Session Recap: Titanean Escapades, Sessions 1-3

Session Recap: Titanean Escapades, Sessions 1-3

More than a month ago, I started a new game set in my sci-fi setting. Due to bad luck and other complications, only three sessions have been played so far, but I hope that scheduling will be less prone to problems in the future. I'm not experienced in writing session recaps, but it's time to write some and get some practice.

The game is set on Titan. Shangri-La is the capital of the Independent Titanean Republic. Six huge transparent domes contain a multitude of buildings, most of which are not very tall. Sky is opaque orange in color, but right six days out of twelve it is dark. The city has parks with genetically modified plants that help the life support systems produce breathable air.

The characters are a team of shady individuals.

Junko Batista-Igarashi: A 38-year old woman from Ganymede. She was once a promising  young pilot in the USA (United Solar Alliance) navy. However, due to failing a drug test, Junko would find herself demoted and discharged from the service. Faced with life as a civilian, she would turn to crime to support herself. Her criminal career saw middling success, but was ended after being apprehended by the authorities. Fortunately, before her trial was to begin. Junko was approached by a representative of the Feldbaum Foundation - join an expedition into uncharted space or spend the next several decades in prison. After the expedition was finished, she managed to steal a TL 11 cybersuit from the expedition's leader. Eobard Jones, a filthy rich expedition leader, dispatched a group of mercenaries to get the suit back (this is represented by the Enemy disadvantage).

Junko appears as a skinny, dark skinned woman. She wears dark-lensed aviator sunglasses which obscure her eyes. Her hair is brown with white highlights, styled into an asymmetrical cut. Junko wears a midriff cut white leather jacket over a faded band T-shirt, jeans and military style boots. Holstered on her hip are two pistols. One being a fancy looking tangler pistol while the other a gauss pistol.

Zarr Corner: A former marine born in a space habitat. Has a long list of combat skills, is afraid of cats, believes that augmentations are not to be used and that all artificial intelligences are not to be trusted. Her weapon of choice is a sniper railgun. Drives the vehicles that transports the group around - a hovertruck.

Rassa Sloor: A sto vigilante with a secret identity (Spruce Brayne). Is an owner of a small tech company from the Sto homeworld developing TL 11 tech and possesses a TL 11 cybersuit, just like Juno. Is afraid of the sun, only uses artificial lights for photosynthesis. A very stealthy individual.

Soovlish: A fessamid soon-to-be rock star. Heavily genetically modifier to be able to live in titanean conditions, she still wears a sentient biosuit called Sunny Disposition. Has a variety of different non-combat skills that range from Current Affairs and Musical Instrument to Computer Hacking and Cryptography. Is the best computer expert in the group (despite being born in a civilization where electronics are still at TL 9), but is almost useless in combat. She is a beauty by fessamid standards, but is a fleshy abomination to humans regardless of the suit and the Makeup skill.

And here's what transpired during the game.

A few days after the previous successful mission, Junko gives Zarr and the aliens a call, telling them that they might be in for another job. A meeting with the employer is scheduled for the local 'midnight' on a parking lot in the T-London Dome. Junko mentions that the employer is very interested in the participation of the aliens, and that the employer knows something about her that she shouldn't have.

The group embarks semi-geared up and stops near the aforementioned parking lot. They see that it's not very full, there's only some hovercars and hoverbikes parked at night. It's quite dark, but they still can get around just fine. On the parking lot they see a lone woman - their employer. Clara Sanchez is a tall lady in a gray two-piece suit. Despite being tall as is, she's wearing high heels that make tower even over Zarr. In the current times, vision defects have been all but eliminated via genetic engineering, but Clara is wearing glasses just for stylishness. Glasses are trendy on Titan. She is unarmed, but something is telling the characters that she probably has bodyguards hiding around somewhere.

Clara Sanchez offers a job. The mission is to infiltrate Rosario Computers Factory #2 and implant some files into their mainframe. The internal security systems are superb, so she suggest first finding their systems architect Yamane Tanjiro and get his biometric data to disable the security. Yamane is known as an alien arts connoisseur. After discussing the mission, she hands an additional data chip to Junko, telling that the chip has a message for her specifically.

While Zarr was driving her hovertruck home, the group had an argument about where they should prepare and talk about the mission, what music they should listen to, and other things. Eventually, it was decided that Soovlish stays at Junko's apartment where she sets up a private and secured VR network for them to communicate.

At home and in private, Junko played the video that was on the chip the employer gave her. The video was a message from Eobard Jones, her previous employer, who notified Junko that she is being hunted by a group of mercenaries sent by him.

Eobard Jones' player used this picture for his token in the previous game

Soovlish, being a diva that really wants to try drugs that Junko is taking, knew that tomorrow there will be an alien music 'concert' at The Core - a high-class nightclub in the Central Dome. Situated on the surface level, it illuminates the neighborhood with its neon lights. The club's visitors typically are wealthy and/or famous, so all lowlife is usually 'bounced away'. The bouncers look big and strong (probably Orion parahumans), but the characters did not spot any weaponry on them. Zarr noticed that there's no taller building next to it, so there is no good sniping positions. Air vents are there, on the roof, but they have fans that will have to be disabled for Raasa to slither through. At least that was the plan.

Zarr prepared for the mission - she purchased an expensive camo dress beforehand, but nobody looked up ticket prices. Only near the entrance the characters saw that the tickets cost $400 per person, using AR goggles. Soovlish in a bout of greed decided to hack the online databases to get the group free tickets, but failed. Junko also contacted an info broker who told her that the club is not very well protected in terms of the sensors. There are normal and IR cameras inside and outside, and a terahertz door scanner that the characters will have to pass through to get inside. So, weapons are probably out of question, unless they have distortion chips, and even then it's kind of risky.

Eventually, Junko paid for the tickets, and Zarr activated her microbot swarm to map the club through the air vents. While Rassa was hiding on the roof invisible and waiting for the fans to be disabled, the other three characters entered the club legally. One of the bouncers was visibly disgusted by Soovlish, and her biological neural disruptor raised some questions, but eventually was allowed, as Zarr convinced the security that this is the alien's temperature regulator.

Inside the group saw tables, purple leather couches, and a fancy bar tended by a humanoid robot. Unlike the bouncers on the outside, the main room's security seemed to be armed. Zarr recognized them as Titanean Paramilitary security guards - such people often guard public establishments, but they aren't very good combatants. They wear white bioplas bodysuits, light infantry helmets, assault boots, and have two handguns on their belts - a laser pistol and a sonic stun pistol. There was many guests inside, and the group found Yamane Tanjiro sitting on a couch quite close to the stage and a bathroom door.

At first, Soovlish beelined for Tanjiro, but then remembered that she is supposed to disable the air vent fans, so Rassa can get inside. So, instead Soovlish floated to bar and ordered something compatible; in the meantime she tried to gain access to the fans via wireless network. The bartender robot offered Soovlish a shot of whiskey, and a good roll on the Unusual Biology table made the alien lose 3 FP and become nauseous. Nonetheless, she managed to hack the fans and disable them temporarily.

Rassa slithered through the air vents and dropped off Zarr's combat knife at the place they designated beforehand. In the meantime, a random man approached Soovlish asking if she's one of today's performers, but he was scared away by Zarr's intimidating speech when she was pretending to be Soovlish's bodyguard.

Soovlish approaches Yamane Tanjiro and starts a conversation with him. In the meantime, Junko orders Rassa to liberate a piece or three of expensive art, since security in this place is not very good. Zarr looks for other oddities, while standing near Soovlish and recording the conversation to get the voice sample and retinal pattern of Tanjiro. She notices one or two ofrians, who look quite similar to humans, and a compere in a purple suit nervously dashing between the stage and the backstage.

Rassa finds the following things of interest - two bottles of very expensive liquor from the first hydroponic grape farms of Mars, a long dress in one of the dressing rooms that probably costs a lot, and a picture signed by Alfred Biggs, a famous neorock star from Ganymede. Zarr finds out that compere is nervous because the alien performers are very difficult to organize, and that he's running out of time. Zarr suggests something to buy him some time - have Soovlish perform. The compere agrees, invites Soovlish on the stage, mispronounces her name, and lets her perform a drum composition. The performance manages to impress several people, including Tanjiro. He tries to hide his disgust, but shakes hands with Soovlish, giving her the needed fingerprints.

In the meantime, Rassa saw that the dressing room is occupied only by a makeup artist browsing her phone in boredom, activated his invisibility surface and privacy field, and stole the dress. Then stole the liquor.

The conversation with Tanjiro trailed off into an awkward silence, and the characters went away with all the biometric data they needed.

Next morning, Rassa and Zarr went to the factory to scout things out. Rosario Factory #2 seemed to be a one-story building and a quite small one - it's only a secondary factory. The parking lot housed several hovertrucks, a bit bigger than Zarr's own. Parallel to the pedestrian road, behind the facility, lied a monorail that connects the factory to other factories and the HQ. This is a private monorail, not public transport. Zarr noticed at least three entrances to the factory - one seemed to lead to a warehouse from the parking lot. One is a big closed gate, presumably leading to the workshop. And one is a normal door. All entrances are guarded. Guards are humans, lightly armored, but armed with laser carbines. The area around the factory was kind of flat. On the other side of the pedestrian walkway there was a small park with firs and pines. Zarr noticed squirrels hopping around. They adapted to this environment quite quickly. It was daytime, so Zarr was able to see some hovercars flying around - there are commercial districts around this place too. Zarr also noticed that there are popup turrets watching over every entrance. They were hidden at the moment, but her experience told her about the nature of these things.

When everything was ready, Rassa disappeared, as his vigilante duty required attention. He should've at least left a message for everyone else. When Zarr was driving her vehicle to the factory, she noticed somebody spying on the group from the roof of a random building. Zarr parked her hovertruck in the park more than 50 yards away from the factory, set up a defense perimeter of EMP mines, and positioned herself to snipe foes from away and through walls, if needed, thanks to her TacNet. Junko activated her stealth cybersuit and approached one of the security guards. Soovlish did the same, but without the stealth. Pretending to be a lost tourist, she asked for directions, but when the guard was about to start talking, he took a poisoned needle to his neck from Junko's wrist needler. The poison put him to sleep, but he alerted the rest of the guards before getting shot. A different guard fires his laser carbine at almost invisible Junko, but his aim is spoiled by Soovlish telekinetically grabbing his gun. Then the guard takes a railgun projectile to his face and dies on the spot.

When the guards and the turrets were taken care of, Junko and Soovlish entered the factory through the workshop that was basically just a relatively small robofac. While Junko was looking for valuable stuff, she heared a quite loud metal clank from behind the machinery. Then clanking repeated, as if there was a robot walking. From behind the machinery walked out a black-painted combat android armed with a gauss CAW. The android began its approach, aiming at invisible Junko and asking her about her employer. The android implied that it knows who the group is working for. Unleashing a barrage of infrared homing SEFOP projectiles that miss entirely, because Junko's stealth surface protects against infrared vision quite nicely, it cursed that this miss is going to cost it a lot.

Eventually, the android was drawn out of cover of machinery, so there is only a single wall between it and Zarr. Junko attempted to take the android down with her knife, but failed. Zarr's railgun stopped the robotic menace.

Soovlish squeezed through human-sized doors, used Yamane Tanjiro's biometric data to disable the locks and the monowire defense grid. Bypassing simple leftover electronic defenses, she not only uploaded the files she needed to, but also downloaded everything she could from the mainframe. In the meantime, Junko decapitated the android, hoping to find something valuable.

Rassa arrives, gliding on his wings from a monorail train near the factory. Both Rassa and Zarr notice that reinforcements are incoming. Zarr checks them out visually through her sniper scope and sees that they are five armed hoverbike riders not wearing the Titanean Paramilitary uniform. Also, they are Felicia parahumans that trigger Zarr's ailurophobia. The rest of the group ran to the truck after being informed about the danger.

During the following chase the Felicias trigger EMP traps that cut the number of the pursuers down to three. They call Zarr's truck and demand to give them Junko. Junko knows that these are not the reinforcements, but the mercenaries that are after her, but does not tell anyone. While she was driving, Zarr shot down one of the bikers, then activated a prism smoke grenade, creating a good chance for escape. And the group managed to hide and wait out the danger.

In the safety of Junko's apartment, they opened up a bottle of stolen whiskey and disassembled the android's head, finding some sensors that could be sold and a simple chess piece in a secret compartment - a black pawn. While the others were celebrating, Junko received the following message: "Good morning. We've met last night, as I have to say - you impressed me. That sniper of yours is a very good shot, and you are very brave rushing at me with just a knife. I was tasked with contacting you and hiring you for a job. If you are interested in an ''extraction'' for a good sum, reply to this message. Make sure to encrypt it. - Regards, Pawn"