Psi-Wars Undercity Noir Session 9

Today’s post is a report of Undercity Noir game 2, session 9. We have the key!

There is a big spoiler, but I will make no attempt to obscure it. We are at that part of the heist after all.

session 1, session 2, session 3, session 4, session 5, session 6, session 7, session 8

The Bot, His Boy and His Boy

I will continue milking this joke!

Gleep made sure that Piker was dressed somewhat reasonably. It was cheap, off-the-shelf clothing, but it was much more presentable than his normal attire. He looked like a teenage skater punk turned awkward intern at a business event (which is good because that was basically his cover story).

With Piker vaguely presentable, Gleep took him to meet their contact and get through security. Gleep had a little trouble getting through security with his personal force screen and unloaded (and totally for demonstration purposes only) blaster, but a timely Glitch, trumpeting his business connections and good bit of Fast-Talk, he was able to get through. Kenta Kai was suspicious (he used to be a Shinei after all), but he let the group through.

The Handoffs

Gleep and Dr. Buttons needed to exchange some items covertly with the other crew members. Dr. Buttons had Anastasia’s force sword and the key duplicates. Anastasia and Gleep decided to exchange weapons stealthily. Anastasia got her weapon, and Dr. Buttons got to eat her prop.

Xaka is not great at stealth, so he decided to use Acting to make the exchange look natural and not suspicious. It did require Luck, but he was successful.

Unfortunately, Gleep was having an off day and failed his Stealth roll. Shojo Otaka spotted Gleep doing something fishy (despite his name and his hologram girlfriend, he seems fairly skilled) and reported it to Petro Magnum. Simon was chosen to investigate (isn’t having an insider in security great). Simon warned Gleep that security was onto him, gave him a stern talking to and “discovered” some “paraphernalia” which he confiscated.

The Ballroom

This was the location of the main event. There were relics on display under guard and a display case, and there were important people all around. Several things happened in this room.

Anastasia nearly caused a major diplomatic incident (It gets better. Don’t worry about that “nearly.”). She decided to ask Riker from Orion Arms to sign her dress. Unfortunately she didn’t understand Imperial protocol for introductions and introduced herself as “Princess Anastasia Siberiana, Assassin Alumnus of Harrow Academy, Adept of the Graceful Form, nyan.” Gleep managed to save the day and diffused the situation with an expert Fast-Talk.

Petro Magnum went to the ballroom to observe the situation discreetly.

Blake went to authenticate the key, but she was stopped by security. After showing her credentials, they let her look through the case but not touch. She was able to authenticate it through her knowledge and ESP, and Xaka seconded the opinion with his Eldothic knowledge (it was a dummy in the first groups play through).

Ceres knew she needed to create a distraction but wasn’t sure why, so she used her Neo-Rational Psychosocial Analytics tricks to draw everyone’s attention. Solomon Zane noticed and came to confront her. Ceres realized that Xaka was looking for an opportunity to do something and began preparing for an incident (we will need to buy her silence).

Zenobia Tan-Shai and her Imperial escort arrived and demanded to see the key. Anastasia was with Emmaline, and Zenobia noticed her force sword and demanded an explanation. Anastasia introduced herself (it gets better). Zenobia drew (but did not activate) her force sword and demanded that Anastasia be arrested and sent to the brig.

With all of the confusion happening, Ceres slapped Solomon Zane. Dr. Buttons released the relic case lock. Xaka signaled to Blake to perform the swap. At the same time, the ship shook. Xaka gave Blake a device he Gizmo’d to give the decoy some sort of Eldothic energy signature that would hopefully fool anyone who examined it long enough for us to get away. He also Gizmo’d a device to mask or otherwise distort the energy signature of the real key (because he obviously has a second Gizmo). The GM will have to decide how well and for how long these work, but hopefully they will buy us enough time to get away.

Shortly after Blake completed the swap, the main hallway morphed into something old and decreped, and the Crooked King emerged with a group of Bloodsiders!

Shikari at Security

Keres warned Simon that an unexpected shuttle arrived. At around the same time the Bloodsiders appeared out of nowhere, Shikari and a small group arrived at security to take over the operation. Shikari extended Simon a professional courtesy and allowed him to live if he would not stay and fight. They worked together in the past and simply happened to be on opposite side for this job. Simon took that offer but not before blasting two of the computers to hamper Shikari’s group’s ability to control the ship’s security. Keres had not made use of the back doors nor the DB exploit, so she should be able to maintain control against Shikari’s hacker.

It is unlikely that there were any other survivors.

The Battle with the Crooked King

One might ask: “How did the Crooked King bring a large boarding party to a heavily guarded ship in orbit without being detected?” Psi-Wars doesn’t have ubiquitous matter transporters like Star Trek. When I heard that there were no signs of Bloodsiders last session, I suspected the Crooked King would employ a Tyrannic Entanglement Passage or some sort of Deep Engine trick. It turns out that he used the Entanglement Passage and linked some ancient Tyrannic ship’s hallway with the Prestige’s ballroom entrance. Xaka had read about them and recognized what happened, but it was the first time he saw one in action.

The Imperial troops were confused about whether they should arrest Anastasia or deal with the Bloodsiders. Anastasia activated her force sword, and Zenobia Tan-Shai activated her own force sword. The Bloodsider Satemo moved toward Petro Magnum and an Imperial trooper and cut them both down with his force swords (poor Petro Magnum). Several Imperial troopers shot at Lucian Luca and were no more successful than Anastasia was. Simon arrived and kept himself hidden for a sneak attack.

Anastasia shouted “for the Alliance” and pirouetted Zenobia’s skull for 48 damage (that is 188 injury for any who care). Kronos’ incoming ruler no longer had a head. Sure, Anastasia was planning on causing a diplomatic incident by “liberating” Emmaline Mistral-Granger and bringing her to Alliance space. The Empire would not have appreciated that, but this could easily turn the cold war hot real quick. The Imperial troops attempted to get justice, but Anastasia managed to avoid their shots due to her force shield.

One benefit of the Bloodsider’s arrival is that it gave Blake and Xaka an excuse to run with the key and not arouse any suspicion. Xaka tried warning the Imperial troops and Prestige’s security to focus on the other Bloodsiders since Lucian Luca has a psionically enhanced constitution that makes him incredibly difficult to kill. The Crooked King spent his turns concentrating, and psychic energy crackled around him. This was concerning.

Simon popped out of his hiding place and shot Raitha Luca twice in the leg and critted for 3 triple damage hits in the torso. Unfortunately, Raitha Luca appeared to be Unstoppable. Raitha walked toward Simon casually. Gleep attempted to use Rapier Wit on Raitha but was unsuccessful.

In order to distance himself from Anastasia, Gleep shouted that she was a traitor and punched her. To absolutely no one’s surprise, his punch was entirely ineffective.

Cherry managed to punch Lucian multiple yard, but he managed to drain her. Anastasia’s new mind shield protected her this time, but revenge was less important than survival. The odds were not in our favor.

After reaching Simon, Lucian attacked him with his force swords. Simon’s force screen saved his life but could not handle Lucian’s onslaught.

An Imperial trooper attempted to shoot Anastasia, but she easily parried his rifle. Pro tip - don’t try shooting a force sword wielder within force sword range.

The Crooked King had a daemonic pact with the Knight of the Black Sun and used the Deep Engine protocol, Black Sun Wrath, to fire the Deep Cannon. It vaporized several NPCs, but the PCs in the path managed to dive for cover. Blake managed to save Emmaline, and Gleep saved Riker. The cannon blasted a hole through the hull which depressurized the room. The PCs managed to handle the depressurization fairly well (Xaka somehow managed to pass both the DX and HT checks), but Blake was stunned. Many of the Bloodsiders were also stunned.

Simon communicated with Keres to close the blast door as he retreated. He attempted to shoot Raitha as he fled, but Raitha parried his first shots. Simon missed his next group in his haste. The door closed as Simon passed through. Simon managed to escape Raitha alive.

Xaka escaped the room on Pikers hover board.

Gleep attempted to shoot the Crooked King with his unpowered yet hotshotted blaster. The explosion took out one of the large Bloodsiders, but the Black Sun Armor protected the Crooked King.

Raitha attacked Gleep and managed to take out his force screen and even force a flesh wound. Gleep was hurt badly but somehow managed to escape.

Somehow we all made it out of the ballroom alive and with the key. Xaka dropped his glasses while fleeing, so he will be inconvenienced, but he his better off than Gleep. Simon is basically alone. We shall see how long it takes for the Crooked King to realize that the “key” in the case is a forgery and who has the real one.

Final Thoughts

We knew that something big would happen, and it did. I anticipated a diplomatic incident, but not the open assassination specifically, but I am not entirely surprised.

One neat thing about this session is that the PCs were finally put into actual danger. We have had a few fights against NPCs with weapons that could instakill the PCs on lucky shots, but Anastasia’s previous fight against Lucian was the only other real close call.

Our opposition has an effective illusion of invulnerability, but it is merely an illusion. They have all sorts of weaknesses that we could exploit given the opportunity.

Notes

Satemo is a Lithian word for knight. Raitha Luca is a ranathim space knight with Dark Communion Oath Magic (or possibly a Learned Prayer) that made him difficult to harm.

The Knight of the Black Sun is an Eldothic daemon that manages military aspects of the Deep Engine. The daemons are like ghostly helper processes that aid the eldoth in managing the Deep Engine. Xaka is not a programmer, but he appreciates the pun.