Session Three: Hollow Rock
General Summary
Dr. Benjamin Willard has been tending to Lt. Idimon who is in a coma from being knocked across the lab by the possessed robot #5. When the Argus transitioned out of Fold-space into real space at Hollow Rock, Lt Idimon took a turn for the worse. Dr. Willard has been attempting to stabilize the lieutenant. So, he is not present for the following events herein. Upon reaching Hollow Rock, Captain Ruck Harriman takes the shuttle over to the space elevator. He heads down to discuss with Marshal Sym Elder about leaving Nero, Gaius, Otho, and Thrax on the planet when the Argus left. The XO of the Argus (Cmdr. Hadar Akator) allowed for limited shore leave, giving the crew a chance to stretch their legs. Zed Steele, Ty Cobb, Lazarus AO, and Sly Mirage take the opportunity to go down to the underground community. Dr. Gulla stays aboard to further examine the head of synthetic #5, and the precursor tech infecting it. After arriving at Hollow Rock, Zed goes to the Marshal's office to learn what they know of Red Hounds activities. The man he talks with seems suspiciously uncomfortable with the topic. Sly Mirage, upon seeing the Burrow Boars being walked down the street by their handlers, decides he needs one. He heads to the Mayor's office to see about getting one. He talks to a young man who is the mayors secretary, and is asked to wait for the mayor to arrive. Ty Cobb, who accompanied Zed to the Marshal's office, is approached by a young woman who introduces herself as Bekka Huvre. She asks him if the Argus, a Coalition ship, saw her brother's ship, the Lodestar, on their way to Hollow Rock. Her brother, Louin, always sent her a message every day, and she hasn't heard from him in about two weeks, and his last message said that they were about to investigate a distress beacon. Ty realized that the Lodestar's disappearance might have something to do with the pirates they encountered nearly two weeks ago. He doesn't mention this suspicion to Bekka, and promises to investigate the issue. Lazarus goes to the local watering hole, the Three Nails Bar. He gets a drink and begins recounting his recent exploits as a robot fighter. He draws a small crowd of Conerites who really enjoy his tales of robot destruction. Ty Cobb follows Lazarus into the bar, and uses Lazarus' story time as cover for his own computer hacking. Back on the Argus, Dr. Gulla examines the robot head. Two marines stand by ready to protect the ship if the head acts up again. After repairing the vocal transmitter of the head, he tries asking the object what it wants. It responds with two words; "not home." And then; "home." The doctor then asks where it is from, and a loud squelch of sound floods out of the speaker, breaking it. When Dr. Gulla examines the recording of his session, he is thrilled to discover, with the aid of Lt. Taman Shud, that the outburst from the head is some form of spatial directions. Captain Harriman and Marshal Elder have come to a tentative agreement on the disposition of the four individuals the captain is trying to unload here. The marshal says that the final decision has to be made by the mayor. He escorts the captain across the street to confer with the mayor. Meanwhile, Sly Mirage finally gets his meeting with the mayor. Mayor Bryn Willis is quickly overwhelmed by Sly's gift of chattery. They are just about to finalize a trade of piglets for problem solving, when Captain Harriman and Marshal Elder are shown into the mayor's office by the secretary. While conversing about the mayor's problems with disappearing boars in the lower tunnels, the conversation turns to the Red Hound pirates. The mayor and the marshal share an uncomfortably look, and Ruck and Sly notice that exchange. Captain Harriman calls them out on it, and convinces them to come clean. They do. They tell of the pirates showing up and demanding landing rights. And of the Ahzuuri being brought in by the pirates. And of the cargo ship, Lodestar's disappearance, and the disaster it's loss will mean to the community. And something in the lower caverns is stealing burrow boars about every ten days. The Captain says they will help, and heads back to the space elevator to return to the ship for a conference with his senior staff. Having finished hacking the local network, Mr. Cobb starts a fight with Lazarus to make sure no one thinks they are together. Captain Harriman, Chief Mirage, and Cmdr. Steele are heading back to the space elevator to return to the Argus. As they are passing the Three Nails Bar, Ty and Lazarus crash through the front window and out into the street, punching each other wildly. Captain Harriman signals for Zed Steele to not interfere. Ruck wanted to see where this would go. And as he suspected, Cmdr. AO soundly beat Mr. Cobb. The Captain ordered them onto their feet and onto the space elevator. The five of them rode the elevator up into space in complete silence. A muzak version of one of Jonas Peacock's earlier hits playing quietly on continuous loop as they went. Once back aboard the Argus, the captain and his senior staff discussed the days events, and set a course of action. First back to the planet to deal with the problem in the lower caves, so they could leave their unwanted passengers behind, and acquire the chief engineer's new pets. A few hours later, we find Captain Harriman, Zed Steele, Lazarus AO, Sly Mirage, Ty Cobb, and Dr. Ming Gulla deep underground. They are about to enter the section where the boars had disappeared. And to make maters worse, one of the townsfolk had disappeared in the time it took to return to the ship and come back. So add "attempt to rescue Joseph Boerson" to the list of tasks. Very large serpents (as big as a horse, and as long as a giraffe), with shimmering scales that are hard for the eye to focus on, and poisonous fangs, attack the team. Sly distracts one of the shadowy serpents while the rest of the team dispatches the others. Joseph Boerson is found being snacked on by juvenile serpents (still as big as a man). They are killed. Captain Harriman performs first aid on Mr. Boerson, saving his life. The Captain returns the man to the town, while the crew clean up the site, skinning the serpent corpses and making sure there were no other surprises. When the captain returned, they set out further into the tunnels to see what the pirates and the Ahzuuri were up to down here. They found a large chamber which once held a precursor device. It was disassembled and removed through a flimsy looking airlock further up another tunnel. The techno-moss is thick on the walls of this chamber. Examining the detritus of the pirates determines that they left some time ago. For those with the skills to notice such things, it looks like the devices in this chamber coalesced the planet around itself as protection, not unlike a pearl. This happened, perhaps, millions of years ago. The device itself, as described by the chief engineer, seems to rip a hole into Fold-space, when fully powered. The team returns to the town, get's their piglets, and leaves behind their unwanted passengers. Tune in next week. .... In a soundproof, airtight room, contained in a faraday cage, a robotic head with glowing green eyes, speaks through a damaged speaker. "... door ... gone ... gone ... door ..." And then is silent.
Rewards Granted
2xp Dr. Gulla progressed his Character Arc (CA) of Uncover a Secret about the precursor tech infecting the head of the destroyed robot #5. (2xp) Chief Sly Mirage progressed his CA of Growth by putting himself in harms way to protect his team. (2xp) Cmdr. Zed Steele progressed his CA of Revenge by acquiring information on the travel paths of the pirate ship Necromancer. (2xp) Three adult and three juvenile Shadow Serpent pelts, with eye turning characteristics.
Missions/Quests Completed
- untranslated coordinates of something precursor related
- hints to location of the Necromancer
Character(s) interacted with
- Bekka Huvre - save my brother
- Marshal Sym Elder
- Mayor Bryn Willis - save my town
Notes
Dr. Gulla's interactions with the head of #5 are eased one step the next time he needs to roll.
