The Shards of Oberon

Game Master FangDragon

Edwin considered the issue.

Knowledge Planes (aid if possible): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

OK you can use aid another here.
Xindrya was on the right path and narrowed down the humanoid to a handful of species. With a little guidance from Edwin and Zendara she was able to determine the desiccated corpse was almost certainly a Githyanki the legendary creators of this ship.

So, if this ship was made by the Githyanki and they were in there... was it taken over by the spiders? Creepy. Interesting though, and something that will likely add to the legend of this ship, if nothing else. She gets out her journal and starts documenting what they have seen and done so far, dreaming of a published article in one of the prestigious journals someday.

After writing down some notes, she asks

Should be do something with the body? Perhaps burn it to ash, just in case there are spider eggs in there and they somehow lasted all this time? Or... uh, does someone want to take samples?

Are there exits from here, or do we need to backtrack?

Xindyra too, starts taking notes. Much less for publishing, and more for personal studies.

"I imagine we aught to do something, agreed. It will likely decompose quickly. Speaking of samples....", and her tail slightly moves.

Xindyra has a portable laboratory, perhaps an empty test tube or two is plausible to keep on her person, for events such as these? If not, ignore the following.

She carefully fills a test tube with the empty egg's acid.

"It might be useful at some point in the future. One never knows."

Professor Dexter produces a folio an inch thick and starts sketching the scene. Her style is loose yet surprisingly detailed and she soon has a good likeness of the scene. As she sketches she answers Zendara, "Should we take samples? Yes absolutely, but on the way out I think. I know I shot the egg earlier but I'd rather not touch anything until we know what's going on here."

The archeology undergrads follow suite and soon every aspect of the room is being recorded.

"Well I think we can guess what's going on here. The Githyanki who subsist on plunder had a Voor infestation and presumably they fought eachother to a standstill. I'm guessing the food ran out and the rest was history. Now the disturbing thing is this ship is supposed to be haunted, but by what? The odds suggest either Githyanki and or Voor and I'm not sure what would be worse..."

The right hand wall has two exits both through mirror doors. The closest one is the same width as before and marked with an inscription, the furthest one is three times the width and sixty foot high. Both have the by now familiar brass keypads.

The smaller mirror door has a relatively simple code, DC 18 to open. The larger door has a much more complex code and is DC25 to open.

He wanders over to the larger mirror door and marvels at the size of it before pointing out, "Looks like something had a go at the keypad, it's dented although I think it might still be serviceable."

Voor would definitely be worse thinks Zendara, but doesn't say it out loud.

She tries to read the inscription by the smaller door

Linguistics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12 (fail)

but is unable to make anything out.

Linguistics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

Disable Device (smaller door): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16
Disable Device (larger door): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16

Edwin couldn't decipher the script. He tried to figure out the codes to open the doors, but had no success at all on either one.

Take 10 on linguistics.

Xindyra ponders the new plaque for a moment, looking for any matches of letters or symbols to form words.
"Hmmm. I think this indicates Engineering Quarters. Though only one way to confirm, right?"

Xindyra makes some notes on the symbols for future references/material to compare.

At the keypads for the mirror doors, she carefully does some deducing.
"If i'd hazard a guess on this one, it is..." *pushes combination*
Disable device?: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19
"Worked, great."

She looks at the other pad.
"Now how about you, hmm?"
Disable device?: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

Wow, Xindyra. Nice rolling. :)

Zendara looks through the small door first, assuming that quarters will be less of an undertaking than a giant cargo hold or engine bay or whatever else could be in such a large area.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

Now hopefully dicebot will be generous on future investigation rolls. :)

The large mirror door dissolves to show an L shaped addition to the main engineering hall and a musty stench of ancient death hits you. Inside are a number of too high desks each crowded with machinery of all descriptions. Some of the machines seem vaguely familiar but others are so unlike anything you've ever seen you couldn't even guess at their function.

Slumped towards the back in an embrace are a pair of desiccated Githyanki, one male and one female. Something violent seems to have occurred to their craniums, there's a small hole in the front and a large exit wound. The male is loosely clutching a strange device, it has a central crystal, various radiating fins and what looks a little like a crossbow trigger.

Nobody on oberon has encountered anything like this before and you'll need to make a DC 20 engineering roll to guess at its function. It's actually a timeworn laser pistol. Gunpowder doesn't work on Oberon but this does.

I'll describe the other area in a bit.

Poor duo, looks like suicide out of desperation?

Kn. Engineering desks: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (19) + 10 + (4) = 33

Kn. Engineering laser pistol: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (12) + 10 + (3) = 25

*Erects a shrine to the dice gods*. :D

Xindyra is amazed at the wonders this vessel holds.
"Wow. I would never have imagined ever setting foot on this vessel, let alone see things.", she quickly scribbles down details on every desk and machinery she comes across.

Eventually coming at the pair, she looks at them with some sympathy.
"Huddled together like that, the situation must have been dire to die together like that.", she kneels down to -carefully- take the strange device, and observe it. "How peculiar. Whatever this would be called, there looks to be some sort of finger trigger, like with a crossbow. A weapon, perhaps?"

We should take it with us. I am sure they will want to study it and we can likely sell it to a museum after that.

Zendara finds a bag and looks through it.

Discs with alien text. Some sort of money do you think, or... hmmm...

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Do I know they are batteries?

She puts the bag in her pack, but keeps one of the discs out to examine.

Looks like I am going to have to take the technologist feat if we are going to be running into a lot of ancient technology. Cool! :)

Knowledge Engineering (desks): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23

Edwin wasn't sure what the workstations were for. "Let's move on," he suggested.

Agreed. The giant door now I suppose.

Yukarii looked at the room behind the mirror and saw the strange device but it wasn't what held her attention. No, that was the two corpses, particularly the way they died. She wondered if the wounds were self inflicted or not and moved a bit closer to take a look. She didn't know if she could learn much but it was worth a try.
heal: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

The smaller mirror door dissolved with the same strange rising harmonics to reveal a short corridor which extends into a large dormitory. Five rows of hammock like beds atop metal frames have been upset and are littered with fossilised corpses. Most of these are clearly Githyanki or at least bits of Githyanki but a good number are crumpled and desiccated spiders out of nightmare. As big as ponies these eight legged horrors have iridescent bloated purple bodies covered in orange hairs. They have massive compound eyes, many of which have punctured before death. They have huge jaws with fangs as long as your hand.

Various dried stains discolour the floors and walls and the floor is strewn with ripped personal effects (mostly ostentatious clothing) from a dozen large chests which have all been ripped open. Nothing moves and the air is thick with dust and there is a stench of ancient death.

At the back there is a door which leads to a communal shower room. Inside are more desiccated corpses, with perhaps fifteen githyanki. Several particularly large spiders have been cut to pieces in the corner.

After spending a minute inside the area you all develop mild headaches and start to feel lethargic. [ooc]Please make a DC 18 fort check or be fatigued until further notice.
a trap door

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

Looks like the air ducts are blocked in here

Zendara pauses to clear the air ducts before proceeding.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Looks like all the Voor died violently, but not all of the Githyanki. Looks like the Githyanki were winning.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

Zendara gathers up more silver disks, and says There are a bunch of scimitars and really nice chain mail shirts back here in the shower area.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

Found a trap door!

Fort Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Of course dicebot waits until the save to fail me.

Oh, but suddenly I don't feel good at all. I need to go sit down, but the rest of you, feel free to record all this, this is gold.

Zendara goes back into the original area before the doors to sit down. If she starts feeling better she will join you, but feel free to open the trap door without her.

Knowledge Engineering Dc 18: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Perception DC 22, Perceive Cues: 1d20 + 12 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 12 + 5 = 28
Perception DC 18, Perceive Cues: 1d20 + 12 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 12 + 5 = 36
Perception DC 24, Perceive Cues: 1d20 + 12 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 12 + 5 = 35
Fort DC 18: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

Edwin didn't notice that the air ducts were blocked until Zendara pointed it out. After a minute of looking around, he started getting a headache. "I need to get some fresher air; I'm going to go back to the other room for a bit."

When Zendara tries to clear the air duct she find the corpse of a large spider is blocking it, apparently a Voor sacrificed itself to kill all the remaining Githyanki.

Clearing it doesn't seem simple (the air duct is 1' wide and 12' off the floor), although perhaps you could smash your way through the desiccated corpse? Going to need a plan for how you do that.

Okay, correction then, we'll just say Zendara tries to clear it and finds the problem, but doesn't have time to go back and fix it all the way before she gets sick... so the problem is still there when she withdraws to the other room. Retroactively, she says

Can anyone clear off this Voor corpse? It's blocking the vent.

Edwin looked up at the vent and replied to Zendara, "If someone can help me get up to the vent, I might be able to crawl in there. I could try to tie a rope around the corpse to make it easier to pull out. Does anyone have a spell to cover it in grease? That would make things easier."

Edwin is small, and has Escape Artist +9, due to my paranoia about being grappled. A Decompose Corpse spell might also help.

Xindyra crouches down for Edwin to get onto her shoulders, then slowly rising.

Boosted by Xindrya, Edwin peers through the air vent's grill and comes face to face with a desiccated Voor that is completely blocking the vent. It must have entered the system somewhere and crawled into this tiny foot wide space, or perhaps it was pushed. However it got here, the Voor's corpse looks like it's in a fragile state and could be shattered easily.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

He called down to the others, "The corpse looks like it could be broken apart easily. It's holding a transparent container in its claws, with some sort of green substance within. It could possibly be an unstable substance that might detonate."

So what are you gonna do?

Zendara hears him from the other room, and though she feels exhausted, she comes back in. She puts her hands up by the vent and she says

Okay Edwin, pass it to me very carefully.

I advise everyone else to leave.

Edwin tried to gingerly pry the container out of the dead creature's claw, and hand it to Zendara.

Let me know if there's a check involved.
If the container and contents are non-magical, someone could use Mage Hand.

True, good call. I'll have Zendara use mage hand instead, so she doesn't accidentally drop it because she is tired. :)

The longer Edwin stayed in the bad air the worse his headache got. Still he had work to do! Gently as he could he prised the container of neon green goo out of the dessicated spider's clutches. As he did the once powerful limb disintegrated into dust, freeing the container which was whisked away by Zendara rather eerie conjured mage hand.

Whatever the substance was, it wasn't magical.

The bad air is going to start becoming a real problem if you stay in it. Still you reckon you can try to smash through the dessicated spider although that requires a DC 15 fortitude save to accomplish without becoming exhausted.

Edwin called out, "I've got to come down and get some fresh air for a few minutes."

He's going to try to hang by the edge of the duct and then drop to the ground, unless someone can help him down. Then he'll go back to the other room for rest, until he feels better. I don't trust myself to make the Fort save.

As her companions dealt with the bad air in the room Yukarii considered a way to help them. She didn't enter it herself but rather waited on them and while she did an idea hit her. She focused on opening her mind and letting Yukaari out.

By the time Edwin needed to come out for air Yukarii was ready. Yukaari floated beside her and she waited for them to exit the room before she said, "I think we can handle this from here." She smiled slightly and said, "Yukaari-chan does not breathe and as long as she can get close enough she should be able to remove the blockage for us."

Yukaari gave Yukarii a rather disgusted look at what she was being asked to do and said in a thready voice not unlike Yukarii's, "Ugh! I can not believe you are making me do this Yukarii-chan." She turned and made to head into the room as she called back over her shoulder, "We are so going to have sex with someone tonight Yukarii-chan."

Presuming I can stay outside of the room and Yukaari can reach the blockage while staying within 50ft. If it's further than that I have to make a concentration check."
Yukaari Str: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Yukaari Str: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

Having helped Edwin up, Xindyra likewise helps him down in the same way.

"Fresh air...can i assume there is something foul up there as well?"

She rubs her chin between index finger and thumb.
"Note to self, get some mint salve for future ventures.
If it works for coroners, then it should be suitable for situations such as now as well."

Her pondering is interrupted by Yukaari's outburst about evening sex.
"How...does that even work, with something ectoplasmic?"

Before her vivid imagination could start running, she hastily focuses on something at hand. Counting useful items for future excursions.

"Adhesive dissolvent....more smokesticks, kerosine, maybe..."

Yukarii actually blushed as she responded to Xindyra's question, "It is because we are two that are one. Yukaari-chan and I are separate, to a point, but it seems that way more to you than to us. In truth we are parts of a whole. She is my desires, lust, my hungers for pleasure. When she is outside of me those are removed from me and only exist in her. When she is inside me," the double entendre of her words seemed to go completely over Yukarii's head, "we share sensations, she feels and experiences what I do and the parts of me that are her are a part of me once more."

Yukarii looked at Xindyra questioningly, "Does this explain what you asked Xindyra-san?" Yukarii seemed nervous as she spoke, like she wasn't sure if she had explained things in a way that made any sense.

Edwin replied to Xindyra, "I don't know that the air up there is any worse than down here. But I've been in here too long, and it's getting to me. I need a break."

With that he went back out into the other chamber, where the air was fresher, and sat down for a rest.

While the others try to clear out the spider corpse, in the outer room with Edwin, Zendara examines the clear container they retrieved from the vent.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

Xindyra's self-distraction is cut short when Yukarii explains her complicated situation.

Though her own skin had a soft warm orange tint to it, it's evident that some of Yukarii's words make the tips of her ears go red.

o_o'

"Ehm, that's...somehow both fascinating a phenomena, yet..ehm..strange to, ah..imagine?"

She has in fact a split personality, of which both sides can freely communicate, merge and split up? I've never heard of this before. Perhaps i should inquire later.

Yukarri-chan as a being of ectoplasm had no need for breathing and she found the texture of the texture of the dessicated Voor interesting as she smashed through, reducing it to find iridescent purple powder which stuck to her form causing it to glisten. Sifting through the Voor's remains she made a curious discovery. In its hind legs it had been clutching a small device, perhaps an inch wide and eight inches long, with several buttons.

Marek gasped softly when Yukarri appeared although he mastered himself quickly and he gasped again when the demand was made although he gave Yukarii a speculative look. He waited until the ladies finished their discussion before saying, "This place is remarkable, finding artifacts we couldn't even have guessed of already. Yet rather than feeling happy, I feel sad to witness so much death. I've been looking and there's not so much a single mouse or insect alive in here. We are the only living thingy in here and that's a thought which fills me with dread..."

Dr Munroe patted the lad on the back, saying "That's actually quite a common and entirely normal reaction. This place is more than a little bit creepy, everything is too big, there's no light sources beyond our own and it's full of aliens and dead spiders. Later we'll need to set watches, probably double or even triple. I don't think anyone should be alone in a place like this. Apart from anything the interior is said to be enormous, if you got lost you might never get out, so please nobody wander off!"

This was met by a chorus of, not going anywhere! Think of the research papers we'll get off the back of this!

When Yukaari finished and came back carrying the strange box with the iridescent purple powder stuck to her Yukarii looked at her other self oddly.. She finally shook her head as she didn't want to know and said, "Please leave that on the floor there Yukaari-chan and then go back into the room. I do not want that powder out here with us. Does anyone want a sample of the powder before her form is let go?"

Once any desired sample had been taken Yukaari gave Marek a flirty smile and then went back into the other room. Yukarii focused her mind and Yukaari's body simply splattered on the ground in a puddle of purplish goo. "There, that should take care of the strange powder."

Yukarii turned her dark gaze to Marek as he spoke of the sadness of all the death around them. One hand reached out and rest on Marek's arm as she said, "Death is not something that should be saddening on it's own Marek-san, nor should it make you afraid. Norala teaches that we are constantly surrounded by death and that it is a part of life as both life and death must exist for there to be balance. We ourselves are always dying, from the moment we are born. What one should pay head to the presence of death, and listen to what it has to tell us." Yukarii gestured around them and continued, "What does the death surrounding you in this place tell yo Marek-san?"

Did I learn anything from studying the clear container?

Note to self, reply to Yukarii.

Looking unusually pale, Marek's freckles where more prominent than normal as he considered Yukarii's question. After a moment he gave her a shy smile and replied, "More than the death it's the absence of life that disturbs me, this place has the feel of a gigantic floating mausoleum, a silent testimony to tragedy that befell here. It reminds me that life is precious and should be cherished...."

It looked like Marek was about to say more when a loud bang comes from the air vent, accompanied by a large cloud of purple dust mixed with fragments of desiccated Voor. The cloud is whipped up by a steady stream of air coming from the vent.

"Huh. I reckon it would not be a waste to wear some mouth and nose covering cloth or such when next exploring long abandoned places."

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Hearing the bang from the other room, Zendara looks over and says

Oh dear, most likely another Voor. I wouldn't go in there until the dust is settled.

She then gingerly hands the clear container to Doctor Munroe, warning him beforehand

I'm sure you want to study this, but it seems fragile and unstable, and I am worried that it could explode, or something equally devastating, so be very, very, very careful, please.

After the hand-off she wonders aloud

You don't think it's a Voor egg or anything organic, do you?

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

"Yeah, probably another dead one was stuck in the vent. Let's wait a few minutes for the foul air to dissipate."

The air does indeed settle after five minutes, leaving a layer of purple dust across the metallic floor.

Dr Munroe gingerly accepts the container and eyes it suspiciously, "I don't think this is an egg, I honestly don't know what it is. I'll pass it onto Professor Upham for study. Beyond mathematics he has all sorts of esoteric interests and may be able to figure out what it is."

Kn. Engineering, inspired: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 10 + (6) = 18

Xindyra glances as the box is handed over, but she hasn't a clue what it is.