WttSS session 18: 'Getting Out of Trouble'

General Summary

The majority of the party did, in fact, get out of trouble.  

Khalil and Masruq escape the temple

  Amidst a slowly crumbling temple, Khalil saves the life of two Solar Wind priests as the Inner Council pull Khamzi to safety. Once safely away they send a contigent of Solar Wind back into the temple to find out what happened. Guided by the ever opportunistic Dark Between Stars, the militia stumbles across the priest who noticed the PCs did not join in the celebration of Khamzi right from the start. In lieu of any other discrepancy in the proceedings to investigate, the militia challenges the PCs, demanding to know what they did.   Khalil's protestations against wasting the time that could better be used getting the injured to safety are brushed aside by the militia's sheer fear of the obvious interference of the Faceless One, who, once again, cannot help but steer fortune away from the PCs. As Masruq provides a forthright explanation of how they have released Khamzi from the influence of a sorcerous spirit, more of the temple wall crumbles, shaking the temple once more, and the militia retreats in horror.   Masruq and Khalil escape in the remaining confusion and disappear into the crowds outside. They message Bakhtiyar to find out what the Inner Council is doing but must await a reply.  

Murad and Zarzur get out of immediate danger

  Scientists and prospectors alike stare in confusion at the alarm going off that claims that the Agency's databanks have been hacked. Murad manages to persuade the onlookers that this 'always happens when he gets a newbie' and buys Zarzur a chance to interfere with the Divine Algebra's alarms; but the ship and crew fight back in cyberspace and there's nothing for it but to run.   Murad engulfs the cargo bay laboratory into full chaos with a deftly placed sandstorm grenade. Designed to pick up sand it takes a few moments for the vortexes to get going but once they do, shards and fragments of tabulas, artifacts and equipment fill the room. With enough metal, plastic and crystal flying to force the agents under their benches, Murad and Zarzur escape into the ship's air vents unhindered.  

Kerman reconnects the party

  Despite seeing images of the palace's collpasing temple being shared around The Cantina's holo-projectors, Kerman discovers through comms to Khalil and Masruq that they are in fact fine and that Murad and Zarzur need his help more. Word comes too from Bakhtiyar that the Inner Council is pushing ahead with the vote and he really needs to know if there's been any success deleting the blackmail material from the Agency's databanks. Murad and Zarzur have of course, been successful but they can't tell anyone as the Divine Algebra's alert means they've jammed all comms in and out.   Which raises the question: if you were Kerman and could quickly grav-bike over to The Oasis to help your friends with their comms problem, how would you do it? Would you try your hand at technology and try to break through the comms barrier with surgical hack? Or would you answer the call with high-speed, superheated metal from an accelerator rifle aimed at the Divine Algebra's comms array?   An unfortunate interference from the Dark causes the first shot to go wide, allowing the Ranger outside the ship to rearrange the agents there to protect themselves from attacks from both ship and city directions. However, Kerman's silenced weapon means his vantage point atop an admin building in the The Oasis is safe from observation.   Time speeds past as the Inner Council assemble for the vote in the palace but Kerman's second shot hits home and the comms array is momentarily disabled. From the ship's vents Zarzur reports her success in deleting the blackmail information. This is passed on to Bakhtiyar, hopefully in time.  

Murad and Zarzur escape the Divine Algebra

  Coming through the vents to the supply cargo bay, Murad and Zarzur find two agents securing the area. A two-shoe distraction from Zarzur allows Murad to sneak up on one agent and silently overcome him. A noise from somewhere on the ship unfortunately alerts the other agent but when she spins round she finds Murad pointing a thermal pistol at her head. If she perhaps hadn't picked up Zarzur's shoes she might have been able to offer some counter with her own accelerator pistol but these regrets haunt us all and the agent surrenders.   Looking around, Murad sees the explosives that the Agency use on moning operations and turns them to good advantage. Lining them up along the cargo bay doors he sets off a big explosion as a distraction and a smaller, tactical one further down the ship's wall. As the first detonation happens the attention of the Ranger and agents outside the ship is drawn away from the second, which gives Murad and Zarzur an exit. They escape to the treeline that surrounds the landing bay in the confusion.  

Kerman does not cough

  Never to miss an opportunity, the Dark steps in one final time. Part of the first explosion goes out of control and sends pieces of ship wall out into The Oasis spaceport. Servants and administrators flee both metal and stone debris, the latter coming from the buildings around them rupturing and collapsing.   From his vantage point, Kerman sees a teenage boy staring at the wall before him starting to crumbling. He should flee the wall and roof coming down that would surely crush him but is held fast by the horror of screaming people collapsing buildings. Only Kerman's intervention gives the boy any chance, and he stumbles backward as Kerman takes the weight of the slowly toppling wall upon his back. Unable to hold the wall for long, Kerman is dismayed when the boy falls over and continues to stare but the bark of a command to flee from one of Ghodar's very heroes finally gives the boy the presence of mind to move.   As the building crumbles both the boy and Kerman roll to safety. The boy coughs heavily as dust and sand fill the air and so his lungs. But Kerman is Xinghur, raised in the desert, inured to its ways: Kerman does not cough.  

Khalil and Masruq go after Avihu

  Three of the party safe from danger, the blackmail material deleted and hopefully the Inner Council vote going their preferred way, Khalil and Masruq survey the palace. It is as yet uncertain if the Council and Solar Wind will believe that the PCs have helped the city or brought it into the Dark but one thing is clear: if Khamzi is free of Avihu, able to speak as herself once more and so reveal the truth of the sorcerer spirit herself, then the finer details of events will not matter.   But Avihu is not yet defeated. Masruq sees one of the palace's smaller, diplomatic residences suffer a crack along its wall, spreading from the north side - the direction Avihu was cast out - and working along in the direction of Khamzi's residence where the Inner Council have secured her. To defeat Avihu, Khalil will need the remains of his drone, shot down over the palace and fallen into the gardens of one of the larger residences up the mountainside. To get to it they'll need to run past and on beyond the building Avihu is working his way through, giving the sorcerer a head start on the way to Khamzi.   Not knowing in what state they'll find Khalil's spirit box, Masruq and Khalil sprint to the where the drone fell; but as they pass the smaller residence they call out Avihu's name in challenge and the furious spirit turns its attention to the exorcist that forced him from Khamzi. As Masruq and Khalil run up steps and along bridges, the cracks in the bulding walls move the to the floor, and surge through the stone towards them.