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?
Heal by 1 each turn.
Name: Kander Jattle
Appearance: A heavily built middle aged man with a gentle look in his eyes, that contrasts with a silver scar on the right side of his face which runs from his temple to his chin. He's a veteran of a relatively minor uprising on a border planet, during which time he worked as a low level field officer. He retired most of a decade ago after a severe head injury, and has been living comfortably and quietly off of his earnings from service. He's enjoyed his quiet life, and isn't eager to go on dangerous adventures... but he was more or less begged to go on this expedition by his adoptive daughter, who was a child soldier he rescued during his military service.
Stats:
Str: d8
Dex: d4
End: d4
Spd: d4
Kno: d8
Wis: d4
Per: d10
Cha: d10
HP: 19/20
SP: 32/32
Armor: None!
Items: 6/8
War Drum (1d8 str, +1d12 Cha Buff)
Autoharness
Liquidoplas Bomb
Liquidoplas Bomb
Filament Gun
Small Autocage
---Carries 4 Filament Cartridges, 1 arclamp, 5 bait, 1 stimulant, 1 biogel, 1 logbook
Money: 320
[2][4]
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.
(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.
Name: Xeriay Jattle
Appearance: A short and thin teenage girl, with hair bleached grey by the light of a harsh sun. The backs and palms of her hands are tattooed with eyes, and her arms with blades. Doesn't like to talk and jumps at unexpected sounds. She was recruited by a paramilitary cult from a young age and honed her skill with a blade until she was rescued by her adoptive father.
Strength: d8
Dexterity: d8
Endurance: d6
Speed: d10
Knowledge: d8
Wisdom: d8
Perception: d10
Charisma: d4
HP: 32/32
SP: 30/30
Armor: d6 head, d4 rest
Inventory 8/8
Mono-razor: (Spd) (Spd Roll, breaks on 1)
Death Ray: (Dex) (Xd10)
Biogel: (Recover d10 HP)
Autoharness: (Allows automatic movement via filament.)
Arclamp: (Provides bright omnidirectional light.)
Oxygen Mask & Tank: (Allows one to survive in areas with unbreathable atmosphere, presumably. May also explode.)
Helmet: (d6 armor, protects Head)
Apprentice Suit: (1d4 armor, all but head)
Credits: 500
(The dynamic between her and Kander is pretty funny)
[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 troublesome
stat points: 0
Name: Jim
Appearance: a young and wiry looking man
Strength: d8
Dexterity: d10
Endurance: d6
Speed: d8
Knowledge: d8
Wisdom: d4
Perception: d6
Charisma: d4
HP: 26/32
SP: 22/22
Armor:
Dented Helmet (d6 Head)
Tunic (d6 abdomen and torso)
Weapons:
Therma-ray (Dex)(d8)
Items:8?/8
Fragment of the void
Therma-ray
Dented Helmet
Arc-Lamp (turned on)
Log Book
Specimen Container (contains mech. Gizmo)
Filament Gun (loaded with filament container)
Websilk Tunic (logo of favorite sportsball team)
Money: 90
-big mean swamp gribbly in the toxic sludge
-Central island can only seem to support simple fungi
-some squid-things ambush people near the shore of the island
--included is a rudimentary description of the creatures behavior and physiology, along with a rough sketch. Size estimates put the beast at 30ft long, including the tentacles
-Giant striders wall through the muck.
The Journey East:
-small islands overrun with fungal growths seeming to eat away at the scrap "bedrock", various tiny flora and fauna dot these Islands; mollusks, crabs, mites, and stranger things flourish on these islands.
-As you get further away from the hole, the temperature decreases, the Eastern isle has frozen sludge on it's shores.
-The Eastern Isle appears to be populated by robots based on bioforms.
--attached is a little sketch of the Elkbot
Run and leap for the safety of the wall.
Description: Young, mid twenties kid with skinny limbs and body. Ink enthusiast.
Status: Laser Blind.
Strength d4
Dexterity d10
Endurance d6
Speed d10
Knowledge d4
Wisdom d6
Perception d6
Charisma d4
HP 30
SP 20
Filament Gun (100)
Death Ray (500)
Specimen Container (Damaged Robot Skull) (30)
Filament Cartridge (10)
Cash: 360
(what wall? What safety?)
[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!"
Try to figure out how the debris is anchored to the shell. Otherwise, enjoy the ride!
Name: Gambatta Ganyaro
Description: A kooky old man wearing an elaborate martial arts gi under his discount armor. As a proud grandfather and respected martial arts instructor, he's looking forward to retirement. His idea of retirement involves things you're not allowed to do when people are depending on you to be alive.
Leech: You no longer heal naturally and healing items are only 50% effective. Unarmed damage has increased to d8.
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.
24/30 HP
24/24 SP
1d6 Strength
1d8 Dexterity
1d10 Endurance
1d6 Speed
-
1d6 Knowledge
1d6 Wisdom
1d8 Perception
1d6 Charisma
Items (6/6):
Industral Tunic (300): 1d6 Torso/Abdomen Armor
Helmet (50): 1d6 Head Armor
Human Bone Prayer Beads (300)
Galactic Slugger (150)
Small Autocage (200): Contains Vacrab: Looks, 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.
Leech Canister: 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.
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.
"Oh shit what do we do about this?"
Keep a hold of the boat and see where this thing takes us.
Name: Hobo Bob
Description: A dirty man with unkempt hair and beard.
Strength: d8
Dexterity: d6
Endurance: d8
Speed: d6
Knowledge: d10
Wisdom: d6
Perception: d10
Charisma: d4
HP: 28/28
SP: 26/26
Weapons:
Therma-Ray: (Dex) (d8)
Thermo-Lash: (End)(1d8, leaps to another enemy for d4 and then d2)
Armour:
Helmet: (d6 armor, protects only the head)
Industrial Tunic: (d6 Armor, protects Torso and Abdomen)
Items: 8/8
Oxygen Tank
Arclamp
Therma-Ray: (Dex) (d8)
Helmet: (d6 armor, protects only the head)
Industrial Tunic: (d6 Armor, protects Torso and Abdomen)
Thermo-Lash: (End)(1d8, leaps to another enemy for d4 and then d2)
Glowing Organ
Intact robot arm, with some kind of potential laser weapon as a hand
Money: 0
Name: Anton Barrick
Description: a generic human male.
Stats:
STR: d10
DEX: d8
END: d8
SPD: d10
KNO: d8
WIS: d6
PER: d10
CHA: d6
HP: 26/36
SP: 30/30
Carry: 6/10
Items:
Helmet (d6 armor, head only)
Therma-Ray (DEX) (d8)
Fragment of the void
Human bone prayer beads
weird crystal shard
Electromagnet module
Money:0
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?"
Hang on tight and stay in the boat.
Name: Hlaine Lockley Appearance: A rather haggard looking man somwhere in between his early 40's and late 50's, it's hard to tell. Of average height, his skin looks pale and slightly sickly. He's a thin, wiry sort. He wears his hair shoulder length parted in the middle, and has a permanent unkempt beard going on. He wears a faded industrial overall, patched in a few places and the logo of the original company no longer legible, along with a pair of battered work boots and an old synthplas helmet. Strength: d6
Dexterity: d6
Endurance: d6
Speed: d10
Knowledge: d8
Wisdom: d8
Perception: d8
Charisma: d8
HP:20/22 SP:32/32 armour:Helmet: (d6 armor, protects only the head) A synthplas helmet in bright orange.
weapons:Therma-Ray: (Dex) (d8)
Items: Nim’s Parasite
- Telekinesis: (kno), requires line of sight, current max weight 300lbs, d4 SP activation
Bait:(Kno) x3
Log Book: (Kno) (
journal)
Arclamp
Stimulant: Recover d10 SP.
Biogel: Recover d10 HP.
Loot: Giant sewer octopus beak (with some trailing tongue/throat giblets)
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.
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.
Author
Topic: DEEP SPACE: Space vampires and work safety (Read 36696 times)