Most of everyone shows up: Tim (Sir Brindal Karth de Hazat), Nick (Brother Xavier), April (Sister Joann), Dan (Montgomery Burns), and Chris (Peter Sangaree). Sean doesn't make it. Jade made a lot of comments about showing up and making a character, but he doesn't appear to have made it.
The characters arrive in Paintersville three days in advance of Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen's scheduled arrival. They give Brian the Goat the task of flying the Luftking, which he manages with both aplomb and a minimum of heart-stopping maneuvers. The most dramatic moment occurs when Brindal Karth accidentally tosses one of the ribs he's eating into Brian the Goat's lap, sparking an outburst of profanity that creates some ruffled feathers in the control tower.
All through the approach to Paintersville, the characters debate how best to conceal their involvement in the planned attack on Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen. Their biggest problem is the fact that aircraft are unique enough that they can't conceal their plane's presence at the airfield. As a compromise, they decide to try and hide their presence by sending the plane away just before ab Gehallen's plane arrives, and then arrange for it to return the next day.
From the air, Paintersville appears to be a city of perhaps 30,000 souls. Most of the city looks to be of the same one- and two-story wood-and-plaster construction common to Llanfyrth, spread out in a rough circle around a cluster of a half-dozen skyscrapers. The airfield (which all of the characters have visited many times before) is located about two miles outside the town proper. A dirt road provides transportation between the field and the town.
The airfield is operated by the Flyers' Association, and is primarily intended to service aircraft owned by the Flyers' Association. It is simple, with traffic control largely handled by men on wooden towers equipped with hand-crank phones linked to a central control tower. This system works quite well, as it is rare for two planes to be in the field's airspace at the same time. The field terminal building is a two-story wooden construction. A metal control tower sprouts out of it like a parasite. An open warehouse, obviously filled with goods awaiting transshipment, stands to the side. Transportation to the city is provided by four ancient-looking buses, all of which have had their backs cut open to create a large open cargo platform. One of these four is clearly nonfunctional, as it sits next to the warehouse with it's engine cowl open. As the characters watch, another of the four chuffs its way down the road to Paintersville.
The characters immediately conclude that Thomas is likely to take a bus into town. Considering that the first move in the characters' plan is going to involve firing an artillery shell at Thomas to overload his shield, Peter becomes depressed at the notion that the Flyers' Association will hate the characters because the characters are going to blow up one of their buses. He feels bound to point out that this is a larger-scale problem because, in his words, "Nobody fucking well knows how to make buses anymore."
The characters elect to take the bus to Paintersville. The fee is 1 Claw or 10 Paintersville Guilders (200 PG = 1 FB) per person. Sir Brindal Karth shells out half of a Firebird to cover everyone. Brother Xavier and Sir Brindal Karth spend the trip looking for good ambush points on the road, while Montgomery Burns talks up the bus driver. The bus driver proves to be a member of the Fliers' Association. He claims to have been driving buses for them for the last 20 years, and boasts that they pay him well enough that he can support his wife, his three children, his mistress and his other mistress in style.
Montgomery Burns is not too interested in learning these details of the driver's private life, so he directs the conversation back towards the bus service. The driver admits that there is no radio in the bus. The driver also notes that the bus service is intended for gentlemen, and to keep people safe from the savages who live in the area. Because the buses sometimes break down, any trip that starts out near dark will include both a driver and an armed runner. If the bus has any problems, the runner heads off to warn either the airfield or the Flyers' Association station at the edge of Paintersville.
Montgomery Burns does his best to try and persuade the driver to accept 10 FB for a "simple job." Unfortunately, Montgomery puts a touch too much oiliness into his effort, and awakens the driver's natural suspicions. Sir Brindal Karth notices that the situation is disintegrating and saves the day by offering the driver 15 FB instead. With the driver's temporary loyalty solidly in the characters' court, Montgomery and Brindal karth join forces to thoroughly demonize Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen. Once they have the driver believing that Thomas is a vicious bastard who prefers parbroiled children as a bedtime snack, they explain to him that when Thomas boards the bus he should fake a bus breakdown a bit more than halfway into the trip between the airfield and Paintersville.
While everyone else spent their time on the bus talking to the driver, Brother Xavier managed to identify a reasonable ambush location. About two-thirds of the way from the airfield there is a burned-out common house with a couple of intact second-story windows that would make good sniper points. The road widens out at the common house, but narrows quickly afterwards. A collapsed stable sits directly across the road from the common house. The terrain around the common house is predominantly overgrown woodlot.
The characters arrive at the Paintersville bus depot soon after and bid the driver farewell until Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen arrives.
The characters leave the bus depot, then head to the marketplace. Peter Sangaree and Montgomery learn all they are able to about the "savages" the bus driver mentioned. They find that the savages are actually local hillbilly types, primarily subsistence farmers, and are almost indistinguishable in lifestyle from good, law-abiding peasants. The primary differences are their characteristic wide-brimmed leather caps and their refusal to pay taxes. They live in scattered groups far out in the hills, making it tremendously difficult for the local nobility's tax collectors to pin them down and collect anything from them. They tend to be armed with either firearms taken from local constabulary or farm implements converted into weapons.
Having heard this story, Peter and Montgomery see an opportunity in the making. They search around the marketplace and find several vendors who sell "savage" hats and clothing as tourist curios. The characters buy several sets of such clothing, with the idea of using them to either disguise themselves or to plant on the battlefield for investigators to find.
With their disguises in hand, the characters start to circulate through the marketplace, planting rumors of a group of "revenuers" coming into town in three days on the bus. Their hope is to ensure that the locals aren't too surprised when the airfield bus is attacked three days hence. As a side benefit, if their stories reach the savages, they might actually get a real gang of hillbillies to attack the bus.
While the other characters spread rumors and buy native trinkets, Sir Brindal Karth buys a shoddy old cart to hold the characters' "spare fuel." Peter comes up with an additional shopping list for the colony, including flour, fruit trees, salt and spices. He suggests that the characters buy this stuff as a reasonable excuse for being in Paintersville.
While they are in the marketplace, Montgomery Burns expresses a desire to buy a pistol, but it turns out that he has only 100 FB, probably not enough to buy something worth having. Peter Sangaree lends him an automatic. Sir Brindal Karth locates a gunsmith and commissions 20 sniper rifle rounds at 2 Claws each (total 4 FB) and 20 pistol rounds for the same price. He is promised delivery in two days.
Sir Brindal Karth arranges to have the characters lodged at the Piebald Calf inn on the Paintersville marketplace. He registers himself under the name "Laerynthe Lesso." The charge is a Crest per night per person, amounting to a total cost to Brindal Karth of 8 FB for everyone for three days.
Montgomery Burns spends his time learning whatever more he can about the so-called savages. He learns that they have been known to cut the tongues out of revenuers. He is disappointed to find that Colombian neckties are not a part of their repertiore. He also works to meet as many shady characters as he can find, in the hopes of expanding his quasi-legal circle of friends into new territories. He spends a total of 10 FB on this project.
Brother Xavier spends his time in the Church library, looking at old records. He finds that the local records stretch back only about 200 years. Most records prior to that were lost when the Church library was consumed in a fire. His goal is to find information leading to technology or Second Republic sites uncovered by the Church. Unfortunately, the best he is able to come up with is a description of a raid against what appears to be a nest of jack-in-the-box makers about 100 years ago. Brother Xavier is grimly entertained by the fact that the friar who wrote the report seems so serious about the threat offered by "that vile pit of golem-wrights" and the forbidden music-box techniques they possessed, but seems to see no contradiction in the fact that the troops on the raid were brought in on an antigrav flitter.
Peter Sangaree spends his time arranging for supplies for the colony, using 50 FB given him by Sir Brindal Karth for the purpose. He buys 1 ton of flour for 30 FB. He then turns to the question of fruit trees. He wants to find something that will grow well in Fennen Marsh, and will provide a bit of variety in the local diet. He talks to some locals, and finally comes up with Lellenberry bushes, which can be bought locally for 1 FB each. The locals tell him that the bushes grow like weeds, and that the berries are good for jam, pies and occasional snacking, though they are somewhat bitter. Peter buys 15 of them and has them taken out to the Luftking.
As a final errand, Peter sneaks out to the airfield to try and strip the derelict bus. He quickly concludes that the transmission gearbox is completely stripped and the motor is rusted through. However, the headlamps are still good, and the seats are in good shape. Peter pulls all of them, plus the dials and indicators from the control panel.
The morning Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen is scheduled to arrive, the characters send Brian the Goat off in the Luftking to Fort Sabwran. They leave him with instructions to fly there, then to return in 24 hours to pick them up.
Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen's plane arrives on schedule, fairly early in the morning. He is accompanied by three bodyguards, one armed with a large broadsword and two armed with fencing blades and short carbines. Montgomery Burns is waiting for them at the airport, and arranges to board the same bus into town. He is dressed as a gentleman, and strikes up a low-key conversation with Thomas on the bus. He takes care to emit a few consumptive coughs in the process, encouraging both Thomas and his bodyguards to keep their distance.
The remaining characters are fortified in the common house, waiting for Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen's party to travel by. Sir Brindal Karth is perched up in the sniper post; Peter Sangaree waits near the edge of the stable with his spud gun; Brother Xavier is hiding inside the stable, heavily burdened with Peter's flamethrower; and Sister Joann is hiding along the edge of the common house.
|
Weapon |
DMG |
SS |
Acc |
RoF |
Shots |
RCL |
Wt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter's Flamethrower | 3d* | 14 | 6 | 1 | 6 | -3 | 70 lb |
*rolls of 6 will leak one point of damage through a shield. Weapon can be fired only in 3 second and 6 second bursts.
As usual, the plan is not executed precisely as the characters intended. The driver manages to fake a breakdown very effectively, after which Thomas and his bodyguards press on ahead on foot. Thomas, who has clearly been informed of the danger of savages, invites Montgomery to walk with them for protection. Montgomery accepts. When the group of them reach the common house clearing, Montgomery (who knows that Peter is going to fire an artillery shell at Thomas, and doesn't want to get caught by the shrapnel) yells out "savages!" and breaks away from the others.
Peter sees Montgomery run and realizes that the jig is up. He starts off the hostilities by firing his last spud gun shell directly at Thomas, hoping to overload his shield. The shell doesn't destroy Gehallen's shield, but it does wreak havoc among the bodyguards, only one of whom was wearing a shield. At this point, Brother Xavier fires up the flamethrower and rushes into the fray. While he does his best to knock down Thomas' shield, Brindal Karth opens fire on the bodyguards and Sister Joann rushes in to attack Thomas.
The entire fight is over in seconds. None of Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen's people even manage to get a shot off. By the end, Thomas has lost his arm to Brother Xavier's blade, two of the bodyguards have been killed in the fighting, and the last has surrendered after being gulled and betrayed by Montgomery Burns. Brother Xavier carts the corpses off to burn them, then thinks better of it and arranges for a quick burial and appropriate rites. While Brother Xavier and Sir Brindal Karth conceal some of the evidence and leave a couple of selected savage caps around for investigators to find, Peter Sangaree loots the bodies. He comes up with the following items: Gehallen's dueling shield (burned out), the bodyguard's standard shield (also burned out), two carbines, 20 rounds of ammunition, 2 common rapiers, 1 common broadsword, Gehallen's fine rapier, Gehallen's fine main-gauche, 800 FB on Gehallen's person, and another 20 FB from the bodyguards. The characters split the money evenly, each taking 172 FB.
With Thomas in shock and the battle over, the characters fall to bickering. Sister Joann maintains that the group should spare the surviving bodyguard's life, and allow him to take service with her. The other characters are less enthusiastic about this idea, as they suspect that the bodyguard is a Scraver, and probably is loyal to the guild. Several other ideas are proposed by various characters, including trying to ransom the guard back to the Scravers or simply sending him back to them as a warning. All along, Sister Joann continues to insist that she wants to take the risk of employing the man. Finally, Brindal Karth simply executes the poor bastard in cold blood.
Sister Joann takes this development rather poorly, and endeavours to take immediate retribution. She draws her blade, steps over to Thomas' supine body, and dispatches him before anyone can take action against her. Brother Xavier and Sister Joann then fall immediately to arguing the moral effects of her action in extremely brutal terms. The group only barely manages to make it back to the airfield and the Luftking without killing each other.
On the way back, Peter and Montgomery stop at the bus and talk to Robert, the bus driver. Montgomery gives him 30 FB (twice what he had been promised) and tells him that he did a really good job. To draw suspicion away from his involvement, Peter gives him a story to tell the authorities. He is to say that Gehallen asked to be let off the bus at the common house. He and his men walked towards the common house, then encountered another group of men there. A fight ensued, but he drove off in fear before he could see what happened. Robert agrees to use that story. As a parting comment, Montgomery warns Robert to spend the money slowly.
The characters spend the night in the forest, waiting for Brian the Goat to bring the Luftking into the Paintersville airfield. During the wait, Montgomery suggests that he might be able to break into Thomas' townhouse, disguised as Thomas. To help him in his efforts, Peter collects Thomas' clothing (despite the fact that it's totally ruined by blood and smoke). Once the plane comes in, they head for Llanfyrth with the goal of buying shield batteries and breaking into Thomas' household.
Along the way, Montgomery offers yet another helpful suggestion. In particular, he wants to use his contacts with the Vuldrok to sell the characters' electronics gear to them. Brother Xavier and Sir Brindal Karth, who are a touch disturbed to learn that they're sitting next to someone who has sold goods to the Vuldrok, explain a little about how the situation with the Chibren has developed and why strengthening the Vuldrok isn't necessarily a good idea.
Brother Xavier heads to the Llanfyrth marketplace to purchase replacement batteries for the two shields the characters took from Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen and his bodyguard. He is quoted prices of 200 FB for a dueling shield battery and 150 FB for a standard shield battery, but is able to buy the both of them for 10% off due to his surprising skill at haggling.
Montgomery prepares for his dalliance with B&E by spending 100 FB on a fitted suit with Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen's tailor. He tries to ensure that he looks as much like Thomas as possible by telling the tailor that he got the man's name from Thomas, and that he really admired the clothing that Thomas was wearing. It takes a total of two days to get the clothes made. During that time, he looks in the black market for a couple of small comlinks, paying 25 FB for each of them.
The break-in proper isn't nearly as successful as the characters might have hoped. Montgomery is intercepted by a footman at the doorway, and his disguise is pierced. While he manages to incapacitate the man with a quick cut from his wireblade and hide the body in a closet, the alert is soon issued. By the time Montgomery discovers that the way to the private rooms on the third floor of the townhouse is guarded, a truck full of sheriff's men has pulled up to the front of the house. Montgomery, warned of the danger by radio message from Peter and Sir Brindal Karth, sneaks out of a second-story window and flees through the alley to the back.
Each character gains four experience. Sister Joann leaves the other characters in Llanfyrth, angrily telling them that they are little better than common bandits and criminals. She also abrades them (particularly Brother Xavier) for lacking faith.