Ahoy Spacefarers!

We be a tad delayed on our adventure entry this week, so in order to catch up voting shall only be open for a day, with a new chapter appearing tomorrow and a third on Monday! Now, without further adieu, we rejoin the crew of the Dawnstar:

You huddle and discuss amongst yourselves as to what approach to take as you approach Dark Moon; some wish to ply caution, others to avoid the port entirely, but the majority instead vote to enter and barter with the scallywags!

And so the captain orders the Dawnstar on a course straight for 🌕 Dark Moon! 🌕 Approaching the port it becomes clear as to the origins of its name, this star port is made of cobbled together asteroids and ship wrecks, cast forever in the shadow of a desolate moon that hides the port from the light of its nearest star…

Nerves are high as the ship makes for dock, weapons quietly at the ready, sweat dripping from the brows of the sailors about you… Yet drawing nearer you hear no gun shot, no alarms being raised, instead the sound of chaotic merriment wafts from the port docks, joined with a strong aroma of grog! It is clear that the inhabitants of Dark Moon are more preoccupied with rum-soaked frivolity than they are the arrival of newcomers. You make port, pay the drunken dock master, and lay eyes upon this place of fortune. There be all sorts here, pirates and privateers alike, basking in the freedoms offered in this bastion of piracy and anarchy out here in the far reaches of the silt.

The Captain speaks before you disembark, stating that “we be here for only a moment, a stop on our journey toward our true treasure! Choose where ye spend yer time carefully, and be back aboard within a few hours or we will be maroonin ya here till our return!”

With precious few hours here, what would be the best way for you to spend yer time; Ahead you see raucous merriment spilling from within a tavern built from the cracked hull of a ship, named the “Winking Nipper”. You also hear two dockhands talking about an old shipwright on the ports far side dock, a man with many tales and missing fingers. Finally, you see traders disembarking their siltsails, hauling cargo toward a street draped in colourful fabrics and much excitement, a bazaar perhaps?

Ahoy all!

Just a quick heads up for anyone who listens to podcasts, or who considers themselves podcast-curious, Aston and myself had the pleasure of being invited to talk with Jasper William Cartwright on the incredible Rotating Heroes Podcast!

We spoke all about Lodestar and the beginnings of Dragons Vault, as well as his amazing setting Axis! So if you want a deeper peek into Lodestar, insight into our process and the history of the Vault, or just to hear what we sound like, go have a listen!

You can check it out on their Patreon, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts!

- Conor

Ahoy Spacefarers,

You've once more taken a vote, and once more decided upon your fate! This vote be much closer than the last, and twas only a few that tipped the scales. But by thunder a decision has been made, and so toward the haunting toll of the bell do we sail...

As you near the sound, objects come into view. Broken planks and cracked kegs, cannon shot and rigging, bodies drifting in the vacuum. This is no distress call, tis a grave! You see a vessel, if it can even be described as such, broken clean in twain like a brittle branch. The bell is ringing in slow rhythm, as the cloven ship rocks gently on the silt stream. Its name, The Corsair, still legible on its stern. What could have done this is beyond you, there be no hazards here to be spoken of.

Yet, what is lost by some may be found by others, and shipwreck means salvage! Wasting no time you haul in what drifting chests and objects you can see that remain undamaged, there be little more you can do for these poor souls. Rifling through, you even manage to find a strange 🟡 Harpoon Cannon 🟡 of some kind, still in working order! With a bit of work, this upgrade might prove useful in the ventures to come...

You've not had long to loot when the captain orders the sails dropped and engines fired, it's time to leave this place with what you've salvaged, your real treasure still awaits in the Beyond!


Just then you hear another bell toll, this time your own! Dark shapes begin to cloud the colourful mists about you, like carrion birds circling a corpse... Like a flash the silhouettes begin to descend, silt sharks! They move in swarm toward the deck of the ship, picking off crew whose screams fall to silence as they are wrenched into the inky void and lost. You've only a few moments to decide what to do, as the Dawnstar lurches from its momentary anchorage in an attempt to escape this nebula once and for all!

Do you rush to crew the cannons, and blast these devil-fish down to see old hob? Or do you instead run to assist in making way, thinking these beasts won't stand a chance out in the clear stellar space of the silt stream? Or do you linger, grabbing one last trinket before making your escape?

Ahoy Spacefarers,

Our adventure continues, deep into the heart of the colourful nebulous cloud hanging across the silt stream! But first, a brief reminder that any who wish to join in wider discussion with the community, may do so aboard the Dragons Vault Discord! Now, without delay, we continue:

The vote has been taken, and you the crew have spoken! Captain Drakeheart swings the intrepid Dawnstar Port-side, and straight into the heart of the colourful nebula glimmering upon the yonder...

The Dawnstar glides forward, its sails billowing in the glitter of silt, as its next destination comes into stark relief ahead of the vessel's bow; a billowing cloud of swirling colour hangs ahead, swallowing the siltstream entirely, obfuscating the Beyond. As the ship cruises closer, the scale of this strange cloud becomes clear, swallowing the Dawnstar like a great sand storm, bathing the deck in a thick chromatic mist.

You've never seen a sight like it, and as it clouds over the entire vessel it becomes apparent that your navigator now has no visual markers to maintain the ships bearings, even the stars are hidden from you here. None aboard seem to know what the origins or nature of the kaleidoscopic mist might be, perhaps you should investigate?

It is then that the most perceptive amongst your number begin to hear a sound, slow yet rhythmic, echoing from deeper into the mist and beyond sight. A ship's bell, ringing from far within the unknown. Its sound continues, haunting the once whimsical stellar seas about you. Your captain looks to you all now, and asks again for a choice to be made:

If you yearn to learn more of the mist, you can elect to slow the vessel and gather some of it for investigation. Or, if you wish to follow the echoing ring of the distant ship's bell, you can vote to follow its siren sound. Or perhaps you want nothing more to do with this mystery, and instead wish to charge headstrong through the mist, and pray you reach the other side...