Episode 2.01: Brushfire!

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: Spend 1 Momentum (or give me 1 Threat) and invoke Collaboration.

[Patrick Goodman]

Don't be afraid to spend Threat. I promise you won't hurt our feelings.

[Nolmir]

OOC: Oh, that's a good point! Hadn't thought about that. Feels like this is getting to be really expensive, but dangit, let's do it. Adding 1 Threat to invoke Collaboration.

So that means success for Thadis. I'm assuming he still gets just 6 [CD], since this is after the task proper, but it's easy enough to fix if I'm wrong. So here goes:

Rolled 6d6 : 6, 6, 3, 5, 6, 6, total 32

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: Adding 1 Threat to invoke Collaborate, improving Thadis' Science to 5 for the task roll.

Thadis - 2 Successes vs. Difficulty 2. Success! 5 Work rolled - 2 Resistance. 3 Work remaining. 1 Breakthrough achieved! 2 Intervals.
Tobin - 2 Successes vs. Difficulty 2. Success! 6 Work rolled - 2 Resistance. 4 Work remaining. 1 Breakthrough achieved! 2 Intervals.

If you purchase 1 Threat for each Work roll, you can ignore the 2 Resistance for each task, that will give you folks 2 Breakthroughs. Do you wish to do so? (Note that it's not likely you'll be able to succeed on the Extended Task without it.)

Tobin has purchased 2 Threat to bypass 2 Resistance for each task Work roll, as stated below.

Status
Tasks: Reason + Science vs. Difficulty 3, assisted by the ship's Computers + Science.
Breakthroughs: 1 3
Work Track: 20 14 3
Magnitude: 5
Resistance: 0 2
Remaining Intervals: 12 8 4

The bypass of the computer fault seems to get the pair into a groove as they continue their work. Thadis asks his superior for some clarification on an obscure theory, which proves to assist him clear a hurdle that was proving too challenging on his own.

OOC: Okay, once you decide if you're going to purchase the Threat to ignore Resistance on the Work completed, you can roll the third round of tasks vs. Difficulty 2.

Current
Momentum 1
Threat 14

Well-Oiled Machine Advantage (when a PC or supporting character assists a PC on a shipboard task)
More Aggressive Strategy Advantage (Tyreen)
Educated Guess Advantage (when using ship's sensors to actively scan for cloaked ships)
Smoothing Things Over Advantage (when attempting to calm ruffled feathers over Styles' raid of the Apellan camp)
Coordinated Computer Usage Advantage (all task rolls for current Extended Task to trace and tap the current Klingon communication)

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: For Treyva's benefit, the exact numbers from the raid are 18 dead and 135 wounded out of 251 Apellans at the camp. Additionally, two of the three Klingons were killed, and the third was wounded.

Meanwhile, planetside...
A dark-haired woman stands and steps into the middle of the assembly. "All this talk of the effectiveness of these 'repeaters' is simply a distraction from the real matter at hand," she charges as she addresses the elders. "Pelel took six hunting parties and, without permission, directly attacked an Apellan camp. Our great leader Tyree forbade such aggression -"

"Tyree is dead!" a hunt leader calls out.

"Yes, he is dead, but Yutan affirmed the rules he put in place!" she counters, cunning in her eye. "Go ahead, deny that. Deny Yutan's authority!"

"Who is that?" Treyva wonders.

"Danli, I think," Styles replies. "One of their kahn-ut-tu spirit healers. She's married to an influential elder - Tonril, seated on Yutan's left."

The challenged hunt leader purses his lips, but remains silent. With a slight smile of satisfaction, she continues, "Pelel breaks the very rules given to us to preserve our way of life. So, the question is, 'Why?'"

She turns to Pelel and it seems as if half the elders do, too.

"Oh, she's good," Styles comments.

Pelel steps forward. "You say the rules are in place to preserve our way of life -"

"I did not; Tyree did when he gave them to us," she answers.

"Then I say Tyree was mistaken in that prohibition!" Pelel challenges. "For those rules have only served to slowly kill us. How much of our hunting grounds have we lost? How many tribes have had to move to the more desolate lands to the west? Our way of life is still being destroyed; when do we start to take it back from the Apellans?"

"See how he openly defies and defiles the memory of Tyree?" Danli asks. Treyva and the others see her husband Tonril lean in and whisper something to Yutan, who nods. "What is his ambition, then? With the help of the outsiders -" she points at Treyva and Styles, and heads turn to them "- he seeks to challenge Yutan as chief! He seeks to overthrow Tyree's hand-picked successor and throw our people into chaos!"

The previously silenced hunt leader stands. "Maybe a change in leadership is needed!"

At this point, the entire assembly goes into an uproar until Yutan finally regains order and quiets the others down. He says, "Lawrence, you and your people have always been a friend to our tribe and the Hill People in general. Is this true, do you seek my overthrow?"

"No, Yutan, we don't. But, we also see that the current strategy will slowly destroy your people. Eventually, you'll be forced from the hills, or you'll be wiped out entirely."

"How can you take him at his word? This one plots with Pelel against you! He even argues with the same words as his fellow conspirator."

Styles raises his hand. "Then, I propose we each make our case. Treyva has only just arrived and was not involved in the raid in any way, even as an observer. He can speak for my people."

"I agree," Danli answers, with what seems to be a hint of triumph in her voice.

Yutan asks, "Treyva, will you speak for your people?"

[Nolmir]

OOC: Yes, let's add the 2 Threat to counter the Resistance. Since we're this far in, I'll also add in another 2 Threat to Create Opportunity on both their rolls, just to make sure.

Round three of task rolls:

Thadis: Reason 10 + Science 4 (Ship Sensors focus)

Rolled 3d20 : 17, 14, 4, total 35

Ship's Assist: Sensors 9 + Science 2

Rolled 1d20 : 3, total 3

Tobin: Reason 11 + Science 5

Rolled 3d20 : 18, 19, 1, total 38

Ship's Assist: Sensors 9 + Science 2

Rolled 1d20 : 18, total 18

[Nolmir]

OOC: Boy, I've really been flirting on the edge of generating complications!

But if I'm reading the dice right, that's 4 successes for Thadis and 2 successes for Tobin, so 2 Momentum generated in total. So I guess I'd like to use the Momentum to bypass Resistance on their work rolls. Do I have to declare that beforehand, or can I wait to see if I'd rather use it to re-roll?

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: Momentum generated may be spent before or after a Damage/Work roll. The system is designed for spending Momentum when it's needed.

I'm a bit on the fence regarding applying Thadis' Sensors focus; although you folks are using the senors to provide realtime data, the real work is using the ship's computer to plot the path of the communications beam from extrapolated data. So, I'm going to say no for Sensors; however, since Thadis hasn't received his benefit for being featured in Episode 2.01, I'm going to give him the focus Data Analysis, which means he's better than the average polar bear when crunching data to produce coherent information. Data Analysis will apply to the remainder of the Extended Task. So...

Noted that both Thadis and Tobin are spending 1 Threat each to Create Opportunity

Thadis - 4 Successes vs. Difficulty 2. Success, plus 2 Momentum generated. 2 Intervals.
Tobin - 2 Successes vs. Difficulty 2. Success. 2 Intervals.

Spending both Momentum to ignore 2 Resistance on each of the Work rolls. Go ahead and roll Work for each character.

Status
Tasks: Reason + Science vs. Difficulty 3, assisted by the ship's Computers + Science.
Breakthroughs: 1 3
Work Track: 20 14 3 (pending Work rolls)
Magnitude: 5
Resistance: 0 2
Remaining Intervals: 12 8 4 (0, pending Work results...may have to purchase Threat to keep challenge alive)

Current
Momentum 1
Threat 16

Well-Oiled Machine Advantage (when a PC or supporting character assists a PC on a shipboard task)
More Aggressive Strategy Advantage (Tyreen)
Educated Guess Advantage (when using ship's sensors to actively scan for cloaked ships)
Smoothing Things Over Advantage (when attempting to calm ruffled feathers over Styles' raid of the Apellan camp)
Coordinated Computer Usage Advantage (all task rolls for current Extended Task to trace and tap the current Klingon communication)

[Patrick Goodman]

Treyva will,  once I get home from work.

[Nolmir]

OOC: OK, let's see how this goes.

Thadis' work roll:

Rolled 6d6 : 2, 5, 3, 2, 3, 4, total 19

Tobin's work roll:

Rolled 7d6 : 3, 2, 1, 1, 3, 6, 1, total 17

[Patrick Goodman]

Treyva nodded solemnly and walked to stand directly before the war chief. "When we first met a few days ago, I told you that the Village People were preparing to move against you in a significant way, and that it was coming soon; I believe that time is here." He looked around at the assembled leaders and continued. "We've been trying to convince you for days that we needed to move faster, more aggressively. I might not have taken it as seriously as I should have. Before I was a war leader, I was a teacher; I've always tried to find a way to win peacefully, even though I know that it's not always possible.

"Pelel acted without your knowledge, yes, just like Lawrence acted without mine, but they both did it for what I concede is the right reason. They want to see this over, and they want to see the Hill People survive. They want to see the Hill People and the Village People live in peace again, and the only way to do that is, as the saying goes, to take the fight to them. You must convince them that they are better off living in peace, because you are unafraid to use swift, terrible force if they do not. It's a horrible thing, but sometimes we have to do things that are unpleasant, even horrible, so that our people can live better lives."

He went down on one knee before Yutan, so that their eyes were on the same level. "I am a father, Yutan. I have three children; they have been blessed to grow up in peace, and I hope they will live out their lives that way. Look around; there are children in this camp who have never known anything but this terrible war, just as there are children in Apella's village. Wouldn't it be better to end this war now, before Apella's people end it? His friends are not like Lawrence and I; they are not known for their mercy to a fallen foe. If the Village wins, it will be the end of the Hill People, and all of this will be for nothing."

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC:
Thadis - 5 Work. 1 Breakthrough!
Tobin - 6 Work. 2 Breakthroughs! (1 for 5+ Work, 1 for scoring Work after Work Track was reduced to 0.)

Status
Tasks: Reason + Science vs. Difficulty 3, assisted by the ship's Computers + Science.
Breakthroughs: 1 3 6
Work Track: 20 14 3 0
Magnitude: 5
Resistance: 0 2
Remaining Intervals: 12 8 4 0

It feels like it's taking forever to get past the relay's security protocols, but, layer-by-layer, the two men peel away its defenses until they can access the programming. From there, the flood gates open and they move quickly on to their individual tasks.

Thadis pulls out a stylus and begins to jot down a series of numbers and symbols on his electronic clipboard - they appear like a jumbled mess to Tobin, but he knows the Andorian's mind is uniquely suited to picking patterns seemingly out of thin air.

Meanwhile, Tobin was making progress of his own. He verifies he's hearing multiple voices as he records the conversation.

As he monitors the recording, Tobin hears Thadis exclaim triumphantly in his native tongue. "We have them!" he says to his superior. "The beam intersects with the ground about three klicks north-northwest of the relay. It's a clearing just big enough to fit a scout ship in a small glen."

OOC: By the way, thank you for all the Threat. I'll be sure to use them during the debate.
Current
Momentum 1
Threat 16

Well-Oiled Machine Advantage (when a PC or supporting character assists a PC on a shipboard task)
More Aggressive Strategy Advantage (Tyreen)
Educated Guess Advantage (when using ship's sensors to actively scan for cloaked ships)
Smoothing Things Over Advantage (when attempting to calm ruffled feathers over Styles' raid of the Apellan camp)

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: I think Treyva's speech warrants a Presence + Command Opposed Task, with a bonus Create Opportunity for his eloquence.

This will be an Opposed Task vs. Danli. I'll roll her task after I compose her rebuttal.

[Patrick Goodman]

Treyva's Opposed Presence + Command Task

This is a biggie, I think, and Davy has a ton of Threat he can throw at me, so it's time I pulled out the big guns, I think.

Things I have going for me in this:
Smoothing Things Over Advantage (when attempting to calm ruffled feathers over Styles' raid of the Apellan camp).
Cultural Flexibility Talent (possibly).
Diplomacy Focus.
Bonus Create Opportunity.
By bringing up his children, I feel like I invoked his "Family is Paramount" Value and so can use Determination.
Treyva is decorated with the Star Cross medal, which allows him to double his Focus range for a Task once a mission.

Command + Presence (10/5), TN 15, Focus range 10 (Star Cross)
Determination die (Perfect Opportunity): automatically rolls a 1

Rolled 3d20 : 15, 8, 6, total 29

NO whammies....

[Patrick Goodman]

Whoa....

With the Star Cross increase to Focus range, and the Perfect Opportunity die, I count 7 gross Successes. We'll have to see what the net result is, but I couldn't have done much better. I just hope it's enough.

As a Veteran, I can roll a Challenge die to try and get my Determination back.

Rolled 1d6 : 2, total 2