Memories of Ivershill: To the Victor Go the Spoils

Game Master: Andrew
Game Edition: AD&D 1st Ed
Players: Dave, Adam
Starting Level: 3
Current Level: 3

Introduction

Dave holds the honoured distinction of being the only player character to have "beaten" Ivershill. That is he survived a game, and left Ivershill a richer man then when he came in without any ill consequence!

As such, he will always consider it his favourite game of Ivershill.

Dave asked me to do the write up for this game, and included the entire game as his favourite memory. So get comfy.

To the Victor Go the Spoils

It began with two Barbarians, a Human Twistneed the Frigid (Dave) and a Half-Orc Krashnak (Adam). The pair unknowingly travelled the road towards Ivershill, but instead of taking the road north to the village, they decided to stay on the kings highway, and see what was happening in Carthag.

None of JADE's players had ever been to Carthag before, and Dave and Adam were excited about what they would find...

Scene 1 The Road to Carthag.

Two hours down the road, they saw a rider drawing closer in the distance. The Horseman was a paladin, who warned them that a red dragon was attacking Carthag, and that it would be best to turn back.

And when this guy tells you to go back, you should listen.

Feeling the need for adventure, Twistneed and Krashnak ignored the paladin's warning and continued on towards Carthag. The Knight shrugged, and rode on leaving the two to their fate.

After a few hours on the road, the cry of a dragon cut through the calmness of the trail. Smoke from a burning village billowed from behind a thicket of forest. The pair hurried forward, bringing Carthag into view. The great form of a Red Dragon hovered above the town breathing flames upon the already ready town. The two Chaotic Evil barbarians saw this as the perfect time to loot.

They entered the city, but most of the towns valuables had been destroyed in the dragon's flames. Not yet discouraged, they ran from house to house searching through the debris, but they only found a pair of silver candle holders.

As they put them in their packs, the dragon swooped over head and with a burst of flames incinerated the block next time. It was time to leave.

Scene 2 The Red Dragon.

The barbarians rushed  along the city streets towards the gate, only to be cornered as the dragon landed in the square behind them.

They sought refuge in a nearby stone barracks, that provided some shielding from the creatures fiery blasts. Inside, Krashnak found some Javelins and the two of them went up to the roof to try and fight the beast.

When most men run....

Though their aim was true, the javelins bounced off the dragons' hide and only served to annoy the powerful creature. Gracefully, the beast turned in its flight, and hit the roof top of the barracks with a mighty blast of flame. Twistneed and Krashnak barely managed to escape being burnt to a crisp by diving off of the roof to the ground below. Krashnack was only bruised from the fall, but Twistneed had broken his arm. They would have to retreat.

Using the rubble of the Carthag's houses as cover, the two fled towards a section of the town wall that had collapsed, and escaped back to the highway.

Twistneed needed to have his arm repaired before he could fight again, and the closest town either of them knew of was Ivershill. So that was where they went.

Scene 3 Ivershill. Fighting the Guards.

Twistneed and Krashnak headed towards the market with the hopes of trading a ring they had found on the road found for a healing potion.

The two found a  merchant, but the healing potion was out of their price range. Frustrated, and without thinking it through, The two barbarians discussed killing the merchant and taking the potion... While he was standing right there.

Terrified, the merchant called out for the guards, and two men in full plate mail appeared. The merchant called out in panic, and the guards demanded that Twistneed and Crashnak surrender themselves into their custody.

Unlikely.

A barbarian never turns down a fight.

A crowd gathered as the Barbarians fought the guards. The fight was fierce, and saw Krashnak fall dead from several wounds inflicted by a bastard sword, but Twistneed avenged his friend, killing both guards.

Low on hit points, Twistneed stood ready to fight another wave, fully prepared to die. Much to his surprise however, the crowd erupted into cheers!

Twistneed was confused to say the least.

Scene 4 The Battle of Town Hall.

As it turned out, the mayor had hired the guards, who had been acting like thugs since they arrived. The rumour was that the mayor was stealing gold from the mine and keeping it for herself and the mercenaries.

It would seem that Twistneed, the Chaotic Evil Barbarian had just volunteered to save the town.

The mob called a healer to heal his wounds, and surrounded the town hall, asking Twistneed to go in, deafeat their oppressors save them!

Knowing that he could not do this alone, Twist need called to the crowd for aid. The Halfling Thief Nallo (an old Ivershill character of Adam's) was the first to volunteer, followed by 19 other villagers.

It's clobbering time.

With his army Twistneed, stormed the townhall, and battled the guards. Most of the peasants proved useless, running at the first sight of blood, but a few had the stomach for battle.

At the end of it all, only Twistneed, Nallo, and a village monk were standing to face the mayor and her mercenary leader.

Scene 5 Twistneed, Hero of the People.

The mercenary Captain was as fickle as most men in his business, and saw the way the wind was turning. He agreed to leave for 200 gold pieces.

The Mayor's office was full of gold, and Nallo quickly filled three bags and tossed them to the Mercenary. The heavily armoured man took sacks and left the building, running as fast as he could.

The mayor stood behind her desk shaking, knowing her demise was at hand. Without saying a word, Twistneed decapitated her with his axe. He had won. But the carnage wasn't finished.

I an act of betrayal, he turned to Nallo, and with a swing of his blade, killed the Halfling where he stood. The village monk started slowly backing towards the door, but Twistneed caught him, ending his life with a swift stroke of his axe.

Cue the death metal.

Twistneed then filled a bag with 50gp and grabbed the mayor's head. He left the town hall, and stood before the waiting crowd and hold his foe's head high for all to see. The crowd's cheers were deafening, but Twistneed silenced them and asked for a horse.


Within minutes a horse was brought to the steps which Twistneed mounted, and road out of town with the villagers laughing, cheering and chasing after him.


Conclusion.
With that, Twistneed became the first character to survive an adventure in Ivershill with no ill done to them,and with some profit.

Dave was also brilliantly able to maintain his chaotic evil alignment by killing his comrades in the final scene, and claiming the glory for himself. It was a great scene to to witness.

Truly one of the best runs of Ivershill. It will be remembered fondly by all.

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Draco Syndicate Scout Type S

To give our adventurers in JADE's Interstellar Exports Campaign a reasonable enemy for their first ship to ship combat, I painted this Scout Type-S. It's colours and markings denote that it belongs to the Draco Syndicate: The largest criminal organization in the galaxy.

The Draco Syndicate doesn't care much about hiding who they are, proudly brandishing their three-headed dragon crest on their ship's hulls. The symbol I used on this model was an Alpha Legion decal from Warhammer 40k's Chaos Space Marines. It was the perfect size!

Draco Syndicate craft are not an uncommon sight, though they will almost always maintain communication silence, and change course when hailed or approached. What you really have to fear from them is when they do not change course, or worse; break radio silence. Then you have something they want, and they will stop at nothing to get it.

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Jeff's Top 3 DnD Classes

So you want to role-play do ya? You want to assume the mantle of the Hero or villain who tirades across the country side saving damsels or murdering them without recourse? Is that what you want? Well gud on ya bai. 

You can talk the talk, but how ya gonna walk it son? In an RPG with an endless array of classes and sub-classes, character traits, and personality quirks available to pump up your precious immersion, you can cast yourself as just about any character in the story of your life. 

With all the choices, it is hard tyo know where to begin. So allow me, Jeff, and your fine friends at JADE to help make your character development a little more guided and a little less like a gaping chasm of soul-sucking tedium. Here are, what see as, the three best classes in D & D:

Druid

If you consider yourself a classic hippie at heart, (And lets be honest with ourselves who doesn't) then you love nature. But instead of spending all day hugging trees, which can of course take a venerable toll on your arms, why not channel your enthusiasm for the woodland realm into a badass RPG experience? 

You can assume the identity of one of nature's fiercest protectors and gain access to a host of cool spells that prove just how sexy Gaia really is. From the ability to summon animals, commune with them, ride them, touch them, or simply smile at them politely... You can do a shitload of cool things with animals. Couple this fact with being able to poison, regenerate limbs, foresee imminent danger, and interact, communicate with, and manipulate many elements, and you've got yourself a class that gives the player a chance to interact with the surrounding world in subtle yet interesting ways.

Bard

Who doesn't love being the passionate story-teller of the group? Seriously who, i'll fight you. Few thrills compare to donning the mask of the charming and witty aficionado who can charm their way out of the stingy dungeon and into even stingier bed chambers if you know what I mean. 

Bards are the shit not only because of a pungent charisma that grants the player social skills allowing them to be a central component of a lot of the party's major scenes of intrigue, but because a lot of their spells do badass things under the pretense of “smoke and mirrors.” It's the ability to jedi mind trick people into calling you daddy, disguise yourself as the King's long lost cousin Henry (with documents to prove it), and pretty much elicit valuable information from a monkey's anus, that can lead the Bard even so far as entering Rogue territory. 

Planning a heist? The player fielding the bard can experience a cool multi-class high when their powers allow them to play the socialite and the thief if a more specialized class of criminal isn't readily available. Hell, they can even roll high on a decked out persuasion roll and have the queen for dessert. To some, this is the closest they will ever come to knowing the touch of a woman in real life. Don't take that away from them.

Sha'ir 

Though this class is only available in 2^nd edition D and D (and a 3rd edition redo in Dragon Magazine issue 315, 321), it comprises all magic classes on the scale of badassery for the sole reason that these magic users cast spells using a F@#$ing genie, and this genie can cast ANY spell from ANY level providing you make an adequate roll on the percentile die. 

But before you go breaking out your collector's edition Blu-ray copy of Aladdin, know this: The higher the spell level, the higher the margin for error on your dice roll. But that is what makes role-play fun, the risk. And if you have horseshoes implanted deep in your rectal cavity, then playing a Sha'rir could put you on a different level. So much so that, when local authorities come a knockin' on your door, investigating the recent string of magical incidents that have ruined their town, and proceed to ask you your name, you can look at them slowly and say “Goddd.”

Role-play is no joke. In fact it's more f@#$ing serious than just about every major Geo-politcal crisis currently facing the Earth... Ok maybe not. But if you want to do well, building yourself a cool character that can aid the party in very strategic ways while keeping you wholesomely engaged is critical. The above classes are the ones that can do the most and not just hack and slash at meat like it's some divine calling. 

Now while the classes mentioned in this article are super and all, there is still an endless amount of character kits available that expand on these basics to yield an even deeper level of immersion. But if you thought I felt like writing about those too, then I want you to know that I'm moved by your blind faith. But, go explore the material yourself, create a character that makes you feel all tingly, and as always Happy Gaming. 


Written by: Jeff Clive 

Oriental Adventures Game 3

Game Master: Adam
Game Edition: 1st Ed. AD&D
Players: Jeff, Andrew, Dave, Elijah, Isaiah
Starting Level: 1
Current Level: 1-2

Quote of the Evening:
"Cakes cooked in destruction often taste the best." - Old Wu Jen saying.

Introduction

Last game Adam left the party angrily heading towards Oka. Lady Maru had betrayed our village of Kibou and disappeared when the Samurai sacked it.

Jo-on the Monk (Elijah) and his Brother Yamashita the Sohei (Andrew), had seen their monastery destroyed. Hitoro the Wu Jen (Jeff), had seen the village he severed burned, and even Kira the Ninja (Dave), was sad to see his childhood home in ruins.

The four were tired, angry, and Couldn't go a step further. They each collapsed into a deep sleep in a clearing along side the road.

As good a place as any for a nap.

Scene 1 A Messenger in the Night. Returning to Kibou.

A bird call broke the silence of the night, but none were disturbed by it except Kira. He alone knew the truth of the bird's song. It wasn't a bird at all but the call sign of his Ninja clan. The clan he betrayed.

Kira opened his eyes, to see a man dressed in black standing over him. the man removed the cloth cover his face, and Kira recognized him as his friend Yakaru. The only person he had made a personal connection with in his clan. Yakaru looked worried and asked if they could speak in private so as not to awake Kira's companions.

Despite what it looks like, we are sleeping, and were not killed by ninjas.

In private Yakaru told Kira that The Clan was angry with him for leaving and was looking for him. He was worried that he would have to kill Kira and begged him to return, but Kira was unwilling to return to that life.

Yakaru gave him a final warning to watch his back and disappeared into the shadows. With a troubled mind, Kira tried to get back to sleep.

The following morning the party awoke with a rumbling in their bellies and Yamashita began to complain about how hungry he was. Annoyed, Jo-on told him to be quite, and thought for a moment.

In their rage they had never found the body of the grand master and had left Kibou without any supplies. The may still be alive, and they wouldn't make it far without any food or water. Thinking it through carefully,  Jo-on decided that they would return to Kibou, search for supplies and try to find the where abouts of the grand master.

After a few hours walking, they returned to the ruins of Kibou and found Kenji fishing by the river. He laughed when saw the party approach, saying that he knew they would return. He then told them about how the Samurai had paid particular attention to the monastery perhaps they were searching for something in the catacombs?

While the others spoke with Kenji, Yamashita went scouring around the village, looking for any scrap of food he could find. Inside one of the houses, as if by some miracle there were 4 hot rice cakes. Just sitting there.

Yum!

Looking around, Yamashita quickly gobbled up two of them and headed back towards the group to share the two rice cakes he had found. They each ate a half.

This is where our quote of the evening comes from when everyone commented on how good the rice cakes were.

Hitoro remarked that, "cakes cooked in destruction often taste the best."

Scene 2 The Monastery. A Thief. A Zombie. A Friend.

After eating their meal, the four made their way towards the monastery. The Once grand buildings stood in ruins, sacked and destroyed by the marauding samurai. Yamashita and Jo-on could barely contain their heart ache. Their home and the life they had always known lay in ruins before them.

Jo-on was able to handle his anger, his discipline as a monk taught him to let go of such material concerns. Yamashita on the other hand, was burning with rage. His anger almost consuming him.

Entering the garden through the main gate, they all heard a rustling coming from inside. It sounded like some one was searching through the remains.

He and Jo-on entered the temple and found someone dressed in red and blue robes sifting through the rubble. Jo-on called for them to identify themselves, but before they could speak and ignoring his brothers cries to stop Yamashita ran at him swinging his tetsubo.

No Yamashita! Don't do it!

The anger had felt at the destruction of the the Temple was flowing through him. He would kill this thief, and preform his duties as Sohei one last time.

Yamashita swung his club with all his might, and it connected with the thief's head dashing the man's brains across the floor as he fell dead.

*On a funny side note here, Adam the DM intended this Character to be Isaiah's Bushi, and thus welcome him into the game. I was not paying attention, and as Yamashita, just assumed Adam was throwing an encounter at us where we would have to fight a lone Samurai in the Temple. The Party is still split on whether or not this was a justifiable action for Sohei defending his Temple. Tell me your thoughts in comments!*

Heaving with victory, Yamashita's glory was only disrupted by Jo-on's scolding. Jo-on was furious with his brother. They would need all the help they could get, and killing people certainly wasn't going to achieve that.

Yamashita shrugged it off and the party made their way to the cellar where the catacombs lay. The door had been busted in, and a dark portal stood before them.

Scene 3 The Catacombs.

The party descended the stairs into the tunnels that the twins had seen only in their youth. The bodies of Monks and Samurai littered the ground leading a path towards the room with the first singing bowl that Yamashita remembered from his youth.

As they followed the trail of destruction, they were stopped by a horrific sight. There had always been rumours of strange creatures in the catacombs, and one of them stood before them: a Jaing Shi, and undead creature that was gorging itself on the body of a fallen Sohei.

OMG! ZOMBIE!

Being a Wu Jen, Hitoro knew that Jaing Shi, are always tempted by coins, and threw a few on the ground. The trick worked to distract the creature for a while, but in the end, a Critical Swing from Yamashita's tetsubo ended the creature.

The party continued their travels until they were stopped by a scuffling sound coming from one of the rooms. Fearing it was another monster, the surrounded the door and listened again. They heard a banging, as if some one was trying to get out... It could be at rap. The party entered the room with their weapons raised, to find a chest pounding and shaking. clearly some one was trapped inside!

Jo-on opened the chest slowly, and found a bushi hiding in it. He cried out, asking his liberators not to kill him! Jo-on calmed the man down and explained who they were. The Bushi, though still shaken, told them that his name was Fugimoto Naoya (Isaiah). He had come to the monastery only the day before and was resting there when the samurai attacked.

His bark is worse than his bite.

He claimed to have been fighting with the Sohei, when their line was broken! The Samurai were slaughtering so many people, fear over came him. Next thing he knew he hid in the chest and thankfully no one found him. It seemed as though the samurai were looking for something in particular!

Inviting the Bushi to come along, the party continued to follow the path of destruction.

After wandering through the ruins, The party came across and old memory from Yamashita and Jo-on's childhood: a singing bowl. Yamashita patted the mallet that he still wore around his waist as a reminder of that day. The day he became a Sohei.

The mallet also counts as a 1d4 weapon!

Knowing the way, Yamashita lead them to where he fought the fish and claimed the mallet. It still stood open, having not been entered since that fateful day almost 4 years ago.

However something was different about the room. Before one of the doors had been sealed shut with heavy stone. Now it lay smashed open and blood covered the floor. There was an empty pedestal, and a hastily scrawled note that lay in the corner. It read:

"Brothers, what you seek lies not in this room, but in the place where brother turned upon brother."

Jo-on was the first to remember the fight they had as children by the river and suggested they look there. Concerned that they had yet to fine the Grand Master, the party left the dungeon and hastened to the river side.

Scene 4 The River. Leaving Kibou.

The river looked calm. It always did, and it was a warm welcome from the harshness of the past few hours. Jo-on lead the party to where he and Yamashita had fought, a tree by the a pebble beach where they kept the fishing boats.

After searching the area, Kira noticed something bobbing up and down in the middle of the river. Yamashita swam out to get it, and gave it to his brother to open.

Jo-on unscrewed the top carefully removed the contents. Inside there was an incredibly beautiful scroll, the likes of which none of the group had ever seen.

Even more beautiful than that!

There was also a note tucked inside of the scroll. Jo-on unravelled it and read it aloud:

He didn't recognize the hand writing, but a path of action seemed clear. They must take the scroll to the Fallen Heron Temple. However, after learning the news, Yamashita wanted to go to Oka to save the Grand Master. He insisted that they owed it to him to go to Oka and save his life. But Jo-on ended the argument with his usual wisdom. He pointed out that they owed it to the Grand Master to do as he instructed. They would take the Scroll to safety, then they would search for the Grand Master.

Begrudgingly, Yamashita conceded his brother's wisdom, but suggested that they rest for the day. Though it was only noon it had been a trying few hours, and it seemed everyone could use the rest.

Yamashita and Fugimoto used the time to search the village for supplies, while the others set up a small camp.

By the end of the day, they were eating fish, and had enough rice to travel the many days it would take them to get to the Fallen Heron Temple along the North Road.

For the rest of the evening, the party chatted with Kenji, and exchanged happy memories about Kibou. The hours waned, and soon everyone was fast a sleep.

The following morning, the Bushi Fugimoto Naoya was gone as well as a small amount of food. Thankful that he didn't take it all, the party left Kibou along the North road.

Kenji waved them goodbye.

Scene 5 Days of Travel. A Kensai.

The four travelled the roads for several days, until the monotony was broken by a man sitting by a small shack at the side of a creek. He was sharpening his Katana on a whetstone, with strong fluid motions, stopping only when he noticed the approaching party.

He also looked pretty badass

The stranger sheathed his blade and hailed the party, as they approached. He greeted them kindly telling them that the woods were dangerous in these parts. Many bandits lurked about, and they would best not travel at night, and keep watch when they slept. Yamashita scoffed at the arrogance of the man, but Jo-on thanked him for the advice, and asked him if he knew where The Fallen Heron Temple was.

The kensai smiled, and a sly look came across his face.

"I will tell you what." he said. "If any of you land a blow on me with a bokken I will give you what you seek. Yamashita immediately accepted the challenge, and the Kensai disappeared into his hut, returning with two bokken.

Fight!

The Kensai was a very skilled warrior, Yamashita was not able to land a single blow against him. With ease, the Kensai then ripped the bokken from Yamashita's hand and pinned him with his own. A little disappointed, Yamashita congratulated the Kensai on his victory and sulked off.

Kira then decide he would give it try.

Round 2. Fight!

Kira was no more successful in his fight than Yamashita, but the Kensai had enjoyed the fights so much that he told them where to go any way.

He mentioned that the monastery was a few days travel up the road, and also suggested that they stay in the small town of Mansuyama. There was an inn there, and owner of owed him a favour. He gave Jo-on a small scrap of paper with a symbol on it.

"Give this to the innkeeper." He said. And with that he returned to sharpening his Katana.

Jo-on thanked him, and the group continued along the trail toward

Scene 6 A Place to Stay. An Attack 

By the time the party had reached Mansuyama, the sun had begun to set. The village was about the same size as Kibou, which meant finding the inn was easy as it was the largest building in town.

The Innkeeper accepted the mysterious note from the Kensai and gave them a room that could fit four. Jo-on thanked the owner and the group went to their room to sleep.

The group dozed off as Kria stayed awake for the first watch, and it was a good thing that he did.

Just as Kira's watch was about to end, he saw the window slowly open. Carefully he stepped into the shadows concealing himself. A black clothed ninja slipped into the room, the moonlight shining off of his drawn blade.

Like a Ninja through a window.

From the Shadows, Kira let out a cry, waking everyone up. Acting instinctively Yamashita grabbed his tetsubo and dived across the beds, striking his opponent. Injured the ninja cried out and stumbled backwards where Kira finished him with a knife in the back.

Searching the ninja revealed nothing of who had sent him. But they all couldn't shake the feeling that maybe the Kensai had been testing their abilities. All Except Kira. he alone knew the true target of this assassin: himself.

Hearing the noise, the townsfolk had come running, arriving to see the dead ninja. Jo-on explained to them how they had been attacked, and worriedly the villagers took the body out and buried him.

The whole town was on edge for the rest of the night, and the party was frequently awoken by the shouts of the villagers who now watched the streets, and jumped at every shadow and sound in the woods.

Scene 7 Murder Most Foul.

The following morning the party awoke late in the day, having made up for the sleepless night. It was almost noon when they were awoken by the sound of shouting outside. Then, footsteps came up the stairs, and the voice of the innkeeper came through the the wall asking for the monk to come and help. Some one had been killed!

The party went down stairs and out to the edge of the forest where a group of villagers had gathered in a circle. In the centre stood Village Leader with a man and woman. On the ground behind them lay the murder victim.

It's murder Sherlock! Murder most foul!

He had been stabbed in the chest, and the man standing beside the woman claimed he had seen her do it. Somberly the woman denied it. Trusting the monks reasoning and logic, The Village leader asked Jo-on if he could help resolve the conflict judge.

Jo-on agreed and spoke to both of them in private. The woman seemed very scared and didn't say much, but Jo-on believed she was innocent, and that the man was lying and clearly the guilty party. He returned to the Village Leader and told him of his decision.

The Leader accepted the monks ruling, and passed him the ceremonial Katana. The sentence was death, and the village wanted him to carry it out. 

*Another Side note here, as it turns out, Monks are not actually allowed to kill in the oriental adventures module, however none of us knew that at the time. So Elijah's character Jo-on did indeed carry out the execution, but will not suffer the moral crisis a monk would normally have for having done so.*

With the deed done the village thanked them, and the party left for the monastery.

Scene 8 An Unlikely Rescue.

On the night of their first day of travel, the party had grown careless, lowering their guard, and chatting amongst themselves loudly as they travelled into the grew night.

Just as soon as it became dark enough that it was hard to see the road in front of them, a shuriken came spinning from the woods striking Yamashita in the back of his left shoulder. In a flash, six Ninja's appeared from the woods. It seemed hopeless, but without a means of escape, the weary low level party struggled for their lives.

And I always thought getting surrounded by Ninjas would be awesome.

As the party was overwhelmed and surrounded, two shurikens whizzed out of the darkness striking down two of the ninjas. Given an equal fight, the adventures gained ground, and were able to fight their attackers off.

After the battle, another figured dressed in black appeared from the darkness. She recovered the two shuriken from the slain ninjas, and then stood to face the party. Jo-on demanded to know who she was, and she removed her hood.

It was the Lady Maru! The one who had paid to have the sake stolen, and most likely the person who had brought the samurai to Kibou.

"Come with me if you want to live." She said.

And that is where we left off for the night.

Conclusion.

What a cliffhanger! Is Lady Maru the villain who stole the sake and brought the samurai? Or the one who saved the scroll from the monastery? What is her angle?

Hopefully our questions will be answered next game, but one thing is certain. We can't trust her, not yet.

With any luck she will help us get the scroll to the Fallen Heron Monastery, but more likely I suspect she will try to steal it from us.

It would be unwise to take our eyes off of her for even a moment. Find out what happens next game!

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Oriental Adventures Gentleman

While searching through Ebay for a couple of minis to use as NPC for JADE's Oriental Adventures Campaign, I stumbled upon a couple of lead miniatures from the 80's. They claimed to be part of the Oriental Adventures minis released around the same time.

I couldn't find any verification as to what they were, but they were cheap, so I snagged them!

The first one I painted was this fellow, who I thought would serve as a good town magistrate, or something similar... Although being the only Male Oriental Adventures NPC we have, you will probably be seeing him a lot.

He is definitely not my best work. But we will serve his purpose well enough!

Written by: Andrew Gregory

Interstellar Exports Game 2

Game Master: Andrew
Game Edition: Traveller (Mongoose Publishing)
Players: Jeff, Dave, Elijah
Ages: 2Dy, 30Yrs, 40Yrs


Quote of the evening:

"Dry, we need to pee in the bucket."

Introduction.

Left to Right: James Hornby (Elijah), Caesar (Jeff) and Dry (Dave)

In our last traveller adventure, Captain James Hornby (Elijah) refuelled his ship with stolen fuel, and killed the thieves who stole it in the first place.

Ship's Pilot Dry (Dave) had gained a job as helmsmen aboard James' ship the S.S. Exodus, and the two had purchased a robot named Caesar (Jeff).

We left off with James having ordered Dry to take the Exodus back to the Orion XII station to get supplies. He was anxious to get away from this place, and start his new life, but there was still much to do, and many obstacles to over come.

One of the biggest things standing in James' way was his crippling habit. He and Dry had been very drunk for the past two days, and the romp was only to continue.

Scene 1 Cleaning the Mess. Desperate Times.

One of the Canine thieves they had stolen the fuel from had been killed on the Freighter, and his body incinerated in the subsequent explosion. However, the other canine had been killed in the hallway of the Exodus just outside the bridge.

Neither of them had taken the time to clean it up. There was a body with a gun shot to the head, brains with blood splatter on the wall, and pool of blood on the floor.

There was no way they could dock with the station and get retrieved by the very public shuttles like this.

Gross.

The first thing they did was deal with the body. Taking the bedding from State Room 3, they wrapped it around the corpse of the canine and sopped up some of the blood. James then dragged the body into the airlock and blew it out into space.

The corpse was dealt with, but there was still the bloody mess on the ground. All it would take was for some curious eyes to peer inside and report them to station security.

James still had a mop and a bucket in a storage locker in engineering, but he had used up his ships water reserves and had yet to hail the supply ships in the area to replenish his sources. They needed some sort of liquid to clean this mess up.

Immediately James thought of the beer they had bought! That would work until they got some water! He stormed the bridge and began searching through the bottles of Molson Dry. They were all empty. Angrily he threw the plastic bottle against the wall and walked back out. He had one idea left.

He turned to his shipmate and said, "Dry, we need to pee in the bucket."

And the quote of the evening was born.

Dry was hesitant at first, but conceded that after the drinking the two four he needed to go, and smelling like pee at least wasn't illegal.

Nice... solution guys.

After filling the bucket. Dry and James took turns mopping up the mess. It was a nauseating experience, but was over fairly quickly, leaving the hallway reeking of urine. Both James and Dry needed a drink, and they resumed their course for the Orion XII Station.

Scene 2 Problem in Customs. An Encounter with Lt. O’Reilly.

Station Operations gave them no trouble when docking, and sent a shuttle over quickly. There were only a few people on board, all of whom eyed James and Dry strangely, and covering their noses to avoid their pungent aroma.

James and Dry paid it no mind, and waited out the ride, chatting with one another about the people around them. They considered introducing themselves to the pair of Droyne who sat in the corner, but then Dry remarked that all of his interactions with them in the past had been an absolute bore. It probably wouldn't be worth their time.

Who would want to hang out with one of these guys any ways.

The shuttle docked, and Dry and James left with the other passengers. Having been through customs so many times already, they were both getting frustrated with the tiring bureaucracy, and just wanted to get it over with.

*An aside here, that was exactly what I wanted as the referee. The Interstellar Union collapsed due to its inefficiency, and I wanted my players to experience that first hand.*

So tired, and bored, they waited in the cue.

Finally they were next in line and approached the customs officer. He looked at their passports and then asked them to step aside and wait for security.

James tried to protest, and Dry started to kick up a fuss, when one of the wall panels slid open and three security gaurds stepped out.

The leader asked them to follow them to Station Security; the Chief wanted to speak to them.

James Refused.

"We have rights you know." James said with a hiccup.

"Then you are both under arrest." The Security officer said.

Insert Table Top Scene

James' eyes went wide, but this had happened before. During his month long residency on Orion XII he had racked up a number of drunk and disorderly charges, and found himself locked up for the night on more than one occasion.

Feeling the tension, James told Dry that everything would be fine, and the two were escorted to station security.

The officers took them through the panel they had come from and into a small security area. There were about ten other security guards back there, as well as private elevators that took them to the second floor. The security office was in the the outer ring, and normally they would have been paraded through the station to get there. Thankfully it was quite early in the morning, and the promenade was practically empty, Sparing James and Dry the embarrassment.

At security, they were brought to lieutenant Makay's office, and ushered inside. Makay was a large man, but an effective security chief. He and James had had a few run ins before, but nothing serious; just the occasional bout of disorderly conduct that follows a drunkard.

"Hi Chief!" James said, slurring his words.

"Hello James." The chief responded. "Who is your friend?"

Before James could speak, Dry interrupted them, loudly and drunkenly complaining about how rude station security had been to them.

After a minute or so, James managed to get Dry to shut up, and the Chief told them why he had brought them here.

"A tug came and picked your ship up from dock, and headed out towards Beeto I." He said. "A few hours later, an explosion, large enough to disrupt the magnetic interference around the planet's pole was registered, by both our station, and the refuelling station in orbit. Then, suddenly, your ship appeared, and docked here again."

James explained that they had... Purchased some fuel for two Canines, however, after departing the ship, they must have had an accident, and the freighter suddenly exploded!

"Lucky to get away with our lives!" Dry added.

Sure, that's what happened.

Having no proof to the contrary, the Chief had no choice but to let them go, but warned that he would be watching them closely.

James and Dry where then escorted from security and onto the promenade. Both of them could feel the stations sensors following them wherever they went.

Scene 3. It's 4 O'clock in the Morning. 

James, and Dry wasted no time, and set out to find food, water, and cleaning supplies. There was only one problem: it was 0400, and the only place open was the Hiver Bar that James had had a drink at earlier.

Rumour has it they don't sleep.

James and Dry had another round, and asked the Hiver, if he knew anyone they could buy the supplies they needed from.

The Hiver reached behind the bar and pulled out a small computer which it carefully placed on the desk. The creature then began to gesture and a robotic voice emanated from the computer's speaker.

"Everything is closed this time of night. I hope to catch any late arrivals myself. I can however sell you 12 litres of bottled water?"

James and Dry agreed and bought the water for 10cr. Having little else to do, they thanked the Hiver and returned to James room at C-12. Dry dropped the water on the floor with a heavy clunk, and then they both shared James bed as they passed into a deep drunken sleep.

Scene 4 Cleaning Supplies, Pets and Self-Sealing Stem Bolts.

The door chime rang over and over and over again in a steady rhythm every five minutes. And though James was loath to get up, he couldn't stand it any more. He rolled out of bed slumped over to the door.

Slapping the release on the wall to the left, the door slid open revealing a man in a nice suit. He told James that he was from Interstellar Exports, and that a Mr. Schliff wished to meet him at his soonest convenience.

The man then handed James a business card and left down the hall. Shrugging it off, James looked at the card for Mr. Schliff, and slipped it into his pocket. What would the largest company in the galaxy want with him?

Deciding he would find out later, James decided it was time for a drink and some breakfast. He was going to head up to Screeve's, and shook Dry awake asking if he wanted to join him.  Dry was considerably more hungover than James was, and agreed that some hair of the dog would take the edge off. So hung voer, and still a little drunk, the two left Room C-12 and wandered towards Screeve's.

The two had their drinks, and Dry decided that he was going to the Bazaar to see if they could find the supplies they needed for the trip. James agreed, and said that he would join him after a few more drinks. Dry shrugged and continued on, impatient to get on with the trip.

True 'dat Boromir.

After Dry left, James ordered another ale from one of Screeve's waiters, and surveyed the bar. The first thing he notice was Screeve leaning over the counter, talking to a Plazarian Merchant.

To James' fortune, when Screeve saw his attention drift over rather than shoeing him away, Screeve invited him to join them.

"Come over here James," Screeve signalled.

James got up and came over. "What's up Sceeve?"

"My friend here," Screeve gestured at the Plazarian. "Has some merchandise that he needs to offload."

The Plazarian explained that he had 300 gross of Self-Sealing Stem Bolts that he needed to get rid of quickly. And would sell them to James at 35cr. a piece, promising that he could get at least 50-65cr. in any other system.

James had no idea what Self-Sealing Stem bolts were, but thought it might be a profitable purchase, if the Plazarian gave it to him for 25cr. a piece.

Self Sealing Stem Bolts. At least that is what it says on the pad.

The two eventually settled on 28cr. a piece, and the Plazarian handed him a receipt with the stations cargo bay.

"Give that to station security on the way out." The Plazarian told James. "And they will bring your Stem Bolts onto the station. Pleasure doing business with you."

With that the Plazarian left Screeve's and James ordered another drink.

Meanwhile at the Bazaar..

Meanwhile, Dry had been busy wandering the shops of the bazaar. He had found the cleaning products they needed, or at least the soap... For the past millennium, Comet had launched a very successful add campaign  about being the Spacefarer's Choice for cleaning their star ship. As a result comet could be found in any port.

Package has remained unchanged since the 1990's

Knowing they would probably need more in the not so distant future, Dry had purchased not one, but 12 tubes of the stuff which he had slung over his shoulder in a plastic bag. With water and cleaning supplies dealt with, they could finally clean up the mess in the ship.

But Dry wasn't ready to leave just yet. Even though it was only yesterday the bazaar's supplies had changed greatly, with the ebb and flow of passing star ships. He felt confident that he could find a dog in this place some where.

After a half hour's search, he found a pet stall that was selling a corgi, and a six legged lizard. The lizard was the size of large dog, but longer with the tail. He bought both of them, only noticing after the purchase that the lizard was a "baby."

At least he had his pets.

At least the corgi was pretty cute... and familiar some how.

Please with his purchased he walked his new pets through the bazaar back towards Screeve's. Immediately, the lizard started eyeing the corgi, and trying to snap at it as the corgi backed up and snarled at the lizard. Quickly Dry shifted them into opposite hands, and kept a tight reign on the lizard. No one was going to eat the other on his watch.


Dry arrived at the bar and showed James his purchases. James thought the creatures were interesting, but wondered what Dry wanted to do with them.

Dry explained that he was going to keep them as company, and as a guard!

"I Promise it is a great idea." Dry said.

James was a little too drunk to protest. So instead he shrugged it off,  and excitedly told Dry how he had bought the stem bolts.

"What do they do?" Asked Dry.

"I don't know! but we can sell." James said.

"Why would you buy something when you have no idea what it was!?"

The lizard's tongue licked in and out of it's mouth, reminding Dry of his most recent purchase.

"Oh, right." Dry said.

Words to live by.

James paid his tab, and followed Dry as he took the pets and cleaning supplies back to the Exodus.

Scene 5 Station Bureaucracy. State Room 3.

Getting the animals through customs was no simple manner. They had to stand to one side, pay a 50 cr. handling fee to rent cages, and await the delivery of their animals after they had arrived at their vessel.

It took forever to get sorted out, but finally the two were on the way back to their ship.

The Station shuttle also looked familiar.

Twenty minutes later the animals arrived, and James let the corgi out ino the ship, keeping the lizard on a short leash. Feeling the animals needed names, Dry named the corgi Ruffles, and chose Mr. Peaches as the name for the lizard. He then let go of Mr. Peaches leash, and let start exploring the ship.

A few minutes later, Mr. Peaches had Ruffles backed into a corner, and was ready to strike. Dry pulled the lizard off the dog, and put the creature back on its leash. It hissed angrily at him. It was apparent they would need some place to keep Mr. Peaches until he was needed. Dry then had a great idea; they had already taken the bedding out of Stateroom 3, why not just keep Mr. Peaches in there? 

Pulling the lizard down the hall, Dry managed to drag Mr. Peaches to the state room and shoved him inside, shutting the door. The muffled sound of furniture breaking and the mattress ripping came through the door, as Mr. Peaches got comfortable. James was wincing the whole time.

Giant Lizards. That is the reason.

"It will be great! We can lure people into the room if we get boarded!" Said Dry, trying to justify the lizard

James agreed that that did sound like a hilarious thing to do, and decided to let Mr. Peaches stay, but it was Dry's responsibility to feed it... And generally deal with the creature.

Dry agreed, and Stateroom 3 became Peaches' room, while Ruffles followed Dry around darting between his steps and yapping playfully.

Scene 6 What We Need is a Cleaning Robot.

Despite having water, a bucket, a mop, and comet, neither James nor Dry wanted to clean up the mess they had made, despite the fact that it was starting to smell even more. Laziness is always a problem, but James had an idea.

"What we really need, is a cleaning robot." he said to Dry.

"True, but where would we get one?" Dry asked.

"I know just the place." James said with a devilish smile.

James signalled a shuttle for their return to the station and explained to the Dry that the all the Orion Class Space Stations had automated cleaning robots. They would first talk to Screeve about smuggling something off the station. Then  they would go to James' room and summon a cleaning robot to clean his room. When the robot arrived, they would be waiting with Caesar who they would plug into the cleaning bot to hack in and rewrite it's software. Perfect and easy.

Getting Caesar who had been puttering around on the bridge, James and Dry then took the robot and boarded the shuttle back to the station.

Cue the French Horns.

At Screeve's, its namesake told James and Dry that to smuggle something off of the station would be 10000cr. minimum, but it would depend on the size of the item. James and Dry thought it over, and decided they had better see how much it would cost to get one legitimately first.

The only robot merchant they knew was Mikey, so they decided to head to the bazaar to see if he could help. They thanked Screeve as the left, and James told him that they would be in touch.

In the Bazaar they found Mikey in his shop, Mikey's Robotics, just as he had finished cooking an instant burrito. Mikey didn't have any cleaning robots in stock, but he could order something if they needed it. James asked Mikey how much it would cost, and Mikey asked him to wait a second while he searched his records.

While Mikey searched, Dry commented to James that they should consider buying Mikey's cart, it would make moving the cleaning robot and anything else around much easier. James agreed it would definitely come in handy, and would ask when Mikey was done.

Mikey told them that a Cleaning Robot Watson 47, TL9 would cost them around 65000, and it would take him two months to import it. They considered it. But they didn't want to wait. They purchased Mikey's cart for 60cr. and left the store heading towards Room C-12.

Once there, James and Dry set up there trap Dry stood ready with Caesar and his patch cable. James hit the call button for the cleaning robot, and they all waited in silence.

Minutes later, the Cleaning robot was inside and Dry plugged Caesar in.

Soon the solution to their laziness would be at hand!

They were expecting it to take seconds... But as the minutes passed, they began to suspect something was wrong.

Scene 7 Hacking the System.

Like when he was plugged into the fuel ship's computer, reality slipped away from Caesar. But this time it was not replaced by a calm field, but bright neon lights forming a vast landscape.

Tron?

A presence materialized before him and asked for the password. Caesar entered some gibberish that was promptly denied.

"Want to race?" the presence asked.

"Absolutely." Caesar Replied.

Suddenly Caesar and the presence's body formed into two light cycles, and a race track appear before them.

Tron Legacy?

Caesar was no where near as skilled a racer as the cleaning robot's program, who ran laps around him.

Soon the race was over and Caesar was booted out of the Cleaning Robot's system. In the real world, the cleaning robot started up, and continued its command to clean the room. It pulled away from Caesar leaving patch chord dangling from him.

Caesar began to scan his surroundings. Though it had only felt like a few moments to Caesar, he had been attempting to hack into the cleaning robot's systems for over an hour. James and Dry were gone, a Caesar had nothing to do but sit and wait.

Such is life for a robot with no arms.

He hoped James and Dry wouldn't be too disappointed in his failure.

Scene 8 Getting Food. A Meeting with Mr. Schliff.

While James and Dry waited for Caesar to hack into the the Cleaning robot, they had grown hungry and ordered Space Pad-Thai from Screeve's. Getting it delivered was very expensive, but the two didn't want to miss their prize... At least for the first little while.

Another half hour passed after they had finished their meal, and the Caesar still sat their silently plugged into the cleaning robot. Bored, they decided they would go out and get the rest of their supplies. Caesar and the cleaning robot wouldn't be going any where, and they could come back and retrieve them both when Caesar was finished.

Dry took the cart and went off to get the food they needed for the trip, While James decided it was time to see what Mr. Schliff at Interstellar Exports wanted with him.

Dry found enough ration packs for the two of them, as well as some dog food for Ruffles. But what was he going to serve Mr. Peaches?

What do you feed an alligator sized reptile.

Remembering how Mr. Peaches tried to eat Ruffles before he separated them, Dry sought out a butcher with the hopes of getting some rabbits.

The butcher didn't have rabbits, nor did he really understand what they were until Dry described them as "Hoppies."

Immediately the alien butcher recognized "hoppies" and pulled a skinned, eight legged creature out from behind the counter. It was about the same size as a rabbit, so Dry agreed to purchase ten of them and a cooler.

With the shopping done, Dry set off towards Screeve's knowing that James would find him there eventually.

Dave's first attempt at designing the Interstellar Export's logo.

James made his way towards the Interstellar Export's offices, and was about to pass by Sick Bay when he caught his reflection in a station panel. His face where the elder Canine had hit him early this morning, was bruised, and cut. He needed to get it looked at.

Entering the sick bay, James approached the desk and was greeted by the receptionist. When asked for a name, gave the name of a station employee he remembered through customs, telling them that she was his wife and to send the bill to her.

Surprisingly the lie worked, and he was able to get the medical attention he needed. Not wanting to attract attention, he slipped out of the sick bay before any one could ask him too many questions and headed towards Interstellar Exports.

James was quickly ushered inside Interstellar Export's and into Mr. Schliff's Office. The room was nice, and expensively decorated, and James noticed the gold plaque reading "Branch Manager" sitting on the desk.  Behind it stood a man in a nice suit.


Apparently he was wanting for James, as he was starring at the door, and greeted him as soon as it opened.

"Mr. James Hornby I presume?"

James nodded in agreement, looking around.

"I am Mr. Schliff." The man in the suit continued. "I understand you have a reputation as a courier, and a man who doesn't ask any questions."

Again James nodded in agreement.

"The sort of man who wouldn't be opposed to some work... Off the record?"

"Now hold on a Minute." James protested. "What is it you want me to do?"

"I have a package that I need you to deliver to system 0101 of this Galactic Sub-Sector. A contact will signal you upon your arrival."

"Is that it?" James asked.

"That's it." Mr. Schliff responded.

James was a little taken aback by directness of the Interstellar Exports Branch Manager. There was more to this than met the eye. He was sure of it.

Feeling there was something fishy, James was about to politely decline the offer, when Mr. Schliff named his price.

"I will pay you 500,000 cr. when you pick up the item, and an additional 1,000,000 cr. upon its delivery." Mr. Schliff said with a smile.

With the price laid out, James accepted the job without a second thought. Mr. Schliff was pleased and told James that he was to take his ship and orbit around this station's Cargo Bay-C in two hours. Then, the cargo bay would open, and an Interstellar Export's Associate would give them the package and their down payment.

They needn't worry about Customs, or Station Security monitoring their activity. It would all be dealt with in advance.

With that, James left Interstellar Exports, and went to Screeve's. This job was to good to be true!

Scene 9 The One that Got Away.

James found Dry waiting for him in Screeve's and told him the good news. Dry was a little suspicious, but when James mentioned that they would split the fee 50/50, his excitement grew.

The two ordered another round, and drank to the near departure and their brighter future. Screeve, who was tending the bar, over heard their merriment and joined them, asking James what he was celebrating.

"Things are finally looking up Screeve!" James said, finishing the last of his beer. "I'll have another."

Screeve opened another Noidulan Ale and passed it to James. "Word is you will be leaving soon. Got you ship fuelled, supplies ready."

James nodded his with a thin smile on his face. "Yeah." he said. "It is time to stop putting your kids through college."

Screeve chuckled as James lifted his bottle to him.

"If you are ever around here again," Screeve said. "Look me up. I am sure I will have a job for a man like you."

"I will." James Responded.

With that hew finished his bottle and walked out of Screeve's with Dry pushing the cart behind him.

Parting ways like two old friends.

The first stop was to go to to C-12, and collect Caesar and their new Cleaning Robot.

*As and aside, Caesar's attempt at Hacking the Cleaning Robot, was done between Jeff and myself via text message. At this point Dave and Elijah believed that there was no way Caesar could have failed, and were very excited to collect their robot.*

Much to James and Dry's surprise, when they returned to the room they found Caesar sitting in the middle; patch chord dangling helplessly, and the room itself sparklingly clean. The Cleaning robot had left more than an hour ago, and Caesar had failed.

The sting of defeat!

Grumbling, James and Dry took Caesar out through customs and onto their ship. They waited an hour, and then left for Cargo Bay-C five minutes before they were due.

Scene 10 Danger in Zero-G.

James ordered Dry lock the Exodus in a synchronous orbit around Cargo Bay-C and waited. Within minutes, the Cargo Bay's exterior doors began to open. Most of the cargo had been cleared away form the deck, leaving only two large crates. In between them stood a a figure in a space suit, holding two suitcases; one in either hand.

"Mr. Schliff's Associate." James said to himself.

James thought that Dry should go outside and retrieve the package. Which he agreed to gladly. Heading to his room, Dry grabbed his Grav-chute: a device from his explorer days that allowed the user to move in 3 dimensions. It would come in handy in space. He also grabbed his gauss rifle, because you never know.

Dry suited up and exited the airlock, floating out into the cold vacuum of space. Activating his grav-chute, he slowly propelled himself towards the Figure on the cargo bay deck.

When he was within 50m of the Cargo Bay floor, a red figure darted out of his peripheral vision. It was another person in a space suit and they had a gun!

It's a trap!

Before Dry could bring his rifle to bare, the person in the red suit fired at the Interstellar Exports Associate on the deck. Bullets ripped through his body, and even though the holes in his suit were quickly filled with the self repairing resin, it was not enough. His body floated limply on deck, clutching the suit cases in a death grip.

Dry fired his gauss rifle at the figure in red as they darted across the deck towards the dead man and the suitcases. Gun fire burst all around the figure, striking her on her side as she skid past the dead man seeking refuge behind one of the cargo containers.

Dry activated his Grav-chute and sped as fast as he could towards the second cargo container, but he wasn't fast enough. His foe peered around her cargo container and fired. One of the rounds struck him before he reached the safety of the cargo container. The hole in his suit quickly sealed, but the shot hat hit him in left shoulder. He was bleeding quite badly and in moderate. He could only hope his adversary was in the same boat.

a stand off.

After a few harrowing minutes of gun fire back and forth between the two, Dry's opponent had an idea. She kicked off the deck flying straight upwards, and peppered Dry's positon with gunfire. It was an interesting maneuver, but in zero-g the recoil from her rifle, sent her of course, making the shots miss wildly around Dry.


Seeing the tactic before his attacker finished executing ite, Dry also kicked off the deck, and avoided the gun fire. Dry then stablized himself with his grav-chute, and opened fire. The vantage of his position, and the stabalization from his grav-chute were just the edges he need. His shots ripped through his attacker as she returned to the deck.

One of the shots ripped through her helmet, killing her instantly, but her magnetic boots kept her stuck to the deck, floating limply like the Interstellar Export's employee. It would have been almost comical if it hadn't been so bloody.

Dry's wound was getting worse, and he knew he needed medical attention soon. Mustering his final ounce of strength, Dry jetted over of the Interstellar Export's employee grabbed both of the suitcase, and kicked off back towards the ship.

Scene 11 Emergency Medical Request.

Dry entered the ship, and stumbled into the hall, throwing off his space suit helmet.

"I've been shot!" He called out before he collapsed to the floor.

James pulled him into the corner and got him out of his Space Suit. The wound in Dry's shoulder was gushing blood, which was pooling slowly on the deck.

"I need help!" Dry said in a weak voice.

The Exodus did not have a sick bay, and any medical supplies James had had, had been taken two years ago. He thought perhaps the station could help, but was worried about how he would get his friend through customs with a gun shot wound.

His first thought was to contact Mr. Schliff at Interstellar exports. But this was easier said than done. After hailing Interstellar Exports half a dozen times, and getting stalled, hung up on, and finally ignored, he was running out of time and options.

The pool of blood around Dry grew, and his head grew heavy. James had no other choice, he had to get Orion XII to help, but he wasn't just going to walk on board. Activating his distress beacon, he punched in the frequency for the Orion XII station and asked for emergency medical assistance.

It was old law on the Interstellar Union's books, that to avoid cultural confusion, assistance would be rendered to any ship broadcasting a distress call and requesting medical attention. The law was created when there had been some issues in the early days of the IU's formation where security personnel attempted to question a group of canine's about the cause of their wounds... It ended in the deaths of seven IU security personnel and three canines.

It had been more than two years since James had even thought about Interstellar Law, but he figured that the Orion XII stations still used it as their guiding principle.

The station responded asking James to hold his position, and telling him that a Shuttle was on the way. Relieved James returned to keep Dry company while they waited for the shuttle.

I am here for you buddy.

A few minutes later, a shuttle arrived and James let two nurses and a doctor on board. James looked into the shuttle and saw security personnel waiting and watching, and thankfully not coming aboard.

While one of the nurses and the doctor dealt with Dry's wound, the second Nurse had James fill out the paper work. It was nothing too detailed or intimate, merely state the nature of the wound, name of patient, signee's name, etc. It would seem the old law was still in place.

As quick as they came, the medical team removed the bullet from Dry's shoulder, and regenerated the skin around the wound.

Dermal Regenerator: always useful to have around

Dry and James thanked the doctors who quickly departed the ship. Probably because it still reeked of urine as much as anything else. James Helped Dry stand and took him into the cockpit.

They just needed to grab one more thing before they left.

Scene 12 It is Time to Leave. A Big Score.

Knowing that they could spend up to two weeks in Hyper Space during the jump, James knew he needed to stock up on beer.

In a whirl wind He and Dry quickly returned to the station, loaded their cart up with two dozen cases of beer and left the station for good. James had to pay off his station tab before leaving, totalling some 234cr. And remembered to collect his Self-Sealing Stem bolts.

Other than the fines, James and Dry were met with no resistance.  This surprised them as chief Makay had promised he would be watching, and certainly the emergency medical request had attracted some attention. Perhaps Mr. Schliff hadn't totally ignored his calls for help after all.

Just remember Ferengi Rule of Acquisition 48: the Bigger the smile, the sharper knife.

Boarding the Exodus, the two stashed the beer in the ship's galley, and went to the bridge. James ordered Dry to plot a course out of this system, and begin the astrogation for the jump to the next. Dry agreed and flew scout ship away from the Station towards open space.

At the edge of System 0810, Dry punched in the coordinates for system 0809, while James transferred power from the engines. With a lurch, the ship rocketed forward and into Hyper Space, the stars melting around them into a dull grey hue.

With the ship's course plotted, James and Dry left the bridge, and went the upper cargo bay to inspect stem bolts, and store the package from Interstellar Exports.

What are we going to do with stem bolts?

The stem bolts were all in order... whatever they were. It was time to check on their package from Interstellar Exports. The First suitcase was locked with a combination lock. The symbols on the input pad were in a strange dialect that neither Dry nor James recognised. Dry pushed in a couple of random combos in an attempt to open the lock, but nothing worked.

Bored, the two opened the second case. Inside was a plastic card with a gold square in the centre. Both of them recognized it as Credit Card: worth 500,000cr.

And that was where we left off for the night.

Conclusion

Another fantastic session of Traveller, where we had our first Jump to Hyper Space!

What is in the mysterious package from Interstellar exports? Will our adventurers take it all the way to sector 0101 as they promised? and what exactly are self-sealing stem bolts anyways?

Find out the answers to some of these questions and more next time in Interstellar Exports Game 3!

Written by: Andrew Gregory