[Mongoose's Office Game] Teodora's Diary

[MongooseBella]

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.

 

[ColinD]

Polishing the ATV is pure character moment! Loved reading this campaign diary.

 

[MongooseBella]

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.

 

[Longboat]

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?

 

[ColinD]

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.

 

[rinku]

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.

 

[MongooseBella]

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

 

[CordwainerFish]

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."

 

[Longboat]

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.

 

[rinku]

You can always do a hasty refuel and jump calculation if you're good enough or reckless enough.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[boggo2300]

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)

 

[rinku]

Unlike some people who are so chicken they've only hit one gas giant in the whole campaign (admittedly it didn't go well)

Ehh, Scouts. Pilots. What can you do?