06 Epilogue - Embark
Set the Scene
50 years quietly pass. The Dark Hive spreads, but mostly upwards. A few resource rich areas are absorbed, but mostly the Hive grows vertically, setting up vast infrastructure and technology that surpasses even the old galaxy. The old Fungal hive is replaced by a new hovering Sky Hive capable of FTL flight, but Ekaterina turns her sights downward to the Burrows, wanting to capture as much unique genetic material as she can before leaving this contested starter colony behind for the stars.
Complication: 4 An NPC acts suddenly
Altered Scene: 3 Normal
Topic Focus
Floran Star Hunters are...
KH A Faction (social)
Detail Focus
9S Unsavory (mystical)
Action Focus
9C Command (physical)
How Much
4 About average
Floran Star Hunters have returned to the world many times over the half century. Most of the time they fly away after seeing the Fungal hold, a few times they have made contact and left: holding no claim on this hunting ground other than tradition. This time a small band of Hunter ships and demands passage into the burrows. They run deep and the small Floran fleet are hunting big game. Spots this rich are rare and hard to come by so they are quite stubborn.
NPC Generator
Identity: TD Adherent (technical)
Goal: 4C Harm (physical)
Features: 6 Unexpected age or origin
- 4S Old (mystical)
Attitude to PCs: 3 About average
Conversation: 7H Enemies (social)
The Floran Star Hunter leader is Dolie, a particularly tech obsessed Floran Star Hunter that seems more than happy to hunt the Hive as an appetizer.
Diplomacy 16 - The Florans want to hunt big game... that's exactly what Ekaterina was doing, just for entirely different reasons. The Hive just needs DNA samples, not living hosts, and they already have an Overseer. Ekaterina grants them safe passage into the burrows to hunt and even provides inoculations against the Fungal presence.
Competence 6.5 The Floran Star Hunters send a large hunting party into burrows but never resurface. A different Hunter hails the next day and very formally thanks Ekaterina for their safe passage and then the remaining ships fly away. The hunting party must have been eliminated. Hopefully they at least made some progress.
How Much
How much of the burrows was cleared?
6 Extraordinary
Ekaterina treks into the burrows finding it cleanly cleared in the dirt layer. The bedrock below holds a different story: chaos. The hunting squad clearly met its match here and though the bedrock layer is clear the area is littered with broken things, Florans and their gear alike. Further still the stone warms into a hostile red expanse of semi molten stone and toxic gasses. The squad didn't stand a chance here. Ekaterina probably doesn't either, but they have teleporters and cloning capabilities, so might as well check. This body is getting old anyway, nearly 80, but still Fungal and efficient.
Dungeon Entrance
Dungeon Theme:
How it looks: 9D Unsavory (technical)
How it is used: AS Deceive (mystical)
Location: 1 Typical area
Encounter: 6 Unique NPC or adversary
Objects: 3 An interesting item or clue
Exits: 2 additional exits
Combat - Ekaterina steps into the soft rock, her shielding barely keeping up with the heat but then the boils off soft rock burst and over a dozen molten flying scorpion things quickly bear down on her seemingly from nowhere. The stings barely get through her shielding but the prick of the stinger is backed by a lethal poison and given her Apex physiology and it's inability to filter poison efficiently, she nearly immediately wakes up in the Cloning Pod on the surface.
The planet is never going to fully come under control. The Sky Hive takes to space with a full crew and starts a slow expansion across uninhabited worlds. Adapting the Fungal genealogy to otherwise hostile worlds is easier and less risky than dealing with any locals. Slowly seeding across the galaxy the Dark Hive becomes a background feature. Avoid the Fungal worlds and they will avoid you.