LogFAQs > #967781233

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49. Lono

As I mentioned with Manchester, there are certain sessions that I feel like I enjoy a lot more than other people. Typically, its when we go to a more enclosed city and deal with a specific problem that sets that city apart from its fellows in a memorable fashion. I just like more micro-scale stories sometimes, because you get the chance to have a more intimate exploration of the world, and some more personalized character work with someone like Lono, in a city like Tampa (which has been a fun excursion every time weve been thus far.)

Now, this might be recency bias, as we just went back to Tampa and met with Lono again for the first time in a long time, but hes great. Weve visited Tampa on three occasions now, and every time, we hook up with Lono and something absolutely insane happens. First trip, we show up at a burger joint just in time to watch this beefy, shirtless man with a CROATOAN tattoo murder a doctor, before trying to kill us as well. A misunderstanding, of course, and once we reveal were Checkmate agents, he lightens upbut he also informs us that Checkmate is dead and the Black/White Kings/Queens are gone, so hes going to find his own way to take power by ensconcing himself within The Trust (a group of thirteen wealthy and influential families from around the globe).

All of this is very standard for meeting a new NPC out in the field, but what stands out is what happened next. The burger joint gets attacked by an OMAC (ask ScareChan what that is), and we wind up killing it and fleeing in a pair of cars that engage in a lengthy highway pursuit. This was week twelve of the campaign, and up to that point, the car chase was perhaps one of the most fun sequences wed experienced. A large part of that was because of the reckless, manic energy of Lono, just spurring us on to go as full throttle as he did in our efforts to escape pursuit. Eventually, we did lose our tail, and that just gave us a chance to relax in Lonos parking garage base, planning our next move while Lono made unsavory comments and gestures towards the women or our party (namely Minerva).

Trip two to Tampa, we met up with Lono again (after he had previously punched out our teleporter out of pure machismo), but this was less us working directly with him, and more us giving him a task and sending him out like a one man army corps. While we infiltrated a power station (having gained access to the Societys recruitment station by stage a drug-fueled riot), Lono ran off and murdered a WHOLE bunch of people by invading a TV studio and blowing up their broadcasting tower. Our plan succeeded, but then we took a LONG time to get back to Tampa, during which time Lono became Tampas most wanted, with every two-bit low-life looking to make a name for him or herself by being the one to bring Lono in alive.

Long story short, we fought our way through a different parking garage, just in time for Lono to help beat the shit out of the last few bounty hunters. Thats one of the things that makes Lono great. Tampa is meant to be an early campaign mission, and Lono is OP as hell. While we, the players, are still learning the ropes, its fun to have an NPC that can just beat the shit out of whatever blockade stands in our way. And as we fled Tampa with him in tow, he managed to continue his streak of being a hilariously-unpleasant douchebag. Minerva gained the powers of telepathy to communicate between players across long distancesand she used this on Lono, which allowed him to beam back sexually-explicit imagery of Minerva herself. Thats the kind of quality dickbaggery Lono provides.

Theres just something fun about a complete asshole character whos nominally a good guy, working towards the benefit of the party, and because hes a good guy, you have to kind of tolerate his worst behavior. With Lono continuing to be a fixture in the campaign, Im sure hes going to similarly continue being a hilarious point of contact out in the field for the future.

Hint for #48: Has at least one pet living with them.