New Friends

17 Mirtul 1489

Sedrax and Undeenie cautiously approach a band of stragglers. In the brush, they make out the shapes of two humans watching the makeshift encampment. The two, an entertainer named Ulrich Nordstrom and a right brute named Rainer Davi were following the band as well, hired to investigate the raids taking place in the area. Ulrich realizes that, if they combine their forces, there will be enough strength to overcome the band of some 12 humans and kobolds before them and perhaps get a bite to eat.

Ulrich begins to explain his plan to Sai, Undeenie, Sedrax. When they look back for Rainer, they see that he has his warhammer in hand and is just walking into the encampment. Sedrax laughs and starts walking with him, lifting his greatsword high. The others stare at each other briefly, and Undeenie shrugs.

They all stand up. From the rear, Ulrich begins playing bagpipes which causes the band to begin running into the center of the camp. At the sound of the pipes, the kobolds scatter into the brush. The battle is quick and furious. The kobolds attempt to regroup and attack the bard, but he quickly puts one group to sleep with a spell he once picked up from a very talented lady friend, while the fighters finish off the other. The battle ends quickly. One of the humans is left and the band of heroes interrogates him while Sedrax sends the kobolds to go meet Tiamat. The lone survivor divulges that the raiders have a rear guard, and the main camp is not that far away. The party chooses to camp in place for the night.

18 Mirtul 1489

After waking, the band of adventurers leaves the informant tied up in a bush and press on. They easily spot and avoid the ambush site. After another mile or so of walking, they proceed to the camp to look for the missing monk and poke around. The camp itself is located in a hollow surrounded by cliffs and under observation by two short guard towers. They are able to walk into the camp without raising suspicion, passing themselves off as fellow raiders. After talking up their "fellow" raiders, the group discovers that the raiding force is collecting treasure hoard to prepare for the return of Tiamat, that there are prisoners here, that their leaders reside within a large tent in the center of the camp, and that Leosin, the monk, is held in a stockade near the entrance of what everyone is calling the "Nursery"

Sedrax approaches the "Nursery" but is turned away by the guards. Sai and Ulrich come up with a plan to secure Leosin. They decide that Ulrich will light some of the huts near the entrance to the hollow on fire. Sai will create another diversion by freeing the prisoners and the abandon them by scaling one of the cliffs that surround the camp. The others will free Leosin and run out of the camp.

They wait for nightfall and act. Ulrich douses a few huts in oil and then lights them on fire. Sai releases the prisoners and leaves. Everything goes as planned until Leosin is freed and realizes that the prisoners will be slaughtered. He runs to the prisoners and insists that they, too, be helped out. He glares at the suggestion that they leave the prisoners. The party reluctantly begins fighting their way out of the camp. Eventually they escape through the entrance in the confusion, and then evade capture in the grasslands. They quietly rest in the Greenfields before heading out to Greenest the next day.

19 Mirtul 1489

Upon arriving at Greenest, Leosin is reunited with his apprentice. The master of the town, Governor Nighthill, rewards the party with a considerable amount of money. The party stocks up and relaxes. In the evening Leosin informs them that he will be heading to Elturel to disclose what he has discovered about the raiders to his friends. He asks the party to return to the raider's camp to watch for a week. They are to report any movement or any other major events to him in Elturel. The reward wouldn't be much, but Sedrax urges the party to accept, seeing more opportunities to avenge Bahamut. The band of adventurers agrees, and continues to celebrate well into the night.

The No-Show

It is night time in the French Quarter, near the corner of Dauphine and Toulouse Streets. Branson looks through the rain-streaked windshield towards the Hotel St. Louis. Tourists scuttle about trying to get out of the rain. A few revelers are wandering off of Bourbon, too inebriated to notice that these streets still have traffic in them. He speaks into a concealed headset.

"No, I've not seen him yet. I think he's a no-show."

A tinny, female voice responds:

"I was assured that he would be there by now. I'm sorry."

"Maybe he decided to get drunk. It is New Orleans after all. I'll keep waiting as long as you keep paying me."

A barely audible click signals the end of Branson's conversation. A drunk woman with stringy, wet, red hair takes an interest in Branson's car. She sits on the hood as another woman fishes out a camera. Branson takes his pistol and taps on the windshield with the barrel. Suddenly sober, the ginger jumps off the hood and hustles out of view.

"He's not going to be here," Branson mutters.

Snake Eyes

Tijuana-Class 100-dton Cutter

The Tijuana-class cutter was designed for long, slow interstellar trips, ferrying fuel and supplies to remote outposts. Its extra fuel capacity was intended to be used to refuel remote outposts, but in the end just ended up giving longer legs to a ship that lacked both cargo space and berthing space. Still, the Tijuana-class can be useful, especially if the stock jump drive is replaced with a much more efficient model. The Tijuana-class has an early jump drive, which are notorious for consuming vast quantities of fuel. The few Tijuana-class vessels still in the service of the Terran Confederation Navy retain their original gun turret, but most of these have long since been removed. With the influx of more Imperial ships and money to chase them, the Tijuana-class cutter is rapidly becoming a museum piece – and a bargain basement deal for many a budding free trader (if they can afford the upkeep).

Tech Level: 9

Hull: 100-dton Streamlined Close Structure hull, dDR 10 armor.

Systems: 2 Maneuver Drive, 2 Jump Drive, 50 Fuel Tanks, Standard Bridge, Model-0 Sensors (Scan 12), 1 Hardpoint, 5.5 Fusion Power, 2 Staterooms, 4 Double Staterooms, 17.5 Cargo

Statistics: EMass 146.41 tons, LMass 284.91 tons, Cost (New) $87,131,600, Value ~$6,500,000, SM +8, ASig +8, HT 8, Hull dHP 25, Life Support 12, sAccel 1.4G (2.73G Empty), Jump-1 (5-parsec range), Top Air Speed 740 mph.

Crew: 5 Pilot/Navigator, Sensor/Communications, Drive/Power Engineer, Commander, Loadmaster/Steward. Also an empty Gunner station.

Passengers: 5 (in Double Staterooms)

A Hot Day

The sky is dim with early morning light and the air is soupy with the late July heat. The gentle tattoo of the lake's waves beat rhythmically on the concrete barrier as a pair of pelicans stand watch over the water. Overhead, low puffs of scud clouds race across the sky, chasing a wind aloft that never quite seems to make it to the ground.

Just up the shore, the New Orleans Lakefront Starport is waking up to what promises to be an insanely hot day. Gleaming shuttles are being prepared for the day's activities. A beautifully curved, white, two hundred ton interstellar corvette is being carefully escorted out of a hangar. Her lines are clean; she was clearly built for fast atmospheric flight. On the side of the ship, clearly written in bold red, are the words "Lady Dragon." Behind the ship, it's clear that this ship was built with acceleration in mind, as the engines look large enough to adequately push a ship twice her size. Low, thick wings and cover panels also show that at some point she may have served with the Confed Navy. The thick wings hide an inner strength ready to endure anything her pilots can throw at her. The panels clearly cover mounting hard points for turrets. Evidently, this Lady Dragon once hurled fire.

The ship comes to a rest. A few people walk out of the maintenance building and open the hatches. As a crew person disconnects the tow bar, the aft ramp comes down. Forklifts begin bringing pallets of cargo to her as other crew persons begin to fuel her up with hydrogen. After about half an hour, the trail of cargo has ended and the fuel lines are secured. The Lady Dragon's engines begin to purr. The ramp closes, and she lifts off of the ground. Her great maneuver drives light up and with a load roar the Dragon hurtles into the sky, momentarily distracting the pelicans from their sentry duty.

The crew person lights a cigarette as he watches the white corvette streak out of the atmosphere. He looks over near the fence line and sighs. Now that the Lady Dragon has been launched, he has been asked to move the derelict hundred-ton Snake Eyes to a different spot at the other end of the tarmac. The ground man guesses that this tub has been sitting in the same spot for at least five years. The grey paint has begun to peel at the edges of panels. Legend has it that its owner bought it to tinker with, but he has since died, leaving the identity of the current owner as some sort of mystery. The ground man hooks up the tow bar to the front gear and begins to haul the pile of junk to a new nest. As he begins to move the vessel, one of the front tires disintegrates with a loud bang. The ground man sighs again. It's going to be a long, hot day.