ABz's Sci-Fi RPG Campaign

SESSION TWO RECAP - December 11, 2016

THE PARTY:
Joshua Wytov - Expert pilot and navigator.
Warren Mason - Psychic (telepathy) negotiator.
Chie Maki - Psychic (biopsionics) healer/researcher.
Arden Perry - Warrior, security officer and former space marine.

RESCUED!

In the aftermath of the aborted sacrifice, the party meets Sergeant Litvak of Kolar Security Corp (KSC). They tell him about their investigation so far, and he takes Nazir (and Akintola) into custody, as well as the physical evidence at the scene - such as Thad’s compad. Warren attempts to sneak the compad away with telekinesis, but is unsuccessful. Litvak asks them to share any information they find in their own travels, and he will (somewhat reluctantly) assist them if he can. He allows them to briefly question a couple of the victims, and tells the party that there have been other missing persons reported around the planet.

Back at Bowman Multistellar, Thormod tells them that in order to more effectively pursue Thad, they should take their ship to the city of Rusthaven for upgrades.

They fly to Rusthaven and leave the Solar Flame in the care of Ranjit Indrani, who agrees to replace one weapon system and upgrade their spike drive to a level 2 for faster travel. The refit will take about 24 hours.

In the meantime, they continue their search for clues on the Order of Sraosha. Chie manages to reach a Professor Collins at Turtle Bay University, and learns that Sraosha is a minor deity from the ancient Earth religion of Zoroastrianism. Along with two others, Mithra and Rashnu, Sraosha guards the Chinvat Bridge, the passage between life and the afterlife. His name also means Obedience. Collins says she has no idea why this cult would claim to worship Sraosha, as he is generally considered to be a benevolent entity.

Joshua, Warren and Arden visit a spacer bar, the Rusty Bucket, to ask around about missing persons. They meet Blackdog, a rugged spacer crewman and his friends. Upon hearing that Sgt. Litvak is investigating missing persons, he leaves briefly, then returns to tell the party that his sister Cheryl has been missing as well.

The party does some shopping, with Arden buying a new weapon.

After their investigations, the party retires for the evening at the Spaceport Hotel.

ATTACK!

They are awakened in the middle of the night by explosions, alarms, and the floor jerking to the side. They quickly exit the Hotel, and find Rusthaven itself under attack, and Ranjit calls to tell them their ship is being stolen! They race toward his shop on the other end of the spaceport, but are too late - they see their ship taking off, and find Ranjit injured but mostly okay. Chie gets recording from the Flame’s security cameras, showing Sraosha cultists as the culprits.

They take Ranjit and rush back to the spaceport to find a way off the doomed city, and happen to find Estevan Cook - and his personal ship - leading refugees on board to escape. They board as well, with Cook giving them a raised eyebrow.

The ship takes off to head to Seabreeze, and the passengers witness Rusthaven begin sinking into the ocean. Upon questioning, some of the refugees claim to have seen people wearing Sraoshan armbands acting suspicious around the buildings that later exploded.

Arden, convinced that Cook had something to do with the attacks, convinces Josua to hack the lock to Cook’s cabin door, and attempts to search it. He instead finds a secret door to the cockpit, and Cook politely offers to meet with the party and discuss things.

Cook claims he was on Rusthaven for business, and had nothing to do with the attack. Warren’s empathy confirms this as true. Cook then offers the party a job...they immediately refuse, but Cook asks them to meet with him later on Seabreeze to hear his offer in full.

The party learns that during the attack on Rusthaven, a jailbreak was also attempted for Nazir and Akintola on Seabreeze, but both died in the escape attempt. Sgt. Litvak offers to give back Thad’s compad, as there is no longer anyone to investigate. He also checks records and finds confirmation that Leonid “Blackdog” Kavelin’s sister Cheryl Kavelin is missing.

Thormod helps Ranjit get to his friends. He apologizes to the party, not knowing what to do next, but gives them 5000 credits left over from paying Ranjit for the aborted ship upgrade.

After staking it out ahead of time, the party meets Cook at Jade Restaurant, where he gives them his offer: A scientist friend of his, Dr. Jose Paredes, has been arrested and is being held in North Mito on Fuji Gamma by SHOGUN Security. Cook wants the party to meet his contact and help “break” Dr. Paredes out, and in return he’ll loan them a ship.

After much deliberation, the party convinces Cook to add payment in credits for the job, and confirms (with Warren’s assistance) that the offer is legitimate, despite Cook hiding some details. Upon asking for further payment, Cook “offers” to “let” them take whatever they want from SHOGUN’s contraband vault. Chie confirms via news reports that Dr. Paredes was arrested for terrorism, but the evidence was not clear. Despite misgivings, they agree to the mission.

BREAKOUT!

They book passage on a commercial transport, and meet Albert Oliver in Mito. Albert hands Chie his laptop as a test of her skills, and she immediately hacks in, revealing full plans for the SHOGUN precinct.

They will pose as a prisoner transfer crew for Dr. Paredes, and take him to their ship in the impound lot. (At this point, it is revealed that the ship Cook is “loaning” them is the same freighter that Edward Lloyd used to ambush them before.) They gear up for the mission (with Arden adding the important detail of dermofilm face masks to disguise them) and head out.

The mission goes off mostly clean:

The party passes security checkpoints, and splits up at the entrance to the cells.

Arden goes to check on Dr. Paredes and inform him they’ll be moving him soon. He sees Edward Lloyd in the next cell, but Lloyd doesn’t recognize him through the dermofilm, and Arden leaves him there.

Chie and Joshua head to the lower level. Chie installs Albert’s network link in the security station’s computer. Joshua goes to the impound lot to check the ship and meet up with Albert.

Warren heads to the contraband vault for Dr. Paredes’ tools, and meets their inside man, Lewis Okonwo.

As they are all converging on the lower level, the real transport crew arrives, setting off an alarm. Chie and Albert misdirect the guards to the upper level, Warren and Lewis disable one in the security station, and Joshua threatens the remaining two with the ship’s multifocal laser, resulting in their surrender. They head out in the ship, safe for now.

SESSION FOUR RECAP - June 21, 2017

THE PARTY:
Joshua Wytov - Expert pilot and navigator.
Warren Mason - Psychic (telepathy) negotiator.
Chie Maki - Psychic (biopsionics) healer/researcher.
Arden Perry - Warrior, security officer and former space marine.

PURSUIT!

As Dr. Paredes demonstrates the NCEM system’s power by linking it to their ship, the party discovers that Chie’s custom security system is still operational on board the Solar Flame...it’s somewhere in-system, and Thad Bowman is on board! He is accompanied by a woman and six cultists. Joshua manages to identify their general heading through the camera view (“I know that ship well enough to read the console!”) and discover that they’re heading toward Fuji Gamma! In addition, Joshua identifies the woman with Thad as Cheryl Kavelin, the missing sister of Blackdog from Rusthaven.

The party plots an intercept course, triangulating the Flame’s destination on the way, just before Dr. Paredes’ temporary interface shuts down.

Various plans are discussed for how to get the ship and Thad back, including reporting it to Starport Security, or contacting Miss Yamasaki at Honda Station to ID the ship, but in the end they decide to simply attempt to recapture it (and Thad) themselves. Joshua and the Doctor drop them off and retreat to synchronous orbit. Chie monitors the security cameras and discovers that Thad has been left on the ship in Bay 32 (a closed hangar bay) with two cultists who appear to be keeping him on the bridge.

The ship is locked, so Arden and Warren cover the main entrance while Chie attempts to quietly override the cargo elevator controls, preventing notification from reaching the bridge. She is successful, but as they take the elevator back up, the guards are notified by the vibrations and head back to investigate. As soon as they enter the cargo hold, they are fired on! They manage to take a single shot before Arden kills one guard, Warren telekinetically disarms the second, and Arden finishes off the second when he attempts to charge them.

Thad is surprised to see them, and initially angry. Chie says that they’re going to return him (and the ship) to his father, despite Thad’s protests that it is “MY ship!” Warren’s kind words convince Thad to stand down before he can call the other cultists on the comm, and when Thad learns of the disaster at Rusthaven, he is appalled, and agrees to go home with them.

They take off and head to meet Joshua and the Doctor in orbit, and from there, home?

Because (as probably everyone here knows already) I love LEGO, I decided to create the party's characters in minifigure form:




From left to right: Joshua (pilot/mechanic), Chie (psychic medic/computer expert), Warren (psychic negotiator), and Arden (ex-space marine security).

Since this has now become the "ABz shows off his LEGOs", here's my latest build, a gravcar the party may use in a chase scene in their next session!



(More images in the gallery here: imgur.com/a/st68I )

Last night's session was a huge success! The players loved the LEGO idea...Arden's player took the following photos during the game:

SWN Session 6 - Mid-Game LEGO Shots

SESSION SEVEN RECAP - August 7th, 2017

THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES

Having just stopped Agent Owen and the “cooperative” cultist (Xenon) from escaping, the party and the OPD reconvene at their vehicles. Agent Waring invites them to accompany him and his team back to the OPD command ship parked at the government City Center facility, and leaves with both cultists. Chie asks the rest of the party to meet her at their ship first.

On the ship, Chie reveals the NCEM core that Dr. Paredes left in her care. They debate what to do with it, and decide to leave it inside Robbie the security robot for now, and make sure their ship is secured. They re-equip and reload in the ship’s armory and head to OPD headquarters.

THE OPD HQ

They arrive at City Center and are directed to the OPD ship - a frigate large enough for their gravcar to drive inside. They meet Waring in the Command Room. He tells them that Agent Owen, Agent Marks and alleged cultist Richard are in the Medbay recovering from their injuries, while cultist Xenon is in an interrogation room.

Chie visits the medbay and scans Owen for evidence of nanites, finding nothing.

Warren and Arden question both Richard and Xenon, comparing their stories.

Richard is a laborer who was abducted from his workplace, woke up in a lab inside a shipping warehouse, and was almost immediately injected with nanites and his memory blurry after that. They determine that he has been missing for about two days.

Xenon claims to be an unskilled person with no future who joined The Order of his own volition, and has been used in security and abductions. He corroborates Richard’s story of the Lab, and seeing the doctor with the cybernetic arm and Nazir there. He heard Esteban Cook’s name mentioned but doesn’t know the context, and heard a reference to “The Left Hand of Sraosha”, but doesn’t know much else about The Order’s plans. He gives further details on the lab, explaining that it’s located on a corporate platform inside the massive cargo shipping facility next to the Western Starport.

They check the impound room for the cultists’ belongings and find a security badge for the facility under the corporation name “Panstellar Shipping”.

After reconvening and sharing this information, Joshua attempts to contact Cook and gets no answer. Calling Cook’s office, he speaks with Cook’s secretary, Emily, who says Cook has been out of contact for a while, and he was supposed to meet with Dr. Paredes earlier but the Doctor didn’t show up. Joshua warns her that Dr. Paredes was abducted and Cook may be in danger, and she promises to pass on the message if she hears from him.

As they discuss further strategy, Agents Rodriguez and Jones offer to go scope out the facility. Jones takes the security badge, and within minutes returns with a matching security officer disguise. Rodriguez drops him off at the warehouse and returns. Jones connects them with an overhead feed of the area, showing several workers, an open cargo container with nearby hauler, a crane, two security robots, a cargo exosuit and a glass-walled lab container.

As they prepare to leave, Waring offers Arden the use of a combat exosuit procured in a prior mission, but Arden declines.

WAREHOUSE ATTACK!

With Jones in position, the party (with Thad and Agent Rodriguez) approach the platform. As they arrive, the workers back away. Arden, Chie and Warren walk straight toward the lab, Joshua claims the cargo exosuit, and Thad hides. The “evil” doctor exits the lab with a civilian woman, and sends on her way. Rodriguez follows to question her. Warren goes to look inside a large cargo container, finding a large tank of blue liquid and several smaller tanks/devices. Arden approaches the doctor, who invites him into the lab. As soon as Arden begins questioning him, Warren senses an impending attack, all of the nearby workers’ minds go blank, and they begin grabbing tools and attack!

Warren notices a larger security robot climb on top of the hauler and attack, while a worker comes up the ramp behind him!

Joshua grabs a worker to keep him from getting injured and/or injuring others, but the exosuit is knocked over by the crane, swinging a crate like a morning star! He is hit again, then moves out of range behind the container. The crane hits the container, knocking the big robot and worker off their feet, and Warren jumps back just in time to miss the container’s door swinging shut!

The Doctor tries to throw Arden on the lab bed, but fails, then blocks Arden’s pistol shot with his arm, taking heavy damage! Arden is punched back into the wall, but bounces back with his stun baton, knocking the Doctor out with another hit to his arm.

Chie is surrounded by workers and punched twice in the back. She teleports away and up to the crane control tower, and blasts the controls! The robot turns to fire on her, and is destroyed by a well-placed shot from Warren!

The workers converge on Warren, and Thad takes a couple of shots at them, hitting one. As Arden exits the lab to help, the big robot jumps into the hauler and attaches it to the container, apparently preparing to leave with it. Joshua’s exosuit rips the connector arm off one side, and a well-placed shot by Jones disables the other, and Joshua runs up and punches the robot out of the hauler! As soon as this is done, the mind-controlled workers all fall unconscious! Joshua revives the one critically injured worker, and the team rests, preparing their next actions!

TO BE CONTINUED

Session 7 LEGO Shots

Here are more shots of the last session and the shipping platform fight!

SESSION NINE RECAP - September 24th, 2017

PLANS

After the confrontation in the water treatment plant and the subsequent conversation with Nazir, the party returns to OPD HQ to prepare for their second attempt to meet Nazir and rescue Thormod, this time offering to trade him for Thad as originally requested. Nazir has told them to meet him below the shopping mall, in Storage Room B. As Cheryl Kavelin has already given them a list of five locations where other hostages might be held, and the storage room is one of them, they plan to send teams to as many locations as possible at once.

The party will go to Storage Room B. Blackdog has offered to assist, so he, his men, and the available OPD agents split up to check the location in the City Center Tower, the access tunnels underneath Esteban Cook’s mansion, and and an apartment a few blocks from Bowman Multistellar, leaving only the Panstellar warehouse unsearched.

While they are discussing plans, Dr. Paredes asks to speak with Chie. He confirms that the NCEM core is safe, and they exchange information about what has occurred in the last ten hours or so (using Warren’s mental link to exchange information secretly between party members):

Dr. Paredes was captured right outside Cook’s home, by Order forces who appeared to be attacking the home itself. He doesn’t remember much else until waking up in the water treatment plant with the other hostages.
Chie informs Dr. Paredes about the mind-control nanites and asks him if he can help disable them completely. They also notify him that Dr. Fabin is held captive, and they confirm that Fabin works for Vologda, the company that stole Paredes’ project and was attempting to kidnap him.
Paredes suggests using the NCEM A.I. to disable the nanites, as it appears their communication protocols might be copied off of the NCEM’s own, but after discussing risks of allowing an A.I. to access the city’s comm network, the party votes not to do so.
Dr. Paredes says he will attempt to develop a way to break the nanites’ control on his own, but is not confident that he can do so within two hours.

RESCUE, REDUX

After extensive planning, the party heads to the Mall and down to the lower level. Arden takes point in his borrowed Power Armor, with Thad riding piggyback on his shoulders, and Warren, Chie and Joshua follow. They sweep the rooms and halls leading to Storage Room B, scaring off three cultists, including one manning a heavy laser in a side hallway and two in the room directly opposite of B.

They open the doors, and find Nazir, a psychic, and two cultists, with Thormod behind them in a wheelchair. A very brief conversation ensues (“Thormod, are you okay?” “Yeah, mostly!”) before Arden opens fire! He appears to get a direct hit on Nazir, but it instead hits the wall behind them.

As one of the cultists grabs Thormod and wheels him away, two more psychics appear in the hall - a teleporter and a telekinesis master! The TK master flings Thad off of Arden’s suit into the room opposite, and Joshua runs after him, while the TK psychic throws a wave of force that knocks Arden down the hall!

Chie and Warren trade shots with the cultists. Chie fires at the walls to set off the sprinkler system as a diversion.

Arden gets back up and fires at the TK master, missing, and has his light laser rifle pulled away from him. Warren manages to pull it back up the hall toward Arden, but a cultist runs out of Room B, grabs the rifle, and attempts to flee with it. Arden chases him, smashes him flat with a single punch, and retrieves the rifle.

The party manages to injure the TK master, and he reteams with the other teleporter and flees.

Nazir and his psychic teleport across the hall. Joshua grabs Thad, backs away, and puts his pistol to Thad’s head!

Joshua and Nazir speak briefly.
Nazir - “You wouldn’t hurt him!”
Joshua - “Try me, Alyad Alyumnaa!”
Nazir - “You’ve done your homework.”
Joshua - “If you needed our help, why didn’t you just ASK?”
Nazir - “You wouldn’t have helped us anyway!”

Nazir runs forward to grab Thad, and the psychic runs up behind, and teleports all of them away to another storage area! Thad shoots (and kills) the psychic. Nazir tries again to grab Thad and take him hostage, but Thad fights back, giving Joshua a chance to shoot! Nazir flees, saying “This isn’t over!”

TO BE CONTINUED!