Actual Play: FATE High Road to China Session 5

High Road to China Session 5 Write-up

Played Friday, February 24th, 2017

Dramatis Personae

• Fiona, a rich heiress (played by J, not present)
• Faye, a reporter (played by R)
• Angelo, a gambler (played by T)
• Two Stampe SV.4 airplanes
• François Lejeune, a rich playboy attempting to make Fiona his bride
• Pierre Gaumont, Fiona's father
• Louis Gaumont, Fiona's uncle
• A Chinese warlord
• Various troops

Fiona, Faye and Angelo spot Uncle Louis' men, François' men and the Chinese warlord's men near the castle. François brought two bi-planes and Uncle Louis brought one.

Fiona and Faye take off in their plane, moving toward's François' forces, hoping to take out their planes. Diving from the sky, Faye machine guns one of the planes before it can get off the ground but the other achieves the air and the dogfight is on!

Uncle Louis, thinking Angelo's plane has Fiona in it, makes a strike towards the airfield but Angelo takes off and circles high to engage Uncle Louis' airplane.

The Chinese warlord advances on the castle, under a heave barrage of gunfire, while François and Louis realize that capturing Pierre is the way to end this (with François ending up with Fiona as his bride and Louis with the company!)

François tries to sneak into the castle (Create Advantage: Sneak Attack -- failed but the Heroes now have that Aspect with 1 free Invoke) but is repulsed by the extensive mines laid around the castle.

Angelo attacks Louis' airplane but only gains the briefest of advantage over it (Boost: Flying out of the Sun).

The Chinese warlords troops gain a foothold near the castle (Aspect: Foothold near Castle 1 free invoke) but a counter attack by Pierre's forces wipe out several units, evening the odds.

Fiona takes a shot at François' remaining plane with her pistol (Webley Mk IV -- weapon: 1) and distracts the pilot (Boost: Causes the pilot to flinch) while Faye guns down François' men on the ground with the Lewis Gun, leaving only him among a halo of dead.

Angelo shoots down Uncle Louis' plane, causing it to burst into flames and crash near the castle. Louis, meanwhile, sneaks into the castle (Aspect: Sneak into Castle -- 1 free Invoke) and takes out one unit of Pierre's peasant soldiers. The Castle is breached!

The Chinese warlord advances and gains part of the Great Wall as a refuge (Aspect: Foothold on the Great Wall -- 1 free Invoke), as Pierre counterattacks.

Angelo flies around, trying to get into a better position to attack the Chinese warlord's soldiers but Fiona and Faye use their Bond of Friendship (Aspect, both invokes) to decimate his troops.

It's close-in fighting in the castle, when Fiona takes a lucky shot with her Webley against one of Uncle Louis' men, striking the dynamite and blowing up most of the attackers. Uncle Louis is captured by Pierre.

Angelo dive bombs the Chinese warlord, dropping a bunch of bombs on his command unit, killing them all, as François signals his remaining plane and escapes.

Epilogue:

Faye interviews Uncle Louis and finishes her Magnum Opus, a book called "High Road to China: Adventures Across the Globe, from Athens to China, and Points in Between". Later that year, she earns the coveted Pulitzer Prize! She declares her love for Fiona.

Fiona returns to Athens, gets the documents from Lambert and assumes control of Gaumont Industrie de Paris and runs the company well, moving the company to Quebec before World War II and using the resources to fight the Nazis and rebuild France after the war. Fiona and Faye live happily together until their deaths in 1982, leaving several children, many grandchildren and scores of great grandchildren, as well as Gaumont Industrie de Quebec and the Pulitzer Prize award, as their legacy.

Angelo stays in China with Pierre, who passes away in 1937. Angelo kicks his gambling habit and takes up a new one -- politics! He represents China in the formation of the UN and remains great friends with Fiona and Faye.

François Lejeune cowardly flees that Chinese battlefield and disappears, never to be heard from again........