The Replacement of Padanti Velbedov - One-Shot

Wrote a game today, mostly inspired by Idle Doodler's Off-White, OD&D and Classic Traveller '77. It's available on itch.io or DriveThruRPG for whatever you want.

Here's the first playtest session I ran a bit before it was finished.

Players-Characters
• Simbad Davii, a Cyborg Grand Traveller from the City of Dis
& Apuh the Hollow, his Zooanthrope follower

• Xion Mao, a Blind Simenese Corsair-Seer
& Lee, her handmaiden and bodyguard

What Happened
• The party had met on a massive biomechanical barge crawling through the Dust Sea, a desert full of quicksands and hidden sinkholes, impossible to traverse without the powerful threadmills and intuition for desert navigation of the barges. Having left their homes in search of riches and glory to the domed city of Shaz Hadak, they had an honorable duel, at the end of which Xion Mao decided to work under Simbad.

• Arrived in the barbarians' quarters on the edge of the city, they changed their old coins for strange square ceramic coins with printed circuitry engraved into them, and Simbad bought some weird-smelling scarab kebab. Looking around, they met two Azure Sentinels and asked them for a job. One told them to go hunt some paramites to the west, the other winked at Simbad and suggested he enjoys his last meal at the Norelinian before that.

• Later this day, they decided to hang out at the Norelinian - a moon powder bar where they serve Paramite Pie and Xanth Root Beer. The bartender explained what a paramite was and how cynical sentinels often send foreigners to their death to prevent them from bringing "spiritual pollution" to the city's atmosphere.

It's about the size of a great dane and hunts in packs

 

 • The other sentinel showed up in the evening, disguised (or perhaps the sentinel armor is her disguised and the revealing robes and enticing makeup is her actual face), and introduced herself as Minerva Wix, an agent of the Vizor Hyerodule - a high-ranking noble of the Autarch's court. She offered the party a job:

• The Vizor wants to replace the Padanti Velbedov, an eminent Scientific (of the Temple of Science) with a gola - an artificially grown human with implanted memories and personalities, manipulated through code words. The gola must be acquired from a shadow broker named Fang for the sum of 2,000 denarii which the Vizor will provide. An additional 1,000 denarii are offered as payment in advance. The party, having spent their last coins paying for the night's room, accepted the offer.

• The deal with Fang was to take place at the Pillars under the Carnal Temple. Picture baobab-sized columns dotted with tiny alcoves with spent candles and the occasional hanging lantern. Penitents walk about moaning in pain from self-inflicted broken bones. The Ecstasians splattered across steel stars dripping blood on visitors. Wiping off blood, Xion Mao noticed a shady-looking type waving at her to come closer.

• Half-shrouded in darkness by one of the pillars, the black leather-bound Fang was patiently waiting, with the gola and an armed henchman by her side. She asked for 2,500 denarii, suggesting that the job had been trickier than expected, and the party accepted after some harsh words, eager to get away from the place. The sound of a nearby plasma rifle being turned off convinced the party they had made the right move in agreeing to Fang's terms.

• The gola quickly revealed to be much more intelligent than expected, coldly suggesting that the party use him to get the better of their employer once he gets the influence that comes with the Padanti's social status. Sounds good, said the party. All you have to do is get rid of the Vizor, added the gola. Simbad began to think, but it'd have to wait until after the job was done anyway.

• After sending Lee in reconnaissance, the party decided on the following plan: have the gola assume the role of their target, while the party would act as its new subjects for experiments. It worked well enough and got them through the Hall of Mathematics and the Chamber of Deep Thought - a massive monolithic computer that guides the Temple of Science towards enlightenment. After some quick talk they got through the more inquisitve scientists and reached the living quarters. There, Simbad blew sleeping powder into the guards' faces, dragged them inside their own rooms and stole their clothes. Simbad and Xion Mao then kept watch until they saw the real Padanti come out of his (locked) room. They grabbed him and went inside his room alongside the gola, knocked him out, put him in a big bag and left the gola to take his place. Nobody was worried about two guards carrying a filled bodybag.

• Back at the Norelinian, they met with Minerva again, who relaxed once she noticed the party had done its job right. They were now on free time, and the sentinel let Simbad know her shift was over, so they went on a date to the Bazaar while Xion Mao and Lee enjoyed some more Xanth Root beer and pie. Later that night, Simbad managed to get Minerva to talk about her employer the Vizor during pillow talk, and convinced her to let him speak with him on a communicator, pretexing the extra denarii they had to spend for the gola.

• The next day, Simbad got to talk with his new patron, and explained most of the situation. The Vizor refused to grant the gola his freedom as it would violate the laws from the Butlerian Jihad on artificial intelligence rights, but accepted to relinquish control over the gola to Simbad who could in turn leave the new Padanti mostly to his own devices, as long as he wouldn't work against the Vizor. And for that, Simbad would have to swear allegiance to the Vizor Hyerodule. And that's how the party got its noble patron, and a powerful ally in the Temple of Science.