Dear Anna,

Our time on The Probe was….well, interesting. Lenata spent some time piloting – turns out our group definitely had the better pilot and hopefully it was productive for her, because we all want to come back to the City of 7 Seraphs at some point. The crew was heavily Maenad. Some of the ship’s command crew were known to our people. A sorceress named Saphira Nye and another named Aaron Sarbic. There alternates were known to our people anyway. These were definitely not the same versions.

Kenari dimension doored into the armory and discovered a large egg like cylinder with warnings all over it in different languages that said “do not touch.” Over message we do eventually manage to convince her not to touch it or push it’s large red button or steal it.
The Captain checked the ship and a few of the sailors have psionic talent. Parts of the ship – like the lights are run on psionic energy. There’s a katapsi field at the end of the ship overlying the hold and the armory.

Kenari drags Ef Utan and the Captain into the armory – they confirm that it does not have any magic or psionics. They check the weapons and discover that a bunch of them are acid burst weapons – the group helps themselves to most of it – tucking it all into Kenari’s bag. Kenari barricades the door from the inside before they leave. I mention that I would prefer that people stop taking things off my ship and I’m told that “if its not nailed down, then it’s not the ship.”

Lenata notes that obelisks floating off the bow are markers that say we are near to the Cerellan cluster. We navigate past the Cerellan Cluster – it takes about 5 days to get to the exit point. WE ship a ship sized color pool and the crew says that Greyspace is on the other side of the pool. The crew lets Lenata stay on the helm and fly us through the portal.

Once we are through the portal, Lenata starts rolling the ship – shaking crew off the ship like fleas. I fall off (of course) but Step back and hold onto Kenari. Then I step over to Aaron and quickly stab him. He heats up my Sai and I drop it. Kenari kicks him off the ship. Fyn steps out of the Captain’s room (ok…apparently Fyn did for the Captain a few hours prior and those noises that have been surprisingly convincing have been faked. Also, that’s just terrifying – but I decide not to think about it too much. Dead is dead after all.)

In the helm room Saphira is flying off the ground and flaring up. Kindar attacks Lenata while she’s on the helm, but she’s able to shake it off. Saphira turns the Captain in a pink bunny. Ef Utan flies into the helm room to take on Saphira. I Step into the hallway as Lenata gets knocked off the helm – we go into a spiral. Up on deck Melchior shoots Aaron – a lot – fatally. Aaron’s corpse floats off. Saphira doubles the gravity in the helm room as Ef Utan lets loose with a diamond spray. Lenata gets back on the helm and scoops up Captain Bunny who is being enthusiastically investigated by Violet. Lenata struggles to take control of the ship – as Kinar shifts away. Kenari makes her way to the hold and decides to light the large pod on fire.

Saphira goes to the hold and hits Kenari with a Charm spell and suddenly all Kenari wants to do is put the fire out. I get into the hold and use Spirit Sense to feel Saphira. I turn quickly and hit her – leaving her staggered. Kenari Doors over to the bilge room for water and discovers that it’s filled with purple goo. She heads up to the deck to look for water. That Charm spell must have been a doozy, because she is a frantic kitty. Of course the flames are starting to run out of control.

Vedis turns back into herself. Starts getting dressed. Melchior runs down the stairs to help out. Saphira pops back to the helm room and hits Lenata with some kind of spell, but Lenata is able to maintain control. The Captain smacks Saphira with a mind blade, Ef Utan casts a grease spell and Saphira and the Captain both wipe out. Lenata briefly loses control of the ship and there’s a loud crack (God Damn It my mast???) I check the hold for sand bags – none – run to the galley and grab water. Fyn is busily prying up green tiles from my deck (why?) and putting them into his bag. He lets loose with a shot, trying to hit an invisible Saphira. Melchior shows up to help me out – I hand him water as I am racing back and forth through the halls pulling water from the galley. There’s mass confusion as some of us are trying to put out the fire and some of the others are trying to catch and stop Saphira.

We get the fire out as Ef Utan flies in – “Is everything OK?” I say yes – as Kenari says “Is anything ever?” and Melchior says “I guess?” . I ask Melchior to check the tanks to make sure they are still intact and start walking through the ship bellowing that anyone left of the crew of the Probe had better surrender immediately. One guy pops out and surrenders and I see three more hiding behind barrels. Turns out these guys were temporary crew – just recently taken on – they don’t know anything about what the Captain was up to and weren’t allowed in the hold. I accept their surrender, threaten them appropriately and put them to work cleaning the mess. Klasath is wandering about trying to figure out what the hell is going on. The fight with Saphira continues in the hold until the little minx (seriously, I staggered her with that punch – she shouldn’t be casting this much) decides to retreat completely.

Fyn is going on about the green dots in the floor, that they may be some kind of teleport aid or something. Kenari and Klasath start disability the pods. Klasath says that the large pod is an Illithid tumero genesis tank that the Illithids use to experiment on beings. As Kenari and Klasath disable the tumero genesis tank – something inside thrashes about and then stops.

With the fire out, the charm spell dissipates. Kenari flips out about the state of her fur. Ef Utan turns the purple goo into a lilac scented soapy foam – Lenata dumps water all over her and then Ef Utan hits her with a wind spell and blows her dry. So the cat feels much better. Ef Utan takes the helm for a while so Lenata can start checking the people in the pods. She determines that they have all been infected by the Illithid. There’s a Uletharan in the group. Ray points it out and says if these guys wake up – kill that one first. It will be the worst one. Lenata spends some time repairing the ship, then switches with Ef Utan who takes over doing some repairs.

We decide to head towards the sun to dispose of the pods. It takes a few days to get over there. When Lenata takes a break from the helm, we take some time to interrogate the dead Captain. We spend some time wrangling over the specific questions to ask the corpse- but the Captain is bound and determined to get this guy’s key to the Citadel of the Plains. The Captain’s corpse tells us his key is hidden 3 inches behind the wooden seahorse. [Fyn knows exactly what he’s talking about. He must have started at it a good bit.] Kenari heads off to my stateroom to get it. Apparently it was trapped, but she comes back with it. The corpse confirms that this is indeed the key. We ask where was he going to deliver the pods – The Tears of Selene in Realm Space. To contact the Illithid they were to take up a stationary orbit at the leading edge of the Trailing Tears. We let the corpse’s spirit go and the Captain carefully cuts his braids off before we send his body into the sun along with all the other pods from the hold. The Captain unbraids the hair and burns it carefully in a brazier. Apparently, this is how the Maenad are to be respected after death. Kenari mutters “sure, she starts a fire and it’s a ritual.” When the hold and the ballast hold are empty, we head to Oerth. I have the four crew members scrub both spaces clean.

I notice that the art has been cut out of the frame in the stateroom – another thing that wasn’t nailed down apparently. I make a note to have the room professionally cleaned and blessed when we get to Greyhawk. I had the flags changed and am simply flying the flags of Sigil and Bral. It takes us three days to reach our destination. I pay the crew members for their time on ship – the full rate – and caution them to remember that they NEVER want to speak of the events that took place here. They run off, looking appropriately grateful to still have their lives. Kenari is messing with the wand that Fyn found in the Captain’s quarters…oh, turns out that its loaded with a Charm spell. Fyn falls and falls hard. Apparently Kenari is the prettiest cat ever.

As we re-group in the 7 Stars warehouse – we hear Ozzy’s old knock on the door. Ef Utan opens it. There stands Tavist Alister Sinache (that ponce – still looking poncy) and the bug, Shintak Taj Pach – who is vastly more covered in sigils and glyphs than I remember. What the hell – I thought those two were off with Kaolin wandering the deep dark ethereal terrorizing those poor souls.

Anya, things are about to seriously start going sideways. Keep yourself safe. Watch your back. I’m keeping an eye on your Uncle, but it turns out he’s pretty capable on his own.

Always,
Captain Etsuriko Chia San Toreneko