Tim doesn't appear, owing to an overdose of happiness on Saturday. Everyone else does: Nick (back from an extended absence, returning in his role as Brother Xavier), Chris (Peter Sangaree) and April (Sister Joann). Dave (Morgan Hawkwood) also joins the group.
Lord Morgan Hawkwood is the son of the Baron Corwynne, Lord Marcus Damas Morgan-Hawkwood, a vassal of the Duke South Coast. He currently holds the office of Arbiter within the court of the Duke. He is in his middle ages, and is normally well-dressed. He sometimes favors a neatly-pressed Hawkwood military uniform with Captain's insignia, offset by shiny black riding boots. . His hair is blonde and well-kept. with blonde, well-kept hair. He has no visible psychic stigma, despite the fact that he is cursed with the secrets of the mind. His profile is very much more that of the swashbuckler than the Nazi.
The characters start out in Fort Sabwran, having just returned from the local zombie plague debacle. They are collapsed in the common room of the Red Crescent Inn, covered in mud and zombie slime, debating their next step. Sir Brindal Karth has already headed to bed, as a morning of drinking after a night spent hunting zombies was too much for him. The remaining characters are joined by their recently-hired pilots, Linus Cossett, Horace Redd, Fergus Genne ab Marlwen, and Brian the Goat, all of whom show the effects of their night of zombies and drinking (some more than others: Horace Redd is barely able to lift his head off the table). Most of the rather disjointed conversation centers around what to do for the next twenty days or so, as two technicians from the NPAE are expected to show up in Fort Sabwran bearing a think machine to control the (modified) Scorpion ARM at that time.
It is towards this rather motley group that the Baron Morgan Hawkwood approaches, interested in meeting with Sir Brindal Karth. He interprets the other characters as Sir Brindal Karth's entourage, and asks where the noble is. Peter Sangaree explains that Brindal Karth is resting after a day and a night of fighting zombies, and further explains that the group at the table prefer to think of themselves as companions, not servants.
Morgan explains that he is interested in Sir Brindal Karth's colony, and wishes to request his hospitality for this purpose. He also mentions that he is acting upon the (indirect) behest of the Duke South Coast, in whose lands Tuam Free City lies. The characters introduce themselves, offer Morgan a drink, then become instantly suspicious.
Brother Xavier reflexively doubts the word of anyone who speaks to him. To measure Baron Morgan's veracity, he immediately starts hurling his theurgic Truthsaying rite around. He learns that Morgan is telling the truth. Unfortunately, he also causes Morgan's psychic stigma to become obvious: the Hawkwood's eyes turn completely back for a second as Xavier casts his ritual. Oddly, Brother Xavier doesn't notice this, but Peter, Sister Joann and several of the characters' employees do. Sister Joann brings this up as something of an issue, and Peter agrees that he also saw this effect. Morgan glibly explains that this happens from time to time, and that it's probably allergies. The characters doubt this explanation, at which point Morgan elucidates that it happens when people use theurgic powers around him. At this point it becomes obvious that most of the characters are much more interested in establishing that he is not a Scraver than that whether or not he is a psychic.
Peter agrees that it is possible for Morgan to visit the colony for a while, but then lists off the various problems the colony currently faces. In particular, the colony is: extremely primitive, constantly threatened by the Vuldrok raiders who overfly the river valley, and is nearby to a tribe of primitive swamp-dwellers. To Peter's surprise, Morgan claims that this is exactly what he expected.
Peter is then forced to continue on, explaining that the group only possesses one plane, an old Morgen Luftking, though they hope to capture some aircraft from the Vuldrok sooner or later. Morgan notes that the group has developed a much bigger reputation, as the common wisdom claims that they are flying several planes around. Peter explains that that's probably because they've been running several different routes, and haven't been following normal flight paths.
After a lengthy conversation, the characters send Morgan away so they can debate his potential usefulness and trustworthiness. Brother Xavier skirts Hubristic thought by suggesting that if Morgan really is psychic, his powers might be useful. Sister Joann maintains a more doctrinaire theme, suggesting that psychics are against the Pancreator and not to be trusted. Peter resolves the debate by stating that all Morgan is doing is visiting, and if he proves to be untrustworthy he can suffer an "accident", like falling into a sudden swarm of toxic fish.
The next morning, the characters drag their hung-over carcasses out of bed and limp to the airfield to depart. Morgan's first question upon seeing the characters' Luftking is, "Does that thing really fly?" He is assured that most of the time, it does. To further increase Morgan's confidence, Peter Sangaree gives the youthful Fergus Genne ab Marlwen the controls. The situation gets even better when Brian the Goat (seated in the rear of the plane) yells out, "Hey! I think some of the spare fuel's leaking! I can smell kerosene!" Brian then checks jerrycans until he finds one that's only half-full, then tosses the offending can out of the plane. Upon seeing the jerrycan fly by his window, Peter gasps, "You're throwing out a perfectly good jerrycan!" Morgan's confidence hits the low mark when Peter rushes out of the plane (on the taxiway) to retrieve the thing, then marks "leak point: do not fill above this line" on the side of the can with chalk.
Halfway to Fennen Marsh, the characters see a hurricane forming over the Circle Sea. They debate briefly on whether or not they should radio back to the Six Martyrs Monastery and Tuam Air Traffic to warn them. The obvious problem is that if they use the radio, they will reveal their presence to any Vuldrok flying in the area. Brother Xavier takes a couple of bearings on the hurricane and estimates that it will hit the islands south of Tuam. Peter talks to Linus Cossett, who has flown military aircraft for the Hawkwoods before, and determines that the Vuldrok VERTOLs are normally able to intercept radio messages, but have trouble identifying the altitude of the transmitter. The characters finally decide to send a warning back, but to disguise their identity by claiming that they are "Captain Buckwheat, on the SS Spanky sailing into Tuam with a cargo of Teakwood."
Shortly after the characters spot the moving hurricane, Morgan Hawkwood sees another unsettling sight: a flight of aircraft moving North along the edge of the hurricane. Morgan promptly turns on his psychic FarSight and calls upon his Savoir-Faire (Hawkwood Military) skills to identify the aircraft as Vuldrok. Altogether, he spots twelve Hunter VERTOLs, four Troop Carrier VERTOLs, and a single massive Assault Lander. The other characters, unaware of the depths of Morgan's psychic skills, are staggered by the details he is able to provide them.
Peter swiftly orders the Luftking back down to the deck and makes another call to Tuam as Captain Buckwheat, warning them of a large flight of Vuldrok on the move. He is forced to eak every bit of performance out of the Luftking's radio that he can to reach Tuam, as the plane is already out of it's nominal transmission range. He gets only a broken response from Tuam Air Traffic, but is fairly certain that they got the message.
Peter then brings out his charts and plots the Vuldroks' course (based upon Morgan's visual and FarSight observations), and estimates the Luftking's fuel consumption. He figures that the characters can follow the Vuldrok for at least an hour and a half without running out of fuel. It looks like they're heading towards the western edge of the Byrrem Isles, but a precise plotting of their course says they'll miss all the islands by at least 20-50 kilometers.
Fearing trouble, the characters put Fergus Genne ab Marlwen into the co-pilot's seat, and have the grizzled Brian the Goat take the stick. Brian is clearly eager to fly into harm's way, and promptly warns young Fergus, "Ye'd bett'r watch fer missile flash up ahead. When ye see it, yell real loud an' I'll pull right and down. I'll want ta touch the wing ter the wat'r, and ye'll only have two or three sec'nds, so be alert!" Peter and Sister Joann listen to this impromptu pep talk, and take a moment to reassure Fergus, who looks like he needs it. Brother Xavier is already beyond reassurance, and is barely able to strap himself down tighter in between dry heaves. Brian also proposes pulling the plane right up next to the hurricane, so he can fly directly into it to avoid missiles. Peter agrees with this plan, but not without some reservations.
As a backup plan, Peter pulls out the radio and sets Freeman Harper to turning it and the leaking jerrycan into an impromptu radio decoy. He intends to hurl it out of the plane if the Vuldrok Hunters give chase, with the idea that radar-homing missiles may hit it instead of the Luftking.
The characters follow the Vuldrok VERTOLs for almost an hour. Observations of their speed combined with Morgan's and Linus Cossett's recollections of Vuldrok Hunter range and fuel consumption suggest that the VERTOLs are deliberately moving slowly to stay with the assault lander, and that they are dramatically reducing their range in the process. That combined with the knowledge that the Vuldroks' course doesn't intersect any known islands convinces the characters that something must be up.
Sure enough, Morgan spots the VERTOLs slowing and stopping with no land in sight. Moments later, he calls out to the other characters that he can see a rusted, beat-up metal freighter with two landing pads (one mounted fore and one mounted aft) underneath the VERTOLs. As Morgan watches (and Brian changes course to avoid being spotted), two Hunters land and are moved onto the decking with huge cargo cranes. Four additional Hunters land and are moved to the deck after the first two. All six aircraft refuel, then get lifted back to the landing pads to take off and make room for additional aircraft. During this process, Morgan reads off the name of the freighter as the Sister Jane.
At this point, Brian the Goat pipes up with a plan. He suggests that he can manage a controlled crash landing onto the aft pad if he glides in just above stall speed, then kills the Luftking's engines slightly short of the freighter. The surviving characters would then pile out of the Luftking and rush the freighter's bridge to take control of the ship. The best time for the attack would be about a half-hour after the Vuldrok depart, to ensure that they will be too far away to see what is happening. Brian looks rather surprised when the characters shout this idea down with a resounding, "NO!"
Slightly after the second wave of Hunters descends to the freighter deck, one of the first wave spots the characters' Luftking and moves to investigate. The characters' plan works as well as they could possibly expect. Brian pulls the Luftking into the teeth of the hurricane, simultaneously dropping down to mere meters above the choppy waters. Peter and Harmon wrestle the cargo door open and hurl their radio decoy out just in time to hear Morgan and Sister Joann simultaneously yell out "Missile flash!" Brian does exactly what he promised, banking the plane sharply to the right and diving, giving both Peter and Harmon a unique opportunity to watch their lives flash before their eyes as the two of them come within inches of falling out of the cargo door to a watery grave. The radio decoy proves effective, as it vanishes in a flash of high explosive.
The Hunter appears to lose interest in the Luftking after the radio decoy is hit, and returns to the other aircraft. With the immediate danger gone, Peter and Harmon strain to close the cargo door and restore stability to the Luftking. Harmon panics at the sight of the water so close below him, but Sister Joann manages to snap him back long enough to get the door closed.
Brian brings the plane back up and out of the hurricane after everyone is satisfied that the Vuldrok are well behind them. Once they get back into clear weather, Peter does a bit of dead reckoning to put them back on course to Fennen Marsh.
The characters manage to put down at their airfield without too much further trouble. They are met by Bob Lungflook, whom they had left in charge, and a couple of the other colonists.
Bob looks fairly good, and tells the characters that things have been going okay in their absence. Patera Fen, the colony's Orthodox priest, has embarked upon a project to convert the Pakorgo tribesmen in the delta to the Universal Church. This has pretty much been a futile effort, but has opened enough doors for some of the other colonists to trade a couple of axes and other tools to the Pakorgo in exchange for a pile of yams. Bob also had some of his people build an outdoors oven and a barbecue pit. These improvements have allowed the cook, Freeman Merrill Howe, to produce a regular supply of yam bread to enliven the colonists' otherwise dull diet. The colonists' discovery that near-eels can occasionally be caught in the river shallows has provided another touch of variety, despite the fact that the creatures have a terrible tendency towards stringy flesh.
Groupleader Ribben and the technicians from the Chibren Cooperative are still in camp, disguised as Hawkwood soldiers. Their tent is off on the edge of the camp, to help ensure that they do not draw too much attention from the other colonists. Bob says that they have set up the fiber-optic line back to the Cooperative, and have also installed a local switchbox and used it to put phones in all the buildings on a local PBX network.
Brother Xavier talks to his brute squad. They grunt a lot, but generally get across that there haven't been any particular troubles. Considering that they number a little less than half of the current colony population, it's hard to see how there could be any. They also take Xavier out behind the barracks to show off their success at brewing yam beer. Brother Xavier samples it and survives, if barely. He then warns them to watch Morgan Hawkwood, but carefully, and emphasizes that he mustn't learn about the Chibren Cooperative.
The characters have barely gotten re-established in the colony when Peter announces that he's going to fly back to Tuam the next morning. Morgan complains that all he wants to do is sleep, considering his harrowing flight out. Most of the other characters echo Morgan's sentiments. Bob (who has been living in comparative comfort out in the middle of nowhere) has a much different idea, and promptly presents Peter with a shopping list of things to bring back. He requests trade goods (pikes and axes), replacement tools, and a couple of light boats (ideally, inflatables). Peter looks over the list and decides that all the gear will cost about 500 FB, money that he just doesn't have at the moment.
Peter heads over to Groupleader Ribben's tent to warn him and (by extension) the Chibren Senate about the information the group learned on their flight over. He finds the Groupleader and his men eating sandwiches made of grilled near-eel on yam bread. Ribben, looking unaccustomed tidy in his ersatz Hawkwood Captain's uniform, is fairly pleased to see Peter and the others. Ribben suggests that Peter come back in a few minutes with the other characters while he calls ahead to arrange a teleconference with the appropriate Senate representatives. Peter agrees and heads back towards the colony to assemble the rest of the group.
When the characters return, they find that Ribben has produced a speakerphone and has patched it through to Senator Peppin (specializing in border security) and Senator Hareb (specializing in military affairs). After some pleasantries, Sister Joann gets right to the point, telling the Senators that the Vuldrok are using a freighter as a refueling point in the Circle Sea. She explains that the characters intend to tell the Hawkwoods about it, and have them destroy it. Unfortunately, this strategy could have effects upon the Chibren, as the Vuldrok might need to use the Chibren base more heavily in the absence of their mobile base.
Senator Hareb agrees with much of Sister Joann's comments, and further notes that there has been a certain amount of unusual Vuldrok activity recently. About a week ago, two Troop Carriers flew into the Chibren base equipped with collapsible fuel tanks. They pretty much drained the local base's storage tanks dry, then flew off to the North. One of the Chibren liaisons to the Utag personnel at the base heard something about the Vuldrok having to get out from under the weather while the Carriers were fueling up.
Sister Joann then relates a tidbit the characters learned from Morgan Hawkwood. Specifically, the mystery of Vuldrok long-range communications is solved: they use laser communicators. She asks the Senators if they have anything that could block such devices. Senator Peppin claims that one of the Chibren commo teams has experimented with prismatic aerosol mists to block laser comlinks, but she isn't too sure how much success they had, or how quickly they could produce the amounts needed to blanket the Utag Kingdom base. Peter promises to try and find a more reliable source for the stuff
The characters then address the question of how to use the prismatic aerosols once they get them. The great advantage and drawback to laser communications is their directional nature: they are very hard to intercept, but they only work in line-of-sight. For the Vuldrok to keep their communications networks running, they need to have planes in the air to serve as relays. This means that to be able to black out the Utag Kingdom base, the characters will need to be able to both blanket the main transmitter and prevent the Vuldrok from launching any aircraft.
Senator Peppin offers the additional information that the Chibren are training a force of 50 men for the attack. She asks Peter if he can provide some equipment for the soldiers. In particular, the Chibren are able to equip each man with a bolt-action rifle and only about 200 rounds of ammunition, plus light plastic or animal-skin body armor for half of the troops. She asks for additional armor, guns and ammunition.
Peter agrees that her request is reasonable, but brings up another complication. He explains that the characters need to raise some money to be able to buy additional equipment. They have requested additional cash from their offworld backers, but can't expect it to arrive for a fairly long time. He continues on, noting that the Chibren Cooperative is able to produce some goods in quantities sufficient to sell, but have been unwilling to start up a trade operation for fear of exposure. However, if the attack on the Vuldrok is to happen on schedule, they will need to find a way to establish a certain amount of trade to fund the project. He suggests that new contacts the characters have developed with the Hawkwoods in the Duke South Coast's court could be used to conceal the origin of the Cooperative's products.
Senator Hareb listens, harrumphs, and promises to call back in a couple of hours after he has had a chance to converse with some of the Cooperative's economic experts. He further promises to come up with something.
The other characters spend a couple of hours grilling Morgan about his real ambitions and his willingness to join up with the group long-term. Peter speaks eloquently about Sir Brindal Karth's utopian vision of setting up a society of freedom and technological wonder. He emphasizes that the powers of the Church and the Nobility will be strictly limited.
Morgan is receptive, but notes that he wants to use this society as a shelter for renegade psychics fleeing from the cruel excesses of the Church. He claims that this won't be a huge pilgrimage, just a few people showing up from time to time. Peter and Brother Xavier point out that the environment they are going to is fairly harsh, and that non-contributors will not be treated well. Morgan claims to have no problems with this.
Peter describes the group's long-term goals as driving the Vuldrok and any other hostile presences on the island, while not raising up anyone else's interest in the area enough that they investigate. He finally mentions that the Utag Kingdom has a base upriver, near a "small community of mountain men" who are being oppressed by the Utag presence. The Utag base is primarily a refueling site, and only has a few aircraft. The characters eventually want to capture some of these aircraft so they can become a real thorn in the Vuldrok side.
Peter finally gets to the point: there are technological resources on this island, resources that will… replenish themselves. The characters need to be able to sell some of this in a subtle manner, because the people producing them just want to be left alone. They are sensitive folks, because they're holdouts from the Second Republic. Even though the characters' eventual ambition is to get control of the whole island, the Republicans will be granted autonomy. The characters need Morgan's connections to be able to sell goods without raising any questions about their origin.
Morgan agrees to help, provided he can meet with them. Peter say, "Okay, we'll do that now." Morgan is a touch surprised to be led into Groupleader Ribben's tent and confronted by the speakerphone.
The characters' second conference of the day is with Senator Hareb and Senator Yemena, the Chibren economic specialist. Senator Yemena starts out by explaining that he and his people have been looking for salable products that will be difficult to trace back to the Chibren. He asks if the characters can sell blue or yellow dye, noting that the Chibren can make it at a rate of 400 liters/hour from a polymer distillation column saved from the old University. Containers for the dye are a problem, but if the characters can provide a substantial supply (dozens of tons) of vegetation base, the Chibren can manufacture plastic barrels from it. As before, the Chibren are also able to churn out fiberoptic cable and the electronics to support fiberoptic links (repeaters & signal converters) fairly easily, but are still worried about traceability.
At this point, Morgan Hawkwood introduces himself as an Arbiter from the court of Duke South Coast, Lord Ambrose Oscar Maire nef Hawkwood. Even from their standpoint far downriver, the characters can hear the commotion Morgan's appearance creates in the conference room. Over the confusion, Senator Hareb's throaty voice yells out, "Get someone else on the line!" Senator Peppin shows up in under a minute, her voice breathless from running.
The characters make their best efforts at damage control, explaining that Morgan is a high-ranked social pariah in South Coast, and wants a place where he can live with his psychic brethren. The characters point out that he will also be good as a mole. Senator Peppin rather sadly points out that Morgan's presence has been a fait accompli, so there's no sense in recriminations. However, she demands that the characters provide her and the other Senators with a bit more warning the next time they decide to wantonly blurt out Chibren secrets to outsiders. Recognizing that closer communications between the Chibren and the characters will be necessary, even when they are in Tuam, she then asks when the characters will get the information on the locations of the transoceanic fiberoptic lines. The characters say they've sent the request to their researcher, but don't expect an answer for a couple of months.
With the initial unpleasantness out of the way, the characters develop an initial plan to get some trade samples from the Chibren. Senator Yemena says that his people will float four 100-liter barrels of dye, and one 100-liter barrel loaded with fiberoptic cable and electronics downriver in two days. The characters will stand by with a raft and Morgan (who claims to be able to snare the thing with FarHand) to gather in the goods. Peter recommends that Brother Xavier stand by with him, so the men can see the miracle of faith that brings the barrels in to the shore. Peter also makes sure to get some technical specs on the electronics. He also mentions that there is salt beef and salt pork on the way in the Sutter Kane, expected in a week. Towards the end of the conversation, there is some discussion of how to improve the ongoing Hawkwood masquerade. Senator Peppin asks Morgan to get her a Hawkwood infantry procedural guide.
Everyone flies in the Luftking next morning, except for Sir Brindal Karth (who remains ill with a stomach infection). They take along a basket of yams and some yam beer, hoping that they might be able to sell them as delicacies to credulous Tuam High City dwellers. They put Linus Cossett in the pilot's chair, with Fergus Genne ab Marlwen as his copilot. The trip is uneventful, costing the characters 70 FB for landing fees and fuel upon their arrival at the Tuam airstrip. Peter also buys two cargo harnesses for the Luftking from the airfield personnel at a cost of 20 FB each.
While Peter deals with refueling, Morgan goes to the Duke South Coast's court to deliver information about the Vuldrok fueling freighter. He goes with Brother Xavier and Sister Joann, spending 5 FB to hire a vehicle for the round trip. They find that the Duke is with the Gwynneth Fleet, but are able to meet with the Chamberlain (an aged gentleman with a haughty accent). Morgan dictates a message to the Duke, which the Chamberlain promises to also relay to the Commandant at Fort Sabwran, the Abbott at the Six Martyrs monastery, and the Captain of the Eahlen Forest Fusiliers.
In parting, the Chamberlain mentions that a gentleman named Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen has been asking after Morgan, and gives him ab Gehallen's card. Morgan accepts it, and notes that it provides an address in Llanfyrth. As soon as the group gets out of the Chamberlain's earshot, both Brother Xavier and Sister Joann tell Morgan more than he really wanted to know about Thomas Ossy ab Gehallen and the evils he has wreaked against the characters. The story leads all the way back to Sir Brindal Karth's adoption of a scorched-earth strategy when combating the Haustein Syndicate's operations in his native district back on Avalon, and leaves Morgan shaking his head in amazement at the moral qualities of the folk he has taken up with.
Before returning to Tuam, Morgan also talks to some of the procurement people in the castle about selling dyes or fiber-optics. He is able to get assurances of some kind of contract if he can produce acceptable samples. He promises to have them in a couple of weeks.
The session ends with most of the characters in Tuam, preparing to do some shopping and then return to Fennen Marsh to pick up their sample trade goods from the Chibren Cooperative. Each character gains 3 experience points.