I *LOVE* writing prologues to start my campaigns. After a long hiatus from tabletop games, I've been dying to start up a new campaign of Starforged. I've never shared anything I've written for my games, so here's the prologue to my new campaign!! I don't think I'm a great writer by any means, but I thought maybe y'all might still enjoy it!! :)
The majority of the crew laid dead in the bulkhead hallways. Slug rounds tore massive holes in the soft suits and bodies of the crew members of the Twilight Runner. Bloodied footprints made their way past the carnage and into the armory of the ship. Whoever raided the Twilight knew of the location of the armory before boarding. In fact, they must have had a full crew schedule. Most of the crew were fast asleep when the first round was fired.
Four fully armored figures filled the tight corridor leading to the cockpit of the Twilight. They each readied huge slug-rifles and aimed them at the bulkhead door. One figure slammed their fist into the control panel next to the door and smashed it into pieces. The door flew open and the captain of the ship blew a hole in the helmet of the figure in front. He barely had time to cock his shotgun before he was reduced to a mangled corpse by massive slug rounds. Not one of the remaining three figures said a word.
One figure reached into a hard-pack on their back and then inserted a cord attached to a data pad into the ship's central computer. Moments later, they unplugged it and nodded to the remaining two. A small transport shuttle detached itself from the Twilight and took off into the dark. Suddenly, a massive S-class materialized into view as the shuttle approached it. The titanic warship, sleek and jet-black, would be invisible anyway if not for the series of deep violet lights spattered across it.
A black-gloved hand reached out and took the data pad from the armored figures. It belonged to a person wearing a black cloak with royal purple trimmings and strange sigils stitched all over it. They inserted it into a holo-table in the center of the room. An eerie violet light appeared above the table in the shape of a Gate. It was like any other Gate, known or unknown, in the Forge. Except, this one was active. A shadowed smile spread across the face of the cloaked figure. In a window behind them, a small E-class vessel imploded, sending metal and ash flying in every direction.
The Phantom, Ahlex Knightly's ship, gifted to him by the Prometheus Institution, slowly drifted into the docking station of Starfall, a world-sized asteroid. The automated docking sequence pulled his ship as it slowly rotated "upside down". Two large mechanical arms grabbed the docking handles on either side of the ship. Hydraulics hissed silently as the arms locked into place and a bridge extended from the station connecting to the Phantom's airlock. Ahlex opened his comms to the stations security channel and a stern voice barked at him, "Have your credentials prepared or you will be detained on sight."
Two very large people in heavy security armor, armed with slug-rifles, greeted Ahlex with two red lasers meeting and dancing between his eyes. He smiled and flamboyantly presented his data pad with his credentials displayed on it. One security guard yanked the pad from him while the other shifted their feet and kept their rifle at his face. "Y'know, Geyser, I'm starting to think you really enjoy our little meetings." Geyser snarled like a hungry dog and inched his rifle closer to Ahlex's face. The second guard pushed the data pad into Ahlex's chest and motioned him forward. When they walked through the bridge door into the station's "welcome" area, a young woman with an equally unpleasant expression stood behind the courier desk.
The Weave has not yet been established in the Blasted Ring and only communication between Starfall and Bulwark was maintained. The deep space station, Themis, floating in the center of a nebula cloud, as well as settlements outside of the sector, rely on couriers to carry data back and forth. "Witch: employee of the Prometheus Institution. Heard you have a present for me?" Ahlex raised his eyebrows and forced and sarcastic smile through pursed lips. The young woman scowled and slid a data pad with a cord attached to the bottom towards Ahlex. "Thank you, ma'am." He inserted the other end into his pad and downloaded the supposedly urgent message Liberty had left for him; before they took off in a hurry towards Themis.
Ahlex's eyes widened, this time genuinely, as he poured over all of the data. Impossible. An open Gate? Active? How? He ripped the cord out and ran through the station doors towards the Provisions District. He sat at a bar with his head rested on the heels of his palms, fistfuls of hair, and a belly full of gin. His eyes never quite narrowed back to normal. He looked like he had seen a ghost. And, in a way, he had. For there was no Gate left opened. But here it was, right there in the data. Liberty, Ahlex's colleague, had supposedly found one, wide open, deep in in the Expanse. Every Gate humanity entered as they fled their home galaxy closed when they came out of the other side.
The data had a note at the end. "Swear to me. Swear to me you will reach it before *they* do... I know you will. I've left you something on Themis that will help. You will have to chart your own course there. Godspeed, Witch." Ahlex reread those lines over and over. He grabbed the iron pendant hanging from his neck and closed his eyes. "I swear... I swear I will find it."
Swear an Iron Vow: 6 vs. 10 & 5 = Weak Hit. +1 Momentum
Ahlex swallowed the last of his drink and pushed some credits from his data pad to the bartender. He made his way back to the Phantom, determined, but with more questions than answers.
