All fungi are edible.
Some fungi are only edible once.
- Terry Pratchett
Umemii, 1107 Week 42
C521877-7 Na Po
Dr Matauranga has been conducting genetic research on the relatively isolated human population of this vargr world, but he has now completed it. He and his samples are welcomed back aboard.
Cordan, 1107 Weeks 44-46
A895347-9 Lo
It’s about time for the ship’s annual overhaul, so the Macavity stops over at Cordan to attend to that, and Mazun checks in with Kenneth Prasad and requests a bodyguard be assigned to him; Prasad says he’ll see what he can do. Vila keeps a keen eye on the ship.
This is the point at which the news that the Fifth Frontier War has broken out reaches them; the usual Outworld Coalition – Zhodani, Sword Worlds, assorted Vargr states – has invaded the Spinward Marches. It seems like something not very important to them, happening a long way off. Prasad cautions them to expect a reduced Imperial presence in the Reach as assets are relocated to support the war effort, and therefore an increase in piracy; and to stay away from Imperial space for a while in case the Macavity is commandeered as a fleet auxiliary to haul supplies.
Exe, 1107 Week 48
B300101-A Lo Va
While refuelling at Exe, the crew are contacted by Laro Smith, who has been directed to them by the highly corrupt station staff who know them – and their interest in wealth – of old. Smith explains that there is a mushroom on Inurin called Sarna, which he believes can be made into a highly profitable recreational pharmaceutical; but his previous attempt at stealing the secret of the fungal caves from the priests resulted in him fleeing the planet, pursued by a torch-wielding mob. The Inurini now consider him to be the Prince of Lies and he cannot return to the planet. He wants Our Heroes to sneak into the fungal caves, learn the origin of Sarna, and if possible bring out some samples. He offers a share in any profits, and naturally wants to come along to protect his interests. He cannot be seen on-world, but can stay in the ship and offer advice by commlink.
Troisei is dubious about this at first, especially the Prince of Lies part, but Mazun talks her round, saying that religions do some weird stuff, and priests are not all there as a rule.
Inurin, 1107 Week 50
E668776-5 Ag Ri
Given the local tech level, and the fact that Smith has been here before, the Macavity has no trouble in penetrating Inurin airspace undetected and landing in the remote hills where the Church of the Mycorrhizal Brotherhood has its group of villages and – Smith believes – perhaps a hundred thousand suspicious adherents. While they are mostly independent, they do find it more efficient to import shotguns and ammunition than make their own, and by trading those for agricultural produce Smith was able to gain access to a village. He knows that the fungi are grown in caves by a priesthood; only the priests are allowed inside, not the general populace. Priests are generally, but not always, accompanied by what he thinks of as bodyguards – muscular fellows who the peasants give a wide berth. On feast days, the peasants consume the mushrooms, and see things and do things they don’t normally see or do; this gave him the idea to sell the fungi as recreational drugs. Alas, he doesn’t know when the feast days are, and he will admit that in hindsight, bopping a priest on the head and stealing his robes was not the best idea he’s ever had.
After discussing a number of possible options, the team use the ship’s sensors to scan the cave system, discovering a rear entrance and the general layout. They manage to sneak up to the entrance undetected, then go spelunking into the caves below. Once safely inside, Mazun hands out filter masks and gives orders to put them on; this precaution will prove to be a literal life-saver later on. Dr Matauranga busies himself taking readings of atmospheric composition and temperature as well as air and soil samples.
At length, they enter a cave where a group of priests in decaying robes are sitting cross-legged in a circle, facing each other. They appear not to have noticed the intruders, and each has a white organic-looking spike protruding from the top of his head. Dr Matauranga approaches cautiously, observing that they appear to be dead, and he thinks the white spikes are fruiting bodies for some kind of fungus.
“Cordyceps,” mutters Mazun, who whatever he tells people was once an Imperial scout.
The good Doctor cuts off the end of one spike and stuffs it into a sample bag which he seals, and prepares to take an arm off the corpse as a further sample. It’s at this point that they hear people approaching cautiously; Vila quickly emplaces a camera and everyone takes cover as half a dozen bodyguards with shotguns enter the cavern, led by a priest.
To Vila’s disappointment, they immediately discover the camera, and as they come closer, it’s obvious they have detected everyone except Mazun; he went south, Vila went north, and Rex and Dr Matauranga went east – the way they came in.
Matters are not helped by Rex leaving his tail sticking out and giving an unconvincing cry of “Oh no, they've seen me.”
The priest calls out in an unknown tongue, moving towards Rex with three of his men while two peel off and move towards Vila. Rex subvocalises on the crew channel “Can I kill ‘em, skipper?” Mazun agrees, going for positive reinforcement – Rex actually asked this time before opening fire, which is an improvement, so he is rewarded.
Rex steps out of cover with a laser SMG in each hand (paw?) and blazes away, wounding the priest, dropping two of the guards, and blowing the top off a fruiting body with a stray shot. The cave begins to fill with spores. Dr Matauranga draws a stunner, but fumbles and shoots Rex in the back by mistake; Rex growls at him. Vila ducks out of sight, intending to lie in wait and shoot the guards as they round the corner in front of him. Mazun, hidden until now, fires a couple of shotgun rounds at the guards he can see, killing one and wounding a second.
Rex shakes off the stunner bolt and opens up into the guards again, starting with the ones going for Vila and working his way south. Another fruiting body explodes as it is pierced by a stray bolt, but Rex kills the priest and all but one of the surviving guards. Dr Matauranga aims his stunner at a third fruiting body, deliberately exploding it, but is shot and grazed by the surviving guard. Mazun blasts him, and with all of the opposition down, the crew have possession of the battlefield.
Vila emerges cautiously as Dr Matauranga directs everyone to grab one of the infected priests’ bodies and run; they can already hear pounding boots getting closer. Escaping back through the caverns is no real problem, although Vila picks up bumps and bruises from trying to run through the tunnels without touching anyone else, especially the dead priest, who is shedding spores everywhere.
Between Mazun (ex-Scout) and Dr Matauranga (mad scientist) they manage to decontaminate themselves, stuff the dead priest into a body bag, decontaminate that, and lift for orbit, pursued by the obligatory torch-wielding mob.
Troisei says she trusts they will explain fully when the opportunity presents itself – she stayed aboard with Smith to ensure he didn’t get the idea of running away with the ship.
Fast Travel, 1107 Week 52 – 1108 Week 14
A busy few weeks follow. Dr Matauranga quickly determines that the fungi contain a suitable hallucinogen, but while he could synthesise the active component, it wouldn’t be cost-effective; growing it in human bodies is. After discussing where they could get a steady supply of dead bodies, or indeed living ones, and the ethics of using them as fungus hosts, they hit on the plan of ordering blank clones in bulk from Tech-World and having them farmed for fungus and processed by the Android Liberation Front on Ergo – they are not at risk of infection, being robots. The finished product will then be shipped to Exe where Smith will pick it up and handle distribution.
This all requires them to visit Ergo (week 52) to negotiate with the ALF, Tech-World (week 02) to pick up clones, Ergo (week 04) to drop them off, and Exe (week 06) to drop off Smith. At some point during this shuffling back and forth they encounter Captain Cash and the Cash Cow, and expand his ALF contract to cover a triangular route; Tech-World to Ergo to Exe and back to Tech-World.
Then, they return to Tyokh via Tech-World, Paal, and Sink, bringing Troisei home in 1108 week 14.
GM Notes
That was another unused adventure seed from The Pirates of Drinax, originally just a paragraph or so which expanded considerably under questioning from the players. I am usually concerned beforehand that the session won't work and I should cancel it, but experience teaches that once we get rolling it will all be OK, so I generally persuade myself to carry on.
Eventually, one of the players will look up what mycorrhizal means, and then they will realise how the priests knew they were in the caves. Some groups dislike metagaming; I consider it part of the fun, and love leaving little Easter eggs like this in the game.
It's quite intriguing how often my player groups wind up as drug runners. I never plan it that way, but it often happens.
Scheduling over Christmas and the New Year is too tricky, so we'll take a couple of weeks off and kick off again on January 10th, with the writeup following on the 13th. My current campaign plan is a few charters from Tyokh, followed by a forced misjump into the Islands Clusters and a mission there for the Imperial Navy, before returning to Tyokh to bid farewell to the Trojan Reach. That will probably take us to April next year, then we can discuss what to do next.
Happy holidays!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sully! And to you!
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