The long-awaited continuation of the Big Trouble in Lunar China campaign!
The Characters:
Andrew Staunton, Captain, USAF Space Command: [Played by Phalanx] Captain Staunton is a Gadgeteer Agent working for the American Space Intelligence Agency (SIA) under the cover of a USAFSC Military Diplomatic Attaché and NASA test pilot. He has an on-body computer with a head jack and knows Tae Kwon Do. His real skill, however, is piloting and is able to pilot just about anything that drives, floats, flies, or travels in space (including the Astronaut/Cosmonaut military skill program from my Rifter 25 article). He has been assigned by the SIA to visit the Chinese Deng Xiaoping Lunar Complex (a.k.a. “Dungville”) to investigate claims that a revolution may be brewing among the beleaguered peasant population.
John Hudson, SIA: [Played by Thorowendain] Agent Hudson is a Wired Agent working for the SIA as a Deep Cover specialist and Information Gathering Agent. He has several cyber disguises and implants and knows Aikido (I allowed this MA selection even though it’s Exclusive). He too has been sent to Dungville under cover as a translator and diplomat to explore rumors about the revolution.
Jeff King, (a.k.a. Marc Jordan a.k.a. “Captain Kirk”): [Played by Mattbaby, NPC-MODE THIS WEEK] Jeff King is a Tinker Gizmoteer with a specialty in Computer Hacking and Forgery (using the Forgery Giz skill program from my Rifter 25 article). He is a free-lance master hacker (under the “Capt. Kirk” moniker) and rogue hired via the web by the U.S. Government to assist Hudson in things involving computers and forged documents.
Huang Shu: [Played by DarklordDC] Huang is a Commando Merc and former Chinese Special Forces Space Commando skilled in Military Intelligence and Deep Cover Infiltration who has gone “freelance”. He knows Pao Pat Mei (Leopard Style) Kung Fu with Arts of Invisibility (Stealth and Vanishing) and is trained in zero-G combat. He was hired freelance through the Manpower International mercenary company to assist the U.S. team at Dung Station. He assumed the identity of a Chinese peasant sent to Dungville as one of the many peasants involuntarily sent to there to reach colonization population quotas.
Episode II: Shadowfall:
The day started poorly for the American team with the crash of their main computer system, right on the eve of major discussions over lunar boundary rights with the Indian delegation. The entire main server for the network crashed hard, taking with it most of the data and all of the diplomatic team’s network. Diplomacy became an uphill battle with old-fashioned note-passing being the principle mode of communications. For special contractor Marc Jordan (a.k.a. Jeff King, computer hacking Gizmoteer played by Mattling (absent this week)) it was an uphill battle of another sort as he attempted to repair and restore the network system and replace the data. While he could still schedule in a few minor tasks for the espionage team (player party) he was effectively “out of the game” for a while straightening things out.
This left Agents John Hudson (Wired Agent and deep cover expert, played by Thorowendain) and Andrew Staunton (Gadgeteer pilot-expert played by Phalanx) in quite a bind. They needed “Jordan” to further penetrate the Chinese computer network at Dungville. In the mean time Hudson considered his options. He observes the Chinese workers and security seeking to deduct who is an agent. He notices Chinese guards seeming to answer to Bing Mao, the icy Vietnamese man in the suit that seems to work for Sheng She, the Chinese diplomat they met when they first arrived. This brings up some interesting questions: although many Vietnamese refugees did flee to Southern China after the fall of Hanoi to American forces in the late 60s, it seems counter-intuitive that Red Army men would answer to a “mere barbarian” Vietnamese civilian. Furthermore Hudson looked for more ways in to the peasant side of Dungville. After carefully observing the Chinese soldiers guarding the peasant side of Dungville he was convinced that slipping into the complex through the access gate would be difficult and possibly an unnecessary risk. Besides, he already had an agent on the inside: Huang Shu (Commando Merc and deep infiltration expert, played by DarklordDC).
Huang has become an important aspect of the mission: his cover as a peasant and job as a diplomatic side bus boy gives him access to both the diplomatic and peasant sides of the station. He has found Long Wei, the Tibetan suspected to be the spiritual leader of the resistance cell, and has regularly attended Long’s Tai Chi and meditation sessions. One member of the group, a young man called “Jen”, may well be the “Po Jen” suspected to be the de facto leader of the cell. To help things further a crusty old man whom claims to have once marched with Mao in the old guerilla days and an outspoken critic of current Chinese doctrine has taken a liking to Huang. Despite his efforts to warm further to Long Wei and the suspected cell, they remain distant from this newcomer.
And things are indeed strained in Dungville, particularly in the slummy area where Huang lives and Long’s meditation group meets. The local chief of security, an arrogant bully named Chang, is running his jurisdiction area like his own little kingdom: shaking down shops for protection money, taking bribes from local hoods, forcing prostitutes to give him and his men free service, etcetera. While things aren’t one the immediate verge of exploding tensions are definitely lingering, particularly among the radical youth and elderly with nothing to lose. Huang takes an opportunity to “accidentally” walk in on Chang and two of his Goons in the process of extorting a “freebee” from a local prostitute. When confronted he plays it cool. When a Goon named Wa notices Huang’s party membership card and shows some deference Huang asks about how he can “get in on some of the action”. Wa invites Huang to the station to “test” for a job.
The next day Huang goes to the station where he plays the part of a bully eager for action and starts the “test”. He hams down his shooting ability by holding the pistol like a Hollywood action star, fights really dirty in the hand-to-hand portion and kicks Wa’s ass really well, and aces the written test when Wa “accidentally” leaves the room with the answer key in the open. Huang is openly accepted for training in the day while working at night at the bar and spending mornings at Long’s group. While his commando training allows him to deal well with lack of sleep this is still a very dangerous game he’s playing.
Meanwhile Staunton has been playing things cool. Eager to play the “good boy” after his “incident” with the Chinese Taikonaut he spends his days drinking and partying with the other pilots and attempting to fleece spacecraft performance data from them. As the “Crazyman” that whipped up on the Chinese pilot in his own simulators Staunton is well respected by the pilots, but under enough of a watch that he wishes to keep his nose clean. He has become quite chummy with the pilots, particularly a Soviet Cosmonaut named Sergei, whom is the boisterous life of the party. Staunton attempts to help Jordan (King) and Hudson where he can.
Hudson convinces Sheng She that an external tour of the facility might be a diplomatic way to spend a recess in the proceedings, and Sheng agrees. The tour gives Hudson and Staunton a good exterior look at the facility including entrances and exits and the military complex (though this latter was covered from observation). Hudson is seated next to an Indian diplomat, a Sikh named Bahandar Singh. They have a nice conversation about small things. Back inside the complex Hudson thanks Sheng for the tour. Sheng invites Hudson for a drink and they proceed to have a nice conversation while quietly trying to pump each other for information.
During the conversation Sheng draws Hudson’s attention to the fact that the American computer system crashed conveniently right before a major diplomatic conflict with the Indian delegation and hints that the Indians might be connected to this. Hudson immediately suspects the opposite: that the Chinese might be behind it to frame the Indians. He later goes to Singh and tells him about the conversation. Singh thanks Hudson for bringing this to his attention and is more than eager to offer Hudson any aid. “After all,” continues Singh, “us big democracies should stand together against the autocratic nations like the Soviet Union and China.”
More to be posted later...
BTiLC II: Shadowfall! [Campaign]
Moderators: Supreme Beings, Immortals, Old Ones
- Slag
- Palladium Books® Freelance Writer
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BTiLC II: Shadowfall! [Campaign]
Fickt nicht mit der Raketemensch!
"I respect you. And unlike love, respect can't be bought" - Homer Simpson.
"I respect you. And unlike love, respect can't be bought" - Homer Simpson.
- Prince Cherico
- Hero
- Posts: 1134
- Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2001 2:01 am
- Comment: Remember also that the smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights, cannot claim to be defenders of minorities
Ayn Rand - Location: california
pure awsomeness
Svartalf- if Cherico were a character created in a point game system, he'd have all his scores in geeky skills and his youtube and weird net stuff schticks all paid through a a Terminal Bad Luck (with more nasty GM intervention) disadvantage, and probably an Uncouth (can not have social skills) disad as well...
In an RPG with deadly situations that character would have had to be replaced a dozen times over[
In an RPG with deadly situations that character would have had to be replaced a dozen times over[
- Slag
- Palladium Books® Freelance Writer
- Posts: 916
- Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2002 2:01 am
- Location: King George, VA
- Contact:
continuation:
Two weeks of Game Time pass. The Earth’s shadow has fallen over Dungville ending 15 days of light and beginning 15 days of darkness. External temperatures plummet and inside scores of lights come on. It still has a creepy feeling, however, compared to the joyful brightness of the earlier continual sun. In the course of this time Huang completes his police “training” and joins the force, Hudson and Staunton play it cool, and King finally gets the computer network back up, but is still busy restoring backup files.
One day Staunton is approached by Sergei the Soviet Cosmonaut. Sergei has a secret to show him: he leads Staunton off to a door in the station marked “private” and uses a small computer to bypass the code lock to reveal a room with a small Koi pond. Sergei notes how he’s seen much more such extravagance behind closed doors on this station. He then takes out two fishing poles and they cast some lines. Staunton realizes immediately how much maintaining such a pond on the moon would cost and informs Hudson. They decide that getting pictures of this “plutocratic extravagance” to Long’s resistance cell would be a propaganda coup. Staunton approaches Sergei with the plan and the two set out to snap some nice pictures.
Sergei’s computer is enough to get them past the lock to the Koi pond and they get great pictures of it. The next room is a little harder with added linked security and Staunton makes use of his Electrical Engineering skills to bypass the security. This room holds a real treasure trove of archeological artifacts: an old suit of armor, antique weapons, and most of all a small (1/4 scale) terracotta soldier from an emperor’s grave! They eagerly snap pictures of this, since the cost of bringing such things to the moon would be enormous all by itself. Someone is spending a lot of money here. They notice a security camera and Staunton manages to re-record the footage of them with spliced “empty room” footage. The last room they can only peek into since a trip laser guards the door crossing. But the extravagant desk inside with an artful waterfall and lion head swords on the wall belies an office of great importance.
They snap photos and are preparing to leave when they hear the first door to the Koi pond room open and close: someone has entered! Two voices argue in fast Chinese, which neither Staunton nor Sergei can understand. The voices approach: they need somehow to hide in this small room! Staunton hides behind the terracotta figure’s display stand while Sergei attempts to squeeze his stocky figure into the dark corner. Just in time! The door slowly opens as three figures enter: Sheng She, Bing Mao, and an unknown Chinese man in an expensive suit. Sheng and the unknown argue while Bing Mao waits patiently behind the unknown man.
As Sheng and the unknown man argue Bing’s attention perks and he looks towards the display with the terracotta soldier. He slowly starts to lean around towards where Staunton is hiding, looming ever closer to discovering Staunton. Sheng and the unknown man take no notice as Sheng opens the door to the office and they enter. Just as Bing is about to notice Staunton for sure the unknown man in the suit yells “Bing Mao!” and Bing turns back towards him and enters the office, shutting the door behind him. With a huge sigh of relief Staunton and Sergei quickly reset the camera, reset the alarms and flee laughing with relief.
Afterwards Staunton develops the photos and passes negatives along to Hudson, whom gives them to Huang to distribute. Huang has been working hard to play all ends of the spectrum back on the peasant side. He’s been trying to maintain the image of a good loyal thug to Chang while maintaining the image of a devotee of Long Wei to an ever-more-suspicious Jen. Jen trusts Huang much less now that Huang works for the corrupt cops despite Huang’s insistence that he’s trying to fix things from within. To further the image he “reverts” a little with the hope that Long Wei will attempt to intervene to “save” him from a downward spiral. Long does intervene, and Huang plays along seeking “enlightenment” and a desire to “change things for the better within the force”. As an act of faith he sets up a system to warn the shopkeepers when Chang and his goons are coming around on their shakedowns. It helps his image a bit, but Jen remains suspicious. He then shows them the pictures Staunton acquired. He also shows the pictures to corrupt guard Chang, saying how that “Bing Mao” guy enjoys the real good life!
One day Huang is “shaking down” a local Opium addict that runs a ring of child pickpockets for information. The addict agrees to become an informant for cash. The addict also tells about Big Wu, a local addict-turned-mugger. Though Big Wu is far from “news” Huang decides to keep an eye on him. One day he notices Big Wu following a blanket-shrouded old man into an alley. Suspicious, he follows and arrives in time to witness Wu bean the old guy with a metal pipe. Rather than collapse the old man turns around, a flap of pealed-back skin revealing the silver shine of a metal skull cap! The boil-faced “old Chinese man” punches Wu right in the center of the chest with a bulky, blocky right arm mostly hidden under the old blanket; a cyborg? Wu falls back coughing up blood as the ugly old man walks on. Huang checks on Wu and calls back to HQ as he notices that Wu’s chest has been all but caved in! Wu is barely alive and will not survive until the paramedics get there.
Huang uses the Art of Stealth to follow the “old man”. As he’s following a huge explosion rocks the complex in the vicinity of the market area! Now really suspicious of the old man he follows with renewed vigor, but loses him in a shop finding the blanket and hat the old guy used in a back alley. Rushing back to the bomb scene he discovers that a small homemade explosive has destroyed the bar/whore house/opium den where the corrupt guard/cops of the slum hung out. Wa and his prostitute were killed and several others injured. Huang finds out from one of the addict’s child pickpockets that an “ugly man” resembling the possible cyborg was in the area before the bombing. Huang convinces Chang that the bomb was meant for him and suggests that Bing Mao, whom Huang already has Chang convinced is a big-time criminal lord, was trying to muscle in on Chang’s turf!
Back on the diplomatic side a slight shaking was felt. The Chinese dismiss it as just a “tremor”. Problem: the moon is a “tectonically dead” body; IT HAS NO TECTONIC ACTIVITY!! The pilots start making jokes about “Moon Quakes”: (one pops a bag) “Moon Quake!”, (another breaks wind) “oh dear, another Moon Quake!” etcetera. Staunton and Hudson naturally assume another of the legendary depressurization accidents has happened, but they are wrong. Huang arrives for his shift and lets them know that a bomb has gone off, though is unable to give them the details without it looking suspicious.
Now the team has huge questions to answer. Who set off the bomb and why? Was it the rebels? Was it the Chinese as an excuse to “clamp down”? Was it someone else with other motives? What’s with the cyborg? Who has the resources to make one and how did they get him up to the station? Did peasants build him from scrap? It will be all our team can do to unwrap this enigma!
Two weeks of Game Time pass. The Earth’s shadow has fallen over Dungville ending 15 days of light and beginning 15 days of darkness. External temperatures plummet and inside scores of lights come on. It still has a creepy feeling, however, compared to the joyful brightness of the earlier continual sun. In the course of this time Huang completes his police “training” and joins the force, Hudson and Staunton play it cool, and King finally gets the computer network back up, but is still busy restoring backup files.
One day Staunton is approached by Sergei the Soviet Cosmonaut. Sergei has a secret to show him: he leads Staunton off to a door in the station marked “private” and uses a small computer to bypass the code lock to reveal a room with a small Koi pond. Sergei notes how he’s seen much more such extravagance behind closed doors on this station. He then takes out two fishing poles and they cast some lines. Staunton realizes immediately how much maintaining such a pond on the moon would cost and informs Hudson. They decide that getting pictures of this “plutocratic extravagance” to Long’s resistance cell would be a propaganda coup. Staunton approaches Sergei with the plan and the two set out to snap some nice pictures.
Sergei’s computer is enough to get them past the lock to the Koi pond and they get great pictures of it. The next room is a little harder with added linked security and Staunton makes use of his Electrical Engineering skills to bypass the security. This room holds a real treasure trove of archeological artifacts: an old suit of armor, antique weapons, and most of all a small (1/4 scale) terracotta soldier from an emperor’s grave! They eagerly snap pictures of this, since the cost of bringing such things to the moon would be enormous all by itself. Someone is spending a lot of money here. They notice a security camera and Staunton manages to re-record the footage of them with spliced “empty room” footage. The last room they can only peek into since a trip laser guards the door crossing. But the extravagant desk inside with an artful waterfall and lion head swords on the wall belies an office of great importance.
They snap photos and are preparing to leave when they hear the first door to the Koi pond room open and close: someone has entered! Two voices argue in fast Chinese, which neither Staunton nor Sergei can understand. The voices approach: they need somehow to hide in this small room! Staunton hides behind the terracotta figure’s display stand while Sergei attempts to squeeze his stocky figure into the dark corner. Just in time! The door slowly opens as three figures enter: Sheng She, Bing Mao, and an unknown Chinese man in an expensive suit. Sheng and the unknown argue while Bing Mao waits patiently behind the unknown man.
As Sheng and the unknown man argue Bing’s attention perks and he looks towards the display with the terracotta soldier. He slowly starts to lean around towards where Staunton is hiding, looming ever closer to discovering Staunton. Sheng and the unknown man take no notice as Sheng opens the door to the office and they enter. Just as Bing is about to notice Staunton for sure the unknown man in the suit yells “Bing Mao!” and Bing turns back towards him and enters the office, shutting the door behind him. With a huge sigh of relief Staunton and Sergei quickly reset the camera, reset the alarms and flee laughing with relief.
Afterwards Staunton develops the photos and passes negatives along to Hudson, whom gives them to Huang to distribute. Huang has been working hard to play all ends of the spectrum back on the peasant side. He’s been trying to maintain the image of a good loyal thug to Chang while maintaining the image of a devotee of Long Wei to an ever-more-suspicious Jen. Jen trusts Huang much less now that Huang works for the corrupt cops despite Huang’s insistence that he’s trying to fix things from within. To further the image he “reverts” a little with the hope that Long Wei will attempt to intervene to “save” him from a downward spiral. Long does intervene, and Huang plays along seeking “enlightenment” and a desire to “change things for the better within the force”. As an act of faith he sets up a system to warn the shopkeepers when Chang and his goons are coming around on their shakedowns. It helps his image a bit, but Jen remains suspicious. He then shows them the pictures Staunton acquired. He also shows the pictures to corrupt guard Chang, saying how that “Bing Mao” guy enjoys the real good life!
One day Huang is “shaking down” a local Opium addict that runs a ring of child pickpockets for information. The addict agrees to become an informant for cash. The addict also tells about Big Wu, a local addict-turned-mugger. Though Big Wu is far from “news” Huang decides to keep an eye on him. One day he notices Big Wu following a blanket-shrouded old man into an alley. Suspicious, he follows and arrives in time to witness Wu bean the old guy with a metal pipe. Rather than collapse the old man turns around, a flap of pealed-back skin revealing the silver shine of a metal skull cap! The boil-faced “old Chinese man” punches Wu right in the center of the chest with a bulky, blocky right arm mostly hidden under the old blanket; a cyborg? Wu falls back coughing up blood as the ugly old man walks on. Huang checks on Wu and calls back to HQ as he notices that Wu’s chest has been all but caved in! Wu is barely alive and will not survive until the paramedics get there.
Huang uses the Art of Stealth to follow the “old man”. As he’s following a huge explosion rocks the complex in the vicinity of the market area! Now really suspicious of the old man he follows with renewed vigor, but loses him in a shop finding the blanket and hat the old guy used in a back alley. Rushing back to the bomb scene he discovers that a small homemade explosive has destroyed the bar/whore house/opium den where the corrupt guard/cops of the slum hung out. Wa and his prostitute were killed and several others injured. Huang finds out from one of the addict’s child pickpockets that an “ugly man” resembling the possible cyborg was in the area before the bombing. Huang convinces Chang that the bomb was meant for him and suggests that Bing Mao, whom Huang already has Chang convinced is a big-time criminal lord, was trying to muscle in on Chang’s turf!
Back on the diplomatic side a slight shaking was felt. The Chinese dismiss it as just a “tremor”. Problem: the moon is a “tectonically dead” body; IT HAS NO TECTONIC ACTIVITY!! The pilots start making jokes about “Moon Quakes”: (one pops a bag) “Moon Quake!”, (another breaks wind) “oh dear, another Moon Quake!” etcetera. Staunton and Hudson naturally assume another of the legendary depressurization accidents has happened, but they are wrong. Huang arrives for his shift and lets them know that a bomb has gone off, though is unable to give them the details without it looking suspicious.
Now the team has huge questions to answer. Who set off the bomb and why? Was it the rebels? Was it the Chinese as an excuse to “clamp down”? Was it someone else with other motives? What’s with the cyborg? Who has the resources to make one and how did they get him up to the station? Did peasants build him from scrap? It will be all our team can do to unwrap this enigma!
Fickt nicht mit der Raketemensch!
"I respect you. And unlike love, respect can't be bought" - Homer Simpson.
"I respect you. And unlike love, respect can't be bought" - Homer Simpson.