#Morningstar 4: New Mysteries
The situation
A few years have passed since the discovery of the Bridge, and there have been changes. The bombing of HQ killed the Chief of the Enforcers, and their deputy, Commissioner Sergeiovich, stepped naturally into the role (Major Petrova thinks she could have had the job, but didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk). Unfortunately Sergeiovich is a natural administrator, tight-fisted with the budget, and with an emphasis on paperwork rather than results. Petrova does not like him. But the City is at peace, and the current biggest unsolved crime is that someone is distributing fake ration-books.
In the Maintenance Collective, INC-07 has retired (though their mind is still part of the group consciousness), and the Proactive paradigm dominant in the group mind has lost ground to Archive/Storage, which wants to keep everything as it is and properly backed-up. 101010 (or “Ten Ten Ten”), a former Listener surveillance-ball who has joined the MC, has become a significant voice, representing those wanting to explore the ship. Some weird things are happening in the dark decks, and the Listeners, always eccentric, have started flocking together in packs, though it is not clear why.
Brother Lux, who caused problems a few years ago breaking people out of the Enforcer’s brig, is now openly leading the Keepers, but Verity is still a trusted voice. Verity has worked with 101010 before, but regrets taking them as a pupil: now, they know too many of the Keepers’ secrets.
INC-07’s consciousness in the group-mind has remembered another key secret of the builders: humanity fought several genocidal wars against alien species before being defeated. The survivors are now being shipped somewhere else to be Somebody Else’s Problem – effectively exiled.
Call to Order
* The MC’s leader (“Lead-bot”, a big, shiny gold droid, effectively a Bluetooth human interface device for whoever is dominant in the Collective’s group consciousness) states that they have been updating the flight computers, but found that several are corrupt and need debugging. They ask the Keepers to find the relevant archive to restore the system. The Keepers accept.
* The Keepers want the Throng to include more educational materials in the entertainment systems. After some internal consultation, the Throng accepts. The Keepers seem mildly disappointed with this.
* The Enforcers state that they are currently detaining a large number of non-capital criminals who are taking up space: the brig is overflowing. They ask the Keepers to find some empty working Stasis Pods and find a way of using them so criminals can be put back to sleep. The Keepers accept.
* The Throng say that the new educational responsibilities will place stress on their facilities and that they need a suitable space near the city for some of their production. They ask the MC to find them somewhere suitable. They accept.
Verity meets with Mr Vyapura and calls in a debt to get the Puppeteers to provide security systems – cameras, remote alarms, locking mechanisms – which can be used to keep an eye on the nearby sleepers and prevent unauthorised awakenings. The Puppeteers can meet this need, but it will take some time. While passing through Old Town Verity finds a crowd gathered around a man in a dirty stasis suit – a newly arrived refugee is being taken to Orientation by Agent Johnson. There’s been an unusual number of them recently, and this one looks quite disoriented. Verity intervenes, reassures them, and gets their story: apparently they were woken by a team of medics, who kept them prisoner along with a dozen or so other people. They escaped a few days later while being moved, and have spent a week wandering the dark decks before encountering a drone who led them to some scavs. Verity recognises the drone from its description, and after confirming a few more details with Johnson, goes off to talk to its owner, Crazy Yan. After being bribed with a hot tip on the location of the jungle (“packed with valuable panther skins”), Yan shows footage of the refugee’s discovery and gives a grid reference, which at least gives some idea of where to start looking.
Meanwhile the MC has sent some new recruits into the dark decks to find a suitable space for the Throng. They’ve interpreted their request as one for a new drug factory, rather than just space for one, and they’ve turned up a food processing plant which should fit the bill. 101010 takes along Brother Curiosity, a low-level Keeper, and guided by an automapper device, heads into the dark.
Zoom In
The automapper works perfectly, and leads them straight to the location. Unfortunately on the way it leads them straight into a field of strong ionising radiation. 101010 and Brother Curiosity try to backtrack hurriedly and find another way round, but in the process discover an unnerving fact: the field moves. They have no idea exactly where it is coming from or what is causing it – it may even be on another deck entirely – but it is mobile. But eventually they’re out of it without taking too many rads, and arrive at their destination. It looks exactly as described – the pipes and vats and reaction chambers of a food processing plant, currently inactive. But just after they enter the room, a massive security door slams down, trapping them in there.
101010 is prepared for this. instructing Curiosity to take cover, he pops out his experimental energy projector and aims it at the door. With a massive explosion, the door is vaporised – coating 101010 in an uneven coat of vapour-deposited metal, injuring Curiosity, and damaging the food plant. Which promptly starts leaking yellow-brown vapour. Curiosity, who is good at getting information out of things, prods some of the local panels to find out what the plant was last configured to make. The answer is unnerving: 1-Chloro-2-[(2-chloroethyl)sulfanyl]ethane, otherwise known as mustard gas. And it was configured to make this after the Awakening. Did one of the newly-awakened Sleepers do it, or was it part of an emergency protocol? Either way, Curiosity and 101010 agree that the plant needs to be dismantled, the gas safely vented or converted to something inert, and the space cleared out and decontaminated before being handed over to the Throng. 101010 puts out a call to the MC for a work-crew to begin the job…
The work we put in in the previous Age on building the setting really paid off here, with the group basicly making its own trouble. While the Enforcers didn’t get much of a look-in, they’ve got obvious plots dangling for next session (refugees and ration books), and the group hasn’t even started to look for another ship system yet. And we’ve got some unwelcome truths, new mysteries, and possible threats to worry about as well. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it all pans out.
I’m loving these reports, man.
You have some truely invested players, too, which is great to see. They seem more than willing to take on the mini-GM role that Call to Order presents.
Aaron Griffin I’m glad people are enjoying them.
I have a great group with a good table dynamic – they’ll often suggest complications, since coming up with good ones was something I often had trouble with in Uncharted Worlds. In this session, they provided all the really juicy stuff: the exile backstory, the fact the radiation source was mobile, the security door, and of course the mustard gas (which is appallingly, viciously low-tech for a generation ship, which is why its so horrible). My input was the Throng’s demand (least interesting but most appropriate of the options I’d prepped), the refugee plot-kicker, and running into radiation.