Campaign
Diary
A small party walked of men walked across the barren surface of the asteroid from the Magpie to the Serran diplomatic yacht. Outside the yacht several Serran marines in vac-suits stood guard. Leading the party was Vice-Admiral Freant; he commanded several Serran marines, who held our crew - Nick, Kumra, AJ, and Jet - under guard.
(Click here for PC profiles)
An hour earlier, the Magpie had exited hyperspace to enter the Solar system, and from there Freant contacted Amahrius, who had arrived on the asteroid Pallas earlier. Initially furious that his orders to Admiral Karragan to keep his location hidden was ignored, he soon became soothed when Freant explained that the rebellion was quelled and the crew of the Magpie captured, but with the Telenet satellite on Koskara destroyed, the admiral had no means of contacting Amahrius for instructions on the disposition of the crew, and had therefore decided to send Freant to bring them to Pallas; they took the Magpie, Freant explained, to appear less conspicuous.
The party entered the yacht, and the crew were searched and then, still with their hands bound behind their backs, brought to the conference room at the fore of the ship. As the door to the room opened the crew heard Serran opera playing. The far end of the large room was a single window that spanned the whole wall, and through the glass they could see the asteroid belt, and in the distance, Earth. Amahrius stood near the window, seemingly lost in the music. He beckoned for the marines to leave, and greeted his old friends.
The Devourers, he explained, had entered the Solar system a little before they did - a fleet of more than fifty ships, larger than any previously encountered - and even now the UC fleet was speeding to intercept them at the asteroid belt. He had waited years for this moment, and now he would finally see the destruction of those who persecuted his people up close. When Princess Aiel was murdered by an anti-Serran mob, he said, he realised that lasting peace between the Serrans and the other races of the galaxy was impossible. With the help of his council, he created Koskara as a hidden sanctuary for the Serrans; however, the appearance of the Grens and their susceptibility to the Serran's psychic powers gave him a new, terrible idea, and he began to plot the destruction of the other races through the manipulation of the Telenet network.
He was glad, he told the crew, that they had survived so far, and offered to spare them if they would stop fighting him.
The crew tried to persuade Amahrius to change his mind and reveal the password to unlock the Raze power, but he was resolute. In any case, it was too late: in the distance the crew could see the first shots being exchanged between the UC fleet and the Gren bioships. The UC ships darted between the asteroids, using them as cover. Then, unexpected by all in the room, a torpedo fired from one of the UC ships struck a bioship, which began to flounder. Amahrius inhaled sharply. They crew gave each other a knowing look: the specimen of Gren parts Lamar sent to Earth must have allowed the scientists there to develop a weapon that was capable of damaging their bioships.
Jet began to rail at Amahrius, until at last the Serran lost his temper and used his telekinetic power to throw the young man into the ceiling. The rest of the crew rushed forward; their bonds came off - they were false!
It was all a ruse.
Unable to obtain the password that will unlock the Serran's Raze power or Amahrius' location from Admiral Karragan or Dr Oren, the crew were nevertheless able to deduce from flight records and the men's words that Amahrius was at Pallas, waiting to witness the destruction of Earth at the hands of the Grens. The crew conspired with Vice-Admiral Freant to deliver them to Amahrius, so they could try to convince him to relent and reveal the password. Now that words have failed to persuade him, the crew decided to try action.
As the crew charged towards him, Amahrius threw off his cloak and drew his Imperial Guard sword which he had kept from his younger days. Two masked Serrans, the elite Scion Bodyguards, entered the room to protect him. Simultaneously, debris from the battle began to rain onto the yacht, rocking it. Despite their fury, our unarmed crew was unable to defeat Amahrius and the two bodyguards. In desperation, AJ set off the explosives that were hidden in his shoes, but the resulting explosion took down Nick, Kumra and himself, leaving only the Serrans and Jet standing.
Amahrius seized Jet and placed his sword against the young man's neck... then his eyes widened in disbelief: five Serran colony ships had just exited hyperspace, and were now headed towards the Grens.
Amahrius' confusion quickly turned into anger as he realised that he had been snookered. Jet revealed that Karragan had in fact been defeated, and thousands of Serrans had volunteered on a mission to come to Earth to face the Grens: now whether they lived or died would depend on Amahrius.
Amahrius released Jet and sank to the floor, defeated. He uttered the password. Jet roused the others and raced to the communications room to try to send a message to the Serran ships, but found it disabled by the impact from the debris. With AJ and Kumra's help, the trio cannibalised parts from the other equipment, and finally managed to restore communications.
The Serran ships sped nearer and nearer to the Gren bioships. Then one by one, the bioships stopped in their tracks. A withering storm of torpedoes from the UC fleet struck against them, and the bioships began to break apart.
But our crew were now in mortal danger as more debris began to ran down on the yacht. The earlier impact had taken out the engine, and our crew would have to abandon ship. Donning their vac-suits once one, the crew, Amahrius, and the other Serrans exited the yacht... only to see that the Magpie's hull had been breached by the falling debris too. They were stranded.
Just then, a familiar voice crackled over the radio:
"You losers need a lift?"
It was RB, arriving in the Monad. The crew scrambled aboard the shuttle sent by the Monad, and RB began to demonstrate with glee the new beam weapon the Robot Collective had developed with the data he had downloaded from Dr Oren's computer. The beam cut through the now stationary bioships, and within the space of an hour the Gren fleet was no more.
The crew had once again saved the galaxy.
Epilogue
After the Battle of Earth the Telenet network was restored, and over the next few months the UC and Tazanian fleets, with the help of the Serrans, reclaimed the systems lost to the Grens. Amahrius returned to Hirceptus, where he would remain in house arrest - his true role as the architect of the invasion would remain known only to the Serrans… and a few teamsters.
Almost two years after the battle, our crew were once more seated around the table at the Teamsters' Guild. Also present were James Hassel-Hoffa (who was on the last ship off GCP during the Gren invasion), and high-ranking military officials from the UC and the Tazanian Empire.
The officials explained that during the operations to clear the Grens from the galaxy, a UC fleet had pursued a fleet of bioships into the Dead Zone, where they found a wormhole. Based on the emanation of the psychic signal from the wormhole, scientists concluded that the wormhole was probably the means by which the Grens had entered the galaxy.
Over the interim months the UC and the Tazanians combined their efforts in designing and building a warship equipped with the cutting edge technology and weapons designed to damage Gren tissues. An elite crew was secretly recruited from among the UC and Tazanian military, as well as from the Neutral Zone. The crew had drilled and trained in the new ship, and were ready for their shake-down cruise; all they lacked now, they explained, was a command group... a group of people who are well-known and respected... a group of people who are experienced at making the kind of decisions where the fate of the galaxy hanged on...
Prepping and Running the Game
So the second season of our space opera campaign came to an end.
I kept largely to the plot of the original module, but shifted the site of the final confrontation from a space station above Earth to the asteroid Pallas, since I did not establish earlier in the campaign that the Serrans had a space station - even if I did, or if they dd have one, it was so obviously a place to look it would not matter.
The final battle turned out very badly for the PCs, with them unable to hit, while the Serrans were ace-ing on the damage dice. The explosion actually took AJ to 3 wounds, and gave him a permanent injury.
Nevertheless, they had already won the whole campaign when they came up with their plan to essentially blackmail Amahrius to revealing the password.
After the battle ended we spent a bit of time discussing what would happen to the Serrans. The players were all very defensive of the Serrans and argued that the Serrans' role was known only to the Serrans and themselves, and that they would be able to cover the whole affair up. I was of the opinion that a few people (the Hassel-Hoffa brothers and the UC military) would know a little about the truth, but then I reasoned they too would rather cover it up than to start another round of persecution which would lead to an all-out war... especially when there were still Grens to be eliminated from our galaxy.
The epilogue hints at a possible third season, which is inspired by Deepnight Revelation. If the kickstarter delivers on schedule, and if my players are onboard, I would definitely like to try to adapt the campaign to our storyline.
I am now in the middle of a two-month break from RPGs as I plan the campaigns for next year.
A small party walked of men walked across the barren surface of the asteroid from the Magpie to the Serran diplomatic yacht. Outside the yacht several Serran marines in vac-suits stood guard. Leading the party was Vice-Admiral Freant; he commanded several Serran marines, who held our crew - Nick, Kumra, AJ, and Jet - under guard.
(Click here for PC profiles)
An hour earlier, the Magpie had exited hyperspace to enter the Solar system, and from there Freant contacted Amahrius, who had arrived on the asteroid Pallas earlier. Initially furious that his orders to Admiral Karragan to keep his location hidden was ignored, he soon became soothed when Freant explained that the rebellion was quelled and the crew of the Magpie captured, but with the Telenet satellite on Koskara destroyed, the admiral had no means of contacting Amahrius for instructions on the disposition of the crew, and had therefore decided to send Freant to bring them to Pallas; they took the Magpie, Freant explained, to appear less conspicuous.
The party entered the yacht, and the crew were searched and then, still with their hands bound behind their backs, brought to the conference room at the fore of the ship. As the door to the room opened the crew heard Serran opera playing. The far end of the large room was a single window that spanned the whole wall, and through the glass they could see the asteroid belt, and in the distance, Earth. Amahrius stood near the window, seemingly lost in the music. He beckoned for the marines to leave, and greeted his old friends.
The Devourers, he explained, had entered the Solar system a little before they did - a fleet of more than fifty ships, larger than any previously encountered - and even now the UC fleet was speeding to intercept them at the asteroid belt. He had waited years for this moment, and now he would finally see the destruction of those who persecuted his people up close. When Princess Aiel was murdered by an anti-Serran mob, he said, he realised that lasting peace between the Serrans and the other races of the galaxy was impossible. With the help of his council, he created Koskara as a hidden sanctuary for the Serrans; however, the appearance of the Grens and their susceptibility to the Serran's psychic powers gave him a new, terrible idea, and he began to plot the destruction of the other races through the manipulation of the Telenet network.
He was glad, he told the crew, that they had survived so far, and offered to spare them if they would stop fighting him.
The crew tried to persuade Amahrius to change his mind and reveal the password to unlock the Raze power, but he was resolute. In any case, it was too late: in the distance the crew could see the first shots being exchanged between the UC fleet and the Gren bioships. The UC ships darted between the asteroids, using them as cover. Then, unexpected by all in the room, a torpedo fired from one of the UC ships struck a bioship, which began to flounder. Amahrius inhaled sharply. They crew gave each other a knowing look: the specimen of Gren parts Lamar sent to Earth must have allowed the scientists there to develop a weapon that was capable of damaging their bioships.
Jet began to rail at Amahrius, until at last the Serran lost his temper and used his telekinetic power to throw the young man into the ceiling. The rest of the crew rushed forward; their bonds came off - they were false!
It was all a ruse.
Unable to obtain the password that will unlock the Serran's Raze power or Amahrius' location from Admiral Karragan or Dr Oren, the crew were nevertheless able to deduce from flight records and the men's words that Amahrius was at Pallas, waiting to witness the destruction of Earth at the hands of the Grens. The crew conspired with Vice-Admiral Freant to deliver them to Amahrius, so they could try to convince him to relent and reveal the password. Now that words have failed to persuade him, the crew decided to try action.
As the crew charged towards him, Amahrius threw off his cloak and drew his Imperial Guard sword which he had kept from his younger days. Two masked Serrans, the elite Scion Bodyguards, entered the room to protect him. Simultaneously, debris from the battle began to rain onto the yacht, rocking it. Despite their fury, our unarmed crew was unable to defeat Amahrius and the two bodyguards. In desperation, AJ set off the explosives that were hidden in his shoes, but the resulting explosion took down Nick, Kumra and himself, leaving only the Serrans and Jet standing.
Amahrius seized Jet and placed his sword against the young man's neck... then his eyes widened in disbelief: five Serran colony ships had just exited hyperspace, and were now headed towards the Grens.
Amahrius' confusion quickly turned into anger as he realised that he had been snookered. Jet revealed that Karragan had in fact been defeated, and thousands of Serrans had volunteered on a mission to come to Earth to face the Grens: now whether they lived or died would depend on Amahrius.
Amahrius released Jet and sank to the floor, defeated. He uttered the password. Jet roused the others and raced to the communications room to try to send a message to the Serran ships, but found it disabled by the impact from the debris. With AJ and Kumra's help, the trio cannibalised parts from the other equipment, and finally managed to restore communications.
The Serran ships sped nearer and nearer to the Gren bioships. Then one by one, the bioships stopped in their tracks. A withering storm of torpedoes from the UC fleet struck against them, and the bioships began to break apart.
But our crew were now in mortal danger as more debris began to ran down on the yacht. The earlier impact had taken out the engine, and our crew would have to abandon ship. Donning their vac-suits once one, the crew, Amahrius, and the other Serrans exited the yacht... only to see that the Magpie's hull had been breached by the falling debris too. They were stranded.
Just then, a familiar voice crackled over the radio:
"You losers need a lift?"
It was RB, arriving in the Monad. The crew scrambled aboard the shuttle sent by the Monad, and RB began to demonstrate with glee the new beam weapon the Robot Collective had developed with the data he had downloaded from Dr Oren's computer. The beam cut through the now stationary bioships, and within the space of an hour the Gren fleet was no more.
The crew had once again saved the galaxy.
Epilogue
After the Battle of Earth the Telenet network was restored, and over the next few months the UC and Tazanian fleets, with the help of the Serrans, reclaimed the systems lost to the Grens. Amahrius returned to Hirceptus, where he would remain in house arrest - his true role as the architect of the invasion would remain known only to the Serrans… and a few teamsters.
Almost two years after the battle, our crew were once more seated around the table at the Teamsters' Guild. Also present were James Hassel-Hoffa (who was on the last ship off GCP during the Gren invasion), and high-ranking military officials from the UC and the Tazanian Empire.
The officials explained that during the operations to clear the Grens from the galaxy, a UC fleet had pursued a fleet of bioships into the Dead Zone, where they found a wormhole. Based on the emanation of the psychic signal from the wormhole, scientists concluded that the wormhole was probably the means by which the Grens had entered the galaxy.
Over the interim months the UC and the Tazanians combined their efforts in designing and building a warship equipped with the cutting edge technology and weapons designed to damage Gren tissues. An elite crew was secretly recruited from among the UC and Tazanian military, as well as from the Neutral Zone. The crew had drilled and trained in the new ship, and were ready for their shake-down cruise; all they lacked now, they explained, was a command group... a group of people who are well-known and respected... a group of people who are experienced at making the kind of decisions where the fate of the galaxy hanged on...
Prepping and Running the Game
So the second season of our space opera campaign came to an end.
I kept largely to the plot of the original module, but shifted the site of the final confrontation from a space station above Earth to the asteroid Pallas, since I did not establish earlier in the campaign that the Serrans had a space station - even if I did, or if they dd have one, it was so obviously a place to look it would not matter.
The final battle turned out very badly for the PCs, with them unable to hit, while the Serrans were ace-ing on the damage dice. The explosion actually took AJ to 3 wounds, and gave him a permanent injury.
Nevertheless, they had already won the whole campaign when they came up with their plan to essentially blackmail Amahrius to revealing the password.
After the battle ended we spent a bit of time discussing what would happen to the Serrans. The players were all very defensive of the Serrans and argued that the Serrans' role was known only to the Serrans and themselves, and that they would be able to cover the whole affair up. I was of the opinion that a few people (the Hassel-Hoffa brothers and the UC military) would know a little about the truth, but then I reasoned they too would rather cover it up than to start another round of persecution which would lead to an all-out war... especially when there were still Grens to be eliminated from our galaxy.
The epilogue hints at a possible third season, which is inspired by Deepnight Revelation. If the kickstarter delivers on schedule, and if my players are onboard, I would definitely like to try to adapt the campaign to our storyline.
I am now in the middle of a two-month break from RPGs as I plan the campaigns for next year.
Have a good year end holiday.
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