Ok, so much for getting restarted in August :(
School starts Monday, so things have been more hectic, and next week is nuts. Please bear with me and I'll get us started again soon!
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Oh no! Yes, hope you feel better soon. How's FD doing? She down too?
Ok, sorry for forward progress. Surprisingly busy at work, and headed out on vacation at end of the week. So, I'm going to put the game on pause for the rest of July, as there is another week I'll be gone, and the intervening week will be hectic (including a nice visit from Tim and Felicity!). You'll find out who this mysterious deity is at the start of August. I'll send an email so you know it's back "on" - hope everyone is having a great summer.
"What feet?" "Splutter . . . uh, well. . . my metaphoric feet of course. I am a being a supreme power! Perhaps I will have to smite you!"
All of you receive a telepathic message at the same time:Bow down to me! Worship at my feet in this splendid temple!
You land the ship, gear up, and head onto the surface of the comet. You can land quite close to the temple, so it is only a short stroll to enter. The exquisite edifice seems to be crafted from the rock of the comet itself, then shaped with magic or very fine tools to add an impressive amount of detail. A myriad of flourishes, such as marks on the wall giving the impression of individual stone bricks, lend the structure an air of an ancient temple. However, the lack of furnishings makes the building feel hollow and austere. The only decoration is a statue of a large, insectile creature near the rear of the temple, extending their arms in a gesture of welcome and wearing a crown fashioned of exoskeletal pieces. A large, shallow metal bowl rests at the base of the statue, holding many offerings of metal beads, carved rocks and wood, and decorated scraps of fabric. Just above the metal bowl, a plaque on the statue reads in Shirren, “This is the place where the goddess Hylax welcomed the shirrens into her fold. Her tears of joy have forever marked the ground.” DC 25 Perception or DC 22 Survival to examine offerings:
The offerings can have been exposed to the comet’s thin atmosphere for about 6 months. DC 22 Culture or Mysticism:
You realize that it is odd that no priests have collected the items, as such offerings are usually gathered up on a regular basis., but also come to the conclusion that this temple is clearly inhabited and maintained, as it would be filled with the remains of offerings if no one ever came to collect them over its hundreds of years of existence. DC 28 Perception: You notice strangely patterned lines on the floor, but can’t make sense of them from this angle.
Having recovered key data that allows you to project the comet’s path, you resume the hunt. Shortly after leaving the Eternal Melody, you are attacked by a stellar protozoa, a ship-sized creature that was likely the thing that destroyed the empty ship and its companions. Through a combination of luck and skill you are able to destroy the threat and continue on your way. It takes two days to finally catch up with the comet you think is the Prodigal Stone. The trail of magical energy leads to an unassuming, icy chunk of rock that is hurtling silently through the void. Though the huge stone seems to match the general description contained in Professor Galchak’s notes, no outward signs indicate anything special or sacred about the celestial object. Flying around the comet before landing on it, you can see the surface is mostly ice and stone, with the occasional jagged peaks and crooked crevasses. One smooth area seems artificially created, a supposition confirmed by the presence of a large temple in the middle of it. A scan of the Prodigal Stone reveals that the gravity is quite low and the atmosphere thin. The temperature on the surface hovers around –10° F. A sensor scan reveals a few signs of life and movement on the comet’s surface: one faint signal coming from the temple, and a few others in scattered locations across the comet. The scans also reveal that the comet is composed of rocks, primarily silicates and olivines, with a large volume of water (in frozen ice form). DC 28 Computers:
While scanning you learn that the comet is less dense than would be expected based on its chemical makeup. This strongly implies that there might be underground tunnels throughout the stone.
Having dispatched the restless undead, you are able to search them and the rest of the Eternal Melody. In addition to the data module you were able to recover, you also find 6,000 UPBs, a mk 2 ring of resistance, two mk 2 serums of healing, a tactical knife, and a carbon staff. In the captain’s quarters is a locked chest, the key for which you found on the captain. Inside is a set of advanced iridishell armor and 2500 credits. Additionally, A datapad floats a few inches from the surface of the captain’s desk. It is secured with a password. DC 25 Computers:
You find the ship’s manifest, which conveys that the ship was full of religious pilgrims—almost all shirrens—traveling from the Pact Worlds in search of the Forever Reliquary. The manifest contains a full list of passengers and crew, and notes that the ship was traveling with two other ships, the Endless Harmony and the Unending Song. In addition, the date of the outset of their journey is only a few months ago. While the datapad doesn’t contain up-to-date coordinates of the Prodigal Stone, you conclude that such information would probably be stored on the ship’s main computer, which you’ve recovered already. Once you have the recovered data modules back on your ship, Sevash can hook them up to the ship’s power and attempt to extract the navigational data. Exposure to the nebula has somewhat degraded the data, however. Each of the following is a separate check, but can be aided. DC 22 Computers for recent logs:
Looking at most recent logs, you find the accounts of the Eternal Melody’s final battle. This recording begins with one the bridge crew reacting to the presence of “some kind of giant blob ahead,” followed by several minutes of the captain giving frantic orders as the ship is attacked. There is despair in the science officer’s voice when she reports both the Endless Harmony and the Unending Song being engulfed by the creature. The captain then calls for a retreat into a nearby nebula over the wail of warning claxons. The recording ends with the sounds of massive explosions and hull breaches throughout the ship. DC 26 Computers for astrogation data:
Digging deeper finds the Eternal Melody’s astrogation data, which includes more recent coordinates for the Prodigal Stone. By comparing this information to Professor Galchak’s data, the PCs receive a +4 circumstance bonus to future Computers checks to track the comet. DC 30 Computers to really mine the data: You find details on the planned visit to the Forever Reliquary and learn that the monastery is underground, including a description of the reliquary’s hidden entrance hatch. This information grants the PCs a +2 circumstance bonus to their Survival checks to locate the entrance on the comet’s surface.
The team takes out the remaining creature, and is free to explore the ship.
Aysén returns to the mean, landing not hits, but keeping the focus of this undead monstrosity.
Ishkepu uses his own wisp to help his spell strike true, while Telsix misses. The lone undead stays on a newly not-so-hurt Aysén, and doesn't hurt him more.
Round 5 of Combat: Midnight Squad is up
Sevash's icy blasts strikes true, and Aysén retaliates with a wicked combo that kills the green undead. Only blue remains!
True to form so far, Ishekepu misses. Telsix tries to bring their magic to bear.
Each individual creature that makes up Telsix feels as if there is not enough air!
The blue nihili that is prone on the ceiling “stands up” and then attempts to walk along the ceiling onto the wall and then floor.
The green undead, now with a flank, continues to slam the solarion, and finally slips through his defenses for a devastating blow.
Round 4 of Combat: Midnight Squad is up
Aysén blows apart the yellow nihili, probably caused by the rapid freezing from Sevash and heat from the supernova, and injures the other two.
Round 3 of Combat: Ish and Telsix are up
The first shot is a solid hit, and yellow has an arm fall off. It is in bad shape.
Something about Ishkepu’s mind seems to keep him safe from thoughts of suffocation, but it does mean he can’t seem to focus properly on his attack. Telsix’s magic mastery allows for a devastating ectoplasmic assault on the yellow undead. The angle allows the blue undead to avoid the barrage.
Smart enough to know they are in a good position, they keep up their attacks on Aysén, but once again only one slam gets through. Aysén isn’t even in to his hit points yet.
Round 3 of Combat: Midnight Squad is up
Sevash hits yellow squarely, creating an icy splash across its chest, while even Ish’s wisp can’t help Aysén connect.
Round 2 of Combat: Ish and Telsix are up
Sevash’s icy rifle shot is deflected by the door frame, while Aysén lands a crushing blow and Ishkepu uses magic to harry the foe. Telsix Collective tries to take control of one of the undead, but its hatred of the living overrides the magic they seek to employ. Aysén remains the focus of their attacks, but only one manages to get through his defenses.
Round 2 of Combat: Midnight Squad is up
Ishkepu is flummoxed by the undead monsters before him, immune to all his mind-affecting abilties. The monsters converge on Aysén “the brave,” but none can penetrate his defenses. It must be his righteous bearing. Yellow steps up to complete the flank . . .
And green has a go from the other side . . .
While Blue attacks from the ceiling
Round 1 of Combat: Midnight Squad is up
Unforunately for Aysén, the bodies aren’t floating. Three shirren, clearly undead of some form, are clustered around the doorway waiting for him. As he leaves the room, he's hit with the sudden presence of gravity.
GM Screen:
Round 1 of Combat: Ish is up
With Telsix’s help, Sevash is able to safely remove the last module, and currently no lightning is surging in the ship. GM Screen:
While Sevash preps the modules for transport, Ishkepu catches movement in the hallway.
Sevash easily gets the first two modules out. It's only bad luck that while working on the third an electrical surge courses through the ship, sending lightning coursing around the room, striking everyone.
Sevash can try again, but the electricity may have fused some elements together making extraction a bit harder.
The bridge of the Eternal Melody is in the same disarray as the rest of the ship. Panels have been ripped from their consoles and float several feet away, exposing cables, wires, and other computer hardware, all either severed or broken. The computers here occasionally spark and shudder as energy from the ionized nebula outside surges through the ship. Several more shirren bodies dangle over their respective bridge crew seats. Sevash recognizes that it would take several weeks of work (and several new parts) to get the ship’s computer back into full working condition but she knows that it might be possible to retrieve data from the computer’s physical storage modules. However, the ship is currently without normal power; the modules containing the vessel’s logs can be removed, but you can’t be sure which modules contain the information you are seeking. To be safe, you can take all the data modules.
You spacewalk across to one of several holes in the side of the ship. The interiors of the Eternal Melody are open to space, and the ship has no life support, no artificial gravity, and no lighting. The ceilings of the rooms and corridors are 10 feet high.
You can begin following this trail using conventional thrusters. After 5 days of successfully tracking the comet, you arrive at an ionized nebula. Interference from this phenomenon obscures the trail, making it impossible to follow any further. However, a quick scan of the area reveals a small, shirren-style starship floating at an odd angle just inside the nebula, occasionally being struck with bolts of electricity. Scanning the vessel from afar reveals that it has no power (though occasionally systems will randomly flare to life thanks to the ambient energy) and no life signs. All attempts to hail the vessel are met with a strange hissing sound. Accessing the ship’s transponder, however, provides some of information, albeit badly scrambled by the nebula. The ship is named The Eternal Melody and was part of a Hylaxian pilgrimage, along with two other vessels. Given this vessel’s proximity to the Prodigal Stone, it seems possible it might contain more information to help you on your journey. After carefully navigating the electrical storm hazards of the nebula, you get close enough for a visual inspection. The exterior is highly marred and corroded. DC 26 Engineering:
This damage is only a few months old. DC 24 Life Science:
You recognize the damage as signs of an encounter with a starship-sized creature With a brief spacewalk, Midnight Squad can easily board the incapacitated ship, entering through any of the holes in the hull.
After preparing and resupplying on Utraneus, Sevash plots a course to the coordinates obtained from Professor Galchak’s notes. It takes 15 days of Drift travel before you reach your destination, a place just outside an unnamed and uninhabited solar system. As the pink-purple haze of the Drift slides away in transition to the Material Plane, the vast emptiness of space stretches out in all directions. No stars or planets seem to be in close proximity, and a cursory scan of the surrounding area shows no sign of the comet—or much of anything else. After a squad consultation, you realize Professor Galchak had to extrapolate the present-day coordinates of the Prodigal Stone from decades-old data, and chances are high that they might have made some small error in the math that was impossible to spot or confirm. However, the group isn’t without hope. DC 20 Mysticism or Physical Science:
You theorize that since the Forever Reliquary is a site blessed by a god, the comet might leave a detectable trail, providing a +4 circumstance bonus to the Computers check to find it, below. DC 24 Computers to attempt a trace: You detects a faint magical signal that recently passed through this space, approximately a week ago.
Thanks for your patience all. Will try to get book 4 started by end of the week. I'll send an email when it's up so you don't have to keep checking.
No worries! Thanks for the update.
No need, but thanks. Looks like Ishkepu is also leveled up.
Ok, so that's the "brief" summary of book 3. Let me know when you've leveled and done your shopping, and in the meantime I'll start prep on Book 4!
[u]Chapter 3[/u]
You now have the option to return to the Suskillon system to meet with Commander Najiri and Xelanon before embarking on your quest to find the Forever Reliquary. A return to the Suskillon system also provides you with a chance to assess the Swarm’s position there. The Swarm hasn’t continued its onslaught to Utraneus, which is itself strange, but the occupation of Suskillon continues. Commander Najiri remarks on the unusual behavior and says in no uncertain terms that the deviation is making everyone increasingly nervous about the Swarm’s plans. On the other hand, she notes, it does give the Suskillon Defense Force an opportunity to come up with a plan for a counterattack. Your next mission is clear: seek out the comet known as the Prodigal Stone and discover why the Swarm is so desperately interested in it.
[u]Chapter 2[/u]
Clade Company can help you get into the city and search the university for information, but they first need your help. You end up helping them destroying an imago, a giant Swarm creature that is like a tick on the side of the planet, sucking resources out. You assist with destroying the imago, and in turn the resistance gets you into the city. Surprising no one, it turns out you have to fight lots of creatures, but after fighting and searching, you find what you think you were looking for, Professor Galchak’s research. Upon examining the retrieved data, you find an extensive, detailed reconstruction of the route of the shirrens’ exodus from the Swarm at the end of the Gap, pieced together from archaeological evidence, primary and secondary source documents, and conjecture based on the existing evidence. Much of this portion of the research has already been published—and given your canny deductions you realize that the Swarm’s recent attacks have been following this path backward, almost as if the Swarm were retracing the shirren exodus. The more recent additions to the data, collected over the course of about a year before the Swarm invaded Ilemchuuva, focus on the portion of the route prior to the shirren’s arrival in the Suskillon system. Fragmentary records indicate that by the time they reached Suskillon, the fleeing shirrens had recently experienced a tremendous transformative event. The goddess Hylax is mentioned frequently and with marked reverence, despite an absence of any religious references in earlier sources, and the professor highlights a marked change in the tone of mentions of the Swarm: while records prior to 4 AG referred to the Swarm in terms and tone bordering on terror and fatalism, records after that time carry less desperation and convey persistent optimism about the shirrens’ future as free entities. Accompanying this timeline is a compilation of several dozens of primary and secondary sources mentioning the Forever Reliquary, with dates corresponding to the shift in the discussions of Hylax and the Swarm. Galchak’s notes theorize that the Forever Reliquary might hold some kind of relic that sparked a significant change in the shirren race. A separate file contains complex astrogational calculations relative to the Suskillon system, extrapolating a set of coordinates which the professor has marked “comet known as the Prodigal Stone, site of the Forever Reliquary [conjecture].” In a separate directory accompanying the research itself is a copious collection of grant applications, as Galchak sought funding to travel to the extrapolated coordinates, verify the existence of the Forever Reliquary, and better understand the nature and significance of the site to the shirren exodus.
Sorry all, thought I could knock out a few little narrative bits relatively quickly to bridge book 3. Taking longer than I thought, look for next chapter or two of that on Friday, and I'll likely make them a bit more sparse to get us moving forward.
[u]Chapter 1[/u]
The fact that the Swarm has maintained a presence here in the Chuuva system is alarming, since as far as you know, the Swarm typically abandons planets within a few days, or weeks at most. Given the reports that the Swarm had targeted the Chuuva system several months before Suskillon, this continued presence suggests that the Swarm has a particular interest in this system—in Ilemchuuva in particular—beyond its primary drive to consume. As you draw near the planet, your scans identify an assortment of insectile ships occupying the space around Ilemchuuva. A massive Swarm battleship anchors the flotilla, while smaller picket ships dart back and forth along regular patrol paths. Beneath this flurry of activity, the surface of the planet bears scars of devastation obvious even from orbit. Visible lava flows and fissures
By observing the paths of the Swarm vessels and powering down the starship at just the right moment, Midnight Squad is able to slip past the blockade and land. As you approach the ground, it’s clear the rolling terrain below has been stripped of virtually all vegetation, leaving only dry, powdery soil drained of nutrients and moisture. Cracks and crevasses slice across the landscape, some bubbling with fuming lava and others reaching deep within the earth, the land between these ravines is pitted and scarred from acidic rain and erosion. Standing in sharp contrast are tall, lumpy spires of hardened clay that poke up from the desolated ground like gnarled fingers, as well as the bloated abdomens of colossal Swarm creatures half-buried in the earth and belching clouds of dark, greasy smoke into the stormy atmosphere. Given the tectonic instability, you need to land outside of the target city of Udz, where the university is located. You have a long hike ahead of you.
Ah, well, I suppose that's ok. ;) My goal is to get you an overview of Book 3 in chapters across this week, then I'm on vacation next week, and we'll start Book 4 on Monday March 28th. You've got 14,000 credits to spend, and your gear can be as high as lvl 8.
Book 3: Huskworld [u]Prologue[/u]
Xelanon informed Commander Najiri and you about an article written by a shirren professor named Galchak that hinted at their theories on the location of the Forever Reliquary. The piece didn’t make much of splash on Suskillon, even among the Hylaxian community—possibly because it contains mostly speculation—but it did allow Commander Najiri to track down the professor. Unfortunately, there’s a serious complication: the Chuuva system—which contains Ilemchuuva, the planet where Galchak’s employer Zessh University is located—was attacked by the Swarm several months before the Suskillon system was hit. Suskillon Defense Force analysts believe that the Swarm subcolony that your own system is currently facing is the same one that devoured Ilemchuuva. The possibility that the Swarm is trying to seek out the Forever Reliquary is too dangerous to ignore. As a special assignment, Commander Najiri orders Midnight Squad to travel to the Chuuva system and find Professor Galchak’s research or any clues that will lead to the Forever Reliquary. Time is of the essence in this investigation, as if there is information to be found, the Swarm has had a several-months’ head start in finding it. She also grants the squad use of a starship, a Suskillon Whip, named Flash Viper. The Flash Viper’s advanced Drift engines will buy you a few extra days as they race to make up for lost time.
Just an update, have started a second week of rolling illness in my house, so safe to say it'll be another week or two. Sorry. Robyn, I saw a FB post by Alex A referencing "getting the band back together" and I was hoping that meant you were moving back to Philly . . .
Realizing that working my way through all of book 3 and then setting up book 4 is going to take some time. Let's hit pause, you work on leveling up, and I'll send an email when we are restarting.
You return to Commander Najiri with the unopened chest and your survey findings. Teams of New Grakka’s civil engineers are dispatched to clear rubble and begin preparations for outfitting the area as an emergency shelter in case of attack. You are dismissed and given some R&R time. Several days later, she relays that codebreakers were able to open the chest, and a datapad of shirren mystic was recovered. Xelonan and others are currently investigating it. [More time passes] Commander Najiri summons you to a meeting with Xelonan in her office at the New Grakka city hall, citing your past involvement with the shirren priest and the troubleshooting nature of your squad as reasons they might be interested in what he has to say. Xelonan has spent some time since you returned from the Caves of Pilgrimage researching and contemplating what you uncovered there. Xelonan starts, “Thank you all for coming. The cave’s final guide mentioned something called the Forever Reliquary, a phrase I had read and heard several times in texts and lectures by Hylaxian scholars, but most of them gave the impression that it was a metaphorical place, an ultimate utopia of peace and friendship that all should strive for. Some even believed it was another name for Hylax’s domain. In either case, what you have discovered leads me to think that it is an actual place here on the Material Plane. I did some searching on the infosphere and found an article written by a shirren named Galchak containing theories about the location of the Forever Reliquary. However, there is one big problem.” Commander Najiri steps in at this point. “The most recent information we have on Galchak is that they were a professor at Zessh University on the planet Ilemchuuva in the Chuuva system... which was the last system hit by the Swarm before they came to Suskillon. We can’t be certain if this is a coincidence or not, but if the Swarm are seeking this Forever Reliquary, it can’t be for a good reason. We need more data, and that’s where you come in. . .”
Chapter Epilogue: With the defeat of Sister Spark and her Reckoners, a modicum of calm settles over New Grakka. The integration of the Suskillon refugees continues in earnest, the positive results of your actions are clear in the tenor of the city. Though the citizens’ general mood is somber—after all, the threat of the Swarm still looms large—there is a small undercurrent of hope. END OF BOOK 2
There are photos and doodads around the room, but besides the trunk being puzzles over, a long, narrow, metal box of the same material as the chest sits on the bed, and can be opened. It contains a staff of mystic healing.
Heading south from this room:
The metal trunk isn’t locked, but it doesn’t appear to have a lid or any kind of handle to open it easily. DC 20 Engineering or DC 25 Perception: Some of the images etched onto the surface can actually be pressed like buttons. DC 15 Int check to figure out which ones will open it, or a DC 24 Engineering to disable the latch
With a final shot, the large bug falls still, leaking various fluids onto the floor. The golden hologram reappears, and after repeating the same phrase, again disperses into a field of stars. You can see a small console where, after some amount of effort, you hack into the system. You discover a passphrase the computer was waiting to hear: “The Forever Reliquary” in Shirren. Bypassing that roadblock, you can call up the holographic images that would have
Activating the second half of the hologram shows the dozens of golden motes suddenly blurring, as if they were moving past the viewer at a great speed (or the viewer was moving past them). An image of large rock hurtling through space appears; the shirren representation of Hylax manifests on the rock, though much smaller than previously. A glow begins to form around the rock, eventually turning into a bright corona with a long tail. Ishkepu, if not all of Midnight Squad, recognize the phenomenon as a comet. The comet blazes for a few moments before the hologram fades. It's not difficult to surmise that the phrase “the Forever Reliquary” and the image of this comet will be of great interest to Xelonan (the monk you rescued from Swarm attack on the mountain in book 1 – it’s been awhile since you’ve seen him so figured I’d jog your memory). Survey Notes: As another large chamber, this space could be used to house more refugees. Alternatively, it could serve as a common area for recreation or dining. In either case, the Hylax symbology carved into the shrine will likely put people at ease. If the rubble is removed from the northern tunnel, it would be easier for people to reach this room, but some form of security gate or door would need to be installed to keep the refugees safe.
Ok, well just a quick update to say we'll wrap up and move forward on Monday. In the meantime, you might want to start planning out some leveling choices. As I said before, we're skipping the next book (which I'll summarize) and we'll start book 4 at 7th level!
And with a final blazing shot the pierces the carapace, Sevash ends the fight.
Ishkepu and Aysén seemed to have clouded minds and can't land a hit. Can Sevash or Telsix end this?
Ishkepu, while hilarious, misses, giving the creature another chance to lash out at Aysén. Thanks to Telsix's timely healing, he remains on his feet, but is looking badly hurt.
Round 7/8 of Combat: Midnight Squad is up!
DC 14 It avoids the worst of the blast, but is teetering. One mediocre shot from Ish could bring it down!!
Sevash strikes once, but the defender of this shrine is not down. Can you defeat it before it knocks Aysén out?
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