BACKGROUND:
On the trip from the sabotaged monorail train, you learn some basic facts about Quazzt's Depression:

Quazzt is a town of some 500,000 inhabitants (75% Human/25% Vrusk). It is primarily a farming town with some light industry. Any item not forbidden on Kraatar can be obtained here.

Following the death of Legrange, relations between the two races here have been
very strained, but have not erupted into violence as in Gozzorf. (You take into account here that you have two Vrusk in your group and should take this into account in your interactions.)

Within Quazzt's Depression, the air is dense enough to breathe normally. For travel into the surrounding uplands, however, breathing apparatus and/or pressurised transport is required. Pressurised vehicles can be hired from Sik' Triksta trade house at the monorail station. Hire costs are 10% higher than those in the rulebook (AD p29). The PCs have to pay for any damage done to a vehicle in their possession, and in the case of a vehicle being written off, they must pay the full cost of replacement.


For your troubles, the monorail company, Transglobal, has agreed to pay for two nights at a local hotel establishment in Quazzt's Depression.  Beyond that, you are on your own.



MISSION:
As a reminder, you have two basic objectives here in Quazzt's Depression:

1) To see Legrange's funeral; and
2) To investigate unauthorized starship landings.
OPTIONAL:
3) You now may have reason to look into or try to figure out who was behind the sabotage on the monorail, and if it had anything to do with you or your mission.
4) Investigate the Sanitorium about the strange implant put in the Vrusk brain that killed him on the train.



You are now in the hotel lobby, checked into the hotel, and can see the concierge and several locals who work at the hotel.  There is also a restaurant and bar.

You recall that the funeral was supposed to be held tomorrow, so you arrived just in time.

Hammer has been relatively useless for awhile, but now he says, "Let's find out where this funeral will be held at and scope it out early, just in case there's anything that could go wrong.  We've had enough fighting and sabotaging and other surprises recently."  He will ask a local thes questions.

"That's a good idea Hammer.  We can resupply and maybe get some answers.  We've got a couple of different options to explore and maybe find out about those unauthorized landing that were seen out this way."

OOC: Can we spend XP now?

"I agree.  Check out the funeral site first.  Then, if we have time, we should start looking into the reported illegal landings.  I'm also curious about the implant that was put in poor Kit'kat's brain.  I think we're going to be busy here."

Before we do anything, though, Porter wants to treat S'Krllk to whatever his favorite drink may be, for saving all our butts back on the train.

OOC: And do a bit of shopping if we have time, too.  Should we do that in character, or just make some purchases OOC?

You make your way to a shopping district.  (OOC: You can make purchases as needed, but they must be items that are legal and available on Kraatar, which leaves out most weapons.  EDIT: More specifically, only pistols and melee weapons are allowed.  Please clear all purchases with me first, especially weapons.)

OOC: XP can be spent or saved any time after it is doled out.

If you talk to any locals, please indicate if you will be talking to a Vrusk or non-Vrusk, as their reactions will be different.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:08, Thu 22 Jan 2015.

In reply to GM Heath (msg # 5):

OOC: Purchases to follow shortly.

Spent [12] XP to bump Projectile weapons from Level:3 to Level:4

As far as the local go, probably not a good idea to intermix our talks with each other.  Hammer and Orvo can be split between us Human and Vrusk.  Fair enough?

Discussions???

Orvo suggests splitting the Vrusk into one group and the non-Vrusk into another group, and then meeting back at the hotel later after trying to see what information can be gathered.

Yup, and then have Hammer and Orvo pick a group to go with because our Vrusk aren't military/weapons savvy.

Orvo's point was to have the Vrusk group be only Vrusk so that the Vrusk citizens are more friendly with them.  Same with the non-Vrusk.  Since ther are racial tensions, a mixed group might be seen as suspicious by both Vrusk and non-Vrusk.

Understood.  Just looking for security.  We can do that.

In reply to Desiraye Lipost (msg # 10):

Has there been tension between other races, or just Human-Vrusk?  In general Vrusks and Dralasites get along fairly well.  Might not hurt to have Orvo with the Vrusks.

Anyway, I agree that splitting up would be best.

THat was the point i was trying to make about splitting the team.  I only wanted to send another non-human to go with the Vrusk as back up because they're not the fighting types.  If they would prefer to be on their own, they may choose to do so, even though I wouldn't recommend it after seeing what took place in the city and on the train.

S'Krllk is of the opinion that maintaining a mix of Vrusk and human in whatever group goes out would be best. After all, "there's no reason to assume the more militant and dangerous groups out there belong exclusively to one or the other races."

"Just trying to be a little preventative S'Krllk.

OK, let's do this then.  Me, S'Krllk, and Orvo will lead one group.  Sergeant Porter, Doc, and Hammer will take the other.  We go and see what we can find and meet back at the hotel at dinner time?"

You split up the group, trying different mixes--interracial as well as a group of Vrusk and a group of non-Vrusk.  The results of your interactions lead to the following discoveries:

You find that the humans in Quazzt's Depression are courteous but not exactly friendly to the group when there are no Vrusk in the group.  When you add Vrusk to the group, the human townsfolk are standoffish and only answer routine questions.  The Vrusk in the town will only respond to you at all while you have Vrusk in your group.  Otherwise, they try to avoid you entirely.

The facts you discover are relatively the same, including some basic information you already knew (see post #1).  New information includes:

Legrange's funeral was moved up.  It is no longer tomorrow.  In fact, it was held yesterday!  You missed it already.  Apparently, a "will" was produced, signed by Legrange, in which Legrange requested that his body be cremated. Contrary to the usual practice on Kraatar, the body has already been cremated!  (Burial is the normal practice.)

Enquiries concerning starships landing at night are met by blank stares.  In fact, such questions cause the townsfolk (both Vrusk and human) to treat you with suspicion. News of their enquiries spreads quickly during the day as your investigation continues, and you find that even the human townsfolk begin to avoid you by evening.

But with Kri'lik and S'krllk with you, you are able to talk to a Vrusk group that confirms that strange lights have been seen in the mountains to the east.

Jack Legrange's parents still live in the area and can be found at the Manbela Farm, about 50 km west of Quazzt, just off a fairly well maintained road.

The residents are also familiar with the High Peaks Sanitorium.  There is only one road from Quazzt to the sanatorium.  It is reasonably well maintained.


For any of this travel, you will need to rent a vehicle (see post #1).

You are able to put together a rough map of the area as follows:


This message was last edited by the GM at 17:14, Thu 29 Jan 2015.

A little disappointed that their investigations didn't bring up much, she retires with the rest of her team to their hotel, freshens up, and then goes down to join the rest of them for dinner.  She orders a meal and a drink then begins the conversation on what to do next.

"I thought by splitting up we could've gotten some more Intel but, it looks like we've only got a couple of leads.  First, the Legrange family.  Maybe they can be of some help.  Secondly, the sanitorium.  Is it worth a trip out there?"

Orvo says, "Yes, but I think we hit the sanitorium last.  It seems like the most suspicious of the places, and that guy's head exploding right in front of us on the train doesn't give me any sense of comfort."

He will change shapes a few times during the day to "stretch his muscles."  He also tells a few lame jokes during the day.

S'Krllk remarks on how sullen the people here are, at first contrasting it with his hatch-hive then appending, "at least, they seemed that way before they booted me out."
"I'm also a little concerned with the lack of imagination around here. No one suggested anything about a connection between the sanitarium and the strange lights, despite both being in the mountains to the east."

"SO far, I'm hearing the LeGrange family first, then the sanitorium?  Anything else other than renting transportation there?"

After gathering information all day, you retire to your rooms.

DAY 11

The following morning, you head out to rent a vehicle.  There are several options to choose from:

For renting, the charge will be 1 percent of the cost of the vehicle per day (double on the first day).  So a 5,000 credit vehicle will be 100 for the first day, and 50 credits for each additional day.  Then add 10% to your total cost due to the higher prices here (e.g., 110 first day, 55 each additional).

Note: Cargo is in addition to weight of passengers, as I read it.

Vehicle Type -- Cost -- Top Speed - Cruise Speed -- Accel/ Passengers - Cargo Limit

Ground Car     5,000    100kph 175m/t 60kph 80m/t  60/40     6           150kg
Ground Transport 15,000 75kph  125m/t 60kph 50m/t  40/30     3           10,000kg
Ground Cycle   2,000    120kph 200m/t 60kph 100m/t 100/40    2           20kg
Hover Car      8,000    150kph 250m/t 60kph 70m/t  80/40     6           100kg
Hover Transport 20,000 150kph 250m/t  90kph 40m/t   60/30    3           10,000kg
Hovercycle     2,000   100kph  175m/t 80kph 90m/t  100/40    2           20kg
Explorer       20,000   90kph  150m/t 50kph 100m/t 60/40     6           2,000kg
Aircar         50,000   900kph --     400kph --    100/100   4           1,000kg

Figure out what you want and who will pay for it.  Your UPF credentials are enough to avoid collateral to secure the rental.

Descriptions of the vehicles are found on page 29 of the rulebook (original rules).

Rules can be found/downloaded here: http://www.starfrontiers.com/Rules/
(Remember that we are using the expanded Alpha Dawn rules.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:09, Fri 30 Jan 2015.

Let's start with how much money we have to throw down and pick a vehicle from there.  Desi has about 3,000 credits.

More importantly, what can we drive or fly?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:17, Fri 30 Jan 2015.

Orvo says, "I've only got 285 credits to my name, but since I'm the new guy, I'll put in my dues.  I'll dish out up to 200 credits to make this happen, but you may have to listen to some of my poetry on the drive and let me use you as my martial arts dummy while I practice."  The difficulty of expression on the dralasite makes it hard to determine how much of that was a joke, but his jellyfish arms undulate as he speaks.

"I don't think we need much, right?  Just a ground car oughta do it."