Starforges Session 5

A New Opportunity (sort of)

Welcome back to Session Number 5 in my current starforged campaign. Usually I would dive right into the action but I want to say a few words.
I am experimenting with style and writingas well as finding a balance between play and writing while working on other SoloRPG projects. You will probably find this entry not as evocative in writing as the last. I hope you still see where the stories goes and how the mechanic drives it.
Enjoy

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Location: Astrids office, Merrick just brought back the information on Redhaven Outpost when they hear gunshot and two bodies dropping

Silence. Time seemed to be moving slower after they heard the bodies drop. Astrid and Merrick looked at each other and nodded. Astrid sat back in her chair, her exterior calm but if you looked closely you could see her pupils dilating and the hairs on her arms standing up, betraying the adrenalin being pumped through her body. But Merrick didn’t look closely. He didn’t have the time. He quickly moved behing the door, hoping to get the attackers by surprise. ¹

Merrick wasn’t a moment to soon when three soldiers burst into the door, weapons drawn.
They spread out the room and pointed their weapons at Astrid.
The women who was furthest from Merrick spoke first ‘You’re coming with us!’
‘And why would I do that?’ Astrid was still maintaining her calm exterior, a little smile appearing on her face. ‘How about you tell me who the fuck you are and who sent you.’
‘I don’t think you are in a position to ask any questions. I tell you to move, you move bitch.’
Astrids smile grew a little wider. Merrick could see the other two shift uncomfortably. This wasn’t going as they expected. He grabbed his weapon tighter.
‘Got some balls on you.’ Astrid said. ‘Let me see what I can do about that.’
Her eyes darted to Merrick and the soldiers followed her gaze, surprise showing on their face. ²

‘Wrong answer.’ Their leader said and one of the guards moved to capture Astrid while the other was raising his sword at Merrick. He ducked trying to reach the soldier from reach Astrid, who in turn was starting to fire her gun at the leader. ³

Merrick managed to move in front of the soldier and cut him down. The other one was moving to the other side of Astrid while she kept firing at their leader. Can’t make it in time, Merrick thought as the soldier was about to swing his sword at Astrid.
He put his leg on the office desk and pushed it against the soldier. ⁴

That seemed to take him by surprise as the force pushed the air out of his lungs. He dropped his weapon. ‘Restrain him.’ Merrick shouted at Astrid and without looking if she followed through he moved towards the female leader who was coming up from behind her cover. ⁵

She took in the scene and her face dropped as Merrick stepped up to her.
‘Please...I...’ She whispered as Merrick beheaded her with a swift motion of his blade. He turned around to face the last living soldier, who was still winding on the floor, Astrid on top of him at gunpoint.

Merrick slowly walks over and raised his sword in front of his face. The fresh blood of his comrades slowly dripping into his crotch already wet with urine. ‘Who are you?’ ⁶
The mans eyes moved between Merrick and the head of his comrade, her dead eyes staring at him, the shock and surprise showing even in death.
‘I...I...I will tell you, but please... please don’t kill me.’
‘That’s not up to me.’ Merrick said looking at Astrid.
‘Not me, but if you cooperate I will make your case before the council. It is ultimately their decision in a case like this.’ Merrick was surprised. He didn’t take her to be the forgiving type.
‘Nonono, if they find out I am still alive they will kill me, please, there must be another way.’
Astrid thought for a second. ‘Alright. I will think of something, but that depends entirely on how good your information is.’
His head slumped and he took a deep breatch.⁷

‘My name is Isaac. My team and I...’ He looked at his fallen comrades and swallowed. ‘We were send here to take Astrid prisonor. My superiors in Purgatory are planning another attempt at taking over Summit and they have some kind of weapon to threaten the council with. They seemed to think that Astrid somehow would be a major obstacle to that goal.’
‘Who is your contact here in Summit. Who let you in?’ Astrid asked.
‘I don’t know, we were just told to arrive at the gates with a passcode and they let us in. We had gotten directions to your office. We just didn’t know you had.... company.’ He hesitated a second while looking at Merrick.
‘What kind of weapon are we talking?’ Merrick asked.

‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen it. It was brought to us a couple of days ago by Knights of the Undying Imperium. They seem to be working together with our leaders. That’s all I know.’
At the mentioning of that name Merricks face grew still and his hand, still holding the blade in front of Isaacs face, started to tremble, leaving a small cut. ‘What did you just say?’ He winced. ‘Please... I am telling the truth. I am just a soldier. I joined the rebellion for the hopes of a better life. That’s what they promised. I didn’t sign up for this.’
‘What is the Undying Imperium doing here?’ He looked at Astrid.
‘I don’t know for certain but they send out scouts a few months back and tried to get us to join their empire. We refused but it seems they reached out to the members of Purgatory and work with them. From what I gathered since their main forces are a few sectors away and have been expanding their influence over the last couple of years. Why? Have you heard of them?’
‘You could say that’ Merrick said. ‘They’re the ones I am looking for.’ He took a long pause. ‘It seems to me Astrid, that our goals align. I won’t be taking my leave after all.’⁸

Merrick turns to Isaac. ‘Are the knights still there?’
‘No they left right after they dropped of their weapon. Whatever that is, rumor has it, it came from Redhaven Outpost.’
‘So it seems to me’ Astrid said. ‘That they are waiting for you to bring me to them and make their threats to the council after?’
‘As far as I know’ Isaac replied. ‘They didn’t tell me much. That women over there.’ He pointed to the head Merrick cut off. ‘She was our team leader. She would have known more.’
‘Well I think we can use this to our advantage. Whoever is your contact here needs to know I am gone. Meanwhile we can go to Purgatory with your ship and try to take out whatever that weapon is. Do you know how the security works at Purgatory?
Isaac nodds. ‘Perfect.’ Astrid said with a smile.

She looked at Merrick. ‘Since we seem to have the same enemy, will you help me destroy that weapon’
Merrick grabbed his sword, looks her in the eye and said the words:
‘On Iron, I swear!’⁹

‘Look. I told you I would help you but what you are planning is suicide. They are expecting a call from my teamleader soon. That unfortunately won’t happen now. They will know something is up.’
Merrick looked at Astrid ‘Shit, what now.’
‘Guess we have to hope for the best. Let’s clean up this mess. We need to make it look like I am actually gone and Isaac will have to make the call. Tell them the truth. Your teamleader is dead but you managed to capture me.’

Merrick and Astrid bound Isaac so he couldn’t get away though it seemed there was no fight left in him. At the look of the dead guards Astrid sighed. ‘They were good people. Incompetent, but they did their best.’
‘We will avenge them.’ Merrick told her
They took the armor off the dead soldiers and Merrick put it on.
After Astrid was satisfied and they made their preparations they moved towards the hanger. ¹⁰

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That was actually a pretty long session, totally forgot how long.
If you are wondering how the whole situation came to be. I had the idea to tie Merricks backstory to whatever is going on here but his intention was to leave. It’s revenge. Logically he wouldn’t stay. He is at his worst right now, so I needed to add something to the story. An opportunity.

Overall pretty cool session, showing Merrick is actually competent but also kind of cruel.

1. Trigger Secure an Advantage: weak hit. I actually forgot what I did here as a complication. In later sessions I am better at noting this down.

2. Enter the Fray with the objective to capture one of the soldiers alive. Result: weak hit.

3. Clash + Iron + Blasemaster Asset: Strong hit

4. Gain Ground + Iron: weak hit

5. at that point I was unsure whether I should slash or Take Decisive Action. I decide on the latter as I have 6 Progress on One Soldier possibly captured: strong hit (lucky)

6. I triggered Compel. not sure if that was really a move tbh, because I don’t think they are in a position to make a demand but I did want to know whether they would refuse and it didn’t feel like an ‘Ask the Oracle’ so here we are: weak hit

7. Again, not sure if this should trigger gather information. I do have an idea of what is going on but it would be interesting to see how bad it is even though I currntly don’t have a vow going on. Trigger Gather information: Miss with a match, burn 10 momentum to a success with a match.

8. I needed a way to make Merrick stay so I brought his enemies to him. I will mark progress on his background vow, I also need a way to make the next steps clear and I think that will be sabotaging something to do with purgatory.

9. I would have said that is formidable, sneaking into a camp and destroying tthe thing they have, but seeing as I have Isaac with me, I will make that dangerous instead. Swear an Iron Vow + 1 to Connection: weak hit

10. I don’t think this triggers Face Danger, Astrid is on the council, who would stop them. What I am wondering is, whether I should have triggered Secure an Advantage though I think I will do that later. I am planning to stake out the camp but there is still the journey there to introduce complications.