Hearing that there's subcontractors at risk of termination over comms, Pippimi crawls her way through the tunnel and tries to head eastwards in the next room.
But despite her intentions, she can't quite get a clean grip on the rocky wall. She ends up stalled out in the western tunnel.
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While the majority of the group is bumbling around in the vacuum, Davrin proves his expert skills. He fires at the zombie, knocking off a chunk of it’s skull!
Mork unleashes a frenzy of curses in both Common and Goblin and leaps at the zombie, his little pistol firing like crazy! "MY NAME IS MORKO GONTOYA! YOU KILLED MY GORK! DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
His laser hits the zombie dead on, staggering him for a second. But the beast continues onwards, inexorable. It slaps his pistol aside, hands grabbing the little goblin's throat. The tongue reaches forward again, scraping the inside of Mork's mouth as it drains the strength from him. Green skin pales and the zombie releases the dying body to crash to the floor.
You can’t take move actions except to right yourself, you take a –2 penalty to attacks, and you take a –2 penalty to AC, and you cannot take reactions or make attacks of opportunity.
Lenny 11/16 SP
Clank
Davrin
Zulu
Zoran 14/14 SP
Pippimi 6/14 SP 16/16 HP
Mork 10 dmg, dying 0/3
Gork 6 dmg, dying 1/3
Clara-247 6 dmg
Red Zombie 24 dmg
Purple Zombie 15 dmg
"We got to help those goblins. We brought them into this." Zoran says more desperately as the other goblin goes down.
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In a righteous fury, Zoran, Lenny and Davrin come to the goblins' aid! The shots fire through the vacuum, all hitting their target. Lenny and Davrin aim for the head, caving it in with an explosion of rotting gore.
You all take a breath, the danger past. The only sound is that of the whimpering goblins over your coms. Davrin pulls out a healing syringe and stabs it into Gork's small thigh, bringing him back! His chest heaves with a mighty gasp! Little Gork's large eyes open and he smiles at Davrin. "Dog killer! You saved me! " He gives the halfling a huge hug of gratitude. "Where's Mork? "
Lenny 11/16 SP
Clank
Davrin
Zulu
Zoran 14/14 SP
Pippimi 6/14 SP 16/16 HP
Mork 10 dmg, dying 1/3
Gork
Clara-247 6 dmg
Red Zombie 24 dmg
Purple Zombie 28 dmg
Zulu tries to bounce over to the stricken Gork and stabilize him, quickly realizing that his medical training was insufficient for tending zombie wounds in zero gravity.
Realizing the futility, he reaches for a healing serum, intending on trying that next.
Pippimi scrambles through the tunnels, still under the impression that there's another zombie to handle.
By the time she catches up with Lenny, she's already winded. "Pippimi think that subcontractor sound awfully happy. Is other zombie dead dead already? Pippimi not used to zero-G crawling this way and that way." She huffs into her microphone.
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A desperate gasp for air fills your coms as Lenny pulls the syringe out of the little goblin's leg. His heart starts beating faster, back up to the speed of a frightened rabbit. (Normal for goblins, you're sure.) Without opening his eyes, he reaches up with green hands and feels Lenny's face. "Momma? Momma, you saved me!" Suddenly, his little claws grab a hold of your hair and he pulls you in for a great big smooch on the forehead! "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Both goblins bust out laughing, rolling around in the vacuum. After keeping them on mute for a few dozen seconds, you give them a second fourth chance at not blowing up the coms. You hear Mork's voice, more sincere this time. "Thank you dogkiller. You saved my brother and I. Thanks." They both sit there for a minute, happily staring at you with their big eyes.
Searching the area, one of the void zombies is still carrying a credstick with 480 credits. In addition, an azimuth laser rifle and needler pistol float in this chamber, apparently discarded. Both weapons are depleted of charges and ammunition.
Ahead is the door, which appears to open by a panel set into the frame. Searching it over you are unable to detect and traps and it appears strangely out of place in the cavern.
Zulu watches the goblin theatrics silently before packing up his medkit efficiently, hefting his rifle and swapping the battery for a fresh one.
Then, simply. "Move on?"
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Clara watches you worry over the goblins with poise. "You put out so much effort over common vermin. Interesting. " She allows herself to be led on by the "vermin".
You pass through the door without issue. In stark contrast to the caverns elsewhere inside the Drift Rock, this chamber looks more like a room on a space station or starship. Rather than the unfinished rock of the asteroid, the walls, floor, and ceiling are clad with finished sheets of some polished, metallic substance, along with components of unrecognizable equipment. Panels on some of the walls flash with lights and mysterious symbols, and an almost infrasonic hum of unseen machinery pulses through the walls. There’s more you might learn from here… You turn right, choosing a direction at random. The hallway holds more answers, but more importantly a quadrapedal robot whirls to attention! It speaks in Common, surprisingly, barking out in a loud voice which is carried through the walls to your microphones. "TRESPASSERS WILL BE PUNISHED! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
The group jumps at this new presence and protects itself!
Clank
Zulu
Zoran 14/14 SP
Pippimi 6/14 SP 16/16 HP
Lenny 11/16 SP
Davrin
Mork 2 dmg
Gork 0 dmg
Clara-247 6 dmg
Zulu floats along with the group, ignoring their would be assassin in his utter fascination at the makings of a starship or space station buried on this strange drift rock. Muttering softly to himself about each new fascinating bit of wall or shade of light as he records everything he can gather on his exocortex for future study, preferably from the station and not being chased by void zombies.
Reaching the hallway with the automated sentry robot he again studies it in abject fascination, even as it pronounces its intent to exterminate them in it's odd voice.
why does the word Dalek pop into my head? No matter, target the robot
Setting his cortex to target the bot, he shoulders his rifle and fires on the thing, relatively secure floating in the corner with Pippimi and Lenny serving as serviceable meat shields.
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Pippimi checks over the two goblins and gives them a stern talking to about knowing their own limits and using their own unique skills to bring value and synergy to the work-team. Once she's done (and the goblins are thoroughly bored and/or confused), she takes a 10 minute rest to regain her strength.
Once that's done, she starts crawling southward until the group passes into some *very* different looking hallways. "Hmmm! This very strange! What all this technology doing inside salvage rock asteroid? Is this what Astral Extractions looking for maybe? Maybe secret Extractions mining back from long ago?" Before she has too long to think about it though...
"Another thing trying to kill us!? Pippimi sick and tired of things and undeads doing that!" She rushes up towards the robot and tries to grab it with her vibrogloves. "YOU STOP RIGHT NOW ROBOT, OR PIPPIMI THROW YOU OFF DRIFT ROCK!"
The tiny skittermander picks the robot up and pins it to the wall.
Clank is overjoyed that the team is able to keep his little goblin buddies alive (for now) and cheers them on. The gods seem to smile on their journey as he is suddenly confronted by a strange but amazingly cool robot to dismantle!
"I would say this is more dangerous than working the pilgrimage routes...but that is how I ended up dead." he muses as they get their fallen crew back on their feet.
He shakes his head at the comments from their prisoner.
"Vermin or not...the more people you have watching your back the better out in the expanse of space."
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"I wonder what Mork and Gork could do to this thing with a screwdriver...shut up those error messages. Either way...WE ARE NOT TRESPASSERS. SHUT DOWN!" Zoran makes a joke before barking out commands hoping to catch something the robot knows.
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Pippimi, queen of inter-office conflict resolution, runs up to the robot, grabs it by the arms and pins it against the metal wall! She holds it there, staring into it's light sensors, not allowing it to move - ripping off a few wires as she does so. This proves rather convenient for Clank and Zulu, who are able to light up their still target.
Clank recognizes several things from this robot's build. It's design clearly originates from beyond the Pact Worlds. The rather spartan appearance lends itself to the idea that this is a security robot, designed to patrol and defend. The dust on the robot's shoulder armor indicates that this robot was standing dormant for quite some time before you arrived. The years have not been kind to this guardian, as it seems to be covered in a gray clingy dust. Probably that of inoperable repair nanites. Finally, you realize that the robot's exposed circuits make it vulnerable to electricity and accurate hits.
The security robot flexes it's body in an unexpected way, being far more dexterous than you expected! However, Pippimi's grip stays firm! This does not stop the robot from issuing it's apocalyptic cry: "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
Meanwhile, Gork and Mork pop their heads around the corner. "We play later! We don't touch angry bots! Nope! No angry bots!" They brandish screwdrivers from their side pouches and slink back to safety.
Clank
Zulu
Zoran 14/14 SP
Pippimi 14/14 SP 16/16 HP
Lenny 11/16 SP
Davrin
Mork 2 dmg
Gork 0 dmg
Clara-247 17 dmg
Damaged Security Robot 18 dmg
With the robot helpfully pinned, Zulu aims his rifle again and fires.
"Hey, this thing is vulnerable to electricity and criticals! Hurt it more!"
Clank runs up to touch the Robot with a surge of electricity and...
Looking up with dismay when he puts himself and melee range and fails to land a hit (while nearly electrocuting himself) he helpfully adds, "Hey, guys! Looks like it's just critical hits that it's vulnerable to! Not critical misses!"
Pippimi grips the robot harder, rumbling out "Stop shouting!"
"Why you have to exterminate anything? Base you defend all destroyed and rocky, nothing left to defend in it. Pippimi think you ready for waste-bucket." She nods, as if she's the authority on this matter.
Exception: If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you can combine drawing or sheathing a weapon or weapon-like object with moving up to your speed as a single move action.
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Hearing the skittermanders shouts, Zulu looks up from his rifle sight long enough to chime in. "Right of conquest. All your base are belong to us. You have no chance make your time."
Shaking his head Zulu tries to figure what made him say such nonsense.
after effect of void plague?
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Zulu's exocortex is in overdrive, feeding him exactly what he needs! His laser shoots over Clank's head as he appears to be... fondling the robot? I mean, no judgements, but goblins are pretty weird.
Pippimi's grip loosens as the robot struggles, but she still manages to hold him against herself! She rotates during the struggle, pointing the robot towards her friends! You see an electrical charge building up in the creatures arms as it rips one free. It points the weapon directly at Clank's (oversized) head!
Just then, Lenny comes in and slashes at the arm, detaching it from the ancient droid! Davrin follows up with a perfectly aimed shot directly into the robot's power core. With a fizzle, it goes limp in Pippimi's hands. As it's capacitors drain, you can hear it's battle cry fade into nothing. "EXTERMINATE! exterminate. exterminate..."
COMBAT OVER!
As the threats cease, so does Gork and Mork's cowardice. They pop back around the corner, first checking that everything is all clear then walking around with a swagger. "ALRIGHT! We help! Silly dog-killers can't handle death-robot." Gork passes each of you, giving Clank a pat on the back. Then, he kicks the robot once in the chest. "DIE!" He looks down, proud of his work. Turning back to you all, he smiles and bows. "You're welcome." Realizing their prisoner is nowhere to be seen, you turn frantically. But there she is, leaning against the wall, looking like she hates every minute of this. "Woohoo, you shut down a robot. Big whoop."
Now that your lives are no longer in danger, you have a better chance to look at this out-of-place hallway.
These walls are odd. While they wouldn't look out of place on a space station, they're out of some foreign material. You can tell that they are some sort of ceramic-metallic plating that is a s strong and durable as adamantine alloy! Yet, it is unknown to Pact Worlds scientists.
The lower portion of a wall panel in the northwest corner is actually a concealed hatch! There's something behind that wall!
The machinery in the room is an odd hybrid which blends magic and technology.
Let's be honest, you didn't get a DC 30. :)
The walls have symbols scribed into them.
The robot is certainly from somewhere outside this galaxy. It should sell to a collector or scientist for a large sum.
While you're working hard to investigate the area, Gork and Mork head to the electronics and machinery and start pushing buttons, bored. While the items appear operational, their actions don't seem to trigger anything. (Which is probably a good thing, considering their actions on the shuttle!)
Clank
Zulu
Zoran 14/14 SP
Pippimi 14/14 SP 16/16 HP
Lenny 11/16 SP
Davrin
Mork 2 dmg
Gork 0 dmg
Clara-247 17 dmg
Damaged Security Robot 45 dmg
With the combat over Zoran takes account of the surroundings. Something on the wall catches his eye and upon further inspection it is the lip of a concealed hatch.
"Over here. Concealed hatch...wonder what deadly trap is attached to the door..." he says while backing away slowly letting one of the others open it before turning his attention to the writing on the wall.
Zulu stands down as the robot dies with a fizzle. Once the commotion is settled, Zulu floats about the room keenly observing and recording everything he can in a frenzy of interest. Muttering as he goes.
"Walls. Strange. New alloy, not a space station. Ceramic.. metallic? Unknown manufacturer. Not known in pact worlds." rapping the wall with an expert knuckle, "feels strong as adamantium."
As he floats near the northwest corner he stops, then notes "false panel. Hallway here." before wandering on, continually muttering a stream of observations and deductions.
Pippimi shifts the smoking remains of the dalek security robot to the corner. "Look like robot may be good for parts. Pippimi bring with us when we go back." She pats the robot parts.
When Zulu points out the false panel to the northwest corner of the room, she rolls on up to it to take a closer look. If there's a handle, she gives it a tug to see if she can open the hatch up.
Clank doesn't have much more to add than the android, but what he lacks in smarts (and stature), he does make up for in reality altering spells. When he's certain no one else can decipher the writing, he casts his spell to Learn Some Good.
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Zoran and Davrin start explaining how the symbols appear to be showing the instructions for some kind of cure. A cure to void death perhaps? A cure for cancer? A cure for stupidity? It is impossible to tell. But, Clank is still dubious and casts Comprehend Languages anyway. He quickly reads the wall of symbols and realizes that those two are so incredibly wrong. It seems that at one point the symbols could change. The wall would move to make new symbols, like a computer screen. The current 'screen', frozen in time, shows a long list of error codes. A few of them list various numerically titled sectors which are missing. Some more list systems have shut down due to lack of power. A third style is a bunch of warnings which must have created issues many lifetimes ago.
Pippimi struggles with the panel for a bit, but eventually gets through. It appears to have been barricaded from the inside. Behind it you find a small room partially-full of parts and supplies and, more notably, a woman's body partially preserved in a space suit. When Zulu inspects the body, numerous wounds are visible but the cause of death appears obvious: a self-inflicted wound to the head. The corpse is wearing an estex suit I with a brown force field, though the force field’s battery is depleted. Interesting... The body also carries two spell amps of lesser restoration and a personal datapad (tier 1 computer). An empty static arc pistol lies on the floor next to her outstretched hand.
The datapad’s battery is dead, but Clank is able to connect a modern battery to it. With a small amount of hacking, you can access the computer and find out what happened here. Immediately upon loading up, an audio recording starts to play. It must have been recording when the datapad died.
In the audio recording, a woman identifies herself. "Hello. I am Moriko Nash, the captain of the independent starship Sunrise Maiden. I don't have long. But I discovered a strange asteroid in the Drift last week. When I landed my ship in a cavern on the asteroid and began exploring other chambers inside it, I was attacked by a terrifying monster!" The voice pauses for a moment, gasping for breath. A banging noise echoes in the recording, ominously. "It seemed to consume life energy and could walk through walls. It's in the room with me now. It's angry." Another pause. "Wounded and unable to escape the monster, I modified my armor’s force field to extend in a bubble. Ha. I always was good at tinkering." She laughs with a morbid fascination. "The monster seems unable to pass through the force field. Seemed like a good thing, at first. Now I'm just sitting here and watching my death slobber over me."She ends the recording with the following: “I think I’ve come to terms with it. I won’t survive, but at least I’ve explored strange worlds and seen wonders I would never have dreamed of as a child. I guess everything comes to an end eventually. I’ve always been the master of my own fate, and I’m not going to change now.” You hear the scrape of a pistol leaving it's holster. “When my force field goes down, I’ll fight. But I’m saving my last charge for myself. My life, my death. This is my last will and testament. To whoever finds this recording, I leave the Sunrise Maiden to you. It’s a good ship, and no matter where I’ve gone, it’s always brought me home... until now. If you treat it right, it’ll do the same for you. Leave my body where you found it— I came from the stars, and to the stars I’ll return—but the Maiden deserves to keep flying.” Nash takes a deep breath and the recording ends.
Pippimi hums, then bows towards the corpse. "Very sad. But Nash die fighting, and die with honor, like vesk or skittermander." She seems somber for once as she steps over and places the empty static arc pistol in Nash's hand.
Eventually she turns to face the rest of the crew. "Anyone think that slobbering death monster still around? Nash not kill it, and Hardscrabble miner message say that something else come from Rock... maybe that was slobber monster?" She looks back down the hallway the part came from, as if wondering if something might already be waiting for them all. "Pippimi not want to get snuck up on."
Seeing nothing waiting for the group, she picks up the two spell amps and the force field upgrade. "If monster show up, maybe less fighty people can use force field too. Pippimi can handle slobberer with doshko and protect!"
"Sad indeed. The dangers of being out here especially alone. I do wonder what her choice would have been if she could come back...as something different. Or what I would have chosen." Zoran says after seeing the Nash's story. His eyes lose focus as he thinks back but eventually stops when the talk of the "slobberer" begins.
"It could be anywhere...if it can get through these walls."
Zulu watches the video with his customary cold, calculating, emotionless eyes. "Another ship. Possibly intact. Our way out."
Seeing Pippimi hold up the force field generator he offers, "Have spare batteries, might work."
To the strange language: "Huh, so if I'm reading this right, which I think is true because of the Magical Language spell, these are some diagnostic warnings made by someone that doesn't know how to properly self document warnings. Really 'You have encountered an error?' It does seem super old and missing pieces"
After the datapad is shown, Clank glares at the Skittermander a bit. He's supposed to be the one to inaccurately name the monsters... but Slobber Monster actually sounds pretty good.
"Well, that's pretty ominous. Show of hands for who thought that the Creepy Death Rock was going to hold some unimaginable horror?" Clank looks around and sighs. "Well, I suppose the way to think is that we're not trapped on this Rock with the Slobber Monster. The Slobber Monster is trapped on this Rock with us." He grins, trying to exude confidence when he's pretty sure someone is going to die in a terrible, horrible fashion.
Clank has some spare batteries if anyone wants to use the shield or the static pistol.
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Upon further investigation, the force field generator could be installed into any suit of armor with the right hook-ups. It just needs a new battery. With an increased level of paranoia, the group heads back down the hallway to search for this Sunrise Maiden. As Lenny passes the two smaller goblins, Mork smirks. "Yepp, you better be quiet, dog-killer! No slobby-death-monster for us!"
Heading into the next room, you don't see any immediate dangers. The various lights and controls on the machinery in this room provide dim light. This chamber seems torn between two worlds—its southeastern half is an unfinished rock wall, while the northeastern portion of the room is finished with the same ceramic-metallic plating found in previous areas. A complex control panel is built into the north wall, which you can attempt to access by hacking into the control room’s computer system.
Checking out the room with a critical eye, Zulu immediately descends on the console, finally finding something that was clearly his expertise.
Pippimi raises a pair of paws at Clank's prompting. "Pippimi sure that slobber monster will also have tentacles and forty two eyes, at least!" She grins at the goblin. "But no worry Clank! We smash everything so far. How much worse can slobber monster be?"
In the next room to the east Pippimi steps back to allow the technically minded people to unlock the control panel's secrets.