Iron Stars - shaper-cluster-scouting

@Soren (Grim) (Bask) and @Karre Mondragon(Timothy) have both found themselves entering the Todradus system at the same time. Sensors are still warming up to get a full picture of the system but you;'re able to identify the vessels belonging to one another. Space is brown stained here, and seems empty despite the system having several planetary bodies in it. Small stones, or things that look like stones, bounce off the armored hulls of both shuttles as they begin moving toward one another to officially connect.

5

8:36 AM

https://www.worldanvil.com/world/location/dbfb6df4-3bb8-4e29-8965-21b9a48b919d/edit

(That link doesn't work FYI)

(Am aware. It does on world anvil itself )

While waiting for the ships to connect Bask slithers to sensor console and begins to take notes of the readings as they come in. Looking for anything out of the ordinary or of note.

Karre squints out the flight deck windows at the detritus pinging off the hull. Absently, he keys up a laserlink to the LLF vessel, “Nice to see friends around here. Looks like we stumbled into a rough neighborhood.”

“Glad to see you too. It was a rougher entry into the system than expected, but hopefully the data we gather will make it worth it”

“How do you think we should move forward? It’s a lot of open space here, and plenty of places for a shaper to take refuge.”

(What world are we at? So I can pull it up.) “I guess we should find a good spot to land and then get some readings”

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/todradus-location

Todradus

“Should we scan those orbiting constructions? Make sure there’s no heat coming off of them that might suggest biological activity? Then we can work on checking out the surface. I’d hate to have something above us in orbit waiting to catch us on the ground.”

“That sounds like a good idea” Bask directs the ships sensors towards the constructs looking for any interesting readings

(we can each get a program/int here)

(3)

(6)

There is a small biological signal around the moon of the main planet. It is faint but to be detected from this distance it must be large

“There on that moon, the sensors picked something up. Let’s go check it out?”

“Sounds like a plan. Want to overfly it or just meet on the surface?”

“Hmm a quick overflight sounds smart. Good thinking let’s do that.”

Karre settles into one of the jumpseats on the flight deck. Anticipating a bumpy ride, he double checks the restraints. “All right, let’s head in and get a good view. If everything looks good, we’ll touch down a ways away and hike in.”

The overflight brings you across a large crater where the freeze dried remains of six shaper escort vessels have crashed into and around a crater here. The bio signs are coming from one deep within

(Is there an atmosphere? Any places we can land the ships near each other?)

(No atmosphere. You can land at the edge of the crater and make your way down)

“What do you think?” Karre stares down at the derelicts, “Up for some exploring?”

“I think that’s the right next step in this situation. Once we land I guess we can start the exploration” Bask let’s his pilot know to land at crater and will meet Kare on the surface when they get there. (So if there’s no atmosphere, bask might have an issue. The basic equipment package didn’t have a vacc suit)

(The shuttles locker and armory would though , so we can grab one )

“Take us down,” Karre directs his pilots. “Sludge, meet me in the airlock with your kit.” (Figure Sludge will have CFU and his combat rifle from Kamal. Extra pair of eyes and a gun for us while the other two pilots remain on board.)

(Hows Sludge handling the no atmosphere? )

(Are CFUs not hardshell/sealed? If not I guess he’ll grab a void suit from the armory. Or an armored one if they’re available) (edited)

(A CFU is hard-shell but is not fully sealed. Our options are really ship suits, vac suits, armored vac suits, or power armor) (edited)

1:24 PM

(there is an armored vac suit available)

1:26 PM

(There is no aimed shot mechanic in SWN, so the CFU counts as hard shell for purposes of immunity to flop rifles and whatnot, even fi there are gaps or no atmosphere providing helmet)

Bask grabs a vac suit from the armory and wiggles into it preparing for the hostile environment.

Karre does some mental math and opts for an armored vacc suit as well since he doesn’t know for sure how long they’ll be on the surface. “Next time, baby,” he whispers to his new armor. He ignores Sludge’s snickering as they help each other don the suits to meet Bask on the moon surface.

The two ships have landed 50m apart at the edge of this desolate moonscape. The derelict shaper ships have fallen around and below you.

Bask departs his ship and begins slithering towards Karre’s ship. Whil traveling he takes readings on his compad trying to obtain as much data as he can before beginning the exploration

Sludge and Karre amble up to Bask, the latter waving as they get closer. “Nice to see a friendly face out here,” he says, his voice crackling across the radio link. Both men are armed and wearing standard issue armored vacc suits. “Anywhere you want to head first?”

“The bio sign is coming from a ship in the crater. I figure we can check that first. If something is alive I would rather find out sooner and on our own terms than finding out the hard way.”

“I like the way you think, hopefully we won’t find anything too interesting down there but we’ll be ready if we do.” Karre looks for the easiest way down to the specified ship. (Were these ships killed during the Shaper War or casualties of the Healing?)

(Casualties of the healing. We didn’t want to risk a push on their home cluster since reinforcements could come from two other systems within a day or so no matter which planet we attacked first )

Bask follows Karre’s lead on finding a way down

A rope and pitons are nabbed from the locker, and you spend about twenty minutes looking for a suitable outcropping to hammer your descent line into place. The hollow ringing sounds echo out over the moonscape of dead ships, broken rock, and freeze dried organic remains of what were once unspeakable biological horrors.

8:47 AM

After a few moments of pounding Sludge gives a satisfied nod. The line is as secure as you can make it with what is on hand.

“Don’t drop me,” Karre says as he loops the rope behind him. “On rappel.” At Sludge’s confirmation, Karre starts descending into the crater. Once at the bottom he calls, “Off rappel!” Then surveys around the area while the other two follow.

Bask follows behind Karre and Sludge slowly working his way down. “That was fun.”

“Going down is usually more fun than up,” Karre says. “Let’s go find an entrance on that ship. I’d prefer to not have to cut our way in.”

Bask begins looking for an entrance initially seeing what he can using both his eyes and his data slab, but avoiding touching anything just yet.

(notice/wis, both can do this)

(5)

(7)

2

12:06 PM

You make it down to the mandibles and it looks like the surviving shapers from inside had tried setting up some kind of camp. This has likewise been met with starvation and misfortune and the shaper war forms you can see exposed in the open are dead. They look to have been dead for a considerable amount of time.

“Ah,” Karre says, momentarily lost for words. He unslings his spike thrower as he approaches the dead shapers. “First time I’ve seen one of these guys up close. Can’t say I’m a fan.” He looks over the fallen forms and sticks his head into the shelters to make sure nothing is going to jump out at them.

“They are quite disturbing. Maybe they left something useful behind though.” Bask searches around the makeshift camp looking for anything that may contain useful data.

The shelters have nothing living in them. You pull the skin curtains aside to see a dead shaper or two in each of them and none are in a condition to be getting up anytime ever.

“Wonder if they were different after the Healing? Suddenly lucid, only to starve to death out here,” Karre nudges one of the bodies, “or just as feral as always.”

“It is a shame they were so threatening. Hopefully they were at least better for a time. But, I am satisfied with the search out here if we are ready to enter the ship?”

“Better get it over with. Hopefully it’ll seem less creepy from the inside.” Karre and Sludge move to the entrance maw, their lights cutting through the interior’s shadows.

Bask follows Karre and Sludge into the maw of the shaper vessel

The maw chamber ends in a narrow hallway leading to within the once living ship, passing into what would be the creatures throat. Acid turned to ice under your boots is a slick surface to try to find purchase on.

Bask tries slithering on the surface to see if he is able to maintain his balance while moving to the first room down the hall

Karre attempts to slide across the more slippery portions of floor, and takes it slow where he thinks there might be more purchase. He points his light across the floor, looking for what might appear to be gouges in the acid that occurred after the material froze. “How long do you think it took this beastie to reach ambient temperature? The shapers outside obviously didn’t die right away, so do you think the ship lived on a bit as well? Gave them a relatively safe refuge until it finally gave in and died?”

(You won't be in danger of falling moving at normal speed, so all good here, I saw Karre asked some things so we can do that before I move the scene, just chiming in to answer the question about the conditions)

“For it’s sake I hope it died quickly. I know they were enemies but no creature deserves to suffer dying slowly.”

“I wonder how many New Moon refugees would share that sentiment. Not that I disagree,” he adds hastily. He changes the subject, “I’m not seeing any clues as to what our mysterious heat source is, though.”

“I guess we will need to go deeper in. Hopefully it doesn’t wake up or try to digest us or anything.” Bask begins slithering down the hallway

Karre follows with Sludge bringing up the rear.

Nekosmash pinned a message to this channel. 2/21/2022 6:35 AM

The first chamber after the throat looks to be some kind of digestion chamber. Acid icicles hang from the ceiling and the tissue inside has been damaged by the cold. You see many skeletons , some wearing the scraps of Cooperative ship suits. A chamber runs west and another is to the east off this primary digestion area

“Those Poor NMC People, hopefully they find peace int the afterlife. But as far as where to go next Either way works for me. You pick one and I will follow.”

Karre doesn’t comment on the dead NMC sailors, but moves west into the next compartment.

Bask follows Karre westward

Karre’s gait is stiff as they leave the room, “I want to say they knew what they were getting into, but it’d be a lie.” His voice is low despite the vacc-sealed helmet, “How could anyone have guessed something like these things would be out in the Black?” He steps into the compartment to clear it.

Throat west is a large chamber where more solid and less immediately digestible material was sent. You can see scrap metal, bone, rock,and other debris scattered across the chamber in large pile and in a shin deep spread through the space. A small chamber to the south still quivers gently.

“Well that’s disgusting,” Karre says when he sees the walls quivering. He moves cautiously towards it to find the cause.

“Disgusting but interesting” Bask says as he examines the different materials. “I am going to catalogue these materials for later. Knowing what is resistant to shaper digestion could prove useful someday”

The room that is quivering is built around an onyx colored seed the size of a tire. It is very warm to the touch.

“Do you think the seed would grow a shaper ship? Or is it something else?”

“I don’t know?” Karre pulls his hand back from the seed, disconcerted that he can feel the warmth of it, “I think we need to bring it back with us, though. This is something I’ve never heard of, let alone seen before.”

“I agree we need to bring it back. But I wonder what will happen if we try and remove it. Hopefully nothing dangerous…”

“Ah, hell.” Karre steps back a little further, “Is this what’s generating the heat signature? It’s definitely still ‘alive’, or at least not nearly as dead as everything else we’ve seen.”

“We need to decide do we take the seed now, or finish exploring and take it last in case something happens and we need to run, or I guess slither real fast in my case”

“Let’s finish exploring. We know its here, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to go anywhere. I don’t want it to leave it somewhere unattended after we move it.”

“I agree. I will keep monitoring the signal while we explore and if anything changes we can always come back.”

“Sure,” Karre says as he leaves the chamber to continue north, “as long as we don’t die here.”

Bask slithers along north as well “not dying is good”

The chamber north has light from the outside coming in as a breach in the side of the creature leads to the outside. It looks like shapers had either tried to tunnel out of this secondary digestion chamber, or the wreck breached itself in its impact with the ground. You see two more dead shaper war forms in this room.

“This may be a faster way out if things become dangerous after taking the seed”

“Always nice to have alternative exits.” Karre continues into the next chamber.

Bask slithers behind following Karre into the next chamber

Deeper into the beast you see a chamber where rock spines impaled it on landing. This looks to be some kind of shaping workshop or birthing chamber where pools of frozen acids , freeze dried piles of flesh cubes , and the stink of old blood fill the air faint even through your filters. Something moves in the darkness just beyond sight

“Shi-“, Karre swings his weapon in the direction of the movement. Sludge follows suit and the pair begins to move in opposite directions to not be caught in the doorway. They try to get their lights on whatever is moving in the darkness.

Bask aims his laser pistol towards the sound while looking for if there is some cover perhaps behind one of the rock spines

Some sort of serpentine tail slinks into the darkness. it is notably, not slyth at all.

"I'm really starting to hate this," Karre hisses, "Come on let's figure out what the hell that was. Absolutely don't want that thing coming up to say hi while we're exploring.." He takes the lead again, moving towards the area they last saw the creature.

“Does this happen often?” Bask says as he follows towards the creatures

“This’ll be a first for me. I usually got into fights with run of the mill humans back when I served. They weren’t kidding when they said the Wardens ‘experience new adventures’ on that recruiting poster I saw.”

“Some LLF members get into some danger, like our Lightbringer. He is always taking risks someone in his position shouldn’t. But researchers like myself generally aren’t in much danger.” Bask says as he tries to spot the creature

“Do you think he’s a lead by example type or more a do what I say and not what I do type?” Karre asks as he cautiously moves forward.

“I would hope it’s the example type, but my guess is it’s neither. He genuinely seems to care for all of us, but there are rumors. He doesn’t ever seem to sleep, and we’ll people talk about how he grew up in a resistance cell. My guess is he just doesn’t know any other way. It’s fine though, Lan handles most things anyway and Grim treats us well and the pay is good.”

“And now you’re hunting the boogeyman inside a Shaper corpse. The universe is a funny place. Maybe you’ll get hazard pay on top of it?”

“If this thing doesn’t get us first. Any luck spotting it?”

(notice/wis each)

(5)

(6)

Bask sees something moving in the darkness near the rear of the room behind a half spilled pile of flesh cubes.

“There!” Bask says as he points towards the moving creature.

“Hey! Stop!” Karre calls in its direction, external speakers on full blast. (If there’s even enough atmosphere for sound to transmit)

(It’s very thin. Not enough to carry a lot of sound )

Bask turns his light to dim, enough to see but not be blinding and then points the light in the direction of the creature

Some sort of hybrid creature is coiled in the back of the room, waiting to strike

“Oh fuck that,” Karre begins leveling his spike thrower at it. (Giving a moment for Grim if he wants to try something, otherwise Karre’s going to shoot it)

(Bask is just going to follow Karre’s lead because it’s his first mission. If you shoot he will shoot too)

(Do we need an initiative roll? Also sorry for originally posting this in the wrong thread haha

‍♂️)

(No you guys can go ahead )

(Karre: 18/19) Karre isn’t willing to take chances here in the literal bowels of a shaper ship. He lets loose with a burst from his weapon. (Do you want me to roll for Sludge?)

(Yes please)

Sludge follows suit, his aim improved since their fight against Clara. (20(crit)/12 (doubled damage roll +2 for burst))

Bask seeing the others shoot at the creature follows suite and aims his pistol slowly pulling the trigger (15/6)

The leaping creature seems to come apart in the air under your sustained fire. Part slyth, part human, part shaper, the hybrid homunculi quivers and twitches on the flesh workshop floor, bleeding the last of its unnatural life into the spongy ground.

Bask heads over towards the creature and carefully takes sample placing them in vials to be examined later.

Karre stands guard as Bask takes the samples, “Yeah, uh, definitely do not like whatever the hell that thing is.”

“Yeah, glad neither of us were bitten by it. I think I have plenty of samples now though. Should we continue?”

“Let’s.” Karre steps off again, moving into the western chamber to continue sweeping the chambers closest to the beast’s surface.

Bask follows also heading into the western chamber

This western chamber is circular and out of the way, near the flank of the great beast. This looked to be some kind of sorting chamber and you hear the sounds of work being done in here as you move through the tunnel.

Bask will try to quietly head into the chamber to see if he can observe what is making the work sounds

Karre and Sludge stay near the entrance, doing their best to cover Bask.

(sneak/dex )

(2)

2

The two creatures set down their work as a stumble on the icy surface causes a bang as you slide into one of the organic walls. They howl in almost unison, and begin to advance on you from 30m away (initiative)

(5)

(Karre: 8, Sludge: 7)

(Karre, Sludge , shaper hybrids, Grim)

Karre side steps to give Sludge a clearer shot and levels his weapon at the right creature. Sludge does the same to the left.

10:39 AM

(K: 13/15 with -2 to hit for outside normal range and burst S: 21/13 burst) (edited)

Sludge manages to send a few rounds into one of the hybrids' chests. It continues surging forward despite being gravely wounded. Their barbed weapons return fire, digging into the walls and floor, but failing to harm (edited)

(Still can’t access roll20. Going to try on an actual pc later. Just feel bad I’m slowing things)

(No worries, man. I’ve been a zombie all day!)

Bask fires his laser pistol at the wounded hybrid (17/6) (edited)

10:28 PM

(6 damage not 16. Typo)

(Roll20 is still having some issues)

7:29 AM

The wounded Hybrid is expertly dropped, and the remaining foe and the barbed weapon returns fire (17/3 Karre) Striking the ex-prisoner in the chest.

“Ughf,” Karre says, taking the blow on his armor, “you dick.” He moves closer and returns fire. (edited)

7:53 AM

(Having trouble connecting to Roll20. I’ll try to get rolls in when I get to work)

(There are some major issues with it right now, no trouble)

(24/35 crit, 9/15 ammo)

3

(Do I need to roll for Sludge or do his actions? Didn’t want to preempt a response from the shapers like I did in the first round) (edited)

The second hybrid is killed outright with a headshot that destroys both of its brains. It twitches and writhes as it’s nerves fire a last few times

6:07 PM

(35 damages kills him handily so we don’t need to worry about it here )

Karre moves to continue sweeping the room with Sludge watching the other doorway in. “Anything in here we should try to bring back? What were they working on?”

“I don’t know what they were doing, but it can’t be good. I am going to check it out.” Bask heads over to investigate what the hybrids were working on

Tables of flesh cubes have been overturned in the fight. There are many examples of aborted attempts at making tools and other items here. They must no longer be able to use their powers.

Bask will document the findings taking pictures of the experiments and writing notes. Once finished Bask will ask Karre “I have all the research I need in this room. Should we continue?”

The pair reload their weapons. “Let’s keep it rolling,” Karre says in agreement. They move towards the next door.

(I think we are about to hit the second chamber from the top, second one in from the ass. Does that track with you guys?)

(We're at the one just to the NE of the circle chamber on the left)

7:28 PM

(I am tracking same as Einer)

(thank you kings) This next chamber is quiet. You hear something that sounds like liquid dripping to hit a the hard surface of a floor where more of it has collected. Shadows swing from the ceiling, humanoid in appearance but slack and unmoving.

Karre directs his light upwards to illuminate the shapes.

There are bodies here, gutted and otherwise in various stages of being taken apart. Most are human. There are a few Taros, a few Merlon, and a few species you have not seen before, or they'e too taken apart to look like what they once were.

“Those poor people, nobody deserves that. Let’s move on from this horror” Bask says as he shivers and then begins making his way to the next room.

Karre swallows hard to fight back his rising gorge, not wanting to vomit in his helmet, and follows Bask. (edited)

One of them chokes on the book as you pass by, the remains of an air system keeping him alive, but barely.

"Oh hells," Karre mutters. He tries to get a closer look at the individual to make out whether they seem conscious of their surroundings.

“Is he alive? What is wrong with these shapers? I am going to try and get him down.” Bask looks for something he can use as a makeshift ladder of sorts, maybe a table he can drag over or anything that will let him get high enough to unhook the choking man

(Fix/int)

(5, going to use my expert reroll)

12:38 PM

(9)

You're able to make a rudimentary ladder out of the scattered parts and materials left in the room, and the man is gently helped down from the meat hook.

Karre can’t hide his grimace looking at the mutilated body. “What can we do?” He asks over their comms.

“I don’t have any medical skills and I don’t know if can communicate. But leaving him here is a death sentence, so I feel like we try. The only other option is to give him a quick death. Maybe he can give us some indication on if he wants us to try our best to take the breathing apparatus out or give him a final peace”

(Does he seem like he’s responding to the movements at all? Or looking at us?)

(He is following you with his eyes, but his body is in rough shape and he cannot really move himself)

“I have nothing to give him.” Karre’s voice is low and serious, “We could leave him here, and the Wardens can send a rescue team. The ships is obviously keeping him alive.”

“Ok we leave him then.” Bask turns to the man. “Sorry my friend, but hopefully someone can get here quick” then Bask turns to head to the next room

Karre follows, but takes a moment to press the tips of his fingers against the man’s forehead. He depolarizes his viewplate and mouths, We will be back. Then continues on with Bask.

The chamber ahead is close to the rear of the vessel and you hear a human scream of pain come from it followed by some kind of squelching sound as it is immediately cut off

“We need to hurry someone sounds like they need help” Bask picks up the pace slithering faster

Karre and Sludge break into a trot to keep up with the Slyth, their weapons raised and ready.

Entering the room there is some kind of robot being used here, half flesh, half steel. It stands on a set of retractable spider legs and is being controlled by a shaper hybrid through some kind of control box. A man once was on the flesh hook here, and you can see they're continuing to experiment on people to try to regain whatever powers it is they lost.

Bask whispers to Karre “I wonder if we can make a well placed shot and take him down before he realizes we are here?”

Karre raises his weapon to aim at the operator by way of agreeing with Bask. (Going for execution attacks on the hybrid)

(alright, lets roll it out)

(Karre: 10, Sludge: 6)

(Bask is letting Karre and sludge take the shots, and not firing himself)

The torturer or butcher, hard to say what it truly is at this point, falls from his position and knocks over several trays of flesh cubes. The shot from Karre was clean, taking the hybrid in the neck and its dark blood pumps into a widening oil dark slick with every passing second.

“Nice shot” Bask says to Karre. He then looks towards the robot/flesh creature to see if killing its controller has disabled it

Killing its controller has disabled it. It must function similarly to a drone and is now lacking an input

Karre gives a mock salute in acknowledgment and looks at the remains of what the shaper and its frankendrone were working on. He examines the flesh cubes in particular.

While Karre examines the cubes Bask will examine the drone specifically looking at how the shapers meld flesh and machine

(if Bask isn't psychic I don't think there'd be anything to see or really pick up, it's not a mechanical process, though the hybrids look to be trying to devise one)

(Not psychic. Bask will just not be able to figure it out.)

Bask says to Karre “ I am not having any luck figuring out their tech. How are you doing with the cubes, any luck?”

Karre’s trying to act like he knows what he’s looking for while examining the cubes. His search is fueled by morbid curiosity more than anything else. (I guess is there anyway to determine their use based on form? No psychic or healing skills here) (edited)

(I would say probably not since that’s the expert knowledge we would need )

“Well, they’re gross. And stackable. But that’s all I’ve got here,” Karre replies. “Ready to move on?”

“Yeah, let’s move on. But while we are doing that let’s figure out if we should take a cube back for the academy to look at or decide if it’s too big a risk. We have time while we explore so no need to decide now, but something to figure out.” Bask says as he begins to realize he is rambling and repeating himself. He then follows Karre into the next room

“Maybe we’ll find some tongs or something because I don’t want to touch them.” Karre sweeps the next room.

Bask nods in agreement as they continue forward

(We're in space suits, so we've got gloves between us and those, if that changes anything)

(I think for now we are just moving forward. Will probably pick one up on the way back after done exploring)

(Also my thinking. Don’t want to get snuck up on by creatures while we’re trying to science. Make the area safe and then we can explore some more and poke things we shouldn’t.) (edited)

(I think we've got the ass chamber, and the further east from hereP)

(Probably going to the ass chamber first)

(Hell yeah. Rectum? Damn near killed em!) (edited)

3

Heading into the anal chamber of the once hive ship you can see that this is a chamber where offal and organic matter proving resistant to shaping was being stored so it could be vented upon reaching space or finding the presence of a sun. You do not see much in here now aside from a few corpses of failed hybrids and some other organic wreckage that didn’t have a home in any of the experiments taking place here

“This is as gross as expected. Anything you want to look at in here?”

“I want to try and see if we can find any shaper resistant material. It may come in handy if we ever have to fight shapers in the future” Bask says as he examines some of the organic wreckage

Karre grimaces and helps sift through the waste with Bask.

(notice/wis. each of us can take this)

(10)

(9)

There is a living person in among the debris. They look like they might once have been on the hook themselves in the other room and although no limbs are missing you can see where pieces have been taken away.

Bask says “He is still alive” as he rushes over to the person. “Are you ok? Do you need help?”

They are alive and struggling to speak. Their wounds are numerous and raw and many of them are infected from laying here amid the semi liquid refuse.

10:30 PM

They’ll survive if given treatment and soon

Bask says “I don’t have any medical skills to help him. But we may be able to find some stuff to put together a makeshift stretcher. Then get him some antibiotics when we get to the ship. I am open to ideas though.”

“We should try to stop the bleeding here. Sludge, get some scraps or whatever we can find before we move him. Bask, help me hold pressure best you can.” (Trying to bandage what wounds we can before we move them and potentially exacerbate things.)

Bask moves to assist by holding pressure as instructed

(heal/int)

(Is there Any bonus from the assistance?)

(not trained in it so no)

12:46 PM

(not really assisting)

(Right, that does make sense haha) (6)

You're able to bind up the worst of what you see. Moving them won't kill them, but they're going to be very uncomfortable.

“Do we carry him around while exploring or come back for him?”

“Let’s grab him and start egressing. We can come back after we get him to the ships and in a medbay.”

8:47 PM

(So I figure we take a new way out, drop him off, and come back for the seed and other stuff. I guess we’ll probably have about 1/3 left?)

(Yeah basically just the eastern flank of the thing )

“Sounds good to me” Bask says as he begins helping to move him

The stretcher is something you can easily make with your combined experience, for Karre a routine matter after piecing together a literal shuttle from scraps.

Bask lifts his end of the stretcher and once Karre or Sludge grab their end will begin to carry the wounded man south

Sludge takes the other end with Karre blazing the path south and out of the beast.

Heading south from the chamber you move through rooms you've already made safe and out into the dangerous atmosphere of this shaper reeved planet. (3px, 5000 credits) The wounded you've brought out with you is clinging to life, but barely, and might be able to tell you more of what is going on if you're able to get him proper treatment in time.

“Does your ship have a medbay? Maybe we can at least get him some antibiotics and bandages”

(I think frigates have medical facilities at baseline? So either of our ships should work to continue healing him. We can drop him in mine and then go grab the seed?)

(extended medbay would be the only possible thing you could include, ships on their own do have a small medbay and this can save him, we just need to get him there )

Karre picks up the pace once they’re in the open again. His voice crackles over the link, “my ship’s a good idea. Let’s hustle, though. I don’t like being out here knowing shapers were still alive in the ship.”

Bask moves quickly to match Karre’s pace and deliver the man to ship. Once there Bask will do what he can for the man such as antibiotics and bandages

On board there are medical staff ready to help. The responsibility is passed off to them ,and the crew is anxious about spending more time here on the ground without having the answers the wounded man may have.

“Please take good care of him.” Bask says to the medical staff. Then he turns to Karre “ready to head back in and get the seed and maybe a cube?” (edited)

(We've seen what the wreck more or less holds, this guy getting fixed up and the information he has was the lead to be found here)

(Copy will edit post)

“Absolutely. Let’s get to it. Should we finish clearing the ship or grab the stuff we want and get out of Dodge?”

(My understanding is Neko is saying we explored everything worth exploring. My post before editing suggested we finish exploring, but then Neko said we basically finished)

8:22 PM

“I think we get the seed and cube and then get this man real help as soon as possible”

(Your reading comprehension is way better than mine lol)

8:24 PM

Karre agrees and leads the trip back to the ship.

(We're grabbing the cube and the seed, and then bugging out? )

(That’s my understanding yes)

(3xp, 5000 credits)

(Sweet)

Bask grabs a container and some large tongs from the ship and then follows Karre back to the shaper ship first heading towards the cube. When there he will attempt to carefully move the cube to the container using the tongs

There is a plop as the object is gently placed into its container. You are careful and do not contaminate yourself with it.

After collecting the cube Bask will head to the seed with Karre and begin preparing for their extraction of it

Karre visually examines the seed. He’s looking for anything that might be connecting it to the ship that they’ll have to remove. (How big is it? Will one person be able to carry it?)

(one person can carry it with both arms)

Karre approaches the seed slowly, and prepares to lift the seed. “I guess if something weird happens, I’ll just drop it.”

(nothing would happen since its not bare skin touching it)

12:40 PM

(we're taking proper containment methods)

Bask opens the containment box so that Karre can move the seed over carefully utilizing the tongs. “I think we will be ok, but just in case let’s be ready to run.”

Karre gently sets it into the box. “I’m always up for running as a plan B. We’ll get this loaded and get the hell out of here. The folks back home are going to love this. Plus we need to get a medical aid team out ASAP for the people still on the hooks. Unless you want to try and get them out?”

“I don’t think I have the skill to safely remove them. We probably need to have a discussion about the seed and cube though. Who are they being delivered to for investigation. The top options I can think of are VW, LLF, or the Academy. The LLF Lightbringer Grim has psionic abilities that may be of use, biosponic and telepathy. But the Academy probably has more records on shapers and was around for the fight with them. The VW has a history of fighting shapers and is trusted but I don’t know if it’s in VW’s expertise.”

Karre considers for a moment before responding, “This all comes with the massive qualifier of I’m just the hired help for the Wardens on this mission but I think a continued joint investigation by the LLF and the Wardens would be the most prudent path forwards. The higher ups can invite the Academy to the party if they think it’s necessary.”

“That’s fair. The VW can store them as well and we can look at sending scientists to you. Alright I guess it’s time to do this”

(We wouldn’t have any issues as far as collecting the samples. I suppose the issue is now, do we continue exploring or do we bring our news and items back to civilization )

(I am good either way. Will let Karre decide)

(I think we need to get back to drop off what we found and make sure a rescue team is sent. Then we can decide if we want to go back out)

(Agreed)

Karre leads the group back to the Warden ship. Once there he asks Bask, “Are you going to follow us back to the Warden waystation? We can use it as a staging point for the next expedition if you’re up for it.” (edited)

“That sounds good to me. I will follow you then. Hopefully I can purchase supplies there and then we can head out when we are both ready.”

(Believe it was 3 days back to the station)

(Excellent. I’m good to head back and regroup/report in.)

The void warden station is busy when you return and news of your exploration is already spreading as gossip among the crew. A decontamination and research team is waiting in a private bay- along with additional security. Close to 40 people here wait for directions on how to handle the cargo you’ve returned with and though the first warden is not here now he is on the way via shuttle to debrief both of you (edited)

Karre sees the assembled crew. He feels a sudden surge of awkwardness before Sludge pushes him forward. After clearing his throat he begins, “We’ve brought back something that looks like a giant seed. It was nestled in the bowels of a shaper ship and probably should be handled with whatever isolation protocols you have for potentially virulent samples. Also we need a medical team to assess a man we rescued and stabilized. The Shapers were torturing him, or performing what amounted to a vivisection on him. I would also maintain isolation precautions when workings on him until you determine he’s not a vector either.”

Protective gear is donned and without further ceremony the team heads into the ship to begin safely removing the objects you recovered and the man you rescued. He is going to be worked on, with a speaker input nearby so anything he says can be recorded for later analysis.

Bask sends word to the LLF on Tece so that they can send a small team to assist with the research. He then finishes purchasing supplies and then contacts Karre. “I have finished everything I need to on the station. Did we want to head back and continue investigating?”

(They’ll probably arrive next month toward the end by time the message gets there and they dispatch a ship )

Karre will spend time assisting as he can with the creation of a medical strike team to be sent back to where they found the crashed shaper ship. He gives whatever insight he can before wishing them luck. He doesn’t realize how much time has passed until he receives the message from Bask. He doesn’t hesitate with his response, “Absolutely. Maybe we should grab a doctor or a couple medics to tag along on the ship for the next one. I’ll see who I can grab from the rosters and meet you down at the hangar.”

2:56 PM

(I’m level 4, still need to finish level up stuff. So I think I should be able to have Sludge and another henchman at baseline from Henchkeeper focus.)

(Yes i believe that is correct)

1:07 PM

(We can pick up one other specialty, I think a medic would probably be a good idea since none of us have healing skills)

(Excellent, Karre will grab a medic then for trip)

(anything else before we go? )

(I am good)

(Also ready)

(3 days back if we're heading to the same planet, now with medical support)

7:56 AM

(we didn't explore more than just that one sliver, and we're unsure if more hybrids are going to be around)

(Sliver talking about that ship in comparison to the whole system? Or only a sliver of the ship?)

That ship in comparison to the whole system )

(I am good with exploring another sliver)

(Agreed let’s see what else is hiding in the system)

(program/int, either of of you can take it )

(16. I crit with +2 int and +2 program, and am a specialist in program)

2

The planet doesn’t have anything in the way of signal traffic but you can make out the immense release of gasses trapped within the decaying remains of the shaper mega organisms on the planet below.

12:21 PM

There is a large canyon where the largest of them seem to have fallen

Bask points out a spot on the map to Karre, “There, I am getting readings of gasses being given off by some large organism. Should we check it out?”

“Definitely. Pretty sure that’s basically our job description. At least we’ll have Lloyd with us this time to patch whatever holes we collect.” Karre pats the new medic’s shoulder heavily.

(Ah hell, would we have been able to requisition anything heavier than armored vac suits at the station? Is it too late now?)

(We can do that , you’d have had endless time at the station )

(Is the next step up of sealed armor an assault suit? Since combat armor/icarus harness/butterfly suits aren’t sealed without mods?)

(Yes I would say so)

(Are we able to get those for at least Bask (if he wants one) and I? Not sure if the henchmen would qualify. I can fund the costs as needed)

(Sludge would not get one right now, but you and Bask can requisition one of the assignment if you're not in a place to afford one)

(I have an armored vac suit, if you think we need heavier I will requisition a power armor)

(Just thinking if we ran into those baddies on the last one, good chance there'll be more since these hybrid shapers seem more resilient than expected. I'm not sure if we'd need it but I think Karre would jump at the chance to grab one if he could. I'll deduct the cost for Karre's from the sheet and I'm good to keep it moving.) "Same as before? Overfly it and see what we can spot from the air before putting down?"

(Ok I will grab one then.) “That sounds like a solid plan to me, let’s just make sure the pilots are tracking the large gas concentrations”

"No bean based rations for the rest of the day then," Karre says. His laugh has a nervous twinge to it as the ship starts its descent towards the planet.

Approaching the gas pocket on the southern side of the planet, you can see that the mega organisms and continent sized flesh harvesting orbital plates are all beginning to decay, and the massive concentrations of gas are making more pinpoint signs for life useless, it is like looking into the sun and trying to see the stars around it.

“Well this doesn’t help much with figuring out where to land. Should we just land in the first clearing we see?”

“Might as well. Looks like whatever the opposite of a primordial soup would be down there.”

“Yeah, those things look massive. I wonder if it’s because they don’t have anything guiding their development?”

Karre has his face nearly pushed up against the view screen as he tries to get a better look. He squints before responding, “Maybe? Gotta admit, biology isn’t my strong suit. Let alone megabiology. Wonder if we can put a satellite in orbit to watch an entire world decompose.”

“I never even thought of that. It would make sense to have something monitoring the planet. Both to make sure nothing escapes and that nobody takes anything dangerous away”

(There are those little comm satellites from Distant Lights we could use. We don't have them available for general use, but we can deploy one here if we want to)

(Nice. Maybe we can work on turning this area into a science outpost to boost research output? Imagine there are a lot of novel molecules and organisms floating around out here. Ideas for later) “Let’s use one of the mini-sats for now. We can worry about getting something more robust out here later when we’re better equipped for that sort of mission. Let’s get on down there.”

(We could. Just to ensure clarity , the shapers are dead and are just decaying. Hybrids may be close enough to humanity where the stuff we did to defeat them didn’t kill them when the rest of the shapers died, but they don’t seem capable of performing the same hellish acts of flesh shaping

“I agree let’s head down”

(how close did we want to get? did you want a local map?)

(Map would be great, and probably similarly close as before. Don’t want to risk our only way off the planet.)

(I'll get to work )

(nearly done, I haven't forgotten)

10:31 AM

3

“I am good landing anywhere that is clear. Maybe near the crater in the middle?”

Karre nods, “somewhere between the big beast and the crater. That way we can look at both.”

“How about here?”

3:08 PM

(I am good with anywhere though)

(there is a km per hex, just to get an idea of the scale here)

“Looks perfect to me.”

(D10 for our landing zone, and we get to use my special new fun table!)

1

(10)

3

Landing near the central crater you can see a large creature must have fallen from orbit to plow its own grave here. The re-entry has cooked most of its flesh and the fires within are still putting out enough smoke to where you can't see down the dark expanse. Filter warnings, and other environmental condition advisories appear on the airlock info panel before the ramp lowers , allowing you to emerge into a landscape made of the gargantuan bones of shaper craft stricken from orbit. They must be an incredibly dense material to have survived the heat of entry and concussive force of crashing into the landscape to still maintain most of their structure and shape.

Karre’s boots scatter the ash and other detritus as he steps out. A small shudder runs through him at the sight of the ruined world. “Gonna be a bit of a hike,” he says, “Double check your gear here.” (Would the armory locker have access to a floater Ruck or porterbot in case we have to lug stuff back?)

Bask checks his gear one last time “Everything seems to be in order. I am ready when you are”

(It would have the floater ruck. I still need to spend some time with Distant Lights to figure out the porterbot /see if it fits)

Karre adjusts the floater ruck’s settings on his wrist mounted compad. He designates it to follow the medic, Lloyd, until directed otherwise. Satisfied the team is ready, Karre steps off towards the distant shaper ship, angling for whatever passes as the front or head. “Same as before? Start at the mouth and work our way back? Personally I’m not interested in cosplaying as a suppository today.” (edited)

“It worked well last time, might as well stick with it” Bask says agreeing to start at the mouth

There’s little flesh left on the creatures here , having been decaying for some time. A forest of bleached bones crops out of the musty decay clouds around you. Long lamprey like jaws extend , half buried in the rocky sand this planet is made from.

Karre walks into the dead creature’s jaws to get a sense of scale. He does his best to use his compad’s camera in an effort to document what remains. Satisfied, he turns towards the creature’s throat. (Does there seem to be any internal structures that survived like the last ship? Or has this one more or less decayed to the point there’s nothing we would be missing from external observation?)

(it has decayed a lot more since there is an atmosphere on the planet itself where the moon had just a thin one, so we're looking at bones, but nothing major as far as hidden internal spaces)

Bask scrapes some of the bone to get a sample, which he the runs through his bioscanner. “I am going to run some scans and then check them against the LLF databases. I doubt any records exist on this creature but it’s worth a check. Furthermore the scanner may be able tell us something about this creature.” (edited)

“Good thinking,” Karre begins walking through what remains of the creatures neck. He stoops every so often to push debris out of the way. He’s looking for any other seeds like we found on the other shaper ship.

The only information shows it was one of the flesh harvesting gliders shapers used to ensure life was taken from any creatures that could fly, or any ships escaping the planet were swiftly intercepted and brought down. This is not nearly as large as some of the continent sized examples of the creature found on other worlds, but this close to the home system it likely did not have much food to grow off ot.

“It is interesting how advanced the shapers were at molding biological life. Image the good they could of done if instead of just consuming all biological matter they focused on increasing adaptability of plant and animal life to spread life to otherwise uninhabitable areas. But I digress, shall we continue on?” Bask says as he begins assisting Karre in the search

Karre coughs lightly, thinking. He responds with, “It really is a shame. And horrible. I’m not sure when I’ll sleep right again after seeing all this.” The last sentence is punctuated with a sweep of his arm towards the devastation. “At least nothing’s tried to purposefully kill us yet. If it’s okay with you, let’s look around the immediate area for any seeds for a little longer before continuing to the crater we saw.”

“No problem, I agree we don’t want any seed’s lying around waiting to grow”

“No idea what they do, but I don’t like anything the shapers are willing to keep alive while the ship is dying is not okay in my book.”

From this immediate landing site you don’t believe you see any seeds nor would there be conditions for growth here , as red trees need flesh to sprout from their black seeds.

Satisfied, Karre straightens up, “Ready to hike over to the crater?”

“I am” Bask briefly replies as he begins the trek

(Another D10 for me then if we're movin on)

!roll d10

Grim Roll: [5] Result: 5

The rim of the crater is a surface of warm rocks and more steam venting from the ground. Bone chips and pieces of chitin litter the ground like fallen gemstones from a warlords horde, and you push past them as you make your way up the incline. Mist covers your faceplates from the exertion of the climb before you make it to the lip of the crater to look down on the remains of what was once a crashed shaped orbital assembly station. The flesh is more intact on it and you can see torn ligaments and iceberg sized blocks of fat still sizzling from the warm environment around you, thanks to the geothermal pocket the crash exposed

“They had station sized shapers, that’s both terrifying and amazing. Shall we head down to the station and explore?”

“Yeah I think we ought to, unfortunately.” Karre updates the ship on their location in case they lose comms down in the crater. “Standard explorer rules? Something tries to kill us, we kill it first. Take whatever looks important that we can fit on the ruck.”

“That sounds good to me” bask says. He then finished he notes on the giant ship and begins his trek

Moving into the crater the temperature slowly rises and condensation begins forming on the outside of the faceplate of your suits, forcing you to wipe it away every few minutes. The bones tower around you as you continue moving through the wreck and stringy pieces of shredded ligament cling to those surfaces like frayed power line

3:29 PM

You see little around you in the mist as you continue walking through the crater though the heat slowly rises as you get closer and closer to the center.

Karre lets out and exasperated sigh after wiping his faceplate again. He double checks that the suit’s environmental controls are working before keying up his mic, “Why is the climate so different down here?”

“I don’t know, maybe there are thermal vents or some sort of volcanic activity. The warmth and humidity does feel nice though, but probably less so non-Slyth. Hopefully it’s not anything dangerous like a melting down reactor” Bask then takes a moment to check the survey scanner to try and determine the source

As part of the grave this shaper construct dug for itself upon falling from orbit, you can see that it has tunneled into some kind of thermal vent below the surface of the planet.

“Sensors and visuals are definitely showing the heat as being from a thermal vent. The shaper construct is attached to it, so it may be feeding and less dead than we think. This seems dangerous, but the potential scientific gains make the danger worth risking”

Karre pats the boarding axe secured to his suit, “We’ll just finish whatever the fall didn’t if we need to. Any idea how much further?”

“We should get there soon” Bask says as he continues forward towards the station looking for any potential entrances

The spine of this fallen station has dredged a deep trench into the ground,and you can see ther is some kind of cavern it has broken into, where the heat is decidedly bubbling out of.

Karre double checks the charge on his spike thrower. He tilts his head towards the broken opening of the cavern, “Ever been spelunking?”

“Not yet but there is a first for everything. Should we head in?” Bask says as he begins to slither towards the cave entrance

“I don’t think we have much choice.” Karre keeps pace with Bask, not wanting him to face any hazards alone.

(Not rushing, just checking if anything is needed from me)

(This just didn't light up)

12:07 PM

Entering into the breach in the earth, steam and smoke continue to pour skyward and it looks as though some sort of chamber was tunneled into by the impact of all the organic debris from the sky. The water down here is warm, and this large underground lake is still steaming with the heat of re-entry.

Karre checks the ground from the tunnel to the closer shore of the lake for any indication that something was dragged into it or may have walked into it. He’s looking for drag marks and footprints.

There do not seem to be any here from what you can tell, Nothing looks to have survived the crash with the force of gravity gained in the descent from the atmosphere

Bask will take samples of the water to check for anything unusual. Specifically looking for any unusual minerals or particularly low or high PH and if it’s dangerous to them. “Just checking the water real fast should hopefully get some readings soon”

The PH is very high, but the mineral content itself doesn't yield anything interesting or new.

(Is there anything other than the lake? Like a path we can take?)

(You can keep walking down the bones to the cavern below, around the underground lake. to whenever the path leads)

“Ok got my readings. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Want to continue down to the cavern?”

“As much as my sense of self-preservation wants to say no; yes we should continue on.”

Something stirs in the darkness, hidden among the steam. It sounds like the creatures are small, and might have leathery wings, but you cannot see them.

Bask jumps startled by creatures and let’s out an embarrassing squeal. “That was frightening, but hopefully they are harmless” Bask says as he cautiously proceeds

The bat like shadows get closer within the mist, though you cannot see them, you can see the impressions they leave upon the steam.

3:05 PM

You are unsure how they would have got here, or what relation they might have to the shapers.

Karre levels his spike thrower at the approaching shadows, “Do you think anything could have survived when that big ass shaper fell down here?” (How far can we see into the mist?)

“I don’t know. It’s possible. Maybe it was something here already. Or maybe something local mixing with the shaper tech?” Bask says as he takes out his pistol following Karre’s lead

(I'd say just a few meters, it is very thick down here, and we have not had a solid look at any of the creatures)

Karre begins to slowly approach the sounds coming from the mist, “Lloyd, stay behind the ruck. I know you can’t hit the broadside of a cruiser on the best of days.” Sludge moves to cover the opposite side of Bask without direction. “I suppose we ought to get eyes on regardless. Maybe we’ll find some samples to bring back for dissection.”

(Can i use compad as a flashlight, like how our smart phone can or do I specifically need a flashlight?)

(It probably would have a weak flashlight)

Bask shines the week flashlight from his compad outward hoping to get a view of the creatures

1

3:23 PM

An image of a dwarf humanoid, given the wings of a bat and hooked talons of wing looks back at you, before scurrying away into the mist.

“That is disturbing. I am guessing it’s not friendly” Bask says as he holds the the light in one of his four arms and the pistol in another. He then continue slithering down the path trying to remain vigilant for attack by the creatures

“Let’s try to not let any of them behind us. I’m already not a fan of that claw thing on their wing.” Karre keeps pace with Bask as they move farther into the tunnel

“Ok if any come near I will shoot at them, the mist is making it hard to get a clear shot though”

(If we want to try to capture one we can try. There would be a flop rifle or two on the shuttle )

(So are we assuming we brought them or will we need to head back)

(We don’t have them with us)

“Karre do we want to head back and get some flop riffles or do we want to press on?”

Karre considers, “If they’re Shaper-made, they might be smarter than we’d like. I’d hate to give them extra time to prepare. Let’s keep moving for now. If we don’t find anything we can come back for one of the creatures.”

“Sounds good to me. We will press forward then” Bask says as he continues down the path

Reaching the bottom of the spinal staircase you have been walking on you come to the entry of a cave. This was once an underground lake but the intense heat of entry and exposure to the open planet above- plus the lack of atmosphere has boiled away this vast underground water source and left its dry meandering riverbed behind. Impassible if flooded, now the riverbed presents something of a road.

Bask shines the light into the cave and moves forward into once lake. “This place is amazing. I wonder what we might find in here?”

“I bet some geologists would have a field day with this.” Karre stoops down to look at the exposed strata. He might not know the specifics of each layer but he does appreciate that it’s a timeline of events for the planet they’re on.

“That they would. We can bring back some samples for now, but eventually if this area is mad safer they may get a chance themselves.” Bask then gathers some sample, but otherwise is prepared to continue across the dried riverbed

Roaring out of the cavern, a dog sized example of the bats you have seen comes forward, charging with a frothing mouth. (initiative)

(1)

1

(Karre: 7; Sludge: 6. Gonna assume Lloyd the Medic is going to hide and not partake in the shooty section)

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [5] Result: 5

(Karre, Sludge, Dog, Bask)

(What’s our range?)

(oh my bad! 25m)

“Well he looks pissed.” Karre takes a short sprint forward, closing the gap by 5 meters. He falls into a firing stance and shoots a single shot at the creature.

2:12 PM

(8/7)

2:13 PM

Sludge steps out to the side and drops to a knee to steady his shot. He fires a burst at the creature.

2:14 PM

(14/11)

Sludge's shot makes an impact, while Karre misses. The creature continues barreling forward, closing to 5m from the group as it roars

2:33 PM

(bask)

Bask takes a poorly aimed shot (2/5) and then backs away from the creature (10m)

Karre drops his spike thrower to free his hand for the axe readied at his side and steps forward to meet the beast so that it can’t jump at any of the others. As he does, he swings his axe in an upward arc in an attempt to catch it under the jaw. (14/5 shock 4/AC13)

10:25 PM

(What difficulty is it for shooting into melee?)

(I don’t see anything specific for it in the book, but Neko may rule they are partially or fully covered, or just add his own modifier)

(it is a -4 as the enemy counts as being entirely obscured(

Sludge holds his shot in case the creature attempts to break free from the melee.

(neither shock nor the actual hit, hits)

(Oh cool that’s not good haha. I’m done with my moves. If it breaks out of melee Sludge’s held action will trigger)

(its going to just attack you since you're in its path and its attacking)

3:13 PM

!roll d20+3

Nekosmash Roll: [8] Result: 11

The claws of the beast scrape against the reinforced armor you are wearing, and it scrabbles for purchase, finding nothing.

Bask takes another failed shot at the creature (10/6) “Sorry I am not a combatant by trade”

5:09 PM

(Actually with -4 it’s 6/6)

Karre grunts as the it pushes against him without finding purchase, “Just don’t let it get too close to you.” He bats a grasping claw with the axe’s handle and counters with a blow aimed at it’s midsection. (15/11)

8:00 PM

Sludge, rifle trained on the scuffle, does some quick mental math. When he eventually reaches the conclusion that Karre wouldn’t take it too personally if he got shot; Sludge fires a burst at the creature. (2/13)

The a a blow cuts deep into the brain pan and the creature goes limp. It’s limbs hand and neck lolls like a drunkard before it falls on its side.

Karre frees the axe head from the creature as it falls to the ground. He notes absently that the assault suit’s system had low grade warnings for an elevated heart rate and body temperature. He adjusts the settings and turned to Bask, “Well, that was something. Do you think it’s native or a remnant from the shapers like what we found on the moon?”

“It’s could be either or a combination of shaper tech mixing with the native forms.” Bask then cuts a small sample of the creatures flesh to have examined later.

“At least we know we’re heading the right direction.” Karre’s kept his eyes on the direction from where the beast came from. His spike thrower is back in hand. “Once you’re done there, do you want to continue on?”

Bask finishes cutting both some of the flesh as well as bone to sample and puts it in a secure lab container. Then he stands up and responds “Yes, thank you for being patient. Let’s continue” Bask then continues along the path

“Not a problem,” Karre pauses, “It’s why we’re out here after all.” He keeps pace with the scientist, silently watching for more visitors.

The creature gurgled one final time and as the blade is pulled away you see known shaper muscle structure below the broken collarbones of the beast

Examining the sample Bask has realization “It looks like the creature is at least partially shaper in origin”

Karre stops as he considers this. “Well,” he says, “there goes any hope that maybe the local wildlife was just exceptionally aggressive. We definitely need to find what’s making these.”

(down the tunnel? or did we want to investigate these? )

(More than happy to let Bask do some science on the corpse if he’s able/wanting to)

(Is there anything I can do in the field with it? I was thinking continue in tunnel. But if there is anything I can do with it I will.)

(You've got some skills, I think what you can do/what you get is dependent on how you frame a check)

Bask will try and examine the sample cross referencing it with known shaper forms. He also references it against previous samples he took of the local environment. The end goal is to attempt a determination on if the shaper creature is something new from mixing with local creatures or if it is something brought from off world. Furthermore he will attempt to determine the age of the creature as a shaper. As in was it recently created or has it been here since the crash

(know/int, and I'll be able to answer at least some of this)

(I think it’s 11 but I can’t tell if it automatically dropped the lowest die)

(where did you roll it? I can look)

Roll20

(It dropped, you got a 4, 4 and a 2)

(Awesome, thank you)

You're able to identify similar muscle structure in one of the more favored Shaper war forms, though it looks like there have also been merges with local creatures

1:21 PM

It does appear that some kind of blend between shapers and the local wildlife is occurring here, though you do not imagine there is much complex multi cellular life left here given the lack of atmosphere on the surface, and hellish conditions underground.

Bask shares the information with Karre. “I wonder if the merging is happening naturally or if they have some sort of direction. We saw there were still shapers at the last investigation, so there may be some here as well.”

“Also is it a deliberate action or a function running on autopilot since the shaper’s control intelligence was killed?” Karre has a long pause before saying, “It makes me worried that leaving any of the dead shaper ships unchecked can result in an infestation.”

“That is a good point. We may need to report back and see what our leadership wants to do, or if it should be taken to the ISF?”

“Definitely to our respective leaderships first. There are more systems to search. I don’t think we’d have to worry about an infestation here, for example. But a planet that wasn’t ravaged and has plenty of biomass available is a different story.”

“Let’s just hope we don’t wind up as available biomass. But ready to continue?”

Karre laughs, “Yeah let’s go.” He begins walking with Bask down the tunnel. Lloyd following with the floater ruck and Sludge covering the rear.

Bask continues down the tunnel carefully and on edge, looking out for more of the shaper creatures

(this never lit up for me)

12:42 PM

The tunnel has evidence of more of the beasts here, though none seem to be as large as the one you just killed judging by the claw marks and horn rubs on the rock passage. The fact they infested these caves at all is only because of the water being steamed away by the intense heat of so many large objects entering the atmosphere above.

(Is there any indication as to roughly how many more?)

(Between three and five)

“At least it looks like a smaller number of them. Still doable.” Karre keeps advancing down the tunnel.

The tunnel opens into a large cavern where the bones of shaper beasts that were once likely taken from humans have littered the ground. These emergent creatures have fed well on the thousands of corpses within the ship and the exposure to the shapers genetic corruption has begun to change the life forms here.

“So many bones and they look humanoid. Eaten by shaper beasts seems like a terrible way to go. Thank you for dealing with the last creature so we didn’t end up on this pile”

There is the low sound of creatures sparring and fighting ahead, though they have not noticed you, and you cannot see them in the dark. You get the sense this tunnel opens into another large chamber ahead that likely once was an underground aquafer before the heat from the wreck boiled the water away over the course of months.

Bask tries to move to the next chamber as quietly as he can trying to get a view of the fighting creatures without being spotted.

Karre follows, staying low and as quiet as possible.

(There’s no way to get past them. Our only real options here are exterminate the four of them in here or head back)

Karre’s voice is low, even though his suit would prevent any of his words to travel, “What do you think? Up for another fight?”

“I am not going to be much help I am afraid. I am a terrible shot. I took the mandatory 1 day LLF training at the range and barely got waived through. If you think you can handle them though I’m willing to risk it.” (Basically saying I am ok with a fight. But bask is probably not going to be able to hit anything)

“Alright stay low. Just shoot in their general direction. If you feel like you need to run, just take Lloyd with you and get back to the ship.” Karre scoots closer to the opening of the large chamber with Sludge coming up beside him. (Due to the lighting you described, gonna assume we won’t be able to do execution shots since we won’t be able to see them until we turn some lights on? Would Sludge’s combat rifle and my spike thrower have mounted lights? Or our helmets?)

(Since they’ve bothered to make a glow bug it’s own item I’d say you’d need to have one and it would need to be readied to simulate an effect like that )

(Well no idea then beyond using a crummy data pad light if Bask doesn’t have any glow bugs)

(No glow bugs.)

(This’ll be interesting then!)

(They’re more focused on each other right now so you could go get some if you want) (edited)

(That’s true. Probably safer. I’m down to do that)

(I am ok with either)

10:33 PM

(So realized I did buy glow bugs between missions, but I am a dummy and did not update sheet)

(Youd have them then)

(Did the corpse Bask dissected have eyes? Figure we have better than average odds that anything growing in the dark down here might not use them)

(Small eyes. Not overly developed )

“Right, let’s raise our light until we can make out the individuals. If they haven’t reacted, we’ll take our shots. If they do react, we’ll brighten the lights to max and shoot a bit faster. Maybe they’ll get dazzled and buy us some extra shots.” (edited)

Bask takes out a glow bug and slowly increases its brightness trying to strike the difficult balance of enough light to see without drawing attention. Unable to sweat do his reptilian nature Bask begins to feel his body temperature climb as his heart races, afraid he is going to mess up Karre’s instructions. (Probably not possible so if it’s an auto fail I get it. But trying to see them without being seen ourselves) (edited)

(They'd see the reflection or the glare from the light, I don't think we could dazzle them without them having some idea of the direction the light is coming from)

(Dazzle was plan b for when they inevitably see the light and decide to murder us)

(You'll each get a surprise round, so we can resolve that before initiative)

Karre and Sludge fire off a burst each at the closest creature. (Karre: 13/16* Sludge 12/9* *forgot to include burst bonus in rolls)

Bask attempts to help but nervously fires off the shot while shaking (10/4)

One of the four creatures is brought down by Karre after a lucky hit punches through its head and jaw. It keels over, dark blood pooling beneath a broken skull.

7:16 AM

(bask and sludge miss, lets get initiative)

(Karre 9 and Sludge 9)

!roll d8

Nekosmash Roll: [5] Result: 5

(dogs 5)

!roll 1d8

Grim Roll: [4] Result: 4

(4)

(Karre, Sludge, dogs, Bask)

Karre redirects his aim, focusing on the next closest creature. He fires another burst.

7:35 PM

(12/9) (If Karre hits and kills, Sludge will target the next closest. If Karre misses or only wounds, Sludge will target the same one. 12/5) (edited)

(Doesn’t and doesn’t. Both of those miss if that’s how the shots are supposed to fall

(Yup! Go get ‘em doggos)

!roll 3 d20+3

Nekosmash Rolls: [19] Result: 22 [14] Result: 17 [19] Result: 22

The dogs pile into the fight, each of them lashing out and trying to latch on to you.

11:44 AM

!roll 3 d6

Nekosmash Rolls: [5] Result: 5 [3] Result: 3 [2] Result: 2

(22/5 Karre, 17/3 Sludge, 22/2 Bask)

Bask feels the dogs claws tear into his shoulder causing intense pain (10/12) he then tries desperately to shoot at the dog that just bit him (taking the -4 penalty I got (16/1 I think this is a crit and results in 2 damage)

(if its a rifle or other 2 enc ranged weapon, it cannot be used. Pistols can do a -4)

(Laser pistol and took the -4)

The hound on Bask is shot through the head, falling to the ground dead with barely a whimper.

(Karre HP 22/27, Sludge HP 5/8) Karre grits his teeth as the hound impacts against him. He lets the force of the hit knock the spike thrower from his hands and draws his axe in retaliation. (13/6) Sludge grunts in pain as a claw finds purchase against his vac suit. He attempts to swing his rifle against the dog to bat it away (Miss)

The second of the dogs is shot through the head with the blade of the axe, the ground rushing up to meet the animal that suddenly lurches like a drunkard

1:57 PM

!roll 2d6

Nekosmash Roll: [4, 4] Result: 8

cornered and outmatched, the two remaining dogs (one of whom had not been able to get into the fight yet) growl, and bear their fangs.

1:57 PM

(bask)

Bask both surprised and excited about his lucky shot attempts to replicate his success (12/1, the -4 is included)

The shot misses , the snapping jaws and batting claws fouling your aim just enough to prevent a deadly hit

8:34 AM

(Karre)

(Is Karre free of his attacker? Sludge is still in melee, and bask is as well?)

(You are free of yours, the other two are still in melee)

(Ah crap decisions) Karre takes a split second to determine his next move. He rushes over to the creature assailing Sludge, swinging his axe down and away to avoid striking his friend.

9:30 PM

!roll 1d20+7

Karre Mondragon(Einer/Alek) Roll: [13] Result: 20

!roll 1d8+3

Karre Mondragon(Einer/Alek) Roll: [1] Result: 4

(20/4) (Waiting for result of this to do Sludge’s next action) (edited)

(Just checking if this didn’t light up. Not trying to rush)

(it did, but Ill do this now)

10:13 AM

The blow wounds one of the hounds in the fight with you, but no deaths have been caused aside from the first two pack members

With Karre in melee with both creatures, Sludge attempts to pull back to free his weapon. (Fighting withdrawal with movement back as far back as he can while keeping everyone in sight.)

The two dogs bound into the combat, with Karre still engaged now their sole focus

12:53 PM

!roll 2 d20+3

Nekosmash Rolls: [15] Result: 18 [1] Result: 4

!roll d6

Nekosmash Roll: [6] Result: 6

(18/6 , the other is a miss)

Bask attempts another shot but his luck runs out and he barely avoids shooting his own tail (1/4)

(back to Karre/Sludge)

Karre swings again, fighting more desperately after succeeding in drawing the hounds’ attention. Sludge attempts to fire at the hound assailing Bask. (Karre 14/6, Sludge 5/miss)

One of the dogs is cut down by the swinging axe blade, leaving just one remaining

1

8:21 PM

!roll d20+3

Nekosmash Roll: [7] Result: 10

It bites down hard, but is unable to punch through Sludges thick armor

8:27 PM

(bask )

Somehow Bask is able to make an even worse shot than his last it’s a miracle he hasn’t killed his friends by accident (0/6)

(Back to Karre and sludge )

Karre stabs forward, using the spike at the top of the axe. (25/8)

The creature falls, leaving only one remaining

(I thought that was the last one?)

(oh you're right, combat over)

“Good work, I was starting to get worried. Hopefully we don’t run into many more of these creatures”

Karre scans the area again before responding, “Yeah, uh, that didn’t go quite as planned. Glad you’re okay. That was a pretty good shot you got off at the beginning there! All things considered.” He punctuates the last part with a gesture in the direction of the corpses. “Do these seem any different than the one we found initially?”

“Not on a surface level glance. I can dissect them but I feel like it would be similar results. Should we continue?”

(their lair was the terminus of this cave network)

Realizing there is no further to go Bask instead begins searching the lair increasing the brightness of the glow bug and attempting to determine if there is anything worth examining

It seems you've exterminated the creatures touched by the shaper genetics here, and prevented some kind of hybrid species from rising.

“Anything you want to do before we head back?”

“Not really,” Karre takes some photos with his compad, “Let’s head back. Glad there wasn’t a secret hive of shaper badness down here. Or at least a worst one. Do you want to bring one or two corpses back with us? We’ve got the ruck here.”

“Yes let’s bring some corpses with us. Worse case we can keep them in stasis in a facility somewhere in case someone needs a dead shaper case at some point.” (Other than this Bask is also good with heading back)

(My b!) Karre and Sludge heave a pair of corpses onto the floater ruck and help Lloyd guide it out of the cave system. “Well,” Karre begins as they exit the cave, “That was nearly more exciting than I think any of us were comfortable with. What’s our next stop? Unless of course you have business elsewhere.” (Don’t want you to feel obligated to keep up the Grand Tour of the Shaper Cluster. Especially with a brand new char if you’re wanting to go stretch your…tail?…elsewhere)

(I am fine either way. This has actually been helpful to overall llf goals potentially. Just need to make the case to Neko that this checks the block that this ends a crisis before it gets out of control)

(It did. We know there’s apparently hybrids popping up where shaper dna has touched a planet )

(Baller, been enjoying the missions with you. Would our ships have storage capabilities for the corpses? Like a morgue or something if we have an expanded medbay? Also what’s the next closest shaper system?)

(if we have an extended medbay those would fit in it, I can look at a map and let you know, I think we're in the southwest of that cluster of worlds so theres at least three adjacent jumps we could make to another shaper world )

(Should we head to the VW station again? Then prep for the next world like last time?)

(We do have samples that might be good to bring back. I don't think anything's going to happen to them since they're properly stored, I guess it's just deciding to take the risk of losing them later or not)

(Yeah we can go back and grab some flop rifles too. Bringing back some live samples could be enlightening)

(Ok let’s head back then)

(five days of downtime as we head back)

(Shopping list will be Flop rifles for me and Sludge. Plus 5 glow bugs. 4 climbing harnesses. 120 m rope. Grapnel launcher. 3 low light goggles. Medkit for Lloyd. Field radio. Total: 2,645 cr. Do I need to pay to refill our supply of microsats? I’ll also cover whatever Bask wants/needs to buy for the next one.) (Did we end up taking the same ship or two different ones?)

(It was two different ones between the LLF shuttle and one of the VW starhoppers, this list is all good and yes we need more sats for monitoring)

(Then I’ll grab 8 more for the next mission. 4,000cr)

(Bask is just grabbing like 5 glow bugs and a flop rifle)

(Did we get any xp for the last mission?)

( the usual 3xp and 5k creds

(do you need me to post a screen cap of the shaper cluster? )

(Yes please. Been busy last few days)

(And we went to Todradus first?)

(Yes)

9:13 AM

(so from there, we have three possible other destinations)

Karre finds Bask a few days into their recovery stay on the Warden station. He’s carrying a tablet with a ship’s schematic and some equipment requests on it. “Hey,” Karre says, “you up for another trip to the Cluster? Thinking we can hit Sicilianos or Peiros this time around. Also, there’s a Runabout I’d like to request use of. It should have everything we’ll need to do field surveys and extend our mission lengths a bit. You alright with taking one ship this time?”

“I agree with both ideas, the one ship and heading out again. Either planet would be fine but if pressed to pick I would choose Sicilianos solely because the name sounds more interesting.”

Karre grins, “Great! I’ll have the crew set a room up for you and get the lab prepped. Send whatever cargo requirements you might have to the deck chief. I’m requisitioning a pair of cargo coffins in case we take live specimens as well, that way we don’t have to worry about prolonged sedation.”

“That is a good idea. No specialized equipment for me, just me and my usual gear but I will send him a list of what I have.” Bask then heads to get settled in the room of the ship

Eisheru, et al. pinned a message to this channel. 7/14/2022 9:20 PM

(I know an exploration ship plan was sent to me, is that a thing we are using for it? It never got put in the build channel if so)

(Yeah that’s on me and I forgot to respond to your PM. Been working a bunch this week. I’ll get it posted later today.)

Karre takes time to ensure the ship is ready and loaded with the stores they’ll need. Friday has longer legs than the shuttles they’ve been using and he doesn’t want to unintentionally outpace their capabilities. Hours later, when he’s satisfied the ship is ready, he finds Bask to check in one more time. “If you’re ready to go, we’ll head out to Sicillianos. Depending on what we find there, we’ll either return to the station or continue on to Peiros.”

“I an ready when you are. I am looking forward to this but hopefully we don’t run into anymore hybrid shaper flying dogs with attitudes”

(Should have 6 days of downtime, stopping quickly in Todradus because its in the way, but nothing here making us stop)

Bask spends the downtime reading gun magazines on his compad. Trying to pick up tips and recommendations for beginners.

Karre continues his online pilot course. (8/90) (We’ll need to refuel in Sicillianos system if we’re making two jumps) (edited)

(Yep, so we're going to be in system there for four days)

(Have I been doing downtime wrong? I usually only count 1 day per hex even if fueling. Are fuel points 4 days?)

(IIRC we can’t do downtime activities during refueling because it’s an all hands on deck operation. I was mentioning the refuel need because if we don’t refuel before we explore the system, we’ll need to do it before we leave.) (edited)

2

Karre Mondragon(Timothy)

(IIRC we can’t do downtime activities during refueling because it’s an all hands on deck operation. I was mentioning the refuel need because if we don’t refuel before we explore the system, we’ll need to do it before we leave.) (edited)

(This. Fuel Scoop Operations are not considered DT)

(Copy. Sorry I get easily confused sometimes)

(What are we able to see of the system when we arrive?) (edited)

(program/int)

(Grim do you want to roll this? You’ll get +2 from the survey sensor array)

(18. Crit, then +2 skill +2 attribute and +2 sensor array. Bask might suck at combat but this is where he shines)

1

(I’ll get a map and report together )

(seen, almost done)

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/iron-stars-nekosmash/a/-sicilianos-location

Sicilianos

Nekosmash

(seen, almost done)

(I see this and think ok probably tomorrow, meanwhile 5 mins later. Thank you Neko)

Bask will review the sensor scans to try and determine if any of the three frozen platforms stands out as being more interesting than the others. (Basically trying to see if there is one worth choosing or if doesn’t really matter which one we pick) (edited)

Soren (Grim)

(I see this and think ok probably tomorrow, meanwhile 5 mins later. Thank you Neko)

(I hit a wall on ideas haha)

6:26 AM

They all look to be the same pattern of platform as standard as shaped beings could be.

Karre is looking over Bask’s shoulder at the readouts. “Maybe we should just pick one at random?”

“I agree they all look the same, want to just land at the closest one?”

“Works for me. Let’s lay in a course and get ready.”

(they're fundamentally the same)

(Ok I think we are just going to the closest one then) As the pilot sets the course for the nearest platform Bask heads to get changed back into his gear for the mission. (Same load out as last mission)

(Karre will be in his assault suit again; Lloyd and Sludge in Vacc suits. All armed with flop rifles and with glow bugs haha. Plus the floatruck to carry whatever we find back) (edited)

(sounds good)

6:58 AM

Approaching the remains of the platform there is nothing here representing an airlock or some organ used in place of one anymore.

(As in we need to cut into it like a hostile boarding into a ships hull? Or there are areas to land but it’s just exposed and depressurized?)

(you could do either)

“Shall we land on the surface and cut into the structure?” Bask inquires of Karee

Karre grins widely, “I’m always up for an excuse to break out the plasma cutters.”

(fix/int)

(If you don’t have fix, Sludge may be able to pull this off)

(6)

Cutting into the side of the vessel, you're unable to get much of the way through. The flesh that has remained is frozen, and has become steel rather than becoming brittle.

Karre stands on the frozen flesh, his position held via climbing hook he had appropriated from the ship’s locker. He depolarizes his faceplate and looks over at Bask, “Well. This seems to be more difficult than I thought it’d be. Maybe we could try blowing a hole in it with a demo charge? I bet Sludge can rig a shaped charge up for us.” Sludge clicks his radio once in affirmation. (edited)

“We could try that. I would do it further from where we parked though. Also I wonder if we can thaw out an area by applying heat over time?”

Karre considers as Lloyd and Sludge cross the distance back to the Friday for equipment. He looks at the ship’s drive cone and at the Shaped hull. “The ship has a big ol’ furnace we could use? Not really sure how well we could keep it in one place, though. Were you thinking something different?”

“I was just thinking running the engine and letting it heat up the ground. It would be time consuming though so let’s set it up, and then try your way. If the explosive fails we will at least have a back up then”

(Keeping the ship in place would be a rough one too)

(Ok just trying the explosive then)

(just need damage when you got a second)

!roll 3d10+1 ! Shaped Charge

Karre Mondragon(Timothy) Roll: [10, 3, 1] Result: 15 Reason: Shaped Charge

1

The charge begins counting down and after a moment blows a neat whole through the previously weakened freeze fried flesh.

“Key, meet door,” Sludge says dryly over the radio. Karre moves to the edge of the hole and tosses a glowbug into the space beyond to light the immediate interior. (Twofold, checking for immediate dangers and if there’s any gravity. Also did any gas escape?)

“Good job. I was definitely over thinking it.” Bask then begins taking readings with his various scanners (using bio and survey scanner to try and answer Karre’s questions)

There is no gravity and there is no light inside the stricken once shaper shipyard

“I’ll hop on down there and see what’s waiting,” Karre says. He attaches a glowbug to his shoulder and turns the brightness up to illuminate the surroundings as he floats into the exposed interior.

Bask replies “sounds good, I will wait here for now as you check it out.”

Inside this compartment it looks to be empty of life. Thousands of the small palm sized flesh cubes the shapers used as basic building blocks for items have been left here to freeze and become worthless to them, and anyone else with their strange biopsionic powers.

“All clear,” Karre transmits, “Lots of those cube things from the first ship we went through.” He plays his light across the bulkheads to find the a way through and deeper into the ship.

“Ok heading in” Bask replies. He then enters into the compartment and using the light from the glow bug Karre threw in earlier he will try and see if there’s any visible doorways to other rooms

(It runs left and right, this is like three rings that get smaller as you get closer to the center)

“Should we follow the ring around to the right until we find something?”

“Sounds like a better plan than I had,” Karre says.

You pass through the remains of a frozen airlock and enter into another workshop where more of the cubes have been collected here. It looks like the neurons on the wall have dried, forming some kind of a diagram for what was supposed to be built, looking almost like a giant circuit.

Bask will take a moment to copy the diagram as best he can. Then he will search around the workshop looking for shaper equivalents of drawers or cabinets, really any sort of storage where workshop equipment may be

There doesn’t seem to be anything like that here , their hideously organic storage methods being mostly transmitted thought

“Do you know what it is? Were they trying to make more of those shaper things that weren’t effected by the Healing?”

“I am not sure. I can’t tell if this was post shaper defeat or before the healing. Not sure what else to do right now other than keep exploring further down.”

“Let’s keep going then.” He shudders involuntarily despite the insulating warmth of his suit, “I don’t think I’ll ever get over how creepy it is to walk through these things.”

(mental save for the both of you)

(9v12 fail)

(13v10, success)

Moving into the next room it looks like the station was severed from its life giving connection at a time where human captives were being pulled apart and their parts recycled for production in whatever it is the shapers were building here. This frozen place has been their tomb for all this time.

2

“This is horrible, these poor people. This is why it’s so important to make sure this threat stays contained.” Bask says.

Karre grimaces at the sight. “Makes me wish we could just nuke whatever’s left of them. Never give any one else the goals and ideas that the Shapers had. This is horror.”

“We may need to do that to these stations when we are done. Or at least see if we can send them into the sun. For now though should we continue?”

"Might as well. No stories told here," he says. He continues their counter-clockwise rotation through the ring.

Moving into the next room it looks like this was a cargo intake bay. Live slaves or some kind of cube cargo would have been brought in from feasting ships elsewhere. A manta ray like vessel is decaying here.

Bask will head over to the vessel and begin to investigate it to see if it still works or if it has decayed beyond use. He will also inspect the vessel to try and gain any insights into how it works, how it would generate weapons, produce atmosphere etc.

It looks spaceworthy though it is decaying. You're unsure how much time you'd have with it in the void of space once subject to the hazards and pressures there.

Bask takes note of the ship, not willing to fly it out just yet. However they may be able to send a ship here later to tow it back. “I am ready to continue if you are”

(How big is the ship? Can we see into the flight deck?)

(It would be shuttle sized)

Karre looks for a way inside the shuttle. “Maybe it was loading up supplies or dropping them off?”

“Maybe” Bask says as he awaits Karre in searching

You can see the loafing sphincter to get inside and without a guiding intelligence you’d have to force it open

Karre looks for anything in the bay he can use to help get leverage to force it open.

There looks to be a bone spar here you can use that is exceptionally sharp and dense. A post tech tool kit may also make@short work of this

(I haven’t explicitly laid out Sludge and Lloyd’s loudouts. Would Sludge have one? Does Bask? Otherwise gonna stab the thing and leverage it open)

(Sludge might. Sludge so far as been just kind of an extra gun but the pilot loadout has tools)

(Well I don’t want to game it unfairly so let’s try to manually force it? My backup plan is to use our plasma cutters and/or melee weapon to cut it enough)

(fix/int)

!roll 2d6-1

Karre Mondragon(Timothy) Roll: [6, 6] Result: 11

(Would roll to assist but he crit so probably not needed)

(theres not crit success on skill checks, you can assist if you like)

(11)

There is a grinding sound from the other side of the airlock before it eventually opens, allowing you to the interior of the ship somehow without breaking anything important within

Bask enters the ship through the airlock and looks around trying to assess the surroundings and see if there’s anything useful

usefullness here seems to have been determined by the fleshshapers rather than anything else. You see more cubes of the material they use to manufacture their technologies, and a pilots compartment up front where the enslaved organic brain controlling the vessel has frozen to death in the emptiness of space.

Karre grunts at the sight of the dead brain, “Well, maybe we could bring this back? Have the scientists map the neuropathways or whatever medical buzzword they’d use. Not sure if we’ve brought any intact shaper brains to them yet.”

“I agree. I think we try and bring back what we can. There technology is so different though I don’t think it will be much immediate use to us. But once back in a lab with teams of scientists maybe a lot can be discovered.” Bask examines the brain to see how easy or difficult it would be to safely remove without further damaging it

It looks to be integral to the operation of the ship. There are no control surfaces here that can be accessed without it, and the object alone looks to be very dense and heavy requiring a team to haul.

(More than the four people we have here and the floater ruck to bring it back?)

(I suppose that would cover it)

Bask then attempts to carefully remove the brain trying to avoid doing any damage so it can be transferred to the floater ruck

(How would we remove it? What would the process be like)

(Is it connected to the ship with nerves/cords? Or is there something more solid holding it in place?)

(Thick nerves to the control consoles but it’s also rooted to the floor)

(I can try chopping through the root with mah axe. All my ideas are brute forcing here haha)

Bask gets out both his toolkit and meta tool. He then begins cutting the first nerve as close to the control console as possible and attempting to cauterize it as he goes. If that works without issue he will do the same for the remaining nerves. If able to successfully sever and cauterize all the nerve endings he will the slowly and carefully use the tools to pry the roots free from the floor

(fix/int)

(8)

You are able to remove some of the tendrils carefully, cutting them is evidently damaging them somehow and you're unable to see how they interface with the rest of the ship, since you cannot see how they are tipped.

Bask not knowing what else to do will keep going trying to finish the work as carefully as possible accepting some damage will be done

The brain comes free with a wet peeling sound like pulling back the layer of skin over a blister.

“Ick that sounded gross. Let’s get this thing on the floater ruck and get it to the ship where they can hopefully freeze it or something. Then we Can come back and finish exploring, if you are good with that plan?”

Karre flexes theatrically and gets to work helping lift the brain back out and onto the ruck.

Once on the ruck Bask will begin the trek back with it so they can get it stored on the ship. If this is uneventful Bask will then backtrack back to return here after dropping the brain off at the ship

(nothing is going to attack you)

“Ready to keep moving?” Bask asks Karre

(Sorry, this week has been nuts) “Yeah, let’s try to finish the circuit at least. Is there anything specific you think we should try to keep an eye out for? I’m more or less just looking for intact shaper parts at this point.”

“I don’t really have anything specific in mind other than finding things that can either help our research or ensure the shapers aren’t able to make a resurgence.” Bask says as they begin walking further down the loop

The next room past the shuttle bay looks to be some kind of mustering space where Shapers marked out for planetary assault would have gathered to board bulkier troop transport forms, or been herded into their equivalent of drop ships or thunderstrike pods. You can see most of these items were not yet loaded onto the platform fro use elsewhere.

Bask will examine the drop ship and thunderstrike pod equivalents if there are any not completely decayed. Primarily he is looking to get a sample of the outside skin or plating. Basically whatever organic coating it has that allows it to resist the heat of planetary entry.

(know/int)

/roll 3d6+3

2:33 PM

(Dice Maiden didn’t work so used roll20 got a 9)

/roll 3d6+3

5:13 PM

You’re unable to figure out the exact mix. There is a combination of coating and biological adaption being used here.

If able Bask will take some of the sample with for further analysis later in an actual lab setting

(I think our check was good enough to cover it)

Bask finishes cutting away several 12in by 12 in squares of the material storing it on the ruck. “Maybe we can eventually identify the structure of the material and through organic chemistry improve our understanding of heat resistant materials. It’s a long shot but I am hoping some good can come from the shaper innovations. Even if it’s something small like just a slight improvement to heat resistant materials. Anyway shall we continue?” (edited)

“Might as well. This all seems so weird. Like exploring a corpse and a ghost town all in one.”

Bask continues down the rounded corridor into the next section of the station

You sense you are coming to the end of your exploration on this level and come to a room that reminds you of a swimming facility if this is sometihng not on a shaper ship. Four large million gallon pools occupy this room though the liquid in them has since either boiled or bled away by now.

“I wonder if they used these pools to store the biomass they were processing?” Bask then heads over to the nearest pool and checks to see if any residue of whatever liquid once occupied the pools remains that he can sample to test his theory or if the pools look to be scoured clean

The pools look to have been scoured clean but you do see filters and ducts that seem to indicate some sort of processing or birthing of new shaper forms took place in this room

Bask takes some pictures of the pools and makes some notes about the pools for his records. He the searches the room to see if there is anything else or if there is a way to access the next level from here.

“I wonder if we can backtrack some of those pipes to their origin?”

“That is a good idea.” Bask the refocuses his search towards the pipes

You think given their organic nature you might be able to stretch a few of them enough to crawl into, but bulky power armor and sharp edges might fray or break them.

Karre looks over at Sludge, “Didn’t you say you always wanted to be a shaper suppository?”

6:17 PM

(Sludge is in a vac suit only)

(Bask is also in a vacc suit )

(Vac suit or armored vac will be fine for this absent any kind of complications from a poor roll at some point

(Awesome! If you wanna climb the tube by all means. I don’t want to tear it in assault armor)

Bask feeling especially suited to this due to his serpent like body volunteers to explore the pipes. He positions himself and begins his attempt at slithering through

1

(Notice/wis)

Soren (Grim)

used /roll

Grim Roll: [4, 1] Result: 6 Request: [2d6+1]

(6)

Four pipes look to be the ones youd have the most success of getting into , you smell strong acid lingering here from two of them, and it might not be safe to be inside those particular tunnels for long.

Bask will check the first of the two “safe pipes” slithering as far into it as he is able to safely

Entering the first of the safe pipes you can see yourself passing a number of glands responsible for moving the different liquids around and into the pools. Vitamins, minerals, and other objects would have cycled through this complex digestive system, ensuring the birthing pools always had a steady supply of what was needed.

Bask attempts to take samples of the organs. Cutting whatever can be safely cut (as in won’t start spilling liquids everywhere. Might not be anything m, but just checking) and scraping cells from any organs that can’t (like a cheeks swab for a dna test)

(heal/imt)

Soren (Grim)

used /roll

Grim Request: [2d6+1] Roll: [5, 5] Result: 11

(11)

Bask manages to take a few cultures of whatever cells might still exist in the walls for later analysis.

(Is there more down the pipe or has bask finished exploring it and should move to next?)

(it leads somewhere, but we stopped to do this so I didn't continue)

After finishing obtaining several cultures Bask then continues his slithering down the pipe

There is a dark chamber ahead and you can hear the sound of the howling void. It is a low sound, a distant rumble.

If bask Can access his glow bugs he will turn one on if not he will continue towards the chamber and turn it on if he gets a chance when in the chamber

(so long as they're readied or stowed you can access them since they're on your person)

(Ok accessing them then. Was just thinking because the tight space)

Bask struggles a bit in the confined space but is able to reach a glow bug and activate it attempting to use the light to view the chamber

This looks tobe a chamber where solid waste and things the shapers could not use was separated from the things they could with the slurry eventually being jettisoned out toward space.

Bask thinks quietly to himself This is quiet the crappy job He then begins searching through the waste trying to see if any treasures ended up here. Hopefully something good ended up here and the shapers overlooked it for being inorganic, it would really stink if I am digging through this for nothing

You find something glimmering under the light of your glowbug, buried under a black/brown slurry.

Bask continues digging focused on the glimmering object and attempting to pull it free of the slurry

A unit of pretech salvage has been mixed here amid the debris, unable to be digested or used.

Bask collects the salvage and if nothing else is of interest he will head back through the tunnel. (So I know there are other tunnels but I also don’t want to take away more time from Karre. So not sure how we want to proceed. Like skip them, do kind of a summary post like bask explores them all and overall finds or doesn’t find anything, or just keep doing one by one)

(By all means keep doing your thing. Been very sick the last week or so and just starting to recover. This has been perfect for me)

(I'm good for whatever you folks decide)

Bask will notify Karre of the find and then go to the next safe pipe preferring to save the riskier exploration for later

Returning to the main chamber , Karre and Sludge have secured the area, and nothing has come out of the woodwork to assault the group.

Bask begins slithering down the next safe pipe using the previous pipe as a reference of comparison to specifically look for anything that may be different about this one if anything

This one is thicker in diameter and there is more waste in it. Most of it seems to be metallic, and some organics that the shapers simply had collected too much of to use on a given set of projects.

Bask will begin shifting through the disposed of materials trying for another lucky find. Knowing it’s a long shot but responsibly ensuring he does his due diligence by searching

(d100)

Soren (Grim)

used /roll

Grim Request: [1d100] Roll: [21] Result: 21

(21)

Out of the slurry and wreckage here the only thing you find is a small monoblade switchblade. It is well made, and balanced looking but does not seem to be especially high tech.

If able Bask will now try and push through the sludge trying to see if the tunnel leads to another chamber like the last one

(I think the two unsafe tunnels are the only ones left at this point)

Finishing this tunnel, Bask moves to the first of the unsafe tunnels and shines a light from the glow bug down the tunnel trying to observe what he can before entering the tunnel

(we knew already there were strong acids and lots more organs down this way where things might still be potent enough to harm you)

Bask decides to exercise caution not wanting to risk his suit being eaten through by the acids.he does however attempt to fill a vial full of the acid to take a sample to analyze later

(Sneak/dex)

Soren (Grim)

used /roll

Grim Request: [2d6-1] Roll: [5, 3] Result: 7

(7)

You reach inside and the acid here looks to be very intense. There is a slight hiss as some of your suit bubbles and pops , and it looks best not to try to continue down this route.

Bask realizes the danger and moves on from the pipes. He then tries and figure out if there is anywhere else to go or what the next place is (if any) to explore

(We've seen everything in the platform)

Bask heads to Karre “I think we have seen everything we can. I did find this pre-tech part and was able to get some samples of the organs we can analyze. I do probably need to get out of this suit soon too. It’s coveting excrement and is slightly acid damaged.” (I don’t want to hog the part if you have plans for it. Otherwise do we head back?)

Karre grins at Bask when he approaches, “Glad you made it out in generally one piece! And I’m even more glad I can’t smell you! Keep the part, seems the least we can do considering you almost got digested by the looks of it.” He makes sure their load is secured to the floater ruck and is ready to depart. (Absolutely keep the part! You did all the leg work for it.)

(3xp, 5000 credits)

When they arrive at the ship Bask makes sure to place the vac suit in a sealed biohazard bag and mark it to be burned. “We have gathered a significant amount of material to research. I plan to spend some time in a lab environment examining the brain and organ samples we recovered if it’s ok with you” Bask says to Karre

Karre is overseeing the group disarming and doffing their armor "That sounds like an excellent idea. Do you need anything specific? I'll make my way to the bridge from here and see what sort of trouble we can get into in the system. If there's anything left worth looking at," he adds.

“Nothing specifically for now. Once the work begins on figuring out how the parts function we may get a better idea” Bask then heads to the ships lab and begins by setting up a dna analysis on the organs from the pipes. Specifically looking to identify functions of the organs, any known comparison to existing organs in known species in the Ironstars, and any genetic improvements the organs may have.

(I think a lot of these projects would be the things of days and weeks, if not months, rather than something we can do in a scene , but I can add shaper organ research to our list of possible projects)

(I was mainly trying to go for the morally grey research that llf needs to complete. If adding it to list of projects counts I am ok with it. I just worry it won’t ever get picked. Either way I trust you on what’s best for this, just wanted to provide background on what I am going for)

(we'll add it to list of projects for now, since thats how we;ll knock that out)

After running initial tests and realizing how big of an undertaking it will be Bask instead focuses on putting together an initial overview of what was found. Cataloging the items, providing descriptions, and additional context. Basically starting work on an initial science report that can be provided to the greats ISF scientific community. (Basically just doing rp to align what Bask was doing to the current plan of making it a project option)

(Not real sure where we go from here. Do we head back to station? Do we want to keep doing shaper missions?)

(I didn’t have much left myself. I think we have done enough to verify the shapers are truly gone)

(I'm happy with the progress we've made! Three, maybe four systems now full of dead shapers and their feral off-shoots clinging to dead rocks.)

(Yeah and no evidence they’ve got the capacity or capability to get off. We can confirm the threat is over )

(Hell yeah, high fives all around)

2

(Up to you folks what we do next or if we continue together. I know we have been at this for some time)

(I will probably be slow figuring out what to do next. School is kicking my ass but just a little over a week until finished)

(No worries buddy)

(I know that feel. Exams this week so been studying a bunch)