Cepheus Deluxe: The Bounty Hunter - Session 1

 

Downtown Krinnai, Siento 1

Introduction

In session zero I made our Cepheus Deluxe character, Captain Arman Doyle, formerly of the Imperial Space Marine Corps but now washed up and living in a small apartment in Krinnai, the capital city of Siento 1. The planet is in the grip of a fascist regime and not a very nice place to live.

The Adventure

Scene 1 | Krinnai, Siento 1 | 3023.05.02 | Account balance Cr44,650

Arman wakes up around 10am, hungover, and finds his fridge is empty. He showers, dresses in his dark grey jeans, a white shirt and leather jacket then heads down to the apartment block's underground garage and jumps in his car.

It's a short drive to the local convenience store. On the way there he stops at a traffic light and the driver in the lane next to him is pulled out of his car and beaten by the police. They don't even ask him any questions. That kind of thing has been happening ever since he arrived on Siento 1.

A few minutes after arriving at the store he's trying to choose between two brands of soya milk when he hears a booming voice shout from near the entrance "Bounty hunter! Freeze!". He drops a carton of milk on the floor and whirls around to see a grey-haired man pointing a handgun at a younger man near the checkout machines. The younger man, pale with a shaved head, grabs an elderly man and pulls him close. With one arm around the man's body he whips out a flick-knife and holds it to the man's throat.

"Drop the fuckin' gun, man! I'll cut him, I mean it!" The skinhead shouts. Without thinking Arman sends a thought-sign to his cybernetic forearm. It slides open and his pistol smoothly moves into his palm, his fingers closing around it.

Arman makes a check with advantage due to Hunter trait (Difficulty 10)

9 +1 Recon +1 INT = 11. Success!

Arman is at a 90 degree angle from the skinhead who doesn't see him snap into the Weaver combat stance and fire. The bullet misses him, shattering a fridge door. A woman screams. The skinhead turns to look at Arman and the bounty hunter takes the chance to line up a shot. He fires and blows a chunk out of the man's bald head. The man stands completely still for a second then drops like a sack of potatoes to the floor, the older man staggering away to safety.

Arman aims and fires at the skinhead.

3 +2 Gun Combat +1 DEX +1 Aim -1 Target obscured = 6. Miss.

Skinhead is surprised this round and can't act. Bounty hunter aims and fires.

12 +2 Gun Combat +1 Aim -1 Target obscured = 14. Critical hit!

10 +6 Effect x2 Critical = 32 damage. Skinhead dies.

The bounty hunter rushes over to the body, kicking the flick-knife away from it. He looks over at Arman who raises his hands.

Oracle roll, initial character disposition:

Suspicious.

"What the hell was that? You could have killed that hostage, you punk!" He snaps at Arman.

"Captain Arman Doyle, former Imperial Space Marine Corps." Arman salutes the man, taking the chance that he has a military background and would respond well to it.

"Marine, huh?" The bounty hunter looks him up and down. "Makes sense. You on shore leave, son?"

"No I was discharged a few weeks ago."

The man introduces himself as Abe Clarke, a bounty hunter based on the nearby planet of Vorte 2. Arman watches him take out a small handheld laser scanner of some kind and pass it over the corpse's face, which is illuminated with blue light as he does so. When he opens his forearm compartment and slips his gun back into it Clarke looks at him and says "All that cybertech going to waste... You know, if you're at a loose end and you want to make some good money I could hook you up with one of my contacts."

"You mean like, some kind of bounty hunter's guild?"

Clarke laughs. "Nothing so organised as that, no. But all over the sector there are people who act as unofficial go-betweens for clients and hunters. Especially on worlds like this where the local law's more interested in bullying ordinary folk than catching criminals."

"What did that guy do?" Arman points at the body with his foot.

"Stole a rich guy's grav car and crashed it into a canal. Not the most high profile job but I take what I can get."

Clarke pulls out a communicator and uses it to retrieve a 3D image of the skinhead's face from his scanner. He types in an address and uploads it. "There we go, they should pay me for him tomorrow. Half rate of course since he's missing part of his head now."

He tells a staff member what happened and leaves the store with Arman. "Can I get that contact from you?" Arman asks.

"Sure." Arman gets his communicator out and Clarke sends him a message.

Frank Hancock

Amtep Logistics

1734 Vandern Street

Krinnai

"Go there tomorrow. Tell Frank I sent you. He'll like you... probably." Arman starts to ask another question but Clarke has already hailed a cab, which stops just long enough for him to jump in. "Come see me on Vorte 2 once you've got a few jobs under your belt, son!" He shouts as the cab speeds off.

Later that day Arman looks up Amtep Logistics at a cyber cafe, finding an ordinary-looking shipping company's details. With nothing better to do than drink his Marines pension away, he decides to pay this Frank Hancock a visit.