Traveller Vignette 035

“I couldn’t make out what the crowd was shouting, but the tone was clear enough, an angry rumble that wanted blood. The riot police holding a line across the square were firing shotgun shells into the pavement just in front of the crowd, so the pellets ricocheted off the cobblestones and into the shins and thighs of the mob. Enough to sting, but not enough to do serious damage. It was keeping the mob back, but only just. Everyone could see that even if the police started firing into the crowd, they couldn’t kill enough to make a difference before the rest swarmed over them, but nobody wanted to be the first to die. Then I heard the flat boom of a rifle, firing from one of the buildings across the square. One of the riot officers went down with a bullet in the chest, and all hell broke loose…


(Author's note - Generally, adventures involve the characters being given a mission by a patron. This time, they are caught on a planet (perhaps while their ship is docked, or on an unrelated mission) when a revolution kicks off. At the least, they need to get to somewhere safe such as the starport, possibly protecting or even rescuing key NPCs en route. It might be particularly awkward id the PCs are obviously identifiable by accent or dress as "not from around here", eg Imperials on a non-imperial world)


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