Sojourner Between Stars

Sojourner Between Stars
Date 2084-11-09 GM Sarcarian Location The Astral Sea Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Gates of Ishtar Sojourner Star Man Stella	Denizens of the Dark
Lingchi	Hunting Horror

Summary

In which Lingchi undertakes a metaplanar quest and gains an ally spirit companion.

Background

Since leaving Hong Kong and arriving in Seattle, Lingchi has felt lost and out of place, with only the stars to guide her. Having initiated into the art of divination, she finds herself ready to explore the higher mysteries, however the Dweller at the Threshold has a test in store for her.

The Chance Meeting

Lingchi finds herself at the abandoned observatory she's been squatting in, using her telescope to observe the tail end of the Orionids meteor shower - sighting a shooting star which crashes to Earth nearby, she does some quick calculations and determines that it most likely landed just south of the Metroplex. Deciding to head out and see if she can find herself some cosmic magic reagents, she hops in her FunOne and drives towards the southern boarder. Realizing en-route that her fake SIN may not be good enough to cross legally, and that she's technically engaging in illegal talislegging activity, she calls her fixer Joe Smith to ask if he knows any smugglers - Joe tells her about a lady he para-sails with named Cascade who he can put her in contact with, and when Lingchi admits that she doesn't have any money to pay for the service Joe offers to pay the fee in exchange for a future favor. Lingchi accepts, and arranges to meet with Cascade in the Puyallup barrens.

Unfortunately her car runs out of fuel in Loveland, so she resorts to paying a chiphead lounging nearby the last of the cash she has in her pocket to watch over her vehicle and make sure that no one steals it. Risking walking it the rest of the way, the lucky mage thankfully doesn't run into any issues while passing through Triad turf and manages to make it to her rendezvous with Cascade without incident. Hopping into the smuggler's helicopter, she enjoys the sights for the duration of the short hop across the southern boarder - Cascade drops her off in the forest and says that she'll wait for her until dawn, and the mage heads off in search of a meteorite.

After avoiding the notice of a horned bear in the woods en-route, Lingchi comes to her calculated coordinates and finds a crater in the earth with a small meteorite in it; she is not alone however, encountering Stella there. Stella is surprised to see another cosmic mage present, introducing herself as a talismonger who is out reagent hunting - since she was there first she says that if Lingchi doesn't contest her claim to the meteorite, she'll let her take a handful of space rock and give her a discount on merchandise at her shop. Lingchi, lacking the expertise to harvest most of the available reagents and happy to make such a useful contact, agrees to the arrangement, and Stella provides her with the tools to take a dram of the meteorite as a souvenir. After geeking out over astronomy a bit, she provides Lingchi with her business card and says that she should come by sometime for a chat - the cosmic mage agrees, and heads back to meet with her ride back into the city.

The Call for Aid

The next day, Lingchi heads to Stellar Stones and Sundries near the university to meet with Stella, who makes her some tea while the two talk more about space stuff. Stella shows her some of her stock, and when Lingchi admits that she doesn't have any money the talismonger asks if she'd be willing to exchange a service in exchange for what she has to offer. Lingchi expresses interest, and Stella asks if she's initiated - when she says that she's recently learned divination but has yet to journey to the metaplanes, Stella asks if she would like to, and admits that she has a spirit friend who requires a mage's assistance with a task of some urgency but she has been unable to make the time in her busy schedule to help; if Lingchi were willing to do so in her place, she would be very grateful and willing to provide her with both money and merchandise. Lingchi accepts the job offer, and Stella produces a Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville souvenir cup, which she fills with Bacardi 151 and lights ablaze - the act summons Star Man, who Stella introduces to Lingchi before leaving the pair to talk while she tends to her shop.

Star Man shares a drink with Lingchi while he explains what he needs - a spirit he's had encounters with before, called Sojourner Between Stars, is in trouble, and a mage's skills are needed to help her. Lingchi immediately agrees to help, and Star Man tells her that Sojourner is bound to a comet which is currently in a decaying orbit around a black hole; she requires a new anchor in the astral sea in order to avoid being lost forever to the void. He can guide her to the metaplanes where they can begin their search, but the quest will be a dangerous one, and the mages risks being cast adrift in the astral sea - he recommends taking shade to extend the duration that she can astrally project, and studying charts of the metaplanes to avoid getting lost. Stella is able to provide assistance on both fronts, giving Lingchi a dose of shade and the name of a group which has accurate charts of the ever-shifting currents of the astral sea: the Gates of Ishtar.

Lingchi spends most of the rest of the day studying Stella's small library of star charts, as well as on the Matrix brushing up on her orbital mechanics. She also heads to the chapterhouse of the Gates of Ishtar in order to seek the society's assistance with her quest, offering her own services in mapping out the portion of the endless expanse of the astral plane which she plans to travel through. She is put in touch with Jurgen, a veteran explorer of the metaplanes, who agrees to provide her with access to the society's charts and a contact on the Metaplane of Man in exchange for her setting up an astral wayfinder which members of the group can use as a sort of lighthouse and waypoint in the astral sea.

The Dweller at the Threshold

Wasting little time, Lingchi prepares herself to undertake her voyage as soon as possible. Taking her drugs, she astrally projects from her warded residence and meets up with Star Man, who takes her by the arm and flies her to the edge of the gaiasphere, where she feels herself fading into the metaplanes along with her guide. However she finds herself floating alone in a dark void where she hears a voice calling out to her, addressing her in a name she abandoned back in Hong Kong. She denies being that person anymore, but the voice shows her a scene from her past played out from a foreign perspective - she sees herself as an anonymous person being moved somewhere in a shipping container by the Ten Thousand Lions Triad, and after a series of indignities finds herself sitting before a cold, impassive tattoo artist that brands her with a magical curse. When the Dweller asks if she truly believes that she is absolved of her past sins, she answers in the affirmative, having convinced herself that her misdeeds - along with all other metahuman follies - are meaningless in the grand scheme of a vast and uncaring universe. The Dweller, sensing her conviction but seeking to challenge her perspective, allows her to pass, but not before planting the seed of doubt in her mind.

The Quest

Finding herself floating in the astral sea, Lingchi takes a moment to appreciate the sight before her before finding Star Man floating nearby - still in the shallows of the Metaplane of Man, the two make their way to its shores and the city of Celephaïs, where they can meet with the Gates of Ishtar's spirit contact. Making their way through the colorful bazaars of the city, they find a small artificer's shop where a gnome-like spirit greets them amidst a veritable horde of clockwork contraptions. After being given Jurgen's name he provides Lingchi with the wayfinder she is to set up on the explorer's behalf, and offers her one of her own to help her avoid getting lost - Lingchi asks what it will cost her, and is told that the more karma she is willing to invest in the exchange the stronger the resulting wayfinder will be. She does not hesitate to provide 5 karma, and is provided with an intricate astrolabe that the silver chord connecting her astral form back to her physical body is threaded through.

Setting off on their journey, Lingchi and Star Man meet with a golden-eyed sailor in a white ship with lemon-coloured sails at the Celephaïs docks - Star Man provides them with a jug of wine, and the sailor agrees to take them out to the edge of the local region of the astral sea. Lingchi enjoys the fantastic vistas, committing all she can to memory, and after a few hours of travel they arrive at the proverbial edge of the world. The sailor wishes them good luck, and the duo step forth into the unknown. For several hours thereafter, Lingchi and Star Man venture thorough the void, passing by spectacular nebulae and breathtaking cosmic phenomena while following the landmarks laid out by the Gates of Ishtar. Thanks to her impressive memory and diligent preparation, Lingchi manages to avoid getting lost and finds the coordinates where she was requested to leave the wayfinder. Once she has done so, she takes a few moments to steel herself before continuing on into the dark expanse between stars.

Out in the cold void of night, Lingchi and Star Man have only one-another for company. Star Man picks up on Sojourner's trail (or rather, that of the small deposit of orichalcum on the comet fragment to which she is bound), giving them something to follow, but even at light-speed the voyage is a long and lonely one. The two get to talking, discussing Lingchi's approach to magic a bit - she admits to having recently paradigm shifted to cosmic magic, and to being frustrated at how her augmentations have dampened her previous talent. Star Man gives her a bit of advice, telling her that the universe can seem like a vast and uncaring place sometimes, and that the best one can do is to float on and try to find meaning in the shared existential struggle to create a light in the dark. Thinking on her encounter with the Dweller, Lingchi falls silent for a time.

While passing by a shrouded planet orbiting a dark star with shadowy figures flying through its atmosphere, Lingchi is quite suddenly attacked by a Hunting Horror which appears from out of the void. The dark spirit wounds her severely, taking a chunk out of her astral form, while Star Man fights back and attempts to defend her from the creature; the mage manages to rally her strength and produce a blast of sunlight from her eyes which melts the monster away. Proud of having emerged triumphant, she and her spirit guide catch their breath and proceed onward, eventually finding a place to set up her wayfinder before continuing to follow Sojourner's trail.

Finally they arrive at the astral echo of the black hole which Sojourner's comet is in the process of falling into. Lingchi, calling upon all her knowledge of orbital mechanics, uses the power of math to calculate an optimal trajectory that will let her make it to the comet without falling into the black hole, successfully managing to land safely. Placing her hand against the comet's surface, she feels the spirit's essence within, ready to succumb to oblivion. Invoking her newfound understanding, Lingchi tells Sojourner that she can save her from this fate if the spirit is willing to tie her essence to the mage's own; the desire to seek out another who understands her sparks something within the spirit, who agrees to bind herself to Lingchi and escape the doomed comet just as it plunges into the black hole. The time dilation involved (and the shade she took) gives Lingchi just enough time to retrace her steps to her wayfinder and subsequently back to her body before her projection duration expires.

Aftermath

Back on the material plane, Lingchi finds herself holding a small golden disk etched with Sojourner's spirit formula, with the spirit's respawn point in the metaplanes having been reset to the wayfinder she left behind in the astral sea. Summoning Sojourner into her new physical form, Lingchi greets her ally and promises to show her everything that she can about the Sixth World - equipped with a new ally, as well as a pair of cosmic magic contacts and perhaps a new perspective on things, she finds herself just a bit better equipped to face whatever it throws at her.

Rewards

20,000 nuyen worth of gear rewards (Cosmic Magic reagents, foci, magical lodge materials, etc.) (5 RVP)

6 karma (6 RVP)

12 CDP (5 RVP)

+3 Gates of Ishtar rep

Ally Spirit Formula + Astral Sea Wayfinder

Chip owed to Joe Smith for services rendered

Optional Contact: Cascade (C4/L2 Smuggler/Coyote) for 5 RVP or 10 CDP

Optional Contact: Stella (C2/L2 Cosmic Magic Talismonger) for 3 RVP or 6 CDP

Optional Contact: Star Man (C2/L2 Guardian Spirit) for 3 RVP or 6 CDP

Optional Quality: Analytical Mind @ chargen price (for calculating a bunch of very precise astronomical trajectories)

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Lingchi - She has not left my side since we returned. It is a comfort.

Full pAAR here. Content warnings: Suicidal ideation, human trafficking.