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Jewel looks around the cavern, trying to orient herself. .
As she blinks her eyes to adjust them to the darkness, noting the features that make it clear that this is a natural cavern.
Sliding around Hanmi, she pulls her Static arc pistol, fiddling with her com as she tries to trick the red one and then shoot it.
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The lights from Jewel's comm unit distract the red creature enough that she lands her shot in a vital area!
Valamir fires a laser, but the shot goes wide!
Grimace continues to attune while slashing out at the yellow creature, striking it with a wound most dire! (13)
Santos attempts another punishing blow, but barely misses!
Hanmi takes aim and strikes the yellow creature squarely! (4)
The yellow creature attempts a full attack against Grimace!
vs. KAC
vs. KAC
The red creature, damaged as it is, starts to glow and swell, its Explosive Charge flaring as it attacks Santos once...
vs. KAC
...and then it explodes!!!
Fire Damage, Save for Half
ROUND 2
Jewel
Blastoff
Valamir
ROUND 3
Santos
Grimace
Hanmi
Red creature
Yellow creature
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Both Jewel and Santos avoid the worst of the red creature's detonation, as Blastoff and Valamir fire at the yellow one to no avail.
Jewel manages to distract the yellow one, striking it in the head with her pistol before Santos can close the distance - also causing that one to explode!
At the time of her shot, only Grimace is near enough to the blast to be at risk!
Fire Damage
This explosion seems to rock the cavern, which tremors violently just before a cave-in occurs just behind Hanmi - several metric tons of rock collapsing to block the way back to the portal!
Despite this unfortunate turn of events, you are now out of combat!
Party Injuries:
Santos
Grimace
(Follow-up post coming shortly)
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After taking whatever time you wish to rest of examine the cave-in, you determine that it might take 2-3 days to dig your way back to the portal...time many of you do not have, since Second Skin armor only has 24 hours-worth of environmental protections and breathable air.
Looking around quickly determines that there is only one way out of these caves - a passage to the northeast. When you begin making your way there, you find a pair of vesk corpses sitting on the ground, their frozen bodies having been partially gnawed on.
Laying on the ground between them is a chill frosthaft doshko with 0 charges. Both bodies are wearing basic defrex hide light armor, also with 0 charges.
Tucked into one of their pockets is a security keycard for a starship, ID # KV-2160.
With nowhere else to go, you follow the tunnel - easily 20 feet tall and wide, to an even colder exterior. A severe, windless chill envelops you as you emerge into a deep trench, unable to really see the surface or even much of the stars above. Through a combination of climbing prowess and observing the terrain (telling that some areas are icy that can be melted with laser/fire weapons to make hand-holds or deducing that there are easier slopes further down the trench), you eventually all emerge about 10 minutes later onto a plateau.
A stark, yet beautiful frozen wasteland stretches out before you nearly as far as the eye can see, with more trenches cracking the surface.
Enough of the stars are now visible to try and make some sense of your location.
Or to look around for any means of escape so that you avoid the same fate as the two bodies you left behind.
If you rolled a 15+ on your Perception Check:
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While Grimace is paying his respects Santos will pick up the doshko, frowning slightly when he sees that it's out of charges. He faces the group, displaying the blade, "Anyone have a use for this? If not I'll hold onto it in the off chance we find a new power source."
Once they pass the tunnel and are in open air again he surveys the landscape looking for shelter or anything that could help them through this situation. He points out a shape in the distance, "There, over on that slope. Does that look like a ship to anyone else?"
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Valamir pulls out a battery pack from his cloak and tosses it to Santos who catches it with surprisingly fast reflexes.
”You’d show more furry and might with that weapon than I.“
”Yes, that is definitely a starship.
What are the odds that it is abandoned and free for the taking? I say we proceed with caution.“
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"Well, regardless of if that is a ship or not... we aren't on Vesk-8 anymore. In fact, I'm pretty sure that we've landed on Traverse, which if my calculations are correct is currently orbiting Vesk-7, on the opposite side of the solar system... Additionally, based on the positioning of the flaming doshko constellation, I believe we are on the north eastern hemisphere of it, approximately a week's journey from the nearest piece of civilization. Which, is not close enough to reach before we all run out of the supplies and batteries we need to live."
Jewel says this all very matter of fact, but her visage does not support her voice, as she is visibly shaken by the information she is passing on.
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"That has to be one of the most horrifying things I can imagine." Hanmi says of the two vesk. "Dying of asphyxiation, just because your armor's environmental protections ran out." It is enough to make me wish I never ventured out to space.
The mechanic measures the gravity, the atmosphere, and most telling the temperatures. "This must be Traverse, the "shared" moon," he says. Adding the moon transits between Vesk-7 and Vesk-8 when the two icy planets pass near each other twice during their orbits around Ghavaniska's sun.
The marlowmaw booms a deep HooHoHoo. He quickly consults with Manta and his rig before nodding to himself. "Look there, you can see Vesk 8. and the constellation behind it is tukturjuk. Given the time when we left the portal we must be on the northeastern hemisphere." He pauses while conferring with his data rig and lets out a curse. "That puts us at least a week's walk from the nearest settlement or outpost." And who said there would be no need for a hovercycle on this mission? ;)
"A ship, where?" seeing the unnatural formation on the horizon. "That is good, he laughs. "Otherwise we would have been frozen before we made it to the first marker."
He collects the bodies of the two vesk onto a makeshift sledge. "We should not tarry." he says and starts shuffling toward the ship.
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"Thank you, friend." Santos nods appreciatively towards Valamir. He installs the new battery pack and swings the doshko around a few times, getting used to it's weight and length. "I don't have much use for batteries normally, but this would be a shame to waste."
He looks toward Hanmi. "I don't now if there's anyone there to hail, but we do have a starship keycard courtesy of those two vesk," he looks Jewel in the eyes before continuing, "We aren't gonna end up like that. If that boat doesn't fly we'll at least have some air and warmth while we call that piece of civilization for help."
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Blastoff nods at the descriptions of their location then squeaks mournfully, "These two beings died of asphyxiation. They were exposed to the wonder of the void but were not able to attune themselves well enough to survive. I think their suits expired."
Blastoff jumps up and down excitedly. "Yes, yes! A ship! Let's blast off!" the Ysoki jokes smugly.
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And who said there would be no need for a hovercycle on this mission? ;)
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After an hour of walking, you reach the vessel that is your destination. All attempts at communication go unanswered, however.
Arriving at the rear of the ship, you can take a look at it...and it's not looking very good. The vessel, marked with model number KV-2160, looks like its arrival here was as much "crash" as it was "landing" - several parts of the port side of the vessel are crushed up against the rock face.
If your result was 15 (Piloting only) or greater:
The keycard you have looks like it will fit in the access panel by a still-working airlock door , or you could attempt an Engineering check to disable the lock mechanically. Based on this model of ship, you suspect that four medium creatures (or one large creature) can fit in the airlock at any one time.
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”Kevolari,” the soldier mutters to himself as he looks over the starship. He grins widely as he sees the airlock and access panel still functions, hoping that means the life support is also operational.
”If there are no objections, I’d like to enter first to absorb any fire if there are hostile creatures inside.” Once everyone’s ready to proceed, Santos slides the keycard into the panel and enters.
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Blastoff flips a switch on his second skin and pops off his helmet. He appears to take a deep breath from the airless void. Pulling out some eyedrops, he places them in his eyes which go all black as he looks up at the stars pivoting above. Jostled back to what's going on around him, the Ysoki types on his comm and a robot version of his squeaky voice says, "If you run low on air, let me know and you can have some of mine."
Blastoff sniffs the exhaust ports, licks the hull, holds up one finger, stares crosseyed with his enlarged pupils, then types furiously on his comm. "Correct! Kevolari! Venture Class, suitable for long voyages. Commissioned in 283AG by my reckoning." The Ysoki, still typing on his comm, starts drawing a map in the sand. "This will be the engine room, here will be the drift drive. The bridge is here. These compartments are, I am sure, self explanatory." The ratman sniffles in the airless void, his whiskers obviously quivering with excitement.
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Hanmi lets the others know that this ship is not receiving any communication. "It may not even be transport, but at least it should be shelter."
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”If there are no objections, I’d like to enter first to absorb any fire if there are hostile creatures inside.” Once everyone’s ready to proceed, Santos slides the keycard into the panel and enters.
"I have Manta here for that, Hanmi offers. "Well not to absorb fire, but to observe fire or denizens or anything really." If Santos wants to go first, be my guest. If not, Manta is a spy bot with two purposes. First, for just this sort of scouting. And second for just this sort of sizing. Meaning Hanmi will wait outside the airlock while the others (including Manta) go through.
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Blastoff is indeed able to pull up a general ship layout. Everything except the inaccessible areas (due to crushing) and the bridge (yellow doors). Unless otherwise noted, all doors (except airlocks) are open. The two force fields visible on the map are running at minimal power, so they only provide light and create one boundary of difficult terrain in terms of movement.
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With a series of flashing lights, Hanmi connects his visor and the drone. Once the visuals are set, the mechanic checks* the doors and begins the depressurization** sequence*. Then he opens the doors and the drone steps into the airlock.
Once inside, the drone climbs to a space above the door, folds its legs down and seems to become a piece of the wall.*** The airlock then cycles through in the other direction* and the inner doors are opened. Manta pauses. Then pauses some more. Then waits a minute longer. Then, and only if nothing has reacted to the doors, only then does Hanmi, watching through his remote connection, direct Manta to begin its stealthy search.***
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Joined by Santos, Hanmi sends Manta into the airlock. Armed with the keycard, there are no problems cycling it. The sound of depressurization is faint inside the airlock, as the interior only has a thin atmosphere that is stale and only barely breathable.
The interior doors open. A flickering light, dislodged from the ceiling, swings over a decrepit corridor. A malfunctioning door along the right wall cyan line) spasms halfway between open and closed, hissing a bit as it does - apparently there is more atmosphere in the bow and port sides of the vessel than the aft and starboard, so every time this door opens, it lets a bit of that out. A surveillance camera looming overhead (yellow symbol on map) slowly swivels back and forth, obviously still powered.
The two step inside, seeing nothing else. The lights inside are on but very dim, and there is no hum of an active power core or any movement beyond the camera and glitching door.
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Jewel looks from the door to the inside of the airlock, sighing at the choice. She looks to Hanmi, realizing that they are right to have Manta be the one to attempt the closure of the door and steps through into the airlock. As she exits, she also goes to look around, testing her wings to see if there is enough of an atmosphere for her to list off of the ground.
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While Manta/Hanmi aren't sure, to Jewel it looks like the door's magnetic seal has the opposite electrical polarity needed to stay closed. The fix could be fairly simple, depending on the results of an Engineering Check to repair it.
Jewel finds that the atmosphere is thin enough that she can't attain flight, but if the door were to be repaired, she would be able to whenever on the port (left) or bow (front) sides of the ship after passing through the force fields or not-yet repaired door.
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A panel slides open on the top surface of Manta and a mechanical arm unfolds. The arm reaches to the panel on the door and begins making repairs. The little drone begins reversing the energy polarity of the field. With the help of Jewel, Manta begins chirping the success.
(or we can have Manta aid Jewel?)
"Hold on Manta, let's not get ahead of our selves."
Knowing he will fill the airlock on his own, Hanmi lets the drone fix the door while everyone else is goes through first.
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Blastoff takes one last look at the empty vacuum and bright, bright stars of the airless sky, takes another deep breath of vacuum, then hunches forward as he scurries to stay in the middle of the group. His eyes flitting restlessly from side to side, the Ysoki searches for information in and about the ship.
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The repairs successful, you restore some atmospheric pressure to parts of the ship - enough for Jewel to fly , and for breathing, but not enough air for all of you to survive here overly long.
Checking over the ship, you find nothing but empty crates and other gear that was already rummaged-through long ago in efforts to make repairs. Some time over the last few years, somebody crudely welded the bulkheads on the left side of the ship to be air-tight again. The job was not done by a trained hand, but it was done sufficiently enough to create a solid seal.
The power core of this ship is completely shot, and cannot be repaired to hold any sort of charge. Only the solar panels on the dorsal side of the vessel generate any energy - very weak energy - barely enough to provide dim lighting and provide power to a couple of doors, environmental force fields, and security cameras. Another such camera sits between the two doors (yellow lines) that lead to the bridge.
To the sides of the main hold are modest crew quarters. The doors here are functional and can be closed, but at the moment remain open.
Blastoff and Valamir notice two potential dangers! The first (red line on the map) is a door that, at first glance, looks like it should open normally...but in fact is just hiding a section of the ship that is welded shut and inaccessible. Further, this panel is rigged to explode in a burst-radius if anybody approaches within 10 feet of it!
The second (green line on the map) is a lever that appears to be set up to unlock the bridge doors. Neither of you can tell exactly what it is, but you can tell that it definitely isn't a lever nor any other technological component of the ship.
Blastoff or Valamir, you can make the below check if you'd like. Anybody else can as well, but only if Blastoff or Valamir inform you about the above.
DC 13 or higher:
DC 18 or higher:
When in true form, the swarm is large-sized (10ft), can fly, and automatically deals damage when it ends its movement in another creature's space. Further, if you start your turn in the swarm, you have to make a Reflex save or spend that whole turn with the Entangled condition.
DC 23 or higher:
Nanobot Mimics are intelligent and can tell when they are detected, especially when spoken about aloud. However, they also act based on their programming to pursue targets. As such, they could be lured into areas where they cannot escape from, should an enemy of theirs not have the means to destroy them .
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Blastoff points at the nearest port side door and chitters excitedly. "That door there! Is trapped! Any step within ten feet of it Boom! your insides come out looking like strawberries!"
The ratlike muzzle sniffs the air tentatively and he again points, this time to the lever by the bridge doors. "That lever! It doesn't belong! Not part of ship! Anybody know what it is!?"