Lets Play - Falcon 3: The Rack of Baal

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You walk up the gang plank and onto the main deck of the 'Winged Demon'. A sailor is polishing a huge gun on a swivel mount. It is a rocket powered harpoon gun. His filter mask is painted to resemble an insect's head, and he stares at you dully. You ask for the captain. He stands motionless for a moment and then points down some stairs to a cabin door at the stern of the ship. You go down the steps and knock on the door. 'Enter,'says a gruff voice, and you open the door. It leads into a small cabin lined with charts of the Sea of Dust, with a bunk and a desk. Behind it sits a bearded man in black robes, wearing a yellow headband, presumably denoting his rank, and still wearing a black filter mask. Next to him stands a grizzled old sailor in traditional heavy whaling clothes, also bearded, a long whaler's knife at his side. 'Yes?' says the man behind the desk, eyeing you up and down quizzically. You introduce yourself as Professor Falcon, a scientist sent here by the Eiger Corporation on Earth. You ask if you can hire him and his ship and tell him of your planned expedition. He nods, interested, but when you tell him the co-ordinates you wish to go to he starts and stares at you.

Then he says abruptly, 'What do you want to go there for?' his voice muffled by his mask. You tell him about your research into whales and that the area is a prime whale breeding ground. He looks at you and then says, 'Ah, I see,' and nods. 'It'll cost you ten thousand placs, all in. I'm Captain Nathan. Welcome aboard.' There is a knock on the door and a sailor enters. Have you been to Dustbowl once before on this mission?

No, so:

Captain Nathan suggests you go with the two sailors and load your equipment onto the Winged Demon. Some hours later, Falcon's Wing is stowed in the hold and the ship sets sail, scudding across the dust. The second day out, you are gazing out across the heaving red sea when you look behind you to see a ring of twenty or more sailors hemming you in, their faces staring mercilessly. The captain steps forward and says, 'You chose the wrong ship, Offworlder. We are all of the old religion, our Lord is he who you would wish to imprison, Baal, Lord of the Flies. He sent word to us of your coming and now we will exact retribution.' He signals to his men and soon you are overpowered. There is nothing you can do against so many. You are tied to a block of wood and your heart is cut out and offered up to Baal as a sacrifice. You have failed.

(Huh. I did not see that one coming. Boarding the Winged Demon earlier takes Falcon to the same section, so the option are wait for the Dustskate or go back further and go somewhere else entirely)
Last edited by Thaluikhain on Thu Dec 07, 2017 1:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Wait for the Dustskate.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Well, damn. Sorry guys, I felt for sure that "waiting" for anything would cause the planet to explode, like always.
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You return to Falcon's Wing where you spend your time checking your battlesuit while waiting. Have you ever been in the Dustbowl's only city, Refuge?

No, so:

407

A day later you leave Falcon's Wing in the hope of finding an alternative to the Winged Demon. Carefully examining the quayside, you are pleased to see that the Winged Demon has left and that another ship is moored at the harbour. You are still some way from it when your Psychic Awareness picks up the presence of somebody nearby. You are prepared when three sailors run out at you from behind a large crate, long daggers in their hands. One of them hisses, 'May Baal, Lord of Flies, have your soul Time Traveller!' You contain your shocked surprise and prepare to defend yourself. It seems Baal has managed to establish some kind of priesthood on this planet, perhaps the very religion that caused their exile from Ascension. As Baal can travel at will through time he will have had the opportunity to do it. Will you:

Thinkstrike the nearest assailant?
Use your blaster?
Try and control one of your assailants?
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Blast 'em. We won't even be breaking kayfabe.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

I have to say, any secret agent who uses his official code name when trying to infiltrate enemy territory deserved to fail anyway. Professor Falcon? Really?

Blast them.
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You can hardly miss at this range and a bolt of plasma takes the first one in the chest, almost vaporising the top half of his body. The other two charge on undeterred, their lips drawn back in a snarl of fanatical hate, but you shoot them both. Looking around to make sure you were not spotted using an illegal energy weapon, you hurry quickly onward.

You see the ship moored at the harbour is the Dustskate. You walk up the gangplank. A sailor, supposedly on watch, is snoring loudly, sitting with his back to one of the harpoon guns. The Dustskate carries two on port and starboard. Gently you wake him and ask for the captain. Irritably, he points the way to his cabin and goes back to sleep. Knocking on the door and entering, you see a burly red-bearded man, going to fat, his feet upon the desk, talking to another man he calls the Bo'sun. 'What can I do for you, Offworlder?' he says. You explain to him your intention to hire Dustskate for a scientific expedition and the details of your fictitious corporation. He nods, turning to the Bo'sun he says, These Offworlders are quite mad of course, but their money is good, eh? Sure we'll take you. 2,000 placs now, 5,000 when we return. Deal?' You pay him the money and he arranges for your 'diving bell' to be loaded aboard. He introduces himself as Captain Cresap Ord, and soon the Dustskate is under way, its great sails unfurled, skudding out across the Sea of Dust. You notice one or two of the men eyeing you strangely, and you resolve to be on your guard. You are shown to your cabin, a functional steel room with one low bunk against the far wall. Taking no chances, you decide to sleep with your blaster under the pillow.


43
That night, you are woken in the low bunk of your cabin by a slight sound. Opening your eyes you look up to see a figure, eyes wild and staring, a long dagger held in both hands over his head, poised to strike at you. This death is for Baal,' he whispers. It seems the priesthood of Baal have followers everywhere, will they never give up? Will you:
Use your Power of Will on the assassin?
Reach for your blaster under the pillow?
Roll off the bed into his thighs, knocking him to the floor?
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Roll off the bed. Baal's brainwashing is likely to be too hard for our Thinkstrike to breach, while using our lasers inside is completely out of the question.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
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Post by SGamerz »

Roll off the bed, on the basis that it isn't an option that's been offered for 90% of every other encounter in this series.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

73
Make an Evasion Roll.

If you score 6-12, got 2 and 5 so:

You throw yourself off the side of the bed, slamming into your assailants thigh. He throws his arm back, letting go of the knife and crashes to the floor with a cry where he lies winded. You are up on your feet, shouting for help as the others close in on you. Make an Attack Roll.

If you score 6-12, got 4 and 6, so:

Moving fast, you deliver a short kick at one of your assailants' knee caps, spinning him to the floor. You are battling with them when Captain Cresap Ord and several men burst in. Your assailants are overwhelmed and tied up. Captain Cresap Ord asks you why they attacked you but you pretend complete ignorance. He eyes you suspiciously for a moment and then orders that the three men be locked in the brig. Then he wishes you goodnight and advises you to lock the door. The rest of the night passes uneventfully.

The next morning the captain tells you that you have arrived at the area you are looking for. Using the detector, you tell the captain the exact spot where you would like the 'diving bell' lowered. He shrugs his shoulders saying, 'Whatever you like, but I would have thought one place is as good as another on this God-forsaken expanse of dust!' Ignoring the murmured comments of 'Completely mad, these Offworlders', you get into Falcon's Wing and the crew hook it up with steel hausers to a huge drum that will lower the 'diving bell'. Sitting in your crash-couch, you watch through the cameras as you sink into the dust. Soon the screens are completely black, there is absolutely no light and sight is totally useless. Falcon's Wing begins to bob slightly as it goes down. CAIN chimes: 'I think you should know that some life forms can be dangerous here, Falcon. No real research has been done, but it is thought that the creatures of the Sea of Dust use some kind of sonar as their senses. Apparently they emit a light beam of sound which is bounced off objects and the sound reflection is interpreted, like you would interpret light coming into your eyes, Falcon.' With a jarring shudder you hit the bottom. Carefully donning your battlesuit and taking the detector tripod, you descend into the Sea of Dust. You cannot see anything except the battlesuit readout on your face plate. The pressure is great and is almost at the maximum your suit can take. You will have to be quick. Using the tripod you soon have the location of the Rack segment. You engage your microbeam radar and the Rack piece registers as a small blip on your face plate display, only a few yards to your left. Slowly you make your way towards it, the servos of your suit whining under the strain of moving through so much dust.

174

When you are close you switch on the computer graphic delineator. This interprets your microbeam radar and renders it visually. It is almost as good as the real thing. The rack segment is a large translucent white triangle, with a hole in its middle. Three tiny objects are embedded in its corners. The whole thing is about the size of your head. Reaching down you feel about, using the touch sensors on the fingertips of your battlesuit. At last you have it. You transfer it to the iron grip of your mechanical assistor arm, and begin to walk back to Falcon's Wing. Suddenly your radar picks up a large blip on the edge of your face plate display. It is moving directly towards you at great speed. You realise it will reach you before you can get to Falcon's Wing. Suddenly, the computer graphic delineator cuts in and a hideous sight fills your face plate and you step back involuntarily, horrified. Some creature, utterly alien, is almost upon you. It has a long head, completely smooth, the skull lengthened to hang over the back. It has no eyes, the mouth like that of an Earth shark. The head lies on a long and sinuous body, like a huge snake, but with tentacles. It is enormous and will reach you in a few seconds, what will you do? Will you:

Launch one of your rockets at it?
Fire your Particle Disruptor at it?
Try to control it using Power of Will?
Try to frighten it off in some way?

There is a picture here
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Use Pip's Outlandish Wallop!

What do you mean someone made that joke in the last thread?
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
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Post by SGamerz »

Try to frighten it because again it's the least-standard option that isn't given in almost every other encounter.
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Post by SGamerz »

Change my vote to using PoW to break the tie.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

[Score an E]
Too late, you realise the creature has no mind to control. You draw back, your mind in horror, as you touch upon its primitive thoughts, an all-consuming desire to kill and feed, frightening in its intensity.

197
Out of the darkness something huge slams into you. You can feel its jaws clamp around your right arm and the battlesuit instruments go haywire. It is actually biting through the suit!

Subtract 2 from your armour points. In a few moments your arm will be bitten off, armour and all. Fighting down your panic, you realise your Particle Disruptor must be halfway down its throat. However, the impact may have damaged it. Will you:

Thinkstrike the creature?
Launch a rocket at it?
Try and fire your Particle Disruptor?
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Particle Disruptor PEW PEW PEW
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Post by SGamerz »

Particle Disruptor since it's impossible to miss when it's already halfway down its throat so there'd be no need for random rolls.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Make a Chance Roll.

If you score 1 or 6, got a 6, so:

You pull the trigger, but there is no effect. It has been damaged by the creature's jaws. Horrified, you can do nothing as the creature bites through your battlesuit and takes your arm off, your suit collapses under the pressure of the dust and you are crushed to death before you can suffer the horror of being eaten alive.

Re-roll or try something else?

(Also, SGamerz was right, I was expecting an attack roll there)
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Rewind and try to frighten it off.

The fuck kind of psychic powers are easier to defend against by being fucking stupid though? Animals aren't mindless.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Do what I voted for last time and put the fear in it.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

228
What will you try? Wll you:
Switch on your battlesuit flashlights and hope to blind it?
Use your suit radio system to broadcast as much noise as possible on all frequencies?
Use your jetboosters and try to burn it with the exhaust?
Take out an energy rocket, drop it, move back as fast as you can toward Falcon's Wing and then detonate it by radio signal?
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Post by SGamerz »

The thing has no eyes, so flashlights is obviously the stupid option.

The last option sounds cool, but it's the most elaborate so we might have to pass like 2-3 rolls to pull it off.

Use the radio. If it's blind, it probably relies more on hearing. At least, that's my reasoning.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Agreed - radio.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You turn your suit volume up to maximum and send out a barrage of radio noise, hoping to 'jam' the creature's sonar. To your relief it works and you can see the blip on your radar going round in circles until it veers off in another direction. Still maintaining your radio barrage, you get back to Falcon's Wing. Quickly you fire your Particle Disruptor, severing the hausers connected to Falcon's Wing and then get inside it. As far as Captain Cresap Ord is concerned, when he draws up the severed hauser, it will seem that you died in an unfortunate accident.

260
In the safety of Falcon's Wing, you clamber out of the battlesuit. Note that you have the piece of the Rack with the triangles in its corners. If you now have three pieces of the Rack, turn to 241. If not, where will you go now:

The Eiger Vault, to see if there is any new information for you?
Earth at the time of the Aztecs, if you have not been there already?
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Post by Omegonthesane »

We can only go to the Eiger Vault; we already got the Aztec piece. Unless you meant to delete a different option?
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Oh, yeah, missed that.

201
You set co-ordinates for the Eiger Vault and soon you are moving through null-space. You may rest in your Autodoc during the journey and regain up to 12 points of lost Endurance. Soon you are in your bay at the Eiger Vault and you ask CAIN to link up with the Eiger service computer to check for any new information that may be available. CAIN chimes: There is a report from the Monitoring section, Falcon. A new timehole has appeared on the planet Cave, in 432 AD. As routine, an agent was sent to establish a monitoring device. They sent the new agent, Kingfisher, thinking it would make a good training run. Unfortunately, he never came back. The young novice was killed. Also, the present Queen, or Mother, of Cave has asked the TIME executive for help. It seems there have been some disturbances in their past.' Where will you go to:

The planet Cave in the year 432 AD?
Earth in the time of the Aztecs?

I think it shouldn't allow you to visit the Aztecs twice, but I'm not sure
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