Lieber’s Report - Frydheld Sector 9/29/3026
Whippletree. A sad sphere with ammonia seas. The people cough through their rebreathers. Here, the Age of Sailing never quite left, and they have built great wooden ships treated for their caustic seas. This planet is a shithole.
On Whippletree we met a woman. Her name was Cassandra Yuan. She's had a ship stolen, by some rakehell Noble called Duke Irrovonius Waldorf II. Gone three weeks. The offer was for 80kcr. I talked her up to 100kcr. We shook on it and she mustered her crew. In the meantime, I practiced medicine on the people. Antibiotics and a salve to loosen the bronchi was applied. We heard tell of a Pirate's Cove somewhere nearby to the East as well as a Commune to the South of that. When our ship was ready, we decided to visit the Commune. We boarded the Fool's Pace and set sail.
Nudists! Balls and tits swinging in the wind. Friendly people, however. I smoked some gnarly hash and we heard our bounty came by aboard his vessel, The Partyboy, and went South to an abandoned village. The nudist’s gave me a treasured bottle of rum and warned us of the Haunts, indigenous locals who pray on men. I decided would use the rum to make a good impression on the pirates to the north. We needed more fighting souls.
We reached the Pirate's Cove and negotiating went smoothly. We hired on nine Pirates for 25kcr. Some among us gambled — It's not the vice for me. The pirates told us about an Abandoned Zoo, to the North, but we saw no need to go that way. So we took a shot and went South to an abandoned continent, shaped like a six-pointed star, with a central mountain peaking over the horizon about 1km above sea level. I promised them we would finish the bottle when the job is done.
After some discussion, we decided to circumnavigate the Island and search for the Partyboy along the coast. Just as soon as we'd set sail we were beset. THUNK. At first we thought it was a sandbar. K-THUNK. When it happened again, we were not so confident. Four great orcamorphs appeared from underneath us, rattling the boat and our bones. We fought hard as Hell to take them out and downed the last one just as the ship was crashed to smithereens by the massive mammalian sea creature. I made a daring leap from the deck to dry land, special thanks to my trusty Battle Dress, and helped the swimmers come ashore, extending my reach with my halberd. As we dried our things, I treated the chemical irritation on their skin to the best of my ability by washing it off and drying it quickly. The crewmen salvaged what they could, hoisting coils of rope around their shoulders. Although they were demoralized, I showed them the bottle of rum, safe and sound, and their spirits rose.
Shortly, we smelled smoke. We ascended this grand hill and, surrounded by ruins, it felt as though we were walking with ghosts. As we approached the zenith, it became clear there was a roundhouse still standing and this was the source of the smoke. I scouted ahead with a Pirate to relay or provide backup, and left him within earshot as I approached the roundhouse.
The smell of burning flesh reached my nose before I witnessed unparalleled depravity. Seven broken souls were roasting in a deep cylindrical rotating spit with soot caked view ports set along its walls. The very coals of Hell glowing angry in that abyss. I shouted to my comrade and gathered all-hands for an emergency rescue and to administer first aid.
My crewmate, Aarav, came with the others and we set to work in retrieving these victims. Our bounty was among them, pleading for his life and making impossible offers his noble house was unlikely to be able to afford. Aarav cruelly toyed with the debaucherous Duke, negotiating as he pulled up other men among the lot from the barbecue, and in that moment I wanted to slug him hard and good. It would have to wait, however, as a stout but long-limbed figure stabbed at him with a spear tipped in a black substance. Aarav avoided the attack and just as I pulled him up I fired off my SMG. I grazed the native and euthanized the two men we couldnt save. More of the island’s people would surely be on their way.
Outside, a purple six-pointed star shone in the sky. Our lights dimmed. Even the optic sensors in my Battle Dress were compromised. Thinking quickly, I shot above us and collapsed part of the structure’s roof, sealing the hole which restored the light and my vision. We set up a perimeter and prepared ourselves for a long night, ready to hold off our assailants until sunrise.
I heard chanting from below and the pit began to reignite. I hung off the lip of the pit and did a 270° mag dump, shooting at the unsuspecting acapella troupe, and busted into a window, knocking one of them over before I finished him with my helpful halberd. I slew the rest, save for one. Just as I applied the enhanced strength of my Battle Dress to a pressure point on my poor attacker and restrained him to take him captive, I heard an explosion from above.
I pray there were no casualties among the my comrades. I pray we can make peace, somehow, with these natives who I would do no harm if not for self-defense.
And I wonder… I wonder about the Grimoire we discovered on Pillard, among those similar ancient, divergently evolved humans we met. What other strange powers do these people possess? Confronting these mysteries and being a force of Good in this fucked-up universe. That is my mission.