"I wonder what would be suitable to give to ALICE as a souvenir?" Puzzle asks absently.
Opening up a small, unstocked supply closet with empty tool racks and bare shelves on the way out, the party elects to rest for eight hours before dealing with the decompressed part of the ship and what is probably the bridge. With no signs of life not eventually hostile to the party being found during the exploration, it seems that the Breath of Embers isn't looking like an exceptionally positive case for Plane of Fire-Pact Worlds interplanear relations.
Several minutes after returning to A.L.I.C.E. and the ACN-1, you receive a hail from Far Portal Station. Assuming you answer, you see Stationmaster Jori's face.
"Hello again, explorers. Your ship --Alice, I believe she called herself-- let us know of your progress aboard the Breath of Embers and your descision to replenish your energy before completing the exploration. I wanted to tell you we at Far Portal Station support you taking all of the time you need to clear the ship out as safely as possible. It's a shame there hasn't been anyone on there that's been more friendly. Even though we can't wait to get started investigating the ship, as with any expedition or experiment, your safety is paramount. We're ready to take the ACN-1 and Breath of Embers in as soon as you've finished the initial sweep of the ship. Until then, good luck."
With A.L.I.C.E. running all of the appropriate security protocols and the airlocks secured, the party settles in the mend up a bit before continuing.
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Approximately six hours after returning to the ACN-1, the ship's sensors begin pinging with new activity.
A.L.I.C.E.'s voice, soft at first and then slightly more urgent, intones, "Greetings, crew. There has been an uptick in solar activity you may want to investigate. For your convenience, I have switched viewscreens in the ACN-1 to the event."
As the party looks on from any of the viewscreens on the ship, you all see that the Far Portal's orbit is beginning to decay. Through protective filters, you watch as the giant portal sinks rapidly down into the sun's corona. Within moments, the portal disappears from view.
You feel a momentary rush of unease as the Far Portal slips into the sun. The worst quickly passes, but an unshakable sense of vague dread remains.
You feel a momentary rush of unease as the Far Portal slips into the sun. The worst quickly passes, but an unshakable sense of vague dread remains.
As the Far Portal slips into the sun, an overwhelming sense of alarm and impending danger flows over and through you. The panic is so intense you find yourself unable to fully function, almost like you've been punched, for a quarter-minute before recovering. An unshakable sense of dread remains.
You feel a momentary rush of unease as the Far Portal slips into the sun. The worst quickly passes, but an unshakable sense of vague dread remains.
You feel a momentary rush of unease as the Far Portal slips into the sun. The worst quickly passes, but an unshakable sense of vague dread remains.
As you look to one another following the Far Portal's disappearance, Nomyra seems particularly troubled for several seconds. A quick glance back at the viewscreens shows a zoomed-in portion of the sun's corona, and nothing more - like Far Portal Station was never even there.
Nomyra goes pale and her hands shake as her mouth drops open slightly.
"It's gone. It's just gone. What just happened? Where is it?"
"No, no, no! Why it leave?"
Vedir looks with his eyes wide open, he rushes to the comm unit calling:
"Far Portal Station! Far Portal Station! What, on Eloritu, has just happened?" Yells worried Kasatha
Nomyra crouches down, her head in her hands. "We're all going to die. We're all going to die," she keeps whispering.
Puzzle's initial curiosity turns to horror as they watch the scene unfold. The android continues to stare at the viewscreen in shock long after the Far Portal has sunk into the Sun's fiery depths.
Lost for words, it is Nomyra's anguish that stirs Puzzle from their shock. Walking over to gently place a hand on her shoulder, the android attempts to console her. "You are correct; we are all going to die," they state. "But not today." The android extends their other hand, palm up, toward the crouching lashunta, ready to assist her.
Venturing a faint smile of assurance, Puzzle continues, "We have one another watching out for each of us." They look aroubd at each crew member in turn. "We have a job to finish. And now we have a mystery to solve."
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Seeing the Farportal station plunge into the sun and unable to do anything to stop it Wyrd in almost brought to his knees by the mental agony he experiences.
Able to grip an edge of a desk to steady himself he manages to keep standing but his internal pain starts to manifest physically as the cold grip it has on his heart starts to spread out through his entire body and then slowly starts to ooze out in a hazy flickering black smoke like substance.
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After everyone composes themselves again
"I highly doubt that what just happened to Farpoint Station and the arrival of the mystery ship are not connected to each other. We must continue our exploration and find out if there's anything we could have found that would have prevented this from happening....."
Nomyra accepts Puzzle's hand to stand up, but she still appears distraught, staring at the screen.
"Oh no!" A.L.I.C.E. exclaims. "I mislabled your read out. That area of the sun was where the Far Portal was, not Far Portal Station."
Suddenly the ship's view screens shift and zoom out, as though being manually adjusted, and display the Far Portal Station, safe and sound, still in orbit around the sun.
"I am so sorry for any additional discomfort that error caused you all, crew. I just got so caught up in what was happening I didn't double check the display screens' annotations..."
After a short pause, A.L.I.C.E. continues, "Actually, they're hailing you again. Patching them through."
Stationmaster Jori, looking somewhat out of sorts, again appears on the ACN-1's view screens. She begins speaking quickly.
"Hello, explorers. As you no doubt are aware by now, the Far Portal just descended into the sun. Our long ranger scanners were able to detect that it remained intact even when dipping into the corona, but they lost the..."
She pauses, sighs, and resumes speaking in a slower, more controlled voice.
"In short, it's gone. Even worse, it seems like the entire station experienced some kind of psycho-emotional event at the same time the portal went into the sun. Some of us got off relatively well, but about half of the crew here were very effected. I don't know why."
"Even though we don't have any direct evidence linking the two, the Breath of Embers emergence hours before this happened strongly suggests the two are connected. Please let us know as soon as you go back on board and find anything. If things like this are happening, I worry... well, right now, I just worry."
"Did the ACN-1 experience also experience a psycho-emotional event? And, can we help you with anything at the Station before you head out again?"
"Let us rest a bit more, there is not much bad that can happen, right?"
"Do not worry, ALICE," Puzzle assures the A.I.. "The anomalous solar activity may have also impacted your systems. We can run a diagnostic, if you have no objections."
After confirming Stationmaster Jori's query, the android adds, "The effect was more keenly felt by some of us than others." Glancing sidelong at Nomyra, almost apologetically, Puzzle asks, "Did those who were most affected have anything in common? Gender, species, origin, particular sensitivities?"
"Additional medical supplies would be welcome - our greeting was far from warm." Puzzle pauses, tilting their head in thought for a moment. "Or perhaps it was much too warm."
"You will have some time to arrange all this as we will be resting for a few more hours before returning."
Nomyra seems not to notice Puzzle's comments as she continues to stare at the screen in terror.
Seeing Nomyra's expression, Kit looks moves right up next to it, staring closely. After a moment he turns around, a look of confusion on his face. "What are you looking at now?"
Puzzle, you don't detect any attempt at deception when the conversation changes away from talking about the particular details of the Far Portal entering into the sun. Stationmaster Jori responds that they're still canvasing everybody who was effected; she'll try to have more answers once all of the data is collected.
Wyrd, the Far Portal Station sends over some titanium rope (50 feet) for you to borrow as well as five mk 1 serums of healing. You receive the supplies during the two hour period before reembarking on the ship.
"How about we get some answers, and start with the bridge? Then we can attempt the depressurized area." Says Vedrir looking at his allies.
"Feeling better Nomyra?"
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"Thanks for the assist Farportal station" Wyrd mentions over the comms before turning them off and addressing the crew of the ACN-1
"It would have been nice if we thought about asking them for help earlier"
Wyrd contemplates for a bit as he goes over the notes he pulled up from the interwebs on the Ingnan language
"So we finish eating something, recharging our armors environmental protective properties and weapon batteries and go back to the Breath of Embers now? We did find a key and a locked door...let's find out if those 2 are connected to each other"
Nomyra shakes her head a few times. "Yes, let's go back and see what we can find out."
Her voice still carries a note of uncertainty, but she is prepared to go back to the other ship.
After a quick investigation, Vedrir can't find a physical or medical reason for the feelings in any of the party members. Medical aid does not seem useful in this situation.
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After finishing the 8 hour rest, the party returns to the Breath of Embers and attempts to use the key card to open the locked door amidships. The door opens.
Before you a starship bridge extends like a curved, multi-tiered balcony, its outer walls and ceiling formed of a clear composite with holographic overlays that crowd the dark of space with instrument readouts and blinking damage reports. Workstations line the balcony's curved outer edge and the raised platform near the door, some of them clearly damaged by electrical fire. Ash and debris form a small pile in front of the central pilot's station. The pile of ash is next to black microcord armor. A blinking light flashes on the ship's console.
You recognize the blinking light on the ship's console represents an emergency message left in the captain's log.
You recognize the blinking light on the ship's console represents an emergency message left in the captain's log.
"Thank you, Stationmaster. The data could prove most useful to our investigations."
Puzzle agrees with Wyrd's suggestion and spends some of the down time sharing observations, speculating with Wyrd about what they have pieced together so far about the Ignan language.
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"Some of the equipment has taken damage." Stepping into the bridge, Puzzle's attention is drawn to the flashing light on the console. Gesturing toward the flicking lights, the android explains, "An emergency message has been left on the captain's log."
Moving further into the room, Puzzle points out the ash and armour to his companions. "With all the flame and fire we have encountered here, I am reminded of the ancient mythology of the pheonix. I wonder, is this ash the remains of the armour's previous owner? Is it waiting to rise from the ashes in rebirth?" The android is careful to gives both objects a wide berth.
"How come our ship not this shiny?" Kit bounds over toward the blinking damage reports.
Kit goes through the damaged systems, and to say the ship's systems are not in good shape would be an understatement. Currently neither of the two engines are functional (one appears completely shot), the sensor array and communications systems are entirely offline, and there are no functional weapons. Fortunately life support seems stable, except for a relatively large portion of the port side of the vessel that has loss atmosphere and depressurized.
It will take several minutes, but with the diagnostic report Kit could make enough repairs between the bridge and the engine room to bring one engine online.
Wyrd plays the message left on the captain's log.
A hologram sputters into existance in the middle of the room, showing a copper-skinned humanoid man with short, dark horns and slightly luminous flame-red hair that turns blonde toward its roots. He's in his mid-30s, perhaps, with a collar of black metal around his neck. Several wounds bleed through his similarly dark armor. He wavers on his feet, as if woozy, and the recording dissolves into scattered motes of light before cohering again.
"My name is Tash," he says. "I was on Noma. I..." the message dissovles, forming again as he says, "...seize the Burning Mother. I was among them but..." The recording stutters. "...Khaim can't be..."
Suddenly, the man stumbles as if struck. He opens his mouth to continue, but the collar around his neck flashes with a red light. He looks down toward it. Then he gazes straight ahead, eyes tired, resigned.
"Forgive..." he whispers, as a cloud of silver errupts from the collar and flows across his body. It consumes everything it touches, starting with his head and reducing him to dust.
The hologram fades.
Vedrir first looks at the pile of ash
and then he turns to watch the recording. He tries to see if the Tash on the recording was wearing microcord armor? Basically can he assume that the pile of ash is Tash?
"Kit can you do something with this recording? It is barely understandable. Do you recall when we watched the CSI:Absalom episode 2,837,851 where they fixed the recording by analyzing the reflections of the walls and sound waves emitted by the camera? Can you do the same thing? "
Vedrir determines the pile of ash to be (formerly) biological in nature. In the pile there is also a pistol, ammunition, and a cred stick. The black armor looks identical to the armor Tash is wearing in the video.
"It appears we have an answer to that question," Puzzle notes, looking from the hologram to the ash pile and back.
"An intriguing idea," the android commends Vedrir. Seeing Kit currently occupied with an inspection of the ship's systems, Puzzle moves in for a closer look at the recorded message. "I am unfamiliar with that particular episode, but may be able to devise a similar work around."
Nomyra looks at the ash.
"That poor man. It sounds like something terrible is about to happen. Noma? Khaim?"
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"Episode, what? Kit only watch junk racing and Absalom Chopper."
Wyrd determines the pile of ash as the disintegrated remains of a biological creature and that something magical, or at least partially magical, appears to have caused it to come into being.
The party finds the following items in the ash, in addition to the armor:
-One black-and-red tactical semi-auto pistol
-27 small arm rounds
-A black choker/necklace
-A cred stick containing 100 credits
Puzzle, Wyrd, and Nomyra confer, but nobody has any idea where, what, or who "Noma" and "Khaim" are off the tops of their heads. Nomyra easily recognizes the "Burning Mother" as the Common translation for the lashunta's name for the sun (Mataras).
Despite Puzzle's work with the ship's computer, they are unable to find a way to restore more of the video.
”Hmmm..seize Mataras? The Burning Mother? But that doesn’t make sense. Who could seize the Sun?”
She stares at the sun through the viewscreen. ”My parents used to sing me songs about the Burning Mother and how she helped all things grow.”
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"We are running out of places that can give us answers"
Looking at the black choker Wyrd concentrates his senses sideways
"That necklace looks familiar"
"On to the depressurized area? We tie the rope to each other and something heavy and we (try to) open the door and see what happens after we active our armors boot clamps? ..and shut the other doors in the ship just in case.."
"It is far more probable that it is the energy of the Sun they seek to possess," Puzzle replies to Nomyra. "Although, given that their presence here has coincided with a portal being pulled into Sun, it is increasingly probable that whatever their motives and goals may be, they will not bode well for us."
"Yes," the android agrees with Wyrd. "That appears to be the only area we have yet to investigate. Let's head over and begin our preparations."
"I think that necklace is the same as the one work by azer, And the cause of... this." They gesture to the pile of ash.
Wyrd doesn't detect that the necklace is magical.
There isn't anything else obvious for the party to do in this room.
Kit switches on his boot clamps and stomps around a bit, testing their function as loudly as possible. "OK! Let's go!"
Vedrir nods to the idea, still wondering what those beings wanted to do with sun.
He steps outside of the locked depressurized area and turns on his boot clamps.
"Yes, let's do it. It's our last chance for answers."
The party reenters the kitchen/dining area and observes the door to the depressurized area.
As Vedrir prepares for the violent depressurizing of the ship he asks
"Hey, can we get to that part of the ship from the outside? Go into space, using ropes approach that area to analyze the hull and either patch it, or grab whatever is floating there."
Asks Kasatha trying to avoid being violently flung into vast space ;)
Puzzle looks thoughtful at Vedrir's suggestion. "When I worked in actuarial analysis we examined the potential risk involved in corporate ventures," the android begins. "Applying our current situation, we have two options: popping the hatch or approaching the breach externally."
"The first presents a very high probability of serious injury or death - even with taking appropriate safety precautions there is a high chance of significant injury - and no way of telling what awaits us inside," Puzzle explains. "The second option is not without risk of its own. Although greatly reducing chance of harm from exposure to violent forces and allowing the potential to examine the room before attempting entry, there is no buffer between us and the void of space should anything go askew. Use of proper safety measures would reduce the likelihood of such an occurrence, however, would be slow going and greatly increase the time required to gain access the room."
"The question is, do we have the luxury of time?" they ask pointedly, given recent events.
Kit shrugs. "Sticky boots work inside, work outside, wherever."
"According to my calculations, these are the critical points to consider in carrying out the plan..." Puzzle goes on to explain in great detail the effects of the various forces and key properties of substances involved in carrying out the task.
"I'm not much help with ship repair, but I can sure hold on to a rope."
After discussing various options and finally arriving at a safe way to enter the decompressed area, the party successfully enters the room unharmed with environmental protections on.
This long room has bunk alcoves cordoned off by curtains embroidered with scenes of a city wreathed in flame. Some curtains have been drawn and snapped into place, but others are unsecured. Beneath each visible bunk is a footlocker.