[SFS/Shifty] The Vast Experiment (A) (Inactive)

Game Master Nik B.

Vyviane, still somewhat surprised by the sound that came out of her own throat, blinks a few times before realizing that the creature is dead. "Huh, that was fast... But more importantly, did you hear my growl? That was me right? I'm not just hearing things?"

She glances at the dead forms, but she never paid attention on the missions where biology was involved so she has no training on this at all. Instead she turns to J'Shun and asks, " Right you've got the ID card to access here, right? Mind opening the door for us?"

Vyviane still isn't aware she has the card.

"I don't believe that was a growl. It sounded more like the mating call of an adolescent crest-eater."

J'Shun, removes Vyviane's ID card from a pouch on his utility belt. He then presses it against the card reader. When the door fails to open he looks at Vyiviane and says, "Lieutenant, I need the severed hand also to activate the door." He looks at her expectantly and holds out an open hand in her direction.

Vyviane shudders as she remembers the fact she's carrying a severed hand still. She gingerly pulls it out and hands it over. "Fine, but keep the plastic around the bottom of the wrist. I don't need to see more bones and gristle today... And I'd like to avoid any blood borne pathogens."

J'Shun, takes the severed hand and Vyviane's ID card and presses them against the card and fingerprint reader.

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

"Wait, this is your Starfinder ID card Lieutenant. What's going on here. Have you been secretly kidnapped and replaced with a evil clone whose orders are to assassinate me when I least expect it. You cannot fool the first son of Clan Summersword, imposter!"

Helix holsters his caustoject but keeps his needler out as he follows J'Shun to the door. He looks over the creatures' corpses to discern what else he can about the strange organisms.

***

You get the door open with the card and the severed arm.

26A - Upper Elevator
Situated near several storage closets and individual residences, this elevator appears to lead to the station’s lower level It looks like the recent jolt has damaged it and jammed, its shaft having buckled inward enough to keep the elevator from moving properly.

You could repair the damage done to the elevator enough to operate it with 10 minutes of work and a successful DC20 Engineering check. Alternatively, the you can climb up or down the shaft through access ports in the elevator’s floor and ceiling (a DC 15 Athletics check, made easier with cable or rope). The floors are 20 feet apart

J'Shun, takes the severed hand and Vyviane's ID card and presses them against the card and fingerprint reader.

[dice=Perception]1d20+10

"Wait, this is your Starfinder ID card Lieutenant. What's going on here. Have you been secretly kidnapped and replaced with a evil clone whose orders are to assassinate me when I least expect it. You cannot fool the first son of Clan Summersword, imposter!"

Vyviane blinks at the unexpected ID card for a long moment before she narrows her eyes. " That's my ID card, my exact one... That can't be here and real unless..." She reaches into her pouch and pulls out her own 'card' before realizing, "Dangit I gave you the wrong card! Here take this one and give me back mine."

She moves into the now opened room and looks around for a moment before pulling out her engineering kit. Any reason we shouldn't fix the elevator? Might help getting any one still alive outta here."

Everyone notices J'Shun looking out a nearby window.

"There is a gigantic space beast circling the staton! That explains the disturbance we experienced earlier. We have no time to waste, go, go, go."

J'Shun, climbs to the top of the elevator shaft and then affixes his 50' rope at the top so the others can also climb up easier.

Athletics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Hearing "gigantic space beast," Helix starts and flutters to the rest of the group. "MAYBE it's related to these JUVENILE specimens we just DEFEATED?"

"Gigantic SPACE monster seems as GOOD a reason as ANY to PICK UP the pace. I can FLY through the SHAFT and secure a cable. UP first, or DOWN?"

Only goes down :) 20'

J'Shun attaches a zip line and starts descending!

Oops, I thought we had to go up. Should have read your description more thoroughly. Everyone who wants to climb down gets a bonus now at least.

"I always like this part," Rastar said to Vyviane before clipping himself onto the line and rappelling down the shaft.

athletics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

Helix simply flutters down the shaft after the kasathas.

The elevator opens out into a plain metal-lined hallway. A large waste disposal chute lies to the north, clearly designed for moving heavier scrap and other materials to the lower levels of the station for reclamation, sanitization, and eventual expulsion into the planet’s atmosphere.

J'Shun, leads the team to the west.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

Moving through 16A to 27B

Workbenches and small terminals surround a massive technological device that extends floor-to-ceiling in this large room like a huge, tapering column. The device sparks intermittently, illuminating the room for a split second. Two centipede-like creatures lie dead, one shot repeatedly and the other crushed in half by the foot of a tall powered armor suit.

Looks like the (heavily glitching) power core and the communications array. No one is currently in the power armour

"Dr. Helix and Lieutenant Isafira, see to this device."

J'Shun, looks over the dead bodies to see if he can tell anything from their wounds.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24

They looks like slightly younger versions of the creatures you encountered upstairs - looks like someone was wearing the power armour and handily defeated the things.

"Whoah, look at this thing. Wonder what it's like to be stomping around in one of these? Always wanted a set of power armor. Chain fist on one arm and a blaster in the other. Walking down the corridors of derelict ships in space, killing members of the Swarm. Oh yeah. Think it still works?"

Rastar ignored the power core and instead focused on inspecting the power armor.

The powered armor is a hover suit, a miniaturized version of the more powerful flight frame armor better suited to maneuvering and performing heavy repairs to the station’s exterior.

As Rastar checks it out he finds a dead android (name tag reads 'Utsop' body is slumped over inside the armor - appears he was already dying of wounds before getting in the suit and making his last stand.

The hover suit is still operational, with 79 charges remaining and no armor upgrades installed.

J'Shun, examines the technological device.

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

Helix tries to fix the power core.

Engineering: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (11) + 17 = 28

Vyviane tries to gingerly rapel down the shaft. Athletics: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (13) + 0 = 13 She falters some, but doesn't do a terrible job of getting down. She then rushes up to where everyone else is and seeing Dr. Helix working on the mech goes to lend a hand.

"I'll hand you the tools, just tell me what you need."

Engineering Aid: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

After that she looks at the rest of the group. "We could probably use this, but I'm worried that we haven't seen as many organic bodies as we should. Plenty of inorganic but still no sign of our doctor or most of the rest of the organic crew. We should hurry they might still be alive and that thing out there probably won't wait for us to dally."

Helix can see the external communications array has suffered significant damages - including the delicate instrumentation here, and the magitech machinery requires considerable repair and recalibration.

This process will require 10 minutes of work and there are ample spare parts (arcane fuses and other elements).

The power core is still able to be used, it is just in low power mode.

As you check the terminal the computer monitors light up to project the image of an animated anthropomorphic platypus with somewhat comical features and endearingly exaggerated eyes. "Hello. I'm Erudition. You don't appear to be Scientists and Engineers from the station, what are you wanting?"

"I am Space Admiral J'Shun Kay, first son of Clan Summersword, House Davion, line of Atsu, born in fire! Commanding officer of the 101st special operations group, Starfinder space navy, Kay's Kommandos. We are here to rescue the scientists and engineers who work on this station. Can you tell us if they are still alive and if so where they are."

"Can't help you there Admiral! I primarily serves as a diagnostic aid and analyst for operators of these fine devices. Power is down to minimal settings, which is just fine, but the communications array is certainly broken"

Rastar gently removed the android from the armor and laid him carefully on the floor. He looked around for anything to use as a shroud, settling for making sure the arms are crossed over the chest and the eyes closed if he can't find anything.

"You did your duty, friend, and that is all that can be asked of anyone. Rest now, and we'll see about getting you home along with the others."

Turning to the others, he said, "Looks like I could run this thing if we need it. I don't have much training in this model, but I can make it work."

"Can the array be fixed?"

"Yes. There are sufficient spare parts showing in my inventory. A licenced technician should be able to achieve these moderate repairs as a routine task"

"Are there anymore of these alien creatures on the station?"

"Sorry - I only deal with diagnostics and analysis of the comms and power"

Vyviane pauses for a moment and looks at the new AI that popped up and then asks, "Do you have access to logs and or records? Is there a way you could replay any video or sound files from when this was happening?"

She then looks to everyone else, "Do we want to try repairing his systems or should we explore the rest of this place first?"

Helix ruffles his antennae. "Not sure we have the TIME to fix this thing. Should I take a CRACK at it ANYWAY?"

"No time now, we have to find out if there are any survivors left before the GIANT SPACE BEAST outside decides to eat the station."

Heading for 12A, 4B, 37B.

"Those logs and files are on a separate system, I can see you tried to use the ones on the level above until you ran out of power. The power setting is set to emergency only to preserve the station as long as possible"

Helix looks to the sprite. "Where was the last station personnel who accessed the system, and what did they do?"

Vyviane frowns for a moment before she looks out a window and then back at the AI. "Right how long would it take to do these repairs? Also do you have a layout of the rest of the building? Are there any places that would be easy to hole up in?"

Sorry for ghosting, it's been a very tough week.

Izzip listens along, letting the more tech-savvy companions take the lead on questions concerning the infrastructure of the station. When a gap in the questioning occurs, Izzip asks the sprite, "Is there any information about what's happened here that you want to make sure we relay to the Pact World authorities?"

"The last user was Utsop, who placed the station in low power mode to preserve critical systems"

"I estimate ten minutes for repairs, for a competent licenced tradesperson utilising the spare parts I can see in inventory located around this room"

"Any information on what may have happened to the Station would be held on the central computer banks located on the level above. There is nothing I would need to relay aside from a request for replacement of any spare parts inventory used in the restoration of the comms equipment"

If you want to fix it go ahead. In character though, J'Shun is pushing to move on.

Helix takes a big breath and lets it out, then sets to work repairing the communications array. He looks around for the spare parts the computer acknowledged and tries to use them in the process.

Engineering: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (2) + 17 = 19

Vyviane pauses for a moment as the Doctor moves to fix the station. "I understand the want to fix this, but let's see what else is here before we possibly waste more time on something that might ultimately be a waste."

Personally, I think we should finish exploring and get an idea of what is happening here, how much time we have, and all of the things that might eat up our time before so we can prioritize better. I will say this sounds and looks important, but there could be something even moreso (like say a jammed door with people trapped behind it) further ahead.

"I vote we fix it, and not just because he doesn't. Who knows how much longer this glitching system can keep life support on. We may be fine in our armor, but who knows what the remainign station personnel are wearing or have access to. ten minutes isn't very long...and I could use the rest."

Would like to take 10 and recover stamina while y'all work. I have 1 SP left

"Did we miss something lieutenant," J'Shun says

"Dr. Helix, is the communication array back online?"

Okay, let's get the array fixed and make sure we've searched the area thoroughly.

10 minutes of considerable repair and recalibration later, the comms array appears to be working once again, which would allow you to freely communicate with your ship or further afield (including data transfer of any data you wanted to recover and transmit from the mainframes upstairs).

All squares in green are now swept and cleared

Options as I see them - double back upstairs to the mainframe, or push forward

"Forward Kommandos, we will find the remaining personnel on this station and then transit any our findings back to headquarters."

Vyviane nods at this, after having near paced a hole in the floor while the communications were getting repaired. "Right I normally don'T agree with our 'admiral' but here I do. Potential survivors should take precedent."

"Find the remaining survivors. THIS I COMMAND!"

You press on!

The hallway traces around the station’s eastern side, with several small ports and a broad observation window, the latter which is dirtied by a spray of blood from an centipede-like carcass that’s slumped beneath it.