Infection

The plan for this session of Deepnight Revelation was pretty much fleshed out when I went out for a walk at lunch time earlier in the day. In our previous session, the Deepnight had arrived at the system of Eguyame, where they had detected signs of both the Biologicals (Twiglets) and the Entity (Fungus). There was also another Droyne beacon, broadcasting a help message and the location of a Droyne ship Esissath.

I’d actually got confused, and mixed up two of the scenarios in the Voidshore chapter of the campaign. Which meant re-working things a bit – but that was fine. I think it produced something a bit more interesting, and also gave me a chance to do something I’ve been wanting to do. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to get everything done this session, so maybe next session.

The world of Eguyame looked like a world that was sick. There were huge forests, but also large dead areas where life had been all but wiped out. There were large patches of fungus, and fungus infected plants and animals. In some areas, the Twiglets seemed to be fighting against the mutated creatures of the Fungus, trying to defend their forests.

There were flying creatures on this world – though from orbit it wasn’t possible to tell exactly what they were. There were also strange pillars, often over a kilometre tall and a couple of hundred metres wide at the base. Some were covered in foliage. They were standing in clumps of a few hundred for the most part, but there were also larger areas where tens of thousands of them towered above the ground, pointing skyward.

The players think that these towers might be stage trees, but don’t get around to investigating them this session.

There is what looks like a crashed Droyne ship here. It is covered in dead vegetation, with a large circle of dead ground around it for tens of kilometres. There are the corpses of Twiglets all over the place – including the larger “War Ents” – starship sized Biologicals built as large war machines. The ship seems to have had large parts of it ripped out.

The crew don’t want to go down to the planet – at least not until they’ve decided that it is safe enough. They instead send down a probe to take a look at the large forests where Twiglets and Fungus seem to be fighting a war. It looks like the Fungus is gradually encroaching on the Biological’s home forests. They have them surrounded, and seem to be making better use of tactics. There are also large flying creatures – though it’s not clear whose side they are on.

Whilst investigating the planet from orbit, one of the scouts is sent out to the asteroid belt to check the asteroids for signs of contamination. Once it gets there, it finds none. Pushing a large rock into just the right orbit might be a way of cleansing the planet though.

There are regions where the Fungus is dominant – but also regions where it is totally dead. It looks like it has consumed the local life, and then starved to death. In some places, long cables stretch out away from the central Fungus node, towards areas where there is life. But when those became exhausted, the supply of fresh food dried up, and the Fungus died.

The drone picks up contamination, but on its hull and on the inside. It looks like dust from dead Fungus has got into the drone via its instrument probes. As far as they can tell, the dust is quite dead.

The crew plan to take down some seismic charges to check to see what is under the great towers, and put together a minimal crew, consisting of Khadashi, Shiiguma and one of the mission scientists – Dr Imseluna Riimalii – a biologist who is willing to go down and do some basic research. They are also concerned about ‘wasting’ a ship by sending it down, but the flight team find one of the ship boats which is on its last legs which wouldn’t be a huge loss if it needs to be discarded due to contamination.

First, they head to the crashed ship, to find that it’s not crashed. It looks like it landed here, then was overwhelmed when it was attacked by Twiglets. There are the vacc suits of Droyne around the airlock, laser rifles laying nearby. The actual bodies look like they have been consumed.

They take samples, and spot signs of both Fungus and Biologicals here. It looks like the Biologicals forced their way into the ship, and the Droyne made a last stand, but were gradually forced backwards. The signs of battle go back towards the science labs in the ship. The room here is clear of Twiglets, but there is dead Fungus, with its long tentacles reaching out through the ship and towards the outdoors. At the far end of the room, is a sealed door marked with warning signs of Biological Containment. It’s a thick, heavy airlock, and it looks like it hasn’t been breached.

Dr Riimalii goes into the lab and takes a look at the door, spotting that there are a couple of Droyne inside. Dead, but their bodies are still intact. It looks like the Biological Containment room was tough enough to keep the hazards out, and maybe the Droyne fell back to here in the end.

Examination of the rest of the ship shows that the drives and reactor have been violently removed. They take what is left of the computer records, but they are not in a readable state.

Cutting their way into the containment room, the two Droyne are sitting dead in their vaccsuits. One is holding a tablet. Long powered down, but still functioning once it is charged. Written on the walls of the room, in Oynprith, are the words “The End of All Life”.

They take the samples and the tablet back up to the Deepnight for further investigation, and we end things there. The contents of the last recordings of the Droyne though I’ll add here:

…we arrived at the wrold of 0306, which according to our records was a lush world and a good point to resupply at. However, when we arrived the world was under threat from some disease….

…the infection had been space born. Whether brought by a comet or some cloud of drifting gas…
…life on the world was dying. Taken over by an infection which seemed to consume everything in its path. We took samples, and will study them on our journey…

…we arrive at Draytsirv, which seems to be a world under fear of death. A non-sophont alien menance seems to have taken hold here. The people are too afraid to venture out from their cities for fear of being taken by the things that live in the forests and oceans…

…we held many meetings with their leaders, and finally convinced them to fight back. The menace seemed to have a hunger for spacecraft, ripping them apart and seeking their inner workings. The people of Draytsirv had been providing craft for the Menace to take, which seemed to keep it at bay. But this was no way for Droyne to live…

…the war against the Menance has not gone well. There are more than just a few of them. They came from the seas, they came from the forests. Some are as large as spacecraft, and have weapons to match. We think we have seen them before, but never like this. The astronomers think these creatures came from a system not far away…

…the cities have fallen. People die in their thousands as they fight to preserve what they can. We are not sure that we can do anything now to stem the tide of destruction…

…it is something that we will have to live with, but we will live to tell of what happened. We have samples of the Menance that will soon overwhelm our colony, but we have had to leave them. I only assume that all Droyne there will be dead before the year is out…

…we have landed at 2913, a place we have been to before. Records show there was life here similar to what has destroyed Draytsirv, but it was never considered a threat. It kept to the deep forests and never harmed any missions that used this world for re-supply. We should investigate to see what the difference is…

…the great towering trees were a curiosity, which will need investigation. The huge forests seem to be filled by the non-sophonts, where they are controlled by huge brain nodes like the one we brought from Draytsirv. But they seem content to stay where they are…

…something has kicked things off, and now the Menace is here too. We didn’t realise it, but it is everywhere. Sometime after landing it had entangled itself in our ship’s landing gear and prevented us from leaving without having to cut ourselves free. By the time we realised the full danger we were in, it was too late…

…they are coming for us now. Many have died defending the ship, but they come in wave after wave. We do not know what brings them here. Some of us have thought it might be the strange not-brain that we brought from Draytsirv, which they detected and came to claim back from us…

…they are now inside the ship, and all is lost. Just two of us are left having made it to the science lab, and we have locked ourselves in the bio chamber, which is probably the toughest part of the ship. Maybe once they have their not-brain they will go and leave us…

…the lab outside is smashed, and our specimens from 0306 are no longer secure. There was a terrible ripping sound, and the whole ship shook. We think the Menace have removed some part of the ship, possibly the jump drive which they seem to hunger for…

…something has happened to the creatures outside our room. The infection samples that we had stored are now free, and spreading amongst them. This would be an interesting experiment if only we were to live to see its end…

…the lab now is full of the infection. It reaches out through the ship, and out into the land beyond. We think the original creatures fight against it, but we are not sure. We are running low on food and water, and it will not be long now…

…there is a hunger, which reaches into our mind. It wants to feed, to eat. To consume. Consumption is the only thing it knows how to do. To consume it must spread. We feel it in our minds, wanting us but not able to reach us. We can only hope that none follow us…

…we understand now, at last, at the end. The more it consumes, the more it grows, the more it thinks. But it does not know to stop consuming. Once it has consumed everything, it can only die. We record these last things in case anyone ever finds us. We made mistakes we cannot unmake…