The cast:
- Max (Gunlugger): a brutal woman haunted by her past who thought of herself as a reaver. She joined the Carnival to be close to her little sister Hiccup. Slowly she's realizing she's not a monster. Not entirely.
- Ekaterina "Katya" Mikhailova Petrova (Tribal): for generations Ekaterina's people have lived on Everette, adapting themselves to its strange psychic jungles. But the environment grew too hostile. Katya led her people to a place of safety, following the visions her father saw in the maelstrom. That place is the Carnival. Now her father is trapped in the spirit world.
- Pipeline (Battlebabe): a golden-haired amazon, Pipeline is the head engineer of the Carnival. She had a crush on Manfred but that, like him, is in the past. So is her former captain, though she might be as dead as Pipeline would like. She's been drinking heavily.
- Hiccup (Solace): Switch's adopted sister and Max's actual if estranged sibling, Hiccup is shy but determined to make the world a better place.
- Nadya Kovyal Alexandrovna (Hocus): a shaman with a hold over the mystics of the Baikal tribe. She'd like to expand her power base.
More on Nadya:
Nadya is a transgressing woman adorned in shamanistic fetish vestments. Her face is severe and covered with the tattoos of her tribe. Her body is soft and her eyes burning but clear.
Nadya was once a hunter of the Baikal tribe, but found in time that she held greater strength in the spirit world of her people. She became a potent spiritual mediator and guide, and since the collapse of Mikhail, has quickly usurped the role of chief shaman. Not all favor her new position. Even those close to her tend to judge her actions strongly when it comes to their people.
Stats: Cool +0, Hard +1, Hot -1, Sharp +1, Weird +2
Her starting moves included Fortunes, Frenzy, and Charismatic.
Her followers had the following stats: Fortunes +1, surplus: insight, augury, want: judgment
Nadya’s shamanists constituted her followers. They were:
- Rigorous and argumentative (surplus: insight)
- Constitute a powerful psychic antenna (surplus: augury)
- Few followers (Surplus: -1barter)
- Judgmental (want: judgment instead of want: desertion)
When Nadya traveled, the shamans stayed with the tribe in the red ship.
Touching the Past
Katya led her hunters into a long low hall perched atop the great beam running between the two main supports of the Carnival's hangar bay. Scavenged light bulbs lit the narrow space. Lining the far walls sat the elders and shamans of the Baikal tribe. At the far end stood a sharp faced woman were covered in mystic tattoos from her elaborate headdress down to her toes."Greetings, first hunter," Nadya Kovyal Alexandrovna said.
Katya held back her distaste. She'd known Nadya since they served together under the previous first hunter. That she chose a different path did not bother her. That she now occupied her father's place did.
"Greetings, shaman."
"Chief shaman," Nadya corrected.
"Not while my father still breaths."
A whisper of movement swept through the hall as the hunters and shamans looked to their respective leaders.
"She is correct," an elderly woman to Nadya's left said. "We must not be hasty."
"As you say," the mystic conceded. "So Katya, I have heard you talked with your father in the spirit world. Please tell us of your journey."
"So how many days of food do we have?" Max asked Daily as they went through the storage bay.
"That at least is a bright spot. With so few of us we should be good for a couple of months."
"What about fuel?"
Daily shook his head. "We didn't get to refuel before leaving Megaton. We'll be dead in space in just over a week."
"But we can get to Blue Moon, right?"
"Yes but no much else. Plus we don't have enough barter on hand to refill the tanks."
"How much do we need?"
Daily frowned. "If we did a big show, it would cover it and then some. But we don't have a big show. We can probably make enough to make another hop. But then we'll need to restock the reactor and refuel."
"Alright, I'll see what we can do about bringing in more jingle. I will talk to the Baikal tribe. They need to pull their weight if they are going to remain on board."
Now to extrapolate the missing section from the previous session's log.
"So what did you see?' Nadya asked.
"My father, Mikhail, stays within the spirit world to protect us."
"From what?"
"I saw a strange light in the sky. My father claimed it came from the red world. All I know is that it felt full of hate. It wishes to destroy us and the rest of humanity. While he remains there however, our people remain safe."
The elders and shamans began arguing different courses of action.
"We must rescue our revered leader," a prune like man shouted.
"No it is too dangerous," a crone said. "Let him die and in doing so save the tribe itself."
"But who will protect us when he is gone?" a one-eyed man asked.
"We must seek a vision of the proper course forward," the crone suggested.
"I agree," Nadya said. "We must consult the wisdom of our elders."
"We need to help my father," Katya said. "Without his strength we are vulnerable."
"I believe I can protect the tribe in his stead."
As they argued the others elders began murmuring about other spiritual matters.
"This red planet sounds dangerous but what of the spirits of this ship?" the wrinkled elder asked.
His one-eyed companion nodded. "the deaths have awakened something dark aboard this vessel. I have seen with my lost eye the ghost of the captain wandering its halls."
Conversation stopped when someone knocked on the door. All eyes turned as Max swung it open and strode in. "I need to talk to Katya."
Katya approached the armored woman. "What do you need?"
Max lowered her voice. "We need to work out how your people can help support the Carnival. We have very little...supplies to keep traveling."
"Of course."
Nadya walked across the long hall, an ebony skinned man named Stephon at her elbow. She instructed him in the Baikal's strange harsh tongue to greet the strange outsider for her.
I'd forgotten Nadya doesn't speak the "common" language.
The man stepped forward. "Our leader, Nadya Kovyal Alexandrovna, greets you."
"Okay, hi."
Nadya watched Max closely. Opening her third eye she saw Max as a flaming cactus, dangerous but rewarding. She relayed her reply to her translator.
Nadya opens her brain.
"She hopes she can help you in your endeavours."
"That would be good. We need to find a way to make this ship profitable again."
Katya stepped between them. "Stephon, who is first hunter?"
"You are."
"And who do you serve?"
Stephon looked back and forth between Katya and Nadya. "I, I serve the tribe under the wisdom of our shamans."
I think Nadya may have tried to Read a Person but I don't recall what she found out.
"I will take care of this," Katya said. "I will consult the shamans when I need them."
With that she guided Max out of the hallway.
Nadya turned to Stephon. "That woman could be useful to us. Let us descend to the main floor of the Carnival tonight and see what other allies we can locate."
Pipeline sat on the edge of Narnia's stage and looked at the others. The few remaining people on board she considered sane.
"So we need to decide what happens to the Carnival," she began.
"Shouldn't everyone be here then?" Hiccup said.
Old-Ma nodded, her feet nudging the floor and looking for her customary rocker.
"Why did you get just the four of us here?" Narnia said. "Even if you wanted just the old crew we should at least have Daily and the other engineers."
"I'm not discussing something they can help with."
"What then?" Ma said in a cracking voice.
"I want to do a séance to contact Switch," Pipeline said. "We need someone designated captain before Max takes the position for herself."
"I don't think she will," Hiccup said.
"And I don't think we could stop her," Pipeline retorted.
"Well if it's a séance, I think I'll go now. I'm not good at those things."
Weird -1.
As Hiccup rose to leave, Narnia spoke up. "What do you think Old-Ma?"
"Contacting ghosts is always dangerous business. Someone is apt to get hurt."
"I don't care," Pipeline said. "I need to do something or drink and I've been told to stop drinking."
Narnia got up and shifted the chairs around Old-Ma. "Okay let's do it then, the three of us, together. Do we have a focus?"
"Here, this." Pipeline handed over a charred wooden mask. "I took it from Switch. After she died."
"Alright. Everyone place a hand on the mask and concentrate."
The women gripped the blackened red mask. Together they reached to the other side, calling to their former captain.
Pipeline opens her brain. And fails.
The three of them fly back in their seats with a crack. Old-Ma toppled over in her chair still clutching a fragment of the mask. Pipeline stumbled to her feet, her chair falling down behind her. The remainder of the mask sizzled in her hand for an instant, charged with the psychic energies.
Hiccup stepped out of Narnia's tent. The hangar bay lights were dimmed, making the vast space gloomy and cold. Two members of the Baikal tribe approached her.
The strangely tattooed woman murmured to the almost blue skinned man beside her. He addressed Hiccup, "our shaman, Nadya, is curious to meet you."
Hiccup extended a hand. "It's nice to meet you."
Nadya shook her hand and relayed a greeting to Stephon. The three of them proceeded this way haltingly in a three-way conversation for a few minutes when Stephon said, "Nadya feels the spirits are strong around you."
Nadya opened her brain earlier.
"What does that mean?"
He converses with his master. "She can sense the unseen things of this world. The spirits of this ship, they become calmer around you, quieter. Nadya wonders how you do this."
"I don't know what you mean. I don't sense any 'spirits'."
Nadya whispers in Stephon's ear.
"It must be unconscious, she says. She would like if you could visit her to discuss this more. Perhaps she can help you learn to control this power."
Possibly a manipulate a person roll?
"I guess."
Hiccup followed the strangers back to the ladder leading high into the rafters of the Carnival.
Pipeline stomped back to her bunk. Another door closed she thought as she pulled a bottle from the case by her bed.
Max appeared in the doorway. "Hey, Pipeline. I wanted to talk to you about something."
Pipeline set the bottle on the ground. "What?"
"I've been thinking about how we might raise some extra cash to keep the Carnival going and I'm wondering how you feel about working some more violent jobs."
"Like what?"
Max reads a person but fails.
"Well you are pretty buff and I bet you can swing a machete as well as those tools. I'm thinking we team up and see who wants violence done at Blue Moon. If you are up for that."
A small voice piped up behind them. "You want Pipeline to help you kill people?"
The two women turned to Mice.
"Get out of here pipsqueek," Pipeline said.
"Hey, she asked a question," Guage said stepping out of his room and behind the little girl. "You planning on killing people for cash Max?"
"It is honest cash."
Max is transitioning to the Operator playbook. Obviously her gigs include murdering.
Guage gripped Mice's shoulders.
"Hey let go!" the child cried.
"I think the rest of the crew would dump you overboard if they heard that. " Guage lifted up Mice, shielding himself with the child. "Maybe you should give me a cut of your take and I'll keep it on the down low."
Pipeline glanced at Max. She was gritting her teeth but hadn't drawn a weapon or made a threat yet. Pipeline considered making one herself. "Guage put the kid down."
"It's fine," Max said. "Forget the job. It was a dumb idea."
Pipeline watched as she walked off.
Guage let Mice slip down. "Damn, I hoped I could get some jingle. Ow!"
As Guage grabbed the spot where Mice bit him, she scampered off. "Serves you right!"
"Nadya thinks you would make a potent shaman," Stephon said, his skin gleaming into the dark confines of Nadya's hut.
"I don't know," Hiccup said, sliding away from the large glowing bulb between them. "I'm just, I'm nobody."
Nadya shook her head. Stephon relayed her words. "You possess a gift. It may not be traditional but it is potent. You can quell spirits and tame the monsters that lurk at the edge of our perception. Nadya can teach you how to access these gifts."
Nadya manipulates a person.
"Really? I'm not sure. I'd need to know more. Can you show me how these abilities work?"
Nadya nods and whispers to Stephon.
"Wait here," the former hunter says. "I will bring the rest of Nadya's followers."
A few minutes later a dozen men and women clambered into the low hut. They joined hands. Stephon took Hiccup's right hand and Nadya her left.
"What is happening?" she asked.
"We will summon a vision of our destination," Stephon explained.
Nadya uses her followers as an augury.
The large red lightbulb began to glow more strongly, the light fading in and out, changing from a dim red to an electric blue.
Then snap.
Hiccup's vision filled with a blurry image of two miners outside a large metal door. A thick chain bound by a heavy lock held it shut.
"We can't leave them in there," a bearded man said. "They are still people."
"Not anymore," the pale husky man replied. "They are reavers now."
"My wife is in there."
"It can't be helped. We need to protect the rest of Blue Moon."
Hiccup pulled her hands away and shivered. The vision faded and she saw Nadya smiling at her but also partly concerned.
"I need to go," Hiccup said, getting up. "I need to talk to Max. I'll see you later."
Nadya nodded. Hiccup turned and left.
Hiccup entered the bridge. "There you are."
Max and Daff looked up from the main console.
"What is it, Hiccup?" Max said. "I was just showing Daff how to manage the ship's systems one-handed." She smiled and flexed her mechanical right arm. "I have some experience in that area."
"There are reavers at Blue Moon. We need to find a different destination."
"What?" Daff said.
"Hold up," Max said. "How do you know?"
Hiccup explained her vision as Max nodded calmly.
"It sounds bad," she replied, "but they still have the community under control. I think we can handle it."
"But reavers, Max."
Max tapped a few buttons on the console. Several green dots appears on the edge of a large display showing the positions of Blue Moon, a gas giant, and the Carnival. "That's us and that faint blue circle is how far we can get. We simply do not have a better destination available. Sorry."
"I'm going to talk to Daily. Maybe he has some idea."
As Hiccup ran off, Daff said, "Can we handle reavers?"
"We? Probably not. But I can."
Pipeline lay on her bunk with the two pieces of the mask in her hands. What should we do Switch, she thought.
Suddenly she sat up and popped open her locker. Commander Kriss‘s sword fell out. She grabbed it before it hit the ground.
Pipeline closed her eyes and concentrated.
And opened her brain. Clearly she had weird highlighted this session.
The sword thrummed with energy. The mask shards snapped together on her bed. Slowly it rose to eye level, rotating to face her.
"I...am...Switch's...mother," it whispered.
Pipeline slowly opened her eyes. "What? What do you want?"
"The seeds. They must be sown. In the soil of Blue Moon."
Pipeline frowned. "What seeds?"
"The seeds of the fruit of the garden ship."
"Switch destroyed all of them."
"No. The seeds remain. They lay near Hiccup."
The bunk room door to opened and the mask fell to the ground.
"What was that?" Narnia asked. "Who were you talking to?"
Pipeline picked up the newly whole mask. "It said it was Switch's mother."
"Switch's mother is long dead and I don't think she'd be speaking through that."
"Maybe. It claimed some of that strange fruit was still on board. It said Hiccup might have some seeds."
"I don't believe that. Hiccup wouldn't hide something like that."
"Probably. But can you help me find out if she does? We should make sure the fruits are really gone."
Manipulate a person probably.
Narnia nodded. "Alright."
"Daily!" Hiccup called as she ran down the hall.
"What's the rush?" the clown replied.
"We need to change course. I just learned there are reavers at Blue Moon."
"What?!" Daily stumbled back. "We need to tell Max."
"I did. She said we didn't have a better choice."
"There's at least a couple of stations we can make with our reserves." Daily began to hurry to the bridge. "I'll take care of it."
"Thanks."
Hiccup easily Manipulates a Person thanks to her high hot.
"I told you we had other options," Hiccup said as they lounged on Switch's four-poster bed.
"Fine," Max said. She'd exchanged her armor for some slightly large overalls.
There was a knock and the door opened. Narnia and Pipeline stepped in.
"Excuse us," Narnia said. "We need to look for something."
"What?" Max asked.
"We, uh, need some fruit," Pipeline explained.
"Have you checked the food stores?" Hiccup asked. "I think we have some dried apples and some jam."
"Actually we were looking for fresh fruit," Narnia said. "You wouldn't happen to have any around here?"
"No sorry."
Max eyed the pair as they slowly moved around the room. "What are you looking for exactly?"
Narnia pulled her aside and whispered, "Max please don't interfere. There are things, bad things, that we encountered before heading to Everette. There was a fruit that took away your love. Some of it might be on board."
"You think Hiccup has it?" she asked.
She read fear in Narnia's eyes.
Thanks to Read a Person.
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