Frankie cursed at herself. She could hear Adept IV O'Malley now. "Acolyte Bartos, what do you mean your alarm failed? You are a technician, Acolyte!" Frankie gave her head a shake. Not much she could do; batteries do fail. A loud explosion broke through her thoughts. A large metallic foot stomped down on the intersection ahead of her. Frankie wrenched her car's steering wheel.
Frankie's being tossed right into the action. Unlike Victor and Rahela, Frankie isn't a soldier. She's also not in a BattleMech, just an ordinary ground car on her way to work. Her first challenge is to not hit the giant death machine and total her car. The GM sets the difficulty at d6 and giving the Blakist a d8 in skill. No need to be tough; the opening scenes should provide opportunity for characters to pick up plot points for later. Frankie has just one plot point right now and may need more. The GM sets the stakes, rolling both dice.
Difficulty (d6): 1The stakes are set at 5. Normally, the highest two dice are added together, but 1s never count. Frankie passes on buying the jinx.
Word of Blake 'Mech (d8): 5
Frankie now builds her dice pool. She starts with her Physical attribute, a d6, and adds her Drive skill, a d8. If her car had been statted out, she'd get its engines, but it's not important to either her or the scene. Frankie adds her Wet Behind the Ears distinction, using it at d4 to gain a plot point.
Physical (d6): 5Frankie gets a total of 9, not quite enough for a Big Damn Hero die, but more than enough to succeed.
Drive (d8): 4
Wet Behind the Ears (d4): 2
Tires squealed as Frankie hauled her car into a tight turn. The car's rear end threatened to fishtail, but Frankie managed to avoid the 'Mech's foot. She looked up at the machine towering over her. On its left breast, she saw the Word of Blake symbol, Terra superimposed on a long sword. Frankie bit back choice curses, then slamed her car into gear.
The Blakist pilot doesn't care who is in the car; all he wants is to send a message to the other residents of New Turbinenplatz. He takes a shot at Frankie with the goal of Taking her Out. Frankie gets to set the stakes. She'll use her Physical and her Drive again. This time, though, she's using her Know It All distinction; she knows the streets better than the invader.
Physical (d6): 6The dice are friendly to Frankie. Her total is 15.
Drive (d8): 8
Know It All (d8): 7
The Blakist still has the two dice from earlier, for difficulty and skill. He's an extra at this point; his BattleMech hasn't even been described.
Difficulty (d6): 4The Blakist gets a total of 12.
Word of Blake 'Mech (d8): 8
The Blakist 'Mech opened fire on Frankie. Lasers and autocannon fire bracketed the car, kicking up chunks of asphalt all around, but the young technician zipped through.
Unlike Rahela and Victor, Frankie doesn't have a way to fight back, at least, not on the Streets of New Turbinenplatz. She wants to get to the ComStar compound as fast as possible. The GM gives her three beats to do so before ComStar seals the facilities. Frankie's first thought is to find a faster way to the compound. Her first beat, she spends searching on her noteputer a direct route through the mess of traffic and carnage. The GM sets the difficulty at d10; Frankie's doing this while being chased. The opposition die is still the Blakist MechWarrior.
Difficulty (d10): 5The stakes are set at 9.
Word of Blake 'Mech (d8): 4
Frankie brings in her Mental attribute, her Know skill, and her Wet Behind the Ears distinction. She's also using her Noteputer Signature Asset. She can't use her Book Learnin' trigger; she has the access to information it needs but not the time to use it.
Mental (d10): 7Frankie's total is 9, a tie. Worse, the GM buys the jinxes for just one plot point, giving her a Stripped Gears complication at d8. The good news, though, is that Frankie now has four plot points. She may need them.
Know (d8): 1
Wet Behind the Ears (d4): 2
Noteputer (d8): 1
Frankie tapped at her noteputer with one hand, the other on her steering wheel. The traffic feed didn't help her, the system overloaded from the chaos erupting in the city. With a grunt of frustration, Frankie tosses the tablet on the seat beside her. She winced as she heard gears grind as she shifted. Never a good sign.
The Blakist is intent on stopping the fleeing car. Its driver isn't turning around and fleeing, so there must be something special there. His goal now is to stop the driver, not destroy the car. Still, that will mean Frankie gets Taken Out, and possibly taken prisoner. She sets the stakes, though. Again, it's a Physical and Drive, but this time, she's using Technologist. Frankie spends a plot point to get the asset, I Know This Car Inside-Out, at d6. The asset will last the entire scene.
Physical (d6): 6Her total is 12. Could be better. To be better, she spends a second plot point to add in the 4 from Technologist to get a total of 16.
Drive (d8): 6
Technologist (d8): 4
I Know This Car Inside-Out (d6): 3
The Blakist gets to add in Frankie's Stripped Gears complication for his roll. The difficulty returns to d6, though.
Difficulty (d6): 2The final total is 11. Frankie finally gets her Big Damn Hero die with that extraordinary success, and this action doesn't take a beat.
Word of Blake 'Mech (d8): 6
Stripped Gears (d8): 5
The Blakist 'Mech reached down with its giant metal hand. Frankie broke hard. The hand overshot the car and hit the pavement. The ComStar tech gunned her engine again, swerving around the hand and opening the gap between her and the Blakist.
With two beats left, Frankie needs to ditch her pursuer. She changes her approach. Just trying to out-drive the Blakist isn't working. She needs to out-think him, make him go the wrong way. If successful here, the Blakist is out of the chase. The MechWarrior gets the same dice as before to set the stakes.
Difficulty (d6): 3Frankie needs to beat a 9.
Word of Blake 'Mech (d8): 3
Stripped Gears (d8): 6
On her part, Frankie chooses Mental for her attribute and Trick for her skill. She chooses to use Wet Behind the Ears, reasoning that surely no one has seen this sort of maneuver before. Frankie also gets her I Know This Car Inside-Out asset.
Mental (d10): 1The GM passes a plot point for the jinx, raising Stripped Gears to d10. However, Frankie's total is 11, beating the Blakist's roll. She escapes!
Trick (d4): 4
Wet Behind the Ears (d8): 7
I Know This Car Inside-Out (d6): 4
Frankie kept an eye on her rear view mirror, making sure that the Blakist was still chasing her. She roared through intersection after intersection, just keeping far enough ahead to remain out of reach while still letting the Blakist invader think he can grab her. Two blocks past her regular turn-off, she threw her car into a bootlegger, turning around to face the BattleMech. Frankie stood on the gas. Her tires squealed and smoked before finding traction. The car danced between the 'Mech's legs. Frankie turned down the street to work before the Blakist could recover.
At the ComStar facility, the gates began to close. Frankie urged her car through the narrowing gap, holding up her ID badge to let security see who she was. One guard approached her, his gun levelled. His three co-workers, though, turned to see the source of another commotion.
Next week, bringing everyone together.
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