Episode 6 – Walkabout
Evans-Clarke asks for and finally
gets permission to mount a scientific overland exploration to learn more about
the flora and fauna outside of
Once the number of personnel
going with Evans-Clarke is known, how far a field and how long they will be
gone can be determined. If there are 25 or more on the trip, Evans-Clarke will
be out for three weeks and will penetrate up to 40-50 miles into the jungle. If
there are 15 to 24 in the expedition, then the trip will be limited to two
weeks and will cover 25-35 miles. If the total group numbers less than fifteen,
then Evans-Clarke will only get one week and can cover no more than 20 miles
from
Due to the heavy jungle, the distance covered per day is no more than five miles on average. Blazing a trail each day is a task of Intelligence + Survival / Jungle (Nature Lover applies). The distance the group covers is based on the results on the table below.
|
Roll |
Distance |
|
Botch |
No progress |
|
EASY |
2 miles |
|
AVERAGE |
3 miles |
|
HARD |
4 miles |
|
FORMIDABLE |
5 miles |
|
HEROIC |
Find open valley cover 10 miles |
Near the end of every day, finding a suitable defensible position is a HARD (11) Intelligence + Perception / Tactics. Success gives the explorers the equivalent of Medium Cover with an Extraordinary Success gaining Heavy Cover. A failure only earns Light Cover and a Botch doesn’t provide any bonus at all, Building a shelter is a HARD (55) Complex Action with each roll taking 30 minutes. Success or better creates a solid well ventilated shelter that will keep them dry all night. Failure results in a shelter that will begin to leak in the middle of the night. Each PC will have to succeed with an AVERAGE Vitality + Discipline to avoid being at a one-step penalty to all Intelligence based rolled due to the poor night of sleep.
In addition to the shelter, the explorers will have to obtain food and water. Fortunately, there are several sources of food in the jungle available the PCs. Hunting is a HARD (55) Complex Action of Intelligence + Perception / Tracking with each roll taking 30 minutes. Success allows a standard attack roll. Failure spooks the target and scares it away. A Botch encounters a hungry dinosaur. Fishing or gathering edible plants is an AVERAGE (35) Complex Action of Intelligence + Survival with each roll taking 30 minutes. Water is everywhere, but purifying the water is a HARD (55) Complex Action of Intelligence with each roll taking 30 minutes.
A success in hunting, fishing or gathering obtains 2-5 pounds of food. An Extraordinary Success will locate 3-18 pounds. A success while looking for water will find enough for everyone to drink if it is purified, while an Extraordinary Success locates a source clean enough not to require any further treatment.
As the main point of the trip is to learn more about the jungle than the Lemurians already know, each day, in addition to learning the nature of the local geography, there is a chance of encounter with local animals.
|
Encounter Table |
|
|
Roll |
Result |
|
1 |
Feral Grik (6) |
|
2 |
Mantok
(1) |
|
3 |
Slithkas
(6) |
|
4 |
Chak-fen
(1d4+1) |
|
5 |
Heavy rain (Lose d2
miles of travel) |
|
6 |
Dense Jungle (Lose
d2 miles of travel) |
|
7 |
Chak-fen
(1d4+1) |
|
8 |
Slithkas
(6) |
|
9 |
Mantok
(1) |
|
10 |
Feral Grik (6) |
|
11 |
Wrecked Japanese aircraft
|
|
12 |
Japanese marines
(7) |
While all the other events on the table can occur multiple times, there will only be one wrecked plane and one Japanese marines event. Finding the plane cannot occur sooner than the halfway point of the exploration with the GM adding a cumulative bonus of one to the encounter rolls until the wreck is found. The encounter with the Japanese marines cannot occur until the plane is discovered or before reaching the most distant part of the trek based on the results of Evans-Clarke’s initial to obtain assistance (IE 20, 30, or 50 miles out).
On the first roll of 11 on the
Encounter Table, while moving through the dense jungle, each PC will roll an
AVERAGE Alertness + Perception with a success noticing something reflective
flashing in the distance. On breaking out of the jungle into a fairly large
clearing, they are stunned to see the wreck of an airplane! Foliage has already
begun to obscure the wreck, but the markings are the unmistakable red
‘Meatballs’ of
When the explorers reach the wreck the GM will call for Alertness + Perception rolls with the character (PC or NPC) with the lowest result being attacked by a Mantok that has occupied the wreck. Run the combat as normal with the Mantok having a one-step bonus to its attack on the first Combat Turn due to surprise.
Once the dinosaur has been dealt with, the PCs can search the wreck an AVERAGE Intelligence + Perception / Deduction roll. A success notices that, while the plane will clearly never fly again, the well executed wheels-up landing damaged the left engine to the point that it is only usable for parts, the right engine is fully salvageable, and that there were survivors. Inside there are signs that several items were removed from fuselage and outside there is a single crude grave with an illegible marker. The wreck has been in place for nearly a year and any sign of the survivors have long been erased by jungle growth.
After the PCs have discovered the wreckage of the Japanese plane, on the first roll of 12 on the Encounter Table, every member of the expedition must roll an Alertness + Perception test with a Botch leaving that character an EASY target for the Japanese autofire attack that rips through the jungle. Failing the above roll means that character may only use Innate Defense. A Success allows an Agility + Athletics / Dodge roll, while an Extraordinary Success will also give that PC the benefit of having Light Cover.
The PCs are under attack from seven Japanese with one Type 96 light machine gun and six type 99 Arisaka rifles. The attackers consist of six marines and the co-pilot. There were initially two pilots and ten marines, but the pilot was killed in the crash and four marines failed to survive in the unforgiving jungle. The Japanese are concealed 200 feet from where the PCs are attacked and have Heavy Cover. The past year has been extremely harsh on the Japanese survivors and they are fortunately low on ammunition. Each marine is down to ten rounds for their rifles and the light machine gun is down to two 30 round magazines (The one in the weapon is down to 10 rounds after the autofire attack). In addition, the pilot has a Nambu Type 14 pistol with two 8 round magazines and the marines have two fragmentation grenades. Due to the poor quality of Japanese weapons, any Botch means the weapon has jammed, requiring an AVERAGE Agility + Guns roll to clear.
Run this battle as normal with
the Japanese fighting until dead, but will not pursue if the PCs retreat. If
the PCs win the fight, among the items discovered in the Japanese position is a
diary kept by the co-pilot. Unfortunately, it is written Japanese. Translating
the Kanji based on the meaning of the original Chinese characters is going to
be a long slow process that will have to be completed after returning to
Translating is an INCREDIBLE
Intelligence + Linguist / Chinese with each roll representing eight hours.
Success reveals that the writer is Koichi Nakamura
and that most of the meticulous diary’s recent entries are the mundane musings
on the struggles to survive. The diary chronicles the deaths of the four marines
that were part of his mission to sickness or an encounter with carnivores. The
stunning part of the journal is the beginning that explains that the plane was
one of ten troop transports on a top secret, and likely one way, mission to
drop paratroopers on
Japanese
Paratrooper
Agility d8, Strength d8, Vitality d8, Alertness d6,
Intelligence d6, Willpower d6; Life Points 18; Initiative d8 + d6
Traits: Fightin’
Types (Major), Military Rank (minor), Steady Calm (Major), Things Go Smooth
(minor), Tough as Nails (Major), Credo: Bushido (Major), Deadly Enemy: Critters
(minor), Overconfident (minor), Prejudice: non-Japanese (Major), Sadistic
(Major)
Skills: Athletics d6 / Dodge d8 / Running d8, Covert d6 /
Stealth d8, Discipline d6, Guns d6 / Rifles d8*, Knowledge d4, Melee Weapons
Combat d6 / Bayonet d10, Perception d6, Survival d6 / Jungle d8, Unarmed Combat
d6 / Karate d8
*The
one paratrooper with the machine gun has that skill at d8 instead of rifle
Japanese Pilot
Agility d8, Strength d6, Vitality d8, Alertness d6,
Intelligence d8, Willpower d6; Life Points 14; Initiative d8 + d6
Traits: Military Rank (minor), Nose for Trouble (minor), Steady
Calm (minor), Two-Fisted (Major), Credo: Bushido (Major), Deadly Enemy:
Critters (minor), Prejudice: non-Japanese (Major)
Skills: Athletics d6 / Dodge d8, Covert d6 / Stealth d8,
Discipline d6 / Mental Resistance d8, Guns d6, Knowledge d6, Perception d6, Pilot
d6 / Tina transport d8, Survival d6 / Jungle d10, Unarmed Combat d6 / Karate
d8
Feral Grik
Agility: d8,
Strength: d10, Vitality: d10, Alertness: d8, Intelligence: d2, Willpower: d6;
Life Points 20; Initiative d8 + d8
Traits: Tough as Nails (Major)
Skills: Athletics d6 / Dodge d8 / Jumping d8 /
Running d10, Covert d6 / Stealth d10, Discipline d6, Melee Weapon Combat d6 /
Claws d10 / Teeth d8, Perception d6 / Smell d8 / Tracking d8, Survival d6 /
Jungle d10
Chak-fen
Agility: d6,
Strength: d10, Vitality: d12+d4, Alertness: d10, Intelligence: d2, Willpower:
d4; Life Points 20; Initiative d6 + d10
Traits: Sharp Sense: Smell (minor), Coward
(minor)
Skills: Athletics d6 / Dodge d12 / Jumping d10
/ Running d12+d4, Covert d6 / Stealth d8, Melee Weapon Combat d6 / Claws d8,
Perception d6 / Smell d10, Survival d6 / Jungle d10
Description: A
large ‘duck-billed’ herbivore roughly 20’ long.
Slithkas
Agility: d10,
Strength: d6, Vitality: d8, Alertness: d10, Intelligence: d2, Willpower: d8;
Life Points 16; Initiative d10 + d10
Traits: Fightin’
Type (Major)
Skills: Athletics d6 / Dodge d10 / Running
d10, Covert d6 / Stealth d10, Discipline d6 Concentration d8, Melee Weapon
Combat d6 / Claws d10 / Teeth d10, Perception d6 / Tracking d8, Survival d6 /
Jungle d8
Mantok
Agility: d6,
Strength: d10, Vitality: d12+d2, Alertness: d6, Intelligence: d2, Willpower:
d6; Life Points 24; Initiative d6 + d10
Traits: Tough as Nails (Major)
Skills: Athletics d6 / Dodge d8 / Jumping d8 / Running d10, Covert d6 / Stealth d10, Discipline d6, Melee Weapon Combat d6 / Teeth d8, Perception d6 / Smell d8 / Tracking d8, Survival d6 / Jungle d10, Unarmed Combat d6 / Brawling d10