The Deep Ether Campaign/Session 11

When we last left the excessively motley crew, they had just finished more tense negotiations with the Fialta (learning of their mysterious advice-giving “friend” in the process) and had fortified their defenses against the boarders of the Margravate ship. However, the Foundation’s dorsal weapon was disabled, leaving Garrel and Sigurd to figure out how to repair it.

Naga Dundee and Captain Klaus went for a traditional charge, while Hrymn had a simpler idea: why not just roll over the tiny creatures in his way? This proved to be less effective than he had hoped, but the combined forces were able to push back the enemy troops and encounter both Captain Pickman (looking ghoulish and insane) and his personal headhunter.

Moving with reckless abandon, Dundee and Klaus reached them first. Dundee began with a grab n’ smash, but the number of fodder and the sheer strength of the two leaders forced him to retreat. Klaus attempted to cover for Dundee’s escape until the cavalry arrived, but this also went poorly, as Pickman, wielding a flaming cutlass, chopped off Klaus’ right hand with ease.

Not all was lost, though, as Allie, Jessie, and Hrymn made it to the fray. After dispatching most of the fodder, Allie jumped on Hrymn’s back and skewered the headhunter, making him nice and crispy in the process. Surprisingly enough, Pickman had enough control over his crew to keep them from fleeing immediately.

Perhaps he should have kept more self-control, as Allie’s regards from Sumire struck quite a nerve. So much so, in fact, that Pickman dropped his cutlass and took some desperation shots before meeting the same fate as his headhunter. With Pickman out of the way, most of the troops fled. This did not include a select few who had chased after Dundee and Klaus (who again was a poor distraction and got himself captured), leading to a farcical “negotiation” for his release.

Finally having some breathing room, the party reorganized their defenses and planned a counter-boarding. They met with the Fialta (somewhat depleted by the kamikaze) to discuss options, and decided on a dual assault: one from above, and one through the front door. With the prospect of a ship to take them home, the Fialta volunteered to help with the assault.

The surprise drop-in was led by Lumbergh, who used a harpoon (deftly thrown by Aggron) to shimmy down to the ship. Although his landing was silent, his initial strike on the vents was lacking, and his crew became locked in a fight on the upper decks. The lower assault began after Regi sniped the ship’s torpedo bay. This went better, with Banshee intimidating the fodder and Jessie mowing them down.

Finally clearing out the gun deck, Lumbergh dropped down and was ambushed, taking serious cognitive damage in the process. Meanwhile, the lower assault had made it to the bridge (needing Hrymn’s assistance to climb up the destroyed stairwell), and the party encountered the last of the important personnel on the ship: a Lieutenant manning a machine gun, and a psionic. Banshee confronted the latter and was overpowered, forced to look directly into the eye in his possession. The psionic was eventually killed, and the remaining crew surrendered. Lumbergh was saved from death, but not from daft. In this psionic's possession was a small black box of condensed null space.

We leave the excessively motley crew fighting against time and exhaustion: Nidev’s cruiser is looming over the pinnacle of the station, the Foundation has retreated from projecting to save power, and three important party members are now out of commission (perhaps four if Banshee’s horrors are severe enough). They’ll need all the luck they can get to survive this last stand.