Hello there, This is my first post, and I figured this is something I wanted to share with you guys.
This is the second oneshot I have run, and one I had taken the time to write out more. I'm just wondering what you guys think of it and whether this kind of writing has any potential in a campaign that starts next week (A briefing of which can be made available, though it's long, really long) I'm just curious to hear whether this is the kind of writing one should expect from a GM. I will also give some notes to describe how the acolytes came to a succesful conclusion.
Here goes:
Dramatis Personae
Captain Kai Rudas - Captain of the Watch
Lord Veritas Proctor - Head of the Merchant Guild
Sub-Trader Altos - Aide of Lord Veritas Proctor, will deny that they had anything to do with Zar's murder, will give them the details of the package, dead end, red herring.
House Crastor - Minor Trade House - Specialises in clothing, received a package from Zar Luberus which contained simple parcels of orders, nothing special about it though they will not disclose the contents of the package at first, another red herring.
Mortician Salaster - Head of Watch Autopsy
Detective Mondal Prentus
Shenda Luberus - Wife, may mention Zar as being unfaithful and seeing those whores at the "Fiery Rose"
Zar Luberus - Victim, Courier, delivered a package for the Merchant Guild before he was killed, administration is out of date and as a result there may be suspicion that the merchant guild did it.
Lieutenant Winder - Naval Lieutenant on shore leave - last seen with the victim, drunk in the Fiery Rose.
Seductress Lucia - Hostess of the "Fiery Rose", prostitute. If bribed or otherwise charmed will reveal that Lady Lantra had a less than professional relationship with Zar.
Lady Lantra - Prostitute working in the "Fiery Rose", in love with Zar, murdered him as he wouldn't leave his wife for her.
The players will start at their Quarters, Zane Legion is being tended to by the Inquisitor's Physicians, They have received a communique from Captain Kai Rudas who explains to them that their mutual associate (the Inquisitor) has attached the Acolytes to Kai's detail, effectively inducting them into the Watch on a temporary basis, busy as they are with naval crimes and other such nasty crimes, the acolytes are asked the handle the case of a murdered courier who was found dead in a recycle chute. the location is nothing special, near the edge of the merchant halls, leading to the commercial / civilian section. (Where the Fiery Rose can be found, as well as an access to the Lower Decks (higher up than the acolyte's quarters, where the apartment of house Luberus can be found.
Time sensitive moments, this will not be combat heavy though Lady Lantra will hire some muscle if she becomes aware that the acolytes are hot on her trail, she will try to buy her way off the station. This means that the Acolytes need to be subtle in their investigations, though this does not mean that Lady Lantra will escape Justice, she will eventually appear in the sights of the group which will then turn it into a fastpaced action scene where she tries to escape while the Acolytes try to do their best to catch up.
In the End, Lady Lantra will be brought to justice, be it by the fury of Acolytes or a quick trip around space without her suit. It's even possible the acolytes manage to bring her in unharmed, which means that not only do they impress the captain, they all net themselves an extra 25XP
There will be two combat encounters, and one optional and detrimental.
The first one is between them and the mercenaries Lady Lantra hires, these will be a number of enforcers equal to 1d5+2, with a positive or negative modifier based on the acolytes' subtleness, the second encounter is with Lady Lantra herself, backed into a corner she will not hesitate to try to kill them all, she has managed to acquire some serious tech and has in fact a nasty surprise, she has +2d5 wounds, Toughness +10, she wears a dress that offers armour to her arms, body and legs for a value of 2, she has a hidden Flame weapon, the Destroyer, which has the following profile: Pistol, 15m, S/-/-, 1d10+5 E, Pen:2, Clip 5, Rld: 2Full, Special Flame: Worth 750, though if Lady Lantra dies in a fiery convocation, the flamer goes with her, as it will in most cases anyway. as a backup she has a Stiletto, 1d5-1R, Pen2, Fast, Primitive, worth 25.
The other encounter is one if they really botch it, they will be ambushed by Lady Lantra associates, or if they really cock it up and think the Merchant Guild is guilty, that is an encounter they might not survive...
Now, the way the players solved this was as follows:
1. They managed to find a knife handle in the recycle chute, which was a paired set of ornate gaudy stilettos which belonged to Lantra. This proved to be conclusive proof in the end.
2. They found a picture of Zar's wife in his pockets, along with a matchbook for the "Fiery Rose", this gave them an incentive to go find out whether the wife had anything to do with it or not.
3. There were some drinking buddies they checked out, along with Lieutenant Winder, who turned out to be a dead end as he was arrested for urinating on a squad car around half an hour before Zar's death (Which was placed around midnight)
4. Zar and Lieutenant Winder were seen leaving the Fiery Rose with a prostitute, arguing. Winder and Zar were seperated and that's when he was last seen alive.
5. They picked up on rumours that Zar frequented the Fiery Rose, and in specific Lantra, he was head over heels in love with her, but she wasn't, this is the motivation for the murder. Furthermore, the wife was eventually strangled by a hired mook who promptly had his head shot off by the assassin when he was snooping around (they had gone around earlier, and didn't bother to mention her husband was dead, oh, poor uncaring acolytes...)
6. Said Thug helped them eliminate a suspect (pun intended) and pointed them towards the "Fiery Rose" again where they noticed Lantra escaping the scene, this turned into one last showdown where they (against my expectations, managed to incapacitate Lady Lantra, allowing them to take her in alive (I ditched the Destroyer after I realised it was too lethal for my liking, it would've turned them all to a crisp. I had expected them to focus their fire on her, instead of on her bodyguards (Enforcer Profile in the Core Rulebook, one with +10T, one with +8 Wounds)
Now, I wonder what you guys think of this, feedback is really appreciated.
This was a oneshot run for a Noble Cleric, Forge World Tech-Priest and a Hive World Assassin. There were some epic scenes, one of which was the chase scene where the assassin was standing on the roof of the cab, aiming his hunting rifle in an attempt to get a clear shot on the escaping Lady Lantra.
