Since (1) not everyone has been with us from the beginning, (2) it's been a long time for everyone anyway, and (3) a summary is always a good review, I thought I would do a general recap of the adventures.  (I did not write these.  They are for your benefit in keep everything in context.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:56, Tue 24 July 2007.

CRASH ON VOLTURNUS (SF 0)

SUMMARY:
The government of Truane's star hires the players to continue the exploration of the Volturnus planet in the nearby Zebulon system. There are two points of extreme importance to this mission.

It is known that a number of intelligent alien races inhabit Volturnus. Friendly contact must be made with these races, if at all possible.
A previous expedition of four explorers has already journeyed to the planet, but they disappeared immediately after entering the Zebulon system and have not been heard from since. The members of this mission must be located and rescued.
Unbeknownst to the players, Volturnus has already been infested by a Federation crime ring known as the Star Devil Pirates. A team of these pirates has been hiding among the passengers aboard the starliner that transports the players to Zebulon. Before the players know what is happening, a violent takeover occurs on the ship. Worse, the players' weapons are stocked in a weapons locker that has been destroyed in the hijacking.

The players dodge a series of firefights in the starship's corridors and manage to escape to Volturnus in a lifeboat.

After days of exploring in a harsh desert area on Volturnus' surface, the players encounter an intelligent race of nine-tentacled nomads called the Ul-Mor. Ul-Mor life is filled with pageantry and ritual. They communicate with a telepathic ninth tentacle. The creatures explain that they have indeed encountered the members of the previous expedition, and that if the players will join the Ul-Mor tribe the Ul-Mor will help them. Unfortunately, joining the tribe requires a life-threatening ceremony called the Ritual of the Quickdeath!

The players and the Ul-Mor journey underground through a complex maze of tunnels in order to meet the rest of the Ul-Mor tribe and participate in the ritual. A cave-in separates the players from the Ul-Mor and the players are forced to find their own way back to the surface--while at the same time facing dangers such as droppers, flitters, jawfish, magma monsters, mutating fungus, rasties, cave bears and, worst of all, the Lake of Fire: a magma pit from which thrust unstable columns of crystal that must be crossed.

Once the players find the Ul-Mor tribe, they enter an arena where they must use spears and straw decoys to battle and kill a horrible mutated cat creature called a Quickdeath. (The creature has in fact been genetically engineered by the Sathar, who come into the story later.)

After succeeding the ritual and joining the Ul-Mor tribe, the players learn that the members of the previous exploration party were last seen with a tree-dwelling alien race called the Kurabanda. A group of Ul-Mor agrees to escort the players to the edge of the Kurabanda domain.

VOLTURNUS: PLANET OF MYSTERY  (SF-1)

SUMMARY:

With Ul-Mor guides, the players journey through caverns below Volturnus' burning lands, and then through fields of shard grass plains until they arrive at the bachanda tree forests.

Bachanda trees rise as high as 50 to 200 meters (150 to 600 feet), with diameters as thick as 15 meters (45 feet). The ground of the forest is so thickly entwined with roots and tendrils that it is entirely impossible to pass between the trees. However, the branches of the bachanda trees are far reaching and flat, sometimes measuring 2 meters (6 feet) across. The branches create a complex network of twisting sky highways.

Upon reaching the edge of the forest, the players see the red flash of a laser pistol blast and hear a scream of agony. Sounds of battle descend from the trees, followed by a violent exchange of laser fire and spears. The players realize they have stumbled upon a confrontation between a group of Kurabanda and a team of Star Devil pirates! The players intervene on behalf of the Kurabanda and successfully chase the pirates away.

After the resolution of this conflict the players are escorted to a Kurabanda village, built in the branches of the forest. The Kurabanda are short, furry monkey-like aliens. They are a primitive and war-like race, and they seem pretty jumpy around the players.

From the Kurabanda, the players learn that the members of the previous exploration party did indeed stay in the village for a time, but they were all kidnapped in a Star Devil raid. The Kurabanda also inform the players of a pirate outpost not far from the bachanda forest.

From here the players proceed to the Star Devil outpost, taking it over with a surprise attack. Within the small building they find a laboratory where a trilateral crustacean alien has died during experimental brain research. They also find out about the existence and location of a pirate settlement termed as Slave City One. The players steal of jetcopter from the outpost and travel to the settlement.

The Edestekai are an intelligent but primitive race of 3-eyed 3-limbed creatures with hard shell exoskeletons. Their culture is firmly embedded in religious belief. In Edestekai religion, all good things are offered by benevolent gods to whom full subservience and worship is owed.

The Star Devil pirates have taken advantage of these beliefs by capturing a number of Edestekai and surgically implanting electronic devices in their brains. These devices give the Edestekai fake visions in which the gods inform them that it is their will that the Edestekai serve the pirates in Slave City One. Any of the Edestekai who would follow are being submitted to cruel slave labor in mine tunnels beneath the city.

The players show up in the area, where Slave City One and a large Edestekai village sit in close proximity. They manage to convince the Edestekai that they are being tricked and form an assault on Slave City One, freeing most of the Edestekai prisoners.

During their exploits of the city, the players find one of the four members of the previous exploration party. But, unfortunately, he has been dead several hours by the time the players reach him.

As the players stand amid the ruins of Slave City One, they see in the distant desert a solitary figure surveying the wreckage of the pirate town. This creature is a tall fur-covered animal with a large tail, large hind legs, and small forelimbs or arms. The creature has a long, slender neck and a small head with large eyes. And in its arms, the creature is carrying the leader of the previous exploration party!

The creature vanishes beyond the horizon before the players can approach it, but the Edestekai inform them that it was a "messenger of the gods." The messengers of the gods are very mysterious; they come and go rapidly and secretly, and are rarely seen. But they are known to live beneath a ruined crystal city of which the Edestekai know the whereabouts.

While searching the crystal city ruins...

...well, you'll see!