Five Parsecs from Home - Part 3

New Milton Keynes
World Trait: Weapon licensing*
Notable Sights: largest indoor ski slope in the Fringe Sector

*Any weapon obtained through the Trade Table or purchased outright costs
+1 credit.

Post Battle (Turn 1)

[There are 13 steps for resolving the aftermath of a battle. I'll just summarise the important parts, and skip over the non-events (no new Rivals, no invasion threat, etc.).]

Loot & Payment & Purchases

With all enemies either neutralised or put to flight, Dirk's crew is able to pick over the battlefield at their leisure. They find a curious data stick which is full of cryptic information [+1 quest rumour], and a handful of Kiranin crystals. They also collect [1d6+3=] 9cr worth of saleable scrap. They later buy a spare colony rifle down the market with the intention of giving it to the bot, to see if it will do better in the next battle; the licence fees almost cost more than the gun! [cost is 1 credit for the gun, 1 more for the license]

Determine Injuries

Slow Hand's wound looked much worse than it was. He'll be out of commission for only a few days [d%= Minor Injuries, no long-term effect, spend 1 Campaign Turn in sick bay].

XP

Slow Hand was a casualty, so earns 1xp. GBH is a bot and doesn't ever get XP. Dirk, Zllgx, and Wilmer all earn 3xp for survival. Muffy earns 3 for survival +1 for getting the first enemy kill.

Campaign Event

[d%=Tax man]

Dirk and his new crew are given their freedom, and allowed to keep all the proceeds from battlefield salvage... provided they first fill in Form UH4567-C (in triplicate) and pay any relevant tariffs for processing. Oh dear, the sum owed comes to [1d6=] 6 credits.

Character Event

[d%=Where did it go?]

Zllgx has managed to misplace her colony rifle. Maybe it's on Dirk's ship. It must turn up eventually, mustn't it? [There a chance it will on the third campaign turn if she rolls 5+ on 1d6+Savvy. Spoiler: it doesn't.]

Flushed with success, elated with freedom, though somewhat underwhelmed with their collective credit balance, our sextet of space adventurers elect to stick together and see what the galaxy has to throw at them.

Campaign Turn 2

Dirk Striker in his new armour -- see below.

Upkeep

The crew pool their funds: 5 Credits remaining. One credit is spent on upkeep (food, ammo, beer, comic books, etc.). This is offset by earning 1 credit for having a Purifier on their ship (so they can sell clean water to the inhabitants of the world).

Ship Debt

Interest: +2cr to 38. They spend 3cr to lower it to 35. 2cr left in the space piggy bank!

Crew Tasks

Slow Hand must recover in the sick bay, so cannot take an action.

Muffy explores the port city -- one pub at a time. She gets bought a few drinks, but nothing more noteworthy happens. Well, nothing she can remember in the morning...

Zllgx and Wilmer go out to trade. Zllgx manages to trade a few last battlefield trinkets for 4cr. Wilmer haggles down a used suit of combat armour. It won't fit an engineer, but it's just [1d6=] Dirk's size.

Dirk goes into the starport with GBH to look for a Patron. And in fact two potential patrons are found. The colonel was surprised at the success of the first mission, and has another already lined up, though it isn't urgent. On the other hand, the local WI also needs a job done. Whilst they aren't offering quite as much cash as the military (2cr danger pay vs. 3), they do offer a basketful of Mrs Yortragox-Carrington's zkurgberry preserves as a bonus. Well, it's no contest, really.


next post: the battle!