Today’s post is a report of Undercity Noir game 2, session 6. I won’t go out of my way to avoid spoilers. It is too difficult at this stage. Potential future players - be warned! I have little more insight into the spelling for some of the NPC names this time than I did last session. Mailanka likes to use strange names that are similar to some familiar ones but are a bit different.

session 1, session 2, session 3, session 4, session 5

The Bot and His Boy (it has been months since I last used that one; give me a break)

Gleep has still not recovered from his cold. In fact, it has been getting worse. In addition, he had a headache from reading the “cursed book.” In this state of mind, he let Dr. Buttons lead him home while he communicated with one of his contacts to procure tickets to the Prestige. Freedis was nervous and inquired why Gleep needed the tickets to which Gleep responded: “seed money.” Gleep was able to get his ticket, but he will need to be careful to avoid taking overt actions on the Prestige. Entering through the “front door” is safer but fairly limiting.

After the dealing with his ticket, Dr. Buttons opens the door, and Gleep realizes that it isn’t his place. Can you guess where Dr. Buttons led Gleep? The place is a mess. There is clothing all over and feminine sounds of strenuous exercise in the other room. If you guessed Cherry’s place, you win! Gleep tried to leave quickly before Cherry noticed, but Dr. Buttons went on about hormone levels and correlations between long term relationships and interactions within domiciles (robot wingman is robot wingman). Gleep heard Cherry end her exercise and enter the shower. Just as Gleep was about to leave, he heard Anastasia at the door (which was awkward for Gleep but not Anastasia who was completely clueless).

Gleep let Anastasia in and acted casual. One object of note at Cherry’s place was a mask (Sefelina Midra, I believe and the one missing from Lady Heshathim’s collection). Cherry emerged from her shower to see a cat girl, a robot and a small space monkey in the room (she was surprisingly calm about it). After Cherry (sort of) clothed herself (by Kronos street Ranathim standards), Anastasia inquired about the mask. Cherry seemed to think it important but somehow dangerous and was relieved that Gleep offered to take it back to Lady Heshathim for her.

Shopping for a Dress

Anastasia planned to take Cherry shopping for a dress, and Gleep and Dr. Buttons were at the right place and time to go with them. They went to some sort of Shinjurai club dress shop. The shop keeper was a bit dismissive of Cherry, but Anastasia looked wealthy, the group was able to “try on” some dresses using a holo fashion device. While the three (four if you count Dr. Buttons, but Gleep is the only one who understands him) were deciding on a dress design, an unexpected young woman arrived. It was Leann Tino (Yuan’s sister) with her camera robot, Shutterbug (Shutterbug is fairly easy to spell, but Leann has many plausible spellings; I happen to know the spelling from the intro document that Mailanka provided). Leann was excited to see the “famous” Asrathi princess with the force sword and Wyrmwerker who gave that tech talk recently. After procuring the dress, the crew heard something outside.

Outside, there was a “security guard” and several Bloodsiders. The “security guard” wanted to “speak with” Anastasia (why would a security guard work with Bloodsiders?). Gleep attempted to get everyone out and avoid the conflict, but that proved difficult. Gleep started the fight by Jinxing a “punk’s” blaster. The “punk” promptly retreated. Cherry kissed Anastasia (presumably to activate some vampiric ability). Cherry noticed that Shikari was observing the combat and prevented Anastasia from drawing her weapon (doing so would have given Shikari an advantage in a future fight with Anastasia), so the princess had to fight with her claws. Some highlights included:

  • Gleep avoided the “worthy” Bloodsider’s attacks because he is small
  • Anastasia kicked the “worthy” Bloodsider in the back of the head
    • He “endured” the attack with an Impulse Buy and critically hit Anastasia with two more
    • Anastasia reciprocated with her free point
  • Cherry TK-Locked the “security guard” and punched out some mooks
  • Anastasia took out some mooks quite effectively
  • Gleep Power Parried a blast against Cherry
  • Gleep also Intimidated the final mook (the Acting-3 default was much higher than IQ-5)

After the fight, they decided to go to Discotec Capricorn

The Others Meeting Cooper Jack

The rest of the crew went to meet with Cooper Jack (the remaining survivor of the Canterwell). He was in a crowded location, but he was alone and afraid. When they went to sit next to him, he was a bit nervous of the alien, armed bounty hunter, but the cute one in Imperial uniform and the kindly older gentleman put him at ease (and Simon’s blaster put him at ease for a different reason after the initial shock). It wasn’t difficult to coax Cooper to tell the story about what happened to the Canterwell. He explained that they found a strange cylindrical object in a “sliver” ship and also found some corpses. Surprisingly still living ancient robotic creatures (alarm bells and red flags danced in my head) attacked. One shot lightning while the other used some toxic or draining attack. My suspicions were confirmed when Xaka recalled details about Arkhaians with his extensive Hidden Lore (Eldothic) and History (Monolith War and Kronos). Xaka Gizmo’d a token that might help Cooper Jack avoid the same fate as the rest of the crew.

After the meeting, Simon went to the Stardust Enclave to meet with Gilfoil Star, and Blake and Xaka went to visit Monolith Interstellar.

Anastasia, Gleep, Shutterbug and Leann Tino at the Discotec Capricorn

They went to have lunch (or whatever meal it was supped to be) at the Discotec Capricorn (Gleep’s player forgot that Yuan Tino asked the crew to get his sister somewhere safe. Anastasia remembered!) Gleep make some small attempts to convince Leann to go to Sovereign for some interesting gossip and got her tickets to Janus (and handed them to Shutterbug). Leann wanted to go to the Prestige. Gleep critically succeeded at fabricating a news story (and finds something real). Anastasia went dancing with Leann.

Simon (and Anastasia) at Stardust Enclave

Simon went to perform some initial surveillance for Gilfoil Star. He didn’t seem to be there. A Shinjurai Companion noticed that Simon appeared to be looking for someone (pro tip, steer clear of Shinjurai Companions while preparing for a heist) and introduced himself as Shane. Shane noticed a lot of things and new how to keep Simon’s attention. Shane brought out another Companion (which caused a scene with Gilfoil Star who was speaking with her), and Series began “entertaining” Simon (seriously, avoid the Companions). Anastasia and Leann arrived in time to give Gilfoil Star new targets. Series told Simon information related to Zane Solomon, Gilfoil Star and the sysadmin position (this is why they are so dangerous) and concocts a plan with Simon to get aboard the Prestige with Piker as her date.

Blake, Gleep and Xaka at Monolith Interstellar

Gleep wanted to go to Monolith Interstellar to learn more details about the contract with Mortimer Sallow. Xaka wanted to go there to meet Mathustanya’s (Xaka’s Ancestral Guide) ancient old friend. A receptionist came to greet the party and inquired about the reason for the visit. Gleep handed her a chip, and she took everyone back to meet the “account president.” She had us wait in a room with a “large rock” which Mathustanya recognized as his “old friend.” Xaka went to the “rock” and “spoke” to it telepathically. As expected, it was a Menhiri. In fact, the “rock” was the owner of Monolith Interstellar, Obelix Grant. Obelix reminisced with Xaka about Xaka’s ancestors and made a special request to get the “key” off Kronos (at twice what Mortimer Sallow was paying us). We learned some contract details including that Mortimer Sallow must be kept alive for long enough for us to deliver the “key” and for him to trigger the contract (so much for escrow). Obelix also confirmed that the Slug has no account with Monolith Interstellar. Obelix expressed a desire to meet with Xaka’s family in the future. Xaka relayed Mathustanya’s message that he has been a “good boy” (even a 5000+ year old being was a child at one point).

Blake and Gleep heard some sort of ringing and saw Xaka in deep thought touching a “rock” and suspected that something psychic was happening but weren’t sure what to make of the event. After the meeting, the receptionist arrived to take us back to meet the “account president,” but Xaka simply thanked her and said “we got everything we needed” (at Obelix Grant’s request; he was playing a prank on her). The receptionist seemed confused, suspicious and a little upset, but she escorted us out and let us know that she was instructed to give us special treatment (I am not sure how the chronology works here).

Next Time

We have a few things that we definitely need to do:

  • Xaka still needs to go to Temple
  • We need to procure tickets for Series and Piker
  • Simon needs to confirm the security position or something
  • We need some sort of Arkhaian countermeasures
  • We need to gain intelligence on Shikari
  • We need a plan to get the key and get it off the Prestige undetected

Thoughts

It was fun. The “creative timekeeping rule” that requires that at least two party members be present in every scene is helpful for “split party” situations. Split parties are common in heists.

Notes

Arkhaians

Arkhaians are an Eldothic servitor race and are bad news. They are like ghosts possessing advanced (TL 12) power armor. We currently don’t have much of a way to deal with them:

  • They are practically immune to Gleep’s and Simon’s blasters
    • If we encounter the Arkhaians on the Prestige, having weapons at all will be a challenge
  • They aren’t immune to Xaka’s Telepathy
    • But they don’t sleep
  • Anastasia could hack off their limbs
    • assuming she has access to her weapon
  • Blake might be able to do some damage with her monowire whip
    • I will repeat the emphasis in might and some
  • They are susceptible to exorcism
    • The base time to exorcise them based on “standard” HT is 3 hours
    • If they can resist the exorcism with their suit’s ST, Xaka’s chances of success (after some miraculous rushed ritual) range from “will require Luck” and “not gonna happen” depending on their ST
  • Gleep’s Machine Telepathy should work against their gadgets

Eldoth

Eldoth are ancient, alien, highly advanced and the masterminds of several conspiracies in the galaxy. They created the Deep Engine (the “key” that is the object of the heist is related to the Deep Engine) and much of the TL 12 tech (and much of the tech they didn’t create is based on their tech). Part of the process of creating Deep Engine sites is mass slaughter to create an area with a strong connection to Broken Communion.

Menhiri

Menhiri are an ancient rock-like race native to Kronos. They were friends with the Keleni in ancient times. The Eldoth nearly genocided the Menhiri on Kronos, so they are extremely rare.

Obelix is a particularly ancient specimen and has mostly lost his humanoid form. He got rich by purchasing a significant amount of Space Bitcoin back when it wasn’t worth anything and used that money for founding Monolith Interstellar.

Xaka’s Name

Xaka’s full given name is Xakkithe. The “kith” part of the name means “stone.” The nickname Xaka came from my Keleni name generator, and I chose Xakkithe because I was playing a Keleni character on Kronos and wanted him to have some connection to Menhiri.