Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Order of The Infinite Way, pt. 5: Session 3 Plan and Recap

As with last entry, today's will provide a sense of how I use session plans, including narrative setpieces, as the basis for sandbox adventuring.

When last we left our Inquisitorial Acolytes, they had arrived on Valis, and started to make friends and enemies. The notorious Ferrus D'Angelus had escaped from custody, and the acolytes and their Inquisitrix (the lovely Dorothea Senjak) met with both the Arbites commnader, Krysdam Haslinger, and the Ministorum Witchfinder, Arcadius Kapperman.

So, on to the next session!


Session 3 Plan

Assassination Attempt


At some point, there will be an attempt on the life of Inquisitrix Senjak. Play it straight. If she gets killed, burn a Fate Point.

Who is involved? This is Steffi Krueger's work. She knows what's at stake on Valis is not simply figuring out WHO created the daemonhost, but HOW they accomplished it. She wants that knowledge, and is just crazy enough to take out the people who hope to deny it to her. However, she will not be directly on the scene.

Instead, she will shoot from an elevated position of cover, using a long las with a telescopic sight, aiming for the sniper's triangle.

She will send a large group of thugs after Senjak's party (use the ones already rolled up for her group). When the mop-up effort is occurring, she will take her shot.

House Politics


Depending on how the PCs approach things, they may stir up some of the noble houses, causing them to attempt things they see to be in their best interests.

House Cortenses: Will definitely try to assassinate Paxxu Melus and his closest family, including Paxxu Gloriana.

House de Jagger: Will attempt to stay out of it, and let the local authorities take care of things. Will support their allies, particularly Sapphon and House Dekkarta.

House Dekkarta: Will do their best to keep stable the relations between the houses, but will also be willing to aid PCs if civil war seems imminent.

House Gallo: May use chaos to launch an attack on House Narutha.

House Lemulio: May use the opportunity to betray Sapphon, in hopes of taking over his enterprises.

House Mythrux: Wants desperately to hide its connection to the sorcerous arts. Will aid Willian Bellhouse, if Narutha attacks him.

House Narutha: May use the opportunity to take out Willian Bellhouse, in hopes of taking over his enterprises.

House Paxxu: May use opportunity to attack House Cortenses and take out their young ruler. May also use opportunity to take out Sapphon and assume control of his enterprises.

Criminal Activity

It may be that the PCs do things to hurt the business of the various criminal gangs.

Willian Bellhouse will be far more likely a target, because of his affiliation with the Cold Trade and House Mythrux. He will attempt to do damage control if it seems like they are getting on his case, even to the point of removing his allies from the picture.

Sapphon will try to keep a lid on things, and will preserve and protect his enterprises. Suprisingly (or not), he will attack anyone who causes damage to the working classes. He will also attempt to help his allies, if help is needed.

Session 3 Recap

The PCs began the session in transit from the Great Northern Hive, back to Greystone Hive, and a meeting with Inquisitrix Senjak. She has secured three levels of the upper spire somewhere near the main Arbites tower. News of Ferrus' escape from custody has her in a state, but that's not readily apparent. She hides it well. However, the words she uses to describe him indicate to the PCs that Ferrus' future might be very short and potentially very painful.

It is decided that they will go to the scene where Ferrus escaped/was taken. It happened on a long bridge between two spires, about 100 meters long and 20 meters wide. It's windy and a little bit icy, but otherwise seems solid. They find the dead guards, along with two other dead bodies. The guards have had their weapons looted, but strangely the outsiders have not.

The outsiders look like common scum, but the weapons they carry are clearly from off-world, not new but very serviceable. They bear the mark of a minor forge planet in nearby sector. Clearly they have been imported, and further inquiries point back to Krueger or to Willian Bellhouse, the gang lord who controls most of the extra-orbital criminal enterprise. The PCs suspect that Bellhouse may be making a move to gain control of the system's other criminal enterprises, currently under the control of one Sapphon, a gang lord and popular philanthropist.

As the group is standing on the bridge, a shot comes from a sniper stationed a couple levels up, and across from them. Senjak is lightly wounded, but is okay. As they cross to confront the shooter, a satchel charge drops from above. Quick thinking and a good roll by Kevin allows for scooping up the bomb and tossing it off the bridge before it can explode. The PCs follow the shortest path to their destination on the other side of the bridge, and arrive at a scene of great chaos. Apparently the shooter set off another charge to cover a quick escape, and manages to get out ahead of the PCs.

In the shooter's nest, they find the mangled remains of a long las rifle, but little else of import. The weapon bears the same forge markings as the weapons recovered on the bridge.

After the tech priest inquires with the local arbites, it is suggested that they might be able to get some camera footage, and of particular interest is footage from the public tube station, as a witness said someone dressed in a black body suit fled the scene, headed that way. The PCs and their Inquisitrix make their way to the local Arbites station and review the footage. They get a blurry picture of the suspect, and Senjak is certain the person they seek is Krueger, who also, likely, was involved in freeing Ferrus from Senjak's custody, and killing her troops as well. Her demeanor is cool, but her intensity suggests she can smell blood.

A bit of research and scouting suggests that Ferrus and Krueger might be found in the underhive, in a club frequented by mutants. Given Ferrus' current mutant state (giant, watery, unblinking eyes), that's about the only place he could fit in without drawing undue attention.

Senjak makes a call back to the High Lords of the Inquisition, and uses the evidence she's gathered to make a case for taking down Krueger (alive, if possible) and recapturing Ferrus. It takes some time, and almost loses them the chance to catch the pair, but eventually the approval comes down.

The PCs and NPCs cover the club at both entrances, and using a combination of grenades, cryomancy, etc., they manage to take both of their targets alive. However, a figure was seen fleeing from the scene, and they suspect that person might have been coming to meet Krueger. Then again, it might just have been someone who knew Bad Things were about to happen, and decided not to be there when they did.

That's where we ended.



No comments:

Post a Comment