Wasters No 5: 'Making Mischief'

 

Played 17 Jan 2021 (On-line) 

Due to various circumstances, this ended up being a one-on-one session – not necessarily a bad thing to have during a run of play-tests.   I think we showed that it’s feasible to play Wasters with only two participants.  Not surprisingly, it took less play-time than a group session. 

I’m writing this up two months after the event from notes I made at the time – please excuse me any faults in narrative coherence! 

 

Seph	Games Master
Me	Mieville - Level 1 Sentinel	Retainers    Boston – Level 1 Ronin    Skunk – Level 1 Infiltrator

The Job 

To travel to a named block and do as much to disturb the status quo there. 

Preparation 

Mieville determined that this was a covert infiltration job best suited to a small team.  He therefore didn’t involve the usual Crew, but just took along a couple of goons – Boston who appeared to be quite useful muscle and Skunk, who Mieville had worked with before.  [Boston was a GM-generated retainer-for-hire.  Skunk is my reserve PC.  My notes also mention ‘Freddy’, but I’ve no idea who he is!] 

We also bought a quantity of spray-paints in various colours. 

The Action

Moving the four blocks into The Wastes necessary to get to the target was uneventful, although it meant traversing territory claimed by the Street Cats.   

 

On reaching the target block, we hunkered down before cautiously scouting the area.  Almost immediately we encountered a Crazy, clad in animal skins and wielding an axe.  A sharp combat ensued which left him dead.  As the first stroke of Mieville’s cunning plan, the body was left in a prominent position, with a fake Street Cats tag sprayed on the wall nearby. 

Soon afterwards Skunk heard the sound of approaching feet.  After we took cover, we saw a group of Food Service Bots approaching.  Skunk insisted that they might be a good source of tech, if not hard cash.  Boston shrugged “I’ve got this” and confidently strode into the street.  He was soon swamped by the deranged bots, a barista knocking him over as it insisted on giving him a seat, and the others trampling him in their eagerness to sell him their wares.  Belatedly, the others joined in, Mieville deploying a jamming function that drove two of them off.  When the remaining bots were defeated, it was clear that Boston was dead.  To make things worse, the bots had no salvage of value on them. 

 

We hid Boston’s body but left the evidence of the bot carnage.  Nearby Mieville faked the tag of the Fast Dogs, seemingly defaced by Butch Killers. 

Scouting of the block continued.   

The next site of interest was an office building.   There were no lights showing, but some evidence of recent activity.  We put a fake tag on a side door and gathered refuse together to set a fire by the front door before retreating to secure positions.  Once the fire took hold, a gang member with two guard dogs came out to investigate.  From his hidden position, Skunk made a sniper attack, killing the gangster.  One of the dogs was also killed in the surprise attack, and the other ran off.   

After stripping the gangster of his tactical armour and weapons, we left the bodies out in the open and the fire burning before again retiring to secure positions. 

This mayhem had the desired effect.  Soon, two groups – three members of the Butch Killers and four Fast Dogs – were approaching to investigate.  As they faced off against each other Skunk made another sniper attack, killing one of the Fast Dogs.  Bloodshed followed, with the Killers eventually driving the Dogs off. 

As night-time was approaching, our group decided to retire into a neighbouring block (formerly a Park) which was unclaimed and promised to be a safer area in which to camp. 

Moving in to this block, Skunk hear the noise of an animal in one of the alleyways.  On investigation this appeared to be a heavily-laden mule.  Thinking we’d scored, we moved in, only for a hidden figure to pop up and warn us off.  This turned out to be a wandering trader.  Mieville indicated that he thought that parley was better than combat, and everyone stood down.  The trader offered various goods, but we declined them.  We agreed to go our separate ways and make their own camps for the night. 

As the night wore on, it became clear that there was some serious fighting taking place in the neighbouring block.  We therefore decided that our mission had been a success and that we should head back in the morning.  We made contact again with the trader, and offered to escort him back to the Safe Zone for a fee, but he was a solitary, anti-social type and declined. 

The morning’s journey back was uneventful until, just on the verge on entering the Safe Zone, we encountered a group of six youths wearing the colours of the Street Cats.  We were better armed, but outnumbered and they had the jump on us.  Communication was difficult, but in the end. we managed to trade the armour and weapons we’d taken from the Butch Killer for safe passage.  They went off, presumably to spin a tale of besting one of their rivals. 

We transited into the Safe Zone successfully, and returned to Club Lavender to collect our payment for a job well done.