Steel and Oranges

Intro
Matt: Hello and welcome to a special episode of Celestial Expanse, a real play D&D podcast set in the Celestial Expanse universe, my name is Matthew, I'll be your DM for the night, and playing with me on this solo episode is Mitch playing as Zarial. Mitch: Hellooo. Matt: So, what I mean by special, it's kind of like what you've probably noticed with the other episodes that are before this, we're doing, I guess you could say character development episodes before the actual season begins. And it's set two months after the events of season 1 finale, and we're gonna see what everybody's been doing during that time.

Episode Description
Zariel gets a phone call from his mother and now must defend his family honor. Wait... does he even know how to use a sword?

Summary
Two months after the events of the season 1 finale, Zarial has been stranded on the Terminal, unable to get back home. The pirates seem to be the only ones aware of the war that's happening. Parliament news has no sign of it. Zarial is enjoying some Mentaru tea when he gets a call on his NID from his mother. He tells her what happened since his ship crashed, and she requests his help back home at the farm. To get there, Zarial would have to get a few favors, since no freighters have been going anywhere near his homeworld. He goes to Demia, who is talking to Thryssia. She recommends going with Renato, a Mentaru pirate who could get him there via the black market. He'll be picked up in a week. Renato is big, 7'5" to Zarial's 6'9". To pay for his passage, Zarial helps load some very heavy crates. They make their way to Zegaia, which has a pinkish-purple atmosphere that some believe are responsible for Mentaru's skin color. Around 40% of it is covered in deep canyons created by glaciers. These also left behind fertile soil, which allowed families like Zarial's to start farms. The pirates drop Zarial off a few miles from the main harbor, and he heads home. His family grows oranges, and normally the property is covered in trees. Now, however, he sees that many trees have been cut, burned, or shot down, and his 39 year old grandmother is picking up the pieces. Without a word, he takes her burden and starts cleaning up. She greets him, and goes to tell his mother to make the soup he likes. After a while Zarial's mother comes out, wearing a farmer's overalls and straw hat. She explains that the son of one of the soldiers on Zarial's ship blames him for the crash. He calls Zarial a coward and deserter. She can't remember his name, but at that moment the son in question approaches and introduces himself as Deeg. Zarial acts as if they're friends, despite not knowing him. Deeg appears to be a bro-y adolescent, and says Zarial might be the murderer of his father, Lieutenant Commander Boda. Zarial didn't know him. Deeg accuses him of betraying his comrades and causing the attack that crashed the ship, because he's the only survivor and he didn't perform well in school. He challenges Zarial to a duel to the death, swords only. Zarial accepts, then runs Deeg off the property.

Zarial hangs up his sniper rifle next to those of his ancestors and has dinner with his family. Zarial's grandmother leads him into her room, which he's never entered before. She gives him a longsword with the family crest and an emitter, which has been in the family for ten generations. She also gives him a book in Old Mentaru and High Primordial. The title is "The Crests of the Ancients." Mentaru crests tell you everything about the person. Zarial's grandmother tells him the crests in these books predate their family, perhaps even the Mentaru, and give you power.

They go to the family altar. Grandma says a prayer, uses the sword to cut Zarial's hand and catch the blood in a bowl, and combines it with other ingredients. She starts tattooing Zarial with the mixture, praying to the Ancients as she does. Unfamiliar, intense pain builds, but grandma warns him not to move, because with one mistake he could be killed. The process takes two hours, and afterwards he passes out.

As he sleeps, Zarial dreams of new techniques using the family sword, and wakes feeling refreshed. He has some tea and goes to the duel. Deeg admits he's not a coward. An old man lays out the rules, and the duel begins. Zarial has the upper hand, and Deeg is frustrated. Zarial tries to bluff that Deeg's dad was a blue falcon, but fails. After Zarial hits an artery, Deeg surrenders. Some of the audience look at Deeg with shock and contempt, others walk away, bored. Zarial walks away, and the old man asks him if he wishes to end the fight. Zarial says it's already over, and the man tells Deeg he has dishonored himself by yielding in a death match, and by destroying Zarial's family's farm. Deeg is disowned, thrown out of the Millennial caste, and banished from the village.

Zarial feels like the power he used during the battle was borrowed from something older than the Mentaru. The episode ends with Zarial having soup with his family.

New Information

 * The wrist-mounted computers are called NIDs, or Neural Interface Devices, because they connect directly to the brain.
 * Zarial went to the military when he reached adulthood at 10, and is now 12-13.
 * 20s for Mentaru is equivalent to 50s-60s for humans.
 * Zarial and his mother have tattoos around their eyes signifying their caste. Zarial also has military tattoos. Most Mentaru pirates have modified all their tattoos to reflect their rejection of the caste system.
 * Zarial is from Zegaia in the Zuvir system, which is extremely xenophobic like most Mentaru societies.
 * The Mentaru have always had a warlike culture.
 * Zarial's ancestors were all snipers, so Zarial was bound to be one by the caste system.
 * Zarial has a racecar bed.

Memorable Quotes
Mitch (laughing): I don't want to roll my intimidation anymore. I'm not very intimidating apparently.

Grandma: Hopefully your son picks up what my husband could do. Mitch: I uh, drop the sword on accident.

Trivia

 * Zarial switched Instant Reload for Mentaru Swordmaster, which allows him to use his CHA bonus for attacking with a single sword.
 * Zarial gained a new legacy class ability: having the Master Crest on his chest, he can now use a bonus action to activate the crest and gain a temporary +1 boost to his ability stat modifier for one minute. Can use once per long rest.
 * Zarial's second legacy class ability comes from his new Defense Crest. He can use his reaction to activate a shield that surrounds him, reducing damage by (CHA+prof)*crest level forger. Currently, that total is 8. Can use unlimited number of times.
 * The family longsword is +1 and does 2d8 damage with the emitter activated, which requires ammo. It currently has 10 uses.
 * Matt rolled a nat 20, but had disadvantage.
 * This is the first episode with every single Mentaru NPC in this episode.