GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Karen Twelves, Eric Fattig, and Adrienne Mueller
System: Blades in 68′
Officer of the council Prabius Nolbern opened the the council meeting by reading the minutes from the past meeting, and after that, absolutely nothing went has he had planned. (Text by me, amazing layout of the minutes by Tim Denee).
How we got here
Last session we played Rubens’ research into the leviathans, which took the form of a flashback triggered by Rubens (not delta) seeing the cigar box where his research notes were stored. However, in the session before that, the Barons got access to a city council meeting with the intention of drugging Lord Dunvil with truth serum and getting him to air his secrets. That didn’t know what he knew, but between the patrol hull program and Ironclad Protection, they knew he was making moves on the Bluecoats and Kassius Carver from MSF said he must be involved in some shady dealings.
At the end of the session we rolled the engagement and saw they were in a desperate position. I had some ideas for that.
Opening Scene
Nav and Paolo’s names were on the list and they were invited to sit amongst the audience for the proceedings. At the door two bored bluecoats were nodding as the checked names. One of the officers, clearly the veteran of the two was telling her partner “These will either bore you to sleep, or be an absolute knife fight, and nothing in between.”
On the audience section they saw several familiar faces including Sgt. Vran (there to make sure they did what they said they were going to do), Professor Kole (there for reasons unknown), and their lawyer Loretta Hunt (there to keep them out of trouble…as best she could).
Past a divider and through a small gate ahead of them on the left side was a part of the room intentionally unlit, but they could see the edges of a massive cage. Opposite the cage was a panel of experts, including Kassius Carver (amused), Kavira D’Har (confident), and several others they didn’t recognize.
Finally at the end of the room, raised above eveyrone else, was a bench of five City Council members Dalmore, Dunvil (in our game Dunvil is also a council member), Bowmore, Hellyers, and the presiding chair Councilor Clellaand.
Here’s my very fancy map outlines of the starting locations:
Back to the Minutes
Nolbern opened by going through the minutes from the previous meeting. Most of which was perfunctory until he got to the motion
External motion from Ministry of Stability Officer Dunvil, proposed to extend Patrol Hull pilot program to be expanded into regular deployment. Motion declined 3-to-2. Vote pending demonstration of patrol hull capabilities.
“Councilors, if it pleases you, we have the demonstration requested.” He nodded to Kavira, who stepped down from her bench to join him in the center of the room. The lights went on partially illuminating Detla inside the cage, shined and polished as though he was knew off the factory floor.
Kavira looked at him impassively. He was a means to an end. “Delta-974. Please record the next statement made and replay it for the councilors.” Delta made a show of starting a recording, which was only slightly challenging because he had to first quickly stop the recording that was already in progress!
Nolbern, right on que “What need will be have of reports from Bluecoat officers when a hull can make perfect audio and video recordings of every interaction it has?”
And playing the part, Delta replayed Nolbern’s words in his own voice. The councilors nodded in approval.
Nolbern continued “What about strength to batter open doors, apprehend suspects, and react to other emergencies?”
Kavira handed a flat metal bar through the bars to Delta, who rent it into to jagged pieces. The councilors sat back in their seats, eyes slightly widened.
In a voice that indicated this was his pièce de résistance Nolbern continued “And what of the lives of our honorable officers? Why put those at stake, when a hull is nearly impervious?”
Kavira drew a Hellyers Light Machine Coilgun (LMC), and fired a glancing blow into Detla’s arm, The bullet was deflected, leaving only a small dent [Level-1 Harm: Dented]
The councilors raised their eyebrows and muttered something between themselves. For a moment it seemed as though the demonstration was complete.
After the pause though, the rest of the lights went on revealing another hull inside the cage. This one all smooth chrome designs, hardened for battle. Nolbern, looked to Dunvil who nodded, and he continued “That was the Delta unit. Let me introduce you to the Epsilon model, superior in every way. This is Epsilon-01. Epsilon One, Destroy this Delta unit.”
Everyone sat up in their seats but nothing happened. Epsilon One remained inert. Nolbern beamed with price “Ah, you see. I am not a sworn officer, so it will not obey my commands. Superintendent Clermont, if you would do the honors?”
A woman dressed in civilian clothes stepped down from the benches and was going to issue the command, but their was a cry from the audience that caused her to pause.
“THAT’S MY PROPERTY!!!” Paulo shouted at the top of his lungs. He hurled protestations and rushed towards the spot of the spectacle (the “arena” if you will). Clermont paused for just a moment.
This did buy a moment of time [Resolve Resist from Paolo] and Delta took advantage of it. He cycled through several radio communication channels hailing “Epsilon One. Epsilon One. Epsilon One. Epsilon One. Do you understand me?” He was finally able to make contact with the other hull, who sounded just as lifeless via the native radio frequencies an Delta’s stilted vocal capabilities. “Acknowledged”
Delta made the case that utterly it would be a waste to utterly destroy Detla’s resonance chamber and that merely dismantling the chassis would be a sufficient demonstration without causing needless destruction. With some effort, Epsilon accepted the logic of the statement [Risky Sway. Mixed result caused reduced effect, but Delta resisted that].
As it turns out, Superintendent Clermont, possibly because of the distraction from Paolo, or possibly because she didn’t share Nolbern’s burning hate of Rubens, or possibly because she’s just not a horribly vindictive person that relishes in blood sport, reframed the command “Epsilon One. Disable this Delta unit,” And the fight was on!
Nav
Nav wanted to find a way to break Delta free, but it was impossible. The cage was built to bar a hull from escaping, even with concealed demolition tools, she wouldn’t be able to pry it open in time.
She could however use the spectacle as a distraction however to complete the score. She moved to the front of the audience, spotted Professor Kole, who was also up to something and then slunk her way to Lord Dunvil. Without cover she couldn’t make it without being noticed, but nobody stopped her [Risky/Standard prowl. Mixed result. Reduced effect].
The council members chastised her (and Paolo) but she feigned the same concern about how horrible this was and that surely they should do something to stop it. Eventually she was able to gain their sympathy, and amidst a “there, there” from Lord Dunvil she squeezed his arm (to disguise the sting) and injected him with truth serum. Hellyers who was watching all of this would have noticed except she hid the vial in the handkerchief Dunvil had given her! [Risky/Standard Finesse. Mixed result. Consequence resisted with Precision].
She was then led back into the audience by the balif, but not before she overheard the effects of the truth serum begin to take hold on Dunvil. “I’m not sure why she so concerned. This fight was rigged from the beginning. It’s only criminals inside those machines.” [1/6 ticks on the Dunvil’s Secrets clock]
When she returned to the audience, the fight had been called to an end, the victor determined, and the chaos had died down. She found Professor Kole and asked him to speak on her behalf and expose Lord Dunvil.
Paolo
Desperate to stop the fight, Paolo pleaded with Superintendent Clermont to end it. She was sympathetic but unable (or unwilling) to end it in order to prevent what she saw as only collateral damage. She called on the bailiff to escort him back to the audience, but he slipped the mans grasp. [Risky/Standard Sway. 1-3 result. The opportunity to talk to her would have been lost but he resisted it. The bailiff pulled at him and only scarves slipped away.]
He tried again, this time more passionately, this time flinging himself against the bars, despite the sights that there were electrified! [Desperate/Standard Sway. 4/5 result. Level -3 Harm Electrocution, which was resisted first by Paolo, and then protected by Delta to make it only Level-1 Harm shocked]. Clermont could not fathom why a man would put himself at such risk to stop this demonstration, but she wasn’t about to endanger the life of someone needlessly. At the moment, it looked like the victor was clear anyway, so she called off the fight.
Delta
Amidst all this, Delta was fighting for his core! Where as Delta’s chassis is intricate and designed for both aesthetics intricate tasks, the Epsilon was built for destruction. Delta using the Powerhouse ability, spent drain to move with incredible speed throughout the fight.
He leapt on the back of Epsilon one and tried to expose the internal wiring from his neck, only to find it armor plated. Nevertheless, Delta pried a way, metal on metal to expose his interior. Epsilon One quickly adapted. With a low squat it hurled both itself and Delta into the ceiling of the cage, then when the crashed down it tried to slam Delta against the ground, but the agile hull skipped away again [Desperate/Standard Skirmish. Mixed success. Reduced effect. Level-3 Harm crushed, eliminated completed by using Armor]
While his friend were trying to end the fight, Delta still had a deadly foe locked in the cage with him. Epsilon was fixing it’s targeting array on Delta and powering up for a crushing blow. At the last moment Paolo yelled for Delta to watch out for the charge, and he slipped under Epsilon’s mighty blow. Once again Delta was behind Epsilon One prying further into his metal frame. This time Epsilon adapted faster. His arms and head swung around so what was his back became his front and he began crushing delta in a terrible bear hug [Desperate/Standard Skirmish. Mixed success. Level-4 Harm. Reduced to Level-3 by Armor]
Metal rent, circuits sparked, gears ground, and it appeared that Epsilon would indeed crush Delta but then there was a call from Superintendent Clermont to “Stop. Epsilon Won.” Paolo was about to be electrocuted by grabbing ahold of the bars. Detla saw this and pushed his friend away, suffering the deadly current himself [Level 3 Harm, resisted by Paolo, then protected by Delta down to Level 1].
A moment of calm
The fight over (we thought) and everyone drew a breath. It was clear that many were exhilarated by the fight, but now sought to appear respectably disturbed by it. As the councilors were calling things to order, our scoundrels were squeezing in a few last chances to connect.
Delta now safely holding the bars of the cage (someone had turned off the power) asked Paolo if he could get the cigar box that Nonburn had at his desk. It was important to Ruben. Paolo agreed to do it but urged Delta not to do what Delta was clearly thinking of doing… which was to continue attacking Epsilon One. “That would be ruthless!” [Delta’s Deadlock].
Paolo, however was distracted, by another figure making her way through the melee to the cage. “Wait, we’re the only ones who get to do sneaky stuff in here.” He grabbed her wrist but with a quick shift, she twisted out of it and had his arm in a lock. “Who are you?” He asked, trying not to belie the paid she was inflicting.
They had a brief exchange. She had a message for Rubens (again, that name!) and meant him no harm, but needed to do it quickly. Paolo agreed to give her cover from the council and in this brief moment had a connection with her that she didn’t think was possible. She said far more than she expected to and would later wonder why she was so honest. “I’m Agent 36. I work for Blackthorn Park. Now cover me.” [Risky/Standard Sway. Critical Success!]
Agent 36 approached the cage as Paolo approached the bench. She slipped a message to Delta in the form of an old note card. She told him “This is from Eel.” [I gave Adrienne the 2nd Death card from 514 IE]
Paolo kept his promise to both Agent 36 and Rubens by creating a distraction and confronting Nolbern. “This wasn’t our arrangement. You’ve got to make this right!” Councilor Clellaand was pounding his gavel and yelling at Paolo to take his seat but he persisted. A bailiff would have pulled him back forcefully if not so busy getting Nav back to her seat.
Finally Paolo convinced Nolbern to accept a bet. A coin toss. Paolo wins, he gets the cigar box (which Nolbern coveted deeply). Nolbern wins he gets Delta (which he also coveted deeply). “Fine. Agreed!” He was rushed and making poor decisions. “Crowns” he called as the coin flipped through the air. It landed on Leviathans! Furiously he grabbed the coin to make sure it wasn’t double sided and the sneered as he relented. [Risky/Standard Finesse roll to rig the coin flip. Success!].
Delta, however did not keep any promises (implied or otherwise) and once everyone was starting to calm down, took the rent metal bar he had used in the former display, leapt on Epsilon One and wrecked his core, causing a ultraplasmic blast that flung with violent force against the cage bars. Rattling the entire cage. The bailiff looked at the keys to the cage and left them right where they were. He wasn’t going to let either of those murder machines lose! [Desperate/Great Wreck. Mixed success. Level 3 Harm – Crushed. Reduced to Level 2 by armor].
“ORDER! I WILL HAVE ORDER IN THIS HALL!” The gavel slammed again and finally the violence ended. Epsilon One lying motionless on the ground after crumpling from the internal blast.
Professor Kole
Nav, who had been escorted back to the audience, urged professor Kole to take the stand and hound Dunvil to reveal his secrets. That wasn’t Kole’s agenda, but he agreed nevertheless. Before he could go up there however, he covertly handed a bandoleer with three grenades on it to Nav for safe keeping.
When he took the speaker podium the professor turned his attention not to Dunvil, but to Delta. He spoke loudly, and clearly, as though to a classroom of eager students. “We treat hull as though they are simple machines, but they are more than that. They still have the resonance that is inside of us all. Delta, do you have desires?”
Delta gave a meek response, but agreed. He was quite battered.
“And do you have memories? Can you share one with me?”
Inspired by what he had just read, Delta shared the memory from Eel
I had a friend as school who always smiled at me and shared their food.
I told myself that if I lived from this, I would tell them how I feel.
The upshot. Dunvil ran his mouth. “Yes, this is exactly the problem! These hulls remember too much. When the Ministry of Stability takes over the Lusk Reform Clinic, we’ll make sure to iron out all these issues…Did I just say that out loud?” The other councilors were taken aback by his blunt honesty. [3/6 ticks on the Secrets clock]
The downside. Kole thought that if the councilors realized that hulls were people they could care about them, but they don’t care about “people” (flesh or metal) at all, so they were unmoved by his plea.
Are we done ? Hardly!
Vran was looking at Paolo approvingly. He didn’t know how they did it, but Dunvil admitting he was going to try and take over the LRC and Delta defeating Epsilon One would be enough to stop the patrol hull motion. Hulls would still be made, but that wasn’t his probem.
On the other side of the room was Kassius, entirely amused by all of this, who winked at Paolo, goading him to further action.
Our Swinger took the podium to speak but then kept advancing with a commanding gaze and snatched the gavel from Councilor Clellaand’s hand [Desperate/Standard Command. Critical Success because of Deadlocking the “Sensitive” key to “Volatile”]. I am Paolo D’Ambrosio and I have been wronged by this council. Delta is my private property and I did not sanction this fight.”
Dunvil slipped again “Well, of course not, it was Nolbern who had personal vendetta against the hull. This was just a ruse for his own personal beef [4/6 ticks on the Secrets clock]
Nolbern, who had been loyal to Dunvil until now, and goaded by Paolo to defend himself struck back “I’m hardly the one using the system for personal gain. What about your prized possessions Lord Dunvil.”
“Oh yes, of course I have an army of hollow assassins. How else would I protect myself?” [6/6 ticks on the clock].
The councilors devolved into accusations and but Nav and Loretta Hunt (the crew’s lawyer) managed to keep the clerk taking minutes until the final gavel was struck and the the meeting was adjourned. What are the odds any non-redacted version of those minutes ever see the light of day? We’ll find that out next time.
Aftermath
- Payout: 6 [From Vran, as promised]
- Heat: 10 [6 from Wild Exposure +4 from the personal wrath of the councilors]
- Rep: 7
- Harm Complications:
- Paolo – Self Medication
- Delta – Critical Condition (so much harm!)
- Faction status changes
- City Council -2
- Golden Hand -1
- Bluecoats +1
- Burn Corpse +1
- Lusk Reform Clinic +1
- Ministry of Stability -1
- Charterhall Citizens +1
- Contacts: Nolbern now Paolo’s rival
- Dirt Barons advance to Tier 1 (Weak Hold)
For next session
- Downtime
- Trouble Engine
- Time passing for Nav and Paolo
- Ironhook for Delta (the first hull to go to prison)
- What will Dunvil do in response?
- Can Nav get the unredacted minutes from the clerk?
