Online again tonight, we played Guns & Mojo by BeePeeGee, a spy hack of Lasers & Feelings by John Harper. We are the agents of Rayport, dedicated to stopping the bad guys by using Agile project management principles and high-tech gadgetry: old-money world-traveller from Lichtenstein the Commodore, true-believing tech-expert Magpie, and thrill-seeking cool-engine Ace.
We’ve been tracking weapons-dealer Chips Dayton for months when he suddenly organizes a new sale in Monte Carlo at the Lunar Hill Grand Metropole Hotel. With Director Darcy missing again, we’re unable to get sanction for the new mission and have to travel incognito in a laundry van after taking a commercial flight to Paris and the train to Marseille. The Commodore tries to get us a room, but instead is blackballed by the hotel concierge, so Magpie hacks into the hotel’s systems to create a cover as caterers that allow Ace and Magpie to sneak inside. Posing as waitstaff, they overhear Dayton talking with two potential buyers, Boyd & Percival, at the poolside bar about the prospects. Dayton is cagey but reveals that this buy will be bigger than the nuke that went on sale ten years earlier and tells them to keep their eyes on the Gulf.
The Commodore mingles with his contacts at the yacht club and makes a bet on the Maserati team to win that weekend’s race. He learns the gossip on a number of high rollers in town for the weekend: Brit Jack Hawkins whose sponsoring one of the race teams, American Rob Walker whose making a spectacle of himself, Swede Mats Andersen who loves wine and making only sporting wagers, and Frenchman Maurice Tringtingent whose clearly over-extended and making desperate bets.
The Commodore infiltrates the auction where Dayton shows a news report of a small island not only incinerated but sinking into the ocean. This demonstrates the firepower of the automated battleship he’s selling, and he opens the bidding on the ship’s control keys. The bidding goes back and forth until Magpie kills the rooms lights and sets off the sprinklers to allow Commodore to snatch the briefcase with the control keys, but once the lights go out, the case is locked down as Mats Andersen wins the auction just before the power cuts out. Dayton attacks Commodore and he’s in trouble, so Ace dashes in with double-guns blazing, kicks Dayton in the face, then leads Commodore toward the window, shooting it out just before they crash through.
Knowing Andersen was staying on his yacht, the team races to the marina and commandeer a speedboat to intercept. Magpie hot-wires and drives the speedboat to catch up to the yacht. The Commodore changes into a tuxedo after his suit was ruined and latches our boat to the yacht at speed. Ace jumps into the fray felling minions with ease and panache. Magpie notices Andersen slipping into the ship’s inner sanctum and throws a wine bottle from a table to prevent the door from locking. The Commodore goes for the communication room to alert the coast guard and Rayport headquarters. Ace catches the door when the bottle slips out and holds it open for the team as we all head down.
Inside we see a world map with Andersen’s various targets for the battleship, including landlocked Lichtenstein, accessed through a newly carved canal. The Commodore parleys with Andersen, who explains the secret history of Commodore’s mother and why Lichtenstein must fall. When Magpie tries to sneak around to stop him, Andersen activates a trap that clamps onto her ankles, but the Commodore pulls the rug which gives Ace the opening to tackle Andersen before he can spring another trap. Magpie quickly frees herself and Commodore secures the battleship control keys. When we head topside with our prisoner and the briefcase, the Coast Guard has arrived to clean up. Back at Rayport headquarters, we update the team’s Trello board: the Mystery Weapons Sale moves to Resolved, but a new card is added to the queue: Who built the Battleship?
Story Games Club 