Rifts Mindscape – Session 6: Madness!

March 14, 109 PA

The recruits were impressive. Already they had proven themselves multiple times over and with their help, the group made quick work of the slimes which had ambushed them in the strange medical bay of the alien ship.

Fido and Hope worked on rigging an active terminal in the center of the medical bay into Hope’s personal computer. Although the mutant possum did a good job splicing the comm cables for the job, the computer could not be coaxed into cooperating and Fido accidentally electrocuted himself. The terminal was fried!

Chayton wandered off and found the remains of a single grey alien in an adjoining hallway connected to examination rooms. He used his magical staff to examine the body to see what he could learn about them. He discerned they were intelligent and there was a strong possibility many of them possessed psionics. Kaida joined him just as the holy warrior as he finished the examination.

Nick searched the room for anything of value. The room was filled with equipment, but it was so alien he could not determine what was what. He left it all behind.

Fido and Hope wandered into an examination room. Hope spotted a medical jacket hanging on the wall and panicked. This was a nasty trigger for the poor fellow. The rest of the group wandered over and while they searched the room, Hope lay outside. Fido found another medical scanner and claimed it without Chayton’s notice.

In the room was a containment unit and inside was a black goo with white eyes. The creature watched the group as they searched. Fido accessed a functioning terminal and learned the creature was a nasty symbiote the grey aliens had picked up during an away mission shortly before their fateful crash. The thing radiated evil and the cyberknight was tempted to dispose of the creature using the safety features in the containment unit. Chayton urged him to do it. In the end, he decided against it. Although the creature was evil, it was a living being. He felt if he killed it in this manner it would be a violation of his code. The group left the symbiote behind and continued on their mission.

The lift in the center of the medical bay was not functioning. Nick flew up the open shaft to the bridge above. He found the remains of the command crew of the ship waiting for him. Quite literally, waiting for a living entity to enter the bridge. As Nick did so, spirits rose from the corpses and attacked. They begged to know why they had not been saved as they attacked.

The rest of the group below jumped on the lift at Hope’s urging. Using the psionic abilities imbued by M.O.M. implants, Hope rocketed them up the open shaft and onto the bridge. They feared they would not be able to harm the spirits, but they attacked nonetheless and found they had no difficulty causing their foes harm. The spirits of the fallen aliens were quickly dispatched although Nick did cause some damage to the ship’s controls with his grenades.

They completed a thorough search of the bridge. In a small armory, they found a cache of weapons and armor. The armor on Fido’s arm had been destroyed so he claimed one of the sets of armor. Hope disconnected the arm from the new armor and grafted it onto his old armor. The new armor was not as strong as his old one, but some armor was better than none.

In the captain’s galley, they found a working terminal and were able to access the captain’s log. From the notes, they learned the ship was both scientific and mercantile. They had picked up a large shipment of sentai crystals and were en route to deliver them when the space-time anomaly transported them to Rifts Earth. The crystals were valuable as materials for e-clips and batteries, but also because of their special ability to absorb energy from magical sources. They would then function as a magical power battery with the same properties as the original magical source. They weren’t sure how the crystal got outside the starship. Fido wondered if the crystal had grown. Hope figured it must have fallen out of the ship during the crash.

Fido also found the coordinates where the ship had been but without a frame of reference, he did not know exactly where that was in the galaxy. The log also had details of mechanical objects in orbit around Rifts Earth which had launched explosive projectiles at the Trajan when they appeared above the planet. That sounded artificial to the group but there weren’t enough details to be sure.

They pressed on. through the bridge and into the area marked as Navigation on the map. In the new area, they found a large holographic map currently displaying a partial map of Rifts Earth. The system indicated the map had been built by data gathered via passive sensors while the ship was crashing into the gravity well of the planet. It detailed North America better than most of the world.

Fido zoomed in on the area he knew to be Texas although there were no labels on the map. The sensors had picked out three areas with high populations of biological entities. They were all big enough to be cities and Fido decided one of them must be Lonestar and he downloaded the map.

Chayton drifted off on his own. His magic fetishes were letting him know he was beginning to push his luck inside the ship. As a Pure One, he could not use technology and merely being in its presence was weakening his connection to his gods. He looked into the reflective surface of one of the terminals and willed Notyach to appear. His evil half appeared in the reflection and smiled wickedly at Chayton. The “brothers” began to argue.

This eventually drew the attention of the others. Everyone heard Chayton’s half of the argument but Hope and Kaida caught a glimpse of Notyach in the reflection. He had been told about Chayton’s condition, but he was confused about how he had seen the dark entity as well. He rushed to Chayton and touched his forehead, forging a Mental Bond between them.

Instantaneously, each of them was flooded with all the memories the other possessed. They learned everything about each other. Through the connection, Hope realized Chayton was not suffering a mental malady but was instead being ridden by an evil entity. This was not a possession but something like it. Much to his dismay, an evil voice spoke in Hope’s mind. Something else had traveled through the mind bond as well!

In addition to access to memories, the link between them also shared their skills between them. Chayton was suddenly as much an engineer as Hope normally was. Likewise, Hope learned all about Chayton’s people and their way of life. Much to his dismay, Chayton also realized he knew a great deal about the technology he shunned as being of Ruination, but the dark entity was not part of those designs. His faith was shaken. Even worse, the psychic shock of the bond caused Chayton to lose his eyesight.

Hope quickly told the group what was learned. Notyach was not a figment’s of Chayton psychosis but was instead a real entity riding him. Chayton did not want Hope to be afflicted as well. Despite his waning strength, he performed an exorcism and drove Notyach from both of their bodies. The evil entity appeared in front of everyone.

It was amused and taunted Chayton for taking so long to realize what was going on. It mentioned it had been summoned by Zil. The creature’s mission was to learn more about the group that had routed one of her necromancers and to cause as much harm as it could. Now revealed, it told them it had one final task. It informed the party Zil was waiting for them in the ruins of Indy. Fido and Chayton [blindly] attacked the entity but could not touch it. It taunted them again and then fled from the room.

Chayton wanted to leave the ship. The others insisted they needed to press on and help ECHO. They moved into the main computer nexus of the ship.

Inside the nexus, they found a plethora of computer systems and a large holographic unit in the middle of the room. It currently projected a hologram that transformed into a cybernetic, female face and greeted them. Fido noted the face looked human, not like the grey aliens.

ECHO explained she lost her connection to the rest of the ship (which she called her body) when it crashed. She asked if the party could restore the connection. They asked about the aliens and ECHO called them the Traelixians, a mercantile people with a heavy focus on scientific discovery and innovation. Science was their religion.

She noticed not everyone in the group could speak or read the Traelixian language. She also noticed Chayton struggling with his lack of vision. She scanned each of them with the same blue light Fido had been exposed to. Then she psionically implanted translation mechanisms into the backs of their eyes. Chayton’s vision was restored but he was not happy with what ECHO had done to him. Even worse, with Hope’s knowledge, he understood the technological implications of what she had done.

The group decided to help ECHO. They told her they needed supplies and personnel to do the job correctly and would return with them. ECHO thanked them and bid them farewell. The party retreated the way they had come.

The lift they had ascended was not functional when they found it and it was even more damaged after Hope’s telekinetic lift. Nick dropped down the shaft and went all the way down to one of the upper cargo holds. The large hold was filled with crates and several had broken open in the crash. Sentai crystal was strewn all over the place, an absolute fortune in resources. He found a satchel and filled it to the brim with crystals before rejoining the party.

The group completed their return to the surface. They passed a trio of children playing in the ruined dome. Without saying a word, Nick handed the satchel to them and walked away.

END OF SESSION