TOPIC: R3 Starforged

STARFORGED

Starship: The Silver Fox (1)
Modules: Internal Refit, Shields, Re-Inforced Hull,
Vehicles: Hoverbike

The Crew
Bethany Starling ‘Crystal’
1—1—2—3—2
Fugitive 2, Navigator 1

Kurtis Vayan ‘Brick’
3—2—2—1—1
Ace 1, Gunner 1

Rudy Greatdane ‘Basilisk’
1—2—2—1—3
Slayer 1, Lore Hunter 1

Capt. Sack Jarrow ‘Bloodshot’
1—2—2—1—3
Trader 1, Bounty Hunter 1


Sector: The Stygian Margin
Region: Outer Rim

Shithole Station
Population: 100+
Services: Waypoint. Refuel and Refit. Drop-off and pick-up warehousing.
Rough. Ugly. Mismatched blocks and modules bolted on unevenly over years of slow expansion.
The inside is no easier on the eye, or the olfactory senses, with unwashed bodies (water rationing) and stale air not recycled enough.

Reprise Station
Orbital station around planet Lorentos V.
Brotherhood Military (Marine/Naval Station).
Authority: Oppressive; Population: 100+

Deadrock Station
Deep Space Research Facility.
Authority: Autonomous; Population: 1,000.

Abalos
Desert Planet.
Low oxygen atmosphere. Breathers recommended. Suitable attire to prevent exposure to heat and sandstorms advised.
Settlement: Mange. Population: 1,000+
Authority: Lawless. Indigenous life forms: None.
Outside of regulated space. Base of operations for scrappers and (illegal) deep space salvagers.
Roughly 24 square miles of seemingly endless scrap yards interspersed with street vendors, water sellers, spice beer bars and brothels. The periphery is populated by moisture farms. The spaceport has large landing pads, a few hangars and the Bear Tavern spaceport bar (allegedly named after a fluffy mythical creature of Old Earth).

I

The briefest of Recaps
During a refuel stop at Shithole Station, a couple of bounty hunters, licensed by the Brotherhood, boarded the Silver Fox but found no illegal wares and failed to find the wanted fugitive, Crystal, who hid herself away in a smuggling compartment.

Crystal is a wanted by the Brotherhood (one of the Confederation of three factions ‘The Triumvirate’ ruling the Hub) over some stolen tech. AI and advanced technologies are jealously guarded and restricted by the Confederation but Crystal couldn’t resist helping herself to an augment implant designed to aid ship navigation out in the black.

Departing the station you set course for Abalos. Abalos is an off-grid desert world where you’ve been given a lead to a fixer named Chimera. You know next to nothing about Chimera except this person can help Crystal drop off the Confederation grid with a new face and identity.

On arrival, Brick drops the Silver Fox through the upper atmosphere and descends to the town’s starport—nothing but a stretch of landing pads lined by some ramshackle hangars. Talking to Ash, the proprietor of The Bear spaceport bar you ask about Chimera. The bar falls silent and all eyes turn towards you. The bar returns to idle chatter and for a bribe of five gallons of drinking water, Ash gives up a name—Jayna—a scrapper who might be able to help you.

Locating one salvage yard amongst what at first sight looks like one large town-sized dumping ground of scrap proved easier than first imagined and Jayna is talked into arranging an audience with Chimera. You’re left waiting for several hours under a canopy to shelter from the intense sun when finally a slight figure in hood and robes flanked by two burly characters arrives and demands to know who is seeking her.

Chimera takes a seat, draws back her hood to reveal the pretty face of woman in her forties and listens to Crystal’s story. Chimera can absolutely help but will want to exact payment—and out here it’s not Confederation credits that bother her. She smiles as she has something else in mind. “Maybe we can do a deal”.

II

Twenty four hours and one bar brawl later, you are taken to the comfortable home of Chimera. She administers an anaesthetic to Crystal and furtively drugs the rest of the crew. Crystal wakens with a new face, new eyes and new fingerprints. Only her DNA could not be changed.

Now for the deal: Chimera wants an item recovered from a pre-cursor vault on a not-too-distant world. A xenoarchaeologist in her employ was despatched to follow clues that would lead him to uncover and research (plunder) the vault, but his life-signs have been extinguished. The archaeologist had an item that Chimera wants back. She gives you a small locator device to track the item. You’ll know it when you find it.

To ensure you comply with your part of the bargain, you realise she has implanted cranial bombs in each of you. (Forgot to make you Endure Stress at this point (a San roll if you will) )

The pre-cursor vault exists on a moon called Slagg that orbits a giant gas planet called Aethir. These worlds exist in a solar system at the centre of which is a neutron star.

One more thing. Just as a sweetener. She hands Crystal a small data-wafer. If you should ever penetrate the citadel on the Brotherhood homeworld, this date-wafer contains a virus, that if up-loaded to the Brotherhood mainframe, would erase all detail of Crystal’s transgressions and the wanted status attached to her.

On the way to Slagg, you drop out of hyperspace to cool the FTL drives for a few hours and drift by what looks like an abandoned deep-space station – a pirate base. Taking a look around you find life-support is on but set very low, vac suits and grav boots are in order. After poking around several areas you enter a hydroponics bay with actual plants being grown (though in less than optimal conditions). Suddenly, you hear the whirring of servos coming to life and movement in a corner of the bay. An eight feet tall power-armoured robot stands behind you. (Remind me to ask you to Endure Stress at this point).


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They say the best defence is not to be there...
apologies I am not around tonight,wife is out and I have daughter carting around duties....!

Once again chaps, really sorry, I am under the cosh to finish some work and wont be able to make tomorrow...err today!

catch you next week (I hope!)

III

The combat robot is not friendly. Combat is a dangerous and near-run thing, during which the robot accidently punches a whole in the internal bulkhead—rupturing an oxygen pipe in the process. Oxygen levels rise and the threat of disaster is at hand. You just make it back to the Silver Fox and disengage from the station before the explosion. The force pushes your ship away, like riding a wave of energy and debris.

Arrive in orbit around Slagg.

Aether
Gas giant (Jovian) Planet. Several moons orbit Aether, including Slagg.
Slagg is a tomb world of mountains and huge expanses of wasteland. No life; neither flora or fauna. The surface temperature is somewhat cold but the air is breathable. From space, geo-phys results reveal a surface monument at the centre of a vast graveyard, below which is a network of subterranean tunnels. The world exists in perpetual twilight.

You land a safe distance from the monument and take hover-bikes along a path through the graveyard. The graves stretch away to the horizon in each direction. Each individual burial mound is some 12ft long. Ascending a rock formation within the graveyard you reach the stone monument scanned from space. There is a double door, 15ft high but shut tight. The power system has been lost for many standard years—perhaps thousands of years. Greatdane runs a bypass and creates a circuit. The security lock makes a noise. The doors open to steps leading down into utter blackness.

You explore the ancient system of an unknown alien race for what might be several hours in search of the xeno-archaeologist who apparently preceded you here. More accurately you seek an artefact he was carrying. The locater you have is temperamental at best; being underground in a huge metallic structure whose very walls and ceiling are held in place by magnetic force plays havoc with it. Exploring an area of residential chambers and quarters, Bloodhound is jump-scared by a 12ft corpse of something utterly alien when it falls out of a recess on him. Immediately you all have a sense of foreboding, like being watched and an invisible force scares you so much you flee the area.

Eventually you get a stronger signal and it leads you into one particular chamber—the very chamber you just all ran away from. On the floor the locater matches to the object you seek (I forgot what we said it looked like), but there’s no sign of the archaeologist. Bloodhound clasps the object to his wrist and immediately he looks distant to his crew mates. Bloodhound sees the world in a different light—and in it are the indistinguishable shades of creatures, what looks like two human-sized characters and many much taller creatures with featureless long faces and elongated hands and fingers.

The overwhelming oppression of danger forces everyone to flee again. This time back the way you came—seeking a return to the entrance to the complex. A press of spectral bodies, invisible to all but Bloodhound are in pursuit. The peril you’re in is manifest when lacerations open up in Brick's flesh, raked by unseen enemies. There’s no time to waste. Run.

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Inept wrote:
Okay. Thanks for letting us know. See you next week.