We're seven sessions deep into "Prodigal Outcast" and it has been a blast. The Harrier crew had to find Hwehalokharl who was with his cousin's ihatei group on Borite. After executing a fairly ingenious kidnapping scheme, they low berthed the lad on the Treasure Ship, which—in our campaign—is perched in deep space in hex 2222. They still haven't offloaded that beastly ship. The crew refused to tell Kasiyl where they were storing the young scion of the Yerlyaruiwo clan. Kasiyl's insistance that they sever one of his dewclaws as evidence that they had kidnapped him did little to ingratiate him with the crew.
After parting ways with Kasiyl and assuring him that they would execute the plan—with the intention of restoring Kasiyl's honor and returning him to his exalted position within the Ahroay'if clan—the crew proceeded to Tlaiowaha to seek out Lokharl in order to extort a confession from him. Rock hopping between the various spaceports and hollowed out asteroids of Tlaiowaha Anchorage, they first met Kasiyl's aunt, Fyohierl, who informed them that should they obtain a confession, they should proceed directly to Hkakh to restart the war between the Ahroay'if and the Tokohfealr clans. The look on some of the players' faces when they saw just how far that was from Tlaiowaha was priceless! The chief engineer said, "Oh, we're not going there!" with a tinge of uncertainty in his voice. That's the kind of stuff that makes this campaign great. The scope is big and the adventures span a good portion of the sector. Just when you think you're in for a little side mission, you discover that you've become embroiled in something truly big—which, in this case, is that you now have in your hands the means to create a major clan war.
The group has a visit with Kasiyl's sister, Aual, on their itinerary, and returned to the ship—docked at the main Tlaiowaha orbital starport—to discuss their next steps. Just when they figured they were getting a handle on things, the Syoisuis agents, Tye and Yekh, show up. I added a little wrinkle to the encounter. While the crew was discussing their plans, I had the power plant of the ship flicker due to an ion "attack." After the crew sprinted to the bridge, they discovered the nature of the attack—an ion blast from parts unknown—and also saw that the two Syoisuis assassins were waiting patiently outside their airlock. The crew invited them inside for a chat. Tye did most of the talking, and somehow managed to get the crew to admit that they had kidnapped Hwehalokharl and that they were there to get a confession from his earleatrais father. After the session, one of the players commented, "So, why did we just tell them our entire plan?!" Again, priceless.
What I'm really loving about this adventure is all of the between-game discussion on Discord, the tool we use to manage our campaign. "Prodigal Outcast" is a complex adventure, and I'm loving the immersion that the players are experiencing in the byzantine political plot that they've been inserted into. They're questioning what "honor" truly means when it comes to the Aslan, comparing it to the tendencies of their own character races (we have two humans, one Aslan female, and one Vargr female as PCs). They haven't gotten the confession yet, but they're thinking about what they might attempt to do with it once they have it in hand.
Next up: a meeting with Aual in an attempt to get a more complete picture of what's going on and what the New Horizons faction has to say about the idea of reigniting the clan war that got Kasiyl exiled. I can't wait to see what happens next!
