Episode one was played over 2 sessions on Sunday afternoons, Covid19 unfortunately, put a spanner in the works and there was a big gap between the 2 sessions.
It was a Sunday and we'd gathered in Vicky's garden for the first time in person for about 6 months, social distancing restrictions had been eased and we could now meet. The players created their characters and we were ready to go for session one. Session two was 7 weeks later and again we met at Vicky's on the hottest day of the year so far.
Addendum: Unfortunately, it looks like this group has dissolved, so episode two was never completed...
Locations
Bay City A vibrant and lively beach city that straddles the ocean, located some 20 miles south-south-west of Los Angeles.
Cove Beach A 3 mile ribbon of gold that skirts the edge of clear blue Pacific waters and the western extent of Bay City. The beach runs more or less north-south and is apopular and busy destination for sun-seekers, surfers, swimmers and more. 6 lifeguard towers populate the length of the beach and all are used during the busy season.
Cove Pier The unusual triangular shaped pier at the north end of Cover Beach. Contains numerous diversions, hospitalities and tourist attractions. The Beach Patrol HQ is also located on the pier.
Beach Patrol HQ The HQ is a 2 storey building located just on Cover Pier, it has various administrative offices, meeting and training rooms as well as storage lockers and changing rooms for staff. On the water next to the HQ are secured berths for Beach Patrol's compliment of boats. Just off the pier is a locked garage used to store the various land vehicle used by Beach Patrol. Lifeguard Tower 1 The northern most lifeguard tower is manned by Ditch, Bratt and PJ. There's a modified Beach Patrol pickup truck assigned to tower 1 that Ditch likes to drive a lot and is very territorial about!
Lifeguard Tower 2 This is where our heroes will be assigned for their shifts. As well as all the usual accoutrements, Lifeguard Tower 2 has quadbike with a trailer big enough to carry a stretcher assigned to it.
Club Lagoon A newly opened smallish nightclub located on Cove Pier that had good word-of-mouth and was attracting a lot of attention and customers. Club Lagoon is partly owned by Ditch's current girlfriend.
Seafront Meadow Park
NPCs
'LT' David 'Ditch' Muchannon A strapping six-four, Ditch Muchannon wears a mullet like it never went out of fashion. Ditch runs the Beach Patrol on Cove Beach and is fully dedicated to the job, a hard-working and experienced lifeguard, he is a stickler for the rules and is honest and upright, tough but fair, with a wry sense of humour. Just don't ask him how it got the nickname Ditch.
Bradley 'Bratt' Mody Earning his nickname from his boyish good looks, Bratt Mody is Ditch's second in command and has 3 years experience under his belt. Bratt can sometimes be rash or impulsive and tends to throw himself into whatever he does, he has a passion for motorbikes. Brat is in a off-and-on romantic relationship with PJ.
Posey Jean 'PJ' Carker Rounding out Ditch's team is the blonde and beautiful PJ, like Bratt she has 3 years experience as a lifeguard. PJ has good social skills and people respond well to her (Especially the guys!). PJ is loosely into yoga and meditation which she practices when off duty. PJ is in a complicated relationship with Bratt.
Sgt Barney Kellerbee Barney is a career cop at BCPD. For the past 4 years he's been assigned to the Cove Beach crime unit, he patrols the beach either on his mountain bike or a quadbike. Barney is middle-aged with the middle-age spread to prove it! A committed family man, he's a stand up guy and long time friend of Ditch.
May 25th 1996
On the afternoon of May 24th, our heroes each got call from Ditch asking them to get into work an hour early the next day. Sharon grumbled about this a lot, she didn't like early starts at the best of times but reluctantly agreed to get to the Beach Patrol HQ by 5am!
A smudge of rosy golden light along the eastern horizon and behind the Bay City skyline marked the beginning of a new day as our heroes arrived at the HQ in the pre-dawn quiet of a city not quite ready to stir from its slumber. The meeting room that Ditch led our heroes into was filled with the pungent aroma of coffee as Ditch and Barney roused themselves with the day's first hit of caffeine. "You may be wondering why I've called you all here?" Ditch said wryly.
Ditch went on to explain that the northern tip of Cove Beach borders Seafront Meadow Park, which is partially a lightly wooden and bushy wildlife reserve on the edge of Bay City. Joggers frequently run up along the edge of the beach and follow a path into the park. There are numerous paths and trails that criss-cross the park which the joggers take. For the last week or so, two muggers have been hiding in the foliage and targeting early morning joggers with knives for valuables and cash, if they have any.
Bay City PD is too busy to assign a detail to the muggings right now and won't unless matters escalate, Ditch has other ideas though....
With the help of Barney, Ditch wants to set a trap to catch the muggers and he wants one of our heroes to be the bait as a jogger and potential victim! Ditch explains that he is too well known around the beach to be a lure and no one would ever believe Barney with his brawny physique would ever be a jogger - Barney gave Ditch a sidelong glance! Ditch thinks one of our heroes would be perfect because they are all newbies.
Some discussion followed, Chad outright refused to be the bait, stating "He was too handsome to be a convincing jogger!". In the end Finn volunteered to be the jogger. He changed into some shorts and a tee-shirt, next he needs some valuable's like a wedding ring or other jewellery to make him look like a juicy target. Sean gave Finn his Rotex watch! "Really?" Says Finn. "It'll look find at a distance," Added Sean.
Everyone agreed on a plan; Sean and Sharon would go into the park quietly and find some suitable hiding spots along Finn's planned route and wait. Meanwhile the rest of our heroes will follow at distance, even further back would be Ditch and Barney, who had his quadbike but was hesitant to ride it through the trees. Everybody would be carrying walkie-talkies, except for Finn, it would be suspicious if he had one and he had to rely on the others coming when necessary.
Finn went out jogging into the park at about 6:30am, he was about 50 metres past Sharon's hiding spot when two guys, Jon and Taylor stepped out from some bushes, brandishing some knives. They demanded that Finn hand over the watch, so he acquiesced. "What is this crap?" They said looking at the Rotex and throwing it to the ground where is shattered into twenty pieces! The muggers then looked around, suspicion was growing and they decided to run for it. There was some rustling in the bushes they had emerged from and 2 more previously unseen muggers, Jay & Connor also ran off and Finn gave chase! Sharon got on her walkie-talkie and raised the alarm before chasing after Finn. Sean had unfortunately picked a bad hiding spot and was a lot further along the route when the call came in. Everyone else came running.
Finn followed the muggers until they reached the fringe of this stretch of woods, realising they were being chased, they turned and confronted Finn, Finn didn't slow down.
Finn grabbed Jay and twisted his arm into a pain lock, the others advanced on Finn and he positioned himself to keep Jay between them. Seconds later Sharon burst on to the scene, after radioing out that the muggers and fled the forest she tackled Jon's feet, who swayed and fell over. Barney gunned his quadbike, quickly circling the wood's perimeter.
Jon tried to get Sharon off his feet, it was like watching someone try to pull off a tight pair boots! Taylor came over to help. Finn and Connor circled each other round Jay! Taylor managed to yank Sharon off of Jon but she immediately tackled his feet again like a tenacious terrier.
A few seconds later and Chad, PK and Ditch came running out of the woods. Ditch tackled Connor as Chad and PK made for Jon and Taylor, realising the act was up, Taylor ran for it. Barney had by now reached the clearing, he saw Taylor fleeing and rode up, as the quadbike went past Taylor, he leapt off, flattening the mugger and winding him. The other 3 muggers had been caught by Finn, Chad, PK and Ditch as Sean came running on to the scene.
"Good job,". Said Ditch as he went over to Barney. "That was a mistake," Barney groaned quietly. "I can't move, I'm in indescribable pain!" He added. "Ouch! How bad is it?" "I can't explain,"....
Some time after Ditch had pulled a complaining Barney to his feet, some uniformed police officers arrived in black-and-whites. They knew Barney well and called a meat wagon to take the muggers away.
Sean asked Finn about his watch, Finn took him back into the woods and pointed out the shattered fragments littering the trail. Sean shrugged, pulled another Rotex out of his pocket and put it on his wrist.
Back at Beach Patrol HQ, Ditch complimented our heroes on a job well done.