The Dire GM's [SFS] Skitter Shot (PbP GameDay VIII) (Inactive)

Game Master CanisDirus

Since I'm not inspired-boosted I'll rest.

"To be fair. The robots fired first."

Quonx faces Gazigaz with eyes wide and her hands waving in the air.

"No no! That's not how it is! We wanted to show them we aren't pets! Besides, we were gonna talk with them until they attacked us!"

She starts to grumble something about their programming. "If someone's here, we should probably let them know that they're using low-quality bots. I have a few models in mind that would be better!"

Nako will peak her head around the door and look down the hallway. "Gree, we didn't shoot first, they shot first."

"Boss is longlegs, he a bit too big to fit in pet carrier.

Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (19) + 0 = 19 She attempts to peer at things in the hallway. "How many life signs did blinky computer box tell us there were?"

Nako does not detect anything out of the ordinary in the hallway. The door on the north side (top) of the hallway is closed but not locked, and is labeled as the Gaming Room. The door opposite of it (requiring an Engineering or Athletics check to open) is the Restaurant and Bar. The far end of the hallway, to the east, is the Observation Lounge.

" About two sixes of life forms, aft in the ship. Let's try across the hall."

"Good idea Dakoyo, let's move guys! We need to find Nakonechkin!"

Which door would you like to try? "Across the hall" suggests the restaurant and bar, which needs an engineering or athletics check to open.

"Ready!" Nako will take a few hands that are free and not holding stuff and open the door.

Athletics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

"Friend Nako, may I help?"

Not good at either. In true skittermander fashion I will let those best suited to the task lead, and will assist if wanted.

Athletics, untrained: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (15) + 0 = 15
Engineering, untrained: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 4

"We skitters! We always help!"

"Oh yeah! Teamwork!"

Athletics, untrained: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (2) + 0 = 2

Engineering, untrained: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (9) + 0 = 9

Quonx! We need some intelligence here. This door is stronger than us.

Again, I am really, very sorry for my posting delay.

Nako and Dakoyo (unfortunately, Engineering is a trained-only skill, though I wish for this adventure it could be done untained) force the door open!

Track 06: Restaurant & Bar - YouTube Link: Outlaw Star - "Silence"

Smooth wooden flooring and paneled walls 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 nonfunctioning 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.

Standing just inside, startled by the door suddenly being thrust open, is a tall lashunta woman who shakily points a laser pistol at you!

"Aaaaah! St...stay back, or I'll shoot!" she exclaims. Behind her, you can see 12 other people, a couple of whom have armed themselves with empty wine bottles or barstools.

The other inhabitants of this room include: an elderly male human, a young female human socialite, two middle-aged male human vidgamers, two fastidious shirrens from Absalom Station (both female), a female kasatha with a cybernetic arm, a drunk male ysoki, a matronly female vesk, a melancholy agender android, and a male bleachling gnome. In addition, a single human dressed in a crew uniform, lies wounded and unconscious on one of the piles of blankets near the bar.

These people are super scared and on-edge! You need to make a combination of two Diplomacy (easier), Bluff (moderate), or Intimidate (harder) checks to convince them to let you inside and talk to you!

Map is Updated!

"No need to worry nufriends! We heard you were looking for pets? We're no pet, just a bunch of skittermanders roaming around... You have such a nice ship, I've never seen such a drift spaceship! You don't mind a group of furry tourists, don't you? I'm Gazigaz by the way!", says Gazigaz raising all six of his arms.

diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 + 1d6 ⇒ (16) + 9 + (5) = 30

bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

"Can we come in? We're kind of thirsty "

Dakoyo steps up next to Gaz.

"Nufriends! We are the crew of theClutch, captained by Nakonechkin Ginnady. Skitters like us always help. Have you seen our Captain? He's a big vesk who came aboard two hours ago."

Diplomacy, aid: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Nako looks around the room a bit before at least stowing the grenades from her hands and starts to tap out a soothing rhythm on the mvindee fingerdrums.

"Nufriends need help." Nako mentions taking a look at the injured and the fact this doesn't look like normal sleeping quarters, her voice slowly tiling sadly before picking up with bright 'we help'. "We came to help Nakonechin, tall Vesk." she mentions motioning towards the matronly Vesk. "Vesk know skitters! Gree? Vesk give skitters more ways to help!" We help Vesk first, then humans, then shirrens, then ysoki who are small like us! Androids, and other small short peoples failing at what a gnome is called. Skitters help all Nufriends."

Diplomacy (wow Nako has Cha): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 I spoke too soon.

Quonx tries to back up her friends.

"Yeah! Besides, you obviously need help with your ship's systems. Just looks at those robots we came across, did you know they use the old Gamma-3 telemetry system? Maybe if you rewire the..." The skittermander goes on a tirade until someone interrupts her.

Diplomacy, Aid: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Dakoyo leans forward to peek into the room. "You have wounded. I am a healer of no small skill."

Dakoyo produces his stethoscope and waves it hopefully.

"Perhaps you would permit me to help?"

He leans back and whispers to his companions, "This is a good way to make nufriends, gheee?"

Between Gazigaz and Dakoyo, you calm them down enough that they lower their (mostly makeshift) weapons and let you in, hastily closing the door behind you, once again jamming it shut with bits of scrap from the bar (and pieces of the destroyed bartender robot).

The lashunta apologizes for pointing a gun at you, then introduces herself as Voryna Kopalli. She works for a Castrovelian nongovernmental organization that helps keep the continent of Ukulam pristine. She saved up several months of salary for this vacation and has spent the last several days regretting it. Her survival skills and ability to stay focused in the face of danger have helped keep everyone else together, so far.

The passengers will tell you that they all booked passage on the Emerald Empyrean for a relaxing two week cruise that was supposed to take them sight-seeing off the orbits of Brethda's many moons, the rings of Liavara, and to some of the more interesting parts of the Diaspora. The ship left Verces just over a week ago, with a crew of three and an advanced artificial intelligence named "M2" that oversaw almost everything the passengers (or crew) needed.

Three days ago, the ship unexpectedly entered into the Drift while everyone was sleeping, ending up here in Near Space. The crew asked everyone to gather here in the restaurant while they investigated. After several hours, none of them had returned, so Voryna convinced a couple of the more physically fit passengers to go with her to look for them. They found one of the crew, Locke Linler, bleeding out near the guest suites downstairs. Voryna knew enough first aid to stop him from dying, but nobody had any medkits or serums, so they carefully brought him back here, along with anything useful they could scrounge from their rooms. En route, the ship's porter robots accosted them, so they decided to seal themselves in (and destroy the bartender robot...just in case).

They've been stuck here for the last three days. The ship was stocked with self-preparing meals and provisions for a two week cruise, but given the stress everyone is under, the alcohol is running low, and cleanliness standards have also dropped dramatically (they're now using the refrigerator to store waste), and don't know what to do.

You've got quite a bit of information to parse through, skittermanders. Is there anything you'd like to ask, say, or do while here?

Quonx cocks her head, puzzled.

"What about the Artificial Intelligence? Did you manage to contact it while you were stuck here?"

The passengers reply that the AI kept telling them that it was "enhancing their relaxation" with a change in course, schedule, and entertainment options. After the Emerald Empyrean exited the Drift, M2 encouraged everyone to go to the observation lounge, where it had supposedly increased the relaxation potential of their space-borne views by over 300%.

[bold]"And did you go? That sounds intriguing! Maybe the boss wanted some relaxation, too!"[/b]

After finding Locke nearly dead, they decided that the ship's AI had turned against them like in some horror vid, so the best they could do was to huddle up here and pray for the other two crewmembers to have figured something out, or to have activated a distress beacon.

"I will talk later. First I must help the injured."

Dakoyo bounces over to the injured Linler. The skittermander begins listening to the human's chest, neck, head, arms and legs with the stethoscope. Periodically he pulls the instrument away from the man to shake it after a disbelieving stare. After a few moments he tucks it into a pocket and begins palpating Linler's limbs.

Medicine, diagnosis: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

When you read Dakoyo's background, you'd think he'd have a medkit or something to play doctor with before going to healing magic....

<3 and a +3 circumstance bonus for using the stethoscope!

Locke Linler shows signs of severe blunt force trauma and several electrical blasts consistent with being shot with energy weapons. Quick-thinking first-aid saved his life. He is currently at 0 hit points, has 0 resolve, but is stable (that said, even the tiniest bit more damage would likely kill him).

While Dakoyo helps the injured, Quonx pulls out a datapad and begins to frantically type.

"Maybe the ship's cameras caught something, gree? Perhaps we can get some footage of the remaining crewmembers or what is going on in the observation lounge?"

Computers: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

1d20 ⇒ 14 (Modifiers hidden)

Quonx tries to access the local infosphere, but is immediately locked out, followed by a bright green-tinted text message:

ALL INFOSPHERE CONNECTIONS, INCLUDING COMMUNICATION NETWORKS, HAVE BEEN TAKEN OFFLINE TO ENSURE THAT PASSENGERS ABOARD THE EMERALD EMPYREAN CAN MAXIMIZE THEIR VACATION TIME RELAXING WITHOUT TECHNOLOGICAL DISTRACTIONS. IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY, PLEASE CONTACT THE NEAREST PORTER ROBOT FOR ASSISTANCE. THANK YOU.

"It appears my patient lost a barroom fight with an industrial arc-welding robot. Fortunately Ibra is generous. In ancient days the patient would have had his blood drained by leeches to reduce swelling. If that didn't work, a quick trepanning might follow. "

I'll go ahead and give him a mystic cure.

Mystic cure: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

"That's a big person way of saying you'll be outside in space, gree?" Nako asks.

Nako will attempt to look at computer terminal if there is one simply to pull up the map.

"Dakoyo, when your nufriend patient'll be fine, we should ask him a few questions, gree? If our dear Nakonechkin is in danger, we need to know what's waiting for us! We don't want to run unprepared into this rescue mission, gree?"

Upon casting the curative spell, Locke Linler wakes up to the relief of the passengers!

After being brought up to speed on what's happened, Linler is extremely grateful to the four of you, and to the passengers who brought him here. He explains that the ship's engineer, Kenjaro Chidi, went to the bridge to try and fix the AI, while he and Captain Alazea Dawnt went down to main engineering, accessible via a hidden door panel behind the guest quarters.

They lost contact with Kenjaro as they went inside, but found the ship's security force (a single Patrol-Class Security Robot that he will send you the technical specs on) waiting. It immediately attacked them both the second they stepped inside! He vaguely remembers stumbling back out into the corridor, bleeding, then passing out.

For saving him, he will also send to your comm devices a map of the ship, and a description of the areas you haven't been to yet.

Map is updated!

Main (Current) Deck
(Left-to-Right / Top-to-Bottom)
- Main Airlock / Entryway
- Game Room
- Food Storage / Restaurant & Bar
- Observation Lounge
- Grand Stairway
- Spa & Massage Parlor
- Bridge

Lower Deck:
(Right-to-Left / Top-to-Bottom)
- Crew Bunks
- Grand Stairway
- Luggage Storage / Secondary Airlock
- Luxury Guest Rooms
- Communal Restrooms
- Economy Guest Rooms
- Secret Door
- Main Engineering

Locke wishes he was in shape to help try and save the ship, but despite being healed, he has effectively been in a coma for several days and would probably not be useful to you.

Nobody else here can offer you anything except a bite to eat or a stiff drink. They have one survival knife and an azimuth laser pistol between the twelve of them, but would feel safer holding onto those for their own protection.

Well done so far! What would you like to do next?

During the exposition, Dakoyo examines his patient, with a head-bobbing self-satisfied air. "No worries, Linler. Just rest here, we keep everyone safe."

Dakoyo then waves his shipmates over for a skittermander huddle.

"The boss probably went to the bridge or engineering first. Greee? Do we run straight there or search room by room?"

"Gree! Clear rooms one by one before descending downward. Then nothing can come back up and shoot our furry backsides off!" Nako nods.

Nako looks around. "Also give tall folk more room to move around in if needed."

She'll look back to the rest of the people here. "Anyone else other than Kenjaro and Alazea still out there that are friendly? Well and boss! but friendlies we haven't met."

None of the passengers have seen anybody other than the crew or themselves since the ship launched, and know of no one else on board.

"Room by room, then." Dakoyo cedes to Nako's superior combat experience.

The skittermander looks at the passengers and points toward the door in the aft wall. "Nufriends! What lies through that door?"

A few of the passengers cough, telling you that's where the alcohol and food storage was...but they moved the food into the drink refrigerators under the bar and are drinking their alcohol warm...the food refrigerator is now where they're storing their waste.

"Let's go then! Nakonechkin is in danger, we can't wait any longer! " , says Gazigaz heading for the door.

"Nako, do you mind leading the way? You seem to know where you're going."

"Tay!" Nako will carefully reopen the door and look up and down the hallway before looking at the door directly across the hall.

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 9

Track 05: The Emerald Empyrean - YouTube Link: Outlaw Star - "Handle"

Wooden panels line the walls of this cozy room, and an emerald green carpet covers the floor. Two wooden tables, each adorned with a deck of shiny playing cards, are surrounded with comfortable chairs. Two digital dart boards hang on the forward wall in the other corner. A holo-billiards table, its holographic balls glowing serenely, occupies one of the aft corners. A closed cabinet stands in the final corner of the room.

The closed cabinet contains augmented reality goggles and gloves that function with the dart boards, allowing players to throw all manner of digital projectiles; half a dozen holocues for the billiards table; and a jantz set (jantz is a chess-like board game played with elaborate glass pieces).

When searching the room, Dakoyo and Quonx notice a note about a confiscated magical dart that was used by a passenger on the ship's previous voyage one month ago to cheat at a tournament, and the associated weapon.

This dart functions as a survival knife with the thrown (10 ft.) special property and the returning weapon fusion.

Map is updated! Where to now?

Dakoyo pounces on the dart. He uses detect magic to see if it really is magical. He is elated with the result.

"Skitters! It is true! A magical dart. Look." He tosses the dart at one of the boards and waits for it to come back. "Who wants it?

It's the joy of discovery. Dakoyo has no particular use for it.

Forward to the round room! And I'm enjoying the soundtrack.

Gazigaz walks around, looking at the room with sparkes in his eyes: "What a nice place! The color of the carpet goes so well with its wooden surrounding!"

"Wow, so impressive! It has so much style! I love it! Can I have it ?" , says Gazigaz after Dakoyo's demonstration of the magic dart.

"We can tell others this room clear." Nako mentions and then sets up tactically to move into the round room. She has returned the grenade to her hand along with the doshko and pistol.

"Ooooh! That's so drift!"

Quonx stumbles around with the AR glasses on. After a few steps, she bumps into one of the billiard tables and sits down with a thump. She removes the glasses and inspects the rest of the room.

"I doubt the boss came here. Let's move on, gree?"

...

"Wow, so impressive! It has so much style! I love it! Can I have it ?" , says Gazigaz after Dakoyo's demonstration of the magic dart.

"It's all yours." Dakoyo hands the dart to Gaz.

***

In the hallway, Dakoyo clutches staff, pistol, as he waits behind Nako at the door to the next room.

Opening the door to the observation lounge reveals a cloying darkness that dampens all nonmagical lights after 10 feet, allowing normal vision 10 feet from the door and dim illumination 10 feet further in. You cannot tell what is going on inside the circular chamber, but you can hear the sound of skittering chitin!

Wowsa - you can all look under the above spoiler with my permission to see just how insane that was - I broke the enemy into three groups of two, but they all rolled the same number!

Six tiny Shadowy Insect-like creatures come crawling out of the darkness to attack you!

Track 07: Observation Deck Fight - YouTube Link: Outlaw Star - "Crisis"

The first three enter Nako's square, trying to bite her, while the other three try to get into Quonx's personal space to take a bite out of her blue fur!

vs. Nako:
Number 1 Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 vs. KAC (...seriously? Why can't I roll like this when I play???)
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Crit Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Number 2 Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 vs. KAC (-.-;)
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Crit Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Number 3 Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22 vs. KAC
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

vs. Quonx:
Number 4 Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 vs. KAC
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Number 5 Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17 vs. KAC
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Number 6 Bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16 vs. KAC
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

ROUND 1
Nako (-18 SP, -3 HP)
Quonx (-7 SP)
Dakoyo (0 Damage)
Gazigaz (0 Damage)
ROUND 2
Number 1 (0 Damage)
Number 2 (0 Damage)
Number 3 (0 Damage)
Number 4 (0 Damage)
Number 5 (0 Damage)
Number 6 (0 Damage)

Skittermanders are up!

Map is Updated!

You can roll a Mysticism check as a free action to identify these creatures and "sense" things about the room.

"Akk creepy crawly things!" Nako swings the doshko at one of them crawling on near her.

Atk: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
dmg if needed: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Mysticism untrained: 1d20 ⇒ 18

Unfortunately I think Mysticism is trained only, is it not?

"Argh! Stop crawling on me!" Quonx unsheathes a knife and slashes at one of the nearby creatures.

Survival Knife vs KAC: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1 S

"Dakoyo, Gazigaz, get back a bit!" Quonx yells, while trying to get away from the critters.

Mysticism: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16

"Nako!" Dakoyo scampers forward to heal his fellow skittermander.

Mystic cure: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

After casting the cure, Dakoyo looks intently into the gloom.

"These creatures are visitors from the plane of shadow; they are not nufriends. Bright light will blind them. There must be some kind of portal to let them into this plane. If we can destroy the anchor of the portal, they will return to their home."