Armour Astir 2
[This is the second of three parts of a short Armour Astir campaign I played in. You can find the first part here:
https://daydreamingmoose.bearblog.dev/armour-astir-1/]
Following the talks with the director of the College of Daedalus, the group is offered accommodations in the college itself, but only Rajiv decides to accept because he’s keen to sleep in a real bed. Alwain returns to the ship to keep an eye on things, while Alya goes back as well because the talk about eradicating magic is freaking her out, as well as the Arbiter telling her that something is strange with the College.
In the middle of the night, Rajiv wakes up in a dream-like state, triggered by magical feedback that is amplified due to his nature as an impostor – somebody who is not naturally gifted with magic. He is floating in an azure sea, with a strange, inky darkness moving upwards towards him. He tries swimming away from it, but the darkness catches up with him, envelopes him and then he wakes up, sweating profusely.
But the room itself feels very strange as well, there’s a metallic tang lingering in the air and a feeling of murderous bloodlust filling it. By the opposite wall of the room stands a humanoid figure holding a large spear, smelling of sulphur. But it has no eyes and a large horn in the centre of its head. It tells Rajiv it knows what he has seen and that it now needs to kill him. The Astir pilot reacts by immediately unloading his gun at the creature and it starts leaking black ichor everywhere. It stabs at Rajiv, but he dodges and shoots it straight through the head. The creature answers by throwing him straight through a wall and vanishing into the shadows, with Rajiv emptying the last of his magazine, trying to drop it before it escapes. Guards from the college approach fast and ask him what has happened. He writes down a few notes on paper to not forget what he has seen, but the pen starts moving on its own, writing gibberish. The guards tell him what he has seen Has most likely been a Crimson Seeker – a scout for the Crimson Guard.
The night ends with Rajiv having a light concussion from his fight, more guards posted around him and new ammunition to load into his pistol. He’s checked by a medic who notes that he is strangely cold and has a very slow pulse, which is especially strange when taken into account that he had just fought for his life. The medic concludes that the problem is probably magical in nature and should disappear in the morning.
After dawn, Alwain is summoned for a briefing, but only takes his crew of marines as an escort and leaves Alya to find Rajiv instead. Their next mission by the College is to find and kill a creature stalking the forests of the planet Unitas, the planet that headquarters the Silver Wing Company. The group doesn’t have to worry about the company though, they should be cooperative because killing the creature is part of ‘the plan’ to find a way to destroy magic and breaking through the wall surrounding the system. The exact goal is to kill this so-called Geith and scavenge its heart. A Geith is a large and dangerous creature, a skinny, wolf-like ambush predator with four scarlet eyes. They’re pretty smart and magical by nature and can utilise short-range teleports. The bigger problem is that the section of forest it calls its home is very hard to navigate magic-wise: Communications fail regularly and Astir might not work, but it’s very dense anyway, so the group might need to hunt on foot. They can either kill the creature on the spot or capture it so the heart can be taken later in the College itself. Arriving on Unitas, the crew takes a similar approach as last time: Alya flies ahead in her Astir while the carrier and Rajiv follow closely behind, starting as close as possible from the area the Geith is supposed to hide in. Unfortunately, her mission is made harder by the dense tree cover and the predicted high interference of the forest with her sensors. Her solution to the problem is by asking the Arbiter for help, who reveals the position of the Geith by supernatural means to her. She’s able to follow the magical residue of the Geith’s aura, while stalking the forest on foot. She runs into the Geith more by accident and is immediately caught on the back foot by the ambush predator’s blinking attacks. Alwain picks up her vital signs that start getting weaker and weaker. The group hurries to her side, but arriving on scene, Rajiv has problems properly landing with his Astir due to the interference of the forest. But with a lucky shot he manages to take out one of the enemies’ legs with his beam rifle, and Alya uses that opportunity to attack it by creating a hole in reality itself. The Geith is hurt badly by being pulled into this hole, but before passing out itself manages to knock out Alya first. Rajiv carries Alya back to the ship, where she receives medical attention in the infirmary - while acting a bit like a baby according to Rajiv. Meanwhile, he goes back to drag the Geith to the ship as well.
While moving back towards Seech and the College of Daedalus, Rajiv takes the time to have the technicians produce a slipshot machine he can carry around that obfuscates his magical aura and essence to hide from the Crimson Seeker. After delivering the Geith – and especially its heart – Alwain immediately gets another mission for the crew, but a straightforward and rather easy one this time around. They need several Astir Cores from the Crimson Guard to further their research and have already found the perfect target – but the squad needs to act fast. While there’s several possible targets for this, the College recommends an outpost in the mountains of Seech, only several hours away, which is only manned by a skeleton crew. Before leaving he gets asked if the group is interested in following the College when they break through the wall, but he only answers that he needs to talk to his crew about it.
Hours later, they arrive at the outpost marked on their navigational charts by the College: The Captain’s plan is clear and straightforward: The Astir disembark several klicks away from the enemy outpost, and the carrier will try to lure them into an ambush by attacking the fort with its capital cannons. The attack succeeds and devastates the buildings, but the pilots manage to embark their Astir and follow the ‘fleeing’ carrier. Alya opens up the ambush at a rocky outcropping by damaging one of the enemies’ Astir’s weapon wielding arms. The carrier turns about and tells the Astir pilots to take cover again. He opens up with the laser cannons and hits the bigger of the two astir again. Rajiv sees an opportunity to strike and takes it, killing the pilot by shooting the Astir through the centre of its torso. That draws the attention of the other Astir, who tries calling for reinforcements and instead gets his thrusters destroyed by Alya and her beam saber. A second shot from Rajiv’s beam rifle is stopped by the enemies’ armour and Rajiv’s Astir is starting to overheat. The Crimson Guard tries to attack him with their axe, but Rajiv is faster. He steps into the slash and takes down his opponent with a brutal attack with his own hatchet, killing them. Swiftly, Alya and Rajiv harvest the Crimson Guard’s cores and get picked up by the carrier. Together, they manage to escape towards the College before enemy reinforcements arrive.
[Part 3 coming soon!]