003 - Star Light, Star Blight

General Summary

After narrowly escaping the destruction of the Prima Diana, the Space Oddities find themselves marooned on an unknown asteroid and under attack by a petrified, blighted forest. They manage to fight off the immediate danger, and begin navigating their way through its darkness, following the beacon of Morell's Talarith that seems to be pulling them in a specific direction.
Whilst journeying through its boughs, Temperence catches a glimmer from a nearby tree - a message in druidic that warns the crew of "danger ahead, living tree, territorial, big". They choose to ignore the message and continue following Morrell's Talarith as it is the only bearing they have, and eventually come upon a slowly expanding ring of blue flame - a ring not too dissimilar to that found near the crash site on Kalabar.
Stepping over the low-burning flame, which appears to be fizzling out, the crew finds an Elk that is burning with blue flames and partially crystalised, its glass-like horns scoring the ground around it. Unusually, the trees here don't seem to be burning or crystallising, but the living creature is - the crew are left with questions, but no answers.
Eventually, they follow their esoteric beacon to a raving where a humongous tree is burning with blue flame. As they approach, a large chunk breaks off and forms into the shape of a living, walking, incredibly angry tree. After a long-fought battle, they emerge victorious and find a small spirit cowering where the beast once stood. Morrell communes with the spirit, gaining a blessing from the constellation Yggdrasil.
Peace is still not won, however, as the lifeless tree at the centre of the ravine begins to stir and tosses chunks of crystal from its body at the nearby rocky walls, leaving hefty impact marks. Looking back from where they came, Temperence spots the forest is full of blights that are chasing them down, and they all have no option but to run forwards and hope for the best!

Report Date

13 Mar 2023