Post by hubertbartels on Jul 13, 2019 13:28:29 GMT -5
Isuma’s Answers
Where are you from?/How did you get here? “A distant planet called Kasatha. I was invited away from my home by people like you—humans from a great ship called Divinity. They taught me their language, trained me with their weapons, and promised to eventually return me home so that I might share what they taught me with my people.
But Divinity was attacked by creatures who identified themselves as the Dominion of the Black. The ship escaped, I know not how, but it was greatly damaged. Society aboard Divinity broke down, and my kin and I were forced to defend ourselves from mutineers. We learned that others on the ship had abducted members of another kasathan tribe and were keeping them as pets in a large contained habitat, but were unable to rescue them. The ship began to shake apart, and my kin and I sought shelter in stasis pods in an escape shuttle—devices intended to sustain life over long journeys. We entered the pods and hoped the escape shuttle would take us home—but I know now that shuttle crashed to your planet along with the rest of Divinity. We woke only recently, as captives of the Dominion. As far as I can tell, thousands of years have passed since Divinity’s crash here. I know not where the rest of the ship lies, or if any of my kin survive. I do know those who did not survive live a blasphemous half-existence as Dominion puppets, and they must be avenged.”
Can you tell us more of Divinity? Isuma’s time aboard Divinity was relatively self-contained in a smaller vessel far from the command module, and the focus of her interactions with the ship’s crew was learning the Androffan language and how to use weapons and technology. She has little more useful to tell the PCs, but if she travels with the PCs beyond this adventure, you can use her to provide hints and descriptions by deciding she recognizes a technological device’s function.
Can you tell us what dangers await us in the Scar of the Spider? Isuma can provide a crude map of the valley if provided with paper and ink; she knows about Mad Paeytr, the android pilgrims camp, a fungus-encrusted cave (although she’s not been inside), the Dominion dropship (another location she’s not entered), and the Dominion hive. She suspects there is a dangerous, poisonous creature dwelling in the swamp, but hasn’t explored that area yet. Of more immediate interest, the other half of the caves here are colonized by some sort of mechanical army—Isuma’s not yet been able to explore the area due to the deadly robotic guardians posted at the entrance at area E6. Perhaps an exploration into these caves would give her and the PCs a chance to learn each other’s tactics while simultaneously finding more tools to aid their mission?
What can you tell us of the Dominion of the Black? “They consist of several species of creatures. I know not the names they give themselves, but they use our flesh, particularly our brains, as resources. Some are large and crablike and collect brains for use as magical batteries of some sort. Others are smaller and shaped like brains themselves and use our bodies—one of them is a sadist named Maukui, and it wears a huge, breath-stealing reptile as its suit. Maukui was the one who tormented me and would have killed me had I not escaped. They came here in the vast, decaying organic ship that now lies heaped on the shores of the lake to the west—I have not been into this ruined vessel, but there may be resources and answers within that can aid us in an assault on their hive. It was here that I woke, and I escaped from the den in panic. I’m sorry I cannot recall details of the layout of the hive, but I do remember that the doors of the place were valves of flesh that require organic keys to open, and that the walls of the place can see and hear, but could be tricked by certain chemicals. I tricked them by virtue of being coated with the blood of a Dominion agent I’d slain—other substances might work as well, but I am no scientist.”
What can you tell us of the Fungus Cave? “I have not been inside, but I’ve seen the creatures that dwell within—they are as large as us but winged, with insect-like limbs and bulbous heads that flash strange colors. They carry strange weaponry and speak in buzzing voices. They seem to be enemies of the Dominion, but they do not seem interested in alliances. The one time I tried to approach, they nearly killed me. But an investigation of their caves to seize any weapons they might have might be a good idea—they are weaker on the whole than the Dominion aliens, although I know nothing of their total numbers.”
Will you travel with us? If the PCs promise to help her avenge the deaths of her kin by destroying their bodies and freeing their flesh from Dominion control, she agrees to travel with them. She can have a key role in the upcoming adventures, as detailed therein.
Have you seen a neurocam anywhere? If the PCs describe what a neurocam looks like, she can’t help them, but once she hears Casandalee’s name, Isuma’s eyes widen. While the kasatha was a prisoner in the Dominion hive, her captor Maukui interrogated her for a short time, demanding to know what she knew of a woman named “Casandalee”—specifically, if her mind was the only “disembodied organic” in the region. She wasn’t able to answer that question and Maukui didn’t pursue it, but the Dominion obviously knows something. Perhaps she, like Isuma was, is a prisoner of the Dominion?
Where are you from?/How did you get here? “A distant planet called Kasatha. I was invited away from my home by people like you—humans from a great ship called Divinity. They taught me their language, trained me with their weapons, and promised to eventually return me home so that I might share what they taught me with my people.
But Divinity was attacked by creatures who identified themselves as the Dominion of the Black. The ship escaped, I know not how, but it was greatly damaged. Society aboard Divinity broke down, and my kin and I were forced to defend ourselves from mutineers. We learned that others on the ship had abducted members of another kasathan tribe and were keeping them as pets in a large contained habitat, but were unable to rescue them. The ship began to shake apart, and my kin and I sought shelter in stasis pods in an escape shuttle—devices intended to sustain life over long journeys. We entered the pods and hoped the escape shuttle would take us home—but I know now that shuttle crashed to your planet along with the rest of Divinity. We woke only recently, as captives of the Dominion. As far as I can tell, thousands of years have passed since Divinity’s crash here. I know not where the rest of the ship lies, or if any of my kin survive. I do know those who did not survive live a blasphemous half-existence as Dominion puppets, and they must be avenged.”
Can you tell us more of Divinity? Isuma’s time aboard Divinity was relatively self-contained in a smaller vessel far from the command module, and the focus of her interactions with the ship’s crew was learning the Androffan language and how to use weapons and technology. She has little more useful to tell the PCs, but if she travels with the PCs beyond this adventure, you can use her to provide hints and descriptions by deciding she recognizes a technological device’s function.
Can you tell us what dangers await us in the Scar of the Spider? Isuma can provide a crude map of the valley if provided with paper and ink; she knows about Mad Paeytr, the android pilgrims camp, a fungus-encrusted cave (although she’s not been inside), the Dominion dropship (another location she’s not entered), and the Dominion hive. She suspects there is a dangerous, poisonous creature dwelling in the swamp, but hasn’t explored that area yet. Of more immediate interest, the other half of the caves here are colonized by some sort of mechanical army—Isuma’s not yet been able to explore the area due to the deadly robotic guardians posted at the entrance at area E6. Perhaps an exploration into these caves would give her and the PCs a chance to learn each other’s tactics while simultaneously finding more tools to aid their mission?
What can you tell us of the Dominion of the Black? “They consist of several species of creatures. I know not the names they give themselves, but they use our flesh, particularly our brains, as resources. Some are large and crablike and collect brains for use as magical batteries of some sort. Others are smaller and shaped like brains themselves and use our bodies—one of them is a sadist named Maukui, and it wears a huge, breath-stealing reptile as its suit. Maukui was the one who tormented me and would have killed me had I not escaped. They came here in the vast, decaying organic ship that now lies heaped on the shores of the lake to the west—I have not been into this ruined vessel, but there may be resources and answers within that can aid us in an assault on their hive. It was here that I woke, and I escaped from the den in panic. I’m sorry I cannot recall details of the layout of the hive, but I do remember that the doors of the place were valves of flesh that require organic keys to open, and that the walls of the place can see and hear, but could be tricked by certain chemicals. I tricked them by virtue of being coated with the blood of a Dominion agent I’d slain—other substances might work as well, but I am no scientist.”
What can you tell us of the Fungus Cave? “I have not been inside, but I’ve seen the creatures that dwell within—they are as large as us but winged, with insect-like limbs and bulbous heads that flash strange colors. They carry strange weaponry and speak in buzzing voices. They seem to be enemies of the Dominion, but they do not seem interested in alliances. The one time I tried to approach, they nearly killed me. But an investigation of their caves to seize any weapons they might have might be a good idea—they are weaker on the whole than the Dominion aliens, although I know nothing of their total numbers.”
Will you travel with us? If the PCs promise to help her avenge the deaths of her kin by destroying their bodies and freeing their flesh from Dominion control, she agrees to travel with them. She can have a key role in the upcoming adventures, as detailed therein.
Have you seen a neurocam anywhere? If the PCs describe what a neurocam looks like, she can’t help them, but once she hears Casandalee’s name, Isuma’s eyes widen. While the kasatha was a prisoner in the Dominion hive, her captor Maukui interrogated her for a short time, demanding to know what she knew of a woman named “Casandalee”—specifically, if her mind was the only “disembodied organic” in the region. She wasn’t able to answer that question and Maukui didn’t pursue it, but the Dominion obviously knows something. Perhaps she, like Isuma was, is a prisoner of the Dominion?