WttSS session 61 - The Final Finale

Session report - Whispers to the Star Singer campaign

Written by Doctor Weather

General Summary

The party's side of the bargain

With a massive 5 Medicurgy successes Masruq returned Zarzur's full brainpower back to her, so she wasn't just repeating the experiment details that the Portal Builder AI had downloaded into her headpiece. As they sorted this, the Legion packed up the Seekers into an assault shuttle. They also prepared two further assault ships and a gunship to head up to the great Portal Builder sphere science station in the sky above the valley. All this was set to the background of the valley still suffering dimensional quakes as it started to shift back into the human world, taking with it the proximity to the Icon power the PCs had been feeling.
The party began to wonder if they could increase the wedge of dissatisfaction growing between the Legion and Nasralleh's leadership. They had suffered so many reversals that there was little willing left to die for his cause. In pursuit of this plan, Zarzur used Caliban Crow's comms to hack through up to the Harir, the Legion destroyer in orbit, now accessible as the valley's defences were starting to fail.
Whilst the party was planning, evidence of Jihan and her people solving the Portal Builder problem came in the quaking of the valley stopping and the monolith across the valley starting to vibrate: small amounts of material covering its surface fell off to reveal an original surface. A light and sound show played across the monolith's various levels and Caliban reported that the chain lightning across the sky of Ghodar had suddenly stopped. Kerman took this as the first of many signs the Icons were with the party.
Zarzur then started her hack. As she did, Kerman observed a further report delivered by Caliban to the bridge screens: shadow beasts coming through the forest, perhaps seeming afraid and running from something… Either way, good demon hunter as he was, Kerman recruited Murad to head out on grav-bikes to tackle them.
They flew out to a group of three shadow beasts coming in the direction of the Caliban Crow, witnessing as they went a reverse lightning strike from the monolith. The energy left the monolith singing a combination of harmonious chords that carried gently through the whole valley seemingly constant and undiminished by distance, playing backdrop to the events of the world around it. Such only seemed to cause the shadow beasts more fear; with Murad lying in wait and Kerman shepherding them into ambush, all three fell with ease to a combination of spirit ray and kharatuk blade.
As Kerman and Murad moved onto another target, Zarzur broke into the Harir databases and discovered the contract between Nasralleh and the Legion. Nasralleh, acting for the Arrca Stellar Archaeology and Weapons Division, was working in partnership with someone called Hera-en-Shamra to find and weaponise Portal Builder technology. The key part of their contract though, was the often-named 'stupidity clause', which allowed the Legion to resist commands to sacrifice their lives if the cause seemed futile and without possibility of success.
By now, Jihan and her people had moved on to fulfilling their side of the contract with the party. Small twinkling lights in three places - near the star of Ghodar, near the Ghir-3 mining platform and near the sphere up above - were evidence of the four sorcerers being altered back to being spirits of the dead for the Lady to collect. (GM note: Niv and his ship fallen to Darkness were also 'cured' in this moment.) The djinn also raised some of the mercurium from the valley up in order to create a body for Zarzur's 'sister', watched by a grateful Kerman, if ignored by a wary Zarzur.
Now knowing of the 'stupidity clause' Zarzur and Khalil sent counterfeit data to the Harir's sensors to convince the Legion that the Portal Builder sphere, palace and monolith were about to explode, taking the whole valley - all the Legion and anything of value there - with them. As they were transmitting the djinn provided some assistance - wittingly or not - and activated the monolith fully in preparation to complete the transition of the valley into their world.
By this time Kerman and Murad had set a trap for another five fleeing shadow beasts and had successfully downed three even. As it looked like the remaining two might even get in a counter attack, Murad and Kerman both swung their weapons but the valley was filled with a white energy clearing all Darkness from Ghodar. The shadow beasts were all destroyed. Unfortunately, the party's power cube was broken too - and Khalil's flute cracked. If nothing before had already, this convinced Kerman that all had the blessing of the Icons.
In the aftermath of such energies released, the Legion turn to leave, regathering their full forces and returning through the portal. Caliban reported that the ship stasis beds had also been repaired and the party followed quickly after the Legion, though Kerman and Murad did make the time to steal the biggest log of mercurium they could safely sling over their grav bikes on the way back to the ship. The mists of the valley chased the party out, hiding the new home of the djinn in a cloud-topped mountain where no explorer should now tread unwisely.
As a final gesture of respect or appreciation, Jihan sent the party back to the Xinghur in the mountains, so they weren't face to face with the Legion. Unhindered by further trouble the Legion took the Seekers back to Juldizin Demalisi. Though Kerman might disapprove, the pacifist Seekers accepted their lot without thought of revenge and went back to helping those less fortunate than themselves.
Zarzur choose to enact one final mindwalk during this time, gratified to see Nasralleh's humiliation as the Legion packaged him up in his room to be transported back to Coriolis in shame and failure. It is entirely possible that she also recorded these moments to her headpiece, just in case they might be needed in the future.
JUMP TO CONTENTS

Contract

Shalla's contract paid out in full to the successful PCs. They had found several places that might make a good humanite colony in the Nekatra Mountains, knowing many places whose waterfalls create breathable atmosphere. Khalil was confident that he could rig up the atmosphere controls and even stealth technology, despite the loss of Ghodar's chain lightning, given a little study too.
The party had earned the enmity of most of the Factions on Ghodar (barring only the Seekers) but crucially had left on excellent terms with the all local powers, Khamzi's colony, the humanites - and even the nekatra.
Of the subsidiaries, the party turned over the broken power cube to the Collective and returned the Portal Builder compass to Dana. The Orb of Ghodar they did not declare, which remains - for better or worse - in the hands of Khalil.
JUMP TO CONTENTS

Epilogues

Masruq
Masruq bin Janhagir returns to Coriolis to deliver to its universities various treatises on the archaeology of Ghodar, as discovered on the party's adventures - primary through professional delight but also to make a public declaration of the truth that would be a challenge to any false narrative Nasralleh might try to put round to cover his failure. After this he returns to Ghodar to help set up the new humanite colony. (GM note: this links nicely into Mercy III that suggests that the nomads have a strong presence in Ghodar; they now will though, transporting humanites from Rimward Reach and in helping Kerman's people - see below.)
Kerman
After seeing Masruq and Khalil safely home to Coriolis, Kerman returns to his people on Lubau to tell the tales of their cousin Xinghur on Ghodar. He then gathers fulfils a promise to those new cousins by gathering storytellers from the Lubau families to travel back to Ghodar in an attempt to reconnect the two peoples. He begins a movement to transfer the Lubau families to a freer life on Ghodar where the two Xinghur groups would be able to mix and the Lubau Xinghur to have their gene unlocked if they wish. Kerman would choose not to change so late in his life and instead focused on educating his new daughter by taking her as co-pilot in his working life back on the transports.
Murad
Murad hunts down Nasralleh, not as an assassin but to learn how the professor came to know enough about the First Horizon kharatuk and Second Horizon technology to bring Murad and Zarzur to life as they are. Such dangerous information seems like it could cause more trouble, which Murad would seek to stop.
Khalil
Khalil teams up with Murad, first taking the Portal Builder sphere containing the kharatuk AI back to them - their location having been revealed by Jihan - hoping to gain an interview with them before moving on to help Murad with Nasralleh.
Zarzur
Zarzur made her peace with Nasralleh's actions as her creator having the recording of his tantrum after his failure to access the Portal Builder valley. Instead of pursuing any further revenge then, she instead approached the Seekers on Ghodar to learn from them, hoping to get her mystic powers under control and practiced as the Seeker Souhaila had promised could be done.
JUMP TO CONTENTS

35th 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

10 Jan 2023

---
Contents

• General Summary
• The party's side of the bargain
• Contract
• Epilogues