Present:
- Anastasia "Stasi" Tepes. Zhodani Soldier from Querion – Shane
- Emerse Gee. Daryen Scientist from Torment – Darryl
- "Riley" Patrick O'Reilly. Sword-Worlder Pilot from Winston - Richard
- Anton Tositova. Solomani Gunner from Entrope - Ian
- Sang "Spanner" Hoang. Sword-Worlder Mechanic from Winston – Jeff
- Hoff Ende. Sword-Worlder Scientist from Winston - Kevin
- Belle Ende. Sword-Worlder Medic from Winston - Steven
- Itzy Ende. Sword-Worlder Soldier from Winston - Chris
- Gnostic Hands. Solomani Scientist from Entrope – Jamie
- NPC: Scurry. Drone Gunner from Winston
by Richard/Riley
Recap
It was daylight. The entire party was on a hilly plain under a rose-coloured sky; bright, and from the brightness on the horizon, it looked like the sun had just set. The air was very dry, and they could smell ozone. Behind them was the portal, a clear hole into the cave - it wasn't a mirror on this side. In front of them was a lake, the size of four soccer fields, of red liquid, like the same stuff in the cave's "tidal" pool, with white lumps floating in it.
In front of them, fifty paces away, standing on the left shore of the lake, was a huge spider, twenty storeys tall, with 12 or 14 legs, with multiple eyes on prehensile stalks. The giant spider's eyes weren't focused on the party, instead they were focused on the thing that it was devouring. This creature was one of the illithid creatures that the party remembered from the derelict freighter Gnost Roma orbiting Formalin (where Liz died). The wretched thing was held by four "mandibles" which looked like human arms with claw-hands, as a porcelain beak mouth nibbled away at it. It thrashed about, half-eaten, but still alive, and it screamed hysterically. It had no voice-box, so they were voiceless rasps and croaks. Pieces of its intestines, cartilage and some bone, with lots of blood, were falling into the red lake.
Off in the distance, several kilometres away, was a nightmarish city, that looked like jagged sections of thick metal welded together, to form spikey structures, buildings and towers. And in the air, around this city, was a thick swarm of what looked like gnats at this distance. Close-up, they'd be the size of vultures or dogs.
Hoff, Belle and Itzy Ende's sister Split (Penny) did not come through the portal for some reason. [Jason shifted away, so's no longer in the group].
The Signal
Having been unable to re-enter the portal we felt a strong urge to move on, out of the sight of the horrid spider.
"We must get off this god-forsaken planet" we all thought.
Emerse's radiation monitor was going mad and peaking at 40 µSv/hour. And his RF monitor was getting lots of random static on all frequencies, most seemed to be coming from the sky. But there was a strong 500KHz AM signal from nearby. He tuned in on this.
It was old fashioned Imperium morse code. A repeating signal. .... . .-. . .. .- --
No Galactopedia link here. But it was lucky he had a local cached copy.
"Emerse, what's the code?" we asked.
"Arghh, it says Here I am" responded Emerse combing his hair whilst nervously looking at the huge spider.
"Where's it come from" I barked in a deeply unhappy mood. I had limited whisky resources, and my beloved ship was on the other side of this portal near the Cauthon Institute.
We quickly moved behind a rise and now hidden from the spider the nerdy bunch (Emerse, Gnostic, Hoff and Belle) undertook some brief triangulation calculations and determined it was coming about one click (kilometre) to our left.
"Let's go," Anton enthusiastically says and volunteers to lead the party stealthily and out of the sight of the spider.
"What are you so happy about fat man?" I grumped.
Anton led us successfully for a click in the direction calculated and we come to the edge of a hill with an area dug out in which is a long wire that runs into a small lean-to hut some 10 metres away.
[note Anton has the best sneak skill with a double roll and can guide the party if successful.] The irony of Anton sneaking whilst being severely overweight and in a bright yellow X-Boat suit is not lost on many of us.
 |
| the hut |
Congregating around the taut wire was a swarm of large bees or hornets.
Hmmm we've seen those before many of us thought and some of us plugged our ears.
Anton headed toward the hut and cautiously looked in. Nothing strange in here he thought until he noticed a stone on the ground with letters on it.
He headed back to the group.
"Anything interesting?" asked Gnostic
"There was a stone with writing on it"
"Did you bring it back?" asked Stasi
"Nope, easier to take you to it"
With a rolling of eyes, we all make our way to the hut.
IFDE LLTA TOAA EIFV
IRTD SCOO SMTT TKRI
TEHO SSTD OTIW PTHA
OOSA IHIL DHSR RERL
AAOD ENTS NNUS FHYO
GGRT OACP EACH RRLH
RREE TDIO OOST ELCN
UUOA NEKT SNHL CFSS
After much chatter, the nerds decide that it’s a transposition cipher. Emerse uses his computer to run several scenarios, and the nerds intensely work on the code – forgetting for the moment that they are on a god-forsaken planet that appears to be largely made of mushroom.
Interestingly Emerse's use of his computer attracts the hornets. He quickly turns it off but we all note they are drawn to electronics.
"Got it" they collectively chant, rubbing their hands together in glee. "It is too dangerous for me to hang around at this source. So, head toward the tallest spire for 10 clicks and then hard left for 30 clicks. Avoid all sophonts."
On the Move
 |
| the tallest spire |
The ground is spongy like a thick carpet and there are giant blue tinged leaves here and there on the ground that are even more soft and spongy. What appears to be large mushroom growths can be seen growing at various intervals along the way. We can see flying creatures in the distance, just spots on the horizon.
The air smells clean but with the tinge of fungi. It never gets dark, just this pink glow of dusk.
"What a hole" I muse, steadily becoming more dour and dark.
We make the 10 clicks and then turn hard left. We all realize we cannot do another 30kms without rest. Some of us were struggling even now. Indeed, Anton lay down only to feel the wriggling of some unknown creature on his back making him quickly stand up.
"Have some whisky, it will help."
We walk another 10 clicks and now some of us are really struggling. I have the shivers and sweats; Gnostic was never built for this sort of terrain and even Stasi is tiring.
"I can carry Gnostic" volunteered Itzy.
"And I can get Riley and Stasi going," said Belle as she injected us with what was essentially speed.
Another 10 clicks and Emerse is lagging, exhausted.
Suddenly, there is a bright flash of lightning covering the whole sky, horizon to horizon, then hissing and ticking, like rain on hot rocks, and which gets louder and louder, followed by intense deafening thunder that rocks the ground and knocks us off our feet. The lightning seems to impact everything, and all metal on us conducts a voltage spike giving us a huge jolt, like an over-powerful electric fence. Everyone carrying anything metal gets damaged. Pistols give a light zap [1hp], but the swords and machine guns give a huge whallop [D6 and D8].
Electronic items need a save. My laser carbine fails and is ruined.
Emerse's precious Tamagotchi, his laptop, radiation meter and radio headset all manage to survive [bit of luck spent] but most of the party's headsets were fried.
Scurry survives.
Fortunately, Emerse has his birdcage-sized faraday cage, so he stores as many electric things as he can fit within. The cage needs to be grounded to be totally effective, but the main lightning storm discharge seems to be preceded by flash, two seconds earlier. That gives him time to jam an earthing spike into the ground.
Emerse is also given a shot of speed by Belle, and we all trudge on to complete the final 10 clicks. We enter low hills and there is more rock here and we can safely stop. Over the time there have been several thunderstorms and they seem to occur every 6 hours.
As we come around the side of a rise we see what looks like a path which of course we follow. It leads to a large rock with some more carved writing.
Sergeant Gunn
ITOT TUZL FHUH TSSP
YIAY EEES OSRO NONI
UFEF TNDG GAWM IEAN
OROY OMHA TYRA NHEL
Another transposition cipher which this time the nerds quickly solve.
"If you got this far, you are worthy of my attention. Use 1 MHz, send a help signal."
Emerse uses his radio and sends SOS in Imperial Morse.
"Now let's see what happens," he says.
 |
| Sergeant Gunn |
We wait an hour…. Nothing.
He resends the signal. We wait. This time a figure appears around the hill. A tall very-muscled humanoid, with a tentacle arm and a huge eye.
"I come in peace. I am Sergeant Ben Gunn," he says in English with a look of surprise on his face. "Uh... welcome to planet Rose."
[Psyche rolls all round - DM forgot! We will do this next week.]
After recovering, Emerse jumps in and explains our situation and who we are.
"How long have you been here?"
"About a year"
"Where are you from?"
"The Cauthon Institute. I was on Strike Team One"
"What happened to your eye and arms?"
"I think its the radiation over time. My Vargr friend here, he didn't mutate like me, except he is now a wolf, with not much mind, I call him Fido. And I found six Zhodanis here - they had no mutations, but their minds were gone too. They are now my whores."
"Nothing unusual there," says Itzy quietly. "We have one of those."
"New meat?!" Ben says leering at Zhodani Stasi, whipping out his large appendage - it was mutated too, and was enormous.
"Come this way" and we follow him a few hundred metres to a cave system.
"I'm the last of my squad", he explains. "It is safer to live underground, here, and that protects you from the lightning storms and there is plenty of food and water, although it takes a bit to get used to", pointing at a red pool of gloop. "You can also sleep comfortably on those large blue leaves. And when you are done can extract the food and healing from them. The storms sort of charge them up."
Over the course of the "night" (it is day all the time here) we all try and eat the vultures (bird meat from a flying creature - it tastes like muddy chicken) and purple goop that comes from the blue tinged leaves. The purple goop heals damage too [D4 per dose]. We also all try the red "water".
[The "acclimatization" mechanic: Each time a person eats or drinks from local sources they make a CON roll. If successful, the food & healing works. And their CON in relation to the food and water improves by 1. Once the effective CON reaches 20 then they become "acclimatized" and no longer need to roll.
If they fail, they vomit, feel ill and can't eat for D6 hours.
If a 1 is rolled, CON increases by D6.
If a 20 is rolled, all additions are lost.
The resulting CON positions at the end of the session were:
- Gnostic +10 (17)
- Belle +5 (13)
- Stasi Reached 20
- Hoff +7 (16)
- Itzy Reached 20
- Emerse +0 (8)
- Riley +10 (18)
- Anton +4 (15)
- Sang +0 (9) ]
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| the Zhodanis |
Stasi was eager to try out Gunn's enormous organ, so she spent the "night" with him.
Cauthon Institute's Janet Drive said that a squad of Zhodanis came here at least fifty years ago. We had no idea if these Zhodanis were remnants of them, so it was a mystery.
From our discussions with Ben we glean that:
- There appear to be no spaceships or vehicles on the planet. I am now entering into a depressive state.
- The only way off planet Rose, Ben suspects, is by successfully finding one of several portals and find a way through the portal.
- The "slishers" rule the city. They come in three sizes, and we have encountered the adult form and the "scuttlers" previously on the derelict freighter Gnost Roma orbiting Formalin (where Liz died).
- Ben thinks this was an Ancients' planet and there are several Ancients' sites. Ben knows of one where what he calls "The Oracle" lives. In fact, this is a servitor.
- It would appear the slishers have taken over from the Ancients.
The Oracle
The next day we head off on a further 2-day journey. We stick to the rock covered hills as much as possible and near the end of day 2 (not that it gets dark) come over the crest of a rise and see a cave mouth.
"We need to be careful of the snake" states Ben.
"Ahhh what snake" Hoff nervously mumbles.
"The 50 metre long 30 cm diameter one"
"Have you fought it?"
"No, I ran away"
"Oh"
So, keeping a watchful eye out we quickly scramble to the cave opening and see a tunnel descending in front of us. "Déjà vu", many of us think remembering the Ancients' tunnel in Winston.
With that in mind we make formation, Gnostic and me at the front, and move forward carefully watching for signs of glyphs. Anton who is at the back glances out of the cave and sees the large snake come down from the hill. It is grey coloured and would be very hard to spot if still.
After a time Gnostic spots, a 60cm waist high faint light emanating from the wall ahead. Following close inspection, we have no real conclusion but do know that Ben previously walked straight through the faint beam, unharmed.
We decide discretion is the better part of valour and ensure everyone ducks under the beam before continuing.
We enter a room with a "steam" door on the other side with the oh so familiar handprint.
Gnostic confidently puts his hand on the print, and the steam goes revealing a passage behind. We proceed down into another room with a further handprint and a further exit passage.
"This is where the Oracle is" announces Ben.
"I bet it appears if we put our hand in the print" says Gnostic as he does exactly that.
With a slight whir a man appears – a beautiful specimen – Stasi gasps.
 |
| Servitor |
The servitor speaks English and so we can all understand him although he is only interested in engaging Gnostic.
The conversation continues for some time
"What's your purpose?"
"To provide information"
"How do you leave the planet?"
"Via a portal"
"Where is the nearest portal?"
"Spire City."
"Where does the portal lead?"
"They don’t work that way – you enter coordinates"
"Can you draw us a map?"
"I can describe how to get there."
"Yes please" and he does
"What are the coordinates for Winston?"
"What is Winston?"
The servitor was an Ancients' creation so would be 300,000 years old. It wouldn't know of current system names. But Emerse had an Imperium star chart in his cached Galactipedia. He managed to find a coordinate system and star descriptions that the servitor could recognize.
The servitor converted this to the Ancients' 128-bit coordinate system and worked out where the Ende estate in Raven's End on Winston would be: 3fb6afe5-ed9b-41d0-916a-18243fdfc083.
Similarly, the coordinates for the Cauthon Institute on Seven in 728-907 is 4fc15c18-e814-4bd3-a256-87a1118cbc8e.
And the coordinates for Entropy, namely Sydney Walsh's X-boat office, is 40c80ad9-caba-4310-a50f-9cebede665dc.
"Can we have the recipe for Mushroom Whisky?" I asked.
"Boil mushroom juice and distill it."
"What do the Ancients look like?"
"Neptard Lizards on their hind legs"
"Who are the tentacled creatures?"
It says something unintelligible.
Ben replies "Slishers"
Fortunately, I have a photographic memory and could remember every detail. Emerse not trusting this also took notes on his computer.
With this information to hand we thank the servitor and decide reluctantly to head to Spire City. It’s a four-day trip and two of those can be in the hills before we need to cross the plains and risk being spotted.
But before that Ben in insistent he collects his six "whores" and Fido so that they can go back too.
"Oh, by the way Ben" asks Emerse. "Why did you use a transposition cipher?"
"Cause the slishers can't understand them and aren’t smart enough to decode them"
And with that "comforting" thought that these creatures are dumb, we head off back towards the tunnel entrance and the snake.
