WttSS session 30: 'All We Have to Do Now Is Get Out Alive!'

Session report - Whispers to the Star Singer campaign

Written by Doctor Weather

General Summary

Empowered by the thought that the Icons are with them in their endeavour to destroy everything about this evil facility, the party leaves the sabotaged experimentation room behind them and charges back out into the corridor, back towards containment. Tendrils of Darkness flow across the room's walls and surfaces after them, eager to catch someone and draw them in.

A battle of titans that never was

Tearing down the corridor, Murad, Kerman and Khalil cover the right-hand path from the junction up ahead in fire from their Spirit Rays. A web of incandescent beams, glittering in the light of the party's thermostatic-suit head-torches, almost completely blocks the right-hand way; but a small gap presents itself still as they reach the junction and one of the greater darkbound springs forth, blocking Kerman's run. Khalil, Masruq and Zarzur carry on passed, continuing to containment, leaving the party warriors to face the darkbound.
Kerman stands tall, facing the Dark beast square on. Measuring up well, the two seem equally matched, just one a Dark reflection of the other that stands in the light of Icons: One is bolstered by the twisted energy that seeps from the walls, sourced from the lift shaft and experiment room lost into Darkness; the other bears not only divine power but extra energy from a mania that triggers him to destroy all demons on sight.
But the fight doesn't get a chance to even start. Quicker off the blocks than either combatant, Murad fires his thermal pistols and spirit ray, and the creature is reduced to ooze and smoke before both it and Kerman can make a move.
The other darkbound beyond look on in shock as another of their champions is so easily defeated but the voice of their master encourages them. A new sound comes from experimentation: the roar of a hot desert wind burns into the air and the shadows surge forward. Darkbound and Darkness charge together toward the corridor junction, where Murad and Kerman stand ready.

Freeing the trapped spirits

Now back in containment, Khalil, Masruq and Zarzur signal they're ready for the bombs to go off in the experiment chamber. Kerman pushes the button. The experiment chamber is vaporised.
The facility reacts as best it can but the AI that might have coordinated a plan was deleted by Zarzur and the only option availabe is full lockdown. Walls across Lower-3 and Lower-2 crack but hold, and the building's unbroken doors shut and lock. But these aren't the main defences: Zarzur gets the same dizzy feeling she felt on entering the surrounding valley the first time, suggesting one of the Abouelkassem's energy fields has just gone up.
Though the rest of the party are not aware of either of these defensive measures, all are very aware of the blaring alerts now being broadcast everywhere, showing on every terminal and heard from every speaker; and though they might not understand the langauge, the emergency is clear: containing the danger is a desperate hope; evacuation is necessary.
But before danger can reach Murad, the cry of the of the Darkness comes forth again, echoing down the corridors, though now returned to the guise of a hundred voices all drawing breath at once. Under pressure of the explosion at their heart, the shadows from experimentation recede sharply and even those darkbound still seemingly stooped in a mockery of prayer before the lift shaft look up in despair. Those left in the corridor stall, lost in uncertainty.
In the momentary peace, Khalil passes his spirit ray to Zarzur and then he and Masruq begin opening the spirit mirror crystals that show pure, falling sand. With the odd one, Khalil's knowledge of the Abouelkassem tech allows him to open it perfectly and the trapped spirit within immediately falls onto the path to the next life from which it was stolen centuries before, simply vanishing in a soft, golden light; but with most the spirits fall from the path and become lost and confused in the room.
First an older woman appears. Desperately seeking her lost husband she tears around the room in a frantic search, doomed never to find him. Then comes a frightened young boy. Lost without his mother he simply sits down and bursts into tears. Third, a younger woman, staring into space. More follow, all with two things in common: all are dressed in an older fashion, speaking of a time centuries passed when even the poor had more cloth to adorn their clothes; and all are lost in some form or another, ripped from their lives and failing to remember who they are, or were.

Walking with the Lady of Tears

Kerman is drawn to the spirits' calls, for he remembers their voices from before. The boy indeed, was the one Kerman calmed the first time he was here in containment, promising that they would all soon be rescued. Murad confidently nods to confirm he can hold back a few mere darkbound and Kerman runs to help the disquiet spirits.
Seeing the spirit boy, Kerman calmly approaches and asks the boy's name; it is Jareem. He has become lost from his family. He wants his mother but cannot even find his brothers and sisters. Kerman has long told tales to his grandchildren of lost spirits not strong enough to find their own way onto the path to the next life. Some are rescued, either by seeking the light of the Icons to guide them or by being reminded of their indentity in life. Those that are not rescued fall inevitably into Darkness - a fate Kerman would steer any and all these poor spirits away from if he could.
He asks Jareem to speak of his mother and his brothers and sisters; and Jareem recalls she would always tell him not to go wandering off into the sands but he did, and now he's here, and now he's lost. But as he thinks of her he remembers more and more: other words - kinder words - and her dress and smile. He recalls playing whilst she worked, playing with his siblings; and as he begins to describe their games he becomes less transparent, less ethereal.
At the height of his joy, thinking of his family, he remembers who he is and, just as he would seem to become real, his form takes on a glow of golden sand. He becomes brighter and brighter, his words slowly fading, until he passes over and the golden light fades away.
But now there are more spirits in the room, and most cannot go where Jareem has gone without help, so Kerman begins a story, reaching out with it to draw in the spirits. One by one they come to float, stand or sit before him, as if he was telling a tale to a group gathered round a campfire.
As Khalil begins to fully understand the Abouelkassem technology and Kerman's story begins to take affect, everyone in the room feels a presence: The Lady of Tears stands at their shoulders. Their efforts in helping the spirits move on have called her and now carry the blessing of her approval and gratitude.
Whilst the spirits are being freed, Zarzur notices again the presence of the Foundation and Legion: They are still trying to get in touch with the party, believing them to be a vanguard Foundation science team that must need help, given the explosion. In response to a question of where the party are, Zarzur tells the Foundation that the party is under a different building on the opposite side of the facility and both Foundation and Legion go off to help.
Back out in the corridor, the Darkness and its children begin a second charge in an attempt to dislodge Murad from the junction. The darkbound reach him first, or would have done if most had not fallen to fire from his thermal pistols and Spirit Ray. Of the six charging, five fall, broken or falling across broken brethren; and even the one that makes it fails to counterattack - presumably stunned by the damage taken by its fellows. It collapses in front of Murad, who quickly puts it out of its misery.
As Zarzur comes out to help, only the surging Darkness from experimentation remains a problem. Spreading fire from all their available Spirit Rays they assault the walls, floor and ceiling of the corridor in energy fire and the Darkness's charge is checked - not beaten, it is nonetheless held at bay for a time, time enough for Kerman's story to play out.
Masruq and Khalil have by now moved on to freeing the spirits that had begun to fall into Darkness - those that had not been preserved by Abouelkassem science. With a blessing from Masruq, bolstered by the Lady's presence, the part-fallen spirits are cleansed and so can join Kerman's campfire. As they all settle in, Kerman finishes his story. He speaks of the heroes of his tale remembering themselves and once again walking their true path in life. As his tale ends, the spirits remember their own lives and find their way back to the path they were taken from.
(GM's note: the story idea was great from player Gordon here and I wish I'd done more with it. I asked him how he wanted to end the story but I'd actually split it during play into beginning, middle and end, and also asked if he wanted to extend it with 'side quests' to allow Masruq and Khalil time to move onto the part-fallen crystals. I could therefore, have asked Gordon to give details for each point, not just the ending.
I want to remember this in case a similar opportunity comes up in future Coriolis games. Not all players might want to tell a story but hopefully everyone would be happy to describe what the story would be about.)

But the Darkness is not quite done

As the spirits walk with the Lady to the next world, the party grabs the crystal containing the flame of the djinn Jihan and tears out of the room as fast as they can. More sustained Spirit Ray fire impedes the Darkness further and it decides on a change of tactics, suddenly retreating back into the experimentation room.
Grateful but wary, the party turns at the junction and heads back to the hole in the ceiling they first came through; but though Murad and Kerman easily get there, the other three party members - the mystics - are held fast by a spirit-trapping energy field blocking the corridor. They recongise it from the first time they tried to escape the Abouelkassem complex and got similarly caught. The Darkness has somehow reinstated the spirit barriers.
With the map of the Gambler building in their possession they know that the energy generation room is just up ahead, so Kerman and Murad sprint towards it, beginning to smash against the barred doors. While they work, Khalil tries a quick experiment with a Spirit Ray and one of the Abouelkassem crystals, using it like a prism. He succeeds in creating a prismatic wall effect as the spirit barrier absorbs and refracts the ray's energies within itself. Though this creates a considerably more dangerous wall it does also give everyone a lot more light to work from; but in fact also allows him to manipulate the wall, and he peels off a small section that would allow Zarzur to crawl safely through.
Further down the corridor, Kerman breaks through the door to the energy generators with Murad covering him; but nothing leaps out. Rather, the room is covered in a deeper Darkness that even the prismatic wall cannot illuminate. The Darkness dares the characters to enter. They decline, and throw in more explosives. A controlled explosion takes out the generators to the Darkness's disapproval and the spirit barrier drops. The party escapes back up to Lower-2.

Tidy up

On Lower-2 the party makes a choice. The Foundation and Legion have worked out that the party aren't where they said they were and have come back to the Gambler building to invesitage. The building's doors are still closed but Legion combat-exos are making short work of the blockages, so the party has a choice.
Most of the party can be setting explosives around Lower-2 to complete the mission whilst two take a look round. Though the computer data has been deleted, there remains the experiment kit for each of the Abouelkassem's projects: There is time to steal material from one project, but which one? They choose that of the project for the spirit and terraforming energy fields.

Any other business?

Charges set, the party flees the building. Jihan even does them a favour: Still somewhat in conrtol of the building she opens one of the windows at the back, allowing the party to sneak out without the Foundation and Legion seeing. She wants to be taken to that 'more interesting place' of course.
But, as the party escapes, the djinn also accesses Masruq's video calls and sends him a video message from himself to himself, if he'd like to watch it... He does and sees the Legion breaking into the front of the building the party has just left. One of the two Legionaries is only helping with fire from one arm's weapons, as in the other hand she is toying with an Al Sharaf scimitar that she has found. It seems that no-one in the Foundation or Legion team knows that they have found a long-lost Jangahir blade, a priceless treasure sacred to the jangahir families such as that to which Masruq belongs.

8th day of the Deckhand
Campaign: Contract: Whispers to the Star Singer
Characters: PC group: Whispers to the Star Singer
Timeline: Campaign timeline: Whispers to the Star Singer

Campaign

Whispers to the Star Singer (concluded)

Protagonists

Report Date

14 Jul 2021