Session 51 (28 June 2024)

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

Date: 328–5600

Travellers: Nogudnyk (steward), Jacobe Kyman (pilot), Griff Kodiak (gunner), Torka Jax (security)

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

You are the guests of Captain Jonas Kelly, whose ship The Catherizer is stranded near the ship graveyard on the desert moon of Karth. He takes counsel with you under an awning that extends from the ship's hull and protects you from the harsh sun. His two lieutenants, Moira (keen eyed, cunning, ponytailed) and Taiko (massive, muscled, and thuggish) stay silent but watch you carefully. After downing shots of a decent whiskey, you get down to business. Kelly and crew have been grounded for nearly two weeks now. They have a hold full of valuable cargo but no way to get it off-world. Crew morale is diminishing by the hour and supplies are running low. The problem is that Kelly has lost the ancient access medallion that allowed The Catherizer to escape destruction by the orbital platforms circling the moon. It was attached to his wrist when a wily old three-eyed sandsquid rose out of the dunes and bit his arm clean off at the shoulder. Kelly readily admits the whole affair was his own fault: he was joyriding on his favourite grav cycle at the time, despite having been forewarned of the dangers of operating such tech in the open desert. Everyone knows that strong electromagnetic fields attract the monsters. (Moira's expression reveals that the captain's stupidity in this respect has really pissed her off.) 

Kelly needs that medallion back, or his ship is going to join the other wrecks in the graveyard. He wants to hunt Old Three Eyes down and rip the medallion from its guts. But his crew aren't the squid hunting types: desertcraft is not their forte. He sought help from the Rangers but they refused: they revere the sandsquid. It's said they even know how to steer them across the moon like giant steeds! As for the Dawnseekers, they exhibited little interest in anything outside their compound (aside from possible organ donations from his crew). Larstown is out of the question: as known smugglers, they'd be arrested on sight. He wonders if you're up to the task. As a reward, he can get you and any coral dust you have off the moon without paying the exorbitant export duties levied by the Manians. 

You ponder the offer. It occurs to you that having an operational spacecraft at your disposal would mean rapid transportation to the strange anthill-like structure to the northeast that you assume is the destination of the freed seedmind and, therefore, of Asmod as well. (It turns out that the pirates saw both fly by their camp earlier that day, near dawn. It looked to them like the flying man was gradually losing speed and altitude. Several sandsquid, attracted by the anti-grav belt he was evidently using, were following in his wake, periodically breaching to flail at him with their tentacles.) You decide to help Kelly in return for a lift.

A wreck in the ship graveyard on Karth.

You undertake a quick reconnaissance of the ship graveyard, hoping to encounter some of the Rangers said to regularly frequent the place and take advantage of their familiarity with the sandsquid. No luck. Instead, you are attacked by flying manta-ray-like creatures, one of which wraps itself around Torka's head and tries to strangle him. Nogudnyk lays hands on the thing and telempathically transmits powerful feelings that cause it to flee in fear (after voiding its bowels on the normally spotless outfit of the ex-navy man). Torka, Griff, and Jacobe proceed to lay waste to the rest with their guns. 

Returning to The Catherizer, you develop a plan for immediate execution: there's no time to waste. You decide to lure the squid into a nearby box canyon in the foothills to the west and trap it, sealing off its retreat by using explosives to bring down a landslide across the entrance. As bait, you'll use Kelly's souped-up grav cycle. Jacobe, the most accomplished driver among you, takes the handlebars; Torka volunteers to ride behind as a second set of eyes. The afternoon shadows are getting long when you're ready to put the plan into execution. Jacobe and Torka set out, zig-zagging over the dunes. It's not long before telltale undulating ripples appears on the desert surface: a sandsquid approaches. It breaches, tentacles grasping. You're in luck: it's Old Three Eyes himself! [Determined by the Die of Fate.] 

A sandsquid breaching.

Jacobe steers for the box canyon, pushing the engine to its limits, with the monster in close pursuit. Torka taunts it with shotgun blasts. [Three rounds of opposed movement rolls and squid attacks.] Success! You draw the enraged creature into the box canyon, where Kodiak's explosions trap it behind a wall of stone.

Now it's Nogudnyk's turn: poised on the canyon edge, they wait until the angry sandsquid rears up in their direction, then executes an elegant dive straight into its maw, past concentric rows of sharp teeth! Landing in the soft, squishy tissue of its gullet, they struggle to maintain footing as the sandsquid tries to swallow the thing in its throat. Rivers of saliva gush from the walls. Pulling out a jury-rigged detector prepared by Jacobe, they determine that there's a source of electromagnetic signals beyond a sphincter that presumably leads to a stomach. Nogudnyk prepares an exit by fastening a grappling hook (with line attached) to the walls of the gullet, then allowing themself to be gulped down. Racing against time (digestive acids immediately begin eating away at their clothing), Nogudnyk hones in on the source of the signal. It's coming from a flattened golden cylinder lying in a pool of fluid, next to a skeletal arm and hand. Securing the medallion, they climb back into the gullet.

Once again, the grav cycle comes into play as Jacobe zooms dangerously low over Old Three Eyes. Reading up to strike, it opens its maw, allowing Nogudnyk's cyber-arm to fire the grappling hook up and into the body of the cycle, Batman-style. Rapidly gaining altitude, the cycle pulls the intrepid squid-diver free of danger. Soon enough, you're all reunited on the heights of the canyon, medallion in hand. Captain Kelly is overjoyed — so much so that he agrees to forego his revenge and sanctions your request to let Old Three Eyes go free. Another set of explosives does the trick: the rock barrier destroyed, the pale monster swims back into the dunes. Your final glimpse is of a single tentacle raised high: did it wave farewell?

You trust Captain Kelly will keep his word. Hasty preparations ensure for The Catherizer's lift-off. While the squid hunt was taking place, Torka's drones mapped much of the ship graveyard. It looks like there might be some interesting salvage here ... if you every make it back.

Image credits: shipwreck illo screengrabbed from YouTube video of AI-generated sci-fi art; sandsquid illo by Logan Stahl.