Taj shows up with her retinue. Welcome, but I’m sure you won’t mind that we all go through the Kenari Protocol now that you’re here. (Hey she remembered!)

*Detect Evil, Aberrations, Psionics and Compulsion – Bio and Heal check by the surgeon

I’d like to be invited onto the Penumbra. Sure, but would you like to see what we killed first? Why wasn’t I informed?

With fabulous but obivously insect oriented ettiqute Melisande addresses the queen bug with all the laboratory results she could need. We enter the med lab and Melisande shows the Illithid lord on the med table with the holo scans. “What do you want to know?”

If we get more than one Illithid lord brain with the node, can we triangulate the location of the Elder Brain?
Could we turn it on enough to create a camoflouge brain scan? What about removing the “node” and turning it into a Species Graft surgery? Mel – “That’s something to research!”

Melisande shows off her surgery methods vs Xixchill methods. Hers can be done in 6-8 hours including recovery.

A xixchill messenger runs up to Fen and hands him a scroll with a wax seal on it with the symbol of a WHEEL on it. Finn opens to read beautiful calligraphy in common.

“We’ve been trying to reach you about your spelljammer’s warranty.” with a locker address in Waterdeep XD

A moderately tall human woman with an armored bodysuit similar to Melisandes show up, looks in, and fades back out again. (Finn notices)

Melisande has a dark sense of humor and an unwavering loathing of Mindflayers so she’s definitely willing to help.

Taj is interested in the tech but she knows it’s only temp here so she’s more interested in what they’re planning to do next. We ask Taj about the Illithid Magic Users:

There was a mindflayer who helped the 7 Stars from the inside during their past campaign. After heavy divination they were able to identify a human sage named Strom Wakeman from Sigil who had concocted an herbal concoction that had allowed him to preserve his consciousness after going through the Illithid change. Met briefly in the hallway of the Overmind complex. Other than that, no idea where he is now.

Could we create an infection for the brain to affect the Overmind instead of a bomb? Might be more effective.

Can hook us up with a scroll to summon Taj or Kattar. Vedis gets two scrolls of word of beckoning.

Drow are at war with Illithids, and if I recall Kenari met one that particularly hated Illithids. Dude with a pretty mace that Kenari hopped around following once. Tavist also has a Drow baby.

A little hockey puck sized thing flies into the room, zips around and hovers above Melisande’s head. “Oh good I’m starting to get them working again.” “Smile for the camera!” She hits a button and then sees the puck’s perspective.

We discuss the possibilities of spells that could be caused Permanent. RESISTANCE

CAT’S GRACE AND BULL STRENGTH MASS SCROLLS

Ask Taj about making Wonderous Items for us to use the Detect Abboration spell at will. (THEY LIVE)

Taj detects Vedis’ sword as being a psionic heavy hitter – a Divine Psionic Relic – The Fang of Sardior. dedicated to the Dragon God of Psionics.

Etsuriko describes where they fought the Overmind before, and Mel says it sounds like the storm in the gap of the Ethereal above the City of the Seven Seraphs. Could the Overmind be setting itself up in the Citadel of Planes?

The Serenity is in drydock getting a refit. Melisande’s ship has big guns that can fire from a bigger distance than ours.

Our crew were happy and incarcerated after the drunken brawls they got into. We should get them out and stash our ships in the Harrowing so we can bring them with us for easy access.

Fin suggests painted mascots on each others ship and gets nicked by a chonker tortise cat.

Ken asks Melisande about a resource for the chronopartical exotic matter and she remembers a lab that made one once before it disappeared. Can we interface the time machine with her ship or the Penumbra?

If the Silver Citadel is where they are creating Fate Eaters, what if we disrupt that and remove their cover from messing with reality?

Githyanki envoy shows up demanding an audience and Taj is off.

Ef Utan and Ella Sorpic meet as Finn tries to hit on her and Ef warns her off.

Could we use Cereberal Parasites as a form of attack? Could we ask the Githyanki?

We gather our cohorts on the ship and move the other ships into the Harrowing, and then head to Oerth and Greyhawk. Melisande quizes the planes people about the Artful Dodger being safe in the Phlow.

Melisande invites Lenata over to learn to pilot the Artful Dodger as Aspodel pilots the Penumbra.

STRATAGIES

1. Can we give the Illithids fleas with Cereberal Parasites?
2. If the Silver Citadel is where they are making Fate Eaters, if we launch an attack that removes their generation will that prevent their cover from doing more to reality without getting attacked by the Fates/Fortunes?
3. Can we make a bomb for the Overmind? What if we infect the Overmind with a disease?

Full genetic scans of all subjects analyzed and added to the medical database.

Anomalies and analysis noted on each individual subject

Subject: Fenelyn

M Human
Augmentations Installed: Dark Vision & Synaptic Accelerator Mk 2 (Wis)
Additional: slight traces of fiendish DNA (Cerebrelith), less than 10% the usual for a tiefling

Subject: Etsuriko

F Human
Augmentation Installed: Dark Vision & Synaptic Accelerator Mk 1 (Dex)

Subject: Kenari

F Pahtra
Augmentation Installed: Synaptic Accelerator Mk 2 (Wis) and Ferocity Species Graft

Subject: Vedis

F Species Unidentified
Augmentation Installed: Synaptic Accelerator Mk 1 and 2 (Wis & Int)
Additional: Markers of external psionic augmentation of her genetics

Subject: Lenata

F Aasimar (Planetar)
Augmentation Installed: Maze Mind, Sonic Vocalyzer (Harmonic)
Additional: Genetic ancestor of Acting Captain Melisande, confirmed,. Undetermined number of generations.

Subject: Ef Utan

M Human
Augmentation Installed: Adv. Darkvision Capacitors & Synaptic Accelerator – MK 2 (Str)
Additional: Genetic ancestor of Ella Sorpic., Undetermined number of generations

Anya,
You’d think I’d be better about writing. How hard is it to put pen to paper anyway? But here I am. Playing catch up. Before we leave Bral, I will send this to you via House Seven Stars mail. Never mind the multi-verse attempting to fall apart or Illithid incursions, there is money to be made and mail to send. I love the Dragon’s (and the Bug’s) single minded determination sometimes.

After the nightmare session on Gromm, we were able to find a guide who would take us the Face of Jira so we could cast the ritual spell to find our own Jammer. They remember me here, so that smooths the way and a suitable Hadozee guide is found. He is salty and bossy. But I said Hadozee so that’s me being redundant. His name was Yaris and the Temple there highly recommended him so we’re willing to assume he’s competent. It’s funny though when he realizes we aren’t exactly incompetent. Not that he looked impressed or anything. Just not angry. Though Ef Utan struggles with silence necessary to move through the Gromm forest (a really remarkable place – must go back). Not that I loved the giant snails. We saw one that was easily 12 tons! We manage to avoid hippos, ant swarms, dinosaurs herded by giant 6 armed Gorallians. There was a lot.
After 4 days of trudging through the forest, we leave the Aurora shield and enter Kaiju territory. Immediately upon exiting the shield we run into Dream Spiders. Kenari wasn’t having any of that so she pulls us all into the ethereal so we can walk around them.

We shift back, trudge some more and hit a cliff. At the bottom is a beautiful lake and (traditionally) in the center of the lake is an island with a Gojira statue. Because putting the statue on land would be too easy obviously. Yaris tells us that is the Face of Jira. After some fast negotiating with Yaris we get him to agree to wait for us for 3 days (in case this ritual doesn’t work and we need an escort back).

After climbing down the ridge, Fen directs us on how to build a raft. Note: I say he directed. He did not build. Ef Utan (with a rebreather), Lenata and the Captain (with Life Bubble) are nominated to swim down. Lenata casted a detect object and was able to find a large enough chunk of amber for our needs. Fen joins the Captain and Ef Utan on the swim down and Ef Utan ends up using Diamond Spray to cut it out of the rock it is in.
I am up on the raft with Melchior, Kenari and Lenata and we hear a giant ripping sound above us. A hole opens in the sky. A Achaek’ek ancient mantis god kaiju strides through the hole. Looks kinda like Taj Pach really. But bigger. By a lot. The water churns up. Lenata almost falls off, Melchior does fall off. He nonsensically mutters “it’s my mantis god and I’ll cry if I want to” as he swims back, but he lucks out when Kenari choses to benign transposition with him. I toss out a rope to help the swimmers back on the raft.

Kenari spies through the rift in the sky a place that resembles the Outlands.

While paddling to the island, Lenata fills us in on the religious history of the giant mantis. I do like to know all about the giant things before they stomp me to death. It’s important to be fully informed.

We hit the island and are able to climb to safety (relatively) as there are shrieking sounds ripping across the sky. A number of people experience sonic discomfort. Kenari (quick thinking) pulls a candle out of her bag of all the things and we make ear plugs. We plane shift to the ethereal and sit back to watch the battle. It’s a full Kaiju fight – a Gojira and the Mantis. We discuss the salability of Kaiju body parts, what happens to puke in the ethereal. Regular conversation stuff. Eventually Gojira drives off the Mantis and settles in for a nap. I nap too. All the way through the casting of the ritual and the appearance of our own Jammer!! [IRL – Covid – I tapped out of game – no notes]

The smalljammer is amazing though. And it’s clearly alive – but we have no way of talking to it yet. Lenata and the Captain head to the helm room and we start travelling (it’s so fast!). Vedis is attempting to commune with the ship while at one of the stations in the helm room – pushes a configuration of squiggly bits and up on the weather deck – where ALL the rest of us are – the ladders lock, the hatches close (with arcane locks)! I encourage everyone to tie off. Just cause. Kenari manages to pick open the lock – the halls are thick with webs and fog. Some of the interior doors have closed too. The deck is filled with poison air and I end up carrying your Uncle to his room through the webs. Kenari yells at Vedis “what are you doing?” While also point out that it is not SHE who is pushing random buttons. Vedis pushes something else and the ship shoots magic missiles – so Kenari marks that one with a grease pencil. I get Fen into a room and go back and get Melchior – dropping him in a room too. Kenari gets the ship to stop – she pulls Vedis away from the console and tells her “Do not touch anything!” “Fine.” Kenari: “Sucks doesn’t it?”

We decide to head to Bral. We have no supplies so it’s the random trail rations people are carrying. Lenata casting a food & water spell once a day and my endless flask of saki versus whatever alcohol everyone else has been hoarding. Turns out it’s a lot. We stay drunk for the entire time it takes us to get to Bral. It does – in my drunken stupor – eventually occur to me to slap a House of 7 Stars flag under the Spelljoined flag on this beauty. So we hit port and aren’t immediately engaged. We manage to get off and stumble our way to The Burnt Tail to get some ACTUAL FOOD. The Captain and Fen stay behind to watch the ship and to do the port paperwork.

After food (oh delicious dumplings) and arranging to have a bunch of food sent to the jammer we head to Luigi’s but we are intercepted by the City Guard. Someone wants to talk to us. That someone is Diadam Cartan. So – crap. We get escorted in and he instantly starts with “tell me about the warship.” Ef Utan objects. It’s not a warship. It’s a cargo ship. Cartan is unhappy – he doesn’t like anything new. He wants the Fireball Alliance to study it. We all say NO. He goes on for a bit about potential dangers. I realize where he’s heading and I do a thing. Basically (oh shit is Tavist going to try to kick my ass for this – do not tell him Anya) I let Cartan know that we are under the umbrella of House of 7 Stars and they are ultimately responsible for our actions on the Rock of Bral. He is actually satisfied by this declaration and lets us go! As we’re heading out of the castle and down the street, we realize we are being followed by a ferret and a ninja. So I announce our destination loudly. I don’t want to make these guys work too hard.

We get to Luigi’s but it turns out he’s off. I didn’t know he took days off. This may be the first time I walked in and he wasn’t here. So we head back to the dock where it turns out our Jammer is causing quite the stir. Fen and the Captain are trying to keep onlookers at bay. A contingent of House of 7 Stars guards show up and ask me I wanted them deployed. (Seriously, I got fired right?) I put them on guard duty and do the same to the 8 monks who show up from my monastery. Together the crowd is pushed back. Kenari has a brief conversation with Sandyfoot. We see Adriana Shipwright, Serig Tomigjack, an Honor Guard around Lady Serena and an elven gentlemen. We board the ship and as I am trying to talk to it, I hear faintly “bloodfist”.

The crowd stays to watch, because this is Bral and Penumbra is something new. While we are hanging out, I also see several Merchant Lords from the Council – I make sure to write down who and point it out to Fen. Tavist will want to know. Maybe if I come up with some good gossip he will overlook my trading on his name? I see the Dragon Lady there too and trade bows. Kenari works the crowd a little but doesn’t come up with much.

Waiting for Luigi to return to the bar, we have a long discussion about the ship’s potential name. It takes a bit but we eventually settle on “Penumbra.” Vedis spends some time investigating the ship controls and realizes that they are psionically active. So the controls shift based on the needs at the moment. We get some shipments – which need inspecting. The House of 7 Stars kit included a still and some very detailed instructions.

After some more settling in and organizing of deliveries and a lengthy conversation about baths – we all head to Luigi’s. Kenari: “Hey Luigi, stop if you heard this one – what do a drow, a mindflayer and an beholder all have in common?” Luigi: “That’s easy – they are all from the Underdark.” Ef Utan: Come on. The underdark? That’s it? We’re going to Greyhawk. Luigi: Commodore – control your crew – they need to calm down. Captain Vedis invites Luigi for a private tour on Penumbra. He agrees and we take off to get away from Bral (and the spying).
Luigi to Vedis: I must admit a small amount of pride that one of mine made it through. Luigi goes on to explain that the Rule of Three has been satisfied. We have the ship, the others made it to the loop, the circle has been closed. “Now the real work begins.”

To you Anya, I am happy we’re just NOW getting serious about saving the multiverse. That’s inspiring.

Luigi goes on to explain that the weak spot where they are working will set off a domino effect. The linch pin from our side is Oerth – specifically Greyhawk. We have to get there and cause chaos. [Done.] We can’t let Greyhawk fall. Fen thinks to ask who our best point of contact there might be. Luigi tells us we will have to head into the Deeper Dark and talk to Eclavdra. He also tells us to talk to Taj Pach & Tavist about the Wizard Illithid we’ve seen in so many visions. The Spelljoined with tattoos are “disassociated from the webs of fate”. Also that the Illithid are avoiding the fates by using chronomancers and using (and breeding) fate-eaters to clean up loose threads. Also, this ship is hard for them to see. He lets slip that there is an Elder Brain on Oerth – so we will have to deal with that.

When Lenata asks about getting the Drow to work with us – Luigi says “the young man from Dis will have to prove his worth.” [Your uncle’s gift of speech vs. the drow? This will be entertaining to watch.] Luigi tells us also that “the ship knows where you need to go and what you need on the way.” But that “you’re it. The speed at which the fall is happening is accelerating.” So no pressure. After some more conversation (drow etiquette) and vague reassurances “you will get the weapons you need” – The Captain views the flames Luigi has set to dancing in the cargo bay. Us on the deck of this ship, the chronomancer and her group surrounded by a web of threads that lead to looms, the crew from the future standing on their starship talking to a ghost.

Not just any ghost Anya. Captain Theridon.

A ghostly semi-translucent figure of a Drow in weird sci-fi armor suddenly appears on the ship. Etsuriko acknowledges it with a half bow. It doesn’t seem to notice as it turns on its heels and walks through her and fades out.
Kenari jumps down from the tail and does a hero landing as Ef transforms into an air elemental and floats down to the deck to ask Etsuriko what’s up with the ghost. We see more evidence of a larger battle before we
make it out of the Boneyard. We see the hightech Elve ship again as it blows away dozens of Scro ships. Between Ef and Kenari we pick out details of parts of ships, helms, etc and letters of their Orc god. The wreckage is real
but images of the battles are ghostly.

As we approach the Tears of Selune we head towards The Hive. There is a sizeable disruption as Lenata navigates the shockwaves from a massive explosion on the main laboratory asteroid. KA-DOOSH!

As the shockwave settles down something doesn’t feel right. There’s something off. It’s almost like a pulsing sort of feeling. Lenata asks the ship and gets an impression of confusion. Melchior rolls out of bed
and heads up on deck to see a chunk out of the asteriods where the main labs were. Kenari wonders if it’s a pulsing feeling if we can figure out where it’s pulsing from? She asks Lenata and Ef and between them
they figure out it’s coming out from beyond the nest towards us. Could the Pulse have caused the explosion?

Off beyond the rocks and moving towards us quickly is something vaguely round not with a purple effect like the Illithids, but more of a cold silver burst and an odd Enterprise/Defiant looking ship comes towards us.
It’s FAST. Lenata does evasive manuvers with the Penumbra – the other ship is a 1/4 size of our ship.

Meanwhile… Melisande (Queen of Swords) pilots their ship through the wave full speed and just manages to avoid crashing into the asteroids as the Penumbra dodges. The planet below is vaguely Gollarion like as their ship comes to a
screeching halt. Internal comms are out and 3 survivors out of the 5 skeleton crew. She attempts her telepathic bonds and cannot detect the rest of her mates. She checks internal coms to see if she can get them online.
“Members of the Artful Driftdodger, please respond!” “Radar Love, talk to me!” No response. Some lower level crew respond. Patra (MerHiss), Ella and Five are survivors. She checks with ship sensors to see if there’s
anything recognizable around about the manta ray ship or the asteroids around. This matches the place where KaChak stayed behind…

Kenari and Etsuriko look at the ship as we pull aside and Kenari elbows Etsuriko. “Hey, you wanna? It’s right there…”

Melisande believes she recognizes some people on deck and tells her people to stand down. “Figures, you know everybody…” “That’s why I’m the Captain! We’re in a lower tech situation so we might have to finagle this.”

Kenari, Etsuriko and Ef Utan appear on the bridge as “Asshole Alert!” blares across the bridge and Melisande pushes the button to shut it off. “Hi I’m Captain Melisande. It’s Kenari, right? How’s the gun?”

“LOVE IT! I’ve even got a plasma weapon now! So what are you doing here?”

We rode out a phasmic anomaly and my crew and I with our multiple ships were shot off into different realms. Can you tell me the date?" She discovers that her ship can’t orient to the date as it’s Pre-Gap. No injuries here other than
bumps and bruises. We didn’t blow up the lab, we’re just riding the wave. How can I help? We need to get this ship into dock before Taj and her family try to attack you.

Lenata messages Taj to let her know that the Penumbra is us. Kenari hops over to their ship and grabs some flags to wave to let the incoming ships know we’re ok.

Melisande messages the Hive about KaChak but doesn’t get a response… she does get a ping from his communicator though.

Taj’s big fluffed up insect buddy pops up on the Penumbra. “Are they with you, Finn? Do you vouch for them on this ship?” (Claws are full, sent Katar)

Melisande grovels as Katar appears on her bridge. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to offend!”

“Is this with you?” Kenari says “Yes, we’re friends and all good here.” Katar ports back as the two ships pull into the docking bay of the asteroid to find chaos of dust and foul smells. Whatever it was it took out one of the major research labs.

Melisande takes Five and MerHiss to come with her. “Woaah! Another Catfolk! Where you from? I’m from the High Mountain Clan. Me I’m from Mulhorand. Nice to see another Catfolk out and about.”

“The bugs are in a bad place right now but otherwise you’re not welcome. Please stay put or keep within your ship radiuses. "

We check out Melisande’s ship as we talk. Ooo you’ve got an Armory? Vedis does Detect Psionics and Melisande lights up like an Xmas Tree. Vedis notices that Melisande is an Aasimar as well and is most likely a
descendent of Lenata. We share stories of the most vicious attacks we’ve done over drinks. Melisande asks to run some genetic test on Lenata in the Med Bay and Lenata agrees.

Melisande notices suddenly appearing two more emotional presences approx 35 ft outside the ship. Those are Mindflayers… “TENTACLE FACES! 5 O’CLOCK!” as she points to the port window behind her. She steps over to the
viewport and sees a pair of them and one is the bigger one like an Illithid Lord. “Illitharid.”

Finn left the ship and went to the bar past the sentries.

Vedis uses a Mind Thrust at the smaller Illithid but it made its save. WILL SAVES. it mind blasts us for a moment then levitates across from us outside the window. Etsuriko pops behind the Illithard and thumps it with a Quivering Palm that kills it dead. KADOOSH!

Lenata hits the Illithid with Holy Smite and blinds him for one round. Kenari flicker steps on top of the ship and snipes the Illithid with a Dragon Pistol. Melchior moves out and shoots it with his guns. Ef moves into
position with a wand of Magic Missile.

Melisande creates a Polar Vortex 20×40 cylinder of ice and calamari in a blender in the air around it. She releases it and it goes SPLAT on the ground.

Finn shows up with some liquor wholesalers. “Am I the only one doing my job around here?” as he waits for someone to cover it up.

Kenari tells Mel as we cart the bodies away that we need plenty of skin samples for the Detect Abomination spell. Maybe some vials of blood too? The correct measurement is “trash bags.” How many trash bags of illithid guts does it take to affect a Scry spell?

We go into the Med Bay as Mel lays down the corpse to do the analysis as it lights up. They are bigger, stronger, more evolved, more like network nodes between regular Illithids and the Illithid Brain.

Kenari gets her skin and blood samples as Mel gleefully dissects the Illithid.

Lenata wonders if the “network node” could be used against the Illithid to detect where the Brain is, to misdirect the Illithids, etc.

Melisands offers to psionically link us all (Vedis, Lenata, Kenari agree)

We could put Melisande’s Ship into the Harrowing to dock there as a secure place that we can access if we need. Can the ship go through the Flow safely?

Mel’s ship has an AI but isn’t alive like ours. The Nomad is here. The Serenity is expected to arrive within a week or two.

Word comes through the bug guard that Melchior has been summoned. We need help in the Disaster Zone. Melchior has been deputized to help Taj’s clan as law enforcement.

Up to Level 8 surgeries on Melisande’s Ship. 1 hour or so.

We discussed our tattoos and how they keep us unstrung from Fate. Melchior’s gun keeps him from being found. Could it be that they are tracking us because of Finn and Etsuriko? What about Finn’s Illithid tech tattoo There’s something funky going on here. Four of us have tattoos. Finn has the Psionic Circuitry. Melchior has the gun. That leaves Etsuriko who has heard the voice from the Lady of Pain. Vedis gets paranoid about Etsuriko being trackable. Kenari couldn’t find anything electronic. Vedis spends time scanning for Psionic detection while we travel. Metacreativity and Psychoportation being the Tiefling/Finn with the Illithid Circuitry. And a bit of clairsentience in the circuitry.

Finn remembers that Tavis is originally from Greyhawk with a half-Drow lovechild back there (four of swords). Ef, Vedis and Lenata make Perception checks. We make our way to the edge of the Crystal Sphere when they for a flash of a moment get a vision of an insane Cat’s Cradle of threads across the field of view with titanic Looms that is are feeding out of for a moment. They realize they see for a moment a number of threads running through the bridge and the ship 1/2 inch in diameter or so. Six of them end with us as a chill runs up their spine.

Kenari and Ef sit on the tail as we smoke a bowl and Kenari sees three dots in the distance. “Huh what do you make of that?” Kenari passes the bowl and nudges Ef. Let’s get back to the bridge and step on the gas, shall we?

Lenata hits the gas… it needs an energy manipulator to work like that. A psion could fly the ship! “Reflux saves all around!” Twice as fast now. As we pull away and the ship portal dilates closed, the dots grow larger moving fast and hit the portal before it closes. Arrowhead shaped and metal plated. When they hit the phlogiston Lenata has to make a reflex save as they explode into fireballs. JETS! The ship is rocked as Etsuriko flips and lands on the ground. Lenata maintains her grip on the helm as Kenari and the captain waiver slightly. Lenata stabilizes as we surfed the explosion wave through the flow towards Realmspace. 8-9 days instead of 3 weeks.

Lenata talks to the ship and finds it can’t hold this speed for long. You can sacrifice life force in order to pilot in a last-ditch situation.

Etsuriko works with Finn on the still and meditates to commune with the ship.

Vedis prays to Sartior the Psidragon. Doh we’re in the Flow, gods can’t hear us here.

Kenari tries to see if anyone is following us, but she doesn’t see anything.

HALFLING WEED EDIBLE GUMMIES. PHLOWRIDERS! ALL MY FRIENDS LOVE A PHLOWRIDER on those long trips in the flow!

As we head past Garden the next planet in is Discworld with a massive mountain in the middle. World of Beholders. Here is a debris field that appeared here 15-20 years ago.

As we go through the asteroid field, Kenari spies a ship amidst the debris field that’s like a Klingon with a cloaking device. LARGE Elven ship – sort of. Not present-day Elves though when you look at the weapons on the thing. INS Stormbreaker. I see another sort of apparition appear, this time though it’s not just one ship. I see the big Elvenish ship and a green/yellow Smalljammer. Can’t quite identify quite what they are as they recede into the distance. There’s an odd smoketrail as a missile from the Elvish ship explodes into a giant double mushroom cloud as bits and pieces of the ships fly towards us as the debris field. The manifestations are large and similar to Haunts. “Traumas of the past” The debris field is haunted and known as The Boneyard. 2/3 of the way through – Vedis and Etsuriko are hit with intense waves of nausea as space flexes for a moment. Rest of us a brief moment of nausea. We see the ghostly apparitions again. This time from the other side perspective as we see 3 approaching craft with a missile coming towards us and the Elven ship/Smalljammer in the distance.

Similar but larger version of the Goblin Blades during the Inhuman Wars. These are more like the craft who pursued us and blew up in the Flow. The missile arrives and things go white. It fades and we get this fucked up feeling like someone is watching us. (which is different then when?)

A ghostly semi-translucent figure of a Drow in weird sci-fi armor with a gun suddenly appears on the ship. DIBS ON THE GUN! Kenari called dibs!

Vedis with a migraine makes her way to the deck to look down at the crowd gathering around the ship. “Beauty, isn’t it?”

Ef navigates the crowd to get us through to the ship as we all board and prepare to leave.

10 fighter types show up and look up at the captain. “Detail from 7 stars warehouse. How would you like us to deploy?” Between them and Etsuriko’s monks they move everyone back.

Sleight of Hand – One pouch with 8 gp in it. Small roughly hewn carved figure in wood that looks like a bear with a small, folded piece of parchment with colored thread. “Daddy this is for you.” How sweet.

Etsuriko and Ef Utan scan the shipments coming in. An odd shipment for Finn comes in. Sand? A still? Worst case he makes a lemon scented cleaner for the ship.

The ship is OK with everyone and mostly OK with Melchior. It has a Shield spell that it projects, and it can rotate Shield points with a crew action. Panels are mostly “Intent” based.

We talk about what to do next. Talk to Luigi? Get our crew back from the Tears of Selune? Then what? Greyhawk sounds good as that’s access to more of the groups of 3. Also access to Sigil. What about the Citadel of the Planes? We do have the key.

Lenata needs to commune with the Prime again so we can narrow it down. Finn starts talking about Azmodeus and Lloth and we’re all DUUUUUUDE.

A scruffy orc girl comes by and says he will be tending bar this evening. “Fat Vegas Glen Campbell?” – Melchior after he’s retired

We walk into the bar and slap some gold on the bar and say “Hey Luigi stop me if you heard this one before! What do a Beholder, a Drow and a Mind Flayer have in common?” Easy, they all live in the underworld.
He takes the gold and casts Cone of Silence on Kenari as she makes rude gestures at him in sign language. Vedis invites him to join us on the ship later to talk. We go out from the Rock and discuss inside.

“Small bit of pride that one of mine made it all the way.” Above us 3 sun images wobble and resolve into giant candle flames but dim like through a fog. “By this point you’ve seen the pieces of the puzzle. But now you have the ship – (one of the lights brightens) and the others have reached The Loom (the 2nd one brightens) and far in the future the Unity of Rings has been achieved and the circle has been closed. Now the real work begins. You’ve seen some of the alternatives to our world.”

The major image changes to shows some of the worlds we’ve been to and spreads out like a rainbow. A wall of black oily shit starts to obscure and cover one after the other. “It’s a matter of simple survival. You’re one of
the three groups that have been made it. The rule of three has been satisfied. But, the link between the alternates, the weak spot, the spot they’re focusing their effort on….” the image forms a familiar planet. “The lynchpin is the planet Oerth – Greyhawk.”

The major threat in Greyhawk is in the Deeper Dark. As to allies, your best allies are going to be the Drow. As to the Illithid Wizard… ask the one you call Mamma Bug and her scaly sidekick. Tavist?

The tattoos are what keeps us free from Fate.

The illithids are using the chronomancers and breeding Fate Eaters.

So do we cold call the Drow or find a guide or what?

The images change back to the 3 flames. Vedis notices that when she looks close, she can pick an image out of each of the planes. One of them is us on the deck of our ship. One is the Parasol Patrol surrounded by a web of
threads in the Loom. The third shows a a crew in a conference room on a starship as they talk to a human looking figure accept that they’re translucent/ghost like. It has a vase in its hand resting on the table. As it turns
you realize the ghost is of Finn’s brother and Etsuriko’s former captain, Theradon (the Death Card).

CYBERWARE TECHNOLOGY GUIDE. STARFINDER GUIDE. – BIOWARE??

 

New ship gets a Wow reaction as we docked the thing. Both group’s names are associated with the ship due to the rumor mill. Finn and Vedis went back to the ship to keep onlookers and gawkers away. We discuss our plans with Luigi and the possibility of a joke:

“Hey, what do a beholder, a Drow and a Mind Flayer have in common?”

We make our way out of Shou Town around 9 bells and the streets are busy. Around the corner and facing us are 6-8 city guard and in front of them is DiaDan Cartan, advisor to the King. He smiles. Outstanding I had heard you had come to dock and made an alliance between 7 Stars and the Spelljoined. Since I gather the meal is done, would you care to join me for some conversation?

We sigh and march through the city over the land bridge to the Castle Skyview. We are taken to a smaller parlor room in the castle. Two guards remain out in the hall. Cartan pulls out a scroll and ink at his desk and asks about the warship. Is the Spelljammer a warship? “It’s a legend and not one I’d like to encounter again.” – Cartan. “It sounds like something the Fireball Alliance should study.” NOPE.

Etsuriko explains that 7 Stars has the Spelljoined under contract and takes full responsibility for our actions. Kenari drinks some POTENT wine and avoids the need to speak my mind and the truth.

Kenari pours what remains of the Truth Wine into her wine flask as Ef helps distract Cartan.

Etsuriko sums up and says, “Ok then can we go now?” (sigh) Yes, you can go.

We are being followed by a small brown ferret. The other we notice in the shadows is a ninja. “A hedge of ninjas!”

Ferret has leather collar with silver oak leaf on it as it cleans its whiskers. Elven? Kenari offers to give it a ride and a snack, but it declines. Etsuriko sends asks a monk to send a messenger to Luigis when we get there so we can ask them to get supplies.

We head to Luigi’s bar. He’s not on duty or available at the moment as one of the human backups is tending the bar. We order a round and find Luigi worked last night. We leave a message for him from Vedis and have our drinks and leave. As we get to the dry dock area there is quite a crowd.
Our ship is bigger than an Elven Warbird apparently.

Kenari feels something tugging at her belt. I reach down to grab and grab air. Sandyfoot twirls my bag around his fingers. You’re getting lazy! So, when are you going to give me a tour of your ship? Come on dude, cut me some slack and be honest with me. What do you want? So rude! Let me know when you feel better and take a bath why don’t you? Dude’s just bitter I called him on his BS.

We notice some particular faces: Erdonna Shipwright, shipmistress of Braal. Meridon Sandyfoot. Serig Tomajoch, mayor of Gif town. Honor guard of Lady Serena and Marion Silmara, etc. Etsuriko asked for an honor guard from the monestary to keep people away.

Finn is out front trying to sway the crowd. No sign of the captain.

Etsuriko greets the ship and she gets a whisper of “Bloodfist” in Shou.

We make our way inside the ship and lay dibs to various rooms while Lenata goes to introduce herself to the Helm of the Smalljammer and attempts to pilot is back to the Hive. Kenari goes up to the Weather deck to be a scout while Vedis decides to press all the buttons on the console in the Helm room. “Let it be known that Kenari wasn’t the one pressing all the buttons tonight.” Vedis runs her hand over the console and gets the feeling that “this feels right” as she presses a button.

There’s a click from over on the side from the closed hatch with the ladder. It’s arcane locked. Kenari unlocks it and sees thick webs covering the ladder down and a fog filling the interior corridor below me. Kenari flicker steps back to the helm and feels like she went the wrong way for a second before ending up in the helm room.

Vedis swears she hears something from outside the doors in the hallway.

Ef messages Vedis and asks her to reverse whatever she did.

Ef changes into an air elemental down the hall swearing that the room has changed. Swears he saw a weird cluster of lights sparkling down the hallway.

Vedis presses more buttons, no discernable effect.

Ef notices that the air is turning bad fast. Stinking cloud effect. Finn wretches over the side of the ship as Etsuriko wrinkles her nose and Melchior coughs slightly.

Etsuriko grabs Finn and weaves through the webs and smoke with Finn over her shoulder.

Lenata feels a weird buzzing feeling as she’s piloting. From below the main window a spear sized magic missile goes WOOSH. Kenari quickly marks the button.

Vedis presses more buttons, and the doors change. Kenari tries to study the console but it’s a magical construct she doesn’t fully understand. Etsuriko dumps Finn in a bedroom. A large mouth appears in the ceiling and proceeds to mutter gibberish and disappears.

Ef sees another cluster of lights as he moves towards the bridge and Vedis messages that she needs him for the console. Ef wooshes through the crack in the door and forms inside the room below the command deck just in time to see the mouth disappear.

“Welcome to the party! (hurk) – Finn
“Who is that! What is that? I’m just going to leave.” – Ef

Etsuriko apologizes to the ship as she attempts to make her way back to Melchior.

Kenari attempts a piano chord of buttons as she mutters “This might do it!”

Kenari pulls Vedis back from the console as everything goes back to normal. “Don’t touch anything!” As Vedis pouts Kenari goes “Sucks, doesn’t it?”

Ef shows up on the bridge to see Kenari keeping Vedis from touching the console in prime role reversal.

Ef figured out that Vedis triggered the ships guards and ward effects. We study the ship as the weeks pass on the way to Rock of Braal.

We survive on Ef’s Arven Rations (lambdas bread), Melchior’s Murlyn’s Spoon of Gruel, Kenari’s whiskey and Lenata creating Food and Water. Melchior teaches us all to Boot Scoot Boogie as we’re drunk and high.

We enter Spiral Space and get to Braal. Lenata and Ef greet the harbor master as they’re the least drunk. The rest of us go arm in arm to find food as we’re trashed. We look at bad street food as Etsuriko says
“No we’re going to a restaurant!” Finn assumes the carry-all position as he expects Etsuriko to carry him. “There goes Finn, the Ass of Braal.”

We drunkenly stumble in the Burnt Tail at the beginning of lunch rush. Etsuriko orders a lot of food as Ef pays the man. Finn talks loud and slowly “We’re going to her room, and WE ARE GOING TO EAT.” as Etsuriko carries him through the restaurant.