Session XVI: A jaunty road trip through the corpse of a planet - Report

General Summary

The team descended into the cold dark of the dead planet of Illisk. Cold as the void and quiet as a tomb, the team noticed that the bodies of the dead former inhabitants of this planet had been plugged in. They slowly break apart and flake away in strange shifting gravity of the non existent atmosphere of this foreboding realm.   Delving further the group moved on in their commandeered xeno transport vehicle that resembled an ancient earth subway car Isaac led the way using his uncanny sense of where their objective was. As the team moved further on a strange bluish-purple rift opened in front of them floating a good distance off the ground. Bjorn knew what he was looking at and push the weird vehicle into high gear blowing past the growing warp gate.   Demons of many stripes started to pour through, strange flying manta ray looking creatures with eyes and tusks protruding from their wings and other more shapeless horrors in pinks and blues whose limbs disgorged flames and fumes. The newly arrived enemies gave chase but the earth bound portion of them were unable to keep pace with Bjorn. The manta-things were able to begin gaining on the crew hunkered down in their tram but Murk had a plan, one that involved many many bullets. The big Ork set up on top of the vehicle and started shooting as much as he could at the incoming demons. The heavy stubber ripped through their somewhat squishy limbs only to reform in even more grotesque configurations after the hot lead was done raining on them.    As Murk fired, Bjorn started trying to loose his pursuers by taking smaller side tunnels. The crew was thrown around inside their vehicle back and forth as Bjorn piloted the vessel through small dark corridors shifting between floors walls and ceilings, using the strangely operating gravity to his advantage while Isaac continued to give sage advice on which way to go through the pitch black in front of them.   Eventually the insane passage ended as the group neared it's destination. A massive room with an odd cylindrical building in the center of it. How far below the surface of the planet the group had gotten was nearly impossible to tell but the general consensus was that they were nearer to the core than the surface by far. The party disembarked from their alien vessel and began to look around. Isaac and Ani were getting flashes of what happen to the people people of this long dead planet while the others were searching around. Eventually Isaac discovered a door into the structure and entered along with Stig who had come barreling forward to lead the way, crashing through what he though was a pile of cords and wires only to discover that they were the covered bodies of more natives. A plume of dust dispersed into the surrounding area as the corpse was obliterated by the big man's bulk.   Ani and Bjorn chose to stay back outside as the rest of the group entered the building. They stood there in awkward silence with each other busying themselves with other things rather than talk to one another as their recent disagreements had soured their attitudes for the time being. Eventually the crew members that went in wound up in a central room after following the double helix of corkscrewed hallways that terminated where they were. The large room housed very little but a pillar descended from the ceiling made up of wrapped wires and cords similar to what they had encountered surrounding the xenos on the way in but in this case they ended by clearly connecting to a strange polyhedral object roughly the size of a small beach ball or an oversized football.   Rasp investigated the object visually while the two big men that went into the room started thinking about ways to get up to it and cut it down. Isaac psychically reached out and made sure this is what they were looking for. Eventually all were satisfied that the polyhedron was in fact the things they were looking for and that Murk or Stig would be able to bring it down. When Murk gave the strange object a tug however it activated and began to glow and send energy up the stalks which supported it.   Outside the room gave a quiver when the object activated within and Ani looked around nervously as she buckled down and mentally scanned harder to make sure the team was not about to be caught unaware yet again, but as they've come to expect the unexpected they did expect that whatever was about to happen was not good. A gate of invisible warp energy began to form behind the tram the group had used to get down here. Ani voxed back to Isaac that she needed help outside as she was only one out their that could see it. Bjorn was blissfully unaware but Ani warned him what she was seeing. The Captain was unable to help in any meaningful way so he went into the building to hurry the team up, switching  places with Isaac as he made his way out of the building to assist Ani.   After many yanks on the object Murk and Stig had enough of this tug of war and the sound of eviscerators and choppas could be heard revving up as the two became a terribly unsubtle tree trimming service to rid the object of it's connecting tubes. Rasp hurried out and began making preparation to get the vehicle back up and running ready to make a hasty escape.   Ani and Isaac were focusing all they could on slowing the portal that was steadily growing and not allowing the power on the other side from breaking through. As the polyhedron was cut down and passed to Murk the planet gave it's last heaving breath. The heart of this floating ball of metal and tubes was no longer able to support itself in the cosmos as the end was neigh for Illisk. The death rattle of the planet shook it to it's core and the unmistakable sound of metal tearing and things shattering could be heard.   At this time as everyone made hast for the vehicle except Ani and Isaac who were still busy holding back what could only be a greater demon the swarm of fiends they had passed through on the way in finally caught back up. They burst into the room and the fear they spread became palpable. The approaching horde moved on their exposed targets as the remaining members of the crew exited the building. Rasp attempted to soup up the xeno tram but failed to do so, Isaac got onboard but the fear building up was too much for Ani's more sensitive psyche and she collapsed into catatonia. Murk and Stig scooped up any stragglers and put them onto the transport.     As Bjorn pulled away the greater demon started to break through onto this plane of existence. The Lord of Change, it's long clawed arms ripped through the invisible gate and it's beaked head could be seen as the group raced back into the tunnels which brought them here. Murk once again began firing wildly into the demons to drive them back as the group made their mad exodus into the dark. The planet was not long for this reality and the gravity which previously was pushing everything together in whatever surface you clung to now was behaving as erratically and chaotically as possible. The planet was shattering piece by piece and Bjorn was finding himself jumping over void filled ravines and up and down walls and tunnels separated from the mass of the planet.   Finally after many harrowing twists turns and death defying jumps  Bjorn was able to navigate back to the threatened surface of the planet just as the cascading destruction below was making it's final attacks on the planet. Everyone piled out of the vehicle and fumble and tumbled their way over to the lander in order to escape this dying planet. Surprisingly almost everyone piled in. Looking behind them, Rasp and Isaac the two most physically unable of their number were struggling to climb their way to the lander as the ground gave way beneath them. Bjorn, kicked the lander into gear quickly as he was once again piloting a familiar vessel and the crew moved to rescue Isaac and Rasp but the shudders of the planet were too severe to be ignored by the two men. They began to slip and fall back into the growing darkness of the planet beneath them.   In a final act of self sacrifice Rasp wrapped his mechadendrites around Isaac and essentially tossed him towards the open door of the lander where Stig caught him. Unfortunately the Tech-priest did so at the sacrifice of his own solid purchase to the wall on which he clung. Losing both balance and grip the Mechanicus fell backwards into the waiting maw of oblivion as the rest of the crew looked on in horror...

Rewards Granted

+3 xp
63 total xp

Ani +7xp (previous logs)
Bjorn +7xp (previous logs)
Isaac +4xp (previous logs and hidden plot found)
Murk +5xp (previous logs)
Rasp +1xp (previous haikus)
Stig +6xp (previous logs)

Missions/Quests Completed

Grasping hands from every corner of the Void - Part 1 & Part 2, objective 1 complete

  Ani - Getting past the visions of the future (begun - In process)
Bjorn - Darktide (begun - In process)
Isaac - The god-machine (Part 1, objective 1&2 complete, objective 3 in process)
Murk - A tail of two Waaagh! (begun, optional object 1 failed)
Rasp - Children of the Machine (begun - detoured)
Stig - The Jungles of Ash (begun - detoured - Objective 1 failed)

Character(s) interacted with

Chaos Deamons
Greater Deamon of Tzeentch - The Lord of Change

Related Reports

Session XV