Session 4

## The Feeders

Pressing further into the mines, SID gets curious and attempts to break through the layers of calcified tissue in the cave wall but to little success. Eventually the crew find a particularly large cavity that the investigate, noting that it smells even worse than the rest of the mines. Seeing no immediate threat the captain rushes in, passing the remains of other Corvus troops and unaware of the pair of sleeping Otyughs that only Tinka has spotted. After waking them the captain is grabbed by a tentacle as the crew rush in to help him, however his surprising agility keeps him from being too badly injured. Tinka and SID are also grabbed by the second Otyugh the combined powers of the group slay the creatures before any of them are killed. Hezsia struggles to harvest some of their teeth for use as ingredients for poison and SID discovers an unusual stone that they appeared to be guarding. The stone does not react to light and the insides appear to change as it is moved, as if looking through the lens of a telescope. Believing that such an unusual thing must be what the entity had sensed, they leave the cavity and explore the rest of the mine, hearing the occasional rumblings of more worms but managing to stay undetected. They soon find the entrance again and go to retrieve Carmine's body.

## Exile

On returning to the town the crew is met with uncharacteristic hostility from the residents, with the mayor demanding they conclude their business as soon as possible and leave. Unsure of what to do, SID returns to Moreno and learns that Carmine was the mayor's grandson. With the crew facing exile and the higher command of Corvus not having a scheduled visit for several weeks the best Moreno is able to offer them is advice on where they could find less legitimate means of transport. His first recommendation is Caiaphas, a populous planet with a commercial hub and famed for it's arena, which Moreno claims to have once watched the Titan fight. The second is Epsilon Station, and old mining base that had been repurposed as a pirate stronghold of sorts. The crew return to the ship, intent on finding Epsilon Station, leaving Carmine with the townsfolk.

## Discoveries

While the rest of the crew go through town, Hezsia returns to the ship and is surprised to find Gabriel back in control of his body, surrounded by what seems to be the fallout of a fight. Gabriel explains that he and the entity fought for control after he managed to trick it into entering the medical bay by jumping through the inside window. The resulting struggle had the entity cut off Gabriel's left ring finger and so Hezsia takes him back to the medical bay to reattach it. With some apparent effort, Gabriel enters via the door and Hezsia uses her medical interest as an excuse to touch a particularly deep scar on his chest. After a bout of flirting but before she can heal him Gabriel demands she removes the wedding ring from the severed finger. Hezsia is shocked at the revelation that he is married until he asks her to put it back on, claiming he is in fact widowed and he's keeping the ring because he believes that it's the silver plating that is helping him keep the entity out of control, though admits this is based purely on the belief in his world that silver was the bane of the paranormal. Judging by the discomfort around the medical bay, due to the common presence of silver-based disinfectants in the equipment this seems to be well founded. After healing Gabriel he coughs up a piece of viscera which Hezsia determines to be lung tissue, Gabriel backing this up by saying the scar she had examined was deep enough to have collapsed a lung at some point in the past. After sharing a drink together, Gabriel kisses Hezsia, who is surprised again having being used to being the one doing the flirting rather than receiving it. As Hots returns to her room Hezsia invites her in and the three share the night.