[SFS_Aerondor] 01-17 Reclaiming the Time-Lost Tear (Inactive)

Game Master Aerondor

{Why indeed? Let's see if we can find out.} Bugface tries to access the robots memory. If successful, Bugface downloads the info into a spare computer they carry for just such an occasion. Bugface doesn't want any viruses to infiltrate Bugface's custom rig if possible.

Computers: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (18) + 14 = 32

0:23

Bugface hooks in and starts to download the video memory from one of the robots.
which: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Rather than search through the whole archive, he quickly scans to the most recent footage - from many years ago. It depicts a harrowing battle between a feathered monstrosity wearing an ocular visor and a bloated, toadlike behemoth. Security robots (these to be precise) descend on the pair, and in accordance with protocol scan them for DNA. Hard though it may be to believe, the DNA scans show these creatures are fundamentally izalguuns. The robots return to the security centre (this room).

There is radiation all through the complex.

"We're sucking down rads in here but at least at a low rate, glad we're making quick progress - I don't want potential suitors being able to say 'you have a bit of a glow about you' in more than one way"

What is the squat pillar with the cables? Where do they go to?

Given the high earlier engineering checks..
Remi is pretty sure that the pole at the middle is a recharge station. But with no power in the complex, the robots long ago ran down.

Sweet - well let's make sure that nothing is connected to it that might subsequently power up/explode/short out/electrocute us/turn some puddle of dead-corpse infused toilet water into some nasty floor trap of high-voltage death - not that I'm paranoid, but I'm paranoid

{It is good the rate is slow. The bad news is it looks like we'll have to go back and clear that other door which will take longer.}

I'm thinking we should work on the mainframe and that other door at the same time. I can roll the engineering or help with the door, either way.

Seeing Bugface access the data within one of the robots, Sev flies over and attempts to access the data from within another, hoping that a comparison of the two may provide a more complete picture of what has occurred.

Computers: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (14) + 16 = 30

"I can let you work on removing armor and such, while I go start to clear the main door.
I also have an extra datapad to story memory information from the computer."
Pangea will give its Starfinder Insignia if needed.
And will move to start clearing the door if all agree...

0:55
Sev spends a couple of minutes on a second robot
who: 1d5 ⇒ 5
And ascertains that it too has a very similar record of recent (well, long ago, but recent for it) events.

Viper disconnects cables.

Meanwhile the other starfinders head back to the main room. You set to work on the computer and the rubble.
Engineeringcheck for whoever is doing that please

And assuming there are four of you clearing the room - and one on the mainframe

It takes about half an hour to clear the southern door.

And about another half hour to repair the mainframe if you want to do that

Beta will clear rubble, but if the android is needed to repair the mainframe.
Engineering: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29 (a roll, or aid another, whatever is needed)

Do we want to wait around for another half hour for the mainframe guys?Or, could Bugface help with the door and then help on the mainframe? Would it go faster that way?

Remi is most concerned about the radiation and its continued effect on their bodies, so she focuses her efforts on clearing the door. "Normally I'd be all for poking into everything as thoroughly as possible, but we might need to get in and out of here quickly this time around," she comments grimly.

Comparing the similar data outputs from the two robots, Sev concludes, "Either there is a universal defect within the robot's scanning capabilities or else something has radically altered the forms of the izalguuns that once inhabited this locale."

The android attempts to consider what could be responsible for the alteration.
Not sure the skill here: 1d20 ⇒ 16
Possible results are: Life Science 30, Mysticism 28, or Physical Science 31

With Pangea handling the mainframe, he assists with removing rubble.

Viper agrees about not wanting to hang around "Let's clear this place as rapidly as possible and then when we know it is 'safe', those in radiation resistant armour can take their time on a more detailed sweep"

"Can they have mutated while reproducing, with the radiation?"

0:56
Sev thinks that with sufficient unusual radiation, radical changes could be experienced in the phenotypical expression of a more standard genotype.

Worried about radiation, the group tries the door to the south.

Trash fills this ransacked storage room. A door to the north leads to the research lab. A set of stairs along the eastern wall leads to a magnetically secured door

Pangea checks the door for booby traps--
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
--before seeing if it needs any special work to be opened.
Engineering: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
The android will open it if possible, once its comrades have arrived.

0:57
The door, like the rest of the complex is sealed. With no obvious traps, it takes Pangea a little bit more time than he expected, but it was never going to keep him out for long.

A small landing ends at a 10-foot wide conveyor belt that leads east and slopes slightly downward. The belt leads to others, all descending into a bank of greasy black smoke 60 feet below.

There is a gap in the railing that lines the landing, but only the top two rungs of a ladder remain; the rest of the ladder is missing, providing only a vertiginous drop. The wheezing and clanking of machinery echo up from somewhere within the smoke.

yabadabado: 1d20 ⇒ 9

Pangea looks around--
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
--and calls out via comm: "So... do we check for other hidden doors, or try to go down into the fog, or the smoke?"

"So... do we check for other hidden doors, or try to go down into the fog, or the smoke?"

"Based upon my preliminary analysis, it would appear that the unusual radiation within this facility has the capacity to produce radical changes in the phenotypical expression of a more standard genotype." notes Sev. "Unless I am mistaken, such 'standard genotypes' include being such as ourselves."

"Accordingly," he concludes, "unless we are able to better equip ourselves with a reliable means to shield ourselves from this radiation, I suggest that we minimize our time in this place and, therefore, seek the most expedient routes."

"So, which is most expedient: fog or smoke?"

"So, which is most expedient: fog or smoke?"

Sev cocks his head in response, as if engaged in intense calculations, then concludes, "Smoke. It is the more probable irritant to produce a tear."

How are you going to attempt to get down? Stand on the (moving) convener belt? Climb down the supporting frame (which doesn't look easy, but is far from impossible)

Remi peers over the edge and grimaces. "Two bad options. Still, here we are, and down looks to be the way we need to go. Judging from the sound, something at least is working down there. Into the smoke it is. Shall we go for a ride?"

I'd vote for attempting to descend on the conveyor belt.

{It looks to Bugface like a bad option and a really bad option. Let's take a ride.}

Patting its back, Pangea looks down into the smoke.
"I have a jet pack, so could fly down alongside those on the conveyor belt..."

Joy ride at the fun fair? What could go wrong? Surely there are prizes on offer! Who is first?

"Follow me then" Viper-6 signals to her fellow 'Spider' Pangea.

Jump jets at the ready of something gets wild down there

Viper hops onto the conveyer belt. But after about 10 feet, her weight seems to trigger a mechanism that drops her into a shoot, heading downwards fast!

Fire Jump jets!

Beta was about to follow its fellow Spider-- but fires the jet pack too, to start trying to fly down.

Bugface gasps but then Viper hits the jets. Relieved Bugface says,{Apparently Bugface was wrong as to which option was the really bad one. Climbing it is.}

Bugface drops down and starts climbing the frame.

Athletics+Duskmire Allegiance: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

I swear this dice roller is out to get me.

Remi freezes when Viper suddenly drops. "Um... Are you all right?" she calls down into the smoke-shrouded depths below.

She attempts to climb down in a more mundane manner after Bugface.

Athletics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Viper emerges from the hidden chute, thankful that she was well prepared for such an eventuality. Then she and Pangea start down. Bugface tries to join them, but slips and falls into the smoky darkness below!

And just for the next post or two, we are going to leave the fate of Bugface unknown, unless he has some way to fly?

stuffY: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Remi tries to climb down but finds the going too tough to make progress.
Failed check, but by less than 5

No flight, just oof.

"BugfaaaAAACCCE!"
Pangea will fly carefully down into the smoke...

Sev casts flight once again on himself and continues after the others into the smoke.

As 0:58

As Bugface plummets into the dark smoke below, first Viper, then Pangea and then Sev fly rapidly after him. This leaves Remi feeling very alone in the darkness. With just the clanking of the conveyor belts for company she realises that space is not the only place that people can't hear you scream.

On the plus side, there is definitely a bottom to the shaft, as she certainly can hear the sickening thud of Bugface hitting the bottom after a couple of seconds. Kind of reassuring as presumably if she felt like screaming, well, someone might hear here too.

splat: 8d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 2, 2, 5, 6, 1, 4) = 28

Bugface winces in pain. He looks around the area he finds himself in.

Thick clouds of black smoke belch forth from oil-soaked machinery that sprawls throughout this factory. The machinery wheezes and clanks in a jarring cacophony.

Unfortunately, Bugfaces arrival is right in the middle of the machinery which seems to regard him as some errant artefact that needed to be... eliminated.
attack: 1d20 ⇒ 4
crash bang: 4d12 + 4 ⇒ (2, 4, 5, 3) + 4 = 18

Up the top, Remi realises that in spite of the smoke, you can hear someone scream from the bottom of the pit.

Status
Viper 29/34HP; Radiated(weakened: -2 to CON related stuff) ; flying down
Pangea (armor sufficient to make immune to radiation) ; flying down
Bugface 12/40SP; 29/36HP; Ref DC 16 to avoid a further 18 damage; prone
Sev+ 33/40HP; flying donw
Remi 29/34HP; at the top, by herself. All alone. In the dark. Anyone read a story about Gru's recently?

Avoid completely or halve the damage?

Reflex: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

{Ouch. Bugface tried to say that climbing is hard.}

All damage, you lucky person.

Pangea will fly down, and look around to see if anything seems to be lurking in the smoke.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
If all seems safe, Pangea will land beside Brokenbugface.

Pangea takes the slightly more sedate path down, landing next to the rather sore looking Bugface. Machinery continues to whirr and clang all around.

more stuff: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Map is updated.

Up the top Remi can hear little over the sound of the machinery below.

Status
Viper 29/34HP; Radiated(weakened: -2 to CON related stuff) ; flying down
Pangea (armor sufficient to make immune to radiation) ; flying down
Bugface 12/40SP; 29/36HP; prone
Sev+ 33/40HP; flying down
Remi 29/34HP; at the top, by herself. All alone. In the dark. Anyone read a story about Gru's recently?

Beta flicks the jets off.
how many rounds should I tick off from the battery?

Beta contacts Remi: "Well, Bugface is okay. Quite winded, but okay. We're down here with a big machine. Do you have some rope or cable?"

Viper sets down off the conveyor belt, looking for some sort of on/off switch or emergency stop.

I do have darkvision, so it's not all that scary. :P

Remi clings to the ledge, barely remembering to breathe as her teammates all plummet or soar down out of sight. After hearing that Bugface is not lethally injured, she lets out her held breath in a whoosh and struggles to release her stranglehold. She mutters to herself, "Jet pack. Add one of those to the shopping list for next time. Definitely need a jet pack."

At a proper speaking volume she responds over the comm unit, "Yes, I have some rope. Let me just tie it up here."

I have 50 feet of rope, so if there's somewhere to affix that at the top I'll do so and then try again to climb down.

Athletics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12 Plus the bonus if the rope gives one... though it's probably not enough to save that roll.

0:59
@Pangea The trip down is 80 feet, visibility is not high, so depending on your speed, I'm thinking three or four would be appropriate

Viper continues down the conveyor belt, after skipping the chutes. While there is no on/off switch evident, she does spot a bright yellow box that is caught between the two belts at the corner.

Remi secures a cable, but finds progress down... difficult. She slowly works her way down into the greasy smoke. A little over half way, suddenly she loses her grip on the rope.
try 2: 1d20 ⇒ 9 success 15'
round 3: 1d20 ⇒ 14 success 30'
round 4: 1d20 ⇒ 2 stuck
round 5: 1d20 ⇒ 14 success 45'
round 5: 1d20 ⇒ 1 fall!

crunch: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 1) = 8

Misery loves company, but both Remi and Bugface, while in misery, find that lying next to one another among the loud and rather dangerous looking machines... less that reassuring.

Status
Viper 29/34HP; Radiated(weakened: -2 to CON related stuff) ; on conveyor at top.
Pangea (armor sufficient to make immune to radiation) ; flying down
Bugface 12/40SP; 29/36HP; prone
Sev+ 33/40HP; flying down
Remi 28/35SP; 29/34HP; prone at the bottom.

Viper heads for the bright yellow box!

Ticked 4 rounds off Jet Pack

"Okay, Remi, I estimate that your rope will be a little--" CRASH BANG "--too short..."

Pangea makes sure Remi is okay... and Bugface too.
"Get up you guys!"

Before moving over to help Viper check out the box.

If needed, to assist Viper (or as Primary):
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Engineering: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26

Pangea thinks those machines still look dangerous, it's a miracle they didn't pound Remi.

 »Careful! Stand clear of the machines! »