WttSS session 40: 'A Generous but Hungry Place'

Session report - Whispers to the Star Singer campaign

Written by Doctor Weather

General Summary

GM note: this session was mostly a two-hour action sequence and fight, and one for which I forgot to take any notes. As such, I'm just going to list out the major choices I can remember for reference only.

Legion attack

The Legion ships at long range stayed where they were, instead sending in an assault lander, designed as a ballistic siege breaker and as a troop delivery mechanism. Their plan was to crash the lander into one of the transport carriers that was hauling water for the caravan, whilst Legionaries in assault exos jumped out and glided down to attack. The attack targets were the Caliban Crow and another transport crawler.
The dangers in play then were the Legion assault on those two crawlers whilst a third crawler was struggling against the attacks of the angered desert itself. Kerman gave a command at the start of the session to get the Xinghur to abandon the three large crawlers under attack: If everyone could unload to the grav-shuttles and dune buggies then at least all the people would be safe.
Murad prevented the water crawler from being hit by throwing a bunch of sandstorm grenades into the swirling angry sand. This spun up the air enough to even divert the incoming assault craft and send it spinning wildly into the sands. The Legionaries still jumped from the craft to begin their assault but that first crawler drove off to safety.
Masruq saved the second transport crawler, that was carrying people and families, by using up one of the party's favours owed by Jihan, the djinn. Things looked a little dicey at one point with Legionaries in the air and the angry sand reaching out tendrils for more targets and Masruq decided to call it: Jihan lifted the crawler up and away, returning it to the Great Caravan that was already safe on the other side of the sand curtain that had split the caravan in two last session.
In terms of transport crawlers that really only left the original kit crawler that Kerman and Murad had come to already. Whilst Murad focused on getting people off it and onto grav-shuttles and dune buggies, Kerman went for the cabin to help the driver, who was starting to have a lot of trouble with the sand itself starting to buck and roll.
Murad had to fend off a few Legionaries but managed to throw everyone to safety. Kerman had a little more trouble, as he swung into the cabin and managed to bring the crawler under control but at the cost of falling from the cabin and into the sands.
Meanwhile, on the Caliban Crow, the rest of crew also had Legion trouble but in two types. Zarzur worked out that the distant gunships were using telemetry data from the downed ship, left in the desert on purpose to send scanning data back out to the following Legion ships. Once she'd established this it was a small matter to have Caliban turn an accelerator cannon on the vulnerable areas of the downed ship and take it out of action.
This resolved, the crew could turn their attention to the second threat: some Legionaries from the assault craft had glided down to the Caliban Crow, breached the hull and starting searching. The party spoke to them on comms and learned that if the Legionaries saw proof that Zarzur was on board they wouldn't risk sabotaging the ship. It'd be a shame to pass up the chance to do the damage but that's the way it was. The party revealed that Zarzur was currently on board and the Legionaries left.
By this time, Kerman found himself in the sands with a final group of Legionaries would also fallen badly when their ship was spinning out of control. Three against one it didn't look good but Kerman fired a spirit ray at the sand and it erupted in a rage, filling the area with Dark-infested sand tornado. Khalil came to Kerman's aid with a remote-controlled grav-bike and some physics: he drove the bike into the spinning air, close enough for Kerman to grab on and on a slingshot path to launch bike and man to safety.
In the moment, the universe gave Kerman a choice. With the fight clearly over, he could choose to use the bike to save the Legionaries from a horrendous death in the Dark sand. He could also choose to leave them to their fate - it was a fair fight and he'd won, after all, they'd attacked civilians. Kerman actually chose to make sure the Legionaries ended up in the centre of the tornado, ensuring their death (3 DP to the GM).
The Great Caravan reformed, the party regathered and the Legion retreated. At the end of the day, all the Legion had managed to do was take out one sand buggy and its occupants. Not good to lose those people but ultimately, a considerably small casualty count. The hungry desert did a little better, having consumed 3 Legionaries and transport crawler full of supplies and kit.

Aftermath and between sessions

Hungry but generous - the Deep Desert's choice

The desert offers the party a choice of a gift. It considers the two choices equivalent. It will not allow prodding and poking; you have to make the choice on face value. Khalil could cannibalise 2 exos into one Murad-exo, with spare parts left over or maybe some form of combat trouser...?
The Great Caravan is driving along sometime after the fight and there's a disturbance in the sands ahead. The suits appear on one side and the cube on the other. If you go near one the other starts to sink back into the sand. If you try to go for both they both start to sink. If you try shenanigans or to get more information by scanning, they both start to sink. The Xinghur know the desert is hungry but generous and you've seen hungry, so this is generous - by the legends, this is a gift. However, it quickly becomes an obvious choice.
You can drive past without taking either, your choice. You can't make it a race as to who's first, as the desert wants a choice, as above. It'd have to be a group decision. The Xinghur don't want a part of any of it, just in case.
Option 1: 3 Legion Combat Exos - ground assault variant

• Advanced tech, Faction tech, licenced (can be confiscated by the Legion and a punishment for unlicensed use given)
• 11 armour
• Advanced exo servos: +2 strength, +1 agility, +2 force (stacks), +6 movement, +1 thrown weapon damage
• High-density armanite: +1 armour (included above)
• Oxygen supply, thermostatic suit, vacuum suit
• Built-in weapon (dura-blade)
• Drop-gliders (allows atmospheric descent like a wingsuit)
• Micro-servos (+1 dexterity for drops and jumping)

Option 2: A cube
About the size of a Rubik's Cube, the object is clearly advanced tech, though seeming First-come rather than the Portal Builder design of the Orb of Ghodar. It appears to have a series of different interfaces across 4 faces and a display on a 5th. The final face is simply flat, as if to be placed on a table. Much of the device is mercurium.

The demon ship

The Great Caravan arrived at the City of Brass mountain range on the 22nd of the Deckhand.
The Demon Ship was due at the site of the destroyed asteroid laboratory on the 19th. If it carried on towards the key-card or its activator it would in theory pass the star of Ghodar on the 21st and reach Ghodar on the 22nd.
With Ghodar Station out of commission, there is no off-world news reaching the planet. There are no obvious events in the night sky to say that anything disastrous has occurred however.
We can play out any investigations in hindsight next session easily enough - or let sleeping dogs lie...

22nd 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

03 Jan 2022

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Contents

• General Summary
• Legion attack
• Aftermath and between sessions