Learning Starforged: Escaping the Caverns

At the suggestion of some helpful people on Mastodon, I've adjusted the vow to Kaisa to be getting her out of the caverns, and set it as Troublesome. Completing it will mark progress on the previous vow. Let's see how Spider is doing...

It was one thing swearing to get Kaisa out of here, but quite another to actually do it. Spider was unarmed, and worse still, unarmoured. She was locked in a cell with Kaisa, and given how different her behaviour was to the bar where they'd met, she was forced to assume the woman had been subjected to the local pharmaceuticals. Nothing about this was going to be easy.

First of all though, she needed to better understand her surroundings. The makeshift cell bars provided a view across the caverns, and she shuffled over to see what she could make out in the dim light.

Gather information: roll +wits
Strong hit
Discover something helpful and specific. The path is clear. +2 momentum

The cell was high up and near the back of the cavern, and nobody seemed to be paying it much attention. All the activity was near the front, where crates were being loaded and unloaded. Spider could see her hoverbike being dragged in, and winced at the thought of what that would do to the paintwork.

Priorities. First she had to get herself and Kaisa out of this cell. It wasn't exactly well constructed, so there had to be a weak spot. She remembered words of advice she'd been told years ago. No door is stronger than its hinges. Which meant if she pushed in just the right place...

Face danger: roll +iron
Weak hit
You succeed, but at a cost. Make a suffer move.

Lose momentum. -1 momentum for a minor setback

It was not the quick exit she'd been imagining. The hinges gave up just as she'd hoped, but she still ended up having to dismantle the door, piece by piece, expecting at any moment for one of the Wellspring residents to notice what was going on. But at last she'd made enough of a hole to squeeze herself and Kaisa through.

[Mark Progress: Get Kaisa out of the caves :3 boxes]

"Now what?"
"Now we have to be very quiet."

But quiet would only get them so far. At some point they were going to have to try to blend in if they were going to make it to the front entrance, and it was pretty obvious neither of them were dressed like locals. A change of clothes would give them a chance.

Secure an advantage: roll +wits
Strong hit
+2 Momentum, +1 on your next move

Laundry was another of those things that Wellspring liked to shove out of the way alone with their prisoners. The airing clothes weren't completely dry and felt unpleasantly cold, but at least the two of them could now plausibly pass as locals. Now they just had to make their way out.

Face danger: roll +shadow
Weak hit
You succeed, but at a cost. Make a suffer move.

Endure Stress. -1 spirit. roll +spirit
Miss
It's worse than you thought. -2 momentum

Spider was not enjoying this. She was not a natural at acting. Kaisa had the slightly off behaviour of a Wellspring local down pat, but was constantly swinging between excited giggles and clinging nervously to Spider. A few dubious glances were sent their way. But they made it to the entrance without being apprehended, and Spider started to feel a little more optimistic. Kaisa grew more excitable as they stepped out into the sunlight.

[Mark Progress: Get Kaisa out of the caves :6 boxes]

Except now they were standing outside with nothing but some slightly damp clothes and no actual way of getting away from here. There was no point trying to run. It was a long way back to Paxton. If she was going to get Kaisa back there, she was going to need her hoverbike.

"You need to hide," Spider told Kaisa. "Keep your head down and don't attract attention. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Spider made her way back to the loading area and joined in with the lifting.
"Nice hoverbike," she remarked to one of the others, with a nod in its direction. "I heard there was some other stuff too."
"Yeah." The man laughed. "Bounty hunter, wearing some sweet armour. Not that it did them much good."
"Show me?" She smiled as sweetly as she could manage.

Compel: roll +heart
Weak hit
They do what you want but with a demand or complication. +1 momentum

Randomly rolled complication: needed item or resource is unavailable

"Too late. Flint's already claimed all of it for himself. Says he deserves it. He was the one that caught her, after all. I can introduce you though."

Spider tried to protest that she didn't need accompanying and directions would be fine. Of all the people in Wellspring, Flint had to be the most likely to see through her disguise, and she really didn't want to encounter him, especially not with company. But the man insisted.

"Hey, Flint, this lady wants to take a look at that armour." Spider tried to keep her head down and look as unlike a bounty hunter as possible.

Face danger: roll +shadow
Strong hit
You are successful. +1 momentum

"Gorgeous, isn't it? Doesn't fit me though. Too small."
"Can I try? Please? It looks just about my size."

She was taking a huge risk here. Fitting the armour back on meant discarding pieces of her disguise as she went. At any moment he could figure out what was really happening here. She would have to be fast.

Face danger: roll +edge
Weak hit
You succeed but not without a cost. Make a suffer move.

Lose momentum. -1 momentum for a minor setback

"It does fit you." Spider was almost dressed, but without her helmet Flint could still lock eyes with her. He didn't need to say anything. She knew she'd been made even before he started reaching for his stun gun.

Enter the fray
Objective is to get past Flint and the other guy to make a run for it. Set rank of troublesome.
Facing off against the foe: roll +heart
Weak hit
You are in control

Gain Ground: roll +iron
Miss
You are in a bad spot and must pay the price.

Spider hurled herself at Flint, trying to snatch the stun gun out of his grip before he could turn it on her. Which might have worked, if there had only been one opponent, but instead she found herself in the other man's grip with Flint's stun gun pressed against her chest.

Endure Stress. -2 spirit. roll +spirit
Strong hit
Shake it off. +1 spirit

He'd caught her by surprise outside, but this time she was ready for him. People thought it was all about the armour, but really it was being able to react to changing circumstances. She didn't struggle against the man's grip, but simply went limp, letting the weight of the armour drag him down.

React under fire: roll +wits
Burn momentum to make it a strong hit
You succeed and are in control. +1 momentum.

The stun gun's blast took out the man holding her. There was a roar of rage from Flint as the body slumped to the floor, but she had the advantage now, going low to try to take him down.

Strike: roll +iron
Weak hit
Mark progress twice but expose yourself to danger. You are in a bad spot.

[Mark Progress: Fight with flint :3 boxes]
[Mark Progress: Fight with flint :6 boxes]

And with that suitably dramatic moment, I'll put Spider away again. I think I understand the basics of the game reasonably well now. Combat is proving interesting, with a whole set of different moves to get my head around, but I like the way it uses the same progress tracker as the iron vows.

Learning Starforged: The Search Begins

Right now Spider had one solid piece of information. Kaisa had been taken by raiders from Wellspring so either she was there, or someone there would know where she was. Hopefully some of the Paxton locals would be able to clue her in on what she was likely to find there.

Gather information: roll +wits
Weak hit
New insight but a complication. +1 momentum

Random rolled stuff for the Wellspring settlement:

• Lawless
• Built within terrain or asteroid
• Prominant emblems or signage
• Medical, environmentalism
• Mounting debt

It was easy enough to get people talking in the bar. Getting them to tell her useful things was more of a challenge, but soon she was starting to put together a coherent picture of Wellspring. Folks out in the rim didn't like being told what to do but this lot took it to extremes. They were a collective who'd declared independence not just from the Alliance but from their own planet. Their compound was inside a set of natural caves, surrounded by signposts warning visitors that they were about to step outside planetary jurisdiction.

Not that they were fully independent, of course. They still traded with the rest of the world, mostly pharmaceuticals from their underground mushroom farms. And that was the source of their ongoing conflict with Evenfall. Failure to meet the terms of their trading agreement.

And there Spider saw one small ray of hope. What if there was no ransom demand because the Wellspring raiders had mistaken Kaisa for someone from Evenfall and sent it to the wrong town? Maybe she could negotiage something with them?

That would mean getting into the place first though. Spider's bounty hunter license granted her access to a lot of places, but there was no way Wellspring was going to respect that. The barflies were quick to tell her what kind of people they were: paranoid, violent, off their heads on their own pharmaceuticals.

The Manta was far too conspicuous to take anywhere near the place. Spider mounted her hoverbike. Within an hour she was close enough to get the lie of the land. After that she'd have to continue on foot, but first she wanted to take a look at the place.

Check your gear: roll +supply
Strong hit
Spider has the long range scope she needs to check out this place from a distance.
+1 momentum

Secure an advantage: roll +wits
Miss
Pay the price

Spider watched the entrance through her scope. There seemed to be a lot of coming and going. No sign of Kaisa, but then she'd hardly expected that. She'd be locked up somewhere deep in the caves, most likely. Spider watched for a pattern in movement that would give her an opportunity to get inside unnoticed. She didn't notice the quiet footsteps behind her until it was too late, and the stun gun shocked her into unconciousness.

Endure harm: lose 1 health and roll +health
Strong hit
Take 1 health

When Spider woke up she was in near darkness, stripped of armour and weapons. What little light there was came through a makeshift set of bars that had been used to turn a small part of the cave into a cell. When her eyes adjusted to the gloom she realised she wasn't alone. Someone was lying close to her on a heap of straw.

"Kaisa?" It was hard to make out the woman's face in the dim light, but who else was it going to be?

"No...leave me alone...wait. You're not one of them. But I know your voice."

"It's Spider. We met in a bar..." But she didn't have to explain any further, as Kaisa had already thrown her arms around her.

"Oh thank god. Mother sent you, didn't she? I'm going to be OK! We're getting out of here and..." Then it seemed like reality was catching up with her and she stepped back again. "Except you're in here with me and I don't see any guns, which means they caught you too."

Kaisa sat back down on the straw and began quietly to cry. Spider sat down beside her.

"Kaisa, listen to me. I promised your mother I'd bring you home, and that's what I'm going to do. I know it looks bad right now, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"

Make a connection: roll +heart
Weak hit
Create a connection but it comes with a complication or cost.
Rank troublesome.

Kaisa shook her head. "That's not good enough! You could be working for Wellspring for all I know. Swear to me! Promise me you'll bring me home."

All her other gear was gone, but the poker chip in its hidden pocket was still there. Spider wrapped her fingers around it. "Kaisa, I swear I will bring you back to your mother."

Swear an iron vow: roll +heart +1 because she's swearing to a connection.
Weak hit. Right now there are more questions than answers. +1 Momentum
Not sure how to rank this as it's really just the same vow sworn to a different person.

[Mark Progress: Rescue Kaisa :2 boxes]

Learning Starforged: Prologue and the Iron Vow.

On the advice of more experienced players, I've upped each of Spider's stats by 1, which I'm told should give her a chance of surviving more than five minutes in solo play.

I'm using the Stargazer app to keep track of things.

The comms module on the Manta made its familiar irritating beep. A wave from Vesper Frost. Spider pressed the button to accept and Vesper's familiar steely features appeared.

"Hi, Vesper." Spider only said this to wind her up, but for once, there was no demand to refer to her properly as Mayor Frost.

"Skip the nicities, this isn't a social call. I'm hiring you."

Spider's eyebrows shot up. "Huh. Who do you need finding?"

"Kaisa. She's been taken."

It had been two days earlier that Spider had been sat in a spaceport bar drinking cheap liquor and discovering that the spacer she was talking to was actually Vesper Frost's daughter. She hadn't even known Vesper Frost had a daughter. That was because Kaisa hadn't been home in so many years, she wasn't even sure her mother would want to see her any more. Spider disagreed. Only a terrible mother wouldn't want to see her child, and Kaisa was quick to confirm that that wasn't the case.

And now something terrible had happened.

A cloud of dust blew up from under the Manta as Spider landed in the field that passed for a landing strip on the edge of Paxton.  She was expected. The gates opened as she approached them, and Vesper herself was waiting outside.

"Mayor Frost."

"Spider."

Vesper ran through the details in her office. A raiding party from Wellspring had been sighted and the usual security protocols put in place. Except Kaisa wasn't accounted for, and didn't know the signals, and when the raiders had arrived she was still outside. She'd been carried off alive, but if they'd planned to keep her that way, Vesper would have expected a ransom demand by now. There had been nothing.

Spider clutched her poker chip tightly in her hand. "Mayor Frost, I will find her. And I will bring her back to you."

Swear an iron vow: roll +heart +1 because she's swearing to a connection.

Strong hit! It's clear what to do. +2 Momentum

Rank of Dangerous.