Rogue trader chronicles 02 – underhive tourists

Current ship and crew status: Changes from last chapter in bold.
Everyone except for Jiath-Siel and UR-025 have levelled up, mostly gaining combat experience.

Find the underhive informant

After successfully retrieving the xeno tech for Labyrinth Navigations, the company had another urgent request. An informant in the underhive of Numarc Prime had gone dark, and was presumed hiding in a safe house. The team was needed to make their way through the dark alleys of the underhive to the safe house. If the contact was there, a bonus would be payed out for bringing him back.

Moving stealthily through the underhive, the crew quickly noticed that someone was following them. The stalkers, having good knowledge of the dark underhive, eventually cornered the team, and a gunfight broke out in the darkness.

Only able to hear the unknown assailants in the dark gloom of the underhive, the team cautiously moved forwards, until an ambush was sprung. An underhive gang assaulted the team. They were mostly armed with crude handguns, but a few of them had dangerous clingfire pistols. Gideon himself, leading from the front, was almost killed by a crude bullet, only saved by a stroke of luck making him turn his head at just the right moment, avoiding an inglorious death.

Ambrosius spotted one of the ambushers, and gunned him down with a burst of his auto pistol. At the sight, another assailants turned tail and ran. Gideon felt the flow of the battle turning. The enemy ambush had failed, and their morale was brittle.

Like a commissar of legend, he climbed onto a pile of rubble, waiving his sword in the direction of the attackers.
“We have them on the run! Charge!”
The team surged forwards aggressively, Hans gunning down a clingfire ganger. UR-025 filled a window on the second story with lead, making a ganger tumble out and smash into the ground below. Ambrosius and Mordo ganged up on another, pinning him while they moved in for the kill.

Clearly having bitten over more than they could chew, the gangers fled the field.

With the gangers cleared out, there were no other events of note on the route to the safe house. Gideon tapped the door four times in the way prescribed in the mission brief.
“Are you from the company?” A trembling voice sounded from behind the door.
“Yes, we are here to escort you out.”
Gideon stepped in as the door gently slid open.
“Oh, thank the Emperor! I would be grox-chew if those gangers found me!”
“You don’t need to worry about them anymore, now let’s get out of this depressing place.”

The man perked up as the team quickly made their way back to the surface. His name was Otto Blackweir, and he was a mid-level government scribe in employ as an agent of Labyrinth. A local from Numarc Prime, Otto was also a struggling painter and sculptor, a talent he boasted about immediately, offering to make a great painting of Gideon as his way of thanking him.

Labyrinth asked Gideon to hide the man on his ship for a while. He did not seem like a very capable man, but Labyrinth was paying 6 creds for the favour, so what harm could he do? Otto might also have some connection to the administratum, which could turn into lucrative opportunities.

Defending Tamurdan industries

With Otto installed in the safety of the ship, the crew were quickly pulled into another urgent opportunity. Tamurdan industries, a manufacturing giant on Numarc, had denied paying a local warlord extorition money, and desperately needed additional muscle to protect their locations. The team got a golden protection deal for a small manufactorium 300 miles north of Numarc Prime. Not expecting serious opposition, Gideon gladly accepted the deal.

A short shuttle flight later, the team got in position outside the manufactorium. UR-025 and Gideon got in position on the top floor, while Mordo and Jiath-Siel covered from the first story. Hans and Ambrosius patrolled the parking area.

“Hostiles detected, engaging.”
UR-025’s heavy stubber spoke first, ricochets plinging off the pavement near the attacking militia. The militia were well trained and armed however, and they returned fire immediately. They had two heavy stubbers, and the rest were armed with lasrifles and colony rifles. Their firepower was impressive. One of the heavy stubbers blanketed UR-025’s position, a bullet impacting with the robot, knocking it over.

Gideon carefully crawled up to a window, spotting one of the heavy stubber militia engaging from the roof of a truck. Carefully aiming for the man, he squezed off a shot with his bolt rifle. To his great satisfaction, the bolt hit the man in the chest, blowing him clean off the roof of the truck. A nearby militia trooper turned and fled at the sight.

The others continued exchanging fire however, and they had the upper hand. Jiath-Siel screamed and fell to the floor as the other heavy stubber and lasfire engaged her position. Gideon tried to engage the other LMG, but his bolter jammed.

Meanwhile, Hans and Ambrosius sprung an ambush on two advancing militia troopers, each of them killing their opponent. Another trooper charged forwards and fired at Hans at point blank range, inflicting a flesh wound. Before he could finish him off however, Gideon blew his brains out with his duelling pistol. Hans nodded his thanks, before charging forwards, engaging a militia trooper in hand to hand combat.

Gideon was a bit unsure about how this protection gig would end. He was not very interested in fighting to the last to defend some insignificant manufactorium. Eyeing an opportunity while the militia were occupied, he stalked away further into the manufactorium. All the workers had abandoned it during the fighting, and he saw his opportunity to grab a few things on his way to safety.

Back outside the manufactorium, Ambrosius engaged the enemy LMG in a firefight, keeping its focus off Hans’ charge, but he was horribly outgunned, and he quickly slumped to the ground, bleeding. However, he had drawn attention for long enough, as Hans dispatched a militiaman in melee. Seeing the bloody bounty hunter turn towards him, the last militiaman turned and ran.

Hearing the all clear from Hans, Gideon quickly made his way back, pretending he had never really left. He surveyed the field. It had been a much harder protection duty than expected. Three of his crew were down, but luckily, both Jiath-Siel and Ambrosius were just knocked down, and UR-025 had only suffered a damage to his close combat weapon.

After game summary

It was a hard fought victory, but the spoils of war were good. Tamurdan industries were extremely happy with their performance, and payed out 9 creds for the job. The defeated militia left behind several weapons, including a lasrifle, a marksman rifle and a brutal melee weapon. Gideon’s little foray back into the manufactorium also paid off, as he grabbed a xeno armour and a damaged xeno weapon from the research departement.

When returning to the Echo however, their new crew mate Otto had explored the gravity drives, and had managed to seriously damage the drive. Gideon was about to throw him out until Otto reminded him of the big bonus from Labyrinth as well as the value of his connection to the administratum. Letting go of the man, Gideon headed for the closest bar to wash away his troubles with a bottle of low-quality amasec.

Ship class	Debt	Hull	Fuel	Traits
Battered mining ship	22 creds	32/35	5	Fuel hog

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Creds: 20
Story points: 8
Rumors: 0 (on a quest)
Stash: handgun (damaged), colony rifle, stim pack, las rifle, Tau burst cannon (hyper blaster), brutal melee weapon, blade (damaged), marksman rifle, scrap pistol, fake ID, 2 cred – starship repair

XP: Gideon (3XP, +1 luck), Jiath-Siel (0XP, +1 combat), UR-025 (0, +1 toughness), Ambrosius (2XP), Mordo (5XP), Hans (0XP, +1 toughness)

Character events:

• Mordo – someone wants a package delivered
• Hans – nice place (wants to settle down on Numarc)

Patrons:

• Wandering Sons (secret society)
• Labyrinth Navigations (corporation)
  • Benefit: Company store
• Tamurdan Industries (corporation)
• (new) Adeptus Administratum Numarc (sector government)

Rivals

• Sanguine Sun (feral mercenaries)

Born and raised in the claustrophobic hive city of Numarc Prime, Otto has managed to navigate his own path through the dangerous life of the lower hive. With a sharp, if eccentric mind, he found his way into the Adeptus Administratum as a young boy, and has managed to climb the hierarchy to a comfortable mid-level scribe.

However, while the Administratum saved him from an early death in the lower hive, his lifelong dream is to become a famous painter and sculptor, something he gladly shares with anyone lending him their ear for more than a few seconds. Otto became an informant for Labyrinth Navigations to fund his dream, a position that almost cost him his life.

He was saved by Gideon and his crew, and Labyrinth payed handsomely for him to be hidden away on Gideon’s ship. As such, he is currently hanging around the Edge of Damnation, “entertaining” the rest of the crew at any opportunity, and settling into the life on a starship.

Gear: –

Reactions	Speed	Combat	Toughness	Savvy	Luck
1	5″	+0	3	+0	0