Session 16: Voyage to Paraxis Report

General Summary

Previously

After abandoning their exploration of the wreck of the Vlerryn after another interdimensional intrusion from a Runestorm, the Surprise continues its course in-system, heading towards Paraxis (the planet with the energy anomaly). After that, they plan to swing around the sun to investigate the Chandos (the missing world from Realmspace), and then catching up with the Hive as it slowly makes its way towards the outer system. En route to Paraxis (the journey will take a couple of weeks), the party plans to explore various options:

Jessa will explore the shuttlecraft (now strapped to the outside of the Surprise), trying to figure out more of its systems, especially if it has any sensors that could be useful.
Zayre will try to set up link to the ghost ship Resolution, to share what they found on the Vlerryn.
Windy will commune with Spider Buddy
Hunter will tinker with the various items they found (the hollow tube with a trigger, the suction cup gloves, and the bodysuits.

Session Summary

En route to Paraxis

During the voyage, while Prax has the Conn, Thut (the apparent leader of the Syllix) asks to meet with him. He (It?) is looking tired, thinner than he’s looked recently (in fact, all the Syllix have put on a fair amount of weight in the 2 months they've been aboard the ship). He comes with joyous news--he, Yaxl and Qarlot have all given birth to small litters, and the rest are due soon. They are converting their shared quarters into a nursery, and at least one of their number will need to watch the young. He reassures Prax that, though it will take their spawn 3 years to mature completely, they can probably be useful to help around the ship in as little as a year. Prax calls a meeting of the owners to discuss this concerning development. They debate returning the Syllix to Longpoint in Greatspace (where they were apparently taken by the Neogi), leaving them on Paraxis and other options. While this meeting is in progress, Ralgir (the former wolf), who has become the ship's bosun almost by default, asks to talk to the group. He, in his low key, offhand, diffident way, alerts the owners that the ship and crew need tending:

The air quality is stale, which is hampering the crew
The crew is restless. They've been on the ship for just over 3 months at this point. They are getting a bit sloppy and argumentative, fatigued and grouchy. There have been a few scuffles, but nothing too serious yet.
They really need to refresh the air (and air it out), and get some shore leave.
The "hiccups" on the helm seem to be getting more frequent as we head farther in system, and the lack of power lasts a bit longer. That is spooking the crew as well.

The group debates their options in-system, but ultimately decides to head on to Paraxis--while BN designates himself Chief Morale Officer, and draws on his secret stash of beer to keep the crew spirit's up. Ralgir is also concerned that the goblins may snack on the Syllix spawn.

As the voyage continues, Hunter (with some advice from Jessa and Windy) tinkers with the gadgets from the Vlerryn (the hollow tube with a trigger, the suction cup gloves, and the bodysuits).

The hollow tube seems to be some sort of freeze/ice ray (though the details are unclear, since Hunter is reluctant to fire it aboard the ship)
The suits seem to be environmental suits, that stretch to accommodate the wearer. Hunter tests them out with his fellow Kzinti.

The glove appear to allow the wearer to climb any surface, even horizontal ones, once a day for twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, Windy continues to commune with Spider Buddy. Examination of spider buddy (with some of Jessa's help) shows an unusual similarity in certain designs with Windy, though the underlying power source is probably very different. Their best guess is that these creatures (or something similar) were the original inspiration for the Lost Ones (that Keriacus told you the rumors of) to create the original clockwork spider (which in turn may have been the inspiration for clockwork men like Windy, and which is reputed to have destroyed the civilization of the Lost Ones). While the relationship is unclear, Spider Buddy seems to have adopted Windy (as a partner? pet? owner? It's unclear). During this conversation, Spider Buddy spears one of the wandering Syllix spawn, to the surprise of Windy and Jessa. Meanwhile, Jessa continues to explore the shuttlecraft (now strapped to the outside of the Surprise), trying to figure out more of its systems, especially if it has any sensors that could be useful.

The controls are relatively easy to understand (as if they were meant to be interpretable)
Jessa is able to get a general idea of the state of the ship, and realizes she was lucky to get it to lift off in the cargo bay. That short trip blew out some power couplings, and she will need some parts (from the Vlerryn or somewhere else) to repair the ship. The ship (if repaired) seems to have enough power to travel locally, but is definitely not an interstellar ship.
She manages to activate the sensors, and sees that the Runestorms show up as areas of static on the plot. There are also voids where the display blots outs entirely, and Zayer is able to confirm that some of these correspond to areas where the helm suffered the odd hiccups, as the ship skirted the edge of these strange areas.
Jessa shares the information with the rest of the crew, and the Surprise is careful to skirt these dark areas, which seem to get more common as the ship heads in-system.
Jessa also recovers some tools and flashlights from the ship, along with some severely decayed foodstuff.

Meanwhile, Zayer continues to try to magically contact Capt. Gregory Mathis, of the Paraxin Naval Ship Resolution. About halfway through the voyage, he is successful. The Resolution appears again (as before). Captain Mathis greets the ship, and appears to have no memory of previous discussion. With some persuasion, the Captain seems to start and then regain his memory. He continues, bringing in his spellengineer Scotty (I canna change the laws of technomagic, Captain!). He tells the crew that they have been working on the problem. He relates the theory that because they were just re-entering normal space when the Incident occurred, they were thrown into hyperspace, and stuck there for centuries. However, both their memories and the ships records are unclear, and (apparently) subject to change. Their sensors indicate that the spatial boundaries are disrupted around the site of the capital of Paraxis (Agadon). They believe the Incident ripped a hole in space, as well as disrupting the balance between magic and science (and caused the variability and uncertainty in both paradigms here). They presume it either destroyed Agadon, or threw into another realm, and that this is the source of the extraplanar Runestorms. (And, apparently our records say we've reached this conclusion before, and tried to approach Agadon, and then we apparently fail, forget and repeat the cycle). Captain Mathis asks the party to try to close the spatial rupture, and to save Agadon if it still exists. That will hopefully end the Runestorms, and perhaps return the Resolution to this world (or end our vigil). Zayer askes the Captain if there is some way to maintain reliable contact, and the Captain agrees to put his spellengineers on it--while emphasizing that their memories, and perhaps their souls, are compromised. He also says, in response to questions, that they cannot detect the dark areas that the shuttle's systems do.

Arrival at Paraxis

Approaching the planet, the party notices that (for some reason), the relatively large moon of the planet didn't show up on their planetary locator. Oddly, the moon has a green band about its equator that appears to be an artificial structure. The party (reluctantly) decides not to investigate yet, and heads to the planet. The planet of Paraxis appears to be a relatively standard blue-green inhabited world, except for the hurricane-sized runestorm (a runicane) which dominates one continent. After a couple of orbits, in which they spot a variety of settlements visible on the night side, with a mix of natural (fire-based) and "magical" lights, the group decides to investigate a settlement with natural lights on the same continent as the runicane, but not *too* close to the storm. Approaching at local dawn, they find a rough, walled town that they hover above. When the inhabitants spot them and ring a bell in alarm, the party debates going elsewhere, but ultimately decide to land outside the town. The inhabitants seem to consist of metal men, mobile plants, humans, and animal men. BN Sue stays with the crew, to organize a luau and bonfire for the crew to help them blow off steam. He organizes the crew to hunt the local pig-analog to roast, and attempts to guide the crew to a productive party that will not completely incapacitate for the next day. Prax, Zayer, Windy, Hunter and Jessa head into town (illuminated by the rising sun, doing the slow motion, Right Stuff walk). They are greeted by a trio of town leaders atop the wall (a human wearing furs with distorted features, a cranky metal man and a mobile plant that communicates via quivers, which fascinates Zayer). After some parley, the human tells them that if they come in peace and have items to trade, they are welcome at the Freehold of Grantz. The town itself seems to be an odd combination of rudimentary building materials and scavenged, more high tech parts. The group enters, and spends the day in various way:

Zayer goes in search of a library, scholar or historian to learn what he can about The Incident, and more recent history.
Prax wants to explore what trade opportunities are available. What materials do they have, what strange collections of things exist. He also wants to understand how the town runs, what the party can spare that the town might value.
Jessa wants to see whether there is a salvage yard, and where the high tech remnants come from. She seeks out mechanics or engineers to talk about technology, and to try to determine what the source of the strange tech is.
Hunter goes to talk to some of the animal people, specifically the felines. He wants to know if they have anything in common, if they know any history, and where they came from. Also, why is the town walled? Is it dangerous here?
Windy seeks to talk to the cranky metal man. Are there others like him? He want to get some history. When was the last time you had visitors? How long has this village been there? Do the groups all live together, or separate. If separate, would he take Windy to talk to the other metal men? Also, Windy seeks to give the metal man something of value (a tool kits, etc.), as a sign a good will.

Campaign

Vagabonds of Greatspace

Protagonists