(Savage Showdown) #4 A Simple Trade



For Maja Millie, famed archaeologist, her latest expedition had been a swirling mess.  After an innocent treasure hunt with her associates that resulted in awakening an evil undead presence and the death of a colleague, they narrowly escaped Lieutenant Colonel Thaddeus Ovaltine and his Rough 'n Ready Riders from the local village, losing their friends Vasily and "The Mexican" in the process.  As they raced across the desolate land to get their antiquities back to a museum in the city, they were attacked by Ovaltine's men and corrupt government soldiers, who captured all the mule handlers and Maja's good friend, longtime Swedish adventurer, Nils Lingonberry.

 

Maja had only one though going through her head as she entered the city:  Sell the antiquities, find a few friends/allies, hire a couple mercenaries, and pray that Nils and the hired hands were still alive to rescue.

 

The only friend she had in the city followed her there.  Njano was an native hired mule handler, who Maja Millie called "Bob."  Although she hadn't seen him do it, she believed his story that he had killed the mythical Chupacabre before fleeing the government soldiers to catch up to her.   His scattergun was a fine complement to her quick wits and sharp knife.

 

Selling the artifact has proving to be a challenge.  Museums normally took days to authenticate and authorize payments and the "reputable" back alley black market contacts were all missing, like they all decided to skip town for some reason. 

 

Her last hope for a quick payday was smuggle Captain Skippy McBoatswain of the SS Scoundrel.   His offer wasn't the expected goldmine, but it was sufficient to get the men and supplies to rescue her friends.

 

Maja Millie and Bob Njano met the Captain in an eerily quiet marketplace.  Maja showed the antiquities, the Captain pulled some cash out of a sack.  But the Captain pulled a gun and decided it was best to have the treasure and the money all to himself.

Captain Skippy had other ideas....

Bob tentatively pointed the scattergun at the smuggler.  Gunshots would alert the police, or worse yet more government soldiers who would more than likely kill everyone involved and take everything for themselves.

Then the Captain escalated the situation, calling out his crew from a nearby building.

"Men, seize deeze landlubbers."

The five may have looked intimidating, with their matching uniforms, but upon closer inspection, the guns were rusty, and from their faces one could tell most were still suffering from hangovers from the night before.

Bob screamed at Maja Millie to run, levelled the scattergun and fired at Captain Skippy.  It took all of the Captain's power to dodge most of the lead balls flying at him.    He was wounded and had dropped the sack of cash on the ground, but alive. 

In response to the attack on their leader, the sailors opened fired on our heroes.  All the shots at Bob went high, breaking second story windows in the building behind them.  The two shots at Maja forced her to drop the heavy antiquity and run around the corner.   

Bob attempted to bash in the closest door but it was locked tight.   Maja cowered around the side of the building, feeling foolish to bring a knife to a gunfight.   Captain Skippy crawled to one knee to get a shot off at Maja, but missed horribly. 

Finally, the sailors finally rushed our duo, dragged them back together,  and held them up against the wall.   The Captain brushed himself off and decided that a shot to the head for each of them would be suitable punishment for their insolence.  The next sound was meaty "thunk" as an arrow lodged into his shoulder.

Standing in the second-story window, was a strange person with a pink hood.

The mysterious "person" in pink.

This person received the full attention from two of the sailors, who discovered that they could indeed shot the broad side of a building, if not a real barn, but couldn't intentionally shoot through a broken window.  Our heroes turned on their captors, Bob kicking his two sailors so hard they landed on their backs, and Maja biting and squirming her way to freedom. 

The mysterious mouse(!?!?) in quick leapt through the window deftly landing the ground and grabbing the artifact.

Realizing their chance to escape was with the rodent, Maja tried to their way to the cover off an adjacent building, but Captain Skippy would have none of it, tackling her to the ground.

The sailors just proved to be the bumbling fools. 

While the heroes (and villain) scramble, the henchman stare blankly around... almost zombie-like

Maja managed to wrestle her way to be face-to-face with Captain, pull out her knife, and stab the scoundrel square in the heart!

The sailors were still confused, almost distracted by something, as Maja seized the initiative, grabbed Bob's hand, and the trio ran into the short-term safety of a nearby building. 

The Captain lays bleeding (dead!?) and his sailors are still oblivious.

Inside the building, the three could not see what was distracting the sailors from what should have been a simple job of finishing them off, but a few moments later they could hear disturbing moaning entering the square, followed by screams and gunshots from the sailors.

Some new guests appear... 

The threat of government soldiers would be a welcome relief to what had actually arrived.

Although my girls (now ages 5 [Millie] and 6 [Maja]) and I have played a lot of games this Fall and into the holidays, crazy schedules had prevented us from taking our time and playing a 'real" miniatures game since September.  After a morning of basketball and play practice, we took some time to break out the battlemat and resume our Fantastic Pulp Egyptian Campaign... with a few elves and mouslings to boot.

With such apparently overwhelming opposition, the girls were either tentative or deadly serious in their intentions.  "Bob's" shot on the Captain forced him to use all his Bennies to soak the damage, but he was still seriously hurt.  Lucky for them, the sailors d4 Shooting stat meant they missed alot, although Maja Millie's running around the corner represented a Bennie used to avoid the one lucky shot. 

The mysterious Mouse in Pink was a planned addition to the party, given their weak position. Come on, Maja Millie doesn't use guns, and Bob was a regular schlub/henchman turned into a wildcard/hero due to a roll on the fortune and calamity table the previous session.  They needed an extra friend. 

In the final two rounds, Maja (the player) finally seized control of her fate.  Even though she was initially stopped leading the escape from the square by Captain Skippy, she drew a King the next round, she said with a calculated coolness that may come to worry me some day, "Daddy, I stab him in the heart,"  and the dice blew up.

The next round she pulled a Joker, which also allowed her to give another character (Millie's Bob) the same chance to go first (I'm picturing Rey/Finn hand grabbing from Star Wars).  With the Mouse drawing a King, all three could run away before the sailors knew what had happened.

Of course, most scenarios are inspired by other sources, so it wouldn't be fair not to mention Preacher By Day  for the initial idea and set-up, but a largely different result.

NEXT:  With our heroes holed up inside a building and the sailors in the street, will they survive the zombie attack?  Will they ever make it to rescue Nils and company?  Can Dad find time this Saturday to run the second act of the scenario?  All this and more as we await the next episode, "Complicated Arrangement.... with Zombies"