Timewatch -- Session Three!

In session three, the characters get back to the house and are determined to get back to 1930 and find out where Wallis Simpson is and what exactly is going on. When they talk to Ronnie, however, he flatly reminds them that they have to stay with him until the recalibration is done and get him back to the Citadel. So they set up in the house and start the waiting game. About 20 minutes in, they realize that on the same corner they met Eddie and Reg earlier, they can see the barkeep standing about nervously. He seems to be looking for something -- or someone. Caroline is tempted to go out and see what he wants, but everyone else says no. Jason says he looks like bait, waiting to ID someone, and everyone agrees it's probably them.

Instead they decide to spread out throughout the house and keep an eye out. Ronnie is trying to get through things as fast as he can (holed up in the first-floor bathroom) but he realizes he's having trouble syncing the time resonances -- almost like there's some sort of jamming going on -- and until the setup for the safe house can get a fix, they're stuck. Micah asks if there's anything they can do, and he thinks for a minute, then comes up with a signal amplifier. He does a bit of fiddling (the agents don't understand this tech, that's why he's here) and comes up with a coordinate set, which is the direct center of the house but on the roof. Micah takes it and, as the most athletic and sneaky, is tasked with going out the attic window and climbing onto the roof to place it. Kurosawa goes up with him to keep watch out of the 2nd floor window towards the street. Solomon goes to the alley windows on the first floor, while Caroline stays with Ronnie to forward directions and assist and Jason covers the first floor windows to the street.

It's a bit tricky, but Micah makes it up to the roof and finds the right spot. While he's up there, he and Kurosawa spot something in the air above the street -- a shimmer that shouldn't be there, like a spot of heat or a distortion field. Whatever it is, it's not good. He manages to find the right spot and keep it there, rolling Preparedness to have brought some adhesive with him to stick it in place. The shimmer doesn't do anything, so they carefully ignore it for the time being, and with the two pieces in the right place, the signal is amplified and the chrono sync resolves and holds. Micah finds his way back inside, careful not to fall on the steeply pitched roof.

Meanwhile, Jason spots that barkeep has been joined by a couple of cops. They're talking to him like they're asking questions, and he looks somewhat desperate, gesturing down the street in their general (but not specific) direction. In the back, two cops are walking their way down the alley, looking at the houses. They head up to the house, knocking on the door. Solomon answers and the cops ask if this is his house, and if so, does he have any papers that prove his residence ownership? Solomon answers no, that they're cleaning it, but he's not altogether convincing. Jason comes to cover from inside, ready to disable the cops if it comes to it. Kurosawa holds his position in case something comes from the front, while Caroline moves to keep watch out the front. Micah comes from inside claiming that Solomon needs to get back to work or they're all going to get in trouble. He and Solomon tag team the cops, trying to convince them they're the cleaning crew, but the cops aren't as easy to fool as they were earlier and insist on seeing papers to prove they're supposed to be working here as well as the name of their employer.

Faced with no other choice, Micah suckerpunches the cop with his PaciFist, while Jason does the same. These don't go down as easily as Reg did, but a couple of minutes does for them. Solomon helps bring them inside and ties them up. Kurosawa yells down that the cops are coming down the street toward the moving van, and Caroline confirms from her side. It looks like they're going to be trapped -- when Ronnie lets out a whoop, saying it's done. They decide to leave the moving van/sledge behind -- after all, if everything goes right they can come get it after, and if it doesn't, there's nothing time-travel related in there anyway. They grab Ronnie and gather together, activating their autochrons and arriving back in the Citadel. They drop Ronnie off, start filling out the paperwork to report the problem in the timeline, and start getting their personas and special clothes ready for a trip in to 1930s British high society.

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Okay, so overall the session went well. I've discovered a few things that are really tripping me up, however.

• First, I don't get how Alertness is supposed to work. Is there just no Alertness roll if it's a thing they'd notice (like cops approaching)? I get it for clues, but environmental stuff that is not a clue per se is really confusing to me. 
• Second, I've got to get better at finding stuff in the book if that's what I'm going to do. I'm trying to run it as written, but I'm not loving the way things are spread out and organized in the core -- I keep having to flip back and forth to find what I'm looking for. I'm also still trying to wrap my brain around the Tempus stat for antagonists. It's really hard to ratchet up tension when you have to stop and look things up. 
• Third, the stitches aren't working the way I want them to. People aren't rolling very much, so the stitches aren't being used, so they aren't being handed out. This particular game isn't centered around a table (at a friend's house), so tokens become difficult for the players to remember and use effectively. I may have to take them out -- the game has options for that, but the problem is that I like the concept and it keeps the difficulty at a reasonable level while allowing some flexibility in refreshing stats. 

I'm going to keep working on it -- the next session should be a bit more active/investigate-y, so that's good. We'll see where things go from there.