[SESSION BEGIN]
Following the paper trailer of Leon's cargo, the players have decided to deliver the digging equipment and see where it takes them. Thus they now find themselves aboard the Corvina in orbit around the planet Tantalus in the Gamma Cephi system. For those of you not familiar with the planet Tantalus, it was established in 2130 (Terran calendar) during the first wave of jumpgate colonization. With the advent of FTL travel Tantalus has reestablished contact with the Core planets, but has elected to remain primarily independent.
Most of the crew, including Leon and Allegra, take a shuttle down the surface. However, Cai has been struck ill by the space flu, and remains aboard the ship. They decide to land at New Liverpool, the only city equipped with a spaceport. As they fly above the countryside, they witness a desert of withered plants and depressing shrubs. The flora is anything but vibrant, and the fauna is practically nonexistent. As they approach the city, they spy several plumes of smoke rising from one of its sectors. Otherwise the city looks relatively healthy, resembling any number of Earth cities from the late 21st century.
Having landed at the spaceport, the party is warmly greeted by an immigration officer. When they ask the officer about the smoke rising in the distance he dismisses their concerns and assures them that the emergency services have everything under control and are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of the Harrison district and wouldn’t they rather hear about the fantastic attractions and accommodations available in the Starr district which is on the other side of the city anyways so there’s really no reason to worry about it.
It turns out that the dig site they need to deliver the supplies to is almost a day away by ground travel, and aerospace traffic regulations prevent them from flying there using their shuttle. Furthermore, there are no direct communication links to the site, and the Corvina has no line of sight to the site and thus can’t beam a message to the dig site until it comes back around. The party stores a message in the ship’s comm array to be delivered when the ship comes within range of the dig site, but they won’t have a response for 8-10 hours. (Leon parked in a relatively high orbit)
The party secures rooms at the Diamond hotel (geometric, not mineralogical) and begins to settle in. Pascale and Austin decide to check out the nearby tavern in an effort to learn more about the disturbance in the Harrison district, while everyone else remains in the hotel. Official news sources state that it’s a gang-violence problem, but none of the locals seem to understand how that’s possible. After further questioning, it becomes apparent that New Liverpool has little to no gang activity, so the sudden surge in “gang violence” is implausible.
