Lighthacker's page

Shoma spends most of the aftermath of the competition in stunned, pleased silence. It feels good to win, and even better to rest.

But during a perfectly normal meal on the ship back to Absalom, Shoma grasps their head in sudden pain.

"Headache, blurry mind... what's this feeling..."

The echoes of a voice rings in their head - "I'll take the visions as an omen..."

"...not my face..."

"...Rafelo?"

Just as Shoma pushed the vision into Rafelo's mind, the feedback of Rafelo's memories flood into Shoma's consciousness -

and then, just like that -

They're gone.

Silent.

Shoma looks up at the group as their headache suddenly disappears. "Sorry, I... I'm not sure what that was..."

Shoma stays quiet for a long while, the rest of the trip to Absalom, then to the headquarters... it was a perplexing episode. Troubling.

And then we get to the meeting room and settle in - and see the newscast come on. "Oh no." Their worst suspicions are confirmed. "I felt them go. I really felt them go..."

When the apple arrives, and Mahari figures it out, Shoma approaches and rests their hand on her shoulder.

"I know they were our opponents, but they weren't our enemies. I mean, maybe Mia... But none of 'em deserved that. So just tell me where we're going. I'm all in."

"Alright, I tried. No more Dr. Nice Shoma."

Shoma climbs along the wall towards the battle, taking it slow as they simmer in anger about Verity and Rafaelo foiling our plans.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

As they watch Rafaelo's gloating, their anger starts to boil over. Shoma considers making him flee, like Verity did to our teammates. Or just making him drop the flag and stand there like a loser. But this is a battle now, not a game. And Shoma wants to send a message...

...an overwhelming message.

Rafaelo's mind is filled with images of a decimated battleship, the crew mostly dead, the few left alive bashing their heads against the walls, screaming in agony - as one ship medic with glowing eyes stares out the starboard window at an incalculably massive and ancient being of dark energy. As Shoma wonders why they alone can survive this Thing's presence, why its presence seems to be awakening psychic energies inside them instead of killing them, Shoma looks into Rafaelo's mind's eye and passes it along to him. Can he handle it? Or will it overwhelm his fragile psyche, like it did the rest of Shoma's old crew?

He should probably try to make a DC14 Will save for half damage.

Mind Thrust: 2d10 ⇒ (7, 8) = 15

Move action to climb 10 feet forward along the wall, standard action to offload some trauma. Cathartic!

As the skeletons get within close enough range, Shoma psychically picks up a rock and flings it at Blue:
Magic Rock: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Bludgeoning: 1d6 ⇒ 4
"Yeah, eat rocks, bone bag!" they holler as they take a few steps back to maintain distance. Then with a gasp, they turn towards a camera - "I'm so sorry that's not like a slur is it? I absolutely don't - I mean plenty of undead are great - I have an undead friend! I... suck at talking. Mahari?" They look over just in time to see their friend get shot, and then kind of shoot herself with electricity. "Mahari no! Are you hurt? I can heal you! I need you alive to fix my PR crisis!"

Survival, plus Biohacker +2: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 7 + 2 = 26 "Oh hot drek that really opens my senses!" They take a big whiff of the Uzorg, make a chef's kiss to the camera, and flip the sizzling slices in the pan while they flash the pan with oil. It's some real Master Chef: Castrovel stuff.
Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
As the drug wears off, Shoma needs to take a minute to wipe the sweat out of their eyes, and might overcook a slice or two, but...
Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
...they're back to proper form in no time!

Meal Prep

Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Shoma borrows the knife from the loot crate and goes to town on the Akata! They're not the greatest at butchery - their survival gifts are usually more dumb luck, like guessing the weather, or - but they get the job done.

Cooking, Round 1

Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Shoma takes one glance at the Uzorg recipe, throws it aside, and pushes up their sleeves.

"Nah, don't trust that trash, I got this. The last freighter I was medic on, the chief cook fried Uzorg like you wouldn't believe - and she will literally kill me if we only use this tiny cup of oil."

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Shoma tries to keep an eye out for any attempt to ruin their masterpiece. But mostly they're focused on yummy, sizzly Uzorg.

Shoma stares into the lights, readying themselves... "Here goes nothing..." and races across the electric tiles, in tune with the dark points of the gaudy flashing traps, all the while reading to

JUMP

Athletics+Serum: 1d20 - 1 + 2 ⇒ (16) - 1 + 2 = 17 They fly across the first gap to reach Flex, and keeping up their momentum they

DASH

Acrobatics+Serum: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 + 2 = 16 Racing across Flex towards the final

LEAP

Athletics+Serum: 1d20 - 1 + 2 ⇒ (16) - 1 + 2 = 17 They're certain they should've fallen in the lava by now! But no! Somehow they make it all the way to solid ground.

It's a huge stroke of good luck, plus invaluable teamwork from their friends. With a whoop, they look into the nearest camera drone, and holler -

"See Dad? I told you I got powers!"

They jog on past the camera, but as the exhilaration starts to mellow out, they turn back towards the lens - "For all the viewers outside my family, don't get me wrong, he was always super supportive - but it's nice to feel like I proved my strength to him anyway, you know?"

Double move with a lot of surprisingly successful checks to cross the lava. Need to think through turn 9 now that turn 8 worked out so well!