Following the destruction of the Azlanti garrison on Madelon's Landing, Gryfinda, Trevian, Altronus and Beric spend a deserved night recuperating from their efforts at Aibretta's junk shop. Gryfinda suggests coming up with a list of things to do, as well as fixing the broken hovercraft. Trevian proposes that the town folks continue to act as if the local garrison was still active, with people walking around wearing Azlanti armor. He also states that the resident computer expert should try to install a translator function on their datapad for written Azlanti text. Beric replies that he will try to do that, but there's a higher priority.
Beric, with Aibretta's help, fixes the broken hoverstrike left in the stable. Madelon draws a map of where the ancient Azlanti ship, the Royal Venture, crashed. It is located roughly 12 miles from Madelon's Landing, and the hoverstrike should cover the trip in about 20 minutes. Gryfinda talks to some of the village elders about Cedona. She learns that Cedona was appreciated by the residents for her skills and her perseverance. The android had retired here four years ago, and seemed to enjoy life on Nakondis. She was the first one on the scene of the crashed probe, and she's the only one who entered the Royal Venture. She dismantled what she called a rune drive, and managed to bring it back here. She was planning on studying how the drive worked when the Azlanti arrived.
Trevian returns to Madelon the datapad he had taken from the administrator's house. Madelon thanks Trevian, but gives it back as it contains a few videos of Cedona and the rune drive. There is not enough information here to figure out how it operated, but the drive is clearly visible. Trevian muses aloud that the pictures and videos should be uploaded to the Infosphere when they return to Absalom Station. Gryfinda is opposed, since this would reveal the existence of this device to everyone, and she doesn't believe the galaxy is ready for such a paradigm shift.
Gryfinda continues to talk to the village elders, and inquires when they should expect the return of the last Azlanti team that went to the Royal Venture. Their consensus is that it should be within the next three days.
Trevian and Gryfinda then leave the junk yard and return to the water cooling station, where they defeat the water elemental guard left behind by the Azlanti. Meanwhile, Altronus organizes a drive with the village folks to gather enough supplies for their trek into the rain forest. With their help, he puts together enough provisions for a full week for all four of them.
After the Gap - May 4, 317 @ 07:38
The next morning, sensors alert them that one of the hoverstrikes is returning to Madelon's Landing. Arriving at the stables, three Azlanti cadets unload empty supply boxes and returns to the garrison. Laying in ambush, Altronus warns his friends of their arrival to the garrison. Beric, Gryfinda and Trevian quickly dispatch them with the help of a feedback loop the mechanic set up earlier. On their corpses they find a list of tools and provisions requested by Lieutenant Sharu.
After much discussion, they devise a plan. Gryfinda will fly one of the hoverstrike while disguised as an Azlanti, while Trevian rides in a large box built on the back of the hoverstrike. They will land as close to the ship as possible, with the hope of neutralizing any sentries. Altronus and Beric will follow in the repaired hoverstrike, and will travel through the forest a short way.
After the Gap - May 4, 317 @ 14:02
With all of their preparations ready, they head out to the crash site of the Royal Venture. Hovering, they see the ship partially sticking out of the ground, with two hoverstrikes, and another smaller Azlanti shuttle. Gryfinda lands her craft next to the other two hoverstrikes. Glancing around, she spots no guards. Trevian emerges from his hiding spot, and they are soon joined by Altronus and Beric.
Beric successfully breaks into the shuttle, but no one is on board. It appears the shuttle is used as a barracks. Carefully, the party heads inside the Royal Venture. Right away they find the recently dead body of an Azlanti cadet. They soon face the same synapse worm that slew the cadet, and they defeat it.
Through exploration, they find the engine room, where Trevian is attacked by a pair of voracious electrovores, but he manages to make them flee. Further in, they discover a technomagical lab, where the rune drive would have been controlled.
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| electrovore |
In an adjacent room, clearly that of the ship's owner, Altronus is attacked by an adjutant robot, but with his friends' help the Kasatha is able to defeat it. Taking a quick look, Beric notices that with 2,000 credits and 2 weeks of work he should be able to fix the robot. In this room, they find enough valuable trinkets to earn about 3,500 credits, as well as two corrupted datapads. With some work, the data could probably be retrieved.
Returning to the technomagical lab, they slay the zombies that guarded it, and retire here to heal and recuperate.
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