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The Good Ship Circes
Ship Stats
Owner/Fleet: Mariner Cruise Lines
Length: 480’
Beam: 71’
Gross Tons: 18800
Passengers: 216
Crew: 132
The cruise ship Circes is a 480’ long, 71’ wide, pleasure ship on the Jovian water-world of Europa that takes passengers, from its port in Capitol City, on various cruises to some of Europa’s more unique and natural wonders. The ship is one of the smaller vessels in its fleet (the Mariner Cruise Line), hosting no more than 216 passengers with a crew of 132.
Character Rooms
The characters are onboard, assigned to any cabins or suites they like, except Jacuzzi Suites 1 and 2, and Executive Suite 4 – which are already occupied by other guests.
Montoya: Jacuzzi Suite 12
Gilbert: Cabin 24 (closest to the stairs leading down to the buffet)
Butch & Moonkit: Cabin 51
Tubbs: Cabin 49 (adjoining 51)
Crystal & Cillian: Executive Suite 3
Jacob: Deluxe Cabin 17
Ethel: Executive Suite 8
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General information on the vessel and its deck plans are readily available over the Net, as well as being posted in various locations throughout each deck. Below is a brief description of the areas onboard.
Aft Storage, B Deck: The area here is used for the storage of ship cargo, spare parts, and other heavy equipment.
Anchor Deck, A Deck: The Anchor Deck is a restricted area 6’ below the level of the Disco Deck and is accessible only through a hatch coming up from the Water Control Room below. Here the ship’s massive anchors and other dangerous equipment are stowed while not in use.
Arcade, A Deck: The Arcade is entered through an open arch with a raised metal screen that can be lowered when necessary to secure the area. Inside is a dizzying array of vibrant and noisy video and virtual reality games, guaranteed to suck hours from one’s life, and the life from one’s wallet.
Art Gallery, A Deck: The Art Gallery is entered through an open arch with a raised metal screen that can be lowered when necessary to secure the shop. Inside are displayed many fine works of art and sculpture for sale, as well as a catalog of art objects on display throughout the ship – all of which can be purchased here for the right price.
Barber, Promenade Deck: This is a ‘Man’s’ barbershop with no fancy embellishments, save its shop window and barber pole outside the door.
Beauty Salon, Promenade Deck: The ship’s Beauty Salon offers high-class hairstyling as well as doing nails and other salon services. Large shop windows on either side of the door allow passengers to see into the salon as they walk by.
Bed 1-4, B Deck: These rooms each contain two curtained beds and are used by the ship’s hospital unit to care for seriously injured, sick, or quarantined patients.
Boutique, Promenade Deck: The ship’s Boutique is graced on its entry side by a large shop window and sells a variety of sundry items, including swimsuits, lingerie, and personal hygiene products.
Cabins 21-54 (Locked: Electronic, Swipe Card), B Deck: All passenger cabins and suites are accessed by an electronic lock with swipe card, issued to each passenger as they board, and contain a private bathroom and shower. A simple maid service also comes with each room, plus a paid room service, which can be accessed twenty-four hours per day via the shipboard phone system included in each room. The standard passenger cabin is cleanly furnished, but somewhat cramped, with two large sealed portholes in the outer hull to let some natural light in.
Card Room, A Deck: The Card Room is a quiet place to sit and play cards or other tabletop games.
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Casino Lounge, Promenade Deck: The Casino Lounge offers both bar and grill, serving a full compliment of exotic drinks and liquors, as well as ‘Classic American’ burger fare.
Chapel, A Deck: The ship’s Chapel is an elegantly ornamented place of worship, offering a daily prayer meeting, non-denominational weekend devotional services, and marriage ceremonies by arrangement. The ship’s Chaplin and his staff are also available around the clock for any personal counseling that might be sought by both passengers and crew.
Children’s Room Daycare (Locked: Simple Hard), Promenade Deck: This is the ship’s daycare and activity room for its younger passengers. The room is cheerfully decorated and set up in a classroom-like manner with various areas for story telling, arts and crafts, and play. The doors to the daycare are kept locked at all times and the four-person staff will only release children to their parents, who must sign them in and out when they come to drop them off or pick them up.
Coffee Shop, A Deck: The Coffee Shop is entered through an open arch with a raised metal screen that can be lowered when necessary to secure the area. Inside is cozy little coffee shop that also offers a variety of health drinks, some baked goods, and other light fare.
Conference Room, A Deck: The Conference Room is a private space for rent, which passengers can use to host meetings, seminars, conventions, or other private functions.
Cool Treats, Bridge Deck: The Cool Treats shack offers ice cream and other cool treats to passengers on the Sun Deck, which can be bought through a small counter-window in the aft wall of the shack.
Cruise Director, B Deck: This is the Cruise Director’s office, where information on the ship’s schedules and activates is planned and directed.
Deluxe Cabin 13-20 (Locked: Electronic, Swipe Card), A Deck: Though still a bit cramped, the Deluxe Cabins are set apart from the standard cabins by a higher quality of furnishings and a fully windowed outer wall.
Disco Deck, A Deck: The Disco Deck provides overflow for the Disco Lounge and is occupied at its outside edge by umbrella tables and deck chairs. Music from the Disco Lounge is piped through speakers out to the Disco Deck and a variety of lights and strobes are used at night to liven up the area.
Disco Lounge, A Deck: The Disco Lounge is a lively dance club complete with a hardwood dance floor, vibrant strobe lights, giant disco ball, raised DJ booth and well-stocked bar.
E: Located throughout the ship, these are the ship’s elevators.
Entryway, (Locked: Remote Electronic), B Deck: These are the two entryways for passenger loading, one on the port side of the ship and one on the starboard side. Both remain closed and locked while the ship is underway. While the doors are manually opened from the Entryway location, the lock itself is controlled from a panel in the Loading Office.
Event Board, Promenade Deck: The area here is a large concave bulletin board plastered with information and flyers for the various shipboard activities and events. A smaller section of the bulletin board is reserved for passenger use and includes a number of mundane postings.
Exam 1-3, B Deck: These are examination rooms for the ship’s hospital unit, each containing an examination table, a few small chairs, and some cabinets stocked with the typical assortment of first aid kits, medical equipment, and supplies.
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Executive Suite 3-10 (Locked: Electronic, Swipe Card), Bridge Deck: The Executive Suites are exceptionally luxurious, coming with a fully windowed outer wall and private covered balcony. The furnishings and services are all top notch and include (in addition to the standard maid and room service) a breakfast service as well as free laundry and dry cleaning.
Fitness Deck, A Deck: The Fitness Deck is half covered by the Promenade Deck above, and is filled with a variety of free weights, exercise equipment, and yoga mats. The ship offers a wide variety of fitness programs and the deck is usually quite busy during the day.
Gift Shop, Promenade Deck: The Gift Shop is entered through an open arch with a raised metal screen that can be lowered when necessary to secure the shop. A sturdy glass window makes up the entire starboard wall of the shop, allowing passengers to see into the shop from the outside. The shop itself sells all the standard gift shop fare; including gifts, mementos, medicines, snacks, and small convenience items.
Hospital, B Deck: This is the ship’s hospital and emergency surgical center.
Hot Tub, Bridge Deck: This is a large bubbling hot tub with a submerged sitting ledge surrounding its perimeter.
Info, B Deck: The long curved counter here is used during loading to help passengers find their way.
Jacuzzi Suite 1, 2, 11, 12 (Locked: Electronic, Swipe Card), Bridge Deck: The Jacuzzi Suites are the most luxurious and spacious of all the passenger cabins, each with a fully windowed outer wall, a private covered balcony, and outdoor jacuzzi. The furnishings and services are all top notch and include (in addition to the standard maid and room service) a breakfast service as well as free laundry and dry cleaning.
Janitor (Jan) (Locked: Simple Hard): Each of the Janitor rooms throughout the ship contain a deep sink and cabinets and shelves stocked with equipment, chemicals, and supplies needed for the day-to-day maintenance and upkeep of each deck of the ship.
Kiddy Pool, Bridge Deck: This is a wide but shallow pool for small children and their parents that includes a central sprinkler and a few jets of fountaining water.
Lab, B Deck: This is the ship hospital unit’s lab for handling medicines, cultures, biohazards, and other interesting things. It contains a small sink, a diagnostic workstation, and a variety of cabinets stocked with a diverse assortment medical equipment and supplies. A sturdy metal cabinet, secured with a padlock, holds the ship’s store of drugs.
Laundry (Locked: Electronic, Swipe Card), A Deck: This is a private coin-operated laundry for passengers with Deluxe Cabin accommodations and is opened with the same card that allows access to their rooms.
Library, Bridge Deck: This is the ship’s library, where passengers can come to check out both books and movies. Like any library, it is filled with tables, chairs, and shelves and shelves of books and movie CDs, but also showcases many pieces of fine art and sculpture as well. Passengers can also access the Net from the library at a few public computer terminals located along the aft wall.
Lifeboats (not shown on map): All lifeboats for the ship are located above the Bridge Deck, which is accessible only via the ladder and hatch in the Map and Communications Room. In the event that the lifeboats would need deployed, they can be lowered to the Promenade Deck for boarding, either by computer control on the Bridge itself or, if necessary, manually at each lifeboat up topside.
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Linen (Locked: Simple Hard): Each of the Linen rooms throughout the ship contain multiple shelves of fresh linen and large wheeled hampers and carts for maid’s service work.
Loading Area (Locked: Simple Hard), B Deck: The Loading Area is entered through two clearly marked and locked restricted doors. Inside is a small forklift (chained down when the ship is underway), stacks of pallets, and other equipment used to facilitate the movement and storage of heavy objects. A wide cargo elevator can also be found here, used to lower large equipment and parts from the Loading Area to the Machine Shop below.
M/W: Located throughout the ship, these are men and women’s restrooms of various sizes and decor.
Maid’s Office (Locked: Simple Hard), B Deck: The Maid’s Office is where the ship’s maid staff reports for work and receives their cleaning schedules for the day. The room is filled with service carts and various cleaning supplies.
Main Dining, C Deck: The main Dining Area is filled with tables and chairs to accommodate both passenger and crew meals; all served on a strict schedule. It includes four large buffet tables – the central of which surrounds a massive aquarium filled with a startling variety of colorful fish – a well-stocked kitchen, and both Cold and Dry Storage accessible through the kitchen. Self-closing restricted doors to the fore and aft of the Main Dining area are used to enter the crew spaces and are locked on the dining side with simple hard locks; opened with each crewmember’s cabin key.
Office, B Deck: This is the ship hospital unit’s administrative office and check-in for passenger medical services. The room is set up like any small office, with desks, computers, and some file cabinets. A small counter-window opens from the Office into the Waiting Room, where patients can speak through to the nurses within.
Party Room, A Deck: The Party Room is a private space for rent, which passengers can use to host parties or other private functions.
Passenger Laundry, B Deck: The area here is a coin-operated laundry for passenger use.
Pay Out (Locked: Electronic, Key Code), Promenade: This is the Pay Out window for the Royal Casino and can only be entered through the casino Security room via an electronic lock and key code. A number of pretty women work here, selling and redeeming the trays-and-trays of casino tokens and chips stored within.
Pool, Bridge Deck: The ship’s swimming pool, which includes a surrounding stone patio and diving board, is unique in that its bottom is actually fashioned from a thick sheet of stained-glass. This allows sunlight and the slightly obscured shapes of swimmers to be seen in the pool from the Royal Casino below. At night, colorful lights from the casino shine up through the pool, giving it an almost mystical appearance.
Private Dining, C Deck: There are two private dining rooms on the ship, generally used by bridge officers, but also available for rent to passengers for special dinners or other private functions.
Projection (Proj) Box (Locked: Simple Hard), Promenade Deck: This small room houses the projector and movie selection for the ship’s Stadium Theater.
Promenade Deck, Promenade Deck: The Promenade Deck is a nice area to relax and see where the ship has been. It is occupied mostly by deckchairs, but also contains an area for playing shuffleboard and a few umbrella tables set outside the doors to the Casino Lounge.
Promenade, Promenade Deck: The Promenade is an open covered deck that wraps around the ship, allowing passengers a place to jog, take romantic strolls, or just relax in any of the many deck chairs that line its perimeter.
Purser’s Office, B Deck: This is the office of the ship’s Purser, who coordinates the loading of passengers and their belongings. Should a passenger wish something placed in the ship’s Vault, they can have it arranged through the ship’s Purser.
R: This indicates a restricted area, as indicated on the door entering the area in question.
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Reading Nook, Bridge Deck: The area here is filled with comfortable armchairs and reading tables, to allow passengers a quite place to enjoy a good read. Like the library, the Reading Nook also showcases many pieces of fine art and sculpture.
Rock Climb, Bridge Deck: A rock-climbing wall ascends 50’ up the back of the ship’s smokestack from the Sun Deck, accommodating up to four passengers at a time.
Royal Casino (No Minors), Promenade Deck: The Royal Casino is a noisy and garishly decorated area abuzz with excitement at all times of the day – even late into the evening. Its most prominent feature is its unique ceiling, which is actually in part composed of the stained-glass bottom of the ship’s swimming pool above. During the day, sunlight and the slightly obscured shapes of swimmers can be seen in the pool above, while at night, the ceiling serves as a dark mirror, reflecting back the lights and activities of the casino below. The casino floor itself hosts all of the classic games of chance, as well as the flashiest of slot machines, and is an ‘Adults Only’ area. Cameras and an alert security team keep a constant eye on the area, making sure kids don’t sneak in and that the games are all on the up-and-up.
Sea-View Japanese Restaurant, Promenade Deck: The Sea-View Japanese Restaurant is a five-star Japanese restaurant with a bar, sushi bar, and extraordinary view overlooking the bow of the ship through a fully windowed forward wall. Its well-stocked kitchen allows it to create some truly magnificent entrees – including both traditional Japanese fare and Neo-Modern Japanese/European dishes, featuring some of Europa’s strange but tasty seafood.
Ship Admin, B Deck: These two rooms contain office and cubicle space for the ship’s administration, including their personnel and payroll departments.
Ship’s Laundry (Locked: Simple Hard), B Deck: This is the ship’s laundry and dry cleaning facility, where the staff washes all the ship’s linens and any articles submitted by passengers through the ship’s laundry and dry cleaning service.
Skeet Shoot, A Deck: At the aft end of the Fitness Deck and behind a thick safety wall is the covered skeet shooting area, where passengers can shoot skeet flung out behind the ship. There are four 20mm sport shotguns available here, each loaded with light birdshot (0L DMG). Two staff members man the area when it is open, making sure no one fools around when it comes to gun safety. During off hours, the shotguns and ammo are taken down and stored in the Brig.
Stadium Theater, A Deck: The ship’s two-story Stadium Theater offers daily showings of the current theater release movies, as well as special midnight showings of older classics. The two doors to either side of the theater are fire doors and only open from the inside. A concessions stand in the Theater Lobby offers popcorn and other sweet treats for those so inclined.
Sun Deck, Bridge Deck: This large spacious deck contains the ship’s swimming pools, a covered outdoor bar, and is filled with a myriad of deckchairs for sunbathing.
U/D: Located throughout the ship, these are the ship’s stairwells – U: Up from this side; D: Down from this side.
Waiting Room, B Deck: This is the ship hospital unit’s waiting room. It is set up like any other of its kind, with a small video screen, multiple rows of chairs, a few end tables, and lot and lots of old magazines.
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Operation A.P.E.
Bounty: 2,500,000w for Arlo Melbourne: Leader of A.P.E.; Plus 400,000w for each confirmable Member of A.P.E.
Wanted For: Terrorist Activities
Bounty Posted By: SSPB
A new Terrorist Group – the Anti-Psychic Evolutionists (or A.P.E) – have begun to make a name for themselves across the System, waging a brutal campaign against what they deem "a spiritual cancer that must be cut from the very heart of society."
Lead by the exceptionally charismatic Arlo Melbourne – recently dismissed Head of Theology from the University of Calvary on Mars – A.P.E. has gained a cult-like following dedicated to the eradication (by any means) of all psychic powers.
According to A.P.E. ideology, all psychic phenomena is a direct manifestation of the Devil’s power, as proved by the corrupting influence (Psychosis) that it has on any who wield it too long. It was radical ideas like this that ultimately lead to Arlo Melbourne’s dismissal from the University, but not before he had gained a substantial following of like-minded zealots.
Up to this point, A.P.E. has already staged a small number of successful assassinations against a few self-professed psychics – their approach being to place a large amount of explosives in a location the psychic is known to frequent, and then to set them off when he (or she) is in proximity. Unfortunately, their methods have also racked up a tremendous amount of collateral damage – which the group simply dismisses as "the cost of waging God’s war."
Additionally, members of A.P.E. have also managed, over the last month, to pull off a number of high profile hackjobs against some of the Solar System’s top financial institutions, putting billions of writ at their disposal.
What nefarious ends will such vast resources allow the group to pursue in their latest scheme?!?
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You, the crew of the Desperado, are aware of the recent assurgency of the A.P.E. threat (especially given that one of your own is a psychic) and have heard of the standing bounty for Arlo Melbourne and the members of his terrorist organization.
In fact, you are on the pleasure ship Circes, because you have reason to believe that A.P.E. may try to target one of the ship’s passengers during the cruise – Dr. James Benson, Chief Administrator of the European Government’s Psychic Research Program.
While Dr. Benson’s travel is supposed to be Top Secret – and he is traveling undercover with minimal protection – the fact that The Gilbert and Montoya could find out about it means that A.P.E. could also…
The plan then, is to find and tail Dr. Benson (without alerting him that his cover has been blown) and see if the good doctor can draw out any A.P.E. agents. That’s where you come in – nab the A.P.E. agents, save the day, and collect the bounties!
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Nine space fighters streaked toward the black hole – the first to get through would emerge victorious on the other side, while the rest enjoyed front row seats to oblivion!
Montoya piloted the ‘Rogue One’ with black Jolly Rogers adorning the fins; Gilbert was in the ‘Lunch-Wagon’ – an odd hotdog-shaped craft with twin fryalator cannons; Jacob flew the ‘Assassin’s Arrow’ – a sleek black space corvette; Butch piloted the ‘Uber-Kludge’ a hammerhead Mark IV; Crystal was in an unnamed Epsilon-Wing sentry skiff; Ethel commanding ‘Space Ball’ a wood-paneled Winabego with quad-mount chainguns; Cillian’s ship – The Whisper – wasn’t well armed, but had a cloaking device; Moonkit piloted ‘Desperado Mini Me’ a cartoonish mockery of the real thing; and Tubbs flew the ‘Backstreet Thugery’ a model 15 Military bombardment craft.
Mines were deployed as canons, rockets, fryalators, and ship guns opened up and mayhem quickly ensued!
Poor Tubbs flew right into a space mine and was totaled at the outset.
Everyone concentrated fire on Crystal and she barely made it into the event horizon, before vaporizing in a bright flash!
Things got hot with some serious dogfighting – everyone sniping at everyone else (though Moonkit seemed to be more invisible to fire then even Cillian).
Butch suffered the brunt of things, in this exchange, and exploded in flames when he bounced off a mine and took double fryalator blasts up the tailpipe!
Cillian, while stealthing along and making good time, wiped out on an asteroid that seemed to come out of nowhere.
Jacob then took out Ethel, who had sprinted out to the lead!
Moonkit detonated a swarm of mines that locked onto her and was gone in a cascading thunder of multiple explosions!
Jacob took the lead, but was anhialated by Gilbert and Montoya!
The race was then on, as Gilbert and Montoya swooped in toward the center of the black hole! Who would be first to enter?
Gilbert - ramming Montoya into an asteroid – wins the race and disappears into the singularity as the univers explodes!
GAME OVER.
1ST PLACE Gilbert and the Lunch-Wagon!
2ND PLACE Montoya’s Rogue One
3RD PLACE Jacob and Assassin’s Arrow!
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The crew of the Desperado are in the Arcade (A Deck), having just finished a round of 'Space Annihilation III'. As they remove their VR helmets, a crowd of youngsters clamor around "It’s our turn! It’s our turn! We’re next!"
Everyone is aboard the pleasure ship 'Circes' on the Jovian water-world of Europa, heading out from the port of Capitol City, on what is scheduled to be a two-week cruise.
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"Yay! That was fun!" Moonkit says, clapping.
"You didn't get flattened right out the gate, haha!" Tubbs replies.
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Crystal grumbles to herself, "Sure yeah, everyone focus on me", then closes her eyes tightly.
Oh she'd been having a terrible week.
It's a hell of a ship, the Circes, as luxurious as can be, and somehow she'd managed to snag one of the best rooms in the entire joint for herself - I swear I need to find out where Montoya and Gilbert get all this money. We spend so much more than we make.
But she hasn't been this afraid about a mission since she fled Titan. These crazy Farking bastards wanted to kill her, and every single person like her. For what? Farking Christ
She clenches a fist, her knuckles snapping as they turn white from her exertions - Then there's him. Why did it have to be him? These guys are Farking loons, but maybe they've got the right idea on him. If anyone ever had to have a devil in them...
She unclenches her fist and opens her eyes, aware of the fact that she might be making a spectacle of herself. That wouldn't do.
If anyone's watching she'll give a tired smile and chuckle out a simple - "Headache. Didn't really sleep well".
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Jacob laughs. "That was a good game."
Then he notes Crystals 'headache.'
"Well that wont do. You should take care of yourself." He smiled at her.
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Montoya leaps out and quickly takes in the scene, this was obviously not going to be an easy mission for their resident psychic so maybe time to flambouyantly distract people from her 'headache' "Ah Crystal, don't take it so badly. It just means everyone thought of you as a credible threat, even I only came second!" he glances around "And at least you didn't fly like Tubbs, remind me never to let him pilot the Dandy".
He poses dramatically "Now where are the pirate themed games on this ship! or are people hungry?"
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Jacob leaps up after. "Pirate games!" He beams
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Gilbert eyes the the youngsters then nods knowingly.
"Very well, I shall give you the honour of playing against the reigning champion!" Gilbert says, putting back on the VR helmet before hearing their response.
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The kids push past the rest, to team up against Gilbert and the inevitable slaughter his legendary gaming prowess will no doubt shortly produce.
There will be much crying on the ship tonight!
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Cillian waits quietly, ready to go along with whatever the group decides.
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"Then let's search the arcade for the pirate games!" Montoya loudly announces.
He starts walking, moving very close to Cillian as he does "Time to start checking for our terrorists if you can, their usual methods would kill everyone in bound this ship." He begins fiddling on his computer while he walks to attempt to find a full passenger and crew manifest.
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"Yarr, Cap'n" Jacob agrees in a pirate tone.
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"Nerd," Ethel teases the Gilbert, extending her tongue at him. She pauses a bit after Crystal expresses pain, eventually choosing not to follow it up.
"Dangit Jacob, that's my thing!" Throwing her hands in the air, she follows the rest of the crew to the next videogame, keeping an eye out for Benson meanwhile.
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"Damn. Real piloting is easier then that." Butch mutters, shaking his head.
"Gonna go look around a bit, yeah? Keep comms on." Butch says heading off [Plans TBD on character sheet]
"Oh and Tubbs; keep moonkit safe yeah? Im trusting you."
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"No problem boss!" Tubbs says, nodding to Butch.
Moonkit meanwhile, follows captain Montoya, with Tubbs hurrying after her.
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The crew then separates for the day, to enjoy the ship’s many fine amenities and various forms of entertainment, while keeping an eye out for Doctor Benson and anything else that might stand out as suspicious.
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Immediately, Montoya proves to be quite fun on a cruise and, like the pied piper of Hamelin, gathers an entourage of children that follow him around – who (along with their parents) mistake him to be part of the ship’s entertainment programs!
Moonkit and Tubbs have a good time too, following the Captain around as he plays the part – until security steps in to break up the party, after a real Children’s Activity Coordinator spots the group and is like “WTF?!?”
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At the Coffee shop, Ethel wastes some time trying to research Doctor Benson, but gets nowhere beyond the official Jovian Peoples Confederacy propaganda sites that simply list him as a brilliant pioneer in the field of psychic research.
She then fairs a bit better later, with some skeet shooting, getting off to a rocky start, but later impressing the instructor with her skills enough that he asks her to meet him for dinner in the Sea-View Japanese Restaurant at 8:00pm.
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Cillian meanwhile, wanders around the ship with Crystal, absentmindedly reading peoples’ auras, as they catch his interest. He doesn’t discover anything really telling, but it is positively amazing how many artificial hips, knee replacements, and pacemakers are aboard the ship.
So many old people…
As this goes on, Crystal spots a small notice posted in the general area of the Event Board on the Promenade Deck.
It reads: "Going Bananas Party for members of the Simian Appreciation Society in The Party Room (A Deck) 12:00am to ???"
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When Butch heads back to his Cabin to upload his Larceny Program, he hears the most pitiful whimpering coming out from under the bunks.
Looking, he sees that the mournful sounds are coming from Moonkit’s suitcase. Even before he opens it, he knows what he’ll find – as he lifts the lid to find a very upset little monkey packed inside, wrapped in a pillow case.
Once the crew mascot is free, fed, and shown to the toilet, Butch can only shake his head for now and try to carry out his plan to heist a keycard.
He follows a janitor into the bathroom and tries to swipe his keycard, but unfortunately, it doesn’t go very well – though Butch manages to pass it off as an innocent mistake, feigning interest in the man, who replies simply that Butch ‘is not his type’.
Butch then regroups with a good cigar (Freudian slip?) and thinks about what to do next.
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Heading back to his room after dinner, Montoya has success when trying to get a hold of the passenger and crew manifests. While nothing about the names on the passenger list is very helpful, it does indicate that 22 members of the ‘Red Sharks’ football team are onboard this cruise.
A little harder to get is a list of the ship’s crew, but when Montoya finally hacks his way in, it reveals that six new crewmembers, including the ship’s Loadmaster, Anthony Quinn, where recently hired by the Mariner Cruise Lines and that this is their first cruise with fleet.
Then, as he is leaving his room, Montoya spots Doctor Benson, who is traveling in a light disguise with two males and one female. It is obvious to Montoya (from their demeanor), that the two males traveling with Doctor Benson are undercover SSPB agents. Additionally, the female appears be a Feng-Shui Master, as she has the habit of constantly checking into her large gaudy purse (which appears to hold her Lopan).
The group is just leaving their rooms at the time Montoya spot then – with Doctor Benson and the Feng-Shui Master sharing Jacuzzi Suite 2, while the two SSPB agents are next door in Executive Suite 4.
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As this goes on, Cillian, having used his Feng-Shui Powers to Summon Doctor Benson, literally runs into his entourage a few moments later, as he and Crystal are getting off an Elevator.
Crystal immediately recognizes Doctor Benson and about-faces to walk away before Doctor Benson and his team can get a look at her – they being distracted by Cillian bumping into them.
Cillian notes that the woman with them is a Feng-Shui Master (and she the same of him). The SSPB Agents look very tense, but the group apologizes to Cillian and moves off warily.
That is when Captain Montoya joins Cillian and Crystal to reveal that he knows which rooms they are staying in.
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During this time, Jacob and Gilbert find themselves in the ship’s Royal Casino, where they note a number of members of the Red Sharks football team in there playing the games. It’s not long however, before both Jacob and Gilbert are flat broke – each being cleaned out well before ten pm!
While getting up to leave however, they suddenly recognize a bounty head (also leaving the Casino) – though not associated with A.P.E. –Credence Jones; a hacker wanted on Mars for tampering with sensitive business records.
As this goes on, Gilbert checks his computer and notes that the ship’s network is all hardlined. Nothing is there to remotely hack into…
He does however, look up Credence Jones’ bounty on the net – it’s 300,000 writ.
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Ethel, having come back from a nice dinner with the skeet shooting instructor, meets up with Butch in his cabin to discuss their plan to visit the engine room tonight.
When Butch turns on his diagnostic scanner, it immediately signals an explosive warning – and they haven’t even left the cabin yet!
Following the detector, it shows no explosives in the room, but does indicate something on the other side of the restricted area just down the hallway aft of Butch’s cabin…
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10:00 PM (not combat, but try to keep things coordinated in fifteen minute chunks)
Tubbs and Moonkit are just returning to the Cabins (49 & 51). They run into Butch and Ethel.
Butch and Ethel are in the hall outside Butch’s Cabin (51) when they see Tubbs and Moonkit returning to the room. Moonkit is not aware that Butch knows about the monkey yet.
Gilbert and Jacob are both outside the Royal Casino, starboard side, following Credence Jones who is walking aft, towards the stairs that lead up to the Sun Deck.
Montoya, Crystal, and Cillian, are in the landing near the elevators between Jacuzzi Suite 11 and Jacuzzi Suite 12.
Doctor Benson and his bodyguards are going down the stairs that lead to the Event Board below.
-
Montoya quickly appraises the crew of his findings via comms "We have Dr. Bentsen in Jaccuzi suite 2 with a female Feng-Shui master and two SSPB guards next door. Also the red sharks are on board. Oh and we are looking at 6 new crew members recently hired including Load Master Anthony Quinn, we should concentrate on him as the best lead unless anyone else found anything." He looks around and stage whispers "Crystal, Cyllian and I will be commencing 'operation b u g'" (he spells out but as if that would help throw off a listener)
He indicates the Dr.s door to Crystal and Cillian and runs to get his bugs for planting in his suite "This was we can make sure nothing happens when we aren't here" he says, honestly believing that bugging the man might help protect him.
-
"Found explosives off in the restricted area already. Planning on taking Ethel with me and disabling them." Butch responds, before looking at Moonkit.
"Is there anything you want to tell me?" He asks, frowning.
-
"um. . . Are you. . . hiding from him?" Cillian quietly asks Crystal.
-
Gilbert turns to Jacob after eyeing Jones.
"Look Jacob... More gambling money. Think someone on the ship will give us at least part of the bounty for him?"
-
Crystal's hand twitches back to her side, where it had rested very tightly on her hidden gun at the sight of the "good" doctor.
"Yes..."
-
Crystal's hand twitches back to her side, where it had rested very tightly on her hidden gun at the sight of the "good" doctor.
"Yes..."
Cillian thinks about this for few seconds.
". . . I thought the people who hated psychics hated him? Why do you hate him too?"
-
... before looking at Moonkit.
"Is there anything you want to tell me?" He asks, frowning.
Moonkit gets a blank look on her face and asks, "Huh?"
She then hears the monkey hopping up and down on the other side of the closed door.
"Umm..." she replies sheepishly with a weak grin, "I wonder how He got in there?"
Tubbs meanwhile, leans in to listen at the door and cracks up.
"No you didn't girl!" he laughs out loud and gives her a high five.
-
Gilbert turns to Jacob after eyeing Jones.
"Look Jacob... More gambling money. Think someone on the ship will give us at least part of the bounty for him?"
"exactly my thoughts!" Jacob smiles. "Should we tell the others or just go for him?" He looks thoughtful. "We could ask the sspb guarding Doctor Bensen." He shrugs.
-
Cillian thinks about this for few seconds.
". . . I thought the people who hated psychics hated him? Why do you hate him too?"
Crystal avoids the question for a second, reaching up to her coms.
"Hey Butch, Montoya, saw an add for a simian enthusiast party. Think you'd like to take Moonkit later Montoya?"
Then, quietly, hushed under her breath, "that man deserves everything the APE could do to him..."
-
Moonkit gets a blank look on her face and asks, "Huh?"
She then hears the monkey hopping up and down on the other side of the closed door.
"Umm..." she replies sheepishly with a weak grin, "I wonder how He got in there?"
Tubbs meanwhile, leans in to listen at the door and cracks up.
"No you didn't girl!" he laughs out loud and gives her a high five.
Butch sighs.
"If... Ugh. Tubbs, you arent supposed to encourage her." Butch plainly says. "Ill have to think of a proper punishment. Maybe get Crystal to babysit you or something equally cruel..."
"Anyways, you two stay here, yeah? Ethel and I got work to do." Butch says.
"So, ethel, I'm thinking a disguise like some of the crew, sneak in, you disable the explosives, everyone's happy, yeah?" Butch says, pulling out his disguise kit, and getting to work.
-
Crystal avoids the question for a second, reaching up to her coms.
"Hey Butch, Montoya, saw an add for a simian enthusiast party. Think you'd like to take Moonkit later Montoya?"
Then, quietly, hushed under her breath, "that man deserves everything the APE could do to him..."
"Are you. . . Is it a joke? Taking Moonkit to the terrorists, I mean?"
Cillian doesn't think Crystal wants them all to die, but the possibility can't be ruled out.
And . . . is Dr. Benson a bad guy? But so are the APEs, right?
He fiddled with his Lopan absent-mindedly. (Chart fate) show me what to do, tell me who's right. Show me what to do, how can I help?
-
"Err, right. Sounds like a plan..." Ethel says, not entirely convinced of the plan, but amused by Moonkit and Tubb's bonding friendship.
"I dunno, Butch, but if you really think we can bypass security with just desguises, then I'm game."
-
"Are you. . . Is it a joke? Taking Moonkit to the terrorists, I mean?"
Cillian doesn't think Crystal wants them all to die, but the possibility can't be ruled out.
And . . . is Dr. Benson a bad guy? But so are the APEs, right?
He fiddled with his Lopan absent-mindedly. (Chart fate) show me what to do, tell me who's right. Show me what to do, how can I help?
"Whu- what do you think simian enthusiasts are, Cillian?"
-
"Whu- what do you think simian enthusiasts are, Cillian?"
"Aren't they the APEs?"
-
Montoya arrives back with the bugs "That does sound like a bad excuse for an APE meeting up spot, apes being simians and all" he pauses dramatically "Time for heroics right now though, let's get these bugs in place!" Montoya drags the other two to help him break into the Dr.s room and plant the bugs
-
Finally catching the pun, Crystal closes her eyes and groans.
"That's terrible."
-
"exactly my thoughts!" Jacob smiles. "Should we tell the others or just go for him?" He looks thoughtful. "We could ask the sspb guarding Doctor Bensen." He shrugs.
"Let the others worry about Benson. Follow this guy to his room, then later tonight we grab him. Then, by tomorrow, we should have more money for the casino", Gilbert explains, looking back at the casino longingly.
-
"Nice plan!" He smiles and gives Gilbert both thumbs up. Then he stalks Jones.
-
Meanwhile, Gilbert will return to his room to try and find someone they can bring in the bounty to.
-
“Uh, right,” Tubbs replies to Butch. “I’ll see that the monkey stays out of trouble boss! Don’t worry about it.”
“He won’t get in any trouble!” Moonkit protests.
“I was talking about you!” Tubbs replies to the girl.
“Hey!”
“Ooot ooot ooot!” Tubbs teases, making monkey sounds.
Tubbs and Moonkit then head into the cabins for the night.
Butch and Ethel disguise themselves and head over to the restricted door to pick the lock.
Ethel Open Lock 15+2X MTN 10 1d20 : 5, total 5
On the Bridge deck meanwhile, Montoya, Crystal, and Cillian head over to the door of Doctor Benson’s suite, none of them really being proficient enough to pick the lock.
Gilbert heads back to his room while Jacob tails Credence Jones.
Jacob Stealth 14+2X 1d20 : 19, total 19
vs. Credence Jones Spot 6 1d20 : 2, total 2
In his room, Gilbert looks over Maritime Protocol, and sees that (provided he has a Permit to Hunt Bounty) he can turn a bounty head over to ship’s security to be kept in the brig, until the ship makes port or the SSPB can arrange a pickup.
Gilbert also notes that even with a Firearms Permit, having them onboard is against Maritime Law; and using them will likely bring confiscation and a fine (best case) or even that and a tour of the brig (worst case).
-
After fiddling with the lock for an uncomfortably long time, Ethel finally cracks it (Luck Point).
Ethen and Butch slip into the Loading area beyond. Inside they see a small forklift (chained down when the ship is underway), stacks of pallets, and other equipment used to facilitate the movement and storage of heavy objects. A wide cargo elevator can also be found here, used to lower large equipment and parts from the Loading Area to the Machine Shop below.
No one seems to currently be about.
The Diagnostic Scanner indicates the explosives are somewhere in the Aft Storage.
---
As Jacob starts to follow Credence Jones, he is spotted, while Jones is heading up the stairs. Jones bolts and when Jacob runs after, he arrives at the top of the steps to see a deserted Sun Deck (where the hell did he go?!?).
Jacob then hears running from the deck below; and realizes Jones did a parkour manuver over the rails and back down to the Prominade (as Jacob was ascending the stairs)!
By the time Jacob reverses course and goes back down, Credence Jones is gone...
-
"Ugh, shoulda uploaded some search protocols." Butch mutters.
"Ethel, any specific part of the Aft that would be where they should blow it all up?" He asks, as he heads towards the aft and starts looking.
-
OOC: Dammit, thought he could crack it electronically
Montoya stares at the door a while "So, none of us can pick locks. Anyone who can free to come give us a hand?" Montoya then indicates they should wait a little further down the corridor to look less suspicious.
---
Montoya Spot 9 1d20 : 18, total 18
Crystal Spot 13 1d20 : 20, total 20
Cillian Spot 16 MTN 10* 1d20 : 6, total 6
-
As the group moves away from Doctor Benson's suite, Cillian spots someone hastily going into Jaquizi Suite 1 (directly across from Doctor Benson's Jaquizi Suite 2).
While Cillian has no idea who it is, he does note that the man looks quite 'distressed' over something. Of course the man doesn't stop to acknowledge Cillian looking at him as he heads in and locks the door behind him...
-
He tugs hesitantly on Montoya's sleeve. "That guy, over there. . . He's really upset about something."
-
The guy is already in his room (gone) if/when Montoya and/or Crystal stop to turn around and look.
-
"Hmm we should check on him then! What did he look like?" Montoya announces, mainly wanting to do something after being foiled by the locked door and having to wait on someone else to pick the lock. Montoya quickly heads over to see if he can hear anything through the door or if there is space around the edges to slip something through.
ooc: I cont remember if he got room assignments for passengers, if so he will check who the man is
-
Montoya hears indeciperably muffled voices talking on the other side.
The door seal is quite satisfactory, which means nothing can be slipped through, though perhaps something could be slid under the door itself?
Checking his files, Montoya sees that the room is occupied by a 'Heraldo' and 'Sanches Sweeny' . . .
-
Montoya thinks for a moment before turning to the others "Hmm, names are fake. Do we try and slip a bug under the door, or do we have Crystal knock and pretend to be room service with complimentary drinks for them?"
-
"What room did he go into Cil?"
-
". . . The one captain Montoya is standing in front of?" Cil cautiously replies.
-
"Ugh, shoulda uploaded some search protocols." Butch mutters.
"Ethel, any specific part of the Aft that would be where they should blow it all up?" He asks, as he heads towards the aft and starts looking.
"The elevator?" Ethel shrugs, "Dunno, man. Gotta look through most of it anyway, I think..."
-
". . . The one captain Montoya is standing in front of?" Cil cautiously replies.
But how would he...?
"Oh forget it. What's the plan captain.?"
-
"Hmm, we should find out what upset him." He looks around "Bar you finding a workers outfit to pretend to be room service I say we slip a bug under the door, might want to keep a stun weapon handy just incase things turn out badly though. People often miss-read the best of intentions!" He thinks again "Oh and Cillian please give out the best description you can over the comms, maybe someone else saw somthing!"
Montoya gets his bug prepared to try and slip under the door.
-
Cillian tries to describe the man to the rest of the group, then asks if any of them had seen a man le that anywhere around the ship.
-
"Fark." Jacob mumbles as he calls Gilbert. "I lost him. See if you can get a record of tje passengers on the ship."
-
Cillian tries to describe the man to the rest of the group, then asks if any of them had seen a man le that anywhere around the ship.
What Cillian is describing, sounds a lot like Credence Jones to Gilbert and Jacob...
-
Montoya gets his bug prepared to try and slip under the door.
Slipping a bug under the door goes without a hitch.
Through the monitor, Captain Montoya hears the end of a conversation between two men inside -
"... about it. We just have to lay low here a couple more hours for the party to start."
"Yeah, I'm gona crash for now. Blew all I had in the casino."
"Don't worry about it! Not like you ain't going to get it all back, plus interest, haha!"
"Yeah, that's right!"
"At any rate, I'd be more worried about having a tight seal on that thing than the Bounty Hunter you saw."
"Yeah, farking creepy right? I hope that shit is safe."
"Can't be too safe if we got to wear these, right? But hey that's not our problem."
"Oh well, wake me up when it's time to rock."
"Yeah yeah..."
-
In the Aft Storage meanwhile, the Diagnostic Scanner leads Butch and Ethel to what appears to be four large oxygen bottles banded together and stowed on a white pallet along the forward wall of the Aft Storage. Branded into the pallet is the image of a horse’s head, much like the Knight piece from a chess set.
Ethel's heart skips a beat, when she recognizes it as the same symbol used in the letterhead of her father's company DarkTech!
The explosive reading meanwhile, comes from a booby trap hidden centrally among the bottles, which is easily found with the scanner.
The booby trap itself is set to puncture the oxygen bottles if the pallet is disturbed and incorporates a one-ounce charge of C-4 that will require a MTN 10 Disable Device roll to disarm.
-
"Oh, that sounds like the dude who left his wallet at the table at the casino." Jacob says to Cillian over the comms. "Did you happen to get gis room number?" He asks in a friendly manner.
-
"Oh, that sounds like the dude who left his wallet at the table at the casino." Jacob says to Cillian over the comms. "Did you happen to get gis room number?" He asks in a friendly manner.
Rolled 1d20 : 7, total 7
-
"Oh, that sounds like the dude who left his wallet at the table at the casino." Jacob says to Cillian over the comms. "Did you happen to get gis room number?" He asks in a friendly manner.
Montoya puts two and two together (Passed self inflicted roll) and after hearing the rest of the conversation backs up a couple of steps to relay his message through the comms to everyone "We did indeed! He of course is a bountyhead that pegged you as a bounty hunter and it seems like he is working directly with the terrorists, I'm thinking explosives and some kind of gas attack so if you have a mask keep it on you. If you get up to this deck fast we are going in!" Montoya relays exactly what room they are outside to let Jacob get up there. He doesn't think about waiting until they are leaving themselves because heros of justice act swiftly!
"Hmm Cillian, think if we hid either side you could put on a lost kid act and get the door open?"
-
". . . I can try?"
If Crystal agrees, Cillian will wait for her & captain to be ready, then knock on the door.
-
A reply comes through the (closed) door shortly after Cillian knocks.
"Yeah? What do you want?"
-
"Huaah! He saw through me!" Jacob states surprised. "Wait, bombs?"
"I'll be there in two minutes." He says as he runs to the room
-
Meanwhile, Montoya hears whispering over his bug -
"What the?!?"
"Oh Shit!"
*CRACKLE CRACKLE
"...ROMIZED!" *CRACKLE "...UKING BOUN..." *CRACKLE "...UNTERS..." *CRACKLE
*STATIC *CRACKLE
"...CKING HIT IT ...OW!" *CRACKLE
A moment later, all communications abruptly shut down. Everyone's comlick goes all staticy...
---
(OOC: No more Comlinks, Net, SOL, Cell, ship-to-ship, etc... please bare that in mind when coordinating IC, thanks)
-
Montoya mutters "They are on to us!" He taps his comms, realizing they are down "They are using a comm jammer! get this door open!" He says to those present (Assuming Jacob, Crystal and Cillian) Hoping Jacob has enough skills, surge and luck to get the door open fast. (Surge Jacob and his larceny skills if it will help)
He prepares one of his thumper flintlocks in one hand and his sword, stun setting ready and thumb over the music button in the other, ready to literally leap in the door, triggering the music, swinging stun sword and firing all at the same time as is appropriate for a swashbuckler.
-
"Alright Ethel, you ready for this? If we remove the bomb we win." Butch says to Ethel.
-
Cillian thinks he'd better get out of Montoya's way. . .
-
What the fark, Dad?
Ethel bites her lip, "I dunno, Butch... If I mess this up then the whole thing goes kaboom. Maybe. Don't want to rely on luck like that last time." She tries to analyze what this bomb is supposed to blow up, trying to look at what is storage-d.
-
"Yeah but if we let it go, they'll blow it anyways." Butch says, shaking his head.
He then looks around.
"Comms are off. Weird."
-
Gilbert takes note of the location of their bounty before communication is lost. Thinking it's weird, Gilbert decides to surf the net.
But the Net is down.
Feeling panic set in, Gilbert quickly rushes to where Montoya and the group are. The only way he'll get the net back is by dealing with the scoundrel that took it offline first. Once there, he'll then promptly makes his way to other (safe) end of the hall.
"J-just let me know if you need me", he attempts to whisper across the hall.
-
Crystal stays back, a confident hand on her gun, looking to Montoya, ready to heal him when he inevitably gets blasted with a shotgun to the face.
-
[Ethel] tries to analyze what this bomb is supposed to blow up, trying to look at what is storage-d.
Placing the Diagnostic Scanner up against the oxygen tanks, a Biohazard waning flashes on the screen.
Butch and Ethel see that is reads - 'DANGEROUS BIOHAZARD: THREAT HIGH; UNKNOWN SMALLPOX'
-
Jacob tries to pick the lock.
-
Placing the Diagnostic Scanner up against the oxygen tanks, a Biohazard waning flashes on the screen.
Butch and Ethel see that is reads - 'DANGEROUS BIOHAZARD: THREAT HIGH; UNKNOWN SMALLPOX'
"Shiiiiit." Butch says, not looking all too happy.
-
"Yeah, that ain't good at all..." Brushing her hair aside in frustration, Ethel begins to wonder aloud. "Why the heck would they be trying to do this? Doesn't have anything to with Bensen, right? Agh..."
She snaps a picture of it all with her phone, then situates herself to begin disarming the C4. "Wish me luck, Butch..."
---
Disable Device 16 MTN 10 1d20 : 10, total 10
-
After a few tense moments, Ethel clips the final wire to disarm the explosive booby trap.
-
Up on the Bridge Deck meanwhile (in front os Jaquzi Suite 1), Gilbert arrives off the elevator to join the others.
Jacob has managed to get a bic pen stuck in the electronic card reader and is hammering it in deeper with his shoe (who let this guy try to pick a lock?!?).
Everyone else is standing around waiting awkwardly - and Captain Montoys's leg is beginning to cramp from holding such a dramatic pose for so long - when the smell of burning metal and ozone begins to eminate from the other side of the door.
-
"Sweet, good job Ethel." Butch says, shaking his head.
"Take the c4, dont want them to have a chancet to detonate anyways." Butch says to Ethel.
"Any idea what the Horse thing means? Probably gonna need to ask Gilbert..." He mutters.
-
"If you guys have a gasmask, i suggest putting it on now." Jacob says, as he hammers a few more times before putting his shoe back on, and after it the gasmask.
"Im going to shoot the door open." He says as he draws his 12mm sidearm, and procceeds to shot it open, movie style.
-
"N-no," she stutters out. "Not really, anyway. Shouldn't mean much anyway, right? Seems like a dumb way to incriminate yourself if it was something you could trace back."
Grabbing the C4 in a way as to not trigger anything, she lets out a sigh of relief. "So what now?"
-
Montoya takes the moment to do just that and puts on his gas mask "I thought you said you were good at breaking into things" he mentions amicable while stretching his leg out a little before regaining his pose.
"Hmm wouldn't that cause a massive panic and be illegal..." He says right AFTER Jacob fires his gun at the door
-
Jacob's shots tears out the lock mechanism and the door swings open - two inches - stopped by the internal clasp bolt that comes standard on all hotel room doors.
One of the men inside yells out "HEY MAN, NOT COOL! NOT COOL!!!"
-
... "So what now?"
As if on queue, Ethel and Butch suddenly hear the cargo elevator in the Loading Area coming up from below. Some men on the elevator are talking, but the elevator makes enough noise to mask what they are saying.
Ethel and Butch probably have enough time to hide among the cargo - unless they prefer to stand where they are and openly confront whoever is coming...
-
Montoya is inordinately annoyed that his heroic leap through an open door has been foiled a second time so steps up to the door instead "This would have been a peaceful questioning however from what you just activated lets just say that the longer it takes, the more violence will be used. Therefore the door can be opened from the inside or we can continue firing at it until it opens that way instead. Three seconds to choose."
He then begins counting loudly down from Three...
-
"Quick Butch, hide!"
Ethel scampers off to find a good hiding spot that allows her to at least see the incoming men, but still maintain cover.
-
"Oh yeah, good point." Jacob agrees. "Oi, shitheads" he says loudly enough for the men to hear him. "You got seconds to come out and offer your surrender."
-
"Yeah, time to hide." Butch says, quickly trying to disappear.
-
Crystal rolls her eyes, "just kick it open, those bolts aren't anything special."
-
"NO WAIT!" Someone replies from inside.
"We... we'll surrender... You just got to promise not to take our gasmasks!"
-
At this point, the distinct pops of gunfire being exchanged, are heard from somewhere to the aft of the ship, follwed by three quick thuds. Crystal, from her military experience, recognizes them as frag grenades going off.
No further gunfire is heard after the grenades have gone off.
Down in the Aft Storage, Ethel and Butch see three men in machinist coveralls enter the area, only they aren't machinists.
They are currently donning gasmasks, as they head toward where the pallet is stowed - two with deck pistols out and the leader wearing an armored vest, with a military sidearm, four frag grenades, and a toolkit of some kind.
When they get to the pallet, the leader yells something muffled by his gasmask and he and another man spread out and scan the cargo area in a defensive position (they must have seen their booby trap tampered with).
As this goes on, the third guy gets a pallet-jack and begins to take the bottles of smallpox gas toward the cargo elevator back in the Loading Area...
-
"NO WAIT!" Someone replies from inside.
"We... we'll surrender... You just got to promise not to take our gasmasks!"
"Depends why you need them. Now out, or i'll come in guns blazing."
-
"Why do you need gas masks?" Crystal shouts out, more or less fine with it.
it's cool Crystal, you're tough, and even if you're poisoned or something you can just cleanse yourself in an emergency... But maybe see if they have any extras...
-
"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!" a voice replies to Jacob from deep witin the room, sounding almost panicked.
Another voice, calmer, warns - "I wouldn't do that if I were you. We're sitting in a cloud of poison fumes in here. Coming in without a gasmask to get our gasmasks wouldn't be very wise."
-
Jacob laughs. "But i have a gasmask. Now, times up. You coming out?" He asks, and if it looks like they arent going to come out, he will immedietly shoot up the door.
-
"OK, OK, we're coming out!"
...
When it becomes clear that they are in fact not coming out, Jacob shoots off the security clasp and kicks the door in.
"I'll be damned," one of two gasmask wearing men in the room says to the other, "he really does have a gasmansk."
"D... don't hurt me!" the other man grovels.
The man speaking calmly is the bounty head Credence Jones, while 'Nameless Hacker Bob' is the fat cowardly one (who for all intensive purposes could be a direct clone of Gilbert).
Neither one is armed, but both have donned gasmasks.
In the room near the forward bulkhead is a welding torch and a small hole melted through the steel (between Credence Jones’ suite and the ship’s Systems Room). A hardline runs through the hole, connecting equipment in the Systems Room to a notebook computer at a table in the suite.
The smoke and ozone fumes in the room clearly came from the welding job and are not all that toxic, as they would have you beleive.
-
After ascertaining that she will NOT be poison es on entering the room, Crystal walks in with her gun in plain view of the men.
"Maybe you'd like to tell us why you're actually wearing those masks?"
She mines taking in a deep breath, though she makes it a short one, and exhales soon after.
"I'm just fine without one."
-
"Told you." He smirks behind the mask. "Montoya, would you get Gilbert in here to check the laptop."
"Credence Jones." He says as he points the gun directly to his head. "You're going to tell me what the Fark is going on here. And one of you is going to be a hero, and give your mask to me." He says, and if he gets a mask he will give it to Cillian.
-
It seems like everyone else has this situation (whatever it is) under control. Cillian, feeling awkward and somewhat useless, tries to pick up Montoya's bug, to take it over to Dr Bensons room.
-
Cillian takes Montoya's bug and heads across the hall to outside Jacuzzi Suite 2. The door stands shut before him.
From where he is, Cillian can hear metal-pounding-on-metal sounds, echoing up the stairs from the Sea-View Japanese Restaurant below.
A few brave passengers begin opening their doors to see what is going on out here (Jacob having fired multiple shots already).
"Hey kid, what's going on?" and elderly gentleman calls over from his cracked door in Executive Suite 6.
Back in Jacuzzi Suite 1, Credence Jones replies to Jacob, "You already got a gasmask; what do you need with two?"
Neither he, nor nameless Hacker Bob, make a move to give one to Jacob or explaine to Crysal what they are doing with them.
-
"I never said it was for me." He replied. "Its for the kid" he looks them both over one more time.
Then he points the gun at fatso Bob. "You drew the short straw. He's got a net worth of 300k. But you, you're just a nameless thug. Gas mask, now."
-
Montoya heads over to the computer "Let's see, you guys hard wire into the ship to trigger the comm blackout while the terrorists set off the explosives in the cargo Bay?" This is a rhetorical question and he jeeps talking "So let's get comms back up! Gil, we have a hack job here! Jacob and crystal you get take care of these two, hand them into the SSPD if they show up here instead of where the other fighting is and Crystal, you and Cil need gas masks so take theirs!"
He says this as a ruse with a wink to her that they can't see in the hopes that they start talking. He heads to the computer to see what is on it and if it isn't locked down he turns off the jamming.
-
Gilbert hesitantly hovers over to where his captain needs him, before preforming whatever sort of hack job is expected of him.
"Uh, I'm gonna need one of those masks too."
-
"Oh, by the way, those were grenades that just went off, and there might just be fighting men headed our way. You wouldn't know anything about that would you boys? Jacob, mind standing guard outside?"
Whether or not Jacob leaves, Crystal's next move is fairly simple. She'll take her gun, put it to the side of Credence Jones' head, and pull the trigger so that the gun fires off right next to his ear, likely deafening or stunning him. If Jones is not incapacitated by this she will take out her stun baton or sap (whichever is more appropriate) and beat the man with it until he is. Whatever damage she does she can simply repair in about 6 seconds. Nothing lethal, to be sure. Just enough to scare the hacker.
Almost all of this guy's strength has to be in Jones' confidence. If he's anywhere near the lovable blubbering shit that Gilbert is, he'll fall apart when he's alone.
Assuming this goes off relatively without a hitch, she will then turn her attention to the hacker,
"I believe you were about to explain why you're so attached to your gas mask?"
-
"It’s for the kid"
"You drew the short straw. He's got a net worth of 300k. But you, you're just a nameless thug. Gas mask, now."
“Wha… what kid?” Nameless Hacker Bob replies in alarm, as Jacob demands his gasmask.
He doesn’t hand it over though and continues to cower pitifully.
At the computer meanwhile, Montoya and Gilbert see that the two men have installed a rather nasty virus in the ship’s systems that has locked the Bridge Doors, froze all ship steering controls, cut comms, and then completely fried the network and hard drives.
Gilbert could fix it easily of course, but that would take a whole day on the other side of the bulkhead with replacement gear for all the stuff that has been ruined.
It occurs to Gilbert that ship comms being out, wouldn’t affect the team’s personal comms. There must be jamming transmitters hidden on the ship that were remotely activated. Given the range of your standard jammer and the size of the ship, Gilbert estimates at least three jamming transmitters aboard.
Gilbert’s thoughts are abruptly disrupted however, as Crystal fires her gun near Credence Jones’ head.
The brutal military chick then proceeds to mercilessly beat the living shit out of the man, reducing him to a crumpled heap (KO’d) relatively quickly.
When she turns to the fat coward guy and literally rips the gasmask off his face, he sings like a canary –
“DON’T HURT ME!!! DON’T HURT ME!!!”
“I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!!!”
“We… We hid the three jamming transmitters in the Bilge and hacked the ship’s control systems to prevent control of the ship being restored (which we can’t undo – we physically toasted the hard drives)!”
“These A.P.E. guys, they forced us to do it! We didn’t have a choice! They would kill us and our families if we didn’t do what they said!”
“The Loadmaster, Anthony Quinn – he’s the leader.”
“He’s going to release a poison into the ship’s air system – the 'Pale Horse Virus' – which has the ability to strip psychic powers from anyone exposed to the gas – but… but, I think it’s probably dangerous too! Please give me back my mask!” *blubber
"The gas will infect everyone on the ship and when they go back to port, they'll unknowingly spread the virus."
“You… You got to stop them! They’ll poison us all!”
“They got a team hitting the casino for the cash and as a cover for the real plan to wipe out the psychics; and a team guarding the entries to the Bridge!”
“If you hurry, maybe you can stop them?”
-
Crystal IMMEDIATELY puts on that mask, and curses the secret hand of the universe that persuaded her not to bring along get vac suit.
"You're going to have to gamble on our success if you want to keep on living, I'm afraid. Turn off the jamming transmitters."
-
Nameless Hacker Bob gets a pale look on his face. Clearly he has bad news and doesn't want to have to tell Crystal.
After an uncomfortable pause, he replies - "We can't! You'd have to go down into the Bilge through the Engine Room to switch them off by hand!"
-
"Fark this." Butch mutters, silently pulling out his cuncussion grenade and throwing it over at the three.
Once the grenade explodes, he'll quickly stand up, and fire two rounds of thumpers into the standing extras.
"EThel! Take out their boss!"
-
"Why coulden't we just have a nice vacation for a change.." Jacob mumbles as he takes Jones Gasmask, and removes his own.
"Montoya, give these to Cillian and Moonkit." He says as he throws both to him. "I'm heading to the engine room to find the transmitters, and blubber (Bob) over there is going to help me. Assuming he likes living ofcourse."
-
"Okay then. Cap, you want to charge heroically at those three frag grenades I heard go off? I'll be right behind you."
-
Montoya nods to Jacobs plan then as Crystal speaks "Onward to heroic action it is!" Montoya replies, liking Crystals idea very much. He Jogs out of the room looking for Cillian first to throw him the first gas mask with a "For you, when you are ready follow us!" Then is about to run out to the pool where moonkit and the aft stairs are.
Then pauses
He calls back to the room "Where will they connect the gas to the system?... Change of plan Gil, get yourself after Jacob to support him, they are after the air control room, lock them out!"
Then runs for the pool area to throw Moonkit a mask and descend the rear stairs to the casino floor for some heroic leaping while firing and swinging a sword action. Then remembers she is in Butch's cabin so straps the mask to his belt for now.
-
Using the time to have aimed her shot, Ethel phases into action, shooting at the leader with a called shot at his head (luck if necessary) and goes on to shoot him once again with a surge.
-
Cillian follows after Montoya. (Assuming somebody gave him a mask, and it fit, he'd put it on.)
-
Jacob drags Nameless Hacker Bob with him, and heads to the central set of stairs that leads down through the decks to the Main Dining area. Neither he, nor his fat companion, are big on running – and they make terribly slow going.
Cillian meanwhile is even slower than Jacob and will keep Montoya and Crystal held up if they wait for him.
Gilbert finds himself alone in Jacuzzi Suite 1 with a still unconscious Credence Jones…
Down in the Aft Storage, Butch and Ethel take the offensive.
---
Initiative
Butch 13 1d20 : 8, total 8
Ethel 12 1d20 : 14, total 14
Montoya 14 1d20 : 5, total 5
Crystal 15 1d20 : 2, total 2
Cillian 17 1d20 : 20, total 20
Jacob 14 1d20 : 1, total 1
Gilbert 10 1d20 : 18, total 18
A.P.E. Team Bravo Init 8 1d20 : 13, total 13
Loadmaster Anthony Quin Init 13 1d20 : 14, total 14
Rafael Init 13 1d20 : 17, total 17
A.P.E. Team Charlie Init 11 1d20 : 7, total 7
Victor Init 10 1d20 : 2, total 2
Umberto Init 8 1d20 : 5, total 5
A.P.E. Team Delta Init 11 1d20 : 7, total 7
-
Round 1
Wave 1
Butch 8
A.P.E. Team Charlie 7
A.P.E. Team Delta 7
Montoya 5
Umberto 5
Crystal 2
Jacob 1
Victor 2
Wave 2
Cillian 20
Rafael 17
A.P.E. Team Bravo 13
Gilbert 18
Ethel 14
Loadmaster Anthony Quin 14
-
Butch Concussion Grenade 14 1d20 : 19, total 19
Loadmaster Endure 9 1d20 : 17, total 17
Thug 1 Endure 8 1d20 : 11, total 11
Butch Sawed-Off (Thumpers) 14+2X 2d20 : 18, 8, total 26
Ethel Deck Pistols 16 2d20 : 20, 4, total 24
-
Only the Loadmaster and one of the men watching with him are in the blast radius of Butch’s concussion grenade, so Butch tosses it in between the two of them. He misses his mark however, and the grenade takes an unexpected bounce off the floor – right into the Loadmaster’s minion!
It bursts loudly, Stunning the man and doing 4 Damage.
Butch follows up with thumper rounds to the stunned man’s chest - missing his first shot as the man reals from the stun grenade and then nailing him for 20 Damage – fracturing his sternum and sending him flying back to land KO’d & Dying in pile of crates.
As this goes one, Ethel takes a shot with each of her deck pistols. One pistol jams and her shot with the other one is a clean miss.
---
Back on the upper decks meanwhile, the team continues to double time it!
---
(OOC: Onto Round two...)
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While Gilbert can't hope to fix everything, he'll quickly shut the door and attempt to fix whatever he can while the rest of the gang does the fighting. If he can't actually fix anything, he'll instead try to create a work-around to let him gain some control the ship.
"Glad I'm not out there..." He remarks, giving Credence a look every once in a while to make sure he's still out.
-
Meanwhile, inside Executive Suite 6, Mable asks Walter if he's found out what's going on yet.
"No dear," he replies, shutting the door. "The kid didn't say."
-
Inigo gets distracted by Heroic thoughts and runs on, not remembering to wait for others who may or may not be trailing behind.
-
"Alright. Eat lead thug number two." Butch says, firing double on the thug, with thumper rounds, aiming to knock him out.
"ETHEL! Fark up that bastard before he hits us!"
-
Montoya did say "when you're ready, follow us," so it never occurs to Cillian that the captain may have forgotten about him.
He continues to trail after the rest of the group.
-
Ethel answers Butch with a grunt and an uncanny shot at the man's head with her working pistol.
-
Crystal trails after the captain, keeping a lookout for anything suspicious, putting away her gun so it isn't taken away by any security and staying close to heal him if things went sour.
-
Round 2
Wave 1
Butch 8
A.P.E. Team Charlie 7
A.P.E. Team Delta 7
Montoya 5
Umberto 5
Crystal 2
Jacob 1
Victor 2
Wave 2
Cillian 20
Rafael 17
A.P.E. Team Bravo 13
Gilbert 18
Ethel 14
Loadmaster Anthony Quin 14
-
Montoya Spot 9 MTN 7 1d20 : 12, total 12
-
In Jacuzzi Suite 1, Gilbert quickly finds that there is nothing he can do for any of the ship’s systems on this side of the wall. He’d have to physically be in the Systems Room, just to see if any of the network could even be saved.
Checking the cutting torch that Credence Jones and Nameless Hacker Bob had use to melt a hole through the steel reveals that it has been all used up.
As this goes on, Montoya races ahead of his slower companions and down the stairs – heroically leaping the last few steps and sticking the perfect landing, onto the Promenade outside the Casino!
Inside, he hears men yelling at panicked passengers to “QUIT CRYING AND FILL THE FARKING BAG!!!”
Montoya is surprised however, when someone in an armored vest standing at the forward end of the Promenade (almost two hundred feet away) takes a pot shot at him with a riot gun!
Wells, Riotgun w/ Range Penalty 13 1d20 : 16, total 16
-
The buckshot plinks off the stairs behind him, but Montoya is missed.
Crystal and Cillian hear the shot from atop the Sun Deck above, as they run to catch up with Montoya.
As this goes on, Jacob reaches the lower deck and drags Nameless Hacker Bod across the Dining Area to the locked door outside the aft restricted area. How is he going to get through?
In the Aft Storage, Butch tries to speed-load more thumpers into his sawed-off…
Butch of Hand 14+2X 1d20 : 20, total 20
-
Butch fumbles two rounds, and has to dig two more out and slow it down to get them loaded (efectivly wasting the entire round.
The thug with the pallet, stops loading it onto the cargo elevator and spins around to fire at Butch with his deck pistol.
Team Charlie Deck Pistol 12 1d20 : 10, total 10
-
Butch Dodge 12+2X 1d20 : 6, total 6
-
The Speed Wires Butch Recently installed kick in and he dodges the shot matrix-style (with a bit of Luck).
The Loadmaster then Surges to move out of the Aft Storage and makes to pull a grenade off his vest.
Ethel Surges to fire first, forfeiting her Uncanny Shot…
Ethel Deck Pistol 16 1d20 : 14, total 14
vs. Loadmaster Dodge 10 1d20 : 16, total 16
-
Ethel’s headshot strikes true! Doing 12 Damage straight to wounds! The Loadmaster burns Luck for half damage – as the bullet creases his scalp!
He tosses a grenade near Butch and closes the door to Aft Storage, as Ethel and Butch hear more men rushing to the area to back up the Loadmaster!
Loadmaster 9 1d20 : 1, total 1
vs. Butch Dodge 12+2X 1d20 : 18, total 18
-
The grenade goes errant, but Butch is still in the blast radius and can’t get out of it before it goes off – ripping into him with shrapnel! Butch takes 17 Damage, but the cargo (Luck) stored here absorbs half of it.
---
(OOC: On to Round 3)
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Montoya heroically ignores the man shooting him, instead, running to the door of the casino to kick them in and throw in a a concussion grenade at the first enemy he sees as he once more heroically leaps into danger!
-
"Can you get the door open?" Jacob asks fatso, if not or if he's to slow he'll shot it open. "What is your name anyway?"
-
Realizing he has no hope of catching up with the dashing heroism of Captain Montoya, Cillian decides to take out his lopan and attempt to divine the location of Dr Benson. He's not entirely sure about the doctor's status as innocent or villain (Crystal is a sociopath, after all, so her judgement can't be trusted) but the anti-psychic terrorists are definitely bad guys, and the doctor needs to be protected from them.
-
Crystal continues following Montoya? Ducking low to avoid another shot in case one is fired.
-
Gilbert, being the non-paranoid person he is, decides the best course of action is to leave the room immediately and find somewhere more safe. With that in mind, he carefully ties Credence to his Hover-round, then gingerly drags him across the upper floor to Montoya's room - Jacuzzi suit 12. Of course, he already has a key to Montoya's room, as he gave everyone a spare key to his Jacuzzi suit in case anyone wanted to join him for some late night heroics.
(If Forge says no to the key, Gilbert will just break into his room.)
-
"Butch, come on!"
Heart racing, she sprints over to the loading area door on the far right (or middle if she can't make it across in one round.
-
Butch nods, and follows.
"Can't lettem get that explosive to the vents!"
-
Round 3
Wave 1
Butch 8
A.P.E. Team Charlie 7
A.P.E. Team Delta 7
Montoya 5
Umberto 5
Crystal 2
Jacob 1
Victor 2
Wave 2
Cillian 20
Xavier 18
Rafael 17
A.P.E. Team Bravo 13
Gilbert 18
Ethel 14
Loadmaster Anthony Quin 14
-
Butch and Ethel race to the starboard side door, as the Team Charlie thugs take the pallet of poison gas down the cargo elevator. The door does not appear to be locked, but both Butch and Ethel know there are likely men guarding it on the other side – ready to shoot them when they poke their heads out.
Montoya meanwhile, rushes into the Casino to see six gasmasked men in the course of robbing it! From the carnage, it looks like they gunned down casino security and then tossed grenades into the Security Office to finish off those inside. They also dropped a number of suppression gas grenades and Montoya is suddenly glad he thought to bring a gasmask of his own on this cruise.
Dozens of frightened passengers (including the Red Sharks football team) cower on the floor, coughing and choking in the deployed suppression gas, as two thugs pass a loot bag around to collect their valuables, while another two thugs clean out the cash drawers and the vault – the later having been melted open with thermite.
Assessing his foes, Captain Montoya sees the four thugs are each armed with a deck pistol, while one of the leaders wears an armored vest and carries a submachinegun (Victor).
Another leader-type is a grizzled Mexican mercenary (Umberto); wearing an armored vest with 2 sawed-off shotguns, a bandolier of 20 extra shells, a deck pistol, 4 military hand grenades, and a really big flashlight.
He currently stands over Doctor Benson and his Feng-Shui lady (the two SSPD bodyguards apparently killed along with casino security) and holds a sawed-off shotgun at each of their heads.
They are all more surprised by Montoya’s odd attire than his sudden entry, but hesitate nonetheless – allowing Montoya to pitch his concussion grenade at the dangerous-looking Mexican fellow.
Montoya Throw 11 1d20 : 6, total 6
-
Montoya’s grenade hits the man and goes off under his chin, stunning him and rattling the hair on his chest for 6 Damage!
As this goes on, Crystal has almost caught up the where Montoya dashed into the Casino, when a man at the far end of the Promenade shoots at her with his riotgun!
Wells, Riotgun w/ Range Penalty 13 1d20 : 7, total 7
vs. Crystal Dodge 13+2X 1d20 : 18, total 18
-
Crystal is hit for 17 Damage – taking the buckshot to the guts!
Topside, Cillian hears the pop of Montoya’s grenade and the report of the shotgun that hits Crystal. When he looks at his Lopan to see where Doctor Benson might be, the line indicates somewhere almost directly below him.
As this is all unfolding, Gilbert heads down the hall, dragging Credence Jones behind his hover-round, toward Montoya’s Jacuzzi Suite 12.
As he passes Executive Suite 6, an old man looks out at him, as his wife calls from inside – “What’s going on now?”
“It’s hard to explain dear,” he answers, “just hard to explain...”
With that he closes his door once more.
-
Down at the restricted door, off the Main Dining Area, Nameless Hacker Bob shakes his head at Jacob’s question about opening the door.
Jacob is forced to shoot the lock off and kicks the door in.
Dragging Nameless Hacker Bob into the hallway, he sees some of the Crew doors quickly close – they inside, perhaps thinking he is another hijacker.
A real hijacker is at the other end of the corridor however and fires a deck pistol at Jacob when he steps into sight.
Thug Deck Pistol 12 1d20 : 13, total 13
-
The bullet wizzes past Jacob's head, ricocheting off some pies behind him.
"AH!!! THEY"RE SHOOTING AT US!!!" Nameless Hacker Bob wails, throwing himself in a corner and curling up into the fetal position.
---
(OOC: On to Round 4)
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Grimacing, Crystal wonders why she didn't stay down and continues following after Montoya.
-
Cillian looks around to see if there might be a quicker way to go straight down from here.
-
Gilbert continues on his noble path. He also checks montoya's room for bombs and ties up his captive, to be safe.
-
"You guys never learn do you?" Jacob mumbles as he pulls out his military gun and shoots the man twice.
-
Montoya is heroic and obvious but not stupid, he leaps behind some slot machines to try and completly Conceal himself from the left side of the room (Victor and the two extras) he then whips out his concealed deck pistol to fire at the stunned Mexican holding too many weapons, surging for a second shot.
-
Trying not to lose momentum, Ethel slides open the door and shoots at the first thing she sees.
-
Butch'll quickly open the door, throwing a grenade at the Loadmaster (if still in sight), and then shooting one of the extras with a thumper round.
"Goddamn bastards."
-
Round 4
Wave 1
Butch 8
A.P.E. Team Charlie 7
A.P.E. Team Delta 7
Montoya 5
Umberto 5
Crystal 2
Jacob 1
Victor 2
Wave 2
Cillian 20
Xavier 18
Rafael 17
A.P.E. Team Bravo 13
Gilbert 18
Ethel 14
Loadmaster Anthony Quin 14
-
Cillian doesn’t see any way down below, quicker than the stairs Montoya and Ethel took on the starboard side of the pool area. Of course someone was shooting at them down there. Maybe the portside stairs then?
In the Aft Storage meanwhile, Ethel swings the door wide and two Team Charlie thugs open fire (having held actions in anticipation of a door opening).
Thug 1 shooting at Ethel w/ cover penalty 10 1d20 : 15, total 15
vs.
Ethel Dodge 11 1d20 : 1, total 1
Thug 2 shooting at Butch w/ cover penalty 10 1d20 : 12, total 12
vs.
Butch Dodge 12+2X 1d20 : 9, total 9
-
The two shots strike off the door ineffectually, sparing Ethel and Butch any harm.
Butch doesn’t see Loadmaster and notes the Cargo Elevator has gone down. He throws his concussion grenade at the man standing near the loadmaster’s office and fires a thumper round after.
Butch Concussion Grenade 14 1d20 : 19, total 19
Thug Endure 8 1d20 : 17, total 17
Butch Thumper Round 14+2X 1d20 : 10, total 10
Ethel shoots the guy in the portside loading area.
Ethel Deck Pistol 16 1d20 : 3, total 3
-
Butch’s grenade lands behind the thug, but still catches him in the blast radius – Stunning him. Butch then KO’s him, when the thumper round, shot from Butch’s sawed-off, ploughs into the man’s face!
Ethel’s shot also hits her man for 11 Damage, but is not enough to drop him yet.
Down below in the corridor, the thug and Jacob continue to exchange fire, while the Loadmaster and Raphael hurry the gas cylinders from the cargo elevator, toward the Air Systems Control Room.
Thug Deck Pistol w/ range & cover penalty 8 1d20 : 18, total 18
Jacob Military Sidearm w/ cover penalty 16+2X 1d20 : 9, total 9
-
The thug misses Jacob again, moments before Jacob puts a 12mm round center of the thug’s mass for 21 Damage.
The thug looks gravely injured, but refuses to quit the fight!
As this goes on, all hell breaks loose in the Casino above, where Crystal (diving into the room to avoid more fire from the guy on the Promenade) has joined Montoya behind a bank of slot machines to engage fire at the bad guys!
Victor and the two Thugs in the room stop what they are doing and saturate the sides of the slot machines with weapons fire! Fortunately for Montoya and Crystal, the slot machines prove to be a rather effective form of cover – which allows Montoya to fire twice at the threatening Mexican mercenary.
Montoya w/ Stun bonus 16+2X/ 2d20 : 15, 16, total 31
-
Montoya hits twice – his second a Crit (but negated buy Umberto’s luck point)!
The two rounds slam into the man’s armored vest for 15 & 16 Damage. Umberto take the first and halves the second with another luck point.
He then Surges to shake off Stun – and yelling unintelligible Mexican insults, fires both barrels of each sawed-off back at Montoya!
Umberto Sawed-Offs 13 2d20 : 17, 16, total 33
Montoya Dodge 13 2d20 : 8, 7, total 15
-
Another slot machine bites the dust and the roulette wheel will never be the same!
Meanwhile, on the top deck, in Jacuzzi Suite 12, Gilbert secures the prisoner and sweeps the room for anything unusual.
The only thing that really catches his attention is a quarterly magazine on the coffee table, titled ‘Aye Me Hardies!’
There’s a glossy picture on the cover of a scantily clad space vixen in the arm of a swarthy-looking brigand with a Jolly Roger tattoo on his bicep – swinging on a rope between two spaceships. It is not clear what the rope would be attached to at the upper end, nor how the smarmy pirate and said space vixen would not be suffocating out in the unforgiving vacuum of space.
It does look rather heroic though all the same.
As Gilbert considers taking a peek inside the quarterly, some flashing lights outside the balcony catch his eye. Looking, he sees four military-looking scout ships coming in over the ship.
Out on the pool deck, Cillian sees the scout ships too – as they fly over and then circle back. They didn’t look like the SSPB. . .
---
(OOC: On to Round 5)
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"Just surrender damn it! Dont waste your life here!" Jacob says loud enough for the thug to hear. "There's no need for you to die here."
Ofcourse, if the man won't surrender... he'll shoot again.
-
"Crystal! Let's show them how it's done and show that cowardly Sharks team what real Heros are like!" Montoya announces loud enough to ensure the Sharks can hear him, maybe some will be embarrassed into action. (Also that's a surge for Crystal)
He then takes another shot at the Mexican before surging to lob another stun grenade, this time lobbing it blind over his cover at Victor (can I stay in cover and lob a grenade over it without revealing myself?)
-
Crystal makes use of Montoya's surge, going out of cover to shoot twice at Mexican-face, then dropping back to either cast heal on Montoya (if he's been injured) or just to hide behind proper cover.
-
Gilbert does his best to keep himself and Credence out of sight of the scout ships while keeping an eye on them.
-
Cillian heads for the port side stairs.
-
Butch quickly fires on the next target.
"Ethel! Grab a gas mask!"
-
"OH yeah, right! That could be important..."
Ethel rushes to any dead/unconscious bodies in the vicinity to loot them for the gas masks (or other valuables) and rushes back to support.
-
Round 5
Wave 1
Butch 8
A.P.E. Team Charlie 7
A.P.E. Team Delta 7
Montoya 5
Umberto 5
Crystal 2
Jacob 1
Victor 2
Wave 2
Cillian 20
Xavier 18
Rafael 17
A.P.E. Team Bravo 13
Gilbert 18
Ethel 14
Loadmaster Anthony Quin 14
-
Butch and the thug in the Loading Area exchange fire!
Butch Thumper Round 14+2X 1d20 : 5, total 5
Thug 2 shooting at Butch w/ cover penalty 10 1d20 : 1, total 1
Butch Dodge 12+2X 1d20 : 18, total 18
-
Butch once again strikes true – KO’ing the thug with the other thumper round from his sawed-off. As the thug drops, his gun goes off – but the round goes up into the ceiling overhead.
As this goes on, Ethel retrieves a gasmask from one of the fallen thugs and puts it on – as she and Butch hurry to the stairs.
Down below, the Loadmaster Anthony Quin and Raphael, get the pallet of smallpox gas into the Air Systems Control Room. There, Raphael takes up a guard position at the door, as the Loadmaster opens a panel in the wall to allow access to the ship’s airflow…
Out in the long corridor, Jacob’s ultimatum get through to the thug that he put a hole in. The man slumps down against the wall, holding his chest, and slides the deck pistol up the hall toward Jacob.
Jacob grabs Nameless Hacker Bob and continues toward the Engine Room (the fat hacker blubbering all the way).
Meanwhile, in the Royal Casino a few decks up, the two Team Delta Thugs in the room fire at Montoya’s position ineffectually, then go to move around to flank him. That’s when Montoya’s encouraging words inspire the Red Sharks football team – and they abruptly gang-tackle the two thugs and pig-pile on them to hold them both down.
Montoya fires at Umberto again, as he Surges to pull a grenade and toss it at Montoya first! Montoya Surges to Interrupt and hopefully stop him, before he kills a bunch of innocents. Crystal also Surges to pop up and fire two rounds off at the menacing mad Mexican!
Montoya Deck Pistol 14+2X 1d20 : 11, total 11
Umberto Dodge 11 1d20 : 11, total 11
Crystal Military Sidearm 10 2d20 : 18, 11, total 29
Umberto Dodge 11 2d20 : 1, 10, total 11
Umberto Frag Grenade 9 1d20 : 16, total 16
-
Montoya’s shot hits the wall behind Umberto!
Crystal misses as well, until she focuses her will (Luck) on the second shot and strikes Umberto for 11 more Damage (1 of which gets through his armor).
Umberto’s aim with the grenade is upset by Crystals shot slamming into him and lands on the other side of the slot machines. It goes off with a loud band for 22 Damage – catching Victor and a dozen passengers in the blast radius.
Victor tries to dive out of the room before it goes off –
Victor Dodge 10 1d20 : 8, total 8
-
Victor dives out of sight in time and doesn’t reappear for some reason. A number of passengers have been killed by Umberto’s blast and even more seriously injured.
Umberto reaches for another grenade with an evil smile…
On the deck above, Cillian runs for the portside stairs, as the scouts ships circle back.
In Montoya’s Suite, Gilbert sees the ships fly over and out of his field of view (they are now on the other side of the vessel).
---
(OOC: On to Round 6)
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(http://www.bountyheadbebop.com/cthulhu/ShipBridgePromenade2tac5.png)
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Jacob continues, still dragging Mr. Blubber along. Should he encounter more locked doors, he'll shoot them open aswell.
-
"Crystal, drop the Mexican now!" (OOC: surging Crystal again) Montoya then takes up further heroic action and sprints directly for the Mexican, firing his pistol and he runs before intending to leap at him with his stun sword (OOC: surge for the extra Attack unless surge needed to Interupt and if needed luck for the shot/sword strike to hit)
-
Everyone's dying! Everyone's dying and it's my fault and I can't find anyone and I can't help them and I can't find anyone to help them!
Cillian continues trying to reach someplace or someone.
-
"Fark!" Ethel cries out, deciding to either run down the stairs to follow them or try the elevator, whichever on a cursory look would seem to go faster.
-
Butch nods.
"Get down! We need to stop them!" Butch shouts, following down. He'll surge to get to the aircontrol and throw a grenade in if he can reach it
-
Crystal "drops the Mexican now!", firing off two more rounds at him (using Montoya's surge). When she sees Montoya charge out she curses and waits in cover, prepared to surge to heal him from a range if things get bad.
-
Round 6
Wave 1
Butch 8
A.P.E. Team Delta 7
Montoya 5
Crystal 5
Umberto 5
Jacob 1
Victor 2
Wave 2
Cillian 20
Xavier 18
Rafael 17
A.P.E. Team Bravo 13
Gilbert 18
Ethel 14
Loadmaster Anthony Quin 14
-
Down in the Loading Area Butch and Ethel sprint after the Loadmaster, heading down the stairs and into the Machine Shop. Butch’s Speed Switch allows him to cover the distance much faster than Ethel, who quickly lags behind.
Another A.P.E. Agent (Raphael) waits at the entrance of the Air Systems Control room in and armored vest and gasmask with a military auto-shotgun and four hand grenades.
When Butch Surges to toss his concussion grenade, Raphael Surges to interrupt and fires a three round burst!
Raphael Auto-Shotgun burst fire 14 1d20 : 13, total 13
Butch Throw 14 1d20 : 12, total 12
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Raphael’s shots slams through the inside of Butch’s leg for 19 Damage – shattering his femur! Butch falls to the ground in a heap – his grenade miraculously bouncing into the room and exploding close enough to the Loadmaster to Stun him.
Unfortunately, the Loadmaster surges to shrug it off and begins opening the tank valves one-by-one, allowing the gas to begin being sucked into the ship’s airflow!
Ethel meanwhile sees Butch go down, but is out of line of fire of Raphael at the moment.
Jacob, who is in the corridor near the Engine Room door sees Butch and Ethen run by and hears the gunfire. He shoves Nameless Hacker Bob into the engine room, yelling – “Get those damn jammers turned off!”
He doesn’t wait for a reply, but hurries into the Machine Shop to see Butch disabled on the floor and Raphael guarding the door to the Air System Control Room with his auto-shotgun.
Jacob doesn’t ask questions and opens fire with his military sidearm – aiming for the head!
Jacob Military Sidearm 17+2X MTN 10 1d20 : 1, total 1
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Jacob misses and surges for another shot -
Jacob Military Sidearm 17+2X MTN 10 1d20 : 4, total 4
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Jacob burns last Luck Point for Focused Effort -
Jacob Military Sidearm 17+2X MTN 10 1d20 : 10, total 10
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Jacob’s second shot blast through Raphael’s front teeth and exits the back of his neck for 22 Damage Straight to Wounds! Gurgling in pain, Raphael spends luck for half damage and prepares to unload on Jacob the beginning of next round!
Meanwhile, in the Royal Casino, Crystal fires at Umberto twice –
Crystal Military Sidearm 10 2d20 : 13, 9, total 22
Umberto Dodge 11 2d20 : 5, 20, total 25
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With luck, Crystal puts two shots in Umberto’s chest for 13 and 19 Damage! The raging Mexican mercenary spend his last luck for half damage on the second shot, taking only 3 total from the lot, due to his armor!
Umberto then uses his last surge to interrupt Montoya’s heroic Leap to throw another grenade – but Montoya surges forward with cutlass in hand and brings it down with impressive dramatic flare –
Montoya Cutlass w/ Stun 5 1d20 : 12, total 12
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Montoya immediately regrets not having put any practice into his swashbuckling lately, as he misses spectacularly - his sweeping overhand swing taking out a chandelier in the process!
Seeing things looking dire, Crystal surges to get off one final shot before that grenade pin is pulled!
Crystal Military Sidearm 10 1d20 : 7, total 7
Umberto Dodge 11 1d20 : 14, total 14
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Crystal's shot hammers Umberto in the chest again - but that farking armor!
Umberto laughs darkly and cursing in Spanish pulls the pin on his grenade and holds it to Doctor Benson's head - laughing as he does. Everyone tries to scatter, but the blinding suppression gas and Umberto's grip on the doctor keeps them from getting away before the grenade goes off!
X Roll 1d20 : 13, total 13
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The explosion does 19 Damage to everyone in the blast radius, including the two thugs just exiting the Security Area (after looting all the cash) - Killing even more passengers and ripping Montoya's clothing to shreds.
Umberto is killed, but Doctor Benson and the Feng Shui lady survive, though seriously wounded), as does Montoya (burning luck for half Damage).
The two thugs meanwhile, are wounded and stunned by the unexpected blast - allowing some of the Red Sharks football team rush them – taking them down and beating them senseless!
As all this unfolds, Gilbert waits in Montoya’s room, unable to see the scout ships any more. With nothing better to do he sits down to await the outcome of his team’s venture and cracks open the cover of the “Aye Me Hardies” quarterly magazine (of course he only reads it for the articles).
Out on the Pool Deck, Cillian is about to go down the portside stairs, when a man in an armored vest and gasmask rushes up them from below.
The already intimidating figure points a submachinegun at Cillian and motions with it, saying with a growl through the mask – “Get the fark back inside kid! NOW!!!”
---
(OOC: On to Round 7...)
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Montoya quickly moves to help the Dr. And his girl out (presuming they are concious) "Dr. We know who you are and came to protect you, the terrorists are here and are trying to release a virus into the air vents that will infect everyone and alter psychics to remove their abilities."
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Doctor Benson and the Feng-Shui lady are seriously wounded, the allow Montoya to help more-or-less drag them toward the door to the Prominade, so they can get out of the teargas.
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The few passengers not killed or maimed by the grenades going off, immediately rush for the doors (now that no one is holding a gun on them) - trampling Montoya and his charges on the way out.
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"BUTCH!!!"
Heart racing, Ethel attempts to drag Butch out of the line of fire, then inject him with the supercoag in her pocket.
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Out on the Pool Deck, Cillian is about to go down the portside stairs, when a man in an armored vest and gasmask rushes up them from below.
The already intimidating figure points a submachinegun at Cillian and motions with it, saying with a growl through the mask – “Get the fark back inside kid! NOW!!
Cillian attempts to dodge past the man..
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Escape 14+2X 1d20 : 18, total 18
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Jacob will do an acrobatic roll dodge towards him, preferably shooting at the end of it.
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"Cap!" Crystal calls out, confident that the gas mask will hide her face well enough.
"I'll treat them both, you get after Jackb, comms should have been back up by now. Also..." Before Montoya probably goes charging off, Crystal lays a hand on his arm and uses restore vitality.
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Willpower 14 1d20 : 20, total 20
vs.Psychosis 5 1d20 : 18, total 18
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Gilbert will do an acrobat roll to the mini-bar of the room. This situation is far too stressful for him.
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Acrobatics 11 1d20 : 17, total 17
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Montoya accepts the heal before sprinting to the stairs down, hoping to see what happened to the team taking down the jammers or going to the air control room, whichever they were doing.
"Leaving them to you crystal!" he loudly shouts just before he runs, then quietly adding "make sure we get credit if any of the bad guys were bounties".
(Ooc: heading west out of the casino and for the stairs Victor used.)
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Butch throws another grenade into the room.
"Fark this hurts. Someone find Crystal." He mutters, surging to stay up
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Crystal makes her way to the two, and slides her hand into the hilt of her knife.
For everyone I had to watch die. Everything we lost.
She slips the knife through the good doctor's back, and whispers to him as she leaves - "For everything you took from me."
Crystal hurries out after Montoya.
---
X-Roll 2d20 : 19, 12, total 31
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Round 7
Wave 1
Rafael 8
Butch 8
Montoya 5
Crystal 5
Jacob 1
Victor 2
Wave 2
Cillian 20
Xavier 18
Wells 13
Gilbert 18
Ethel 14
Loadmaster Anthony Quin 14
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Raphael, thinking Butch is out of it, fires two busts of his auto-shotgun at Jacob!
Auto-Shotgun, two Bursts w/ Wound Penalty 12 2d20 : 5, 14, total 19
vs.
Jacob Dodge 8 2d20 : 3, 1, total 4
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Because Raphael spends luck, Jacob is perforated with nearly a dozen holes, as the buckshot from 6 rounds shreds his right side, shoulder, and arm for 15 and 14 Damage!
Butch meanwhile, surges to toss another concussion grenade into the Air Systems Control Room.
Concussion Grenade w/ Wound Penalty 12 1d20 : 12, total 12
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The grenade explodes near Loadmaster Quinn’s ear, doing 2 Damage and Stunning him (after the Loadmaster burns luck to counter the Crit).
The genetically modified smallpox gas, colorless and odorless, continues to be drawn into the airflow, though only two of the valves have been opened as of yet.
In-spite of his injuries, Jacob then dive-rolls forward and fires another headshot at the Loadmaster as he pops up in front of him
Military Sidearm Headshot w/ Wound Penalty 15+2X MTN 10 1d20 : 11, total 11
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The shot explodes through Raphael’s facemask and into his left eye socket – dropping him!
As this goes on, Ethel rushes forward to grab Butch and drag him back out of the Loadmaster’s potential line of fire. As she does, her diagnostic scanner begins to alert once more - 'DANGEROUS BIOHAZARD: THREAT HIGH; UNKNOWN SMALLPOX'.
Up above, in the smoke-filled chaos of the ruined Royal Casino, Crystal is able to pull her knife and ram it into Doctor Benson’s back. The blade penetrates all the way through to protrude out the front of his chest – doing 13 Damage!
The Doctor groans, as he sinks to the floor Dying. Crystal is about to follow after Montoya, but thoughts of this man somehow pulling through after the fact, dog her mind. She has to stay to make sure the job is truly done right.
Taking her knife, she faces the Doctor and whispers to him the last thing he’ll ever hear – then expertly slides the knife into his heart (ironically, as he had once had a hand in teaching her how to do), twists it, and then yanks it free – killing him once and for all.
As this all transpires, Cillian slips past the man holding a machinegun on him and rushes down the stairs, where he runs into Captain Montoya (who literally looks like his clothes were just blown off him).
The man Cillian left at the top of the stairs does not follow – though the sound of ship engines coming down can be heard from the deck above. A moment later Cillian and Montoya can see a ship maneuvering in to land on the Promenade Deck - with another one or two hovering off the portside!
Meanwhile, in the Jacuzzi Suite, Gilbert tries to acrobatically roll out of his hover-round, across the floor, and to the mini bar. He is grossly out of shape from relying on his hover-round lately, and sprawls awkwardly in a heap on the flow – likely spraining his back in the process…
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(OOC: Onto Round 8…)
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Gilbert curses his big boned nature before grabbing a cool can of Cosmic Dew from the mini fridge and slurping it down loudly.
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"Can't believe that worked" Jacob says, in shock. Shortly after he coughs up some blood. "Perhaps not aswell as i would have hoped." Then he drops to his knees due to the pain. "Fu-" then he coughs some blood. Then he will exhaust himself shooting Raphael in the head to go forward in the initiative order if needed. If that doesnt kill him, he will run like a bitch towards cover!
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Montoya pauses "Ah Cillian, we just solved the issues in the casino! I was thinking of heading down to the air control room, I think their boss ran that way after we scared him off!"
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Butch throws another grenade, and then quickly fires at the loadmaster.
"Farker! Better stop loading it in!" He shouts.
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Ethel quickly dons the gas mask as she runs over, attempting to get a shot in at the loadmaster (uncanny shot at head).
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"What about Dr Benson?" asks Cillian. "Where's Crystal? Is everyone okay? Oh! And there are ships outside!"
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"Crystal is with the Dr, he was badly wounded in the fighting. Wait ships? Let me see!" He heads up the stairs to peek
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Round 8
Wave 1
Butch 8
Montoya 5
Crystal 5
Jacob 1
Victor 2
Wave 2
Cillian 20
Xavier 18
Wells 13
Gilbert 18
Ethel 14
Loadmaster Anthony Quin 14
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As Jacob executes the prone Raphael, Butch moves up and tosses another concussion grenade at the already stunned Loadmaster – followed by a hollow click from his sawed-off (crap, haven’t reloaded yet!).
Butch Concussion Grenade w/ Wound Penalties 12 1d20 : 13, total 13
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The grenade misses, clattering off an air duct, but still explodes close enough to continue the stunning effect.
Ethel rushed up and fires her deck pistol at the back of the Loadmaster’s head –
Deck Pistol 18 MTN 10 with Stun Bonus 1d20 : 14, total 14
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The bullet penetrates the skull – shatters upon entry – and blows the Loadmaster’s brains out the front of his face. He drops dead to the floor.
As this goes on, Montoya sprints up the stairs to see that a scout ship has landed on the pool deck and three armed men are getting inside. One of them is the submachinegun toting Victor from the foiled casino heist!
Two other scout ships hover off the portside and one has come down on the Promenade Deck, where Montoya just came up from.
Cillian notes that the pilot inside has not opened any doors and seems to be waiting to see if anyone else exits the Casino.
A few moments later Crystal walks out, the front of her shirt covered in blood, but she looking slightly better off than the Captain had.
In the Jacuzzi Suite meanwhile, Gilbert relishes the sweet sweet taste of a refreshing Cosmic Dew, so much, that he feels compelled to have a few more. After all, the bottle are so small, he’s so big, and it’s all on the Captain’s tab.
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(Combat Over? Or Onto Round 9?)
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If crystal can, she gets to her teammates and immediately casts Regenerate on both Jacob and Butch (injecting water into them in case there are any curious passerby wondering what's going on).
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Montoya ducks just out of sight as he takes out his universal remote and attempt to hack the ship the bad guy was just getting into! "Cillian, wish me luck!" He calls down.
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Butch moves quick to turn off the gas.
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Cillian, overjoyed to finally be useful, does whatever he can to help Montoya.
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Ethel sprints over to stop the airflow anyway she can before looting the dead for weapons and ID.
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Jacob will go make sure the communication gets back on.
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Several bottles of Cosmic Dew later, Gilbert is calm enough to remember the imminent threat of the bombs in the ship. He'll look around the room for a gasmask, or ponder ways to make a makeshift one, whichever is more possible.
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It takes Crystal roughly twenty seconds to sprint down to the restricted door in the corridor outside Butch’s cabin. Not being proficient with opening locks, she just blasts it with her sidearm. From there she is able to continue into the Loading area and down the stairs into the machine shop.
There she meets up with Butch and Ethel – Butch looking in absolutely terrible shape (currently unable to move, due to a broken femur).
He and Ethen have closed the gas valves, but the alert on Ethel’s diagnostic scanner continues to ping.
Taking a closer look and running some more analysis, Ethel realizes with alarm – that the gas is concentrated enough in this area to be absorbed through the skin! In fact, she notes a fine wet mist of condensation covering both her and Butch…
Jacob meanwhile, has gone down through the Engine Room into the Bilge, to search for the three jamming transmitters that are supposed to be down there. He doesn’t find anything right off the bat – and Nameless Hacker Bob is nowhere to be found.
Up above, Montoya and Cillian watch, as the men board the scout ships and then the ships take off. Unfortunately, the universal remote is unable to get a connection, due to the jamming transmitters still being operative.
On the Promenade Deck, the scout ship hovering there, waits a moment, and assesses that none of the other A.P.E. agents made it. It then quickly rises into the air to join the others – all four of them shooting up and disappearing into the dark night sky!
About ten seconds later, a huffing and puffing, completely out of shape, Nameless Hacker Bob exits the ship near the Rock Climb wall. He looks up into the sky, yelling “NOOOOOO!!! Come back!!! You left without me!!! AAaaaaaagh!!!”
In the Jacuzzi Suite meanwhile, Gilbert fashions a makeshift gasmask out of a damp towel and some coffee filter packets. It may or may not do the job, but at least it smells good.
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(OOC – Combat over.)
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"Crystal! Get out and cure yourself of the disease!" Butch says. "QUICK!"
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"We gotta get outta here!" Ethel shouts, "It's goes through the skin!"
Supporting Butch if necessary, she will get the heck out of the room asap.
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Butch shakes his head.
"Get out Ethel, I'm fine. Poison doesn't affect a cyborg all that well." Butch says with a shrug. "Go to my cabin, get Crystal to heal Moonkit. It's important."
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". . . We're the worst heroes ever, aren't we?"
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Crystal dashes out of the room. If she starts to feel the effects of the poison she'll surge to cure herself and dive into the nearest body of water or, if not possible, rip off her poison-soaked clothes - favouring survival over modesty.
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"We saved those we could, there were just too many of the this time." Montoya responds. "For now let's find the others and fix the rest of this mess! Via my suite so I can get clothing!" Montoya begins heading for his suite to get a new outfit, slow enough to ensure Cillian can keep up.
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Captain Montoya and Cillian head to Montoya’s room to find Gilbert waiting with some sort of makeshift filter/towel/thingy covering his face.
(Also, someone has cleaned out the mini-fridge).
Credence Jones is finally starting to stir again, having been KO’d at the start of all this mess. Nameless Hacker Bob has disappeared on the ship somewhere.
Crystal rushes to Butch’s room and jumps into the shower – to the astonishment of Tubbs and Moonkit, who begin asking what all the shooting was about.
It occurs to Crystal that she might have just exposed the two of them to the toxins, coming into their cabin (if the airflow has not already done so). That, and why is she allowing Tubbs to watch her shower?
Ethel meanwhile, absolutely soaked in the toxin heads topside and jumps into the swimming pool to rinse off, before going to her Executive Suite 8 to bag her clothes and get into the shower proper.
Down below, Butch gathers up the armored vests and high powered weapons. (the opportunity to take them too much to pass up).
As he is doing this, Jacob locates the first jamming transmitter in the bilge below. He turns it off and (taking it with him) continues his search for the other two.
Butch notices partial comms back, but the rest of the ship is still covered and none of his team are currently in the signal with him.
When Jacob shuts all the transmitters off, the cruise ship’s distress call will get out, and it won’t be long until the SSPB to send a bunch of ships in. If the team is to keep any of the weapons and armor (including their own stuff) and avoid getting arrested or detained, they’ll need to get it all off the ship (or hide it real good) before then.
Someone should probably warn them about the ship being contaminated with genetically enhanced smallpox as well…
As all this is going on, the surviving passengers from the foiled Casino heist flood the ship’s hospital.
Some of the crew head out to see what happened to the Bridge Officers and Ship’s Security.
A.P.E. Agents Xavier and Wells had welded the Bridge Access doors shut, shortly after the Hackers shut down the systems. The Bridge Officers are trapped within and were trying to break the steel security door down with a fire extinguisher (the noise Cillian heard). It will take a cutting torch from the Machine Room to actually get them out.
The ship’s crew also finds that Raphael and his men had melted a slag-pack into the door of the Brig, effectively sealing the ship’s on-duty security team into the room. They too will need to be cut out with a torch.
The off-duty security and some of the more brave crew start moving through the ship. Right now, they are headed to the carnage that is the Royal Casino.
The team will need to exercise some caution and stealth to get past them with all their swag from the conflict.
As for the four thugs that were tackled and kept down by the Red Shark’s football team… well, the team is claiming them as their own Bounties. It seems that one of the team members has a license to hunt bounty on the side.
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Once the comms are back up Montoya ideally gets in contact with the rest of the crew "Alright, the Dandy has been trailing us pretty closely so we can get off the ship before the SSPD show up. Round up the bounties and equipment you can and we meet at the pool deck for the pick up, Gil will remotely fly the scout down for us." he then sends out an all frequency comm so the ship crew was sure to pick it up "Warning to the crew from the bounty hunters who stopped the terrorists, they released a small amount of modified smallpox onto the ship. We stopped most of it ans cut the air flow however some passengers might still be infected. Remain calm and do not mingle unless necessary, please contact the proper authorities for quarantine and treatment!"
He then goes back to just the teams channel "Crystal, best we get you into a vac suit the moment the scout arrives for us, just in case, and we will have Ethel check you over back on the Dandy!"
He then smiles at Gil and Cillian "We stopped a horrible terrorist act here, it wasn't perfect but we saved the millions that could have died if this had gotten out."
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"Creedence is mine!" JAcob says trough the coms before heading to the pool deck.
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With communications finally reestablished, Montoya calls the Desperado to deploy Gilbert’s Snack Runner VII to the cruise ship.
Montoya, Jacob, Butch, Moonkit, and Tubbs board with Credence Jones and the team’s contraband and some nice military hardware, picked up from the A.P.E. Agents – 3 jamming transmitters, 2 armored vests, a military auto-shotgun with 2 extra clips, 6 military hand grenades, a military sidearm with 2 extra clips, a demolitions kit, mechanics tools, and a number of deck pistols and gasmasks.
Gilbert, Ethel, Crystal, and Cillian remain, to help assist the passengers.
The Captain flies his team back to the Desperado and submerges it again, moments before dozens of SSPB scout ships fly in on the cruise ship!
Ethel radios the incoming SSPB to warn them of the smallpox contamination – and the SSPB sets up a perimeter to await a response team from the Center for Disease Control.
In the meantime, Gilbert contacts the Red Sharks football team and brokers a deal to hype them up as heroes for stopping the terrorists, in exchange for half the bounty on the four thugs that they captured.
News gets out of course, that the Cruise Ship Circes was attacked by members of the A.P.E. terrorist group and infected the ship with some form of genetically modified smallpox virus. Gilbert’s treatment of the Red Sharks really sets them up as heroes and they are touted in the media as having saved countless lives with their heroic action in the face of the armed attackers.
The CDC arrives on scene later that day and quarantines the entire ship – setting up a chemical biological incident response force and decontamination center on the pool deck.
Cillian is able to identify those who are infected and those who are not, using his read aura ability. He is assisted by the Feng-Shui lady that was with Doctor Benson (once she recovers her lopan that was taken and tossed into the ship’s vault when the assault team stormed the casino).
Unfortunately, Feng-Shui lady also outs Crystal as a Biokinesis Psychic almost right away. Whether through read aura or perhaps recognizing Crystal from a file or something. In an unexpended play however, Feng-Shui lady introduces Crystal to the CDC Team, as one of Doctor Benson’s Government Agents.
In an aside, she explains to Crystal that she’s not interested in anything other than preventing a pandemic and that if Crystal helps heal everyone, she is free to go afterwards, no questions asked.
Crystal is provided a biohazard suit and surges to cure herself. Following that, she is able to get to work on suppressing the toxins in others.
It is an incredibly daunting task – almost sure to cost her Psychosis. Of the three hundred and twenty some people aboard, roughly a third (89) were exposed to the genetically modified smallpox and contracted it. Of these, only five had the constitution to resist the disease on their own. Another dozen responded well enough to antibiotics to overcome it.
That left Crystal with seventy two people in need of her attention. . .
Over the course of the next seven days, Crystal (using Cillian and the Feng-Shui Lady’s ability to manipulate luck) cures all seventy two patients without a single psychotic break or even a bump in her psychosis!
As passengers are cleared of the virus, they are taken through the decontamination center and off the ship by the SSPB to another quarantine facility. Following a few days of medical tests, they are released back into the general public.
As this goes on, Montoya’s group manages to overcome the illness through antibiotics – all except Moonkit. She deteriorates so fast that in a matter of an hour, it is clear she will die – vomiting blood and going into a coma.
A plan is formed to smuggle he back onto the cruise ship, so Crystal can heal her. Tubbs volunteers to take Moonkit to the surface near the ship, where they are spotted, bobbing on the surface in life jackets, by the SSPB and brought back onboard. Tubbs explains to them that he and Moonkit were scared and tried to jump ship, but were too sick to swim.
Crystal is able to save Moonkit, who upon waking, asks blearily – “What happened? How did we get back on the ship?”
Tubbs meanwhile, is detained in the brig for a few days, and then released. There is also some question about whose child Moonkit is. She is put into the protective custody of Ship’s Security, until Child Services can pick her up and sort it out.
After a week, everyone is off the ship and leaving the quarantine facility, as the Circes is being deep cleaned.
Gilbert, Crystal, Ethel, Cillian, and Tubbs rejoin Montoya, Jacob, and Butch on the Desperado.
Turning Credence Jones in nets 300,000 writ, plus another 800,000 writ for their half of the A.P.E. Thug bounties promised by the Red Sharks.
Moonkit is placed in a foster home in Capital City, but Gilbert easily tracks her down; allowing Jacob and Butch to spirit her away from a city park within a few days.
-
During the week of quarantine, all the news feed ran daily updates on the situation. The CDC released some information on the Pale Horse Virus.
“Apparently, the Pale Horse Virus was genetically engineered to attack the parts of the brain that show activity during psychic manifestations and thus greatly hampers the use of Psychic Powers (if you believe in that sort of stuff). What’s more heinous about the virus however, is A.P.E.’s method of transmission – a mutated and highly contagious strain of airborne Smallpox – to ensure maximum spread of the virus.”
“According to expert theory, A.P.E. chose to expose the cruise ship Crises to the virus, due to the fact that its passengers all came from a wide variety of planets and moons. This meant they would unknowingly carry the virus throughout the Solar System after their cruise; in turn also exposing anyone they came in contact with along the way. “
“For the Anti Psychic Evolutionists, the Pale Horse Virus seemed the best way to eradicate, once and for all, the "psychic cancer that threatens the salvation of all God’s children."”
“We are led to believe they were also trying to expose Dr. James Benson, Chief Administrator of the European Government’s Psychic Research Program, who A.P.E. refers to as the "witless pawn of Satan " in the process. Perhaps they were hoping he would carry the virus right to "the pack of filthy psychics" his research center works with. Unfortunately, Doctor Benson appears to have been killed in a foiled Casino Heist, staged during their attack – the same that was disrupted by the heroic actions of members of the Red Sharks football team.”
“The Pale Horse Virus waits a week, then after that week after exposure, victims of the virus begin to be ravaged from within by a strange mutation of the Smallpox virus that attacks their internal organs rather than their skin.”
“The Pale Horse gas itself is colorless and odorless, but does detect on diagnostic scanners as an unknown mutation of Smallpox.”
“Again, there is a bounty of 2,500,000 writ for Arlo Melbourne – Leader of A.P.E.; Plus 400,000 writ for Members of A.P.E.”
“Wanted For: Terrorist Activities”
“Bounty Posted By: SSPB”
END
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Epilog
About a week following the plot against Doctor Benson and the cruise ship Circes, ‘The System’s Most Wanted’ comes on:
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Clyde – “Howdy to all 350,000 bounty hunters in the system. This is ‘The System’s Most Wanted and the Bounty Hunters That Catch ‘Em’ with your favorite hosts, Bonnie and Clyde!”
Bonnie – “Today we have footage of the capture of the Anti-Psychic Evolutionists leader Arlo Melbourne by the unquestionably magnificent, Cold Rock Johnston” (swoon).
Clyde – “That’s right Bonnie, let’s watch!”
What follows, is the typical Cold Rock Johnston cheese-fest that you've all become accustomed to - but it does show Cold Rock apprehending Arlo Melbourne outside a less than reputable hotel (the kind with ‘hourly rates’).
One has to wonder at Cold Rock ‘just happened’ to spot Arlo Melbourne, as he was entering the establishment though...
...and at Cold Rock being in a bathrobe...
...(apparently he was staying at the 'Holiday Inn' across the street)...
...that happens to be an eight lane super highway...
...and all the 'ladies' of the hotel cheering Cold Rock on so enthusiastically...
...(they must be fans of his show)...
...Um... Yep...