Ai - Experienced Tech
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper
Characters:
Ai grew up on New Hong Kong, and despite being only 15 years old, was one of the few skilled enough to work on the Takahashi Machine. She doesn't believe that they'll find a way to repair it in Japan, but wants to explore the world, and hopefully score some sweet pre-war ultra-tech along the way.
Axe is from the North Philippine "Harshlands", where he grew up fighting monsters and raiders. An 8' tall, ill-tempered mutant with stone-like skin and natural regeneration, he's in it for whatever the reward will be.
Cap'n Chang hails from New Shanghai, New Hong Kong's raider-infested sister-ark in the East China Sea to north; he claims to be the best captain in the world, and just might have the skills to back it up. A Chinese nationalist, he's happy to be on the mission simply because the Communist Party asked him to be.
Vaolt is an enigma. He speaks with a heavy Russian accent, is quick with a gun, and has smooth skin and webbed feet, enabling him to swim almost as fast as boats.
Day 1:
Having been recruited from around the region, the party met with Jin Yao, the man in charge of New Hong Kong, to receive an important mission. The Takahashi Machine that produced the region's food was starting to fail, and estimates put it at lasting no more than a year, after which the region would surely fall into chaos. The party's mission would be to go to Japan and find some way of fixing it, whether that be spare parts, schematics, or a scientist.
They were informed that a small, solar-powered speedboat with a mounted LMG (with one magazine) was waiting for them in the docks, and that they had their choice of some minor equipment. The party geared up (mostly with stuff they had brought themselves, as the "communist" government of New Hong Kong had little to provide), and then discussed if they needed anything else. It was agreed upon that solar power would limit their travel time and speed, and so they headed to Salty Sam, a contact of Cap'n Chang, to see if he would be willing to donate a blood drive.
Salty Sam was a heavily-scarred, crippled, and curmudgeonly old man, but Ai was able to trick him into helping by telling him that the solar panels on the ark were failing, and that the infirm would be fed to its massive blood drives if the party was unsuccessful. Sam told them to go to Dock #234A at midnight, and they'd get their blood drive, free of charge.
The party then walked to their boat, which Cap'n Chang immediately dubbed "The Golden Hare", apparently the same name he gave every ship he captained. As they were untying from the dock, a human meathead told Axe and Vaolt off for being muties, which Axe responded to by unsheathing his great axe. Apparently the meathead had friends, and they all drew improvised weapons, while Vaolt grabbed a lead pipe from a pile of rubbish. Axe took out two of the men in a second, causing the others to flee.
Cap'n Chang ordered the others to wipe their feet and not track any blood onto "his" boat, while Ai tried (and failed) to make an improvised explosive for the fight that was now over. The Golden Hare set sail, and then floated around until midnight, when they went to Dock #234A to pick up the blood drive from Salty Sam.
A pair of mutant dockworkers were waiting by a crane holding onto a small crate labelled "elephants", and lowered it down to the Golden Hare. The party were reminded to "keep their elephants fed regularly", puttered out as far as they could before the solar batteries died, and then installed the blood drive. Ai did the work, and made sure to keep the solar panels and batteries as a backup.
Day 2:
The Golden Hare now properly set out on her journey, though still under solar power because they had no fuel for the blood drive. Cap'n Chang consulted Ai and a map of the region before setting course towards a rocky island where they could shelter for the night. Around sunset, a trio of ships appeared on the horizon, moving towards the Golden Hare, though they failed to respond to the Cap'n's hails over radio. As the ships closed, Ai identified them as belonging to the Anti-Mutant League, a fairly pacifistic raider gang.
The ships closed to only a few meters away, and it became apparent that they were very lightly armed: a single bolt-action rifle and a handful of harpoons. One of their men, clearly quite young, called out to the party. He revealed that he was Jin Yao's son, and that he knew of the party's mission. He asked them to abandon it and join him, proposing that they overthrow the current government and dial back production at the Takahashi Machine. This would cut off the "free-loaders" from around the region, but enable New Hong Kong to prosper for another decade or so.
Ai was ambivalent, but Axe and Vaolt, being mutants, were opposed to any group calling themselves the "Anti-Mutant League" on principal, and the Cap'n was loyal to the Jin Yao and the People's Republic. Jin Yao's son ordered his men to attack, and simultaneously, the Cap'n spun the Golden Hare around to let Axe and Vaolt jump onto their attacker's ship before "speeding" off. Two of the boats gave chase, while the other tried to fight off their boarders.
Despite running on solar power, and therefore at reduced speed, Cap'n Chang severely outskilled his opponents, and quickly evaded them without incident. Axe butchered Jin Yao's son and his men after the rifleman missed his only shot, and then took the helm to head towards the boats tailing the Cap'n. He rammed into one, and Vaolt tried to jump onto it, but ended up in the water.
The third boat decided to cut their losses and fled. Cap'n Chang turned around to pick up Vaolt while Axe rammed the ship again, and butchered two of its men, though the third jumped out and swam away. The party shoved three of the bodies into the blood drive, being very careful (at Cap'n Chang's request) not to get any blood on his ship.
Notes:
I'm a player, not the GM, so I don't know all the setting info. This is why Jin Yao's son doesn't have a more specific name; it didn't come up.
Murder is legal in New Hong Kong, so long as the body is not "wasted" (ie, not fed to its blood drive).
Vaolt was late, and despite being a Trooper specializing in Pistols, has no gun, armour, or indeed any clothes. This will likely be resolved by next session.
There was some confusion over the Inventing rules from ATE2. Going from a forum post (of all things), it seems like the workspace modifiers imply tools that are wrong for the job giving a +0, with no tools at all giving a -5. The rules seem a bit complicated, so I'm not sure how much they'll get used.
We're using the Chase rules from Action 2, and they seem to be pretty good so far, though Cap'n Chang had way higher skill and rolled very well, so we'll need some more tests.
Axe is very tough, and with 6DR total is close to immune to pistol fire.
3XP
MVP went to Axe for being the #1 murderer
No comments:
Post a Comment