Original Archive - IAS Chapter 31

Chapter 31 (Original Archive)

Lisa (mogwai) 9/20/2005

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Becka whispers harshly, "So now there's a sand monster, a dog-man, AND a walking metal WHATEVER! I think I was better off with the frakin' Watcher!"

She peers out over the sand dune from Caleb to THX 1492. "At least we know dog boy came from the same place we did. Maybe he has some food. Still, I'm not going anywhere till I know what the machine thing is up to." She grips her umbrella tightly and ducks back behind the ridge.

gglassdr 9/20/2005

THX-1492

THX-1492 emerges from its space pod and turns on all its sensors to examine its new surroundings and new comrades. "Greetings Warden mates. This unit is ready for service."

Elizabeth 9/20/2005

Irsa

Irsa moves forward a bit and throws one of her spears at the tentacle.

The dogman needs help now. Then she heads back to the ridge to see what happens next.

katrinalieff 9/24/2005

Amanda

just curious as to were Amanda was left off. is she still sleeping, or is she now awake due to the fabric-eating monsters? if so she will arm herself and go to see what all the fuss is about.

supreme_arbiter 9/24/2005

turn 19.2 - THX's sensors & Irsa's spear

THX-1492 turned on all its sensors and examined its new surroundings and new comrades. There was no significant radiation. In the valley of sand where the escape pod had fallen there were 6 moving heat sources that were non-human; all of them were beneath the parachute. Irsa, Becka and Caleb were warm bodied humanoids. It was too dark to see far, but there were no other significant heat sources within line of sight for a few kilometers. The robot ran a search algorithm to locate radio transmissions but didn't find anything immediately.

----------------------------------------

Irsa moved forward a bit and threw one of her spears at the tentacle. The dogman needed help. The spear flew straight and true but did not penetrate the tentacle's tough hide.

[OOC: I rolled a 9 on a 14 chance to hit, spear WC=20 hide AC=16]

She and Caleb stood back on the ridge a safe distance from the tentacled terror and watched THX-1492 make its way toward them. They soon became aware of an even larger ship descending nearby. No external lights were on, but it was noisy.

The lifeboat touched down and the gangplank descended below her hull. The crew stepped off the ship and into the sand. Before them stood a robot, a young girl with green hair and a flying hamster.

"Greetings Warden mates," THX exclaimed, "This unit is ready for service."

supreme_arbiter 9/24/2005

just curious as to were Amanda was left off. is she still sleeping? She had a good nap :^) While the crew took the lifeboat up to get a bird's eye view, she was monitoring fuel usage. There's enough fuel left for 7 hours and 45 minutes worth of burn.

*NOW* the ship has landed and Amanda stands at the foot of the gangplank with Nike, Arkady and whoever else wants to pipe up :) They are facing Irsa, Becka, Caleb and THX-1492. The Fabric Eating Monsters are in the sand dune valley below.

Amanda's P-150 protein disruptor pistol is in her belt holster and her SK-19 Sturmkarabiner assault rifle is in her hands! :)

supreme_arbiter 9/24/2005

I've been doing the rolling recently, for Caleb and Irsa most recently. If anyone would prefer to make their own rolls, please let me know and I'll oblige. I aim to please :)

Also, I accidentally switched usage on the name of THX-1492's vehicle. I started calling it a 'skycar' then switched to 'aircar' by mistake. Which do you like better?

Katkin_Kalvin (John) 9/26/2005

Caleb

Irsa moves forward a bit and throws one of her spears at the tentacle. The dogman needs help now. Then she heads back to the ridge to see what happens next.

Caleb grunts as he sees Irsa's spear fly towards the tentacled sand creature. "Unexpected help is welcome!" he thinks as he renews his attacks upon the critter.....

katrinalieff 9/27/2005

Amanda

Good to know she's well armed! Well, I guess after surveying the situation (and giving a run down on the fuel), she will ask: "So, what do you think we ought to do about *those*?"[Pointing to the monsters.]

stacinator 9/27/2005

Nike

Nike saluted the robot. "Hi. Having a problem with the desert octopus over there?"

Lisa (mogwai) 9/27/2005

Becka

Becka starts (too late) to protest as her hampster companion rushed in to do battle with the sand monster. With a heavy sigh she moves to follow.

She moves, without enthusiasm, toward the action where she keeps a safe distance from the writhing tentacles. With her umbrella open and held between her and the creature - a shield of dubious effectiveness - Becka proceeds to be generally useless in the encounter at hand. She is clearly keeping a safe distance from the strange metal man that has just emerged from the flying vehicles.

supreme_arbiter 10/1/2005

Caleb stood firm and swung his axe at the creature where its mouth was.

[OOC: I rolled 15 (3d6+4) to hit on a 9 chance, axe WC=20 vs exposed blossom AC=21; Caleb did 11 points damage (1d6+1d6)]

The axe badly injured it. The creature screamed and contracted its tentacles in pain tearing the axe from Caleb's hands.

[OOC: I rolled a 5 against Caleb's STR 13]

He stood above it, weaponless! The creature, still very much alive, thrashed in pain and turned itself upside down, taking the axe with it.

supreme_arbiter 10/5/2005

[OOC: Woops :) Since the roll was less than the attribute, Caleb succeeded!]

Caleb pulled the axe away from the strong creature as it tried to tear it from his grasp. It turned itself over beneath the fabric and began digging in the sand, upside down.

Caleb swung the axe for nearly a minute. The hide on its backside was tough but five more blows penetrated the monster and finally killed it.

[OOC: axe WC=20 vs hide AC=16
14 chance to hit (3d6+4)
1d6+1d6 damage
I rolled: 15 (8 dam), 12, 14 (7 dam), 18 (5 dam), 15 (4 dam), 8, 13, 8, 10, 19 (11 dam)
dead in 11 turns: 55 seconds!]

If Irsa joined in with her spear, it would have only taken 30 seconds :) But don't worry, there's still five more beneath the parachute, er I mean fabric.

Elizabeth 10/6/2005

Irsa

Irsa comes down to help finish it off. But spotting five more, she touches Caleb's right arm and says "Maybe we better leave the rest alone?"

Katkin_Kalvin (John) 10/7/2005

Caleb

Caleb turns and looks at the hamster standing next to him with a feral gleam in his eye. His tail twitches as a strange memory of pulling a small rodent out of a hole in the ground and eating it crosses his mind.....

"Must... not... eat... talking hamster..." he thinks to himself.

After regaining his composure, he says "Yes, perhaps we should leave the rest alone. There are other "people" here, perhaps we should go to meet them?"

Katkin_Kalvin (John) 10/7/2005

Caleb

OOC: Woops :) Since the roll was less than the attribute, Caleb succeeded!

I thought something looked wrong with that but figured you knew what were doing...

Oh well, I forgive you... ;)

supreme_arbiter 10/14/2005

Howdy yo,
In this last turn I used a playtest copy of MA4e to run the combat. Craig Brain, who is writing MA4e with James Ward, suggested that I add the current players to the list of credited playtesters. You're in good company: JW got together with his friends Alex and Gary Gygax to playtest the new edition!

Here's a list of the playtesters I added: Ben Assaf (Percy), David Crowell (Chelydra), Elizabeth Woodward (Irsa), George Glass (THX-1492), John Raner (Caleb), Katrina Lieff (Amanda), Mike Johnson (Bud Asuda), Paul Madison (Arkady), and Stacy Assaf (Nike).

Lisa, I didn't add your name because I don't know your last name ^_^ Let me know and I'll add it immediately (It isn't Mogwai, is it? ;)

I'll post a new turn *very* soon. Halloween is always crazy!

stacinator 10/14/2005

Nike

Very cool!!!

Lisa (mogwai) 10/15/2005

Becka

Wow! That's really very cool!

Will the game run under the 4th edition rules now?

My last name is Smith, btw. :)

supreme_arbiter 10/16/2005

Will the game run under the 4th edition rules now?

Mostly, for now. The character pages won't change though: I'll continue to use the MA1e character attributes. Armor Class will change. Of course the Warden and the backstory won't change any.

My last name is Smith, btw. :)

Thanks, I added your name to the credit roster as: Lisa Smith (Becka)

dr_wieg 10/17/2005

Sorry if this breaks any rules...I'm new at this.

I had heard something about MA4 a few months ago but was never able to substantiate that it was any more than a rumor...is there a tenative release date? I'm really very interested in MA4.

I'd like to become active in this game but I'm still trying to think up a decent character. Thanks.

supreme_arbiter 10/17/2005

No release date yet, but it is well into development. James Ward will publish it first as a .pdf file. If there's enough interest, he'll publish it as a hardbound book.

I'd like to become active in this game but I'm still trying to think up a decent character. Thanks.

Sure :)

supreme_arbiter 10/17/2005

IAS turn 20 - Pentapi

[ooc: everyone is essentially in the same area. Caleb and Irsa are standing near the escape pod and Becka stands aloofly nearby. THX and the lifeboat's away team are standing together at the top of the ridge.]

Nike saluted the robot. "Hi. Having a problem with the desert octopus over there?"

"The canine humanoid was attacked by one. It is now dead. Five others are moving along the ground beneath the parachute. Another four remain hidden beneath the sand and are not moving. I am unfamiliar with their species."

"Where are the hidden ones?" Nike asked.

"They are below the ridge in the valley. Three are on the west side of the parachute, the other is on the east."

"So, what do you think we ought to do about them?" Amanda asked.

"Eradicate them," Arkady replied. "They're obviously a menace. You ready for some target practice? Radio on, Bailey can you give us some light down here. The moon has gone down."

"Sure, Arkady. We couldn't see much from here in the visibile spectrum. Life forms detection shows 3 humanoids and 1 robot. I also see 9 large starfish like things: four of them aren't moving and a tenth one has just died." Caleb, in the valley below, could hear their conversation as if they were standing right next to him, but he could not see anyone besides Irsa and Becka.

The lifeboat's lights flashed on and illuminated the dunes. Arkady walked along the ridge to the escape pod. He gathered the parachute up by pulling it from the valley. He yanked on it when the creatures caught their tentacles on it. When he had gathered it all together, he saw several creatures that looked like octopi but with five tentacles each. Three were scooting along the dunes. The other two were digging in the sand upside down.

"Let me know before I walk over one of these things, won't you Bailey?"

"Sure thing!"

Arkady approached one of the creatures that was digging. He passed by the other three humanoids and tipped an imaginary hat to them. "Greetings. The name's Arkady. Can I help you with these things?" As he spoke, he noted the patch on Caleb's Warden jumpsuit.

end transmission

Elizabeth 10/17/2005

Irsa

Wow! Credited playtester. I'd buy the book just to see my name listed. Wow!

Elizabeth 10/18/2005

Irsa

"Sure, if you want to. My name is Irsa." Says the winged hamster.

Lisa (mogwai) 10/22/2005

Becka

Though the sand monster is dead by Caleb's axe, Becka keeps her umbrella raised defensively. Now she keeps it between herself and the dog man.

"Um, Irsa, I'm not entirely sure he's not a Wolfoid and... um... maybe we shouldn't talk to him. 'Cause he probably wants to eat you. I don't even know what part of Warden we're in now... And, well, (gesturing toward THX) I think there's a walking death machine coming this way."

Elizabeth 10/22/2005

Irsa

"He's too friendly to be an enemy, Becka. And the machine is not a death machine cause its just watching and not attacking us. A death machine attacks everything in it sight as soon as it gets close enough and they can't operate movement machines either." Irsa says to Becka. Then to the wolfoid Irsa says "Hi, my name is Irsa. Want to be friends, please?" Irsa is still a little brighteyed with andrenalin and excited.

Katkin_Kalvin (John) 10/23/2005

Caleb

Caleb grins and says "Sure, why not? Nothing I have met since waking on that accursed ship has been friendly...." Then he thinks a minute and says "I am not sure what I am yet, but I don't think I am one of those 'Wolfoids' your friend seems to fear."

supreme_arbiter 10/23/2005

Arkady approached to within a few meters of the nearest creature. It was digging in the sand. He unholstered his pistol, put a round in the chamber and took aim. He emptied the entire magazine of ten bullets. Only five struck the beast and penetrated its hide. Click. Click. The magazine was empty but the thing still lived! Arkady replaced the clip and fired three more shots. The last one finally killed it.

He holstered his gun and returned to Caleb and Irsa. Becka remained aloof, not sure of who to be more frightened of: the canine-oid or the man with the gun. Arkady thumbed the patch on his jumpsuit. "Are all of us from the Warden? The robot over there and my companions are too."

[OOC: Boring game details :)
The creature has 10d6 HP = 41
pistol with no laser sight WC=18 vs hide AC=16
12 chance to hit, 2d6 damage
I rolled: 7, 14 (7 dam.), 11, 10, 13 (8 dam.), 10, 13 (7 dam.), 9, 12 (4 dam.), 13 (6 dam.)
Second clip: 7, 13 (8 dam.), 15 (12 dam. - 11 more than it had left)
A pistol fires 3 shots per turn
total is 30 seconds = 5 turns + 1 turn reloading]

gglassdr 10/25/2005

THX-1492

As if it were completely disinterested in the battle just having been concluded between its newfound human companions and the desert creature, THX-1492 asks, "Interogative requested: please relate historical record of refugee flight from Warden. Question: do these units have return capability to Warden?"

supreme_arbiter 10/25/2005

"Most of our crew are Alpha Sequence clones," Nike replied, "except for Bud and Bailey. They're members of the orignal crew that were frozen. All of us have been awake for only a few days or so. Long story short, things are totally out of control on the Warden. From what little we saw, the robots there have gone mad and are trying to exterminate all humanoid life. We were forced to flee in this lifeboat." "Question: do these units have return capability to Warden?" "Units? You mean us? No, not yet. It doesn't look like she's capable of escape velocity, but she's a good ship." Nike patted the gangplank strut affectionately.

[OOC: Nike, THX, Amanda and any of the crew that wants to contribute are standing near the lifeboat gangplank. Irsa, Becka, Caleb and Arkady are a few dozen meters away below the ridge and cannot hear this conversation.]

[Amanda, isn't your trigger finger itching?... :D]

Elizabeth 10/25/2005

Irsa

"I am from Warden. My name is Irsa. The humanoid female is Becka and she's from Warden as well. What's your name, human with gunj?" Irsa asks.

supreme_arbiter 10/26/2005

[OOC: was 'gunj' an MA'ism or a typo? :)]

"Arkady, maam. Your friend Becka doesn't seem very trusting but I don't blame her. I hope we can trust each other. I'll introduce you to our captain, if you'd like."

Elizabeth 10/27/2005

Irsa

"Oh yes. Can always use more friends. Makes staying alive easier and more comfortable." Irsa says to Arkady.

Katkin_Kalvin (John) 10/28/2005

Caleb

[OOC: was 'gunj' an MA'ism or a typo? :)]

I thought 'gunj' was MA slang for something one smokes.... ;)

mikejohnson_lordofdance 10/30/2005

Bud

-Bud, (realizing that he'd inhaled a bit too deeply) notices that some of his companions have left the bridge. As he looks over the scanners and catches up on current events, he hoists the plaser and runs to (and down) the gangplank.

-getting a whiff of spent ammo and mutant blood, he suddenly feels (oddly) very calm and focused. He surveys the surroundings and notes the various bot and humanoid presences, feeling a small sense of loss that the combat seems to have abated.

"Hi!" with a big wave and a red eye, "Officer Asuda, at your service."

[radio-on, to crewmates on-site] "Any one/thing here that needs vaporized?"

mikejohnson_lordofdance 10/30/2005

Bud

"Hey, how much 'organic matter' do you think we could harvest here?"

gammaben 11/3/2005

Percy

[[OOC: Ok, more than a month of game posts to catch up on. Hope you don't mind me inlining some Percyisms into the last few turns! Sorry once again for the scandal of gammaben's posting delay!]]

IAS turn 19 - Fabric Eating Monsters

THX-1492, this is Captain Nike Thomason, UWSC Marine Corps. Set your craft down on the ground below us. We will follow, over."

"Acknowledged, Captain Thomason," the robot replied as it set a course for the aircar to land near where the escape pod landed below.

[[Percy]] "I like a robot who follows the proper chain of command." Percy stole a glance at Shlitzee. "Of course, I like medical robots, too," he added seriously, nodding at their resident bartending medibot.

"I've got something," Bud yelled. "It's an encrypted message." He flipped a switch on the console. The cockpit speakers blared forth a painful squeal. Horatio and his students all held their ears in pain. "Ouch, sorry," Bud apologized as he turned the speakers off. "It was feeding back. Huh, that's funny," he said as he pressed the radio monitor's headphones closer to his ears. "Now the signal's not there." He moved the dial minutely in the range of the frequency he had just heard, but it was completely gone. "Ah! I should have been recording it!"

[[Percy]] Percy thought for a minute. "Did anyone have their radio turned on? Maybe it has a recording feature." Percy queried his console again for information about the radio that might yield a latent recorder. Maybe it had some kind of digital recording. He tapped his head. He looked at Shlitzee. He raised his finger. "Waaaaiitaminute. Shlitzee, you heard that! Any chance you can reproduce that sound so we could analyze it?"

"Our reserves are at 46.5%. We were aloft for 15 minutes. We burned 0.1% of our fuel reserve in a minute. To put it another way, we can burn our engines for," her eyes rolled back as she calculated, "7 hours and 45 minutes."

[[Percy]] Percy smiled at the math calculations Amanda made. He mused to himself how Warden had stocked itself with the best of the best for its venture into space. If they were going to make sense of their existence as clones trying to effect an S.O.S. of Warden they'd need every ounce of intelligence. He had a thought. Maybe the cloning program wasn't messed up after all. Maybe it was scrambling genes in some kind of warped sense of improving the cloned crewmember's chance of survival. Zhaxier's invisibility sure helped him out. His Wolfman Jack routine helped save Amanda and who knows what else it'd be good for. Chelydra would have been dead without his shell to retract into back on the ship. Slowly, the madness started reforming into mild insanity. Progress, of sorts.

"Thanks Amanda. Bailey, will you please stay here and see to our guests. Make sure they get a good show from up here. Anyone else who cares to join me, we're going to see who this THX-1492 is and what landed in that dune."

[[Percy]] "I'll come," Percy offered. He left his cloth bag of stuff near his seat, left his Post-It Notes (TM) on the console, and with fanny pouch, duralloy suit, and laser pistol on his person, followed Nike out the ship.

The lifeboat touched down and the gangplank descended below her hull. Nike and the crew stepped off the ship and into the sand. They gazed at the scene before them.

[[Percy]] Percy bent down and grabbed some sand, letting it fall through his fingers as he stood up, surveying the place. He spotted THX-1492, and pointed out the obvious. "Look, sir, droid!" he said to Nike. **

THX: "Greetings Warden mates. This unit is ready for service."

[[Percy]] "Do you need to be serviced, as in, you have a problem? Or do you want to serve us, because you are programmed to serve crewmembers of Warden?" Percy offered. It was nice to have a pleasant conversation with a Warden robot, instead of running away from one shooting its lasers and trying to dissect people.

Amanda's P-150 protein disruptor pistol is in her belt holster and her SK-19 Sturmkarabiner assault rifle is in her hands! :)

[[Percy]] Percy stands _behind_ Amanda's P-150 protein disruptor pistol and SK-19 Strumkarabiner assault rifle.

OOC: Howdy yo, In this last turn I used a playtest copy of MA4e to run the combat. Craig Brain, who is writing MA4e with James Ward, suggested that I add the current players to the list of credited playtesters. You're in good company: JW got together with his friends Alex and Gary Gygax to playtest the new edition!

Here's a list of the playtesters I added: Ben Assaf (Percy), David Crowell (Chelydra), Elizabeth Woodward (Irsa), George Glass (THX-1492), John Raner (Caleb), Katrina Lieff (Amanda), Mike Johnson (Bud Asuda), Paul Madison (Arkady), and Stacy Assaf (Nike).

Whoa, awesome!!!!

IAS turn 20 - Pentapi

THX: "The canine humanoid was attacked by one. It is now dead. Five others are moving along the ground beneath the parachute. Another four remain hidden beneath the sand and are not moving. I am unfamiliar with their species."

[[Percy]] "Hmmmmm, I believe I know of them. Fabricus masticationus, from the Latin, of course," Percy whispered. He had noticed that his sarcasm had picked up along with his mood, from being on solid ground and not in space running for his life down laser-filled hallways.

"So, what do you think we ought to do about them?" Amanda asked.

[[Percy]] Percy continues to stands _behind_ Amanda's P-150 protein disruptor pistol and SK-19 Strumkarabiner assault rifle. "Gulp." Heavily armed and eager mathematicians always made him nervous.

Arkady approached one of the creatures that was digging. He passed by the other three humanoids and tipped an imaginary hat to them. "Greetings. The name's Arkady. Can I help you with these things?" As he spoke, he noted the patch on Caleb's Warden jumpsuit.

[[Percy]] Percy approached the new faces as Arkady investigated the tunneling creatures, leaving Nike and the others to communicate with THX-1492.

Caleb grins and says "Sure, why not? Nothing I have met since waking on that accursed ship has been friendly...." Then he thinks a minute and says "I am not sure what I am yet, but I don't think I am one of those 'Wolfoids' your friend seems to fear."

[[Percy]] Whistling innocently, Percy makes a mental note not to wolf out in front of these folks. Obviously they'd had a run in with some bad wolfoids back on Warden. "Waaaait a second," he said, approaching the mutated human, not-quite- coyote, and winged hamster. "I'm Percy Jenkins, from Warden, no, really, I am," he insisted, seeing their doubtful looks as his duralloy plated light suit covered his official Warden uniform. "We're all from Warden. You said 'what part of Warden we're in now.'" he said to Becka. "We're not on Warden anymore!" He looked up. "Warden is up there, in orbit!"

"Hi!" with a big wave and a red eye, "Officer Asuda, at your service." [radio-on, to crewmates on-site] "Any one/thing here that needs vaporized?" "Hey, how much 'organic matter' do you think we could harvest here?"

[[Percy]] Looking back upon hearing Bud's introduction over the internal comm, Percy spied one of the two oldest living crewmembers of Warden at the bottom of the gangplank with THX, Nike and Amanda. "Radio on," Percy said, turning aside and putting a hand to his ear instinctually. "Good idea, we should feed some of these sandstars into the matter compiler. But don't blast anybody else, they all seem to be friendly so far! Radio off." He turned back to Caleb, Becka and Irsa, and waited for their reaction to his news that they weren't on Warden anymore.

** No Stormtroopers were harmed or plaigairized (much) in the making of this post.

aeraxbob 11/3/2005

shlitzfarl

Shlitzfarl looks over the remaining crew then appraises the natives aboard 'her' ship. Deciding the threat to be minimal 'she' joins Bud, pulling the kaftan hood over the mohawk. Taking a special interest in the new mechanoman, Shlitzee makes the universal bot sign for 'friendly.'

aeraxbob 11/3/2005

shlitzfarl

Percy: "I like a robot who follows the proper chain of command." Percy stole a glance at Shlitzee. "Of course, I like medical robots, too," he added seriously, nodding at their resident bartending medibot.

[[Shlitzee]] left eye-brow raises slightly higher than human norm.

"I've got something," Bud yelled. "It's an encrypted message." He flipped a switch on the console. The cockpit speakers blared forth a painful squeal. Horatio and his students all held their ears in pain. "Ouch, sorry," Bud apologized as he turned the speakers off. "It was feeding back. Huh, that's funny," he said as he pressed the radio monitor's headphones closer to his ears. "Now the signal's not there." He moved the dial minutely in the range of the frequency he had just heard, but it was completely gone. "Ah! I should have been recording it!"

Percy: Percy thought for a minute. "Did anyone have their radio turned on? Maybe it has a recording feature." Percy queried his console again for information about the radio that might yield a latent recorder. Maybe it had some kind of digital recording. He tapped his head. He looked at Shlitzee. He raised his finger. "Waaaaiitaminute. Shlitzee, you heard that! Any chance you can reproduce that sound so we could analyze it?" (OOC: assuming Shlitzee has this capability)

[[Shlitzee]] immediately reproduces the sound at the same painful squeal. Then smiles at Percy while asking "What does your analysis indicate?" Shlitzee then runs a dataline from 'her' right nostril into an appropriate port and sends the info to the ship's computer. Looking up and making eye contact with any who might be watching and deadpans "of course, I'll run a back up analysis as well."

"Do you need to be serviced, as in, you have a problem? Or do you want to serve us, because you are programmed to serve crewmembers of Warden?" Percy offered.

[[Shlitzee]] another deadpan to Percy: "Are you flirting with that fatherboard?"

supreme_arbiter 11/6/2005

IAS turn 20.8 - Pentapus

OOC: Wow, nice turn everybody! Ben, you floored me with your post, and welcome back Barnabus, it's good to see you :) I incorporated both of your additions into Chapter 30. I'll push them live in a few weeks.

There were two comments made by Percy that he couldn't have known about: Percy makes a mental note not to wolf out in front of these folks. Obviously they'd had a run in with some bad wolfoids back on Warden.

You said 'what part of Warden we're in now.'" he said to Becka. "We're not on Warden anymore!" He looked up. "Warden is up there, in orbit!"

The comments Percy is referring to happened before the crew got out of the lifeboat, sorry. Percy will have to find another rationale for not 'wolfing', and Becka still believes she's on the Warden.

As they say in meetings, on to old business: here are my responses to your additions. These events happened earlier than the 'present', but I thought they were important enough to elaborate.

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Percy contemplated the feedback. "Did anyone have their radio turned on?"

"I did," Bud replied. "But I heard the feedback in the monitors, not my headphones."

"Horatio and his students heard it too," Chelydra noted over the radio, "and they don't have headphones."

"Maybe it has a recording feature." Percy queried his console and tapped his forehead. He searched for information about the radio that might yield a latent recorder. There were a few software options to record transmissions, but none of them were currently running. He looked at Shlitzee. He raised his finger and said, "Waaaaiitaminute. Shlitzee, you heard that! Any chance you can reproduce that sound so we could analyze it?"

Shlitzee immediately reproduced the sound at the same painful volume. She smiled at Percy and asked, "What does your analysis indicate?" She ran a dataline from her right nostril into an appropriate port and sent the info to the ship's computer. Looking up, she made eye contact with Percy and Nike and deadpanned, "Of course I'll run a back up analysis as well."

A moment later the computer responded with a message on an overhead display. "Insufficient data. Analysis inconclusive."

"Inconclusive," Shlitzee responded incredulously. "I knew I was smart, but I didn't realize I was smarter than Pandora! For a small fraction of a second before the feedback occurs there is an unobscured signal with enough samples to make a limited analysis. I can tell you the signal was encrypted, but that's about all.

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"Do you need to be serviced, as in, you have a problem? Or do you want to serve us, because you are programmed to serve crewmembers of Warden?"

"All my functions are nominal." THX replied.

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[OOC: this should've taken place earlier, sorry. Amanda accompanied Arkady when he pulled back the parachute and met Caleb, Becka and Irsa.]

Amanda watched Arkady kill the beast then took aim with her Sturmkarabiner. She squeezed off a short burst at the creature beside the corpse. Four armor piercing, high explosive rounds tore into it and killed it immediately.

Arkady grinned at her humbly. "You're a natural at this!"

[OOC: Boring game details :p the creature has 10d6 HP = 36 Sturmkarabiner, slugthrower rifle WC=15 but APHE rounds WC=12 vs hide AC=16 but APHE rounds raise to AC=19 3 chance to hit, 3d6 damage AP-HE rounds, 6 rounds per turn I rolled: 8 (6 dam.), 14 (8 dam.), 13 (6 dam.), 10 (17 dam.) dead in one round: 5 seconds! Very nice!]

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[OOC: The 'present']

"Here comes one of our friends right now." Arkady introduced them to Bud Asuda. He carried a plaser rifle over his shoulder.

Bud whiffed and noticed the smell of spent ammo and blood. He suddenly felt (oddly) very calm and focused. He surveyed his surroundings and noted the various humanoid presences. "Hi!" he said with a big wave and a red, puffy eye. "Officer Asuda, at your service. Radio-on. Any one/thing here that needs to be vaporized?"

Arkady pointed out a large, trunk-like creature crawling along the sand away from them on five tentacles. It was about four meters long from the tips of its tentacles.

"Hey, how much 'organic matter' do you think we could harvest here?"

"A lot!"

"Good idea," Percy said over the radio. "We should feed some of these sandstars into the matter compiler. But don't blast anybody else, they all seem to be friendly so far!"

Bud unfolded the stock and hefted the plaser to his shoulder. He consulted with Bailey to see how far forward he could walk safely without disturbing the hidden beasts. He stood so no one was on his right side. "Watch out," he waved with his arm. "This rifle ejects hot cartridges."

"Hey, uh, Bud," Arkady replied. "Should you be operating heavy equipment?"

"Son, I'm a professional." Arkady smiled.

The plaser fired and a laser followed by a speeding bolt of plasma burned across the desert. The rifle ejected a cartridge to Bud's right. It sizzled in the sand. The plasma struck the creature and vaporized a large portion of it along with the surrounding sand, but a portion of it struggled forward. "Damn," Bud cursed. "I should have brought more cartridges." He put the plaser over his left shoulder and unholstered his pistol. He fired ten rounds at the creature, but it continued to move away from them. Bud ejected the clip and juggled the pistol and rifle to insert a new clip. He fired three more shots and the beast finally shuddered to a stop.

[The creature has 10d6 HP = 41 plaser WC=5 vs hide AC=16 no chance to miss! 10d6 damage I rolled: 36, the beast still has 5 left pistol with no laser sight WC=18 vs hide AC=16 12 chance to hit on 3d6 -2 for pistol at med range, 2d6 damage I rolled (penalties subtracted): 6, 9, 9, 9, 5, 9, 11, 9, 11, 9 12 (2 damage), 10, 12 (7 damage)]

"Waaaait a second," Percy said as he approached the human girl, not-quite-coyote and winged hamster. "I'm Percy Jenkins from Warden. No really, I am," he insisted, seeing their doubtful looks. His light duralloy plated suit covered his official Warden uniform. "We're all from Warden."

Elizabeth 11/7/2005

Irsa

"Hello Percyjenkins of the warden. It's good to meet you. My name is Irsa." Irsa the winged hamster says.

katrinalieff 11/9/2005

Amanda

Amanda stood with her gun in hand-still smoking. She was looking a little dumbfounded at the creature that had just been pulverized buy the shards of copper-jacked lead that had destroyed its body. So many unidentified (and ugly) creatures about since she vaguely remembered waking from her cyro-trance. snapping out if "it", she looked back to Arkady: "a `natural'. Yeah, I seem to have a natural affinity for these things' making a motion with the StrumKarbine. "I can't seem to remember where it comes from. I remember being a teacher, but I don't ever remember using these things before. You think I might have been a member of the NRA or something like that? *sigh* So, where do you think we will be going from here? I mean, aren't we stranded now?" (OOC: I'm not sure if she is in the vicinity of the other PC's and these new characters, ie; talking Hamster, etc. if so, she will just remain quite ad listen, if she sees Nike, she will give her a coy, shy smile)

supreme_arbiter 11/10/2005

"So, where do you think we will be going from here? I mean, aren't we stranded now?"

"We've got a working ship and a matter compiler. We're not stranded!" Arkady replied. "If there's no way to gain control of the Warden from this planet, we'll find a way together. I suspect Nike will want to talk about our next plan of action soon."

(OOC: I'm not sure if she is in the vicinity of the other PC's and these new characters

OOC: There are two separate groups. They can see, but can't hear, each other (except over the radio of course.) The groups are:

Standing by the escape pod: Irsa, Becka, Caleb, Arkady, Bud, Amanda, Percy

Standing by the lifeboat: THX-1492, Nike, Shlitzee

I'll be posting turn 21 this weekend

BTW, I forgot to give a shout out to Mike regarding the plaser: you read my mind! :D

supreme_arbiter 11/13/2005

IAS turn 21: The Tour

Arkady shivered. "It's kinda creepy here now that the rest of those sandstars are quietly resting below ground. Let's get back to the ship. We can take care of the rest later and feed 'em to the recycler."

Amanda and Bud nodded. "Ok," Percy said. He turned to Irsa, Becka and Caleb. "Would you like to join us? There's plenty of room."

"Yes please," Irsa replied. "I would like very much to see the inside of your movement machine. How does it work?"

"It, well... I," Percy fumbled, not quite sure of how the ship's engines worked. "There'll be plenty of time for that later," he beamed.

"Take what you want from the escape pod," Arkady suggested. "We may be able to recycle it too, if you don't mind." Caleb hefted his axe. It was his only possession in the world.

"We did not come in that machine. We left ours back there somewhere," Irsa pointed to the distant east.

Together they trudged up the dune to where Nike and Shlitzee stood talking with THX-1492. Irsa, Becka and Caleb gawked at the enormous ship. It was about 110 meters wide, 90 meters long and 40 meters tall.

OOC: An image of the escape pod, with mountains to the east:

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"Ah, here comes her crew," Nike said as she patted the gangplank strut affectionately. "What was the situation down there?"

"Four dead sandstars," Percy replied. "Two got away by digging into the sand. And we met these three refugees from the Warden: Irsa, Becka and Caleb. I think we should welcome them aboard."

"This starship is starting to resemble a flop house!"

"Actually this ship isn't a..." Arkady began pedantically.

Nike interrupted him, "It was a figure of speech. Yes, of course we're not going to leave you here to fend for yourselves with the sandstars. Come aboard. We'll give you the tour! Arkady, would you see that the recyclables are collected?"

Embarassed, Arkady simply replied, "Of course." The tender moment they had shared after the crash suddenly seemed like an age ago.

Everyone walked up the gangplank and entered the ship. "This door leads to storage," Nike said as they passed the first door on the right. After everyone walked by it, Arkady opened the door and went inside. The door shut behind him. "The passage to the right leads to the airlock and various systems. The passage to the left will take you to the cockpit. Engineering and the Captain's quarters are down there also." They moved past the two corridors and turned left down a short hallway into a large room with many tables and chairs. "This is the mess hall. There's an entertainment system in that room, more storage, a separate dining hall and the kitchen through there. There's not much food. Our other passengers have been kind enough to supply us with a few loaves of bread, and some dried fruits and meats. Help yourself."

They left the dining area and went to the large double doors across the hallway. Nike opened them. "At the end of the hallway is an exercise room, restrooms and showers. There's a medical room at the far end. Choose yourselves a room that's not already locked and make yourselves comfortable but don't take too much time. We'll meet in the cockpit in 15 minutes to discuss our situation."

OOC: I've updated the map of the ship/lifeboat to show which doors are locked. All security doors and sliding doors that are *yellow* are locked. The map is bookmarked below or you can easily get to it from the IAS archive site: it's the top Resource link called 'Lifeboat Map'

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Arkady rummaged through the supply room and found the laser sight. It attached simply to his pistol and fit inside the holster snuggly. His next stop was the armory. He took a Sturmkarabiner off the wall and saw that it was loaded. Next he entered the garage. "Hephaestus, I have a job for you."

The robot chamber opened and the engineering robot sprang to life. "Do you require assistance?" it asked.

"Yes. Follow me." Hephaestus followed Arkady onto the cargo lift. Arkady pressed the down switch and the lift lowered onto the sand below. They walked to the escape pod and Arkady searched it for any valuable parts. There were none. "Hephaestus, can you dismantle this escape pod and feed it into the recycler?"

"Affirmative."

"Great! Please do so, and avoid walking into the valley below. It's inhabited."

"Acknowledged."

"Radio on. Bailey, will you please direct me to where the sandstars are? I'm gonna take care of the last ones."

"Sure Ark. By the way, Horatio tells me they call the sandstars 'Sikalas'." Bailey explained where the last six Sikalas were located.

"I'm going to use grenades to get them to the surface, so don't mind the noise."

"Wait, stop!" Nike said over the radio. "We don't want to attract attention to ourselves."

"I think it's too late for that. Besides, we've got the ship's lifesigns and heat detection sensors to warn us of any incoming threats. How do we look, Bailey?"

"Nothing but those six Skialas within a couple hundred meters. And there are no significant heat sources within about 20 kilometers."

"All right Arkady, but be careful."

Arkady fired a grenade at the place where Bailey told him a creature was hiding. It rolled in the sand and exploded. Near the detonation, the sand showered upward as a Sikala's tentacles grasped what it thought was its prey. Arkady fired five shots at it and killed it. He repeated the process. Each Sikala was easier to kill.

At last all ten corpses littered the valley. Bailey confirmed that Arkady was the only living thing outside the ship. He examined the corpses. The one killed by Bud was mostly fused with the surounding sand into a glassy mess, but some was left. Arkady walked up the hill to where the robot was cutting the escape pod into smaller pieces to carry to the recycler.

"Hephaestus, can you carry those pieces and the corpses of those Sikalas up the gangplank to the recycler?"

"Affirmative."

"Cool. Please do so, but leave that car alone," he indicated the vehicle THX-1492 had flown.

"Acknowledged."

Arkady bundled the parachute under his arms and returned to the ship. He rode up in the cargo lift, sealing the garage shut. He returned the Sturmkarabiner to the armory, put the parachute in storage and headed for the cockpit.

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end transmission

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