Actual Play - 15th Game - 11 Aug 15

Arianwyn/Deep Space/Hallu (0519 -)  Date:  545-021

When last we played (with a minor hand wave to swap crew) Zaccheus, Gildas, D’Arcy, Capt Neo, Tiernan, Gwayne, Vladimir, Dionysius, and the aliens Fil and Ga’a’atak had attempted to return to Alwuud to investigate the mysterious behavior of Dionysius during his amnesiac period.  Instead, the Arianwyn had misjumped 17 parsecs, and was stranded without fuel in deep space, where they’ve been for two weeks.  Capt Neo and Ga’a’atak both went into low berths to conserve resources, and Fil had locked himself in his cabin and hadn’t been seen since the misjump.

At the beginning of their third week, Vladimir asked about the alien Fil, and decided to rouse him from his cabin.  He knocked and was surprised as the door opened immediately!  Fil ran past him, through the forward lounge, where most of the team was, and onto the bridge.  As everyone crowded in, they saw that Fil had apparently lost 20% of his body mass… he was emaciated and looked exhausted.

"My friends," he said to them, "I have to talk to you before it is too late!"

Suddenly, the ship’s radio came to life with a loud crackle, as Fil collapsed to the ground.  A voice from the radio called out, "Hello!  Hello?  This is Shar-Captain Naneb Bata of the Pilgrim’s Journey.  Please identify yourself!”

Struggling to his feet, Fil managed to whisper, “Don’t answer him…” before collapsing again, this time out cold.  As Fil hit the floor the second time, the proximity sensors screamed to life, and the formerly empty star field display showed a ship that dwarfed their 400 ton craft… a ship easily displacing 10,000 tons, approximately 2 kilometers overhead!  A second screen showed the view below the ship, where they saw a flat plane extending in all directions, and blocking out half the sky, with a horizon more than 17,000 km away!  In addition, the ship’s logs suddenly showed they’d been near the “object” the entire two weeks, and had recorded hundreds of proximity warnings.

As they discussed their situation, they again heard Shar-Captain Bata identifying himself and his ship, and asking them to do the same.  Zaccheus used his life detection capability on the ship above them, and learned there were more than 10,000 humans aboard.  Vladimir, admitting he knew nothing of Zaccheus’ psionic powers, suggested that maybe Fil had been battling the Shar-Captain psionically or hiding them from him to protect them ever since they’d arrived, and that might account for his weakened condition.

 A third time the Shar-Captain hailed them, before moving his ship forward 10 kilometers and landing on the surface.  At this point, Gildas and Tiernan decided to check on Fil.  They were able to wake him, and asked what was going on.  In a weak voice, he answered them.

“I had hoped to hide this place from you forever, to protect you.  Its people once knew it as Kazar, and it is known to my people as SanKazar Yanno Kazarisan; in your language, “Kazar, the place of our shame and our failure.”  With that Fil passed out again.

Confused, but concerned about Fil’s health, and hoping to protect him from further psionic attack, they put him into cold sleep in a low berth.  They decided to wake up Capt Neo at the same time, and pulled him from his low berth capsule.

Vladimir, D’Arcy and Gwayne took the ship’s launch, and drifted down toward the surface slowly, so as not to alert the other ship.  They headed in the opposite direction, searching for anything on the surface.  After travelling 10 kilometers, they headed back, having seen no markings or structures anywhere on the seemingly metallic surface.  While they were investigating, Zaccheus again used his life detection ability, but this time focused on the surface below.  He alternately detected no intelligent life at all, and millions of beings, and all numbers in between, in a constantly and randomly changing count.

Three hours after landing, the Pilgrim’s Journey suddenly lifted off the surface, and flew back into position above the Arianwyn.  He hailed them twice more, and receiving no reply, flew directly upward, away from the surface, and then jumped out of system.

Vladimir, D’Arcy and Gwayne took the launch forward to the landing site of the Pilgrim’s Journey, where they found a 30 meter wide depression in the surface.  They landed on the depression as the other ship had done, but nothing happened.  Looking outside, they noticed a second, smaller depression nearby, so they donned their helmets and went out to investigate.  They found themselves under the influence of a standard gravity field, thus making movement simple.

The second depression turned out to be 4 meters across.  D’Arcy walked over to it, and jumped into it… and it irised open, swallowing her!  Gwayne followed immediately.  Vladimir drew his weapons, and jumped in, prepared to fight.

Each fell in darkness, then suddenly flipped over, only to find themselves standing on a circle on the floor of a comfortable looking waiting room containing a long table, chairs, and on one wall, two large black display screens standing side-by-side, each 1.5 meters wide and 2.5 meters tall.

Their suits indicated a breathable atmosphere, so they took off their helmets, and Vladimir decided to investigate the displays.  Neither seemed to have power, but when he put his palm on the middle of the left panel, it lit up, showing a room similar to the one they were in, containing a single man.  Vladimir jumped back, then waved to him, and the man responded, “I can hear you.  Greetings, and welcome, I am Chief Engineer Tamar Horne.   You do not look like pilgrims… so what can I do for you?”

Suddenly, the right panel lit up as well, also showing a similar room, and containing another being… one almost, but not quite human, with much larger eyes, and much smaller ears, but otherwise appearing normal.  “My name is Nahdool Tanquar!  I am The Philosopher.  Welcome.  I see that you are not pilgrims, but invite you none-the-less to join us in Nirvana.  But first, why not bring the rest of your team?”

“We’re the only ones onboard,” said Vladimir, referring to the launch.

The Engineer responded, “I’ve been analyzing your ship for the past two weeks and The Philosopher was NOT referring to your launch!”

Vladimir tried to hail the Arianwyn, but was unsuccessful.  “You can’t reach your companions from this room, I’m sure The Engineer could explain why… but it’s not important.  Go back to your ship, and bring the rest of your team, so I may invite you all to join us in Nirvana!

“Actually, you would be much better off going back to your ship, and leaving here.  His “Nirvana” is not a place for you!”

“All we need,” said Vladimir, “is help refueling, and then we can go.  Can you help?”

“Yes, but bring your companions first,” responded The Philosopher.

With that, Vladimir, D’Arcy and Gwayne put their helmets back on, stepped onto the circles on the floor, and immediately fell downward, flipped and found themselves on the surface next to the launch.

At Vladimir’s call, Zaccheus brought the Arianwyn forward, and landed near the launch.  Zaccheus, Capt Neo, Gildas, and Tiernan joined the other three, and all went inside, leaving Dionysius, Fil and Ga’a’atak in cold sleep aboard the Arianwyn.

Back inside, The Philosopher again asked them to join him in Nirvana, explaining they could have everything they’d ever wanted.  The Engineer tried to dissuade them, saying Nirvana was simply a trap, and no one had ever returned from it.  During several hours of conversation, they learned or figured out the following:

• The surface they’d landed on was the outer shell of a Dyson sphere created by The Philosopher’s people in the distant past

• The Philosopher’s people had called themselves the Kazari, and they were no friends of Fil’s people, the Melashravishim.  The Melashravishim had come to Kazar near the start of the building of the sphere, and promised great things… but soon were working to convince them against building the sphere.  The Melashravishim stayed for centuries, until the sphere was complete, then vanished

• The Philosopher’s job is to welcome pilgrims from other worlds, and invite them to enter into the Nirvana they’d created, much like the pilgrims delivered by Shar-Captain Bata and The Pilgrim’s Journey

• The Engineer was actually a human from the home galaxy, and had been born on Regina

• His “anteroom” was somehow keeping him alive, and had for the centuries since so many people had been ripped across space to this galaxy

• He had been Chief Engineer on a battleship in a fleet attempting to locate Regina when they came upon The Sphere.  All his people had eventually accepted The Philosopher’s offer and entered Nirvana.  He had vowed to stay behind and try to warn people of the danger, because although The Philosopher said they were free to return, none had ever done so

The party finally decided they could not, as a group, accept the Philosopher’s offer, so he asked them to take a gift back to their King as a show of friendship.  They agreed, and he produced an orb 60 cm in diameter, that glinted and sparkled like a fire opal.  Tiernan accepted it, and promised to take it to Oer’King Ossian.  The Philosopher also offered to give them fuel and supplies to make it to the pilgrim’s star system, Sanlo.

The Engineer, on the other hand, offered to trade a 300 ton gazelle class close escort ship named Fast Eland for their 400 ton merchant ship, if only they would leave behind the Philosopher’s Orb and promise never to return.  The party tried to convince Zaccheus to accept this offer, both because it was capable of jump-5 rather than just jump-1, and because it was fully armed.  After much argument, he declined, because he didn’t want to lose the cargo capacity.  Instead, he asked to have the engines on the Arianwyn replaced with better ones, and the originals put into the cargo bay for transport back to Arden, and The Engineer agreed, saying it would take a month to make the swap.

While this was going on, Capt Neo continued his conversation with The Philosopher, asking if he’d be able to get a dreadnought if he entered Nirvana.  The Engineer again warned him it was a trap, but The Philosopher simply said, “Anything you want can be yours.”

As The Engineer began work on the Arianwyn, Capt Neo stepped into The Philosopher’s anteroom, and said, “OK, I’m here, can I have my dreadnought now?”  The Philosopher laughed, and said, “You haven’t entered Nirvana yet… that is through the next door.”

Capt Neo opened the next door, only to find stairs leading downward.  He started down, and found himself on a great stairway seemingly hanging in a sunny blue sky.  Looking up and behind him, he saw it led up to the doorway.. while downward, far far below, was the ground.  He walked down for hours, into the heart of a beautiful white city.  The first person he met was a woman, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen!  “Where can I get a dreadnought,” he asked her, to which she merely smiled and said, “I have no idea what that is!”  When he asked about a ship, she pointed him across the city.  Following her directions, he came to a harbor, where beautiful wooden boats, some with sails, some without, were moored at the docks.  He spotted a man on one, and called out to him.  “I’m looking for a dreadnought, but a woman sent me here…”

“You speak like a pilgrim, but you are not dressed as one.  What is it you seek?”

“I was told I could have anything I wanted, and I want a dreadnought.  Where do I find one?”

“I do not know the term.”

“A ship.  A ship that can take me to other worlds!”

“Ah, then I can help you!  I am the captain of this fine vessel, and I regularly take cargo and passengers to other worlds in it!”

“You don’t understand,” said Capt Neo, “I don’t mean other islands in the ocean, I mean other worlds altogether!”

“But that is what I mean, as well!  We sail out and then enter the fog, and after a week, we return to the sea and sail to port on another world!”

Frustrated, Capt Neo said, “Never mind,” and left to find the stairway.  He climbed for what felt like 12 hours before finally reaching the door in the sky… and upon passing through it, found himself back in The Philosopher’s anteroom alone.  Stepping back into the waiting room, he found nobody there, either, so he donned his helmet, and went back to the surface.  He’d been gone two weeks, and his team had given up on him.  Vladimir looked at The Philosopher, and exclaimed, “You said no one ever came back!  You can’t say THAT anymore!”  The Philosopher conceded.

When the modifications to the ship had been completed, the original engines loaded aboard the Arianwyn, and the ship refueled, Zaccheus and the team bid both The Engineer and The Philosopher farewell.  Tiernan again promised to give the Orb to Oer’King Ossian, and they departed for home.

Their route, accomplished without encounter, and without mechanical problems, took them from Kazar, to Damiano, and then to Tekmiti, Hakan, Sniila, Ohanzee, Mitsuko and to Arden in turn, utilizing their upgraded Jump-3 engines.  In each system, they stayed near the gas giant long enough to refuel, then continued their journey homeward.

During their first jump, from Kazar to Damiano, they tried to study the Orb, finding it beautiful and mesmerizing, and just a bit unsettling.  They left it alone after that, but on their final jump, from Mitsuko to Arden, decided to jettison it from the Arianwyn 3 days into the jump.

Upon returning to Arden, Zaccheus turned the Arianwyn over to the Starport, and asked to have the newer drives removed for study, and the original reinstalled.  The team was told this would take 60 days.

A week after their return, Zaccheus was interviewed by the Ardeni Kingdoms Information Service.

(Game Calendar:  545-021 to 545-114).

Actual Play - 14th Game - 16 Jul 13

Star City/Arden/Kapu (2227 EA766C2-6)  Date:  544-287

Characters in play this night included the returning Tiernan, Zaccheus, D'Arcy, Aggie, Capt Neo, Dionysius, and a new PC, Vladimir.

Two and a half weeks after dropping Watson, the "boy in the metal box" cargo container with the Chief Librarian, he asked the group to return to the Kelrax system for additional salvage, including the main computer core from the station.  They contacted the Peacekeeper, and asked Chief Engineer Zesiro to accompany them on the journey.   As they waited for his arrival, they met a recently arrived exile from Gruvek by the name of Vladimir Alexicov, a retired marine.  He agreed to join their party as well.

Loading into the Arianwyn, they jumped to Tralnor, spent a day refueling, and headed on to Alwuud, where they again spent a day refueling.  Their next jump took them to the Kelrax system, where they quickly headed to the asteroid with the colony station.  After landing, Vladimir scanned the local area and found the remains of quite a few wrecked starships.  Zaccheus used his psionics to scan for life, but found nothing within his range.  Once inside the station, Zesiro inspected the power plant, and told them it was a standard hydrogen powered plant, with tanks capable of storing 30 tons of fuel.  The party made the 5 day round trip to the closer of the two gas giants in the Kelrax system, and were able to fill the station's tanks.  Zesiro brought the power plant online while the party explored the power dome.  They managed to find the main breaker controlling life support in the dome, and brought it online as well.  As air started to fill the power dome, Zesiro turned on power to the central dome, and the Team began to explore it as well.  With power restored to the dome, they were able to use a terminal to pull up maps and locate the main computer room, as well as the program notes for the AI Seed program, which they realized must be Watson, the "boy in the box" they'd "rescued" during their last visit.

In order to salvage the computer core, per the Chief Librarian's request, they left life support off in the central dome, and blew the airlock so they'd have a large enough exit to manhandle the computer to the ship.  This took several days, during which several party members explored the third dome.  This dome held both living quarters and a store-room of personal gear, which they inventoried.  Once the computer core was secured in the Arianwyn's hold, they flew to the gas giant to refuel, then made the journey back to Arden, again stopping for a day in the Alwuud and Tralnor systems to refuel.

Back on Arden, they delivered the computer core and copies of the AI Seed program data to the Chief Librarian.  They asked if any progress had been made with Watson, and learned he'd been moved into a shielded vault after he asked about The Watcher.  Inside the vault, Watson had admitted The Watcher had been asking him lots of questions, but wouldn't tell anything about himself, and that in the vault, he could no longer hear The Watcher at all.

They decided to take a break for a while in Star City, and a week later, Dionysius woke with his first vague memory of what had happened to him on Alwuud.  He recalled using his pickaxe on the concrete in the hole he dug, and he remembered breaking through it.  He couldn't remember how thick the shell was, but knew he'd accidentally dropped his pick into the dark hole and had a clear memory of seeing it fall out of sight in the darkness.  He never heard it hit bottom.

They decided to return to Alwuud to solve the mystery, and brought Ga'a'atak and Fil onboard with them before taking off.  Leaving orbit, they made the jump to Tralnor... but didn't fall out of jumpspace at the end of the week as they were supposed to.  Three more days went by, and they finally dropped into normal space... 17 parsecs from their intended destination, in deep space... without enough fuel to attempt another jump!  Using the astrographic data they'd received from Kearnay, they quickly figured out where they were, an empty area of space (0519) in Hallu Subsector.  They spent a week there, scanning space around them, and found jump signatures indicating the area had been visited recently, and possibly regularly.  They turned on their rescue beacon, hoping another ship might jump into the system and find them, but also began work on splitting hydrogen out of the alcohol Tiernan had on board.  During their second week stranded, Ga'a'atak and Capt Neo entered low berths, hoping to conserve life support and supplies...

(Game Calendar:  544-287 to 545-020).

Actual Play - 13th Game - 24 Jun 13

Star City/Arden/Kapu (2227 EA766C2-6)  Date:  544-209

Characters in play this night included the returning Tiernan, Zaccheus, D'Arcy, Gildas, Maddoc, Cinnia, Aggie, and Dionysius, and a new player, L3, joined us with her character Aggie, a scientist from Arden.

Almost two months had passed since the party returned to Arden.  The Chief Librarian sent word that he needed to speak to them.  "Looking through the Plan Alpha archives," he began, "I found that some of the data was damaged.  It appears our ancestors left something important at the colony in the Kelrax system... but we have no idea what it was.  O'er King Ossian would like you to go there, determine what of value may have been left there, and if possible bring it back.  Oh, and I want to introduce you to Aggie Iliopoulos, a computer expert who should prove useful on this mission."  The team introduced themselves, and the next day, Tiernan, Zaccheus, D'Arcy, Gildas, Maddoc, Cinnia and Aggie left Arden.

They jumped to Tralnor, stopping there only long enough to refuel, and then jumped to Alwuud to pick up Dionysius.  As they landed, they noticed the giant hole Dionysius had been digging when they left was completely gone, apparently filled in and with new grass already growing over it!  Dionysius was nowhere to be seen, but a messenger approached and invited them to meet with the King.  Once there, they were informed that Dionysius was hospitalized and in a coma.  The King explained he'd started acting strangely just a few days after the group left him, and wouldn't allow anyone near the hole.  He then began to fill it in, working apparently nonstop for more than four weeks until it was filled in.  He then collapsed, and it was apparent he'd slept little and eaten less during this time.  He'd been carried from the site and had not regained consciousness.

Using his psionics, Tiernan was able to heal Dionysius enough to awaken him, only to find he had no recollection of anything after the team left him on Alwuud.

In the meantime, Maddoc visited the training site he'd set up last visit, hoping to collect some trained soldiers to take along.  He was less than pleased to hear the Colonel tell him the recruits were slow to learn group tactics and military discipline, as they'd been raised in an individualistic warrior culture rather than a military culture.  He returned to the starship without soldiers just as the party prepared to leave.

After jumping to the Kelrax system, they learned it had two gas giants and one asteroid belt.  Approaching the nearest gas giant to refuel, they found a heavily damaged space station in orbit.  The piece that was left massed about 200 tons, so after a brief exploration, they attempted to pull it into their cargo bay.  They were partially successful, pulling it halfway into their ship when it lodged and stuck.  They immediately set about trying to dislodge it, and after several attempts they popped it free and accelerated away from it.  Unfortunately, they changed it's orbit, and as they accelerated away from the gas giant, they watched the wreck fall into the clouds and burn up.

Heading in toward the asteroid belt, they located it's homing beacon, and made radio contact with a young boy.  He told them he was trapped in a room in the main dome of the colony, and had been alone for quite some time.  It took them four days to round the star and arrive at the colony, which turned out to be three large domes with connecting tunnels.  One dome held living quarters, one held a power plant, and the center held labs.  In the lab dome, they located a large sealed metal box, which the boy claimed to be trapped in.  He couldn't remember his name, so the party decided to call him Watson.

While half the party was attempting to open the box, the other half flew to a wrecked starship not far from the station.  It had heavy combat damage and no power.  The bridge held several dessicated Vargr wearing vacc-suits but no helmets.  The team was unable to bring the engines online.

Meanwhile, in the dome, the party decided to lift the box in order to free the boy.  They unbolted it from the floor, and managed to lift it only to find it had a solid bottom.  Perplexed, they decided to take the entire box back to Arden with them.  They loaded it into their cargo hold, called the other party back from the other wreck, and headed home to Arden, stopping at Alwuud and Tralnor just long enough to refuel.

(Game Calendar:  544-209 to 544-265).

Actual Play - 11th Game - 26 Apr 13

Star City/Arden/Kapu (2227 EA766C2-6) Date:  543-218

This week was our smallest group of players for Star Clans.  We had a new member, M, join us, and he created a Kearnayan Army Col named Deka, who was serving as a crewman on the Amuar (Peacemaker).  We also had D'Arcy, Blaine, Zaccheus, Tiernan, Capt Neo and Dionysius (he changed his spelling).  After our previous game, they gave Capt Diallo the OK to practice skimming the gas giant for refueling, then party spent a month and a half hanging about Star City.

As this session began, they regrouped and discussed their next move.  They decided to continue trying to expand the scope of the Ardeni Kingdoms, via diplomacy, trade and colonization.  Since the group was smaller, and they wanted to carry cargo, they left the Amuar at Arden, and opted to use the Arianwyn exclusively for now.

After loading up on trade goods (liquor and spices) they jumped to Tralnor then Libmon and on to Mitsuko.  At Mitsuko, they won over the Supreme Leader with the promise that once a year, they'd return with more liquor and spices in exchange for arms and more prisoners.  They agreed there would be no other visits and no other visitors.  After the Supreme Leader signed the agreement, they collected 11 political prisoners, telling him they'd drop them off on an empty planet like the others, and immediately made the trip back to Arden.  The "prisoners" were hired right away by Leventis Labs.

Next, they spoke to the chief of Clan Pryce about emigrating to Libmon.  He liked the idea, but asked to be taken to Alpha Base to discuss it with O'er King Ossian.  The two reached a quick agreement, with the Chief of Clan Pryce being elevated to King.  Upon their return to Arden, the group spent a few months ferrying all 400+ members of Clan Pryce to their new home on Libmon.

Returning to Arden, they loaded up again on liquor, and headed off to Cevdoo.  As they landed, the ship was approached by five merchants in palinquins.  One of the five happened to be Abinadab, who they'd traded with their first time to Cevdoo.  He shooed the other merchants away and invited the group to a feast in his tent.  They were able to convince him to sign the trade accords without too much effort, simply having to agree that all trade with Cevdoo would be through him, and that they'd show up every two months, to give him time to sell out what they'd brought earlier.

Back at Arden, they went to Alpha Base to ask O'er King Ossian to focus on upgrading the starport on Arden.  He agreed it was an important goal for the Kingdoms.  He asked them to take the armor they'd bought at Mitsuko to the Front, where Ardeni warriors were engaged in a stand-off with the Uruki.  After doing so, they returned to Star City where they met with the head of Leventis Labs.  Their goal was to have him open a lab on Libmon, but he declined, saying he'd do so as soon as he knew King Baird (formerly Chief Baird of Clan Pryce) wanted them there.

Finally, they decided to try Gruvek again.  They journeyed to Gruvek via Abequa, where they stopped to meet with King Baloq and Queen Delphi (formerly of their party).  They discussed having Leventis Labs open a subsidiary there and the King agreed, writing out a warrant for delivery to the Lab.  Before they left, Queen Delphi showed the party her children, two fifteen month-olds, a boy named Jean, and a girl named Channelle.

They jumped on to Gruvek.  The last time they visited Gruvek, their ship had been shot at by ground based laser defenses, so they were more cautious.  As soon as they arrived in the Gruvek system, they began hailing.  Their first contact asked who they were, and didn't believe they were from another system, finally signing off rather than talk to people who were clearly trying to con him.  The second contact they made was with an astronomer at a mountaintop observatory.  He didn't believe them at first either, but when he trained the telescope on the ship in orbit, he invited them to land.  He arranged a meeting with his nation's Prime Minister.  They flew the ship to the capital, landing on the lawn outside of the parliament building, where the Prime Minister met them and invited them inside.  They discussed the civil war the planet was having, and she told them there was no such thing... not one of the 35 nations was having a civil war.  Over tea, she explained there had been a long war, but there was an uneasy truce right now, and they asked if there was a transnational group they could speak to.  She left them to confer with the King, and returned later in the day, quickly signing the trade accords, and agreeing to call a meeting of the League of Nations.  They were moved to a military base and hung out for ten days, during which they were caught by camera crews outside the base perimeter and broadcast internationally.  On the morning of their tenth day on the base, the Prime Minister arrived early and told them to prepare to meet with the representatives at the League of Nations.

We ended play for the night with them preparing to meet the League.


(Game Calendar:  543-218 to 544-072)

Actual Play - 8th Game - 20 Jan 13

Star City/Arden/Kapu (2227 EA766C2-5) Date:  542-050

Our cast this week included four new player characters:  A Gnomish Aredeni scientist named Dionysius, a pilot from Abequa named D'Arcy, an Uruki barbarian refugee named Maddoc, and an Uruki prisoner of war named Gwayne.  Returning were Tiernan, Lykaios, Lairgnen, Zaccheus and Cinnia (via Skype).

Five months ago, the party returned from their successful trading mission.  After extensive debriefings with both their own clan leaders and with the Ardeni Information Service, they hung around Star City, ignoring the war, and generally being idle.  High King Ossian finally summoned them and offered them a new mission:  travel to either Libmon or Tralnor, or both, and negotiate treaties to bring them into the Ardeni Kingdoms.  He also introduced them to D'Arcy, recently arrived from Abequa; Dionysius, a lab scientist who survived an explosive accident only because he teleported out of the lab at the last second; and Maddoc, a refugee from the Great Central Plain.

They were given 5000 cr to purchase any personal gear they needed, and then decided to look for colonists for Libmon.  They put out word and waited two weeks with no luck.  The zek of Clan Gower suggested checking with the Uruki prisoners, as many were changing their allegiance.

They drove from Star City to the POW camp in the Grey Hills, where they spoke to several prisoners, including Gwayne.  The prisoners would not believe that space flight was possible, since the Reformed Church on the Great Central Plain said such beliefs were blasphemy.  Zaccheus drove back to Star City with D'Arcy, and the two of them flew the launch and an air raft back to the POW camp.  From there, they took the four Uruki prisoners (five, counting Gwayne) back to Star City and then to their ship, which they named "The Arianwyn."  Berthing the Uruki in staterooms, they took off, and jumped to Abequa.  During the weeklong trip, they spoke to the prisoners and tried to determine their course of action for Libmon and Tralnor.  At Abequa, the walked off the ship to speak to the portmaster, but the prisoners again denied they'd travelled in space!  On the trip back to Arden they found the prisoners didn't know how to work the view ports in their staterooms, so they hadn't seen anything outside the ship from the time they embarked on Arden to when the disembarked on Abequa!  They remedied the situation, and soon convinced the Uruki that space travel was real.  As they reached Arden, the Uruki asked to be let off the ship at the Uruki tent city on the Great Central Plain.  

Once there, the Uruki dispersed into the crowd, to speak to their own clans, while the party flew back to Star City to wait for a message from the Uruki about colonizing Libmon.  The zek of Clan Gower met them to find out what they'd accomplished, and after hearing they'd flown the ships to the Great Central Plain, exploded with anger!  "High King Ossian forbade using air or space craft in the war effort, and he's very likely to be angry that you flew there.  Get refueled, and leave immediately for Tralnor... if you're successful, and take a little bit of time, maybe he'll be cool down before you return."  The party did just that.

After a week in hyperspace, they arrived at Tralnor.  At the spaceport, they asked to speak to the members of the Council of Seven, but were rebuffed.  They sold another load of farm equipment, earning still more credit on their account.  After a week on Tralnor, they were escorted out of the spaceport, to a large government building, where they were put up on fancy apartments and provided a sumptuous meal and fine liquors.  As usual, the party kept Lairgnen tied up and gagged on the ship to prevent him from doing any harm.  Maddoc, Tiernan and Dionysius took turns guarding him, while the rest stayed in the apartments.  After four days living there, they were finally visited by Dragomir, one of the Council of Seven.  D'Arcy, Cinnia and Zaccheus became the primary negotiators.  They spoke at length, with Dragomir finally departing, but promising he believed an alliance would be a good thing.  Two days later, they were visited by Rurik, another Councilman.  He listened to their idea, and asked many of the same questions Dragomir had asked.

Seeing half the party sloppy drunk, Rurik said, "Your people do not handle alcohol very well..."

D'Arcy replied, "You're right.  The Ardeni aren't so good at it.  We Abequans, on the other hand, are much better at it!"

Rurik immediately left the room, and returned with a large bottle of vodka and two small water glasses.  Filling each, he handed one to D'Arcy, raised his own, and said, "To your Abequan High King!"  Downing his vodka, he slammed his glass onto the table.  D'Arcy matched him, so he poured a second.  "To the Ardeni High King!"  D'Arcy made the next toast, "To the Tralnorian Council of Seven!" and slammed her glass down hard enough to shatter it.  Rurik immediately left, returning with a new glass... four more quick toasts, with the last by Rurik, "To a successful alliance!"  Rurik departed soon after, in high spirits (pun intended), promising his support.  Cinnia helped D'Arcy back to the ship and made sure she survived a painful night recovering from minor alcohol poisoning.

Two more days passed, and they were visited by a third Councilman, Kasimir, who told them they had really won Rurik over... but he'd be tougher.  Again they were grilled with the same questions and finally, Kasimir, too, offered his support for an alliance.

Back on the ship, they agreed to free Lairgnen.  Unfortunately, as soon as most of the party had left for the government quarters, he convinced Dionysius to come with him while he drove the last of the harvesters from the ship's cargo hold out of the starport and into town.  He crashed once in the starport, but made it out into the city, where he tried to run over people in the street.  Local police arrived, armed with shotguns, and Dionysius was shot and knocked out.  Lairgnen surrendered, and both were taken to the police station.

Kasimir returned to discuss the problem, and the party, in an effort to prove the Ardeni policy of non-interference in local affair, told Kasimir they wanted the Council to handle the crime as they saw fit.  He left, and the party was left alone for the next twelve days.  They were visited next by Miriana, a Councilwoman who came directly from court to say the prisoners had been sentenced to 15 years hard labor in the mines.  She recommended they head home to Arden for now, and come back in several months after the incident was behind them all.  They agreed, and thanked her and the entire Council.

Back on the ship, Zaccheus prepared to depart.  Unbeknownst to the party, Dionysius successfully teleported himself from his prison cell, to his stateroom, where he hid.  Immediately after jumping into hyperspace, Zaccheus noticed the ships engines sounded different than ever before.  Dionysius made his appearance, and the party discussed whether spacing him in hyperspace would be safe for them or the ship...

Meanwhile, back on Tralnor, Lairgnen alerted the guards that Dionysius had escaped with the help of the rest of the party.  The guards ignored his statement, so he tried again.  They clubbed him, knocking him out, and dragged him off to serve his sentence in the mines.

On the ship, the week in hyperspace went by quickly.  As the party prepared to leave hyperspace at Arden, nothing happened... the ship didn't drop out of hyperspace.  Zaccheus realized then the ship had misjumped... and we ended play with the party on board a ship stuck in hyperspace!

(Game Calendar:  542-050 to 542-120)