the door and out into the planet's surface. There was a cave mouth where the track continued down. A mining cart was there in front, tipped over, rough rocks and ore spilled out onto the gray ground of the planet. The sky was dim and dark, and mountains of gray surrounded the mining site.