Episode 12: That's No Asteroid...

General Summary

So, after weeks of preparation, the time was nigh to travel into the stars. After spending their remaining time with their families, friends and assigning their newly established striker force to Quintessa.... Serenity's Vanguard makes haste to begin their quest into the unknown.
It was at that morning, Captain Hope Windglaide wanted to give a speech- and though he fumbled, with the aid of Silas and Masami- he provided optimism and inspiration to a voyage unlike any other.

"I love being with people. Creating a family, living with them... forming new bonds. There's the family you're born with, and there's the family you make. It's the most incredible thing in the world. As we all know too well now... that world may change and evolve, for better or for worst. But the one thing that will never change... is that we're all part of one big family.
That man next to you, he's your brother. That woman over there, she's your sister.
We're all part of... one big universe that moves ever upward and onward to greater heights... and we have unfinished business with fate. This is not how our story ends, and that we're the ones who's going to change everything.
Because when you love something, you protect it, you fight for it.

— Hope Windglade

Serenity's Vanguard had taken to the skies. Above their HQ- the Radiant Citadel- is a planar rift that will allow them to bypass their wildspace system and lead them directly into the astral sea for faster travel.
The takeoff was sudden and fast- while Joshua and Iliren managed to hold their ground- and Masami was the only one to strap into a seat- Silas and Hir'eek were thrown into the back wall as the shift blasted off into the rift!

I Spy with My Little Eye...

The HeavenChaser finds itself inside the Ring of Stellaris- a belt of golden dragonshards that circles around Stellarium. As the ship slowly cruised through the asteroid sized dragonshards, Iliren spotted one of a decent size that could be brought aboard the HeavenChaser.
Seeing that the dragonshard's worth could cover much of their resources ship upgrades. After debate amongst the crew about potential space pirates and space spiders, they ultimately decided it was worth their time to collect the massive dragonshard.
The HeavenChaser is capable of producing its own atmosphere to about 120 feet, allowing the commanders to breathe in Astral space- so long as they don't stray too far from the spelljammer.
With creative thinking, the Iliren and Silas managed to float out to the colossal dragonshard, with Masami, Joshua and Hir'eek providing aid through magical means that allowed them to secure the dragonshard with chains and slowly move it towards the ship.
However, not all was as it seems. For the dragonshard itself hosted a gargantuan asteroid spider! And it saw the HeavenChaser as its prey. Its massive spider legs dug into the wings of the ship, holding it hostage as it would begin feasting- if not for the commanders springing into action! (Not without ear-piercing screaming from Masami, of course.)
The battle was fierce and deadly- each hit on the space creature spilled out baby space spiders and lowered the value of the dragonshard. With a single bite attack from the asteroid spider, Iliren was almost rendered unconscious.
But thanks to Hir'eek paralyzing the gargantuan space spider, Silas managed to burn away the spider's webbing, allowing the HeavenChaser to escape out of the dragonshard belt!
The ship was partially damaged from the encounter, which put their lead engineer, Lib, in a sour mood on the first day of their voyage. Damaged ship with nothing to show for it, except wounds and the livelihood of the crew.

Onward To The Moon!

The Vanguards have begun their voyage through space. While the first day had more excitement than expected, the next few days were filled with wonderous sights through the astral sea.
They could see the magical energies of the other planes; curtains of different colored lights reflected the planes.
They also witnessed a school of space jellyfish floating across the astral sea with space dolphins attacking them with crystal knives in their maws.
It was a few days of travel before their arrival at the moon- it's brilliant white light radiating onto the ship.
No sooner had they approached the moon, did the ship cross into the plane of Chaos. The white light, quickly turning red and the crew was met with alarms and loss of control of the ship!
What was up was left, and down was up. The ship itself morphed and became for fluid like a jellyfish out of water.
With quick thinking and turn to action, they managed to crash land the ship on a floating island. But as they went to observe the damage done, the vanguards quickly found themselves floating out the ship in bubbles before crashing outside!
There was nothing but shifting islands and explosions with varying degrees of weather occurring simultaneously. To make matters even stranger- they were all gender-swapped!

---

Will they ever return to their original genders?
What exactly happened to the HeavenChaser?
And how will they continue on their journey?
Find out in the next episode of Vanguards of Serenity!

Report Date

31 Jul 2022

Episode Run Time:
Approx. 5 hours
Characters Met:

Captain Hope WindGlade (Human Man)
Lib (Grung Woman)
Moon (Shifter Man)