Today’s post is a report of Undercity Noir game 2, session 4. As with previous reports, I will try to minimize spoilers, but I will not be able to avoid them entirely. Potential future players - be warned! I will also not necessarily follow a strict chronological order for simplicity and because time can get fuzzy with split parties.

We didn’t have session 4 last month due to parent needing to parent. This session was much less action packed than the previous one, but that was expected. We did have a minor chase that was resolved quickly.

The previous session ended with Anastasia with a certain faction who rescued her from a dangerous situation, Blake off with Mara and the rest of the party together. This session involved herding cats.

Gleep made sure to ask our getaway car it’s name. It is called Buster.

Character Creation on the Wiki

Mailanka added a Character Creation page on the wiki recently. If your are interested in making a Psi-Wars character but don’t know where to start, that is a good place. The section in the primer also has some good ideas.

Freeing Mara?

Mara left the group early, and Blake followed. During the walk, Mara read Blake’s inner monologue (despite the mind shield earrings). Blake’s thoughts were not particularly happy ones. Blake is not particularly fond of Anastasia (she is a noble), but Blake tolerates her. Blake was also worried about Mara but definitely not prepared to be a psychologist. Why was she stuck with that job?

Mara inquired if Blake had been to the Umbral Rim. Blake had not but rather focused on other areas of the galaxy. I am not entirely sure if the question was meant to for Mara to assess Blake’s understanding of Lithian culture or an invitation to run away with her. In any case, Mara explained her situation as a slave. Even though slavery is illegal in the Empire, she would be hunted if she were to try to escape. Mara asked for protection believing Blake to be an important and powerful individual as an Imperial official, but she was disappointed to learn that Blake didn’t have the ability to help beyond alerting the constables.

Blake offered to lock pick or “monowire” the slave collar. Mara was hesitant (especially about the monowire) because her captors would be alerted. Blake eventually convinced Mara to let her try and was able to unlock the device successfully and even avoid the backlash, but Mara was not so lucky. She passed out due to the pain of the linked neurolash device. Blake did have the bright idea to attach the collar to some space cat (mouser not Asrathi) she found in the alley. Hopefully that will mislead Mara’s captors.

Anastasia’s Side Job

Anastasia was taken to a safe location (Xaka made sure to send her a message to confirm her safety) where she met with another important figure. The other figure offered Anastasia a second job to escort a person of unspecified details off world for unspecified terms. Anastasia’s rescuer protested citing the fact that they don’t know Anastasia well and that providing too much information could put them in danger. The action would upset the Empire, but Anastasia has no problem with that. She is an Alliance princess.

Anastasia’s new “employers” did provide her with a discreet mind shield choker as “down payment” for her future service. As was shown last session, the assassin princess could use protection against psychic attacks. She was, however, unable to go back to retrieve her blaster that she was forced to leave behind. She hopes to be able to get it back when the aftermath of last session’s fight cools down.

One Cat Left to Herd

The the other crew members (including Cherry) arrived with Mr. Sallow at his hotel and left to meet outside the Keleni enclave. Xaka decided it was a fairly neutral area, near his home, would have healers that could help Anastasia and would be as close to the enclave as he could convince Mara to go. The crew began discussing individual skill and roles and ordered some food. Anastasia was dropped off by her rescuer and began discussing her other task. Xaka warned her to avoid saying too much in front of Blake who had not yet arrived.

The Precog’s Incredible Foresight

Even after regaining consciousness, Mara needed time to recover. Blake helped find her a place to rest. Mara was highly reluctant to go to the Keleni enclave and asked Blake to “borrow” her pistol. Blake agreed, and they rested for about an hour.

After their rest - in an turn of events that surprised no one besides the precog - Mara attempted to put Blake to sleep using the Sleep Telepathy ability. Blake danger sense tingled, an she resisted but was shot in the shoulder by a critical hit. The shot hurt but was not quite enough to stun Blake through her armor. Blake Judo disarmed Mara, toe flipped the blaster inter her hand and chased Mara into a mud pit. Blake helped Mara out, and Mara resigned. She was defeated and captured again.

A Vision of the Ancient Past

After everyone arrived, Xaka decided to explain the details about the object they were meant to steal. Instead of merely telling them, he decided to show the crew an ancestral memory with his Ancestral Recall ability. This was actually a fairly difficult feat requiring raising his ability two levels with Extra-Effort and then using a -10 default technique (Usable on Others and Area Effect). Between Autohypnosis, bonuses and his psi amplifier, the feat was achievable. It didn’t even require Luck which was lucky!

The memory was of the device (or a similar device) in use around the time of the Monolith War. It was vivid and frightening. In fact, it was so frightening that it led to two failed fright checks and one case of lost lunch. The Rule of 14 reared its ugly head.

Xaka made sure the memory contained an Eldoth since he needed Blake to know for certain that the Eldoth did indeed exist. This will further Xaka’s goals and hopefully allow him to humiliate his dean, Penrose Tweed. Depending on the circumstances, this may require some simple social engineering tricks.

The Planning

The crew did manage to plan some next steps:

Anastasia:
- I wasn’t entirely clear on her plans. She originally planned to go drinking with Yuan Tino, but that was shot down. It is best to minimize association with the fixer too much at the moment.
- Potentially visit the Keleni healers.
- I believe she has a ticket onto the Prestige.
Blake:
- Examine the items she located at the murder scene.
- Find a way onto the Prestige.
Cherry:
- Find a way onto the Prestige.
Dr. Buttons:
- Data decryption and recovery.
Gleep:
- Help Blake examine the items.
- Find a way onto the prestige.
- Gleep will also make use of his many contacts.
Mara:
- I am not sure how much Mara will be part of the crew. She isn’t willing at the moment, and she doesn’t have any real roles.
- Xaka wants to get her help at the temple. He may have theological disagreements with Kira, but he is willing to let Kira help Mara.
Simon: *Determine details about the Prestige’s security. An important (possibly even the head) security officer is in need of replacement. Simon plans to gather information about the situation and potentially even apply to be the replacement.
- Gather information about Prestige crew that could be susceptable to hypnosis for Xaka.
Xaka:
- Deal with family and Lisa.
- Implant post hypnotic suggestions onto some Prestige crew.
- Visit the bank (Maþūstāña may have a friend there; I suspect it may be a Menhiri, but it could be some sort of immortal).
- Find a way onto the prestige (the plan is to use academic connections).
- Deal with Mara, Quinchan Sage and Yuan Tino’s sister.

There are still a few things to address:

dealing with the competition
locating the artifact
exfiltration
potentially creating a forgery
dealing with our side jobs

The Cursed Object?

We located a curious item and finally had a short time to analyze it. We suspected suspected it might be cursed but didn’t have enough time to do a proper analysis without interacting with it. Blake attempted to foresee if it was a good idea to interact with it and got a neutral response. It was indeed a mixed blessing which Gleep received. Xaka currently has the item and should be able to study it to gain a similar “blessing” if he so chooses (and pays points for). In hindsight, Xaka may have been able to pull off a rushed examination with his effective Occultism-23, but I don’t know what inherent penalty the study would have.

Thoughts

It was an interesting session. The cats were finally herded, and we have somewhat clear direction. We have passed the initial “railroaded” section of the adventure and are now entering the “sandbox.” The next few sessions will be fairly open ended. It will be interesting to see what happens.