STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

INTRODUCTION.
YOU could cut the "air" with a crash-axe inside of STARVIN' MARVIN'S, a less than spectacular self proclaimed bar, eatery, and skin joint that catered to many known and maybe even some unknown space faring species recognized by HUMANs. ..

KEEPING a wary eye on the other custom, NANCE took another bite of the mystery meat sandwich, chewed and swallowed. she eyed it with distaste, plonked it back onto the plate with it's still untried, equally mysterious side order, and shoved it across the table. to NANCE it was plain why this joint was tagged STARVIN' MARVIN'S; the food was so bad it was not fit to eat and anyone/anything mislead into believing he/she/it could survive on it would surely perish of starvation. NANCE took a slurp from her warm "beer" wiped her mouth, took a hit off of the huge black cigar that was sitting on the table edge. exhaling added her not so insignificant contribution to the state of the "air" circulating inside STARVIN' MARVIN'S. UGH! even the beer tasted like it was brewed with un-recycled water from NOSFERATU'S bio-waste tanks!

FOR a instant NANCE considered a cruise to the bio-waste station in STARVIN' MARVIN'S for a "personal relief", then thought better of it, and made for the entrance. only the gods of space knew wot horrors lurked in there!

OUTSIDE, glaring lights, blasting noise, loud voices, loud laughter, a lot of foot (some not so steady) and not so much vehicular traffic proclaimed to all that THE STRIP was alive, well, and doing business on BADDAWG'S LANDING.

NANCE turned up her collar and zipped up her waist length jacket to keep out the night's chill, adjusted the HOGGE-LEGGE TWELVE-SEVEN and its holster to the right spot. looking about, she got her bearings: at least 2 klicks to the spaceport gates. she had money in her pocket: no need to walk back. NANCE went in search of a cab. ..

TEN (10) minutes later, in the steadily falling cold drizzle NANCE reflected on the universal constant that when the local weather went bad (where ever "local" happened to be!), taxis, which had been swarming like flies over kakky in the area, were gone with the wind, rain, etc. her already dismal mood was growing worse when she rounded a street corner and spotted the "working" lights of a cab stopped in front of a building discharging passengers. determined _not_ to let this get away without a major effort, NANCE broke into a gallop, waved her arms in the air, and bellowed out:

"HEY! STOP! HEY! STOP!"

FURTHER down the dimly lit street the three (3) local lowlife who had dragged the cabbie from his vehicle, robbed him, and were zestfully applying the boot to him for good measure, stopped. looking around for the source of the loud voice and rapidly approaching big boots they expected to see one of BADDAWG'S LANDING law forcers. instead they saw a big red head charging toward them waving her arms. great. some bozo was going to attempt a rescue. ..

REGROUPING, the three lowlifes turned to face the interloper, readying their weaponry. just in case superior numbers was not enough to keep control of the situation.

"OH,KAKKY!"

TOO late NANCE realized she had blundered into a crime in progress and not an available cab ride. ..

THE SCENARIO DETAILS (STAND UP FIGHT).
I used the random encounter system that is included with THWG's 5150 sci fi rules to generate an encounter and played the game solo on a 3 foot by 3 foot card table one night when i could not sleep. the random encounter process called for a "standup fight". i placed some buildings, roadways, streetlights and other urban terrain on the table, as well as a few vehicles (including the "cab").

TIGHT PANTS NANCE KENDALL, the star of the scenario, is the master/owner of a free trade/salvage/ rescue/exploration/exploitation FTL vessel "doing business" on the frontiers of HUMAN space. at present the NOSFERATU is aground at BADDAWG'S LANDING, a sparsely, very EARTH like, settled world with a number of independent settlements. BADDAWG'S LANDING spaceport and town is defined as ENCOUNTER RATING=3, LAW LEVEL=2.

NANCE is REP-5/BASIC ADVENTURER. "STAR", with the ATTRIBUTE: HARD AS NAILS. NANCE's PRIMARY MOTIVE: PROFIT she is not wearing armor, just civvies, but she is wearing her gun-belt with BA PISTOL, spare mags, spacer's and a sheathed crash-axe: all legal when openly carried locally.

the three (3) local lowlifes (career criminals/street thugs) are_not_wearing armor but are armed with a variety of concealed weapons:

a. MONGO, REP-4/BASIC "GRUNT" (LEADER, ATTRIBUTE: BRAWLER, MOTIVE: PROFIT ). BA PISTOL, spare ammo, knife. steel toed boots.

b. STAR, REP-3/BASIC "GRUNT" (ATTRIBUTE: DUMB ASS, MOTIVE: PROFIT). BA PISTOL, spare ammo, knife. steel toed boots.

c. DEADEYE, REP-3/BASIC, "GRUNT" (ATTRIBUTE: CRAPPY SHOT, MOTIVE: PROFIT). cut-down pump shotgun, spare ammo, knife. steel toed boots.

the battered, bleeding and OUT OF THE FIGHT cabbie is not profiled, but could be. he is, basically, a piece of the urban scenery used in the encounter.

pre-game encounter called for all combatants to set up within 12" apart and in sight. the thugs were set up at the rear of the cab, facing the street corner to the EAST. they were standing in the open. the OOF cabbie was stretched out on the ground alongside the taxi, between it and the building. NANCE, who had just started a FAST MOVE in the direction of the cab's working lights was standing in the open, with the EAST corner 6" behind her. the various guns toted by the combatants were within range of each on on TURN ONE.

since the figure i use for TIGHT PANTS NANCE is a red-head, i opted for red D6 for her, and black D6 for MONGO, STAR, and DEADEYE. these dice were used to determine who activated first each turn among other things.

THE BATTLE.
TURN ONE. NANCE goes first! she whipped out her TWELVE-SEVEN and blasted off a couple of rounds at MONGO, whom she percieved as the most dangerous opponent. i tossed 2D6, added NANCE's REP, and missed both times!

STRICTLY according to the rules, MONGO was required to test for RECIEVED FIRE. however, i decided that since all three (3) thugs were grouped close together, i decided that ALL OF THEM would test as they plainly had no clue as to who was the intended target.

MONGO passed, and since he was not OUTGUNNED by NANCE's TWELVE-SEVEN. MONGO could shoot back _twice_ with his BA PISTOL (a LEWISTON 15-mm) and did so. MONGO got sidewalk and trash-can for his efforts.

STAR, who was not the brightest light in the universe (hence the nick "STAR" tested to vs DUMB ASS, failed and just stood there, clutching his BA pistol "like a stonewall" as NANCE's bullets went by.

DEADEYE also tested for RECIEVED FIRE and passed. standing his ground, he whipped the cut down 18-mm GRINNELL pump shotgun from under his long coat, blazed and boomed at NANCE. DEADEYE, compliments of his CRAPPY SHOT ATTRIBUTE, also managed to miss three (3) times!

DOWN range from DEADEYE, NANCE, with 20 plus 9-mm shot flying about, tested for being OUTGUNNED. failing, she DUCKED BACK behind one of the nearby garbage cans. soooo much for nice clean bio-waste station in her cabin!

THIS was the end of NANCE's ACTIVATION for TURN ONE.

NOW it was time for the lowlife's ACTIVATION for TURN ONE. MONGO, and DEADEYE were all within 2" of each other, so they could act at the same time. STAR tested for DUMB ASS and passed so he was ready to rock.

all together now, the thugs activated.

MONGO tested for a FAST MOVE, passed, angled to his right and sprinted across the street toward a parked van, obviously intending to get NANCE in a crossfire while his buddies layed down some covering fire. he was halfway across the street when he realized DEADEYE's shotgun was not firing. ..

DEADEYE tried to let fly with some more 9-mm slugs, and discovered (how embarrassing! ) that he had shot his pump shotgun dry last turn, and was now standing in the open armed with a short club. . . cursing, DEADEYE voluntarily DUCKED BACK behind the front of the cab to reload!

STILL standing like a (lonely!) stonewall STAR got off two shots with his own TWELVE-SEVEN, spraying NANCE with bits of metal and garbage as the bullets punched through the fragrant makeshift barricade.

NANCE tested for recovery from DUCK BACK, popped up just in time to test for RECIEVED FIRE from STAR. testing again, NANCE passed (barely) and hammered rounds back at STAR (she missed!).

STAR tested for RECIEVED FIRE again, passed as if those big TWELVE-SEVENS whistling past were spit balls instead of bullets!

. . .from the middle of the street, MONGO, snapped off some shots at NANCE. without pausing to see the effect (they missed!), if any, MONGO dove behind the parked van.

DEADEYE fumbled his reload, and spent the reminder of the turn cursing and chasing dropped shotgun shells around on the street at his feet.

THIS was the end of TURN ONE for all combatants!

TURN TWO. NANCE goes first (and did she ever need to do so!). suddenly becoming aware that two (2) of her three (3) potential targets had apparently vanished from the surface of the planet, NANCE elected to fall back from her trashy barricade, making for the corner behind her.

MONGO was still hunkered down behind the van, catching his breath. MONGO passed 0D6 for INSIGHT as NANCE legged it for the corner, so he did nothing.

DEADEYE was still trying to reload, and did not see NANCE's dash either.

STAR tested for DUMB ASS, passed! testing for IN SIGHT, he passed 2D6! he was able to shoot, did so. one shot missed, the other smacked into NANCE with a gruesome THUD! and she went sprawling face down, almost at the corner (soooo close, but, soooo far away!).

"GOTCHA BITCH!" he whooped, patting himself on the back with both hands and doing a little victory dance. "GOTTA LOVE DEM TWELVE-SEVENS! "

CONSULTING the RANGED COMBAT DAMAGE TABLE, STAR failed to scored an OD or OOF result with his BA PISTOL. NANCE was down, she was hurting and mad as hell! NANCE now needed to take a KNOCK/BACK RECOVERY TEST before she could do anything else.

EVENTUALLY it occurred to STAR's DUMB ASS thought process to go and see the results of his shot, up close and personal like. revel in the big bitch's misery a bit before he capped her once and for all. testing for a FAST MOVE, STAR lumbered into action, and almost made it to NANCE.

END of TURN TWO for all combatants. STAR's premature victory celebration was about to have nasty consequences for the trio of thugs!

TURN THREE. once again that RED D6 came through for NANCE! she tested for KNOCK/BACK RECOVERY, managed to pass without falling back on her "star abilities". she rolled over onto her back and slowly/painfully began to sit up. bleery eyed, she saw STAR trotting toward her, and brought up her HOGGE-LEGGE. before DUMB ASS STAR could take an INSIGHT TEST, NANCE shot him twice (fatally!) and he went down OBVIOUSLY DEAD with a THUD! of his own. ..

MONGO was peeking around the front of the van was just in time to STAR's long overdue demise. this required MONGO to take a STAY or GO TEST. rolling those dice, MONGO passed 2D6 with grand style, began psyching himself up for a shot at NANCE.

DEADEYE finally reloaded and ready to rock poked his noggin up over the roof of the cab when STAR proclaimed his victory. naturally he was able to see STAR bite the dust when the allegedly down/out bitch sat up and wasted him. DEADEYE tested for STAY OR GO, tossed the dice, passed 0D6 (break off the battle result)!

"IMMA OUDA HERE!" he announced, turned and sprinted away from the robbery gone soooo bad as fast as his short legs could carry him. he finally figured he was safe when he could no longer hear MONGO's lurid description of his personal and familial ancestry back to somewhere just short of the STONE AGE on mankind's planet of origin. ..

CATCHING his breath, MONGO, re-assessed his own situation (took another STAY OR GO test, scored a break off the battle result!).

MONGO was _alone_now. STAR was a deader in front of the garbage can fortress the big red head had taken cover behind. now that was proof that STAR had not _killed_her. hell, he might not have even hit her with his shots. DEADEYE was a runner heading elsewhere as fast as he could leg it! MONGO had the money that they had taken off the cabbie before _she_ had stuck her nose where it did not belong. it was the wailing of a law force siren getting closer that made up his mind: time to fade away!

MONGO popped up from behind the van, and was halfway across the street when NANCE struggle to her feet and took an IN SIGHT TEST for MONGO. she passed 1D6, spotted the running thug, brought up her TWELVE-SEVEN and emptied the magazine at him. one or more of the big heavy bullets plowed into MONGO, and he went face down in the street with teeth spraying like chicklets. rolling to determine how serious his wounds were, NANCE scored a KNOCK DOWN result.

END of TURN THREE for all combatants.

TURN FOUR. finally the BLACK D6 score was higher then the RED D6! MONGO (or what was left of him) tested for KNOCK/BACK RECOVERY, passed 2D6! MONGO slowly got up, and began limping away from the fight.

NANCE tried to finish it then and there; trouble was her HOGGE - LEGGE was empty and she did not realize it. she continue to pull the trigger until MONGO was completely out of sight, dropped in her tracks, completely out of it.

a bit later she rejoined the living long enough to hear the siren of a law force patroller spool down, and the thud of heavy boots on the sidewalk. an all too familiar tone of voice, reeking of authority, announced from closeby:

"HERE NOW! WOTS ALL THIS NOW?"

JOHN LAW was here. late as usual, but here! as she passed out again she wondered if she were dying in a half-assed kinda way.

POST BATTLE RECOVERY RESULTS.
JOHN LAW summoned paramedics and NANCE was hauled off to BADDAWG'S LANDING (the town) only hospital where NANCE spent a bit of time (two weeks) and ran up an impressive set of medical bills. she tested for recovery and passed 1D6, which means she returns to "action" with a REP - 1 (NANCE is now a REP-4) due to her wounds.

the cabbie survived, reported to JOHN LAW and the cab company how the red-headed stranger had rushed to his rescue without hesitation. the cab company paid off most of her medical bills.

STAR it turned out, was a "wanted" man with a planet wide BOLO posted on him as well as a small reward, payable DEAD or ALIVE. NANCE recieved a small but nice sum of dosh for wasting STAR.

MONGO made good his escape, recieved medical/dental treatment for his wounds from a "black doc". MONGO would eat soft food until he could get his teeth replaced and would walk with a limp forever more. he managed to elude the both long arm of JOHN LAW and venegfeul grasp of the somewhat PO'ed crew of NOSFERATU.

DEADEYE, having an extremely bad feeling concerning the sounds of a TWELVE-SEVEN being rapid fired behind him, followed by JOHN LAW sirens, decided it was time to leave the colony of BADDAWG'S LANDING:

he headed into the OUTBACK in an ATV stolen from RALPH WILLIAMS A-OK USED VEHICLES lot in down town that same night. he is still hiding OUT THERE. ..

DAWGIE

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