Session 09 — The General and Baby Girl

Summary

In-game date: the morning after Session 08 (presumably Saturday, June 14th). The crew wakes up at Ziptown and heads to the Blacktop Saints’ camp for the race they planned last session, with Peaches leading the way. Fix-it-Felix’s player was absent, so the DM voiced Felix, who is in synthcoke withdrawal and spends most of the session high and checked out.

The Saints’ camp is more organized than a normal nomad camp. It is covered in Pacifica Confederacy flags and has uniformed guards, clean water, power, and its own network. The Duke Boys greet Mr. Zip as “City Boy” and show off their rebuilt race car, “the General.” They take the crew to “management,” which turns out to be Ledger. He is working at the camp for the Confederacy and the Saints and handles dealings with outside camps. He was sitting there the whole time Felix called him for intel last session. Ledger makes it clear he’s suspicious of the crew but lets them go race.

Mr. Zip beats the Duke Boys in a daytime dirt-track race. They respect him for it and want to set up a danger race soon. While the camp empties out to watch, Kenny jacks into the camp’s old, loosely secured network. He finds the orbital engine: it’s nicknamed “Baby Girl”, it sits on a trailer in the middle of camp with almost no guard on it, and it’s maintained by the Saints’ mechanic Ezekiel Washington. The engine is also central to the Saints’ relationship with Pacifica. Kenny plants forged records saying Washington damaged the engine and isn’t skilled enough to repair it. Broker says “spin cycle” into the same old terminal, and the camp’s water purifier (built out of an old washing machine) starts shaking violently. Broker climbs on top of it thinking it’s exercise equipment. Kenny fixes it.

Hank Nguyen turns up again, in a dirt-smeared suit, and glares at Broker before storming off without saying anything. In the car afterward, the crew weighs negotiating for the engine against stealing it. Stealing it needs outside transport and risks a war between nomad clans. Negotiating shows their hand. They decide to wait for Felix, who has the history with Ledger, before committing. They also want a nitrous upgrade for the Zipmobile. The General has one, and it’s rare and expensive enough that they’ll need Felix to source it.

Key Events

Morning at Ziptown

• Felix and Kenny wake up feeling the effects of going without synthcoke. The camp’s coffee helps. It is “wholesale” and much better than Kenny’s dumpster coffee, and Kenny wants to buy some to bring home for Broker
• Peaches rides up on Cherry Bomb, glad to have Mr. Zip back (“you just light everything up”). She wants to watch the race, and still wants to run a danger race herself and upgrade to a superbike, but Mira won’t allow either. Most of her wins and losses have come against the Duke Boys
• Mr. Zip says the Zipmobile needs weapons before it can run a danger race: “Glass is bulletproof, yes, but other weapons not so much.” Kenny still holds a grudge against “those Dookie Boys” for the crossbow bolt that came through the window in Session 02
• Kenny asks Peaches about Vesna and calls himself “Mr. Zip’s Vesna.” Peaches warns that Vesna gets competitive about her work. Kenny tells Peaches he grew up in Port Fantôme, where there are no roads. He knows boats, jet skis, and small planes, but hadn’t seen a car until he came to Night City a few years ago. Peaches has never been to the ocean, and the camp’s fuel is too scarce to spend on a joyride to the coast
• Felix begs Kenny for a fix. He specifically wants Kenny’s bad “brown” synthcoke, not the good stuff he bought himself (“that brown shit hits different”). Kenny deliberately botches a batch for 10 EB, and Felix snorts it happily. Kenny pretends to take a bump with him but doesn’t
• Broker spends the morning on his phone trying to find a spin class, but there’s barely any network reception this far from the city. He points at Peaches’s motorcycle and asks if it’s a spin bike, and she tells him there’s “a whole lot more spin under that than I think you’re ready to put between your legs, Buster”
• Kenny finds a helmet with three bullet holes in it in a garbage pile, puts a Pony Boy sticker on it, and wears it for the drive
• Before leaving, Peaches tells Mr. Zip that when this is over, he owes her drinks and an explanation of how he ended up hanging out with a corpo

The Blacktop Saints’ Camp

• The camp is about eight miles north of Ziptown, roughly fifteen minutes’ drive. It has tents, shacks, and scaffolding, and it is covered in Confederacy emblems: flags, trucks with the emblem painted on, and uniformed Pacifica men (some armed) walking alongside nomads. There are guard towers, children playing, laundry on lines, and a line of people at a water purifying station, which is fancy for a nomad camp. The mood is relaxed, not tense
• The Duke Boys (Oliver and Noah) greet Mr. Zip as “City Boy” because he’s spent so much time in Night City lately. They admire the rebuilt Zipmobile and show off their own upgraded race car, “the General,” which has been worked on by the camp’s mechanic but hasn’t raced since its latest upgrades. They defend Pacifica: “These Pacifica guys, they’re on the level, man… We got clean water, we got power, we even kinda got our own central network”
• They insist on taking the crew to “management” before any race, and “management” is Ledger. He’s sitting behind a desk outside under an awning, sipping a drink. He’s there on business for the Pacifica Confederacy and the “Blacktop Saints Union,” handling dealings with outside camps. He was sitting right there when Felix called him last session asking about the place
• The crew never gets out of the car. Mr. Zip says he’s using the child locks and “We all safe inside car. That’s why we still inside car.” Ledger wants to speak to Felix, who is slumped out of sight behind the bulletproof glass. Kenny answers in Felix’s voice: “Oh I’m fine, I’m Felix and I’m fine”
• Ledger says outright that he’s “looking for reasons not to be suspicious” of the crew. He acknowledges that they cleared Martin Gorsky’s old debt to him and calls everyone “even Stevens.” Mr. Zip insists they’re only there to race and spends a Luck point on a Persuasion roll, which gets them waved through (“have fun, go on your little races”). His Human Perception roll to see whether Ledger reacted when he said “engine” fails. Ledger invites Felix to stop by later for synth mint juleps and to catch up “about old times”

The Duke Boys Explain Themselves

• In response to Kenny’s questions, the Duke Boys explain how the Saints got involved with Pacifica. They were hired for a lifesaving supply run through the Sierra Nevada (the “Donner run”) and were attacked by another nomad clan wearing “creepy ass face paint.” The Saints won the fight, but their vehicles were wrecked. Pacifica arrived expecting to cause trouble but bailed them out instead with medical supplies and fuel trucks: “tell us what you need, not give us your stuff”
• Since then the arrangement has been mutually beneficial. The Saints build roads for Pacifica up and down the West Coast, still charge tolls on them, and get help laying them faster than ever. Pacifica mostly leaves them alone to race. “They’re not a megacorp, okay? We’ve all been burned by those before”
• Despite the name, the Saints don’t race on pavement much. They race on dirt tracks they build themselves, and their dream is paved racetracks, which they think Pacifica will help make happen
• Danger race details: they run at night, weapons are allowed but explosives are not, and other people set up new obstacles on the track each time so nobody knows what’s coming. Test laps aren’t allowed. People usually don’t die, but vehicles sometimes get destroyed. Stakes are usually goods, with better stakes drawing more outsiders. The Duke Boys say they’re undefeated and haven’t had a danger race in a month or more. Noah shows off the crossbow holstered on his back (“It has that nomad spirit”)

The Race

• Mr. Zip races alone and takes an untimed test lap first. Oliver hits a big red button on a pillar terminal, which sets off camp-wide lights and cheering, and almost the whole gang runs off to watch. That leaves a skeleton crew of uniformed Pacifica guards in the towers
• The General wins initiative and takes the early lead. The Zipmobile passes it, then Mr. Zip swerves to block. The General fires what appears to be nitrous and jumps right over the Zipmobile, just clearing a DV 22 check with its tires scraping across Zip’s hood, and retakes the lead with one wheel hanging off a bridge. Mr. Zip declines to knock them off the bridge (“very, very unsporting”)
• On a right-angle corner, Mr. Zip crits a swerve roll and spins a full 360 through the turn (“like some F-Zero racer”), kicking up dust that adds +5 to the Duke Boys’ next DV. They keep control but skid wide toward the barrier. Mr. Zip spends a Luck point to nail the final stretch and crosses the finish line with a flourish, spinning to face backwards “like Mario Kart”
• The crowd loves it and says it’s one of the best races they’ve seen in a while. Peaches climbs down the cliffs cheering, and the Duke Boys get out of their car clapping: “Damn, you live up to the name, Mr. Zip.” Mr. Zip agrees to arrange a danger race soon. The brothers fist-bump and belly-bump and hint that they’ll add “a little extra something something” to the General for it. Noah sends the crowd home: “Hey losers, get back to your places”

Kenny’s Network Dive

• While the camp is empty, Kenny looks for somewhere discreet to jack in. A Conceal/Reveal roll turns up many ancient, dust-covered computers, and it’s impossible to tell which are still networked. He leans casually against the race-signal pillar instead and jacks in through his interface, so no keyboard is involved
• The network has almost no security. It looks like tech from 20–25 years ago, is sloppily put together, and has no proper sysadmin. Kenny is used to this kind of retro tech from the drift
• Findings on the engine: Locally the orbital engine goes by “Baby Girl”. It’s under the administration of Ezekiel Washington, the Saints’ local tech, who also did the General’s upgrades. His daily work logs show he works on it constantly and is attached to it. The engine is about the size of a pickup truck and sits on a big trailer out in the open in the middle of camp. Nobody seems specifically assigned to guard it. Camp security in general is lax, although the logs record occasional small raider attacks that Pacifica shot down quickly
• Provenance: Correspondence going back over a year shows the Saints recovered the engine from a crash site in Northern California after the Sierra Nevada run, at Pacifica’s request, because they were uniquely able to do it. It’s a cornerstone of the Saints–Pacifica relationship, and Pacifica may have space program ambitions. Giving it up probably isn’t the Saints’ decision to make
• The forgery: Kenny plants records claiming Washington has made the engine worse and that someone far more skilled would be needed to do anything with it. He rolls Forgery and burns the rest of his session Luck. The roll comes up low (a 5, plus 4 Luck). The records go in without triggering any alerts, but the forgery is probably not a convincing one, and how well it holds up is unknown

The Washing Machine Incident

• After Kenny is done, Broker walks up to the old terminal and, treating it like the voice-controlled tech he remembers from childhood, says “spin cycle… spin cycle.” At that moment the camp’s water purifier, which turns out to be built from an old washing machine, starts banging and rocking violently. The few people still in line try to climb on it to hold it down, and the remaining Pacifica guards have no idea how to deal with it
• Broker jumps on top, thinking it’s an exercise routine (“This is really good for your core”). He rolls Athletics with Kenny assisting and a Luck point, and barely stays on. Isabella tries to brace him and gets pulled into the pile as water starts spilling out the front
• Mid-crisis, Kenny compliments Broker’s legs and suggests they work out together, admitting his shirts don’t fit like they used to. Broker credits his “Bikram yoga” and proposes a team-building exercise
• Kenny fixes it with his tech tool (Basic Tech, DV 18). The drift had similar tech, so he recognizes it. The purifier is disconnected from the network but still holds its clean water. A nomad in line thanks “Mr. Kenny” because the water is for their daughter’s medicine, and says they’ll remember the name. No reputation is awarded (“No.“)
• Kenny’s view afterward is that they owe him one, since it’s their only source of water

Business Synergy and Hank Nguyen

• Mr. Zip comes back to find Broker still riding the washing machine. Broker says the trick is to engage your glutes. Mr. Zip pitches a bicycle-powered spin class that also runs the water purifier: “No generator necessary, no network, no grid, just bicycle.” Broker worries about the subscription model and settles on introductory free months. Kenny points out that it gives two revenue streams, the spin-class subscription plus selling the electricity the riders generate. Broker turns to Isabella, spreads his arms at the desert, and says “Synergy.” Isabella: “I hate that you might be right”
• Isabella points out someone in a suit smeared with dirt, trying and failing to blend in. It’s Hank Nguyen, staring at Broker with rage. He says nothing and storms off. Mr. Zip guesses he’s trying to steal Broker’s ideas
• Earlier, while listening to the Duke Boys, Broker had drafted a “LinkedIn Red” post taking credit for the nomads’ road-building

Weighing the Options

• Back in the car with the windows up, Kenny briefs the crew. The engine is sitting in the open with little security, and during a night danger race someone could probably drive off with it. But the crew has no vehicle big enough to haul it, and with Mr. Zip racing as the distraction and Kenny as co-pilot, nobody’s left to drive. They’d need outside help. If they bargain for it openly, they tip their hand, and the Saints will know who took it if it later goes missing
• Out of character, Mr. Zip had assumed Ledger hired them for this. Kenny clears it up: nobody hired them. Zach the Hot Dog Maniac told them where the engine is, and the crew wants to go to space because that’s where the Vilify trail leads. The engine needs to get to the derelict hulk at Port Fantôme
• Options on the table:
  • Broker: approach it as business. Their objectives might line up with Ledger’s, so offer to make the engine spaceworthy, do a “test run” (air quotes), then hand the ship back or lease it
  • Kenny: his earlier plan of a heist disguised as raiders, possibly with Peaches as wheelman. He admits that would mean taking advantage of her, and it’s something Ziptown wouldn’t want her doing
  • Mr. Zip: disguise themselves as Continental Brands, maybe using the helicopter if it still has its markings. Or drive a wedge between the Saints and Pacifica. He’s firm that he doesn’t want to start a war between nomad clans, or between his clan and Pacifica, and wants to know “who we might be screwing over, and whether it’s worth it”
• Kenny’s read is that Pacifica is “somewhere between a government and a megacorp,” building roads so it can own them. Mr. Zip notes the Saints themselves seem as easygoing as Peaches described, and “not as confederate as I feared.” The DM points out that the mechanic Kenny slandered is a Saint, not Pacifica
• The crew agrees to wait for Felix, who has the connection to Ledger, before choosing a route or approaching Ledger
• Nitrous: Mr. Zip wants a nitrous upgrade for the Zipmobile, and the DM confirms the General is running one. It’s “very expensive” and rare on the open market, so Felix would need a good sourcing roll. Kenny thinks building one himself would take about two weeks, and the chance of finding a broken one to repair is slim. Ziptown doesn’t have one to lend, because they’re more into wandering the desert than racing. Mr. Zip: “I know where one nitrous is”
• The DM says timing is fairly open. The biggest ticking clock is whether the crew cares about what happens to the current Vilify users (The Calling). Kenny hopes Dr. Willie and Golden Girl can put some of them on ice in the meantime

Wrap-Up

• Golden Girl spends the session studying. Her only on-screen act is swatting a passed-out Felix across the face with her textbook when Mr. Zip asks her to wake him up
• 100 IP each, Felix’s included. Mr. Zip raises Dance to rank 2 (40 IP) and saves the rest for vehicle improvements

Standout Quotes

“Plus we can go to the one place untouched by capitalism.” — Mr. Zip, on the Moon

“That brown shit hits different.” — Fix-it-Felix, on Kenny’s deliberately botched synthcoke

“Like converting champagne into box wine.” — Mr. Zip

“Cars, I don’t even see a car until I come to Night City a few years ago.” — Kenny Log-ins

“There’s a whole lot more spin under that than I think you’re ready to put between your legs, Buster.” — Peaches, to Broker, about her motorcycle

“Yes, I don’t go anywhere without it… or my myriad nameplates that I can place on any desk that I run into in order to let everybody know exactly who I am.” — Ledger

“He’s fine. I use the child locks… We all safe inside car. That’s why we still inside car.” — Mr. Zip, to Ledger

“Well, Kenny is here to put a banana into the tailpipe of the General, but please don’t tell the Dookie Boys about that plan.” — Kenny Log-ins, to Ledger

“It’s here, let me put it this way, man. They’re not a megacorp. Okay? We’ve all been burned by those before.” — The Duke Boys, on the Pacifica Confederacy

“This is really good for your core.” — Broker, riding a malfunctioning washing machine water purifier

“No generator necessary, no network, no grid, just bicycle.” — Mr. Zip

“Sir. I hate that you might be right.” — Isabella

“I kinda wanna know who we might be screwing over. And whether it’s worth it.” — Mr. Zip

“Well, I mean, you already cast aspersions towards that poor mechanic who didn’t do anything wrong.” — DM

Open Threads

• Baby Girl, negotiate or steal: the engine sits in plain sight with little security, but taking it needs outside transport and a driver, and asking for it first tips the crew’s hand. Broker’s lease/“test run” pitch vs. Kenny’s raider-disguise heist. On hold until Felix returns. (Baby Girl)
• Ledger is Pacifica/Saints management: he’s openly suspicious of the crew and wants to talk to Felix. How much does he already suspect? (Ledger)
• The danger race: agreed to “soon.” The Zipmobile has no weapons yet, and the Duke Boys will add “a little extra something something” to the General. It could double as cover for a heist. (Blacktop Saints)
• Nitrous for the Zipmobile: rare and expensive, so it needs Felix’s sourcing. The General has one.
• Ezekiel Washington’s reputation: Kenny’s forged records now say he damaged the engine, but the forgery was likely sloppy. Will anyone believe them, and could they be traced back to the crew? (Ezekiel Washington)
• Hank Nguyen followed Broker out to the Saints’ camp: he said nothing this time and just glared.
• Peaches wants drinks and an explanation of how Mr. Zip ended up running with a corpo.
• The Calling: the DM names their situation as the crew’s main ticking clock.
• Kenny’s custom “smart” ammo, Golden Girl’s roommate: still open.

Meta / Errata

• In-game date: the morning after Session 08 (presumably Saturday, June 14th). Real-world gap: about a month since the last session
• Absences: Felix’s player was absent, and the DM voiced Felix as high and checked out. Golden Girl’s player was present but chose to have her study all session
• IP awarded: 100 per player, including Felix
• Rules confirmed:
  • Luck refreshes fully every session
  • Assisting another player’s roll adds +1 as a complementary skill (under “show core situational modifiers” on the VTT)
  • Dirt/gravel still adds +5 to vehicle DVs
• Racing procedure (first run, partly improvised):
  • Initiative order as in combat
  • On your turn, make a Drive Land Vehicle roll. If it passes, plot your path with the ruler (ctrl-click for waypoints) up to the vehicle’s move. The Zipmobile’s move is 40
  • Acute-angle turns require a swerve or sharp-turn maneuver roll
  • The first turn was treated as a freebie with no roll
  • Test laps are allowed in regular races but not in danger races
  • The DM said he’d forgotten most of his planned racing ideas over the month off and would firm them up for the danger race
• Character advancement: Mr. Zip, Dance rank 2 (40 IP)
• VTT notes:
  • A player who can’t be moved into the active scene can fix it by reloading
  • The aim DV readout defaults to “pistol” until you’re actually in combat
  • Firefox has trouble with the interface
  • Table suggestion that the DM take up an offer to host the VTT on a server
• Session numbering: the DM called this “session nine.” Some table confusion about whether Session 00 counts
• Transcript notes:
  • “Donna run” is the “Donner run” (confirmed)
  • “Brigham Yoga” is read as Bikram yoga
  • “J.S. Landard” is read as “just slandered”

Player Notes

• For the first time Kenny pretends to take a bump and doesn’t, and he tells the crew outright that Felix “might have a problem — it takes more and more.” It’s Kenny stepping back from the “Bump Brothers” routine, or at least trying to self-correct, in the same session Felix is at his most dependent
• The session was mostly Mr. Zip’s, as the DM said at the end. Mr. Zip is also the one pushing hardest on the ethics of the heist: he doesn’t want a clan war, and he wants to know who they’d be hurting
• Ledger turning out to be on the Saints’/Pacifica’s side is a real change. The contact Felix called for neutral intel is the gatekeeper for the thing the crew wants, and he may already have a good idea why they’re there
• Kenny smeared Ezekiel Washington without a second thought. The DM pointedly reminded the table that Washington is an innocent Saint, not a Pacifica functionary
• Broker’s “spin cycle” setting off the washing-machine purifier was a complete accident, and it may be the best physical comedy of the campaign so far