tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21628974249780836172024-03-13T16:21:40.366-04:00Circle of Dar Janixrmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.comBlogger349125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-12585653346560434762023-11-29T11:33:00.004-05:002023-11-29T11:33:22.763-05:00Traveller: Session 33<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5OtyVV0AD56gUV6AvYGHMuPCKTJw89uWotH5TmFmTV1MuvaIdrBLsslSfRlCs8MI5UUbmVZ7-J2qCW_xJu5gBvsVf0XACJon0ceIzGUyFmFfIiUVg7VfMEJATQ_kSYsjHTRv6W1vtJ_twdSKydy3GH2kD3QHJMPq6omSXnnA57QPYSf18W-wWenzqfI/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp5OtyVV0AD56gUV6AvYGHMuPCKTJw89uWotH5TmFmTV1MuvaIdrBLsslSfRlCs8MI5UUbmVZ7-J2qCW_xJu5gBvsVf0XACJon0ceIzGUyFmFfIiUVg7VfMEJATQ_kSYsjHTRv6W1vtJ_twdSKydy3GH2kD3QHJMPq6omSXnnA57QPYSf18W-wWenzqfI/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on June 15, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>130-2108</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They confronted Reverend Kavanaugh about the wrench and the
explosive bolts and he changed his story again. He now claimed that, even in
his revised story, he had still tried to protect Dieter and his memory. Dieter
had not just surrendered to fate and drawn straws after his failed attempt to
poison Kavanaugh at breakfast. As soon as it was clear that the paralytic was
not working, he attempted to choke Kavanaugh. As the two wrestled, Kavanaugh
grabbed a wrench from the toolbox, left in the common room during their repair
efforts, and bashed Dieter over the head. He had then flushed Dieter’s body,
along with the wrench, out of the airlock. He claimed not to have known about
the explosive bolts and said that, because there were only two of them aboard, there
were sixteen hours each day where only one of them was awake. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Unable to determine if this latest story was true, they
informed him that they still intended to put him in the cryo pod for the trip
back to Mars and then hand him over to the authorities at Mars Station. He
explained that he would not resist them but there was no chance of him getting
a fair trial on Mars Station. The government there was prejudiced against him
and his church and had been looking for a way to pin something on him for years.
He would be found guilty no matter what.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He proposed an alternate solution. The Church of the
Heavenly Stigmata had been preparing a generation ship. This ship was nearing
completion and he, and his followers, would be using it to leave for Eden. He
offered them two million dollars to take him to Phobos, where the ship was
being prepared, instead of Mars Station. This would present no real risk to
them, since they could claim that they just returned him to his place of
residence. Believing that there was a reasonable chance that Kavanaugh was a
murderer, they declined his offer and put him into cold sleep for the trip back
to Mars.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>190-2108</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When the <i>Far Horizon</i> arrived at Mars Station, they informed
station control that they had Kavanaugh aboard in cold sleep and gave a brief
explanation of what they found on the <i>Star of Rhea</i>. Station control instructed
them to keep Kavanaugh on ice and told them to dock with the station instead of
taking their shuttle over. The police would meet them at the airlock to take
control of the prisoner. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Less than ten minutes after they achieved lock with the station,
the buzzer rang indicating that someone was requesting to board. Bob checked
with station control who confirmed that it was the police and they let them in.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Four station police officers entered and asked to be
escorted to the cryo tanks. Once they confirmed that the man in the pod was
Kavanaugh, they instructed Kurt to begin the thawing process. They told the
crew that the government would reimburse their fuel costs for the return trip
and pay them a twenty-thousand-dollar reward for their rescue mission. They
signed the voucher for the transaction and the police escorted the still groggy
Kavanaugh away on a stretcher. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">An hour later, they were busy unloading life support items
that needed to be refreshed when two station police officers arrived to take
custody of Kavanaugh. When they explained that the station police had already taken
Kavanaugh into custody, the two officers seemed confused. They called station
control, and the officer on duty, who had just started their shift, had no
record of any officers being dispatched earlier, or Kavanaugh being processed
into the system. Bob showed the police the footage from the camera on the
airlock and the badge numbers he had collected from the “officers”. The police
stated that the badge numbers were real, but out of date. They did not
recognize anyone in the footage. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The police told them to stay put for a few days. They did
not think that the crew had done anything wrong, but they may need them as
witnesses against whoever was working with the reverend on the inside. They
also offered them a reward of five thousand dollars for coming to the rescue
before they left. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The crew decided that there was a very good chance that they
would be used as scapegoats and interpreted the police’s orders to mean that
they had to stay in orbit, not that they had to stay physically connected to
the station. They disconnected and used the shuttle to complete their business
on station. While the <i>Far Horizon</i> was not armed, its engines were far
superior to anything that Mars Station had. They knew that they could outrun
any attempt to restrain them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Knowing that forewarned was forearmed, they spent some time
researching the various people and entities wrapped up in the <i>Star of Rhea</i>
incident. They learned that Dave Pendleton, the planned third crew member, had died
on Titan of an unknown illness after the <i>Star of Rhea</i> left. Their background
investigation into Dieter Park showed that he had been accused of a string of
small crimes (fraud, bad checks etc.) over the years. He always managed to ship
out before he had to stand trial and would spend enough time away that the
authorities had lost interest by the next time he was in port. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Church of the Heavenly Stigmata was, in fact, preparing
a generation ship, <i>The Crimson Dawn</i>. It appeared that the effort was
backed by the trillionaire, Patrick Wu. Wu was the founder of the Wu-Ketai
Corporation, the biggest company in the system, and the richest human alive.
Some additional digging revealed that he was a devotee of Kavanaugh and a
long-time member of the church. He had funded several of their projects over
the years, including a museum on the surface dedicated to “the true history of
the Martians and their message from God.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The crew decided that it would be worth going to the surface
and visiting the museum. They also ran some checks on the progress on the <i>Crimson
Dawn’s</i> construction. While the details were not public, it appeared that
major construction had stopped, and the ship had started taking on consumables.
It was likely that it would be leaving in the near future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-39072090242255923672023-11-29T09:43:00.000-05:002023-11-29T09:43:08.415-05:00Traveller: Session 32<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gFApll_DpqvZX5fl73kzQjtwmaaO5RZE_2-MUrzIOJqD4V118z6fK4lYvSbz-jYuZbVtt_NmdkzhyphenhyphenGfYBUJchvCC6hbZBs50uUSi0li6qk50WsUCHTyfM0XmCrdcOmgBRRV8FpFWBHpmuA7haqAJDQxfRgy_yzcjd6KvwdmwmKutUlLmtZLSi4vCr7Q/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gFApll_DpqvZX5fl73kzQjtwmaaO5RZE_2-MUrzIOJqD4V118z6fK4lYvSbz-jYuZbVtt_NmdkzhyphenhyphenGfYBUJchvCC6hbZBs50uUSi0li6qk50WsUCHTyfM0XmCrdcOmgBRRV8FpFWBHpmuA7haqAJDQxfRgy_yzcjd6KvwdmwmKutUlLmtZLSi4vCr7Q/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on June 8, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The crew of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Far
Horizon</i> woke from their five-year voyage from Tartarus in 2105 C.E. to find
themselves in a different world. The political situation between Earth, Mars,
and Luna had degraded and, eventually, resulted in outright war. This was
humanity’s first orbital war, and it was almost its last. Mars and Luna had
long complained about the Earth powers’ economic exploitation of them, and the
war resulted from Luna’s declaration of independence. The U.N. cut them off, to
show them how dependent they were on imported resources. Perhaps this would
have worked over the long run but Luna didn’t plan on starving. They
interpreted the U.N.’s actions as an attempt to wipe them out and played their
only card; the high ground.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It only took five rocks for Earth to surrender but those
rocks killed over two billion people and left vast swathes of the surface
uninhabitable for generations. The crew returned to a world where no one owned
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Far Horizon</i> and there was no
space agency left to give the faster-than-light drive model to. They had what
might be the single most important scientific discovery in human history, and
there was almost no one left to make use of it. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They decided that they could not trust any of the factions
currently engaged in an interplanetary cold war backed by kinetic doomsday
weapons and stashed the FTL model, and the data they had collected, on a
nameless asteroid. They found that there was still work for a ship as capable
as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Far Horizon</i>, some of it even
scientific, and took whatever jobs they could find to keep the lights on. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>116-2108 C.E.</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They were returning to Mars from a scientific survey mission
to Enceladus when they picked up a S.O.S. signal from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star of Rhea</i>. The ship, which was less capable than the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Far Horizon</i>, was travelling from Titan
to Mars when, five months into its journey, it was hit by a micrometeorite and
suffered massive air loss. The message indicated that there were two men
aboard, Dieter Park and Sam Wilson. They estimated they had only one month of
air left, with two months remaining before they reached Mars. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Far Horizon</i> could reach the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star of Rhea</i> in two weeks if they slowed
down. There did not appear to be any other ship that could reach her within the
timeframe required. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lukas attempted to inform the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star of Rhea</i> that they would be able to reach them in time, but was
unable to establish radio contact. They proceeded to decelerate in order to
make the rendezvous anyway.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>130-2108 C.E.</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Far Horizon</i>
approached the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star of Rhea</i>, they
could see the damage caused by the micrometeorite hit through the common area.
They could not raise the crew by radio or get a response to coded flashes of
their exterior lights. Lukas made the call to send a team over using the
shuttle to provide assistance. Sven, Kurt, Bob, Katiya, Jason, and Vic suited
up.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bob had no difficulty
docking and they split up once they were aboard. Bob and Vic headed for the
bridge, while Kurt and Katiya headed for the habitation deck. Jason and Sven
stayed with the shuttle for safety. Bob got to work on recovering the black box
for CASS to analyze while Vic ran some life support diagnostics. He was
surprised to see that oxygen depletion over the last week and a half was
consistent with one person and not two. A preliminary scan of the black box
information confirmed the incident and loss of air volume as reported. Bob also
noticed that the crew logs initially called for three members but Dave
Pendleton got sick two days before departure. The owners of the ship were able
to get a safety waiver processed allowing the trip to proceed with only two crew members. In Bob’s experience, these kinds of waivers were rarely granted. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kurt and Katiya found the common area of the habitation deck
still in a state of disrepair, with papers and small items laying where they
had blown following the impact. Kurt took a brief inventory of the common ship
supplies in the common area and noticed a discrepancy in the medical kit. One
syringe was missing from the supply and the bottle of atracurium, a paralytic
used for operations, had a large dose missing. Katiya examined the holes left
by the impact on either side of the common room and reported that she could not
determine which was the entrance hole and which was the exit. Both seemed to
have been subjected to an inward force. She admitted that it was possible that
this was because of something that happened during the patching process, and
said she would need to EVA and examine from the outside to be sure. Next, the
two turned to the cabins. One was neat and tidy, with hardly any personal
effects beyond clothes and toiletries. The second had clearly not been used at
all. The final cabin had several copies of the Bible and pamphlets about The
Church of Heavenly Stigmata strewn about. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Having not found anyone in the two most likely places, they
decided to move about the ship some more. They decided that Bob and Kurt would
head to the launch deck, Vic and Sven would go to engineering, while Katiya
would return to the shuttle with Jason and prepare for her EVA. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When Bob and Kurt reached the launch deck, they noticed a
table set up on the floor in the center of the room. Looking around, the only
place that they saw where someone could be hiding was in the lander itself. Bob
opened the door to the lander and found a man sleeping on the floor. He was
middle-aged and disheveled. The man jerked awake as the door opened, and
blinked several times, confused by the appearance of space-suited strangers. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bob turned on his external speakers, “We are the crew of the
<i>Far Horizon</i>. We are responding to your distress signal and are here to
rescue you. What is your name and where is the other crew member?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I am Sam Wilson, the only surviving crew member of the <i>Star
of Rhea</i>.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What happened to Dieter Park?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“When we realized that we did not have enough air remaining for
both of us to make it to safety, we drew straws to see who would live. Dieter
drew the short straw and killed himself using the airlock.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We announced we were on our way to help you two weeks ago. Did
you not get the message?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We were not able to receive any radio traffic after the
accident. We were never sure whether our message even got out. We waited as
long as we could before drawing straws.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why are you sleeping in the lander?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Honestly, the idea of sleeping in the habitation deck with
only those patches keeping the air in freaked me out. I know it doesn’t make
sense, but I just could not feel safe there.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bob indicated that he understood and then asked a few more administrative
questions while Kurt performed a short medical examination. Kurt indicated that
he could find nothing wrong with Wilson. When asked, Wilson told them that he
had been living in cabin number one. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Vic, hearing that they had located the only survivor on the
ship, let Sven continue on to engineering and headed up to the launch deck. As
soon as he stepped onto the deck and saw Sam Wilson, he motioned for Bob to come
talk to him while Kurt was finishing up his medical tests.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t care what that man said his name was, he is the
Reverend Kavanaugh from the Church of the Heavenly Stigmata. I would recognize
him anywhere. Apparently, my mother became a follower while we were on the
Tartarus mission. It is a full-on crazy cult that thinks Space Jesus left
messages on Mars telling them how to get to some Garden of Eden planet. Mom and
I had a big fight about it when I got back.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they were talking, Kurt gave the man something to drink
and came over to talk with them. Vic quickly filled him in on the man’s real
identity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So, we can’t believe anything he said about how Dieter died
either?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I wouldn’t. It isn’t really our job to solve mysteries out
here. Let’s just subdue him and put him in one of the cryo pods until we get to
Mars.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I still have the bottle of paralytic drug I found in the
medical kit. I assumed that Dieter used it before he spaced himself after he
told us his story, now I am less sure. If one of you distracts him, I can jab
him in the neck, he’ll go down in a few seconds.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Vic nodded and the three walked back over to Kavanaugh.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Reverend Kavanaugh, I am afraid we have a lot more
questions for you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The shock barely had time to register on his face before Kurt
plunged the needle into his neck.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What the hell?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kavanaugh spun and saw Kurt behind him, needle in hand as
Vic grabbed his arms from behind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Easy, buddy,” Vic said, “Just enjoy your nap.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A long several seconds passed and the reverend was still
standing. Kurt, confused, examined the bottle more closely.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Wait, this is just water in here. What is going on?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I can explain,” Kavanaugh said, “When we first realized
that there was only enough air for one of us to survive, Dieter… no, both of us…
we went to a dark place. We became paranoid. One day I noticed that the seal
had been broken on the medical kit. When I opened it, I saw that bottle’s label
was facing the back. I realized that Dieter planned to poison me… or was at
least thinking about it. I decided to take the option off the table and
replaced the contents of the bottle with water. I wanted to give him the benefit
of the doubt. Maybe it had just been a moment of weakness. I was also afraid that,
if I confronted him with what I knew, violence would be inevitable. The next
day, during breakfast, he jabbed me with the needle. When it did not work, I
confronted him, and he admitted his plan. It was then that we drew straws to
see who would go out the airlock.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why didn’t you tell us?” Vic asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Because I liked Dieter. I cannot stress enough how dark
those four days were. We were both paranoid. At some level, we were both
thinking it. He did what was right at the end. I saw no reason to sully his
name and harm his family.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why did you lie to us about your name? Did you lie to
Dieter too?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No, Dieter knew who I was. There are many people throughout
the system who hate me for what I preach and believe. There have been at least
three attempts on my life in the past. I always travel under a fake name.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We do not know what to believe at this point,” Bob said, “We
are going to bring you back aboard our ship and put you in cryo until we get to
Mars.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I understand.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they were taking Kavanaugh back to the habitation deck,
Sven radioed to tell them that he had found two missing explosive bolts on a
flange. The flange was on a pipe connected to the reactor area and the
explosive bolts allowed it to be severed in case the reactor had to be
separated. The flange had a total of twenty-five bolts. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At this point, they decided to go ahead with Katiya’s EVA to
look at the impact damage from the outside. After twenty minutes, she reported
back that it was clear that both openings were from a force focused inward.
There was no exit wound. Furthermore, both holes had been formed by a small
explosive charge, not a small rock. She also reported that she found a wrench
jammed between two supports outside the hatch. It was likely it had been
dropped by someone on EVA, or possibly blown out the airlock and got stuck. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While she was cycling back in, Jason inspected the crew suits
and told them that only the suit with Dieter’s name on it had been used
recently. When Katiya came through the airlock, Bob immediately noticed that
the wrench had blood and hair on it. </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-68014297714435356782023-11-27T21:01:00.005-05:002023-11-27T21:01:42.432-05:00Traveller: Session 19<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wEMQj6bRhA5rIkbqfBsRZIawYc1z68MPOM9mhEZSCowjVSVYjQJBBgcXDeoZ3YZng0OlsI95ZyV09IBMMgpuOUH9qW7vEMcuFnx4_EuEQ-kAOwK5JgjncpbFgLNmaPjRkcefeZosjUI73gqOP-W-CcQcT-MSeXwSTgrF1a3UAVrNr7vs5EPKbFdU0Ew/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wEMQj6bRhA5rIkbqfBsRZIawYc1z68MPOM9mhEZSCowjVSVYjQJBBgcXDeoZ3YZng0OlsI95ZyV09IBMMgpuOUH9qW7vEMcuFnx4_EuEQ-kAOwK5JgjncpbFgLNmaPjRkcefeZosjUI73gqOP-W-CcQcT-MSeXwSTgrF1a3UAVrNr7vs5EPKbFdU0Ew/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on February 9, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 63</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With the submersible mission and refueling operations
complete at Area 58, they decided to move on to investigate another area. Based
on the damage from collisions the <i>Far Horizon</i> had suffered and CASS’s
strange behavior, they decided that they had to assume that they might only get
a chance to investigate one more site. They chose Area 23, as the strange
radiation readings there were the most promising lead they had and prepared to
fly the shuttle over. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On board the <i>Far Horizon</i>, repairs following the
collision with the moon fragments continued. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 64-65</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bob had no issues piloting the lander from Area 58 to Area
23 and was able to safely set down about 500 meters from the cliff face where
the radiation readings originated from.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 66</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suited up and Vic and Katiya headed for the cliff face
to perform some preliminary scans. Bob and Helen set up the heaters to avoid
refreezing around the lander nozzle and started the fuel processor. Kurt and
Shireen stayed aboard the lander as backup. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While setting up the scanner, Katiya suffered a blowout
around her cuff. Vic struggled to patch the suit as it took a few seconds to
bring Katiya’s arm under control. Kurt and Shireen wanted Katiya and Vic to
return to the lander to examine the suit, but Katiya denied the request, saying
that there was no reason to think any of the suits were better than any of the
others at this point and she didn’t want to waste any more time. They resumed
scanning the cliff face.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 67</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The completed scan showed that there was a hollow area,
perhaps a tunnel, twenty-four feet into the ice of the cliff face. There was no
doubt that the radiation was emanating from there. Vic confirmed that even
accounting for the attenuation from the ice, the radiation would still not be
harmful to suited humans. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After a back-and-forth discussion, the team determined that
there was likely not enough time to use the tunnel digger to reach the opening
and decided to use the explosives to blow off the cliff face instead. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kurt, Helen, and Shireen left the lander to bring the
explosives to the cliff face, while Bob stayed aboard as backup. While they
were on their way to the cliff face, Katiya began to experience sever visor
fogging. Since the controls to adjust the environmental balance were now
wrapped in a patch on her cuff, Vic had to manual adjust the settings on her
backpack to clear the visor. </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 68</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Shireen set up the explosives along the cliff face. She
cautioned that, while she understood the basics of who the charges worked, she
had no real training or experience. They told her to make the best estimate she
could on how much to use and how to shape the charge. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They retreated from the cliff face and Shireen remotely
detonated the explosives. The cliff face collapsed cleanly, but Some of the ice
hurled into the air travelled further than expected and rained down on the area
they were standing in. One chunk hit Shireen, bruising her arm, but did not
damage her suit. They called Bob out from the lander and began making their way
to the opening in the cliff face. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 69</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The opening proved to be an artificial tunnel that had been
burrowed into the rock cliff face. A metal hatch had secured the opening, but
it was now bent and blown to the side, allowing them to pass. Bob examined the
hatch and determined that the damage was not from their explosives and that the
hatch was very old. Based on the amount of degradation in the metal, he
estimated that it must be at least a hundred thousand years old. They moved
through the opening and proceeded down the tunnel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After about twenty meters, they encountered a semicircular
chamber off the left side of the tunnel and two alcoves cut into the rock on
the right. Vic and Bob went into the semicircular chamber and found it empty except
for piles of brown sludge on the floor with two metal poles sticking out from
them. Bob took samples of the sludge and cut off a section of one of the poles
as a sample as well. He theorized that the sludge might be from the degradation
of composite materials over time. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Helen found four hexagon markings on the wall of one of the
alcoves. They appeared similar in design to the ones they had found earlier,
but she was not able to determine what they represented. She tried pushing on
one, but the wall seemed to be solid. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They made their way another twenty meters down the tunnel
and were met with a metal door blocking their way. The door was jammed, and Vic
began working on it with his crowbar. While Vic was working on the door, they received
a message from CASS letting them know that she had completed her analysis of
the pulsar chart they had found. The origin point seemed to be Tau Ceti. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 70</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After Vic pried the door open, they found themselves in a
large chamber with a raised dais at the far end. There were also two small
passageways leaving the room in the opposite wall. Kurt investigated some
panels against the right-hand wall and noticed that they had dials, levers, buttons,
and switches similar to those found on an audiovisual control panel on Earth.
He mentioned this to the others, and they cautioned him not to touch anything. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They chose to investigate the left had corridor first and,
after about twenty meters, it opened into a hemispherical chamber with a dais
in the center. The ais was covered in the same brown sludge they had found in
the alcove earlier. There was also a hall leaving the room on the right-hand
side, which they guessed would link up with the right-hand corridor.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their hunch proved correct; the hall led to another
hemispherical room that also mated with the right-hand corridor from the large
central room. There was another passageway, leading away from the central room,
in the hall linking the two hemispherical chambers, but it was partially collapsed,
and Bob’s instruments showed that the radiation levels spiked, so they did not
explore any further in that direction. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The second hemispherical chamber was dominated by some kind
of machine on a dais in the center. It was badly corroded, and the remaining
metal was very thin. It had the general shape of a get engine and, despite its
poor condition, many of its internal parts were still present. Since it was
only two meters long, they decided to take with them and carefully rigged a
sling to carry it in.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 72</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They moved back into the central chamber and noticed that
the dais had some kind of hatch in it. Kurt and Helen decided to explore the
hatch while Shireen and Bob took the device back to the lander and Vic stayed
in the central chamber to maintain a link between the two groups. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The hatch lifted away easily, and Kurt could see the floor
of a corridor that faded out of sight in both directions about eight feet below.
He and Helen rigged up a tripod and pully to lower him down. As soon as he cleared
the hatch his vision exploded into different colors, he lost his balance, and
he began to spin wildly on the rope. Over the radio he could hear that the
others were experiencing similar vision and disorientation problems as well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Aboard the <i>Far Horizon</i>, the effects were less
dramatic on a personal level, but the overall effect was far more dangerous.
The crew in orbit experienced a momentary bout of vertigo and then alarm
klaxons began to sound throughout the ship. CASS reported that their orbit had
suddenly decayed and that they were in danger of impacting the planet. Lucas
made his way to the bridge and found that the ships orbit was now several
thousand miles lower. This seemed impossible since the crew had not experienced
the kind of acceleration that would have been required for the ship to have
moved this much.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He ran back the sensor readings for the last few minutes and
determined that the ship had not moved at all. In fact, Tartarus had instantly
dislocated several thousand miles in the direction of its north pole. This
placed the <i>Far Horizon</i> in an unsustainable orbit. Lucas ran a few
calculations and determined that he could not afford the fuel required to bring
the ship to a stable orbit but, if he did nothing, the ship would impact
Tartarus in two hours. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He was able to make minor adjustments that bought them five
hours at most. The <i>Far Horizon</i> now had to burn for home by hour 79 of
the mission instead of hour 96 as planned. The crew on the surface had to start
back now. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 73</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kurt and Helen abandoned their search of the corridor beneath
the hatch and joined Shireen and Bob in loading the device in the lander. With everyone
else out of the complex, Vic decided to push some of the buttons on the control
panel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As Kurt has suspected, it turned out to be an AV control
panel; touching it started a holographic display projected into the center of
the chamber. The hologram depicted a machine, like the device they found but
larger, mounted in a vast cavern. Humanoid figures, barely discernable in the strange
green light, moved about the machine fiddling with various controls. Suddenly, light
burst from the machine and the figures around it seemed to catch fire, running frantically,
and waving their arms. The hologram cut to an overlay of a star system with a
single yellow star orbited by three planets. The outermost planet flickered out
of view and reappeared much further out in the system. A few seconds passed and
the planet flickered and moved again. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Given the reports coming from the <i>Far Horizon</i> and the
hologram he had just seen, Vic had no doubt what the machine was. They had to
get it safely back to Earth. They had found some kind of faster than light
drive. A larger version of that drive was clearly still malfunctioning and
moving the planet. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 74</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With everyone back on board, and the strange machine
carefully secured, Bob started a burn to bring the lander back into orbit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 75</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they approached the <i>Far Horizon</i>, realizing that
the hatch-to-hatch docking they would have to do with the vehicle bay destroyed
would be much harder than a standard landing, they decided to have most of the
lander crew spacewalk over before Bob attempted to dock. Everyone but Bob and
Shireen used tethers to get aboard the <i>Far Horizon</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 76</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bob and Shireen lined up to attempt the tricky hatch-to-hatch
docking procedure and started to close. At the last second, Bob realized that
his closing speed was too high and he tried to abort. The abort failed, they
slammed into the airlock hard, and the lander initiated the emergency power
shutdown procedure. Shireen managed to abort the procedure before full shutdown
and Bob repositioned for another attempt.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hour 77</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Once Lukas had cleared the lander’s docking hatch through
visual inspection, Bob started his second attempt. This time he achieved a clean
dock without any complications, and they moved the device into the <i>Far
Horizon</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Once everyone was safely aboard and secured, Lukas started
the escape burn to head back to Earth. They managed to escape orbit and set a
course for home, but they were not able to achieve the optimal orbit and calculated
that the trip home would take five years. </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-24165050464890666572023-11-25T17:44:00.005-05:002023-11-25T17:44:56.477-05:00Traveller: Session 29<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixlYYrOajy7xyyxftwzXW2h5Py3qkK88hYR3BFKjmvL0KTKnowA5FFGeHEJ222OK3hLUMCR4j5pcon0ixFrHtw0piTq9jFNwlsCdt-05WWNselUUtKXVgbkfzQyMtIq2OUOt4z9hOWmjidc0CZ1BOI-ot2W214kdmNN4JB8Wow8eZcvZ-TVjqUq2mTcqU/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixlYYrOajy7xyyxftwzXW2h5Py3qkK88hYR3BFKjmvL0KTKnowA5FFGeHEJ222OK3hLUMCR4j5pcon0ixFrHtw0piTq9jFNwlsCdt-05WWNselUUtKXVgbkfzQyMtIq2OUOt4z9hOWmjidc0CZ1BOI-ot2W214kdmNN4JB8Wow8eZcvZ-TVjqUq2mTcqU/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on May 18, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>023-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After they had put a few hours between themselves and the
gas giant, Aryanna realized they had a new problem. She had used a sedative on
Aminaha out of fear of her psionic abilities, but she could not use that
sedative for the rest of the trip. The sedative she had used was safe for short
term use, but never intended to keep somebody under for a few days. In fact,
just using it for more than a couple of hours raised ethical concerns for her.
They were going to be forced into a situation where they would have to deal with
the Zhodani noblewoman without any kind of suppression.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The travellers briefly considered removing the helmet from Nadeemi’s
head and putting it on Aminaha, but M’han pointed out that Aminaha had a chance
to use her psionic abilities and had only used them to influence Aryanna’s
perception of Nadeemi. They had no idea what Nadeemi would do if he was able to
use his abilities. They eventually decided to just keep her in the airlock and
warn her that it was on a hair trigger. They also decided to always have one of
them on guard.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>024-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">IN the early morning hours, Aminaha sent a telepathic
message to Hal, who was standing guard at the time. She did not attempt to
influence his emotions or actions in any way, just spoke to him with her mind.
She told him that Nadeemi was very dangerous. The whole purpose of their
mission, from the beginning, had been to find imperial children who were
psionically strong and bring them back to the Zhodani Consulate. They did not
see this as kidnapping because the way the Imperium treated psions was barbaric
and no child should be subjected to that. Ultimately, many Zhodani hoped that
the Imperium would see the error of its ways and end the Psionic Suppressions. They
even hoped that children like the ones they had captured might help to bridge
that gap someday. Nadeemi had a far more extreme view than most Zhodani. At the
height of their mission, it became clear that he never intended to bring the children
back to the Consulate but planned to kill them all. She, as the political
officer, orchestrated his capture. Reeducation on the ship was not possible, so
he was imprisoned and fitted with a helmet that suppressed his abilities. Unfortunately,
he had a bomb aboard the ship as a contingency and it went off, probably
because it required periodic input from him to not explode. She begged Hal to
not trust Nadeemi. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile, on Last Exit, Arenui and Abigail went to the
station to meet with Chakraborty. They settled in around a worn conference
table and he offered them some minty seeds before they began. He told them that
the police were very close to bringing Fat Tony down. They believed that, on
top of his hard to prove racketeering activities, he was at the center of a
money laundering operation that presented a sector-wide danger to the Imperium.
They just needed an excuse to search his office, and that is where Abigail came
in. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He wanted her to go to the casino under the guise on trying
to make things right with Fat Tony. She would be brought into the back area of
the casino and, Chakraborty had no doubt, at least threatened with violence.
The police would be standing by outside and as soon as there was threatened or
actual violence, they would come in. This would give them all the justification
they needed to search the casino offices. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abigail decided she wanted to do it, but on the condition
that Arenui accompany her. Arenui thought the whole things was a bad idea but
agreed. Chakraborty told them to be ready to go in the morning.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>025-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Aboard the <i>Hollow Ranger</i>, Nadeemi stayed quiet in his
straitjacket and Aminaha made no more trouble from the airlock. They decided
that they did not know who to believe but, since Zarf was bound by accepting
Nadeemi’s request for asylum, the best thing to do was find a way to take the
four Zhodani and the kids to the nearest Navy base. There was no way that the <i>Prismatic
Ray</i> could transport them all, so they were going to have to charter
something and hope that the Imperium would reimburse them later. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arenui and Abigail were wired up at the station and then
took a series of four buses to the casino to break the chain back to the
police. As soon as they entered, they were flagged by security and quickly
surrounded by Fat Tony’s heavies and brought to the back. They were led to Tony’s
office where the boss, whose nickname was an understatement, sat with two of
his goons. Abigail immediately launched into a speech about how she could get the
money to pay Tony back over the next couple of months if he would just give her
time.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He cut her off and told her that it wasn’t about the money,
it was about the cheating. He couldn’t let people think that they could take
advantage of him and get away with it. He remarked that he needed to make an
example out of her but, since she had done him the favor of surrendering, he
would make it quick and only take her friend’s hand. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arenui decided he had heard enough and sprang into action.
He snapped open his collapsing sword and took down one of the guards in one
swipe. The room was filled with yelling, gunfire, and blood. By the time the
smoke cleared, the other guard was dead and a badly cut up Fat Tony was in
police custody. Chakraborty was impressed with Arenui’s swordsmanship. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>026-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <i>Hollow Ranger</i> made it back and the travellers
started looking for a transport they could hire to take on the Zhodani and sixty
kids in cryo pods. Abigail decided that she wanted to leave with them. She did
not feel safe, even with Fat Tony behind bars. They were able to collect 2.5
MCr. from their salvage rights for the pinnace. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-68181851681404576052023-11-25T12:48:00.005-05:002023-11-25T17:14:33.403-05:00Traveller: Session 28<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDr1Ri18BW6FctpeKnSZo-IRfOe2yThnVAyZtO9wvNR-27YxJgOBReoM1Y1H2wLItI3CixyBW_cSKk_jLZ3_Ea_AYELREkYE-GkKdvd80679fbEjSwSzOKcGvaWRBPvOClWeEcjL2NSc_cqCnI1J3Haws_F8mcMhCVp3r9zlek1FUHJLI7F_w9qvw8yU/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDr1Ri18BW6FctpeKnSZo-IRfOe2yThnVAyZtO9wvNR-27YxJgOBReoM1Y1H2wLItI3CixyBW_cSKk_jLZ3_Ea_AYELREkYE-GkKdvd80679fbEjSwSzOKcGvaWRBPvOClWeEcjL2NSc_cqCnI1J3Haws_F8mcMhCVp3r9zlek1FUHJLI7F_w9qvw8yU/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on May 4, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>023-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Marven carefully maneuvered the <i>Hollow Ranger</i> to dock
with the failing Zhodani ship, <i>Ayman Bahamdan</i>. Torvald calculated that they
only had three hours before they would have to separate from the Zhodani ship
in order to escape the gravitational pull of the gas giant. He warned that, if
the travellers did anything to worsen the situation while aboard, that they
could have even less time. Once they achieved lock-to-lock contact, they were
able to communicate with Nawal, the Zhodani prole who sent the distress signal,
thanks to the universal communications couplings. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nawal told them that she was not sure what caused the
emergency but there had been an explosion and lots of alarms went off. She was
stuck in her cabin on B Deck because the door was showing that there was no
pressure in the corridor. She told them that the individual rooms did not have
vacc suits in them. She was not sure if anyone else was alive on the ship. They
told her to sit tight and grabbed a bunch of rescue balls before entering the
Zhodani ship. Marven and Torval stayed behind in case they needed to disconnect
quickly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They found themselves on C Deck and, as Nawal had said, they
were in vacuum. They decided to move directly to B Deck to rescue the one known
survivor before doing anything else. The found a ladder leading up to a hatch,
climbed it, and stepped into what was clearly a corridor of staterooms. They
began knocking on doors until they got a response. Marven confirmed via radio
that Nawal was on the other side and heard them knocking. Aryanna prepared a
rescue ball and they forced the door open. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They worked quickly to get the young woman into the ball and
inflate it. Aryanna then rolled it down the corridor and down through the
hatch. As they no longer had a way to communicate with Nawal, she indicated via
hand signals that she should sit tight for a bit. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>2 hrs 30 min
remaining</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they moved down the corridor, they saw that most of the
stateroom doors read vacuum on the other side. Hal came to one with red and
yellow tape that registered as pressurized and got a response to the knock. Hal
sent pictures back to Marven who, after a quick library data search, told him
that it indicated that the Zhodani had sealed the room to contain a prisoner. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While Hal was determining what to do with the prisoner’s
door, Zarf found another stateroom with a green light indicating atmosphere. He
got a response to his knock, motioned for M’han to join him, and readied
another rescue ball. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They forced the stateroom door open and entered what was
clearly a noble’s room. A Zhodani woman was gasping for air on the floor, and
they rushed to get her in the rescue ball and inflate it. They rolled the ball
into the corridor and down the hatch to B Deck. </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>2 hrs remaining</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Aryanna joined Hal outside the prison room, and they briefly
discussed whether they should risk entering it. Hal pointed out that just
because the Zhodani considered someone a criminal didn’t make them dangerous to
imperial citizens. In fact, the prisoner might even be friendly to them.
Aryanna agreed, they drew their weapons, and forced the door open. Inside, they
saw a Zhodani man, in a straitjacket, with some kind of elaborate helmet on his
head. They shoved him into the rescue ball before he could suffocate and rolled
him back towards the airlock. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While Aryanna and Hal were dealing with the prisoner, M’han
told Zarf that he was going to go down to the cargo deck while Zarf headed for
the bridge. As the vargr made his way down the silent, airless, elevator shaft,
he got a sudden image of cold sleep pods full of children.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>1 hrs 30 min remaining</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Aryanna and Hal, finished with the Zhodani noblewoman,
decided to split up with Aryanna going with Zarf to the bridge while Hal headed
down to join M’han in the cargo area. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">M’han was glad to see that the cargo hold was still
pressurized and that there was a double door between the elevator shaft and hold
so he could enter it without venting the air inside. He entered the lock area
and spent several minutes equalizing pressure. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zarf and Aryanna reached the bridge and quickly determined
that this must have been the origin point of the explosion that had damaged the
ship. The bridge was completely destroyed with only a gaping hole, through
which they could see the gas giant speeding past, where the ceiling had been. Here
and there, a torso remained strapped into a chair, but there were no working
consoles or survivors. Aryanna decided that she would head back to the airlock
and get the three Zhodani in rescue balls aboard the <i>Hollow Ranger</i> while
Zarf headed down to the cargo area to join the others. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the cargo deck, M’han cycled through the airlock and
stepped into the hold. He estimated that there was around one hundred cryo pods
stacked in the hold and a pinnace. He also saw a Zhodani girl hiding behind one
of the stacks of pods. M’han tried to coax the girl out, but she seemed to only
speak Zhodani and kept gesturing to the pods. The vargr approached one of the
pod stacks and wiped the condensation off the window. Inside, he saw a kid of
about ten years old. His first impression was that the kid appeared to be of
Vilan descent, not Zhodani. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As he was looking at the pod, Hal and Zarf cycled through
the airlock. He quickly explained what he found and told them they needed to
start loading the pods onto the pinnace as fast as possible. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>1 hr remaining</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the <i>Hollow Ranger</i>, Aryanna had finished getting
the rescued Zhodani aboard and out of the rescue balls. She began trying to
learn who they were and what they were doing. The prisoner, a Zhodani nobleman
named Nadeemi, immediately requested that he be allowed to speak with a member
of the imperial armed services so he could properly request political asylum.
As he was making this request, Aryanna felt a tug compelling her to ignore him
and restrain him. She succumbed to this and taped the man’s mouth shut. The
noblewoman, Aminaha, told her that Nadeemi was a terrorist who somehow managed
to plant the bomb that damaged the ship before his real identity was discovered
and he was captured. Nawal, the prole, said she was unaware of any of this and
had never interacted with either of the two nobles before. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the cargo bay, Hal quickly determined that there was no
way to fit more than sixty of the cold sleep pods in the pinnace, and no chance
of maneuvering them back through the ship to get them aboard the <i>Hollow
Ranger</i> in time. Disappointed, but determined to save those they could, they
began loading the pods onto the pinnace using the forklift in the bay.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>15 min remaining</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hal, Zarf, and M’han finished loading the pods and got the
Zhodani girl aboard the pinnace. After they launched from the Zhodani ship and
boosted to a safer orbit, they mated with the <i>Hollow Ranger</i> so Zarf
could transfer over. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zarf told Aryanna to remove the tape from Nadeemi’s mouth so
he could hear the nobleman’s side of the story after she relayed what Aminaha
told her. Aryanna resisted this idea saying that she thought that Nadeemi was
dangerous and he should just be sedated or killed. Zarf told her that he
thought she might not be thinking correctly and that it was possible that
Aminaha was tampering with her mind. This shook Aryanna out of her confusion,
and she decided to sedate Aminaha to be safe. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zarf removed the tape from Nadeemi’s mouth and the nobleman
told him that he had been the captain of the spy ship. Several months into
their mission, Aminaha, the political officer, had declared that the mission
had changed and that they were going to “rescue” psionic children from the
Imperium. He refused this order and was imprisoned. The helmet on his head
prevented him from using his psionic powers and he warned them that Aminaha was
a master manipulator. He told Zarf that he should take the helmet off him and
put it on the noblewoman for the safety of everyone on the ship.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After relaying his story, Nadeemi demanded political asylum as
a dissident. Since Zarf, as a scout reservist, was still bound by the laws of
war, he accepted the Zhodani’s request under Article 7 and promised to deliver
him to a Navy base as soon as possible. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>On Last Exit</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile, Arenui and Abigail were trying to keep a low
profile on Last Exit. They spent their time watching movies and using Arenui’s
new pottery wheel. On the evening of 023, they were interrupted by a knock on
the <i>Prismatic Ray’s</i> hatch. Arenui told Abigail to hide in a stateroom
and opened the hatch to find Chakraborty, still wearing Berger’s body, standing
outside. Arenui let him in.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chakraborty asked if he could talk to Abigail and Arenui
told him that she was out right now. The agent smiled and asked the droyne to
tell her that he wanted to talk to her about the possibility of dealing with
Fat Tony once and for all. If she was interested, they could come by the
station in the morning. </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-69192907773344911752023-11-25T09:31:00.001-05:002023-11-25T09:31:29.461-05:00Wilderlands: Session 52<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV_qVG9vocf8XZ7RJTL1RUAzwRGJk2IG_XbfEGwriBFJE-34XH57K3i0lSNO5n9UASFv-V5zQFNK4BcUzBRV5Eo-7enNHzcTHRUGyvu0ELCxzx2Wax6Z3qppBTEHyOmn1daTG08ZPB8vecSPywyKbNhfVzYiPf_yZQi1LdIamOy0qMq7_3lalMSUxF3F0/s640/WILDERLANDS.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="204" data-original-width="640" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV_qVG9vocf8XZ7RJTL1RUAzwRGJk2IG_XbfEGwriBFJE-34XH57K3i0lSNO5n9UASFv-V5zQFNK4BcUzBRV5Eo-7enNHzcTHRUGyvu0ELCxzx2Wax6Z3qppBTEHyOmn1daTG08ZPB8vecSPywyKbNhfVzYiPf_yZQi1LdIamOy0qMq7_3lalMSUxF3F0/w640-h204/WILDERLANDS.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on November 20, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>15 Thawmist 4434</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After catching up with Roderick and Kang, the party decided
to investigate the inside of the giant dome in the White Worm village. The roof
of the dome was still split open from where the giant white worm that the tribe
considered to be their god had bust through during their battle. In the center
of the dome, they found a large hole, 50’ in diameter. They decided to
investigate it, hoping to learn more about the mysterious giant worm that they
now believed was frozen beneath the ice at the Centipede Brothers village. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyOFsYO4D4eIqd5itVHKgiEG97jRheF0M6Kpq00CqfBXQPsj1v6-z-R19MJaXFDLvEjBaWOfyfE5bGOyHt5WWTHfiznwYjDY7MOO3-929HTW1eF36WlgDPMxxHWIlzoD9nyy_Wc5NkgvGyR76CNBkeI13KYxaH7PVr0T7CajnTVJvHwLEmUX5QQ23pzfs/s1264/Screenshot%202023-11-20%20at%207.50.31%E2%80%AFPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="1264" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyOFsYO4D4eIqd5itVHKgiEG97jRheF0M6Kpq00CqfBXQPsj1v6-z-R19MJaXFDLvEjBaWOfyfE5bGOyHt5WWTHfiznwYjDY7MOO3-929HTW1eF36WlgDPMxxHWIlzoD9nyy_Wc5NkgvGyR76CNBkeI13KYxaH7PVr0T7CajnTVJvHwLEmUX5QQ23pzfs/w640-h248/Screenshot%202023-11-20%20at%207.50.31%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stranger lowered a lantern down into the shaft using a rope.
It illuminated a ledge about sixty feet below, he could see that the shaft
continued far beyond that. He could see a horizontal tunnel intersecting the vertical
shaft at the ledge. Tying a rope around himself, the hoop climbed down to the
ledge. As he stood on the ledge, he realized that he could hear his companions’
conversation from above coming from the shaft in front of him. He chalked it up
to the strange acoustics of the dome and yelled up to the others that it was
safe to follow him down. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The proceeded into the horizontal tunnel and, after a short
distance, it opened into a chamber. The chamber had another vertical shaft in
the center of its floor, and they could hear Roderick and Kang’s conversation in
the dome above. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJbhwbCoNKJbnFQCIYtubT4_K2LiysEquqc7gYWE-b2j_U_OZKjGOLGYxJ_tIQuxtkBF7dc0cBROYwQ6Nu2W3I4rrONweQM47wn1DudAmn14HzVGaywUOPFPlywqehdCfphQsSH0Dazkbq2-X6zdMNJlTGatkPJc3d5lgSOmDUGwAYDMpw6EtxO2D6swg/s710/Screenshot%202023-11-20%20at%208.07.46%E2%80%AFPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="668" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJbhwbCoNKJbnFQCIYtubT4_K2LiysEquqc7gYWE-b2j_U_OZKjGOLGYxJ_tIQuxtkBF7dc0cBROYwQ6Nu2W3I4rrONweQM47wn1DudAmn14HzVGaywUOPFPlywqehdCfphQsSH0Dazkbq2-X6zdMNJlTGatkPJc3d5lgSOmDUGwAYDMpw6EtxO2D6swg/w602-h640/Screenshot%202023-11-20%20at%208.07.46%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="602" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They lowered Stranger down the second vertical shaft and
into another chamber. This chamber had a horizontal shaft that connected back
to the main vertical shaft and a pool of water in its center. The pool was twenty
feet wide and four feet deep. The water was green and there was a large, eight-inch
diameter, gem laying in the center of the floor of the pool. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stranger moved along the tunnel and came to a ledge jutting
out into the vertical shaft. He cast light on a rock and threw it down. He
estimated that the floor was around a hundred and eighty feet below. After a
few minutes’ discussion, they decided that they did not have enough rope left
to make it to the floor without removing the rope they needed to make their way
back out. Duycken suggested seeing if they would have more luck descending the
other side of the main shaft from the top. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they started making their way back, Uggmar
decided he did not just want to leave the gem. As soon as he touched the water,
he disappeared. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While they were concerned about Uggmar’s disappearance,
Gwythian pointed out that the last time Uggmar touched something and got
teleported, he wound up somewhere nearby. Rasaz pointed out that he then went
through a portal and wound up on another world and they didn’t see him for almost
a year. They all decided that this weighed in favor of searching the shaft
complex for Uggmar and finding him before he could make things worse. They
climbed back up and began to explore the right side of the shaft. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj91MTG21oH3QolgTm34wv6dkMn2QzOJ5WKByQ_QfGSldxxqBQNi-0MTjjDwOsKkLYaWJxXk_PPAzO4AqFjmBEvAELOFZ6vZQx5AX_duJIJj66Ixhl6v90qbpUw9czSVWJY4ngG_XQgK8ijiwlszgo8E53-2vwr4PSc5YS3lDGaqovkXcVZ1Tq9kRPAZyI/s923/Screenshot%202023-11-20%20at%208.27.59%E2%80%AFPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="923" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj91MTG21oH3QolgTm34wv6dkMn2QzOJ5WKByQ_QfGSldxxqBQNi-0MTjjDwOsKkLYaWJxXk_PPAzO4AqFjmBEvAELOFZ6vZQx5AX_duJIJj66Ixhl6v90qbpUw9czSVWJY4ngG_XQgK8ijiwlszgo8E53-2vwr4PSc5YS3lDGaqovkXcVZ1Tq9kRPAZyI/w640-h450/Screenshot%202023-11-20%20at%208.27.59%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They lowered Stranger to a ledge where he found another
tunnel, which he followed until he reached a split where the tunnel divided
into an upslope and a downslope. He called the others to him, and they decided
to explore the upslope first. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They made their way to a chamber with a crystal statue of a
nude woman in the center. The woman was holding her arms out, hands cupped, in
front of her. At her feet were four clear glass objects cut to look like
gemstones. On further inspection, they had the same shape and size as the gem
they had seen in the pool earlier. Stranger placed a biscuit in one of her
hands, but nothing happened. TicToc cast <i>detect magic</i> and the statue
glowed strongly, but the glass gems did not. The placed one of the glass gems
in its hands, and nothing happened.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They decided to leave the statue alone for now but suspected
that it might be the key to getting Uggmar back. They made their way back to
the split and descended to another chamber with a vertical shaft in the floor.
Next to the shaft, laying in a ring of luminescent fungus, was Gorman, the
missing druid. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv-ja-YLfUGeuUZocgVYeU6bECBWBmABbLCruccZFyd1f2jcXC6BOwk-5iCgy8YRiarohM8on3lazNTpKRS-jgPLXIH_enrDA6qnj9c9XdroylJnhZXHJDm9fOXX8Mms13BlRwoa4pxFg2vIKVlm-2uYEXH8hLjSlskSvAiLcmyAiYFh-1VKuMUIcYcjM/s637/Screenshot%202023-11-20%20at%208.52.48%E2%80%AFPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="580" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv-ja-YLfUGeuUZocgVYeU6bECBWBmABbLCruccZFyd1f2jcXC6BOwk-5iCgy8YRiarohM8on3lazNTpKRS-jgPLXIH_enrDA6qnj9c9XdroylJnhZXHJDm9fOXX8Mms13BlRwoa4pxFg2vIKVlm-2uYEXH8hLjSlskSvAiLcmyAiYFh-1VKuMUIcYcjM/w582-h640/Screenshot%202023-11-20%20at%208.52.48%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="582" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stranger carefully approached and could see that Gorman was
pale and breathing shallowly. He appeared to be asleep with his hands folded on
his chest. He poked him gently with his pole, but there was no response. TicToc
mentioned that she learned about the fey while apprenticed at the Mistwind
Conclave and knew that fungal circles were often linked to the spirit being
separated from the body. Cayuga mentioned that in fairy tales, a hero usually
had to make his case to the faerie court to get someone returned to their body.
There were cases, he added, where true love’s kiss could also awaken someone
from a fairy slumber. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stranger decided to risk getting Gorman out and, with a rope
tied around his waist, stepped into the fungal circle. He immediately felt
crushing fatigue but was able to shake it off and carry the druid out. They attempted
to wake him with goodberries, but there was no effect. They decided to continue
to descend in hopes of finding a way to help both Uggmar and Gorman. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This shaft landed on the floor Stranger had earlier seen
from the large central shaft. He made his way to the center and saw a large (50’
in diameter) arcane circle right below the shaft. The circle was surrounded by
the bodies of twenty White Worm goblins, all had their throats slit. As he
examined them closer, Stranger could see that the goblins appeared to have gone
willingly since they had their weapons belted around their waists. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the rest joined him, TicToc observed that the circle was
a control circle of the type taught at the Mistwind Conclave. She had studied
under the Sorceress El Grab, considered to be the foremost expert on arcane
circles in the Conclave. She told them that the bigger the circle, the more
powerful a being it could control. She thought that it was possible that the
goblins had been sacrificed as a form of blood magic to enhance the power of
the circle. A powerful mage must have drawn the circle to command a powerful
being. TikToc clarified that control circles were not for outsiders like demons,
those required summoning circles. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They decided that the circle must have been used to control
the worm. Judging by the state of decay of the goblins, it must have been after
their encounter with the worm in the spring. Further inspection of the goblins
also revealed that their swords were of a higher quality than expected for
goblins. The swords bore the mark of House Torval. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lord Torval and his brother Armentgart had fled the City
State after a failed rebellion in 4428. It was rumored that they were operating
out of the town of Hledra to the south. Armentgart had appeared in the
tournament, jousting in the guise of the Black Knight before being revealed by Sir
Grant. They decided that the news that the goblins were being supplied by House
Torval was important information to bring back to Byrny.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They decided to break the circle. TicToc warned that any
wizard powerful enough to make such a circle could also construct magical
traps. They backed away and Duycken broke the circle with <i>magic missile</i>.
There was a flash of light and a giant explosion when the circle broke. Fortunately,
they were out of its range. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They climbed back up to the pool and TicToc cast <i>detect
magic</i>, causing both the pool and the gen to glow. They lowered Stranger by
a rope from the ledge above and he was able to push the gem out of the pool
with his ten foot pole. They then carried the gem up to the statue and placed
it in her hands. The gem briefly glowed, then the statue, then the gem briefly
glowed one more time. Cayuga raised the possibility that the statue might be
recharged by the gems but was currently charged. Frustrated, they decided to
rest for the night and have TicToc memorize <i>identify</i> the next day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They climbed back to the surface with Gorman and discussed
the possibility of waking him with Kang, Roderick, and Robert. When Cayuga
asked if Gorman had a true love, Roderick blushed. He explained that Gorman could
shift into bear form and had a bear mate. Unfortunately, the sow had died
earlier in the winter and he and Kang had buried her in Cozsari’s cave. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>16 Thawmist 4434</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the morning, they climbed back down to the statue and
TicToc cast <i>identify</i>. She learned that the statue could be used to
enchant weapons and that it could be recharged after use by special gems. They
placed Vargr’s bearded axe it its hands and enchanted it. They then recharged
it with the gem from the pool and enchanted Rasaz’s bastard sword. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They climbed back out of the shaft and prepared to resume
their reconnaissance of the goblin tribes. TicToc also suggested consulting
with the Mistwind Conclave about the control circle. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-85628078348753560492023-11-25T09:02:00.007-05:002023-11-25T09:02:50.940-05:00Traveller: Session 27<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgicz4sZVtBnGrav-whSQd6cYhV1FXCwMJsAd7rCwGRDllQ2DHIOUgRHbIY2TjzltO-P2YBCUsvHEyDXHfCrx7yQF5E7lU8suN4SKghu7Y0cSeDS8Veo9ky_Nd8e1HLGcijlbAcz7b7J7mr53q3zv7abouE-p_D7ujmTsDsO3LpIiAYHvy7c8Eve3TK6BM/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgicz4sZVtBnGrav-whSQd6cYhV1FXCwMJsAd7rCwGRDllQ2DHIOUgRHbIY2TjzltO-P2YBCUsvHEyDXHfCrx7yQF5E7lU8suN4SKghu7Y0cSeDS8Veo9ky_Nd8e1HLGcijlbAcz7b7J7mr53q3zv7abouE-p_D7ujmTsDsO3LpIiAYHvy7c8Eve3TK6BM/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on April 27, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>019-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After parting ways with Chakraborty, they decided to look
for more work until the slot for the <i>Prismatic Ray</i> opened up at the depot.
Two possible jobs caught their eye:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Abigail Bullet: A woman looking to get off the
planet without anyone noticing. Offering 25,000 Cr.</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Torvald Dent: A drive systems engineer looking
to test a new, high efficiency, thrust drive design. He needs a crew to run his
Scout Type S while he performs the test. 10,000 Cr. for three days of work. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They did a quick background check on Dent and learned that
he was an engineer and, until recently, had been employed by Tukera Lines. They
found some mention of an intellectual property lawsuit filed by Tukera at the
time his employment ended, but it appeared that it was settled out of court. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zarf, M’han, and Arenui contacted Abigail and she gave them
the address of a fish processing plant where fish brought in from Twinsong were
prepared for use on Last Exit. Per her instructions, they waited till after
dark to head over. M’had tried to make sure that they were not being followed
but found it difficult to keep track of everyone in the heavy crowds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When they arrived at the fish processing plant, they found
the side door unlocked. They slipped into the building and were surprised to
see what looked like a woman swimming in the large tank in the center of the
room. It turned out that Abigail was a Luriani, an aquatic branch of Humaniti. She
explained that she had done quite well at the local casino and the owners had
accused her of cheating. At one point, they took her into the back room and
beat her badly. She managed to escape when the guards were distracted, but she
knew they were still looking for her. She was sure that the local police were
in the pocket of Fat Tony, the gangster that ran the casino. The fact that she
was Luriani complicated things. While the Luriani breath air, they cannot
comfortably live out of the water for more than a few days. She would need a
small tank to survive the week-long trip through jumpspace. Zarf felt confident
that they could build one and they took her back to the ship. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>020-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First thing in the morning, M’han and Zarf went out to get
the supplies they needed to build the tank. They decided to split up and have
Zarf get what they needed from the hardware store while M’han went to the aquarium
store to get the necessary filters and pumps. Shortly after they left, Zarf
noticed someone seemed to be following him. He got a look at the man, who was
wearing a black rollneck sweater, in a shop window and realized that he had
seen them last night while they were walking home from the fish processing
plant as well. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zarf ducked into a convenient noodle shop, Pho Shizzle, and
saw the man in the rollneck keep walking. Five minutes later, rollneck came
back down the street and went into the Sky Castle restaurant across the street.
Zarf called Aryanna, who came out to the noodle shop and sat across from him.
After a few minutes, Aryanna decided that she recognized one of the customers
in the noodle shop but could not place him. They decided to reach out to M’han,
who came back from the aquarium store and walked into the Sky Castle. As he
entered the restaurant, came out. M’han attempted to bump into him but missed.
Aryanna managed to get a picture of rollneck and sent it to Arenui.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Back on the ship, Arenui showed the picture to Abigail, and
she identified it as one of the gangsters. The man Aryanna recognized in the
noodle shop got up and followed rollneck as he walked away. Aryanna took a
picture of him and sent it to Arenui, who identified him as one of the cops from
the station. Aryanna headed back to the ship while Zarf and M’han followed
noodle bar and rollneck. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After six blocks, the noodle cop veered off and stopped
following rollneck. Zarf and M’han decided to stick with rollneck and followed
him until he went into the casino. After a brief pause, they followed him in. Once
inside, they were almost immediately intercepted by some heavies who asked what
they were doing there. M’han tried to convince them that he just needed to use
the bathroom, but they did not buy it and escorted them out of the building. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They returned to the <i>Prismatic Ray</i> and worked on the
tank for the rest of the evening.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>021-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The next morning, Zarf, Hal, Marven, Aryanna, and M’han
headed to the <i>Hollow Ranger</i> for the job with Torvald Dent. Arenui
decided to stay with Abigail on the <i>Prismatic Ray</i> to stand guard an “work
on some pottery.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <i>Hollow Ranger</i> was a Scout Type S that had been
modified to carry an oversized sublight drive and extra instrumentation by
removing the jump drive. They departed around 0930 and Torvald seemed happy
with their progress until a severe radiation leak alarm sounded at 2100. A
quick diagnostic check revealed that the leak was coming from a fitting inside
the reactor and would certainly kill them all before they could get back to
Last Exit. Zarf suited up and went into the reactor. He spent the next three
hours carefully repairing the leak.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>022-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Marven took over piloting duties while M’han manned the
sensors for the day. Aryanna provided radiation treatment to Zarf while he
rested.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>023-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They reached the gas giant in the early hours of the morning
and before they could begin their reverse trip, they received a Signal GK from
a ship in orbit. They identified it as a 800 ton Zhodani ship, the <i>Ayman
Bahamdan</i>. The treaties that ended the Fifth Frontier war allowed for both
the Imperium and the Zhodani Consulate to grant each other’s’ ships passage
through their space for trade and academic pursuits. The treaties also applied
the requirement to honor Signal GK’s and other emergency signals. The ship was
not under power, its orbit was decaying rapidly, and they were bound by law to
help. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After a quick analysis, they decided that, while it might be
possible for them to pull the ship into a more stable orbit, they ran a real
chance of making things worse in the attempt. They decided it was best to go
aboard and see if they could do anything to rescue the passengers or correct
the ships orbit. </p>
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{margin-bottom:0in;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-2463266323964468802023-11-24T11:54:00.007-05:002023-11-24T11:54:56.233-05:00Traveller: Session 26<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgywX6r_caB3bobXTCNI2ukos1JvcCNOkDsmvCH4esjSiDvQQLyMaXNPmySwhNy77Y8TRHHftUVjEviSwstLL2lsPNVBXNcIiZ69osgXkh8eBB4AN7KKMFBfMPFGRKVhjrUj2-MK0azMtwhst-jUC_IwmP_sW57KuDQFWtClEQV7T5xdRuVU8l3OdqQViI/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgywX6r_caB3bobXTCNI2ukos1JvcCNOkDsmvCH4esjSiDvQQLyMaXNPmySwhNy77Y8TRHHftUVjEviSwstLL2lsPNVBXNcIiZ69osgXkh8eBB4AN7KKMFBfMPFGRKVhjrUj2-MK0azMtwhst-jUC_IwmP_sW57KuDQFWtClEQV7T5xdRuVU8l3OdqQViI/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on April 20, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>018-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they rode the elevator up to the higher level of the
city, they examined the radio more carefully. Arenui determined that it was not
a commercial radio and that it had strong encryption. Zarf took a closer look
at the statue and thought that it seemed to be really old, potentially
pre-human starflight. Concerned, he asked Trow if there was any chance that the
statue could be an Ancients artifact. Trow told him that he didn’t really know
where it came from and that his grandfather had been a collector of strange
items. He thought his grandfather probably would have mentioned that in his
will if it was. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They arrived at the high-rise apartment building and had to
go through security in order to access the elevator. Zarf and Marven both tried
to hold back weapons but were caught by the scanner and surrender them without
incident. They took the elevator up to Rathe Hawthore’s penthouse to make the
sale. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When they arrived, they were met by Rath’s Aslan bodyguard,
L’Coath. He escorted them into the living room. There were many artifacts on
display from cultures from across the Imperium. Many antique weapons lined the
walls with art objects displayed on tables. A large window, taking up almost one
entire wall, looked out over the city. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Trow began negotiating with Rath over the price of the
statue. The travellers were surprised to hear that they were talking about
millions of credits. Just as it seemed they were coming close to making a deal,
the picture window behind them exploded inward in a shower of glass. Flash bang
grenades sailed in through the window, followed quickly by a police SWAT team
on ropes. There was a brief attempt at resisting, but they all surrender in
less than a minute.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they were being frisked, one of the officers pulled the
strange radio off Zarf and motioned for the leader, a young man with Berger on
his name tag, to come over. Berger ordered Zarf to be separated from the others
and they were all taken loaded into hover cars and taken to the police station.
Once they arrived, Zarf was taken into a room by himself to be interrogated by
Berger. A small bowl of seeds that smelled like mint sat on the table. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Mr. Beetlebrow,” Berger said, “Despite what my nametag
says, I am Agent Chakraborty of Imperial Intelligence. You understand that all
of you are in quite a bit of trouble for trafficking in Ancient artifacts, correct?
That is a very serious offense on its own, but you are serious trouble. What
don’t you start by telling me why we found a SolSec radio on you?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chakraborty began munching on a handful of seeds and pushed
the bowl towards Zarf, indicating that he should try some. Zarf politely
refused as he thought through the implications of Chakraborty’s question. SolSec
was Solomani Security, the Solomani Confederation’s intelligence and internal
security agency. It was extremely powerful inside the Confederation and there
had been rumors of its increased activity here in the Diaspora sector since the
start of the war. Zarf decided he needed to close the information gap a little
before he answered. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So, you are an Imperial Intelligence Agent undercover in
the Last Exit planetary police? That seems like an oddly specific assignment.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chakrabory grinned, “You are incorrect on two accounts. One,
there is no planetary police force since each domed city considers itself to be
a separate sovereign. Two, I am not undercover. I am an agent personality capable
of being uploaded into any person augmented with the correct equipment. Think
of it as an advanced version of skill chips, you don’t just get the ability to
cook Vegan cuisine, you get to be me.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The agent pointed to the seeds again, “Really, I don’t need
to poison you to get what I want. I have been at this for over four hundred
years. Try the seeds, they are quite refreshing.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zarf decided that the truth would be best and explained that
he and his friends had only been hired to escort Trow and did not know the true
nature of the statue. In fact, he had even asked if it was an Ancient artifact
and Trow told him it was not. As for the radio, he had taken it off one of the
gang members that had attacked them in the lower city. He offered to take the
police to the scene of the attack to see for themselves.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That won’t be necessary Mr. Beetlebrow. I have already
inspected the site. Fortunately, everything you said is in accordance with what
your friends, Mr. Backett, and even the gang member we captured told us. This
is a very lucky day for all of you since Mr. Backett’s statue turned out to be
a very elaborate forgery. You are free to rejoin your friends and leave.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chakraborty stopped halfway through the door, “Mr.
Beeltlebrow, try to stay out of trouble the rest of the time you are on Last
Exit. I would not want you to draw my attention twice.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He left the door open behind him when he left. To his surprise,
Zarf found that the seeds were quite refreshing. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>019-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was starting to get light when they returned to the <i>Prismatic
Ray</i>. Trow paid them the 12,000 Cr. he owed them and apologized for the inconvenience.
He then offered them an additional 52,000 Cr. to take him to Nike after they
finished the refit. Zarf asked him if he was aware that the statue was a fake
when he tried to sell it and Trow admitted that the actual statue was in the box
he had left on the ship during the meeting and said that he had always planned
to transfer the actual artifact and only took the replica because he was
worried about whether he could trust Rath. He had intended to tell Rath that he
would bring the real statue once they had agreed on a price as long as there
was no indication of foul play. He intended to find a new buyer on Nike.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While Zarf was dictating the steps he wanted Trow to take to
disguise the artifact if it was staying on the ship, Arenui sent a message to
Chakraborty telling him that the real artifact was on the ship. As they stepped
off the <i>Prismatic Ray</i>, Chakraborty and a squad of police met them and
arrested Trow.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You chose well, Mr. Beetlebrow.”</p>
<p><style>@font-face
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-59701290823747547832023-11-23T22:18:00.001-05:002023-11-23T22:18:05.955-05:00Traveller: Session 39<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgC2LbNHidCMkgGhFjMqtJSVIL8Lcvp6xS7-awSuakfdQnRAPdS8JYoAGlMBI6mecmJJ_SljnUue0Q3GN412_R9Li0i_dz1naW1nEA3vzgVMGLoWPWIYB-t763up1v6svB7dkGWxE1xwJxrTXenQEAGh8qz8kPm_LQE2F9imfMzarD9dw7KpLPI105Sno/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgC2LbNHidCMkgGhFjMqtJSVIL8Lcvp6xS7-awSuakfdQnRAPdS8JYoAGlMBI6mecmJJ_SljnUue0Q3GN412_R9Li0i_dz1naW1nEA3vzgVMGLoWPWIYB-t763up1v6svB7dkGWxE1xwJxrTXenQEAGh8qz8kPm_LQE2F9imfMzarD9dw7KpLPI105Sno/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on August 24, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>216-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the morning, they decided to split into three groups for
the day. Brauer will try to surveil <i>The Thorn</i> to determine if they have
to worry about them interfering with the mission. Carstairs will try to get a
job with the repair facility in order to get aboard <i>The Hare’s Revenge</i>.
Don, von Borkus, and de Groot will hang out in the Lucky Eagle Alehouse in hopes
of getting more information about CAPT Smith. When they exited <i>The Invisible
Hand</i>, they learned that a Causeway class small transport named <i>Yurem’s
House of Clarifications</i> had docked during the night. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Carstairs presented an application for an open mechanic
position and training certificates at the repair facility. The recruiter asked
when he could start, and he told her right away as he did not have any
prospects at the moment. She told him to come back in the morning for indoc. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Don, von Borkus, and de Groot arrived at the Luck Eagle to
see CAPT Smith sitting at a table across from another woman, in civilian
clothes, eating breakfast. Smith was a wiry woman, in her mid-40s, with her
blond hair in a ponytail. The other woman was about the same age, stout, with
dark hair and glasses. They decided to try the same strategy that had worked
for them the day before and took the table beside the two women. It took less
than two minutes for CAPT Smith to fix her gaze on Don, who was leaning towards
her in his chair, and ask if he needed her to speak a little louder. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Don quickly jumped to his feet and apologized. “Ma’am, I meant
no offense. I was merely trying to see if you were Captain Smith before I approached.
I can now see clearly, from your nametag, that you are. We have some business
with you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Smith mentioned that randomly approaching naval officers in
a restaurant was an odd way of conducting business and Don explained that they
were working with Oliver Harris and had some computer parts. He offered her the
manifest of their goods. She seemed impressed but told him she would rather wait
for Harris’s arrival. She briefly introduced her companion, Dr. Delgado, and asked
them to have Harris set up a meeting when he arrived. She dismissed them and returned
to her meal. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile, Brauer attempted to recon <i>The Thorn</i> from
across the docking bay, but one of the crew standing guard by its airlock made
him and approached to ask what he was doing. He tried to use the same tactic he
had used the day before and claimed to be a retired marine who had served
aboard the same class ship. The guard quickly pointed out that the Solomani
Navy did not station marines aboard Corsairs and shooed him away. He found a
spot at the café across from the Lucky Eagle and noticed one of <i>The Thorn’s</i>
crew, poorly disguised in a tropical print shirt, follow CAPT Smith when she
left. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harris arrived around dinner time, and they set up a meeting
for Smith to inspect the cargo at 1200 the next day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Later that night, <i>Yurem’s House of Clarifications</i>
undocked and headed for the jump point. Fourty-five minutes later, <i>The Thorn</i>
also left and followed it. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>217-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At 0900, Carstairs reported for indoc at the repair
facility. He spent most of the morning filling out paperwork, getting briefed
on preventing sexual harassment, and how to properly wear his personal
protective equipment. They broke for lunch at 1200 and gave him a voucher for
the company canteen. It was nice, but he noticed that there only seemed to be
white color workers eating there. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The rest of the crew decided that they would allow Harris,
Smith, and her aides on board, but keep them to the cargo areas where they
would not see anything that might tip them off to the true nature of the ship. They
would then offer them some refreshments where they could observe the cargo
handlers pull samples for their inspection. Don was to spend the morning
preparing a sedative to be mixed in with the food. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When Carstairs returned from lunch he sat through a
slideshow explaining his health, dental, and vision benefits. This was followed
by a session where two company attorneys spent an hour explaining why the
employees of the repair facility did not need to form a union. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harris, Smith, and two aides arrived at <i>The Invisible
Hand</i> precisely at 1200 for their inspection. They were escorted into the
cargo bay and Smith complimented the command crew on how well kept and clean the
ship was. She briefly looked over the cargo before they ushered her to the
small table they had set up with refreshments. As they ate, they explained that
they could provide much higher quantities than this on their next trip, if she
was interested. She indicated that she would be as long as she was happy with
the results of the inspection. The cargo handlers began pulling samples from
the crates she chose and bringing them over. As she looked down at her pad to
read an incoming message, she collapsed. There was a few seconds of confusion,
but the others quickly succumbed to the sedative as well. Unfortunately, Don
had miscalculated the dosage and even his crewmates, whom he had given an
antidote, collapsed. As the only awake person at the table, Don quickly grabbed
Smith’s pad to keep it from locking. He could see that there was a message from
Dr. Delgado on the screen:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><i>Honey, I know you are angry with
me, and I know you are only angry because you are worried. That is why I set
this message to send after I have departed on </i>Yurem’s House of
Clarifications.<i> You should not worry about the work I am doing. I know you
think that the research is dangerous, and possibly illegal, and that you
suspect the Order does not actually have the Confederation’s best interests in
mind. While I have my own reservations about them, I can assure you that my
work on Landell Station is every bit as important to the effort as yours is
here. In fact, I think that it could be even more valuable in the long term. I
will miss you. Stay safe and we will see each other in a few months.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Carstairs was just settling into a briefing on the limited
personal use permitted of company resources when he got a message to return to <i>The
Invisible Hand</i> immediately. He stood up and walked for the door, much to
the consternation of the three HR reps giving the presentation. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fourty-five minutes later, <i>The Invisible Hand</i>
separated from the high port and made for the jump point at maximum thrust. <i>The
Hare’s Revenge</i> broke free and began pursuit half an hour after they left,
but it was too late and outmatched in thrust. <i>The Invisible Hand</i> safely
jumped away. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>238-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The Invisible Hand</i> safely arrived on Xenon and turned
its prisoners over to Daibei Intelligence. Admiral Ten gave the crew a week’s
liberty. </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-42148059642366855652023-11-23T22:14:00.004-05:002023-11-23T22:18:33.341-05:00Traveller: Session 38<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgC2LbNHidCMkgGhFjMqtJSVIL8Lcvp6xS7-awSuakfdQnRAPdS8JYoAGlMBI6mecmJJ_SljnUue0Q3GN412_R9Li0i_dz1naW1nEA3vzgVMGLoWPWIYB-t763up1v6svB7dkGWxE1xwJxrTXenQEAGh8qz8kPm_LQE2F9imfMzarD9dw7KpLPI105Sno/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgC2LbNHidCMkgGhFjMqtJSVIL8Lcvp6xS7-awSuakfdQnRAPdS8JYoAGlMBI6mecmJJ_SljnUue0Q3GN412_R9Li0i_dz1naW1nEA3vzgVMGLoWPWIYB-t763up1v6svB7dkGWxE1xwJxrTXenQEAGh8qz8kPm_LQE2F9imfMzarD9dw7KpLPI105Sno/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on August 10, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>208-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fairbairn was a desert world with very little air and even
fewer people. The seven hundred it did have were all mining corporation
employees squatting in small, run-down domes. They began refueling operations
at one of the gas giants and hailed Oliver Harris. While waiting for a response,
they did a quick scan and saw that they were the only ship currently in space
and that there were only ten down on the surface, all in the 100-200 ton range.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harris responded and told them to meet him at a bar called
The Monkey’s Paw. They took their cutter down to the surface and had to EVA
over to the small dome because it did not have a lock that could interface with
the ship. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harris was a middle-aged man with an angry scar across his
face. He seemed in no rush to start business and paid for the first round.
After making some small talk, they told him that they had 300 tons of computer
parts to offer him. He seemed surprised at the amount; he had been expecting a
much smaller shipment. They told him that this was nothing and that they could
get him much more in future shipments, thousands of tons were available. They
explained that with all the crazy moving around the Imperial Navy was doing,
and the fighting between the different factions’ fleets, no one was really able
to keep track of anything anymore. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He was certainly interested in bigger shipments, but he was
used to small, high value shipments and did not have the ability to move bulk
cargos. Even this shipment would take him several days to unload from their
ship and several trips to his customer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This was the opening they were looking for. They floated the
idea that they could just ship directly to his customer, and he could collect a
broker fee. While Harris did not immediately shoot this down, it was clear that
he was concerned that they would cut him out. They offered him a 5% cut and
tried to put him at ease by telling him that he was their only contact on this
side of the border and they intended to make a lot of money with him. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The size of the payoff was too much to pass up, so Harris
agreed. They decided not to reveal the capability of their ship and told him that
they could only move at jump-2. He admitted that was the limit of his ships as
well. He gave them the name, CAPT Smith, and location, Harp highport, of his
customer in exchange for their promise to not make any deal without him. They
agreed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>210-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even though they felt certain that Harris had not lied to
them about his ship’s capabilities, they decided to stick to the jump-2 route
to be safe. They jumped away without issue.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>214-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They immediately performed a system scan upon arriving in
Harp to determine what ships were present. There was no sign of Harris’s ships
and there were eight jump capable ships docked at the highport:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i>Trenchant</i>: a Seeker class mining ship</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i>Glenwood</i>: a Scout Type S</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i>Gondwana</i>: a Far Trader A</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i>Abigail</i>: a Far Trader A</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i>Scythe</i>: a Subsidized Merchant</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i>The Thorn</i>: a Corsair</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i>The Hare’s Revenge</i>: a Gazelle close escort</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><i>The Barlow</i>: a Heavy Freighter</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They immediately tagged <i>The Hare’s Revenge</i> and <i>The
Barlow</i> as Solomani Navy ships from their markings. <i>The Thorn</i> seemed
to be the only other ship in-system that presented even a small danger to them.
The felt confident that they could take both the Gazelle and the Corsair at
once if they had to. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The decided to refuel at the gas giant before docking with
the highport.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>215-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When docking, they declared 300 tons of TL12 computer parts.
Even though this was not a lie, they decided to bribe the customs officer who
came aboard to be safe. He happily had a couple of beers and then took his cash
and left. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They asked around and learned that the Lucky Eagle Alehouse
was where the Navy crews hung out when they were in port. They made their way
there and spotted two Solomani Navy officers sitting at a table together, CDR
Su Lin and LTJG Sai Saykao. They sat at the next table over and could hear them
griping about the XO’s maintenance schedules. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Capt. Brauer went over to the table, and in the guise of a
retired Solomani marine, asked them if they were on the crew of <i>The Hare’s
Revenge</i>. They confirmed they were, and he told them that he had served on a
Gazelle class ship in his youth. They talked a bit about the quirks of the class,
and he established that Smith was the CO. He also asked them about <i>The Thorn</i>.
They told him that they didn’t know them, and the crew was standoffish. They
thought they looked really squared away though, so they were probably
mercenaries. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When he got back to his table, Brauer opined that the crew
of <i>The Thorn</i> could be mercenaries, but they might also be SolSec. </p>
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{margin-bottom:0in;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-45254182541414293872023-11-22T23:28:00.005-05:002023-11-22T23:28:38.867-05:00Traveller: Session 37<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbcqt2IIdZkju-4As98hOu52vUrijir61Xtp1_ot_YYWMPVOvZizTg_gwVqpXfTmTidn7aQu2nO7DzWK0sS5-tmncpet9KAIBzMZpZVHJm71N56-g-lKucrFb0HCol7YmYta1DR5r64sLDBfG7BxYtFnDZkfQOaz34KGl8_e_Ic0ZvVojvD3XpPfOhh8/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbcqt2IIdZkju-4As98hOu52vUrijir61Xtp1_ot_YYWMPVOvZizTg_gwVqpXfTmTidn7aQu2nO7DzWK0sS5-tmncpet9KAIBzMZpZVHJm71N56-g-lKucrFb0HCol7YmYta1DR5r64sLDBfG7BxYtFnDZkfQOaz34KGl8_e_Ic0ZvVojvD3XpPfOhh8/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on July 27, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>First half of 1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the ships Craig ordered for his covert squadron were
being prepared, Admiral Ten was pulling the command crew for <i>The Invisible
Hand</i>, the first ship and the test case, together. He chose some of the
brightest officers under his command for the mission:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>CDR van Borkus </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Hanzo de Groot</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>CDR Yost van der Deen</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Carstairs</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Don Gerritson</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Capt. Tensley Brauer</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A few weeks ahead of <i>The Invisible Hand’s</i> shakedown
cruise, he started briefing them on their first mission. While he was fairly
confident in the validity of their stolen codes, he did not want to risk an
entire squadron until he had confirmed them. With that in mind, <i>The
Invisible Hand </i>would be doing a few solo missions in Solomani space first. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Daibei intelligence had learned that, due to extended
internal supply lines, the Solomani fighting on the border were experiencing a
shortage of critical ship’s computer spares. Intelligence had managed to modify
parts that fit their need to be operative, but also record data and send it
back. Their mission would be to smuggle a load of these compromised parts
across the border from Xenon to Fairbair. There they would meet a man named
Oliver Harris, a black market broker who had been selling goods smuggled across
the border to the Solomani Navy. A Level One success for the mission would be
successfully selling this load of compromised computer parts to Oliver Harris in
order to get them inserted into the Solomani supply chain.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But Admiral Ten thought they could achieve more than this.
He told them that a Level Two success would be convincing Oliver Harris to introduce
them to his contact in the Solomani Navy so they could develop a direct
relationship. Intelligence believed that Harris was working with a woman named
Captain Gauge Smith, an important Solomani Navy logistics officer. A Level
Three success would be to capture Captain Smith and bring her back for
interrogation. Finally, a Level Four success would be to capture Captain Smith
and any vessels she had under her command. It was believed that she was
actually travelling with a fairly small complement, perhaps only a bulk freighter
and an escort. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The team decided that, given how far out on a ledge they
would be, maintaining their cover would be key. To that end, they decided to
only take two squads of marines with them. They believed that they could pass a
small number like that off as crew and cargo handlers. They also chose the
route they wanted to take to Fairbairn:</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Xenon</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Firine</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Chrono</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Gawain</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Parade</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Trikak</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Fairbairn</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Choosing a route that only required jump-2, despite <i>The
Invisible Hand’s</i> ability to make jump-4, would help maintain their cover as
a run of the mill merchant and avoid giving away their capabilities. It would also
mean that, since they carried enough fuel to make a jump-4 and a jump-2, they
would be able to make a jump-4 getaway, if necessary, without refueling. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>150-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They jumped away from Xenon heading for Firine without
incident. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>157-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When they arrived at Firine, they detected an unexpected
space station orbiting the gas giant they intended to use for refueling. It was
small, able to accommodate perhaps fifty people, and not emitting anything. A
deeper scan revealed that there were four lifeforms aboard the station. They
began scooping operations and, three hours in, detected a tight scan coming
from the station. They decided not to respond, finished refueling, and jumped
away without incident.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>158-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They arrived at Chrono without incident and were able to
refuel at the outer gas giant without interruption and jump away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>165-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They came out of jump in the Gawain system to discover that
the Class A highport had been destroyed. A passenger liner, <i>The Alberta</i>,
was in orbit around the planet and broadcasting a distress signal. They
contacted the ship and talked to Captain Liliana Vargas. She told them that she
had been transporting refugees away from the front a jumped here expecting to
be able to refuel at the highport. She arrived to find it destroyed and, since
the entire population had lived on the space station, no one to help her. <i>The
Alberta</i> did not have the ability to refuel itself at the gas giant because
it was not equipped with scoops. She asked them if they would be willing to
scoop and refine enough fuel for her to jump to safety. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The crew ran some numbers and realized that it would take
them twenty one days to scoop and refine enough fuel to let the big liner make
even a jump-1. They decided that helping the liner was both their duty as naval
officers, and good for establishing their background in the sector. They felt
that in order to make their cover seem more real, they needed to charge for the
fuel though. They charged <i>The Alberta</i> 20 MCr. for the fuel and spent the
next three weeks doing round the clock refueling operations.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>193-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They jumped in to Parade without incident but jumped away
immediately due to the system’s Amber status. They did not want to get caught
up in whatever was going on there and felt confident that they had not been
detected in the short time they were in system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>200-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The dropped out of jump in the outer system of Trikak and
started refueling operations at the gas giant. They were surprised to see an
unexpected safari ship in orbit around the main planet but decided not to
investigate further.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>208-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They arrived in Fairbairn without incident.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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{margin-bottom:0in;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-19294619370290011402023-11-22T22:28:00.002-05:002023-11-22T22:28:39.057-05:00Traveller: Session 36<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbcqt2IIdZkju-4As98hOu52vUrijir61Xtp1_ot_YYWMPVOvZizTg_gwVqpXfTmTidn7aQu2nO7DzWK0sS5-tmncpet9KAIBzMZpZVHJm71N56-g-lKucrFb0HCol7YmYta1DR5r64sLDBfG7BxYtFnDZkfQOaz34KGl8_e_Ic0ZvVojvD3XpPfOhh8/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbcqt2IIdZkju-4As98hOu52vUrijir61Xtp1_ot_YYWMPVOvZizTg_gwVqpXfTmTidn7aQu2nO7DzWK0sS5-tmncpet9KAIBzMZpZVHJm71N56-g-lKucrFb0HCol7YmYta1DR5r64sLDBfG7BxYtFnDZkfQOaz34KGl8_e_Ic0ZvVojvD3XpPfOhh8/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on July 13, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We did not do any actual play this session. Instead, we
created the ship. <i>The Invisible Hand</i>, that we will be using for the next
arc of the campaign. This arc revolves around a covert operations squadron that
Archduke Craig plans to send deep into Solomani space to disrupt their
logistics, gain intelligence, and reduce their ability to wage war in the Daibei
Sector. <i>The Invisible Hand</i> is the first of the ships built for this
mission. While the others are still being completed, it will be testing the
efficacy of the stolen Solomani codes by running missions of ever increasing
complexity and risk in Solomani space. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZeX-kwojiURRFpSY_PXs_LOAXq3swWYJVBSg2aXt4fFbhj9kOb4P1UAI-Wl_KGfplTs7ag3xT_s6cni6hBgyT5N1H1BlSd-rC1XjMRMaBD7WhSfg0lpScrpboB0D9uZzLk6oyIfW-unF2UpcYzmcbgFvtO-CDbs6ZhFWaUyZpUEvLsSXQDUgkBYKFyI/s1508/Screenshot%202023-11-22%20at%2010.22.48%E2%80%AFPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="1508" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZeX-kwojiURRFpSY_PXs_LOAXq3swWYJVBSg2aXt4fFbhj9kOb4P1UAI-Wl_KGfplTs7ag3xT_s6cni6hBgyT5N1H1BlSd-rC1XjMRMaBD7WhSfg0lpScrpboB0D9uZzLk6oyIfW-unF2UpcYzmcbgFvtO-CDbs6ZhFWaUyZpUEvLsSXQDUgkBYKFyI/w640-h267/Screenshot%202023-11-22%20at%2010.22.48%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-ew-7RshDUhnU2LBh_EHm3purlyjLd7vDkKuDzOYxh0cDw7YDAPwp04lyB-RAcz2LeOUvaa8mdnpcvzx01wDC1RgicHkU8D1fxlsQTyFUfbiOykrLHknO0DoaGeI6D5JAUdMeWB_39tRju1UysnPo1vTZ1RqYgHYj_TYN68eVJiUDOZLR5BQIeQ1pYk/s872/Screenshot%202023-11-22%20at%2010.24.33%E2%80%AFPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="872" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-ew-7RshDUhnU2LBh_EHm3purlyjLd7vDkKuDzOYxh0cDw7YDAPwp04lyB-RAcz2LeOUvaa8mdnpcvzx01wDC1RgicHkU8D1fxlsQTyFUfbiOykrLHknO0DoaGeI6D5JAUdMeWB_39tRju1UysnPo1vTZ1RqYgHYj_TYN68eVJiUDOZLR5BQIeQ1pYk/w640-h478/Screenshot%202023-11-22%20at%2010.24.33%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSvMhp96TJHb0SMu5HwYaFxAv6uT4zWBBTGuOh6QyhjAtzccWyS2OSrAP5NPLjg6lzsGFyKEFIwFWh4XyB_A62uIfvGywVIbmJxCtURaoyfNhy6-ETsY3ZQX6W8MD_YrvbdjO9zHlJGuVwskV-6wI96uKJtdtzBNwfxT6EHjluaknHNkM0pIYo7FxDt0/s802/Screenshot%202023-11-22%20at%2010.24.50%E2%80%AFPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="239" data-original-width="802" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSvMhp96TJHb0SMu5HwYaFxAv6uT4zWBBTGuOh6QyhjAtzccWyS2OSrAP5NPLjg6lzsGFyKEFIwFWh4XyB_A62uIfvGywVIbmJxCtURaoyfNhy6-ETsY3ZQX6W8MD_YrvbdjO9zHlJGuVwskV-6wI96uKJtdtzBNwfxT6EHjluaknHNkM0pIYo7FxDt0/w640-h190/Screenshot%202023-11-22%20at%2010.24.50%E2%80%AFPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on September 28, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>044-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This session began right after Ulrich confined the
travellers to their quarters aboard the Ine Givar ship. They decided to do a
quick search of the room. The room was long, with metal beds bolted to the
floor and lockers along one wall. Its original purpose was clearly a bunk room.
Like everything else they had seen so far aboard the ship, the beds were
slightly too long for a human. They searched the lockers and found a strange
skeleton in one. The skeleton had three legs, was about seven and a half feet
tall, and its knees bent the opposite way of a humans. Its skull was slightly
elongated in front, leading the travellers to believe it may have had a snout.
They also noticed that there were scratches on the inside of the locker door.
Had it been locked inside? No matter the answer, it had clearly been dead for
many, many years. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The banged on the room to the door and a guard promptly answered.
They told him about the skeleton they found, and he said that he would get a
ship’s officer to take a look at it. A few minutes later a woman named Sarah
joined them with some food. She was curious about the skeleton but had no idea what
it could be from. She admitted that the Ine Givar had only done a quick search
of the ship before they left. They asked her what her role was, and she told
them that she was the ship’s reactor and jump drive engineer. Aryanna talked to
her briefly about the ship’s drive and Sarah confided in her that she had a
hard time understanding how it worked. It was similar to the Vilani descended drives
but had its own quirks she was still discovering.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Aryanna mentioned that they knew that there was a psion on
board, and Sarah told her that she was the psion. She explained that she had been
on the run since she was a teenager and discovered her powers, which were not
welcome in the Imperium. She could detect nearby life, knock someone out if
they were a few feet away, and even send a telepathic message, but she could
not read or hear another’s thoughts. She had joined the Ine Givar because they
were fighting for people like her to be able to live a normal life in the
Imperium. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Aryanna asked if she would be permitted to check on the cryo
pods. Sarah said that she would come by after breakfast in the morning. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That night, M’han had a strange dream where he was floating
in a featureless, grey void with a black pyramid hovering in front of him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>045-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the morning, M’han told the others about his dream. None
of the other travellers had a similar experience during the night. After
breakfast, Sarah took Aryanna and M’han to the cargo bay. The cryo pods took up
about one third of the bay, with the rest about half-full of old crates. Sarah
explained that the crates were aboard when they took the ship from the ship
graveyard. She thought they were full of old fabric or something.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they inspected the cryo pods, M’han thought he saw
something man-shaped move through the crates out of the corner of his eye. They
started searching through the stacks but could not find anything. Sarah told
them that she did not detect any life in the cargo bay but them. Aryanna asked
her if it was possible that Nadeemi was projecting some kind of image that M’han
saw, but Sarah said that it should not be possible while he was in cryo because
his brain functions would be incredibly slow. A quick sample of the crates
showed that they were indeed filled with bolts of brightly colored cloth. They returned
to their room.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That night, Marvin woke in the middle of the night to the
sound of fighting in the hall. He noticed that the door to their room was
slightly open and peeked out. He saw a crewman lying dead in a pool of blood,
his throat had been ripped out. M’han was lying in the hall as well, seemingly
unconscious, with blood on his snout. Marvin drug M’han into the fresher and
cleaned him off in the shower. He then took him back to the room and tied him
to the bed with some sheets. Shortly after he finished, he passed out in his
own bunk.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>046-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the morning, Marvin was surprised to see that while M’han
was tied to the bed, there was no sign of any violence in the hall, nor had any
alarm been raised. He told the others what he had seen and M’han said he had no
memory of anything other than sleeping through the night. They called for a
guard and Zeke, the crewman that Marvin had seen dead in the hall the night
before, arrived. They told him that they needed to talk to the captain, and he
left to fetch him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They described their dreams to Ulrich and said that, since
none of the crew were experiencing these dreams, that they suspected the dreams
were linked to the room. Ulrich seemed skeptical of this but agreed to switch
the crew staying across the hall with the travellers for the night to be safe. Sarah
pulled him aside, and Aryanna could hear her whisper that the door to the crew
quarters did not actually lock. Ulrich replied that he did not see any reason
to be worried that the travellers would try anything and that he noticed that
the guards had forgotten to lock the room they were holding the travellers in
at least twice anyway. They switched rooms and spent the day reading on the old
data pads that the Ine Givar allowed them to use. That night they set watches.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>047-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At 3 am, while Marvin and Hal were on watch, someone yelled,
“It’s behind you,” in the hall. The sound of running was interrupted by
gunshots coming from right outside their door, followed by more running and
firing. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The others woke immediately, and Aryanna stuck her head out
of the door. She saw one crewman lying on the ground, forward of their room, in
a pool of blood. Another, she recognized as Zeke, was in the hall aft of her
door and was firing repeatedly back up the hall towards the downed crewman. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Aryanna decided to risk the shooting, which did not seem to
be aimed, and dashed into the hall towards the captain’s cabin. She got hit in
the shoulder while running, but her armor stopped most of it. She pounded on
the captain’s door and Ulrich opened it; she could see the XO lying in bed
behind him. She explained the situation and he pulled her into the room and radioed
Sarah to deal with the crewman. A few minutes later, Sarah replied that she had
snuck up behind Zeke and knocked him out. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Aryanna checked the wounded crewman, Dirk, but determined
that he had been killed instantly when he was hit in the head. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After a discussion with Ulrich, the XO, and Sarah, they
decided it would be best if everyone moved into the cargo bay to sleep for the
rest of the trip. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-88751179838784050392023-11-22T00:00:00.006-05:002023-11-22T00:00:49.460-05:00Traveller: Session 43<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbcqt2IIdZkju-4As98hOu52vUrijir61Xtp1_ot_YYWMPVOvZizTg_gwVqpXfTmTidn7aQu2nO7DzWK0sS5-tmncpet9KAIBzMZpZVHJm71N56-g-lKucrFb0HCol7YmYta1DR5r64sLDBfG7BxYtFnDZkfQOaz34KGl8_e_Ic0ZvVojvD3XpPfOhh8/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbcqt2IIdZkju-4As98hOu52vUrijir61Xtp1_ot_YYWMPVOvZizTg_gwVqpXfTmTidn7aQu2nO7DzWK0sS5-tmncpet9KAIBzMZpZVHJm71N56-g-lKucrFb0HCol7YmYta1DR5r64sLDBfG7BxYtFnDZkfQOaz34KGl8_e_Ic0ZvVojvD3XpPfOhh8/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on October 5, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>047-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They spent the morning setting up cots in the cargo bay and
moving the necessary personal items for everyone to sleep there. Aryanna performed
a medical examination of Zeke but could find nothing physically wrong with him.
He seemed lucid but claimed that he had fired at a giant ball with tentacles in
the hall. They decided not to tell him that he had killed Dirk and Ulrich
ordered him restrained for his own good.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">M'han asked Ulrich for permission to search the room again, he
gave it and told Sarah to work with them. They performed a more thorough
examination this time and found a black stone pyramid, about the size of a
bowling ball, under the floor of the locker where they found the skeleton. Being
careful not to touch it, M’han ran an emergency radio over it and detected
static on the G-Band. He did not mention his suspicion that this was an Ancients
artifact to Sarah. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After a brief discussion, they decided to let M’han try
touching it. As soon as he made contact, he fell unconscious. Aryanna easily
woke him up with a low dosage of stimulant. M’han pulled on the gloves from an
emergency vacc suit and tried touching the pyramid again. Nothing happened this
time. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arenui, curious to see if it would have the same effect on a
droyne as on a vargr, touched it, but nothing happened to him. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">M’han volunteered to sleep with the pyramid next to his head
to see if they could replicate the dream incidents. They tied him to the bunk,
put the pyramid directly next to his head, and Sarah knocked him out with her
psionic power. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">M’han found himself floating in space, looking at a solar
system from one of the outer planetary orbits. He noticed that the system
appeared to be inside a globe of light. After observing for a while longer he
decided that the light he was seeing was actually the light from the sun passing
through the globe surrounding the solar system and then immediately reentering
from appoint directly opposite. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He woke up about two hours after being knocked out and
described what he saw to the others. They decided that this physical
configuration was not possible. Arenui volunteered to try, but while touching
the pyramid since that did not seem to affect him in the same way. They
repeated the experiment with the droyne.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arenui found himself standing on a platform above a gas
giant. A droyne, of indeterminate caste, appeared on the platform next to him
and introduced himself as Grandfather. Grandfather, who did not seem interested
in answering questions, told Arenui to bring the pyramid to him. When Arenui
asked him how he would know where to bring it, Grandfather answered that he
would send him a sign.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After Arenui woke up, they tried again with M’han touching
it, but nothing happened.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>051-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The ship dropped out of jump space and jumped again about
eight hours later.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>058-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The ship dropped out of jump space again and Ulrich informed
them that they were in the Tantelos system. He intended to drop them off at an
abandoned, but functional, space station circling the gas giant. Aryanna asked
him if he had radioed for help for the <i>Twilight Ember</i> and he confirmed
that he had done so after the first jump. He told them that there were other
ships in the system, and someone should be able to get them from the station in
about a day. They would be in no danger, and he would have no trouble getting
away. He promised that the kids would be better cared for than if they stayed
in the Imperium. Aryanna warned him about Nadeemi again and asked if they could
keep the pyramid. He replied that he was happy just to get the damned thing off
his ship.</p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-33760716946702655282023-11-19T15:59:00.006-05:002023-11-19T15:59:59.868-05:00Traveller: Session 30<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOr7uStLqSBtx9BxUjhfuS43y-RfYzld5_LZzlu4Lkwp4us6U6ACt3FzzwJ2f1lJiQL6ciWkp-YnGUTY_ckkFqVq1qv0od7eJ5hH7x4oxjlsBmW_6VeMEZj_O1jmF4kRUiWsY-pXS6ftSNGOj3WXyF1y2lqh5fewbjMiYLgRvm1zTgxqQqOmXrtt3_aw/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOr7uStLqSBtx9BxUjhfuS43y-RfYzld5_LZzlu4Lkwp4us6U6ACt3FzzwJ2f1lJiQL6ciWkp-YnGUTY_ckkFqVq1qv0od7eJ5hH7x4oxjlsBmW_6VeMEZj_O1jmF4kRUiWsY-pXS6ftSNGOj3WXyF1y2lqh5fewbjMiYLgRvm1zTgxqQqOmXrtt3_aw/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on May 25, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>First Half 1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the civil war expands and the archdukes spread out, communication
delays play a bigger and bigger role in the domain level game. This means we
have moved to a more abstract way of handling the archdukes, the information
they receive, and the orders they give. The conflict raging throughout the Imperium
has increased in intensity and started to cut the different parts of the empire
off from one another. For example, the Domain of Deneb has essentially been
completely cut off with the loss of Corridor Sector. The Solomani invasion of
the rimward sectors has disrupted communications to that region and the war
between Lucan and Dulinor has made all interstellar travel in the areas around
Core and Ilelish hazardous. More and more, each archduke is able to affect less
and less beyond their own domain. In Margaret’s case, she is cut off even from
that. Any order she sends back to Delphi will be weeks old before it gets there
and based on information that is months old. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Brzk</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Brzk continued to focus on defending his spinward border
with Lishun, working in concert with Ishuggi to funnel the Vargr raiders
towards Lucan. When news reached him that Lucan had declared him a traitor, he
released a statement saying that he was loyal to the Imperium, its history, and
its citizens. </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Craig</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As news reached Arcchduke Craig about Solomani attacks in the
Diaspora Sector in Kidashi, Albadawi, Dingir, and Arcturus, he began to have
suspicions about how fast the Solomani were able to react to Dulinor’s
rebellion. Had they been forewarned? Were they working with Dulinor to divide
Lucan’s attention? He decided it was time to find out more about what was going
on behind Solomani lines. He ordered the formation of a black operations fleet
able to operate in Solomani territory with stolen codes. He hoped to get better
intelligence and disrupt their supply chains. The first ship to be commissioned,
<i>The Invisible Hand</i>, launched mid-year. When news reached him that Terra
had fallen and the Imperial bureaucracy had fled to Vegan space, he ordered
this effort to be accelerated. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ishuggi</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ishuggi continued to face increasing pressure from the conservative
Vilani elements to declare a new Zira Sirku. Their logic was that there was no
chance for an intact Third Imperium following the civil war, and it was best
for the cultural Vilani worlds to band together and look out for themselves.
While this was not without merit, he resisted based on the need to stand by his
allies. He hoped to relieve some of the pressure by accepting a deal brought
forward by the manor Vilani corporations and the large corporations based in
Delphi to perform an asset swap. The Vilani corporations would exchange
holdings in Delphi and the surrounding areas, which they had been cut off from,
with Delphi corporations for assets in Vilani space which they could no longer
control. Ishuggi and Margaret both agreed to this trade as long as it was done
in such a way that it could be reversed at the end of the war. Ishuggi ordered
that the ban on psionic research be lifted and for research to start on the
psionic aspects of the Empress Wave as described to him by Emperor Strephon. When
news reached him of the destruction of whole planets in the Gushemege Sector,
he ordered his forces there to focus on defending the high population worlds.
He also ordered that his trailing depots focus on preparing their output on
building a fleet that could be used to relieve Margaret’s forces. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lucan</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With Adair gone, there was little check on Lucan’s excesses.
He declared that the Imperium would be pursuing a strategy of controlling the
high population planets to seize and hold territory. He announced the formation
of the Vengeance Fleet. Shortly afterwards, Sidur, Ishki, and Polygamy were
destroyed in the Gushemege sector, with over 80% casualties on each planet.
Lucan placed the blame on Dulinor, but it was clear that he intended to destroy
high value planets if he could not hold them, and the Vengeance Fleet
participated in each of those battles. When news reached him of Craig and Brzk’s
refusal to commit their fleets to the war against Dulinor, he declared them
traitors, although it was not clear what meaningful action, he could take
against them. He continued to push the narrative that the man claiming to be
Emperor Strephon on Usdiki was a fraud, even as raids from Usdiki began in the
Gushemege sector. Mid-year, he unleashed a mercenary force raised in the
Glimmerdrift Reaches and the Hinterworlds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Margaret</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After working on the asset swap with Ishuggi, she ordered
the formation of a refugee organization that would focus on getting people
fleeing worlds that were no longer safe for habitation to the relative safety
of Vland Sector. She was horrified to learn that as critical infrastructure was
damaged, and supplies ran out, on worlds not fit for unassisted habitation that
“The Doom Trade” had started in getting people that could afford it off those
worlds. News reached her that, in order to protect her claim to the Iridium
throne, her husband had ordered three of her eggs to be fertilized and
incubated. He had used Strephon’s DNA to fertilize one egg in hopes of creating
the strongest claimant to the throne possible. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tranian</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tranian, frustrated by the long communication times, ordered
his researchers to ignore the traditional bans on psionic research and to
prioritize learning more about the rumored telepathic communications of the
Zhodani. His admirals presented him with a plan to launch aid to Margaret’s
forces in Delphi from the Depot they had captured in Fornast. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on September 14, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>030-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As soon as the dust settled from the Hull Eating Virus and
the confrontation with Nadeemi, Executive Officer Harrison determined that they
had dropped out of jump in an empty parsec. Harrison explained that the <i>Twilight
Ember</i> did not carry any spare fuel to enable another jump. With no gas
giant in sensor range, there was no hope of refueling before they ran out of
life support supplies. When Marvin and Aryanna suggest growing food, Harrison
told them that they would all suffocate before they could survive. She informed
them that they had about four weeks of life support left.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At this point, Aminaha told them that Nadeemi had let out
some kind of psionic scream before they took him down. She told them that she did
not know exactly how it worked, because she did not have the ability itself,
but some Zhodani had the ability to transmit psionic messages across vast
distances at speed far in excess of the speed of light. She cautioned that she
did not know how fast the message travelled, or how far it could go. She also
warned them that Nadeemi may have had a recipient in mind when he sent the
message, so they should be careful if anyone responded. It is possible that
there may be Zhodani aligned with Nadeemi in the area, or other allies. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>031-1118 to 043-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The crew and passengers of the <i>Twilight Ember</i> settled
into a routine of minimizing activity in order to conserve their precious life
support supplies. The captain and Zarf continued to recover from their wounds under
Aryanna’s care and the travellers helped with repairs to the J-Drive and hull.
They decided to leave Aminaha out of cryo because she might be the only
advantage they would have if the response to Nadeemi’s scream came from the
Zhodani or their allies in the Imperium. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At one point, while discussing how to keep the passengers
calm, Arenui asked XO Harrison how long she thought they could stretch their
supplies. She explained that even their best efforts were likely to only add a
few hours, perhaps a day at most. The conservation efforts were more important to
let people feel like they were doing something than they were to actually
extending their life. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>044-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At 0921 hours, a ship dropped out of jump. Zarf, who was
manning the sensors to help make up for the crew shortage after Nadeemi killed
most of the bridge crew, informed them that the ship was a 1000-ton freighter
of unknown design. It was about five hours away at its current thrust. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harrison hailed the ship and Captain Ulrich Thalmann
responded that his crew had received their distress signal, and they were
closing to help. After he broke contact, Harrison noted that he had never
identified his ship by name. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A few hours later, the two ships maneuvered to dock with one
another, and Ulrich invited Harrison to come aboard to discuss the rescue
effort. Zarf, Hal, Marvin, and M’han decided to accompany her. Aryanna and Arenui
stayed aboard the <i>Twilight Ember</i> to ready the cryo capsules for transfer
and keep an eye on Aminaha. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They entered the ship through the passenger airlock and were
escorted to the bridge. As they made their way through the ship, they could see
that it was in ill-repair and appeared to have many jury-rigged repairs;
bundles of communication cables ran through the corridors towards the bridge.
The ship also seemed to have been designed for beings that were about a foot
taller than an average human. When they reached the bridge, the true makeshift
nature of the ship became clear. All of the bridge stations were of alien
design and the writing was in some unknown script. The current crew, which
seemed to be comprised exclusively of humans, had rigged laptops around the
bridge which seemed to be connected to the cables running through the halls.
Zarf surmised that they had completely cut out the original control system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Captain Ulrich waited on the bridge along with fifteen of
his crew. He introduced his Wilma Drex, his executive officer. They explained the
situation aboard the <i>Twilight Ember</i> and that. In addition to the
passengers, there were over sixty people in cryo pods as part of a relief
mission. Ulrich said that his ship was able to take all the passengers and the
cryo pods, but it would be a tight fit since they would have to set up
temporary housing in the cargo bay for the passengers. After some discussion,
they agreed that it would be safer to remate the ships at the cargo locks and
transfer the cryo pods over before bringing the passengers on board. XO
Harrison went back aboard the <i>Twilight Ember</i> to execute the maneuver,
while the travellers stayed aboard the rescue ship to keep an eye on things.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While the others were discussing the rescue effort with
Ulrich, Aminaha informed Arenui and Aryanna that someone aboard the other ship
was a psion. She told them that she suspected it was a woman, and that she was untrained
by Zhodani standards, possibly entirely self-taught. She did not think this was
the sort of thing that could be faked, so it was very unlikely that there were
Zhodani aboard the other ship. They decided it would be best to put her back in
cryo before the other ship learned of her existence. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The ships reconfigured to bring the cryo pods aboard into
the rescue ship’s cargo bay and started loading the cryo pods. Arenui and
Aryanna manipulated the loading process to ensure that the pods with the
Zhodani were in the middle of the sixty pods with children to hide their
presence. They came aboard the rescue ship with the pods. When the cargo
loading was completed, Ulrich asked Harrison if she wanted to bring the passengers
over through the cargo dock and she decided that it might be safer to transfer
them through the passenger umbilical (it had handrails and other safety
devices). They unlocked and began to maneuver to reconnect. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As soon as the <i>Twilight Ember </i>was clear of his ship,
Ulrich ordered a hard acceleration away and sounded the preparation to jump. His
bridge crew drew their weapons and the travellers quietly surrendered. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ulrich revealed that they were members of a group called Ine
Givar, a revolutionary group opposed to the rule of the Imperium and its
treatment of psions. While the Ine Givar were most active in the Spinward
Marches, they operated throughout the Imperium and were often cast as a
terrorist group by the media. There had long been rumors that they were merely a
front for the Zhodani. He explained that their psion, who had not yet been
identified, had detected Nadeemi’s distress call and they had quickly converted
this freighter that someone had hauled into the ship graveyard at Viedma to
respond. They knew that there were both Zhodani and psionic capable children in
the cryo pods. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ulrich told them that he did not wish them any ill will and
that he was prepared to let them off the ship at the first opportunity to leave
them somewhere they would not be able to interfere with his escape. He assured
them that he intended to broadcast the <i>Twilight Ember’s</i> position and
situation when the dropped out of jump. There should still be time for a rescue
mission to reach them in time. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They warned him that he should not trust Nadeemi and
cautioned him against bringing him out of cryo. He thanked them and ordered
them escorted to their quarters. </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-69238213110256633692023-11-18T01:09:00.006-05:002023-11-19T07:52:56.321-05:00Traveller: Session 40<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2KHz_sFxc3T44uOHovTu3aKF6b3tVFtSjC06dfbIyUD1hGn5pnXgTyL3kqNEeV-yHglgn4yAL4SGrsX9ubOqanKELZf1eQjS-fe85X3UcBvL6bdJjFtU3vyymDEHoq44Ofn2vdFWmt8bE356NTS2ZhgpksvQGvzLPfHmpjOjIkHWNWxV6HsBxJ4uViNU/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2KHz_sFxc3T44uOHovTu3aKF6b3tVFtSjC06dfbIyUD1hGn5pnXgTyL3kqNEeV-yHglgn4yAL4SGrsX9ubOqanKELZf1eQjS-fe85X3UcBvL6bdJjFtU3vyymDEHoq44Ofn2vdFWmt8bE356NTS2ZhgpksvQGvzLPfHmpjOjIkHWNWxV6HsBxJ4uViNU/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on September 7, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>026-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They returned to the Last Exit highport with the salvaged
Zhodani ship in tow and collect their reward. They decided that they could not
wait for the <i>Prismatic Ray</i> to be ready before they turned the Zhodani
and the kids over to the Imperial Navy. Zarf has also accepted Nadeemi’s
request for refuge under international law and he was bound, as a reservist, to
get him to safety as soon as possible. They also realized that even though the
sixty kids were in cryo tubes, they could not take them all in the <i>Prismatic
Ray</i> and they did not want to risk letting them out of their sight. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They put Nawal, the Zhodani prole, Aminaha, the noble,
Nadeemi, the alleged terrorist, and the unknown Zhodani girl in cold sleep.
They then booked passage aboard a Jump-4 liner, <i>The Twilight Ember</i>, scheduled
to leave that day. On the way, M’han read the journal that they had taken from
Trow Backett. He learned that Trow’s uncle, Vlen, had been something of an
adventurer. He had encountered several Ancients sites during his career. In one
of those ruins, he found two statues, one of which they had inadvertently attempted
to help Trow sell in Last Exit. Vlen sold the other statue to an unnamed
benefactor who came off sounding a little like a gangster. He also developed a
theory Ancients sites could be found by looking for unexplained interference on
the G-Band. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>030-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Three mornings in, after a wild night of partying with the other
passengers, Marvin woke up next to Sophia Alford with a bad hangover. He
quickly realized that he could not find his clothes and grabbed a towel from
the fresher. He then stealthed his way out of the room and headed back towards
his cabin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As he reached the section of ship that the travellers were
staying in, the hull integrity alarm sounded, and people started sticking their
head out into the corridor to see what was going on. He quickly ducked into
Arenui’s room and was surprised to see the droyne sitting with his arms around
Abigail while she shaped clay on a wheel in the center of the room. He decided
not to question what was going on and they all suited up. They met the rest of
the group in the hall and started to make their way to the hold to check on the
kids and Zhodani. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hal easily hacked the keypad lock on the hold door and let
them in. They checked and all the pods seemed to be perfectly operational and
there was no sign of damage in the hold. Aryanna ducked out into the corridor
and saw a crewman who told her that she needed to get back to her quarters and
to stay in her suit until the emergency was over. She ducked back into the
cargo hold and the travellers started to discuss what their next move should
be. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fifteen minutes later, they heard a loud bang and running
coming from aft of the cargo hold. Arenui tapped into the crew radios and could
hear a discussion of an expanding hole in the ceiling of the right side of the
power plant room. Hal left the hold and walked aft to the engineering area. He
saw the captain standing outside the lock to Engineering and asked him what was
going on. The captain told him that something was eating away at the roof of
the room where the power plant was stored, and that the breach was expanding
rapidly. The crew was inside, in vacc suits, and attempting to cut away metal
before it could spread, but they were not fast enough to stay ahead of it. Hal
suggested that it might be a Hull Eating Virus (HEV). The captain was vaguely
familiar with the term, but always though it might be some kind of sea tale. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hal explained that HEVs were real, although not actually
viruses, and that he was a xenobiologist. The captain allowed the travellers to
go into engineering to see if they could figure anything out. Hal and Marvin
went in and examined the damage. Hal determined that it was a HEV and that it
was spreading too fast to completely stop it by cutting away the affected
sections of the hull. He left Marvin to keep cutting to slow it down and went
back out to talk to the captain.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Once he was outside, Hal told the captain that the only way
to stop this HEV now was to use someone with psionic powers. The captain told
him that, as far as he knew, there was no one with those abilities aboard. Hal
briefly conferred with the others via radio and let the captain know that one
of the passengers they had booked into low passage was a Zhodani and a powerful
psionic. The first mate objected to letting a Zhodani loose on the ship, but
the captain quickly saw that he had no choice and agreed to thaw out a Zhodani
psion.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The travellers quickly decided that based on their
interactions with the two Zhodani psions so far, Nadeemi was the safest to wake
up. Aryanna and M’han brought Nadeemi out of cryo and escorted him aft towards
engineering. As soon as he was in sight of the captain, Nadeemi let out some
kind of psionic scream that stunned everyone and took off running towards the
bridge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hal and Zarf recovered first and chased after him. Aryanna
decided that their best bet to counter Nadeemi was Aminaha and ran to the hold
to start thawing her out. By the time Zarf and Hal reached the bridge, Nadeemi
had controlled the bridge crew, made all but one of them shoot each other, and
had the remaining crewman drop them out of jump. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nadeemi immediately took control of Hal and made him shoot
Zarf. Zarf was badly wounded but managed to stay conscious and stab Nadeemi, hoping
to break his hold on Hal. It didn’t work and Hal continued to attack Zarf. As
Zarf was fending off his crewmate, Marvin rushed in, torch in hand, and burned
the Zhodani until he dropped unconscious. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile, Aryanna took the still groggy Aminaha to
engineering where she was able to stop the spread of virus, though she passed
out from the pain. They put the helmet they had been using to restrain Aminaha
on Nadeemi and put him back in cryo. </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-57271615241435651182023-11-18T00:06:00.005-05:002023-11-18T00:06:41.235-05:00Traveller: Session 45<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9pzmcR82p2XH3GGrklyLh2pw_iJPA34Zyv9hRerasImNCSu2BHys1iWdHqJQNQ8TtCBMnonQ1GPM_JIuSTQiUQ9WBvXaAi4VnBm6RR3fnuMvRlO2Iru0l5cOSkFRpXxo0AxcR3Cb2Z2PLNeNyBa6R4yHWejCFsLMMrhYmpkhKjImlzm5eGvSiMflGz5Y/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9pzmcR82p2XH3GGrklyLh2pw_iJPA34Zyv9hRerasImNCSu2BHys1iWdHqJQNQ8TtCBMnonQ1GPM_JIuSTQiUQ9WBvXaAi4VnBm6RR3fnuMvRlO2Iru0l5cOSkFRpXxo0AxcR3Cb2Z2PLNeNyBa6R4yHWejCFsLMMrhYmpkhKjImlzm5eGvSiMflGz5Y/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on October 19, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>107-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Before leaving Last Exit, the travellers advertised for new
passengers. They signed on Francis Tiana, a radio scientist headed for Daazu,
and Scarlett Penn, a reporter travelling to Soar. Both passengers offered the
crew some additional work when they reached their destinations. Francis offered
them an additional 5,00 Cr. if they would let him run a radio experiment from
their ship once they arrived in the Daazu system. Penn was willing to pay an extra
5,000 Cr. if they would serve as her camera crew for an important noble wedding
on Soar. They jumped away without incident with Twinsong as their first stop. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>109-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zarf talked to Penn after dinner and learned that she grew
up on Capital and had been making her way to the Solomani border for an assignment
when the war started. She did not believe that her news service existed anymore
and was just trying to make her way doing freelance work.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>111-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arenui spoke with Francis when she found him working on his
radio in the common area and learned that he had been born on Terra but spent
most of his childhood in the Spinward Marches due to his mother’s diplomatic
post. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>114-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They had a clean exit from jumpspace in the Twinsong system
and made their way to the surface to refuel and catch up with some old friends.
The starport was still little more than a paved landing pad with a few rundown
hangars and the whole planet still stank of dead fish from the chemical
imbalance in the oceans. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After they set down, Grask, the vargr bus driver, and Jade
Aven, the pilot who was captured by the <i>Jugisaal’s Razer, </i>came out to
meet them. The pirates released Jade after holding her for several weeks. When
they realized there was no chance of ransom, they dumped her back on Twinsong
and she had been stuck there ever since. She had no real job prospects here and
was hoping to hitch a ride off planet. They told her that they were full, but
that they would post a message at Livermore that she was looking for transport.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Grask drove them in to Caldera and they tracked down Cindy
Stevens, the transport plane pilot, and Polka Tim, her grenade-loving dolphin
sidekick, in a dive bar. It was quickly obvious that the two had been trading
on their fame gained in driving off the pirates for free drinks, and that they
were starting to wear out their welcome. Cindy mentioned that they had a lead
on a job and they were willing to cut the travellers in. A on Erobi wanted a
baby Luvelo’s Grampus for some tests. Cindy told them that Polka Tim knew where
to get one, but they would have to “pick it up off a moving train.” They were
willing to pay the party 50,000 Cr. plus freight fees for their help. Having
met Cindy and Tim before, the travellers decided they did not want to
participate in the pickup portion of the operation, but they were happy to
provide a freight service as far as Livermore where it could transfer to Erobi.
Cindy told them they would be back in a few days.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>118-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cindy and Tim arrived back in Caldera with the Grampus as
promised. They loaded it into the cargo bay and left for Livermore.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>125-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They arrived at Livermore without incident. They dropped of
the Grampus and took on eight tons of freight destined for Soar. They refueled
and jumped for Soar. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>135-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They suffered an inaccurate jump and emerged four days from
the planet by sublight. When the Travellers’ New Service updates downloaded,
they learned that Aryanna’s planet had been destroyed by one of the fleets
following a battle. Both Lucan and Dulinor were blaming each other.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>139-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They arrived at Soar. They refueled at the starport and
performed monthly maintenance and the required life support refresh. Penn paid
them 25,000 Cr. for her transportation fee and told them to get ready to film
the wedding. </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-39627076299614824432023-11-18T00:05:00.001-05:002023-11-18T00:05:42.068-05:00Traveller: Session 44<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9pzmcR82p2XH3GGrklyLh2pw_iJPA34Zyv9hRerasImNCSu2BHys1iWdHqJQNQ8TtCBMnonQ1GPM_JIuSTQiUQ9WBvXaAi4VnBm6RR3fnuMvRlO2Iru0l5cOSkFRpXxo0AxcR3Cb2Z2PLNeNyBa6R4yHWejCFsLMMrhYmpkhKjImlzm5eGvSiMflGz5Y/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9pzmcR82p2XH3GGrklyLh2pw_iJPA34Zyv9hRerasImNCSu2BHys1iWdHqJQNQ8TtCBMnonQ1GPM_JIuSTQiUQ9WBvXaAi4VnBm6RR3fnuMvRlO2Iru0l5cOSkFRpXxo0AxcR3Cb2Z2PLNeNyBa6R4yHWejCFsLMMrhYmpkhKjImlzm5eGvSiMflGz5Y/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on October 12, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>059-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They were still stuck on the empty space station circling Tantelos
where the Ine Givar had left them. M’han and Hal managed to get the station’s
radio working and, after being routed through planetary traffic control, were
connected with Sassafras, the dolphin captain of the 800-ton mercenary cruiser,
<i>The Basilisk</i>. He agreed to pick them up and take them to Nilii.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>060-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The Basilisk</i> docked with the station, and they were
met at the airlock by Num, the uplifted chimpanzee XO of the ship. He told them
they were welcome to the living and common areas but needed to not move about
the fighting areas of the ship. He also required them to surrender their
weapons. They quickly realized that the entire crew was made up of uplifted dolphins,
chimpanzees and other Terran animals. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>066-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When <i>The Basilisk</i> arrived in the Nilii system, it
immediately engaged in combat with another ship. Sassafras claimed they were
under attack over the intercom and ordered the passengers to remain in their
quarters. After a few minutes of intense maneuvering and weapons fire, they
heard the metallic clang of hatch-to-hatch contact followed by running boots on
the deck. Then things went silent.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After an hour, Num arrived in their quarters, wearing
scarred battle armor, and asked if any of them had medical skills. Aryanna
volunteered that she was a doctor and they escorted her to the medical bay.
There, she saw three wounded men in Tukera Lines jumpsuits. Num informed her
that pirates had posed as a Tukera Lines transport and attacked <i>The Basilisk</i>
when it emerged from jump. They had crippled the ship, boarded it and taken the
crew prisoners. Aryanna noticed that the Tukera uniforms seemed legitimate and well-tailored
to the crew. She kept her suspicions about who the real pirates were to
herself. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sassafras informed them that he planned to make a low pass
over Nilii and drop them and the Tukera Lines crew off using air/rafts. The
travellers decided not to protest. They landed at the main city and were
immediately arrested and charged with piracy. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>067-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the morning, they were brought before Baron Samini Shihi,
the imperial noble in charge of the system. They explained that they were not pirates,
and neither were the Tukera Lines crew. The crewman backed up Aryanna’s claim
that she had treated them after <i>The Basilisk</i> attacked them. The baron
decided that their story seemed legitimate and released them. He helped the
book passage aboard the <i>Pantaloon</i> for to Lerun through Viedma.</p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>080-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They arrived on Viedma and Zarf decided to make a report to
the Navy base during their short layover. He explained that they had been
transporting the kids they rescued from the Zhodani ship, along with their
Zhodani prisoners, when they had been stranded after dropping out of jumpspace.
He described the Ine Givar crew and explained that, while they had been let go,
the terrorists still had the kids and the Zhodani. He decided to leave out the
pyramid they suspected was an Ancients artifact. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>084-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <i>Pantaloon</i> jumped for Lerun.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>091-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They arrived in Lerun and learned, via a Travellers’ News Service
update, that a man claiming to be Emperor Strephon was on Usdiki. The man
claimed that Archduke Dulinor had actually assassinated a double and he asked
that the violence cease. The <i>Pantaloon</i> did a quick turnaround and jumped
for Ikhareshu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>098-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When they came out of jump in Ikhareshu, TNS informed them
that both Dulinor and Lucan were denying that the man claiming to be Strephon
was the legitimate emperor. Both still claimed that they were the real emperor.
There was also a travel advisory warning that interference on the G-band coming
from a gas giant was creating a navigational hazard in the Icestar system. M’han,
remembering that the journal they got from Trow Backett indicated that G-band
interference was often linked to Ancients sites, told the others they should
bring the pyramid there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They jumped for Last Exit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>105-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They arrived on Last Exit and took possession of the <i>Prismatic
Ray</i> from the overhaul facility. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-14371646157523286212023-11-17T01:21:00.008-05:002023-11-24T11:06:51.583-05:00Traveller: Session 49<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic550XcLy8QOAsIUsidnan51tkpt8sHQhdjwmRVv_R7u3e5LXCpGkEbOprvbrQUNLwFevKn-ldkz4ecanUN44oW8Y7xD3aY4mbEL5caKm6uNLdgY1Cffqepq3wWC8wrU2NMukF7DhkuCTEA2-TH-Jnbm4OlzhPZvvk_Q5HN_AWXf2PR3-3BIgNfeDXBRA/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic550XcLy8QOAsIUsidnan51tkpt8sHQhdjwmRVv_R7u3e5LXCpGkEbOprvbrQUNLwFevKn-ldkz4ecanUN44oW8Y7xD3aY4mbEL5caKm6uNLdgY1Cffqepq3wWC8wrU2NMukF7DhkuCTEA2-TH-Jnbm4OlzhPZvvk_Q5HN_AWXf2PR3-3BIgNfeDXBRA/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on November 16, 2023. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>145-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They jump away from Soar, headed for Weyburn. The first
evening Sanya, the retiree passenger they took on breaks out her portable
karaoke machine and a few bottles of gin in the common room. Francis, their
radio scientist passenger, Simmi, and M’han join her for some fun. Sanya turns
out to have an excellent singing voice. By the end of the evening, Francis and
Simmi are comatose on the table and M’han must help a sloppy drunk Sanya back
to her room.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>146-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The next morning, Aryanna treats Francis with a saline drip
for his hangover. Sanya does not make an appearance till two in the afternoon
but emerges looking refreshed and immaculate. Once evening rolls around, she
breaks out the karaoke machine again and Simmi decides to join her. This time
Simmi manages to hang in until Sanya gets too drunk to continue and learns that
Sanya was a showgirl before she retired. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>147-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The next evening, Simmi hangs out with Sanya again and
notices that she gets pretty melancholy towards the end of the evening. She is
too drunk to hold a serious conversation, so Simmi decides to talk to her about
it the next day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>148-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the morning, while Zarf was re-lubing one of the turrets,
he smelled smoke coming from the common room. He rushed in and saw Francis
working on a radio with smoke pouring out of it. He grabbed a blanket and threw
it over the radio in hopes of smothering the flames, but the blanket caught on
fire and burned him. The fire alarm began ringing and Aryanna ran in with a
fire extinguisher and put the radio, the blanket, and Zarf out. She then
administered first aid to Zarf. M’had checked over the radio to see what caused
the fire and noticed that Francis had routed main power through the signal
circuit and overheated the wires. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the afternoon, Simmi pulled Sanya aside to ask what was
troubling her. Sanya told her that she had always assumed she would just keep
performing until she died, but she won the lottery and that let her retire.
Unfortunately, as soon as she won, people she hadn’t seen in years started
claiming she owed them money. No less than three ex-husbands showed up, and she
didn’t even remember one of them. Simmi told her that she had a very particular
set of skill and could help her get a fake identity so those people would not bother
her anymore. Sanya thanked her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>152-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They dropped out of jump in the Weyburn system and
discovered that they had slightly miscalculated and arrived about a day out
from the planet.</p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>153-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They stop to scoop fuel from the gas giant on the way to
Weyburn and landed without incident. Weyburn only had a dusty, run down, Class
E downport and Simmi wasted three days trying to find a buyer interested in
their Luxury Consumables without any success. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>154-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zarf took a job offered by a starfighter pilot named Blake
Hedge. Earlier in the week, the <i>Jugisaal’s Razor, </i>the same pirate ship
that attacked Twinsong while they were picking up the <i>Prismatic Ray,</i> raided
the system and his fighter was damaged during the battle to drive it off. He
didn’t trust any of the shade tree mechanics on Weyburn and was looking for
someone to fix it. Zarf spent the day repairing it and made 1,500 Cr.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>156-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Simmi and Aryanna took a job from Jeb Fairview, a pilot
whose ship, <i>The Postmaster General’s Daughter</i>, was damaged during the
fight with <i>Jugisaal’s Razer</i>. His two crewmen were injured during the
fight and all of the cargo broke loose in zero-G. He was looking for some hands
to shuttle to orbit and help him secure the free-floating cargo so he could
land. While they were tying down the crates, Simmi accidently let one build up
too much momentum and it crushed her against the wall. The crate broke open and
a very illegal combat drone floated out. Aryanna patched up Simmi and then
shook down Jeb for some hush money about his cargo. In all they were paid 3,000
Cr. for the day’s work.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>157-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They jumped out for Daazu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>164-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They arrived on Daazu without incident. Francis began
setting up for his radio experiment by hooking his equipment up to their
antenna. Based on the earlier fire, Hal decided to give his work a once over
before the test. He discovered that Francis had made the same mistake in
routing the power again, which could have caused serious damage to the ship. He
fixed the error and Francis was able to perform the test successfully. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Daazu had a Class C starport and no gas giants, so they had
to land to refuel and drop off Francis. Francis disembarked and paid them the
45,000 Cr. he owed them for transportation and the test. They spent 10,754 Cr.
on monthly maintenance and 17,000 Cr. on fuel. Shortly after they landed, Zarf received
a message asking that the captain and crew of the <i>Prismatic Ray</i> meet a
Ms. Cecily Evans at the Imperial Starport Administration Office.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They were forced to surrender the weapons at security and
ushered to the third floor. There they met Cecily, a heavyset woman in her
mid-fifties. She offered them a small bowl of minty smelling seeds as they took a seat at the conference room table. They expressed confusion as to what business she might have with
them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s me, Chakraborty,” Cecily said, “Sorry for the
confusion, Ms. Evans here just has the right hardware for me to chip in to meet
with you. Where is Arenui and Abigail?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They filled the Imperial Intelligence Agent in on recent
events and Arenui’s death at the wedding. He was sad to hear about the droyne’s
passing and remarked on his excellent work in bringing down Fat Tony. He asked
them if they had kept up their end of the bargain and stayed away from any
business involving Ancient artifacts. Zarf lied, a bit clumsily, and said that
they had not. Chakraborty seemed to accept this answer. He told them that he had
some bad news and a warning for them though. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Trow Backett is dead. He was released while awaiting trial
on trafficking in Ancient Artifacts and murdered 23 days ago while staying at
the Traveller’s Aid Society hostel on the Last Exit highport.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chakraborty told them that he did have a real suspect yet
and that he wanted to pick their brains on who it might be and have them look
at a video. In the video, three men, two large with dark hair and one shorter
with red, show up at the TAS hostel asking to see Trow. The woman at the desk
calls Backett’s room and then issues the men visitor passes. Chakroborty
explained that the IDs used for the passes were all fakes and had never been
used before. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cameras pick up the men making their way down the hall to
Trow’s room. When they got to the door, Trow opened it and the red-haired man
entered while the other two stood outside. Fifteen minutes later, the power went
off in the entire building. Strangely, the outage also effected every portable
electronic device in the building as well. After ten minutes, the power came
back on and there was no sign of any of the men on any camera after that point.
The next morning, the hostel got a call from an outside line saying that there
was an emergency in Trow Backett’s room. The staff entered to find him dead,
shot through the heart. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The police only were able to make a facial recognition on
one of the larger men. He is Mort Kinson a known associate of Ven Yasha. Yasha
is one of the biggest gangsters in the Diaspora Sector and has his hands in
almost every kind of illegal business imaginable. Chakraborty asked if the travellers
had any contact with Kinson, Yasha, or any of their associates. They confirmed
that they did not know either. He warned them to watch their backs because this
seems like more than just an artifact deal gone wrong. He has placed Rathe
Hawthorne into protective custody to be safe. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After they parted ways with Chakraborty, they looked for a passenger
to fill the empty birth. They found a young singer named Gyr who was looking to
go to Raasaara and signed her on. Simmi found a buyer for their Luxury Goods at
25,000 Cr. a ton and they sold all 8 tons they had aboard. She then spent nine
days trying to find a seller with good they wanted for an acceptable price but
was not successful. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-44124890919729143112023-11-15T22:19:00.021-05:002023-11-29T11:35:07.458-05:00Traveller: Campaign Overview<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTslWTm-IYOccPF99l4nqnAIWVWyOXWhXJrTWy4FfDnhO0yfgbrJg2FdEeAoIO21z2n2qtZ9B_hKmGUnyjjjAUHd8d96vd8RAGvXQq1Bnj1RDDx_rXD-ucOkCov323UPMZXr8FzqNWJyxR789soXBBWc69kl6XsYIR-4l-6asdKbsyONZt0oefFjyG00Y/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTslWTm-IYOccPF99l4nqnAIWVWyOXWhXJrTWy4FfDnhO0yfgbrJg2FdEeAoIO21z2n2qtZ9B_hKmGUnyjjjAUHd8d96vd8RAGvXQq1Bnj1RDDx_rXD-ucOkCov323UPMZXr8FzqNWJyxR789soXBBWc69kl6XsYIR-4l-6asdKbsyONZt0oefFjyG00Y/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">This Traveller campaign is intended to be kind of a history
of the Traveller universe (or at least my version of it). The framing device
for the campaign is the start of The Rebellion in 1116 with the assassination
of Emperor Strephon. The players took the roles of imperial archdukes that were
present at the assassination and through them help define the fate of the Third
Imperium. The archdukes will be the constant backbone of the campaign,
providing context for everything else. We will return to them between arcs
spent with other characters in which we explore different parts, and different
eras, of the universe. I hope to visit many different times throughout the
history of the Traveller universe and to tie events in those times to the fate
of the empire in the future. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This page will be useful for figuring out which arcs were
covered in which sessions. I hope this will make it easier to keep all of the
different characters straight and to refer back when we return to a time or a
concept reappears in a new arc. I will give a short synopsis of each arc and a
list of sessions. You can read the recap for any session using the drop down
sidebar to the right. This page will be updated periodically.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Archdukes</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Player Characters:</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Archduke Adair</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Archduke Brzk</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Archduke Ishuggi </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Archduke Tranian</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Archduke (formerly Duke) Craig</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Empress (formerly Duchess) Margaret</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The campaign kicked off with a focus on the archdukes. All
but Craig, whose player had not yet joined the group, were on Capital for a
meeting of the archdukes with the emperor starting on 129-1116. Throughout this
meeting they discussed many matters of imperial policy, including the hot
topics of liberalization, the rule of the Spinward Marches, and Aslan
immigration. On the last day of the planned meetings, Emperor Strephon was
assassinated by Archduke Dulinor in the throne room. Brzk fled the system back
to Antares, Ishuggi and Margaret fled to Vland together, and Adair and Tranian stayed
on Capital to advice the young Lucan, nephew to Strephon and claimant to the
throne. By the time the dust ceared there were at least three claimants to the
Iridium Throne: Lucan, Dulinor, and Margaret.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/09/traveller-session-1.html" target="_blank">Session 1</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/10/traveller-session-2.html" target="_blank">Session 2</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/10/traveller-session-3.html" target="_blank">Session 3</a>,
<a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/10/traveller-session-4.html" target="_blank">Session 4</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/11/traveller-session-5.html" target="_blank">Session 5</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/11/traveller-session-6.html">Session 6</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As Tranian and Adair continue to deal with the fallout from
the assassination on Captial, the other archdukes rush back to their home
territories. Margaret finds that a witness to the death of Prince Varian has
stowed away are her ship, and he claims that Lucan did it. Tranian loses Lucan’s
confidence as he is unable to pull the moot together to make the prince
emperor. Tranian and the Senior Moot flee Capital a few steps ahead of Lucan’s
secret police, leaving Adair alone with the temperamental prince. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/12/traveller-archduke-update-1.html" target="_blank">Archduke Update I</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tranian, Brzk, and Ishuggi (with Margaret) reach their home
systems and give out orders to minimize their domains’ participation in the
civil war between Lucan and Dulinor. Lucan recalls many of the sector fleets
leaving the Solomani Rim and the coreward border with the Vargr poorly
defended. Adair tries to keep Lucan’s more violent instincts in check while
getting Lucan’s ascension confirmed with the Moot. Duke Craig refuses the
recall orders for his fleet, declares that he is only interested in “defending
the Imperium” and concentrates on doing what he can to secure the border with
the Solomani. Even as Craig is refusing his recall orders, Lucan promotes him
to Archduke of Ilelish in Dulinor’s place. News reaches Vland that Margaret’s
realm is in turmoil due to infighting amongst the fleets loyal to her and those
loyal to Lucan. Brzk decides to focus on securing his coreward border and
declines an offer to join the Julian Protectorate. Tranian orders his forces to
prepare for the K’kree to take advantage of the Rebellion. The Solomani attack
on the Imperium begins. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/06/traveller-session-14.html" target="_blank">Session 14</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/06/traveller-session-15.html" target="_blank">Session 15</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Rebellion intensifies and the situation on the Vargr and
Solomani borders continues to degrade. Someone claiming to be Emperor Strephon
reveals himself on Usdiki. Adair leaves Captial in order to mediate the
conflict between Duke Norris and Duchess Delphine over who is the true ruler of
the Domain of Deneb. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-20.html">Session 20</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We returned to the Archdukes at the start of 1118. The
Solomani continue to make advances as Terra falls and they start their attack
on the Diaspora sector. Ishuggi and Margaret negotiate an asset swap as many of
their corporations have been cut off from their more distant assets by the war.
The Vilani take possession of many holdings in the Domain of Vland while companies
aligned with Margaret take possession of assets they have better access to from
Delphi. Ishuggi continues to fend off demands from the more conservative Vilani
elements to declare a new Zira Sirku. Lucan declares Craig and Brzk traitors
when news of their refusal to engage Dulinor reaches Capital. He also launches
the Vengeance Fleet with orders to destroy high value worlds rather than let
them fall into enemy hands. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Craig, mired
in a stalemate with the Solomani orders the creation of a black ops squadron
led by a new ship, the <i>Invisible Hand</i>, which will operate behind Solomani
lines. Tranian orders his researchers to prioritize telepathic communications
in hopes of shortening communication delays. His admirals present him with a
plan to link up with Delphi forces loyal to Margaret through areas that Lucan
has largely pulled his fleets from. Margaret learns that her husband, who is
till in Delphi, has had three of her eggs fertilized to ensure she has heirs as
Empress. He used Strephon’s DNA for one to strengthen the claim. News reaches
the archdukes that whole planets are being razed in the Gushemege sector by
Lucan and Dulinor. The death toll is in the billions. Adair reaches Deneb and
gets permission from Norris to travel to Regina to negotiate with Delphina to
end the conflict between them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-30.html" target="_blank">Session 30</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-31.html" target="_blank">Session 31</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Adair negotiates a ceasefire between Norris and Delphina and
a plan to phase the rule of the Domain of Deneb to Norris over the next few
years as long as certain assurances are made to Delphina and her heirs. Both
Delphina and Norris request that he travel to the rimward border of the domain
to negotiate with the Aslan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-35.html" target="_blank">Session 35</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Adair meets with the Aslan delegation to negotiate how many <i>ihatei</i>
will be allowed to settle in imperium space and where they may claim land. The
proceedings are interrupted by an attack from a separatist group of Aslan known
as the Glorious Empire. Adair and the Aslan delegation flee the invasion.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-47.html" target="_blank">Session 47</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mars 2040</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Player Characters:</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Mildra Ryante</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Wilson Ridgely</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Lucas Trask</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Romilius Fabian</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Hunter Brady</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Zalf Agrippa</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This segment of the campaign focuses on the early Terran
settlements on Mars. The travellers are a UN Space Cooperation Office team sent
on a mission to recover missing drones that had been gathering information
(spying) on a Cydonian archaeological dig of an ancient Martian site. During
the mission they run in to Cydonians who want to stop the UN’s snooping and
strange red sand that seems to be able to corrupt their systems and just might
be alive. On the way back from the dig site, they are diverted to aid a crashed
flyer and discover strange black globe technology and a traitor in their midst.
After they return to Reunion, they are sent to Adrienne to learn more about
Darryl Hall and the mysterious artifact he found while drilling in the ice.
Their search leads them to a cache of alien technology and a confrontation with
the Russians.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/11/traveller-session-6.html" target="_blank">Session 6</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/11/traveller-session-7.html" target="_blank">Session 7</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2022/11/traveller-session-8.html" target="_blank">Session 8</a>,
<a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/01/traveller-session-9.html" target="_blank">Session 9</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/01/traveller-session-10.html" target="_blank">Session 10</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/02/traveller-session-11.html" target="_blank">Session 11</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/03/traveller-session-12.html" target="_blank">Session 12</a>, <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/03/traveller-session-13.html" target="_blank">Session 13</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Far Horizon 2100</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Player Characters:</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Command-pilot Lucas Adair</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Pilot Sara Cheng (deceased)</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Mission Specialist Vic Peterson</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Mission Specialist Katiya Kuznetsov</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Mission Specialist Shireen Lanstrom</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Navigator Michael Dodds</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Medic Kurt Hollister</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Hydroponics Specialist Helen McLean</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Chief Engineer Sven Ackerman</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Reactor Engineer Bob Summerfield</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Life Support Engineer Jason Bartikovsky</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Hangar Engineer Nori Sumitomo</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This portion of the campaign takes place in 2100 AD in the
pre-interstellar Sol system. The <i>Far Horizon</i> is a deep space research
vessel (DRV) built for the first manned mission to Pluto. While en route, the
DRV is diverted to investigate Tartarus, an exoplanet briefly passing close
enough to reach. The <i>Far Horizon</i> exploration of Tartarus reveals that it
was once inhabited by intelligent life that developed some kind of faster than
light propulsion. The FTL system is still active and malfunctioning, making the
exploration very dangerous. They recover an example of the FTL drive and
narrowly escape.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/03/traveller-session-16.html" target="_blank">Session 16</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/06/traveller-session-17.html" target="_blank">Session 17</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/06/traveller-session-18.html" target="_blank">Session 18</a>,
<a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-19.html" target="_blank">Session 19</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Five years later, the crew of the <i>Far Horizon</i> has
returned home to find the world changed by a brutal interplanetary war that
resulted in massive destruction on Earth. While returning from a freelance
science mission to Enceladus, they divert to respond to an emergency aboard the
<i>Star of Rhea</i>, a ship bound for Titan from Mars. They dock with it and
find that there has been a murder and Rev. Kavanaugh, the leader of a strange religious
sect that believes Jesus left secret messages on Mars to find paradise, seems
to be the culprit. They capture him and take him back to Mars. There he is
rescued by his men who are posing as police. They look into the strange Church
of the Heavenly Stigmata and learn that it has been building a generation ship,
<i>Crimson Dawn</i>, to go to a planet they believe is Eden. They head to the
church’s museum where they meet with Kavanaugh again and he shows them ‘God’, a
cube of red sand discovered by Saint Romilius that has communicated a set of
coordinates to them. They believe that the cube is like a giant computer
inspired by the word of god. Kavanaugh offers to take them on his ship to Eden,
all but Farah decline. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-32.html" target="_blank">Session 32</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-33.html" target="_blank">Session 33</a>, Session 34</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>Diaspora 1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Player characters:</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Aryanna</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Arenui (Deceased)</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>M’han</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Zarf</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Hal</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Marvin</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Simi</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This section of the campaign focuses on a group of
travellers making their way through the Diapora Sector in 1118. The Solomani
have been testing the rimward border and many of the imperial fleets have been
recalled by Lucan to fight Dulinor. This particular group of characters has
more in common with your classic Traveller space hobos. They all have recently
mustered out of a career and are just trying to find their way in the universe
one job at a time. The first arc of this section saw them take control of a
scout ship that Zarf was entitled to in retirement and manage to get off the
water world, Twinsong. They made their way to Last Exit in order to have the
necessary repairs performed on the <i>Prismatic Ray</i>. While waiting for
their ship to be ready, they had run ins with SolSec, Imperial Intelligence, a
dealer in illegal Ancients artifacts, and a Zhodani ship in distress.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/03/traveller-session-21.html" target="_blank">Session 21</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/03/traveller-session-22.html" target="_blank">Session 22</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/03/traveller-session-23.html" target="_blank">Session 23</a>,
<a href="https://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/04/traveller-session-24.html" target="_blank">Session 24</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/04/traveller-session-25.html" target="_blank">Session 25</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-26.html" target="_blank">Session 26</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-27.html" target="_blank">Session 27</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-28.html" target="_blank">Session 28</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-29.html" target="_blank">Session 29</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the second arc of this section of the campaign, the
travellers, still waiting on their ship refit, hire a commercial liner to take
the captured Zhodani and the kids they freed to a Navy base. While in transit,
the ship is attacked by a hull eating virus and forced to drop out of jump far
from any source of fuel. After one of the Zhodani gets loose, they are captured
by an Ine Givar crew who hope to win favor with the Zhodani by returning the
spies the travellers captured. While aboard the ship, they experience the
strange effects of an alien artifact which the Ine Givar let them keep when the
drop them in the middle of nowhere. They make their way back to Last Exit and
retrieve their ship. Then, based on reports of strange radio interference
around a gas giant, they begin making their way, one job at a time, towards Icestar.
This arc ended on Soar when Arenui was killed while filming a wedding that
turned into an assassination.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-40.html" target="_blank">Session 40</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-41.html" target="_blank">Session 41</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-42.html" target="_blank">Session 42</a>,
<a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-43.html" target="_blank">Session 43</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-44.html" target="_blank">Session 44</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-45.html" target="_blank">Session 45</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-46.html" target="_blank">Session 46</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The third arc of this section began with a new crewmember,
Simi, joining the travellers to replace Arenui. They continue to find work as
they make their way to Icestar. While on Daazu, the are surprised by Agent Chakraborty who tells them that Trow Backett was murdered and warns them to be careful. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-48.html" target="_blank">Session 48</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-49.html" target="_blank">Session 49</a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Invisible Hand
1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Player characters:</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>CDR van Borkus</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Hanzo de Groot</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>CDR Yost van der Deen</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Carstairs</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Don Gerritson</p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Capt. Tensley Brauer</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The initial mission of the <i>Invisible Hand</i> sends the
crew behind Solomani lines to smuggle some corrupted computer parts in and capture
CAPT Smith, an important Solomani logistics officer. They manage to capture her
in a daring operation in the Harp highport. In the process they learn that Dr.
Delgado, Smith’s lover, is involved in some kind of important research on
Landell station in the Wasat system. After their return to Daibei, Admiral Ten
tells them to prepare for a trip deep into Solomani space to learn more about
this research.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-36.html" target="_blank">Session 36</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-37.html" target="_blank">Session 37</a>, <a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/session-38.html" target="_blank">Session 38</a>,
<a href="http://darjanix.blogspot.com/2023/11/traveller-session-39.html" target="_blank">Session 39</a></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></u></p>
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{margin-bottom:0in;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-56629304368503901222023-11-15T11:14:00.000-05:002023-11-15T11:14:01.243-05:00Traveller: Session 20<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnGFgxmgb7PdP4PJkUtQa-nXdhH00H5QlmE-xJ0Rh6rZ5RHPl3-mnpCP4rDSXYq8yqbZKgDpUeDWyucLeK_h7V5KmXisAGs3-wiI_MgtQI72LdmR_s2LvmXs_qTMek_CfnruZhE8-giaKBbl3KZQhEHYDOB1blEol8IehObwVO619rqKaOKh2ryLYoUfs/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnGFgxmgb7PdP4PJkUtQa-nXdhH00H5QlmE-xJ0Rh6rZ5RHPl3-mnpCP4rDSXYq8yqbZKgDpUeDWyucLeK_h7V5KmXisAGs3-wiI_MgtQI72LdmR_s2LvmXs_qTMek_CfnruZhE8-giaKBbl3KZQhEHYDOB1blEol8IehObwVO619rqKaOKh2ryLYoUfs/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on February 16, 2023</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>1117</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">111 Craig learns of a rogue planet in the Reft Sector that
could be used to refuel across the rift. He orders his people to keep this
quiet for now. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">119 Reports of massive battles in Dagudashaag and Zarushagar
sectors between Dulinor and Lucan forces reach Capital. Battles in Remnants,
Argi, Sapphyre, Laraa, Lagaar, Lode, and Epshu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">120 Vargr push into Lishun Sector begins.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">137 Fleets 19, 74, and 128 get Ishuggi’s order to leave for
Corridor.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">138 Craig learns that the Solomani have surged across the
border, are taking ground quickly, and that Terra is under siege. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">140 Craig learns that the initial Solomani push is too hard
to stop. His fleets are falling back to make stand with reinforcing units along
Zhemi, Mulaar, Dudin, Cruxway line. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">146 News of battles between Norris and Delphina over who is
the true ruler of the Domain of Deneb reaches Vland. Ishuggi orders his
intelligence services to dig up dirt on Duchess Delphina and issues a joint
statement with Empress Margaret supporting Norris as Archduke of Deneb. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">147 News of massive Core battles reach Craig on Warinir.
Craig orders his forces to make fighting withdraws from the Solomani border in
order to trade space for time until reinforcements from the interior can reach
them. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">160 At Adair’s urging, Lucan declares that whoever takes
Delphi Sector will be made sector duke. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">161 News of massive Core battles reach Ishuggi and Margaret
on Vland. Ishuggi orders his fleets in Dagudashaag to sit out any battles
between Lucan and Dulinor’s forces and attack the winner, if possible, after
the battle is over. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">162 News of massive Vargr push into Lishun reaches Brzk on Antares.
Sector Fleet HQ reports it is falling back from Sotri subsector to Gama. Brzk
orders his forces to assume Lishun is lost and to only defend the trailing
border. He hopes that, if Ishuggi does the same to spinward, Lishun will become
a funnel that channels the Vargr raiders towards Lucan’s forces in the Core regions.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">166 Brzk’s message stating that he will support her reaches
Margaret. She responds to him with assurances that she wants to keep the Vilani
in the Imperium and does not support the founding of a new Ziru Sirka. Ishuggi
also signs on to this.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">169 News of massive Vargr push into Lishun reaches Ishuggi
and Margaret on Vland. Ishuggu orders his forces to defend the spinward border
of Lishun in hopes that Vargr will take the path of least resistance towards
Core. He hopes that Brzk has done something similar. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">175 Massive Solomani push into Old Expanses has the sector fleet
on the run.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">182 News of massive Core battles reaches Tranian on
Annapabar and Brzk on Antares. Tranian orders his forces to raid the Fornast
Sector Depot. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">183 News of massive Vargr push into Lishun reaches Lucan and
Adair on Capital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">204 Emperor Strephon reveals that he is still alive on
Usdiki, claiming that Dulinor assassinated a double.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">212 Craig learns of his promotion to Archduke. The promotion
comes with an order from Lucan to use his forces to crush the rebels in the Domain
of Ilelish. Craig responds that all his forces are tied up defending the
border. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">215 News that Terra is under siege reaches Lucan and Adair
onCapital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">216 News of battles between Norris and Delphina reaches Lucan
and Adair on Capital. Lucan orders Adair to lead a relief fleet to liberate the
Domain of Sol. Adair convinces him that his talents would be better used in
resolving the dispute in the Domain of Deneb in a way that would keep the area
loyal to Lucan. Lucan agrees, empowers Adair to resolve the issue, and sends
him as his envoy. Adair departs. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">222 News that Terra is under siege reaches Tranian on Annapabar.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">230 News of battles between Norris and Delphina reaches Brzk
on Antares.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">240 Craig learns that the Daibei border battles with
Solomani have settled into a stalemate. He orders Admiral Durstaal to negotiate
a ceasefire with the Solomani. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">235 News of massive Vargr push into Lishun reaches Tranian
on Annapabar.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">245 News of the Solomani push into Daibei reaches Lucan on Capital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">249 News that Norris’s forces in Corridor have retreated
from the Vargr reaches Ishuggi and Margaret on Vland. This means that the
Domain of Deneb is effectively cut off from the rest of the Imperium. Ishuggi
sends an order to his forces defending the Corridor Sector Depot to scuttle it
if they think they will be overrun. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">257 News that Terra is under siege reaches Ishuggi and
Margaret on Vland.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">264 News that Terra is under siege reaches Brzk on Antares.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">265 News of battles between Norris and Delphina reaches Craig
on Warinir.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">266 News of Old Expanses Fleet defeat by the Solomani
reaches Craig on Warinir.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">273 News of Solomani push into Daibei reaches Tranian on Annapabar
and Ishuggi and Margaret on Vland.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">274 News that Strephon still lives on Usdiki reaches Ishuggi
and Margaret on Vland. Margaret and Ishuggi send requests for verification to
Strephon. The Sector Duke of the Old Expanses declares allegiance to the
Solomani Confederation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">279 News of the battles between Norris and Delphina reaches Tranian
on Annapabar.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">288 News of the massive Vargr push into Lishun reaches Craig
on Warinir.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">294 News of the Old Expanses Fleet defeat by the Solomani reaches
Lucan on Capital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">295 News that Strephon still lives on Usdiki reaches Lucan
on Capital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">306 News of the Old Expanses Fleet defeat by the Solomani
reaches Tranian on Annapabar.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">312 News of the Solomani push into Daibei reaches Brzk on Antares.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">315 News reaches Tranian on Annapabar that the raid on the Fornast
Sector Depot was a success. He is now in control of the depot.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">316 News that Strephon still lives on Usdiki reaches Craig
on Warinir.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">319 News that Norris’s forces in Corridor have retreated
from the Vargr reaches Lucan on Capital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">333 News that Norris’s forces in Corridor have retreated
from the Vargr reaches Brzk on Antares.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">337 News that Strephon still lives on Usdiki reaches Brzk on
Antares. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">341 News of the Old Expanses Fleet defeat by the Solomani reaches
Brzk on Antares.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">365 News of the Old Expanses defection reaches Craig on Warinir.
Adair arrives on Deneb. </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-42440518732784240782023-11-14T15:16:00.001-05:002023-11-14T15:16:04.214-05:00Wilderlands: Session 51<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJatayQ7U3rV0PDRFab_Oavvj3jFWGWAmyzzIj4JpDumyt5WIcrBgGleZ8cDsouTOirVBKr1KI-NScs4JRRj4fXRRHULnMIHs45opmZ2AhKDEuZ_QDBfdKlhAmF9xo_R4pdZ1m461ryBbykWw9ZOOkArgCWOJMc3U2b4qhMac6gI3uXzsTFYcza-s66Q/s640/WILDERLANDS.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="204" data-original-width="640" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJatayQ7U3rV0PDRFab_Oavvj3jFWGWAmyzzIj4JpDumyt5WIcrBgGleZ8cDsouTOirVBKr1KI-NScs4JRRj4fXRRHULnMIHs45opmZ2AhKDEuZ_QDBfdKlhAmF9xo_R4pdZ1m461ryBbykWw9ZOOkArgCWOJMc3U2b4qhMac6gI3uXzsTFYcza-s66Q/w640-h204/WILDERLANDS.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on November 6, 2023. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>15 Thawmist 4434</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The party decided to approach the hilltop camp where they
saw an explosion at the end of the last session. They climbed the hill to find
the small wooden huts completely leveled and only three, badly wounded, goblin
survivors. In the center of the devastation, the saw Rock, covered in soot. As
they approached it, Uggmar got a vision of a warrior laying in to a sea of foes
with a warhammer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Duycken gave each of the wounded goblins a goodberry and
they pulled one, named Zang, to the side to interrogate him. In accordance with
a plan they started developing while in Byrny, the party decided to convince
the goblins that Creng was some kind of goblin chosen one. They told Zang that
Creng had caused Rock to explode and that he should prepare the Bone Crushers
for Creng’s return. Initially, Zang asked that they prove that Creng was able
to make Rock explode by having him do it again. They argued that, if Rock
exploded again, they would all be killed. Zang found their logic to be
impeccable and agreed to do as they asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In return for providing him with the good news of Creng the
Savior, Zang agreed to give them some information on the Bone Crusher tribe. They
learned that the Bone Crusher tribe lived in caves and that the camps they had
been seeing were set up to defend the tribe from the Centipede Brothers tribe.
He told them that it had been several weeks since the last time the Centipede
Brothers had attacked and that there were rumors that they had been defeated by
the White Worm tribe. They decided to let the goblins go and head towards the
Centipede Brothers area.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they moved through a thickly wooded valley, they came
across six remarkably detailed goblin statues. The goblins were posed as though
they were in the middle of battle and the statues showed little sign of
weathering or stains from age. They poked around the statues for a bit and all
agreed to be on the lookout for monsters that could turn them to stone, unless
they were monsters with gaze attacks and then they would not look at them at
all. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they drew closer to the valley where the Centipede
Brothers tribe were said to live, they noticed that each of the six hills had a
thirty-foot-high statue of a centipede rearing up at its peak. Each centipede
appeared to be facing down into the valley. They made their way up the
southernmost hill and saw that the north side of the centipede, the side that
was facing the valley, was heavily pitted by acid. Up close, they could see
that these statues were not of the same, fine workmanship as the goblin statues
they had seen earlier. Since the style was more representational and there was
a prepared base beneath it, they decided that these were not likely actual
petrified centipedes. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Looking down into the valley, they could see it was filled
with muddy ice. Tree tops poking through the ice gave them the impression that
they might be looking down on a frozen, flooded valley. Uggmar snuck down to
the ice, which was uneven, and cleared the snow off of one of the mounds. He
could just make out something white a few feet below the surface. While he
could not tell how big it was, it was larger than he could view in the few feet
he had cleared. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Uggmar attempted to punch through the ice without success,
so the rest of the party joined him and Vargr broke through the ice with a
crowbar. Beneath, they found something white, frozen, and leathery. They
cleared more snow and ice and revealed that the object was a cylinder with a
large radius that extended beyond what they had cleared in each direction. At
this point, they theorized that it might be the worm they fought during the
battle in the White Worm village, so Duycken poked it with a torch. The ice
began to shake beneath them and they ran back onto the hill.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They decided to test their theory that this was the giant
worm by heading to the nearby White Worm village. When they arrived, they found
it was abandoned. They investigated and saw some signs that there had been
fighting here after their battle. There were some arrows and broken weapons in
areas they had not fought, and Duycken found soot on the side of one of the
white domes that seemed to be from the spell <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">burning hands</i>. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they approached the large, broken, central dome, Stranger
could hear two human male voices talking inside. They peered inside and saw
Roderick Warden and Son Pau Kang, from Filmoth Village, inside. After a brief
reunion, they learned that the two had been in hiding since the tournament.
When Lady Rixia sent an order that Kang was to be one of the judges, he knew he
had to go on the run. Kang explained that he and Rixia had a long history
together. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He had served in the mercenary company she commanded in the
service of the Overlord. During this time, they had a love affair and she
became pregnant. They returned to Kitai and she gave birth to their daughter.
Unfortunately, they belonged to two different religious sects. One, the sect
Kang belonged to, believed that the One Thousand Gods were each separate
individual beings. This sect reflected the views of the emperor and the
majority view of the people in Kitai. The other sect, which Rixia followed, believed
that The One Thousand Gods were merely aspects of one god. There had long been
tension between the sects, but it rarely affected the lives of the average
person. Shortly after they returned, the emperor gave a speech in which he
stressed that the belief that there was only one god was heretical. In
response, Rixia’s sect attempted to assassinate him and burned several grain
silos. Rixia fled back to the Wilderlands and told Kang that, if he followed
her or attempted to influence their daughter, she would kill him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kang lived in hiding in the Byrny area for years, watching
his daughter grow up from afar. Somehow, Rixia had learned that he was in the
area and ordered his appearance to draw him out. He and Roderick fled, first to
Cozsari’s abandoned cave and then to the hills. The bad weather had forced them
to find hardier structure and they followed rumors that the White Worm village
had been abandoned.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-788441883761948462023-11-14T15:13:00.003-05:002023-11-14T15:13:55.782-05:00Wilderlands: Session 50<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-1nOu_BZmBuy2S7UfsdNiGyUr7mp9Smy0HKvQ1xVcWAruqdbskLfoxIaxjDeytSalCJNRe7_99rjHiprHPnf39NjOFINZ-QAZJSOjwQkTaEkVAwm8iDquwt5QP7EqnNz58Lj2CKUh_bQ6q2Qr1-vgvFEpRNt9kSzeZVauHrfeqYZtLkTqK559FsngAI/s640/WILDERLANDS.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="204" data-original-width="640" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-1nOu_BZmBuy2S7UfsdNiGyUr7mp9Smy0HKvQ1xVcWAruqdbskLfoxIaxjDeytSalCJNRe7_99rjHiprHPnf39NjOFINZ-QAZJSOjwQkTaEkVAwm8iDquwt5QP7EqnNz58Lj2CKUh_bQ6q2Qr1-vgvFEpRNt9kSzeZVauHrfeqYZtLkTqK559FsngAI/w640-h204/WILDERLANDS.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on October 30, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>13 Thawmist 4434</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After taking advantage of the foul winter weather as an
excuse to spend four weeks training, the party began preparation for their
goblin scouting mission. Sir Grant offered Robert Boyter as his representative
for the trip. Since they had previous experience with him, the party agreed to
take him along.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They started by returning to Filmoth village in hopes of
talking to Roderick Warden and Son Pau Kang about recent goblin activities in
the area. As they approached the village, they could see that the defensive
improvements they had suggested following the siege had not been implemented.
The guard on duty at the gate recognized them and let them in. They were met by
Terry Lee. The town elder, who told them that Roderick and Kang had left
several months ago after Lady Rixia issued a warrant for Kang’s arrest. He did
not know where they went after they left.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When questioned about goblin attacks since they broke the
siege, Terry told them that there had not been another attack on the town, but
there had been raids on the outlying farms by members of the Bone Crunchers,
Purple Mushroom, and Hemogoblin tribes. They spent the night in town.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>14 Thawmist 4434</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their next stop was Cozsari’s cave on the way west into the
hills. Outside, they found signs that there had been traffic in and out of the
cave since they were last there. The carefully entered the cave and found a
trap set in the mouth. Stranger judged that it was the kind of trap usually set
by rangers. Inside the cave they found signs that two people had been living in
the first room. One of them had been making arrows. They also found disturbed
earth in one corner of the chamber and dug it up to reveal the corpse of a dead
bear. They decided that there was a good chance that Roderick and Kang had been
living there, but it had been several weeks since they left. They decided to
move on towards the Bone Crunchers’ lair. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they moved westward through the mountains, they came
across a flat area where they could see the tops of hundreds of carved rocks poking
through the snow. They uncovered a few and decided that they must be
gravestones, although any writing had long since been eroded by the passage of
time. Gwythian informed them that there were legends of a battle fought in the
area during the Gnoll Times where a king was killed and his magic sword was
lost forever. He didn’t remember all the details but thought that perhaps with
a library he could learn more. Duycken cast <i>detect magic</i> and all the
gravestones in the spell’s radius glowed with lingering magic. They decided
that the ground was too hard, and it was getting too dark, to dig anything up
now and moved on.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they moved closer to the Bone Crunchers’ lair, the
started seeing goblin camps on the hill tops. Each one had between twenty-five
and fifty goblins. They decided to circle around the lair about a mile away to
see how many camps were in the area. The camps seemed to be scattered about
randomly, sometimes there were several within a mile and in others they were
sparser. They made it about halfway around the lair before they went back the
area near the old battleground to camp for the night.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>15 Thawmist 4434</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the morning, as they were breaking camp, a buzzard flew
overhead, they wounded it with arrows, but failed to take it down. Just as it
was about to fly out of range, Duycken had his turkey leap into the air to
bring it within range of his <i>magic missile</i> spell and downed it. When
they investigated the buzzard’s body, they found that it had been branded with
a crude letter X.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they worked on completing the circle around the lair they
had seen the previous day, the noticed a solitary hilltop camp with no others
in sight. As they watched it, it exploded. </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>rmckee78http://www.blogger.com/profile/09615862275814728575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162897424978083617.post-87183308812144401602023-11-14T15:09:00.002-05:002023-11-14T15:09:19.462-05:00Traveller: Session 48<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPF8awu-qf1es17WEvlImvYu-MSRB9Jpwu3F7jaBNz5YRxKejtGs03EJzOFjyWNZjH7kaS7xX8wIucvMl6-mp_wsGbt2J4u2qBXTzdeKoG2Fe0KQ9XSmnhLkAPW7cZ1nQfVxZQ7t0Uh04-wcEDrLlWWBnvdsFLrn6gVcfdKebQFovVhy01kqoF1pcxYB0/s579/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="579" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPF8awu-qf1es17WEvlImvYu-MSRB9Jpwu3F7jaBNz5YRxKejtGs03EJzOFjyWNZjH7kaS7xX8wIucvMl6-mp_wsGbt2J4u2qBXTzdeKoG2Fe0KQ9XSmnhLkAPW7cZ1nQfVxZQ7t0Uh04-wcEDrLlWWBnvdsFLrn6gVcfdKebQFovVhy01kqoF1pcxYB0/w640-h132/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-26%20at%2010.16.18%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This session was run on November 9, 2023.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>142-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Following the gunfight at the wedding, they spent two days filling
out paperwork and answering questions from the police about why they were
there, what happened, and how Arenui came to be shooting rockets at a boat when
he was fried by a laser. In the end, the police decided that they had just been
there by happenstance and decided to overlook the minor weapons violations they
had committed. They returned their weapons with instructions that they had to
stay on their ship if they were prohibited by local law.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Once they were clear of the planetary security, they posted
a job opening for a new crewman. Simi, a female Aslan, responded and indicated
that she was skilled in Comms and Broker, two of the main functions that Arenui
had been performing for them. After a brief interview, they decided to hire her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They also had an opening for a passenger and selected Sanya
Oradi, a human woman in her 60s headed for Feme for her retirement. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After perusing the freight options in system, they decided
to engage in some speculative trading and, after locating a seller, purchased eight
tons of Luxury Consumables for 128,000 Cr. The crew was impressed with Simi’s
ability to get the good for only eighty percent of the basic price. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They decided to pick up a few odd jobs while they were on
Soar. Marvin accepted a job from a woman named Blaze to deliver a gift and
Simi, Zarf, and M’han took a ‘Mr. Johnson’ job to bury a box in a rural area.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Marvin met with Blaze in a bar. She was a human woman in her
mid-thirties with a large blue mohawk. She told Marvin that Darryl, her
ex-husband, was getting married in the morning and that she wanted him to
secretly deliver a gift from her during his bachelor party that night. She
asked Marvin to slip into the strip club and place the gift with the others
without being noticed. He was then to hang around, without drawing attention to
himself, observe Darryl’s reaction when he opened it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She offered him 5,000 Cr. on completion and 50 Cr. expense
money for the evening. Marvin asked to examine the gift and she obliged. It was
a model of an old wooden sailing ship in a bottle. He looked it over, and did
not see anything suspicious, so he accepted the job. He found a slightly shady
drug dealer and bought some uppers for the evening, then made his way to the
strip club.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He managed to slip the present on to the gift table without
being noticed and grabbed a seat next to the bachelor party. Darryl and his
friends all had the same blue mohawks as Blaze and they seemed to be regulars
at the club. Marvin paid for a girl named Morgan to come dance by his table and
waited. After a bit, he bought a round of drinks for Darryl’s table with his
congratulations. When it was obvious that they were going to start opening
gifts, he stealthily pulled out his camera to capture Darryl’s reaction. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When Darryl opened the gift, he paused for a moment with a
sad look in his eyes, then smiled and smashed it on the table. He began sifting
through the fragments of the broken ship and produced a piece of paper.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Morgan is a narc,” he read.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Darryl leveled his gun at the dancer and shot her dead on
the spot. He noticed Marvin filming and turned the gun on him. Marvin quickly
explained that he had just been filming the girls. Darryl accepted this
explanation and told Marvin he had to hand over the camera. Marvin complied and
returned to Blaze.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She seemed happy with his description and paid Marvin. As he
left, he saw her lick her lips and smile. “Oh,” she said, “He’ll call.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While Marvin was dealing with Blaze, Simi, Zarf, and M’han
met with ‘Mr. Johnson’. He was a human male, around fifty years old, wearing
dark sunglasses and a black suit. He told them that he wanted to hire them to
hide a package in a rural area. It was important to him that it be buried in
such a way that it wasn’t at risk of flooding or other damage. He said that the
package was about 7 feet long, weighed around 200 pounds, and that he was
offering 5,000 Cr. for the job. They accepted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>143-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the morning they looked at some local maps and found a
good, out-of-the-way spot about a day’s drive away. They rented a truck, bought
some camping gear, and headed to pick up the package. When they arrived at the
loading dock ‘Mr. Johnson’ had directed them to, they saw what a wooden coffin
waiting for them. Deciding that they didn’t need any more information than they
already had, they did not open the box and just loaded it up. They had an
uneventful trip out and camped for the night.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>144-1118</u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They found a good burial spot in the morning and carefully
wrapped the box in plastic and buried it according to ‘Mr. Johnson’s’
instructions. They spent the rest of the day driving back to town. That
evening, they met with ‘Mr. Johnson’ and, declaring that he was happy with
their hiding spot, he paid them for the job.</p>
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