Prince of Shadows

Setting: Last Outpost

• Carson and Richter don't find what they're looking for - but manage to find a whole lot of trouble.
• Richter has a run-in with the Space Patrol.
• Kaldor, the street rat with a security background, comes aboard - unwittingly questing after Richter's past.

• Scene 1: Pauper at the door
  • Kaldor comes to the Lady Jane hotly pursued by 3 bounty hunters, pursued by an assassin, pursued by Eight
  • Eight returns.
  • Space station slightly damaged
  • Ship moves out
• Scene 2: This isn't the space patrolman you're looking for
  • Mindprobe of the captured assassin reveals the nefarious assassin clan
  • A friendly cop who has no business of any sort, likes to help with our business
• Scene 3: Stargate queueng again: the revenge
  • Thrill seeker + hair-brained scheme + mad scientist = jumping into the corona of a star hotly pursued by 3 possessed assassin clones and jumping out again, leaving them behind

• Scene 1: Drifting
  • Carson and Hector makes some calculations and some modifications.
  • There's life in the void - but not much.
  • The Lady Jane is fitted with cryogenic storage pods. Nobody uses them.
  • A local fighter decides to check out the Lady Jane.
• Scene 2: An Illicit Operation
  • Pirates or scavengers? The fighter isn't shooting - just waiting.
  • The crew offers a bargain.
  • Richter goes EVA, and steals a pilot.
  • The Cutter Totleigh hoves into view - towed by a scavenger.
• Scene 3: Reunions and Bargains
  • A reunion - Wodehouse and Carson discuss captured criminals over a rather nice brandy.
  • Another reunion, as Kaine enters the system.
  • Carson and Hector offer their services to the Scavenger-Lord addis, in return for dry-dock privileges.
  • If the station doesn't explode, the crew might…

• Scene 1: Jury-Rigging
  • Carson working in medical
  • Hector working on the geothermal generator
  • Eight, the Prince and Richter hiding out on the Space Patrol Cutter (when Richter isn't crawling through airducts on the station).
  • Hector wasn't able to implement a long-term solution to excess energy, and interrupted by Addis who was being visited by the space mafia to work on a defence solution
• Scene 2: Under Pressure
  • Richter convinces the Farseer to help fight the Horrors and come with us
  • Hector melts the cutter's main weapons in a warning shot against the space mafia, by rerouting the station's power.
• Scene 3: Collatoral Damage
  • Addis and Wodehouse flee in the damaged cutter when the station devolves into chaos
  • Everyone else and the Farseer flee in the Lady Jane
  • The Lady Jane's jump engines should be fixed by the time we need them
  • The space mafia will soon take over the station

• Scene 1: No Way Out
  • The Totley and the Lady Jane jump out - only to find themselves orbiting the same damaged planetoid.
  • Hector postulates an interdictor; Kaine postulates Ancients.
  • The planetoid shows unusual structures deep in its core, previously masked by magma.
• Scene 2: These Prison Walls
  • Kaine, Eight and Carson journey to the centre of the planetoid.
  • Evidence of an entire civilisation imprisoned by the Ancients - a civilisation that would destroy its own homeworld to escape.
  • Eight finds a lump of very dumb smart matter, and extracts crystals of unknown potential.
• Scene 3: The Crusading Army
  • Robots! Kaine is captured!
  • Trapped by the interdictor, a robot warship intends to finish the job Hector started, and destroy the planetoid.
  • Eight negotiates from a position of religious authority.
• Scene 4: Squabbling for Scraps
  • Tiack returns as promised - with a small navy.
  • Kaine and Eight direct the robots' attention to the smuggling trade in Ancient chips.
  • A battle ensues, leaving the Lady Jane to escape in the confusion.
  • Carson has the crystals - but is he a bad influence on them?

Setting: The Handmaiden's Station

• Scene 1: The Last Resort
  • The Lady Jane arrives at Ooluera.
  • Hector and Carson arrange for repairs, while Eight and Richter set up camp at a shady resort.
  • Kaine introduces Rhea the farseer to the Psi-Brotherhood; Carson introduces himself.
• Scene 2: The First Bidders
  • Kaldor discusses the Ghost's modus operandi with Richter; the auction doesn't fit, but Kaldor's prize is on the block.
  • Hector builds Carson a persona from random currency fluctuations
  • The auctioneer has an edge over his patron - but what's really going on?

• Scene 1: The Players
  • The crew meets the bidders:
    • Baron Claudius, representing Kaldor's enemies
    • Hard, seductive Inon of the Smugglers Clan
    • The eccentric collector Baggett, with his rogue robot servant
    • E'Taron and H'Hirga, alien traders
    • Koener, representing a democratic fringe group from Kaldor's system, with possible off-world backers.
• Scene 2: The Game
  • Carson impresses the Baggett's entourage; Eight meets the coral station's “handmaidens”, and the alien bidders.
  • Kaine remembers Inon of old - but does she remember him?
  • Richter finds the Ghost's escape plan - but not the Ghost.
  • Eight is bundled aboard the smuggler's ship; Richter heads to the rescue.
  • Carson pushes up the bidding to breaking point.
• Scene 3: Fool's Mate
  • Inon takes the bidding, and retires to her ship - which the Ghost is stealing.
  • The Ghost remembers Richter - but does he remember her?
  • Eight and Richter are brought together by necessity.
  • A hold full of treasure and menace, as the Ghost leaves Richter something to remember her by.

• Scene 1: Potential release
  • Carson enters mind-to-mind combat with the Horror released from the Lovecraft chips in the now exploded hold of the smuggler ship
  • Hector jury rigs a remote control for the smuggler ship, space walks to the station docking bay equivalent. In order to get past the smugglers he threatens them with the remote control “It's a deadman switch detonator - don't make me let off the second bomb I put on your ship, don't stop me, shoot me or even look at me funny.” [paraphrased]
  • Baron Claudius undocks and threatens the station with violence unless he gets the Key
  • Carson realises only nuclear explosions can destroy a Horror, and he can't contain one in his head while that happens
  • Hector hacks the smuggler ship into believing its fusion drive is damage control and fortifies its shields to direct the blast out of the station (towards the Baron's ship incidentally). He then uses the ships correct damage control nanobots to jury-rig a Lovecraft storage cube (or Lovecraft Stock Cube) to temporarily hold the Horror
  • In a slightly schizophrenic, death-wish-y way, Carson conquers the Horror and moves it to the Lovecraftian Stock Cube.
  • The Ship That Boomed
  • [All fate points were used in this scene]
• Scene 2: Suitable negotiations
  • In a fit of self-preservation, Carson convinces the smugglers that we worked for the Baron and he'd open fire on them. Also convinced the Baron that the Key was held by the smugglers. Exit, stage confusion
  • Divers alarums
  • Deal struck with Koener and Kaldor to make a joint bid with the Broker for the Key. Broker convinced by Carson that Kaldor's fictitious backer could pay later
  • Collector Baggett molified with ancient suit to withdraw their bid for the key
• Scene 3: Pressurised release
  • Key plus its container obtained. Key given to Kaldor who departs for home with Koener Container retained for nefarious purposes.
  • Fake Key created in Hector while everyone else was busy in Part VII put in container with deadman explosive. Remote control used as deadman switch
  • Baron Claudius given fake Key in order to have him protect the crew of the Lady Jane from the now quite irked smugglers
  • Everyone escapes on the Lady Jane

• Player of dirk_richter after hearing about the plan for the bounty hunters: “I have Thrill Seeker! Let's do it!”
• “So we lie on the beach doing internet research.” “And tequila shots.” - Eight and Dirk.
• “Subharmonic emotional resonances.” - GM
• Eight fills the group in on the current situation: “Aaaaaaargh!”
• After the rerouted fusion engine totally obliterates the smuggler ship and irradiates the Baron's while destroying the horror: Hector looking at the smugglers as though that was the intentional second bomb “He looked at me funny!”

• The first assassin is “Black Dow”, stole his name from a book I'm currently reading by Joe Abercrombie (The First Law series). If interested the group are “The Named Men” and consist of the honourable Rudd Threetrees, the expert tracker Dogman, Caul Shivers, Forley the Weakest, Tul Duru the Thunderhead (huge) and the leader is Logen “The Bloody Nine” Ninefingers.
• Not sure what happened to Kaine's ship