[SFS] 1-04. Cries from the Drift (Inactive)

Game Master therealthom

I know Mysticism implies a supernatural effect, but would this space storm qualify for the Spacefarer theme's reduced DC Physical Sciences check for "features of space"?

Hermena looks at the scan of Struggle's Scholar, then to the storm, then again to the derelict ship. "If that storm moves this way, we'll likely never find the wreckage again. I think we should get in, get what we came for, and get out as quickly as possible, then try to get back into the Drift before that roiling mass overwhelms us. My sails can get me into the holed cargo bay to look around, then I can ferry other in through the breach as needed."

"Okay, the scan is complete. I'm routing a copy of the ship map to your datapads. Looks like someone or something is alive over there. Some odd power spikes from the bridge, engine room, and...maybe captain's quarters? Definitely want to go in shielded and ready for trouble. Also, not much chance of salvage. Looks like the cargo holed has been, well...holed. Probably lost everything to vacuum, but no harm in checking it out, I guess."

"We might be able to get the engines operational--at least enough to get her out of range of the storm."

CDM, no tow?

Kai can also report that the power plant is producing a minimal amount of power.

Beyond the Struggle's Scholar the storm roils. Sometimes it moves closer as a front. Sometimes a swirl of blue and grey storm simply blooms in space between the advancing front and your ship.

The storm's advance is both ineluctable and unpredictable. Kai runs some probabilities and announces that you have between 40 and 60 minutes at one standard deviation.

I'm back. What's your plan?

Patterson brings the Pegasus alongside the kasatha vessel. "Is there a standard docking mount on the lock?"

Yes. You can either dock to the airlock, or spacewalk to either the airlock or cargo hold.

The human brings the Pegasus in. "Prepare to dock. Slower on the front end, but if we have to run I don't want to be caught on an EVA in the storm. Kai, can you set the ship comp to alert us if the storm gets too close?"

Hellih gathers his belongings and draws his laser rifle in his hands. He speaks to Kai:

"Can we set up notifications for how quickly a storm is advancing? If the speed change I prefer to abandon the mission rather than get caught by it."

His circuits are glowing with a steady green light.

"Do to the storm and our short time limit, I suggest we split up. Herma, Kai, and I will take the Bridge. Hk, Patterson, and Steev will take Engineering. We will meet up in the Captain's Quarters. Don't forget there is an unknown life form on board, so keep your heads on a swivel."

NOTE: Alzandre has: Xenoarchaeologist: Theme Knowledge(EX): Reduce the DC to identify rare, ancient, or alien tech by 5.

Aren't those the last famous words? Let's split;)

"Given that we don't know what we are facing, how about we first clear the ship from any hostile beings and then split to search?"

Kai can setup relaying updates from your ship's sensors to your comm units.

”I agree with Hellih,” Hermena says as she loads the magazine into the machine gun provided by the vesk. ”We won’t have much time to search if we are patching people up after an ambush or unexpected mishap. Let’s sweep the ship and clear it of any hazards and hostiles, then we can spread out and search more methodically. Given how many battle-tested Starfinders we have among us, I don’t expect us to have too much trouble.”

"Yeah, no. I'm staying with whoever has the biggest guns and the surest aim. We don't know what's aboard. Just because the sensors only saw one life form, that doesn't mean the ship isn't crawling with undead. Made that mistake before."

My vote is NOT to split the party until we know the ship is clear.

I thought the ship was bigger. Together is best.

Patterson brings the two ship's together. A few gentle bumps and bangs can be heard transmitted through the docking structure as the docking system locates itself and makes the connection. Green lights -- there's atmosphere in the Scholar's airlock anyway.

Last chance to pick your boarding equipment and prepare.

Patterson quickly grabs his go-kit: a heavy laser rifle, a pulsecaster, an assault hammer, some metal alloy line, his hand comm, and a vial of healing serum.

Android gathers his belongings and heads toward the docking station.

While waiting HK says:

"...an abandoned ship ... an alien life form of unknown origin. It reminds of an old movie called the Alien ... if I recall correctly in the first part an android was the culprit ... it is a good thing that in our party we don't have a crazy android with us .... hahahaha "

The monolog ends with a burst of maniacal laughter. After that Hellih adds:

"Don't worry, HK is a bit mad but harmless. After the latest incident, it took away his access to my limbs or life functions."

Hermena hoists the squad machine gun alongside her starknife, shock grenade, healing serum, and comm unit. She straps her Diasporan sniper rifle to back, in case she needs a laser weapon to harm any hostiles. Before joining the rest of the team she looks back at her Azlanti assault rifle, then slings it over her shoulder as well and mutters, "Just in case..."

She gives Hellih a worried look as she takes her place alongside the android. "Did it seem wise to draw parallels like that now, or was that comment HK's brilliant idea?"

Kai grabbed his hacking kit and weapons, strapping everything into the special pockets hi had added to his armor, and finally slipping his datapad into the reinforced pouch on his thigh.

"I'm ready."

Alzandre dons his backpack, grabs his battle staff once more, and follows the rest of the group. "Let's go."

North is left on the map.

The airlock doors slide open to reveal the Scholar's airlock.

This entire chamber is one large airlock, with access doors to the north and south. The southern wall in this room is a starship bulkhead and both doors are heavily constructed airlock doors. Loose netting floats in the gravity-free chamber. A warning light above the interior door flashes every few seconds, periodically bathing the room in a dim orange glow. A small panel next to the door flashes orange in time with the warning light. The panel contains a simple set of airlock controls.

You all crowd into the Scholar's airlock and activate the panel to close the main airlock door, which causes the room to automatically pressurize; artificial gravity then kicks in gradually. As air fills the room, a blaring alarm can be heard, timed with the light. After 30 seconds, the alarm and light stop flashing. As you reach to open the inner door, a horrifying screech penetrates through the northern door.

"You hear that? We are definitely not alone."

Kai motioned for the soldiers to head out in the lead, even as he pulled his pistol and checked to make sure it was ready to fire.

Did it seem wise to draw parallels like that now, or was that comment HK's brilliant idea?

"HK has a peculiar sense of humor. Yet his story has an important aspect: we are heading into a deadly ...."

Hearing the screech Hellih goes quiet, his left eye glow with red light and starts scanning the surrounding while his hands grip harder the laser rifle.

"How about we check the most likely locations for the data: bridge and captain quarters and if we have time we go through the rest of the ship?"

"I've heard of that one, but you forgot the most important part about the android--the rest of the crew thought it was human until it attacked." He flashes a grin.

Are we in B1 yet?

Oh, yes. You're in B1. I had no qualms about moving you that far. It's up to you to open the door.

I've added a compass rose (at least Wikipedia call it that way) to the image of the ship. As already I forgot where is south ;)
Hellih smiles broadly at Patterson's comment and walks slowly towards the southern door keeping his rifle ready.

He looks for a way to see what is behind the door before he opens them.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Put us on the map. Have to zoom in quite a bit to see. Please make sure you are ok with your position before the doors are opened.

Looks good. I am ready to go

Also, we're on a ship. Directions like forward/aft (already marked), port/starboard are more appropriate :p

"The power spikes are forward, through those doors. Captain's Quarters and Engine Room, which are both on their way to the bridge. The scans weren't clear where the life form is, so be ready for anything."

By the way, as a sarcesian Hermena is actually Large size. Can I adjust her token, or do you need to to that?

Hermena nods approvingly at the large door leading out of the airlock. ”I won’t have too much trouble getting through here, but if the ship was built for kasathans I may need to squeeze through some of the side doors, since I doubt we’ll have time for Hellih to adjust them to my height. I can go in first here and cover everyone else as they move through the smaller doors.”

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

I was looking at the google docs, and went ahead and changed your size. Thanks to whoever put the counters on the ship. And I'll adopt Bigrin's suggestion. Port,starboard, fore, aft, it is.

The crates in the corner of the air lock are labeled spare parts.

There's a small window in the airlock door. Lighting on the other side of the door is dim and flickers continually. The airlock door opens into a broad room. Across the room a hallway runs straight forward and two exits to either side lead out of sight. A weapons turrret hangs limply from the ceiling just to starboard of your door.

Patterson indicates the turret. "Kai, is that thing going to go off on us?"

Oh, yeah--just in case:

Perception check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Alzandre casts Token Spell to create light on his staff.

"Does anyone notice anything moving?" says Alzandre as he looks around feebly...

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 4

"From this room, we can't know anything for sure with regards to the turret. There is no computer, it looks turned off if you ask me."

Hellih comments.

Damn Hermena! You are one heck of an alien!

The dim light must be making it hard to see.

The airlock controls show atmosphere in the room beyond.

Kai scanned the turret for any signs of damage or a functioning network node. He then tried to connect to it using his datapad and a short-range ad hoc network protocol.

"I'll check and see if I can access it from here, but with the ship powered down, there probably isn't much it can do. If it isn't functional now, we might want to try and disable it permanently before we move on. "

perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
computers: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23

The airlock terminal does not access any ship's systems.

I do appreciate the professional thoroughness of the entire crew.

Patterson shrugs. "Feck it. Let's go." The human steps up to the door, hits the control, and takes a quick step back, bringing his heavy laser down to fire at any hostile that might present itself.

Steev nods and steps up, his doshko in his hand.

With her finger ready to flip the machine gun into full-automatic if things go sideways, Hermena braces herself for whatever might appear and steps through the door. She clicks on her flashlight and peers down the port and starboard passages.

Token moved into area B2.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Patterson opens the door. Nothing stirs.

Hermena steps into the gloom of the main cabin. The turret remains inert.

Through the gloom she sees a gruesome trail of blood that runs across the floor and into the halls from port to starboard across the ship; at each
end of this hall are metal access doors leading fore and aft. A shorter hall leads forward to a door, with two doors halfway up that hall exiting to the left and right.

Nothing stirs.

Hellih walks slowly after Hermena and heads toward a corner of a room constantly scanning the room for any source of threat.

HK scans for any targets that he might lock on and during that Hellih speaks

"Bridge or Captain quarters now?"

You can see him breathing a bit faster and speaking a bit less. That could be due to the constant presence of HK or simply him being nervous.

"Captain's quarters are off to the starboard side...wait, is that a blood trail? Looks like it is headed towards where the captain's quarters are. This is not good. Maybe our life form is injured?"

Or does the blood run starboard to port? Only one way to tell for sure...

Kai's comm unit beeps for attention. The lights cut out simultaneously leaving you all in darkness for a second. The lights grudgingly recover while Kai checks his comm to see it reporting a transient radiation spike. The storm front has not come appreciably closer in the minutes since you left the ship.

Aside from the sounds of a half dozen sentients echoed by the utilitarian grey walls, nothing stirs.

Hermena follows the gruesome trail with her eyes. "If we want to find out what was producing the signs of life that the sensors picked up, I suggest we start with the thing that's bleeding. If it's friendly we can help, and if it's not... I'd rather not give a potential hostile the opportunity to get between us and our way out."

Does anyone have enough Life Science ranks to see how old the bloodstain is?

The blood trail is dry and crusty, brown rather than red. There are little chunks of organic matter and the deck immediately around them is shallowly pitted.

"Ok, lets head towards that thing. Let us start with the captain's quarters and it seems to be the right direction."

Hellih looks closer at the blood mark. He wonders if it can be a blood of the Kasathans.

Life science: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6 Yeah, I can say it's blood for sure.

Yep, blood. Well dried. It doesn't take a doctor's license to tell the bleeding was done a long time ago. Without some kind of diagnostic test it will be difficult to determine the species of origin.

Steev checks the blood, too. Life Science: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

It's old dried blood. Most likely kasathan because that's what the crew was.