Our cast this week included Tiernan, Gildas, Zaccheus, Lykaios, and Cinnia (via Skype!).
The party had spent the last three weeks hanging out near the starport on Arden, trying to decide what to do next. In the end they decided to follow-up on their "Colonize Libmon" idea. They flew to Libmon, and used the launch to locate and land at the ruins of a low grade starport. Looking around, they noticed a small castle about 2 km from the landing zone, and decided to take some sample trade goods (fruit and liquor) and walk to it. As they approached, they found themselves stumbling through low, vegetation-choked ruins... foundations mostly, and none higher than knee-height. Near the castle, they realized they were being watched from a second story window, but the person ducked out of site before the party could get a good look. At the castle, their knocks were ignored, and they ended up smashing through two large wooden doors to gain entry. They encountered armed guards but could not understand the language, and after a long frustrating interaction, left a box of fruit and retreated to the launch.
Giving up on Libmon, they jumped to the Peassi system, where they were excited to find an excellent quality starport. Remembering their problems at Gruvek, they wisely hailed the planet and requested permission to land. They were rebuffed at first, being told "We've kept our end of the bargain, why have you returned?" After landing, their only interaction was with The Leader, who explained his ancestors had been given a choice between a planet buster bomb or the destruction of their space launch capability. They chose the latter, and had ruled the planet for centuries. He willingly sold them a shipment of body pistols. In return, they paid with several tons of spice, and agreed to take some violent criminals off-planet for him. He explained he was a humane sort, and didn't necessarily want them harmed, but they were criminals who had to go. The party agreed to the deal, mainly because they wanted the cargo of body pistols. As the cargo was loaed, 9 prisoners were put into the ship's low berths, and 22 more were placed in locked staterooms, bound and gagged. As they prepared to leave, The Leader said, "Oh, one more thing, we haven't used the name Peassi in 1200 years... this system is called Mitsuko"
In jump space on the way back to Libmon, they freed one of the prisoners to discuss Libmon. He asked if they might all be freed, and allowed to meet and discuss their situation. They realized fairly quickly the prisoners were not violent criminals, but rather political prisoners The Leader wanted to be rid of. The party accepted his promise not to attempt anything, and left the prisoners to talk. The prisoners asked what was going to happen to them and the party described Libmon and asked if they wanted to found a colony. Instead, the prisoners proposed they go to Arden and teach, since it was clear Arden was less technologically advanced than Mitsuki. The party agreed this seemed a good idea.
After refueling in the Libmon system, the party jumped to Tralnor, refueled and jumped home to Arden. While refueling at the gas giant before landing on Arden, they explained situation with the prisoners to King Ossian. Upon landing, medics came aboard to wake the low berth prisoners, and in spite of their best efforts, one of the nine died. The prisoners were then split up and taken away, and play ended.
Game Calendar: 541-218 to 541-269
Here's the player's current map of Kapu Subsector (generated at www.travellermap.com, a great site for Traveller mapping!):
The Ardeni Kingdoms currently control Arden, and the green jump route (hard to see in the jumble) shows that a permanent trade route has been established between Arden and Abequa. Gruvek has been designated a Red Zone, and Peassi renamed Mitsuko. Most systems' names begin with "x." meaning anything they know about those systems is centuries out of date.
