Mongoose Traveller: Hard Times on the Solomani Rim: Session 4

Cast of Characters:

• Baron Khoiayahelu (Aslan noble (Imperial rank is much greater than his Aslan standing) whose family's mismanagement of the family holdings has sent him travelling; keeps the rest of the party from becoming total murderhobos)
• "Chrome" (Droyne Sport pilot who has been separated from his kin and finds new families among various merchant ships he works on; moonlights as the baliset-playing "Red Devil")
• Alex Cross, M.D. (Rough around the edges former technician who became a medical doctor; his lechery is only kept in check by the fact that he has no game)
• Mihai Greenman (Perennial underdog. Former Marine, Arms Dealer, Broker, and Vagabond; always delighted when other people's bad luck matches his own)
• German Carrick (Incredibly popular baliset player who has been laying low the last couple of years after an alleged sex scandal)
• Stanislas Kubik (Very old administrative assistant and steward)

The Story So Far:
While at Bailey, the crew of the Princess Diana were able to help out a soiled dove in distress, fighting off an overzealous fan of her fan dance act. They moved on to the Mercy system, where they encountered the tail end of a Solomani raid on the system. Afterward, they ended up helping out one of their passengers deal with a creepy neighbor. In addition to passenger work, they have become quite the experts at space salvage. In the Uterobi system, Chrome managed to help a local musician drum up some business by donning a bright red wrestling singlet (with his Safety Orange Hawaiian shirt tucked into it) and a luchador mask (meant for a human, so it didn't quite fit the Droyne right) and playing some dueling balisets.

Session 4: Jackson
The trip from Uterobi to Jackson was uneventful. Upon arrival at Jackson, Mihai immediately attempted to find passengers, using German and his baliset skills to help drum up business. Unfortunately, it reminded the conservative citizens of this hot world too much of the ancient Freecreditreport.com jingles and no passengers seemed to want to go to Grant. However, the following morning, a businessman named Denton Angelo contracted a stateroom in the ship while it is berthed at Jackson Station while he furnished pink slips to General Products employees on Jackson.

That night, the gang hit the local hotspots in force, attempting to find information about the potentially lucrative Shulusish - Hayt - Diomedes corridor (noted by Chrome as 3 B-class starports in a 2-parsec separated line). While lots of money was spent on drinks and lots of fun was had, not really any information was found. The conspicuous spending of credits didn't go unnoticed, however. Famous talent scout Edward Noting recognized German Carrick and tapped him to find the next big music thing.

The crew decided that a liberty to Entertainment City in the hinterlands of Jackson was in order. At an all-access and, more importantly, open bar party, the party got to see all of the hot up and coming bands  that Jackson had to offer. Flaccid Bagel, a powertry band, managed to get signed that night by Noting, netting German some extra cash. (I describe powertry as Motorhead meets Aesop Rock).

After a hungover trainride back to Jackson Station, the party returned to the ship. German was happy to receive a royalty check from his publisher and Doc and Chrome went off to check the station's scrap pile. And found scrap. The next day, the party was approached my a besuited man known only as Mister Johnson, who contracted the crew to deliver an attache case to an associate in Grant.

Mihai, after a week and a half of wrangling buyers, was able to sell the fuel system they found in Mercy. They were finally able to find some passengers for Grant. The day before they were to disembark, they were approached by a panicked PFC from the Imperial Army. PFC Babcock missed his flight to the transport which was leaving system shortly. The Princess Di  managed to make orbit in enough time to save Babcock's skin. However, there was a brief moment of panic when the good doctor almost got arrested for assaulting military personnel. Thankfully, the Baron was there to smooth things over.

The following day, the low berth passengers boarded the Princess Di and the ship left for Grant.

What We Learned:

• You can fit a lot into a little over three hours. Four patron encounters and a little bit of trade.
• As Mihai's player mentioned as we closed, we are "getting our sea legs" and can probably now start kicking the game up a notch. I've been adding in layers as I learn about them. For example, this was the first session where the party had to start paying docking and berthing fees. Granted, the whole time they were on Grant it was like Cr150, but still.
• The players keep either lucking our or missing out on some nasty random encounters. One day, I'll get you. :)
• Some nice seeds for future adventures were planted.