6 Sacrifices and a Funerals

(Been too long since my last update, it seems...)

The crew picked up on the fact that Tong had been kidnapped, so the Desperado shot out of Steel station to rescue him!

The trail led to a strange temple on planet Veer where a group of cultists (who resembled Aelani) were chanting something, which was accelerating the progress of his parasite.  There was a firefight, and the cultists were all killed or squished.   Hrabar, the adorable predator, lent a hand (or in this case, sharp teeth.)  Once the chanting subsided, Tong seemed to recover, though it was clear his parasite was not gone, and in fact, was very much advanced.

The crew then attended the funeral of Rhintel’s grandmother, whereupon Rhintel learned from his mother that his grandmother had had the same gift as himself: seeing the truth about people in his dreams.  His mother revealed that much of the power-structure of the Cerotid country revolved around a few psionic individuals, all of them female, which makes Rhintel one-of-a-kind.  She insisted he give up space travel and take up his rightful place among his people, but he flatly refused.

At the spaceport, the crew met the saurian Messuu, and were blown away by his culinary skills and hired him on the spot.  Messuu was only too glad to have a chance at a job on a spacecraft.

E finally revealed to John that the entire mission to Vishnu had been a sham whose sole purpose was for her to become pregnant with his child.  She told John that she was the last of her bloodline, and that very few children were being born on Raskos except for those fathered by spacers, so she and her friend Tam Timmies had figured out this ruse together.   E was also determined that Raskos not remain blind to the world out in space any more.

Now, the crew have returned to the temple to try and find a mysterious ronger they saw there, to see if he has any answers.

Steel

The Desperado has arrived at Steel station, and John went shopping with the princess, and Rhintel did too, but also looked up a forged psi-record for Kone from his underworld contacts

Something has happened to Tong, however, and the other players are just realizing it.. He’s not even on Steel anymore

Liftoff

The Desperado has departed Vishnu, outbound for Steel to visit Rhintel’s family.

The princess is sick from overwork, but apart from that, all seems to have gone well.

One odd thing.. As they headed out of system, they saw a sensor trace of something moving very quickly out of system.  Tong wasn’t able to make sense of it

Vishnu

The 'gang of space raiders' on Kalju turned out to be angry teens who had tricked the colony into believing they were raiders from space.  The crew of the Desperado were contracted to deal with the raiders, and they set up an ambush with colony security.  They took down 6 of the 8 raiders, and then interrogated the remaining 2 to find their hideout.  The crew talked the raiders out of their hideout, and then turned them over to colony security and departed Kalju for Hope station.

On Hope station, the princess slipped out from under the watchful eye of the crew, evidently seeking freedom from her responsibilities, and immediately fell afoul of a gang.  The crew rescued her from the miscreants and dealt with them summarily.  Afterwards, they bought the princess a pet, who they brought with them to Vishnu

Delivering the princess to Vishnu, the crew took advantage of the many sights and entertainments of the colony while they waited for the diplomatic part of the mission to be completed.   They took part in FTL research, engaged in a rather-too-rough bout of a local sport, an eating contest, and a lot of shopping

Space Raiders

After landing on Kalju-2, the players were asked by a local landowner (Hogg) to take care of their space raider problem.

They set up an ambush on a local ranch, and now in a fight in the middle of a sandstorm

Planetfall: Kalju

The Desperado was attacked by two cutters on their way out of the Raskos system, which turned out to be part of a plot to assassinate the (now) queen E Matine.

They have put down on planet Kalju-2, a rocky desolate colony far off the beaten track for brief resupply and refuel.

https://sfd.obsidianportal.com/wikis/planet-kalju-2