FAE: And the Band Played On

3 July 2014: 2pm And The Band Played On: Fate Accelerated

• GM: Clark Valentine
• Me: Violin (Fiddle): Viola (Violet) Bakos (Bach)
• Blair: Singer: Alain Chambers
• Christian: French Horn: Horace Grimley
• Jo Ann: Flute: Laurent Meergon
• Adrian: Cellist: Dinesh O'Brien
• Rachel: Viola: Celine Galliard

This was a fun game about a band of musicians caught up in an adventure in a steaming setting. We each created our own PC.

The band was on The Collossus, the first airship not to use hydrogen to stay aloft. Instead, it used Air Sprites, magically controlled by Air Jacks, of course. Technicians managed this and were peer reviewed. My notes say something about mathaumatergical formulae, although this wasn't entirely relevant to the PCs.

The GM had a list of NPCs, with photos, and we incorporated some of them into various backstory bits. These follow below, after my sheet and the sheets of two of the other PCs.

My sheet:

Violca Bakos / Violet Bach
Description: Tightly corsetted, properly dressed, 
hair in a tight bun
High Concept: Respected Classical Violinist
Trouble: Repressed Roma Fiddler
Careful +2
Clever +0
Flashy +3
Forceful +1
Quick +2
Sneaky +1

The GM asked if I wanted prejudice against the Roma to be an element of the game. I decided that I really didn't; what I wanted was that Proper Society have the attitude that Classical Music was the thing, and perhaps some other kinds as well, but certainly not lower class peasant music that folks including, but not limited to, the Roma made. And Violet wanted to be respected in Proper Society -- but her heart yearned to play the wilder tunes she'd grown up with.

Horace's sheet:

Horace Grimley
Description: Tow haired, clean shaven, blue eyes, 
dressed in plain shirt & trousers
High Concept: Desperate Stowaway
Trouble: Musically Inept
Friends in Low Places
Careful +1
Clever +2
Flashy +0
Forceful +1
Sneaky +2
Quick +3

Horace was not really in the band. Indeed, his player first phrased his Trouble as "I'm not really in the band." He was a desperate stowaway, under cover. He'd been discovered by the musicians, who'd assumed he was a replacement for their French Horn player, Richard, who had taken ill.

Celine's sheet:

Celine Galliard
High Concept: Formerly Noble Violist
Trouble: Lover of Lady Adelaide
The Air Sprites Speak to Me
Careful +2
Clever +1
Flashy +1
Forceful +3
Quick +2
Sneaky +0

Celine had formerly been in Adelaide's band, which was the rival to our heroes' band. He had to leave her band, say my notes, "after a fairly illicit love affair".

Laurent: My notes have the following Aspects:

Aspiring Composer
Trouble: "Just a Flautist"
Anything to Get Ahead

Alain: My notes have the following Aspects:

Trouble: Unintentional Flirt
Voice that Charms the Winds

3rd Aspect? Dirty Knife Fighting

NPC sheets:

CPT Ivonne Riotte
Captain of the Colossus
*Tough as nails
*Always wears a cutlass
*No Nonsense
*ADDED: Loves the Harpsichord

LT James Salazar
Chief Airjack of Colossus
*Professional & Thorough
*ADDED: Husband of Adelaide L-G

Chief Keiko Ogura
Security Chief of Colossus
*Always armed with sword & pistol

Lady Martha Gobena
Duchess of Wingback
*Fabulously Walthy
*Your Band's Patroness
*Invited Passenger

Lady Kayla Gobena
Daughter of Lady Martha
*Noted Floating Enthusiast
*Wearer of famed "Star of Eternity" 
diamond necklace
ADDED: Lady Kayla and Dinesh O'Brien 
wanted to start a relationship, but Dinesh 
feared to lose his job and patronage.

Zoran Malinsky
Society Man About Town
*Charming and Suave
*Noted Cardsharp

Val Benre
Famed Aviation Enthusiast
*Highly Educated
*Engineering Genius
*Invited Passenger

Adelaide Labilli-Guiard
Rival Bandleader
(Several Professional Run-Ins with Your Band
*ADDED: Wife of Lt Sakzar

Franklin de Lacy
2nd Son of Duke of Chesterfield
*Giving Lady Kayla lots of attention
ADDED: Franklin de Lace was not, we decided, 
Franklin de Lace, but rather the known conman 
Thomas Burnham. Laurent was or had been in his 
(Franklin de Lace's, I think) father's employ.

Edgar Fitzroy
Earl of Duvet
*Noted Adventurer and Author
*Invited Passenger

Chetan Palani
President of Golden Cloud Floatlines
*Harried Promoter of the Voyage
ADDED: Dinesh hated Chetan Palani. Dinesh had been 
an engineer for Golden Cloud Floatlines until he 
was injured in an accident. Dinesh still had trouble 
walking.

Ozern Volks
Philosopher & Scholar
*Has written on airsprite ships
*Invited Passenger

And so, our heroes, retained by Lady Martha to play aboard the Collossus, pride of Golden Cloud Floatlines, took in the view.

Dinesh: I hope we don't hit any cumulus clouds

Horace was in his street cloths, and clammy with sweat. He was quick to agree with the assumptions of the musicians.

Horace: Yes, it's a French horn. (pause) It's a horn made in France. (pause as everyone looks at him) I am joking, of course.

Dinesh (delighted): Ha ha!

Alas, Horace's horn had apparently not arrived.

Someone: It's a good thing Richard sent his horn on ahead.

I forget whether the following had to do with the horn or an offer of better clothing.

Horace: I can't thank you enough.

Laurent: Do not mention it.

And, I think Laurent's player decided to make another of Laurent's Aspects Always on the lookout.

Folks waited expectantly for the band to play.

Dinesh: Quickly -- let us do #6.

The band played, or at least, most of it did. Then, something happened. I forget the details, but it clearly involved Sabotage and Fiendish Villainy! The situation as summarized by my notes was:

1. Panic -- Aspect: Panicking passengers
2. Clouddier
3. Hanging Crew Memeber
4. Something on Fire

Alain used Quick to try to catch the hanging crewmember.

Celine went looking for Lady Adelaide, using Clever to blend in with the panicking passengers.

Dinesh: The thing to do is play on.

The player rolled +2 to make Loud, but Soothing music. This was added to Dinesh's skill of +4 for a total of +6 Soothing Music, a Success with Style! This was enough for an added bennie, probably a Temporary Aspect that could be used as needed, once for free, and after for the cost of a Fate Point.

Horace and Laurent had, I think, been heading for Laurent's quarters for more appropriate clothing for Horace when Laurent smelled something wrong and started heading towards a different part of the ship.

Horace: Wait -- we are not engineers.

Laurent: I smell smoke.

Horace: Why are we running -towards- the smoke?

Laurent: So we can ascertain whether anything's on fire.

Horace: Where there's smoke, there's fire.

The two somehow got separated. I think Laurent ran after a figure wearing a coat, shoes, and pants all blazing in the breeze, running around a corner. My notes also say that there was a fire in propulsion, not news one particular wants.

Horace's Player: I suddenly realize that, unlike Laurent, I've never been on any of these boats and I have no idea where I am -- I'm lost. I don't know how to get back.

He came across someone who'd been fleeing.

Man: I didn't run away from any -- that must have been someone else.

The man warned him not to tell anyone about their encounter.

Horace: What's it worth to you?

Man: If you say anything to anyone, I will kill you in your sleep.

Horace: If I don't say anything?

Man: You will get a warning when the time comes.

Horace: Care to throw any cash in on that?

Man: This is so crass! Here -- this is all I have. I will kill you in your sleep if you say anything.

I forget to whom this refers, but I would guess Lady Kayla, perhaps after Dinesh paid her a compliment:

GM: She freezes and looks like a deer caught in the headlights of -- a car that won't be invented for over a century.

Things seemed to have quieted down for the moment. But, the band needed Horace for a very important piece!

Dinesh: The corporate anthem for Golden Cloud Float lines -- in which a horn figures prominently. The 13 bar solo!

They discussed the state of the ship.

Dinesh: They say this airship is un-deflateable.

(I think I made a comment about Die Fledermaus at that point.)

Laurent finally got Horace into his cabin and pants.

RIP!

Horace: How clumsy of me. I seem to have ripped the seat out of these pants!

Someone, possibly the GM (to Laurent): You let him out of your sight for a moment.

Horace: Laurent, I'm sorry. I'm sure there's a tailor somewhere far away on this ship!

Laurent: I'm not ready to let this go.

He found more clothing for the hapless Horace, who looked at it as if it were a machine he'd never seen.

Horace: These go -over- the buttons?

Laurent: Oh, for heaven's sake! What kind of a band did you play with?

Horace: They wore their own uniform.

Laurent (understanding (or thinking he does)): Ah.

Horace still tried, desperately, to avoid the inevitiable as Richard's horn was fetched.

Horace: Maybe it's more French than my French horn! (looking at the horn) Ah, this horn is clearly Alsatian!

Meanwhile, Violet could resist no longer! She started playing Roma tunes. Fortunately, a good roll on the dice led to a more positive reception of the unusual music.

Lady Martha: Well, it has been a trying evening. Perhaps a peasant tune is just what we need.

Dinesh (puzzled): I do not know these songs of the lower caste.

Still, Horace was back, along with Richard's French horn.

Dinesh: You do sight read, right?

Horace: I have trouble reading -- I left my spectacles in my luggage.

That is, he left them in the luggage that had been misplaced, along with its contents of clothing, instrument, and spectacle.

I think folks suggested looking for a pair of spectacles with a similar prescription.

Horace (with ever increasing desperation): Oh, they're very obscure! They're Egyptian -- when Napoleon went to Egypt, he introduced the French horn to them.

His bandmates looked at him in increasing puzzlement.

Dinesh: Your eyesight must be really terrible.

Horace: Why do you say that?

Dinesh: You can't even find the keys to your French horn.

Horace: Yes, I must have lost them.

This was too much even for the tolerant bandmates. So, Horace came clean. He wasn't really a French horn player. There'd been a terrible misunderstanding! No, he was really a harpsichord player!

Dinesh: Why did you not tell us?

Horace: I was embarrassed.

The band was relieved to know the truth. After all, it wasn't as if the lack of a harpsichord presented a real obstacle.

Dinesh and Alain: We can arrange for one.

Someone tossed a fate point to the GM and created a Fact: The Captain had a harpsichord in her quarters! How lucky!

Dinesh: What composers are you familiar with?

Horace (trying to think of one): M- Mozart.

Dinesh (pleased): Very good.

Horace: And -- Chop-in.

Dinesh (less pleased): And what key do you prefer your harpsichord in?

Horace: Small?

Dinesh (nearing the end of his patience): Well, perhaps if we find a small-keyed harpsichord and you could play some Chop-In.

Horace: Did I mention I suffered brain damage in the war?

Dinesh: That appears to be obvious.

Horace: Also, I'm an epileptic.

Folks escorted Horace to his quarters. T some trouble opening his door -- or rather, the door to the room he claimed was his.

Horace: I told you I lost my keys.

After they left him, the bandmates discussed the odd situations of the sabotage and of Horace.

Violet: Do you think he was sent by Adelaide?

Dinesh: I don't think so.

Laurent: At first, I thought he was born under an unlucky star, but he ripped the seat right out of his trousers. (Dinesh looks) No, not the ones I am wearing.

Violet: I don't think it could have been Horace. I think he is as good a saboteur as he is a musician.

Dinesh: He is ignorant of what goes on below decks, and somewhat ignorant of what goes on above.

The captain and Lt. Salazar were apparently pushing the ship too far. Someone, possibly me, made some kind of suggestion, I think about trying to speed up and get the ship to port faster.

Someone, perhaps the GM: That's like speeding up in an attempt to finish the song faster. That never works.

Dinesh: Good analogy.

Meanwhile, Horace went to wherever it was he was bunking down only to see three or four of the crew members being stabbed in their sleep.

Horace: This? This is what I walk into?!

Ozern Volks was arming people below decks. Above decks, a sky jack fell.

Someone: Sky jacks don't fall. He must be dead.

BOINK!

Why yes, yes he was.

At this point, Aspects on the table included:

• Distracted Mutineers
• Speaker Tubes
• Raised the Alarm

Meanwhile, Violet was below decks.

Violet: I pull out my bow -- for my cello.

When she saw the mutineers, she explained, somewhat incoherently, that she, too, was on their side, for she, like the air sprites Ozern wanted to free, yearned for the freedom to be wild!

The GM allowed this, he stressed, only because I had a total of +5 between skill rating and die roll. The mutineers were confused, but fooled, and accepted her as one of their own.

Someone: There's a Scotsman yelling at me -- Am I in a bar?

Meanwhile, Horace used his Aspect of Friends in Low Places.

Horace: Reg? Reg, get me out of here! You -owe- me for Bristol!

Reg: Did you come back to the cause?

Horace: No, it doesn't pay enough. Just get me out of here before they find a small keyed harpsichord.

Two other Aspects came out around now. One was either Crazy Percy or Utterly Crazy Percy -- I'm not sure which. He was one of the mutineers. The other was Security Alerted.

Someone: Shoot the first flower in a buttonhole you see. (gets clarification) Oh -- Mutineers -- not boutoneers!

Someone, possibly the GM: Do you have a plan at this point?

Someone else: F*ck no!

Horace: I know one of the mutineers. That's bad. They're killing the air jacks. That's very bad. Am I forgetting any bad stuff?

Dinesh encountered the mutineers.

Dinesh: Haha!

It turned out that Dinesh was a Renowned Fencer! He disarmed his foe and caught the gun. Yes, a middle aged guy with a bad leg!

Violet shot a mutineer or two, succeeding with style, and putting the Aspect of Surprised on the remaining mutineers.

No one expects a violinist in the back!

Kayla (about Ozern, I think): Didn't we have dinner with him last night?

Alain: Well, -I- didn't!

A wealthy aristocrat tried to get to a lifeboat, demanding Horace help.

Horace: What's it worth to you?

Man: You mercenary, it's my life at stake!

Horace: What is that worth to you?

The man paid Horace for aid, which Horace provided. The man and his valet abandoned the ship in a rowboat in the middle of what my notes describe only as "NAmer".

Somewhere in there, more of the band caught up to Horace, I think.

Someone: Horace, help us!

Someone: Hold her steady!

Someone, I think Horace, shot Percy. Horace's player noted Horace's Friends in Low Places Aspect.

Horace: I know Percy, and he deserved killing.

Someone: And your pants are still ripped.

Someone, possibly to Horace, possibly the captain: Don't ever fly on one of my boats again.

Horace (or whoever was being addressed): No worries.

I think Dinesh may have had an Aspect of Highland Born. I'm not sure, but I wrote "Highland born" in my notes, and added that someone, either Ozern or one of his saboteurs "screams like the Eng lap (?) he is." Maybe it was the engineer of the ship. Certainly, someone said: You don't threaten my bonny lass!

Someone, possibly Horace: Make sure there are no explosions. I'm in the propulsion room.

Dinesh: I don't know if I can trust anything you say, Horace.

Horace: Not that I would know what an explosive looks like -- unless it was ticking or exploding.

He looked at Dinesh and Dinesh's blade.

Horace: You know how to use that thing?

Dinesh (flourishing it): A little.

Horace mentioned the man who abandoned the ship.

Horace: He seemed pretty hot to go.

Dinesh: I would think so. All he cares about is his own skin.

Horace: ... Yeah, I -hate- people like that.

The ship was saved, in no small part due to the efforts of the musicians.

Violet: Horace, you're not much of a musician, but we could use a manager. It would mean a pay cut--

Horace had just one question, to satisfy his curiosity.

Horace: What's a harpsichord?

Dinesh just pointed.

Horace: Oh!

He told the band the truth.

Horace: I'm a geographical relocator.

Violet: You're Roma?

Horace: No.

Dinesh: You're on the run?

Horace: Yes.

And I think that's where we ended.