Saturday, May 14, 2016

Wordslingin'

Back to Port Arthur, where the men are purple, the bartenders are frosty, and the mooks aren’t quite as mookish as we’d been led to believe…


[We pick up in the aftermath of the Yele job.]
Georges the GM: “You arrive in Jan Mayen. You need…”
Brock: “Advanced medical care!”

[We check out the data node we took from the Yele complex.]
Zac: *rolls 3 on computers* “Well, I didn’t wipe the drive… again.”

[We try to figure out how to get to the encrypted data on the node.]
Brock: “I suggest we borrow an Isaac, on the theory that an Isaac would lack the imagination required to think to steal our data.”

[We hire an Isaac to hack the node.]
Georges the GM: “It’s a thousand dinar.”
Brock: “I’ll just take that out of the money Ti gave me.”
Georges the GM: “Sure, use Ti’s money for the thing he specifically told you not to do.”

[While waiting for the Isaac to hack into the data node, Lukas makes a social call.]
Julie: “Are you going alone to talk to Morgana Kirosa?”
Brock: “Not necessarily. I’m happy to bring along any GREL-loving party members.”

[Lukas asks Morgana Kirosa if Col. Bakov has a picture of Zadine Bartok.]
Morgana Kirosa: “Colonel Bakov has no possessions from his time in Port Arthur. He was in fact broken out of detention.”
Lyta: “…”
Ariel: (as Lyta) “Oh! I heard about that but was in no way involved.”

[We ultimately break into the data that remains on the node. Lukas tries to get a high-level view of what Heatherton has been up to.]
Brock: “Is he doing this for pure, albeit morally dubious research, or is he a mad scientist?”

[We find a fair amount of data on the node.]
Lukas: “Okay, gang, we have a decision to make. Lots of good and useful information in here. I don’t think we can destroy it. I think, unsurprisingly, that we made the right decision.”

[Among the data recovered on the node are detailed results of Project Butterfly,, which webbled GRELs. Fennec wants to copy the data to study it at length. Obviously this is not what Ti would want.]
Ariel: “Do you think this is an important enough issue to defy Ti?”
Brock: “Twice.”

[Lukas is in favor of Fennec studying the data.]
Lukas: “If you’re looking for permission, I will give it to you. If you’re looking for approval, I will say these are the reservations Ti would have. I am not Ti, but there’s a reason you joined his organization and not mine.”

[We move out of Jan Mayen to meet Ti. Part of the meeting will obviously involve telling him about the data node we recovered.]
Lukas: “When we meet Ti, no tripping over yourselves to take responsibility. Ti will never be more mad at me than he has been. Also, I don’t care what Ti thinks.”

[We meet Ti on the outskirts of Fort Henry.]
Georges the GM: “It’s the sleepiest town in the smallest of the Northern leagues, which makes it a major metropolis by Badlands standards.”

[Lukas makes his initial report to Ti.]
Lukas: “So… smashing success.”
Ti Corovan: “Glad to hear it.”

[Ti has heard about what happened at Yele on the news reports.]
Ti Corovan: “There was apparently a firefight, big commotion…”
Fennec: I hope no one was hurt!”

[To hide what we’re actually talking about, Lukas and Ti are framing the entire conversation as a discussion about stolen V-engine plans.]
Lukas: “We’ve been taking a good look at the draft plans and we’re thinking there may be implications, not just for the V-engine, but for the entire Gear design.”
Julie: *rolls 3 on knowledge* “Lyta’s not even following the metaphor anymore.”

[Lukas reveals that we stole the sensitive data.]
Ti Corovan: “It was a group decision and you had more information than I. I will try to make that clear when I speak to the director.”
Torgath: “He knows us. He trusts us.”
Fennec: “He used to.”

[If Ti wanted, we could still destroy the single copy of the data.]
Zac: “The most compromising data is the stuff we won’t understand how to use anyway.”

[In the end, we give the data node to Ti so that he can pass it along to people who can make use of it.]
Georges the GM: “Are you guys satisfied that this awkward conversation is done?”

[We leave the conversation with TI.]
Georges the GM: “You sense his calm, resolved faith in you is disappointed.”

[We arrive in Port Arthur.]
Brock: “I suppose we should check in on our business interests while we’re here.”
Julie: “Perry! It’s been so long!”

[It turns out Corner Coffee has been doing rousing business, with six retail outlets around Port Arthur. The main warehouse, however, seems to be deserted.]
Brock: “You know what the advantage of being us is? We can just kill them.”

[More of the same.]
Brock: “I’m not worried about Perry. Not that he might not betray us – he might. He betrayed his former boss.”
Julie: “At gunpoint. By us.”

[We attend to the matter at hand, i.e. getting information from Minnie on behalf of Ti.]
Georges the GM: “Minnie’s Bar. It’s as charming as a bunker can be.”

[Minnie’s spiffed up the place a bit.]
Georges the GM: “It’s gotten homier since the last time you were here.”
Zac: “Wow, you really can’t go home.”
Brock: “Well, we can’t. Because the Earthers bombed it to ash.”

[Minnie is working the room. Lukas goes for option #2.]
Georges the GM: “Vee is at the bar as usual, still looking…”
Julie: “Bored?”
Brock: “Indifferent?”
Georges the GM: “Indifferent verging on hostile.”

[Recall that Lukas is yet again differently disguised, so Vee doesn’t immediately recognize him.]
Lukas: “Do you have a whole bottle of the Trinwood?”
Vee: “Sure, sailor. It’ll probably be 800, but for you, make it an even thousand.”
Lukas: “Here’s 1,500. The rest is for you. (Thanks, Ti.)”

[Zac is a little confused about what’s going on with Lukas right now.]
Zac: “Did you just spend 1,500 on alcohol?
Brock: “Not alcohol – position.”
Zac: “For someone who already knows you!”

[We do what is necessary to attract Minnie’s attention.]
Brock: “We will celebrate and talk about non-important things.”

[Indeed, Minnie joins our table about fifteen minutes later.]
Minnie: “Kes.”
Lyta: “Minnie.”
Minnie: “…”
Lyta: “…”
Minnie: “Good talk.” *turns away*

[We try to decide which exact disguise Lukas is using.]
Zac: “Are you not still Janus?”
Brock: “No. I don’t want to associate him with you people.”

[Lukas, naturally, has more banter with Minnie.]
Minnie: “What are we celebrating tonight?”
Lukas: “Victory over our enemies, of course.”
Minnie: “I personally prefer not to have enemies.”

[Lukas makes small talk.]
Lukas: “The place looks good.”
Minnie: “I guess I finally felt like nesting.”
Ariel: “Hint, hint.”

[We head down to a private meeting with Minnie. It turns out that Ti wants to get information from Major Stone. Stone has asked him to do a job in return. But since Ti’s not here, the actual performance of the job will fall to us.]
Minnie: “Do you know who Stone is?”
Fennec: “I’ve had the pleasure.”
Brock: “Of being dressed down by him.”

[We get to the nitty-gritty details.]
Lyta: “Tell me the job doesn’t have to do with diamonds.”
Minnie: “Funny you should mention…”

[In fact the job is to recover Henriette Vovelle from the Brotherhood mercs who kidnapped her a week ago. Their contact was a fence named Pavel Pekorovitch.]
Minnie: “He’s a scrawny weasel of a man. He’d sell his own mother.”
Lukas: “But would he deliver?”

[Once the first matter is done with…]
Lukas: “We have a separate question for you.”
Minnie: “Really? How can I help?”
Lukas: “It’s an awkward question.”
Minnie: “Is there anything left to be awkward about between us?”
Lukas: “We want to see a picture of your former husband.”
Minnie: “…”
Zac: “So that’s a yes.”

[More of the same.]
Georges the GM: “She looks miffed. So if you know Minnie, it means she’s probably furious.”

[Lukas explains why we want the picture.]
Lukas: “We have reason… not necessarily good reason… to believe that he might be alive. And that very motivated people were doing very motivated things under his orders. His very recent orders.”

[Minnie kicks us out of her private office and we return to the bar proper.]
Zac: “I feel that didn’t go well.”
Brock: “That’s because it didn’t.”

[We discuss the job at hand.]
Fennec: “Ti wants the kidnappers dead? I thought Stone wants them dead.”
Lukas: “Which means Ti wants them dead.”

[More of the same.]
Fennec: “It doesn’t seem like our modus operandi, killing kidnappers.”
Lyta: “Who’s sitting on your left?”
Torgath: “I’ll kill them so dead!”

[We consider our next course of action.]
Fennec: “Last time we were here, we blew something up.”
Lyta: “Most times we’re here, we blow something up.”

[More considerations.]
Lyta: “I just wanna say, for the record, if they threw her in the mines, I’m not going back down there.”
Georges the GM: “Noted.”

[We leave Minnie’s bar.]
Lukas: “Everyone ready?”
Torgath: “For what?”
Lukas: “Sleeping.”

[The next day, we prepare to visit Pavel Pekorovitch, aka Peter Pecker.]
Zac: “What’s our goal here?”
Brock: “To extract information.”
Zac: “What we do we have in exchange?”
Brock: “Violence.”

[Lukas and Fennec enter the pawn shop where Peter Pecker does business. Also in the job is a fat, muscled man who has all the markings of a bruiser.]
Lukas: (to Fennec) “You need to put Fatty down. Or kill him. Up to you – just don’t disappoint me.”

[Lukas tries to put Peter at ease by negotiating for a musical instrument on the wall.]
Brock: “I take 300 out of my pocket.”
Peter Pecker: “Fifty more and you can have it with strings.”
Lukas: “I’ll take it without strings.”
Peter Pecker: “In that case, fifty more and you can have it.”
Lukas: “I guess I’m not taking it, then.”
Peter Pecker: “…Friend! I feel sorry for you!”

[Lukas gets to the matter at hand.]
Lukas: “I’ve heard you’re a man who knows things.”
Peter Pecker: “Well… I know about things.”

[Lukas cuts to the chase. Sorta.]
Peter Pecker: “What are you looking for?”
Lukas: “I’m looking for a woman.”
Peter Pecker: “Well, we are all looking for the right person.”

[Lukas spins his yarn as the young admirer of the unnamed woman.]
Lukas: “A proposal is out of the question. She was married. A widow, in fact.”
Zac: “You sure you want to give him this much of a heads up?”
Ariel: “I think this I the part where you should be ready.”

[Lukas attempts to sfika-dart Peter.]
Brock: “When he wakes up tied to a chair, I’m gonna say, ‘Y’know, Peter, you have only yourself to blame for this.’”
Zac: “That’s the whole motivation, right there.”

[Combat ensues.]
Peter: *reveals hidden SMG and shoots Lukas, deep-wounding him*
Georges the GM: “This is not how I thought things would go.”

[Meanwhile, Torgath is in the back of the building.]
Ariel: *rolls 3 on security*
Georges the GM: “So, the door is… quite locked.”

[Combat continues to ensue, and we are not necessarily getting the better of it.]
Georges the GM: “I was totally expecting you to slap him around a bit and then he’d tell you everything.”

[Zac gives a brief rundown of what’s happening.]
Zac: “Peter’s down, this guy’s on top of Lukas, and that guy’s about to experience the Lyta whirlwind.”

[Lyta knocks out Peter. Fennec shoots and kills the bruiser just as Lyta’s about to close with him.]
Julie: “Lyta looks miffed that she’s covered in blood. It’s not her own, though, so it could be worse.”
Brock: “You could be me.”

[Fennec and Lyta head to a back room, where they encounter a woman with a shotgun.]
Woman: “Stay away! I don’t want to kill you!”
Lyta: “I was about to say the same to you.”

[As the session comes to a close, with one character deep-wounded after two horus of combat...]
Zac: (sarcastically) “Tell us again how we just steamroll through everything, Georges?”




Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game

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