Chapter 1: Seeds of Destruction

Imti shrugs, again. "Live bait works better, no?" she says to Quaxiver.

With that, she turns to the Moondancer and gestures for the boarding planks to be raised, assisting with what she can on her end to separate the two ships.

The boy nods, "We found this ship out here and came to loo...k at it." he says, "After we got here, though... we were attacked by something the others called a knee-oh-gi?"

"There's people hurt," he says, "You have to help!"

Quaxiver doesn't sense any strange magic nearby.

"Where's your ship? We can help you return to your ship if you tell us where it is." Quaxiver intended for the question to ascertain if the boy were telling the truth, especially since the boy said that he or they had come from some other ship to find this one.

Imti makes no move towards the boy or the interior of the derelict. "Figures. We might as well leave now," she says. "This is like those dinner-show plays where the one character says, 'It'll be fine, we're just going inside,' and another character says, 'I don't know...' and yet they all go in and the lights start flickering and next thing you know you've got indigestion from bad shellfish."

She leans over the railing to look at where This One's harpoon is attached, and prepares to burn the rope with her Produce Flame spell so the Moondancer isn't tethered.

"Destroyed," the boy says, looking down sadly, "They killed some, hurt a few more, and then destroyed our ship. We thought we were gonna die here!"

"I mean, the day's still young," says Imti, still attempting to sever any physical connection between the derelict and the Moondancer.

As an experienced astral traveler, Imti is indeed familiar (at least tangentially so) with the neogi. They are feared and loathed across the cosmos for their ability to enslave the minds of other races. The look like an overly large spider with an eel's neck and head and should generally be avoided at all costs.

Imti folds her arms across her chest. "So are you topside to lure us down below?" she asks of the boy, still under the impression that the whole thing is a trap. "Careful with Tin Man; he's hard to eat."

Quaxiver considered whether they wanted to discuss their suspicions in private before they proceeded, but decided it was easier to simply talk aloud, for if the boy were truly a survivor, they would welcome any discussion to save them, but if he were luring them into a trap, it wouldn't matter how suspicious they were anyway.

"I hear two possibilities. One is this story is true, that some exploring ship came to investigate this derelict, but the neogi attacked their ship, destroyed it, and left the survivors stranded here. If so, then we should be wary of the neogi doing the same to us, using the same tactic. We should search the surrounding space for a neogi ship then.
The other is that this derelict is some decoy, housing some manner of being whose illusory or shapeshifting powers we cannot pierce through, of whom this kid is either bait, or one of them. If so, we should decide whether to clean them out, with the prospect of good salvage. Starting with this one."

This One is two thirds across the rope as he listens to his comrades logical arguments. A quick mental check of his own power levels makes him reconsider and stop his climbing.
They are carrying refugees and this stunt might endanger them. A cascade of dissension-trees run through his mind and he turns on the rope and starts to make his way back.

Imti nods at Quaxiver's reasoning. "Sounds reasonable," she says, and turns to the boy. "What say you? Surely you understand our hesitation, given your condition and what you say happened to you. We wouldn't want the same to happen to us, after all, because then we wouldn't be able to help you."

As though pontificating her words, she gestures from her chest towards the lad, "Help us. Help yourselves." She widens her arms to gather the entire ship. "The stars shine upon all."

The boy, still very young, looks confused, "Wha... what are you talking about? I don't know anything about all that! I just want someone to help!" He does seem sincerely confused and more than a bit afraid.

Imti turns to the others. "Well, I'll head down and check it out. If it's a trap, I'll bounce. If they're legit, I'll still bounce, but I'll at least get the rest of you."

Ziggy has been listening to all this with his usual air of wilful and gleeful detachment.

"I'll go with Imti. We'll end up either saviors, or lunch."

"What do star elves taste like?" Imti wonders as she joins Ziggy. "I've been told that I'd taste like regret, or like you dreamt that you went to school without studying for a test only to realize it wasn't a dream and you did study, but forgot to wear pants."

She points her broom at the boy like a hag. "Lead the way, child."

Ziggy's expression is uncharacteristically solemn. "‘Like regret’—that's beautiful. I expect I'd taste shockingly ordinary."

I'm a blackstar. Not a flam star. Not a wandering star. I'm a star's star.

Let's go then," there was no point dithering about it up on deck if they still wanted to search the ship, despite the suspicious circumstances. Quaxiver continued his grilling of the lad though, but with a gentler tone.

"We're here to help. What is your name? How many of you survived? Which part of the ship are they holed up? What is the name of your ship?"

Noting that The One had not yet joined them, Quaxiver had an idea. "We'll get you to safety first, you go over to our ship. Tell us where your crewmates are and we'll look for them." If the boy were a threat, Sartell and The One would be able to deal with them, and if not, then the boy would be safe amongst the rest of the survivors on board the Moondancer.

Imti nudges Ziggy, watching to see what the boy will do at Quaxiver's suggestion after she had the boarding planks raised. Granted, This One's rope is probably still attached., so perhaps the lad will do the same?

The boy seems overwhelmed by the questions, but answers as quickly as he can, "My name is Benoto. When I came up, six were still alive, but a couple were badly hurt. Our ship was the Stella Fortuna," he manages to get the words out, "I'll show you where they're at. Follow me!"

With that, the boy turns and begins to walk into the ship's interior.