Bast expertly navigates the asteroids, making it look easy. The rest of you stand by to aid navigating, focusing shields or shooting stray debris, but Bast wends the Loreseeker through without ever getting close to any threat!
Once clear of the field, you descend through Ulmarid's atmosphere. The air is rough and you are knocked around by significant turbulence. Scattered storms build rapidly throughout the region. As you near the crash site, you get a clearer visual scan of the area. The Unbounded Wayfarer wreckage is in an area of sandy dunes, too soft and unstable to set down. The closest suitable landing site is about 2 kilometers away.
Science officer check
Can i detect life forms nearby the crash site, or near our landing site?
Blax-9 waits for the ship to set down on the closest suitable landing site. He then grabs all of his gear and leads the way to the crash site.
Val'nor tries to scan the surrounding area for life forms, but the Loreseeker's sensor suite is too basic. A visual check outside confirms a barren desert.
Bast sets the ship down carefully atop a rocky island amid the sandy sea. You don your gear and step outside. The wind whipping across the dunes bites with cold, but your armor mitigates it to an uncomfortable chill. The icy air is breathable, but holds a harsh tang like burning metal.
You set out across the dunes. Jagged rocky spurs protrude from the sand around you, giving vague dimensions to the otherwise lifeless landscape. Churning green-tinged cumulus clouds rise and fall rapidly, moving steadily with the constant wind. You hear distant cracks of thunder as the clouds reach saturation point and unleash their contents on the desert below.
Val'nor has no idea.
Survival -
Lasereater, who was trying to figure out how to pick his nose while wearing a space suit catches something of interest ... "Hmmm, whazzat?"
You spot an approaching cloud overhead is about to open up. It is moving too fast to retreat to the ship, and the barren landscape provides no natural shelter.
Bast, Lasereater and Blax-9, calling on experience surviving in the field, recognize the sharp scent just before the storm strikes: poison! Val'nor is caught unawares.
With a sudden *crack* that resonates through your bodies and the ground beneath your feet, the storm breaks. Poisonous green shards crystallize from the charged air above you, falling like pieces of broken glass and shattering into mist as they begin to crash around you.
If we're too far from our ship, I guess we'll have to run to the 'Unbounded Wayfarer', so that is what Val'nor does.
Run 4x move (approx. 12 miles/Hour)
Ah well, run it is!
Lasereater takes off after Val
Blax-9 grits his teeth and runs through the storm. "We ain't gettin' paid enough for this!"
Val'nor makes a panicked run into the storm. The rest of you see there's no chance to make or reach cover and chase after him. The poison crystals crash and clatter around you, cutting painfully as they explode.
DC12
DC12 Damage. 2 points
DC12
DC12 Not "Encumbered"
Ref -
Ref -
Ref -
Bast nimbly dives and dodges, avoiding the poison crystals like an agile cat. Lasereater takes a few hits, and feels the poison sap his strength and energy. Blax-9 and Val'nor get minor cuts from the exploding shard, but bear through the toxin's effects.
After about twenty seconds, the crystalline storm suddenly ceases. The cloud overhead breaks up in the winds and disperses nearly as quickly as it appeared. The way ahead to the Unbounded Wayfarer is clear, for now...
Blax-9 studies the cloud formations and tries to determine the storm pattern.
"Holy cow, I think I hate this place"
"Longshanks right. Planet sucks."
Blax-9 and Lasereater get a quick read on the pattern of storms in the area: which clouds are building, which ones are dispersing, and which are apparently harmless. They pick a reasonably clear path towards your destination. You arrive at the crash site about twenty minutes later.
The shattered pieces of the Unbounded Wayfarer lie half-buried in the sand on the far end of a long depression -- the impact crater created by its hard landing. Pieces and parts are scattered across the desert, but the majority of the main hull appears to be intact. A wing section rises at an angle, its end bent up vertically, and the ship's anti-personnel gun, a tactical X-gen cannon, pokes up from the sand at the top.
As you get closer, it looks like sections of the wreckage suffered damage abnormal for a crash. They appear corroded, or chewed upon...
Perception -
"Wait, what was that?" Bast points at the moving sand
Blax-9 readies his weapon and aims where Bast is pointing. "I'm guessing it ain't friendly."
A moment after Bast points, several small creatures crawl up from the sand around you. They are like a cross between a centipede and a crab, about the size of an average dog. Their front-facing pincers clack as they race toward you.
Val'nor Aims his Rifle at the creatures and fires at the nearest!
Lasereater will move and draw his flame pistol attempting to get at least 2 creatures in a line (3 would be better).
; +
;
;
Init -
A map would be good to see how far they are from us
Bast will fire at the lead one with his rifle using his Combat Tracking
To Hit -
Damage -
Bast reacts immediately, raising his hunting rifle and killing one of the creatures with a single shot. Val'nor also gets the jump and takes out another creature to the south.
The other four creatures crawl forward to attack, heedless of their losses.
<-- Trying to blend into the background
Bast will try and figure out what these things are and will then fire his rifle twice
Life Science Check -
To Hit -
Damage -
To Hit -
Damage -
Blax-9 fires on the nearest bug.
Bast keeps his rifle firing, taking out another crawler and wounding a second.
Lasereater jogs a little to the south for a good angle and torches one. It squeals as it bursts into flame.
Val'nor awkwardly tries and fails to hide out in the middle of an open desert. He is more successful with his rifle, killing yet another of the creatures.
Blax-9 fires at the last remaining target, but his footing slips in the loose sand, spoiling the shot. The small creature skitters rapidly up to him and attacks. Its claw scrapes against Blax-9's leg armor, but does not penetrate.
;
On his turn, Val'nor shoulders his Rifle, and draws a Tactical Baton, as he moves to Blax.
Bast will 5' and fire
To Hit -
Damage -
Blax-9 takes a guarded step and fires on the bug again.
Bast clips the creature again with another shot, and then Blax-9 finishes it off. The report echoes across the sandy waste, with only the rumble from a distant crystal storm in reply.
I am. It's in my stat block.
Blax-9 will search the hull for any means of entry. If he finds a door, he will enter.
Lasereater looks around and the sits down on his ass, throwing his pistol to the ground, "Me take short break ... need to catch breath"
Spend 1 resolve and 10 minutes to recover stamina from earlier fight.
Lasereater sits down while Val'nor pokes at one of the dead khefaks. Bast stares off into the hazy distance, and Blax-9 approaches the wreckage, looking for an way in. As he gets within twenty feet of the ship, a much larger khefak emerges from a gap in the hull. This one's carapace has a crystalline shimmer to it. It immediately charges to attack!
Blax-9 fires his azimuth rifle at the creature.