Session 30 (15 December 2023)

Location: The great cloud banks of Kuyt (Far Home 0728)

Date: 170–5600

Travellers: Griff Kodiak (gunner), Nogudnyk (steward), Jacobe Kyman (pilot), Ada Windsor (astronavigator)

NPCs: Dr Binyavanga Eromosele, biologist; Artyom Flavelle, billionaire CEO of Harada Corp.

You're kilometres above the ground, suspended by gravitic technology. Two of you are wearing grav harnesses and disguised as feathered birds while another pilots an air/raft. Nearby an armoured skiff full of air-whale poachers is veering away from you, the headless cadaver of its harpooner slumped in the opening of its topside hatch. You decide you're not done with them yet. Coordinating over comms, Nogudnyk swoops down on the skiff, grasps the shoulder straps of the dead harpoonist's parachute, and hefts the bloody corpse aside; Griff swoops in, jamming his oxygen tank through the hatch. He's jury-rigged it with duct tape and a flare to create an improvised explosive device. The two bird-people soar away as the skiff continues its descent. Suddenly it shudders, streaks of light and bits of debris bursting forth from the hatch and other punctures that have just appeared in its hull. A smoke trail stretches out behind as it plummets into a cloud and disappears from sight. Nogudnyk passes their air hose to Griff so he can breathe. There's romance in the air ... or is it just the smell of charred flesh and burning chemicals?

Back on the ground, you're greeted by Dr Eromosele and other SPAWK personnel who are elated to learn of your success in placing tracking devices on four air whales. You mention seeing the poachers but choose to gloss over the details of the engagement — and, specifically, the casualties in the skiff.

As you pull off your kringula / vacc suits and don your civvies once again, Dr Eromosele comes to you with an invitation. One of SPAWK's principal donors, the eccentric billionaire CEO of Harada Corporation, is throwing a lavish party tonight to celebrate the Mid Year holiday. Artyom Flavelle has given millions to save the air whales, and while Dr Eromosele can't reveal the details of your recent success to him — after all, the whole scheme is technically illegal — she knows that he would love to be able to thank you personally for your undisclosed and non-specific contributions to the cause. The gala's being held in the penthouse suite he occupies on the 47th floor of Harada Towers, a high-rise that pokes into Kuyt's thin atmosphere on the periphery of the main habitat dome of Kuyt City. It's a chance to rub shoulders with Kuyt's social elite and partake of some premium-quality booze and nosh.

Kuyt City skyline

You decide to take her up on the offer. Dr Eromosele ushers you into a ground car and whisks you off to the Towers. En route, she explains the conventions of formal wear on this world; it's de rigueur to wear flowing ankle-length robes to such events. Happily, Flavelle has whole closets-full of the things, more than enough to attire a half-dozen impromptu guests. When you arrive, the biologist takes you up to the penthouse and guides you down a hall to a fitness centre where you can use the change rooms. As you follow her, you admire the panoramic views afforded by the building's glass walls. The sounds of celebration — laughter, elegant music, and the tinkling of glasses — reach your eyes from the penthouse suite at the other end of the hallway. Eromosele leaves you with a selection of robes provided by one of Flavelle's servants and rushes off to join the party. You're to follow when you're ready.

Inside the change room, Nogudnyk assumes sartorial direction and guides everyone through their fashion transformation, selecting colours and tailoring suited to each individual. For Griff, it's forest green robes with a charcoal trim and silver highlights; for Jacobe, a rich buttery yellow and black accents; for Ada, basic (classic?) black; and for themself, a deep teal with threads of gold and orange. Make-up and hair products are quickly applied. You stare at each other and yourselves in the tall mirrors: the image you see is a far cry from the rumpled figures sporting the industrial coveralls and jumpsuits you're accustomed to wearing aboard the Dejah Thoris.

Suddenly, shots rings out: bursts of slugthrower fire coming from the penthouse suite. Screams and shouts of panic quickly follow. You turn out the lights in the fitness centre and peer out into the hallway, where you see several figures in street clothes brandishing SMGs. They're rounding up all the partygoers on the floor and corralling them into the suite with threats and gunfire. One of them is moving in your direction, evidently intent on locating any stragglers who've wandered away from the party.

You lay your ambush well. When the gunman pokes his head through the door, you're ready. He's quickly incapacitated. Now you have his SMG and communicator. Through it, you hear the bad guys talking to each other. It sounds like there's about a dozen of them and boss is someone named Sarang. Because it's Mid Year holiday, the building is otherwise empty, so there's no one around to take notice and call for help. In any event, you soon determine that communications to the outside are being blocked, no doubt from a local comms centre in the Tower.

What to do?

You arm yourselves. Somehow, against the odds, Ada has managed to smuggle a body pistol down to the surface. Griff ransacks the cleaning supplies and medicine chest in the gym in order to concoct two makeshift grenades (one frag, one smoke). Jacobe pulls out his dagger. Nogudnyk deploys a needle-tipped accessory on their cybernetic arm. The thug had an extra magazine for the SMG. You're not exactly ready for a shooting war, but it's better than nothing.

You see a group leaving the suite and coming the hallway toward you: two thugs are escorting three partygoers. They pass by the gym and enter the expansive corporate boardroom down the hall. Three of you slip into the corridor to follow while Nogudnyk, slighter than most, clambers into a ventilation shaft that seems to head in the same direction. Soon enough, you have eyes on what's transpiring in the boardroom.

Artyom Flavelle

One of the bad guys has taken a white-haired partygoer aside. The other two are forced to their knees. Peering down through a grill from the overhead ventilation shaft, Nogudnyk hears them clearly. The thug, addressing the white-haired man as Flavelle, asks for the combination to the safe in an adjacent room. Flavelle, looking frightened, stammers and stalls, saying that there's nothing of value to be taken. The thug, looking bored, fires a burst into the chest of one of the kneeling figures and then levels the muzzle at the other. "How many friends you wanna kill tonight, Flavelle?"

Unwilling to witness the death of other innocents, you spring into action. With dagger blade, body pistol, steel gym bar, and hypodermic needle arm, you subdue the two criminals after a brief skirmish in which several potted plants are seriously harmed by SMG fire. You now have three of the weapons. Artyom Flavelle, though still in shock at the brutal slaying of a guest, is thankful for your intervention. He explains that the gunmen told his guests that they were terrorists intent on holding the partiers for ransom, but that their interest in the contents of his safe suggests another, hidden, objective: the theft of corporate secrets.

The communicators you've retrieved from the pseudo-terrorists tell you that there's little time before they figure out what you've been doing. With Artyom's guidance, you soon find yourself outside the security and communications office on this floor. Entering, you find one terrorist at a keyboard and another standing guard. You mow them down. Ada sets to work breaking the electronic jamming put in place.

You've turned the tables on Sarang's "terrorists" and will be able to make contact with the outside world. What will you do? How will Sarang react? What surprises might the "terrorists" have in store for you? Will you be able to rescue Dr Eromosele and the other guests?

Image credits: All images are screengrabs from YouTube videos of AI-generated art.