Rifts New West (Inactive)

Game Master EltonJ

oy, gameplay thread here fellas!

All wings report in.

I'm here. How (or why) do we all know each other?

As night fell it caught Gauis working on his battlemech. It was both habit and hobby of his, that at day's end he would spend an hour's time going over the computer system that kept his little slice of doom in working order, and he'd strip out and re-build some section of the robot, just to make sure the computer said it was as it should be.

He had met a fellow soldier, Charles Martel, whom he knew by reputation, this night at the alehouse, and they had got to talking. After swapping the obligatory stories of battle, Charles had asked to see 'it'.

Everyone knew what 'it' was, but few cared to see it up close. A TR-001 Titan was not something many saw in their lifetimes, and even fewer called their life long after the meeting. Though it bother Gauis not at all (partially because he was the one in the pilot seat) he could understand the notion. It might be a bit like looking directly at a star, or at a black hole--you knew it could kill you just by focusing its attention on you, so why bother aggravating it?

But Charles was a soldier, a professional of his craft, and a new weapon interested him like any tool. And so they had taken their last tankards to go and Gauis had talked, and told him his story of how he got here.

"It was just after the Battle of Tukayyid. It was _the_ battle. And we won! Against all odds the defenders of Man, of the Inner Sphere, the cradle of civilization had triumphed over the alien invaders, the Clans, the so-called descendants of the traitor Kerensky. O, they had come with their high tech, with their omnimechs that were good as any 2 of ours. They caught us a good one, first off.

But it wasn't meant to be. The parts weren't modular and her days were numbered. So I killed this thing. Oh it was a battle! The 'Doom was done for, but I survived. And I used the knowledge I had picked up to get this thing back to function, and, well, here I am!"

He pauses to take a draw of his ale. He finishes putting together the stabilizer he was working on.

"I'm still not sure all this -isn't- a Clanner trick. It seems like something they'd do. I _still_ wanna try and get above 60 angels just to make sure. It seems like something that should be done. But now? I just don't know.

So that's where the name came from. It seems daft to name a mech after another mech, like naming your Forager the 'Goliath'. Boy wouldn't Northern Gun have a fit about that! But until I get out, it's just...just a little part of home. And if ComStar wants to come at me and make a row out of it, well they are welcome to it!"

Gauis finishes his drink, says good night to Charles, puts the stabilizer back in the Atlas, and goes off to get some rack time.

Okay.

The three of you are in Manti, and there seems to be only one way out of the valley, that by going south. You are on a cattle drive. Driving cattle from one point of the New West, to another point.

Ami ("ah-MEE") listens to Gauis talk, but doesn't contribute to the conversation yet. She stays near the fire for a while after he's gone to bed.

Warren the Psi-Ghost rocked back and forth on a hand made hammock. A simple piece of fabric supported by two poles shoved into the ground. He had set up his little hammock by the fire and covered his face with his hat. Even though he might have looked like he was asleep he was actually enjoying Gauis' story.

After the robo jock stowed his rig and turned in, Warren waited for several minutes in silence. rocking slowly back and forth. Finally he shattered the night with a simple question "Somat' on yer mind Ami?"

"Not really. I was just thinking how fortunate I am that my weapons appear on command, and do not need continuous repair."

The ranch owner comes out and says, "It's time for a cattle drive. It's going to be dangerous, so make sure you have your laser pistols ready. You don't know what you might encounter in the wilderness."

Ami prepares her personal items on her horse, and helps get the cattle ready for herding.

"Hi friend," Gauis says to the ranch owner. "My name's Gauis and I'll be happy to drive your cattle for ya. But what's your name, pal.

Also, if none of us know what we might find in the wilderness, well, I think that's worth a little but more of the cut this time. I think me and my friends should aught-a have 50% more this time around. Considering that you're right, we don't know what we'll find and things might could get messy, I think that's fair."

Persuasion!: 1d4 ⇒ 4
Persuasion ACE!!: 1d4 ⇒ 1
WILD Persuasion!: 1d6 ⇒ 1

"Call me, Mr. Johnson," he shakes hands with you as he says that. "A better cut through dangerous lands, that might be done. Yes. You're driving cattle from Kanab to here in Manti."

Gauis grins as he shakes on the deal. "You got yerself a deal, "Mr. Johnson'. Null persp chummer."

Heh. I'm so street, Gauis thinks, mounting up and moving out.

Since FASA did both Battletech and Shadowrun, I always conceive it to be cannon that Shadowrun took place in the BT unverse, and therefore some shadowslang can be known by Mechwarriors. :)

Warren spins out of his hammock. "Right we are. then." he promptly packs up his gear and stows it in the storage compartment of his Northern Gun model 357 hover cycle. He takes a minute to carefully examine his "mount" before nodding.

Warren moves closer to the group and pulls a Colt revolver from a holster on his hip. He opens the cylinder to examine the six loaded rounds. With a flourish and a spin he holsters that weapon and copies his movement with the gun holstered on his other hip. After a moment he says "I'm good.

"Get yourself some grub, and make sure you have full canteens. We're moving out tomorrow," said Mr. Johnson.

"Roger that." Gauis chirps, climbing into his Titan and disappearing over the hillside.

The distant whump whump whump of robotic activity can be heard after half an hour, and his robot comes jogging back, it's fist putting down a brace of thick adult elk.

His robot takes up a dead, dry tree and in a wink he smashes his palms together like a child squishing a bug, making kindling out of the lot and setting it down on a great pile. This hulk of dry wood he quickly sets ablaze with a few shots of his anti-personal lasers. He skewers both deer and sets them on large spits over the slow fire.

Leaving the meal to cook, he parks his robot, does some standard maintenance, and then comes back just in time to declare the rich smoking savory to be ready. The coals burning down, he slices off thick slabs of delicious-smelling meat to any who come by with a plate and a fork.

At last setting down, he tucks into his own meal with gusto, relishing each bite and washing it down with great gulps of water.

"Mmmmfph. 'Twas nothing but soy-this and paste-that in the army. If I never get off this planet I won't curse the food!"

"Glad you liked it," says Mr. Johnson. "Anybody have any questions?"

'He's glad I liked the meal that _I_ made? What a condescending jerk,' Gauis thinks, before he considers that the man might be from some planet he's never heard of and may have different manners.

"Yes, I have a few questions, such as:

Are we alone or do we have help?"

Yes, these are most of the questions I had in Discussion. I had thought that Mr. Johnson would have answered these on his own initiative, but I guess I need to ask them again.

Johnson explains, "There are 400 heads of cattle. You're going to get them from Kanab, yes. I'm paying you all 550 credits each. That should include the bonus we negotiated. It should be a 5 day trip. As for threats, be careful of what lies in the canyons, like tree spiders. Keep the cattle on the beautiful path back here and you should be okay. You are not alone, some of the Ranch hands will be there to help."

"Excellent!" Gauis exclaims as he hits his rack to move out first thing in the morning.