Odradek's Drift Session 7: Line Go Up, Krongu Go Down
Players
- Capt. Minnow Blux (Oldhawkeyes)
- Castrucci Frankfurters (Jay_zer0)
- Dr. Aarav Papadopoulos (Epistellar)
- Laszlo "Lazer" Llewellyn (Mistuh)
Summary
In the aftermath of the zero-G cage match, the Krongu brand was a hit. Several bottling plant owners made inquiries, and with the help of a broker (named Nissan Altima Jr.) the crew was able to sell their sludgy wares at 105% of their already-inflated value, for an income of CR 693,000.
However, there was some added urgency: Tucker Hogarth's girlfriend Veronica Spotsky arranged a clandestine spaceport bar meeting to inform the crew that Tucker had been arrested, as his fingerprints were on the revolver found in Rudiger Kreft's apartment. He was, she said, prepared to rat them out if arrangements were not made for his escape from police custody.
Thus, once the robo-loaders had lifted the final leaky barrel of primordial sludge out of the Krongu rocket's hold, the crew made hurried preparations to depart the planet. An engineer was hired, berths were found for most of the diverse crew of Krongu employees, and 10 passengers were taken into low berths. The earnings from selling Krongu Green Slime were re-invested into 8 tons of computer parts, purchased at an impressive 50% markdown.
It was decided that their destination would be the planet Krongu -- Castrucci and Dr. Papadopoulos hatched a plan to confront the Krongu board of directors with their success, demanding either leadership of the company or at least full ownership of their rocket.
So the rickety green rocket blasted off from the El Zocalo spaceport, into the polluted green-and-purple sky. Below, the great cuboid bulk of Arcology 001 and its tens of millions of tangled lives dwindled into obscurity.
A week later, they arrived in orbit around the green marble that is Krongu. Descending through an atmosphere thickly layered with noxious volcanic exhalations, they touched down on a flat basalt surface that was kept slime-free by regular power-washing. Eight out of ten low passage customers successfully defrosted. Regrettably, only one of the two casualties had correctly guessed the death rate, so his lottery winnings were pocketed by the pilot, Marchioness Angostura Bitters. With the help of another broker, the computer parts and cybernetic parts (from session 2) were both sold to other free traders at a staggering 400% of their base price.
At this point, the crew was swimming in well over a million credits. The fanciest (least noisy) Air/Raft was hired to bring them to Krongu City, which they entered under the great arch: "The Most Popular Matter / In The Most Popular Hue".
Once on Krongu, the crew wasted no time establishing themselves as high-flying moguls and saviors of a dying corporation. Though the retail facilities on Krongu thwarted their desire for golden tuxedos, gangster Spongebob medallions, and designer sunglasses, they liberally handed out cash and booze to the residents and employees.
At Krongu's fanciest restaurant, Minnow, Castrucci, Aarav, and Laszlo were smoking fat cigars and sipping expensive segir whiskey, surrounded by an entourage of greedy loyal hangers-on. It was here that the Baron Lewis Drazz, the ineffectual Krongu CEO, arrived to meet them. Initially congratulatory, he babbled excitedly about the possibilities of shipping more slime to El Zocalo. But the response from the crew was cool. "Things are looking up for Krongu", mused Minnow portentously between puffs. It was Castrucci who broke the news that they were planning a vote of no-confidence at the next board meeting.
Things turned sour. "We'll see about that in three weeks!" replied Lewis, standing up to storm out. But as he stood, he clumsily bumped the table, spilling expensive whiskey all over. An insulting comment from Minnow was the straw that broke the camel's back: Drazz leapt upon a table and unsheathed his cutlass, pointing directly at Minnow: "if you want my company, come and take it like a man! Right here, one on one."
Minnow, stood, put out his cigar, and unsheathed his bayonet.
Stripped to the waist, the slight Baron faced off against the bulky veteran-turned-mafioso. The fight was over quickly. After a few feints, both fighters scored serious wounds on each other and fell unconscious.
In the act of "examining" Drazz, Dr. Papadopoulos quietly pinched off his jugular, ensuring his death from what would otherwise have been a non-lethal wound. Minnow was quickly patched up.
At this point, a decade elapsed in a week (or at least a year, or maybe a really busy month -- Krongu really isn't that big). Blux shelled out KCR 105 to "arm the proletariat" and another KCR 20 for alcohol. He and his drunken followers stormed into Krongu HQ and turned the old corporate apparatchiks and House Drazz retainers out onto the street. Dr. Aarav began paying citizens to serve as a mutually-reinforcing informant network. Castrucci began funding a massive propaganda effort of TV and radio broadcasts, huge banners with Minnow's face printed on them, victory parades, etc. And Lazer set about hunting down "counter-revolutionaries" on the outlying slime rigs that might still be loyal to the Drazz clan.
And thus was Krongu Inc. overthrown, and it its place the Free Krongu Protectorate was established with Minnow Blux elevated to the role of Supreme Leader. Krongu (the planet) went from E-693356-9 to E-6933A8-9. And the scrappy crew who set out just a few months before to seek their fortunes on El Zocalo returned home in triumph to enjoy unprecedented wealth and power. But not all was well in Odradek's drift. For while Krongu was rejoicing and showering glory upon her liberators, the Coca Cola corporation was scheming, Tucker Hogarth traded the Krongu crew's names for a cushy plea deal, the cadet branches of House Drazz rankled at the usurpation of a family fiefdom, Hoagie Lunchman connived to secure a trophy for his Cicely Carbuncles, the perfidious Anaximander Isotope enjoyed a comfortable retirement in the Robinette Road Retirement Resort on Fener, and a multitude of other heroes and villains strove and contended with greater or lesser significance as Odradek's Drift wheeled in the boundless cosmogyre.
Notes
I am going to conclude (this arc of) the campaign here. This is mostly because I want to spend more time with my wife now that her summer orchestra season is over, but also because Odradek's Drift was conceived as a limited scope game and I really can't imagine a better stopping point -- the original goal (figure out a way to sell the green slime) was thoroughly achieved. I will run more Classic Traveller in this sector, I've got lots of ideas for the 44 other planets. Just not immediately.
Big thanks to everyone who attended a session and bore with me as I figured out a new game! I had an enormous amount of fun running this.
Other notes:
- Ruling (and house rule for future games): planets with class A and B starports get one trade good type roll per population digit. Thus, El Zocalo (
Aspaceport,Apopulation) had ten types of good available to choose from. - I forgot to roll a space encounter for their arrival at Krongu. It's unlikely, but there's a tiny chance pirates would have stolen their cargo, which would have been hilarious. Space travel has been infrequent enough that I should probably write up a cheat-sheet checklist for it.
- I have a bunch of other thoughts about Classic Traveller which I'll put in a longer wrap-up post soon.