Keeper: Karen Twelves
Hunters: Eric Fattig, Adrienne Mueller, Sean Nittner
System: Monster of the Week
Supplement: Tome of Mysteries
Campaign Overview
Overview of the entire campaign here: Agents of Cisra
Adventure Log
Washington DC
The camera pans in from an aerial view to Jessica’s home in the suburbs. We zoom into her dreams: she’s Spiderman in San Francisco. A raspy voice whispers “All this and more can be yours…” Jessica awakes!
At work, caffeinated at last, Jessica shares her strange dream with the others. The collegial atmosphere evaporates when the subject of the escaped captive from last week’s episode comes up. Stasia dashes off to “get donuts”.
Aditya, an old friend of Maliq’s with a shared history of petty crimes, reaches out, hoping to connect. Over the phone, he says he’s working construction in SF and he has some concerns that he thinks his weird friend in the government should look into. He recommends bringing climbing gear and waders…
The group puts their heads together; there are several molds that could flourish in wet underground environments, and a plethora of tunnels beneath the city. They secure transport to the city under the guise of attending Dreamforce.
Dateline: San Francisco
Smash cut to SF! Scenes of life from around the city! The group meets Aditya at Dolores park, with Jessica and Mordecai hanging back out of sight. Aditya says he’s found something strange in the Cisterns underneath the city. He leads Maliq down into the sewers to show him what he’s found.
From the shadows, a giant spider-like creature leaps out at Maliq! He reaches for his powerful halogen light, but the beast knocks it away. The creature entangles Maliq in powerful webs. Aditya, showing he knew more than he let on, apologizes and promises “it’s going to be ok.”
Jessica, hearing the fight over the radio, rushes to the scene to find Maliq pinned to the wall by webs. A shape lurches out of the darkness to assail Jessica, and Aditya bolts out of the sewers, pursued by Mordecai. Jessica frees Maliq, leaving a gap for the monster to strike! It sinks its fangs into her shoulder, and, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, exposes her to the infliction it’s suffering from. The two escape, trading blows with the creature, but as they leave they hear it whisper “I’m sorry.” Maliq hesitates. He shines a light on it.
It’s a horribly unnatural hybrid of human and spider, as though it had been stitched haphazardly from parts of both. It pleads for death, but Maliq tries to persuade it that they can help it. He tries to drag the wounded creature into the light, but it flees into the darkness.
Mordecai dashes after Aditya, confronting him at an intersection. He tries to tell Aditya that this isn’t who he is, that they can protect him. Aditya scoffs, saying he doesn’t need protection—before being hit by a bus, killing him instantly.
At the coroner’s office
The group shares their notes. Mordecai remembers his old friend Atsuko Popov, a respected expert in infectious diseases lives in SF. If this is a disease, they might be able to find a vaccine if they had an individual with immunity. Claiming to be with the FBI, the trio (Agents Maverick, Goose and Iceman) get access to the coroner’s report. It shows that Aditya had micro-barbs on his fingertips, and a small orifice on each wrist. Taking a barb and a blood sample to access, they go to visit Dr. Popov’s office at UCSF.
At her office, Mordecai and Maliq fumble ineptly with the lock to her door, oblivious to Jess’s rapidly deteriorating condition. Upon opening it, they realize she clearly doesn’t use the office—a dead end. Maliq, having an epiphany, realizes he has friends on the web who can potentially track her down. They track her to a location somewhere in Eureka Valley. Maliq, connecting the dots™, realizes that there’s an abandoned bart station underneath Eureka Valley—the perfect lair.
While Dr. Stillman fetches the car, Jessica gives a stern appraisal to Maliq about how risk-taking can bring consequences for his teammates, not just himself, before entrusting him with making the decision to follow this lead or not. Maliq, pauses to consider his options, before choosing to chase this lead down right now, dangerous though it may be.
Dr. Stillman racks his brain for what he remembers about Dr. Popov: she’s a 4th generation Japanese immigrant, has always had a fascination with infectious diseases, and an interest in the cold war. Maliq, searching his usual repositories of conspiracy lore, finds that there’s reference to a bioweapon incident in Japan. On even weirder sites, he finds a reference to “Gumo”, a sort of spider-human hybrid. Gumo are vulnerable to traditional human weapons. Jessica requisitions some flak-jackets—and catches some flak for it.
Beneath the city
The trio, armed and armored, delve into the BART service tunnels. Jessica feels a burning sensation on her skin, while Mordecai is a burning sensation as he clears the webbing with his flamethrower. They approach a large metal hatch. Maliq uses his handy pocket WD-40 spray—kickstarted, of course—to grease the hinges and then silently opens the door.
Inside they find a laboratory: clean, well-appointed, and definitely evil. The trio investigates. Jessica pulls data from a computer, Maliq finds a hidden door leading to a normal looking garage, and Mordecai finds a door leading to the holding cells. One contains a monstrous creature, unrecognizable as having once been human. The other contains Mari, an elderly Japanese woman with a few more eyes than she should have, who seems fearful, particularly when Atsuko’s name is mentioned.
The group starts up the stairs into the garage when a voice calls out from behind them. They turn to see Dr. Popov: a woman above the waist, and a giant spider below. She inquires after Jessica’s deteriorating condition, her voice full of clinical curiosity, but devoid of concern. Agent Najar pleads with her to give them an antidote. Dr. Popov voices her frustration at being bereft of “subjects” with Aditya’s passing and Jessica’s refusal to accept the transformation. With some carefully worded promises of better laboratory conditions, Maliq talks her into providing the formula for an antidote. Jessica keeps her cool and manages to coordinate the arrival of backup to help bring in Dr. Popov.
In the aftermath, we realize Mari is a naturally born spider-person: a subject of study rather than a subject of experimentation. Agent Stillman makes a few calls and ensures that when Dr. Popov is brought in, it’s as a potential CISRA recruit…
