The bright purple skittermander turns away from the porthole, where he had spent the last hour staring out at the distant stars.
"Hello, hello! Oh, did you cut your finger? I have something that can help with that."
He pulls out what appears to be an old rag with some adhesive attached to it. "No... not this.. but in the old days they would have tied this around your finger. More likely have led to finger rot if you ask me, but what did they know back then. No.. not half as good as this spray..."
Two other hands quickly grab items from a nearby medical kit and the healing spray is quickly applied.
"I'm Dakyo, the doctor... and I think we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."
A bright red skittermander strides forth "Ok all you knuckle dragging mouth breathers...that is vesk for neufriend!...I am Nako. Which is short for Nakonechkin, because I am short and work with Nakonechkin. I have been trained the warrior ways by the Vesk! And I even have Nakonechkin's old ember flame doshko as a gift for my prowess!"
She begins to be some small drum/cymbal things on one of her arms. "And I am excited to be here!" The arrhythmic tapping get a little louder. "And I hope that we will see great adventures!" She looks around a bit nervously, then realizes her nosiey figitting. Then stops playing the finger drums.
"I think we will make a great team!"
The dockyards of Absalom Station aren't usually home to a skittermander, but don't tell that to Quonx. Her bright blue fur mostly covered by pocketed overalls full of tools and diagnostic equipment the young skittermander looks like she is completely at home inside the service area of a starship engine.
"Yes, yes, I know the J5 Abadar flight computer version 3.7 always glitches when asked to calculate a flight path between interstellar coordinates 3594 and 6829 so it makes traveling between Absalom Station and Akiton a bit tricky at times, but if you just upgrade it to version 3.8 or replace the processing unit on your computer with this Azlanti Rechner model version 8.25 that I got my hands on. Don't ask me how let's just say you won't find these on shelf at your local starship supply shop. You'll never have a problem, of course if you want to make the Diaspora run in less then 12 parsecs you'll need a engine that can push a rating of 5........."
"Hey, nufriends!!!" A green skittermander enters excitedly with his arms outstretched. "Me am Gazigaz! We gonna have such great fun adventures together!"
He skittles up to each of the others and embraces them in a six armed hug. "Yay! Best nufriends!" Gazigaz smiles a toothy grin and pulls out a comb and mirror, proceeding to groom his fur and create several purposeful parts. "Gotta look good for everyone! Ok, we ready for fun?...I can't hear you! Me said, are you ready for fun?!"
It began as a dull day aboard the Clutch, Nakonechkin Salvage’s only ship and your home for the past year or so. Your boss, the vesk Nakonechkin, brought the ship out of Pact Words space and into some of the void beyond, looking for derelict space stations or the remains of forgotten starship battles to pick through.
Suddenly, with a buzzing chime, the ship’s computers registered a starship drifting in the region. Nakonechkin rushed to the captain’s console and initiated a scan. An image of the target ship appeared on screen: a large, ornate green starship with brass accents. It looked abandoned and ill-suited to be so far from the Pact Worlds.
Nakonechkin quickly pulled on his space suit and grabbed a set of all-purpose tools. “This looks like an easy enough job. You lot stay here and keep an eye on the Clutch. Try not to ‘repair’ anything while I’m away. I should be back in a couple of nanoseconds.” He nodded curtly and cycled the airlock to float over to the derelict ship.
Two hours have passed since Nakonechkin departed, and he isn’t responding to your communications. Something must have gone terribly wrong—and Nakonechkin might need help!
Quonx quickly runs her hands over the computer console she is seated at and initiates a scan, "I think we'll need allsix on this one!"
"Oh my! Whatever can have happened. Doesn't matter, I'm all hands for helping!" calls out Dakoyo, with one of the said hands already with his medical bag.
He looks at the computer for a moment. "Did you try that red button?"
"Buttons over here! Maybe this one. Or this one! More here!" Gazigaz hops up and down. "We help Nakonechkin!"
Quonx puts all the information she got from the scans on the forward view screen. Turning to the rest of the crew she exclaims, "Nakonechkin is in trouble, he's alive, but only semi conscious somewhere in the ship. We have to save him!"
"Ohh, ohhh... I can help. I can help!"
Dakoyo whirls his stethoscope around his head in the manner that might either indicate a willingness to charge into battle, a victory dance, or well.. just a case of skitertheusism.
"I've got my bag, lets get to that shuttle!"
"Yes! She didn't say anything about not fixing THAT ship! Help is on the way" Nako rattles her drums and grabs her doshko. "Lets go Maggots!...that is also Vesk for bestest buddies!"
Unanimously agreed to save their boss, the skittermanders of the Clutch quickly prepare! Quonx gleans as much information as possible from sensors. Dakoyo ensures he has his archaic, outdated and functionally useless medical equipment prepared. Nako wields her traditional vesk battle weapon, prepared to cleave her way to the boss if necessary. And Gazigaz spazzes out, jumping up and down which somehow whips up the energy level of the entire party!
The team quickly armors up in preparation for a spacewalk to the Emerald Empyrean. Once out of the airlock, you each tether yourselves to the Clutch and push off towards the Emerald Empyrean. Being just a few hundred feet apart, it should take no more than two minutes to float over to the pleasure barge. Such an EVA maneuver would typically be routine and standard but if anything can possibly go wrong at the worst time, you betcha it does!!! Halfway over to the Emerald Empyrean, our intrepid skittermanders find themselves engulfed in a passing micrometeroid storm!!
After the storm passes, the team continues their short journey. The cruise ship’s outer airlock door is marked with a large Trendsetter Excursions logo (a golden rocket blasting out of a glass of sparkling wine) and can easily be opened using an adjacent access panel.
Our intrepid skittermanders enter via the outer airlock, disconnect the tethers and shut the outer door, initiating a pressurization sequence within the airlock. Once complete a red light on the inner airlock door flashes green.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Cries Nako. Then seeing Quonx also hit, "Can you still open the door? Either way you should rest before we go any further"
As she picks a piece of meteorite from her fur Quonx replies, "If we had just updated the Clutch with a Vitaritech Industries Mk. 5 boarding tube like I had recommended 3 months ago this would never have happened. I even managed to get the dealer to give us a 20% discount too!" She goes on and on for 10 minutes straight like this. Finally, turning her attention to the airlock door she exclaims, "It looks like the outer door access panel has been hacked already, possibly by Nakonechkin. This inner door should open with just a press of a button." As she prepares to open the inner door she readies her laser rifle in two of her hands, a frag grenade in another, her survival knife in a fourth, and a healing serum syringe in another.
Dakoyo takes out his stethoscope and applies it to the door.
"Seen this in a holovid once. Now... where is the combination lock?"
He taps the door rhythmically, as Quonx taps on the keypad.
"Ta dah! Medicine for spaceships too!"
Gazigaz ducks into the ship as Quonx opens the door. He holds his arc pistol, but you can tell he's more eager to greet whoever might be on the other side rather than shoot them.
"Hey!!! Anybody home? Nakonechkin? You ok?"
With Nako and Quonx rested and everyone ready to go, Quonx opens the door!
This square chamber has little in the way of furnishings, and the walls and ceiling are a clean white, while the floor is a silvery metal. Four cages are stacked in the two forward corners of the room. A heavy door leads into the airlock to the port, while a flickering holographic sign reading “Welcome Guests” floats over the door to the starboard.
Hovering under the sign are three robots. They quickly turn to face and scan you, then declares in a deep robotic voice, "Error! Pets must be placed in approved carriers before boarding the Emerald Empyrean - especially non-intelligent furry pets prone to non-hygienic shedding. Initiating containment protocols.”
Round 1
The following characters in bold may take their turn:
Dakoyo
Gazigaz
Quonx (-1RP)
Red Robot
Blue Robot
Orange Robot
Nako (-1RP)
"These are J-924 security robots and we are not pets!!!" Engaging her combat tracker to target the robot directly in front of her Quonx proceeds to close her eyes and look away as she meekly tosses her frag grenade at the robots and then drops to the ground in a prone position with hands over her ears.
Dakoyo looks around for somthing that is shedding.
"Excessive shedding can be a sign of disease!" he helpfully announces.
"or a dietary imbalance. But I can help!"
Seeing the robots approach in menacing manner he first of course, helps himself.
"Objectas reflexione armis he intones in a chanting voice.
"Non-hygenic? Gazigaz very hygenic! Me work on this look for hours this morning! I use two tubes of fur creme!"
The very styled skittermander suddenly screams at the top of his lungs. The he shouts At the same time he raises his arc pistol and fires at the robot.
Quonx tosses her grenade towards the red robot but misjudges the distance. Luckily, it causes no harm to her fellow crew members as the grenade bounces further away than intended, hiting the wall in the back and exploding. Even more luckily, it manages to catch the red and blue robots in it's blast! Quonx then drops prone!
Dakoya casts a spell, resulting in a reflective sheen all across his body.
Gazigaz singles out the red robot, fires and hits!! The red robot sizzles a bit more excessively than you'd normally expect from the blast!!
The red robot launches a grenade right into the center of the team of intrepid skittermanders and it explodes, throwing sticky strands all over within a 10 foot radius!!
Both the blue and orange robots open fire on Nako and hits, shocking him for a total of 7 points of damage!!
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Round 2
The following characters in bold may take their turn:
Dakoyo (DC10 reflex or entangled for 8 rounds)
Gazigaz (DC10 reflex or entangled for 8 rounds)
Quonx (-1RP, DC10 reflex or entangled for 8 rounds)
Red Robot (-5HP)
Blue Robot (-1HP)
Orange Robot
Nako (-7SP, -1RP, DC10 reflex or entangled for 8 rounds)
With a bit of last minute luck Nako stays free of the stickey grenade and then leaps forward out the the crowded airlock then swings at the red robot
v EAC
As she drops to the ground the security robot's grenade explodes. By sheer the luck the sticky strands from the grenade misses Quonx's prone form. Looking up she brings her laser rifle to bear on one of the security robots. A target lock tone from the earpiece in her armor's helmet tells her that her combat tracker has acquired her mark; an instant later she pulls the trigger on her rifle.
Dakoyo, warned by some supernatural force, easily avoids the entangling webs.
"You're worried about fur, but not about making a mess with those things? Right, enough is enough!"
He points his staff at a fragment of nearby grenade and gestures.
"Antiochiae sanctorum de manu CREPITUS"
"No, no, no!" Gazigaz easily scampers away from the sticky strands while shaking one of his fingers at the robots. "No hurt nufriend, Nako! Bad robots! Nako, you gonna be ok!"
Unfortunately... errrr.. LUCKILY, our crew of intrepid skittermanders are quick on their feet and managed to get out of the way of the stickybomb strands - except for Quonx, who was somehow quick on her head and performed a headspin, allowing her to dodge away!!
Nako and Dakoyo's subsequent attacks on red both hit but the red robot remains standing!!! Or hovering, rather!!
Quonx, mechanic of the crew, fixer of the loo, fires too, and her shot lands true, hitting blue which growls oddly like a grue!! Careful, the bot might sue!
Gaz's warm, encouraging words picks up Nako's spirits as the bit of windedness she suffered is wiped clean!
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Red attempts to pull Nako while Blue attempts to pull Gaz but both of them fail their grab attempts!!
Orange, however, successfully grabs Nako and drags her 5 feet before Nako wriggles out of Orange's grasp!!
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Round 3
The following characters in bold may take their turn:
Dakoyo
Gazigaz
Quonx (-1RP)
Red Robot (-14HP)
Blue Robot (-7HP)
Orange Robot
Nako (-1RP)
Gazigaz points to the red robot again. He shoots the robot with his arc pistol again.
Quonx continues to use her combat tracker to feed her telemetry on the position of the security robot she just shot. However, Gazigaz steps into the line of her shot, "Gazigaz duck!"
Dakoyo continues to whirl his staff, throwing odd bits and pieces of debris at the red robot.
"This is not a good way to treat new guests!"
Nako continues to swing at the closest robot
v EAC
Firing off a pistol while next to the blue robot gives the robot a chance to reach out and grab Gaz...but blue misses!!
Gaz's shot, however, hits the red robot, causing it to spark and go crashing to the ground!!
Quonx takes another shot at blue but misses!!!
Dakoya locates a hefty box in the corner and flings it towards the blue robot, hitting it!!
And Nako finds a vulnerable spot on the orange bot and slices the poor little floating bot in half! The two halves fall to the ground in pieces!! Fatality!!!
The lone blue robot again attempts to grab Gaz but despite a valiant attempt, misses the slippery lil skittermander!!
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Round 4
The following characters in bold may take their turn:
Dakoyo
Gazigaz
Quonx (-1RP)
Blue Robot (-12HP)
Nako (-1RP)
"Gazigaz, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!!!"
Quonx's combat tracker feeds her another firing solution on the remaining robot as she lets loose a burst of fire from her laser rifle.
"We are great warriors and helpers! Not pets." Nako cries as she steps forward and swings!
v EAC
"O! K!" Gazigaz steps away from the final robot like Quonx asks. He points to the robot. "Get day one too!
Gaz moves out of Quonx's line of sight to the remaining robot and between the laser fire and vicious doshko attack from Nako, the robot crashes to the ground, although it does manage to utter it's final words before its lights blink out completely, "Error! Please contain the rude pets in containers before boarding. Have a pleasant staaaaaaaaaayyyyy.... *bzzzzzz* *crackle*"
Moments after you dispatch the last robot, a soothing feminine voice announces the following over the intercom system, “Attention passengers, this is M2, your ship’s artificial intelligence. Scans indicate that a handful of pets have escaped their cages and are running loose. If you spot one of these errant animals, please contact the nearest porter robot. Thank you.”
Searching the room and the remainders of the robots, you find nothing useful nor salvageable. Opening the door, you see a hallway with a few doors.
"Well... at least the cleaning bots do their job around here. No sign on any tracks. I guess we just go and knock?"
Dakoyo advances into the corridor and politely knocks on the first door before pressing the open button.
"Wait Dakoyo, there could be more J-924 security robots behind the door."
In her haste to catch up with Dakoyo, Quonx runs full speed into his back as he opens the door.
Dakoyo boldly strides up to the nearest door and attempts to open it but finds it jammed shut. After unsuccessfully opening the door, Dakoyo, out of the corner of his eye, sees Quonx running straight towards him. Without hesitation or fanfare, Dakoyo calmly takes one step back, resulting in Quonx missing Dakoyo, flying through the air in front of Dakoyo, and landing on the ground, awkwardly prone and to the left of Dakoyo. Dakoyo, not even batting an eye, steps back forward and examines the door more closely.
Looks like you can maybe try and force the door open or someone with some technical skills can find a way to unjam the door.
Gazigaz claps with two of his hands while pointing with the other four at Quonx. "Good show, Keepin' the floor down! Last thing we need is for it to go floaty floaty."
He walks up to the door. "We go inside?"
"Oh dear, there are loose pets. We should keep an eye out for them and take care of them. Love them and give much nummies!"
Looking at Dakoyo, "Well that is using your head to open the door, but let's try some other limb now"
Nako move up to the door and with three of her arms grabs hold and pulls
"See the hands are smarter than the head!"
With amazing ease, Nako reaches out with her pinky finger and pulls open the jammed door revealing smooth wooden flooring and paneled walls which give this chamber an air of elegance that is immediately countered by the obvious mess and rank smell of body odor and other foulness. In the aft part of the room is a bar made from real mahogany. In front of the bar are several stools and behind it is the non-functioning husk of a bartender robot and an unmarked door. Half a dozen tables and accompanying chairs are pushed against the forward wall to make room for makeshift cots.
Scattered throughout the back of the room and behind the bar are groups of people cowering, all of whom are looking disheveled and unkempt, many of whom are yelping, seemingly in fear. Over towards the fore, crouched behind some tables are a few individuals holding knives and a lashunta female with a laser pistol pointed right at you!!
Quonx sheepishly picks herself off the floor and glares at Gazigaz after hearing his comment, "Yes, there are no structural abnormalities with the floor that I can find."
As Nako slides the door to the room open and the foul smell from within begins to spread out into the hallway Quonx engages the environmental seals on her armor, "Smells like someone needs a shower, gree?"
"Hello!" smiles Zakoyo.
"We are here to help! We notice the ships robots seem... upset. "
He tries to be as friendly as a friendly skittermand can be.
"And we want to help our friend too."
"Oh my god!! We're all gonna die!!!" screams someone in obvious fear hiding behind the bar. "Those are the killer animals M2 announced!! Shoot them! Shoot them!!!"
The lashunta holding the laser pistol doesn't yet open fire but her hand starts shaking.
"D-d-don't panic!! W-w-we will defend ourselves against these monsters!! We've survived so far!!!" she yells back in reply.
Gazigaz boldly steps towards the crowd. "Hello, nufriends! We not coming to hurt you. Skittermanders very helpful. We help you! Why you so sad?" His six arms stretch wide as if to embrace the lashunta.
"Very! And if you need help, we are always here to offer a hand, or two, or even six!" adds Dakoyo.
"Are any of you hurt?"
The lashunta and couple of people around her wielding knives lower their weapons a bit. The lashunta replies, "Y-y-you're dangerous animals!! B-b-but you're all kinda cute... Especially that one holding the really cute mini-doshko!"
But quick as a flash, her guard comes back up. "But just because you say you're friendly doesn't mean you're not here to kill us and eat us up!! How do we know it wasn't you who caused this big mess that we're in?? Who are you? What's your name? How'd you find us? Who sent you?"
The entire crowd listens intently for a reply from our intrepid skittermander crew!!!