Rifts 2112: "...And One Time... At Refugee Camp..."

Game Date: 12/8/2012
Campaign: Rifts 2112, Session 2
System: Savage Worlds
DM: Rusty   

Characters:
Emma Snow (Star): Medic
Jim Bagg (Cliff): Military Reserves
Sgt. Malcolm Reynolds (Ted): Active Military
Terri Bolton (Matt): Mechanic

The Session:
The session began in Columbia, SC.  We learned that these disasters have been happening all over the world.  Countries have been falling to floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.  We received some radio signals from someone in Branchville, requesting our aid.  The governor of Columbia gave us some vehicles and we were on our way.

We stopped in Orangeburg and picked up some more info.  We learned that Charleston was underwater, and that people were disappearing all over.  We continued on our way.  When we finally reached the small town of Branchville, Mayor Glen Miller (I bet he gets kidded a lot) pointed us to a nearby refugee camp.  The camp was run by a reverend named Bowman, which worried us a bit.  The last thing we need at the end of the world is a potential cult stirring up panic.  We gave out some food and made some small repairs, until it was time to turn in.

In the middle of the night, we saw some purplish lights in the sky, and they were getting closer.  Occasionally they would dip below the treeline and cause explosions.  We ordered anyone who would listen to take cover, then we piled into our ride and headed downtown - towards the lights.  Malcolm got out of the vehicle first, and proceeded further downtown while the rest of us looked for a good place to hide the SUV.  So Mal was the first one to see the horrors that were invading the town.

In the center of downtown was a hovering platform, covered in lights.  Piloting this craft was some sort of reptilian monster, with a crocodile-like head and several tentacles.  There were also some armored ape-men, wielding futuristic glowing axes.  We also encountered some very tall women, wearing metal bands around their eyes.  These amazonic ladies used guns that fired restraining nets.  Some of the creatures were gathering up townspeople and taking them to the reptilian's ship.

These aliens did not come in peace, and we fought a tough battle.  At first it looked hopeless.  The reptilian was protected by a force field, and the apes were too armored for us to damage.  Jim and Terri spent a lot of time tangled up in nets, and could not break free.  But Mal finally managed to take down one of the apes, and the battle was a little easier once he had the ape's ax.  With great effort, we finally took down most of the apes and amazons.  As Jim set off a smoke bomb, the final ape jumped back on the reptilian's craft, and it flew away.

We scavenged everything we could from the aliens we'd killed:  armor, weapons, and bodies for possible study.  We learned that roughly half the town had been abducted.  We're going to regroup for now, lick our wounds, take inventory, and come up with a plan.  Jim and Malcolm both need healing.  I haven't looked at how healing works in Savage Worlds, but I bet it's pretty slow without magic.  So much has happened in such a small amount of (in-game) time, that we probably don't have time to let these guys rest up for too long. 

Afterthoughts:
Someone once asked the internet, "What's the plural of apocalypse?"  The internet answered, "If you're in a situation where you need to know the plural of apocalypse, you've probably got bigger things on your mind than spelling."  What I'm wondering right now is whether the alien invaders were actually responsible for all the natural disasters plaguing the Earth, or if the alien invasion is just one of many coincidental simultaneous cataclysms.  In other words, are the aliens a symptom or the disease?

It also seems highly unlikely that three such very different alien species would form an alliance just to take over the Earth - any one of them could probably take us on their own.  I have little hope in humanity's chances of coming back from this one, with so much of the world's population being exterminated, and us being comically outmatched in technology.  But hey, if Will Smith and Bill Pullman can do it, so can we.  We will not go quietly into the night!  We will not vanish without a fight!  ...or something less cheesy...

Reminder:
There is no game for the next two weekends. Our next game will probably be on 12/29.