Far, Far from Home

"Far, Far from Home" is episode 2 of SuperQuest Saga. Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian find themselves confused and adrift upon a sea of stars. Are they truly 100,000 years in the future? Were the orcs really wiped out? How did this happen? But there is no time to ponder these questions as they have caught the attention of a dangerous foe, the Eternal Elven Empire.

Introduction

 * Will Stark shall be your magnanimous dungeon master for this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, a level 2 half-orc paladin
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal, the firbolg druid
 * Brian is Carter Huttenburg, a level 2 warlock

Recap
Last time they played there was a bit of a twist at the end. The party climbed to the highest room of the metallic tower and accidentally set off the launch sequence since the tower was actually a spaceship. They discovered a strange girl in a vat of liquid. They got launched into the atmosphere and everything went black as they fell unconscious.

Waking Up
Persephone awakens first and finds herself in the same room they were knocked out in. All lights are off and her two companions are knocked unconscious. The vat of liquid has been shattered, and the girl is unconscious in a small pool of water. Persephone checks on her boys, finds their hearts beating and lungs breathing, and shakes them awake. She then cautiously approaches the young lady and checks her out, finding that she is breathing. All the lines that were glowing on the girl’s skin have grown dim, they now look like dark blue tattoos.

Carter thinks the scene is strange and he investigates the broken glass. He sees that the glass has broken outwards and most of the liquid has drained into some drainage holes in the floor. The fluid has the consistency of water but is slightly tinted blue and it smells like saline. Sebastian encourages Carter to taste it. Carter determines that it tastes like salt water, “like mama’s taffy that she’d leave out all night when we lived at the beach.”

Persephone gets a blanket and puts it over the unconscious woman and wakes her up. Upon waking, she sees everyone and screams. Carter meanders towards the window. Persephone smiles and tries to calm the young woman down but the young woman starts to speak frantically. Persephone and Sebastian do not understand the language, but Carter knows that she is saying “Get away from me!” in Deep Speech

Primina
Carter turns back around, his interest piqued. Carter introduces himself in Deep Speech and learns the young woman is called Primina. Carter asks why she is in the tank. Primina answers that “they” made her to be in the tank. Carter presses to see if it was the illithids, causing Primina to flinch. She tells him that they birthed her but she does not know how long ago. Carter learns that Primina’s purpose is to run the engine that would lead the illithids to The Source, but she doesn't know anything about The Source or why they want to go there. They hurt her if she did not cooperate. Carter tries to interrogate her more but it is clear Primina is in shock.

Carter asks if Primina needs sustenance and if the blanket is okay, but she does not know what “sustenance is.”  When Carter explains that sustenance is “things you need to stay alive that you ingest through an orifice” Primina looks horrified by his phrasing, causing Persephone and Sebastian to become concerned that Carter is scaring her. Carter reports to the others that Primina doesn’t have many answers. Carter assures Primina that the three of them won’t hurt her and tells her to ask him if she needs anything. Carter continues his investigation as he deduces that she is essentially the engine and won’t have much more info.

Sebastian and Persephone investigate the room. Everything is eerily quiet, all lights are off, and the exits are all sealed. It’s like they’re in a burnt out husk. When asked, Primina reveals that the masters operated all the doors and controls with their minds. The party takes a rest and sets up a watch.

Sebastian takes first watch while the others rest. He starts to look around, Primina eying him as he approaches the tank area but he gestures to her that all is okay. He watches the starry, black void outside the window and takes some time to clean his weapons and armor. Persephone spends her watch looking out at the stars, they’re unfamiliar to her so she doesn’t recognize any constellations. Towards the end of her watch there is a large flash and it takes her a minute to see clearly, but she spies an extremely large metallic structure, 200-300 ft away from their capsule. It’s a large, dark grey ship almost in the shape of an arrowhead. She wakes up Carter and Sebastian who get up to look as the ship moves towards them.

Got 'em
Two large mechanical arms start descending and unfurling from the bottom of the ship and reach out to the capsule. The capsule is gripped by the arms and brought into the ship as a ramp opens. Sebastian is prepared for battle, Carter is unnerved, Persephone is freaking out, and Primina looks scared. Outside their window they see the inside of a large room. Carter opens his spellcasting focus, a small box about the size of a fifty-cent piece, and when he unlatches the lid mist spills out and covers him as he casts Armor of Agathys.

There’s a crackling and a sparking from the door and the party readies for an encounter. A red laser fires as the doors fall into the room and three humanoid figures start rushing in. They’re wearing space suits and holding rifles, they point their weapons at the party and shout in a language the party doesn’t understand. Carter suggests the party all take one step back together, and when they do the newcomers yell at them again, exasperated. Carter holds up his hands and suggests the party do the same. Persephone has a snarl on her face and is hesitant to disarm and Sebastian still has his shield and morningstar up. Carter tries to persuade the others, but the figures continue to yell until the Persephone and Sebastian put their hands up as well.

The strangers motion for them to get on their knees, two of the newcomers stand watch over the party but one notices Primina. Primina drops the blanket and lets out an echoing, reverberating shriek, her eyes light up, and two shining white angel wings sprout out of her back. She crouches over, her hands and feet have turned into scaled blue claws, and her pupils shift into reptilian slits. She lunges at the humanoid and all three open fire on her, hitting her with strange balls of blue light that electrify her and knock her unconscious. Then they turn on Carter, Percy, and Sebastian and open fire, knocking the three of them out as well. Carter’s armor deals some damage as he gets hit.

Space Woke
Sebastian wakes up first and finds that all three of them are bound to metal chairs sitting at a long table. The room is entirely metal except for a large black glass window frame embedded in the far front wall and a single metallic door. He wakes Carter and Persephone. They notice something in their ears, a device like a modern bluetooth. Primina is not with them. The three decide to tell the truth if someone comes in to question them.

An adult female tiefling walks in. She’s in a black cotton tank top, cargo pants, boots, her hair is up, she has a lavender tint to her skin, and she looks all business. She stares as she takes a seat across from them. Carter greets her, and she seems pleased that the translator in their ears is working. She starts telling them a story…She’s out here with her crew doing a job, they get an Aetherium reading that is off the scale. They decide to check it out, jump over, find a squid ship, and expect squids so they prepare for hostiles. They find the party instead. She concludes with two questions: “Who the hell are you?” and “What’s with the getups?”

Carter introduces himself and says this is his normal dress. The tiefling looks at Persephone and asks if she is a runaway Singer. Percy is confused by the question and asks why she would be a singer, eliciting a strange look from the tiefling, like Percy just asked a really weird question. The tiefling asks Sebastian what he is, is he some sort of hairless bugbear? Sebastian looks hurt by the comment.

The tiefling looks exasperated and repeats her questions; who are you and why were you on a squid ship in the middle of nowhere? Carter responds it was purely by accident. Sebastian reveals they got on a metal tower and now they’re here, he is also offended that she doesn’t appreciate his armor. Persephone says they answered summons from their king, and they found a tower. Carter leans in and says he also hates the squid people too.

The tiefling starts asking for specifics, where exactly did the party come from? Carter responds they’re from Castillian. The tiefling thinks for a second and says she’s never heard of that planet. Carter clarifies that Castillian is their country, and their planet is Aies Mara. He didn’t think they had to specify their planet. She responds that most people usually lead with what planet they’re from. She asks Watt to look up Aies Mara, but there’s no one else in the room. A voice on an intercom responds that Aies Mara is an ancient word for The Prime. The tiefling starts to become frustrated and asks what game they’re playing; the trio shows up in some sort of archaic cosplay and claims to be from a place that hasn’t existed in 100,000 years. Carter tries to convince her that what they are saying is true. She is starting to think their responses may be genuine, so she asks for them to start at the beginning.

Carter recaps the situation, and the tiefling believes they are from some ignorant, unassimilated planet that somehow escaped the notice of the galactic powers and coincidentally has the same name as The Prime. Sebastian asks what The Prime is, Carter asks her name, and Persephone asks her story. The tiefling introduces herself as Victoria and asks for assurance that they will not try to flee if she unshackles them. Carter is affronted that she insulted their intelligence, and Victoria clarifies that she means the three of them are not educated in the galactic civilizations. She is still unsure if she believes their story, but suggests that if they clarify what race Sebastian is it might help clear things up since she’s never seen anything like him before. Sebastian says he’s a half-orc, and Victoria appears unfamiliar with orcs. She asks Watt to find out what an orc is and the intercom voice reveals that orcs were one of the nine major races on The Prime, but the elves wiped them out 80,000 years ago. Sebastian becomes angry and flustered. Victoria still has a hard time believing their story but decides to move on.

She starts hitting the buttons of a bracer on her wrist and a hologram appears. Sebastian shouts “Ah! That’s just like that table!” Victoria stares at him in confusion. She pulls up an image of Primina unconscious and shackled to a chair in her own private room. Victoria asks who and what she is. Carter says he would also like to know. Victoria reveals that her cousin is wounded and will be hurt for a while because of Primina. Persephone says that Primina seemed to be powering the craft they were on. Victoria has never seen a species like hers before, and that all the Aetherium readings were coming from her. Carter and Persephone make the connection that Primina was the magical signature they were sent to investigate. Victoria asks if they have the ability to calm Primina down because she does not want to put another employee in harm's way.

Interview Interrupted
The voice on the intercom interrupts to report that there is a situation outside. Victoria turns to the window which shows a large construct floating in the space outside the ship. This new spacecraft looks like a blue glass biodome, the size of the ship they are currently on, with large sweeping branches of wood cradling the biodome and creating huge wing-like structures around it.

Victoria looks, turns to Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian asking what they did you do to piss off the “pointy ears?” Sebastian asks if she’s referring to elves. Victoria pulls out a pistol and grabs an amulet that has a symbol of three chain-links on it casting Zone of Truth. Sebastian and Carter are compelled to tell the truth. Victoria asks if the pointy ears are after them. Carter says no. She asks if the Elven Empire knows about them in any way she should be aware of right now. Carter and Sebastian say no. Carter elaborates he was not aware of an Elven Empire. The elven vessel sends a message that they must lower their shields and allow inspection and inquisition of the crew, if they do not comply they will be considered hostile.

Victoria asks if Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian will cooperate if unshackled, Sebastian says yes. Percy tries to answer but Victoria doesn't trust her since she is not compelled to tell the truth. Carter says he will comply. Victoria unshackles them and they follow her out into the hall where they meet two more tieflings. She has Carter, Percy, and Sebastian go with one called Dirk to get dressed and she takes the one called Dag with her.

Percy asks Dirk what’s going on and Dirk informs them that the elves are here. He takes them to an armory room and pulls out some black fibrous nylon suits and pistols for Carter and Persephone, and a padded bodysuit with glasslike plate reinforcements on the chest and arms and an energy blade axe for Sebastian. Sebastian is skeptical at first, but decides he likes it once he activates the aether-blade. Carter asks how to shoot and what the ammo situation is, but Dirk tells them not to worry about it and emphasizes not to draw unless Victoria says something. As they head back to the rest of the group Sebastian asks Dirk if it is true that the elves killed all the orcs, and Dirk has no clue.

The party returns to the large room where their capsule is, and they see it just looks like a burnt husk of metal. Victoria and Dag are there along with an elderly male gnome, and a woman with green skin and goblin-like features. Sebastian and Percy recognize her as a gith, and Sebastian knows that gith are somehow tied to the illithids. The crew is standing in a line facing the ramp area of the hangar, and as Victoria opens the ramp a strange wooden space capsule that looks like an enclosed canoe enters.

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: A half-orc paladin. Likes the new weapons.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: A firbolg druid. Does not like guns.
 * Carter Huttenburg: A human warlock. He's really not lying.

NPCS

 * Primina: A petite young woman of mysterious origins. Can turn into a creature if provoked.
 * Victoria: A tiefling woman. Looks like she's in charge.
 * Watt: A voice on the intercom.
 * Dag: A tiefling male. Follows Victoria.
 * Dirk: A tiefling male. Good at guessing people's clothing size.
 * An elderly gnome: A crew member.
 * A gith woman: A crew member.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian

Out of Character

 * "Bummer" sounds the same in Deep Speech as it does in Common, but Deep Speech is more aggressive sounding.

Nat 20's (2 total)

 * Freeland (Constitution Save)
 * Freeland (Nature)