Planescape/Star*Drive: Renaissance (Updated 15 December 2003)

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Grith, in the home of "Shadowsong":

Deakon was just finishing another glass of Scotch when Shadowsong's doorbell rang. The sesheyan casually picked up a nasty-looking fighting knife and slid over to the door, half walking and half gliding, and opened the door as far as the chain would allow. "Who are you?" He held the knife behind his back, out of sight but easily ready to stab the person delivering a wrong answer.

"I'm Rex. This is Zero. We're the rest of Deakon's crew." Shadowsong closed the door and undid the chain, allowing the last two members of the crew inside the sesheyan's apartment.

"Shall we discuss business, then?" The sesheyan cocked its head at Rex at an angle that only a sesheyan's spine could endure without breaking, and Rex shuddered. Everything about these primitive assassin-slaves gave him the creeps, and only the prospect of a paying job kept him from showing it.

Deakon answered for Rex, keeping the negotiations in his hands. "Tony says you need a favor from us. He mentioned it was an... expensive favor." Deakon cradled one of the sesheyan's Scotch glasses in his hands while waiting for an answer.

Shadowsong turned his attention away from Rex, who sighed inaudibly. The assassin half-glided back to his seat on the couch and faced Deakon. "My people, they exist as slaves to VoidCorp. Some of us, they serve willingly. Others... others do not." Deakon nodded, and the sesheyan continued. "My colleagues, we work to free our enslaved brethren, so that they can live in the old ways on this new planet, or so that they can join in galactic society. We give them the choice that VoidCorp does not."

Deakon nodded. "Where do we come in?"

The assassin nodded slowly. "We have arranged an extraction, and our people are waiting to be rescued. But, our old smuggler is imprisoned on Penates, and we cannot tell them to scatter and wait for another time. You must reach them at Alderac and smuggle them out of VoidCorp space for us. For this, we will pay you ten thousand Concord dollars."

With a Scotch inside him to calm his nerves, Rex turned to face the sesheyan. "How many are we expecting?"

"There should be no more than six or seven. We have lost communication, but my brother is arranging things on his end, and he is well aware of our limits." The sesheyan crooked his head at Rex again.

Rex shook his head. "For six or seven, we need twenty-five. We're taking a lot of risks and our ship ain't built to carry passengers." Rex hoped that the sesheyan assassin didn't know better than to refute him-- hauling passengers was about the only thing the stolen prison bus was good for.

The sesheyan shook his head. "We cannot afford to pay you that much. It has taken many months to arrange this much money for you."

Deakon looked around the apartment. The furniture was expensive and the decorations flashy. "Fifteen thousand for the job and an extra five for trying to bull**** us. You've got the connections for serious money, and if your brothers are on Alderac instead of Sheya, they've got the skills to make that money back in a month. Pay us what we're worth or we walk."

The sesheyan's face and wings darkened a second, whether out of embarrasment or anger was anyone's guess. "You are astute, Deakon Cross. Fat Tony did well in recommending your crew. I will pay you fifteen thousand Concord dollars and we will put the insults behind us. Or I will hire another crew for twelve and they'll be happy for the work."

"Happy to get themselves and your buddies killed, too. We'll get 'em back alive, for eighteen." Rex finished the rest of his glass. "Or we'll find another job that pays better and be happy to have that."

The sesheyan tightened his mouth. "Eighteen. But you had better pull this off perfectly."

Deakon nodded, then looked at his crew. They, too, nodded in agreement. "Got yourself a deal, Shadowsong. Give us the pertinent details and we'll get right on it."

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Inn of the Skinned Dog, Pike Falls:

Earlier in the morning than any of them cared for, the mercenaries sat in the common room, eating their breakfasts and planning the day's excursion into goblin territory. While Dagger and Dagan's story about Old Man Wilson was cause for concern, they agreed that, for the time being, it was best to focus on the job they were hired to do.

Also sitting in the common room, and obviously awake long before they had been, was a large man, shirtless and displaying many gruesome scars-- several intentional. He carried no weapons and wore no armor, but wore cloth wrapped around his head and face. As the party finished their breakfast and readied to embark, he stood and walked over to the table, and then politely waited to be acknowledged.

After an uncomfortable half minute, Dagger looked up at the massive warrior and stared at him for a moment. When this did not prompt him to speak, she asked, "Are you stupid?"

The large man paused for a second, stunned by the blunt question. "... No. I have heard of your prowess and wish to join you." He fell silent again, calmly waiting for an answer.

Instead, Dagger offered another question. "Are you sure you're not stupid?" Something about the large man struck her as... out of place. He didn't belong here. The large man took a step backward and tried to figure out a way to salvage the situation. This was not going according to his plan.

He turned to Ortac and offered him his belt pouch. "I will allow you to hold my money ransom as a show of my good faith." Ortac opened the moneybag and counted out the pieces.

He grinned wildly at Dagan. "Works for me."

Dagan nodded, thinking another tough warrior could help protect the weaker members of the party. "He could be useful," he said, half to himself and half to Dagger, to persuade her to be less suspicious. While Dagger's paranoia had saved their lives on more than one occasion, it had also made dealing with contacts and potential employers very difficult.

Dagger was not convinced. "I've told you before, Dagan. I don't like using stupid things." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the large newcomer, who took another step back. Her eyes held a terrible light, and he felt like it was shining straight to his soul-- something he didn't want anyone looking at. He fought the sudden panic down, and showed no sign of fear.

Dagan shook his head... she could be stubborn sometimes. "And what makes you certain he's stupid, Dagger?"

Dagger turned her terrible focus onto Dagan, who simply ignored it. "He's trying to join us." She didn't like this person approaching them, and she wanted him to go away.

Del lay a comforting hand on Dagger's shoulder and leaned in to whisper to her, "I think we should give him a chance, honey. He seems very sincere, and Dagan's right... he could be useful." Dagger stared at Del's hand venomously, but made no attempt to move it. After a moment, the druid moved the hand herself; the matter was settled.

"Fine." Dagger practically spat the word.

The large man nodded, relieved. "I am Uruz." Introductions proceeded to go around the table, and the mercenaries discussed their tactics and their roles with the new blood. Dagger stared at Uruz the entire time, frustrated by her inability to make the large man catch fire.

Quick to try to change the subject, Dagan asked, "Can we go kill some goblins now?" He stood up and reached for his gear, hoping the others would do the same. Fortunately, the two tieflings did, and Dagger followed suit-- if they were all going, there was no sense in being left behind.

As the party left Pike Falls behind them and walked into the mountains, Uruz turned to Dagan and spoke quietly, as the two were both on foot. "The little one is crazy."

Dagan shook his head. "They're all crazy." Both warriors kept a brisk walking pace, easily keeping up with the horses as long as the others did not ride hard.

Dagger looked over at Dagan from her pony. "My kitty might get hungry soon." She spurred her pony to trot a little faster, moving her away from Dagan and the party's newest member.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

In orbit around Grith, in the Corrivale system:

Rex frowned and shook his head at the fourth plan his crewmates had come up with for extracting the sesheyans. "VoidCorp ain't a bunch of fools. We can't just walk in empty-handed and walk out with a handful of their assassin freaks." He downed the rest of his beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Nails bristled at him under her mask. "They're not freaks. They're sentient beings and under VoidCorp, they're slaves."

Rex glared at her for a second. "Just what the hell's your deal, anyway? Other than Deakon vouching for you, we don't know anything about you. You don't tell us anything, you're always sneaking around, and you're always wearing that weird-ass mask." He opened another beer. "What's with the mask, anyway? Slugged-up mug?"

Nails started to object, but Zero interrupted. "What he wants to know is, query: Are you a professional wrestler?" Nails just crossed her arms angrily and leaned back in her chair.

Deakon cleared his throat and tried to defuse the situation. "Let's focus on the mission, guys. We're on a timetable." He cleared the display panel. "How about we give VoidCorp a reason for our presence." He turned to the t'sa. "Sammy, you and Zero forge some product orders from this warehouse here..." Deakon pointed to a spot on the planetary map. "... and we'll pick up the sesheyans while we're loading up our cargo holds with free electronics."

Rex frowned again. "So we'd have a cargo hold full of stolen VoidCorp property and a half-dozen dangerous killers on board. Maybe we oughtta paint a bullseye on the hull of the ship while we're at it."

Samuel smiled. "I like the plan, Deakon. We could use the extra cash to upgrade the ship, and buy some cyberware, and that new autodoc they've been advertising..." Deakon held up a hand to quiet him.

"Zero? You like it?" The aleerin nodded, already planning how to fake the neccessary electronic forms. Deakon then turned to Nails. "What do you think? This work for you, too?" She nodded agreement.

"Fine then," Rex grumbled. "I'll just make you sure you all don't get yourselves killed." He took another long drink from his beer and stared at the display screen. Samuel skittered towards Engineering with Zero in tow and started forging the necessary financial information and purchase orders; Deakon walked back to the cockpit, leaving Rex and Nails alone to glower at each other over the display screen in the lounge.

As Samuel reached the lift down to Engineering, Deakon stuck his head back into the lounge and yelled, "And Sammy, pick up some red paint. I like the whole 'target' idea."

Three days later, when they made their connection with the ferry to VoidCorp space, they were relieved to get away from each other for awhile.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

In the mountains near Pike Falls:

After several hours of walking along roads barely maintained enough to call goat trails, the veteran mercenaries had seen nothing more than wolf spoor and the occasional footprint to suggest that there were goblins nearby.

Dagger slowed her horse to stare balefully at Dagan. "Are we there yet? I'm bored." The rest of the party paused as well.

Dagan merely shrugged. "They said the goblins were up here. They didn't say how far."

"The tracks are starting to get thicker," Del noted, climbing off of her horse. "See? There are footprints here and here--" she pointed, indicating a couple of vague impressions just off the path, "-- and I think I see a bit of metal up the path there." She pointed her chin at a small outcropping of rock a couple hundred yards away.

Dagan used a hand to shield his eyes from the setting sun. "That'd be a good ambush point..." he trailed off, then the corner of his mouth turned up slightly. "Your bit of metal just moved. I think it's a helmet."

Uruz, mostly silent for the journey, spoke. "Goblins do not see well in light. I don't think they can see us from here."

Dagan nodded, then calmly walked into the woods. He pointed at Uruz, and then the woods on the other side of the path, and then faded into the underbrush, silently making his way upwards along the path. Uruz did the same, and Del followed.

Dagger and Ortac, meanwhile, eased their horses into a gentle walk to allow Dagan and Uruz enough time to reach the outcropping before they did.

***

Rubbing his sore eyes, one of the goblin scouts spotted a glint of movement from down the trail. Taking a moment to be sure of what he was seeing, he tapped the other lookout roughly on the arm, then jerked his thumb towards the trail. The second goblin peered out carefully over the rocks.

Two riders, a small child and one of the humans' weakling nobles, were approaching their chokepoint. Relishing an easy kill, the goblin loaded a bolt into his crossbow and then took a moment to call his sargeant's attention to the path.

Unfortunately for the goblins, the lookout's warning came a moment too late, as one of Dagan's katar punched through the sargeant's chest, and the shocked goblin leader was thrown through the air to die on the road at the feet of Dagger's mount.

Panicked, the goblin spun and fired a lucky shot, imbedding a crossbow bolt deep into Dagan's shoulder. He collapsed a second later when Uruz broke his back with a brutal knee strike, and his companion joined him when one of Uruz's mighty fists crashed into his cheekbone, splintering it.

Confused by the sudden turn of events, the goblins tried to reorganize themselves, but the more experienced mercenaries pressed their advantage, denying the goblins the time they needed to mount a successful counterattack. Dagan sliced through another goblin's bowstring with one dagger and plunged the other through the goblin's crude scale armor. Uruz killed another goblin by denting its helmet inwards.

Only one goblin still stood. With the two huge warriors standing on either side of him, he knew he could not escape. He snarled his last battlecry and lunged at Dagan, hoping to at least earn himself a quick death.

Before he reached the warrior, though, his entire body failed him as he was stricken by overwhelming, unbelievable agony. He collapsed to the ground and writhed as his muscles involuntarily spasmed. Fighting to regain control over his body, he looked up and saw the small human child standing over him as his last breath wheezed out of him. She smiled.

***

After making sure that noone else was injured, Del helped Dagan force the crossbow bolt through his shoulder. He grimaced, but refused to allow the Druid to use her magic to either ease his pain or close the wound. After bandaging him, Del turned to the others.

Smiling, but disappointed he hadn't been able to take part in the combat, Ortac said, "Well, at least we know we're on the right track."

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I had intended to catch up with the posting this last couple of days, but I've been somewhat ill. I'm heading to Oklahoma for a couple weeks, so I won't be able to post more until around the beginning of January.

Have a Happy New Year, everyone.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Well, it looks as though this game has gone bust-- I'm rather sorely disappointed, but the reasons for some players leaving are nothing I can begrudge them.

From this point on, I will be continuing the Story Hour as fiction, with the players providing input on their characters' reactions. I'll be updating again soon.

 

[Capn Charlie]

First off let me say that I am new here and and am unaware of any protocol on story time boards. If I commit some blunder please forgive my ignorance.

Over on the wizards boards I saw Star*Drive and jumped on the link in your sig. I must say I am quite impressed. Your characters are quite compelling and real. Much better than some of the recent dnd novels of late. I can not emphasize how eagerly I am awaiting the following installments.

Star drive was an awesome bsetting, as was planescape and I cannot wait to see how you mesh the two. Something I have been telling people for years now is that D20 as we know it now was influenced at least mechanically more by alternity than AD&D. I am probably preaching to the quire here, but hey I'm excited.

I have just one question though:

Will there be a spelljammer cameo?