Second
session of an on-going campaign. Jason
(Pvt Hudson) couldn’t attend. RFED and
Barney joined: character creation happened (which takes about two minutes in
this lovely, simple system).
Dave
|
Game
Master
|
|
Spencer
|
Scamp
Padmore
|
Captain
of the Bastion.
|
Aengel
|
Chauncey
de Vere
|
Swindled
tycoon/ former politician/con-woman.
|
Seph
|
Crimson
Stain
|
Reformed
assassin.
|
Edwin
|
Hockjoint
|
Mutant
muscle.
|
RFED
|
Captain
‘Patch’
|
Disgraced
starship captain.
|
Barney
|
La
Toya
|
The
escaped convict formerly known as ‘Wacko’.
|
Chuck
Jerrit
|
Miner
with a friendly face and prosthetic limb.
|
The Crew of the Freighter
Bastion
Clockwise from top left: Scamp, Hudson, Chauncey La Toya, Patch, Crimson and Hock |
- Scamp Padmore – A former test-pilot. Genetically and mechanically engineered from animal stock (mostly mouse in Scamp’s case) and treated as expendable. He is captain and owner (having stolen it) of the Bastion.
- Chauncey de Vere – Con-woman and the crew’s ‘Face’. Her greatest con was to be elected President of a remote colony - which made her immensely rich until she had to leave in a hurry.
- Crimson Stain – Reformed assassin. His last, uncompleted job was to kill Chauncey: he often expresses regret for not carrying it out.
- Hockjoint – Mutant muscle. Many Mutes can pass for Norms: Hock can’t. A standard mook from the knees up, he can’t do anything to hide his massive chicken feet. Partly to draw attention from this (and partly because he likes the heft when he grips it) he carries an unfeasibly large weapon.
- Captain ‘Patch’ – disgraced starship captain. He is haunted by the fact that his ship, its crew and his eye were all destroyed by a large space-dwelling xenomorph due to his negligence. No-one knows his real name.
- La Toya – a former monkey-smuggler who escaped from a desolate prison colony using a stolen body. Only has a passing acquaintance with reality.
The crew has a debt of 10,000 credits to Jacob’s Ladder, a Mercenary/Security Group.
Previously...
The
crew has accepted a contract from a collector of alien artefacts. He is willing to pay 2,000 credits if they
bring him a linga – a two-foot high
crystal carved with alien glyphs – recently discovered on the mining colony of
Morbus Fracastorii. Their contact is
Chuck Jerrit a miner and small-time smuggler.
On
arrival, the crew find that Chuck is missing: it turns out he’s been
arrested. While trying to track him down
they encounter their great rival, Barnett Kale, who has the jump on them and
seems to be in cahoots with the Sheriff’s office. After evading the deputies and battling local
wildlife, they discover that the best chance of completing their job is to
find Chuck’s partners, who they track to Elliott’s Cantina. As Chauncey makes contact and deputies move in
to intercept her, Hock started a brawl as a distraction.
At Elliott’s Cantina
Having
finished battening down the ship [which prevented them from attending the last
session – obviously], Patch and La Toya arrived at Elliott’s Cantina just as a
large man was thrown through the plate windows and the brawl spilled out onto
the street.
Patch and La Toya quickly took in the situation. Hock’s
diversion seemed to have worked: Chauncey (still wearing Scamp in his fur stole
disguise) was able to leave with the smuggler Tommy Booth. Crimson was busy polishing off as many
neglected drinks as he could and keeping above the affray, but Hock was in the midst of it. La Toya joined Chauncey and Scamp,
and Patch went to Hock’s aid, drawing his ceremonial officer’s sword to ensure
that this remained a mêlée and not a fire-fight. Nevertheless, Hock was knocked out cold as an assailant smashed a bottle over his
head. With the undercover deputies now flashing their
badges and guns, the brawl dissolved as quickly as it began. Hock was dragged over to one side and handcuffed. Patch stayed at the bar to see what he could
do to help.
Crimson
joined the others at the monorail station, where more members of the Wendigo
Security Division were arriving. La Toya attempted to delay the departure of
the train, first by telling the driver that there were creatures on the line
and that she – as an animal ambassador – had to protect them. When neither this nor her attempt at
seduction were successful, the driver raised the alarm and summoned the
deputies. Ironically, by being taken into
custody La Toya achieved the necessary delay.
Tommy now urged Chauncey, Scamp and Crimson to join him in a dash down
the monorail tube before the next train and they succeeded in reaching Shaft 1, the
next stop.
In Custody
"No man left behind. Not again!" |
Meanwhile,
it was becoming clear that Booth thought that the crew were on Morbus
Fracastorii as part of a Luciferium smuggling ring. He insisted that the best course of action
was to go through the mineshafts and over the surface to Morbustown, where they
would be able to go to Jerrit’s apartment and retrieve the goods. He was unaware that we had already lifted
them when searching the apartment.
Crimson insisted that they needed to deal with Jerrit. Booth couldn’t understand why (because of the
on-going ‘arrangement’ they had with the Sheriff Dalton) but Jerrit has been
arrested and taken in for questioning.
He was adamant that everything would be sorted out soon and return to
normal; however, he flatly refused to go anywhere other than the safety of Morbustown. Crimson, Chauncey and Scamp determined that
the best thing was to somehow get inside the Sheriff’s Office.
As
this discussion was happening, events on the train were about to get hairy. Seeing that Patch was about to be arrested,
Hock decided to make his move and attempted to deploy a frag grenade. Hampered by his handcuffs, he fumbled this
and only managed to blow a hole in the floor of the carriage. In the ensuing fracas Patch was able to barge
one of the deputies out of the hole to his death, and knock another out. But both Hock and La Toya were also knocked
out of action. As the train pulled into
the Sherriff’s Office station, Patch jumped down and tried to hide under it,
but unsuccessfully. Although now armed,
he was completely outnumbered, and raised his hands in surrender.
Smug bastard |
To make matters worse, just as Patch was being subdued and the wounded La Toya and Hock dragged onto the platform, their rival Barnet Kale stepped out of the Sheriff’s Office with two of his crew. From the very large package he was carrying and his smug expression as he got on the train, it was clear that he had achieved his goal and obtained the alien artefact. The sneer was only wiped off his face as he realised that the departing train was for Morbustown and that he’d have to get the return service to reach Gallicus Spaceport.
"I'm the law around these parts!" |
Showdown at the Sheriff’s
Station
The world is not yet ready... |
Mad as a box of frogs, right to the end |
Looting
the Office turned up 1,200 credits (obviously what Kale had paid for the
artefact) and a box of fine cigars. In
addition, Chuck was able to identify Dalton’s narcotic meat as a valuable
Terranomorph gland and the crew recognised his Star Badge as alien tech.
At
that moment Crimson’s booby-trap went off, disabling the monorail system. Chauncey took an emergency vehicle and headed
to the spaceport to retrieve the Bastion.
The others went out for a face-off with Kale.
Given that the crew had had the pick of the Sheriff’s Office armoury,
the ensuing gunfight was short and brutal.
With moments, Kale and his lackeys were lying dead in the dust, his dude
duds soaked in blood. Scamp retrieved
the alien artefact and Hock took Kale’s pair of pearl-handled pistols as
trophies. Within minutes Chauncey
arrived in the Bastion, crashing
through the dome to land in the town square.
The
crew were split as to how long to stay on Morbus Fracastorii. With local security neutralised it was
possible to strip the warehouses of everything of value; but this was bound to
incur the lasting enmity of the Wendigo Corp and a high bounty on their
heads. In the end Scamp cast the deciding
vote, and we left with the considerable rewards already gained.
The new recruit |
Loot and Debt
- 2,000 credits for the completed contract
- 1,200 credits from the Sheriff’s Office
- The Terranomorph gland – a Xenomorphic Oddity (Effect: when licked gives +8 to strength, but -3 to DEX and CHA. One lick remaining).
- The Star Badge – an Alien Tech Oddity (Effect: unknown)
- Pair of Pearl-Handled Pistols – a Warped Item Oddity (Effect: when used normally deals d6 damage, but when the wielder sings a song singling out a particular target it deals d10 damage against that target for the rest of the session)
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