Homecoming

The crew of the Skylark travels to Alell to lay Fig’s uncle Vlen to rest and learn a bit more about his background.

This chapter is based on Carl and Kay's notes from our January 9, 2022 session. Since we are scattered around the country, we use Discord for voice communications and the Roll20 online virtual tabletop to connect with each other.

Continued from: Leaving Regina.

Location: Roup in the Regina Subsector

Date: 221-1110
Jumping out for Roup, leaving the mysterious explosion behind. Well, not mysterious to us.

While in jump, we spent time discussing what we will do when we get there.

Fig suggests when we drop off info, we mention we gave them the data about the frozen watch on the Haunting Thunder, so they’ll take us seriously. Kipenzi reminds us to delete the file marked Skylark from our buttoncam footage before we send.

227-1110  2345
We arrive in the Roup System.

Library Data:  Roup. Industrial water world with a tainted atmosphere. Amber Zone. C-Class starport. Imperial Scout Base, and on an X-Boat route. Population 3.4 billion.

228-1110  0200
Inbound we meet the Cora Winters, a Planetary Navy patrol boat, they are professional and scan us.

0400
On the ground at Roup Down starport.

There is also a high port of sorts, it is a mishmash of Tech Level 7 space station with no spin and no anti-g - so zero-G, with rudimentary facilities acting more as a shuttle dock than anything else. It is sometimes referred to as RVP1, Roup Vanity Project 1.

Roup’s 3.4 billion people live on the peaks of underwater mountains, the place is crowded and crime ridden. We did some bar-hopping, but for the most part stayed close to the ship.
 
You would think a place that practices aquaculture on a planetary scale would have some decent seafood, but we couldn’t find any.

We made over 2 million credits on the 10 tons of weapons we brought from Regina.  Not a bad run.
We checked ahead on Alell, another amber zone, this time due to dangerous animals. They have a B-Class starport so we can get our annual maintenance done there.

235-1110
With our cargo ready, we dropped off our package with the information we collected in our meeting with Harlan, addressed it to the Imperial Navy at Regina via the X-boat route.  We made sure to mention the Haunting Thunder episode information we sent them before, for added credibility.

We jump out at midnight for Alell.

242-1110  0015
Out of hyperspace in the Alell system. We got lots of static on our sensors; they are degraded due to radiation and particles in the solar wind. On the planet they get auroras down to the mid-latitudes. The radiation, along with the dangerous wildlife are the reasons for Alell’s amber zone designation.

Library Data:

On Alell, ferocity and beauty are inextricably entwined. The jungles shimmer a thousand shades of red and gold, but touch the wrong delicate frond with bare skin and a poison stinger will lash out faster than the eye can follow. The Alellian whisperhawk is beautiful even as it swoops on its prey from the green clouds. Even the sky of Alell is perilous; the shimmering auroras that stream across the heavens are caused by bursts of radiation from the primary star.

The planet was settled in the dying days of the First Imperium. It became fashionable for nobles to hunt the whisperhawk, the maleficent, the vicious glittering lambdragon. They opened hunting lodges in the most scenic locations on the planet – atop the perilous glacial cliffs, in the heart of the Dranxi Jungle, in the savannah hunting grounds of the ferocious cadegeree. Each lodge had a staff of technicians, groundskeepers and servants to attend to every whim of the degenerate nobility.

And then the First Imperium collapsed.

Several hundred years later, when Alell was recontacted by explorers from the resurgent Imperium, the descendants of those hotel porters and safari guides survived to form a civilization centered around those hunting lodges. The lodges are now walled cities, keeping out the lethal jungles...

— Checking In Indefinitely: A History of Alell,
Tharsis Djar, Alell Free Press, 1101

There are stations in orbit but no high port. Just a medical facility and a rapid-response emergency services station for rescuing those lost in the jungle but none of these receive visiting ships.

Alell Down looks more like a temple than a normal starport. The database says, “It is a fine example of 1st Imperium Architecture.”

As the Skylark entered the cavernous building, it was sprayed with jets of chemical disinfectants and bathed in strong UV light as part of Alell’s biological control protocols to protect the environment.

We were assigned a berth in a gigantic artificial cavern where the supporting pillars and walls were decorated with First Imperium friezes and bas-reliefs, testament to thousands of years of settlement here on Alell. Most of the art depicted the wildlife of the planet.

We had instructions to deliver the body to Vaca Goya, a town 200 km from the starport. We also had a contact number for Porter Sajan. Apparently, Porter is a title of a local civic official or priest, over thousands of years, the meaning of the title “Porter” has changed.

We went through customs. There were strict protocols, importing life forms is forbidden. All visitors are probed and scanned. No weapons allowed on planet, except a mister which sprays a liquid that is mildly damaging to humans and repels the local wildlife.

The cryopod with the body was, technically, biological.  It took two scans, it originally failed to register the body and they had to do it again to certify that the pod was safe to import.  Fig was not sure why it took two but maybe just to be sure or maybe it was just a glitch.

We put Skylark in for annual maintenance; we would get it back in a week. Sam will stay in port for buying/selling cargo, the rest will deal with the corpse. Sam suggests Medicus stay with him to learn more brokerage skills while the rest shuttled the cryopod over to Vaca Goya.

While the ship was getting annual maintenance, we would need hotel rooms. The TAS was a good choice.

Due to local regulations, we couldn’t use our own air/raft, so we needed to rent transportation for the body and us.

Kipenzi, Fig and Leon pick up misters for all of us and one extra of the non-lethal irritant sprayers.
Medicus decided to go with us after all. Good thing we bought a spare mister.

We set the button cams to record once we got out of range. Thanks to the local interference, Sam won’t be getting a live feed this time.

Vaca Goya was a uranium mining settlement at one time; it is now a walled tourist place with a population of about 1,000.

The local language is a weird Vilani dialect, though everyone in tourist areas can communicate readily in Galanglic.

We arranged for the maintenance (tomorrow, letting the cargo be unloaded today), and got some translation software for the local language, just in case.

Porter Sajan was really glad to hear from us. It seems there are several folks who are waiting for the pod. He gave us a contact number for a shuttle pilot. A pilot named Rao has a suitable vehicle, and is a normal contractor.  We got her information and called.

We arranged with Rao for transport the next day.

243-1110
After breakfast we met Rao and loaded Uncle Vlen into her shuttle.

We got a nice discussion of the world and the environment we will be dealing with.  Flying over the jungle, we could see that the plants were red and gold, purple and orange. They didn’t use green chlorophyll here. The auroras were barely visible above the clouds.

It turns out that Rao knows some of the Newtons and Backetts in Vaca Goya. She asked Fig, “Are you related to the Newtons?”

Fig replied that he was Fig Newton and that his Uncle Vlen Backett was the guy in the back.

Rao knew him, she found him too aloof and secretive, and he didn’t trust others too much. That agreed with Fig’s memory of the man.

She told us about one time when she dropped Backett off in middle of the jungle with just a mister and picked him up a week later.

Fig asked if she remembered where he was dropped off and she replied that she could look up the coordinates in her log if he needed them.

The flyer landed on the outskirts of the village which is located on a hilltop surrounded by metal poles topped by motion-sensing mist sprayers. Fig says, “Hmmmm, must be wildlife.”

Rao pointed out the village hall where we were to deliver the pod.
When we got to the hall, we met Porter Sajan and saw that there was a small crowd of mourners gathered to meet us.

Sajan was a tall man wearing ceremonial robes. As the village porter, Sajan is one of the most important dignitaries in Vaca Goya. He takes his responsibilities seriously and it seems that his primary goal is to ensure that the funeral and related matters are handled smoothly and correctly.

He explained that tonight is homecoming, tomorrow is the reading of the will and burial. He told us about Alell’s burial practices which date back to the first settlement: no coffin, no embalming. Environmentally friendly. He asked us if we had the will with us.

Fig said that we don’t have it and perhaps it’s in the pod with him.

Sajan replied that they will deal with the matter tomorrow. There may be another copy of the will elsewhere. For the moment, he said that we should just bring the body into the hall and then remember
Vlen Backett.

The village hall was crowded; as we mingled with the crowd, no one seemed especially saddened by his death.

Group factions became apparent through the afternoon. It seemed like everyone there wanted something and all had their own agendas and preferences.

No one was sure how old Vlen was, but probably VERY. Several people speculated that he used anti-aging drugs.

We talked with Hans & Thomas Backett, Vlen’s closest living kin. Thomas is a merchant and Hans is a hunter and trapper.

Thomas never liked Vlen, and is mostly here to make sure he is dead and properly buried. Hans thinks Vlen has treasure in his lodge and doesn’t want anyone else to get it. Hans doesn’t want the will to appear since, if one is not found, he and Thomas will get everything.

Thomas sees himself as the chief mourner. Hans seemed shifty, and he comes across as someone who would leave you in forest if it would slow him down. They don’t like the Newtons, who are also here.

We find that Uncle Vlen had a lodge in the jungle, but no one is sure where it is located. Maybe the will is there? Some say the lodge has treasure; others say probably just souvenirs of Vlen’s travels.

Kipenzi talked to the Newtons, Marisa and Bard, cultured and cosmopolitan, they look down on the Backetts. Marisa was an insufferable socialite and Bard fawns over offworlders.

Fig also talked with them and found them a bit hoity-toity. Sad, sad, sad.

One time about ten years ago, Vlen came to Alell, and told Marissa he needed to hide his ship, the Star Hunter. In return, she says Vlen promised her ownership of the ship when he died. A few hours after misplacing the ship (and Marissa fixing the paper trail) an Imperial ship, the Alahir, arrived and Gand Holcess put out a lot of questions.

She has the only actual paperwork from the time, and implied that she would turn it in if she did not get the ship. She thinks it is at the lodge.

The Parads were another family. Medicus went over and talked with them. Yasul Parad said that Vlen borrowed a million credits a few years ago, and wants to be repaid, with interest. The agreement was verbal but he believes no one in village will cross him. Medicus got a 'local mafia' vibe from him. Yasul knows Vlen had connections with the criminal community, and was involved with Ancient Artifacts. He was aware of his connections with Ven Yasha, the infamous Reginan smuggler.

The two men with him are not family members, but are his two bodyguards, Morgan and Bingley.

Some at the gathering were local villagers, mostly there for the free drinks and food. They say Vlen was an odd bird, but told great stories. One of the villagers told Leon that it would be just like him to hide the will in plain sight, or embed a puzzle or game in the finding process. This agreed with Fig’s memory of the man.

A flyer landed at the local field in the afternoon, and four more folks came to the party.  Monkish, all in green robes with shaved heads. The leader was Aail and she said that Vlen was a member of their order. Sixteen years ago he joined their order and signed all of his possessions over to them at their secret monastery on Victoria in the Lanth Subsector. He left the order after two weeks, vanishing in the dead of night. Around the same time, their most cherished relic, the Scepter of Ur, also vanished and they want it back. They have no proof that Vlen stole the scepter but if he did then it may still be among his belongings. They had a copy of his oath of membership with them and it looked authentic. (But what would we know?)

That was NOT what anyone else wanted to hear.

They found out he was dead and had been waiting at the starport until the body arrived.

They seemed like a cult. Their belief is that Humanity must connect and non-humans are monsters. They never stop smiling. They are either deeply disturbed or in a state of bliss, maybe both.

The Porter said the monks do NOT have any legal standing here, but if the artifact shows up, they can surely have it. We got a description; it was similar to the statuette we got from the station in Regina, but not an exact match.

Sajan knew Vlen quite well and told Fig that he knew Backett was involved in strange and possibly illegal business. He considered Backett to be a nuisance and an eccentric, the sort of person who brought troublesome off-worlders to Vaca Goya. He would be willing to overlook some irregularities if he could get this over with smoothly and correctly.

Late in the day, another flyer showed up.  A woman came in wearing black jumpsuit.

Kipenzi mutters, “Don’t tell me, let me guess, it’s his wife.”



Yep. She introduced herself as Arissa Backett, Vlen's widow... Sure... She had a genuine-looking marriage certificate from Regina. Medicus noticed that Arissa tended to be touchy/feely, and she was probably a lot smarter than she looks/acts.  He warned Leon.

Porter Sajan hadn’t heard of her, but it didn’t surprise him. Nothing would at this point.

Fig was sure he’s seen the widow before.

Kip takes pic of group for later facial recognition and asks him if it’s from family, he doesn’t think so. Maybe after synching the cams with the database, we might get a match. Perhaps we can send a picture back to Sam at the Skylark.

Hans Backett thinks that Fig has the will. He told him that he had a cargo of five tons of rare furs and other animal products worth at least 10KCr a ton that he would trade for it.

An argument broke out between one drunken local and Yusal Parad. The local accused him of being a criminal and a murderer, and shouts that no one in Vaca Goya wants Parad’s sort around. Parad impassively ignores the local and has his bodyguards ‘encourage’ the drunk to leave the village hall.
After that, the crowd subtly drew away from Parad, creating an empty, silent exclusion zone around him.

The Brotherhood of Humanity approached Porter Sajan to discuss tomorrow’s funeral arrangements. Aail wants Backett buried in accordance with the Brotherhood’s teachings, where a sample of his DNA is taken for interment in the monastery’s archive, so that in future millennia, all believers will be part of the Ur-Humaniti to come. The ceremony she proposes is six hours long and involves denouncing “all races, persons, governments, creeds, groups, species or thoughts that deny the essential unity of all Humaniti”. Porter Sajan is understandably nonplussed by this request and looked to us to help him deal with the cultists.

We worked out a deal where they would get a place for a separate ceremony, all six hours of it. We toyed with the idea of giving them some fake DNA, but the Porter thought it was a bad idea.

We arrange for a room overnight.

We spoke with Sam that evening, to get his inputs, and try for the facial rec.  No match with anyone in our files.  Sam had learned that the Alahir was in system.  Yeppers, imperial agent Arissa...

Kip asks Fig if it’s from his scout days, which triggers his memory as he is puzzling it over. When he was found alone on his ISS ship with no memory, she was one of the interrogators. She’s older now, her name was not remembered but she’s in ISS intelligence division. (Soooo… probably not really his wife)

244-1110
The morning of the funeral.

Fig asked about the burial procedures. No box, no packaging, just left to feed the ground.

No will was in the pod, so that is still hanging out in ozone.

The body was taken from the village hall to a green field, where it was buried in an unmarked grave. The Porter explained that the original settlers of Alell used the remains of their dead to cultivate ‘safe’ crops, when they did not know which plants in the jungle were edible. The tradition remains to this day. Uncle Vlen’s corpse will be allowed to slowly decay and feed the village green.

The Brotherhood of Humanity got an area to do their own service, but no DNA. They also got the promise that if we find their artifact, it will be returned.

At the ceremony, Sajan gave a brief eulogy of Vlen Backett and encouraged everyone else who wished to speak to do so.

No one responded to his appeal.

Sajan gathered the claimants together at his house; he thinks there might be a will, and wants a group to go look for Vlen’s lodge. It is likely covered in vines by this time, so some search would be needed.  A 'volunteer' from each of the factions wants to go along with us.

The area they plan to head for is pretty consistent with the coordinates we got from Rao.

Hans Backett and Arissa (the grieving widow) volunteer, Parad will send one of his bodyguards, Bard says he’s expert woodsman and will go and serve as a guide.

We called Sam and gave him orders to pack for a jungle trek. Kip requested her hardened vacc suit, tranq pistols with ammo, X-ray scanner, and a few other specialty items (translation: weapons).

245-1110  0500
Just before sunrise a flyer arrived with crates and Sam, who has our equipment.  We picked up more supplies at the village store.

In addition to bringing our supplies, Sam brought a set of forged wills with him. Since the ship will be in for annual maintenance for the next week, he decided to join us on our jungle trek. He brought his pistol and multispectral binocs; unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get his drone through customs, it would have come in handy.

We were not the only ones with officially banned weapons. Morgan brought a slug thrower; Bard has a slug pistol and a hunting rifle. No one seemed to care.

The rest of us had the standard misters.

Rao gave us all a ride to the coordinates, about 1 km out.  We let Hans lead the way with Kipenzi bringing up the rear wearing her vacc suit. The suit should provide more protection against the predatory wildlife… or slug throwers.

The jungles of Alell are still primal wilderness and there was not a single trace of humanity to be seen. We were surrounded on all sides by walls of golden-barked trees with blood red leaves. We hacked our way through the underbrush, cutting aside web-like ferns and vines like braided ropes. Insects – or the local analogues of insect life, ugly four-legged things with eyes on their hips – scurried away.

We spotted a whisperhawk nearby. They are supposedly not aggressive.

Hans, Fig and Kipenzi got their misters out; Medicus pulled his pistol.

As the whisperhawk flew by, Bard used his hunting rifle to shoot at it, he only wounded it and it turned to attack.

Morgan sprayed his mister at it and missed, Hans hit it with his, and it turned and fled.
About three hours in, we ran into a mudslide.

Fig, Medicus, Morgan and Bard lost footing, and slid down the hill. Fortunately no one was badly injured and we continued on after Medicus patched up some scrapes and sprains.



1000
We discovered signs we were on the right track. We found a flat area of ground, suitable for a flier landing and a path led toward a nearby hill. Along the path, we found a large sealed hatch in the ground. There was an internal hinge and no handle to open. Kipenzi used her x-ray scanner and sensors on it. It was ambient temperature and the x-ray didn’t penetrate it or show any control for opening it. It looked armored. It was possibly an escape route from a structure further on.

The path continued beyond the hatch.

Continued in: Looking for Vlen's Lodge.

See Also: Dramatis Personæ, Skylark 2, Campaign Starts, The 2nd Adventure, The Chamax Plague, Horde, Shadows, Research Station Gamma, Twilight's Peak, Prison Planet, Leedor on Aramis, First Call at Zilla, Trade War, The Bloodwell, ANNIC NOVA, The Kinunir, Kesser's Return, Justice, Mission to Mithril, Outback, Skylark and the Pit, Last Flight of the Amuar and One Crowded Hour.