scary space rpg part three!

(we roll up characters here!)

(part one is here!)

(part two is here!)

[quick note on bad notetaking! ariel read over the first couple of parts and said, "hey, my character's a girl!" msg was just writing down initials and blew it when he went back to turn his notes into this writeup. we fixed it in parts one and two, but if you read those when they first went up, don't be surprised that stickshift mcdiggitt gets referred to as female from now on. sorry for the confusion!]

we pick up with msg in the middle of a sentence ...

GMSG: ... on the last day of the hyperspace jump, Pol d'Eurothein is at his station monitoring the ship's systems when an alert comes onscreen. One of the cryosleep pods is signaling elevated brain and heart activity in its occupant.

Elle: Pol considers it poor programming that the computer would ever refer to human brain activity as "elevated," but he looks to see what's wrong.

GMSG: Normally, cryosleep reduces brain waves to very minimal activity and heart rate to only a few beats a minute. But these readouts are showing very spiky brainwave patterns that surge almost as high as normal brain function, then fall back, then surge again. The heart rate is reaching as high as 30 beats per minute.

Elle: Is there some resource or manual for me to look up what these results might indicate?

GMSG: Yes, you would have been provided a troubleshooting list before everyone went under, with instructions to review the list thoroughly as your first priority during the jump. Would you have done that?

Elle: Yes.

GMSG: Then you know that cryosleep pods have a dual function. They reduce metabolic rates low enough for the individual to be in a state of suspended animation, and they also shield the occupants' nervous systems from the mysterious effects of hyperspace travel, which we all know makes humans bonkers.

Elle: Since they start off pretty unstable, I'd say it makes them "more" bonkers, but in any event, it's a problem when it happens.

GMSG: Right. So the troubleshooting guidelines indicate that elevated brain or heart activity could reflect a problem with either of those two functions. The metabolic reducers might be having a drop in efficiency, or the insulation may have some sort of breach or weakness.

Elle: What do the guidelines suggest for remediation?

GMSG: Step one is to dial up the suspension function by 5% and see if that does anything.

Elle: I proceed with that step.

Ariel: Aren't you even going to ask whose pod it is that's malfunctioning?

Elle: Sweetie, I personally may be curious, and I understand that everybody else certainly is. But Pol really doesn't care. Warden, does the increase to 105% do anything?

GMSG: It does not.

Elle: I dial it up to 107.5%.

Akane: Wait! The manual may say do otherwise!

Elle: Humans are always overcautious about exceeding their specifications. If the manual assumes a 5% increase is safe, it's certain that a 7.5% increase will have only the most minute chance of causing harm.

Akane: Ah. I don't have equipage to debate this idea.

Elle: Any effect, Warden? If not, I read step two.

GMSG: No effect, and step two says to go to 7.5%. A lack of response at that point is considered evidence that the problem is not with the cryosleep function itself.

Elle: So it's the insulation.

GMSG: Or something not on the list at all. Step three is to use a hand scanner to detect whether there are any breaches or weaknesses in the insulation field.

Elle: I look for the hand scanner.

GMSG: It's not in the cubby where it's normally kept in the cryosleep chamber. After an extensive search, you find it in the ship's combination science lab/machine shop with a note that says, "Take for service ASAP."

Elle: I examine it on the off chance that an incompetent human failed to notice an obvious cause of malfunction. Maybe that's not even such an off chance. But if I can't get it working, I see what the guidelines say next.

GMSG: Roll Mechanical Repair + Intellect, or if you don't have any applicable skill with this kind of device, roll Intellect at disadvantage.

Elle: A 39 but then a 60, so I fail. Can I keep at it, or am I totally stumped?

Sasha: You know, one of us might be dying while you're messing with that thing.

Elle: It's a chance I'm willing to take.

GMSG: You can roll again at disadvantage and with -10% on your chance. Remember, if you critically fail, something bad will happen.

Elle: 37 and 00. 

Harriet: Cold, the way you rolled that so quickly.

Elle: Eh. Anyway, I'm guessing the 00 is either very bad or very good.

GMSG: With disadvantage, you take the worse roll, so it's actually either very bad or you'd use the 37 instead. Luckily, it would be a critical success in normal circumstances, so we just ignore it now.

Ariel: Oh no, that poor 00 must be so sad that it would have been an amazing success and instead we just trash it.

Sasha: I'm still a little more concerned about whoever is dying in a tube.

Elle: The 37 failed if I had to take 10 off my Intellect before rolling. What's the next step in the guidelines?

GMSG: If the insulation field had shown any leakage, there's a drug that can be administered to increase resistance to the effects of hyperspace. But the patient has to be out of cryosleep when you give it to them, or it could cause a total shutdown of their body systems.

Elle: What if there was no leakage?

GMSG: The guidelines suggest immediate revivification and medical examination.

Elle: So my choice is to wake up the one person who's on the fritz, or to wake up that person and the medic too. Hmm. One human who might go crazy from hyperspace exposure, or two humans who might go crazy from hyperspace exposure. Hard choice.

Akane: No debate needed if the pod of problems is also the medic pod, right?

Sasha: Another good reason to check whose tube it is.

Elle: Pausing to look that up won't make a difference in Pol's decision, though, so it's time to wake the problem pod up regardless.

Harriet: But you realize that if the problem isn't related to a fault in the insulating field, administering the drug might not resolve anything.

Elle: Or, if the problem is the insulating field, a medical exam might not reveal anything either. Pol is willing to try the one-human solution first. I assume there are instructions for emergency revivification?

GMSG: Yes, in the manual and even on a sticker right on each pod.

Elle: Great. I do whatever the sticker says.

GMSG: Okay. So now I'm going to roll this die ... and it comes up on a 5, so here's a note for you, Hettie.

Harriet: I'd say thank-you, but I think I'd best read the note before deciding if it merits any kind of thanks. Hmm. Mm-hmm ... I see.

GMSG: Elle, once Pol pushes all the appropriate buttons in all the appropriate sequences, the hum coming from the pod changes tenor briefly, and the lid cycles open to reveal Spanky Spannerman gasping and struggling into consciousness.

Harriet: As soon as he can talk, Spanky says, "Help! Quick! The ship!!!"

Elle: Pol suggests calming down. "You're just out of cryosleep, and we need to take you to the medbay for a hyperspace neutralizing injection."

Harriet: Does hearing an android say that help anything, MSG?

GMSG: No, you're still completely convinced that what you thought was happening actually is happening. So much so that you need to make a Fear save -- at disadvantage, because of the fight your body was putting up while still in hypersleep and the disorientation you feel from awakening and from the direct effects of hyperspace now that you can consciously sense them.

Harriet: What exactly do I sense? Clearly, it's worse than what you described Pol sensing.

GMSG: Much worse. Every shadow in the room seems to move and shift in the corners of your vision. Strange, whispery noises fill your ears, as if parasitic worms were crawling along your auditory nerves. Random muscles spasm in your arms and legs like having a sadist doctor test your reflexes.

Harriet: I roll a 14 and a 75, and my save is only 35.

GMSG: You gain 1-5 stress points. I roll ... 3.

Harriet: Remind me when it is that stress turns into panic?

GMSG: There's no automatic threshold. Panic checks are triggered by specific events. But if you do panic, the results will be worse if your stress is high than if it's low.

Harriet: Marvelous. I try to climb out of the pod. "Something's wrong! It'll blow up, I saw! We have to fix it!

Claire: Aha! So the insurance scam is that there's a bomb on board, or the engines are rigged to blow.

GMSG: No comment on whether there's any kind of insurance scam.

Elle: Does this version of the future include psychics who might have valid premonitions?

GMSG: There are skills for Mysticism and Xenoesotericism, so who knows what might be out there. Everyone knows of spacers who make claims of bizarre and inexplicable happenings. But if you're asking whether Pol has any direct knowledge or experience that would make him assume this is an example of precognition, the answer is no.

Elle: I inform Mr. Spannerman that he is illucid due to hyperspace exposure and therefore needs to accompany me to the medbay.

Harriet: Listen, I'm telling you! We're all going to die if we don't fix it!

Elle: Fix what?

Harriet: I don't know, whatever is about to blow up!

Elle: Then I suggest you accompany me to the medbay to see if the medbay is the thing that's going to blow up.

Harriet: You crazy android! It's ... it's something to do with machinery!

Elle: Again, there is machinery in the medbay. I suggest we go.

Harriet: Is there anything I can do to try to convince him I'm telling the truth?

Elle: Pol undoubtedly thinks that you believe you're telling the truth already. Warden, can I try to use Linguistics to twist Spanky's words in such a way as to convince him that his fears are irrational?

GMSG: First, Hettie: if you had Psychology skill, you might be able to convince him that you're fully sane. But you'd have to calm yourself down first, and since you don't have the skill, it would be a straight Intellect roll at disadvantage. Elle, Psychology would be better than Linguistics, but I'll let you roll a Linguistics + Intellect roll at disadvantage.

Harriet: Is calming down a Fear save or a Sanity save? Never mind, I've rolled a 93, which fails in either case.

Elle: My rolls to see if Pol can fast-talk Spanky are 30 ... and 64, so I fail as well.

GMSG: The flickering shadows and strange, crawling whispers continue to work away at Spanky's nerves.

Harriet: Have I gotten out of the tube yet? If so, I'll try to get past the android. I'll say, "I've got to get to Engineering and see what's wrong!"

GMSG: You said you were trying to get out of the pod, and Elle didn't say Pol tried to stop you. So you can both make opposed Speed checks to see whether Spanky dashes past, or if Pol has a chance to grab him.

Harriet: How do we do that?

Elle: I roll a 63.

GMSG: You each make a Speed check, and whoever gets the higher number and also succeeds at the check is the winner.

Elle: So I fail.

Harriet: And I fail too, with a 62. What does that mean?

GMSG: The situation gets worse. Spanky thinks he's being delayed from a chance to save the ship, and Pol probably thinks that if Spanky gets to engineering in his deranged state, he might damage some vital system trying to "repair" it. You both need to roll Fear saves.

Elle: 43. Far below my Fear save of 85.

Harriet: Good heavens, 85? None of my saves are above 35! Oh, and now I roll a 52.

GMSG: Add another point of stress.

Harriet: Excellent. I guess I'll just rush forward and try to push past him. Another opposed Speed check, or do we use Strength if I'm trying to get by through brute force?

Elle: Pol doesn't like physicality. He'd prefer to dodge and put a foot out to trip Spanky up.

GMSG: We're bordering on combat here, but neither of you is trying to hurt one another, so I'd call that Spanky's Strength opposed by Pol's Speed. If either of you has Athletics, you can add that.

Harriet: I do, but I fail with a 74.

Elle: I don't ... oh, and I Critically Fail with a 77.

GMSG: Hettie, you don't get past him, but you do run into him. Elle, your attempt to dodge fails badly, your legs get tangled with his, and he comes down on top hard enough to do damage to you. I'll roll 1d10 and let you make an Armor save for half damage.

Elle: Surprisingly, I save with a 19.

GMSG: Okay, take 2 points of damage to your Health.

Elle: Inconsequential. Even the full 4 points wouldn't have been much more than a scratch against my 58 Health, right?

GMSG: Sure. But that was a saving throw, and if you Critically Fail a save, you have to make a Panic check.

Elle: In other words, even if the amount of damage is low, when you call for a save you're setting someone up to Panic.

GMSG: You're definitely getting the hang of this game. Hettie, Pol is down and landed pretty hard, so now's your chance to get up and make a dash for Engineering. You didn't get a full tour of the ship, though, so you don't know exactly where it is.

Harriet: Can I use my Mechanical Repair to make an Intellect check and figure something out by the engine sounds or some other clue, like what I saw of the ship from outside?

GMSG: Sure. That make sense. Engineering or Heavy Machinery would really be the appropriate skills though, so roll at disadvantage.

Ariel: There sure does seem to be a lot of disadvantage in this game!

GMSG: Your characters are relative newbies, so yeah, that's going to be a thing.

Harriet: I roll 26 and 80.

GMSG: The engine hum tells you nothing, then. You saw most of this deck when you came aboard ... it's the habitat deck. And you passed a small lift on your way to the cryochamber. The question is, do you go up or down?

Harriet: Let's say down. My sense is that the dirtier, more blue-collar parts of the ship would be lower and the command and flight areas higher.

GMSG: Okay, you've reached the lift and pressed the down button. Elle, what does Pol do?

Elle: I get up and pursue the mad human. Can I make it to the lift before he gets in?

GMSG: Make a Speed + Athletics or straight Speed check. You probably have a good chance to catch him, since he hasn't had much of a lead and elevators in these situations are unfailingly slow to arrive. Roll with advantage.

Elle: Excellent. Except that my rolls aren't as excellent: 52 and 63, both failures.

GMSG: You race down the corridor and arrive just in time to see the lift doors close.

Elle: Disappointing. Is there another way down? Or actually, is down even the right way to go?

GMSG: Your computer workstation isn't far from Engineering, which you know is on the bottom deck. There's another lift in the forward part of the ship, but by the time you get there, call it, and go down, this lift will have had plenty of time to return.

Elle: Unless the madman decides to destroy the control panel or otherwise disable it. I'll run to the forward lift just in case.

GMSG: I'll take the extra distance into account. Hettie, the motion of the lift feels disorienting, like it's some kind of malevolent funhouse ride. Go ahead and make another Fear save.

Harriet: This seems excessive. I roll a 59 and fail.

GMSG: Add another point of Stress. Like I said, hyperspace is really bad on the human nervous system. Also, you're still disoriented from the effects of leaving cryosleep. A stim pack would really have helped with that. At any rate, the lift reaches its destination and the door opens to a dimly lit cargo hold.

Harriet: I can already see where this is going. As I make my way through the shadowy and claustrophobic maze of shipping containers, I fail another Fear save with a 96.

GMSG: Actually, I was going to say that your spirits are buoyed by the increase in the volume of the humming engines. You seem to be much closer here than you were on the habitat deck.

Harriet: Or, the volume is going up because the engines are getting ready to blow. But if you're saying I don't gain any more Stress, I'll take that.

GMSG: That's what I'm saying. Now, both of you make Speed checks. This is an opposed roll to see if Spanky gets to Engineering with enough time to start looking for an issue before Pol arrives.

Harriet: 84.

Elle: 57.

GMSG: You both fail, which means the situation gets worse. Pol, the forward lift is taking forever to arrive. Spanky, you can hear the engine sounds, but you keep running down dead-ends in the poorly lit cargo hold. Both of you roll Fear saves.

Harriet: *sigh* 69.

Elle: 89. The situation is apparently concerning even to an android. I must have thought of some particularly destructive action the lunatic could take while I'm delayed.

GMSG: Add one Stress each. Hettie, you finally find a hatch that seems to lead out of the cargo hold in the direction of the increased engine sounds. Pol, the elevator arrives and gets you to the cargo deck. Let's do another opposed Speed check to see if Spanky accomplishes anything before Pol's arrival.

Harriet: 90.

Elle: 37. Finally! My speed's 46, so that's a success.

GMSG: No luck for Spanky. Just as you get to Engineering, Pol bursts in through another door, surprising you.

Harriet: I roll a 48 on the inevitable Fear save.

GMSG: Another point of Stress. Pol enters to find Spanky startled and wide-eyed. You have the drop on him. What do you do?

Elle: Hmm. Maybe I should have gone by the medbay and picked up that drug before chasing him down here.

Akane: Or awoken medic who has tranquilizer gun!

Elle: Too late for either of those, though. I'll raise my hands placatingly and edge forward, attempting to calm him with logic. I'll say something like, "As you can see, the engines are functioning routinely. You, however, are in an erratic state. If you come to the medbay and get the hyperspace neutralizing shot, you will be in a much better frame of mind to convince me of the threat and also to diagnose and locate it, yes?"

Harriet: That actually sounded pretty good. But my Stress is currently 9. MSG, is there anything obvious here that seems familiar or dangerous as a result of the dream I was having? A specific control panel or access port?

Ariel: Ooh! What are you writing, Claire?

Claire: Note for the GM. I mean, the Warden. Here, MSG.

GMSG: Thanks. Hmm. Okay, interesting. You can tell that to everyone out loud, Claire.

Claire: Sure, I was just pointing out that we've established Spanky has some experience on spaceships. So he ought to know they do pre-flight checks, which means if something really is wrong, it would be in an area where they don't do any regular checking. Otherwise, Party Panda would have found it ... or at least had a chance to roll and see if she found it.

Harriet: The question is, am I lucid enough -- or bright enough -- to think of that and try to use it as debating leverage with this inescapable android?

GMSG: Well, you can either role-play it through as your character or just make a Sanity roll to see if you gain the sudden clarity of thought to come up with something.

Harriet: If I role-play it, I fear I'll underestimate poor Spanky on the basis of his poor Intellect. On the other hand, if I roll, it's almost certain to be a failure. I suppose I'll roll. And ... 80. That's eight consecutive failures. I'm not a superstitious woman, but can I have a different set of dice?

Ariel: Here! I won't be using mine while I'm zorked-out in cryosleep.

GMSG: I'll even give you a free roll, Het. That is a pretty amazing string of misses you've had.

Harriet: A free roll where we ignore any Critical Failures?

Sasha: Ooh, never say something like that out loud! You just guaranteed you're going to get one.

Harriet: No, amazingly, I roll 08. Can I keep these for now, Ariel?

Ariel: Sure!

GMSG: So you have a brainstorm that's basically what Claire said. What are you going to say to Pol d'Eurothein?

Harriet: Hmm. Something along the lines of, "Can we please just check one system before we go to the medbay? Something they would have missed in the pre-flight checks. Something ... something with a lot of redundancies because it's really important. And something we're definitely going to use, a system we can't get by without activating. So the chances of it malfunctioning are really small, but if it does ..."

Sasha: kaBOOM!

Harriet: Thanks. I probably wasn't going to come up with that one, but Spanky probably would have.

Sasha: It's not a very Hettie kind of word. You're welcome!

Elle: Pol calculates that the odds of getting Spanky to the medbay could be improved significantly by humoring him. I'll run a quick computer query to determine which systems best fit the criteria he just rattled off. Computers + Intellect, I assume, and my roll is 15.

GMSG: Let me think for a second. The thrusters are critical, potentially explosive, and definitely something you'll use ... but you already used them quite a bit maneuvering to the jump point, and they got you there. The engine core powers both the thrusters and the jump drive. Again, you've been using it constantly. The jump drive certainly hits all those notes, but has been in use for almost a week now ... The computer probably lists those three, with the jump drive on top because it hasn't yet performed one of its major functions this trip, which is the return to regular space.

Elle: Can I get the computer to run a diagnostic on the jump drive and all its sub-systems?

GMSG: There are specific engineering control panels for all of that ... but the computer is in charge of running the jump drive while you're in hyperspace, so it would definitely have access to them. But you would also expect it to be constantly monitoring everything, so that if something were wrong, it would already know and have sounded an alarm.

Elle: Unless there's a fault in the monitoring sensors or possibly even a glitch in the computer's code itself. My assessment of their onboard software isn't the most positive. Can I hack the system to look for blind spots in what the computer's looking at?

GMSG: You can definitely try.

Elle: I'll communicate all of this to Spanky in an effort to prove my sincerity.

Harriet: In that case, is there any advice I can give on the basis of my expertise in mechanical repair?

GMSG: Sure, roll Mechanical Repair + Intellect. On a success, you'll give Pol advantage on his roll. On a critical success, you'll give him advantage and +10% to his success chance.

Harriet: Well, it's back to failures with a 49.

GMSG: Oh well. Elle, roll Intellect + Hacking.

Elle: 95.

GMSG: Your efforts turn up nothing.

Harriet: Nothing for it, then. It seems I have to go back to the medbay as promised, now.

Elle: Except that once Pol starts on a task, he becomes really meticulous. I was looking for blind spots the computer might have, but it now occurs to me that one of the things I dismissed earlier when thinking about those two mystery passengers was deliberate sabotage. The likelihood seemed vanishingly small at the time, but I'm now specifically looking for an eventuality with a vanishingly small likelihood. Therefore it would be illogical to ignore that one. What happens if I scour through the jump drive code looking for telltale signs of deliberately altered code?

GMSG: Well, one thing that will happen is that Spanky will need to make several more Fear saves as the waiting and the effects of hyperspace continue to gnaw at him. You'll be at it a while if you're really doing a thorough look. Let's say, you'd have to roll until you get three successes, and every other roll, Het will have to make a save.

Elle: Okay, I'll give it a shot. 13. Success number one. 22. Success number two

GMSG: Hettie?

Harriet: It's a shock, I know, but I roll a 41 and fail again.

GMSG: One point of Stress.

Elle: 57 ... barely under my 43 Intellect +15% for Hacking.

Ariel: Wow! Nice job! Hettie only had to roll once!

Elle: Thanks. So what do I find?

GMSG: There's definitely something up with the coding for the jump drive monitoring. You find suspicious new code that looks time-stamped within a few days of your departure. It seems to be telling the computer to allow for a slightly greater variance in power fluctuations along several key junctures in the drive system.

Elle: I ask Spanky if he knows what those junctures are for.

GMSG: Hettie, you can roll your Mechanical Repair + Intellect at disadvantage for a vague idea, but you'd need Engineering to know the details.

Harriet: Well, even if I had Engineering, my first roll would fail because it's a 48.

GMSG: You still have to roll the second roll. It might be a Critical Failure.

Harriet: Ugh. I'm sure it will be. No, it's an 85. Critical Failures only occur on doubles, right?

GMSG: Yes. You're safe. 

Harriet: I don't know that I feel safe, since the android just confirmed that there's something real to worry about. But I feel at least somewhat vindicated ... or whatever blue-collar term Spanky would use for it. Probably just, "I told you! Didn't I tell you?"

Elle: The question is, what do we do about it? 

Akane: I know this answer, but Yamaguchi remains suspended.

Elle: I suppose even Pol would concede that it would make sense to wake up someone with more knowledge of hyperdrive systems. 

GMSG: Based on the emergency procedures checklist you were given, protocol would be to wake the captain and turn the decision-making process over to him. 

Elle: Plusses: I don't have to keep calling the shots; the captain has some Engineering skill himself. Minuses: I don't get to keep calling the shots; the captain is a drug fiend.

Harriet: Spanky will ask, "What about if we just open up one of those junctures and have a look? Maybe what's going on there is something pretty simple to fix and that's why they needed the computer to cover it up."

Elle: I'll do a quick computer search of Engineering manuals to see what risks there are in opening junctures on a hyperdrive.

GMSG: That one's easy enough you don't even need to roll. To access any portion of the jump drive systems, you'd need to enter the sealed area where the drive is kept. The reason it's sealed is that exposure to a working jump drive while in hyperspace will completely fry a human nervous system in a matter of seconds.

Elle: So there must be robots or drones to do that work.

GMSG: Absolutely. And thinking back on your trip to the machine shop, you seem to remember having seen a number of such drones in various states of disassembly there.

Claire: These insurance fraud guys seem to know what they're doing.

Ariel: I really really don't like them!

Akane: It's an opinion with prevalence, I think.

Harriet: Have you shared all this with Spanky?

Elle: I'll do so on the way to the machine shop, where I'll show him the drones and ask if he can get one working.

GMSG: Hettie, the machine shop is grimy and erratically lit. It ought to be brighter, but it appears some of the lighting fixtures are on the fritz, with several completely out and others flickering ominously. Each flicker on throws up a writhing set of shadows from the dismembered husks of several remote repair bots.

Harriet: *sigh* I roll a Fear save ... oh, a 13! How about that. I guess I'll go over and try to assess the robots. Mechanical Repair and Intellect?

GMSG: Yes, and it's a pretty simple assessment to make, so roll with advantage.

Harriet: 80, but then 30, so I actually accomplish something. 

GMSG: Unfortunately, the news isn't good. The drones are all different models, and their detached components have just been heaped together in a crate. Assuming all the pieces are actually there, it would normally be the work of a couple of hours to get one up and running. Adding in the puzzle-solving element, you estimate a good five or six hours to fix one, at best.

Harriet: Assuming all the pieces are there.

GMSG: Right.

Elle: Pol can put two and two together. This is the last day of the hyperspace jump, and I'm guessing a six-hour delay before we can even inspect the jump drive, coupled with multiple hours to fix whatever's wrong, would push us past our scheduled return to normal space. Which means Pol's going to have to go into the hyperdrive section himself.

GMSG: Or just let whatever's going to happen, happen.

Akane: Yamaguchi still dreams in oblivion, but for myself the player, I vote against this option.

Ariel: Me too!

Elle: How dangerous is entering the drive section for an android?

GMSG: Unclear. It's possible, though, and you know that a week's exposure to hyperspace has unnerved Pol to a lesser degree than half an hour's exposure has rattled Spanky.

Elle: I call up the procedures for accessing the drive section. How tricky does it look?

GMSG: For safety reasons, it's laborious but not at all challenging.

Elle: Can Spanky help me open it up, or does he need to stand far back?

GMSG: He can help you with the outer seal. Then there's a short accessway followed by an inner seal that he could help you get started on, but he'll need to return to the Engineering section before you finish the last few steps.

Harriet: Just tell me how many Fear saves I need to make.

GMSG: One while you're helping with the outer seal, one while you help with the first bit of the inner seal, and one when Pol gets the inner seal open.

Harriet: New dice here. 02 ... 26 ... 22. I'm keeping these.

GMSG: Okay, now, as soon as the inner seal is open, Pol experiences a visceral lurch in the fabric of his reality.

Elle: Since I don't have viscera, this must be a hell of a lurch.

GMSG: It is. The strange undercurrents of sound and sensation that you've been feeling all week explode into a vast maelstrom of slurred noise and sidewise visual echoes. Make a Sanity save.

Elle: Hm. My Sanity save is far worse than my Fear one is. I roll a 90 and fail miserably.

GMSG: You receive 1d10 Stress ... I roll 4 points.

Elle: I'm disturbed but not discombobulated. Can we take it for granted that I've transferred a set of schematics for those junctures to a handheld tablet or comm device?

GMSG: Let's say you put them up on a big display in Engineering, split-screen with the view from a shoulder-cam you found. That way Spanky can help guide you. Hettie, this would ordinarily be so routine it wouldn't require a roll, but the stress and anxiety and eerie sensations of hyperspace are really starting to get to you. Make an Intellect roll, but as long as you don't Critically Fail, you'll be okay.

Harriet: 96. I just about had a heart attack until I saw from the little underline that the ones digit was a 6.

GMSG: Elle, you get to the first juncture without issue. You can see that the panel is off-kilter, allowing a cable to snake out from behind it. The cable's about a finger's width thick, and runs a meter or so along the accessway before turning around a bend. Spanky tells you the next juncture is just past the corner.

Elle: I'll proceed there.

GMSG: Another panel has been left askew, and an identical cable runs out to join the first one. Together they cross the floor and take a dogleg around the next bend.

Harriet: Spanky says, "I think you have to go that way, Pol."

Elle: Pol musters his willpower and just says, "Thank you," rather than something biting and sarcastic.

Sasha: Woo! Look at Elle, roleplaying like crazy!

Elle: I love that you think holding back sarcasm isn't something I do on a constant basis. Warden, Pol proceeds around the next turn.

Ariel: psst, Sash, I think that's where you're supposed to talk about the little carriages...

Sasha: What?

Ariel: Two chaise. That's what Elle always says if someone zings her sarcasmically.

Sasha: ...

Elle: Oh, Aers, is that seriously what you think I've been saying?

Ariel: It's not? But I went to all the trouble to look up "shay" and everything. And it told me I was spelling it wrong but it's a kind of carriage.

Harriet: Personally, I'm willing to forgive any number of linguistic misunderstandings in exchange for Ariel's coinage of "sarcasmically."

Ariel: Thanks, Hettie! It's a lot more fun than with a "t", right?

Harriet: Oodles.

GMSG: Meanwhile, back on the ship where everyone is really close to a pyrotechnic death in the mind-wrecking antireality of hyperspace ...

Ariel: Oh! Sorry!

Sasha: Me too. My bad for interrupting!

GMSG: Elle, when you turn the corner, you see --

Elle: Let me guess: the third juncture, also with the panel partly open and a cable running out of it. And all the cables connect up to a bomb.

GMSG: Not quite.

Elle: Sorry, what do I see then?

GMSG: Well, you do see that, but you see it in the flickering light of the active hyperdrive core, which lies beyond a chillingly black bulkhead. There's a small port through which the drive could be viewed, but something about the light coming through it makes you instantly sure that viewing it would blast your circuitry to oblivion. It's a cold light, a pale blue that's not quite blue, whispering into your eyes that the color of madness is shining upon your face, baring the lunatic essence of the universe to you if only you step forward and let your gaze fall upon what lies beyond that viewport.

Elle: Not to pretend that I'm psychic here, but I roll an 86 on my save, which fails whether it's a Fear save or a Sanity save.

GMSG: Sanity. Gain two points of Stress. You reflexively look away from the light, and see a menacing, compact device on the floor. It's been assembled from several discrete components, laced together with a maze of wiring. One looks like a computer control mechanism of some sort, which you recognize with your Computers skill. A couple of the others you don't know the purpose of. But nestled amidst all of it is a brick of what looks like dull, leaden clay. You don't have Explosives skill, but even just from watching a few action movies, you'd guess it's the part that actually blows up.

Elle: I'm sure there's no way I can figure out how to disarm it, but I take the shoulder-cam off and try to give Spanky the most detailed, comprehensive view of it I can. Then I ask if he thinks he has any idea what to do about it.

GMSG: Hettie, the wiring is very complex, but the principles behind it are actually pretty simple. Make a Mechanical Repair + Intellect roll with advantage.

Harriet: Oh. My. God. I don't believe it. I only have to roll once.

GMSG: Well, even if the first roll is a success, you need to roll again and see --

Harriet: I've covered the dice. My dear, use your immensely logical brain to reason through why I would say that.

GMSG: Hm. Oh -- if you only have to roll once on advantage, it's because there's no way to roll better, which means you rolled a double-zero.

Harriet: Ta-da!

Akane: A roll of competence!

Ariel: Hey, that's two double-zeros tonight! How unlikely is that?

GMSG: Pretty unlikely.

Claire: Way to come through in the clutch, Het!

GMSG: With that Critical Success, Spanky is able to tell Pol exactly what needs to be done to disable the explosive. It's just a matter of tracing and bypassing each individual connection between the explosive and the control box. There are a ton of them, and the wiring is really complicated, so it's going to take a lot of time, but if Pol works very methodically, he should be able to do it.

Elle: What kind of rolls are we talking about? Is there anything mathematical in the patterns of the wires that would let me use Mathematics in place of an actual repair skill?

GMSG: Roll Mathematics + Intellect to try to figure that out.

Elle: Nope: 89.

GMSG: So you spend some time trying to mathematically analyze the maze of wires, but it's not fruitful. Make another Sanity check for proximity to the jump drive, and Hettie, you make another Fear check from the ongoing hyperspace effects.

Elle: 29. That's a bust.

Harriet: 07!

GMSG: A point of Stress for Pol. Now roll a straight Speed check to see how quickly you can work your way through the wires. I'm writing down a total number of checks you can make before the computer alerts you that you're about to come out of hyperspace.

Elle: Ew. That's a 66.

GMSG: Critical Failure. I'm counting that as two checks and you have to make a Fear check because you barely avoided clipping a wire before you'd bypassed it.

Elle: Saved with a 25. Next Speed check is 83. If there's no specific repercussion for that, the next one is ... 22, which is a Critical Success.

GMSG: Okay, you've made it down to the last few wires. And that's lucky, because you're now about 15 minutes away from returning to normal space. Spanky needs to make another Fear save by now.

Harriet: I blow it with a 69.

Ariel: (That's what she--)

Sasha: Shh!

GMSG: Two points of Stress. Spanky is getting very jittery by this point. Elle, you have time for one more roll.

Elle: That's a 12. I make it.

GMSG: The brick of explosive is loose. Since you don't have Explosives skill, you don't know whether it's volatile enough for a stray power surge to set it off as the jump drive shuts down. So you now have three choices: leave it there and hurry out to re-seal the drive area with plenty of time to spare, pull it loose and make a Speed check to re-seal the drive area, or have Spanky re-seal the drive area with you inside while you try to disconnect some of those cables from the junctures.

Elle: It seems human-level foolishness to leave it there after I spent hours getting it loose. I'm going to work it free and make the Speed check. And I fail with a 63.

GMSG: You get the inner seal done, but the computer announces a thirty-second countdown to normal space, and you can't do the outer seal in that time-frame.

Harriet: What if I help?

GMSG: "Normal space in twenty-five, twenty-four," make a Speed + Mechanical Repair roll, "twenty-three, twenty-two ..."

Harriet: Unfortunate. That's a 65.

GMSG: The countdown hits ten, and you both know there's no way you'll finish in time. Do you do your best to tighten it down as much as you can, or run for it to get as far as you can from the accessway before the countdown is up?

Elle: Pol runs.

Harriet: Spanky's "#1 Worker" patch is there for a reason. His work ethic kicks in, and he has to do his best to protect the ship and the crew however much he can.

Akane: So noble!

GMSG: Elle, make a Speed check. Hettie, roll Speed + Mechanical Repair again.

Elle: 40 ... a nail-biter but success.

Harriet: I manage a 10.

GMSG: Success but not Critical Success. You get the seal mostly fixed in place, but you're still in contact with a bolt or clamp when the count hits zero. I'm going to roll percentile dice twice and add the results together. Make an Armor save for half damage.

Harriet: 91.

Ariel: This is so sad! It was nice knowing you, Spanky. Stickshift McDiggitt will feel really bad she didn't get to say goodbye.

GMSG: The good news is, you don't have to feel bad about failing that save. The damage roll is 83 + 69, which comes to 152. Even divided by two, that would be more than your Max Health.

Harriet: Yes, that's exceptional news. Thank you.

Claire: So that's it? Spanky's dead?

GMSG: No, Het can make a Body save. If she fails, he's dead. If she succeeds, I secretly determine the outcome.

Harriet: My Body save is only 30 ... but I roll a 09.

GMSG: Okay, here's the table ... I roll a d10 ... Hey, it's your lucky day!

Harriet: Mm-hmm. Exactly how I would describe it. 

GMSG: You recover consciousness immediately. +1 Stress, disadvantage on all rolls for the next ... 8 minutes. And your current Health is now 1. Elle, you got far enough away that you don't feel the shock wave or see Spanky's unconscious body slump to the floor, but you do still have to make a Sanity save against a massive jolt of hyperspace feedback.

Elle: 02. I'm cool as a cucumber.

GMSG: Okay the ship is back in normal space. You're both still alive. But when Spanky comes to in Engineering, there are lots of red lights flashing and warning popups on the equipment monitors ...

[well, folks, this post is way long already, so ... to be continued in part four!]