Crumbs for Effort

After the discussion with Lady Grey during the previous session, Yip had a video camera of her own, which she was eager to try out once the crew were back aboard the Deepnight Revelation. She began to record everything, when Zanobia and Kadashi realised that they probably wanted to check exactly where the video was being stored. Some fiddling with the recorder drone later, and it was no longer streaming everything back to Lady Grey.

The following day it is time to go and visit Earl Egrane. He’s had an outstanding invitation to the crew for a talk, and so far he’s come across as polite and cultured. Because of this, the team decide to send representatives with a high SOC score.

• Sir Alize Vanaadi (SOC 10)
• Zanobia (SOC 12)
• Commander Cacamri (SOC 11)
• Lord Leon Sivas (SOC 12)
• Executive Officer Kirk (SOC 15)
• Imelda Thatchet (SOC 13)

They are met in a plush reception area (the equivalent of a corner office at the top of a large skyscraper. In this case the skyscraper is a space station), where there are servants and armed guards in polished armour and carrying sidearms. I definitely have the Centauri Republic in mind when portraying the Empire of Envais. Just without the hair.

Earl Jacob Egrane is n what appears very much like a throne room, with him seated on a dias along with his wife Countess Fiona Egrane. The visitors are fed wine, cheese and chocolates, and welcomed with a friendly greeting. Even Imelda is impressed by the quality of the wine here, and the Earl offers to send over a selection from his extensive collection.

There is a discussion about what the two sides want, with the Earl trying to persuade them to come on a tour of the Empire with him. They politely make a not quite a decline. It’s mentioned that the Empire uses Anagathics. The Countess seems to have her eye on Kirk, and there’s a little bit of flirting between the two.

The Earl lend the crew his historian, Marcus, who they can take back to their ship where he will him them with an understanding of the local region.

It’s pretty obvious to those who succeed at Diplomacy checks (and the players are pretty on the ball here as well, so the checks aren’t really needed) that the Earl wants to use the Deepnight to increase his standing amongst the other nobles of the Empire.

Given how much effort the Earl has put into presenting the Empire in a good light, it’s thought that it might be worth throwing him some crumbs in the form of technology, despite the Empire appearing to possibly be the local ‘bad guys’. I’m quite happy with how I’ve portrayed the Earl. The players are getting the vibe that I wanted to put across, so that’s good. He’s coming across as cultured and polite on the outside, with hints of a rotten core.

Meanwhile, Amelie Kaliguuan, the company representative, goes down to the planet along with some other ‘motor heads’ and takes part in some off-road monster truck racing. She does reasonably well (motor sport is a passion of hers that hasn’t really come up all that often), but also hears a rumour that the Earl has hired quite a few mechanics in the last couple of days, for reasons unknown.

On the Tradeport station meanwhile, Khadashi has been socialising and keeping his ears and eyes open for rumours. He gets a Carouse (which he does well at) and Recon (not so well) check to see if he picks up anything.

From Recon:

• There’s a lot of fraternisation going on between members of the crew and locals.

From Carouse:

• There’s a lot of interest in the Deepnight, with people hoping that it will improve prospects here.
• Lots of people are hoping for short term profits. A ship full of people looking for some R&R. There is drinking, sex, gambling and other entertainments available. Some people looking for an opportunity to travel.
• People here from both the Commonwealth and the Republic. The Commonwealth citizens seem more educated, with a greater interest in where the Deepnight has come from and what its encountered along the way. The Republic citizens are more concerned about what upset the ship will cause, and if it’s a threat.

He also tries to star a rumour that ship’s XO tends to pick up women in every port. He also decides that there might be a risk of crew members being kidnapped or otherwise induced to spill the beans about the ship’s technology, so suggests that a careful account is kept of where everyone is.

Which plays in nicely to the next event, when it’s discovered that two crew members have gone missing. Jack Griffiths, a pilot, and Monty Jackson, an engineer who also happens to be a Telepath. Their bodies are soon found in an ally planet side, where they’ve been shot in the back.

They were last seen alive at a casino, where they’d been winning a lot of money from the locals. What may have happened is fairly obvious, and there is talk about the ship (not taken too seriously by more than one person) of retribution against property owned by whatever crime family is running the casino.

Police reports from the surface (the local police are very helpful) put the blame on a group of young men not affiliated with any known large crime syndicates (one is known to be involved in a small gang). The locals had lost a lot of money at a poker-like game, and been accused of cheating.

The losers caught up with the two crew members, shot them, and took their money back. Eventually it’s left to the local legal system to enact justice.

The following day, a large group of notables are invited over for a tour of the Deepnight Revelation. The Earl is there, as well as Tradeport’s administrator. There is a lot of interest in the ship, but a lot of care is put into making sure nobody wanders off or leaves surveillance equipment behind.

Whilst this is going on, there is also discussion about putting together a team to play in a big sport’s game. One of the local games is “Push”, where large (several tonnes) floating magnets are pushed around a big field, with the aim to get your magnets over to the other side’s end. It’s a dangerous game, since people can be crushed by massive objects. They will also need a team of young men and women (admittedly, mostly the latter) to dance and do acrobatics in order to encourage their team.

There is also going to be a TV quiz show “Out of Time”, which involves solving maths and language puzzles whilst a big clock counts down. There is an element of humour to the game as well (after it was crossed with a comedy panel show which had something to do with cats). It requires two team members, and will involve skills in EDU (highest Language or Art/Write) and INT (highest Science), along with a bonus for SOC Carouse. Apparently it’s quite popular, and 8 out of 10 people watch it.

All of this means that I’ll need to make sure I have some rules for these competitions before next session.