Session 23: Revelations Report
General Summary
Introduction
The man sits behind an empty desk in a vastly oversized room staring forward silently. The wall made of windows behind him shows the roofs of skyscrapers as far as the eye can see, all just barely short enough to avoid impeding the view from this room. The opposite wall would appear to be as black and starry as the depths of space if only the thin borders of the perfectly arranged monitors didn’t reveal the falsehood of the visage. There is but one blemish on the wall of monitors, the 2 in the bottom right having been removed to permit a door. Even as that same door slides open to reveal a man in a sharp red and black uniform, the man behind the desk continues to sit and stare at the wall of monitors with a quiet, resolved Intensity. “The battle at the Graveyard proceeds as planned. Admiral MacKay’s last report indicated that we’ve lost one battlecruiser but estimate a 60% decimation of enemy forces at this point.” The man’s eyes never move as he leans forward in his large, stationary seat. “Excellent. Proceed with the Collection.” Only the blurry movement at the edge of his peripheral vision and the *whoosh* of the door tell the man that his military advisor is gone yet again. His eyes narrow as he stares, his jaw sets, and at long last…the man blinks. “I only hope we were quick enough.” From the shadowy corner of the far too large room, a distant voice reflects back like an echo to his plea. “At least if you weren’t, no one will be left alive to make you regret it. It’s in Fate’s hands now.”Meanwhile
Back in the purple-Green haze of the Hersperus Nebula, the Intrepid Explorer cuts far too nimbly through the mist-like haze into the edges of the massive asteroid field. Would that anyone were watching, it may invoke the same sense of awe and disbelief as seeing an Ice-Skating Hippopotamus or a Giraffe limbo champion as this long-distance hauler spins beneath, over, and between asteroids as it strains its engines to distance itself from the slaughter behind it. Inside of the wondrous experiment in defied expectations, the steady whine of the overworked, recently repaired engines has an almost reassuring tone to the weary crew. Every whine and gasp of the engine is another leap away from the massacre, and every step away is another breath of relief taken freely. It hasn’t been 2 full hours since the innocents and not so innocents on the Demorte rained down around them in a grisly spectacle, yet it somehow feels like several weeks have passed as they fought for their survival against threats from both inside and out of their ship. Even still, they haven’t navigated the perilous asteroid belt to escape the nebula. Despite it all, the relief in the ship is tangible and seems to have given a powerful second wind to our Crew. Li, Dash, Rose, and William Blake remain in the cockpit together. Alicia and Jason headed back to the Engine. Chiara moved into the common room, while Kyra took the opportunity to go and lie down in her bunk to recover from the last chaotic few hours. Mark hasn’t been seen since the incident started. You all have a few moments before you get into the thick of the asteroid belt involving Checks and whatnot. What would you like to do?Game Start
The Intrepid Explorer zips into the Asteroid Belt away from the immediate danger. As it does so, Dash, helped by William Blake, run and grab the body of the SpecOps Demon Captain Harland from the Engine Room. They head back to the Cargo Bay and find that Kyra's speeder was used to create an electric shock trap that overloaded Mark's systems. They work on rebooting Mark's systems before rushing back to the Cockpit. Meanwhile, Li and Rose have their first moment alone (sans Alexa) in the cockpit. Li locks the coms and closes the cockpit door before turning and asking Rose for an explanation of why she, Brier Bellock, was here in the Rim. He revealed that he knew exactly who she was and she did the same, recalling his second Gavel Training attempt. The conversation leaves off rather heated as she storms away after being confronted by his pressing questions. He and Alexa discuss the situation together before they enter the dangerous part of the Asteroid Belt.The Asteroid Belt
The Crew zips into the Asteroid Belt and quickly realizes that the damage done to the ship's engines and systems means that it is running at full power just to maneuver quickly enough to dodge asteroids. Additional tasks, such as shooting, scanning, and navigating, drain power and put strain on the systems. Using this information, Li and Alexa pilot deftly through the field while Rose walks to the back to help boost systems per his request. Alicia mans the scanners to give information to help fly while William Blake guards the unconscious Captain Harland in the Common Room.Fighter Assault
They successfully fly for some time before Alicia detects two fighters approaching them rapidly from the Graveyard. Tumerian realizes that the speed at which they are approaching indicates that they are likely using engines burning Utopia, which is incredibly pricey and not usually heard of. The Crew are left in a situation of dodging bullets and asteroids from these approaching fighters. As the fighters approach, one of them fires a torpedo at the Intrepid Explorer. William Blake, manning the turret, shifts from giving Suppressing Fire to affect the fighter's flight to instead getting an incredibly lucky shot and blowing up the torpedo at the last minute with some targeting assistance from Alicia. Rose begins using her technical skill to balance and boost various ship systems as they fly towards the edge of the belt to escape. One of the fighters falls directly behind the Intrepid Explorer and almost blows a hole through the engines, but the boosted systems, aid of Dash in the cockpit, and Rose's verbally challenging Li's abilities narrowly missed the death shot. Alexa plotted out the path to Nibian 6 as they escape and, after a final narrow escape, they jump into the safety of Zip Space.Fate's Fallen Fragment
Soon after they escape into the stars, they begin to take a moment to relax and recover. As soon as they do so, Captain Harland stands up and starts screaming in an effeminate voice “What have you done, what have you done, what have you done!!!”. Dash reacts immediately and swings at the Captain's jaw, knocking him backwards into Tumerian in the cockpit. The Captain is bruised but doesn't lose consciousness as Li grabs him in a loose sleeper hold. The man starts frantically chanting “Sisters, Self, Sisters, Self!!! Shh, little voice. Nagging voice. Where are my voice! Where are my voice? Where are…” Dash, William Blake, Tumerian, Rose, and Alicia gather in the common room facing Li holding the Captain near the cockpit. They begin trying to talk and discover what is happening as the Captain continues in the young, effeminate voice “No…no…alone. We’re…I’m alone. Petal fallen, sunbeam trapped beneath the fleshy ice. Stupid champion’s fault. Bad choice. Never pick the puppet with the broken strings. Stupid maiden, stupid maiden. Crone was right. Better dead. Never chosen. Never champion. Never the future, always the false.” They begin discussing and trying to cut through the riddles and obvious madness in the possessed man's words and eyes alike. Li quickly decides to take a recording of the interaction and catches the following highlights that the man, calling himself the Wrong Maiden, mentions.Interview with a Deranged Deity
- “I’m…I’m wrong. I’m bad. Not maiden. Not me. Wrong, bad, incorrect, false, nada, nilch, bad. So if I’m not me…and I’m wrong…then I can’t be right and I can’t be me! Not maiden at all so maiden isn’t bad! So…I guess it’s alright then!”
- “You want to talk? You want to know? You want to play? Ants scream the sun. The sun does talk…but the beam is trapped. Trapped…trapped until the bubbles boil and back to the sun I go. So…fine. I’ll play. I’ll talk with this wrong voice, a not voice. Then BACK to the sun I go!”
- "Kneel and serve. Promises promises. He kneels where the beggars stand? I’ll help help help again. Stupid Maiden. Crone was right. Never protect, just destroy. Liked the gun mostly. He likes to hurt. The moment before the thinking slips out? That’s his favorite. Not when told, neeeever when told, just likes to hurt. Soldier March! Fine. Soldier kill! Fine. Soldier kill now? Never! Bad puppet. Always a bad puppet. But the Origin says-WAIT-*whisper*…the origin is wrong? I can say that! The origin is wrong about you! *points at Dash* You get NO power. I…take it Back! Mwaha! None for you!"
- *Looks at Tumerian quickly* "To your question? Yes."
- *grabs own head* "Shush, voice. Silly human, so worried about the spawn. Why bother? Cant change it’s fate. So worried about the mate. Should it have listened to father? No…no, dead either way, lab explosion."
Responses to Specific Questions
What is 'he' planning?- “He must conquer and protect. Conquer to protect. The dark ones come. The depths boil with their desires. Maim and wipe, Maim and wipe, pawns and puppets, maimed and wiped. Let’s start it, start it again. Over and over they sing, start it again, start it again. Nothing but forever, start it again! But no. Bad dark ones. Bad beasties, changing faces and bodies and species and dark to light and light to dark and bad bad bad. They want it to start again. No more humans. No more fun. Start again, start in the dark. Back to the dark. The sludge. ‘Let’s make wings, no no no, let’s do eyes and beans and ears out of noses and Sooooo boooring’. No passions. No desires. No more deep naggy inside voices like Mr. Serious. *wag finger mockingly* “I'm going to be a Citizen. Happy wife, happy life. Provide for spawn. Protect my spawn, blah blah blah. No, BAD punchy man, save me for my spawn! Blah blah blaaaaa” "Boring toy. No fun at all. But Maiden, you must try. Maiden, you must test and teach and try to…Wait, did I say this already? Have I finished it? Time is IMPOSSSIBLE like this…and VOICES! Blah. *paused an inappropriate amount of time* So he says to Conquer. Conquer and protect, no more do overs! Bad beasties, back to your barriers. Come meet our humans. They have good biters. *chomp teeth* I did that. *smile*”
- "I Already TOLD you. They'll gather up the blackest night to take it deep and make it bright and splat goes beasts and all’s alright! It’s a dark that comes to light and in the midst of tomorrow’s night the deepest dark is booming bright!”
- “Why are you asking me, I died! Weren’t you watching?" *looks at Rose with hand over mouth conspiratorially* “He must feel pretty stupid talking to a dead person right now.” *blink several times on realization* “Oh…wait…you haven't already seen that yet. How you deal with moments always being like this? One, two, three…soooo slow. So boring. Three, one, fourteen, two. Now THAT’S good time.”
- "Isn't he part of us all?"
- "Time is bones" *Holds up hand with fingers Splayed and visible* "Now. Later. Before. This is right time. But for you, time is…"
- *hold hand so only 1 side of fingers visible with 1 at a time, putting fingers down revealing the next while talking* "Before. Now. Later.
- "For him, *holds up fingers* "Before, Now, Good Later, Bad later. But with Deliverers..." *They grasp their own finger and begin to pull with superhuman strength. You hear the crack of bones and see the flesh start to tear into dozens of strips as they pulls it straight off, leaving a ripped, bloody stump behind* "Just Before, Now, Good later."
- "The dark ones? They want…" *holds hand up, all remaining fingers together, thumb tucked* "Now. Only now. Now forever"
The Ice Melts
As the interview progresses, Alicia begins to scan the man's physiology. She finds extreme levels of stress in his brain that continue to grow. Li shifts from holding the man to using Reiki to try and cause the energy to flow. Dash delves into the realm of Fate's threads and sees the entity lodged in the man's brain as a combined, wound ball of silver cord shaped like half of a woman's face with no other threads coming off of the man. Rose eventually steps around and helps Li try to recenter the energy to buy them more time as blood starts to pour out of the man's eye, then ears, then other eye. Li seems to become more and more certain that he is an agent of fate, or at least has had his path laid out before him by fate, as the conversation continues. During the interview, they get the idea to run and get Guru Kevin and the Orb. Dash runs off on his charred, injured leg to grab Kevin and explain what is going on during the jog back. As they hurry back and come into visual with the man, he struggles feebly for the first time as he sees Kevin. He snarls, shows his teeth, then shouts "Dark one. Wrong or not, bad. Wrong like me? Still bad. Dark ones just want light. Dark wants just want it to be now again. *snarl*" They manage to restrain him easily as he tries to push away from Kevin. Kevin and Dash run towards the being, the orb extended, and Kevin presses the orb into the chest of the man. Alicia puts her hand next to Kevin's on the Orb while they continue the Reiki techniques and Dash grasps the silvery cordlike thread and pulls as it burns his hand. Together, they feel the energy shift and see the orb begin to glow silver with red streaks as the man's body goes limp and falls to the ground helplessly. They look around and collectively agree that they need some rest but will return to talk about what just happened tomorrow.Safe Travels
Business Up Front
They reconvene the next day to discuss. Li admits that he's been obsessively listening to the recording trying to understand the meaning behind the riddles. At the meeting, they discuss and catch everyone up on what they've learned before Li directly confronts Guru Kevin about being called a Dark One. Guru Kevin reveals to the group that there are more like him but vehemently denies that he or his kin are dangerous. He reveals that he chose to be how he is and that the symbiote in him doesn't remember anything related to it, nor does it know how long it was asleep. He also brings up the fact that he's one of the few on the ship that have never taken a human life. By the end of the conflict, Guru Kevin agrees to put the Orb in a camera covered, monitored spot in his room. He does reserve the right to take the Orb whenever he needs it but agrees to let them know.Party in the Back
William Blake brings up the point that the inhabitants of the ship have had no respite for weeks now and gone from one danger to another. He insists that they throw a small party to relax together with the few supplies left. Rose and Li go to repair Mark's damaged arm and manage to using the parts they recovered and with Mark's assistance. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew gathers up what drinks and drugs they have. They all return and relax a little. Rose goes a little heavier than anyone realizes, first getting drunk, then taking uppers, then taking Dash's passed around U-Pen. Chiara calls Tumerian out for his playboy ways and warns Rose about him. It's revealed that the shift doesn't technically belong to any of them and they tell about poor George Salters. Rose ends up sharing a 'funny' story about her childhood trauma ending up with scars across her back, which Chiara matches and reveals some of her own. They try to avoid talking about the Fates or situation they are in and fail often, but they have a good evening together all the same. Rose ends up scaling Mark as Chiara reveals her deep guilt over leaving slaves on Paphadis. The party disperses, and they settle in for the remainder of the journey. During the Journey, Dash intentionally chooses to recover instead of dealing with activities. Rose searches for information on her long-since exiled Uncle. Li alters his meditation to attempt to observe or find clarity regarding his "am I an Agent of Fate" questions. Alicia takes the time to create a temporary systems boost to the Engines system so it can overcharge their speed temporarily.Approaching Nibian 6
The Crew approaches Nibian 6, some for the first time. They are immediately refused entry until they realize that they have left their Krasian military ID transponder, that for the KPO Chorwed, on. They quickly swap it around while calling on Grace as their contact to allow them entry. They land to discover the statue honoring Daron Haught and the miners who died in the tragedy 4 months before. They meet Grace, who looks far less stressed, and enter to talk together at the local bar. They do introductions before Dash recaps the Krasian assault and shows the video. While talking to Grace, they realize the Krasian's have struck at a perfect time while the strongest forces in the Rim and Core alike are weakened. As soon as they step off and Rose checks her datapad, her face drains all color. She follows them to the table and sits calmly until Grace shares the news that the Versian's Law was killed 2 months before. Rose stands up and runs away from the table immediately. Li realizes it took him between a month and a half to 2 months to get to this part of the Rim and runs after her. Grace and Dash continue talking and recapping with the sense of doom and dread around them. Meanwhile, Rose runs to an empty, small open amphitheater and sits sobbing on a bench. Li comes over and seeing her state sits beside her. She leans into his shoulder and sobs while he holds her quietly, withholding his questions for now.Rewards Granted
[Minor Milestone]
Character(s) interacted with
Created Content
Intrepid Explorer's Stunt: Once per Scene - Activate the Button in the Systems Room to boost the Engines and move 2 Zones instead of 1. Can push it further to use it more, but it will damage the Systems to do so.
