Previously, on the Aslan Route... The crew of the Macavity have recovered the missing maid of honour, and now the wedding of Elehasei and Prince Hteleitoirl can proceed. Surely all the unpleasantness can now be put behind them, and steady but profitable freight runs may resume? If you thought that, you really haven't been paying attention...
Tyokh, 1106 Week 23
Tyokh B566A77-E Hi Ht GG
The day of the wedding arrives, and by dint of not saying anything and just listening to the ceremony, the crew of the Macavity avoids offending anyone. Rex duels an opponent to first blood as part of the entertainment, but being Rex gets carried away and almost kills the fellow; fortunately, Dr Matauranga is on hand to stop the blood getting all over everyone's party clothes and manages to save the loser.
The crew present their presents to the newlyweds. Ellie thanks them for the thoughtful gift of, well, whatever it is; some sort of flying beast that Dr Matauranga made for her. However, she says it is as nothing compared to the gift of her husband's life, for which she will be forever in their debt. The Prince himself is touched by the gift of Rex's artificial dewclaws, which saved his life when Rex fought his would-be killer a year ago, and responds with a new and flashier set, as it's not right one of his retainers should be without claws.
Later, the happy couple engage the Macavity - which most of the clan now considers part of the clan fleet - to take them to their landhold on Sink, and the Macavity spends a few weeks shuttling between Sink and Tyokh, helping set up the landhold properly and carrying properly vetted ihatei there to join the Prince's burgeoning following.
Sink, 1106 Week 29
Sink D665220-5 Lo Ga Lt GG
Returning to Sink with their latest load, the crew is intercepted by Ahoakhi, the Port Authority, who says the new landhold recently learned of potential fishing grounds near a place called Messana Bay, and sent a small party out there to assess it as a possible food source. That group is not checking in on schedule; it occurs to her that while the landhold proper has only a few ground vehicles - there are so many other things competing for hold space and maintenance time which seemed more important - the Macavity has an air/raft, and rather than sending a ground party which will take days, that could be on site in a couple of hours. Gaining the Prince's permission, the crew tool up and set off. Rex is delighted at being able to carry his brace of laser SMGs without any snivelling concerns about law level.
Holding at forty and doing a slow circle of the site, the crew find a couple of ATVs, a fishing boat in the shallows, an advanced base, and a couple of pop-up tool sheds; all have been wrecked as if by combat or a hasty search, and there are ruts in the beach, possibly made by small watercraft. Vila drops the rest off and takes to the sky again, ostensibly to keep a better lookout. Dr Matauranga and Mazun search the wreckage for clues, finding nothing to suggest this was anything other than a group checking out the local fish; the notes they left mention a large concentration of creatures like a cross between a starfish and an octopus a few hundred metres offshore. The only curious feature is the laser burns on the insides of the buildings.
Meanwhile, Rex is drawn towards the boat by a powerful smell of dead fish; some smells are so disgusting you just have to roll in the source. At this point a much larger tentacled monstrosity critically fails its Stealth roll and explodes out of the surf, clawing at Rex's heels as he retreats. The beast shows no signs of either intelligence or a desire to communicate, so the crew split up and open fire on the beast, scoring multiple solid hits which simply bounce off its tough, rubbery hide. Distracted by the lashing tentacles, Rex puts a couple of rounds into the air/raft by mistake, but its light armour protects Vila, who has gone for even more altitude in case the creature decides to grab his vehicle. Deciding that they need heavy weapons to deal with it, the crew piles into the air/raft and makes their way back to the starport, where they pick up the Macavity. Returning to Messana Bay, they discover the creature's armour is proof against the ship's gatling laser and are forced to resort to antiship missiles, blowing it into sushi.
"Do you know how much those things cost?" asks Vila, who is concerned about the impact on the crew's profit-sharing.
The conclusion is that the fishermen accidentally started laying waste to the larger creature's offspring and it took revenge by smashing up their boat, drowning them, and wrecking their camp.
"In that case," Dr Matauranga asks thoughtfully, "Who made the laser burns in the huts?" A fair question, and Rex's keen nose is put to work tracking anyone who might have escaped or fled. At length, this leads them to two armed ihatei on foot, making their way back towards the starport. These claim to be looking for a place to set up their own landhold, Mazun explains that the Prince has already claimed the whole planet (except for the monastery), but this initially civil conversation rapidly devolves into a gunfight; outnumbered and outgunned, the two aslan fall quickly, but again Dr Matauranga manages to patch up the wounded one, and the other - having been merely stunned - is quickly tied up.
The crew return to the Macavity with their prisoners, intending to look more closely at the bodies in the boat (some of which they now suspect may have laser burns), find the intruders' ship, and place orbital beacons warning off other ihatei hoping to claim land.
GM Notes
I thought there had been enough excitement around the wedding, so let it go off without a hitch and moved on into the free Savage Worlds one-sheet Catch of the Day. That went pretty much as expected up to the point where Dr Matauranga queried who had made the laser burns if all the bodies were in the sunken boat? That was actually an oversight on my part in presenting inconsistent evidence, but rather than correct that error I decided to run with it and see what happened, relying on Mythic to keep the game going. Before the next session, I need to figure out who the mystery ihatei are and what they're up to; I'd been wondering where to take the game next, and maybe this is the answer.
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