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Kiero
2009-02-17, 06:10 AM
Ever since I first conceived the idea of Golko Wants You Dead! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97379) I've wanted to actually run it with a real life, face to face group. Well tonight, on my birthday, I finally got to do it. And it was awesome.

It's been several weeks in the making, since I first suggested to my WFRP group that I wanted to run a Wushu one-shot. Eventually I got interest from two of those players (Mrok Girl and Acrozatarim), and our GM from Star Wars Saga (the illustrious DaveB). My wife (Kiero's Wife - now KW) joined in for one time only, to make my ideal four players.


Initial Setup

I sent out the link to the scenario, and asked everyone to have a look at it, along with Wushu Open Reloaded (http://www.story-games.at/wushu/open_reloaded.pdf). The idea was to get familiar with the pregens, and perhaps arrive at one they each wanted to play. As it turned out, they'd decided on non-conflicting first choices before the session, which made the first part very easy.

To customise their pregens, they had to choose a name, species, gender and two important other things. These were firstly, why did Golko want them dead, and secondly which other PC did they either Know or Owe? That was a means to both tie them into the scenario, and give them some reason to care about each other. It was also a way to invest them a little in the characters by customising them.


The PCs

Within 20 minutes, we had four customised PCs. They were as follows:

The Cop (played by Acrozatarim)

Name: Sem Chumbo
Species/Gender: Near-human/Male
Why Golko wants you dead: Violently broke up one of Golko's operations, hospitalising one of his lieutenants.
Who do you Know/Owe: Owes the Techie, who converted a blaster into a break-apart easy-to-conceal model which saved his life.

There isn't much by way of proper law enforcement in the undercity, but that doesn't mean the authorities ignore what goes on completely. The roots of much of the upper city's crime are down here in the shadows, and that's where a select few undercover operatives come in

In Too Deep 5 - You've been at this so long you think like a criminal. You know who to ask questions of, where to get things, how to persuade people to talk.

-Word on the Street: You've got informants with an ear to the ground, and know how to shake people down for the latest gossip.
-Criminal Psychology 101: You know how criminals think, where they'd hide things, how to blend in like one of them. You don't give off the stink of cop.
-Give it Up: You know how to ask the right questions, and what buttons to push to make someone talk. You've got a reputation as someone not to mess with.

Unreasonable Force 4 - What they taught you during basic training doesn't cut it down here. Expect no quarter, give none in return, most people fight to survive.

-Beatdown: Somewhere along the way those clean restraining techniques and riot control methods you learned in the academy were tempered with back-alley streetfighting and dirty tricks. You hit first and hard.
-Packing Heat: More often than not, survival means getting the drop on the other guy, or drawing faster than they do. You're a deadly shot with a blaster.

Drive Like a Maniac 3 - You always had a natural talent for speeders and swoops, something that's served you just as well down here.

-Swoop Racer: For a brief time you raced on the swoop circuit and made a name for yourself. You know your way around a swoop engine, too.


Holds a Grudge 1 - You never forget a slight done to you, or a favour owed. You've got some enemies out there and you'll settle the score no matter what.

Trappings: Blaster, collapsible stun-baton, armoured jacket.



The Scoundrel (played by DaveB)

Name: "Sebulbo" (not his real name...)
Species/Gender: Dug/Male
Why Golko wants you dead: Took something expensive off Golko's operation, then lost it in a card game.
Who do you Know/Owe: Knows the Cop is a brass and has been toying with him for ages.

You're a chancer, a drifter and a grifter, living from one moment to the next without much of a plan. You make your way through short cons, gambling and a bit of trading on the side.

Living By Your Wits 5 - You've got the fastest mouth in the quadrant and could sell water to a Quarren.

-Grift Sense: You can spot a likely mark, and have a knack for knowing exactly what people want to hear. You've tried all the better-known short cons, and have even made up a few of your own.
-Pazaak Face: Your bluff is second to none, and you know many ways to cheat at cards too.
-Let's Do Business: Your talents also stretch to bargaining and haggling. If there's a deal to be made, you'll be the one coming out on top.

Only Losers Fight Fair 4 - Something you learned quickly down here, there's no such thing as a fair fight. Run when you don't have an edge and hit the other being when they're not looking.

-Sucker Punch: Normally you prefer to hit someone when they're not expecting it, or escalate the stakes with one of your hidden armaments.
-Shot in the Back: Your favourite sort of firefight is the one where they're not returning fire.

Petty Crime 3 - There's only so far brains and brawn can get you, and that's when the other things you learned come in.

-Footpad: Picking pockets, sneaking around, breaching security and generally being places you're not supposed to be.


Greedy 1 - You can't resist an opportunity to enrich yourself. If there's a score going and the price is right, you're in.

Trappings: Blaster, Pair of concealed holdout blasters in wrist-mounted spring-rigs, hidden vibroshiv.


The Techie (played by Mrok Girl)

Name: Voshka Maar
Species/Gender: Togruta/Female
Why Golko wants you dead: "I didn't do it!" Someone messed the custom droid she was working on for Golko; it went crazy and killed people at a party
Who do you Know/Owe: Owes the Scoundrel for "finding" something important that had been stolen at short notice, saving her life.

For as long as you can remember you tinkered with things, whether tapping the power feeds so your family could get heat and light or building little gadgets of variable usefulness. This skill proved extremely valuable in providing an income as a local boss hired you to keep his droids in working order. Eventually you got a place of your own and a lot at the junkyard, where you turn trash into cash.

Techno-wizardry 5 - There's very little you can't achieve with machines and mechanisms, be they engines, droids, computers, weapons and anything else. This talent is not only a lucrative line of business, it also means you're in demand.

-Slicing and Reprogramming: Computers and droid intelligences give up their secrets to you easily. You know how they work, how they think, and how to fool them.
-Grease Monkey: Even the simplest of mechanisms speak to you, you can strip them down and rebuild them, or cannibalise them for parts in short order.
-Jury Rig: In a pinch you can throw together all sorts of improvised devices, explosives and weapons.

Whatever's Close to Hand 4 - You're not formally trained to fight by any means, but you know what works. That tends to be something close by and heavy, and you're no stranger to a scuffle.

-Spanner to the Dome: Might not be pretty, but a tool to the head will bring down most beings.
-Spray and Pray: Your marksmanship tends to require lots of ammunition to be effective.

Gang Connected 3 - Important people know you and some of them owe you. It's in their interests to keep a valuable asset like you safe and you keep an ear to the street.

-Good Rep: People on the street trust you, your word is a respected brand. You can get hold of the things you need.


Honest to a Fault 1 - The only reason you're not a lot richer and more powerful than you are is that you're a rare creature in the undercity - one with some integrity.

Trappings: Toolkit, custom-built droid, prototype blaster rifle.



The Aristocrat (played by Kiero's Wife)

Name: Adi Bultar
Species/Gender: Human/Female
Why Golko wants you dead: Ordered the death of one of his men for double-crossing me on a deal
Who do you Know/Owe: Know the Techie who keeps high-spec speeder maintained.

As far as anyone passes for ghetto nobility, you are it. Your family control major criminal interests and you've always had the best that money can buy as a result. One day you're expected to take a major interest in Exchange politics with a view to taking over the reigns of power. You haven't had a completely sheltered existence; it's entirely necessary that a future vigo see the dirty end of the business they'll be running.

Air of Authority 5 - You're used to giving orders and having them followed. You might back that up with good looks and seductive suggestion, or a clever wit and clear voice or just plain bloody-mindedness. Everybody knows who you are and you know everyone who matters.

-Getting Your Way: Command comes naturally to you, through tone of voice, demeanour and poise, you demand instant respect.
-Friends in the Family: Sol the Knife? The guy that even the Wookie gang thinks is fracking crazy? He's your uncle Solly, who dandled you on his knee. "Numbers" Artaz, the woman people say has a computer for a heart and will kill a man for the price of a blaster power cell? She's been to every one of your birthday parties. The worst people in the undercity are your old family friends, and they're willing to talk to you, for old times' sake.
-Acting Natural: Your audacity knows no bounds, you're very good at playing along like you're supposed to be somewhere you're not.

Noble Fighting Arts 4 - As befits one of your social status, you began your education in the fighting arts young. Shooting, fencing, martial arts, everything a young aristo needs to take a hands-on approach to command.

-Crack Shot: Your marksmanship is honed by hours on the range, and more practical experience in gunfights on the street.
-Teras Kasi Master: From as soon as you could walk, you were taught the martial arts, mastering several by your teens. That covers both unarmed and melee weapon forms.

The Finer Things 3 - You have the best equipment that money can buy.

-SoroSuub X5200: Your souped-up, tricked-out, pimp ride.


Romantic Ideals 1 - You bought the whole nobility deal hook, line and sinker. So much so that you feel you have an obligation to do the right thing for your "subjects" and behave responsibly with your power.

Trappings: High-spec blaster, expensive clothes, an antique vibrosword, a personal energy shield.[/QUOTE]

What was interesting was that no one was interested in playing the Jedi in this game. Not in the slightest. We had possibly the only Dug grifter in the entire universe, one who used his brains first, and fists second.


Rules Overview

I took five minutes to explain Wushu, either for the first time for some, or a reminder for others. Pretty much in it's entirety, because that's all it takes.

And that was it. If anyone knows of a means by which I can offer the actual audio file, I can make that available too. It's just shy of 200MB so quite large. It's a little over 3 hours - longer than I'd intended, but the first conflict took a little longer than the others did.

Kiero
2009-02-17, 06:12 AM
For anyone curious about this sort of thing, here's my notes before the session, all the prep I did besides downloading some images. I used the music from KotOR II, which is what the titles refer to.

Rules Overview (5 mins)

(I actually did this after the characters in the end)

Character selection and customisation (15 mins)

(Results of which you can see in the post before; this happened first in the end, before we ate)


Opener - crawling text (10 mins)
Music: Star Wars intro, followed by City of Iziz, then Dxun

[Shot opens on a starfield and pans down to show a gleaming metallic planet with confusing streams of orbital traffic travelling in all directions.]

[Cut to a view high among the spires of a bright and colourful place, busy with lanes of aerial traffic and huge glowing advertisements.]

[Panning shot across crowds of people, alien and human, moving about at their own pace, but seeming happy.]

[Camera pans down moving at a dizzying speed down a gap between the spires and platforms where it gets darker. At first the gloom is lit by arc lighting, then that gets less frequent.]

[Cut to a dingy place where graffiti decorates the walls, piles of trash litter the streets and the artificial lighting flickers fitfully. A rodent-like creature skitters from one pile of trash to another. People look furtively around as the move, casting a wary eye at the gang of toughs hanging on a street corner.]

[Cut to the outside of a cantina, the doors of which burst open as someone is thrown out.]

The grubby human cowers on the floor as a motley crew of thugs follow him out of the cantina.

"Please, Razzick, I told you everything I know."

"Why don't I believe you, friend?" Razzick, a broken-toothed man with a blaster pointed at the helpless man says.

"That's the last place I saw them. I don't know any more than that."

"Let's hope you're telling the truth, friend, 'cos Golko doesn't like people wasting his time. And Golko is a lot less forgiving than I am." The gunman says, shooting the man in the leg. "That's so you don't forget." He adds as the man screams in pain, curling up in a ball and clutching his wounded leg.

Razzick and his goons depart, leaving their victim sobbing on the ground. No one makes a move to help the man as they climb aboard swoop bikes and zip off at high speed.

(I semi-read, semi-paraphrased the above)

Act I - The Drunken Bantha Cantina (30 mins)
Atmosphere Music: Iziz Cantina
Battle Music: Citadel Station Battle

Environmentals
-dim lighting
-piped music - not an actual band playing
-lots of alcoves/booths
-ring-shaped bar in the middle of the room
-explosive containers and flammable liquids

Complications
-A lost mask
-Fire! [Raise Yin Toll by one until extinguished]
-Stampede!
-Gas leak - blades only

Cap: 4

Mook-age: Bar Patrons who don't like getting caught up in the mix; beat up or clear out 16/1
Secondary Goals: Put out the fire 4/1
Nemeses:
-The HK-24 Hit Squad (6 Chi)
-Synchronous Termination With Extreme Preudice (STWEP) 4
-energy shields, blaster carbines, co-ordinated attachs
-Greater Than The Sum Of Their Parts 1 (rely on their synchronisation)
-The Mantid Killer (3 Chi)
-Hyper-evolved Predator 4
-scythe-blade limbs, temporary invisibility, super-fast
-Perceptual Sensetivity 1 (sudden changes in the environment and extremes can stun)



Bridge I: Finding an Ally (15 mins)
Music: Nar Shaddaa, The Sith Lords

Scene Goal:



Act II: Two-Fry's Roof (30 mins)
Atmosphere Music: Peragus, The Sith, Sith Tomb
Battle Music: Telosian Base Battle, Nar Shaddaa Battle, Battle on the Droid Yacht

Environmentals
-cooling vents
-parked speeders
-slippery (and flammable) fuel spills

Complications
-coolant/steam spray
-fuel bowser explosion
-mook-swarm - after three rounds ambient threat rises to Yin Toll 2

Cap: 5

Mook-age: Bruisers R Us 10/1
Secondary Goals: Keep Two-Fry Alive 6/1
Nemeses:
-The Armoured Iridorian
-Death-dealing Devices 4
-flamethrower, jet-pack, rockets, spring-out vibroshiv, sticky goo
-Out of Juice 1
-The Rodian Sniper
-Long-range Marksman 4
-sniper-shots, blasting through cover
-Physical Coward 1.
-The Symbiote Brute
-Two Minds, One Purpose 5
-Symbiotic Brutality 4
-twin vibro-axes, hideous strength
-Divided We Fail 1

Bridge II: Planning the Assault (15 mins)
Music: Telos Battle




Act III: Golko's' Audience Chamber (45 mins)
Atmosphere Music: Nihilus' Theme, Malachor
Battle Music: Korriban Battle, Malachor Battle, The Final Battle

Environmentals
-grand stone pillars
-expensive tapestries and artwork
-busts and candelabras

Complications
-screaming civilians blocking fields of fire
-the lights go out

Cap: 6

Mook-age: Golko's sycophants and hangers-on, plus bodyguards 15/2
Secondary Goals:
Nemeses:
-Nikto Death-cultist
-Symphony of Slaughter 4
-twin kukri-blades, Force-telekinesis, super-acrobatics
-Golko-cyborg
-Ghost in the Machine 5
-Inhuman Reflexes 4
-tireless work-rate, economical-efficient swordsmanship


Conclusion (10 mins)
Music: Ruins of the Jedi Academy

Credits (5 mins)
Music: Star Wars close

Kiero
2009-02-17, 06:15 AM
Here begins the great transcribing. It might take me several hours to get it all down, since I'll be editing-as-I-type. I don't think I'll do a literal scribing of every word said; especially on the mechanical side since the Resolve phase does get pretty repetitive. But I won't change the flow of what happened or anything like that. You'll see narrative and mechanics as they actually happened in the game, even if the mechanics side will get less focus as it progresses.

I'll denote where the players put their bits in, but I probably won't bother for myself.

It'll be very much an update-as-I-go so I don't lose anything.

Opening Crawl

Cue the time-honoured Star Wars opening music, and I show the players the following on my laptop while I also read it:


STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC - GOLKO WANTS YOU DEAD!

It is a time of upheaval for the galaxy.
Nearly four thousand years before the birth of
LUKE SKYWALKER, the MANDALORIAN WARS have
stretched the OLD REPUBLIC's resources to breaking point.

With so many forces and the front and resources committed to the
war, criminal elements are moving into the power vaccuum left behind.
Prominent among them are THE EXCHANGE, a nefarious organisation who run
smuggling, slaving, bounty hunting and much more. Even on CORUSCANT the capital world of the Republic their
influence runs deep.

But in the darkest depths of the undercity, not even galactic affairs concern the lives of people who never see the light.
They have far more pressing concerns...

We wait for the intro to scroll away, and there are jokes about waiting for the text to disappear.


Intro cut-scene

Music: Star Wars intro, followed by City of Iziz, then Dxun

I just read/paraphrased the following (while also loading up KotOR II, which will be providing our music):

[Shot opens on a starfield and pans down to show a gleaming metallic planet with confusing streams of orbital traffic travelling in all directions.]

[Cut to a view high among the spires of a bright and colourful place, busy with lanes of aerial traffic and huge glowing advertisements.]

[Panning shot across crowds of people, alien and human, moving about at their own pace, but seeming happy.]

[Camera pans down moving at a dizzying speed down a gap between the spires and platforms where it gets darker. At first the gloom is lit by arc lighting, then that gets less frequent.]

[Cut to a dingy place where graffiti decorates the walls, piles of trash litter the streets and the artificial lighting flickers fitfully. A rodent-like creature skitters from one pile of trash to another. People look furtively around as the move, casting a wary eye at the gang of toughs hanging on a street corner.]

[Cut to the outside of a cantina, the doors of which burst open as someone is thrown out.]

The grubby human cowers on the floor as a motley crew of thugs follow him out of the cantina.

"Please, Razzick, I told you everything I know."

"Why don't I believe you, friend?" Razzick, a broken-toothed man with a blaster pointed at the helpless man says.

"That's the last place I saw them. I don't know any more than that."

"Let's hope you're telling the truth, friend, 'cos Golko doesn't like people wasting his time. And Golko is a lot less forgiving than I am." The gunman says, shooting the man in the leg. "That's so you don't forget." He adds as the man screams in pain, curling up in a ball and clutching his wounded leg.

Razzick and his goons depart, leaving their victim sobbing on the ground. No one makes a move to help the man as they climb aboard swoop bikes and zip off at high speed.

Kiero
2009-02-17, 06:16 AM
Act I: Drunken Bantha Cantina

Scene-setting
Music: Iziz Cantina (this provokes a little laughter when it starts up)

Cut to a private lounge in the cantina. We see four relative strangers dotted around various points, wearing rebreather masks because the atmosphere in here has mild traces of cyanogen gas, for the benefit of certain species who like to relax in that sort of thing. None of the PCs are cyanogen-breathers, thus the masks.

They've each discovered there's a hit out on them and have met here for their own reasons. Dimly-lit, there's piped music rather than an actual band providing the ambience, lots of alcoves and booths dotted around the room where dodgy things are happening. You have to know the owner to get in here; Sebulbo reached a deal with said owner, who promised he wouldn't tell anyone that the four of them are here.

(Cue laughter at how much that promise is worth...)

MG: I believe him. (More laughter)

The room features a broken-ring shaped bar in the centre, chairs and tables dotted around the place, lots of patrons in here relaxing. Gambling, talking, racuous laughter, Twi'lek serving girls bringing trays of drinks round.

Ac: Nursing a drink I can't drink through the mask.
KW: Can you not drink through the mask?
GM: Must have some kind of feature that allows you to; after all what kind of purveyor of fine beverages would prevent his patrons being able to drink?
DB: There's a slot you can stick a straw through.
MG: Makes sense.
GM: So you've all made your way here, explain why it is you've gotten into all this. You do know each other indirectly, if not directly.

Sebulbo (to Sem, while tapping to the music and rolling a sabacc chip across his knuckles): Well officer, looks like you're in a bit of a pickle.
Sem (looking dubiously at the alien): What's this about? And who are these? (Gesturing at the other PCs)
Sebulbo: Golko

Voshka shudders at the mention of the name, some of the patrons close enough to hear edge their seats away.

Sebulbo: We all have a Golko-shaped problem.

Voshka looks nervously around, as though he might hear them.

Sem: Maybe, what are you proposing?
Sebulbo: Well, in exchange for protection, you could come out of the cold and get us C-Sec security.
Voshka: What?
Adi: I'm not working with a cop!
Voshka: Cop?
Sebulbo: Oopsy! (Laughter)

Round 1 - Describe
Music: Citadel Station Battle

The door of the lounge opens up, metallic feet clank against the deck. Sem glares at the Dug. Five identical droids (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/HK-24_series_assassin_droid) step in.

Sebulbo: Oo chuba.
Sem: What's that noise?
HK-droid: Statement: I believe this is the place.

(My phone goes off at the wrong moment, provoking more laughter, lots of people wishing me happy birthday)

Another HK-droid: Rejoinder: I believe you are correct other unit. This must be the time and place.
Third HK-droid: Addendum: I'd like to kill me some meatbags.

Sem: Statement: (standing up) I'm getting the hell out of here.
Sebulbo: Posit: It's him you want. (Pointing at Sem and diving under the table)
HK-droid: Query: Do we care which one of these meatbags we kill?
Another HK-droid: Rejoinder: I think not.

The assassin droids level their blaster rifles. Something else, a hazy blurred shape follows in behind the droids.

Voshka grabs the droid hovering around her shoulder and starts fiddling with it's innards.

Sem is concerned with not getting shot, and while he things Sebulbo is scum he does think he has the right idea. He throws his drink at the nearest droid and dives behind a table.

People are scattering, Adi shouts at Sebulbo "Are you sure you're not working with them? You brought us all here together at the same time." She activates her energy shield and draws her high-spec blaster.

The HK-squad spread out, taking up positions in the bar. Some open fire, not terribly accurately, while the others move to outflank the PCs. They behave in a very co-ordinated manner.

Meanwhile the blurry shape winks into existence, it's an insectoid alien (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Killik) with mantis-like scythe-blades for upper limbs. Speaking in chittering clicks into a vocoder box, it says in monotone: "Honour-debt served, must kill sentients, come quietly or...else."

Ac: They're friendly sorts, aren't they? (Laughter)

It shimmers out of visibility again, once more a vague blur moving around.

Round 1 - Resolve

I called it there, including some of the narrative from the last bit of the setup as Details for the purposes of this round. I wanted to get the first Resolve done smoothly to ensure everyone understood how the mechanics worked.

Cap is four (I explained in the rules summary that the caps would be four, five and six for the three conflicts), everyone earned their four Details. HK-squad are a single Nemesis with 6 Chi, and the Mantid Killer is also a Nemesis with 3 Chi of it's own. There's an ambient (ie mook) threat of 16/1 for the people in the bar, spooked by the shooting while they're trying to enjoy a quiet drink

(I put out poker chips for each of the threats; white ones for the ambient threat, small stacks of red ones for the Nemeses)

Ac: We're about to get levelled by a bunch of drinkers, forget the Nemeses, it's the granny in the corner you have to worry about.

GM: That's the ambient threat; trying to escape, trying not to get stampeded or rushed, trying not to get dragged into a brawl. So what Traits are people using, and what are they directing them at in the scene?
Ac: Not sure Unreasonable Force applies to throwing a drink in someone's face and diving for cover; if you don't have a Trait specific-
GM: You default to 2, but one of the others might apply.
Ac: Something else...
GM: Cop sense and general criminal sense of knowing what do to?
Ac: Or maybe Unreasonable Force.
GM: Perfectly valid, it's a combat action after all, distracting and taking cover.
Ac: Yep, towards the HKs, and taking cover behind the ambient threat.
GM: Alright, you're rolling dice against the HKs. KW, what are you doing initially?
KW: I've no idea, all I've done is shout at him.
GM: Dealing with a fellow player! Pick something.
KW: Err, of these things? (Gesturing at the chip-stacks)
GM: Yes, general danger from ambient patrons...when we go to next round we can be more specific, we were just setting up this round, really.
KW: Didn't really do anything specific. I suppose HKs who I fired at?
Ac: And your shields might have been what they were shooting at.
DB: I was attempting to convince the HKs that I was not their target.
GM: Going with your primary there?
DB: Yes, not only babbling out there, but also using all available cover. I guess I did that to the HKs.
Ac: Those poor HKs.
GM: There are five of them.
MG: Reconditioning my robot, to use Techno-wizardry against the HKs.
GM: Everyone's going for these things! Right
KW: Which one am I using?
GM: Probably your fighting Trait, you were activating your shield and pulling a weapon. OK, everyone has four dice, I'm going to be rolling a load for the HKs. Not quite enough.

(We don't have enough six-siders at this point - a hunt ensues to empty our boardgames of dice so that everyone can have six each)

DB: So if my action was largely defensive, do I like put one Yang and most Yin?
GM: Oh no, totally unrelated, mechanics and description are separate in that regard. While the description links to what Trait you should be using, and how many dice you get, how you split them is a purely meta.
Ac: It's more about exerting your influence on a scene, or avoiding having it exerted on you.
GM: Precisely. The only way the two things inter-relate is the description tells you how many dice you get, but then the relationship ends.
Ac: So you could describe all guns blazing, but then use your dice to keep you in the scene.
GM: Yes, exactly.

(Brief interlude while we talked about the music from KotOR II, and debated what had happened to my wife looking for dice; I went out to find out.)

(Then a discussion about how you split your dice into Yin and Yang, and when you declare them; it's before you roll)

(Everyone goes with a 2/2 split, all on the droids, I decide the HKs will go 3/1 on everyone)

KW: Do we have to declare it now?
GM: Yes, roll them separately enough that they can be seen. Black dice are Yang, the Trait they are using is Synchronised Termination With Extreme Prejudice 4. Against MG I rolled 3 Yang and 1 Yin for them, what did you get?
MG: 1 Yin and 2 Yang, 5 or less, right?
GM: Yep, so they lose 1 Chi, and how many Yin successes did you get?
MG: One.
GM: So you lose 2 Chi. So against Sebulbo, they get no Yin successes at all and they get 2 Yang successes; what about you?
DB: For Yang?
GM: How many Yin successes?
DB: One.
GM: So you lose a point of Chi as well. And how many Yang?
DB: Two.
GM: So that's another two they lose, each of you (gesturing to MG and DB) can describe how you've complicated their lives.
Ac: I got two defense and one attack.
GM: That's atrocious, one of each for them.
Ac: So nothing on me, nothing on them?
GM: Yeah. (Looking at KW) No Yin, but three Yang, what did you get?
KW: One of each.
GM: So you lose two Chi and take one off them. You three (everyone but Ac) have things you can add in next round to describe how it is you've inconvenienced the droids, may be able to destroy one of two of them, and it might be worth picking out something else in the scene to start targeting as far as description. Right back into description again!

(So in summary after the first round, the mook threat is unchanged at 16/1, the Mantid Killer unchanged on 3 Chi, the HK Squad is down to 2 Chi (from 6 originally), and all the PCs but Sem have lost Chi themselves; Sebulbo is on 2 Chi, Voshka and Adi on 1 Chi. My riskier split on Yin/Yang meant I took five Chi from the PCs, compared to the four they took from me.)

(That's 22:07 into the recording, of 200:12)

Round 2 - Describe

Pandemonium in the lounge, patrons diving for cover, hiding, cowering, wailing and screaming. One of the droids backhands a hapless drinker who gets in their way, another casually guns down someone in their past.

Voshka finishes her fiddling with the droid, its compartments unfold like a flower, probe-spikes pop out which zap one of the assassin droids with electricity. The HK judders then drops to the ground.

From under the table, Sebulbo shoots it in the head just to be sure. With another limb-hand he saws through the table leg, causing it to fall on the droid. One of the patrons running screaming trips over the new obstacle, landing on the Dug.

Sem grabs two barstools, kicking one at the nearest droid, then following up with a charge, stool in hand. The droid takes shots at the cop, who hides behind his improvised weapon like a shield. He closes the distance and beats it down. He uses the stool to hook the rifle aside, then head-butts the HK.

GM: Maybe Sem has a metal plate in his head? What's Adi doing meanwhile?

Adi fires a few shots against the HKs, which splash against their shields, then she's swarmed by the people in the bar. She goes down under a pile of being punching and grabbing at her. She focuses on them, but it isn't enough to stop her losing her blaster in the scrum. That makes her pretty mad, that thing costs a lot of money! She employs some nasty Teras Kasi moves to try to recover the weapon.

The HK headbutted by Sem staggers away and there's a bit of a brawl going on now. A scrapping patron collides with the droid, who responds by raising a fist, from which a vibro-blade springs out, and it stabs the guy in the leg. As it turns it's focus back to Sem, he clocks it around the head with his stool.

As Sebulbo gets the clumsy guy off him, he looks up into the barrel of a rifle.

HK: Statement: End of the line, meatbag.

Voshka is free of assassin droids for the time being, thanks to her improvisation. But the mantid-alien flickers into view right by her. It raises it's scythe-claws in a kind of salute, then charges at her, driving her back. It keeps flitting in and out of view, going invisible then re-appearing, and it's very fast. It's all she can do to get away.

Round 2 - Resolve

GM: What are people targeting?
Ac: A lot of Unreasonable Force on the HKs.

(3/1 against their 2/2; 2 Yang/1 Yin successes for both - HKs and Sem both lose a point of Chi)

DB: Only Losers Fight Fair on HKs, split 2/2.

(They only manage 1 Yang, DB rolls a full house - that takes the HK Squad to -1 Chi and so DB/Sebulbo wins the Coup de Grace narration on them; I leave DB to figure that out while we resolve the rest)

GM: (to MG) You're being attacked by the mantid-alien.
MG: I'll go three Yin, one Yang.
GM: It's going 2/2.
MG: (Seeing the roll) Oh, ****!
GM: The Trait it's using is Hyper-evolved Predator 4, it got one of each.
MG: I got one of each too.
GM: Nothing happens there then. And (looking at KW)
KW: I'm against the ambient one, 1/3 and I'm rolling on my 4?
GM: Yes.

(Upshot is she gets the requisite Yin success and one Yang. So after Round 2, Mook threat is down to 15/1, the HK Squad are narrated out, the mantid alien is still on 3 Chi. Sem and Sebulbo are on 2 Chi, Voshka and Adi on 1 Chi).

(Now at 27:59)

Round 3 - Describe

GM: New round, but before we start the round, you (DB) get a bit of bonus narration to finish the HKs. How do they go out?

Sebulbo is lying on the floor, he raises his feet and kick the HK in the shins his arms, knocking it towards the Dug and throwing it's aim off. He falls onto the concealed vibroblade that shoots out of Sebulbo's sleeve and takes the droid into the eye. That hits the circuit which synchronises the squad, shorting them all out with feedback. They all slump where they're standing, motionless, and the Dug is pinned under droid dead-weight.

It's now a full-on down-home brawl, especially given no one is shooting off blasters anymore. However Voshka is still being pursued by the mantid. She tries to avoid the brawl, putting objects in it's path. It carves a table in half trying to get to her. She ducks and weaves behind anyone in her path, looking frantically around for something she can use against it. Someone screams out in pain as the mantid hacks off his arm on the way past. Voshka screams in terror while trying to find her gun.

Adi throws people off herself. Someone tears her clothes, which angers her even more. She draws her vibrosword and starts slashing, which makes people back off. She notices Voshka's predicament and runs headlong at the mantid thing.

It's hard for her to track, flickering as it does, but she can see that it half-turns towards her as she engages it with her sword. It opens up on her, forcing her into a defensive stance blocking and parrying the storm of blows. It takes all of her skill to keep it occupied.

Having taken a scratch on the arm from the HK unit moments before it was shorted out, and then grappled with it momentarily, Sem throws the now-deactivatd droid aside. Someone is hurled bodily into the cop, knocking him back a few steps. He goes with the force of it, twisting, but as he turns back someone else clocks him in the jaw. He's right in the middle of a knot of brawlers, and someone grabs a fistful of his shirt. He punches the grab-er and muscles his way through the crowd, making towards the bar in the centre of the room.

Sebulbo gets to his feet and barrels forward, bowling several people over. It's his combination of low centre of gravity, high mass and speed. He runs the bar, looking for the biggest, heaviest metal container he can find. On the bar there are quite a few of these; one appeared to be a gas container and it's been breached and is leaking.

Round 3 - Resolve

(MG and KW are going for Mantid Alien, Ac and DB for ambient mob)

GM: Against Voshka split 2/2 on Hyper-evolved Predator.
MG: I'll go three and one.
GM: Two of each.
MG: Two and one.
GM: Which was the one?
MG: On attack.
GM: No change then, no one loses anything.
KW: I'd better do 1/3 as well.
GM: Split 2/2...and all successes
KW: I got one Yin.
GM: So you lose another point, putting you on 0 Chi. You're not out yet, you have to go negative for that, but it's close.
Ac: 2/2. No Yin but one Yang.
GM: So Sem loses another point of Chi. (Because he didn't cover the Yin toll of the mook threat)
DB: One Yin success, and two Yang successes.
KW: Does that mean I've been narrated out?
GM: No not yet, but if you lose any more then you will be. Might be time to start getting very defensive with your dice.

(Mook threat now down to 12/1. Mantid alien still on a full 3 Chi, Sebulbo on 2 Chi, Sem and Voshka on 1 Chi, Adi is on a precarious 0 Chi. Things are looking bad for the PCs in this scene. Everyone was so focused on the assassin droids, they ignored everything else!)

(Now at 34:36)

Round 4 - Describe

(By the way, in going more narrative in describing what's going on, I'm not delineating where the player said something, and where I added stuff to keep it moving or complicate their actions. That happened a lot - even when they were describing dealing with the ambient threat, I still added things so they wouldn't run dry. I also used it to divert their attention and make them reach the cap without reaching some other scene goal too fast.)

Voshka and Adi take glancing hits from the mantid-alien as it drives towards them. It slips through the crimelord's defences, slicing her arm and leg, then turns it's attentions back to the tech. It swings low and takes Voshka's feet out from under her. Her droid buzzes around shrieking in panicked Binary trying to help. She's had the breath knocked out of her and still fumbles around for her gun. She finally spots it underneath a comatose person. "Keep it occupied" she says to her droid, then leaps for her rifle.

Adi notices five different aliens who've stayed out of the fight so far - and she recognises them. They work for her crime organisation. She shouts over at them to attack the mantid-alien. They draw blades and blasters to help out.

Sem is still in the middle of a brawl, takes a shot from someone, catches another guy's fist and after breaking his wrist, throws it's owner over the bar. He's trying to get a look at what's going on with the other two. He can see the mantid-alien getting the better of them. He draws his blaster, with the intent of taking a shot at the ceiling. When he pulls the trigger, it fizzles; even through his breath mask, he can smell the gas leaked from the canister the Dug noticed earlier. It's inhibiting blaster-fire. He vaults the bar and wades through the brawlers towards the mantid-alien. Along the way someone stumbles into him, and he takes a shot in the stomach. He knees the guy and throws him out of the way. He finally reaches his target, and barely catches hold of a limb.

It reacts by spinning to face him and swiping a scythe-limb at the cop's face. He reflexively twitches back, and instead of taking his eyes, the blade passes through his mask. Gas from the lounge slowly starts leaking in.

Sebulbo leaps over the bar; a hurled mug clips him on the way but doesn't stagger him. He lands next to the cowering Chiss bartender, looks at him for a moment, then scrabbles up the shelves onto the top of the bar. There he starts kicking the big canisters off and into the mix. They start bouncing into people and knocking them over.

DB: Heavy barrels in the face will often offend.

(DB made this up all himself, I think he was relaxing into how Wushu worked at this point)

Round 4 - Resolve

GM: What are people doing?
DB: Only Losers Fight Fair against the mook threat.
Ac: Against the crowd, aiming for the alien next round. Split 2 and 2, rolls 2/1
DB: Split 3/1...just one of each.
KW: I'm going to use my Air of Authority, split 1/3.
GM: It's going 2/2 again.

(KW gets 0/2 against it's 1/1 so nothing happens)

MG: Whatever's Close at Hand; 1 Yin and 1 Yang.
GM: It gets 2 Yang, 1 Yin successes. It negates your attack and you lose another point of Chi.

(Crowd now at 9/1, Mantid Alien still on 3 Chi, Sebulbo on 2 Chi, Sem on 1 Chi, Voshka and Adi on 0 Chi)

(40:47)

Round 5 - Describe

(Brief discussion about the mantid - it's an engineered Killik; from then on everyone calls it "the Killik")

Sem tries for a sensetive part of the alien, but is frustrated by it's hardened chitin plates. He pulls his blaster again, aiming for vulnerable spots; several shots bounce off armoured sections. It is distracted by someone else and lets up, ducking under the swing of one of Adi's henchmen. As it rises and moves fluidly away, it disembowels him, he falls to the ground screaming in pain. As another one comes in, it cuts off his hand before he can use his blade, which clatters to the ground.

It takes all of Adi's acrobatic skill and finesse with a sword to avoid harm. The alien tries to follow her, and it does seem to be slowing down. It's still fast but seems to be tiring.

It happens to slow it's lethal dance of death underneath a large neon sign advertising "Jawa Juice" which hangs from the ceiling. It features an animated Jawa drinking and going "mmmm".

Ac: Is it made of juiced Jawas, or is it juice for Jawas?

Taking aim at one of the energy beam which holds the sign in place, he hurls one of the smaller canisters which disrupts the beam. The sign swings down and hits the Killik with a crunch, moving it along the floor. It stops moving for a second, then starts moving again, chopping up another henchman on it's way.

Now free of insectoid, Voshka scrambles under people's legs and through the tables. Someone kicks her and stumbles into her, she pushes them off and waves her gun at them threatening. She reaches one of the deactivated HKs and opens it's back panel, starting to reprogram it to attack the alien.

Round 5 - Resolve

(KW going for the Killik, goes all-Yin, gets 0/2, it gets only one Yang so she's alright for now)

(Ac going for Killik too, 3/1, gets 2/1 successes against an awful roll of no successes for the Killik)

(DB also on Killik, rolls no Yin and 2 Yang against it's 1 Yang 2 Yin; I seem to have made a mistake here, I thought it had gone to 0)

(MG on crowd gets two Yang and no Yin - she's narrated out having reached -1!)

(Crowd down to 7/1, Killik on 0 Chi apparently, Sebulbo on 2 Chi, Sem on 1 Chi, Adi on 0 Chi and Voshka is CdG'd)

(46:11)

Round 6 - Describe

As Voshka is fiddling with the innards of the assassin droid, she doesn't notice someone come up behind her with a mug which they crack across the back of her head. Everything goes black for the tech.

(That was my Coup de Grace on Voshka)

The insectoid takes another swing at Sem, knocking the blaster from his hand. It goes for his eyes again, and scores a line across his forehead. Blood seeps down over his visor. He feints with a wild swing, then the stun baton flips out into his hand. Electrical discharges spark off it as he connects several times, eliciting shrieks of pain. He numbs one of it's legs, slowing it down. It limps off one of it's legs.

Adi aims a swipe at it's neck, and it brings up a blade-limb to protect itself from decapitation. It retaliates which Adi parries with a neat maneuver. A blaster bolt from nowhere splashes off her energy shield. Behind her is a drunken patron with a blaster; he seems to be trying to hit the Killik, but is more dangerous to everyone else. He puts another shot into Adi which weakens her shield still further.

Another of his shots hits the downed Jawa Juice sign, causing energy to spark all over it, creating a big hazard in the middle of the room. Some people are unfortunate enough to be thrown into it and are electricuted. Sebulbo is rapidly running out of canisters to throw.

Round 6 - Resolve

(DB defaulting against the mook threat - he went for environmental descriptions - no Yin, two Yang so loses a point of Chi)

(Killik gets 0/2 on someone...)

(AC goes 3/1 and gets 3/0 against it's 2/0 - they're both out but it's on -3 to Sem's -1 so he "wins" and narrates the CdG)

(Mook threat down to 5/1, Sebulbo and Adi on 0 Chi, Sem and Voshka both narrated out)

(51:02)

Round 7 - Describe

Sem proceeds to beat down the Killik, then proclaims over it's unconscious form "you're under arrest!". (Ac's CdG on the Mantid Alien)

The crowd now turns ugly. They figure these four were the cause of all the trouble, and want to take out their frustrations on them. Quite a few innocent drinkers are out cold, or even dead where they've been shot or dismembered. One of them picks up Adi's blaster and opens fire. They're absorbed by her shields, but then she hears a dismaying sound from her wrist as the shield deactivates, out of charges.

Mugs are thrown at Sebulbo.

Adi recognises her blaster, it's disconcerting being at the receiving end of what is a rather powerful piece, and makes for the gunman. The crowd swirls in such a way as to confound his attempts to shoot again, which helps her get in close. She kicks his legs out from under him and reclaims her property, and silences him with a single shot.

Two of the patrons have picked up a table between them, and charge for the Dug atop the bar. This is a trendy industrial kind of bar, and so the ceiling is chock-full of convenient hand-holds. He jumps up and "runs" along the ceiling, attempting to make his escape through a vent shaft. Before leaving, he turns around to wave his goodbyes.

Round 7 - Resolve

(DB full defense, rolls 3 Yin)

(KW 1/3 rolls nothing - so she's out)

(Mook threat now 5/1, Sebulbo still on 0 Chi and everyone else narrated out)

(54:44)

Round 8 - Describe

As Sebulbo gets to the hatch, it's locked.

(This was effectively a Veto on his escape; the ambient threat included escaping unscathed and it hadn't been resolved)

Someone throws something at him as he rattles the hatch in comedy style. Adi's group of henchmen are trying to bring her round and otherwise protect her from anyone else who wants to have a go. Otherwise everyone's attention is now on the Dug. Someone shouts "Get the Dug!". A mug smashes near him. He points with a foot and says "It's Golko", which does cause some gullible types to look around, then shoots the lock off the vent with his blaster.

Round 8 - Resolve/Conclusion

(DB rolls 1/1, bringing ambient threat down to 4/1. I decide to end the conflict there; there isn't much left of the ambient, and almost everyone is out. That means DB is nominally the winner of that scene. I know that's a bit contradictory having just Veto'd his escape, but I think everyone had had enough of the opening scene. It had served it's purpose of introducing everyone to how the rules work)

(56:26 by this point)

Kiero
2009-02-17, 06:18 AM
Bridge I: Finding an Ally

Music: Nar Shaddaa, The Sith Lords

(The whole game was planned as three action scenes with some vague plot linkage between them. This was the first of them, finding a patron powerful enough to allow them to get back at Golko when the whole city was against them.)

Our motley band come round in an alleyway, Adi's underlings had managed to get everyone out, those who couldn't make their own escape.

One of the henchmen from the bar is dabbing at a cut on the back of Adi's head. "Sorry we didn't help you sooner, Miss Bultar, we didn't recognise you." He says sheepishly. She winces at his ministrations and gives him a dirty look. How could he not recognise her in her expensive robes?

Sem comes round coughing and tosses what's left of his mask aside. Voshka is thoroughly confused, and her droid buzzes around all concerned. "We're not fighting any more?" She manages.

"Where the hell's that Dug?" asks Sem.

"My friends!" Sebulbo says with a grin that's all teeth, as he emerges from a nearby trash can. "My friends, I'm so glad to see you all alive!"

Voshka removes her mask and goggles, so she can glare at the Dug.

"I'm holding you responsible for this mess." Sem growls.

"You think I could have afforded to pay those bounty hunters?" Sebulbo says. "This is Golko."

"Maybe you're in on it?" Sem replies.

"Did he promise something to you, eh?" Voshka accuses.

"How could you say that?" The Dug says defensively. Hard looks are exchanged, and it's clear this is far from over.

Clearing his throat, the henchman asks "What did you guys do to piss Golko off so much?"

"I didn't do anything!" Voshka says indignantly.

"He must think you've done something, for him to send that kind of muscle your way."

Sem spits. "I broke the kneecaps of one of his lieutenants."

Voshka looks over at him with more than a little fear in her eyes. "You did what?"

"He wouldn't tell me where his stash was." Sem shrugs.

"Subtle as always, eh?" Sebulbo jibes.

The henchmen are trying to be helpful, tending to injuries, but they're not very gentle. "Well if you're going to get out of this city, or get Golko back, you're going to need help. You'll need some serious allies. No way you could manage this on your own, it's only a matter of time before the people he puts out on the street are gonna get you."

"I have a number of friends in my family I can call upon." Adi says.

"I work for important people, he can't just kill me!" Voshka protests.

"You do know Golko is in charge of all the crime business that happens down here, right? That as good as makes him king."

"He may be in charge of crime, but these are my streets." Sem says. "No one pushes me around down here, not even Golko."

"There must be some important player who'd be willing to do something to Golko if there were people willing to do the legwork."

"Maybe your family?" Voshka says to Adi.

"I can think of a few who'd be willing." The crimelord replies.

(I called a time-out at this point to lay out what was going to happen. I'd run this as a Spotlight Conflict (as per Roanoke); everyone described the methods they'd use to dig up dirt and information, and at the end of it everyone would roll five dice against a Trait and tell me how many successes they got. Whomever got the most, it would be their methods that yielded results. They then get to describe it.)

(Ac went first) Sem starts with some of Golko's lieutenants who he has dirt on. He pays some bribes to the right people so he can get them alone. Then he works them over, with the threat of a jail cell if they don't co-operate. It's their hide or Golko's.

(KW was next) Using her connections in the criminal fraternity, Adi gets the word out that she's looking for help and sees who turns up.

(MG) Voshka looks up her past employers for someone willing to stick one to Golko, and values her services enough to keep her alive.

(DB) Sebulbo goes to a certain dive where he knows all the lowest of the scum hang out. He asks if they've heard the news: Davit the Hutt has made his move in town on Golko's enterprises. All forward-thinking thugs would have to decide who's side they're on. He uses the conversation to find out which of Golko's men are loyal and which to whomever can pay.

(Rolls came next; Ac rolled against In Too Deep - 5 successes; DB against Grift Sense - 4 successes; MG against Gang Connected - 3 successes; KW against Air of Authority - 3 successes; Ac wins it.)

Breaking legs wins the day; the guy who they want to talk to is Two-Fry a Duros crimeboss and one of Golko's lieutenants. He's not entirely happy with the way Golko's been running things and might be willing to help for the right price. And for the right...leverage. Sem has some incriminating stuff on a data crystal that could put Two-Fry in a jail cell should he prove difficult.

Through one of Two-Fry's men, they're able to arrange a meet at his rooftop garage. They settle on a carrot and stick approach; threats and bribes both. Adi declares that she can cover the bribes side of things, which prompts Sebulbo to take a new interest in her (and more importantly, her money).

(Basically DB playing out his Greedy Weakness, which elicits a lot of laughter.)

(Cut there, 66:31)

Kiero
2009-02-17, 06:19 AM
Act II: Two-Fry's Roof

Scene-setting
Music: Peragus, The Sith, Sith Tomb

We open on a rooftop, a large space used as a landing pad for airspeeders. Cooling vents from the building's maintenance systems, speeders and other vehicles parked around the place. There's a fuel bowser in one corner.

When they arrive, at first it's deserted, which is slightly suspicious. Then from between some railings in the middle, a hatch irises open, and a turbolift shoots up. Standing on it is a Duros with a guard either side of him (one's a Weequay, the other a Gran).

"Is that him?" Voshka asks, squinting.

You couldn't miss Two-Fry anywhere. Where the Duros are widely-regarded as a bold, creative and enterprising species (they invented the hyperdrive), he shows none of that. He's slightly hunched and looks around furtively, a measured look in his eye like he's assessing everything he sees. Word on the street is Two-Fry is nobody's fool, and is only out for himself.

Sebulbo looks with distaste at the Gran thug, his people and theirs have a long and tortorous history. The thug returns the scornful look with interest. Two-Fry waves them over.

"Two-Fry, good to see you. Finally a reasonable man, after I've had to go through so many unreasonable ones." Sem opens.

"The thing is, in the four of you I see opportunity." The Duros says. "But we must understand one another. There can be no way that Golko can link any of this back to me. What I want is Golko gone. With him gone, places will open up in his organisation that people can take advantage of. Do we understand each other?"

"I've wanted a crack at Golko for years; you keep his men off our backs and you won't have anything to worry about." Says Sem.

"Then maybe we can come to an understanding." Two-Fry says.

At that very moment, a blaster bolt sears out, exploding the head of one of his bodyguards (the Gran, DB declares, which is cool). It came from one of the other rooftops. Ever-alert to any personal danger, Two-Fry is fastest to react, ducking down behind his other guard.

There's a whine of repulsorlifts and three speeders rise up, positioning themselves over the roof to disgorge lots of men with guns.

KW: Great
DB: Oh
Ac: And it was all going so well!

(70:00)

Round 1 - Describe
Music: Telosian Base Battle, Nar Shaddaa Battle, Battle on the Droid Yacht

The attackers are your regular blaster-for-hire types, of a variety of species and load-outs. In amongst them are two individuals worthy of note; one is an Iridorian in an armoured suit (Iridorians have a nasty reputation for being bloodthirsty killers); the other is the biggest Gammorean anyone has ever seen, it's over nine feet tall, with a strange rig attached to it's neck, in which sits a small creature. It carries a vibro-axe in each hand.

DB: It's Master-Blaster!

Another hot-shot bolt streaks in and hits the Weequay bodyguard in the stomach, doubling him over. Two-Fry is left pinned underneath him for a moment, but then crawls free and heads for the lift. He punches buttons but nothing happens, he seems to be locked out.

Sebulbo: We have to get Two-Fry out of here.

(Sharp one, was DB; without a sponsor their lives would be very difficult indeed. Even with the crimeboss' present employee issues (one of his own people locked him out in the hopes he'd be killed off and Golko would reward them) he's their best shot.)

(Cap for the scene is 5, there's a 10/1 mook threat from the goons, a 5/1 Secondary Goal attached to keeping Two-Fry alive, and three Nemeses)

The goons are clearly not a military hit squad or the like, they move in ones, twos and gaggles, unco-ordinated. Each is out for themselves. They charge, that's the extent of their tactics.

Sem turns his thoughts to the sniper; thinking like a criminal, where would he put the sniper? Picking a likely spot, he flits between cover, laying down blaster shots in the direction of the hidden shooter. One of the blaster bolts slices into the ground near Sem as he moves, then there's a long pause. Sem immediately surmises the sniper is moving, and he now knows roughly where he is; on one of the nearby rooves. Sem is ready this time, and sees a flash of green skin, firing off at the support of the walkway the sniper was using. Sem empties a clip in the general area forcing the shooter to keep their head down. His focus is on trying to outthink his assailant.

Two-Fry is still swearing and trying desparately to open the lift hatch. Shots fly all over the place, and a stun grenade is hurled at the heroes. Fortunately it bounces away, causing no one any harm.

GM: What are you doing (to KW)
KW: Eating cake. (My wife had brought out the fairy cakes she'd made at this point, and I think everyone was more interested in eating them than playing!)

The Iridorian triggers his jetpack and starts flying towards Two-Fry. Adi activates her energy shield, prompting the armoured hunter to pop out a multi-blaster, the fusilade of ensuing shots splashing against her shields. She ducks and rolls to the side, the shots chasing along the ground. He lands as she pulls her blaster, returning fire, some of her shots pinging off his armour but not seeming to slow him down any.

(This was a much more interweaved, back-and-forth PC on Nemesis description)

DB: There are four speeders on the rooftop and a ring of people closing in on us in the middle?
GM: Yep (it is now!)

Stray shots splash near Two-Fry, who is currently using one of his dead bodyuards as cover. He's screaming for help. Sebulbo leaps over to him, and says, "Play along." He puts a blaster to Two-Fry's head and shouts out to the goon squad, "Freeze, or your boss gets it."

GM: It might confuse them if nothing else.

Some of the more stupid ones stagger to a stop, looking at each other and wondering what to do. A brighter goon slaps one of the confused on the back of the head, shouting "kill him as well!" and takes shots at the Dug and his charge.

Meanwhile Voshka says "LK protect" - LK is the re-programmed HK droid from the cantina. She may be naive, but she's not stupid and brought additional protection. LK activates it's prototype shield (which may not work) which fizzles into life and while flickering stays active. Raising two modified blasters, it starts moving forwards, gunning down thugs. The tech makes for the locked out lift hatch.

There's a bellow from the direction of the Gammorean and it charges forwards, aiming to get Two-Fry (and also coincidentally Voshka and Sebulbo).

Round 1 - Resolve

(As before cap here is now 5, so players can do a little more and play some different games with their spreads)

(Ac was on the sniper, his Nemesis was going 3 Yang 2 Yin on Long-ranged Marksman 4, against Ac's 3 Yang 2 Yin on the Criminal Psychology 101 aspect of his In Too Deep Trait. Sniper gets 3 Yang and 0 Yin successes, Ac gets 1 Yang and 2 Yin. One point of Chi lost a-piece.)

(DB on mook threat 2 Yang, 3 Yin (with Living By Your Wits), rolls 1 Yang and more than 1 Yin successes.)

(KW on Iridorian, he goes 3 Yang 2 Yin (with Death-dealing Devices 4), against her 2 Yang 3 Yin (with Noble Fighting Arts). She gets 1/3 successes to his 0/0. He loses a point of Chi and Adi is safe.)

(MG goes against the Secondary Goal, keeping Two-Fry safe, 3 Yang, 2 Yin (Techno-wizardy), gets 3/1 sucesses)

(So after the first round, the mook threat is 9/1, Two-Fry's Secondary Goal is down to 2/1. Sniper is down to 2 Chi, Iridorian on 2 Chi, Gammorean-symbiote unchanged on 3 Chi, and Sem is the only PC to have lost any Chi.)

(82:17)

Round 2 - Describe

Adi's earlier shots knocked the Iridorian back, and he muscled his way through the press to get to grips with the main targets.

"It's getting awfully crowded round here." Sebulbo says by the lift. Voshka's attempts to open the lock don't seem to be working; someone is using a building-wide failsafe to keep everyone out.

"Whoever that bastard is who betrayed me, I'm going to have them strung up and skinned!" Two-Fry rages impotently. Crime is a dog-eat-dog world. He pulls out a blaster and points it at the Dug, grinning nastily for a moment, before jerking his aim aside to shoot a nearby gunman behind Sebulbo. The grifter smiles and nods back, the consummate professional, then charges off through the gap Two-Fry just made, making for a speeder. He gives the others a salute on his way back, attempting his most convincing "I have a plan" face.

Two-Fry turns to Voshka gesturing after the Dug: "He's got the right idea, let's get out of here." He gets up running through the same gap.

"W-wait, I've almost got this!" Voshka calls after him. She gives up on slicing the door and chases after Two-Fry, firing her rifle at random as she goes. Her LK-droid is gunning down goons, return fire fizzling on its shields. Someone throws a grenade, but it's a stun grenade which the droid ignores even as the flash-bang goes off directly underneath it. The tech plays with some of the settings on her rifle, then shoots at the Iridorian who's taken to the air again. She hits something important, because he lands and continues his advance on foot.

He barrels through the crowd towards Voshka, raising his arm from which a nozzle slides out. A gelatinous goop sprays out, covering the lower part of her legs and gluing her to the spot. He says through his amplified speaker: "I'm going to gut you for that!" and a vibroblade springs from his gauntlet.

(Yeah, it's a running joke by now.)

Adi's respite is brief, a gaggle of goons open fire on her, then the Gammorean rears up with it's vibroaxes. It's first swing Adi steps back from which crashes into the deck, the second she ducks under. She spares a few shots for the nearby gunmen, then dives and rolls under the lumbering giant's legs, firing up at the controlling creature as she regains her feet on the other side. Her bolts bounce off the armoured cage. He rages at his "mount" to kill the crimeboss. Adi can now see the mind-link they share.

Having now spotted the sniper, Sem cuts off one of his opponent's attempts to move with a brace of shots. As he stops, Sem can see it's a Rodian. The cop tries to maintain some cover as he avoids return fire, then is forced out into the open himself. Instead of running for cover, he runs through a group of thugs. The Rodian starts thinning the crowd a Sem runs through it, callously gunning down his erstwhile allies. He's more intent on killing Sem than preserving the lives of anyone else. He rolls into cover then snaps off a few more shots.

Round 2 - Resolve

(Bit of a Nemesis-switch going on)

(DB on the Secondary Goal 2 Yang, 3 Yin, 1/1 successes.)

(KW with Gammorean, which uses Symbiotic Brutality 4. 3/2 rolls 3/1 successes. KW on Noble Fighting Arts splits 2/3 and rolls 1/1 successes. So Adi loses 2 Chi!)

(Ac still with the sniper. Sniper (Long-ranged Marksman) splits 3/2 and gets 2/2 sucesses. Ac on Unreasonable Force splits 3/2 and rolls 3/1. So again a point a-piece.)

(MG with Iridorian using Death-dealing Devices going 3/2 and rolls 2/2. MG with Techno-wizardy splits 2/3 and rolls 2/3. So nothing happens.)

(No change to mook threat at 9/1. Secondary Goal now at 1/1, Gammorean still on 3 Chi, Sniper down to 1 Chi, Iridorian still on 2 Chi. Sem and Adi on 1 Chi, as yet Voshka and Sebulbo haven't lost any.)

(90:33)

Round 3 - Describe

Lots of shots fired, some people are throwing grenades around, adding to the hazards. Sebulbo makes it to the speeder, and takes cover behind the airframe, shots ricocheting off it. Someone manages to hit the fuel bowser, which expodes with a massive concussive blast and roar of noise. Everyone is knocked to the ground and dazed for a moment, most left with a ringing in their ears. A fuel fire burns in the wreckage of the container.

As people begin to pick themselves up, sniper shots streak out at Sem, but the flash of the explosion seems to have put his aim off. Sem picks himself up groggily, slightly singed, bruised and battered.

(I think we were getting our first bits of narration-fatigue here, but it prompted more Passing of the narrative, which was fine.)

Sebulbo waits for a gap in the blaster bolts, then hops on board. As he fires up the repulsorlifts, Two-Fry appears demanding he open the door. He lets him in with one limb, while taking hold of the controls. His charge safely aboard, he drives straight at the Gammorean. It stumbles to it's feet and sees a speeding racing towards it. As the speeder accelerates into it, it puts two great paws on the front and stops the craft dead. Muscles strain against machine, and Sebulbo pushes the throttle to the max.

Adi is spared the attentions of the brute, she recognises some of the hired guns and suggests she could offer more money if they aided her in fighting the Gammorean. Several take the offer and start shooting at the giant, which with a twist of it's body pushes the speeder aside and falls.

(We also almost slipped into CdG territory several times, but managed to avoid anyone having to Veto)

Before the thrusters adjust, the speeder is thrown into the Iridorian. He bounces off it, skidding across the roof. He gets up, slots out his autoblaster and fires a salvo at Sem, stitching the ground. The cop has been running to get into a better position, using the speeder as mobile cover. Flicking his stun baton to full extension and maximum power setting, he leaps on the Iridorian, swinging at his armoured head and neck repeatedly. Safe inside his suit, the Iridorian chuckles, turning to kick Sem's legs out from under him, then rolling on top of him. Struggling under his weight, Sem reveals a folding knife and stabs in the hopes of finding a weak point, trying to use his opponent's weight to push the blade in.

Spinning out of wildly, Sebulbo fights with the controls, and the whole craft is rocked as a crew weapon on one of the other speeders opens fire. As the rear spins round, passing the Iridorian, Sebulbo triggers the thrusters on full. He's knocked clean off Sem by the blast of super-heated air and fuel, blackening his armour in places. Sem ends up on top of him, with the knife prizing into a seam.

Adi's newfound allies open up on the Gammorean. She uses the opening to draw her antique vibrosword and leaps into close combat. As she comes in, it plants one of its axes in the chest of one of her new henchmen, who looks over at her in surprise before dropping dead. Another nearby manages only to get glance bolts off the heavy cast-iron plate strapped to its chest. It takes a swing at him, forcing him to stagger away.

Trying to free her legs from the sticky goop, Voshka yells at her droid "LK protect!". It moves, shields flickering on and off, to stand between her and those firing her way. The tech looks frantically through her pockets for anything that might dissolve the goop. She finds tiny little nano-spiders with miniature cutting lasers. Looking at them, then the Iridorian, she throws them at him. The clamber all over his armour, cutting at it.

The Iridorian recognises the threat, and spotting a nearby pool of spilled fuel, rolls into it. He fires a single shot, igniting himself in a flash of flame. Sem scrambles away from the burning hunter. Some of the nano-spiders are still attached, though, and continue to work on him. Sem looks about him for something, and spots a canister of flame-suppresant gel, and sprays the Iridorian with it, caking him in foam.

(And I called that round there, it was a bit manic interweaving and everyone really got into it)

Round 3 - Resolve

(Bit confused who was going for what)

(Ac definitely attacking Iridorian, both go 3/2. Ac rolls 2/2 successes against 1/1, so scores a point of Chi.)

(DB goes for the Gammorean 3/2, rolling 3/0 successes. With it's 3/2 split it gets 2/2 successes. So Sebulbo loses 2 Chi and the Gammorean 1.)

(KW 2/3 on Gammorean. Rolls 2/3 against it's 2/2, so nothing happens.)

(MG going for the Iridorian too, 3/2 rolls 2/2 against his 2/1, so he loses another point of Chi)

(Mook threat unchanged on 9/1, Two-Fry still 1/1, Iridorian on 0 Chi, Sniper on 1 Chi, Gammorean on 2 Chi. Sebulbo, Sem and Adi on 1 Chi, Voshka on 2 Chi.)

(101:01 - and finally halfway!)

Round 4 - Describe

The Iridorian triggers his jetpack again, shooting up into the air. As he rises, Sem hooks one of his legs, changing his angle of launch towards the building the sniper is in. It turns out his jetpack is damaged and not responding properly, courtesy of the nano-spiders. Sem lays down fire on the sniper's position to stop him escaping.

Adi climbs the Gammorean's back while he's distracted with her new henchmen. He creature in the armoured cage on his back starts shooting at the crimelord with a stun-blaster. It turns out he's a shaved Ewok (which gets a chorus of disgusted laughter). She avoids most of them, but the Gammorean drops one of its axes and a big paw grabs hold of her, lifting her off it's back. Adi is left struggling and kicking in it's vice-tight grasp as it raises the other axe to strike.

Voshka opens a hatch in the back of LK, revealing a targeting screen. She aims his weapons at the rivets connecting the cage to the Gammorean's neck-rig. Some of the linkages are broken and it sags, the inhabitant flailing around for purchase.

Two-Fry turns to Sebulbo: "What are you waiting for, let's get out of here!". Circling to avoid incoming fire and shooting at the other speeders, causing another to explode, the Dug looks out for somewhere safe to land. "Do you have any idea who sold you out?" He asks Two-Fry.

"Bound to be one of my ungrateful underlings, they're all after my job." The Duros replies. "I doubt it took very much, especially with Golko doing the offering."

Round 4 - Resolve

(Ac on the Iridorian, 3/2 rolls 3/1 successes. Against 2/1 successes; the Iridorian is narrated out on -2 Chi, Ac winning the CdG, and now Sem is on 0.)

(DB on Secondary Goal: no Chi lost and SG resolved - we didn't actually declare what DB rolled on the recording.)

(MG on Gammorean. MG splits 3/2 and gets 2/2 successes, it splits the same and rolls all successes, so Voshka losts a point of Chi.)

(KW also on the Gammorean, splits 3/2 and gets 2/2. It rolls 1/2 successes. Negatory again.)

(So we have mook threat unchanged on 9/1, Secondary Goal now resolved, the Iridorian narrated out, Gammorean on 2 Chi, Sniper on 1 Chi, Sebulbo, Adi and Voshka on 1 Chi and Sem on 0 Chi.)

(106:26)

Round 5 - Describe

The careening Iridorian doesn't hit the sniper, but rather the wall below him. He craters into it and goes through, disappearing into the building, leaving a smoking trail behind him, and causing an internal collapse in the building. That exposes the sniper as half of his cover disappears.

Taking advantage of his sudden unveiling, Sem brackets him with shots, the sniper now having to deal with treacherous footing and bits of falling building as well as incoming fire. Still moving, the cop uses one of Adi's hapless allies as a human shield, and a hotshot kills the guy. Sem drops him and keeps moving, coming to rest behind some pipework.

Having dealt with the other speeders, Sebulbo drives his craft over to the building with the sniper. He waves at the Iridorian as he plunges past, pushing the stick down as blaster-fire bounces off the airframe to take shelter in the lee of the building. Then he turns to Two-Fry. "Right then, about that negotiation."

"Don't you want your friends involved?" The Duros asks. When the Dug says nothing, he smiles. "I guess not. A man after my own heart."

"I'm sure we can pick up any survivors, let's talk business." Sebulbo says.

"It goes like this: as long as nothing can come back to me, I can provide you with weapons, support, I can find ways into Golko's lair for you. I don't care what it is you do, or how you do it, as long as it doesn't come back to me. If you should manage to unseat him, I want his throne. You four get the death-marks off you, I take his place and cancel the bounties on you. How does that sound?"

MG: I believe him. (Laughter)
DB: Sounds perfectly trustworthy.

"Sounds good, but I'd require some collateral to get us out of this sector. A small amount to cover our travel arrangements, and set us up in our new homes...say 5000 credits?"

"5000 credits each?"

"Yes, 20000 will be sufficient. Call it your taxi fare." And Sebulbo returns his attention to the controls.

Voshka ignoring the goop turns out to be a mistake, it's not only sticky but also corrosive. It starts burning her legs, so she leaves the droid to it's own devices, her helper droid floating down and firing it's cutting laser at the mass of goop. She finds a device that turns the goop solid and breaks herself free.

Adi slips a knife from her boot and sticks it in the Gammorean's hand. It bellows and drops her to the ground. She lands on it's leg and uses her knife to hack into it's rubbery flesh, climbing back up again.

(More laughter over the naked, shaved Ewok)

One of her henchmen fires at the Gammorean, which comes rather close for comfort. With it's remaining axe, the Gammorean decapitates one of henchman.

KW: That's good because I don't have to pay them!
Ac: Ever practical.

Round 5 - Resolve

(Ac 3/2 on sniper, 3/1. Sniper splits 3/2 and gets 2/2 successes - both lose a point of Chi, which means Sem is on -1 and has a CdG delivered on him.)

(MG against the mook threat, splits 3/2 and rolls 3/1 successes)

(KW on Gammorean splits 2/3 for 2/2 successes. It splits 3/2 and rolls 2/2 for another round of negation.)

(DB doesn't seem to address anything that round; didn't seem to notice it at the time.)

(Mook threat now down to 6/1. Gammorean on 2 Chi, Sniper on 0 Chi. Sem is out, Adi, Sebulbo and Voshka still on 1 Chi.)

(114:06)

Round 6 - Describe

One of the sniper's high-powered rounds passes through the meat of Sem's shoulder, spinning him around before he drops to the ground. While he retains consciousness, he's in too much pain to do much more than watch what's going on around him.

(That was the CdG on Sem.)

Blaster in one hand, Sebulbo guns the speeder into an ascent, popping up right next to the sniper. There's a look of abject in his eyes. Dropping his rifle in panic, he starts fumbling around his belt for a blaster. The Dug swings the door out into the sniper's face, then aims a shot at his back as he falls.

Realising she's in a precarious situation, Adi gets on her comlink to one of her underlings who happens to be driving her expensive speeder a few streets away. She reports their position and tells him to get over here ASAP.

The Gammorean wraps an arm around Adi, squeezing and threatening to crush the life out of her. Unable to use her arms, but still carrying her blaster, she starts firing off random shots. It squeals and loosens it's grip and the stars in front of Adi's eyes recede.

A rush of goons charge LK, a hail of bolts stripping down it's shields. One of two pass straight through with sparks of protest. No longer protected, some strays come perilously close to Voshka, who's behind the droid. The tech cranks the lever to overload and the droid starts humming as it's capacitors charge up, arcs of electricity dancing along it's surface. She grabs the assistant droid and runs for cover. The explosion scatters those who were chasing after Voshka, some dead some wounded. Switching her attention back to the Gammorean, she starts firing at the armoured cage on its back.

Round 6 - Resolve

(KW on Gammorean, using Air of Authority. Splits 3/2 and rolls 3/1. It splits the same and gets 2/1 successes. KW gets the CdG putting it down, to -1. According to the recording anyway, not quite sure what's happened there, I must have missed it losing a point of Chi elsewhere in the writeup. She's now on 0 having lost another point of Chi.)

(DB on Sniper gets 1/1 successes, in reply the sniper gets a full house of 3/2 successes, so Sebulbo loses 2 Chi, putting him on 0. Again we seem to have had some arithmetic error at work, never mind...)

(MG on mook threat using Technowizardy, 3/2 rolls 2/2 successes)

(So we have the mook threat down to 4/1, the Gammorean CdG'd, Sniper on 0 Chi, Sebulbo and Adi on 0 Chi and Voshka on 1 Chi.)

(119:09)

Round 7 - Describe

One of the blaster shots happens to hit the Gammorean's controller, who falls from his perch. At the same time her speeder comes out of nowhere and the blaster cannons open fire. The towering giant falls face-down, landing on some nearby goons, including the last of her turncoats, squashing them.

(KW's CdG on the Gammorean)

Ac: Including, and this is important, the one you owed money to.

There aren't many gunmen left, around half have been taken out of the fight. The sniper manages to find himself a blaster and starts firing back at Sebulbo and Two-Fry. He doesn't seem as accurate as he was with his rifle, shots spanging off the frame of the speeder, though one whistles past the Dug's head and passes out the open window on the other side. Sebulbo closes the door and drops the speeder out of his line of fire again. Moments later, he can see the sniper over the lip of the roof, rifle in hand. His shot punches through the screen as Sebulbo opens the throttle to get clear. The circle the building, popping up from another side and firing blasters out of the window. Two-Fry is riding shotgun, and he blazes away with his blaster. Realising they have a better angle, the sniper dives for cover.

People start taking potshots at Adi and a stun-grenade rolls over to her, the warning sound reaching a crescendo. She beckons her speeder over, grabbing a hand-hold just before the grenade goes off. She's only just clear of the flash and boom, and shots chase after her as she hangs from the speeder. She tells the driver to fire at the crowd of goons.

Hiding behind the elevator railings, Voshka takes out a jury-rigged grenade and throws it at the nearby gunmen. When it goes off, the custom-made ordnance throws out lots of chemical smoke that is normally intended to clear rust, and an electric pulse used for the cleaning of droids. People stagger out of the gas cloud choking, then the gas is electrified, causing them to go into spasm and drop.

Round 7 - Resolve

(DB on Sniper splits 2/3, rolls 1/3. Sniper gets 1/1 successes. No change.)

(MG on mooks with Technowizardy, 3/2 rolls 3/1.)

(KW on mooks with Air of Authority splits 3/2, earning the CdG on the mook threat.)

(Mook threat resolved, only the sniper remains in the scene on 0 Chi, Voshka on 1 Chi, Adi and Sebulbo on 0 Chi.)

(124:36)

Round 8 - Describe

Shots from the speeder systematically gun down the remaining gunmen, just as Adi's grip fails. She drops and rolls, landing safely.

(KW's CdG - then MG wanted to add to the description)

As the speeder passes, he crashes into the last gunman, and knocks him off the building.

He's hiding behind cover, but Sebulbo can see him. He rises from cover firing off. Sebulbo uses the same trick of using the building to hide his approach, powering the engines down to keep it quiet as possible. Sebulbo aims at the back of his head.

Seeing the last goon thrown off the building, Voshka spots Sebulbo's speeder. Putting on her goggles and switching on it's targeting setting, she aims at the sniper, steadying her hands on the ground. The sniper is totally unaware of her shot at this point.

Adi directs her speeder via comlink to the sniper and takes cover herself.

Round 8 - Resolve

(MG 3/2 rolls 3/2 successes - taking him to -1)

Conclusion

The sniper's attention is on the speeder. He's unprepared for Voshka's bolt out of nowhere which blows his head off. Sem picks himself up, looking around for someone to arrest. He sees everyone is dead. Sebulbo's speeder stops next to him and the Dug opens the door. "Hey, cop, you wanna lift?" He grins. Sem gets in and says "It's you, you're under arrest."

Voshka hops into the back. "So, what's the deal?"

"Already taken care of, my dear, already taken care of." Sebulbo smiles. Two-Fry turns around and grins. As Sem starts opening the med-pack in the speeder, Two-Fry says "Don't worry about that, we'll go to one of my safe houses. You'll be treated."

Adi climbs aboard her own craft.

"Mr Two-Fry has kindly agreed to our terms." Sebulbo proudly tells those with him.

"What terms?" Voshka says in confusion.

(Which amidst laughter seemed a good place to cut. 129:14.)

Kiero
2009-02-17, 06:20 AM
Bridge II: Planning the Assault

Music: Telos Battle

We cut to one of Two-Fry's safe-houses, hidden in the undercity somewhere. Sem has a bacta slap-patch over his wound and a someone who Two-Fry claims is a doctor tending to him. It's a room inside a flophouse in one of the areas under Two-Fry's control. Weapons, power packs, armour, all sorts of useful resources for violence are scattered around the place. Voshka seizes upon a crate full of components. Sem directs her to putting something special together for him.

(We had a short break there)

For the first time in a while, no one is being shot at. Two-Fry activates a holo-projector built into the table. "This, is a plan of Golko's palace." The image is impressive, it's many stories high and vast, clearly a fortress as well. Thick walls, batteries of anti-aircraft guns, turbolasers, shield generators, the lot. An army would have trouble getting in. But there are ways in.

Voshka points out several places on the projection that she's been to before. Some of them are systems and devices she installed. Sem suggests pretending to be bounty hunters and bringing the Dug in. Once they've got an audience, start shooting. Unsurprisingly, Sebulbo doesn't like that plan. He counters that they should pretend to be bounty hunters, and bring the cop in. Sem replies that Dugs aren't too common, so Sebulbo is easy to identify, whereas another human could be anyone.

Two-Fry grins nastily. "How about you bring in the bodies of the four of you?"

Sem doesn't look pleased, and Voshka says "I don't like this."

The Duros picks up a control wand, pressing a button. A panel opens up in one wall, revealing high-tech moulds that can mock up impressively realistic-looking dummies. Sem muses they might work, but Voshka is dubious, surely Golko would work it out? Two-Fry says they only need to get past the front door. Adi asks who presents the bodies. Sem looks around at the armour and costume-materials and says they all do, garbed to look the part.

Adi says all four of them together looks suspicious, at least one of them needs to come in by another route. Voshka points out they'll immediately recognise the Dug. Two-Fry says he's got enough clout with the maintenance and service crews to get someone in the service entrance.

Adi asks whether Two-Fry hasn't taken a hit to his reputation having been seen openly dealing with the people Golko wants dead. He replies that Golko doesn't know the meet went down successfully, and in any case Golko is paranoid and is always on his guard regardless. His hooks in the boss' organisation go deeper than he knows.

Voshka says surely Golko won't believe Two-Fry bringing in the bodies, but Sem is sharp enough to add that Two-Fry won't be at the palace. The Duros says either way, Golko will have the people he wants close to hand where he can kill them himself.

Adi summarises. One goes in with the maintenance crews, there must be a secret entrance for people coming and going unseen. Voshka interjects, she installed bespoke holo-projectors on some windows and a safety rail, which a skilled climber could use.

Two-Fry picks up a vibroblade and heads over to one of the corpse-dummies. He cuts into it, peeling away a flap and digging out it's innards. "You can store things in here." Voshka looks queasy.

Sem looks at Sebulbo and wonders if he'd fit inside one. "Grenades." Sebulbo says out loud. "Stuff them with grenades keyed to a remote."

Again Adi tries to get them on point. "Two with the bodies, one in the service entrance, one in the secret passage. And I say the Dug goes with the bodies, since he's the one who put all of our lives at risk."

Voshka isn't convinced Golko will come personally to see the bodies. Sebulbo says he'll go with the bodies and claim he turned on the others and killed them for the reward. Sem will pretend to be a bounty hunter (and make sure the Dug doesn't really turn them in). Voshka is going in the maintenance entrance, maybe Golko hasn't changed his security codes since last time, and even if he has she can slice them. Which leaves Adi going in the back entrance.

(I joke that it's incongruous that the most flamboyant character is the one taking the subtlest way in.)

(I hand out Held Dice for them, a reward for this preparation bit.)

Sebulbo asks Two-Fry to contact Golko and tell him he and Sebulbo have killed the other three and the Dug is willing to cut a deal for his life.

(Several players also have secret plans that they will hold on to until the winner of the final scene is decided.)

(139:50)

Kiero
2009-02-17, 06:22 AM
Act III: Golko's' Audience Chamber

Scene-setting

Music: Nihilus' Theme, Malachor

Golko's palace is just as formidabble up close as it looked in the holograms. There's a small army of goons wandering the grounds; he hasn't stayed at the top of the crime game by being sloppy. He's the very definition of paranoia - but that's a useful trait in getting to, and staying in charge.

The plan rolls into motion, each of them making their way into the palace by various means. Everyone eventually arrives in the throne room. It's a huge, vaulted internal space, grand stone pillars at various points would make it difficult to bring numbers to bear in a firefight. Expensive tapestries and artwork dotted around, this chamber is designed to show off Golko's power and wealth. Busts, candelabras, statuary - lots of the latter of Golko himself and some of the previous Exchange bosses. At the centre of it all, on a raised stone dais is a throne, in which sits Golko.

He looks human, but he's been in charge for a long time - 30 or 40 years - and appears to be middle-aged. There's definitely age in his eyes, and he has white hair. He wears hooded robes, with the hood down. Draped across his lap is a Twi'lek dancing girl. Sitting cross-legged to one side of him is a robed Nikto.

(Cue calls of "it's a Jedi!")

The Nikto looks calmly around the room, very alert to what's going on. There are a whole host of sycophants, hangers-on, place-men and those sorts. Golko is entertained by two Nagai knife-dancers, sparring with a knife in each hand. It's hard to tell whether they are actually trying to kill each other, or are performing a choreographed sequence. Golko looks bored.

Also keeping watch are a trio of Mandalorians, but otherwise the muscle are regular looking thugs who are all pose and not much threat.

Voshka is hidden in a vent, and Adi is disguised (courtesy of a holo-projector) to look like a hanger-on when Sem and Sebulbo enter with the "bodies". Sem is wearing bulked-out armour to play the part of a bounty hunter, a helmet covering his face. The bodies are on a repulsor-sled.

The Togruta is already wired into the building maintenance system, and from there the entire building's computer network. Various custom-built devices are arranged around her, and she's disabled a lot of the security and counter-measures already. She's already discovered that something isn't quite right in here - there's a very large and complex droid intelligence running the building. Overkill for regular infrastructure support. It is also trying to counteract her activities.

Sem and Sebulbo step up to the dais, and Golko waves the Nagai away, who clear out fast. He gestures the newcomers forward.

"Golko!" Sebulbo says warmly. "Honoured lord Golko, shining jewel of the undercity-"

"Yes, yes, get on with it!" Golko says irritably.

"I deeply regret the business I cost you, however I have dealt with these." The Dug replies gesturing at the bodies.

Golko leans back and rubs his chin. "You see the money that you cost me, ultimately didn't bother me. It was the disrespect. I couldn't have people thinking that someone could cheat me, of all people, out of money in my city. But what you've done here; that earns you a quick death rather than a slow one."

There's a crackle from the "bounty hunter" as he activates his speaker. "Lord Golko, I am Gartas Venner, the bounty hunter this man enticed into his aid. I would like to bring to your attention my part in bringing these in, and I hope I haven't caused you any disrespect."

"You will be paid as is normal. In fact the first thing you can do for me - kill this slime." Golko says gesturing at Sebulbo.

Sem pushes the Dug forwards with the barrel of his blaster rifle. He uncovers the bodies with his free hand, then looks back at the Dug. There's a whine as the rifle arms, and hesitates a moment as the plan unfolds. The rifle is rigged to make an impressive show of firing, rather than fire as usual. Unbeknownst to Sebulbo, Sem had it set to stun as well, so it's not entirely an act when the Dug drops to the floor having been hit in the back of the head.

The Nikto frowns and looks at Sem, reaching for his belt. Sem reaches down to haul Sebulbo's body away, then presses the button on the detonator, at the same time sending the grenade-packed repuslor-sleds speeding towards Golko.

(148:46)


Round 1 - Describe

Music: Korriban Battle

At the moment of the explosion, the Nikto moves impossibly fast to get clear of the blast. As he rolls out of his dive, he comes up drawing a pair of heavy-bladed knives from his belt. He weaves through a complex gesture and heads for the newcomers.

Golko is somewhere behind the pall of smoke, and the Mandalorians come charging in blasters firing.

(Two Nemeses, Golko with 7 Chi and the Nikto with 5, and 15-point mook threat.)

Voshka is first to act, she turns the lights off (having equipped everyone with darkvision goggles), and activates the water sprinklers.

Adi speaks into her comlink: "Sol, now!" And amongst the crowd her allies draw weapons and begin to attack.

Chaos. Lots of people shooting all around and it's dark and raining. The Mandalorians, with their helmet packages, and the death cultist, are unaffected.

Sem gets to his feet, the scruff of the Dug's neck in one fist, which he uses to right the alien. The he scans around, looking for likely threats. He's kicked off his feet, having not even seen where it came from. He sees a momentary flash of the Nikto, who lands next to Sebulbo.

The Dug tries to kick the cultist in the nether regions, who blocks with his knee and throws an elbow at the Dug's face. Sebulbo bites at him and shoves a blaster into his chest. Just as Sebulbo is about to fire, the Nikto twists away and parries the weapon upwards, so it fires uselessly into the ceiling.

Sol the Knife comes racing in, driving the Nikto away from Sebulbo with his knives. Sol the Knife has a reputation as a skilled blade-man, but the Nikto is casual in his treatment of him. He doesn't seem to put much effort in his defense, carefully placing his blocks with the minimum of movement. Then he seems to switch in another gear and goes on the offensive. In a handful of moves he's caught Sol several times, and the knife-man drops to the ground.

Sem picks himself up again. There's chaos around him, people running and screaming and shooting. He pulls out a hefty chunk of beeping, flashing tech and shouts "Do you know what this is?" Then he throws it sending people scattering. But it proves to be a dud.

In her cubby-hole, the chatter of data Voshka is monitoring has gone beserk. The strangest thing if reading all this is that Golko is not in the room. Whatever the thing in the throne room is, it's not Golko.

Voshka frantically tries to command the flows of information to tell her where the real Golko is. She opens a comm channel to the others telling them to get out. Something cuts into her link, and says: "Hello little thing, I'm Golko. And you are in my house. How do you like this."

The temperature starts rising in the vent. Voshka kicks out the hatch and her companion is chittering about how to shut down the heat buildup. She sets to work.

(155:36)

Round 1 - Resolve

(Cap for this scene is 6. Golko starts with 7 Chi, the Nikto with 5 Chi and there's a 15/1 mook threat.)

(KW on the Nikto (via her allies). He's using Symphony of Slaughter 4 split 3/3, she uses a Held Die and splits 5/2 on her primary. He gets 2/2, she gets 4/2. He loses 2 Chi.)

(Ac on the mook, split 4/2 using In Too Deep, rolls 3/2.)

(DB on the Nikto, splits 4/2, all successes against the cultist's 3/3 split that yields 1/2, so he loses another 2 Chi.)

(MG on Golko, Ghost in the Machine 5 split 3/3 against MG's primary 3/3. He rolls 3/3, she gets 2/2 so loses a point of Chi.)

(Mook threat down to 12/2. Golko still on 7 Chi, the Nikto down to 1 Chi. Only Voshka has lost any Chi, and is now on 2.)

(158:56)


Round 2 - Describe

Music: Malachor Battle

It's not just dark, it's now slippery with all the water on the floor, and people are falling as they flee in all directions. The lights come back on, Golko having found a way around Voshka's hack. The Mandos get more accurate with their fire, two closing down Sem and forcing him behind a pillar. One of the busts of Golko explodes in the process.

As the smoke clears from where the throne was, Golko is missing half of his face, but underneath the skin is a metallic skull. He draws a vibrosword from behind his throne and charges at Adi (able to see through her disguise). He still has a lot of wreckage in his way, both bodies and parts of repulsor-sled and across a slippery floor, and Sebulbo takes shots at him. But he won't be deterred from the person he sees as the greatest threat - the one with the ability to replace him. As he passes the Dug, he slaps something beeping on his back and runs. It's a mine! Sem triggers another repulsor-sled on a collision course with the cyborg. Golko is momentarily pre-occupied with the mine and is knocked off his feet as the mine goes off, destroying the sled. He's thrown through the air, lands, and is only still for a moment before getting to his feet.

Recognising her disguise is blown, Adi deactivates the holo-shroud and tosses the unit aside. She activates her energy shield and pulls her blasters. Turning on the shield gets the attention of one of the Mandalorians, who sends some shots her way. None of the other goons in here are really any threat. She takes aim at cyborg-Golko. Even though he's prone, she hits him several times, which ping off his frame. He gets up, his robes torn and hanging off him, more of his face missing, and he looks pissed. He points his sword at Adi and runs.

The Nikto appears in front of Sebulbo, having leaped twenty feet across the room. The Dug almost matches this jumping feat bouncing away to avoid the lethal blades. A hangers-on makes the mistake of getting in the cultist's way, and without even breaking his stride he bisects the poor fellow. The he gestures at the Dug, who feels an invisible force lift him off his feet, then cast him hard into a wall. Sebulbo scurries into a space between wall and statue, firing rapidly into the base of it. A blade comes whistling in, missing him by a hair and burying itself in the statue. The force of the blow aids in his attempt to unseat the statue, which he rides down as it falls on the incoming Nikto.

Seeing Golko chasing after Adi, and hounded by shots, Sem retreats into cover and assesses things. Sebulbo seems to have things in hand. He switches his rifle onto autofire and hoses the area between Adi and the cyborg. Improbably, the cyborg actually manages to deflect several bolts with his blade. It's the kind of accuracy only a machine could manage. Some of them still wing him, but Sem is amused that in the process he manages to shred and destroy a number of expensive things. He explodes a rare Sith vase, pottery showering the place, then a tapestry comes off the wall, holed in several places.

Golko shouts "You'll pay for that!" In outrage at the expensive destruction. "In blood! That was one of a kind."

Sem finds himself at a loss for a witty comeback, and resolves instead to shoot Golko some more.

Voshka has slowed down the heating, but now a warning light is flashing on her console. The gas commonly used to scrub rooms clean, which kills anything organic that it touches has been redirected her way. The tech tries to cut the fans, but the passwords have been changed and she has no time to slice some more. She shouts out "If you don't stop, I'll send this image to every important house in the underworld." She has a picture of cyborg-Golko with his skin half sloughed off.

"You won't be able to if you can't get a line out." Machine-Golko says smoothly. It diverts his attention, he focuses in shutting out all the comlinks to go outside the palace.

Voshka's droid opens a compartment and an attenae pops out. It connects with a rig on the roof, and a progress bar appears on her screen uploading the image. "Stop the gas or this goes out." She notices that one particular area of the building is pulling a lot of power.

(167:01)


Round 2 - Resolve

(Ac 3/3 with Unreasonable Force on cyborg-Golko who uses Inhuman Reflexes 4, split 3/3. Ac rolls 3/3 successes to Golko's 2/2, so Golko loses his first point of Chi.)

(KW uses another Held Die split 4/3 on someone who rolls 1/3 successes and nothing happens - couldn't hear properly what was going on.)

(MG uses a Held Die, splits 4/3 on machine-Golko, who rolls 3/2 against her 3/2 - both lose a point of Chi.)

(DB uses two Held Dice 5/3 rolls 2/1 against the Nikto's 2/2. So he loses a point of Chi without hurting the cultist.)

(Mook threat still 12/2, Golko down to 5 Chi, Nikto still on 1 Chi, Sem and Adi on 3 Chi, Sebulbo on 2 Chi, Voshka on 1 Chi.)

(169:02)


Round 3 - Describe

Music: The Final Battle

The Nikto gestures at the heavy statue and it simply stops falling. With another gesture his thrown blade returns to his hand, then calmly strolls out from under the path of the statue, before letting it fall. Then he gestures at the Dug as though to suggest he can take whatever he brings. Sebulbo shrugs and runs the other way.

(To a chorus of laughter)

"Come back, coward!" The Nikto says, speaking for the first time. He gives chase, moving very fast, moving past Sem who picks up a length of pipe with the intent of clothes-lining him with it. The Nikto parries and stops, switching his attention to the cop. His first swing nearly takes Sem's head off, which he ducks under, his follow-up with the other blade scores a rent across Sem's armour. After that comes a kick in the face.

Riding out the force of the blow, Sem gets into his face, intent on putting his brawling skills to use. He first goes for a knee, then headbutts the Nikto, sending him staggering back with a bloody nose. Maintaining the momentum and trying to keep him off balance, Sem presses on. He drives him back a few steps, then something in the tenor of the fight changes. Sem's strikes seem to stop having any effect on the cultist, who smiles broadly as blood trickles from his the corner of his mouth. Raising two fingers on one of his hands, Sem feels something lifting him up into the air and crushing the wind of of him. Sem looks frantically around for a weapon or something that he can use.

Sebulbo collides with a piece of objet d'art, supporting a crystal ball full of deathsticks. He grabs fists-full of as many as he can manage, and rushes over to the Nikto, stabbing him in the back with them.

(DB: At least he'll die happy.)

On the comlink to Numbers, who springs out and plants small charges on Golko before running clear. The detonation knocks Adi back. An not altogether complete and intact-looking Golko rises, now shorn of clothing or flesh. One of his arms hangs limp and he switches his sword into the other hand, limping towards Adi. She draws her own sword and charges. He seems to be relying on the fact that he doesn't tire, starting with a fusilade of blows to overwhelm Adi's defenses, driving her back step by step. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see one of the Mandalorians taking aim at her. Golko is trying to push her out of cover and into his field of fire.

The invisible force holding Sem disappears, dropping him to the ground, and the Nikto starts convulsing. Then he makes a gesture and Sem and Sebulbo fly off in opposite directions.

Coughing from the cleaning gas, Voshka struggles to get her rebreather on.

"How about something like this?" Machine-Golko says. Static electricity builds up, and starts arcing off the walls and striking her. Voshka kicks out the hatch and grabbing her droid and the pad connected to the cables and chased by sparks lands on Golko.

(176:02)


Round 3 - Resolve

(Ac on Nikto, splits 2/4 rolls 1/4. Nikto gets 2/2 successes, no change)

(DB on Nikto splits 3/3 rolls 3/2. Nikto gets 3/3, so Sebulbo loses a point of Chi.)

(KW uses her last Held Die for 4/3 rolls for a full house, against Golko's 2/2 successes, so Golko loses 2 Chi.)

(MG splits 3/3 for 2/2 and he gets the same so no change.)

(Mook threat unchanged at 12/2, Golko on 3 Chi, Nikto still on 1 Chi, Sem and Adi on 3 Chi, Sebulbo and Voshka on 1 Chi.)

(177:51)


Round 4 - Describe

Sem climbs out of the debris from his impact against the wall, he's not sure if he's hallucinating. The Nikto has dropped to one knee, and is concentrating and twitching. Sebulbo wastes no time in hammering at him with a choice piece of statuary. He takes the first blow without flinching or moving, then rolls away trying to avoid the Dug. He's nowhere near as aggressive or active as he was before. Of course the amount of deathsticks he was just injected with, he should by rights be euphorically dead.

Smoke drifting off him, Sem stomps back over to where the Nikto is evading the Dug. He flicks out his stun baton, and begins reading him his rights. When he closes he says "You are under arrest!" Then lays into him with the stun baton. He lets out all his rage and pain.

The stun-blasts don't seem to be having the effect they should do, possibly because of the deathsticks, but one of the cultists arms is numbed before he skitters away. He maneuvers Sem and Sebulbo so they get in each other's way. Sebulbo accidentally hits Sem on one of his swings. "Who the hell calls that art?" Sem says noting the implement he was struck with.

Cyborg-Golko is relying on volume rather than quality of attacks, trying to wear Adi down, and the Mandalorian takes a few shots. Ducking out of the way, some of those shots come blazing past glancing off the cyborg. Then without warning she's taken clean off her feet, tackled by another of the Mandos. She's left wrestling with the armoured warrior.

Sebulbo isn't far away, and with his strong hands takes hold of the Mandalorian's helmet and turns it round. Then he bundles into the scrum. It's muscle against servo-assisted muscle, the whine of the armour's augmentation audible. Adi uses the distraction to wriggle free and heads back towards Golko.

"Oh yes, you're welcome!" Sebulbo calls after Adi as he's entangled with the Mando.

The cyborg suddenly stops in a flash of sparks, and Voshka's horns pop up from behind him, where she's trying to use the cyborg's brain to get to machine-Golko.

(182:20)


Round 4 - Resolve

(KW on Golko 3/3 rolls 2/2, Golko splits 3/3 as well and rolls 3/0, Adi loses a point and Golko 2 points.)

(MG uses her remaining Held Dice splits 5/3, rolls 5/1. Golko gets 3/2. Voshka is on -1 Chi and out, but she gets the CdG on Golko, who is now on -3.)

(DB on the Nikto, gets 2/1, the Nikto only manages 0/1 and so loses another point of Chi leaving him on 0.)

(Ac splits 3/3 and gets a full house. Nikto gets 1/3 and stay in. Just.)

(Mook threat still 12/2, Golko is narrated out. Nikto on 0 Chi. Sem is still on 3 Chi, Adi on 2 Chi, Sebulbo on 1 Chi and Voshka is now narrated out.)

(184:30)


Round 5 - Describe

In a shower of sparks, both Golko and Voshka fall over.

(MG's CdG on Golko; Ac at this point still hasn't used any Held Dice, where everyone else has used all of theirs, which gets some commentary.)

"You shouldn't have resisted arrest." Sem says opening a new barrage of blows. He finds his blaster and opens up on full auto. The Nikto's blades appear in his hands and he lets go of them, they float in orbits around him intercepting the bolts. "By the Force, just give up and know when you're beaten!" Sem sighs. Then one of the blades streaks towards the cop, who dives aside. It hits a goon behind him. Then the Nikto is in his face again, and neatly cuts the blaster in two. Without missing a beat, Sem slugs him with what's left of the gun. The Nikto reels, having been caught in the eye.

With the cyborg taken care of, Adi goes for maximum chaos and moves firing at drapes and fabrics starting small fires. She starts hurling grenades around the room, scattering the hangers-on.

Still wrestling with the Mandalorian, Sebulbo repeatedly bashes his head against the floor. Cracks are starting to appear in his helmet. Reaching around, Sebulbo activates his jetpack and jumps off him. The impromptu man-missile bowls over several people on his way.

(187:39)


Round 5 - Resolve

(Ac splits 3/3 against the Nikto, and gets more than his measly 1/1 finally earning the CdG.)

(DB on the mooks 4/2 rolls 3/2.)

(KW manages 1/1 and loses a point of Chi.)

(Mook threat down to 8/2)

(188:35)


Round 6 - Describe

Sem grabs what's closest to hand - a bottle and smashes it over the Nikto's head. Then he knees him in the stomach, roughing him up this way and that. At the end of the assault, he cuffs him.

(Ac's CdG on the Nikto death cultist.)

Adi accidentally sets fire to herself in her eagerness to start blazes, and drops and rolls to put the flames at. Someone starts shooting at her, and another group are trying to flank her as she dives behind a pillar.

Sebulbo starts throwing grenades at goons, sending lots of people running for cover as frag grenades and other loads go off. "That's right, run!" The Dug calls out triumphantly after them. "There is a new crimeboss in town! Sebulbo!"

When the explosions have died down, Sem dumps the cuffed Nikto down next to what's left of cyborg-Golko. Then unshipping his badge, he holds it high and shouts "You're all under arrest! Anyone who agrees to testify against Golko gets their sentence halved."

(190:15)


Round 6 - Resolve

(Ac uses all three Held Dice with his primary for 8/1 split on the mook threat, rolls 4/1 and loses a point of Chi)

(DB rolls 2/2)

(KW rolls 4/2 and gets 1/2)

(1/2 of the mook threat left)

(191:03)


Round 7 - Describe

Sole remaining Mando decides he's going to avenge his fellow and charges at Sem. Some of the hangers-on and others surrender. The cop holds up a fallen Mando's helmet and says "Anyone who doesn't surrender gets shot!" and opens fire on the charging Mandalorian. He hits his armour several times, but doesn't slow him down.

Adi calls ot one of her minions who is just in front of the Mandalorian, and says "Behind you." The minion swipes at the armoured warrior and knocks him off his feet.

Sem advances on the fallen Mando, looks at the stun baton, then at his blaster. Golko's sword happens to be lying nearby. Sem picks it up and approaches him with it.

Sebulbo dives aside and picks up the nearest weapon he can find. It's only after pointing it at the Mandalorian that he realises it's the sparking half-blaster Sem was using earlier. Tossing it aside, he picks up another one and opens fire.

(192:37)

Round 7 - Resolve

(DB rolls 2/1 successes, which ends things and puts the mook threat on 0.)

(Brief discussion on which of them gets to narrate the CdG given any of them could have gotten it.)

(193:12)


Conclusion

Music: Ruins of the Jedi Academy

The Mandalorian gets a shot off at Sem from the ground, staggering the cop as he comes in with the sword. With a single shot, Adi puts the Mandalorian down, exploding one of his eye-slits. He collapses like a felled tree.

"This is Unit 55182, I'd like to radio in for assistance and a medic." Sem says on his comlink, giving his location. "You're where?" The dispatcher comes back. "Just get over here."

Then Sem slumps down by the throne. Adi wanders around the survivors. Sebulbo approaches Sem. "So this is where you try to arrest me, and I escape, yes? Can we do it tomorrow?"

"I'll give you a 24-hour head start." Sem replies.

Voshka groans and picks herself up. Sem peels bits of armour off. "Are we there yet?" Voshka says groggily, looking around. "Did we win?"

Two-Fry and a mob of goons stroll in. He says "Nice work!" and he's already looking around the place like he's moved in. Reaching the throne, he throws off bits of robe and other debris and sits down. "Yes, I like this very much."

Sem looms over him, then reaches behind to pull out some important bit of circuitry. "That's evidence." He says looking hard at Two-Fry before walking away.

Adi finds that Numbers Artaz has survived and helps her to her feet. Voshka picks herself up, then looks at the remains of cyborg-Golko and starts fishing through his components. Sebulbo already knows he's getting all the reward money.


Epilogue

(I asked everyone to tell me what happened to their characters as a result of all of this.)

Sebulbo moves 100 stories up, buys a large hat, has a house. Then he loses it all six months later in a game of cards and ends up right back down here where he started.

Sem brings in Golko with all the evidence, and even manages to scare up some witnesses to testify. But mysteriously all the estates end up going to Two-Fry. Following which Sem is demoted for having caused so much trouble, not officially, but moved to a lower part of the city where he carries on breaking people's faces for law and order.

Adi accepts Two-Fry ruling for a short time but then gets her people together and makes her own play for power, ousting the Duros.

Nothing much changes for Voshka, she remains in her junkyard/garage, but now with two droids, one which looks remarkably like Golko. When Adi takes over, she signs Voshka up as her personal technician.

(Roll credits! 200:12 was the final time-count.)