Jam Session #13: The Man We Knew
Tango with the Past Arc Theme Song: “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” by Muddy Waters // Session Into Song: “You Always Hurt the Ones You Love” by The Mills Brothers
Referee’s Note: For this particular mission I used the adventure module “The Man We Knew” by Rat Wave Game House, with some modifications to best fit my campaign’s setting. I’ll be including a review after the recap. SPOILERS ABOUND.
A new day dawns as the Crew ofThe Mississippi Queen wraps up their breakfast before they head out to meet with their former mate Glenallen Mixon III. Unsure what to expect, they leave Quinn Vasser on board in case there’s any funny business - plus it doesn’t hurt that the Catapult Station isn’t exactly the nicest port in the System. They make their way across the station to Docking Bay HL where Glenallen said to meet them aboard his ship The Cuckoo Clock. Something doesn’t quite feel right to the Crew and their suspicions are justified as they walk up to Glenallen’s ship only to find that it has been cordoned off and treated as a crime scene.
A man calling himself Sidney Rook is speaking with one of the Station Security officers, seemingly trying to get on board the ship. The officer rejects Rook’s request, stating that Inspector Sterling doesn’t want anyone tampering with an active crime scene. The Crew also questions the security officer and learns that the owner of the ship (presumably one Glenallen Mixon III) died in a tragic accident on route back to Catapult Station. While all signs point to system failure, the Inspector hasn’t ruled out foul play, although the officer on site won’t elaborate as to why.
The Crew chats with Rook for a bit and learns that they work for PJ Presley Corporation, which owns a significant portion of the Catapult Station. They were partners with Glenallen in a “private business venture,” but won’t get into details with strangers. Before parting ways, Rook informs the Crew that if they are in fact old friends of Glenallen they might want to attend his funeral, which is going on in the Station Tomb for the rest of the day.
Emotions are mixed over the discovery of Glenallen Mixon III’s death. The artist parted ways with the Crew on less than stellar terms, although few (besides maybe Sirius) could really blame him after the death of Cher Pepasi. But the bad blood wasn’t enough to drown out the positive memories from jobs run before everything that went down in New Galveston. Of the Crew, it was Scruffy who took Glenallen’s death the hardest - after all Sirius and Glenallen had a major fight before parting ways, Kuru Toga was used to losing compatriots in his line of work, and Courtney had never even met the guy. But Scruffy and Glenallen had always been close, swapping stories over “cuppas” and bickering about what was and wasn’t art. Blues all around as everyone comes to terms with their friend’s sudden passing.
The Crew arrives at the Tomb just as the funeral wraps up. A few folks linger and Sirius and Scruffy decide to try and get some answers. They speak with a few individuals - a young man named Charlie Khan with whom Glenallen had a brief, but apparently passionate, romance; JD Sanchez who purported to have worked for Glenallen as a “dogsbody”; and Duke Lockwood, the owner of the Silver Falcon Saloon and friend of Glenallen’s. While they aren’t able to get much out of the latter two, Charlie (a ship mechanic fired by the Junker’s Guild) lets the Crew know that Glenallen had been involved in some criminal activity here on the Station. The Crew isn’t overly surprised - given their own background - and try to press Charlie for more. Overcome with grief, the young man says to meet up with them at the Silver Falcon later when he’s had time to process everything.
The Crew decides to split up, with Scruffy and Sirius making their way to the clinic to speak with one Dr. Jo Garcia, who Sanchez says tried to resuscitate Glenallen after Sanchez dragged him all the way to the doctor’s office (this was the one piece of useful intel the Crew did manage to get off the cybernetic-handed thug). They arrive at the doctor’s office where they learn the cause of death for Glenallen was asphyxiation - the cause of which Dr. Garcia believes was a faulty atmospheric filter on the ship. However, she wasn’t permitted to board the ship and so she wasn’t able to determine anything more conclusive.
Scruffy questions the doctor about Glenallen’s so-called racket and learns that Glenallen was smuggling medicine in and out of Catapult Station. The doctor would identify and grade the contents of each shipment and in exchange she got an incredible deal on several shipments - more than enough to keep her clinic running. As far as she could tell, Glenallen was a criminal, but not a “bad guy.” He was stealing from corporations and providing medicine to those who wouldn’t normally be able to afford it. Before the doctor can provide more information, a patient walks in. The doctor sends the Crew away and tells them to return when she closes up shop around 9 PM.
Meanwhile at the Saloon Kuru Toga and Courtney run into Sanchez, who appears to be in the middle of swapping stories with Lockwood about none other than their mutual friend Glenallen. Drinks are shared and lips loosened, eventually prompting Lockwood to hint to Kuru Toga and Courtney that whatever Glenallen’s racket was, there’s still plenty of work left to be done and opportunity to make a quick buck. The pair expresses interest - in equal parts to uncover the mystery behind Glenallen’s death and to make some money before hitting the bricks and getting out of Khanate Space. Lockwood confirms Garcia’s story about Glenallen smuggling medicine through the station, but mentions that he and Sanchez weren’t privy to the exact location of Glenallen’s storerooms. If the PCs can locate the goods, Lockwood and Sanchez will help move everything around for a modest cut. Courtney says they’ll run it by the rest of the Crew, but also that it sounds like a decent gig.
Without any other obvious leads, the Crew makes their way to Station Security CR to speak with Inspector Stirling and see if they can get onto Glenallen’s ship and do their own investigation while Kuru Toga and Courtney make their way to the Silver Falcon Saloon, partly because they both hate cops and partly because they want to try and get some information out of Lockwood.
The visit to the Station Security CR doesn’t go particularly well, with Stirling not being particularly forthcoming with information about an ongoing investigation - particularly to people claiming to be old friends of the victim. She does tell Scruffy and Sirius that there was more to Glenallen Mixon III than either of them realize. He was a criminal through and through and his actions were getting a lot of innocent people hurt. Annoyed and more than a little desperate, Stirling hands Scruffy a pile of documents including toxicology reports, photographs, interview transcriptions, and all manner of evidence that showcases the suffering caused by Glenallen’s faulty “medicine.” Scruffy becomes indignant, declaring that Glenallen wouldn’t do this and that the people getting this medicine would have been worse off without it. Stirling suggests they go speak with Dr. Garcia if they don’t want to believe what the inspector is telling them. Without another word she dismisses them from her office.
Scruffy and Sirius reunite with Kuru and Courtney at the Silver Falcon to exchange information before Scruffy and Kuru Toga head over to the Cuckoo Clock to try and sneak onboard and check out the faulty atmospheric filters. They encounter another Station Security officer, but this one turns out to be a bit friendlier than the last and has empty pockets in need of filling. In exchange for a Cred, he gives Scruffy and Kuru Toga a half hour on the ship. The pair makes good use of the time, quickly finding a damaged filter and, after some thorough examination, determining that it was sabotaged. Kuru Toga also checks out the ship’s logs and learns that everything from the last several weeks has been erased - the last item was a ship’s log stating that the Cuckoo Clock was heading to Ganymede a month or so ago.
With evidence of tampering in hand to go with Stirling’s reports, the Crew decides to check in with Dr. Garcia one more time. They arrive at the clinic and Kuru Toga immediately notices signs of a break-in. He draws his plasma pistol and takes point, clearing the reception room before he and Country sweep the rest of the building. They find Dr. Garcia sitting in her office looking perfectly fine… minus the bullet in the back of her head. The doctor’s computers were destroyed and her filing cabinets ransacked, leaving nothing for the Crew to collect. Sirius has the Crew snag a few medical supplies to restock the ship’s “med bay” before they call it in to Station Security.
Much to everyone’s chagrin, Inspector Stirling arrives on the scene and separates the Crew for questioning. Satisfied that their stories line up, she sends the Crew back to their ship, but only after being forced to promise that they’ll be kept up to date on what happened at the clinic. The clock hits 10 PM when everyone arrives back at The Mississippi Queen, where Monty the AI informs the captain that there’s a message.
“Sir, I don’t know how to say this, but… the message is from Mr. Mixon!'“
They play the message and Monty is able to confirm that it’s Glenallen’s voice. Their “dead” former crewmate invites them to a meeting at the Underbelly Cables Station K at midnight. “Come alone. I’ll explain everything.”
Suspicious, but considerably more curious, the Crew decides to gather their weapons - they aren’t complete idiots, after all - and make their way toward the nearest Station and take a cable car. Scruffy gives Charlie Khan a call along the way, letting the mechanic know that they’re going to a meeting and hope that they’ll get to the bottom of Glenallen’s death. He leaves out that he thinks Glenallen might still be alive, not wanting to get the young man’s hopes up. Charlie agrees to meet them at Station K.
The Crew and Charlie arrive at Station K a little early, but still find one JD Sanchez waiting for them. Sirius grills the “dogsbody,” but Sanchez tells the Crew that they won’t be able to explain anything better than Mixon can and to follow them into the tunnels. Charlie goes ballistic, demanding to know if Glenallen is really alive and why he faked his death, but Sanchez ignores the inquisition and tells the mechanic that he wasn’t invited, and neither was Courtney (who Glen doesn’t know). Charlie, dejected, sits down on a nearby bench and is joined by Courtney. Sirius and Scruffy start following Sanchez while Kuru Toga takes a moment to chat with Charlie. Unsure how exactly to make the guy feel better, Kuru Toga hands over the submachine gun he had pilfered during their prison break and tells him to “keep an eye out in case shit gets real.” He and Courtney devise a signal in case shit does, in fact, get real so that Court can come save their asses before he jogs off after the captain and Scruffy.
The “O.G. 3” follow Sanchez to a maintenance tunnel where they are led through a reinforced door. The room, some derelict maintenance or storage room by the looks of it, is filled with all manner of crates and packages and sitting among them are four armed guards, Duke Lockwood, and Glenallen Mixon III. Glenallen offers everyone a seat before explaining himself.
After parting ways with the Crew, Glenallen decided to head back home to Mars to throw himself at the mercy of his family and doubling down on his pursuit of an artistic lifestyle. While waiting for a shuttle on Ganymede, he noticed his old ship, the Cuckoo Clock and deviated from his original plan - hijacking (“Well I had the key, so what it really hijacking?”) the ship and taking off. Needing to lay low for a bit, Glenallen did some odd jobs until he wound up on Catapult Station and fell in with Duke Lockwood. They started up a racket shipping medicine for Lockwood’s boss, eventually bringing in JD Sanchez and a few others.
As the yarn is woven, Kuru Toga notices that Glenallen appears a bit nervous. He can’t quite put his finger on it, but there’s definitely a jitteriness to his old friend. With the “catch up” complete, Glenallen moves on to why he called the Crew - he’s looking to expand his operation and the only people he trusts are the “fine folks of The Mississippi Queen.” He’s got two positions open: a tag crew or a smuggling team. Sirius explains that they’ve got some heat on them after the escape from Cyllene and need to hit Parliamentary space for a bit. Glen says that won’t be a problem and that he’ll talk to the boss about it.
“Who’s this boss you keep referring to?” Scruffy asks. “I thought you were in charge of this whole operation.”
Lockwood smiles. “Would you like to meet him? He’s mighty interested in yourselves.”
The Crew agrees and Lockwood heads over to a pile of crates that hides a second door. The gun thugs move the crates and Lockwood knocks on the door before returning to Glenallen’s side. The door opens and out step two well-dressed men escorting a third individual. He has long, golden hair (although age has streaked it with some silver) and is impeccably dressed in a white suit. He takes a seat in front of the Crew before removing his sunglasses.
“Glenallen,” the man says in his drawling tone. He points at Sirius. “Is this the man who killed my son?”
***
Back on the station platform Courtney notices that Charlie is incredibly uncomfortable with the gun Kuru Toga handed him and tries to calm the guy down with some chatter. Charlie tells Courtney a little about his background - he was a ship mechanic for the Junker’s Guild until he was fired a year or so ago. He met Glenallen a few months back when the latter had first arrived in Catapult Station and their romance was quick but passionate before Glenallen broke it off suddenly and without explanation. Charlie had never been involved in any sort of criminal activity, he was just another brick in the wall trying to get by. Eventually the conversation moves to Courtney’s past and how he got involved in the Crew. Not wanting to reveal too much, Courtney explains that his upbringing wasn’t great and he didn’t get many opportunities to lead a so-called “normal life.” He was between jobs when he ran into Kuru Toga and Scruffy at a bar in Lassell City and hit it off.
“What are they like?” Charlies asks. “I mean… I know they’re criminals and all, but are they good people?”
“I mean… we try not to get innocent people mixed up in our shit too much,” Courtney explains. “Sirius and the rest… they’re reliable. Dependable. They’ve got my back and I’ve got theirs. We can trust each other, and that’s hard to come by in our little corner of the System.”
Charlie gets up to leave, offering Courtney the gun, but the outlaw refuses.
“You’re in the shit now, kid,” he tells Charlie. “Keep that thing on you for a little bit, until everything blows over. Then you can get rid of it. Trust me, you don’t want to get involved in the life we live.”
“I don’t even know how to use this thing!”
Courtney stands up and walks Charlie through some gun safety drills, identifying the different parts of the weapon. Feeling a little better, Charlie heads back home, gun stashed away beneath his jumpsuit. Not having much else to do, Courtney decides to head down the cable tunnel and see if his compatriots need any assistance.
***
In the meeting Glenallen nods, his guilt not allowing him to look Sirius in the eye. Each member takes on 2 Blues as they’re simultaneously forced to deal with Glenallen’s betrayal and a reminder of their part in Cher’s death. Sirius does his best to put Glenallen (and the six guns pointed at his face) out of his mind and focuses his attention on Madonna Pepasi, explaining what happened that day in New Galveston. He tells Madonna that he’s sorry for what happened and that he’s tried to do better as a captain since then, looking out for his Crew and their well-being.
Madonna lights a cigarette and makes Sirius an offer: “Either you live and I kill your two crewmates here… or they walk and you die. What is it going to be, Captain?”
Sirius asks for a cigarette. He knows what the answer is going to be, but he’s hoping to drag things out a little bit longer. Madonna obliges, sliding a cigarette case over to Sirius, who takes one before offering one each to Scruffy and Kuru Toga. He takes a drag, gives his two crewmates a smile, and tells Madonna:
“Let them go. You can do what you want to me.”
Madonna grins and orders Sanchez to open the door so Kuru Toga and Scruffy can leave. The cyborg obliges, but is surprised to see Courtney standing on the other side. Thinking fast, Courtney draws his knife and puts Sanchez in a headlock, knife against throat. Glenallen’s four guards shift their attention to Courtney, but Madonna’s hitmen keep their guns trained on Sirius. There’s a pause before Kuru Toga draws his plasma pistol and puts a round into one of the hitmen. The room explodes into chaos as bullets, tranq darts, knives, and plasma bolts cut through the air.
As the gunfight intensifies Lockwood tries to sneak out of the room, urging Glenallen to follow. The artist-turned-criminal-turned-rat hesitates for a moment before drawing his revolver and firing on Madonna Pepasi.
“Oh Glen…” Madonna says. “I wish you hadn’t done that.”
Glen is dropped by a few well-placed shots and Scruffy nearly meets the same fate before Sirius dives in front of one of the gunmen, taking the bullet meant for his beloved friend and janitor. Courtney (quite literally) cuts through the various thugs in the room, knife flashing and a maniac smile on his face. Morale amongst the hired guns breaks and they all flee the chamber, racing back into the tunnel. Kuru Toga and Scruffy fire on Madonna, injuring the man and forcing him to flee. Before he can get too far, however, Scruffy puts a final bullet in the man’s head. The last hitman wisely decides to run, but shortly after exiting the room the Crew hears a blast of gunfire and in walks Charlie, shaking with adrenaline. Courtney takes a Blues as he realizes that Charlie’s life will never go back to the way it was…
Courtney runs over to Sirius’s side and finds the captain clinging to life. He grabs the man and starts running back to the tunnel, hoping to find a hospital. Kuru Toga and Scruffy check on Glenallen Mixon III and are joined by Charlie Khan. All three are relieved to see that Glenallen also managed to survive and together they carry their old friend out of the room, following Courtney to the hospital.
“Rollin’ and Tumblin’” begins to play as Kuru Toga, Scruffy, and Courtney gather around their unconscious captain, hoping he’ll wake up soon. After a few minutes the door opens and in steps Charlie Khan to join them.
You can listen to the full Orbital Blues: The Mississippi Sessions playlist on Spotify.
After playing Orbital Blues for almost a year I knew I wanted to take a short break from the campaign - nothing permanent, just enough to let the GM side of my brain rest while someone else ran a campaign for a few months. The Crew was working their way through an Arc I had entitled Tango with the Past and involved most of the members dealing with something or someone from their life before becoming interstellar outlaws.
Sirius had to work with a childhood friend, one Aurelio Lupo who felt that Sirius had betrayed him, which in turn got Lupo sent to jail. Meanwhile, Kuru Toga was approached by an old partner in crime, one Roscoe “Blanche” O’Reilly, who was on the run after a job went south. This particular adventure would also end up involving another “old friend:” Clark “Dorothy” Weithoff, although Kuru and Clark never actually encountered one another. And finally Scruffy had to choose between his lifelong status as a member of the Janitorial Guild and the safety of his Crew. After much deliberation, Scruffy walked away from the Guild.
Courtney, being the newest member of the Crew, didn’t have any real opportunities to confront his past in this arc, but I knew I wanted to incorporate the player’s former character Cher Pepasi. When I saw “The Man We Knew” on the SoulMuppet Discord and read the description I knew I had struck gold!
The premise of “The Man We Knew” is simple: the Crew is called by an old friend (Cash Chi in the adventure as written, I tweaked it to Glenallen, a former PC of a player who stopped playing) to help with a job. When the Crew arrives on Catapult Station (the setting for this particular adventure) they quickly learn that Chi is has died, seemingly in an accident. From there a good old fashioned investigation kicks off.
The adventure does an excellent job of providing NPCs, most of which have a solid amount of backstory and descriptions. I didn’t feel boxed in by any of their histories or personalities, but at the same time I was given enough to know how to flesh them out in the moment. There were a few NPCs that didn’t quite catch the attention of my players, namely Sidney Rook (who they met briefly but never followed up with) and Red Rivers (who I honestly forgot about entirely), but the majority of NPCs played a very important role in the Crew’s investigation.
Similarly, the module does a good job of providing locations for scenes to play out, although I found that most of them weren’t necessary for the investigation. The Cuckoo Clock, the doctor’s office, the Silver Falcon Saloon, and the Underbelly Cable Station were the biggest set pieces during our playthrough. That being said, I think my group’s lack of exploration of the Catapult Station isn’t a knock against the module itself, but more of result of how they tend to approach problems (namely directly and often with a gun in each hand).
The one part of the module we didn’t get much use out of was the list of Factions. They did provide some good background and I will likely incorporate one or two of them in future adventures, but given the personal nature of this particular “job” they felt largely unnecessary beyond their role of “the factions have locked down the station, you can’t leave right now.”
The adventure is broken down into a three act structure with quick yet detailed descriptions of various scenes. Much like the NPCs, these were an excellent balance of details and space to grow. Each scene has a flavorful quote and quick descriptor that makes it very easy to get a sense of the expected mood and 3-4 quick paragraphs to describe what’s going down before the PCs arrive. Informative “If, then” statements that direct the GM to the next scene make it very easy to manage the flow.
Admittedly my group’s finale was very different than what was written into the module, but everyone at the table was quite satisfied with how things went down. The Crew finally got some closure on a pretty major moment that happened early on in our campaign and tied off a few loose ends.
Overall this adventure was very good! It is laid out in an easy to follow, easy to use way. There are enough NPCs with diverse motivations and personalities to attract pretty much any Sad Space Cowboy I can imagine and get the investigation started. The points of interest are good, although there are a few that seem to “simply exist” but aren’t directly incorporated into any of the potential scenes. My only real “complaint” is that the Factions felt largely unnecessary, but that’s more from the fact that the crux of the job is so intensely personal to the Crew than the factions not being interesting.
I highly recommend this module to anyone looking for a job/adventure that slots nicely between some larger jobs. If you do plan on running “The Man We Knew” I would recommend introducing Cash Chi earlier into the campaign so there is more of an emotional connection (or even just to avoid the “Remember the New Guy?” trope). Alternatively, do something similar to what I did and incorporate an already existing NPC - the adventure is certainly flexible enough to change up a few details without giving yourself too much work. You will want to read over the entire module at least once before running it, but at 27 pages with fairly large font that’s not a particularly challenging endeavor. The adventure is well-written, easy to follow, and a synch to referee!
Go check it out on itch.io!
