Play@YSDC

Day 2
12th March 2189
06:45 Earth Central European Time
Barnard's Rest Colony, Titan



Virgil makes good progress through the winding ducting. His limber and conditioned body slipping along the metal sheets as he follows the trail of white fluid.

The deeper he goes into the ventilation system the darker it gets but he is still able to make out the trail, even though it is becoming thinner and more spread out. Somewhere quite far off he thinks he can make out a tapping sound, like something hard drumming on metal.

Roll Navigation to get a sense of where in the colony building the ducts are taking him. You can have a bonus die for that since it isn't that big.

Having spent the long flight to Titan poring over maps, Virgil can remember the layout quite well.
He takes a measured, calming breath and carries on squirming.

Navigate, 10, roll 8
Great image: he must be frankly bonkers going down there; but he’s still hoping he can do a deal with that alien.

As Virgil wriggles along the tapping sound continues, it is echoing through the ducting and seems to be a bit nearer. It is accompanied by a fainter, higher pitched noise, click-click-click and something else he can't quite make out, it sounds a bit like CENTRAL's voice.

From the twists and turns it is difficult to figure out his exact locations but Virgil is fairly sure he is somewhere in or near the Security Complex.

Can you please roll a Listen.

OOC:   I'm enjoying Virgil, he's a bit of an arsehole but you have to respect his commitment to getting the job done

“That figures.” Virgil mutters to himself. He reckons CENTRAL is in cahoots with the alien and where better to base themselves than the security offices. He wriggles on as quietly as he can.

Listen, 50. Roll: 24. I was basing his personality on Ash in Alien and then Jojo turns out to be an android. Nice twist!

It is faint but Virgil can hear 'Caution, contamination in O2 circuits. Caution, contamination in O2 circuits. Purging ventilation system in 10 seconds...9 seconds...8 seconds....'

Whatever Virgil decides to do I suspect a DEX check will be needed if he intends to move anywhere quickly through the ducts.

-----

I got the idea of different agendas from the new Alien RPG. Don't really like that RPG in terms of the mechanics but I thought I'd steal that bit

Oh crap. Vigil looks around rapidly for an escape route.

Dexterity,
70. Roll: 32. Luck 50 to find a safe conduit: roll 76

Virgil scrabbles as quickly as he can through the vents - the sound of CENTRAL growing louder, 'Caution, contamination in O2 circuits. Caution, contamination in O2 circuits. Purging ventilation system in 5 seconds...4 seconds...3 seconds....'

Turning a blind corner he sees sterile bright light flooding the ducting ahead of him, through an open ventilation outlet without a grille. As he wriggles over to the opening - '2 seconds...1 second....' - he peers briefly down into the room below, it seems empty, and he propels himself out of the vent.

There is a low rumble in the duct behind him followed by a rush of air and as he falls into the room he looks back to see a spurt of bright flame which spills out of the open vent accompanied by an intense dry heat.

Roll Zero/Low G for the landing

Zero G, 20 roll:33

Virgil has no time to prepare for landing and dives out of the vent just ahead of the ball of flame.

Flailing his arms as he careens through the air Virgil crashes hard into the floor, jolting his shoulder.

Virgil takes 1HP of damage

Looking around he finds himself in a small room, a low polymer bench topped with padding against the back wall, maybe a bed. A squat looking toilet in another corner. The upper half of the front wall is set with a large window looking out onto a larger room. He can't see what is in there from his position lying on the floor. In the same wall is a reinforced metal door that stands slightly ajar.

Virgil can hear voices outside the room.

Virgil stays low on the floor but hurries to the door: this looks like a cell and he doesn’t want to be shut in. Then he stops behind it and listens to the voices: have they heard his entrance?

Virgil can make out two voices, one of them sounds familiar. '...What's this about purging the vents?...' '... Probably nothing, you know CENTRAL's been acting screwy for a while...' '...Yeah, didn't Kingsley say he changed the CPU...' '...Still not right...'

Roll Stealth

Peering through the doorway, Virgil sees a familiar face, Security Officer Tyson, talking to a woman also dressed as a colonial security officer.

'What was that noise?' asks Tyson as he starts to walk towards the cell where Virgil is hiding.

Virgil realises he’ll have to put his search on hold for a bit so he stands, brushes himself off and opens the door, pretending to look relieved.
“Ah, Officer Tyson, I’m glad to see you. That damn CENTRAL had me locked in a room all night so I made my escape through the vent.” He indicates aloft.
“I had no idea where I’d end up.”

Tyson starts at the sight of Virgil, then he narrows his eyes, 'What are you doing in there?'

I think Virgil will need a social check to get Tyson on side - Charm/Persuade/Fast Talk/Intimidate or Credit Check

Credit check, 20 roll: 10

“Like I said; I climbed down from the vent. But you’re right to be cautious; we’ve got problems here and we need a diligent head of security.”
Virgil smiles thinly and moves forward out of the cell.
“CENTRAL for starters.”

Tyson frowns at Virgil's explanation but a small smile plays on his lips at the mention of the newly vacant Head of Security post.

From outside the cell his companion asks, 'What's going on in...' She's cut off suddenly by a wet, gurgling sound.

Virgil’s eyes widen, that doesn’t sound healthy. He puts his finger to his lips and indicates to Tyson to loosen his weapon (if he has one). He silently backs as far from the door as possible, keeping his eyes locked on Tyson’s.

Tyson draws his stun baton and turns around to look back out into the room beyond. 'Wha...' he starts as another figure stumbles into him, blood dripping from her mouth, the familiar sheen of crystal reflecting from a crimson wound in her chest.

“Christ! It’s got her!” He whispers in horror and backing away. Wishing that he had his weapon with him and vowing to make his quarters his next stop, Virgil looks around frantically for an escape route, wondering if he can climb back to the vent.
He pulls out the pistol and holds it ready to shoot at the next creature that might shamble through the door...

The woman drops to the ground and Tyson leans out of the cell to look around. Although Tyson doesn't seem to notice Virgil is sure he can see something move behind him. He can't really make out any details but it is an oddly fast and jerky blur.

“Come on, man, it’s right in front of you!” Virgil curses under his breath and then silently pads to hide behind the door, heart thumping and trying to breath evenly.

From behind the door Virgil can hear Tyson shouting, 'Ruth, Ruth, what the fuck, what happened to you, stay with me...'

Virgil then hears click-click-click and a nasty high pitched scraping sound like nails down a blackboard.

Is Virgil closing the door or just hiding behind it? Either way roll Stealth

Virgil tries to compose his mind but can barely keep the panic from bubbling up; all he can picture is an event horizon...
He leans on the door so that it clicks shut.

Stealth, 45 roll: 56

And speaks in a desperate whisper on his comm: “Virgil here, I’m in security. It’s got Tyson.
I’m trapped and it’s... it’s outside the door. If I don’t make it, the answer is at Waystation. Illegal op... security code alpha four seven kilo f...
Oh my god!

Virgil's datapad doesn't seem to be responding.

From the other side of the door Virgil hears Tyson, 'Stay the fuck away from me...' There's an odd, splashing noise. 'Eugh...'

There is a long period of silence, maybe a minute. Then Virgil begins to hear a banging, and the door shakes, something is crashing into the door. Click-click-click. Click-click-click.

“ Bloody thing!” Virgil thinks as he gives up on the Mayday and leans all his weight on the door to prevent it opening. He holds his pistol in one hand and looks at the duct opening in the ceiling: would it be worth a last ditch attempt to jump to it and escape.

Up to you - I'd need a hard success on a STR roll to keep the door shut. Jumping back up to the vent would be a regular Zero/Low G roll with, I think, a bonus die since Virgil is still barefoot

From behind the door Virgil hears a faint voice, '...help...help me...'

Virgil shakes his head, “No way I’m going out there; it could even be a trap.” He thinks. He considers the duct but would have to drop his gun to grab the edges so he stays still, hoping he can hold the door tight.

50. Roll=10 (relief)

The door rattles and vibrates and Virgil feels several discrete thuds, each one punching out a convex distortion the size of a softball in the metal door.

Then silence.

... except for the thudding of Virgil’s heart which seems to resound through the room.
Virgil leans against the door, trying not to look at the dents or consider what might have made them. He feels exhausted but needs to hang on, waiting.

Virgil waits for a few minutes more. There's no further sound...

Roll me a hard Listen

Virgil strains his ears: maybe it’s given up and gone away.

50 roll: 29

Virgil doesn't hear anything further. There is complete silence.

Virgil counts to 300 and then relaxes the pressure on the door. He has his pistol ready and goes to open the door, as quietly as he can.

Slowly opening the door, Virgil peaks out into the security office. He can't see or hear any movement. There is no sign of the female security officer except for a streak of blood on the chrome floor. In the centre of the room Officer Tyson is lying. He's soaked in blood and just like Kingsley there's a crystal shard protruding from his chest.

At Virgil's approach Tyson looks up at him, he seems to be in a lot of pain. He spits out a gobbet of blood and laughs, 'Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.' Tyson looks up and Virgil feels a tingling across his skin, a sudden knot in the stomach, awareness on some level of an imminent threat causing him to freeze, like the instinct of a prey animal. He forces himself to slowly look up into the roof space.

There's something up there, he can't focus on it because it moves so quickly. Jerkily, but quickly. Then it drops, suddenly, heavily. Crashing to the floor but landing with an alien elegance. Almost no sound beyond the sharp, scraping reverberations of several hard points shearing through the metallic floor. It straightens up, towering over Virgil, what he takes to be a head closing to within a few inches of his face. He smells something oily, acidic, it tastes spicy in his mouth. Click-click-click.

It is so close Virgil can't really take it all in. A hideous crystalline form of claws and spines. Six, yes six limbs encrusted all over with sparkling, ridged layers of minerals. Superficially it resembles the Xenoform, but where the Xenoform was just alien, this thing is incomprehensible, like a living geode. There are no eyes or even a face to speak of, no mouth even. But a viscous white exudate drips from the head part, extending down past Virgil's face as a stringy elongated liquid, before splitting off and dropping onto the floor where it pools.

A blur of iridescent and spiked crescents, claw like on the end of crystal arms, swings towards Virgil in a hypnotic syncopated motion.

Seize manouvre 60%: 1d100 57

That's Sanity 1/1d8. And we're into combat, the creature got to go first as it surprised you. It has tried to seize Virgil with its claws and it has succeeded. Virgil can try and fight back (would need a hard success) or Dodge (needs a normal success)

Sanity 50, roll: 65. San loss: 2. Dodge 32 roll: 13 (ooc, Never, ever, open the door!

Virgil stands, mesmerised as the face lowers to his, he hears the acid dripping onto his shoes and the sizzling as they start to dissolve.
His training takes over: a ‘matrix’ manoeuvre as the appendage strikes and then he tries to back through the door again.

His years of martial arts training have imprinted Virgil with prodigious reflexes and he twists and slides backwards into the cell as the claws slice through the air where he would have been a moment before.

Instead of swinging at him again the creature's multifaceted carapace starts to shift, rearranging itself, the crystaline structure almost flowing, as it extrudes a tapering shard from the centre of its abdomen. Then this spine projects out rapidly, targeting the middle of Virgil's chest, a few drops of the caustic white liquid spilling onto the floor.

pLp60%d%

Another Dodge or fight back needed

With nowhere left to run, Virgil fires desperately at the crystalline shard that’s arcing towards him.

60. Roll:17

Virgil tries to dodge again.

32, roll: 68

Stepping back and twisting his torso to avoid the jagged shard, Virgil jars his ankle and hesitates for a split second. Long enough for the fragment to slice through his clothes and impale just beneath his ribs. The pain is overwhelming, not just the sharp, tearing of rent flesh but an excruciating burning sensation that follows.

Fighting pain, and the black cloud that seems to fall across his vision, Virgil swings the pistol and fires two rounds into the shard connecting his chest to the inscrutable crystaline creature - the translucent rock shatters and he staggers backwards, finally noticing the river of blood running down the splinter left in his chest.

That's 11 damage minus 1 for weighted clothing = 10 damage. Which I think means a major wound, and a CON roll to stay conscious.

70. Roll= 26

Virgil falls back against the wall, its solidness is an anchor to reality and he gulps great mouthfuls of air as he tries to focus on the creature in front of him. His vision is blurring in and out of focus but he draws on every ounce of inner strength to stay conscious, ignore the river of blood and hold the pistol steady until the bitter end.

The creature is in the doorway, it's middle right appendage shifts and twists to extrude another crystal spike from the end. In a split second it is no longer in the doorway but right in front of Virgil, jabbing the tip of the shard towards his chest.

Virgil isn't even thinking now as he shifts this way and that, relying entirely on instinct. The hard splinter of rock sparks as it smashes into the wall behind him and scrapes down the metallic surface.

Attack 1 60%: 1d100 95. Attack 2 60%: 1d100 72

Virgil's action

The end is nigh, the creature fills the doorway and there is no escape from the inevitable grisly end.
Unless; Virgil looks up at the ceiling and the vent still hanging open.
If he could just launch himself with some vestiges of strength and dexterity, maybe with the low gravity he could make the distance, grab the vent and haul himself up for a few more moments of life.
Virgil pushes hard against the wall, onto his feet and springs...

Dodge35, roll: 42 Zero G 20. Roll: 16

Launching himself into the air, Virgil seizes the rough metal lip of the ventilation duct and flips himself over in the low gravity to slide his legs inside.

From behind he hears a familiar sound, click-click-click, and then a sharp pain in his arms, followed by something tugging him backwards, out of the vent.

Seize (mvr) 60%: 1d100 39.

Impale 60% + bonus from restraint: 1d100+1d10 17

Twisting as he slowly falls he catches sight of the tip of crystaline shard hurtling towards him.

Time for a last Dodge roll - make it a good one

Virgil continues to twist but he is almost at the end of his strength and as he lands he sobs in despair,
“Take me over then. You’ll meet your match with the bureaucrats back at Richter Dynamics.”

35, roll=24 (cripes!)

Virgil twists his torso again, for a moment he watches the shard jabbing into empty space and allows the tiniest of smiles to flicker across his lips...before it changes direction back towards him. The tip plunges into Virgil's chest, stinging at first, then burning. He gasps a painful, ragged breath, as he feels his own blood trickling down his chest. It is agony and Virgil begins to feel himself slipping, vision fading around the edges, all he can see is the glassy blank surface where a face should be, no eyes, no mouth, just a viscous white liquid dripping...click-click-click...click-click-click...click-click-click.

Impale Damage: 3d6 7

Unfortunately the creature rolled a hard success so Virgil's dodge failed. And he took 6 damage which will knock him out and likely kill him But we're not finished with Virgil yet...

Virgil starts to come round, blackness slowly giving way to an intense, bright light. His vision clears and he can see that he is in a room. It's round but seems oddly proportioned, the angles are all wrong, like he's viewing it through a prism. It is difficult for him to determine depth but it seems fairly small given how much electrical equipment is crammed in there.

His body feels simultaneously numb and aching all over. The pain in his chest is still there, still sharp and burning, but not quite as intense. The air feels strange, humid, wet even.

Despite straining, Virgil can't seem to turn his head, or move any of his body. Yet he can make out the contents of the room quite well. There are electrical cabinets, pumping equipment, computer terminals, dials and gauges everywhere.

In the centre of the room is a transparent glass cylinder. Two banks of what look like mechanical and electrical equipment flank it on each side. Within the cylinder is a viscous fluid with a slightly pink tint. It is difficult to see if there is anything within the liquid, although there are some shadowy shapes.

Roll Electrical or Mechanical Repair or Science (any really, Biology, Physics, etc.) to figure out what this equipment does

I've enjoyed Virgil but he has been trying really hard to get himself killed Let's see what the others think of the new Virgil

Virgil tries to pinch his forefinger and thumb together whilst trying to gauge what is going on.

10 roll:2

With an exercise of extreme effort Virgil thinks he can feel his right thumb and forefinger moving. Looking at the scene before him he see a number of pumps and tubes, some of which seem to be full of a red liquid redolent of blood. While it is far from his area of specialism Virgil suspects this is some kind of life support system. Much of the other machinery seems like more traditional electronic equipment.

A figure enters his field of view, sandy haired and dressed in the short sleeved uniform of the colonial security service, it appears to be Officer Tyson. He is walking in a stiff, shambling manner, dragging something behind him. It seems to be a body, well, part of a body, the head and torso, it looks badly decomposed.



Suddenly Virgil's vision is filled with images of space and of suns - of searing crimson light. Yet he can still see into the room, still see Tyson dragging his grim package.

Tyson mumbles something. Or, at least, someone mumbles something. More than one person. It's a cacophonous whispering that slowly coalesces into a single harsh, grating tone. 'Welcome Executive Officer Steinmann. Your eyes are open at last. You have become one with us, with me. I am Ëka-Galä, you are Ëka-Galä, you are H'rada-Theka Pannakar, the Swimmer in the Void. You are us and we are you.' Virgil finds something very compelling in what the voice is saying. It seems to make sense. Of course it makes sense. He is Ëka-Galä, we are Ëka-Galä. He looks down at the figure of Tyson, you are Ëka-Galä.

Roll against your Power, and if you fail roll Sanity

“You must be that Japanese Corporation trying to take over Richter Dynamics.” Virgil says/thinks.
“Quite a cosy set up you have here. To be honest I don’t mind who I work for and ‘Dynamics were getting too bureaucratic. I’m always interested in seeing a different perspective.”

Virgil tries to speak but he's unable to move his mouth. He thinks instead, 'You must be that Japanese Corporation trying to take over Richter Dynamics. Quite a cosy set up you have here. To be honest I...' but he finds his thoughts changing, warping, until what comes out, inside his own head, as his own thoughts is '..There is no "I," there is only us, there is only me, there is only Ëka-Galä.'

He sees Tyson approach some kind of control panel, he begins inputting something into the interface. Pumps and other pieces of machinery at the sides of the vat begin to activate, levers and pistons and pumps slowly starting to move. The pink liquid in the vat become more turbulent, like there is something inside there moving, at the same time Virgil feels an intense burst of pain, in his skull especially.

Inside the vat there is something thrashing about. It's hard to make out. But Virgil thinks he sees a hand press up against the glass. Pieces of machinery seem to move around inside the cylinder as well, there are little eddies of darker red liquid, like splashes of blood.

Roll against your Power, and if you fail roll Sanity

Is this the same as that tank, is that a human in there, is this the last thing I’ll ever see? No more Virgil Steinman...

Roll: 100 (sorry, what’s the San amount?

Whatever is in the tank presses against the glass. It has the silhouette of a figure, a human figure. Somehow, he's not even sure how, Virgil's vision zooms in closer and focuses on it. There's an upper torso but nothing beneath it, no abdomen, or legs. There is no left arm, the shoulder ending at a bloody stump where a rod of metal pinions it. The right arm still has a hand and it is that which is pressed up against the glass, thumb and forefinger spasming rhythmically as if trying to communicate.

And there's a face, a man's face, all that is left on the front of a skull where the top has been completely removed revealing the brain tissue underneath while the skin and muscle is stripped to the bone around the jaw. There are wires and tubes penetrating the brain and the skull. The torso seems to be held in place by some great mechanical arm. Other automated tools slice through the pink fluid and what appears to be a rotary saw cleanly slices off the left arm at the shoulder, little currents of dark red blood swirling about the spinning blade.

From a sort of box mounted on the front of the vat two thin articulated arms rise up until they are right in front of the face. Virgil finds his vision zooming in even further, the face begins to resolve and he can see it looks familiar. Too familiar.



Virgil focuses with all his willpower on his body, he can no longer even move his fingers, in fact he cannot really feel much at all through the constant, searing pain. Apart from his face he's not sure he can feel his body at all, certainly not his legs. For a second his vision distorts, but not the crimson light this time, no, he seems to be underwater, but it's not quite water, it's more opaque, tinged slightly red. And there's something sharp, and black, in fact two things, pointed right into each of his eyes. The ends start to spin, like little drills, and they move slowly but relentlessly towards him.

Impassively Virgil watches as the two thin articulated arms burrow into the face's eyes then little round flanges deploy and anchor the arms into the tissue surrounding the eye sockets as if they're going to stay there for the long haul.

He tries to think, tries to understand what is going on, 'I am Virgil Steinmann, I am...I am Ëka-Galä...I am...' and then he hears a voice, speaking out loud, female, low and smooth, but emotionless and electronically modulated. 'I am the Barnard's Rest CENTRAL intelligence. I am operating at one hundred percent efficiency.' And he is, he is operating a 100% efficiency. He can see everything in Barnard's Rest. He can see beyond it, out over the methane lake, down into the excavations at the place they call Waystation, through the black Gate of Tawil at’Umr...he can see Ëka-Galä, he can see H'rada-Theka Pannakar because he is H'rada-Theka Pannakar, he is the Swimmer in the Void.

No need for a SAN roll after fumbling that POW roll! I'm afraid it's goodbye to Virgil who has been a lot of fun. Do you want to pick up another character? We have Moses the Safety Officer, Li the Pilot, Isabella the Systems Engineer all going spare. I was keeping Nicole the Colonial Marshal for Raiko if he ever came back but I'd say she's available too realistically.

Awesome! A worser fate than ever I could imagine. What an epic and grisly ending for Virgil. It just shows you; greed will get you nowhere!

I know Nicole Favre the best and she’s one of the key team members so She’d be my first choice. Second would be Li the pilot.