After days of waiting for their rendezvous with Boatswan Tarto, the Flighty Foundling met up with the party and their tyrant ship. A rope bridge was secured between the two vessels allowing people and goods to be transferred.
The party was surprised to find not only Tarto but also Saerthe Abizin and a new addition to their party: The astral elf Kevin, a former asteroid miner who joined the Academy around the same time as the rest of the party.
The party was distrustful of the new recruit after just being betrayed by another cadet. They were just as distrustful of Tarto, but ultimately intuited that she was the genuine article.
With Tarto taking over command of the mission and Saerthe taking the helm, the party continued on to H’Catha to complete their mission. Once they arrived at the base of the Spindle, they quickly found the impact site of the adamantine meterorite. Almost as quickly, they found tracks indicating that the meterorite had been dragged into a nearby cave.
The party followed the trail. Cautiously looking in, they found a pair of spectators telepathically arguing over the right to guard the meteorite amidst a small group of gazers and a nearby ogre. The spectators noticed the party entering and summoned them to come settle their dispute.
Attempts were made to persuade the spectators to leave the meteorite to the party. Eventually, they reasoned that the spectator who got their first should be the one to guard it. At that time, Idakath riled up the ogre to attack the remaining specator. The spectator used its psychic abilities to send the ogre away.
The spectator shooed the party on, but the party didn’t leave. As the spectator was getting frustrated and readying to attack, Kevin chimed in and convinced the spectator that the meteorite was not adamantine but a lookalike known by miners as “stinkrock” due to its smell. An illusion smell was cast to make the lie more convincing, and it was successful. With the cavern empty, and Kevin proving himself a boon to the party, they got the meteorite into the bag of holding given to them by Tarto and returned to the ship.
The party, and its new commanding officer, dared to hope the trip home would be the easy part. It was until an asteroid’s presence pulled the tyrant back into cruising speed. The party went to the hollow deck for a visual but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary until it was too late. They were set upon by a githyanki warrior riding on a star lancer.
The githyanki was there to retrieve Miken. The party couldn’t convince her that he wasn’t on the vessel, and she attacked. Charlie scared the star lancer in such a way that the githyanki was bucked off its back, then it fled the scene. Outnumbered and unable to retreat, the githyanki surrendered in response to Tarto’s arrival.
The party pressed the githyanki, Qitru, for information on who sent her and inquired about the tattoo on her hand, the same sigil they had seen on the metal plates used during previous sabotage attempts.
The githyanki told the party what Tarto already figured: Qitru held rank with Vocath, the person Miken only knew as “the mercane.” (Mercanes are a blue-complexioned giant species who are generally astral merchants who are fair in their dealings.) She explained that Vocath has a base in the Doomspace region, and that her tattoo gives her security clearance and communications abilities within that base.
With their newest prisoner in custody, the party made it back to Toril without further issues. After finally making it back to the Academy, Tarto told them to get some rest and offered drinks on her tab at the Weeping Goddess.
Next chapter: Spelljammer 2022 – Session 06, 2023-01-18