Session 3: Showdown with UPP?

 The situation going into Act II was... complex...

Two of the AWOL marines were still at large. Two members of Charlie squad (Hammer and Dante) were also AWOL somewhere. Captain Silva was down with a crushed spine and needed medical attention. A UPP invasion force has descended on the largely undefended colony. And...some sort of monster just dropped out of the ceiling in the marshal station where the characters were seeking refuge. 

Silva's player needed a new character. I suggested he choose one of the small crowd of colonists (Liv, Netra, Fernando, Hyram, Dodds...) who were already with the party. He went with Marshal Hyram.

We worked up some backstory for Hyram - including a relationship with our leathery old marine Francine and a history of conflict with the brutal insurgent leader Imre Botos. 

We also added a new, fifth player who would be playing the AWOL marine - PFC Isaac Carvalho. 

Carvalho's story included a history of his time in the colony. They started by investigating Imre Botos and his insurgency. They were pulled off that to guard Project Life Force. They grew suspicious of that and decided to run for it. And that has been a disaster. 

As we begin, Carvalho believes Wright has been captured by Botos and the insurgents. He's found a building with an overlook of their compound and is looking for signs of Wright. No sign of Wright. But he sees Botos drag prisoners Hammer and Dante out into the compound grounds. And he watches as Botos burns Hammer to death with an incinerator. 

He's then in a good position to observe the UPP invasion force arriving. It's not a huge force - 2 dropships with 2 APCs. Maybe 75 soldiers total - supported by the frigate in orbit. I have a rough plan for their movements as they proceed through the city, meet up with the local insurgents, and move in to secure key locations, like the spaceport, before advancing on the fort. 

Carvalho sees an APC roll up to the compound. A UPP Major gets out with a half-dozen soldiers and they go inside with Botos. The APC leaves headed towards the fort. Most of the insurgents have put UPP decals on their vehicles and are heading out to patrol the colony and link up with UPP.

 And... a new act means a new set of Act II Agendas:

Mason: That thing that attacked you in the jail looks like (a baby version?) one of the creatures that killed your entire platoon on Yaophora. What are those things? And where the hell are they coming from? You need to figure out what those things are. They need to be destroyed at all costs.

Iona: This colony is fucked. And what the hell are these things? Who cares. You didn't sign up for this shit. You've got to find a way off this moon and out of this hell-hole. If the UPP wants this shitty colony, they can have it.

Zmijewski: You don't really give a shit about any of this. Not these weird bugs. Not this shitty colony. Not these dumb, dead marines. But... now we got some real-deal UPP here. You've been waiting for the chance to unload and light them up. Today's the day to show those puppets what a real marine can do.

Marshal Hyram: You've been looking after this colony for decades now. Things might be too far gone to save it now. But there are still good people here. You'll be damned if you'll see it take over by monsters - not by Imre Botos and not by... whatever the hell that thing that showed up in your jail is.

Carvalho: You're in some deeeep shit and could definitely use some friends. You need to find out what happened to the rest of your squad, rescue Wright if you can, and find some way off this planet.

Ok. The stage is set and we can begin the session...

The characters are hunkered down in the marshal station, looking after Silva, listening to the explosions outside, and discussing their next move. Marshal Hyram has asserted himself as someone who will not be content to sit on the sidelines. 

A radio buzzes from a desk drawer. It's the comm unit Hyram took off of Reese when he came in. Carvalho is trying to reach his former squad-mates and he is happy to be in contact with a marine squad. He lets the group know about the insurgent compound, UPP movements and captured marines at his location. 

The team agrees to meet up at Carvalho's location. The Marshal insists on joining them. The group loads into the APC and heads to the western district, dodging insurgent vehicles on the lookout for the USCM APC. 

Iona is riding a colony ATV instead of riding in the APC. He gets a message on his comm unit suggesting he pull over into a nearby parking garage. Alone. He does. Mallory Eckford steps out of an SUV and introduces herself as a "friend". She also wants to acquaint Iona with another "friend" who runs a salvage ship in this system. She provides contact info and says the ship (which lacks atmospheric flight capability) can be on the orbital platform above the colony with an hour's notice. This ship captain is very interested in a certain black oil rumored to be kept in sublevel 3 of the fort. He would be willing to pay a tidy sum and do an emergency extraction from a UPP blockade, in exchange for a sample. 

Iona leaves and catches up with the rest of the group as they reach Carvalho's overlook. They decide to raid the compound to try and rescue Dante and Wright. Iona will stay at the overlook with Hyram and provide cover with his smartgun. Mason, Zmijewski, and Carvalho will attack from the ground. 

The ground team is spotted by UPP soldiers on the compound roof. Iona takes out all three of them with a few bursts from the smartgun as the ground team scales the south wall. Inside the compound, the group encounters two UPP soldiers* who've emerged in response to the sound of gunfire. 

Carvalho shoots but fails to drop, one of the UPP soldiers. He returns fire with deadly accuracy (forcing another crit roll - 63!). Carvalho is struck multiple times in the torso and abdomen with what is clearly a kill shot. Mason drags the broken marine out of the line of fire and behind the house.

This is a bit of a problem. We've done a lot of work to set up Carvalho as a PC. And now, less than an hour into the player's first session, he's had his guts blown out. However. Carvalho was with the marine group that was exposed to the black oil. I had been thinking the oil might give him a version of the Second Wind talent. So, I decided to go with that. I let Carvalho make a stamina check. He makes it. And the definitely-should-be-dead marine rises to his feet (with exploded bits of his bowels still dangling from the wound). 

Carvalho busts out and gets his revenge on the stunned UPP soldier while Zmijewski takes out the other one. 

In the inner courtyard, Zmijewski finds two tarps with bodies under them. One is Hammer's burnt corpse. The other is Wright with a big hole where something burst out of her chest.*

Imre Botos yells threats from within the building. The group bursts in and Zmijewski lights Imre up with an incinerator. He also finds a UPP soldier who surrenders. Zmijewski lights him up as well. 

Upstairs, they find and rescue Dante. Someone is barricaded in the master bedroom. Mason tries to bust in and fails. Automatic weapons fire rips back through the door, striking Mason who makes yet another catastrophic crit roll (64!). A round catches her square in the cheek and she goes down instantly. The party waits to see if she too miraculously recovers. She doesn't.

They cut their losses and haul out the corpses of the fallen marines. They can see a UPP dropship rising in the distance, headed towards them. Iona crashes through the gate with the APC. They pile in and speed off looking for a place to hide, bandage the wounded, and catch their breath. 

Hidden in a parking garage, they begin to reassess and contemplate their next move. Hyram's comm unit buzzed. It's Deputy Dodds from the marshal station. A UPP APC has just pulled up is unloading the marines they've captured from the starport. 

And that's where we end session 3. 

* I've scaled back the UPP soldier and insurgent stats a bit. 3 in STR and AGI. UPP soldiers have range combat 3 and 4 armor. Insurgents get range combat 1 (no armor). 

* I've had Wright die of her chestburster off-screen. Part of that is because I want to just run this as a traditional firefight. And now the insurgents and a UPP officer have seen an alien worm burst from a marine's chest. They will be curious about this...

Session 3 run on 4/21/2021