Siberspace Interlude: Spoilers for Session 1! (Patreon)
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I will be traveling for another five days, but once I'm back we need to set a time and cast for the next session of the Dragonhawk Initiative! But before then, we need to establish a few important events that occur over the next few months. If you haven't watched Episode One yet, spoilers are about to be revealed!
... Any moment now...
... Here they come..
... And...
... In the first session, the Dragonhawk crew has a hard landing on Stone 52 in the Ring of Siberys. Here's the summary on Kanka if you want to refresh your memory. The crew encountered a powerful celestial that called itself the Terminus, and Magister Wrey ir'Wynarn agreed to stay on Stone 52. The Terminus has promised that as long as someone takes her place, when Wrey chooses to leave, the Terminus will allow the ship that carries her to pass beyond the Ring of Siberys.
Before the next session I'll write up an overview of what happens over the course of the next four to six months. If time allows, I'll also write an interactive story hour on Discord covering a conversation between Wrey and the Terminus. But first we need to establish a few critical details.
First of all, we need to decide on the overall direction for the Initiative in these next few months. The Dragonhawk Initiative has limited resources—what will they focus on?
- The Ring of Siberys. Prince Adal ir'Wynarn is excited by the discovery of the ancient Cul'sir outpost on Stone 52. He believes the Initiative should focus on fortifying its strategic position in the Ring—sending more Aundairian personnel and resources to establish a permanent presence on Stone 52. With this in mind, Dragonhawk's next mission would be further exploration of the Ring.
- Beyond The Ring. Archmagister Asta ir’Dalan believes that the focus of the Initiative should be be on exploration, forever pushing the frontier. While she supports maintaining a presence on Stone 52 and continuing to build on the relationship with the Terminus, she wants Dragonhawk to immediately seize on the opportunity Wrey has created and travel beyond the Ring. The resources of the Initiative would be focused on improving Dragonhawk itself.
With this in mind, we have a simpler question: what's happened to Wayfinder? Here's a few possibilities.
- Mission Aborted. Wayfinder failed to reach the Ring on its first launch. Evidence suggests sabotage, and it will take months to repair the damage. Who could have done such a thing? Is it the work of the Dark Lanterns? Fey intrigue? Only time will tell...
- Supply Run. Whatever direction the Initiative takes, they will need to send more supplies to Stone 52, along with one or more people to take Wrey's place. Guess who gets the exciting job of delivering those supplies? Wrey will remain on Stone 52 until Dragonhawk picks her up for the next mission.
- Stone 35. What we know about Stone 52 is that it's not a giant Siberys dragonshard. because of this, Wayfinder is sent to a different part of the ring, to explore Stone 35.
This tells us why Dragonhawk is the ship that will take on our next mission. But there's a more important question. Thanks to our brave crew, Aundair is the first nation to reach the Ring of Siberys. But the King's Argosy of Breland follows close behind, and within the first month an Argosy vessel Wroaan's Promise approaches Stone 52. What happens?
- Argosy Vessel Destroyed. Wrey convinces the Terminus to destroy any non-Aundairian vessel that approaches Stone 52, and Wroaan's Promise is dashed into an uninhabitable stone leaving no survivors. Technically, Aundair didn't destroy the vessel, but if the truth comes out this could be considered an act of war.
- Argosy Vessel Repelled. Wrey convinces the Terminus to repel any non-Aundairian vessel that approaches the "El-Ash Threshold," the region guarded by this celestial. Wroaan's Promise is unharmed but forced to return to the surface.
- Argosy Landing. Wroaan's Promise is allowed to land on Stone 52. The Terminus will protect Wrey from harm and is sympathetic to the Magister, but the Argosy would have an opportunity to negotiate for their own passage through the Threshold; the outcome will come down to some skill checks!
Essentially, does Aundair seek to prevent other nations from interacting with the Terminus and to maintain a monopoly on this passage, or are they willing to allow Stone 52 to be a multinational outpost?
Finally, we have a bonus creative challenge. In the session, Captain ir'Bit comes up with an inspiring short speech he sent to the surface as the first Aundairian to set foot on the Ring. We didn't have a good idea for this on the spur of the moment, so I put it to you all: Post your inspiring first-frog-on-the-Ring speech (Max 25 words) in the comments; the deadline is the same as for the poll. The speech I like the most will get the writer an automatic seat at the table for the next session they can play in!
As always, thanks for your support!