Friday, 15 December 2017

Star Wars RPG solo - Part 18: A Gathering of Forces

Baprasta retreats back to her bunk to think things over, whilst the others find Wex and Jather. Zil gets them summarily up to speed, then takes Jather with her to go confront Inzoyln. Jather's the most conniving swindler she knows, and she trusts him to smell another con a light year away.

Scene 7

Chaos:
Out of Control (d8)

Setup: interview with Inzoyln

NPC list: contact, target, ISB agent, informant, Imperial commander, rebel agent, love interest, Inzoyln the Bith blackmailer, overseer, executive, Baprasta the barabel shockboxer, Yarishe the Chiss tech (Oosuu's "rival")

Threads: survive the wait, deal with Inzoyln, Yarishe's gambit

[Q: Is Inzoyln alone? Doubtful (6): O2 C4 - No, but... only one friend]

They find Inzoyln playing cards in her room with one of the new arrivals, a Gran who constantly chews on a plastic toothpick like a hood in an old holo-serial.

"Can we talk in front of your friend?" asks Zil.

[Q: Can they? Likely (3+): O3 C2 - yes, and... in on it]

"Of course we can," says Inzoyln. "Why wouldn't we?"

"So [d6=] he's, like, your underling?"

"Of course. Sent by... my esteemed employer."

"He does know who that is, doesn't he? Only you seem a bit cagey."

"Morga wouldn't like it if his name was overheard," says the Gran.

"I gotta ask then," says Zil, "how come... His Eminence wants Baprasta taken out?"

"Why do you care?" snaps Inzoyln. "You know, second guessing a Hutt is a sure way to end up next on their list. You're not the only group of thugs that showed up on this planet." [hostile - destruction - power]

"So what do you have against Baprasta?"

"What? Nothing. These are just my orders."

[Con: Inzoyln's 4D+1=15 vs. Jather's 5D=29]

"You're full of it," says Jather.

"Watch your step, kark," growls the Gran.

"You dare question the word of a Hutt?" says Inzoyln.

"No," says Zil. "Just yours. I heard you were peeved at Baprasta for being smart enough to want nothing to do with you."

"So what?"

"So I'm giving you a chance to come clean and back down off this charade. If not, maybe we should ask our real contact to confirm your employment status, seeing as we've just met 'em."

[Zil's con vs. Inzoyln's: 3D=12 vs. 4D+1=16]

"You're bluffing," says Inzoyln. "None of the new intake will go anywhere near you. I've had you watched."

[Q: Has she though? 50/50 (4+): O4 C5 - Yes]

"Come on, Zil," says Jather. "This is going nowhere. This is just a poodoo slinging match, and the smell is really getting to me."

"You're right, let's get back to the others. I feel the need to be surrounded by a higher class of scum right now. Just remember Inzoyln: Baprasta's under my protection now. She so much as loses a scale and you'll have me to answer to for it."

[Zil's Intimidation 5D=15 vs. Inzoyln's Willpower 3D+1=20(wild 6) -- it's not over yet]

 - - - - - -

"So Jather, you're sure she was lying."

"I'm a coward Zil. I'd have stopped you if I thought you were really talking shit to one of Morga's lieutenants."

"So how'd she know about it, then?"

"Must have overheard one of us talking."

"I gave strict instructions to keep quiet."

"Don't get mad... I think one of our bunkmates may have overheard me and Wex."

"I'm well past getting mad, Jather! But we need to have a meeting, all of us in private."

"That'd be hard...unless..."

"What?"

"If Baprasta does want to throw in with us, then we could sign up for one of the gymnasiums: three-a-side torfa-ball."


Scene 8

Chaos:
Out of Control (d8)

Setup: d8=3, Interrupt (was: three-a-side torfa-ball)
Interrupt: PC negative - Oosuu - Vengeance / Dispute

NPC list: contact, target, ISB agent, informant, Imperial commander, rebel agent, love interest, Inzoyln the Bith blackmailer, overseer, executive, Baprasta the barabel shockboxer, Yarishe the Chiss tech (Oosuu's "rival")

Threads: survive the wait, deal with Inzoyln, Yarishe's gambit

Yarishe
angry Chiss technician
Dexterity 3D
 dodge 4D
Knowledge 4D
 streetwise 5D
Mechanical 2D
Perception 2D

 search 3D
 sneak 3D
Strength 3D
Tech 4D

 blaster repair 5D
 droid repair 5D
 repulsorlift repair 5D
5 character points, 250 credits


Oosuu has slept well for a change. Better, in fact, than she has since they came to Mygeeto. She's happy that the murder plot was called off, and she got a nice new friend to boot. And even Zil seems less terrifying, at least for the moment. Today's shift in the maintenance area has gone well too. Even Yarishe has been, if not pleasant, at least civil. She's not even perturbed at the end of the shift, when she finds there's still an order token in the pocket of her coveralls. She doesn't mind that it will make her late for dinner -- nothing's going to spoil her mood today!

[Yarishe's Sneak 3D=9 had beaten Oosuu's Perception 4D+2=7 (wild 1); she slipped the token into her pocket.]

Oosuu goes to the maintenance racks to see what the errant token will bring her, and finds a beaten-up cutting laser lying on its side with most of its outer panels stacked in a heap beside it, exposing a mass of wires and circuitry. "Oh, well," she thinks, as she goes to pluck it off the shelf...

[Yarishe has rigged it to explode when moved. Blaster Repair 5D=25; it will do 5D damage. But Oosuu gets a Difficult (18) Search roll to notice the trap: 4D+2=31 (wild 6,6,5). Easy (10) Tech roll to disarm: 3D=14. (all extrapolated from Cracken's Rebel Field Guide)]

...and her hand suddenly freezes. She can see the ignition button housing lying beneath the cutter, with wires leading suspiciously back to the fusion power assembly directly, rather than the beam intensity chamber as they should do. She peers into the cutter's innards, and is none-too-surprised to find that the overload regulator has been bypassed. "Nice try, Yarishe," she mutters, "but not blow up Twi'lek so easily." Oosuu fishes a pair of wire cutters out of her coveralls and snips the wires. When she lifts the tool off the housing, the ignition button pops up with a frustrated little click.

Oosuu dumps most of the laser cutter onto the scrap heap, but she fashions the button housing and tripwire into a necklace before heading straight to the cafeteria. She flounces up behind Yarishe and taps the unsuspecting Chiss on the shoulder.

"Oosuu thank Yarishe, present very pretty. Oosuu wear always!"

[The deliberate provocation calls for opposed Persuasion and Willpower rolls: O 4D+2=24 vs. Y 4D=10 (Wild 1 = complication).
She attacks (1d6): 1-2 unarmed, 3-4 grab chair, 5 tray of food, 6 hidden knife]


Yarishe wheels round to stare down at the Twi'lek. Her hands ball into fists, her red eyes narrow, and her jaw clenches so hard for a moment, that she cannot give voice to her rage. Then in a moment she springs, and in a blue blur snatches up the nearest chair and swings it at Oosuu's head. Oosuu ducks without thinking. The chair swishes over her head, and Yarishe loses her grip. The chair clatters away across the floor between other astonished workers.

[Oosuu won the Initiative, and made a full Brawling Parry, adding 3D=8 to the attack's Difficulty number (8): 8+8=16.
Yarishe grabbed the chair and attacked, so -1D for two actions, but +10 for attacking an unarmed opponent: 3D-1D+10= 13 (wild = 1; complication = loses grip)
Q: Does it hit a bystander? Likely (3+): O1 C6 - No.
Oosuu's friends can reach her in 1d6-2=0 rounds]


Baprasta runs up behind Yarishe and grabs her, pinning the Chiss' arms to her sides and lifting her feet right off the ground. "No fighting," growls Baprasta. "Didn't you read the regulations when you signed on?" Yarishe struggles against the Barabel's crystaliron grip, but soon realises she's outmatched.

[B's Brawl 6D-10(grapple)=13 vs. Y's Brawling Parry 3D+3=10; STR 5D=15 vs. 3D=12, pinned.

Q: Is Yarishe cowed? Likely (3+): O5 C8 - Yes.
Q: Does she get in trouble? Likely (3+): O5 C7 - Yes.
Q: Does Oosuu and/or Baprasta get in trouble? Unlikely (5+): O6 C3 - Yes, but... other PC has a chance to defuse it.]


One of the serving droids sounded the silent alarm when the fight started, and already a unit of stormtroopers are rushing into the cafeteria. Most of the workers are scurrying aside, but some stand frozen, or with their hands raised. The stormtroopers ignore them and head right for the obvious epicentre.

Jather abruptly interposes himself between Baprasta and the stormtroopers. "This brave Barabel ran to stop the crazy Chiss from hurting anyone," he says. "I don't know what even happened. One minute she was eating, the next she just flipped out for no reason."

[Moderate (15) Persuasion: 5D+2=12 (wild die =1!)]

"Aliens," sighs one of the stormtroopers. Then Yarishe, Oosuu, Baprasta, and Jather are all escorted to the brig.

[They all need to make Persuasion rolls to be exonerated:

Jather- Easy (7): 5D+2=11 "Next time just mind your own business."
Oosuu- Easy (10): 4D+2=23 (wild 6,6,4) "Just please be more careful."
Baprasta- Moderate (12): 3D+1=15 "Very noble of you, but you should've let security handle it."
Yarishe- Difficult (20): 2D=5... sent down (close thread, remove from NPC list)]



Scene 9

Chaos:
Out of Control (d8)

Setup: three-a-side torfa-ball

NPC list: contact, target, ISB agent, informant, Imperial commander, rebel agent, love interest, Inzoyln the Bith blackmailer, overseer, executive, Baprasta the barabel shockboxer

Threads: survive the wait, deal with Inzoyln

There seems to be no fallout from the incident with Yarishe, save that the Chiss herself is shipped off to one of the waste-processing facilities.

Jather signs up for one of the gymnasia, and a few days later his friends assemble to have a private discussion. Zil and Wex explain everything that has happened so far to Baprasta, who insists she still wants in and isn't going to change her mind.

[Q: Has B ever been involved with Morga? 50/50 (4+): O3 C6 - No]

Baprasta in turn tells them her story, how she left the shockboxing circuit almost 12 years ago after a bad spice addiction ended her career and later nearly killed her. She has been clean for almost three years, and wandering the Rim. She came here to get back in shape and avoid temptation. As far as she's aware, she's never been involved in any capacity with Morga the Hutt.

Their immediate collective problem is Inzoyln. Zil says they can either take her out in and "accident" or figure out what she's up to and make sure she gets caught -- without any of them having to snitch. The latter option is preferred, even by Zil, but she convinces them that expediency will necessarily be the deciding factor. And they still need to find out what Morga wants them to do.

In the midst of all this, they do manage to play some torfa-ball. Zil and Wex are overly-competitive and nearly spoil it, Jather and Oosuu are comically inept, and Baprasta and Lina are just happy for the workout.

Afterwards, when they open the gym doors to leave, they find a unit of stormtroopers standing on the other side.

"Zil Darklighter, you need to come with us."

Next post: Zil faces the Empire -- alone!

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