[Pbp] Psychosis - Ship of Fools

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

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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I throw my blaster (since I had it in hand) into the crowd of creatures to distract them while I charge them, throwing punches with my cyber arms. Hopefully my experience in close quarters fighting (and cyber arms) will pay off here. Also hopefully these things don't know how to use blasters.
Playing 10 of wands and adding my trace card (pentacles isn't opposed to wands) for 24 total.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Just a note: when you use a non-preferred card, you should include some brief description as to how you're incorporating that suit's characteristic in your action. Darth's use of a distraction to justify 'intellect' works just great.

Darth Rabbitt:
The aliens draw five cards and lay out a ridiculous hand: Queen of Wands, Page of Wands, and Page of Swords. They discard the opposed 10 of Cups, and also the Ace of Swords; a special event is incoming.
The aliens move so quickly that you can barely see them at all. They must gland milli-stims or some equivalent. Persistence of vision leaves you with unsettling impressions of greenish-black chitin, stalked eyes, double-thumbed 'hands,' and bristling spines. You feel one of your punches connect, and a dark form is flung away, spinning through the air, but another drives four-inch talons horribly deep into your left cyber-arm. There is a crack and a flash of light, and in the instant before you are shocked unconscious, you realize that it must have breached the power source.
The event card revealed is the Heirophant. It stays in play, with no effect yet.
When you come to, you are being dragged down a hallway by one leg. The jolt you took wasn't that strong, but the arms are wired directly to your nervous system, so it didn't have to be. You've been out for who knows how long; you could be anywhere in the mammoth vessel. Your wrists are locked together in front of you by a glob of some hardened organic sludge. Auto-repair in your left arm isn't complete - you can use the limb, but it's on minimum power.

The double-thumbed grip on your ankle belongs to one of the aliens you fought earlier, walking side-by-side with another. Your beacons are out, so you still can't get a good look at them, even though their pace is quite leisurely now. You can feel the rasp of the under-grating on your back, through your enviro-suit, as you are pulled along. Then, it stops. They've stopped.

You see them twitching their heads (or head-like structures) around, as if looking for something, or perhaps tasting the air. Then, the one not holding you bounds away into the dark. The remaining one tenses, crouches, and lets go of your leg. For a moment, you are released, and have only one distracted guard nearby. The Ripper knows an opportunity when he sees it.
Hand: 5 Swords, 2 Pentacles, 2 Cups.
Trace: Pentacles 14.
Last edited by angelfromanotherpin on Thu Jan 12, 2017 6:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

"I must speak to him. Perhaps I can talk some sense into the man."

I look at the young man with the bruised face. "Did he hit you? Why?"
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Starting a fight is a bad idea, (especially as SMGs were more commonly used by German NCOs with greater experience and training), but since it's going to happen anyway, best jump in with with 20 wands. Have a word with my companion about discretion later, if there's a chance.

(I suppose the Germans are using German designed submachine guns, not Stens as they started using late in the war, or captured Soviet weapons? That would be informative.)
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

SlyJohnny:
"No," says the young man, "he didn't hit me." He lowers the towel, revealing half a dozen small angry red marks on one cheek. Cigarette burns. "He didn't believe me."

"Ah!" The exclamation comes echoing down the companionway behind you. "Mister Fromm."

He did change into the uniform. The stark colors and powerful lines almost make him look impressive. But Grubel's shoulders are narrow, his chin weak, his pencil moustache faintly ridiculous. It is his eyes that menace. There is no life in them.

"We should talk," he says as he begins walking casually towards you. "You are, after all, the most senior officer. Left."
Thaluikhain:
The soldiers draw five cards and lay out: 7 of Wands, King of Pentacles, 3 of swords. They discard the opposed 3 and 6 of cups.
Your companion lands a solid blow, but his opponent recovers and they begin wrestling for control of his weapon. Your own target jerks away from your strike by reflex, and calls out for help. You grab his gun and strike him across the mouth with it, but another soldier comes around a corner and takes a shot at you with his pistol. Hot agony erupts in your side. A bullet has grazed your ribs. Only a flesh wound, but it hurts like hell.

Your original target is on the ground spitting blood, and your companion seems to have the upper hand in his struggle, but you still face an armed enemy, and more may be here soon.
You suffer pain, a status effect which turns a card in your Trace face down – it cannot be used for a while. Because this was a Wands challenge, pain preferentially affects your Wands trace card. Fighting with fists is another Wands challenge, fighting with your new gun or running away are Swords challenges.
Hand: Wands 14, Swords 7, Wands 6.
Trace: Wands 20, Cups 16
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Run forwards (using swords 7) and attack (using wands 14).
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Post by SlyJohnny »

I close the door and turn to face Grubel, trying to conceal my surprise and fear. This isn't how I wanted this to go.

"We should." I say, evenly. "I was just looking for you, Herr Grubel. I understand there have been two deaths aboard the ship, and that at least one of them must be murder."

I meet those cold empty eyes, and am suddenly second-guessing myself. Maybe challenging this lunatic's judgement isn't the best opener. I try to draw him out.

"I admit, I am surprised you didn't send for me sooner."
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

SlyJohnny:
"It is good that you are eager to assist me in my investigation," says Grubel. "Perhaps you are ignorant of the treason practiced by certain others aboard. Let us repair to the chart room and reason together."
Grubel is trying to persuade you to come quietly. It is a Cups challenge to resist (if you win, you can persuade him in some way), or you can go along with him.
Hand: Wands 9, Swords 8, Wands 6, Pentacles 4.
Trace: Swords 20
Thaluikhain:
The soldiers draw five cards and lay out the 9 of swords. They discard the unplayable 3 of swords, 5 of pentacles, Knight of cups, and also the Ace of Cups. A special event is incoming.
Your charge puts the soldier off his aim, and his shot goes overhead. You barrel into him and bear him to the ground. His head hits the cobbles with a wet crack.
The event card revealed is Temperance.
It was raining in the city. The kind of rain that doesn't let up. The kind that can beat a man down. But he couldn't let that happen.

The neon sign over the tavern flickered and went out.

Why was he out on a night like this? He had a job to do, he knew that. He just couldn't remember what it was. He turned up the collar of his raincoat and pulled his hat lower over his eyes.

A tall man in a dark suit was standing next to a long black car. Looked more like fed than mob, as much as there was any difference. The suit opened the rear door and made a 'get in' gesture. It might even have been a request.
'He' in the above is you, because narration is now in past tense and third person for what I assure you are reasons.
Hand: Wands 6
Trace: Wands 20, Cups 16
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Post by SlyJohnny »

I am disarmed again; luring him away from his victims by getting him to come away with me, preferably to my duty station, is exactly what I wanted.

I nod, seriously. I allow myself to visibly relax, as if his smooth talking has genuinely reassured me, put me at my ease. "Good idea. I only wish you had consulted me earlier. We could have avoided all this... unpleasantness. I suppose it's too early to say whether you've discovered anything concrete?"

I fall into step behind him, both to present myself as submissively compliant, and also because I don't actually know where the chart room is.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I've walked into a noir flashback?

I think I went with the man in the car..
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

SlyJohnny:
The route to the Chart Room apparently leads through the dining room. Your passage through draws looks of consternation from most, but the matron approaches.

"Will you murder this one too, you swine? We are not all afraid of you. You are only-"

Grubel cuts her off with a casual backhand that does not quite knock her over, but sends her reeling away to lean against a cabinet. The men clench their fists and curse under their breath, but make no moves. The young woman closes her eyes and turns away.

Grubel leads you out of the dining room and back into the companionways. You have gone only a short distance when a siren sounds, somewhere. Grubel grimaces.

"I must squash a bug, it seems. Wait for me in here." He opens the door of a nearby cabin.
Thaluikhain:
The sound of rain on the car reminded him of the chatter of a Tommy gun. The car smelled of new leather and old sins. The suit who had got in the back seat didn't talk, and neither did the other suit who was driving. The city rolled away, and the waterfront warehouses rolled up.
You have a window to try to get info out of these guys, as a Cups challenge, if you want.
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Post by SlyJohnny »

I grit my teeth as he strikes the woman, but say nothing. I distract myself from the urge to slam the man's head into the dining room table by reflecting on the name he used: Fromm. I am Mr Fromm. Or perhaps Navigator Fromm. Does it mean anything to me? I wish I knew my first name.

When the siren sounds, I frown, wondering if I have any sense of what it means. I glance in the cabin to verify that it's not the chart room, and then draw myself up to full height and do my very best to convey the air of a stout, reliable, but perhaps not terribly bright lackey. "But I should go with you, Hauptmann Grubel. Whatever the problem is, both our uniforms together will present a... unified front, as it were, between the Gestapo and the other members of the crew."

((Using that 20 of Swords for a Cups challenge to persuade him))
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I think I stayed in the car, but kept an eye on where it was going.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I doubt I can communicate with them, and it's already distracted. My cyber arms are bound--one of them is currently damaged--and they probably took my blaster when I threw it. The best thing to do now is run.

I attempt to run from the distracted creature. (probably Swords, which would mean I can't use my Trace card, unfortunately.)
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

SlyJohnny:
Grubel draws 5 cards and plays the Queen of Pentacles, discarding the unplayable 6 and 3 of pentacles and 3 of wands, as well as the ace of pentacles. A special event is incoming.
"Very well," says Grubel, his expression unreadable.

The two of you proceed. You pass the chart room; it's door is closed, but its porthole is marred by a spatter of something red on the other side of the glass. Next door is the radio room, and Grubel leads you inside.

The operator is a nervous man, not in ship's uniform. Grubel gestures impatiently, a switch is flipped, and a harsh distorted voice bursts from one of the speakers.

"Report!" For all the distortion, the speaker's voice seems much more human than Grubel's; grumpiness is at least relatable.

"I have the ship's most senior officer in custody, he is here."

"Airship officer," rasps the speaker, "state your name and duties."
The Event card is The Sun, which remains in play, waiting.


Thaluikhain:
The car stopped outside a warehouse the size of a castle. A flash of lightning revealed that it was number 12. The suits took him to a side door.

"Password?"

"Lazarus."

It was cold inside, like a morgue or a hit-man's heart. He walked past skinless carcasses hung on vicious hooks in long rows. One or two of them didn't look like cows. That was probably just the bad light.

In the warehouse office, it was much warmer, like a lonely Friday night. Enough suits were there to start a menswear mail-order company. They crowded around, asking questions.

"What can you tell us about the traveler's fall?"

"Do you want this bounty stopped?"

"Where's your partner?"
Your pain has worn off.
Hand: Wands 6
Trace: Wands 20, Cups 16
Darth Rabbitt:
Since you didn't specify, I'm going to assume you're using both your Swords and Cups cards from your hand. The alien draws five cards, but they are all discarded, along with your earlier event card, the Hierophant.
You kippup, wheel around, and sprint away. Behind you, an angry series of clicks and the chalkboard screech of chitin against hullmetal indicates that your captor has noticed your escape.

Something flies past you from the corridor ahead, and seems to explode with a gentle *bwomf*. Oily smoke washes over you from behind, but your running brings you out of it almost immediately. The sounds of pursuit falter and fall back. Ahead of you, a two-foot tall canister on tracked feet extends a mecha-limb tipped with a nozzle. As you approach, it sprays your restraining goo with what is apparently a solvent, for the hardened stuff starts to soften and run. The canister-bot falls in beside you.

A few moments later, it makes a sudden right turn, compressing itself to glide easily into an open duct that you would have to crawl into. "This way, please," it says, in the ubiquitous voice of the ship's systems. Further down the corridor ahead, you see that the passage forks. You could continue your escape on your feet instead of on hands and knees.
Hand: 2 Pentacles.
Trace: Pentacles 14.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

"Well...that would depend. How much do you already know?"
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Post by SlyJohnny »

"Navigator Fromm. My responsibilities are plotting the ship's course, maintaining our astronomical charts, navigational and meteroeological equipment. Principally, I advise the ship's captain and XO of our estimated journey time, and any hazards we might encounter. I am unable to do that at present time. I do not know who I now report to. And I don't know if our original heading was changed, on purpose or accidentally, at any point while you were seizing my ship."

I glance at the radio operator, wondering if I recognise the man.
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Thaluikhain:
One of the suits, older than the others, waves the rest to silence and speaks. "The traveler will fall. It's in the national interest. Freedom and justice and all that. Money, too. We know the whole story up until now. But you know what happens next. You're going to tell us what that is."
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Post by Thaluikhain »

"The traveler will fall, but there are different ways the traveler may fall, some of them more in line with our interests than others. Which of these is most desirable might not be clear to all."

(I'm guessing the conversation is in English and the number 12 was in Hindu-Arabic numbers?)
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

SlyJohnny:
"... You are considerably more forthcoming than other officers we have spoken to," barks the speaker. "Hauptman Grubel, is this characteristic?"

"So far, yes." Although he addresses the speaker, Grubel's stares only at you.

"Put plainly then, there are important - no, vital - materials on board this vessel. Gruppenführer Loeper was overseeing their transport from Argentina, but with his death the operation is in doubt. You will assist Grubel in accessing the Graf's emergency steering station and retrieving these materials, which will ensure the ultimate victory of the Reich. Tell me that you understand."
Thaluikhain:
You guess correctly.
"You use a lot of words to say nothing, Mister Doolittle. In any case, it is too late to worry about quibbling details. If you have a preferred method, present it - the thing itself is all that matters to us.

Any further prevarication, and I will assume you need help to see things our way."
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Post by SlyJohnny »

"I do not fully understand. Why have you been unable to access the emergency steering station? And who is master of this vessel now... you?"
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Post by Thaluikhain »

"I don't have a preferred method. But I recommend the matter be dealt with swiftly and thoroughly and directly. We can count the cost later."
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

SlyJohnny:
"I have placed a crewman whose loyalty I am sure of in command," says Grubel.

"As to the other matter," growls the radio, "Loeper had the necessary information to access emergency steering, but with his death only the ship's officers do, and they have not been very patriotic so far."

"A man who lives without love of country can scarcely be said to be living at all," says Grubel.
Thaluikhain:
"I see," said the spokesman suit, sounding very tired. "Very well, we shall proceed directly, then. Lands, Fields, you know what to do."

He was gripped by the suits that had brought him. They had the scarless clean-nailed hands of boys that have never been in a real fight.

"Come on, " said Lands (or possibly Fields), "back to the car. One more person for you to see, down in town."
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I go quietly, putting up no resistance until we are back by the car and out of sight of everyone else.

Then I'll bludgeon them with whatever is handy, stuff them in the trunk of the car and drive away.
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Post by SlyJohnny »

"Quite right. What reasons did they give, for not readily giving their all for the fatherland? Was it truly necessary to kill them all?"

I wait for an answer to these questions (if they are forthcoming) before I continue. I take off my hat and run a hand through my hair, rub my forehead. "There is just one more issue. I am more than willing to assist, but... since I awoke this morning, I have been... disoriented. I am sluggish. uncoordinated, reacting slowly. And I can't remember some things. Too much for a hangover. Did you perhaps drug me, Herr Grubel? After I have unlocked the emergency steering, I would like to see the ship's doctor, if they yet live."

((By the way, is Grubel obviously armed? Holster, or anything? If not, where could he be concealing a firearm in his uniform?

And same question regarding the radio operator I guess.))
Last edited by SlyJohnny on Sun Jan 15, 2017 6:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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