Emancipation
by Veniamin Kushnir
So not only was this the first session of Esoteric
Enterprises I’ve ever run, or even just the first dungeon crawler I’ve ever
run, but also the first of either that any of my players have ever played. It
was a little rough, but it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. First mistake
I made was not instructing the players that they would need to actually MAP the
interior of the dungeons they explored, but that was rectified by the time they
reached the second dungeon, the Silo.
The session began with the assembling of the PCs into a
coherent group. Spartak had already met Dr. Jurgen Galidikas while being
treated at the free City Sanitarium No. 1 after getting hit by a bus shortly
after arriving in Arkheologorodok (the bus came away the poorer). Because he
has no money, Spartak has been staying at the hostel near the Gunig Marsh, where
he shares the room with a friendly back backing Israeli hippie named Abram
Bunin. Jurgen arrives after getting off work (having just performed a live
saving surgery on a young girl plus a free sterilization) to find with great
dismay that his ape man subject of study has been convinced to attend a meeting
of the Excavators of the Underground Earth in the basement of the Central State
Library at 5:30 pm. He reluctantly joins.
Spartak's Youth Hostel
City Sanitarium No. 1
Tenure review is quickly approaching at Stepnoy Universitet
and Professor Luka Semenov decides he must take proactive steps to find the
ancient Slavonic city now or he never will. He has seen flyers for a group of
urban explorers called the Excavators of the Underground Earth around the
university. He sets off to the Central State Library with cash in hand hoping
to put together an expedition to plumb the depths for ancient Slavonic Wisdom.
Stepnoy Universitet
Aleksandr has been in in Arkheologorodok for a few days, waiting
for a sign form Santa Muerte. One night he’s drinking in the bar of the Hotel
Cosima when he locks eyes with a young woman named Mara Tsiolkovskaya and there
is an immediate mutual understanding that they are both closer to the dead than
the living. She tells him to meet her and her friends the next day in the
basement of the library on Ramon Merkador Prospekt. Aleksandr has gotten his sign.
Gavril rolled into town the other day in his BMW 525i and
checked into the nicest hotel he could find, the Hotel Cosima in the now downtown,
just off Elektricheskaya Prospekt. By some uncanny coincidence, his bags are delivered
to the wrong room. When they finally arrive at Gavril’s room, they are in the
hands of a strange one eyed man named Aleksandr, who apparently regards it as
some kind of sign. Gavril can recognize another mobster when he sees one, and
he’s already starting to run out of money, so when Aleksandr offers to hire him
as a bodyguard, he agrees. Apparently, he wants to go to some meeting of Urban
Explorers in the library basement for some reason. Whatever, Gavril thinks, money
still spends, even when it is given to you by a mad man.
Gavril's Whip
By hook or crook, the disparate individuals find themselves
in a spare storage room in the library basement where head of maintenance Gennadiy Chupov and geological research librarian Tatiana Zhutova are leading a discussion with a motley assortment of individuals about potential
routes to the rumored Polis Station to the South East. Abram cheerfully introduces Spartak and Mara switches from her normally cool and somber demeanor to welcome Aleksandr. Professor Semenov shows great interest in the Ruins while Mara tells Aleksandr about her great interest in the recently found Church Crypt, though bemoans the difficult routes there, either through the Plague Pit or up the underground river leading from Leninskaya Station. Only one of their number has managed to get there, but he's currently in the hospital with a truly horrific case of herpes. The statuesque Finn, Aarno Harkonnen, mentions some rumors he’s heard about a new passageway leading from the Silo to
some unknown chamber. Seeing that there are new faces and knowing the bulk of
the group either have their own projects or are devoted to the Polis Project,
Gennadiy and Tatiana offer $500 dollars to group who can find and map the passage
in question. Soon after an Exploring Kid in the metro worker’s uniform and is
introduced as Artyom. He is the one who discovered the Gastev Station entrance
to the Underground, and he will be happy to show it to the newbies.
While crossing the plaza a man in a white leisure suit, pink
shirt, and Rayban wayfarers struts towards them with a clear intent to speak, a
prospect that causes Artyom a great deal of worry. The man introduces himself
as Slava and makes it clear to Artyom he’s not looking for trouble, just some
people who might want some work. He offers to put theme names on the free entry
list to the Hanger where his outfit, Mayami Import, runs a black market. He
tells them to meet him there for work, and if they want to arm up they should
find Comrade Cowboy. Slava tells them to play up any leftist political
tendencies they might have if they buy from him and says that he thinks Comrade
Cowboy and Spartak will get along, to which Dr Galidikas says something about
genetic predispositions and vectors for communist contagion. This makes Slava
laugh and ask if he’s a Gay Nazi, which also makes Artyom laugh. Now curious as
to whether there are any Strasserists around, Slava and Artyom explain the Gay
Nazis are a universally maligned street gang operating in the Underground near
the Shkola Granat club. After niceties are exchanged, Slava leaves and the
party make their way into Gastev Station.
