(Star Wars d6) #63 - Inside the Spyder

Our Heroes, currently wandering the back streets of Naboo:

Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.
Tarrie Prolek - Human pilot "under contract" to fly the Pretio, and drive the Piscopo. Brother of potential terrorist, rebel Latorna Savvn. His climbing skills are suspect, but his dance moves are above par. Edging a dangerous lifestyle of drugs, booze, and loose women.  May have a a Beaked Monkey on his person.

Duk'k - Sipsk'ud Bounty Hunter, recently rescued by the crew. Offering his services in order to get off this barely existing hunk of mud. His warning shots are dead center mass kill shots.
"Sid" - A peculiar woman with some knowledge of their missing ally, Evus, Sid has been allowed to tag along for now...

Evus - Twi'lek male, former slave, then associate of Ne'vets, currently working for Crom-Crom the Gungan on Naboo.

Further Into a Tangled Web

Already searching for Nikto bounty hunter

Kaa'tos Leeachos, the crew of the Pretio 

Has already frequented an dance club 

With exotic tastes, and discovered that not

Only is Kaa'to Leeachos 

In considerable debt, but that his 

Associates are both loyal to, and fearful of

the Nikto bounty hunter .

That has led the group to the doors of The Spyder, 

A gambling den in one of the better parts of town. 

But even the better parts of town can be under

The influence of angry crime lords....

As the crew left the Umbra Club, Duk'k turned back to see two Klatoonians, weapons in hand, following them out.  Within a block of wandering the heavy trafficked streets, it appeared the tails disappeared or were lost.  

There was less tension when the reached The Spyder, with Evus broaching important subjects:

"If we have Krom-Krom tailoring more outfits for us, he should design a uniform for us!"

Duk'k looked incredulous, "Do you think we need a uniform"

"Yeah, we have a tailor, we might as well use him."

"I think the Gungan only specializes in tiny monkey creature."

"Oh, they're quite adaptable.  Some monkeys can be quite large."

Tarrie concurred, "I agree with Evus, put me down for a uniform."

Ne'vets rolled his eyes, "How about matching Space Polos first?"

"I don't know how I'll get it over my head and arms," Duk'k pondered.

"So extra-extra large for you!" Ne'vets agreed, before opening up the door the Spyder.

The Spyder appeared more reputable for a Sabaac Gambling Den than it probably should.  There was a central pit with multiple sabaac machines and tables, various side game lining the walls and noticeable side rooms.  The atmosphere was filled with the tense roar of gamblers, cut with the the celebration of winning hands.  

A Troig bartender manned the U-shaped bar away from the central pit of table.   Two-headed alien was distributing drinks with all four of his arms, and chatting up gamblers, day drinkers, and with each other.  

There was no sign of any Niktos in the building. 

Ne'vets took most of the group down to the central pit for "scouting."

"Now, this is MY type of establishment," he said. 

Duk'k waltzed up to the bar with Tarrie.  He ordered a drink with the Troig and immediately got to brass tacks.

"Hey, has Kaa'to Leeachos been around recently?"

The Troig's two heads looked at each other with curtive glances and just handed Duk'k his drink without making eye contact. 

Tarrie immediately moved three seats over from the Sipsk'ud, ordered a drink, and motioned over to Duk'k with his thumb, "What's up with THAT guy?"

"Some people don't know their place... or the right place to ask questions."

"What's he for?"

"To raise trouble...  We take care of our patrons discretely. Enjoy your drink."

Ne'vets sat down at a Sabaac table , Evus and Sid behind him, and put his skill set to use.  He worked his pile of credits up and down, ultimately moving over to higher stakes tables with a more focused clientele.  

Ne'vets and his "bodyguards" had moved over to the big table.  The stakes were excessive, and even the thickest of Ne'vets' charm seemed to be deflected by the other player's intensity.  

A large human with sizable winnings attempted to cash out, but was caught by a snide remark by Ne'vets, "You ready to leave already?  Come on, another hand?"

The man stopped in his track and turned around.  With a wave of his hand, the other players left their seats, leaving just Ne'vets and him..  Evus tried to move towards taking a seat at the table.

"Always good to have loyal friend, but your folks can leave you.  You're safe.  Just you and me for 5,000 credits minimum."  Evus took a step back but stayed behind his former owner.   A number of armed fellows stood behind him.   Some had indiscreet Black Sun insignia on their body armor. 

Neither Duk'k and Tarrie noticed the clamor happening in the pit and kept drinking, eyeing for activity in the opposite direction.  It wasn't until a someone carrying clean glassware walked up to the the bar and told the bartender, "Some nitwit is challenging Verronus to sabaac and is winning"

Duk'k caught wind of this and asked, "Who's Verronus?"

"Bigwig here, big gambler, very good, this fool playing him is like you, doesn't know what trouble he's getting in."

"Okay, that sounds bad, speaking of bad, have you seen Kaa'to Leeachos?"

"No, I haven't, have you seen him?  We need to have a conversation here?"

Ne'vets just kept winning hand after hand, even ones he statistically shouldn't.  Verronous could barely tolerate losing, but it was the waitstaff not keeping his drinks full that pushed him over the edge.  He pulled out two blasters, shot some servers, and then begin shooting wildly into the crowd.  

Duk'k and Tarrie left the bar towards the direction of the blaster fire. 

Most patrons dodged into cover, but Ne'vets took a full shot into the chest, knocking him down.  Sid popped back up and returned fired, an even more pinpoint shot square in the center of Verronus' chest, knocking him over, quite dead.  

Many blasters emerged from most of the clientele, firing wildly, hitting numerous patrons, but missing the Black Sun associates of Verronus and Sid and Evus.  

Duk'k worked along the wall, blaster in hand to see a vicious, if ineffective blaster battle, with a number of bodies on the ground.   He quickly popped two of the Black Sun associates with flanking fire.  

Tarrie had worked the opposite side of wall, with a better view of the chaos, dodging a few random blasts.

Evus managed to lay down a rapid set of shots to scatter the Black Sun associates, but soon other patrons, probably loyal to the crime organization or at least the gambling den, joined the fray.   Once the crew could locate Ne'vets, their firing improved taking out Black Sun and patron indiscriminately.  Evus and Duk'k dragged the unconscious (and slowly dying) Ne'vets out of the pit and worked their way towards the bar.  

The initial combatants had been dispatched or subdued, but someone, somewhere else in the building, was rallying agents and patrons to pour out of the other rooms.  A fresh volley of blaster fire pegged Sid repeatedly.  Evus was right there to scoop up her body, and continued towards the front door. 

Ne'vets being carried by Duk'k, took an additional shot of blaster fire.  Duk'k sensing an immense amount of danger and the waning lifeforce of Ne'vets, aimed his blaster for a skylight in the ceiling, and ignited his jetpack to fly up and out of the building...  Leaving the other three to fend for themselves.

GM Notes:  Quote of the game, from Ne'vet's player, "Just a reminder, there's a giant pile of credits that are on the table that belong to me.  If you kill them all, don't forget the credits."

NEXT: #64 - Under a Black Sun

An Abridged Weekend at Fall-In! 2022

Even with a different "Host" of problems in the world, there is some sense of normalcy returning with Fall-In!  2022 actually taking place in November, in Lancaster, masks optional.  What's even better was pulling in fully completed, beacon on the hill which is the Wyndham Resort and Convention Center (formerly THE HOST).  

Or maybe whose phone camera needs to be wiped off...

I've always tried to make Cold Wars a "boys weekend", Historicon is wide open, but Fall-In! is some time with my eldest daughter, Maja.

And off we went...

Oops, that was a picture from five years ago.   Fast forward a bit....

Hey, I like my purple shirt.  It's a quality shirt.

We arrived late Thursday to drop stuff off in the room for HMGS Next Gen and socialize, but I was a bit awestruck by the approached, the fresh asphalt, and what might be the finished remodeling!  

Everything was brighter, cleaner, and either I lost a bunch of weight on the drive down or physical structures felt wider.

After decades of the mold, the parking, the plumbing, the electrical, portable boilers, etc, the Host, errrr. the Wyndham is a quality establishment. 

The Lampeter room, with the classic tournament tables on the right, Wally's Basement (flea market) on the right, but no leaky windows or blue tarp on the roof.

Heck, even the theatre seem a little brighter (okay I'm pushing things a bit..)

We ran in to the Gnome crew, made a quick run to Wal-Mart for contact solution a half hour before they closed, stopped at the bar for $8 beer, and checked into the room.

Pegasus Bridge looks so unassuming from this angle. 

Friday morning, we rolled out of bed and run my event.  Ended up with three players plus myself and Maja (she snuck out for a Hobby U class midway through), but an excellent use for a large fleet of vehicles we have and a perfect excuse for a "bier run", even if the Germans transportation contacts to escape got "permanently delayed."

Even if there were some delays with delivery...

We cleaned up, helped our teammate Mike set up his afternoon game and explored the facility then enjoyed the absolute privilege of staying on site, going back to the room for a snack and a nap, to recharge for the rest of the day. 

I did make one exciting discovery,  the Friday night slot of Wally's Basement was still open, so I snatched up a table and tried to prep the items.  

I did the flea market waaay back in '96 (it was in the actual Tennis Barn), and I've done the free Sunday ones from time to time, but to be honest, I had an actual blast sitting on behind the table, rather than trudging through the collections of folks aimlessly walking through with giant back-ups, blocking the whole aisle while regaling the various preferences of undergarments of Napoleon's mistresses, all at the top of their lungs. 

Honestly, even during that "release the hounds" moment at 7pm, all the shoppers were great, the guys beside and behind me were awesome, I liquidated two of the three totes of stuff I packed up on a whim Thursday afternoon. and we could enjoy the weekend a little bit more. 

As someone who avoids the initial bedlam of a flea market session, I can confirm the best way to get some of the best items is to buy a table, and roam the other sellers after you've finished setting up.  No transactions can be completed prior to the opening of the session (and I didn't see anyone breaking the rules), but there were a few holds hiding in a bin that covered the table, dinner, and a bit more.)  

If you need to liquidated, I heartily recommend getting a table, even if it's not the main Saturday session.  The three hours flew by, Maja got me a snack, sat with me a bit, played in the Joust, and came back to help me clean up.  

We prepped the table for the Gnome games on Saturday, made a Wawa run (no mashed potatoes, meatballs, or Italian hoagies... a quick run to the Wawa off of 72 fixed 1 out of 3) before closing the bar.  

Saturday was a bust gaming wise, but I knew that coming in.  Both my daughters play basketball, school, rec, and travel, and while Maja took the fall off to focus on school volleyball, my youngest, Millie, is fully engaged in fall AAU, and this weekend just happened to be the Zero Gravity Spookfest at the Spooky Nook facility on the other side of town.   Of course, her games were at 10:20 and 1:30, to throw off any chance of grabbing a game until I was helping out the Gnome game at 7pm that night. 

I'll do the usual personal write-up of the seasons in a future post, but even missing a few girls, they're still a regionally recognized team in the Northeast, and rolled 26-9 and 41-9 in two games.  

Dr Frankenstein's Laboratory is jumping!

Wars of Ozz

I missed our 10am Saturday Gnome Wars game, which had ten players, and all new ones at that.  

The evening session had a 50/50 mixture of new players and the Old Guard, who bring their own painted units to play.  

It was complete chaos (the good way), with the game ending on rolls for an elephant versus a biplane.

Maja even got a game of chess in with John Speiss

We packed up, closed the bar and prepped for an early leave Sunday morning, because Millie had a 9:05 am game.  Between Daylight Savings and empty parking spaces to avoid lugging the minis and luggage, I managed a quick perusal at the Sunday Wally's before departing for Spooky Nook.  

So, how does the former Host and Fall-In! stack up after the renovation?  

Wyndham Resort and Convention Center:  Yes it's still on a dated design, but I couldn't find anyone with a significant horror story or serious issue.  It's honestly a beautiful facility, even if coffee and liquor were horribly overpriced.  I mean, I don't know about the other room across from Distelfink, but New Holland was COLD!  Only silly complaint I could think of were the bathrooms off the ballroom.  I wasn't there for the Saturday rush, so I don't know how they kept them, but they retained the sink design from the HOST so there's more water splashed onto the countertop than going down the drain.  At least that meant that gamers were attempting to wash their hands.   Here's to less con crud continuing.

Hotel:  The last time I stayed at the "Host" was during the snowstorm with my family in 2012.  A decade he rooms are lightyear improvements, plus there was housekeeping service!   Minor gripe,  no microwave complicated Maja's plan for a teenage diet of microwavable food she packed, but the on-site alternatives were much better.  

Thankfully I had a short walk back from the bar to my room, cause the carpet was disconcerting while sober. 

I felt like I was in the net after falling off the trapeze.

Parking:   Again, not here for Saturday at its highest, but I managed a spot in the lot to the right of the hotel each time through multiple comings and goings all weekend.  I didn't venture to see if the overflow lot even still exists.

Vendor Hall:  Between time and funds, I admit that I avoided going down the former Tennis Barn.  I've got not major projects that I can't delay for Cold Wars.  Reports of no A/C tempered the positive news of less stringent badge enforcement to get within the perimeter.  

Wally's Basement:  The $25 for a table on Friday was worth it for the experience, and I did grab a few items in the afternoon when I got back from basketball.  Still confused by the few folks selling things at retail, and seeing the same stuff Friday, Saturday, and a few specific items again on Sunday.  3e

Toy for Tots:  I actually participated in the Saturday session of the raffle and auction.  I need to budget some funds (or do more flea markets) for next year.

Lego Pirates!

The SWAG: 

• A copy of the old Avalon Hill D-Day game.  Someone had donated a huge pile of chit-based wargames for Toys for Tots and they were set up on a table at Wally's with a "Free with donation" sign.   Don't know if it's complete, but that copy's condition hearkened back to summers in Vermont where the three games to keep me occupied were D-Day, Battle Cry, and Win, Place, and Show.  
• A few packs of Orglings from Demonblade (Think 40k Gretchin who went to the gym).  Something to expand my sci-fi game.
• A copy of Penny Heroes.  Just the few pages I read were worth the $2 I spent.  
• I was also bequeathed a special gift from Mike.  I'm happy I didn't think about putting my various scenario books into the flea market, because my Zulu Campaign book will be worn out with some super-special Gnome-related versions.   

Maja painted a few trucks, and caused some concern from the adults.  

I'm so thinking of a Pulp-era zombie game, just to use that truck.

Cold Wars 2023 is slated for one last hurrah at the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia, March 10-12, 2023.   Historicon 2023 is back at the Lancaster County Convention Center in Downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania, July 19-23, 2023.  Plan on it remaining through at least 2026.

Oh yeah, Sunday basketball.   Everyone drove all the way to Lancaster to play the AAU program that's  thirty minutes from us.  The 9am game was a 41-17 win.   After everyone realized that the two teams would meet up at the 2:30pm championship, we found the opposing team's coach spending almost three hours drilling press breaks and new plays into his team.  It worked well at the start, with Millie's teammate hitting a buzzer-beater- three at the end of the half to only put them up 23-15.  After the teams traded quick lay-ups to the start the second, Millie hit a three, stole the inbounds, passed it for another lay-up, and they never looked back, winning 52-28.

Size matters not.....