Odradek's Drift Session 2: The Hunt for Joey Pistachio
Players
- Laszlo "Lazer" Llewelyn (Mistuh)
- Grosan Larsen (Chaoclypse)
- Captain Gabe Katz (Space Crimes)
- Metropolitan Hlawulani Mbhiza (MTB)
Summary
A few more Krongu corporation employees were called into the mission from their branch office on El Zocalo. Laszlo briefed the newcomers on the plan to improve Krongu's brand image by having the zero-g cage fighter Tulip Driblette wear the logo during her next prize fight.
While Laszlo spent time acting as Tulip's manager, the newcomers worked on tracking down additional rumors and opportunities. Grosan, a Scout, went to the Scout base to look for work, ideally relating to the crew's interest in selling sports drinks. While there, he met a shady supplement dealer named Tucker Hogarth.
Hogarth let on that he was involved in the importation and distribution of "special" performance enhancers, but that his contact at the spaceport had failed to deliver the last two shipments. Fearing that the shipments were going to a rival business, the paranoid and miserly Hogarth had gone to the Scout corps with a tip hoping to shut down the whole supply. However, the Scouts weren't interested, so he turned to freelancers. Grosan was informed that the spaceport contact was a clerk named Joey Pistachio. Hogarth promised a share of the PEDs if Pistachio could be located and either induced to resume business or prevented from selling to others.
Grosan went to the Spaceport and started chatting with Michael Tane, a customs clerk. Joey was known as a pleasant, quiet man, but had been calling in sick for the past several days. Grosan asked for his address, but was only able to learn that he lived on Orbus street. He decided to linger and stalked Michael on his way home from work. After a long visit to the grocery store, he made a phone call at a video terminal, then boarded a bus, at which point Grosan broke off pursuit.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan spent some time researching Tulip's opponents in the upcoming match, and determined that they were named Dana Zargle, Sam Krobb, and Lana Lee. Of the three, only Dana was considered a serious threat -- an experienced fighter and extraordinarily strong, but prone to getting winded easily and not very nimble.
During the same week, Captain Gabe Katz found an astonishingly good deal on cybernetic parts: nearly 40% below the typical base asking price. Contributions from Lon Gisland, the ship's wealthy steward, and Marchioness Angostura Bitters made it possible to scrape together enough cash to buy a 1 Ton pallet for kCR 100.
Grosan managed to find Joey Pisachio's address by the simplest of means: spending hours poring over a phone book. Gabe Katz's electronic skill made it possible to tap Pistachio's phone, but he wasn't answering most incoming calls, and only made one outgoing call: an order for 6 large pizzas topped with rehydrated protein nodules.
Grosan returned to Tucker with the information of Joey's whereabouts. When he refused to go directly, Tucker demanded Pistachio's address so that he could go himself. Grosan obliged, and Tucker stormed off into the city.
Notes
- I wasn't at peak performance today -- a bit tired after running He Ain't Gonna Jump No More last night, and distracted by IRL stuff. Whereas I felt good about my improvised patron mission in Session 1, I didn't feel like I had as much of a handle on this one. Not a bad session, but it felt a bit 'loose', and I wasn't giving each moving part as much attention as I'd like.
- I did really like getting to use the trading rules during this session, however.
- There was only one player in common with last session, so we decided to postpone adjudicating the fight until more of the other players could make it.
- MTB rolled up a Metropolitan on the first try, so I may need to tweak the numbers on my priest service table.