scary space rpg part two!

previously, on scary space rpg ... (click here ... and then click here!)

GMSG: Okay, it gets to be about an hour before departure time, which is when the passengers are supposed to show up at the docking bay and board The Inner Peace.

Ariel: Wait, you haven't introduced Claire's character yet!

Claire: hmm-hm-hmmm ...

GMSG: No comment on the status of Claire's character, since none of your characters even know she exists yet. But I did get her note answering the questions I gave her for how her character begins the game.

Akane: Again, the secrecy! This is a game of many mysteries.

GMSG: At any rate, unless anyone says otherwise, I'm going to assume Narcy Danger, Stickshift McDiggitt, and Spanky Spannerman all head toward the docking bay.

Sasha: Thumbs up!

Ariel: Okay.

Harriet: Fine by me.

GMSG: Meanwhile, on board the ship, in the computer room, Elle's character sees the door of the computer room open, and Captain Kellerman comes in. The man looks agitated and flustered. There's a bit of a crack in his voice when he says, "You didn't hack the door again, did you? To let another crewmember in?"

Elle: No. I've been busy with the tasks you provided, and it's of no concern to me if a late-arriving crewmember has to wait at the door until you have time to permit them entry.

GMSG: The captain puts his hands in his hair. "Where is she?"

Elle: Are you asking me to hack the station security camera network to look for someone?

GMSG: "No!"

Elle: Good. It would interrupt this work and pose a significant challenge with possible consequences in the negative to extremely negative range.

GMSG: He rushes off without responding to you.

Elle: I return to work. Say, speaking out of character, have we noticed any other crew besides Kellerman, Yamaguchi, and Pol d'Eurothein?

GMSG: Also speaking out of character, have I described any other crew?

Elle: Touché.

GMSG: Akane, as your character is wrapping up her inventory of the medlab, the captain shows up and asks you if you've let any other crew members on board.

Akane: Yamaguchi says, "No ... was this my assignment?" She also observes sneakily if any signs of recent stim use are to be noticed. Oh, unsuccessful. I roll 94.

GMSG: He's clearly very worked-up about something, but you can't see if there's a pharmaceutical cause. He hurries away without answering your question.

Akane: I'm starting to lack confidence for this captain.

GMSG: A few moments after he leaves, you hear a chime on the ship's intercomm, and then the captain's footsteps speeding farther off down the hall. Now ... Sasha, Hettie, and Ariel ... let's see who arrives first, assuming you all head for the docking bay right around the time you're supposed to.

Ariel: I think between me and Spanky we'd remember to. I'll make sure I have my voucher out when we get there. (I probably know exactly where it is because I've kept checking to make sure I didn't forget it.)

Sasha: Narcy only has a couple of drinks, since she doesn't want to show up at a docking bay totally sloshed and then find out she has the wrong ship. So I'd be on time too.

GMSG: Who has the highest Speed rating, then?

Harriet: Spanky has a 41.

Ariel: Stickshift's is 36.

Sasha: I may be dangerous, but I'm not super-fast. Narcy's only got a 32.

GMSG: We'll say Spanky and Stickshift get there first, then. Hey, you didn't ever describe what Spanky looks like, did you, Het?

Harriet: No, I suppose not. I'd say he's a medium-height fellow, square through the shoulders but with a bit of a beer belly. He's got a big chin and a pug nose, kind of balding, wheat-colored hair where he has any. He's in overalls with a paisley work shirt on underneath. He'll take his travel voucher out as well, since Stickshift has hers ready to display.

Elle: Paisley? I'm trying to even imagine a paisley work shirt.

Harriet: It's the future.

Elle: Solid answer.

Harriet: My prediction is, that won't be the last time I use it.

GMSG: So when you press the contact button on the comm panel, it makes a little chime, but no one immediately answers.

Elle: Hang on. Does Pol hear the chime?

GMSG: Well, it's on the intercomm system, so I'd assume so.

Elle: I'll have a look through the comm panel camera to see who we've got then.

GMSG: You mean you answer the chime?

Elle: No, I just activate the camera on their end.

GMSG: From your perspective, it's just a couple of passengers who look like Aers and Het described themselves.

Elle: I'll ponder the paisley design for a moment and then get back to work.

GMSG: The airlock door opens after a minute or so, and Stickshift and Spanky see an out-of-breath, somewhat disheveled man in a captain's uniform step out and look from one of them to the other. He has his mouth open as if to say something, but when he notices the travel vouchers you have out, he closes it and his face kind of sags like he's disappointed.

Ariel: Stickshift will ask if this is The Inner Peace.

GMSG: He nods weakly and sighs and says it is.

Ariel: Because that's the ship I'm supposed to go to -- what's the name of this VR resort?

GMSG: It's called Holograndeur.

Ariel: -- to Hologramder on.

Harriet: And me as well. Hm. No, I suppose Spanky is more the type to just say, "Yah, me too."

GMSG: The man says, "Good, good. Of course." But he doesn't sound like he really thinks it's good. He gestures you into the ship, but as you enter, he's looking past you up the access tunnel with something of a nervous tic by one eye. "Welcome aboard. My name is Captain Kellerman." He leads you to the part of the ship near the cryosleep chambers and shows you the storage lockers where you'll need to put your stuff. And he explains that you can relax in the galley until the ship departs and reaches orbit, at which time the ship's medic will put you in cryosleep.

Ariel: Sure, I guess. That's normal?

Harriet: Assuming Spanky has spent some time on ships because of his Zero-G skill, can I let my friend know whether it's normal or not?

GMSG: It is for a small ship, especially a transport that's taking Class D vouchers.

Harriet: I'll relay that. Also ... does my Rimwise skill alert me to any sordid signs of stim dissipation in the captain?

GMSG: Roll Intellect +10 for your skill.

Harriet: Nope. I roll a 49.

GMSG: He certainly doesn't seem to have it together, but you don't notice anything really suspicious. The intercomm chimes again, and he gets an expression of anxious hope on his face and hastily excuses himself to go answer the door. 

Sasha: Is it Claire, showing up an hour late to be part of the crew?

GMSG: No, it's you, showing up on time as a passenger. But Kellerman doesn't know that, and as soon as he sees you, he asks, "Pandora Fatale? Please tell me you're Pandora Fatale."

Sasha: No, but that's a cool-ass name. Claire never said it straight out like that when she was making it up!

GMSG: Are you actually telling him it's a cool-ass name?

Sasha: Sure.

GMSG: He neither agrees nor disagrees ... he just grimaces at the fact that you said no, then kind of ignores you to peer past you desperately, like he's hoping someone will turn the corner at the end of the access tunnel any second.

Sasha: I'll say, "So are you showing me to my cabin, or what?"

GMSG: He squeezes his eyes shut and presses his thumb and fingers to the bridge of his nose for a second. Then he shakes his head as if to wake himself up from a daze, and he has you follow him to the lockers and the cryosleep chamber. You see Spanky and Stickshift there. Want to describe yourself so they know what you look like?

Sasha: Sure. Narcy is a feisty Latina with orange-dyed hair, short and spiky. She's in a camo jacket with a "Fix Me First" patch on it, and she wears a spiked bracelet on one wrist.

Ariel: Wait, is she short and spiky or is her hair?

Sasha: Her hair. This chick is buff. Really big and solid. I looked on that stat spreadsheet of Elle's and I'm like in the top ten percent of the top one percent for Strength, so we're talking ripped.

GMSG: Wow, I thought the 54 you rolled was pretty good, but I didn't realize it was that good.

Sasha: Max Health 108, baby.

Akane: Mine is just 46! So sad ...

GMSG: Anyway, the captain pulls out a hand comm and hurries away, telling it to connect him to Pandora Fatale. Claire, it's just a little less than an hour to departure time and your hand comm buzzes with a call.

Claire: Well, it would have if I hadn't put it on Do Not Disturb. But the alarm on it does go off, because this is when I set it for.

GMSG: All right. When you get up, then --

Claire: Oh, I don't get up, I hit the snooze icon.

Harriet: Now that's just plain irredeemable.

Claire: Not really. When it goes off again eight minutes later, I do actually get up instead of snoozing it any further. And I slept in my flight suit and had my bag packed already, so I've got at least 20 minutes to get there before the half-hour mark for departure.

GMSG: So you're showing up 30 minutes before flight time?

Claire: Sure. If they allow an hour for normal conditions with all kinds of red tape and rigamarole ... checklists, whatever ... then for sure you could get a ship up and ready in half an hour. And like my patch says, I'm a really hard worker once I'm on the job.

GMSG: Okay, well, make a Speed roll with advantage so see if you successfully hurry your way through the spaceport from the place you've been staying.

Claire: First roll is ... 43, second roll is ... 12. So if I take the better of those, I'm totally cool. My Speed is 38.

GMSG: You show up at the 30 minute mark almost exactly. When you hit the comm buzzer, the captain shows up freaking out at you.

Claire: Can I use my Intellect and Engineering skill to rattle off some specifications and procedures in a way that will make him realize I know my stuff and there's nothing to worry about?

GMSG: You can certainly try.

Claire: Okay ... 33 + 15 gives me a 48% chance ... I roll a 37.

GMSG: He calms down a little, but still seems pretty twitchy.

Elle: I should have said it each time you had the intercom chime -- I meant to have a peek at the camera whenever someone new showed up.

GMSG: I don't really like to rewind things, but as long as all you're doing is observing, it won't mess anything up, so I'll let you roll for it. Make a straight Intellect roll to avoid getting so caught up in your programming that the chime doesn't register.

Elle: Nope, that's a 60.

GMSG: Roll again for the second chime.

Elle: 58. This is obviously some fascinatingly bad code that I'm trying to fix.

GMSG: Apparently so.

Claire: I ask the captain to show me to my station. The ad said the ship needed a pilot and/or engineer, and I can do both, whichever one they don't already have.

GMSG: He asks if you have Vehicle Specialization in this class of ship.

Claire: That's a no.

GMSG: You'll be in Engineering then, and he'll take on the piloting duties on top of command.

Claire: So ... what, if I only had piloting skill was he going to do the engineering and also try to captain the ship from the engine room?

GMSG: Do you ask him that?

Claire: Probably not, considering how worked up he is.

GMSG: Then he shows you where to stow your gear and then takes you to Engineering to do the flight prep. Once he sees you getting started, he says he's heading up to the command deck.

Claire: Great. Do I need to roll to get things right?

GMSG: No, because you're totally on the mark about the prep time for a ship being much less than procedures usually allow for. But if you want to impress him that you're doing an excellent job, you'll need to roll.

Claire: Nope, Party Pandy doesn't feel a need to impress anybody, she just wants to get the job done right. If I roll, I might critically fail because I'm paying more attention to what he thinks than to what I'm doing. I'll just proceed at an efficient pace and do what needs to be done.

GMSG: All right, then. Half an hour later, all the warm-up routines and safety checks are done, and the ship clears out of port and heads up into orbit.

Claire: Is the ride pretty smooth? Does everything seem well-maintained?

GMSG: Make an Intellect + Engineering roll.

Claire: Well, fooey. 87.

GMSG: You don't notice anything disastrously out of order, but the engine room isn't as tidy as you'd like, and there are definitely signs of sloppy work here and there. A couple of panels that you know should be pulled and inspected regularly look like they've got cobwebs on them.

Ariel: Wait, I thought she meant 87 was a failure?

Claire: Yeah, he's saying even a failure was enough to notice all of that.

Elle: Which means there's probably a shit-show hiding away somewhere that you might have found with a success.

Akane: I think we need much higher stats than the ones we are using! What if we fail so many rolls when life or death is at stake?

Sasha: Eh! Rolling up characters was pretty easy, so if we blow it and die, it shouldn't take long to make our replacements.

Akane: Such fatalism! I thought it was Claire's character's department.

Harriet: You need to read the Broken Worlds adventure they played. Our cute little Sasha has quite the devil-may-care attitude about her characters' willingness to court disaster.

GMSG: Once you're in orbit, the passengers need to go into cryosleep. That way they don't have to sit around being bored, and they don't eat up any of the ship's food stores from the galley.

Ariel: Oops, Stickshift was totally going to go to the galley and find snackies while all the spaceshippy preparations were going on. But I guess you said you don't like rewinding, so ...

Harriet: Again, Spanky has been on ships before, so he should be familiar with whether it's wise to eat right before going into cryosleep. Is it?

GMSG: Probably not. But it's also probably not a mortal peril. Like, you might come out on the other end with indigestion or bad gas.

Harriet: So if Ariel's character suggested going to the galley for food, I'd know to tell her not to overdo it. I also assume we had time to introduce ourselves to Narcy Danger?

Sasha: Yeah, a whole hour after we got on board, plus however long it takes to launch into orbit.

GMSG: That part's probably only a few minutes. But sure, you can definitely do introductions and maybe tell each other a little bit about yourselves.

Ariel: Claire still hasn't said what her character even looks like!

Claire: The captain's the only one who's seen me, remember?

Ariel: Oh yeah.

GMSG: If everyone really wants to, we can role-play through those introductions and the getting-to-know-you stuff. Or we can skip ahead to the passengers going into cryosleep.

Elle: Skip.

Sasha: Yeah, I'm good skipping.

Ariel: Spanky and I already did some of that in the food court, so ...

GMSG: Cool. Once the ship is in orbit, Kellerman gets on the intercomm and tells Doctor Yamaguchi to head to the cryosleep chamber to help the passengers into their pods.

Akane: "Yes, Captain! Right away!"

GMSG: When you get there, you notice something unusual in the chamber. Two of the cryo-pods are already occupied.

Harriet: Does Spanky notice that too? How unusual is it?

GMSG: It's not exactly normal, but it's also not bizarre or anything. Passengers on a multi-jump trip might just as soon stay in cryosleep instead of waking up on some two-bit planet they're not interested in seeing. And on a small ship like this, they'd have to leave and find a hotel if the ship stayed overnight. Still, for most people, an interstellar trip is a big deal, and ordinary citizens would have very few chances to say they'd set foot on several different planets.

Akane: Can the pods be examined for how recent of occupancy they are?

GMSG: There's probably a readout panel for each pod, but the functionality might be limited, especially on an older, smaller ship like this. But the monitoring systems in the medbay might provide that information. Make a roll of Computers and Intellect if you want to try.

Akane: First I must attend to cryosleeping the new passengers. But then I will go check.

GMSG: Unless any of the three passengers wants to do something first, we can cut to that, then.

Harriet: Be my guest.

Sasha: Sure.

Ariel: All I need to do is have that little snacky. We don't have to roleplay that, I don't think.

GMSG: Okay, then. Yamaguchi gets everyone put under, and then you can go to the medbay and make that roll.

Akane: *sigh* It's a 67. More failing.

GMSG: You don't find anything out about the two mystery passengers. But you do realize that it's odd for the system to not have that information readily available to the ship's medic.

Akane: Ah! Is it subterfuge?

GMSG: Maybe. Or maybe it's just a sign of poor record-keeping by the previous medic.

Elle: Or the junkie captain accidentally erased some of the data files trying to cover up his skimming of stim packs from the supply.

GMSG: All possibilities. Now, the ship will be traveling for a couple of days to get from Walter's Sinkhole to the jump point. If you don't enter hyperspace from specific, well-traveled locations, it can end up really messing with your flow of time relative to the rest of the universe. You might end up taking a week in hyperspace according to ship time, but find out it's been a year for everybody else. So it's important to navigate to the right spot and then get the ship's astrogation systems programmed correctly.

Claire: Whew, I'm glad I took Astrogation skill! Should I roll now?

GMSG: Hang on, I was going to ask if any of the crew wanted to do anything specific during those few days.

Akane: Observe the captain! Watch the remaining stim supply with eyes of hawkishness. Oh! Also, ask computer-smart android to see if he can de-mysteryfy the cryo-pod records.

Claire: I should probably introduce myself to my crewmates. Pandora Fatale, also known as "Party Pandy" to my friends, which is anybody I'm out drinking with after about two shots.

Akane: Am I hearing correct? "Pandy?" Or is it "Panda?" (This is the question of Yamaguchi.)

Claire: Oh, snap, I've been saying Pandy, but I like "Party Panda" about a gazillion times more. I can change that, right?

GMSG: Well, even if I said you couldn't change what people used to call you, there's no reason you couldn't tell new friends it's Panda instead of Pandy.

Claire: Awesome. I tell Yamaguchi it's Panda.

Elle: But is that the truth, or is Pandora making it up on the spot?

Claire: Mm ... I guess making it up on the spot, since I didn't think of it myself. Why does it matter?

Elle: Because if you lie about your nickname being "Panda," it means you're bamboozling us.

Harriet: Ow. That one hurt, Elle.

Elle: You're welcome.

Akane: Err ... this is punnery? I understand "bamboo" -- it's funny with a panda. I don't know "bamboozling" though.

Harriet: It's --

Ariel: It means faking or fooling! Oh, um, sorry, Hettie. I don't get to be the one explaining words very often, I couldn't stop myself.

Harriet: Nothing to worry about.

Akane: You will acclimate to it, Ariel! The vocabulary of Akane equals many opportunities to inform her.

Elle: So does Yamaguchi ask Pol d'Eurothein to have a look at the medical records?

Akane: Mmm ... first it's peering for intoxication in the captain. A 34!

GMSG: That's good enough to notice some pretty obvious signs. Over the next couple of days, he goes through wild swings of seeming to have energy to spare sometimes, and then seeming really exhausted and jittery at others. You also spot his pupils looking like they're not responding normally to the lighting conditions during his energetic moments.

Akane: This degenerate! Is his condition of unstable too advanced for safe function?

GMSG: Probably not in a normal situation. But you'd be uncomfortable having him in charge during an emergency.

Elle: I'm sure we're not likely to experience any emergencies, right?

Akane: Okay. When it's in a private moment, I ask our android to look at the records and see if something's hidden about the extra passengers.

Elle: Does that count as Hacking, or is it just Computers?

GMSG: I'll let you use the higher Hacking number in this case.

Elle: That means anything under 58 will do it, and I roll a 46.

GMSG: That's good enough to see that the mystery passengers were put in cryosleep after the ship arrived on Walter's Sinkhole, but the database was altered to make it look like they were still awake during departure. Their names are Charmaigne Besson and Kleive Meiters-Besson.

Elle: I assume those names don't ring any bells?

GMSG: Your hunch is right.

Harriet: Boo.

Akane: ?

Harriet: I'll explain later.

Elle: If we're still on some kind of interplanetary net and I can do a web search, I do.

GMSG: No need to even roll. They're two members of a married trio, very recently espoused to a shipping magnate named Vatram Besson. His name isn't familiar to you either.

Claire: Not even quasi-familiar?

Harriet: No. Please, just ... no. This is taking me so far out of the story.

GMSG: Sorry, I really shouldn't have encouraged that kind of behavior.

Elle: I do a search on Vatram. Anything turn up?

Harriet: Oh, god.

Elle: What? I'm being good.

Harriet: Yes, but you've all activated that part of my brain, and now as soon as I hear "turn up," I'm preemptively wincing at someone saying, "No, but you do find a radish."

Akane: It's good this isn't our characters. Spanky would need a saving roll against "Fear" or have Stress from the expectance of pun.

Harriet: More like a saving throw for Sanity.

GMSG: Okay, truce on the puns for now. Elle, Pol's web search quickly finds that Vatram Besson is shown as the prior owner of six starships. However, the starship registry now lists him as owner of just one.

Elle: Let me guess.

GMSG: Yes, it's The Inner Peace.

Claire: Are you sharing this information, Elle?

Elle: Well, I would, but Pol just finds it a mildly curious example of how inexplicable human behaviors are. So I just let the doctor know the passengers went into cryosleep on Walter's Sinkhole, before we boarded the ship.

Akane: Hmm. Possibly they only have a phobic attitude on starship launches. Or, it could be criminals being smuggled offworld. Maybe an explanation for neurosis of Captain Kellerman, if he's smuggling crimesters.

Claire: We're totally all about to die in a life insurance scam. Do you guys tell Pandora any of this?

Akane: It's confidential of medical privacy, so Yamaguchi must respect.

Elle: Pol is already impatient to get back to his programming tasks.

Ariel: I don't want my character to die in a scam!

Harriet: I'm sure MSG wouldn't blow us all up simply because two characters failed to act on a suspicious glimmer of information. Wouldn't you agree, Sasha? You're being very quiet.

Sasha: No comment. I'm roleplaying my character being unconscious in cryosleep!

Ariel: Oh! Oops, I guess I should be doing that too.

Harriet: Suitably chastised. I'll fade into the background as well.

GMSG: Any other actions from Panda, Pol, or Yamaguchi before you reach the jump point?

Elle: Nope. Working, working.

Claire: Working, working, working, drinking, drinking, drinking.

Akane: Yamaguchi will observe dog photos on social media while overseeing a secure medications cabinet in medbay.

GMSG: Right, then. You reach the jump point, and it's time for everyone but Pol to enter cryosleep.

Akane: All but Pol? Why is there no Pol in a pod?

Elle: It says here on my background sheet from the Warden that ships have an android stay awake during hyperdrive jumps to monitor the systems in case something goes wrong.

GMSG: Hyperspace has very strange and disturbing effects on the human psyche.

Akane: Okay. Yamaguchi directs everyone but Pol, "Here is your pod, here is your pod."

Claire: Last chance for Pol to let us know we're about to become casualties of insurance fraud.

Elle: Even if Pol thinks of that as one of the possibilities, he calculates the odds of it actually being true as low enough to be inconsequential.

Claire: Swell. Been nice knowing you! Panda enters the cryosleep pod oblivious to her impending doom.

Akane: Once captain is also asleep, Yamaguchi takes herself to the pod and tells Pol d'Eurothein, "Good night!"

Elle: Technically, there is no night in space.

Akane: It's a skip on the "sweet dreams" part, then. I slumber myself.

GMSG: Shortly after that, the autopilot activates the jump drive, and Pol d'Eurothein finds himself alone in the eerie quiet of hyperspace. Wifts of sensation, like skin tingles or wordless whispers, begin almost immediately. Would you say Pol has ever been on hyperspace watch before?

Elle: Doubtful. He wouldn't volunteer unless hired to do it, and he's good enough at hacking that he's most likely been well employed up until this point.

GMSG: Go ahead and make a Fear save with advantage, then. The sensations are spooky, but not traumatic.

Elle: 58 and 15. My Fear save is 85, so I ignore the oddities.

GMSG: Anything you want to do other than finish your programming work? You've got a week or so by yourself if no malfunctions arise.

Elle: I'll periodically walk the halls for a change of scenery, but that's about all.

GMSG: Okay. Then on the last day of the hyperspace jump ...

(cliffhanger ending! what happens on the last day??? tune in next time for part three!)