Adventure Thirteen: Chimera

https://serendipitymusik.bandcamp.com/track/chimera
 * After a few attempts, Ruth signals the Kalakala using her electricity power as a flare, while P0P1 contacts them over radio.


 * Vania tries to help Jack, but he seems unable to swim while also decomposing piece by piece as if by positive nanotech.


 * The Kalakala is able to pull up, inflicting minor damage on the people in the water, and deploy fan boats to pick us up.


 * We introduce the crew and the Moreaus, bringing Optat and Intuit together with Captain Kackerlacka and quartermaster Michelle White. The Kalakala crew remain suspicious but are convinced by master gunner Saint Barbara, who speaks English with the accent of the Atomac.


 * Intuit interrupts an attempted theft by P0P1 and gives it a talk about ethical behavior.


 * Ruth surreptitiously observes mechanic/cooper Johann Tice after noticing something suspicious. She goes to speak with navigator Patricia Roystom but is stopped from entering the cabin by Captain Kackerlacka, who relents when she convinces him that she is not a civilian. She attempts to discuss Johann’s condition with him, but he discourages her from bringing it up.


 * Alder joins the Moreaus in the living quarters and tries to help them interact with the human civilians by making introductions and also modeling casual conversation and physical contact. She monitors potential conflict and notices Corvo, a Moreau with pale skin and black feathering at her ears who could pass for human, is particularly on edge and susceptible to violence. She does not lose her hostility but agrees to stay separate from the humans. Mel, a Moreau with short striped fur that sweeps back from his head and down his back and arms, is friendlier and able to put humans and other Moreaus at ease.


 * Ship surgeon Monica joins Strahd, Earl, and Vania as they attempt to work on Jack. She realizes that Vania does not know about ghouls and feral ghouls, and explains the degeneration process to her. Strahd explains that the nanotechnology that allows ghouls to process radiation as energy also mimics their neural pathways to replace their brain function and keep them sentient. When the nanotech is gone, the ghoul becomes feral. Strahd believes that the data carried by the nanotech ends up going to The Collective, and Jack is the only one whose data has ever gone and come back into his body.


 * We arrive at the Aklo communication center, where Stan has hidden himself and several stashes of supplies, as he knows he will be targeted, and his base of operations is on the edge of the Foundry’s range. Sally’s Ride is stored out of phase with the rest of the base.


 * Stan says that he has contacts up north at Scorps, formerly Squamish. We crowd onto the Kalakala with Stan, the Sally’s Ride crew, and the Moreaus and sail to Scorps, which is a town built within the corpse of an enormous scorpion. Scorps is known for having enough food to take in refugees, but those who eat more than their share have their skin fall off. We arrive during the Flooding Festival.


 * Stan sets up the transmitter on his backpack and starts YETI radio back up during the trip. He reports the fall of the Science Center and disabling of the slave collars.