Solo Traveller: Hendar

The main port building was fairly small: some radio masts and what really looked like someone camping on the roof. There were some small warehouses next door, and Ewo and I sorted out our ship manifest and bounced over to the building.

Nicely enough, there were grav plates inside, so I was no longer concerned with hitting my head on the ceiling just trying to walk. After talking to the port warden (who was the same person who we contacted by comms a few hours back), we were directed to another building across what he called the quad. Apparently the grav plating covered a larger area than just the building. When I asked, Stin, the warden, told me that there was about a 200 meter area where the buildings were at, including some dorm type rooms for the locals to sleep in once in a while. Bone density and other health issues were helped by the residents sleeping in the port area every few days. Apparently there were sleepover parties and it was one of the times when the mostly disparate people gathered, shared any news, and generally caught up with each other.  The warehouses, fuel depot and other facilities were "off-grid" to help with moving things around. 

Finding someone to buy the medical supplies turned out to be a lot more difficult than expected: there was no local government, just a few groups of the "Hippies of Hendar", a name they proudly call themselves I found out. Our first few inquiries did not go well, and Ewo was starting to get a bit angry and perturbed by the lack of any sort of governing body. We had medical supplies they probably needed as they could not produce these themselves. Yet no one seemed to care or had the credits necessary. I felt there was some sort of irony in this, as I could see one of the buildings on the quad was where they actually printed currency. There were literally piles of half-printed money, but none to purchase our goods. There was a lot of low-tech security there, including what looked to be a small patrol on foot carrying shotguns.

We did unload the 230 tons of bulk freight we did have. It was made easier as we turned off the grav plates in the cargo hold. Though inertia is still a thing, it does make it easier for the alcohol-based port tractors they have to move the shipping crates. 

We also started to search for cargo: Ewo and rented a buggy and started out searching the hills, so to speak. Having only 300-odd residents, there were only a few communes to look around for. Given a paper map and no GPS proved to be a bit frustrating, but there were paths so we did not get lost. On the second day of our sojourn, we encountered a native creature (world encounter: interesting or potentially dangerous encounter with some local wildlife; it's reaction roll had it run away). We slowed down and stopped at hopefully a safe distance, not knowing exactly what a safe distance would be. It stared at is a few minutes, then trotted off in a long, loping run that had it taking 20 meter strides before it was out of sight.

Deviantart link to original

We finally found a farmer that had some interesting herbs for sale, technically a ton, but fortunately it was fairly light despite the bulk, and would fit on the trailer we had (see this post for the details) Apparently, sales were not great, as we managed to purchase the herbs for just half of what this would normally go for (I actually used the Mongoose sales table, and with 3d6 actually rolled 18, which is 55%, then there is a bonus from the Solo rules as we are away from the port so better deals are found, bringing us to 50% of the cost) We set up the contract to pay the Cr30,000, and we loaded the crates. The light gravity helped. We finally headed back to the ship. I for one was ready to sleep back in full grav - while initially it seems easier to sleep, simply turning in bed could bounce you out of the bed sometimes! 

While we heard about the knifesmith, Nathan Hillback. Sadly, he did not have anything really for sale at a bulk level, and while the knives were beautiful, at a few thousand cred each, they were outside of my price range. Though Ewo did get two. "These knives are perfectly balanced and will last forever. And you can never under-estimate a well-made knife," she told me as she bargained with the burly smith.

We bounced over the terrain, crates on the trailer behind the buggy, and arrived back at the port late in the evening. Loading the cargo, we slept in our own beds that night, finally back in full gravity.

The next day, Captain Laux introduces us to Lady Khu Knueguegzo, a Vargr noblewoman who was dropped off here from her last ship, and required transport throughout the League. She would be paying high passage rates for her and her body guard. We were to provide possible additional assistance if required. While I am not a body guard type, I've been around high profile people in my reporting career (yes, he was a journalist in his previous career from way, way back when I started to set up this solo game!) Egg seemed almost cowed by her - I'm always curious about the Vargr relationships and how everything is a sort of pack hierarchy. Then those thoughts always end back to humans are pretty much the same, just with different names and reasons for those relationships. I think the Vargr are just more honest about it.

There was no freight available: this sparsely populated planet was not in the cross-roads of any trade routes apparently. We'd have to accept that we have a pair of passengers and a ton of herbs. And after reading through the cargo manifest, I noticed that the 2326793-02167515-[915 984 8Y]-(2) codes indicated that this deadly for Ewo and the Aslan, so I handled the cargo and then did a fast sterilization of the bay and loading ports. I let Ewo know to be careful and stay out of the cargo bay just in case. 

Okay, we had our time with the Hippies of Hendar and picked up some weed. The knife smith is actually based on a friend of mine that does actually make knives - he's still in the journeyman status but it is really cool to see what he does. He is the one that made me that battle axe. We've also got a sort of patron: the section for contacts and actually starport encounters both had me roll a patron. So, I pulled out 76 Patrons, figured we had 1-5 characters, rolled the dice and had the following patron:

From 76 Patrons:  The players' group is approached by a representative of the Imperial Minister of State, who is searching for a small party to act as an escort for a visiting Vargr noble. She will remain in the subsector for about six months before departing for home. Anti-Vargr sentiment is high for the moment, due to a  number of unfortunate incidents  involving Vargr warships, and the League is anxious about the noble's visit. The group will receive Cr2000 each at the successful conclusion of the assignment, and will undoubtedly get first consideration for future jobs. 

Cr2000 per character is really not a whole lot, though reading between the lines, this would have included ship fare and living expenses so quite a bit more than the Cr2000 says. As we do have a ship, we'll make her pay the full high passage rates for her and her bodyguard. We already have 1 Vargr on board, now there are three. It will make for some possibly interesting interactions. And, just why was Lady Khu even on Hendar? Honestly, I am going to work this into the back-plot that the Captain and "Egg" have been hatching (see what I did there?). It is still pretty vague in my head, but there are wheels within wheels here. I just need to figure out where I want to go with that.

And I can see how I may have handled this had this been a game with players: there were a few role-playing scenes here that would have been fun. My dialog, when I do it by myself, is somewhat stilted and dry. And while I can't think too fast on my feet, so to speak, it is more fun to talk and role play against live people versus just my imagination. Hopefully I'll get back to some face to face gaming at some point.

Finally, in looking at the map, there is really only 1 planet to go to from here unless they want to backtrack. Llamma, a planet I have detailed before. I'll have to poke the archives to see if I made a post about it. Apparently, I used it in one of my games as I have a directory full of maps and things, including a complete visitors guide! Next post - details on Llamma!

Llamma