Chapter 4: The Galaxy Bomb

The IKP find themselves in the strange and foreign Far Planes, where they unravel a disturbing mystery...

For their second official mission, the IKP is sent into the Far Planes. Landing on the Kell Asteroid, a case of mistaken identity sets them on the hunt for a familiar enemy.

Pre-Trip Preparations
The morning after the two weeks had finished, an announcement was made in the dining hall by Lazlow and Fernwei. Now that they had finished decoding the data from the previous mission, they were ready to send their research technicians back out into the planar system. This time, they would blast the IKP straight into the Far Planes. When asked about the Far Planes, they explained that they were the planes furthest from the Prime Material plane, and little was known about them. They consisted of the Plane of Dreams, the Plane of Thought, the Plane of Magic, the Plane of Death, and the Plane of Time. When asked where they were going, Lazlow and Fernwei comfortingly replied that they didn’t really know.

As Fernwei was setting up the W.H.I.P., Nyx approached her to ask about the Plane of Dreams. She replied that she was busy with her work, but he could help if he wanted to, and she directed him around to meddle with strange machines that he didn’t recognize. Krumgrum, who had followed Nyx, was directed to meditate on top of a rock. After their tasks were completed, she explained that she genuinely knew next to nothing about the Plane of Dreams, other than the fact that it was far away and that they might be going there soon. It was at this point that the rock Krumgrum was meditating on revealed itself to be Faetra, practicing her Earth Elemental form. She explained Velloqui’s situation to Fernwei, who expressed concern but yet still was not able to confirm any details about the Plane of Dreams. After a while, Callus appeared on the scene in time for the departure. Standing in a circle near the W.H.I.P. while the two scientists fiddled with it, the IKP made their final preparations before they were jettisoned into a different dimension...

The Plane of Infinite Dogs
After being beamed up, the IKP crash-landed in a strange clearing in a forest of sorts, with a single leafless tree in the centre. The landscape was partially rocky - the rocks, notably, being a pale purple colour - and the wooded areas were dense and mossy, with a wide variety of trees, some familiar and some foreign. Additionally, the area seemed to lack an atmosphere, with the sky completely dark and only lit by starlight. Faetra immediately investigated the area, discovering that there weren’t any signs of animals and insects in the forest, and that many of the plants seem to be the same age. The party’s investigation was cut short, however, by a pack of robot dogs approaching them. They used their laser eyes to scan the party while they were stunned by the bizarre dog homunculi in front of them. Determining them to be enemies, they started shooting electricity and trying to bite the IKP. After a brief scuffle, the IKP performed an impromptu disassembly of all the robot dogs. Investigating their bodies, they found what appeared to be product numbers on them labelling them as RK-9 units.

Using the map provided to them by the DM, the IKP decided to go to a different numbered location. There, they found a shipyard full of metal parts, surrounded by a chain-link fence and a guardhouse. Approaching the guardhouse, they found it occupied by dog centaurs. After a short but confusing conversation, the dogtaurs realized that the party was ‘uninitiated’, and should go to the Romulus Collective building to go through the initiation process. Imagining that the ‘initiation process’ was some sort of murder gauntlet, Nyx decided he did not like the plane he was on. At the dogtaurs direction, they went to a different numbered area.

The Gang Accidentally Commits Identity Theft
After a brief trek through their bizarre environment, the IKP found a building that looked like an apartment complex adorned with several garage-like buildings off to the side. Entering, they walked up to a human receptionist named Florian, who welcomed them to Kell Asteroid, an asteroid populated by the citizens of the Romulus Collective. He seemed to be under the impression that the IKP was a group of investigators that had been sent to aid in solving a mystery. He gave them a set of IDs that would prevent the RK-9 units from attacking them, and apologized for the previous incident. Saying that the chief of security was waiting for them, he walked them over to her office. Going through metallic hallways and automatic sliding doors, the IKP eventually found themselves in the office of a dwarven woman who introduced herself as Conri. She assumed that the party was a group of detectives sent by “central” to help in the case of two missing space pilots. Using a hologram, she pulled up images of the two missing persons. The first was Cadet Ruble, a promising young pilot who disappeared first. The second was Wolfgang. Apparently, he showed up on Kell Asteroid after Callus banished him from the Feywild and got a job as an ace pilot. His Summer Court guard outfit and Wishhound pelt had been replaced by a saffron pilot’s uniform and a white half-cape; same colours, but in totally different styles, implying that he had integrated into society on the Kell Asteroid easily. Wheeling from this information, the IKP quickly left to begin their hunt for clues. However, being banged up from their fight with the robot dogs, they were directed to the medbay, where they met a bird-shaped robot called LA8RA7, or Labrat. He immediately noticed that the IKP weren’t who they said they were, pulling up the profiles of the real investigators; a set of five people who were the same race and gender as the IKP, but with little resemblance. However, Labrat claimed as he cleaned their wounds, he wasn’t paid enough to really care. When asked for clues, he said that the last time someone saw Ruble was when he was taking a delivery to the science lab. Once the IKP had healed up, they left for the lab, hoping to wrangle some clues. When they arrived at the lab, the sliding doors opened to reveal three giant slime cubes, one with a figure submerged inside. The slimes started squelching towards the IKP, sending them into combat for the second time that day. In a gruesome and unlucky melee that left only Nyx unslimed, the IKP eventually prevailed, freeing the figure suspended in goop in the process. They turned out to be a roughly high-school aged Tiefling girl wearing a sailor suit who introduced herself as Claudia with a heavy lisp. She explained that she was the daughter of the scientist in this lab, and that she unfortunately didn’t have any clues for them. The cubes, she said, were the result of her accidentally knocking some beakers over, from which the slime emerged. Realizing it had gotten late and that they were all tired, they decided to head to sleep, with Claudia directing them to the guest quarters. Settling in on bunk beds, the IKP slept for their first night on the Kell Asteroid.

Running In Crop Circles
The next morning, the IKP left to find the cafeteria for breakfast. Submitting their meal tokens for a filling meal of fish sticks and french fries, the IKP walked with their plastic trays trying to find a table before they were called by Claudia to sit with her. As they ate, the IKP asked if she had any ideas on how to start. She produced a flashlight and shined it on her face from below her chin like a child telling a scary story, then asked if they wanted to hear her theory. She began to tell the tale of an old farm on Kell Asteroid, where a few of the first settlers lived. One day, the scarecrow that they had been using to keep watch over their corn field came alive and killed the inhabitants of the farm, and the scarecrow still haunted the field to this day. With no better leads, the IKP set out to find themselves some clues.

At the farm, the IKP saw empty, abandoned ranches and farmhouses left derelict and decaying for years surrounding a corn field kept alive through sheer stubbornness. After a brief investigation, Faetra found a tarp covering an object roughly the length of a car. Calling the IKP to her, she removed the tarp to reveal a Ghibli-esque flying machine, partially broken. As she had proficiency with vehicles, Faetra decided to try to fly the machine after Nyx tried to fix up its wing. With the help of the IKP, Faetra managed to take flight, soaring above the field. From an aerial perspective, she saw a clearing in the centre of the corn field. Circling closer, she saw a figure standing in the centre; a living scarecrow with a flaming gourd for a head. Faetra became unnaturally frightened of it and began flying away. Landing next to the IKP, she frantically explained what she saw. Nyx was already forming a plan.

The plan that they came up with, after some deliberation, was to tie Krumgrum to the back of the machine so that he would hang down about ten feet, while Faetra flew the machine, Nyx repaired it as necessary, and Callus meditated on the front of it like a murderous hood ornament to kill anything that approached. Somehow, they managed to get the machine into the air with all four of them piled on it (with some difficulty, as the machine was designed to be single-person.) They flew up and circled around to build up speed. Then, they lowered the craft down so that Krumgrum would be at the chest level of the scarecrow. The aforementioned scarecrow had milliseconds to react as a floating dwarf burst out of the corn at top speed and into the clearing with his arms outstretched to grab it. Krumgrum successfully grappled the scarecrow, initiating the second phase of the plan, which was entitled Fly Two Hundred Feet Into The Sky And Then Drop The Scarecrow. On the way up, the scarecrow spat out flaming gourd seeds, struggling to get free, and while it did manage to deal some damage to the IKP and their vehicle, it did not manage to get free. Eventually, once they were high enough, Krumgrum released his grapple, sending the scarecrow plummeting to the ground at terminal velocity. Hundreds of feet below them, they saw it get absolutely destroyed when it made contact.

Once they had circled back down to the ground, the IKP found that the scarecrow was unequivocally dead, with bits of gourd splattered in a twenty-foot radius. Without the gourdian (intentional) watching over the clearing, the IKP went to investigate. In the clearing, they found… the dead body of Cadet Ruble. In terms of clues, the IKP found a pair of cracked flight goggles on Ruble's forehead, a single white glove with the initials C.H. stitched into them, a folder of classified aviation documents, a case of tinctures (medical in nature), and an empty ovoid container.

Death On Parade
The IKP eventually decided to scoop up Ruble’s body and the evidence they found into a bag, which they gave to Callus, and then continue investigating. They followed the bloody footprints into the woods for 147 selge. Eventually, they happened across a giant flying machine akin to a pirate ship that had crashed on the trees and was still burning. Knowing they had just happened upon a huge lead, the IKP switched into INVESTIGATION MODE.

Looking around the foliage below the ship, Nyx found the body of a familiar dark elf wearing a fancy long coat over his uniform propped dramatically in the branches, a single arrow in his heart. His ID badge revealed him to be Apollo Avium, engineer aboard the S.S. Whirlybird, the title of the ship. There was also an engineer’s kit and a key shaped like a spider, both of which were taken, along with the jacket.

Looking aboard the ship, Nyx and Krumgrum found a pair of boots melted to the deck. Behind the boots was a dwarf-shaped hole the sail of the ship. Behind that, on the forest floor, was the body of an incredibly wide dwarf, laying in a crater. Further investigation revealed the body as belonging to one Murgrum Moray, chief of security aboard the Whirlybird. His body was covered in strawberry jam, and inside of his pack was a scathing note written to him concerning his insistence that jam was an essential part of his security kit. Also in his pack was a strange, pistol-like object and a few batteries that seemed to go with it, his ID badge, and a key shaped like a hamburger.

Suspended in the branches above was the body of a moon elf wearing a wizard hat and a monocle, appearing to have been killed by arrow to the throat. Looking at her ID badge, her name seemed to be Sollilum Sunleap, the communicator aboard the Whirlybird. She also had a key shaped like a skull.

Shortly afterwards, Callus stumbled upon the body of a half-elf man with black hair, a large spyglass clutched in a death-grip defiantly above him. He was trapped between the ship and the trees, his body badly mangled. An ID badge claimed his name was Caleb White, the navigator on the Whirlybird. He also carried a key shaped like a hammer.

The IKP then found a trapdoor on the deck, leading into the cabin of the ship. Lying by the steering wheel was the body of Feltra, captain of the Whirlybird, dead via suffocation. On her body was her ID, along with a key shaped like a ladybug. Examining the room, the IKP found five keyholes on the pedestal of the ship’s wheel, where they then inserted the keys they had collected from the crew of the Whirlybird, who they had dubbed the Insane Murgrum Posse. A compartment on the pedestal opened up, containing a single broken compass. After fiddling with it for a while, Nyx held the compass and commanded it to point towards the nearest dwarf. It obliged, pointing towards Krumgrum. Taking this as indication that it could be used to locate anyone, the IKP figured that this was the IMP’s trump card for finding Wolfgang. Their investigation complete, the IKP decided to bury the bodies of their alternate universe selves and not mention their finding of the Whirlybird to another living soul. They then headed back to the Romulus Collective building.

Saviors of the Dreaming Astray, Seekers of the Waking Beans
Upon returning to the Romulus Collective, the party returned Ruble’s body, along with all the evidence that they found, to Security Chief Conri. She was saddened at the news of Ruble’s death, but wasn’t entirely surprised. The IKP was quick to assure her that they were hot on the trail of the culprit, but they were met with a gentle warning that the Romulus Collective did not engage in cowboy justice. Conri told them that upon finding the culprit, they were to bring them back for a fair trial, not kill them on sight. Faetra and Nyx agreed, but Krumgrum and Callus didn’t seem to be listening.

The party was directed to the hotel section of the station to stay for the night, as it had been a long day of clue-hunting. On the way, they ran into Claudia again, also heading to bed. She offered to show them to their rooms, to which the IKP, who had either not been given directions, quickly forgotten them, or weren’t listening at the time, happily obliged. On the way up, Nyx made a startling revelation; Claudia was wearing a single white glove, eerily similar to the one found near Ruble’s body. Fearing that Claudia was being framed by Wolfgang, Nyx pretended to see a rip in the glove and offered to sew it up. After a bit of persuasion, she relented, taking off the glove to reveal a mechanical prosthetic hand. She said that she wore the gloves to hide the prosthesis, and to return them quickly. Notably, the glove had her initials sewed into the inside. They parted near the top floor, with the party heading to their single room with two bunk beds. A few fistfights over who got top and bottom bunks later, they went to sleep for the night.

Upon trying to project himself to Velloqui’s dream again, Nyx found himself in a dream version of the area that they had arrived at on Kell Asteroid, with nothing but the sensation that he was hunting after something. After walking for a while, he found the large, leafless tree at the centre of the clearing. Climbing up onto the branches, he spotted what looked like a seam along the skyline. Tossing his dagger up into the seam, he pulled himself up and ripped at it until the dream bubble popped. He was sucked out into what looked like a large empty space not unlike the night sky; except, instead of stars, it appeared that there were hundreds of thousands of opaque bubbles not unlike his own.

Meanwhile, Faetra was having a similar dream, except she felt that something was chasing after her. Upon reaching the clearing, she wildshaped herself into a hawk and flew into the sky, until her dream bubble disappeared and she drifted into the same space Nyx was in.

Krumgrum was dreaming that he was in the clearing, except the tree came alive and started trying to kill him. Callus’s dreamscape wasn’t explored on account of him immediately trying to enter Krumgrum’s dream and help him, which he succeeded in doing. The two of them dueled with the tree briefly before Krumgrum ended it by casting Fireball on it, turning it to charcoal. Their dream bubble then lost the appearance of the forest, reverting back into an opaque sphere with a crystalline platform spanning its width. They could see that outside, Nyx was banging on the outside of the bubble as if asking them to leave and join him and Faetra. Realizing sound could not travel through the barrier, Krumgrum motioned for Nyx to press his hand to the metaphorical glass, at which point he wrote “hep” (a misspelled help), followed by a winky face, on the elf’s palm. Krumgrum and Callus then woke up, leaving their dream bubbles empty and their companions alone.

On the plane of dreams, Nyx and Faetra saw strange, insectoid, snake-like creatures swimming through the space and collecting the fragments of their popped bubbles. After trying and failing to swim like them, Faetra tried her hand at taming one of them to ride on. She succeeded easily, mounting one of them without it paying her any mind. Meanwhile, Nyx, in an effort to do the same, tried his best to appear welcoming and friendly towards them; however, he completely failed and ended up radiating an aura of bloodlust. The creature he was targeting looked at him and decided they wanted no part in that, thank you very much. Dejected, he gave Faetra one of his daggers to tug him along from a distance, with the help of his Belt of Stormweaving. Remembering what Velloqui told them about being able to will objects into existence on the Plane of Dreams, Nyx and Faetra focused on the IMP’s compass, creating it in the palms of their hands. Upon speaking Velloqui’s name, it began pointing north of where they were floating.

They spent a while riding the creature while it swam in the general direction of Velloqui. Along the way, they approached what they believed to be a bubble, but was soon revealed to be the lure of a giant, anglerfish-like creature that attempted to swallow them. Narrowly dodging away, they continued on their journey. However, after a certain amount of time, their bodies began to take on a translucent quality. Just as he remembered Velloqui’s words about how living things in the Plane of Dreams eventually ‘fade’, Nyx’s body lost its physicality entirely, and he woke up. Faetra tried to continue along alone, but quickly faded away as well.

In the waking world, Krumgrum and Callus left to get breakfast with the meal tickets they had been given the night before. They went down and asked the rations robot for beans, to which they told the duo that beans had been banned since The Incident. The robot did not elaborate upon what exactly The Incident was, but mentioned something about asteroid stations having limited air and being akin to a giant elevator. The two were served a breakfast of fish sticks and french fries. They sat down at a table full of people wearing Romulus Collective uniforms and wasted no time before gathering information. Not about the case, but about where a fella could find some beans. Krumgrum and Callus were told that beans were a black market item. Also, due to the murderer on the loose, the station was on lockdown, with nobody allowed to leave the building. Undeterred, Krumgrum began asking around for beans. He was met with the information that Conri was trying to round up the RK-9 units that were still patrolling the asteroid, and that some of them were malfunctioning, and that they could really use a couple of adventurers to retrieve them. Krumgrum continued to ask around for beans. Eventually, someone called for him to keep his voice down, and that they were willing to trade a portion of beans for two fish sticks. Satisfied with the trade, the two sat down to a beanful meal.

Afterwards, the two left for Conri’s office. She told them that the station was on lockdown because of the murderer, but that the IKP was exempt from this, seeing as how they were the investigators. She also pointedly mentioned that she was trying to round up RK-9 units, but that she was short-staffed and could use help. Krumgrum wished her luck with that, then headed back to the breakfast buffet with Callus. They asked for a second breakfast, but were told they had already used their meal ticket. In a move of remarkably clever problem-solving for the two of them, they returned to their room, stole Nyx and Faetra’s meal tickets, then went back down to the buffet and impersonated their companions to get a second breakfast. After eating, they left and went back to their room, where Nyx and Faetra were just waking up.

The Gang Gives A Fake Identity To A Teenager
Nyx and Faetra were somewhat disoriented upon waking up, disappointed that they hadn’t gone further but happy to have gained some information about the Plane of Dreams. Krumgrum and Callus updated them on what Conri had told them, but mostly talked about beans. As the topic shifted to breakfast, Nyx noticed that his and Faetra’s meal tickets were gone. Faetra didn’t seem perturbed, and offered Nyx “pocket salad”, a bunch of leaves that she keeps in her pockets and eats intermittently. Nyx accepted, and asked what kind of plants they were, to which Faetra responded that she didn’t know; she just picks random leaves off of trees and the like.

The IKP decided that they would hunt after Wolfgang with the help of the IMP compass, bringing justice to him before the end of the day. Nyx suggested that they bring Klaudia along, as she knows the lay of the land, and also might be arrested for murder if left alone. The party then took the elevator over to where her room was. They knocked on the door, and when she opened, the party scrambled to think of an excuse for why they needed her help with the investigation. Eventually, they settled for the truth. Klaudia let them into the apartment, which she seemed to live alone in. The IKP then explained that they had found evidence connecting her to the murder of Ruble, but they believed she was being framed by Wolfgang, who seems to be the real killer. They then asked Klaudia to submit to the Zone of Truth, a spell cast by Krumgrum that makes anybody within a fifteen-foot radius unable to lie. In their questioning, they found that she was not guilty of Ruble’s murder, nor did she know anything about the crime. Additionally, she didn’t know what the Black Eyes Entity was, and she didn’t have any missing patches in her memory in which Wolfgang might have had her under the mind control spell that he put Nyx under in the Feywild. Klaudia also hadn’t interacted with Wolfgang much, though she had seen him around the asteroid, meaning he didn’t have a motive for framing her.

This information was all the encouragement the IKP needed to give a high schooler a fake identity. Nyx cast a disguise spell on her, changing her to look like Solillum Sunleap (Velloqui’s alternate universe dead self) and gave her the ID he took from her body. Klaudia seemed impressed with the spell, to which Nyx offered to teach it to her after the investigation. With the help of her disguise and the IDs taken from the Insane Murgrum Posse, the group of investigators left the Kell Station building without a hitch.

Wacky Animal Companion No. 2
The IMP compass, once configured to point towards Wolfgang, led them straight through Area 6’s forest. While they managed to make good progress through the woods, the party couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching them. However, nothing attacked or otherwise made a move on them. As they exited the forest, Nyx tossed a dagger towards where the presence was. He made contact with something, but it didn’t respond. Upon trying to pull it back to him with the Belt of Stormweaving, it didn’t move, and he needed Callus and Krumgrum’s help to pull it out. Eventually, the three of them managed to drag out what appeared to be a larger version of the robot dogs they fought back when they arrived in the plane, though it looked older, with dents and scars adorning it. Klaudia was surprised at this, then explained that it must be one of the old L4-C units that were deployed before the RK-9 model was developed. She didn’t think there were any still out there, seeing as how they were recalled years ago, and remarks that this one must have been living in the woods. However, she couldn’t provide a concrete answer when asked if it was friendly. Nyx attempted to communicate with it despite his track record with creature handling, apologizing for stabbing it. This time, instead of invoking extreme hostility, he managed to keep the dog from trying to attack him. Klaudia asked if the party had any galaxite crystals to use as a peace offering, as the dogs eat them as food and fuel, and Faetra gave her one of the batteries from Murgrum’s pistol. She approached the dog and fed it the battery, at which it noticeably perked up; Nyx, hoping that it would no longer try to hurt anyone, used Apollo’s repair kit in conjunction with a Mending spell to patch up the wound that his dagger left, and gave it a scrap of fabric to wear as a bandana. Having successfully befriended the robot dog as a wacky animal companion, the party began arguing over what they should name it. They settled for Klaudia’s idea, Lassie, as a reference to her classification of L4-C. The party then continued on their journey towards Wolfgang.

Normal And Legal Things To Do In A Space Airport
After a brief period of travel with their newfound wacky animal companion, they arrived at Area 9, the shipyard, which they briefly visited upon their arrival to the plane. Faetra charmed the dog-taur guard to gain entry with her gnomish cunning while the rest of her party was being supremely unhelpful in the background. The shipyard, as its name would suggest, was a large area riddled with different hangars and garages, tiny dog-taurs busily constructing flying machines. The IKP then split up to gather information and locate Wolfgang.

Krumgrum approached a giant robot arm and started messing around with it, attracting an actual construction manager, who promptly fixed it. From there, Krumgrum initiated a frankly incomprehensible conversation with them, covering topics such as aircrafts, robot arms, Wolfgang, and where a dwarf could find some beans around here. Eventually, the dog-taur awkwardly made their exit, at which point Krumgrum laid down on the ground next to the arm and went to sleep.

Callus, for his part, sat down and started polishing his warhammer. It’s also worth noting that Klaudia was unsupervised during this investigation.

Nyx called Lazlow and Fernweh to give them an update. He told them that the plane they were on had airships, and together they concocted the idea for an interdimensional airship using the W.H.I.P. plane-hopping system. Lazlow began breathing heavily and offered Nyx a bonus if he could retrieve the blueprints for an airship. Nyx found a hangar with blueprints and attempted to perform a heist; however, because he hadn’t stolen anything since before he joined the IKP, he didn’t do very well. Granted, he managed to steal all the schematics in the warehouse, but in order to distract a construction manager, he used an illusory copy of himself, therefore accidentally incriminating himself.

Faetra began acting natural, pretending to be a manager directing the construction workers. However, she was too good at it, and got caught up in genuinely helping out. Eventually, one of the dog-taurs gave her a box with a galaxite crystal inside and told her to take it to the new airship they were developing, to be inspected by Security Chief Conri later that day. She found the ship to be a sleek, high-speed aircraft akin to what we would call a jet. Noticing that the IMP compass was pointing inside, Faetra called the rest of the party over through their Stones of Far Speech. Eventually, the rest of them showed up, and they went inside, sans Krumgrum, who fell asleep in the doorway of the ship to prevent entry from prying construction workers.

Inside, they found the ship to be rather small, only meant to fit a few people at a time. On the front end of the entrance area, the doorway to the cockpit was locked, requiring a pawprint for entry. The IKP told Lassie to put her paw on the door, to which she complied, scraping the sensors but gaining access nonetheless.

In the cockpit, the IKP found an injured Wolfgang!

Spaceship Rematch
They spoke for a while, with Wolfgang confused as to why the IKP was still alive, as he had killed their alternate universe selves just a few days ago. Nyx attempted to trade witty barbs with Wolfgang, but it was just kind of awkward. Eventually, Wolfgang challenged him, and the rest of the IKP, to a duel, to settle their unfinished business.

Nyx started casting spells immediately, creating illusory doubles of himself, crawling all over the ceiling, and hexing Wolfgang as he assaulted him with daggers. Callus brutally advanced with his warhammer, going straight for the kneecaps. After being hit with a flaming arrow, Faetra assumed her Earth Elemental form and attacked in close range. Klaudia, guarded by Lassie, used a set of magic playing cards to sling acid at him. While Wolfgang was tough, he couldn’t match the IKP’s damage output, and he found himself in a dangerous situation pretty quickly. He once again claimed that things weren’t over before smashing a smoke bomb on the floor of the ship and disappearing.

Pursuit!
As the dust settled, the IKP wondered if things would ever be over with Wolfgang. They saw a Wolfgang-shaped hole in the glass windshield of the aircraft they had fought in. It was around this time that Krumgrum, who slept through the fight, was waking up to find himself in the doorway, preventing a legion of dog-taur construction workers from entering while his party members fought in the cockpit. At Nyx’s request, Krumgrum stood up and shut the door, locking the party inside of the ship. The party then discussed their method of pursuit; Nyx suggested they steal the ship and fly after Wolfgang, while Faetra wanted to chase him on foot. Krumgrum ended the discussion by jumping out of the hole the Wolfgang left in the windshield, albeit widening it significantly.

The rest of the party, including Klaudia, followed suit, while Lassie just walked down the side of the ship using her magnetic claws. Using the IMP compass, they followed Wolfgang to the edge of the shipyard, a crowd of dog-taurs pursuing them like a Scooby-Doo chase scene, where they found a chain-link fence with another Wolfgang-shaped hole in it. Exiting the shipyard, Klaudia, now riding on Lassie, commented that they were entering Area 7, one of the unlisted areas on the map.

At first, Area 7 seemed like a forest-y area similar to the others on Kel Asteroid. In the distance, they could see Wolfgang, running away in a straight line as fast as he possibly could. When he saw the IKP pursuing him, he whistled, and Petunia, Wolfgang’s pet raptor and steed, came running. After he jumped on Petunia’s back, they sped off at ridiculous speeds.

Eventually, the party exited the forest, coming into a rocky desert-like area, Wolfgang so far ahead that they couldn’t see him. Thankfully, they still knew where he was with the IMP compass. It led them to a large mineshaft, shaped as though it was the result of a giant drill. At the edge of the hole, Klaudia explained to the IKP that Area 7 was originally the site of a mining operation, but it was shut down after The Incident, and nobody has gone near it since. She mused that Wolfgang must have used it as a base since people tended to steer clear. They followed the raptor prints in the sand down till they were near the bottom, where they found an old mineshaft. As they progressed underground, the tunnel was pitch black, save for veins of a glowing, pinkish mineral running through the walls and ceiling. Nyx asked if this was galaxite, which Klaudia confirmed. She said that the Kel Station was originally established as a mining colony for galaxite, a mineral that could produce extraordinary amounts of energy, but was also very volatile and dangerous. Upon contact with heat, galaxite was known to explode with tremendous force. Klaudia then held up her robotic hand and pointed out the pink galaxite crystal embedded on the back of it as a power source, which was softly glowing as a result of the proximity to its source.

After progressing down through the tunnels for a while, the party reached a cliff leading down to a large chamber. They could see that it was a natural cave formation, with stalactites and stalagmites streaked with galaxite. In the center was a gigantic crystal of solid galaxite, much higher in quantity than anything the party had seen before. Klaudia nervously reminded Callus not to use his flaming warhammer, as they were essentially in a cave filled with live dynamite. Wolfgang’s voice echoed sourcelessly, congratulating them for coming this far before revealing himself. He said that although the IKP had prevailed in the past, things would end here. He drew his rapier, prompting initiative.

Cave Rematch
The IKP’s first problem was the fact that there was a fifty-foot drop in between them and Wolfgang. Krumgrum jumped straight down and hit the ground running, even with his maimed legs. Callus attempted to scale down the cliff with a rope, but failed and took some damage. Faetra used her Earth Glide ability to swim through the rocks. Nyx used his Belt of Stormweaving to swing down from the roof, Indiana Jones-style. Lassie used her incredibly strong claws to just walk down the cliff. Klaudia stayed where she was. As the party closed in on Wolfgang, he whistled again, calling a squad of robot dogs out of the shadows! They looked like standard RK-9 units, but with glowing red eyes, and their identification codes were scratched out and replaced with names he had given them, all of. The dogs then used their electrical breath attacks, to limited effect. The ensuing melee continued until Krumgrum, grappling Wolfgang, force-fed him the Potion of the Hopeless Scoundrel, putting him to sleep, presumably, for three hours.

Shortly after, Nyx, Faetra, and Callus started to make short work of the leaderless dogs. Notably, Faetra scored the highest possible damage on a Slam attack while in her Earth Elemental form, folding one of the dogs completely in half, Nyx electrocuted one of them, causing it to shiver violently in place while still standing, and Callus flattened a dog with his warhammer into a pancake. In retaliation, the three functioning dogs bit Krumgrum (one on each of his arms and one for his legs), picked him up, and started carrying him behind The Crystal. Which is to say, the huge crystal in the center of the room, if you forgot. At this point, the IKP noticed that Wolfgang had disappeared from his place on the floor, SNORK-MIMIMIMIng under the blanket that Nyx had gently placed over him. It wasn’t long before he reappeared on the top of the crystal, both of his eyes solid black. He made a witty remark before pointing at Nyx and casting Finger of Death, shooting a thin green ray at him. Nyx made the constitution saving throw, but still took heavy damage. Sputtering and coughing up blood, Nyx insulted Wolfgang repeatedly before grappling up to the crystal, zipping towards Wolfgang while yelling his name at mach 2. He then began dueling Wolfgang on top of the crystal. Back on the ground, Callus remembered that he had healing spells, and used them to bring vitality back to Krumgrum and Nyx.

Even with the Black Eyes Entity in play, the IKP seemed to have the upper hand. However, their fight was interrupted by Security Chief Conri entering through the tunnels, along with two muscled henchmen and the dog-taur that Nyx stole the blueprints from. They were confused as to what was going on with all the Galaxite and Wolfgang and Klaudia and everything else, but made it clear that they weren’t pleased. She arrested Klaudia and ordered her henchmen to bring Wolfgang and Nyx in. Faetra and Nyx frantically tried to make a case for the party. Krumgrum cast Dimension door, vanishing in a cloud of smoke and appearing behind Wolfgang. He started to wind up for a punch. Callus and Lassie fended off the still-attacking robot dogs. Nyx, seeing how desperate the situation was, made a drastic decision. He looped the iron half-circle pendant (the same one that Planchette and Wolfgang wore while they were under the effects of the Black Eyes Entity) and beseeched the “Master” in the same way that Wolfgang did at the end of Chapter 3. After saying this, he passed out for six minutes.

Deal Gone Wrong
Nyx woke up, finding himself inside of a strange black room resembling a prison cell in the brig of a ship, softly rocking from side to side. Footsteps approached the room from the other side of the bars, and a figure stepped into view; it was another Nyx. The real Nyx then stood up, bowed, and introduced himself as Nyxalis Arachnetum before explaining that he wanted to make a pact with the Black Eyes entity for power. The other Nyx introduced themself as Also Nyx, and welcomed him aboard The Black Hulk. While Real Nyx could not yet meet someone that Fake Nyx referred to as “The Captain”, Fake Nyx said that he could still make a contract. Fake Nyx then proceeded to taunt Real Nyx for his inability to save those he cares about. They listed Velloqui, Klaudia, and somebody named Nephilia among them. They reached through the bars, holding out a clean, polished version of the dark iron necklace Real Nyx was currently wearing, and offered him power enough to protect the people close to him, at the small, small price of his memories. Real Nyx agreed to the deal, took the necklace, and looped it around his neck.

Escape from Kell Asteroid
Back in the real world, six minutes had passed. The henchmen had scaled down the wall and were approaching the crystal. Krumgrum was still winding up for his punch. Wolfgang had neglected to look behind him. Nyx stood up, and his right eye was solid black. Feeling supernaturally rejuvenated, he cast Hold Person on Wolfgang, binding him with spectral chains. He then jumped down from the crystal, landing on one of the taller stalactites, and began to cryptically threaten the lives of the two henchmen. However, he was too vague, and failed at intimidating them. But they didn’t make much progress before Wolfgang said that taking the time to arrest them would be unwise, seeing as how he had rigged Kell Asteroid to blow with Galaxite Bombs scattered under the surface of the comet. They wouldn’t be able to defuse them in time, so he urged them to evacuate. His bluff(?) worked, and they retreated with Klaudia in hand. Krumgrum used his Dimension Door again to teleport to where Klaudia was, grab her out of custody, and teleported back to the IKP. Nyx asked Wolfgang if he had a way off of the planet, to which he said yes. Nyx released Hold Person and told him to lead the way, to which he obliged, running to the back of the cave and opening a secret door.

The IKP, Klaudia, Petunia, Lassie, and all five of Wolfgang’s robot dogs followed him through the tunnels until they reached a large chamber with a sleek flying machine inside of it, resembling the prototype that they fought him in before. The party climbed aboard the ship, labeled the Sunseeker, and entered the command room. Wolfgang asked if anyone wanted to try flying it, as he believes that the best place to learn is on the fly. Faetra answered his call and appointed Nyx as her second-in-command, who promptly asked Lazlow and Fernwei if they had a portal for them to escape through. Lazlow said that there was a surge of planar energy all around them, but the tree they entered through should still work. Faetra, using her newfound flying skills, deftly flew them through underground tunnels before they emerged into the open air, where they saw explosions blasting through the surface of Kell asteroid, cracking open the earth and stone like an egg. Klaudia was understandably distraught, as this was her home for her whole life. Faetra corrected her course and sent them hurtling towards the tree. As they made contact, everybody on board, including all the animals and robots, were teleported out of the Far Plane in which they found themselves in.

As they appeared back in the Material Plane around the W.H.I.P., Lazlow and Fernwei set off a bunch of party streamers.

Area 0, Portal
A small grassy knoll surrounded by a strange forest. In the middle is a single, leafless tree. Where the IKP first landed on the Kell Asteroid.

Area 9, Shipyard
A large, flattened area of grass surrounded by chain link fencing. Several buildings with garage-style sliding doors are positioned along the far side of the field, seemingly containing mostly construction material. A large silver structure is stationed in the middle, partially obscured by a tarp. The gate, underneath a large sign reading SHIPYARD NO. 9, is closed, and besides it stands a lone guardhouse.

Area 6, Woodland
Area 6 is a surprisingly dense stretch of forest, the trees growing pale, almost translucent flowers upon their branches. The forest-floor is mossy, and littered with the same lavender stones that seem to characterize the asteroid.

Area 5, Farmland
A large plot of land where different plants are being grown in patches. Two rustic buildings stand on the far side. A bit of blue tarp is visible from around the corner of one.

Area 4, Other Woodland
A bit of forest, a couple kilometres wide. Similar to the other wooded areas on Kell, area 4 is full of craggy purple-ish rock and thick, strange flora.

Area 3, Kell Station
A low, modular grey building, built onto the base of the surrounding mountains. A landing pad extends from the centre of the structure, outfitted with a variety of bright, blinking lights. A less ostentatious pad juts out from the corner of the building, leading to a door labelled "Entrance & Orientation." Occasionally referred to in this page as the Romulus Collective building.

New NPCs

 * Conri: Dwarven Chief of Security on the Kell Asteroid. Has mistaken the party for a team of investigators sent to help her solve a case. Currently acting as the IKP's superior, or at least believes she is.
 * Claudia: Teenaged Tiefling daughter of the scientist on the Kell Asteroid. Speaks with a lisp and regards the party as friends, giving them advice on their investigation. Wears gloves with her initials sewed onto them to hide her one robotic hand - one of these gloves was found at the scene of Ruble's death.
 * Ruble: Promising young Human pilot and victim of the case. Disappeared before the IKP's arrival on Kell Asteroid. His body was found by the party in the corn field.
 * LA8RA7: Also known as Labrat. Avian robot that minds the Kell Asteroid clinic. Knows that the party isn't who they say they are, but doesn't care enough to do anything about it.
 * Florian: Receptionist at the Romulus Collective building.

Loot

 * ID Badges: The ID badges belonging to the crew of the S.S. Whirlybird.
 * Keys: The keys belonging to the crew of the S.S. Whirlybird. Each of them has a unique design. Used to open the box with the IMP compass.
 * Engineer's Kit: A kit carried by Apollo Avium, containing all the necessary tools to repair an airship. Looted by Nyx.
 * Gun(?): A strange, pistol-like object carried by Murgrum Moray. Comes with a few battery-looking objects that seem to go with it. Looted by Krumgrum, then given to Faetra.
 * Spyglass: A large spyglass carried by Caleb White. Looted by Callus.
 * IMP Compass "Manhunter": A glass compass found inside a burning ship. Exposed gears decorate the face of the compass, lending it a slight “steam punk” air. In dim light, a pink glow can be seen emanating from the centre of the compass. The needle appears jammed, stuck pointing towards “N.” Although its exact function is unknown, the IKP knows that once per day, you can give it criteria ranging from "point to the nearest dwarf" to "point to a specific person", and it will do so.
 * Trinkets from the IMP: Nyx took a few objects off of the IMP to remember them by, namely Apollo's fancy long coat and Sollilum's monocle.