WttSS session 13: " 'All In, All Purposed', said the GM"

Written by Doctor Weather

General Summary

CHALLENGED BY THE SOLAR WIND

Kerman, Khalil and Masruq are challenged in the Lesser Bazaar
The party sees off a squad of the militia though a combination of verbal sparring and intimidation: The Solar Wind wants to search everyone in the group but Masruq creates an arrangment whereby only he, as a trusted member of the privileged, will be searched, representing the group.
The situation turns personal
Finding nothing on Masruq, the milita's leader insists on taking the search further, claiming the party has a reputation as being a group of troublemakers already, having been in the valley of madness just before the madness struck and having unashamedly brought one of the 'desert people' into the city. However, he is forced to deal with Kerman, who demands Masruq be treated with the respect he deserves.
Kerman puts the militia in their place
Kerman successfully forces an apology out of the milita and takes control of the encounter. Forcing the militia leader to search Kerman personally by getting right in the leader's face, he makes the leader face the idea of having to touch one of the desert folk. In small acts of petty vengeance, the militia leader puts on gloves for the search and tries to take Kerman's birr tags in the process. This lets Kerman challenge the honour of the miltia, who, finding nothing and having an act of thievery made public to the onlooking crowd, are forced to back down.
Kerman, Khalil and Masruq left for the Greater Bazaar in triumph
An almost broken militia leader leads his squad off into the crowd, defeated. Visibly lessened in the presence of Kerman's force of personality and Maruq's arguments, the milita seem a somewhat lesser threat in the eyes of the locals. Guessing that these people may well be the saviours of Ghodar Station, the local traders spread word of the party's second great deed throughout the marketplace.
INFORMATION REVEALED

• Somehow the Solar Wind knew of the party's presence in the Nekatra Mountains valley, near the First-come science facility
• Word had spread that Kerman is Xinghur from The Oasis spaceport encounter
• The militia claimed to be following orders of Councillor Jibek Abdulin, in theory an equal of Councillor Yazdan, whom the party is due to meet, but...
• The milita claimed that Councillor Abdulin may soon have the upper hand over the PCs' potential ally

Murad and Zarzur face a challenge on the Caliban Crow
Lila - The Oasis concierge - gets a message through Masruq to the PCs still onboard the ship that the milita are coming to search the ship. Murad and Zarzur lock down all the potentially-incriminating items the party has in their smuggler's stash and quite innocently let the militia onboard.
The militia try to make it personal here too
Offering neither PC any cordiality nor respect, the milita push onto the ship and begin their searches, turning work and personal spaces upside without concern. Though they respect religious shrines, everything else gets thrown around or knocked over. The leader tries to get a rise out of Zarzur by referring to her constantly as 'girl' but Zarzur and Murad remain calm and in control.
A search of ship's logs reveals nothing
Zarzur manipulates the ship logs through her Hyperion Head Link and the militia are none the wiser, seeing simple archaeological investigations on Ghodar and an 8-day trip to and around the star of Ghodar to test repaired ship systems.
Disappointed milita try a simple frame up
Frustrated to find nothing, the milita try to plant a purple hilted Dura dagger in Khalil's quarters but Murad sneaks in, replaces it with Khalil's writing tools and disposes of the blade in the ship's waste system. After a humiliating reveal in front of their leader the milita are forced to leave the ship, dejected and in failure.
INFORMATION REVEALED

• Some of the militia just aren't that bright

THE GREATER BAZAAR

The party regroup in the Greater Bazaar
Zarzur and Murad join the party in the Greater Bazaar, where Masruq's social standing allows them free access. The time is a peaceful respite, marred only by Zarzur's sight of another plant display showing desert rose symbology. As in the spaceport, the expensive display is a gift to the city from someone who refuses a dedication showing their name but who nonetheless wants citizens to know the person has the power to affect the city.
Khalil befriends a local scientist and learns of Khamzi's science
The scientist is a biosculpter who is happy to discuss the local domestiction of lightning bugs and what she knows of the city's unique atmopsheric dome. She tells the tale of Khamzi's Great Walk, and how Khamzi supposedly came back blessed by the wisdom of the Traveller, delivered through the light of the star of Ghodar, now understanding the science of the ancients. Though Khamzi has never shared her understanding with the scientific community she has passed enough out to the city techs to develop the city. Khalil and the scientist exchange information in the hopes of future collaboration.
Lila contacts the captain again
She has seen that the Dance of the Red Veils has contacted port authority to inform the city that the ship will be leaving within an hour or so. Either being robbed has spooked its crew or they've learned something about the compass they're trying to sell. Either way, they're now only waiting long enough to get all crew members back to the ship before they leave. 
Shopping

• 4 accelerator weapon cells are sold and 4 thermal cells purchased
  • The thermal cells are for modern thermal weapons though, and need to be rigged by Khalil to fit into Murad's old-science pistol
  • Not asking the seller to make the alterations allows the party to keep his artifact-find hidden from the people of the city
  • The purchase also doesn't clean out the supplier - an in-the-know investigator might trace the PCs through this purchase but idle gossip is not triggered
• Drone spare parts - to be used to sabotage the Dance of the Red Veils's crews' grav-bikes - 830 birr

DANCE OF THE RED VEILS'S CREW

Pirates spotted causing trouble
The party heads to The Cantina and it's not long before they find their targets: 3 members of the Dance of the Red Veils's crew are stirring up trouble with the locals. 
The plan to take over the pirate's grav-bikes is commenced 
Kerman and Murad challenge the pirates, causing enough distraction to allow Khalil and Zarzur to rig the pirates' 3 grav-bikes with the purchased drone parts. Masruq manages to distract a pirate wannabe from warning the pirates by giving the guy enough money for a round of drinks and off he goes (100 birr spent). 
Things are about to get interesting
The original plan went something along the lines of taking over the pirates transportation. However... When Kerman threw a jug of hand-cleaning water over the pirate captain's head and everyone started squaring up for a fight, a new plan seemed to write itself. A part of this new story also involved Murad using sleight of hand to steal 4 grenades from the pirate Sultan's pouch whilst there was some nose-to-nose standoff happening.
Kerman's choice
It is possible that Kerman could still stop this from being a fight but he asked the Traveller whether it would be better for him to lead the pirates off on a merry chase or stand and fight and The Traveller said "fight!"...

Campaign

Whispers to the Star Singer (concluded)

Protagonists

Report Date

21 Oct 2020