Wint again leans out to shoot
"Sigh. I SUCK"
Dawn's laser strikes the ghoul's torso, and then Thuldas' Starknife spears the ghoul right in the eye. The Ghoul collapses to the floor.
Combat Over.
Examining the body of the ghoul captain reveals that he wielded a static arc pistol (only four charges remain in its battery) and he is wearing flight suit stationwear armor.
The skeletons have no gear at all and their clothing is in rags.
Thuldas has a look at the strange generator, but when he gets too close (within 5 feet) he feels a deep and unnatural chill through his space suit (1 point of cold damage). He steps back out of reach of the field. It seems that the other three generators must have been shut down by Dawn's use of the computer in the cargo bay.
The way forward lies open.
The bridge of the Endless Threnody is located behind the enormous crimson eye at the front of the ship, bathed in a blood-red glow. The crew stations are fabricated from bone and steel, apparently grown from the floor and walls of this room. Battle damage is evident throughout the bridge, but it is now empty and utterly silent—truly a ghost ship.
Most of the equipment here is without power, but a couple of strange computer terminals remain active. The information you came for must be in the computers here somewhere.
"Let me see if I can get into the system. Thuldas, mind helping out? I think this mainframe should have a similar encryption. Let's see, looks like there's some type of magitech cypher on here. I think I can get through it though."
"I shall attune myself to the arcane frequencies of the computers once more."
Thuldas yells in satisfaction as he knifes the ghoul in the face, sending it toppling backwards. Approaching the corpse, he grunts uncomfortably as the supernatural cold eats away at his bones, but he takes the time to haul the remains of the ghoul out of the area of effect of the necromantic generator.
"Anyone fancy a static pistol? That's about all o' worth 'ere."
Continuing onto the bridge, he lets out a slow whistle over the comms.
"We sure did a number on this place, eh?"
"Thuldas, mind helping out?"
Approaching the nearest terminal, Thuldas brushes debris off the interface and attempts to access the system.
"Hey, I think I've found somethin' 'ere. Iolas, take a look at this."
Iolas manages to crack the password protection on the system, and then Thuldas does a search and recovers a file on the Endless Threnody's most recent mission.
The Threnody's shuttle touched down on a desert planet in the Vast called Ulmarid, near the site of a wrecked starship. They scavenged some things from the wreckage (including the Starfinder insignias), and marked the site for further potential salvage.
Upon lifting off, the Endless Threnody was attacked in orbit as it tried to navigate the asteroid field surrounding the planet. The Endless Threnody was able to escape into the Drift, but had sustained heavy damage, and their drift engine failed while the ship was still in the drift.
Before escaping, the Endless Threnody did manage to scan the enemy ship, which was a vessel named Lawblight with clear Besmaran markings. A substantial amount of detail on the Lawblight is in the file.
LAWBLIGHT
Medium transport
Speed 6; Maneuverability average (turn 2); Drift 1
AC 13; TL 13
HP 70; DT —; CT 14
Shields basic 30 (forward 15, port 5, starboard 5, aft 5)
Attack (Forward) coilgun (4d4), heavy torpedo
launcher (5d8)
Attack (Aft) gyrolaser (1d8)
Attack (Turret) coilgun (4d4)
The crew sends a signal back to the hip to report in. Bouncing the signal off a distant Drift Beacon, they manage to send a report to Venture-Captain Arvin. A few hours later the return message arrives.
"Well done. That's one less ship in the Corpse Fleet left to trouble the living. Salvage anything you think you can use and then blow the ship to bits and head home. I'm going to send you out to Ulmarid, but I think your ship might need an upgrade or two before taking on a genuine pirate vessel."
"I've got a bit of a treat for you. When you're done with Threnody, enter this passcode into the ship's cargo files. A little compartment will open up in the galley with a few things to liven up the trip back. I know this mission isn’t yet complete,” he explains, “but you’ve earned the right to celebrate a bit on your return trip. I asked the quartermaster to include a few delicacies so you can enjoy being alive—after an encounter with necromancy.”
"I'll see you when you get back. Arvin out."
"Delicacies? I wonder if they've given me [i]dadlı qablar[i]. I haven't had that since I left home"
"Ooh! Snacks! Let's open 'er up and find out!"
"Shake it off Wint. While there's life, there's hope, which mean that guy is hopeless."
Stell would collect the static arc pistol if not one else wants or needs it.
Stell watches the computer geniuses hack into the ship's files and retrieve the data they were sent to collect. "Good job, guys! One step closer to closure and perhaps a rescue of some lost Starfinders. I joined in hopes of finding a way to locate and rescue my parents, but while we wait for breaking news on the Scoured Stars, it feels good to help others who may be lost. Even if they are not alive, we can bring some closure to their loved one waiting for word of their fate."
After the information on the pirate ship emerges, Stell whistles her intrigue. "Loved watching Donny Jepworth as Captain Drack Murrow in "Pirates of the Caspari Drift.".
She pulls out her synthe fiddle and plays some tunes from the movie, while moving about on the ship, looking for cool resonance chambers. Then she records some sounds in the better spots for use as samples in future music compositions. She also records the sounds made by tapping on various bone and metal parts of the ship.
Stell fishes out a transparent bag full of brightly colored balls of what looks like pastry. She breaks open the container and as air rushes in, an exothermic reactions produces a soft hiss and the balls of dough begin to steam.
"Oh! Castrovelian Dim Sum!"
She sets the treats on a plate and offers them around before biting into one and closing her eyes as the flavors have a lively party for her taste buds. She then plays some songs to amuse her comrades who are fast becoming friends.
To fill the time on the journey home, Stell suggests the group has a regular practice of gathering after the evening meal and sharing stories of individual adventures had before joining the Starfinders.
Thuldas locates some spiced sausages in the galley compartment and eagerly shares them with his crewmates, but not before insisting that they slice them up and mix them with a hard, sharp cheese in the Akitonian style.
To fill the time on the journey home, Stell suggests the group has a regular practice of gathering after the evening meal and sharing stories of individual adventures had before joining the Starfinders.
"Stories, eh? I'm up for this endeav'r! Now let me see..."
The dwarf ponders for a moment, fiddling with a small object hanging from his belt. With a snap of his fingers, he leans forward over the cramped galley table of the Calico Wanderer, framing the scene with sharply energetic hand motions.
"So, I've mentioned that m' ma runs a repairyard outside o' Maro, right? Well, when you're a mechanic on Akiton, junk is your lifeblood, an' Maro's got a curious problem. Ya see, the whole damn city is vertical - built inta the side of the biggest damn cannon you'll ever see. So, instead of all the unused junk flowin' out t' the city limits," Thuldas grabs Wint's plate with one hand, shaking it gently to scatter utensils and remnants of food in a ring, "everything o' use that ain't being used ends up at the bottom," grabbing Iolas's plate with his other hand, Thuldas rotates it vertically, dumping the uneaten remains of the naur's dinner in a line on the table.
"So, funnily enough, it's actually easier t' source spare parts from miles an' miles away, rather than haul 'em up outta the world's deepest hole. When I was younger, that was m' job - at least, m' Da and I. We'd hop a caravan an' trek over t' Hivemarket, load up a few crates w/ choice bits'n'pieces, an' trek back. Few weeks, round trip."
Thuldas uses the two plates to simulate a desert caravan travelling first one way and then the other.
"Now, ya need t' understand that the first time we went I was a tiny dwarven child, in an unfamiliar city, with the planet's most easily distracted parent, Angradd bless 'im. We've been in the city not three hours an' I see this 'uge tunnel, sloping down beneath the city, with a crowd streamin' in an' out. After a full week or more out on the desert, mini-Thuldas must 'ave been feelin' a bit agoraphobic, so I wandered off down the tunnel, an' then down another, smaller tunnel, an' then another, an' another..."
Thuldas holds one plate horizontally, spidering his fingers beneath it.
"Hivemarket is built upon a thousand thousand tunnels - old lava tubes, I've 'eard - that tendril for miles in all directions. Before I knew it, I was lost an' alone. Dwarves are stubborn, though, an' children moreso, so I kept ploddin' alone in th' wrong direction. And then, hundreds o' feet below the desert, I saw it..."
"...a ghost."
Thuldas lets the words hang heavy in the air for effect.
"I could see right through it, even in the dark. It had these filmy eyes, and faded t' nothin' below the waist. I was petrified - couldn't move, couldn't breathe, encased in fear. For a moment, nothin' happened - an' then it looked at me, an' I RAN!"
Thuldas drops both plates on the table with a cattle, using his arms to illustrate the weaving lava tubes beneath Hivemarket.
"I ran an' ran, tryin' t' find my way upwards. For the longest time I rushed through th' dark, afraid t' look over 'm shoulder. An' then, finally, I see some actual light - a tiny pub sittin' at an intersection o' two tunnels. Runnin' through the door, I yelled 'a ghost is chasin' me!', an' the whole room jus' goes dead silent."
Thuldas is caught by a minor coughing fit, and reaches for a glass of water to clear his throat.
Stell took advantage of the break so say, "I take it this bar was okay with serving miners."
After the groans subside, she said, "I love ghost stories. What happened next?"
Rummaging around in the snack compartment, Iolas finds a glass bottle, the interior filled with countless shifting colors, "I was hoping there'd be some of this. Liavaran Sky-Brandy. Made from plants grown in the endless skies of Liavara, infused with just enough psychoactive vapor to produce mild euphoria and give it the distinctive look. Illegal in four Pact Worlds and criminalized in two. I'm glad the Starfinders are willing to operate a little bit outside of the law." He chuckles and opens it, pouring it into a small glass.
"Now, tellin' stories are we? Most of my exploits came from when I was in the Armada." he takes a drink and smiles slightly before starting, "Well, this story is a bit more upbeat than my previous. It was about a month after the whole freighter incident. I had taken a job doing some...under the table renovations of a cargo ship. Stewards weren't supposed to know about it, which I was fine to deal with. Any case, I was making a...storage compartment for hauling commodities like our Sky-Brandy here. So the boss, this Ysoki wanted me to get it done in two days, which I was confident I could do."
Iolas takes a drink of his drink and his eyes widen slightly at the powerful substance before he continues, "By then I had gotten my own little junk cruiser, good for getting between ships in the armada, but not a whole lot else. Any case, I flew over to the ship to get that compartment installed and when I got there, the ship was something else. It had been cobbled together from at least four other ships, none of them should've been compatible. There was a whole chunk that seemed like it was one of those Xenowarden tree ships but being grafted onto a Shirren cruiser really didn't do any favors."
"So, after finding my way through the strange maze of the ship, I found the crawlspace I was supposed to convert. Only problem, a fuel leak had completely filled it. Now, I thought it wasn't a problem, just a matter of draining it. Not so simple. The ship had been infested with Voyyanid eels. Not exactly eels, but they feed on sublight starship fuel," he says, motioning towards the fuel tanks.
"Long story short, I spent two days throwing eels out of an airlock. After I went to some drifter bar I was gonna meet the ysoki at, I found out that he had completely stiffed me. He was gone, vanished."
He chuckles and says, "I later found out that the Stewards did an inspection of his ship, and found both the contraband compartment and he got put in prison for smuggling and code violation. Guess we all get what we deserve."
"I guess eels well that ends well," Stell comments with a slight smile.
Though Dawn has no need to eat, she still enjoys the taste of the lemon-flavored candies known in Absalom Station as "Sarenrae's sunbeams."
She politely listens to the others' stories, but still being so young, she has little to add.
Stell took her turn next. "Did I tell you how I got my big break? I had gotten some gigs as one of the warm-up acts for Big Nelson and the Eddies who were playing at a big auditorium in Skydock. It was one of my first solo gigs. I had been with a band called The Drifters and we had gradually built up a following and had even done a tour of the big cities on Verces. Then I started getting offers to play solo. That led to this gig."
Stell pops some Kalo Fizz-bings into her mouth and after the efforvesence abates, she continues. "Now, the Starcrest Auditorium is BIG. Really big. Biggest place I had ever played and it was packed! Not to see little ol' me, of course; they were there for the Eddies, and so no one paid me much attention. I did my thing, played my synth fiddle, danced and all. Played pretty well but people were talking and laughing. I think near the end, some were starting to listen, but then my time was up and I bowed and left the stage.
"I watched from the wings for a while, but I decided I wanted to get some air and wind down a bit, so I stepped out a back stage entrance and noodled around with my instrument for a bit, enjoying the fresh air. When I went to get back in, the stage door was locked. I walked around to the front entrance and tried to get in, but security didn't recognize me and thought I was one of the many people there hoping to crash the performance. Said I needed to show a hand stamp to prove I had a ticket. I kept saying, 'But I was just on stage!' No dice."
"So I'm mad, frustrated, but also really jazzed, so I look around and here are all these music fans who are dying for a concert, so I decided to give 'em one. I started playing my act all over again. People really got into it, and I was smart enough to send up a record-o-drone so I got a recording of it all which I uploaded live to my web site. Some music reviewers caught my act and then saw how much the fans outside the enjoyed the music. It led to my first published songs, then to my tour with Gemma Argenta. The rest, as they say, is history!"
Thuldas is caught by a minor coughing fit, and reaches for a glass of water to clear his throat.
Once he's in control of his voice again, Thuldas continues his rambling tale.
"So, there's all these hard-bitten nomads an' scrappers in this dusty ol' bar down inna cave, an' this child dwarf comes in, yells 'ghost', an' they all piss themselves. They start askin' me a bunch of questions, like 'what didja steal?' an' 'who didja kill?!'"
Thuldas takes another sip of water, clearing his throat and chuckling.
"Obviously, I hadn't done anything like that, an' they figured it out pretty quick. Once they realized this little fact, everyone had a good laugh at my expense. This ol' ysoki sat me down and told me that Hivemarket is full o' ghosts - he called 'em khulans - an' they only attack bad people. Someone bought me some food, and eventually they found m' Da. It just goes t' show - this is a weird-ass universe."
"I, uh, can't possibly beat any of those stories. The most that I ever did was to sneak into a casino run by the mob, steal all the files, and email them to my employer. I got away from the casino without being caught, even. No big deal.
Wait a second. There WAS that time that I had to clean the ENTIRE starship from TOP to BOTTOM (not including engineering. I was told to stay out of engineering for some reason) in ONLY 5 hours.
First, I mopped the floor using a mixture of
....[minutes of VERY detailed statements of how he cleaned follow]
And last, I mopped the floor again. One can NEVER have a floor that is too clean"
The group opens the hidden compartnemtn and discovers a variety of things, including several alcoholic beverages and a selection of candied meats.
Before leaving the group checks the Endless Threnody to see if there is anything worth salvaging. Recalling that one of the cargo bays had a listed cargo of "salvaged weaponry," you have a quick look. Most of what is there is spare parts and junk, but the hold does contain a Flak Thrower that is mostly complete and intact.
Once the scrap has been loaded aboard, the Calico Wanderer blows what is left of the Endless Threnody to bits and heads for home. As before, the trip takes a few weeks.
"Welcome home," says Arvin warmly when he sees the group in the flesh once again. "It looks like you've taken good care of Wanderer," he continues. "I can hardly see any battle damage."
"As I mentioned before, I'm sending you out again, only this time you'll need a bit more firepower to deal with something like Lawblight. I wish I could give you a Frigate to fly out there, but we're a little short on ships right now. Actually we're short on just about everything."
"But I've booked you some shipyard time and we've got a bit of a budget for upgrades. I'll leave you in charge of the details. Make sure you give the Wanderer a bit more punch."
"I'll trust you, captain, to make all the decisions"
"Welcome home," says Arvin warmly when he sees the group in the flesh once again. "It looks like you've taken good care of Wanderer," he continues. "I can hardly see any battle damage."
"As I mentioned before, I'm sending you out again, only this time you'll need a bit more firepower to deal with something like Lawblight. I wish I could give you a Frigate to fly out there, but we're a little short on ships right now. Actually we're short on just about everything."
"But I've booked you some shipyard time and we've got a bit of a budget for upgrades. I'll leave you in charge of the details. Make sure you give the Wanderer a bit more punch."
Stell beams as VC Arvin delivers his praise. "Thank you! It was great to get a space mission under our belts. Makes me feel like an authentic Starfinder. Let's focus on doing what we can for our fellow Starfinders. They might still be alive and in need of rescue."
Stell hangs around the shipyard to observe the process of upgrading things on the ship. She studies schematics and tries to learn what she can, hoping to add some engineering skill to her repertoire of starfinder knowledge, even though others on the team will always outshine her when presented with the hard challenges.
She will look into ways to either improve her vision with augmentations or at least upgrade her armor to help her see in the dark, so she's not the only member of the team shining lights where she needs to see. At the very least, she'll get some suit mounted lights.
Thuldas works with Iolas, Stell, and the shipyard workers to finalize plans for the Wanderer's retrofit, electing to concentrate the firepower, install their newly acquired flak thrower on a custom swivel mount, and upgrade the ship's core computer system.
Stell hangs around the shipyard to observe the process of upgrading things on the ship. She studies schematics and tries to learn what she can, hoping to add some engineering skill to her repertoire of starfinder knowledge, even though others on the team will always outshine her when presented with the hard challenges.
Thuldas also spends as much time at the shipyards during the retrofitting operations as possible, both to ensure the work is done properly and to gain a better understanding of the ship's inner workings. During this time, he regales Stell and anyone else unfortunate enough to be near with possibly true tales about various starships and other vehicles he's worked on in the past.
When Thuldas tells his tales, Stell is never bored. She absorbs such things like a sponge. When she's not able to help and there's nothing much to learn, she plays her violin for the workers or just to amuse herself. At times, she uses the sounds of the shipyard as a kind of percussion track, giving her ideas for new compositions. She uploads a few of her newest songs to her Internet Streaming Music site: Stelljams!
"Greetings to all my loyal fans! I'm sorry there have been no posts for so long, but I've been off having amazing adventures as a Starfinder. I'll spill out the details later, but now I just wanted to upload a few new pieces inspired by my spacefaring adventures. This is my way of showing I'm thinking of you even when I'm busy with Starfinder stuff."
"This first one is called Deep in the Drift. It's got samples of music played on a derelict spaceship that was super creepy. I've tried to capture some of that in this piece. Don't listen to it alone in the dark!"
"The second I just laid down after spending some time in the shipyards watching upgrades to our space ship. I've sampled sounds from the ship yard and put them down as my rhythm track. I've overlaid a few upbeat TipTop melodies that reflect my mood at the moment. I call it Star Trippin'. Hope you're all livin' your dreams. Pleasant dreams."
After about a week of work, the Calico Wanderer is ready for space. The group takes on some final supplies and makes their farewells befor once more blasting off into the Drift.
The trip itself is uneventful but long, taking 25 days to reach the Ulmarid System deep in the Vast.
The Calico Wanderer emerges from the drift into the uninhabited system. Two gas giants orbit the bright subgiant star, as well as a wide asteroid belt. Between the orbits of the two giants, is the solitary world of Ulmarid, which seems barren and lifeless, though you know that many desert worlds such as this have a vibrant (if sparse) ecology.
You quickly consult your files in the Starfinder Database on the world.
Ulmarid is a desert planet wracked with fierce storms that scour the surface. Several square tunnels pierce the earth under much of the planet’s crust; although plainly artificial, there is no evidence as to who made these tunnels or why. A startling variety of vicious, unintelligent monsters inhabit the planet’s surface as well as these subterranean tunnels. The planet’s two enormous moons collided long ago, filling the planet’s upper atmosphere with a dangerous cloud of tumbling asteroids that makes approaching the planet with large ships difficult.
Ulmarid
Diameter: ×2/3
Mass: ×4/9
Gravity: ×1
Atmosphere: Normal
Day: 2 days; Year 14 years
Thuldas is able to make some additional scans and discovers that Ulmarid’s atmosphere experiences sudden and ferocious storms of poisonous crystals. The temperature in the daytime is warm and sometimes hot but gets very cold after dark.
Though you are out of communication range, Venture-Captain Arvin has prepared a mission briefing for when you arrive, and you access it through the ship's computer. His pre-recorded hologram stands on the bridge of the Odyssey, his hands clasped behind his back.
“Hopefully your journey was uneventful. Based on your previous mission, we’ve obtained information about the planet of Ulmarid. The desert world has breathable atmosphere but is devoid of intelligent civilization. A cloud of asteroids—leftovers from a collision of the planet’s moons long ago—surrounds the planet, so you must carefully navigate the Odyssey to the surface to find the crashed Unbounded Wayfarer.
“Be sure to bring the Starfinder insignias with you; they will be critical in recovering the information the Starfinders left behind. If you can recover any of the lost Starfinders—alive or dead—please do so as well. Good luck.”
The Calico Wanderer approaches Ulmarid. You can see that the asteroid field surrounding the planet is indeed thick. Furthermore, the asteroids have a wide variety of vectors making it difficult to predict a safe path. You conclude from it's instability that this asteroid field cannot be very old, and collisions must be common. Perhaps in a few thousand years it might be easier to traverse.
There is no way around. To land, Calico Wanderer must pass through the asteroids.
Dawn tries to help plot a safe path, but her calculations are less than precise.
"Barren desert world? Vicious fauna? Boilin' days, freezin' nights, and occasional storms o' poison crystals? Sounds like vacation t' me, alright."
Thuldas squints at his monitors as he stitches together an algorithm to predict low-orbit asteroid movements.
"First things first, though - we gotta get ourselves down t' the surface."
Thuldas highlights the results of his work and integrates it into the Wanderer's targeting system.
"Wint - y' see this particularly big asteroid there? We can trail in its shadow maybe 'alf the way through the field, shield ourselves a bit."
If allowed, Wint would take 10 on piloting for a 20. If not allowed
"Why thank you, Thuldas. That does make it a lot easier to get through the field"
Wint is actually sincere in his thanks, even if an impartial observer would realize that he'd have done ok without the help
Wint deftly maneuvers the Calico Wanderer through the asteroid field, and you break through into low orbit, where the traces of Ulmarid's upper atmosphere have slowed down any orbiting debris to the point where it has by now crashed into the planet.
The arid planet's surface is heavily pockmarked with craters. Some of these are quite large and seem to have cracked the planet's crust, causing calderas of lava to fill them. There seem to be no bodies of water anywhere on the surface. Many areas of the world are covered by shifting dune seas. High winds roar around the world in a chaotic fashion.
Once in Low orbit you are able to detect the location of the Unbounded Wayfarer's distress beacon.
"We are unable to land near the site of the Unbounded Wayfarer's distress beacon," says the Ship's AI.
"The area is covered in thick shifting sand. Deep radar scans indicate the dune seas in this area are up to 50 meters deep before solid rock is found. If we land in that region the Calico Wanderer will sink into the sand and may not be able to lift off. This may be why Unbounded Wayfarer was stranded here, though I also detect that her hull is very badly damaged. Much of the wreck seems to be under the sand."
"There is a safe landing site just over two kilometers from the beacon. You should be able to walk on the sand without too much difficulty."
Calico Wanderer sets down on an outcropping of bare rock poking out of the dune sea. The surface of Ulmarid is a wind-scoured desert with jagged protrusions of rock thrusting up through the sand. The air has a harsh tang, like burning metal. From here the sandy wasteland stretches in all directions. Your comm units are able to get a fix on the distress beacon's location, somewhere to the south.
Thuldas looks out at the wind-scoured desert with a sour face.
"I joined th' Starfinders t' leave th' desert. This looks just like Akiton, but hot."
"..."
"Hot-kiton."
Unsatisfied with his own portmanteau, Thuldas seals up the environmental protections of his armor as if he were about to step out into the vacuum of space and waits in the airlock for the others.
"It will be good to feel the warmth of a sun again after weeks in a spaceship. Praise be to Sarenrae." Dawn waits in the airlock as well, seemingly unconcerned with wearing a helmet.
"Jeez this is hot. Well, we might as well get going."
"So," Stell asks as the ship sets down. "How much daylight do we have left? Is there any weather forecast? Did we see any dust storms in the area when we were on our approach. Best be prepared for the worst."
Stell suits up with her brand new environmental suit designed to make her more comfortable in hot climates. She has an extra holster with her static arc pistol in addition to her laser and semi-auto slug thrower. A set of sunglasses completes her ensemble. She looks a bit ungainly, with her pack full of supplies, but she manages well.
Unsatisfied with his own portmanteau,...
"So," Stell asks as the ship sets down. "How much daylight do we have left? Is there any weather forecast? Did we see any dust storms in the area when we were on our approach. Best be prepared for the worst."
"The local day is quite long, about 48.3 hours. As such, even though it is afternoon you have over 9 hours of sunlight remaining."
"The atmosphere is a breathable nitrogen-oxygen mix, but there are trace elements that would be toxic if they were present in greater quantities. Health problems might occur if you were to settle here."
"However, these trace elements condense into clouds in the upper atmosphere, and storms produce precipitation that is potentially poisonous. These storms are sudden and unpredictable, but also brief and rare. Precautions are advised."
"Models predict that dust storms do occur, but I detect none at the moment. Prevailing winds in the are are moderate at present. I should be able to warn you if one is approaching."
+2
The group sets out over the sand towards the wreck. The temperature is hot, but not unbearably so, and most of you are able to handle the heat, except for Iolas, whose station-bred living has not prepared him for the realities of wilderness exploration.
Stell continues to scan the horizon for trouble. After walking for about 15 minutes, she spots a number of bluish rippling clouds coming in fast from the west. This must be one of the poisonous storms the ship's AI warned you about!
After about a week of work, the Calico Wanderer is ready for space. The group takes on some final supplies and makes their farewells befor once more blasting off into the Drift.
5d6
The trip itself is uneventful but long, taking 25 days to reach the Ulmarid System deep in the Vast.