Traveller - Star Trader (adventure, part 1 of ?)

Here is the beginning (all I've played so far, in fact) of a classic Traveller merchant campaign using Star Trader. It's set in the same subsector as my other solo game, and is esentially the captain's log.

---

Day 01

Piemal/Foreven (2533 B792369-9  Lo Ni)

Arriving in port, we got news that Foreven Fast Freight LLC went bust. After all cargo is offloaded, the bank gave me two options. A) the ship is to be returned to their nearest major affiliate branch (on Zoe) immediately or B) I could exercise my statutory rights and have the remaining mortgage transferred to me, retaining possession of the ship as a free trader.

I only had Cr40000 to my name. I knew Orneev and Diula were solvent, so we sat down in the starport bar and talked things out. He could match my KCr40, Diula only had half that, but between us it's enough starting capital. We split it 6 ways: Diula gets 1 share for her KCr20, me and Orneev both get 2 shares for KCr40. As captain I get one extra since the ship is legally mine. We told Auoth and the doc, they agreed to stay on at their current salaries.

Day 03

Picked up 2 mid & 4 low passengers for Estoner. There were a bunch a mercenary cruisers refuelling in the port, causing all sorts of havoc. Luckily the Port authority didn't feel like pushing me out of the refuelling queue even though the corporate priority payment went away, so I think we'll get out without a problem. [Star Trader port event 46]

Bought 6t crystals @ Cr16000/ton (+1% fee for splitting the lot, we couldn't afford all 20t) on spec for Cr96960.

Found a 40t and a 15t shipment at standard rate to fill the hold.

-96960 crystals
+55000 freight
+20000 passengers
-35500 fuel, life support & berthing fee
-------
Cr42450 remaining ship's fund

Day 05

Met some locals in a downport club. Bunch of suits worrying about their firm's import/export accounts. No matter what they tried to talk about it always came back to the office. Boring, but useful. It sounds like their biggest competitors have secured the rights to a major new hydrocarbon field. If I hadn't already secured a cargo, I'd be looking them up. Maybe next time. [from Star Trader's world encounter #51; DM +1 to find a dealer on next visit].

Day 06

Left port at 13.103 local time. Encountered a 2000dt Frontier Transport bound insystem on route to the jump point. The captain wanted to know if I had any good info about business on Piemal. I told him to look up those guys I met in the club. They could use the business, and no way I'm letting someone else know about the real tip.

[day 09

jn jumpspace

Star trader jump event 64 One of the stewards is: (6) under pressure from a passenger.

Q: How? Oppress / Home - Passenger has Soc A, 2 higher than Orneev's. He is from Orneev's homeworld (Haarui), and a social superior, and looks down on those below him.

Captain Liljingiv takes over the steward role as she also has Steward-2, and doesn't want her first voyage as a free trader to be marred by petty snobbery. She needs 8+ to pull it off; rolls 6+2=8, success. She doesn't even record the incident in the ship's log so everyone can forget it.]

Day 14

Arrive Estoner/Foreven (2532 E338569-6  Ni)

Uneventful trip from jump point to "port", a flat rocky plain near the warehouses.

Passengers successfully unloaded, the doc successfully revived the low passengers himself as there's no facility onworld. Cargo unloading will take a few days.

Day 17

Found a buyer for the crystals. Got KCr240!

[selling cargo, rolled 2d6 on the actual value table with Orneev's broker-3 as a positive DM. Roll 10+3=200% of base price (Cr20000/ton)]

Bought a full hold worth of wood? or some plant-fibre equivalent @ Cr900/ton. They'll need low tech stuff like this on Lime.

Found 3 High, 1 Mid, 4 low passengers. Aid workers and missionaries all. at least they shouldn't be any trouble.

ship's fund Cr42450

 +240000 from spec sale
  -55449 61t wood
  +42000 passengers
  -25500 fuel (unrefined), life support & berthing fee
--------
Cr243501 new ship's fund

[world event 44 Learn a political secret on planet. PC can make 1d6x10000 credits from this, but will need to roll 8+, with a DM of +Streetwise to get away with it. Failure risks arrest or deportation.

This sounds like the sort of thing Diula would end up involved in. She has streetwise-1; she rolls 10+1, succeeding. She is now Cr10000 richer, but has made an enemy on Estoner.

Q: What is the secret about: Truce / A burden. There is growing resentment towards the planetary governor from Zoe. Some factions in local government are considering secession, but the revolution is in its infancy. Diula hears this from a drunken junior diplomat who's speaking out of turn. She taps him for Cr10000 not to tell her (wholly fictional) journalist friend who works for the Foreven SPQR (Subsector P Quarterly Review).

Needless to say she doesn't mention any of this to her shipmates.]

Day 21

Uneventful journey to jump point.

Day 28

Arrive at Lime/Foreven (2632 X6758AA-1)

As expected, it was a quiet trip. Very little system traffic.

Day 38

The planet's a mess. 20 years since the war and they still have almost no infrastructure. Put down near one of the larger settlements at the behest of one of the passengers. No one had any better ideas.

As expected, made a tidy profit from the wood. Found some people able to resupply our life support for hard currency at the normal rates, Imperial credits are more welcome here than most places in the subsector.

Got a full hold of steel - mostly scrap - @ Cr450/ton.

Getting things loaded&unloaded here is painfully slow, there's so little heavy machinery to go round. Got stuck 4 extra days on the ground. "Port Authority" even charged the usual Cr100/day (hard currency only) extended berthing fees. Normally I'd feel ripped off, but they really need the cash here. Also, no fuel is available, so we had to use the scoops and get it from a lake. I'm always nervous about using unrefined fuel. Fingers crossed.

5 high passengers and 4 low bound for Bleugh. I'm sure they want steel there.

Cr 243501 ship's fund

 +244000 sell wood
  +54000 passengers
  -27450 steel 61dt on spec.
  -20400 life support
    -500 berthing fees (Std. +4days)
--------
Cr493151 new ship's fund.

This looks good, but I'm late paying the mortgage. I hadn't realised that no interstellar bank has reopened a branch on Lime.

Day 39

Uneventful trip to the jump point. But the jump engines sputtered and died when we tried to make the jump. Now we're floating dead in space to conserve power. We have enough fuel to go back planetside if necessary, but if so, we may be stuck here indefinitely...

[To fix the jump drive temporarily require a 10+ with positive DMs equal to the skill levels of the engineers working on them. Both Duila and Aouth have engineer-1. A new roll can be made once per day.

They roll 7+2=9 the first day. On the second day they roll a 6.

Q: Do any of the passengers get angry about the delay? Somewhat Likely: 09, Exceptional Yes.

Captain needs to roll 10+ to defuse the situation, +DM equal to liason skill. Roll 5+1, fails.]

Q: What do the passengers do? Change / Plans]

Day 41

The passengers are up in arms. Had to take them back to the planet and refund their money. And pay another Cr100 landing fee. Diula and Aouth swear they almost have the jump drive back online.

Day 42

Since we're stuck here I went in search of more passengers. Found 5 new high passengers to replace the ones leaving. They don't mind if we leave a day late. I guess they're just happy to be going somewhere else. Can't say as I blame them.

Good news all round when I got back to the ship. We have jump drives again.

Day 43

Finally enter jump.

Day 45

Mostly boring trip. I'm a bit worried about what happens when we get to Bleugh. Practically owe the bank two payments now, plus repairs on top of that. I'll tell the low passengers the voyage through jump space took an uncommonly long time. Even if they don't believe me, I doubt they can afford to sue.

And that strange vilani passenger seems to keep having chills and fevers. The doc says he's checked her out thoroughly and its probably just space sickness and he's on top of things. He better be right. If she's brought plague onboard...

[jump event 52 Crewman has an affair with a passenger.]

Day 49

Finally arrive at Bleugh/Foreven (2831 C533A95-7 Hi Na Po)

Quiet trip to the downport.

Day 51

Everything unloaded without a hitch.

Good news: We made 300% profit on the steel. Bad news: it was the least lucrative speculation to date. [poor worlds give a +3DM on the value table to determine sale price of steel. roll 9 + broker 3 +3DM = 400% (Cr2000/ton) selling price].

Really bad news: the parts needed to fix the jump drives properly are going to cost MCr10. Not sure how long we can limp from system to system until we raise the cash.

ship's fund Cr493051

 +122000 sale of steel
 -275729 mortgage
   -8600 crew salaries
    -100 berthing
--------
Cr330622 remaining fund

Day 52

There's a mysterious ship in the port that no one is allowed anywhere near. Rumours abound, but it's probably just an imperial dignitary. But whilst everyone and their zkrog is out trying to get a peek at it, I'm heading out in search of a cargo that will make us some money.

Managed 10tons of mechanical parts @ Cr35000/ton.

Ample choice of freight consignments. 45t @ normal rates

Took on 5 middle + 4 low passengers. Having Aouth try ocean refuelling again before we leave because we can't really afford fuel. Hopefully none of the passengers will ask why the ship's all wet when they see it.

ship's fund Cr330622

-350000 spec. cargo
 +45000 freight
 +45000 passengers
 -20400 life support
-------
Cr10222 new ship's fund

Day 55

Jump engine failed again.

Day 56

These passengers are a much more sanguine lot. No complaints drifting away from Bleugh. Made it into jumpspace at 23:06 ship's time.

Day 57

Jump field misaligned in jumpspace. Needed emergency repairs. Could have been fatal. Wish I could hire a better engineer...

Day 63

Arrived at Fpozz/Foreven (2933 D000320-9 As Lo)

Quiet trip insystem. Almost no radio chatter. I forgot just how few people actually live here.

Day 65

Everything unloaded. Mechanical parts sold for MCr1.19. Quickly paid off the mortgage to put out that potential fire.

+1190000 sale of spec. cargo
    -100 berthing
 -275729 mortgage
   -8600 crew salaries (also late, but came due in jumpspace)
--------
Cr905571 remaining ship's fund

Day 66

Called a crew meeting to determine what to do. We've less than a tenth of what we need to fix the jump drives and I don't know how we can legally raise the capital fast enough to avoid destroying the drives or the whole ship if we keep pushing them. I don't think anyone other than Diula would consent to piracy (I didn't say, but everyone is already thinking it). So as I see it the options are:

1. Stay on and try to ride out the storm

2. Look for higher-paid, less-legal cargo

3. Try to get a short-term loan for the parts - our track record is solid so far

4. Back out now and cut losses

5. Go back to Imperial space and then leave the ship

6. Sell the ship and split town

So I put it to everyone. The doc strangely liked the idea of illegal cargo. Aouth said we should make a trip across the Imperial border, but then he was done. My lovely Orneev figured that we could probably get away with unloading the ship on some other sucker and be gone before they knew what happened. Diula said she wants out now with her share, Cr150928.5 exactly.

I said we should all sleep on it and everyone agreed on that at least.

Day 67

Asked Orneev to move in with me last night. Said we could really use the extra revenue form a 6th passenger stateroom. He called me a true romantic and laughed. Then said yes. And that he intends to see this crisis out, was just kidding about selling the ship and running off. Maybe I'll get to keep the ship after all. Gods I hope I'm not making a mistake. Or two.

...

Later: reconvened to decide what to do. Orneev and I presented a united front. The doc is willing to stay, but really thinks we should be looking for 'special' cargo. Diula said she'll stay after all, and seconds the doc's idea. Aouth said he'll fly us across the border into the Imperium but then he's getting off. I told him to get the fuck off my ship. If he wants out he can pay for passage to the Imperium and I'll fly the ship my damn self.

[The original decisions were just rolled on a d6. For sleeping on it, each NPC was determined to be willing to change their mind on the roll of 4+ on a d6. I rolled twice for Orneev and took the more amenable result since he is so close to the Captain. Luckily she retained her boyfriend/broker-3. Though which side of him she prefers...? Diula's change of heart was determined by rolling 1d3 to decide which of the other votes she sided with.

I rolled a reaction for Auoth to see how he reacted to being let go and got a 10, so he'll leave without a scene. Luckily he didn't ever realise that the captain consistently spelt his name wrong, which would have been worth at least a -2DM on the reaction table.

That I admit is my mistake; if I'm going to make up space-names it would really be a good idea to remember how to actually spell them. But when I noticed it, it seemed to make a good personality quirk for the captain, so I didn't go back and correct it. I also decided that the captain is much less conscientious than I about good English (er... Galanglic) grammar. I've deliberately written in some very colloquial usage and even replaced all her semi-colons with commas.

So, that's the beginning of a merchant adventure. I've left the date vague for now in case they do cross paths with my other Traveller campaign. They are in the same subsector at the moment, and unless they get that ship repaired they won't be going far. But they are just the sort of reprobates that might get press-ganged by Naval Intelligence for a dangerous mission.]

(Adventure continues here.)

Traveller - Star Trader (Setup)

I decided to randomly play a little Traveller a while back using Star Trader. I wrote it all out but got distracted with Runequest, so forgot to ever post it. I shall rectify that now, since I haven't got anything post-able for RQ adventure #2 yet.

Here is the setup, 5 totally random characters and their ship. They were all generated with Classic Traveller rules. The last line of each 'character sheet ' shows the source: mostly Merchant Prince but some JTAS articles as well. Some day I will get back to my Traveller campaign properly, and these PCs may surface again should I need a merchant crew. 

Anyway, here they are. Their adventure (so far) will come tomorrow.

Captain Inty Liljingiv - Captain / Owner aboard / Navigator
939A84   Age 38   ex-Merchant   5 terms
Homeworld: Mingiz/Foreven (A668887-C Ri Cp)
Human female

Admin-1, Gambling-3, Gunnery-1, JOT-1, Leader-2, Legal-1, Liaison-1, Navigation-1, Pilot-1, Ship's Boat-1, Steward-2, Vacc-1, Zero-G Combat-1

Cr40000, Far Trader (30 yr. mortgage), Mid Passage x5
Relationship: Sexual partner of Orneev Herremmenen
Career: Failed to secure a job aboard a free trader, so joined an interface line instead as a purser. After serving two terms, was sent to Deck school and steadily worked her way up to ship's captain.
Book 7


Dr. Fomrut Kwoxon - Medic
668B9A   Age 35   ex-Navy O3   4 terms
Homeworld: Tierdan/Foreven (3238 B200862-C Na Va)
Human Male

Admin-2, Carousing-1, Computer-1, Electronics-2, JOT-1, Medic-4 (Pathology-1, Lab tech-1), Navigation-1, Vacc-1

Blade, Low Passage
Relationship: Knows a dark secret about Diula Korfize
Career: Graduated with honours from the Imperial Naval academy on Tierdan, then opted for Medical school, again graduating with honours. Promoted up to Lieutenant Commander in his first term of active duty (term 3). Admitted to the prestigious Imperial Academy of Science and Medicine to study pathology (term 4), but failed out in the last year. Demoted back to lieutenant. Injured on patrol mission (faled survival roll first year of term 5) and mustered out.
Book 5
Imperial Academy of Science and Medicine JTAS 22


Auoth Epperson - Pilot
7B9A96   Age 38   ex-Merchant O2   5 terms
Homeworld: Mzarz/Foreven(2639 A221775-B Na Po)
Human Male

Admin-2, ATV-1, Blade-1, Electronics-1, Engineering-1, Leader-1, Legal-1, Liaison-1, Navigation-1, Pilot-1, Ship'sBoat-2, Vacc-2

Cr7500
Carbine
Middle Passage
Relationship: Friendship through guilt with Orneev Herremmenen
Career: Has spent his entire, rather lacklustre, career working in the engineering department for an interface line. Wnted to be a pilot, but didn't quite manage a chance until now.
Book 7


Orneev Herremmenen - Steward
86B798   Age 34   ex- Merchant O1   4 terms
Homeworld: Haarui/Foreven (2540 C6B5555-8 Fl Ni)
Human Male

Brawling-1, Bribery-1, Broker-3, Dagger-1, Gambling-1, Legal-2, Steward-2

Cr41000
Dagger
Relationship: Secretly hates Diula Korfize
Career: Learnt a lot about interstellar commerce (legal and otherwise) travelling around on various free traders both within and without the Imperium. After an injury sustained repelling pirates near Estoner, he was forced to spend time recuperating in hospital. Once healed, he hired on aboard the first trader that would have him.
Book 7


Diula Korfize - Engineer
85C798   Age 34   ex-Skyport Authority   4 terms
Homeworld: Veegint/Foreven (3234 B743784-A)
Solomani female

Admin-3, Body Pistol-1, Bribery-1, Engineering-1, Gambling-1, Gravitics-1, Interrogation-2, Streetwise-1

Cr20000
dagger
Relationship: Bitter about a past event towards Lt. Fomrut Kwoxon
Career: Spent 16 years working for the Veegint port authority in the freight handling department at the downport. A lot of questionable things passed through her office, but she usually managed to keep her nose clean(ish). Things eventually caught up with her, and she was forced to leave under a cloud of suspicion (failed re-enlistment roll).
Skyport Authority JTAS 19



The Ship & Expenses

The Hekabe
Ship type: Far Trader type A2
Life support (per trip):
    Crew: (5) Cr10000
    High/medium: Cr2000x 1-5
    Low: Cr100 x 1-4
Fuel Tonnage: 50t
    Cost
    Refined: 25000
    Unrefined: 5000
Berthing: Cr100
Total/trip:
    (Full J1: 35500
    (Full J2: 45500
Crew salaries (Monthly):
    Captain -
    Pilot 6000
    navigator -
    medic 2600
    engineer 4000
    Steward 3600
Mortgage: 275729
Maintenance: (annual) due in 171 days

some post-adventure RQ6 notes (& XP)

I was bad about maintaining the Mythic characters list. I totally forgot to add the barbarian Ylhooni chaos-fighters, for instance. Other NPCs (the witness, the knowledge-priestess) probably could have come off it. I rolled very few NPC Action/Positive/Negative results on the event chart, though, so luckily it wasn't much of an issue.

And speaking of NPCs, I really just need to create a page to keep track of them all so all their stats and portraits are in one place (PCs too; did you know that Udzar-sippuk has his own character sheet? You could be forgiven for thinking he doesn't). Once upon a time I had thought of making a similar page for my LotFP campaign too, but... well...

Smother is a terrifying spell. I see now why it was relegated to the Dark Forces sorcery school in the sample schools in the RQ6 rulebook. I initially took it for my PC to give her at least one thing to do in combat, and also because it's one of the classic RQIII spells for sorcerous PCs (at least in my experience). If I were going to run a campaign where the PCs were going to have more regular combat, I would definitely restrict its availability.

Combat is definitely more fiddly than RQIII, and possibly even more so than Legend. It seems somewhat less deadly, too, though that could have been a fluke of the dice. My very much not-fighter-type PCs rolled extremely well with their 20% and 29% skill levels. I think special effects are a bit too common, which slows things down in play. On the other hand, they do make writing out the narrative easier.

Skills worked exactly as I had hoped. There are enough interaction skills to carry the social aspect of the adventure without everything depending on a single Persuasion skill. The opposed skill rules are very clever, too. I felt that I probably under-used the Passions, but I role-played (as it were) the important ones anyway without needing to resort to die rolls.

Running a solitaire mystery is weird. It seemed to rely more on rolling Move Toward / Away from a Thread than any actual deduction, until at some point it became necessary to put my GM hat on and just make decisions about the whole thing. Were I to do it again, I'd opt for a smaller space to run it in (village or castle, perhaps) and come up with a cast of NPCs beforehand. And I would use the d66 NPC inter-relationship table from Star Trader to generate some basic connections between them; none of the results are Traveller-specific. I also think a mystery might work better in a more fleshed-out setting. Making up the world as you go gives you little context for the clues or the NPCs motivations.

I've been running this blog almost a year and out of 4 campaigns I've begun this is the first time I've actually finished a whole adventure. I don't count the unresolved thread, as it was separate from the main Mystery plot, and adventure number two will pick up with it as a starting point. I'd already figured out the germ of Lachaidiga's plan back around scene 17, and it became certain by scene 25.

- Now that the adventure is over, I have to finally figure out Experience rolls. At some point I decided to use them as written, both because they work for more than just skills and because it would be a pain to go back through everything I've written so see who gets a tick for which skill (Chaosium RQ style). But that does mean I have to make subjective judgements about how many to award everyone. This is why XP for treasure always seems preferable in solo games, as it provides a simple and objective solution. So then...

Experience Rolls

According to the RQ6 rulebook, "[t]he number of Experience Rolls given in any one sitting should be between two and four," but that would result in 20-40 for an adventure that took less than a fortnight of game time. I'm going to go with 6 for the whole adventure as a more reasonable figure, but also try to award them at more regular intervals during the next adventure. The rulebook also suggests "that all characters be given the same number of Experience Rolls," but the other two PC-types involved weren't there for all of it. So I will arbitrarily award Udzar-sippuk 3 experience rolls (+ modifier) for his involvement, and give Wihiyaba a single roll (no modifier) for his cameo appearance in scene 19. Udzar-sippuk also gets a free 1% increase to his Evade skill which he fumbled in the final battle; learning from one's mistakes is thus codified in the rules.

For now, I'm just going to spend Lachaidiga's experience. The other two get to spend theirs when they get their information transferred to the N/PC page I'm in the process of making.

With her experience bonus of +1, Lachaidiga gets 7 rolls in total. She hasn't time enough to learn a new professional skill or train a characteristic, nor has she been at the sorcerers' college studying a new spell. Her options are therefore increasing Passions or existing skills. She will do the latter.

Each roll is made on d% + her INT (16). Rolling under a skill raises it only 1%, whilst rolling higher gives an increase of 1D4+1.

Being a sorceress, the first thing she should do is raise her Invocation skill. It's currently 62. She rolls 39+16=55. Not quite good enough, so it only increases to 63%. The other six rolls, in tabular form--

Skill               d% + INT roll  increase
-----               -------------  --------
Shaping (63%)        30 + 16 = 46    +1%
Deceit (55%)         57 + 16 = 73    +4%
Combat style (29%)   80 + 16 = 96    +4%
Perception (48%)     59 + 16 = 75    +3%
Insight (58%)        52 + 16 = 68    +2%
Stealth (41%)        26 + 16 = 42    +3%

So her magic skills didn't improve much, but her social and sneaking-out-of-the-house skills made a good showing. And she's learnt a bit more fighting technique -- loathe though she be to put it to the test again. But who knows what her next adventure may bring...

Halloween

It's been a busy Halloween season. I haven't had any time for gaming, but I have managed to write my annual ghost story.

Here's the original.

Here's the English version.

Runequest solo - part XI, Dénouement

Scene 30

chaos 4

Setup: dénouement


In the days following the apprehension of the villain, Lachaidiga has known almost no rest. An endless parade of city officials has been to see her, and, she has no doubt, all the other participants in the strange affair. At length they seem satisfied, and begin to go away.

And then it is that one day she finds herself at home, alone, and quite bored. She thinks to go out into the city in search of some diversion, but the late summer storms have arrived, and the wind stirs up the dust in the streets, making going abroad seem decidedly less pleasant. She cannot call on her dear Nillath, for she is sequestered in the Temple of the Sun, performing the rites that celebrate, at this time of the year, the victory of the Sun over the monsters in the outer darkness, who nearly caused the death of the Earth and all its peoples. She cannot even go to see her friend Udzar-sippuk, for he too is leading the ceremonies of thanksgiving to mighty Anzakàr, who succoured the people in their flight from the forces of destruction. She is on the point of wishing Enzzal were home; even an argument with her brother would be better than this mournful solitude.

And then it is that one morning the house nomenclator comes to announce an arrival: Leudagar, the barbarian 'leader' of the band of Ylhooni chaos-fighters.

"You will show my friend in," says Lachaidiga, "with not a hint of the disdain you just now evinced. And send one of the kitchen staff round with some wine. It better be the good stuff. Or I'll know."

Lachaidiga cursorily checks her coiffure in the reflection of an obliging brass urn, then hastens to greet her visitor. She finds the barbarian in the parlour adjoining the garden, sprawled in one of couches by the fish pond. He brightens when he sees her appear. "Oh, ho! If it isn't the heroine of the hour," says Leudagar, his voice booming louder than the peals of thunder overhead.

"Hardly that," says Lachaidiga as she unceremoniously flops into a pile of cushions on the ground, "Why, now that it's all over, the prefect is treating me as if I'm partly to blame. He's just covering up for the fact that I had to do his job for him. But it's been no end of headaches having to tell six dozen officials all the same story. And I still don't even know who the villain even is! No one will tell me."

Leudagar's expression darkens. "He was one of us once. Until he betrayed us. If we'd known he was in the City, we'd not have left him alive to do this. Tell me, I must ask: what will they do with him now?"

"He'll be sent to the mines, I suspect."

"They should slay that foul wretch!"

"Don't worry. No one survives down there for very long."

"And what of the wand? It is an artifact of evil--"

"And it's being dealt with. Don't worry, it's already been handed over to the Hermetic sorcery college to have the enchantment broken. We don't let nasty magic like that float around the place, no matter what people think. It's not very nice."

The barbarian is about to object, but then roars with laughter. "Well I'd scarcely thought that sorcerers would be our allies in the Great Battle, but I see now we have the same opinion on chaos. Not very nice indeed! Ha, ha!"

Lachaidiga and Leudagar make short work of the good wine. A servant is summoned to fetch them another jug, and then another, and another. They spend a pleasant afternoon laughing and drinking, and Leudagar coaxes out the details of her battles against the ghoul and the traitor. Outside the wind howls, and lightning now and again splits the sky, lending a strangely dramatic air to her increasingly silly account.

Her brother Enzzal arrives home in the afternoon, and finds the boisterous pair in the parlour. He quickly hides his distaste at seeing Lachaidiga's barbarian visitor, but it is a look his sister reads very well.

"Sister!" says he, "I see you have a guest. What a charming sight the two of you make."

"And an important guest at that," responds Lachaidiga. "So I hope you don't mind, but we've gone through all the good wine in the cellar."

"Mind? Of course not, sister dear. Nothing can darken this fine day. I've just come back from a most profitable meeting with your intended, and the preparations are well in hand. In fact, I would like to take this opportunity to personally extend an invitation to the good Leudagar, and all of his Ylhooni brethren, to join us next month at your wedding celebration."

Just then lightning flashes right over the garden and a peal of thunder booms, resounding through  the house. Lachaidiga jumps in fright. But was it the thunder that startled her so, or her brother's words; who can say?

Lachaidiga's second adventure begins here.

Runequest solo - part X, Closing the net

scene 29

chaos 5

Setup: back to the tavern

Characters:
1. the ghoul's handler
2. Ay-Meddush, the merchant
3. Huollof, the caravan leader
4. chieftain Ulevaard and the barbarian delegation
5. prefect (PC's enemy)
6. Maruthus, the nosey neighbour
7. Izzeri-zatah, the high priestess of Ziburrun, the knowledge god
8. Alkinu, the suitor
9. Enzzal, Lachaidiga's eldest brother
10. the mason - a witness
11. Nillath, priestess of the Sun

Threads:
1. solve murder
2. stop wedding


Lachaidiga and Udzar-sippuk sit quietly in the gloomy colonnade for a quarter of an hour until they can finally breathe normally again [i.e. recover the level of Fatigue]. Lachaidiga then complains to her companion of the wounds she suffered in battle. The priest summons the healing powers of the great god Anzakàr, and as he holds his hands outstretched over his friend, her wounds miraculously begin to close. The sorceress meanwhile chants a minor charm of her own, so that the bloodstains disappear from her gown. Sadly, she does not yet know the spell of mending. Perhaps when this is over, she shall have to call round to her former master at the Sorcerers' College. For the serpent-folk, she reasons, never have tears in their robes.

[Udzar-sippuk only has a Folk Magic score of 38%. It took him 6 goes and 5 magic Points to manage to heal Lachaidiga's wounds. Fortunately the Heal spell will heal any location to full with a single application, provided it is only suffering Minor Wounds (has 1 or more HP left).

Lachaidiga  (Folk Magic 31%) had about the same luck, taking three attempts and 3MP to manage to successfully cast Cleanse.

Q: Is there anywhere to stash the body of the ghoul? 50/50: 35, Yes. Lachaidiga makes a Conceal roll (32%): 84, failure - it will be found automatically if searched for.]

"Help me move this thing," says Lachaidiga, as she takes the corpse by the hand. She grimaces with revulsion at the feel of its flaking skin. Udzar-sippuk stoically takes its other hand, and the pair drag it out of sight behind the great stone sphinx. "This will have to do. I don't want anyone to know what we've done here. Not yet at least. I can't trust the prefect's men to keep quiet -- and that would spoil everything. But I have a plan!"

Lachaidiga picks the ghoul's cloak up from the ground, and holds it out towards Udzar-sippuk. He looks down at it wide-eyed, but accepts it from her hands nonetheless. "Anzakàr protect me!" says the priest, "Somehow I knew this was going end up with me in that thing's cloak."

"So sorry, my dear. I'd wear it myself, but you're much closer to his size than am I."

"Sorry? O my darling sorceress, you're a terrible liar."

The pair make their way back across the City, down to the lower level. They wisely avoid Gods' Street and the Processional Way, so pass very few others on their way through the night-time roads and alleyways.

Their destination, that nameless square, is still quite lively, as persons of all stripes go about their various nocturnal affairs.

"Just as well I took the cloak," observes Udzar-sippuk. "If I were seen in this place, there would be talk."

He pulls the heavy cowl over his head, and marches slowly over to the spot that Lachaidiga indicates to him where she first saw the ghoul and its mysterious master. She herself disappears into her own cloak, and conceals herself across the square, to watch from the shadows.

[Q: Does this actually work? 50/50: 13, Yes.

Udzar-sippuk needs to make a Deceit (42%) roll vs. the villain's Perception (49%) in order to pass for the ghoul. The rolls are 82 vs. 76, both failures. The villain doesn't notice for now.

Lachaidiga must roll her Stealth (41%) vs. the villain's Perception to remain unnoticed. Rolls of 40 and 34 respectively both succeed; Lachaidiga wins as she rolled the larger number.

Now it is time to reveal the (randomly selected earlier) identity of the enemy.]

A well-groomed man in the armour of an infantry officer in Anzakàr's army appears in the doorway of the tavern. He looks round for a moment, then briskly crosses the square right over to Udzar-sippuk. From beneath his cloak he produces a bone wand. Waving it at Udzar-sippuk, he orders him to follow. Udzar-sippuk does his best imitation of the ghoul's gliding walk, though the soldier scarcely looks back at him.

[Another Deceit vs. Perception test. Udzar-sippuk 23, success; Villain 58, failure.]

Q: Where to now? random picture

Lachaidga needs to make another Stealth roll vs. the soldier's Perception. 10 vs. 41; both successes again, but this time the villain's roll is higher, so he will notice her.]

The soldier leads his 'ghoul' out of the poor quarter, and begins ascending one of the grand staircases between levels of the city. The moon shines bright overhead, illumining the steep passage. The soldier chances a glace back over his shoulder, and sees Lachaidiga following at a distance. He peers at her a moment, studying her cloak, recognition coming slowly over his face.

"You! You're supposed to be dead! My ghoul..."

Udzar-sippuk throws off the heavy, perfumed cloak. "We have you now, miscreant!"

[Q: Will he stand and fight? 50/50: 02, Exceptional yes. To the bitter end.]

The Villain
STR: 17
CON: 12
SIZ: 14
DEX: 9
INT: 18
POW: 11
CHA: 5

Action Points 3
Damage Modifier +1d4
Magic Points 11
Movement 6
Strike Rank 13 (-3 for armour)

1D20  Location  AP/HP
01-03 Right leg  0/6
04-06 Left leg   0/6
07-09 Abdomen    5/7
10-12 Chest      5/8
13-15 Right arm  0/5
16-18 Left arm   0/5
19-20 Head       0/6

Skills: Athletics 66%, Brawn 61%, Endurance 74%, Evade 18%, Folk Magic 46%, Locale 66%, Perception 49%, Stealth 47%, Survival 56%, Unarmed 56%, Willpower 52%, Insight 53%

Folk magic spells: Disruption, Mindspeech

Combat Style: Militia 66%
carries a shortsword, 1d6+DB



The combat begins!

Initiative:

Everyone rolls SR+1d10:
Lachaidiga 13+5=18
Udzar-sippuk 13+5=18
Villain 13-3+8=18

Everyone will act simultaneously.]

[round 1]
Udzar-sippuk attempts to catch the villain and hold him fast, but the man fends off his assault [both miss in unarmed combat]. Lachaidiga raises her hands above her head and begins weaving a potent spell [she needs the full round to cast]. Udzar-sippuk comes at the man again [missing his attack roll], and makes the mistake of crouching low to avoid his fists. He kicks Udzar-sippuk in the face, breaking his nose and sending him careening backwards down the steps [rolling a critical attack gave him 2 special effects, Choose location (head) and trip. Udzar-sippuk fumbled his Evade roll to avoid the trip. He takes (1d3+1d4=)4 damage from the kick and another (1d6=)4 damage to a random location -- head again! -- from the fall. His head is reduced to -3HP, a serious wound].

Udzar-sippuk's head cracks against the hard stone. He fights to stay conscious, and just barely manages to arrest his fall [He needs to roll Endurance (20%)to remain conscious with a Serious head wound: 15, success. He uses his last action point to attempt to stop his fall; fortunately he manages to just make his Athletics (20%) roll].

The villain draws his sword [using his last AP] as Lachaidiga finishes the words of her spell. [Invocation (62%) vs. his Endurance (74%): 41 vs. 95, the spell takes effect]. The magic forces the air from the man's lungs, and he begins to choke.

[round 2]
Undaunted, the villain advances down the steps at Lachaidiga [the Smother spell causes him to gain a level of Fatigue this round]. She responds by drawing her own blade. Udzar-sippuk weakly tries to grab the man's ankle as he strides past, but to no avail. Lachaidiga prepares to defend herself, trusting in her magic to make short work of the soldier.

The villain makes a wild swing at her, nearly toppling down the stairs with the downward force of his swing [failed attack vs. her successful parry; she chooses the Overextend Opponent special effect, so he cannot attack on his next turn].

[round 3]

Lack of air is hampering the soldier's ability to fight, but he steadies himself, then comes at the sorceress again and again [a failed Endurance roll gives him 2 more levels of Fatigue. He and Lachaidiga both use up an AP in hesitating]. Despite gasping for the air that will not fill his lungs, his sword powers past Lachaidiga's defence and stabs just under her ribs [5 damage to the chest leaves her with 3 in that location], but fortunately does not bite too deep.

[round 4]

The man can barely see as the faintness showers his vision with snow, but he staggers forward with one last desperate attempt. His sword flies well wide of the mark, clanging off the side of the stone passageway.

[The Smother spell causes him another level of Fatigue. Also, both he and Lachaidiga must make Endurance rolls in round 4 to avoid Fatigue from the stress of combat. She makes hers, but the villain fails. He is now considered Debilitated; all skill rolls are Herculean difficulty (1/10 skill level), movement is reduced to half, and Action Points are reduced by 2].

[rounds 5-6]

He comes at her again, even more unsteadily. The slow, clumsy sword thrusts are easily side-stepped. The sword falls from his near-lifeless fingers. He makes a final attack, unaware he has dropped the weapon, then sinks to his knees, and collapses sideways on the stair. [In round 5 he rolls a 00, fumbling his Endurance roll. This gives him 1d3=2 more fatigue levels, putting him at Semi-conscious. Round 6 sees him go Comatose.]

Lachaidiga prods the unconscious man with her sword; he does not react. She rolls him over to study his face in the moonlight. The magic has run its course and he has begun breathing normally again.

Tearing some shreds from the villain's cloak, she trusses him up hand and foot as Udzar-sippuk crawls down to join her.

"Are you alright?" she asks the priest.

"I shall live to fight another day," he says, trying to staunch his bleeding nose with the hem of his tunic. "Though I'd prefer to avoid the fighting part in the future."

"My wardrobe and I concur," responds Lachaidiga, though secretly beaming from the excitement. "Take his sword and watch over him. I'll be back with the prefect's men."

And so saying, Lachaidiga rushes off into the night to find the city watch.

Runequest solo - part IX, Ambush!

scene 28

chaos 6

Setup: ambush the assassin

Characters:
1. (the murderer or murderers)
2. Ay-Meddush, the merchant
3. Huollof, the caravan leader
4. chieftain Ulevaard and the barbarian delegation
5. prefect (PC's enemy)
6. Maruthus, the nosey neighbour
7. Izzeri-zatah, the high priestess of Ziburrun, the knowledge god
8. Alkinu, the suitor
9. Enzzal, Lachaidiga's eldest brother
10. the mason - a witness
11. Nillath, priestess of the Sun

Threads:
1. solve murder
2. stop wedding

[Prolegomena: Twenty-eight scenes have gone by, but at last it's time for a combat encounter. I don't count the spell reflection debacle of scene 18; despite being measured in rounds, none of the combat rules actually ended up getting used. As is my wont, I will first  write out just the narrative of the fight, and at the end of the post I will provide the entire roll-by-roll account for those who are interested in Runequest 6 combat (after the jump cut).

Also, the outcome of this scene suggested one of the pictures in my PC file, so I used it. To make it fit better, I had to make very minor additions to this scene (the lamp) and the scenes preceding it (the headdress). I changed nothing that had any bearing on the encounter (Lachaidiga could have used her Darksense spell), but I want the picture to match; torches are not the easiest thing to photoshop in, and I hate it when pictures don't reflect things as they happen in the book! Luckily I've always got many more scenes played than written up.]

Lachaidiga and Udzar-sippuk arrive at one of the many public colonnades. The merchants have all packed up their stalls long before, leaving only the occasional odds and ends behind. Lachaidga espies a discarded oil lamp amongst the detritus, and lights it with her companion's torch.

"This is the place," she announces to Udzar-sippuk. "My... my beau said he'd meet me here, in the back by the statue of that strange god. Thank you for understanding, and for not telling my brother."

"Well, I... yes, I understand your feelings for this young gentleman. But I urge you yet again to break it off before you damage the good name of your family, my lady. You've your impending nuptials to consider. As a priest, I certainly cannot condone adultery!"

"O! how weak I have been. You are of course right. I promise, this shall be the last night I spend in wickedness. But do go now, lest you frighten him off."

"May Anzakàr lead you back to righteousness!" And so saying, Udzar-sippuk strides hastily back out into the street. He looks about for the cloaked figure, and seeing him not, takes up a position behind one of large columns. [Udzar-sippuk's Stealth (26%) v. its Perception (46%): U 33, it 76; both fail. He isn't detected, but he would be automatically if it looked for him.]

Lachaidiga puts the lamp on a ledge and sits down by the colossal stone sphinx. She pretends to be bored and anxious, waiting for her tryst. After a minute of absolute silence passes by, she becomes actually bored and anxious, and begins singing to herself [Sing 31%: 42, failure], a bit out-of-tune, to pass the time.

[Her Perception vs. its Stealth: 08, success v. 83, failure.
Q: Does it attack now? Likely: 03, Exceptional Yes.]

She soon becomes aware of a form creeping slowly towards her in the darkness ahead. She stands up from her perch, and draws her short sword out from under her cloak. Not wishing to be tripped up by the heavy fabric, she lets the cloak slide from her shoulders to the ground. A similar sound answers her movement in the darkness ahead, and then the terrible form of her pursuer steps naked into the lamp light.

It is a man, or what once was a man, a livid and gruesome corpse-thing with hideous bony claws protruding from the dessicated flesh of its fingers, and a lipless rictus grin around its gore-stained mouth. Uneven bandages, soaked in some sort of sickly-sweet perfume, are wrapped round the thing to disguise the scent of decay. Its empty eye sockets glower at the young sorceress, who raises a trembling sword-arm. The ghoul pads ever closer, claws outstretched.

[round 1]
Lachaidiga thinks back to her training with the militia. Waiting until the horrid walking corpse is nearly upon her, she lunges out with her shortsword, shrieking out an incoherent battle-cry. It seems surprised by her action, and assumes an almost defencive posture, trying to swat the sword away with its talons. It succeeds only in pushing the blade downward, away from its middle but straight into its calf. It barely reacts, feeling no pain in its corpse-limbs, but as Lachaidiga withdraws the blade she twists it, and the motion is enough to unbalance the creature. It falls at her feet.

The ghoul grabs at Lachaidiga, trying to catch her dress and pull her down to the ground as well. She fends it off with her sword, looking for an opening, but her every small advance is met with a furious swipe of its terrible claws.

[round 2]
Lachaidiga doesn't want the ghoul to catch her feet, but as she hangs back her sword strokes come far short of their target. The ghoul takes the opportunity to scurry backwards and rise again to its feet.

It wastes no time, but lunges for her immediately. The sight of its gory claws fills her vision, and time seems to slow as they come straight at her eyes. Then some long-buried warrior instinct takes over and she twists out of the way as it lurches past, pawing wildly at the empty air.

Her attempt at a riposte is sadly lacking in finesse. The ghoul nearly swats the sword from her hand as she swings clumsily.

[round 3]
Udzar-sippuk arrives at a dead run. He tries to smash the ghoul with his torch, but to no avail.

Lachaidiga and the ghoul begin circling one another, each hoping the other will leave themselves open. Udzar-sippuk moves to follow, but the ghoul seems hardly to notice him, concentrating all its unholy anger on its quarry. Lachaidiga whispers a short prayer to her household gods to keep her from harm.

The ghoul hesitates for a moment, perhaps expecting the sorceress to have produced a more fearsome spell. Udzar-sippuk seizes the chance. He rushes forward and strikes the fiend right across its face with the flaming torch. It recoils, hissing with rage.

[round 4]
Udzar-sippuk follows through from his mighty swing, but the torch just barely grazes the thing's knee.

Lachaidiga swings fiercely at the creature. It raises an arm to ward off the blow. A long strip of flesh is sliced cleanly off to hang limply from the bone, but the thing registers no pain.

Her sword out of the way, the ghoul steps in and grabs at her with its other hand. The claws sink deep into her flesh and grip her tightly by the collarbone. She cries out in pain and surprise, but keeps her wits about her. Gritting her teeth, she pulls back and away from the beast, wincing as the claws are ripped free. Blood gushes out over her lovely gown, and she cannot help but think that whatever magician is controlling this hideous assassin will pay dearly for the affront to her wardrobe.

[round 5]
Udzar-sippuk uses the flaming torch to force the creature back from his friend. It snarls as the flames singe its scraggly hair. It seems to only notice the attacks that hit its head, as if some vestige of human awareness yet resides within.

The three circle warily, again looking for an opening.

[round 6]
Udzar-sippuk is out of breath, and beginning to tire. His attacks show ever decreasing force, but Lachaidiga feels a rush of pain and excitement. She lashes out once more, her blade biting deep into the fiend's bony neck. As she wrenches the blade free, the ghoul grabs at her again, this time catching her side and digging its claws in deep into her flesh as is takes hold of the fabric of her gown. The ghoul tries to pull her closer, and its fangs snap just a hair's breadth from her cheek. She struggles to loosen its grip but it has her fast.

[round 7]
The ghoul keeps snapping at the sorceress who is beginning to flag despite her terror and excitement. The ghoul continues to tug at her clothing, pulling her ever closer to its filthy, snapping maw. With a final effort born of desperation, she lets it pull her towards itself, and as the horrible head descends to bite at her white arm, she thrusts her sword with the other. The blade smashes through its jaw and nearly sunders head from spine. The creature goes limp at once, and falls forward into the sorceress. She withdraws her sword, then pushes it away from her. It falls back and crashes to the ground, a lifeless mass of withered and stinking carrion.

Udzar-sippuk lets the sputtering torch fall from his weak fingers. He steadies himself against a column whilst Lachaidiga nearly collapses against the great statue.

"And to believe..." she gasps, "that I used to... complain about... having to go out for the militia...training."

Her companion's only response is a weak smile. The pair sit for some time in the darkness, slowly recovering their breath. At length, Udzar-sippuk rises, and takes the oil lamp closer to examine the terrible form on the ground.

"What is this thing?" asks the priest. "Who could control such a fell creature?"

"Let's find out!" says the sorceress.

once more, with die rolls...