Fab intro Mike.

Thanks, Will

Freetrader "Destiny's Child": Turn 5 – Will They Never Learn (Part 2)

The bar is dark as ever and Mila is once again toying with a jar of Vadrassian Brandy but this time she is watching the rest of the crew. She is realising that as the tale of their latest exploit is shared around the table each is gaining insights that will serve them well in the future.

She is so engrossed that she only notices the grey skinned alien in his stained brown suit as he sits down.

"Gentlepersons," he says,"word has come to me of a commotion in Downbelow Station. Do you have a ... tale for me?"

"Well,"says Mila,"a group of ... friends are said to have been on their way to Downbelow Station when the Banshees took exception to their being on Banshee turf. They warned the Banshees off but no notice was taken of the warning. So a face off ensued ... or so they say."



"For once I ... they remembered to activate their scanner bot and that together with their droid member's savvy combined with the punks carelessness was just enough to let them seize the initiative."

"They advanced cautiously,"continued Mila,"their heavy weapons expert, their droid and  and the agent moved up and opened fire. The rattle gun took down two punks and the agent's autorifle took down another. The punks moved up, forced to close the distance by their short ranged weapons. The other friends got into position and fired in turn, taking down another punk. A further punk decided to bail.



"As the punks continued to advance, the fire from the friends put down another two. Leaving only the leader and one gang member."

"A burst from the rattle gun staggered the punk leader and then cut him down. None of the crew had sight of the last punk so they waited. He burst from cover, taking a potshot at the priest who returned fire but also missed. The last punk would have hurdled the seating and  disappeared down the track had ... I not put him down."

"You?" the gray skinned man wheezed his strange laugh,"So were you able to bring me back a souvenir?"

THK07 leaned forward a little,"I am smart and I have an affinity with such things, it was the work of a mere moment to get what you needed." He pushed a data cube across the table.



The alien stretched his hand over the table and though he neither appeared to pick anything up nor drop anything, when he withdrew his hand the data cube was gone and a credstick was in it's place. He stood, give a stiff little bow with a weird grimace that might have been intended to be a smile and said,"Thank you, gentlepersons all, a pleasure doing business." And off he went.

"Well, well," said Mila, checking the credstick,"Three credits to add the the two we got turning in the bounty on the leader and his henchmen. Not a bad haul."

"Not to mention the ship upgrade parts we liberated from the sleepbox," Micah chimed in..

"And the beam pistol that was in there too," added Gunner.

"Where's Smith got to?" grumbled Scrapper,"It's his round."

"Up at the bar, sweet talking that redhead," Mila grinned.


* * * * * * * * * * * * *

In game terms the Banshees had the same problem as the Laytown Buzzards. Bad shots (Natural 6s to hit) with short range weapons and an AI that had them move, keeping in cover wherever possible, to within their maximum range of 9, 12 for the leader and lieutenants. At least they got to pop off a couple of shots though to no effect.

3Cr pay, 2Cr bounty on the crims plus 2Cr worth of parts towards a ship upgrade and a beam pistol found on the battlefield.

The campaign event after the battle was a learning experience for the crew (+1 XP each) hence Mila's observations on the crew after action chat.

The personal event was Mr Smith making a friend (+1XP).

The Banshees are smart enough not to continue the feud.

Keep it up

Superb.
At some point the enemy will find longer range wweaponry...

Good stuff, Mike. 

Cheers - Phil.

Thanks guys!

Fun to read, keep it up!

Thanks Sunjester.

Next up, the crew must protect a VIP from 4 Assassins.

Good fun.

Hopefully the assassins will be more of a challenge. 

Campaign Turn 6: No point getting mad when it rains if you created the storm

Mr Smith was still working on a new look, clothes shopping wasn't high on the crew agenda, but he was winning the battle to get the crew to just call him Smith ... at least he thought he was.

Smith pondered the irony of living on a spaceship full of wonderful automated systems and yet finding himself oiling parts of the landing gear with an oil can.

Lost in reverie, he didn't hear the grav car, a long, sleek, grey limousine with House Rimush's heraldry across the bonnet, pull up alongside the ship until a door opened and a voice called out,"You there! Yes, you with the oil can! Is this the Freetrader Destiny's Child?"

Smith spun round and was suddenly aware that he had dropped into a half crouch with the oil can pointed like a pistol at a tall, grey haired and immaculately tailored man who was looking at him with an expression that one might adopt on finding a Grigovian Mudsucker in one's salad.

"I am Benedictus Madvarion" said Benedictus Madvarion," I am Lord Rimush's treasurer. I have several fine children. This,"he continued while dragging a young man out of the car by the ear," is not one of them, this is my nephew Gardor. He unwisely took out a loan from someone not noted for their forbearance with defaulters and then even more unwisely stole ship parts from Harvok "The Beast" Mansbane in an effort to pay off at least some of the loan. While I would be happy to let you take him to The Sump and drown him it would make family dinners with my sister and mother even more insufferable than they are at the moment. So, take him to the concourse, present these papers to the recruiting sergeant and make sure he is inducted into the Kameiras. You will be paid for your efforts, of course."

Madvarion was almost inside the car before he turned to say,"There will be hazard pay, naturally, since a team of 4 assassins has been hired to kill him. Hazard pay is payable on success or failure. So if he dies don't be too sad .... I certainly won't be!"

Mr. Smith felt sorry for the spotty, gangly, unprepossessing youth. The Kameiras were the empire's expendable shock troops - "First to land! First to die!"

"You there! Peasant!" bellowed Gardor, even though he was only a couple of metres from Mr. Smith,"Show me to my stateroom! At ONCE!"    He thrust a backpack at Mr. Smith.

Smith took a step forward, took the backpack, delivered a swift kick to the young man's crotch and swung the backpack, which had a nice heft to it, into the back of the, now doubled over, boys head, leaving him flat out on the boarding ramp and only semi-conscious.

As he was idly wondering if the kid would fit in the garbage compactor Mila and Micah came back from their trading expedition at the local tech flea-market. Mila was clutching a gently used (i.e. broken) screen generator that she was convinced THK07 could fix given time and discussing a rumour she'd heard.

She looked at the prone figure,"Thief or stowaway?" she asked.

"Neither," said Smith."Package to be delivered to the Kameiras."

"The Kameiras!,"exclaimed Mila,"Balls of the sacred emperors! What did HE do wrong?"

Gardor, who had been stirring, sat up, stood up and then threw up. Swaying gently and looking dazed he said,"Laid a bet, lost, borrowed cash to pay it but then couldn't pay that back so 'borrowed' some ship parts to cover the debt but some fetchers tracked me to my sleepbox, stole the parts AND my beam pistol and sold me out to Beast Mansbane. Fetchers ... if I ever find them ...."

Mila and Smith exchanged meaningful glances. Micah hummed a little tune to himself.

Gunner, who like Smith had been training, appeared at the top of the ramp,"Trouble?"

Mila sighed,"When is there not?"

"This is a package for delivery,"Mila pointed at Gardor,"see it is stowed securely."

Grabbing Gardor by the scruff of the neck Gunner started to drag him up the ramp, ignoring the squawked protests.

"The House Rimush contact mentioned assassins," warned Smith.

Mila glanced around, wary rather than alarmed, in time to see Scrapper and THK07 returning from an exploration of the local area.

Mila gestured to the third figure with them,"I hope he's not another job, we've already got one from House Rimush."

"This," roared Scrapper, slapping the young man on the back so hard he staggered forward a couple of steps,"is a new crew mate .... if you'll have him."

"Gentles, Khalil Bahnas at your service. Born on Military Outpost 90337 and recently paid off from the Starliner Daydream"

"Paid off from a Dreamliner,"said Mila warily," there's a story there."

"Daydream was old, we ran into uncharted asteroids and she wasn't worth the cost of repairs. So, poor Khalil is here with a cred in his pocket, a blade at his side and a lust for adventure in his heart."

Mila laughed,"OK hotshot! You have chutzpah, I'll give you that. Until we see what else you have you'll be cook, cleaner and guard dog. Are you still in?"

"Yes, YES! Thank you, thank you. You won't regret it!"

Mila's face was suddenly hard, her voice colder than the wind across the Tygerian Ice Wastes,"I come to regret it, you'd best be able to breathe hard vacuum!"

Just as suddenly she was all smiles,"Scrapper, take our young guard pup to the stash and kit him out with bigger teeth than that blade."

* * * * * * *
So, the die rolls behind that.

Gunner and Smith trained and the XP point gained was enough for them to bump up their Combat Skills.

Mila and Micah went trading and found a broken screen generator and heard a rumour, giving them a total of 4. Each campaign turn they roll 1D6 and on a score equal to or less than the total of rumours they gain a quest. Basically a series of tougher but more rewarding jobs.

THK07 and Scrapper went exploring and got a result of "nothing found" and New Friend (roll up a new crew member).

The job they have is another escort job. Get a no skills, low stat VIP to within 3 squares of the map's centre and keep them alive there for a turn. There are no unusual terrain conditions but they need to field a full crew of 6. Pay is 1D6 credits plus 2 credits Hazard Pay and in addition there is a Loot Cache in a random location on the map which gives a roll on the Loot Table.

They are up against 4 Assassins (could have been anywhere between 1 and 6). The crew are -1 to Seize The Initiative due to the assassin's alertness. Any crew member who is downed reduces their Injury die roll by 5% because the assassins are Gruesome – aiming to kill or wound rather than just to take people out of the fight. This will be a Tough Fight so there's an additional XP point to be had.

The basic assassins have a Military Rifle and a Blade each while the leader has a Clingfire Pistol and Blade.

Good luck, you'll need it! 

Khalil Bahnas?

Quote from: Lord Speedy of Leighton on 29 July 2021, 05:01:47 PM
Good luck, you'll need it!  

Thanks Will, I'm sure the crew will need all the luck they can muster.

Quote from: fsn on 29 July 2021, 07:22:27 PM
Khalil Bahnas?

He's not a red shirt but he is a rookie by comparison. The crew can only field six of the seven crew so he will be left to mind the ship to cut his teeth later on easier opposition. Hopefully not to step in to "dead men's shoes!"

You're too kind to rookies. Put them in the front line. Better they catch a bullet than someone useful. 




Also, I thought you'd like to know that I used some birthday money to buy some of the new Traveller books. This is all your fault.