A pahtra with light-grey fur idly taps their stubby claws on the deck. "This is getting seriously old. We're sitting here while my fans are clamoring for more content, and if I don't get them something soon they'll go somewhere else. I'm about ready to lay a hammer down on the next pirate who comes through that door."
Nova Rush would be a nice ship—if you weren’t locked in the brig! You were captured by pirates a week ago, and your life since has become a monotonous nightmare. The food’s bland, time passes at a crawl, pirates are constantly threatening to hurt you, and you’ve all got to share a makeshift cell. You know who to blame for your troubles: Captain Phaedra Firestorm! She’s been digging into your past, trying to determine if you’re worth more alive or dead. Time is running short. You’ve got to escape!
An andriod approaches your cell, delivering food. They're clearly irritated — they mutter under their breath, huff loudly, and they’re curt with you.
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Most of his fellow prisoners are probably annoyed with the Vlaka witchwarper. He has remained gloomy, pessimistic, whining about most everything. On top of all that, he's not expressed any concern for anyone else. Finally, he is jumpy, often quickly glancing around the cell as if expecting something dangerous to be lurking. He has a number of nervous ticks and frequently whispers either to himself or some imaginary companion.
When the crabby android approaches, Zlee says, "If hyu vants to change plazes vit me, hy'll be glad to schwap."
Obozaya is pouting.
She's been pretty down on herself since getting captured, and those of you attuned to the feelings of others suspect she feels she's let the group down. Nonetheless, she's sure everyone will make it out of this scrape! Just need a good opening, is all....
The android drops the food off and sneers at Zlee. "At least I get to see engineering once in a while."
"Listen pal, I dunno how this is all gonna end, but I promise you - Obozaya doesn't die in this cell. If you want to be on my good side once I'm out - and you do want to be on my good side - maybe just 'forget' to lock that door when you leave."
...but her threat comes out a bit anaemic.
"Seriously, listen to the vlaka."
The android scoffs and crosses their arms. “I’m a starship engineer! Babysitting prisoners and scrubbing toilets isn’t in my job description! I hope you remember that if you actually manage to take the ship. But the captain’s got her favorites, and I’m not one of them.”
They leave the food without locking the door, and then linger near a panel in the wall for an instant, pantomiming doing some sort of repair before exiting.
The heroes can now exit the cell and remove their gear from a cabinet nearby. The storage also contains a hacking toolkit and a commercial infiltrator’s toolkit.
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Zlee collects his Microcord Armor, Phase Shield, Baton, Crossbolter and bolts, a Medkit, Flashlight, Comm unit, and a credstick. As he has a shield, he leaves the force field and phase shield for others to claim. He is not trained in grenades, so he leaves the grenade as well.
As he gears up, he explains something about his abilities others should know. "Vhin ve fight, I vill be warping de terrain addin' elements from other plazes, maybe makin' it hard to move zere or smoothin' it out for easier movement. Hyu can move through de area vitout problem. Other vierdness may occur in de area, so be prepared. Hy can alzo give hyu weapons magic upgrades, if hyu vant."
"Nice work, Zlee and Dae!" Obozaya says, getting into her armour and checking the belts on her gun. "Time for some payback. But the android's cool."
The first thing Dae grabs is their comm unit, and promptly sets it to record while they don their armor. "Hi, folks. Sorry about going silent for a while--I was captured by pirates! Let's see how I'm going to get out of this fix!" They grin at the camera and invoke their solar weapon, a massive hammer of photonic energy. "Time to charge my plasma-powered pirate thrasher!"
The team gathers their old things, as well as some new toys, and makes preparations for getting revenge on Captain Firestorm. But then...
A deafening roar breaks the silence as Nova Rush gives a great lurch. The hull creaks ominously, there’s a shout in the distance, and the lights cut out. Another blast strikes the starship’s hull, sending it rocking again. The lights flicker back on as a klaxon blares and a woman’s voice shouts over the comms, “Battle stations, ya filthy curs! We’re under attack!”
The passage to the southwest leads to an arc-shaped, messy rec room with a bar, comfortable couches bolted to the floor, and the pelt of an alien creature tossed down like a carpet. A window behind the bar overlooks the munitions room, where massive starship bullets are loaded in coils to feed the starship’s machine guns. Light from the reactor pours through a curved window toward the rear, casting a light blue glow. Out the forward window, which looks out into space, it’s clear the Nova Rush is under attack by multiple starships of jagged bone and sinew. Corpse Fleet raiders! One other starship, a surprisingly fast junker with the name Split Blade on the hull, fights alongside Nova Rush against these skeletal ships.
There are three passages out of this room, none with doors - to the northwest, west and south.
Each PC can attempt a secret DC 15 Society check or an applicable DC 13 Lore check (such as Corpse Fleet Lore, Eox Lore, Piracy Lore, or Warfare Lore) to Recall Knowledge about the Corpse Fleet.
"What's this? Out of the piratical pan into the Corpse Fleet fire? You won't believe what happens next!" Oh, if I can get this back to the comm nets I'm going to be swimming in hits!
Dae follows Tick-Tick, then takes a look down the northwest passage.
Obozaya grins at the sight of combat outside. "Haha, Damoritosh smiles on us, my friends! If we are to die today, we will die fighting, and not tied up in some cell."
After a pause, she adds, "But. You know. Let's not die today."
Only having low light vision, she'd turn her PCU's torch on, at a dim setting, if needed.
Obozaya moves to the front, gun drawn.
Another pair of escape pods rests along the wall to this room. A passcode is required to activate them.
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Zlee activates a flashlight when the lights go out. He also activates his phase shield.
Zlee falls in behind any of the better armored types, keeping his flashlight pointed mostly at the floor to make sure he is not running into anything but also not giving away the group too soon by pointing the flashlight all around.
It may be hard to tell in the dark, but Zlee becomes very nervous when the lights go out. He struggles with his memories of being in the Ghost Levels after the egg cracked open and he hopes his occasional symptoms of PTSD do not surface. He uses a melody that he has known and loved all his life to keep himself calm and focused, playing the melody in his head to keep away distracting emotions.
Obozaya stops for a moment to regard the beast-hide carpet. "Huh. That is a choice, for a ship that presumably spends large amounts of time in zero g." She shrugs, before moving on.
"Any of your nerds able to hack into these?" Obozaya asks, pointing a thumb at the escape pods. "The Corpse Fleet would probably shoot us out of the skies, but, could be a good Plan B."
Dae does a quick search of the area for anything else of interest.
Obozaya nods and takes the front.
If they don't find anything else in the room , Dae sidles to the opening to the west and peers around its edge.
As the team approaches the door, four space pirates rush into the rec room!
Round 1 - bolded may go
Zlee
Obozaya
Dae
Blue
Tick-Tick
Yellow
Red
Green
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One advantage of being as jumpy and generally nervous as Zlee is most of the time is that when danger threatens, his odd powers kick in automatically.
◇
Zlee's quantum field forms around the pirates entering to the far corner of the room
The area pulses with faint images that come and go, suggesting various realities. The two pirates appear to flicker, as the quantum possibilities momentarily manifest and vanish again.
A moment's thought by Zlee ◆ and the quantum field appears to flood with low, swampy puddles and muddy patches of plants.
Zlee then turns his attention to the other two nearer pirates, "Mutiny iz undervay! Join or die!"
◆ Demoralize on red:
He follows up his threat with a crossbolter shot.
◆ Strike at yellow:
Obozaya grins as the door opens, depositing a clump of enemies within her machine gun's range. "Well shoot, pirates, you're just not having a good day, are you?" she quips, before opening up.
Dae Attunes to photon◆, Strides forward◆, and hammers at Red◆. "Someone to fight who isn't trying to blow up the ship! Here we go!"
They grin as the blazing hammer smashes home. "Guess you can see Dae-light now!"
The skittish-looking vlaka surprises everyone with both his ferocity and his aim. the pirate in yellow drops to the floor after a single shot, and the one in red is reconsidering his profession.
He doesn't have long to think about it, though, as Dae hammers him with a shining hammer that leaves him seeing stars. Only briefly, though, as he also falls.
[ooc]Obo, retake your turn. Your teammates are too efficient.[/oov]
Round 1 - bolded may go
Zlee
Obozaya
Dae
Blue
Tick-Tick
Yellow
Red
Green
Obozaya jams down on the machine gun's trigger ... only to see her targets cut down by Dae and Zlee before the barrels even rev up."...wow. Y'all fight hard!" she says as she hustles down.
Obozaya was hoping for a little more fun with the pirates, but takes what she can. Unfortunately, 'what she can' is a shot that hits the bulkhead behind the newcomers.
"Nice shooting, you big dumb lizard!"
The pirate in blue fires at Obo, then trudges behind the couch and Takes Cover.
One of the nearby pillows begins to smolder.
Round 1 - bolded may go
Zlee
Obozaya
Dae
Blue (cover)
Tick-Tick
Yellow
Red
Green
Tick-Tick moves over and places a mine.
"You think a little toy like that is going to frighten me?"
The pirate in green tries the same strategy, getting himself blown up slightly in the process.
More than slightly blown up, actually.
The lights briefly flicker.
Round 2 - bolded may go
Zlee
Obozaya
Dae
Blue (-7 HP, cover)
Tick-Tick
Yellow
Red
Green
Obozaya growls, "I'll show you nice shooting," as she ◆ Interacts to swap machine gun for doshko, ◆ Strides up to the remaining pirate, and then ◆ gives 'em the Business!
The business is given, as Obo's mightly slash brings the final pirate down.
Each of the pirates was carrying a commercial phase cutlass with 1 commercial battery (10 charges), a commercial laser pistol with 2 commercial batteries (10 charges each, though two of the pistols were fired once each...), a commercial estex suit, 2 commercial frag grenades and a credstick (10 credits).
There’s also a cellular stimulant spell amp on the bar.
After the pirates are defeated, a holoprojector near the team activates, causing a hologram of a smiling blue skittermander in a sailor’s hat to appear.
“Hi nufriends! Wow-ee that was some stellar shooting! I knew you were right for the job!” The holographic skittermander tips its cap. “I’m Captain Concierge, the Nova Rush’s incredibly clever virtual intelligence! Think of me as your best pal and a direct connection to the ship. I was made by Vidia Vane—the original owner of this fine starship. But Vidia’s not around anymore and I’m not so keen on helping Captain Firestorm. I’d rather help you! So, how about it? Shall we liberate the Nova Rush from pirates and get out of here?”
Dae glances at their comm unit pickup. "I didn't see that coming! Let's find out what Captain Concierge has to say!" They turn back to the holomander and smile. "Hi there! That sounds like a great idea, but we've got this Corpse Fleet thing happening. Taking over a ship during a firefight doesn't sound like a very good plan."