Recent Posts

The crew of the Ring of Fire, still stuck on the colony world of Steel, continues to do what they can while hoping a supply ship will make it through the raiders blockade.

A month has passed since the battle with the Raiders. In the meantime, the crew is asked to pitch in with work around the colony. A prefab starport, known as Steelport has been constructed and a road is being built to connect Steelport with the initial colony site of Camp Bravo.

At the opening celebration of Steelport, the colony administrator tells the crew that a cache or weapons and starship parts has been discovered near where the battle with the Raiders took place. The administrator asks the crew to take their ATV out and help loot the cache. He would also like them to run a few errands on the way: investigate why one of the outlying homesteads transmitter has gone down, deliver some weapons to another homestead that is having dinosaur problems, and drop off a demolitions expert at the bridge site so she can help construct an approach to the bridge.

Oddly, the homestead with the down transmitter is simply that, no alien invasions or raiders present. The crew then delivers the guns to the other homestead and helps rescue a fellow survey team from the depredations of one of the larger dinosaurs.

At the bridge, the crew encounters the leader of the Sword World mercs. He says that the raiders have destroyed the Amish colony and he and the colonists are making their way to Steelport to seek refuge. He also tells the crew that the raiders are gathering vehicles for an attack on Camp Bravo and Steelport. Before the crew can act, all hell breaks loose.

The crew hears a mayday from an incoming supply ship that is under attack by the raiders. No sooner is the mayday heard than the supply ship explodes. The raiders hit the fusion reactor on the ship, robbing themselves and the colony of the supplies. The raider starship then drops into the atmosphere, obviously damaged from the fight with the supply ship. It launches its pinnace and both begin an attack run on Steelport. Steelport fires a volley of missiles striking the raider starship and the pinnace. The starship retreats over the horizon but the pinnace crash lands near Camp Bravo.

Realizing the the Ring of Fire is the most tempting target for the raiders, the crew rushes to Camp Bravo.

At Camp Bravo, the crew successfully repels the Raiders from taking the Ring of Fire. There are too many raiders to stop them all though and a convoy of vehicles and ATVs loaded with Raiders rolls out from Camp Bravo toward Steelport.

The crew piles into their shuttle and takes to the air to beat the raiders back to the bridge. The work crew is struggling to demolish the bridge they have just completed in order to slow down the raiders. A group of raiders on a grav-raft is harassing them and pinning them down. Using the shuttle the crew boards and takes control of the raft and assists in blowing up the bridge with only minutes before the Raider convoy arrives.

Racing back to Steelport to help defend it the crew discovers that the colony administrator has placed the Sword-world mercs under arrest. He can't negotiate an agreement with them while the raiders are baring down. Cecelia intercedes and negotiates an agreement with the mercs to help defend the colony.

The crew then leads the rag-tag colonists in a defense of the port. They are able to turn back the main raider force but a group has managed to gain access to the colony control center. If they get control of the colony missile batteries, no one will be able to stop them.

The crew attacks the raiders from behind while the Sword-worlders defend the main control room. After room to room fighting the crew defeats the raiders. The colony administrator honors Cecelia's deal with the mercs and grants colony membership to them and the Amish settlers.

The administrator also tells the crew that the raider spaceship was shot down as well. It made it all the way to the other continent before it landed though. He gives the crew its exact location, and points out that they are the only ones with a ship that can reach the other continent....

Having acquired some ship weapons the crew set about getting them installed on the Ring of Fire. In order to avoid any "Alliance entanglements," what the crew really needed was a pop up turret, so the guns would be hidden.

This led them to be put in touch with everyone's "friend", Badger. After some careful negotiations, Badger agreed to swap the laser weapon and turrets the crew had for a pop up turret that could have the auto-cannon installed in it. As part of the deal, the crew also agreed to take a load of colonists and supplies to the newly opened colony world of Steel.

Steel is a "lost" colony world. It was terraformed by automation when the ships from earth arrived. Its location was lost over the intervening time and only recently rediscovered. For some unknown reason, the planet has developed wild life resembling dinosaurs.

Arriving at Steel, the Ring of Fire was set upon by raiders. The crew put up a valiant defense, but ended up with one engine destroyed and one disabled. Crash landing near the colony settlement, the crew discovered that they were the first ship to make it down to the planet in months, the raiders had destroyed or taken all the rest. The colonists were ecstatic to have what little supplies the crew had brought with them.

Since the crew were now stuck on Steel till their ship could be repaired, the colony leader offered the crew some scouting and survey jobs that needed to be done.

During one of the survey jobs, the crew discovered a group of "wildcat" colonists who had been living on Steel since before the end of the war. The colonists are peaceful Amish, but they are protected by a group of ex-mercenaries known as the Sword-Worlders. There were some tense moments between the mercs and the crew. The mercs didn't want their secret to get out but didn't want to kill the crew either.

The stand off was interrupted by a distress call from another survey team nearby that has come under attack from the raiders. The crew rushes to the scene and is pinned down by fire from the raiders. The crew is unable to rescue the colonists until the mercs ram their truck into the raiders barricade. This provides enough distraction for the crew to extract the colonists.

The mercs agree that there is no point in keeping the Amish colonists a secret any longer. The raiders are the common enemy. The crew returns to Camp Bravo with the wounded colonists and news of the wildcatters.

The Ring of Fire currently has 2 triple mount turrets with no weapons and 2 torpedo launchers with one torpedoes each. The launchers are hidden underneath the wings. The torpedo launchers are special made single torpedo launchers. Normally only a Capital Ship carries torpedoes

Up to 6 weapons can be placed pretty easily in the turrets. Military weapons are surprisingly "plug and play." They are very obvious though so you will probably want to replace them with "pop-up" turrets.

You've got 1 pulse laser and 1 autocannon in the cargo bay from the last adventure.

The Launchers are worth about 500k credits total and the torpedoes themselves are worth about 15k each. The turrets themselves are worth 1 Mcr each. The autocannon is worth 250k and the pulse laser about 500k.

(1 Mcr = 1,000,000 Credits)

The Ring of Fire's power plant is to small to support any kind of laser weapon. You're best bet is to probably try and make a deal where you swap the turrets, laser, and torps that you have for some pop up turrets. You can also keep the torpedoes but they are expensive to reload.

Gamewise there is no difference between the Autocannon and the Pulse Laser. The Autocannon just needs ammo and the pulse laser doesn't.

Pop up Turrets cost this much:

Single Weapon = 1.2 Mcr
Double Weapon = 1.5 Mcr
Triple Weapon = 2 Mcr

The autocannon does 1d6 damage to a spaceship and the torps do 4d6 damage. For a frame of reference your ship can take about 16 damage before becoming crippled. The autocannons shoot bursts but the rules don't get into how many bullets per burst. One ton of autocannon ammo gives you 12 shots and it costs 15k for a ton of normal ammo. HEAP ammo for an autocannon costs 45k per ton but does 2d6 damage.

The crew was hired to deliver a load of livestock to a rancher named Safarina on Whitefall. Thinking the livestock would be cows the crew is surprised to find out that it's actually a load of greyhound racing dogs. It seems that Safarina wants to start his own race track and needs the dogs to get started.

On the way to Whitefall, the crew discovers that some of the dogs are sick, luckily Yume is able to separate and treat the sick dogs.

Arriving on Whitefall, The Ring of Fire decides to drop and entire piece of hull plating nearly opening the ship to vacuum. Some fast flying and damage control keep everyone safe but the ship will need some repairs before it can leave Whitefall. Baleeze also discovers that the fuel gauge has been malfunctioning and the ship has a whole lot less fuel, than they thought. The crew will need to find some fuel.

Since Constance Patience is notorious for charging exorbitant port and docking fees at the spaceport on Whitefall, the crew lands out on the plains near Safarina's ranch.

The crew explains to Safarina about the sick dogs and that he might want to contact the seller. Safarina appreciates the info and tells the crew that they can probably find fuel, parts and maybe even some passengers in the nearby spaceport.

The crew heads into to town. Yume, Elanna, Cruxian, and Cecelia head to the local saloon, which is also the town's slaughterhouse. Baleeze and Jonsey head over to the scrapyard to try and find parts and fuel.

Cruxian and Cecelia participate in some gambling and find out that one of he ranchers might need some (actual) livestock transported off-world, but it won't be for a few weeks.

Elanna is approached by Saul Potter, he knows her from the war. She does not recognize him but remembers his name. He was a fleet commander for the Browncoats during the war. Potter was one of the officers who came over to the Browncoats side when Admiral Roland Sharpe switched sides at the start of the war. Saul says that he and 3 of his companions would like to get passage to Bellerophon.

Cecelia negotiates a price with him which includes some fuel for the Ring of Fire. They agree to meet here at the bar the next day and pick them up.

In the meantime, Jonsey and Baleeze are able to locate a suitable piece of hull plating and help themselves to some of the parts located in some locked sheds. Unfortunately, they are discovered by the scrapyard workers and have to leave hastily without their "looted" parts.

When the rest of the crew heads back to the ship they are accosted by a group of Patience's Deputies. They inform the crew that they have landed illegally and they need to pay the port fees plus a fine. Cruxian, having no love lost for Patience or her goons, draws and shoots one of the deputies. Everyone scrambles for cover. Elanna attempts to get Cruxian to stop shooting, while Yume scares off their horse so they can't get away. Baleeze eventually gets everyone to stop firing and the deputies become "guests" of the crew for the night.

Balezee gets them drinking and Yume spikes the liquor so they all pass out. The crew leaves them tied to a tree a few miles from the ship.

The next morning Balezee heads into town early to get the hull plating. Lucky for him its a different scrap yard crew than from the night before and he is able to get it back to the ship and begin installing it.

Jonsey, Cruxian, and Cecelia go to pick up their passengers, which goes without incident. There is one small hitch with the fuel that the passengers were providing. They have hidden it in one of the old wrecks in the scrapyard and they need to go get it.

Jonsey accompanies the two former marines, Brutus and Gerome, to get the fuel. They are accosted by 2 deputies while loading the fuel, but Jonsey tries to distract them (badly) but he does confuse them enough that they are able to speed away with the fuel.

Everyone makes it back to the ship and it prepares to take off. Unfortunately, the port control has issued a "land lock" on the Ring of Fire. This means that the engines won't fire up unless they can get it released. Luckily, the Ring is a former military ship and the landlock was installed separate from the main computer. Yume is able to temporarily bypass the landlock and allow the ship to take off.

The crew isn't out of the woods yet though. When breaking atmo, one of the engines flames out. Jonsey and Elanna fight to keep the ship in the air while Baleeze and Cruxian struggle to get the engine going again. The engine is brought back to life and the crew escapes with Patience's patrol craft hot on their tail.

Once they are out in the black, one of their passengers explains that he is actually Admiral Roland Sharpe, the famous outlaw Admiral. He says that he was declared an outlaw when he didn't show up to sign the armistice at the end of the war. He was to busy escaping with his life from an Alliance hit squad that had come to "purge" his officers.

He tells the crew that his old flagship, the Freedom's Glory is scheduled for destruction at a scrapyard on Pegasus, a moon of Bellerphon. He wants to stick his thumb in the eye of the Alliance one more time by stealing his old ship and asks the crew to help.

Between Baleeze and Jonesy arguing over who gets to fly the warship, he also manages to mention that he has 10k in Platinum stashed away aboard that the crew is welcome to as payment.

Yume determines that there is a large transport in bound for the scrapyard. Elanna, Cruxian are able to fake the sensor signature of the transport and the Ring of Fire sets down right next to Freedom's Glory on the landing pad.

The Blue Sun security team notices immediately that it is not the right ship. Yume, Cecelia, Cruxian, and Elanna attempt to distract the guards while Jonsey, Baleeze, and Sharpe's group make a break for the Freedom's Glory.

The crew isn't very successful at fooling the guards and a firefight breaks out on the landing pad. The Ring of Fire lifts off before the port can issue a ground lock but Freedom's Glory is in no shape to fly. Baleeze is able to get the engines, computer, and one of the turrets up and running but the ground lock is preventing them from taking off.

Cecelia and Yume try to jam the scrapyard from calling for reinforcements, but Yume has to break the landlock on the Glory. She is able to break it and the Glory lifts off, but not before two fighters get into intercept range.

Both the Glory and the Ring of Fire have some trouble breaking atmo but they eventually make it. The fighters close in and fire on both ships but Baleeze is able to drive them off with the one working weapon on the Glory.

The crew can now consider Roland Sharpe and his accomplices as contacts. Sharpe paid you the 10k in platinum as well as letting you salvage a beam laser and an auto-cannon from the Glory.

I wouldn't plan on going back to Whitefall anytime soon.

Setting out for the planet of Beylix with thier passengers onboard, the Ring of Fire managed to both take off and land without falling apart. Arriving at Beylix, Chad Sloat headed off to have his votes counted, Jimmy Blake went to do whatever it was he came to do, and the town council headed out to find themselves a new Sheriff. Yume and Cecelia headed off to find Benny Xiau, who has a "package" that the Tong leader back in Frisco wants.

At the city jail, the Sheriff of Newhouse was spectacularly unhelpful until it was mentioned that the group wanted to hire his deputy Luke Pearson, as the Sheriff of Frisco. He then fell all over himself to be helpful. Meeting Luke himself the town council was impressed by his credentials, while the crew was somewhat suspicious.

Meanwhile, Yume and Cecelia found Benny Xiau only to discover that Jimmy Blake is also trying to get the package. He wants to get it for Bridget, not the Tong though. Through the use of some clever distractions and the threat of violence they are able to obtain the package and keep Jimmy Blake in the dark about whats going on. The package turns out to be a special game piece.

Cruxain goes with Chad Sloat so the Miner's guild votes can be turned in. Unfortunately for Chad, the votes have been tampered with and show him as the winner. The Miner's guild officers move to arrest him and he bolts out across town. The guild guards give chase shouting for him to stop.

Back at the jail, the Sheriff and his deputies hear the ruckus and go to check it out. Without so much as a word, Luke Pearson draws his gun and shoots Chad in the back twice, killing him. This convinces the town council that he really is the man to clean up Frisco and makes the crew even more suspicious.

Having finished what they came to do on Beylix, the crew heads back into the black bound for Regina, without Chad Sloat, but with the new Sheriff. There's not enough time to go back to the comet and pick up more ice and drop the passengers off at Frisco, so the crew allows the passengers to take them shuttle down as they pass by Regina.

Cecelia tries to warn the town council that their new sheriff may be unstable but they don't seem to keen on listening.

Arriving at the comet, the crew is greeted by Sam Hawkes, who does not shoot at them this time. After explaining to Sam about Bridget and the Lucios Newberry, he says he does know her, but she always went by the name Saffron back then.

*Collective groans when the crew realizes who they are working for.*



Turns out the the Lucious Newberry is the ship that stranded Cruxian and his squad back in the war. Sam tells him that not long after that the crew of the ship mutinied and made off with the cargo that Colonel Maddox and Saffron had stashed aboard it. He didn't know what the cargo was.

The crew helps to cut and load the ice and Sam agrees to come back with them to Frisco, just to see what Saffron is up to now.

Arriving back at Frisco, the crew finds the blockade has been lifted and the town seems to be deserted. On investigating, it seems that the "Sheriff" was a little to diligent in his job, shooting or arresting almost everyone in town. The townsfolk are all in hiding. It seems that Bridget and the new Sheriff were last seen headed for the mine outside town.

It's snowing now and when the crew reaches the mine, they are told by the mine foreman that the mine is in serious danger of collapse due to the weight of all the snow. He also tells them to the lift has been used twice today but he doesn't know who is in the mine.

The crew enters the mine and first encounters Lau Tsu, the tong leader. He tells them that Bridget and the Sheriff are there searching for the lost cargo of the Lucious Newberry. The pilot hid it there many years ago and said it was cursed. The tong leader is planning to kill Bridget and the Sheriff to keep them from getting it.
The crew convinces Lau Tsu to withdraw and let them handle it.

The crew finds Bridget on the lowest level of the mine searching in ankle deep water for the entrance to a vault that holds the cargo, which she says is a fortune in platinum coins. The crew quickly disables her and prepares to leave the mine when they come under fire from the Sheriff. He is using explosive ammo, causing the mine to become even less stable.

After a running gunfight through the mine, the crew captures the sheriff and emerges from the mine before it collapses. They turn the sheriff over to the tong leader while they throw "Bridget" in the town jail. The 10,000 promised for the new load of ice was a lie of course. The town is so happy to be rid of the sheriff though they offer the crew a substantial amount for the ice and the Tong rewards them as well.

Both the Town of Frisco and the 14k Tong can now be considered contacts.