Out in the Expanse of known Forge space and even further beyond, there are people there that want to get away from it all. Away from the constant in-fighting and rat-race of human society. Expressing no desire to play the rules of humanity, Beacon focuses on the struggle of man versus nature in an unnatural place, on the hunt for big space Thegame and horrors, far beyond the fringes of society. A real survivalist type, unafraid of anything, not even the harsh nothingness in the cold grasp of the void of space. Out beyond where the space whales fly, in the furthest depths of the Expanse and the Void, where the real monsters are.
Not necessarily a hermit, Beacon does what he can to avoid conflict with big factions. When a Banner family moves into a sector, Beacon moves out. Perhaps he has a past history that makes him feel this way about the Banners. He’s always down to help others survive, especially groups of communities that he admires for their frontiership. He wants to live a good life and die a good death doing what he loves: pushing himself to the limits.
Beacon’s ship, the Midnight Mirror was found as a derelict and rebuilt with stealth in mind. It’s painted what Beacon called, “void black,” and so far it’s kept him out of trouble with Banner families and the errant Keeper patrol. It’s not like there’s much authority out this far, anyways.
Background Vow
I will complete the hunt of a lifetime (Epic)
Path: Vestige
⬛You are all that remains of a people, culture, or tradition. When you Face Death or Face Desolation, memories or visions of your heritage give you the strength to carry on. Envision how this manifests, and reroll any dice. On a strong hit with a match, a surprising new aspect of your heritage is revealed; take +2 momentum and mark 2 ticks on your bonds legacy track.
⬜When you Secure an Advantage or Compel through a tale, performance, or ceremony, envision what you reveal of your legacy. Then, add +1 and take +2 momentum on a hit.
⬜When you Hearten by taking solace in the power of your legacy, add +1 and take +1 momentum on a hit.
Path: Slayer
⬛When you make a move to investigate, track, or stalk a hostile creature, add +1 and take +1 momentum on a hit.
⬜When you Swear an Iron Vow (formidable or greater) to slay a hostile creature in service to a community, reroll any dice. When you Fulfill Your Vow and score a hit, also mark 2 ticks on your bonds legacy track.
⬜When you Enter the Fray with an objective to slay a hostile creature, take +2 momentum. If you choose to face the creature on its own terms as you begin the fight, envision the crucial weapon, protection, or aid you set aside, and set the objective one rank higher. If you Take Decisive Action after making this sacrifice and score a strong hit, take a trophy of your victory and mark 2 ticks on your quests legacy track.
Path: Voidborn
⬛You are most suited to life in the limitless void. When you are in space (or a space-bound vehicle or station), increase your momentum reset by 1. When you enter a planetside or high gravity environment, Lose Momentum (-1).
⬜When you Sojourn or Make a Connection within a spacebound community, add +1. If you Hearten there and score a strong hit, take +1 spirit or +1 momentum.
⬜When you make a move to perform an agile physical maneuver (such as leaping or evading) in a low gravity environment, add +1 and take +1 momentum on a hit. On a strong hit with a match, you build speed or put yourself in perfect position; take another +1 momentum.
Connection: Mars Bolton
Scrap Salvager, Rancher
In the Ebon Hold sector of the Expanse region, a rumor has traveled to neighboring sectors. Strange music over the comm frequencies, eerie and irresistible and most curiously, not human.
After clearing a pack of berserker cats for a settlement in a nearby sector, Beacon is ask to carry out another request: Traders and explorers often bypass the planet in pursuit of the source of the mystery, but never return. Given a set of passage coordinates to the planet Prometheus in Ebon Hold, Beacon is asked to stop the music.
Move: Swear an Iron Vow (Dangerous):
I swear to break the tyrannical siren song of Ebon Hold.
1d6+heart(1)+connection(1)= 8 versus 1 / 5, Strong Hit, +2 momentum
Beacon turned down the offer for Mars to go with him. Beacon traveled alone. He used the numbers to set a course to Prometheus. A free trader that had traveled to the sector had left their coordinates with Mars.
“Easy enough,” Beacon thought.
Move: Set a Course (Prometheus)
1d6+supply(5)= 9 versus 5 / 1, Strong Hit, +1 momentum
Move: Reach a Milestone (Siren Song)
Mark Progress.
Beacon blinked back into real space. The furnace plan was alit, one massive volcano visible from far orbit spewing streams of lave that ran the length of the planet.
“Prometheus. Toxic atmosphere. Low gravity. Unoccupied. Let’s find this mystery signal.”
Beacon set the Midnight Mirror into a holding pattern and turned on the comms while sending a few rudimentary planet scanning probes out.
Move: Gather Information
1d6+wits(2)= 8 versus 9 / 9, Miss with a Match
A new enemy is revealed
The song was beautiful. It was ethereal, otherworldly, as they might have called in on ancient earth, when humans were bound to one planet. It was alien, and it was enchanting. Without realizing it, Beacon leaned close to the speakers of the ship’s dashboard, wanting to hear every detail of the angelic voice as it sang a song for him and him alone. Beacon knew that he needed to get down there.
Beacon set a course directly down to the planet. He didn’t have time for the scans. He didn’t have time for anything. He had to find the angel. He knew that she was waiting. He could picture it in his head.
Lurking out of dradis range, a pair of voidgliders flapped their wings silently, propelled by an unknown force. Piloted by shadowy figures followed the ship at a distance, they stalk the distracted Beacon.
As the ship flew, he put his techsuit on, leaning around the corner to keep an ear in the graces of the angel. The ship landed itself, and Beacon was almost out of the door when he began to think like himself again.
Face Danger:
1d6+wits(2)= 6 versus 9 / 3, Weak Hit
Suffer Move: Endure Stress (-1 spirit)
“The voice almost captured me, too,” he thought, stopping himself just shy of cycling the airlock without any gear or directions. He shut down the comms receiver, and the voice stopped.
Thankfully, the scanners had done their triangulation work and showed that he was close to the strongest point of the signal. Beacon threw a few items into a hardpack, including a few compound mining explosives and a toxic atmokit. He slung his gauss rifle over his shoulder and airlock cycled out of the ship, finding the planet’s surface to be pockmarked with tunnels leading underground.
Beacon frowned. The confined space didn’t suit him.
Asset: Voidborn
-1 momentum
Like it or not, it felt like his best bet. Beacon sucked it up and entered the tunnels.
Move: Face Danger
1d6+heart(1)= 6 versus 6 / 8, Weak Hit
Suffer Move: Lose Momentum (1 momentum)
Beacon entered the tunnels, activating a breadcrumb routine on his techsuit which required him to periodically wait while it crafted a three-dimensional model of the lava tube. It was a security blanket, and Beacon would be embarrassed to have to admit his insecurity and discomfort to anyone else.
“This is why I travel alone.” he thought, struggling to make sense of the diagrams and feeling trapped. After a few hours of this, the techsuit’s helmet visor began to make adjustments to accommodate sources of light in the tunnel. Bending a corner, it opened up to reveal a large cavern where lava flowed down like lethal waterfalls. Ramshackle constructions laid out on the floor below, all under the light put off by a massive and foreign structure.
“One of those Precursor Vaults, no doubt.” Beacon thought, “And probably the source of the music.”
Move: Reach a Milestone
Mark Progress
Beacon realized that he was silhouetted here at the mouth of this tunnel. He crouched and moved slowly to a cliff overhand overlooking this strange village of mismatched buildings. Nobody was moving. He laid in wait, using the gauss rifle’s scope to get a better view and hoping to learn more about what was happening here.
Move: Gather Information
1d6+wits(3) =5 versus 8 / 6, Miss.
The open space is comforting. The high ceiling is out of view, shrouded by a black veil where not even the vault’s light can penetrate. The tumbling lava overwhelms the techsuit’s audio sensors, and by the time Beacon hears the click of a handheld slugthrower placed at the back of his helmet, it’s too late for him to do anything.
“Yer comin’ with us,” the voice says through a helmet speaker. Beacon doesn’t dare make any movements for fear of an itchy trigger finger.
“Okay,” Beacon says, “You got it.”
The only way that I’m getting out of this is by letting them be in charge.
“Leave the rifle,” the voice gruffed, “and take off yer hardpack. Leave it on the ground and stand up, nice and slow,”
Beacon complied, sneaking glances at his ambushers. Muscle. Uniforms. He recognized the emblem. Slater Banner family. He cursed to himself. This must have been their honeypot, a way to draw the curious to this site in hopes of treasure and waylaying them here.
The gears turned in his head. The different buildings below were salvaged, scrap from other victims with airlocks and air filters. Maybe they took slaves. The Slaters were a step above common bandits, smarter and more strategic with their plans and missions. Beacon didn’t think they got out this far, out past the Outlands the number of people’s hard work to steal dwindled drastically.
Beacon decided to try to find out why, asking, “What is this place? Why is everyone coming here?”
The two Slater henchmen exchanged a glance. One said to the other, “Unbeliever.” The other nodded.
The first one, a larger framed man gestured to Beacon to walk, adding, “You’ll be touched by the Angel soon enough, now move.”
Beacon didn’t like this, not one bit. He thought about his best chance to fight, thinking that this terrain may provide the best opportunities. He thought about where to strike first, formulating a plan.
Move: Secure an Advantage
1d6+wits(2) = 6 versus 5 / 2, Strong Hit
+1 on next move, +2 momentum
The larger man had a repaired rip on his suit. Beacon thought that might be the best place to strike first. He kept his hands up, moving in a shuffling motion and stirring up a pile of volcanic ash as he pantomimed falling down. It was all a ruse.
Move: Enter the Fray (Objective: Escape)
Rank: Dangerous
1d6+shadow(1)+2 = 8 versus 5 / 8, Weak Hit
You are in control.
Beacon took advantage of the stirred dust to grab for his rifle where he had left it.
Move: Gain Ground
1d6+edge(3)= 8 versus 5 / 3
Mark Progress, +2 momentum
Whirling and kicking more ash in the air, Beacon grabbed the rifle by the barrel and swung it in a wide arc at where he imagined the larger man’s stomach would be, along with what he hoped was an old wound and sore spot.
Move: Strike
1d6+iron(2)= 3 versus 6 / 2, Weak Hit
Burn 7 Momentum for a Strong Hit
Mark Progress Twice (6/10)
The rifle connected, as heard by a mighty, “Ooof,” through the techsuit’s external microphones, followed by a resounding thump as he hit the floor. Beacon swung the rifle back around, shouldering it and sprinting through the ash back towards where he remembered the tunnel was, hoping to be able to take out the other Slater or to escape down the tunnel.
Move: Gain Ground
1d6+edge(3) = 4 versus 7 / 5, Miss
Lose Control, Pay the Price
Beacon’s movement was cut short as he rushed through the dust cloud he was intercepted by the other Slater thug, their shoulders squarely striking Beacon in the stomach as their arms wrapped around him, driving him towards the edge of the overlook. The edge.
Beacon felts the sensation of freefall, if only for a moment, as he and his assailant crash-landed to the obsidian floor below. A sharp pain shot through Beacon’s leg as he struggled to recover.
Move: Endure Harm (2 harm)
Resist
1d6+health(3) = 4 versus 5 / 5, Miss with a Match
Lose momentum (-2)
Beacon couldn’t stand up. His leg was broken, and he struggled to roll to the side to create some distance between him and the Slater henchman, thinking that his friend might be recovering soon and firing down on them. He needed to get to cover. He grabbed his gauss rifle and began to crawl away, wincing in pain as he did so.
Move: React Under Fire
1d6+edge(3) = 4 versus 8 / 6, Miss
The situation worsens. Pay the Price.
Endure Harm (1 harm)
There was cover, but it was entirely too far away from Beacon to have any chance of crawling to it. Overhead, the larger framed Slater man was taking potshots at Beacon with a laser pistol. One connected, searing through the flesh on Beacon’s left bicep. The techsuit worked to repair the breach, but the burning flesh was Beacon's to deal with. From a position on his back, Beacon lifted the gauss rifle, snapping it to his target and taking only minimal precautions to aim
Move: Clash
1d6+edge(3) = 8 versus 7 / 6, Strong Hit.
Mark Progress Twice (10/10). You are in control.
The energy built up and discharged, powering a tungsten slug through the air and into its target. The Slater man tumbled from the overhang, his body landing with a sickening slurch as their head made contact with the hard ground. Beacon used the rifle as a crutch, helping him to stand up looking down on the remaining henchman who had tackled him from the ground. It had taken a lot out of him, too.
Beacon shouldered the rifle and pointed it at the other man. Through the techsuit’s speaker, he spoke, “Since you extended the offer to me, I will do it to you, too. Discard your weapon and you can live.”
Move: Take Decisive Action
10 Progress versus 4 / 2, Strong Hit
+1 momentum
The henchman reached under his side and tossed a broken laser pistol aside with a metallic clang. “Please,” he begged, “Don’t hurt me. We only are here to stop the Unbelievers.”
“You keep saying that like it’s supposed to mean something to me,” Beacon said, “I’m just here for the radio.”
“Oh, so you too have heard our broadcasts,” asked the henchman enthusiastically, “The Angel’s voice reaches the stars.”
“So the Slaters are broadcasting some sort of holy message, or so they think.”
Move: Reach a Milestone
Mark Progress (6/10)
“Yeah, it’s a real siren song. Everyone comes here and what, you kill them and take their stuff?” Beacon said, gesturing at the shantytown of mismatched ship parts.
“No, no,” the Slater said, “This is only the beginning of our journey. This is the work. We prepare a fleet. All who accept Angel’s message are spared. The rest are an offering.”
“An offering? Surely not…”
Beacon began to hobble forward, offering up a lie, “You’re going to take me to the broadcast. I want to see the Angel.”
Move: Compel
1d6+shadow(1) = 4 versus 1 / 7, Weak Hit
Envision a complication
The Slater frowned, “But how do I know that you are a Believer?”
Beacon muttered some bullshit in an attempt to assuage the henchman, “Well, you’re alive aren’t you? Does the Angel offer any protection? You think your friend back there ran foul of her grace?”
He didn’t look persuaded, “Leo and I were supposed to be the screen. You are the first to have resisted. That you are here could be a sign of your strength and usefulness for the Angel”
Beacon was fed up. Talking wasn’t his strong point, “I’m sorry, can we please just fuckin’ go? I want to hear the Angel again.”
This seemed to work. The other man started to walk towards the shantytown, and Beacon hobbled behind him. The first building they passed looked to be the cargo hold of a much larger ship, the rest of the ship stripped away and done with elsewhere. As they walked, Beacon thought about the Slater’s operation here.
Move: Gather Information
1d6+wits(2) = 3 versus 1 / 7, Weak Hit
+1 momentum, envision a complication
The henchman, whose name Beacon refused to ask or care about, kept talking as they walked, his story about the first time that the Slaters had discovered the Angel here in the vault.
“We followed her voice through the labyrinth after we had an emergency landing here. It was so beautiful, and Derya knew that we would have to share it with everyone. Only Derya has seen the Angel.”
Beacon racked his brain, “Derya of the Slater family…I know that one. Bounty Hunter. Ace Pilot. Dangerous. Another fight that I can’t afford to take right now.”
Finally, they had arrived at the broadcast source, an enormous structure that seemed to radiate and shimmer through the plexisteel windows, a bright light coming from within. Beacon noted the long cable that snaked upward through one of the lava tubes, no doubt to a transmitter. Beacon thought about it, and knew that it would be necessary for him to blow whatever the hell was in there without exposing himself to it.
“Listen, uhh,” Beacon realized that he still hadn’t gotten the henchman’s name, “I don’t know if I’m ready to hear the Angel directly. It’s all a lot to take in. Do me a favor and take this inside, and I’ll be in. I’m gonna say a prayer.”
Beacon took off his canvas backpack that had the explosives inside and handed it to the henchman.
Move: Compel
1d6+shadow(1) = 3 versus 2 / 1, Weak Hit.
+1 momentum, envision a complication
The henchman was perplexed. “Not ready? Please, I’ll ask Derya. She can determine if you are ready.”
“Okay,” Beacon said, “I’ll wait out here. Need to rest my leg, you know?”
The henchman nodded, taking the backpack and opening the airlock to the building. Beacon noticed that the henchman had lifted his hand to his ear, his finger tapping a comms transmitter doubtless embedded in his ear. Beacon watched him disappear inside and smiled as he looked about for an advantageous position.
“The explosives are inside. I can remotely detonate them,” he thought to himself as he hobbled across the avenue between outbuildings.
Move: Reach a Milestone
Mark Progress
“How many ships have they tricked?” he thought to himself as he climbed atop a repurposed lifeboat and did his best to lay low. He ducked behind a groove and pulled up his commpad to remotely detonate the explosives, hopefully taking out the broadcast equipment inside.
Move: Fulfill Your Vow
8 progress versus 9 / 9, Miss with a Match
Reroll challenge dice and reduce progress by lower result = 10 / 1, Vow Upgraded to Formiddable and now at 7 Progress
Beacon pressed the button on his commpad to detonate the explosives. Nothing happened. He pressed it again, and again, but nothing. A face appeared on the commpad.
“Well, hello there,” it said, as a woman with an eyepatch appeared on the display screen, “You would try to silence the Angel with such violence? No, I don’t think it will be that easy for you. We’re coming for you. You’ll make a worthy sacrifice.”
Beacon, lying prone atop the repurposed lifeboat, replied calmly, “Good luck,” before turning the device off and taking his Gauss rifle from the techsuit’s magnetic back holster. He drew a bead on the building across the street. Two figures moved inside, their presence silhouetted against the muted frost of the plexisteel’s shade tech.
Beacon took aim at one of the figures, trying to remember if the plexisteel offered displacement against a shot like this.
Move: Secure an Advantage
1d6+wits(2) = 8 versus 6 / 9, Weak Hit
+2 Momentum
Beacon recalled that plexisteel did have a thickness that might alter the course of the tungsten slug from his gauss rifle, but couldn’t remember the exact math. He dialed up the intensity, hoping that it would be strong enough to punch through the durable material. He took his best guess and fired a shot, hoping to take out Derya or the henchman, whichever one that it was.
Move: Face Danger
1d6+edge(3)= 9 versus 5 / 9, Weak Hit
+1 momentum, envision a complication
The magnetically accelerated round rifled its way through the barrel, leaving the weapon with the entire battery’s worth of force behind it. It burrowed through the plexisteel and made its mark, shattering the window and letting loose not only a brilliant light from inside but also the most beautiful voice that he had ever heard, again.
Beacon could barely make out the shape of his target as it fell to the ground and didn’t move. Beacon’s head was swimming with a cacophony of listless feelings beckoning him to come closer to the source of the noise.
Move: Reach a Milestone
Mark Progress
Beacon tried to remember the reason that he had come to this place. It was about the voice wasn’t it? He slung his rifle and lowered himself down from his perch, scarcely noticing the shooting pain in his leg as he landed and approached the building, directly towards the window that he had shattered. The light was brilliant from within.
He took a hold on the window sill, his fingers slicing on the glass as he pulled himself through. The henchman that had escorted him here earlier was in the process of trying to stand up, a task made difficult by the three-inch hole in his back where the tungsten slug had left a nasty exit wound. Still, he rose and faced Beacon, who was moving with a stupor about the room, soaking in the sights. The henchman said nothing.
Beacon could see that this structure was home to broadcast equipment, including a microphone positioned next to a three-foot-tall monument with a fork at the top. The fork vibrated and was the source of the light in this room, the black iron casting a shadow of light. Beacon looked about for his explosives, only half remembering his objective. He saw the pack on a table, the explosives disconnected from the comms receiver, and laid out in a neat manner.
“There was someone else…Derya, wasn’t it? Where is she?” Beacon thought as he looked back at the henchman, who continued to stand there with a blank expression. Beacon grabbed his backpack and looked inside for the timer device, vaguely aware that he needed to act. He took the timer and attached it, thinking that he was giving himself enough time to be clear of the blast as he put the explosive back on the table.
Move: Reach a Milestone
Mark Progress
Move: Face Danger
1d6+wits(2) = 7 versus 10 / 5, Weak Hit
+1 momentum, envision a complication
Beacon began to make his way back through the shattered window, but felt a forceful shove as something landed on top of him, knocking him to the ground. He scarcely had time to turn over and realize that it was Derya with a crazed, euphoric look on her face, as she said, “Not so fast! You’ve given me a miracle, the Angel has plans for you!”
She grabbed at Beacon, trying to bring him into a bear hug. Beacon knew that he needed to leave, and now. He did his best to shove Derya back so that he could flee through the shattered window, knowing that the explosives would detonate soon.
Move: Face Danger
1d6+iron(2)=3 versus 9 / 2, Weak Hit
+1 momentum, envision a complication
Beacon shoved her away and stumbled backwards towards the structure’s exit, tumbling back through. He struggled to his feet when she emerged through the hole, diving after him, “No! Reborn! We will be reborn, and we will journey through the stars together! The Angel has spoken, and we will be her Heralds!”
“The explosion, it will come soon. I’ve got to get away.”
Beacon fought the intense pain and struggled to his feet, hoping to flee clear of the blast and the crazed Slater merc who was intent on dragging him to hell with her.
Move: Face Danger
1d6+edge(3) = 7 versus 10 / 3, Weak Hit
+1 momentum, envision a complication
Move: Fulfill Your Vow
9 progress versus 6 / 8, Strong Hit
The explosion sounded throughout the obsidian cavern, throwing Beacon to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. He was thankful for the techsuit’s smart sensors that spared his ears from the explosion by automatically cutting off the microphone of the outside world.
When Beacon pulled himself to his feet and looked back at the building that had housed the undoubtedly Precursor artifact. Smoke was beginning to pour out through the holes in the structure, the flames the only source of light currently. On the ground nearby was Derya, silent but apparently still breathing.
Beacon pulled himself to the same lifeboat that he had climbed atop earlier and sat with his back to the structure, taking a moment to soak everything in and breathe.
Move: End a Session
Move: Develop a Relationship (Mars Bolton)
Mark Progress
Next Session’s focus: Examining the artifact, figuring out what to do with Derya
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