Ranging the Radium River

The expedition moves inland

General Summary

Having used the recovery pod of Renewal Station 5 to cure their blood sickness, the party proceeded to explore the contents of the station control chamber. They recovered a trove of technological gear and supplies and used an improvised computer terminal to access a series of data files called the "Chronicles of Yildun." Jayne placed his hand upon a crystalline access point and the system declared that he bore the "Blood Mark of Brightmoon."

The Skyfire event continued to detonate in the Trinity desert and caused a psychic disturbance allowing a traveler from the past to communicate with the party in the present. Appearing outside the pump station, Goland Reveze introduced himself to the party and used his psionic talents to establish a link with the mysterious broken timepiece artifact. Reveze suggested that, even separated by 98 years of time, he and the party could help each other reach the lost city of the Phoenix.

Searching for a hidden Precursor outpost called the "Moon Vault," the party started travelling west on the Radium River. They decided to portage around a stretch of rough water and wandered into the nesting grounds of a monstrous centipede colony. During the ensuing battle against the centipedes, Jayne almost died and received a vision of his forgotten past.

Scene Summary

• The party accesses the data banks of Renewal Station 5.
• Jayne makes contact with the Renewal Station machine mind and reveals the Blood Mark of Brightmoon.
• Rob interprets Yildun's Chronicles of the Phoenix Quest.
• The party prepares for a river journey towards Rift Delta of Silver Lake.
• The Skyfire emanation event repeats in the Trinity desert.
• Psychic disturbances caused by the Trinity Skyfire emanation summon an unexpected visitor from the past.
• The party embarks on the Radium River.
• While portaging over the Radium Salt Flats the party is ambushed by a colony of monstrous centipede swarms led by a huge great queen centipede.
• Jayne is struck an apparently mortal blow but the recovery of a lost memory leads to an unexpected physical recovery.

Session Detail

Entering Renewal Station 5

The party entered Renewal Station 5 and inspected its contents. Around the recovery pod were a pair of steel storage boxes and a glass case containing a decayed opalescent crystal suspended upon a metallic armature. A mound of fine pearl dust had accumulated below the suspended crystal, which appeared distorted and malformed. The walls of the station were made of a smooth, pinkish crystal substance that glowed with internal luminescence. Upon this bare crystalline surface a structure of metal panels and wiring had been added. This later addition to the architecture of the chamber had an improvised appearance and appeared to connect the crystal superstructure to a makeshift computer access terminal. Adelle Mirodar explained the basic functions of electronic computer modules and successfully accessed the machine's database. Everest Bell watched Adelle closely and learned what he could of basic computer use.

Renewal Station 5

"Blood Mark of Brightmoon Detected."

Taking a closer look at the chamber's crystal walls, the party noticed a patch of bare wall unobstructed by makeshift computer panels and wires. This section of faceted crystal was indented with grooves in the shape of a human hand. Jayne placed his hand on the indentation and the station's automaton voice declared it had detected the genetic marker known as the "Blood Mark of Brightmoon." So long as he held his hand against the console, Jayne and his companions felt a strange murmured sensation of sound reverberating in their minds. Rob supposed that the murmurings could be the speech sounds of some unknown language uttering an indecipherable message.

"Can Rob interpret these files?"

Adelle and Everest finished parsing the Renewal Station's interface and found indications of the programmer's identity. The terminal had been constructed by a man known as "Yildun," identified as a member of the Seven Sentinels. He had built the terminal over 400 years ago to communicate with the pump station machine mind and had left a series of data files chronicling the journey of the Seven Sentinels during their own quest to recover the City of the Phoenix. The 400 year-old files were written in an unfamiliar dialect of Precursor English so the party turned to Rob's knowledge of ancient languages in order to decipher the unfamiliar text. According to Rob's readings, the Sentinel Expedition had failed due to their inability to secure the Brightmoon Blood Mark, which, according to Yildun's chronicles, functioned as a kind of key for unlocking the way to the Forbidden City. The party now looked to Jayne, evidently a bearer of the essential genetic marker of the Phoenix Quest, and puzzled at the unseen twists of fate now guiding their collective destiny.

"Oh this helmet looks good..."

Lastly, the party inspected the metal storage cases and found a trove of technological artifacts left behind by the Sentinel Expedition. As they pored over this mini-vault of ancient treasures, the expedition members took stock of all their accumulated gear and began to divide the spoils of their recent exploits. At this time Zen meditated upon the psionic qualities of the weapons and armour taken from the defeated Vril garrison and discovered some notable pieces of equipment to distribute among his comrades. Satisfactorily outfitted, the party resolved to use the Renewal Station to store their surplus supplies and prepare for the next step of their own expedition into the wilds of the Forbidden Zone.

For the party had resolved to push forward on their quest without delay. Leaving the people of Pachuco and their war with the Vril behind them and leaving the final fate of Orphea Chastain and the Deathbringer artifact unknown, the party would not tarry in the Trinity Desert or withdraw back to Farport Outpost. They would instead outfit a captured Vril war canoe and set out upon the Radium River towards Silver Lake.

Moon Vault

In his chronicles, Yildun claimed the Moon Vault was located somewhere in a region called the “Rift Delta.” This delta was also mentioned in the wave reader dispatch the party received back at the Chastain Bunker. The message told of a recovered archaeological site of “Ornish” providence located in the Rift Delta. A review of the Chastains' Eldorado charts could provide insight into the precise location of the vault. Until further research, the Chastain charts yield but one exploration point for this objective.

The party had set its sights upon a new destination: a place identified in Yildun's Chronicles as the "Moon Vault," a sealed Precursor installation that the Sentinel Expedition had failed to access. Adner, the young captive freed from Vril bondage, eagerly petitioned to join the party and follow the expedition. Seeking nothing else than sanctuary in a hostile land, Brother Nestor of the Exploding Eye Temple opted instead to head south for the Farport mooring of the MS Hawke and the safety of a friendly harbour. The party told Nestor to inform Captain Thorpe of their decision to continue the expedition and proceed northwest into the Zone.

"Jayne should hold them off. He's got no memories to lose."

While the party was making plans in the Renewal Station, they heard a deafening explosion sound out from the desert of White Sands. The sight of flares in the sky informed them that the spectacle of the Skyfire emanation was repeating itself. Math speculated that the Thought Eater creatures seen crawling through the Skyfire rift during the previous night were likely still coming through now and would continue to do so as long as the emanation event continued to repeat itself. Math feared that whatever strange ritual the Vril priestess Kalima had performed at the Trinity Shrine was not yet complete and would perhaps eventually unleash a horde of aberrant creatures from realms beyond.

"Is this guy hiding something?"

Shortly after the Skyfire emanation event, a ghostly figure garbed in a purple tunic and grey cloak appeared near the Trinity pump station. He identified himself as "Goland Reveze" and claimed to be a fellow traveler from the year 902 PCE. According to Reveze, the Skyfire event had opened a psychic convergence in the Trinity area and had caused strange extra-planar forces to penetrate the Earth dimension.

Drawn to the event by his own curiosity, Reveze had projected a telepathic link into the convergence and made contact with the party in the future. After exchanging information, the party and Reveze realized they were all searching for the same objective: the lost city of the Phoenix. Offering aid, Reveze indicated the numbers on Marsala's broken timepiece and said the device could be used to create a link with him if activated on an appropriate day in a location of psychic significance or disturbance.

"What's the rush?"

With nearly a full crew compliment, the party loaded up an abandoned Vril war canoe and set off downstream with a strong current at their backs. Edmund piloted the vessel while Jayne organized fishing and foraging for the party. On the fourth day the expedition faced increasingly rough waters and assented to Edmund's suggestion to portage around the rapids and march overland towards a stretch of river closer to Silver Lake.

"*@#$% you, centipede!"

During their portage, the party realized they had entered a territory of sand flats. The rains of the past week had saturated the loose, sandy soil and evidence of sinkholes led the party to remain wary of quicksand. Proceeding with caution the party nonetheless failed to notice they were walking into the domain of a centipede colony of vicious swarms led by a huge great queen centipede.

A vicious battle ensued. Marsala and William demonstrated heretofore unseen fire-based powers, which surely helped against the threat, but the party struggled yet again against relentless waves of pestilent vermin. When the great centipede emerged from the earth, Math and Jayne both nearly succumbed to the monster's mighty blows. The latter warrior in fact fell unconscious after suffering a terrible bite wound that nearly gored clean through his body.

"Except your constitution isn't actually 15."

Jayne, now on the verge of death, witnessed a vivid hallucination while experiencing his apparent death throes. As his body bled out upon the jungle sands, he saw a vision of an isolated wilderness fortress and a reliquary chamber containing a gleaming silver chalice which poured forth an endless stream of red liquid.

In his vision, Jayne imagined himself drinking from the cup and feeling himself revivified by a wellspring of overwhelming spiritual aid and comfort. Having been pushed beyond the apparent limits of his physical endurance, Jayne's body clung to life in the revelation of an untapped well of vitality concealed within his very soul.

The party continued to rally against the foe and, just when the monstrous centipede seemed poised to claim another victim, Everest Bell found a clear shot and let loose a killing crossbow bolt that pierced sidelong through the centipede's head and felled it in a thrashing heap of sand and dust.

After experiencing the healing light of Marsala's life spirit bond, Jayne awoke gasping for survival. As the vision of the silver cup faded from his mind's eye, Jayne nonetheless retained a fragmented memory of the mysterious chalice and the mystical power it had once seeded within him in a forgotten place and time.

Forbidden Zone

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The land of fallen Precursor Empires and home of the the People of the Sun

The Forbidden City of the Phoenix: Chapter V - Aftermath

February 5^th-9^th, 1000 PCE

Player Characters

William Benjamin
Rob
Marsala
Edmund Andrew
Zyatok "Zen" Hangi
Matthaeus "Math" Mannheim
Everest Bell
Jayne

Campaign Info

Party:
Previous Adventure:
Other Adventures:

Missions Completed

• Bypassed the Radium River rapids and falls by portaging across the Radium Sand Flats
• Acquired 3 Discovery Points towards locating the Moon Vault (reading Yildun's Moon Vault chronicle [1], interviewing Adner [1], Chastain exploration charts [1*])
• Jayne recovered more of his memories.

Notable Treasure

• Crystal Shard
• Chemalyzer
• 5 battery discs
• Veemod goggles fitted with a black veemodule
• Medlance
• Ion tape
• Zipstick
• Proxima helmet
• 7 doses of soothe
• Envoy mouthpiece

Character Rewards

• 1000 experience points were awarded to each party member after these sessions (Feb 2^nd and 16^th, 2019).

Characters interacted with

Goland Reveze
Adelle Mirodar
Adner
Brother Nestor

Report Date

19 Feb 2019