Filthy Xenos Adventures in Space

"Firsa summons the navigator and the astropath to the bridge.

'It's been a while friends, but I hope you've been enjoying our peaceful cruise through the galaxy so far. Alas, the pleasure boat has docked and we have a mission to accomplish. On the planet below us are supposedly a nearly undocumented race of silicate creatures, and both Trazyn the Infinite and Captain Borges want to see 500 of them make it onto our ship alive. I can't speak for the orkz, but I would much rather do this without having to resort to such brutish means as violence against an underdeveloped species. As you'll recall from the notes we gathered from Borges' book, the vuloir are a superstitious race. I believe this will be the key to success.

The reason I've called you both here is that I remember in our introduction, many months ago, there came a point in the conversation where the room cooled significantly. I saw it happen in response to something you perceived as threatening. As an eldar, I am no stranger to psionics. For the sake of our mission, I would like to know what powers, however small you possess. As these creatures are supposedly familiar with star-ship technology, it may take some bonafied magic to suitably impress them and keep this excursion as peaceful as possible.'"

Dubshredda is far tougher than his boyz. The toxic concentrations chemicals in the air are little more bothersome than the smoke fume filled corridors of his laboratory from his days in WAAAGH! Bloodwrench. The fact that the ground and air are harsh enough to elicit complaints from the boyz gives Dubshredda reason for concern. He nervously looks around the surroundings while he and a few of his boyz step up to the "water". Dubshredda trusts his ded 'ard constitution to keep him alive through a sip of possibly horribly venomous liquid. He kneels down and scoops a handful of "water" from the basic and drinks up.

[For the inevitable roll, Dubshredda rolls under a 90 against environmental effects and toxins. His check on roll20 yielded 5 degrees of success.]

Frecka continues to stare straight ahead, the hosing attached to her face gives her a rather menacing look despite her frail frame. The silence remains for a while and you can't help but feel it starting to get awkward. Before you can say anything, however, one of the plants in the room floats past you from behind and stops a foot from Frecka and her chair.

"My specialties are in the field of telepathy and telekinesis Captain. The hoarfrost was a result of my psychic powers it is true. Had I wished it, the Necron would have been crushed and his disgusting metallic form broken." The plant falls to the ground with a thud but the pot its in doesn't break. "I'm quite curious, Captain, how you think such displays will astonish the locals so? From what I've been told they have had interplanetary crash on their planet. I myself have felt a very strange presence coming from that planet, and I'm none too eager to go down there."

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You kneel down to take a drink of water. In your metalix hands it doesn't immediately corrode your armor so down the hatch as they say. You swish it around in your mouth a little and it tastes absolutely disgusting, even for you. In addition to this, there is a severe burning sensation in your tongue and gums so you spit it out. The couple of other boys near you who braved a drink have a similar, but much more severe reaction. They are instead flailing about on the ground screaming in pain and further inspection reveals their tongue's have literally melted in their mouth and gumline has been removed to such a degree you can see exposed bone

Dubshredda steps up and repeatedly spits at the lake to remove the foul taste of whatever it is he imbibed. "Da planet iz squig shiet boyz. We gotta pack it up 'nd go sumwhere dere's food 'nd drink.

Dubshredda takes his 5000 boys back up and prepares to sail through the warp to the nearest planet with food and water that isn't heavily fortified by the Imperium.

"Firsa begins to pace back and forth, brimming with excited energy. 'The way I see it, there are two possibilities. Optimistically, the vuloir will be so amazed at our surpassing technology and jump at the chance to journey across the galaxy all on their own.   Pessimistically, the creatures need some prodding to see how glorious such an adventure would be. The prodding could come in the form of harsh violence, but this would make maintaining the 500 we procure troublesome to maintain. So it comes to speaking to them in a way they can understand, which in my humble opinion is through their religion.

If we can appear as divine beings to them, all our interactions would be greatly eased. The task then, is to convince them of this, and for that we'll need all the tools we can muster. We'll need to learn everything we can about their culture, particularly if they have any prophecies we could 'help' come to fruition.

To get to the short of it, I do not know yet how I would ask you to use your powers, nor even if it would be necessary for you to descend to the surface at all. It is important, however, that I have a sense of your abilities so Aten and I can craft the best plan possible. I also thought it polite to give you advanced warning before summoning you to duty.

Will you join me as I discuss plans with Aten and Dubshredda?'"

"Urrr, me not kno wat duty you be speakin of. Dat planet squig shiet, jus find da bunch 'nd grabz em. Giv em sum of dat awful polluted water fer da ride bak ta Shiny Bit. I dun seen the surface Fur-sha. Ain't nuttin bein 'divine' on dat poison rok."

Aten decides to send down a few (no more than 20) Necrons onto one of the more isolated islands. He is not trying to engage any locals, simply to see if the planet is as toxic to machine life as it is to organic. He remains on the ship to meet with Firsa.

The Necrons go down and report that they are not immediately melting, broken, or otherwise incapacitated. It would appear the biotransference that bestowed immortality upon you is enough to prevent the toxins from killing you

"I will not join you with the other Captains of this strange fleet. There is nothing that I can offer my assistance with in this matter." Frecka replies and Quintilus nods in agreement

"'Very well, I will call upon you again when I have a better idea of what I would have you do.

Aten, I believe it's time we find ourselves some locals. If they're being coy, let's entice them with some bitz from krooza. A loud crash and some new starship pieces is bound to draw attention.'"

"Perhaps only one species should go down to the planet at a time. That way, when they see us, we will still have surprises waiting in reserve. It is harder to convince species of your divinity after you have haggled with them."

Aten orders his men to return and then puts his plan into action. The Tuktakta sends down shuttles, zooming across the large western continent. They are looking for any tribes of Vuloir, or any other sort of intelligent life. Aten himself is on one of the shuttles, ready to fly to the nearest reports of life.

You zip about the air above the crystal treeline creating a general ruckus and searching for any signs of the locals. A couple of times large crystal birds swoop down at your craft but luckily Necron vehicles are among the fastest in the galaxy. As you move around and look with the scanners you unfortunately don't find any signs of locals. Whether they see you or not you do not know

In that case, Aten moves onto plan B. He orders his shuttles to clear a large area (VERY VERY LARGE AREA). He then orders his bombardment cannons to open up, piercing the sky with brilliant streams of gauss energy. After the barrage has cleared, he orders his shuttles back in, hoping that the massive bombardment has attracted the Vuloir (perhaps thinking a ship has crashed). He has the shuttles shining all their lights on full and flying loudly, drawing as much attention as possible.

The sky lights up with green electricity that rains down from your ship and annihilating an area of twenty square kilometers. When you descend back down onto the planets surface you find a sight of unimaginable destruction. The silica trees have been broken and shattered with their charred remnants flowing along the ground as the winds blow past. Entire swaths of the forests burn for miles around amidst the enormous craters left behind by the impacts. Anything that lived in this area has been completely, utterly, and irrevocably destroyed down to the last molecule. Who knows how long the planets (likely fragile) ecosystem will take to recover.

When you land you pick a nice clearing in the destruction (there are a lot of them) and find an extreme amount of silence surrounds you. Nowhere to be heard are the chirps of birds or the sounds of running water. Instead all that is here now where you stand is ashes and broken shards to accompany the silence around you. Some pacifist you are

Aten ponders his action, but ultimately realizes that he damaged no (or very few) intelligent creatures and it was totally worth it. He remember the actions of his peers, the other Necron Lords who literally slaughter entire planet's worth of people, torturously experimenting on them for days, weeks, even months. In the end, he decides that his restraint is admirable. He settles back and continues working on his book, waiting for some Vuloir to arrive.

You wait, and you wait, and you continue to wait. Minutes, hours, days begin to go by as you await the Vuloir to come to you. In that time the fiery infernos off in the distance continue to rage on and reports come in that they are beginning to reach a nearby crashed ship. Yet even then the Vuloir do not come. You begin to send out your Necrons to look around to see if they find anything. Again, you wait, and continue to wait.

Eventually, finally, word comes out. Your warriors have spotted some kind of humanoid creature walking about the destruction. You rush over and spy with magnoculars to see this creature. Off in the distance, walking at a leisurely pace, is a truly huge creature. It stands easily twelve feet tall, with four arms, and large crystalline armor growing out of its silicate body. You see four eyes on its "face" and four mandies that twitch on occasion for a mouth. Clutched in two of its hands is a large crystal spear tipped with a black crystal for the spear head. The shaft looks to be being used as a walking stick. The creature wears no clothing and looks extremely strong and tough

"As Firsa watched the apocalyptic lightning storm from the bridge of Tanurom, she paced impatiently and summoned Frecka.

'It seems that we may be waiting here for some time. Supplies may become an issue, especially for the orkz, and I think some fresh starship wreckage would do well in luring out our friends the vuloir. If you would be so kind, send out a distress message as far as you can as follows:

'Please help. We are a cargo vessel carrying critical medical supplies. We are dead in the water after our warp drive failed and we ended up exiting into an ice ring which damaged our ship. It is critical that this medication arrives as soon as possible.''"

Aten calmly moves out towards the creature, walking tall, stretching up to his full height. He brings ten men with him, respectfully staying behind him. His internal cogitators are whirring furiously, gathering as much information as possible to try and be prepared to translate the creature's undoubtedly bizarre language.

You approach the creature in your organized formation. The thing notices you and you see its mandibles clack together for a brief moment making an eerie sound. The eyes in its head have no pupils and more resemble bug eyes than typical ones of sentient species. Just as quickly as it looks at you it turns its head back to the way it was walking and continues to walk across the ashen landscape.

Aten follows it for a while. He tries mimicking the clacking sound of its mandibles. Perhaps that was some sort of introduction. His cogitators process the sound, hoping that his POLYGLOT abilities, which allow him to speak any language, will kick in soon.

Try as you might you do not detect it speaking. It is possibly speaking using a language literally impossible for you to comprehend or it hasn't said anything. Either way the thing continues on it's way, stopping intermittently to poke through some pile of ashes, but generally just walking through the plains of ash.

Aten decides to grab the bull by the horns. He speaks confidently. "Salutations. I am Lord Aten, of the Nefru dynasty. Take me to your leader." If the Vuloir doesn't respond, Aten will go up and tap it on the shoulder to get its attention.

[What language are you speaking in?]

Aten will begin first with Necron, then Low Gothic, then High Gothic, then Eldar, then Sslyth, and on and on and on.

You start with Necron (Necrontyr to be more specific as the language has existed far longer than the Necrons have been immortal) and low and behold the creature stops its leisurely pace and turns to look at you. The mandibles clack together again but before you attempt to scrutinize it for language the thing speaks in perfect fluent Necron.

"Greetings Aten-Nefru, I am Rajefil. Why do you continue to bother me on my hunt today? If you seek the Brifel then you should know where to look."

Aten does not show his surprise. "Rajefil, this is my first visit to your planet. I do not know your ways. I would have you take me to the Brifel."

The creatures face contorts in a mannerism you have no way of understanding "Why don't you take yourself? You should know where the Brifel is. Leave me to my hunt, Duwaine sent storm of great power a couple of days ago making prey easy to spot. A fortunate development for me wouldn't you say?"

Deciding not to comment on the provenance of 'the storm,' Aten says, "I should know where the Brifel is, but I do not. Where is he? I thought you moved in tribes with each other? Why are you all alone?"

This time, just out of curiosity, he is speaking in High Gothic.

"What? What did you say? Why are you garbling your words? Speak up Aten."

"I should know where the Brifel is, but I do not. Where is he? I thought you moved in tribes with each other? Why are you all alone?"

"You don't know where Brifel is? Very strange. Fine, I'll take you there in a couple of minutes. A quetrock that I've been following for several hours is nearby. I think she's hiding amongst the ash. You should stay back, I don't want your fragile body to get broken." Rajefil says with a poke at your chest from the blunt end of his spear.

Aten, unused to people calling his body 'fragile,' is unsure how to respond. He decides to take a step back and gestures for Rajefil to proceed. He makes sure to watch the proceeding events very carefully.

Rajefil turns away and continues his leisurely pace through the ashen land. Occasionally he pokes through some of the ash and squats down to look at something in the ground. After looking at it for whatever he/she/it deems necessary you come up to look at what the alien was looking for. What you see is a footprint fully as large as your torso, although, a "footprint" isn't exactly a good description. The imprint looks to have come from a large and sharp leg that stabs right into the ground. This imprint goes down a full two feet into the soil under the layers of ash.

This continues for another hour until Rajefil stops suddenly in a location that to your eye looks no different than the rest of the ash wasteland you created. You look around bewildered and the silicate humanoid takes notice and points straight ahead of it toward a pile of ash. Staring right at your position you see a pair of dark slits in the ash that must be somethings eyes and in a quick motion Rajefil lowers his spear straight towards the creatures position. What happens next completely surprises you.

From the spear you start to hear a crackling sound and the air distorts around the tip of the sharpened black crystal. In a flash a beam of black light shoots forth from the spear with enough power that when it strikes the mound of ash a small explosion happens at the point it collides with the sound of a lightning bolt. Ash is kicked up into the air obscuring your vision and suddenly a loud roar erupts from in front of you. Storming forth from the ash comes an enormous monster much like this except more crystal and exoskeleton.

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The monster barrels forward towards Rajefil bellowing it's battle cry. Rajefil braces his spear for the creatures assault every muscle in his/her/its body prepared to act on command. What do you do?

Aten has his gauss flayer aimed directly at the creature, and orders his men to aim as well. He holds fire out of respect for Rajefil, waiting for his movement. However, Aten does call out, "Rajefil, are you sure you do not require my assistance?"

The humanoid doesn't respond, whether it is because he/she/it cannot hear you over the roar or chooses not to respond isn't clear. The monster brings down one of its massive claws onto Rajefil who simply sidesteps out of the way of the blow. The impact of the attack is enough to make the ground shake even from where you stand. With a hunters precision Rajefil makes two stabs at the creatures head. The first misses low as the creature brings its head up to remove its claw from the ground but the second blow lands squarely in between the monsters eyes. With a roar of pain the monster swings in at Rajefil who deflects the attack aside with his crystalline spear. The next two blows prove to be the last of the fight as one goes straight into the creatures abdomen and the pierces the skull, killing it outright. With a victory cry Rajefil waves the spear in the air and takes a grisly trophy in the form of the monsters head.

Aten strides forward. "Most impressive, Rajefil. Tell me, is all the life on your planet so ... harsh? I do not believe I have ever observed silicate life forms. There must be a huge host of differences. Does your species require water, for instance?"

As he speaks Aten is poking inside the quetrock, studying its tissues to try and determine more about how these silicate life forms function.

Rajefil begins cutting out select pieces of meat from the monster "Very funny, Aten. I was lucky to find the quetrock not among the trees. They are nimble for their bulk and are among the greatest hunters in the forests. You speak as though Cresha has been any different. I hunt for food and kill the monsters that would hurt the Vuloir. Simple as that." Rajefil seems perplexed by your questions about the dangers of the world and the creatures of this world. Anatomically s you poke about the carcass you fin that the creatures most shocking unique property (aside from the giant silica based armored plates) is a second brain in the abdomen of the creature where it was stabbed by Rajefil. Otherwise the body is similar to other organic life forms other than the reinforcement being silica based provides.

Aten orders his men to pick up the quetrock once Ragefil is finished and transport it back to the ship in one of the shuttles. He is very excited to study it. Because he will be staying on the planet a little longer, he decides to send the creature to Firsa, who is more trained in dissections anyway.

Before he speaks to Rajefil, Aten ponders for a moment. The Vuloir speaks to him as if he has been here before. Gingerly, Aten reaches back into his memories and tries to recall anything he might know on this planet, using his recent experiences to guide him.

If nothing happens, he will speak, "Rajefil, there's something that's been confusing me. You speak as if I've been here before. Have we somehow met?"

Unfortunately your memories do not activate. Your men do however pick up the remainder of the quetrock and take it back to a shuttle to transport aboard the Tanorum. You are left with about five Necrons with youRajefil tosses a sack of "meat" over one shoulder before answering "What? No. You're too shiny for me to forget. Fragile ones like you tend to look the same though so maybe when you weren't wearing enough shiny stuff to blind Yivile herself."

Rajifel begins walking towards the forest (large swaths of which are still on fire) "I can take you to Brifel but it's a long walk. You sure you won't collapse with that skinny frame of yours?"

Aten heads out. He does not dignify Rajefil's question with an answer. Instead, as they walk, he asks more questions about the Vuloir; their religion, their general familial arrangements, how they grow, what they do with the tech they salvage from broken ships, and, most importantly, he asks about the strange black crystal which blasted the quetrock.

"Learning of the necron shuttle approaching from the planet, Firsa goes to the landing bay to great it herself.

'My, my friends, that's quite the find. I must know, how is dear Aten doing down there?'

Assuming the warriors fill her in on the detail, Firsa heads to the medical bay where she begins examining the creature, which she botches horribly, considering I rolled an 89 against 36 medicae" Tristan laments.

Rajefil is extremely confused by your questions. he/she/it tries to answer your questions as best as possible but clearly Rajefil isn't used to being asked questions of such a manner. What you do find out is that their religion relies on a dipatronage of sorts. Where the sun, Yivile, is the wife and principle deity of the religion and the molten core underneath the planet, Duwaine, is the husband. Supposedly Yivile protects the planet, Cresha, from the dangers among the stars while Duwaine sees to the renewal and continued existence of the planet.

Culturally the Vuloir live by a strange means where the females are all priests and the oldest of them, the Brifel, is the leader of the village. The males of the species are the hunters except that each male operates alone and lives alone with the only place they call "home" being wherever they were born among the females. Apparently, Vuloir typically lay three eggs at once with one always being female and the other two being male. When they hatch, the males instinctively fight to the death with the winner becoming a part of the Shefim or "family." After a brief period that you estimate to be about four years the surviving male is sent out into the world armed with the spear gifted to them by the Brifel herself. What the nature of the black crystals are or what is looted from the ships Rajefil doesn't know (who you now have established as a male) but what he can tell you is that after a successful hunt the energy within is replenished by the priests. Supposedly the crystal fires the energies harnessed from Duwaine, however, you are skeptical of this.

As time goes on a Rajefil does his best to explain things you start to notice that you are moving directly towards the crashed hulk of a spacecraft. The origin of the ship to the best of your knowledge appears to be Imperial in origin. The size of it and shape marks it as originally a frigate class ship.

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Unfortunately the dissection doesn't go very well and you fail to learn much other than that you need to use a very sharp blade to cut the flesh. Not wanting it to spoil and cause Aten to get upset at the loss of such a specimen you send the rather terribly butchered creature into a cold room.

[Oh, I forgot to mention you all got fate points refreshed Monday. Typically that'll be when th refresh occurs but I'll try to put reminders of it like this]

Aten continues the conversation and hurries towards the ship. He makes sure to order some shuttles to patrol nearby in case he needs a quick evacuation.

Unfortunately the same interference that prevented you from getting an accurate auger scan appears to be preventing any comms from getting through now that you're in the silicate forest. Realizing that walking back alone may not be the best idea you elect to continue onto the frigate. As you continue your trek you satiate much of your curiosity by examining the local flora. The "trees" bury deep into the ground with the vast majority of root systems not visible from the surface. Once they reach up a couple of meters the smaller trees appear to have actively wrapped themselves around the larger ones to get easier access to sunlight, however, this initial guess couldn't be farther from the truth. In reality you find out as you continue to walk is that the smaller trees wrap themselves about the larger ones and impale large silica spikes (similar to hyphae of fungus) that burrow into healthy trees and steal the nutrients they produce. Looking at some downed trees with this problem you realize that the parasitic silicates actually extend through the ground and a single organism can very well be feeding off of several separate trees.

Amazingly enough you find that many of these trees have developed ways to fight off the parasites advances. One species you find is constantly shedding off plates of hardened silica it produces fully half an inch thick preventing the growth of the parasites into the trunk. Another adaptation you spot is where a species of tree has honey combed part of its own trunk to make the perfect nest for a large insectoid species. The tree appears to in return receive protection from the parasites as the insects actively attack and kill parts that try to advance up the tree.

Anyway, as much as I'm sure you'd love to hear more about the crazy plants on this planet, you eventually begin to come close to the hull of the frigate. The large space craft looms high over your head even though by your estimates you're still a mile from the actual crash. Most concerning about the area surrounding the crash is that the flora appears to be "wilting" (it actually looks more like melting honestly). At the fringe of this area you notice small little black silicates growing out of the ground like bamboo in clusters. Unlike bamboo, these plants are lined with razor sharp blades along the shafts and when you (yes you in particular) get close they begin to shake violently and form a shrill sound.

You continue your approach undaunted, following behind Rajefil who hasn't stopped or paused once to let you examine anything. The further you get into the area close to the frigate the more the plants have "wilted" and the more of the black plants that there are. Slowly but surely the entire forest appears to be changing into a black crystal version of the once you originally walked through, except that these plants look far more vicious. Occasionally you spot movement among the forest but you just never seem quick enough to spot whatever it is. Soon enough, your journey comes to an end. You pass through the forest into a clearing just outside of the frigates hull and you are greeted by more of these black crystals except they have totally encased much of the hull close to the ground forming what you can't help but feel resembles a temple entrance into a large hole in the hull. Rajefil doesn't pause in his ceaseless advance to let you stop and gawk (as if you could even gawk) and you descend into the depths of this site.

As you delve into the hull, past the large crystalline entrance, you find yourself struggling to see in the dimly lit darkness. Off to the sides on what looks like shaped crystal sit orange lights sustained in braziers (you don't know the fuel source, plus you can't smell so it's difficult to identify). These lights occur at regular intervals through the path you take. You continue to follow Rajefil and notice that the lights diverge several times but you continue on the path straight ahead, deeper into the hull. You notice that you don't see any other Vuloir, yet alone hear any sounds other than your own footsteps. If it weren't for your "jaded" nature this situation would freak you the fuck out. But lucky for you you're either too stupid or just stupidly brave to care! Good for you!

This loneliness and quiet is interrupted when you notice the braziers form into a tightly packed circle ahead of you. In the center you can see standing in a hunched over position another Vuloir, this one covered by some kind of glittering cloak so that all you can see from it is a pair of red eyes from under the hood. It is only when you reach the circle that you realize that if the other Vuloir were to stand straight up it would likely measure another full four feet taller than Rajefil. Upon reaching some predesignated position that only Rajefil knows he kneels down on one knee and presents the head and meat of the beast he slew in one pair of arms and his spear in another pair of arms. After a brief moment he speaks in a clattering tongue you at first have no idea of what it means but soon enough you manage to use your innate intuitive understanding of language to piece together the basics. Essentially what is occurring is a ritual in which the hunter hands over food and a trophy to this individual, who you have gathered is the Brifel, and in return gets some yet to be known reward. Eventually the ritual is complete and you see a clawed black hand reach out from underneath the cloak and take the spear, trophy, and meat before retracting it. Then Rajefil stands, turns around, and walks off the way he came; leaving you alone with this individual with only your five Necrons with you for comfort.

[It will take a linguistics test at basic level for you to formulate the Vuloir language you heard at a -10 penalty due to how polyglot works. As it is the Brifel hasn't moved from the center of the circle of lights which are just bright enough to prevent you from seeing details beyond the ring]

Aten moves forward to where Rajefil stood. He keeps his men back so as to appear less threatening. He then speaks in reasonably fluent Vuloir.

"Brifel, I am Aten of the Nefru dynasty. Let me begin by apologizing for any errors in etiquette I may commit. This is my first time on your planet. I am quite thrilled to be here. Your life is, as I'm sure you have seen, quite different from what is usually found in this part of the galaxy."

The Brifel doesn't move or say anything. The more you speak the more you begin to notice a hazing of your vision and you feel your thoughts becoming less fluid. The only thing that does occur is the dancing of the flames around you.

Aten will try repeating his last speech in Necrontyr.

Same thing happens

In that case, Aten will throw caution to the wind! He strides forward, ignoring his rising blindness, and stands directly in front of the Brifel.

"Do you not understand me? What language do you need to speak so that I might pierce the veil of your incomprehension?"

Aten will speak this in Vuloir, then Necrontyr, then Low Gothic.