WttSS session 14: 'The Cantina Knows How to Throw a Great Party'

Written by Doctor Weather

General Summary

Dance of the Red Veils's crew soundly defeated

Kerman sees off the pirate captain, Haydar
A single punch sends the pirate off his feet and sliding down the sand pit into the central holo-projectors. Haydar manages to hit Kerman with a sand-burst grenade but he just keeps coming. Before the pirate can make another move he finds Masruq turning the crowd against his crew, almost as quickly defeated. Kerman keeps his target in place with a solid stare, just to be safe.
Overhead, the remaining two pirates arrive on grav-bikes
They are seen only by Zarzur and the pirate Gamila. Seeing how badly the fight is going and wanting to keep their precious artifact safe, they turn tail and flee towards their ship.
Murad takes care of Sultan and Gamila, with a little help
Big as he is, Murad is blessed by the Dancer and easily evades Sultan's swing. Crackling, overloaded power gloves find nothing but air, until Khalil adds a dash of sauce from an abandoned plate of minced mushrooms and the short circuit jolts Sultan backwards into the pit to join his captain.
Zarzur takes the chance to get in on the grenade 'shopping'
Gamila watches 2 allies fall and a further 2 flee, and decides to join the latter. However, her sandstorm grenade is deftly turned back on her by Murad flipping Khalil's sauce pot onto it. Caught in her own blast she stumbles away into a swift kick to the ankles from Zarzur, who then relieves the pirate of the rest of her grenades.
Masruq takes the stage
Three pirates down, it is a small matter for Masruq to turn the crowd - whom the pirates have freely bullied - against them. A humbled pirate crew surrenders, forced to buy the PCs a round of drinks and negotiate the surrender of the artifact whose sale would let them retire in luxury.
Murad tells tales of the party's accomplishments in the Watcher Valley
He judiciously avoids speaking of anything to do with opening up First-come science stations and the spirits therein, focusing on saving the Watcher villagers from the nekatra that invaded their valley.
It's difficult to give up luxury
Realising that the captured pirates don't have Dana's compass, the party decides it would be easier to negotiate for the artifact if they were in possession of it and Zarzur and Khalil take to grav-bikes to chase the remaining pirates, luring them into a construction site on the edge of the city.
It's a trap!
Hiding behind a half-constructed building, Zarzur and Khalil wait for their enemy to shoot by. One does, allowing Zarzur's mystic power to turn off his bike's brakes and steering. He speeds forward, unable to prevent a crash into another half-finished building ahead. But the other pirate is saved by the timely intervention of Ghodar's lightning that fortuitously strikes between the bikes, forcing her to swerve and pull up over a nearby building.
Khalil saves the injured pirate - and then robs him slightly
Under cover of a sandstorm greande, Khalil runs across the street and through the open ground floor of the building the pirate crashed into. Treating a serious wound, Khalil stabilises the pirate and searches for the compass; but as luck would not have it, it must be on the last pirate.
In a scramble, the last pirate falls
A further lightning strike surprises the last pirate but draws her attention - and her Vulcan Scorpion - onto Zarzur, causing little damage but knocking Zarzur's gun from her hand. However, always ready with an impromptu solution, Khalil uses the drone controls to send the downed pirate's bike into his comrade's, sending pirate and bikes flying.
Dana's compass is retrieved and is found to work
Khalil and Zarzur recover the compass from the last pirate. Its blue crystal arm swings most pointedly towards Khalil - more specifically to the Portal Builder orb in his possession. In celebration they send both pirates back to their ship, slung over a grav-bike.
The pirates slink off in humiliation
The full attendance of The Cantina witnesses their loss. The retreat back to their ship without the compass - their planned retirement in luxury has been stolen from them. Counting their losses later they're down 3 grav-bikes and all their rifles and accelerator weaponry.

Legion survivors found by The Bulletin

A counter story to the PCs' heroics is suggested
The people of Ghodar have never had much time for the Factions but The Bulletin still reports news even here. Discovering a group of Legion survivors from the Valley of Madness incident entering the city, The Bulletin reporter eagerly broadcasts their story: that they were lead into the trap that wiped out most of their squads by the PCs. The Cantina simply boos at the holo-broadcasts, ignoring more Faction proganda.
One of the survivors was a Legionaire that recognised Zarzur
5 Legionaires survived the incident and one of them was the man who recognised Zarzur when the party arrived on Ghodar.

Administrative affairs

• The party 'acquired' two of the pirates' grav-bikes

Rewards Granted

The party's reputation will now be considered 1 point higher in dealings with Ghodar locals in light of them having:

• Saved Ghodar Station from asteroids
• Publicly got the better of the Solar Wind militia in The Lesser Bazaar
• Publicly defeating, to a humbling degree, the pirate crew of the Dance of the Red Veils in The Cantina

Missions/Quests Completed

Dana's Portal-Builder-artifact seeking compass was retrieved

Campaign

Whispers to the Star Singer (concluded)

Protagonists

Report Date

04 Nov 2020