The team were assigned a mission by Neil Ellington to investigate the disappearance of two Regency operatives from Earth 11: Afterlife. Samantha and Keith Flemming had been on a reconnaissance assignment in the small town of Hampton, Kansas. They had recently reported detecting Broken Rooms which they described as having “a strange resonance”. Shortly after that report all contact was lost with the couple. The Flemmings has been renting a room and the team were provided with this information, and they also received details about the Betty Nichols Lumber and Hardware Outlet where the Flemmings had been working.

Jay was laid up sick in hospital after complications with the Spiral Dust that the team had been exposed to in their previous mission. An Opener called Erin was assigned to assist the group. She had only one field mission to her experience but because this assignment seemed straightforward and the team would benefit from having an Opener, it was deemed that this would be a good experience for Erin.

The team flew to Kansas where a Broken Room to Earth 11 existed at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. The room was triggered whenever a bus pulled away from the stop. The Friction was moderate but Erin was unable to do anything to smooth the jump and all the team suffered during the cycle, with Jack being particularly badly affected and Erin passing out. Once Gideon had patched everyone up Jack gave Erin a stern lecture on being more focused as the team felt that she was too concerned with talking and trying to get to know and bond with the members of the team rather than concentrating on her job.

Gideon used the power he had acquired in China on a previous visit to Earth 11 to see if he could detect anything awry. He had a brief but powerful vision of being in a body of a man walking through some woods whilst dragging something heavy behind him and carrying a shovel. After the visions the team had experienced during the previous mission of the Dustman they paid close attention to what Gideon had seen.

The team caught the next bus to Hampton. Unfortunately the IDs they had been provided did not work with the scanners used on Earth 11. When Brian’s ID failed to scan Jack surreptitiously used Breaking on the scanner to divert attention away from the IDs. The bus driver tried to radio ahead to Hampton to notify the Peacekeepers about the faulty scanner so he also Broke the radio. [Regency Note: during debriefing the team were very vocal about how this oversight could have jeopardised the entire mission almost immediately on their arrival on Earth 11. We need to be more careful about IDs for Earth 11 on future missions.] On arrival in Hampton several Peacekeepers were on hand to scan the passengers’ IDs. Brian, Gideon and Jack were able to slip away but Erin was noticed. Fortunately Gideon was able to Mend her ID so that the scanner accepted it. All the team noted that Erin was very nervous and her behaviour would have alerted a more astute Peacekeeper, something they brought to her attention.

The team had observed some woods on their arrival in Hampton and decided this would be their first point of investigation. But first they checked into a Motel with Brian and Erin sharing one room, and Gideon and Jack another. They were expected at the 4pm Prayer Meeting and chose to attend in order to avoid creating suspicion. While they were waiting for the meeting Brian and Erin slept together. [Regency Note: this was extremely irresponsible of Brian, although his assessment that Erin was in a heightened emotional state and was the instigator and he believed that intercourse would calm her down and help her focus, is not entirely unreasonable.]

During the Prayer Meeting Brian was noticed singing out of tune and he was punished with a shock from one of the Peacekeeper’s batons to the consternation of Erin, with her hiccup in behaviour noted by Jack. After the meeting the team met in one of the rooms and Erin proceeded to throw her arms around Brian and gasp that she was “so worried about you, lover”. At this point Jack grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall and told her in no uncertain terms that Brian was not her lover, that they did not have a relationship, and that her lack of professionalism was starting to jeopardise the mission; and if necessary he would kill her if she continued to jeopardise the mission. Erin broke down and seeing that Brian was not coming to her assistance as she appeared to expect eventually pulled herself together. [Regency Note: Jack’s behaviour towards Erin was also irresponsible and the death threat was entirely out of line and unnecessary. But his reaction is not entirely unexpected and his concerns appear valid. In future we need to conduct much more extensive psychological screening of less experienced field operatives before assigning them to this particular team.]

The team set off to investigate the woods with Jack setting a tough pace in order to be back before the curfew. Erin was struggling to keep up and when the team paused for breath on reaching the woods Brian took her to one side, wisely out of sight of Jack, and proceeded to examine her heavy backpack. He discovered she was carrying extensive Regency notes on Earth 11 as well as the Operatives’ Guidebook. He pointed out that if these items were found on her it would blow her cover and put the entire team at risk. He made her bury them along with her iPhone and iPad. As she was doing so Brian spotted a figure in the periphery of his vision. On returning to Jack and Gideon he mentioned this and they all saw the figure. When Gideon examined the figure with the scope on his sniper rifle he saw it was a female ghost in a red cloak with an axe sticking out the side of her head. The ghost hissed at Gideon and despite being a fair distance away it somehow broke his scope.

The team gave chase, with Jack and Brian eventually catching up with the ghost. She was standing on a hill with her back to them and facing towards a sheer drop. As Brian got close to the ghost a sudden force tried to push him over the drop but Jack was able to grab him and prevent him from falling. The ghost then laughed at them and disappeared. The team noted that this was the first ghost they had encountered in this Variant that was both actively hostile and could interact with the physical world. They put this down to the approaching Convergence.

Gideon detected a nearby Broken Room that was giving out unusual signals. The team headed in the direction of the Room but on the way Brian spotted some tracks of heavy men’s boots and something being dragged behind. This matched Gideon’s vision. As it was now raining and the tracks would soon be washed away the team decided to follow the tracks. At one point both Brian and Erin felt extremely cold. Shortly after this Brian announced that he was very thirsty and really wanted some whiskey. He had no interest in drinking any water. Gideon had some whiskey that he handed to Brian, and Brian proceeded to chug the bottle. Jack was extremely concerned that Brian was not acting normally and shot the bottle from Brian’s hand before he could consume too much alcohol. Brian seemed put out but not angry and this. The team then resumed following the tracks.

As they continued the team heard someone following them. Brian tried to flank them but could find no one. After about 15 minutes the team came to a mound of earth like a burial, and a shovel. Jack started digging into the mound while Gideon went to explore the area. He then came running back screaming there was something 'out there'. Brian and Jack experienced visions before Jack uncovered a leg. The body was uncovered and revealed to be Sam Flemming. She had suffered a head wound and had evidence of having suffered a severe beating and assault.

Brian spotted a light in the distance.

On the way Erin wound a whiskey bottle with a few fingers of liquor in the bottom. She swigged it down. Further on Brian came across the body of Keith Flemming. He had put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. They continued towards the light. Jack detected a broken room but as he was trying to determine more the ghost hands disappeared from his watch. Erin said she thought the broken room must have disappeared. The light was coming from a window of a mansion.

Brian crept closer to investigate. He found a pool full of algae. Suddenly he heard the sounds of splashing from the pool but could see nothing. He then experienced a vision of a couple having sex in the pool on a summers day. When he looked back at the mansion the light blinked off. The window had bars across it. Jack kicked in a door. Inside was a scattering of discarded objects including a used condom, empty beer cans and cigarette butts.

Erin heard the sound of a weapon being cocked, then the sounds of growling from behind the door. Brian had a vision of being a dog fighting other dogs in a cage.

The door opened itself and beyond was an empty room. Brian found an empty hyper dermic needle on the floor. Suddenly a voice was heard saying 'shut up bitch' and 'take your drugs'. Brian experienced a vision in which he was having rough sex with a woman. When Jack tried to shake him out of it Brian started groping him. Jack then punched him. He came out of his vision but then unzipped his trousers and advanced on Erin. Jack grappled him and held him until he calmed down. Brian admitted to deliberately trying to experience the visions and Jack told him to stop before he got himself shot.

In the next room was a kitchen. The team smelled food being prepared. The team then made their way upstairs. Brian detected a broken room from one of the rooms. The room was empty. Erin experienced a vision of a couple having sex on a bed. She determined the broken room was keyed to people having an orgy in the room. The room at the other end of the landing contained another broken room. Erin determined the key was something to do with books. Inside she determined the key was to read books until unable to do so further.

Gideon found a pamphlet about safecore interrogation techniques inside a book about the Vietnam war. The name James Magnus was written on the pamphlet. Erin started reading books. After five hours the room cycled. It was a very rough transition. The team found themselves in a library. A man and woman from the visions were frantically searching through books.

The room started shrinking in size. Jack used breaking to smash a hole in the wall. Beyond appeared to be nothing but darkness and stars. The man was shouting 'where is my book'. Gideon produced the pamphlet and Erin determined one of the techniques from the pamphlet needed to be used. Jack grabbed the woman and shouted at Erin to torture her. Erin was reluctant and ended up with the woman biting off her finger in the struggle which caused the room to cycle. [It is nice to know regency has at least one operative who is reluctant to inflict pain on others] The team found themselves back in the mansion. The man and woman did not appear with the team.

Gideon set about healing everyone and reattaching Erin's finger. The team discovered the mansion also had a basement. As the team descended Gideon had a vision of being led down into the cellar by the couple wearing a dog collar. In the cellar was a cage and a wine cellar beyond which contained another broken room. Erin determined getting drunk was the key to opening the room. The team decided to trigger the room and forced Erin to drink until the room cycled. It was another rough transition. The team found themselves in a fully stocked wine cellar. Gideon purged some of the alcohol from Erin and she was violently sick. Footsteps were heard descending into the cellar.

Jack and Brian investigated the footsteps and found themselves facing another Jack and Brian. They had a brief conversation about time loops and vanished. Then another Erin and Gideon came down the stairs. Stopping their other selves entering the room seemed to break themselves out of the loop. Deciding that investigating the rooms further was dangerous and unhelpful the team then returned to Earth 1 to report their findings. Further investigations on Earth 1 revealed Magnus had killed his wife and then committed suicide on August 13th 2002. [It would appear their ghosts had somehow found their way to Earth 11]