Session One: DESCENT INTO THE WHITE [Recap]

Session One Recap

[NOTE 1]: This was a shortened session, about half as long as we would normally play.

[NOTE 2]: While we plan to record our sessions for proper recap, for now, we are relying on memory and notes for this recap.

DESCENT INTO THE WHITE

As the story began, our heroes (CORNELIUS, FRAEL, PETRA, and ROY) find themselves aboard the merchant spaceship, the Fortitude. The heroes are crew working for the ship’s owner, the space merchant, FILO. The Fortitude has just finished a lucrative run through the Sol system’s ASTEROID BELT and were heading for Jupiter when 4 PIRATE SKITTERS approached and attacked!

Our heroes had been assigned crew positions – Roy was piloting the Fortitude, while Cornelius was serving as the navigator. Both were in the cockpit. Seated nearby was Petra, the engineer. Sitting in the cupola was Frael, manning the PROTON CANNON.

The pirates caught the crew of the Fortitude off-guard. Several laser blasts struck the hull and the shields were temporarily knocked off-line. While Petra attempted to repair the shields, Roy, at the stick, attempted to outmaneuver the space pirates. His piloting skill was not up to the task, however, and his erratic steering caused the Fortitude to bounce off a few stray asteroids.  Meanwhile, the gunner, the alien, Frael, hammered one of the pirate skitters with proton fire and destroyed it. Three pirates remained.

Roy continued to attempt to outmaneuver the pirates, but was of moderate success. Meanwhile, Cornelius, working at the navigator’s station, aided the pilot in getting a sense of the chaotic surroundings. As Frael took out another pirate, Cornelius determined that the pirates were trying to usher the Fortitude towards a particular asteroid. As the merchant vessel approached this asteroid, the crew detected that it was really a weapons platform!

Roy piloted the Fortitude away from the false asteroid and towards the nearest possible place of safety, a Jovian moon called Europa. Sensors did not detect much on the moon’s surface, but it would seem a safer place than dealing with the cannons mounted on the false asteroid. Frael managed to take out the remaining pirate skitters, but the danger was not over.

A few shots from the asteroid’s cannons sent the Fortitude further towards Europa. Roy steered the ship into Europa’s weak orbit and remained there for the moment, but eventually, another shot from the false asteroid caused Roy to lose control of the Fortitude. The merchant vessel plummeted towards Europa’s icy surface!

A crash was inevitable. The crew of the Fortitude did their best to prepare themselves. Impact was serious and hard-hitting. When the heroes awoke from unconsciousness, several were severely injured, including the navigator, Cornelius. The heroes plied themselves from the wreckage and determined that the merchant trader and owner of the Fortitude, Filo, was dead. Everyone else had survived the crash.

Sensors determined that the Fortitude had crashed on a vast sheet of thick ice. Visibility was poor, at no more than a mile. There were no landmarks to perform any sort of land navigation. The Fortitude had crashed into the ice and suffered significant damage. One of the two engines was destroyed, but Petra determined that it could be repaired, given parts and some time. Frael, impatient, exited the ship and almost died due to the sudden temperature drop and exposure to a wind chill of some 250° F below zero. The robot, Roy, exited the ship and examined the engines and fuel. While Roy was outside, one of the fuel cells exploded, dashing any hopes that the Fortitude might be able to escape this icy place.

Finding some cold weather gear, Frael joined Roy outside the ship. They found a long crevasse in the ice. This was no doubt created by the ship’s crash. Exploring the canyon, Frael determined that the sundered area was several hundred feet deep. Climbing all the way to the bottom of the crevasse, Frael found a steam vent. Something was much warmer underneath the ice sheet! Frael used his sword to hack a hole in the ice and saw a dark, roiling ocean far beneath the ice sheet.

Meanwhile, Petra and Cornelius were concerned with trying to repair the engine that was damaged in the crash. Internal sensors had determined that the Fortitude had crashed on top of the ship’s other engine, but that it was undamaged. Thus, only one engine needed to be repaired. A long sensor sweep detected that one of the pirate skitters had crashed some five miles from the Fortitude. This would be a long trip but, if the heroes could scavenge enough parts from the crashed pirate ship, the Fortitude might be salvaged.

After resting and recuperating, the crew of the Fortitude left in the morning to head for the crashed pirate ship. Petra had found another set of cold weather gear and so, she donned it for the trip. Cornelius would stay behind while Roy, Petra, and Frael would head for the crash. It took most of the day, on foot, to reach the crash site. When the heroes arrived at the site, they found the pirate vessel mostly intact. It was, however, slipping into the ice. Acting quickly, Frael ripped parts from the engine and leapt from the pirate ship before it fell into the ice sheet.

When the heroes returned to the Fortitude, Petra managed to use the scavenged parts to repair the engine. Unfortunately, there was not enough fuel remaining to enable lift off. Frael decided to further investigate the steam vent he had found the day before. Using equipment from the ship, Frael descended into the hole he had hacked into the ice. He felt immediately warmer upon descending. He determined that the temperature below the ice sheet was much warmer (still cold, mind you!), but that the ocean roiling down below was more than a mile from the ice sheet.

Some discussion ensued and it was eventually determined that the best course of action would be to cause the Fortitude to slide into the hole in the ice and down into the sea below. Some quick thinking and luck enabled the merchant ship to fall at exactly the right angle so as not to destroy the ship any further. The Fortitude fell straight down and right into the dark ocean.

After the Fortitude righted itself and buoyed to the surface, Frael exited the vessel. Soon, the other heroes joined him. As they watched the dark waters, something started to approach the ship. Several somethings. Emerging from the water were dozens of huge, whale-sized creatures that appeared to be dolphins. Frael prepared to fight, but the strange creatures did not seem all that hostile. Petra cast a spell that enabled her to speak with the dolphin creatures. Using this magic, Petra learned that the dolphins were concerned for the heroes’ safety and wanted to take them underwater. Petra, Cornelius, and Frael jumped onto the dolphins and were immediately enveloped in some sort of magic bubbles. The dolphins took them beneath the waves and started heading for some large, dark something at the bottom of the ocean. The dolphins did not take kindly to Roy, the robot, who eventually decided to join his friends and just jumped into the water.

Now, our heroes, joined by these strange dolphin-like beings, are headed to some sort of large structure at the bottom of the ocean. What awaits them there???