Well I am home again. And here is a recap of what occurred since the last post.
Saturday we played Ghost Recon 2 for some time. Then I figured I better get writing and pounded out some changes for Skinwalker. In the evening Jason and his gf came by. They brought Supernatural’s first two episodes over and we watched the first one. WOW! This show is on my do not miss list. This TV show is what 12 to Midnight writes about, in fact it fits nicely with the format we use on the Modern Dispatch ezine. Great show. You must watch this if you are a horror fan. You won’t be disappointed.
Called it night and woke and worked on Skinwalker a bit more. We watched the second episode of Supernatural and it rocked. I’m not going to give any detail. You have to watch so you can enjoy the show. I will say the story is about two brothers that seek the paranormal and are trying to find their father, who is also a paranormal researcher. After the show, Ed showed up and we had a quick meeting of 12 to Midnight. We are seeking ways to speed up production. We are all so busy now and we want to be more efficient, as we have a lot of freelance work waiting in the queue.
Then we started getting things ready to play Serenity. This is a roleplaying game. Everybody made a character. Ed, Preston and my kids were playing of course. Then Jason and Corey joined us as well. Preston made a pilot/captain character, while my daughter made a sweet mechanic. Corey created a streetwise kid that talked all the time but seemed to know a lot of folks and how to do things. Everybody else was a mercenary. Ed’s was the most dangerous, as he was an Alliance assassin during the war, who had been kicked out for a reason not revealed.
We started the adventure on the planet Persiphone. The captain and his mechanic were interviewing for crew and looking for work. They hired all of the other characters and then the captain was contacted by Baron (or is it Lord) Oxley. He was looking to hire some mercenaries to take care of some thugs on Ha-Tim’s moon out on the rim. With a destination in mind the call went out for cargo to go to Ha-Tim’s moon. Turns out this bloke name Badger has some cargo that needed moving. Badger has a bit of rep, so the captain is not sure if he wants to move these items. The mechanic sez she needs a converter coil for the engine. The captain negotiates to get the converter coil up front and 750 platinum upon delivery of the goods. The deal is made. The mechanic installs the converter coil and the ship loads the cargo and leaves Persiphone.
The Captain is curious about the cargo from Badger. Ed’s character has some skills and combined with then mechanic’s engineering abilities the are able to insert a camera into the crate and identify the goods. The cases are full of laser rifles, the latest Alliance technology. Now they are worried that the rifles are going to the people they are being paid to remove. They feel a need to deliver the cargo as that’s just good business practices, but they don’t want to face the latest tech when it is time to fight the gang. They would not mind owning one of these rifles either. So they open the crates and look them over. Ed has made two doses of contact poison and placed them on a pair of the weapons. He does not tell his companions.
As soon as they land on Ha-Tim’s moon the Sheriff arrives. The characters are wary regarding his presence. Turns out that he knows Oxley has sent him and deputizes them. He also warns of a shipment of illegal laser rifle and to keep an eye out for them. Now the crew knows they are working both sides of the fence. They decide they want to open the crates and drain the rifles power cells. They are doing this when the gang stops by asking why the hold up. They are to meet at a tavern to make the exchange at day break.
They go early. Brandon’s character looks over the area and finds a sniper in position. He kills the sniper and claims the weapon. The rest of the crew is moving the cargo to the tavern, when they are met on the road by a dozen thugs. One has the cash to complete the deal, but the captain does not like the way they showed up before the tavern. He has the sniper kill the leader. Then Ed who remained on the ship has bound the mechanic. He decides to fly over and intimidate the thugs with threats of bombing them. He rolls really good and all of them flee. They wound the leader and then have him call the big bad boss.
They get in touch with the boss and learn that he will meet them at noon. Ed triangulates the radio signal to find the gang’s location. He flies there, while the mechanic escapes her binding. At the cave, Ed joins the bad guys. He would never do this in a long campaign, but this is a one time play thing. So the bad guy heads off to the tavern. The mechanic flees in one of the Firefly’s shuttle craft. She meets up with the Captain and gives him the scoop.
The captain decides to attack the gang’s hideaway, while the others are gone. Ed is waiting for them. They rush in and two of the crew are badly wounded, forcing them to retreat. The mechanic checks the ship to ensure it can fly away. They take off, but not before doing a full burn in the cave entrance, frying all of the occupants. The crew escapes with some coin, laser rifles and few new enemies. Everybody had a blast.
Another high point of the evening was cooking the Cornish Game Hens I carried with me from Sugar Land. I had six and Preston has two ovens in his house. Excellent. I mixed some pepper, rosemary and basil together and rubbed it into the hen’s skin. Then I cooked it hour two hours. Kim made some potatoes and green beans and it was good eating for everybody.
The rest of the evening was spent in cleaning up a bit and getting some things packed. In the morning I packed the van, got the kids to eat and we left Bryan. We had printed some maps the night before. Big mistake on the way here was not knowing the alternate routes. Not going to make that mistake again. Hit highway 6 going south and there was negligible traffic. So I followed that rode and it was good all the way to 290. Highway 290 was also moving well and I kept on going. Next thing I knew we were in Sugar Land and not even two hours had past. We went to Wings and Things for lunch, as our breakfast was pretty light.
Then we went home. As I turned the corner I was pleased to see the house was still standing. I parked the car and walked the property. Roof looks fine. All I had was one of my hollies is leaning over at a 60 degree angle now and a crepes myrtle is totally over on its side. No problem there. Will get those trees staked up straight in no time.
Its so good to be home. Home where my pillow is. Home where I can use my internet fully and contact my wife. Home where I can finally see that Craig, my Lufkin partner is still alive and doing well. His house lost shingles and some siding, but other than that all is well with him. So glad he is well though.
Once again I want to thank all of my blog visitors. You have all been so kind and I think your love supported me through this and actually provided the will and power that pushed the storm aside from me and my friends and family. God bless you all.
