Session 22: Trouble Brewing [Mar 10th, 2022]
The heroes go through the dead Tahomen’s belongings and share the other equipment from the cultists. After some discussion, the heroes realize that only 2 of the the 3-part communication device was brought down from the mountain’s peak. Dr. Solstarni, Whaloss, and Ralkawi stay at the ancient Elven library as the Starfinders grab the equipment and hike up the steep mountain path. When they reach the top, Vashon is able to quickly reassemble the communcation device. He then hacks into the computer and learns a few things. First of all, he finds that Tahomen smartly deleted all logs and history of the device’s correspondence, however, Vashon is able to dig deeper and finds that a large data packet was sent out with a small video message.
The heroes watch the video message and learn that Tahomen does seem to have knowledge of the location of the ‘Stellar Degenerator’ and likely sent that information to another Devourer cult cell. Vashon finds that the last communication was sent to a region of the Diaspora called the Fields of the Lost. Vashon then uses the devices to steal the remainder of Tahomen’s credit account.
The heroes then decide to contact Chiskisk and update him on the situation. They explain all about the Stellar Degenerator and Chiskisk highlights the danger of an organized group like the Cult of the Devourer. He asks the heroes to perform this mission, to learn the location of the Gate of Twelve Suns from the Devourer cultists in the Diaspora. He then promotes the Starfinders and sends them each some credits to their accounts and promises to have the Sunrise Maiden properly outfitted before they return to Qabarat.
The heroes march back down the mountain and grab the others at the library. They all fill their bags with books and scrolls as they make the ten-day trek back to Turhalu Point. Dr. Solstarni thanks them for rescuing them and they speak briefly with Professor Muhali. The Starfinders then enter the portal back to Qabarat. They find the Sunrise Maiden has upgraded defenses, but Drozen insist on adding a formidable torpedo cannon to the front of the vessel, which delays them an additional day. The heroes then return to Absalom Station to do some shopping and take care of personal matters.
During this time, the heroes catch up on their correspondence. Shiiga speak with her mentor, Venth, at the Temple of Damoritosh on Vesk 6. Venth tells her to abandon the quest for the Shadow Shard and asks her to return home immediately. However, Shiiga updates him about a possible ancient super-weapon, and this intrigues the vesk leader. He tells Shiiga to remain with the Starfinders until she can locate the location of the weapon.
Zaeo learns that he missed the beginning of the Star Runner Grand Prix race and that Grogbar Thickfingers is quite upset. He likely has a bounty on his head now. With the race in full swing, Zaeo sneaks towards the Puddles district of the station to retrieve his ship, the Blinding Zephyr, in the docking bay he hid it in previously. He finds two thugs waiting for him, but manages to bluff is way past them and retrieve his racer, docking it to the side of the Sunrise Maiden.
Vashon spends time with his parents, updating them on all the things that have happened to him and what he has learned about his past. His parents seem ignorant of this truth and wish him luck on his quest to discover who he was, but remind him to not forget who he is now.
Drozen does some shopping and mentally prepares for dealing with the pirates of the Diaspora, many of which are former colleagues who likely want him dead.
The heroes set out from Absalom Station and head to the Diaspora. During the four days of travel through the Drift, Drozen elaborates on his past to his new companions. He explains how he once worked for Draxar, a leader of a pirate sect. After Draxar died, his son Canloo took over and began dabbling in shadier enterprises, like the trafficking of androids and other living beings. Drozen took offense to it, both as an android, and as someone who respected Draxar’s wishes. In the end, Drozen killed Canloo and now the pirates of the Danavin Clan are out searching for him.
As the ship comes out of the Drift, they find themselves in an empty wasteland filled with floating rocks. They begin to explore and try to find signs of the Devourer Cult’s base of operations, however, Vashon then detects a ship approaching on the scanners. They are greeted by a pirate captain named Alera Okwana, one of the Free Captains that has had scuffles and dealings with the Danavin Clan in the past.
Alera threatens the Sunrise Maiden, but Zaeo tries to talk her out of attacking. Drozen shows himself and tries to help Zaeo negotiate, but the attempt fails and Alera’s ship, the Rusty Rivet, powers up its weapons.
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Session 23: Sweet Revenge [Mar 24th, 2022]
The heroes prepare the Sunrise Maiden for combat, powering up shields and weapons. Drozen readies the new torpedo launcher, eager to try out Vashon’s engineered nano-spores. Shiiga uses her mental powers to scry upon the enemy ship, learning its layout. Both ships seem evenly matched at first as they blast at each with lasers, striking at shields. But when the first spore torpedo explodes upon the Rusty Rivet, the Starfinders realize they have the upper hand. A few more passes as the Rusty Rivet manages a few good shots with its chain gun, but Vashon is quick to divert power and keep the shields active.
A few more well-placed shots and the Rusty Rivet powers down and floats in empty space. Captain Okwana contacts them and offers a parley, as per the Free Captains code of conduct. Zaeo flies the Maiden near their ship and they board, Alera introduces her crew. Zaeo brings them food and drinks in the mess hall and they begin to talk.
They learn from Alera that a pair of Eoxian cruisers had passed through recently and explored a few asteroids nearby. Additionally, the Cult of the Devourer maintains a base of operations in an asteroid called K9204, and the bone ships seemingly explored it already. She gives them the coordinates of the asteroid. She also offers them 4000 credits in exchange for her crews life and their ship, as per the conduct of the Free Captains. However, after business is concluded, she apologizes to Drozen. It seems she was stalling to let the Danavin Clan reach them. B.U.S.T.E.R. then tells the crew that another ship has approached and has weapons locked on them.
Zaeo reluctantly lets Alera and her crew leave as the Starfinders rush to the bridge. On the viewscreen, they see a far more formidable vessel, the Flagstag, the flagship of the Danavin Clan. They are hailed and are greeted by an android in the captain’s chair, it is Axilom. Canloo’s former bodyguard. He claims to have taken command of the pirate clan. He demands that Zaeo send him Drozen and he will let the rest of the free. He then blasts the Sunrise Maiden with a shot to show that he is not bluffing.
The Starfinders try to figure out what to do, but quickly realize that the Flagstag outmatches them in firepower. Axilom grows impatience and blasts them again with another torpedo. The Sunrise Maiden loses power in the power core and the computers start to go out. Before they do, B.U.S.T.E.R. tries to warn them that they have been boarded. Vashon tries to restart the computers, but cannot do so from the bridge anymore. The ship is now dark and the emergency lights provide dim lighting as the Starfinders head towards engineering and the power core at the back of the ship.
On the way, Drozen, Zaeo and Shiiga search for any enemies onboard. Shiiga then hears them crawling through the maintenance shafts above. She telepathically shouts to her friends just as these pirates climb out to attack. The heroes manage to return fire and blast the pirates with spells, felling most of them rather quickly. But soon they are boarded by far more formidable soldiers. The battle continues as laser blasts and bullets ricochet through the halls of the Sunrise Maiden.
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Session 24: Dead in the Water [Apr 7th, 2022]
The heroes continue the fighting in the halls of the Sunrise Maiden. Drozen and Zaeo fight in the near the bridge of the ship. Zaeo fires at the pirates as Drozen activates his holographic projector to show multiple images of himself. Drozen takes quite a few hits and is quite injured. On the after end of the ship, Shiiga and Vashon blast the pirates with spells, trying to gain entrance into the ship’s engineering bay. Vashon moves in close and Shiiga uses her mind to force the doors open. However, it reveals four pirates ready for combat. Vashon blasts them with nanobots and multiple waves of heat and fire. Shiiga blasts them with ectoplasm.
Back near the bridge, one of the pirates slashes viscously at Drozen, disintegrating his holographic images before cutting into the android himself. Drozen drops to the ground in a pool of fluids. Zaeo is forced to fight the pirate one on one, trying to take him out with his battle-glove, but does more damage to the ship than anything.
Meanwhile, Shiiga and Vashon find themselves surrounded by sword-wielding pirates doing their best to fend them off. Shiiga begins slashing at them with her claws tearing into their flesh. Drozen finds the resolve to spring back into action and help Zaeo take out the final pirate near the bridge and they rush down to help the others. However, down in engineering, the final pirate closes the doors and disappears inside. The others manage to get the doors open after some effort, but find the pirate holding the ship’s power regulator as he flushes himself out of the airlock into space.
Drozen charges after him, but is too late, he has already made it to the Flagstag, which is only 100 yards away. There a number of harpoon cables connecting the Flagstag to the Sunrise Maiden. Drozen returns to the others and they rest as Vashon is able to reboot B.U.S.T.E.R. They realize that without a working power core, they are floating useless in the vastness of space. B.U.S.T.E.R. warns them that they only have about six hours of life support left on the ship.
The Starfinders prepare themselves and head out of the airlock and follow the cables to the Flagstag. They enter the ship’s airlock and immediately hear Axilom’s taunting voice over the intercom. He tells them they can go no farther and to hand over Drozen and he’ll give the rest of them the power regulator to be on their way. However, he hadn’t counted on Shiiga gruesomely cutting off the hand of one of his men. She uses the bloody stump to activate the airlock door and the Starfinders charge onto the ship.
Soon the Starfinders find themselves surrounded by pirates firing at them…
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Session 25: Triumphant Explosions [Apr 21st, 2022]
The Starfinders push their assault of the Flagstag, fighting back the pirates, with bullets and lasers blasting and ricocheting off the walls of the medbay. Shiiga and Vashon fight off the two pirates coming through the airlock, while Drozen and Zaeo try to hold off the other four in the north. Zaeo takes one out, but finds himself compromised as two of the pirate soldiers begin autofiring their rifles, blasting holes all over the walls. Drozen and Zaeo manage to somehow dodge the barrage of bullets, but Vashon and Shiiga take a few minor hits.
Shiiga and Vashon pull back into the medbay and the two pirates follow them. Drozen leaps around, making stealthy trick shots as Zaeo bashes the pirates with his fist. Soon an all-out-melee breaks out and the Starfinders defeat the pirates in combat. The Starfinders take a few minutes to catch their breath before the next attack. However, Axilom does not comment again from the intercom. Shiiga grabs an advanced medkit before the Starfinders press forward and enter the bridge of the ship. They find it strangely empty. Vashon checks the computer, but isn’t able to hack in. However, he reveals a strange screen of dwarven runes changing shape. Drozen recognizes it as a countdown, they have only a minute before it hits zero.
The Starfinders run through the ship back to the airlock, but find it closed. Shiiga cuts another hand to use on the hand-pad, but it doesn’t register. Drozen and Zaeo use their strength to pry the door open, and find the outer door is already open, which causes an immediate implosion of air. The Starfinders manage to get their helmets activated and they grab the rope connecting the two ships. Zaeo, however, finds himself floating into space as he missed the rope. Zaeo then uses his fire extinguisher to propel himself to the rope. But just as he grabs it, the Flagstag explodes!
The ripple across the metal breaks the ropes connection and the Starfinders go flying into space, holding onto a rope that is still attached to the Sunrise Maiden. Drozen loses the rope and slams into the Maiden’s hull, but is able to kick off to the airlock. The Sunrise Maiden has begun to power up its engines. The others climb their way to the airlock and Vashon is able to hack their way inside.
The Starfinders enter their ship, and find it operational and the engines booting up. Vashon stays in engineering to regain control of the systems and activate B.U.S.T.E.R.. The others head towards the bridge to find Axilom. Drozen climbs through the access tubes as Shiiga and Zaeo approach through the hallway. Drozen then activates his cloaking field and scouts into the hall to find many pirates aiming at the doors towards engineering. He warns Zaeo and Shiiga over the comm to wait for his signal. He then throws his fire extinguisher into the hall and shoots it. It explodes into a cloud of white dust and obscures and conceals everyone.
Zaeo and Shiiga bust through the door and charge in, firing and throwing spells at the pirates. Drozen does likewise. The Starfinders take out a few more pirates before facing off against Axilom himself in the bridge. The android taunts Drozen and rips him apart with his blade, nearly killing him. Zaeo and Shiiga continue to fight back, Zaeo punching with his power glove and Shiiga throwing objects at him with her mind.
Meanwhile, Vashon struggles against Axilom’s changes to the computers and finds out that the power regulator was intentionally installed incorrectly to cause a ship overload: he intends to blow up this ship too. Vashon works to stop the process with a rebooted B.U.S.T.E.R..
Axilom laughs as Drozen has fallen and tries to take out Zaeo as well, slashing the lashunta with his mighty blade. However, Drozen recovers consciousness and through grit and rage crawls over to Axilom and guts him with his plasma knife, felling the android. However, Drozen notices that all of Axilom’s parts are cybernetic, there are no organic components. He realizes this is a fake Axilom, likely controlled by the real one from afar. A red light begins to blink with a disturbing beep in the belly of the robot as it begins to increase in frequency. It’s a bomb!
Drozen calls to Vashon over the comm to open the airlock above them, Vashon does so quickly, and air sucks up through the top of the ship taking Axilom’s body with it. Drozen and Zaeo barely are able to grab something and avoid being sucked out with the body. They feel a vibrating rumble as the body explodes outside the ship.
Vashon joins the others and confirms they have control of the ship again. The heroes decide to rest after the ordeal. However, they receive a message from Axilom, “You’ll have to do better than that next time.” The Starfinders are also hailed by Alera Okwana. She apologizes for having to deceive them and offers any assistance. They ask about a place to rest and recover, and she only says that the pirate port of Broken Rock is nearby, but they do not welcome Starfinders, so they must be certain to not let it slip that they are Starfinders. She gives them the coordinates and leaves.
The Starfinders hide their Starfinder pins and set a course for Broken Rock…
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Session 26: Bounty Hunters at the Old Crow Cantina [May 5th, 2022]
The heroes set a course for the coordinates given to them by Alera Okwana and make way towards Broken Rock. It takes them a day to reach the location, giving them plenty of time to rest and recover their injuries from Axilom’s attack. Shiiga’s mystical healing does the bulk of the repair. As for the Sunrise Maiden, Vashon knows it will need significant repair to the hull and they hope to find that help at the pirate city.
The Starfinders reach the location, but find only empty space and floating asteroids to welcome them. There does not appear to be a settlement of any size nearby, on any of the asteroids. It is then that a large armada of cloaked ships appear as they de-cloak. The Starfinders are hailed by a pirate captain and asked who they are and who sent them and why they fly a Starfinder vessel.
Zaeo and Shiiga convinces them that the vessel is stolen, by evidence of the damage it has sustained, and that they are a new crew of pirates sent by Alera Okwana. The captain accepts their answers, but then asks them a riddle to determine if they are worthy.
We see their dead, A live one nearer, And closer still, The pocked veneers,
As sight declines, These dusty mirrors, At most half seen, Become more clear,
And between them all, One cannot hear.
The Starfinders ponder on the riddle for a moment, and give their answer, “stars”. This is accepted and the pirate captain transfer the real coordinates of Broken Rock to the crew and welcomes them. A moment later, all the ships disappear into the stars.
The Sunrise Maiden takes the crew a few hours deeper into the asteroid belt where they find a small city tucked into a large asteroid. They fly in and are given docking permission. They land the vessel and Vashon talks with the pirate repair crew. They pay the credits for the repairs and Vashon stays with the Sunrise Maiden to ensure the repairs are done properly and quickly by the untrustworthy crew. It is expected to take at least 5 days.
In the meantime, Zaeo, Drozen, and Shiiga head into the city and find some rooms at an inn, the Sleeping Parrot. For the next couple days, the crew keeps a low profile, purchasing as many useful items they can from the city’s black markets. Zaeo makes friends with an informant named Briny Bill who tells him that rumours say that Eoxian vessels had been seen in the Fields of the Lost, confirming what Alera saw. Shiiga overhears rumors that the Cult of the Devourer operating in the sector have abandoned their base and disappeared. However, the Starfinders still want to head to asteroid K9204 to see what they may have left behind.
On the fourth day of shore-leave, the crew is hanging out in the Old Crow Cantina, an unsavory bar with a strict no fighting code. As they drink some beers and share some space calamari, Zaeo spots a beautiful lashunta woman wink at him and motion him to follow her to the bathroom. Zaeo does so and is soon embraced and kissed by the woman. He then finds her pistol pointed at his crouch. She introduces herself as Leira the Bounty Hunter, sent to collect the bounty put up by Grogbar Thickfingers for 10,000 credits. She offers to let him go if he pays her 15,000.
Meanwhile, Drozen and Shiiga are interrupted by a burly man with a flat-top military haircut. He says his name is Krongar and he is there to collect Drozen for a bounty. But before he can get farther, a male lashunta named Twangas approaches them and saying he needs to keep them in their seats as he draws his pistol. He is apparently working with the lashunta kidnapping Zaeo.
Soon a fight breaks out in the bar as Krongar tries to get Drozen while Twangas fights with Shiiga. Zaeo finds himself handcuffed by Leira who tries to quickly shuffle the Starfinder through the back rooms. However, she finds her way blocked by bouncers who are trying to break things up. Laser shots are fired and a melee of swords break out across the bar as it erupts into chaos. Shiiga blasts Twangas with her mental powers as he cuts at her with his knife. Eventually he falls to the ground as blood pours out of his eyes, nose, and ears. Shiiga then complies with the nearby bouncer and does not engage in more combat.
Meanwhile, Drozen had run into the bathroom area and finds Zaeo held captive by this lashunta bounty hunter. He manages to pull Zaeo free from her grasp and throws the bound captain into the bathroom. Drozen then finds himself pinned between Leira and Krongar who both try to kill him. He activates his holographic clones, but is barely able to hold his own as they cut at him. Zaeo kicks as Krongar just before Drozen guts him with his plasma kukri. Leira then escapes past all the bouncers out the back door. Zaeo explains to the bouncers how they were victims here and they are let free to finish their calamari in peace, but they know there will be more bounty hunters in the future.
The next day, the ship is ready and repaired and the Starfinders head out to K9204. They find the asteroid is nothing more than a mile-sized chunk of spiky rock. They find one small flat area to land and discover that many other ships had landed here before. The asteroid has low gravity and a thin, barely breathable atmosphere, but the Starfinders suit up anyway. They head out across the dusty, ash-covered landscape. Shiiga finds some faint boot prints heading west through the crevasse. Moments later, Drozen is blasted by an unseen laser rifle. Someone lurks in the shadows of the cliffs…
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Session 27: Dangers on Asteroid K9204 [Jun 2nd, 2022]
The Starfinders gaze up at the rocky cliffs, but cannot see who shot the laser blast at Drozen. Zaeo charges towards the cliffs as the sniper strikes again, this time1 at the lashunta. The others charge up the cliff as well, trying to reach the hidden gunman. Shiiga gets a glimpse of the sniper, seeing a crazed Sarcesian with glowing light wings.
Zaeo and Drozen reach the top of the cliff and begin to strike at the Sarcesian in melee as Shiiga and Vashon support with spells. Soon they fell the crazed sniper, unable to get him to back down. They search the area and find the sniper’s supplies and a worn journal. It seems that the Sarcesian was hiding on the asteroid to escape trouble at home, but slowly went mad worshipping some sort of “flesh-beast”.
The Starfinders explore the area, and find a tattered corpse in the silvery ash piles, it wears the symbol of the Devourer. They then head south towards a small cavern. Inside is darkness, but as Zaeo tries to pull out his flashlight, he is bitten by numerous bat-like beasts. The others move in and they are able to fell the creatures quickly. Inside the cave, they find more corpses, fresh ones of Sarcesians and a well-rotten one of a lashunta from Castovel who came to mine silver ore.
The Starfinders head westward and find a wide alcove with a large pit of green liquid. There is a corpse propped near the green pool. They investigate the corpse, but as they do so, Zaeo suddenly has a compulsion to search the pool of liquid. As he leans close to the liquid, a tentacle reaches out and tries to pull him in. A great beast rises out of the pool, ready to feast on its new prey.
Zaeo finds that he cannot escape the creature’s grasp as it tries to pull him down into the pool of caustic acid. Drozen rushes towards Zaeo and uses his plasma kukri to slice through the monster’s tentacle, freeing Zaeo. The Starfinders then all pull back away from the pull of acid and the beast. The creature follows them and they are forced to confront it in combat.
Vashon blasts it with heatwave and junk shards, he then super-charges Drozen’s kukri as the operative charges in and cuts at the beast. Shiiga blasts it with projectiles as Zaeo fires at it from afar. Soon the beast is felled and the Starfinders take a short break to catch their breath. Zaeo is convinced the asteroid is intent on killing him.
The Starfinders then head south where they find a large boneyard of many corpses, some fresh, some quite old. They all show signs of ritualistic murder and being partially eaten, as well as signs that creatures burrowed out of their chests. Shiiga identifies that the bat-like creatures, Skreelings, came out of the bodies. Drozen finds a few trinkets left on the corpses.
The Starfinders continue their search for the Cult of the Devourer’s base of operations…
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Session 28: The Star-Eater’s Spine [Jun 16th, 2022]
The Starfinders search around Asteroid K9204 for more signs of the Cult of the Devourer. They come across a debris field of cold-iron ore in deadly-sharp fragments. After cutting their hands trying to grab them, Drozen uses a mangled corpse to gather the shards and bring them to the ship for selling later. The Starfinders then send a message to Chiskisk informing them of their progress and whereabouts.
The Starfinders then return to the asteroid to look for the secret base of operations. After a few hours of searching, they finally uncover a metallic man-hole that has a ladder that descends into darkness. Down the shaft, is an old mining facility that seems to have been overtaken by the Cult of the Devourer, but it is quiet now. They come to an airlock blocking their way, but as they try to open it a cloud of mind-affecting spores pours into the air. Drozen and Zaeo seem to be affected, showing reduced cognitive abilities.
Vashon is able to engineer the door open and they continue into the facility. They find a computer console and Vashon immediately begins to hack it. He makes it inside, but is unable to get past the inner firewalls, so he is only able to turn the lights on, dimly. They learn that there are two modules, the “Entrance Deterrent” and the “Chamber of Devouring”, but cannot access them. There is also another data computer on the network somewhere else in the complex. The group continues down the large hall.
Suddenly, lasers begin to fire in all directions and the group is fried by the burning beams. They manage to get past the moving wall, but see it is coming back towards them. Drozen manages to burst open one of the doors and the group rushes inside, narrowly avoiding the lasers the second time.
The group explores the nearby doors, finding bedrooms for the cult fanatics. Shiiga explores a nearby dresser and is zapped by a laser-gun trap. Inside, however, she finds several technological upgrades for their armors and weapons. The group explores the rest of the bedrooms, but find little else. They move on into a nearby kitchen and dining area, and nearly vomit at the smell and view of rotting food succumbing to flies and maggots.
They hurry on to the next chamber, where they find a large computer covering the western wall. There is also a dead reptile upon the floor in a pool of congealed blood. As the Starfinders discuss leaving, they are assault by another of these reptilian beasts.
The veolisk charges at them, confusing them with its hypnotic smoking eyes. They heroes try to fight back but their temporary sickness and confusion make it difficult.
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Session 29: Obstructed by the Corpse Fleet [Jun 30th, 2022]
The Starfinders continue to try and assault the massive reptile, though they are as often striking themselves or each other in the confusion haze beset by its smoking eyes. But after some effort, the beast is destroyed. The heroes immediately head to one of the bed rooms and pile up furniture to box themselves in. They set a watch and rest for many hours, in a sleepless rest as flies continue to bother them overnight.
After the long rest, they return to the grand computer terminal where Drozen and Vashon successfully hack into the system. They learn much about the Cult of the Devourer cell stationed here. They primarily studied the ancient writings of the prophet Nyara, who’s cryptic prophecies laid out the belief that a mighty weapon will be found that can destroy the multiverse. These cultists seem to believe the Stellar Degenerator may in fact be that weapon, as indicated by a highlighted prophecy, the weapon to reign in the void and destruction in the Devourer’s name. They conjure up a hologram of the ancient elf prophet, Nyara.
The highlighted prophecy reads, “In the maw of the Twelve lies the Key. Forsooth, shall all be undone. When the knee meets the gorge, so far. The widening gyre implodes—magnificently.” After years of studying this text, it is no wonder that the cultists dropped everything to go search for it.
Vashon and Drozen also find the message left by Tahomen, where he boasts of his findings and even lies about killing the Starfinders. The recording, however, has a key peice missing, “Our future awaits, far beyond the confines of the Star-Eater’s Spine! You must fly, my sisters and brothers! Fly to (garbled static), where the Key awaits…” Vashon realizes that this section was scrubbed from the file deliberately, and rather recently by someone other than the cultists.
With no more clues, the heroes head north, and have a fine meal in the second mess hall before exploring the rest of the bedchambers. They find a security key card and a datapad with a video of cultists chanting, “Nyara knows!” over and over again. They then find the engineering lab and armory with many broken suits of armor. The Starfinders destroy the two guarding security robots and take the armor for Vashon to repair later. Drozen then finds a secret panel with a powerful heavy armor suit.
The heroes then explore the southern armory, finding a few broken weapons. They then decide to try and disable the laser trap. Drozen uses the jump jets to fire across the hallway to the operations computer. As soon as he lands, however, the trap activates. The assassin expertly dodges the lasers and is able to deactivate them from the console. The Starfinders then explore the mangled corpse in the western corner of the hallway and find it wears the corpse fleet insignia.
This verifies that the Corpse Fleet did enter the Star Eater’s Spine and likely retrieved Tahomen’s message about the location of the Stellar Degenerator, they then likely scrubbed the file before leaving. The Starfinders gather all their new loot and return to their ship. After much discussion, they decide to take off and send a message to Chiskisk about the Corpse Fleet, perhaps to arrange another meeting with Abassador Gevalarsk Nor. However, as the Sunrise Maiden takes off, they begin to take weapon’s fire from two Eoxian necrogliders flanking them.
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Session 30: Chasing Down the Corpse Fleet [July 14th, 2022]
The Starfinders get to their battle stations as they weave and dodge the torpedoes and energy beams from the two necrofighters. Zaeo continues evasive maneuvers while Shiiga uses her mystical powers to help guide the ship. Vashon moves to a gunnery position and he and Drozen blast the two ships with both the spore torpedoes and the energy weapons. The battle is quick and decisive, with both the Eoxian vessels disabled and the Sunrise Maiden sustained no hull damage.
At the end of the combat, with the two ships floating uselessly in space around asteroid K9204, Zaeo sends the Maiden to approach one of the vessels and tries to communicate. However, the skeletal pilot simply answers that he was ordered to attack anyone leaving the asteroid. The Starfinders send a message to Chiskisk, informing them of their progress at the Star Eater’s Spine and the recent attack. While they wait for Chiskisk’s reply, Drozen and Vashon space-walk out to the enemy vessel and try again to speak with them. But they learn nothing new. In the end, they decide to leave the ships be.
The Starfinders then hear from Chiskisk. He tells them that he has arranged for them to meet with the sole director, a recently-turned ghoul named Waneda Trux. She runs the Ministry of Eternal Vigilance in the Eoxian city of Orphys. Ambassador Nor has arranged for the visit. It seems Waneda has received some recent reports about Corpse Fleet activity in Orphys and perhaps this may lead to those who know the location of the Stellar Degenerator.
With no other clues to go on, the Starfinders make their way to Orphys. After five days of space travel through the Drift, they arrive at Eox, the dead planet.
They land their vessel in the port within the protective, life-support dome that surrounds the city. They go through customs and find that many of the menial workers on Eox are in fact living people that intend to work their entire lives for the promise of undeath immortality. The Starfinders take a taxi to the Spline, a run-down, hardscrabble district which contains the Ministry of Eternal Vigilance. It is obvious that Eox is putting minimal effort to chase down Corpse Fleet activity with the dilapidated building and single employee for the ministry.
The Starfinders enter the building and Zaeo immediately tries to talk to the ghoul sitting behind the teller’s window, who ignores him. Shiiga points out that they should take a number and wait their turn. While wiating, they speak with a human male named Shan Goulding who works at the necrograft factory across the street. He is turned off by Zaeo’s approach, but finds Shiiga delightful. He mentions he is here to file a report against a co-worker. He mentions his boss, a man named Voxel, and tells them to mention his name if they meet him.
After Shan files his false report, the Starfinders are called to her window. Waneda Trux introduces herself and very reluctantly greets the Starfinders.
She makes it clear she is only helping them because Ambassador Gevalarsk Nor asked her to. She explains that most of her reports are just people trying to get enemies and rivals arrasted, much like Shan Goulding. However, she hands them two recent reports on the Corpse Fleet that she believes to be legitimate. She suggests they investigate the reports further.
After the Starfinders take the reports, they are shown to their temporary quarters in one of Waneda’s spare offices upstairs. It has minimal comforts for living creatures. The Starfinders take a break and reflect on everything that has happened recently.
‘