Session 55 (2 August 2024)

Location: Larstown, the Manian colonial boomtown on Karth, a desert moon orbiting the blue gas giant Tabernas in the Mendezo-Eeren system (Halcyon 2022)

Date: 336–5600

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

[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.]

The sudden military build-up has transformed Larstown. Everywhere you look there are troops marching to and fro, supplies being unloaded, orders barked, civilians scurrying. Somewhere the 57th-century Eeren equivalent of "Fortunate Son" is blasting from speakers. The newly arrived raw recruits, many quite young, mingle uncertainly with the jaded veterans who've garrisoned this post for months. The troops are on edge. It's clear some kind of expedition is being prepared, and everyone knows that the desert is dangerous. No one seems to know who the enemy is, but the connection to the recent assassination of the governor is too obvious to ignore. There's undoubtedly some terrorist faction out there that needs to be crushed. Or maybe it's xenomorphs. Whatever the case, the marines are packing enough heavy weapons to level a mountain. Or a sandsquid.

You're here on a mission: to delay or compromise whatever military assistance the Manians try to provide to the Dawnseekers so that the Rangers can succeed in their campaign against the Silver Spire. Some of you have, in fact, joined the Rangers: Nogudnyk and Torka have the group's trisign sigil carved into the palm of one hand — in Nogudnyk's case, their only remaining palm — while Griff bears a tattoo of the same on his neck. You take care to conceal these marks of allegiance here.

Blue Torka

More obvious still are the signs of your recent Wigoy-induced mutations. Sasha opts to conceal her bioluminescent stripes through the liberal application of pancake makeup, while Torka and Nogudnyk choose to prepare ready explanations for their transformations (Torka: "I was exposed to a weird virus in the desert"; Nogudnyk: "These are prosthetic tentacles for a movie I'm starring in!"). Your odd looks earn you a few stares, but everyone in Larstown is too busy or stressed out to pay much attention to you.

You head to the barracks-cum-military HQ to see Marshal Clarke, now also acting governor, and to plant your computer virus. The building is far more heavily guarded than when you were here last. After you're screened and obliged to hand over your weapons, you're admitted to see Sgt. Hiromi — Clarke is too busy to see you. The sergeant is inundated with logistical planning for the coming expedition; he puts down his datapad as you approach and wipes his brow, apologizing that he has little time to spare for you or for missing persons investigations. Deploying some subtle wiles, Sasha manages to grab and hold his attention long enough for Torka to transfer the computer virus he prepared to Hiromi's device. It quickly replicates itself and begins jumping to other linked machines.

Young Manian marine

Meanwhile, Nogudnyk and Griff go in search of some of the grunts they'd befriended previously, eventually locating a familiar face. For this young soldier, the tedium of garrison duty has been completely replaced by fears about heading out into the desert. You give them a sympathetic hearing and contribute to their uncertainty by casting moral aspersions on the Dawnseekers, the likely allies of the Manians. Their thoughts naturally turn to getting out of the mission somehow. Self-injury to avoid duty is of course a serious crime in the military, but ... maybe you could help? Griff declares himself willing to break arms as needed, but another possibility occurs to you: food poisoning. You quickly hatch a plan to throw a party for your departing soldier friends that night at the local karaoke bar.

Next stop: Dr Fayed. She too is busy, helping marine medics prepare for the campaign. She's happy you survived your trek into the dunes and is curious about your mutations. You ask about the governor's killing; she admits confusion as to the precise cause of death. There were no signs of trauma or violence: it was as if the woman had been drained of life. You turn the subject to the phantom-like apparition that your friend Hindal reported seeing, asking the doc if she had heard of similar occurrences. As an android, Fayed doesn't need to consult the files: her eyes roll back slightly and her eyes lose focus while she reviews the data. She has, in fact, noted several similar reports from the past several weeks, all from prospectors who came in from the desert in various states of medical distress — exhaustion, dehydration, malnutrition, injury. She had chalked them up to hallucinations arising from their respective conditions, but when lined up with Hindal's story, they have more substance. All were from the general vicinity of the great stone head northeast of Larstown. All occurred after the last recorded sighting of Onishi.

The next hours are full of frantic preparation for this evening's big shindig at which you intend to sicken as many marines as you can. Your plans soon expand to include a second venue, the church basement, and dozens more soldiers. You cast the event as a morale-building celebration of the troops and a way of marking the imminent arrival of a weeklong period of darkness, the Long Night. Between the computer virus (the effects of which are already noticeable about town) and the food poisoning you all conspire to spread liberally about as the party gets underway, you hope to impose a significant delay on the Manians' ability to march to the aid of the Silver Spire. You hope that it will be enough to seal the fate of the Dawnseekers whom you have grown to dislike so much.