Finals are in a couple of weeks. Bear with me, I'll have more free time afterward. >.<
Turn 10
Use my highest roll to catch the two rifles that the other Arthur threw in my direction. Combine my lowest roll with my median roll, but don't use the result yet. Cut a swath of death towards my altar, sacrificing whatever I kill to it as soon as I get in range of it.
((I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.))
[17] You notice a rifle coming back up through the hole, following a curving path. It bounces a few times on the wall and comes to a rest on the floor. A second rifle arrives soon after. Convenient.
Now that the cafeteria is unguarded, you waltz through. It looks deserted. The empty tables are there, but there are no trays. The lunch servers are all gone, and the only sound is that of the ventilation system. And a faint footstep from the hall. Actually, it's a lot of footsteps...
[13] You set up a firing position, using multiple tables as a shield to block taser fire (+3 defense vs. non-penetrating projectiles). Fortunately, when the guards arrive they are armed with nothing but Rancor tasers. So you open fire, [16-4, 16-4, 13-4] The guards are at mid-range, so you manage to hit all of them as they pour through, but one of them gets a shot off.
(Attack - Cover Bonus: 10-3) The shot scorches the table, but misses your head. You smell burning plastic.
(Defense: 3, 5, 18) Most of the guards are hit along the chest area, immediately dropping, including the one who shot at you. However, instead of pouring in one by one, they stop coming in, and you can still hear footsteps as they reorganize. Finally, one guard with a riot shield pops out. Your shots can't break the barrier.
(Riot shield cover bonus: 3)
A fellow prisoner takes cover behind you. He's the guy in the biohazard suit.
Dice queue (You have 1x 20's, 3 free picks): [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]Miniquests: all completed
Status Effects: Torso Wounds (-5 to wrestling, -1 to Strength)
Missing fingers on right arm (-4 accuracy on two-handed weapons, -1 accuracy on pistols)
Skills:[10]
Persuader: Bonus to persuasion checks.
[10]
Charisma: Helps improve opinions.
Traits:Oversized: -1 Received Accuracy Reduction, +1 Strength
Space Mushroom Physiology: -1 Strength for each day that passes without sleeping in soil.
Max -20 Strength. You get +3 Strength back each day of soil-sleep.
Emotion Spore: Can release AoE spores which incrementally apply Emotion effects
Body Slam: If you wrestle multiple people at once, you now use the lowest defense roll for all of them.
Nightstalker: Defense rolls for alerted enemies are now worst-case during stealth attacks.
Artifacts:Sanguinem, the Altar of Enchantment[/color]
Demands Sacrifice: -10 / -10
Inventory: Prisoner tag (attached to arm/limb)
Food tray
Water bottle
2x zIF-30 Aegis (Accuracy: 7/10/13/16) (Power: 17/15/13/11) (2 magazines left)
Reenter the prison ship without drawing attention.
You find airlocks, but none of them open, not even as you strike them with your sword. But as you creep over the edge of the ship, you notice a black orb in the distance, and in the center many bands of clouds. It seems that, in this space of purple nebulosities and glowing space-clouds, there exist dark spheres with stars in their centers. And planets, apparently.
Most of these orbs are very small and difficult to resolve, and are mostly visible against purple nebulosities where you are able to see them clearly. Also, there is a concentrated band of them against the sky, almost like the river of the milky way except black on light instead of light on black.
There are three that are very close: One black orb containing this system's sun. Then there are two smaller orbs, one further than the other. There are planets inside, as if they are trapped in bubbles of darkness. These two planets are both large gas giants, known in this system as Aton and Diana. Aton is snow-white and bears two massive storms easily seen from this distance, while Diana is a jupiter-like world, with many colorful cloud bands but no major cyclones.
Dice queue (1 free picks): 1 3 5Miniquests: The Butchererer: Commit violent acts of justice two more times (Reward: You unlock the ability to use both hands in unarmed combat (you can attack twice))
Status Effects:
none
Skills:
[4] Dexterity: +Melee Received Accuracy Reduction
[2] Agility: +Mobility rolls
[4] Crit: +Target Defense Reduction
[3] Mind
[2] Charisma: Helps improve opinions
[1] Appearance: +First impressions
Traits:
Torso scar
Artifacts:
a ghastly knight of black armor
Violent: +3 / -6
[+2] True Steel: Affects the knight's Strength and melee attacks
[+0] Live Matter Absorption
[+0] Necro Matter Absorption
[+0] Artifact Synthesis
[+0] Bodily Restoration
Arinthnir, Vanguard of the Second Dream
Intent: Unknown
[+0] Muramasa: An alternate sword. Its attacks cause entropy in the target.
[+0] Sands of Time: You can break a timepiece to stop time until the debris settles.
Inventory:
Electrode Jumpsuit (can be used to measure biosigns)
Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
The scientist talks to Turaco (see below).
Dice queue (3 free picks): 12 10 20 14 18Status Effects:
none
Skills:
[2] Ground Vehicles
[1] Positioning (x2 Cost): +Defense on criticals
[1] Non-Automatic Weapons: +Attack rolls
[1] Predator: +Stealth rolls
[1] Construction/Modification
[2] Politics: +Political campaigning
[2] Power Systems: +Science rolls
[1] Business: +Finding jobs/deals
[2] Intellect: +Solving mathematical problems
[1] Charisma: Helps improve opinions.
Traits:
Blamed by Military
Artifacts:
Ardenn
Marshal: +3 / -6 (Modifying objects for military purpose)
[+0] Scaling
[+0] Transmutation
[+0] Weaponization
[+0] Armoring
Inventory:
Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
"I haven't killed anybody, and I don't plan to. I'd really appreciate your help getting out of here." Turaco hesitates for a second. "If the jailbreak is that bad, though, and this many people are dying, I think I'd rather stay and help. I've never been one to just run away and hide while other people die."
Scientist: Well, I trust that our guards will wrap this up nonviolently. They're not bad people. Most of us aren't here because we have some sort of control fetish. Well, maybe except that one guy...
The clerk stops at the storage room door.
Clerk: You did that with your hands? Doc, are you sure you're not being a little soft?
Scientist: I know each and every one of the artifact users on this ship. You should know that, Val. Now, since I'm nobody's enemy here, can you get off me?
That last comment was directed at
you.Scientist: I can show you the escape hatch in the lab, which actually leads to the main hallway, the one that wraps around the elevator. Once the guards go through you can probably get to--err, are there any ships docked?
Clerk: There's one. It's the director's private yacht.
Scientist: Ah,
that bastard. Do me a favor and steal his ship for me.
Dice queue (3 free picks): 4 16 12 11 4Miniquests: Status Effects:
Stapled Arm (Slight bleeding. Nothing too serious. -1 to combat.)
Skills:
[2] Charisma: Helps improve opinions.
[1] Contacts: +Finding criminal zones
[1] Constitution: +Chance to resist debuffs
[1] First Aid: +Debuff/bleed removal
[1] Horticulture: +Interacting with flora
[1] Camoflague: +Hiding things, removing tracks
[1] Infantry Combat
[4] Close-Quarters-Combat: +<=Mid range attack
[2] Crit: +Target Defense Reduction
[3] Automatic Weapons: +Attack rolls
Traits:
Dashing Good Looks
Dramatic Entrance: You are unable to kill people unintentionally, unless you roll a 20
Artifacts:
Heroic Cowl
Noble (+3 / -6) (bonus against criminals)
Underdog (+3 / -6) (bonus when outmatched)
Dramatic (+3 / -6) (bonus in narratively dramatic situations)
[+0] Dexterity enhancement
[+0] Dodge saves: You can replace your Defense roll with this special power
[+0] Environment modification
Inventory:
Heroic Getup
Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
Without anything else I can do to help them, I set off for the lab and enter it; looking for the orb. Of course since there are bound to be guards there, I prepare to talk them down(using a 15)
You walk through the cafeteria. You notice a mushroom-man pulling tables together in preparation for something. Then you hear the footsteps coming. A wise plan indeed.
The mushroom man seems to be missing the fingers on his right hand, and is holding one rifle, but there's another rifle on the floor. It looks like it's loaded. Maybe if you just--
The guards storm through. The mushroom opens fire and suppresses them, as you can guess from the lack of counter-fire. You were forced to take cover next to the mushroom to avoid being shot, but now you can see that one is moving up with a single riot shield.
Dice queue (3 free picks): 3 15 19 6 2 1 15 20Status Effects:
none
Skills:
[2] Medical
[2] First Aid: +Debuff/bleed removal
[1] Surgery: +Healing long-term damage
[2] Physician: +Medicines/poisons/antidotes
[3] Genetics: +Genemodding/genecrafting
[1] Conduct (Intimidation, Politeness, Elegance)
[2] Willpower: +Resistance to mind control
[2] Intellect: +Solving mathematical problems
[1] Persuader: Bonus to persuasion checks.
Traits:
Biohazard
Artifacts:
Orb of Mutagenesis
Perfection: (+3 / -6) (bonus to creating better creatures)
Transformative: (+3 / -6) (bonus to drastic, large-scale mutation)
[+0] Shapeshifting
[+0] Plaguecrafting
[+0] Extreme genetics
Inventory:
Biohazard Suit
Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
Oxygen Tank
Electric Screwdriver
You toss up the rifles, intending to throw them far and off the asteroid. They don't follow the path you thought they would, though. They curve a bit and then start falling back toward the ship. But then why did they fall orig--
Right. Centrifugal force. The ship is a centrifuge. Initial velocity brought you here to this asteroid.
It seems you have a great *ahem* spatial awareness.
...
Ah.
If they are injured, just...Staunch any bleeding.[/b]
The guards are miraculously unhurt. Just like you.
One of them is a woman, but her voice sounds rather masculine. She is the one who patrols the catwalk most of the time.
Catwalk Guard: Ow... This is...?
Cafeteria Guard: (expletives in the Centauri dialect referencing sexual congress)
Catwalk Guard: Huh? You mean we're...?
Cafeteria Guard: Its that dimension they talked about. We have to get back to the ship or we'll be stuck here.
The male guard looks at you. The other guard looks a little embarrassed. She
is the one who shot at you.
Cafeteria Guard: You. You are... Arthur Denton, correct?
Dice queue (3 free picks): [?] [?]r [?] 10r [10] [2]Status Effects: Skills:[5]
Persuader: Bonus to persuasion checks.[5]
Politeness: Avoids offending people.[5]
Mediator: +Conflict resolution[5]
Bartering: +HagglingTraits:Perfectly Normal
Artifacts:The one, the only, the egregious, magic space towelUnnormalcy (+3 / -6) (Strange things, strange coincidences)
Inventory: Magic Space TowelPrisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
Author
Topic: Space Wizards 4: Now with more rocketpunk. Turn 14 (Mar 25) (Read 23437 times)