# [[001_20220209 The Fate of the Stalwart]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[001_20220209 The Fate of the Stalwart]] > Fresh from the Alpha Quadrant, you encountered a distress call from _The Stalwart_, the ship you were looking for. Approaching the ship, it seemed undamaged, but the distress call indicated otherwise. Mister Roboto was able to clean up the transmission, which showed the captain of The Stalwart, Boris Kangaroo, talking about a mysterious illness that had infected his crew. > > You beamed aboard to _The Stalwart_, and found nothing but dead bodies and some rocks. From the ship's database, you learned that they rocks had been taken from the debris around the sun of the solar system, which seemed to show an unusual number of solar flares. You took the rocks back to your ship, and that's when you all realized that you'd been infected by a singing madness, the same one that the crew of _The Stalwart_ had fallen victim to. > > Eventually, you learned that within the rocks were a sentient species called _The Shemshime_ which just wanted to get home to the sun. The Stalwart's crew had been infected from a planet called Haleon. You managed to get The Shemshime safely back without killing each other, as The Shemshime tried to take over your minds and bodies. ^summary %% <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-lAZTFfrcWo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> %% --- ```ad-info title: The Pitch _Stardate 57036.1_ It's been 30 years since the _Voyager_ returned to Starfleet Command with news of the previously unexplored Delta Quadrant. It took 35 years and multiple failed attempts for Starfleet to find a safe way back to the Delta Quadrant, but eventually a machine was born that could fold space, a hybrid of Borg technology, Voth engineering, and good old human ingenuity. It is called the Tesseract. The first wave of explorers has been sent out to chart the boundaries of the Delta Quadrant, and you, the crew of Starship Avantika, are among that first wave. Are you Starfleet's finest, trained in first contact and battle? Are you enterprising merchants sneaking into the fold to get untold riches? Are you independent mercenaries fleeing the bureaucratic laws of the Federation? Why are you on this ship? Who leads among you? That's all up to you! On Saturday, we'll spend the first hour creating characters for everyone. Come with as much of a character concept as you'd like, and we can fill in the blanks for the mechanics on the day. You'll need: 4 dice each (the Fate dice work best, but you can also use 4d6), a character sheet, and a way to take notes (digital or analog). I may share my screen, but it's probably best if you keep track of story aspects yourself, in case it's hard to read my screen. Then we'll jump in to playing! I'm going to try to fit it all into one session, but this is a new system, we're probably going to be learning the rules together, so there may be a part II! In the meantime, one thing's for certain: you're not on Earth anymore. ``` ## [[Starship Avantika Session 0]] ## The Fate of the Stalwart ### Synopsis - The _Avantika_ crew encounter a looping distress call from a ship called The Stalwart, but its occupants are long dead. - They discover that The Stalwart crew killed each other. - The Stalwart inadvertently took rock samples containing the sentient species called the Shemshime, causing the Shemshime to do what they can to get back to space. - The Shemshime try to communicate with the crew, but it results in a singing madness that causes the crew to attempt to kill each other. The goal: Kill or help the Shemshime before the singing madness completely overtakes them. - Aeris VII ### Act 1: The Fate of the Stalwart - Distress signal - _The Stalwart_ is a Federation ship that is repeatedly broadcasting the same distress call, but there are no lifesigns on board. - Its crew had just come from Haleon, a nearby M-class planet. - All its crew is dead-- killed by each other. ```ad-warning title: The Distress Call "This is Captain Boris Kangaroo of _The Stalwart_. Most of the crew is dead. The away team was infected with a virus from the planet Haleon. The virus is causing erratic behavior in its victims. Request any and all assistance. Aeris--" ``` The distress call is initially garbled: ![[distress-call-garbled.mp3]] When the crew clean up the distress call: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OTwlqn4XkZM" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> ### Act 2: The Singing Sickness Events - [ ] Random crewmates begin humming the tune. - [ ] People start to get headaches or develop a light sensitivity. - [ ] The crew realize THEY are humming the tune, too. - [ ] `dice: [[Starship Avantika#^player]]`'s character starts singing a song at the top of their lungs. If they don't already know they caught a singing sickness, they find out now. - [ ] ### Act 3: Encounter with the Shemshime Ways that this can end (in the crew's favor): - **Communication** - Realize the Shemshime are trying to communicate, and figure out a way to communicate back to them. The Shemshime will express their desire to go back to space (in song). - **Extermination** - Kill the Shemshime using a sustained blast of sound at a certain frequency. This way will cause hearing loss in some of the crew for weeks, but it will permanently kill the Shemshime. ### Epilogue ## Secrets and Clues - [x] When the distress call is replayed, the song is replayed in the background. - [x] The Stalwart was a scientific research vesssel with the goal of examining solar emissions in this system, Aeris XII. - [x] Aeris is the star of this solar system, and it is a hydrogen-deficient star: unusual, because most stars are abundant in hydrogen. It also has an unusually high amount of solar flares that are unaccompanied by coronal mass ejections, solar particle events, or other solar phenomena. - [x] The Stalwart crew found some debris near the sun. They collected samples of the rock, not knowing that they contained a sentient alien species called the Shemshime. - [x] The Stalwart crew were infected by the Shemshime, from Haleon. They exist as energy, or light. - [x] There is one known sentient species on Haleon: the Nexium, a pre-warp, pre-industrialization age humanoid species that is predominantly agricultural. - [x] One distinguishing feature about the Nexium is that they are unusually resistant to the acid pools that are prevalent on Haleon - [x] The Shemshime exist as pure light within the sun, and the solar flares signify their presence. - [x] The Shemshime are non-corporeal and can only communicate by using light to activate the production of certain memory engrams. In the crew of the Stalwart, and of Avantika, they begin to activate the memory of a song. - [x] Unbeknownst to the Shemshime, the song, and the Shemshime's urgency, drive corporeal beings mad. - [x] The Shemshime are trapped, and just want to be let out into space to go back to the sun of the solar system. ## World Aspects - Increased Solar Flares ## Locations ### Starship Avantika - New to This Quadrant - ### The Stalwart - Quiet as a Grave - Scientific Research Vessel ### Haleon - Settlers and Farmers - The Shemshime Bring Life ## NPCs ### The Shemshime #### _High Concept_: Sentient Energy Balls Trying to Get Home #### *Trouble*: Noise Sensitivity #### *Aspect*: Sticks and Stones Won't Break My Bones #### *Aspect:* Listen to Me #### _Aspect:_ Can't Touch This (Incorporeal) #### Stunts ##### Sing for me - Because you _Can't Touch This_, I get a +2 when rolling Security to defend against a physical attack. ##### Your Science is My Life - Because I am a _Sentient Energy Ball Trying to Get Home_, I can use Communications instead of Science when manipulating technology to perform an action I think will get me home. #### Skills - `-2` Command - `+2` Security - Science - `+2` Helm - `+1` Engineering - `+3` Communications - `+1` Medicine #### Stress ##### Physical - [ ] 1 - [ ] 2 - [ ] 3 ##### Mental - [ ] 1 - [ ] 2 - [ ] 3 ### Nexium farmer, Chiaxx #### _Aspect:_ Food is Wealth #### _Aspect:_ The Shemshime Guide My Life #### Skills - Command - `+2` Security - Science - Helm - `-2` Engineering - `-2` Communications - `+2` Medicine #### Stress - [ ] 1 - [ ] 2 - [ ] 3 ### Science Officer Étoile Rainaud #### _Aspect:_ A Death Among the Stars is a Death Worth Having #### _Aspect:_ I Started This #### Skills - `-2` Command - `-2` Security - `+2` Science - `+2` Helm - Engineering - Communications - Medicine #### Stress - [x] 1 - [x] 2 - [x] 3 ## Loot - [ ] ## Random Tables ### Players | Player | | ------- | | Kuya | | Ate Kat | | Ky | | Nico | ^player