Wiki Gaming:Moons of Saturn/Habitat Court

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Meanwhile, at the top of the lobby, a dirty figure stumbles in. A woman in her thirties, short blond hair and tired eyes, asian features. Her UAC jumpsuit is ragged with several cuts. She carries a duffel bag in one hand and has a grenade prepared in the other. You recognize her as the steward who worked at the Redshift bar and grill, Lou'an. "Thank god you're here.", she pants.

(You each get 125 XP, and a cursory sweep of the area gathers the following items: double-barrelled ("super") shotgun, 4 shotgun shells, a UAC pistol, 3 pistol clips, 1 health bonus. You can also take the chaingun which has 100 rounds left in its ammo belt.)

Williams. Williams solemnly walks over to Hallstat, and puts his hand on Monowi's shoulder. "We all knew this was not going to be easy. We all will miss Hallstat. He was a good marine." Williams leaves Monowi's side, picks up the weapons he dropped, and approaches Lou'an. "Lou'an, what are you doing here? How did you survive the sonic wave? How have you managed to survive here? I don't recall you having any weapon training. When you were surviving in the med-lab, did you see medical supplies there? How is it like in there now?" As the remaining Bravo squad mates are gathering around Lou'an, Williams lets them know that he will not be taking any of the items lying around unless the others don't.

Stafford.Stafford angrily kicks Mahagon's corpse off the court to the floor below before joining the others. Stafford takes two of the shotgun shells, one pistol clip and the health bonus. "Maybe Lou'an should take the spare pistol if she only has grenades."

(Does Flynn still have that weird scope thingy from earlier?)

Yes. It is a contraption of wires, discs and runes on a scope mount. You could fit it onto most guns.

OrdosWulf Ordos will grab the evil Lieutenant's chain gun, plus ammo.

(Williams replaces his shotgun with a double-barrelled ("super") shotgun, takes the shells, pistol clips, and the health bonus)

(Stafford took the health bonus and two of the shells, and a pistol clip)

Ordos. Ordos will apply a stim pack to Stafford. Rolling 2d8, Stafford gains 10hp.

DM. Lou'an says: "That's a whole bunch of questions, I'll try and answer, but we've got to get the the Redshift quick. I've been holed up in there since this whole thing began."

She begins to hurredly walk (I assume you walk with her) into the habitat. The main concourse is awash with blood, broken furniture and bodies.

"What I am doing here? Well. " She speaks with a nervous rapidity. "Like I say, I've been hiding in the restaurant since this whole thing began. I've been waiting for a rescue party, I guess you're it? I heard the shooting, thought I could help with these."

She opens the duffel bag to reveal a whole bunch o' grenades. "I hope it's okay, I took them from the armoury. The door was open. I know it's normally locked and only you guys can go in. I was looking for a gun but... anyway... your next question. I don't know about a sonic wave. During that first night, there was chaos, but I heard some of the officers shouting about a "lazarus wave". I think it got everyone while they were sleeping."

She's shaking now. "Yeah... they were coming out of the dorms and like attacking the night shift. I couldn't sleep anyway, I was working the bar with Simon. And security was shooting everyone and everyone was howling, and me and Simon were like WOAH and we put down the shutter. We could hear it go on for hours, then it was quiet for a bit. Soooo, we waited and, I guess on the second day Simon fell asleep and when he woke up he was something else but I trapped him in the freezer."

You've arrived at the mini-mall, which has a few shops and the Redshift bar and grill. "They patrol here sometimes with those imps, let's run a bit."

She presses a key in her hand, and the Redshift shutter slides up, you all file in. She secures the shutter behind you.

Williams. "I was just told about a horrid wave. Its good to know it was a 'Lazarus Wave'. We have figured out that the Lazarus Wave came from an artifact that, by way of a wrong shuttle flight, Angus Stafford brought with him to Saturn. The artifact is in the Laboratories right now, and we really need to get it. We don't know who it came from, and if Angus' shuttle was intended for Earth. We need to get contact outside of Saturn too. Do you know of a way to make this contact? We will need to be ready for the Laboratories. Have you seen any medical supplies, and have you seen any armor in the armory?"

DM. Lou'an goes to the bar and pours out drinks. She seems distracted and doesn't ask what you want. She prepares a strawberry milkshake, a shot of whiskey, a bloody mary, a glass of water and a pint of cider. "Drink drink, " she grins, "it's all on the house! Not coffee though. Don't drink the coffee. That's how she gets you. You think "Christ I need to stay awake", you drink the coffee. That's what got Simon. Not me though, I got these pills from medical. Oh yeah, there were medkits and stuff there. All strewn about though. And the nurses burst all the blood transfusion bags. They were painting the walls with it. Ha ha, you know somtimes you have a memory and you're not sure if was a dream or real life?"

She pauses for breath. "So I think the armoury had some armour, would make sense I guess, like the green ones you're wearing. Hey you guys look like crap, you can rest here for a bit if you like. I got a few of these WorkPlus pills left, they'll keep you awake for now but you can like zone out of you want."

She stops to think for a moment. "Contact, contact... this morning or last night not sure I tried sending an email, but the computer kept saying I didn't have enough credit to buy antenna time, so I told it it was an emergency and then Athena chimed in and said, " (she mimics Athena's blank voice and holds her arms stiffly and waddles like a robot), "oh I am Athena and you can't do this and the antenna is pointing somewhere important blah blah."

Williams. Williams takes the bloody mary, and drinks it quickly. He drinks until his thirst is quenched, listening to Lou'an and team Bravo. "Wow, I really need to take a rest. Before we continue, this seems like a great plan. Lou'an, let me try something with Athena." Williams goes over to the computer, and tells it that he needs to send an urgent email to Earth. "Athena, it's team Bravo. We need to send a request for repair drones to Earth. We have problems with the safety equipment that we need to report. This includes the shutter breach in concourse LS-CO, and the leaks in Life Support. Consider this email to have the highest priority. Can you give us access to the antenna real quick?" Williams graciously accepts a WorkPlus pill from Lou'an, so that he is fit again.

Stafford. Stafford downs the shot of whisky with a WorkPlus pill and goes over to Willams. "Hey, if this works, let me send a message to the Black Hind, ok? I don't want them getting hurt.

(Flynn lets the others choose first, taking the water if pressed)

DM. Athena says: "I'm sorry, the comms array is locked in position at the moment. It will be available again in 97 hours and 38 minutes. The maintenance department has been informed of the necessary station repairs. I am the mind of god."

(The pills allow you to take a long rest without requiring sleep, let me know if you want to do this, noting that it will still be an 8 hour duration. You will also know this about the habitat: it contains the dorms for most of the staff, the marine barracks and armoury, a hydroponic garden, the mall (which includes a small cinema, meeting hall, general store), a medical bay, a chapel and a mosque, the station counselor's office, and a gym.)

Lou'an begins sobbing. "I don't know what's going on! Are we going to die here? I can't stay awake forever!"

Stafford. "Hey, as soon as we get to the shuttle bay, we're out of here. Come to think of it, does anyone know what the security protocols are for the shuttle? I can probably bypass them anyway, but there might be an easier option." (DM?) I think we should use the pills btw.

(do we get the benefits of a full rest 8 hours after taking a pill, or right away?)

You still have to rest for 8 hours, the pills just stop you from falling asleep. If you are doing this, you regain all your hit points and half your spent hit die (and recharge anything else that's recharged).

The marines will be aware of the shuttle protocols, but it's ultimately UAC command staff who has to authorize launches that are not routine.

DM Monowi tries to comfort Lou'an, and together they set some cushions up to rest on. Occassionally there's a bang from the kitchen, which Lou'an explains is Simon. in the freezer. Lou'an also sets out some food for you, grilled chicken with something resembling vegetables.

While you rest, horrid sounds echo throughout the station. Clanging, grinding, howls and thudding. At one point muzak begins playing through the mall speakers, but the sound file must be corrupted because occasionaly the pitch wavers sickeningly.

Later something strange happens to the wierd gun-mount device picked up by Flynn. It seems to activate sometimes, little green lights blinking on. It seems to be whenever Ordos moves near.

Flynn. "Ordos? This strange device I picked up earlier seems to react strangely when you're near. Do you have any ideas why?"

Williams. Williams will use his video camera to roll a clip with Flynn, Ordos, and the device. He is looking to see if anything looks different, and if there are any notable changes as the people and objects are turned into a representative film analog.

DM. All you can make out on video is an an dim orange glow within the machinery that sends out arcs of light towards Ordos as he approaches within 5 feet or so.

Monowi says "This is all very nice, but we need to think about our next move. Are we heading to the medical bay, the armoury, or do we go back to command and try to get into the labs, or the shuttle bay?"

Williams. "We choose to get supplies before getting the relic. I need armor, and I have no idea what lazure powers the relic has, but we will need medical supplies to keep us on our feet for it. Monowi, why don't you stay here with Lou'an to make sure she stays safe? We will be back with supplies shortly." As soon as the rest of the party is ready to leave, Wiliams will leave together.

DM. I just need an A-OK from everyone.

Stafford. Stafford is ready to go.

Flynn. Flynn is prepared to leave with the others.

(Williams per above)

DM (Okay, I haven't heard from Banshee in 2 weeks, so proceeding without them, will treat Ordos as an NPC again).

Here's the map of the habitat. Click and click again to make go bigerer.:

As you can see, there is a central open area, about 150 feet across, with seven lifts in the center that go up to the dormitories. The Redshift is to the north, the barracks and medical bay are to the south. The main lighting is out, there are only a few twinkling dots and glows from smaller lighting in the surrounding rooms. Lou'an warns you again that there are patroling hostiles, in particular she has seen the demon-like aliens climbing along the support beams. "Sometimes I see them carrying bodies into the hydroponic garden."

(That's all I got for tonight, spent all the time making the map. Oh, you can all have an extra 100 XP for finding a survivor.)

Williams. Williams asks Lou'an and Monowi to assemble the precision bolt rifles while they wait for the rest of us to get back. To the rest of Bravo, Williams states his plan. He informs them that the first stop should be done in case of danger at the canteen since it also has a security door which we may be able to hide inside of, if the habitat looks dangerous. From there, he thinks we can sprint to the marine barracks and armory, and look for new armor. Finially, he informs Bravo that its just a small distance from the marine barracks and armory to the medical pod. If there is nothing at the medical pod, then Williams is worried that we will be out of luck.

As soon as our plan is agreeded upon, I will make a Perception check to listen for any dangerous noises outside of the security door 1d20, 15 + 1 = 16. If there is nothing, then Williams will ask Lou'an to quickly open the gate and let us out.

DM. Monowi and Lou'an start taking the rifles out of their cases. Lou'an slides her duffel bag to the doorway. "You may as well take the grenades, there's four left! Don't blow yourself up!" She thinks for a moment. "And I guess... I'm sure those things can see in the dark. I don't know if you can get to maintenance, but if you can get the lights on... Yeah, that would be good."

Williams hears the background drone of moans and growls that has been echoing throughout the station - but also a mechanical hiss from the center of the habitat that he recognizes as the lifts (that's "elevators" for those of you in the US) ascending and descending.

(Unless anyone objects, we'll have Williams, Stafford and Flynn run for the canteen)

(the lifts mean little to Williams, and he is ready)

(Stafford pops the health bonus he has and is ready)

DM. (I will assume you are not using your torches, so as not to attract attention). You sprint for the canteen, which is about 80 feet away. The path through the court seems clear. While the sprint is pretty noisy, you don't seem to have attracted attention. An acrylic window surrounds the canteen seating area. The sliding doors are already set open. You sneak inside.

There's someone slumped over a table, unmoving. you are not sure of his status. Scattered on the table are piles of plates of standard-issue UAC meals and drinks, as though this person wanted to go out eating one final meal. At the back of the canteen is a red dot of light marking the secure door that leads into the automat machinery.

(As the lighting is dim, please make any Perception checks with disadvantage).

Williams. 2d20, 19 & 14. 14 + 1 = 15. "Flynn, this place is coming back to me man... It's like Bryan Matusive at the manager's office.... Lets go to the marine barracks pronto." Williams quietly turns to sprint to the barracks.

Flynn. "Yes... there could be more creatures nearby, but I think we should check whether the man is alive or not first."

Williams. "Flynn, I'm not going to stop you. Why don't you try to stealthly go to him?" Williams waits for his squad mates.

DM. Flynn checks the diner's pulse. Dead and cold. Face is down in a plate of macaroni and... looks like a PDA? (Want to pull the body back to retrieve it?)

Flynn. Flynn takes the PDA.

Stafford. Stafford is ready to attack any demonic intruders with his wrench (so as not to make gunshot noise).

DM. Flynn pulls the diner back and takes the PDA. You don't recognize the bloated pale face, but he has an Research ID clipped to his jumpsuit. The PDA screen glows a dim grey. Looks like he dictated something before he copped it. The last page reads "...beta blockers in the system should prevent a spirit possessing a corpse during a Lazarus wave. I'll down 200 mg with an overdose of sedatives. There's no way I'm going to survive but I won't let the bastards take me. " You can peruse the rest of the PDA during your next rest.

Stafford stays on guard, but it's too dark to see whats going on out in the court. (Note I'm using your passive perception unless you specifically look at something with a roll).

Williams. I glance around, and quietly make my way back to the shutter where we entered. I peer outside, trying to make out anything in the darkness covering the habitat. "That was a good idea to take the PDA. Lazure powers were my largest concern with getting the relic. I think we can find beta blockers in medical, or we can drop by the general store after this. I'm ready to take a dash to the armory, whenever you are."

Stafford. "I'm ready. On your command." Stafford tries to make out any hostiles near the armoury. Perception: 2d20, 13 and 11, 11 + 3 = 14

DM. You can't see anything in the gloom. You make a run for it. As you close to within 30 feet, you see a problem. Mobile barricades has been erected across the entrance: tall, grey and angular. They are peppered with smallarms fire. Mangled and exploded bodies of UAC staff are scattered around, the floor sticky with blood. You can get through the barricade by climbing over a small 3 foot-wide section of short wall, but if you do this you'll have to go one at a time.

Williams. "This is just what we did not need. Give me all the grenades, and help me up quickly." As soon as I am on top of the barricade, I will look for hostiles and make sure that we can get back the way we came. Perception, 1d20, 11 + 1 = 13. Williams does not see anything, and jumps down on the other side, to wait for the rest of the party.

Flynn. When Williams is finished with the barricade, Flynn follows.

Stafford. Stafford goes last.

DM. As soon as Williams hops over into the cavity between the barricades and the barrack's front entrance, he sees dirty arms reach out of the gloom to grab him, accompanied by strangled moans.

(This is a quick combat, I won't be using a map. The area formed by the barricades is a semi-circle 30' across and 10' deep. The front entrance of the barracks is an opaque security door, closed. There are shell casing everywhere, and stacked ammo crates, looks like fireteam Alpha took a stand. Williams is being ambushed from the left and right, but you haven't got a good look at what yet. Give me some initiative checks!)

Flynn. Initiative roll. 1d20 18 + 3 = 21 Roll

Williams. Initiative roll. 1d20, 12 + 3 = 15.

Stafford. Initiative roll. 1d20, 16 + 2 = 18.

DM. The whoever-they-ares pull, punch and grope at Williams. A hand with protruding blue veins claws along his face, fingers gouging one eye. (Williams takes a total of 11 bludgeoning damage). You can make out that one is a woman in a civilian jumpsuit. She is caked in filth. The other is wearing marine armour. Who is it? Can't tell. The face is a mess of flesh. There something weird about its limbs.

Flynn is next. From where you are, on the outside of the barricade, the zombies have three-quarters cover. Distance is 10 feet.

Flynn. Flynn blasts the most threatening-looking zombie with his shotgun. 1d20 20 + 5 = 25 Roll

DM You manage to tag the ex-marine in the shoulder (21 piercing damage), severing the arm. It makes a weird two-voiced cry. Immediate in response to the shotgun retort, there is a hissing that echoes all through the court, like a hundred snakes.

Stafford is next.

Stafford. Stafford climbs to the top of the barricade and blasts his shotgun at the armless ex-marine. 1d20 14 + 4 = 18

DM. The move to the low-walled section means the ex-marine only has half cover: the shotgun pellets slam into its chest (16 piercing damage), and it drops in a heap.

Williams now.

Williams. Scared to go unconscious again Williams downs one can of F-max, and throws a grenade at the nearest set of groping hands. (I don't know the weapon page for grenades, so can you please roll this for me?). Williams, in the blast zone of his grenade, will use 1 badass point to jump away from the explosion (just roll this one for me too please). Williams will use his badass point to jump ten feet away, behind Stafford, and ten feet to the floor.

DM. The zombies makes it's saving throw, but Williams doesn't. (Here's where we come to a class balance adjustment, I suspected there might be bits that don't feel right as we play. Williams takes the full brunt of the grenade even though he spent a resource point. Should this be altered so that a badass marine takes half damage on a failed save?)

The grenade rolls over to the security door and detonates in a wave of metal shards and noise. Williams is send flying over the barricades (6 piercing damage). The woman crouched behind a box, but you can't see what happened to her in the murk of the smoke and debris.

There's hissing everywhere. In the darkness of the court, twin pinpricks of red light appear everywhere: in the elevators, over by hydroponics and the general store; along the girders supporting the ceiling. And with them, flickers of orange flame.

At the low barricade wall the woman lurches into view, charred and cut. Her tongue lolls out and she swings a chunk of twisted metal at Stafford's legs, but he hops back out of the way.

(Back to Flynn)

Flynn. (Can I identify the hissing noise?)

(Half damage seems more playable for Williams, but also being able to use his jump movement is already nice. How much damage was the 9 damage?)

DM. Flynn is sure that these are more of the demonic-looking spikey aliens that could launch balls of fire. (Williams took 6 damage; that's the half damage)

Flynn. Flynn asks Williams for a grenade if there are any left and throws it at the zombie behind the barricade after moving back to a safer distance.

DM. Ftooom! There's a whirlwind of sparks, debris and blood. A secondary explosion lights up the barricades with firecracker light as what's left in the ammmo crates fires off. The court is now rustling with movement. Globs of fire arc through the darkness from all directions, bursting on the floor just short of you, leaving little dwindling bonfires. There's a chorus of hissing and howling.

(Please note I've changed the way a few items work, particularly Health Bonus (5e Equipment), Chaingun (5e Equipment), Precision Bolt Rifle (5e Equipment). You can stack a few health bonuses up, but they only last 1 minute and you can still only drink 1 per round. So the idea is you drink a couple before a combat encounter.)

(Are we taking a break from this?)

(Stafford, it's your turn, or should Williams just go?)

Williams. Williams drinks a can of F-Max and attacks the lady zombie with his shotgun. 1d20, 9 + 5 = 14.

DM. Williams peers through the settling smoke, and locates the hostile. She's slumped on the floor, body already torn to shreds by the grenade, so he saves his shell. The area in front of the barracks is now clear, but it looks like the security door has taken some damage. The biometric scanner is all smashed, wires dangling.

Ordos catches up with you from the cafeteria. "Hostiles everywhere!" he shouts. More fireballs light up the untidy gloom of the courtyard as they hurtle by, landing closer this time. Ordos dives over the barricade to take cover.

Williams. I follow Ordos, jumping ober the barricade. Instead of taking cover right away, Williams trys to open the security door to the armory.

(Sorry, the notifications I had set were malfunctioning)

DM. The door is a set of sliding blasteel plates, marked "UNSMC Authorized Personnel Only", with a camera, video screen and biometric scanner. Everything is smeared in grime and blood. The scanner is not responding to your presence, and the doors do not move with your effort. Sparking wires dangle from the security panel. You might be able to run a bypass. (Without a hacking tool, this is a straight DC 15 Intelligence check). Marasmusine (talk) 02:56, 16 August 2017 (MDT)

Stafford. "I'm on it!" Stafford runs over and attempts to bypass the terminal. Roll 13 + 3 = 16.

DM. The door slides open! Immediately inside is the marine's small command room, with the recreation area and bunk beds further to the south. The armory consists of rows of lockers and chests along the east wall, and the shower room is to the south-east. Shafts of soft, hazy green-yellow daylight come down from thick skylights. There are no visible hostiles.

Stafford. Stafford grins. "Come on, let's go before more show up."

Williams. I run into the armory. "Stafford, can you close the door after we all get inside now?". Once inside I take a ready action in case any foe comes within range.