Space...The final frontier.
Players: Rei, Mr. Rhyze, Morton Ragnarson.
Enemies: The Pointy-Haired Boss, Captain Crunch.
Started: With the beginning of the campaign.
Ended: With the arrival of the heroes at the Epsilon Space Station
This adventure began in the waiting room of Deksiil Space Fleet HQ. The heroes were putting this room to good use while waiting to see their commanding officer, Vice-Admiral Flanedra. They were not alone. Rei, in particular, was dismayed by the presence of Jamal.
Jamal
Due to Jamal's messy eating habits, Rei could not resist cleaning a part of the room. Meanwhile, Morton made a bid to obtain one of Jamal's donuts. Rhyze merely slept, somehow managing to ignore the commotion around him.
After a few more minutes of Jamal's jive-talk, the new personnel were summoned into Vice-Admiral Flanedra's office for their briefing. The Vice-Admiral was waiting his high-tech chair, surrounded by typically useless flashing lights. A second man also waited in the room to meet the new personnel.
Vice-Admiral Flanedra
Daikon-7
After introducing the characters to their sponsor, and complaining about the HR department's hiring guidelines in referance to Jamal, Vice-Admiral Flanedra explained their mission of undeterminate length. Although the region around the Spheran Asteroid belt has always been infested by space monsters, they usually confine their activities to caves on the Asteroids. However, within the last few weeks, the monsters have become greatly agitated and have even been attacking various convoys that pass through the region. This area of space is an important trade route between Electra and Sphere, and so its economic importance is great. As such, Flanedra decided to dispatch new officers to the Epsilon Space Station, which monitors this trade route. Their assignment is to assist in guarding any ships in the area against attack.
Race: Lorician
Occupation: Security
Jamal is a big, fat man with an endless supply of messy donuts in his pockets. His official rank aboard the station is Security, although his effectiveness in this role remains in doubt. Jamal wears a huge blue bunnyhug, a massive orange hat and baggy jeans. Before enlisting in the Deksiilan military, he was a rapper. His reason for abandoning the music industry remains unknown, but his rapping can indeed have a devastating effect in battle. (Usually by causing his opponents to hit him...hard.)
Race: Deksiilan
Occupation: I believe that's quite obvious.
Flanedra is a famous officer in the Deksiilan Space Fleet who successfully dealt with a Spheran conspiracy a few years ago. His reputation states that he is a very able officer, notoriously free with his budget, who greatly appreciates spectacular chairs. Flanedra has long, blond hair and wears a red Admiral's uniform and barret. He is the commanding officer of the Space Station Epsilon.
Race: Electran
Occupation: Owner of the Daikon Corporation
Daikon-7 is the owner of the powerful Daikon corporation, which also sponsors the Epsilon Station. Although this arrangement is somewhat unusual, Daikon-7 has explained that the station guards several critical trade routes between Sphere and Electra which his corporation requires to maintain its profits. He is a man with dark hair, a small mustache and an eyepatch. His only other main characteristic seems to be a desire to meet someone called 'Birdman'.
After having explained their mission, the Vice-Admiral told them that they would be taken to the Station on a civilian Deksiilan Airlines Silver Dust. They were instructed to find the Administration Department and obtain their boarding passes. This task proved to be one of their most difficult tasks. Upon locating the Administration department, the heroes discovered that all the Administraion employees save for a useless secretary were either on vacation or out for lunch. After searching a number of desks, Morton and Mr. Rhyze left in search of the employee. Meanwhile, Rei left Jamal in Admin and went to the Janitor's Closet. Once there, she was able to catch an episode of Days of the Week with the local janitors.
Rhyze and Morton finally located the an employee at the nearby branch of Pizza Shack. This slacker was dining on the Admin budget, but when approached with work that needed to be done, he attempted to flee. Morton ended up with a pizza on his face, but thanks to his strength and Rhyze's speed (when he actually moves), they managed to catch the Employee. All this only to be informed that the Employee didn't have the authority to issue the necessary passes; only a manager could pass out such important information. Upon returning to the Deksiil HQ, the pair were joined by Jamal in confronting the Manager of Administration in his corner office.
The Pointy-Haired Boss (PHB)
After obtaining their passes, the three heroes were quickly sent up to the Deksiil Space Port to board their flight. After proficient use of the moving sidewalks, the three arrived at their ship only a bit ahead of Jamal. Soon, they were all seated on the small ship and ready to take off for Space Station Epsilon.
Race: Manager
Occupation: Manager
If you've ever read Dilbert comics, then you know all about the Pointy-Haired Boss. The PHB is thus named because he has pointy black hair and is basically useless. In this case, the heroes had to try to get his attention and convince him to hand out the boarding passes. This was no easy task, as the PHB is a master of the infamous random acts of management. When confronted with this sort of work, he would often hide, attempt to escape (by leaping out his window, which has already been smashed in previous escape attempts), feign death and downsize his visitors. After tipping his desk, grabbing him and fixing him with hypnotizing glares, the PCs finally managed to obtain their passes.
The Silver Dust wasted little time in departing from the Space Port, and soon the ship was rocketing through deep space towards the Spheran Asteroid Belt. This small transport was almost full on this occaison, containing a total of nine passengers. Two of these people were suspiciously wearing red shirts. The characters found themselves seated and almost forced to talk with their other fellow passengers.
Professor Winfried Grassmann
Eleanor Roosevelt
Senior Nabob
Morton ended up seated next to Grassmann, and they were soon deep in discussion about baggage sorting methods. Mr. Rhyze was seated next to Eleanor Roosevelt, and quickly chose sleep as an alternative to listening to her. Meanwhile, Rei was soon discussing the coffee industry with Senior Nabob. A couple hourse passed uneventfully before Morton and Rei, who were awake at the time, happened to notice that the ship had ceased to move. They quickly went to the cockpit to discover what was going on. Once there, they met the Captain of the Ship and soon found what was causing the delay in their flight.
Captain Clarence Over
Captain Over quickly explained that an unidentified vessel was approaching the ship, and that it was armed. Morton quickly IDed the vessel as an APC, Armored Personnel Carrier, although it appeared to be slightly the worse for wear. Despite Mr. Rhyze's skills on the commset, they still couldn't make contact with the approaching ship. Escape also proved impossible, as the APC opened fire with its rotating laser cannons, very nearly destroying the Silver Dust. Moments later, the APC glided into visual range. Its heavy armor was rusted, scarred, and painted a dull blue. A big 'C' was marked on the side of the ship.
At that point, a transmission came in from the unidentified ship. The message from the Space Pirates was simple. They were to shut off their engines and surrender themselves, handing over all their valuables to the dreaded Captain. Although the heroes pretended to accept this deal, they were actually crafting a plan to defeat the pirates. While Mr. Rhyze remained in the cockpit, Rei and Morton moved into the passenger section to confront the boarding pirates. After a fair amount of banter, and with the help of Grassmann and Jamal, they managed to defeat Timmy and Cowboy, the pirate boarding party. As well as several minor injuries, Morton was able to acquire a PK43 from the defeat of Cowboy. During the encounter, the two annonymous passengers in red shirts were quickly killed. Using Timmy's inert body as a decoy, Rei, Morton, Rhyze and Nabob were able to gain entrance into the Pirates' vessel. Once inside the storage area, they found many crates containing some form of cereal.
Although Nabob wished to commandeer this doubtless precious cargo, the PCs decided that they must first confront the pirate Captain. After storming the bridge, they met another pirate and a very small chair. When the chair slowly turned around, they found themselves face to face with the Captain.
Captain Crunch
Despite the power of the Captain's special 'Crunch-Time', the characters were able to overcome. The battle was grueling, and it left more than one of the heroes on their knees. Even Mr. Rhyze had to participate in this battle. Once the Captain was defeated, Morton attempted to get the APC working. But instead, between all their efforts, they managed to destroy the ship's systems. They were forced to abandon the vehicle, bringing only the Captain with them for the possibility that he might have a price on his head.
This concluded the first adventure, as the flight began again and drew inevitably closer to Space Station Epsilon. The pirates' presence in this civilised area of space has yet to be explained, but surely such a group of heroes can find the explaination while guarding the station and the trade routes from any danger that may emerge from the darkness of space.
Race: Tortalian
Occupation: Computer Scientist
Winfried Grassmann was a short, kindly old man with thin hair who always wore brown sweaters. He was called to the Epsilon Station to fix the computer system, which apparently do not make good use of deterministic procedures and boolean logic. Grassmann has also designed the baggage sorting systems for several important space ports. In battle, his teaching skills allow him to use his dismayed condescension ('Oh my!') to make his enemies feel sheepish and foolish. He also has the ability to be really confused.
Race: Consumate
Occupation: Inspector for the IFIA
Eleanor was a strongly opinioned woman who worked for the IFIA. This is an abbreviation for the Intergalactic Food Inspection Agency. Her reasons for coming to the station are unknown, but she did complain a great deal about the quality of food served on the flight. She had blond hair and wore a fur cape. In combat, she hid in the cockpit.
Race: Chalchakian
Occupation: Coffee Baron
Senior Nabob wore a coffee-brown suit, a panama hat and had a greasy black mustache. His food of choice seemed to be the supply of coffee beans he carried with him. As well as those beans, he also carried a small gun which he later put to good use. He was coming to the station to negotiate a deal with Bennigan's, the only restaurant on Epsilon. He planned to convince its owner to serve only Nabob coffee, and thus he could obtain a monopoly on this tiny market.
Race: Deksiilan
Occupation: Pilot for Deksiil Airlines
Although Captain Over appeared at first glance to be a competent pilot, due to his silvery hair and professional uniform, this was not actually the case. That's because Over usually got food poisoning before any flight began, and was usually forced to stay grounded. Other than that, his main characteristic seemed to be his uncontrollable urge to ask irrelevant questions, usually about gladiator movies.
Race: Deksiilan
Occupation: Pirate Captain, Cereal Marketer
Everyone should know what Captain Crunch looks like. Short, old and clad in a resplendent blue captain's uniform, Crunch was also armed with a long sword. He also had a blue captain's hat with a big 'C' on it. His reasons for hijacking the flight are obvious, but the purpose of his presence in this normally peaceful area of space is not. With his catchphrases and endless enthusiasm, he proved to be a formidable challenge for the heroes.
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