THE ITHURIEL will fly into Syrtis Major and unload the party and its goods at dusk to lessen the chance of prying eyes. But, to the surprise of all, customs agents of Prince Amraamtaba X quickly show up and ask to search the Ithuriel for contraband items. There was that rumor earlier that they might start doing this again, you know. Of course, they will want to match whatever cargo she is carrying against her manifest.
These, of course are the agents dispatched courtesy of Godoy, sent here to look for contraband and ille- gal substances. They think that there may be illicit liftwood lumber being smuggled into town by the Ithuriel and her well-known captain. Which means, if they don't find something, they're going to look like fools, something no bur eaucrat wishes to appear as in front of the civilians they serve.
Hmmm, wasn't that bhutan spice in the chest (or chests) the characters found highly narcotic and illegal? If they managed to bring this spice back with them, the party could now end up in jail for smuggling drugs. The characters now have a couple of basic choices. They can:
Use Eloquence (Difficult, Target Level 12) to fast talk their way past these officials,
Pay a large cash bribe (referee's judgement on large),
Threaten Dillsworth (who other- wise won't help at all) with exposure of the true nature of the trees to these officials if he won't call them off somehow (the trees, should anyone look, are on the manifest as fruit trees),
Claim Diplomatic Immunity and force Dillsworth to back them up by having him declare himself with the Foreign Office,
Or just try a subtle approach such as a shoot out or rendering the offi- cials unconscious or some such.
Once the customs agents are out of the way, the Foreign Office agent at the landing grounds will notify the main office that the Ithuriel has re- turned. There will be coaches and wagons dispatched to spirit the char- acters to another safe house (NOT the Barnes House from before!) At this location, the players will receive their official pay for this adventure. Renown points should also be handed out, or Dillsworth will can- didly say why certain characters are not receiving any.
Experience: Each character should get one general experience point per episode of this adventure. These consist of any Aerial Encoun- ters, the March, the Wreck (for those who ventured down into the ravine), and all the combat sequences at the Temple, for a total of three (3). If the flow of your adventure went differ- ently, add or subtract points as neces- sary. Each character that engaged in close combat at least once receives one Close Combat experience point. Anyone participating in four or more close combats should receive two such combat experience points.
The liftwood trees, soil samples and journals will go with Doctor Ashton and his daughter, both of whom will be leaving with these items on a fast ether flier for Earth within the next 24 hours. In fact, the ship will be held for them. Until then, they will be under constant guard. Doctor Ashton will bid every- one good-bye. Felicity might, if the events of the last few days "changed" her. If not, she will sniff a farewell.
As for the freed slaves (if any), the characters will find that one or two of them will offer to stay on with certain party members as sidekicks,
servants, guards, etc. if the charac- ters treated them with at least a modicum of decency.
The characters will also stay here under guard until the Ashtons and their "goods" have safely departed Mars. Or, perhaps some (or all) the characters may end up outward bound on t hat ether flyer with the Ashtons. After all, Baron von Gruber still wants those saplings. Perhaps this adventure is not yet over?
Should the Ashtons depart with- out the characters, they are free to go where they please. They most likely will want to cash in any "found" valuables, register with a Prize Court (along with Devon, as necessary) for their share(s) of ships taken as prizes, etc. Certain characters, or even the whole group, could keep the prize ships for their own use, depending on their druthers.
Postscript: About a w eek after the Ashtons depart, choose any character at "random" (personally, I'd choose the leader or someone who made an outstanding contribu- tion). As this character is moving down a street past a wooden wall, a knife comes whistling out of no- where to thunk into the wall, quiver- ing inches from this character's nose. Close one, that. The character will not be able to see the thrower of the knife, no matter how hard they try (or how well they roll dice). Attached to the knife is a message, written with poor script in Parhoon. The message is:
We Know, We Remember, We Shall Avenge
High Martian operatives? The Baron's? Pirates? Life is never easy for heroes in the Service of Her Majesty.
RESCUE AT THOTH
A Space: 1889 Mini-Adventure
By Gary E. Smith
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SYNOPSIS/REFEREE NOTES ... 54
MAP OF HOUSE TRANX... 55
THE PROPOSAL ... 57
THOTH ... 58
HOUSE TRANX ... 59
FINISHING THE JOB ... 60
BOUNTY HUNTERS ... 61