Session 30: On to the Hive! Report

General Summary

Previously

After successfully triggering the planar stabilization device at the Clock Tower (with lots of help from others, including Lady Umbriel), the party finds itself before a grateful Zurvon and Umbriel. Zurvan addresses the party, thanks them, and says "You have earned the right and the responsibility, and must now make the choice that was suspended a millennium ago. You have the choice to tip the knife edge to magic or science, and weigh your choice carefully, for it shall...". Multiple people in the party immediately interrupt Zurvan's exposition in succession, choosing "Balance", and saying that it served this world well for centuries, and it should again. Zurvan, mildy miffed at the interruption but in a generous mood under the circumstances, and clearly surprised by both the speed and the nature of the party's choice, asks them if they are sure. (Umbriel, meanwhile, seems quite pleased by the party's choice.) The party speaks with (surprising) unanimity, and confirms their choice. Zurvon says, "So be it." After explaining the true nature of the Phlogiston (See Cosmology of the Spelljammer setting ) and how it relates to Runespace's history, and telling the party where a cache of treasure can be found to reward the more mercenary among them, Zurvon sends them on their way. The party awakes to find itself inside the shuttle, where it landed just outside the Runestorm. In the distance, they can see that the great runestorm is clearing, and the spires of Agaddon/Scatterpoint are visible (though there may be a few less spires than before). The party decides to quickly leave before any of the millions of inhabitants find them (or worse, the Talus or Baba Yaga). They fly back towards Grantz, and make a quick stop to find the cache of treasures that Zurvon told them about. Their current intent is to collect their ship and crew and leave ASAP, and then continue their flight to investigate the planet Chandos (which went missing from Realmspace). After that, they will decide whether to pursue the Hive, and their next steps. It's been about 22 days since the party left Grantz to save Agaddon (and 35 days, since the party first arrived at Paraxis, eating up most of the buffer their unusually quick trip through the Phlogiston gave them. They only have a few days to spare at this point if they want to be sure to catch the Hive, though they could have longer depending on how far past the orbit of the outermost planet the Hive travels before it jumps into the Phlogiston.)

Session Notes

The party follows the information given by Zurvon, and collects the treasure cache without incident. (DM note: Since we are not tracking money, I am treating this treasure as a purely narrative device. There is enough gold, gems, etc. there to make the overall trip to Runespace lucrative for the party and its crew. Feel free to reference this treasure later, and incorporate it into you character's narrative. E.g., equipment and devices for Jessa to tinker with, or for Windy to use as part of a future advance).

Grantz and the Surprise

Returning to Grantz (after 22 days), the party is pleased to see the Surprise is still there, but not pleased to see the utter lack of discipline, any sign of anyone on watch, etc. Ralgir does spot the shuttle landing, and manages to muster a meager group to greet the party, including Zreestram the goblin shaman.

Zayer tells Zreestram that he has all sort of weird priest stuff to share with him
The party learns that the Syllix left a day or two after the party did, and that half the goblins (apparently inspired by Zreestram rebuilding the shrine to the goblin deity Khurgorbaeyag) wanted to take the ship back over. Fortunately, the party has treated them well, so Zreestram was able to convince the agitators to simply leave.
Jessa feels this is a problem that will solve itself. They introduced a species that might overrun the planet (the Syllix) and a predator (the goblins). It will all work out! (The rest of the party is not nearly as confident of that, but no one seems interested in trying to track down the syllix. Or to investigate what happened to the Electric Monk, after the party accidently introduced the Mozck virus there).
Rylan runs out to greet the party, when word spreads about the shuttle returning, will tell party that there were earthquakes, and half his items stopped working, and some others (that he thought were completely drained) started working. What happened?
The party tells him a short but accurate version of the truth: Agaddon is back, it is a chaotic steampunk mess after 1000 years of isolation and inhabited by ~20 million people, and the entire magical balance of this planet will probably change. And the party is leaving.
Rylan asks the party to take him with them, and they agree. Jessa (reluctantly) agrees to train Rylan in her study of Weird Science!
BN Sue forcefully gets the crew from the town and back on the ship, with some help from Zayer and Prax, and they make sure the ship is fully provisioned.

In town, the council wants to know what happened, and Zayer and Windellian walk them through the full story. Fortunately, they are able to convince the council that while this is a frightening change, this is a great opportunity for this world to rebuild and move forward. Zayer also visits the Temple of the Four, where Redbeard the priest is overwhelmed ("Ooooohh!") by the party's success. Zayer advises Redbeard to "tone down the crazy prophet thing" to improve the chances of the townspeople visiting the temple--but is not optimistic the priest will listen. The entire town turns out to send the Surprise on its way, and the ship lifts off to the cheers of the townspeople.

Quick Recap on Crew Status

Crew had consisted of

The 7 party members
The 4 original (former animal) crew (Ralgir, Skraal, Gulug, and Baragor)
Lenny
14 (now 12) crewmen that stayed on when they left Port Shurius. 10 humans, plus 2 Kzinti. One of the Kzinti, Vantale, has been studying with Windellian, and shares the helm duties. (A couple of kzin were killed by Hobart the beholder, shortly after the party arrived in Runespace)
14 goblins (now 6), including the shaman Zreestram, who shares helm duties. (8 goblins left the ship while the party was gone)
6 syllix were rescued from the damaged neogi mindspider, and later produced a couple of dozen offspring, some of which were eaten by goblins. All the syllix have left the ship.
Rylan has joined the crew

This still leaves 24 crew, plus the party, which is enough to fly and man the weapons, with some to spare.

Voyage to the Hive

The party decides to take the shuttle along (especially since Rylan can do wonders with the food replicator), strapping it the ship's hull. Jessa decides to take the runestones from Scatterpoint along (after doing some investigation to make sure they are still stable). She plans to continue researching them--and the Reality Comb. The party is relieved and excited to be returning to space, and traveling on to a new location.

Checking their location, the party debates options. While it is tempting to check out the innermost planet and Chandos on the way, the party decides to head directly to the Hive. They are concerned that any side trips might result in a delay, causing them to lose their chance to reach the Hive. The party intends to return and investigate Chandos after the Hive.

A Visit from Lady Umbriel

As the ship clears the atmosphere, but before it jumps to SJ speed, the stars seem to swirl, and take the shape of a woman ahead of them

Lady Umbriel appears to party, thanks them. (Zayer is quite excited to recognize her as an aspect of Nuut)
She ways she was still recovering in their last conversation, but wanted to thank them for so strongly advocating for a balance of science and magic. That was her goal before the incident, and she did what she could in her diminished state, trapped in Scatterpoint. She and her husband disagree on this at times, and if not for the party's resolute stance, Zurvon would have pushed them to choose one way or the other
She wanted to thank them personally. She knows Zurvon has already rewarded them, but she fears Windy, perhaps caught up in the moment, did not have the chance to ask his desire. Zurvon had promised, when he first set you on this mission, to tell you more about your origins
Addressing Windy, she says that she knows he has learned much, but it is strange and disconnected (as she says this, visions of what Windy has learned about his past are displayed for all to see):

Windy Flashbacks

Windy has vague memories of traveling with his former master aboard a ship, and of some sort of attack while in the Phlogiston, which resulted in the death of your master, and your ending up going overboard (either in an attempt to escape, or accidentally). You floated in the phlogiston for days or weeks, until you were picked up by a passing ship. That ship was headed to Greatspace, which is how you ended up on Port Shurius.
When they first fought the goblins on this ship, they seemed intent on capturing Windy for a reward
Later, questioning the captured Bonebreaker, he said General Gorgash (who captains the Scro Mantis, and commands the forces here in Greatspace overall) told the crews that "some crazy priests" have put out a bounty for the capture of "a clockwork man", undamaged, and that Gorgash would reward the ship that found him. When pressed, he says that he heard that the priests think that "only the gods can create life, and this creature is a blasphemy".
When Windy and Zayre later question the goblin shaman Zreestram about it, he says that he thinks one of the priests was a follower of Ptah. This seems strange, since Ptah is the god of travelers and artisans, and revered across the spheres. Why would a priest of Ptah call Windy a blasphemy, and put a bounty out for him?
Then after returning to Port Shurius (SS #9), party was attacked by radiant draconians, who claimed that Windy was a "gift for their mistress".
This battle (with the radiant draconians) also triggers a memory for Windy Clockitude, in which he remembers being aboard a ship with his former master, and his master saying, "I will be sorry to part ways with you, but you are intended as a gift."
The party later learned from Keriacus that in addition to Blacklight, there was a radiant dragon here in Greatspace that was active for centuries, by the name of Grizella (though sailors called her The Magpie because of her attraction to shiny treasures, though never in her hearing), but she has not been seen for over two hundred years. The party asks how long Blacklight has been active in Pirtelspace, wondering whether Blacklight and Magpie are one and the same. Keriacus says he doesn't think that is the case, but it is an interesting speculation.
Keriacus later tells you about a possible connection with the Clockwork horrors, based on similarities in drawings. Keriacus theorizes that perhaps some artificer captured one of these metallic arachnid horrors, reverse engineered its secrets, and used them to build a clockwork man. But, that is just a theory...
Also learn that the temple of Ptah on Port Shurius was closed and abandoned recently
Later (after encountering spider buddy aboard the Vlerryn, and before spider buddy potentially infected the Electric Monk with the Mozck virus) examination of spider buddy (perhaps with Jessa's help) does show an unusual similarity in certain designs with Windy, though the underlying power source is probably very different. Best guess? That these creatures (or something similar) were the original inspiration for the Lost Ones (that Keriacus told you the rumors of) to create the clockwork spider (which in turn may have been the inspiration for clockwork men like Windy).
Then, Windy learned that there were clockwork beings in existence in Paraxis pre-Incident, most of which didn't survive (well) the transition and thousand years since. However, various people (especially Lassiter and the other Ferren you first met, Brocard Goodchild) seemed fascinated by Windy.

Lady Umbriel's Information

We know that those supposed priests of Ptah that the goblins saw are fallen priests of Ptah, who left Port Shurius and are under the sway apparently of some other god, since that is hidden from us.
Grizella (Magpie), the radiant dragon, still lives in Greatspace, her lair hidden somewhere in the Aegis asteroids. Grizella desires you as a unique piece of art, and through her agents (such as the draconians) is seeking to claim you. However, we do not know whether Grizella's agents were behind the the attack on your master's ship, since that happened in the Phlogiston, far from our eyes
Zurvon believes that you are unique construction, drawing on gnomish technology, designs and parts salvaged from Clockwork horrors and likely other sources as well. You appear to even have some elements of Modrons (immortal half machine, half living embodiments of order from the plane of Mechanus)--and for this reason, you are considered intriguing, valuable and/or a hateful abominations, perhaps by multiple factions.
However, we do know that your master was on his way to Fairiespace, to the capital city of Armon, to visit a temple there in which the Raczmar gnomes worship and dedicate their craft to Brigh (BRY) the Clockwork goddess. Much of who your master was, and why he was traveling there is clouded (probably because it involves the goddess Brigh), but this much we have been able to determine.
If you wish to learn more about your origins and purpose, I would suggest you visit that temple in Fairiespace.

The trip out system will take just under a month, and the voyage is mostly uneventful:

BN Sue (as a drill sergeant) and Prax (as an officer) run the crew through drills, using the time to rebuild the necessary discipline after being planetside for a month.
The runestorms and null voids the party detected earlier are still present, but seem smaller and fewer in number.
BN Sue has decided to learn to read, and Windellian is happy to help, while BN Sue also helps Windellian improve his fighting skills. (Look for BN and the Bird, Tuesday at 9).
Zayer tells Zreestram all about talking to gods, and starts writing a book about what he has learned about the Phlogiston.
A few days into the journey, the ghostly form of the Resolution appears, once again paralleling their course. Zayer speaks with Capt. Gregory Mathis, who appears to remember the party this time. He says that the ship's sensors detected the return of Agaddon, and he thanks the party. After a final salute from the officers on the bridge, the Resolution slowly fades away, into grateful oblivion.
Zayer and Windy, both magical creatures, feel stronger and more grounded, as the very fabric of Runespace feels a bit friendlier to them.
Jessa focuses her now bolstered artificer skills on improving the weapons on the ship, while beginning to mentor Rylan, and providing him similar devices to what she provided Prax and BN Sue.

Eventually, the ship reaches the outer system. Carefully reviewing the materials that they had recovered from Hobart's secret lab on the Skyrunner, the party is able to find the rogue asteroid after a day or so of searching.

Entering the Hive

En route, the party reviewed what they know about the Hive, from studying the notes found in Hobart's secret lab (all the way back in Session 2):

Hobart's destination was some kind of rogue, wandering asteroid that has been sighted in many different spheres over a period of several hundred years. The rock is referred to as "the Hive" in most of the texts that mention it.
The Hive is something of a legend among the beholders. It was apparently a weapon build centuries ago in a distant sphere by a beholder tribe called the Sazuar, as a weapon to use against their enemies (especially other beholder tribes)
The Hive is home to some kind of creature or construct called the Ravager that leaves its lair to destroy inhabited worlds.
The Hive also contains devices called "Queen's Eyes" that give their wielder great power. (From the notes that Hobart has left, it seems obvious that he is after the Queen's Eyes.)
Among the papers is a scroll with a rough sketch of the Hive that shows a crack in its surface marked with an X, that appears to be some sort of “back door" that Hobart was planning to use to enter the Hive.
As best as can be deciphered from the map, the Hive appears to wander through the phlogiston, into spheres, and back out. You found charts to indicate how to reach the current, unnamed sphere the asteroid is in (which turned out to be Runespace), and a detailed projection of its position and trajectory within the sphere.
The party decided (months ago) to investigate the Hive, both as a source of treasure, and as a potential threat to inhabited worlds.

Once they find the asteroid, after a day or so of searching, they see that it is a rocky sphere as big as a mountain, drifting through the darkness, slowly spinning end over end. The ship slowly approaches, and Jessa uses Farsight to study the rock. Something comes into view over the top of the asteroid. It's a huge dome, a hemisphere of brass or metal of some kind—and over a mile across! Slowly, the dome comes around to face you, like a mammoth, unblinking eye--before the rock continues to tumble. Jessa also spots what appears to be a crashed ship on the surface, and alerts the rest of the party that someone may have beaten them here. Finally, Jessa spots the canyon that corresponds to the marked "back door" on Hobart's map. Instead, the canyon narrows to a tunnel--still wide enough to easily pilot the ship through, but dark and foreboding. The ship shortly reaches a huge set of double doors set in a circular frame. The doors are nearly 200 feet in diameter! Crafted of black basalt, they are carved with rows of runes. The doors also bear a high-relief carving of a single eye surrounded by ten smaller ones. As the party debates what to do, the ship slowly approaches the doors, which suddenly start to open with an ominous rumbling sound. Beyond, the dark tunnel continues, and the ship proceeds. The rugged black tunnel, wide enough to accommodate the ship, winds inward through darkness, and the ship proceeds slowly, deep into the asteroid. After over an hour of slowly making their way through the tunnel, the ship reaches a cavernous antechamber. The chamber appears to have once been a natural cavern, that was enlarged. Nearly 300 feet across, this cavern is lined with stalagmites and stalactites as large as temple columns. Free-floating globes of continual light illuminate the entire room. Navigating around the rock formations, the ship finds that at the far end of the room is another door, identical to the entrance, but cast in bronze. On the door is a message (written in runic letters, but in the common tongue):

If you are reading this message, that which we feared has come to pass. For reasons of our own, we created a powerful weapon for the Sazaur nation. From the onset, we feared it would grow beyond even our control. We devised a way to neutralize the project, but we will not do this ourselves. That is not the way of the Arcane. You cannot have bypassed our defenses if you are of the Eye Tyrants. Therefore, you are their enemies . . . or should be. Know this, then: The weapon we have created, the Ravager, depends on the energies of the Queen's Eyes. The ten lesser eyes dwell each in their own domains within this Hive. The greater eye sees all, but none can reach it. Go forth into the complex we created. Locate and destroy the ten lesser eyes. Only this can end the menace of the Ravager. We have admitted you. For the brave, this is enough. There is nothing for you here. Go forward.

The party interprets this as 1) the Arcane built the Hive for the Sazaur beholders, 2) they feared the weapon would get out of control, and placed this secret entrance here to allow non-beholders to enter to stop it if needed. Once again, the doors open slowly as the ship approaches. The great doors open to reveal a vast expanse. As you move forward, your vessel pivots forward 90 degrees, so it rises through the frame that surrounds it parallel to the surface beyond.Before your eyes, the doorway fades out of existence, giving way to lush green vegetation. Although you expected another room, it seems you have entered another world. You see a forest and a range of rolling hills. But at the horizon, the sky is the same color green as the hills. And there are lines rising in the sky, and— —And then you realize you're looking at a wall. It's miles away, miles tall and wide, and covered with forests. And there are others like it all around you. You're in the biggest room you've ever seen, bigger than you can comprehend. Looking up, the first thing you see is a huge crystal, hovering in the sky, as bright as the sun. Above this, where you might have expected to see blue skies, you see yet another green wall. This is a cube of titanic proportions, miles on a side, with the crystal at its center.

Campaign

Vagabonds of Greatspace

Protagonists