Discussion of Session 3

Vaughan:Remember this anyone?

Captain Ardesh, along with battledressed guards and a few other men, comes into the cell area. We are asked a few simple questions and then one of the accompanying men gives each of us a good hard stare. The man takes a long look at Fenton and then orders him to be taken away.

I bet the unknown man was scanning us psionically with his hard stare. Although, of course, as psionics are illegal in the Imperium the Navy wouldn't be doing that ...

Fenton, so why did this chap find you so interesting?

Preparation for Session 4

Vaughan: Some idea of a framework to get us prepared for next time ...

Mission Briefing

• Task: Find Marcal/Arrest?
• Help/resources/personnel available from Imperial Naval Intelligence (INI)
• Help/contacts on the planet

Ideas:

• Act as a retinue for Bertie to gives us a reason to be together on Penelope.
• Fenton uses his talents to contact the local underworld to find out about any psionic contacts/gangs/societies.

The Penelope System

Note: System Data differs from Traveller Canon.

• Canon: C4606424
• IMTU: C4403E29

Note: Whatever I do to this, it refuses to get rid of the hyperlink! Ahhhhh, it's a monster. Help, how do I get rid of its memory Ian?

Binary system: Primary star; F6 V Secondary star; M7 VI

3 gas giants (Odys, Icar & Peribo)

2 planetoid belts (the Eumaeus and the Philoetios)

Penelope has a diameter of approximately 6400 km (4000 miles). It is one of the 3 moons of the gas giant, Odys. It has a high rotation period (6 hours). There is a thin tainted atmosphere. The 'taint' is an extremely high concentration of particulates circulating in an extreme weather system. However, once isolated and filtered, the atmosphere is breathable. There is no water present. The population is approximately 2,000 sophonts. The world is governed through a religous autocracy. Law enforcement is very free; portable energy weapons and military grade lasers are generally prohibited, all else is acceptable. Technologically the world is considered to be at "Early stellar" level. The starport is orbital and limited in capacity but of average quality.

Equipping the Team ???

How do we catch Marcal if we see him?

• How do we stop him blipping away again: shoot him? Tranq round? Use up his psionic reserves first to disable him?

Vaughan to Fenton:

"I bet the unknown man was scanning us psionically with his hard stare. Although, of course, as psionics are illegal in the Imperium the Navy wouldn't be doing that ... Fenton, so why did this chap find you so interesting?"

Fenton:It seems they had been through their various records and as I had had a misfiled tax return some years ago on a world not too far from Zhodani space they seemed to think I was a confederate of Marcal, luckily I was eventually able to disabuse them of their error.

Vaughan:"Fenton uses his talents to contact the local underworld to find out about any psionic contacts/gangs/societies."

Fenton: What talents would these be? As an art dealer I don't see how I can be of much help here unless they have some objets d'art on offer and these would be unlikely to be the entirely legitimate sort that would interest me.

Vaughan: Hmm, well. It's just that as a scout I've spent the best part of the last 20 years sitting on very small starships staring at the walls or playing solo-holovid games. I clearly don't have the interpersonal skills that you do. Just look at your work the other day, you slipped off into the bazaar, chatted with the locals and emerged as a fully-rounded falafel salesman. I was very impressed. Being a scout I was still counting the legs and dividing by two ...

Fenton:Just a question though, erm, why should we be helping the people who are tyrannously duping an entire planet and engaging in eco-cide as well as casual genocide against the natives?

Vaughan: That would be to stop them executing us because we've proved to be useful. IF Marcal is a Zhodani spy then of course it's our duty as loyal Imperial citizens to aid the state in catching him. If we happen to get more of an idea of what's really going on in the process then that would be interesting too. As an ex-Scout, I'm horrified to see what the Navy has been getting up to. But as an ex-Scout, I can also tell you that you don't want to go upsetting the senior service - especially while sitting in one of their ships ...

Vaughan:That would be to stop them executing us because we've proved to be useful.

Fenton: Good point, well made.

Well, the thing is I'm a people-person so I've met a few felafel salesmen in my time and very interesting some of them are too; see, your average felafel salesman I can relate to, he has a product, he finds a customer, everyone's happy - not like these uniformed baboons who only seem interested in getting me killed or chasing psychotic psionics which, as I see it, could well have the same result. Me, I don't usually describe imminent death as "interesting".

It's not that I'm not a loyal citizen, it's just that I'm not really cut out for all this intrigue, what with my dodgy heart and everything. D'you know the doctors say it's a miracle I'm still alive, I'm a bone fide puzzle to medical science apparently - and not in the bad way that Bertie is....

Anyway, "religious autocracy" - any ideas of the tenets of the faith, we don't want to go upsetting the local cultural sensitivities.

(OOC - thinks "Two flats and a packet of gravel")

Vaughan Oh, good - another desert to visit too! Only 2000 sophonts should make it a touch easier to find Marcal. Fenton, perhaps there will be some interesting religious iconography to be traded. Surely, it's a case of - the more obscure the world, the rarer the artifacts? I'm quite worried about your heart. Calm down! After all, we're not really facing definite imminent death - it's only posssible imminent death. It would be useful to know the basis of the faith but the law level would suggest that in general they don't go around bothering people about it (well, hopefully).

(OOC - No water, no halibut)

Fenton: Panda shit's rare but it's still shit......

This is going to be 2,000 religious loons, isn't it?

The GM: Such pessimism in the face of adventure!

Vaughan I note that the Encyclopedia Galactica says 2000 sophonts. If it's 2000 religiously fanatic intelligent panda bears ...