The Pirates Campaign

**The Pirates Campaign** took place in Celestial Space in 402 A.U..

## Background

In the years directly after the First Coalition War, the Margravate of Tarim remains cut off from Imperial space by the bizarre “rotation” of the Pin-Jump, the ancient and colossal column of pre-divine engineering which holds together two outer folds of Celestial and Imperial Space. Tarim is an accident of history, born well before the Pin-Jump broke the Nipponese trade monopoly between Celestial and Imperial Space: for Imperial travelers who could not return home, the Margravate was a new home on the fringes of Celestial Space. This nation of exiles and renegades became a pirate state, attracting not only Imperials but every description of the disaffected from the Celestial powers, merging into an unprecedented “Outremer” culture. When trade through the Pin-Jump became possible, Tarim was ideally positioned geographically and culturally to become a commercial powerhouse, beginning the golden age of 358 - 398 A.U. which grew Tarim’s wealth and size, and with these the attention of avaricious conquerors. With that trade and military lifeline to friendly Imperial powers suddenly severed, Tarim may collapse under its own weight before it adapts. Perhaps its best hope, if only against the glittering machine hordes of the Brass Cities or the eldritch connivances of the Veiled Masters of the Nippon States, lies in its privateers. Half-merchants, half-soldiers of fortune, they are the popular heroes of Tarim and have spent centuries as thorns in the side of various great powers. You are one such band of eccentrics and adventurers, bound together by the ship that is your livelihood and by your refusal to see the Margravate dissolved by foreign powers.

This campaign will allow major flexibility in background of your characters. Some of you may be recent Imperial immigrants: refugees from the Pin-Jump merchant community, Knights Mercantile paramilitaries, escaped Fialta POWs or stranded Aeldrum Dragoons. Some of you may come from other Celestial powers: you may be fanatical Mirror Elves wrestling with the demise of their raison-d’etre after the insidious Naga empire collapsed under the weight of a terrifying Mind Virus, or rogue Brass Cities cyborgs, or scholars fleeing mistakes made in the sight of the Veiled Masters. Some of you may even come from long Margravate lineages, with generations of experience as pirates and privateers. Really, almost anything is probably workable with some adaptation.

This campaign is set in the year 402 A.U., just under three years after the 3rd Treaty of Korinth but thirty-three years before the Gangsters Campaign. Technology will in some ways be much more basic, but also more eclectic: expect your characters to carry military surplus from the Coalition War combined with local weapons and various strange artifacts of Celestial space. Think hydrogen pistols and monofilament sabers, with your grandpa’s repeating crossbow just in case. You might use a chainsaw if you think a sword is too subtle. You might carry a brace of black-powder single shot pistols, not because you cannot find better guns, but because these are chambered for the small supply of rune-carved, time-distorting bullets you stole from the tomb of an ancient warlock.

You should come to this campaign expecting some light exploration, plenty of smuggling and grey-market activity, lots of swashbuckling during boarding actions and in port, and an open-ended overarching plot about the (failing) wars of the Margravate offering room for higher intrigue. In all likelihood one of you will end up killing another over treasure or principle.

To get you into the mindset of a Margravate adventurer: the journey is likely to end in death for all or most of you, and the best you can do is to have as good a time as you can before the end. Cosmic horror is just another experience to have before the grave, like barfights, torrid romances and honor duels. Expect to make friends fast and enemies faster. Expect to see amazing things and then pillage or kill them. Expect to die gloriously. A sufficiently heroic TPK is a win.

## Characters

### Important Non-Player Characters

 Landydion / Normal Bob | Press officer / hype man for the Aetherfish, works for Margravate propaganda house, part of the government’s arrangement with the party.

## Summary

### Session 1

Pin Jump is a difficult place to be. Choice between living under robots that do not care about life and an autocratic regime that views anyone else as potential subjects or Aeldrum spies. All have ‘chosen’ Fialta imperium. Living in semi-autonomous ‘middle zone’. We enjoy modest autonomy, but Fialta and intrude at any time.

Campaign starts in a bar, A.C.E. and Melon are drinking, C.L.A.R.C. discussing routes out of Pin Jump with others, Agnar drinking in corner alone, Aetherfish and Cromwell first time at bar. Aetherfish wants to talk to his fans, finds none. Orders a water instead alone. Bartender has no idea who Aetherfish is, doesn’t give a discount.

Melon Tusk deposits (*exquisitely cut with perfect detail rambutan*) fruit into Aetherfish’s water with *scalpel* up sleeve. Aetherfish and Melon Tusk get to know each other. Melon Tusk on the Pin Jump to “Help others be beautiful”. Aetherfish replies “Everyone deserves a good challenge”. A.C.E. hears comment and gets offended. ACE “I wouldn’t call them adventures, but I have been killing people”.

Cromwell drinks jet fuel, burns slightly, other parts of body rebell, diaphragm is at odds with musculature, other muscles straining to hold diaphragm in place.

Agnar watching from corner, identifies with ACE, also dwarf and likes to fight.

Melon Tusk joined by XÆ-69 (X), a beautiful figure that deposits bag in Melon’s cloak.

Cromwell looks for most heavily armed (Nat 1). ‘Obvious’ mercenary fighter is Agnar. Agnar has two hammers and is very happy about it. Cromwell and Agnar talk about artifacts. Agnar knows about rumors of ley lines where lots of artifacts might be. Agnar joins the party with a contract. Cromwell: “Pleasure to do businessssssssssssss”.

Primary Languages:

* ACE - (Broken) Celestial/Dwarfish
* Agnar - Outremer, Dwarfish
* Horatio - Outremer, Elvish, Fialta, Celestial
* Cromwell - Outremer, Velsian (Naga), Celestial, Aeldman
* Melon - Outremer, Aeldman, Shantine, Celestial, Nipponese, Dwarfish
* CLARC - Narim, Celestial, Velsian (Naga), Nipponese

Aetherfish goes to CLARC to examine his own reflection. CLARC gets LARGE. Aetherfish asks CLARC about Limei, CLARC provides lots of (out of date) details. Cromwell recruits CLARC into party to navigate to Chthalon. Melon Tusk and Ace recruited.

ACE and Melon Tusk sense motive on Cromwell. He seems creepy.

Cromwell holds ACE’s axe. ACE is impressed.

Agnar notices that CLARC is an old machine that is banged up. CLARC notices Agnar’s magic hammers. CLARC becomes full-sized, gets chastised by bartender, reveals machine guns, rocket launcher, hydraulic lance, and flamethrower.

Pin Jump beings to sway, CLARC and Agnar notice. Ether is changing shape suddenly. All etheric energy being directed in a whirlpool in a rotation. Agnar’s hammer rotates on its own. Center if Pin Jump is off by several degrees, rotating to a new position.

CLARC holds ground with Cromwell, Melon Tusk, and Thefaren holding on. Aetherfish & ACE is fine. CLARC starts moving. CLARC, Cromwell, Melon, and Aetherfish look for ships. Aetherfish finds two crewed ships. Cromwell finds Fialta imperial ships, one belonging to Prince Felix. Melon Tusk knows that blind, old, and frail Fialta general arrived on a captured Aeldman yacht. Melon Tusk grabs ACE. Fastest way to yacht by elevator shafts, other way by stairs. CLARC, ACE, and Aetherfish can get to yacht by going into space. ACE activates jet engine bolted to back of power armor, shoots through roof of bar, crashes into side wall of Pin Jump, breaks through with Adamantium ‘snow plow’ (141 points of damage to wall)(Nat 20). ACE carries Melon Tusk and Thefaren along. CLARC drives up side of wall. Melon Tusk finds yacht, being held to Pin Jump only by anchor.

Brass Cities moving up from below, suspecting Fialta treachery. Cromwell walks up into rafters of bar. Brass Cities horde carries bartender away, Agnar and Kyle are okay.

Gun on yacht rotates towards dock. Melon Tusk ‘checks’ on client. CLARC tries to pull yacht back to dock and fails. Melon Tusk tries to convince client to allow party onboard. Aetherfish tried to convince Melon’s client that he can provide protection. Client buys on.

Yacht moves towards dock, makes bombing run. Hits CLARC, Melon Tusk, and ACE. Anchor embeds in CLARC. ACE flies up to ship, takes out grenade launcher. ACE takes captains hat and command of the yacht, declaring “Look at me. I’m the captain now.”. Directs driver to pick up rest of party.

Escape from the Pin Jump! Flung from the Pin Jump far away into celestial space in Brass Cities territory.

Is this territory hostile? Do the Brass Cities know to kill us yet? Find out next session!

### Session 2

Adrift for several days, all have had time to heal fully. Deep into Brass Cities territory. Others that were at the Pin Jump may be scattered through Brass Cities space. May no longer have the element of surprise.

* Old Fialta general whose yacht we commandeered (one of Tusk’s plastic surgery customers) is on board, plus a couple of his guys.

Who’s the captain?

* ACE says he is the captain. He has about a five-year-old’s proficiency in any trading languages. Prax informs him that the captain’s job is to guard the prisoners. ACE is game.
	+ The general is half-senile and concerned about his cheek flab
	+ Valet is mainly a sommelier
	+ Crew: pilot, engineer/mechanic
* The yacht is a pleasure craft – doesn’t have the resources (food) for a long expedition. Maybe a week’s worth of food.
* Cromwell doesn’t want to be in charge, just an advisor. He advocates separation of powers between pilot and captain. Suggests Horatio Prax (Aetherfish) as captain and himself as first mate. Thefaren asks if they’ll be boring and Prax shoots off some confetti from his shotgun. Thefaren approves.

Interview guests/captives/’real owners of the yacht we stole’ (the Purple Porpoise)

* Pilot and engineer onboard. Pilot can detect radio signals, but otherwise not accomplished. Flight school dropout.
* Aetherfish asks A.C.E. to watch pilot while talking to engineer. Aetherfish inspires engineer to the cause of the party. Asks engineer to detect radio chatter. Engineer finds bursts of long-range communication, but communications are very low frequency. Suggests that it may be interplanetary method of communication for Brass Cities. It is definitely encrypted; C.L.A.R.C. tries to decrypt communications. Tepid success, Brass Cities maintain subtle communication – the data comes by varying cyphers. Communications are frenzied attempts to understand what happened at Pin Jump. Have activated protocol to acquire ‘information assets’ which are ships like the yacht.

Where do we go?

* Can go towards the Pin Jump or the Margravate. Party likes idea of Margravate more. Melon Tusk resists stress damage over losing assets.
	+ Pin Jump appears to be compromised; even if our accounts are real, no access to them b/c Brass Cities won’t trust it.
* Cromwell checks to see if any Knight’s Mercantile caches are on the way to Margravate. He has no knowledge or any caches on the way, may be because Brass Cities territory is unfriendly.
* Thefaren tries to take advantage of etheric anomalies to speed up ship. (Nat 20!) Thefaren success in booking it towards the Margravate. Slingshot ship, operating ship well beyond safety parameters. Takes us to very frontier of Brass Cities space. Thefaren leaves part way through navigation to eat all of the caviar (with a fork).
* Brass Cities have detected us.
* But we got pretty far: “Except for what I’m about to inflict on you, you’re home free.”
* What did we pass? A blanket of silence has fallen across what was probably once the Margravate’s busiest space

**Pirate references are worth +1 to next roll**

Arrival at frontier of Brass Cities and Margravate space

* In the midst of rapidly closing ‘brass jaws’. Four ships are closing on location.
* About 2.5 days from the front line of the Margravate.
* CLARC tries to determine communications of ships. Trying to determine location of our ship using relative of their ships.
* Ships are etheric hunting ships. Likely very large.
* CLARC and Thefaren come up with sneaky plan to avoid ships. Party want to put prisoners in skiff to be a decoy.
* Aetherfish (Nat 20!) convinces prisoners that going on the skiff is the best way to survive and escape. Further convinces prisoners that we are the ones being put at risk.
* Skiff sent away, buys us time or at least reduces forces against us.
* Thefaren removes throttle from ship (Nat 1). Thefaren succeeds…
* What is the crew compliment on Brass Cities ships? Motherships has 1000s of robots that control frigates
* Frigates don’t really have guns (they build very sophisticated machinery, but that’d be like lances plus some mediocre cannons). Frigates will deploy drones, likely 18 to board ship. We can likely take on one frigate, but not three.
* Thefaren suggests ramming our ship into one of the frigates. Jump from our ship to the other frigate.

Boarding the frigate

* Thefaren makes checks to slingshot ship with anchor around frigate, somewhat successful but the yacht’s engines explode. (It makes them go faster.)
* ACE departs smoothly (with Melon Tusk on board) but decides to approach at ramming speed, CLARC (with Agnar) flung into space. Thefaren and Cromwell land successfully. Melon Tusk reads the room and jumps off of A.C.E. just before he makes impact, and finds an entrance to the ship.
* The Aetherfish tries to harpoon C.L.A.R.C. and Agnar but misses, so instead adjusts around the other side of the ship. C.L.A.R.C. fires a rocket launcher to propel itself and Agnar to the ship; upon landing, C.L.A.R.C. has its face shorn off by the engine.
* A.C.E. goes in a berserker rage; he cleaves lots of drones. He knocks out one of the two boarding drills. Then he gets sleepy. He takes a nap in the piles of dead drones; his power armor kind of blends in.
* Thefaren and Cromwell move towards bridge. Captain is a large automaton. Between the captain and Cromwell is thick glass plating. ‘Windows’ are really fortified view ports. Brass Cities don’t really understand etherics.
* Cromwell tries to identify weaknesses in Brass Cities robots (Nat 1). ‘Obvious key’ to deceive robots is to enter ventilation systems and present self as a lifeform that is not humanoid. ‘They cannot attack what they cannot understand’.
* Cromwell and Thefaren enter the ventilation system. Sees Cromwell work in an ‘octopus like’ fashion. Cromwell crawls to the ceiling of the cockpit.
* Captain informs crew that there is a ‘pest problem’ in the ventilation system and that the system will be purged. Thefaren jumps out of vents and avoids flame damage. Cromwell gets singed.
* Cromwell drops onto captain, which is bolted to the floor. Cromwell… is a bone? He disables the captain temporarily.
* Aetherfish makes an entrance onto the bridge. Thefaren applauds Aetherfish, robots are unfeeling.
* C.L.A.R.C. cleverly introduces itself as CLARK with a ‘k’. The robots believe it and presume it is bringing reinforcements. C.L.A.R.C. sees bomb drones heading into the engines, and follows. Perhaps they are trying to disable the ship to give the mothership time to arrive…
* CLARC attacks bomb drones, bomb drones denote and errant shot from CLARC destroy engines. The pressure differential with the outside (through the cracked cockpit from Cromwell & Thefaren’s entry)
	+ Cromwell notes, “my bones are going to hatch.”
	+ Thefaren sees ‘too many bones’. Bones try to reassemble Cromwell. Bones need flesh only to assemble themselves, then discard flesh. Skeleton heaves itself forward. Skeleton is a parasite within Cromwell and now is Cromwell. Mouth elongates and forms distortions of speech. Pantomime of intelligence, moves towards Thefaren. “We have hatched”.
	+ “Thank you Wes for delivering the Halloween special”
	+ Thefaren forms an ‘unbreakable bond of weirdness between an elf that thinks being a daredevil is a form of worship and a spiky skeleton’.
	+ Due to clarc’s enthusiastic reinforcements, the engines are totally destroyed; no raw materials to propel in a meaningful way. C.L.A.R.C. & A.C.E.’s etheric launch systems aren’t gonna cut it. We have a lot of time to contemplate the impending arrival of the mothership. It comes in about 12 hours, preparing to collect this husk of a ship… as we are dragged (by the etheric curvature of its own size) into the jaw of the mothership, we pass the skiff, with the general & his crew on display (their skin stretched out ..?!?!?), on the way to our “interrogation of a lifetime”.
		- In the intervening time, CLARC collects the drones to learn where the group is, where the mothership is coming from, what all has happened in the Brass Cities in the last 500 years, …
		- The Aetherfish christens the ship the *Listless Lamprey*
	+ Five porcelain-faced humanoid robots descend from the mothership towards us. They are one degree of separation from the mechanical god. They wear the flayed skins of countless Margravate victims.

### Session 3

*Previously…*

* We took over a Brass Cities boarding ship pretty successfully, after successfully disabling another one. But we no longer had engines.
* Why were they after us? We pinged as random travelers, but then we destroyed one of their ships… and we might take intel back to the Margravate about Brass Cities military capabilities being reduced because of the events at the Pin Jump.
* Also, Cromwell is a skeleton now.

The Brass Cities mothership has caught up with us. They’re not going to repair the ship, just scrap it, as indicated by the harpoons dragging in the ship, and they’ll capture us.

* Cromwell stealthily climbs up one of the grappling hooks, avoids close attention of overseer robots, seen by one of drones – kind of like a large, dog-sized mechanical lobster. Attempts to disassemble drone, drone collapses. Act of attacking drone attracts attention of higher order automata.
* Melon Tusk interrupts attack to ask Cromwell skeleton if the deal is still on. Skeleton gurgles angrily. Tusk tables the conversation, but will seek fiduciary compensation at a later date: this is a hazard pay situation.
* CLARC tells Aetherfish about motherships. They serve three functions: 1) maintenance for cargo vessels, 2) mobile base for explorations, 3) troop transfer. This mothership is mostly a platform for planetary warfare, some exploration capability. Nothing in ship would take us deep into celestial space.
* Melon Tusk makes power grab. Invites others to meet them at the ‘maw’.
* Thefaren makes perception check to see if other ships are around. Motherships absorbs and disassembles things in a one way channel. This mothership only has capacity to process one ship at a time and must have something like aircraft hangers on the sides. Likely accessible through maintenance ducts below our current location.
* Cromwell jumps and lands on wall of maw. Bones grip to and ‘experience’ materials while sliding down. Several of the walls are large crushing tools. Makes it to bottom and finds mountains of scrap materials. Rising heat from below. Likely a furnace beneath.
* Party flees ship on the back of ACE. CLARC collects bombs and leaves.

Thefaren falls off of ACE, keeps Agnar in position. Thefaren lands on Cromwell’s bones, which are rubbery.

Party arrives at bottom of maw.

* Drones are now perched on hooks scanning for us. They have a top half like an owl, and a bottom half like a spider.
* ACE fails will save, desires to go after drones. Melon Tusk tries to calm down ACE (NAT 1). ACE is enraged. Melon Tusk jumps off ACE and makes it down to bottom with 69. Agnar rides with ACE to glory.
* ACE launches straight at drones. Rides up the chains, shearing drones off in the process. Agnar frees self from ACE.
* Ways out of ship 1) through furnace, 2) back the way we came, 3) point further along scrap channel should lead to exit. Alternatively, we can wait for system to activate and make our way into guts of ship.
* ACE notices ventilation shafts while flying up side of ship that connect to hangars. Making way up ‘molar’ mechanism of maw would lead us to same ventilation shafts. Agnar and ACE fly through ventilation shaft to hangars, totaling a ship on impact (shears through a wing).
* Anti-organic cyborgs activated by ship to attack party.
* Hangar is gassed. Agnar and ACE avoid effects of gas.
* Aetherfish and Cromwell fly up side of ‘molar’. Figure leaps from gantry towards Aetherfish. Thefaren fires at cyborg, throwing it off course so that it doesn’t hit Aetherfish. Aetherfish fires at cyborg, exposes organs inside.
* Cromwell sneaks off to do demolition things. Crawls inside molar mechanism and sets bombs, descended upon by owl/spider drones. Cromwell drawn into vulture robot, gets stuck. Then he flips around it, octopus style, for cover.
* A subroutine asks CLARC if it’d like to activate ‘mortar mode.’ It does. CLARC fires three rockets at one of the cyborgs, opening up its guts.
* Cromwell stabs skull of vulture robot from inside, destroying internal mechanism. Aetherfish frees Cromwell. Cromwell reassembles self. (“Pull yourself together, Bones!”)
* CLARC fired upon by cyborgs. CLARC is deactivated for now.
* ACE maintains rage, shot at with automatic gun turrets.
* Agnar attacks turret with hammers. Turret jams and is disabled.
* Thefaren attempts to fix CLARC. Activates all of CLARC’s systems. Flies up the wall and activates mortar mode. **CLARC explodes**. Sorry, CLARC. Little bomb robots inside sympathetically activate also.
* Melon Tusk spots machine gun and map data module fall from CLARC as it explodes. Prax scoops it up, but doesn’t have time to get the nice gun.
* Tusk & Thefaren get knocked down, Prax sets off a horn & fireworks show to distract the robots and give them time to get back up; drones shoot at him instead, but he’s real lucky & they don’t hit him too hard
* Party makes it to hanger. ACE is still enraged. Melon Tusk tries to calm down ACE, fails to do so. Melon Tusk makes perception check on hangar (Nat 20). Spots self propelled high powered weapon (ICBM-like). We can steal fighter ship, troop transfer, or high powered missile. ICBM will go very fast, but we won’t be able to stop it unless Thefaren can modify the engines (maybe Agnar’s gravity runes can help)
* ACE tries to drag ICBM rocket towards party (Nat 1), sends rocket flying into space.
* ACE caught in path of rocket, drags in another rocket. Thefaren cobbles together ship. Ship avoid exploding. Thefaren pilots ship out of hangar expertly.
* Thefaren guides ship towards a nearby planet. Ship fired on by Brass Cities mothership. One Nat 20 hit. ACE takes a boatload of damage holding the ship together (57 points of damage). ACE takes fatal damage. Cromwell attempts to occupy ACE. ACE is too angry for Cromwell to dominate. Becomes a hybrid creature. ACE controls muscles, Cromwell controls bones.
* Thefaren attempts to evade ships sent to pursue party. ACEwell gets Nat 20 to hold ship together, avoids losing ship engines. ACEwell contorts in horrific ways that cause sanity damage. Thefaren shakes pursuing ships, escapes but party is lost. Agnar knows a bit on how to disassemble CLARC’s cartographic module. Thefaren vaguely figures out CLARC’s coordinate scheme, uses knowledge to navigate to Margraviate (Nat 20), a bit too enthusiastically (damaging the module in the process).
* Margravate likely to interpret ship as an incoming attack. Aetherfish climbs on top of missile-ship and puts on fireworks display. Margravate recognizes Aetherfish, Aetherfish claims captaincy of the *Nettlesome Needlefish*. Margravate sends barge to rescue party. Arrive at Tarim.

### Session 4

Setup:

* Planet Tarim is heavily fortified. Planetary gate guarded by chained together gun platforms.
* Party arrives at the gate station. Clearly an ongoing battlezone with destroyed brass cities ships in the distance.
* Party is arrested (apologetically) at the gate station. Party members will be escorted one-by-one in shuttles to be interrogated by military officers. Weapons confiscated and kept under guard.
	+ Interrogation won’t be brass cities style, but the red light district does offer simulations thereof

Waiting for the shuttles to arrive at the gate station:

* Guards (5) want to hear stories from the Aetherfish. Aetherfish tells guards about events since the Pin Jump (Nat 20). Guards are extremely impressed and call in friends to meet Aetherfish. Aetherfish tries to drop out of sight, but does not succeed. Guards continue to want autographs.
* Thefaren asks guards if they have caviar. They do not, but they do have large quantities of drugs. Thefaren inquires about drugs. Guards describe ether/alcohol/opium drink with hallucinogenic properties. Thefaren asks for adrenaline. Guard asks Therfaren to fill out requisition form, comes back with multiple doses of Margravate ‘speed’. Doses of ‘speed not that effective for Thefaren. Melon Tusk notices that Thefaren is heavily addicted and opts not to interfere.
* Melon Tusk gives guards permanent markers of Aetherfish’s stories, for money. Aetherfish continues chatting up guards, asks guards for stories (Nat 20). Guards describe that trade including food and weapons have been cut off. Only have enough munitions in gate facility to fire for five minutes continuously. Relying on local industry to supply munitions, however local industry can’t produce hydrogen rounds. Many weapons we will encounter will be hydrogen weapons converted to use gunpowder.
* Shantine, apparently, have been attacking the Nipponese with some new kind of weapon, so focusing their energy toward Imperial Space. Hence, raiding parties are being formed to hit trade lanes and commandeer ships; it is suggested that military command would appreciate our help. Everyone in the Margravate living like it’s their last day. There’s literally no way out
* Medical officer asks Aetherfish why ACE is dead. Agnar is aware that Cromwell is inside ACE, but Cromwell can’t speak. Thefaren plays off ACE/Cromwell’s condition as exciting and cool. Doctor is sceptical of ACE, notes condition for further examination by intelligence services.
* Doctor makes notes on party. Melon Tusk ‘claims to be a doctor, possibly a fraud’. Aetherfish is ‘narcissist with retrograde amnesia’. Cromwell is a ‘golem’.

Party taken to surface with space elevator / space train:

* Multiple city blocks have been demolished around base station in part to deny landing forces cover; brass remnants lying around the streets. Other cities blanketed in smog from over-industrialization.
* Party arrives in train station bristling with guns. Escorted separately to second train deeper into capital. Taken to basement of building full of men in grey topcoats. These are Margraviate military intelligence.
* ACE/Cromwell interrogation: Three stools arranged to allow ACE/Cromwell to sit. Cromwell aware that they are in the ‘special room’ loaded with pressure plates and panic button in case interrogation goes south. Showerhead overhead for dropping acid on ACE/Cromwell. Interrogator asks ACEwell who they are, in Outremer. Cromwell understands, ACE does not. Cromwell does not comply with question, believes that the party can parlay out of the situation. Interrogator goes though book of languages before calling for backup translator.
* Thefaren interrogation: Asked if from Enclaves and why Thefaren is on Tarim. Thefaren gives short answers. Interrogator asks about Thefaren’s mercenary contract. Thefaren does not know/forgot who employer is. Asks what she would be looking for in a future employer
* Agnar interrogation: Interrogator - Who are you? What are you doing here? Who do you work for? Agnar - Out trying to get materials and fell in with the party. Interrogator - Notices celestial accent, asks if Agnar is from Celestial space. Agnar - Yes, and partly from Naga space. Interrogator - What type of materials were you looking for? Agnar - Special materials, work for important people. Interrogator - Who do you work for? Agnar - Celestial courts. Agnar continues to plead ignorance. Interrogator knows that Agnar does not know enough to pose national security threat.
* Melon Tusk does not comply with interrogation.
* Aetherfish regales interrogator with stories. Taken to ‘special special’ cell with wood panels and fine whiskey. Interrogator - Who were you working for? Aetherfish - Cromwell. Do you know what happened at Pin Jump? Interrogator - No. Do you know anything about events? Aetherfish - Describes events of Pin Jump. Interrogator - Do you think the Brass Cities were involved? Aetherfish - They raided upper levels, otherwise shiny but dull/boring. Interrogator - What was the condition of the factory ship. Aetherfish - Describes ambush by ships and encounter on the factory ship. Describes craft in the hangar bay of factory ship. Interrogator - Why were they so eager to catch you? Aetherfish - My name gets around, but don’t know why they were after us. Describes escape from Pin Jump and capture by Brass Cities. Interrogator - Who/What are your travelling companions? Aetherfish - Describes everyone else avoiding ACE/Cromwell. Interrogator - What happened to Cromwell? Aetherfish - ‘Bones’ is around somewhere. Interrogator - Bones? Where is he now? Aetherfish - Don’t know, but he was very good at asking for my help. Interrogator - Do you know what became of ‘Bones’? Aetherfish - Need to find Cromwell. He was very resourceful.
* Agnar tells the interrogator that Cromwell crawled inside ‘our other friend’.
* Cromwell gets impression that he is being x-rayed. Interrogator speaks to Cromwell from other side of wall/two-way mirror. Notepad slipped through mailslot for Cromwell to use. Cromwell decides to keep them ‘curious’. Cromwell tries to force ACE to speak. ACE sticks tongue against top of mouth to avoid speaking. ‘Extremely hideous and incredibly childish display’. Military inteligence threatens to imprison or kill Cromwell. He responds, “I know you don’t have the ammunition. [...] If you’re going to ask me something of worth, now would be the time.”
* Interrogator - 1) What happened on the Pin Jump? 2) What is the KM doing in Celestial space? Cromwell - Don’t know and Don’t know. Interrogator - What’s to stop your ‘affliction’ from spreading. Cromwell tries to intimidate intelligence officers. Interrogator is not confident that Cromwell will not spread ‘affliction’ to others. Cromwell assures military intelligence that spreading is not a current goal, and ACE’s body will probably last long enough that he won’t be ‘crawling into’ anyone else. Interrogator - What services can you offer to the Margraviate? Cromwell - Climbs up wall to position self over gun port. Gun activates but does not have rounds. Interrogator suggest he try the other gun. Interrogator - We haven’t removed plastic explosives installed under floor. Cromwell - Fairly confident he could take the blast by rolling into a ball.
* “I’m an occult abomination inside a tank, and if you don’t want to utilize that, I don’t know what to tell you.”
* Man of elvish and human blood enters the interrogation room with Cromwell. Man is a vice admiral and likely ranking officer of facility. Admiral gives Cromwell contract to operate in space in exchange for services to Margraviate. Will be granted personhood as long as Cromwell operates as privateer for at least a year. Contract would be to enumerate KM associates that may be on planet. Cromwell doesn’t know if any are on planet, hoped to find them. Conditions of deal are that Cromwell will provide dossier on KM activities at Pin Jump. Margraviate claims that they can cross-reference events to know if he is lying. Cromwell left with writing materials to construct dossier. Military intelligence likely does not know who Cromwell is within the KM.
* Party asked to give impressions of Cromwell. Agnar gives character reference ‘He’s a really good guy’. Aetherfish says he has no problems with ‘Bones’, but says he does not know who he works for (in response to question from military intelligence). Thefaren says that she is not interested in mission if Cromwell not released.
* Military intelligence ready to release party. Hesitant to release Cromwell. Aetherfish reassures intelligence that he will keep tabs on Cromwell. Military intelligence to implant tracking bugs into ACE to track Cromwell. Cromwell released into custody of Aetherfish.
* Cromwell does not want reconstructive surgery, asks Thefaren if she wants to ‘experience the bones’. ‘If you introduced me to your nervous system, I could keep you from overdosing’. Cromwell makes case for possessing Thefaren. Thefaren knows that Cromwell can’t leave without destroying her body and taking her brain with him. Thefaren initially turns down offer, wants to live life without constraints. Cromwell promises not to take over often and claims that he will be content possessing Thefaren. Thefaren agrees to be possessed. Orderly witnesses ‘bone centipede’ crawl out of ACE and down Thefaren’s throat. Thefaren begins to have second thoughts. Cromwell snaps in half and the other half crawls towards orderly and possesses him. ‘Inside everyone is a skeleton waiting to get out. They just don’t know it yet.’
* ‘Congratulations Thefaren, you have survived the skeleton curse’.
* Party can repossess ACE’s power armor.

Party hits the town:

* Aetherfish is immediately accosted by admiralty press officer / hype man (Aetherfish’s side character). Aetherfish tells hype man stories of adventures.
* Landydion AKA Normal Bob (Matt’s side character). Worked on Bank of Valdos hits such as “Intergalactic, Monetary, Monetary, Intergalactic”.
* Landydion works for Margraviate propaganda house, part of government’s arrangement with party. Asks for script notes from the party.
	+ Agnar shares their family’s story, enslavement by and eventual liberation from the Mage Princes thousands of years before; Landedion says, “let the camera be your therapist”
	+ Thefaren’s story turns into the Margravate stand-in: living life for the moment
	+ Melon Tusk demands heavy product placement of beauty creams and other Tusk branded products, and that Kyle play all of the background characters.
	+ Horatio Prax becomes convinced that he fought the space worm, which emerged from Cromwell, on the way out of the Brass Cities ship
* Pirsig (or whatever Logan will call his new character) proposes exploring some unexplored territory beyond Tarim
	+ Thefaren is sold on the adventure, gleaming cities, etc. She reads Pirsig as being akin to herself: in it for the thrill of the hunt. He says he can get a ship
	+ Prax is interested in whether there will be anyone to liberate once there. Persig says he doesn’t know what’s out there, just that there’s something there. Prax is probably OK with liberating knowledge of the unknown area.
	+ Who’s this guy? Aeldman elf, probably ATC.
		- Aeldmen heavily armed the Margravate against the Nipponese
* Agnar comes clean about their deal: they have latent Naga-made viral genes making them Umbran -- infecting most of the dwarvish population. Soul virus causes soul to slowly turn into the soul of an Umbran. So, maybe Agnar will transform at some point on our adventure.

### Session 5

Preparing to board the ship:

* Aetherfish helps Normal Bob shoot another music video.
* Does Landydion join the expedition? Yes, with three large suitcases. Will be resident propagandist.
* Party heads to ship: Pirsig, Thefaren, Aetherfish & Landydion, Agnar, and Melon Tusk & Kyle

On the way to the ship:

* Pirsig and Agnar see a ‘monstrosity’ barreling down hill. Figure is running from children. It’s ACE.
* Aetherfish attempts to distract children with confetti and fireworks. Children are thrilled. “Look! It’s the Aethersturgeon!”
* Party approaches ACE. ACE is soulless and braindead, recognizes Agnar, Thefaren, and Aetherfish. Demands ramming prow from Agnar.
* Melon Tusk talks to ACE. Promises to look after and take good care of ACE.

Party arrives at ship:

* Ship not in ship-shape. Two barges stacked on each other with elegance of budget cruiseliner. Loaded with guns decks are not rated to hold. Named *the Antelope*.
* Captain wears an out of fashioned tricorne hat.
* Ship has poor quality etheric radar system, like a dowsing rod in level of sophistication.
* Thefaren convinces captain to let her ‘improve’ the engines. Current engineer lacks hands. “Looks like you could use a … hand”. Engineer asks Thefaren what qualifications are to work on engine. Thefaren claims to have designed the engine herself. Engineer grants Thefaren permission to work on engines. Thefaren cuts the brake line.
* ACE weighs enough that he affects the balance of the barge. Wanders off, gaining attention of several sailors. Sailors convince ACE to pick up objects, becoming loading crane.
* Agnar helps Thefaren with engines, producing gravity rune in the engine room. Extended critical failure range of engines by 2. May result in explosion.
* Engineer makes Thefaren official ship's engineer and leaves ship to save his own life.
* Aetherfish inspects ship. Crew is fairly green. Guns on lower deck are functional, guns on upper deck are not. System of metal racks and shutters can be used to protect crew from ether and boarding parties. First mate locked away in room that smells like opium. Ship’s cook/quartermaster is orcish woman, ex-orcish directorate. Chief gunner knows nothing about guns, is actually an accountant. *Antelope* is most overvalued ship in the entire Margravate fleet. Confident that torpedo bay could be used to fire ACE with some modification.
* Aetherfish checks ammunition available. There’s enough to fire each working gun five times

Ship casts off:

* Pirsig pulls out box and puts it over his head. Attaches radar to box and perceives the ether: 1) Sense the turning of the Pin Jump 2) Sense move of a fleet of ships, out in the Petty Kingdoms. Feel the tug of a gate opening/closing unusually strongly. Could be good cover for a raid. Planet of Witolm, sister planet to Tarim. Currently being liberated from Nipponese by ‘the other side’.
* What would cause the planetary gate to open/close rapidly? Null bomb (unlikely), etheric storm, occult event. Likely due to the recent appearance of one of the veiled masters.
* How large is the fleet? Around 500,000 tons. Moving away from us too quickly for us to catch up. Fleet is escaping through gate to Brass Cities territory.
* Veiled masters are cultists of the Elder Gods. Accepted that they have secret knowledge of elder gods. Have the ability to have servants move outside of ley lines. Veiled masters rule over Nippon states.
* Aetherfish convinces ship’s captain that going to Witolm is the best possible idea. Ship’s accountant additionally thinks there is a business case to be made in towing ships.
* Pirsig etherically cloaks the ship while plugged into radar, making it invisible to radar, but still visible to naked eye. Pirsig is convinced that being cloaked is always desirable.
* Agnar notices that Pirsig does not have a psychic presence.
* Aetherfish loads skiff with ammo and goes to find ACE. ACE tries to hide but fails. Aetherfish directs ACE to the torpedo room.
* Pirsig detects other ship sending out distress signals.
* Pirsig takes off mask and asks Tusk, “can ya fix this?” Tusk declares he’s fixed far uglier, but becomes obsessed: “we need to operate immediately, for the benefit of all mankind.” Pirsig declines, and puts his box on his head.
* Accountant on ship is ready to fire the torpedo (ACE) upon request.

Arrive at the ship sending out the distress signal:

* It’s a trap! Pirate ship emerges from behind. Likely contracted to work with Nipponese, but has now turned to piracy.
* ACE fired at the engines of the other ship inaccurately. ACE steers himself towards enemy ship.
* Thefaren guides the skiff towards the pirate ship and along its side. Witnesses strands of Nipponese soldiers flailing in the ether.
* Pirate ship tries to ram the barge and misses completely.
* ACE guides himself into the ship, landing on the roof, pierces through top of the hull. ACE is finally perceived by the enemy. ACE hears snarling in the distance and is shot at. Takes out one of the pirates.
* Aetherfish distacts crew on the bridge with performance.
* Wes’ new character is Ogodno. Thinks Aetherfish is currently on the bridge. Moves to attack the Aetherfish through biting. Looks like a mining rig with fur. Bites through window towards Aetherfish. Aetherfish dodges out of the way. A horrifying version of a gnoll, 9ft tall with the bite of a hyena.
* Aetherfish shoots Ogodno in the face. Ogodno attempts to attack Aetherfish with chainsaw and misses.
* ACE spots Ogodno in the distance and is very angry. Begins to cleave his way towards Ogodno.
* Thefaren spots a fighter bay on the ship with no fighters in it. Ships spots skiff and fires at it. Thefaren makes loops around the enemy ship, distracting gunners enough to allow barge to fire at the pirate ship. Pirate ship returns fire, but does not do well.
* Ogodno terrifies Aetherfish into switching sides to fight against the barge. Aetherfish boards ship with Ogodno. ACE witnesses this and registers Aetherfish as a traitor, while continuing to cleave his way towards the bridge.

Session was abruptly brought to an end by loud sounds coming from Christophe’s basement.

### Session 6

Engaging the pirate ship:

* Aetherfish further betrays the party by describing weaknesses of the *Antelope* (that the guns on the top deck are display-only). Goblin officer goes to fetch captain of pirates ship in response.
* ACE witnesses additional betrayal by Aetherfish, becomes more enraged. Engages Aetherfish and Ogodno. Ogodno attempts to slingshot ACE with chain-whip as he attacks Aetherfish. ACE is heavily wounded by chain attack, loses an eye and an ear, becomes permanently catatonic (Charisma score reduced to 0). ACE achieves high velocity and drags Ogodno with him into space. Aetherfish avoids being hit by ACE, goblin (Garret) splatters against ACE as he speeds towards exterior hull. ACE hits the wall and abruptly stopped, taking impact damage. Ogodno pulls chain from ACE’s face, ripping face off. ACE instantly dies. Final thoughts: “Eh.. I’m a zombie”.
* Ogodno impacts ACE’s jet engines, breaching them. Jet engines explode, Aetherfish evades explosion and ducks into captains quarters.
* Aetherfish attempts to take the ship from the captain through intimidation. Captain is less than impressed, engages Aetherfish. Captain appears to be a human with grafted parts of other species. Chair has a specialized back brace to support bone structure. Presses button which causes many guns to emerge from his chair to fire 24 shots at Aetherfish. 2 shots hit (47 points of damage), killing Aetherfish instantly. Miraculously dodges all other shots, dying in style. Last action is to shoot confetti gun in air to celebrate his end.
* Pirsig, Thefaren, Agnar, and Normal Bob arrive in hangar bar. Surprisingly empty, other skiffs are gone. Weapons are firing etheric tracer rounds at the *Antelope*.
* Pirsig and Agnar attempt to create a null space to encompass the weapons. Create a null field, but not one large enough to encompass weapons. Normal Bob attempts to record sounds of the null space, music makes him see colors.
* Ogodno informed of intruders in hangar bay. Eats Aetherfish in response.
* Pirate ship fires at the *Antelope*. Melon Tusk still on the *Antelope* due to the captain's insistence. Pirate ship shoots very effectively, directly hitting and destroying engines in a fiery explosion. Bridge is also destroyed, killing everyone in the room. *Antelope* fires back and hits the bridge.
* Melon Tusk and 69 don moon suits and go to captains quarters. Takes anything useful he can fit into his moon suit. Takes blackmail documents, antique silverware, and map charts. Makes escape out of hole in the ship’s hull, propelled by explosion of engines.
* Pirsig senses *Antelope* exploding, relates to Thefaren, Agnar, and Normal Bob. Talk about taking the ship from the engine room. Ogodno appears with engine running. Shows party the remains of the Aetherfish. Cromwell gains deeper control of Thefaren, Pirsig goes temporarily insane and places box on head. Normal Bob is fine.
* Thefaren runs towards the ship, Ogodno attempts to grapple Thefaren with chain. Thefaren reaches ship, turns on systems, flies ship at Ogodno and hits. Ogodno chainsaws the cockpit window, doesn’t make it through; offers Thefaren a job. “Well, why deedn’t you say so?”
* Thefaren goes to fetch Melon Tusk. Melon Tusk perceives that Thefaren is distressed.
* Captain leaves safety of machine gun chair to inspect party. Ogodno gives brief assessment of the party to the captain.
* Agnar and Melon Tusk demonstrate their value to the party. Agnar offers services in rune smithing, Melon Tusk performs sleight of hand with surgical tools.
* Twelve remaining crew from the Antelope are brought on board the ship, including the accountant. Accountant works out a deal to be Melon Tusk’s business manager.

### Session 7

New Characters:

* Daniel is Captain Moreau. He is in charge and has the hat to show it. Rule 1: I am in charge. Rule 2: The monkey-like creatures are mephits. DO NOT GIVE THEM OPIATES.
* Matt is Mr. Smithy Reens, who looks like a small human/ape hybrid. He’s the quartermaster (handles supplies)

On the pirate ship:

* Thefaren suggests giving the mephits amphetamines and goes to take them alone. Mephits ask Thefaren for amphetamines. Thefaren gives mephits large quantities of drugs in exchange for information (Nat 1). Mephits become extremely excited and start shrieking for more mephits to come get in on the drugs.
* Madame Mephit is lead mephit, wears the first officer’s hat. Madame Mephit tells Thefaren that all amphetamine distribution will go through her.
* Pirsig tells captain about destinations that lie beyond the ‘schism’. Smithy Reens recognizes destinations as belonging to lost empires.
* Captain Moreau knows that a lot of ancient artifacts have yet to be discovered in space beyond the schism.
* Ship currently holds about a month’s worth of supplies. Trip estimated to take around 3 months. With full supplies, ship can last around 2 months.
* There is a supply outpost (planet) 25 days away. Supply caches in the ether, one 3 weeks away and one 6 weeks away.
* Thefaren asks for access to the engine room, Captain Moreau suspects that Thefaren has less than honorable intentions with the engines. Denies request.
* Melon Tusk wants to make Smithy Reens beautiful. Upset with the state of the infirmary. Demands mephit clean up the infirmary. Smithy Reens gets old hands to do the job.
* Tusk concludes that Reens has a terminal case of the uglies, and he also has failed to settle on a genre. “You can’t justify fixing his eye if he’s going to have to look at his face”.
* Let the canon show that Ogodno has never bathed
* Melon Tusk repairs Reen’s ear and implants a glass eye. Also gives Reen’s an acid shave, applying acid to the pores on his face. Tusk also gives Reen’s many botox injections. He ends up looking like a handsome gentleman whose head has been attached to the body of a gibbon. His vision loss isn’t reparable, nor is his hearing – until a new cadaver eardrum is swapped in
* Smithy goes to prepare the crew. None of them recognize him. This seems fine to Smithy.
* Thefaren slingshots the pirate ship around the *Antelope*, allowing the ship to accelerate faster. Make a 72 hour journey in 36 hours.
* Pirsig continues to detect wake of the Nipponese fleet. Realize that the fleet was broken into three parts about 10 hours ago. The fleet seems to have been broken by something incredibly large and stable: a collection of many souls.
* Ogodno undergoes plastic surgery from Melon Tusk. Captain Moreau discovers this and becomes upset. Insists that Ogodno must remain intimidating. Tusk works to make Ogodno more proud and intimidating.
* Captain Moreau spots crewmembers trying to take advantage of Ogodno’s incapacitated status. Moreau fires at them. Leaves Ogodno to go to deal with mutiny. Becomes suspicious of Reens. Bats with wires crawl onto Moreau’s chair. Moreau shoots mutineers again.
* Thefaren hears machine gun fire, spurs her to go faster.
* Moreau confronts Reens about surgery and cleaning the infirmary. Tusk wakes Ogodno, now looks like a shaved bear. Surgery is a success. May increase Ogodno’s intimidate bonus with additional surgeries. Madame Mephit fixated on adrenaline shot administered to Ogodno to wake him up.
* Ogodno activates chainsaw and drags it along the walls creating sparks. Crew beings to panic and start to arm themselves. Full mutiny of the crew in progress.
* Pirsig asks Agnar to strike box with null rune to tune out the noise of the mutiny. Rune turns box into a null bomb. Agnar does very poorly (nat 1), causing a feedback loop wherein the aetheric energy powering the box increases as the null space expands. Pirsig’s head is probably about to explode, or maybe implode. If he takes the box off, there’s a 1/3 chance it’ll trigger a null bomb in the cockpit. Pirsig musters his willpower, runs to the door of the cockpit, and takes the box off. It does not explode.
* Captain Moreau suspects Smithy Reens of betrayal. Believes Smithy Reens was responsible for the spiders. Moreau sets Ogodno on Smithy Reens. Reens throws grenades at Moreau which land in his chair. Reens escapes into ducts of the ship.
* Ogodno suggests that Moreau execute crew members until Reens surrenders himself. Reens inspires the crew to fight back. Some start to crawl into ducts. One takes a mephit hostage.
* Mutineers try to recruit Thefaren, Pirsig, and Agnar. Thefaren and Pirsig stay on the bridge, Agnar joins the fight with the crew.
* Ogodno goes to the bridge to find Prisig, encounters crew members leaving the bridge. Cleaves his way through the crew members.
* Thefaren and Pirsig do not see Ogodno’s massacre, Agnar takes stress damage.
* Pirsig attempts to amplify the horror of Ogodno throughout the ship. Whole crew makes a will save. Pirsig does not do well, and believes he must see the ‘white pyramid’ immediately. Inverts the energy of his null box to create a bright etheric beacon. The beacon if inverted, could shine light on what lies outside of reality. Pirsig’s box explodes. Everyone rolls a ton of etheric damage.
* Crew experiences horror of Ogodno. 10 crew members go permanently insane, 40 are temporarily insane, 10 are fine, 10 are traumatized. Crew will storm the bridge and try to take control.
* Thefaren tries to steer ship into etheric eddy, causing ship to rip apart. Engines are first to go, overloaded by stress. Entirety of bridge filled with etheric fire as it strikes an etheric wave. All in the bridge are scorched to death. Captain Moreau is in his ‘space safe’ chair, rolls away, rolling past Melon Tusk. Melon Tusk tries to get in escape pod, Moreau rolls on by before having second thoughts. Moreau opens pod, Reens tries to grab his captain’s hat, but is mauled by Madame Mephit. Tusk and 69 crawl into chair-pod. 69 attacks and kills Captain Moreau. Tusk and 69 jump into crab and throw out Moreau. Tusk and 69 close the shield, walk in chair to safety. Reens shoots attacking mephits with Aetherfish’s shotgun. Madame Mephit tries to bite Reens in face but flies past hitting ducts. Reens grabs several of remaining sane crew and boards a skiff. Ogodno dies at peace, no longer seeing the horror of his existence. Pirsig hallucinates white pyramid, but knows that it is empty, dies in anguish. Reens makes it off ship, but dies of starvation adrift in the ether. Melon Tusk arranges for a peaceful death for himself and 69, seeing no survivable outcome.

CAMPAIGN ENDS HERE

CAMPAIGN WILL CONTINUE AS ‘QUEST FOR THE WHITE PYRAMID’