"And you do always fit in with them so perfectly. My lord."
"Don't make me tell daddy you've been disrespectful. He'll have your head on a platter."
Their exchange of barbs soon grows tiresome, so the others examine the vehicle. It's certainly functional for planetary surface exploration, but the interior has been designed with comfort in mind. And is also spotless. It's the very latest model from Planetarische Erkundungsfahrten LIC, produced at the highest possible level of technological sophistication (TL 11) in their manufactory on Pardub. Tandery slides into the co-pilot's chair and slots the Herrin's datapad into the console, bringing up a holographic head-up display map. "This is almost better than we had in the Navy..."
The Captain takes Korilu and Lin aside. "I know neither of you are technically rated for wheeled vehicle piloting, but as you're the closest thing we have, I'd like for you to trade off driving duties."
Korilu laughs. "You've saved me the embarrassment of begging!"
"Let me take the first shift, though," says Lin. "In case we need to talk to customs on the way out of the port. You can take over as soon as we get off-road."
"Eminently sensible!" beams Korilu.
When the cargo bay ramp is lowered and Lin drives down out of the ship, her eyes are hit with a wall of dense white fog engulfing the port.
"I guess you're driving by radar again, hon," says Tandery.
"So, do you guys, like, ever go anywhere you can see the planet's surface?"
[Overland travel will again be handled by the Random Location Crafting article.
-Large Area
-Descriptors: lots of open space, barren
-Expected=no encounter, no object; for location = rocky plain (once past the startown)
-Random Encounters will be rolled via the Traveller rulebook (results of 61-66 rolled on LC tables)
-Complete requires an 8+ navigation roll or is only Expected
-turn length is variable, but normally ~1 hour
The thick fog was just an idea that came to me looking at Wencesetor's Hydrographic rating of 9 (90% covered by water).]
T0 : expected - none - random
Object: Fuel, Enormous
As she drives off the landing pad and onto the access road, she sees a line of tail-lights disappearing into the fog in the direction of the gate. Radar confirms it reaches all the way there. Lin pulls the ATV into position behind a gargantuan fuel tanker, and they spend the next 45 minutes creeping towards customs.
T1 : expected - none - none
[Need to roll Law Level or less (8-) to be stopped for a check: 2D=10]
When they finally reach the checkpoint, the customs agent raps on the driver's side door with a metal baton and shouts for Lin to come out. The [d6=]woman barely looks at the documents Lin offers, and instead makes a circuit of the vehicle.
"Man, this is the new PX-83! How'd you get one?"
"We carried a hold full of 'em for a dealer on Uizk, and they agreed to give us payment in kind."
"Wow! Such luck. You should stop by the tourist agency in startown. They've got maps to all the good off-roading sites."
T2 : expected - expected - none
T3 : known - special - expected
Multi-Element: expected & random
They breeze through startown (relatively to their speed in port) and are soon on a major intercity roadway. Tandery announces that they have nearly reached the optimal turning-off point when Lin spots a police ground car cruising slowly up behind them.
[encounter: d66= 1D police
rolling surprise 1d=4,6: no]
She has to drive on and wait until the police have pulled ahead and have disappeared out of sight before finally leaving the road.
T4 : random - expected - random
Location: Frightening, Storage
Object: Artistic, Magnificent
Before long they come to a gravel track. Lin pulls beside it and swaps places with Korilu, who has been excitedly hovering behind her. As Korilu is adjusting the seat, Lin wanders back to join the others in the breakfast nook (for it is far too cosy to be called the crew quarters).
Tandery says they can follow the track as it seems to go in roughly the direction they need to get back on course. As Korilu drives, Tandery becomes concerned over some anomalous readings on the sensors and calls back to the rest.
"Hey guys, it might be time to unstow the weapons. There's something really big and hungry looking on the scope."
Korilu slows their pace up the track as the guns are issued. Several of the crew crowd round the cockpit to get a look out the front, but all they see is swirling fog. Then a gargantuan shape looms out of the mist, a great rearing dragon with toothy maw agape and claws outstretched. And perfectly immobile.
Tandery starts laughing. "Sorry, false alarm. I'm an idiot."
A wooden sign suspended from the scrap-metal dragon's neck proclaims 'Tirre Arts & Music Centre'.
"I saw a flier for this place back at our hotel," says Harrisumn. "We just missed the opera festival."
T5 : random - expected - random
Location: Bleak, Cluttered
Object: Ruined, Classy (=dead vehicle)
Once past the arts centre, the terrain gets rockier. The passengers are forced to sit still for once ad strap themselves in. The ATV makes very slow and shaky progress, even with its gyro-stabilisers and Korilu's attempts to not drive over every small boulder in her path. Tandery spots another vehicle on the sensors, as immobile as the mighty dragon. But it is only the burnt-out husk of a smaller off-road vehicle.
"There's my reminder to drive slowly," mutters Korilu.
* * *
[A roll of 5+ is needed to avoid hazards, DM+0 for driver's default skill : 2D=2...
Q: Severe damage? 50/50: O3 c1 - no, but...
Q: Who is driving? 1d2=K (added to narrative earlier)]
"Shitshitshit!" swears Korilu, but the dull thud and a long scraping sound beneath drown out her voice. The ATV grinds to a halt, leaning precariously to one side.
"Is anybody hurt?" shouts Harrisumn, who is greeted by a reassuring chorus of Nos.
Korilu slams the ATV into reverse, but it doesn't budge. After several, increasingly frustrated attempts, she shuts it down in a huff.
"We'd better go look," sighs Diter as he releases his safety harness and clambers out the hatch, followed by the rest of the crew.
The ATV is stuck up on a jagged rock, both front wheels and the middle one on the passenger's side off the ground. Everyone has to pitch in to build up mounds of rock and dirt under the wheels, and then push as Korilu steers in reverse. Once it has been righted Diter looks underneath, sighs again. "There may be damage to the left front axle. I assume the luxury interior package didn't come at the expense of spare parts...?"
"I can help," offers Korilu. "I have some experience fixing things." [engineer-1 & JoT-1]
"I'm fine doing the repairs on my own. You can help if you really feel compelled. I don't care either way."
Korilu is still too mortified at having caused the damage to do more than meekly help carry the tools and spare parts out of the hold. Tandery looks like she's about to have a go at Diter, but Lin pulls her quietly aside.
"Now is not the time. He's out of line but he's our best mechanic. Squabbling on a job can bring the whole world crashing down on you, trust me. We'll deal with him later. Let's go check out that other wreck and leave them to it."
[Q: Does D agree to K's help? unknown d6=2: O2 C4 - yes, but...
He needs 6+ to get it working enough to still travel with a bad wheel, 9+ for a full repair. DM +mechanic: 2D+1=9, takes d6-1=2 hours]
Lin invites everyone on their sortie, but only Harrisumn takes up the offer, and brings a medkit 'just in case'. The Herrin does not deign to look at a wreck, and Captain also declines so that he may keep her company. Also to babysit Diter and Korilu, but he leaves that part unsaid.
They trudge back almost 2km through the fog, using their ATV's tracks as a directional guide and Tandery's inertial locator for noting exact distances. After two false sightings -- a low hillock and an air/raft-sized brown boulder -- they come to the wreck.
[Q: Is the wreck local? likely (3+): O1 C2 - no, and...
Q: Anything interesting about it? 50/50 (4+): O2 C2 - no, and...
+Event: Move toward a thread - Increase / Enemies (noted)]
They stand round the mass of twisted and damp-corroded metal, cracked and sun-bleached duraplast, and burnt-out electronics in a few moments of silent contemplation.
"What is it?" asks Lin.
"That," says Harrisumn, "is a J-series off-road racing buggy. The kind they use in the amateur circuits, official and otherwise. I lost a fair few credits betting on these deathtraps in my misspent youth. Someone paid a good few credits of their own to get one here, the gods grant them repose." [gambling-1]
By the time they get back, the repairs are complete and Diter is stowing the tools once again in the ATV's hold.
"So, Lin," says Korilu, "I was thinking it might be your turn to drive now."
T6 : expected - expected - expected
T7 : complete - expected - none
[For the Complete result, a roll of 8+ is needed, DM +navigation: (Tandery) 2D+1=8, ok]
Lin drives on for a couple hours. The terrain becomes thankfully more even. Tandery suggests the occasional minor course correction, and within seconds of her announcing that the wreck should be close, they come upon the long trench it carved into the rocky ground as it crashed. Lin drives slowly beside it, and the silhouette of the ship's boat lying on its back gradually resolves into view.
"We're not the first ones on the scene," says Lin as she slows the ATV to a stop. "Captain?"
"Uh, I think this is a job for our security officers. Tandery, you're in command. The rest of us will wait here and swoop in if things go sideways."
[Setting up the encounter-
Q: Anyone here? 50/50 (4+): O6 C8 - yes
Q: The enemy? unlikely (5+): O2 C2 - no, and... they are sticking to the city & port
Q: Scavengers? certain (2+): O5 C3 - yes, but... only 1D=6 of them
Encounter range? as City (-4 DM) due to the fog: medium (1D-1=40m)
surprise? party 6 vs scav 2 (even with military NPCs, party won't be surprised)]
Tandery checks her pistol in her holster, tells Lin to do the same. Diter is already switching on the electronic scope on his rifle. They slide out of the ATV' hatch to the ground and approach the wreck with caution. "You know," murmurs Tandery, "it's nice of the Captain to have such faith in my command ability and all, but someday I'm going to have to remind him I earned most of my promotions in charge of a fighter squadron..."
"Don't worry about me," says Diter. "I'll stay in formation."
The ship's boat is lying on its back at a oblique angle. A jagged rent gapes in its midsection, and many smaller holes speckle the hull. The front third is crumpled, and wisps of smoke still rise from the cockpit. Beside it is a flatbed lorry piled high with bits plucked from the wreckage, with two people hefting a bent crossbeam onto the back of it.
"Haloooo!" calls Diter, and the two stop in their tracks. Two others emerge from the hole in the ship and walk to meet the strangers halfway, stopping a few metres away.
"Who's in charge here?" shouts Diter.
One of the grease-caked scavengers takes a step forward, removing [d6=] his welder's mask to reveal a weary, age-lined countenance. [Reaction 2D=7, non-committal]
"I am, as much as anyone. What do you want?"
"That ship belongs to our patron."
"Wreckage in the middle of the Tirre plain? It belongs to whoever finds it and stakes a claim. You must not be from here, if you don't know basic salvage law." [inquisitive - demand - flaws]
"I know another law. It's at the end of a rifle, and you're in my jurisdiction."
"Let me interject," says Lin. "Our patron is keen to recover some personal effects from the cargo. You can keep the rest as scrap. There's no need for confrontation."
[The offer needs its own Reaction roll, at -1 for D's threat: 2D-1=7]
"You can't just muscle in on our claim."
"What if we make it worth your while?"
"Is this your answer to everything?" mumbles Diter.
"Maybe. Shut up. What do you say?"
[bribery: 2D-2=6, under LL so it succeeds]
"Alright. Not as easy to shift trinkets as metal, anyway. There's six of us. 100 credits each and we'll not touch what cargo is left."
"Perfect. Let me talk to the boss and get the funds."
Lin goes back to the ATV with her proposition. [reaction roll for Herrin Ngamová: 2D=8, interested]
The Herrin laughs. "600 credits to make the problem go away? I'm surprised you didn't just pay them yourself."
"I left my billfold in my other trousers."
"Korilu," says Captain Elleder, "drive us up. Slowly. We can see what's left."
[Q: D's not made a mess of things in L's absence, has he? doubtful (6): O3 C2 - no, and...
Q: How many hits did the ship's boat take? 1d3=3; 1x cabin, 1x computer, 1x drive
Q: Did any cargo survive the crash? unlikely (5+): O5 C5 - yes
+Event: NPC action - Stop / Lies]
As they pull up, Lin is relieved to find that Diter has shouldered his rifle and is standing in a relatively (for him) non-antagonising posture.
"I feel I must admit," says Herrin Ngamová, "I'm not really bothered about the cargo proper. But there is a hidden safe. It's absolutely vital that I have its contents returned."
next post: grey market
Many smaller holes speckle the hull? As a navy vet, Tandery's thoughts about that damage might be interesting. Diter may have an opinion too. Did the boat suffer an equipment malfunction leading to the crash or was it shot down?
ReplyDeleteThe patron drops more crumbs of information too. A hidden safe? Shrugging off the cargo? No concern about the bodies of her retainers? Both of which were allegedly the reasons for the expedition?
Speaking of that safe, did the crash damage it too? Maybe preventing it from being opened normally? Maybe requiring the assistance of someone wearing a welder's mask to open it? Or assisting in removing it from the wreck so it can be carried away to be opened later?
The hamster wheels in my low and cunning mind are spinning at high RPMs.
These questions, and many others, will be answered on the next episode of...Soap.
DeleteI mean, Traveller. But in all seriousness, the contents of the safe turned out to be a better adventure hook than I'd expected. But that's a few posts off, so I won't spoil it.