Chapter 9 Farewell to a Friend

                                    NICKEL & DIME PRODUCTION'S 
                                     proudly present's 
               CONNEMARA FEENEY & TAYLOR DAVIES 
                                                 in
                          THE HEART STONE OF AFRICA
24th of July
After the attack on us yesterday I found it hard to get to sleep but feel rested none the less, we set off once again in a North-North West heading.

By mid-afternoon I sensed a change coming over our column & noticed that our pace seemed to by slowing, I'd not got a chance to ask Marco if everything was alright before we were once more under attack.

This time they came at us from both front & rear, bellowing blood curling howls.

With no real time to react the Colonel ordered the our Bearers to run to our left coved by two of the Askaris, while Marco, Taylor, an Askaris & myself faced the frontal charge, the Colonel & two Askaris stood to at the back.

Taylor cut one down, hitting the man in the chest, while one was also cut down at the rear.

 Our shooting had whoever unseen consequences & a large silver back Gorilla came thundering out on to the clearing near to the fleeing Bearers.

Quick as a flash he was on to one of them,

as the Natives closed on us, forcing us to fight them hand to hand, all this sent the rest of the Bearers into a run of blind panic,been no match for these men I had to back off, only to see the brave Askaris who had stepped into my place in the line cut down.

As I turned away I was greeted by another horrible sight, as the poor Bearer who'd be sent upon by the Gorilla,

was now also under attack by a Hyena, As I passed the poor man, making my way over to the two Askaris, he was knock from his feet

Turning I noticed that Marco had  gotten the better of one of the two savages that he was fighting & that another of our brave Askaris had been cut down.

Marco wasted no time in cutting down the another one & with their numbers now depleted the brutes turned & fled,

as the Gorilla picked up the Bearer & made off into the foliage, with the Hyena at his heels snapping at the poor soul, after we buried our dead we set off again deep in our own thoughts each & everyone of us, after about two hours we made camp a bit earlier then planed, Marco's reason for this was that we would not be able to reach the point he'd hoped & that this spot was probable the best place we're likely to find.

The last two day's have been costly in both life's, supplies & time & if I found sleep hard to come by last night I think it will be impossible tonight, I've asked Taylor to share my tent with me tonight something that been the gentleman that is he's reluctant to do, but known how upset I'm by the days events he has agreed.

 25th of July
After a fit-full night's sleep, a night for which most of could be hear the beating of drums,we set off without breakfast as we had consumed the last of our food the night before heading roughly North-Northwest, Marco informs us we shall be pasting through a village where he is hopeful we can stock up on food for the rest of the journey to the way-station.

Sadly this did not turn out to be the case, as while we did pass through a village the Natives were neutral towards us & unwilling to trade, as we made camp  we could see mountains loom up ahead of us, I retire tonight thankful for no further attacks but with a empty tummy.

26th or July
A better night's sleep but we're all starting to feel the first pangs of hunger after a day without food, our heading is North-West into the mountains & Marco knows of another village where we might secure food, on reaching the village we find it void of people.

 We're now high in the mountains but yet peaks still rise high above us, Taylor is spending all our rest breaks looking for deposit among the rocks & while he's found a few gems of worth there is nothing to make him believe that their is much of worth in this area, other then what seems to be some Primates that none of the party have ever seen before.

It seem we are bedeviled by bad-luck as the pathway Marco leading us on as been blocked by a landslide, we'll have to try to find another way through, we make camp once more without anything to eat.

27th of July
Another night of those dreadful drums, we awoke to find one of the Askaris gone, but if I thought this day started bad it was only to get worst, following along a ledge it gave way plummeting Marco & two of the Bearers to their deaths hundreds of feet below, with no way to retrieve their bodies we said a few prayers before retracing our steps to try & find another route.

As we camp for the night, lost & without food I fear that death is awaiting us all. 

Cut
As always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to be a film critic your comments would be welcomed :)

5 Parsecs from Home, The Crew

Who I am or what I am is of no importance, its enough that you know about the following people (I use the word people in the loose's of terms) who have grouped together for a Common cause, though what that cause is is still something of a mystery.

I guest the best way of describing them would be to call them Starport Scum, but even that might be to kind, they have their uses though & can be relied upon to carry out all kind of jobs, been a Patron of their's I required  an old retired scout-ship for them to get around, named the Infiltrator & when not on a quest for me they are free to work for anyone that will hire them.

Anghor Prok, Race Kroot
From the lower classes of Mega-city, a very primitive type, it was through him that I got to know the group.                                   

             

Reactions 1

Speed 5
Combat Skill 0
Toughness 3
Tech 0
XP 0

Jessie Stevens, Race Human
From the comfortable class of Mega-city, Jessie turned out been a bit to wild for that class of people & was outcast by his family he now seeks revenge but has made enemies, he has an eye implant that makes him a very good shot.

Reactions 1
Speed 5
Combat Skill
Toughness 3
Tech
XP 1

Don Floyd, Race Human
From a subjugated colony on an alien world, Don is well traveled, seeking glory.

Reaction 1
Speed 4
Combat Skill .5
Toughness 3
Tech 0
XP 0

Ross Houston, Race Ab-human
From the lower classes of Mega-city & primitive, Ross is on the run & hopes to one day buy his freedom from his enemies.

Reactions 1
Speed 5
Combat Skill 0
Toughness 3
Tech 0
XP 1

Urulg, Race Orc
From a research post, Urulg craves discovery of all things tech & has limited tech skills, been an orc he's an agitator & has enemies.

Reactions 1
Speed 4
Combat Skill 0
Toughness 3
Tech 1
XP 0

Weapons & equipment
High Tech weapons Cling fire pistol
Military weapons 2 rifles, Auto rifle
Low tech weapons 2 Handguns, 3 Rifles, Brutal melee weapon
Gear, Nano Doc, Combat armour, 3 frakk grenades
Gadgets Sonic wave emitter, Stabilizer, Seeker sight

Credits 8, as they don't seem to have many credits maybe the common cause is to get more :)

Ship & crew

Patrons, Me

Enemies
Black Ops
Roid-ganders
Bounty-hunters

That's a rap, as always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed :)

Movie Tone News, August 2018

This months news see yet another new rules set (script team) arrive at the studio's :)
                                               
Firefly was a 1 season TV show + 1 Movie that in my humble opinion should have had much more of both & if you never seen it, it's well worth a watch but watch the TV shows first, now I know there's a board game of it but don't know of any miniature gaming rules, so if there are not rules of it Frank what's the connection between it & the new rules you going to be on about ?

Fear not I'm getting to it, Firefly is about a group that with a small spaceship who move around from planet to planet looking for jobs to do, its kind of what I had in mind when I did Tricol & no Panama Jack & crew will not be returning to the screen anytime soon, but this rule set would have worked very well for it
                                                        
 Five Parsecs From Home, so whats it all about you ask ? well if I was to liken it to anything it would be Jimland as its very much a cross between an RPG & a table top game & like Jimland the gaming part is very simple & not really at the heart of it though unlike in Jimland you will have to play out a game every campaign turn, it is also a solo game but could be played as a two player on group game if you wanted.

You start off with 5 characters which make up your crew/gang or whatever, theh you roll on 3 different tables for each one, this gives you a little bit of background, rolls on other tables for things like weapons, gear & gadgets, it can also give you some credits, patrons or enemies.

Here's how it works, each character start off with the following stats.
Reactions 1
Speed 4
Combat Skill 0
Toughness 3
Tech 0
Though Tech is not use in this rules set there are others like Bug hunt & you can move characters from one to the other, so while its of no use here it is important to track.

So say I role 37 on the first table, that would give me an character from the lower classes of Mega city & +1 roll on the low tech weapons table.
Next roll on the second table say 78, his motive is faith & gives one quest clue
Then I roll on the third table say 14, he's a hacker & gets +1 tech & an enemy.

I now give him a name & come up with a little background story for him, He's Jim Stone & believes all the problems of the universe can be solved with tech-knowledge, but has made enemies from hacking, you would roll to see who the enemy is, say I rolled bounty-hunters, the store can be while hacking into some big high tech corporation they noticed him & have put a bounty on his head.
You could flesh it out a bit more but characters can die so a lot of work could be in vain & its more about what the crew/gang do from this point on then what happened in any of their past.

I would now give him these stats.
Reactions 1
Speed 4
Combat Skill 0
Toughness 3
Tech 0
Any weapons, credits, enemies or whatever I got when rolling for him would be assigned to the crew/gang, so even if he dies the crew/gang would still have bounty-hunters as enemies.


After making your crew its time to get playing so how does this work ?
Determine if we travel.
Upkeep, one credit per crew not in sickbay, if you can't pay them they won't do any jobs.
Assign & resolve crew jobs,  these are the following you can set the crew to doing, that is if you paid them :)
Find a Patron, Train, Trade, Recruit, Explore, Track.
Assign Equipment, what weapons, gear or gadgets each crew member has.
Resolve any Romours
Play out tabletop game
Resolve enemy status
Get Paid
Determine what loot the crew found
Determine injuries & recovory
Experience & Leveling up
Do your shopping
Roll on Campaign events table
Roll on Characters event table
I'll explain now these things work as I post Movie's ( AAR's)

The plan is for this to be low budget while I work on other projects, which brings us to the next point of this months news, the studio's Western project, as was in last months news & work has been on going in the makeup & props department.
The Earp's are back from makeup

From left to right Doc Holiday,Virgil Earp, Wyatt Earp & Morgan Earp

As are Billy the Kid & the Outlaws

Billy center with two outlaws

While the props department has been busy on something big

As I said in last month's news I a timber strut that I need to hide & that's what this is for, I also want to have a mine entrance or may be a cave entrance & as part of it has to be removable I can make a few different parts as to change it at need

Well that it for this months news, so its a goodnight from me & a goodnight from him & always my thanks for dropping in & if you'd care to leave a comment it would be welcomed :)