Post by: piecewise on February 03, 2022, 06:02:47 pm
DEEP SPACE
The Shipbreaker's Guild has reported the discovery of an Enigma: the wreck of an alien ship of unknown origins. It has been over a decade since the last Enigma was discovered, but myths and rumors of the untold riches and unfathomable power found within still circulate among the world ships and colonies. The Shipbreakers have begun dismantling it in their slow and reverent way, bolt by bolt, chanting litanies the entire time. But as the guild toils countless treasure seekers, explorers, scientists, holy pilgrims, and mad men descend upon the crash site eager to hurl themselves into its depths. You are just another face in the great mob but perhaps you will return from this desolate world as a legend. That is, if you ever return at all.
Spoiler: What is this? (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Rules (click to show/hide)
Current Standings
Shipbreakers : 0 Neutral
Prospectors: 1 Accepted
Locals: 0 Neutral
Bullet Men: -2 Hated
Current Progression
Spoiler: Milestones (click to show/hide)
16 Starting points
Current Map
(https://i.imgur.com/N4qO8Is.png)
Post by: Egan_BW on February 03, 2022, 06:21:33 pm
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 03, 2022, 09:24:43 pm
Appearance: A handsome man of Caucasian descent, has dirty blond hair with eyes like the sky, which quickly cloud over when angry.
Stats:
Strength: D4
Dexterity: D4
Endurance: D8
Speed: D4
Mental Stats
Knowledge: D8
Wisdom: D10
Perception: D8
Charisma: D6
HP: 20
SP: 32
Carry Weight: 4
Items:
Fragment of the Void
Neurobridge
Industrial Tunic
Helmet
Post by: The Lupanian on February 03, 2022, 09:55:10 pm
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: Ragnar the Råsh of Emal on February 03, 2022, 10:15:33 pm
Spoiler: Lorin (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on February 03, 2022, 10:25:26 pm
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on February 04, 2022, 08:06:49 am
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 04, 2022, 04:53:39 pm
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 04, 2022, 04:57:14 pm
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 04, 2022, 05:01:06 pm
Your SP should be increased to 28.
I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure you got these things wrong.
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 04, 2022, 05:03:35 pm
A stat can only go up to 10 , I’m pretty sure.
Quote from: Literally the First Words on the Rule Tab
(BASIC RULES
Modified RTD. Stats can be leveled between d4 and d20, with each level being an even increment from the last. Ie d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d14 etc.)
(Also I was in the middle of fixing everything when ya said that already dangit!)
Post by: Egan_BW on February 04, 2022, 05:05:39 pm
A stat can only go up to 10 , I’m pretty sure.
No, you can go up to 12 or 14, for 10 or 15 points respectively. Probably a bad idea, though. That's spending 66% or 100% of your budget on just one stat which you could have always just leveled during play.
(I did spend almost half my points on d10 speed, but a couple mental stats can be dumped for rp opportunities without that much loss, Xeriay's da can cover for her~)
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 04, 2022, 05:07:07 pm
A stat can only go up to 10 , I’m pretty sure.Quote from: Literally the First Words on the Rule Tab(BASIC RULES
Modified RTD. Stats can be leveled between d4 and d20, with each level being an even increment from the last. Ie d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d14 etc.)
(Also I was in the middle of fixing everything when ya said that already dangit!)
O
Post by: Egan_BW on February 04, 2022, 05:09:08 pm
Post by: m1895 on February 04, 2022, 05:10:37 pm
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 04, 2022, 05:10:49 pm
Post by: Egan_BW on February 04, 2022, 05:18:20 pm
1 d6: 1 point
3 d8: 3 point each, total 9
1 d10: 6 point
Totaling 16 points, one over the current limit of 15.
I'd recommend downgrading one of your d8 mental stats and upgrading one of your d4 physical stats, that'll balance it and get you some much needed HP.
Post by: Pancaek on February 04, 2022, 08:14:17 pm
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on February 04, 2022, 08:47:28 pm
Spoiler: Gambatta Ganyaro, Monk of Polished Bone and Professional Coot (click to show/hide)
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 04, 2022, 10:17:16 pm
Not sure I follow. You have:
1 d6: 1 point
3 d8: 3 point each, total 9
1 d10: 6 point
Totaling 16 points, one over the current limit of 15.
I'd recommend downgrading one of your d8 mental stats and upgrading one of your d4 physical stats, that'll balance it and get you some much needed HP.
Alright
Post by: King Zultan on February 05, 2022, 05:06:49 am
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 05, 2022, 09:15:23 am
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 05, 2022, 09:23:22 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 05, 2022, 10:04:57 pm
Post by: syvarris on February 06, 2022, 12:46:59 am
frigging Google docs won't work for me god knows why :p
Try using a different browser. I'm using firefox, without signing in to google, and I can view it fine.
If you want to join anyway, here's everything copied into a post. Formatting and a table is lost, but it's more than enough to make your charsheet.
Spoiler: Roll system explanation (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Character Rules (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Character Creation (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: World Mechanics (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Items to buy (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Weapons to buy (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Enhancements to buy (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on February 06, 2022, 01:42:27 am
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 06, 2022, 09:26:40 am
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 06, 2022, 09:30:42 am
Edited charsheet. Moved stats around
That’s over budget. Getting a D8 costs 3
Post by: Horizon on February 06, 2022, 11:53:23 am
Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 06, 2022, 12:03:50 pm
Post by: piecewise on February 06, 2022, 12:24:49 pm
Would it be possible to have the Interface Cusp basically set the Fragment of the Void into my body? As like an implant?No.
Post by: Horizon on February 06, 2022, 12:30:04 pm
Post by: Horizon on February 06, 2022, 01:14:36 pm
Post by: piecewise on February 06, 2022, 01:39:19 pm
The sky is blue but the enormous sun is a ghastly red, casting the world in purplish red hue. The ground beneath your feet is metal covered in a thin coating of sand. Hot winds swirl in seemingly random gusts around you, blowing the sand this way and that. It smells of dirt or dust, mixed with oil, chemicals, and ozone. All around you is the Shipbreaker's Camp, the expansive base of operations for the Guild's salvage operation. To the south are the huge metal slabs of the landing pads, each floating on insulated gel cushions to prevent damage and stabilize them on the shifting sands. Stacked towers of modular, spherical refueling tanks rise like bizarre towers all around the landing field. Each clear synthplas tank shimmers with refracted sunlight. Salvage, stacked in filament bound piles or stored in clear Synthplas crates, is arranged in wide rows awaiting loading. To the east, the living quarters of the Guild, a vast complex of opaque white Synthplas and gleaming aluminum composites. Apprentices in their tight packed modular habitat cubes and utility sections, piled in jagged mountains like discarded tetris blocks. Beyond them, the guild houses and halls with their rib-like buttresses and protruding spires. And finally the grand lodge looming up behind it all, a fist of polished aluminum reaching for the sky.
To the west, the cutting grounds, a slaughter house of metal. Nearest you are long warehouses which stretch into the cutting grounds like searching fingers. Beyond them, a flat of metal plates that have been fused to the alien metal just beneath the sand. Colossal pieces of machinery and metal are dragged onto the cutting floor on antigrav sleds and set upon by workers with torches, lasers, and industrial cutters. Purple, blue, red and green sparks and plasma jets are so numerous that the entire area looks like an unending fireworks display. It is unimaginably loud. Directly to the north and in front of you is a strange chaos: Apprentices in their pressure suits and full guildsmen in their hulking powered Hazsuits hurry back and forth, antigrav sledges loaded with salvage trundle towards the landing pads, piles of supplies and goods from the cargo ships are unloaded and inspected. Amongst this chaos is a single straight road lined on either side by much more ramshackle buildings: food vendors, clothing merchants, arms dealers, a tiny temple to the Void Watchers, all manner of businesses hoping to separate new arrivals from their cash.
Beyond this camp, visible even above the fuel towers and the grand lodge, are the engines of the Enigma. Each one towers hundreds of feet into the air, larger than the entire cargo freighter you arrived in. There are four in total, tracing out a square 3km to a side. One, directly to the West, is being dismantled. You can see the glittering scaffolding, cranes and grav lifts around it, half its outer plating has been cut away to reveal the skeletal machinery within. To the East, beyond the Grand Lodge, the engine is overgrown with strange flora which stretches nearly to its tip. The engine far to the north east is visibly damaged, shorn in half and smoldering dull red. The engine to the North West appears undamaged, though you cannot see its base thanks to the buildings around you. Directly ahead, down the road of ramshackle shops, you can see a gleaming metal and a black void, hazy with distance and heat. Glimpsed through gaps in the buildings you can tell more there are more structures within the square created by the engines, especially towards the north east. You cannot see them clearly though.
The other passengers are brushing past you or stopping next to you, glancing about as you are, deciding where to go.
Post by: IronyOwl on February 06, 2022, 03:46:38 pm
Jog merrily towards the
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 06, 2022, 03:57:32 pm
Make my way over to a clothing merchant to see if there are any nice clothes available.
Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on February 06, 2022, 04:09:51 pm
Keep pace with that old man. With a hand on the hilt of my blade.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on February 06, 2022, 04:29:28 pm
"Wahaha! Well what are we waiting for, let's go get rich and dead!""You're rather chipper, sifu." Hlaine says to the old man, running hand through his hair before putting the helmet back on. "Eager to get into the belly of the beast then?
Before we plunge inside, I'm rather keen on having a look around. Maybe try and loop around that hole in the middle? There's a couple of places between the further engines that we haven't seen anything of yet. "
Recieve my first psychic ability, if possible.
Walk with the old man (ironyowl). See if we can't visit/see what the two map points currently marked with ? are.
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on February 06, 2022, 04:39:34 pm
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: The Lupanian on February 06, 2022, 05:11:42 pm
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: Ragnar the Råsh of Emal on February 06, 2022, 05:19:47 pm
"Feels good to be back in the harness after so long, feels like forever since I worked shipping."
Spoiler: Lorin Veritz (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on February 06, 2022, 06:09:38 pm
"You're rather chipper, sifu." Hlaine says to the old man, running hand through his hair before putting the helmet back on. "Eager to get into the belly of the beast then?"Absolutely! Figure I've earned me a vacation, and what better place to go than the last place you'll ever see? Bwahahaha!
Before we plunge inside, I'm rather keen on having a look around. Maybe try and loop around that hole in the middle? There's a couple of places between the further engines that we haven't seen anything of yet. "
Suit yourself, but I'm flat broke anyway. Let me know if you find anything good!"
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 06, 2022, 06:16:14 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I Head to the temple of the void
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 06, 2022, 06:16:46 pm
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 06, 2022, 06:41:08 pm
Amon trails behind the old man suspiciously with SPEED and CHARISMA
Post by: m1895 on February 06, 2022, 07:26:12 pm
go see the Temple to the Void Watchers
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 06, 2022, 08:00:43 pm
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 06, 2022, 08:08:43 pm
"Hm, I do believe I need a more fashionable look.""My friend if you wanted fashion you should of came prepared! The fashion they sell here are probably only fit for blue collar workers and dogs I mean have you seen this place?" Steve chuckles "Here let me take you around I have experience finding diamonds in the rough in places like this afterall, im sure I can secure you something more fitting of a man such as yourself."
Lead Ozwald to the exact same place he was already going and attempt to secure him some quality clothing
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 06, 2022, 10:28:12 pm
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 06, 2022, 11:13:46 pm
Post by: King Zultan on February 07, 2022, 04:11:36 am
Go forth and see what kinds of guns they have for sale!
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on February 07, 2022, 09:10:21 am
Give the three filament cartridges to Maxwell Hardberger. Check to see if inventory mechanics can be cheesed by storing items inside the autocage, using it as a kind of backpack.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 08, 2022, 10:26:43 am
Post by: Pancaek on February 08, 2022, 10:50:23 am
how do we use our prayer beads/void shards?((I believe PW has said that the prayer beads and the parasite grant you 1 ability on character creation. The void shard allows you to use void abilities, but you don't start off with one. I'd assume you can visit the Temple of the Void Watchers PW mentioned when describing our landing to get one tho.))
Post by: piecewise on February 08, 2022, 02:15:26 pm
Hlaine Lockley: The following has been unlocked
Telekinesis
Users can move objects within their line of sight using their mind. Rolls Knowledge, with the user able to lift about 100lbs per level of Knowledge (Ie d8 = 300lbs) Requires sacrifice of 1 level of Strength. If user is at d4 strength already, take d10 HP damage instead. Uses d4 SP per activation.
Anton Barrick: The following has been unlocked
Fist of Uncompromising Tungsten
When dealing unarmed damage, you may choose to activate this skill. When active, unarmed damage will be equal to a roll of your strength die instead of normal unarmed. D4 SP Per strike.
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 08, 2022, 04:41:38 pm
Post by: m1895 on February 08, 2022, 11:53:55 pm
Post by: piecewise on February 09, 2022, 05:30:26 pm
"Hm, I do believe I need a more fashionable look."You squeeze through the crowd and head north along the metal plate road. You quickly pick up that this area is called "Leeches' Alley" by the Shipbreakers and "Iron Road" by the locals. The first clothing shop you come across is a bit...esoteric. Its built into one the large cargo containers the Shipbreakers are using to transport salvage, with the front doors open wide to create a sort of display area with clothing along the inside of either door and a scrap metal wall erected in the mouth of the container. The only sign is a flapping banner with a picture of a shirt and pants embroidered on it in red. The owner, who is laying curled up in front, appears to be some sort of giant red, white, and black banded snake. As you come closer the shop owner disentangles themselves a bit and rises up so its head is about the height of your own, revealing a dozen reptilian arms branching off its body in a centipede-like fashion. It gestures about itself with all its limbs at once, body swaying slowly, speaking with a language that hisses out between its scaly lips like bubbling tea kettles. When you just shake your head in confusion it produces a box from somewhere within its coils. It holds the box towards you and speaks again. Again its voice comes out as an incomprehensible staccato hiss but then the box begins speaking in a language you can understand.
Make my way over to a clothing merchant to see if there are any nice clothes available.Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
"This one greets you, patron. Look upon my wares and find what pleases you. Custom garments are available as well."
You nod, which the snake mimics, and take a look at the clothing. The clothing is all quite loose and flowing stuff, the kind of thing meant to block sunlight and prying eyes more than shelter the body from any harsh weather. There are shirts, robes, pants, dresses, undergarments, all of it fairly simple in construction without flowing lace or complex shapes. They come in only warm colors: red, orange, black, white, yellow, tan, and gold. They lack any sort of complex geometric patterns or anything of the sort, instead relying on bands of color not unlike the bands of color on their creator. These bands follow patterns of color and relative size, though they're smaller and more numerous on sleeves, pant legs, and skirts than on the bodies of shirts or full dresses. You touch the fabric and are surprised to find that they appear to be woven out of websilk. Seems they have been trading with the Shipbreakers or maybe the Scavengers.
As Oswald examines the clothing on offer, you engage with the shop keep. [5] Haggling with an alien in a language you don't know via a translator is not the easiest thing, but you manage. You get the shop to promise to make a full custom suit for Oswald for only 50 credits. Oswald didn't particularly ask for this and doesn't seem to have noticed the favor you did him, at least not yet."Hm, I do believe I need a more fashionable look.""My friend if you wanted fashion you should of came prepared! The fashion they sell here are probably only fit for blue collar workers and dogs I mean have you seen this place?" Steve chuckles "Here let me take you around I have experience finding diamonds in the rough in places like this afterall, im sure I can secure you something more fitting of a man such as yourself."
Lead Ozwald to the exact same place he was already going and attempt to secure him some quality clothingSpoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Check out the Grand Lodge.You head towards the East, along with most of the group fresh off the Cargo vessel. However, as they continue on towards the Engine in the distance, you split off to instead investigate the Grand Lodge.Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
The Grand Lodge is not a building, at least not a traditional one. As you get closer you can see the metal ramps and barricades around its base which hide the colossal verniers and thrusters which brought it here from orbit. It is a module of the much larger main ship that still orbits the planet, a temporary headquarters for as long as the Guild is on this planet. The buttresses which enclose it like a great ribcage are equal parts structural and ceremonial, its spires and spikes are anchor points as well as ornaments. Apprentices and Guildmen give you wary looks as you climb the precisely milled grand stairway up to the industrial sized airlock that serves as the Lodge's entrance. The doors of the airlock are locked open for the moment and you enter into the lobby. It is a long and very tall room, with what look like metal pillars set into the side walls. However, these pillars only stretch half way up the height of the room before blossoming out into busts of men and women. You have no idea who they are, but you assume they're important. The entire room is as sterile and spotlessly clean as a fresh surgical scalpel. At the other end of the room is a reception desk manned by young woman what looks like a military uniform. Her appearance and expression fit perfectly with this place.
"whoah, this place is huge"
go see the Temple to the Void WatchersSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
As you head down what the locals call "Iron Road" you eventually come across the small Void Watcher temple. The building, apparently constructed in the shell of some huge cylindrical electrical component, is little more than a shrine. It is a single large room with a magnetically contained fragment of Void floating in its center and three levels of metal benches welded to the bottom, middle and upper parts of the cylinder. The middle and upper seats are accessed by a ladder welded near the doorway and have a guard rail of sorts running in front of them to prevent worshipers from tumbling off. There are a few worshipers here now, scattered among the levels, all staring silently into the void. The room is surprisingly quiet, almost all noise from the outside is cut off and the only real sound is the soft hum of the containment system. An elder watcher, distinguishable by his black attire and matching black eyes greets you.
"Welcome, child of the Void, to our humble shrine. We grant refuge to new arrivals and to the few faithful within the shipbreakers. What may I do for you? "
"How did I get here?"You head down what locals call "Iron Road" until you come across a vendor selling weapons. The shop, a fairly spacious if crude box built of fused ship plating, has its back wall entirely covered in merchandise and its side walls lined with display cases and laser turrets. The turrets track you as you walk to the counter where an old man is sitting, leaning back in his chair with his feet up on the countertop. At his feet is a holo-projector, which is throwing a 3d representation of some kind of action movie into the air just above the man's toes. As you reach the counter the shop keeper swings his feet- both of which are cybernetic- to the ground with a grunt and turns in his chair to face you. He doesn't say anything, just stares.
Go forth and see what kinds of guns they have for sale!Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
You look around. The sign outside read simply "GUNS" and the selection is about as inspired as the name. This place is clearly designed to take advantage of those who came with little or no preparation in terms of weaponry. You search through the racks of peacekeeper rifles and de-regulated laser cutters for something better than your own weapon. [4] You eventually find a Thermo-Lash. Its a modified version of the energy tether used in zero g salvaging, this one burning with plasma and leaping to nearby targets instead of just tethering them together. It deals d8 damage to the first target, d4 to the next, and d2 to the third. Good for groups but a bit dangerous in a melee: could leap to friends.
Head out towards the buildings in the north-east.
"Feels good to be back in the harness after so long, feels like forever since I worked shipping."Spoiler: Lorin Veritz (click to show/hide)
You head north, down the Iron Road, and finally out beyond the boundaries of the shipbreaker's Camp. The smooth baseplates of the camp are replaced with a thin layer of sand over alien metal. The Enigma rests just beneath the surface of the desert here, bits of it sticking up here and there like islands in a sandy sea. Further north the sand is replaced by bare metal as the ground slopes slightly upwards towards the yawning chasm of the Steel Pit. Even from where you are, cutting a circumspect path around the hole towards the buildings in the North East, you can see the jagged edge of that pit bowing outward and upward. That hole is nearly a kilometer wide, and it wasn't made by the impact that sunk the ship into the sand: something was either torn off or burst out from within to make a hole like that. You think, far to the north, you can see what that something might have been. Through the heat haze and blowing sand you can't make out any real details but between the Northern most pair of engines is another colossal thing. It looks to be resting in an unnatural position, like it was dumped there instead of purposefully attached.
You continue around to the North East and make your way towards the buildings. As you get closer you get a better look at what they all are. In the center there's another engine, though this one is much smaller than the other monolithic structures. All that you can see is the nozzle rising like a giant metal bowl out of the sands around it. Around the engine are some scattered buildings, maybe two dozen of them, mostly clustered on the southwest side facing the Shipbreaker camp. They are almost all made out of old cargo containers in various stages of disrepair, some stood vertically and others laid on their sides. As you get closer still you can see that one of the larger ones is actually fused to or perhaps penetrating into the wall of the engine nozzle.
You decide to skirt around those other buildings and head towards the one piercing the engine. Eventually you can see a sign made of welded metal that reads "Vernierville" above the entrance to that cargo container. There are a handful of locals hanging around the outer buildings as you approach but none of them make any moves towards you, so you head into the container. The interior of the container is lit only by a few strips of diode lights running along the roof of the roof, so you have to be careful of your footing as you climb the gentle slope through the container and out the other side.
The container is, as you expected, a crude tunnel of sorts through the wall of the nozzle and you step out into the inside of the giant bowl. There's a layer of sand forming a mostly flat surface on which many more buildings sit. These structures, generally made from smaller square shaped containers, are scattered around in small clusters. There are maybe 50 or 60 "Buildings" you can identify and much of the area within the nozzle is still open and unused. You see signs advertising a Void Watcher temple, general shop, armorer's, gunsmith's, the "Pilot Light" bar, a fight pit, and other "attractions". Finally, and most obviously, is a very out of place structure built along the curving wall near the entrance. The huge satellite dish and bright red and yellow colorations mark the prefab building as an outpost of the "Universal Survey" corporation.
"Wahaha! Well what are we waiting for, let's go get rich and dead!"
Jog merrily towards theenginesovergrown engine, soak in the sights, and finally get some good exercise!Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Ready to go, dad? Shouldn't stand around looking clueless, people will rob us."
Keep pace with that old man. With a hand on the hilt of my blade.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
"Wahaha! Well what are we waiting for, let's go get rich and dead!""You're rather chipper, sifu." Hlaine says to the old man, running hand through his hair before putting the helmet back on. "Eager to get into the belly of the beast then?
Before we plunge inside, I'm rather keen on having a look around. Maybe try and loop around that hole in the middle? There's a couple of places between the further engines that we haven't seen anything of yet. "
Recieve my first psychic ability, if possible.
Walk with the old man (ironyowl). See if we can't visit/see what the two map points currently marked with ? are.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Stick with whoever’s doing something important.Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I Head to the temple of the void
“Hmm.”
Amon trails behind the old man suspiciously with SPEED and CHARISMA
Join the gaggle of people following Gambatta. The old man. Ironyowl.(Autocages can carry objects. For small autocages though the big issue is size. They're not very big so they can't carry much. From your path you can see the smaller engine to the north and the outer buildings, vaguely see the Steel Pit, but everything else is too far to see clearly thanks to sand and heathaze.)
Give the three filament cartridges to Maxwell Hardberger. Check to see if inventory mechanics can be cheesed by storing items inside the autocage, using it as a kind of backpack.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Gambatta, Xeriay, Hlaine, Terra, Anton, Amon, and Kander all head towards the east and the engine looming beyond the Shipbreaker's camp. The group weaves through the housing area and circles around the Grand Lodge before crossing the remaining mostly empty baseplates until they reach the edge of the camp. For the first few hundred feet from the camp there's nothing but sand and the occasional exposed bit of alien metal. However, further east a carpet of small plants appears. These plants are not a single homogenous group; instead there are dozens or even hundreds of varieties. Many resemble ferns or succulents, with either many thin, frond like leaves or thick geometric shaped bulbs. They are almost all at least partially metallic red in color with secondary vivid oranges, yellows, black and even shimmering diamond dust white. Here, on the outer edge, they're tiny and huddled close to the ground, but the closer one gets towards the engine, the larger they become. Those at the base of the engine are, the group estimates, big enough to build a house inside while the ones actually clinging to the engine itself are even larger than that. What starts as a thin coating of plant life becomes a dense jungle nearer to the base of the engine.
Among this vegetation the group can see several interesting things. First, to the north, they can see what looks like maybe a dozen or so people gathering plants and loading them onto a giant autocage they've apparently retrofitted for this purpose. Second, this jungle is not inhabited only by would-be farmers: alien life of all kinds seems to inhabit it. They see bird like insects circling, dozens of hexapod...things crossing as a herd in the distance, and even something enormous moving through the denser parts. And finally, on the giant plants that cling to the engine and directly around it they notice an odd luminescence. Its almost like there's light pulsing through the plants like blood through tissue. Its quite difficult to see in the bright sun, but its still vaguely there.
Post by: Horizon on February 09, 2022, 07:15:54 pm
Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 09, 2022, 07:54:02 pm
Post by: King Zultan on February 10, 2022, 03:44:05 am
Find out how much the Thermo-Lash is, if I can afford it buy it if I can't leave, but no matter if I can afford it or not once out of the shop head towards the giant engines.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Radio Controlled on February 10, 2022, 03:57:07 am
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 10, 2022, 10:27:33 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
i head to the void temple
Post by: Pancaek on February 10, 2022, 12:54:02 pm
Hlaine suddenly stops walking, one side of his face drooping slightly, his arms limp at his side. He's sweating profusely, one eye starting to wander slowly. He looks very unhealthy, more so than usual.
Suddenly a violent shudder goes throughout his body, and he snaps back to normal.
"hhhhhhholy fuck. Oh dear, am I having an alergic reaction to the plants? Am I going into anaph, afanalec, that bad alergic shock? Quick, how do my pupils look?"
((10 hp lost, telekesis acquired))
Post by: IronyOwl on February 10, 2022, 02:43:01 pm
"Well, how about that. I admit, I didn't really admit seeing an, a, forest? Ecosystem? here. It looks interesting, it's hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"Gambatta looks askance at his impromptu companion, something approaching concern in his eyes.
Hlaine suddenly stops walking, one side of his face drooping slightly, his arms limp at his side. He's sweating profusely, one eye starting to wander slowly. He looks very unhealthy, more so than usual.
Suddenly a violent shudder goes throughout his body, and he snaps back to normal.
"hhhhhhholy fuck. Oh dear, am I having an alergic reaction to the plants? Am I going into anaph, afanalec, that bad alergic shock? Quick, how do my pupils look?"
((10 hp lost, telekesis acquired))
"Like they're in the middle of a desert. Maybe you should avoid the living stuff and stick to the bare metal regions.
As for me, I'm gonna have me a chat with the locals!"
Go strike up a conversation with the farmers. How's their day been? What do they do here? What sells on the animal front, and to who?
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on February 11, 2022, 06:58:30 am
"Well, kiddo, here we are. The area out here is too exposed, most that's worthwhile will have already been picked clean. Let's try and find a way inside. The best artifacts will be deep."
Head into the jungle, and search for an entrance inside the engine, or the Enigma in general. Keep the logbook out, and chart our progress.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 11, 2022, 07:37:26 am
"I do say my friend," Ozwald turns to Steve, his voice a southern debonair drawl. Looking him up and down, nodding satisfied to be in the company of a fashionable and glib tongued individual then offers him a hand in greeting "I am impressed, names Ozwald J. Hamond. Might I say it is a pleasure to meet a gentleman of equal tastes." if he takes it he'll find the 50 he needs to pay for the suit.Steve firmly accepts the handshake "Likewise my friend! I'm glad I was able to assist you in pertaining something even remotely fashionable within this wasteland, after all a gentlemen should always look his part at least that's what my uncle always told me! Anyway once your done procuring your outfit come have a seat with me near the patio I feel we have much we can glean from each others insights and I always enjoy a nice talking partner to pass the time before a venture properly begins."
Go sit down at the nearest half decent looking table and wait.
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: The Lupanian on February 11, 2022, 12:26:12 pm
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: Ragnar the Råsh of Emal on February 11, 2022, 10:37:21 pm
Spoiler: Lorin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on February 12, 2022, 12:22:52 am
Advance into the jungle ahead of Kendar. Keep Kendar safe. Watch for anything threatening him, slash it apart, take a hit for him if I can.
Clear a path through the plants with the monoblade or thermal ray if necessary.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on February 12, 2022, 12:42:04 am
Kendar frowns. "Of course, something seems to have gone wrong. Generally you don't want to crash your city into a planet. Maybe we'll be the ones to find out just what happened, if anyone ever does."
Post by: Egan_BW on February 12, 2022, 12:43:53 am
"I hope so."
Post by: syvarris on February 12, 2022, 12:55:37 am
Post by: Egan_BW on February 12, 2022, 01:02:51 am
Post by: Devastator on February 12, 2022, 02:14:18 am
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on February 12, 2022, 07:38:02 am
"Like they're in the middle of a desert. Maybe you should avoid the living stuff and stick to the bare metal regions."Yeah, yeah that might be a good idea. I'm going to go take a stroll, hopefully shake the pollen or whatever triggered my allergies off.
As for me, I'm gonna have me a chat with the locals!"
Let's find eachother again before we head into the enigma though, alright? We'd do best to stick together going deeper into the ship, who knows what dangerous crap is lurking down there."
We're at the overgrown engine right now, right? Go up towards the broken engine, see what the "more buildings?" in the square above is about.
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on February 13, 2022, 08:46:02 pm
The nearest table is in the outdoor seating area of a nearby Restaurant, named "Deep Black Café". The tables and chairs are all clearly hand made from scrap metal but are actually fairly elegant for their rough origin. You pay 1 credit for a tea made with "local herbs" so that they don't kick you out for lounging around without paying. Time, with reference to the planet's day cycle, is a bit hard to tell. Late afternoon maybe? You peek out of under the fabric awning overhanging the seating area. The sun is past its zenith, though no telling how slowly it will trudge towards the horizon. Come to think of it you're not even sure this planet has days as you think of them. Nor the latitude of this dig site. For all you know this is the pole and the sun will never set. Hmm."I do say my friend," Ozwald turns to Steve, his voice a southern debonair drawl. Looking him up and down, nodding satisfied to be in the company of a fashionable and glib tongued individual then offers him a hand in greeting "I am impressed, names Ozwald J. Hamond. Might I say it is a pleasure to meet a gentleman of equal tastes." if he takes it he'll find the 50 he needs to pay for the suit.Steve firmly accepts the handshake "Likewise my friend! I'm glad I was able to assist you in pertaining something even remotely fashionable within this wasteland, after all a gentlemen should always look his part at least that's what my uncle always told me! Anyway once your done procuring your outfit come have a seat with me near the patio I feel we have much we can glean from each others insights and I always enjoy a nice talking partner to pass the time before a venture properly begins."
Go sit down at the nearest half decent looking table and wait.Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
"I do say my friend," Ozwald turns to Steve, his voice a southern debonair drawl. Looking him up and down, nodding satisfied to be in the company of a fashionable and glib tongued individual then offers him a hand in greeting "I am impressed, names Ozwald J. Hamond. Might I say it is a pleasure to meet a gentleman of equal tastes." if he takes it he'll find the 50 he needs to pay for the suit.(Not bolded so I'm not sure if this is an action. Are you saying to search for 50 credits? Or just pay the snakes? Uncertain.)Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
As you head down what the locals call "Iron Road" you eventually come across the small Void Watcher temple. The building, apparently constructed in the shell of some huge cylindrical electrical component, is little more than a shrine. It is a single large room with a magnetically contained fragment of Void floating in its center and three levels of metal benches welded to the bottom, middle and upper parts of the cylinder. The middle and upper seats are accessed by a ladder welded near the doorway and have a guard rail of sorts running in front of them to prevent worshipers from tumbling off. There are a few worshipers here now, scattered among the levels, all staring silently into the void. The room is surprisingly quiet, almost all noise from the outside is cut off and the only real sound is the soft hum of the containment system.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
i head to the void temple
An elder watcher, distinguishable by his black attire and matching black eyes, is talking to a young man. You recognize that young man as one of the passengers aboard the ship you just departed.
"The voices that scream at me in my mind tell me I need this weapon."[3]
Find out how much the Thermo-Lash is, if I can afford it buy it if I can't leave, but no matter if I can afford it or not once out of the shop head towards the giant engines.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
The man tells you the thermo-lash will cost you 1000. You know instinctively that's a freaking scam so you start haggling. In the end it costs you every credit to your name but you do manage to get the thermo-lash for 450.
Thermo-Lash: (End)(1d8, leaps to another enemy for d4 and then d2) Resembles a giant metal tuning fork jammed in the end of a rifle. It's a modified version of the energy tether used in zero g salvaging, this one burning with plasma and leaping to nearby targets instead of just tethering them together.
There are four giant engines (Check the Map on the OP), choose one.
Make my way to the Universal Survey building. Ask about any mapping efforts.The interior of the Universal Survey building is clean, brightly lit, and playing soft Muzak. Across a room filled with a sparse collection of stainless steel tables is a wall of individual kiosks. Each Kiosk is a small booth of what looks like glass enclosing a single person who is sitting at a glass desk and typing on a glass computer that appears to have barely visible glass innards. Next to the kiosk is some sort of large scanner which then leads to an automated metal door. You shrug and walk over to a random kiosk where a young man is typing away. He ignores you for several seconds to finish typing before then locking eyes with you through his glass computer screen. You ask him about mapping and he explains the following:Spoiler: Lorin (click to show/hide)
1. The Universal Survey corp will pay for map data of the interior of the Enigma just as they will pay for just about any data or samples from within.
2. Mapping data must be delivered in person.
3. Bounties for mapping are paid as a total and are independent of group size. If 1000 is the bounty, thats 1000 total, not 1000 to every member of the group.
4. The largest amounts are paid for information about entirely new areas, with lesser amounts paid for more exact detail from subsequent visits. Unless major changes occur, of course.
5. Deeper sections pay greater bounties.
Take a look at a couple of the busts.The busts are all precision made, probably laser cut, metal depictions of older men and women. Many have fairly evident scars, injuries, and cybernetic parts. One even has a completely mechanical head save for a clump of scalp and one eye. There are inscriptions under each bust which lay out a name and a set of dates. The dates are too close together to be the lifespan of the individuals, so they must have been the times these people held some kind of position. Guild leader maybe?Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
"Well, how about that. I admit, I didn't really admit seeing an, a, forest? Ecosystem? here. It looks interesting, it's hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"Gambatta looks askance at his impromptu companion, something approaching concern in his eyes.
Hlaine suddenly stops walking, one side of his face drooping slightly, his arms limp at his side. He's sweating profusely, one eye starting to wander slowly. He looks very unhealthy, more so than usual.
Suddenly a violent shudder goes throughout his body, and he snaps back to normal.
"hhhhhhholy fuck. Oh dear, am I having an alergic reaction to the plants? Am I going into anaph, afanalec, that bad alergic shock? Quick, how do my pupils look?"
((10 hp lost, telekesis acquired))
"Like they're in the middle of a desert. Maybe you should avoid the living stuff and stick to the bare metal regions.
As for me, I'm gonna have me a chat with the locals!"
Go strike up a conversation with the farmers. How's their day been? What do they do here? What sells on the animal front, and to who?Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Yeah, yeah that might be a good idea. I'm going to go take a stroll, hopefully shake the pollen or whatever triggered my allergies off.
"Like they're in the middle of a desert. Maybe you should avoid the living stuff and stick to the bare metal regions.
As for me, I'm gonna have me a chat with the locals!"
Let's find eachother again before we head into the enigma though, alright? We'd do best to stick together going deeper into the ship, who knows what dangerous crap is lurking down there."
We're at the overgrown engine right now, right? Go up towards the broken engine, see what the "more buildings?" in the square above is about.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Gambatta and Hlaine head north, traveling along the edge of the overgrown area until they reach the people gathering plants. They're not farmers, at least not really; they didn't grow any of these plants themselves they're just gathering the plants that grew here naturally. Gambatta strikes up a conversation with an older man who is sitting on the edge of the autocage, taking a break. According to this older man the plants here are all leeching off the energy from the engine, and they're harvesting the plants as food for "Vernierville", the town to the north of here. Apparently these are native plants that survived mostly on sunlight before but are growing massive under the energy they can gather from the engine. The engines still fire fairly often, but there's always energy running through them whether they're firing or not. Its why the engine north of here is a hazard even when its not "erupting".
When asked about animals, he says that they probably want to talk to the Universal Survey company up in town, unless they mean to gather critters and sell them to the prospectors or the locals.
"Dad, everything is so big. Was this really a ship?"
Advance into the jungle ahead of Kendar. Keep Kendar safe. Watch for anything threatening him, slash it apart, take a hit for him if I can.
Clear a path through the plants with the monoblade or thermal ray if necessary.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Follow the explorers into the jungle with my deathray at the readySpoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Kander sighs as he looks sidelong at Hlaine. He shakes his head, then looks up at the towering wall of overgrowth in front of him.
"Well, kiddo, here we are. The area out here is too exposed, most that's worthwhile will have already been picked clean. Let's try and find a way inside. The best artifacts will be deep."
Head into the jungle, and search for an entrance inside the engine, or the Enigma in general. Keep the logbook out, and chart our progress.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Go deeper into the forest, trusting that my knowledge and charisma will protect and help me, hoping to find some cool thingsXeriay, Terra, Kander, and (No sheet) push deeper into the overgrown area. They quickly discover a rough footpath and follow it through the increasingly gigantic foliage. Its clear that people have been out this way before from the cut foliage and the boot prints in the sand. The even come across the remains of what look like old hunting camps, now abandoned. The creatures here seem skittish and scatter at your approach, usually not seen as more than a blur and rustle of leaves. The only creatures that don't run are those too large to care or too slow to actually sprint away. The most interesting of these looks like a sandy colored praying mantis with four forelimbs that snips bits of leaves and plants with its pincers and delicately pops them in its mandibles. Its roughly the size of a giraffe and watches the group carefully as they move past, its limbs still carrying food to its mouth while its huge compound eyes trace the team's movement.
Eventually, as the plants become simply outrageous in size, the team runs up against the outer wall of the engine. They can't actually see much of the engine from their current vantage point though; the leaves here are over 6 meters long and they've been spending most of their time just shoving through them. Its like digging a tunnel through the foliage and they can see little above or around them. The outer wall of the engine is a smooth slab of metal with no distinguishing features or marks. It seems to be vibrating very very slightly though.
Post by: Egan_BW on February 13, 2022, 09:46:00 pm
"So we want to get through this, right? Not sure if I want to risk chipping my blade on a wall."
Post by: King Zultan on February 14, 2022, 04:27:28 am
Embark on my quest for murder by heading towards the overgrown engine.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 14, 2022, 07:14:17 am
Amon uses his knowledge of engines and wisdom to try to find a solution to this problem
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on February 14, 2022, 11:08:26 am
Follow the wall of the engine around, clockwise, searching for some kind of construction or entrance into the damage. While traveling, keep an eye out for interesting plants or animals, especially anything that looks... transportable. I have a nagging suspicion that there is no entrance, and trying to cut one out will make the damn thing explode spectacularly.
...I might as well wis roll to guess if the engine will explode should we cut into it with a death ray.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 14, 2022, 12:00:45 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I walk up behind my teammate and wait respectfully for the old guy to notice me. when/if he does, i ask hem this question: "hello? i have a void shard. how do i use it?"
Post by: The Lupanian on February 14, 2022, 01:14:10 pm
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on February 14, 2022, 02:36:49 pm
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on February 14, 2022, 10:54:50 pm
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on February 15, 2022, 12:59:45 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on February 15, 2022, 05:34:56 pm
Ask the old man if he can tell us what's around the broken engine to the north. Als ask if he knows what's in the top middle square of the current map, since it's sort-kinda adjacent to Vernierville.
Thank him in any case and then follow Gambatta to the universal survey whatsit.
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 15, 2022, 07:09:01 pm
Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 15, 2022, 07:18:15 pm
Keep waiting
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Ragnar the Råsh of Emal on February 15, 2022, 07:20:30 pm
Head out towards the Intact Engine.
Post by: m1895 on February 17, 2022, 01:33:20 pm
talk with the watcher
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on February 17, 2022, 05:00:07 pm
"I like this new gun, I must find something to use it on as the voices DEMAND!"You head east, towards the overgrown engine, weaving between the Guild's buildings until you reach the edge of the camp. For the first few hundred feet from the camp there's nothing but sand and the occasional exposed bit of alien metal. However, further east a carpet of small plants appears. These plants are not a single homogenous group; instead there are dozens or even hundreds of varieties. Many resemble ferns or succulents, with either many thin, frond like leaves or thick geometric shaped bulbs. They are almost all at least partially metallic red in color with secondary vivid oranges, yellows, black and even shimmering diamond dust white. Here, on the outer edge, they're tiny and huddled close to the ground, but the closer one gets towards the engine, the larger they become. Those at the base of the engine are, you estimate, big enough to build a house inside while the ones actually clinging to the engine itself are even larger than that. What starts as a thin coating of plant life becomes a dense jungle nearer to the base of the engine.
Embark on my quest for murder by heading towards the overgrown engine.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Among this vegetation you can see several interesting things. First, to the north, they can see what looks like maybe a dozen or so people gathering plants and loading them onto a giant autocage they've apparently retrofitted for this purpose. You can just make out two of the people from your cargo ship over there. Second, this jungle is not inhabited only by would-be farmers: alien life of all kinds seems to inhabit it. You see bird like insects circling, dozens of hexapod...things crossing as a herd in the distance, and even something enormous moving through the denser parts. And finally, on the giant plants that cling to the engine and directly around it you notice an odd luminescence. Its almost like there's light pulsing through the plants like blood through tissue. Its quite difficult to see in the bright sun, but its still vaguely there.
Steve looks at his watch "Hmm."The tea is pretty good but there's a strange metallic taste to it that you can't quite ignore. Hmm. You sit back and rest your head in your hands, staring up at the red sky through the fabric of the awning.
Keep waitingSpoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
"I'll be with you in a moment." Ozwald tells Steve before turning to hand the 50 credits to the snakeman and looks around to find anything of interest while waiting for the suit to be made.[2]Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
The snakeman...if snakes can be men....pulls a length of unmarked cord from somewhere and rapidly measures you. It shouts these measurements through the half open door to the back of the shop as it makes them. I then asks for colors you'd prefer and the order. Judging from the other clothing around here, 2 to 4 colors would be the norm. You consider the colors and ask how long it will take to make. The snake, turning the translator back on, tells you it will take about an hour.
As the snake measures you, you look around the Iron Road for something that catches your interest but...nothing really does. Food, weapons, more clothing, its all things you have already.
"I was wondering if you were acceptingnew disciples for training?" Jim says, keeping his voice low to not disturb the worshippers.
talk with the watcherSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Seeing that Jim is talking about roughly the same thing he wanted to ask about, Anton joins him next to the Elder Watcher.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I walk up behind my teammate and wait respectfully for the old guy to notice me. when/if he does, i ask hem this question: "hello? i have a void shard. how do i use it?"
"Ah yes." The watcher says, apparently a bit disappointed, "I suppose its only natural for you to seek the power and knowledge to survive here. I know only one movement of the style, which I can teach to pilgrims who wish to learn. However, if you are true devotees you should travel to Vernierville," He gestures over his shoulder to the northeast, "There is a full temple there and a master who can teach you. He teaches most who seek it but...he also kills some. "
Ask the receptionist about the guild and guild services.The receptionist, who is just as icy as her appearance suggests, tells you that the guild offers only minimal services for non-members. And it offers them at a cost. It appears the Guild views "Prospectors" - she says the word with evident disgust- as parasitic vermin running about chaotically with no real regard for the enormity of the work. They do not offer protection, they do not offer access to their armor nor their weaponry. What they do offer is water at the hydrogen still to the north west of here, labor for those who need money, and bounties for criminals and miscreants. They also sell "Universal Translators" and "Books of Doctrine". Beyond that, they sell the salvage from the ship to large brokers.Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
As per the history of the guild and its beliefs, she suggests you either buy a Book of Doctrine OR join. She says she doesn't have time to be giving history lessons to every scrounger who wanders in. You look around after she says this. You're the only one here, and you're pretty sure she was just staring into space beforehand...Such friendly folks round here.
"Cheers then, I'll be taking you up on that."You leave the way you came, heading back out the cargo box tunnel and into the desert. The winds outside town are stronger and filled with blinding sand. You trudge northwest, towards the towering engine in the distance.
Head out towards the Intact Engine.
You decide to skirt around the Steel Pit as you head west: The broken engine to the north looks to be a plain of burnt sand and fused glass leading to the smoldering red hot engine in the distance. Not the type of place to cross lightly. As you head west, you get a good look at the giant thing the lies between the broken engine and the intact engine. At first you mistake it for some sort of huge piece of debris, a twisted mass of scrap torn free during the crash. However, as you grow closer you see it's actually some sort of colossal machine. It appears humanoid, though its a bit difficult to tell. It seems to be sitting, holding its knees to its chest with its arms wrapped around its legs; a sort of "cannon ball" pose. Its monotone color and tightly squeezed body makes it difficult to pick out details, but it seems to have a cycloptic head, long arms ending in heavy pods with thick fingers radiating out from them, and a bristling array of...things you think might be weapons rising from its back like the pipes of a pipe organ.
This sleeping War Machine has at least two dozen Guild structures erected near it and there are low scaffolds built up around its feet and up to its waist. Judging from those structures and the distant specks of people on them the War Machine, if it were to stand up, wouldn't be quite as tall as the engines around it...but it wouldn't be much shorter.
To the West is another huge vernier, like the one Vernierville is built in, but this one has been claimed by the guild. They've built a strange forest of metal palm trees: Metal trunks rising up to branching chrome fronds like organic radiator manifolds. Pipes from these "trees" run to unknown buildings and spherical holding tanks near the base of the vernier. These buildings in turn send even larger pipes up and over the lip of the vernier, into a contained space created by a geodesic dome of synthplast that covers the entire mouth of the vernier. You can see, along the north facing side of the vernier, a smaller structure around which many people are gathered. From here you can't make out much, but they're not guildsmen and you think most aren't even human.
Finally you approach the intact engine. As you would expect, its plate metal exterior is impregnably opaque and hides any details or discoveries that might lie within. It is a colossal black box to you, with your equipment, and offers little in the way of interest. However, there is one chink in the armor: gathered around the base of the engine is what looks like a small village of locals. You assume they are locals by the fact that they have erected a cluster of red, orange, and white cloth tents and similar structures. Its a far cry from Vernierville in terms of complexity and resilience but might have a larger population. As you get closer still you notice what the village is built around. It looks like a giant glass lightbulb, a clear bulbous structure with a metallic base. The bulb is laying on its side, surrounded by tents and sand so that only the upper 2/3rds or so is visible. You cannot tell what it is from this distance but it looks...more complex than you'd expect this tent city to be able to manufacture on their own. And whats more interesting is the fact that it is "plugged" straight into the side of the engine. The metal plates have been slid aside and the bulb inserted onto the black machinery within.
Thank the old timer, try to find this universal survey thingy in Vernierville.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Excuse me sir, might I ask a question before we leave?"
Ask the old man if he can tell us what's around the broken engine to the north. Als ask if he knows what's in the top middle square of the current map, since it's sort-kinda adjacent to Vernierville.
Thank him in any case and then follow Gambatta to the universal survey whatsit.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
The old man says that the broken engine is the biggest hazard around right now. It was damaged in this crash and is leaking huge amounts of heat even when its sitting idle. And when the engines do fire, the thing goes off like an erupting volcano, hurling chunks of molten metal and plasma all around it. Pieces have fallen in Vernierville, even as far as the Guild camp. Area directly around the engine is pure molten silica, beyond that is glass, beyond that burnt sand. No one has been able to get very close, but watchers at a distance have reported seeing things moving out there that seem...alive for lack of a better word.
The thing between the two engines to the North is some sort of enormous robot, all curled up. Everyone who sees it thinks its probably for war, judging by what it looks like. The Guild has set up a perimeter and started looking into it. They've held off on trying to disassemble it, because they're worried about it waking up the old man postulates. No one knows much about it. Not outside the guild, at least.
They continue around to the North East and make their way towards the buildings. As they get closer they get a better look at what they all are. In the center there's another engine, though this one is much smaller than the other monolithic structures. All that they can see is the nozzle rising like a giant metal bowl out of the sands around it. Around the engine are some scattered buildings, maybe two dozen of them, mostly clustered on the southwest side facing the Shipbreaker camp. They are almost all made out of old cargo containers in various stages of disrepair, some stood vertically and others laid on their sides. As they get closer still they can see that one of the larger ones is actually fused to or perhaps penetrating into the wall of the engine nozzle.
They decide to skirt around those other buildings and head towards the one piercing the engine. Eventually they can see a sign made of welded metal that reads "Vernierville" above the entrance to that cargo container. There are a handful of locals hanging around the outer buildings as they approach but none of them make any moves towards them, so they head into the container. The interior of the container is lit only by a few strips of diode lights running along the roof of the roof, so they have to be careful of their footing as they climb the gentle slope through the container and out the other side.
The container is, as they expected, a crude tunnel of sorts through the wall of the nozzle and They step out into the inside of the giant bowl. There's a layer of sand forming a mostly flat surface on which many more buildings sit. These structures, generally made from smaller square shaped containers, are scattered around in small clusters. There are maybe 50 or 60 "Buildings" they can identify and much of the area within the nozzle is still open and unused. They see signs advertising a Void Watcher temple, general shop, armorer's, gunsmith's, the "Pilot Light" bar, a fight pit, and other "attractions". Finally, and most obviously, is a very out of place structure built along the curving wall near the entrance. The huge satellite dish and bright red and yellow colorations mark the prefab building as an outpost of the "Universal Survey" corporation.
“Hmm, I may know how to solve this.”
Amon uses his knowledge of engines and wisdom to try to find a solution to this problemSpoiler (click to show/hide)
"We were following a path. I'm sure there's an entrance somewhere--even if no natural ones were available, somebody would've cut in by now. With proper tools. Though..." Kander's eyes look over Terra. "Your death ray could get us through, though it might take awhile. I'd suggest that, if we had a better way to climb down. My autoharness can let me and Xeriay descend safely, but you and Amon are out of luck. For now, let's look for a better way through."
Follow the wall of the engine around, clockwise, searching for some kind of construction or entrance into the damage. While traveling, keep an eye out for interesting plants or animals, especially anything that looks... transportable. I have a nagging suspicion that there is no entrance, and trying to cut one out will make the damn thing explode spectacularly.
...I might as well wis roll to guess if the engine will explode should we cut into it with a death ray.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
carefully prod the jungle to see if any paths reveal themselves. Maybe tunnels that might lead down, or places where the growth of plants has weakened potential opening.Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Well, what's the best way into there? Provided that we have access to a cutting laser and a monoblade. We probably want to stay out of the path of any eruptions, so keep an eye out for spots which could turn dangerus.[9][4,3][1][6]Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Xeriay and Amon both examine the engine itself as Kander and Terra wander away. They tap on the metal. They check its hardness by scratching at it with a stone. They examine it for any cracks or groves that might hint at a weakness. They consider the strength of the weapons and tools they have on hand. When Kander finally returns, having circumnavigated the engine, they report that cutting into this thing is either going to be extremely hard or impossible and would likely just be more dangerous than its worth. Its true, they MIGHT be able to get into the ship this way; perhaps even into areas as of yet unseen. But the much better chance their endeavor will simply end with them all reduced to plasma themselves. They point to the already partially disassembled engine to the west and the fact that anything they find here would likely already have been discovered over there.
Kander nods. His trek round the engine revealed no way into the structure; though he did notice some sort of port or opening on the north side. It was a good 30 or 40 feet up though and he couldn't tell if it could even be opened or if it was just some fort of fuel nozzle or miniature maneuvering jet or something. Beyond this, he found several animal paths and tracks, but didn't see any living animals. Apparently they have no reason to come and poke at an inedible metal wall. He reports beyond all this that circumnavigating the engine was quite difficult due to the giant plants growing directly on it. There were several sections where he had to actually leave the wall of the engine and circle around some giant vegetation before returning to the wall.
The three wait a few minutes for Terra to return but...she never does. Terra's probing of the jungle of giant plants has caused her to lose track of exactly where she is. The sky is blocked by giant leaves so she can't easily see where the engine is and can't retrace her steps. She decides that her best bet is instead to simply push straight forward as best she can until she can see the sky and the engine again and then work her way back. She does this for a bit until she shoves aside a man sized leaf and stumbles into a small clearing. Its a hunting camp, like the ones they saw earlier. Several of the huge plants have been cut down and a space cleared for an impromptu fire pit, chairs, and even some tents. The camp is in a general state of disarray and appears to be abandoned. Several tents have collapsed or been damaged, things are laying scattered all over the ground, and there are dark patches in the otherwise yellowish white sand. On the...uh...left side of the camp is a massive autocage that has been burst open and smashed apart.
Post by: The Lupanian on February 17, 2022, 05:22:05 pm
If any creatures appear, shoot them with the deathray, unless they’re obviously human.
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 17, 2022, 05:40:54 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on February 17, 2022, 05:56:16 pm
have the Elder Watcher teach us the movement
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on February 17, 2022, 06:03:50 pm
"Well, what now? Even if we want to get in here, we'll have to climb up. Should we go find that guy, Hardberger?"
Follow Kendar, either going for the opening or going after Terra. And drag Amon with us too.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 17, 2022, 07:48:00 pm
While they converse, Oz contemplates wether snakemen are men or snakes.
Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 17, 2022, 07:59:07 pm
(You'd tell us if we earned a levelup, right? Because when you just list off rolls like that there's no way to tell who rolled what on which stat.)
"Well, what now? Even if we want to get in here, we'll have to climb up. Should we go find that guy, Hardberger?"Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Amon sits in the back observing the conversation.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on February 18, 2022, 04:26:55 am
Go towards the disassembled engine an find a way inside there.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 18, 2022, 01:01:56 pm
Request it be black and red, thank the snakeman then join Steve "It'll be an hour, anyways you certainly have a way with people sir." Oz says with an impressed look "Someone like you would do well as a business associate my friend, say what brought you out to this place?"
While they converse, Oz contemplates wether snakemen are men or snakes.Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Steve takes a sip of tea "Straight to the hard hitting questions I see? While I have no qualms in telling you my motivations we have not even done proper introductions yet! Let us get that out of the way then we can get into more juicy matters of discussion, it is only proper after all! Infact... give me one moment if you don't mind." Steve reaches into his left pocket and takes out a business card which he proceeds to hand to Ozwald "My name good sir is Steve Goldwin head manager and son of the CEO of Goldwin Biotechnical Industries. I'm certain you have heard of us before and even if by some miracle you have not heard of us I guarantee you have purchased one of our products before... for example does Biogel ring a bell?" Steve proceeds to take out a can of Biogel and rolls it toward Ozwald when it stops rolling the acronyms G.B.I are clearly visible on the can.
"Of course Biogel isnt the only product we sell not by a longshot but to tell you all that would take a list a mile wide!" Steve chuckles "Anyway enough with that now that I have introduced myself its time for you to introduce yourself, tell me friend who do I owe the pleasure of speaking to on this fine day?"
Think about electric sheep as I converse while also looking closely at the man infront of me for any particularities.
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 18, 2022, 08:34:36 pm
Request it be black and red, thank the snakeman then join Steve "It'll be an hour, anyways you certainly have a way with people sir." Oz says with an impressed look "Someone like you would do well as a business associate my friend, say what brought you out to this place?"
While they converse, Oz contemplates wether snakemen are men or snakes.Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Steve takes a sip of tea "Straight to the hard hitting questions I see? While I have no qualms in telling you my motivations we have not even done proper introductions yet! Let us get that out of the way then we can get into more juicy matters of discussion, it is only proper after all! Infact... give me one moment if you don't mind." Steve reaches into his left pocket and takes out a business card which he proceeds to hand to Ozwald "My name good sir is Steve Goldwin head manager and son of the CEO of Goldwin Biotechnical Industries. I'm certain you have heard of us before and even if by some miracle you have not heard of us I guarantee you have purchased one of our products before... for example does Biogel ring a bell?" Steve proceeds to take out a can of Biogel and rolls it toward Ozwald when it stops rolling the acronyms G.B.I are clearly visible on the can.
"Of course Biogel isnt the only product we sell not by a longshot but to tell you all that would take a list a mile wide!" Steve chuckles "Anyway enough with that now that I have introduced myself its time for you to introduce yourself, tell me friend who do I owe the pleasure of speaking to on this fine day?"
Think about electric sheep as I converse while also looking closely at the man infront of me for any particularities.Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Clearly impressed Ozwald rolls the canister back, prior to slipping the business card into the chest pocket of his dress shirt "Goodness, a Goldwin in the flesh? If I were a betting man I'd have bet against the odds of meeting a distinguished individual as yourself." he chuckles "Hm, I'm not a well-known man like yourself, Ozwald James Hamond...I'm an entrepreneur of sorts, came here to seek things of interest...Artifacts to be specific."
Post by: IronyOwl on February 18, 2022, 10:13:28 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on February 18, 2022, 10:44:45 pm
So.. does one just jump down the hole and grab something? No preliminaries? I mean.. I could give that a try. Head towards the hole.
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on February 19, 2022, 05:05:45 pm
Can the autoharness climb up the engine's wall, and would that need a roll of some kind? If it can, lead the other two back to the opening found in the side of the engine, and climb up it twice to bring them both up. If a roll would be necessary, Xeriay can operate the autoharness instead.
Failing that, head off to find Terra when she fires her death ray in the air.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 19, 2022, 11:53:42 pm
Clearly impressed Ozwald rolls the canister back, prior to slipping the business card into the chest pocket of his dress shirt "Goodness, a Goldwin in the flesh? If I were a betting man I'd have bet against the odds of meeting a distinguished individual as yourself." he chuckles "Hm, I'm not a well-known man like yourself, Ozwald James Hamond...I'm an entrepreneur of sorts, came here to seek things of interest...Artifacts to be specific."Steve looks at Ozwald with a glint of interest "Hmm artifacts you say? You know I heard many stories about the artifacts within that ship before coming here, stories which tell of objects that can do almost anything you can dream of. From a kazoo that create bubbles to a orb that grants whoever rubs it the power of the gods, power that one would be a fool to trust anyone else to not take advantage of." Steve takes off his sunglasses and cleans them before putting them back on "Of course my sources so far tell me these are nothing but unfounded rumors but I'm curious... tell me Mr. Hamond what type of artifact does a man like you seek?"
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 20, 2022, 10:42:57 am
"Ah, well now." Ozwald clasps his hands together, a smirk playing at the side of his lips "Seems you're the one asking the hard-hitting questions..." he chuckles amicably "You see, I am greatly interested in acquiring artifacts of historical or religious significance. I've little interest in becoming a god, well that kazoo sounds fun if the rumors are true." straightens collar slightly "A man like me doesn't chase fantasy without knowing the facts, it's what makes or breaks a man in my line of work."Clearly impressed Ozwald rolls the canister back, prior to slipping the business card into the chest pocket of his dress shirt "Goodness, a Goldwin in the flesh? If I were a betting man I'd have bet against the odds of meeting a distinguished individual as yourself." he chuckles "Hm, I'm not a well-known man like yourself, Ozwald James Hamond...I'm an entrepreneur of sorts, came here to seek things of interest...Artifacts to be specific."Steve looks at Ozwald with a glint of interest "Hmm artifacts you say? You know I heard many stories about the artifacts within that ship before coming here, stories which tell of objects that can do almost anything you can dream of. From a kazoo that create bubbles to a orb that grants whoever rubs it the power of the gods, power that one would be a fool to trust anyone else to not take advantage of." Steve takes off his sunglasses and cleans them before putting them back on "Of course my sources so far tell me these are nothing but unfounded rumors but I'm curious... tell me Ozwald what type of artifact does a man like you seek?"Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 20, 2022, 12:21:33 pm
"Ah, well now." Ozwald clasps his hands together, a smirk playing at the side of his lips "Seems you're the one asking the hard-hitting questions..." he chuckles amicably "You see, I am greatly interested in acquiring artifacts of historical or religious significance. I've little interest in becoming a god, well that kazoo sounds fun if the rumors are true." straightens collar slightly "A man like me doesn't chase fantasy without knowing the facts, it's what makes or breaks a man in my line of work."Steve smirks back "I cant help but agree Mr. Hamond a man must always do their due diligent research before chasing fairy tales after all if the Goldwin's were the type to chase after every rumor of a golden goose we would of gone bankrupt centuries ago." Steve stretches his back before resuming conversation "Anyway now introductions are over with I say its about time I answer your original inquiry" Steve takes a holopad out of his pocket and opens a file containing a video labeled SL-#1296 "Now before I play this your not the type of man to freak out over excessive carnage are you? You don't strike me as such but looks can always be deceiving especially in a place like this."
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on February 20, 2022, 06:22:41 pm
See if I can communicate with my Nim’s Parasite at all, since I now know that it's active/alive inside of me.
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 21, 2022, 01:34:27 am
"Mr. Goldwin, you needn't worry." Ozwald shakes his head chuckling "Do go ahead and play the tape.""Ah, well now." Ozwald clasps his hands together, a smirk playing at the side of his lips "Seems you're the one asking the hard-hitting questions..." he chuckles amicably "You see, I am greatly interested in acquiring artifacts of historical or religious significance. I've little interest in becoming a god, well that kazoo sounds fun if the rumors are true." straightens collar slightly "A man like me doesn't chase fantasy without knowing the facts, it's what makes or breaks a man in my line of work."Steve smirks back "I cant help but agree Mr. Hamond a man must always do their due diligent research before chasing fairy tales after all if the Goldwin's were the type to chase after every rumor of a golden goose we would of gone bankrupt centuries ago." Steve stretches his back before resuming conversation "Anyway now introductions are over with I say its about time I answer your original inquiry" Steve takes a holopad out of his pocket and opens a file containing a video labeled SL-#1296 "Now before I play this your not the type of man to freak out over excessive carnage are you? You don't strike me as such but looks can always be deceiving especially in a place like this."Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on February 21, 2022, 03:17:20 pm
"Sounds like a man that doesn't suffer the ill-prepared"
have the Elder Watcher teach us the movementSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
I ask this question: "Can you teach us this movement?"Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"The movement I know is called 'Vacuum cleave', and it enables one to strike from a distance with a melee weapon. Many do not see it as useful due to the proliferation of firearms, but I am happy to teach it. Though you will need a melee weapon, preferably something with a blade. Blunt weapons work as well but are more difficult to learn with. "
Request it be black and red, thank the snakeman then join Steve "It'll be an hour, anyways you certainly have a way with people sir." Oz says with an impressed look "Someone like you would do well as a business associate my friend, say what brought you out to this place?"You leave the merchant with your specifications and then rejoin Steve. As you speak with him, you idly consider the physiology of snake people. [2] You haven't a clue, really, if they're men or snakes. There were no indications of sex so to speak, and their language gave you no hints. Certainly they don't seem to fit within the human framework. Unfortunate; you were kind of hoping for some hot alien women on this trip. Ah well.
While they converse, Oz contemplates wether snakemen are men or snakes.Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
"What's that you don't like the plants, how can you change your mind now we're already her... No need to get so violent I'll go somewhere else."The disassembled or Stripped engine is the one you saw to the west of the Guild camp. Its the Guild's current worksite and you can tell before you even get close that you're not getting in there. They've built quite a large fence around it and the place is swarming with guild crews and machinery. A giant ring of scaffolding surrounds the engine up to about half its height, anti-grav sledges carry scrap back to the camp, and over a hundred full guildsmen in their powered armor suits are directing work and handling the larger tools. An armor plate the size of a house being lowered carefully down from the upper scaffolds.
Go towards the disassembled engine an find a way inside there.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Violence here is definitely possible...but would probably be mostly visited on you instead.
[4]Request it be black and red, thank the snakeman then join Steve "It'll be an hour, anyways you certainly have a way with people sir." Oz says with an impressed look "Someone like you would do well as a business associate my friend, say what brought you out to this place?"
While they converse, Oz contemplates wether snakemen are men or snakes.Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Steve takes a sip of tea "Straight to the hard hitting questions I see? While I have no qualms in telling you my motivations we have not even done proper introductions yet! Let us get that out of the way then we can get into more juicy matters of discussion, it is only proper after all! Infact... give me one moment if you don't mind." Steve reaches into his left pocket and takes out a business card which he proceeds to hand to Ozwald "My name good sir is Steve Goldwin head manager and son of the CEO of Goldwin Biotechnical Industries. I'm certain you have heard of us before and even if by some miracle you have not heard of us I guarantee you have purchased one of our products before... for example does Biogel ring a bell?" Steve proceeds to take out a can of Biogel and rolls it toward Ozwald when it stops rolling the acronyms G.B.I are clearly visible on the can.
"Of course Biogel isnt the only product we sell not by a longshot but to tell you all that would take a list a mile wide!" Steve chuckles "Anyway enough with that now that I have introduced myself its time for you to introduce yourself, tell me friend who do I owe the pleasure of speaking to on this fine day?"
Think about electric sheep as I converse while also looking closely at the man infront of me for any particularities.Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
The man doesn't appear to be anything out of he ordinary. Well...he doesn't appear to be anything more than human, lets put it that way. He certainly has an odd quality to him.
stand with Gambatta while he talks.
See if I can communicate with my Nim’s Parasite at all, since I now know that it's active/alive inside of me.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Head on in and ask the Survey Guys what they do here, and what they'll pay for. Also if they know anything about conditions or wildlife inside the wreck so far.[7]Hlaine attempts to speak the the parasite inhabiting him. He doesn't hear words or anything so plain, but he gets vague sensations. Its much the same way your body will not just transmit the words "I AM HUNGRY" to your brain, instead it will produce sensations the brain has come to understand mean the body is hungry. These sensations, currently, are those of a desire for power or control. A slightly malevolent ambition.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The interior of the Universal Survey building is clean, brightly lit, and playing soft Muzak. Across a room filled with a sparse collection of stainless steel tables is a wall of individual kiosks. Each Kiosk is a small booth of what looks like glass enclosing a single person who is sitting at a glass desk and typing on a glass computer that appears to have barely visible glass innards. Next to the kiosk is some sort of large scanner which then leads to an automated metal door. You shrug and walk over to a random kiosk where a young man is typing away. He ignores you for several seconds to finish typing before then locking eyes with you through his glass computer screen. You ask him about mapping and he explains the following:
1. The Universal Survey corp will pay for map data of the interior of the Enigma just as they will pay for just about any data or samples from within.
2. Mapping data must be delivered in person.
3. Bounties for mapping are paid as a total and are independent of group size. If 1000 is the bounty, thats 1000 total, not 1000 to every member of the group.
4. The largest amounts are paid for information about entirely new areas, with lesser amounts paid for more exact detail from subsequent visits. Unless major changes occur, of course.
5. Deeper sections pay greater bounties.
As per samples from inside- a process they call cataloging- he explains that the rarity of the specimen as well as the quality of it influence price. The highest quality specimens are live captured specimens while the lowest would be written second hand accounts. They also pay more for things they haven't seen yet.
As per conditions within, the clerk tells you that all data that has so far been collected is available through the Universal Survey project, where it can be purchased. They refuse to give you any info for free. Information is their business, after all.
"Damn, we could really benefit from radios. We're not likely to find Terra in this forest, we'd probably just get lost ourselves. She should be fine, even alone; let's go check out the opening I found. That's what we came here for, after all."The autoharness only climbs filaments. If you put a filament up then it will climb it without a roll. Of course you have to get the filament up there first.
Can the autoharness climb up the engine's wall, and would that need a roll of some kind? If it can, lead the other two back to the opening found in the side of the engine, and climb up it twice to bring them both up. If a roll would be necessary, Xeriay can operate the autoharness instead.
Failing that, head off to find Terra when she fires her death ray in the air.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
(You'd tell us if we earned a levelup, right? Because when you just list off rolls like that there's no way to tell who rolled what on which stat.)(I'll tell you, if its not obvious)
"Well, what now? Even if we want to get in here, we'll have to climb up. Should we go find that guy, Hardberger?"
Follow Kendar, either going for the opening or going after Terra. And drag Amon with us too.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
I'm assuming Amon would follow along.(You'd tell us if we earned a levelup, right? Because when you just list off rolls like that there's no way to tell who rolled what on which stat.)
"Well, what now? Even if we want to get in here, we'll have to climb up. Should we go find that guy, Hardberger?"Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Amon sits in the back observing the conversation.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
[2][5]
Neither Kander nor Amon notice the deathray, but Xeriay does. Together they head off in the direction the single shot came from. [2][6]
Fire my death-ray into the air. Then proceed into the camp and scour the ground for any tracks or indications of what happened, also keeping an eye out for anything useful. Lastly, see if I can locate the path that the hunters had taken, and see if I could follow it back.You point your death ray into the air and fire a single, long burst. A beam of brilliant red light lances up into the sky with a screech. That done, you sling your rifle again and start looking for clues. [1] You start at the perimeter and start walking in a wide circle, looking for paths out of the camp and clues about what happened. You're about half way around when you notice what looks like an animal path in the sand. You go over to examine it and as you take a step the sand erupts around you and you feel horrible pain in your lower leg. You fall over backwards and look down to see a crude beartrap latched onto your leg [-7hp]. It seems the hunters may have been expecting...interruptions. Ow.
If any creatures appear, shoot them with the deathray, unless they’re obviously human.Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Shortly after Terra manages to get her leg clamped in a trap, Amon, Xeriay and Kender wander into the clearing and find her.
Leave the guild hall, these people seem jerk-adjacent.You leave the Guild hall with a curt nod and head out towards the center of the Enigma; the Steel pit. The sands give way to bare alien metal as you get closer to the enormous hole, the edges of which are slightly bowed upwards. You scramble up the sloped metal and to the edge of the pit. The hole is not a clean one; its edges are ragged and all manner of wires, tubes, and pipes jut out like broken teeth. Some of these pipes still disgorge a steady stream of chemicals down into the pit. About 30 or 40 meters down you can see, it by the light of the red sun, a great swamp of god knows what chemicals and shattered machinery. In the center of this mire is what looks like an island made of tight clustered conduits, pipes, and mechanisms: perhaps the stump of a 5th engine which tore its way clean? of the ship? Jumping down would be....ill advised...but a filament rope could let one relatively easily climb from the edge down onto that central...island of sorts.
So.. does one just jump down the hole and grab something? No preliminaries? I mean.. I could give that a try. Head towards the hole.Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on February 21, 2022, 03:38:20 pm
Carefully approach Terra and get that trap off of her leg. Without stepping on any myself.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 21, 2022, 04:01:48 pm
"Mr. Goldwin, you needn't worry." Ozwald shakes his head chuckling "Do go ahead and play the tape."
Steve presses the play button and the footage starts up
On the screen 4 men are shown heading forward through what can only be assumed to be the Enigma the time stamp shows they have been recording for two hours and fourty seven minutes 3 of the men are wearing body armor and armed with assault rifles while one of the men wears a labcoat covered in dirt and blood. After around three minutes of walking and miscellaneous chatter the men run into some type of white faceless humanoid creature before the men can react the creature lets out a loud scream and extends a flesh tentacle from out of its chest which proceeds to impale one of the guards at almost light speed.
The footage starts to visibly shake as whoever is operating the camera starts a hasty retreat while also readjusting the camera under his elbow so he can continue recording what is behind him, as he flees gun fire can be heard and seen as the 2 remaining guards start yelling expletives and opening fire on the creature as the scientist stands there frozen in what can be assumed to be fear. As the bullets hit the creature it is evident that any wound it takes is mended near instantly, the creature proceeds to extend another flesh tentacle decapitating a second guard and knocking down the scientist. In assumed desperation as the creature runs at the final guard he pulls the pin on a grenade blowing both him and the creature up in the process.
At this point the footage stabilizes again showing the scientist on the ground and the remains of both the guard and the creature spread across the walls and floor but suddenly the viscera begins to move quickly reforming into the creature from earlier now slightly smaller then before. The footage ends with the camera shaking and getting further and further away as the creature stands over the scientist on the ground.
"That Mr. Hamond is why I am here... any questions?"
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on February 21, 2022, 04:16:58 pm
Filament shot, and climb to the central island. There a hole leading further down?
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 21, 2022, 04:29:07 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
“Could it work with a fist?”
Learn vacuum cleave.
Post by: King Zultan on February 22, 2022, 03:24:59 am
Go find that big hole in the ground and see if there's a way inside through that.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on February 23, 2022, 06:47:15 pm
learn Vacuum cleave if possible, otherwise Jim will beg his leave to earn a melee weapon, then heard towards the hole
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on February 23, 2022, 08:12:23 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: The Lupanian on February 23, 2022, 08:57:38 pm
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on February 24, 2022, 12:50:36 am
Try to recall from my investigations into the occult about anything that might relate to the creature in the video.
Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on February 24, 2022, 02:26:49 am
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on February 24, 2022, 07:51:14 am
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on February 24, 2022, 11:28:11 am
"I have never seen it done with fists. I suppose it may be possible but I would not know how to teach it that way, I'm afraid" The Watcher says.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
“Could it work with a fist?”
Learn vacuum cleave.
Without a melee weapon of some kind it seems impossible to learn. So you head towards the Steel Pit.
learn Vacuum cleave if possible, otherwise Jim will beg his leave to earn a melee weapon, then heard towards the holeSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
head to the hole with Ganbatta, and help figure out a way down. Use my telekenisis if we can't figure out a good mundane way.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Head to the giant ragged hole and try to figure out a way down. Ask any nearby locals how the locals usually get into the ship and back out again.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Damn it I need inside I guess I'll go find that big hole and try that."
Go find that big hole in the ground and see if there's a way inside through that.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"Huh. I guess it really is just that simple."The sands give way to bare alien metal as you get closer to the enormous hole, the edges of which are slightly bowed upwards. You scramble up the sloped metal and to the edge of the pit. The hole is not a clean one; its edges are ragged and all manner of wires, tubes, and pipes jut out like broken teeth. Some of these pipes still disgorge a steady stream of chemicals down into the pit. About 30 or 40 meters down you can see, it by the light of the red sun, a great swamp of god knows what chemicals and shattered machinery. In the center of this mire is what looks like an island made of tight clustered conduits, pipes, and mechanisms.
Filament shot, and climb to the central island. There a hole leading further down?Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Jim, Hlaine, Gambatta, and Bob all trudge to the edge of the steel pit at roughly the same time; each showing up only a minute or two before or after the others. And they all notice each other, as well as Maxwell, who is apparently preparing to descend.
[4]
Maxwell points the filament gun down at the central island and fires. The filament bundle unspools so fast as to be invisible until it strikes the island below. Its not a direct hit; the filament instead lands just to the side of the island, on its "shore" so to speak. Maxwell shrugs and presses the tip of the filament gun against the edge of the hole; securing the other end to the line to the metal before pressing the button to cut it. He slings the gun back over his shoulder and inspects the filament line: its taut but has some flex and spring to it still. He lays on the edge and gives the line several good tugs to make sure it won't detach. When he's certain- or as certain as he can be- that its secure he lowers himself over the edge and starts climbing down.
[3] [5]
He climbs or slides most of the way down without any issue but then something rumbles in the ship's bowels and the line jiggles in his hands. He loses his grip and falls the last 15 or so feet, landing in the actual sludge of the chemical swamp instead of on the island. He vanishes beneath the surface for a long moment before exploding back up. Luckily for him the fluid is only waist deep and he manages to trudge back to the shore of the central island while coughing and gagging, wiping whatever toxic waste fills this place off his face. He scrambles a bit up onto the central isle and sits down to catch his breath. After a few minutes he manages to calm down and get enough of the sludge off to take a look around.
The chemical stench here is overwhelming and its very hard not to cough constantly. His eyes, nose, throat and any exposed skin tingle and burn intermittently. A strange yellow, green, and black fog hangs over the swamp below, the fluid of it shimmering an oil slick rainbow of colors. Scattered all through the sludge are small islands of rubble and scrap; huge chunks of machinery, torn armor plating, a huge robotic limb reaching out of the gunk, cooling manifolds, sections of pipe, and the like. Growing on these exposed metal pieces are what appear to be colonies of mold, albeit mold in a dazzling variety of toxic looking colors: antifreeze blue, radiation green, napalm orange, and blood blister red. Fluffy fruiting bodies like otherworldly cattails rise from these colonies and send out puffs of drifting spores.
The light of the red sun coming down in through the hole is the main source of illumination, but if he focuses towards out over the swamp he can make out other lights in the distance. They're dimmer and the haze of the swamp makes it impossible to see what they are clearly, but its a clear sign of something being out there. North...nothing...North East flickering lights and a crackling noise. East...nothing. Southeast, strobing white light. South, nothing. South West, nothing. West, odd and very faint glow. Northwest...torchlight?
[5][4, Hlaine Strength level up!][1][2][4,5][6]
Jim and Hlaine follow Maxwell down. Jim makes it to the end of the filament line with relative ease but Hlaine loses his grip at the last moment and falls a good 5 feet down onto the metal shore. Painful, but successful in the end. Bob and Gambatta are nowhere near as successful. Bob loses his grip maybe a third of the way down and goes tumbling. Hlaine, having just righting himself and looked up, thrusts a hand out and clenches his fist. Bob slows rapidly and then stops, hanging suspended in midair. Hlaine, eyes fixed on Bob and with a look of deadly concentration on his face, pulls his fist back towards him. Bob follows the motion, floating gently down until his feet touch the metal of the central island and he collapses to the ground as his weight is suddenly restored. Hlaine, who had been holding his breath the entire time, gasps and sits back down. He's still catching his breath when Gambatta reaches for the line, slips, and just tumbles straight over the edge.
"Aw son of a-" Hlaine curses and reaches out with both hands this time, psychically snatching Gambatta out of the air before he can fall more than 15 feet. Gambatta's trip down to the island isn't quite as smooth or gentle and he ends up tossed onto the island like a man thrown out of a bar.
"Could you all please stop doing that?" Hlaine grunts, collapsing onto his back and breathing deeply [-6 SP]
[6]
As Hlaine is complaining, Maxwell is surveying the "waters" near the island and his eyes suddenly go wide. He grabs Helaine by collar and drags him forcibly up away from the shore just as an enormous pair of jaws slide out of the sludge and snap closed on the area Hlaine used to occupy. A trio of eyes on long tendrils bob up and out of the waste near the mouth, scanning the shore for a moment before they and the jaws recede back into the swamp.
Sigh upon seeing Terra, but don't comment or assist Xeriay. Look around the camp for clues... or loot, items that might be useful to us.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Get the beartrap off my leg, then keep it for later.Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
"Ah, a mantrap? What a pain. I'll try to get her free. You two, look out for more traps. Maybe we can use them."[4,6 Xeriay Strength level up]
Carefully approach Terra and get that trap off of her leg. Without stepping on any myself.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Terra and Xeriay working together manage to pry the jaws of the trap open enough for Terra to extract her leg. They then let the jaws snap shut again and gather the trap up for later.
Code: [Select]
Beartrap: (Str). A placed trap. Those that trigger the trap receive d10 damage and are immobilized so long as the trap is anchored and remains shut. As they work on that Kander wanders the camp, carefully searching for anything that might be useful. [4] He finds an extra filament cartridge, a whistle, and some biogel in one of the tents. Nothing major, but useful.
"None that could be easily answered I'd imagine," Ozwald taps the table with his fingers gently, scowling as he wondered what exactly that horrific monstrosity was "Tell me though, what business are you getting yourself wrapped up in?" he raises an eyebrow seriousness in his expression "From what I can assume it's dangerous but then where's the reward without a bit of risk eh?" Ozwald's expression softens as he chuckles.You know nothing of these events.
Try to recall from my investigations into the occult about anything that might relate to the creature in the video.Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on February 24, 2022, 12:09:31 pm
note the monster down in my logbook, then begin looking over the isle logging the flora and fauna I see and put any particularly interesting specimens in the container.
Shoot any gribbly that threatens the group.
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on February 24, 2022, 03:30:46 pm
"None that could be easily answered I'd imagine," Ozwald taps the table with his fingers gently, scowling as he wondered what exactly that horrific monstrosity was "Tell me though, what business are you getting yourself wrapped up in?" he raises an eyebrow seriousness in his expression "From what I can assume it's dangerous but then where's the reward without a bit of risk eh?" Ozwald's expression softens as he chuckles.Steve grins "The type that can change the galaxy Mr. Hamond. Now as for potential danger be assured that all scenarios and risks were accessed well in advance of this mission and while I cant say the Goldwin's do not take risks we try our best to weigh the cards in our favor if you catch my drift." Steve checks his watch "Hm... anyway it has been a pleasure chatting with you Mr. Hamond but I have some... business associates I must catch up with that should be making their way around the engines as we speak. I look forward to seeing you again real soon."
Try to recall from my investigations into the occult about anything that might relate to the creature in the video.
Give a smile extend out a handshake then try to head to the engines where everyone else is located at the moment.
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on February 24, 2022, 04:51:06 pm
Investigate the island for ways down or across.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on February 24, 2022, 05:07:42 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
i follow the guy going to the pit.
"can i come with you? i need a melee weapon as much as you do."
Post by: Horizon on February 24, 2022, 07:08:02 pm
"None that could be easily answered I'd imagine," Ozwald taps the table with his fingers gently, scowling as he wondered what exactly that horrific monstrosity was "Tell me though, what business are you getting yourself wrapped up in?" he raises an eyebrow seriousness in his expression "From what I can assume it's dangerous but then where's the reward without a bit of risk eh?" Ozwald's expression softens as he chuckles.Steve grins "The type that can change the galaxy Mr. Hamond. Now as for potential danger be assured that all scenarios and risks were accessed well in advance of this mission and while I cant say the Goldwin's do not take risks we try our best to weigh the cards in our favor if you catch my drift." Steve checks his watch "Hm... anyway it has been a pleasure chatting with you Mr. Hamond but I have some... business associates I must catch up with that should be making their way around the engines as we speak. I look forward to seeing you again real soon."
Try to recall from my investigations into the occult about anything that might relate to the creature in the video.
Give a smile extend out a handshake then try to head to the engines where everyone else is located at the moment.Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
"Oh, that's a shame." Ozwald firmly shakes Steve's hand, looking a little disappointed "Ah well, it certainly was a pleasure making your acquaintance. Good day and good luck in your venture Mr. Goldwin, until next time." bidding Steve farewell Ozwald makes his way back to the snakeman.
Ask him about any local gossip, try to glean some information that might be of interest.
Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on February 25, 2022, 04:16:13 am
Look around the island for anything interesting sitting on it, also have my Therma-ray at the ready in case anything else decides to come out of the swamp.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Knightwing64 on February 25, 2022, 07:31:39 am
Post by: syvarris on February 25, 2022, 02:52:16 pm
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on February 25, 2022, 04:03:18 pm
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on February 25, 2022, 04:41:01 pm
"Handy trick, that!" Gambatta says, slapping Hlaine on the back with a grin. "Now let's see if there's a way forward that doesn't require wading through that muck anyway...""Y-yeah, didn't know I could do that, actually. First time I've used it. Really takes a toll on you though, I've got a splitting headache."
"Thanks for saving me back there.""Yeah, glad to be of help. Just uh, try not to make a habit of it. I think if I do this too much my brain will turn to pudding"
Help Gambatta with his investigations
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on March 04, 2022, 12:36:02 am
See if I can find something small and interesting that doesn't look alive, like electronic chips or something along those lines. If anything comes to my attention, put it in the sample container.
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on March 05, 2022, 05:00:54 pm
They're finishing up your suit as you walk over. The sales-snake again holds up the translator and begs your pardon for the wait. You wave that aside and ask the about rumors or local gossip. [3] The snake people seem to stay mostly to their own kind, over in the village to the northwest of here by the intact engine. They know very little beyond their own circles of gossip; however they do point one thing out. Apparently whenever the engines fire people report seeing living things in the fire of the southwest engine."None that could be easily answered I'd imagine," Ozwald taps the table with his fingers gently, scowling as he wondered what exactly that horrific monstrosity was "Tell me though, what business are you getting yourself wrapped up in?" he raises an eyebrow seriousness in his expression "From what I can assume it's dangerous but then where's the reward without a bit of risk eh?" Ozwald's expression softens as he chuckles.Steve grins "The type that can change the galaxy Mr. Hamond. Now as for potential danger be assured that all scenarios and risks were accessed well in advance of this mission and while I cant say the Goldwin's do not take risks we try our best to weigh the cards in our favor if you catch my drift." Steve checks his watch "Hm... anyway it has been a pleasure chatting with you Mr. Hamond but I have some... business associates I must catch up with that should be making their way around the engines as we speak. I look forward to seeing you again real soon."
Try to recall from my investigations into the occult about anything that might relate to the creature in the video.
Give a smile extend out a handshake then try to head to the engines where everyone else is located at the moment.Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
"Oh, that's a shame." Ozwald firmly shakes Steve's hand, looking a little disappointed "Ah well, it certainly was a pleasure making your acquaintance. Good day and good luck in your venture Mr. Goldwin, until next time." bidding Steve farewell Ozwald makes his way back to the snakeman.
Ask him about any local gossip, try to glean some information that might be of interest.Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
As you speak with the sales snake the one in the back slithers out and presents you with a bundle of carefully folded cloth.
You head towards the east and the engine looming beyond the Shipbreaker's camp. You weave through the housing area and circles around the Grand Lodge before crossing the remaining mostly empty baseplates until you reach the edge of the camp. For the first few hundred feet from the camp there's nothing but sand and the occasional exposed bit of alien metal. However, further east a carpet of small plants appears. These plants are not a single homogenous group; instead there are dozens or even hundreds of varieties. Many resemble ferns or succulents, with either many thin, frond like leaves or thick geometric shaped bulbs. They are almost all at least partially metallic red in color with secondary vivid oranges, yellows, black and even shimmering diamond dust white. Here, on the outer edge, they're tiny and huddled close to the ground, but the closer one gets towards the engine, the larger they become. Those at the base of the engine are, the group estimates, big enough to build a house inside while the ones actually clinging to the engine itself are even larger than that. What starts as a thin coating of plant life becomes a dense jungle nearer to the base of the engine."None that could be easily answered I'd imagine," Ozwald taps the table with his fingers gently, scowling as he wondered what exactly that horrific monstrosity was "Tell me though, what business are you getting yourself wrapped up in?" he raises an eyebrow seriousness in his expression "From what I can assume it's dangerous but then where's the reward without a bit of risk eh?" Ozwald's expression softens as he chuckles.Steve grins "The type that can change the galaxy Mr. Hamond. Now as for potential danger be assured that all scenarios and risks were accessed well in advance of this mission and while I cant say the Goldwin's do not take risks we try our best to weigh the cards in our favor if you catch my drift." Steve checks his watch "Hm... anyway it has been a pleasure chatting with you Mr. Hamond but I have some... business associates I must catch up with that should be making their way around the engines as we speak. I look forward to seeing you again real soon."
Try to recall from my investigations into the occult about anything that might relate to the creature in the video.
Give a smile extend out a handshake then try to head to the engines where everyone else is located at the moment.Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Among this vegetation you can see several interesting things. First, to the north, you can see what looks like maybe a dozen or so people and a giant autocage heading further north, apparently towards the large structure up there. Second, alien life of all kinds seems to inhabit this jungle. You see bird like insects circling, dozens of hexapod...things crossing as a herd in the distance, and even something enormous moving through the denser parts. And finally, on the giant plants that cling to the engine and directly around it you notice an odd luminescence. Its almost like there's light pulsing through the plants like blood through tissue. Its quite difficult to see in the bright sun, but its still vaguely there.
[1]Spoiler (click to show/hide)
i follow the guy going to the pit.
"can i come with you? i need a melee weapon as much as you do."
You reach to grab the filament line that the last guy left here. You get your hand around it, lean further forward, and then unexpectedly topple forwards as the filament slips out of your hand. After a half second of freefall you suddenly realize what's happening. [3] You flop awkwardly in the air and try to get into a rough diving position, hoping the swamp below you is deep enough to cushion the fall and the fall isn't high enough to make the depth of the swamp pointless. [-7 HP] You slam into the swamp and vanish beneath the surface, sinking rapidly until your back hits something rough. You squirm blindly and struggle to the surface, gasping for air. You dare not open your eyes considering the horrible sludge all over you, but at least you're not dead or drowning...for the moment. Still, you have no idea where in the swamp you are or the direction of "land". Also these lungfuls of toxic fumes are better than drowning but only just.
"Thanks for saving me back there."
Look around the island for anything interesting sitting on it, also have my Therma-ray at the ready in case anything else decides to come out of the swamp.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"let's uh, keep out of the swamp for now"
note the monster down in my logbook, then begin looking over the isle logging the flora and fauna I see and put any particularly interesting specimens in the container.
Shoot any gribbly that threatens the group.Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
"Handy trick, that!" Gambatta says, slapping Hlaine on the back with a grin. "Now let's see if there's a way forward that doesn't require wading through that muck anyway..."
Investigate the island for ways down or across.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Hlaine sits down, out of breath and and sweating."Handy trick, that!" Gambatta says, slapping Hlaine on the back with a grin. "Now let's see if there's a way forward that doesn't require wading through that muck anyway...""Y-yeah, didn't know I could do that, actually. First time I've used it. Really takes a toll on you though, I've got a splitting headache.""Thanks for saving me back there.""Yeah, glad to be of help. Just uh, try not to make a habit of it. I think if I do this too much my brain will turn to pudding"
Help Gambatta with his investigationsSpoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
"Yeah, no worries." Maxwell says, looking around.The "Island" is a huge collection of pipes, tubes, and conduits that have all been snapped off and left a rough "Platform" in the center of the fuel swamp. Navigating the surface of this platform, with its honeycomb of open pipe mouths, isn't easy. Chunks of wreckage and hardened slag provide some footing, but more than once something that looked secure would give way and fragments of alien metal would cascade down shafts with no apparent bottom. Sand from outside has gathered here as well, mostly in the cracks and along the "Shore" of the island, forming a crusty bile yellow beach. There are small clusters of mold here and there but oddly nothing of the size or complexity that can be seen further out in the swamp. Perhaps they need the sludge? Or perhaps they dislike the natural sunlight from above?
See if I can find something small and interesting that doesn't look alive, like electronic chips or something along those lines. If anything comes to my attention, put it in the sample container.Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
[4, 8][Bob Perception to d10]
Maxwell and Bob begin combing the island for goodies, searching specifically for something they can sell. Maxwell notices something shiny wedged in the hollow formed by several pipes that have bent outward. Its half encrusted in yellow sand but after some digging and a fair deal of prying he manages to rip free some sort of mechanical device. It looks...like a metal skull. Not human, but vaguely similar. Its bigger, elongated, and has four eye sockets, no nose, and is apparently missing its jaw, a sort of odd serrated ridge from between the eyes to the back of the head. In fact there are many things with differentiate it from a human skull but something about it still reminds him of one. He flips it over and on the underside he can see a rough opening in the underside of the elongated cranium. Inside looks to be some sort of long glass tube which has been shattered. [Damaged Robot Skull found]. Bob searching on the other side of the island from Maxwell, accidently steps into his finding. What he took to be a solid floor of yellow sand crumbles beneath his feet and he falls into a pipe mouth. Very luckily for him, this pipe takes a sharp right angle maybe 5 feet below its mouth and he lands awkwardly in the newly collapsed pile of sand. He stands up and brushes the sand off himself, looking around as he does. There's not far to look: the pipe only extends another 10 or so feet before it stops abruptly, apparently squeezed or snipped shut by a great force. Caught in this crushed section is the corpse of...something. Its nearly impossible to tell what it is; its been badly corroded so that only strips of dried muscle and pot marked bones remain. Its asymmetrical and looks badly deformed, though its hard to tell. The interesting thing is what is laying within the exposed ribcage. A latticed ball of greenish tissue with a bright yellow glow pulsing inside it. This organ, whatever it is, has not only survived the death of its host but appears completely pristine.
Meanwhile, Gambatta, Hlaine, and Jim scramble across the island looking for scientific specimens and a way off. Jim jots down what he remembers of the thing he just saw in the swamp before looking for other alien forms of life. The only thing he can find growing on the island though is small clusters of fungi. [5] Gambatta and Hlaine have better luck. They circle the shore of the island, careful to avoid any unfriendly critters that might slither up to snack on them. They don't see anything, but they keep an eye out regardless. Their circle of the island reveals that while there isn't some kind of nice bridge or anything, the density of "islands" is greatest to the north. Its not a perfect stepping stone path, but they might be able to shift some debris to connect islands or make jumps between them. At the very least it would be the route requiring the least wading or swimming. Alternatively, there's a large bowl shaped piece of debris laying against the southeast shore; something like a deep satellite dish. It might be possible to use that as a boat of sorts and paddle across the swamp.
Give Xeriay an oxygen mask (of the two Kander brought), and the biogel that was just looted. Put the whistle and filament cartridge in the autocage's inventory. Then once again check the camp for clues as to where the attackers might have gone, and either lead the group after them, or out of the forest and back towards the shipbreakers' camp. This place seems like a dead end for exploration, but we might get some cash for charting it and reporting the dead camp.[6]Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Kander redistributes some of his personal wealth and then searches around for clues regarding the fate of this camp. He starts at the broken autocage and traces inhuman footsteps around the camp. There are splotches of human blood, along with some kind of inhuman fluid that may or may not be the blood of whatever was within that cage. The inhuman tracks, as well as those of several humans, head north into the jungle. He thinks he could probably follow them. For the moment though, he turns back and searches the camp for information. In one of the tents, stuck in an abandoned boot, he finds a notebook. He gives it a quick read, flipping through pages till the end and then starting a few pages before it. Hmm. These men were tracking an unknown species of carnivorous insect that was reported to have been seen in the open deserts nearby and was thought to be the source of several missing prospectors. They describe it as "Solifugae Like" and that they intend to capture it and sell it to the Survey group. There's apparently also a bounty on it in "Vernierville".
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on March 05, 2022, 07:45:26 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Well, crap."
make sure i am at the surface, and then remove sludge from head orfices. I then shout out and try to get help from the guy i was following, and then i shoot my therma ray into the air to show my location. if asked, i repeat.
Post by: syvarris on March 06, 2022, 01:29:31 am
Lead the group after the runaway bug. Double time!
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on March 06, 2022, 02:14:26 am
"What are we thinking, gentlemen? Across the lake or down a shaft?"
Post by: King Zultan on March 06, 2022, 03:52:18 am
Grab that weird glowing green ball then see if I can't find a way out of the pipe.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on March 06, 2022, 05:45:23 am
Track bug.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: The Lupanian on March 06, 2022, 06:22:25 am
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on March 06, 2022, 02:36:02 pm
Dont get distracted from the goal, follow the main group close but not too close.
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on March 08, 2022, 12:20:40 pm
if he can see Anton, Jim will tag him with the Filament gun and drag him to the island, if he can't Jim will fire his Therma-ray in the air to lead anton to the point where he can be tagged and dragged
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on March 09, 2022, 01:20:38 pm
Gambatta glances between the north and the tubes."Well, the water or whatever this liquid is seems to be home to some rather nasty critters, so I'm not really keen on crossing this lake, personally."
"What are we thinking, gentlemen? Across the lake or down a shaft?"
Post by: Horizon on March 09, 2022, 02:15:17 pm
After offering said tip Oz asks to use the tailors back room to change.
Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on March 10, 2022, 06:16:05 am
"What do you have there?"
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on March 11, 2022, 02:12:08 am
Post by: piecewise on March 12, 2022, 02:10:42 pm
"hang on uh, guy in pipe, got someone in more immediate danger"
if he can see Anton, Jim will tag him with the Filament gun and drag him to the island, if he can't Jim will fire his Therma-ray in the air to lead anton to the point where he can be tagged and draggedSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
[2][6]Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Well, crap."
make sure i am at the surface, and then remove sludge from head orfices. I then shout out and try to get help from the guy i was following, and then i shoot my therma ray into the air to show my location. if asked, i repeat.
You wipe the gunk from your face as best you can and then look for the other people that came down here. You see them not far off on an island near the center of this swamp. You shout for them and even fire your weapon. One does seem to notice you and fires a filament line. He misses you entirely but you swim over to where the line drifted down into the swamp and use it to drag yourself towards the island. You half pull, half doggie paddle to keep your face out of the sludge until you make it to the shore, trudging out of the heavy industrial waste and onto the sandy shore with some difficulty. There you use the sand to scrub off the sludge, dumping handfuls of sandy gunk back into the swamp. You give a wave to the guy who fired off the filament for you. He waves back and introduces himself as Jim.
"Hey guys I've fallen into a pipe, can someone get a rope or something to help me out?"You grab the glowing ball of tissue. Its very warm and it makes the skin of your hand and forearm tingle. [Glowing Organ] Acquired!
Grab that weird glowing green ball then see if I can't find a way out of the pipe.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Help hobo bob get out of the pipe.Max reaches one arm down into the pipe Bob fell into. Bob grabs Max's arm and between the two of them they manage to get Bob out of the hole and back onto the relatively firm surface of the pipe island.
"What do you have there?"Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Ozwald graciously thanks the snake-man for the suit with a curt nod "Ah, delightful work here have this as a bit of a thank you." he hands the snake-man 15 credits "May I change in the back?"You hand the Snake a few extra credits and then head into the back to get changed. "The Back" is actually further than you thought; past the room with the other snake and into a cramped storage room filled with racks of cloth and ceramic pots of dye. You change from your old and by now quite smelly clothing and into this new suit. It fits surprisingly well for something made by another species, and is very light and airy. It has the feeling and appearance of silk, though the fact that it is made from filament means its probably able to stop a low caliber bullet. [Armor: all minus head, d4]. The pattern is...well its not exactly the sort of thing you'd see much in human company. Your torso, legs, and arms are all covered in bands of alternating colors and look very much like the bands of color on the Snakes that made them. Your closest mental analog is one of those cartoony black and white striped prison uniforms. Still, its comfortable and much cooler than your original garb.
After offering said tip Oz asks to use the tailors back room to change.Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)
"How interesting..."[4]
Dont get distracted from the goal, follow the main group close but not too close.Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
You push straight into the jungle in search of the group you know disappeared into it at some point in the recent past. You track what seems to be the most recent set of prints in the sand, traveling all the way to the engine's exterior and then back off away from it until you stumble into a hunter's camp. The group, for this is where they are, points their weapons at you for a moment before relaxing. Without saying much of anything they return to their previous actions and don't seem to mind when you tag along with them.
Apply Biogel to my injury and head along with the group.You shake the canister of biogel for a few seconds before spraying it on the deep gash that encircles your lower leg. The clear mist that comes out quickly beads on your skin, each clear droplet then sluicing up the dribbles of blood and into the injury. Thus the spray condensed into a clear gel in the injury and, using some of the mist still left on the outer skin of your leg, sealed itself in place. The result looks something like clear gelatin held into the injury by a coating of cellophane. You can already feel the mild itch of the tissue within starting to mend. [+Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
"Big just means an easy target... I hope. Thinking a clean slice through a leg or two will make it easier to handle."
Track bug.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
"Well, friends, looks like we've got a lead on our hands. A handsome bounty, for a wounded bug. We might save lives going after it, too. Come on, we should hurry. If you can track, help me out--this forest is easy to get lost in, and I might lose the tracks myself."[8] Kander Perception leveled to d10.
Lead the group after the runaway bug. Double time!Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Once everyone seems ready, Kander leads the group of Xeriay, Terra and the new comer Steve back into the jungle, following the tracks. At first the tracks are of both the insect and several human pursuers. However the trail soon turns into a chaotic tangle. An area maybe 20 feet across is a mess of disturbed sand, uprooted or damaged plants, and several human bodies. Kander motions for the group to stop and then carefully moves into the clearing, trying to decipher the events by the marks left behind. Plants cut by lasers and scorched by heat packets, chaotic footsteps, no clear formation. The bug must have suddenly turned on its pursuers, maybe even ambushed them. The hunters were surprised and scattered, tried to gun the beast down as it charged in among them. Kander moves between the human bodies, checking them. All dead. One over here slammed into the thorny stalk of a plant, crushed and impaled. Another snipped in half by giant mandibles. The third...looks like one of his teammates accidently tagged him with a laser and nearly bisected him. Bodies have been here for a few hours, maybe half a day at most. Weapons and gear are still here...no one has come across them yet.
Kander moves across the battleground, following ichor splatters and finds, leaning against another plant as though causally discarded, an enormous insectoid leg. Three meters tall maybe? Looks like it was cut near its base by a laser, judging from the scorch marks. The trail of inhuman footprints and ichor dribbles carries on, this time with no human prints to match it.
Kander straightens up from where he was inspecting the sand and motions that the rest of the team can move in. "Its big." He mutters, rubbing some ichor between his fingers before flicking it off. "Smart too. Or at least cunning enough to spring a trap. Its had a while to get clear, hole up somewhere. Have to be careful we don't get jumped like these poor bastards."
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on March 12, 2022, 02:19:45 pm
Quote
Name: Anton Barrick
Description: a generic human male.
Stats:
STR: d10
DEX: d8
END: d8
SPD: d8
KNO: d8
WIS: d6
PER: d8
CHA: d6
HP: 27/34
SP: 28/28
Carry: 4/10
Items:
Helmet (d6 armor, head only)
Therma-Ray (DEX) (d8)
Fragment of the void
Human bone prayer beads
Money:0
Join the people looking for a way off. Are there any valuable metals or something like that around?
“What are we here for?
Post by: Egan_BW on March 12, 2022, 06:13:58 pm
Post by: The Lupanian on March 12, 2022, 07:45:41 pm
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on March 13, 2022, 01:05:02 am
Go over the bodies' equipment with Terra, particularly searching for anything that could give us any more info about the bug they were hunting. Any journals or notes or anything like that.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on March 13, 2022, 03:27:25 am
Carefully look around the island for some rope and a hook like thing, also if people want to leave the island I'll go with them.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on March 14, 2022, 03:05:01 pm
"Everyone's got their own racket, me? I'm cataloging the various flora and fauna in my logbook. That guy found some glowy thingy, and the guys over there seem to be looking for a safe way off the island."
Jim will fire off a filament parallel and beside the one leading down to the island. Then he'll head over to the dudes by the raft and have his own lookover
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on March 14, 2022, 03:55:11 pm
Continue following no need to stand out at the moment.
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on March 15, 2022, 10:10:19 pm
Head over to the edge, and use the Death Ray to carve out some kind of safe landing.
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on March 16, 2022, 01:18:51 pm
Quickly gather and tally all the belongings of the deceased hunters.Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
"Perhaps, Xeriay. This creature is wounded, however, and not expecting more hunters. Besides, a proper reward would be appreciated. Let's decide after we tally these guys' gear."
Go over the bodies' equipment with Terra, particularly searching for anything that could give us any more info about the bug they were hunting. Any journals or notes or anything like that.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
"..."[2]
Continue following no need to stand out at the moment.Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Terra and Kander search the bodies for anything valuable. Kander specifically searches for more documents or information regarding their quarry but finds nothing. Once they've got everything out of pockets and bags they array it out on the sand and begin doing a tally. In the end, they find the following
1 Autoharness.
3 Specimen Containers
1 Arclamp
2 Industrial Tunics
5 Bait
1 Stimulant
2 Biogel
1 Liquidoplas Bomb
2 Whistles
1 Death ray
1 Galactic Slugger
1 Compression blaster loaded with what looks like gasoline.
[1]Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Join the people looking for a way off. Are there any valuable metals or something like that around?
“What are we here for?
You join the rest in searching for a viable way off the island. Though, honestly, you're more focused on looking for scrap or anything of value. As you wander the edge of the island you notice something glowing faintly in the sludge near the shore. Thinking it might be valuable, you walk a little ways towards it, wading out into the sludge maybe shin deep. You squint at the glowing thing, trying to see what it is. And then it moves. Sinuous tentacles burst from the sludge and reach for you, coiling towards your throat.
[8] Level up Speed, [4]
You duck the lashing tentacles and backpedal rapidly to the shore, firing your therma-ray as you do. [1. 29/30 hp] Packets of scalding red heat strike the surface of the sludge and cause popping explosions as the upper layer of sludge flash boils. The tentacled creature must surely have been hurt by at least one shot, but it shows no sign of it as it cases after you a slow lunging advance.
"I kinda want a peek further down before we head back up."[2]
Head over to the edge, and use the Death Ray to carve out some kind of safe landing.Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
You walk over near the piece of wreckage people are considering using as a boat and try to carve a safe landing space with the Death ray. Unfortunately instead of making clean and effective cuts, the cuts it makes almost immediately close up as molten sand and bubbling sludge stream back into the thin cut and solidify. After a few tries of this you give up and simply try to clear as much space as you can and stamp down a flat landing area, checking to make sure there are no unfortunate sinkholes waiting to swallow anyone landing there.
[6]
"Everyone's got their own racket, me? I'm cataloging the various flora and fauna in my logbook. That guy found some glowy thingy, and the guys over there seem to be looking for a safe way off the island."
Jim will fire off a filament parallel and beside the one leading down to the island. Then he'll head over to the dudes by the raft and have his own lookoverSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
You wander over to the first filament line used to get down here and fire another to match, aiming for them both to run parallel like a set of train tracks. You get it pretty much right and the two filaments are aligned almost perfectly side by side. That done, you head over to the raft. Or rather the junk that would be a raft.
"Thanks for getting me out of that hole, this island seems to be more dangerous than it appears."[8] Perception level up.
Carefully look around the island for some rope and a hook like thing, also if people want to leave the island I'll go with them.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
You search the island for some rope and a hook. You can't find a hook but you do manage to find maybe 50 feet of metal cable laying hidden in the sand.
The group, working together, manages to get the satellite dish out of the debris it is siting in and set it up on the landing which Max has constructed for them. Careful preliminary testing shows it to be water...well sludge proof. Further tests show it can hold the weight of about 4 people without sinking too dangerously low, even when factoring in the shifting and movement of the sludge and those inside. In theory it seems like it could hold up to 6 or so but it would need to be moved extremely carefully to prevent the sludge from sloshing over the edge and into the bowl. Further tests with jury-rigged paddles and rods as well as filament lines show that the easiest method of moving the little boat would be to fire off a horizontal filament line and then have the occupants of the boat drag themselves along using that line. This limited the boat's movement to those lines, but was substantially easier and more stable than rowing.
The considerations for crossing continue until they notice that one of their members is being attacked by a giant squid or something of that nature.
Post by: syvarris on March 16, 2022, 03:15:56 pm
Take an industrial tunic and wear it. Take the arclamp, bait, stimulant, and whistles, then store them all in the autocage. Take the liquidoplas bomb, stacking it with the one Kander already carries. I'd like if you confirmed that Kander's inventory is legal--I already edited this into the sheet.
Strongly nudge Xeriay towards grabbing the death ray, and Steve towards taking the specimen containers.
Quote from: Remaining lootables
1 Autoharness.
3 Specimen Containers
1 Industrial Tunic
2 Biogel
1 Death ray
1 Galactic Slugger
1 Compression blaster loaded with what looks like gasoline.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on March 16, 2022, 06:22:41 pm
Post by: m1895 on March 16, 2022, 10:36:06 pm
Jim will shoot the squid-thing with his therma-ray
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on March 17, 2022, 03:44:43 am
Go aid the guys fighting the squid thing with my own therma-ray.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on March 17, 2022, 01:55:49 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Blast with therma ray. If it gets within range, punch it with my martial arts fist attack. Claim galactic slugger, biofuels, and an industrial tunic.
“GUYS! THERESA HOSTILE MUTANT THING OVER HERE!!!!
Post by: The Lupanian on March 17, 2022, 05:14:52 pm
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on March 17, 2022, 06:35:23 pm
Go help fight the squid. Keep my distance and try to take a shot at it with my therma ray
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on March 17, 2022, 10:12:12 pm
"Yaaaaaa!"
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on March 18, 2022, 01:32:19 am
"Sorry bout that, I snoozed off there for a second. Is that squid supposed to be so big and aggressive, by the way?""looks like an ambush predator, so probably."
Post by: Egan_BW on March 18, 2022, 01:57:25 am
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on March 20, 2022, 07:05:55 pm
"...Well, now. This is quite the haul. It'll be difficult to carry all this equipment back, even without risking ourselves fighting the bug, or getting more loot off of it. In light of that, I think we should head back now. What say all of you?"Your inventory is currently legal. The autocage isn't considered "Held" as it follows you around. The bombs don't stack though. They're a bit too big for it.
Take an industrial tunic and wear it. Take the arclamp, bait, stimulant, and whistles, then store them all in the autocage. Take the liquidoplas bomb, stacking it with the one Kander already carries. I'd like if you confirmed that Kander's inventory is legal--I already edited this into the sheet.
Strongly nudge Xeriay towards grabbing the death ray, and Steve towards taking the specimen containers.Quote from: Remaining lootables1 Autoharness.
3 Specimen Containers
1 Industrial Tunic
2 Biogel
1 Death ray
1 Galactic Slugger
1 Compression blaster loaded with what looks like gasoline.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Take a biogel to replace the one I used.Done.Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Drop my dinky thermaray for the death gun.Done. The death ray does feel much more weighty and powerful in your hands. More able to crush your enemies. Or rather, to cut them into multiple steaming chunks.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
"New guy you really got to stop trying to get killed."
Jim will shoot the squid-thing with his therma-raySpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"Hey guys I found a bunch of cabling do you think it'll be needed for the boat?"
Go aid the guys fighting the squid thing with my own therma-ray.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
(The group that just found stuff isn't the group you're with. They're still up on the surface.)Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Blast with therma ray. If it gets within range, punch it with my martial arts fist attack. Claim galactic slugger, biofuels, and an industrial tunic.
“GUYS! THERESA HOSTILE MUTANT THING OVER HERE!!!!
"Sorry bout that, I snoozed off there for a second. Is that squid supposed to be so big and aggressive, by the way?"
Go help fight the squid. Keep my distance and try to take a shot at it with my therma raySpoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Death ray the giant monster[8][1][6][1][4]
"Yaaaaaa!"Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Jim, Bob, Hlaine, and Maxwell all swarm across the island, scrambling over the uneven metal surface until they get Anton and his attacker in view. Anton, along with Hlaine, Bob and Jim all unleash rapid volley's of therma-ray fire, pelting the exposed tentacles and the surface of the sludge with packets of heat. Max shoulders his rifle and presses the trigger, sweeping the resulting beam of bright red light back and forth across the alien limbs and the sludge around them. For the first several seconds everything seems to be going perfectly fine; the alien sludge beast's rubbery flesh boils and bursts with purplish gore as the therma rays hit, before one of its tentacles is hacked clean through by the Death Ray. And then, under the onslaught of heat and concentrated energy, the sludge catches fire. That fire, a horrendous yellow-green blaze, spreads out within a fraction of a second, covering an area 10 feet in diameter over the sludge beast and right up to the shore. It burns for about another half second, and then the surface of the sludge swells into a flaming bubble and bursts like a napalm hand grenade.
[5][5][3][6](Hlaine speed up)[7][-5 HP Anton]
Everyone scrambles wildly from the splatter of flaming toxic waste, diving behind pipes and scrap. Anton, the one closest to the blast, is the only one who gets splattered with any of the burning chemicals, which scorch small craters in the flesh of his shoulders and arms, scouring small marks on his helmet as well. After a few moments the group peeks from its hiding places and surveys the scene.
The sludge beast is well and truly dead: the sludge detonated directly on top of it after all. Bits of tentacle and other flesh is floating here and there, still burning with odd colored flames. A huge serrated beak, like a bear trap made of bone and flesh, lays on the beach, trailing part of a digestive tract. The sludge bubbles and burps flame a few more times before finally extinguishing itself.
Post by: m1895 on March 20, 2022, 08:01:40 pm
Jim note whatever Anton tells him in the log book, before sketching down what he can of the creatures anatomy. What was the size of it?
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on March 21, 2022, 01:55:37 am
Carefully search the island for anything interesting while waiting for people to take the boat to distant shores.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on March 21, 2022, 08:15:34 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
keep following the group and looking for valuables.
"i was looking for valuables, wading a little into the sludge, when the mutant? attacked me.
Post by: syvarris on March 23, 2022, 07:57:31 am
Then head back to town. We don't even have enough inventory space for this loot, going and hunting a bug when we can't carry anything more seems foolish.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on March 23, 2022, 01:33:18 pm
Then keep an eye out for trouble.
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on March 23, 2022, 09:51:25 pm
Get the boat ready to go, by shooting a line back to 'shore' such that the wreckage piece can be used as a line.
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on March 23, 2022, 10:11:11 pm
I mean, not like having an extra heal will help if I fall from far enough.
Then go back to the camp. To the market so that we can sell extra equipment.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: The Lupanian on March 23, 2022, 11:28:46 pm
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on March 24, 2022, 10:55:03 am
Head back with the rest of the group.Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Mh. Give Kandar one of my biogel and wear the new autoharness.
I mean, not like having an extra heal will help if I fall from far enough.
Then go back to the camp. To the market so that we can sell extra equipment.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Put the biogel into the autocage, along with Kander's arclamp, logbook, and oxygen mask. If they don't fit... drop them. They're worth substantially less than the loot. Take the compression blaster, autoharness, and industrial tunic (filling the freed inventory spaces).Terra, Xeriay and Kander shuffle some items around, eventually having to leave their oxygen mask behind when it wouldn't fit in their autocage. After they have everything carefully packed away they trundle back out of the jungle, loaded down with loot. As they follow a rough path back through the knee high plants on the outskirts of the engine jungle they notice that its starting to get a bit dimmer than before. The red sun is moving ponderously towards the horizon and the burning heat of midday is starting to reduce, just a bit. Thankful for a minor reprieve, they continue hauling their loot through the Shipbreaker's camp and over to the Iron Road. Though its getting later the Iron Road is busier than ever; street side food vendors are filling up with Guild apprentices, locals, and other would be treasure seekers. More of those snake people are coming out now, wrapped in robes and cloth that cover most of their bodies, but leave their many limbs sticking out. One of the snakes is coiled around an enormous Sitar like instrument and is playing an impossible melody with at least 6 hands.
Then head back to town. We don't even have enough inventory space for this loot, going and hunting a bug when we can't carry anything more seems foolish.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Xeriay immediately begins searching for the best method of reselling the loot, leaving her pack with the other two who simply sit and rest against one of the scrap and concrete buildings. [6] (Xeriay Perception leveled up). She wanders the market for at least an hour, peeking into shops, checking price boards, eavesdropping on other groups at cafes and food stands, and casually talking with vendors. After she thinks she has a full picture of the market, she returns to Terra and Kander. She explains that a lot of what they have to sells is unfortunately quite common. A lot of new arrivals have it, a lot of it ends up back on the market. Vendors will buy it, but not for much. If they want to maximize profits they're better off selling below vendor price to the locals over at the camp to the northwest, or to new arrivals. They'll never get full vendor price BUT if they sell to individuals they could still get 70-80% instead of 50% or worse.
"so uh, whatsyername, what led up to you being attacked?"Jim jots down his best interpretation of the creature from what he saw and what others tell him. Its very much incomplete, but better than nothing. He estimates the size of the creature at about 30 feet long, if tentacles are included. The main body is still nothing but a guess based on squid and octopi.
Jim note whatever Anton tells him in the log book, before sketching down what he can of the creatures anatomy. What was the size of it?Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"How we gonna split all this money?"We'll assume the shot was a success but can you explain what you mean by "Back to Shore"? From the boat back to the pipe island? From the pipe island to the far shore in some direction? From Boat to far shore?
Get the boat ready to go, by shooting a line back to 'shore' such that the wreckage piece can be used as a line.Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
See if the beak is small enough to carry with me.The beak of the creature, once the trailing remnants of the throat are cut away, is about as long as your arm. Wrapped with wire to hold it close and strapped to your pack though, its not too terrible to carry.
Then keep an eye out for trouble.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
keep following the group and looking for valuables.
"i was looking for valuables, wading a little into the sludge, when the mutant? attacked me.
"Well I for one was not expecting it to explode, anybody get hurt by that?"[2][7]
Carefully search the island for anything interesting while waiting for people to take the boat to distant shores.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Bob continues his losing streak by finding nothing worth taking in his search of the island. Anton, however, does find something. Its a small metal object about the shape and size of a tongue depressor. It has an inscription in an indecipherable alien language on one side and a small square...crystal? On the other with what looks like a droplet of purple fluid suspended within. There is a small circular hole at the other end, like you'd expect to see for something designed to hang on a keyring or necklace. Its has a solid and very reassuring weight to it and seems important somehow.
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on March 24, 2022, 11:13:57 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
follow the group. i try to recall what i might have heard about this kind of thing. then i try putting it on as a ring. finally, i keep searching for valuables.
Post by: m1895 on March 24, 2022, 07:57:45 pm
Use filament to lash outriggers on the sides of the raft, attempting to increase the number of people it can carry.
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on March 25, 2022, 03:00:20 am
"why don't we lash on some outriggers to stabilize this thing?""I've got some metal cabling you can use to lash them on with."
Go help adding outriggers on the raft, also offer my metal cabling as something to use in this process.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on March 25, 2022, 02:26:40 pm
To wern.. verna... vernier town!
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on March 26, 2022, 05:26:24 pm
If any direction works, go south.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on March 26, 2022, 11:15:40 pm
--Compression Blaster loaded with gasoline [300 + ???]
--Two industrial tunics [300 each]
--1 biogel (unless an ally player wants it) [100]
--3 Whistles [1 each]
--1 Arclamp [50]
Other people's stuff is their own inventory, so they can sell what they like, how they like.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on March 28, 2022, 01:29:13 pm
[2][4]You try to remember if you've heard anything about this metal pendant thing. You haven't. Then again, probably no one has. If you had to hazard a guess though, it seems like some sort of identification device. Like a dog tag. The hole is too small for your fingers, even the little ones.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
follow the group. i try to recall what i might have heard about this kind of thing. then i try putting it on as a ring. finally, i keep searching for valuables.
[8] (Perception leveled up)
You search around again and find some kind of intact electromagnet module. Nothing particularly special, but it might have some value.
"why don't we lash on some outriggers to stabilize this thing?"[2]
Use filament to lash outriggers on the sides of the raft, attempting to increase the number of people it can carry.Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
[9][8](Bob Knowledge leveled)"why don't we lash on some outriggers to stabilize this thing?""I've got some metal cabling you can use to lash them on with."
Go help adding outriggers on the raft, also offer my metal cabling as something to use in this process.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Jim searches around but can't find anything. He's returning to the raft, dejected, when Bob wanders in carrying two thick lengths of metal pipe that would work perfectly as outriggers. Together they seal the ends of the pipes with rubble and overlapping filaments before then strapping them to either side of the makeshift raft. With these additions it seems like the raft could easily carry something like 8 people now, which is about the max that can even fit inside it at once.
Line goes to whichever direction leads to the edge we came off of. Is there more swamp in that direction too? I want to make a path back, so we can sell this loot.So...You seem to be kind of confused. You're on an island of pipes in the middle of the fuel swamp. There is swamp in all directions. You came down from the east side of a hole. The way out is over 100 feet up; you climbed down a filament to reach this island. That filament is still intact. You cannot take a boat back up, you'd have to climb. So we're gonna assume the filament you shoot is out towards the east.
If any direction works, go south.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
So the boat is ready to go, it can hold everyone, all you need to do is use the filament that Dev shot from the island to the shore in the east to drag yourself and the boat across. Make sense?
Yep, on to Vernier town. We'll want to sell to locals at below vendor price. Kander wants to sell the following (vendor prices are in brackets).
--Compression Blaster loaded with gasoline [300 + ???]
--Two industrial tunics [300 each]
--1 biogel (unless an ally player wants it) [100]
--3 Whistles [1 each]
--1 Arclamp [50]
Other people's stuff is their own inventory, so they can sell what they like, how they like.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
"Seems we'll get a good enough price if we head to the other town to the northwest. Or sell to people like us, but I don't see any of 'em around right now."Vernierville is to the northeast, they were mentioning the settlement of snakemen up around the intact engine to the northwest. I don't think you two in particular ever saw it but other people did and the locals know about it. Anyways, we'll just assume your characters got as lost as you did. Gonna assume you know what this place looks like. If not
To wern.. verna... vernier town!Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
[1]
The little town's streets are fairly full as evening slowly approaches, the rough and tumble residents returning from their explorations and heading to bars, restaurants, and wherever their beds lie. In this hustle and bustle Kander attempts to sell his loot. At first he's pretty restrained, simply laying everything out in the sand and waiting for someone to approach. When this gets him no attention, he instead starts jumping about and shouting like a carnival barker, extolling the cheap prices and great quality of his goods. This gets him a few curious looks but no sales. Finally, he gets apparently desperate and begins charging to and fro in the crowd, holding up his wares and grabbing people by the arm, begging and pleading with them. This, in the end, gets him a swift punch in the nose when it annoys a burly man beyond his breaking point. [-4 HP]
[4]
Kander flops down next to Xeriay, holding a bleeding nose and sighing repeatedly. Xeriay quietly stands up, picks up the nearest bit of Kander's loot, and wanders off into the crowd. She returns maybe 30 seconds later with a handful of credits and hands them to Kander. This process repeats several times until Kander's loot pile is empty and 700 credits are sitting in his lap. Xeriay sits back down next to Kander and just sort of stares up at the sky.
Post by: The Lupanian on March 28, 2022, 02:41:28 pm
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on March 28, 2022, 05:43:47 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Follow the group and keep searching for valuables. Where are we again?
Post by: m1895 on March 28, 2022, 09:44:18 pm
Heave Ho! Jim will keep his Therma-ray out and his eye on the water. Also, turn the arc lamp on.
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on March 29, 2022, 02:54:43 am
"Thanks for the help, uh, didn't catch your name, mine's Jim.""No problem always glad to be helpful, and they call me Hobo Bob."
Get on the boat and have my therma-ray at the ready in case of attack.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on March 30, 2022, 07:15:29 am
He picks himself up slowly, stretching awkwardly. "Have you been eyeing anything? We've got a lot of spare change right now, and you deserve to have some spent on you. Think on it some, I'll ask around to see if there's any better work for us."
First, I'm going to say the filament cartridges I had intended to donate to Dev at the start of the game are now Kander's, because Dev's never put them on his sheet. Prolly doesn't want charity. Try and buy a filament gun off someone. Only 100, right?
Secondly, ask around for two things; one, some kinda mission that would pay decently, and two, a route inside the Enigma. Down into the belly of the beast.
Heal by 1 each turn.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on March 31, 2022, 01:40:02 am
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on March 31, 2022, 09:21:56 pm
"You know... all this fuel might make for a nice source of improvised incendiaries. We get some containers and a way to light it, and FWOOM! Probably us as bad as the critter, but even's a trade up from losing, eh? Wahahaha!"
Stretching, he hops down to the shore and glances around.
"Don't think we're gonna know what's out there til we hit it, though. Unless anyone's got any objections, I do believe our friend here's declared us eastbound."
Hop into the boat, wait for anyone who's coming with, and then start pulling east.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on April 02, 2022, 01:50:39 am
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on April 02, 2022, 02:06:21 pm
Take the bug leg (which I would have picked up, but thought someone else had) to the scholar place and tell them the story about the encounter. Give them a general idea of where on the map it was.You head to the Universal Survey building and wait in line behind other explorers turning in their info and specimens. You have to wait a bit as people before you try and fail to negotiate higher bounties. When your turn comes the young man in the kiosk tells you to put the leg in the scanner to the right of him. He then presses a button and tells you to explain the situation into the microphone set in the plastic wall of his kiosk. You do so, explaining things as concisely and accurately as you can, hoping it might be worth more if you present it well. After you finish the man types for a good solid 30 seconds before speaking to you again.Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
"We already have a good deal of anecdotal evidence about this creature but this is the first physical specimen we have encountered. The Universal Survey group awards you 443 standard credits for your find."
A slot in the front of the kiosk disgorges the money while a high speed automated message talks about how you have given up all rights to this specimen etc etc. You take the money and walk back outside, stuffing it into your pocket.
Hmm. see if we can buy better armor here. Either higher defense or broader defense for fewer slots. Something like d4 armor bodysuit in one slot would be great. Also see if I can buy a second monorazor. It's never a bad idea to carry backup.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Kander sighs, then pats Xeriay on the head. "Very good work, girl. Seems you're more adapted to the frontier life than me. These people ain't the sort I'm used to."[6,2, 8] Xeriay Perception leveled up.
He picks himself up slowly, stretching awkwardly. "Have you been eyeing anything? We've got a lot of spare change right now, and you deserve to have some spent on you. Think on it some, I'll ask around to see if there's any better work for us."
First, I'm going to say the filament cartridges I had intended to donate to Dev at the start of the game are now Kander's, because Dev's never put them on his sheet. Prolly doesn't want charity. Try and buy a filament gun off someone. Only 100, right?
Secondly, ask around for two things; one, some kinda mission that would pay decently, and two, a route inside the Enigma. Down into the belly of the beast.
Heal by 1 each turn.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Kander and Xeriay wander into the bustling market and search around. Kander is searching specifically for a filament gun while Xeriay is more vague in her desires, simply on the look out for more armor. Kander, proving to be oddly oblivious in non-deadly situations, completely overlooks several Filament guns only for Xeriay to eventually take his hand and guide him to a used one for 80 credits. He buys the gun and the two of them continue searching for new armor. Eventually Xeriay finds a small shop selling what the shop keep readily admits are items scavenged from dead explorers. They're ghoulish but cheap, and some things here aren't available at other shops. The one that catches Xeriay's eye is an Apprentice suit.
Quote
Apprentice Suit: (1d4 armor, all but head) A standard jumpsuit worn by Guild apprentices. Covers the whole body, except for the head. A sort of low level spacesuit, designed to be used with a Guild Helmet. Form fitting, bright orange, with embedded padding on the shoulders, elbows, knees, hips and just about any other bony part that would be uncomfortable to smash into metal. These suits are only distributed to members of the Shipbreaker's guild.
The shopkeeper tells Xeriay the suit is 300 credits. As Xeriay disappears into the back of the shop to try the suit on, Kander speaks to the shopkeeper about work and about a path into the Enigma proper. The second question is quickly answered: apparently the big hole directly west of here is the main way in. He says there's rumors of a secret entrance near the northwest engine but he's seen no proof of it. As per work, There's a few options. Most guys just do their own exploring and looting, dropping most stuff off with the Universal Survey and selling or keeping the rest. The survey has specific bounties available but they're pretty rare right now; not enough is known for them to be sending out specific search parties. Other than that, Vernierville has jobs of its own. There are the more dangerous ones, which are listed mainly at the "Pilot Light" bar down the road, and of course menial ones around town. There's also the fight pit set up in the center of town; they're always paying for contestants or critters.
Xeriay returns in the suit. Its a bit loose on her, but fits well enough.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Follow the group and keep searching for valuables. Where are we again?
Go with ze boat. Paddle.Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Having sat in quiet contemplation through an exploding squid and the construction of a mighty sailing vessel, Gambatta finally grins again.
"You know... all this fuel might make for a nice source of improvised incendiaries. We get some containers and a way to light it, and FWOOM! Probably us as bad as the critter, but even's a trade up from losing, eh? Wahahaha!"
Stretching, he hops down to the shore and glances around.
"Don't think we're gonna know what's out there til we hit it, though. Unless anyone's got any objections, I do believe our friend here's declared us eastbound."
Hop into the boat, wait for anyone who's coming with, and then start pulling east.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Thanks for the help, uh, didn't catch your name, mine's Jim.""No problem always glad to be helpful, and they call me Hobo Bob."
Get on the boat and have my therma-ray at the ready in case of attack.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"Thanks for the help, uh, didn't catch your name, mine's Jim."Everyone loads into the makeshift boat, scrabbling to find a good way to sit in the bowl without just clumping up in the center. Once they've found comfortable positions they begin the slow passage across the swamp. Everyone grabs hold of the Filament strand which crosses from the central island of the swamp over to the unseen east shore and together they pull. With 5 people all pulling at once in coordinated tugs progress is not difficult, but it is fairly slow. As they advance they pass several of the smaller islands of debris jutting out of the fuel sludge. These islands, most no more than 10 or so feet on their longest side, are overrun with strange fungal growths and multicolored mosses and molds that seem to be slowly eating the metal they're perched on. These were already visible from the central island but here, directly next to them, the group can see a variety of tiny fauna as well. Little crabs, mites, mollusks, and creatures that don't readily fit any preconceived group: one looks like a sort of totem pole of stones with thin tendrils reaching out from within porous rock.
Heave Ho! Jim will keep his Therma-ray out and his eye on the water. Also, turn the arc lamp on.Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
As they move further east, away from the opening in the ceiling and the bright sunlight it lets in, the air grows cooler and the sludge grows thicker. Near the central isle the swamp has the constancy of watery mud, but as they near the eastern shore it thickens into a literal sludge so dense that the ship glides along atop it instead of floating within. The horrible chemical smell also lessens, fewer vapors rising from the cool sludge. By the time they pull the ship aground on the eastern shore its skidding across a crust of crystalized fuel.
The group climbs out of the boat, crunching across the shore of hardened sludge and onto solid metal. The sunlight coming from behind them has dulled to a dim amber glow, which illuminates the land ahead only vaguely. Ahead lies a crazed pile of geometric shapes, the spilled building blocks of a giant child. Each "block" is giant, at least 10 meters at its longest side, and made of a smooth and seemingly seamless metal. While many of these blocks are laying in completely random piles others appear to a rough pattern to them. An alien stonehenge that got badly shaken and partially collapsed. Some blocks even hang impossibly from their neighbors, clinging as though magnetized. Here and there one of these blocks is thorn open or even snapped in half, revealing a hollow interior and alien contents. After even a few moments of inspection the nature of this place becomes clear, especially in light of the group's accommodations on the trip here. This was a cargo bay and these were the alien equivalent of shipping containers. The crash has smashed what was likely neatly organized rows and piles into a shattered landscape of piled blocks. Stacks and strange formations remain as remnants of former organization.
As they take this cataclysmic sight in they notice something odd: lights flashing within. It is not constant, nor always from the same place, but like fireflies flickering on and off throughout the storage box ruins. Their sources are almost always hidden by the boxes; flashes of blue and red and yellow light briefly illuminating boxes in the dark distance. The sound of shifting and clattering metal echoes out here and there, filling the space before fading away. But one noise suddenly catches their attention; a rhythmic clank accompanied by a flashing red that rapidly grows closer. Before they can form any sort of coherent group reaction the source of the sound and light bounds out from the gap between two boxes and onto the metal shore.
Its a machine, not a living animal, that much is immediately clear. Shifting black and chrome, a metal skeleton and synthetic muscle. Its a quadruped, with a vague resemblance to a moose or Elk: long legs, heavy hooves, thick body with hulking shoulders, and a spherical head crowned with a branching array of metal spikes. The flashing red light is coming from a single camera eye set in the center of its spherical "head". The machine bounds across the metal shore for several more leaping strides before it catches sight of the group and slows to a stop. It stands perfectly still and stares at them for a long moment before suddenly rearing up with a klaxon bellow. Electricity courses up its metal antlers like a jacob's ladder and slams its hooves down with a resounding clank. It doesn't move towards the group but continues to stamp its feet and shuffle back and forth, as though readying to charge.
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on April 02, 2022, 02:22:23 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"stay back. we are not here to harm you."
if the thing reacts to my words, continue trying to assuage it. if it charges or attacks, shoot it. if it comes within melee range, punch it.
Post by: Fluffe9911 on April 02, 2022, 02:26:14 pm
Silently sidestep back and left to relative safety away from where the machine bull thing could potentially charge (aka the main group)
(Woops forgot this)
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on April 03, 2022, 12:09:26 am
Head to the pilot light bar, and look for work. Pay must be at least 280 for me to accept a job. Faster jobs which pay that much would be better than slower jobs with higher pay.
Heal by 1 each turn.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on April 03, 2022, 12:29:25 am
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on April 03, 2022, 02:11:08 am
Run and take cover in one of the damaged cargo containers, have my therma-ray ready in case the robot makes a run at me.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: The Lupanian on April 03, 2022, 07:00:10 am
Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on April 04, 2022, 01:43:14 am
Jim will move 10-15 paces sideways of Anton, and keep his pistol ready to merc the robo-elk
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on April 04, 2022, 07:47:41 pm
Put myself between the elkbot and the other members of the group, ideally behind an obstruction of some kind. If it charges, lay into it with my SPACE BAT.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on April 04, 2022, 08:18:02 pm
Since I'm full up on slots already and Kander is buying the armor, I'll have to give my Industrial Tunic to him.
srry, less than nine questions follow:
* Since Perception is now my tied-for-best stat, wonder if there's anything in particular I could use to harness that. None of the default items or weapons seem to use it directly, would any of the powers from 'enhancements' be likely to be Perception based? If Xeriay doesn't know, she asks Kander for his knowledge.
* Is armor modification possible? Like using parts of the Industrial Tunic to improve the Apprentice Suit without making it heavier? If a vender can do it, do I know where to find them, and if players can do it what stats would it be based on?
* Is the generic Helmet I bought at the start the same as the Guild Helmet the suit is designed to work with? I'd guess not, but it would be convenient if those along with the air tank act as a full spacesuit.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on April 06, 2022, 12:31:42 am
Another PER levelup, damn this girl has eyes on the back of her head.
Since I'm full up on slots already and Kander is buying the armor, I'll have to give my Industrial Tunic to him.
srry, less than nine questions follow:
* Since Perception is now my tied-for-best stat, wonder if there's anything in particular I could use to harness that. None of the default items or weapons seem to use it directly, would any of the powers from 'enhancements' be likely to be Perception based? If Xeriay doesn't know, she asks Kander for his knowledge.
* Is armor modification possible? Like using parts of the Industrial Tunic to improve the Apprentice Suit without making it heavier? If a vender can do it, do I know where to find them, and if players can do it what stats would it be based on?
* Is the generic Helmet I bought at the start the same as the Guild Helmet the suit is designed to work with? I'd guess not, but it would be convenient if those along with the air tank act as a full spacesuit.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
-380 cash subtracted for the gun and armor.Xeriay and Kander both head off to the Pilot Light after Kander hands the junk dealer a handful of plastic bills.
Head to the pilot light bar, and look for work. Pay must be at least 280 for me to accept a job. Faster jobs which pay that much would be better than slower jobs with higher pay.
Heal by 1 each turn.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
"Ah," The dealer says as they start to walk away, "Careful about showing yourself in that round the Guild. They have awful bad humor about their gear getting into layman's hands."
With this warning in mind, they head off towards the Pilot Light. The bar is easy enough to find; posters and signs displaying a blue flame with the words "PILOT LIGHT" and an arrow are scattered all around town. The bar itself is aptly named as its built almost dead center of the vernier, directly next to a smoldering pit of fused glass and bubbling plasma. The engine, apparently inoperable but not without power, is leaking a slow geyser of intense energy up through the sands. This plasma and molten silica hotspring is almost entirely ringed by buildings. Most appear to be rough and ready power generators or industrial manufacturing structures which leech energy from the engine to provide basic amenities to the town The Bar is one of a handful of non-industrial buildings, likely some of the first structures constructed here. One, across the way, has a long metal walkway leading out and partially over the plasma spring. Men in glittering silver heat suits can be seen walking along the that path.
The bar itself is very clearly a repurposed spaceship and very little has been done to hide this fact. Scrape away some of the sand and the power cables and hanging flags and signs and it could probably be in orbit within the hour. Its a huge blocky thing, an old freighter or cargo vessel that seems like it was bought and retrofitted into what it is now. Its been painted quite garishly and all kinds of colored prayer flags and grinning effigies hang from its otherwise barren steel walls. Directly above the door is a metal sign shaped like a giant fireball that declares "PILOT LIGHT: TAVERN AND HOTEL". Directly below the sign is a large airlock door -painted to look like a burst of flame- where two men are having an awkward drunken fist fight. They swing a few times before stumbling into a grapple and tumbling off the hastily erected metal stairs and into the sand below. Kander and Xeriay carefully step around these two and into the bar.
The bar, they quickly find out, is actually just the first floor of this ship, the remaining half dozen floors which stretch upwards like stacked sardine cans are all "hotel" rooms. The bar and its dedicated tables takes up only about 20% of the room. The rest is occupied by a stage, another counter off to the opposite side of the room, and a sprawling lounge of chairs, sofas, tables, cushions, hookah pipes, gambling tables, synesthesia booths and hammocks. Nothing matches anything else. A man is playing a guitar on the stage and singing wistfully about a sweetheart from his mother's ship while other prospectors laze about in various states of inebriation. The bar is manned by a robot of some kind which glides about dispensing drinks with a dozen arms like an alcoholic vision of an ancient god. Smoke hangs heavy, the light is dim, and it smells of burning herbs, alcohol, sugar, and sweat.
Kander finds a small table for Xeriay to wait at and heads off in search of work. The counter on the opposite side from the bar turns out to be exactly what he was looking for. A bored looking teenage girl wearing a chaos of colored fabric and gold bangles informs him that this is the "Precipice of Good Works". She speaks in a monotone which directly undermines the rather mythic name. Kander asks for work that pays at least 280 credits, with an emphasis on quick but cheap jobs instead of slow but lucrative ones. The girl flips through a heavy folder of papers, pulling out bundles and setting them in front of Kander.
The first, which pays an even 500, is a request from the "Solar Brotherhood" for testing a new heat suit.
The second is looking for a particular kind of plant from the Engine Jungle to the south. It pays 100 per complete specimen.
The third is looking for a mechanic to help repair a damaged turbine in town.
As Kander reads through the offers Xeriay sits and ponders things in her silent way.
*Xeriay thinks she remembers something about a parasite that might give powers related to that?
*No. I don't have mechanics for this and I feel like its a road to gross abuse due to my lack of planning for it and my well known terrible balancing.
*It isn't. The guild helmet is a fishbowl style space helmet; though made of sturdy plastic not glass. It provides d6 armor for the head and works like an air tank. You can't find them in normal circulation though; you'd have to scav one, get one from someone else who has scav'd it, or kill a guild apprentice and take theirs.
Go buy a Galactic Slugger, then look for a metalworker who could make armor.Spoiler: Terra (click to show/hide)
With newfound cash in hand Terra heads off in search of a Galactic Slugger. [2] She finds one and buys it for 150 from a local arms dealer. She rests it on her shoulder and heads of in search of someone who can make her some metal armor. [4] Perception leveled up. Near the center of town, directly next to the plasma spring, is a foundry. Most of the building is owned by a single company, Sunfire Metal, but there are also dozens of independent shops and individuals scattered among the crucibles and and lathes. You ask around specifically about metal armor pieces and get directed to a little shop with a sign that simply reads "METAL WORK. REPAIRS AND FABRICATION", no name as such. The owner is a grimy and muscular woman of not insignificant age with a mane of gray-white curly hair barely held out of her face by a bandana. You ask her about armor and she asks if you have materials. She explains that she can make armor out of any scrap metal you want, but most of it will be pretty inferior compared to the high tech composites and synthetics. She says the tunic you have on is probably better protection than the old "Plate" of knights and the like. If you want good armor, you'll need to bring good metal. Or pay her the cost to get some.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"stay back. we are not here to harm you."
if the thing reacts to my words, continue trying to assuage it. if it charges or attacks, shoot it. if it comes within melee range, punch it.
"Hmm like a bull..."
Silently sidestep back and left to relative safety away from where the machine bull thing could potentially charge (aka the main group)
Climb up, trying to get out of reach above the robot.Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
"Oh damn!"
Run and take cover in one of the damaged cargo containers, have my therma-ray ready in case the robot makes a run at me.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"Whoa there elk-thing, don't force us to do something you'll regret."
Jim will move 10-15 paces sideways of Anton, and keep his pistol ready to merc the robo-elkSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"Electricity and a thumpin'. Best not get on his bad side... but might be too late for that, gwahahaha! Cover or rough ground'll be the next best bet, but make sure to have at it once it charges!"[5][3]
Put myself between the elkbot and the other members of the group, ideally behind an obstruction of some kind. If it charges, lay into it with my SPACE BAT.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The group immediately scatters. Anton attempts to use soothing words and gestures while [NO SHEET] and Max scramble away from the group. Max attempts to leap up onto a nearby container to get some height and avoid the charge but can't jump high enough to grab the edge. He settles, after a few exasperated jumps, with running around the corner of a box and peeping out. Bob sprints to the closest open container and squirms through the cracked wall into the interior, disappearing into the darkness within. Jim steps to the side of Anton while Gambatta steps directly in front of Anton and holds his slugger up in a defensive posture.
The mechanical elk stamps a few more times but seems to reconsider its rage as most of its opponents scatter in apparent fear. It clops a few more times, electric horns humming as its head rocks back and forth, and then turns from the group. It coils up and then leaps straight into the air, landing on a box 30 feet away and at least as high up. It turns slightly to look back at the group and then gathers itself up again and bounds out and into the darkness, its red camera eye like a shooting star disappearing into the hazy darkness.
Post by: IronyOwl on April 06, 2022, 01:53:00 am
He then grins. "Oh well. Time to loot!"
Start searching through the crates for stuff.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on April 06, 2022, 02:27:44 am
Search the contents of the container I find myself in.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on April 06, 2022, 01:33:08 pm
Take some time to observe my surroundings before getting back with the main group
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on April 07, 2022, 05:57:09 am
Heal by 1 each turn.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on April 07, 2022, 06:04:32 am
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on April 07, 2022, 11:27:30 am
Jim will write about the journey east and the Elk in his log book. Then he'll commence looting.
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on April 07, 2022, 11:29:53 am
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on April 09, 2022, 01:41:53 pm
Let's go with the suit job for now. Kander will volunteer his daughter, because she has much better physical stats. Definitely not because he's an abusive dad. Take note of the plant job, that sounds like good pay.
Heal by 1 each turn.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Heat suit testing? Yeah I'm game to get shot with a flamethrower or something for money.Kander selects the heat suit file and the girl at the counter takes the rest back. He thanks her and she responds "Keep the faith" in the same disinterested monotone. Kander carries the file back to the table and sets it in front of Xeriay. Xeriay flips through the pages for a few moments before silently pointing at the location. Kander, who hadn't bothered to check where the job was, leans over and squints in the dim light. Its not an address, just a description of where the place is. And apparently its very near here. Kander considers it for a moment and realizes the location they're indicating is the building with the long platform out over the plasma spring. The need for heatsuits suddenly makes sense.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Cover the others who are searching crates with my Death Ray.Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
"Try not to wander off too far guys."
Jim will write about the journey east and the Elk in his log book. Then he'll commence looting.Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"Well that solved itself swimmingly."
Take some time to observe my surroundings before getting back with the main groupSpoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
"Guess I took cover for nothing."
Search the contents of the container I find myself in.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Gambatta scratches his chin in thought. "So was that a real animal or what? Figured it was security, but it's actin' awfully authentic..."[1,4,4]
He then grins. "Oh well. Time to loot!"
Start searching through the crates for stuff.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Max posts up near the shore where he can watch everyone at once, ready to give covering fire if something goes wrong. Steve, in mean time, wanders about a bit. He doesn't go far from the rest of the group, just pokes his nose around corners. He finds more boxes mostly, but also droplets of crystalized fuel and sees what looks like a small swarm of mouse sized robots dart off as he peeks around a corner.
Bob and Gambatta immediately begin looting for all their worth. Gambatta comes up with some sort of clear glass container the size and shape of a soda. The container has metal end caps and is filled with a faintly glowing green liquid. There's no obvious method to open the container, as the endcaps and glass are smooth and unyielding. As Gambatta stares at the container, he begins feeling strange. He suddenly doubles over in pain and curls into a ball as his teeth fall out. He screams and coughs blood, writhing on the ground. Max jogs over and crouches near him, asking whats happening but getting no response. After a few minutes of this Gambatta sits up, the pain slowly dulling. He's extremely pale, his eyes are solid black, and his normal human teeth have been replaced by long, thin fangs. His finger nails have fallen out and the bone has grown out through the finger tip, forming hooked claws.
GAMBATTA HAS ACQUIRED THE MUTATION: LEECH!
Quote
Leech: You no longer heal naturally and healing items are only 50% effective. Unarmed damage has increased to d8.
SP Move gained: Suction: (d4 SP) d10 Damage. Leap onto your target, sink your teeth into their flesh, and drain their blood. Recover HP equal to damage dealt. Only effective on living, organic targets.
As Gambatta mutates Bob continues searching. Maybe he doesn't hear the screaming inside his container, maybe he simply doesn't care. From the depths of his container he drags out an entire intact robot arm. Its a bit large for a human, but not unusable. The bright chrome skeletal limb ends in a boxy lump of metal with 6 small embedded glass lenses on the end. It look like its probably a weapon, though how it functions isn't very clear. Perhaps a laser of some sort?
Jim finishes writing a log entry about the elk and the various events he's observed and decides to join Gambatta and Bob in looting. Only one of them is screaming in a pool of their own blood, so the odds look good! He shifts some rubble to check a cracked open box and suddenly the entire storage container as well as the two atop it are shifting as well. [4] Jim scrambles backwards as several containers shift and fall, slamming into the metal floor in a series of deafening crashes and toppling over like colossal dominos. He manages to avoid the main containers but smaller boxes fall as well and a solid metal cube about a foot on each side clips his head. [11 damage-5 from helmet, -6HP. ] He goes sprawling, barely remaining conscious, but manages to roll and crawl the rest of the way. Jim finally stops awkwardly scrambling away after the boxes settle and he looks back at them in disbelief. Then he touches his helmet and feels the very meaningful dent in the metal that could very easily have been his skull.
Post by: Devastator on April 09, 2022, 01:52:44 pm
Post by: Fluffe9911 on April 09, 2022, 01:57:33 pm
Just stare in awe at the ignorance of Gambatta
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on April 09, 2022, 01:59:26 pm
His laugh sounds a little more ominous than before.
"You guys ready to cut out, sell the loot, and head back? I think these boxes are cursed.""I can't carry any more, so aside from trying to capture something in my autocage I've no further benefit from staying."
He glances at Jim's sprawled out form.
"I wouldn't object to dragging him to a doctor either. But there's only one boat, and we came to party, so I don't feel comfortable cutting the spoils of others short."
He turns to look expectantly at the other members of the boat club.
"Compatriots I'm pretty sure we are being watch- oh how unfortunate... hasn't anyone ever told you to not touch mutagen bare handed?.""Gyahaha, apparently not! I'd look into some gloves when we get back, but," he wiggles his clawed fingers, "I seem to be stuck making a fashion statement!"
Just stare in awe at the ignorance of Gambatta
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on April 09, 2022, 03:53:32 pm
"Gyahaha, apparently not! I'd look into some gloves when we get back, but," he wiggles his clawed fingers, "I seem to be stuck making a fashion statement!"
"Ah right... well uhm anyway as I was saying I saw some micro robots while I was looking around that scattered away upon realizing I noticed them everyone should keep their guard up cause I'm confident we are being actively surveyed by the robotic creatures around this area."
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on April 10, 2022, 03:22:22 am
Stay near the group and see if I can't find any of those roboanimals nearby that are damaged.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on April 10, 2022, 09:26:11 am
Jim will Search through the now much stabler pile of cargo. the cube that conked him on the head good quality metal?
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on April 10, 2022, 03:42:41 pm
Look for creatures to stuff into my autocage with Hobo Bob.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on April 10, 2022, 03:49:09 pm
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on April 10, 2022, 03:50:37 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"i would like to stay as well"
keep looting and following the group.
((@ Piecewise, where are you getting the mutations? or are you just making them up?))
Post by: Pancaek on April 11, 2022, 02:23:08 pm
Hlaine wakes up from his stupor, looking around.
"I really need to stop doing that, every time I blink I'm in an entirely different place."
Get my bearings, then help Gambatta look for creatures to stuff in his autocage
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on April 13, 2022, 10:34:11 pm
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on April 13, 2022, 11:41:13 pm
Do the thing! Put my young and healthy body at risk for profit!Kander is apparently too busy contemplating the scantily clad dance troupe that just took the stage to help with the job, so Xeriay heads off on her own. She walks out of the Pilot Light and round to the building they saw earlier. In comparison to the large metal works and power plants next to it the "Solar Brotherhood" building is almost comically small, wedged wall to wall against its neighbors. Its elaborate "Cloister of the Solar Brotherhood" sign is too large for the front of the building, its edges encroaching on the neighboring buildings. When Xeriay knocks the door immediately swings open with such speed and force she only barely manages to avoid being hit.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
A panting man in a reflective heat suit is holding the door open, looking at Xeriay with apparent eager confusion. His face is bright red, apparently sunburnt, and his eyes are hidden behind heavy black goggles.
"WHO ARE..." he starts, and then takes his goggles off. He stares with eyes already partially cataracted despite him being in his early 40's. A closer look reveals tell tale signs. Hair loss. Skin sores. Blotchy coloration. This is a man who has been exposed to radiation for a long period. Xeriay carefully hands him the work order and he brings it close to his face to squint at it.
"AH! FOR THE HEAT SUIT! WONDERFUL! THIS WAY THIS WAY!" The man shouts. His hearing is apparently not great either since his shouting is monotonous, neither excited nor angry.
You follow him into the building, over and around stacks of heat resistant fabric, old space suits, scattered tools, straining work tables and other men like him. He leads you straight to the back of the house where an airlock has been crudely welded into the wall. Next to the airlock is another heat suit, though this one looks fairly different from the ones everyone else are wearing. While the others are the standard bulky silver things with helmets something like a welding visor this one is more like a space suit. Its sealed, has its own air supply, a fishbowl helmet that's apparently solid black, and what look like armor plates made out if heat sinks.
"WE JUST NEED YOU TO WEAR THAT AND THEN GO CONVERSE WITH THE PLASMA MEN!" The man says, pointing at the suit and then staring at Xeriay expectantly, as though everything he said made perfect sense.
"Compatriots I'm pretty sure we are being watch- oh how unfortunate... hasn't anyone ever told you to not touch mutagen bare handed?."
Just stare in awe at the ignorance of GambattaSpoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
"Note to self don't grab containers with weird green stuff inside."
Stay near the group and see if I can't find any of those roboanimals nearby that are damaged.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"agh, I'm fine, I'm fine." Jim says as he shakily rises to his feet "might as well search a bit more. 'Sides, we can pile up any excess in the raft, though uh, probably shouldn't leave any mutagen loose. Unless someone wants to test if it gives the same mutation every time."
Jim will Search through the now much stabler pile of cargo. the cube that conked him on the head good quality metal?Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"Well you heard the man, let's keep lootin'! Gyahahahaha!"
Look for creatures to stuff into my autocage with Hobo Bob.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"i would like to stay as well"
keep looting and following the group.
((@ Piecewise, where are you getting the mutations? or are you just making them up?))
((sorry for not posting, things got nice and hectic at work so I've been kind of out of it))
Hlaine wakes up from his stupor, looking around.
"I really need to stop doing that, every time I blink I'm in an entirely different place."
Get my bearings, then help Gambatta look for creatures to stuff in his autocageSpoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Continue standing watch with my death ray.(@Blackpaladin, I've got lots of self made roll charts for lots of things.)Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Bob[7] Gambatta [6, level up perception] Hlaine [4]
Anton [8] Jim [5][6 level up knowledge]
Bob, a still slightly shaky Gambatta, and a mildly confused Hlaine go in search of a robotic animal. They have their minds set on something small enough to stuff inside Gambatta's autocage so they spend their time scrambling through tight spaces and checking under debris. After a short search they come across a swarm of what look, vaguely, like horseshoe crabs crossed with vacuum cleaners. These squat, six legged robots are scurrying across the boxes and gobbling up any bits of filth they find with spinning brush mouths. Their segmented, semicircular bodies make a rapid clicking noise as they move.
Hlaine [8, speed level up]
After a few minutes of stalking and planning the group chooses Hlaine to try and grab a Vacrab. She slowly crawls towards the swarm and then, when she's about 10 feet from them, leaps up and charges in. She does a diving grab and scoops up one of the drones from the periphery of the swarm, catching it by the edges of one of its shell plates and lifting it over her head as the rest scatter. Triumphantly she carries the squirming robo-critter back to the other two and dumps it into the autocage.
Meanwhile Anton and Jim continue to loot. Anton uncovers what he thinks might be a mechanical heart of some kind. Its some kind of complex looking cluster of tubes and valves floating in a clear liquid, all contained in a plastic sack. He as no idea exactly what it does...but it looks expensive. Jim investigates the now settled pile that almost murdered him, specifically the box that fell on his head. The box itself does actually seem like its made of pretty good materials. He notices it has a circular nub on it. Perhaps a lock? There's a small rectangular hole which seems like it would accept a key? Or something like it.
Post by: King Zultan on April 14, 2022, 03:10:27 am
Stick with the group and keep my therma-ray at the ready.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on April 14, 2022, 03:18:49 am
"Step away from the murder box."
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on April 14, 2022, 06:06:17 am
Well, wear the suit and proceed through the airlock for meeting with mr plasma.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on April 14, 2022, 11:17:42 am
Jim will step aside and scrounge a safe distance away until Hardberger has finished.
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on April 14, 2022, 07:26:44 pm
"Hey good job catching that thing, so what we doing now?""Opening a present, apparently."
Give a shipping container a few bat-thwacks, and otherwise experiment with trying to damage or craft the material into something else.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on April 14, 2022, 07:28:45 pm
Post by: piecewise on April 18, 2022, 02:23:07 pm
Shoot the murder-box[4]
"Step away from the murder box."Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Once everyone is out of the way you step forward and take aim at the box. You're attempting to slice off just the corner of the box, enough to peek in and see what is inside. You squeeze the trigger and slowly sweep the beam onto the box. The tight red beam of laser light bursts into a hazy red ball as every photon which strikes the box rebounds off in a different direction. This image, of that glowing ball, is the last thing you see as several billion stray photons bathe your retina. You release the trigger and stumble back, that image of the red ball seared into your eyes, a hazy double image which seems to block out most of the world. Even when you close your eyes, you still see that flash of red.
[Roll actions requiring vision at disadvantage]
"Hey good job catching that thing, so what we doing now?"Bob leans against a sturdy looking box, holding his therma-ray with one hand. He keeps an eye on the team as best he can from his position but doesn't bother to move much if someone wanders out of his line of sight. He does notice Max blind himself, but thats not really a problem that a therma-ray can fix.
Stick with the group and keep my therma-ray at the ready.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"try not to burn what's inside the box too much."[4]
Jim will step aside and scrounge a safe distance away until Hardberger has finished.Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
You uncover some sort of complex mechanical piece. Looks like a spare part for something, though you're not really sure what.
[1][-6 HP]"Hey good job catching that thing, so what we doing now?""Opening a present, apparently."
Give a shipping container a few bat-thwacks, and otherwise experiment with trying to damage or craft the material into something else.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
You square up next to a shipping container, spit on your hands, and wind up. You give the box as hard of a thwack with the bat as you can manage. The bat strikes the metal and rebounds off it, the fluid inside distorting oddly. The force of the rebound swings you around, vibrates every bone in your body, bounces the bat off your right shoulder, and throws you to the ground. The entire world seems to be vibrating as you lay on the floor, your arms completely numb.
"How much did it cost you to make that thing?"The man fails to hear your question the first 3 times, but on the fourth he gives you a long and quite tedious breakdown of exactly how much each part cost, what it does, and how ingenious it is. [4, Knowledge leveled up] You listen rather bored, through the entire thing up until he starts talking about the radiation shielding. You stop him and tell him to go back, and after a few more tries he does. You point out that what he's saying doesn't seem to make sense: that it will likely cause more harm than good as it traps more ambient radiation and reflects it around in the suit. The man starts to argue, stops, and then strokes his chin. He walks over to the suit and pulls it open, examining the inside and furrowing his brow. Eventually he turns, hands you the 500 credits, and thanks you for pointing out the error. The suit will have to be reconfigured before it can be tested. He offers to let you test the reconfigured suit and to check their work for them, for another 500 credits of course.
Well, wear the suit and proceed through the airlock for meeting with mr plasma.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on April 18, 2022, 08:00:05 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
look for loot. follow team.
Post by: King Zultan on April 19, 2022, 03:31:57 am
Go back to looting, but be careful of anything that looks hostile or deadly.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on April 19, 2022, 09:41:22 am
Move back to the boat and wait out the laser-blindness.
Spoiler: Maxwell (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on April 19, 2022, 01:12:26 pm
Jim will put the mechanical gizmo in the specimen container, or if it won't fit just leave it on the raft. Then he'll grab the box and also put it in the raft
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on April 20, 2022, 02:03:38 am
Post by: Egan_BW on April 20, 2022, 01:04:51 pm
Drag Kander out from wherever he's hiding to examine the modified suit. He has d8 Kno.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on April 20, 2022, 11:25:58 pm
He glances over everyone else almost... hungrily.
"Say, uh... anyone got more blood than they need? I have a medical condition, you see..."
Head back to boat, leave if everyone else does.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on April 21, 2022, 12:05:39 am
Post by: syvarris on April 21, 2022, 09:13:52 am
Heal by 1 each turn.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on April 21, 2022, 02:05:07 pm
Head back to the boat with gambatta and the others. Keep an eye out for potential trouble/nasties.
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Fluffe9911 on April 21, 2022, 03:12:28 pm
After giving a small chuckle over the guy who blinded himself head to the ship
Spoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on April 24, 2022, 03:53:17 pm
Wake up from old man napping and help inspect the suit.
Heal by 1 each turn.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
"Eh, why not?"[4][6](Xeriay knowledge up)
Drag Kander out from wherever he's hiding to examine the modified suit. He has d8 Kno.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Xeriay returns to the Pilot Light, forcibly drags Kander away from a waitress he's chatting with, and the two return to the Solar Brotherhood building. There they assist the rather sickly plasma enthusiasts in reconfiguring their suit. Kander catches a few problems here and there, but Xeraiy seems far more on top of things. She sits on a couch while the men huddle over the suit on a raised worktable, muttering to themselves. Occasionally she interjects with a correction or addition and once or twice even walks over and points out a mistake. It gets to the point that, after finishing a section the entire table looks back at her unconsciously to see if she has any commands. Finally, the new and clearly improved suit is ready. Xeriay gives it a final look before slipping it on.
The suit isn't a powered exoskeleton like guild armor, but its something more than a simple environmental suit. The polarization of the helmet shifts dynamically to dim lights, the cooling system seems highly adaptive, and standing wave magnetic fields deflect particle radiation while molecularly dense shield foils deflect energetic photons. It couldn't stop a bullet to save its life but against the specific hazards of plasma, its top notch. She makes sure all the cuffs are sealed and the deflection protocols are active before stomping out through the modified airlock and onto the walkway beyond. The walkway is a long line of ventilated metal plates held up on thick rods of what looks like tungsten. It has no handrails, though its at least 10 feet wide so that's not a real issue. Directly in front of her and down the receding path is the plasma spring still belching strange gouts of fluid energy and light.
She sets off slowly, monitoring the suit's readings and her own vitals carefully as she moves. Everything is theoretically sound, but extreme environments like this are where expensive well thought out things come to break. The walkway rumbles and vibrates slightly as she passes the halfway point, the force of the plasma spring reverberating through it. 75% of the way there the suit's dynamic visor is already almost entirely darkened and only getting darker; the world before her is plume of solar light. In fact, as she nears the end she has to be extremely careful not to simply walk right off the unseen edge. She stops maybe 5 feet from the end of the walkway and waits a moment. The suit's heat regulation is performing well, radiation shielding isn't 100% but its well within tolerance, and the visor has successfully prevented her from going blind. Through it all she can see is solid black and the white form of the plasma.
She looks up from the instrument displays by her chin and notices something in that churning sunfire. The plasma seems to be holding its shape in an odd fashion. To say it forms a humanoid shape is wrong. Like Non-newtonian fluid on a speaker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zoTKXXNQIU) its shape is never constant, but within the shifting forms certain patterns can be seen. Suddenly the suit's magnetic fields lose their standing waves and wobble erratically. Xeriay searches for a cause but realizes moments later its not a fault in the suit but due to magnetic interference. The thing in front of her is "Broadcasting" magnetic waves that are distorting the suit's own waves.
"Never been one for randomly searching through unsecured crates the risk is very often not worth the potential reward."
After giving a small chuckle over the guy who blinded himself head to the shipSpoiler: Steve Goldwin (click to show/hide)
"...you ever feel like the universe forgot what gender you are? No, just me?"
Head back to the boat with gambatta and the others. Keep an eye out for potential trouble/nasties.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
"Blegh, might be a good time to call it. We appear to be gathering more injuries than treasures."
He glances over everyone else almost... hungrily.
"Say, uh... anyone got more blood than they need? I have a medical condition, you see..."
Head back to boat, leave if everyone else does.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Huh, alright let's head back soonish, before we all find a way to cripple ourselves."
Jim will put the mechanical gizmo in the specimen container, or if it won't fit just leave it on the raft. Then he'll grab the box and also put it in the raftSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"So I'm gonna go back to looting if anyone cares."
Go back to looting, but be careful of anything that looks hostile or deadly.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
The team, a bit worse for wear but their pockets a bit heavier, returns to the boat. Jim loads the box on separately, as he cannot carry it along with everything else, setting it in the center of the bowl shaped boat. They push the boat out across the hardened sludge for a few feet to get it out of a shallow divot its weight has formed before climbing in. Together they pull the boat back west, across the sludge of the fuel swamp. They're about halfway across when one of the islands of debris near them begins to move. At first it looks like its just shifting or collapsing into the muck but a moment later is lurches forward and up, along with a good deal of muck and debris around it. The island of debris runs into the side of the boat, scooping it up onto the rough metal and fungus surface. One of the outriggers gets wedged in some scrap and suddenly the boat and its occupants are rising up out of the muck. Everyone scrambles about and clings to the vessel in a panic as it rapidly ascends 30 or 35 feet into the air.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
look for loot. follow team.
After the boat stops rising and the team gets a moment to gather their wits they immediately look around. As the sludge slides off the island it reveals what lies beneath. The Island is just one of two or three small outcroppings of debris atop the back of a huge chitinous shell. It looks something like the segmented shell of a woodlouse, though longer and shaped more like a diamond than the lazy oval of a woodlouse. From their position, wedged atop whatever this is, they cannot see anything of the beast but its shell and a hint of long, thin limbs stretching out below it. After a moment the creature begins to move, rocking slowly forward like a lethargic stilt walker. For the moment it seems to be headed north.
Post by: m1895 on April 24, 2022, 04:07:56 pm
Jim might as well write down a description of the giant louse in his log book
Edit: also save Hardberger's ass if it's not too troublesome
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on April 24, 2022, 04:29:08 pm
(Xeriay knowledge up)((SHE CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS.
No really, Xeriay has gone from level 15 to 25 by basically just walking around and talking to people.))
Xeriay stares at the magnetic field's readout. This whole experience has been bizarre, yet... encouraging? Months of lectures and education from Kandar which she'd never really paid attention to or understood had all of a sudden clicked, she basically helped make this suit, and now she was wearing it and standing face to face with... some sort of plasma creature? Zeriay Jattle traveled to the Enigma in order to continue a life of violence, but fate put her here instead.
She takes a deep breath and shouts in the hope to communicate over all the noise.
"HELLO! ARE YOU TRYING TO TALK TO ME? SORRY, I DON'T UNDERSTAND! I WILL RETURN!"
Attempt verbal communication, but if that doesn't work go back and tell the engineers to install a universal translator into the magnetic field generator. That's a thing you can do, probably.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on April 25, 2022, 03:06:04 am
Keep a hold of the boat and see where this thing takes us.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on April 25, 2022, 03:21:24 am
Heal by 1 each turn.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on April 25, 2022, 06:36:37 pm
Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on April 26, 2022, 09:56:40 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
cower in boat
Post by: IronyOwl on April 27, 2022, 12:35:29 pm
Try to figure out how the debris is anchored to the shell. Otherwise, enjoy the ride!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on April 28, 2022, 03:32:29 pm
Hang on tight and stay in the boat.
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on April 30, 2022, 01:11:24 pm
Interrogate some of the people who helped work on the suit, trying to get an explanation of what this plasma monster is, and why they want to speak to it. Also, is there any way to remotely communicate with Xeriay? Radio in her suit, maybe?[2][4]
Heal by 1 each turn.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
You know the suit has a radio, but that it isn't functional while the suit is in full protective mode. The standing wave shielding doesn't entirely deflect radiowaves but it does distort them to the point of uselessness.
You ask the one who seems to be the leader around here about the plasma thing you see out there near Xeriay. You ask if its dangerous, why they want to speak to it, what she is supposed to do out there, etc. The man, his eyes glued to the end of the walkway, gives only curt replies. The "Plasma Monster" is apparently a group of entities that appears to live within the power core of the enigma. They are difficult to define by human terms but are effectively living plasma. The Solar Brotherhood seeks to communicate with them not only to learn the secrets of the Enigma but potentially of transcendent life and the universe itself. After all, if they live in this sort of artificial star, then perhaps their kind live within real stars as well. Perhaps they ARE stars! At this point he begins offhandedly rambling while not really paying attention to you.
(The dynamic between her and Kander is pretty funny)(Xeriay knowledge up)((SHE CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS.
No really, Xeriay has gone from level 15 to 25 by basically just walking around and talking to people.))
Xeriay stares at the magnetic field's readout. This whole experience has been bizarre, yet... encouraging? Months of lectures and education from Kandar which she'd never really paid attention to or understood had all of a sudden clicked, she basically helped make this suit, and now she was wearing it and standing face to face with... some sort of plasma creature? Zeriay Jattle traveled to the Enigma in order to continue a life of violence, but fate put her here instead.
She takes a deep breath and shouts in the hope to communicate over all the noise.
"HELLO! ARE YOU TRYING TO TALK TO ME? SORRY, I DON'T UNDERSTAND! I WILL RETURN!"
Attempt verbal communication, but if that doesn't work go back and tell the engineers to install a universal translator into the magnetic field generator. That's a thing you can do, probably.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
[6] You attempt to speak to the strange amalgam of plasma. It doesn't work, even when you shout through the external speakers. Not surprising, really. As you attempt this though, you make sure to record all the magnetic waves the plasma critter is throwing out. After about a minute the plasma loses that transient shape and becomes simple random spurts and splutters again. You watch for a moment more, just to make sure, before turning around and slowly walking back to the main building. Once past the airlock and out of the suit, you tell the members of the solar brotherhood that you've recorded the "communications" of the "plasma men". They shove another 500 credits into your hands and immediately begin working on the recording, bickering among themselves over the best course of action while ignoring both you and Kander.
"well uh, fuck"
Jim might as well write down a description of the giant louse in his log book
Edit: also save Hardberger's ass if it's not too troublesomeSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Run and leap for the safety of the wall.(what wall? What safety?)Spoiler: Maxwell Hardberger (click to show/hide)
[8v6][Jim speed leveled up]
Max, apparently misunderstanding his situation and surroundings (suspended quite high in the air with nothing around him other than boat and bug), decides he's going to leap out of the boat. Perhaps he has simply had enough of this shit. Regardless, Jim catches Max by the waist just as Max is jumping over the lip of the bowl and drags him back into the boat. Max continues trying to leap to his probable death so Jim sits on him while writing a quick description of the giant bug. At least as much as he can see of it.
"Gyahaha! Looks like we're going for a ride!"You lean over the edge of the boat and look at the debris and the shell. Its a bit hard to tell without getting closer, but You think the shell grew up and onto the debris. The shell around the debris is distorted but not visibly damaged and seems to encompass the debris.
Try to figure out how the debris is anchored to the shell. Otherwise, enjoy the ride!Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Oh shit what do we do about this?"
Keep a hold of the boat and see where this thing takes us.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
cower in boat
"Do you think this is one of those things where someone flushed a pet down the toilet and it grew massive in the sewers?"The bug, and by extension the boat, lazily menders north. It seems in no particular hurry nor does its destination readily present itself. After several minutes the group begins to calm down a bit, and after close to a half hour of movement they become somewhat bored even. Perhaps it is simply a contrast to the terror of before, but this lackadaisical pace isn't enough to keep their adrenaline up. As they drift further north however, they notice something. Through the chemical fog and darkness they pick out the glow of lights and the sound of voices. The voices sound like they're chanting but what they're saying no one can tell. Its sounds like a different language and the voices themselves sound strange. Some are much louder than others, too loud to be an unamplified human. As the bug gets closer, the light is more easily seen to be a flame, and a massive one at that. A bonfire of great size the base of which hides behind harsh geometric walls that are only seen in silhouette, backlit by the flame. They appear to be the same cargo containers as before, but much more evenly and intelligently stacked and aligned. In fact...they resemble the walls of an ancient fortress or castle, complete with towers of vertically stacked containers.
Hang on tight and stay in the boat.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
The bug stops rather suddenly and begins to lower itself back down into the muck. It settles back to earth much more slowly than it rose, given everyone time to look around. The swamp over here is much the same as everywhere, a sludge of chemicals which hardens as it gets further out from the center. Here, where the bug is settling in, the sludge is thick but not hardened. The shore to the north is visible through the chemical fog as a dull metal gleam. What look like crude piers or walkways jut out through the hardened sludge and into the more syrupy stuff. There are what look like crude mechanisms of a sort rigged up on the end of these piers; they look to be designed to pull sludge from the swamp into containers on the pier. The details are inscrutable through the fog so everyone has to simply guess by the vague shapes they can make out. Among those vague shapes are several bipeds who are assembled at the end of the longest pier. They seem to come in a variety of sizes, most look about 3 feet tall while others are over 10. They seem to have disproportionately small limbs to the size of their bodies. Their bodies are flat at the top and taper downwards with no visible heads or waists or really any distinct body sections. These silhouettes, obscured by fog and lit only by the fortress bonfire far behind them, appear to be watching as the bug settles down.
With a final surge the bug sinks back beneath the sludge until only the scattered islands of debris are visible again. The boat is lifted up and off the debris as it dips into the swamp again, popping free with a grinding crunch of metal.
Post by: Devastator on April 30, 2022, 01:34:43 pm
Talk to the figures, trying to learn who they are.
Spoiler: Maxwell (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on April 30, 2022, 01:45:08 pm
Anyways, jungle pokemon game when.
"Apparently I'm a genius so now just diving into the Enigma doesn't seem like my best shot. I should clearly get a thinky job."
Pester the stellar brotherhood to hire me. Or at least let me put them on my resume.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on April 30, 2022, 02:54:10 pm
if the bipeds don't seem particularly aggressive, Jim will shoot out a filament line towards the shore.
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on May 01, 2022, 12:01:33 am
"Anyway, doesn't this place keep surprising! First robolife, now natives! Or cannibal shipwrecks. Either way, bet the food'll be interesting!"
Help haul us to shore if someone shoots another filament line.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on May 01, 2022, 12:14:26 am
I know we were on a swampy lake or something, but I thought there'd be walls. Just didn't want to get stuck on the bug.)
Post by: King Zultan on May 01, 2022, 02:36:13 am
Help move the boat towards the aliens.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on May 02, 2022, 03:42:21 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
help haul us to shore. once there, get out of boat and look for loot, while following team.
Post by: piecewise on May 06, 2022, 04:14:16 pm
I had a dream of playing a PW game like this, but the world was all jungle. Tried to remember which stat I'd invested in, turned out to be a skill specifically for using pets? Which turned out to be pretty useless because there weren't any pets available at the start. Classic PW.[1]
Anyways, jungle pokemon game when.
"Apparently I'm a genius so now just diving into the Enigma doesn't seem like my best shot. I should clearly get a thinky job."
Pester the stellar brotherhood to hire me. Or at least let me put them on my resume.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
After all the good work you've done for them, you figure you can talk the solar brotherhood into hiring you on full time. You give it your best shot at convincing them of this but come off pretty arrogant and disrespectful of not only their beliefs and mission but of the individuals involved. The phrase "If It wasn't for me you morons would have been cooked rotisserie style" gets thrown out at one point. Its not technically inaccurate, they totally would have been fried had it not been for your intervention, but its also not the best way to put it. They eventually ask you and Kander to leave, stating that they will be in touch if they need your help. The way they say it though, seems very unfriendly indeed.
You walk back outside. Its gotten somewhat dark now; early evening it seems. The town is still bustling but less so than before: everyone has made it home or to their bar of choice, the shops are winding down for the evening, and strings of LED bulbs are lighting up to illuminate the rough streets.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
help haul us to shore. once there, get out of boat and look for loot, while following team.
"Well look at those guys they've got themselves a castle and everything."
Help move the boat towards the aliens.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"Half hour by slow bug," Gambatta points out.
"Anyway, doesn't this place keep surprising! First robolife, now natives! Or cannibal shipwrecks. Either way, bet the food'll be interesting!"
Help haul us to shore if someone shoots another filament line.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"we were at least a half hour away from the central island."
if the bipeds don't seem particularly aggressive, Jim will shoot out a filament line towards the shore.Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"Why'd you stop me? I've got a line gun and would have made it, easy."Jim waves to hopefully show a lack of killer intent and then fires a line onto one of the other docks. Together, the group drags the boat towards it while the bipeds move round to that other dock to meet them. They make no aggressive moves so the team continues towards them. As they get closer the forms of the bipeds become more clearly visible. They are mechanical and it takes a moment to realize what they are. They are bullets. More specifically they are shells; enormous shells sitting within a sort of metal frame. Attached to this frame are their stumpy arms and legs. They have no faces, no distinguishing features other than perhaps their caliber, they are each as uniform and pristine as you'd expect from something like this. The shells are upside down from what you'd expect: the flat end of the casing is where their "head" would be while the actual projectile is down between their legs. There are 6 of them here at the dock 2 of the same caliber while all the other 4 are different. The largest one is over 3 meters tall while the smallest is about a foot and a half.
Talk to the figures, trying to learn who they are.Spoiler: Maxwell (click to show/hide)
The bullets help drag the ship up to the edge of the dock and begin speaking. Their language is a strange lilting thing almost poetic in the way it flows, as though it has a set meter that must be followed. Its made all the stranger by the fact that their voices are quite gruff and aggressive. Its not even clear where the voice is coming from, as there is no clear speaker anywhere. [2] Maxwell, apparently having recovered from his suicidal tendencies, attempts communication. He has no idea what the language they're speaking is, but he attempts hand gestures, charades, and the last ditch effort of shouting. None of these seem particularly effective. The Bullets begin cycling through languages by the sound of it; making a variety of unknown noises with different structures and tones. [4][Max Knowledge leveled] Though he doesn't understand a word of what they're saying, Max does recognize one of the languages. He's heard it spoken before on the surface, by the native snake people.
Post by: m1895 on May 06, 2022, 08:48:20 pm
Jim will write down about the bulletmen in his log book,, then try to speak snake to them, a flawless plan with no weakness
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on May 07, 2022, 08:18:29 pm
Try to talk at them enough to recognize and switch to our language.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on May 09, 2022, 05:09:19 pm
Try and think if I've ever picked bits up the snake language or one of the other languages they spoke somewhere. If so, try my best to translate for Ganbatta and co.
If not, just observe the interaction between Ganbatta and the bullet people and try figure out a way of communication from there.
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on May 10, 2022, 12:06:51 am
Spoiler: Maxwell (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on May 11, 2022, 12:45:36 am
Go get a room to share with Xeriay, resting through the night. Also buy Xeriay a good meal, splurge a bit to buy her something particularly excellent. She did a great job today, the girl deserves a reward, and a good rest. Make sure she knows her father is proud.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on May 11, 2022, 07:49:58 am
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on May 12, 2022, 08:36:45 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on May 13, 2022, 07:27:20 am
See if my hobo powers give me the ability to speak to the bulletmen.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on May 14, 2022, 10:51:12 am
Dammit.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
((Huh. I thought I posted an "Assist Xeriay" action.))Together Xeriay and Kander head back to the Pilot Light with the intention to get a nice meal and a relatively clean room. They wander through the bar over to one of the walls where a desk and receptionist have been installed. The receptionist is, like the bartender, a machine. This one looks like a young woman with a holo-projected face. That face isn't exactly human, sort of a overly cute version of a human with mildly exaggerated features and blindingly happy enthusiasm. She tells you that there are two kinds of rooms available: Temporary and Permanent. Temporary rooms cost 30 credits and are good for one night while Permanent rooms cost 1000 and are good for as long as you want to stay. Both kinds of rooms grant a "Well Rested" bonus upon spending the night in them. Xeriay and Kander spend 60 for a temporary room.
Go get a room to share with Xeriay, resting through the night. Also buy Xeriay a good meal, splurge a bit to buy her something particularly excellent. She did a great job today, the girl deserves a reward, and a good rest. Make sure she knows her father is proud.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
The pair take a framework elevator up several floors and then follow signs until they find their rooms. The room itself is quite nice, compared to previous accommodations aboard the freighter. No window, but there is a large view screen with an option for different camera angles of outside. There's a library of recorded movies and media as well, though nothing live other than a local broadcast. Apparently someone in town is running a studio of their own. Otherwise the room is 8 feet tall, ten wide, and 10 long, with the bed taking up most of the center space. Viewscreen is on the wall at the foot of the bed, dressers and storage to the right of the bed, doorway on the left. Shared facilities for cooking and other bodily necessities. There is a second identical room accessed via a connecting door and their 60 credits have paid for both.
Kander dumps his pack next to the bed and heads back downstairs. He wanders out and searches the area for a food vendor that looks particularly good. He eventually settles on something called "Rockshell Kabob", apparently a local dish using things harvested from the jungle to the south. Its a pleasant spread of cooked skewered meat, flat bread, and a salad of local plants along with something vaguely like ice cream but more glutenous. Kander pays 20 credits for a pair of these meals and carries them up to the conjoined rooms. They eat while flipping through the view screen library. The meat is the strangest part of the dish: under the roasted and herb colored exterior the meat is almost completely clear and has a consistency more like fruit than flesh. Tastes like shellfish though. The ice cream stuff is pleasantly cool after a day in the hot sun.
(Rules note: Permanent rooms allow characters to be "Stored" and new characters created.)
"hey, or uh, SSSSSSSSSS."[8] [Knowledge leveled]
Jim will write down about the bulletmen in his log book,, then try to speak snake to them, a flawless plan with no weaknessSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"At least they seem friendly."[1]
See if my hobo powers give me the ability to speak to the bulletmen.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"Well, this is certainly new."[1]
Try and think if I've ever picked bits up the snake language or one of the other languages they spoke somewhere. If so, try my best to translate for Ganbatta and co.
If not, just observe the interaction between Ganbatta and the bullet people and try figure out a way of communication from there.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
figure out language. request bullet people to repeat whatever they just said. translate for friendlies.[7]Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Bob screams middle Galactic at the Bullet men, demanding that they speak "Like civilized people". Hlaine makes a lot of hissing noises and vocal fry that doesn't mean anything at all.
Jim, in preparation for this expedition, researched the language of the local inhabitants of the planet. Though he was far from fluent in "Forked Tongue" -it might be impossible to actually become fluent without surgery- he knew enough simple phrases and basic vocabulary to hold a conversation. He speaks to the bullet men in a halting series of hisses and whistles, translating their responses as best he can. And though he's not actually familiar with the language, Anton quickly picks up a bit listening to the conversation between Jim and the bullet men. Though he can't detect exact meanings he can get the gist of an exchange.
"Greetings, friends! You recognize the language I'm speaking right now? Pretty popular up on the surface, gyahahaha!"
Try to talk at them enough to recognize and switch to our language.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Look around for a way out in case everything goes badly.[1][6][max wis up]Spoiler: Maxwell (click to show/hide)
Gambatta just starts jabbering away at the bullet men, talking very rapidly about nothing whatsoever. Its the sort of display that would be difficult to understand as a fluent speaker let alone as someone completely disconnected from the language. Max stands around silently, inspecting the area for a quick means of escape. The quickest means he sees actually involves running straight past these bullet men and onto the shore, then around towards the east or west. An on foot sprint would be quicker and have more maneuverability than a slow dragging retreat in the boat.
Through Jim's efforts a fragile line of communication seems to be established. Jim's translations are full of holes and best guesses based on context, but a general understanding can be derived none the less. The bullet men, who appear to have gained an immediately negative opinion of this gaggle of jabbering bipeds, are proud warriors. They have constructed a fortress worthy of their stature and are holding a festival in honor of their brothers who have died in glorious battle. They too wish to die in glorious battle for the good of their creators, but they have been denied this opportunity. They are currently considering a method of getting this chance at glory but have so far been unable to agree on anything. This discussion has been on going for...Jim isn't sure but it sounds like a very long time.
Post by: m1895 on May 15, 2022, 02:25:14 am
Jim will introduce the party as explorers, and ask if they may view the festival. Then he'll relay any reasonable questions the team has.
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on May 15, 2022, 05:00:01 am
Start looking around the shore line to see if anything interesting has washed up.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on May 15, 2022, 01:18:48 pm
"This is great, but we can just buy them. I'd love to trade it for something special."
Move onto the ground, since it's closer to the escape route. Through Jim, try to negotiate a weapons trade offering my Death Ray.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on May 15, 2022, 06:18:45 pm
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on May 16, 2022, 03:46:07 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on May 20, 2022, 04:10:29 am
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on May 20, 2022, 04:40:35 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on May 21, 2022, 11:29:16 am
Take a rest.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Rest the night. Wake up early in the morning (letting Xeriay rest), and head out to do some shopping. Try to find someone selling a guild helmet that would fit on a guild apprentice suit--like Xeriay's. Hopefully for 320 or less.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Full and tired, Xeriay and Kander hit the hay early. The beds in the Pilot Light aren't exactly four star quality but they certainly beat the thin gel pads from the Freighter. Kander sleeps without dreams but Xeriay is a different story. She sees a great void filled with stars, a vision of the vast dark space between solar systems. The stars a shimmering and twinkling in a way they shouldn't when viewed from space. She hears the stars twinkling like gentle chimes or fragments of glass. She feels that they are singing, ancient voices drifting through the void like whale song through the ocean. Searching.
Kander wakes before Xeriay does and slips out, taking the elevator down to the ground floor. The bar area looks very different in the morning; the lights are brighter, the barman is serving food off series of portable grills set up on the bar's countertop. The rabble from last night is gone, replaced with sleepy prospectors trudging out from their rooms to begrudgingly great the new day. The stage is empty but the audio system is softly playing some kind of classical music Kander doesn't recognize. Its little more than a flittering background hum to accompany the clink of plates and groaning of men with sore muscles and healing wounds. Kander grabs a paper cup of what they call coffee and heads out, sipping the black synthetic fluid as he goes. [1]
The marketplace is relatively quiet this early. The suns are just at the horizon and the sky is glowing dim red. Most of the lights are still on from the previous night and many of the shops are just starting to open if they're open at all. Kander leans against a wall and sips his "Coffee", waiting for things to open up a bit more. The coffee doesn't taste bad, as far as things go, but it definitely doesn't taste like coffee. Closer to peanuts mixed with sugar and powdered milk. Strange but not awful. After 15 minutes of slow sipping and watching he tosses the paper cup into a bin and begins exploring. He doesn't have any idea what kind of place would sell the helmet, so he just starts wandering to any place that looks like it might and asking. He's at the fourth junk dealer, in the middle of asking, when the dealer's face suddenly goes pale and she skitters back off the cushion she was sitting as a shadow falls over the both of them. Kander turns slowly and comes face to chestplate with a Guildsman in full armor. He's standing a good 2 or more feet taller than Kander and several feet wider. A face like a fist made of weather-scoured stone is looking down at Kander with a gaze as cold and pointed as an icepick.
"Why," The guildsman asks, slowly and carefully enunciating every word, "Are you looking for a guild helmet?"
"I'll try to relay any questions you guys have, within reason."[1]
Jim will introduce the party as explorers, and ask if they may view the festival. Then he'll relay any reasonable questions the team has.Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"I can't think of anything."
Start looking around the shore line to see if anything interesting has washed up.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"Would they be interested in trading weapons?" Max says, while hefting his death ray around.
"This is great, but we can just buy them. I'd love to trade it for something special."
Move onto the ground, since it's closer to the escape route. Through Jim, try to negotiate a weapons trade offering my Death Ray.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
tell the bullet people (or have it translated through the dude who can understand them) about those tenacle monsters and give them a general idea of where they are. then look for loot on the shore.[9][3][3]Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Jim begins speaking to the bullet men, attempting to explain the purpose of the group and also ask their questions. He explains they're...he doesn't know the word for "explorers" so he makes a best guess. This seems to immediately anger the Bullet men who begin speaking back to him very quickly in raised hisses. Jim stammers and attempts to change the conversation to ask about the creators of the ship and then, when met with unrelenting hissing, to ask about the fauna of the swamp. The bullet men refuse to be distracted or dissuaded however and begin advancing towards Jim with an increasingly aggressive series of sounds and hand gestures. The only thing that seems to distract them momentarily is that they notice Bob digging through the junk at the shoreline. Its hard to tell that they're "Looking" at him but they turn their entire bodies to face him as he suddenly rips a small robotic arm out of the muck and holds it aloft in triumph.
Jim takes the moment of confusion to whisper to the rest of the team that he thinks he made some kind of translation error. He thinks the bullet men understood "Explorer" as something closer to "Raider", "pillager", "Thief" or something along those lines. Someone here to steal from their master's ship. And Bob digging through the trash...well either he's confirmed this for them or maybe they're confused as to why he would want what they consider trash? Jim glances back at the still entranced Bullet Men and shrugs desperately.
"I can try and explain things but they're pretty riled up. Things might become...explosive."
Post by: Egan_BW on May 21, 2022, 11:41:57 am
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on May 21, 2022, 01:08:34 pm
Jim will explain he meant uh, cartographers and historians. Very sorry about that, snake is his second language.
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on May 21, 2022, 04:06:10 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on May 22, 2022, 01:17:36 am
Take the small robot arm over to the bullet men and offer it to them.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on May 23, 2022, 04:48:39 am
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on May 23, 2022, 08:50:10 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
tell the bullet people that my comrade made a mistake, and that we are simply explorers. get bob to stop digging and put down whatever he has already dug up. if negotiations fail, get to the boat and lay down some covering fire.
Post by: IronyOwl on May 29, 2022, 12:29:11 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on May 29, 2022, 05:07:35 pm
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on May 31, 2022, 12:21:16 pm
Play dumb. Casually explain that Kander had heard guild helmets were some of the best around, and figured they'd be appropriate for an explorer new to the planet, like himself. Ask the man if he knows where the guild's shop is. They apparently have a great reputation, but how does anyone even get the equipment? You'd think their marketing would be better.[10] Char leveled.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Kander plays dumb very effectively. And indeed you would have to be staggeringly backwards and uninformed, especially as a human, to not know about the Guild and its methods. Even a backwater rube who didn't wouldn't usually be spared just due to ignorance of the laws. But Kander manages to, through a combination of sycophantly and feigned ignorance, not only convince the Guildsman that he is completely unfamiliar with the crime has just committed but that he earnestly means no disrespect. The Guildsman, with the sympathy one would have towards an injure animal or stupid child, explains that buying guild goods is a crime in the eyes of the guild. Then, in a somewhat concessionary tone, recommends some "Private" brands which have "Duplicated the Guild's designs, however inexpertly".
After the lecture he looks Kander over once more, shakes his head, and walks away..
Considering that it wouldn't be unusual for Kandar to have gotten into trouble, go and find him.[5]Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
After the Guildsman has left, Xeriay slinks out of the shadows and connects back up with Kander. She had left not long after he did and had finally tracked him down just moments before the Guildsman had confronted him. Considering her new attire, she faded into the shadows and waited to see how things played out. But now what the Guild is gone, she can reunite with her father.
"uh, oops"[3]
Jim will explain he meant uh, cartographers and historians. Very sorry about that, snake is his second language.Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Jim spends the next several minutes trying to better explain the group. He actually does a pretty good job, especially considering his lack of formal training or proper anatomy. He thinks he explains their position more...accurately may be the wrong word. Diplomatically is probably closer. Unfortunately the opinion of the Bulletmen has already been tainted by the previous words and actions of the group. They're beyond convincing by simply using a new word at this point, but he has managed to calm them enough to prevent any immediate hostilities.
Now all he can do is hope no one on his team does anything to annoy the bullet men.
"Why are they all looking at me, do they want this thing?"[4] Charisma Leveled
Take the small robot arm over to the bullet men and offer it to them.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Bob makes a show of approaching the bullet men, bowing reverently, and presenting the arm he scavenged to them. They have no faces so reading their reactions is difficult, but their immediate response seems to be one of surprise not anger. They wait for several seconds before taking the arm, in the same way a human might take a mouse from their cat. Though they clearly aren't very impressed with the offering, they seem to understand it comes from a place of good intentions.
[1]Spoiler (click to show/hide)
tell the bullet people that my comrade made a mistake, and that we are simply explorers. get bob to stop digging and put down whatever he has already dug up. if negotiations fail, get to the boat and lay down some covering fire.
Anton, apparently believing he had mastered enough of the language to be of help, tries to talk to the bullet men. He is, for better or worse, utterly incomprehensible. His words are nothing but an incoherent mess of disconnected phrases and curses. The Bullet men are...well they're not pleased by it but they're also not evidently too angered by it. They seem to have accepted it as simply par for the course.
Take a closer look at boolet men. Are they armed? Do they look athletic, tough, agile, what?[5]Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Gambatta considers the bullet men. If he had to guess, the living bullets could be considered armed. Though he'd be willing to bet their method of attack would be suicidal and explosive. They are bullets, after all. As per their general demeanor, their huge bodies and relatively tiny limbs make them look comically hulking and awkward. Their lack of faces make their opinions and emotions very difficult to read. They are equal parts menacing and amusing, like a dumb puppy holding a ticking timebomb in its mouth.
Subtly inch away from Jim/Bob (whoever the bullet men are advancing to). Keep an eye on the bullet men for now and see if they get more agressive, alsotry to guess how much they weight on averageSpoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Just.. try to stay inconspicuous for the moment. It should help if we end up fighting or if Jim gets things settled.The rest of the group hangs back, waiting to see how things shake out. Hlaine spends the time trying to guess the weight of the bulletmen. Considering their metal bodies, even the small ones are probably quite heavy. The largest ones probably weigh half a ton or more.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on May 31, 2022, 02:12:03 pm
To prove his point, Jim will showcase the various creatures he's documented in his log book.
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on June 01, 2022, 01:39:42 am
Sit to the side of the group and think about how much of the snake people language I know.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: IronyOwl on June 02, 2022, 03:20:12 am
Try to communicate with the bulletmen, see if they have any kind of economy or culture beyond dying in glorious battle.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on June 02, 2022, 03:58:50 am
Welp! Go around asking for a private brand guild helmet, specifically one that works with guild suits. Buy if it will work with Xeriay's suit, and is affordable (<=320 money).
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on June 02, 2022, 06:12:24 am
Go with Kandar and pick up a nice cloak to wear over my suit.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on June 02, 2022, 12:55:49 pm
"Don't worry, your old man is more wily than you give him credit for. And besides, I'm no stranger to fighting, I can handle myself if words fail! Now let's find you some gear to keep you safe."
Post by: Devastator on June 02, 2022, 03:20:40 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on June 02, 2022, 06:53:22 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Stay back and follow the group if hostilities engage GTFO
Post by: piecewise on June 13, 2022, 08:34:07 am
Post by: piecewise on June 13, 2022, 08:57:37 pm
"Nice man... *sigh* Dad, I don't want you to get yourself in trouble like that, okay?"
Go with Kandar and pick up a nice cloak to wear over my suit.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
"What a nice man. Anyways. Good junk dealer! Would you have any of these private brands for sale? I am in need of a Guild-like helmet!"[6][4]
Welp! Go around asking for a private brand guild helmet, specifically one that works with guild suits. Buy if it will work with Xeriay's suit, and is affordable (<=320 money).Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Kander and Xeriay begin searching for a cape and a helmet as the market slowly fills with people. Finding a helmet proves to be pretty easy actually: there is an odd amount of off brand Guild equipment for sale, all of which is at least theoretically compatible with the official stuff. Multiple vendors, between hawking their wears, recommend that Xeriay at least repaint her suit to hide its authenticity. Lest some Guildmen eventually notice her and tear her head off in a hopefully metaphorical fashion. After a good deal of wandering and haggling they finally get a 150 credit helmet. [1d4 head armor. Creates a sealed environment that is protected from many environmental threats.]
A cloak is a bit harder to find, ironically. At least one like what Xeriay is looking for: one which encircles the shoulders and hides all of the body except the feet. Preferably with hood, for extra concealment if possible. Eventually, after much searching, they do manage to find something. The vendor says its a "Flak mantle", something apparently worn in the old days of ship salvaging. Its a dirty brown color and covers the entire body, minus the head. It has a big metal ring that is meant to sit on the shoulders, connected to a space suit. In zero-g it would be nothing but here it weighs a good 20 pounds.
[Flak Mantle: While worn, armor rolls are done at advantage. Takes up an inventory slot.]
"well they've calmed down a bit"Jim shows off his log book to the Bulletmen. They seem puzzled by it. Obviously they don't understand the language but they look at the drawings and even the paper of the book itself with some curiosity. They hold it upside down, flip the pages with some trepidation and hold the object itself quite near the base of their mobility frames. Jim surmises this must be where their camera eyes are, but it does outwardly look like they're holding the book on their crotches. Eventually they hand it back. If it had any influence on them, good or bad, its difficult to say.
To prove his point, Jim will showcase the various creatures he's documented in his log book.Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
"They seem to like the gift I've given them, maybe peace will work after all."[1]
Sit to the side of the group and think about how much of the snake people language I know.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Bob considers how much of the snake language he speaks. He realizes he barely speaks any language, honestly. [Madness: Mute. You must communicate using grunts, hand gestures, and other non-verbal actions. Writing is still acceptable.]
"So... you gentlemen were saying something about a feast?"[2]
Try to communicate with the bulletmen, see if they have any kind of economy or culture beyond dying in glorious battle.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Attempts to deduce the greater society of the Bulletmen results in only confusion. It becomes rapidly clear that they do not have an economy or truly any concept of value in the monetary sense. The idea of trading valuables is as alien to them as the idea of trading emotions or perceptions would be for a human. Asking if they have any weapons to trade is no different than asking your neighbor for a cup full of existential dread. They value very little and seem to need very little. They do not need food, nor water. They have no familial ties, they have no great desires other than glorious death and the protection and betterment of their creators. Indeed, despite their apparent intelligence, they are extremely limited in terms of abstract conception outside of their two main desires. The only objects they seem to place "Value" on are those of their creators and those which help them succeed in their goals.
As per their culture, they make reference to a "Bullet King" who is their leader and there seems to be a rough Hierarchy based on "caliber". They say that before the crash they spent most of their time working on and maintaining the cannons. Now that the ship is stuck and they cannot reach the cannons, they spend most of their time either celebrating the glorious dead, remembering the wonderful nature of the creators, or planning how best to seek the proper death they desire. It seems clear that their general limited thinking has prevented them from doing the last part to any success. As far as you can tell, they've literally just been down here having one long funeral pyre/celebration/war dance for countless years.
Also, and this is perhaps more interesting, no more bullet men are being "born". The ones here have been here since the crash, and those that die are never replaced. They are an endangered species hurling themselves towards death with gusto.
You stand back and wait.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Stay back and follow the group if hostilities engage GTFO
Offer my Death Ray in exchange for something unusual.[3]Spoiler (click to show/hide)
You hand your Death Ray over to the nearest Bulletman; a large shell of a fella. He "looks" at it carefully, turning it over and over in his hands with some degree of craftsman-like consideration. After several long moments it rapidly moves, unbolting a panel with its bare hands and carefully but decisively thrusting fingers into the inner workings of the gun. Then it equally rapidly reassembles the gun and hands it back without a word. [Improved Death Ray:Xd12 instead of xd10]
Post by: Egan_BW on June 13, 2022, 09:13:45 pm
"Gosh, the only cape I could find is heavy armor in itself. Oh well, I do like to feel protected. Oof, heavy though. We certainly are going to need a new friend to carry our things for us."
Also pay 500 for a Large Autocage, but... Let Kandar handle it.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on June 14, 2022, 12:13:44 am
Jim will get back in the boat and write down what he has learned about the bulletmen in his logbook
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on June 14, 2022, 01:11:53 am
Go mack to the boat and sit quietly wondering how people understood what I was saying despite the inability to talk.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on June 16, 2022, 08:57:24 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on June 19, 2022, 10:12:49 am
Pay the 150 for the offbrand helmet and however much for the mantle. Give Kandar my construction helmet and oxygen tank, sorry Kandar!The large autocage is a circular metal disk under which lurks a mass of black tentacles; like an octopus glued to a manhole cover. It walks smoothly and efficiently in an odd flurry of wriggling and inflating tentacles that looks like pure chaos but somehow produces ordered movement. It cannot speak, but seems to understand your speech well enough and can make its feelings known at least vaguely through gestures and scribblings. It cannot write, but it does produce rapid pictograms by scribbling in the sand with the tips of its tentacles.
"Gosh, the only cape I could find is heavy armor in itself. Oh well, I do like to feel protected. Oof, heavy though. We certainly are going to need a new friend to carry our things for us."
Also pay 500 for a Large Autocage, but... Let Kandar handle it.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)Spoiler (click to show/hide)
(That moment when you realize that you could never talk and have just been grunting at people the whole time.)
Go mack to the boat and sit quietly wondering how people understood what I was saying despite the inability to talk.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"It's been an experience meeting you guys, hopefully you won't begrudge seeing us later"Anton, Bob, and Jim return to the raft and find a good position in the curved interior.
Jim will get back in the boat and write down what he has learned about the bulletmen in his logbookSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
(Are we ready to start heading back? Is everyone not posting because they have nothing to do? )
Post by: Devastator on June 19, 2022, 10:33:10 am
Post by: Egan_BW on June 19, 2022, 12:28:36 pm
"Well, there goes all of my money. But I think it was worth it, dad. Dad?"
Poke Kandar. Go with him if he appears to snap out of his dementia. Since he doesn't seem to remember, let's head for the big hole, where we can use the filament launcher to get down. We both have harnesses so that much is a milk run.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on June 19, 2022, 01:24:28 pm
Jim will fire off a line in the general direction of the central island
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on June 19, 2022, 04:55:16 pm
Post by: King Zultan on June 20, 2022, 01:20:40 am
Do what's needed to help get the boat moving.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on June 21, 2022, 10:30:26 am
Also store a Liquidoplas bomb in the autocage.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on June 27, 2022, 07:43:25 am
"Heave-Ho!"
Jim will fire off a line in the general direction of the central islandSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Well then, we've obtained the large autocage, as well as great armor for Xeriay. It's time to set out and explore the bowls of this ship! I forget where we have to go for that, but whatever. Ask again if Kander himself has forgotten. Then head there!
Also store a Liquidoplas bomb in the autocage.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
*grunting noises that could mean something*
Do what's needed to help get the boat moving.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
I'm also good to head back. I haven't posted the last week because I got sick with the 'rona and forgot to check in
((flak mantle costed 300))
"Well, there goes all of my money. But I think it was worth it, dad. Dad?"
Poke Kandar. Go with him if he appears to snap out of his dementia. Since he doesn't seem to remember, let's head for the big hole, where we can use the filament launcher to get down. We both have harnesses so that much is a milk run.If not, cautiously play with the autocages, trying to train Cha in a relatively safe context.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
The satellite dish boat returns to the central island of the fuel swamp. As its occupants unload onto the unstable mass of slag and sludge they notice two more people descending from above. They're coming down the filament line the first group used to get in, though they're doing it on the spidery legs of autoharnesses instead of climbing hand over hand. An autocage is following along behind them as well, tentacles rapidly flickering across the filament like a rock climbing octopus. The pair and their autocage touch down easily upon the island and survey it for a long moment. The smaller of the two is wearing what looks like a space suit under a heavy cloak, their face hidden in their helmet. The larger of the two, a middle aged man, is covering his mouth and nose with one hand and looking at the swamp with watering eyes. Clearly he hasn't become as accustomed to the burning chemical miasma as the first group. As the two new comers take in the expansive swamp of metal debris and fuel-chemical sludge the first group climbs back up towards the filament and meets them.
Whether or not the first group wishes to simply continue upwards towards freedom, clean air, and payment or stay a while and speak with the newcomers is something they'll have to decide.
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on June 27, 2022, 09:37:53 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
follow group. if we go up, i will sell the last two items in my inventory, the crystal and the electromagnet.
Post by: King Zultan on June 28, 2022, 04:31:27 am
Follow with the group and be ready to go up to the surface.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on June 29, 2022, 01:06:39 am
Jim will climb up first along the parallel lines, using his filament gun to create ladder rungs between them
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on June 29, 2022, 03:29:07 pm
((We actually have two autocages following us, the small one on Kandar's sheet and the large one on mine.))
Explore the island, I don't really know what this place is like since I haven't been reading the main group. Ask them about paths further into the enigma.
Also, look at the swamp goop. Does it seem likely to hurt me though my suit? Could I dive for treasures?
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on July 01, 2022, 08:50:19 am
"Sorry dad, you look uncomfortable. Not sure where to go from here, is this an island? Guess I could probably try diving in my suit."
((We actually have two autocages following us, the small one on Kandar's sheet and the large one on mine.))
Explore the island, I don't really know what this place is like since I haven't been reading the main group. Ask them about paths further into the enigma.
Also, look at the swamp goop. Does it seem likely to hurt me though my suit? Could I dive for treasures?Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Earlier description (click to show/hide)
[7]
Your suit would protect you from the sludge; its designed for such things after all. But diving for treasure might be a dangerous idea: the sludge completely opaque so you'd not be able to see anything as you trudged around in it.
"Hey there, just passing by. Careful of the bulletmen, you'll know 'em when you see 'em. They're a bit standoffish right now."
Jim will climb up first along the parallel lines, using his filament gun to create ladder rungs between themSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
*grunting sounds and gestures indicating I'm staying with the group*
Follow with the group and be ready to go up to the surface.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
follow group. if we go up, i will sell the last two items in my inventory, the crystal and the electromagnet.
Using a rather wiggly ladder made of two filaments with filament "rungs" the team climbs back to the surface.
Ok, I'm assuming people want to sell stuff/hand it in at the Universal Survey for cash. Lets try to get that all handled in one turn so just list off the stuff you're selling/turning in for me. I'll also handle your mapping cash at the same time.
Post by: Devastator on July 01, 2022, 01:52:54 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on July 02, 2022, 02:16:08 am
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on July 02, 2022, 02:57:38 am
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on July 02, 2022, 09:55:53 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
selling:
weird crystal shard
Electromagnet module
Post by: Egan_BW on July 02, 2022, 03:38:23 pm
With Kandar. Look out for anything which might make valuable salvage on the way.
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on July 03, 2022, 01:18:13 am
Jim will have the mechanical gizmo appraised and sold
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on July 04, 2022, 05:10:35 pm
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on July 11, 2022, 09:15:22 am
Just a damaged robot skull and my improved (Xd12) Death Ray.The deathray would sell for 600, The survey pays 2632 for the skull. According to their appraisers it shows evidence a unique AI system.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Sell the glowing organ and the intact robot arm with the laser weapon for a hand.2264 for the organ.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
500 for the arm.
The arm is not an uncommon find, though full bodied examples of the machine it came from have yet to be found. Some prospectors have taken to grafting these limbs to themselves to make use of the advanced weapons tech. The organ is highly mutagenic. Exposure to the contents would doubtless induce mutation.
228 for the shardSpoiler (click to show/hide)
selling:
weird crystal shard
Electromagnet module
125 for the Electromagnet (they already have one).
The shard seems to be some kind of energy storage while the electromagnet is simply that.
"what do you guys thinks about a uniform?"406 for the gizmo (They have a few already). Its purpose is unknown.
Jim will have the mechanical gizmo appraised and soldSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Did you want to turn in your writings? They would currently be worth: 432 credits.
selling: Giant sewer octopus beak (with some trailing tongue/throat giblets)The octopus specimen gets 3437 credits. This creature, or others like it, have apparently been sighted and caused several deaths but no physical specimens have been recovered until this point.Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Charting total (A single sum, not given to each member) is 4000.
Let's head in a direction aside from towards the bulletmen. Less value in exploring an already-explored area. Use filaments, not their weird boat. We have 40 filaments, and Kander is willing to use almost all of that to make a path. Choose whichever direction seems most likely to find a wall, or... anything that's not toxic swamp, really.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
"If I had something like a sonar device, maybe..."Using a single filament line and their harnesses, Kander and Xeriay make their way across the swamp. Kander chose the northwest area, to the side of the bullet men, and as they emerge from the toxic smog of the swamp they see this area is not uninhabited, nor undamaged.
With Kandar. Look out for anything which might make valuable salvage on the way.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
This section of the ship has been torn open, the alien metal ripped open by a jutting section of rock. This rock tore its way through and is still visible above, embedded in the ceiling. A great deal of sand has poured in and covered the floor to a depth of several feet, bits of debris poking up through it. However, what dominates the area is a massive wall. The wall is made of shipping containers, stones, and debris, and stretches pretty much from floor to ceiling, interrupted only by the stone jutting out into the room. The wall runs diagonally across the area, filling most of it and ended only slightly before the area to the east where the chanting and flames of the bullet men can be observed.
In front of the wall are about a dozen sentries, all of them snakemen, the true natives of the planet. These snakes are clearly outfitted for battle and are wearing an odd sort of armor. Its a sort of like collection of breast plates strung together with leather or cloth. It gives them an insectoid segmented appearance. They're carrying a variety of weapons in their dozen or so hands; spear, rifle, sword, shield, etc. They notice Kander and Xeriay and move from rather relaxed positions into ones of alertness; standing straight like a cobra about to strike. However, they do not move or make any threatening gestures or actions. They remain still.
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on July 11, 2022, 12:44:23 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
buy a vibrax. afterwards, head to the void temple and learn that technique. then follow the team.
Post by: King Zultan on July 12, 2022, 05:38:21 am
Go look at the shops and see if they have any better armour for sale, be sure to keep tabs on where the team is heading so I can meet back up with them after shopping.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on July 12, 2022, 07:57:44 am
Also, count how many have firearms or other ranged weapons. And stay close to the filament line, in case we need to retreat.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on July 12, 2022, 12:22:20 pm
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: m1895 on July 18, 2022, 01:31:23 am
Jim will see about requirements to publish a survival booklet with the information he has, if the requirements are "No" he'll just sell it. Also chip in to buy sleeping quarters
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on July 27, 2022, 09:21:11 am
Post by: piecewise on October 21, 2022, 09:28:46 am
The Void temple is set near the edge of Vernierville, built into some complex of pipes and odd alien metal that you cannot discern the purpose of. Arcs of strange purple black lightning crawl across the surfaces and peak of this makeshift cathedral like darting snakes. Through the curtained entrance and down the a long hall lies the central chamber. It is half dojo, half worship hall: The first floor is a wide and open square room with small ancillary rooms off to its sides. Above it, in a conical tower ringed with catwalks turned pews, is a fragment of the void much larger than the one at the little temple near the starship docks. It glimmers with the same lightning that wreathes the building, a diamond shaped hole in reality that laves a black stain on your vision for several seconds after you look away.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
buy a vibrax. afterwards, head to the void temple and learn that technique. then follow the team.
The dojo, its sandy floor spattered with blackish lumps of dried blood, is sparsely populated with a handful of students wearing their black gowns. They practice movements on their own or spar with one another in quick and violent bursts that never last more than a few seconds. Far at the other end of the room is a curtain with the consistency of hospital gauze and a brilliant metallic purple. Through the semi-opaque cloth you can see strange lights and the shaded outlines of machinery as well as what appears to be a throne and a seated figure, though the details are lost.
Without knowing what else to do you announce your intent to learn the Vacuum Cleave, displaying your fragment of the void to all around. The students, and the sparse worshipers up in the rafters, glance first at you and then to the curtained room. The light within that room grows brighter and those crawling electric arcs begin to dance behind and around the seated figure. The voice which booms out and shakes the curtain is tinged with an electric hum that makes the inside of your head itch.
"Come."
You hesitate a moment and then step closer to the curtain, walking slowly across the blood stained sand until you are right at the mouth of the room. Some instinct tells you to offer the fragment of the void and you do so, holding it out to the unseen figure. A hand darts through the curtain, or rather seems to simply appear, its fingers already wrapped around your wrist. Those fingers are withered beyond what age could accomplish and the flesh is an awful blue, like a drowned corpse. But, as fragile as they may seem, they hold your hand with the same cold solidity as an iron manacle. You look at the curtain, squinting to see what has your hand but can only see a shadow wreathed in slow lighting. Then your hand, still clenching the fragment, is wrenched upwards such that the fragment is held directly before your eyes.
You have looked into that fragment before, just as the worshipers above do. You have tried, like a mystic gazing into a crystal ball, to divine some meaning within the swirling nothing. But, if there was some meaning there, it always eluded you. Until now. From within that shard of the infinity which swallowed the Jovian moons you see something. Something which surpasses the eyes and seems to sing down your nerves like a plucked guitar string. You feel that knowledge hit your brain with palpable force and spread down through your spine. Its there now, as deep and fundamental as instinct, etched into the nerves.
You blink and realize you are free. The room behind the curtain is back to as it was before, and the figure is seated once again. You feel as though you are a man who has laid in bed his whole life, only to now sit up and take his first steps. Muscles which are stiff with disuse- but which you have always had- are waking up.
[You have learned Vacuum Cleave: User’s next melee attack can hit targets at range. Uses SP when activated. d4 SP]
*grunts in approval of the money I have obtained*The shops in vernierville have a wide variety of goods but there's somewhat of an upper limit of their craft. The stragglers and vagabonds who have made it here are not exactly high end gun runners or intergalactic military surplus dealers. Their goods are the result of scavenging and low level trading, and reflect those limitations. The better armors you can find are often modified versions of the lower grade ones. Industrial tunics with added plates of armor or helmets with arc cutter's masks connected. In terms of greater protection, however, it seems like armoring your extremities might be the biggest enhancement you can manage. After some searching you settle on a knockoff of a guild battle harness: Its a kind of jumpsuit or coverall, the legitimate versions of which the guildsmen wear under their exoskeleton armor, as a last line of defense. Its d6 across the entire body and could, with the addition of plates, provide d8 to the chest.
Go look at the shops and see if they have any better armour for sale, be sure to keep tabs on where the team is heading so I can meet back up with them after shopping.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"Let's rent out a barracks when we're done here"The man at the counter is not a publisher; he is a clerk to the largest information broker in the known galaxy. However, he does offer you a bit of advise.
Jim will see about requirements to publish a survival booklet with the information he has, if the requirements are "No" he'll just sell it. Also chip in to buy sleeping quartersSpoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
1. Selling your notes would result in the loss of your notes and a use claim on the exact wording there in. But the knowledge you gained is still yours and can be rewritten or reused as you wish.
2. A survival guide would be a good idea but your information covers only a fraction of a fraction of the ship. It would be more of a pamphlet at the moment. He recommends you explore at least the entire upper level and expand your info before trying to publish anything.
3. In terms of requirements, if its a digital document then zero aside from type setting and such. For a physical print you'll need to find someone to do it for you. He says there's already a printer in town though, so that wouldn't be an issue.
You chip into the sleeping quarters arrangement. With...uh...whoever.
Give the snakes a friendly wave, and try to remember their language well enough to say hi. Ask if they'd be willing to trade.
Also, count how many have firearms or other ranged weapons. And stay close to the filament line, in case we need to retreat.Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Look, no talking.You approach the snake men, gesturing in a way you hope is friendly to them. Their reptilian countenances betray no hint of their thoughts are emotion and you're left trying to decode the meaning of flicking tails and coiling loops. As you approach you make a mental tally of their weaponry. There are a dozen or so snakemen, each carries at least a half dozen weapons. Of those, roughly half seem to be ranged weapons, though some are of a make you can't distinguish. Hmmm roughly 36 ranged weapons, plus or minus 5 maybe. You click your tongue thoughtfully: to say they have the advantage of numbers would be an understatement on several levels. You stop 20 or so paces from the guards and think of how best to announce yourself in what broken serpent tongue you know. To your surprise the serpent closest to you speaks first; his words are contorted by alien jaws but they are clearly intelligible as your own language.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
"Why comest thee to our ophidian kingdom, outland walker of the stars? Dost thou wish plunder and violence or civil discourse? If your intents be malignant then get thee hence on pain of death; but if good your desires be then speak them."
You're completely taken aback by this archaic speech. The words are proto-galactic, something from before mankind made its desperate flight from the solar system, and now generally consigned to ancient literature and those who idolize those primitive times. The snake would have no way of knowing that kind of speech on his own; no ancient astronaut could have made it here to infect the planet with his language centuries ago. Any who even tried would still be hurtling through space on sublight engines even now.
You recover and assure them as best you can - considering you're not exactly a proto-galactic expert either - that you mean no harm and are simply here to trade. The snake man rocks his head side to side in what seems to be a contemplative gesture and then "Bids thee to wait here" before returning to his group. They speak in quick bursts of hisses and almost frog-like guttural noises. After a few moments the guard looks back towards you and asks, in the same laborious and overwrought fashion, what you have to trade.
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on October 21, 2022, 09:37:53 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
sell my therma-ray and rejoin group. chip in for quarters. try to find something cheap, but somewhere our stuff won't get stolen.
Post by: King Zultan on October 22, 2022, 02:09:05 am
Inquire how much the knockoff of a guild battle harness costs and then buy it.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on October 25, 2022, 05:26:07 pm
Post by: m1895 on November 01, 2022, 03:42:25 pm
Jim will sell the info and return to the group
"Hey Anton, you wanna chip in for a place to stay?"
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on November 01, 2022, 10:20:40 pm
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on November 02, 2022, 05:40:41 pm
Post by: syvarris on November 05, 2022, 09:20:53 am
Offer to trade a biogel, a stimulant, and/or bait (hey, it smells and tastes delicious, right?). Specifically, for a map and information on the surroundings. Ideally some place that's interesting, possibly with valuable items thst they don't feel they own. Also, offer to perhaps do something for them--perhaps they have troubles with some monsters that are down here, or wish to recover something from a dangerous area?
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on November 12, 2022, 08:49:15 pm
- Some armour that covers primarely my torso, but also has some protection for limbs
- See if I can find a merchant that offers Speed-based weapons that aren't in the armoury
- See if I can find a merchant that offers know/wis/per/cha based weapons that aren't in the armoury
Also, have a mental check-in with the parasite. Just to see how it's feeling
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: piecewise on November 13, 2022, 11:15:58 pm
*grunt at the shop owner in a way that tells him I want to buy that armour*1200 is how much it cost.
Inquire how much the knockoff of a guild battle harness costs and then buy it.Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
"about what I expected"432 credits for the notes.
Jim will sell the info and return to the group
"Hey Anton, you wanna chip in for a place to stay?"Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Therma-ray would be...45.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
sell my therma-ray and rejoin group. chip in for quarters. try to find something cheap, but somewhere our stuff won't get stolen.
As per Permanent housing, I believe I said earlier that it would be 1000 bucks to buy out a room. Now you could all use that room to store stuff but only one character could be "stored" there at a time.
Though I'm not sure how many others are splitting the bill here.
Snap out of my stupor and go shopping for the following:
- Some armour that covers primarely my torso, but also has some protection for limbs
- See if I can find a merchant that offers Speed-based weapons that aren't in the armoury
- See if I can find a merchant that offers know/wis/per/cha based weapons that aren't in the armoury
Also, have a mental check-in with the parasite. Just to see how it's feelingSpoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
1. There's lots of armor out there that covers basically any combination of parts. The most simple is just metal plating. Chestplates, pauldrons, etc. If you're looking for generalized protection, the common go-to is a scav suit. These are rough things made up by the locals out of whatever materials they can get their hands on. They're a full body suit (minus the head) of d4 protection which people usually supplement with d6 armor plating over particularly vital areas. A suit plus a chest and back plate would cost about 400, maybe 350.
2. Pure speed based weapons are somewhat rare but are mostly used by adherents of the Void. The most common one is the mono-razor, which you of course already know about. [3] You don't find anything but you do learn that the Void temple might have something available.
3. Weapons of the mind, regardless of its stat, are generally automated things or oddities. They're used and created by nerds, for lack of a better term. Your best bet to get something like that made would be one of two things: 1. seek out nerds. 2. Seek out technology within the Enigma that corresponds with this desire. Automated turrets, soul projectors, ego manifestos, etc. [5] You remember hearing that there's a bunch of weird nerds studying the plasma geyser at the center of the town.
The parasite does not respond but you feel an odd desire when you consider it. The desire...to control. To manipulate the minds of men. To bend them to your will.
Shrug, ask Kandar what stuff we have for trading.Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Tell the snakes that we're here for exploration and friendly adventure! Curiousity and learning!You dig out the biogel, the stimulant, and the bait, holding them all out in front of you. The snakeman man uses one free hand to carefully poke at the objects you hold, eventually picking one up and turning it around in front of him. When you explain that what you're really interested in is information about the area he seems to relax more. Apparently information isn't as big a deal as material trading. He selects the bait and biogel, tucking them into a small sack looped around his body. He then, using the butt of a spear he's carrying in one of his many hands, starts scratching out a map in the dust and sand that has gathered on the metal floor. He scratches out a box, made of 9 smaller boxes. He then points to the upper left box and explains that this is where you are. Beyond it, off the map to the north west, is the city he guards. The then goes through each box, counting left to right across the top row before going to the middle and finally the bottom in the same way.
Offer to trade a biogel, a stimulant, and/or bait (hey, it smells and tastes delicious, right?). Specifically, for a map and information on the surroundings. Ideally some place that's interesting, possibly with valuable items thst they don't feel they own. Also, offer to perhaps do something for them--perhaps they have troubles with some monsters that are down here, or wish to recover something from a dangerous area?Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
1. Snakeman gate. Leads to larger underground city. They are protecting its entrance from the things which live in the enigma.
2. Bullet men. Strange metal beings which seek glorious death. Seem to be having some kind of continuous party.
3. Conduit: A damaged pathway for power. Constant discharges of electricity and other odd forces. Inhabited by strange semi-sapient beings that eat these forces.
4. Hole: A big hole in the ship. Haven't explored. Rumors of voices inside. Seen arcs of electricity and strange glowing.
5. Swamp.
6. Storage. Lots of giant boxes and old machines. Maze like but some good stuff hidden. Sometimes they hunt the robot animals.
7. Trapped ghosts. Bad place.
8. Wise Mold. A protected garden. Safe but toxic for most. Mold within has knowledge and is mother of many."
9. Steeleater hive. Giant insects that eat metal. Have opened a hole into the deeper parts of the Enigma. Ignore organics but will attempt to eat metal.
Post by: King Zultan on November 14, 2022, 05:28:13 am
Buy the harness, then see if the guy will buy my industrial tunic.
Spoiler: Who gave this guy a gun? (click to show/hide)
Post by: BlackPaladin99 on November 14, 2022, 09:12:47 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
follow Jim. correct me if i am wrong, but i think we are just looking for somewhere to spend the night.
Post by: m1895 on November 19, 2022, 10:40:12 pm
Jim will look for a place to rent a night for the party to rest up at
Spoiler: Jim (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Idiot's guide to the Enigma (click to show/hide)
Post by: syvarris on November 26, 2022, 07:52:15 am
Make sure to note down what we learned of the snakemen.
Spoiler: Kander (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on November 26, 2022, 03:16:18 pm
Spoiler: Xeriay (click to show/hide)
Post by: Pancaek on November 27, 2022, 12:48:43 pm
Great, go and meet those weird nerds that are studying the plsama geyser. See what they're up to and what they might be selling
Spoiler: Hlaine (click to show/hide)
Post by: Horizon on December 03, 2022, 04:40:55 pm
Spoiler: Ozwald, the Devil's Advocate (click to show/hide)