Liol Calvert
Liol, Liol, Liol... yes, the name's stolen. It could be worse; no one
spotted the steal.
Liol Calvert hails from Green Lake, Hive Primus, on the wonderful world
of Necromunda. At the outset, he was nothing more than a petty thief
with a sharp mind, a way with words, and (which I hadn't expected) an
uncanny knack with guns - this being what happens when you conflate a
very definite character concept (best exemplified by Liol's inspiration
and lookalike Mr Kobayashi) with a random roll character generation
system.
To add spice to the party (we had two abhumans and a psyker) I decided
Liol was rabidly anti-mutant, and in general a bit speciesist. He more
or less overcame this for Jinkar Lazarn, the big dumb Ogryn, by the
end, but not after spending quite some time using Jinkar (and most of
the other characters) as Ways To Make Money.
So, what's to tell? Liol hooked up with the party - more or less -
while looking for work; about the only place hiring was looking for
guns to defend a farm. Liol wasn't interested; much of the party were.
Liol bummed around and managed to get some night-shift security work,
while the other stay-at-home, McKenzie Williams, continued his job as a
plumber. Liol developed, thus, a friendship with McKenzie which would
get the latter into a lot of shit and help Liol out overt he coming
weeks.
The farm repulsed the first night's attack; word got out it had been
mutants; Liol figured the pay was better than what he was getting in
the city. So off he went.
And he escaped injury, alone among the group, and got himself the
beginnings of a reputation as a good shot. McKenzie lost his job, and
Liol got him a job as a nightwatchman, this being Liol's own primary
means at the time (He'd had to kill two victims the first time I mugged
someone, as his profession suggested, and in a population 400 town this
wasn't a good thing). To secure McKenzie the job, Liol sold him
his laspistol. For himself, he continued using a stolen stubber.
Pistol-armed, he won a couple of sniper duels against a mysterious
assailant armed with a lasrifle, on the second occasion stealing the
rifle as his assailant limped away. The reputation was beginning to
build now; sensing an opening, Liol enlisted in the Colonel's Men, the
gang responsible for policing Green Lake.
At this point, it should be noted, the town was under siege; Liol
pinked a few besiegers at range, despite good cover, and his reputation
grew still further. The town was aided by unknown warriors from
outside, which lifted the siege.
So Liol shifted priorities. He was getting along fairly well with the
Colonel, and had passing acquaintance with the other party members.
When Jinkar, the Ogryn, was smooth-talked into becoming a gladiator,
Liol lied his way into 'managing' Jinkar, persuading the smooth-talker
to do all the actual managing and, for his total contribution, invented
Jinkar's stagename 'Babyface' from Jinkar's slow-witted ramblings.
Fifteen per cent of the winner's fees sorted with no outlay.
Outlay was needed a few days later when another of the party, the
pyrokinetic Ignus, finally escaped the manic cultist who'd been
planning to sacrifice him. Lacking money to pay the doctor's bill, a
weapon, and a job, Liol provided him with the funds for the first two
and the access to a second - that nightwatchman's post again - at
substantial interest.
Formally arresting the final party member, unsubtle ratling criminal
Sly Sharpshot, Liol rose further in the Colonel's estimation. And
when theJavek, Jinkar's real manager, was killed, Liol managed to
secure himself most of Javek's cash, a promotion, and more kudos...
while Jinkar, despatched to Liol's duty by the manipulator, did all the
real work. Liol acquired an armoured jacket - the fashion among the
gang - from the proceeds.
Meeting McKenzie while the former plumber was drunk one night, Liol
sold him a half-baked revenge scheme. It might, or might not, have
worked if orchestrated properly; as it was, it nearly destroyed the
town. Again, though, Liol's silver tongue managed to talk McKenzie into
saving the town, regaining his job as a plumber in the process.
Liol had other worries for the town's safety at this point, though.
Noted - and wanted - figure Myron Jubalgunn was caught as he
entered town by Liol's sharp eyes, and the resulting gunfight/psyker
exertions have become known as the Watchmen Massacre; Jubalgunn and his
mutants (in reality a Genestealer cult full of hybrids) escaped into
the town, for the most part. However, Liol slew the navigator-witch
whose killing eye took nine of the Watchmen to an early grave.
Immediately afterwards, however, Liol was struck by a scintillating
bolt of plasma.
His armour saved him from a fatal wound, though it was destroyed in the
process. Liol, heavily burned across the chest, collapsed to the ground
unconscious.Thankfully, McKenzie managed to get him to the doctors in
time; and astonishingly (and owing chiefly to stupendous luck on the
rolls, requiring two criticals) Liol was up and as fit as ever, though
scarred, the following day. A reputation as a stone-cold killer, a fine
detective, and a hard man to kill established, Liol was an obvious
candidate for the guard for an arms shipment the Green Lake Guilder was
conducting. He and ten others, including Jinkar, went along; thereby
missing the genestealers' first true strike against the town, defended
against chiefly by the swift actions of McKenzie.
But Liol had problems of his own; the negotiations turned nasty, then
to battle. The first shot dropped Liol's Ogryn friend; the second tore
a nasty gash in Liol's cheek, destroying a number of his teeth.
Somehow, he held on.
Somehow, despite smoke grenades and injury - including another shot to
his chest, just recently healed - he along killed eleven of the fifteen
opposition. Sighing, he brought most of the convoy back to Green Lake,
witnessing the destruction of the Guilder's mansion along the way -
presumably by whatever outside force had shot Liol with the plasma
weapon.
Barely able to talk, Liol made his report as best he could, and went to
recuperate. The following day, however, the 'stealers struck again. The
Watchmen, including McKenzie and the deputised Jinkar and Ignus,
managed to drive them out, though at great cost.
The Watchmen were left nine strong. Liol and a squat shared command as
the campaign ended; the squat by seniority, Liol by reputation.
Liol will return in the next Green Lake saga. It remains to be seen how
his storied career will end...
***
Quotes from the game can be found here
and here. As you can probably
tell, I had a lot of fun playing Liol, bastard though he is, and lucky
though he assuredly was. The above doesn't read like it, but believe
me, combat in Imperium is deadly. Liol, however, had had lucky
rolls along the way, but particularly for advancement, and that coupled
with those precious few points of armour saved him - oh, and a Fate
point. He'll be taking it much easier - and further from the action -
next time around....