Port Newton, Northern Ridge, Askarian | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Askarian Shores
Snow (Low visibility. Actions toward distant objects incur a small penalty based on distance)
Freezing Wind (-1 to all actions when exposed)
Climb up and sit down, waiting for the man to speak first.
[1/6] Removing your suit and storing it inside the airlock, you enter the cabin space and take a seat next to some generic looking guild associates. The spaceplane is currently flying with a minimum crew consisting of an engineer, a pilot, and an officer. The officer is the first to stand and shake your hand.
"Glad you made it out of the--"Suddenly, there is a huge explosion that engulfs the side of the cabin, causing the engineer to fall out (fortunately for him, he is still inside his suit). Atmosphere quickly starts to leak out as buzzers and alarms warn you that there is, in fact, a giant hole in the side of the plane. The cabin's atmosphere control quickly backfills the space with more and more nitrogen as a clear, elastic tarp is automatically extended over the breach to slow down the rate of leakage. A lot of paperwork and loose objects were sucked out as well as the engineer, but the force exerted on humans by the depressurization was actually fairly low. The engineer fell out because the floor collapsed under him.
Both you and the officer put your suits away previously, so you've both suffered a bit of shock due to the sudden decompression and loud noise. You both manage to collapse on the bench, avoiding further dizziness-related harm that could have come about.
Over the intercom, the pilot frantically asks whilst cursing erratically,
"Anyone in there okay? Air pressure's down to a stable 43%. Oxygen pressure is down to .13 bar but climbing... we're going to have to make a landing, either on the water or at port."The pilot's cabin is sealed off from the rest of the passenger area, intended to provide a safety net against these sorts of things. His oxygen levels are probably fine, but you're starting to feel the effects of hypoxia from the partial re-pressurization. It's slowly getting better.
...
Habitat Ship Gamma, Askarian Orbit | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Urban Station
City Manners (-1 to first impressions)
"A shame, from what I heard about the book it looked to be interesting. Oh well, bye."
Float around the room, trying to listen in on those humans discussing politics, while acting like I`m waiting to get food.
The local mayor, Aurelus Caleos, is currently ruling more-or-less like a dictator in that most city officials will always accept his demands. So far, that's been a good thing, which is what one of the humans argues. The city gained well-needed infrastructure such as atmosphere shelters and emergency bunkers, which should have been installed a long time ago in a place such as this that is prone to attack. On the other hand, the future outlook is less clear. Now that most of the low-hanging fruit have been picked, the mayor is turning his eyes toward increasing the size and armament of the police force, using Guild assets from the local armories. Many of the humans are confused as to what this suggests, but the most prominent speaker among them puts forward a hypothesis: the governor is trying to get hired by the guild.
Normally, the guild does not hire 'newbies,' as they are called, or people without any prior military experience. The mayor has no engineering or technical background, and zero experience in leading or participating in an army. He is also disabled, and walks around on prosthetic legs most of the time. For this reason, the Guild is unlikely to send him an offer. But by cracking down on crime and commanding a well-armed police force, he might get the attention of a recruiter or two. This is all wild speculation, but a few of the other humans are interested in the idea.
One crackpot thinks the mayor is going to start an uprising. Against whom, the entire cityship?
...
Pry open a couple of lockers before I bail out.
[4+1] You... um... tinker with some of the locks ((to get a +1 bonus)) so that they are easier to open. By open, you mean you detach the hinges from the locker, and the the lock as a substitute for the hinges to keep the door from falling off.
The first thing you locate inside the lockers are a ring of alien keys. Most of these fit into the other lockers, allowing you to detach the doors completely, and replace them eventually.
The next thing you find is a roll of paper inside a sealed container. Perhaps because of the increased atmosphere, paper doesn't fare too well. You take a few moments to check the atmospheric composition: mostly nitrogen, with breathable levels of oxygen and highly toxic levels of methane. A human couldn't breath this.
The paper contains a design that greatly reminds you of the
Arecibo message, consisting of a series of designs. Unlike the Arecibo message, however, the Alien message contains what appear to be maps of:
1) A spiral structure resembling the Milky Way, complete with a dot somewhere rather close to the galactic center.
2) a model of a trinary star system with planets orbiting each star. One of the stars is much larger than the other two, and its planets have dust trails behind them perhaps indicating that they are being vaporized by the star's heat.
3) An illustration of a manta-like creature standing erect, with four slim, curved digits on each hand and three-jointed arms. Several smaller, tentacle-like appendages line the creature's front torso, each about a fourth of the total height of the creature.
4) A series of numerals, in base 8.
5) What appear to be measuring units. You figure that the thick beam represents the speed of light, which is about 3e9 of their units, in base 8.
...
Burgundy, Francia | 235d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Burgundy Lobby
Heavy Chatter (-1 Intellect, +2 Stealth)
Choice of pods is obvious, fluid capsules, I want to fight, not risk floating around in space.
Hangar and weapon control are easier and allows me to weaken their firepower, but grav ring lets me control the ship, effectively neutralizing all the firepower.
There's also the whole population of Murder-town that's gonna try and stop me, and I have a mighty gun to shoot them with.
Get to the fluid capsules going for the Grav-ring.
After a few complications at the loading bay, you squeeze into a capsule with your fellow unit: an absolutely ordinary human guy named Charles, a large, slimy brute you suspect to be an Ogre named Alice, and a shiny robot named Steve. Slimy goop fills the cavity and purs into your lungs. Though gross, this will prevent you from turning into a pulp yourself when the capsule finally hits.[6/4] You launch, and the kick from the electromagnetic propulsion startles you. Steve complains that it just wiped his RAM. Sucks for him.
[2] You make contact with the grav-ring. Unfortunately, the first volley was a little underpowered for safety reasons. Rather than causing damage with soldiers as a byproduct, the goal was to put soldiers on the vessel first in order to establish a beachhead. Your capsule lodges itself in the hull, just barely penetrating the walls of a pressurized section, otherwise lodged in twisted and burnt layers of hull plate.
Alice won't fit through the hole. Steve would be able to, but without his RAM he seems to have forgotten what he is here for. Charles is acting as if he is drunk, probably because he is drunk. The inertial dampening fluid is a viscous hydrocarbon, and guess what alcohol is? A hydrocarbon!
In fact, you feel a bit doozy yourself...
Dazed (-1 to next action if it is a combat action)Although air is leaking out of the crack at an alarming rate, you are able to peek through to the other side. a single crewman, not dressed in a suit, is trying to drag a large metal panel around. He wields a power hammer the size of his leg, presumably to nail the sheet in with.
Author
Topic: 3008 AD: The Guild Chronicles - Guild Home Base - Theorycrafting! (Read 72095 times)