Becky and the Red Jade Buddha - 3rd Adventure

[Vagabond]

My Dearest Becky

When you receive this letter you will have gained your Degree in Archaeology and my old friend and your Tutor Hieronymus Bell will have judged the time is right for you to undertake this, your first expedition. I am only sorry that I am not there to help you but that’s the breaks you get.
You will need to travel to Penrith – Cumbria, in the north of England, I left my notes and other information with a colleague George W Phelpps and he will pass them on to you, when you give him the pass word and convince him who you are, the word is “love”.

Be careful Penrith is a wild town, at least it was the last time I was there, sheep rustling, jay walking and even after hours drinking. There is also a possibility that Count Jaques Spaark, may also be interested in the item you are to look for, you may remember me talking about him. Don’t ever trust or turn your back on him, it could be the last thing you do, he is a mean and ornery son of a bitch. However I do not see how he would make the connections to be able to get to George, or indeed be able to make the connection that you will go after the artefact in the first place.

I realise I have not told you about the Red Jade Buddha.

Red Jade only comes from Yangchow Province in western China and the cult of the Red Jade Buddha supposedly died out in the mid 18C when the area was invaded by the European powers. Opium was their main money making enterprise but the English took control of the trade and put them out of business, they suppressed the cult until it was assumed they had finally died out.

When I was in Tibet in the late 30’s I came across the Red Jade Cult – now a criminal gang or Tong as they are called, they had in their possession the Red Jade Buddha, a 12” high statue that is reputed to have special powers, no one now knows much about it but I believe these powers are real and so does Count Jaques. It is important that you do not let the Count recover the Buddha, you must be there first and get it back to Hieronymus Bell, he will know what to do with it. Do not tell him what you are going after, he will insist on coming and at his age will only get himself in to trouble and probably you along with him.

I strongly suggest you enlist the help of your friends Roxanne and Gabrielle, they were always able to get you out of tight spots when you were all in school, you know I don’t approve of them but when the devil calls you need to be able respond in kind and those girls are the ones to do it.

Hieronymus has my twin 1911 Colts they are a good gun in a fight and never let me down, he will pass them on to you now I have no need of them, don’t forget it is illegal to carry them in England but as Mr Colt said they are a great leveller in a fight.

It is a dangerous journey I am asking you to undertake, it has to be done and I have the utmost confidence in you.

Your ever loving Father

Henry

[FramFramson]

Ohhh... this looks like it's going to be good.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Ohhh... this looks like it's going to be good.

Seconded! More please.....................

[Noverre Man]

Sounds good already.

[marianas_gamer]

Looking forward to this Vagabond, pics, Man, pics!!
LB

[Vagabond]

Thanks Guys

I was going to post more but dinner called. It's a bit of a slow start I'm afraid.

Back Story

Henry Wakelham born 1910 died “unknown”, is or was an archaeologist of some renown in the 1930’s before the war, and then served with distinction in the Middle East, working with Army Intelligence in the countries that he knew well from his time digging up old bones as he liked to call his work. He married in 1953 to Countess Juliana Elena Alverez and had one daughter Becky who was the apple of his eye. After the war he went back to the bone digging business, spending many months away from home. Naturally his marriage suffered and his wife divorced him in 1960 when Becky was young, he kept in contact with both of them and was a somewhat elusive, mysterious figure to Becky, who worshipped him. In the late 60’s he spent a lot of time in Asia, fascinated with the Cults that had existed there, he disappeared in 1973 and has not been heard of since. It has generally been assumed that he is dead but not everyone believes that.

Becky Wakelham born 1954. She is the only daughter of Henry Wakelham the archaeologist who was divorced from her mother when she was 6, but Henry kept in contact, returning home at irregular intervals, always with fascinating tales of strange lands far away, and people with customs far different from her own people. The divorce had a dramatic effect on her, at school she was shy and introverted but as she matured in her teens she met and became inseparable friends with Gabrielle and Roxanne and they were known as the Wild Bunch, their escapades were legend. Notwithstanding this she grew up with a love of history and culture and so it was not surprising that when the time came she followed in her father’s footsteps and worked hard to get a 1st in Egyptian History and intends to become an Archaeologist in her own right.

[Vagabond]

The 1st bit details the game conditions, if you're not interested in that skip to the 1st picture although it was a very short game. The next one is more detailed

Prologue

Following her fathers instructions Becky catches a train to Penrith

Game conditions

Becky arrives in Penrith, a rough market town in the north of England and has to works her way from the train station to the local Post Office where she hopes to get the address and directions to George Phelpps house, other encounters if friendly enough may also have this information but may not be all they seem.

On a dice roll of 1, 2 they are OK. 3, 4, they will pass on information to anyone who asks. 5, 6 they are working for Count Jaques Spaarks and will inform him as soon as possible.

Encounters

There are 10 encounter markers on the table, and I have a deck of cards 1 through 10 shuffled and face down. On contact a card is turned over and corresponds to the following:-

1 - Meet a biker gang, 1 to 6 members, 1 Friendly – will help if asked. 2 Friendly – no help. 3 Neutral – no help. 4 Unfriendly – no help. 5 Unfriendly – will attack. 6 Very Unfriendly- will attack.

2 – Run in with a drunk, 1 - amorous. 2 – noisy. 3, 4 Aggressive. 5, 6 Very Aggressive, calls on 1 – 3 other drunks to help.

3 – Meet local gang, 1 to 3 members, 1 Friendly – will help if asked. 2 Friendly – no help. 3 Neutral – no help. 4 Unfriendly – no help. 5 Unfriendly – will attack. 6 Very Unfriendly- will attack.

4 – Meet local Law 1, 2, 3 officers, pass persuasion roll to avoid confrontation.

5 – Nothing happens

6 – Meet little old lady who tells them where George lives.

7 – Find local post office who tells them where George lives.

8 – Nothing happens

9 – Meet George, who takes her home and gives her Henrys books and papers on the Red Jade Buddha although he does not know what they are because they are wrapped and sealed with a wax seal.

10 – Nothing happens

The Game

Text related to the picture above it



Becky walks down the main street and her 1st encounter is with a rough looking biker, fortunately there is only 1 and she asks him if he knows of a George Phelpps in town but although he is friendly enough, her long blond hair probably helped, he does not know of the man but does give her directions to the post office which is only just down the street.



Moving off in that direction she sees another man across the street so she approaches him and naively asks the same question, soon everyone will know that the stranger in town is looking for George Phelpps, the man is helpful, yes I know of Phelpps and he gives her directions to get there.

Epilogue

George is pleased to meets her once he has verified that she is indeed Henry’s daughter and invites her to stay the night but she has booked the night train to Inverness in Scotland to meet up with her school friend Roxanne. They have a brief conversation about her father and George gives her the package he has been keeping for Henry.

Becky then makes her way back to the train station and heads north, unbeknown to her, asking complete strangers on the street where George Phelpps lives has triggered alarms and one of the men was actually in the pay of Count Jaques just to keep an eye on George as he was a well known associate of Henrys.

The 1st Encounter has gone well for Becky, she is armed and has Henry’s notebook, she has already made contact with Roxanne and Gabrielle and they will meet to discuss her father’s strange letter and see what if anything they should do about it. The 2 encounters she had were both the most dangerous ones and she was lucky to throw the right dice and not get into any trouble. It did not make for a thrilling game though.

[Vagabond]

Midnight Visitors

Becky caught the train to Inverness, her friend Roxanne had a small house just outside the town and Becky was able to get a taxi with no trouble, her other best friend Gabrielle Ross was there as well, she would now have three heads to think about the problem that her beloved Dad had given her.
On the train journey up to Inverness she had had time to look through the journal that her father had left, most of it made little sense reading it for the first time but enough to realize that she would be setting out on a difficult and maybe dangerous undertaking, and she was not sure where or how to start or even if she wished go at all.

They had a riotous evening catching up on each others lives since they last met which was all of 3 months before, the malt whiskey evaporated on the breeze, at least it seemed like it because the first bottle was long gone and the second following it when they decided that they had to rest their heads on a soft pillow. Becky had raised the subject of the journal briefly but a full discussion was set for tomorrow, if their hangovers would stand it.



Roxanne’s house in Scotland, not far from Inverness, but quite remote.



The heroines Becky, Gabrielle and Roxanne. That Kev White can sure sculpt a sexy bottom. Umm maybe I shouldn’t have said that.



Around about turn 2 the bad guys arrive at the end of the driveway leading to the house. Boris is one of the henchmen of Count Spaarkes, in the previous game it was the Biker that Becky asked directions from who was being paid to keep an eye out for anyone approaching George Phelpps house and he had immediately informed Boris of this. Then he and a number of his mates had caught the following train up to Inverness. Bad dice roll for Becky as it could have been 3 to 6 bad guys and she got 6, this was to be a bit of a reoccurring theme in this game.

There are 13 encounter markers on the board, for obvious reasons most of them are in the house, for each marker I turn over a playing card from a deck to randomise it and the encounters are:-
Ace – The journal and files that the bad guys are after, if they find this they will also drop a clue as to how the Girls can locate them.
2 – Nothing
3 – Nothing
4 – Nothing but they also drop a clue as to their whereabouts.
5 – Squeaky Floorboard, roll under awareness to wake up.
6 – Grandfather Clock chimes, roll under awareness to wake up.
7 – Dog
8 – Additional friend of Becky, there will be 6 friends written into the story eventually so this could have been between 1 and 3 people.
9 – Roxanne and Gabrielle’s guns, these are registered to them and would be locked in a gun cabinet.
10 – Becky’s guns, these are not registered and are illegal, would be still wrapped and boxed as received from her Dad.
Jack – Roxanne
Queen – Gabrielle
King – Becky

Turn 3 the guys arrive at the car parked in the drive, I checked the encounter marker and strangely it was a Jack, so Roxanne was in the car, as this was the middle of the night I thought this cann’t be right, so I  put the card back and shuffled the deck and drew the top card and it was a Jack, so it must have been Roxanne, it transpired the following day that because of the snoring coming from Gabrielle’s room she had not been able to sleep, so went down stairs and tried to go to sleep on the sofa, but this time because of the dog snoring she still could not sleep and had eventually gone outside and fallen asleep in the car. The problem was that with the whiskey, and the snoring she was so tired at this stage that when the bad guys came creeping round she was dead to the world and did not wake until too late.

Turn 4 Boris quietly opened the car door and using a chloroform pad he ensured poor Roxanne would continue sleeping. She was bound and gagged this took them 4 turns and was only just achieved before she woke up and shouted to raise the alarm. Boris passed his brains test and decided to leave a guard, Big Dave, which is a shame as I had written a quick rule for anyone tied up to be able to escape.



Turn 9
Big Dave guarding Roxanne and the rest of the guys move on.

Turn 10 – because Roxanne had gone to sleep in the car she had left the house door unlocked and so the guys just walked in quietly. On the hall table was a box, this was Becky’s guns but as they were not after these the guys continued through the house.

Turn 11 – Boris nearly jumped out of his skin, the Grandfather clock started chiming, this woke Becky as she was not used to the noise but Gabrielle slept through. This now meant that any unknown noise would cause alarm until she fell back asleep in 3 turns from now.



Turn 12 Boris goes into the dining room and find the additional friends, this could have been between 1 and 3 of them, I threw a 1 so only Susanne Gunn, she had arrived later than the others so was still up, drinking whiskey no doubt, something has to explain her inertia. Dutch goes into the kitchen and finds Wolfgang the Wolfhound, he must have been drinking whiskey as well and Eight Ball goes into the Living Room and finds the whiskey but no one else. Ok this is when the sh*t will hit the fan.
Susanne wins the insight test and goes 1st, 1,2 she screams, 3,4 she picks up a candle stick and attacks, 5 she picks up a dinning knife and attacks, 6 she is stunned and does nothing. – she rolls a 6 and stands there, Boris advances hits her with a good punch to the stomach which knocks the wind out of her, and then he follows up with a quick crack to the head and she is down and out for 5 moves, plenty of time for him to bind and gag her, he is getting in some practice, it’s also becoming a bit of a bondage story I think, bit worried about that.
Wolfgang is asleep, 1,2,3 he wakes and attacks, 4,5 he wakes and barks, 6 he sleeps on. What do you know he rolls a 6 and sleeps on, Dutch quietly backs out of the room, closes the door and breaths a sigh of relief.

Turn 13, 3 of the guys go upstairs on to the landing.



Turn 14 Tank goes into the Bedroom, the door squeaks which alerts Becky but she is not in this room and so takes it for one of the other girls in the house, the room is empty apart from a locked gun cabinet, not what he is looking for. Billy Joe finds nothing in the bathroom, only two more rooms to go.



Turn 15 – Dutch goes into the 2nd bedroom and bingo, he finds the files and journal that they are searching for, he is so exited that he does not realize that he has dropped some paper from his back pocket, this is a hotel bill, and also a car rental agreement, if you remember there were 2 encounters where they would drop a clue that would give some way for the girls to find them if everything went wrong, both these encounters were in the same room and things were going very wrong.
Eight Ball goes into the last bedroom and finds Becky and Gabrielle in there. (In separate beds, crickey I know that there has been a bit of bondage but that’s as far as it goes. Becky is awake but Gabrielle is still asleep. “In here guys” shouts Eight Ball as he rushes across the room and gets in 3 solid punches before Becky disentangle herself from the bedding.



Turn 16 Gabrielle wakes but fails to activate, she is stunned from the whiskey and the deep sleep, Eight Ball hits Becky twice more and she goes down and out. Billy Joe and Tank run into the room and leap across to the bed on top of Gabrielle and with their combined strength easily overpower her, both girls are then bound and gagged.
The guys head on down stairs whooping and laughing, pleased it has been such easy money. They quickly leave the house having got the documents they came for without any real effort, Boris pays them off and they catch the next train south.

The girls ummm, well I said there were some rules to get free and eventually they did, but way too late, seems like a complete disaster until Roxanne finds the hotel bill for 5 people for 1 night at the Swan Hotel Inverness and a car hire agreement in the name of Boris Baedeker with an address of the Swan Hotel Inverness. Could this be a clue !!!! dern de d dern dern as the music goes in the movies. The scene fades to black. Will there be a next episode, is there a budget for one, who is Boris, is he really a KGB thug as Mark Copplestone would have us believe or is there more to him than that?

To be continued ......

[marianas_gamer]

Fun stuff!! Great tables 
LB

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Lovely, looking forward to the next chapter........................

[Noverre Man]

Something set in a secret base, perhaps?

[FramFramson]

Wow! What a bunch of updates! Awesome games

[Vagabond]

My Lord, Fram, LB and Noverre

Thanks for your encouraging comments, these are the 1st two games in a series that I have planned.

My idea was to develop a film story board and use that to give continuity to gaming the scenes in the story.

Nothing new here and like a lot of these grandiose ideas I have stalled a bit and thought if I put it on the forum it would get my arse into gear to move further on. I have also spent hours reading other peoples posts and had a tremendous amount of pleasure from that, so wanted to try and put something back.

I was originally only doing this for myself, and so that’s why the reports are so wordy and not very visual. Sorry.

I have the next few scenes in the can - but the last one was played over a year ago and is still not written up. See what I mean about stalled. Anyway I will push forward and get the script writer back on the job and the cameras rolling.

Noverre Man - no secret base but I have plans for a Temple and Cave complex, if I get round to building them and also if Becky makes it that far, she is now out of England and the guns will come out.

To be continued

[Noverre Man]

Inspirational, just the thing for a grand-daughter. It is unfortunate that blogging time takes one away from playing, painting and making, but it does get other peoples creative juices flowing. Biker gangs and feisty girls are such an original take on the pulp concept, look forward to seeing what temple you come up with, Might beat you to it once Ive finished the vikings,Home Guard and other bits already on the table.
Must put my money where my mouth is and post draughts.

[pistolpete]

Fun read, thanks for posting.  Once you have the writing down restating the photos could done later.
"Kev White can sure sculpt a lovely bottom" I completely agree and his work will be my next purchase.