Rogue trader chronicles 03 – bounty hunting

“Hey captain.”
Hans Chaaran waved him over to one of the fallen assailants.
“These guys seem fairly well equipped for being low level muscle. Someone must have a lot of creds to outfit a group like this. Since we got them on the run, maybe we should follow them a bit, have a looksee?”
Gideon picked up a lasrifle in good condition, turning it over to inspect it.
“Yes, might even be a bounty on a warlord like this, see if you can pick up their trail while I ready the crew.”
Hans grinned at the prospect of hunting bounty again.

Current crew status: Changes from last chapter in bold.

Investigating the warlord

The militia that had attacked the Tamurdan manufactorum were very well armed. Lasrifles and heavy stubbers were not that common amongst the local warlords. The men left behind also displayed signs of something being off. They were covered in ritual scarification. Seeing as the warlord’s men were in retreat at the moment, it could pay off well to follow them and find their base. It could possibly be swimming in weapons and creds, and the Administratum would probably pay well in bounty for the warlord himself.

The crew quickly gathered themselves, arming up with the new found weaponry and picked up the trail of the retreating militia, aiming to find clues to the whereabouts of the warlord.

The trail ended at a warehouse complex in Numarc Prime. As the team moved forwards to search the warehouses, a group of 10 militia attacked, opening fire with las and slug guns. UR-025 and Jiath both responded in kind, taking first blood.

Hans had entered a warehouse alone, and ended up in brutal hand to hand combat and close range firefights with several militia. Ambrosius tried to move up in support, but was driven back by intense fire. Left alone against five enemies, Hans took the initiative, catching one of his assailants off guard, he smashed his shatter axe into his chest, sending him flying off the second story gantry. Lobbing a grenade down after the man, he moved on, firing his newly acquired burst laser, taking down the enemy leader. Several others fired back, but he managed to keep his head down, and his stim pack kept him going even after several telling hits. He rounded a corner, almost running into another assailant. The two men both raised their guns, but Hans was quickest, his rapid fire energy weapon tearing the other man apart.

While Hans fought for his life inside the warehouse, Ambrosius and UR tried to move up to support. However, the militia were well supplied, having several LMG’s. Both of them went down to enemy fire before they could reach the warehouse.

With no support coming, Hans ran for cover, but the assailants finally caught up with him, two of them cornering him on the third floor of the warehouse, smashing him down with their rifles and clubs before he could ward them off with his axe. They were about to finish him off when the windows burst apart from bolter fire.

Gideon and Jiath-Siel engaged the remaining militia in a long range gun battle. Jiath sniping down the last LMG, while Gideon took out two others with his bolter.

After game summary

Other than Ambrosius, everyone else had only suffered flesh wounds. While Ambrosius was being patched up, Gideon surveyed the warehouse Hans had made his stand in. The warehouse was seemingly empty, why had the militia defended this particular warehouse with such force and fervour? Realising that it was highly unlikely that they had fought to the last for an empty warehouse, he moved methodically through the empty rooms. In one room, a single pile of barrels stood on the floor. Gideon knocked on them, they were empty. Moving them aside, he uncovered an underground access point.

With Ambrosius out of life-threatening danger, the team hid him in an alley and quickly moved down the underground tunnel. It was an extensive underground bunker. They moved cautiously, but quickly through the tunnels. They could see signs of people. It looked like they had left in a hurry. Papers were scattered about, chairs on their backs, and food still on plates.

Then they could hear a deep droning noise, like a big engine. Cautiously they moved closer to the sound, moving through bigger rooms that looked like ransacked barracks. As the engine sound grew almost unbearable, they found the source. Entering into a big underground hangar, a civilian space ship was getting ready for take-off. Dozens of people ran around, stacking loads of crates and barrels onto the ship. When they spotted Gideon and the crew, many opened fire.

Outnumbered, the team were pinned down, unable to advance on the star ship as the roof of the hangar started to pull back.

“Hans, get a tracker on it!” Gideon shouted over the gunfire and engine sound. The bounty hunter nodded, firing a small tracker unit at the star ship.

With the freezing winter winds of Numarc filling the room, the ship blasted off, incinerating dozens of the enemy soldiers left behind, as well as lots of crates and barrels. Gideon and his crew ran back through the tunnels, barely getting in cover from the engine blast.

Surveying the sorry remains of the bunker, it was clear that they were on to something big. This warlord clearly had a lot of creds to bankroll something like this. They quickly made their way back to the Echo, aiming to follow the space ship immediately.

However, hailing the star port to release the clamps and get permission to take off, they got a surprising message.

“Permission to take off denied Echo of damnation. Void travel is currently restricted for civilian vessels, order of the Administratum. All attempts will be met with immediate deadly force.”

“Well, that is surely extremely suspicious..” Gideon wondered what connection he had missed.
“We have to get this bastard now! We are onto something big if this goes all the way to the Administratum.”
Gideon nodded slowly, looking at Hans. The man actually grinned at the thought of a real adventure. His heroic brush with death in the warehouse had triggered a change in the man. Gideon wasn’t as sure that following the warlord would be worth it. This had just turned into a dangerous political game.

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

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Creds: 10
Story points: 7
Rumors: 1 (on a quest)
Stash: handgun (damaged), colony rifle, blade (damaged) fake ID, sector permit, water purifier

XP: Gideon (6XP), Jiath-Siel (4XP), UR-025 (0, +1 combat), Ambrosius (3XP), Mordo (0XP, +1 combat), Hans (1XP, +1 combat), Otto (0)

Campaign events:

• Restricted travel – no-one can leave the planet for two campaign turns

Character events:

• Mordo – someone wants a package delivered
• Hans – nice place (wants to settle down on Numarc), motivation change (Survival –> Glory)
• Ambrosius – minor injuries (1 turn in sick bay)

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)