[Begin a Session: Important character is put in danger or suffers a misadventure]
Dreng Wraithus wakes with a gasp for air. He is lying on a cold metallic floor. A hand reaches down and lifts him up by the scruff of the collar of his black robe. Wraithus’s legs still flop about like cold noodles as he’s drug through the halls of this strangely humid vessel.
Eventually, the lumbering figure dragging Wraithus drops him into a large spherical room. A man stands in the center of the room, surrounded by panels and screens on a circular platform. Instead of turning around, the man’s face and body simply reconfigure so that now he’s looking directly at Wraithus. The body is fluid, and Wraithus is reminded of the holographic projections of his messages from the Empress.
“You’ll forgive my appearance,” the man says. Wraithus notices the mixture of cybernetics and flesh that make up his captor’s body. “I’m not actually here at the moment. I am projecting a fraction of my consciousness onto this ship to speak with you. My full body is…well, far away from this place. You may call me Paul.”
Wraithus looks him over and attempts to probe his mind. “You are not human. You are a machine intelligence?” he asks.
“Quite right,” Paul replies.
Wraithus smirks. “You are the very thing the Trade Enclave was so frightened of, artificial intelligence given such independence, no longer reliant on humanity.”
“Does that upset you, Dreng Wraithus?” Paul asks, arching an eyebrow.
Wraithus grins wider. “Not at all. I think we have much to discuss.”
Paul chuckles. “There’ll be no discussion.” He gestures, and metallic tentacles emerge from the ceiling, wrapping their way around Wraithus and burrowing beneath his skin. The Skygge cries out in pain, but no one who can hear him seems to care.
Captain Miranda Kae seeks a private meeting with Rozhan Kane to learn what they are searching for on Audun. Securing the atomic weapons is a good thing, but she’s smart enough to know this group of refugees knows about something else. She attempts to play up her charms by providing some authentic Bamiri tea she’s kept in her private reserves.
Compel w/Heart – [Weak Hit: 1 + 3 + 0 = 4 vs 2 | 5] – Take +1 Momentum
Oracle: Confined Force
Kane counters that he would love to meet with her, but Lady Thal must also be in attendance. Kae was hoping to get Kane by himself. She doesn’t quite have a bead on Thal yet. Kae replies that in order to balance the scales, she will need Abram present, too. Kane says that would be fine.
They all find seats around the table in the Captain’s meeting room. Kae mentions the ancient ruins buried beneath the sands that Kane discussed before. What are you searching for down there? she asks.
Gather Information w/Wits – [Weak Hit: 5 + 2 + 0 = 7 vs 4 | 9] – Take +1 Momentum
Thal speaks up here. She explains that the Mystic Order of the Calugar believes the secret to the Empress’s immortality is tied to the Essence extracted from Audun. They believe a formulation of the liquid is lost to time and known only by the Empress’s closest advisors. Thal believes Dreng Wraithus has at least partial knowledge, but his training as a Skygge made his mind difficult for Saren to penetrate. The Vok have means of forcibly extracting the information, which Thal fears they may have already done.
[Mark Progress: Rozhan Kane :2 boxes]
[Mark Progress: Lady Thal :1 boxes]
A message from the bridge tells them a Vok ship is incoming from FTL. Captain Kae orders shields to be raised.
Shields Up – [Miss: 1 + 5 + 0 = 6 vs 8 | 9] – Shields at 2, Lose -1 Momentum
Lt. Commander Ennis tells Kae over the comms that radiation coming from the Vok ship’s engine just as it comes out of the jump is interfering with the shield polarity. He’ll do the best he can for the time being.
A flash and the Necroship emerges from a purple-green fold in space.
“Weapons online, but hold your fire,” Kae tells a helmsman. “I want to see what they do first.”
Secure an Advantage w/Wits – [Miss w/Match: 2 + 2 + 0 = 4 vs 6 | 6]
[Pay the Price: Your vehicle suffers damage]
The Vok necroship unleashes its entire arsenal in a move Kae was not predicting (3 damage)
Explosions ripple across the Concordia. Multiple decks are on fire and locked down. Kae finds herself on the bridge floor and returns to the Captain’s chair.
“Ship status,” she asks a helmsman.
“Shields have been completely obliterated, Captain. Weapons are still online. The Vok ship is powering up for another shot.”
Kae looks at the viewscreen, at the necroship floating there, about to try and kill her and everyone on board. “Return fire with everything we have,” she orders. She hopes to disable the Vok from jumping to FTL or firing.
Battle w/Heart – [Weak Hit: 5 + 3 + 0 = 8 vs 4 | 10]
[Pay the Price: You waste resources]
[Mark Progress: I vow to recapture Dreng Wraithus from the Vok :4 boxes]
The necroship is left drifting but the Concordia isn’t much better. The Vok were using some sort of electromagnetic interference and have left the ship’s engines extremely depleted. They don’t have enough juice for an FTL jump for at least sixteen hours. The teleporters are completely offline, which clashes with Kae’s plan. She had hoped to lock onto Dreng Wraithus’s signature and bring him aboard that way.
She strikes upon a risky idea. “Abrams,” she calls over her Calugar advisor. You can hear the Vok hivemind, correct?”
The old man nods. “Yes, they chatter in the back of my mind, even in my sleep.” He looks tired.
“Do you think,” begins Kae, “that you could use your control over the Power and subtly push them to take action? Or at least a drone or two? I want to see if we could get some of them to teleport Wraithus to us. Make them think it was some command from the central hive.”
Oracle question: Can Abrams control Vok drones remotely using the Power? Odds: Likely. [Ask the Oracle: Yes]
Abrams thinks about it for a moment. “I believe that I could, Miranda. I should meditate so I can focus very deeply.”
“Whatever you need, Abrams.” Kae finds a meditation room on the ship’s upper levels that hasn’t been damaged and gets the Calugar there.
Face Danger w/Shadow – [Miss: 2 + 1 + 0 = 3 vs 6 | 3] – Burn Momentum – [Weak Hit: 2 + 1 + 0 = 6 vs 6 | 3]
Kae takes -1 Spirit from Stress
Miranda sits with Abrams as he focuses on directing Vok drones around their ship and away from making repairs. They take Wraithus from his cell to the teleportation room. For a moment, the Vok hivemind takes over Abrams’s mind; he starts barking commands as if he’s speaking to drones. Kae starts to worry her friend will be overtaken again, but he focuses and resumes control.
She speaks over the comms to the teleporter room on the upper levels and gets confirmation that Wraithus is onboard and being escorted to the brig.
[Mark Progress: I vow to recapture Dreng Wraithus from the Vok :6 boxes]
Abrams is out of his trance now. “I suppose we should let Lady Thal and the others know?”
Kae mulls it over. “We will. But first, I want to talk to this Wraithus without them there. He’s like you, with the Power?”
Abrams bristles at the comparison. “He’s Skygge, nothing like the Calugar. He uses a dark version of the Power, and in Wraithus’s case, he enjoys the manipulation of minds. You will need me there to block his efforts to control you and, thus, the ship.”
Wraithus sits on the wall-mounted bench in his cell as Captain Kae and Abrams arrive. He looks quickly from her to the Calugar. He seems fascinated by the remnants of the Vok conversion that remain on Abrams’s body, and he is a little scared, too.
“Dreng Wraithus,” Kae announces. “I’m Captain Kae of the UPA starship Concordia, where you are currently a prisoner. I would like to ask you some questions about the people you were traveling with.”
Disposition: Curious
“You aren’t telling them I’m here? Thal? The Bamiri? Why? Ah, you don’t trust them.” Wraithus tilts his head, observing Kae with some curiosity. Kae looks to Abrams, hoping his abilities hold back this exceptionally creepy and strange man.
Oracle question: Can Abrams completely protect Captain Kae’s mind from Wraithus? Odds: 50/50
[Ask the Oracle: No]
Despite feeling assured that Abrams will protect her mind, Kae notices a strange sensation growing in the back of her mind. It feels like recalling a memory, but this doesn’t come from her own mind; it is a memory from Wraithus that he is sharing in her mind.
Wraithus waits in an ornately decorated hallway. Moments later, a door slides away, and the Empress emerges with her elite guard. Wraithus follows them down the hall to another room, a laboratory. Large translucent tubes are scattered throughout the warehouse-sized room. Each tube contains a person floating in a nutrient bath, tubes going down every orifice in their body, providing food and removing waste.
“My daughter,” the Empress says. “Is she ready to be born?”
Wraithus nods. “The doctors tell me they believe this will be a lucrative harvest. She is already strong in the Power and hasn’t even attained full consciousness.”
Kae finds she can walk around in the space; she doesn’t have to follow Wraithus’s memory. She looks down at the tube Wraithus and the Empress stood before. There is a screen that provides a readout of the person floating inside’s vitals. The last thing Kae sees before she pulls herself out of this hazy memory is the name “Thal.”
Her mind firmly planted back in the brig. She looks at Wraithus, who grins, knowing what he’s shown to this starship captain. Kae looks to Abrams, who is unaware of this exchange. Things are not as simple as they seem.
Repair w/Supply – [Strong Hit: 5 + 5 + 0 = 10 vs 1 | 7]
Captain Kae checks in as she heads back to the bridge. Lt. Comm. Ennis lets her know the ship is ready to go, he even got the FTL to charge faster than expected. She asks Abrams if he could push the Vok crew to pilot the necroship back to UPA space. She can send a message ahead for the fleet to intercept him.
Secure Advantage w/Heart – [Weak Hit: 6 + 3 + 0 = 9 vs 5 | 9] – +2 Momentum
Abrams mental messages have an effect with the Vok plotting a course back into UPA space. Kae lets the fleet commander know and several ship will meet the Vok when they cross over. Now to deal with the problems involving the guests onboard.
To be continued…
Fulfill Your Vow – I vow to recapture Dreng Wraithus from the Vok – [Weak Hit: 6 + 6 + 0 = 10 vs 7 | 10] – Take 1 tick on Quests Legacy track
Spent 3 XP on Heavy Cannons module for the ship
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