Olympus RPG Blog

Letter of the Law, Part Three

• On Mora, in the wake of the shooting, Valerie Vaskor is rushed to the emergency room with Ibrahim while the crew remaining behind are interrogated by security and police. Eventually, however Korbin Spiirs arrives, accompanied by Envoy Dannica who is in pursuit of Breyon Sodhii. Upon learning that Buck saw him, she leaves immediately, intent on following.
• Released by law enforcement, the crew re-assembled with Armin, J-Aris and Sae where they discuss the mess. Afterward, Korbin asks for the crew to accompany him to the Holiday Gala List as his entourage since, traditionally, nobles attending these galas are expecting to come with retainers.
• The crew spend a day getting prepped – Buck and Sae must get replacement clothes while Haank coordinates with everyone else to setup a bodyguard rotation for Korbin. During the day, he and Buck receives a time-delayed message from Kendal Easting who reveals that he’s joined Tukera Lines because he is uncomfortable serving with a psion.
• The day of the Gala arrives and the crew arrive with Sir Korbin at the Grand Concourse where they discover security heavily utilizes ‘bots and drones. With the nobility of the Spinward Marches assembling, the crew rotate through their protection detail with those not keeping an eye on Sir Korbin able to mingle and network.
• Armin is frequently mistaken for someone else who is obviously highborn, so she hides out to avoid it while Buck sees a woman he knows from his past a pirate and sort of learns that she’s grifting. Eddy flirts with the countess of Natoko but then finds himself forced into a duel with her husband; despite his intent otherwise, Eddy kills Lord Natoko and attempts to depart the Gala is disgust and self-loathing. During this duel, Sae sees his former commanding officer conducting a covert hand-off. J-Aris counters a hacking attempt and then tracks down the origin. Haank interacts very briefly with Commander Angela Krin, then observes Sir Korbin speaking to a nobleman who is planning a pilgrimage to a far distant world called Cathedral in the Fessor sub-sector.
• Hours after the Gala begins, Archduke Norris finally starts the official naming of nobles and begins with something completely unexpected: his kinsman, Countess Josephine of Efate, has been officially elevated to the position of Duchess of Regina by the emperor. This visibly enrages the Duchess of Mora for reasons that the crew are initially ignorant of (though they can observe from how the various nobility react that this is going to cause problems.)
• Once the official part of the ceremony has ended, the archduke declares that the celebration proper must begin. Fireworks explode overhead … but suddenly, there is a massive electromagnetic surge that blows out the power. Darkness descends which causes surprise…
• And then, armed terrorists drop out of the sky and begin shooting…
  

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  GM Notes:

• It stands to reason: I was so disappointed with the previous session that this one turned out to be something of a success. Eddy’s dueling misadventure went over especially well.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline..

Letter of the Law, Part Two

• On Mora, in the wake of his disastrous interview with local media, Eddy is contacted by Corbin Spiirs who points out that the interview has the hallmarks of a well-organized smear campaign. Eddy agrees to look into it while Spiirs reaches out to some of his contacts within the Rhylanor court. Unfortunately for Eddy, he is most definitely not an effective investigator and is easily distracted which results in him not learning a great deal.
• On the second day of Adric Mason’s trial, Buck, Haank and Sae are called to testify; only after they are released from the witness booth do they realize that the defense attorney likely managed (with his carefully phrased questions) to minimize the efficacy of their testimony. They are released from the trial but instructed to stay in Wavecrest City in the event that they are called back to the witness booth..
• Outside the temple, the crew encounter Kaylii Patterson whom they met on Pirema some years back. She’s grown up somewhat since then and sort of followed Haank’s example as she’s now in a ‘hitchhiking’ phase. Though he does not say anything just yet, Haank already begins making plans to potentially recruit her to the crew.
• Buck, Haank and Sae accept an invitation to brunch from Lord Mika who admits to them that he is actively seeking a crew for the Miss Adventure and was contemplating offering the position to them … but the fact they employ a register psion has left him concerned. Both Buck and Haank defend the absent Ibrahim and Haank admits that they have not made a firm determination regarding how Spinward Star, LLC., moves forward now that Sam has returned, but that they will consider the lord’s offer, especially when it is revealed that Lord Mika is putting together an expedition to long distant Bael for lanthanum.
• Having grown increasingly convinced that Mason is going to skate, Sae discreetly reaches out to the black market to purchase a gauss pistol he intends to use against the serial killer. As far as he is concerned, Adric Mason will not get off Mora alive.
• On the third day, the ‘Voice of Maar Zon’ announces judgement: Not Guilty. Everyone is surprised by this (including both lawyers) but Mason’s attorney quickly perks up at the thought of the countersuits they intend to file. Outside, as he and Mason begin giving their post-trial statements to the press, one of the journalists steps closer … and shoots the acquitted serial killer in the face! The shooter is revealed to be none other than Valerie Vaskor. After ensuring that Mason is dead, she turns the weapon on herself…

GM Notes:

• Loki was out this session
• Ugh, this was a mess on so many levels that I don’t know where to even begin. In fact, I’m probably not going to say much about this – the less I think about it, the better. Move forward and start concentrating on the next session. Need to ensure that my run ends on a high note, not a “blech” note like this.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline..

Letter of the Law, Part One

• From Porozlo, the crew depart in the Miss Adventure, bound for Mora. It is a 4-Jump trip, so twenty-eight days pass
• Upon arrival at the very, very busy Mora, they are boarded by customs personnel who conduct a fairly lengthy review of their identification and the like. Ibrahim is noted as a registered psion (which certainly causes Corbin Spiirs and Lord Mika to raise eyebrows.
• On Marchkeep Station, the Mora high port, the crew reunite with Sam and his crew who he reveals were mind-wiped by the now defunct Monsaanti-Neogene. Feeling guilty and responsible for these basically blanked out ‘kids,’ Same essentially adopted Echo, Sierra, Victor and Whiskey.
• The following morning, Buck, Ella, Haank, Ibrahim Sam and Sae meet with the prosecution lawyer who is trying to ensure that Adric Mason gets the death penalty where they learn that the serial killer has successfully gotten a change of venue to a church of Maar Zon (which is an old Sylean religion). It begins tomorrow, which means these members of the crew are going into sequestration soon.
• The televised portion of the trial begins the following morning with Eddy watching it in the media room. He is disgusted at how the defense attorney twists the truth about the crew and some of their actions in the recent past (much of which he should not have any knowledge about!) His ire draws the attention of a reporter who interviews him about this; unluckily for Eddy, the interview is selectively edited so it looks very bad for the crew…
• The presiding judge – a kel ten zon or ‘master of the way’ Maarist priest – oversees the first day of trial before adjourning for the evening. He then retreats to his judicial quarters where he removes his many-faced mask revealing … Breyon Sodhii.

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GM Notes:

• Everybody (except Mel who, as stated, is taking a hiatus for a bit) was available. Woot.
• This session actually worked out better than I was expecting. We dealt with a bunch of ship stuff during the transit – I implemented Spaceships Malfunctions from Pyramid 3-103 and it worked great – then moved on to the Sam stuff before finally beginning the trial a bit earlier than expected.
• I’d originally intended for this to be a trial with three arbiting judges, but changed my mind at the last minute. Plus, I just really liked the look of the Voice of Rao from the SyFy show “Krypton.” Plus, GURPS Traveller: Humaniti has a nice little reference to this religion that I sort of retrofitted. And the reveal that the presiding judge was Breyon Sodhii … well, that was intended on happening much later (and probably still will) but revealing this to the Players (but no the characters) was a great way to end the session.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline..

The Count’s Gambit, Part Seven

• On Quopist, the crew get the captured vargr corsair up and running. Taking it into orbit, they, along with Lord Mika Anjiliac, they undergo an extensive decontamination process to ensure they aren’t carriers.
• Following decon, the crew undergo equally lengthy debriefings with CDR Angela Krin, the commander of the Resolute. Haank, being an old flame of hers, later spends a little time catching up.
• With the Miss Adventure repaired, the crew depart Quopist and head on to Porozlo. During the trip, they get to know Lord Mika better and find him a friendly, gregarious sort of fellow.
• Upon arrival at Porozlo, the crew are directed to land directly at Anjiliac City where they are met by Count Para himself who is extremely pleased at the return of his son. The crew are paid and invited to attend a fete that evening to celebrate Mika’s return.
• Among Count Para’s retinue is an old friend and ally of some of the crew, Corbin Spiirs. The crew are surprised to discover Spiirs is now a knight.
• At the fete, the crew mix with the local nobles and business leaders. During this fete, they learn that the archduke has summoned all Spinward Marches nobles to Mora for the long-delayed Holiday List celebration. Lord Mika, knowing that the crew have to go to Mora themselves for the trial of Adric Mason, offers the Miss Adventure to take them there. Both he and Sir Corben will be aboard the Adventure

GM Notes:

• CommJunkee was out for this session.
• This entire session felt like a mess to me, but none of the players seemed to have problems with it. I knew from the beginning that this was basically going to be an “epilogue” rather than a full-on session.
• This brings adventure three to a close.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline.

The Count’s Gambit, Part Six

• On Quopist, the crew have located Lord Mika Anjiliac who reveals that he has been attempting to locate the source of the plague and believes he has found it with the crashed starship. While patrolling this area, Sae locates a strange purple dust that the crew suspect to be unrefined tempest.
• At Haank’s request, a dropship from the Resolute to extract the crew and Lord Mika. From the dropship pilot, the crew learn that a massive riot has engulfed Tel Bollin which is monopolizing the majority of the Resolute’s resources. As a result, when the crew learn that another dropship has gone down while searching for the vargr corsair, they are the only personnel capable of responding in a timely manner. Lord Mika agrees that they should do this, even though it may put him in danger.
• Long minutes later, as the dropship makes its approach toward the last reported location of their sister craft, they suddenly find themselves being jammed. Very soon after, there is a great explosion that the dropship crew realize means someone has scuttled the downed craft. Haank then makes a call: his team (minus Eddy who has a broken leg but plus the dropship medic) will continue on foot.
• A kilometer or so away, the crew discover the vargr corsair. Utilizing stealth, they get into position where they can observe three members of the Dzarukh in sight, two of whom appear to be returning to the ship. At Haank’s instructions, he, Buck and Sae target these vargr … and just as they engage, they realize that a large number of Quopist locals are stealthing forward as well.
• The three vargr are dropped by these shots just as the Quopist raiders charge, pausing long enough to take hits of tempest. This results in a fierce firefight between the crew and the raiders as both sides attempt to take the corsair.
• And the crew wins.

GM Notes:

• Mel has been talking about taking a hiatus for a while now so with Loki coming back to take over her character Armin again, she went ahead and started it early.
• The firefight that dominated this session took a lot longer than I expected it to. And naturally, I realized I’d screwed up some of the revised tempest addict stuffs. I should have actually reviewed the stats before the session began.
• I’m retrofitting the Star Wars d20 adventure module, “Tempest Feud” for this although I’m definitely making some tweaks and adjustments to fit better.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline..

The Count’s Gambit, Part Five-B

• On Quopist,a team of Imperium Scouts conducting recon in attempt to locate the vargr corsair that escaped them are shot down.
• Four of these scouts survive the crash landing, though one is promptly taken out by the vargr soldiers once they start trying to get clear of the burning dropship.
• A firefight ensues with two of the three surviving Scouts getting critically injured. Desperate to prevent the attacking vargr from taking the dropship, the final Scout triggers a contained self-destruct that violently destroys the craft … and most of the vargr as well…

GM Notes:

• We were down to just three players (plus the GM) for this session so we did a sort of side-trek with 150-point soldier types. I’ve kept track of exactly how many vargr are available for when the PCs move capture the corsairs… and when Herodian blew up the dropship, they’ve basically dropped the numbers of bad guys down to three named bad guys.
• Herodian’s decision to blow up the ship caught me by surprise, but his arguments made sense so it played out nicely.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline..

The Count’s Gambit, Part Five

• On Quopist, the crew stand over the corpses of the bizarre plant monsters they just defeated. Despite Doctor Lewys’ urgings otherwise, they press on, following the trail to and into a cavern complex.
• Deep within the cave, the crew encounter a massive beast that seems to be the host creature. It has the missing caravan guard in its maw. Doctor Lewys, Armin and Buck are overcome with fear at the sight of this thing when it lets out a bone-rattling shriek and flee. As they flee, Haank, J-Aris and Sae lay down covering fire, with the latter arming one of his remaining shaped charges and hurling it.
• When the explosive detonates, however, it triggers a sudden gush of molten lava, prompting the crew to realize that they are inside a volcano. They now flee with an even greater intensity, daring exploding shrapnel and super-heated steam to get out. In the process, Eddy and Dr. Lewys are injured, the former having his leg broken and the latter having fractured ribs due to rocky shrapnel.
• Pressing on toward the caravan, the crew detect the sound of gunfire and are contacted by Orgamon who relates that raiders are attacking. Haank orders J-Aris forward to lay down suppressing fire; the drone’s fire is less effective than he would like but the arrival of it is enough to cause the raiders to withdraw in mild confusion. These raiders are witnessed briefly observing the crew’s return before melting away once more.
• Onto Temple Valley the caravan presses, arriving several days later. The crew are surprised to find that it is little more than a junktown surrounding some prefab buildings and the like. Buck and Eddy seek out drinks at the local bar while Sae accompanies Orgamon in his search for intel regarding his master, leaving Armin and Haank to assist with the caravan unloading. Eventually, Orgamon learns that Lord Mika is some miles to the north, investigating a crashed ship, and the crew head there.
• And it is here, at this crashed ship, that the crew finally find and meet Lord Mika Anjiliac.

GM Notes:

• Good Lord, but I screwed up the intended ‘skill challenge’ of escaping the volcano. I think only the players of Eddy and Sae were remotely satisfied, while the rest were either confused or irked. I absolutely have to do better.
• I’m retrofitting the Star Wars d20 adventure module, “Tempest Feud” for this although I’m definitely making some tweaks and adjustments to fit better.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline..

The Count’s Gambit, Part Four

• On Quopist, the crew stand over the bodies of the fallen thugs in the cantina. After attending Lord Mika’s sick bodyguard Orgamon, they interrogate him and learn that the target of their hunt is in the Temple Valley, some days to the north.
• At Orgamon’s suggestion, they seek out one of the many caravans leaving the city and discover one, headed by a local named Simol Toc, is heading in that direction. Eddy convinces the man to hire them on as bodyguards, especially since they are transporting some of the medical supplies.
• The following morning, they set out and, exactly as Eddy feared, the ‘caravan’ is less comfortable than he would like. Along the way, they see hints of brigands lurking around but the sheer numbers and weapons of the caravan appears to detract any attack.
• Late on the second night (or third morning, depending upon one’s definition), one of the bodyguards disappears. Sae does some tracking and discovers that some weird alien critter types appear to have taken the man. Haank discusses these findings with Simol Toc, then decides that the crew will head after the missing man.
• Near dawn, many kilometers away, the crew are set upon by alien plant creatures. Both Doctor Lewys and Eddy are paralyzed by claw strikes, but the other members of the crew are better armored. The gauss weapons carried by some of the crew are less than effective against these plant-monsters but still, they are felled.

GM Notes:

• Because poor Eddy got felled early in the fight, his player started digging into the gravity and the like of the planet and we quickly learned that it was significantly lower than we thought. Naturally, because that’s how some of our players are, that led to an argument about it.
• I’m retrofitting the Star Wars d20 adventure module, “Tempest Feud” for this although I’m definitely making some tweaks and adjustments to fit better.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline..

The Count’s Gambit, Part Three

• On Quopist, having just repulsed the initial boarding team from the Dzarukh, the crew contemplates counter-boarding but Haank orders them to hold. At the same time, Lee abruptly shouts for them to brace!
• As the Miss Adventure struggles to dodge, the Dzarukh tears free of the connecting umbilical, opening fire with one of the laser turrets. Eddy, who is outside the Adventure witnesses this, noting also that the corsair’s other turret is spraying fire in a different direction. He also observes several of the vargr who were boarding the Adventure come tumbling out; many of them are instantly incinerated by the engine backwash.
• It quickly becomes apparent that Resolute has dispatched fighters and the corsair is fleeing from them, but the damage to the Adventure is fairly significant … and Aris has been killed by an exploding panel. (To him, though, there was a massive power surge and now he seems trapped in the virtual headspace that he went to while remote-piloting his drone, Jim…)
• The Adventure limps toward the Resolute, which is in a geosynchronous orbit above Tel Bollin, the single major city on Quopist, and is allowed to land upon the massive warship. Soon after, Ella and Haank are escorted to meet with the ship commander, Angela Krin, though Haank knows her by a different name from their time at University: Elana Shankarr Muudashir, the heir to Duchess Delphine of Mora. Commander Krin advises them they are not allowed to land dirtside due to the quarantine, though she is greatly interested in information on the vargr corsair. This leads Ella and Haank to suggest she speak with Sae who knows a great deal more about them, which she will do later in great detail, a meeting that culminates in her shifting Sae’s Scout status from Detached to Active.
• Commander Krin assembles the Adventure crew – sans Ella, who is somewhat shaken by Aris’ apparent death … although by now, the Aris-driven drone has related his strange predicament – and advises Haank (who she calls “Henri,” much to the crew’s continued amusement) that she will allow some of them to go dirtside while the rest remain on the ship to conduct repairs to the Adventure; in return, the crew will halp her locate and seize the vargr corsair.
• The following morning, Haank leads his team consisting of Ar-Jim (the drone that may or may not contain Aris’ consciousness), Armin, Buck, Eddy, Sae and Doctor Lewys dirtside via an automated landing shuttle carrying supplies where they promptly discover Tel Bollin to be a miserable, wretched place thanks to the ongoing outbreak. Despite the fact that this is normally a ‘high law’ world, the security personnel are stretched too thin to care about blatant displays of weapons.
• With Eddy convinced he can ‘find a guy,’ they set out where they encounter several afflicted fellows and negotiate. One of them is rather untrustworthy so Sae punches the man rather fiercely and sends him running. The others led the crew to Skydove Freight which is owned by the count; they discover is ransacked but find hints pointing them toward the Fallen Warrior cantina.
• In the cantina, they find one of Lord Mika’s bodyguards, Orgamon, who is currently visibly afflicted with the plague and unconscious; a band of tempest-abusing gang members are harassing the poor man and Haank’s initial, quasi-diplomatic efforts to handle this without violence quickly go south. Because some of the crew have already had bad experiences with such addicts, they open up with lethal fire (much to Haank’s chagrin.) In seconds, the last of the addicts is down, either dead or dying, with the crew wholly unscathed…

GM Notes:

• I kind of messed up the opening scene. It was clear in my head what I wanted to do, but game-time came and I botched it.That’s turning into a very frustrating pattern.
• Mel is looking to retire Ella, so this was part of her phasing the character out. I thought she would have her be injured in the opening bit, but she decided against it. She’s taking over Armin since Loki is absent and we’ve already started a discussion about how we handle the captain leaving (since technically, Haank is the number two and nobody, not even his player, wants him to be in charger; there is some consideration of Haank picking up a Ally to act as the captain.) Aris being killed and then being stuck in the drone was something Andricus and I have discussed in the past and this was just a good opportunity for it.
• I’m retrofitting the Star Wars d20 adventure module, “Tempest Feud” for this although I’m definitely making some tweaks and adjustments to fit better.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline..