So we left off with the party having checked the first couple of chambers of the Drift Rock and found a body -- one of the crew of the Acreon[0]. Virxidor sends his drone ahead and it reports another body, but this one's moving -- it's some sort of zombie, wearing an Acreon space-suit and having a long, tentacle-like tongue. They recognize it as a void zombie, the end result of someone who dies of an akata infection (like a couple of the party are suffering from). They recall the drone, hand it a grenade, and it chucks the grenade at the zombie while the rest follow up close behind and manage to gun it down.
They move into the chamber and find a couple of tunnels branching off of it. A couple of these tunnels, rather than simply carved out of the rock like the rest, are plated in some sort of ceramic-metallic material that's as strong as adamantine alloy -- and completely unknown to the Pact Worlds. One of the tunnels goes out about a hundred feet or so until it reaches the void of space, lending credence to the theory that the rock was cut off of a larger structure. They venture deeper into the rock, dispatching another pair of zombies (one recognizable as the Acreon's captain) in front of a metal hatch like you'd find on a space station.
They get the hatch open and it opens into a hallway lined in the same strange plating. And it has gravity, although still no atmosphere. N1-C0 scouts ahead while Virxidor sends his drone to scope out some tunnels they hadn't seen yet in the 'rocky' part of the Drift Rock. N1-C0 hangs a right from a T-shaped intersection, pokes his head around a corner, and spots a security robot (of a design he doesn't recognize) patrolling the corridor. Unseen, he immediately slips back to warn the others. Meanwhile, Virxidor's stealth drone finds some sort of ghost-like entity floating around the area of the Rock they hadn't seen yet.
The consensus is that the ghost is out of the way, but they'll definitely have to deal with the robot to investigate the more obviously-interesting parts of the asteroid. Malesinder heads into the hallway first, especially since parts of it are big enough for him to move pretty freely.[1] He heads down the hallway where N1-C0 saw the robot, to find that it's gone. Kech follows behind to watch from the other direction, and winds up being the first thing it sees when it comes from that way. It immediately engages, its protocols obviously recognizing them as intruders, and as much of the group as could reasonably fit in the hallway (which was basically everyone but Virxidor) gangs up on it to eventually bring it down.
And now, for the moment, they have room to explore. The hallways are dark, and there's a lot of equipment that doesn't work because it's lacking in power, but the manage to find a functioning computer. Virxidor, N1-C0, and Kech try to get the computer up and running and get into it, and Virxidor and N1-C0 get a blast of electricity to the face when part of it overloads. Virxidor manages to rewire it to stop that from happening again, and they get into the system... only to find they can't understand a word of it. They go over the text as best as they can and roughly figure out that names of a few systems and get the impression that this might be a backup control room for some sort of weapon system.
Virxidor keeps working on things in the control room[2] while the rest of the group pokes around some and finds a hatch sealed from the inside down a hallway. Zar uses the energy that wreaths his hands to slowly melt down the door, where he finds the body of a dead human woman -- but not in an Acreon space suit. She's human, well-preserved, carrying familiar equipment, and died of a self-inflicted wound from an electrical pistol. Zar finds a datapad, and Kech plugs a backup battery into it to get at the files.
In the holo-recording, the woman identifies herself as Moriko Nash, captain of the independent starship Sunrise Maiden.[3] She describes finding a strange asteroid while exploring the Drift. She landed her ship in a cavern on the asteroid and started exploring, but was assaulted by a horrifying monster that can walk through walls and consume life energy. She couldn't escape, but hacked her armor's force field to extend in a bubble that could block the creature. She then ends the recording with the following:
"I think I've come to terms with it. I won't survive, but at least I've explored strange worlds and seen wonders I never would have dreamed of as a child. I guess everything comes to an end eventually. I've always been the master of my own fate, and I'm not going to change now."In the hologram, she holds up the pistol she was found with."When my force field goes down, I'll fight. But I'm saving my last charge for myself. My life, my death. This is my last will and testament. To whoever finds this recording, I leave the Sunrise Maiden to you. It's a good ship, and no matter where I've gone, it's always brought me home... until now. If you treat it right, it'll do the same for you. Leave my body where you found it -- we came from the stars, and to the stars I'll return -- but the Maiden deserves to keep flying."She takes a deep breath and the recording ends.
Their first assumption was that it was the ghost coming after her, but thinking about the description of the thing that was attacking Moriko, they realize it doesn't quite fit. Zar suggests, from the description they got from Virxidor's drone, that the ghost is a driftdead, probably one of Moriko's crew. The group gets into a debate over whether or not to deal with the ghost, whether to let someone else clean up that mess (even though that technically should count as their job), or even treat it as some sort of feature of the rock for study.
They eventually decide to go take care of it, because while he himself isn't too worried about this sort of thing Zar points out that destroying the ghost makes sure that the soul is able to pass on. With Zar's knowledge that a driftdead produces a localized warp of space-time that can befuddle the mind, the group makes a plan to assault the chamber it's in from a couple of sides to try and take it down from a distance. And while it does mess with Malesinder's and Kech's heads, the plan works and they manage to discorporate it.
But with that business sorted, the party decided to return to properly developed and finished sections of the Drift Rock. After all, there's another door they haven't opened yet, and they know that somewhere in this whole thing is a ship waiting to be claimed. So through that last door in the ancient control room is a hallway leading to a massive hangar bay. Some of the walls are finished with, whereas the others remain carved rock. And while the parked ship -- presumably the Sunrise Maiden -- sort of dominates the space, the group couldn't miss the pair of corpses on the floor in what's left of Acreon suits, cut open and their organs strewn about as if someone was doing an educational dissection.
And then, y'know, there's the beastie what done it to 'em, which immediately comes after the group. It's vaguely humanoid, winged with translucent skin, and has a lamprey-like maw where most things have a face. Zar recognizes it as a garaggkagal, a creature native to the Drift known to drain the life force out of other creatures. They're intelligent, but generally non-communicative and like to study creatures from the inside out, as evidenced by the corpses on the floor. He also happens to know these things are vulnerable to electricity.
It immediately lunges at Malesinder, taking a bite out of him -- getting a taste, it seems like -- and once Kech switches to an electrical pistol and starts shooting at it, the group watches as it drains the life force from him from across the room. The battle is fierce, with everyone present contributing and getting hit (well, N1-C0 comes out basically unscathed), and they have to keep hitting it -- especially since every time it drains someone's life, usually Kech's, it gets temporary hit points. Eventually Zar gets a critical hit on it and the power he's channeling through the Solarion crystal that enhances his abilities sets the thing on fire, substantially putting the hurt on it and getting it into a position where the telepathically-linked duo of Malesinder and N1-C0 finish it off.
So now, they have a spaceship to explore. It's a Sanjaval Spaceflight Systems Vagabond-class explorer ship. It's about a hundred-year old model, but a reputation for durability and reliability has kept a lot of them in service. This one, apparently, has been stuck in this hangar bay for about 75 years or so, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a pretty solid ship.
Zar doesn't hesitate in pointing out that as he found the recording, he has an ownership claim to the ship. But he's also quick to point out that as the group appears to have 'tripped into a thing,' as he puts it, he's more than willing to share it with them for the time being, and basically call dibs on it if they all go their separate ways. Kech immediately backs Zar's claim with a quiet aside to N1-C0 that it's a fair argument and probably the best they're going to get out of his short of having an argument. Malesinder goes out of his way to make a big stink about how he disagrees with Zar's claim but is willing to put up with the arrangement for now.
Zar also wants to change the name of the ship and repaint it to match his own aesthetics. Nobody's particularly attached to the paint job, but there's some arguing back and forth about the name. Kech still wants to keep 'sun' in the name, and at one point suggests something with 'sunless' that might fit Zar's aesthetics. N1-C0 suggests 'Astral Skimmer' but the counter-argument is that it sounds a little too much like a pleasure barge -- though N1-C0 or Kech (I can't remember who) does point out that Zar would be having fun on it. Also, Zar keeps talking about wanting this to be a ship that can strike fear in the hearts of the Pact Worlds and such, and N1-C0 gives him a metaphorical thwap on the nose with an equally-metaphorical rolled-up newspaper to get him to knock it off. They decide to revisit the naming argument later as they step onto the ship.
They quickly find the bridge, fire it up, and introduce themselves to the AI. Zar quickly points out to the AI that he found the recording and thus will be claiming ownership of the Sunrise Maiden (as it is still called for the moment, until they can get back to Absolom Station and begin the paperwork to transfer ownership). Kech identifies herself as well, and then things break down a bit as Malesinder gets huffy again about Zar's claim (despite his earlier insistence that he was willing to let it go for the moment).
The subject gets changed to what to do about Clara-247. Kech comments that she's cute, and Zar is like 'eww.' And N1-C0 asks what the problem is there, possibly because the assassin is an android, and Zar points out that he just finds physical intimacy disgusting in general. This leads to an awkward discussion that I feel like on which I've already spent too much word count. But Kech retrieves the assassin where they've left her tied up while Malesinder opens up the cargo bay doors and starts loading up a lot of weird and exotic art that the garaggkagal has collected over time.
At some point during all this -- I didn't think to write down exactly when -- the computer (which is, for the moment, just called 'Computer') asks if the party would like to be familiarized with the capabilities of the spacecraft. When confirmed, it literally starts playing ad copy describing the traits of the ship, what it's stock parts are like (such-and-such Drift Engine, such-and-such thrusters, default weaponry), also pointing out the customizable modular expansion bays, and then drops back into its normal voice to point out some weapon mods. Also, that among the expansion bays are two cargo holds, a set of escape pods, and a recreation suite containing a holographic amusement center[4] and a gym.
They also sort out sleeping arrangements, wherein Zar calls dibs on the captain's quarters and there's some bickering about that. But in the end, he gets the captain's quarters, Malesinder volunteers to bunk in one of the cargo holds so he's got more room to himself because he's a Large creature, and that gives every other member of the group a room to themselves. Kech opts to keep the assassin tied up in her room, partially to make sure she makes it back to the station to be turned over to the authorities. They also consider their options for maybe also finding space for an ersatz medbay in case they need one.
N1-C0 also brings up, at one point, the subject of what to recommend to the Ambassador once they get back to the station regarding the Drift Rock. They know that their word isn't final, just an opinion to fuel the Ambassador's own ruling on the matter. They all quickly agree that from what they can see, the Drift Rock is not a suitable 'mining resource,' as defined by the deal that Astral Excavations had with the Acreon. Really, it counts more like 'salvage,' and that is outside the contract. So they're going to recommend that Astral Excavations gets all of the survey data they commissioned, and the Drift Rock and Acreon (not that there's any argument regarding who has the rights to the ship, but just for the record) go to the Hardscrabble Collective. Which is a good deal, given that the Collective should be able to get adequate compensation for the crewmembers' families by leveraging the Drift Rock to scholars, tech collectors, and the like.
So with that resolved, the party finds out how to open up the hangar doors -- finding that they're heavily disguised on the outside, and that the suspected signal jammers are meant to hide the hangar bay when the doors are closed. And as they get ready to head out, they toss out a few more ideas for the name of the ship. 'Sunless Maiden' comes up, and when N1-C0 suggests they should avoid using the word 'maiden,' a mishearing leads to the idea 'Void Maiden,' which could work. But after tossing that around, they're really liking a new name: 'Void-Crowned Queen.'[5]
The hangar doors open and the ship leaves the bay to head back to the station... only to find that there's another ship waiting for them. It's another Eoxian vessel, bigger than the last one. The immediate assumption is that someone's hired another assassin to go after them, but then a couple of the members of the party recognize that this ship has markings consistent with the Corpse Fleet, the rogue Eoxian navy.
But we leave off there, having completed the first volume of Dead Suns. Stay tuned to this blog (as much as anyone can tune to a blog), and in a few weeks we'll get into the second volume: Temple of the Twelve. See you then!
[0]-- One of six, as near as they can tell.
[1]-- Just as a reminder, dragonkin are large creatures, so Malesinder takes up a 10'-by-10' space on the map. He can move through smaller areas at reduced speed, though.
[2]-- Virxidor's player, Kevin, had to leave the first of these sessions at about this point, but the rest of us kept going to at least clear out the currently-known rooms. He wasn't able to make it at all for the following session, but with his permission we pushed on without him since we still had four players, which in theory should be enough to deal with whatever.
[3]-- N1-C0 recognizes the name -- the Sunrise Maiden was a Pact Worlds ship that was reported lost in the Drift about 75 years ago. The ship and crew were never found.
[4]-- In case you're wondering, this isn't a full holodeck. Holograms can produce sensory input (even tactile sensory input), but are still intangible.
[5]-- Of course, I'd rather wait until Kevin has a chance to have a say in person (and in-character) -- see Footnote 2 -- before we put that in stone (and I start italicizing it). But for the moment, at least, that's what we're settling on.
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