Session 43 (19 April 2024)

Location: Karth, desert moon orbiting the blue gas giant Tabernas in the Mendezo-Eeren system (Halcyon 2022)

Date: 324–5600

Travellers: Griff Kodiak (ex-marine gunner), Nogudnyk (athlete-entertainer, steward), Jacobe Kyman (ex-drifter pilot), Ada Windsor (ex-scout astronavigator), Dr Jaxxon Fomstep (physician), Sasha Danlami (scientist, comms)

[A note to readers: pleased be advised that this blog contains spoilers to Joel Hines' excellent Desert Moon of Karth. Read no further if you hope to experience the delight of playing this superb Mothership scenario.]

You're aboard a cramped passenger module being freighted to the top of the space elevator that will carry you down to the surface of the desert moon of Karth. Your fellow passengers include Manian administrative and military personnel rotating on duty (bored), prospectors of varying levels of experience (naïve, jaded, or desperate, as the case may be), and a few ecstatics seeking some kind of spiritual experience in the desolate wastes (excited, dreamy-eyed). You engage several in conversation. An enthusiastic young man named Hindal tells you of his goal to make contact with a spiritual conservationist group he has heard of called the Rangers. A veteran prospector named Wyna tells you how she's returning for another hunt for coral dust, despite three companions having perished on a previous one. She offers some advice on what to do when a sandsquid attacks.

After a white-knuckle transfer to the top of the space elevator, you find yourselves in a gleaming white-and-silver environment — ancient advanced technology, now sullied somewhat by the presence of callow Manian soldiers and grubby prospectors. You pay the 1 KCr entry tax and in less than half an hour the elevator deposits you on the surface of Karth. The doors slide open and you squint to protect your sight from the blazing sun. Around the base of the space elevator sprawls Larstown (pop. 1,100), a wretched hive of scum and villainy if there ever was one. The heat of the sun, the smells of cardamom and fish, and the braying of camels assail your senses. A rough grid of ramshackle buillings surrounds a central plaza. As you make your way into the streets, you are accosted by a beggar (whose offers to serve as guide you ignore) and witness a gun duel between two men, ending in the inglorious death of one of them. (At least Jacobe makes a tidy sum betting on the outcome.) Such is the nature of this place.

While Ada inquires about renting or buying camels, the rest of you enter the Admiral Grace Inn — Marie-Eve's last known location, according to her parents — and speak with the innkeeper, the cantankerous and elderly Mackey Falk. He remembers the young anthropologist fondly and recalls that she left without notice; it was in fact someone from the governor's staff who came around to settle her bill and collect her belongings. You also take note of his antipathy toward androids and make a mental note to propose to purchase the brain of an android that Falk has in his possession following an unfortunate incident at the inn.

Signs point you toward Governor Steig Tanaka as the next step in your investigation. But how to approach the daughter of the famous Lars Tanaka, who discovered how to access the moon and founded the town that bears his name? Discretion is advised ....

Image credits: Larstown street scene by Logan Stahl.