Are there any conveniently located signs or maps or whatever pointing towards a nice centralized control station or computer room for this station or this section of the station? I mean, besides the one that was smashed by an axe. If yes, go there.
If not, then try to see if I can connect one of the other shuttles with ours, so I can control it remotely. After all, a shuttle is essentially a really big missile and at some point we might want to shoot a missile at something that's really big.
Name: Pathos
Physical Description: A literal crash test dummy.
Background: Delusions of grandeur. Took this job as a way to rapidly advance the ranks and see cool things. And because it would give him plenty of opportunities to set things on fire without his superiors being close enough to yell at him. Lost his original body in a freak shuttle accident.
Class: Senior Emergency Technician (+100 OMNI per mission)
Life: d4: crash test dummy
Attack: d2: unarmed
Stats:
Strength: d4
Dexterity: d4
Speed: d4
Endurance: d8
Will: d4
Knowledge: d4
Fate: d4
Skills:
Melee: d4
Guns: d4
Explosives: d8
Implants: d4
Mechanics: d4
Technology: d12
Medical: d4
Occult: d4
Status: Blank stare
Inventory:
2 demo charges
Money: -270
Pathos finds a definitive lack of nice easy signs pointing towards computer stations that he can squat in for the rest of the mission. However, he is willing to bet that if such a thing exists it is probably deeper in. A security station is the most likely spot.
[11]
Connecting to another shuttle proves fairly easy; routing its controls and displays back to the other shuttle is easy as well. There is no twist here, no hard part. It was all just pretty easy.
"What the hell are you doing!"
Make sure Elen's gun is far away from her, then try to snap her out of whatever crazyness she's stuck in.
Name: Harold Goldstine
Physical Description: A short balding man with a mustache.
Background: He was tired of a boring life so he decided to join OMNITECH as a security guard.
Class: Security
Life: d6 OMNITECH Riot suit
Attack: d6 Security Rifle, mag d6/ d4 Security Baton
Stats:
Strength: d6
Dexterity: d4
Speed: d6
Endurance: d4
Will: d4
Knowledge: d4
Fate: d8
Skills:
Melee: d6
Guns: d6
Explosives: d6
Implants: d4
Mechanics: d4
Technology: d4
Medical: d4
Occult: d4
Speech: d4
Status: Fine
Inventory:
OMNITECH Riot suit (d6 Life)
OMNITECH Generic Security Rifle (d6 ranged Attack) and 3 magazines (d6 use die)
OMNITECH Generic Security Baton (d4 melee attack)
OMNITECH electrical behavior modification implant
OMNITECH Omni-light
OMNITECH Handcuffs
Cutting/welding torch
Demolition charge
3 oxygen pellets
Music drive
Movie drive
TV drive
Book drive
Magazine drive
Manual drive
Audiobook drive
Wrench (d4 melee attack)
Antique revolver (d4 ranged) 4 bullets remaining.
Money: 40
Don't struggle, instead lie still and listen. My teammates should be rescuing me any moment now.
Name: Elen Farley
Physical Description: Short with long brown hair and green eyes, she seems unnaturally cheerful.
Background: Elen showed up shortly after an incident in one of the OMNITECH labs, she decided to work for OMNITECH mostly out of convenience of already being there.
Life: d2
Attack: d4 Generic Personal Sidearm
Stats:
Strength: d4
Dexterity: d6
Speed: d6
Endurance: d4
Will: d6
Knowledge: d4
Fate: d4
Skills:
Melee: d4
Guns: d4
Explosives: d4
Implants: d4
Mechanics: d4
Technology: d4
Medical: d12
Occult: d4
Speech: d4
Status: Not Fine
Inventory:
OMNITECH Green Jumpsuit
OMNITECH Generic Personal Sidearm (d4 attack) x2 Magazines (d4 use die)
OMNITECH Medical Kit (3 charges)
OMNITECH Stimulant (3 charges)
5 gallon container of extremely flammable fuel
Money: 0
[3]
Elen remains still, not struggling as Harold gets her weapon away from her and kicks it a good distance away. She waits for the scenery to change, for everything to make sense again, telling herself that this is all just some weird delusion. Corpse hands clutch at her face and ragged nails cut into her cheeks. She closes her eyes and holds in the screaming. Any minute now....
Tie/chain up that guy somewhere in view of the pilot in the shuttle, make sure he is secured to the wall or floor so he can't run off.
Then take the lemmings along to the next level.
Name: Yagyu d'Aubigny
Physical Description: Slightly smaller than average, tanned, sideburns.
Background: Yagyu hates OMNITECH. But Yagyu likes money.
Class: Hazardous Materials Reclamation Crew
Life: d4
Attack: [ERROR: DATA NOT FOUND]
Stats:
Strength: d4
Dexterity: d4
Speed: d6
Endurance: d8
Will: d6
Knowledge: d6
Fate: d6
Skills:
Melee: d4
Guns: d8
Explosives: d4
Implants: d4
Mechanics: d8
Technology: d4
Medical: d4
Occult: d4
Status: okie dokie
Inventory:
cognition copier
Cutting/welding torch
1 unit of useful metal bits
computing cube
red and green key
Money: 235
Yagyu takes the personnel elevator back up to the dock and places the chained up man somewhere in easy view of Pathos, making sure he's securely affixed to a shipping container and unable to wander off. That done, Yagyu heads back down and regroups with everyone else.
"That was a nice nap"
Wake up from the nap I was apparently taking. If Wilfred appears sane, give him back his weapons and allow him to go free. Join anyone going to a lower level. This would appear to be Tarra. Attempt to point out that the cargo elevator is the only one that goes to upper mining, and convince Tara that she needs to take it. Then convince Yagu to release the elevator so that we can use it. ((I somewhat hesitate to say this, but I'm okay with people towing me along with the group if I don't post. I didn't bold this because I would assume it to be less of a piecewise thing and more of a rest of you thing. I would prefer if I didn't become the, "gets shoved through the door first," guy though.))
Name: Fred Williams
Physical Description: A tall and lanky engineer. Light skin, dark hair, blue eyes. Younger, mid 20's.
Background: A computer engineer who decided that his first job out of college - programming microcontrollers to be 5% more time efficient - was boring. The possibility of combat -- Like Call of Duty but more realistic (according to the recruiter) -- was all Fred needed to decide that this was the career move of a lifetime. Well... that and it came with a class 3 weapons permit. (In the US, a class 3 is the extraordinarily hard to get collector permit (read: takes years and thousands of dollars and lots of training) that allows you to own fully automatic weapons made before 1970.)
Note: despite being a computer engineer, has an inexplicable lack of tech skills, yet can easily fix almost any mechanical problem. He has no idea why.
-------------------------
Life: d2
Attack: d4 - Omnitech Generic Personal Sidearm
-------------------------
Stats:
Strength: d4
Dexterity: d6
Speed: d4
Endurance: d4
Will: d4
Knowledge: d6
Fate: d4
-------------------------
Skills:
Melee: d4
Guns: d6
Explosives: d4
Implants: d4
Mechanics: d12
Technology: d4
Medical: d4
Occult: d4
Speech: d4
-------------------------
Status: N/A
-------------------------
Inventory:
Omnitech Red Jumpsuit
Omnitech Generic Personal Sidearm d4 using Magazine d4
Additional Magazines x2 d4
Omnitech Tool Kit - advantage on rep/mod.
Uses x3
Some stuff for a refill
High Viz. Flares x4
Containment canister with digital lock
Alien shard
-------------------------
Money: 0
Wil quietly whimpers, sitting down and hugging his knees while looking longingly at his weapons, currently in Fred's arms.
"We need to get out of here. This place is dead, scouting mission complete, nuke it into dust..."
Sit and whimper, follow Fred if he moves. If he goes catatonic, gently push him in the direction of the nearest functioning elevator. Maybe take the weapons back too, if that's possible without violence.
Name: He insists that it's "Wilfred Seven", and most definitely not "Wil" or "William"
Physical Description: He looks identical to Wil Wheaton. That's because he's an identical clone of Wil Wheaton; he actually can't even shave, or even change his hair or anything, it always grows back to the default form within a day. Scarrification might let Wilfred change his appearance, but he's not really up for that.
Background: He was batch manufactured along with nine other Wheaton clones, for use in some film that he's never heard of and was never involved with; only the three "best" clones were actually selected for use in the film, while the other seven--really, the other four, three survived less than a week--were sold to OMNITECH as cheap labor. Somehow, OMNITECH decided to hire Seven, rather than just enslave him, although he's not really sure what the difference is. Notably, Wilfred's flaw that disqualified him from being selected is that his mind is nothing like the famous actor, and he actually hates being compared to the man.
Life: d6
Attack: d6 rifle, d8 axe
Stats:
Str d4
Dex d4
Spd d6
End d4
Wil d4
Kno d4
Fte d4
Skills:
Mel d6
Gun d12
Exp d4
Imp d4
Mec d4
Tec d6
Med d4
Occ d4
Spc d4
Status:
Inventory:
OMNITECH Riot suit (d6 Life)
OMNITECH Generic Security Rifle (d6 ranged Attack) and 3 magazines (d8 (loaded), d4/, d0 use die)
OMNITECH Generic Security Baton (d4)
OMNITECH electrical behavior modification implant
OMNITECH Omni-light
OMNITECH Reasonable pair of Handcuffs
Fire Axe (d8 melee)
Money: 0...
Fred returns Wilfred's weapons and both of the follow Tara and Yagyu down to the lower levels. Fred keeps a careful eye on Wilfred, who is still acting a bit twitchy.
(Oh, I forgot there were two elevators)
Name: Tara
Physical Description: A 4 foot 6 in tall female human with pale skin, brunette hair, and blue eyes who weighs 110 pounds. She is 15 years old.
Background: She was Lucy's younger sister. She would watch Lyra perform her experiments until she went to OMNITECH. When she learned of the deaths of her sisters, she joined here hoping to make the place safer
Life: d4
Attack: OMNITECH Foam Gun d4 doesn't do damage. When successful it immobilizes the target.multiple guns stack. Foam tank: d8
Stats:
Strength: d4
Dexterity: d4
Speed: d6
Endurance: d6
Will: d6
Knowledge: d10
Fate: d4
Skills:
Melee: d6
Guns: d6
Explosives: d4
Implants: d4
Mechanics: d4
Technology: d6
Medical: d6
Occult: d4
Speech: d8
Status: No Injuries
Inventory: OMNITECH isolation suit, OMNITECH Foam Gun, OMNITECH sealing kit, OMNITECH environmental hazard detector
Money: 0
“I’m heading to the Upper mines to figure out what this man is heading towards”
Head to the Cargo elevator, and go to the upper mining
Keep up with Tara
Name: Pike Sherman
Physical Description: Tall and spindly. His teeth are chrome plated. He has shoulder-length gunmetal grey hair. His eyes are pale blue. He often has an unnerving grin across his face.
Background: His twin brother was a typical rags to riches mobster Cinderella story. Unfortunately Pike was far to stupid to make a successful mob boss, so he pulled security for his brother. After a “misunderstanding” between him and his brothers wife, we was ousted from the mob, and ended up here.
Life: d6 OMNITECH Riot suit
Attack: d6 Generic Security Rifle/
Ammo:
Rifle (use d6)(3 magazines)
Stats:
Strength: d4
Dexterity: d4
Speed: d4
Endurance: d4
Will: d4
Knowledge: d4
Fate: d10
Skills:
Melee: d6
Guns: d10
Explosives: d4
Implants: d4
Mechanics: d4
Technology: d4
Medical: d4
Occult: d4
Speech: d4
Status: normal
Inventory:
OMNITECH electrical behavior modification implant
OMNITECH Omni-light
OMNITECH Generic Security Baton
Health Insurance Policy
Loot:
Collection of entertainment drives
Money: 20
Follow Tara
Name: Toby Jackson
Physical Description:a normal looking guy with short black hair. 5 foot 5, has no muscles.
Background: need money. No skills. Omnitech good.
Life: d2
Attack: d4 Generic pistol
Stats:
strength:d4
Dexterity:d4
Speed:d4
Endurance:d4
Will:d4
Knowledge:d4
Fate:d12
Skills:
Melee:d4
Guns:d4
Explosives:d4
Implants:d4
Mechanics:d4
Occult: d10
Status: (Any injuries you've sustained this mission. Resets each new mission)
Inventory:
OMNITECH Black Jumpsuit
OMNITECH Generic Personal Sidearm (d4 ranged attack) x3 Magazines (d4 use die)
OMNITECH Universal Containment Pod x5
OMNITECH Null-Rod
Money: 80
Tara, along with most of there rest of the group, boards the cargo elevator. They select the "Upper Mining" section as their destination and wait as the doors close and the elevator begins to descend. The doors are chainlink, not solid, and everything that passes can be easily seen. As the elevator descends past the living quarters the smell of smoke and ozone wafts in, though the actual room where the elevator lets out is apparently sealed from the outside, nothing but a small anteroom leading to a pair of doors with a flashing emergency light above them. The elevator continues down, until it finally stops on the upper mining level.
The gravity here is far weaker, almost nonexistent, like walking around in a pool. Its easy to lose traction, to float upwards and hang there for several seconds; it makes walking and moving in general difficult. The cargo elevator lets off on a platform, a big metal surface that has been affixed to bare stone. The entire area here is bare stone with scattered metal walkways, hallways, and platforms. Is not a natural cave, but an excavated one, this infrastructure of ore transport clearly assembled as they went along. The platform here connects to a smaller cargo elevator, which rises up from further below. Several platforms and elevators are daisy chained like this until they reach what appears to be the actual mining surface far below. Between here and there appears to be the machinery that is used to process the stone; automated smelters and furnaces, great crucibles on metal tracks. The low gravity means less need for supports so long tracks and catwalks stretch out across the empty space without supports, giving the entire area a sort of metal spiderweb appearance.
And at the center of the mining area, way down below, is that shard. You saw it from the outside, the blackened ends, but here it is a brilliant thing, pulsing with light flowing like slow motion waves, entwined in the silver bands of mining structures.
[3][2][4][2][1][2]
Jon the Janitor taps Yagyu on the shoulder. Yagyu turns to look and Jon smiles, his body an incandescent mass of barely contained plasma, coronal loops slowly crawling across its surface.
It hits them like a shotgun blast, zero to infinity with no warning. The world is consumed in a vortex of prismatic flame and they are falling through it, through it towards the shard in the center, through screaming synesthesia, their bodies crumbling like sugar statues beneath the blast of a fire hose. Something rises from the shard, pressing out against stone like soft membrane, something that cannot be comprehended, a living shape beyond understanding. It reaches out towards them and the barely glimpsed horrors all come true. They see the dead, the unknown things, the monsters beyond time, the eaters of ghosts, the unimaginable scale and time of war in the heavens. Everything- EVERY THING- that has died here or anywhere in this entire solar system reaches towards them. The see the weapons of the time before, the battle that tore planets asunder, the fragment of a weapon which sought to turn causality into a poison. The universe burns. Still the thing in the crystal, the thing beyond, reaches towards them. Their flesh shatters, their minds are tissue paper in rocket exhaust.
Yagyu, maybe due to his inorganic existence, somehow manages to prevent ego death and instead collapses to the ground, his vision a melted muddle of the mundane world and the infinite causality hell that he was submerged in for a fraction of a second. Wilfred does not see any of this, though he feels the influence of the shard like fingernails dragged across his scalp. Fred, Tara, and Toby simply stand there, shivering slightly, their breath coming in erratic gasps. They see now what the dirty man saw for weeks, are filled with it as he is. They too look far beyond.
Pike's body ignites and goes up like a match.