Autumn's Rainswept Tower

Arriving to the Castle

The session began with the party on the ferry to Jetuni Zakon, watching as a black shuttle descended through the sunset skies above. As they stepped onto the deck of the Floating Castle itself, they caught sight of the shuttle again, its boarding doors open to reveal an Imperial delegation headed by a woman with facial tattoos and her heavily armed Shinjurai bodyguards (including a samurai!) as well as a Hm dressed in an adorable Denjuku-Lolita dress. The delegation followed a Ranathim welcoming party away, leaving the party amid the crowds of the docking deck.

As they moved towards the nearest concourse, they caught their first true sight of Umbral slavery. An elegantly dressed Krokuta stood hawking his merchandise: rental slave girls. “Buy them with a deposit equal to their value, and return them at the end of your visit to get 80% back. Live the true Umbral Rim experience and become a master today!” Behind him stood about a dozen pretty dancing girls, with desperate smiles on their faces.

Lyra hated this. She moved to approach, but before she could say anything a young Shinjurai woman rounded the corner in a huff, followed by her attache and one of the rental slaves. The girl, the spoiled heiress of a corporate fortune, complained loudly to the Krokuta that the slave was broken, while the exhausted seva fell to her knees and begged forgiveness. 

The party stepped in, Cero examining the girl to check for injuries while Lyra and Lee soothed the tempers of the girl and the merchant. Finally, Aeila just outright paid to take her off of the heiress’s hands, satisfying everybody. That incidentally made Aeila her new owner, something the lascivious Kain was quite pleased by. She even disabled the psi-inhibitors, allowing the seva, Delphina, to feed on her energy.

A Brief Respite

Needing time to rest, the party ducked into a bar Delphina led them to. Playing guide is an important part of her job, after all. Inside the bar, the party was a touch overwhelmed by all of the strange aliens, the dim red lighting, the gladiator matches and foot races between slaves shown on holoscreen feeds, the Temkorathim throat singers with their on-stage dancing girls, the tank filled with serpentine mermaids… 

Cero felt a voice calling him, so he split off to approach a second-storey lounge. At a table there, a beautiful Ranathim woman he recognized bid him sit. She revealed that she, Armenia the Wise, already knew what he and the others have been up to. She tells him that it would displease her if Trinity fell into Templar hands. The best course of action would be for him to extort Terilee Jones for more money and give the girl to her, but taking her for his own would work just as well. She then invited him to a private room for some relaxation, an offer he accepted gladly.

Meanwhile, Aeila ate a hearty meal of red smut while Lee watched the crowd. The fake Maradonian felt their senses prickle with danger, and noticed they were being watched by a gorgeous, hateful blonde and a cyborg gangster with a violent spasm to his movements. The two left after noticing Lee notice them, but Lee decided to step out anyway. They pulled on a disguise and searched for some kind of accessway down to engineering. 

The Rescue

After finding a way down, Lee called the others back together to go find Trinity. They made their way down through the access corridors below the public decks, passing by enslaved Keverling technicians and more of the Red Eye gangsters before reaching the room. Delphinaquietly panicked about breaking the castle’s rules, but Aeila sent her droid to look after her. Lyra climbed into the vents overhead in case a fight broke out. It proved unnecessary, however, as Lee’s comically oversized pistol made the five Ranathim men within back down. 

In a cell attached to the room, they found Trinity, relieved at being rescued but also nervous of the heavily armed strangers and the monstrous Gaunt. She quickly attached herself to Lyra. The party stole the gangsters’ contragrav skiff and an aircar and made their escape. Cero drove the aircar with Trinity beside him and Lee in the rear seats, while the others boarded the skiff.

Chase Over Shadowed Waters

Racing over the waters under the dusky purpureal sky, Lyra soon noticed they were being followed by three aircars, as well as by a Ranger-class shuttle behind those.

Lee acted first, hoping to scare them by hurling fireballs from their pistol into the gloaming waters, but to no avail. Aeila elected to simply launch a missile at the nearest car, sending its occupants to a watery grave. This inspired Lee to follow suit, placing the next plasma explosion right among the three gangsters on the next nearest car and roasting them all to death.

Luckpicker tried to jump to the last aircar but fell short, clinging to its side, but avoiding the loss of a hand to the vibro-blades of the thugs. The shuttle closed in and a man in Maradonian armor Aeila noticed back in the tavern leaped from it to the aircar, force saber alight. Cero hurled a bolt of necrotic energy back over his shoulder, killing the last driver, and Luckpicker reached a hand up to the wheel to prevent the whole car from falling into the shallow sea. Lyra took careful aim and fired, bringing down another. The Maradonian and the party easily finished off the remaining two thugs, before Luckpicker and the Maradonian made their ways onto the skiff.

The stranger at last opened his Chevalier helm, revealing the dark skin and arrogant smile of Vance Elegans, who recognized Aeila and is recognized by her in turn. They shared a certain similarity in their life stories, but while she was merely exiled, he was disowned. The black shield on his armor was testament to that. 

Meeting Vargo

He invited them to meet with his master and ensured their personal safety. After parking the stolen vehicles back on land, the party agreed and boarded the shuttle, which was piloted by a Trader woman named Rhee Kitee. 

In the hours required to ascend to space, Trinity rested as Lee and Lyra worked together to first disable the slave collar’s neurolash protocols then remove it entirely, freeing Delphina to her immediate gratitude. As they approached their destination, a few members of the party noticed that it was a Xanadu-class luxury liner, but one that had been modified with hidden weapons.

Aboard the Xanadu-class, Vance led the party up and through the garden to one of the luxury suits. Within, in the place of the usual bed stood a pool of shallow water where a Slaver and a Keleni man in a loincloth and turban lounged comfortably. A Stratagem terminal sat off to the side. The Slaver introduced himself as Vargo the Whale and promised them an explanation of his involvement.

But that would have to wait…

Lessons Learned

Minions with no armor aren’t really a challenge to a party with explosive weapons. I haven’t really thrown any serious opposition at the party yet, which will change soon. Even so, I was fairly happy with how fast and cinematic the fights have been. However, some issues are becoming fairly serious…

I actually got some fairly harsh criticism for this session, due to how much the players speak over each other in Voice Chat and how some (Lyra’s player, especially) felt that they didn’t have opportunities to do much. I think that five players in a Voice game may be too many, perhaps. There were also some tensions between the players of Luckpicker and Cero, which is a problem because their characters are closely tied together. Cero’s player also is not a fan of GURPS. Overall, the chemistry of the party is not coming together right. I don’t want to remove anyone, but I worry I might have to soon. I think the best thing to do will be to finish the Samsara material then have a discussion with everybody on how to proceed. Aeila’s and Lee’s players at least have been very positive, which makes me happy. 

Final Scores

Dancing Girls Spotted: 18 (Campaign Total: 20)

Gangsters Murdered: 13/18 (AoE hurts)

Vehicles Stolen: 2

Elapsed Time Before Aeila Owns A Slave: Approximately 5 hours of playtime