Secrets in Sulfur Part 2: On the Trail of the Worm #1

Our cast of characters:

John – Boris Clapshaw, ex Army Infantry Sergeant
Jonathan – Riishaa Daanel, ex Marine
Dylan – Count Asenault “Chivers” Washington-Pipps, retired Marine Colonel
Chris – “Bunty” Staffburger, ex Marine Force Commander

Recap:

Bunty Staffburger meets up with his old friend Count Asenault "Chivers" Washington-Pipps, Chivers' batman Riishaa Daanel and Boris Clapshaw, a friend of Daanel's, on Por’via. The three of them are heading off to do some mercenary work in the Geithurian Republic and have stopped over on Por’via before leaving Imperial Space.

Bunty’s girlfriend, Selia Vuir – a sulfur miner – is overdue from her shift. She has mentioned finding a cache of sunstones – opal-like gemstones – which she had intended to sell, under the counter, to Jorgan Kiorpanos, the local VenGems Holdings agent. Bunty and his companions venture out into the badlands above the sulfur flats to try and locate her. Instead they discover mysterious vargr, vicious alien lifeforms called irrijari, and a buried shuttle craft belonging to a mysterious methane-breathing species called the Mi’yargin. The ship has been on Por’via for around 200 years. The Mi’yargin have managed to save Selia, who was injured by the irrijari, by melding her mind into their Collective Consciousness, while they alter her body to better survive in a methane atmosphere.

Once the companions deal with the Vargr, and with the irrijari, the Mi’yargin shuttle takes off to rejoin its mothership, hidden in the rings of the Por’via system’s gas giant. While heading out-system, the companions realize that they are being followed by the Vargr freighter Akhska that was in port, and which was noted for its crew not speaking Gvegh – the standard Vargr language.

The Mi’yargin Nullship is a planetesimal-sized, icy structure, deep in the gas giant’s ring system. A crater near the equator turns out to be a large, external shuttle bay. Gaining access to the Mi'yargin's internal transportation system, Chivers and his companions are able to ambush Captain Vegh and the Akhska’s crew and seize their ship by emerging directly beneath the freighter through the nullship’s surface. The Mi’yargin Collective, having successfully reintegrated the Collective of the shuttle crew, are able to assist Chivers and his companions in translating some of the information discovered aboard the Akhska, and interrogating the one surviving Vargr crewbeing. The Akhska has come a long way – from Waystar in Cabria Subsector where someone called Aia issues orders to Captain Vegh and the crew of the Akhska. The Vargr aboard the Akhska speak an ancient Vargr language called Arrghoun - older than, and distinct from, Gvegh, the language of most Imperial Vargr. The Arrghoun Vargr refer to their employer as Aeroukh Doaengosra - “Lord (or Prince) Whipworm”. The Mi’yargin Collective wonders if Lord Whipworm may in fact be a Danshihabi, an ancient enemy of the Mi’yargin and referred to, by them, as “thieves and carrion worms”.

The Mi’yargin ask Chivers and his companions to journey along the Akhska’s back trail to Waystar to learn more about Lord Whipworm, and to report back to the Collective at a rendezvous point in the Yuar Outsystem in Cabria Subsector. The Collective turns the Akhska over to Civers and throws in a little something to continue their association – a large, sarcophagus-like object.

---

The sarcophagus-like object delivered to the ship turns out to be a very old Lowberth capsule, and when this is activated, Chivers and his companions meet Amin Soshousis, a Scout. Exploring the Por’via system in 922, just before the 1st Outrim War, Amin’s Scout ship collided with the Mi’yargin Nullship. She managed to get into her Lowberth before the catastrophic failure of her ship’s life support system. The Mi’yargin managed to retrieve her Lowberth, did a preliminary scan of its systems, and then put it into storage as events unfolded on Por'via, keeping it safe for 200 years.

Music tastes change in 200 years

It takes Amin several days to recover from her extended Lowberth time, and Boris and Bunty are surprised at how well she seems to adjust to the massive time displacement she has experienced. Apart from her slightly antiquated figures of speech, and her very old style Scout uniform, there is little to distinguish her from someone of a more contemporary origin. When asked about this, Amin admits that every day she is having to make little adjustments as she discovers items that work slightly differently, or products that taste or function slightly differently. But, having served as a Field Scout for a number of years, she is used to being transient - never making attachments as duty usually moves one on - and she is used to discovering and experiencing new things. Working a Vargr ship is actually less of a culture shock than discovering all the people she knew are gone and all the bands she used to listen to are now considered Classical Music.

Once Amin, and Knaes – the captured Vargr whom Daanel has convinced to join the new pack – have worked out the basic bridge control layout, the Akhska leaves the Nullship. Slipping back to Por’via in an attempt to recover Selia’s Sunstone stash, the companions find that it has been picked clean. An attempt to hunt down the scavengers, thought to possibly be associates of Jorgan Kiorpanos, the VenGems agent who was killed by the irrijari, proves fruitless, so Chivers and his associates decide to leave Por’via and set out on their mission for the Mi'yargin.

The Akhska is a Gaeouz Class Far Trader, with a three parsec Jump range and 3Gs of acceleration. Having extracted more data from the Akhska’s log, Chivers and his associates have learnt that the ship transited through Evvikkim while heading for Por’via, and that there seems to have been some message traffic between Captain Vegh and an agent of Aia's operating on-planet. Amin is very reluctant to enter Geithurian space, even when assured that some time has passed since the last Outrim War (the 4th which, Amin argues, proves her point as she entered her Lowberth just prior to the 1st Outrim War). Having assured her that they will not remain longer than necessary in-system, they eventually plot a course from Por’via, via Jul'ni and Hiona in Geithurian space, before jumping on to Evvikkim.

On approach to Evvikkim, Amin informs Chivers and his companions that she is picking up an automated message being tight beamed to their ship. The message is in code and in Arrghoun, which the Bunty and Daanel are able to crack. The message appears to be from a local agent of Aia’s, saying that a strange ship has been spotted in the Evvikkim system and asking the Akhska to get word to Aia.

Evvikkim Downport shows signs of decay, as if it was once a lot busier than it now is. Very few Evvikkimians are evident, and all look pale and drawn. Also, no children are evident within the starport concourse, while the bulk of the service work at the starport is performed by gangs of Vargr of different origins. Large areas of the starport have been mothballed, or partially shut down, and many areas are dusty and unserviced, as if no-one has ventured into them in many years. Even snack food dispensers are lightly coated in a film of dust, and are stocked with older style packets of snacks.

Chivers and Boris Clapshaw meet Sholoam Kharii, Head of Security for Evvikkim Downport, a tall and cadaverous Vilani and who, like all Evvikkimians, wears slightly archaic styled clothing. Amin is convinced that she recognises him, and that he was head of security when she last passed through Evvikkim – over 200 years ago. Sholoam seems a little suspicious when Chivers talks of picking up a cargo, and advises Chivers and his associates to be wary of the Vargr groups that frequent the starport, and in particular a group lead by Angtuez.

While Chivers and his companions are out looking for cargos and news, Amin is abducted from the Akhska by a Vargr gang. Giving chase, Chivers and company track down her assailants in an abandoned maze of tunnels between the starport and Evvikkim City and, after a shootout, rescue her from the band of Vargr led by Angtuez.

Getting back aboard the ship, Chivers and his associates are thoroughly convinced that Evvikkim is getting all a bit too creepy, and so they perform an emergency takeoff, damaging the access tunnel to their docking bay in the process. With threats of legal retribution reverberating from the ship’s comm., the Akhska heads for the system gas giant, Lamo VIII, to refuel while a debate rages over their next move.

Secrets in Sulphur Session 3

Dylan was unable to make Session 3 of my Classic Traveller game, so I ran Chivers as an NPC.

Our cast of characters:

John – Boris Clapshaw, ex Army Infantry Sergeant
Jonathan – Riishaa Daanel, ex Marine
Dylan – Count Asenault “Chivers” Washington-Pipps, retired Marine Colonel
Chris – “Bunty” Staffburger, ex Marine Force Commander

Recap:
Session 1 is here and Session 2 is here.

Attempting to find "Bunty" Staffburger's lady friend, Selia, who has gome missing out on the sulphur flats of Por'via, Staffburger and his friends "Chivers" Washington-Pipps, Riishaa Daanel and Boris Clapshaw stumble across gem thieves, mysterious Vargr, fast and vicious alien life forms, and a buried shuttle craft crewed by the enigmatic Mi'yargin. The Mi'yargin's efforts to rescue Selia have resulted in her body being artifically sustained while her conciousness has merged with the Mi'yargin Collective. After ridding the shuttle craft of an infestation of vicious irrijari, the Mi'yargin take off from Por'via to rendezvous with their Nullship.

Game Play
Chivers and the guys make themselves as comfortable as they can in the methane atmosphere of the Mi’yargin small craft as it begins the long haul to Harrimol VIII, the Por’via System gas giant. Once there, the Mi'yargin intend to rendezvous with their Nullship, hidden in the ring system. Behind them, the Vargr freighter Akhska, which left Por’via about the same time as the Mi’yargin shuttle, is following a similar heading towards the gas giant. As yet, neither the party nor the Mi'yargin have been able to establish what its purpose might be.

Three days after leaving Por’via, the Mi’yargin shuttle is deep in the system of moons and rings around the large gas giant. The holographic projector in the Mi’yargin Second’s room shows the shuttle’s projected orbital track. It appears to intersect the track of a large, icy object within the ring plane.

As the shuttle begins to dip into the ring plane, Chivers and the guys are shown an image of the object they are closing with. While it appears to be an icy planetesimal, several hundred metres in diameter, the regularity of its shape and the smoothness of its exterior make it stand out as a possible artificial construct. As the ship draws closer, Clapshaw and Daanel make out what appears to be a rather regular shaped crater in the surface of the planetesimal. Very soon their suspicions are confirmed as the shuttle prepares to land within the crater – the crater is actually a docking bay and the planetesimal is the Mi’yargin Nullship.

With little fuss, the shuttle comes to rest in the docking bay and an ice-covered gantry extrudes from the docking bay wall to connect to the shuttle. Informed that they will have to make the crossing to the Nullship in vacuum, Clapshaw and Daanel point out that only they have sealed combat armour. Chivers and Staffburger are still wearing their combat environment suites which are fast reaching the end of their operational lives. The Second places a small, jelly-like blob on Chivers’ and Staffburger’s CES helmets. After a moment, the blobs spread out to envelope both men’s Environment suits. A type of nanotech, the blobs are programmed to form vacuum seals around objects they are placed upon.

After crossing the gantry, the party enter the Nullship. They discover a short corridor which leads to what looks like a subway car. There is a dull bronze-coloured half-globe on the wall of the car. Eventually, Staffburger discovers that the globe acts as both a communication device and a controller for the subway car. Quickly, he learns that he can call up a schematic of the Nullship and, by connecting two points on the schematic, direct the subway car across, and through, the ship. The interior of the Nullship, it seems, is in a state of fluidity, shaping and reshaping itself as required.

Meanwhile, Selia contacts them via the half-globe. She tells them that the Mi’yargin Collective from the Shuttle is in the process of reintegrating itself into the Collective of the Nullship. As this process will take a little time and a lot of attention and energy, the Collective request that the party deal with the potentially hostile ship that is now in final approach. Manipulating the half-globe, Staffburger is able to direct its point of view beyond the interior of the Nullship and spots the Akhska, the Vargr freighter, preparing to land near the shuttle dock. Staffburger is able to manoeuvre the subway car to a point near where the ship touches down. He also locates a series of spiracles that allow access to the surface from near-surface passages.

Soon, seven suited and armed Vargr leave the Akhska and head towards the shuttle bay. As soon as they pass over the Nullship’s horizon, Chivers, Daaeel and Clapshaw pop out of a spiracle directly under the Akhska while Staffburger continues to monitor the situation from the subway car. Clambering up the ladder to the main lock, Clapshaw discovers that the external hatch hasn’t been secured. Quickly cycling the lock, Clapshaw, Daanel and Chivers squeeze in and cycle through. They emerge in the ship’s suit room, much to the surprise of the Vargr guarding the lock. A sudden movement on his part sets Daneel and Clapshaw off, with fatal results for the Vargr. Daanel, Clapshaw and Chivers then quickly move to secure the ship. Another Vargr is found on bridge watch but he wisely surrenders.

By the time Staffburger makes it aboard, the Vargr expeditionary force is aware that something is amiss and is heading back towards the Akhska. While the Mi’yargin Nullship looks like a small moon, it lacks the mass to generate more than a fractional gravitational field so the Vargr are attempting to hurry across the surface while wearing magnetic boots to stop them achieving escape velocity. Chivers makes contact with the Vargr, inviting them to surrender while Daanel climbs up through the dorsal hatch to take up a firing position on the upper hull of the ship. While most Vargr living in Imperial Space in the RimWorlds speak a language called Gvegh – or one of several dialects derived from it, the Vargr that the party are currently engaged with speak Arrghoun – a much more ancient language. Consequently, not a lot of headway is made with negotiations until they discover that one of the Vargr speaks Trade Lingo, a pidgin version of Imperial Basic. Even this does little to resolve the stand-off, as the Vargr, having lost Charisma by losing their ship, can only regain Charisma by retaking the ship and suitably punishing the humans.

Daanel, from the upper hull, and Clapshaw, from the main hatch, are soon matching their gauss rifles against the laser rifles and accelerator rifles of the Vargr. With little cover on the surface of the Nullship, the Vargr are quickly over-matched and disposed of, leaving the party in control of the ship.

A short time later, the Mi’yargin Collective resumes communication with the party, still ensconced aboard the Vargr ship and trying to make sense of the ship's controls and computer which are all labelled in Arrghoun. The Collective offers its assistance. From fragmentary notes in a journal in a safe in the Captain's cabin, and from partially translated communications in the ship's log, the Collective gains the impression that the Vargr have come a long way, from Waystar in Cabria Subsector, on a mission for a "Lord Whipworm" - Aeroukh Doaengosra in Arrghoun. The Collective wonder if this "Lord Whipworm" might, in fact, be an old enemy of the Mi'yargin - the Danshihabi.

Expressing their gratitude and satisfaction with the party, the Mi’yargin produce the consignment of heavy metals they had promised for the party's aid against the irrijari. They also pass up any claim to the Vargr ship. While the party are debating how they will move the ship as none of them is a skilled pilot, the Mi’yargin indicate that, in return for the party undertaking to locate Lord Whipworm, and to bring such information as they can gather to a rendezvous with the Mi'yargin in the Yuar System in Cabria Subsector, they might be able to help. A long, sarcophagus-like storage container is added to the cargo pallet laden with the promised heavy metals. When Staffburger asks, rather plaintively, after Selia, the Collective indicate that her body is being remodelled to continue to live, but that her conciousness is becoming increasingly integrated into the Collective. Staffburger begins to doubt whether she will ever return to him.

After the cargo pallet is wheeled into the ship’s cargo bay, the party gather around to consider the sarcophagus, and what it might contain.

Secrets in Sulphur Session 2

Or Five Old Guys Go Looking for Their Salad Days Part 3
Like the difficult second album, the second session of a game can be a bit fraught for a Gamesmaster. Not only do you have to carry the story forward and start resolving some of the little mysteries you have carefully set out, you also have to maintain or exceed the levels of excitement and fun set in the first session.

Well, two Saturday nights ago, we gathered together again for the second session of Secrets in Sulphur. I had given the scenario ahead some thought and had plotted out some of the set pieces in both my mind and on paper, expanding upon my initial notes. With these “hand holds” in place, I felt confident of being able to move the story forward, while still being nimble enough to react to any unforeseen curve balls thrown at me by the players.

Our cast of characters:

John – Boris Clapshaw, ex Army Infantry Sergeant
Jonathan – Riishaa Daanel, ex Marine
Dylan – Count Asenault “Chivers” Washington-Pipps, retired Marine Colonel
Chris – “Bunty” Staffburger, ex Marine Force Commander

Recap:
After getting out of the Marines, Bunty Staffburger spent a few years bumming around Gamelea Subsector before winding up on Por’via in Lymethius Subsector. While working service jobs at Por’via Downport, he hooked up with Selia Vuir, a sulphur miner.

Recently, Selia found a cache of valuable sunstones. As her employers, Ossourous Processing, are the legal owners of all valuable minerals found within their claim, she stood to lose the lot. However, Jorgan Kiorpanos, the local agent for VenGems Holdings, was interested in having a look at the gems she had found with a view to working out a little deal.

Things began to unravel when Selia’s Mining Unit was late returning from a shift out on the Sylvian Flats. Then, a storm front began moving down out of the Green Mountains onto the Flats, and Jorgan Kiorpanos seemed to have made the acquaintance of some unsavoury-looking offworlders. Fortunately for Bunty, his old friend Colonel Count Asenault “Chivers” Washington-Pipps, (Rtd.) showed up at the starport with his batman, Sergeant Daanel, and ex-Army Sergeant Clapshaw. These three were in the process of transhipping into the Geithurian Republic to chase up employment offers with the Murkhida Kargesu – the Republic’s equivalent to the Foreign Legion.

After some bother with some Vargr, the party located Selia’s wrecked Mining Unit and chased Jorgan and his cronies up onto a tableland. There, they arrived in time to see Jorgan and two of his assistants killed by a band of fast and deadly carnivores. While Bunty captured the survivor of Jorgan’s crew, Chivers, Daanel and Clapshaw sorted out the carnivores with some well placed gauss rifle volleys and the odd autopistol shot. And then the storm struck.

Gameplay:
Deciding that they needed all their equipment up on the tableland before taking on the irrijari, Chivers heads back to Jorgan’s crew’s ATV where Bunty is securing the tranqed captive. Daanel investigates the sunstone geode while Clapshaw keeps an eye out for any more irrijari.

Chivers carefully backs Jorgan’s ATV down the narrow trail towards the party’s ATV as the rain begins to bucket down. Meanwhile, Clapshaw spots two sets of human foot prints leading further uphill from where the irrijari attacked Jorgan’s group. He starts to follow them as he can see that the rain is going to wash the tracks away very soon.

As Clapshaw strides off into the wind and rain, Daanel is on the horns of a dilemma. One of the geodes has been broken open and he can see a fortune in sunstones lying inside it. But combat armour doesn’t have pockets. But there’s a fortune in sunstones just lying there. Helmet – he could fill his helmet with them. But then his head would melt because of the hostile atmosphere before he could make it to the ATV. But there’s a fortune ... oh, sod it! He clambers to his feet and hurries off after Clapshaw.

Chivers and Bunty quickly transfer the party’s extra ammunition and explosives from their ATV into the smaller one Jorgan’s group were driving. Then, grabbing a vial of adrenalin from Clapshaw’s medical kit, they give their prisoner a shot to wake her up. With a gasp, she regains consciousness and promptly throws up all over the back seat of the ATV.

After some questioning, Chivers and Bunty learn that the woman, Cari, was unemployed on Feor/Gamelea when her friend, Clay, was recruited by Jorgan. Along with their friend Mikki, Cari and Clay were given passage to Por’via to help Jorgan claim-jump any miners who brought in under-the-table finds. Cari doesn’t much care for Jorgan, but is upset to learn that Mikki and Clay have also been killed by the irrijari.

After driving back up to the geodes on the upland, Bunty and Chivers leave Cari handcuffed to a seat in the ATV. With her Environment suit secured to the exterior of the vehicle – out of reach for her in the hostile atmosphere – they decide to risk leaving her unguarded while they rejoin Clapshaw and Daanel. Meanwhile, Clapshaw has lost the tracks he was following as they wash away in the rain. But, he has spotted what looks like a declivity under a large rock about half way up the side of a narrow valley, uphill from the geodes. It would appear that the tracks were heading towards it.

As Clapshaw rejoins Daneel, three irrijari appear out of the swirling mist and driving rain. Snapping and snarling, the irrijari dart and lunge. Daanel shoots one and then his gauss rifle jams, again. Clapshaw shoots a second and then the third one dashes in, clawing and scratching. Clapshaw drags his autopistol from its holster as the irrijar knocks him to the ground. With the irrijar trying to tear its way into his combat armour, he manages to swing his pistol up. There’s a muffled report and then he pushes the body off him.

Chivers and Bunty slog up the rise to where Daneel is helping Clapshaw to his feet. Together, the foursome make their way up to the large rock on the hill side. Examining the declivity beneath the rock, they find a cave – now more of a muddy slide – leading down into the earth. Sliding down first, Clapshaw, and then Daneel, discover that the slide only descends a couple of metres before a half-buried metal grill arrests their descent. In front of them is a dark, metallic, keyhole shaped door. There is a slightly darker discolouration part way up one of the door sills. Checking that Daneel is ready and armed, Clapshaw touches the discolouration. The door slides open.

Standing out in the rain, and occasional flashes of lightning, Chivers muses aloud that with both their combat armoured compatriots below ground, the only thing standing between Bunty, Chivers and any wandering irrijari (with their big, pointy teeth) , is the rather feeble protection of their Environment suits. Bunty does not see this as amusing and, after some consideration, neither does Chivers. Piling through the narrow cave mouth, they arrive at the foot of the slide in a rather undignified pile, just as Daneel and Clapshaw step back from their first glance through the keyhole-shaped door.

A second door lies beyond the first door, separated by two metres of smooth, metal corridor, wider at the top than at the bottom. Cautiously opening the second door, the party sees that the corridor continues for another twenty metres before ending in another door. The muddy foot prints they had seen around the first and second door quickly fade away in the long corridor. Clapshaw thinks he sees something like a bundle of rags by the door at the far end of the corridor while Daanel notices that the atmospheric mix is now containing a lot more methane than the natural atmosphere of Por’via.

Exploring the corridor, the party discover that the pile of rags is actually the body of Jimmi, another of Selia’s mining crew and the only other miner, besides Selia, unaccounted for. He has serious claw and teeth wounds on his chest and shoulders which have compromised his environment suit and it may this, rather than his injuries, that lead to his demise. Just as they are about to move on to examine the door at the end of the corridor, the party hear the distinctive sounds of some things sliding down the mud tunnel and landing on the metal grill behind them.

As the party turn to face the open entrance, they see three irrijari slither into the corridor. Chivers and Bunty drop to their knees; Chivers drawing his autopistol while Bunty snaps off a burst from his gauss rifle. Behind them, Daneel and Clapshaw open fire with their gauss rifles. The hail of needles accounts for two of the three irrijari. As the third one springs forward, Chivers fires his autopistol. The muzzle flash ignites the methane in the corridor.

Picking themselves up after the explosion, the party decide to push deeper into the complex to see if Selia managed to reach a place of safety. It is about this point that they hear a grinding, groaning noise, and the corridor seems to subside slightly towards the left. The players conclude that entire structure appears to have settled somewhat, possibly due to the shock wave from the methane explosion.

Passing through the door at the end of the corridor, they find themselves in a hexagonal chamber. The internal atmosphere is now registering as a fairly typical methane mixture with very little oxygen present. Three other doors lead out of the hexagonal chamber – one straight ahead and one each to the left and right. Crossing the chamber, they open the door opposite and see a corridor of a similar length to the one they have just exited, though this one has two doors opposite each other about halfway down, and another two doors opposite each other at the far end.

Opening the first door on the left, the party sees a small, three metre by three metre room. In each of the four corners of the room stands a large metallic ovoid on a small plinth. Daanel spots a darker patch on one of the plinths, much like the door opening patches they have seen in the corridors, so he presses it. There is a humming noise and then a small character, in an obviously alien script, lights up beside the dark patch. This character begins to rotate and change in a regular sequence, like a countdown.

Backing out of the room, the characters try the door opposite the one they have just examined. Again, they see a three meter by three meter room with four ovoids, one in each corner. This time, they resist the temptation to touch anything. Moving down the hall, they open the door on the right at the end. Again, they see a three meter square room. In this room there are three ovoids. On the plinth where the fourth ovoid would stand, they see a tall, strangely alien creature – a Mi’yargin. And standing in the middle of the room and facing them, is Selia.

It is immediately apparent that there is something amiss with Selia. A massive chest and neck wound has ripped her Environment suit open. She stands awkwardly, facing the party, her eyes blank and her bubble helmet pulled back from her face. When she speaks, it is in a flat, monotone.

In the rather unusual conversation that follows, it appears that, much to Bunty’s distress, Selia was fatally injured (“this one was fatally compromised”) by the irrijari (“vermin”) and that to save her, the Mi’yargi known as "The Second" has included her within the Mi'yargin Collective – a group consciousness. Their efforts have stabilised her body at the expense of effectively transmuting her at the cellular level, while her consciousness has become part of the Collective consciousness of the Mi’yargin crew. The structure the party is currently within is actually a Mi’yargin shuttle that became stranded on Por’via some 200 years ago – the Mi’yargin use a base five numbering system and measure time in clock cycles of cesium so there was some frantic figuring carried out on handcomps.

Eventually, after discussion and possible mistranslation, a deal is struck. The party agree to get rid of the irrijari (vermin) that have infested the ship and damaged it, preventing it from lifting off. The Mi’yargin will endeavour to preserve Selia from further “compromise” and pay the party a fee in “metals of a heavy atomic weight” – the implication is that their Nullship, which the party assume is their jump-capable starship, has been busily refuelling and mining in the rings of the Por’via system’s gas giant for the last two centuries and has picked up a quantity of heavy, or radioactive, metals which could be worth a lot of Imperial Credits.

The characters then search the rest of the deck they are on and the one below it. Both decks are similar in layout – a central hexagonal room (which is also the elevator that runs the length of the ship) with four corridors leading off it. Each corridor, except the entry corridor, gives access to four rooms, and each room contains four ovoids – the crew’s life pods. Some of the ovoids are discoloured and the characters assume that perhaps the life support has failed on these units but, out of a possible complement of 112, at least 100 Mi’yargin appear to have survived. No irrijari are found on these upper two decks.

As the lift doors open onto a gantry at the third deck level, the characters find themselves looking down into the vast, empty space of the cargo hold. Tie rods and bracing struts form a lattice of anchor points between the deck head, above, and the engine deck below.

Looking down through their IR scopes, Clapshaw and Daanel spot movement around the base of the lift shaft. At least a dozen irrijarri are prowling about. Clapshaw, Dannel and Bunty start sniping at them from the gantry. The irrijari quickly work out where the fire is coming from and start swarming up the bracing struts towards them. What started out as a fun turkey shoot, suddenly starts turning serious as missed shots and miss-fires fail to stem the tide surging towards them.

Just as the characters begin to wonder whether it might be time to cut and run, as they’re getting pushed back into the lift car, Chivers fells the last irrijar with a shot from his autopistol. Heaving a collective sigh of relief, they head down towards the engine deck.

As the lift doors start to open, Clapshaw’s combat armour tells him that the atmosphere on the engine deck is an oxygen/methane mix. The irrijari compromised the ship’s integrity when they broke out onto the surrounding tableland. Waves of irrijari come swarming out of the gantries and crawl spaces of the engine deck. A volley of gauss needles cut some of them down and then Bunty fires a RAM grenade into the midst of them as Chivers closes the lift door. A flash fire and explosion rips through the engine deck, blowing the party off their feet, even as the lift doors close. When the smoke clears, the irrijari are gone and the Mi’yargin shuttle tears itself free from Por’via.

Rejoining Selia and the Second on the top deck, the party prepare for the ride out to Harrimol VIII, the Por’via System gas giant, when the Collective advises them that a ship has lifted from Por’via Downport and has given chase. The Mi’yargin instruments indicate that the pursuing ship is the Vargr freighter, Akhska.

To be continued...

Secrets in Sulphur

Or Five Old Guys Go Looking for Their Salad Days Part 2

Last Friday night I ran a Classic Traveller game, Secrets in Sulphur, for four of my old gaming group. Dylan and Chris decided to use pregenerated Book 1 Marine characters, while Jonathan and John decided to refamiliarise themselves with the character generation system by generating a couple of Book 4 Army and Marine characters.

When writing the scenario for the session, I knew that my players had a preference for an action adventure – John had mentioned “bug hunt” in a pre-game email. Also, as we haven’t played for a while, I figured that any puzzle or mystery would need to relatively uncomplicated to solve (ie few moving parts) as there’s nothing more frustrating for a player than a puzzle that just won’t come out if you can’t think like Inspector Poirot.

So, our cast of characters consisted of:

John – Boris Clapshaw, ex Army Infantry Sergeant
Jonathan – Riishaa Daanel, ex Marine
Dylan – Count Asenault “Chivers” Washington-Pipps, retired Marine Colonel
Chris – “Bunty” Staffburger, ex Marine Force Commander

Now, I had already decided that Chivers and Bunty knew each other from their service days, so to have both characters end up as ex Marine Officers and both have Gambling skill was a writer’s gift – theirs was obviously a relationship forged over the green cloth of the Officers’ Club. Jonathan decided that Riishaa Daanel had been Chivers’ batman while they were in the service, while John’s character, Boris Clapshaw, was an acquaintance of Daanel’s.

I decided that I wanted to set the scenario on the planet Por’via in the Lymethius Subsector.

Library Data:
Harrimol IV - Por’via/Lymethius D9B4566-8. Imperial World.
Harrimol VIII is a gas giant and Por’via has no moons. Scout Base has no facilities. No Highport. Downport has a tug and three tenders. Por’via is directly governed from Julnar/Gamelea and the lack of local representation is a source of friction for the local population of 793,000.

This was primarily because I wanted a hostile environment as a complicator. I had been tossing up between Por’via and a world or moon with a methane atmosphere but, in the end, went for the sulphur-contaminated atmosphere of Por’via. Looking at Por’via’s statistics, I think I actually underplayed the atmosphere as Corrosive implies a higher degree of toxicity than Contaminated.

Backstory:
After leaving the service, Bunty Staffburger bummed around Gamelea Subsector before settling on Por’via a couple of years ago. Working in the service industry driving cabs and hauling freight, he was just scratching by, and then he hooked up with Selia Vuir.

Selia Vuir works as a sulphur miner for Ossourous Processing – a Julnarian mineral extraction concern that is well connected with both the Julnarian Government and with the Julnar Mandate Authority which governs Por’via – on the Sylvian Flats, 100 km north of Por’via Down, the main town and starport on the planet. A member of a five-person crew operating a massive surface Mining Unit – a 20 metre wide surface cutter, very much like a highway resurfacing machine but designed to cut and process the top 15cm layer of soil – Selia works week on/week off shifts out on the flats.

Just recently, Selia discovered a cache of sunstones – valuable opal-like gems occasionally found in geodes – near the end of the cut zone her crew had been working. Ossourous Processing technically owns any valuables found on its claim, but Selia and Bunty have hit upon a plan to scam this cache. Jorgan Kiorpanos, the local agent for VenGems Holdings, has expressed unofficial interest in the cache and its Selia’s intent to retrieve the cache during her current duty shift for him to evaluate.

A Vargr freighter is currently at Por’via Down. Several people have remarked that while this ship, the Akhska, is similar to the Ueill out of Tonivar/Cabria that often calls at Por’via, the crew of the Akhska do not speak much Imperial Basic. A party from the Akhska has headed up towards the Green Mountains, north of the Sylvian Plain, in an ATV to hunt Crarachan – a goat-like grazer able to survive the sulphur-laden atmosphere.

Gameplay:
Bunty Staffburger is sitting in the Por’via Downport bar, waiting for a fare and keeping an anxious eye on his handcomp. His girlfriend, Selia Vuir, a sulphur miner, is overdue from her current week-on shift, and storm warnings have been posted for the Green Mountains and Northern Sylvian Plain area. He is also concerned that Selia is supposed to be bringing back a geode of sunstones she has found out on the Plain. Failing to declare a geode is viewed as a serious offence by Ossourous Processing, and as the company carries a lot of weight with the Julnar Mandate Authority, a prosecution is pretty much a career ender.

While mulling over his worries, Staffburger hears a familiar voice boom behind him. “Bunty!” Glancing around, Staffburger sees a vaguely familiar figure from his past, “Chivers?” Indeed, it is his old wardroom drinking and card buddy, Marine Colonel Count Asenault “Chivers” Washington-Pipps. Chivers quickly introduces his two companions, “Sergeant Daanel, my batman, and Sergeant Clapshaw. Clapshaw’s Army, but he’s a good sort.”

Chivers tells Staffburger that after coming out of the service there hadn’t been a lot of work for security consultants in Gamelea Subsector. Eventually, Daanel had got wind that the Murkhida Kargesu, the Geithurian Republic’s Alien Legion, was busily recruiting for operations to Spinward of the Republic. This presented a dilemma for Chivers as the Imperium frowns on its past service personnel serving non-Imperial states, and particularly non-Imperial states that have been actively hostile to the Imperium, as the Geithurian Republic has been.

Daanel was able to discover the existence of the Crimson Road – a semi-coordinated series of interconnecting short haul passenger-carrying freighters that enables certain people to drop off the Imperial radar as they move around Imperial Space. It was while travelling this circuitous route that Chivers, Daanel and Clapshaw found themselves on Por’via, and about to take the final section over the Imperial Border and into Geithurian space.

While Daanel and Clapshaw secure their luggage, Bunty Staffburger tells Chivers about his girlfriend:

“I’m dating a miner.”
“A minor? Gad, and I thought I was a rake.”
“No. A miner. She mines.”

And how she was overdue from her current shift, and how a storm system was moving south, down out of the Green Mountains and onto the Sylvian Plain.

As the rest of the groups’s equipment arrives, Staffburger rings the Ossourous Processing Dispatch office to check up on Selia’s Mining Unit. He learns that it is standard procedure for the crew to stay buttoned up during a storm if the Unit has broken down. As the incoming storm has grounded all grav search vehicles, it is highly likely that Selia and her crew are preparing to wait it out at the end of track as plotted by the Dispatch office. As Staffburger downloads the Unit’s track, he sees through the window of the Concourse, Jorgan Kiorpanos, the VenGems agent, talking to two unsavoury-looking men in an ATV. After a brief conversation, Jorgan’s companions drive off, heading out of town.

Once the party get themselves organised and hire an ATV, they set off towards the Ossourous Processing Restricted Access Zone north of Por’via Down. After a two-hour drive up Route 41, Chivers turns off the main road and onto an access road that leads to a transfer site. This is where the Mining Units unload their ore onto stock piles, and dump their tailings.

Passing through the transfer site, they pick up the last cut Selia’s Mining Unit made – a 20 metre-wide track that zig-zags across a ten kilometre wide cut zone that stretches across the north of the Sylvian Plain to the foothills of the Green Mountains. As the party follows the cut, they realise that there is not one, but two ATVs ahead of them, both apparently following the Mining Unit.

On Clapshaw’s suggestion, Chivers pilots the party’s ATV up over the edge of the cut. Crossing the rough ground between the east-bound and west-bound cuts, the party manage to get ahead of the second of the two ATVs they are following. With their ATV concealed, Clapshaw wriggles forward into the shelter of a boulder where he can watch the cut. Soon, he spies the second ATV heading towards him on the west-bound cut and, by the skilful use of his Recon skill, he manages to see that there are at least five individuals inside the ATV, and at least two of them are Vargr.

After the vehicle passes, Clapshaw returns to the party and relates his intelligence. Giving chase up the west-bound cut, and with the weather closing in, the party suddenly realise that they are closer to the turn back then they thought as they catch a glimpse of the other ATV heading back past them on the next east-bound cut.

As they come round the turn back and clear the steam of the fumaroles that define the western end of the cut zone, the party find their way ahead blocked by the second ATV. Three Vargr have alighted and open fire on the party’s vehicle. Chivers throws the ATV into reverse, even as the front windshield is shot out.

“Darn! There goes the deposit,” Staffburger observes sourly.

Fortunately, the party have been wearing environment suits since they set out so it takes them but moments to button up as the insidious planetary atmosphere floods the interior of their vehicle. As clouds of noxious fumes roll across the countryside, hiding the two groups, Chivers hits the brakes. Clapshaw, Daanel and Staffburger leap down from the ATV and take up firing positions as the Vargr come dashing through the clouds of steam and gas. All three Vargr go down in a hail of gauss rifle fire.

As Daanel and Clapshaw advance cautiously, the second ATV drives off at high speed, eastward along the east bound cut. Seeing their quary in flight, Daanel and Clapshaw sprint back to the party’s ATV. Chivers again takes the ATV up and over the edge of the cut and over the rough ground between the east and west-bound cutways. Closing on the next west-bound cut, he halts a little way short of it. Clapshaw wriggles forward in time to see the Vargrs’ ATV approaching him from the east. After a moment’s deliberation, Clapshaw decides to knock the other vehicle out with a well-place RAM-grenade in the engine bay. Unfortunately, his RAM-grenade is not so well-placed and the Vargrs’ ATV is not as armoured as he first thought. With a bang and a flash, the Vargrs’ ATV explodes in a massive fireball.

“That didn’t work out so well,” Clapshaw says ruefully as he rejoins the rest of the party.

Pressing on, and with the weather closing in, the party find themselves nearly at the northern end of the cut zone. Ahead, they can see where the Mining Unit’s cut ends and the Unit crosses a small gully via a causeway before commencing a return cut towards the transfer station. As they get closer, they can see that the gulley is narrow and steep, and that the Mining Unit has come off the narrow causeway and is nose-down in the gulley.

Debussing from the ATV, Clapshaw covers Staffburger as he climbs down to inspect the Mining Unit. Daanel walks up the road a little way and investigates the gulley above the causeway. Staffburger quickly discovers that while two of the Mining Unit crew are still aboard, both are dead and neither are Selia. Damage in the Unit’s cutter bay indicates that some sort of explosive charge or mine was left in front of the vehicle and that this was taken inside, along with the normal ore, before exploding and disabling the Unit. Someone has then shot up the Mining Unit’s wheelhouse and removed or destroyed all computer gear aboard, including handcomps. Meanwhile, Daanel has found tracks indicating that two people on foot and a vehicle have headed up the narrow gulley, upstream of the causeway.

After some deliberation, the party decide to follow on foot as their large ATV will not fit up the narrow gulley. At this stage both Chivers and Staffburger are wearing environment suits and are armed with handguns while Daanel and Clapshaw are wearing Combat Armour and are armed with gauss rifles.

They follow the narrow trail that winds up through gulley before debouching onto a more open upland area. Visibility is now down to about twenty metres and the wind is rising, driving swirling clouds of fog and gas before it. As they pass between pools of bubbling water and boiling mud, Chivers spots something in one of the mud pools. It turns out to be the body of one of the miners.

Retrieving the body, Staffburger discovers a hand drawn map that shows a location not too far from them with an ‘X’. Beyond the ‘X’ is a crudely drawn twin-peaked mountain and the word ‘jackpot’ written in Selia’s handwriting.

As the first heavy drops of rain start falling, the party finds the ATV they have been pursuing parked by the side of the trail.

As they investigate the vehicle, they hear a scream of terror from further ahead. Advancing cautiously between twisted piles of stone, they hear more shouts, and then gun shots. Running forward, they see a body on the ground and three people in environment suits standing back to back with handguns drawn. Around them, leaping and hissing, are half a dozen irrijari – particularly fast, nasty and vicious predators. As the party watch, an irrijar leaps forward and literally bites one of the three survivors’ head off.

Daanel and Clapshaw manage to fell several of the irrijari with their gauss rifles as the two survivors run towards the party. One of the two is killed by another irrijar and then Daanel’s gauss rifle jams. An irrijar springs at Daanel but can’t hurt him through his combat armour. Clapshaw lines up a shot, and then his gauss rifle jams, too – obviously the insidious atmosphere is taking its toll on the gauss rifles. Staffburger chases after the fleeing survivor and manages to tranq her with his snub pistol. Again, it isn’t Selia so he ties her up and leaves her in the ATV.

Clapshaw throws his heavy autopistol to Chivers, who hasn’t managed to hit any of the irrijari with his snub pistol. This was becoming rather alarming for Chivers as he was very conscious that he was only wearing an environment suit and that there were still several very dangerous irrijari darting in and out of the swirling gas clouds. Snatching up Clapshaw’s pistol, Chivers turns and fires, downing an irrijari with a single shot. Clapshaw clears his jam and shoots the last irrijari that has been wrestling with Daanel, and suddenly the upland is silent, except for the moaning of the wind. A rattling noise, drawing nearer, announces the leading edge of a downpour.

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To Be Continued ...