GM: What has gone before.
Enroute to Volturnus, the starliner Serena Dawn was hijacked by space pirates as soon as it entered the Zebulon system. You barely managed to escape with your lives by boarding a lifeboat and riding in it to Volturnus. Volturnus is an cold, inhospitable world, and your lifeboat crash-landed in the barren Volturian ice desert.
You wandered through the desert for days, battling hunger and thirst, before a band of UI-Mor found you. (An UI-Mor resembles an octopus with nine tentacles. The UI-Mor are an intelligent race of nomads who ride a dinosaur called the Loper.) Communications with the Ul-Mor were difficult at first but were made easier when it was discovered that their voice range was above that of humans. The technicians made use of an advanced chronocom captured from a pirate on the Serena Dawn to alter the frequency to that of human ears. Then it was a simple manner of having the xenolinguist in the group start learning the language. Communication improved dramatically. The UI-Mor explained that although you and your people were obviously starving, tribal law prohibits the sharing of food and water with those who are not tribe members. However, if you were willing to undergo the Ritual of Manhood and become tribe members, they would save you.
You accepted their offer, and journeyed across the desert into the vast Forbidden Caverns. Shortly after entering the caverns, a cave-in separated you from the UI-Mor. You wandered for many days through to tunnels, encountering strange beasts and phenomena. You also encountered a group of pirates who had entered by some other entrance in pursuit of a different group of survivors from the Serena Dawn. Some were killed but in the final encounter with the pirates, you worked out a truce and they let you pass unmolested. You may have been able to defeat the pirates but they were strong enough that not everyone would have survived the battle.
After the perilous Journey through the caverns you escaped and found the UI-Mor camped nearby, waiting for you.
After allowing you to rest and recuperate for several days, the UI-Mor led you to The Place of True Warriors, where you would undergo the Ritual of Manhood. Though they did not take your weapons, the UI-Mor gave each of you a spear and a straw dummy, then retreated to a safe distance to watch the ritual.
Not long after, a tiger-sized creature moving at incredible speed approached you. This creature was a quickdeath. It had a long neck ending in a hideous head with four eyes mounted on stalks. Three small tentacles with suction cups hung from each side, and its whole body was covered with a natural reflective armor. Even as you studied the creature, it attacked you.
The creature was a terrible opponent, moving and striking with incredible speed and viciousness. Despite the quickdeath's ferocity, you killed it and were accepted as members of the UI-Mor tribe. The UI-Mor then told you that they have seen people like yourselves living with the Kurabanda, a foolish tree-dwelling race. The UI-Mor offered to guide you to the home of the Kurabanda.
A few days later, the group is fully healed and prepared for the trek across the cold wilderness.
GM: Everyone can have 25 EXP to spend to prepare for the second Volturnus module. Non-military PSA characters can buy a maximum of one level of a weapon skill (including Martial Arts). Military PSA characters can buy 2 levels in weapon skills. Non-military PSA characters can buy a maximum of 1 level in their primary skill (Technician, Roboticist, Computerist, Medic, Environmentalist). The rest should be spent on secondary skills. Let me know how you spend your EXP.
Athru and his UI-Mor have led you to the edge of a great plain covered with a strange-looking grass. Athru now tells you that he and his followers are needed elsewhere. He says that the Kurabanda can be found by travelling across the plain in an east northeast direction. He wishes you luck and bids you farewell.
GM: I will pause here to allow players to interject. Feel free to create a short story (a few sentences or so) describing how you spend your time among the Ul-Mor. It could be linked to the EXP that I awarded where you spent time improving your skills.
ENSIGN FURY: During the downtime at the Ul-Mor camp, Ensign Fury made sure to find a skeinsuit repair kit and mend the splits in his now well-worn military uniform. He also cleaned it well. Other than that, he split his time between improving his skills with communications and psychology and spending time with Jim learning new hand-to-hand moves. Whenever the mood was right, George also engaged in conversations with his fellow survivors, learning more about each of them. He had long since learned that people loved talking about themselves and George was a very good listener.
S'LCH: The vrusk spends a good amount of time working with the new maintenance robot trying to figure out what he is missing. He will also ask any of the more martial types for pointers on how to use his auto pistol. Finally he will continue to work and monitor the comms, both for talking with their new friends and listening for anyone else.
MYKEL: Mykel will spend his time practicing with his weapons and trying to find a way to patch up his skeinsuit. He will also (along with several others) spend time with Jim, improving his martial arts skills. When not otherwise occupied with training, Mykel will spend time wandering around the areas near their encampments, practicing stealth and experimenting with what types of camouflage seem to work best in their environment.
ALZARIX: While we are recovering he will work on improving he melee weapons fighting techniques.(melee weapons to 2) He will also join in on martial arts training with the rest. It will be a good way to get a little warmth generated. (Also an excuse to work on his combat rage racial skill. Raised it 4 points and combat luck to 2 )
ALZARIX: He will also help out S'lich with his work on the robot. (Raised Technician skill (3), and Engineer: Mechanical (2)
ALZARIX: Not really much of a reason to raise combat driver (2) or Vehicle: Ground (2) but prior knowldge: (I do not think riding a dinosaur would help out much with this.)
GM: I plan to send the next Alpha Dawn turn on Tuesday or Wednesday with the group proceeding through the frozen savanna in search of a race known as the kurabanda. The ul-mor told you that they have seen people like yourselves (mostly human) living with the kurabanda, a foolish tree-dwelling race. Perhaps the people are other survivors of the attack on the Serena Dawn. Or perhaps they have some other origin. It is also in the minds of the group that the people might even be pirates and the kurabanda are cooperating with them for purposes that are entirely in the realm of conjecture at this time. In any case, caution is called for.
GM: The trip from the Place of the True Warriors to where you are now took about a month. During this time, you headed south and back into some caverns to cross under the burning lands. This time there were no cave-ins and the trip was uneventful. You emerged again in the frigid desert, rested a few days at an oasis and then continued southeast, then east and then northeast through to the desert to where you are now. This roundabout journey was required to avoid a section of the burning lands that extends south into the desert.
GM: The ul-mor tell you to travel east for 3 or 4 days through the savanna and then turn to the northeast for a few more days. Then you will see the great forest ahead. It is in this forest that the kurabanda can be found. If you turn northeast too soon, you will enter an area of ragged hills where travel is difficult. If you fail to turn northeast in time, you will emerge from the savanna into another section of the great desert.
CIARA: It had taken some time but finally the young student scientist has become at peace with their situation. Even the near battle with the pirates at her strangely at peace with the impending battle. This was finally put to the test with the Ritual of Manhood. Though she wasn't quite sure how much she helped in that fight, she bravely fought with her sword.
CIARA: Given the time to rest and recuperate, Ciara turned her attention to her environmental talents. She practiced a collection of skills around survival on this hostile planet. She also communed with the planet, in an effort to understand it more. Any bits of wisdom she can glean from the Ul-Mor is carefully noted and reflected upon. When the time came, she felt ready to lead the group out on the great plain.
CARTER: Spent the last month working on S'lch's Vizoldt chornocom to see if it has any hidden tricks (raise Cryptography and Computerist one rank apiece), as well as trying to improve the Ul-Mor's base camp and travelling mode (raise Civil Engineer and Physics one rank apiece). Additionally he will continue to spar with anyone he can to impove his ability with his nightstick (raise melee weapons one rank) and improve his overall stamina/strenght since he is lacking in those areas (one point apiece for STR and STA) |