Five Parsecs Turn 3 - Breaking and Entering (and some more breaking)

(apologies for the poor quality photos, the decent cameras are broken!)

The crew did not travel

There was no upkeep cost as they used the last of the looted supplies (-1 supplies)

No quest was gained and no enemies attacked

Anul went exploring, finding an arms dealer

Jack and Mila trained, gaining 1 XP (Mila levelled up her combat stat)

Nathaniel went trading, finding an instruction manual (+1 XP) (levelling up tech)

Reece and Kari went looking for a patron.  Reece had no luck, but Kari made contact with an alien diplomat through her old unity links.  The patron wanted the crew to retrieve something, with four battledroids in opposition.

Reece didn't know what strings Kari had pulled to get this job, and frankly didn't care.  He'd come to the Reach to see what was out there and gain new experiences and this certainly counted; sat in front of a Prod Kett, basically a jellyfish in an armoured environment suit, and it's modded human interpreter.  He was struggling to concentrate on the job at hand.  "to summarise," continued the interpreter, in its unsettling flat monotone "this individual is in possession of a text of considerable cultural importance to my client.  We have exhausted all diplomatic means to retrieve it and must now turn to alternative means.  All the information you need is on this memory bubble.  Suffice to say, if caught, this meeting never happened".

A wealthy collector has ‘acquired’ an artifact of great cultural value to the Diplomat, and is holding it n the vault of his country estate.  Diplomatic means of re-acquiring the object have been exhausted, which is where our heroes step in.

The crew will need to infiltrate the estate whilst the owner is out, hack the lift down to the underground vault, locate the item and get it out again. Complicating the matter are the four ED class battle droids patrolling the grounds, one of which is always located in patrol in the vault complex.

The starting positions of the three above ground mechs were randomly determined (but not within 12” of the crew’s initial positions, even they can avoid scaling a wall while a big piece of machinery clanks by!).  Initially they were controlled by rolling a D20 on a clock face (to favour the existing direction of travel until reaching an obstacle).  Each mech had a search radius of 12” within which it would spot any of our crew, but once alerted they would be able to see any distance and engage as needed (think of it as searching with sensors on a wide sweep as opposed to concentrating them more effectively in one barrow band).  In the vault, I decided I would dice for the droid's location each time a character entered a new corridor section or room. If the result would be visible it would be placed, if not, I would roll again next turn.  If the team could reach the security room in the vault, another  'hard' tech roll would shut down all the mechs.

As well as their normal weapons, Jack equipped the Jump Belt and Reece a tactical visor.

The team’s infiltration went smoothly.  Jack used the belt to jump the wall straight into cover behind a building as lookout, while the remainder scrambled over the wall.  There were some tense moments as a couple of the droids started to approach, but they turned elsewhere before the team could be discovered.  Nathan successfully hacked the lift - hacking without alerting the mechs was a ‘hard’ task needing a 5+, just hacking it an ‘easy’ (3+). I used the character’s tech skill as a modifier, but Nathan rolled a natural 5 anyway.

Sneaking through the dark? Us? Certainly not! 

Better avoid these chaps...

Down in the vault, Reece took point with the tactical visor, allowing him to check the way ahead was clear.  Moving quickly, the crew moved up the central corridor, aiming for the security room, with Jack and Kari in the lead.

In the second turn in the vault, Reece spotted the mech in the parallel corridor using the visor. It couldn’t see any of the team yet but, depending which way it moved, it could be on the team in no time. Kari and Jack sprinted up the corridor in an attempt get around it’s flank.  Unfortunately the dice were cruel and the mech move straight at the team.  Rounding the corner, it opened up with its auto rifle on Reece and Mila.  Mila was saved as the rounds hit the corner she was hiding behind, but Reece wasn’t so lucky, taking a hit.  Knocked back by the blow, he was somewhat surprised to find he was still standing, having been saved by the frag vest he was wearing!  Deciding discretion was the better part of valour, he ducked around the corner (characters who take a hit that doesn’t wound can only move or fire, not both), clearing the line of fire for Anul and Nathan.

Busted!

(The corridors are many years old, assembled from thin card.  Unearthed them for this game but found they were in quite serious need of some repair!)

Despite towering over them, Nathan, Anul and Mila stood their ground and returned fire with calm, aimed shots.  All of them hit the target; Anul’s blast pistol glanced off the robot’s sloped armour, but both Mila and Nathan’s shots struck home – Mila’s handgun finding a weak spot in the right side sensor blister, and Nathan’s rifle penetrating the front plate with a square on hit.  With sparks and a shudder, the machine came to a grinding halt, before slowly toppling over.  With the way now clear,  the team headed straight for the vault to recover the artefact.  Along the way, Nathan attempted to shut down the bots above ground, but was frustrated by the bio-security measures.

Shoot it! Quick! Nathan, Mila and Anul pour on the fire

The team exited the vault by the service lift, only to find two of the mechs uncomfortably close, and between them and the perimeter wall.  Not wanting to get into an unnecessary firefight, they moved over to an outbuilding, popped the lock (getting good use of those task rolls) and waited.  A few tense turns followed as the mechs got closer.  Nathan was just considering hotwiring one of the collection of vehicles to make an escape attempt, when the mechs abruptly changed direction, creating an opportunity for the team to make a stealthy (and swift!) exit. 

Aftermath

Having made a clean exit, the collector was unable to identify the intruders on his return, saving the crew from making another enemy.

In payment they collected five credits and a stabiliser (handy for the shell gun, which no longer counts as heavy), plus two broken weapons (an auto rifle and suppression maul) looted from the destroyed mech.

XPs were distributed, With Reece and Mila levelling up a stat each.

More interestingly, on their return to the Envoy, a surprise was awaiting Mila, a message from an old friend, also looking to break out from the Faith and join her (I rolled a campaign event – 'add new character', and a 'character event – making friends').