Tim (Jean-Christophe Pépin) has discovered sudden and traumatic professional success. Sadly, this success has proven to be scheduled at the same time as gaming, leading to the ongoing descent of his character into addiction and delirium. Chris (Dmitri Baranov) points out that he's tired of going to interesting little restaurants for lunch. "I'd prefer to go someplace corporate and faceless. Someplace where there are no pretensions of individuality." Ernest (Carlos Juan Vincent Sanchez) suggests, "Let' go to Denny's!" Chuck (Percy Winston-Smythe) offers, "Woohoo! There's one next to the La Quinta!" Bruce just shudders and follows along.
Paul (Smith) shows up after lunch to exclaim, "My collection of ears isn't getting any fresher! Maybe I should refresh it from the population of idiots working at KFC."
The Musaraigne d'Egrappage takes another two weeks to reach Mars. During this time, Jean-Christophe Pépin rouses from his opium stupor just long enough to administer selenium poultices upon Percy Winston-Smythe and Dmitri Baranov.
Carlos Juan Victor Sanchez thinks about passing the time by tainting Pépin's opium with vitalis. Smith passes the time by preventing Sanchez from actually doing this.
Smith and Dmitri Baranov both conclude that the French Departement de Nilosyrtis should provide the best market for food among the various landing choices. They land at the city of Beldet, the capital of the Departement. Percy Winston-Smythe notes that the Beldet Port Authority has very kindly provided some very bright phlogiston flares to mark out the location of their landing zone. They are bright enough to provide a +2 bonus to Piloting rolls to land at the port.
The characters already know that the main industry in the Departement de Nilosyrtis is phlogiston extraction. The stuff is cheap and easy to get in the markets of Beldet. Carlos Juan Victor Sanchez suggests, "I say we design a new cannonball that uses phlogiston."
Baranov agrees, as long as he's far away: it doesn't sound safe.
The characters disembark and wander the streets of Beldet, collecting rumors. Baranov is amazed to find that Black Kurrack is still alive: they're up to a 3000 Lv reward on him. Sanchez learns that the Dutch authorities claim that some new plague is running through the Veelrivierland back on Venus; they are deploying physicians to the area by the battalion. He entertains images of a fear-monkey on a CB saying, "Send more paramedics." Winston-Smythe learns that phlogiston prices are down on Earth, which puts a damper on the characters' nascent plans to try exporting the stuff.
Sanchez mentions that he's heard that Captain Walsingham has been up to violent mischief on Deimos. Now he commands not only the Varangian and the Fair Margaret but also the Tamerlane and the Praetorian. The characters debate what Walsingham's motives might be, now that he has pretty obviously burned whatever bridges he might have still had with the Royal Navy. They conclude that it's pretty likely that he's simply going to become a pirate, though there is always the possibility that he has something else in mind.
Then Smith reports that the inventor Auguste Wartelby showed up in town not so long ago with a uniquely-rigged ship crewed entirely with mechanical men. He left a few days later, heading towards the Departement de Nereidum, but his ship crashed out in Libya Montes. Everyone perks their ears up at this, in part because they're curious how Smith managed to come up with such interesting news. Smith just smiles.
Smith estimates that 2000 Lv and a shipyard facility would be enough to perform the low-altitude modifications on the characters' ship's boat. There are two yards available at Beldet: one commercial yard (larger and busier) and one military yard. The military yard is not filled to capacity by properly military traffic, so it is often available for commercial use at relatively reasonable prices.
The characters also have two captured guns to mount on the Musaraigne d'Egrappage. They decide to mount one of them fore, filling out the forward battery, and one aft.
The military yard charges 20% less for ship modifications. The cannon mounts cost 4800 Lv each. Sail modifications cost another 1600 Lv. The cannon mounts are done in a week, but the sail modifications to the ship's boat take three weeks total. Smith helps on the sail modifications. He finds that eight or nine riggers at the yard are quite capable, and a lot of others are not. Baranov decides to provide an incentive and gives the good ones an extra bonus for quality work; he ends up paying them an additional 756 Lv.
The characters have a hold full of rice to sell. Their original purchase price was 220 Lv/ton back on Venus. They set Catherine Iphegenia Pépin to the task of finding some reputable traders for them to deal with. She asks around among her friends in the Ministry of Colonization. After a week of hobnobbing she comes up with two names for Sanchez: the broker Louis Ancare, a man with business in Nilosyrtis, Hellespontus and Nereidum, plus military connections; and the merchant Oliver Bennoit, who has a reputation for honesty but a business that is strictly local to Nilosyrtis.
Baranov and Sanchez go out to talk to them. Ancare offers them 500 Lv/ton, less a 5% commission. He promises them the money in 60 days, or in 10 days for another 5% commission. Benoit offers them only 450 Lv/ton, but says he can have the money in five days. The characters debate trying to find a better price on Earth, until the broker mentions that there are no taxes to pay in Nilosyrtis. That seals the deal. The characters hand over their goods to him and promise to be back in sixty days to collect the money. Details of the transaction by investor are:
| Character | Tons | Tons Sold | Price/ton | Commission | Money | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanchez | 27 | 27 | 500 | 5% | 12825 | 6885 |
| Baranov | 10 | 10 | 500 | 5% | 4750 | 2550 |
| Smith | 15 | 15 | 500 | 5% | 7125 | 3825 |
| Winston-Smythe | 10 | 10 | 500 | 5% | 4750 | 2550 |
| Pépin | 100 | 99 | 500 | 5% | 47025 | 25245 |
| Total | 76475 |
The characters save aside one ton of rice for later, just in case. They figure that there are all sorts of uses for a ton of rice when push comes to shove.
While the characters are off working on the Musaraigne d'Egrappage, Sanchez and Catherine Iphegenia are laying plans for the publication of her latest bodice-ripper novel. They took copies printed back at Neue Paris around to the five booksellers in Beldet. Four of them agree to carry it, in part because new publications are a rarity in provincial Mars. They manage to move 100 copies in the first two weeks, at a price of 0.5 Lv each.
During the two weeks Smith is working on the ship's boat, the other characters take the Musaraigne d'Egrappage up into orbit to search for the wreckage of Auguste Wartleby's vessel. Winston-Smythe purchases a very fine saber, plus maps of the Isidis Planitia. He resolves to use his Cartography skill to compare the telescope images of the Planitia against the maps.
The aetheric weather shifts every twelve hours. Roll 3d on the table below:
| Roll | Weather |
|---|---|
| 3 | Hurricane! No observation possible |
| 4-6 | Bad weather. Piloting rolls are at –3. |
| 7-14 | Decent weather. Piloting rolls are at –1. |
| 15-16 | Clear weather. Piloting rolls are at +0. |
| 17-18 | Calm weather. Piloting rolls are at +2. |
If observation is possible, one attempt can be made every hour. An observation attempt requires two rolls: first a Piloting roll to keep the ship on station, and then either a Cartography or Observation roll to actually spot something useful. Available observation tasks include:
The Piloting roll is modified by ship maneuverability and by the weather (as above). For every two points by which the Piloting roll is successful Observation and Cartography rolls for that hour gain a +1 bonus.
The first 12 hours of searching are blessed with calm weather (+2 piloting). Winston-Smythe does an excellent job of keeping on station. Three hours later, Sanchez spots the crash site. Baranov offers, "Yes, there's nothing that can't be solved by lucky rolls."
Winston-Smythe modestly claims, "I'm just good at piloting."
Baranov points out, "Take credit for the good weather while you're at it."
With several hours of good weather left to go, the characters continue searching for a mountain lake suitable for landing. They find one no more than 100 kilometers from the crash site. Finally, the characters detail out the map segments between the lake and the crash.
The landing lake is in a mountain valley with four ways out, two of them river valleys going in the wrong direction. The characters estimate that they will be able to make average progress of about 1 km/hour. The total travel time to the crash site will be about ten days.
The characters spend some time investing in gear for the journey. They purchase six daukha-apak riding lizards, three for riding and three for equipment. They figure that any more would be rough on the ship's boat: it can only carry four tons of cargo, and the daukha-apak weigh in at 300 kg each. Smith declines one to ride, and doesn't need much in the way of equipment.
The next step is to recruit some native guides. Sanchez hires Bek and Dak from a guy on the seedy end of town. Both are tribesmen, or at least claim to be. Their price is 1 Lv/day each, with 30 days wages in advance. Sanchez pays, then gets them to recommend gear. They recommend equipment costing 300 Lv. Sanchez pays.
Winston-Smythe finds that the new ship's boat rig is much more stable at low speed and low altitude, as long as he rolls well. As it is, he manages a rather unsteady landing.
Sanchez picks himself up from the deck and yells out, "Hey guides! What kind of things live around here? Answer in order of proximity: are there any huge lake-beasts?"
Bek tells him, "No lake beasts. Tago-bek-auba hunts. Also tribesmen: Vok-Ametauga tribe. Xea-Shvet. Very savage and dangerous. They cannibals. May have never seen human before."
The characters disembark and promptly travel for four days. By that time, the entire group has recognized that the guides know nothing more than the characters. Winston-Smythe speaks for the others when he says, "We eat them first." The characters continue on, but double-check the maps. Baranov resolves to kill the fuckwit who told Sanchez that the guides were tribesmen skilled in desert-craft.
On the fifth day, the characters meet a native on the trail. They notice that he is carrying a rifle.
Dak tells the characters, "Native. May have never seen white man before!"
Baranov curses, "Shut up, idiot." He speaks to the native in Xea-Shvet.
The native responds, "You trespass. We have treaty with white men to the south."
Baranov offers, "Perhaps we can arrange a contribution?"
The native very discouragingly responds, "It is sinful to work for money or pay."
The characters decide to camp. The native assures them, "Our wise ones will be here in the morning."
Almost in unison, Dak and Bek warn the characters, "They are natives! Not to be trusted!"
Winston-Smythe points out, "You guys are freaking natives!"
The characters organize four watch shifts for the night. The second shift is Smith and Dak. Winston-Smythe wakes for the third shift to find that Dak convinced Smith that he and Bek needed to hide the food in a special place. Smith even helped Bek and Dak load all the food onto two of the daukha-apak. He hasn't seen them since.
Smith doesn't understand why Winston-Smythe is swearing so much.
Baranov looks around and asks, "How much food do we have left?"
Sanchez offers, "Enough for a light lunch."
Baranov tells the others, "Which of these lizards do we not like? Pick one, because we might be eating it tomorrow."
Nobody in the group can track, so they decide not to try and follow the natives at night.
As promised, the native leaders appear in the morning. The characters notice that one of them is wearing a Prussian hussar's hat. All have guns. The leader tries to speak German, and discovers that none of the characters can speak it. He switches to Xea-Shvet, which Baranov speaks.
The two of them discuss the situation.
The native leader comments, "I sense that the English one is mad at us."
Baranov explains, "He is our gift to you. Plus he is upset because our native guides departed in the night. They took some of our supplies and our lizards."
"What manner of apology would you offer for this insult?"
Sanchez suggests, "The lives of our native guides?"
Baranov ignores him and offers several other things, including the fine dagger he took from the insane aetheric master Wilkinson. He assures the tribal leader, "It killed at least seven men. Seven white men."
The tribesman tells him, "I accept this gift. The souls of these seven men watch over you."
The characters request that one tribesman help them find their faithless guides. Despite the fact that they've been gone for 6 hours, the tribesman finds them in two. Baranov curses, "These guys really are clueless. I want us to kill them and make boots from their skin."
The characters find them at camp, making gruel. One of them is plainly very sick. The other is trying to care for him. Sanchez kills the healthy one. The characters capture the sick one, who quickly admits that he drank from a peaceful still pool. He also explains that both of them were sometime actors back in Beldet, playing savages in a Mars Show.
The characters give the tribesman one of the daukha-apak and half of the food. Sanchez watches him leave and comments, "He is now a very wealthy man in his tribe."
The characters decide that they will leave the dying guide to his fate. Baranov gives him a bottle of Venusian ghessesh wine to ease his passing. He also gets the native's family's address and promises to give them his back pay.
Smith tells Baranov, "You're so kind, giving away your precious alcohol to this bastard." Then Sanchez puts three drops of vitalis in the booze.
Winston-Smythe asks the others, "Why are we paying these guys anything? They stole from us! We should give their families a bill!"
Sanchez asks Baranov, "What is wrong with our Englishman?" He persuades the characters to leave the diseased guide with some food as well. He assures the others, "After he mutates and comes out of his cocoon he'll be hungry."
Winston-Smythe tells Smith, "I hope he kills the Spaniard first."
Four days later, the characters are all convinced that camping out is not their cup of tea. They are also surprised at how little losing their guides affected their progress.
As the characters are approaching the crash site, a sharp report comes from a nearby tree. And then a wavering metallic voice calls out, "Stop! Do not move! Do not move or I will fire again!"
It doesn't take the characters long to realize that they are being confronted by two very feeble-looking mechanical men. One of them is doing the talking, while the other makes "gunshot" noises by breaking bundles of dry sticks.
The characters simply bull their way past the mechanical men and move on to the debris field where Auguste Wartleby's ship hit ground. They find Wartleby inside, badly injured. He is being tended by one of his mechanical men, Harold, who lost both of his legs in the crash. His other mechanical men once included Alvin, Bob, Charles, Doug, Edward, Fritz, Gerald and Ichabod.
Wartleby isn't sure what happened to Edward and Ichabod. Harold is legless, but there are enough parts around that he could be rebuilt. Alvin, Bob, Charles and Doug all survived the crash more or less intact and are helping protect Wartleby. The problem is with Fritz: Wartleby tells the characters that Fritz attacked him just before the crash, and that he was able to make Gerald display similar behavior. Wartleby has seen neither of them since the crash.
The characters are obviously concerned about Fritz, and the fact that he was able to convert Gerald. He could still be around, and might also be able to make Smith freak out as well. They have Smith block his ear-holes.
Later that night, Fritz and Gerald try to infiltrate to the wreck. Winston-Smythe is on watch, and spots one of them sneaking in. He notices that someone has been practicing trepanation on it. He shoots off a leg, then moves out to capture the creature.
The noise alerts the other characters, who start looking around for the other mechanical man. Baranov locates Fritz, who attempts to attack him with a phlogiston flare and knife strike. Baranov slows him down enough that Sanchez is able to stab him in a brain-hole.
The session ends with the characters heading back in from the wilderness with Auguste Wartleby and his mechanical men. Each character gains three experience points.
Chris asks about point totals for new characters. Based upon existing experience totals, new characters should start at 175 points, but get double normal experience awards until they reach 200 points.