AP: At The Gates

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AP: At The Gates
« on: February 11, 2011, 05:20:40 PM »
This is my first MC attempt, so I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions as we get into the game. One of my players MC'd a game a couple of months ago, and he really wanted a chance to play, so I stepped up as MC. The first session, we did character generation and ended up with:

Grave, the Maestro'D (played by Michael)
Bran, the Savvyhead (played by Dylan)
Storm, the Skinner (played by Joe)

We kicked around some worldgen ideas, and got inspired by the photo of some offshore forts someone posted in another thread here. This, plus a little Waterworld, gave us the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll club At The Gates, built on a floating platform and moored over a sunken city. Grave oversees a stable of dancers, including Storm, and Bran (who was discovered in the bowels of the platform when Grave took over) maintains the machinery and the all-important desalination machine. Bran also supplies the drugs, in the form of a hallucinogenic mold that he grows in his workshop. A few other ideas were left to be fleshed out in play: the burning sea, the ruins on dry land, other floating communities (which supply At The Gates' patrons).

First Session
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It's nightime at the floating club At The Gates, and the party is in full swing. Storm, the Skinner, is up in his cage dancing when he catches sight of his mom Rolfball in the crowd. Rolfball has words with this guy Gams, who (supposedly) hates the club, and Rolfball gives him something hidden by the shadows. Gams tries to split, but Storm works his sexy magic and makes Gams come over to the cage. Gams shoves a can of food at Storm and manages to run off, and it turns out Rolfball has vanished as well.

Meanwhile, Chin and Bar stumble across Bran the Savvyhead out on a balcony while looking for a place to fuck. Bar's wasted, and he threatens Bran with a knife. Bran tries to defend himself with a handy crowbar, but Bar knifes him in the shoulder and knocks him off the balcony into one of the pumps running the generators. His fall snaps a steam pipe and the lights flicker, but he manages to hold it together with his bare hands. Grave, the Maestro'D, sees the lights flicker and sends his guy Putrid to see what's going on. Bran manages to convince Putrid to hold the pipe together while he gets his welding kit (1-harm hand reload) from his workshop, where he's got a bunch of old ham radio gear and a tidy little drug farm growing psychedelic mold.

When he gets there, Storm's waiting for him. They flirt for a bit, and Bran tells Storm about the knifing, then leaves to fix the pipe. Storm returns to the dance floor, where he sees that another dancer named Princy has taken over his cage. Leaving in a huff, Storm searches for Chin and Bar, whom he finds having sex in an alcove on the upper floor. The two of them invite him to make a threesome, which he does, but while they're making out Storm pulls a knife and bloodies Bar's face. Unfortunately, Bar's too stoned to be properly intimidated, and Chin starts screaming. This gets the attention of everyone else on the floor, and since everyone's packing, there's soon a crowd of armed patrons ready to do some harm to Storm. Storm thinks fast and realizes he can dodge through their legs if he takes off now, so he runs. As he goes down the stairs, though, he sees that the club's bodyguard Junker has seen the whole thing.

Junker's having occasional sex with Storm, but he's also afraid of his boss Grave, so he tells Grave about the fight. Grave sends him to get Storm and bring him back to the office, and Junker confesses to Storm that he ratted him out. Storm promises Junker some sexual favors if he'll take back his story and blame the fight on Princy, which he does. Grave's skeptical, but he sends another dancer named Fuse to give Bar some free drugs by way of apology. Grave then confronts Princy in the dressing room and makes him confess...to a totally different crime. Turns out Princy's been hiding income from Grave, especially a pre-apocalypse doll he got from a patron. Princy breaks down and gives Grave the doll, promising never to do it again.

Bran, down in his workshop, sees a little kid lurking outside the door. He invites the kid in. The kid says his name's Wisher, and that he's totally fascinated by all the cool stuff in the workshop. Bran realizes that something's up, and he figures the kid's after his drugs. He's right, but it doesn't help; although he tries to threaten Wisher with his crowbar, the kid snatches a double handful of mold and runs out the door. Bran chases him, but he decides to take the time to lock his workshop door, giving the kid the chance to get away clean.
-------

And that was it for the first session. Lots to think about, with some good detail to build fronts, I think. From my perspective, I can see already that it's going to be hard to keep track of everything that's going on. What with throwing in named PCs all over the place, the cast is already getting large. I'm used to using "Random Shopkeeper A" in D&D; giving that shopkeeper a name, and making him a threat, makes things significantly more complicated!

Re: AP: At The Gates
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2011, 01:20:04 PM »
Our second session, told from the perspective of my PC Storm, the Skinner.  Leaves out chunks of the PC Grave's activity, and everything from the PC Bran, but Storm's kind of narcissistic that way.  Junker's an NPC bouncer who's Storm's frequent playmate.


I was contemplating beauty (my own, since there ain't much else around) when that thug Gams barged into my dressing room with his asshole buddy-boy Pellet, and of all people Princey.  I thought maybe Gams was looking for a free ride, and I'd been planning to get with him soon anyway, since any buddy of my ma's is someone to keep an eye on.  But the only thing he wanted was for Princey to share my room.  My.  Room.  I can't imagine why they're suddenly the squidgy little bitch's best friends; he ain't that hot.  But when I raised a stink, Gams shot out my mirror.  With a harpoon gun!  WTF is that???  That mirror cost me some serious sack time!  And where the fuck was Junker while all this was going down?  Anyway, now I'm thinking that the only mouth action Gams is gonna get is to be fed to a fucking shark.    But there's no way I was gonna try anything with three of them all cocked and loaded, so I play along, and they left me alone with Princey.
 
Little bitch moved right in with his nasty-ass mattress, and then he started putting his hands on my stuff, including my coat.  My. Coat.  I thought about gutting him there and then, but figured I needed to deal with Gams before I dealt with the piss-ant.  So I make nice and offer him some food, which he gulps down like he's starving.  Turns out the skinny-ass look was not an aesthetic choice, but him being too stupid to keep himself fed.  But does he appreciate my feeding him?  No.  He acts like he fucking earned that can of peaches with his own ass.  Ungrateful piece of shit.  And then he starts telling me he's as good a dancer as me.  At this point I need to just shut him up before I run out of patience, so I fuck his brains out.   Now he's all moony and "I loooove you, Storm".  Stupid squidgy punk-ass.  Fuck knows how long I'll have to keep him on the hook until I get this shit straightened out.  Maybe it won't be so bad if I get some meat on his bones.  And teach him to wash.  And not dance like a fucking stork.
 
So anyway, the Boss comes around, and he wants my company on a day-trip over to some tanker that's become party central.  And by "want" I could tell Grave meant "need".  I just can't say no to the Boss, so show time for Stormy!  I forgot his navigation skills suck, and despite my best efforts to help him steer, he landed us right in a patch of firewater.  He got singed, but I really got scorched.  Thank fuck people don't look at my face when I'm dancing, and I can always draw my eyebrows on.  The swelling should go down in a week, I guess.
 
So anyway, we get to the tanker, and it's party party all day long, just like home but with crap music, ugly-ass zombied-out customers and no one who can dance worth shit.  Whole place run by some dude named Been, who Grave owes big-time.  Guy acts like he's hung like Junker, when it's probably no bigger than a dock rat's.  He's being all pissy and disrespectful with Graves, who's talking like business sucks (which it does, though not that bad).  Anyway, I figure I'll help out the Boss so I try to make nice with Been, and the fucker backhands me!  Now I can roll with the rough stuff, but he's not even looking at me, and that you do not fucking do.  The whole day's been total shit, and I seriously consider knifing the fat fuck, but Grave doesn't bat an eye and just keeps sucking up.   Something's going on, Grave wouldn't let someone pull that shit on me, and he's real, real eager to have Been show up tomorrow night with all his crew, and their guns. 
 
So anyway, I play it cool.  I pick myself up, slip off my coat, and dump a double handful of barrel water over me.  It washes off the soot from the firewater and the blood from my lip, and makes what little I'm wearing cling in all the right places.  Been is talking out his ass about how Grave should cut the dancing and just turn us all out as whores 24-7, and I'm all fuck that, so I start grooving to their shitty-ass music and show the son of a bitch just what dancing is.  Changed that fucker's tune.  By the time I'm done, he's staring at me like I'm the last piece of meat left on the bone, and he's talking to the Boss like a man *should* be talking to the Boss.  Tanker boy'll be paying me a visit real soon, I can tell, and I'm gonna get him but good when he does.
 
I thought about maybe hanging out on the tanker for awhile.  I don't know if I want to be around tomorrow night, the way the Boss was acting.  But then I think about being alone with Been on his turf.  Not a great idea.  And then there's Princey, alone with my stuff.  So I head back with Grave.  He's real happy with how I did, so he gives me this pretty little doll from the old times that he took off of Princey a couple weeks ago.  He didn't have to do that, I always got his back, but I wasn't gonna tell him that, because the doll was real sweet.  And I figure I can use it to fuck with Princey's head some more, maybe figure out what's really up with Gams.  And maybe the stupid little shit won't be such a fucking pain if he's got his doll back.  He looks cuter when he smiles, and then maybe he'll get more trade and can eat his own fucking food.

Re: AP: At The Gates
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2011, 11:55:30 PM »
Ok, here's how session three went down.

Storm and Grave get back from Been's rival club, and the bodyguard Junker meets them at the door.

"Hell of a time for you to go sightseeing, boss."

Turns out Fuse, one of the dancers, is in a bad way after taking some funky-looking mold Bran gave her. And there's a creepy scavenger by the name of Camo waiting, says he's got something that Grave might find extremely useful.  Grave heads down to the dancers' bunkhouse, where he sees Fuse convulsing on the ground, with her boyfriend Lamprey looking after her. Lamprey tries to throw a punch at Grave, furious at him for not keeping a tighter leash on Bran.

"You've gotta do something about that guy, man, or you don't deserve to be in charge around here!"

Grave pulls a knife, (go aggro: partial success) and Lamprey backs off. Grave sends for Bran, then returns to the bar to tell Parcher the bartender not to sling any more drugs 'till things get sorted out.

"OK, boss, but things are gonna get ugly."

Meanwhile, Storm's headed down to see Bran on business of his own. When he gets there, he hears about Fuse from the guy Grave sent down. Bran tells Storm about his fight with Princey and how Princey seems to know something about the Pirates he's been hearing on the radio. (This was all at the end of the last session.) Storm heads off to confront Princey, and Bran goes to see Fuse.

Bran's the last person Lamprey wants to see, of course. Lamprey throws a glass headlight (he's a junk diver, and the room's full of stuff he scavenged from the sunken city) which Bran fails to dodge (under fire: fail). Hoping to avoid another blow, Bran agrees to help and tries to let the maelstrom guide him. It backfires, though, and he gets hit with the full force of Fuse's brain-melting overdose (open your brain: fail). He falls into a seizure, and tries to crawl to the bar for help, but collapses at the door (act under fire: fail).

While this is going down, Grave's gone to meet with Camo. Camo lives on dry land, which means he's a creepy fucker, even though he's always got the best loot. Turns out what he's got this time is a machine gun and enough ammo to help defend the Gates against a pirate attack. He wants his usual payment: a room and a dancer, alone. Grave loses more dancers this way; they come back and can't remember what happened--then there are the nightmares, and the nosebleeds. This time Camo wants Storm, the Skinner, as payment.  Grave tries to figure out what he can offer instead (read a person: partial success), and realizes that he'd have to give Camo another dancer now, and offer himself up later, by agreeing to visit Camo and his friends on dry land. He agrees, reluctantly, and also agrees to Camo's second choice of companion: Fuse. Asking Camo to wait, he goes to see if Bran's managed to fix Fuse enough to sell her off.

Bran, of course, is passed out on the floor. Grave tries to figure out how to wake him up, and realizes that he'd be putting himself at risk of psychic damage by trying (read a sitch: success). He goes ahead, and gets hit with the edge of Bran's bad trip, leaving both of them awake but groggy and confused.

By this time, Storm's caught up with Princey out on the dance floor. He starts making nice with him, trying to figure out what he knows. At first the only things that's obvious is that Princey doesn't want to talk about Pirates, and mainly wants to talk about how much hotter he is than Storm (read a person: partial success). But Storm reminds him of the hot sex they had the night before (spend a hold from the sex move), and Princey confesses that this guy Putrid told him to make himself scarce tomorrow night because the shit's gonna hit the fan, and that he plans on taking off for Been's freighter/club for a while. He's heard some stories about how great it is over there, anyway. Princey asks Storm to abandon ship with him, leaving the other PCs to deal with the expected pirate attack alone.

As they're talking, Storm notices things getting heated over by the bar. The drugs aren't flowing, and people are getting pissed off.


Aaaaand, that's where we broke for the night. I think the session went well, although I feel like the players just kinda want to fight some pirates already and screw this social stuff. :) I'm also having trouble finding ways to fuck around with the Savvyhead character, Bran. He's a pretty private guy, and his most important relationships are with machines--but I feel like I can't just have someone attack/threaten his machines directly, because that goes against the "don't take away their cool stuff" rule. I'm gonna ask for advice here in another post.

Re: AP: At The Gates
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2011, 08:58:28 PM »
Damn, you guys are all over the sex and violence! Excellent atmosphere, too. Keeping it tight in the bar is really working, it sounds.

Re: AP: At The Gates
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2011, 12:11:13 PM »
It's not that we want to screw the social stuff, it's that we are filled with dread of the pirates.  When the best person you have in a fight is the Skinner, it's best to just get the beating over with quickly.  I mean, it's not like Storm can seduce all of them.  Or can he?  Hmmm. 

Bran got a lot more face time this session, even if it was mostly one failed roll after another!  And it was great fun watching Grave become increasingly frantic as his staff kept wandering off, disappearing, OD'ing, etc.

I'm really enjoying the sex, drugs and rock-and-roll vibe, though I wonder how the game is going in the alternate reality where instead of Mike anchoring the PCs as the Mestro'D, I grabbed the Operator and we're an underwater salvage crew looking for valuables in the drowned city.  Next game...

Re: AP: At The Gates
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2011, 01:37:03 AM »
I may have forgotten some failed rolls made in this session (if any players are reading this, feel free to fill in the gaps). It was the successes that were really memorable; the failures just seemed to keep the moves snowballing along.

We were picking up right where we left off after a couple of weeks downtime, so I worked up some love letters to get people back into the characters. Since no in-game time had passed, the letters called for rolls to fill in backstory or catch up on off-screen events.

It came out that At The Gates used to be a pirate haven, until the pirates ran afoul of the local strongman Been. Been hired a chopper gang (on jet-skis naturally) to burn 'em out, and after the smoke cleared, Grave and the NPC Junker were the two surviving gang members. Been then sold the platform to Grave on credit as a reward for his gang's service. It was also revealed that Storm has a sister back home that he still cares about, and that Grave recently 'hired' a couple of girls some scavengers found in the ruins of Uptown. He's got them stashed away in a spare room 'till he can figure out what to do with them. Outside the floating club, there's a ragtag community of people living on whatever they can find that'll float: oil drums, styrofoam, boats and pieces of boats, etc. It's the same all up and down the coast; someone'll found something relatively stable, and people will gravitate towards it, circling together for safety, for trade, for community. Colorful flags fly above many of the shacks and lean-tos, marking family rafts, markets and craftspeople, or just to break the monotony of sea and sky. The village is lit, intermittently, whenever there's fuel for the gas generators or someone willing to crank (or pedal) up some power. Strings of tiny colored bulbs are particularly prized, and the scavengers who find them count themselves rich.

With that, we carried on with the episode already in progress…

Bran and Grave, still reeling from the psychic shock of the Maelstrom, find Fuse in a bad way, with her head in Lamprey's lap. When the two approach, Lamprey pulls out the speargun he's been holding and refuses to let them come closer. Grave convinces him that they only want to help, and Lamprey agrees to help take Fuse to Camo, provided he can stay with her the whole time. As Lamprey and Grave carry Fuse out, though, Bran steps behind Lamprey and brains him with a crowbar [[Seize by force, success]]. Lamprey falls with a fractured skull, still breathing, but barely. Ignoring his moans, Grave and Bran pick Fuse up and take her upstairs. Along the way, they run into Junker, who tells them that things are getting tense out by the bar. Grave sends him back to keep an eye on things, giving him permission to start shooting if necessary.

Back at the bar, the crowd of patrons turn ugly as they accuse Parcher of holding out on them. Parcher pulls out a crowbar from under the counter and shouts at Storm to help calm things down. Climbing down from the cage, Storm makes his way to the bar, where he tells Parcher to give the crowd what they want. (It's always worked for him, after all.)

"The boss said not to sell this batch, Storm," Parcher protests. Storm reaches under the bar and grabs the stash--a rusty steel box full of powder. Holding up the box, he says loudly to the crowd: "This stuff is BAD! If you take it, you'll all DIE!" A bull-like man in a leather harness steps up. "Bullshit," he says. "I'll take it." Storm, nonplussed, shrugs. "Have it your way," he says, and tosses the box into the crowd.  Of course, it's a mob scene. Thirty or so people manage to get a hit before the box is empty. In minutes, everything seems back to normal. A few minutes after that, people begin to collapse in convulsions on the dancefloor.

Meanwhile, Bran and Grave deliver the unconscious Fuse to Camo. He accepts that their end of the deal is fulfilled and hands over the machine gun + ammo. Bran confirms that it's in perfect working order [[Things Speak, partial success]] As the two leave, they see Camo bending over Fuse, stroking her cheek and smiling gently.

Bran and Grave then make plans for defense against the expected pirate attack. Bran heads off to emplace the machine gun, while Grave returns to check on Lamprey. He's on his way when Toyota, a dancer, comes running from that direction and throws herself on him in tears. "Lamprey's dead!" she sniffs. Grave sends her to find Junker, reassuring her that they'll find and punish the killers. After confirming that Lamprey is, in fact, quite dead, Grave heads back to the bar.

By this time, as more and more people collapse from the tainted drugs, the screaming has started. Grave walks in on the chaos, and Junker tells him what happened. Afraid of Grave's wrath, Storm flees.  Grave gets up on stage and grabs the bullhorn from one of the band, "It's all Been's fault!" he says. "Trust me, I'll help you!" Unfortunately, the crowd's a little past caring. Grave realizes [[Read a sitch, partial success]] that Bran's the only one who has a clue what's going on with the drugs, and he thrusts the bullhorn at Bran's chest. Unfortunately, having a clue doesn't mean having the answers. Hoping for inspiration, Bran opens his brain to the Maelstrom. [[Open your brain, partial success]] He sees a vision: At the Gates is abandoned, half-flooded. Floating up through the collapsed roof, he sees that the ruined towers of Uptown are intact and shining. Trees grow where there should be only mud, though the restored city fades into nothing as it reaches the sea. Something vital seems to be flowing from the sea to the land. Camo is there, too, as a shadowy presence bending over another form, both of them enfolded in flames. In his ears, Bran hears a terrible screaming, and he recognizes the loudest voice as Fuse's.

Dropping the bullhorn, he turns to Grave and tells him they've got to flee before the pirates arrive, and head into Uptown, where even the scavengers fear to go [[Oftener right]]. Grave, not entirely convinced, orders Junker and the rest to start dealing with the sick and the few who stayed to help them. He then heads up to Camo's guest-room, where he sees Fuse laid out on the threadbare couch, unmoving. Camo is brushing her hair tenderly. "What a pity," Camo says sadly. "She's broken." Grave pulls his knife and charges Camo, stabbing him in the throat and killing him almost instantly [[Seize by force, success -- there was a special move for skin contact with Camo, but I decided that it didn't have time to take effect]]

Bran, leaving Junker, Parcher and Toyota to deal with the OD cases in the dancehall, heads down to find Storm in his dressing room. Like he did with Grave, he tells Storm that they've all got to leave before the attack. He and Storm argue a bit [[Read a person: partial success]] and Bran realizes that Storm won't go unless Grave orders him to. Bran brings Grave back down--not noticing or not caring about the blood on his hands--and this time Grave agrees that they all should leave.

Just as Storm is about to give in, Princey bursts in. "Boss, this is too fucked up. I quit!" he says to Grave, then begs Storm to run away with him to Been's pleasure boat. Apparently, Putrid (who split that morning with all his stuff) has been telling people that Been's place is like paradise. Storm refuses, and asks Princey to come with them instead. When Princey balks, Storm gives him a little sample of what he'd be giving up, and Princey melts in his arms. [[Princey spends the last hold from Storm's Hypnotic move last session.]] The three of them head back to the dancefloor, where they meet up with the three NPCs. Grave tells them that he's decided to leave At The Gates, and says they can come along or go their own way. All agree to come, but Junker asks what happened to Fuse. Grave spins a truly heroic line of bullshit [[Do something under fire, success]] about how Camo attacked them and killed Fuse and Lamprey, but then Grave managed to kill him in return.

Agreed to leave (though not quite agreed on where to go), the group steps out onto the docks. Dawn is just breaking, although low black clouds obscure the sun. An oily rain begins to fall, putting out torches and cookfires in the village, as people scramble to cover their belongings and find shelter.

And that's where we ended, with a completely unexpected turn of events. The Savvyhead is leaving his workshop, the Maestro'D is leaving his club, and the Skinner….well, I guess he can work anywhere. More importantly, some major players are very likely out to put the hurt on the PCs now, and they're leaving the only sure safety they know, striking out into the unknown without much of a plan.

Awesome. I can't wait to find out what happens.

Re: AP: At The Gates
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2011, 09:54:58 AM »
It seems like we fail a lot, or get partial successes with weak results that get us nowhere.  Not that I'm complaining!  It's just kind of funny that our trio of supposed bad-asses often come across more like the Keystone Kops.

I started the session with a plan of attack for Storm that completely disintegrated with his first move, a failed attempt to read the crowd of malcontented mold addicts.  I had it in mind that one potential path for the character was to turn into a Battlebabe, and it was very interesting to feel that path disappear as Storm moved from disdain and amusement to horror and guilt at what he had done.  And it was somehow worse that Bran and Grave were being so phlegmatic about it.

Re: AP: At The Gates
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2011, 02:00:05 AM »
Finally we get to play again, but the downtime gave us a chance to play Dungeon  World, so it all worked out ok.

After the last session, we left the guys standing on the docks outside At The Gates in a gray and wet dawn. From inside, moaning and occasional sobs could be heard. The crew checked out the boat situation and realized that there were plenty to choose from now that the owners were dead. Collecting the two Uptown Girls he'd got for barter, and the machine gun, Grave and Bran ran into (literally) the little kid who snatched the mold and maybe caused this whole thing in the first place. Bran tried to grab him, but the kid got away and ran into a room down the corridor. [[Seize by force, failure]] Pursuing, Bran realized it was the room where Storm's friend Ba was recuperating after being shot in the shoulder during the scuffle a couple of days ago. She tells Bran that Wisher is her sister's kid, and she's promised to look out for him. Bran fills her in on the current fiasco, and they both head out to the docks (with Bran reluctantly not pounding the kid), whereupon the whole gang abandons ship in a couple of boats, one with a machine gun sticking out the side.

It's a treacherous journey through the drowned city, the water is still fitfully burning, and navigating across 11 miles of ocean in the rain isn't an easy job. [[Under fire, failure]] Bran tries to help by reaching out to the maelstrom, but his eyes roll back in his head. [[Open your brain, failure]] At the same time, the two Uptown Girls scream and flip out, throwing themselves into the water. Grave dives in after them, but can't catch up before being cut off by a patch of flame. [[Under fire, failure]] Returning to the boat, they follow the edge of the skyscrapers to Uncle's place, a group of some 20 river barges circled up like a wagon train, with shacks built on barges in the middle. Grave knows that it's perilous going into another holding without a bargaining chip, so he offers up Storm's services as a companion. [[Read a sitch, success]] The guard tells them they can't take on any more mouths to feed, but that they're welcome to tie up outside the wall with the other flotsam and jetsam hoping for some crumbs tossed their way.  They do, but Storm manages to seduce a guard on the wall into letting him in [[Seduce, success]], and after he and the guard fuck, he makes the guard promise to set up a meeting with the head honcho Uncle. [[Sex move, NPC]] The guard agrees, but only if the meeting happens right away.

Grave and his bodyguard Junker climb up--Junker's allowed only after he leaves his shotgun behind--and they enter Uncle's shack, the walls of which are completely covered by faded and torn magazine pictures: centerfolds, tennis stars, moms showing off the storage in their new minivan, whatever--all sorts of women.  Uncle knows Grave from visiting At the Gates, and gives them a hearing, but he's not willing to let them set up shop in his tiny community. He does offer to let them stay, though, in return for the machine gun they brought with them. [[Read a person, success]]  Eventually, the PCs accept, and are shown to an empty shack on an out-of-the-way barge by Uncle's tomboy daughter Mice.  Along the way, it comes out that Mice is into machines, and Storm takes her to meet Bran the Savvyhead.

Bran and Mice go back over the wall to check out this machine she's working on (a desalinization unit, which is getting more and more urgent considering the lack of drinkable rain lately), while Storm tries to tell Preen's boyfriend Parcher that Preen--being a woman and all--is going to have to put out if they're going to get in good with Uncle. Parcher goes all Pretty Woman and claims he won't let his lady love be a whore. Storm goads him into throwing a punch, and Parcher ends up knocking Storm into the side of the boat and splitting his head open. [[Seize by force, failure; harm move, 10+]] Not intending to deal so much harm, Parcher runs to get Grave, who quickly discovers that the only Doc around is itinerant, and not due back for at least a week.

Grave convinces a couple of surly guys to go get her, but only by promising them they can have their way with Storm as a reward. [[Read a person, success]] (Shame about that little epidemic of VD people keep joking about, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?) Meanwhile Bran is working his mojo on the machine, and learns that Mice needs a rubber gasket that isn't brittle as shit. [[Things speak, success]] Who knows where one of those is, except there's probably one on a similar machine back at At the Gates. Bran and Mice decide to go back to get it, despite the expected arrival of a shitload of bloodthirsty pirates. But not before everyone finally gets some fucking sleep. (After five sessions we've covered less than 48 hours, with most of the action in less than 24! Another post asking about dealing with time and action is probably forthcoming...)
« Last Edit: April 08, 2011, 12:11:18 PM by dhalgren »

Re: AP: At The Gates
« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2011, 11:03:18 AM »
(Shame about that little epidemic of VD people keep joking about, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?)

Oh, crap.  I wasn't even thinking about this.  I think Storm needs a custom variant of read the situation called read the client's sexual history.