Session 26: Exploring Ein Sof Report

General Summary

Introduction

The reverberating echo of a gunshot resonates through the stillness of a city tinted red. The ping of ricocheting metal sparking off a metal surface rings out like a bell through an icy, ethereal silence. The only dim light with which to see is the twin red moons hanging in the unnatural sky over the empty streets. Within one street in particular, next to a metallic wreckage of a still smoking ship, two figures face each other like gunslingers of old. No high noon brightens the scene, no tumbleweeds pass, yet the figures still hold themselves in that still readiness only found in the first breath of a duel. In one corner, a massive frame of a man stands near a head taller than a normal man with his arms held out as though ready for a weapon to appear within them. The metallic street gives just slightly underneath his incredibly heavy feet, the only indication of the solidness of his form. Facing him but a short sprint away, a figure steps forward and purposefully places it's long thin leg ending in a hoof with talons sprouting out either side over a bullet-sized indention in the ground right before it. It's large, thin wings obviously made of long, spindly bones and thin membrane stretched between them behind it as it settles its feet into a position declaring its readiness to pounce. It turns its head, flesh writhing and wriggling beneath its skin, towards the right of the other man towards the crashed ship and large building. It pears over its long, narrow beak that ends in a ultra-thin point with its 4 eyeless sockets inlaid into its gaunt face as it cocks its head a full 90 degrees to peer up at the two people standing on the roof.   On top of the roof, Tumerian Li Shen lowers the rifle from his eyeline after watching the shot narrowly miss its target. Dash steps up beside him to stare down at the inhuman monstrosity below. A glance behind them shows Rose in her full no-atmo suit preparing herself to leap from the top of the crashed Intrepid Explorer to the rooftop alongside the two men. Beneath her feet, through layers of hardened metal and electronic systems drained of power, Kyralin Straussedorph stares down a 45 degree angle Cargo Bay towards the open hole and winch leading outside. Chiara and William Blake lay braced in cautious positions next to her to avoid sliding down the ramp to the 15' drop into the alleyway below. The smell of death and decay just barely begins to waft over their noses from the cargo hold nearby holding their recently fallen shipmate.   Through the open hole of the wrenched open ramp, into the city, and up into the skies above we feel ourselves pulled into the tension of the moment just waiting for someone to make the first move.

Game Start

Jason and Dash charged into melee with the creature as it continuously changed forms. Li noticed a second creature approaching from the opposite direction. He called out instructions to the crew inside of the ship to fire at it with the ship's turrets. Rose ran inside and, along with Alicia, they redirected the power from the lights to the turret. Alicia, still trying to assertain what happened, ran a wide scan using her still functional handheld device. She detected a few distant power signatures and distress signals. Meanwhile, William Blake began firing at the second creature as Li dropped down into the alleyway and began calling out moves to help Jason and Dash.   They put a significant amount of damage on the first creature, though Dash learned through Fateweaving that the creature seemed to be operated and controlled by decayed threads of fate lodged in it's head. They eventually managed to stun and finally kill the creature by Dash ripping and shredding the symbol.   Meanwhile, the second creature darted out of view of the turrets and dropped down into the alleyway next to Li. Li sprinted past Dash and Jason as they finished off the first Corrupted Seraphim. Meanwhile, Rose had run into Jason's room looking for a weapon to help out with. In an incredible stroke of Fate, she found a rocket launcher with 1 missile left. She ran outside and slid down the rope in a hurry, ending up face to face with the Corrupted Seraphim shifting into his humanoid form. Rose tumbled past towards Jason as she and Jason were caught squarely by the creature's dissident whispers. She looked at the being to see her mother, dead, decayed, and accusatory. Jason looked at the creature to see his son, a memory not yet unlocked through his will, and as he stared into the creature's eyes he felt rage at being forced to remember his son's death by his hands. He ran, grappled the creature, and lifted it up where it's feet barely couldn't touch the ground while shouting for Rose to shoot it.   Rose raised the rocket launcher, unfazed by the vision of her mother. She leveled and fired the rocket directly at the creature's chest. Jason dove, rolled, and jumped as the shockwave from the explosion through him into Rose. They tumbled forward with Jason shielding her from the nearly point-blank blast. He helped her up as they looked back to see that same disgusting black, gelatin-like ichor coating the alleyway and underside of their ship. The explosion bowed the walls in slightly and the ship tilted back slightly farther into the alleyway before coming to a stop once more.

Moving Forward

After some discussion, during which Dash casually revealed Guru Kevin/Sathriel still being alive in Dash's head along with Maiden, they decided to set out into the city. They burned up one of their 2 remaining power cells to recharge all of their personal electronic devices before leaving as well as Botley and Mark. They headed off into the city, trying to keep a low profile while also moving at a steady pace.   They looked through some of the buildings as they went along. The first thing they encountered was a chest. After a little work, they cracked open the solid, unfamiliar wooden chest and found a light fabric roll preserved inside that seemed to reflect multiple colors at once and remain warm despite being incredibly thin. Next, they found a room with a table and broken chairs with a large horn inset into a hole in the center. It had a few droplets of liquid left within it. Jason tasted it with his finger and Kyra preserved the rest. Kyra took shards from the table as well. They finally arrived at the first ship and began to scavenge it as best they could. They found some creds, food, wedding rings (from the embracing corpses), IDs of 2 Hopper Personel, and a large systems panel plus some engine parts. They left the panel and parts nearby to bring back later. They continued on. As they traveled to the next pinged location, Li found a tiny mass of welded tubes with a single row of dials (Tech#7). Dash found and avoided triggering an enormous fork of three elongated tetrahedrons studded with several dials and toggles (Weapon#7).   At long last, they safely arrived at the next destination: A huge, old colony ship still showing some power running.

Rewards Granted

[Minor Milestone]   Misc#6 Misc#5 Tech#7 Weapon#7