Session/Game: Savage Worlds Orion 7
Date: 1/22/2006
Episode 7: The End of the Road for Blackhat Matt
Campaign Date: Royal Orion Year 313, Day 45-49
Characters:
Sir Bloodblade, Kong, seasoned (Marlon Kirton)
Sir Ashon 'Ka 'Linor, human, seasoned (Mike Miller)
Sir Buford Culpepper, human, veteran (Dave Nelson)
Squire/Sir Connor O'Reardon, human, seasoned (James Gallagher)
GM: Andrew Smith
Log:
Gnoob III, Day 45
Sir Culpepper and Squire O'Reardon approach the farmhouse that Blackhat Matt is holed up in along with a dinosaur-pulled cart holding the chest of platinum bars, a case of cheap cigars, and a gallon jug of moonshine. Matt's gang, the .45's tells the two to stop about twenty meters from the farmhouse. Buford and Connor show Matt the platinum, but Matt refuses to show the two knights the artifact. Buford and Connor call Matt's bluff and start to turn the cart around when Matt tells the .45's to "get 'em". The gunmen happily turn their newfound marine submachine guns on the knights. Matt's grundorian lieutenant Ugg plods toward Buford and wounds him with his giant two-handed axe. Fearing treachery, Matt shoots Ugg in the back with his heavy pistols killing the barbarian instantly. Matt and the .45's continue their attack on the knights and SnoopRat, Matt's ratman lieutenant. Buford and Connor take cover behind the cart and dinosaur and return fire. Buford is wounded again, but his ability to psionically heal himself keeps him in the fight. Connor distinguished himself in the fight by telekinetically flinging a platinum bar at one of the gunmen and then drawing his molecular knife and rushing to engage the .45's in melee combat.
The tide of the battle turns once Connor and Buford manage to convince the .45's that the platinum is theirs if they help them take out Matt. The gunmen immediately turn on their leader, and help Connor finish him off with a laser pistol shot to the head. Snooprat and the remaining members of the gang happily hand over the artifact box and start to bicker over the bars of platinum.
Orion, Day 46
Buford and Connor return to Orion and check in with Sir Vicktor Worthington Smoot III, the evening's knight commander. Sir Smoot is impressed by the artifact and offers to take it to the king. However, Buford holds on to it hoping to get some answers from the Pope at Connor' knighting ceremony the next day. Connor fasts and prepares for his knighting ceremony by meditating in the cathedral of Orion.
Ashon visits the lodge on Orion for the first time after joining the knights. He is met by Sylvester LeRoi who tells him not to trust the knights Bloodblade or Hollis DuPont. Buford breaks up the two and takes Ashon to meet with Bloodblade. Apparently, Bloodblade's comrade Hollis DuPont is getting married (again) and Buford knows that there is always a great party at these affairs. At Bloodblade's warehouse, the pair is greeted by Bloodblade's manservant, Serge. Serge uses his French accent and continental arrogance to try to keep Ashon and Buford from Bloodblade, but a gift of moonshine whiskey from Buford gains them entry. Bloodblade grunts that he was not invited to the wedding either, and a quick call to DuPont's mother's house confirms that he is in fact being married off-world.
Orion, Day 47
The following morning, Connor is knighted. All applaud his accomplishment. Buford shows the space pope the artifact recovered from the mission to stop the reign of Blackhat Matt. The pope is impressed and acolytes whisk the evil-looking item away. The Pope does some research and learns that the artifact was on its way to the Order of Shadrack for processing and that connecting the artifact to the user’s bloodstream that it would enhance the user’s intelligence considerably. The pope explained that the Cutlass was presumed lost in a nearby ship battle with the machines 300 years ago, but that it must have crashed on a deserted moon of Yalhambra III where Blackhat Matt had found the artifact. The Pope went on to muse that there was another such artifact packed aboard the Cutlass bound for the order.
Orion, Day 48
Connor, Buford, Bloodblade and Ashon are then called into the office of Sir Smoot again. Sir Smoot calls on the knights to travel to the moon where the Pope believes the artifact was found to recover a second artifact that matches the first. At first Bloodblade refuses to leave for the reportedly airless world with all the strange knights. However, Buford manages to get Sir Eustace on the phone and he is able to convince the mighty Kong warrior that Vicktor Worthington Smoot is worthy of his trust. The knights teleport out to the moon of Yalhambra III.
Yalhambra, Day 48
There they see that the moon is in fact not airless, but a dark humid jungle of a planet. Thick, green spiky foliage and alien trees poke out of the flaky grey soil. The heroes hear a voice off in the distance. A royal marine called out from the underbrush asking what their favorite color is. After getting a suitable reply from the knights that made him comfortable that they were not robots (not “my favorite color is grey…just like my central processing unit”) he appeared and told his story. Corporal Patrick O'Reardon was locked in a “sleep berth” on the Cutlass. He had just awakened hours ago, and fled the scene of the wreck of the Cutlass in hopes of escaping a machine attack that actually happened 300 years earlier. The knights return the shellshocked marine to Orion.
Yalhambra, Day 49
The next day, the heroes return to the Yalhambra moon and made their way toward the Cutlass using the marine’s instructions. They are attacked by a large predator who seems to be native to the unexpectedly abundant life on this reportedly lifeless rock.
Later the knights hear what sounds like another marine. They call out, but are attacked by a hideous alien creature. It appears to be white with mucous, with two tendril-like arms clutching a long pole with a big black metallic hook on the end. The monster walked on four spindly legs, and had no orifices to speak of except for a single, slimy eye. Somehow, the monster kept spouting friendly human phrases while it attacked the party with its hook polearm such as “Thank god you made it!” and “I’ve missed you!”. The monster was slowed down considerably by Buford’s pistols and Connor’ blade, but it was Bloodblade that hacked the monster into two wet, viscous chunks of pus.
The knights came upon the Cutlass half buried in a shallow valley covered in green foliage. As they approached the ship, they were attacked by more of the hook-carrying alien creatures constantly spouting nonsensical friendly phrases. “I love you!” and “Give me a hug!” were mixed with sanity-shaking inhuman screams of pain as the knights hacked their way through the foul bile-filled monsters. The party left their wounded henchmen just inside the hatchway as they entered the Cutlass.
They found the 300 year old ship up and running. The engines were humming down below, and the temperature controls were set ridiculously high. The group went to the science station and recovered the second artifact, carelessly stuck under an overturned chair in Blackhat Matt’s haste to loot the ancient vessel. Just as they found the item, the ship rocked from a nearby explosion. The henchmen radioed to the knights that Blackhat Matt’s ship the “Maxine” had arrived looking for more loot, but finding the Cutlass filled with knights decided to extract their revenge.
The party then had a quick discussion. Connor wondered aloud why the engines were on and the heat on full blast. A quick scan with the internal cameras showed a pile of still-living marines roasting near the fusion engines while larval aliens feasted on still pumping organs cut loose from their abdomens. Six adult alien horrors with hooks stood guard. Connor, Bloodblade, and Ashon rushed to the engine room to save the marines while Buford and the henchmen took control of the Cutlass.
At first Buford had trouble getting the Cutlass off the ground. Once the 300 year old warship actually took flight, Buford had trouble lining up a shot with the vessel’s spinal mount particle accelerator cannon. Luckily, the monkey mercenaries and the remaining brass hat kept up a constant barrage of laser fire from the lesser turret mounts to knock the “Maxine” around. The pirate returned fire, and prepared to line up her own rear-mounted particle accelerator cannon.
Meanwhile, Ashon had managed to shake the cadre of all six aliens paving the way for Bloodblade and Connor to cut them down at will. With all six aliens dead, Connor began to kill the larval aliens while Bloodblade and Ashon rushed to a porthole facing the “Maxine” to see what is happening.
Buford’s piloting skills come up big and he manages to get the ancient battleship close to the pirate cruiser while partially dodging the incoming particle accelerator fire. As the range closed, Ashon teleported Bloodblade to the bridge of the Maxine where three Sybocks sat comfortably on acceleration couches pressing controls and moving joysticks. The last sound they all heard was the roar of Bloodblade’s vibro-axe as the three of them died.
Simultaneously, Buford gets his own particle acceleration cannon to bear and launches an alpha strike on the Maxine. The blast rips through the engines of the pirate cruiser, and it begins to lurch dangerously to one side. With no pilot left alive, the ship begins to loose altitude quickly. Bloodblade manages to teleport himself and Ashon to safety and watch as the Maxine plunge into the alien forest floor.
The 300 year old Cutlass also experiences engine trouble and it is only the careful piloting skill of Buford that brings the craft down without harm.