Loose Ends

John Beaumann spends the time reading through the Necronomnomnom, where he discovers a number of rituals closely resembling what the group just encountered. 

Thanks to the cypher found on one of the cultist's body, John Beaumann is also able to progress through the tome and read about a ritual linked to the stones found within the dead body. The stones are referred to as Xalorgub Eggs. The described ritual talks of the eggs conferring boons onto the individual performing it.

Reading the book messes with John Beaumann head making you lose 3 points of sanity (as per your roll). You are officially in the weakened stage of Madness.

Occasionally, as you read, your mind drifts to Cynthia Schawrz, the mine, and the message you got from her that simply said

"Help!"

The stress is making you crave something to ease the nerves.  Either take another dose of Shimmer or roll a Will save to suppress the urge.  

Ziritsa NaDoldor spends her time reading through the book called Star Signals. This self-help hardcover purports to offer great benefits to those who read it, but its contents seem to have little tangible guidelines and instead focus on "star focuses" and "wishful thinking" rituals. Each chapter seems to conclude with a specific ritual the reader is expected to follow.

As you read the book, your mind occasionally drifts to remind you of Rush McGorry and what John Beaumann told you about the bastard's connection to a project of the same name as the book.

Throughout the day, Leo would be seen welding, soldering, and coding through the various pieces of Leo Alvi spends the time working on putting Apo11o back together. The unfortunate robot was destroyed during the last encounter and needs quite a bit of love. While working on your robot, you notice something interesting.

As you work on Apo11o, you remember about the hideout you met Dr. Joseph Hromongen and the Unknown he purported to be part of.

You are pre-occupied with Apo11o, but find Proph3t, who appears to be a SRO, interesting beyond the creepy tendrils of blackness that he used to miraculously healed you. However, you are just too busy to note anything specific. 

As you work on Apo11o, your notice yourself scratching your chest absentmindedly.

(Am I in the same room as everyone else?)

At some point during your work a man comes in and heads straight for you. He is carrying a large yellow envelope.

"Umm...y-yes? Is that for me?"

The man hands you the envelope and leaves. The envelope is sealed with your name on it along with "from Dr. Auchee". 

Hesitantly, Leo would open the envelope.

In the envelope is a letter along with a scan.

Mr Alvi, I regret to inform you that I have not made much progress in interpreting the scan results. The image is still very corrupted. I have ran numerous diagnostics on the equipment and everything seems to be in working order leaving me to believe that it was subject to some sort of interference. At this point, we are out of the realm of general medicine and may need to look for expert consult. However, I'm at a loss as to the specialty.

I have attached a copy of the scan, shall you find yourself able to contact a specialist.

Scan Results: Leo Alvi 

He stared at the scan for a good minute, his eyes welling. With a sniffle, he wiped them with a portion of a cloth that wasn't covered in grease. He looked up at the others, not sure if what he was about to do was the smart choice. Still, what choice did he have?

John Beaumann...I want you to hold this, since my hands are covered in grease and lube. I-If you don't mind, that is. And...if you see anything in that book that may help me...p-please let me know. I don't want to be a burden to you all.

John Beaumann will need to roll another Eldritch check to see if you can find anything matching within the book. Or you can hand the book to someone else to take a crack at, while you rest your fragile mind. (don't forget to roll a control check as well) 

You can't help but think of this group mentioning they can get a ride to Unknown and Raze, who you hope is still in there. 

Nightlock sits with his feet up on a console, consulting something on his datapad while the computer does work translating the unfamiliar text.  Usually this kind of thing would bore him to death, but in this case, it is keeping him sufficiently entertained.  He's never deciphered a language quite like this before.  He does take a moment to let out a moderate yawn and stretch his arms.

"Whew.... this is taking quite some time.  I wonder how long the communications are going to be down... @Voices In My Head , did I hear you all mention that you all were capable of getting a ride to the mines?  My brother in law Raze, who is also kind of my captain, went down there to provide some added security.  Haven't heard from him in quite some time with the communications being down.  Once we wrap up with this, would you all care to head to the mines?  Might be able to provide some extra security and I'm sure they would love to know about all of...."  He makes a wild gesture in the air  "all of that mess out there..."

Jaelin Nighlock spends the time reading through the Temple Letter, written in Aklo and what appears to be blood. The letter is signed as Amarelyh and is written to someone named Nargoeh. It describes a number of plans, including taking "them" to a sacred site and mentions that A'aret Perdu must be kept alive for further plans. The writer goes on to disparage the town's leader, Isabelle Chaude and mentions that they are off to do their part. 

He looks over the translation with a concerned look on his face. He gets the feeling that the messed up shit going on around here is only about to get worse.

"Hey everyone! You should probably all take a look at this. I'm not sure what it means, but someone needs to know about this I think? Hmm, I wonder what artifact they are looking for and who is this girl?"

There is a symbol stamped on the back of the letter, but you don't quite place its meaning.

"This symbol looks disgusting.  the middle part looks like a bug or parasite of some kind.  I see a DNA helix, a rune, a sun, and most creepily, an eye... Someone know ANYTHING about this? Oh man..."

 He seems genuinely confused, which is causing him some irritation lol. 

(can I determine if it is ink or blood? Any way I can use the computer to cross reference the symbols to see if I can derive some meaning, or is that why we need mysticism? 😛 ) 

Unless you have some sort of chemistry kit it would be hard to determine for sure what this is written in, but you can assume it's written in blood, if nothing else, then for the creepy general nature of the whole thing. 

Ow, you're with this lot are you now? What's your pleasure?

And he motions to the assortment of spirits behind him. 

Julius Blackwood watches the party go over various books and documents with a passive curiosity. He wants to ask if any of it relates to the professor, but every time he opens his mouth, he just closes it again. A noise comes from the bar and his head snaps forward to focus on Alton. He shrugs at Alton's question and gives a wry smile.

Depends on your definition of 'with.' We just defeated some kind of Eldritch hellspawn together, if that's what you're asking. I'll have a whiskey, neat. Actually, make it a double, please.

Alton smiles at you and reaches for a bottle of Rye without even looking. The half-empty bottle of smooth brown liquid has a picture of a big-like animal on it and the words "Think Thunk" written in golden embossed ink.

Anything in particular? I think this may may do you well. It's local... or at least was. We used to have a station, Unknown, full of roya crop orbiting Unknown. Mostly used to feed the thunks, but they figured out a way to use the husks to make a rather smooth beverage.

He pauses for a second and continues

I guess it's gonna be pretty rare now...

...Yeah I heard the commotion. Lots of screaming and whatnot. Sounds like it might get packed here with the cafeteria blowing up an all that. Eldritch hell-spawn you say? And you good folks killed it?

Well I suppose this one is on the house then.

He waits for you to motion approval of the drink and dispenses a generous pour.

So if not 'with' these folks, then 'with' who? Unknown nor the rest of Unknown are exactly a place to be alone? You're either working the mines or something that revolves around those who do.

Unless... are you a scientist then?

 Wait, wait, wait, what I wonna know is how he pulled that grenade out of nowhere?

You see an inebriated woman with a purple bob haircut ungracefully placing a tall drink back on the bar in front of her, right next to two empty glasses.

Hey guys! Did you see him shit out a grenade, when those robed dudes were chanting mumbo jumbo back there? 

She looks at the rest of the group as if expecting an answer.

Like he reached down between his legs and bam, an explosive dookie! That's a talent you got there.

And Alton...

She looks back at the bartender,

That's not even the weirdest thing... outside of that giant bloody booger looking thing that like killed everyone... There was a cow in a space suit. A cow man. And it was fighting with a laser sword or some shit. Like a space cow Jedi.

 Julius chuckles into his drink. Shitting grenades -- surprisingly, he hasn't heard that one before. He turns back to Alton.

I guess you could say I'm a recovering scientist. 

He grimaces. That was the nicest way he could think of to say, 'PhD drop-out due to his dissertation completely falling apart.' Still, if he could find Dr. Nathan Perdu, he might have a chance of graduating after all.

I'm looking for a Dr. Nathan Perdu. You haven't heard of him, have you?