The Path Of Life

Cockpit

Dr. Nathan Perdu, a dark haired man, no more than 30, flips switches eagerly on the kaleidoscope of colors in front of him, The dashboard on this shuttle, simple under normal times, proves confusing. He fumbles with his fingers for the auto-docking procedure. His large brown eyes, set in a head too wrinkled and troubled for his age, skip from side to side. His head darts back as if the emptiness of the ship behind him held more than the thin cold air.

Radio,

"Go ahead and dock at anchor B please."

His winces as a slender hand gently rests on top of the his shoulder. The fingers slowly run down the arm and rest on top of the mans hand, easing a tremble that has been there for days.

A gentle female voice coos melodically into his ear,

"Right there, on the top, where it's always been. hm hm Don't you worry. Don't you fret. The end is not here yet."

His right index finger finds the target as he sighs with relief.

Computer,

"Autodock on"

The man responds to the radio,

"Roger that. Coming about."

His voice is deep and horse, tired. Very tired. The kind of tired that makes one confused as to when eyes are open and when they are not.

Man,

"Thank you"

That last bit, barely audible. A whisper, more to himself or perhaps something else. 

Command Deck

A rather large and tall man in a captain's uniform looks over the shoulder of the docking controller, then places eyes onto his new security.

"The man is in a hurry! Alright, let's welcome our guest then. Draven, let the man in, will ya."

The docking doors open from the inside, through an airlock. This particular entrance requires a short EVA (extravehicular activity).

The man reaches out his hand as he walks out of the airlock, looking to grasp Draven's forearm in a welcoming manner.

His hand seems weak and unsure, like his body isn't able to fully follow through with what is likely an earnest attempt. He looks hurried and frazzled.

"Can you please take me to the captain?"

I am expecting a shuttle to come by very soon to pick him up and he doesn't want to miss it.

You show him to the captain and he asks for a word in private, which the captain obliges. The two of them step to the side. Their voices are inaudible.

Draven, you feel a slight delicate caress. Perhaps a finger quickly moving from one side of your back to another. Time slows.

You notice a difference in the room. As you look around you notice that something feels off about the atmosphere. The various staff, typically focused and busy seem to be just sitting there staring into spaces in front of them. The various alerts and prompts on their screens, seemingly unattended. Some of the staff make very low groans, coughs, and gasps, just a bit more than usual.

A few minutes pass. Long minutes. The captains face shows concern and incredulity. The man seems intense. The uneasy feeling about the room grows. One of the staff seems to go faint and has to rest himself on a console. A number of the staff seem to have barely noticeable nosebleeds and are beginning to murmur to each other. You feel your own nose is a little wet. A few audible gasps spread around the room.

Dr. Nathan Perdu quickly makes his way down, towards the reception area on lower levels.

A sharp pain spreads through your head and makes you drop to your knees. The captain catches a hold of you, concerned. A loud scream startles both you back into the moment. Both of you look around the deck as one of the crew looks to you in terror as another crew member bites off a big chunk of meat from his shoulder.

A door downstairs hisses closed. 

Then another scream, cut short. A young woman whimpers and, who you knew to be a flight analyst, stands behind her and slices her neck open, then licks it slurping down the blood. You knew this man. You've eaten lunch together. Now it seems, his tastes have changed. Before you know it, the whole deck is in chaos as the crew viciously attack each other. You stand there frozen in disbelief as everything seems to stop. What was a cacophony of agony turns still and silent as  everyone, with bloody mouths and hands looks at you and the captain.

The captain pushes you back putting himself between you and the crew and yells. 

"Get downstairs NOW! Warn the others." 

You know very well that you will not be able to fight off the whole crew. You run to the lower deck where three doors welcome you. One to the reception area, the other to the abattoir, and the third wide open, which leads to the farm.

Suddenly an alarm blares and all doors get illuminated red, except for the one that is still open. You hear the crew start making their way to you. 

Corridor

You run to the corridor and lock the door behind you, jamming the lock, right as the cannibal crew seem inches away. You hear them pounding on the door. 

The door to the farm is jammed.

The pounding on the command deck door gets louder as you hear screams, groans, and howls. You realize that what was just a little nosebleed has turned into a gusher as your head throbs and pounds with pain. The blood get into your mouth and you gag as the surprisingly lumpy texture chokes you.

The corridor gets darker, your vision narrows, as you gasp on the floor until just a speck of light remains in front of you. All is black and quiet now, but this spec of light dances an ebbs, until that too goes away and you are all alone with no sensations, no desires, no worries. Just you in this nothingness.

Reception

Dr. Nathan Perdu is running through reception on the lower decks. He is gasping for air.

Somewhere in the distance the sound of a chainsaw echoes and mingles with scream and pleading for mercy. The lights flicker on and off as the man finally reaches a corridor to the shuttle docks.

He reaches to open the door, but it won't budge. As the malevolent yells and hoots echo throughout, the man whimpers and collapses, sliding down the corridor wall with his back.

He takes out a Photo of a woman and a young girl from his pocket and what looks like a small figurine (Mind Cage). He looks at the photo, tears wetting his cheeks. Through blurry eyes, he turns his gaze upon the figurine and studies it for a minute with hesitation. He takes a few quick breaths as if psyching him self up. The scene cuts to black.

Newcomers

The scene turns to a docking bay where a new shuttle clamps tight around a big thick door. The door opens and six startled and confused people slowly, cautiously make their way inside...

Farm

Read with She Want Revenge - Tear You Apart in the background, let music play out. 

A woman walks carelessly across a metal sky bridge overseeing the top level of the Roya crop used to feed the Thunks slaughtered at the abattoir. Click clack, her heels echo on the metal as she leisurely walks to a little overseers' room, situated in the middle of the walkway. There, she is met by a young woman with a purple bob haircut, green mechanic's overalls and black work boots. The young woman, busy in the middle of repairing a harvester drone is a bit startled. She looks up, the purple of her hair sweeping across her face as she says.

Hemva,

"Hey, who are you?"

A smile comes across the older woman's face as she tongues her lips and answers,

"Isn't that just the most interesting question?"

Read to the How The West Was Really Won 

Like a groggy being just coming to consciousness, the scene slowly grows from blurry darkness into focus on black work boots and legs in green overalls slowly making their way down a corridor. 

Clap… clap… the leisurely pace makes its way through corridors, moving right past a long smear of a bloody trail ending in pool of blood. Screams and primal shouts echo somewhere not too far away. 

The walk continues past doors and airlocks, then more hallways, then passes a dead body laying lifeless, large pits of its flesh torn out, bitten out.  Desperate pleas for mercy sound out only to be met by gleeful, ravenous, yet all to human voices, then gurgled screams. 

Clap… clap… Not even a semblance of reaction from the walker. Not until they reach one dark corridor, stop, turn towards it and walk a few more steps until a slumped body of a man with black short hair, Dr. Nathan Perdu comes in to view. The camera continues to get closer.

A deep alien voice, seemingly attached to the walker sounds, 

“The coward is dead. He won’t be a problem anymore. Go ahead with phase three. This whole place will go down soon. The sacrifice is progressing gloriously. I’ll hitch a ride down soon. Meet me back on the surface as we agreed ...and make sure not to lose his daughter.”

The boots turn around and walk off. And the camera slowly turns to the man’s hands, which are holding a figurine, a data pad with dim, barely readable text saying 

“message sent. encrypting” 

and a Photo of a woman and a young girl of a smiling woman and a young girl, A'aret Perdu.

After Unknown crash land, they are greeted by a baby Unknown that is actively attacking a turned over vehicle and its occupants, Seer Gaael and girl she's escorting, who the group later learns was A'aret Perdu. The crash harms the worm making it easier to defeat and the party proceeds to help the woman and child make their way back to town.

Extreme weather makes the journey challenging but manageable. The group is almost in the clear when they are trapped in a sand avalanche that was triggered by Ziritsa NaDoldor, while she was deploying a seismic sensor for Dr. Kathryn Lizzaro and the local Unknown. The sand avalanche and some local fauna force Unknown into an underground cave, as they are separated from Saider, Hemva, Seer Gaael, and A'aret Perdu.

Walls ebb with fluids and acids lines the floors and the cave turns out to be alive; part of some much larger being trapped beneath the sands. Making their way through the cave the party rescues Proph3t, who was trapped within a fluid-filled sack in stasis for unknown period of time as well as Joylee, who's team not long got trapped in as well.

While in the cave the party runs into a trapped, calcified, yet somehow alive Unknown, which communicates with them telepathically. The creature warns Unknown about "her" and a grave danger that the whole planet is in.

Fighting their way through the cave and its inhabitant the party manages to escape and make their way to Unknown.

The scene opens to High Seer Nalliv's face, darkly illuminated by an overhead light in otherwise dark spacious room,

“So dear, tell me. How did you come to be with that group that stumbled out from the desert?”

His face is calm and composed, kind even… If it wasn’t for the splatter of fresh blood on his left cheek that is now starting to make its way down in 2 red trickles that slowly drip from his sun-bleached beard.

A voice answers:

“Please, haven’t done anything. We were just going to the mine to check on their comms.”

With a look of concern on his eyes, High Seer Nalliv reassures the voice.

“Of course, please. Don’t worry. No one is blaming you for anything.”

His eyes focus just a bit and a slight squishing sound can be barely heard, quickly drowned out by Joylee’s voice, higher now, stifling a squeak…

 “No, please. Please we were sucked into the sinkhole. It was dark and strange. And then my hand got caught to the floor. It was all so terrible. Please! No.”

High Seer Nalliv’s shoulders turn slightly askew as he seems to exert some effort and pull on something. 

“You see this is much easier now. I told you we would be able to talk more honestly. Tell me more about this place.”

A slight smile of accomplishment come to High Seer Nalliv’s face as whatever he’s been pulling seems to loosen. A sound of a metal pan resonates throughout the space.

The woman sobs,

“The walls were alive. I swear. And then a man came. He tried to shoot me. I screamed and… oh god, the slimily arms came out of the walls and just tore him to pieces. Then more people came and somehow they cut me loose and this awful thing just emerged out of the walls and started to attack everyone.”

High Seer Nalliv turns behind him and pulls on a chain.

Joylee screams: 

“Aahhh. Please no. Stop.”

There is no reaction on the man’s face, except for slight show of effort in continued pulling.

“Ok, so how did they get there?”

Silence

“Ow come now dear, you have to stay with me.”

He moves out of frame towards the voice. Thirty seconds pass before he comes back.

The woman’s voice is tired now. 

“I don’t know. They were nice. They helped me back across the desert to the town. Why are you doing this?”

“Pragmatism dear. Pragmatism. Your eyes were not meant to see those things, is the point of it. Not yet. It messes up my timeline and I like when things go according to plan. I’ll admit…”

His lips tighten and his eyes narrow, revealing, just for a second, annoyance. Then his face, just as quickly calms and a slight smile appears on his lips. The camera slowly pans showing the space to be a large meat locker, with dead, skinned animals hanging on hooks.

“Where are the “good people” now dear?”

The camera continues to slowly pan onto a metal table, showing a sizable metal tray with freshly cut meat in it.

The woman voice is low now. Almost a whisper.

“No. I won’t...”

“Well I suppose the inn would make most sense. You are not saving anyone. That’s not your purpose here.”

His voice joyfully picks up. The camera continues to pan onto Joylee’s body, stung up and quartered with four chains. Her flesh is almost entirely flayed and pieces of her muscle cut out. Her head hangs down, drained of energy as blood trickles onto a sizable pool on the floor that empties into a drain.

“I can’t wait to try this new recipe.”

He yells out.

“Burton! Take this and put it in the fridge! Time to take out the cookbook! We’re going to have guests for dinner.”

A large dark man walk up and takes the metal dish.

“Yes boss.”

The camera quickly pans back to where High Seer Nalliv was standing, but in his place a beautiful woman is standing.

“And here…”

She hands him a vial of Black Ichor.

“Be generous.”

The scene fades to black and opens to at a large, lavish dinner table. High Seer Nalliv, Seer Gaael, and six guests sit around, busy in excited conversation. As they eat the camera pulls back showing the whole room and the glowing runes at the back of every character’s chair.

Unknown accept a dinner invitation from High Seer Nalliv and are treated to a banquet full of meat and fresh produce in what is otherwise a rather arid desert. This makes the Unknown suspicious. Curious of what is being done at the daily mass, Unknown request to participate. A request is enthusiastically welcomed by the priest. 

Unbeknownst to the Unknown, High Seer Nalliv was using the dinner as a ruse to perform a ritual on the unwitting party. As they gorged on pieces of Joylee, runes glowed beneath their seats.

At mass an offering of meat is provided and ritualistically eaten by the worshippers and something the High Seer Nalliv says make the Unknown more suspicious,

"Life is everything. But, life brings death and death bring life. Thus through death we celebrate life. Take this offering, live, and transcend."

Unable to brush their suspicions to the side, Unknown decide to infiltrate the temple at night. Once there, they run into a young woman who unleashes three Unknowns onto the group. Jealous of life remaining in Unknown, the horrific floating baby skulls sap the characters of time. However the characters prevail and push further into the temple, breaking into High Seer Nalliv's office, where they trigger a trap and find:

• Eldritch Scroll (Husk)
• Black Ichor
• Resonant Frequency Response of Hyperfolds in Space-time
• Shimmer (Pills and a Jar of powder)

Curiously, the office was connected to a kitchen, where a cook was busy preparing a meal. Untrusting of the meal's contents, the Unknown storm the kitchen and the connected meat locker where they face off with the chef.

However, looking around they realize that the meat locker had more than animal flesh. Human bodies were hung from meat hooks like cattle and in the middle, flayed and splayed with your chains, was Joylee, begging them for death.

Behind Joylee was the cook, who bulged and ripped through his skin to reveal a horrific mutated creature full of puss, bile, and and sharp blades grafted directly onto its arms. 

After a tough fight that claimed Lee's life, the Unknown search the macabre basement and what appear to be holding cells. In them they discover Hemva  who was imprisoned in one of the cells as well as signs that A'aret Perdu, the girl they helped escort across the desert, was recently imprisoned in another cell, as her name was written in blood its wall.

The party also find a young man, naked and vulnerable, on a cold metal table, Leo Alvi. It appeared that this unfortunate young man has been operated on towards some dastardly purposes, as a long line of stitches ran down his entire body from belly to sternum.

They also find a shrine of Shub-Niggurath and:

• Temple Letter
• Necronomnomnom
• Black Ichor
• Xalorgub Eggs

Before making it out of the temple Unknown experience weightlessness followed by the rumble of rocket engines. The party runs out to see that the top of the temple takes off into the air.

As Unknown leave the temple, a part of it takes off into the air and flees Unknown. On their way out, they are witnessed by Isabelle Chaude, who was observing the event out of the balcony of the Unknown. Before long, she invites the group to see her and asks them to aid her by going to Unknown and retrieving her property out of its depths. She tells them they will know what it is when they see it. 

She informs the party that a few weeks ago communication from Unknown has stopped and although two security details have been dispatched, no word has returned.

Isabelle Chaude is not the only one asking Unknown for help. Curious about what the Unknown's patron Alton is hiding in his closet, the characters decide to double down on their nightly exploits and sneak around the establishment to find out. The closet turned out to be a secret entrance into Unknown's local hideout where they found a book titled Star Signals and met Dr. Joseph Hromongen, who requested that the group report on any findings as he fears that there is an existential level anomaly, known as a Keter class event, unfolding on the planet.

As Unknown spend a few nights recovering from the events, they realize that something followed them from the temple and as now proceeding to torment their nights. Desire to get away from their nightmares makes departure from Unknown that much more appealing.

However, High Seer Nalliv and the Unknown appeared to have one more thing planned. As detailed in the Temple Letter, the cult was planning one more thing as Blood Sacrifice is set off in Milhaven killing many. Before Unknown could depart they were targeted by a suicide bomber while the town square was covered in a giant pool of blood which congealed into a nightmarish ooze that proceeded to turn everyone mad and skewer the remaining victims as it sucks them dry. Through considerable effort, the party manages to disrupt the Unknown ritual and save the town. After searching one of the Unknown, they discovered a key, which allowed them to read the Necronomnomnom. 

The party can't enjoy the victory for long as it quickly becomes apparent that the night stalker has not relented and Unknown hurry out of Unknown and onto Unknown.

To travel to Unknown, Unknown are provided with three dune buggies by Damien Sted on the behest of Isabelle Chaude. On their journey to Unknown Unknown discover that two of the buggies were rigged to attract a Unknown. Only Leo Alvi, Apo11o, and Hemva were spared the pursuit. The rest of the group were faced with a fight for their lives, half inside the gullet of the giant creature, the other half desperately fighting it on the outside.

The party manages to defeat the Unknown, but not without cost. The sabotage has cost Proph3t his life.

Beleaguered Unknown trudge the rest of their way to Unknown on foot.

Party arrives at Mine 42 only to be faced by the Unknowns that have been haunting them from another dimension. After consuming Shimmer the party is finally able to see their assailants and meet them on even terms. However, the view into another dimension exposes Unknown to horrors beyond their dreams causing a heavy toll on their sanity.

After dispatching the Unknowns, the party heals up. But, before resting, Unknown decide to investigate the ominous structure perched on the edge of the giant hole that is the shaft that leads into Unknown. Inside they find Pye Fokes who they wake out of her reverie. A seasoned cultist, Pye Fokes is angered by the infidels and proceeds to make short work of them until Ziritsa NaDoldor manages to convince her that Unknown are really interested in joining Unknown. Convinced, the cultist decides to leave the group by so that she could prepare the proper rituals.

Thankful to be alive, Unknown decide that after being awake for days, it is time to finally sleep. However, upon waking Hemva discovers that Jaelin Nighlock is gone, with footprints pointing to him jumping off into the mine shaft. Seemingly he has committed suicide, which is out of character of the person they knew.