In Port Arthur, everyone's got an angle. Including us. Especially us. Last night's session saw Our Heroes (tm) attempt to figure out the logistics for breaking into the diamond mine prison to rescue Katchelli. Our contacts were surprisingly, disappointingly helpful. And all we had to do to keep us busy in the meantime was beat off Katchelli's fembots, who seemed to have an unhealthy interest in Lyta...
[Josh could not make the session.]
Georges the GM: "You don't see Ennik, and his cell phone is off."
Julie: "For metagame purposes, I'll assume he's fine."
[After the shocking murder at the Officers' Ball, we retire to Minnie's Bar for a nightcap.]
Minnie: "Are we continuing the theme (she holds up a bottle of champagne), or upping the stakes (she holds up a bottle of bourbon)?"
Lukas: "Why choose?"
[At Lukas' prompting, Minnie makes a mixed drinking combining the champagne, bourbon, and some other liqueurs. Georges the GM actually rolled quite high for her cooking skill.]
Brock: "It's as good as whiskey dropped in champagne can taste."
Ariel: "Except it's champagne with a 'w'. Who knows how it tastes?"
[Being somewhat tipsy, Torgath reveals slightly more information to Minnie than he probably should.]
Ariel: "She learned a lot of information in the last two minutes, wow! You guys were supposed to stop me!"
[Still at Minnie's Bar.]
Georges the GM: "Jimmy and Billy arrive shortly after you do."
Ariel: "Wow, we see Billy?"
Julie: "Well, we see Jimmy. Billy isn't so much an observation as an assumption."
[Also in the bar is Vera, one of Katchelli's Forzi fembots. She leaves the bar when she realizes we've seen her.]
Ariel: "I follow her."
Brock: "Don't get ambushed."
Georges the GM: "She goes into an alley."
Ariel: "I follow."
Georges the GM: "Roll initiative."
Brock: "Yay! An ambush!"
[Torgath tries to call his siblings for help.]
Torgath: *on phone* "Guys, there's some trouble here..."
Brock: "I wonder how much reception there is in the bunker."
Georges the GM: "Pretty shitty reception, actually."
[Torgath manages to retreat back to Minnie's Bar, getting somewhat beat up in the process, and tells Lukas and Lyta what happened.]
Lukas: "How come you didn't follow them when they ran off?"
Torgath: "'Cause they beat the shit out of me."
Lukas: "It's the last thing they'd be expecting."
[Meanwhile, Lukas continues to flirt with Minnie.]
Lukas: "I usually sleep late after an exciting evening like this."
Minnie: "Oh, it hasn't been so bad."
Lukas: "It's not over yet."
[Lyta wants to ask Jimmy Croyden who Vera is working for. Sadly, Jimmy's very expensive.]
Torgath: "Do we have a discretionary fund for revenge?"
Lyta: "If we don't, we should."
[Torgath agrees with Lyta's idea. Lukas, not so much.]
Torgath: "I'm just asking for the price."
Lukas: "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Which of us talks with Jimmy about the price?"
Torgath: "...Fair point."
[Before the game, I realized that Ti Corovan's birthday would be in about two and a half weeks, game time. Not that Lyta's thinking about Ti much right now. Instead, she's thinking about the people who beat up Torgath, who ran away before she could get her revenge.]
Julie: "Lyta has a beer, very bitterly."
Georges the GM: "Better to be bitter than pining."
Julie: "No, that's in 2 1/2 weeks."
[The evening's getting late.]
Julie: "I'll take Torgath and give Lukas some alone-time with Minnie."
Brock: "Lukas doesn't want alone-time. He's working an angle."
Julie: "Minnie does. Though she's probably also working an angle."
[Lukas and Minnie go for a nice, semi-romantic walk.]
Minnie: "Where did you say you were from, again?"
Lukas: "I don't recall I did."
Minnie: "Oh. So, where are you from, then?"
[The conversation turns a bit awkward and uncomfortable. Though, really, it's always hard to figure out where things stand between Lukas and Minnie.]
Minnie: "For a perceptive man, you should know what topics not to broach."
Lukas: "Well, you've asked me a number of uncomfortable questions at one time or another."
Minnie: "I apologize. Maybe next time we shouldn't talk."
[The next day, Torgath researches the diamond mines. Sadly, he botches his investigation roll.]
Ariel: "Should I reroll?"
Brock: "I'm perfectly happy to spend your dice."
[Jimmy Croyden suggests we all go out for breakfast. He suggests a restaurant with very good pancakes.]
Jimmy Croyden: "They put things between the pancake layers."
Lyta: "Like what?"
Jimmy Croyden: "Anything you want. You could have a fried duck if you want."
Lyta: "Yuck! Who has duck with pancakes?"
Jimmy Croyden: "...I was giving a 'for example.'"
[Lukas accuses Jimmy Croyden of extortion.]
Jimmy Croyden: "'Extort' is such an ugly word. I take offense. But not too much, because I did. But it's still an ugly word."
[Lukas reveals our purpose to Jimmy Croyden, i.e. to break out someone from one of Port Arthur's four diamond mine prisons.]
Jimmy Croyden: "Do you know where she's staying?"
Lukas: "...No."
Jimmy Croyden: "Well, that may pose some problems. Well, it won't. But it will incur some extra costs."
[Lukas reveals that the target is Christina Katchelli, who formerly tried to kill us in a rather spectacular manner.]
Jimmy Croyden: "Mr. Quinn, you certainly do have interesting requests."
[Jimmy says it's doable... on a certain timeline.]
Jimmy Croyden: "A season, maybe two."
Lukas: "I need it done in a week."
Jimmy Croyden: "...It pains me to hear that."
[Jimmy names his price as 40,000 marks, to arrange a contact for us and an exit strategy.]
Jimmy Croyden: "You couldn't pay me that much to go in there."
Lukas: "Me either."
Jimmy Croyden: *raises eyebrow*
[Jimmy may not want to haggle his price, but there's always an angle.]
Lukas: "I do wonder whether you'd be interested in knowing who's behind this."
Jimmy Croyden: "I do admit I was curious. But that bargain price I gave you was because I intend on finding out."
[Ah, the ways you ensure everyone's on the level.]
Lukas: "We're not going to pay until we get out."
Jimmy Croyden: "Fine by me. I don't have to let you out until I see the money."
[Jimmy can get us out, but not get us in. To do that, we need to speak to one of his contacts... who turns out to be our old friend Minnie.]
Minnie: "How badly do you want this?"
Lukas: "My interest is largely academic... and professional."
[Torgath says what we're all thinking.]
Torgath: "What if this is a really expensive, complicated way of getting rid of us?"
[Minnie and Lukas get to the heart of the matter.]
Minnie: "My price isn't money."
Ariel: "She wants Lukas as her sex slave?"
Georges the GM: "If only it was that easy."
[Minnie's price is some basic information on Ti Corovan. Which, naturally, we know off the top of our heads. Still, one must maintain appearances.]
Lukas: "What's our dossier say?"
Torgath: "We have a dossier?"
Lukas: "Let me look at it."
[The previous night, Minnie had suggested she and Lukas go on a picnic. Sadly, the introduction of business to the relationship has seemed to give her cold feet.]
Lukas: "Should I pack a picnic basket?"
Minnie: "I think it's best we don't confuse issues."
Lukas: "How would that be different from usual?"
[More of the same.]
Minnie: "Maybe we can have that picnic after you get what you want."
Lukas: "I won't be able to spend much time in Port Arthur after I get what I want."
Minnie: "Well, I do know where I can drink my sorrows away."
[Minnie and Lukas are both unhappy with the turn of events.]
Minnie: "Next time, do take your vacation in Port Arthur."
Lukas: "This was supposed to be a vacation. No one was supposed to be able to deliver."
Minnie: "Sorry to disappoint."
[Having concluded business with Minnie, we return to the Croyden brothers.]
Lukas: "If she can deliver what she says she can deliver, her price is on the low side. Though that's what she said about your price."
Jimmy Croyden: "My price is on the low side."
[Lukas reveals that Minnie's price is information on Ti Corovan.]
Lukas: "I'm surprised she didn't ask you."
Jimmy Croyden: "Did I mention she's been tapping my booth?"
[Jimmy discusses why he's a free agent and not working for one of the Polar powers.]
Jimmy Croyden: "Here's a tip: if you sell information once to the SRID, the second time they expect a discount, and by the third time, they skip straight to threatening. Best to not deal with them at all. I avoid them assiduously."
[Jimmy has a plan to get us out of the diamond mines after Minnie gets us in. However...]
Jimmy: "Minor detail: do you know how to swim?"
Lyta: "...You fucker."
[Later that evening, at Minnie's Bar, we find Doc Chambers in discussion with Jimmy Croyden.]
Lukas: "This is the place we come when we're in town."
Doc Chambers: "I can see the appeal."
Lukas: "It's nicer than it was."
[Lukas mentions that the last time we were in town, we were involved in a shootout at the Hermes building.]
Doc Chamber: "The Hermes building is an important asset. I wouldn't shoot it up too often."
Lukas: "Really? What circumstances can you imagine in which I'd want to shoot it up a second time?"
Doc Chambers: "I have a bad imagination -- I can't imagine what would cause you to do it a first time."
[Lukas lets Chambers know that Minnie wants information on Ti Corovan.]
Doc Chambers: "They don't know he's dead -- there may be some advantage in that."
Ariel: "Why are we telling him this in here?! This place is totally bugged!"
[More of the same.]
Lukas: "I don't owe you anything, you don't owe me anything."
Doc Chambers: "No, but maybe we both owe a third party a modicum of respect."
Lukas: "You're a funny guy! I almost believed that you believed that!"
[Lukas wraps up his conversation with Chambers.]
Lukas: "I'm pretty sure you don't know what's going on in this conversation. Of course, I'm sure you think I don't know what's going on in this conversation..."
[Torgath tries to figure out why Lukas gave deliberately sensitive information to Chambers at a bugged table, and then told him it was bugged.]
Torgath: "Are you trying to drive him away from our hangout?"
Lukas: "Meh. Just trying to mess with him a bit."
[Lukas goes to the bar to deliver his payment to Minnie. But first, some small talk, which turns to her microbrew.]
Minnie: "I built the stills myself."
Ariel: "A woman of many talents. Is there anything she can't do?"
Georges the GM: "Yes."
Ariel: "Other than talk clearly?"
[Of course, you can't just blurt out sensitive information in the middle of a bar. You need, as always, an angle.]
Lukas: "Let's say I was dissatisfied with the way we left things this morning."
Minnie: "Please! I have a reputation to maintain! Maybe we should take this into my office, lest anyone get the right impression."
[In Minnie's back room, Lukas begins telling her the information about Ti Corovan, leaving out one very important detail.]
Ariel: "So you're not gonna tell her that he's dead, despite the fact that you said it at a table with bugs? And then you said you knew about the bugs?"
Brock: "Yes."
[More information on Ti Corovan.]
Lukas: "As far as I know, he has no enemies."
Ariel: "Unlike us."
[Leaving the bar, we're ambushed by fembots from the end of an alley. From the other end zooms an incoming car. Torgath prepares to shoot the driver, though Lukas has him delay until we can ID them clearly.]
Brock: "You're probably right, but it would be a real shame if we shot Ti."
Julie: "Again."
Ariel: "He'd deserve it for not calling us."
[It's all fembots, all the time. Lyta escapes some gas grenades by climbing up the side of a 2-storey building, and then does a leaping jump off the roof onto one of the hostiles below.]
Julie: "Boot to the head!"
[Torgath is stabbed in the course of the fight.]
Torgath: "I'm bleeding quite a lot."
Lyta: "Again?!"
[Towards the end of the fight, Lyta is surrounded by the three remaining fembots, with Lukas and Torgath some distance away. She tries to stall. Unsuccessfully.]
Lukas; "You know your boss is in jail, right?"
Barb: "You know there's no statute of limitations on loyalty, right?"
[Lyta managed to flash-bang the three fembots, twice, and take out two of the more wounded ones, leaving only Barb. Lukas comes rushing around the corner.]
Lukas: "We're 2-on-1 now. I'm hoping she'll surrender."
Lyta: "Yeah, that's not likely."
And that's it for this week! Next week: interrogations! And maybe some breaking-and-entering into a place we really don't want to be! Fun times all around! See you then!
Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game
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