Distress Signal, Part 2
General Summary
Stardate 4.1495.2
Realmspace
The spacefarers ventured farther into the strange beetle ship.
Soon they reached the ship's living area on the ship's upper deck. A massive wooden table stood at the center of the room surrounded by eight comfortable chairs sized for small humanoids. A succulent plant with leaves decorated a corner of the room, while rows of books stood on a heavy wooden bookshelf.
A ladder led up to a hatch in the ceiling.
A passageway led towards the front of the ship, and large wooden doors with Gnomish and Common inscriptions led to the back. The words in Common read LABORATORY.
The group encountered three gnomes who were advancing toward them. The gnomes were dead yet moved! Strange mushroom-like fungi grew out of their bodies in various places. One gnome had fungal-like vines creeping out of its mouth and neck. Another had fungus sprouting out of one eye.
Kat'gul, who knew a lot about plants, had heard of fungus infecting small creatures but had never seen or heard of any that could infect larger living beings, much less reanimate them once dead.
The group dealt with the gnomes. N'imoy, at one point, tried to turn them as he would any undead. However, he was not able to. It seemed the animated dead gnomes were not 'undead', and were perhaps serving as some form of hosts for the fungus growing out of their bodies.
After defeating the reanimated gnomes, the group healed up and searched the area.
The bookshelf contained books related to all manners of life: plants, animals, and creatures from various wildspace systems. The books were written mostly in Gnomish, while others were written in different languages.
The passageway led to a chart room where they encountered another reanimated gnome which they quickly dispatched.
In the center of the room stood a large round table made of dark wood. The floor was full of scattered papers and maps, and several maps were pinned to the walls with pieces of annotated papers pinned over them. A Wildspace Orrery, a magical device used by many on spelljammers for navigation, sat in the center of the table. The group concluded that the gnomes were perhaps a group of wildspace explorers and were collecting living specimens from various worlds they traveled to.
A trapdoor was visible near the room's entrance. It led below to the ship's bridge and helm. The front half of the bridge had partially caved in from the ship's impact on the asteroid. The helm was barely visible in the front of the bridge.
A large map was pinned to one of the bridge's walls. The word Falbehklin was written both in Gnomish and Common on the map. The adventurers assumed it was the wildspace system where the gnomes were from.
A female gnome wearing protection goggles and clothes soaked in blood lay dead on the helm. From her wounds, the group deduced she had died when the beetle ship struck the asteroid. Somehow, she avoided becoming infected by the fungus. They assumed it might have been because she was on the bridge. They weren't sure.
The group then examined the goggles but determined it wasn't magical. They also discussed possibly salvaging the ship and taking what they could from the ship seeing as they had not seen any survivors so far.
The spacefarers left the bridge and continued to explore the rest of the ship.
Once back in the living area, Kat'gul noticed something in the air. When he first arrived onboard, he assumed the little dust motes he spotted floating in the air were dust motes. However, he came to a horrific realization that what he thought were dust motes were, in fact, spores!
After mentioning this to the others, everyone began to wonder if they would suffer the same fate the gnomish crew did.
Rewards Granted
Wildspace Orrery
Milestone level
A Wildspace Orrery
Report Date
21 Oct 2022
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