Steve heads out to the settlement to scout out how things are going at the place and see what they got.
You take a dusty track into the settlement, past dozens of small buildings and into the shade of one of the huge sandstone buildings at the centre of town. They look like temples, but there's no sign of any religious practices: people wander in and out, sometimes carrying bundles of goods or leading animals, as if the buildings are used for storage or accommodation.
The settlement is doing reasonably. There are small patches of farmland, even the odd animal grazing. The people here are scruffy but look reasonably well fed. There isn't much purposeful movement. Apart from a few farmers, shopkeepers, and day labourers, nobody seems to be doing much here. People are selling the usual dross: food, clothing, farm animals. One is selling maps of the planet's surface, and highly dubious sketches of the surrounding void, but apart from that there aren't many interesting items on sale.
You note that the majority of the inhabitants seem to be from this planet, olive-skinned humanoids, although there are many refugees from across the worlds mixed in among them.
There don't seem to be any obvious leaders here.
I'm up for hitting the town. Lets see what they've got here, and if anyone in particular catches my eye. We could use a couple more crew, even if it's just to help monitor the food production vats.
Ask around about the giant sky beast, too. What's its name and what kinda things does it do?
The town is equal parts shacks cobbled together from scrap and imposing buildings carved from sheer rock. They have several voidcraft, but none as sturdy as yours: everything looks like it was made to navigate the exploded planet you're on, rather than set out across the universe. You walk in with the stride blade across your back.
Nobody here seems particularly ideal for a quest across the universe. Sure, there are some folks tinkering at devices that look competent enough, and you spot a couple of hulking offworlders standing head and shoulders above the rest that look like they could handle themselves. The issue is more one of attitude: they don't seem interested in excitement, or saving the universes, or leaving this settlement. Nobody comes across as particularly hungry for work, and they laugh or turn away when you talk about leaving the planet. There's a reason for that.
You ask a group of three old men lounging on the steps of the largest temple about the thing in the sky.
"That would be Ral, the world serpent."
"Yup, that's good ol' Ral."
The third man gestures to a huge series of engravings carved into the side of a building some distance away, and recites from memory:
"The great serpent lurked at the heart of the world for millenia, sealed in stone and fire. It was prophesied that at the end of days, Ral, the last and strongest of the Titans, would emerge from his prison to devour the world and everything in it. Only those of the royal bloodline of the kings of the Vally of Lillies would be spared the monstrous appetite of the world serpent, that they might return to the land of their divine ancestors within the sun."
"When the Reivers came, they didn't plunder our world. The people responsible for the current state of affairs came later. Some people say the Tungsten Heresiarch's engineers tore the planet open to get at the metal within. Some people say that wizards did this, in an attempt to extract the beating heart of the world. We don't really know who it was. What we do know -"
"What we do know is that Ral dint take too kindly," his companion interrupts excitedly, spittle flying. "He just came flying out as soon as they opened up the world, and we had no more trouble from them, no sir. And not from anyone else since."
Apparently, Ral does not let anyone leave the planet, not even off-worlders. He intends to consume the entire world when the slow disintegration of the planet is finally complete, and that includes everybody on it. Everyone here has come to terms with that fact, and are willing to live the remainder of their lives in this place. Ral meanwhile waits patiently, protecting the world until it's properly destroyed and can be eaten, fighting off any monsters, chasm beasts or bandits unwise enough to go near his world. It's a safer place than most, all things considered.
You do find out about a small group of offworld refugees committed to leaving the planet. Every previous attempt to leave has run up against Ral, and either turned back or never been heard from again, but these people have never even managed to get their hands on a voidship. There's a particular bar they hang out in, if you're interested in recruiting some, but these people aren't exactly the planet's finest. In fact, they're something of a laughing stock.
Varisdel is going to go into town or whatever it is and purchase A. some defense systems (even if used or outright broken) and B. a bunch of spare parts and raw materials. If there's any 3D printers or CNC machines or whatever, get those instead of spare parts, they're more generally useful.
The defense systems don't need to be that great, they just need to be able to be worked off of. Tinkering can fix all problems forever. Yes, that's definitely the case.
Sadly, there are no 3D printers, nothing like that. There aren't very many viable ship weapons on sale at the handful of dirty shacks and near-junkyards you visit. You patiently inspect countless scrap heaps as people try to fleece you into buying rusty tangles of wood and iron, until you finally find a squat crocodile-woman willing to trade for a handful of worthwhile things. Three possibilities present themselves.
For four bars of obdurite, someone offers you a powerful mechanical combat drone, a man-sized steel beetle, rocket-propelled and armed with an assortment of vicious cutting tools and ranged weapons. This is Loian technology, made by the same species that created the sentient blade Suzy is carrying. A pretty sophisticated bit of technology, even by your standards.
For three bars, you could get your hands on a lightweight launch system capable of firing half a dozen guided self-propelling missiles. Perfect for mounting on the ship or even Suzy's tank. While the explosives look reasonably powerful, the main plus here would be that you could customise the missiles, making them better trackers or adding special payloads.
For two bars, you can buy a fully functional ballista, intimidatingly large but barely more effective than the flechettes cannons the ship already has, or a more powerful but completely wrecked laser cannon.
A decent number of general-purpose spare parts, rusty but workable, could probably be bartered for one bar of Obdurite - you don't have much else to trade, apart from the ship's supplies. You could pay in services, but that would entail everyone spending a while here while you tinkered or Lucca gene-shifted folks or the others did who knows what.
One bar of adamantine is roughly equivalent in value to two of Obdurite.
Proceed into town, carried by whoever wants to.
You proceed on Suzy's back. This place has seen better days, but it isn't falling apart. No visible defences to speak of, which is odd for a settlement exposed to the void. You know countless Chasm beasts capable of tearing through this place in minutes have reached the surface, so that's pretty strange. If the people here aren't even worried about being attacked, fighting Ral head-on probably isn't a good plan.
I know the roster’s full, but can I go on the waitlist?
Of course, I'll add you!
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Topic: Solar Graveyard - Starlight (Read 23316 times)