(There were some background events that I neglected to mention during this game. I am inserting them in parentheses and italics below. Sorry!)

Week of 22-28 Ready'reat
Camen tried valiantly to capture Kaiketsu's pet squirrel with various snares, but failed. He succeeded when he enlisted Shinshi, who cast sleep on it. Thus passing Kaiketsu's second test, Kaiketsu posed his third and final test to Camen: to make him laugh. Camen was stumped.

Week of 1-7 Suns'ebb
On Earthday, a Bralian ship stopped in as part of its routine patrol. Capt. Gok was concerned about the Dardak, warning its owners that its helm was still unregistered with Bral's port authorities.

Week of 8-14 Suns'ebb
On Starday, the Blue Orion and the Hagfish pulled into port, the Hagfish towing a cargo barge. The Hagfish and its barge were loaded with ordinary people: mostly young men, but with a smattering of families loaded down with baggage. Much of Miraburg turned out to check out or greet the newcomers. It turned out that most had come after hearing advertisements of abundant jobs and land on the asteroid. Elmarth welcomed them by hopping up on a crate and speaking of St. Cuthbert. Angus Brightlash followed suit, launching an impromptu sermon blessing the new arrivals in the name of Pholtus from a neighboring dock. Brightlash's oratory was far more practiced and impressive, and Pholtus seemed to be ahead in the convert race. Elmarth responded by improvising a rather clever limerick about the other priest. This got quite a few suppressed guffaws from those around him on the crowded dock.

Axel viewed the hoard with dismay. Concerned that they could interfere with his plans, he cast wraithform and drifted out amongst the mob. Terror swept through the mob as they saw what appeared to be another undead monster! Miraburg's recent skeletal hoards were brought to mind again. Angus tried to turn it, but failed (of course). Then Elmarth drew his magic sword and charged, driving it (and Axel) away. This reassured many of the people and got Elmarth a few more converts. However, a sizable number of the newcomers got cold feet and fled back to the ships, where they remained until they sailed the next day.

Camen watched a well-dressed young lady disembark from the Blue Orion with a pair of lizardmen bodyguards. He invited her for a drink at the Silver Sands Cafe, where she revealed that her name was Draga, and that she represented the Bank of Bral. She had come to assess what Mayor Silver was up to, as he had been making a lot of large "transactions" recently. Camen mentioned that he thought the mayor was up to something. She seemed not ill-disposed to Camen, but had to leave the tavern to meet with the mayor.

Later that evening, the lizardmen dropped in at Keesha's Roadhouse, where Camen and Shinshi were relaxing. The bigger lizardman, Siska, took a liking to Camen's gold armband and demanded he turn it over. The other lizardman, Tasset, who carried an odd device she called an arquebus, just watched. Camen was in no mood to donate his armband, and soon he and Siska were fighting. Camen was getting the bad end of things, especially after he knocked a table full of drinks over on some lumberjacks. He fled the bar, but with style, swinging on the chandelier over the tavern patrons.

The next day, the two ships sailed off with Draga, her bodyguards, and about 30 former would-be colonists. That left about 100 new faces. Among them were a gang of stonemasons, led by a stout human named Ivic. Axel and Shinshi contracted with these to build a tower at the site of the Hilldale ruins, using the ruined buildings as raw material. The numbers working at the shipyard were increased, with repair work on the Dardak going to three shifts. Construction of new housing inside the town was begun, and things were noticeably more crowded.

Camen returned to Kaiketsu armed with Elmarth's limerick and managed not to flub the delivery, thus passing the third test. He was thus admitted to be trained by the master. The first phase of training mostly involved weeding the old man's garden and whitewashing his cottage.

Week of 15-21 Suns'ebb
Elmarth heard rumors that some hunters had seen goblins on the asteroid. With one of the hunter's help, he confirmed that there were footprints of goblins. They tracked them back to a largish campsite on an out-of-the-way corner of the asteroid. A fair number of tracks led away from and to the camp. They followed one set to within sight of the starfly temple. It turned out Mojo had been told of them by animal allies, but had done nothing. Elmarth spent some weeks patrolling the wilds of Miraburg looking for goblins, but found nothing more.

Week of 22-28 Suns'ebb
One of the wizards (I forget which) completed research on the levitate spell. Axel put it to work at the tower construction site. He had a small wooden pallet constructed, on which he would cast the spell. The pallet could then repeatedly lift several hundred pound blocks up to the top of the wall, for several hours per day.

(The Mayor resumed weekly militia training on Godsday afternoons, integrating potential combatants amongst the newcomers. He also hired some new men-at-arms, mostly veterans of the battle with the undead.)

Week of Needfest
Some modest celebrations were held in town for the end of the year. The nearly tropical heat of the season on Miraburg muted the traditional winter themes of the Flanaess.

Week of 1-7 Fireseek 587 OY
(On Starday, the tradesman Workhorse resumed its biweekly trading visits. Rumors of undead had made it miss its last stop, and it would only stop for enough time to exchange goods. Every visit brought a few new people, but just as many decided to move away, on balance.)

On Earthday, the Bralian navy ship returned. The crew related a rumor that a Scro ship had been spotted near Borka, and that the Elven navy was concerned.

(One of the druids, Ilka, began frequent visits to the new farming colonists. She offered agronomy tips mixed in with preaching druidism. Elmarth strongest base was among the farmers, but he was mostly absent and so did not notice.)

Week of 8-14 Fireseek
Mid summer arrived. The sun hung disconcertingly large in the sky for Oerthlings. Angus orchestrated a sun festival (on Sunday) in honor of the occasion and Pholtus.

Week of 15-21 Fireseek
Shinshi started helping with tower construction by casting levitate also.

(The mayor had a tall (6') wooden picket fence built around his house and yard. Supposedly his wife had complained about traffic trampling her flower beds.)

Week of 22-28 Fireseek
The Barracuda docked briefly. Some rather shifty-looking crew tried to sell some slightly used weaponry.

Week of 1-7 Readying
On Waterday, Shandra Wright brought the news that repairs on the Dardak were complete! Elmarth was out patrolling, but Axel, Shinshi, and Camen went aboard to check it out. It was practically a new vessel, with bulkheads and everything. When Axel noticed the hat was missing, one which they had enhanced with cantrips and claimed was a helm once while approaching Bral, they decided to claim that their helm was missing. The mayor eventually showed up and was very skeptical that they had abandoned a Crown of the Stars crumpled up in a corner of their ship. But he did promise to look for it, as did the PCs, who left to hide out at the construction site for a couple of days. They picked up a pointy hat at a general store on the way out of town, and when they returned Shinshi was wearing it, riding a levitated construction pallet propelled by an unseen servant. They thus made their way back to the Dardak with some semblance of dignity (?).

About this time, Elmarth got back to town from a patrol. The party talked again of the matter of their ship's name. They decided that because it had been almost completely rebuilt, it would not be bad luck to get rid of the orcish name Dardak. They agreed to rename the vessel the Stardust.