Out There - Session 5
A session report of a planet-hopping sci-fi game I am writing and playing with my in-person group.
We rejoined the crew of My Ex Husband in the cargo hold as they considered their new guests. They were:
- Captain Polly, former atmo rigger, and divorcée
- Iago, wreck picker and face of the crew
- Bettie, a droid just human-like enough to pass as organic, but only just
- Dr. Timor, cybernetics specialist and heavy sleeper
Evit, the ship's pilot, had been temporarily consigned to the brig (a storage compartment) for insubordination. Otherwise, the crew had three passengers to consider:
- Priyava Farrow, the crew's current employer and rookie Salvage Licensing Bureau (SLB) agent.
- Dogberry, manservant to their former employer, Lord Cassian Thorne-Vey.
- "Unbettie", a droid identical to Bettie, now their prisoner.
They reviewed what they knew. Unbettie had sabotaged Late Again Darling. The droid probably worked for whatever rogue branch of the SLB had made off with the core-tech power coupling they had salvaged near Egret. Lorde Thorne-Vey and the crew of Late Again Darling were missing. Agent Farrow reported that his quarters showed signs of a struggle, but no blood. Thorne-Vey's luggage was missing as well.
Two Unwilling Guests
Dr. Timor conducted a routine medical examination of Unbettie and Dogberry.
Unbettie was astonishingly light and seemed to be kitted out with numerous hidden compartments. There were no visible signs of tampering or hacking devices (which would be bulky and external). A scanner detected that she was emitting a tracking beacon. Bettie and Iago secured her inside of the skiff in the cargo hold, rigging it as a signal dampener. Bettie figured this would hold the droid for now, but that eventually they would escape. So would Bettie, after all.
Dogberry seemed to be in fine physical condition, except that he was incredibly heavy. He was dressed in the formal attire of a spire house servant, complete with a stiff knee length coat. This coat seemed to be rigid and weighing him down immensely. He refused to remove it under any circumstances.
Dr. Timor gave up on persuading him and went to fix omelets for lunch. Dogberry admired his elaborate, hotel-breakfast-like spread, but remained caustic and aloof. He was unwilling to act in any way against his master and demanded to be returned to the Thorne-Vey estate on Egret. Iago was astounded by his blind obedience. They secured him in a spare bunk.
In the meantime, Bettie and Farrow tried to communicate with Unbettie. The droid did not speak (perhaps could not speak), only communicating in nods and gestures. Bettie asked if there were more droids like them. Unbettie affirmed but could share little more. Farrow didn't know much about STA droids, but suggested that Cormorant II might be a place to find out more. A tantalizing crumb for Bettie.
Unbettie acknowledged that she had wrecked Late Again Darling; that if released she would likely attack the crew; and that if the she were in the crew's position, the droid would kill her captives to eliminate the threat of her escape or discovery. The crew (maybe Iago?) attempted to intimidate the droid, but with little effect.
Where Next?
Polly convened the crew in the far corner of the hold to discuss their options. Three presented themselves:
They could run. The crew could ditch Dogberry and Unbettie somewhere remote - perhaps the sparsely settled ice world of Gannett that was on their way back starward. Iago suggested they could rename their ship, request a new transponder from Farrow and her contacts in the SLB, and hopefully outrun any consequences. For her part, Agent Farrow remarked that they could turn in Unbettie to the Solar Transit Authority for her crimes and that she might have more work for the crew continuing her investigation.
They could try to blackmail whoever was aboard None Shall Pass. They had video evidence of the rendezvous and of the state of Late Again Darling plus the testimony of Farrow and Dogberry (if he could be persuaded). They could deposit those with a neutral third party. Dogberry and Unbettie could be dropped somewhere. Iago pointed out that Unbettie might know more about her employer. If the could find a dedicated droid memory specialist, they might be able to glean more information.
Finally, at Dr. Timor's suggestion, they could try to join None Shall Pass. They knew roughly where they were. The crew could try to bluff their way into their confidence, returning Unbettie as a show of good faith. Timor preferred this option as the lowest profile one, even if it was more dangerous than the others.
After much deliberation, the crew decided to attempt blackmail. My Ex Husband jumped away, leaving Hawk behind.
GM Notes
I'm writing these notes more than a week after the session, so perhaps they are not as fresh as usual...
As is not entirely uncommon for me, Out There seems to be sliding towards a sort of Chinatown style plot. There are some big events going on in the setting that are not entirely visible to the players. Various characters, player and non-, get caught up in the wake. The players have a keen sense that they might be in danger, but from whom or to what degree is unclear. Theoretically the players could take steps at this point to investigate what they witnessed, but doing so would probably drag them more into the crosshairs.
I am trying my best to play non-player characters scrupulously close to their motives and short term objectives. I don't have a script exactly, but I did have a timeline for what would happen with Thorne-Vey if the players didn't intervene. Too much of that and I could imagine the game starting to feel like it is on rails, but for now its just a good push into our next episode.
This session really brought the ethics of taking and holding prisoners to the fore. I should have done a little bit more work up front to make it clear that droids in this setting are generally regarded to have the same rights and status as humans. That came up midway through an extended conversation about hacking into Unbettie's brain or her potential value as a rare weapons system that I think the players likely would not have gone down if we had established that as a setting truth in advance. So it goes!
Unbettie's inevitable escape attempt is currently a clock (with 4 slivers remaining). Its fun to have that looming over the players as a hot potato for them to deal with urgently. It should put some pressure on them, even as they don't immediately have another job or mission lined up. Combine that with the very real pressure on the crew's fuel and bank accounts and they have a lot to keep them motivated. It is, however, unclear to me which kind of motivation this group of players will respond to me more favorably - the logistical pressure of their resources or the narrative pressure of FitD style clocks.
Admittedly, this puts me in a complicated spot with regards to prep for next session. The party's pay is on Egret, so they are liable to head back in that direction. They have fuel to get them as far as Finch, so that leaves three possible planets (and orbits) they might visit next session. Planets are big though, so that still leaves a lot of possible range. I have each planet prepped like 3 hexes (with more sites in "cold storage" in case we need them), but it does sort of leave me with a lot pages to pull out of my binder for next time...