Sunday, February 24, 2013

Wordslingin'

This week's session is subtitled, "Lukas gets into arguments with just about everybody." Really, what more do you need to know than that?


[As we may recall, last session Mads and Jimmy Croyden were working on cracking the Borodin Package, while the rest of Our Heroes (tm) were being detained by Doc Chambers.]
Georges the GM: "So that night, Mads goes home."
Brock: "Because he's a quitter."

[The next day, work starts up again.]
Mads: "I don't really want to go yet."
Jimmy Croyden: "What, is it comic book day? Do you need to do errands? Get in the car!"

[The Doc, meanwhile, tries to smooth things over with Lukas.]
Doc Chambers: "Do you know how I built my operations?"
Lukas: "Blood, sweat, tears, the sweat of your brow, with a love deeper than a father's for his son... What other clichés can I think of...?"

[The Doc and Lukas manage, eventually, to come to a mutually agreeable arrangement, whereby the Doc gives Katchelli back to Lukas so he can make the trade-off, and Lukas passes on the Doc's interest in the Borodin Package to the people who have it.]
Doc Chambers: "I can only trust that the person you deliver her to will not use the information to the detriment of the Badlands and Terra Nova."
Ariel: "Enough with the powerplays already!"

[Lukas and his siblings pick up Katchelli a few hours before their meet-up with Smith.]
Georges the GM: "Katchelli's looking at Lyta with her usual hateful eyes."
Julie: "I'm amazed she's managed to sustain hatred for a full five minutes."

[We prepare to return to our hotel. First up, a call to Jimmy Croyden.]
Lukas: "Is the boy wonder with you?"
Jimmy Croyden: "He is! And we have all manner of cawfee and chocolates and delights... and poached eggs."

[We arrive back at the hotel.]
Lukas: "How's Billy?"
Jimmy Croyden: "Billy may be discharged tomorrow... if it suits my purposes."

[Jimmy is a bit surprised that we're so keen to get back to work.]
Jimmy Croyden: "I've given you the day off. You don't have to do anything for me today."
Lukas: "I've already done something for you today."
Jimmy Croyden: "Really? And it's so early!"

[Lukas is prepared to sell the Borodin Package to Doc Chambers on Jimmy's behalf. Of course, it might be nice if we got some of the money that's flowing. Which requires a bit of conceptual gymnastics.]
Lukas: "You hired us to claim the item was going to be stolen, and then, to gain credibility, to actually steal it."
Jimmy Croyden: "And you've done admirably."
Lukas: "Thank you. But giving you the item was not part of that plan."

[Jimmy tries to understand what Lukas is implying.]
Lukas: "I'm not stealing this from you, Jimmy."
Jimmy Croyden: "No, you're just claiming that you didn't steal it for me."

[Lukas and Jimmy fail to come to any sort of understanding.]
Mads: "What do we do now?"
Jimmy Croyden: "Now we plan for the worst."

[Jimmy may have 'accidentally' let slip Lukas' real name around Mads.]
Mads: "What happened to Billy?"
Jimmy Croyden: "He was detained, along with Mr. Quinn."
Mads: "Don't you mean Lukas?"
Jimmy Croyden: "I'd suggest you forget Mr. Quinn's first name. I'm hoping that fear-induced amnesia will help extend your longevity."

[We prepare to hand off Katchelli to Smith.]
Lukas: "Obviously, this will all go to hell. Smith has betrayed us before."
Lyta: (deadpan) "You don't say."

[We make some final preparations.]
Brock: "Do we know anyone in Khayr ad-Din who does poison?"
Joe: "You've gotta be shitting me!"
Julie: "Not for you!"

[Lukas goes to the local Brotherhood bar, the Hammer, to see if he can find someone who knows about poisons. Must be time to multi-task.]
Brock: "I call Jimmy."
Julie: "You're not letting him up, are you?"
Brock: "No, the more time he has to himself, the worse it is for us."

[Lukas enters the Hammer.]
K.B. the Bartender: "Bloody Mary? It's a breakfast drink."
Lukas: "Whiskey."
K.B.: "That's a man's drink any time of day."

[K.B. the bartender reflects on Lukas' choice of morning drink.]
K.B.: "Either your day got off to a really bad start, or yesterday was so bad it spilled over to today."
Lukas: "A little of both."

[Lukas is looking for Sissy, the other bartender, who's not around. He gets K.B. to call her.]
K.B.: (on phone) "I've got a guy here, says he's looking for you. You'd remember this fellow -- he's wearing half a face."

[Lukas speaks to Sissy on the phone, trying to explain the situation in not-too-obvious terms. I'm not sure how successful he is.]
Lukas: "I've got a pest on my ranch, but if my dog eats it, I'd need it to be antidote-able."

[Thankfully, Sissy is able to help Lukas.]
Sissy: "There's not many people in Khayr ad-Din who know that. You're lucky you know me."
Lukas: "I say that every time."
Sissy: "Every half-cycle?"
Lukas: "Exactly."

[Lukas gets what he needs, then comes back to try to work things out with Jimmy.]
Lukas: "You hired us for a confidence scam, not a military operation."
Jimmy Croyden: "I don't hire mercs for a confidence scam."
Lukas: "We're not mercs. We're troubleshooters."

[Lukas again fails to come to a mutually agreeable deal with Jimmy.]
Jimmy Croyden: (to Mads) "Go speak with him. I'm on the verge of either shooting him or myself."
Mads: "Jimmy, are you aware that you just sent the 17-year-old kid in a wheelchair to talk to the merc with a gun?"

[Mads talks to Lukas through the hotel room door.]
Mads: "Are you armed?"
Lukas: "Of course I'm armed!"

[We set the final preparations for the Katchelli handoff. Remember, kids, there's no such thing as overkill.]
Julie: "So, she has the explosive collar... and she's poisoned?"

[We arrive at the TNTR tower.]
Brock: "Okay, so the handoff goes off without a hitch. We leave."

[Lyta passes Katchelli over to Smith's associate and passes over a phone as well. Lukas informs the associate of the explosive collar.]
Lukas: "Please don't make any sudden moves. You wouldn't want it to get jostled."

[Unbeknownst to the PCs, Jimmy Croyden is watching the hand-off over the security cameras and setting up some alternate escape plans in case things go badly.]
Brock: "So this is what it feels like to have a guardian angel."
Ariel: "A drunken, foul-mouthed guardian angel."

[Inside, Torgath goes to get the money from Smith.]
Mr. Smith: "I was hoping to talk to Mr. Quinn about another job. Are you authorized to speak for him?"
Julie: "Dear God, no."

[The handoff does go off without a hitch. This must be what success feels like.]
Lyta: "I think that was the smoothest anything has ever gone for us."

[Lukas proves to Doc Chambers that he is not a complete dick.]
Lukas: (on the phone) "First, the man who hired us works for the Kolsons. Second, the package is on a Maglev to Mainz. I, being a small fish, don't have the resources to do anything about this, so I figured I'd contact someone who does. Have a nice day."

[Lukas yet again speaks to Jimmy, trying to get a cut of the Borodin Package money.]
Lukas/Brock: "So far I think we were in more danger on the train than we were -- and by 'we', I mean 'you' -- in the mines."

[Lukas shows up at Jimmy's hotel room, where there are two bottles of champagne waiting for us.]
Lukas: "Is it poisoned?"
Jimmy Croyden: "I'll drink the first glass."
Lukas: "From both bottles?"
Jimmy Croyden: "Gladly."

[It's only siesta, but Jimmy has no instructions for us for the rest of the day.]
Jimmy Croyden: "I had been planning to take the rest of the day off and reconvening tomorrow."
Lukas: "Is that an order?"
Jimmy Croyden: "What, 'take the day off'?"

[Lyta, meanwhile, tries to pass on some sage advice to Mads.]
Lyta: "Look, you're doing all this work for Jimmy and you haven't asked him for anything. He's gonna take advantage of you until you're no use to him."
Brock: "Ah, mercenary lessons from Lyta..."

[Lyta finishes talking with Mads.]
Julie: "I jump out the window."
Brock: "Why do you torment him?! It's bad enough that you have legs..."

[Lukas is still negotiating with Jimmy.]
Jimmy Croyden: "What I recall you said in your hospital room -- and maybe I shouldn't have been negotiating with a man full of drugs..."

[Lukas tries to convince Jimmy that he's still planning on continuing with the job, whether or not he gets a cut of the Borodin Package money. In his typical Lukas way.]
Lukas: "If I was gonna go back on the deal, I'd shoot you and leave."

[The negotiations don't go terribly well. Lukas gathers his siblings to figure out what to do next.]
Lukas: "Where do you want to have lunch?"
Torgath: "I just had lunch."
Lukas: "We'll have a post-lunch lunch."

[We go to the Hammer for lunch. We bring Mads with us.]
Georges the GM: "The patrons are scarred, physically and emotionally."
Julie: "We fit right in. Well, some of us fit right in."

[Lukas explains the situation with Jimmy.]
Lukas: "He's desperate for money."
Lyta: "He's about to be way less desperate for money."

[Torgath has his own revelations.]
Torgath: "Let's say, hypothetically, the NGIS wants to know about the Borodin Package. Would it be wrong to tell them?"
Lukas: *boggles*

[Lukas tries to get Torgath to confess to seeing Dawn, despite knowing it's a horrible idea.]
Lukas: "Summer is Dawn?"
Torgath: "No, they're two people in the same body."

[Lyta takes Mads away from the argument between her siblings and makes small talk.]
Mads: I've always wondered what it felt like to be shot."
Lyta: "Never say that to anyone in our line of work."
Mads: "...Duly noted."

[Returning to the Hammer, Lyta and Mads get some drinks at the bar and are approached by a random guy.]
Guy at the Bar: "How'd you come to across such dire circumstances?"
Mads: "Dire circumstances?"
Ariel: "He's powerful ugly."

[Turns out the guy at the bar is Virgil Stills, the head of the merc team that was also gunning for the package we stole.]
Virgil Stills: "I figure we could talk all friendly-like, what with you outnumbering me three and a half to one."
Mads: "...Did you say a half?!"

[Lukas makes a decision.]
Lukas: "Doc, kill Virgil Stills."
Torgath: "Okay."

[Virgil holds guns up to Lyta's and Torgath's heads. Torgath tries to enlist the help of the other patrons of the Hammer.]
Torgath: (loudly) "So, as an Earth-man from Earth, do you want to kill all of us, or just most of us?"

[Virgil is still holding guns to Lyta's and Torgath's heads.]
Virgil Stills: "Don't be too hasty."
Lukas: "So, how hasty should I be?"
Virgil Stills: "Well, standing there and telling your friend to kill me, that's a little too hasty. Now, telling them to stand down and listen to what I have to say, that's just the right balance."

[Combat ensues.]
Ariel: "Can Mads get vibro-crutches?"

[Virgil, naturally, has friends. Lyta engages with them.]
Julie: "I hit him in the spleen."
Georges the GM: *rolls dodge* "...Yeah. His spleen explodes and his eyeballs pop out."

[Our Heroes (tm) have killed most of the black hats in the bar. Two of Virgil's compatriots have taken their extremely wounded boss outside, where there's a vehicle-mounted machine gun waiting to back them up.]
Julie: "There is a time for close combat, and that time is not when there's a heavy machine gun pointed at you."
Brock: "There is, however, always a time to take pot-shots at a guy when he's unconscious and defenseless."

[Since Lyta doesn't emerge from the doorway, the machine gun starts shooting at the walls of the Hammer.]
Brock: "As I recall, the Hammer was sturdily constructed for precisely this reason."

[Torgath is 'helping.']
Ariel: "I drop two grenades in front of Virgil."
Georges the GM: "You're gonna find this may not have been the best idea."
Julie: "If you wound me, I'm gonna kill you."
Brock: "With kindness."
Julie: "No. No kindness."

[Miraculously, Lyta is not wounded by the frag grenades that go off right near her. The bar, on the other hand, is pretty messed up.]
Sissy: "Now you owe me two favors."
Torgath: "That's fair."


So, to sum up: We may or may not still be working for Jimmy, we may or may not have made even more enemies than we had before, and we may or may not be able to find a hospital for the extremely-injured Lukas. And the Doc's ball is in a mere two days. So... plenty of time? We'll find out soon!





Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game

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