The Campaign of the Doctor (Inactive)

Game Master Clebsch73

Crystale's eyes water for a moment as she takes in this information. She gives Bryce a kiss (for luck) and gestures for the group to follow her. She threads through the tables toward the stairs that lead up to the second level. The fire fight continues around them. The stairs that lead up to the second level are wide enough for three people to walk up them abreast, with a railing that doesn't really provide much protection from heat rays. Crystale is indicating the west set of stairs should be taken.

Everyone is going to have to roll a Coordination or Ingenuity plus subterfuge to indicate how well each avoids notice during the chaos. This will be the target number for a roll by others in the room to notice them as they try to get up the stairs to the upper level. If you can think of anything that might help give you cover or create a further distraction, make a roll using a reasonable combination of ability and skill. Nominal success level = 12 to gain a bonus on the above rolls, but this could be modified up or down depending on the difficulty of what is being attempted.

Awareness+Presence+Keen Senses: 2d6 + 4 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (3, 3) + 4 + 3 + 2 = 15

Ted follows the source of the laser and locks eyes with Adrana Bol, for just a moment, before the plasma bolt hits near them. His eyes narrow and he moves to follow Crystale, glancing back up where the woman was.

"We need to be careful," he says in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the commotion. "She's up there, Bryce. Adrana Bol. She just tried to kill us."

Ted spots a number of overturned tables, probably caused by a combination of the warriors dropping in and customers trying to flee, and tries to navigate a trail of cover for the four of them to pass through.

Ingenuity+Subterfuge: 2d6 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (2, 3) + 4 + 4 = 13

Bryce follows Ted's path from table to table :

Ingenuity + Coordination: 2d6 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (3, 1) + 5 + 4 = 13

Adriana was not aiming at any of the PCs. It is more likely she started the fire fight so you could use the chaos to get up to the top level.

Crystale, Bryce, Ted, and K-9 crouch and move from table to table, heading for the bottom of the curved staircases that begin at the south side of the room near the entrance. Shots of heat rays come close, but the plasma sniper seems to fire just as the group is about to begin another burst of movement and draws fire away from the time travelers. Near the base of the stairs, however, a heat ray hits a table Ted was hiding under and the ray burns partway through the table and burns his head. His hat goes up in flames and his hair catches fire, leaving his scalp burned.

A plasma blast takes out a warrior of Gol, whose heat ray falls from his hands and slides within reach of the group. Anyone can grab it. It does damage 4/L/L.

Ted loses 3 points from Ingenuity until someone can apply first aid, due to the distraction of the pain.

Once at the staircase, the group is able to stay out of sight and the lines of fire, by crawling at the far side from the bannister until they get to the top and Crystale’s name tag unlocks the door.

As the group rushes to apparent safety away from the firefight, they find themselves staring down the guns of the party of Sontarans. ”Surrender or be obliterated!!!” the leader yells.

Bryce immediately put his hands in the air, and whispers to Crystale "Exactly why did you bring us into *this* room???".

The area just inside the door is a hallway that connects to four private dining rooms. The Sontarans are in the hall that leads to the rooms, with two doors open nearest the south.

"Who dares to disturb our celebration of glorious victory?" the leader bellows.

Got it!

"Scratch that, she might be helping us?" Ted adds after a moment's thought, just before being struck by an errant heat ray attack. Feeling dizzy, he grabs the dropped raygun and keeps following Crystale.

"Don't shoot! We're unarmed!" Ted calls out, forgetting the two guns stowed away in his pockets. He holds up his hands.

Presence+Convince: 2d6 + 3 + 3 ⇒ (6, 1) + 3 + 3 = 13

I've been waiting for a post from K-9. The player has posted in other campaigns recently. If any player has nothing active to contribute to a scenario, please post something, even if it is just a reaction of your PC to the situation and something to indicate the PC is not taking an action. That way it won't hold up the game waiting for you to post.

There are a number of things either Bryce or K-9 might try here. Support Ted's attempt at pacifying the Sontarans. Explain what the fight is about. Try to get the Sontarans on your side, or at least get them to see the warriors as the real threat. Play on what you (the players) may know about Sontarans. This is really not so much about the rolls as the roleplaying. If this were an episode of Doctor Who, what would you expect the companions to do?

Bryce says, with urgency in his voice "There's a band of mercenaries who just broke in downstairs and are shooting up the place! We could really use your fighting skills down there right now!", pointing towards the door we just came thru.

"Human dogs! We help no one!" one Sontaran bellows.

"Out of the way, skum!" the leader yells.

Once the Sontarans know there are warriors to battle and as a bonus, those warriors interrupted their victory meal, they take no further notice of Bryce and the others, needing only a clear path to the stairs. If no one intervenes, they march into battle, laser rifles blazing red and causing loud cracking sounds as they fire.

Crystale leads the others past the dining rooms and west through a hall until she reaches a closed door marked "Security". She tries the door but it is locked and her security card will not open it.

"What y'all need is through there, but I can't get in."

The door might open with the proper application of skills. Ingenuity + Subterfuge or Ingenuity + technology. Target is 18.

Bryce bends over to look at the entry pad. "Hmmm...I might be able to fool this thing..."

Ingenuity + Technology(circuits): 2d6 + 5 + 5 ⇒ (2, 5) + 5 + 5 = 17 SO close!

"Bugger. No such luck. Wait a minute, let me try this..."

Spending a Story Point to turn the Failure into a Success.

"Ah! There we go!" and he sweeps his hand towards the open door, inviting everyone in.

Bryce gets the door open and looking around a few corners locates console that links to the communications dish just outside. A quick look out at the dish, however, gives everyone a sinking feeling, as it appears the warriors of Gol took a few shots at the dish and it is currently disabled. It's not a complete loss, however. A makeshift repairs with items lying around the room might work, but a diagnostic on the control panel recommends replacement parts, which are located in the electrical storerooms. Crystale says the storerooms are down in the underground area below the dining area.

Ingenuity + Technology roll to repair the dish. If the replacement parts are obtained from the storeroom, the Target for the roll is 12, otherwise, it is 21.

K9 attempts to resist the effects of the EMP, spending a story point before rolling, this isn't a good roll to fail.

Resolve + Strength: 2d6 + 3 + 3 + 2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) + 3 + 3 + (5, 4) = 22

Resists damage from the EMP

Awareness + Presence: 2d6 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (4, 2) + 3 + 1 = 10

Does not spot Adrana Bol

Ingenuity + Knowledge: 2d6 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (2, 4) + 7 + 6 = 19

Knows about Admiral Yom's memories

Ingenuity + Subterfuge: 2d6 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (3, 5) + 7 + 1 = 16
Target to spot K9.

K9 surveys the wreckage of the dish, initially with dismay then intense interest in the technical task presented. Hearing Crystale say where the parts are, the cybernetic dog replies "This matter is urgent. I am going to attempt repairs with what is here."

Story point spent before roll.

Ingenuity + Technology: 2d6 + 7 + 6 + 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) + 7 + 6 + (5, 1) = 23

Apologies. Must go now, more apology later.

K9 suggests a way to use some foil peeled off the interior section of wall panels placed over a parabolic shaped plate scavenged from a back-up generator to create a dish that can be connected to the transmitter/receiver. As this project completes and a quick check shows the dish is receiving transmissions from orbiting weather satellites.

"Thank god," Crystale says as the dish picks up a ship to ship communication from one of the nearby League of Independent Worlds fleet. "What are you going to do to get them to help?"

You guys are making me do all the work here. Please role play your characters, describing what they're saying, doing, and (if you like) thinking. Please give more than just the dice rolls. Feel free to make up elements of the environment so long as it's not something that would be tactically significant.

Bryce grabs the microphone, switches to transmit, and says "Attention all Independent Worlds spaceships! The Restaurant of Remembrance on planet Jaconda is under assault by the warriors of Gol, who are demanding the body of Thunar Hammerlord, or they will kill all the patrons and staff! Please send help as fast as possible!"

Ted wipes his brow with relief as the Sontarans decide to leave them alone and rush past. He runs after Crystale and Bryce, holding the charred head firmly to his head.

Ted watches with interest, his eyes gleaming with curiosity as Bryce and K9 work together to put the rado in working order. Pulling himself together, he yells "This is an emergency!" into the microphone. "We need your help now, or this whole place is going to go up in smoke!"

Presence+Convince: 2d6 + 3 + 3 ⇒ (5, 1) + 3 + 3 = 12

He puts a hand on his forehead, head suddenly aching again from the blast as the adrenaline starts to drain.

The two transmissions are met with no immediate response. As ears strain to pick up a voice coming out of the faint static, a woman speaks from behind the group, "I'm afraid the league is much too regimented to treat with requests from random people looking for help. I've had some experience with them. Perhaps I can help."

Turning to see who is speaking, the people and robot recognize Adrana Boll, wearing a black leather catsuit with a variety of devices and weapons attached, and she is pointing a wicked looking hand gun at you all.

K 9, without saying anything and with a minimum of movement, aims his nose laser at Adrana Boll, intending to shoot her if she fires at one of his friends.

"If you want to help, why are you pointing a gun at us?" Bryce asks logically.

Ted whirls around in surprise, holding up his hands. "Hey now, let's all relax," he says, trying to sound calm. "Adrana. You look different than last time we saw you."

He glances at Bryce, not turning away from the gun. "Probably wants something in return. Right, Ms. Boll?"

Adrana sizes up the group for a few seconds, a confident smile on her face, before saying, "Everyone around here seems to be pointing guns at everyone else, so I assumed it was the polite thing to do."

She gives a wry smile at her own joke and continues, "Actually, you have something that is mine. I assume by the grey bits on your shirts that you ate snail with the remains of my contribution to your entry. I want to know what you learned, particularly the command words that can get the fleet to follow your orders. After I have all of them and an avenue of escape, you can continue your conversation, as long as you begin with the correct command word and something to convince them the Admiral is down here."

She talks fast to cut off interruptions, "Now, I only steal from my enemies, so assuming you wanted in here for something besides the cuisine, help me by giving me those code words, and I promise I'll help you get whatever you're after."

Is there a roll in this system to tell if someone it telling the truth or lying?

I'd say generally roll Awareness + Resolve. Awareness to notice details of body language and resolve to resist any subtle tricks of manipulation. I'd allow knowledge if one could justify experiences that would provide evidence of learning about body language. Ted would probably be focused on this sort of thing, so he could tell if the beautiful dame ... I mean woman who wants to hire him is hiding an ulterior motive. But that's something I should roll.

Bryce says "Deal", and gives her the command words from his memories of the Admiral.

"We are searching for...something, but we're not sure what it is. This contraption here points us to it, but we could use your firepower to protect us. How well do you know the layout of this place?"

Doctor GM, you've said previously that "Bryce and K-9 have worked out how to use the Temporal Trace Locator", and the last time we used it you didn't make us roll, so I'm assuming that now we just declare that we are using it?

Bryce activates the Temporal Trace Locator, and waits for it to settle on a direction.

K 9 does not know if Adana is lying or not. But while she has a weapon trained on his friends the cybernetic dog quietly keeps his nose laser trained on her.

Ted nonchalantly wipes away the errant crumbs of food on his shirt as Bryce gives the codewords. He lowers his hands, watching Adrana closely. He didn't believe she was lying, but she didn't exactly have a good track record with the truth, as far as he was concerned.

"It might be something that looks new, some recent development," Ted adds, recalling the events surrounding the Golden Promise. "Something that seems out of place."

As Bryce starts to call out the code, Adrana stops him, threatening him with a gun and saying, "Hold on, Old Timer. We do this my way."

She gestures for Bryce to come toward her. "Whisper the code in my ear," she instructs. Once he's done so, she sends him back and calls Ted over to do the same, followed by K-9.

Assuming no one tries any tricks and each person delivers the same code, she is ready to do her part of the agreement.

If anyone wants to try anything different than this, speak up and we'll deal with it. If not, I'll continue in 24 hours.

K 9 will whisper the code word w/o any drama or tricks when it comes to his turn.

Once Adrana has the codes, Bryce and K=9 check the Trace Locator and it points toward the north end of the top floor of the restaurant. The fighting downstairs continues with bursts of gunfire flaring up every ten seconds or so, but so far, the shots are down in the dining room area. A short walk through the halls behind the private dining area brings everyone to a locked door.

"That's the mortuary vault," Crystale says. "It's where the bodies and DNA samples are kept of the celebrities. It's a cinch that's where those big guys down there are gonna come next. Bortu is the only one who can open it."

The lock is impressive, the kind one invests in to protect valuable goods from hackers and people with heavy weapons alike. Bryce and K-9 make attempts at bypassing it, but the safeguards are well designed and entry will require both a pass code, biometric verification, and a physical key. Adrana takes a cursory look and declares is beyond her abilities.

Crystale leads the group to one of the apartments in the area between the vault and the private dining area, where all the staff live. Bortu is not in his apartment. "Bortu is probably either in the kitchen downstairs or the level below, where the snails do their thing."

Ted gives Adrana the code without making a scene. Once at Bortu's apartment, he takes a look at the door.

"Don't suppose Bortu will open it up if we ask nicely?" he mumbles. "But maybe there's something here in his apartment we can use, either to help unlock or help convince him."

Is the apartment door locked and there's just no answer?

The door to Bortu's apartment is locked, but Adrana says, "Allow me," and steps up, applies some kind of lock pick and the door opens.

"Have a look-see," Adrana encourages. "I'll keep watch."

The interior of the room has nothing unusual. Bortu keeps his place neat, with only a few pictures on the walls, none of them of people.

"He's single," Crystale observes. "He always seems more interested in running this place than in relationships."

A quick ransack of the draws and closet reveals nothing but the usual junk and clothing.

Suddenly there is the sound of laser fire (which gives off a crisp crack as ionized air molecules crackles as the electricity sizzles around the path of the light). Adrana's gun can be heard to fire somewhat closer.

"K-9, go out into the hallway, assess the situation, and use your nose laser to support Adrana if needed."

"Yes master" replies K 9, who moves to execute Bryce's order, muttering to himself as he goes "Organic lifeforms and their propensity for mindless violence..."

Ted shakes his head. "Nothing."

The sound of laser fire draws his attention out of investigating the apartment, and he hurries over to the doorway. "Guess she wasn't lying about keeping watch."

Ted pulls out the laser gun he picked up earlier. "Stay here," he says to Crystale, then hurries out to help fend out whatever new threat has suddenly shown up.

K-9 edges silently out toward the sound of laser fire, eventually reaching a door that is part of a hallway connecting staff apartments.

Meanwhile, Crystale points to a pair of sliding doors in the manager's office. "This is an express elevator down to the kitchen. If we want to find Bortu, this could be the best way find him without getting in that battle goin' on in the dinin' room." She presses some numbers on a keypad and the elevator hums as the lift moves up from below.

I've been puzzling over how to take things from here, as there are a number of ways to go. So I decided I would let you decide. You can ditch the battling agents and take the elevator down to find Bortu and his all important code to open the vault or you can help Adrana fight her enemy or you can help Luc, whom you know has a connection to the space fleet nearby.

Ted comes to a halt just behind Adrana, catching a glimpse of Luc before he ducks behind cover. Ted flattens himself against a nearby wall, and silently makes his way back to Bortu's apartment to relay the situation, ears ringing from the laser fire.

"Adrana's in a gunfight with that fellow the admiral was with in his memories, Luc. He's also the one who came in following the warriors, I'm pretty sure." As his ears stop ringing, he notices the hum of the elevator as it arrives.

"A way out?"

K 9 had moved to where he could see the firefight and then back and forth indecisively. Upon hearing Ted he adds "As Mr Ted says master. The situation is unclear. Orders?"

Bryce thinks furiously about their options for a few seconds, running different scenarios thru his mind, then says "We don't owe Adrana anything. Let's go find Bortu." And he gets on the elevator, motioning for everyone else to follow. To Crystale he says "What button is the kitchen?"

K 9 moves into the elevator without comment.

There are two buttons with somewhat cryptic letters, one above the other. They probably make more sense to someone who speaks and reads the Jocondan language.

Crystale says, "This is usually off limits to staff, but I think the top button is the kitchen and the bottom is where they keep the snails."

Ted looks back in the direction of the sounds of laser blasts, feeling bad for just a fleeting moment for leaving Adrana behind. But her deceit still fresh in his mind, the moment doesn't last.

"Got it." He swiftly presses the top button once everyone is assembled in the elevator.

Soon the doors open, revealing they are in a store room with lots of resaurant supplies like linen tableclothes, towels, napkins, and the like. There are also various cleaning supplies and some canned goods, cooking utensils and plates.

The room is unoccupied, with a door at each end of the slightly curving narrow room. Crystale peeks out after the men and robot step/roll out of the elevator. "That's just another storeroom," she says, pointing to the one toward the west end. "That way to the kitchen," she says, looking toward the east.

Someone is in the kitchen, making sounds like someone moving pots and pans around. "I NEED MORE PAPRIKA!" shouts a man's voice.

"That's chef Rhumsea," Crystale whispers. "He ought to know where Bortu is."

Striding thru the door into the kitchen, Bryce says "Where's chef Rhumsea?" loud enough to cut thru the noise of the kitchen. Assuming someone responds, he walks up to him and says "You may not know this, but the dining area is currently being assaulted by many men with guns. Where is Bortu, we need to find him immediately?"

Bryce can make a Presence + Resolve roll.

The first thing Bryce notices in the long narrow kitchen is that there is just one person there. While there are 6 stations and room for several cooks at each stove and counter area, only one man rattles the pots and pans, stirring a large saute pan which sizzles and sends up multi-colored flames as ingredients are added. The room is very warm and humid, with the pungent aroma of snails, snails, and snails thick as fog in the air. Lasers do one less point of damage in the kitchen, due to the steam and other particles in the air.

The man is only about 5' 4", although he looks taller in his high chef's hat, with dark skin, a flat nose and short black hair held in place with some kind of hair gel. But his presence is almost overpowering, someone used to barking orders and having people jump through fiery hoops to comply.

The chef glares at Bryce and grabs a carving knife which augments its cutting with a green laser. He starts chopping a large snail on a cutting board, initially ignoring Bryce.

I'll wait for the others to post before setting up the next interaction.

Presence + Resolve: 2d6 + 3 + 3 ⇒ (4, 5) + 3 + 3 = 15

Pretty good - what does that get me?

I'd like to see what Ted does before continuing. K-9 will tag along with Bryce.

Ted's own face reddens slightly at Crystale's touch in the cramped elevator, and he flashes a quick smile at the waitress.

Outside of the elevator, Ted feels the heat from the kitchen as Bryce opens the door to question Chef Rhumsea. Despite Crystale's dismissal, the detective can't help but run to the door on the western end while Bryce works Rhumsea, curious as to what might be kept in the other storeroom.

Awareness+Knowledge+Keen Senses: 2d6 + 4 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (5, 4) + 4 + 3 + 2 = 18

K 9 shoots the berserk chef with his nose blaster, on stun, saying "Desist or be exterminated!"

Ingenuity + Marksman: 7 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ 7 + 2 + (6, 4) = 19

Coordination + Fighting: 2d6 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (2, 5) + 4 + 3 = 14

I only take 1/2 damage from the mad chef's attack.