Waylaid

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by Bill Logan

Note: The characters start the session at a market on any planet the referee desires, looking for a tavern or casino to spend their credits, or seeking a specific thing known to exist in this market for an eccentric employer who has trusted them with the money needed to purchase the item.

A nervous Vrusk approaches the characters and asks to talk to them in private, heading into a holein- the-wall cantina and hoping they’ll follow. The Vrusk is T’kita, and she’s afraid because she says she’s being followed. She asks the characters if they’ll sit nearby at a table and keep an eye on her for a few hours, and that she’ll reward them if they do.

The characters have a seat, and T’kita sends drinks over to their table, delivered by a large man wearing an apron two sizes too small. She sits nervously and tries not to look at the characters.

About a half hour after the characters partake of the drinks, they must each make a Stamina check with a penalty of -20; the drinks are poisoned with a powerful sleep aid. Anyone who remains conscious is attacked by three humans (one was the fake waiter who brought the drinks) who seem to come out of nowhere with electrostunners, while T’kita screams and tries to get away... they should all get stunned.

When they awaken, they’re in an alley behind the cantina. All equipment is gone, even some of their clothing. T’kita is nowhere to be found. Inside the cantina, the owner and employees are locked in a closet pounding and yelling for help (they were stunned by the three humans when they saw T’kita duck into the bar). It looks like the characters failed to protect the young lady Vrusk, or themselves.

One of the characters notices T’kita dropped something during the scuffle... a small note addressed to her, opened and easily readable. It says:

T’kita -

They’re on to us. I had to hide the money at the train station, under a garbage bin near the kiosk. I’m going into hiding and suggest you do the same. If they find out what we’ve done, the project will all be for nothing, and the hatchlings will be killed because of what they are.

Be careful,
-Bastion

Who is Bastion? What project were he and T’kita working on? Who were the three humans and just who is the good guy in all this? And what’s so important about some kind of hatchling that is worth all this violence? All the characters know is they alone hold the knowledge that some money is stashed in the train station, and they’re all now quite broke... sounds like the next step to the adventure will take place near a garbage bin by a kiosk!