[SFS/Shifty] #3-16: Silence at Outpost 634 (B) (Inactive)

Game Master Nik B.

That would require a perception check :)

Thidreks inspects the airlock for anything unusual before entering.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Looks like every other airlock he's seen.

It's an airlock - pretty certain! :)

Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (7) + 0 = 7

For Ysh'yaal it's a normal airlock, no need to worried.

We all get in and open the other end, then.

You all pile through the airlock - as the door locks and the other begins to open there is a blast of electrical discharge!

Damage 3d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 5) = 11 - Eletrical
Reflex DC 12 half

Someone has stripped much of the wiring in the walls, floor, and ceiling inside the airlock chamber. When both doors are closed, the wires are live and deal damage to every creature in the airlock.

***

With the blast done, the far side opens up.

Lockers line the north and south walls of this room, with benches in between. The lockers hang ajar and their contents are spread haphazardly over the floor. Personal effects, as well as some medical supplies

Examining the room in more detail you find that the toilets and showers are functional. The lockers contain a total of 10 space suits, though three are torn beyond repair. One of the showers contains an empty bottle of shampoo with “STOP USING MY SHAMPOO” written on it.

Poking around you find the contents of a first aid kit scattered across the floor. This consists of three medpatches, a basic medkit, two mk 1 serums of healing, and a chemalyzer.

Exits marked

Reflex: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

Ysh'yaal is able to avoid part of the electric blast and her natural resistance absorbs the rest, letting her unscatted! resist 5 electricity

That was... unexpected!

Once outside, she starts looking for a datapad or something that could have record what happened here.

She also uses her power to scan for magic the area.

Perception (+detect magic): 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (7) + 0 = 7

What happened here?! I wonder...

Reflex: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Murgatroyd gets mercilessly zapped.

"I need a moment to rest". He'll take a 10 minute break to recover stamina, if possible.

Well, this was so obvious we should take extra damage for walking right in the trap

No magic

You pause and rest after the excitement!

Which way?

Reflex: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15 Zap! But not as bad a zap as it could have been.

Thidreks will collect the first aid supplies. Offering the healing serums to anyone who wants one.

He'll do some more through searching before heading south.
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Left seems to be the dead end, might as well, clear it first

Murg is pretty much right.

Beyond a chamber that houses additional workstations for mineral sorting, a narrow corridor breaks off into twisting tunnels that go deeper into the asteroid.

It looks like a twisting mess of crisscrossed tunnels - but nothing looks particularly useful or interesting

Perception just in case: 1d20 ⇒ 12

Murgatroyd opens the airlock to right after the rest of the group is in position.

Looking ahead you see a room with two cells. The two holding cells in this hallway can hermetically seal a worker exposed to contaminants (or detain a hostile creature). The cells contain dirty bedding and show signs of recent use, obvious signs that several individuals recently occupied these cells.

With little of interest evident, you also check the adjoining room and reveal a clinic.

This clinic contains two computers, an exam table, and a counter. Various medical supplies are scattered all over the floor. This room appears to be a lab as well as a clinic for mild injuries or illnesses anyone on the team suffered. A refrigerator stores a few samples in tubes.

Computer
DC19 Computer check

Samples
DC 16 Life Science or Profession (lab tech)

Murgatroyd stands guard in front of the door while the rest of the group investigates.

Considering all the samples and digging around, he decides to turn on his environmental protections.

"They might have dug out a parasite. Iomedae guards us."

Thidreks will look over the samples, leaving the computer to the experts.
Life Science: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
But his limited experience proves to be of little use.

RFX: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
RFX (dive for cover): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Zoey dramatically dives out of the way when the spark emerge, then knocks her head on the bulkhead.

SP 0/12 - do I understand that we took a moment to rest and recover? In that case: SP 12/12, RP 4/5

After a bit of rest, Zoey skips over to the computer terminal and mumbles admin... welcome01... Boop beep boop beep!

Computers: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Computer (+4 hacking tools): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Ysh' helps Zoey get into the computer.

As you access the computer, the screen background changes to a photograph of a male drow and older female human smiling together in a garden—an image of Dr. Renou’s parents.

Unfortunately, the hard drive containing Dr. Renou’s research was seems largely corrupted by someones earlier tampering, so only a few log entries are readable.

Log Entry 17-M:
Millie is fascinating. She’s extremely intelligent and gentle. She allowed me to take a few DNA samples in exchange for some of Havar’s sicklefruit.

She loves those fruits, which is good because that gives the rest of us an excuse not to eat them. The food we’re giving her seems to have no negative effects on her system, though biologically she bears few similarities to Pact Worlds fauna and likely originates somewhere much further away. If we can identify where her species may have originated, it will give us a better idea of where these starship fragments came from.

Zoey slowly starts putting together the pieces in her mind Do you suppose... they came for Millie? Or that Millie caused this?

Auntie Yshie... Zoey says, looking at the log, did we see any moon-shaped fruits lying around anywhere? They might be useful...

"'Millie' is probably an evil entity that infiltrated the base and waited until she could feed on its occupants. Justice shall be served, if that is the case."

It's totally "The Thing". Murgatroyd will start doing blood sample tests on everyone pretty soon

With nothing else of note, you press on.

Surveying the wreckage inside this room, it’s possible to ascertain that it once functioned as a laboratory. Shattered computer monitors and bent pieces of equipment lie scattered on the rocky floor. An upended tray of rock samples clutters a workstation at the center of the room. Smashed planters leak potting soil mingled with pieces of rotten green fruit onto the floor. More of this odd fruit hangs ripe from a woody shrub in the intact planter to the east.

Computers - broken but might be repairable?
THREE terminals, DC 17 Engineer to repair, DC 16 computer to access

Mineral samples.
DC 14 Engineering check to repair the lab equipment, then a DC 19 Physical Science check to identify the samples

Strange fruit
DC 13 Life Science check

Once again, Murgatroyd stands guard watching both doors, waiting to be asked to punch anything.

"Havar’s sicklefruit?" he asks, pointing to the plant life.

Thidreks will check out the fruit. Life Science: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

As Thidreks starts investigating the plants, Zoey helps out with the other equipment Auntie Yshie? Do you need some help?

Zoey merrily starts working on the various pieces of equipment while singing and stopping every now and then to make some jerky dance movements.

Bo beep bo beep
Bo beep bo beep, bot!

Terminals
Engineering, Aid: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Computers, Aid: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Lab equipment
Engineering, Aid: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Its per terminal...

Zoey can't get the first terminal working, but DOES fix the lab equipment.

Thidreks identifies the fruit growing in the planter as sicklefruit, a shrub native to Triaxus that grows during the planet’s summer.

More used to destroy or hack computer than repairs them, Ysh'yaal starts working on them.

Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29
Computer: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
Computer: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
Computer: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Then she tries to identify the samples once Zoe have repaired the lab.
Physical Science: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

The first computer comes online and Ysh notes that the last action on this computer was the user wiping it and resetting to factory settings -destroying all data it contained.

Something seems off with the desk though.

Perception check

***

The next computer still isn't working properly...

Needs more Engineering to repair

***

The final computer comes to life.

It appears to belong to
Havar and contains copies of periodic reports he made to the Xenowardens confirming the Starfinder Society didn’t harm the system’s natural ecosystem. The computer also contains the entire run of Infinite Stars, a classic Vercite soap opera.

***
Ysh manages to identify the samples and notices the presence of trace amounts of horacalcum, a rare starmetal that, in large quantities, is capable of warping space-time.

So one computer to repair still!

Ysh'yaal tries again to repair the computer.

Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
Computer: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

She also tell her comrades about the desk.

Finally the second computer flickers to life - it belongs to Dr. Thrai and contains a meticulous catalog of each starship fragment the research team discovered.

Culture (+4 to recall knowledge): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

Looking at the files, Ysh' says The fragments Thrai examined came from several different ships, all of them constructed before the Gap! One fragment, that Thrai cataloged, is similar to pre-Gap Vercite spacecraft. Interesting right?

"Is that important?" asks Murgatroyd, ignorant of anything other than religion.

He takes a look under the desk.

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 13

Murg can't see anything of note around the desk.

It's really exciting, uncle Murg! Pre-gap! And all episodes of Infinite Stars... Zoey eclaims, with increasingly high-pitched voice, before breaking out the opening tune

Next star is only
A footstep away

Perception for the desk: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (2) + 0 = 2
Singing and dancing makes Zoey oblivious to her surroundings

Anyone else? Or pick a door :P

Thidreks will search the desk and the area around it.
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Though he is a bit distracted by the singing and dancing...

Murgatroyd will open the door closest to the entrance, wondering if it's a wardrobe or something.

What a complex and detailed map, filled with... not a lot

This spacious room contains tables and benches running along the eastern wall. A ball court divided by a net occupies the majority of the room, though the court is clearly no longer used for its intended purpose. A nest of old bedding is strewn over the painted floor. Planters in an alcove to the south contain more shrubs bearing the familiar green fruit.

On the far side you can see a computer terminal, a clearly marked latrine, and a store-room that looks like it has been ransacked.

Murgatroyd moves inside and picks a spot where he can keep an eye on all doors.

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 4

@Shifty can you take 20 to look at the desk?
Perception (desk): 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (16) + 0 = 16

Why using a computer as latrine! That's criminal!!!

Ysh' seems outraged that the terminal is marked latrine and moves next to it to look.

Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (18) + 0 = 18

Ysh realises the clearly marked latrine is NEXT to the computer...

She stops to look at the strange desk for a minute or two and eventually finds a concealed compartment that contains a hardcopy of scientific data - resource surveys from a large amount of the local system.

Checking the 'latrine adjacent' computer she notes it isn’t password protected and only has music and vidgames on it.

Looking around she also notes the western door is dented from the other side, as though something was trying to bash its way into the room.

Also - Life Science OR Survival check

Life Science: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Thidreks contemplates how the easy missions are never easy...

Zoey's excitement diminishes by quite a bit as she looks down into the the latrine, shocked. Though it's not clear to bystanders what she hoped to find, she recoils with words oh... poo!

No Life science or survival

Murgatroyd examines the dented western door (is this the one next to the tiny tennis court?).

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

"I wonder what could have possibly caused this!"

@Zoe you can try Survival untrained ;-)
Survival: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (5) + 0 = 5

No idea! May be a Crocodile?

The dented western door (next to the court) is still intact, but whatever was on the far side was big and trying to bash through.

Could be a crocodile...

You check the bunk rooms.

This narrow hallway has doors on either side that lead to small but functional living quarters, each equipped with a bunk and a storage locker. In all rooms but the northeastern one the beds have been shredded to make nests of bedding on the floor.

Searching?

Murgatroyd checks for tracks or signs of any creature that might have used the beds in such manner.

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Then he checks under the bed and under the mattress in the NE room.

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 15

Are we about to find a monster under the bed? Or is it Newt?

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Zoey uses all her perceptive might to search for clues...

Zoey and Murg check the bunk rooms - one room still contains a pair of
xenowarden’s boots and a cover seed. Another contains a datapad belonging to Sonder; the datapad contains several drafts of a romance novel in progress and a series of emails between Sonder and his superiors at Resurgent Technologies discussing whether the team’s study of the starship fragments revealed anything of interest to their R&D department.

Examining the final the pair is satisfied there is nothing else to see until something carved into the bed base catches their eye - a single word that has been clearly cut in with a knife:

JINSULS