Friday 29 November 2019

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 9: Train Heist

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Waiting for the Train
The morning of the inaugural train journey had come, and the city of Three Trees was bustling in excitement as people crowded around the train station and a band got ready to play.  Mike went looking for someone in town who was selling sinchu roots, but found only "Dr. White's Cure-All for Tooth-Aches, Wandering Uterus, and Restless Leg", aka medical-grade cocaine.  Before the train showed up, the party rode south to the overlook they had scouted, and prepared to jump aboard the train in order to stop the Black Dragons from stealing the "Jade Dragon", whatever that was.

Several hours later, the steam engine whistled in the distance, and they got into position.  The train passed underneath, and they jumped down onto the second car, following Roberto's hunch that it would be hauling all the valuables.  Roberto stabbed his knives into the wooden train car to secure himself, while Dan and Mike gracefully landed on top.  Big Po, however, plummeted straight through the car's ceiling, and landed on a metal safe below; someone inside shouted "What in tarnation?"

Once Po recovered from his fall, he noticed that there were two cowboy hat wearing guards, tough-looking but not Trained by a Master.  He tried to Intimidate them into silence, but the guards insisted that he wasn't allowed to do that, and had to get off the train.  Po apologized, but the guards told him to "git out" and gestured to the door at the back of the car; Po followed their direction, and, followed by one of the guards, opened the door and crossed the gap to the next car.

Friday 22 November 2019

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 8: The Plot Thickens

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

The Railroad Outside Three Trees
Dan asked Wong what he was up to; Wong looked over his shoulder at him, turned to look at the party, and then started to sprint away.  Dan, with move 9, and Mike, who has Move 11, easily caught the runaway, and cut him off on a small hill above the railroad track.  Wong tried to do an Acrobatic Evade, but critically failed and fell on his face, ending the chase.  Mike casually offered to help him up, and explained that they just wanted to talk, but Wong refused and stood up on his own, taking a defensive stance.

As Roberto and Po walked over, Roberto analyzed Wong's stance and deteremined that he was Trained by a Master in Dragon-Style Kung Fu.  Wong locked eyes with Dan and tried to challenge him, but he resisted, and told the others (especially Roberto) that they needed to take this man alive.  Roberto Intimidated Wong, and convinced him to back down, which he did, falling out of his defensive stance.

Dan asked where Wong had gotten his tattoo, and he replied "China".  When pressed, he specified Guangdong Province.  Dan then asked if that was where he'd joined the Black Dragon Clan, accused him of killing Mr. Wilson, and asked for the lemonade recipe and the location of his clanmates.  Wong just said that they were nearby.  Roberto started to use Hypnotic Hands, but Wong looked away; Po moved in to grab him, but he parried the attempt.

Wednesday 13 November 2019

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 7: A Mystery in Three Trees

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Twinhorn Gold Mine
Willy grabbed "the kid who looked the most like a future player character", and Roberto tried using Hypnotic Hands to break the "mind control".  Though he had to take lots of extra time to offset his base skill of 8, it worked, and he went about curing the rest of the child soldiers over a couple hours.  Once he was finished, Roberto asked if any of these children had seen his daughter, and one said that she had been training with them, but was gone now.

The party decided to wait for "Lucia" and her men to show up at the mine, ambush them, make sure Roberto didn't kill them, and then interrogate them about Roberto's daughter.  They settled in to camp, and Mike drank a second sinchu root mixture without ill effects.  The freed slaves decided they'd just go back to town now, and bid the party farewell.  Willy got to work making an impromptu sledge using the mine cart so that he could transport the gold out of the mine.

1 day later, nobody had showed up, but the party had mostly recovered from their wounds (though Dan had to Luck a crit-fail) and decided to head to the Gilded Pony back in Sweetwater.  Willy had disappeared in the night, so that nobody could follow him to where he had buried the gold, but left an obvious trail from the sledge behind him.  As they entered town, the people of the town cheered their arrival, but they did not have congratulatory muffin baskets for them, much to Po's chagrin.

Wednesday 6 November 2019

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 6: The Man With The Golden Chains

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist
Whistlin' Willy - Gold-Crazed "Alcoholic-Style" Miner with Dynamite

Twinhorn Gold Mine, Slave Mining Pit
Po grabbed the knife thug who was leading the mooks against the freed slaves, and got stabbed in return.  The machete henchman tried to disarm Roberto, but he slipped forward into close combat, parrying on the way, and responded with a thrust to the neck.  Mike continued to stare down the knife guy on his terrace, Evaluating for a second time, while Dan failed to land either part of a Rapid Strike on his own thug.  Po broke out his Ooichou Nage secret technique again, throwing the thug to the ground before body slamming and stunning him.

One of the stick mooks smacked Po, but the others were taken out by the slaves.  Dan got stabbed twice more and fell back to Evaluate, while Mike stepped forwards, parried both thrusts from the thug on his level, slipped into close combat, and landed a kick.  Po pinned the thug he'd taken down, and he passed out while trying to break free.  Mike retreated when his thug tried to stab him again, and used Luck to avert a crit.

Roberto and the machete henchman continued their duel, steadily moving further onto the trestle bridge, but neither were able to land a hit on the other.  The henchman wielded his machetes with surprising grace, and was effectively using Fencing Retreats, while Roberto made sure to constantly stay in close combat to make the machetes' superior reach a liability.  Po All-Out Double grabbed the last stick mook and then bear hugged him hard enough to instantly knock him out.  Dan landed an Exotic Hand Strike on his thug, and parried the riposte.