Spinward Star, LLP

The Count’s Gambit, Part Five

  • On Quopist, the crew stand over the corpses of the bizarre plant monsters they just defeated. Despite Doctor Lewys’ urgings otherwise, they press on, following the trail to and into a cavern complex.
  • Deep within the cave, the crew encounter a massive beast that seems to be the host creature. It has the missing caravan guard in its maw. Doctor Lewys, Armin and Buck are overcome with fear at the sight of this thing when it lets out a bone-rattling shriek and flee. As they flee, Haank, J-Aris and Sae lay down covering fire, with the latter arming one of his remaining shaped charges and hurling it.
  • When the explosive detonates, however, it triggers a sudden gush of molten lava, prompting the crew to realize that they are inside a volcano. They now flee with an even greater intensity, daring exploding shrapnel and super-heated steam to get out. In the process, Eddy and Dr. Lewys are injured, the former having his leg broken and the latter having fractured ribs due to rocky shrapnel.
  • Pressing on toward the caravan, the crew detect the sound of gunfire and are contacted by Orgamon who relates that raiders are attacking. Haank orders J-Aris forward to lay down suppressing fire; the drone’s fire is less effective than he would like but the arrival of it is enough to cause the raiders to withdraw in mild confusion. These raiders are witnessed briefly observing the crew’s return before melting away once more.
  • Onto Temple Valley the caravan presses, arriving several days later. The crew are surprised to find that it is little more than a junktown surrounding some prefab buildings and the like. Buck and Eddy seek out drinks at the local bar while Sae accompanies Orgamon in his search for intel regarding his master, leaving Armin and Haank to assist with the caravan unloading. Eventually, Orgamon learns that Lord Mika is some miles to the north, investigating a crashed ship, and the crew head there.
  • And it is here, at this crashed ship, that the crew finally find and meet Lord Mika Anjiliac.

GM Notes:

  • Good Lord, but I screwed up the intended ‘skill challenge’ of escaping the volcano. I think only the players of Eddy and Sae were remotely satisfied, while the rest were either confused or irked. I absolutely have to do better.
  • I’m retrofitting the Star Wars d20 adventure module, “Tempest Feud” for this although I’m definitely making some tweaks and adjustments to fit better.
  • Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline..