[Mongoose's Office Game] Character Diaries

MongooseBella

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Staff member
Hi folks,

I've been wanting to try out writing a diary for our Mongoose office game - from the perspective of my character, Teodora. Firstly because I like writing and secondly... I like Traveller? Without further ado:

Teodora's Diary

Entry One: Signing Bonus
We've spent the last few months in jump, after the unfortunate incident on Acrid. Tarka has been settling in, although he's not doing too well with the lessons Benny and I have been giving him. It seems as though he's determined to never be able to read, write or do basic arithmetic, despite how helpful these would be.

Kipps was doing my head in, with his constant Marine drills and fitness regimen. Affa seemed okay, in the way that Affa normally displays such things; asking for more food being the most prominent sign. Sarflex was... adjusting to life on-board And the Jets. I don't think he expected us to just leave after what we caused on Acrid, but it was getting harder to stay after what we threatened to do.

Anyway, we landed on Wardn today after the ship started making some unusual noises. Benny kept saying it was nothing to worry about, but in all my years in the Navy I've never head a functional vessel making a clunk like that. Shipbuilding folks' say it'll take 8 million creds to fix, which is somewhat above budget. We lost Kipps and Affa for a bit, but ended up all heading over to the IISS office to see what they could do.

The guy working there recognised Benny as a scout, and offered him some sort of under-the-table offer to get the ship fixed, by way of sending us to do work for Project Steel. I am unsure why he thinks us helping out with some sort of planet walking job is going to pay Cr8000000, but maybe it's a scout thing. Whatever, the Navy has thrown me weirder offers, and the signing bonus is enough to have some drinks and send a letter to Eloise, wherever she's posted now.

[the writing after this point seems to be drunken ramblings]

Entry Two: Landfall
We landed on Steel yesterday at 14:00 hours, and the rest of the crew decided to rest at Camp Bravo before we continued on. Affa disappeared for a bit when we touched down, and it turned out she'd gone scrambling through a pile of junk until she got told to stop by some engineer or mechanic guy. We met Pavel in the meantime, who said in no uncertain terms that the world was safe and easy to traverse, if a little warm. Kipps and Benny pushed until he revealed we should avoid the highlands because of some sort of animal, and mentioned something about one-eyed creatures, but I'd decided I should try and introduce myself to the folks over at the IMOJ. There is just something about scouts that confuses me; perhaps their inability to follow regs?

Anyway, I introduced myself to them, a human named Sarah and a Vargr by the name of Garvan, and they seemed like decent enough folk. I ended up passing round some alcohol, and turns out there should only be one marshall here, but Garvin was assigned and Sarah does not like him. However, I have learned it's best not to question the powers that be, orders are orders and you've just get to grips with being told what to do.

The first leg of the drive was rather uninteresting, till Affa shouted about some 'weird looking rocks' about 2 clicks west, so we headed over to have a look. Affa kept saying they just 'looked like they were placed there' which, if you ask me, sounds like a load of nonsense. I could see Affa & Kipps exploring it through the scope of my rifle, and it turns out they were just rocks. Benny got excited and started talking about reports and surveying and points of interest, and decided they should be called Bennyhenge. I took over driving after that, until it hit nighttime and we all bunkered down.

When we started off this morning, the squad called out an approaching dust storm, which we had to bunker down for, and when we eventually (after six hours of playing cards with Affa, Kipps and Benny) reached the site for the proposed starport, we all disembarked. I was walking around the site and testing for potential landing areas when Benny came through the comms to tell us to get back to the ATV, slowly. As soon as I turned around I saw Kipps being pounced by a bunch of them one-eyed dog things that Pavel had mentioned. Kipps managed to stab one, and I blew the head off the furthest one with my rifle, 'Splatter'.

Then I saw one of the weirdest choices made in combat play out, with Benny driving the ATV to Kipps, and Affa hanging off the front whilst dual-wielding laser pistols...

Luckily, Affa didn't miss. Just scorched Kipps' hair a bit, I think. Kipps had been bogged down, and one of those beasts was tearing into their leg, so I lined up a shot. On the exhale, I pulled the trigger and watched through the scope as Kipps jolted upwards, and I saw the bullet skim their cheek before burying itself into the creature. Didn't really consider that I might shoot Kipps, but these things happen, I s'pose.

We got them inside the ATV again just now, and Affa is doing some sort of medical work on them to fix that mangled leg. Benny is sort of just pacing around, so I'm off to polish the ATV after that sandstorm gave her a good whack.
 
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Entry Three: Keep on Keeping on
We finished exploring that site a few days ago, Benny said there's some solid bedrock underground, which should be good for a landing site. Decided we ought to move on to the first mining site, which took another couple days of driving. We found a beat up ATV along the way, Kipps said it looked like it'd been wrecked by some sort of anti-tank weapon, though couldn't tell when or what had hit it. I stumbled on a couple bodies nearby, which no-one would get out to look at. Not that I would trust Affa doing something like that anyway; they seem to have spent most of their live looking through starport bins. Checked them first with the IR on my scope, and they were already dead, but Kipps recommended that I shoot them to check for good measure. Weird folks, no rank or badges, and their nametags had been ripped off: they'd already been shot, too.

We gave them a quick burial, and said a few words before carrying on to the mining site. I'm not really sure what we were looking for, but we have a couple of metal detectors. Dunno if they can find ore, but may as well give it a go, I'm not one for all that science stuff Benny's always going on about. anyway. Affa and Kipps went off exploring, and I got a comm through about them finding some sort of old mine over the way.

I didn't have a chance to go and look, though, cause Benny asked me to start digging over a certain point. Odd fella, Benny, seem like they were a bit of a bookworm before, but most scouts are, aren't they? Always writing in his little notebook. Though, I s'pose I do the same thing, just in private. Don't want people knowing what I'm thinking about either. Took most of the day, but I got a bit of ore out and passed it to Benny, who seemed to be less grumpy about it than normal.

Entry Four: Small Risks
Dearest Eloise,

I'm sorry it has been a while since I wrote last, we've been off doing some work for the IISS so we can get the ship fixed up. Everything's been going okay, mostly, although I ran into a bit of trouble today. There's an IMOJ man here named Garvin, who took a great deal of offence to my 'general attitude' and put me in a cell to 'cool down'. Nothing too bad, I promise, and Benny got me out of it soon enough. He was being an arsehole though, so I'm not sure it was my fault.

Anyway, we should be done here in a couple of weeks, and may be able to swing nearer to you, in the end. I hope everything is going okay at work, I know you have been a bit stressed since your promotion, but you're doing great. I will see you soon, and hope you stay safe and well in the meantime.

We're off to check on the second mining location today, so hopefully there will be something else to be found there. I know you don't need it, but it would be good to get some money together. Maybe we can finally get that home on Sylea we talked about? You can start that farm you've been mentioning for a few years.

I'm rambling now, but I love you. See you soon.

- Teodora.

Entry Five: A Wrong Turn
Well, the past few days could've definitely gone better. The second mining point turned out to be a wrecked starship. They were all doing their scans and signals and whatnot, so I just started using the metal detector again. Not much else I'm good for out here, but the machine lit up and led me to a weird metal bar, the thing was burnt and melted when I got it out the ground. Another chunk later, and I came across a whole ring of stuff. They all told me to leave it alone, but it's not like I had anything better to do.

So I kept digging. Ended up making my way into what looked like a cargo hold, had to scrabble my way out of falling down into it along with the dirt and rocks. Benny moved the ATV back, and we slung a rope over to lower Kipps and I down inside. There wasn't much there, but we did see a bunch of low-berths, and had to open up an iris valve to get into the bridge. I've seen a lot of ships in my time, but I couldn't quite place this one. I'm thinking it was possibly a Sword Worlds vessel?

Anyway, we got to the bridge, and I managed to point Kipps in the right direction for the flight computer, which they managed to get out of the thingy it was in. They took it back to the ship, and read me off a bunch of data (none of it makes much sense to me), but it sounded like there was a flight path in there. Expected landing point was the mountains to the West, but they lost central power. Probably when the back half of the ship 'fell off'.

I could see the crew trying to fix things in the logs though, and my god did they try. Some of the workarounds they'd attempted... they were last-ditch efforts even on the worst of days. They kept going, though, right until the very end. There's dignity in that, I think. Quiet hope that they might, against all odds, survive.

Entry Six: Red Mist
I always take the later watch. I think it's some remaining Navy pride that makes me do it, but it worked out last night. There was a beautiful meteor shower, some incredible lights as the rocks rained down on the planet. Didn't end up beautiful though, as when we started driving this morning we saw a bunch of smoke, and the meteorites from before. They were scalding, obviously, and quite small for things that had burned so brightly before.

Affa was out looking at them, toddling around in the dirt, and they seemed quite excited about the whole thing. Until a massive ATV came flying in and some woman pointed a shotgun at them. It was sort of comical, the show of force they needed to give Affa, and them just standing there, three arms waving guns, mouthing off. Benny went out to try and talk them down, and the woman, Telcie? Abolutely horrid. Just a real piece of work. Basically told Benny to stick it where the sun don't shine, and they she would give us 10% of the profits. I heard Kipps saying they were sneaking out back, off to set up a hidden position somewhere.

Benny gave up after a bit, and I said I'd 'persuade' them to leave. The one thing I know is that most people will learn quite quick to stop messing you about when you have a gauss rifle aimed at their head. Telcie seemed to agree. She was a little bit upset when I told her to fuck off or be turned into red mist, but she did turn around. Told us something about being careful when we went into town, and Kipps started radio-ing into the IMOJ person, Sarah. The not annoying one. They're sending a crew out to help us move the meteorites, and we'll go from there.
 
I like it. Question: She spent the last few months in jump. Are these house rules? You've got a Traveller ship that can carry that much fuel?

Am I being too literal on the phrase? Did you mean that she's spent the last few months traveling from world to world?
 
The letter to Eloise says a lot. Now I see some of the motivation for Teodora to take these risks on a planet with mysteriously murdered men, crashed ships and shotgun toting locals. Chasing those credits on a badlands planet for a retirement on a bucolic one.
 
I like it. Question: She spent the last few months in jump. Are these house rules? You've got a Traveller ship that can carry that much fuel?

Am I being too literal on the phrase? Did you mean that she's spent the last few months traveling from world to world?
That's how I'd read it. Or just jumping from frontier refuel spot to frontier refuel spot. Not much scope to get out and stretch your legs if you're hopping from one gas giant to another.
 
I like it. Question: She spent the last few months in jump. Are these house rules? You've got a Traveller ship that can carry that much fuel?

Am I being too literal on the phrase? Did you mean that she's spent the last few months traveling from world to world?
Slightly too literal - stopping to refuel only is (I imagine) sort of like refuelling a car on a motorway. Not much of a break worth talking about :)
 
Slightly too literal - stopping to refuel only is (I imagine) sort of like refuelling a car on a motorway. Not much of a break worth talking about :)
"Ganimakkur bought a ridiculous amount of scratchers. Again. Not a single one of them was a winner. Again. I don't see how he can have such bad luck without subconsciously being a psion and just being really, really bad at it."
 
Slightly too literal - stopping to refuel only is (I imagine) sort of like refuelling a car on a motorway. Not much of a break worth talking about :)


I get it. Except that the refuelling process takes hours along with recalibrating the J-Drive, etc.

I need to read up in the SOM about the J-Drive and how fast it can jump consecutively if fuel is available. 🤪
 
That's how I'd read it. Or just jumping from frontier refuel spot to frontier refuel spot. Not much scope to get out and stretch your legs if you're hopping from one gas giant to another.
Unlike some people who are so chicken they've only hit one gas giant in the whole campaign (admittedly it didn't go well)
 
Entry Seven: Old Friends
Everything cleared up on Steel relatively easily, although all of the money went straight back into the ship. We spent our time in jump learning, and I think I'm getting better at Gvegh! Benny looks at me like I've said something wildly off-base now.

Anwyay, we landed on Marduk after a few months and numerous refuelling stops, and we were all getting a bit of cabin fever. Benny said we needed more fuel before we landed, and I pulled off a frankly stunning wilderness refuel at the gas giant before we touched down at the orbital starport.

No-one was there to greet us, bar a slightly irritated-sounding Starport Authority. I stashed Splatter in the locker in my stateroom, and gave Tarka his marching orders, namely being 'don't open the door for anyone that isn't us', before watching Kipps try to hide the Adjudicator within their jacket. It wasn't the worst job I'd ever seen, but hiding a rifle is going to take more than effectively shoving it down your trousers and hoping for the best.

There was a sports shop on the starport, so I bought a swimming set and a shotgun, before heading over to meet the rest of the group. Kipps was drinking, as usual, and standing next to Benny to keep out of trouble seemed to be the best bet. He tended to keep or get me out of trouble more often than not.

I'm not entirely sure why, but someone, not one of ours, started yelling at Kipps to stand at attention, which was promptly ignored. Following the rather nasally shouting showed an ex-marine, judging by his stance, with someone I vaguely recognised.

Now, I've been on some pretty random tours of duty throughout Imperial space during my time, as I would put in for whatever role came up and had no 'fixed abode' until my 40s. The benefit is that I meet a lot of new people, but the downside is that, after a while, their faces go all sort of mushy if I try and pick them apart.

Walking over, with Benny following, the face got clearer the closer we got, although they were trying to hide it under a deep hood. It was Brazen, that singer they'd got out on tour one year! I'd never forget that day, how the crowd sung along and drank too much and, for once, no-one got in trouble with the higher-ups for getting a little bit shitfaced. That was the day I met Eloise. She'd joined the other officers, coming down to see what the shouting was all about, but by the time I saw her she was a few drinks in.

Anyway, when we got closer the Marine prick stood between us like he could do something about it, and Brazen seemed confused when I told her I was a fan. No clue what was going on there, but Benny managed to smooth it all out before I decked the guy. We'd just got to chatting when a group of heavily armed people swarmed the concourse, waving stunsticks and shouting.

*the text ends with some indistinguishable scribbles*


Entry Eight: New Enemies
Sorry, got dragged away to help Zinnan, didn't want him to get into trouble because I'd turned up too late to help.

Where was I?

Oh, so we obviously threw ourselves against them. I think the louder half of the group working in government roles means that we're more disposed to protect people who need it; what's what Eloise used to say when I'd get into a fight anyway. It wasn't going... well.

We'd had to store most of our weapons, so the only one that had one was Kipps, who'd miraculously been interrupted mid-security search by the baton waving crazies. I comm'ed over to Tarka to bring my gun, but we were already losing the fight by that point. Running to the edge of the scrap took a not insignificant amount of maneouvring, but I was halfway there when I heard, 'Runner! Stop there, or they all die.'

Now, I know I've made some questionable choices in my life, but I stopped. It took me a moment, sure, but I stopped. I saw Benny lying unconscious on the ground and although I've only travelled with him for a while, and I know I get on his nerves, I couldn't just leave him there. He's my captain. Even Kipps I'd got used to having around, and Affa... Affa is... Well, he's Affa.

I put my hands up, and they came over and chained me to the rest of the gang, walking us to a breaching tube. Not an ideal situation, I'll give you that, but I've been in worse. At least it wasn't the Sword Worlders again, I thought. I'm pretty sure she still has it out for me.

They took us on a ramp to a cargo bay, along with dozens of other captives, and I managed to get a quick message over to Tarka before we left. 'Go back to the ship. Lock the doors. Set any security systems to hostile. Only speak to Starport Authority, and make sure you verify who they are before you open the door. Get word to my wife.' He was panicked, sure, but he'd make it. He's a smart kid.

After that, the doors closed and we were off. Some woman with a clipboard came round and started asking everyone what they were good at. Brazen was the first to be dragged to a low-berth as the woman, who I now know as Tsenia, declared her a raider. Apparently singing isn't a useful skill to them. Kipps was next, as they'd refused to say anything at all, and the marine went soon after. They'd even started to drag Affa off when I realised that maybe we should try a different approach.

I told them about the piloting, and the turrets, and even chucked in that I could do medicine, on the offchance that was what they wanted. The woman looked at me and asked how good a pilot I was, so I let my pride shine through as I told her, 'The best you'll find.' She nodded, and I was sent to a different room than the others. Five minutes later, Benny appeared beside me. Seems he didn't want to be part of the lottery, either.

Realising they probably wanted people who can do stuff on a ship, I made the case that Affa was far more useful here than on the ground, that we needed his small size to reach panels and things, and Tsenia considered me for a beat before agreeing. Who knows what shoving the little dude into a human sized low-berth would have done. These folks definitely aren't high-tech enough to have different berths for an Aezorgh.

I'll do some more after some more sim training - they've not let me fly the ship, but demand I continue training on a computer so they can see what I can do.


Entry Nine: No Way Out
Took longer than I thought, but I think I impressed the big guy, Bor. He's still an arrogant, macho prick, but at least he's easing off me a little. We were only in jump for about a week, but my god did I feel awful for Zinnan. He'd been captured a while back, and was chained to the chair when I met him, and fresh bruises showed he clearly wasn't being treated well. He'd just been told to fly and had been beaten into doing so, and I managed to teach him a few tricks to keep them away from him.

If I wasn't already sitting down when they came in to tell us we'd reached out destination, Oghma, I'd have fallen on my ass. We were marched down to the cargo bay where the others were being woken up and, when the door was opened, we were battered by a blast of freezing air.

They gave me a coat, though, when I'd asked for one, but luckily I had my own breather mask. We were then re-chained, marched into a hall, and to an auction site. I'd already gathered what was going on, but it was still a shock that people were just... buying us? As soon as the others realised what was happening, they began telling our captors about their various skills. We went for more than the raider groups, and I'm definitely taking some credit for that. Didn't matter in the end, bar for our collective pride.

We got outside again, and they asked who had experience with animals. Only Brazen had, so she got her own big chicken, the rest of us were lumped in with whoever it was had bought us. We rode for a few days, stopping to camp each night. All of us sharing a tent at night was one of the worst parts of the experience, what with old fancy marine officer thinking he was in charge and all.

I'll have to see where it goes from here. Hopefully we manage to get away, and back to Tarka. I only hope I see Eloise again.
 
Entry Ten: Hot Springs
So, we were left in some sort of hab by our 'purchasers?' Most everyone settled off to sleep quickly, as they were still recovering from being shoved in a low berth, but around dawn we were all woken by the sound of gunfire. Not really what you want to hear when you've just been kidnapped and taken to an unknown planet, with all your weapons and equipment in the hands of your captors. Kipps went to have a look, and saw another group of people shooting at 'our' group of people. Brazen got herself in a flap, as usual, while the rest of us started making our way out.

Not really sure what the plan was, but Brazen and a couple others headed off, whilst I went into the main hab looking for anything of use. We had some time while they were distracted, and I managed to snatch some food, furs, water and other little bits we might need before I had to hightail it out of there. Looks like most of our guys were dead or captured, and the unknown group was moving in. Figured it was best to skedaddle before they grabbed us, better the devil you know and all that.

Brazen managed to corrall some of the birds, and Kipps had put on a saddle, but the rest of us could only run and jump on, clinging onto the dinosaur looking creatures with a prayer we didn't fall off. They kicked up plumes of snow as we ran away, and eventually managed to lose them in the frozen wasteland around us. After some time, we saw a house in the snow, and the Marine officer bloke and Benny decided they were going to go and have a look, while the rest of us waited at some hot springs.

They were gone for ages, and seemed unimpressed by how long I could hold my breath when they returned, yammering about a woman they had found who would lead us into a city in return for some of our chickens. She was a bit grumpy, but I think it's because the two of them smelled so foul in comparison to the rest of us thanks to our nice, warm bath.

The city ended up being the equivalent of a dumpster. During summer. Three months late being collected. People got far too close to us, but thankfully Brazen managed to hold most of them off by getting back in their faces. We'd decided that, as the resident actor, she should be the face of the group, whilst the rest of us shut up as much as possible. It worked pretty well, and we even managed to get a cheap room with the spare money the woman gave us for the chickens.

Now we just have to work out what we're going to do next. And how to get a letter to Eloise.
 
Entry Ten: Hot Springs
So, we were left in some sort of hab by our 'purchasers?' Most everyone settled off to sleep quickly, as they were still recovering from being shoved in a low berth, but around dawn we were all woken by the sound of gunfire. Not really what you want to hear when you've just been kidnapped and taken to an unknown planet, with all your weapons and equipment in the hands of your captors. Kipps went to have a look, and saw another group of people shooting at 'our' group of people. Brazen got herself in a flap, as usual, while the rest of us started making our way out.

Not really sure what the plan was, but Brazen and a couple others headed off, whilst I went into the main hab looking for anything of use. We had some time while they were distracted, and I managed to snatch some food, furs, water and other little bits we might need before I had to hightail it out of there. Looks like most of our guys were dead or captured, and the unknown group was moving in. Figured it was best to skedaddle before they grabbed us, better the devil you know and all that.

Brazen managed to corrall some of the birds, and Kipps had put on a saddle, but the rest of us could only run and jump on, clinging onto the dinosaur looking creatures with a prayer we didn't fall off. They kicked up plumes of snow as we ran away, and eventually managed to lose them in the frozen wasteland around us. After some time, we saw a house in the snow, and the Marine officer bloke and Benny decided they were going to go and have a look, while the rest of us waited at some hot springs.

They were gone for ages, and seemed unimpressed by how long I could hold my breath when they returned, yammering about a woman they had found who would lead us into a city in return for some of our chickens. She was a bit grumpy, but I think it's because the two of them smelled so foul in comparison to the rest of us thanks to our nice, warm bath.

The city ended up being the equivalent of a dumpster. During summer. Three months late being collected. People got far too close to us, but thankfully Brazen managed to hold most of them off by getting back in their faces. We'd decided that, as the resident actor, she should be the face of the group, whilst the rest of us shut up as much as possible. It worked pretty well, and we even managed to get a cheap room with the spare money the woman gave us for the chickens.

Now we just have to work out what we're going to do next. And how to get a letter to Eloise.
I am so happy about the letter! Getting mail (email, letters and whatnot) is important. Singularity even has a whole chapter on how the mail gets around!
 
Entry Eleven: The Best Laid Plans
We had three options (that we could figure out). Try and speak to Warlord Hink, who we'd heard was more liberal. Try and find Warlord Corge, who was blind, made ships, and no-one had seen for ages. Steal a ship. The latter plan, suggested by the poncy marine sergeant, whose name I forget, was the one we ended up with. Him and Benny found an Oghman Thresher in a dock and, after shoving Benny into a vent to get a better look, we decided we may as well try and steal it.

I want to note at this point, that my vote was for diplomacy. I set my neural-comms to start typing my experiences up, and we left the motel. Brazen was going to try and distract them by pretending to be one of Hink's new lieutenants, with Kipps and I as her bodyguards, whilst Affa was going to climb through the vents to get inside and... do something Affa-like? Not sure what Benny and the Ponce were doing, but, like always, things immediately went wrong.

Through the door, we heard them talking about a dressed up pet, which was apparently very ugly and it was odd that someone had dressed a 'rat-thing' up in clothes. I could only see Affa, though? Two Oghmans were surrounding them and Brazen was banging on the door, and suddenly we were standing in front of a mean looking one, whilst four more left the ship, and Brazen was acting very uppity and saying that she was looking for her pet. Affa was probably going to bite her after this, but first we had to get on the ship.

All of a sudden, an angry woman walked past us on her way to Hink, to verify we were who we said we were, and Kipps levelled her Adjudicator. I followed her, because... what else was I meant to do, and we opened fire.

** The following is a transcript of events that occured, from a different perspective**

A burst of bullets let out, the muzzle of Teodora's ACR flashing as she shot the closest Oghman, before making a short dash towards the rear bay doors of the ship. Affa and Benny began to move to the doors, both of them sprinting throughout th ebrimming chaos, as Kipps swung the Adjudicator firmly into position, letting off a series of shots directly into the Oghman in front of them. Brazen ran for cover, sliding behind a crate, just before the Oghmans let bullets fly. Affa was gunned down whilst making their run for the ship, their little Aezorgh body crumpling under the incoming hail of bullets. Benny met the same fate, the sound of their body hitting the ground wrenching a wail from Brazen. Teodora had started to sprint and was cut short, a burning line of metal cresting her back as she was thrown to the ground by the impacts, dozens of bullets tearing their way through her body. She would never again speak to her wife. Would never see Tarka again. Her final breaths were short and ragged, her suffering drawn out by the blood that was filling her lungs, before she finally passed away.

Brazen, Kipps and Felipe were still alive. For now.
 
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