shared:mission:moving_on [Planetfall]

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====== Moving On ======

===== Initial Brief =====

//# Incoming Transmission\\
# Source Identifier: Endeavour\\
# Destination Identifier: *\\
# Subject: Moving On\\
# Message Begins\\
I require assistance with a personal matter.\\
# Message Ends\\
\\
# Incoming Transmission\\
# Source Identifier: Captain Reassuring Heresy, Unquiet Journey\\
# Destination Identifier: TE3-Firebrand#Her Glorious Command#Starlight Ebbing#Muse IX#*\\
# Subject: RE: Moving On\\
# Message Begins\\
\\
It would appear that the ship heart Endeavour is seeking contact, having lain seemingly dormant since the expedition we commissioned over a year ago. The Unquiet Journey is once again willing to offer its expertise to assist those who would answer Endeavour’s call to reach it. Meet us aboard for briefing and preparations.\\
\\
Yours,\\
\\
Reassuring Heresy\\
\\
Captain, Unquiet Journey\\
\\
# Message Ends\\
\\
# Incoming Transmission\\
# Source Identifier: X Worshipful Portent, Her Glorious Command\\
# Destination Identifier: TE3-Firebrand#Starlight Ebbing#Muse IX#Unquiet Journey#Endeavour#*\\
# Subject: It Wields The Light Of Revelation\\
# Message Begins\\
\\
Let it be known that Her Glorious Command hears the call for aid, and in Its benevolence shall deliver succour.\\
\\
It is shown to us that through this Holy Work, a point of inflection in our understanding of The Divine shall be reached.\\
\\
# Message Ends//\\

===== Characters =====

  * [[shared:player_character:Stellar Glory]] - Tamsin
  * [[shared:player_character:Budding Leaf]] - Alex ET

===== Summary =====

  * Stellar Glory and Budding Leaf meet on the Unquiet Journey, which launches them onto the outside of //Endeavour's// debris field in a tethered box. They fight a number of decay creatures while traversing the debris field, until they reach ship heart range and start having... a variety of strange experiences.
  * First, they find themselves inside some kind of projection or vision (Budding Leaf is reasonably certain, with their knowledge of holodecks, that it is //not// a holodeck projection) of a sailing ship on an ocean. This is not a recognisable (e.g. Sirutan) ocean. There are sea monsters in it which are not recognisable (e.g. Sirutan, mythological or otherwise known) sea monsters. The edge of the ship can be amended by the sea monsters. It can also be amended by the party. Budding Leaf arrives in this vision without their weapons, or indeed the ability to wield weapons. What they do get is an occasional ability to give Stellar Glory useful abilities. And the sea monsters can't seem to attack Budding Leaf, while they can (and do) definitely attack Stellar Glory. Eventually the party come to the realisation that Budding Leaf is representing a Ship Heart in this scenario, the sailing ship represents their ship, the sea monsters represent Decay and Stellar Glory represents people (specifically Startouched people, to whom the Ship Heart can give powers). When they come to this realisation, the vision ceases.
  * After passing through a corridor with some paranoid sentry turrets and vent cams who don't want anyone from Aspexx, Her Glorious Command, Zeitgeist or a number of other places to pass (but they eventually talk down by promising to very much do what Endeavour wants), the party find themselves in yet another vision type thing.
  * This time, it's an echo of a holodeck projection that those who came to //Endeavour// [[shared:mission:the_heart_of_the_matter|last time]] (including Budding Leaf) experienced - a puzzle they are solving with people who look a lot like the party and insist that the party knows who they are. Their 'twins' are violently pulled away and apparently murdered, but following them later, the party finds a communicator. On the other end of the communicator call are.... voices. Multiple voices. Who continue to say things like 'you know who we are', but now also add statements like 'it's been a long time' and 'miss you.' The voices are upset when the party don't seem to know who they are, but the party reassures them that they'll come to help the voices, and the vision ends.
  * Proceeding into the heart of the debris field, the party find Endeavour itself, floating in space. (Even the most central rooms of the original ship //Endeavour// are no longer really... assembled.) Nearby is a pilot talisman which those who knew her would recognise as once having belonged to Warded Path.
  * The party proceed to talk to/negotiate with Endeavour. Stellar Glory gets things a little off on the wrong foot by insisting on addressing Endeavour in the most worshipful terms possible, which Endeavour does not seem to want - and makes snarky comments about others who refer to ship hearts in these kind of terms. However, Budding Leaf then pulls out the Hive IV rock??/shard?? gained on [[shared:mission:internal_error|Internal Error]], which told them it wanted to come along on this mission. Endeavour stares at the rock as if transfixed, and this only gets stronger when Budding Leaf holds it up to touch it to Endeavour. After a minute or so, just as they are beginning to wonder whether this was a good idea, Endeavour seems to come back to itself and thanks them for bringing this. The rock shard then orbits around Endeavour as they continue to talk.
  * Endeavour explains that what it wants is to go to Hive IV - it wasn't expecting them to bring a bit of Hive IV to it, but it still wants to go there regardless. A few options for travelling to Hive IV are discussed, but they decide to travel via Kylal and the Pentagonal Gate.
  * Emerging from the debris field with Endeavour, however, before they reach the //Unquiet Journey//, they are intercepted by a party sent by Her Glorious Command - two Mystics, a ship heart (Perfect Reverie), and a guard. HGC's Chief Mystic, X Worshipful Portent, has been sent by HGC to convince Endeavour to come join its great attempt to understand the mysteries of ship hearts. Endeavour is not receptive to this idea. Endeavour is pretty much the opposite of receptive to this idea. As Portent tries to deal with this, repeatedly calling on Her Glorious Command to give her guidance, she becomes more and more insistent that Endeavour comes with them, until Endeavour eventually shuts down this conversation by making her very, very lethargic. So lethargic she falls asleep standing up. Endeavour, and the party, leave.
  * There is a small delay while the //Unquiet Journey// is allowed to salvage the central, undecayed parts of //Endeavour//'s debris field, rather than leaving it to fall to decay. While this is ongoing, Stellar Glory probes Endeavour on its objection to being worshipped and receives some hints as to the nature of ship heart personalities.
  * The party message ahead to Kylal to ask permission to take Endeavour through the gate, and initially get a straightforward yes, but shortly followed by a '....let's discuss it when you get here....'
  * Getting there (after a short sharp fight with some beetles), the party find Ninth Truth on a communicator call with Delicate Harmony, as the closest thing there is to an expert on Pentagonal Gate transport. Delicate Harmony apparently has concerns about taking shiphearts through gates, since they have a theory that the Pentagonal Gate on the asteroid passing close to the Orion Gate may have led to the Orion Gate disaster.
  * However, after some discussion, it is decided that the apparent risk is to the ship heart, not to the gate itself, so with everyone (including Endeavour) clear on the risks and happy to take them, the party are allowed to proceed.
  * While this discussion is ongoing, Stellar Glory communes further with Endeavour and is eventually able to persuade it to reveal the identity of its 'twin' ship heart that she has heard her mystic sect discuss - on the condition that she not reveal this identity to anyone besides Budding Leaf.
  * They cross through the gate onto Hive IV. Endeavour noticeably does not explode horrendously. They immediately realise that they have come without a boat, and Budding Leaf heads back through the gate for one, immediately getting cornered by a Zeitgeist scientist who's really excited about the idea that Endeavour might become //Endeavour// again. Budding Leaf attempts to calm him down and not promise anything of the sort. Leaf also tinkers with the boat to repair damage incurred from previous usage, and gets it as seaworthy as can be.
  * As the party emerge onto the beach, the usual decaying Skulkers appear, and seem even angrier than normal, but are unable to cross the boundaries of Endeavour's ship heart range (though Endeavour is keeping that radius very small, so this is still rather unnerving). The party unfold their ship (having previously done their best to make sure it was definitely seaworthy) and prepare to fight off serphs, but find that the serphs which come towards them seem to want to.... help? They definitely nudge the boat in the right direction, and even pull one party member back to the boat after a wave knocks them off. They bring the boat into land, where the party disembark and are met by a number of Hive IV creatures - a Mimic, a Willow and a Ruffian - who do not attack, but approach cautiously and curiously.
  * Without warning, the party suddenly find themselves in another vision quest, or other psychic-type fight. They have additional, very shiny, shields, and the creatures fighting them look humanoid but also angry. The creatures attack hard while also occasionally spitting out words which seem to circle around the themes of being angry/sad about being abandoned, and questioning why and what now. The party are eventually overwhelmed, but as they lose consciousness they feel Endeavour's presence saying "I think I can take this from here". They wake up back on //Unquiet Journey//.

===== Aftermath =====

  * Upon checking with //Unquiet Journey's// resident mystics, it is clear that the way they arrived back on the ship looked a lot like the effects of an Intervention, at least from the outside.
  * Budding Leaf checks whether the Hive IV shard is still in their pocket, and has a weird moment of being unsure whether it is but hoping that it is, and then it is. So that's good. 
  * Stellar Glory shares the vision quests she was part of with the Mystic Sect of the Divine, explaining that these are divine revelations from the point of view of a ship heart, and should be shared with the faithful.
  * Budding Leaf reports all the happenings of the mission to Zeitgeist, the Botanists and //Unquiet Journey// - //except// for failing to mention that he has any connection to, or tiny shard part of, the Hive IV ship heart.
  * He also publishes a paper entitled "Can ship hearts travel through pentagonal gates". Conclusion: Yes.
  * Stellar Glory discreetly approaches the most devout of the leadership of the Mystic Sect of the Divine, explaining that something Endeavour said made it sound like ship heart personalities can be changed by the beliefs of those around them, and starting to ask difficult questions about what it means to worship a ship heart that doesn't want to be worshipped, if this is the case. She is careful to impress upon those she speaks with that Endeavour didn't want this to be general knowledge.
  * Budding Leaf attempts to communicate with Hive IV via his shard to check on how the reunion on the surface is going.

===== Consequences =====

  * The Mystic Sect of the Divine are honoured to receive Stellar Glory's recital of the vision quests the party experienced, treating these as true revelations from that which is unknowable. Before long, oral stories of each encounter, and even an illustrated pamphlet depicting the vision of ship-heart-as-boat, are circulating among the faithful.
  * Those with whom Stellar Glory discusses Endeavour's information that people can change ship hearts are.... concerned. Is it right to worship one who does not want to be divine? Can the divine even truly be considered divine if it can be altered by those who are not divine? One person even asks Stellar Glory if she thinks Endeavour might have been lying about this to stop people trying to worship it. These discussions do not (yet) result in any action or change of doctrine, but there are now some leaders with concerns.
  * Zeitgeist, Botanists and the Unquiet Journey all seem somewhat surprised by the tale of what happened, and the idea that Endeavour and Hive IV might be.... friends? Oh, and the idea that Hive IV has a ship heart still in existence at all. There's a lot of new knowledge here and Zeitgeist in particular urge Budding Leaf to also write one or more papers about ship hearts' personal relationships and how they understand existence and history and...
  * The boat is still on the Hive IV mainland where the party left it. Fortunately, Zeitgeist have more boats.
  * OC Consequence for future missions: Endeavour's personality is now //Guarded// (and, in fact, has been since after [[The Heart of the Matter]]).

==== All Characters ====

  * +3 Clout with Endeavour (the ship heart)
  * -1 Clout with //Her Glorious Command// (the ship, inclusive of the ship heart)
  * Advanced Awareness of the life cycle of a ship heart (brief provided separately)

==== Budding Leaf ====

  * Upon reaching out to Hive IV through his fragment to ask how the reunion is going, Budding Leaf gets... a bit of a non-answer. As before, the shard is enigmatic in its communications, to say the least, but you get something of an impression of grieving happiness and purposeless determination.

==== Stellar Glory ====

  * +1 Clout with the Mystic Sect of the Divine for bringing them such glorious revelations.

{{tag>mission budding_leaf stellar_glory}}
mission budding leaf stellar glory