LogAWBO Smoke On The Water-Jason-13

Game log for the 2023/03/06 session of Apocalypse World Burned Over - Smoke On The Water, as taken by Jason

Jax has departed Finnegan's Shoal, and left Crill in charge of security. Duncan, who had been Jax's majordomo, tries to take executive authority and tells Crill he's just the sheriff. Crill disagrees. Crill has weapons handy. So much for Duncan! Crill takes steps to convince Prentiss not to leave, and has some success... albeit their relationship is a little strained by this naked act of coercion.

JP and Crill are still docked up in Finnegan's Shoal and find lots of people who would be very interested in a ride out, including Lil' Abner, who signs on as a deckhand. News that Duncan just got shot seems to have convinced a lot of people to seek life elsewhere. Of course, a handful of people think this new leadership means the curse of Wendigo will be lifted.

Live day to day rolls:

• JP finds business is free and news is easy.
• Jacob finds access is free and favors are easy.
• Churban finds status us easy but jingle is hard.
• Finch finds living space is free and know-how is easy.
• Crill finds that the log was distracted but his settlement is shrinking

Crill hears about all the people leaving on the Betty Jo. JP has heard about Duncan and he and Churban are working to expedite departure as soon as the boat is full. The new boss sends a minion, Loxley tries to assure people there's no need to evacuate and the new management will ensure people's safety. He does not meet with conspicuous success. Crill decides that he's keeping enough people here by force. JP, meanwhile, reads the situation and concludes that Crill really is in control there, just like that, and he needs to leave before things get worse. In fact, there's a passenger on the boat who seemed to be watching Loxley for a sign. In fact, he thinks he got that same sign. This guy is on board now. Outstanding.

Churban asks for a quiet word below decks. The guy is not willing, so Churban calls Cap'n JP for backup. The guy swears he's just looking for passage out, but they both read him and discern a certain criminal bent in his manner. JP senses that the guy isn't entirely committed to his purpose and thinks maybe he could be brought around. They talk about the negative aspects of working for Wendigo, and the guy decides he's willing to change scenes.

Churban has a vision as he tries to sleep below decks. He'd just graduated from grease monkey to apprentice psychic killer, and happened to overhear Dr Defoe explaining to a class of older children why one of their number had killed himself while trying to use his brain powers to kill one of the mer-people. Defoe reminds the children of the need to split their focus so that they channel the power safely through their bodies and into the target, and realizes he's been doing it wrong all this time. That unlocks something in his brain, and he realizes he doesn't have to be afraid of his power any longer. Churban retires from adventuring.

Finch and Jax arrive at Hooligan's Grotto, and make a plan for their dive. Things go OK, although they have to leave one of the doors open to give them enough time to decompress safely. Jax sees the control room with all the lights, and gets visibly excited about the potential of the situation. Exploiting it will be very difficult, and if they can get Prentiss to help them, the potential is tremendous. She's worried about starting from scratch, though. This new place won't have traditions or institutions. It will just have personalities.

Anyway, Jax knows a guy with a former Russian attack sub, the Dolgarushi. The sub might provide a good staging point for their work, both less conspicuous and closer to the work site. If they can find him, that would be great. To move forward, they need to recruit people carefully and make sure that they have the right people and only the right people. Finch wants to get the place functional enough to have some obvious value on the surface and let people come here naturally.

Then they see a spot on the horizon, and when they look through Finch's spyglass, it's revealed as the Tuscany. That ain't good. They pile on sail, and since the Kayak is a sailboat, it makes no engine noise or smoke trail. Once it gets dark, they make a turn and evade their pursuers.

Several days later, the Betty Jo has docked at Upwell. Word that Crill runs Finnegan's Shoal spreads fast. Churban departs the boat, and JP goes looking to see if he can find something that he could sell in Finnegan's Shoal under the new leadership. Once the word gets around that he's going to be trading with Crill, though, he finds that people don't want to trade with him. The rumor mill has it that Crill killed Jax, and when JP tries to tell them that she's fine and sailed away with Finch, nobody quite believes him. Some assume Finch kidnapped her, though, so now there are two rumors going around.

Lil' Abner goes to Jacob and asks for a job. The doc is open to the idea, though he might rather have Abner working on the Kayak. Lil' Abner passes along the word that Crill is effectively holding Prentiss prisoner.

A few days after that, Finch and Jax arrive at the Upwell clinic. Jacob tells Finch about Crill's takeover of her old territory. Jax is displeased. The doc calls for Lil' Abner to tell Jax all about what happened since she stepped away, and they all realize this is a complicating factor in their plan. Jacob shows Finch and Jax the crack in the clinic building, which is growing, and they realize they need a plan to evacuate Upwell too. With Guidry watching the clinic, their planning for relocation will have to be very covert. They convince Guidry to go tell Stempler that Jax is still alive. With Stempler's spy out of the building, they can use the old burned-out lab as a private place for a meeting of their conspiracy. They discuss the long list of things they'll need to do in order to move the lab just like that, and how maybe Churban could give them some help with the getaway. Eloise suggests that the damage to the building might give them cover - they could tell Stempler the elevator jammed and they need to relocate to lower floors.

Eloise then goes to JP and talks about hiring the Betty Jo. John Paul wants to know the details of the plan, but Eloise has no intention of trusting him farther than necessary unless Jacob gives the OK for sharing all that information. In any case, though, he will agree to have the Betty Jo available on short notice for whenever they need to make their move. Given the scale of work, Cap'n Jones might need to procure a barge and an extra sailing hand.

Finch is also looking for a barge, and finds one, though the price is not what he was hoping for. He ends up owing Thurgood a favor for the barge, and then goes to inform JP that he's found it. They can't moor up near the market with a barge, so now the Betty Jo just has to dock up somewhere closer to the clinic. Oh no.

Jacob consults with Stempler and Guidry about the clinic's structural issues. Jax is also there for a little while, but Stempler is being so dang smug at her that she has to excuse herself. Jacob explains his plan to bring the clinic down to a lower level. Stempler is OK with that and tells him to get it done soon, because there will probably be a lot of wounded people coming in. In fact, he sends some of his own people to help move stuff downstairs. Of course, the garden needs to stay on the roof.

Crill sends minions to the docks and orders them to fire warning shots if the Tuscany approaches. It turns up a few days later. Loxley wakes Crill up and lets him know. It's dark but they recognize the Tuscany from its running lights. Crill seems more excited than nervous. One of the guards uses a slingshot to fire a pipe bomb off the Tuscany's port bow. It veers off, but Samson warns him that they probably won't stay away. Over a bullhorn, Samson calls out that Crill is running this town now, and nobody but Wendigo is allowed off the Tuscany, so they can have a one-on-one meeting. One of the Tuscany crew calls out that Crill works for Wendigo, and if there's going to be a meeting, Crill can come to them. Crill replies with sniper rifle fire, which brings the shouting to abrupt halt. Tuscany's lights go out, and all is quiet for a moment, but then they open up with a 50 cal machine gun. The gang has some protection from armor and defensive positions, but nobody can afford to ignore 50 cal fire. Crill aims his sniper rifle near the muzzle flash, and puts a round into the machine gun, and the next shot kills the guy trying to fix it. Unfortunately, with no muzzle flashes nor engine noise, nobody can tell where the Tuscany is now. After a couple minutes, someone thinks of a flare gun, and Samson sends up a flare. They're moving past the fuel tanker, and the front half of the Tuscany is already occluded. Crill goes running over to the tanker to encourage her crew to fire on the Tuscany as well, but he's a bit slower than he'd like. As he's moving, he hears automatic weapon fire and a scream from a different boat. He sends people to check it out, and then hears consistent back and forth gunfire. This is not just someone firing en passant, this is a pitched firefight. He makes his way to the tanker and tells them to stay clear of the Tuscany, and realizes as he does so that if he could get on their decks, the tanker would be a perfect platform from which to deploy the flamethrower. Crill decides he's not taking no for an answer and tries to board the tanker. They don't like that and prepare to throw down. He's quick enough to avoid taking serious hits and get out of the tanker's line of fire, at the cost of ending up away from the firefight with the Tuscany.

Crill hops into a dinghy, cuts the mooring lines, and heads out. He clears the front of the tanker and ends up right next to the Tuscany. He washes the flamethrower over their decks, and the carnage is immediate and intense. However, Crill takes return fire to his neck, and ends up in the water, artery squirting. The last he sees the Tuscany, it's headed away from the Shoal, crew members screaming and headed for the lifeboats.

Crill comes too and feels himself being rocked side to side, like a poorly-made cradle. He realizes he's being carried in a sailcloth bundle and hears something about needing to cauterize it.

Finch reports to Jacob that they have a barge and JP will help move it. Their breakout plan looks ready, and then they need to go to the Shoal and break Prentiss out. Their only problem is Guidry. Jacob manages to get close enough to sedate him, but their local thug doesn't just drop. He strugles and stabs Jacob first, but hey, he's a doctor, he can treat that! By the time they finish loading, it's just a couple hours before dawn. They both push hard for the horizon, and the Betty Jo manages to clear the horizon. The Kayak is a litle behind and Finch has to pile on the sail, which leaves the Kayak heeled over so hard that one of Jacob's crates falls overboard.

Finch brings the Kayak to Finnegan's Shoal at night. His plan is to anchor near the Shoal, swim over with Eloise and a few crew, cut Prentiss' boat loose, swim back, and provide cover if needed, while Lil' Abner sails the Kayak to the Grotto. They find that the boat isn't just tied up to the Shoal, it's shackled. He slips aboard and knocks on Prentiss' door. The tech dealer is surprised to see him, and willing to escape, but also a little nervous about the prospect. Prentiss gets the boat warmed up, and Finch slips out and checks out the situation. Crill has one armed and armored guard nearby, but he's standing on the gang plank. He tries to sneak over there and tip the guard into the drink, and it works great, except the guard grabs on and starts dragging Finch down. Finch pulls his knife and stabs the guard until he lets go. The guard, burdened by armor, sinks. Finch swims. He swims over to the shackle. Realizing that it won't yield to subtle pursuasions, he re-boards Prentiss's ship, and pulls his lostech pulser out.

Over in the command container where he's recuperating, Crill sees a flash like lightning that comes from the direction of Prentiss' boat. He and Gumm go running toward Prentiss' vessel, Sunrise. They just have time to notice the absence of the guard on the gangplank and then there's another flash of lightning, accompanied by a loud ssssh-thwack noise. The Sunrise begins pulling away. Crill goes running toward it, and tries to leap aboard, but Finch parries with his boat hook and knocks Crill into the water. Gumm, following behind, pulls an assault rifle, and Finch dives for cover. He takes a round for his pains. Gumm then fires a long burst at the pilot house, but Eloise and her men return fire, and the ship gets away. Crill realizes it's Finch absconding with her tech dealer and calls out, "What the hell!?" Finch assures him it's just business.