Inspecting the cave Wedge found, it does indeed lead to the interior of the drift rock. Tunnels bore inwards, although it's difficult to see to far in, even with ships lights. The caverns all turn fairly quickly.
Docking the ship and extending the umbilical tube to the cave, you make your way in.
For the most part, it looks like a natural cave.
The tunnel quickly forms a Y intersection, and you must choose to go left or right.
You make your way into the left tunnel, and quickly find yourself into a small expanded cavern.
A dead humanoid body floats in this cavern.
The body is wearing an Estex Suit with a patch that reads, "ACREON" on it.
Your options are to continue forward or go back to the right tunnel at the beginning.
Kryten examines the floating body.
"Looks like this one died of his injuries, he didn't get infected by the akata. That doesn't bode well for the rest of the crew. We'd better keep moving."
Poor bastard.
Wedge checks the body for any useful information. After a bit of searching he ejects the generator upgrade, takes the flare gun, and tears off the Acreon patch. He places them in his pack and looks to the party.
Shall we keep moving?
"We should keep moving forward. Though this is not comforting!"
Hal readies his Autotarget Rifle and motions to continue through this path.
You leave the body behind you; it stays floating in the zero gravity, gently rotating from your touch. It's soon completely out of sight as the lights from your suit focus on other areas of the cavern, particularly the passageway you're headed down.
You move on, the silence broken only by your own breathing and the gentle crackle of the comms.
The passageway continues for a short bit before opening back up. The room has four tunnels leading off, one of which you're standing in.
Your suit lights pan over the passage to your right, and it quickly turns a different direction. It's made of the same tough hewn rock you've been traveling through.
But the other two passages are odd. They're both lines with a polished metallic plating on the walls, floor, and ceiling. It's as if this entire rock was connected to a professionally constructed building.
The metallic passage right across from you continues straight and leads to some other room.
The metallic passage to your left (north on the map) extends straight for a distance beyond your flashlight's range.
Out of the darkness towards the north, a humanoid come flying at you, its clawed hands reaching. It's wearing the estex suit with the Acreon label, but the face plate is cracked open. The skin is a decrepit grey, and its lower jaw is missing. Hanging out of it's mouth is a long blue tongue, the same sleekness as the skin of the Akata.
(Who happens to be near the north passage when the void zombie attacks? Void Zombie gets a -2 Hit and -2 AC for charging)
The void zombie slams into Wedge, taking both of them across the room and slamming into the wall on the other side.
Kryten makes another attempt at being fancy, and his pistol nearly flies off his finger in the zero gravity. He hopes no one saw his fumbling attempt as he fires his pistol.
Whoa! Heads up!
Wedge aims his pistol like a normal person and fires at the zombie.
Son of a b~#@*! Wedge yells to himself as he slams into the wall. Being pinned to the wall, he attempts to tumble past the zombie to gain some distance.
Once he's far enough away, Wedge takes a second shot and has Biggs follow up with his artillery laser.
Wedge springs to life and fires his laser at the zombie.
I hate Space Zombies...worst movie ever...
Kass grumbles as he fires off a shot.
"That must be what the Akata-spawn looks like! But that would mean those tiny horrifying creatures in the hallway were some sort of variant? This requires further study... OH! Sorry!
Hal hastily pulls up his Autotarget Rifle and takes a shot, frowning at the ammo readout on the side
Hal's round fires into the zombie, blasting out blue gore and splattering it on the wall. The rest of the blood and guts forms globules which float outward.
You head straight, towards the hallway with lined metallic walls, ceiling, and floor.
The metal lining quickly ends, however, and the room which follows is the same "natural" rock you've seen so far. To the north is another metal lined passage. To the south is the rock passage. The room seems empty.
Seems.
Out of the rock comes a humanoid figure wearing a space suit uniform you've never seen. The clothing is shredded. The glass playing on the helmet long ago shattered. The face behind is is more than dead, yet the creature... walks? floats? glides across the floor.
It's malevolent eyes peering at you as it strikes.
Your goblin buddies open fire; one hits, the other sizzles some rock beyond the creature.
"It could be anything!"
What in the hells is that thing!? Wedge yells as he fires at it with his pistol. Gods damned nightmare fuel all over this rock!
Biggs charges up his laser and tries to give the creature some free Lasik eye surgery.
Kryten fires at the creature, deciding to cut out the fancy shenanigans.
Kass fires his Lazer pistol.
One goblin hits with his Lazer pistol, barely scorching the incorporeal creature. The other goblin misses.
Kass fires wildly into the cavern wall. Bits of rock particulate escape off the wall and flow through the room.
Hal's shot adds to the dust in the room as he hits the cavern wall, as well.
Biggs and Wedge both fire. Biggs just *barely* misses. Wedge fires true. He knows he did. But the bullet passed through the creature as if it wasn't there.
Kryten does the same as Wedge. His shot lands true. Perfect aim. And nothing. Absolutely nothing. The shot fires through the creature as if it wasn't there.
The creature looks at you all with malevolent eyes, and then targets the one who hurt it. He looks at the goblin and rips at the air with his hand. Even from a distance, bits of material rip away from the goblin.
Kryten curses aloud as he sees that his shot had no effect, and again when he see's the creature's attack.
"The f&+%? That thing.... it's like the drift... oh I'll explain later. Got any of those grenades on you Wedge?"
He holsters his pistol and reaches for his laser pistol, then curses yet again recalling he gave it to the goblin. Realizing he seems to have no weapon to deal with this threat, he draws his needler loaded with serums and prepares to play medic.
"Wait! Something came to me! Also someone bring their gun to me!"
Hal reaches out and prepares to cast a spell.
I swear to the Three, if I shoot this thing with your magic and it tries to eat me...
Kass holds out his laser pistol as the magic flows into it. Assuming a dramatically appropriate stance...
...he fires at the specter, the magically amplified laser streaking towards the target, at least, and not at its feet.
Wedge nods at Kryten.
Grenade out!
Wedge has Biggs fire up the laser again.
Incendiary Grenade DC 14 or take
Kryten stands around in a panic.
Hal energises Kass' gun, who blasts the undead something fierce.
The goblins both hit true.
Biggs fires into it, while Wedge throws a grenade. Everyone jumps back as the grenade spews fire in a small radius. The Driftdead is injured from it, but she avoids the additional burn.
The Driftdead states into the eyes of [G1,G2,H,Ka,Kr,W] Kryten, and waves her hand, pulling molecular bonds apart and ripping material out of him.
Information that Hal has, which he shares with the group:
Drift dead
NE Medium undead (extraplanar) Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7 Aura confusion (30 feet, DC 11)
DEFENSE
HP 22
EAC 13; KAC 15 Fort +4; Ref +4; Will +3 Defensive Abilities spatial incorporeality; Immunities undead immunities
Incorporeal creatures cannot take any physical actions that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, including combat maneuvers, nor are they subject to any such actions. An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid objects but must remain adjacent to such an object’s exterior, and so it cannot pass through the center of an object whose space is larger than its own. It can sense the presence of creatures or objects within squares adjacent to its current location (see page 260), but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance; see Concealment on page 253) from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it has only cover (see Cover starting on page 253).
An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect. Incorporeal creatures pass through and operate in vacuum, water, and zero gravity as easily as they do in air.
Incorporeal creatures cannot fall or take falling damage. They have no weight and do not set off traps that are triggered only by weight.
Incorporeal creatures move silently and cannot be heard with Perception checks unless they wish to be. Any sense (including blindsense or blindsight) based on scent, sound, or touch is ineffective at perceiving incorporeal creatures. These creatures have an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when they cannot see.
When a mortal humanoid dies within the Drift while consumed with a strong negative emotion, it can become a driftdead, a restless undead spirit bound to that plane, unable to escape the confines of the Drift and reach its final judgment. What’s left of a driftdead’s warped mind is filled with insanity, rage, and a hatred for the living. So overwhelming is this flux of emotions that a driftdead psychically broadcasts its confusion, affecting all who venture too close.
A driftdead leaves its mortal remains behind and forms a new undead body out of the mingled planar energies of the Drift— just as the Drift contains material snatched from countless planes. This physical body, however, is inextricably linked to the Drift. If a driftdead ever travels to the Material Plane (or any other plane), its planar body remains within the Drift, and the driftdead becomes an incorporeal spirit. The driftdead recreates its corporeal form as soon as it returns to the Drift.
Hal singes the driftdead.
Kryten falls back to the back of the group, readying himself to help an ally if they need it.
Kass fires his laser gun
Biggs fires his laser cannon
Wedge throws a grenade.
The driftdead looks at
The goblin and pulls at the molecular bins within its body.
Sweet merciful gods, this thing will not go down!
Wedge has Biggs fire again and looks around the room for anything that might be able to help.
Biggs' shot digs into the heart of the Driftdead, and it dissipates into nothingness.
The cavern is calm, and the only sounds you hear are your own heavy breathing, the blood pumping through your veins, and the crackle of the comms.
You start to explore the surrounding areas. The passage to the north leads in about 60 feet before it ends in a cave-in.
Going back to D3, the passage north leads about 100' and ends at the end of the edge of the drift rock itself. There's nothing there but open space. You're standing on the edge of a precipice with literally nothing beyond but the light of the stars.
You make your way "south" and quickly realise that both southern passages from the two rooms lead to the same location. A larger cavern with a single metal door on its southern wall. What's a modern door doing in the middle of this rock?
The door looks like it could be opened through a key swipe, or by forcing it open manually.
There are two bodies in this room. One looks like he was killed by a void zombie. The other has sections missing from him, as if he were killed by the driftdead's ability to pull matter out of living tissue. They both wear the uniform of the Acreon crew. With these two, you've now accounted for the entire crew of the Acreon.
Wedge hunches over and places his hands on his knees. I could use a breather...
And Biggs could use a tune up.
"I agree! With these bodies we can now account for all of the original members of The Acreon. Clearly there is something important behind this large derivative metal door. I say we return with these bodies to our small ship, take a quick rest, and go over a few combat strategies that may be useful.
You decide to leave the door unopened and head back to the ship. Carefully bringing the bodies back with you, you head down the dark hallways, camera drone in tow.
You look past the one tunnel you skipped, an eerie feeling that something is watching you from the darkness.
Finishing the short journey, you find yourself at the edge of the tunnel, with nothing but space beyond.
The Hippocampus is not there.
Kryten stands in disbelief.
I know I parked it here, why isn't it here, where the f&*~ is it?!
Panicking on the inside and just barely keeping composure on the outside, Kryten "drops" the body he was towing, and with a quick "Be right back," he exits the Drift rock, and looks for any trace of the ship he knew was there. Seeing nothing, he returns to the Drift rock entrance.
"I know I parked it here. I think we got spacejacked boys."
Great. Just great. I'll bet this whole mission was a way to strand us out in space. This damn camera showed them the moment we were on the Drift rock and I'll bet that b+!%# in the box jacked our ship.
Wedge goes to spit out of anger, but realizes that's a terrible idea in a space helmet. He walks up to the hovering camera and grabs it. He makes his way to the opening and points the robot out towards the vast darkness. Then he motions angrily at it, imitating a spaceship flying away.
Kryten puts a hand on Wedge's shoulder.
"Calm down, we're not stranded. We've still got the Acreon, but we gotta make sure we ain't taking anything back with us that we don't know about. Let's take a breather and sweep the rest of the rock."
Hal moves over to The Acreon's communications during the rest and sends out a few one way data messages to the HSC and the Eoxian's
To the HSC
"Attention Hard Scrabble Collective. Your crew has been found and the cause of their deaths has been ascertained. We are preparing the bodies in the Engineering Bay for our possible return. I am also sending you the data on the creatures we've encountered on both this ship and the Drift Rock itself. One lone fighter piloted by an Android left your swarm and attacked our ship on pursuit. Be advised you and them are possibly being framed. We are going to enter the innermost chamber of the Drift Rock. If we do not return I hope you find this ship and your crew. Hal Out.
And to the Eoxians
"Attention Eoxian embassy. Your package has been found. I am also sending you the data on the creatures we've encountered on both this ship and the Drift Rock itself. One lone fighter piloted by an Android left the HSC Swarm and attacked our ship on pursuit. Be advised you and them are possibly being framed. We are going to enter the innermost chamber of the Drift Rock. If we do not return I hope you find your package. Hal Out.
A signal comes back..
Drift Rock Detectives. Dust Runner, here. This is Captain Serissi.
This. is. amazing. You guys have been doing a fantastic job! It'd sad to see we've lost our brothers, but thank you so much for finding out what happened to them.
When I met with you before you headed out, I didn't know what to think. You weren't a team. You had no leadership. Your crew did what they wanted. I knew for certain you'd fail and we'd lose it all. Damn am I happy to be wrong! Even if the HSC doesn't win this court battle, you and yours are forever welcome among us, just for what you've done so far.
We've been in contact with stating security. They say they've remotely removed the Hippocampus from the Drift Rock for safety reasons, but as soon as you guys signal, it will be returned to pick you up.
Best of luck out there. Know you've got the heart of the entire station aching to see you succeed!
The entire station is rooting for you. You're the stars of Absolom!
Dust Runner out.
Making your way back into the Drift Rock and taking the right passage this time, you come into a room with a lot of debris and wreckage.
A round fires at one of the goblins.
The shot blows the goblin apart, it's blood splattering against the rock behind it and forming globules in the air.
Kryten gets behind cover and returns fire
They've been watching us... But how? You think they have a feed to this little... Wedge points lazily at the floating camera drone, camera bot?
As the party is walking down the hall, Wedge checks his rig and gear anxiously for surveillance bugs. Maybe they planted something on me when we went to speak to them. I knew getting involved in this was a terrible i-
Wedges paranoid rambling is cut short by the sight of a goblin exploding next to him. He springs into action, jumping behind any cover he can find. Holy Hells! We're taking fire! Everyone down!
Wedge Brings up his rig's display and has Biggs charge forward, open mouth glowing crimson as the laser charges.
If available, Kass ducks behind cover as well.
Thanks for the heads up! Don't want to get shot by...
He spares a glance down the way to see their assailant.
You!
He angrily fires off a shot from his pistol.
To his team, he says:
It's the pilot from earlier! The one who tried to shoot us down with that Eoxian ship!
Out loud, he shouts:
You're outnumbered and out gunned! Stand down or die!
Though I appreciate the enthusiasm there, Hollywood, Wedge removes his pistol from it's holster and looks for an opening to fire, there's still no atmosphere. She can't hear ya.
Wedge thinks for a moment, I wonder if I can do something about that.