Road Trip AP - Part 6

Session 4:

In the morning all the teams packed up their stuff and checked out of the motel.  The WTFers noticed that the manager had hired security guards to make sure they left the property and didn't come back.  Fred Yang was there and holding a trespass order he'd been handed as club official on site.  It covered all the racers.  They were also gratified to spot Howard with a black eye and Samantha with a neck brace.  The Faster Pussycats and Team Alabammy looked battered and scratched too.

Fred read out the rules again: no messing with other teams' cars, no endangering members of the public, pranks should be in fun and not cruel or dangerous.  They were all friends as well as rivals and if they couldn't find it in themselves to respect the other competitors, they weren't in the right headspace for this race.  But he knew they were better than that.  Oh and while he's on the subject, they were all banned for life from the motel.  Obviously things had gotten out of hand but now he expected everyone to have burned off their excess energy and be ready to concentrate on the race.  Things were going to get more competitive here on out.

Once again, the club had delivered cars for the racers.  They were assigned at random, and this time it was WTF's bad luck to get one that wasn't in great shape.  It smoked and the engine's rhythm was inconsistent.  It cut out completely at a stop light on the way to their workshop and had to be push-started.  

Eve looked it over and declared that she didn't trust it to reach the Colorado border, never mind the city of Denver.  She spent the whole four-hour prep time elbows-deep in the engine, working to get it in condition for racing.  Chad attempted to help by designing and building a gym-style training bench for cars.  Unfortunately player Mila's dice rolls didn't support the effort.  So while Chad's theory is sound, it didn't translate into a usable Wonder.  George doesn't have any mechanic knowledge to call on, but he made an able assistant.  With his help and through a startling insight into the nature of metal crystallisation in alloy blends (Eve's player rolled his Science die into the effort) Eve successfully reconditioned the engine.  It didn't pay to look too closely at the way the hoses seemed to twist into nihilistic runes trumpeting the indifference of an uncaring universe, but it hummed with power.

Dmitri hung his voodoo air freshener, then parked himself on a stack of tyres for a few drinks to celebrate.  Edith and Ziggy worked to install their Wonders, leaving the car with a a coat of red go-faster paint and two new buttons on the console.  One to inject a reckless amount of Ziggy's fuel additive directly into the engine, one to spray a layer of his lubricant on the road under the rear wheels for fast cornering.  There wasn't time to install the roll cage, but it might have been a good idea.

At the starting line, Fred reminded them that this time they'd be travelling through populated areas before reaching the interstate.  He asked them not to activate their Wonders until the could be sure there were no civilians around to traumatise with a glimpse of Mad Science.  The racers got ready, Judith dropped the handkerchief and they were off.

In spite of Fred's request, team Alabammy activated the Big Big Rig immediately and shot towards the horizon in a cloud of thick black smoke.  The other teams were more circumspect and WTF found themselves travelling in close formation with the Faster Pussycats and Team Rocket.  Team Human slowly fell behind as the other three jockeyed for position.  The race had only just started, but none of them were willing to let the others past.   The Faster Pussycats eventually managed to get around the other two and speed away, because Team Rocket seemed intent on staying directly ahead of WTF.  Every time Edith changed lanes, Arthur would change to cut her off.  He was swinging recklessly to force her to back off.

That kept up until Edith decided enough was enough and got George to check for alternate routes.  He found a highway exit that turned into a gravel road and paralleled the interstate for a good long way.  She faked Arthur out with a feint and took it, leaving him to travel the highway alone rather than turn around and go against traffic to follow them.  The gravel road tested Edith's driving skill, but she managed to keep it pointed straight on the shifting gravel.  Unfortunately, at the speed she was travelling, there's only a split second to react to the realisation there's something on the road ahead.  In this case it was a cow.  Edith wasn't able to avoid the cow completely, and clipped it with a front wheel.  The windscreen turned red and the car immediately started bouncing on a crooked wheel.  

The wheel slowed them, but they were still making pretty good speed and Edith made the decision to continue without stopping.  That didn't last long, because it continued to weaken and soon the bouncing made it clear they wouldn't have a car to race unless they did something.  Neither Edith nor George had much repair knowledge, but with Eve's help via phone and a hammer from the toolbox, they were able to beat the axle straight enough to last out the race.  

They carried on, and were soon able to rejoin the interstate.  Soon after that, they spotted the Faster Pussycats in a drainage ditch.  Maggie and Leonie were both looking angry and straining to push the car back to the tarmac in high heels.  There was a scrape mark along the side of the car, making it look like they were forced into the ditch.  Possibly at speed, which would have been a reckless manoeuvre.  Edith and George talked about stopping to help, but decided against it.  There was a race to win.

Team WTF sped on, and with George's access to municipal traffic systems, they were about see congestion coming and route around it, picking up some time.  There was also an opportunity to mess with Rocket, by changing the timing on a set of railway crossing barriers.  They used a security camera mounted on the barrier to watch Arthur getting more and more frustrated, and finally move out of line to illegally divert around the barrier and across the tracks.  Fred had warned them about involving the police in inter-team rivalry, but they discussed it among themselves and decided that adding Rocket's correct car make, model, colour and licence plate details to someone else' police report was obeying the letter of the rule.  Shortly afterwards the same security camera picked up a police car speeding past the line of patiently waiting cars, siren blaring.  The sight cheered them up tremendously.

The incline gradually increased, because I don't know anything about US geography and stated that there are mountains on the border between Utah and Colorado.  At one point WTF looked outside and saw Team Human climbing the rocky slope directly on their car's spidery legs, trying to cut some distance off the trip by going as the crow flies.

It didn't help them get ahead of WTF, though.  They drove into Denver and crossed the finish line third, behind Alabammy and Rocket.  The massive lead they took on the first leg means they're still ahead on points, but the gap between them and the other teams has shrunk.  Rocket is now in second place, and it's a close second.  The next race could see them drop their lead.