(3) [Traveller] Voyages of the R.e.d. Dusk

Game Master mdt

While waiting for the others to suit up Warren says "I guess I'm going for a ride in a ball." Warren climbs in with his gear and once settled pulls out a radio and speaks into it. "Hello, is there anyone out there? We're on the Verdant Dawn and need assistance. Anyone?"

Warren gets only static on his radio.

"We need to get out of here...now! Is the ship's boat still here and can we reach it?"

Dev tries to remember the layout of the ship and if they could ake it to the docking bay.

@Dev Your UPP is off, 12 is C, not D

Int: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 5) + 2 = 13

Dev remembers that there are two boat bays on the aft of the ship. If they walk the hull, it will take about 15 minutes to reach them. If someone uses the jett pack it will probably take about 8 minutes to reach them. If there's a boat in one of them, then they might have time to get aboard and get it launched walking it. If not, then the walk to the second bay would put them in the atmosphere before they could launch.

The two boat bays are drop bays to the port and starboard aft, while the airlock the crew is at is the starboard mid-ship airlock. The path to either bay is roughly the same (1 minute walking, 15 seconds or so jetting) from their current location.

Dev does not know what kind of boats, if any, were in the boat bays, or if they are still there. The crew might know.

Dev calls out to the two crewmembers.

"Hey you...does this ship have a ship's boat? If so, let's get to it ASAP! I am a pilot and can handle anything that might be in there, I am sure."

Jenni runs over her mental map of the vessel's layout. "Question is, will it still be there? By my calculations, if it isn't, it won't much matter. There should be both a ship's boat and a pinnace available, assuming that they haven't been destroyed or taken. The pinnace is port and the boat is aft. If one isn't there, we won't have time to reach the other. We must choose one and hope that it's still there..."

Both are Aft in the aft drop bays (if they are still there). One is in the port drop bay, and one is in the starboard drop bay. There may be time to look in both, but it'll be iffy.

"Well lets go...we don't have time to waste. Can anyone else pilot one of these vessels?"

Warren looks at the air lock and tries to figure out where they are and can't in the confusion, "Look, I don't know if we are port or starboard but I say we just go around this side of the ship and see if there is a craft for us on this side. If not, then we'll look at the other. This way we get to a ship as quickly as we can. What do you say?"

With the Jet, running along the belly, one can immediately see if one or both have been deployed or destroyed.

Attaching the jets requires an Average Vacc Suit check by the wearer of the Vacc Suit

Waiting on Tam to make the check to get hooked up

"Sounds like a plan," Tam quickly agreed with Warren. She begins to attach the jet pack to her vac suit and looks around pointing at Jenny and then nods at Dev, "I'll take one of the crew over first and then the pilot." She hurriedly continued, "I'll take Warren next, then the lady and the Droyne will be last"

Vacc Suit: 2d6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (5, 6) + 1 + 2 = 14 Added Dex

Sorry slow typing on ipad

While Tam is working on the thruster pack, Malt goes to the very edge of the airlock, and tries to contact either of the ship's vessels.

I am attempt to see if I can remote pre-flight either vessel, connecting directly rather than through the shattered ship's network, or at least check the status and verify if either one is still there.
remote connect/preflight: 2d6 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (6, 4) + 2 - 1 = 11 Not sure of appropriate skill here, so I've added no skill mod, though I'd agitate for Pilot. Stat mod works for INT or EDU)

Comms to remotely connect, however, the ship's hull would block your hand held communicator

Tam takes 2 minutes to get connected up. While she does, Malt and Glitch begin cycling people and their emergency balls through the airlock.

As those who are pushed out the airlock look around, the skin of the ball begins to gray over from dust and heat, the nebulae around them hotter than the balls are really designed for. On the bright side, they'll likely hit the atmosphere before the balls burn up from the nebulae gas, as it's pretty thin around the gas giant.

Tam will have to be the last one out, as she'll need to cycle Malt and Glitch out. The entire process will take 5 minutes, leaving them 15 to get to another airlock and cycle through. Once out of the airlock, Tam will need to make 3 vacc suit checks, one to gather up the rescue balls and tether them all together, one to fly the the balls to the airlock (pick port or starboard) and the third to tether them to the hull. You don't have time to cycle them through the boat bay airlock, so it's faster for Tam to go in and open the drop bay doors and then pull the balls in all at once. Once Tam has the bay doors open, Malt or Glitch can try to connect to the ship (if it's there) and try to pre-flight the ship and cycle the airlocks ahead of time to speed things up.

Tam realized her plan wouldn't work and began to cycle everyone out the airlock and follows them out. Careful, she reminded herself as she gathered up the rescue balls teathered them together and flew them to the port drop bay doors. She smiled reassuringly as she teathered them to the hull. Tam made her way inside and opened the drop bay doors.

Vacc Suit: 2d6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6, 6) + 1 + 2 = 15
Vacc Suit: 2d6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1, 5) + 1 + 2 = 9
Vacc Suit: 2d6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (3, 4) + 1 + 2 = 10

As she works to get the rescue balls out, Jenni says, "The upside to all of this is that if we hit atmo, we won't last long enough for it to hurt too much."

Tam succeeds at gathering up the balls as if she's done rescue work in deep space before. At this point, the gas giant fills the sky, and it's presence over head is a looming sentence of death. Local space is not much better. The glittery twinkling that Tam can see through her vacc suit helmet isn't the twinkling of stars, it's the twinkling of a deadly debris field orbiting the gas giant.

Cycling through the small airlock next to the drop bay, Tam is relieved to find the ship still in it's harness.

Getting everyone into the pinnace is easier accomplished by flushing the air in the hold, and loading everyone in and repressurizing than it is to cycle everyone through the airlock. Fortunately the pinnace seems to have power and no damaage, or at least, nothing obvious.

I need a Difficult piloting check, that is, a DC 8 pilot check with a -2 penalty to the roll, to get the pinnace out of the drop bay. The ship's systems are off line, and it's going to require blowing the emergency bolts to free the pinnace from the bay. Also, anyone without vacc suit skill needs to make a Difficult Int check not to be terrified in open space in the little balls with Jupiter floating 2 miles over your head.

Don't Freak Out: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 1) + 1 = 3

Scandalous grabs her knees. She begins softly singing a Zhondani Lullaby to herself as she unconsciously searches telekinetically to steady herself.

Pilot: 2d6 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (6, 2) + 2 - 2 = 8

Dev gets out of his ball and moves to the cockpit settling into the pilot's seat and readying the ship for departure. Once given the sign, he blows the retaining bolts and taps the thrust to get the vessel out of the belly of the doomed ship. As soon as he is clear, he sends a burst to the main engines to get clear of the gravity well and to safety.

Warren sits in his ball awaiting the ship to rescue him. You've been through this before. You'll be fine this time. You're much better prepared. No need to freak out here. That's just a gas giant over your head. The ship will be here shortly. I hope.

Easy peasy, Jenni. Just like back home. Jenni easily floats in the vacuum of space, waiting a little impatiently to be reeled in. Of course, at home, we didn't have the threat of imminent death over our head. But hey, the view is spectacular!

If anyone else has Pilot (Small Craft) they can make a roll as well

@Scandalous - Scandalous has critically failed, and will develop a psychosis about open spaces. Basically, Scandalous will begin to gain agoraphobia, and should try hard to avoid any open spaces. More than likely she'll go into hysterics if required to go on a space walk again.

lol Maybe the sadist who created a see through emergency ball should be required to pay my therapy bills.

Tam quickly depressurized the bay, reeled everyone in, and repressurized the bay. As Dev makes for the ship she warns, "Careful, there is a very large debris field out there."

She makes her way inside the pinnace and straps in.

Of note, the only other people who can assist with piloting are Malt and Glitch, and only one of them can do so (co-pilot chair). Difficulty would be 8 (with a -2 penalty). Both Malt and Glitch have the same stats and penalties. So basically 2d6+1+0-1-2, meaning they need a 10 or better to assist

Warren speaks up upon exiting his survival ball "I suggest the rest of us strap in while they pilot us out of here. It's going to be a bumpy ride I think and we don't need to get more hurt than we are. I can take a look at anyone's wounds when things smooth out unless they are life threatening in which case I'll do it now."

Malt will move forward to the cockpit, adjust the panels and seek to assist Dev in launch.

Piloting Assist: 2d6 + 1 + 0 - 1 - 2 ⇒ (5, 5) + 1 + 0 - 1 - 2 = 8

As soon as the pinnace is safe, he'll begin trying to work out where we are, and/or if there is an habitable planet in system.

Sensors: 2d6 + 1 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (5, 3) + 1 + 2 - 1 = 10
Astrogation: 2d6 + 1 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (3, 6) + 1 + 2 - 1 = 11

Between them, while everyone else is strapping in, Malt and Dev get the pinnace free of the liner. As the ship drops free, Malt and Dev see that the starboard drop bay is also closed, meaning both boats were still in the bays. Combined with the full escape pod modules, it is almost certain that none of the crew that were in the aft section of the ship escaped except for Malt and Glitch.

Malt's sensor readings are fuzzy and glitchy, the nebulae field they are in plays havoc with his sensors. As they come online, he begins to pick up hundreds of point sources in space around them, the sensors identify almost all of it as metallic, and sized from the size of a coffee cup to the size of a freighter. As the sensors begin to tally data, Malt finds that the orbit around the gas giant is filled with debris. Some of the debris is organic, and several escape pods nearby have the signals of the ISS Verdant Dawn on their IFF repeaters. None of them are registering as viable, meaning they are damaged to various degrees and the occupants are dead.

The gas giant has 14 satellites, and one of them has an atmosphere with oxygen in it.

Jenni straps herself in and prepares for a wild ride.

Malt and Dev are perhaps surprised when the ship's comm system picks up a broadcast. The local conditions, as well as the weak signal strength, make it difficult to pull the entire message in.

"...o, tiny parasite... Welcome to...death...inny death tops...down and...join debris field! Shu...more damage to ship...has prepared...smart...craft down...Planet..." The voice is tinny and may have been artificially generated, or just the signal is bad.

The singer is helped out of the ball and into a seat. She shivers and stares into the bulkhead while she tries to calm her panic. She fumbles with her seats safety harness until one of the survivors helps her lock it into place. Her comm bursts with life, and she looks at her smart phone.

Scandalous notices that she hadn't shut off the recorder. Even though it had not recorded visuals, it had recorded the audio. She begins to think of editing the audio with animation for the missing visuals. Her mind begins to unknot. Using her comm link, she says. Requesting Emergency landing coordinates...Repeat...Requesting Emergency landing coordinates

Rolling comms, Hope I don't get an ear infection from a critical failure :P

Comms: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

reminder to self this isn't pathfinder

Comms: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 6) + 1 = 8

Scandalous starts to reply, and then, with her skill in comms, remembers that (A) her comm link only has a 5 mile radius, and that (B), the ship's hull would block her comm link. Her small unit can likely pick up the much more powerful broadcast even through the hull (although with more static and less words), but her unit can never respond.

There is, however, a comm console in the cockpit that she could take over to use the ship's comm system and try to respond or clean up the message. Her skill level would be enough to know that any small craft like this has a dedicated 'auxiliary board' that handles things like comms, weapons, engineering

"What the hell was that? Can any of you trace that signal. I'm not sure if it is a threat or what...but that planet is the only place near that has an atmosphere we can breathe. What do you all say..the planet?"

Scandalous starts to reply, and then, with her skill in comms, remembers that (A) her comm link only has a 5 mile radius, and that (B), the ship's hull would block her comm link. Her small unit can likely pick up the much more powerful broadcast even through the hull (although with more static and less words), but her unit can never respond.

There is, however, a comm console in the cockpit that she could take over to use the ship's comm system and try to respond or clean up the message. Her skill level would be enough to know that any small craft like this has a dedicated 'auxiliary board' that handles things like comms, weapons, engineering

I had assumed that my comm would tie into the ships comm automatically like Wi-Fi...I should have been clearer

Not on something this small, we can use your previous roll though, no problem.

Scandalous moves up to the cockpit, and accesses the comm panel, hesitating only long enough to figure out which of the 3 auxiliary panels are dedicated to comms.

Cleaning up the signal, she's able to get the following message.

"Hello, tiny parasite...come to giant death cloud...spinny death tops on your way down...join debris field! Should come...before any more damage to ship. Eve ha...safe haven for all smart enough to...down to Planet..."

Sounds like a warning to avoid orbiting debris. The pop star transmits back. Request Landing coordinates...repeat...Request Landing coordinates...repeat...Request Landing coordinates

The response to Scandalous's message comes back shortly, still filled with static.

"..V Phoenix...er. Turning off...necessary...on bea..."

However, the pilot's are now receiving a landing beacon. It's weak and fades in and out, but it's coming from the planet they identified as having atmosphere.

Average Piloting check to get to the planet, average check to enter the atmosphere, and easy check to land near the beacon

Get to Planet: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 4) + 2 = 9
Enter atmo: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 4) + 2 = 8
Land by beacon: 2d6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (4, 6) + 2 + 2 = 14 (easy check is a +2 on roll??)

"Ok folks, we have a landing beacon, and we are in the pipe 5x5. All system are green for reentry and we should be on the ground in about 30 mike, so strap in and enjoy the scenery and leaving the flying to us!"

Easy = DC 4 vs an average = DC 8

"A warning? It sounds more like an invitation to our deaths, but we don't have a choice," Jenni says from her seat. She busies herself with checking her gear once again.

The pinnace cuts through the air of the planet, passing down through aurora in the outer atmosphere as the nebulae interacts with the magnetic fields of the planet.

Following the beacon, the pinnace finds itself flying over an ocean expanse toward a very large island in the middle of a sea. The nebulae bathes the entire planet in a dirty orange light, washing out the distant yellow sun.

As they come in for a landing, they see an old Kestral class interdictor class ship sitting on a large expanse of stone that was once lava flow, but has been dormant for a few centuries.

The top of the ship has been festooned with solar panels, and wiring is visible running down and into the air lock.

Easy pilot to land on the open stone, or average pilot to land in one of the two pinnace bays on the kestral, if you want to land in the ship.

External sensors indicate the atmosphere is 23% oxygen, 75% nitrogen, and 2% trace elements.

Scandalous launches her drone as soon as gravity takes hold.

Doctor Connery, Can you treat our injuries once we land? I can assist

Deciding it might be safer to land on the open stone, Dev maneuvers the ship as close to the Kestral as possible. He also pings the other ships IFF system to get a name and information about the vessel.

Landing: 2d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (3, 5) + 2 + 4 = 14