Deepnight Revelation #12

Meeting the natives of Terminus

Captains Log - T277

The Medical Division has completed their analysis of the creature that attacked our ship during the refueling operation two days ago. Our initial suspicion of the creature being an infected specimen of the same species which we encountered at DSA-1 was proven correct. The tissue specimens acquired from the dead creature and its juveniles will allow Medical Division to conduct further tests on the experimental counter-agent which they have derived from the Biologics.

That the Gren are capable of infecting a space-faring creature is indeed a worrying thought. This means that even if we are able to locate the homeworld of the Gren and destroy it, there may already be any number of creatures carrying its spores throughout this galaxy.

Captain's Log - T278

We have arrived at the system where the sensors and Mr Ajax have both identified as the source of the Gren psychic emanations, which Astrography had optimistically named Terminus.

Initial scans of the system showed only one planet capable of supporting life. Indeed with the exception of the polar regions, the planet's continents and islands and its oceans are teeming with life, although there are regions where the vegetation appear to be sickly, and some which are barren of all life. There are many settlements spread throughout the continents, with one large settlement on the main continent, and one on the polar continent.

In view of the possibility of infection by Gren spores, Mission Command has decided to minimise exposure to the crew by sending just one small team to the surface. I have asked Mr Khan to lead the missions.

Captain's Log - T282

Mr Khan's mission had given us a lot of information about the planet and its people.

The dominant species of the planet are a sentient humanoid species that calls themselves simply "the people" in their own language.

Our team made contact with two separate populations, the first of which lived in a port city in the polar continent which is now in ruins. It appears that this was once a thriving port city with a mid-level technology, but now the city is in ruins and its populace consist of rival bands of scavengers. Mr Black was able to make contact with one of these bands and trade some oil for food and furs, and from this contact they were able begin analysing the language of these people using the software from the Haix.

The second contact the team made was with one of the settlements on the main continent. This was a farming community whose people spoke a language related to those in the polar continent. Curiously, the people here were not surprised by the team's arrival, even though it was obvious they had a pre-industrial level of technology and had never had contact with an alien species.

The people were friendly and welcomed our team to their village. Here the team were able to learn a lot about their civilisation. It appears that long ago the people did possess an industrial level of technology, but had given that up to return to a agrarian lifestyle. The lands are fertile and the climate stable and the people had no difficulty growing enough food and keeping enough animals to feed themselves. The attribute all this to the K'ul, which seems to be a benign force which protects and looks after their people, and also tells them how to live their lives.

Consequently they have little desire in material goods beyond what they need for their work and lives. Everyone partakes in the work needed in the community, each doing what he is best at. They have no money, and those with surplus of food and goods merely bring them to the marketplace where others can freely take what they need. They do however wear jewelry, which they do not buy for themselves, but which are gifted to them by others as a sign of esteem.

Mr Ajax was able to discern that the people are receptive to psychic energy, although they themselves do not emit any. Here in the village he felt a call for him to visit the main city, although the suggestion came not in the form of words, but in vision and intuition.

Mr Khan's team also investigated the regions where the vegetation are sickly, and also those regions which are barren. In the former the team found that the ground was overgrown with what can only be described as Gren "vegetation" which are consuming the plants, while in the latter the ground was devoid of all biological material.

The team also discovered several abandoned cities on the main continent which have been overtaken by forests.

At the same time, Life Sciences and Geology Divisions have reported phenomena that corroborated the people's account that the K'ul takes care of them: the planet has an absence of seismic and volcanic activity, and its weather systems are unusually mild and not in keeping with what is expected based on our simulations. At the same time, plant and animal growth on land and in the oceans are at a much higher rate than expected, yet in most regions the ecology seem to be in balance.

More disturbingly, Astrography reported that an asteroid that had been on a collision course with the planet had deviated from its trajectory just enough to avoid striking the planet.

I will be meeting with Mission Command Team to discuss our next step.

Prepping and Running the Game

After some six months and 12 sessions, we have finally arrived at the last planet in the campaign.

Except for the first part of the session where the crew fought an infected "space whale", the whole session was just role-playing and exploration, with the PCs making first contact (twice) and slowly trying to piece together what the planet was all about. At the same time, I fed them information which the other Divisions have learned,

At the end of the session they had some idea of what they are facing. Deliciously, some of the players are entertaining the idea that this particular Gren might indeed be a benign entity and that its destruction may not be the only solution. This will make the finale session a lot more interesting.

The next session will see the crew traveling to the main city and meeting the Entity. I am a little nervous about role-playing the Entity, since it will be a delicate balance of trying to appear like the good guy while trying to gain information from the crew, while at the same time giving off enough creepiness for them to realise that something is off. I also have no real plan of how I can make use of the crew to get myself off the planet, so that is something that I will have to 'wing'.

Crucially, the players have made sure that they have some sort of protection against infection from the Gren, even if this only lasts 12 hours or so; but the Gren does not know that, so that adds another aspect to this whole encounter.

The finale session will be in a week - hopefully restrictions are eased by then and I can have all five players at the table.