A Daughters Promise

Intro
Matt: Hello and welcome to Celestial Expanse, a real play D&D podcast set in the Celestial Expanse universe, my name is Matthew, I'll be playing your DM for the night, and we're doing a special episode today, it's kind of like a, not a solo, but more of a duet going on today, with our main cast, Rebecca who plays Martle... Rebecca: Hi. I'm desperately trying to think up a rabbit fact, but I don't know if it's that important because this is just a, not quite episode. Uh... Ryan: Pop to it. Rebecca: I hate you. Mother rabbits can reabsorb their young if the area around them is not super suited for raising a family of rabbits. Natalia: What? Are you kidding? Rebecca: Yup. Nope. Yup. Ryan: It's reverse birth. Natalia: That's creepy, and awesome. Rebecca: Yup. Matt: Hmm. Excuse me as I write down notes. Ryan: You already have the mom who vomits babies. Natalia: Oh, you've given him zombie ideas. Yes, you've given him ideas. Way to go. Ryan: Oh, but what if it gave them back health. Natalia: Oh god no! Rebecca: Oooooh! Natalia: Bad fact, bad fact. Matt: Notes written down. And also, you also heard Natalia who plays as Z... Natalia: Ewo! Matt: And we also have a special guest today with us, he is known as Ryan, he is known as Master Ryu, and he is also known affectionately as Space Dad. Rebecca: Space Dad! Ryan: Why can't a nose be twelve inches long? Because it would be a foot! Natalia: Aaahhhh, that's so good! Matt: And of course, you do a dad joke. Natalia: Good, thank you for letting us laugh before we cry. Ryan: Oh, I will be crying from laughter. Cause you can't spell slaughter without it! Rebecca: Yeah!

Episode Description
Martle, Z and Lelia go to Mercy to see their adoptive father figure for he has a message for one of them, but it's a message that can't be written but learned from hardship.

Summary
Two months after the events of the season 1 finale, the three pirate fleets have maintained their alliance. Thryssia is staying on the terminal, and Quartz has returned to his sector of space to shore up defenses. The war has been focused in the Marauder Curtain, but that could change anytime. Z has been learning more about engineering, temporarily being assigned to an engineering crew, given their lack of a ship. Martle has been mostly staying isolated, but helps push Lelia around in her chair; Lelia is still weakened by the radiation poisoning, and will be in a wheelchair for a few more months. Martle also spends time with Theran, but doesn't seek other company.

Martle and Z get an angry message from Space Dad demanding their immediate presence on Mercy. He doesn't accept Martle's excuse of not having a ship, so she asks Lelia if she can borrow one. Lelia offers her personal cruiser, and accepts Martle's offer to come watch her be yelled at by Space Dad. Z dawdles as much as she can, getting directions from Demia instead of asking Martle where she is, but eventually makes her way to Lelia's ship. It features a pin-up of a male heretic elf suggestively riding a rocket, to Martle's consternation. Z pilots, ignoring Lelia's warnings against scratching the paint.

Ryu tells them to look for the black car with a lot of trunk space and a very upset fire genasi on the hood. Z scrapes the pin-up off the ship on a pylon, accidentally releasing the docking clamps in the process and pushing the pylon partially into the ground before they're stopped by the dock supervisors. Z ignores Ryu's anger, greeting him enthusiastically. He tells them to get in and not touch anything, and puts Lelia's wheelchair in the trunk. Ryu takes a picture of everyone with the rearview mirror, then drives to the shop. Outside are some nondescript vehicles. When Lelia sees them she tenses up, but Ryu tells her not to worry. He has a conversation with one of the drivers, Blarney, about his daughter, and introduces the rest of the party. He asks for an autograph from Lyra and her group, The Crystal and the Telephonics, and also donuts. Ryu tells him and his companions to shut off the recording devices and go for lunch for an hour.

They go in Space Dad's shop, where they are met by an earth genasi. It looks like his skin is made of obsidian, and he has markings starting at the top of his head, going through his eyes, and down his chin. He's about 5'7" and has a jaw like Thanos, and scraggly dark hair that has the illusion of having dirt in it. He's wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and a somewhat permanent squint. He apparently helps Space Dad with ore work. His name is Fawkes, and Space Dad calls him little brother, and asks him to make Lelia popcorn when she asks for some.

Space Dad demands an explanation for Martle and Z's lost gun, axe, arm, and ship. After Martle explains what happened to her gun, he takes a look at Martle's Thunderstick and puts it on his counter. He shows Z where his tracker says her axe is, reprimands her for losing it, then hands her some popcorn. Space Dad calls Martle his smartest daughter, since Lyra is gone. He says he's designed a new warhammer/rifle for her, but she's going to have to work for it. Martle says she doesn't need to be bribed to do something nice. Fawkes sets up a sparring ring. Space Dad gets told about the radiation poisoning incident, and says he's proud of Martle. He also adopts Lelia.

Space Dad Communes with Onatar, asking three questions in Primordial.

Space Dad shows Martle a wall of weapons and tells her to pick one. It holds every weapon imaginable, all masterworks, none of them touched since Master Ryu made them. Ryu steps into the ring, armor activating, and tells Martle she's going to learn respect for her weapon. Ryu tells Z she can't have alcohol, and she gets a spootbeer float.

Martle picks a warhammer and steps into the ring. She tries to cast Haste on herself, but there's interference and she can't. As they fight, Space Dad interrogates her about her failure and her losses. She says she failed at keeping people alive and getting what she wanted. She says she ruined Eric's life and then got him killed, and when Space Dad contradicts her and says he cared, she says that would hurt too much to admit. He asks what she's gained from all this, and she says nothing. He points out that she has Lelia, and Martle says she didn't even believe Lelia was who she said she was at first, and might have attacked her. Lelia says she wouldn't have, and Ryu says he knows Lelia had been looking for her. He tells her to learn and grow from her failures, but Martle repeats that it was all pointless. As Ryu lands some hits on Martle, Z attempts to jump into the ring to protect her, but hits an invisible barrier. Ryu tells her to learn to be a better captain, for the people who put their lives on the line for her, and so she can forgive herself when she loses someone. Martle says she doesn't care that revenge is a poison. Ryu asks Lelia if she's after revenge; Lelia says she was, but her goals changed to protection. She says she learned to hold on to the things she has, and not to hold a grudge for things she can't control. Martle still says she hasn't learned anything.

Z goes to leave, and Ryu asks her where she's going. Furious, she says to let her out, and he says she needs to learn too. She says she's learned not to put her faith in stupid people, but is clearly holding back. Ryu casts Zone of Truth on her. Z goes back to the edge of the ring and tells Martle she's a terrible captain. She doesn't listen to anyone, she goes off on her own endeavors, and she almost got everyone killed while she was trying to save Eric. She puts her quest for vengeance before everyone else. Z says they chose her as captain because they trusted her, and she betrayed that trust. She tried pulling stunts to get Martle's attention, but even everyone dying wouldn't get her attention. Instead of saving people, Martle chooses to attack. Ryu says Martle needs to learn to put herself behind her crew, to be a better captain, because he can't bear to bury any more children. This finally moves Martle, as his grief is something she can relate to. She now understands why he's been angry. She says she recognizes this failing, and she'll try to improve, but she's not used to trusting people and being vulnerable after being on her own for so long. As the barrier dissolves, Z goes over to Martle. She says they follow her as captain because she's strong, she's good in social situations, and she's a natural leader. She just needs to let them help.

To seal the trial of Onatar's blessing, Martle takes an oath given by Master Ryu. "With this oath to the ones I would defend, and the ones who would defend me in kind, I grant you power." As she finishes, Martle feels herself fill with unexpected power. Ryu recognizes her as an Oathkeeper, something not seen in centuries.

Master Ryu starts making a weapon. He goes into a trance, releasing control, and deviates from his design. The handle features a design of a serpentine dragon eating its own tail. Part of Ryu's vision starts going through space, focusing on an asteroid orbiting the planet Myrhh, in the same system as Mercy, where there is something of immense power that Martle and her crew need. Fox records his narration of the vision, and from the description gets rough coordinates for the asteroid. Ryu tells Martle and Z to go there immediately. He pays Lelia for the damage to her ship, and Martle, Z, and Lelia go to the coordinates. Lelia directs Z, who's still piloting, to a large asteroid, and they go through a tunnel to find a chamber similar to the ruins where they found the Allforge, with a platform to land on. The platform activates when they approach, auto-landing the ship. When the exit, they find it's very cold, but there is atmosphere. They see carvings depicting massive people wielding weapons that destroy planets, and the occasional dragon symbol matching the one on Martle's new hammer. The ruins are empty of people, but they find a gorgeous, sleek ship. It has the same dragon symbol wrapped around the length of the ship. The gangway lowers and they enter, the door opening after Martle gets scanned by a red light. The bridge is spotless, with an active map screen. Martle starts checking the captain's chair for traps, so Z sits on it. Nothing happens, so Z gives it to Martle. It's as if the seat was designed for her, including a hole for her tail. There's a rumble, and a voice says "Who wakes me?" Martle has a conversation with the ship, which introduces itself as Jörmungandr. It insults her as a weak meatbag, but says she has fire, and accepts her as captain. The ship fully activates. Martle directs it to the Terminal. Z flirts with Lelia a bit, and is shocked when Martle picks up on it. The ship cracks the asteroid to fly out, but leaves Lelia's ship intact. The episode ends with them flying to the Terminal.

New Information

 * Lelia has a black ship with red wings, with the pin up on the left side.
 * Mercy is a disgusting ball of pollution and acidic rain. and the only place to live is in the giant towers.
 * Space Dad lives in the newest tower, tower 11.
 * Martle looks like a tiefling now, and has been growing out her horn nubs.
 * Master Ryu has two other siblings, Leodrin and Aria.
 * The Jörmungandr is classed as Huge, and can hold over 2000 crew members.
 * The Jörmungandr hasn't flown for 10 millennia.

Memorable Quotes
Martle: Why do people always think they have to bribe me to do things? I'm a lot nicer than I seem.

Martle: I failed at keeping people alive. I failed at getting what I wanted.

Master Ryu: Would he have done it again? Yeah. That man would have probably done anything you asked. Why do you think he was so willing to take your -? Why do you think he's so willing to help you on all your endeavors? Because he cared. He cared, and now, now he's gone, and what are you going to do about it?

Martle: I can't admit that he cared, because that will just hurt me so much more.

Martle: I don't care that revenge is a poison you are feeding to yourself.

Z: If I, screaming at the top of my lungs, cutting my hair, doing stupid shit to get your attention, doesn't get you to listen, what about when we're dying?

Master Ryu: I can't bury any more of my children, I can't, I can't, please, I have... Martle: Now you are finally saying something that I understand.

Martle: Yes, this is an oversight that I have had, and it is one I will... try to fix? But I have been on my own for so long, I am not used to trusting people and being vulnerable. I am used to taking care of myself.

Natalia: Emotional constipation! Ryan: Yay, I'm glad to be the emotional laxative we all need in this group. It's a shitty job, but someone has to do it.

Trivia

 * After his vision, Ryu said "We must do research!", a reference to Matt's character Markus in Tabletop Champions.
 * This is Ryan's second episode playing as Master Ryu.
 * This is the first episode with Fawkes and Jörmungandr.