1. Journals

S00 - Awakenings

May 10, 2025

Date: 10 Mistfall 983 (Concord Reckoning)
Location: Aboard the spelljammer Starlight, adrift in Wildspace near the Varnak Belt


Opening

The crew wakes amidst wreckage — lungs burning, heads fogged, memory fractured. The Starlight drifts wounded in the void, hull cracked from a recent explosion, magic failing, and smoke coiling through a ragged breach in the ship’s deck. Around them: scattered cargo, drifting embers, and the bodies of the dead.

Discovered Details

  • Ship Damage: Severe hull breach, fading arcane systems, tilted structure. The spelljamming helm is located, damaged but partially functional.
  • Casualties: At least one crew member is confirmed dead. The captain and others are missing. Captain’s logbook is recovered by Prim.
  • Coffin: A sealed arcane transport coffin is found among the main deck cargo. Donny opens it briefly, revealing a preserved, cloth-shrouded humanoid. Label: “Corenthia Avae – Highwater. See Runek Thorpe.”
  • Memory Recovery: Each PC slowly begins recalling fragments of identity, relationships, and roles aboard the ship.
  • Breathstones: A crate of magical Breathstones is found and used to stabilize the crew in the thin air.
  • Ziklight Signal: A light-based signal is spotted in the distance. Rynerm identifies it as Ziklight — a ship-to-ship code. Initial message: “Inquiry… Assistance?” Then becomes: “Inquiry… Completion?”
  • Second Signal: A second light source appears to be responding from the Starlight's lower decks.

Characters & Key Actions

  • Donny: Opens the coffin; begins recovering memories of being rescued by Captain Marris. Finds Prim's broken glasses. Heads below decks seeking the galley and a much-needed sandwich.
  • Finn: Dispenses a paper copy of the Skyweave Forecast upon awakening. Begins analyzing ship systems and assisting awakened crew.
  • Tsukihana: Recalls being a relatively recent hire. Helps assess damage to the ship's helm.
  • Prim: Awakens holding the Captain's Log; only later realizes it isn’t their spellbook.
  • Rynerm: Identifies the Ziklight communication. Recalls he is a passenger, not crew.

Items Recovered (logged here)

Open Questions

  • What caused the explosion aboard the Starlight?
  • Where are Captain Marris and the rest of the crew?
  • Who or what is aboard the lower decks, communicating via light?
  • Who is Corenthia Avae, and why is her body being transported in some sort of special preservation coffin?
  • Who is Runek Thorpe, and what is his relation to the coffin and its contents?

Full Narrative

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Our adventurers awakened aboard a badly damaged spelljammer, adrift in space. Dazed and with shattered memories, they attempted to piece together who and where they were, what they meant to one another, what had happened, and how to stabilize the ship before all was lost.

Through floating embers and smoky air, several facts became apparent:

  • The ship had been heavily damaged in an explosion, and vital systems were failing.
  • At least some of the crew were dead; the rest -- including the captain -- unaccounted for.
  • Debris was scattered on the main deck, along with various cargo including an intact coffin.
  • The ship's spelljamming helm was damaged.

Donny - an extremely hairy Firbolg Barbarian, opened the Transport Coffin to see what was inside - finding a cloth-wrapped corpse and releasing a hiss of arcane preservation magic. At the urging of the others, the coffin was re-sealed. A shipping label was found affixed to the coffin's base, indicating it contained the body of Unknown, and was to be delivered to a contact, Runek Thorpe, in Highwater.

As Donny's memories started to recover, he recalled that the ship's captain has rescued him as a child, and that he'd eventually become crew. Most importantly, he remembered where the galley was, and promptly descended to make himself a sandwich.


Finn - a tall, thin Autognome Artificer, immediately spewed out the Latest Skyweave Forecast (S00) of the Order of Gnomish Astrologers. He also got to work trying to help the others and began to assess the damage.


Tsuki - a Tiefling Rogue, began piecing together that she was a relatively recent crew hire, and that she knew a bit about the ship itself.


Prim - a High Elf Wizard, could barely see, as they'd lost their glasses in the explosion. (Donny found the partially broken lenses on deck.) Knowing innately that they were a spellcaster, they also clutched the book they had awakened holding -- only to drop it later upon discovering it was not their spellbook, but instead a notebook containing the Captain's Final Log.


Rynerm - the last of the group and a Paladin of the Radiant Mandate, recalled that they were a passenger on the vessel rather than crew, but nonetheless tried to assist.


The group ultimately located the damaged helm, and also made another discovery -- a light in the darkness flashing in patterns. Rynerm recognized this as Ziklight - a light-based ship-to-ship communication method. the other ship signalled: 

Inquiry... Assistance?


As the group was debating how to respond, the signal changed:

Inquiry... Completion?


Confused, then concerned, the crew dimmed the ship's already tenuous lighting -- revealing that the light in the darkness was actually communicating with a second light source: one flashing from the lower decks of their own vessel.

Was there an intruder aboard?
A surviving crewmate?

They intended to go find out...