Stephen takes us through a Stargrave adventure based around some weird dreams…
‘All that glitters is gold’
Recently a bout of Luna flu has been doing the rounds of the bars and cantinas of many-a-starport. And the less salubrious ones at that. It’s a highly contagious virus but not dangerous – sufferers mainly complain of nausea, tiredness, and delirium.
It seems that some space crews had recently been hit by the virus and the wild dreams sent them on a wild goose chase – and the Galactic Commission intercepted three messages. These come from the Rhythmic which is on record as being an ex-military freighter and captained by a veteran soldier, Gloria Fuster (Charlotte). The other is from captain Garo Braven (Tony) of the Cepheid Variable – a crew made up of mercenaries and mystics. The last is from the Serenity, captained by Mal Reynolds (Andy), and crewed by a prolific group of smugglers, murderers, and pirates.
We’ll let them speak for themselves…
THE RHYTHM: SOLDIER GREEN’S LOG
COMMENCE ENTRY
The Rhythm did not go looking for trouble, but it sure found us.
This morning, we landed in a strange jungle on an unfamiliar planet, home of a fabled Stairway to Heaven. Captain Gloria was convinced the ancient structure was hiding something valuable following a strange vision. Our mission was simple: find the item and bring it back.
Two rival crews from the ships Serenity and Cepheid Variable seemed to have the same idea. Worse, Gloria recognised the gunner of the Cepheid as the same man who’d insulted her mother a few planets over. Even worse than that: there was a shapeshifter in our midst.
Was it the inexperience of working with the Rhythmics, or was Gloria too distracted by her greed? We received orders to take out the gunner and rival crews and loot what we could while Gloria searched for the valuable item. Things soon escalated and became a free-for-all, although whether the Serenity and the Cepheid had an accord is uncertain; this soldier notes that they did not fire at each other for the duration of the battle.
The Rhythmics split at the southern hill, with half going after the Cepheid’s crew and the others facing Serenity. After two bouts of searching for loot under fire, the shapeshifter posing as Mintz made itself known. A Rhythmic duly took it down, and another killed the Variable’s gunner. That’ll teach him to call Mrs Fuster a [AUTO-CENSORED].
To the east, the Rhythmics took on the Serenity’s crew. We wounded one of their crewmen, angering them so that they took out both soldiers Yellow and Blue.
All crews fought fiercely, while Gloria focused on transferring the data loot she’d found to Simmons, fearing that the Serenity’s drone had already taken what she really came for. Soldier Squid was killed instantly by the Serenity, but we retaliated and took out one on their side.
The Cepheid crew continued their own search for loot, but took down Gloria after she’d shot at their Captain. Her first mate Estefan was not far behind her. A brave Rhythmic attempted to climb the Stairway in a last-ditch effort to find the gold and a vantage point. He was eventually killed after his carbine jammed and left him vulnerable on a rocky outcrop, not long after his good friend Han also fell to the Serenity’s guns. Remarkably, the Rhythmics survived the fearsome native creatures that kept appearing to torment the other crews throughout the battle.
The only Rhythmics left standing were Simmons and myself, who returned to the ship with data loot and physical loot respectively. There we found the real Mintz waiting for us. Gloria, Estefan, and two crew members eventually regained consciousness and returned to the ship after the battle. We head on to our next mission, to be confirmed once the crew receive medical attention. I have advised Gloria to take caution before committing to visions in future. After all, there’s still time to change the road she’s on.
ENTRY ENDS.
Gaden’s Log Begins:
Kal Gaden quickly exited from the Cepheid Variable’s tail ramp with the rest of the crew while the autopilot held it in a stable hover a few inches above the surface of the clearing. A quick command on the Captain’s wrist comlink and the ship took itself up into a parking orbit, ready to be recalled when the mission was done.
This was more like it, Kal thought – a well-trained, professional disembarkation with a bunch who looked like they knew what they were doing. Granted, some of the crew were really inexperienced, their only previous venture being the mission on the snow moon to rescue that old man in the red suit. It had turned into a bit of an easy turkey shoot (or more accurately a penguin shoot), but that was exactly what the crew had needed to shake out some of the rust. And they were looking like they had learnt from it – not like that shower of amateurs that he had been caught up with a couple of orbits ago.
As luck would have it, they came down just off of their intended position. The target, an ancient set of giant steps which apparently had a pretty fancy bit of treasure at the top, was on the wrong side of a fast-moving jungle stream. But the Captain led them towards it in close order, and they advanced with their eyes peeled. Sharal, the fastest of the crew, went ahead and hacked into an old data terminal that she almost tripped over, probably kit left behind by a previous expedition. It turned out that she had unlocked a set of plans for some pretty advanced alien armour tech – that alone would make the trip worth it.
At that point the local fauna began to make itself apparent, with a giant scorpion-like creature emerging from the undergrowth. Koor Vane, one of the newer recruits, took it down with a few well-placed shots.
Kal found the entrance to what looked like an old crypt and told the crew he was going to check it out. The inside was full of a blue-ish mist which, as he entered, congealed itself into a form which, if he was superstitious, he’d have called a ghost. But he wasn’t, and instead he peeled off a volley of shots – that went promptly straight through it. Instead he pulled his combat knife and by slicing it repeatedly through the apparation he somehow manged to dispel it, although he didn’t feel any contact with anything solid, just a sense of cold. It was worth the struggle however, as further inside the crypt was a military issue chain gun – a bit grimy, but cleaned up it should work a treat, and Kal knew that Tan Gariss, the crew’s specialist gunner, would appreciate it.
He stepped outside, and only at that point realised that the thick stone walls of the crypt must have been blocking his comms, as all hell had broken loose. The Captain had taken down some menacing bat-like creature with a single giant eye that had appeared over the watercourse, and now there was a full-blown firefight going on. It seemed that a rival mob (the Rhythmics) who held a grudge with a few members of the crew had landed nearby. It stemmed from some long-forgotten bar fight he was told later – and Gariss himself had gone down from a single nasty one, and didn’t look good. The crew was returning fire and Kal could just about make out several figures moving through the foliage a few tens of yards away. Fire from Rook and Kyorla smacked into one of them – it looked like a droid from the way it was moving – but it didn’t go down. The Captain organised the main bulk of the crew into a firing line and they slowly advanced into the jungle, blazing away as they went. Keeping tactical discipline, Sarai took down the leader of the other crew and the Captain himself accounted for their first mate. Kal had to admit he was impressed.
In the meantime, the diminutive first mate Gerbo had disappeared inside a giant stone head. No one followed him and he was vague about what he found inside, but after what sounded like numerous swipes of his void blade, he emerged a few minutes later clutching a fancy looking power sword and nursing a headache – ‘powerful it was, but conquered it I have’ he said in his weird reverse dialect.
The Captain had meanwhile been monitoring the site remotely using the Cepheid’s sensor suite and had found that a drone belonging to the Serenity – nobody had even realised that ship was on the planet – had made it to the top of the spiral stairway, and figured that the treasure was probably gone. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, the ship was recalled from orbit and the crew began to make their way back to the clearing. The indigenous wildlife had woken up by that point and tried to make life interesting – Jaon Rook was bitten by a poisonous giant river wyrm which required treatment from Gebro and his medikit, then a troop of what looked like rock apes crept in from their flank – Kal took out two with well-placed blaster rounds, Sarai and Jaon the others. Just as they reached the clearing the jungle itself came alive, and a weakened Jaon was dragged down by creeper-like appendages. Kyorla, the sniper, found her range and the plants’ weak spots and rescued Jaon and the others.
As they rendezvoused back at the grounded Cepheid, Sharal and Koor emerged panting from the other side of the clearing clutching another abandoned data terminal. In the confusion no-one had noticed them slip off into the jungle after more loot, but their diversion again proved fruitful.
The ship lifted off with Jaon and Gariss strapped into the med-bay – both were out of danger thanks to the robo-doc’s ministrations. Although the main prize eluded them there was still a decent return from the mission, and Kal looked forward to a spot of R&R somewhere a bit more civilised with his share of the bounty from the haul.
**SERENITY LOG**
“OK Wash, get us off this goddam planet, I’m headin’ down to sick bay to see how Kaylee’s doing” Mal said as he turned and left the flight deck.
“How’s Kaylee, Doc?” Mal asked as he entered sickbay.
Simon looked up from the MedSuite controls “It was touch and go, but due to the Advanced Medical Suite you had installed last year, she’s still with us.” came the reply.
Mal turned to look at Kaylee lying in the MedSuite, bandaged and with an arm in a sling.
“Well Captain, I cain’t say I’ve never been better, but I think I’ll pull through.” she said, “but I ain’t gonna be much use till this arm’s healed though.”
Mal cast his mind back to the day’s events…
He had had a series of incoherent dreams, but a constant feature in all of them had been a rock pile known as “The Stairway to Heaven” on one of the nearby planets. He was convinced there was worthwhile loot to find on or near the Stairway.
On orbital insertion the Serenity’s sensors picked up two other ships in nearby orbit, the Cepheid Variable, a ship and crew Mal had encountered before, and an unfamiliar ship, the Rhythm.
The name of the second ship prompted Mal to remember a rumour he’d heard about that ship, that one of the crew had been found unconscious on a space station, recounting a tale of being attacked by some form of alien, and seeing said alien walk away transforming into an identical copy of the crew member. Mal had dismissed this account as the ramblings of a deep space afflicted mind, but on the off chance that the crew member was telling the truth, he sent a personal “Your Eyes Only” message to the Captain of the Rhythm, recounting the tale, just in case there was a polymorph hiding amongst the Rhythm’s crew.
The shuttles landed in one of the few jungle clearings south of the Stairway, Mal lead Wash, Kaylee and Derrial towards the Stairway, while Zoe, Jayne, Inara and River headed towards a stream. Simon, Tracey and the Repairbot followed behind.
The jungle was very thick, visibility was restricted and the Stairway itself out of sight, but its position had been locked into the nav units, so they knew they were on the right track.
Almost immediately Zoe and Inara were ambushed by a couple of mobile, carnivorous plants, Zoe received a savage bite, but Inara despatched her opponent. They reminded Inara of something she read in an old novel from Earth-That-Was, “Triffids” she thinks they were called.
Zoe beat off the surviving Triffid, and Inara put it down with a well-aimed shot. Mal reached some physical loot, and unlocked it, but Jayne was less fortunate, rustling in the undergrowth revealed a Bileworm which attacked and stunned him.
Jayne somehow managed to fight off the Bileworm, Mal and Zoe opened up on it but both their guns jammed! Simon, Tracey and Derrial also shot at the Bileworm, Derrial getting in the fatal shot. Meanwhile Kaylee’s Repairbot trundled up to the loot Mal had unlocked and picked it up.
With the Bileworm dead Jayne used his medic kit to neutralise the poison coursing through his veins. Zoe’s team saw movement on the far side of the stream, and came under fire from the crew of the Rhythm.
Mal and Wash reached a Data loot near the Stairway and Mal unlocked it, as some type of rock ape appeared on a butte above them. Zoe launched a Drone and sent it towards the top of the Stairway, but Kaylee was shot by one of the Rhythm’s crew and wounded. Jayne and River returned fire and took down two of the rival crew.
More of the crew of the Rhythm appeared across the stream, firing at Mal & Wash but missing. Mal threw some smoke grenades to block the line of sight, while Wash downloaded the data Mal had unlocked. Although wounded Kaylee took a shot at the ape above Mal, but missed. The Ape descended the butte and attacked Mal.
River crossed the stream to reach a Physical loot, Simon reached Kaylee and treated her wounds. And two more Triffids appeared!
Before River could try to unlock the loot, she was shot and KO’d by one of the Rhythm’s crew. Mal fought off the ape, killing it, and Derrial despatched another Triffid. More gunfire was heard to the north, perhaps from the crew of the Cepheid Variable, but they didn’t come into sight.
Zoe crossed the stream to aid River, while Simon shot and killed another Triffid. Kaylee was slowly making her way back to the shuttles when she was attacked and KO’d by a Wraith-like creature, a swirl of blue mist. Zoe’s drone had made it to the top of the Stairway, and picked up the Treasure of the Ancients.
Mal avenged Kaylee by destroying the Wraith, while Jayne laid more smoke to block the Rhythm’s crew’s line of sight. The Drone laboriously made its way down from the Stairway with the Treasure, heading slowly back to the shuttles.
Zoe hosed down one of the Rhythm’s crew with her RFG, putting him down. The Repairbot safely returned to the shuttles.
More of the Rhythm’s crew appeared from behind the smoke screen; they shot at and took down both Zoe & Jayne.
Yet another of the planet’s fauna, resembling a Velociraptor from Earth-That-Was’ prehistory, appeared, attacking Tracey. After a sustained fight the Raptor took Tracey out of the game.
Derrial spotted one of the Rhythm’s crew climbing the Stairway (not sure why as the drone had already liberated the Treasure of the Ancients). This crewman took a pot shot at Derrial, missing him. Derrial fired back taking him out.
Inara killed the Raptor, but was in turn KO’d by a Ryakan that had been flying around seemingly at random.
As the crew fell back, they lost sight of the remains of the Rhythm’s crew, but the Ryakan still posed a threat. Fortunately, Mal managed to bring it down without it causing further injury.
Given the number of aggressive indigenous fauna and flora the crew had encountered at the start of the mission, surprisingly the remaining members of the crew made it back to the shuttles without any further encounters and returned to the Serenity.
Although over half of the crew were casualties during the mission, most only had scrapes, bruises and concussion, except for Kaylee. Whether the Wraith like creature that took her down had some lingering toxic after effect, Simon didn’t know, what he was certain of was that it was only the Serenity’s Advanced Medical Suite that let Kaylee pull through, even if she would take weeks to fully recover.
**LOG ENDS**
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It saw a rag-tag French outfit as the defender facing a determined German company supported by a platoon of tanks. The French were made up of a platoon of Foreign Legion and a platoon of Tirailleurs Sénégalais on one side of the river, needing to withdraw across the bridges and a Motorcycle platoon holding those bridges. The French also had some support in the form of an anti-tank gun and some engineers in a truck – the latter to demolish the bridges before the Germans could capture them intact. Along with two Bouteilles Incendiaires, two roadblocks and a couple of full Chain of Command dice for the withdrawing troops, this was the defending force. The Germans, in addition to their infantry company and tank platoon, had an Adjutant, a Pioneer team in a Kubelwagen, a SdKfz 222 armoured car, an infantry gun and a truck with four rubber boats. It wouldn’t have been an early war game without a Shabby Nazi Trick – the German players selected a fifth column sniper (Jean-Claude). We played through the patrol phase which saw some interesting jockeying for positions around the buildings on the German side of the board. With jump off points then positioned we were ready for the meat of the game.
Repeated exchanges of fire were telling on the French forces as they tried to hold the Germans long enough for their engineers to deploy and mine the bridges.
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