Quartz 4

Beacon

5 min read

Beacon

Summary

The Beacon (official name: the Shining Beacon) is a crashed Rudishva starship that serves as a base of operations for the Right for Riches company. It had a diverse crew of Rudishva, Kaliyani, Varuda, and Varumani, as well as two AIs. Most of its crew died due to treason. The ship needs fuel to become operational again.

Known Crew (Historical)

  • Captain Leil-Jor — Issued the quarantine order on the corrupted varuda nests during the crisis.
  • Entertainment Officer Crellik-Var — Tentatively identified as the Arena Lord currently running the Arena in the Halls of Arden Vul. If correct, he is a surviving crew member.
  • Not all crew members are accounted for; Akla-Chah confirmed in Session 46 that it is possible some are still alive despite the ship having crashed long ago.

Recorded Crisis Message (Session 45)

A hologram recorded for the crew plays on the northern dais in a large Rudishva chamber connected to the Beacon. Translated by Vael in Session 45:

“Fellow crewmembers of the Shining Beacon! The alien slime-mongers have infiltrated our defenses. The varuda nests are corrupted and have been quarantined by order of Captain Leil-Jor. The loyal varumani gather to repel the hopping hordes. Report to your designated crisis station in the weapons pod or crew chamber. Await further orders. Remain calm, for the Beacon shall light the way!”

Command (Session 40)

In Session 40, Vael found the Command Tablet (Tablet of the Beacon) in the Rudishva Bastion and plugged it into the central chair on the bridge. The bridge computer recognized it as genuine and addressed Vael as “Captain.” Akla-Chah also addressed him as Captain Vael and accepted his officer assignments: Ioannes, Vallium, and Uvash as officers; Basil of Narsileon as crew.

Key Features

  • Contains Akla-Chah, a hologram AI psychologist.
  • Has a yellow-ID-only teleporter in the treasury, accessible via a one-way door (bypassable with Blink or Teleport Rug).
  • Contains a Repli-Cube — a Rudishva audio-visual recording and playback device.
  • Contains a Rudishva Point Defense Array — a stationary ranged weapon (potentially useful against the dragon).
  • Players have taken over its levels. Contains a secret door to a closet off the reading room, opened by oval keycards.
  • Has small crafts; Captain Leil-Jor and her engineers were modifying one for long-distance space flight.
  • Requires fuel to become fully operational.
  • Library: Contains a work-in-progress translation book of ~250 Rudishva glyphs to Mithric.
  • Garden: Contains many strange plants including an assassin vine (killed in Session 40). Iris door in the southwest corner of the garden leads to an oval passage.
  • Oval Passage (southwest garden): Leads to a dead end with a yellow-card secret door opening to a room that contained Varuda/Varumani/Heqeti zombie corpses.
  • Teleporter Rooms: Multiple teleporter rooms inside the Beacon connect to different areas. One goes to the Bastion (via yellow-card teleporters); another leads to a small room with an iris door; the Secure Treasury teleporter is yellow-card only.
  • Secure Treasury: Contains large gold and platinum keys, Rudishva weapon suits and various technological items. A large high-tech chest (too heavy to lift) contains rows of small boxes of seeds with Rudishva glyphs.
  • Personal Defense Array (broken): A belt-style force field device; discovered to be defective — seals the user inside and cuts off air. Labeled as broken and dangerous.
  • Rudishva Pep Pills: Tested in Session 41; make the user very fast for a few seconds, then slow and sleepy for hours.
  • Laser weapons: Laser rifles and pistols, functional; Vael practiced on a wall in Session 41.

Teleporter Route (Discovered Session 45)

A Rudishva command chamber south-east of the Beacon area contains four teleporters:

  • One leads to the Rudishva cloister nearby.
  • One leads to an unknown Rudishva room south on the same level.
  • Two lead down several hundred feet to other unknown rooms. The cloister teleporter, combined with the treasury’s yellow-ID teleporter, creates an indoor route from the Beacon to the known Halls without going outside.

Pool of Green Liquid (Session 45)

In the Rudishva command chamber, a pool of green liquid with 24 labeled buttons shows camera feeds when buttons are pressed. Ten of the 24 buttons were functional and showed:

  • The Rudishva cloister nearby
  • The Arena
  • The Sundered Span
  • The floating garden island in the Great Chasm
  • A Rudishva room with vertical coffins (seen previously on a Beacon camera feed)
  • A pyramid (unknown)
  • An underground cavern (unknown)
  • An underwater area (unknown)
  • Some kind of octagonal shaft (unknown)

Sessions

Discord Insights

  • Players have taken over its levels; contains a secret door to a closet off the reading room, opened by oval keycards. It is a vehicle that needs fuel. (Discord Summary 2025-W45)
  • A facility related to Rudishva funeral traditions (Full Recycling, Spacing) about which no documents were found. (Discord Summary 2025-W46)
  • The closest explored area to it is probably the western Great Cavern. (Discord Summary 2025-W48)
  • Basil is getting extra buckets in case anyone is stuck in it for a while. (Discord Summary 2025-W51)
  • Has small crafts, one of which Captain Leil-Jor and her engineers were modifying for long-distance space flight. (Discord Summary 2026-W03)
  • A crashed starship that had a crew of diverse species (Rudishva, Kaliyani, Varuda, Varumani) and two AIs. Most of its crew died due to treason. (Discord Summary 2026-W04)

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