With their new ally, Ronan, leading the way, the Team links up with the remaining members of Pallas’ citizens who have been harried and hunted by Imperial forces.
The Team divide to gather intelligence from or lend assistance to the survivors, learning that few of them know what the Imperials want here either. Eventually, they narrow down the probable locations of the Imperial basecamp to one of two mining camps.
Leaving Darrrill behind to assist with any defenses and with Ronan leading the way, the rest of the Team take speeders to scout out the two spots … but en route, they are sighted by a pair of biker scouts who pursue!
When one of the scouts breaks off, the Team realize he is likely going to get within comms range and summon reinforcements so they wheel around and pursue him, leading to a three-way chase as they are still being hounded by his buddy. In the end, the Team opt to ground their vehicles and open fire with their weapons just as the scout reaches transmission range. They then flee the smoking wreckage before the AT-ST they passed during this chase can investigate.
Identifying the basecamp is easy as one mining facility is obviously abandoned, but the other still has Imperial activity – and guards! – at it. In fact, the Team are able to witness something strange: a shuttle arrives at the camp as lab-coated techs push a repulsor-sled toward it. Upon the sled is a very high tech cryo-tube containing a person who looks … mutated!
Player Notes:
Still late recaps. Kept getting stupid busy. Trying to keep these minimal.
Down Nosh for this session as he went on vacation.
We missed two weeks in a row after this – the first week was due to two additional absences (me for a stupid amount of OT, Giger for a computer catastrophe), the week after due to Ronnke being sick and FX having computer woes of his own.
On Phantine, the Team is investigating why Pallas, one of the city-states on Phantine, went silent. The official story is that city shields failed, but Luck doubts this and wants to discover the truth.
Via speeder, the Team reach the outskirts of Pallas, discovering signs of sabotage that lend credence to their theories.
As they enter the city, several of them realize that they are being watched and a quick chase ensues …
…but comes to an abrupt halt when the Team finds itself engaged in a firefight with a squad of stormtroopers! It is a fierce engagement, but on that ends with only the Imperials downed and the Team having made a new (temporary) ally.
The sound of an approaching AT-ST forces the Team to bug out quickly…
Player Notes:
Way, way, way late recaps. Kept getting stupid busy. Trying to keep these minimal.
Full house again, though the next two will be down one as Nosh (Darrrill’s player) went on vacation.
The bulk of this session was taken up by the firefight.
Suspecting that the Crimson Corsair pirates are here for the same reason they are, the Team accelerates their time table.
Bostco enters the hotel lobby and tries to get a room for the night, confirming that they’re booked up.
Nim enters via a service entrance, posing as a pizza guy trying to deliver to someone. When he exits, he does so ensuring that the service door can be quickly opened.
Just as the team are preparing to enter via the service entrance, the pirates storm the front lobby, making no attempt to conceal their assault. This provides excellent cover, however, and with Tina discreetly providing overwatch via the systems she’s sliced into, the team locates Diplomat Wren’s room, slices it open, and extracts with her via a lift following a quick bit of convincing. And, as they are entering one lift, another opens to reveal a couple of hostile pirates. Luck leaves them a parting gift in the form of an armed thermal detonator. They don’t seem to like it very much.
Downstairs, the team extracts, using the now abandoned service entrance once more. Crowding aboard a speeder, they are unfortunately observed by the pirates and a short-lived chase ensues that ends at the hangar…
At the hangar bay, the Crimson Corsairs have an exceedingly bad day as they are quickly cut down by the expert fire of the team. And to add insult to injury, the Team decides to escape the station in the (late) Corsair’s own ship!
Mission accomplished.
Player Notes:
Way, way, way late recaps. Kept getting stupid busy. Trying to keep these minimal.
The Team arrives at Starhaven Station and are relieved that their codes check out. Leaving Darrrill behind with Kira Thalos to ensure their escape route is secure, the Team inserts onto the station and begins to gather information
Bostco takes Tina with him and plays up his reputation as a semi-famous physician to gain access to the wounded at the local medical facility so as to ensure that Katalana Wren, the woman they wish to extract, is not among the casualties.
Darrrill observes the arrival of who he suspects to be more of the pirates who initially attacked the ship that caused all of this mess in the first place and alerts the rest of the team.
Nim hits a local casino with Luck acting as a sort of bodyguard; there he engages with Xal’Dor Vorkesh, the casino owner and a known info-merchant. While this going on, a bounty hunter wearing Mandalorian armor enters with a warrant to take Vorkesh into custody. A tense stand-off ensues with Nim pretending to be another hunter who already has taken Vorkesh into custody while Luck is preparing to get into an ugly shoot-out with the hunter. Eventually, the hunter withdraws in the face of overwhelming odds, though he promises Vorkesh that this isn’t over.
In appreciation for Nim defusing the situation, as unusually as he did so, Vorkesh provides the information on Wren’s probable location…
Player Notes:
Way, way, way late recaps. Kept getting stupid busy. Trying to keep these minimal.
Mostly information gathering in this one, along with some almost shooting. And I was gonna get me some Mandalorian armor too! Maybe later…
On Phantine, Insurgent Team Vanguard receives a new mission from their contact, Kalen Brie: Katalana Wren, a Naboo diplomat and secret asset of Brie’s is dangerously close to being compromised by the Imperial Security Bureau after the ship she was on was heavily damaged by pirates. Brie needs the team to get aboard the space station where this is taking place, get her out, and do so quickly. To Luck, he will also add (discreetly) that if they can’t get her out, then she will need to be eliminated.
With limited time before they are scheduled to depart, the Team gets as much data as they can, as well as working landing permits on the space station, though this results in Bostco now owing something of a favor to the crimelord, Hobbs.
Brie arrives to pick them up before flying them to a rendezvous with a friendly corvette docked with the small freighter that will be taking them to the station. The captain of this corvette provides Luck with a beacon call that will summon the ship to cause a distraction.
The freighter captain, Kira Thalos, is eager but cautious, and very worried that their landing codes will trip alarms..
The team makes the jump to lightspeed and tensions run high…
Player Notes:
Way, way, way late recaps. Kept getting stupid busy. Trying to keep these minimal.
Mostly lots of planning, discussion options and general goofing off during this session.
We begin in media res with most of the team already sneaking aboard an Imperial Gozanti-class light cruiser. RK-0336, a former clonetrooper better known as “Luck”, is in command of the small insurgent team with Bostco Buczynski, a semi-famous pharmacist turned rebel, Nim Zholwa, a Duros thief and scrapper, and Tina Crankshaft, a genius mechanic they call Tiny, making up the team.
Flashing back twenty-four hours, we learn how the team got this mission: Nim has agreed to help out local crimeboss, Hobbs, liberate a captured asset. Accomplishing this goal will wipe out the debts Nim’s family owe to Hobbs.
The rest of the team spend a bit of time obtaining as much information on the target vessel in the limited time they have. Ultimately, they come up with a means to get smuggled aboard the vessel.
Back to the present: the team encounter stormtrooper resistance but with Luck leading the way, the quickly cut through them with a great deal of shooting. Jaxon Crossfire, the objective, is rescued, and the pirate gang that Hobbs promised to send to aid quickly boards.
The team exfiltrates with the pirates, even though they would very much like to keep the Gozanti. Perhaps another time…
Player Notes:
Way, way, way late recaps. Kept getting stupid busy. Trying to keep these minimal.
Luck began the campaign with TA: Blaster/Neck while operating on a mistaken presumption about the armor covering, which made him terrifyingly deadly. We’ve since adjusted it so he’s using TA: Blaster/Chinks in Torso Armor.
This was a sort of ‘get to know what your characters can do’ mission, since one of the players was out.
II-XI. Ashore in the Yucatán. Sunday, March 4, 1725 Anno Domini
Having discovered what he thinks is the entrance to the Treasury, Sir Randel advises the members of his company and then arranges for everyone to go to that hole the following morning in small groups or individually so as to not draw attention.
On Monday morning, March 4, the crew rappel down into the cave and begin exploring. Their explorations lead them to what seems to be a small construction buried deep within the cave; within is a single, small strongbox filled with old coins. A treasure, indeed, but not that impressive of a haul.
As the crew are discussing next actions, everything shifts around them without them noticing. There is suddenly a large solid gold two-headed snake statue. Each member of the crew has a sudden and intense flash of future individual memory that was bought by a mountain of gold.
As they are recovering and bickering, one of the many shadows coalesces into Mister Gordon Reade who rambles about how he is the Steward of this treasure and none of it will leave this place. More shadows seem to gain human-like shape and the crew begins to withdraw toward a doorway … that might not have been there before.
The flight of the expedition leads them into a stone maze of some sort, during which there is a quick scuffle between Misters Lucroy and Palange who have been more badly affected by the intense greed that afflicts the entire crew; blood is drawn and the image of Mister Reade cackles. Good! The Treasury requires a blood sacrifice! Sir Randel snaps at the two, intent on shouting some sense back into them.
With the faceless shadows still pursuing them, the crew enters a vast treasure room which Mister Lucroy all but dives into. The others alternately pick some pieces or look for another exit.
To Doctor Spenser’s eyes, each member of the expedition have barely visible two-headed snakes wrapped around their necks, which he takes to be a curse of some sort. Recalling the Irish faerie tales he frequently reads, he murmurs something in old Gaelic and then, serendipitously discovers an old leather bottle filled with druid water. He splashes some upon himself, feeling the curse lift immediately.
Mister Reade reappears while this is happening, and Sir Randel, unsure how to proceed any further, calls out a challenge. As the two men are approaching one another, though, Mister Palange fires The Gun at Mister Reade and the shot seems to blow the man apart like he was a shadow!
Having been splashed by the rapidly dwindling druid water, the crew are once more back in control of their senses and begin looking for a way to escape. Once more, the two-headed snake statue is present, now next to a great pit filled with corpses of varying ages. After some discussion, the crew decide to simply toss the statue into the pit, even as they can sense that it disapproves. The moment the statue strikes the bottom, the entire Treasury trembles and begins to shake. It is definitely time to flee!
The crew flee back toward the large pile of treasure, with some of them pausing briefly to grab several handfuls, before darting toward the tunnel they hope will lead to safety. Behind them, the ceiling begins falling in and the crew must run faster! They emerge once in that small construction within the cave, nearly tripping over the small strongbox which is quickly snatched up.
Outside the small building, they are surprised to discover Mister Reade’s body. He is clutching at his chest and has an agonized look on his face.
Retracing their steps to the hole, they are surprised to discover Mister Long loitering above them. He informs them that his Master is going to be very displeased at what they’ve done before he instructs some unseen helpers to begin.
And to the horror of the crew, an immense stone slab is slid over the top of the hole, cutting off all light. The crew … is trapped.
Player Notes:
Full house for a change.
As mentioned previously, I’ve skipped over a lot of stuff in an attempt to keep the outline short … and even still, its too long.
The “druid water” stuff I pulled out of nowhere came from an Irish faerie tale I discovered called “The Greedy Fox” – it didn’t really go into any crazy detail about what “druid water” is or does, but the GM rolled with it and let it remove the magical Greed. I used the last of the water in the game by pouring it on the statue (though that did nothing), but Spenser is absolutely keeping the bottle.
I think CommJunkee was mildly irked at Andricus for stealing his moment with the gunshot even though it made perfect sense.
Gigermann grumbled that the final escape was as life-threatening as he anticipated, but based on Spenser’s encumbrance levels – he was literally a half pound from entering Light – I calculated that if he’d grabbed the basic lift of treasure like everyone else, he’d have been shifted into Medium encumbrance, which would reduce his Move to 3 … which meant the collapsing ceiling would have buried him. So it was a good thing Spenser didn’t grab any treasure apart from what he already had…
I think the hard cut-off time and late start messed with Gigermann’s plan – I was expecting a fight of some sort and I think that might have made things flow a little better? Not sure.
Gigermann has mentioned maybe doing a one-off session 12 later in the year to act as a denouement or follow-up to properly end the season. Time will tell.
Next week we’re doing a Session 0 for our impending GURPS Star Wars game.
II-X. Ashore at Campeche, Yucatán. Wednesday, March 1, 1725 Anno Domini
The night before the expedition sets out, Mister Lucroy has an odd Dream about the Old Man. Monsieur Boissonade is present in the dream as well, though Mister Lucroy cannot interact with him.
The expedition sets out with a Señor Juan Chipahua as their guide. They have multiple porters and donkeys.
Late in the day, a pair of skulkers ambush them with a rudimentary cannon, firing a burst of grapeshot into the middle of their party. Three of the porters are hit and Mister Davino is narrowly missed. Even as Doctor Spenser scrambles toward the porters to triage their injuries, the other members of the expedition seek cover in expectations of a second barrage while Mister Davino charges toward the attackers, his blood up. The ambushers opt to flee but one of them is dropped with a spectacular shot by Captain Hayden. Once he is stabilized and interrogated, they learn only that a fellow going by the name “Fish” hired them to delay the expedition.
Following the overnight camp, it is decided to send the wounded back on donkeys, even though Doctor Spenser greatly dislikes this. From there, the rest of the expedition continues onward, eventually reaching a cenote camping site. That evening, while Captain Hayden is on watch, he hears a splash and sees Señor Chipahua floating in the water, facedown. The alarm is raised, Sir Randel and Doctor Spenser retrieve Señor Chipahua, and the doctor is able to stabilise him. In the process, he is able to determine that Señor Chipahua is suffering from snake poison, but there are no signs of a snake bite though it could be a dart. The expedition looks for a dart but finds none.
In the morning, Sir Randel talks the porters out of abandoning the trip. Doctor Spenser notes that one of the men seems suspiciously uncomfortable.
It is another long day of hiking. Doctor Spenser has a … moment, where he finds himself back in Bedlam being pressured to sign a document admitting that he is mad in order to see his wife, but he refuses, and the doctor morphs into the Master of Crows who mocks him and states that no one will trust him now. And indeed, the rest of the expedition is there, staring at him in confusion as he rants at a tree stump.
Sir Randel engages the suspicious fellow during a stop, pressuring the man to admit that he too was paid by the “Fish” person to use a blowgun against Señor Chipahua. Mister Lucroy discovers the blowgun in the man’s pack, and the porter flees. Sir Randel gets off an expertly placed leg shot, though it only seems a glancing strike at first (though the amount of blood is worrying). Monsieur Auclair’s temper flares and charges into the jungle, bellowing that he’s going to kill the traitor; he returns soon after, claiming the man seems to have bled out. Doctor Spenser follows-up on this and, indeed, Sir Randel’s shot seems to have struck an artery. The expedition does not simply leave the body in the open; instead giving him a proper Christian burial with Captain Hayden speaking some words over the body.
They continue on the following day, reaching what they presume to be The Treasury late. Monsieur Boissonade has his own destination to seek and Sir Randel follows his intuition, using the Compass to identify where he thinks the Treasury entrance is. With Doctor Spenser tagging along behind him, they find an open hole in the ground … and see the glint of gold…
Player Notes:
Full house.
Really late recap. I have no real excuse apart from laziness. Again, trying to minimize the size of these recaps … could probably cut some stuff out of this one as well be see before-mentioned laziness.
During the flashback section at the beginning, it is established the Mister Lucroy discovered and decided to keep the Ring that Doctor Spenser abandoned.
II-IX. Ashore at Campeche, Yucatán. Sunday, February 25, 1725 Anno Domini
The command crew are summoned to the Graceful Dame in the wake of the shark-man attack. As far as Doctor Spenser can tell, this is just a shark even though Mister Davino is insistent that it was a man when he shot it.
Back at Mister Reade’s hacienda, strange noises wake several members of the crew, with Sir Randel and Captain Hayden investigating first and discovering a group of arsonists trying to burn down the house! A fight ensues, with Sir Randel expertly dropping several of the foes while looking positively awesome as Captain Hayden drops one with a well-placed gunshot. Doctor Spenser enters the fray but it is already basically over at that point.
Interrogating the survivors reveals that they were hired by “Benito the Fence” which further enrages Mister Reade. He offers to pay for the entire expedition if they can bring Benito to him.
The following day, while Captain Hayden and Doctor Spenser plot the expedition’s route inland along with Mister Reade’s maps, Sir Randel and Leftenant Rogers seek out Benito … and easily capture him. From him they learn that he was hired by the tall, ugly man (who apparently turned into a shark and is now dead) and a woman that the crew also saw.
The crew spend several days preparing for the expedition and, on the morning of March 1, Captain Hayden does not wake…
Player Notes:
Down both Claude (Mel) and Davino’s (Andricus) players. Mel was out due to Herodian’s abrupt passing.
As before, I’m actively trying to minimize these outlines to avoid writing a novel. This time I have seriously managed to trim it down!
Nosh’s decision to have Leftenant Rogers remain aboard the ship caught the GM by surprise and forced him to take a brief intermission to recalculate some stuff.
As we flipped over into March, Captain Hayden had to make a HT check due to Terminally Ill … and critically failed! We thought that he was going to straight up die, but evidently Gigermann had previously adjusted the Basic mechanics for the Terminally Ill Disadvantage to make it a little more “effective” during the campaign. See here for details. As I understand it, Captain Hayden will lose 1 FP and his Chronic Pain is increased from mild to severe.
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