“You all know how beastly tigers are
(Out in, out in, out in India)
They bite; they scratch; they make an awful fuss
It’s no use stroking them and saying puss puss puss”
– The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Hunting Tigers Out in India
Tyokh Highport, 1108 Week 14
Macavity's crew accompany Troisei back to the Clan Aftei landhold where she reports in. The Afteiko reviews her accounts and the stories from herself and her companions, and declares himself satisfied with her performance.
Later that week, Dr Matauranga again meets with Bridget Harris. He passes her a list of his requirements for Project SPANC, asking her to acquire them for him in her role as a cargo broker, and she notes that they range from incomprehensible to unethical to downright illegal. She is also somewhat taken aback by his new ensemble and they part on a slightly sour note.
A few days later, Troisei introduces them to a business acquaintance, Ftahkaiw, who has a proposition for them. His second son Ftahteas took a ship and some like-minded ihatei off towards the dustbelt in search of land and glory, and is missing in action. Ftahkaiw has made certain rash statements about how well his son is obviously doing, which will rebound badly on him if they turn out to be untrue; and he is also concerned for his son's safety. After some spirited negotiation the crew agreed to keep an eye out for him on their travels, and return him and if possible his ship, ideally alive and in an honourable condition. They trade their way to Torpol, where Ftahkaiw thinks the boy was heading, and start looking around.
Torpol, 1108 Week 22
Since Clan Ahroay'if dealt with Drinax again, somewhat more permanently this time, Torpol is no longer a xenophobic fascist state bent on eradicating all aslan, but is under new management. Specifically, there are Ahroayh'if marines everywhere, looking for trouble and hoping they find it.
"Don't worry," says Vila, "I know a guy." The guy turns out to be a starport engineer who worked on the relevant ship as it passed through, and can give the next few stops on the itinerary (Marduk and Thebus) as well as details on the weapons fit and what supplies it had loaded. Vila buys him a few drinks, and the Macavity heads off towards Thebus.
Thebus, 1108 Week 26
Networking around Thebus Highport, the crew confirms that the missing aslan ship was here, that it landed on Thebus, and wasn't seen leaving. Refuelling and replenishing their stores, the crew complete their trading and likewise head for the surface, pausing to run a sensor scan to find the ship. Vila, who is now the ship's best sensor operator, is convinced he has found it, and the Macavity thus descends nearby. However, wary of trigger-happy aslan who are not responding to their hails, the Macavity lands a short way off, and - donning respirators to protect them from the very thin air - the crew head for their quarry in the ship's air/raft.
To be continued...
GM Notes
This session was low on play, as we got sidetracked discussing rules for the next proposed campaign, Dune: Fall of the Imperium. I'm relaxed about this, because to my mind the purpose of these sessions is to spend time talking with each other, the game is merely what we talk about.
Lions of Thebus is one of the adventures from The Drinaxian Companion which we never quite got around to in our Pirates of Drinax campaign, despite the PCs spending most of the game in the Dust Belt. I could've run Gods of Marduk on the way there, but it didn't grab me when I read it, and they can always hit that up on the way back.
Troisei's first trading voyage is now over, and as we've ignored how well she did so far, I decided to give her a Persuasion roll with Support from the PCs to resolve that; critical failure - discharged in disgrace, failure - held back for more training, success - sent back out as results were indecisive, raise or better - promoted. The last of these is what happened, and the crew breathed a sigh of relief as they can now return to their normal somewhat elastic moral code.
The meeting with Harris was submitted by Matauranga's player as ongoing backstory, in the form of a report from Harris to her boss, which I encourage as it gives me more plot thread ideas. SPANC of course refers to the Steve Jackson Games card game Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirls.
The players show no interest in their mission from the IISS on Torpol, so I think the Ahroay'if will decide to stay there and take a cut from the starport fees and tariffs.
Vila got to use his new Edge, I Know A Guy from the Rifts players' handbook, which I liked enough to import. He also critically failed his Electronics roll to find the missing aslan ship, and what he found instead was... well, more of that next time.
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