You move back out and enter into what looks like another cargo bay, with thick eye-rings and ratchet straps designed to secure cargo to the walls. You continue to hear the random banging deeper in the ship. While you do identify this as a cargo bay, you notice that the usual scrapes that would mar such a room are absent...probably meaning that this is new or recently refurbished.
Though it is largely like the cargo bay on the other side, there's one large difference - in this one a suit of cargo lifter powered armor is locked in a charging station.
"Well, if we need to lift anything heavy, we have a tool. If we find nothing else, we could always move it to our cargo bay."
Walking through the cargo bay to the south, Hamster moves to examine the other airlock.
Urian continues to the south and does, indeed, find the other airlock, set up symmetrically opposite to the first. There are overhead light panels in the wedge-shaped airlock that flicker through pressurization cycles.
Seeing nothing of interest in the airlock, Hamster heads back to the temple room and prepares to open the northern door.
You move back to the unexplored northern doors, and realize that the rhythmic beating noise seems to be coming from fairly close on the other side. After making a few preparation, Urian opens the door and looks in.
Ornate carpets cover the floor of this chamber. Where metal doors don't take the wall space, curtains of red material frame murals of brass startships flying in formation through fiery skies. Low, plush divans surround hologram projectors and lavish brass tables holding hookahs and VR headsets. Damage from fire and impact mars one of the two double doors on the forward side of the room.
Before those doors is a small creature apparently made up of stone and magma. It is repeatedly pounding on that door, and doesn't seem to notice you yet. The creature has a long tail on which it stands, and pounds on the door with its two fiery arms.
Eschade takes in the elegant sumptuously appointed lounge with her usual ignorance and instead crouches into a defensive position and takes aim at the pounding creature.
Keeping his weapon lowered but ready, Hamster steps slightly in to the room and calls out.
"Hello. Do you need help opening that door?"
Eschade can tell that this little creature is a magma elemental and thus would be pretty much impervious to fire. Cold, however - that'd do the trick.
At Hamster's call, the little creature ceases its pounding and turns towards you. Seemingly ignoring the friendly offer, it charges towards you!
Eschade moves rapidly, pulling at motes of dying dwarf stars from other ‘verses, and showers them in a cascade toward the magma elemental in a blinding flash...
"Perhaps the crew is dead after all"
Defending himself, Hamster fires at the elemental.
To this point, Lyrr had been quietly exploring the unusual ship with his eyes, filing the experience away for later to go through it with more details. At the sight of another threat, the android sighs audibly and levels his rifle again. This time, though, rather than pulling the trigger, he seems to pour his will into the weapon and causes a blue ray to fire from the barrel.
Cast Energy Ray at the elemental.
Hamster's shot fires off first, and it slams into the elemental. The little creature falls back under the blow, seeming to take damage from it.
Eschade's spell then goes off, and the resulting flash leaves the elemental reeling, unable to focus. As it stumbles about, Lyrr's shot flies wide.
Bal'Nek moves into the room, drawing his weapon as he does. The confident Vesk places himself in between himself and the others, growling at the small elemental.
The magma elemental rushes forward, intent upon killing these new threats....seemingly oblivious to Bal'nek's threatening stance. It's mistake indeed, as Bal'nek slashes down and through one of the creature's arms.
It seems not to register the damage, and instead slams back with the other fist. The fist slams into Bal'nek, knocking him back and forcing his chest to smolder.
"Remind me to never visit the plane of fire," says Lyrr almost absently as they ready another spell through the weapon. "Seems like a very violent place."
Cast Energy Ray at the elemental.
Hamster chuckles at Lyrr's witticism, and sings a snippet as he takes another shot and then slams a fresh magazine into his gun.
"She's gonna turn me down and say
"Can't we be friends?""
Eschade smirks a little as her crew members seem to be enjoying themselves, firing her tactical peashooter again...
Eschade and Hamster unleash another barrage upon the creature, and it falls apart under the onslaught, forming a small pool of magma and rock that smolders on the floor.
”Crew?” asks Eschade to the group. ”The ship did exit from the flaming portal. Either the crew were exploring the conflagrative dimension or were of it...”
"That elemental could have been pounding on that door for years, for all we know.
Whomever the crew were, I am beginning to think this is a ghost ship."
Hamster starts searching the rest of the room to see if there is anything of interest.
”Or the elemental was part of the crew...if this ship was native to the fire. Though perhaps fire batives would not require plush seats and...doors.”
"Yes, doors it apparently didn't know how to open."
Slinging the rifle back over their shoulder, Lyrr goes to the door that the creature had been trying to get into, seeing if he can't find a way to open it, and make sure that it wasn't trapped and/or locked against the creature.
Eschade looks askance at the molten former creature. ”Even crews get trapped in their own ship, and locked out of doors...” she murmurs.
”So. A giant fire-cetacean attacked this ship, which itself was inhabited at the time by a strange lying creature that changed shape and a small fire elemental. Seems..chaotic and unstructured to say the least.”
Turning from her more mental observations, the android looks about the room, and pays attention to the door so recently being banged upon...
"The situation doesn't make any more sense to me. Hopefully the puzzle has a few more pieces once we find the bridge."
As you walk around this obvious entertainment room, you find that, although there's quite a bit of damage, the room seems largely unused. The hookah's are empty and the headsets and hologram projectors have no media loaded.
You find about the room a variety of mild intoxicants for smoking - all packaged and unused.
The doors to the north appear to be blast doors. They could be opened by force...maybe...but as evidenced it may take a while. There's also a slot for a keycard...which isn't conveniently nearby.
Eager to test their skills, Lyrr takes a crack at opening the door.
Lyrr tries to take the door over manually through rerouting and connecting circuits. In spite of some sparks, nothing else happens.
Either way, when the group of researchers on board say the strange ship come out of the far portal, his excitement was hard to hold in. Then, the great ship was followed by a titanic, fiery whale! Now, that was new.
Oh no, the shields are down! One researcher lamented as the whale seemed to chase after the ship. Stationmaster Kimosan sent a small group of mercenaries that had just arrived to help the retreating ship, and a great battle ensued! After some skilled maneuvers by the mercenaries, the whale was stopped and left to drifting in space.
The mercenaries went on to the strange ship and docked with it, then Stationmaster Kimosan came to Adrius. I know you're new here, but I've heard you have certain...abilities...that my fellow scientists may lack. We need you to board that ship and ensure that whatever is there isn't destroyed by that group. We need to secure it for research so we may explore its secrets.
Disappointed with the results, Lyrr takes a step back from the control panel. "This must be a highly advanced technology," they explain casually. "I suggest that we keep searching."
"Maybe we'll find that keycard somewhere else. Let's try the southwestern door."
Hamster looks the door over before attempting to open it.
Adrius paused for a moment, blinking and scratching one of his antenna, which was slightly shorter than the other."Don't they have a right to claim it as salvage?"
He shrugged, as if he didn't care what the end result of that was -- even though he had pointed it out. Flipping up the collar of his teal blue trenchcoat, the Lashunta nodded, ready to take on the assignment. "Sounds good, Stationmaster. How do you propose I get out there and board the ship myself? Got a small craft I can use?"
Eschade merely nods.
”This is proving to be a most diverting mystery.”
The android runs her fingers along a chair.
”And well appointed...”
Assuming you take him up on this, you head into a small shuttle that has some extendable "arms" that jut out from the side of the vessel for collections. There's a single seat and quite a bit of equipment, but that's it. After a short jaunt to the ship, you dock with the ship on the side opposite of the mercenary ship, since there's no room otherwise.
After a short navigation and setup, the doors slide apart to reveal a wedge-shaped airlock, with indicators glowing a steady red.
Adrius examines the mechanism, using his data pad and his Engineering kit as he ponders the correct action to take.
"Okay. I think I understand," he says to no one in particular.
You walk over to the southwest door and hit a simple pushpad on the wall to open the door. You walk into what seems to be an infirmary, with rows of beds, a surgical table, and transparent cabinets full of medical equipment and supplies stowed in shelving that holds it in place
Making sure the airlock is securely closed behind him, Adrius decides to be remarkably un-stealthy as he needs to find the mercenaries and not scare them into thinking an enemy is rummaging in the Sickbay.
"Hello out there! I come in peace. If you can hear me, say so!"
And, you do - it opens into a large bay that has thick eye-rings and ratchet straps designed to secure cargo to the walls. There's also a cargo lifter in the center of the room, hooked to a charging dock.
If you want me to make the rolls,
Urian glances at the room and shrugs, not knowing much about medical supplies. Stepping back for the others to search, if they care to, he listens for any coming danger, but hears nothing but a murmur from the south.
"Hmmm... thought I heard a voice. Must have been a weird engine noise."
As you stand, looking into the medicine bay, you do indeed hear what sounds like muffled speech, and the cargo doors working to the south.
You move out of the cargo doors and call out to the others. As you do, you find yourself in an odd, symmetrical room with walls of worked basalt lit by flames hovering over ornate brass sconces. The floor is an elaborate mosaic of a red sunburst against yellow tile, and the celing overhead rises in a stone cupola bearing the same pattern.
In the center, brass vines with leaves of flame climb an empty basalt plinth.
Looking up the central plinth, he murmurs aloud, "What's supposed to go there? And why isn't it there now?"
"Again I say, hello! Crew of the Horizon's ... Uhh... I forget the rest of the name! The Stationmaster sent me!"
"Does this ship have an A.I.? That would be most interesting to find out how it works." Lyrr takes a moment to hear the voice, then they respond. "We also come in peace!... Except when the other things tried to kill us. That was not our fault!"
After a moment, though, they realize that they are not actually talking to an AI, but another living being. "Oh!... Well that's disappointing."
Adrius frowns, readjusting the collar of his coat as he looks around, still standing in the room emblazoned with the mosaics.
"Say ... again? Things tried to kill you?" He calls out. "Should I come guns blazing? I think I do 'cavalry' very well. Or so I'm told!"
He begins to walk towards the door between him and where he thinks the voice is coming from.
”Look out, there have been fire-creatures that have been aggressive.” calls Eschade to the newcomer.
Assuming this door works as the others have, Adrius opens it and says to any crew of the Horizon's Shadow that he sees, "Fire-creatures, eh? Good thing I brought my trusty ice pistol."
The male Lashunta who is speaking has an old vintage-style trenchcoat on, not quite the same shade of his blue skin, but a color obviously chosen to accentuate it. The collar is turned up, clearly for effect and not any specific usefulness. His teal blue hair is arranged in a fauxhawk, probably a little too stylishly cut. Gray leather pants and comfortable looking boots complete his ensemble. One of his antennae is slightly shorter than the others, noticeably so.
"Greetings. I'm here to help!"
Keeping the butt of his rifle tucked into his shoulder, but lowered, Hamster eyes the newcomer.
"Play it again, Sam" he says with an odd lisp. Smiling, he introduces himself. "I am Hamster, this is Eschade and Lyrr. That pool of molten rock was attempting to get through the door over there with the card reader on it.
So, we're looking for the key card, since Lyrr couldn't hack the door."
Adrius walks through what looks to be a recreation suite with ornate carpets covering the floors, and curtains of red material framing murals of brass starships flying through fiery skies. Low, plush divans surround hologram projectors and lavish brass tables holding hookahs and VR headsets. One of the double doors to the north likes like it was slammed repeatedly with something hot, and there's fire damage at various places in the room.
The mercenaries from the ship are gathered in what looks to be a medical bay, with rows of beds, a surgical table, and transparent cabinets full of medical equipment and supplies.
So far, it seems as if they've left the ship largely intact, so perhaps the Stationmaster's concerns weren't warranted.
Lyrr look at Urian with a slightly hurt expression, "Alien technology," they accentuate slowly for the human, making sure that the full meaning is understood. They turn back to the medical bay and start to examine the contents a little more closely, hoping to find something interesting.
"No offense intended, Lyrr. Just a simple recap.
If we ever do get to the bridge, this ship is pretty nice. We might consider claiming it."
Lyrr takes his time searching about, and finds that the supplies are very well organized. He finds 4 mk 1 serums of healing, 5 medpatches, a basic medkit, a dose of tier 1 stimulant, and a reversible prosthetic arm.