Things get off to rather a late start, owing mostly to the fact that Dan (Koa so k'Terr) thinks it's more important to have lunch with his ladylove and her family than to hang with us. He eventually shows up, more than compensating for his lateness by bringing delicious cake. Along the way he lets drop that he is now 31 years old, and can now qualify for the same "jaded old man" status that several of us already enjoy. Nick (Brother Xavier) simply decides to dis us in favor of "errands". Everyone else shows up without nearly as much of a fuss: Paul (Sean Punch), Chris (Peter Sangaree), and Tim (Sir Brindal Karth de Hazat).
Having recently spent some time reading GURPS Ultra-Tech, Peter decides to do a bit of shopping. He stops by a local shop in Lenbow to buy himself a superfine Saber at a cost of 140 FB ($700 cost in GURPS, divided by 100 to convert to FB, multiplied by 20 for superfine). This weapon inflicts +3 damage as compared to a normal saber, pretty much bringing Peter to the maximum damage it can inflict.
The characters stay in Lenbow for four days, waiting for their next meeting with Director Stephen Yie of the MachtArbeiterBank. They do their best to stay out of trouble. Several times during their wait, Sir Brindal Karth, Koa so k'Terr (who rather unexpectedly shows up, having received a letter from the other characters instructing him to travel to Delphi and go to Lenbow some time ago) and Sean Punch spot a small weaselly man watching them. Brindal Karth tries to intercept the fellow, but loses him in the mucky warren of Lenbow's streets. The characters eventually decide that Director Yie is just trying to keep tabs on them, and that there really isn't much they need to do beyond hiring several more hotel rooms than they actually need, then never sleeping in the same place twice.
When the appointed day arrives, the characters head to their meeting at the MachtArbeiterBank armed as heavily as they can manage. For the most part, they stick to relatively subtle weapons like pistols, blades and ninja gear. Except for the assault rifle that Peter Sangaree carries. And the Sangaree Special slung at Sir Brindal Karth's side. And the laser rifle attached to Sean Punch's arm. They are intercepted in the bank lobby by the Director's obsequious servant Winslow who asks them to, "Please place your ordnance into the plastic tray." An even more worm-like servant approaches at a gesture and offers up a tray. By the time the characters finish loading him down, he is forced to stagger back into the darkness.
The Director's servant leads them to his office, then offers them a plate of cucumber and seabird sandwiches, as "the Director will be delayed for a few minutes." The characters rather conspicuously refuse to eat the sandwiches. The servant doesn't comment, but does remain in the background.
Director Yie appears after the characters have waited for a few minutes. The characters get the idea that he likes to force them to wait for him like this as a way of boosting his own apparent status. He is polite but arrogant, sneering in the characters' faces as he details their "apparent" grievances and mocking their desire to renegotiate their arrangements with him. The characters simply sit there, stony-faced, thinking thoughts of murder and savagery. Eventually, the Director tires of his little game and offers to reduce the assessment against the colony to 15% of profits per year, ad infinitum. He also cuts off the characters' line of credit, stating that the outstanding balance will be converted into a simple loan with all monies due in a year. To back up his offer, he produces a contract for Sir Brindal Karth to sign.
Brindal Karth takes a good long look at the contract before even suggesting that he might sign it. He notices that there are two rather questionable clauses buried within the legal languages. The first allows the Director to call in his note at any time, with only 30 days of warning. The second allows the MachtArbeiterBank to remit the characters into the custody of the Muster if they are unable to meet the payment terms of the note. Brindal Karth puts 2+2 together, determining that the Director will probably call in the note the instant the contract is signed. Because the characters aren't even able to get word to Gwynneth in 30 days, much less come up with the 50,000 FB they owe the MachtArbeiterBank, that would give the Director free reign to have them sold into slavery. Brindal Karth demands that the two passages be struck out, a demand that Director Yie eventually agrees to.
With what he takes to be the unpleasantness behind them, Peter attempts to do some business with Director Yie. He explains that Sir Brindal Karth's liege lord has tasked the characters with finding out the fate of several missing Hawkwood ships, and that Director Yie's unsubtle meddling is largely responsible. He suggests that Director Yie surely has the informational resources to learn something about the ships, and that the characters would be more than willing to offer some compensation to him in exchange. He also suggests that there should be more coordination and cooperation between Sir Brindal Karth's Fennen Marsh operation and the MachtArbeiterBank in the future, to help avoid further unpleasant misunderstandings. Director Yie responds coldly, "It will be very easy to arrange cooperation between our operations in the future. The meeting is over." His servant shows the characters to the door.
After the characters leave the Director's office, Peter Sangaree and Brindal Karth corner the Director's servant Winslow and order him to eat one of the sandwiches. He refuses. They draw steel upon him and threaten him some more. He continues to refuse, though he does cringe up into a small weeping ball in the corner. The characters hear the sounds of writing and typing cease in the office area behind them. Peter yells out, "I want to hear some typing going on RIGHT NOW!" The typing resumes. The characters continue threatening Winslow until they are satisfied that the sandwiches were poisoned. They leave Winslow sobbing on the floor, reclaim their weaponry, and head for the door.
As the characters depart the building, they are intercepted by a nondescript man dressed in the same monotonous gray robes as all the other bank staffers. He introduces himself as the Reeve Roger Padrea, and explains that he was instructed to oversee the finances of the Fennen Marsh fief on behalf of the MachtArbeiterBank and the Director Stephen Yie. To demonstrate his authority, he produces a very impressive-looking commission bearing the signatures of both Director Yie and the Reeves' Consul of Operations for Delphi (the most important Reeve onworld). The characters examine the document, determining quickly that it does authorize Padrea for the task he describes, and further urges other interested parties to provide him with "reasonable access" to the fief's financial records.
The characters give him a surprisingly easy welcome, much better than he expected. They do point out that they will be living in a frontier, and that he should have some measure of appropriate equipment and should be expecting all manner of fever and parasites. They also suggest that he hire a bodyguard. He explains that he's never been off Delphi, but has read a Gwynneth guidebook and equipped himself appropriately (several characters roll their eyes). He also mentions that he spent five years running a pawnshop in the Shiro Urban Zone, and that this is probably why the Director chose him for this task. The characters let him know that they will be departing from the airport soon, and describe their aircraft for him. He heads off to arrange for his baggage to be taken to the airfield.
On their way back to the airfield, the characters spend their time strategizing. Their biggest concern is getting the New Berlin Spaceport running with a reasonable traffic stream. This makes the potential deal with the Yuwet Heavenly Mining Concern very important. The biggest obstacle is the port's lack of refueling capability. Supplying this capability will be very expensive, as a mid-sized Hydrogen Cracking Furnace costs at least 25,000 FB. The fusion plant to run it will cost another 25,000 FB, and the special cooled fuel storage tanks will cost another 15,000 FB. The characters know that other, similar installations exist in several places on Gwynneth, including Prince Cassius field (which has an array of huge cracking furnaces to support the Hawkwood fleet) and Fort Sabwran. The characters also know that the Chibren are unable to manufacture the necessary parts for either a cracking furnace or a fusion plant.
|
Cracking Furnace Fueling Capacity (per day) |
Total Cost |
|---|---|
| Small transport, several shuttles | 25,000 FB |
| Corvette, frigate | 50,000 FB |
| Man-o-War, large transport | 100,000 FB |
| The Hawkwood Fleet | 500,000 FB |
The character decide that the Vuldrok probably had a setup like this at their old Vulfzee Base, especially considering that the base had a spaceship landing pad. Unfortunately, cracking furnaces and fusion plants are large, building-sized objects. When the Hawkwoods destroyed Vulfzee, they probably would have destroyed anything that large.
The characters then think about what the Yuwet Heavenly Mining Concern is likely to need in terms of refueling. Their documents suggest that they will want to make 24 to 30 landings per year, bringing down 2000 to 5000 tons of refined ore per trip. Given normal landing charges, the characters decide that asking them to buy a medium-sized cracking furnace for the Port in exchange for free landing rights for a year might not be such a bad deal.
Koa so k'Terr thinks about traveling around to look for some business, then determines that the way business normally works in the Known Worlds, he needs to convince individual important people to use the New Berlin Port, granting the characters their patronage. Smaller operators and less-luminous organizations will eventually start to use the port once they see that important folk are willing to land there.
Sir Brindal Karth emphasizes that the characters need to free themselves from their relationship with Director Yie, essentially because he's a nutball. He opines that it is much better to be vassals of the Count Marco, who might hate them but who is at least honorable.
The characters return to Sonnbourg, where Koa so k'Terr spends some time hanging around in local bars around the starport trying to talk to Charioteers. He augments his chances of success (and his lousy Carousing skill) by using MindSight. He manages to learn the name of Samuel Parsons, a Charioteer holding the rank of Director and the position of Master of Cargo at Sonnbourg Port. He manages this trick by pulling the information directly from a Charioteer freight router's mind, along with a bunch of complaints about Prince Cassius Field.
Peter Sangaree tries the same trick in Engineer hangouts, though without the MindSight. He actually has Carousing, and works primarily to sell more Sangaree Specials ("we can make a pukeload of the things.") He also tries to figure out anything about missing Hawkwood ships. Sadly, he doesn't do so well on the Carousing and doesn't manage to get anything but drunk. Unwilling to give up, he heads to the Sonnbourg Engineers' Guildhall, where he does a much better job of looking respectable. He uses his Administration skills (+3 for Rank) to find an Engineer who does procurement for that part of the Delphi Engineer operation responsible for the local terraforming engines. The Engineer claims that his group needs to buy weapons for the security staff. Peter sees an obvious opportunity, and signs a contract with the man to provide him with 500 Sangaree Specials per year.
Sir Brindal Karth decides that he will try and take the characters' new Reeve, Roger Padrea, out drinking. His hope is to either pump the man for information, or simply to corrupt him. Padrea proves to be more than interested in Brindal Karth's proposal, and suggests heading down to one of his old hangouts in the Shiro Urban Zone. He explains that for 8 FB, you can get a ticket on the Flyers' Association shuttle down to the SUZ, and that the shuttle leaves every hour on the hour. Brindal Karth, feeling confident, instantly agrees, then persuades Sean Punch to come along.
The two characters quickly discover that Padrea knows the seedier districts of the SUZ rather well, as he leads them through a maze of post-urban streets and alleyways, eventually ending up in a bar buried deep underneath a crumbling superskyscraper. It eventually becomes clear that Padrea can also hold his liquor a lot better than either of the characters can. He also seems quite fond of dareesh, an herb smoked through an impressive-looking water pipe. The characters, game to try anything for some reason, eventually manage to figure out that dareesh has a much bigger effect upon them than it does on Padrea.
Both Sir Brindal Karth and Sean Punch come to on the shuttle back up to Sonnbourg. They feel worse than terrible. Roger Padrea is sitting next to them, apparently little the worse for wear, reading a newspaper. Brindal Karth finds that he is some 60 FB poorer. In contrast, Sean Punch is surprised to find himself 5 FB richer.
Brindal Karth eventually notices that Padrea is now packing heat, rather a new development. In particular, he seems to have two automatic pistols in shoulder holsters accessible through slashes in his robe, and a surprisingly serviceable-looking blade. Padrea notices Brindal Karth's rather woozy attention, chuckles, and explains that he found them very handy in his pawnshop days.
At this point, both Brindal Karth and Sean Punch struggle to remember what they might have told Padrea. They are aided by the fact that their internal think machines can record sensory impressions, and hindered by the fact that their own mental states had a substantial impact upon both the quality and the subject matter of the recordings. Brindal Karth remembers telling Padrea a lot of war stories that he probably shouldn't have, including stories from back on Aragon and the killing of Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen. He also remembers Padrea explaining to him that, "I don't like the wet work", though it isn't too clear if Padrea holds this belief due to personal experience, or more from a theoretical point of view. Sean Punch does much less well, finding that the only coherent memory stored in his array is an hour and a half of the shuttle ceiling. He is unable to remember why he thought it was important to record this sequence. On the plus side, he manages to determine that he doesn't have any new diseases.
Brindal Karth staggers back to the characters' hotel in Sonnbourg and tells Peter Sangaree about his experience. Peter looks straight at him and says, "You fucking inbred hillbilly moron."
The characters (except for Sir Brindal Karth, who holds a passage contract, and Roger Padrea, who pays his own way) book commercial passage back to Gwynneth at a rate of 30 FB per jump (across two jumps for a total of 60 FB). Their total out-of-pocket expense for the tickets is 180 FB. Peter complains that the trip has cost the characters a whole pile of money.
The session ends with the characters arriving at the Gwynneth jumpgate, ready to continue the search for the five missing Hawkwood warships. Each character gains two experience points. Brindal Karth decides to spend points on Carousing, Gambling, and the Shield Fencing style.