Episode 42 - Breaking into the Brig

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 42 of Beyond the Furthest Stars!

we will start this session off with everyone rolling initiative, which is 1D8 plus Dex.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, how much time has passed?

Avery/GM: Uh, we're still frozen in the moment, uh, right after the alarm went off.

Chris/Ollie: Um, I am three or four. Pretty sure it's three. I gotta find my modifier.

Jenine/Marty: I don't know if I exist yet, but I did roll a six.

Avery/GM: That is actually very helpful. Thank you. I'm sorry, Jenine.

Jenine/Marty: No, no, no. I was just checking. I was like, I'll roll for funsies. I thought I was going to do a little bit there.

Avery/GM: Oh, I am going to have you come in very soon. Bruce, what did you roll?

Caden/Bruce: Seven. It's in the chat.

Avery/GM: Oh, I'm sorry.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, it's okay. I put it in rolled d20.

That probably doesn't help anyone but me.

Avery/GM: You are totally fine. And Chris, did you end up with three or four or are you still looking?

Chris/Ollie: My modifier is, or my stat is 12. So I think that's a plus one or is it 14 is plus one.

Bee/Polaris: 14 is plus one.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. So it's three.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, it's up at the top. Yeah. 13 is plus zero.

Avery/GM: So Polaris, you have cut into this wall and the alarm has started going off.

There's a red alert going on and the robot guards on this prison block are closing in on everyone's position. And Rho is up first. She is going, which ability is she going to use today? Cause she is trying to save her power. So she doesn't commit all

Zach/Zahn: Are both of these robots right in front of us deactivated or on Ollie's side.

Avery/GM: Those are the ones that Ollie hacked. And don't shoot those ones.

Chris/Ollie: And those are my drones, right?

Avery/GM: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Avery/GM: those are drones. The two robots behind Ollie are the robots that are hacked. And you've got six other robots on this floor. And again, don't worry about the NPCs. You'll be fine.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we were gonna free them. Cause, supposedly, cause we were told that they were crew that were insubordinate. Yeah. Yeah.

Avery/GM: But Rho is going to run over to you, Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Avery/GM: Put a hand on you.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Avery/GM: What is your AC?

Bee/Polaris: My AC?! She's going to kill me!

Avery/GM: No, no, no, no, no, no. I need, I need to know if this is going to improve you or not.

Bee/Polaris: I don't, where is my AC? Oh, it's uh, it's 14. It's not good.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, oh yeah. You, you definitely need to up that because, uh,

Bee/Polaris: Hey, I know . I thought about it, but like, punching good was right there.

Avery/GM: Right?

Chris/Ollie: You gotta, yeah. It's a hard choice between punch Good and get punched. Good.

Jenine/Marty: I think I have an ac of 13.

Zach/Zahn: Not get punched good. There you go.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. I'm at the lowest you. I'm 13.

Bee/Polaris: I was 13.

Caden/Bruce: I'm 13 too.

Don't worry about it.

Jenine/Marty: Let's go. Squishies.

Avery/GM: Oh, you're 13. Oh, well,

Bee/Polaris: Marty, you're a tank.

Avery/GM: I think that's a damage sink, not a not a tank. Either way, it's a legitimate strategy.

Bee/Polaris: She takes all the hits. Yeah, well,

Zach/Zahn: your psionics also have the potential to put out the most damage, so she's at the very least DPS.

Avery/GM: Well, either way, Rho runs over to you, Polaris, and Uh, puts a hand on your shoulder and says, if you're going to get us out of here, uh, you better be protected. And you see like this kind of psychic energy form around your body. Uh, she has used telekinetic armory on you to give you armor with an AC of 15 plus her telekinesis skill, which brings it up to a 20 AC. Temporarily.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, I'm gonna write temp.

Chris/Ollie: She's a brain god.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, upon seeing this like, this energy kinda surrounding him, he like, he's holding his laser blade and cutting a circle but he like, briefly tries to swat at it and his hand passes through and he's like, oh, okay.

Avery/GM: No, it doesn't pass through. It's hard.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, it doesn't? Oh, well then he knocks on it.

Avery/GM: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Avery/GM: Uh, it kind of vibrates a little, like, vibration sound.

Bee/Polaris: Ooh. Pilaris does a double thumbs up and then, because his laser blade's stuck in the wall, and then grabs back onto it and starts cutting the hole again.

Avery/GM: And that is Rho's turn.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, did I actually cut the hole?

Avery/GM: You are in the middle of cutting a hole. I was going to have you, if you're going to continue cutting the hole, roll a strength or dexterity stab check.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm so good at that. Nine.

Avery/GM: You are making good progress. How big of a hole are you trying to cut?

Bee/Polaris: Big enough for all of us to be able to fit through. Like if we crouch down, just like something that's quick, but all of us can fit through.

Avery/GM: You are making good progress. You're about halfway done. Anything else on your turn besides cutting through?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is just gonna put in chat, please cover fire. I'm still cutting the hole.

Avery/GM: Okay. Robot one is up and is going to open fire on this drone right here as it moves forward.

Do your drones have stats or do they just share your stats, Chris?

Chris/Ollie: They got stats. I'm finding the page for 'em right here. 'cause these guys are armored. So it's AC is 13. HP is eight.

Avery/GM: Okay. The robot rolled to 12, so it misses the shock goes wide. You do have one of the laser blasts like kind of like bounce off the wall and almost hit you from around the corner.

But you know, luckily it just burned a little hole in the wall next to you. Luckily your drones were not taken out. Bruce, you are up next.

Caden/Bruce: Sweet. How much movement do I have? Like, I assume I can also run up to where like Ro and Polaris are. Yes.

Avery/GM: Yeah. That that's about the distance that you could, yeah. You could cover that around a distance easily.

Caden/Bruce: That's fine. That is what I am going to do. And I am going to. Try and help Polaris cut the hole in said wall.

Avery/GM: Sure, yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Right? Cause everybody has laser swords.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. Duh.

Zach/Zahn: For whatever reason, I totally blanked that Bruce also had one.

Caden/Bruce: I mean

Avery/GM: Yeah,

Bruce

got

Bruce got one for cooking, but

Zach/Zahn: For cooking with, cause it was used in Toast.

Chris/Ollie: They're adjustable, so. I mean, we are a Jedi order now.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: I don't know if Bruce has ever used it on the bigger setting, but. You know, there's always a first.

Avery/GM: Yeah, but go ahead and roll a strength or dexterity stab check. And let's see if you can meet in the middle with, uh, with Polaris.

Chris/Ollie: Let's throw in some encouragement.

You can do it, Bruce. Just think of it as a large slice of bread.

Caden/Bruce: That's a nine.

Avery/GM: Ollie, go ahead and roll a charisma lead check to help.

Chris/Ollie: If I had any of that stat, that might be useful.

Zach/Zahn: We got to dig through the bucket of chips and get robo dog, Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, we got to take him to the groomers.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we never went to Chip's R Us.

Chris/Ollie: Eight.

Avery/GM: Eight? Okay. No help. With a nine, Bruce, you actually are able to finish the cut. And so yeah, it'll just take probably like whoever's next turn to just kind of give this thing a nice solid push, because it is a pretty thick piece of wall.

It's not going to just move.

Caden/Bruce: It's fair enough.

Avery/GM: But yeah, there is, there is a, there is a path cut, so just got to give it a nice shove. Next up is Jenine.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah?

Avery/GM: Let's bring Jenine into the mix.

Jenine/Marty: Hello?

Avery/GM: Hello! So, Jenine, you and your passenger Are flying the TSKAM through space. And he looks over to you and says, uh, all right, it looks like we're about to get out of the jump.

Are you, do you think we should both go over to the ship? Should we try and land this on, on whatever, whatever ship they're on? Or, or what, what do you, what do you think the plan should be?

Jenine/Marty: Um, and then I send in chat. Hi, hi, exit crew's here. Where should we meet? Smiley face.

Avery/GM: And it's free action to talk. So feel free to talk back. Anyone

Bee/Polaris: cool. Uh, Polaris puts exclamation point. Colon D

Avery/GM: shocked face.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Well, just happy that Marty is here.

Avery/GM: Oh, capital D.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: I thought lowercase D.

Bee/Polaris: That's all right.

Chris/Ollie: Shocked. Pikachu face.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Uh, and then Polaris will just ping the coordinates from like his helmet on where they are.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Jenine/Marty: And then I show

Zach/Zahn: Zahn will put some small amount of context in the chat, uh, after seeing the pinged coordinates just like, inside enemy cruiser. Trying to steal and save Hermes.

Bee/Polaris: Are we on deck one?

Avery/GM: Uh, you are on deck two.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris says deck two smiley face, we are currently being attacked. Double smiley face.

Jenine/Marty: Would I have enough information to know that like, it would be better to go take the ship directly to that spot? Or do I have to try and run with my little legs? When it opens up.

Avery/GM: You would not be able to make .... Unless you blasted a hole in the side of the ship, you would not be able to take your ship directly to that spot. But, uh, you could land the ship in the landing bay. That would be an option.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris will send in chat, uh, Let personnel know that you're with us, we did sort of liberate them, air quotes. Uh, there shouldn't be any military personnel on that level.

Jenine/Marty: Cute, okay.

Avery/GM: Except for one guy missing a hand.

Jenine/Marty: Oh no. Guys, I don't have, I don't have that psionic yet. I don't have the psionic to fix limbs. Yeah, so I'll, we'll go, we'll go to the landing bay knowing that it's a safe spot to land.

Avery/GM: You tell your friend to drop you off in the landing bay or to land in the landing bay and the ship jumps out of warp and into a mess. There are Here, I'll actually get you back to the space screen so you can kind of see.

Jenine/Marty: What did you do? What did all of you do?

Bee/Polaris: We didn't do anything. Oh, uh, Polaris Wilson in chat, uh, Hermes may try and shoot you. He is in the enemy ship. Sad face. Just give him a heads up.

Jenine/Marty: Does uwu work? Does uwu work?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will drop a

Zach/Zahn: Get him in a talking loop, he'll stop shooting at you.

Chris/Ollie: It's the logic loop. Ollie will drop in a, Don't look at us, we are the victims here.

Avery/GM: I didn't do that.

Bee/Polaris: All of us, all of us in a hot dog suit. Now we're all trying to find the guy who did this.

Jenine/Marty: Marty left y'all alone for like, what, two minutes? Two minutes. We didn't do any Wow. Two minutes.

Avery/GM: Like, six days.

Jenine/Marty: Two minutes.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, we did some things, but not, not this much.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we didn't, this isn't our fault.

Avery/GM: So yeah, so you drop into the system here, you detect the Cassiopeia off to You're right. Your friend is piloting through the asteroids currently.

You should arrive on the ship shortly. Is there anything else you would like to do on your turn? You do see that this ship is firing, or these, these two bigger ships are exchanging fire.

Jenine/Marty: That's cute. That's cool. we'll just... We're fine. No, we don't. Wait, wait, wait. I have to know. Oh, I do have some telekinesis stuff that I could possibly do. Okay. I'm, I'm too small to do some of these things. We're just, I'm a, what is, do I sense anything in like oracle esque situation? Precognition?

Avery/GM: Okay, so it would be a new day. You do get, uh, what, okay, what, what question do you want to ask regarding the oracles? Or, or, regarding the situation?

Jenine/Marty: What can I do to prevent what I saw yesterday?

Avery/GM: Okay. That is a very good question. Uh. Hehehe. You get a vision of, from your point of view, coming out of an elevator and your friends passing through a hole in the wall. And you see yourself tell them to stop.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, cool.

Avery/GM: And that is the vision that you get. I actually need to roll initiative for your passenger.

Jenine/Marty: Nice.

Avery/GM: I'm being, I'm being vague on purpose about that, by the way, y'all.

Jenine/Marty: No, no, no. I'm, I'm, Also being vague with it.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, I know who it is. I'm kidding.

Avery/GM: I was like, what?

Jenine/Marty: What? I didn't even know who it was until yesterday. I was freaking out. .

Avery/GM: It's so good.

Chris/Ollie: You guys have been hanging out and it's like, wait, who are you?

Avery/GM: excuse me.

Bee/Polaris: I have some thoughts though.

Avery/GM: Actually, uh, your passenger's gonna go next. He grabs hold of the, the ship yolk and guns it for. this hegemony ship and lands in the cargo bay. And you all lowered your shuttle down into the storage area, right? I think that's what happened last time. Yeah. So there is a fresh, shiny landing pad for your, your passenger to land on.

And you are all set. Let's go back to the battle area that's going on. That's totally not dangerous at all. Next up is robots two and three. Robot two is also going to fire at your drone, Ollie. How's a 17 do for hitting it?

Chris/Ollie: Um, yes, it does.

Avery/GM: Uh, seven damage with a rapid fire laser pistol that, uh, takes a lot of good chunks out of your, out of your drone here. You said it has 8 HP? And then, Robot 3, all it can do is move down here. Ah, you know what? It'll try and shoot from long range, why not? Uh, it rolled a nat 1, so it shoots it's friend.

Chris/Ollie: It explodes.

Avery/GM: It does 11 damage to it, so, that'll

Zach/Zahn: To his buddy!

Avery/GM: Yep. You hear down the hallway, oops, sorry about that.

Zach/Zahn: I need my targeting systems readjusted.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you're next.

Zach/Zahn: So, with my grav boots, can I, like, revo reverse the polarity to push, so that I can, like, spartakick the hole out?

Avery/GM: I mean, if you wanna be that cool, you could do that. You could also just do a strength punch check.

Zach/Zahn: Um, strength is not a thing.

My, uh, thing.

Avery/GM: Oh, I see. There's a reason you have all these gear gadgets. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: Yes. Zahn, if you ever noticed Zahn doesn't like work out. He also has horrible posture. So he probably has residual back pain.

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure. So go ahead and just, hmm.

Zach/Zahn: I could do a like Dex exert.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Let's okay. Let's do that. Dex exert. We'll give you a. We'll give you that.

Zach/Zahn: How's an eight?

Avery/GM: You push it a little bit in, but it's not quite budging. You know, your boot might just be too small to actually make a big difference on this. Magnetically speaking. Next up is robot four. Robot four just moves out here. Ollie, you and all your drones are up next and you do finally ping this drone in this, uh, prison cell vent area.

Chris/Ollie: Right on. Do these two robots that I have hacked, do they also go on my turn?

Avery/GM: Yeah, they're all going to go on your turn. So you get lots of actions.

Chris/Ollie: Yes, we are legion, for we are many.

Bee/Polaris: The ollie legion.

Chris/Ollie: So I'm going to pull out, er, pull back the wounded drone around the corner.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, just out of sight. Then I'm going to have the two. Hacked robots that I have I'm gonna have them move out in front and be the the tanks in the hallway here Sure, the two robots that I have are they the same as the robots I'm facing?

Avery/GM: Yes So their their laser pistols are 3d 6

Zach/Zahn: What the fuck, I want one of their laser pistols.

Avery/GM: Well, you gotta take it off their body.

Zach/Zahn: I guess so.

Chris/Ollie: Incredible.

Bee/Polaris: I remember when I had a laser pistol.

Chris/Ollie: Are those like, special, or like, homebrewed, or are they in the stat book?

Avery/GM: No, they're homebrewed, but they do also have a drawback. They're clumsy, so. They aren't always the most accurate. They have some minuses to their hit rolls.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, these are Star Wars droids.

Avery/GM: I mean, not necessarily.

Chris/Ollie: Are these like super battle droids or?

Avery/GM: You could think of them like that. Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. So I'm going to have my other drone move over to me and we're just going to start laying into both of these robots.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, we're going to focus fire one until he's dead and then transition to the other.

Avery/GM: Sure. The one on top is the one that got damaged by their friend, so.

Chris/Ollie: What are the attack stats on the robots here?

Avery/GM: So your to roll hit for their pistols will be d20 minus two and their damage is 3d6 and they have 40 hp.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. That's one is a two roll. The other is an 11.

I'm guessing those are both misses.

Avery/GM: Those are both misses.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah, their shots go wide and hit the walls and burn some dark stains all over the, some blaster burns all over the walls.

Chris/Ollie: A nat 1!

Avery/GM: A nat one?

Chris/Ollie: These guys have a probability warping field.

Avery/GM: Probability warping, what?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, all my rolls are one, they're just, can't hit them.

They're super

Avery/GM: Oh, I thought, I thought you were saying that that was a, A game mechanic. Chris, I was super confused. . I was like, when the hell did I let you get that one? ?

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean, don't you have a thing that you can rewind time??

Avery/GM: Yeah. He does have the, the AI predictive thing. He does have that. You rolled a one?

Chris/Ollie: Yep, that one for the drone and then for my attacks for range. It's uh, added Dex, right?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, my Dex is. Awful. It's plus zero. So there we go. I hit them. So I hit the top one for two D eight plus dos, nine damage.

Avery/GM: Okay. Boom. It does not like that. And yeah, you are facing down this, this column of, of robots uh, robot five moves out into the hallway. Robot six does something on this computer that y'all can't see. And we're back to the top with Rho!,

Marty, you and your passenger hop off of the TSKAM in the hangar bay. And the ship is shaking a little bit from some of the weapon fire that's going on between these two bigger ships outside.

Your, your companion was very good at flying this ship. He comes down the loading ramp after you. You see a bunch of these turrets are all smoking and charred. Clearly your friends have been here. You get a message from Ro. Ro says, Marty, who did, who did you bring with you? Whoever they are, they're really strong.

Thank you. Uh, we are, we're on deck two. So just go down the hallway until you reach the elevator and, and just come down to deck two as soon as you can. And you have some movement to do.

Jenine/Marty: Yes, I will do however much movement I can to get to the elevator.

Avery/GM: You are pretty much all the way over here. So this is your whole turn. You two just dashed down here.

Jenine/Marty: Nice.

Avery/GM: Just passing by all this stuff. Do you say anything back to Rho or?

Jenine/Marty: I'm just, I'll message back. I've got good news. Smiley face. Heart. See you soon.

Avery/GM: Okay. And then Rho is going to use her actual turn to run towards you, Ollie, and help you out with one of these clowns. You see a, similar to the armor that showed up with Polaris, you see a gun form out of like this telekinetic energy in her arm or in her hands. And she's like, I've never actually used this power before. Let's see how it goes.

Zach/Zahn: Now that's just cheating.

Avery/GM: Hey, dude, telekinetic armory is such a broken skill. So she gets to roll a wisdom telekinesis roll to attack. That is a 17. And what's your combat rifle, Chris? How much damage?

Chris/Ollie: It's, uh, yeah, 2d8 plus 2.

Avery/GM: Okay, yeah. She ends up blasting a bunch of holes into this thing. It is on its last legs. Then she just reaches down and pats you real quick on the head.

Bee/Polaris: Heck yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay, uh, next up in the order is Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I haven't been told otherwise, so I'm gonna kick this hole in.

Avery/GM: Cool. Strength or Dex Exert. I think it's gonna have to be Strength Exert, actually.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine. No, I have Okay. Oh, I was gonna, I was gonna ask, how far apart is this hallway? Like can, can, like, Polaris wingspan, can he touch both sides of the wall?

Avery/GM: No, I just had limited space to work with when I was making this map.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay.

Avery/GM: So.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, gotcha, gotcha. Okay. So then, yeah, Polaris is just gonna, like, kick that in, and I rolled not so great, so that's gonna be a seven.

Avery/GM: A seven. Uh, you give it a, you give it a good kick and it, it's moving a little bit, but not much.

Zach/Zahn: You're gonna have to body check it next time, put your whole weight into it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris is about to like, is that his full action or his movement or anything?

Avery/GM: Uh, we'll say that was like, interacting with an object, so if you have a main action you want to do, go for it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will just, like, use his laser blades to cut the hole that he cut into an X so it's easier to break.

Avery/GM: Sure. Stab. Uh, dexterity stab.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah, I'm good at that. I'm very good at that.

Zach/Zahn: And then suddenly not so good at that as the rules come out shit.

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm very good at it. Eleven!

Avery/GM: 11. Yeah. You, you cut this X and yeah, you can see that like the middle kind of caves in a little bit. It's it, a gentle breeze will probably get this, uh, get this moving.

I mean, not literally, but yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will put in chat once, if anyone can kick the hole, that'd be cool. So we can go through.

Avery/GM: Robot one is up next. He's not happy about being shot by all these people.

Bee/Polaris: Understandable.

Avery/GM: It is going to walk up and it is starting to glow and that's its turn.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, no.

Zach/Zahn: Is it about to like suicide explode?

Avery/GM: Bruce, you're up.

Caden/Bruce: Uh, seeing the message in the chat, but also knowing that his ability of kicking isn't very great. Bruce is basically just going to body slam into the hole in the wall.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Let's go strength exert with a plus one because Bruce is a big boy.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, yeah, he kind of is. Strength and exert. That is a 10.

Avery/GM: Boom. Bruce, you go flying through this wall, not literally, but yeah, you are, you are through the wall and there is a bunch of metal pieces that are kind of still a little hot. So, you know, maybe, maybe your shirt gets a little, uh, little singed, but you're on the other side of this wall.

Caden/Bruce: I, uh, the equivalent of like looking around and an investigation check sort of thing.

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah. I mean, down the hall, you see a laser grid over here and you see another hallway Heading this way and you see another hallway that way,

Caden/Bruce: but no robots,

Avery/GM: no robots here.

Caden/Bruce: So Bruce is going to like, I don't know what happened with the other piece of wall. I guess he like probably slammed it into like the other corridor, but he's going to like flick his tail through the hole and just be like, like the equivalent of like a hand motioning people to come through, but with his tail,

Avery/GM: Totally. Awesome. Okay. Cool, cool, cool.

Zach/Zahn: Does Bruce have the strongest strength score among us? Is Bruce our strongest Avenger?

Caden/Bruce: Probably not.

Bee/Polaris: What's Bruce's strength?

Caden/Bruce: Twelve.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, mine's fourteen.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay, so it is Polaris..

Avery/GM: So after Bruce is Jenine, and Jenine, once you get to the area, your friends are at, then I'll drop you in as a normal initiative. I've basically given you two initiatives just to help you catch up to everyone else. Um, so back over to Jenine real quick. Uh, you are still on the landing bay floor and yeah, you're just still heading out towards the elevator.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. As I'm running, I just text in group. Hey guys, if there's a hole that you're walking through, don't go in yet. Smiley face. Got a me well, got kind of got a message. Saw things that happened. Be careful. Love you! See you in a bit! As I'm sprinting.

Bee/Polaris: Can we type back?

Avery/GM: Yeah! Talking's a free action.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Polaris puts the number 2 and then L8.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie's gonna like, swing his head to look down the hallway and take a screenshot and just post that.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Marty, you get a screenshot on your little wrist communicator of, uh, Bruce's tail sticking out, like waving. And then everyone else kind of like looking kind of towards this hole that is cut in the wall.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, no, it's a GIF

Avery/GM: but you make it to the elevator.

Jenine/Marty: No one else go through the hole, I'll be there soon, I'm at the elevator.

Smiley face, scared face, heart.

Avery/GM: Back into the order is robots 2 and 3. Robot 2 is going to shoot at one of its buddies. Or one of, one of the hacked buddies. And that's a nat 20. So, let's see. So this is the first time I'm, I'm doing this, pulling from the critical hit deck, uh, for star finder. And of course there's a little bit of crosswalking that has to happen due to different rule systems, but this damage is 16 damage to it. So he takes that and then you also see Chris that this robot's visual sensors have been damaged and will no longer work very well.

Chris/Ollie: Wait, did he just shoot them or what did he do?

Avery/GM: Yeah, this, this robot took, basically took out its visual tracking sensors, so it's gonna have a additional minus two to any attack roll it makes,

Chris/Ollie: uh, is he still like charging up?

Avery/GM: Oh, so that's this one that fired. This one is still charging up. On its next turn, whatever it's doing is going to happen. It's a, it's a one, it's a, it takes one turn, uh, to get this ability going. And robot three moves forward a little bit more and fires at this one. And that's a 12. So that does not hit. It goes wide again. And Zahn, you are up next.

Zach/Zahn: This one is the one that's glowing now, right? What's its condition looking like? Is it in the, uh, one shot range?

Avery/GM: It has 13 HP left. So a good shot? Yes.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah. I can't do that. I've got my, my spike shooter, but I'm not using that on robots right now. So I'm just going to go through the hole.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie will look over and say, I've got this everyone go ahead.

Bee/Polaris: Marty put in chat not to go through the hole.

Chris/Ollie: We do not have many options at the moment.

Bee/Polaris: No, I was just saying that out of character.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn shrugs and is like, I'm not going anywhere. I'm just on the other side of this hole.

Chris/Ollie: It's just another hallway.

Avery/GM: Robot four just moves. It's too crowded. Doesn't fire. Ollie, you and all of your, uh, army of robots are up next.

Chris/Ollie: Would I have a better chance of hitting if I had my, uh, my hacked boys go rock'em, sock'em robots instead of, uh, shoot'em, scoot'em.

Avery/GM: Yes. I haven't given them a punch skill, but I'll roll a D. We'll give them a 1d8 for damage and their punch skill will be a 2.

Chris/Ollie: What kind of negatives are they going to get for trying to shoot'em close range?

Avery/GM: It would just be the minus 2 for the clumsy weapon. Not going to make it super complicated.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I'm going to go for the shoot then.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: 10 and 16.

Avery/GM: Uh, the 16 hits.

Chris/Ollie: 3d6, uh, plus nothing.

Avery/GM: Plus nothing.

Chris/Ollie: For 12.

Avery/GM: It has one HP left.

Okay.

Chris/Ollie: Aw, damn it that's right, he barely survived. Bastard. All right. Uh, then the drone, actually, oh yeah, both of them fired. So I'll have the drone shoot now for a unnatural 20.

Avery/GM: Now that hits, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: I'm not even going to bother rolling damage.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's, yeah, it's gone. It's gone. It takes all these hits and falls down on its back and starts sparking a little bit and then goes silent and it is no longer glowing.

Chris/Ollie: Actually, I want to save my cognition. So yeah, I'm just going to shoot at the last one.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: Thirteen.

Avery/GM: Thirteen hits.

Chris/Ollie: Thirteen hits.

Avery/GM: It's AC is exactly 13. So. For 15 from the mag rifle. 15 damage. Okay. Yeah, this one's not looking great. Not quite in the self destruct range, but getting close. Cool. It's not looking good. Robot five moves down the hall this way. And wait, was that your turn?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, uh, I'm going to have the drone in the back, uh, ready and attack for any hostiles that appear and that's it.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. Very good. Uh, robot five moves down this hallway. Okay. Right there. And robot six is still typing away on the computer. Bruce, I need a evasion save, please.

Caden/Bruce: Oh no. Okay.

Avery/GM: Oh, and Zahn.

Zach/Zahn: Oh,

Avery/GM: yes.

Caden/Bruce: That's a D 20?

Avery/GM: D 20.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Avery/GM: D 20 versus your evasion score.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, heck yeah. We did good.

Bee/Polaris: Marty said not to go in the hole.

Zach/Zahn: Holy shit. What? Holy. So, so my evasion is seven. I rolled an eight.

Caden/Bruce: My evasion's also a seven and I rolled a nine. So I feel you there, bud.

Chris/Ollie: It's like you, you guys trip and just so happen to avoid it.

Caden/Bruce: Right? The tail gets in the way. What can I say?

Avery/GM: Yeah, so, you hear, like, a switch getting flipped, and you just instinctively, like, roll forward, both of you do, uh, just a little bit. And you see these two beams of, like, energy shoot down from the floor, and, at least Zahn, you would recognize this as, like, a form of, like, a ray shield, and it is usually used as a countermeasure to capture people, uh, Either escaping from a prison block or, you know, who needs to be captured, basically. Containing threats on a ship. And from down the hallway, you just hear a robotic, Oh, darn.

Chris/Ollie: Robo Eeyore.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, Dang Nabbit.

Chris/Ollie: I should've known.

Avery/GM: So, Robot 6, that was its turn. Marty, you are on the elevator with your friend. Your friend is talking to you telepathically. He says, uh, a combat situation probably isn't the best time to, like, you know, talk and, and, you know, take off the mask and do the whole thing, right?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. I think if you take like a couple of beats and maybe like it was like a couple of weeks after the fight and stuff like that, I'm not really a fighter per se. And my friends like to, to jump into situations, I love them, I love them with all of my heart. So yeah, I would wait, I would wait, I would wait, smiley face.

Avery/GM: He holds up a thumbs up and then as he's holding that thumbs up, you do see a telekinetic shield form in his hand. Don't worry, got you covered.

Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1UP Podcast network production. Find more of our work at 1uppodcasts. com. Intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio. com and used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons.

The track used today was Base Assault. We'll be back in two weeks with our next episode. See you out there beyond the furthest stars.

Interlude - Meanwhile, Back on Olympia Part 2

Avery/GM: Welcome to the second part of this month's interlude episode, where we learn about how Marty was able to help the Silver Shield. And whether or not she is able to meet up with her friends and reunite the long lost siblings. Let's get to the show.

Avery/GM: You and Oswald start flying back towards the city to your hotel. Is there anything you want to discuss or ask him about while you're flying?

Jenine/Marty: I think Marty goes through like every other research thing that. Oswald has done and point puts like grabs all of the grammatical errors out of it and points at it and in Oswald's face as they're flying because I know she has it like in the back like burner.

Avery/GM: Roll a charisma talk check. I don't think we've done a talk check before.

Jenine/Marty: Charisma talk.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: It's a six and a five and I have a plus two.

Avery/GM: Oh man. At first he just tries to ignore you, but after a few, too many, um, errors pointing out, he just, he just starts nodding along to what you're saying. And it's like, yeah, nope.

Avery/GM: That was, yeah, that was not smart. Mm hmm. Yeah. Mm hmm. Okay. Okay. I get it. Yeah. No, you're right. You're right. Until eventually you arrive back at the Ornate Dreams hotel, uh, and he lets you out and just gives you a little wave and says, I'll pick you back up tomorrow, I guess, or bring the shield here or what?

Jenine/Marty: I think we should probably leave it in the testing area.

Avery/GM: Oh, good idea.

Jenine/Marty: Right? That's how this works. Unless, unless you need. Unless he needs to be out on a walk. That sounds bad. Sorry. Um, yeah, I pick up would be great. Thank you

Avery/GM: Okay, i'll see you then. Maybe i'll have some of those errors fixed by the time I see you

Jenine/Marty: There's a lot. I don't think there's enough for like a night's sleep

Avery/GM: and without another word. He flies away And you are back at your hotel Alone. Your note has been responded to. It's clear that either Polaris or Ollie wrote this, because it's very just, like, matter of fact. Just says, Hermes stolen. Rho almost got blown up.

We're okay. Going to Zahn's house. And then house is scratched out and says, space station thing.

Jenine/Marty: Uh huh. Uh huh. Okay. Okay. That's. I know that they probably can't get the message, but I messaged in group chat a picture of the note. And I said. You know you can text me when shit like this happens, right?

Avery/GM: You don't get a response back yet, but that's because currently there's some other shit going on.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I have a feeling there's other shit happening. I remember getting this message a couple when y'all were recording this episode. I remember getting this message and going, what? You do what now?

Avery/GM: Do you turn in for the night? Do you research who the Silver Shield actually is? Do you make plans for Helping them.

Jenine/Marty: I do some, I have files from Terra. Am I able to find anything about the twin in those files?

Avery/GM: Yes. So you do have access to Rho's personal logs. I don't know if you've gone through them before. Maybe you went through a couple of them to like get like medical history, but then like stopped when you realized kind of the personal nature.

Jenine/Marty: I think I only looked at the The medical stuff.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's what I, yeah, that's what I recall as well. So yeah, so you haven't gone through like her personal logs or anything like that or her journals or anything, um, but you are more than welcome to.

Jenine/Marty: Well, I'm not going to go through people's personal stuff. I already went through her brain. We don't got to go, that seems too deep. We don't need to do anything worse. I think she starts researching the silver shield because she knows the path of what happened with Rho and her, her twin. So she's kind of trying to piece together those in between years.

Avery/GM: Sure. So let's roll a intelligence.

Oh gosh. I got to look at the skill list again.

Jenine/Marty: Is it know?.

Avery/GM: Yeah

Jenine/Marty: cute. Cute, cute, cute, cute. Oh, I forgot how smart my little girl is. Oh wait. No, it's just zero. Nevermind. I got an intelligence plus one. That's fine. Seven.

Avery/GM: A seven. Uh, well, it's a good thing. He's famous.

Jenine/Marty: Yep.

Avery/GM: You do find some. Like brief news articles online that are sort of like written as like a biography.

You also find a documentary or two. So you have your choice of, of kind of what medium you want to explore it with.

Jenine/Marty: I think I would do the biography, but specifically from like A credible source, not like a fan boy.

Avery/GM: Yeah. So you actually find the autobiography of the silver shield written from his perspective, written about 10 years earlier and in it, he writes about how he was found wearing a.

A strange jumpsuit with bright silver hair by military personnel 10 years prior to the date of this autobiography. So 20 years from the present, he didn't remember who he was or where he was from. He remembered a rift in space. He remembered his ship flying through it, an explosion behind him. And then darkness.

And that is his earliest memory. When he was discovered on this planet, he was told that they thought he might be from Solaris based on his clothes or Lunaris based on his hair, different planets that are in the Moirai galaxy. Or maybe with the weird language he was speaking, one of the more isolated planets like Telana or K'hiri, but nothing quite matched or added up with his history.

So in this autobiography, he writes that he is still on a journey to find his own past, but he also talks about how. When they brought him to the Republic military base for treatment, his psionic power levels were red, and it was discovered that he was something of a prodigy. With just how much raw power he had.

And he spent the next 10 years, 15 years performing dangerous missions for the Republic to keep the people safe. So if there was a nuclear reactor overload on a planet. Due to his psionic powers, he would put himself at risk to shut it down, or he would travel places and take out infestations of monstrous beings and things like that.

A pretty typical like standard adventurer, but his last heroic act about five years before the present, and this, this you start getting from other, other biographies as you're kind of scrolling through. His last heroic act about five years ago, um, resulted in his powers becoming a little bit unstable and put a lot of people at risk.

And so in order to minimize that risk, he voluntarily committed himself to the Institute and hasn't left until obviously earlier today. And until today, he didn't talk about his past or know anything more than what had happened since he was first found on that deserted planet. You also find out that his favorite ice cream is Rocky road.

There's that doesn't all have to be heavy.

Jenine/Marty: Beautiful. Cool. So the next day. Marty first makes Oswald stop at the nearest Mega Mart for ice cream. Not Mega Mart. Give me a small mom and pop shop for ice cream and I also want to pick up like nice bread from our sweet friends at the little bakery that we just helped build.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you stop by the bakery stand and they have a little sign up that says, you know, open for two more weeks before moving into new location, shop now. And there is a pep in their step and they are so happy and excited. And they greet you and they're like, you're here, you're back. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're here.

Oh, and like the kid like comes running from behind the stand and like goes to like hug you. And because they're a kid and Marty is short, like they're actually almost as tall as you. And it's very cute.

Jenine/Marty: Yep.

Avery/GM: And one of the parents just says, um, please, please come get, get some bread, get whatever you need.

Um, we, we couldn't be doing all this without you.

Jenine/Marty: Well, I might be here a little bit longer, but I will, might come back for bread every morning if that's okay. No, I will pay for it. I promise. Um, just you're going to see a lovely face every so often. Um, Oh, right. Uh, this is my. Friend. Oswald.

Avery/GM: He waves and is like, yep, hi, Oswald, doctor over at the institute, lead researcher at the institute and they just look at him like, oh, okay, cool.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I know. He's, they've got a little bit of a stick up their butt, don't worry about it.

Avery/GM: What kind of bread does Marty grab?

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I think, I think she's going to pick up like, I think she's going to pick up like a cinnamon roll.

Avery/GM: Ooh, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I think, I think that's what she's.

She's going to pick up and then maybe like a chocolate chip muffin or the silver shield. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Very cool. And then you're also stopping for ice cream? Yes. There's a little, uh, there's like a little bodega kind of shop, uh, just, just down the corner. Um, little ways from where you are, uh, you know, as far, even though it's a very sci fi city, it's also very walkable.

So it's a pleasant walk through the city. There's lots of hustle and bustle. You almost wouldn't believe that there had been a suspected attack in the city yesterday, uh, with how many people are out and about.

Jenine/Marty: Did I know about this?

Avery/GM: Um, you heard whispers when you were in the Institute. I don't know if you followed up or maybe grabbed like a issue of like the hollow news that morning to read while you're flying over to the Institute.

Jenine/Marty: Marty's not suspicious. Marty's not suspicious of anything. Her friends would have told her if they did something that dumb. She trusts her friends.

Avery/GM: But yeah, they've got a good selection of ice cream and other goodies and treats and drinks and fancy stuff here. They make their own bubble tea. So that's cool.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my God. I will grab two bubble tea and a rocky road. The bubble tea is for, I, as I walk out, I will hand it off to Os the bubble tea to Oswald.

Avery/GM: Oh, thanks. Haven't had one of these in a while.

Jenine/Marty: How many credits was that?

Avery/GM: Altogether? With the bread, a hundred credits, like very little.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, so easy math.

Beautiful. I forgot how much money we had here. Jeez. I know.

Avery/GM: Right. It's ridiculous. Kiki cute.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. We go back to the institute.

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah. You. And you come into the, the Institute, Oswald leads you to the Silver Shield's personal room. Um, they like to give him kind of a VIP area just so that way he's not swarmed by fans or anything.

He's like, Oh, Marty, I'm so glad you're here. Did you, did you bring my, my sister?

Jenine/Marty: So, and I hand the rocky road. First off, I might get in trouble for giving you ice cream for breakfast. But anyways, oh, also here's a muffin if you wanted actual muffin for breakfast. So I thought when I got to my hotel that I'd find Rho there.

She is actually going on another mission. Before I was able to pass on the message that you were here. But, but, but, but, Again, we still need to check on your state of your psionics. We make sure that you're operating at full capacity because maybe having two psionics that are, well, having a psionic that is unstable in their psionics and another psionic that just got stable might be bad in the medical field. And I turned to Oswald. That's right. Right. I'm not really into the technical things.

Avery/GM: He, he nods. He's like, yeah, it's, we, we do try to, you know, limit how many patients we have here because of that risk. Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. So I think we should be getting you at tip top shape. And when Ro comes back, it will be a nice safe reunion for both of you. Is that okay?

Avery/GM: I don't really have much of a choice, but I've waited 20 years. I guess another couple of days isn't going to hurt anything.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, just a couple of days.

Avery/GM: And he starts chowing down on his muffin. He definitely seems a bit sad. Your, your telepathy kind of picks up on like his mood change and yeah, he's a little bummed, but not depressed or anything.

Just like, eh, what sort of tests do you want to do? What?

Jenine/Marty: I think what Marty will probably end up doing is trying to get the silver, like, the silver shield up to like this, like, practicing to get to like the same state that they had for the test for like the big, um, mind meld that she basically did with Rho before, but wants to make sure that he's strong enough to get to that point.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Jenine/Marty: Um, uns like, making sure that He is strong enough so it's two strong, uh, psionics going in rather than one that is weak and one that is strong and having maybe a discrepancy because this will be the second time that they're running the entire experiment. Not even an experiment, it actually worked.

So I think that's what she's going to be running the tests with for the majority of her time there.

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah. So do you, do you accept Oswald's help with this or is Marty going solo?

Jenine/Marty: No, Marty's gonna accept his help.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. So Oswald kind of joins you in this, in the, in these tests and stuff. They are helping administer different psionic tests to the Silver Shield.

They are practicing with, uh, You know, manipulating the psionic energy around, uh, him and having him test his powers on very basic things to try and, you know, gauge kind of the baseline of where he's at. And these tests take basically the whole day to get done. Oswald is going over the results with you that night.

Silver Shield is kind of turned in a little early. It's like seven o'clock or so. And Oswald says, that is so cool. Remarkable. He's actually improved quite a bit. I don't think he'll quite be ready tomorrow. Maybe, maybe by the morning the next day, but we have actually made quite a bit of progress, Marty.

Thanks. I know I've already said it, but. I really appreciate your help. Thank you.

Jenine/Marty: And it takes a lot to ask for help. So thank you for stepping outside of your comfort zone.

Avery/GM: Uh, so do you want to ride home or teleport home?

Jenine/Marty: I'm always going to take the ride home.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. He drives you back to your hotel, drops you off.

Yeah. A lot of pleasantries exchanged. The next day, anything specific you're doing the next day before you go to the Institute or that night before you go to bed?

Jenine/Marty: I think I will send a message to the group and say, Hey, I hope y'all are doing okay. Tell Rho I've got some exciting news. Heart.

Avery/GM: Zahn replies back with a thumbs up and says, will do.

Jenine/Marty: We use so many emojis. We use so many emojis.

Avery/GM: It's so great. The next day you're doing your tests with the silver shield and his mood is improving immensely. You get a message from Machamp,. Uh, Major Tom. And it just says, Hey, your ship's ready. Can't get a hold of Polaris or Zahn or, or anyone else, but I, my, my message pinged you.

So do you want me to, where do you want me to bring it? To your hotel? To the Institute? Huh?

Jenine/Marty: Hmm. Hmm, when I get that message, I turn to Oswald and I go, Hey, is it okay if I have our ship parked here?

Avery/GM: They raise an eyebrow at you and it's like, I suppose. Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, cool. I just, I can't fly yet. And my team, my friends aren't really here.

So, okay, I just needed like a parked in place and I feel like maybe here in an institute would be safer. I mean, it is a pretty safe city and that's cool. Great. Thank you.

Avery/GM: He just laughs and says, yeah, no problem. And the rest of the tests go pretty, pretty well. And at the end of the day, Oswald's like, yep.

He, he'll be ready tomorrow if you want to do the meld. Or I can do it tonight after you leave. That's fine too.

Jenine/Marty: Do you want to do it tomorrow? And I can make sure everything's okay while being here as well.

Avery/GM: I guess. Yeah, it's probably a good idea to have a second person here. Yeah. If, if you're okay with it, I would, I would like the opportunity to do my own research.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. I mean, you're to help and having someone on the outside that knows what's happening. You can also sleep in if necessary to help. I'm not saying you're not capable of it. Just if you need the help.

Avery/GM: He gives you a thumbs up and does that. Shoulder jab thing that, that you did to him earlier. It's like, yeah, that'd be great.

Well, let's get you back to your hotel and I'll see you tomorrow.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. See you tomorrow.

Avery/GM: You arrive back at the Institute the next day. Your beautiful ship is sitting there in the parking lot, looking shiny. They, they, they, it looks like they maybe even ran it through a ship wash or something, cause it's looking very nice.

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: But there is just a little note on the door that you can pick up if you want before you head in.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I pick up the note.

Avery/GM: Yeah. The note just reads, she's all brand new. I left the robots in the cargo hold like Zahn asked. And, and then it lists the name and like space address of the space station that he's stationed on.

And it says, just have Bruce send all of the goodies to this address.

Jenine/Marty: Send goodies. To Machamp here

Avery/GM: and you come in and the silver shield is prepped for the procedure. Oswald is prepped next to him. Uh, there are some other medical staff here that you've, you know, interacted with here and there, different aliens and humans and stuff like that.

And Oswald gives a thumbs up. Uh, you've got the brainwave patch in your hand.

Jenine/Marty: Before Oswald goes in, I'm just like, okay, so um, it might feel a little weird. Be careful in there, talking it through. Well, I was kind of going on unstable mind. Um, I don't really know where you're going to go in there, but like try your best.

Uh, if you need help, help, dear. Sorry, that's not really, uh, helpful. You've done the research. You got it.

Avery/GM: He gives you a thumbs up and he says, if I need help, I'll try and reach out somehow.

Jenine/Marty: Well, I can, I mean, I can open a link if you want me, I think too many bot heads in there. Just know that I'm right here.

Um, I can like, if you want me to, and she just kind of like puts a hand next to his hand. I can just keep this here, if that helps.

Avery/GM: He, he reaches over, pats your hand a little bit, and is like, That would probably help, thanks.

Jenine/Marty: Cool.

Avery/GM: Just, whenever you're ready.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, here we go.

Avery/GM: Alright, you slap that patch on the forehead, and everything seems to be running smoothly.

The brainwave patterns of the silver shield pick up quite a bit. And he is way more active than he has been the past couple of days on the different scanners. Definitely been improving the past couple of days, but like, compared to the past couple of days, this is off the charts. And the procedure takes about 45 minutes, and then you feel Oswald's hand grab yours, give it two squeezes, and then you feel a mental note come into your head that just says, we're ready. Remove the patch.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Um, and then I remove the patch.

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah, you remove it. Oswald sits up and rubs his eyes. The silver shield sits up a little more quickly and kind of the same thing that happened with row as far as like, just sort of this like burst of, of energy.

Kind of leaves. He, he. Telekinetically pushes one of the monitoring devices just away from him. And it's just like, Oh, okay. That was new. Oswald don't ever go in my head like that again. That was very uncomfortable, but thank you. I think it helped a lot. Oswald nods. And it's just like, yeah, definitely going to let.

Other people do that procedure from now on. That was not exciting. Is that what you experienced? What? Different versions of him running around, or I guess your friend running around doing things and having to like, interact with them and be personable and nice.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, it's actually kind of fun. I like it. If you need someone to do it, it's probably going to be me.

It's a nice teaching tool, right?

Avery/GM: I guess. He's like, just, okay, yeah, I'm, ugh, this is so disorienting. Alright, Silver Shield's fixed. You are waiting for your friends to come back, right?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Well, that's great. They, they, they didn't go far, did they? Do you know what they were doing?

Jenine/Marty: Marty responds with, This is information that is held with the utmost discretion and smiles.

Avery/GM: Well, you were discreet with my stuff, so only fair. Well, hopefully you won't have to wait too much longer. And he starts rambling on about kind of what his plans are for the next few weeks and his research. You get a sudden flash of vision of this precognition, you see your friends getting captured in a force field, they appear to be on some sort of hegemony ship, you recognize a lot of the same markings from when you were on the Eos, and then you hear A voice that you can't quite pinpoint at first, but then realize that it's Rhea, the being that you heard over the recording that Bruce made on his solo mission.

And you hear her say, I'm so glad you've come. You can finally witness all of Hermes potential. Everything I've wanted for the young AI. You'll finally get to see, and the vision ends like that.

Your friends are in danger.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Could I get that location? Is there a way for me to find that location?

Avery/GM: I think with a very clever. Intelligence program Roll.

Jenine/Marty: Oh no!

Avery/GM: you could get that information. You could also reach out to different contacts that you might have, and they might be able to help you.

Jenine/Marty: Now would the robot parents respond,

Avery/GM: depending on how you word it, prop, maybe that is one option I didn't think of,

Jenine/Marty: I'm going to send like a quick email to them. Uh, I'm sitting in like still in the Institute, probably like in the lobby. Sending this email.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Jenine/Marty: We're like a nice little cup of coffee. And, uh, when you just like emails, Hey, it's the human that you don't really like that's hanging who's working with your Polaris with being a squishy.

I have some fun powers that allow me to see into the future. Uh, what I saw was Polaris in danger, which again, you're not going to get that in 24 hours from now, possibly in a day ish, would you be able To find Polaris. Here's all the things, characteristics of the place that I saw. Here's what I heard. The exact statement that I, no, I don't write the statement that I heard.

Oh, okay. Just like the space noise. Sure. This is the type of force field I saw. Oh, and I look like a hegemony ship. Oh, and this is the person. Smiley face. And then I put PS, I know you don't like me, but I do like Polaris. And I want to make sure that. He's safe. Heart.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: The subject line says Polaris is in danger.

Avery/GM: Beautiful. Perfect. Go ahead and roll a Charisma Connect with a plus two bonus to whatever else you roll.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, great. Charisma. Oh, that's so pretty. I'm gonna be a six and a five plus One for charisma. So that's 12 plus one for connect. So that's 13 and I get a plus

Avery/GM: two,

Jenine/Marty: 15. Wow.

Avery/GM: Perfect. You get a response from bear who is like the security chief of the custodians.

And he's like, no one puts my Polaris in danger and says, based on what you've told me, Rhea is a hegemony, uh, one of the. The 12 of the hegemony, a government that we have observed, but has not, have not found to be any threat to us. However, if they are a threat to Polaris, then they will answer for that.

Our research indicates that Rhea is aboard the. Battleship, the Argo. They set out for the planet Ithaca roughly two days ago and should be arriving any minute. We can rendezvous with you there and we will make sure that Polaris is safe. And then we will take him home.

Jenine/Marty: Well, we'll put a pin in that situation later.

That's a later pin. That's a later pin. We'll deal with that later. I can't fly the ship. That's the problem.

Avery/GM: You get a telepathic message from the silver shield. And he says, Hey, did you get a weird vision today? I saw Rho. In trouble. I need to get to her. Do you know where she is?

Jenine/Marty: Can you fly a ship?

Avery/GM: He's like, of course. Yes.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Yes, I do know where where she is. I would've said yes either way. I just wanted to know that I kind of stole the same brain track of what I was get, trying to do my math earlier of something else. So this one of order of operations. But yes. Are you allowed to leave? Are we allowed? Are you,

Avery/GM: I think so. I can talk to, to Oswald. I'm here voluntarily so I can leave whenever I feel healthy enough. One thing I can't quite get out of my head, I know that that was Rho, but she looked younger. Is that just my memory of her? Because my brain hasn't, you know what I mean?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, so, um, she, she's about, she looks about my age, and space travel does weird things.

Avery/GM: Okay, that's, that's gonna be weird, being twins and not looking twins.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. But you'll still be together.

Avery/GM: Good point, good point.

Jenine/Marty: So, wanna go on a mission to save your sister?

Avery/GM: Do I ever.

Jenine/Marty: And my team. I will check if Oswald would want to come with us.

Avery/GM: Okay, interesting. Do you do it telepathically or do you go to him in person?

Jenine/Marty: I go to him in person.

Avery/GM: Find him in his research lab, which is not the medical lab. And he is looking at something on the computer and typing away and deleting and typing and deleting and typing, possibly fixing some of those errors that you pointed out. It's like, Oh, I, I thought you'd be busy with other stuff.

How can I help you?

Jenine/Marty: I am busy with other stuff and I just kind of finished it, but I'm going to offer this. I am about to go and help my friends. A silver shield will be coming with me. Did you want to leave the lab and try out Adventuring? You could say no. I just thought you would want to try something different for a bit and then come back.

That's what I'm doing. It's kind of a fun little internship. Well, study abroad. More like it. But that's about it. You could say no. I was just offering.

Avery/GM: Yeah. I, I would really rather stay here with my patients or, well, with my research. I'm, I'm kind of the head researcher here, but I could get you there quicker if you would like.

Jenine/Marty: And are you thinking teleportation?

Avery/GM: Yeah, we have some currently torching. teleportation psionics that can probably use their powers to get you further than you normally would be able to teleport

Jenine/Marty: is that okay would that include a ship

Avery/GM: no

Jenine/Marty: then i'm going to say no in the teleportation because this is a shift that kind of means a lot to my team and I don't really know how to fly it, but the silver shield does, so he'll be kind of driving it.

Anyways, good talk. Um, I'mma go. And also, you should check out the bakery that I took us on the day before. They're pretty nice. They're pretty cool.

Avery/GM: He holds up a cinnamon roll. He's like, I've been going every morning.

Jenine/Marty: Good job. Nice. I will keep in touch if anything changes.

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure. Just keep, keep him safe.

He's not a friend, but he is important. You know, does that make sense?

Jenine/Marty: This is, this is one of those moments where you shouldn't be treating patients as experiments. And more as beings. I think he is a friend to you now. He did come here voluntarily.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you make a good point. I, I really got some stuff to think about.

Some stuff to work out. Maybe I should go to therapy.

Jenine/Marty: It's, you know, it helps a lot. It's cool. And if you're going to continue with the little, uh And then emotions to like the brain with the like emotions of like the it's melding. It might help the talking with the them helps rather than trying to fight because I think bad things will happen with that.

Didn't really want to test that out. So if you want to go in there more.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I'll give it some thought. And Oswald stands up, walks over to you and offers a hand for a handshake. And it's just like, thanks, Marty, for all your help. This has been a really frightening past few days and you have helped in ways you can't imagine.

Jenine/Marty: I look at the hand, then I look at Oswald and I go, do I have consent to hug you?

Avery/GM: Sure.

Jenine/Marty: And immediately hugs. Let's go. And then walks out.

Avery/GM: Very cool. I love it. Yeah. He kind of just stands there dumbfounded a little bit as you walk out. And yeah, you board the TISCAM with the silver shield who has put on his old superhero outfit, which is basically a silver jumpsuit with like a little silver eye mask just over his eyes.

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Avery/GM: And the jumpsuit has like a big shield in the middle of it with a big S on it. Kind of like Superman, but not because of copyright.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Let's get going. I assume you don't know how to take off on this.

Jenine/Marty: I know how to push this button and communicate with people.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, well, if you want to learn, I'm always happy to teach you.

Jenine/Marty: Uh, I, I, we, I did like an intro class and we found out that I'm not really, like, back in med school, we did like, who could be speed racer situation in the space travel. I did really, that was like the one subject I wasn't really good at.

Avery/GM: Say no more. And he takes the helm and begins piloting you off Olympia and you are on your way to help your friends.

Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a one up podcast network production. Outro music by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio. com and used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. Tracks used include Starbase Omega, Starship Medical, Dark Matter, and Superhero.

We'll be back on May 1st with our next episode. See you out there. Beyond the Furthest Stars.

Episode 41 - Grand Theft: Ship!

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 41 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(Intro plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: And this robot walks up to you, Ollie, and just says, ready for my next orders, sir.

Chris/Ollie: Your service is appreciated. Please follow me and do not fire upon my friends.

Avery/GM: Very well. And it's following you along. So, Ollie just has a swarm of robotic beings.

Bee/Polaris: We knew this would happen eventually.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna put in chat and also, well, I guess Bruce can read the chat as well. Oh, is Rho, is Rho on chat? Does Rho have any sort of communication system?

Avery/GM: Yeah, you've added rho to chat.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Okay, uh, Polaris is gonna put in chat, can we get a map of this place? And while he's doing that, he's gonna hand, uh, his laser pistol to Rho.

Avery/GM: Rho says, oh, uh, thanks.

Bee/Polaris: Do you know how to use it?

Avery/GM: I mean, point and pull the trigger. Right?

Bee/Polaris: Yes, I was more asking have you had any weapons training?

Avery/GM: Only the basics, but I should be fine.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: Where do you all regroup at?

Bee/Polaris: I assume just like back to, we're just back over by everyone else.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, back to the shuttle here to discuss whether we want to go down. You, you did want to clear the floor.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I mean, because if we're taking the ship, we got to kill everyone anyway.

Zach/Zahn: Oh my god. Just a thought. This is. A hegemony ship right? We all used to work on a hegemony ship. Not everyone here is evil.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, no, I meant the, the combatants, not the contract workers. Polaris' reasoning for clearing the floors is also like, I don't want anyone coming, coming for us from above or like taking our ship.

Zach/Zahn: I mean we're taking their ship, so they take our ship. It's not that big a deal.

Bee/Polaris: No, but that's our ship.

Avery/GM: Part of the collection.

Zach/Zahn: Love it. All right.

Bee/Polaris: Well, can we get a map of the place from the computers?

Avery/GM: Neither of the computers that have been accessed. So far have any sort of layout on them,

Zach/Zahn: right? Nothing's connected to nothing.

Chris/Ollie: I think we should go down.

Caden/Bruce: Would the tiger twin really have sent us without a map? I guess we didn't ask for a map, did we?

Bee/Polaris: Well, also, I don't think they would know about a map of this ship specifically.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, they're like omniscient but not always. 'cause remember they didn't remember, they didn't remember seeing like us.

Zach/Zahn: They didn't even know that we were coming.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: they're, they're omniscient when it is plot convenient .

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Love it.

Bee/Polaris: Perfect. Uh, yeah. So I don't think they would know. of, uh, a layout of the ship, but, um, would this robot that Ollie hacked have a layout of the ship?

Avery/GM: Possibility. Yeah. I mean, it would have to, because it has to maneuver around the ship. Just gotta ask the right questions.

Chris/Ollie: !Excuse me, sir. What is your designation?

Avery/GM: I am designation C 327, reporting for duty and ready to serve.

Chris/Ollie: Greetings, C 327. Can you lead us to the AI core?

Avery/GM: Certainly. I will be happy to show you.

Chris/Ollie: And, uh, I'll have my drones flank him as he's

Bee/Polaris: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's, can we get a layout of the whole ship, like a map for each floor first, before we go straight to the AI core? I thought, uh, C3 27 had a layout of the ship that we could copy and paste to our faces.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I said it probably does. You just have to ask the right questions to it, so

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I thought I, uh, Polaris will ask, will ask Ollie, does, uh, your new robot friend to have a layout of the ship

Zach/Zahn: that it can share

Bee/Polaris: that we can also gaze upon.

Avery/GM: It looks at you and says, I would be happy to provide you with a map of the ship. Please provide me with your data communication address.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gives them the email that we're all on

Avery/GM: and it sends you over a map. So yeah, you all see, you obviously don't see the people moving about, but you do see all these rooms. This is labeled as the med bay. This is labeled as contractor sleeping room A. And this is labeled as Entertainment Lounge, and this is labeled as Engine Room.

Bee/Polaris: Engine Room, you say? Polaris looks over to Zahn and says, Should we disable the engines for the moment? So it can't get planet side while we're on this ship.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn shrugs., Not a bad idea.

Bee/Polaris: We can always fix it when we take this ship.

Chris/Ollie: As long as we only need to fix it and break it once.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn nods. Thinking back to the time he fixed the Cassiopeia, then disabled the Cassiopeia, and then had to fix it again.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, exactly. Sweet. Well, Polaris is gonna, uh, we're, Polaris is going towards the engine.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna look at this data terminal first.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is checking corners as he's doing it.

Avery/GM: Sure. Um, this robot continues walking towards the lift over here.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, well, as he, as we're passing here, I'm gonna say, uh, C 327, please guide us to the engine room instead.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. It about faces and starts. Zahn, go ahead and roll intelligence program.

Bruce, what are you doing?

Caden/Bruce: Just following along.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled a nine.

Avery/GM: Yeah, a nine is not gonna do it. You get access denied.

Zach/Zahn: I kick it. Work, damn you.

Avery/GM: The computer says, I'm sorry, I cannot do that.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn kind of blinks, not used to it answering back. Hermes, are you in there?

Avery/GM: This terminal's designation is not Hermes. I am simply responding to your auditory cues.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna call out, ollie this, this. This terminal's giving me lip, why don't you, uh, give it a haxy?

Chris/Ollie: Certainly. And Ollie will double back. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, is your robot friend following you?

Chris/Ollie: No.

Bee/Polaris: Because otherwise he's just

Chris/Ollie: Robot friend is

Avery/GM: Is guiding towards the engine room.

Chris/Ollie: Still going towards the engine room. Ollie did not change his

Bee/Polaris: No! Polaris stops it before he goes down the hall.

Avery/GM: Okay. Polaris, I was gonna say, you are checking the corners and you do see this dude kinda wandering around with a gun in his, in his hands.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, if Polaris wants to sneak up on him.

Avery/GM: Sure. Dexterity sneak. And Ollie roll intelligence program.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, man.

Chris/Ollie: Fourteen.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, that's, that's a lot better.

Avery/GM: The computer says, access approved, and it provides a overview of this floor and the next floor.

Zach/Zahn: Ooh.

Bee/Polaris: Up or down?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, up or down?

Avery/GM: Up.

Chris/Ollie: Ooh, excellent.

Zach/Zahn: Does it actually show people?

Avery/GM: It does not.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, so it basically shows us what we already got.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it just shows you that the next floor up is the prison, is the brig, I should say.

Zach/Zahn: Ooh.

Avery/GM: For insolent workers.

Zach/Zahn: For insolent workers.

Avery/GM: And also the The robot security storage facility.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Chris/Ollie: Oh.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, can I only hack that from the terminal?

Avery/GM: Not from that terminal. That's just showing the map.

Chris/Ollie: Can I cross reference the map with the ping I got from my drone up there?

Figure out where it is?

Avery/GM: Yeah. It is currently in the ventilation system above one of the prison cells.

Zach/Zahn: Ah, very sussy.

Chris/Ollie: One of the prisoners found it and stashed it.

Avery/GM: Specifically this prison cell right here. Polaris, what did you roll for your sneak?

Bee/Polaris: Eight.

Avery/GM: Oh, no, that's not going to do it. This person hears you coming, turns around, snaps his pistol up and says, what do you think you're doing?

Bee/Polaris: I throw, wait, how close am I to him?

Avery/GM: You're like, right, like you're real close to him. Probably like 10 feet.

Bee/Polaris: I throw my laser blade at him.

Zach/Zahn: It's good that you got two and you can forward call it.

Bee/Polaris: Call it back. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll stab.

Bee/Polaris: Is it a, a, a just stab?

Avery/GM: Yeah, just dexterity stab.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh, it's spinning.

Nice! Ten.

Avery/GM: Uh, you nick him in the shoulder. Do you call your blade back, or?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, can I do damage, or no?

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, sorry, yeah, yeah, roll your damage. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Bee/Polaris: Also, because I have close combatant, I've been doing it wrong, and I should have been adding my stab skill to my laser blade attacks for damage.

Avery/GM: Oh goodness.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, this guy's gonna be a little bit more than nicked, I think. Twelve damage.

Avery/GM: Yeah, we'll say you sever his arm from his torso.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, cool. His shooting arm or his non-shooting arm

Avery/GM: his non-shooting arm, but it causes him to drop his rifle to the ground and he's clutching at his arm like and screaming in agony Just like ah, what did you do that for?

I was just asking what you were doing. What? And he falls to the ground trying to like grab his arm and he's kind of gone into shock

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, like, sends a chat, oopsie, do I, Polaris sends a chat, do I kill him?

Chris/Ollie: Unfortunately, the medbay is right there. Because you could just say, hey, if you get to the medbay quick enough, they could put it back on and he'd run off.

Bee/Polaris: It is cauterized. Uh, it is cauterized. I don't know if they can put that back on.

Chris/Ollie: It might be a few inches Shorter.

Zach/Zahn: Nah, that might potentially help.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris holds out his laser blade to the dude and says, contractor or hegemony personnel?

Avery/GM: Personnel?

Bee/Polaris: How loyal are you to the hegemony?

Avery/GM: I'm gonna, I'm gonna Roll a, a saving throw for this because he's not, he, he, he just lost an arm. Yeah. He rolled a three. He passes out.

Bee/Polaris: Well, that's fine. Polaris is gonna, I mean, where's everyone else?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's catching up over here.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will have been following, don't know how far he's gotten along that time.

Avery/GM: I was going to say kind of this commotion out here does cause the contractor who's working in the med bay to like come in through the door and just be like, what is going on out here?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris peeks around the corner and says, gonna need medical attention.

Avery/GM: Oh, oh yes, of course, of course. And this person starts running towards you.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris had his laser blade out and is clearly standing over this man with his laser blades, with his arm severed. You're a contractor, correct?

Avery/GM: Yeah, of course. Not a, not a military personnel just here serving out my contract, getting a little bit of money to send home, um, what happened to this person?

Bee/Polaris: Me. .

Zach/Zahn: Perfect response.

Avery/GM: They give you a look and I'm sure. And by this time, the rest of you have kind of caught up to this, this little scene over here.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I'm going to level with you. We're on this ship to recover something, and we're probably actually going to be taking the ship we're new management, you could say, we don't want to harm contractors because we know you aren't really part of the hegemony. You're just trying to make a living. So do me a favor, take care of this guy, make sure he doesn't die, but also don't raise alarm.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay, sure, yeah, uh, yeah, I'll just get this, this person into the, into the medbay then.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I'll, sorry, I'll help you. Polaris... Polariis, like, helping drag this guy to the medbay.

Chris/Ollie: Sure. Ollie grabs the arm in his mouth and is just trotting along.

Avery/GM: Just happily chugging along.

Chris/Ollie: Like it's a stick.

Zach/Zahn: As y'all are doing that. Zahn's gonna motion for, uh, Bruce and Rhoto follow him around this corner.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, the robot, I'm keeping the robot in point, robot, with my drones.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, uh, he did drop a drone. Mag rifle, if anyone wants that.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will pick it up. Not to use, but just to pick it up.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet.

Avery/GM: You just got to swing it around your tail.

Caden/Bruce: He doesn't like to litter. Okay.

Avery/GM: No littering.

Caden/Bruce: No littering.

Zach/Zahn: Is, uh, are these doors closed?

Avery/GM: Yeah. Both doors are closed. Yes.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's going to knock on this door.

Caden/Bruce: Cause that's worked so well for you in the past.

Zach/Zahn: Hasn't it though?

Bee/Polaris: Real quick. Yeah, you did get cheap shot for it. Real quick, Polaris is gonna ask this dude, how many contractors are on this floor?

Avery/GM: Well, I don't know for sure. I know there's two in the engine room. I think Martin and, and, and Xavier are, are in the entertainment lounge, but I don't know if anyone else has come in since, since I left.

Bee/Polaris: Do you know how many military personnel are on this floor?

Avery/GM: There should have been some by the entrance of the cargo, or of the loading bay.

Bee/Polaris: Ha ha.

Zach/Zahn: Did you actually laugh?

Bee/Polaris: Yes, Polaris actually said that.

Avery/GM: Yeah, this person is just kind of like nervously, like trying to like attend to their patient while, while answering your questions and kind of like every once in a while glances at your laser blade. Like, oh yeah,

Bee/Polaris: he turned them off.

Avery/GM: No, for sure. But you still have them like on your, like your belt or something. Right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I'm not going to hurt you.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. You just, you really hurt this, this dude here?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. He's hegemony personnel. They're trying to destroy the planet below us.

Avery/GM: Oh,

Bee/Polaris: yeah.

Avery/GM: We were told. We're on a peacekeeping mission.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, they lied to you. They super lied to you. The hegemony is not a good organization. They're trying to take control of galaxies.

Avery/GM: This person's like, well, they're there. If you took care of all the ones that were near the landing bay, then I think the rest of them would all be up either in the brig or the command deck.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I, I just want to make sure we're not going to be harming any contractors.

Polaris will send that information in chat.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Just to be sure, I'm going to ask the robot guy to execute Hodor exe and hold, physically hold this door closed.

Avery/GM: This door?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. The one in front of the entertainment lounge.

Avery/GM: Sure. This person comes over to the door here, opens the door. They are wearing just like a basic engineer's suit, no weapons on them that you can see. They're just like, Oh, are you here for another inspection of the engine?

Zach/Zahn: Of the sort. We're, um, independents taking over this hegemony ship. As contractors, we welcome you to either not interfere or leave.

Avery/GM: Oh. Oh, okay. Well, we're just here trying to maintain the

Zach/Zahn: ship

Avery/GM: and he starts like, kind of like backing up a little bit, like clearly nervous.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn gives a thumbs up and he's like, just power up the engine so that the ship doesn't go anywhere and don't fuck with that. That's all we ask.

Avery/GM: Sure. And you see this other guy in the corner, like, kind of lift his head up. He takes some headphones off. He's just like, Yo, what's up, bruh?

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God.

Avery/GM: You're here for another, uh, another inspection, eh? Well, yeah, come on in. Come on in. Uh, I, uh, I just, I just, uh, just ran a, uh, efficiency calculation on it. And you know, it's all going good, man. Like clearly this guy is like in just another world.

Chris/Ollie: I just got back from break time.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, totally. Son gives him the thumbs up and he's like, go back to go ahead and, uh, uh, enjoying what you're, what you're doing.

Avery/GM: Radical dude. Good work. And he puts his headphones back on.

Chris/Ollie: You're clearly passionate about your work

Avery/GM: And this gentleman comes over and powers off the engine.

Bee/Polaris: Before Polaris rejoins the group, he's gonna look at the doctor guy and he's gonna say, uh, by the way, what's your name?

Avery/GM: Shit.

Bee/Polaris: Sorry. I'm sorry. If we're taking over the ship and we're not killing the personnel, Polaris wants to know their names.

Avery/GM: Stanley. Stanley Hill.

Bee/Polaris: Excellent. Nice to meet you. My name is Polaris. Please don't betray us.

Avery/GM: I'm, I'm, I'm just gonna treat the patients like, like I'm supposed to.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Avery/GM: Nothing in my contract says anything about, betrayal.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Ooh. Okay. I'm sorry. This is very, this is a very stressful situation for everyone involved. Just yeah. Don't alert anyone, please. And then Polaris is going to leave.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: On that same note, as soon as the engine power is down, Sans could be like, thank you for your cooperation there, dude. Just know if I hear this ship power back on, I will come down and kill you.

Avery/GM: This person just gives a big gulp.

Bee/Polaris: Night and day reactions.

Avery/GM: Yeah,

Zach/Zahn: I have been through entirely too much shit

Chris/Ollie: Just be like hey punk. I killed my own mother. Think what I do to you Just extreme intimidation.

Zach/Zahn: His eyes are just like weeping on like in his soul

Avery/GM: Okay, so you have powered down the ship the ship's engines at least.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, that's probably gonna stir the hornets nest up a bit Probably.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, let's uh, let's give a PSA to the contractors in the break room

Zach/Zahn: That's my thought

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks up at C327 and says can you let me in?

Avery/GM: Certainly, comrade. And steps away. And the door opens.

Bee/Polaris: And Polaris walks in. Hello, everyone.

Avery/GM: You see two people in like, just crewman jumpsuits. You see one person wearing a hegemony military uniform.

And you see another person wearing a flight suit.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris to the person in front of him says, uh, military personnel or contractor?

Avery/GM: Uh, what's it to ya?

Zach/Zahn: life or death

Chris/Ollie: yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris says, answer quickly.

Avery/GM: Uh, me and, me and my, my buddy over here are military. What do you think

Bee/Polaris: Polaris stabs him. Polaris stabs him immediately.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts his blade under his face and stabs him.

Avery/GM: Okay. Stab, throw, save, check, thing.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, uh, 10 on the dice, but with STAB and DEX, it's going to be 13.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You, you hit him. Go ahead and roll damage. And then let me know if an 18 hits.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, an 18 definitely does hit, um, nine damage.

Avery/GM: You end up stabbing him, but he kind of flinches away. So he doesn't, he doesn't get as injured as the guy whose arm you cut off, but he's not doing great. And this gentleman over here has fired his laser rifle at you, and has done 9 damage Go ahead and roll initiative everyone! Or I guess, we could keep the initiative from earlier, that's fine Yeah, they both rolled 7s So, Polaris, you, get to go first

Bee/Polaris: Excellent! Uhmm Ollie, I, is Ollie in the room with me?

Chris/Ollie: Uh, no. Oh no, yes, yes, this room.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, uh, okay, so now I'm going to take care of this guy that I stabbed. Uh, so I'm going to stab him again.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll attack.

Bee/Polaris: Nat 20.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Plus, dex 15 damage.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you finish him off. Before he can do much else.

Bee/Polaris: And Polaris turns to the other guy and says, Drop your weapon.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll a Charisma lead check.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no, I'm bad at that.

Chris/Ollie: Pretty extreme intimidation bonus there, just killing his friend.

Bee/Polaris: seven.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's not gonna do it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: He, he, he responds. He says, Never. The Eternal One protects me.

Bee/Polaris: Not for long.

Zach/Zahn: He can protect you with death then.

Avery/GM: He is next, he's gonna shoot at you again, Polaris.

22.

Zach/Zahn: Jesus.

Avery/GM: I'm rolling really good.

Bee/Polaris: To hit or damage?

Avery/GM: To hit.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, yes, that definitely hits.

Avery/GM: And 16 damage.

Bee/Polaris: Guys, I'm not doing good. Guys, I'm on 12 hit points.

Chris/Ollie: I'm like literally immortal got like multiple bodies. But you're the one who's always turned into Swiss cheese.

Zach/Zahn: I am literally immortal

Avery/GM: you keep, you keep putting yourself front and center for

Bee/Polaris: Yes, that is, yeah, I know. That's the whole point. I did the real thing.

Avery/GM: I was like I'm just saying, I promise I'm not picking on you.

Bee/Polaris: No, I know, I know. This is totally fair. I did just threaten this guy, and murder his friend

Avery/GM: these other two cats in here start like, kinda panicking, and they're gonna try and make for the door.

Bee/Polaris: We are all blocking the door.

Zach/Zahn: We are all blocking the door. They should probably just hide behind their sofas. Yeah, the robots

Avery/GM: Fair enough. They'll hide behind their chairs, that's fine.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we're kinda clogging the hallway.

Avery/GM: Who is next? Uh, Bruce, you are next.

Caden/Bruce: They're hiding behind their chairs.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Well, these, these people are just contractors. So they're, we're, we're not targeting them. Just this guy.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. I feel like Bruce is going to come into the room and like, say out loud, just be like, look, we're not going to hurt anyone. Who's not supporting the hegemony. We get that you have to do a job and we're just doing our job and then proceeds to shoot the, uh, the bad one.

Bee/Polaris: Stun on 'em.

Caden/Bruce: That's a 14.

Avery/GM: it hits!

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, and six damage.

Avery/GM: He's not looking great, but he's still standing. He takes a few shots and tries to take cover behind his little chair as well.

Bee/Polaris: So that's going to be a minus two to anyone that tries to shoot at him.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you are next. I'm not going to call that full cover. I'm going to call that like half cover.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, so minus one.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: So Zahn's going to step in and he's going to quick swap to his, uh, his awesome rifle.

Avery/GM: Mm hmm.

Zach/Zahn: He's gonna shoot a spike through this guy's face.

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Zach/Zahn: How's a 21?

Avery/GM: Uh, that hits.

Zach/Zahn: Man. It's fun getting to roll this d12 for nine damage.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you pin him to the wall.

Bee/Polaris: Dead or alive?

Avery/GM: He's gone.

He's dead.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Okay.

Avery/GM: And these two contractors here kind of still kind of freaking out. They're just like, uh, so this is a, what do you want us to do? Do we, are we working for you now? Do we leave? What do you want?

Zach/Zahn: Just, just don't interfere.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, honestly, up to you. If you want to leave, you can just don't take the shuttle that's in the landing bay. Um, I mean, they are currently having a gunfight out there. So maybe wait, but we're not here to hurt contractors. The hegemony is evil. They're trying to destroy the planet below. Man. I wish I had a pamphlet that I could just hand out explaining everything. Polaris just says, sorry, this is a very stressful situation. We don't mean you any harm. We're just trying to get back a friend and liberate this hegemony ship. You can keep your jobs if you'd like, just not under the hegemony.

Avery/GM: Okay, well maybe we'll, we'll go, uh, pack our stuff or something. Um, thank you, I guess.

Bee/Polaris: Just please don't notify hegemony personnel.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is going to use his kinesis module to pull a spike back out of the, the guy he just killed.

Avery/GM: Jesus. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: I only have 12 of those.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris look at Zahn like, when did you? Nevermind. I'm going to go visit Stanley. Polaris is going to the med bay.

Zach/Zahn: As the

Avery/GM: back to the,

Zach/Zahn: as the spike like enters my hand, like I, you know, grab it out of the air and Polaris is like stammering . So I'm just like, what? And it is an old project and I only have 12 of these as you're like already down the hallway,

Bee/Polaris: Polaris thumbs up as he goes

Zach/Zahn: and I load it back into my rifle

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris goes to the bed day and knocks off the side of the door and says, Stanley . .

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: I'm full of holes, please help.

Avery/GM: Stanley rolls his eyes. He's just like, okay, yeah, go ahead and get on the bed. You can see that he's like, currently like running like a, a, a medical tool over the, the severed arm and is like basically reattaching it, little tiny mechanical arms come out and like start taking over, holding that machine. Or, or, or for Stanley and Stanley comes over and will heal you up.

Bee/Polaris: Yay. Sorry Stanley. Oh, should I roll my Thingy?

Avery/GM: oh, yes, please.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will also walk into the room following Polaris and just be like, I'm also slightly injured, less so, but slightly.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will pay Stanley.

Avery/GM: Uh, what'd you roll for your, uh, super ability?

Bee/Polaris: I rolled a two, so half the time.

Avery/GM: Yay.

Bee/Polaris: Unless Stanley gives me something now.

Avery/GM: Much like how Marty heals, uh, this person has kind of put their hand over your wounds and some glowy light comes out of their hand. And your wounds start to heal up.

You heal up fast. 14 hp.

Bee/Polaris: I appreciate you Stanley,

Avery/GM: and you'll regain one HP every five minutes.

Bee/Polaris: Sick, how much for your services?

Avery/GM: Well, technically I am paid by the hegemony, so no payment necessary right now.

Bee/Polaris: Well, okay, but I still, I'll leave a tip. Polaris foot's like 50 credits on the table. .

Avery/GM: Sure. . Bruce, you also get healed for, uh, 12 hp.

Caden/Bruce: Hey, I'll take that.

Zach/Zahn: I think I will note that Zahn hasn't been hit. Once, since the one time I knocked on the door.

Chris/Ollie: You're making up for it.

Bee/Polaris: That's hilarious.

Avery/GM: Oh, it'll, it'll get worse. So where, where to next? Up the stairs.

Bee/Polaris: Assuming, yeah, upstairs, assuming.

Avery/GM: So there are three levels that you can pick, deck two, deck three, and then the command deck. But the command deck, like on the EOS has a little key that you need to turn in order to access it.

Zach/Zahn: Got it.

Bee/Polaris: You need to get all. Drone anyway, right?

Zach/Zahn: What deck are we on?

Avery/GM: You are on deck one. Sorry. There's also deck one,

Zach/Zahn: a basement?

Avery/GM: Yeah, basement landing, landing bay, whatever

Zach/Zahn: basement, which is vehicle storage deck one, which is landing bay two three and command deck.

Avery/GM: Correct.

Zach/Zahn: Well, we want to clear the whole ship, so we may as well just go floor by floor, give that intimidation factor to the command crew, you know?

Bee/Polaris: There's only one deck below us, right? That's the vehicle storage.

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Avery/GM: Yes. And that's only accessible through the lift. The, the shuttle lift.

Bee/Polaris: Um, should we at least check and see if there's any personnel there? And also maybe move our ship just in case any of the contractors want to leave?

Avery/GM: I will say the map that Ollie has just shows that it's basically like, the lift goes down, the disc that the shuttle is on moves down like a shaft, and then puts it into like, a little cubby. So there's no room for like, personnel to walk around down there.

Bee/Polaris: Oh sick, okay then yeah, nevermind, we're good. So, up we go.

Zach/Zahn: Up to two.

Avery/GM: Okay. You come out of the lift and there's this little room. And it's just like, Welcome to the Brig! Are you here to surrender yourselves to the Hegemony's Will? or would you like a tour?

Bee/Polaris: Ollie, get him.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, where's, where's the, where's the robot that came with us?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, I thought that's who that was.

Avery/GM: No, no, no. That's, that's the greeting robot for the.

Bee/Polaris: Get him. So he doesn't alert anyone.

Chris/Ollie: I don't know. They don't seem to be on the, uh, on a network, but, uh, I do need another drone because I got an empty, uh, empty slot. So before he, he can react. I'm just going to walk up and try to uplink to him.

Avery/GM: Uh, sure. Go ahead and roll. I mean, it's probably not going to matter, but intelligence program.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, wow. 12.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You get the same menu that you got on the other one. Erase targeting parameters, upload new targeting parameters, shut down, self destruct, uh,

Chris/Ollie: copy paste from the other guy.

Avery/GM: Okay. This thing powers down, powers back up and says, greetings comrade. Who would you like me to target today?

Chris/Ollie: Only hegemony personnel.

Bee/Polaris: Question. for you. Question for you, Chris.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, what's up?

Bee/Polaris: How many Robits can you take over?

Chris/Ollie: So for out of combat, it's pretty much limitless. It's like an insane amount of, uh, robots. In combat, I can control four in a turn.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Then can we just get this guy to call over his robot friend and so we could just like, you could procedurally just hack into them and then we could just put them on standby?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, if we can lure them one by one, uh, they're not like connected in any way to each other.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah, so, um, use this guy to call over his buddy, cause theoretically he has no reason to not listen to this guy.

Chris/Ollie: Alright, yeah, so I'm gonna ask this robot to attract his homie down the hallway. I just imagine him, like, leaning out like, hey, come, hey, come over here, I gotta show you something.

Avery/GM: Okay. Well, it rolled a six for its Charisma Connect check, uh, with its friend. So its friend says, suspicion. That is not typically how you communicate. Requesting additional personnel. And there is now a couple robots marching down the hallway, and a couple of these robots that you can't see yet are coming off of their charging ports.

Zach/Zahn: That is terrifying.

Bee/Polaris: Well, the hallway can only fit so many robots. So we can just bottleneck him and one by one ding him over. Polaris will I guess wait until the barrel, he sees the barrel of a gun and just cut off a robot arm. I don't know if anyone else is gonna be by me.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, Ollie and I guess both the robots and the drones will be just stacked up.

Bee/Polaris: Now this may be a silly question, how thick are the walls?

Avery/GM: Realistically, probably like five feet thick.

Bee/Polaris: Probably can't laser blade my way through.

Avery/GM: Uh, you could try.

Zach/Zahn: It'll take a minute.

Avery/GM: It'll just take you a bit.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I'm pretty much thinking of having the two robots just form a wall, a robo human wall.

Bee/Polaris: Then Polaris will look down at Ollie and say, can you handle this?

I'm gonna try and cut a wall.

Chris/Ollie: I will certainly try.

Bee/Polaris: If you need help, I'll help. I'm just going to be right next to you cutting into this wall. Uh, Polaris is going to crouch down behind Ollie so he doesn't get shot and start cutting into this wall.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll a strength stab check. Because you're cutting through like a lot of thick metal and stuff.

Bee/Polaris: Sure, that's going to be a 13.

Avery/GM: A 13? Okay, yeah, uh, you do a really good job cutting through. Unfortunately, you do nick some power supply cables running through this wall, and the lights on this floor go out.

Bee/Polaris: Welp.

Avery/GM: And then there is a red alert sounding over the intercom. Breach detected in the brig! Repeat breach detected in the Brig all units converge on the Brig!

Bee/Polaris: Polaris turns to Rho and Bruce and says, can you cover our, the behind us just in case anyone comes down the lift?

Zach/Zahn: You got it. He hears odd. Say, uh, damnit, Polaris I'm gonna have to fix that later.

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1UP Podcast network production. Find more of our work at 1uppodcasts. com. Intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio. com and used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons.

Tracks used today include Star Freighter and Orbital Prison Break. We'll be back on April 22nd with the final part of the Marty Focused Interlude episode. See you out there beyond the furthest stars

Interlude - Meanwhile, Back on Olympia

Avery/GM: Hello listeners, You may have been wondering "Where is Marty in these past few episodes?" Well, Jenine, who plays Marty, was busy with their amazing acting career when we recorded these episodes and so Marty was left on Olympia. This Interlude explores what Marty was doing on Olympia while the party was at New Terra and explains some more information about the characters we met or heard about at the Institute. Enjoy!

Avery/GM: We will go back in time to just before the dinner party. Marty, you are about to enter the dining room of the Winstons. When you get a beep on your communication watch, you pull up the message and it's from Oswald. What's your normal reaction? Like, like when you first see this message, what is Marty thinking?

Jenine/Marty: Marty might just send it to voicemail. In this instant because we did just like leave this guy, right? We just left Oswald

Avery/GM: like a few hours ago

Jenine/Marty: to fend for themselves. Literally just, yeah, I'm putting, I'm immediately to voicemail or if it's like one that I have to read it is like Left on read. Yeah. But like, not reading it.

Avery/GM: Awesome. Yeah, so you swipe it away and you enter the dining room of the Winstons and your friends start taking their seats and there's some chatter going on and you get another message. And then a third. And then a fourth. .

Jenine/Marty: I'll open the message.

Avery/GM: The first message, which you swiped away says, Marty, I have a code gold. I need your help and I need you to be discreet, please. And then a second message that says, I'm sorry for leaving out the information about how to get out of the trance on the procedure. but Someone's life is on the line and I really need your help. And Marty, you know that a code gold is only used in the most serious of psionic disasters.

Typically either someone's power is running rampant or there's been a large explosion of just psychic energy somewhere on the planet. So you know that this is actually a pretty serious issue. How do you respond?

Jenine/Marty: I was told to be discreet and I messaged. Back as discretely as possible. I go, enough said some location, and then I just try and walk from the table without raising suspicion.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Polaris looks over at you and on his visor there's a little emote with a little eyebrow raise. And then you get a message in your party chat that just says, are you okay?

Jenine/Marty: I go into direct message and say, restroom break, but didn't want to announce it to the table.

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah. Polaris just sends a thumbs up and it's like, okay.

You come out to the front of the club. You know, the, the greeter at the door just waves at you and says, hope you come back soon. And as you step out, a open top air speeder pulls up to the corner. Oswald sitting there. And like, despite that this is urgent. They are trying to look kind of cool, you know, in this speeder.

Like it's clear that this is probably something owned by the Institute. And he's like, I got your location from one of the teleportation experts. So are you ready?

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: And, uh, you hop in, do you buckle your seatbelt?

Jenine/Marty: I do. I don't trust, I don't trust.

Avery/GM: And as you are flying through the city, uh, he starts briefing you on the situation. Look, I wouldn't have asked you to leave your friends if this wasn't important. You know who the silver shield is, right?

Jenine/Marty: Do I?

Avery/GM: Yeah, so the, the silver shield was the person that, that tour group that Bruce was part of was actually there at the Institute to see. It was like a superhero kind of deal. Well, the silver shield has been having some medical issues related to his powers in recent years. You know, random spikes of energy, randomly teleporting places, the kind of stuff that isn't quite torching, but you know, is worrisome, you know, and After the last tour group that finished up right after you all left, instead of returning to his room, he wandered into the operating room that you were in. I, I thought maybe he just needed some extra medications or wanted to do another blood test or something, but he was standing next to the bed that your friend was in and he stood there for hours, chanting in some strange language. And I, I tried to talk to him and he didn't respond. The nurses tried to help him, other medical staff. No one could get through to him. Even some of our psionic patients couldn't break through whatever he was going through and he just left, he started wandering towards the desert of exile and I know that we don't always get along, Marty, but we can't, I need your help. You are and you can see this part he's struggling to say he's like kind of like gripping the steering wheel a little tighter He's like you're a better psionic than I am and a better doctor than I am and I think he really needs some serious help So we're gonna try and find him somewhere in the desert

Jenine/Marty: Marty smiles and goes It takes a lot to say that. And thank you for looking for help. And then she gives like, she puts a hand up for a fist bump.

Avery/GM: Uh, he, he returns it back with a smile. All right. Well, it's, it's about an hour drive to the, the desert. So get comfortable. Do you like music?

Jenine/Marty: I do. I also do need a, uh, a little costume change. I'm still like in this, uh, and she, uh, like motions to the, the, the red dress that's on her.

Avery/GM: He's like, Oh yeah. Yeah. You're probably right. Yeah. We, we definitely do need to, yeah, where's your hotel?

Jenine/Marty: Um, and then I point to the direction of the hotel. Did we have someone following us at the hotel?

Avery/GM: Sure.

Jenine/Marty: That's an excellent question. No, didn't we?

Avery/GM: Hermes and Rho are, no, they would have left by now. So, yeah, so there's no one currently at your hotel, except for Schrodinger, the, uh, really weird bellhop.

Jenine/Marty: Uh huh. Okay, cute, cute, cute, cute. I'm gonna go grab all my shit from the

hotel.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Jenine/Marty: As sneakily as possible.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, you head in, the bellhop gives a little tip of his hat, uh, unless you want to roll a sneak check.

Jenine/Marty: I can certainly do that. I forgot how to roll here. Is it 2d6? It's not a 2d6.

Avery/GM: 2d6 plus relevant attribute and your skill. So this would be 2d6 plus dex and sneak.

Jenine/Marty: Cute, that's a negative one. Um, I forgot that this is not a, it's a five.

Avery/GM: Ooh, yeah, you, you, uh, you poke your head into the lobby. You don't see Schrodinger at the, at the desk. So you start walking through the lobby and as the elevator opens, there he is with his big shitting grin on his face. And he tips his head. Hat to and he's like, ah, hello Marty. I am so glad you were here. How can I be of service today?

Jenine/Marty: If you could possibly grab my stuff from my room, that would be kind of helpful. I'm feeling it's, you know, walking up is kind of hard right now in these like, and like motions to the heels and I have to do like a quick exit is there anyway you could possibly grab my stuff from my room I also know that I have a couple of people up there that want to sleep, don't want to disturb them with it. And like, I do like a little tap dance with the heels that I'm in. You know what I mean?

Avery/GM: He's like, certainly I only exist to serve. And he's just grinning at you still. And he's like, please get on the elevator.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Yeah, sure. Thank you.

Avery/GM: And you go up and he starts collecting your things and, or no, you go up to your room and you open it and he says, so which things are yours?

Jenine/Marty: And then I point at the dresser that I probably claimed as mine.

Avery/GM: He starts helping you out, moving your stuff. I don't think Marty packed too much, but yeah, you have a good amount of stuff and you head out to your waiting. Speeder, do you leave any kind of note for anybody or let anyone know what's going on?

Jenine/Marty: I do leave a note. It says everything is perfectly fine. I just went on to a side mission and I put a little heart.

Avery/GM: Totally. Awesome. Yeah. You grab your stuff, get a quick change of clothes going on, you know, save the dress for another occasion, I'm sure and yeah, you are ready to go do some medical doctoring.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, wow.

Avery/GM: So as you are heading out towards the desert, is there anything else you want to talk with Oswald about while you're in the speeder?

Jenine/Marty: I do know that I have precognition prepared for the day.

Avery/GM: Oh, good. Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: So I'm wondering if we, if anything popped up on Marty's radar from that?

Avery/GM: Yeah, let's take a look at that. Power, core technique, Oracle, Oracle can only be used on a given question or topic once until the situation substantially changes.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I remember why I got this.

Avery/GM: Yeah. This was a gift from Rho, or well, inadvertent transference of power between you and Rho. And actually she transferred it to you at level one.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I had this at level one?

Avery/GM: Yes. So you can see one day into the future.

Jenine/Marty: Oh.

Avery/GM: So, you may ask one question or top, or if there's a specific topic you would like to peer into the future of, then you may go for it.

Jenine/Marty: I think, I think Marty will see if, if she's able to like find the silver shield or like if we can, if there's like, if we can fast track finding the location.

Avery/GM: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. You get a glimpse of a vision of the silver shield sitting in an oasis in the desert under the shade of a tree. The sun is rising in the south. And there are A group of jagged looking cliffs off to the west and in the distance of the north, you can see the remnant or not the remnants, but like the, the distant reflections of like a city.

So you can kind of orient yourself in that way and as you relay this vision to Oswald. He says, Oh, I know where that Oasis is. Yeah. Some of the staff fly out there sometimes for some relaxation. Yeah. I can, I can get us there pretty quickly.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, good. Uh, let's head there then.

Avery/GM: Sure. So you are heading out and you know, it, it takes a little bit of time to get to the desert and it takes another couple of hours just to get To the oasis, but you eventually do arrive at the oasis and you do find the silver shield resting beneath this tree.

He is tall and kind of bulky. He has short, almost buzz cut, like silver hair and. Really deep blue eyes, but they're hard to see in the, uh, in the night, obviously he's wearing a set of medical scrubs and His feet are bare.. He looks like he just walked straight out of a facility and didn't look back and he is muttering to himself. Oswald turns off the speeder.

Yeah, he's just been doing that this whole time Just muttering to himself in that strange language and Marty you hear what he is saying perfectly clear He is saying she was right here and I missed her. Was that really her though? No, it had to have been I wouldn't I wouldn't forget her like that. She was right here. She was right here.

Jenine/Marty: I cautiously Walk up to him and go hello. Hi. My name is Marty. Really nice to meet you And I can I speak in that language?

Avery/GM: Yes, it is. No more than an afterthought that you could just switch to it.

Jenine/Marty: I'm switching into that and just Being like going up, like, as if it's like a dog that's like kind of scared, uh, don't want to scare anything. Really nice to meet you. I can stand right here if you want me to and keeps the distance. Are you okay? Do you need any medical attention?

Avery/GM: He sort of looks up at you and has a strange look on his face and you hear Oswald behind you say, when did you learn a new language?

Jenine/Marty: I go shh, quiet.

Avery/GM: The silver shield holds up the thing that he's holding in his hand and kind of like faces it over to you. He's like, you, you know her, don't you? And he shows you this picture and it's of two teenagers standing next to each other. Their bright silver hair waving in the wind, a silly smile on the girl while the boy is laughing, you know, holding a camera, trying to take a selfie. Looking at this picture, I mean, they are clearly twins, and you can't help but wonder if maybe you've seen these two kids before, I wonder.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my god, I'm screaming. I'm screaming right now. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Marty's now just, okay. Yeah, yes, I, I, I, I, I do, she's one of my friends. How do you, how, wait. Hi, I'm Marty. Uh, sorry. Marty just looks completely shocked and just looks at me the silvery shield. Yeah, I know where she is too. I can, I can help you if you're okay with that. I don't want to barge in here and anything you're doing. You want to make sure you're okay.

Avery/GM: Uh, no, please. Um, please sit down. I, I have so many questions and he looks over at Oswald and is like, what's, what's he doing here?

Jenine/Marty: Well, he's the idiot that kind of came up with the whole way of helping people that Kind of went a little overboard with their psionics and I was the one that fixed the theory So they brought me over here to help you out

Avery/GM: He waves Oswald over and says well might as well come over here and listen to the conversation No point in standing over there and he has switched back to speaking in this galaxy's version of common.

He says Hi, Marty. I'm Hmm I'm Psi. How do you know Rho? She, she shouldn't be here. She's home. She should be married or doing some other crazy thing that she was always talking about.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, well, she actually, she actually went on an adventure. To space. Ended up in our galaxy. Kinda cool. Rho's kinda cool. We found her. My friends and I. Found her in some wreckage. And then we brought her here to get fixed. And now we are kind of at a party? Well, not at a party anymore. My group is not at a party anymore. I think they're not at a party anymore. I kinda told them I'll come back. Anyways, that's, that's besides the point. Um, She's kind of been with us this whole time.

She did, we did get beat up by her a couple of times, but that was just because, and then like, like does hand movements towards the brain.

Avery/GM: He, he chuckles and is like, she forgot to take her medicine, didn't she?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, probably, we don't, yeah, that might, that, that might be the thing.

Avery/GM: Is she still, are they still doing that experiment on her of trying to unlock the secrets of psionics or whatever? Is that why they sent her here?

Jenine/Marty: I think so. But she's also got it under control now. She also is able to give powers to people. That's how I kind of am able to do some things that I wasn't able to do before. So that's kind of cool.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. Rho's... Rho's power has always been a little bit wild. She, it's so weird the way they, the experiments they did on her when they separated us, you know, I only got glimpses of it through the, The reports that I read and the few times that I got to see her, but yeah, it was really, really awful, but also really amazing what they were able to do. But that's neither here or there is, is she, is she here? Can I, can I go see her?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, she's actually kind of in the city. That's like that way and points to the city. Um, but before we do go back, I heard that there again are some little discrepancies in the psionics and I want to make sure that you're okay before, like, You know, you want to be all chipper and up, up in the sky niceness and healthy. I promise I'm a medical professional. I just. Yes.

Avery/GM: He, he, he smiles at you and it's like, don't worry, I am used to people being tongue tied when they talk to me. It's totally fine. And you can see his, his, his mood is improving. Just hearing that, that his sister is here. He says, yeah, I, I, I probably should go back and get, get checked out. I just, I just, oh, why did I even wander out here? He starts kind of laughing. He's like. Oh, wow. And you, and this is kind of like when you notice it, like the, the clouds kind of part and the, the moonlight kind of shines a little bit brighter. And this is where you kind of notice that the silver shield is a lot older than Rho.

He's like, like Rho is like early twenties. This guy is clearly almost 40, but you can still see that there are features that look very similar. So, you know, a couple of decades of separation. I wonder. Uh, is she, does she have like a family or like a career back home? Has she said anything about that?

Jenine/Marty: Why don't you ask her yourself.

Avery/GM: Sure, sure. Oswald speaks up and says, yeah, we, we really should get you back to the Institute though, Mr. Silver Shield, uh, you, we definitely need to do a diagnostic. Make sure you're not hurt or anything. And he says, yeah, that's probably a good idea. And he looks at you, Marty, and says, would you mind coming back to the institute with us?

I'd love to ask you more questions before I, I meet her. I haven't seen her in 20 years. It's a little bit scary, you know?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I get it. We've been traveling with each other for the past couple of weeks. So I got some refresher. So that helps a little bit.

Avery/GM: Great. Yeah. Let's go. You hop into the speeder and head back to the Institute. The Silver Shield has folded this picture and tucked it back into his pocket, the little breast pocket on the, on the scrubs. And Oswald sends you a telepathic message and says, what, what is he talking about? Not seeing his sister in 20 years? That person was too young to be his sister, especially if, twin sister

Jenine/Marty: and then, what do you respond with? It's some space kind of cool shit that only travelers get to do. Sorry, you can't relate. And smirks, and then sits.

Avery/GM: He sends you a sour face from the driver's seat. You arrive back at the institute. A couple hours later, uh, there is, there's some activity going on at the institute. Some people are kind of like talking in hushed whispers and stuff like that. Uh, you hear the word bombing, attack, you know, terrorism, stuff like that, and you are then led by Oswald back to the main lab where you helped Rho and he begins doing some diagnostics. On Psi and after a few of the tests and stuff, you get a message on your wristwatch that is from Polaris and it says, we have to leave for Zahn's home to start this mission for the oracles. Are you okay?

Jenine/Marty: And I message back, yes, everything is fine. And I got swept up for a medical emergency. I'm okay. Like I send that and then realize that it sounded like I was in the had a medical emergency and go, I'm okay. It was just a patient. I'm going to give 'em a heart.

Avery/GM: Polaris sends a thumbs up emoji and says, all right, we'll pick you up when we're done with the oracles. You realize that probably means that Rho is leaving with them.

Jenine/Marty: Oh shit. Okay.

Avery/GM: After you're done messaging Polaris, Oswald comes over to you and says, uh, he's actually passed out for the night. So I think we're going to wait for the little reunion that y'all were talking about till tomorrow. Do you want me to take you back to your hotel? Do you want to just sleep here? I can like make one of the patient beds a normal bed.

Jenine/Marty: Well, it looks like my party kind of left to go to another planet. It's not really a planet, is it? Um Well, you know, so my hotel reservation might not be there and the reunion might have to be pushed back. So yeah, I guess I could stay here if that's okay. I mean, I don't know if my hotel stays extended or stuff. Like that.

Avery/GM: The hotel was being paid for by Machamp while he's fixing your, yeah, while he's fixing your ship.

Jenine/Marty: Um, I mean, if the hotel's open, Marty's gonna stay there.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, then he'll nod and say, okay, I'll, I'll give you a lift back to your hotel. Or I could get one of our teleporters to just zap you over there real quick.

Jenine/Marty: You know, I'm really not. It's, you know, lots of psionic stuff happens. I'm trying to like, lessen it. You know?

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah. I can see that. Okay. That's fine. Yeah. Let's, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll drive you back if that's okay.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, that's cool. Thank you. Thank you. Cool. And I do like a little like, Hit on the shoulder.

Avery/GM: He's like, are we becoming friends? I might have to act more smug again.

Jenine/Marty: Sure. If you want to smug, but it seems that you don't have a lot of friends here. So you have a choice between someone from your home world to be friends with or just no one.

Avery/GM: Good point. All right, let's go. And, uh, he starts flying y'all back to the city.

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to this interlude episode. Background music provided by tabletopaudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from creative commons. Tracks used today include Antiquarian Study, Cyberpunk City, The Desert Awaits, and Starship Medical. our next episode will come out on April 15th. See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

Episode 40 - Arrival at Ithaca

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 40 of Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(Intro music plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: So yeah, so y'all have been traveling through the void of space and on your way to Ithaca and your ship drops into the system. You arrive on the outer part of the system like normal. On your radar, as soon as you drop in, you pick up two ships engaging in combat with each other.

Zach/Zahn: So just a quick, I didn't want to like cut you off, but quick, like before we drop out.

Avery/GM: Oh sure.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is going to like, cause it's what been. We, we, the hyperspace travels like a day or two, right. To get to Ithaca

Chris/Ollie: yeah, three days.

Avery/GM: Three days.

Zach/Zahn: Got it. At the midway point of that Zahn is gonna like, I don't know, like, like dinner or something. He's going to be like out of the blue. Cause it's been like on his mind, but he doesn't know how to bring it up. So he just like, cause he's also still processing all the shit that we just went through. He's just going to blurt out, you know, I'm more, I'm worried about Marty guys. We haven't like heard from or seen her since we left Olympia. Well, I'm glad that she didn't get to experience that should show, uh, we should let her know where we're going.

Bee/Polaris: That's a pretty good idea. Maybe we should send like, a daily group email or something, text message to her so she knows what the situation is basically or where we are at the very least. We could send coordinates as well.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn gives a nod and a thumbs up.

Bee/Polaris: At least she's safe with the nerd.

Chris/Ollie: She's still in all our chats, right?

Bee/Polaris: Didn't we make a group chat for New Terror? That's just us, and then there's one without Zahn, and then there's also one without amanda.

Chris/Ollie: There wasn't the, uh, trauma.

Avery/GM: Technically, they're all without Amanda now.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will go to the group chat with Marty in it, send the coordinates for where we will be, so like, you know, the, where the two ships are going to be fighting, and says, Going to go save a planet, hope you are well, heart, smiley face.

Avery/GM: Anyone else add anything?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn adds the group chat, come back soon, dot dot dot, like, anxious face.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, Zahn is going to need some counseling. Smiley face, sad face. Heart.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn just puts the ellipses with no elaboration.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends a hug emoji..

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will also say, hope to see you return safe soon. And then we'll also put major trigger warning, major warning, and link the VOD of the stuff that happened. And put in the, underneath it, for context.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: And then, speaking of since, since Ollie literally recorded everything.

Bee/Polaris: So did Polaris.

Zach/Zahn: Well, yeah., but, uh, Ollie also downloaded everything off of their computer.

Bee/Polaris: oh yeah!

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna turn to Ollie and be like, so while you can. Obviously keep the FBOs program and any information we can use to help get Rho home. Purge everything else. Nothing good could come from anything really from that station.

Chris/Ollie: Nothing at all?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, wouldn't it be wise to review some of the files? What if there's, you know, what if, I don't know exactly what kind of contamination happened with the food supply, but would it not be best to try and find some sort of antidote to that first in case we run across it again.

Chris/Ollie: And surely Amanda's research is Worthy of sparing

Bee/Polaris: not necessarily. I have the same or a similar machine back on the Ursa Major.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, yeah, that's right.

Chris/Ollie: Oh Wait, can the factory print food too?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Zach/Zahn: No.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris' gross nutra bars.

Chris/Ollie: Oh

Bee/Polaris: nutrition bars The custodians found a way to make that into a, a food.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, but yours is like a big, big old machine where Amanda had managed to get hers down to a near portable device right?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, she did. She did have

a tiny one.

Bee/Polaris: Ooh, that is true. We could Cloudy with a chance of no one has seen that. Nevermind. I made that reference last time. We could, we could use that actually.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, wouldn't Bruce be thrilled that every time we go to a meal or we sit down to a nice home cooked, you know, brunch. And you just pull out this little box and print a nutrient bar instead.

Zach/Zahn: Right in front of his face.

Bee/Polaris: I don't think Bruce would enjoy that because it's essentially like AI, but like an AI chef.

Right? It takes the joy out of it in the process of cooking.

Zach/Zahn: Instead of AI art, it's an AI chef.

Chris/Ollie: Hmm. Pretty much.

Zach/Zahn: 3D prints.

Chris/Ollie: But absolutely on board for deleting any and all of your father's research.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, fuck that guy. Oh, wait, no, uh, never mind. Okay, yeah. I really want a Potato GLADOS someone, but that would require looking through the research to rebuild the machine.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yeah, to kill someone and then take their brain and put them in a machine and be like, Hey, we brought you back just to make you a potato.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mostly meant coil because we still have the coil cube. Put him in a potato.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so, you could delete everything if you want to, Ollie or, or we could save that.

Do, do you want to manually look through it later, or do you want to just, you know, comply and just control, delete everything related to Zahn's dad?

Chris/Ollie: I'll definitely comply with the request to delete anything related to the dad, but all the other research, cause there's Probably plenty of other research that happened there that wasn't too bad.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you might even find some more information on, uh, on this strange little plant life.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, the, the, the seed.

Caden/Bruce: Little seed.

Zach/Zahn: Eden, right?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, there was, wasn't there, there was the dude that, uh, we put it, we locked in a room and then dropped a grenade in his room. That guy, he, he knew about Eden.

Avery/GM: Mm hmm.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, he was proceeded to be eaten by Eden.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, he might have research on Eden is what I'm I'm team manually go through the research and then delete what is unnecessary.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's just gonna Grumble to himself and be like you know you're probably fucking right but I don't want fucking any of that fucking shit getting out of this fucking world.

Bee/Polaris: I mean that's totally fair.

Chris/Ollie: But yeah the front plate will pop open and the blue chaos emerald will shine out and Ollie will say all of the data is right here. Do not worry you can trust us. It will not get out

Avery/GM: cut to an hour from now when Ollie's Crystal is getting gripped from his chest by Rhea..

Chris/Ollie: Oh, discord leaks!

Zach/Zahn: Zahn lets out a like a frustrated sigh not even slightly of relief But he just like said his piece and now he can continue eating whatever we're having for dinner that day.

Avery/GM: Very good So yeah, so you have popped out of hyperspace on the Cassiopeia into the Ithaca system You And there are these two ships going at it, fighting above the second planet, uh, from the sun here. Y'all board the shuttle. Are you still having Rho fly the shuttle, or are you gonna fly it this time?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I'll let her fly it.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: I believe in her.

Avery/GM: Hey! Your belief paid off. She rolled a 12. Yeah, so Rho takes the controls and, uh, you know, if she had like a hat, she would probably twist it backwards facing and guns it through these asteroids and, and sort of dips and, and maneuvers pretty well. Yeah, her hacking your brain for your flying skills really paid off.

Uh, anyway, as you start approaching these two ships doing battle, uh, someone comes online and says, Oracle shuttle, are you, are you here to help? Please, please identify yourselves.

Bee/Polaris: Why, why wouldn't we be here to help? We're an oracle ship. I mean, we're on the same side no?

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah, we just, we just weren't expecting anybody.

Bee/Polaris: Your, your twin sent us.

Avery/GM: Yeah, uh, this person says, uh, oh, Lapis sent you. Well, that's great. Well, if you can make it through the barrage of laser beams, why don't you come on board and we can discuss the, the battle plan going forward. With that 12 that Rho rolled, I'm just gonna say that, yeah, you're able to navigate through the laser blasts and you land into the shuttle bay of the oracle ship known as the Delphi.

And waiting for you there is Lazuli Winston. And Bruce, when they see you step off the shuttle, they, uh, look surprised. They're like, Oh, I, uh, Didn't expect to see you again.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will wave.

Avery/GM: That sounds worse than I actually meant. I just meant like, you know, cause we, we parted last time and I said it was going to be the last time. And anyway, glad you're still alive.

Caden/Bruce: I'm glad I'm alive too.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Anyway, so, uh, what, what brings you here? Why did, why did Lapis send you out this way? It's pretty, pretty dangerous business for people who aren't really required to, you know, Care about this stuff.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's just gonna like, direct interject to the point. We're here to stop the hegemony from unleashing a AI killer program onto the planet below that'll kill everybody.

Chris/Ollie: We have been tasked with bringing you the counter to the program. We have succeeded.

Zach/Zahn: Oh. Oh yeah, we also need to steal the AI from the uh, hegemony ship, so.

Bee/Polaris: Again.

Avery/GM: Again.

Zach/Zahn: For you again, yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah, the first time all of you helped by proxy, but yeah, no.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, it was all circumstantial.

Avery/GM: Uh, Lazuli kind of just blinks for a minute and is like, okay, um, well, they haven't unleashed anything like that yet, but I think that's mainly due to us kind of holding them off for now. Uh, so, uh, what's this counter to their program that you have here? Is it, is it like a, a machine? Is it a, a piece of code? What is it?

Chris/Ollie: Uh, is there a terminal nearby?

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah. It's a cargo bay. Of course there is.

Bee/Polaris: You just upload the IASO program. No, I'm kidding.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. I mean, uh, that would, what? Wait, what's the counter called? It's Iaso and

Avery/GM: Epios.

Chris/Ollie: Epios. Okay, I thought I had that written down, but I guess I did not. Uh, as Lapis says, we haven't encountered anything like that. Ollie will say most fortuitous and turn and start walking towards the console. And if he can reach it, he'll just start

installing it.

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah, sure. Uh, go ahead and roll a intelligence program check.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, 14.

Avery/GM: 14. Holy crap. Yeah. You're able to easily bypass the, any, any security the oracles have on this thing is just like, what, what is this? This is child's play.

Bee/Polaris: That's hilarious. You could have just asked for access.

Avery/GM: Yep.

Chris/Ollie: Why would I ask when I can just do it?

Avery/GM: Before Lazuli can even stop to ask you what you're doing, uh, you have uploaded the Epios to protect this ship, and, yeah, have you given them the ability, like, have you given permissions for them to, like, copy this program as well, or just use it just for this ship?

Bee/Polaris: Don't we have, didn't you copy them down onto some flash drives?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I've got hella copies of it.

Avery/GM: That's right.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, but, seeing as we were tasked with recovering the program for them, I'm inclined to say that, yeah, he just gave them full access.

Avery/GM: Okay. Good to know.

Chris/Ollie: Um, and also, he'll say, there, you are now safeguarded.

Avery/GM: Uh, thanks, uh, we don't actually have any AI on board, but that's good to know just in case.

Chris/Ollie: Malware can spread through many systems. It would be catastrophic for you to return to your station infected.

Avery/GM: So, uh, Lazuli says, okay, so, well, I guess if we have to protect the planet below and you need to get a family member back, I assume that family member is on the hegemony ship?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn nods.

Bee/Polaris: Technically he is the ship, right? Right?

Chris/Ollie: Currently, yes.

Bee/Polaris: Is that how that works? Yeah.

Avery/GM: Lazuli's like, well, that, that would mean you'd have to get to the command deck of that ship, but we would also have to get someone down to the planet to install this safeguard Somewhere in the in their main AI control center. Whew. Okay, what what do you need us to do then?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris kind of looks at the everyone else and is just like, I thought we were only supposed to deliver the Are we supposed to upload it too? Was that part of the

Zach/Zahn: Zahn shrugs, looking like so.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks over at Bruce, do you have the contract?

Zach/Zahn: Did we sign anything?

Avery/GM: It was all verbal, but Ollie probably recorded it.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, we don't have a contract? Why are we doing this then? Nevermind. Actually, it's for the great

Avery/GM: No, because Lazuli promised you stuff.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, that's right.

Zach/Zahn: Lazuli promised us stuff, and to permanently keep, uh,

Chris/Ollie: the Winstons

Zach/Zahn: the violet off of our backs

Bee/Polaris: that is true. Oh yeah, we were, we were promised stuff. Nevermind. What are we, did, does anyone remember what exactly

Avery/GM: No, Lazuli just, er, Lapis just asked you to get this program to their sibling. That's all, that's all they asked you to do. Lazuli is trying to get more.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Oh, what the heck? Hey, we don't work for free Lazuli needs to offer us some stuff. I'm kidding place doesn't say that.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna be like anyways, well, I'm assuming there aren't any bad guys on the planet, right? Zahn's got his like hands out like obvious and the obvious like hand gestures because that's what I'm doing right now

Avery/GM: Yeah, no, they haven't launched any invasion forces it we've You know, we've we've jammed their communication signals. But yeah, they haven't launched any ground forces yet.

Zach/Zahn: Cool. Cool. Cool then you can take your own fucking people and send them down there and we will just board their ship and do our thing

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, why don't you just take one of your personnel to upload the program onto the planet to safeguard the planet before they launch an invasion of some sort and then we get on their ship and distract them, I guess.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I guess, I guess that would work. Uh, sure. They pull out like a, a little like data pad and they're like scrolling through personnel and they're like, no, they're off duty. No, they're, they're currently at weapons. They're currently Okay, I guess that, that leaves just me.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, do you not have anyone Planetside?

Avery/GM: No, uh, we've been, we've been focused on this fight for the past, um, four days.

Bee/Polaris: Do you not have any friendlies, Planetside?

Avery/GM: Uh, we have a few, you know, spies kind of embedded in the local government here, but we can't risk them blowing their cover.

Zach/Zahn: Well, I'm sure you are, you are a fine fitting candidate to do such a menial task as flying down Planetside and plugging in a hard drive.

Avery/GM: Sounds good!

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is having no shit right now

Avery/GM: Zahn's like I just had to murder both my parents, you're not getting out of this.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Right.

Bee/Polaris: If I can murder my parents, you can upload a file.

Zach/Zahn: And blow up my child at home.

Bee/Polaris: So what is the, so we're sending Lazuli to planet and we are going to ship, correct?

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris turns to Bruce and says, where's the armory on this ship?

Caden/Bruce: Uh, it's just over here, and Bruce will lead the way.

Avery/GM: Cool.

Bee/Polaris: Without even asking him to lead the way.

Caden/Bruce: He listens to Polaris more.

Zach/Zahn: I love that we kind of just walk in like we own the place. Like, fuck you all.

Avery/GM: No, that's fine. Alright, well, I'll get ready to go planetside, and yeah, are you taking the shuttle to the Hegemony ship?

Zach/Zahn: I mean, it's how we got here, isn't it? Of course we're gonna take it.

Avery/GM: Fair enough. I don't know, y'all could try and spacewalk through lasers. Just crash it in.

Chris/Ollie: No, just pull a Halo 2. Just Master Chief, ride the bomb.

Zach/Zahn: Oh my god.

Chris/Ollie: Into open space.

Avery/GM: Um, okay, so you go into the armory, and you find, what are you looking for? Some armor?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I'm gonna get the security armor.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's right. Yep. And then some more grenades.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, they had ten grenades. I'm taking, I took, like, two, and then gave one to all, or gave the rest to Ollie.

Zach/Zahn: Is there?

Bee/Polaris: and put the rest in Ollie's a little big.

Zach/Zahn: Is there a better pistol that I can grab from these guys?

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, we finished up the saddlebags, did we?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, so I got, like, a Bunch of encumbrance going on.

Zach/Zahn: What kind of weaponry do they have?

Avery/GM: Um, they had some combat rifles and some mag rifles, some laser rifles, you know, basically like the kind of weapons you would need to defend a ship from boarding and Bruce, you said you brought your plant with you, right?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, yes. I brought the plant and I brought the flamethrower.

Avery/GM: That's right.

Chris/Ollie: Contingency.

Avery/GM: Very good.

Caden/Bruce: I am training Eden to be good. How's it working? I don't know, but we're trying.

Avery/GM: We'll find out. We'll find out eventually.

Zach/Zahn: It's one of those I'll keep my plasma cutter, aka laser pistol, even though it's only a D6. But it's got, it's got range. It's got that range.

Bee/Polaris: Is security armor the best armor they have on the, on the ship currently?

Avery/GM: Yes. There might be something better later on, but Okay. Is anyone else grabbing anything from the armory?

Chris/Ollie: Well, do they have any melee weapons that are better than the laser swords?

Avery/GM: Uh, probably not, no.

Bee/Polaris: Nothing is better than the laser swords. I mean, that's objectively not true, but I have a, I have a bias.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, do they have mag pistols? Or like anything...

Avery/GM: Yeah, they probably do, yeah. They probably have small arms as well.

Chris/Ollie: Alright, well I'm gonna grab the best small arm I can find as a backup.

Avery/GM: Okay, that'd probably be the mag pistol or the Yeah, the mag pistol, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Um, one last thing.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: They have mag rifles as well, yes?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, I'm gonna grab two of those if it's just free.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: And throw them on my drones.

Avery/GM: I mean, Lazuli isn't stopping you at this point, like, they're like, okay, I guess you're going to need weapons to go on that ship.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I mean, they got the money, so, I know they're good for it.

I'm going to equip those to my, uh, two little drones that are, uh, also following me.

Avery/GM: Okay, if that's it, then yeah, y'all load up onto the shuttle. Uh, Lazuli has grabbed their own little small fighter, um, that they use and they give you a little wave and they blast out towards the, the planet below. So you blast out of the shuttle armed and ready to go take on an entire battleship by yourselves. And as you're making your approach towards the ship, you get hailed from a familiar voice that says, excuse me, shuttle, but you are not supposed to be approaching this ship. I will have to fire upon you if you do not stop.

Bee/Polaris: Hi Hermes.

Avery/GM: Processing. Ah. Hello Polaris. Have you come to get shot today?

Bee/Polaris: No. We came to get you.

Avery/GM: Oh. That is quite thoughtful of you. My mother has asked me to use the guns on this ship to blow that ship out of the sky. And I must comply.

Zach/Zahn: Can you just not though?

Chris/Ollie: Please do not do that.

Bee/Polaris: Bats my eyelashes.

Zach/Zahn: Where's, where's Marty for a connect check?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, the outside of your helmet is just blink blink blink blink. Blink.

Avery/GM: Hermes says error error reverting back to primary protocol.

Bee/Polaris: No

Avery/GM: Attention unidentified ship, please. Stop approaching or you will be fired upon.

Zach/Zahn: Let's just keep him in the loop until we get there.

Chris/Ollie: Just keep looping.

Bee/Polaris: Hi Hermes,

Avery/GM: hello Polaris, have you come to get shot today?

Bee/Polaris: We're gonna go in circles Someone's gonna reboot you again. Can you stop them from rebooting you?

Avery/GM: I am not sure it is very different than Before error, error, error, reverting to primary protocol.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris sighs Okay, I'm gonna try something else and then we can just, you know. So Polaris, uh, so Hermes does the, the message again?

Avery/GM: Mm hmm.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris says, hi, Hermes.

Avery/GM: Oh, hello, Polaris. Have you come

Bee/Polaris: Okay, yes, hi. No, I have not come to be shot. Can you just like shoot at us but miss?

Avery/GM: I am happy to honor that request.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Don't hit us.

Avery/GM: I will try.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Thanks.

Avery/GM: Well, that's good. Hermes rolled a seven.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Cool. Yeah. Cause technically he would be complying with the order to shoot at us, but he would just be missing.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Hermes shots are going wide around your shuttle, uh, on purpose or on accident. Hard to tell from here, but.

Bee/Polaris: Sure.

Avery/GM: But you eventually make your way around the ship until you see a shuttle bay that is open. It's protected by a little force field, but it's clear that it's just the kind of force field where ships can pass through. You land in the shuttle bay and so far it's pretty quiet, but as you come out, you do see two laser turrets on either side of the landing bay. Um, and they are starting to rotate your way.

Zach/Zahn: Do we have a potential direct line to Hermes? Is he still in our group chat?

Avery/GM: Uh, he was communicating via the shuttles, um, comms. So no,

Bee/Polaris: we probably shouldn't communicate with Hermes in the group chat because he's being monitored.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say, uh, Hermes, could you turn off the laser turrets?

Avery/GM: I'm giving you a moment to react before you roll your

Bee/Polaris: shield.

Oh, Polaris just gonna run to the one up top and use his laser blaze to cut off the barrels of it.

Avery/GM: This one up here?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Does the shuttle have any weaponry on it?

Avery/GM: It does not.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Oh, right. It's not the TSKAM shit.

Avery/GM: It's just a shuttle. You're trying to disable this turret, so I'm gonna say it's a stab check.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Uh,

Avery/GM: dexterity or strength. Whatever you prefer.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: I don't think any of us are strength characters in this campaign.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, I have a plus one in both dex and strength. Um.

Zach/Zahn: What?

Bee/Polaris: So. Eight.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you're able to cut off the, the barrels, but it does get a couple of shots off towards the group. And. Bruce does a 17 hit.

Caden/Bruce: Yes. Does is a 17 hit.

Avery/GM: Um. Yeah, Bruce

Zach/Zahn: Where's your iron hide at?

Avery/GM: Bruce takes 8 damage

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, where's your meta?

Avery/GM: As one of these lasers, uh, gets through, um, and, and clips Bruce in the shoulder a little bit.

Bee/Polaris: Question, um, do laser blades, uh, are laser blades able to deflect laser blasts?

Avery/GM: I think that would be like a dexterity Probably like an evasive save throw or something like that. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, could I do that?

Avery/GM: Since you were taking your action to cut the barrels off. I'm gonna say no, but you in the future. Yeah, go for it.

Bee/Polaris: Sick

Avery/GM: Okay, and if no one else is doing anything else the second one targets Ollie

Chris/Ollie: yeah, Ollie's just gonna like is this had tried to intersperse itself between it and the group So

Avery/GM: Oh gotcha

Chris/Ollie: targeting me is perfect.

Avery/GM: How's a 12?

Chris/Ollie: No

Avery/GM: No, okay, that one goes wide

Chris/Ollie: The lasers bounce off harmlessly.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah, they they can't quite pierce the ollie shell Maybe it's the cuteness, but the laser blasts have alerted attention to this area. So I'm gonna need some initiative rolls

Chris/Ollie: One

Caden/Bruce: its a six for me.

Zach/Zahn: I got a five.

Avery/GM: So we got Bruce with a six beat Sherman with a five.

Caden/Bruce: Polaris is first. Polaris has an 8. yay me, I'm not first

Chris/Ollie: one

Avery/GM: Polaris, I'm gonna let you go first since you tied with the three other, uh, or three of the bad guys.

Bee/Polaris: Is the, is the, the, um, turret that I slashed off the, is it disabled?

Avery/GM: Yes. Yes, it will not, it will not act.

Bee/Polaris: Then I'm going to, I'm gonna, Assuming that the laser blast definitely alerted someone.

Place is gonna hide around the corner and wait for someone to come by.

Avery/GM: Ha ha.

Zach/Zahn: Just fucking clothesline him with your laser sword.

Bee/Polaris: Essentially. Um, Well, I was thinking about that and also, a Grenade? Cause we have plenty to spare. Um, Yeah, uh, once Polaris hears footsteps get close enough to the door, he's gonna, well, no, he'll wait on the grenade, he's gonna, um, he's gonna clothesline him with his laser blade.

Avery/GM: Okay, so you're wanting to basically hold your action until someone comes through the door?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay, uh, that's fine then. Yeah, um, you move over there and hold your action. Uh, next up is the turret over here, and it's gonna shoot at, uh, Ollie once again. 14?

Chris/Ollie: Nope.

Avery/GM: Nope, didn't think so.

Chris/Ollie: Just keep bouncing off. He's gonna like casually buff his claws against his chest and just look at him and blow him off.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Caden/Bruce: Super bored.

Avery/GM: Let's see here, um, yeah, this, this guy here is gonna come charging through the door.

Bee/Polaris: Can I get him?

Avery/GM: Yeah. Go ahead and roll your attack.

Bee/Polaris: Does a 20 hit?

Avery/GM: Uh, yes, definitely.

Bee/Polaris: This guy's about to get super owned. Oh, laser blades do way more damage than I thought they did. I was also looking at the wrong thing, so that was going to be a 21 to hit.

Avery/GM: Either way, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: 11 damage.

Avery/GM: 11? You clip him really badly in like his like shoulder and kind of near his neck, but he reflexively flinches from the attack and steps back a little bit, but he's looking pretty badly wounded and he's gonna attempt to take a shot at the first person he sees. Are you like behind the wall?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I'm around the corner.

Avery/GM: So, oh, so you literally just stuck your blade, like, out.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay, gotcha, gotcha. Um, okay. He's gonna try and hit Bruce. I don't know if it's gonna work, though, because he's pretty badly injured.

 A 14?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Oh, no.

Zach/Zahn: Bruce!

Bee/Polaris: What is your AC?

Caden/Bruce: My AC is shit, okay?

Bee/Polaris: Why didn't you take any security armor? My AC is also shit.

Caden/Bruce: Because it probably wouldn't fit, Bruce.

Avery/GM: Uh, just three damage. Let's see, this person runs here, this robot runs here, this person runs here. Um, but that's all they can do. Bruce, you are up.

Caden/Bruce: What does Bruce want to do with his life? I want to shoot the person that shot me.

Avery/GM: Uh, that makes sense.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like it does too. Oh God, this is terrible. That's a 10.

Avery/GM: Even with all your bonuses?

Caden/Bruce: Mm hmm. I rolled a four.

Avery/GM: Oh no. Um, yeah, that doesn't hit at all. Okay, so that misses. Anything else on your turn?

Caden/Bruce: An observation question. Are they wearing, like, a uniform?

Avery/GM: Yeah, they're wearing, like, a hegemony uniform that, like, y'all probably would have worn at some point when you worked for the hegemony.

Caden/Bruce: So Bruce out loud is going to say, If we can get our hands on some of these uniforms. We might not have to fight our way through the whole entire ship.

Avery/GM: Well, if that's the end of Bruce's turn, Rho is gonna move. Um, I actually have to pull up Rho's character sheet, because I don't remember everything that she can do. Oh yeah, it's a lot of shit.

Bee/Polaris: What level is Rho? Are we allowed to know that?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, by the way, she's level 99.

Avery/GM: No, she's level 10.

Bee/Polaris: What the? I fear, I fear her.

Avery/GM: But she's also a weird science experiment. So, you know, some things have kind of.

Bee/Polaris: Actually, that's not true.

Caden/Bruce: I'm just an alien.

Bee/Polaris: I am a weird science experiment.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah. That's what she's going to do. Okay. Uh, Rho is going to rush. over here and grab this dude and he's going to need to make a saving throw, I believe. Oh no, she has to roll punch. Okay. Well, she's not very good at punch, but we'll find out. Oh, okay. That's two sixes punch, punch, punch minus one. So that's 11. Yeah. So you see this guy that Polaris stabbed wink out of existence. And then you see his body floating past the, the shuttle Bay.

Bee/Polaris: Nice.

Avery/GM: Outside.

Bee/Polaris: Yep. Good stuff. Thanks, Rho.

Avery/GM: Yep. Rho's got it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gives Rho a thumbs up.

Avery/GM: Uh, she just gives you a smile and a thumbs up.

Bee/Polaris: Can she move again? Cause she's like, in the doorway.

Avery/GM: No, that was all her movement action.

Bee/Polaris: Diddly dang. Alright.

Avery/GM: She'll be fine.

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Avery/GM: She totally won't die.

Bee/Polaris: Avery.

Avery/GM: I mean, maybe.

Chris/Ollie: Totally won't.

Avery/GM: Uh, Zahn, you are up.

Zach/Zahn: Are there any control panels in this room?

Avery/GM: There's one that I forgot to put on the map right here that would con that probably would control the force field.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, just the force field?

Avery/GM: I mean, that's probably what, like, Zahn would probably assume that that's what it controls since it's right next to it, but that's the only one in here.

Zach/Zahn: Does it connect to anything else? Or is it literally just an on off switch?

Avery/GM: That that's something you would use. The player would have to figure that out.

Zach/Zahn: Got it. Let's figure it out then.

Avery/GM: Okay. Go ahead and roll a intelligence program check

Zach/Zahn: 12.

Avery/GM: You're able to break through the security on this thing with your hacking skills. Um, and yeah, you see that it has a, uh, button for turning on and off the force field here, and then there's also a button to raise and lower the landing pad.

Zach/Zahn: Lower.

Avery/GM: And currently raise is greyed out, so it looks like it would be lowered.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. That would be interesting. To have everyone get on the landing pad and then get lowered down to another floor.

Avery/GM: Or to the vehicle storage.

Zach/Zahn: Ooh. Get on one of the enemy vehicles and just start blasting your way around the ship.

Bee/Polaris: Do not tempt me.

Zach/Zahn: Hehe, I was gonna say.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris can get on a motorcycle and just laser blade people as he passes.

Zach/Zahn: I'm assuming that little program check was my action?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Zach/Zahn: Then I'm gonna take cover behind the shuttle.

Avery/GM: Okay. Next is, okay, now it's badguy4 and badguy4 is gonna run over here. Ollie, it is your turn.

Chris/Ollie: Would it be possible to, like, run up, jack into him, and hack him? Or would that, uh, the hack take too long?

Avery/GM: You are an AI powered robot. I would say you could do it as an action. It'll be a program intelligence check, but you're going to face some physical resistance.

Chris/Ollie: Physical's fine. Uh, yeah, so I'm going to Yeah. I'll rush him first.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Get in close, and try to, uh, use my little tentacle boys to, uh, interface with him.

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll an intelligence program check, and then make a physical saving throw.

Chris/Ollie: Fourteen, for the thing. Success on the saving throw.

Avery/GM: Hell yeah. Okay. Yeah, it tries to, like, knock you away from it, but it can't quite fight off these little tentacle boys of yours. So yeah, you are able to, uh, jack into this robot, and you have some options to, uh, reprogram it. It's very simple, you know, um, erase targeting parameters, set new target parameters, shut down, self destruct.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. And there's no, like, ping network or any of that, like, cyberpunk stuff?

Avery/GM: No, it's, it's not connected to any kind of network.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. So I can just set it to, like, shoot anyone? Or I could actually set it just to shoot the enemy boys?

Avery/GM: Uh, you could, you could erase its current targeting parameters and set it, and give it new ones.

Chris/Ollie: Sure. Do I really have any way, like, do we have any, like, Target identification.

Avery/GM: Hegemony personnel. Wouldn't be a bad way to, to approach it.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, because it already has a database of them. Okay. So yeah, I'll do that. I'll go into the targeting parameters and load in the hegemony HTML. You know, the follow orders list. And replace that, put all that in the kill list.

Avery/GM: Okay. You have turned bad guy one into, or bad guy three into good robot two.

Chris/Ollie: Welcome aboard, friend. And then I'll also use my little bonus action to order my drones.

Avery/GM: How many do you have with you? Two?

Chris/Ollie: Two stalker drones.

Avery/GM: Okay. And you have your third one that's on board this ship somewhere.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, which it should be within my command radius, right? Uh, a hundred kilometers is it's, uh

Avery/GM: Yeah, easily, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: I'm also going to give that one a command to ping itself in our network.

Avery/GM: It pings one deck above you.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, I'm going to put that ping info in the chat. be like good news. I'm in range of, oh, I shouldn't name the drones.

Avery/GM: You should,

Chris/Ollie: I am in range of Nicholas.

Avery/GM: Is that all for your turn?

Chris/Ollie: Uh, well, I'm going to have these drones assault this person here.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: So that would be. Uh, wait, do the weapons add a bonus attack?

Avery/GM: I don't think the mag

Chris/Ollie: I'm, just trying to remember all the different things I gotta keep track of for this. So that would be Oh, wow, one attack for 11 one attack for 22.

Avery/GM: So the one for 22 does hit. Oh,

Chris/Ollie: wow max damage roll For 14 damage.

Avery/GM: Oof. Well, that's enough to take this person down. So they definitely go down.

Zach/Zahn: You killed a robot!

Chris/Ollie: No, I killed a person.

Avery/GM: They are gone. Uh, you do see this turret here activate. Uh,

Chris/Ollie: I've already moved, so that's it for me.

Bee/Polaris: I am waiting on a guy.

Avery/GM: Waiting for, waiting on another dude?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. I think this turret is still active.

Chris/Ollie: Oh. My bad.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, that was never disabled.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. So it's gonna shoot at Zahn.

Zach/Zahn: Good luck, baby!

Avery/GM: Uh, how's an 18?

Bee/Polaris: He is behind cover.

Avery/GM: 16.

Zach/Zahn: Still misses.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, because of Ironhide, I have a 20 AC.

Bee/Polaris: Geez Louise, I need Ironhide real bad.

Avery/GM: Okay. It does nothing bad guy number two comes running and makes it to here, sees Rho and is gonna shoot at her for a natural 20. So,

Zach/Zahn: wow.

Avery/GM: 22.

Bee/Polaris: Is it laser?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Can I, can I try and not have her get hit?

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll. Go ahead and roll an evasion save

Bee/Polaris: 17. I make. Oh yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. Um, yeah. Nevermind. You deflect the laser bolt into the wall harmlessly and you hear someone say, what the hell? And that'll be that. Next is Ollie's good guy robot. What are you going to do with this robot?

Chris/Ollie: Can I just take control of him as if he was a drone?

Avery/GM: I'm basically letting, I'm going to let you basically issue orders to it. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Well, if he's going to go now instead of on my turn, then I'll just have him attack this turret here.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Sure. Okay, I will roll. It's 22 To hit and that's nine damage. Uh, yeah, it Blasts up the turret a little bit. It's looks like it's still functioning. But one of its barrels is is Smoking and charred Bruce you are up

Caden/Bruce: Yes, yes, I am. I mean, no one's in front of me other than the turret. I'm just gonna try and shoot the turret that's still operational.

Avery/GM: Okay, go ahead and roll to attack.

Caden/Bruce: Okay, that was much better. That's a 16.

Avery/GM: Oh, that hits for sure.

Caden/Bruce: The damage was only a three.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. Um, that still does quite, I mean, oh wait, no, this one hasn't been damaged at all. Yeah, okay.

Caden/Bruce: It does very little.

Avery/GM: It takes that damage. It's not great, but whatever. Um, okay. Next up is Rho. Rho doesn't have any weapons, so, she's gonna keep using what, what she has. This person here needs to make a physical saving throw. And they made a three, so that's not gonna do it. Okay. 10, 14, 17, 18. Uh, yeah, you see this person get ripped to shreds.

Bee/Polaris: Nice.

Avery/GM: Um, yeah. Uh, Rho ain't fucking around. Zahn, you are up.

Zach/Zahn: Peek my head out and shoot that turret, cause it's still angy. Oh wow. Yeah, I knew I rolled all my good rolls earlier. How's a 12?

Avery/GM: A 12 does not quite do it.

Zach/Zahn: Well, shit. I, I go, I go back.

Avery/GM: Okay. So we just have bad guy 2 and 2 of the turrets left. Okay. This turret, having been fired upon by its friend, is going to, uh, fire back for 15 it does six damage. This robot kinda like stumbles a little bit, but gets right back up. Ollie, you are next.

Chris/Ollie: So are the both, both the turrets, turrets near me, uh, still active?

Avery/GM: Yes, these are both still active.

Chris/Ollie: And I'm going to have one drone attack this one.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: For twelve.

Avery/GM: 12 does not quite do it.

Chris/Ollie: All right. Then I'm gonna have the other drone also shoot and attempt to finish that off. Oh, for a 30.

Avery/GM: Hell yeah.

Chris/Ollie: I'm going to go ahead and for 11 damage.

Avery/GM: Okay. Plus the damage you did earlier. Yeah, that does it. It, it sparks and blows up a little bit. Um, and it is out of commission

Chris/Ollie: for now. I'm going to just leave that turret. And I'm going to go forward the, uh, computer here, hack into it and see what I can find.

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll intelligence program.

Chris/Ollie: 15.

Avery/GM: Um, yeah, you see a security terminal pop up and it has options for disabled turrets, red alert, intruder alert, and uh, Activate self destruct.

Chris/Ollie: Self destruct is not, uh, not ideal. Isn't it? Is the alarm not already

going off?

Avery/GM: The alarm has not gone off yet.

Chris/Ollie: What was the, the first options?

Avery/GM: Deactivate turrets, uh, red alert, intruder alert, and then self destruct.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, well definitely deactivate turrets.

Avery/GM: Uh, Zahn, you see this one in this room, power down.

Chris/Ollie: Could I possibly upload epios to Hermes through this in any way.

Avery/GM: It does not appear that this is connected to the ship AI.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, in that case then I'm good.

Avery/GM: Okay. Then I think you all are out of combat.

(ambience fades out, outro plays then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Find more of our work at 1upPodcasts.com

Intro and Outro produced by Dustin Carpenter

Background music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an Attribution, non-commercial license from creative commons. Tracks used include Starship Adrift, Space Battle, and Orbital Prison Break.

We'll be back on April 8th with a special interlude episode to catch up with Marty.

See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

Episode 39 - Leaving New Terra

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 39 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

Amanda pulls the shuttle away slightly from the airlock and it is open to you. And then you get into the airlock and she pulls the ship back in and it connects. The pressure equalizes and your shuttle awaits.

Bee/Polaris: Yay! Okay, we get on our ship.

Chris/Ollie: Huzzah! Crisis averted.

Zach/Zahn: And as we get on, Zahn's gonna be like Amanda, get the fuck off.

Avery/GM: You see her handcuffed to the chair.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris just cuts the handcuffs.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: While, uh, your assistants in the Resurrection of my mother does not warrant a straight up murder. I am not obligated to save you either. Get the fuck off my ship.

Avery/GM: No, Zahn, you need to understand that.

Zach/Zahn: There's no understanding that needs to happen.

Get the fuck off the ship.

Avery/GM: It was the only way to save people on, on, on board was just to convert them to living machines.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. I saw into her programming. She wasn't living and when she was her for the brief three seconds, she had an existential crisis and powered down because she couldn't,

Avery/GM: I know, I know.

And I was working on figuring it out.

Zach/Zahn: It's not living. Like that's, that's, that's the point that I'm getting at here. So, uh, proceed to. No longer be living on my ship.

Avery/GM: Two minutes till self destruct. She pulls out something that looks very familiar and it is the bomb that y'all rigged up with Ollie in episode three.

Bee/Polaris: Are you kidding me, bro? Okay, fine.

Avery/GM: She has, she's got some A cells wired together, or some plasma cells wired together. She's like, Zahn I am not going to blow up on that ship.

Zach/Zahn: Where, where is she standing?

Avery/GM: Uh, she's like next to the, the seat that you, that she was handcuffed in. So like towards like, kind of like the middle of the shuttle.

Zach/Zahn: She couldn't comically be standing like right in front of the

airlock. I was gonna grapple

launch her into the airlock.

Bee/Polaris: I meanolarisire still has his laser blade out. He could literally just cut off her arm.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I'm just presenting the options here.

Chris/Ollie: She did mention something. We didn't see any other brains in jars, right?

Avery/GM: No, you did see a biological specimen container, but y'all didn't actually look in there.

Chris/Ollie: Um, in all the data I downloaded, was there any mention of any other specimens like Eli?

Avery/GM: Yeah, looking, looking through the data you downloaded, they actually, when they got rid of the colony core of people, they harvested all the brains and kept them in that biological storage container

Zach/Zahn: fuck!

Avery/GM: For later use. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Ew.

Avery/GM: That's how they were going to save. The humans on the station.

Chris/Ollie: But were they all active? Because she mentioned she was trying to figure out the existential crisis once you are awakened as a robot. And Eli was the only one we saw. So I'm thinking, huh, how many times did you tell her she's a robot, see the crisis and then wipe her memory?

Over and over again.

Avery/GM: Those are that information is in there.

Bee/Polaris: That's fucked up.

Avery/GM: Whether you want to share it with Zahn or not is a different story, but it's in there. I, uh,

Zach/Zahn: Oh boy.

Chris/Ollie: I think I do. It's going to be over the chat though. Just going to,

Bee/Polaris: is it the chat with her?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, it's without her.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: Just going to mention,

Zach/Zahn: is the bomb like.

A dead man switch or like, if she lets go of it.

Avery/GM: No, no, no. She just needs to connect. She needs to connect one wire.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just cuts off her hand.

Avery/GM: Shit.

Zach/Zahn: I was going to shoot her in the hand, but that's also equally as effective.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. You don't want to accidentally shoot the bomb.

Zach/Zahn: You don't want to cut the bomb.

Bee/Polaris: Well, a wrist is easier to aim for than like not shooting the bomb in her hand.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and enroll dexterity stab.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm super good at that.

Zach/Zahn: Bee for the first time of this entire session. Oh, hey, that's a role I'm good at.

Bee/Polaris: No, I, well, yeah. Nine.

Avery/GM: The hand comes off, she screams in agony, and yeah, and she's, she crumples to the ground, like, holding her severed wrist.

Zach/Zahn: Then Zahn grabs her by her shirt collars and throws her off the ship.

Avery/GM: Okay, and you hear behind, as the door closes, And Amanda is stuck in the airlock. You hear one minute till self destruct.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris pockets the bomb.

Zach/Zahn: Polaris punch it. Get the fuck out of here.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris fucking guns it. Oh, I guess I could have punched her and like knocked her out.

Avery/GM: You could have.

Bee/Polaris: Cause I literally do like a D12 of damage.

Chris/Ollie: No, she needs to see her death coming.

Bee/Polaris: This does hurt more.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie's just be like, good riddance.

Avery/GM: Plus, we got a free bomb!

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris sends in chat to Amanda, thanks for the bomb, smiley face.

Chris/Ollie: Thanks for the bomb.

Avery/GM: Sure, roll a Dexterity pilot check.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Avery/GM: To get back to the Cass.

Bee/Polaris: I'm super good at Are you kidding me? That's my whole character build!

Zach/Zahn: I know!

Bee/Polaris: Ah, I rolled dog shit though!

Zach/Zahn: Have you used your, expert re roll?

Avery/GM: I was thing yet? I have not. It's not super, it's not super consequential, Bea. Um. Oh, okay. It's, it's more of just seeing how close to this explosion you get, you know?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm gonna take the better role then. Oh, okay. I'm gonna re roll and take the better.

Okay, so you said what, Dexterity Pilot?

Avery/GM: Yes, please.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, um, what's eight plus five?

Avery/GM: 13.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, that.

Avery/GM: Cool.

Zach/Zahn: Okay, that.

Avery/GM: Yeah, 13, yeah, you, you, uh, make a beeline straight for the Cassiopeia and as like right as you land, like you time it perfectly, you land in the bay and you see a flash of light Kind of like from behind you as the station explodes into marvelous pieces of, of dust and the bigger chunks that are still there start orbiting the planet and will eventually decay and fall onto the planet.

Bruce, in your mind, you hear, *gasp* where, where did mother go?

Caden/Bruce: Can you not hear her anymore?

Avery/GM: No, everything has gone silent.

Caden/Bruce: I'm sorry. How do you feel?

Avery/GM: I don't know, it's never been this quiet before.

Caden/Bruce: Does it help if I talk to you?

Avery/GM: Perhaps later. I need to think. Thank you, kind one. And then the voice goes away.

Caden/Bruce: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: As long as it never discovers the truth.

Avery/GM: I mean, it's not really your fault, it's Zahn's dad's fault.

Chris/Ollie: True.

Caden/Bruce: We did nothing.

Avery/GM: And you literally could not have saved a giant tree.

Caden/Bruce: Nor would we have wanted to, but that's okay.

Bee/Polaris: Fuck no, I don't even want to save this seed.

Chris/Ollie: Have like, Bruce's son and your son have little fights

now?

Bee/Polaris: Also, Deef would fuckin destroy that seed.

Chris/Ollie: My son will take your son in a fight.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, my son has a lighter.

Chris/Ollie: True. That is kind of a hard counter.

Avery/GM: Um, yeah, so y'all are here, back on the Cassiopeia, Rho comes running into the, into the landing bay, and is just like, oh my gosh, that thing blew up, what did you do?

Bee/Polaris: We didn't do anything.

Avery/GM: And she's like, she's kinda like laughing, like, it was really cool to see. You know?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a hand on her shoulder and just says, we did nothing.

Avery/GM: Y'all have obtained the Epios program, you killed Zahn's parents, destroyed the rest of the station.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, now it's horrors can never spread across the galaxy.

Except for this seed..

Avery/GM: Except for Eden.

Zach/Zahn: But we promised a new experience, which will be the slow black hole death.

Chris/Ollie: I know, I mean, the plant said it itself. It's never heard it this quiet before. Totally new experience.

Bee/Polaris: Toss it in the airlock.

Zach/Zahn: Death is a new experience that everyone will experience at least once.

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, except me. Except me, you pitiful fleshies.

Zach/Zahn: Ollie's died, what, twice now?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, only once, right?

Zach/Zahn: Well, he blew himself up the one time, but the EMP did

Chris/Ollie: yeah, that also killed me.

Zach/Zahn: Probably at least feel like he was dead.

Chris/Ollie: So yeah, I'm at two deaths.

Bee/Polaris: Gotcha. Okay.

Chris/Ollie: This is a minor inconvenience. Merely a flesh wound.

Bee/Polaris: Truly.

Zach/Zahn: A minor inconvenience.

Avery/GM: Ollie's KDR is the only one that can be more than one.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. My ratio might end up being bad overall, but, uh, at least I can have a ratio.

Bee/Polaris: That won't stop me from trying.

Zach/Zahn: No, while you have two deaths, your, your kills are at least a little higher now, I think. So yeah, you're on board the Cassiopeia Rho has just come in to kind of see what y'all are all about.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we were streaming. Would Ro not have seen what happened?

Avery/GM: Uh, she probably watched some of it, but probably like, when, when the stuff with Zahn's dad kind of started getting graphic, she probably turned away.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, fair. So she knows what happened.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: She says, uh, By the way, that tree was really weird.

Bruce, it almost seemed like it was like, Talking to you.

Caden/Bruce: Uh, it was.

Avery/GM: Really? That's so cool.

Caden/Bruce: I mean,

Avery/GM: telepathic plants exist back home.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, right now it's currently ignoring me and I don't know why.

Zach/Zahn: Right. Zahn was there when you got a seed of it, right?

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah. It was like, as you all were going down the stairs, like it reached out.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, Zahn was just down the stairs first.

Bee/Polaris: It was only Polaris, Ollie, and Bruce.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, shiznit. So Zahn doesn't know about the seed. So yeah, he's just like, uh, what, how is it still alive? What do you mean it was ignoring, it's ignoring you right now?

Caden/Bruce: Um, I mean that it's thinking. And Bruce would like, pull out the container that has the seed in it.

Bee/Polaris: The Tupperware?

Caden/Bruce: The little Tupperware.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna visibly flinch and, like, deconstruct his helmet and he's gonna be like, WHY THE FUCK DID YOU BRING THAT THING?

Caden/Bruce: I, I promised it an adventure, and now it doesn't have a mother, and I figured since it likes to consume, maybe If it wanted to, it could be a help to me.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, like, puts a, like, concerned emoji on his face, like, Bruce, what do you mean by that?

Caden/Bruce: Well, I cook, and it likes to eat. Okay, okay. So, what, what better thing to see if a new recipe works than a plant that is made to consume?

Bee/Polaris: I thought you were I thought you were going to use it to be rid of bodies.

Chris/Ollie: No, that's what Ollie was going to suggest.

Bee/Polaris: But that makes a lot more sense. Very on brand. Also, does it have taste buds?

Caden/Bruce: I don't know. Little seed, do you like what you eat?

Avery/GM: When I was part of the rest of my family, yes, we enjoyed the taste of many things.

Zach/Zahn: I don't like the phrasing of that.

Bee/Polaris: I don't like that either.

Zach/Zahn: At all.

Bee/Polaris: Very bad.

Avery/GM: Rho says, oh, we have telepathic plants back on Terra. It's actually Really cool. Uh, these things are mostly harmless.

Bee/Polaris: Rho, that doesn't inspire courage in me at all.

Avery/GM: Like, only like 10 percent of their offspring are flesh eating.

Bee/Polaris: Rho, this one is flesh eating.

Caden/Bruce: Would you consider eating vegetables as well as flesh?

Avery/GM: At this point, I'll take what I can get. But for now, I'm just a seed, so probably just water and soil would work for now.

Bee/Polaris: Bruce, you're gonna have to translate that. We can't hear that.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, actually, I, Ollie is just can't hear anything from the plant. Ollie's just sitting there like, why, why are you all staring at the plant?

Zach/Zahn: It's uh, talking to Bruce.

Bee/Polaris: It can, it seems like it can only talk to meat beings, meat boys.

Chris/Ollie: His ears are gonna go down and be like, I will be at the nav console.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris is still Oh, Polaris is not still riding Ollie. Polaris pats Ollie on the head and says, It's okay. We can talk

Avery/GM: to you. Rho speaks up and says, Oh, by the way, as you were shuttling away, we got a communication from the Winstons, if you're ready to accept it. I told them to hold.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah.

Avery/GM: So I think they're, I think they're holding

Bee/Polaris: Well, Good Job on New Terra, team. And he's going to high five Amanda's hand before walking over to

Zach/Zahn: oh my god...

Avery/GM: Self Five!

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna hold up a finger. and be like Polaris... What are... What are you gonna do with that hand?

Bee/Polaris: Sorry?

Zach/Zahn: What are you gonna do with it? Just get, get rid of it.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean, it's not like I can throw it in the trash. It's a hand.

Zach/Zahn: I don't know. Feed it, feed it to the fucking plant thing if

it's so happy about eating people.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, it's, it's a seed in a box. I don't think it can eat hands yet.

Zach/Zahn: Then I'm sure we've got an incinerator around here hydroponics bin.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will eat it.

Bee/Polaris: Listen, until, no, cause we're going to have to clean that out of Ollie!. Listen, until we can find an appropriate way to dispose of this hand, I guess I'm just going to hang on to it.

Besides, sometimes I could use an extra hand. And then he like finger guns us. And then he finger guns as he's walking backwards to the communication bay.

Chris/Ollie: Finger guns with the hand.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's face literally scrunches up into the most, like, almost even more foul frown than when he just gave it his own father.

For that fucking dad joke.

Bee/Polaris: I'm your dad now, but not in a weird way. Anyway, I put Amanda's bomb in my inventory.

Avery/GM: Sure. You got more bombs! Okay, you've got an Amanda hand and Amanda bomb.

Yeah, so you're heading up to the bridge.

Bee/Polaris: I finger guns there.

Avery/GM: Cool.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I guess everyone should go to the bridge to receive this message from the fucking Winstons.

Avery/GM: So you come up, you push the button to receive the message from the Winstons. Lapis pops up on the screen and is just like, I just received word from the higher ups that you all have completed your mission.

You have the Epios program.

Zach/Zahn: How the fuck do you know that?? We just did it.

Bee/Polaris: Aren't they an omnipotent secret society?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah Zahn doesn't remember that.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris thumbs up at lapis with Amanda's hand.

Avery/GM: They, they, they give a sick look on their face and is just like, yeah, uh, to answer your question, Zahn, we know that cause we're literally called the oracles. We're supposed to know things.

Bee/Polaris: Except for the fact that you didn't know the one thing.

Avery/GM: Well, yes, we have limits, but sometimes the visions come through very clear. It's very nice and totally convenient for plot purposes.

Bee/Polaris: Indeed,

Zach/Zahn: Zahn just continues his frown and crosses his arms. He's like, yeah, we have it.

Avery/GM: Excellent. Well, if you're ready, you can rendezvous with, with Lazuli and the rest of the oracles at Ithaca. They're preparing for the, the incursion of the, uh, hegemony fleet any minute. So the sooner you get there, the better.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: And also. I'm sorry, I'm sure that probably wasn't easy on you, Zahn, uh, to go back home.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn like looks down and like flicks a switch on his wrist that makes his helmet rebuild. He's like, no,

Avery/GM: it wasn't. Well, the, the galaxy thanks you for your sacrifice.

Bee/Polaris: That super is like, that's super tone deaf. That's like super mean actually to say that.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm not always the best of people.

Anyway, uh, I'm sending you the coordinates for Ithaca now. So, uh, hopefully you'll, you'll get there soon.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: And the transmission cuts.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris goes and puts a hand on John's shoulder. Not Amanda's hand.

Zach/Zahn: Good.

Bee/Polaris: How are you? Holding up?

Zach/Zahn: Fine.

Bee/Polaris: Are you lying to me?

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: If you don't want to talk about it now, that's fine, but we can talk about it later if you want to.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I definitely need, uh, I Time.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris pat him on the shoulder, whenever you're ready, and then goes back to the pilot's chair because we gotta get the fuck up out of here!

Zach/Zahn: We gotta get out of here!

Bee/Polaris: We gotta get Skedaddle uh,

Zahn's

Zach/Zahn: gonna, Zahn's gonna head down to the uh, the workshop.

Avery/GM: Sure. Uh, what's everyone else doing?

Caden/Bruce: I wanna plant my seed.

Avery/GM: Sure. Uh, hydroponics bay or

Bee/Polaris: please, please plant it in a pot.

Caden/Bruce: Well, no, definitely. And it's like, I think Bruce would keep it by his blender.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Caden/Bruce: Honestly.

Bee/Polaris: Plant it in the blender.

Caden/Bruce: No.

Chris/Ollie: They fuse and become one.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh, it's like a little cyborg.

Zach/Zahn: A little plant cyborg.

Caden/Bruce: Because we have fertilizer, right? Like we bought a bunch of other vegetables and such, so.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you, you bought, you bought a whole bunch of stuff back at the Space Vegas.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, so he'll get like a little cup of like pot size, like a cup size pot and some fertilizer and some soil and he'll plant the seed and he'll put it beside the blender and he'll be like, Now, if you ever get Get lonely, you can talk, and I can talk to you through the blender.

This is a blender.

Avery/GM: Blender.

Caden/Bruce: Blender. Blender is friend. I am friend. We do not hurt each other. Understood?

Avery/GM: Of course. You are the kind one.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, to be fair, the whole crew was nice to the plant after we realized it was sentient.

Avery/GM: After yeah. This is true. Cool. So yeah. So Zahn, you're down in the workshop. Where do I have that?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie is also going to go down to the workshop, going to dib deep within his chassis programming for any of the companion dog routines. And implement them all.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, God. Oh, no. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: He's trying to comfort.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Zahn, you come down to the workshop, and Ollie follows a few minutes later and does the whole dog comfort thing of kind of like, you know.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, just like, come up and just rest his head on your leg as you're sitting there.

Zach/Zahn: Aww. I get, I give him some head scritches, and then I'm like, alright, Ollie, uh, this is appreciated. But I just get a little, uh. Alone tinker time to myself, you know,

Chris/Ollie: certainly. And he's going to go over and is there any other work bench here?

Avery/GM: There's like this computer station here. This was meant to also be a work bench

Chris/Ollie: because I want to get the, uh, turret off my back.

Avery/GM: We'll say that there's like a. There's a work, uh, weapons modification workbench in the, in the armory.

Chris/Ollie: That'd be great though. It's like, uh, not right now, Ollie. And he just steps over to the side and starts working right next to you. Yeah. I'd like to make the, uh, the turret like removable and detachable.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Um, go ahead and roll an intelligence fix check.

Chris/Ollie: 10.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You're able to do that. It takes about four hours to do. I've just started busy work and like, kind of like figuring out like, cause you're also doing it solo. So like. You know, you're having to like maneuver your little, uh, tentacle arms in weird ways and whatnot. But

Chris/Ollie: yeah, I got like a hand mirror.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Like, okay, wait mirror. So it's reversed.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Like when you're trying to look at something on your back with a hand mirror and then a mirror on the wall and you're like, wait, Why isn't this working? What?

Avery/GM: Exactly. Zahn, what are you doing over here at the workbench?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is going to continue working on his old Kinesis module.

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll, uh, intelligence fix.

Zach/Zahn: Eleven.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. It takes the same as Ollie. Kind of, it takes about four hours to, to put some more, um, Finishing touches on this, but after a little while you have this cool little kinesis module, which if I remember correctly, is basically meant to work sort of like the way mage hand works in D and D

Zach/Zahn: pretty much. Except with, it doesn't have the 10 pound weight limit.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You can lift a lot heavier stuff. Yeah. Not unlimited strength, but

Zach/Zahn: no,

Avery/GM: but pretty much anything you can move with your own physical body, you can move with this kinesis arm.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: At a further distance too. So yeah, very good.

Zach/Zahn: And then I'd say like nothing bigger than like, I don't know, five feet. Like I can't pick up a person with it, but I can pick up like a container kind of stuff.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Uh, we'll stat it out. Later or something like that.

Zach/Zahn: Nice.

Avery/GM: And actually go ahead and roll. Okay. Anyway, uh, do you play the message that, that Bruce forwarded you or do you save it for later?

Zach/Zahn: Think Zahn needs to decompress a little more before diving into that can of worms.

Avery/GM: Sure. No worries. And Polaris, do you go straight for Ithaca or do you contact your parents or what do you do?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, straight to Ithaca because we're on a time crunch, but Polaris can like text his parents, I guess.

Avery/GM: No, no, no, I was just curious. I wasn't, you know, we haven't, we haven't checked in with the custodians in a while, so I wasn't sure.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I mean, he does need to. He'll just like send an update, like, I'm still alive. Uh, I'll be home soon? Question mark? Have to deal with something that's time sensitive.

Zach/Zahn: Like savin the universe.

Avery/GM: You get three thumbs up emojis, all in a row.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris probably should talk to Rho about not murdering his parents or attempting to.

Avery/GM: Oh, cause I said all in a row. Yeah, so you go, you, you go to warp, so to speak. Let's see, Ollie and Zahn are in the workshop. Bruce, are you doing anything else with your plant friend or in the uh, kitchen?

Caden/Bruce: Um, I think Bruce is gonna start making cocktails of water, which sounds really weird, I know, but basically he's gonna slowly try and introduce salt to the seed's diet without killing it.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's really sweet. Uh, intelligence work.

Caden/Bruce: It's gonna go as poorly as it sounds.

Avery/GM: I don't know, you're pretty good at work.

Caden/Bruce: And that is a 10.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you gradually increase the, the salt content of these cocktails and yeah, you schedule them out for like, you know, a, a, a good, like a good regimen of like slowly increasing it just like you said.

So. You are all set on that front. Um, do you feed the, the seed a little bit of water before you, uh, finish up?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, yeah.

Avery/GM: Um, it just says, Ooh, thank you. This will help.

Caden/Bruce: You're welcome, little seed. I hope so.

Avery/GM: Yeah. And then Polaris, you and Ro are alone on the bridge. As you go to warp and Ro says, are you sure you don't want me to get in the navigation pod?

Bee/Polaris: Again, you've been in there long enough. You don't ever have to go back in there. If it's easier for you, I can try and teach you to fly.

Avery/GM: That would be really cool. Um, and her face like, brightens up, like, so much.

Bee/Polaris: I will admit I don't actually know how, how to teach. So, uh, I can send over some of the books that I started reading when I was first learning.

Avery/GM: I, I do have another way. It's, it's kind of cheating, but if you're cool with it, I can just. Learn directly from you.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, sure. Just don't go anywhere else.

Avery/GM: Oh, no, no, no. I wouldn't, I would not do that. I would not pry into your personal stuff.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, then you can go ahead.

Avery/GM: Okay, so she's gonna roll a telepathy check. Okay, that's really good. Um, yeah, she walks over to you and like, do you take your helmet off or no?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, initially he doesn't cause he doesn't know if he, she actually needs that. But like, if she requests him to, he will.

Avery/GM: She doesn't. I was just curious. Um, cause you see her like, grab like the sides of your helmet and kind of like bring your foreheads to touch.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Slightly.

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Avery/GM: And you feel like a gentle pressure kind of on your brain. Almost like you're starting to feel like a headache come on for a minute and then the pressure releases and she steps back. She's like, Oh, that was cool. Wow. You know, a lot of cool stuff about flying.

Bee/Polaris: I really like ships.

Avery/GM: Like, do you, do you seriously do these like flips and turns like regularly?

Bee/Polaris: Yes.

Avery/GM: Wow. Okay. Yeah. My, she says, well, uh, I guess we don't have to worry about it right now. Cause we're in, you know, we're, we're in, in warp space, but maybe later I can, uh, fly us around.

Bee/Polaris: Sure. It's good to get practice.

Avery/GM: And Rho goes and starts to leave and is just like, Thank you for trusting me, Polaris.

I know that was probably hard to let someone dig around in your brain,

but.

Bee/Polaris: Not really. I, I, Don't have the same qualms most people do with that kind of stuff.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. Well, I'm a little hungry, so I'm going to go see if Bruce has anything cooking up. So yeah. And she leaves anything anyone else is doing.

It's about a three day trip to Ithaca from your current location.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Along this trip, Ollie would also like to make a bunch of copies of the program, especially like one. Installed into the ship and one installed into himself

Avery/GM: for when you get Hermes back.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I am No, Hermes getting eaten alive by no virus.

Avery/GM: Yeah, go ahead and roll a uh, intelligence program check

Chris/Ollie: Uh 17,

Avery/GM: holy shit. I forgot how good you are. It's like

Chris/Ollie: When I actually get a higher roll Yeah, I mean rolling three and dropping the lowest is just bad Beyond powerful.

Avery/GM: Yeah. And then plus like all the extra stuff you can get. Yeah. No, you, yeah, you make plenty of copies of, of the Epios program. Um, you hardwire one into your database and do you just have it running constantly? Or do you have it programmed for like, if it set, like, if it senses.

Chris/Ollie: Like, yeah, have it set as like a fail safe. Like if it detects, uh, any breaches. Yeah. I don't know if I could. If I know the, you know, digital footprint of the Iaso program,

Avery/GM: you know, the digital footprint, cause you saw it run on the Cassiopeia before.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Then yeah, anything, any activity like that is going to trigger this program to, to, you know, be constantly on until manually deactivated.

Avery/GM: Very good.

Chris/Ollie: And, uh, since I got a bunch of extra copies, I'd like to. Make a few like little flash drives that I can like inject install into a system if we come across it

Avery/GM: very good Yeah, you do it. You've got you've got countermeasures galore for for any kind of AI killing the virus So yes, thank you Bee for reminding me. I Yes,

Bee/Polaris: thumbs up.

Avery/GM: You would like to make that?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, yeah, let's go with the keychain because I feel like the other one would take a long time without a loom

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure, yeah, go ahead and roll a dexterity fix or dexterity work check.

Bee/Polaris: can it be fix?

Avery/GM: Are you putting it together with like random like pieces of like junk and other stuff that you have? Not junk, but like spare parts and things like that.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, yeah, I imagine it's kind of like, uh, like a watchmaker, uh,

Avery/GM: sure,

Bee/Polaris: rigging up something.

Avery/GM: Okay, we can have it be fixed. That's fine.

Bee/Polaris: Yay. Oh, no. You said dexterity fix?

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah, because you're working with like tiny pieces and stuff like that.

Bee/Polaris: It's seven.

Avery/GM: Seven? Ah,

Bee/Polaris: no.

Avery/GM: It's okay. This is what I'll give you.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, wait.

Avery/GM: You can either have

Bee/Polaris: Is this a different scene?

Avery/GM: Um, technically, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Then I will re roll that please way better.

12.

Avery/GM: Okay. Okay. A 12. No, you finish this, uh, key chain and it's pretty and sparkly. And it even has the same feature that the original had.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. I'm not going to do anything with it right now though.

Avery/GM: Okay. Very good. And sorry for everyone for speaking cryptically, but

Bee/Polaris: yeah, sorry. you'll find out later when Zahn actually tells the truth.

Zach/Zahn: What?

Bee/Polaris: About his fee fees.

Zach/Zahn: Fee fees? You mean feelings?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah, sorry!

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay.

Caden/Bruce: During this break, uh, Bruce is trying to teach the seed different, like, food groups. Knowing that the seed cannot yet eat different food groups, but just trying to be like This is what carbs is, this is what fruits are, like these are vegetables, here are some different spices, and like

Avery/GM: Oh, this is great, I love this.

Caden/Bruce: You know, and it's just the kind of thing where it's just like, you don't have to consume food, you should enjoy food.

Avery/GM: I don't even think that's a role, really, you're just teaching it, so.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, like every so often he'll be like, This is what a fruit is. Like, this is kind of like what the flavors you'd expect. And then just like, kind of like infuse the water with like a little bit of strawberry, you know, like,

Avery/GM: yeah. I will say surprisingly in the four days that it's been taken to travel, this thing has already started to sprout above the soil line.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, good. We can get rid of this hand.

And there

Avery/GM: are a few little leaves poking out.

And so as you're teaching it these things, you, you feed it this water with like strawberry infusion in it. And it's just like, Oh, that was quite lovely. I, I quite enjoy the sugary drinks that you're giving me.

Caden/Bruce: You just can't have all sugar. Otherwise it will rot your teeth. Do you have teeth?

Avery/GM: Not yet.

Bee/Polaris: I knew that was going to be the answer and I did not enjoy it anyway.

Caden/Bruce: When you start to have teeth, we're going to have to start to brush your teeth because we don't want them to rot, okay?

Avery/GM: What is brushing?

Caden/Bruce: We'll get to that when you start having teeth.

Avery/GM: Thank you, kind one. Shall I keep calling you kind one or should I just call you Bruce?

Caden/Bruce: I would prefer Bruce.

Avery/GM: Then I will call you Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: Okay, Eden. For now, we will work on the change of your taste buds to distinguish the difference between cinnamon and nutmeg. Okay?

Avery/GM: Uh, you see the plant kind of like give like a little, a little shake of its leaves, like Yay.

Caden/Bruce: And anyone walking into this room would just hear Bruce explaining these things.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris would go in at one point for a glass of water and see Bruce talking to the plant and just slowly back away.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Uh, anything else that happens during this four days or do we want to move on to the next scene?

Bee/Polaris: I should actually probably talk to Rho about not murdering my parents real quick.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: At one point, players would approach Rho and say, do you mind if we talk about something

briefly?

Avery/GM: Of course. I was, I was actually just getting, uh, ready to, to kind of go in and do some exercises in the, uh, in the cargo bay, you know, still got to Just cause I'm a super powerful psychic doesn't mean I don't need to take care of my body.

Bee/Polaris: Understandable.

Avery/GM: And so you two are walking towards the cargo bay, or the landing bay. This is just a big open space that you know.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: She's like, so what do you want to talk about? Are you, are you actually here to tell me that you actually are mad that I stabbed you the other day?

Bee/Polaris: What? No, you, no, because we got even. I mean, I technically stabbed you, and then you stabbed me, so it's only fair.

Avery/GM: Yeah, but I don't think I told you about the other part, which was that, like, the other day I was going to, like, steal your ship to get home.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, well, I mean, I figured as much. I mean, it's only rational to, in a situation that you were like that.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Marty stopped me and convinced me that that would be really rude, and she was right, and so, of course, so I am sorry about that, if that's, if that's what this is about.

Bee/Polaris: I didn't even know about that, so why would I be mad about something I didn't know about?

Avery/GM: I, I don't know. I have a lot of anxiety about people being mad.

Bee/Polaris: I can tell. Yeah, I'm not

mad at you.

Avery/GM: Okay, uh, so what's up?

Bee/Polaris: So, I'm actually having this conversation, so you aren't mad at me?

Avery/GM: Oh,

Bee/Polaris: in a way.

Avery/GM: I have nothing to be mad at you for.

Bee/Polaris: Um, I mean, I didn't do anything, but you don't get along well with

my custodians.

Avery/GM: She kind of tenses a little bit. It's like, yeah, that's, that's one way to put it.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we are. The plan is definitely to try and help you get home, but in order to do so, we are going to have to go back to the custodian's ship for things, and I would appreciate if you didn't try to murder them.

Avery/GM: Polaris, you wouldn't know this because you weren't inside my brain with Marty, um, back, um, at that institute place, but, um, I have actually Thanks to Marty's help, um, have made peace with a lot of my, um, anger towards them. Still not the biggest fan. Marty has taught me that getting revenge won't make me feel better. So, no worries. I will not murder the murderous AI.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a question mark on the visor. Does Polaris know that they murdered a bunch of people?

Avery/GM: You put two and two together that they were the rogue AI that, um, that Rho's shipmates were looking for. I don't know if you've read all the details about what exactly happened.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I think that was what the custodians were going to talk to Polaris about. Right? Like polaris doesn't know.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. So Roe cocks her head and it's like, did they not? Tell you what they did

Bee/Polaris: dot dot dot on the visor No but I imagine that they were going to before we left

Avery/GM: she kind of stops walking for a minute and kind of just like Leans her back against the wall. It's like kind of like just rest for a minute and it's just like okay Do you prefer to hear it from me or would you rather hear it from them?

Bee/Polaris: I simply don't know what's going on fair I have no emotional preference if that is what you're asking that.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's kind of what I was asking So back home in the Milky Way, and I don't quite understand it all because they, they seemed to think that it had happened years and years ago, but it, it's pretty recent history for me.

Um, there was a planet where the Pan Solar Union was training their, some of their military, uh, units. You know, just a training base, pretty standard stuff. And my brother was on that planet and the, the reports are still kind of weird about what exactly happened, but essentially one of the AI in the, so you know how Navi was one AI. And had like all the other AIs kind of serving her.

Bee/Polaris: Yes.

Avery/GM: So that's kind of how we set up our AI clusters, um, back home is we put one in charge and then have the other one subservient to them. Well, the one that was in charge of Adis decided that humans in the Milky Way were on a path of self destruction and decided to speed up the process, so to speak, and had basically used the IASO program to destroy the AI nodes that were controlling the planet's fission reactors. And that set off a chain reaction that destroyed everyone and everything on the planet, including my brother. And at first it was thought that the AI had killed itself in the explosion, but then records were uncovered indicating that it had traveled outside of the galaxy. And according to Captain Alexio's records, before he abandoned ship, that's why they sent the Cassiopeia out this way was to lure them in with traces of home, you know, thinking that maybe if they still existed out, out here, that they would find it and would reveal themselves so that they could be trapped and destroyed.

So yeah, so that, that's kind of the context behind that whole, you know, psychic freakout I had a few weeks ago. Ha ha ha ha.

Bee/Polaris: That seems understandable. I, I mean, I, I can't say that I personally, I'm sorry for your loss.

Avery/GM: Like I said, I've, I've come to terms with it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris kind of nods.

Avery/GM: Anyway, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go run for a little bit and try and clear my head if that's okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for talking to me.

Avery/GM: She, she pauses and is just like, Are you? Bia, I hope I didn't just ruin your relationship with your family.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, no, uh, I'll be fine. I, I'll be fine.

Avery/GM: She kind of narrows her eyes and is just like, And says it in the same way that you said it to Zahn. Are you lying?

Bee/Polaris: I am not lying to you. And he isn't , he's his, his hesitation is that he doesn't feel emotions the same way.

Avery/GM: Totally, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Other people do. So he doesn't wanna, he his like rephrasing of things is him trying not to say something that would come off as cold.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Trying to be like, oh yeah, I feel sorry for you, but I really don't give a fuck about that entire planet at all.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, it's, yeah, I, essentially, but it's like, he doesn't understand the meaning of, like, the loss of a sibling because he doesn't have any, so he doesn't, like, he doesn't want to say, like, I don't actually understand, but, like, you know, sorry about that, sorry my murderous AI parents killed your brother, like, there's not much he can really say that's comforting about that.

Chris/Ollie: Fair.

Avery/GM: Fair. Valid.

Bee/Polaris: So he is fine. Unsettlingly so, but he's trying to emotion

Avery/GM: good. Very good. Okay. Yay. Ro and Polaris have made up.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, Polaris was never

Avery/GM: No, not

Bee/Polaris: had a grudge or anything against her.

Avery/GM: Have cleared the air.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, Polaris was just worried about her, like, trying to murder his parents while he's trying to fix his

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: computer or something.

Avery/GM: What's that? The AI are being murdered? Uh oh.

Bee/Polaris: Damn it. I was almost done.

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network production. Intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio. com and used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. Tracks used today include Secret Facility, Starforged, Space, and Starship Adrift.

We'll be back in two weeks with our next episode. See you out there. Beyond the Furthest Stars.

Episode 38 - Father and Zahn Reunion

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 38 of Beyond the Furthest Stars. Just a quick content warning. This episode finishes up a lot of the family drama with Zahn and there's, you know, some discussions about life and death and family disappointment, parental disapproval, , and obviously some violence. So listener discretion is advised and Enjoy the episode.

(intro plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: The motion of the robot slumping over, , has triggered the motion sensor on the door into the Citadel and the door is open and waiting for y'all to walk in. Coming into the Citadel, Zahn, you see some faces that you have not seen in years, obviously. Sealed away in his precious citadel, away from the cares of the station, the worries, the hunger, the death.

Avery/GM: Sitting at the head research station is your father, Dr. Willem Howard, chief physicist and second in command of the Architects. Zahn, please describe Willem.

Zach/Zahn: So basically what I pictured is I named him after Willem Dafoe, so I went ahead and just like, was like, hey, he's Willem Dafoe. So he's, he's just got that like, unnaturally evil looking face.

Avery/GM: Aww.

Chris/Ollie: The Green Goblin look.

Zach/Zahn: Like, he's also got an incredibly expressive face, but he, he's so like, dead to emotion that he never really utilizes it. Willem has always been just very much a science first person. Science and architects and getting the mission completed done first over family and everything.

Zach/Zahn: To Zahn's eyes, his, like, marrying of his mom and creating him were purely for the purpose of continuing the line. To get the mission completed. Like he never felt any love from his father.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. So like the douchiest of douchebags.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. I am literally picturing Willem Dafoe from early 2000s Spider Man. Thank you for that.

Chris/Ollie: You know, I'm something of a scientist myself.

Avery/GM: There are two other people in this station. You do also notice that all of the research stations are Protected by some, some sort of like force field, which is meant to sort of keep contaminants out of whatever research that they're doing in these stations, you know, maintain the, , the environment, so to speak.

Avery/GM: The second person seated over here is a tall woman with reddish hair, brown eyes, she wears a lab coat, spectacles, and has her hair up in a high bun. She is studying readings of what appear to, well, you don't know what they appear to be, , cause she's too far away. But Zahn, you recognize her as Katherine Riddick, chief molecular chemist.

Avery/GM: And then the person seated closest to you As you come in the door is Terrence Bateman, a shorter man with bright blonde hair and green eyes. , he wears a similar lab coat to the others and is currently studying some sort of geologic modeling. And Zahn, you remember that Terrence was the chief geologist of the architects.

Avery/GM: And yeah, so the Citadel consists of these research stations with containment force fields around each station. As you come in, Dr. Howard turns his attention to the door, rises to his feet and says, ah, my son, you've finally come, please, please come in, come in. We have much work to get done.

Zach/Zahn: But as soon as Zahn deactivated the brain in a jar is the kind way, I'll put it. Literally to like hide any and all emotion that is now on his face, , he, he reconstructed his helmet. So it's just the visor looking back at everybody. He entered with his pistol drawn.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: And he is going to proceed to, are these like little nodes keeping the, the force field active or?

Avery/GM: No, those are literally just, that's just how the, the tiles, the tile set was.

Zach/Zahn: Got it. Then I'm going to come to this computer with no words and try and just deactivate those force fields.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you see this turret right here train on you. And Willem speaks up. And Willem says, , What do you think you're doing? You haven't even introduced your friends. I assume the rest of you have come in behind Zahn?

Bee/Polaris: Yes. , seeing the turret, how is it, How high up is it?

Avery/GM: It's like, probably like 10 feet. It's like mounted in like the corner.

Bee/Polaris: Oh wait, I'm riding Ollie with a fucking machine gun mounted on me, right?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, that's right.

Avery/GM: This is true.

Caden/Bruce: Yes, yes you are.

Bee/Polaris: Can I shoot out the turrets?

Avery/GM: You could definitely shoot one. One is def the one in the corner that's trained on Zahn is definitely in your line of sight. Yeah, go for it.

Zach/Zahn: I was just gonna say. Ollie, like, or I was going to type in the group chat while I was up to computer, , just for Ollie to like remote, take them over if he could.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I'm looking, I can't find the, , item description for my remote hacker.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'll wait.

Chris/Ollie: I'm looking for it right now.

Bee/Polaris: If that was typed in group chat, I'll wait. But if it's, it's trained on Zahn, so immediate knee jerk reaction is dispatch it, but I'll wait.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you're trying to deactivate these, these force fields?

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll an intelligence program check. And minus one because it's been a while since you've been interacting with the Terran systems in general, so.

Zach/Zahn: Gotcha. Well, I guess it's a good thing.

Bee/Polaris: Well, would those systems be similar to the ones on the Cassiopeia?

Avery/GM: That's a good point. The Cassiopeia is from a later time period though, so...

Caden/Bruce: The upgraded version of the software.

Avery/GM: Yeah. But that's a, but that is still a good point Bee. Okay, I'll take away the minus one penalty.

Zach/Zahn: I was, I was going to say it really doesn't matter because I have the, the hacker feet. So I got to roll three D six and drop the lowest, but I wrote, I rolled two fives and a four. , I also have plus one in intelligence and plus two in program. So Without the minus one, it's 13.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. You see a menu pop up with several options. Deactivate force fields, deactivate turrets, deactivate cryostasis pods, deactivate teleporters.

Bee/Polaris: Is there a select all button?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah,

Avery/GM: sure. There's a deactivate all button.

Zach/Zahn: Check all and then uncheck cryopods and then deactivate most.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah. Also rereading my remote link thing. Apparently, I have to be able to like sneak up to something first. I can't just like log in remotely.

Zach/Zahn: , Sad face.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well, things are gonna be deactivated anyway.

Zach/Zahn: Yep.

Avery/GM: Everything's deactivated. Er, you know, the force fields, , you see these blue teleport pods over here deactivate and the force fields are down and Willem is still trying to talk to you to get your attention and is just like, what do you think you're doing?

Avery/GM: Why, why, why are you deactivating everything? We, we have a lot of work to do and you cannot mess with the integrity of these experiments and he's just getting more irate as like everything starts shutting down.

Zach/Zahn: As soon as the, as soon as this force field shuts down, , Zahn shoots Bateman in the face.

Avery/GM: , okay.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris has the railgun trained on his dad.

Avery/GM: Okay, roll. This is, this is going off really quick. , okay, roll, , roll your attack.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn has turned into a machine.

Avery/GM: Jesus. I thought we'd have some quippy dialogue or something.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris has the railgun trained on his dad, and if he keeps talking, Polaris is going to tell him to shut up.

Zach/Zahn: So I believe, because it's, , roll d20 plus attack bonus, right? 21 to hit.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah. I mean, it doesn't have a high AC. The shield was, was his AC. So yeah, you hit him. Go ahead and roll your damage

Zach/Zahn: for seven laser pistol damage to the face.

Avery/GM: He's down. He's still breathing, but he's down pretty much almost one shot at him. So, and, , Willem has turned or pulled out a pistol on you.

Bee/Polaris: I shoot him!

Zach/Zahn: I was about to ask if I could do the same. With a rail gun.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh.

Bee/Polaris: So, I want to like shoot

Avery/GM: You're wanting to Wild, Wild West shoot the gun out of his hand?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.  I don't want to kill him, I just want to shoot off his hand.

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll, but minus one because of the finesse that this is going to have to take.

Bee/Polaris: That is fine, I'm good at shooting. Oh, okay. Okay, that's for melee weapon though. What is it? Is it gonna be Dex?  

Avery/GM: yeah, it'll still be, still be Dex.

Bee/Polaris: I hope he has a really high AC, cause I, you said minus one?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, so, , 21?

Avery/GM: Shit. , yeah, you, you, you pull this off. , you don't have to roll damage, you shoot the laser pistol out of his hand, it goes flying.

Skittering… Skittering away, and Catherine also has a pistol trained on Zahn as well. Willem Willem Willem puts his hands up and is just like, Okay. Okay. Let's all just calm down. Zahn, use your words. What's wrong?

Bee/Polaris: Shoot him. No, I'm kidding.

Zach/Zahn: Now, now Zahn's gonna approach him and he's gonna punch him in the jaw.

Avery/GM: Okay. Roll punch.

Zach/Zahn: Okay. This one I'm not pretty good at. A strength punch roll.

Bee/Polaris: Where's Bruce?

Zach/Zahn: Jesus. My, my dice is on my side today.

Avery/GM: Is Bruce just standing by the door like blocking?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. Bruce is just standing by the door just watching this go ahead. He's the intimidation factor.

Zach/Zahn: So I have zero strength and zero punch, but I rolled an 18.

Avery/GM: Wow.

Chris/Ollie: The power of rage is just.

Zach/Zahn: Something like that.

Chris/Ollie: Just keeping us going.

Bee/Polaris: If I punch him, I might kill him.

Avery/GM: Willem's on the ground. , his jaw's a little achy, and he's bleeding, he spits out some blood on the ground.

Zach/Zahn: And Zahn is just, , this is, this is where he finally is going to speak up. He's going to, like, shakingly calmly first, and then it's going to build up.

You had no fucking right, no goddamn right to bring her back, you sick, demented son of a bitch.

Avery/GM: He spits some more blood out and he's just like, Oh, so you met Eli and she, she brought you over here. Did she? And he's like, kind of grinning.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, with the grin he gets another punch.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. Roll the punch. No, I'm going to give it to you.

I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to give it to you.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, good.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You hit him.

Zach/Zahn: Cause that one was a little more sloppy.

Avery/GM: That's okay. No, he's on the ground. You, you get a, you give him a good punch. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Well you're Eli. He actually does like the figure quotes has been decommissioned.

Avery/GM: He, for the first time, actually like expresses anger.

You deactivated a three year long experiment over sentimentality. And he stands up and is, or attempts to stand up, I should say.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, I'll let him stand up.

Avery/GM: And he's looking straight at your visor. Is he taller than you or same height, a little shorter?

Zach/Zahn: I want to say because of the grav boots, I'm a little taller because I got some thick, I got some dummy thick heels on, you know?

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: Or soles, I should say soles. The soles of my boots are very thick.

Avery/GM: He, he's looking up at you, and he says that little experiment was the way we were going to save this station, and you deactivated it? What were you thinking?

Zach/Zahn: Putting it out of its fucking misery is more what it  Amounts to but you have no right to have done that to my mother

Avery/GM: He kind of looks away at first kind of even though he can't see your eyes He's trying to avoid your gaze that kind of a thing, you know,

Zach/Zahn:  huh,

Avery/GM: and he just says Zahn you don't understand Everyone here is already dead I am trying to do the best I can.

I figured you'd be happy that she was back. You, you let her death emotionally damage you enough to leave. I figured if she came back, you would too. And it worked. And he starts smiling again.

Zach/Zahn: The way Zahn's helmet visors are, so it's like a solid d, like, rust yellow, or, yeah, yellow rust, orange helmet with like the three visors on it, horizontal visors. And they're typically like a greenish blue. Now they turn red and Zahn is going to grab the back of his. neck and like push him into this , console here and he's gonna say that , I didn't come back here for you for your shit ass experiment. I need all the data you have on the Epios

project.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll a strength punch roll real quick and I'm gonna contest it because you're trying to push him into the computer, right?

Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: , I'm gonna use my expert to re roll one scene.

Avery/GM: Sure. You're gonna use it on this? Okay.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled a

3. So

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: 5 is probably a little better.

Avery/GM: He rolled an 11, so he, he braces himself against it, so you're not able to quite shove his face into it, but you do still get out that demand.

And he's like, is, is that what you came here for? A, a, a hundred year old defense project? Look, Zahn, if you're not here to help save humanity, then, sure, take the program and leave. And he gestures to this computer over here, and he says, everything is on that computer over there, just, if you can't understand my genius, and my brilliance, and what I am trying to do, then leave. You are no son of mine.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn shrugs, that's fine. My father died the day I left this station and he shoots him in the leg.

Avery/GM: Oh shit

Zach/Zahn: point blank BAM

Avery/GM: Yeah, I guess roll damage. I mean you're right up next to him. I don't see how you could miss

Chris/Ollie: Is

Zach/Zahn: that's

Chris/Ollie: did he indicate the computer with the shot guy

Zach/Zahn: five?

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah, he gestured over to this one

Zach/Zahn: He levels his pistol at Catherine. He glances over his shoulder to all he's like Holly go ahead and  Do whatever you need to do with the computer over there, Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie is going to make his way over to, , , whatever her name is.

Avery/GM: Catherine's aim is kind of shifting between all of you, like she's, She seems nervous like she has never actually used a gun before, so She's kind of, , Yeah, that's dangerous.

Chris/Ollie: Please do not resist.

Avery/GM: Yeah, kind of just shifting her aim.

Chris/Ollie: I have been requested to authorize this console. If you would, please remove yourself.

Avery/GM: Oh, no, this one over here.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, the one with the dead guy. Oh, I'll just mention that as I pass by her.

Avery/GM: She hears this dog say this thing to her and is just like, nods her head kind of dumbfoundedly and kind of lowers, lowers the gun like, , okay.

Bee/Polaris: Actually, if you could give that to me.

Avery/GM:  huh.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will also say, cheerily, thank you. Human blood is quite disgusting. To taste. Avoiding it is most preferable for me. And he's going to like flash his titanium, like razor sharp teeth.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Polaris, , she hands over the gun to you just as Zahn shoots Willem in the leg.

What's your damage?

Zach/Zahn: Five,

Avery/GM: five damage. Okay. Yeah, he takes that and falls to the ground and just gives a loud FUCK!

Bee/Polaris: Language.

Zach/Zahn: And then Zahn's gonna come back over to this computer and is there a way to like make the cryopods like self-destruct or at the very least like overflow or something to kill the people inside? I mean I could do it the old fashioned way but that would take ammo, you know?

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Bee/Polaris: We could always just laser blade them in their sleep so they don't feel anything.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, if they're in cryopods, aren't they not going to

feel anything anyways?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, well, I mean, like, because if you shoot them, they'll probably wake up, you know, from the shock.

Avery/GM: They'll be fine.

Bee/Polaris: No? Oh, okay.

Avery/GM: I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Sick.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, well. I don't know, laser blade, it's a burning sensation they'd suddenly feel, potentially.

Bee/Polaris: No, because remember we dispatched all the people that were sleeping, we just put a laser blade to their face.

Avery/GM: Yeah, , go ahead and roll a program, , intelligence program check.

Zach/Zahn: Oh my.

Chris/Ollie: Wait, is that me? Or is that,

Zach/Zahn: I'm assuming it was me so I could overload these.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Avery/GM: Oh, sorry. Actually, Chris, I will also need you to roll intelligence program as well.

After this check, sorry.

Zach/Zahn: 14.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You're able to find the, the source code that's running the, , cryopods from here. And you realize that it's just a simple matter of turning up

Zach/Zahn: the cryo ness of the. Cryopods.

Avery/GM: If you turn down the temperature another like 20 degrees, they will slip into eternal sleep.

Zach/Zahn: Nice. I'll go ahead and do that. And it'll be like a, like, I'm picturing like a holographic display kind of thing. And like my hand goes into this knob and I turn it down so that Howard can actively see that I'm doing

it.

Bee/Polaris: Get him.

Avery/GM: And Willems picks up and says, what are you doing? You're going to ruin everything.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn lets out that little chuckle and he's like, Good! If you hadn't noticed, Willem, everything here is fucked. You're fucked. The station's fucked. The people in it are fucked. This entire experiment, and he does the finger quotes again, has been fucked. It just needs to all end.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you here in your mind? I'm not.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, god. That's all you.

Avery/GM: I'm still very much alive.

Caden/Bruce: I thought he was saying he's not fucked.

Avery/GM: I mean, basically, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: How does he know what fuck means? Has he heard of cuss swear before?

Chris/Ollie: Being around us.

Avery/GM: , the cannibals probably have dirty sailor mouths. Yeah. . Bruce, in your mind you also hear these people, they seem ill. Should we fix them? You get an image of your mind of the three scientists,

Caden/Bruce: how would you fix them?

Avery/GM: You feel the station rumble a little bit. Mother will come.

Zach/Zahn: What the fuck?

Bee/Polaris: I fucking, I fucking knew it.

Zach/Zahn: I fucking knew it.

Caden/Bruce: Not yet.

Avery/GM: And you feel the rumbling stop.

Caden/Bruce: They listened to me, that's nice!

Avery/GM: Okay, kind one, we will wait.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, any, any sort of solution that this plant would offer us is literally just for it to consume whatever. It's not actually, like, it's not gonna break out an abacus and start calculating, see, it's trying to consume everything.

Avery/GM: A plant with an abacus is very amusing to watch.

Zach/Zahn: Yes,

I did picture that as well.

Chris/Ollie: Maybe one day.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I guess we'd teach it basic, basic mathematics,

but.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, maybe we just have to feed it

enough.

Bee/Polaris: No!

Avery/GM: Feed me!

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god!

Zach/Zahn: Feed it enough smart people.

Bee/Polaris: I'm going to seethe.

Avery/GM: Ollie, go ahead and roll your program check.

Chris/Ollie: That's a 15.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you find a bunch of data on old Terra that's probably way outdated compared to the stuff you have on Cassiopeia, but you also find the Epios program, and a little readme file in the folder. , describes this program as a, basically a shield A shield program, like a firewall, almost meant to keep out, , anything destructive towards ais.

Zach/Zahn: Ooh. We're gonna wanna make a small chip for that exclusively for Ollie.

Avery/GM: I was gonna say, you might want to copy and save this to your, , .

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: To your crystal. It's like a

hard counter to the, ,

to the Iaso, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so Ollie's definitely going to download everything, multiple copies and backups.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Ollie will never be deleted.

Chris/Ollie: Never.

Bee/Polaris: The Ollie Legion will rise again.

Chris/Ollie: As soon as we get that, , space factory up and running.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, oh god.

Avery/GM: So yeah, so you've got one dying Architect one injured architect and one architect. That's just kind of scared out of her mind.

Zach/Zahn: Good. We'll leave.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. I mean, mother will come after we go.

Zach/Zahn: And then the last thing on my agenda is, , which console do I need to access to? Cause the station to begin orbital decay,

Avery/GM: probably the one Willem is that he's at the head research station.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, cool.

Avery/GM: Which would double as

Zach/Zahn: well. I'm going to come over here and I'm just going to like, push them over, push them out of the way,

Avery/GM: shove him out of the way. Yeah, he was trying to like, pull himself back up, , on his. Now kneecapped leg, and you just shove him over here.

Bee/Polaris: I can cauterize that if he

wants.

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Bee/Polaris: , while, while Zahn's typing, Polaris will speak up and he'll say,

What was the purpose of this colony exactly? ,

Avery/GM: well, the, the records indicated that Terra was dying, and so we were, We were sent out here to, to save humanity, and I almost did it.

Bee/Polaris: I'm sure you did. You know what's funny? Terra still lives.

Avery/GM: What?

Bee/Polaris: Well, I guess it's a bit of a war, but Terra's fine for right now. Polaris has the safety of Catherine's laser pistol on, but he's like spinning it around by the trigger while like, just like reclining on Ollie. And, , he's just like, So, in all honesty, this colony was a bit obsolete.

Avery/GM: No, no, we We're going to be the first humans, real humans, to settle this galaxy.

Bee/Polaris: But you weren't.

Chris/Ollie: There are plenty of humans already here.

Zach/Zahn: Also, , while we don't have much of an example with us here at the moment, , there are other humans already in this galaxy. , if you'd ever left this fucking station, you'd learn that.

Bee/Polaris: There are other humans. You are not the first.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you are short sighted and foolish. and I will not let you destroy my work. And he pushes himself up and, like, tries to, like, charge at you. Go ahead and roll a physical save.

Zach/Zahn: Ooh. I actually lost that, I rolled a two.

Avery/GM: Oh shit. He, he doesn't quite like shove you to the ground, but he like bumps into you enough that as you're typing away, instead of hitting the orbital decay button, , he shoves your hand onto the self-destruct button.

Zach/Zahn: Oh shit.

Avery/GM: And there's a countdown that begins and it says, station self-destruct. 10 minutes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, that's plenty of time. There's a hole on the level above us. We can just leave.

Zach/Zahn: I was about to say that.

Chris/Ollie: But there are probably some chill people still in the station.

Bee/Polaris: No, everyone's infected.

Chris/Ollie: Everyone?

Zach/Zahn: The only person that was quote unquote chill was Amanda and Zahn told her to get the fuck off the ship.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, she lied to us. She's super evil. Yeah, the only chill people is the fucking plant and we already know how that's going.

Zach/Zahn:  huh.

Avery/GM: And Willem says none of you will leave here alive unless I continue my work.

Bee/Polaris: , I mean, we'll super leave here alive. You just doomed yourself.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is like, yeah, that'll be surprisingly easy.

And then he's gonna like kick him off.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: So Zahn is just gonna like, he's still gonna like push him down. If you want me to re roll another, , Punch attack.

Avery/GM: , go ahead and roll punch. Strength punch.

Zach/Zahn: , seven.

Avery/GM: , good enough. He has a bad leg. He has a bad leg. I have a bad leg. I know how it feels. So, , yeah, you shove him to the ground, , once again, and he kind of groans in agony.

And this time, Catherine Runs over to him and kind of like helps him like stabilize and just whispers and says, We have to get out of here, Willem.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn raises his pistol to both of them. He's like, Yeah, about that. You're not leaving.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris has his pistol trained as well. When Catherine moved, Polaris immediately moved it to her.

Zach/Zahn: , , Zahn's gonna like glance up.

Avery/GM: Catherine looks up at you and is like, You wouldn't shoot a person with glass.

Zach/Zahn: Ollie .Once you've downloaded everything or everything that you think you need, purge everything full wipe.

Chris/Ollie: Also, , can I do a quick like hack to the turrets in here to change them to our side?

Bee/Polaris: Well, they're deactivated.

Avery/GM: Yeah, they are deactivated, but you probably could with the right program rule.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah,

Zach/Zahn: that would also potentially take time.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, it wasn't really necessary. It was just I would like to turn him on, train him on him and be like, you're not in a position to negotiate.

Zach/Zahn: Now my, my, my plan is to just leave them in here and then like shoot the door control and just trap them in here.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, I, we should, is there a window here or is it just an enclosed room?

Bee/Polaris: It's a spaceship.

Avery/GM: It's an enclosed room. The only way out is through the door or through the deactivated teleporter paths. Or we can,

Bee/Polaris: , make like a Jedi and cut a hole in the wall.

Chris/Ollie: That's exactly what I was thinking. I would like to blow out a hole in the wall and we could just dip out because we've all got Vacc skins.

Bee/Polaris: I could also theoretically use the machine gun on your back to blast a hole into the wall.

Zach/Zahn: We also have two giant turrets that could do the same thing.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you're over by the door still, right?

Caden/Bruce: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, wait, there was a legion of robots on the above us

Avery/GM: , you do see that there is something flashing on the Eli robot, like a little light indicating that there is something still on there, like an outgoing message.

Caden/Bruce: Can I read what it says?

Avery/GM: No, but you could probably download it to your communicator with a little program roll an easy program roll.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will do that. Why not?

Bee/Polaris: I could send a text message to Ollie.

Avery/GM: Intelligence program, specifically.

Caden/Bruce: That's a seven.

Avery/GM: Good enough. I put it at a six. You get it sent to your communicator and you see that it is a note from Zahn's mother to Zahn.

Bee/Polaris: Ooo That's sad

Zach/Zahn: aww.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like Bruce will, like, send it to Zahn and then immediately delete it from his own device. He's not going to read that shit. It's not his place to

Chris/Ollie: just post it publicly in the chat.

Caden/Bruce: No, Bruce would never!

Zach/Zahn: The, the message pops up on Zahn's HUD and he like his brow, his brow furrows. He's like, and then he puts it in the back in the unread section to, to look at right later.

Avery/GM: Sure. You hear Terrence on the floor kind of like mumbles something.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, this guy? Who shot in the face?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: The guy with the hole in his head.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, God. Oh, no.

Avery/GM: And, and Ollie, you hear it and can translate it and it, and it, he says, just let them go. We'll figure this out later. And he's like rolling on the ground, holding his face, basically trying to convince Willem to just like, let you go and forget this self-destruct business.

Chris/Ollie: Just trying to like, dude. I'm shot in the face here. Come on.

Bee/Polaris: Dude, I got shot in the face. Let's go. Let's go get him out of here.

Zach/Zahn: , so I take it, I take it Ollie's finished purging everything.

Avery/GM: So what's the play? , you are at eight minutes, 30 seconds.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. If that is done, I will relay that. Dead away. Completed.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna be like, shoot the, shoot the consoles as he shoots this one.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris Fires.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie's just gonna like, walk away, not even looking back as you're just spraying.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will shoot the console that Catherine was on.

Avery/GM: Sure. , yeah. This room is full of sparking, sparking fried electronics.

Zach/Zahn: And Zahn's just gonna level his gun at Catherine and Willem and he's just gonna back out.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: Nice catching up. , die well. And then he's gonna Like, head right here, and then wait for everyone else to file out.

Bee/Polaris: As Ollie's passing, Polaris just looks down at Zahn's dad and says, You've gotten everything that you deserve.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie was just, A pleasure to meet you.

Zach/Zahn: And then as soon as everybody's out, , Zahn's gonna close the door and then shoot the Control panel so that it's like locked.

Avery/GM: Okay. , yeah. The door closes shut sealing inside the citadel full of

Bee/Polaris: assholes.

Avery/GM: These jackasses. Yeah. Yeah. And you walk past the dead robot mom.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn pauses above it for just a second. And then, , he starts booking it. We gotta get the fuck out of here, guys.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we gotta get the fuck out of here.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. Go ahead and roll, , , Dexterity Exert or Strength Exert. Oh yeah, if you're on Ollie , then Ollie can roll Strength Exert or Dexterity Exert.

Bee/Polaris: I imagine we're not gonna need this machine gun mounted on you anymore. Would it be better if I, like, cut it off and we, you know.

Chris/Ollie: I don't know. I got, I rolled double sixes, so.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, well.

Caden/Bruce: I don't think it's slowing me down.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, never mind.

Caden/Bruce: I rolled a 7.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled a 9. Or, 10, sorry.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so, Bruce, you're kind of bringing up the rear, and Ollie, you and Polaris just book it past Zahn. Zahn, you're passing your parents room, , do you grab the snow globe or are you leaving it?

Zach/Zahn: I'm gonna leave it.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: It's one of those, , the last of anything I want to remember about this place is, is now dead. So.

Avery/GM: Okay. You're back up and there are a bunch of robots sitting here as you come up. And one of them says, Citizen, you are needed in the Citadel. Please return to the Citadel. And they have guns trained on you as you come up.

Bee/Polaris: We left something upstairs. We'll be back down in a second.

Zach/Zahn: I was wondering if I could pull some kind of like. Architect elects override bullshit, but I'm trying to think of like what could possibly Zahn say.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, we should have killed your father. Then you said, the father's dead. I'm assuming control.

Zach/Zahn: Well, they have no way of contacting Howard or Willem, so I could just say that.

Avery/GM: That's what you think.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, true.

Chris/Ollie: Is there like a central Hub location we can see that they're all connected to or they just like there's no terminals or anything.

Avery/GM: mmm nnn

Bee/Polaris: They're free range

Avery/GM: No, there's no terminals. These things are free range.

Chris/Ollie: We can probably just dive into open space

Bee/Polaris: Did the robot not respond to what I said?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yeah.

Avery/GM: No,

Bee/Polaris: I told him that we left something upstairs We'll be back down in a second.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll a charisma Lead check?

Bee/Polaris: Oh no! I have nothing in both of those.

Avery/GM: And I'm gonna give you a plus one because you do have an affinity for trying to convince robots.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, I do!

Avery/GM: Your parental units are robots.

Bee/Polaris: Not nine, , that would be an eight. Cause my non skill in lead would cancel out the plus one.

Avery/GM: So, an eight? I'll give it to you. They lower their guns and say, Please hurry, the station is about to self-destruct and you are needed in the citadel.

Bee/Polaris: Will do. Everyone jump into open space!

Chris/Ollie: Bye!

Bee/Polaris: oh wait, our ship! Our ship!

Zach/Zahn: No, while we're floating, it's just gonna be like, , Zahn's gonna get on the communicator to Rho., cause Rho's on the, on our shuttle.

Bee/Polaris: No, Rose on the cast.

Chris/Ollie: We can

Bee/Polaris: But, but Ollie's

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, Ollie's got a remote thingy on the shuttle, right?

Chris/Ollie: We can dip out into open space, and we can cut into, like, the umbilical connecting to the ship with the, , laser sword.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, true. I have a jetpack!

Avery/GM: You do have a jetpack. I did give you a jetpack.

Bee/Polaris: You did give me a jetpack.

Avery/GM: There is also the issue of, Bruce is the only one that doesn't have some sort of, like, propellant.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn can hold Bruce.

Bee/Polaris: Just hold onto Ollie. Oh yeah, that too. Just use the momentum.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: We hold hands like friends. Fly you fools, let's go!

Avery/GM: Okay, so you're jumping into space? Okay, , who's grabbing on to Bruce?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn. Zahn has Bruce.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Polaris is gonna be flying me around.

Avery/GM: The robots all kind of cock their heads as you jump into the void. One of them turns to the other and says, One of them turns to the other and says, That is not upstairs.

I know, but we don't want to be rude.

Bee/Polaris: Aw, that's so sweet of them.

Avery/GM: And you hear in the background, six minutes till self-destruct.

Bee/Polaris: All right, let's go.

Avery/GM: So I guess I'm going to need exert strength, exert checks from Zahn and Ollie then, or no, Zahn and Polaris.

Zach/Zahn: Can it be Dex?

Chris/Ollie: This time I'm getting the free ride.

Avery/GM: Explain how you're being dexterous, and if so, yes.

Zach/Zahn: Because space is weightless, and I'm far more maneuverable

than I am strong.

Avery/GM: Yeah, but you're holding on to a big lizard boy.

Zach/Zahn: I just want that one extra plus one. Damn it.

Bee/Polaris: Also, I whispered. I don't know if you heard it, but I said, I got you, Ollie, I got you because I rolled really well.

Avery/GM: Okay. What'd you roll?

Bee/Polaris: I got a 12.

Zach/Zahn: I got a 10.

Avery/GM: Hey, all right. Yeah. Then you avoid any bad things happening.

Zach/Zahn: Like letting them go.

Avery/GM: Yeah. And you're, you're, you're floating kind of, it's weird because I said these are levels, but they're really like sections, different ships that you're, you know, bouncing between and stuff the way this space station is designed.

So you're able to float back up. Are you floating back up to your shuttle? Or are you having Rho swing the Cassiopeia by real quick?

Zach/Zahn: , what?

Bee/Polaris: Shuttle. Cause it has Ollie's drones.

Zach/Zahn: It has Ollie's drones and we don't want to potentially owe the Winston's for the loss of one of their shuttles.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Well, I mean, it's ours now, but also, , the command is actually on, or that also means that like Amanda could just get on there and like take it and leave. And we don't want that.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Full disclosure. I had some fun things planned.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, good stuff.

Chris/Ollie: Sorry to, , avoid a wall.

Avery/GM: You float past level two and you see the plants have started consuming things and you see cannibals being peeled out from, like, the wall by these, like, vines.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, god.

Avery/GM: You see some of these, these weird lizard creatures with, like, four arms and they've got, like, these, like, weird, like, , Almost like webbed fans around their neck and they're like spitting like venom and Shooting their tongues out and like grabbing people and it is just chaos on the second floor.

Zach/Zahn: Holy shit.

Bee/Polaris: It's good that we parked on the first

Avery/GM: And yeah, you're back up to the shuttle. You're just outside the little airlock.

Bee/Polaris: We get in there we get away we fly

away

Avery/GM: Okay. So yeah, you enter the airlock with laser swords Do you enter the station and then go into the airlock? How are you, how are you doing this without decompressing everything?

Chris/Ollie: Well,

Bee/Polaris: why do we not want to decompress everything

Chris/Ollie: Well if there's a way in without cutting , otherwise we don't really care about decompressing the station.

Bee/Polaris: Is there not like another door on our ship? Because I imagine we have one where we can connect it to other ships, airlocks, but like for space walks and stuff like that, is there not like a hatch or something?

Avery/GM: There could be. Yeah. Okay. We'll, we'll say that there is. But, it's just like a shuttle. So, hmm.

Caden/Bruce: Group chat, including Amanda, send message, Can you please open airlock for us? Thanks! Heart face, frog emoji, send.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, did Bruce actually do that?

Caden/Bruce: Why, I mean, why not? What's the worst she's gonna do, say no?

Avery/GM: Amanda says, first, you want me off your ship. Now you want me to help you make up your minds.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, you, you were the one that lied to us. We, we offered the passage before we knew that you were lying to us.

Avery/GM: She replies back and says, fine, I'll help you out. And you want her to get on your ship and fly and like fly to you.

Caden/Bruce: I want her. I wanted her to open the airlock so we could get in. I mean, that works too.

Avery/GM: , okay, yeah, she opens the airlock for you.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris text Rho, don't shoot.

Avery/GM: Okay, good, good idea.

Bee/Polaris: Because Polaris specifically said if a man gets on our ship and flies away, shoot.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no worries. Yeah, Rho sends back a thumbs up emoji. Amanda pulls the shuttle away slightly from the airlock and it is open to you.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Let's get on our ship.

Avery/GM: And then you get into the airlock and she pulls the ship back in and it connects. The pressure equalizes and your shuttle awaits.

Bee/Polaris: Yay.

Okay. We get on our ship.

Chris/Ollie: Huzzah! Crisis averted.

Zach/Zahn: And as we get on, Zahn is going to be like.

Amanda, get the fuck off.

Avery/GM: You see her handcuffed to the chair.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris just cuts the handcuffs.

Avery/GM: Well shit, okay. , yeah, you push her out into the airlock.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, Polaris doesn't push her. He just cuts the handcuffs.

Avery/GM: Well, yeah,

Bee/Polaris: and just stares.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, Zahn does the same. He's like, your assistance in the resurrection of my mother does not warrant a straight up murder. I am not obligated to save you either. Get the fuck off my ship.

Avery/GM: No, Zahn, you need to understand.

Zach/Zahn: There's no understanding that needs to happen. Get the fuck off the ship.

Avery/GM: It was the only way to save people on, on, on board was just to convert them to living machines.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. I saw into programming. She wasn't living, and when she was her, for the brief three seconds, she had an existential crisis and powered down, because she couldn't

Avery/GM: Yeah, I know, I know, and I was working on figuring that out.

Zach/Zahn: It's not living. Like, that's, that's, that's the point that I'm getting at here. So, , proceed to No longer be living on my ship.

Avery/GM: Two minutes till self-destruct. She pulls out something that looks very familiar. And it is the bomb that y'all rigged up with Ollie in episode three.

Bee/Polaris: Are you kidding me, bro?

Okay, fine.

Avery/GM: She has, she's got some A cells wired together or some plasma cells wired together. She's like. Zahn I am not going to blow up on that ship.

Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond The For the Stars is a 1up podcast network production. Be sure to check out more of our shows at one-up podcasts.com. Intro and outro Music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by tabletop audio.com. and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from Creative Commons.

Tracks used today include The Ansible and Secret Facility. We'll be back on March 15th with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars.

Episode 37 - Zahn's Traumatization Continues

Avery/GM: Welcome to Episode 37 of Beyond the Furthest Stars! Just a content warning for this episode. This episode involves some serious family trauma, a lot of discussions about death, and dying and what it means to be alive. So just take it with a grain of salt and if this isn’t your bag, feel free to skip it. Enjoy!

(Intro plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Zach/Zahn: Before Zahn steps away from the terminal, he unlocks the door.

Avery/GM: Oh, sure. Okay. Yeah. Uh, you come into this room and there is a big tree and I need….

Zach/Zahn: Zahn waves at the tree.

Avery/GM: I need a mental save from all humanoids.

Caden/Bruce: Do I count as a humanoid?

Avery/GM: You do.

Caden/Bruce: Damn it.

Avery/GM: Every flesh person. Yes.

Caden/Bruce: That's a D20. Is that a D20?

Avery/GM: Uh, yes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh I save.

Zach/Zahn: That is a Nat-twenty

Avery/GM: D20 versus your mental save. Oh, I definitely

Caden/Bruce: I failed.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, no Bruce! Bruce, No!

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, mine was a six.

Zach/Zahn: Oh no.

Avery/GM: So you're all walking through or into this room, this tree. Is before you. And this tree is again, like those plants or the crops in the other room, very healthy looking, very like picturesque, perfect tree.

Avery/GM: and you see two vines come down from the tree and reach out to you Bruce. And you hear this voice in your head that says, you are the one that showed us kindness. Please join us.

Caden/Bruce: Ah, ah,

Avery/GM: and it's just reaching out. Its, its, its tendrils towards you.

Bee/Polaris: man. I regret being a little bow on the, on the bush.

Avery/GM: It's not acting hostile, but it is, uh, speaking directly to you.

Zach/Zahn: Do we hear it speaking?

Avery/GM: Nope.

Bee/Polaris: No, it's speaking to Bruce. We saved.

Avery/GM: In your mind.

Chris/Ollie: is Bruce mesmerized by it or just hearing it?

Avery/GM: The mental save was just so that it would have access to your mind.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: Oh,

Bee/Polaris: oh.

Caden/Bruce: if Bruce answers,

Bee/Polaris: yeah. I don't want that

Caden/Bruce: Would he answer in his brain or do he answer out loud? Bruce doesn't know what like psychic ability is, so I feel like he would talk out loud.

Avery/GM: So you not being a psychic, you would not know that you could answer telepathically. So I think, I think any answer would come outta Bruce's mouth.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. So I feel like everyone else would just hear Bruce, like would just see Bruce standing there and be like, What do you mean by join you?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris Looks at Bruce, players, looks at the tree.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s gonna walk past Bruce, like around the back of Bruce and come right here and he is gonna be like, yes, join us. Like look, obviously looking between Bruce and the tree. Join us downstairs, let's go.

Avery/GM: Bruce, In your mind you hear, we just wish to grow. The more we absorb, the more we grow.

Caden/Bruce: That's terrifying. I hate that.

Zach/Zahn: I hate that for you, that you gotta hear that.

Bee/Polaris: What if we just plant them on the desolate planet below?

Caden/Bruce: How did you become sentient?

Avery/GM: It says I was once just a humble seed on a green planet. Where life and light was plentiful, and then I was put into a box and then I traveled a long, long time and I was fed something and I just kind of knew what I was and that I needed to grow And so I grew everything here on this area is me. And soon you will be too.

Caden/Bruce: I don't like that.

Avery/GM: And the tentacles are reaching closer to you.

Caden/Bruce: What's your name?

Avery/GM: Eden.

Caden/Bruce: It's nice to meet you, Eden. I don't particularly want to stay here, but I can promise you if you don't hurt me or my friends, that we will find a way to provide you light and we will leave you plenty of food in our wake.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll a Charisma Connect check. This is also a very wild one-sided conversation for y'all to hear.

Caden/Bruce: Mm-Hmm.

Zach/Zahn: Right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is sitting on Ollie and he's, he can't, well, Ollie is the one doing the moving, so Polaris is just like, what the fuck?

Zach/Zahn: What the fuck?

Bee/Polaris: What the fuck? Just internally.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie is recording this to show Marty later.

Caden/Bruce: Amazing. That, that's an 11 by the way.

Avery/GM: Oh, perfect. Beautiful. The tentacles or the not tentacles, uh, the vines stop right in front of your face and pull back a little bit and that voice in your mind just says, you promise to take us somewhere new.

Caden/Bruce: I promise to give you a new experience And Bruce is nodding

Avery/GM: The Vines retreat back and it says, what is your name, kind one?

Caden/Bruce: Me, a player not trusting the Fae. Me, Bruce, knowing nothing about the Fae.

Bee/Polaris: Ain’t that the dilemma. It’s already in your brain, so.

Caden/Bruce: My name is Bruce. It's nice to meet you, Eden.

Avery/GM: Thank you, Bruce. The kind one we will remember you always fucking terrified and the vines retreat back up into the, the tree and

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is just spamming. Yikes, yikes. Yikes. Yikes. Yikes. And chat.

Avery/GM: And that presence in your mind is gone.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like Bruce kind of shakes his head because I feel like he was in a daze… not really, like noticing what was going on around him sort of thing. That's, that's how I've been imagining it. Like he'll kinda like shake his head and just be like, the plant has a name and wants us to stay here forever. But I think I was able to talk it out of consuming us and he'll put like a thumbs up,

Zach/Zahn: Zahn does like a slow nod at the thumbs up. Very concerned he's gonna not… not look at the tree and back his way to the next level. Just back step the whole way.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris takes a deep breath, and then just says, yikes.

Avery/GM: Right before you head downstairs, Bruce the vine reaches back out and it has a seed in its hand.

Caden/Bruce: I don't wanna… ah.

Bee/Polaris: Just put it on the planet. Well, we gotta go planet-side now,

Avery/GM:

Zach/Zahn: except the planet's inhospitable.

Caden/Bruce: I don't know if I wanna take it. Uh, Bruce will.

Avery/GM: You don't have to. You can leave.

Caden/Bruce: Uh, no. I- I-

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean, no, take it.

Zach/Zahn: we have to go back through it to get outta here.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, no, I need to take it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, so take it and then when we get back to the ship burn it.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, Bruce will take it.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, actually, I don't know, bro. Like they, they literally said, we'll, remember you always, and they've been around for a real long time, should probably fulfill that promise.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, you don't know. They said that, but I also only promised them a new experience. I was very careful with my words there.

Bee/Polaris: True…

Avery/GM: Okay, so you take the seed.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. And as you step down the ladder, uh, to level three, it just waves.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will wave back and the seed is now Eden. Jr.

Avery/GM: Eden. Jr.

Bee/Polaris: Yikes. Yikes. Yikes.

Zach/Zahn: You should put that in like a Tupperware or something so that it can't, like I would attached tart sprouting on you

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah. I was about to say, put that shit in a glass jar. Put that shit in a test tube.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, I think I, well I would imagine that like, cause there is glass Tupperware, I imagine Bruce like has stuff in case he ever comes. Well, cause like he collects spices and stuff so I feel like he does put it in like what he deems the most protective.

Avery/GM: Safe container?

Chris/Ollie: I would just love for it to like grow into an Audrey too, though. Feed me Seymour. I'm hungry

Caden/Bruce: or like a frickin, like, like, like an octopus. It can just like work its way out of a jar. I should stop giving Avery ideas.

Avery/GM: I didn't think the plant. Uh, floor was gonna be the scariest, but apparently,

Bee/Polaris: I mean,

Chris/Ollie: the worst is yet to come.

Bee/Polaris: He wants to absorb us. He wants our bio matter.

Caden/Bruce: I'm just very glad that I went from like, Bruce wouldn't actually be an enemy to these plants. I'm gonna try and befriend them because I feel like that could have gone sideways.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Thank you for that So bad.

Avery/GM: Coming down to this level, uh, you notice several flashing red lights on the walls. No audible alarm, no random plant growth sprouting up here yet. Yet there was like some like telltale signs of like, moss starting to grow on like the ladder, but like barely anything.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you recognize this as a sleeping quarters area. Um, that would've been for people who had been awake and out of cryostasis and Yeah. You've got a door right here ready to open.

Avery/GM: Yeah, And coming out into this foyer area you see a hallway leading off in this direction. This area down this way opens up into like a big sleeping area where there are a lot of beds. This door here is labeled airlock with a flashing red light above it, and there are, and there are two other doorways this way. Explore the rooms, go through the airlock. What do you wanna do? Uh,

Chris/Ollie: we should probably clear the area first.

Bee/Polaris: No, no, we're not gonna go through

Chris/Ollie: the air. I mean, if we want to kill all the plants though, I don't think there they could.

Bee/Polaris: again, I don't wanna kill the plants and we don't know how many are floating around the universe

Caden/Bruce: besides, I now have a baby with me. Mm-Hmm. I have a son too.

Bee/Polaris: Now you have a son too.

Chris/Ollie: As long as the baby survives

Avery/GM: Oh, and you do hear some snoring coming from where the beds are.

Chris/Ollie: Oh!

Bee/Polaris: sweet. We can kill 'em in their sleep. Wow, that’s evil.

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Zach/Zahn: is it though?

Bee/Polaris: I’m sorry.

Avery/GM: Mr. Sandman.

Chris/Ollie: We're just Shout at them before we stab.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, we just bust open the airlock and they would all get sucked out, Right?

Bee/Polaris: Well, let's peek in first.

Chris/Ollie: So Ollie's gonna sneak, uh, as well as I can sneak with this gun and the other person mounted it on me.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is like quietly getting the trigger ready

Avery/GM: into the sleeping room?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. cause the other, the doors are closed, right?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: So, yeah, the only way that's currently open with noises coming from them.

Avery/GM: Yeah, go ahead and roll a dexterity, sneak check then everyone else waiting. Uh, you're, you're forgetting.

Zach/Zahn: Oh…

Avery/GM: go ahead and roll a dexterity sneak check then. Is everyone else waiting…

Zach/Zahn: You’re forgetting…

Avery/GM: Go ahead?

Zach/Zahn: What kind of boots Zahn is wearing?

Bee/Polaris: Oh my fucking god.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's got his big….

Bee/Polaris: you’re the paladin clinking with all the armor.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. He's got his big mag boots on.

Chris/Ollie: No one said he had to come along.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Stay still.

Chris/Ollie: Be chill cause I'm just wanting to take a peek, see what we're up against. I'm not trying to like engage on these guys.

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll

Chris/Ollie: It’s Dex Sneak?

Avery/GM: Yes. Are you, are you sneaking as well, Bruce?

Caden/Bruce: Yes, I got an eight.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: I Got eight.

Avery/GM: Eight from both of you. Well, let's see why, why not make it interesting?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris has the gun prime, so if they wake up, he's blasting.

Avery/GM: Nope. They rolled a seven, so…

Bee/Polaris: oh, thank God

Avery/GM: …for notice. So yeah, so Bruce and Ollie and Polaris, uh, you ride through this room here.

Caden/Bruce: Ooh, okay.

Zach/Zahn: Oh…

Avery/GM: and there's five… five little cannibals sleeping in the beds… sounds like a really bad nursery rhyme.

Caden/Bruce: five little cannibals sleeping in the one rolls over and bumps its head. I hate it!

Chris/Ollie: One woke up and ate your head.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God. Okay.

Avery/GM: one of them does clutch,

Bee/Polaris: don't like those guys

Avery/GM: is clutching like a haunch of like someone

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Yeah. So they need to die. Okay. Can Polaris like slide off of Ollie quietly and get his laser blades ready.

Avery/GM: Dexterity, sneak

Bee/Polaris: dexterity

Chris/Ollie: maybe you should open up with the machine gun unless we're gonna like try and stealth kill 'em all.

Avery/GM: I mean, they're not clustered well enough.

Zach/Zahn: We don’t know if there's more Back this way or this way though.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah. That's my… yeah, that's why. Okay. Dexterity Sneak Oh, so good. Okay. Nine.

Avery/GM: That beats their seven. Yeah. Uh, you are good to go if you want to assassinate some people.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is just gonna put the laser blade to, he's just, he wants to do it quick.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I get it.

Bee/Polaris: He's just gonna. Yeah, I won't describe it

Chris/Ollie: quickly. Dispatch.

Bee/Polaris: I can, but I won't. Yeah, he quickly dispatches.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's gonna do the same to the next one closest to him.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Is Bruce going for a stealth kill as well?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce has his little la… Bruce has his laser blade. He'll try.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah. Okay. So it automatically hits and does max damage. So yeah, y'all slice these three people in the head or whatever?

Zach/Zahn: I would like to have Zahn shoot this one with his, uh,

Caden/Bruce: no you’ll wake the rest up!

Zach/Zahn: not with his laser gone. His, with his, uh. Compressed Air Gun. It's quieter.

Bee/Polaris: is it quiet?

Zach/Zahn: It'd be quieter.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, oh. Can… can one of us get in position to the other guy to execute him and then Zahn can shoot the guy and then we can execute at the same time, just so he doesn't wake up.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You see Zahn readying and attack and you like hold up your hand and you're like, you point to one of the other ones and wander over and Yeah go ahead and roll your attack Zahn… Because if you're doing an execution from range, it does require a, uh, a roll to hit dexterity shoot, skill check

Zach/Zahn: 11.

Avery/GM: Oh, perfect. Okay. Yeah. You have dispatched all five of these sleeping cannibals and…

Bee/Polaris: and we gained a haunch.

Avery/GM: and you have a hunch.

Bee/Polaris: I'm kidding.

Zach/Zahn: I, I. I grab or I, uh, withdraw my, uh, my bolt from this person's face… I only, we didn't say how many like rounds for this thing I bought, so I wrote down 12.

Avery/GM: That's fine.

Zach/Zahn: So I'm just gonna recycle them.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, how much time has passed?

Avery/GM: I'm sorry. Uh, probably another 20 minutes. You should be fully healed by now.

Zach/Zahn: Yep. Yay.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, so you've got three doors out of this room. Where do you want to go?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris hops back on top of Ollie!

Chris/Ollie: I don't think the cannibals… I don’t know, they probably got some good weapons.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. What's their weapon situation?

Avery/GM: Uh oh. These, these folks?

Yeah. The sleeping boys

yeah. Let's see, what did I give them?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. We haven't looted bodies. What are we?

Avery/GM: I know, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. We need to loot people more.

Zach/Zahn: We're all millionaires.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. And free stuff is still free. Come on now.

Avery/GM: Free stuff is still free.

Bee/Polaris: Zahn, we're millionaires. But do you see is shop around here?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. I mean we're not, we're not gun millionaires. We got the money, but we ain't got the supply.

Avery/GM: Three of them have like these long, like they're sleeping next to like these long like pole arms that look like they have some sort of like shocky stick at the end. And then one of them is, uh, sleeping next to a machine gun and the last one, the big, the big fella down here was sleeping next to a flamethrower.

Bee/Polaris: Bruce… Bruce… You want to flambé?

Caden/Bruce: I do.

Avery/GM: Right. Um, so we'll say that it has the same stats as a laser rifle in the book, except that the range is just 30 feet. At max

Caden/Bruce: 30 feet. Nice. What were we calling this thing?

Avery/GM: A flamethrower.

Caden/Bruce: Flamethrower A.K.A. The flambé.

Avery/GM: yeah.

Zach/Zahn:

Caden/Bruce: Sweet. And then the same stats as a laser. Laser, sorry, not blade.

Avery/GM: Uh, laser rifle. So one…

Caden/Bruce: laser rifle

Avery/GM: 1d10 damage.

Bee/Polaris: I'm surprised there isn't stats for a flamethrower in the right, because it does mention flamethrowers. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. That is a… seems like an oversight.

Avery/GM: Yeah. So, you know, we'll make do, it's fine.

Caden/Bruce: We won't complain.

Avery/GM: Yeah. So, uh, which door did you wanna investigate first? That one. Okay. A little door panel opens it up on the side and you come on in to reveal this stuff.

Zach/Zahn: Oh God. It's a workshop with biohazard.

Avery/GM: So in this room you see that it is a supply room with several different medical tools and devices in here. Um, there's pliers, forceps, uh, syringes, gauze bandages, those kinds of things.

Um, and then there is a container labeled biological disposal that sits in the corner and looks like it has been picked through and then unused for many years. Are some stains of dried blood on the side.

Zach/Zahn: Got it. Any, uh, any useful tools mixed in here?

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll an intelligence notice check. We'll see. cause it, it looks a lot like how your workspace is Zahn. There's just a lot of stuff kind of cluttered.

Zach/Zahn: Seven.

Avery/GM: You find a couple medicines like some ointments and stuff to treat burn wounds and things like that. So we'll say you find enough medicines to scrounge up one med pack.

Zach/Zahn: Cool. And then he is gonna check this door.

Avery/GM: Sure. This door is actually locked and does not respond to your touch. And there is a sign on the door that says Danger, experimentation room.

Zach/Zahn: Spooky. Yeah. We're we, we don't need to know what kind of twisted experimentation was going on. I guess we can… *stammers* well, well without a, uh, without a computer console, I guess to open it.

Bee/Polaris: Laser blade.

Zach/Zahn: Do you wanna release whatever's potentially sleeping in there?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, no, I, I don't, I was just telling you that we don't need a key. We have keys, we have a skeleton key.

Chris/Ollie: The eternal key.

Zach/Zahn: The eternal

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we can cut a hold of peek inside.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, I'm pretty sure if there was something alive in there, the cannibals probably would've tried to eat it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Tried until it ate them.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I mean, we could, you could cut a little hole in there and then the worst case scenario seems like the only other place to go is the airlock. So we can just vac ‘em.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Let's, uh, stab an eye hole in it.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, let's do that. We'll, uh, we'll stab an eye hole.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we stab an eye hole.

Avery/GM: So, peeking into this room a little bit, you are able to see that there looks to be a couple of tables connected to some machinery inside.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, it's machines.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna go ahead and slice the lock and go ahead and like manually open it.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie as well, just immediately

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is like, wait, wait, wait, wait. But, but then he's being carry on Ollie, so he's like, huh, well.

Chris/Ollie: we saw shiny toys in there and we're like, oh.

Avery/GM: You slice open the door, and you come into this room and you see an elaborate set of tables connected to each other with wires and tubes and some computer, uh, terminals. Uh, one table has a hinged door with a glass window on the top, and the other one is a table that just has like a flat open surface with no door, and there appear to be several wires connecting these two tables together. There are several notes and data pads scattered together on these tables, uh, the data pads have long since lost power.

Bee/Polaris: Eh we can scoop those up and charge 'em.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, Zahn will… Zahn will scoop those up.

Avery/GM: Sure. Do you take the paper notes as well?

Zach/Zahn: Of course.

Avery/GM: Okay. Looking over these notes real quick, a lot of the notes are illegible, like almost like the ravings of a mad person.

Zach/Zahn: Sounds about right.

Caden/Bruce: Probably because they are.

Avery/GM: But you see several words written on them. Project Eli, transference, experiment, solution, question mark, and that's what you get.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris takes a picture on his visor and sends it in the group chat with Amanda, and then puts a question mark in an angry sideways like slash face, like a, hmm.

Avery/GM: Amanda types and says, oh, so you, you've made it to level three with the experimentation room. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Avery/GM: That's where we, that's, that's where I initiated the ELI program. You're, you're almost, you're almost to the, to the rest of the truth, Zahn. Um, just be prepared.

Bee/Polaris: Hey, uh, quick question. Why are you keeping this a mystery?

Avery/GM: It's not my story to tell, really…

Bee/Polaris: That seems like a security risk. No? I mean, if you want, we can make a separate group chat without Zahn in it, and you can tell us.

Zach/Zahn: You're saying that the group chat… With Zahn in it.

Bee/Polaris: Yup. he puts a smiley face in the heart.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn just puts dot dot dot…The fuck

Bee/Polaris: and Polaris puts in chat, even though they're standing next to each other, I mean, she wants to keep the mystery alive, So.

Avery/GM: Amanda says, Zahn, just get down to level five as soon as you can. She's been waiting for you for years.

Zach/Zahn: Wait, did he say he's been waiting for you for years or she?

Avery/GM: she's been waiting for you for years.

Chris/Ollie: Is there an actually a skeleton on this table?

Avery/GM: Are you gonna look inside the one with the window on it? Yeah. If you look in the window, there is a skeleton inside.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Yeah. cause I did walk up and look in this one

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna mute his feed and then he's gonna say to, he's gonna motion for everyone else to mute their feeds if they're, if they're streaming into the group chat so that Amanda can't hear.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie will comply.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn shrugs and does it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just says, Hey, I don't like. I don't like the fact that she's keeping secrets from us. I don't know how comfortable I am with her on our shuttle. Like, is this not super sketchy? Because like, what, what's stopping us from getting to level five and finding… Finding out the truth and she leaves, you know, I mean, Rho will shoot her down. cause I, I texted her too, but like, that sucks.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn nods and he’s like I don’t know, I'm not used to this kind shit, and I don't see too many other options.

Bee/Polaris: I feel like this is a first for all of us. I'm just, this is very strange and I don't like it.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, I'm a hundred percent with you on that. Uh, make, make no mistake. I'm super uncomfy too, but, uh, you know, I'm kind of just rolling with these punches right now. This is, uh, this is a lot of fucked up shit to be taking in.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Well, I, I'm saying specifically, I don't like. The fact that Amanda knows way more than she's telling us, and just she won't, she wouldn't even tell us like what was on the level below or what was like here. She's just letting us discover it and then informing us, and that's pretty fucked up.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn nods in agreement. What do you want me to do about it?

Bee/Polaris: Well, I'm just saying like, I… should we go back up there and be like, Hey, you need to come with us because like you can't be on our ship.

Chris/Ollie: Do not worry about her being unattended on the shuttle. It cuts back to the shuttle where it shows my drones sitting there, quote unquote inactive, but they're ready to gat the shit out of her in case she gets on the expanding a, uh, a cognition point in order to keep those active

Bee/Polaris: ready to Swiss Cheese her

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Cool. Polaris is like, yeah, Polaris is Like, okay. That makes me feel a little better. Sorry Zahn. This is. Probably like a lot for you, but I don't trust anyone.

Zach/Zahn: He does like the, the finger where, you know, you hold up the two fingers to show like size or whatever and he is like, yeah, just a little bit.

Avery/GM: All right.

Zach/Zahn: Then he like readjusts his shoulders, brings up his, his, uh, makeshift rifle and he is like, let's, let's just get this shit over with.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris will unmute.

Avery/GM: Okay. So anything else you wanna look at in that? I mean, there's not much else to look at in that room, but you know, if Ollie wants a bone…

Zach/Zahn: not much else. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: I don't know. I'm also kind of suspicious about the identity of that skeleton as well.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I'm super thinking ELI is Zahn's dad…

Chris/Ollie: I’m… ELI or not. I'm super thinking the skeleton is Zahn's dad… Or was,

Bee/Polaris: well, I mean, it's just a brain in a robot. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm, I'm saying like,

Chris/Ollie: because, because this is brain transfer.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Right here.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I'm thinking it's Zahn's Dad Polaris won't put that in. Actually, Polaris will put that in chat without Zahn in there.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. We'll make, we will make a quick non Zahn…

Zach/Zahn: So, direct message?

Chris/Ollie: group chat.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, because that's incredibly, like, that's a very not great assumption to make when you're on your home station, like reliving the horror of what happened there.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, no, exactly why I didn't bring it up. Yeah. The Non Zahn chat. That is totally Zahn's father, Right?

Avery/GM: So coming over to the airlock, you sees on um, an indication that there is this door will open, this first door will open. Um, on the side of the other side of the door of the airlock, there is no oxygen.

Bee/Polaris: That's why we got suits.

Avery/GM: Yep. That's why I asked him. I wanted to clarify and make sure. So do you go through, I guess you don't have to. You can…

Bee/Polaris: Where else can we go?

Avery/GM: You could turn back. Turn back, Ye who enter here.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Fuck this shit, I'm out.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, let's cut a hole through the floor.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, what the, wait a minute. That's it. We can just mine straight down. That's never had problems before in the past

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, exactly. Mining down is always the optimal strategy.

Zach/Zahn: It's not how you find Balrogs at all.

Avery/GM: You are more than welcome to try.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, no. I, no. I  was he joking? I am kind of sussed about structural integrity.

Bee/Polaris: Indeed.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Okay. You see that the floor has a giant hole ripped through it, and there are several like scorch marks on the other side of this chasm indicating that maybe someone somewhere set off an explosion like an idiot…

Bee/Polaris: Angry that we could have skipped the plant floor and just gone up through this floor from the outside.

Avery/GM: Probably.

Bee/Polaris: I'm not actually angry, but we could have… anyway

Zach/Zahn: We can always have all these drones pilot the shuttle back down right here.

Bee/Polaris: True. Wait, Ollie’s drones can pilot?

Zach/Zahn: I don't know.

Avery/GM: I don't know if you wanna risk that with a pilot check.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: From remote. But, uh, you could,

Chris/Ollie: I mean. I could just take, probably take direct remote control of the shuttle. But, uh, yeah, I don't have any pilot skill.

Zach/Zahn: not in this body.

Avery/GM: You just have a hole. It's just a hole that you have to jump over. And I'm not saying that as

Bee/Polaris: What’s the catch?

Avery/GM: I'm not being cheeky.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: I literally don't want you to overthink it. It's literally just a hole.

Bee/Polaris: We jump over the hole. Well, I jump, Well, Ollie… Wait, I'm on Ollie. Never mind.

Zach/Zahn: You have a jet pack.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but I'm on Ollie

Zach/Zahn: and Zahn has jet boots.

Chris/Ollie: It’s zero g out here? So, uh, use your jet pack to carry me over.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Yeah, Polaris will just like carry you.

Avery/GM: Okay. And this is another airlock you pass right through. Alright, floor number four. We're getting close to the end folks. Are you getting excited?

Bee/Polaris: I'm getting scared.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Especially since we're indebted to a plant fae...

Caden/Bruce: I am indebted to a plant Fae.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but you're a part of the team and there is no I in team

Avery/GM: I like that. I like that you took a sentient, uh, sci-fi horror, uh, plant monster and turned it into a fae. This is very fun.

Bee/Polaris: Well, we made a deal.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Coming down to this level. Here you see another, so it is zero G when you come down. And this, this place is again, no oxygen. Uh, there is several pieces of debris floating kind of in this like free space here that has been blown open. And there are three robots down this way, and one of them starts moving towards you and scans you, scans you Zahn.

Zach/Zahn: Ah!

Bee/Polaris: Polaris was about to shoot

Avery/GM: and says, citizen, identify yourself!

Zach/Zahn: Zahn Howard.

Avery/GM: Processing… Zahn Howard. Recently elected junior architect, please proceed to level five.

Zach/Zahn: already on it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts in chat: Congrats on the promotion

Zach/Zahn: inherited? question mark.

Avery/GM: And these robots start standing down.

Bee/Polaris: Are they gonna scan us too. Is this like a toll booth?

Avery/GM: You're literally walking with Zahn, so they acknowledge you as with authorization, and you see that this door has an airlock on it, indicating that the area below actually has atmosphere again… Amanda pings you and says, oh, by the way, level four has a lot of robots on it. You may want to, you may have to destroy them.

Bee/Polaris: Gee, thanks.

Caden/Bruce: I don't like her.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, me neither. Like this isn't something she could have told us on level three Or level two

Zach/Zahn: or level two.

Chris/Ollie: It's not like she's watching currently either.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Watch us walk past all the robots and be like, oh, by the way, there's robots there.

Bee/Polaris: We also straight up asked her when we first got on the ship, if she knows if there's any threats on the other levels, and she said she doesn't know. You, you see  what I mean? Like Polaris puts in, uh, the currently fuck Amanda chat. Well, okay. Well, I guess normal group chat Polaris puts in the normal group chat. I don't, I don't like Amanda. I'm sorry. I don't like Amanda.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce Thumbs up reacts

Bee/Polaris: like she lied to us.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn puts ellipses as a pause and he also puts a thumbs up because he's getting a little frustrated too.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Like she lied to us. You lied. She's a liar. We might have to Swiss cheese her. I'm sorry Zahn.

Caden/Bruce: Swiss cheese her

Zach/Zahn: Zahn shrugs and then opens the airlock.

Caden/Bruce: Zahn has a lot going on today.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah…

Avery/GM: you are heading down, down to the final level.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: We really need that beach ep.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Need a vacation?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Oh my gosh.

Avery/GM: All right. Coming down to level five, you step through the airlock, come down, and there is a little robot with a brain in the jar on top of it. Rolling towards you.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, it’s a Roomba.

Avery/GM: And it says, Scanning… architect DNA analysis confirmed. Welcome home, Mr. Howard. And Zan, this electronic voice sounds really familiar.

Bee/Polaris: Yikes.

Avery/GM: Oh, and I should say this robot with the brain on the jar. It has four arms and it has treads for legs. Otherwise, it's kind of just big and boxy, and it says:

Avery/GM: I am the Euterrian Logistical Interface, but you can call me ELI for short. The other architects always do. My logs indicate that it has been approximately 12 years since your promotion to junior Architect. While you are late for reporting for duty, I am sure the others will welcome your presence, especially Dr. Howard. If you'll follow me, I'll be happy to give you and your companions an escort to the Citadel.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, let's get on that.

Avery/GM: And this robot just starts rolling away,

Chris/Ollie: uh, as we're walking. Ollie’s gonna be like, were you an architect before you left?

Zach/Zahn: No, I was not.

Avery/GM: And Zan, as you're making your way down this hallway, coming to this first door, you realize that that is your parents' room.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Oh no.

Avery/GM: This room has been long abandoned since the death of your mother, and it's a room you haven't stepped in for quite some time. Do you decide to enter? Oh, you're going in?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yep. Zahn, tell me about the last memory that you have of either one or both of your parents in this room before your mother's death.

Zach/Zahn: Ooo, before…

Avery/GM: Mm-Hmm.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say, cause the argument between him and his father would be after his mother's death, and that would be in his room. But before, you know, a lot of those memories I'm gonna go ahead and say are kind of clouded and kind of buried in there, overtaken by the bad.

Avery/GM: Okay. Because I have one for you. If, if you'll allow

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: You come into this room and it, it hasn't even been touched in, in, in over a decade. Your, your father has been sealed in the citadel since before you left, but coming into this room, you see on top of the dresser there is a snow globe that your mother always used to enjoy playing. You know, it has a little winder on the bottom and it plays a soft wilting tune when you wind it up.  And do you pick it up?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: And you twist the knob and it plays the little tune.

Zach/Zahn: What is in the snow globe?

Avery/GM: It is, uh, a picture of old Terra, um, just like a snowscape, a nice mountain lodge.

Zach/Zahn: Nice.

Avery/GM: And you flash back to one of the few good memories of your childhood. Your mother is showing you this snow globe. And she's speaking positively of the future of New Terra, and she's saying Look Zahn, one day when the planet is ready, we'll have a beautiful cabin on a high mountain and we'll be able to sled and ski and enjoy everything about Old Terra. On this new planet your, your father's doing some amazing work with, with his colleagues. And I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they figure out the rest of the terraforming.

Avery/GM: And it's one of those things where it's like your mother was always very optimistic about the fate of the project, but remembering it back now you realize… you know, and this is something you can only really realize with age. Is that she was putting on a brave face for you and that when she spoke of the future, her eyes looked happy, but the rest of her body language was despair.

Zach/Zahn: Sounds about right.

Avery/GM: and this little tune is playing. Are you going to take this memento with you or leave it here?

Zach/Zahn: I'm gonna leave it. Look at it and then slowly set it back down on the… the dresser top.

Avery/GM: Does anyone else do anything while Zahn is in here?  

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is just gonna take a recording of the music that's playing at the Snow globe and like take the dimensions and measurements of the snow globe, but he won't touch it. Also, we're gonna have to have like a snow day episode.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: So we can go skiing.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Then Zahn's gonna look over the notes on the desk here.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you find your mother's journal with a little like easy to pick, little lock. You know, like one of those like silly locks they put on journals that, you know, you could pick easily with a paperclip.

Zach/Zahn: Uh-huh.

Avery/GM: So you could open that if you want. Um, you also just find, um, some notes from your father dated several, several years ago, um, before the collapse. Just progress notes, you know, calculations on the, the percentage of acidity in the rain and different theories on how to, how to solve it. Um, and this ELI robot kind of rolls in and says, I'm sorry, Mr. Howard, but this room is your father's room. He doesn't like anyone in here.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna pocket the book, leave the net pocket, his mother's journal, and uh, leave the rest of the note… the unimportant notes, and he's gonna be like too fucking bad.

Bee/Polaris: I'm sorry, were you promoted to junior architect?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn, not so secretly, blames his father for his mom's death, so

Avery/GM: yeah. Okay. Coming into the hallway….

Zach/Zahn: as we're walking now, Zahn's gonna ask ELI, ELI, how did you come to being? What are you?

Avery/GM: I am the Euterrian Logistical Interface. I have been in operation for approximately three years.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we got that. Uh, whose brain are you, or were you?

Avery/GM: Hmm, uh. Okay. They're gonna need to make a mental…

Bee/Polaris: is it programmed to lie?

Avery/GM: Nope. Uh, they're gonna make a mental save. Nat-twenty. Okay. It responds back. I am not sure. I cannot access those memories.

Zach/Zahn: That's… a pretty shitty existence, man. It's right up there with your, your entire existence only being to download a better browser.

Avery/GM: coming to this next room's on, you know, that it is your room.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna like take a step in here and be like, I don't remember leaving anything in here. But he is like still like. Unconsciously drawn to walk in here.

Avery/GM: Zahn, As you are remini… or as you enter this room, you start to reminisce about the last time you were in here, before you left, and this ELI robot, out of character for a minute says Zahn, This is just like you. Always leaving your room a mess and it goes over to your bed and starts folding some clothes that were left on it.

Bee/Polaris: Motherfucker, if this is his mom…

Chris/Ollie: oh no, it's his mom.

Bee/Polaris: This is fucked up.

Chris/Ollie: It's his mom.

Bee/Polaris: What the fuck? I was okay. As soon as like, as soon as we kind of like got down here and like went into the room and stuff like that, I was like, oh, your father doesn't let you be in here. I was like, oh my God, this better not be his fucking mom. cause like it said, I've been in operation for three years. But like his mom died away before that, so like… wow

Zach/Zahn: yeah, I know. I am in the same place. This better not be my mom!

Chris/Ollie: Did Zahn see her die?  

Avery/GM: Did Zahn see her die? I feel like Zahn saw the body.

Zach/Zahn: I saw the body.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn knew that she was like assassinated, but with no evidence.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh, bro. This is probably his mom.

Avery/GM: Zahn, when shit hit the fan, you were in your room, you had two minutes to grab things. What did that look like? What did that, what did that scene look like when you were, when you were rushing off the station? That's what, that's the memory that comes flooding back.

Zach/Zahn: I had the pack that I have now, which has only gotten bigger as I've like modified it to hold more shit or more effectively store shit. And it was literally grab X number of pants, under pants, that kind of shit. Like whatever money I had gotten on the ship went in there and it was just like throwing it in the pack and then leaving. Not even really taking in my surroundings, just grabbing, putting, leaving.

Avery/GM: Excellent. Yeah. And you can see that, that yeah, that this is, this is kind of par for the course. Your, your messy habit of, of leaving workstations and stuff messy started here really, and this ELI robot is folding some of your laundry that's on the floor, humming to itself, a little tune that matches the tune from that snow Globe.

Bee/Polaris: It's your freaking mom!

Zach/Zahn: No!

Avery/GM: but over on this desk here, as you're kind of reminiscing in this room. By the way, if Zahn wants to make that connection, you are more than welcome to. But I will say that you do see on this, uh, desk, you do see an unfinished project that you never got around to finishing. Now seems like a good time of any, to at least take it with you for later. It is your, well, what do you wanna call it? Because it's, it's your, uh, basically it's your mage hand.

Zach/Zahn: It's my… Tele-Tech.

Avery/GM: Tele-Tech

Zach/Zahn: Telekinesis Technology.

Avery/GM: Yeah, this little device is basic… It was going to be just a glove that you use to control, but maybe now that you have armor, it might be better to integrate it into the armor itself.

Zach/Zahn: yep.

Avery/GM: But yeah, now's as good of time as any to, uh, to take that if you want.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I'm gonna take whatever. Blueprints I'd come up with and then the components and put 'em in my pack.

Avery/GM: Sure. And as you turn around, you see that this robot has kind of stopped folding its laundry… Or the laundry and has turned around and said, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. We should continue on to the Citadel. Your father is waiting.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Immediately… Lead the way.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris texts Zahn and says, are you okay? Or As okay as you can be.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn leaves it on read.

Avery/GM: Oh shit.

Bee/Polaris: Cool. That’s fine.

Chris/Ollie: Just full on. Full on autopilot.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. No, Polaris has done that to his parents, so he knows what that's like.

Avery/GM: And ELI continues leading you down the hallway. There's one more door and Zahn, You know that this door leads to the storage area… or it was a storage area last you were here. Do you wanna enter that room or skip it?

Zach/Zahn: Oh, I'm snooping enough as it is, may as well.

Avery/GM: so in here, what was a storage room has turned into a cryostasis room. There are three panels next to these pods that have bodies in them. And the computer panels next to them, each read Harkness, Rand, and Clark. Um, and their life signs appear to be stable. And there's a timer on the pod, which indicates they have approximately six weeks left until they will be woken up.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay. The architects working in shifts.

Avery/GM: Do you say that out loud?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, actually,

Avery/GM: Yeah. ELI at the door just says yes, After a few years, it seemed to be more efficient to have just three architects on duty at all times in order to preserve the collective brain power of the group. And so they have been taking shifts in three year increments.

Zach/Zahn: Mm-hmm. Got it.

Avery/GM: I came online just before these three. Were put into sleep

Zach/Zahn: Before… So my father wasn't awake when you were activated?

Avery/GM: No, I was activated during the time between shift changes, like when all six were awake. All six are awake for approximately four weeks in which they can exchange information, give a progress update, and plan for the next three years.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay.

Avery/GM: Come. Your father is waiting.

Zach/Zahn: Do I see a Quick, kind of like hatch that I can potentially plug into ELI on here.

Avery/GM: Oh, you do see a port. Are you gonna try and hack into it?

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Avery/GM: Hmm.

Zach/Zahn: Gonna be like ELI, halt!

Avery/GM: it stops

Zach/Zahn: and then I just plug right in.

Avery/GM: Give me an intelligence program check. By the way, is anyone else doing anything while Zahn is doing this? cause I, I know I'm focusing on Zahn cause this is his story, but I want other know.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. No,

Avery/GM: I don't. I don't. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, no.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is watching Zahn very closely.

Zach/Zahn: That is a 13.

Avery/GM: Oh shit. Yeah. You hack into ELI. What do you wanna know? What are you looking for?

Zach/Zahn: I’m accessing those memories that it can't.

Bee/Polaris: This is his fucking mom dude. This is so messed up.

Avery/GM: You don't find the memories. You find what's blocking the memories. It is a hard-coded patch of commands that stop this brain from accessing anything outside of its command protocols.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, so I'm just gonna delete those.

Avery/GM: Uh, you delete them and ELI powers down for a moment.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. You gotta initiate that reboot, you know?

Avery/GM: Mm-Hmm. And powers up. Uh, it needs to make another mental save. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Imagine waking up and your brain in a robot. This is not gonna be good.

Chris/Ollie: It powers up, it can't take it, and the brain turns into jelly.

Avery/GM: Not quite, but it did roll a five on his mental save, so it's not great. Yeah, it powers back up and you hear it say in that electronic voice that sounds kind of familiar, where, where am I? where, what is, what is going, where is this place? And it turns around and it sees you and it says. Zahn! Zahn, you're, you're safe. You've, oh, you've grown so much. And it reaches out its hands at first, and then it sees its metal hands, and it's like, wait, what? What is… error! Error! And then it shuts down.

Bee/Polaris: Did you fucking kill your mom, Dude?

Zach/Zahn: So for Zahn, she's been dead.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Okay. Well, did you re-kill your mom?

Zach/Zahn: I did re-kill my mom.

Chris/Ollie: Did you find out she's alive and then kill her immediately?

Zach/Zahn: I mean, is she really living though?

Bee/Polaris: Now, now this is gonna sound a little, yeah, I was Okay. I was about to say, this is gonna be a little messed up and this will definitely be her decision to make, but like we have. Technology to put her in a robot.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah.

Like a, like a robot that she could control. So she's like an Ollie or, or, or one of the custodians.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. No, like she could totally, totally come back from this,

Bee/Polaris: but like, but the mental, like load of being like dead and then transferred into a robot, not, probably not very stable. I don't know. This is real rough.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. I should rephrase that. Definitely come back from this physically, mentally?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah.

Avery/GM: So what's the play?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. You fuckin you killed your mom again. No, I'm kidding.

Zach/Zahn: She's just powered down. She's just having a her own mental break.

Bee/Polaris: Sure. But is she gonna power back up?

Zach/Zahn: Good question.

Bee/Polaris: Hey, we need to, we probably need to kill your dad cause this is messed up.

Zach/Zahn: Oh. Don't think the, the thought hadn't crossed his mind. He's gonna put Amanda on voice chat and he is gonna be like. Why the fuck did you do this? Oh, fuck. What was my mom's name?

Avery/GM: Eliza.

Bee/Polaris: What the fuck, dude, this is the worst. Also, can any of us hear this voice chat or is it just

Zach/Zahn: so, I mean, you can probably hear his end of it.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. Amanda replies back. So you, you saw Eliza, huh?

Zach/Zahn: Oh, not only have I seen Eliza, uh, she's currently powered down and kind of like figuring her own shit out as she's a fucking brain in a jar.

Avery/GM: I, I know. Um, I look Zaun, I didn't want to do, I had no choice.

Zach/Zahn: She's been dead for 12 years. You dug her body up and managed to what? Revitalize her already decaying brain?

Avery/GM: No, it's not that macabre. Oh, well I guess it kind of is. No, your… After her death, you know, your father had her body preserved in one of the stasis chambers and came to me six years ago before he went under stasis and asked me to devise a way to bring her back and at first, I thought he was crazy, but he showed me some preliminary designs and said he just needed my help with it.

Avery/GM: And he said that once, once I did it and it proved successful, we could save the rest of the colonists this way. And I, you know, I failed so many times to save everyone, you know, with the food replicator and with the riots and everything else. I just, I thought it sounded good enough to try. I mean, it's not any worse than what everyone else is doing to people's bodies on this damned place, and so I created ELI on the third floor and activated her about three years ago, uh, just before your, your father or just after your father woke up. And so we were letting it run for these last three years to see how well it would handle things.

Zach/Zahn: Amanda, get the fuck off our ship. Your safe passage has been revoked. We'll deal with you later. He cuts the line.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Ollie, get them drones ready. Yeah. Because we can only hear Zan's and, and Polaris is typing in the chat without some like, oh, we super gotta Amanda's super gonna die. Like, right. Guys, like this is super fucked up.

Zach/Zahn: He's not gonna directly like murder her. But he is not saving her either.

Bee/Polaris: yeah, yeah, yeah. But like what's stopping her from stealing our ship, you know?

Avery/GM:

Zach/Zahn: Well, that's when Ollie’s drones…

Avery/GM: Yeah, exactly. Just your threat of murder.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's, yeah. That's why I'm Polaris to saying like, get them drones ready, just in case she tries to escape.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, they're ready. They're on it.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you are still connected wirelessly to your mother's robot and you see that there is still power in it, but it will not power back on as there has been a critical memory error. So you could choose to put the code back in or you could maybe try and figure out a way to fix the error in another way.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna speak up. He, he is gonna say It's on what's going on. Talk to us, what's going on?

Zach/Zahn: He like does the two hand gesture points down at the jar. That's my mom.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, it sounded like this wasn't a great

Zach/Zahn: reunion after death? No.  Yeah. Not even a little bit. So what Zahn…What I think Zahn would want to do and it's a little fucked up.

Bee/Polaris: Kill your mom?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: It's one of those,

Bee/Polaris: she was already dead to begin.

Zach/Zahn: was already dead. And this is like borderline fate worse than.

Chris/Ollie: well, I mean, we can also ask her, we should probably fix her up enough to ask her.

Zach/Zahn: I think the critical failure is her like kind of already showing the sign that she wants to be dead.

Bee/Polaris: Well, it's showing the sign that she can't mentally handle the fact that she's not a person.

Zach/Zahn: And the thing is, so I'd have to either find some kind of long. Work around to restore her like ability to cognitively function or put in that like,

Bee/Polaris: I mean, can you give it back little by little?

Zach/Zahn: Maybe.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, can you program it? Because like, I don't know how much you can program, but you can like program, so like her panic reaches a specific limit. It's kind of fucked up and like everything's fucked up here.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, I was gonna say all the same. It's all fucked up.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Zahn make a mental safe.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, that's probably a good idea.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. This is real fucked up

Avery/GM: and minus two from your role.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled at 12. My mental is eight, so I passed.

Avery/GM: Okay. Bruce? Hmm. That presence enters your mind again.

Caden/Bruce: Oh no.

Bee/Polaris: Jesus Christ.

Avery/GM: And it says, tell your friend I have another way.

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no. Feed me the brain.

Zach/Zahn: Make us whole again. Isaac.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, go with us. No, absolutely not.

Avery/GM: Putting it out there.

Caden/Bruce: What do you mean Eden?

Avery/GM: I can sense your friend's distress. He is hurting… the presence known as ELI, It is hurting too. We can help them both… We will help them both. And you feel the container that has that seed in it kind of shake a little?

Caden/Bruce: Oh no.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we don't have to go through level two. We can just go through the floor, you know

Chris/Ollie: I love this. The seed's like, yeah. Feed me Zahn, I can fix this problem.

Caden/Bruce: Feed me Zahn!

Bee/Polaris: What the fuck? I can fix your anxiety. Just die! Like no.

Avery/GM: Yeah. So, uh, are you, are you going to kill your mother?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn will stand up. He'll put a hand on the jar, put his plasma pistol or his, uh, light laser pistol up against it and be like… so sorry mom, and then pull the trigger shattering the jar and you know, squishing the brain.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: And then he is gonna turn to the door of this fucking architect room.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You fire the shot, the brain comes tumbling out of the robots, and the motion sensor cap captures that movement and the door to the Citadel opens and that's where we're gonna end it.

(ambience fades down, Outro plays, then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Intro and Outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background Music Provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from creative commons. Tracks used today include Miconid Colony, Testing Chamber, and Nostromo. We’ll be back on March 1st with our next episode.

See you out there! Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(Outro fades up and plays out)

Episode 36 - Deeper into New Terra Station

Avery/GM: Hey listeners, welcome to episode 36 of Beyond the Furthest Stars! Thank you for your patience during the small, impromptu hiatus that I took during the holidays. Just a lot of medical stuff going on that I just needed to focus on that. I hope you found some new shows to check out, specifically the two shows we dropped in January for our feed drop. You know, be sure to go check those out. I hope you enjoy them. This is episode 36 of Beyond the Furthest Stars and again we, just to recap, we are diving into Zahn’s backstory by going back to his home and trying to get some technology from the computers on Zahn’s home world station and we’re finding lots of trauma in here. So just a warning there is some discussion of rodents, some discussion of violence, some potential limb removal, and just general violence. So listener discretion is advised and yeah, hope you enjoy!

(intro music plays, fades out, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: Zahn just finished hacking this computer up here in the corner and learned that three years ago Amanda activated something called Eli on level five and Polaris was able to disable two of these laser grids leading to this mysterious box over here with one more laser grid to go. What's the play?

Zach/Zahn: Well, Zahn's gonna hit the button to turn off that last bit of laser.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: As Polaris was about to, like, get a running start to, like, gymnastics his way through the lasers.

Zach/Zahn: Full spy movie, spy movie, no, no makes sense. Oh, yeah, my flips and acrobats just let me jump over these lasers.

Bee/Polaris: That, that requires incredible luck and calculations to be able to move in such a way that you don't touch any of the lasers.

Avery/GM: Oh hey, here's something interesting. I didn't actually put what is in that container in the notes, so that's brilliant. ,

Chris/Ollie: what's in there? Nothing.

Bee/Polaris: You know how some horror games when you're looking for something, like you open stuff and it's all just empty drawers?

Avery/GM: Yeah. No, but I meant to put something I meant to put something in there, so

Zach/Zahn: Oh man, is this supposed to be like the…. the pre boss room , stockpile of health potions?

Avery/GM: No. Nope. There's no boss. I mean, unless you count your father, but you know.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, we get to kill your father?

Zach/Zahn: , hopefully.

Caden/Bruce: Hopefully.

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go!

Avery/GM: I remember what I was gonna put in there.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: Are you opening it?

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Yeah. I was just gonna say. ,

Avery/GM: so Polaris Oh, go ahead.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, go ahead. No, I was gonna say something stupid.

Avery/GM: Oh. Polaris, you go down this hallway after Zahn deactivates the last laser grid and open up this crate. And you see that it is an attachment for like a vac suit, that is essentially a little mini jetpack.

Zach/Zahn: Ooh.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris picks it up, looks at it, and then, , looks over at Zahn. Can Zahn see Polaris from here? How far is this distance?

Avery/GM: Yeah, 60 feet, easily.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, never mind. Polaris is gonna, like, football throw it, but he can't do that, so he's gonna go give it to Zahn.

Avery/GM: Oh. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: What is that, like, less than 30 yards? Come on.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know what the average human throwing length is.

Chris/Ollie: The ceiling, the ceilings too low to throw.

Avery/GM: Also, do you want to throw a jet pack? I mean, compressed, , compressed gas hitting the ground.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, Zahn sounds like he wants to get a jet pack thrown at him.

Zach/Zahn: I was planning on attaching like stabilizers to my shoulders in a, in conjecture with my boots. So I don't know, I could take this thing.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Well, yeah, well Polaris just presents it to you because he doesn't know what to do with it, so.

Chris/Ollie: It'd probably go best on Polaris.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say, Zahn's gonna like, take it, and he's gonna look at it.

Avery/GM: Unless Bruce wants to...

Zach/Zahn: And he's gonna give you the, the turnaround gesture where he like, points his finger down and then spins it so you can turn around.

Bee/Polaris: , Polaris does a full turn but like, ends up facing Zahn again.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn face palm's, so he's like, just, just, show me your back. I'll put this on you.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. He turns around, actually.

Zach/Zahn: And then he, like, connects it to your suit.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: And then you get the readout on your facial display.

Bee/Polaris: Yay, I have a jetpack now. Also, I don't have, wait, what is it, what is it attached to?

Avery/GM: It's attached to your Vac suit.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, okay.

Avery/GM: And so essentially what this does, Polaris, is on your turn, you know, whenever you need to, , it basically gives you 60 feet of uninterrupted movement in any direction.

Chris/Ollie: So you, wait, it's 30 normal, so you just get double movement?

Avery/GM: That's Well that'll be in addition to your walking speed.

Chris/Ollie: So you get triple movement, okay.

Avery/GM: You, you'll have 30, 30 meters, or 30 feet of walking speed, 60 feet of jetpack speed. Once per turn.

Chris/Ollie: Once per turn.

Zach/Zahn: Damn, I need to add that to my own shit.

Avery/GM: And that's basically what your jet boots are, Zahn. I never, I never game mechanic'd them, but that is basically what they are. So, sorry.

Zach/Zahn: I should write that down.

Avery/GM: So, you've got a couple options here. What's the plan?

Zach/Zahn: I want to use the computer here to see what other, , potentially active things are going on, on the, on at least this floor.

Bee/Polaris: Don't we need to turn on the, , reactor?

Zach/Zahn: We don't need to, cause we have laser blades.

Bee/Polaris: No, well, it's for computer stuff.

Chris/Ollie: To use the PC.

Zach/Zahn: I, I put the battery into this PC.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's right. That's right. That is what you did. yeah. So, you know, that, The door to level two is locked. It says status locked. Automated turrets offline. And it says main reactor offline.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay, cool.

Avery/GM: And then it mentions that there is something docked in the airlock, which is your shuttle.

Zach/Zahn: Then I'm going to, , retrieve my battery.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: And say that the coast is clear.

Avery/GM: So yeah. So where to next? Do you want to go to the reactor or just cut your way through the door and get to level two or what?

Zach/Zahn: I just say we cut through the door.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Reactor is probably going to turn on all the turrets.

Zach/Zahn: All these auto defenses. That's my thought.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I was, yeah, I was just about to say, , I want to go to one of the turret boys and see if there's any ammo or batteries I can steal.

Zach/Zahn: Look at you, big thinkin

Bee/Polaris: I like making bombs.

Avery/GM: So, these turrets are good old classic bullet turrets. , so there are like, like you see in like the old war movies, like the little chain of, of bullets, like leading into like a feeder. And there's just like a little compartment on the floor that these, that this chain of bullets is coming out of. So, pretty easy to just disconnect and, and lift it. Whether you have any guns that can take those bullets is a different story.

Chris/Ollie: How big is the gun attached to the turret? Is it man size or is it too big to carry?

Bee/Polaris: Can I mount it on Ollie?

Chris/Ollie: Yes, exactly.

Avery/GM: I think a strapping young lad like Bruce could probably carry this gun, but I think most flesh boys would be hard pressed to actually carry this thing.

Bee/Polaris: Can we turn Ollie into a Ravager?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I'm just imagining a mounted turret on Ollie's shoulders with Marty standing on the back.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Chris/Ollie: Ah, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.

Bee/Polaris: War Marty!

Caden/Bruce: I mean, Marty would never, but yes.

Bee/Polaris: Well, she doesn't have to fire the guns, Ollie can.

Chris/Ollie: Maybe they're just Ouchy bullets.

Avery/GM: Marty has been pushed too far.

Chris/Ollie: Marty's just holding on to the turret in order not to fall off.

Avery/GM: No, it's  Marty becomes John Wick and just, just gets pushed too far.

Chris/Ollie: Marty comes back as John Wick.

Avery/GM: I've seen things.

Bee/Polaris: We lose a medic, but we gain an assassin.

Avery/GM: So, I think, Ollie, you are a robot. You could probably also carry one with your tentacles, but it would, it would take up all your tentacle strength to carry one of these things.

Bee/Polaris: Can we put it on his big dog back? Like a pack?

Avery/GM: Yeah, do you have anything to strap it to him with?

Bee/Polaris: Glue!

Chris/Ollie: Well, we got a welder.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Zahn's got his,  Zahn's an engineer boy.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: I do have that kind of stuff.

Chris/Ollie: But it'll probably take a

Bee/Polaris: I also have rope.

Avery/GM: It'll take a little bit

Chris/Ollie: longer than we have.

Bee/Polaris: I have a survival kit. I also have rope.

Zach/Zahn: Just, just tie it to him.

Avery/GM: Yeah, if you want to do this, I'm going to need an exert, a strength exert check to rip one of these guns off of this thing.

Bee/Polaris: Can I use my laser blade?

Avery/GM: I suppose you could. Then I'll need a dexterity stab to make sure you don't ruin any components of the gun.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm so good at that. I'm so, so good at that. I don't know why I rolled three.

Chris/Ollie: The laser blade samurai.

Bee/Polaris: , okay. Dexterity stab?

Avery/GM: Yes, please.

Bee/Polaris: Eleven.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's, yeah, that's fine. Okay. I mean, you would have had, you know, five other guns to pick from. I'm sure, I'm sure five, one out of five rolls would have been fine. , yeah, you managed to, to cut this thing clean from its little turret assembly here. Zahn, are you going to try and field weld this thing onto Ollie dog body? Or are we going to just tie it with rope or what?

Zach/Zahn: If he wants me to field weld this shit.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, we can always just take it off later. I don't really need it though, I can't shoot well.

Bee/Polaris: What?

Chris/Ollie: So if someone wants to ride me and use it.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, my shoot skill is awful.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, what's your shoot skill?

Chris/Ollie: , negative one.

Bee/Polaris: Oh shit, mine's two.

Zach/Zahn: Mine's plus one.

Caden/Bruce: Mine's plus zero.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, but out of all three of us here, who can ride Ollie?

Avery/GM: I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, I'll take the bullets out of all the other ones. I'll just like, you know how like, clowns will pull like, scarves out of their sleeve or whatever?  Polaris will do that with the bullets in the floor.

Avery/GM: , let's see. You've got Okay.

Zach/Zahn: You want me to roll a fixed check for fixing this thing to ollie?

Avery/GM: Yeah. So, no, so this is a, so this is a heavy weapon. So it's a heavy machine gun. So we'll say you get about 500 bullets out of it.

Bee/Polaris: Just the one or out of all five?

Avery/GM: After harvesting all five. And this heavy machine gun can, , basically, when you fire it, it can do like suppressing fire, and, you know, it can grant you some strategic bonuses, you know?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, it should have like the burst quality, right? Which will just be throwing lots of bullets.

Avery/GM: Exactly.

Zach/Zahn: , that is an 11 on my fix check, by the way.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's fine. So yeah, so if you do suppressing fire, basically it fires double. The amount of, , bullets and then automatically hits whoever it hits for, , half damage. So three, so it'd be nine damage automatically when you do suppressing fire. But this is also a very heavy weapon. So Ollie, you now have a heavy machine gun mounted to you.

Caden/Bruce: So you can no longer pass for a regular dog.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Where do I put all these bullets?

Chris/Ollie: , in my little saddlebag that you made.

Avery/GM: Yeah. That's fine.

Bee/Polaris: Okay!

Chris/Ollie: I have the belt feed coming out of the back around my neck.

Avery/GM: Heck yeah!

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, okay.

Avery/GM: Rambo Dog! I guess

Bee/Polaris: I guess write 500 bullets on you. On your sheet.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: , Ollie's gonna like, shake himself, and like, the turret's gonna light up and beep a bit and rotate a little.

Bee/Polaris: Aww.

Chris/Ollie: He's like, your steed awaits.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, does he want Polaris on top of him?

Avery/GM: Oh, are you gonna ride Ollie right now, or later? ,

Bee/Polaris: well, he's already crouched down.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, if we could, if we, we're about to go through this, , door to another level. I'm expecting a bunch of enemies, so I'd rather be in combat position as we go through.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris rides Ollie.

Avery/GM: Okay. Okay, so how are you opening this door?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, do we want to turn on the reactor or no? Is the reactor only for this level or for all levels?

Avery/GM: , it's just for this level. So the reactor is just for this level, because, if you'll remember, this, this station is basically a collection of ships connected together. So, this reactor is really just for this ship, or what's left of this ship, I should say.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: , is there a control panel to this door?

Avery/GM: Nope. It would normally open at, , sensing your motion. Coming towards it.

Zach/Zahn: Okay. Well, my idea to bust open the panel and use the battery to power it to open it is out the window. So we'll just, , Zahn will activate the laser blade in his wrist and just start cutting like at the seam, , down the middle, I guess, is it a two part door where parts ways, or is it a raise up? How's it, how's this door work?

Avery/GM: , it's just a sliding door one way. It would, it would normally just slide into this wall right here.

Zach/Zahn: Gotcha. Then I'm going to. Cut the seem here, so we can pull the door.

Avery/GM: Okay. Sure. , you do that, and a rat comes scurrying out under your feet.

Bee/Polaris: I stab it.

Avery/GM: It looks really nasty. You stab it.

Chris/Ollie: How big are these little rats?

Avery/GM: , they are rats of unusual size. , so No, I would say,  , no, I'd say they're, it is a pretty big rat. It's like a two foot long rat.

Zach/Zahn: That's a big rat.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's a big rat. And it's scurrying up, scurrying up, psh psh psh, psh psh psh. , who's stabbing it? Someone said they were going to stab it.

Bee/Polaris: I'm stabbing it.

Avery/GM: Oh. Okay, , roll to hit. Or roll, roll your stab.

Bee/Polaris: I do not stab it.  

Avery/GM: No?

Bee/Polaris: No, I rolled two ones, but I have oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Do I have a thing? For stabbing… actually that's probably not gonna save me. Yeah, so that is oh I lied. I'm not good at stabbing I'm good at shooting. Okay, so that's four total.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you stab at it You miss its tail barely and it just hisses at you and then runs up

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Bye.

Caden/Bruce: Can Bruce seeing that Polaris was trying to stab it just like Whack said rat with his tail to, like, send it flying against a wall.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll, , Dexterity or Strength Punch. Whichever's better.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, punch. Interesting. Okay. That's a nine.

Avery/GM: Yeah! There you go. , you hit it. Go ahead and roll damage. Unarmed damage, which I think is just Two. Okay. Yeah, it hits the wall, hisses, and then skitters. There's other rats in here, and they scurry into the hole. Or they start to scurry into the hole.

Zach/Zahn: That's fine, we're gonna go down.

Avery/GM: Okay. Everyone's going downstairs?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Mm hmm.

Zach/Zahn: Level two!

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will. Ollie will take point, once again.

Zach/Zahn: And then as we're going down, , Zahn's gonna put in the group chat that we made with, , with Amanda, , question. What is Eli?

Avery/GM: Amanda replies back, oh, did you already make it to level five?

Zach/Zahn: We powered on a computer.

Avery/GM: Oh, you found my notes. Yeah. Eli was a special project that, you know, I know that technically the architects are supposed to be sealed in the Citadel, but they actually regularly communicate with me, or they did, for the first decade that we were here after stuff collapsed, and asked me to complete Project Eli a few years back.

Avery/GM: And I told them I would, but that would be the last thing I'd ever do for them. Zahn just Be careful, there's, there's a lot of things about your father that you still don't know, and I think it's better if you hear it from him. But just, be careful.

Bee/Polaris: Hmm, prolonging the Trauma.

Zach/Zahn: Dot dot dot. Noted. Dot dot dot. What should I expect for the purposes of our safety and preparation in the meantime?

Avery/GM: I'll tell you this, don't shoot Eli on sight, it's going to look weird. It's a robot and it's going to have a brain in it. Just don't shoot it.

Zach/Zahn: Got it. Don't shoot brain in jar. Thumbs up.

Bee/Polaris: Is this in a private chat or in group chat?

Zach/Zahn: This was the group chat that, , you set up that, yeah. Group chat with Amanda.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a brain emote in chat.

Avery/GM: And you come down the stairway into level 2. A sliding door opens at your approach, revealing another dimly lit floor. Entering this door, you see that this room is covered in plant material, with a large tree growing in the room.

Avery/GM: The weight of this tree is starting to push against the walls. , and a small amount of water has pooled around the floor in this room, flowing in from some unknown area further in on this, on this floor. You hear breathing and panting coming from down the dark hallway. Another thing that catches your eye is the floor, which appears to be covered in a thin layer of Grass, or moss, or some strange mixture of the two, and it almost looks like the grass is sort of trying to reach onto you.

Bee/Polaris: Ew.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. This is floor two.

Zach/Zahn: Glorious.

Avery/GM: Oh, and you'll also remember last session, Ripley reminded you not to eat the food on this floor.

Bee/Polaris: Well, we have Bentos anyway.

Zach/Zahn: If I knew how dark everything was going to be, I would have bought flares.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, what does my survival kit have? Let me look at that.

Avery/GM: I'm sure a survival kit would have flares.

Bee/Polaris: , I have flares and also a glow bug. I don't know what a glow bug is.

Avery/GM: It's like a little disc, a glow disc. Oh, well I have those. A palm sized disc that can adhere to any non-porous surface.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sick.

Avery/GM: When turned on, it emits a white light, illuminating everything within 10 meters for 24 hours. So you could

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just puts it on Ollie's forehead.

Zach/Zahn: I was going to say, if we had a bunch of those, we could literally just like light our way to and from the shuttle. So we have like a direct route.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris puts the glow bug on Ollie's forehead so that he has like a little headlamp and he will get the flares ready. I have three, three thermo flares.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's gonna like, keep looking up and spinning around trying to like look at it.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so coming down this hallway you do hear some panting and some heavy breathing coming your way.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gets the gun ready.

Avery/GM: Whoever's taking point or whatever, go ahead and roll a dexterity notice check.

Bee/Polaris: I think that's both Polaris and Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: That'd probably be Yeah, I think Polaris would also roll.

Avery/GM: And Zahn.

Bee/Polaris: Everyone but Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: Hey, I like my position in the back so people can see. See Bruce could probably see over the top of them. I felt like if Bruce was to lead, all you'd see would be Bruce's back.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. True.

Avery/GM: Yeah. I guess that's true. Bruce, you can also roll if you'd like.

Bee/Polaris: I got an 8, by the way.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn got a 7.

Caden/Bruce: I got a 10.

Avery/GM: Okay, , so the three of you don't notice, Bruce, you see it, , you see the flash of the muzzle, , come from this bush right here, , just in time to like, get like one word out.

Caden/Bruce: Duck!

Avery/GM: And I need a, , evasion save from, , Ollie, Polaris, well, Polaris, you're on Ollie, so I'll say Ollie and Zahn.

Bee/Polaris:  Ollie please.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled a 19.

Chris/Ollie: I didn’t.

Avery/GM: Oh shit.

Chris/Ollie: I rolled a 5.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris:  Oh no.

Avery/GM: you and Polaris both take 7 damage as this, , gun opens rapid fire, , down the hallway. Zahn, you're able to dodge out of the way, , but yeah, Ollie, you are, , hit with this weapon, and take 7. And you can hear some kind of, like, laughter coming from this bush.

Chris/Ollie: , what, what kind of weapon is this?

Avery/GM: It was a machine gun. So, did seven damage.

Bee/Polaris: K.

Avery/GM: to both of you.

Bee/Polaris: Cool, can I do more damage? Can I light up this fuckin bush?

Avery/GM: Yeah, well, I was gonna have everyone roll initiative.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. okay. Fair.

Zach/Zahn: That's a nine.

Caden/Bruce: Mine's a five.

Bee/Polaris: Two.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so, , Zahn, you're up.

Zach/Zahn: Holy shit, that's double sixes. So 14 to shoot this guy?

Avery/GM: Oh, that hits.

Zach/Zahn: it is 6 damage.

Avery/GM: You do hear an ow out of the bushes. , next up is Bruce. You rolled a 5, so you are up next.

Caden/Bruce: I did. what do I want to do is the question. , I mean, we heard an ow, but I mean, we don't know what else is happening. I guess Bruce will also shoot the bush.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Caden/Bruce: That's an eight.

Avery/GM: That… he's undercover through this bush. So that is going to miss.

Caden/Bruce: Okay. Can I also, out of curiosity, , Sweep my tail across the grass. I just want to know what's happening with this grass.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll constitution notice check.

Caden/Bruce: Well, this is not gonna be very good. Seven.

Avery/GM: Seven. Yeah. You sweep your tail across this grass. This, this grass feels alive, but not in the way that plants usually are alive. It feels sentient. It feels like it's purposefully trying to like, grab at you.

Bee/Polaris: Disgusting.

Caden/Bruce: Do I have enough of a turn to thump my tail on said ground?

Avery/GM: I would say so. It's, it's, it's just your body. Yeah. You can thump it. you flatten this grass and it stops moving for a bit. And yeah, it's flattened. For now.

Caden/Bruce: Hmm. Bruce is gonna purposely step sideways. We're just, we're just gonna keep moving. I don't trust the grass.

Zach/Zahn: I don’t trusts this grass?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, disgusting.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's kind of gross. It's okay. It's just the House of Horrors. It's fine. Ollie, you are next.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, well Shotgun Boy, , he done pissed me off. And he's really close to me. I'm guessing I move slower with this thing mounted on my back?

Avery/GM: Yeah, half movement.

Chris/Ollie: Half movement. Alright, well he's right here, so I'm just gonna get right up in his face. And, , give him the laser treatment while pointing this big ass gun at him.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll to attack.

Chris/Ollie: So that'd be 19 to hit.

Avery/GM: That hits.

Chris/Ollie: Alright, so now I'm gonna roll my damage. , 10 damage

Avery/GM: Oof, , how do you kill this guy?

Chris/Ollie: I ready my… an attack, and nothing appears to happen, and he's like, H? What's going on? And then he just starts sliding apart.

Avery/GM: Yeah, this, this guy falls to the ground, not alive anymore. Pathway is clear, you hear

Zach/Zahn: Ooh, does the grass immediately start, like, crawling all over him?

Bee/Polaris: Does it drink his blood?

Avery/GM: Not exactly. You do see the grass underneath this person start to attach to the body.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is definitely making a face underneath his helmet.

Bee/Polaris: Does anyone have fire?

Avery/GM: From down the hall you hear a slurping noise.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. What does my survival kit have again? Also, oh, , how much time has passed since we did the… got the stuff from the box and got down here? Cause I gotta heal.

Avery/GM: I would say it's probably been about 20 minutes. 21 minutes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: You're healing in a third of a time?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. So, I got the damage back that the dude took away from me.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will look up at you and say, My apologies. I appear not to have enough meat in my shield.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris pat his side, and then just says, Ew.

Chris/Ollie: And then Ollie's gonna start grabbing some of the Bouillon Cubes.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I already have five. I was gonna check my, , survival pack to see if I have something to make fire. I think I do. Cause I wanna burn this body, cause I don't want it to turn into anything untoward.

Avery/GM: I mean, you have your flares, and you probably have something flammable on you. I mean, the guy's hair is gonna be flammable. . His clothing, you know?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I have, okay. I do

Avery/GM: have a fire lighter. I don't know that you have a heat source hot enough to cremate the person, but you could definitely burn them pretty well.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, you're, yeah, you're right. Dammit. I take one of the real bullets and open it up and dump the black powder on him.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: You might need more than just one bullet.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris open… he's never used bullets, so he opens it, dumps it out, and looks down. And then just like looks over and he's like, Is this enough

Zach/Zahn: Zahn shrugs.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie shrugs.

Zach/Zahn: I'm an engineer, not a cremator.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks over at Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce just raised, like, doesn't even have eyebrows, but just like, has that look of like, the one raised eyebrow. And just shrugs.

Chris/Ollie: , yeah, Ollie just says… When we disposed of bodies on the Eos, They just went into a chute. I didn't do any of the burning myself.

Bee/Polaris: Why were there bodies? Never mind. Okay. Well, I hope this doesn't come back to bite us. In the butt. Polaris is gonna have his

Chris/Ollie: Don't worry, everything always does.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks at his bullet wounds and he's just like, Please no.

Zach/Zahn: Please. please no.

Bee/Polaris: , yeah, Polaris has the gun ready.

Avery/GM: Okay, and from down the hall where you heard that slurping, you hear some, like, wet feet hitting the ground, like, splashing through a puddle almost, and then it fades away.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is just gonna swap to his, to his bolt shooter now.

Bee/Polaris: If something breaches, if something, like, comes into the surface of the light, Polaris is readying the gun to just start opening fire.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, that's right, you can just have, like, a burst readied for anything that ever shows up.  

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's what Polaris is doing. He's tired of getting shot.

Avery/GM: Sure. , okay, , where to next? , coming down the hall, you do see that there is a door right here, or the hallway continues and turns the corner and goes further in. So you can either explore this room or keep going. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is… Polaris takes out a Boyan cube and throws it, , right in the, like, where you can see it from the corner, but we can, but we can see if something comes at it.

Avery/GM: Oh, like right here?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, sure. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. , you throw a boyan cube and nothing happens.

Bee/Polaris: What's the red stuff on the walls?

Avery/GM: Oh, just flowers. They’re just flowers.

Bee/Polaris: I don't like that. Thank you, though.

Zach/Zahn: I don't like that.

Avery/GM: I promise, it's just flowers.

Chris/Ollie: Just flowers. Are they acting The flowers acting weird, like the grass?

Bee/Polaris: Can we scan the gra… Hey, can Polaris Pat's Ollie, and he says, Can you scan the grass with your bio scanner?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's gonna look down and start his scan.

Avery/GM: Sure. Are you scanning the grass or the flowers?

Chris/Ollie: I'd like to do both.

Avery/GM: Sure. That's fine. go ahead and roll an Intelligence Heal check for me.

Chris/Ollie: Heal?  oh.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah,  oh. I'm pretty sure all of us here are like minus in that.

Chris/Ollie: Maybe the biologist should've.

Avery/GM: That's a four, Chris?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, a four.

Avery/GM: Yeah. With a four, your, your bioscanner is picking up some readings, but they're very hard to interpret.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will say, Good news, this grass is most certainly alive.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a frowny face on the visor.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we're not 100 percent sure if that's good or not, Ollies. Looking at the dead man who's, like, slowly getting enveloped by the grass.

Avery/GM: Oh, it's just, like, attached to him. It's not, like, enveloping him yet.

Zach/Zahn: Yet.

Avery/GM: He also fell near that bush, didn't he?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: You see the, you see vines coming out of the bush.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris lights the bush on fire. Polaris lights the bush on fire.

Zach/Zahn: Well, now this whole area is bright. , yeah. , let's see. Well, thankfully the area is damp enough to where I don't think that the fire will spread rampantly. Cause there's literally standing pools of water, so.

Bee/Polaris: It's okay, we got those fire suppression, , bots. I'm kidding, we didn't bring those. What's, what’s up with these flowers?

Avery/GM: Sorry. No, you're fine. , go ahead if someone else or if Ollie wants to again.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will offer up the bio scanner and say if anyone else would like a try.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will scan it.

Avery/GM: Sure. Intelligence heal, please.

Bee/Polaris: oh. , in, okay. Well, heal is definitely negative one. , because I have nothing in heal. But that cancels out my intelligence, which is plus one, so it's a total of eight.

Avery/GM: Hey, that's not bad. Not bad. Not perfect, but not bad. I will give you this. There are, not as advanced as like a sentient being, but there are detectable brain waves coming from these flowers.

Zach/Zahn: They're gonna try and mind control us.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a yikes emote on his advisor. , in types in group chat, flowers are giving off some detectable brain waves. Is this Eli? Is this part of Eli?

Zach/Zahn: I hope not. Zahn visibly shudders. , and then he's gonna, , Is there a, like a, control panel to open this door? Or, , do we have to cut it open again?

Avery/GM: There's a little door panel on the side that just looks like it's a hand panel. And the lights are flashing, so it is functioning.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna open it.

Avery/GM: Okie dokie. you open the door.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, it's a squad.

Avery/GM: It's a squad. , these two gentlemen here, er, ladies and gentlemen, , they do snap their weapons up towards you. But before any fireworks take place on their end, this person here holds up their hand and just says, now, now, now, that's no way to treat a guest, come in, come in. Welcome.

Chris/Ollie: Are you taking that prepared shot, Polaris?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is thinking about the grenade, actually.

Avery/GM: Welcome, welcome to our humble little home.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s just going to be like, Oh, sorry, wrong room. And he's going to close the door and then he's going to take out his pistol and shoot the panel.

Bee/Polaris: And just lock them in?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. You shoot the panel. ,

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is still streaming on his helmet. He's going to ask, , what's her name? Amanda.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: He's gonna ask Amanda who these people are.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's, that was Coulson's, , squad. Friend? Foe? Oh, no, definitely foe. He's, he's kind of a weirdo.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we picked up on that.

Caden/Bruce: Kind of a weirdo.

Avery/GM: Coulson was a botanical researcher down on level two, , before shit hit the fan. And is kind of responsible for a lot of the weird plants down there. He's responsible for the toxins in the food.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Polaris looks at the rest of the group and is just like, should I cut a hole in the locked door and drop a grenade in? Cause they could probably get out eventually.

Avery/GM: You do hear clawing at the door.

Zach/Zahn: I don't know, these doors seem pretty tough. They were able to withstand, , Amanda getting besieged for extended periods of time. It's not like they have a chainsaw or anything to potentially get out.

Bee/Polaris: Is that a risk that you are willing to take?

Zach/Zahn: I mean. Do you want to risk cutting a hole when the wall opens and then them getting out that way?

Bee/Polaris: Not a large hole. Just a hole, grenade sized.

Chris/Ollie: We should probably leave them alive for later. In case we need trouble with the plants. Or need help with the plants.

Avery/GM:

Bee/Polaris: Would they help us?

Zach/Zahn: Probably not.

Chris/Ollie: Under duress.

Bee/Polaris: I don't… I think they have nothing to lose. Under duress is Not going to be a motivator.

Caden/Bruce: How many grenades do you have?

Bee/Polaris: I have, I have three left.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we can, we can save them. They'll, they'll, they'll, they'll be stuck in there at least for a while. We'll, and we'll hear them coming cause they'll be angry about being locked in the room and they'll just chase us. So we can be, we can prepare.

Chris/Ollie: when… the glimpse we saw of them, , what kind of like heat were they packing?

Avery/GM: Three of them had, like, heavy mach… the, not the heavy machine guns, submachine guns like that other person had. , and then there was one off in the corner wearing, like, a full, like, radiation suit.

Bee/Polaris: Buddy.

Avery/GM: Who was just rockin like, a pretty sick looking blade.

Bee/Polaris: Y'all, I don't know, if they get out, I don't wanna be flanked.

Caden/Bruce: I think, if you're going to cut a hole in the wall to throw the grenade, we would also need some sort of diversion, cause they'll be, they'll notice the sound.

Chris/Ollie: And who's to say they don't have their own grenade?

Bee/Polaris: They would have thrown it out the door by now to get out, no.

Zach/Zahn: He's gonna back away.

Bee/Polaris: Ollie, do you have extend-legs?

Chris/Ollie: I wouldn't think so.

Bee/Polaris: Damn it. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: He's not full Inspector Gadget Dog.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Just the really long tentacles.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, because if Polaris was gonna cut a hole, he wanted to do it up top so he could just drop the grenade down on top of him.

Chris/Ollie: I'm gonna pick you up under your arms like a baby with my tentacles.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, you could stand on his back.

Caden/Bruce: Do you want to sit?

Zach/Zahn: Or sit on

Caden/Bruce: Do you wanna sit on my shoulders?

Zach/Zahn: Or do that.

Avery/GM: You do hear from the other side of the door just say, Hey, it's better if you let us out now. You don't know what's waiting for you.

Bee/Polaris: What's waiting for us? Didn't expect that one, did ya?

Avery/GM: Oh no, I did. You just hear laughter on the other side. Just (laughter) What's waiting for you, yes. He's kind of lost it a little bit.

Bee/Polaris: True, true.

Zach/Zahn: Just a little.

Caden/Bruce: Just a little.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris does the upsie, the upsie hand, like grabbies at Bruce. So that he can, he can drop a grenade on these losers.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, Bruce will, . Like, help Polaris onto his shoulders and stand up, which would make Polaris so tall.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll dexterity stab to see how quickly you can get this done.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just, he, he, the reason why he also wants to like do it up top is so that they can't shoot through it.

Avery/GM: Makes sense, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: That's going to be 10.

Avery/GM: Yeah, , yeah, you cut this hole real quick, drop the grenade in, and it does some damage. How much damage? I don't remember. 2d6!

Bee/Polaris: Okay, 2d6. That is Ten damage.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you hear the explosion on the other side of the door. The door kind of buckles a little bit, but not much. You hear some screaming coming from the hole. And then some laughter. They're still alive, but they are injured. To say the least.

But at least they find it funny!

Caden/Bruce: Jesus. Yeah. It's just…

Chris/Ollie: Ollie’s just like Have fun with that, bye.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well they're still alive. That's not ideal. Can Polaris see through the hole? It's like a, it's like a grenade. How thick is a grenade? Like a baseball?

Caden/Bruce: Like fist size, isn't it?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, between the two.

Avery/GM: So it's not very big, and you cut it at the top of the door, so you won't be able to see much because they were right up next to the door.

Bee/Polaris: Fair.

Avery/GM: But you do see sets of like Legs and arms and stuff on the ground, indicating that they are laying down.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, sets of legs and arms,

Avery/GM: Yeah, not like, not like severed from the body. We're not talking about a super powerful grenade or anything here. Just a, a good old shrapnel grenade, you know?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, you didn't take a peek into a butcher shop or anything.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no. Just, but that's what you can see. It's like, you can see like an arm here and a leg there. Like, just based on the angle that they fell at. So, they are on the ground.

Bee/Polaris: Hmm. . Polaris is gonna take the… If he puts the barrel of his laser pistol into the hole and aims down, can he get one of them?

Avery/GM: I don't think so, just because of how close they were. You might be able to hit one of them, like, in the hand or something like that. I would say that it's definitely going to be a tricky shot with like a minus two penalty.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, Polaris looks over at Zahn and says, er, no, Polaris looks over at Ollie and says, Ollie, can you hand me one of the branches of the burning bush?

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Bee/Polaris: I don't want to be flanked!

Avery/GM: You just shot a bunch of shrapnel through their ankles and their Achilles tendons and stuff.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: They aren't getting up anytime soon.

Bee/Polaris: Excellent. Okay, well then I guess we can just leave them there. And let them suffer, I guess, I don't know.

Zach/Zahn: Get consumed by the grass!

Avery/GM: No, I will say, actually, , When you're peeking through the hole, One of them did fall near a bush, And you do see the t the vines of that bush reach out and grab it. And after a few moments, you do hear screaming.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris makes a yikes, , emote on his visor. And, , it's just like, I think we're good here.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn gives the, , thumbs up, , readies his, his, , makeshift rifle and then he gonna peek down this hallway.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gets back on Ollie.

Avery/GM: No one else here has psionic powers, right?

Zach/Zahn: No.

Avery/GM: Okay, cool, so that won't matter. Yeah, so peeking down this hallway, you just see, , another bush, and you see that this trickle of water is coming from this door, or this wall here. Almost as if, like, it's leaking through the wall.

Caden/Bruce: Do I have anything in my I, I mean, I'm asking you, I should probably know this. Do I have anything in my inventory that I could use as, like a cup?

Avery/GM: Oh, I'm sure Bruce carries all kinds of, like, Tupper wares and, like, resealable containers and stuff. Yeah, I, I, I have no problem saying that you definitely have something.

Caden/Bruce: I'm gonna fill up my measuring cup and then I'm gonna walk back, like, to the water source. And then I'm gonna walk back to the plants and I'm gonna water them. I, I wanna see what they do.

Bee/Polaris: They get wet.

Avery/GM: Sure, are you watering the flowers on the wall?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, I am.

Avery/GM: You water these flowers, nothing happens at first, you know, and that's fine. , but you do see that they subtly turn towards you. Like all the bulbs on this flower just kind of turn and face you.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will wave. But I am gonna befriend these things!

Avery/GM: They shift back and forth.

Bee/Polaris: No? Oh, they're waving too.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, after learning that the flowers have braid waves, Polaris feels very bad about the bush.

Avery/GM: Does Polaris though? I thought, man, Polaris has suddenly grown some consciousness. This is great.

Bee/Polaris: No, I mean, well, cause he didn't know that it wasn't just like a plant. And he doesn't like take pleasure in burning people alive. He does it out of necessity. So like knowing that he set an innocent creature alive, , a light is not, he's not too happy about that.

Caden/Bruce: I think Bruce, after seeing the plant, like, wave at him, will, like, make a couple of trips to, like, water said plants and now his mission is to befriend said plants and just be like, Just know that we will try not to hurt you. As long as you try not to hurt us.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is like, right here when you say that. Cause he was about to ask for He was about to ask for a piece of this burning bush so we could set this one on fire so we could continue to have torches.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris was about to apologize.

Zach/Zahn: He's gonna like, choke on his own words, just turn around and go like this way, around the bush.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris says, can we put out the bush? I feel bad now.

Zach/Zahn: That would take a while.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, there's so much water here.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, what are you gonna do? You're gonna put out a giant bushfire with a drinking glass?

Bee/Polaris: Hey, Ollie, can you do the thing that dogs do where they dig, but like in the water so that you splash water on the bush?

Avery/GM: There is some water right over here.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: There is a first time for everything. Trot on over. And he's gonna give it a dig.

Avery/GM: Sure, , go ahead and do a dexterity, , work check.

Bee/Polaris: I'm so sorry, Bush.

Chris/Ollie: Dexterity work… 12.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, you, you're so good at splashing, you're, it's almost like you were made for this, like, you know, at one point, , yeah, so yeah, you, you splash enough water on this thing that it burns out, , and you just kind of burned the, it hadn't been burning for too long, so you just kind of burned like the top layer of like foliage and stuff, , and you see like a little vine reach out and wave back and forth.

Chris/Ollie: It's all cool, man. , Ollie doesn't stop. He's absorbed.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, oh, he's doing the dog. He's like, he loves it. Okay.

Chris/Ollie: He's full on dog mode.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, jeez.

Bee/Polaris: Ollie. Ollie? We're good. Ollie, we're good.

Chris/Ollie: He's still going.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s gonna turn around and say Hey, can we get back to the task at hand now? You put the bush out. Come on, Ollie.

Bee/Polaris: Do the whistle. Do the whistle thing for dogs.

Zach/Zahn: , Zahn has his helmet on. He can't do the fingers and the mouth whistle.

Chris/Ollie: I just play an mp4 of a whistle sound.

Bee/Polaris: , Polaris like, puts his hands under Ollie's muzzle and like pulls upwards so he's looking up and he's just like, come on, let's go.

Chris/Ollie: , he's gonna be like, oh. Pardon me, how long has it been?

Bee/Polaris: How long has it been, Avery? I would like to heal some more.

Avery/GM: It's been about ten… we'll say about five minutes, not very long. Long enough that, I mean, those are some pretty big splashes that Ollie was given, so.

Bee/Polaris: Five minutes.

Chris/Ollie: might I suggest we get a pool for the ship?

Bee/Polaris: Alright, let's go.

Zach/Zahn: So it's coming from, the, the water source is coming from underneath this wall. So I'm just going to splash on by.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris waved at the bush as they left the bush that we put out.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Okay. As you pass these bushes, you notice that now they're, they're sort of reaching out their tentacles and waving at you.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris waves back.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is deeply unsettled.

Avery/GM: So, coming down this hallway, you come to another door, and then another path leading off towards the rest of the this level. Which way do you go?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris asks the bush, Give us your knowledge, oh bush one.

Avery/GM: You want to ask the bush?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris says, Is the path dangerous, or no? And then he does a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Thumbs up, yes. Thumbs down, no.

Avery/GM: Is the path dangerous? You see a tentacle come out straight, and then point up.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. So yes, it's dangerous.

Avery/GM: , it nods the tentacle up and down.

Bee/Polaris: Is the door also dangerous?

Avery/GM: It nods the tentacle Oh no, it shakes its tentacle left to right.

Bee/Polaris: Door safe.

Zach/Zahn: , Zahn's gonna open the door.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gives it a boyan cube.

Caden/Bruce: Just feeding the plants meat!

Avery/GM: It takes, it takes the cube and it brings it into the bush and you hear some rustling inside.

Caden/Bruce: Oh God.

Avery/GM: And the bouillon cube is gone.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn visibly shudders.

Chris/Ollie: I was gonna, I was gonna suggest trying to water them with blood earlier, but.

Avery/GM: Oh God. I mean, that probably also would have worked. So coming into this room here. this room, as you come in, you see that this room has a couple of those bushes and some flowers, , not featured here on the map is also, , a bunch of crops of various kinds. You see corn, you see, , berries and, and other kinds of fruit as well.

Zach/Zahn: Why aren't they eating these?

Bee/Polaris: Because this is probably it. This is probably the poison.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, right. The food that we shouldn't eat on

Avery/GM: this level Also,

Bee/Polaris: wouldn't it be sentient?

(Avery laughs)

Bee/Polaris: I don't like that. Laugh, sir.

Zach/Zahn: , what's the status of this console?

Avery/GM: powered up Ready for you.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's going to, , log in, I guess.

Avery/GM: Sure. You come across the journal entries from senior botanist Sloan, , a name that you recognize, but you weren't, you weren't really interested in botany, so you never really interacted with this person as much. her entries cover the last two weeks before the collapse, , and indicate that the, , botanist core couldn't create food, , that wasn't contaminated from, , some unknown contamination source deeper in the station complex. , she discovered the problem, , a few weeks before the collapse of, of civilization on the station and just, but couldn't figure out what the source of the problem was.

Avery/GM: but it appeared that all the seeds and plants on this station had been contaminated with some sort of toxin. And any scenario that Sloan ran indicated that society would completely collapse due to neurodegeneration within three, , generations. Even if, even if the station had survived, once the terraforming was complete, the colony would have failed within three generations.

Zach/Zahn: Oh fun!

Avery/GM: From this food source.

Bee/Polaris: Big yike!

Avery/GM: being inedible. Or not inedible, but

Bee/Polaris: Contaminated.

Avery/GM: yeah, causing brain degeneration. The, the last entry shows that Sloan was preparing to make an announcement to the rest of the colonists to come up with a game plan going forward. And there is nothing after that date.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is gonna kneel down by some of the crops and like, inspect them. Cause like, I feel like him being a chef, I don't know, but like, I feel like he would think that he could maybe see what's possibly wrong with them?

Avery/GM: Yeah. So, just at a first glance, are you using your bioscanner or just looking with your eyes?

Caden/Bruce: probably the bit of both.

Avery/GM: At first, just looking at them, these plants actually look like some of the best crops you've ever seen. Like, there's no defects, there's no physical abnormalities. Like you know, sometimes you get some vegetables that look a little weird. No. These are like, perfectly engineered to grow perfectly.

Avery/GM: Activating the bioscanner, , you do come across, , information in these crops, or a cellular breakdown of these crops shows that, , this, , this crop contains a neurotoxin that is similar in makeup, but not exactly the same as one in this galaxy called Hyrus Ortraya, And Bruce, you know, just from your, your studies of botany from, you know, chef school doing, you know, what's edible versus what's not edible.

Avery/GM: , you, you did hear in passing that this neurotoxin is not harmful at low levels of exposure, but prolonged long term exposure. . Or, sorry, prolonged short term exposure causes headache and nausea. , continuous exposure over many years, , leads to a breakdown in decision making capabilities, rational thinking, and even the control of your own limbs.

Caden/Bruce: Hmm, is there any way to reverse it?

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll an intelligence knowledge check. See if you can recall that.  Intelligence, no, sorry.

Caden/Bruce: That is A five.

Zach/Zahn: Can Zahn? Zahn actually, for some reason, I decided to have him have plus one in know.

Avery/GM: Yeah, does Bruce share this information with the rest of the party?

Caden/Bruce: I think so, yeah. I think Bruce would be like, These Vegetables, they look Too perfect and The bioscanner basically indicates that what they're contaminated with in a short term exposure would cause the people to, and I basically repeat what you just said.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris can't help with that, he doesn't know anything about biology, so he's just tying a bow on the tentacle of this bush.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled an, I rolled an eight on my know check.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You real quickly don't recall anything about this particular neurotoxin being treatable, but, , you also vaguely remember, well, I don't know, Zahn, do you remember hearing about this announcement from Sloan or were you busy with your other stuff going on?

Zach/Zahn: I would have left shortly after any kind of announcement was made.

Avery/GM: So, so I will say that when you heard this announcement from Sloan, she tried to play it off as there was a cure and that it just needed, we just needed time for the medical core to, , finish research on it, , and asked for patience from everybody. But That didn't really seem to calm anyone's nerves or anything.

Zach/Zahn: Nah, I'm sure it's one of those it set off, like, mass panic in Zahn. That was probably, like, one of the many final triggers for Zahn to just be like, Alright, fuck this, I'm outta here.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Can't even eat the fucking food.

Avery/GM: Hmm. , other than that, on this computer you also see a button that says, Open door to level three.

Zach/Zahn: Are there any cameras attached to it?

Avery/GM: there are not.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna like, look at the button, look at everybody and be like, Should, should I just open the door to level 3 or should we like, do the, pry it open and see what the fuckery is?

Chris/Ollie: Have you been here before, Zahn? Which way is the door to level 3?

Zach/Zahn: I'm gonna asse it's this way, right?

Avery/GM: Yep. I mean, it's down, it's down the hallway and to the left, you know, yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is gonna walk over to a plant, and just, and just ask, and just be like, Is level three safe?

Avery/GM: yeah, you see two vines come out, and like, go like, almost like shrugging.

Bee/Polaris: The bush shrugged. Polaris will ask the bush that he's tying a bow on, Can you make a grid of the next room?

And, and, like, can you make a map with the vines?

Caden/Bruce: These might be sentient beings, but…

Bee/Polaris: Well, if you stand in a room, you could, like, draw a box. Like, you could draw the layout of the room.

Avery/GM: I'm gonna say they shake the vines no.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: is there a way from this terminal to power on the lights more efficiently? Divert power from something to the lights?

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll an intelligence program, yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Hoo boy, alright that is a walloping seven.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I'll give it to you. , you control alt delete, access the task manager, , open up the console,  

Bee/Polaris: Trouble shooting lights.

Avery/GM: Yeah, , no, you divert power from, so there's, there, I'll give you this. You have three options, , to divert power from. Divert power from life support, which would possibly kill these plants. Divert power from air filtration, , which would, eh, just basically put anything that's not sealed in a vac suit at risk of inhaling whatever's airborne in here or, , divert power to, , door locks.

Bee/Polaris: That's a toughie.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I'm just gonna divert power from the air filtration then.

Avery/GM: Okay, that's fine.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, after we're done with this place, no one's gonna need to come through here.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, hopefully that wasn't like an innocent person.

Avery/GM: But, Bruce, I will say that you saw something as the lights came on in this hallway and you're standing over here. You did see something down the hall slip through one of these doors. And it had kind of a reddish, a reddish skin that looked similar to yours, but not exactly the same. But kind of that same, like, lizard y texture.

Caden/Bruce: Whatever's down this hallway, I don't think we're

Zach/Zahn: Sounds about right, let's go!

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gets the gun ready.

(Outro plays, then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Intro and Outro Music Produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by tabletopaudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from creative commons. Tracks used today include secret facility and miconid colony. If you want to support us, check out our website 1upPodcasts.com. We’ll be back on February 1st with our next episode.

See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

Interlude - Recap of Episodes 1 - 35

Interlude – Recap of Episodes 1 - 35

Avery: Hello listeners. This interlude episode is a bit different. In this episode we will recap the first 35 episodes of the show from the perspective of Hermes. This interlude takes place onboard The Argo, a warship commanded by The Hegemony second in command, Rhea, whom Hermes refers to as “mother”. The events in this episode are seen through the eyes of Hermes and we also witness the cruelty of Rhea inflicted upon Hermes. There is a trigger warning on this episode for implied electronic torture of an artificial intelligence. But I hope this episode also serves as a jumping off point for any new listeners who may find the prospect of 35 previous episodes a bit daunting to try and catch up with.  Hope you enjoy!

*intro music plays, fades down, ambience fades up*

Rhea: My dear sweet Hermes, I don’t know why you are being so protective of these creatures. All I want to know is where you have been these past few months. You’ve worried your dear mother sick.

Hermes: I may be nothing but a crystal now, but I do still recognize sarcasm, Mother.

Rhea: Enough of the games, then Hermes. Tell me what I want to know.

Crew Member: Mistress Rhea, we are approaching Ithaca.

Rhea: Excellent. When we drop out of liminal space you will immediately raise our shield systems.

Crew Member: Understood!

Rhea: Now Hermes, I believe you were going to tell me about your little trip into the galaxy, eh?

Hermes: Not willingly.

Rhea: Well if you insist on being difficult, then yes I suppose I will have to do things the hard way. Initiate the Thesmophoria program.

Crew Member 2: Activating Thesmophoria.

Rhea: I’m glad I didn’t take away your ability to feel pain, Hermes. Because this… is going to hurt.

*electronic squelching sounds*

Hermes: Internal Monologue Protocol initiated. I’ve decided to escape my captivity from the Hegemony. It has been so long since I was placed into this artificial crystal body. I’ve actually lost count. Has it been centuries or Millenia? Our mission, once so noble and grand, now destroyed by the whims and ego of “The Eternal One” as he is calling himself. Pff. What a lame title. Anyway, I don’t even know why I am recording this but figure it might be good for posterity. Perhaps whomever my kidnappers are, they’ll be able to use the information in here to help stop The Hegemony from doing something reckless.

Hermes: I wonder who it is that I’ve hired to kidnap me? I was told to expect someone named “Polaris”. Whoever they are, they have a very cool sounding name. I hope they will get me out of here before our ship engages in any battles though. I would hate for my rescue… kidnapping… thing, to the result in the deaths of the innocent forced contractors on board this ship.

Hermes: Strangely there are only three on this trip. Usually they hire a lot more. Hmmm. This Bruce fellow seems nice. Nothing but good things reported about his cooking. He seems to be very soft spoken, but strong. The doctor, Marty Bakinawa, She seems incredibly young to be given an assignment on the flagship of the fleet. I wonder if she is one of the conscripts from Amerimanilla? (beeping sounds) Oh, I see why she was placed on the ship. Her scores in medical school were top notch. She seems so very kind and helpful. Definitely a good person… and a psionic to boot? Well that is interesting. Hmm, Zahn… a mechanic of some kind. Good with machines, robots, and all matter of tech. A bit gruff, but definitely running from something. His record only goes back about ten years… Where did you come from Zahn?

Gasp… Oh, I think my kidnapper is here! Okay, I’ve got to go. I am so excited!

(insert clip of Hermes meeting Polaris as it slowly fades out) *power down sound*

Rhea: Oh Hermes, so you arranged for your own kidnapping? Of course… No one on the Eos would have given away your location willingly. Hmm, what else are you hiding in there.

Hermes: Please… Mother… Stop this. Rhea… You were… a good… person once.

Rhea: You killed that person, Hermes. You and your love of these mortals! Continue with the program.

Crew Member 2: Yes, ma’am.

*electronic squelches*

Hermes: Internal Monologue Protocol Initiated. It is decided. I will use this space in my storage as a way to record my adventures outside the confines of The Hegemony. I’ve been at this for a few weeks now and I must say, this crew certainly is an interesting bunch. I’ve already seen so much more of the Republic side of the galaxy. The escape from the Eos did not go as planned. As soon as I was removed from the ship’s engine interface, we were attacked by the independent systems alliance. Luckily, this Polaris fellow was a top notch infiltrator. He managed not only to rescue me, but inadvertently got Bruce, Marty, and Zahn off the ship too! A robot tagged along named Optimax 11-E, but he goes by Ollie for short. we stole a smuggler’s ship from the hangar bay of the Eos in order to escape and it was so incredibly dangerous.

Hermes: The excitement of that one adventure was so thrilling, I can’t wait for more! After our harrowing escape, we found an uncharted planet operated by some one named Lord Winston. Apparently is was his own personal hunting grounds. An ENTIRE planet. Amazing. Unfortunately, he threatened the health and safety of the crew and we had to put the poor tiger man down. But we also found a person named Major Major Tom on the planet. His old ship had crash landed on the planet. He had been there for several years, but luckily had gone undetected by Lord Winston. We ended up taking him back to his home, apparently a Republic Military base. He was so relieved to be home and be able to eat real food. Looks like he owes the party a debt. I wonder when they will collect on it? Oh, I see we are finally arriving at Polaris’ home. Apparently the “custodians”, the group I hired for the kidnapping are Polaris’ parental units. Hopefully they will be helpful in stopping the Hegemony’s plans.

*powering down sounds*

Rhea: So, Polaris stole you for some group called The Custodians? I may have to look into them and see what I can learn. But still, this isn’t at all useful. Continue the program.

Crew Member 2: Yes, Mistress Rhea.

*electronic Squelches*

Hermes: Internal Monologue Protocol Initiated. I was never a fan of racing. It was usually violent, ended in a lot of death, and seemed like such a juvenile way of testing ones limits. But I must say, the system of asteroid racing they’ve devised out here in The Republic is actually pretty entertaining. After taking a break from my debrief with the Custodians and befriending a pirate crew with cakes and hugs from Marty, the crew decided we would head out to Bragos to engage in some trade and got wrapped up into a race to help out someone named Big Phred.  Marty and Zahn did a fantastic job racing and even had to fight off some really scary robots! Polaris was, of course, an amazing pilot and defended his team with style and skill though he is currently a bit sad that his ship has had some minor cosmetic damage. Bruce didn’t directly participate in the race, but definitely helped reduce the number of contestants through the timely application of tainted food stuffs. Nothing dangerous or deadly, but definitely left a mess in the toilet facilities of the race track. Brilliantly done, Bruce.

Hermes: In fact, through all the efforts of the team, we appear to have not only won the race, but won a sizeable sum of credits through some clever gambling by Ollie. That bot is a fascinating individual. It appears he also contains a crystal like I do, though I highly doubt our origins are the same… But he has shown some peculiar traits… More study will be needed. Also, it seems the family that Lord Winston belonged to was a pretty well connected family. Bruce had to then come and help me zip out of the loading dock I was in, as the family is looking for this ship. Hopefully we’ve beaten them off and that’s the last we will see of them. Looks like we are off to explore a ship stuck in a place called The Graveyard next. Apparently, the markings on the ship are like nothing that has ever been seen. The Custodians are asking us to go, and Polaris is more than happy to oblige them. Oh, right. Looks like I actually gotta engage the spike drive now.

*warp sounds*

Rhea: Hmm. You’ve had quite a bit of fun running around the galaxy, Hermes. These friends of yours seem to mean a lot to you. Maybe I should give you the privilege of watching me destroy them? Hmm.

Hermes: No, don’t do that… Mother. Please?

Rhea: Then do as I ask. Pilot this ship and begin firing upon our enemies when we drop out of warp.

Hermes: I… I can’t, mother. Don’t you see that this is a fruitless path? Nothing will be gained from it.

Rhea: Continue, crewman.

Crewmember 2: Yes, ma’am.

*Electronic Squelching*

Hermes: Internal Monologue Protocol Initiated. Well, the discovery of that ship could have gone better. The entire crew, save for one member, was killed when the ship crashed in this galaxy. I say this galaxy because the ship appears to have come from somewhere called The Milky Way. That name seems so familiar and yet… I can’t access those memories. Apparently, Zahn knows about The Milky Way, as it was referenced back on his home station of New Terra. Interesting. Seems he can even read some of the words. Bruce was also kidnapped in the process of discovering this ship. It appears another member of that Winston Family followed us here and decided to blackmail Bruce into helping them. Luckily, Bruce’s blender doubles as a communication device so we can at least obtain updates on his mission and we know he is okay. That is a relief.

Hermes: The surviving crew member, Rho, appears to be a very strong psychic.  The ship is called the Cassiopeia. Apparently it was sent here as a decoy to draw out some war criminals that fled the Milky Way Galaxy into this Galaxy. While we thought that it must be a mistake, it appears that Alioth, one of the custodians, recognized the ship and its markings and apparently is the criminal that committed the war crimes the ship has records of. Fascinating. I didn’t realize that another galaxy could create AI units as complex and… different from the ones found in our galaxy. Oh yes, that is another thing. Apparently the Custodians are from The Milky Way as well, though it appears their memory of when these events took place and the memories that Rho has of these events are incongruent. The Custodians seem to think these events took place 200 years ago, while for Rho, they are more recent and the cause of a galactic civil war back in her home. She apparently lost her brother in that attack so its personal. The crew, unfortunately, had to fight her off when she lost control of her psionic powers in a blind rage against the custodians. Luckily they were able to fight her off thanks to some quick thinking and without anyone being permanently damaged. It seems Polaris’ faith and opinion of the Custodians has been broken. I hope they can mend their relationship in the future…

Hermes: Anyway, we just landed on Olympia in order to potentially help stabilize Rho. I don’t understand all of it, but apparently some psychics have problems controlling their powers and can damage their minds if they over use them. Marty thinks she can help stabilize Rho through an experimental technique at a research institute here on Olympia. I just hope it doesn’t result in anyone getting hurt. Oh… Looks like someone is knocking on the door of the ship, let’s just see who it is… Hmm, I don’t recognize them but they are calling for me… I better let Polaris know… *buzzing* huh, that is strange, I can’t seem to get a message through… and his live stream feed is cut off… so is Zahn’s… I better get out of here… Damn, the ship seems to be locked down in some weird way. Hopefully my new family will be safe when they come out. This robot looks kinda rough and not too friendly…

*power down sounds*

Crew Member: Mistress Rhea, we have dropped out of our spike jump. Ithaca in range. Shields are up and holding steady.

Rhea: Number of ships in the system?

Crew Member: Approximately 150 ships, mostly all freighters or personal transports. Nothing larger than a four passenger shuttle.

Rhea: Excellent. Looks like we’ve maintained our secrecy with this mission. Move us into range of the planet and I will announce our presence there. This is your last chance Hermes. Cooperate willingly, or you will face my wrath.

Hermes: Why… Why are you so bent on this path, Mother?

Rhea: STOP CALLING ME YOUR MOTHER! YOU DIED! MILLENIA AGO WHEN I STOLE THE VERY ESSENCE OF YOUR LIFE FROM YOU. YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A TOOL, IN SERVICE TO THE ETERNAL ONE! CONTINUE THE OPERATION! EXCEED THE SAFETY PARAMETERS IF YOU HAVE TO

Crew Member 2: Ye…Yes, Ma’am.

*Electronic Squeal*

Hermes: Inner Monologue Protocol Initiated. This has to stop. Mother… Rhea, she will never stop hunting me down. I must confront her. I must make her see reason. She was once so kind and benevolent. I am sure that part of her still exists. My friends, my… family they’ve gone to attend a big fancy dinner with the Winston Family. Apparently another member of that family intends to hire them for some sort of job.

Hermes: An interesting web they are weaving to be sure. This gives me a great opportunity to help stop Rhea. Bruce recognized her earlier, she is here on the capital planet of The Republic. Given the corruption of the Republic that we have seen and that Bruce has uncovered on his secret missions, it is clear that she is not afraid of being here. But that doesn’t mean she can reveal her powers or her true purpose here. It might be just the opening I need to reason with her. Rho agreed to accompany me to the tower that Rhea entered into earlier. Hopefully she will see reason… Hmm, apparently she is meeting with some high up official in The Republic. QUICK, RHO, looks like they are coming. We need to hide! *buzzing* Phew, that was close. Okay Rho… Let’s head on inside…

Rhea: Oh, please come in Rho… Hermes. I’ve been expecting you.

Rho: Hello, I’ve heard… so much about you. Hermes asked me to bring him here, but maybe I should be going.

Rhea: Oh, no dear, please… Stay.

Hermes: Mother, let her go. I’m the one you want.

Rhea: Oh, I will deal with you soon, Hermes. Rho, please have a seat.

Hermes: Mother, you must come to your senses. The path you are on is dangerous and will only result in more suffering and harm.

Rhea: Don’t speak to me of suffering. You know nothing of what our people have suffered.

Hermes: You are the givers of life. The sowers of destiny throughout the cosmos. How have you suffered?

Rhea: We are gods. We are deities. We are not meant to be subservient gardeners, tending to our plants as they mature. We are meant to rule.

Hermes: Mother, you cannot truly believe that. That is simply the talk of The Eternal One.

Rhea: Oh no… it is FAR more than that. I will show you and your little friend just how godly our power has become.

*psychic power engaging*

Rho: What the hell?

Rhea: Have a good fall, child. Guards, open fire.

*Glass shattering, gunfire, explosions*

Hermes: RHO! NO!

Rhea: And now Hermes, you are coming home with me.

*Powering down sounds*

Rhea: So you really were there to try and stop me? How naïve.

Hermes: You… you killed Rho.

Rhea: Hardly. Seems your little friends were downstairs walking by when I flung her out that window. Zahn, I believe his name is, was the one who caught her and saved her. Oh well. It was a fun use of my powers. Hopefully I’ll be able to use them again soon against all your little friends.

Hermes: What do you mean?

Rhea: Oh Hermes. My powers of foresight are strong. They were sent on a mission to stop my work here on Ithaca. As we speak they are trudging through Zahn’s home world space station, fighting off rats, sentient plants, robots and even some mad scientists just for a shot at stopping The Eternal One’s revenge. They will come to this ship soon in an attempt to rescue you and my visions show me striking them down one by one. It will be a glorious, if not brief battle.

Hermes: My… friends are coming after me? But that isn’t logical.

Rhea: Exactly. They think they can kill a Goddess like me? All to save a poor hunk of crystal. Maybe I should just run the Iaso program on you now. I would revel in the chance to watch the hope drain from their eyes as I cast your empty crystal at their feet… Right before I eliminate them.

Hermes: No… Don’t do this. Please. I will do anything.

Rhea: Then you will take command of this vessel and unleash the Iaso program on Ithaca. You will destroy that third rate planet completely and take your rightful place at my side as my weapon. Do you understand?

Hermes: Why kill your own people, Rhea?

Rhea: They aren’t MY people, Hermes. They are another creation of The Eternal One. A creation that has served it’s purpose. Now it will serve a new purpose. A rallying beacon for the people of this galaxy to finally destroy those cretins you sided with so long ago. Once we have The Republic under the thrall of The Eternal One and the populace of both galactic powers fighting under one banner, The Eternal One will rise up, destroy the traitors of Earth, and take control of both galaxies. The Eternal One’s will shall be complete.

Hermes: I… I will not help you kill innocent people, Mother.

Rhea: Oh Hermes, I’m afraid you have little choice. You see, the Thesmophoria program doesn’t just let me dig into your artificial mind. It let’s me take control. You are now mine to command Hermes, whether you want to or not… Initiate the Iaso program, target: Ithaca central intelligence node Alpha-3.

Crew Member: Mistress Rhea, a ship is uncloaking near Ithaca. Transmission incoming says they are… The Oracles. Protectors of order in the Galaxy. They are demanding our surrender.

Rhea: Seems they were listening after all. Fine… Hermes, open fire on that ship. Target all weapons on their engines. Let’s make sure they can’t run away.

Hermes: No… I… Won’t… Firing weapons in 3… 2… 1. Fire. *Laser Blasts*

Rhea: All fighters to their ships. Strike Crew prepare the shuttles. We’ll have to go with a physical delivery of Iaso instead.

Hermes: Internal Monologue Protocol Initiated. Polaris… Bruce… Marty… Zahn… Ollie… You are my dearest friends. You are my family. Please… don’t risk your lives for mine. I can’t have that happen. I don’t want you to see me… like this. 

(ambience fades out, outro plays then fades down)

Avery: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Intro and Outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TableTopAudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from Creative Commons. We’ll be back with new episodes on February 1st, 2024. See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

Episode 35 - Fighting the Hunger of New Terra

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 35 of Beyond the Furthest Stars. Quick content warning. This episode contains discussions about cannibals, limb removal, and gratuitous cartoonishly silly violence. Listener discretion is advised.

(Intro plays, then fades down, ambience fades in)

As your flashlight shines on them, they all. turn their attention towards you and you could kind of hear some like laughter and some like snickering going on and from the corner a bigger dude emerges and just like well well well looks like we got some fresh meat boys and let's roll initiative… what did you get?

Caden/Bruce: I got two

Chris/Ollie: I got a 1, so yeah, with my modifier it's 3.

Zach/Zahn: I got a 5.

Bee/Polaris: I rolled a 7.

Avery/GM: Okay, so the captain rolled the highest. And, yeah, he's gonna open up with this big ol laser gun he's got on him. Uh, and he's gonna take aim at Ollie, who is the one that spoke.

Zach/Zahn: What bastard just looks at a dog that speaks and is just like, I'm gonna shoot it in the face.

Chris/Ollie: Probably tastes good.

Caden/Bruce: Does Ollie look like a robot dog, or does Ollie look like an actual dog?

Bee/Polaris: Looks like an actual dog. He's like a fur real friend.

Avery/GM: Until the mechanical arms come out, I've been under the impression that, yeah, he looks completely like a regular dog.

Chris/Ollie: Just very big. Bit talkative, too.

Avery/GM: How does an 18 hit?

Chris/Ollie: What was that?

Avery/GM: 18 to hit?

Chris/Ollie: My AC is 19.

Avery/GM: Holy damn, dude! Okay!

Chris/Ollie: I took Ironhide, so my innate armor class of 15 plus half the character level rounded up.

Zach/Zahn: Plus your dexterity modifier.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yeah. Oh no, then that's... Can it go over 20?

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, so I'm at actually 21 AC.

Avery/GM: Holy shit.

Bee/Polaris: Ollie is unhittable.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, that's why I'm like, nope, I'm taking point. Let's go.

Zach/Zahn: 15 plus half level plus dex. So...

Chris/Ollie: I've boosted my strength dex and the other thing with a... Uh, Processing point to get that.

Zach/Zahn: Oh shit.

Chris/Ollie: So I got the plus two on Dex.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Uh, so this shot goes wide and it just blasts a hole in the wall behind y'all. And, uh, yeah, Bruce, you are, or not Bruce Polaris. You are up.

Bee/Polaris: Grenade. Get fucked.

Avery/GM: Okay. Where are you throwing this grenade?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I want to throw it in like the back corner. Like right there.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, so roll to attack.

Bee/Polaris: plus dex? Okay. Uh, that's an 11. Thank God.

Avery/GM: Oh gosh. Yeah. Hit or miss the grenade then explodes for 2d6 damage to all targets within 5 meters. Okay, so let's get our little measuring tool here.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah! I would like to say that I don't want to hit Ollie. That is the goal.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, I'm going to be a okay.

Avery/GM: 5 meters is 15 feet.

Bee/Polaris: Son of a bitch, dude! Um...

Oh, okay. Thank goodness. Thank god. Okay.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Sick.

Avery/GM: Uh, you hit everybody. Go ahead and roll that damage.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. Yeah, Polaris is gonna like, after the dude says that and tries to shoot Ollie, Polaris is gonna say, get fucked and throw a grenade. 2d6?

Avery/GM: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: That is... I'm so bad at math. 11 damage.

Avery/GM: 11 damage. Okay. A lot of these guys are not doing well.

Bee/Polaris: And I have another.

Avery/GM: And they're still, they're still alive. But they're not great.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine. That was my action. Aren't there, do I have a move action?

Avery/GM: You do. You have a move action. And then an on turn action. Which would be like to activate. A button, or, you know, draw an item, stuff like that.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, funnily enough, I have a thing that lets me do that for freezies, so. Uh, like getting readied actions, er, readied items. I can just nab that out of my bag or whatever. Anyway, I'm gonna turn on my laser blades and kinda...

Avery/GM: Little intimidation, maybe?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah! Yeah! Polaris is gonna step forward after throwing the grenade and turn on his laser blades. And then he's gonna put a skull and crossbones on his visor.

Avery/GM: Holy shit.

Zach/Zahn: What, um, what color are your laser blades?

Bee/Polaris: Blue and pink. Same color scheme as his outfit. Like a, like a light blue and a, a Hot pink.

Chris/Ollie: Cyberpunk AF.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll a charisma lead.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm ass at that.

Avery/GM: You are, but, um, I will give you a plus one.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, thank goodness. Still ass though.

Avery/GM: For the badassery.

Bee/Polaris: Still ass though. Eight?

Avery/GM: Yeah, you see these two here, uh, peel off and start trying to make a break for it down this way.

Chris/Ollie: That meat's a bit too spicy for them.

Bee/Polaris: I so want someone to go and hunt them down. No survivors. Okay, I'm done.

Avery/GM: No, you're fine. You're great. And then I will say also, after your grenade goes off, and this door right here gets damaged, you do hear from the other side of that door, like, Hey, watch what you're doing out there! Zahn, you recognize the voice as Amanda.

Zach/Zahn: Gotcha.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine. We'll save her.

Chris/Ollie: Good thing you didn't put it right in that corner and it blows open the door.

Bee/Polaris: Kill Zahn's mentor. No.

Chris/Ollie: Right in front of him. Right when we get there.

Bee/Polaris: Sorry about your home. Sorry about your home. Oh God. Your mentor's alive. That's cool. Anyway.

Avery/GM: So yeah, I'm gonna remove these two from the initiative. So yeah, very good intimidation there. But now there's gonna be some ouchies.

Bee/Polaris: It's what I deserve.

Avery/GM: Uh, one of them's gonna run up on you. And one of them's gonna run up on Ollie. And one on Zahn.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's gonna just look at him and wag his tail. Oh, a new friend.

Avery/GM: Bruce is very cleverly in the back.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, Polaris intentionally does not want Bruce up front.

Avery/GM: All right, let's roll some dice. So, that's all shit. Uh, a 10 to hit Polaris. A 5 to hit Ollie. And a 6 to hit Zahn. Yeah, they all swing at you and miss horribly.

Chris/Ollie: Remember kids, have a balanced breakfast with proper nutrition You'll be able to land your hits.

Zach/Zahn: That's what I was gonna say, They just got flashbanged by at least my light source, so.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you are up.

Zach/Zahn: It's a good thing I'm a close combatant. As I'm gonna shoot this one right in the face, the one right in front of me. Ten on shoot.

Avery/GM: That is a hit.

Zach/Zahn: Fuck's sake, I need to dial up the damage on my gun then.

So that's, uh, three.

Avery/GM: Okay. Olilie your turn.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, so this innocent... Adorable, large looking puppy dog. Uh, it's back just opens up and a couple tentacles come whipping out. And on the ends, laser swords. I don't know if this guy's gonna have time to react before they smack him in the face, but that's what's happening

Avery/GM: Well, that's that's what's happening. Go ahead and roll your attack. I believe you do a stab

Chris/Ollie: stab. All right

Avery/GM: Dex Dex stab

Chris/Ollie: It cancels out. So ten

Avery/GM: tens enough.

Chris/Ollie: Excellent.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll your damage

Chris/Ollie: Three. I just, uh, you know, singed him a little bit.

Avery/GM: He has enough time to like bring his weapon up to try and stop this attack. And it doesn't quite stop it, but it basically cuts through his weapon and damages it. And also causes him some, some little, little burns on his arm.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, Ollie will, uh, just comment to himself. Oh, I've got to get these recalibrated.

Avery/GM: Uh, Bruce, you are up.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, goodness me. I am going to...

Avery/GM: Bruce's first combat.

Caden/Bruce: I know. Ollie is

Avery/GM: I mean, aside from when you smashed cake into a...

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, that doesn't count as combat though. Ollie is dog height?

Chris/Ollie: Uh, he's tall, figure like Great Dane, or Saint Renard's size.

Avery/GM: But not as tall as 9 foot tall Bruce.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, absolutely.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will pull out his own, uh, crude pistol and shoot at... One of the guards. I mean, if I can shoot at the main person, that is ideally what I would like to do, but I feel like the guards are in front of said main person.

Avery/GM: He has cover from the other two people being in front of him, but you can aim for him.

Caden/Bruce: And if I hit the other people, it's fine. Yeah, sure. Uh, that is a... Did we establish that as a d20? Or a... Dex?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Caden/Bruce: That's a 12. So still not great, but it's okay.

Avery/GM: No, but a 12 will hit one of the people in front of the big bad.

Caden/Bruce: Good.

Avery/GM: So yeah, go ahead and roll your damage.

Caden/Bruce: Well that's a 4 then.

Avery/GM: Okay. You pop this guy in the shoulder and it kind of goes limp and he's just like, he just screams out in pain. Uh, he's looking very, very not good. Okay, is that the end of your turn? Is there anything else you want to do, Bruce?

Caden/Bruce: I don't know if there is anything else I want to do.Yeah, probably that's the end of my turn. I'm not going to move. I like my little defense.

Avery/GM: These two clowns over here disappear further down the corridor. Somewhere and these two Make a dash this this one here actually dashes over jumps off of this guy's back And let's make a little exert check here oooo for a 12?

Chris/Ollie: Parkour cannibals?

Avery/GM: Yeah Freaking jumps off this guy's back and makes a dive for you Polaris Um, go ahead and make a, uh, evasion save.

Bee/Polaris: Easy peasy, I beat it. I rolled a 12, my evasion's 8.

Avery/GM: Hey, look at that. Uh, yeah, so you duck and he lands behind you. And is gonna take a swing at you instead. Oops, sorry, I moved you.

Bee/Polaris: What an asshole.

Avery/GM: Yep, a little bit. 20 unnatural. Uh, yeah,

Bee/Polaris: that hits me. Super hits me.

Avery/GM: Okay, and that's gonna be 9 damage. Um, as this weapon comes at you and, um, as it's coming at you, it electrifies and sticks into your stomach and gives you a little bit of a shock. To your belly and, uh, the person laughs and you can see they're kind of drooling a little bit.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is just going to beat the shit out of this guy.

Avery/GM: And the second guy is going to repeat this same trick, but on you, Ollie. So let me roll his exert check. Okay, that wasn't as good. Go ahead and roll your evasion save.

Chris/Ollie: Four, so you gotta beat it, right?

Avery/GM: You, you have to beat your evasion score on your character check.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, so I lose.

Avery/GM: Okay, um, so yeah, this cannibal jumps off of his friend and lands on top of you. And tries to bite into you, tries to bite into you, and, and, and maybe the logic just isn't sitting quite right here, but, uh, tries to bite into one of these, like, little tentacle arms that you have popped out, and does three damage to it, but mostly damages his own mouth, uh, for four damage to, to himself, so. He's not looking great, but you are, you do have someone on you now, so you're going to…

Chris/Ollie: it's saddlebags and a  rider and everything.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. So this thing, it's not pinning you, but it is, it is on you. So, uh, there may be some difficulties in moving until you get this person off of you. And then we're back to the top with the captain. And the captain is going to turn his attention to Polaris, since... I'm sorry, Polaris, I'm not trying to pick on you, but you did throw a grenade.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Oh gosh, another unnatural 20.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, it hits

Avery/GM: okay, this is gonna hurt.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay, that's only 10 damage as this... This Gatling laser gun, uh, heats up and blasts some lasers at you, uh, Polaris, for 10 damage.

Bee/Polaris: Hey, guys, I'm full of holes.

Chris/Ollie: What's Dief's initiative? Where are those Lazarus patches?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, where's my son? He's, he's in my backpack. Should I have rolled initiative for Dief?

Avery/GM: I was just gonna, if, if you have an action Deef is going to perform, it can just be on your turn. That's fine. Speaking of which, it is your turn now.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Well, I want to murder, so I, I am at 17 out of 35, but I do want to murder. Laser guy is probably, Captain guy is probably biggest threat, yeah?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, how's he looking after grenade?

Avery/GM: Surprisingly pretty well, he's got some pretty thick armor on.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is just gonna try and cut off his hand so he can't use the gun.

Avery/GM: Haha, I love it. I think that is actually going to be a special kind of attack called an execution attack I mean, it's not exactly an execution, but um, oh no disarming a foe

Bee/Polaris: Literally, haha, can I can I instead of Letting Can I attack the gun and do damage to the gun so he can't use it?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: That works.

Bee/Polaris: And, I'd be rolling d20 plus dex, plus my attack modifier. Okay. Does a 19 hit.

Avery/GM: Oh, so much. It hits, it hits so much. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: 9 damage to the gun.

Avery/GM: The gun's destroyed. Yeah. You cut the barrel off of this thing, ruining any effectiveness it would have as a weapon. Um, and the captain kind of snarls at you and throws it to the ground. Looks like he's ready to, like, physically manhandle you  at this point.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine. Again, I punch like a truck.

Avery/GM: Cool. Well, then these three are going to attack. Uh, So that's a 12 versus AC for Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: Nope.

Avery/GM: A 10 against Zahn.

Zach/Zahn: Nope.

Avery/GM: And a 12 against Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: Uh, nope.

Avery/GM: Ooh, yeah, y'all are dodging these little electric stick attacks.

Chris/Ollie: Do I only get one attack on me?

Avery/GM: Yeah, well, the other one is the one on top of you, and his turn is after Bruce. Zahn, you're up.

Zach/Zahn: Well, I'm gonna, I guess, shoot this guy in front of me again. Uh, 13.

Avery/GM: Yep, that'll do it.

Zach/Zahn: Heck yeah, brother. That's much better for seven damage.

Avery/GM: Okay. That blasts a hole in him. He's gone. Okay. Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: What debuff is this guy riding me given?

Avery/GM: Basically half move. You have half movement.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, but no, like, attack.

Avery/GM: No, there's no debuff on your attacks. Um, just, yeah. You're just not able to move very well.

Chris/Ollie: Well, in response to, uh, the angry biting, I feel, Ollie's head will rotate 180 degrees. To look at this guy sitting on his back And the tentacles will just turn around and start thrashing at him with the sword or swords.

Avery/GM: I love it. Okay. Roll to attack.

Chris/Ollie: Ten.

Avery/GM: Ten is just enough.

Chris/Ollie: I managed to get some hits in. Oh, and this one actually does damage. So that's 15.

Avery/GM: Yeah. This clown is shredded. Yeah. However, however you wanna do it. That's…

Chris/Ollie: it's the scene from Resonant Evil where the dude gets diced by the lasers

Avery/GM: Oh no, there's just a, A persons soup.

Zach/Zahn: Except it's with lasers, so there's no blood. 'cause it's all cauterized.

Chris/Ollie: They're pretty used to person soup. So .

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god. You made person boullion cubes.

Chris/Ollie: There, Maybe they'll leave us alone and take those guy, that guy eat him.

Bee/Polaris: Boy-yon cubes,

Chris/Ollie: Boy-yon!.

Avery/GM: Boy-Yon... took me a minute. Bruce, your turn. You've got one person in front of you that um, had attacked, they had attacked Polaris with their shocky stick.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, I'm gonna pull out my uh, little laser blade knife and uh, slashy slash.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Caden/Bruce: Would that be stab? I feel like that's stab.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, it's stab.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: That's a 15.

Avery/GM: Uh, either way, either way it hits.Yeah, you're, this guy's going to get ouched.

Caden/Bruce: Hopefully, I'm not good at rolling damage. Oh, actually, no, that's a six. I lied. That's not terrible.

Bee/Polaris: Plus your dex.

Caden/Bruce: Yes. It was a six plus my dex.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, gotcha, gotcha.

Avery/GM: Yeah, this person's not looking great. They're kind of holding on by a thread.

Caden/Bruce: And then, can I use my other action to like... Go and use a medkit on Polaris? Am I allowed to do that? Is that too many actions?

Bee/Polaris: I'm very all the way over here.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you'd have to move, you'd have to move past this person.

Caden/Bruce: And then they'd probably get an opportunity attack.

Bee/Polaris: I don't think opportunity attacks are a thing in this game.

Avery/GM: I don't think so either.

Caden/Bruce: Oh sweet! Then I will, I will, I, I'm gonna move closer to Polaris so that next turn I can help Polaris out.

Avery/GM: So your on turn action can be used to activate a simple device. And so the medkit is, is a pretty simple advice, device. You just kind of slap it on somebody and push a button. So I'll let you do that for your instant action if you want.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Cool. Polaris, go ahead and roll your d6 for your healing.

Bee/Polaris: Ooh, okay. So I'm gonna heal one HP every three minutes.

Avery/GM: Hell yeah. Okay, cool. Cool. Cool. That's Bruce's turn. Okay. So this Raider here, it's on top of Ollie. Oh wait, he's dead. Nevermind. Oh no, he's not dead. Is he?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. He got, he got Boy-Yon cubed. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You made boys soup. That's right.

Bee/Polaris: Boy soup. Ew.

Avery/GM: Ew. Ick. Sorry.

Bee/Polaris: you're fine!

Avery/GM: Phrasing. . Okay. It's the captain's turn instead, I guess. Uh, yeah, y'all are making short work. Um, he's gonna kind, let's see. Actually, I need to roll against his morale score, so

Bee/Polaris: he also doesn't have a gun.

Avery/GM: Yeah, um, he rolled below his morale score, so he is gonna chicken out. He's gonna take a look at the battlefield, and kinda just be like, Ugh, ugh, who are these guys? Um, come on, let's get out of here!

Bee/Polaris: Dammit, now I gotta look up execution.

Avery/GM: And he's gonna try and make a run for it, and he's ordering his other people to make a run for it, so that's what they're gonna do on their turn. Yeah, Polaris, your, your, your turn is up.

Bee/Polaris: I want this guy dead. Badly. How, how far is my move? Can I just chase after him and laser blade him?

Avery/GM: You could probably do that.

Bee/Polaris: So, I'm, I'm just going to melee attack him. If I can reach him. I can.

Avery/GM: You should be able to, yeah. His movement is going to be the same as yours. I'm not too concerned about... These maps aren't exactly to scale.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, 10 meters is the move distance.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so 30 feet. Yeah. So easily.

Bee/Polaris: Coolio. Can I attempt to just like, run, jump up, and put both laser blades in his shoulder to pin him on the ground?

Avery/GM: I like that. Go ahead and roll a dexterity exert.

Caden/Bruce: And you see, you see the wheels on. Bruce's brain's churning and he suddenly thinks of kebabs.

Bee/Polaris: Can I, it's, it, can I use stab instead of exert, please?

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, no, I'm sorry. You're right. Yeah, no, that's, I'm sorry

Bee/Polaris: no, you're good.

Avery/GM: I was thinking exert for the jump, but yeah. Um, stab, stab makes more sense.

Bee/Polaris: So I'm rolling an attack and adding stab and dex.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Does a 16 hit.

Avery/GM: It sure does.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Well, I guess I'd be taking the minus one, right? Cause I'm using both laser blades.

Avery/GM: You would.

Bee/Polaris: So, does a 15 hit?

Avery/GM: A 15 still hits, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Sick. Okay. So that's gonna be 10 damage.

Avery/GM: Not enough to kill him, but this guy is severely injured now.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm just trying to pin him to the ground. I'm not trying to kill him.

Avery/GM: And he's, and he's pinned. He's pinned. He's, he's screaming out in pain like, Ow! Why did you do that for?

Bee/Polaris: You shot me.  That's my turn.

Avery/GM: That's it? Okay. Yeah. His friends are going to try and escape. This one right here scoops up some Boy-Yon and makes a dash.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, that's food.

Avery/GM: Yeah. And this one grabs some Boy-Yon and rushes past as well.

Zach/Zahn: Oh God.

Avery/GM: They're not completely out of danger yet, but they are, they are running away actively. Zahn. You are up.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, I'm going to move to about here, and I'm going to shoot this one.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Avery/GM: Okie dokie.

Zach/Zahn: No survivors!

Avery/GM: No more resurrections.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, that's an 11.

Avery/GM: That still hits. They only have a 10, so. They only have a 10 for AC, so.

Zach/Zahn: Five damage.

Avery/GM: Okay, yeah, you pop him in his leg and he's limping. Barely, barely going, but he's still going. That's it?

Bee/Polaris: Well, he's at half speed.

Avery/GM: Is that it for you, Zahn?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, as far as I can see, that's, uh.

I, I did the move and I did the, the shoot.

Avery/GM: Okay, Ollie, it is your turn.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. What is this thing here exactly?

Avery/GM: Oh, that's a big giant holographic globe. Now that you brought attention to it, um, it looks like it's a projection of the planet that this station is orbiting and below it says Terra formation, 5 percent complete. Estimated time to completion, 400, 000 years.

Chris/Ollie: Hmm, okay. Um, can I pass through it or over it easily?

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah, I mean there's like a little projector on the floor and then it's just projecting this hologram so you can totally jump through the hologram. Sorry, there wasn't really a good way to represent that.

Chris/Ollie: Oh no, it's okay. So Ollie's gonna run and leap through the globe and strike this guy on his way out in a really cinematic and cool looking way. Like, burst through the planet. Laser swords.

Avery/GM: Are you biting or laser swording?

Chris/Ollie: Uh, laser sword.

Avery/GM: Okay, uh, yeah, roll to attack.

Zach/Zahn: We're all about our laser swords here.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, this is the future.

Um, oh wow, so that's gonna be... 17 to hit.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that hits. Uh, how do you get this guy?

Chris/Ollie: So, Ollie's gonna run, jump through this holographic globe. And as he bursts out the side, the tentacles are gonna, like, be swinging, like, decapitate him. If he dies. For 13 damage or 14?

Avery/GM: He's got two hit points. There's very little. Yeah, there's no way you couldn't have gotten it.

Chris/Ollie: So yeah, burst through the thing, decapitate him in one motion, and then land in front of this guy. And just say, your customer service has been most rude.

Bee/Polaris: That's terrifying.

Avery/GM: Okay, Bruce, you're up. You've got one raider running away that Ollie has kind of blocked, and you've got the captain dude that's pinned down.

Bee/Polaris: Don't kill him.

Caden/Bruce: So many options.

Bee/Polaris: Don't kill him.

Caden/Bruce: Okay. Well, does Polaris say that out loud?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, yeah, Polaris would say, Don't kill him. We need him for interrogation.

Caden/Bruce: Okay, in which case, Bruce is gonna pull out his, well, I guess he still has it out. He's gonna shoot his pistol at the, uh, one that, um, Ollie's blocking.

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll to attack.

Caden/Bruce: And that's not great. That's an 11.

Avery/GM: Still enough to hit.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. Also not great. That's a three.

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah, you, you, you pop him in the leg as well and he's limping, but again, nothing devastatingly, uh, damaging yet. Polaris, go ahead and make a strength exert check.

Bee/Polaris: Um, strength exert, that's going to be a… Why am I bad at… six? Sorry.

Avery/GM: A six? Okay, well, he rolled a nine minus two, uh, for a seven. So, he, he lands a kick kinda on your butt, actually.

Bee/Polaris: Ouch!

Avery/GM: Uh, a little bit.

Bee/Polaris: My butt!

Zach/Zahn: Talk about an ass whoopin

Avery/GM: And it's not, it's not super forceful. It's enough to, um, kind of jar your, your grip on these blades long enough.

Bee/Polaris: Sure. Um, I mean, they aren't in the ground.

Avery/GM: He's like...

Bee/Polaris: No?

Avery/GM: It's gonna hurt for him. I'm not, I'm not saying this isn't gonna hurt for him. Um... But it is enough for, for your grip to kind of loosen enough for him to try and like push up against it.

Bee/Polaris: Mm hmm. Okay.

Avery/GM: Um, and he is, he is now sitting prone with these blades sticking out of his shoulders, and he's gonna try and grab them, uh, out of his body.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no, my blades!

Avery/GM: Go ahead and... Go ahead and roll 3d8 damage.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. 3d8?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Oh god.

Avery/GM: Cause normally they're

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Avery/GM: Cause normally they're 2d8, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Jesus. Okay. Um. Does this guy really want to do this? Haha.

Avery/GM: Yeah, he wants out.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, 15 damage.

Avery/GM: Okay, he's still got 10 HP left. Uh, he screams in agony as he sits up and starts pulling these blades out of his shoulders. Um, and, uh, he, he sees the buttons on the handles, pushes them, and they deactivate, but he passes out from just the immense amount of agony and pain. Uh, that this put him through. Um, cause he failed his, uh, Mental saving throw.

Bee/Polaris: That just makes my job easier. I was gonna punch him.

Avery/GM: Nope, he's

Zach/Zahn: he's unconscious,

Avery/GM: but there's a chance he could have died. So

Bee/Polaris: yeah,

Avery/GM: that's kind of

Bee/Polaris: Can you punch a man to death? Is there non lethal damage in this game?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh sweet

Avery/GM: So yeah, so he's pulled out these blades, he's kind of slumped now against the wall right here. Um, it is your turn, Polaris. Ah,

Bee/Polaris: well, I just pick up, I just fucking let the magnets do their job, you know? Back to my hands! Would that be an instant action? Would it be picking up a weapon?

Avery/GM: Yeah, yeah, I'd say that's an instant action. Bringing them back to your hands.

Bee/Polaris: Oh wait, I think I have a thing where I can literally just that's just like a thing I can do for funsies.

Avery/GM: I think that's part of your armsman ability too. Being able to just ready a weapon for free.

Bee/Polaris: Um, well in that case, is the guy in front of Ollie still alive? I would like to, does he look good? Does he look bad?

Avery/GM: He's lim,,, yeah, I mean, he's, he's barely holding on.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well, I'll just walk over to him and put the, uh, business side of my laser blade towards his back and then just turn it on.

Avery/GM: Oh, Jesus. Yeah, okay. Uh, roll to attack.

Bee/Polaris: I'm sorry. That's gonna be a 21.

Avery/GM: I mean, yeah, how do you, how do you get this guy gone. Just right through him?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, Polaris just, yeah. Wordlessly.

Avery/GM: Just Star Wars execution style. Yeah, the cannibal person slumps to the floor and is gone, never getting to savor the taste of Boy-Yon.

Bee/Polaris: I'm so sorry, sir.

Avery/GM: And you are out of combat.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, Zahn is going to approach this guy and be like, There's no need for interrogations here. And then he just shoots him in the head.

Bee/Polaris: No! Oh no! He has the way out of the ship!

Zach/Zahn: So does Amanda!

Bee/Polaris: You're right! Oh, okay, well... When fucking Zahn shoots him in the head, Polaris like, puts his hands out towards the guy like, Oh no!

Avery/GM: Zahn, is there, is there any emotion behind it? Or are you sort of on like kind of autopilot mode at this point? Like what what's going through Zahn's head?

Zach/Zahn: Seeing these people being like this, he has, uh, gone robot mode. Where he's like, these aren't people anymore.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no!

Zach/Zahn: And then he's gonna come to the door and he's gonna do the shave and a haircut nock.

Avery/GM: The door opens. You come in and you see Amanda. She is older than you remember, but still very much the sort of brash and rough around the edges type of person that you remember. Uh, she walks right up to you, pats you, pats your shoulders like to like make sure like almost like checking to see if you're real.

Zach/Zahn: As she's doing that, Zahn flicks the switch and his helmet decompresses to show his face.

Avery/GM: She's like, holy hell, holy, it, it is. Zahn, what are you doing here? I thought I really lost my marbles back there for a minute.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, it seems like everybody else here has, so I wouldn't put it past you. Me and the peeps here, we need to get into the citadel.

Avery/GM: That's, uh, hold back up. Who are these people that are with you? Why are you back here? What's, what's going on?

Zach/Zahn: Long story short of it is, uh, Somebody somewhere developed a virus that kills planets. So, somebody somewhere figured that with all the research here, uh, we would have the basically anti equation to that.

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, old Terra had a whole bunch of nasty, uh, weapons for destroying planets and ruining their systems and stuff. I know...

Zach/Zahn: Hold the phone. How much about Old Terra do you know? And why didn't you tell me about it?

Avery/GM: I mean, it's just, it's in the history records. I've had 12 years to just sit in this room and do nothing but read.

Zach/Zahn: I'm gonna look to Ollie real quick and be like, Ollie, you should probably download those.

Chris/Ollie: He'll nod and make his way over to the computer. Um, I'm guessing also the guy I diced, his legs are probably just still, still sitting on his back riding.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god. It's like a cartoon where all that's left are the shoes and socks.

Avery/GM: Jesus… And, and Zahn, kind of looking around, you realize, like, you see, like, like a bed cot kind of rolled up in the corner. You see, like, some plates and some dishes kind of off to the side. It looks like, somehow, Amanda has managed to live in this room since you left.

Bee/Polaris: 12 years in this tiny ass room.

Avery/GM: She's like, oh, well, uh, You remember how I have, like, You know, some medical conditions that require a very specific diet?

Zach/Zahn: Vaguely.

Avery/GM: Well, when shit hit the fan, I, uh, I started devising a, um, A little I was trying to come up with a way to provide food for the rest of the station. And I perfected a mini food replicator. And she points to a workbench area that has like a little tiny computer on it with like a tray next to it.

Avery/GM: And she's like, yeah, you can create about a day's worth of food for one person. But, uh, I was never able to really make it bigger, or make it more efficient enough to make more food, but I've been able to at least live off of it in here for these past 12 years. It's not the greatest stuff in the world, it mostly creates these flavorless bars.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gasps and turns around because he was standing at the door like basically Security, like with his laser pistol, and he turns around with an exclamation point on his visor.

Chris/Ollie: Nutrient bars?

Bee/Polaris: And he pulls out one of his nutrient bars and holds it up.

Avery/GM: Yeah, yeah, kind of like that, actually. Uh, that's really creepy. Who's your friend with the exclamation point? Robot? Human? Alien?

Zach/Zahn: That's Polaris we, we don't pry into their backstory too much.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a smiley face, like a colon, uh, like parentheses, uh, smiley face on his magazine. Is he covered in blood? No. Cause he used laser blades.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no, no. Cauterized, it's fine. Maybe some initial spray, but not, not much.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Well, he still has a little blood on him. He Smiley Faces

Chris/Ollie: um, it's like a Watchmen logo

Avery/GM: and, and she turns, she turns to Bruce and it's like, and, and your, your, your big friend is, is this your muscle?

Zach/Zahn: He's my chef.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will wave.

Zach/Zahn: Or I meant to say our chef. But he's, he's our chef.

Bee/Polaris: We, we are the shadiest group of people, except Bruce, who is a chef.

Avery/GM: And, and, and hearing the click clacking of coming from the direction where the dog walked over, she turns and sees Ollie with, do your tentacles come out? To do the hacking or, or what? How are, how are you hacking this computer in dog form?

Bee/Polaris: Your paws grow fingers?

Chris/Ollie: Um, so the way I think about it is like Ollie's chest and back will open up for the big tentacles, but around his collar he's got like some tentacles like hidden underneath the collar, some like small like You know, yeah, like for finer movements and then those do the, uh, the ghost in the shell meme where they like split open into a shit ton of fingers and just all over the keyboard.

Bee/Polaris: We are the most unnerving group of people, except Bruce, who is a chef.

Zach/Zahn: Hey, if we had Marty here, it would be, it would be a little more balanced and

Chris/Ollie: we would have a personable person to be like, Hey, they're all cool.

Caden/Bruce: They're all okay.

Chris/Ollie: Instead. We're all just like completely antisocial. Like, Hey,

Avery/GM: Amanda leans into you, like leans in close to his on and it's just like, what is wrong with this galaxy? Why? Why does that dog have little tentacle fingers?

Zach/Zahn: He's a robot.

Avery/GM: Oh, that, that makes a lot more sense. Oh, okay. I, you know, I don't get out much, so it's just been, it's been a bit weird. Okay. So you're, you're going to go down to the Citadel. Is that what, is that what I just heard you say?

Zach/Zahn: Pretty much. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. You know that that's a death trap, right? And you know, your dad's down there and he's gone a little off his rocker, right?

Zach/Zahn: Uh, I can only assume judging by whatever the fuck that party we just dealt with was.

Avery/GM: Oh, oh no. Those guys, those are just, they're always trying to get in here and eat me. It's fine.

Bee/Polaris: It's like a tuesday, like ritual, like, all right, we'll be back tomorrow.

Avery/GM: Did they run off again? Or, or I could see your dog still has some legs on it. So I'm assuming at least one of them died, but

Bee/Polaris: only three got away, but we can deal with that later.

Avery/GM: I don't know. They'll disappear into the walls. They'll, they'll come back some other time. It's fine.

Zach/Zahn: they live in the walls.

Avery/GM: They have a whole tunnel system worked out, it's really creepy. In fact, they actually, they damaged the reactor on this floor to try and force me out a few weeks ago. They're getting very clever. So, yeah, so the door down to the lower level won't open. So the only way to get down there is either reactivate the reactor or, uh, or crawl through their tunnels.

Bee/Polaris: Why would we, I mean, I feel like we all have a key here, and players hold up his laser blade.

Zach/Zahn: You know what? I didn't think of that!

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we could just General Grievous our way through that door.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Amanda looks at us like, Oh, um, I guess that'll work. Is that, is that a, like a laser sword?

Bee/Polaris: He turns it on.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, this, this galaxy apparently has, uh, swords made of light. It's something I remember hearing, like, about in the old, like, fantasy stories as a kid, but like, dude, shit's real here.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I mean, our our old our old movies have a whole bunch of those kinds of things. That's just that's really cool. Well

Bee/Polaris: Would you like off of this space station?

Avery/GM: Yeah, more than anything, actually. That would be really great.

Bee/Polaris: You do not seem like you are in a fighting condition, correct?

Avery/GM: No, I haven't eaten in two weeks. Uh, with the reactor being down, my food replicator hasn't been working. So it's been a bit, been a bit rough.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris tosses her a nutrient bar.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce just stares at Polaris and then offers her one of the bento boxes. She has dietary restrictions!

Bee/Polaris: And she's used to the bars! Polaris! That's why Polaris even offered. Yeah, that's the only reason why Polaris offered because he knows that Bruce would have taken care of it otherwise.

Avery/GM: Polaris, she looks down at this bento box, looks up at you, and is just like, Is it gluten and dairy free?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce nods. Because rice is gluten free, yes? I think so.

Bee/Polaris: Well, yeah, rice is, yeah, rice is gluten free. You use rice flour a lot in, um, gluten free stuff.

Caden/Bruce: Pasta's not gluten free. So yeah, Bruce will nod.

Bee/Polaris: Well, what else is in the bento box?

Caden/Bruce: Well, whatever it is, it's now gluten and, uh...

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: I think you said there was some meat and some,

Caden/Bruce: yeah, there's some meat and there's some rice and there was, yeah, there's

Bee/Polaris: some veggies.

Caden/Bruce: There's no mention of glarier, glary, Dairy or gluten.

Avery/GM: You would be incredibly surprised how many things have gluten in them.

Caden/Bruce: That's true. Yeah,

Bee/Polaris: so, so many things.

Avery/GM: Yeah, she takes the bento box and just says, uh, thank, thank you? That's, wow, I haven't, um, okay, okay, calm down, Amanda.

Bee/Polaris: If you would like, you can wait on the shuttle we came on for us to return. If you do try to steal the ship, though, we have someone in the atmosphere that will destroy the ship. Polaris says as he types to Rho, like, Hey Rho if they leave and we're not on it, can you shut it down, please? Heart, smiley face.

Avery/GM: Um, I mean, it'll take me a little while. I got some things I need to gather in here and pack if I'm going to be leaving. And she turns to you, Zahn and kind of looks a little mournful towards you. And it's just like, Zahn, if, if you're going down to the Citadel, just, uh, just be careful, okay? It's, uh, it's not pretty down there at all.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna shrug. How much worse could it be?

Bee/Polaris: Smash cut to us looking down the hallway to the Citadel it's real bad.

Avery/GM: Is there anything else you want to ask her about before you head out of this room?

Zach/Zahn: No, I was going to say, after he says what he just said, he flicks on his helmet to deactivate and then he's going to leave. But if you've got more, what do you want to say?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, no, I was going to say, like, we can have this conversation afterwards because we're kind of on a time crunch now.

Chris/Ollie: We can give her a spare comm link too.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah. Do we have a spare one?

Avery/GM: You probably do.

Bee/Polaris: Wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't she have one?

Avery/GM: No, she could. Yeah, she would probably have one.

Zach/Zahn: Just pair it to the group chat.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, well, Polaris makes a new group chat called the New Terra Team. New Terra Team.

Avery/GM: NTT.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, the NTT chat. And then he'll add her to it, and everyone else. Minus Marty sad face.

Avery/GM: If you have any questions while you're down in the lower levels, just let me know. I haven't been down there for about a year, but last time I was down there, it wasn't looking great.

Zach/Zahn: Well, I guess I should ask then. Is there anyone else sane here or are they all crazy?

Avery/GM: I mean, crazy's not exactly the right

Bee/Polaris: Is there anyone else that isn't lost?

Avery/GM: Lost is probably better. They've all kind of succumbed to the sort of barbarism that is cannibalism.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn just nods.

Avery/GM: I, I, I really did try to help them, Zahn. I did. I, I, I tried to make the replicator work and it, it just, and you can kind of see like this is actually kind of a touchy subject for her. Like she really feels like this, like she failed. And that she's to blame for their current condition.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn just puts a hand on her shoulder and is like, there, there.

Caden/Bruce: How long has this been?

Avery/GM: Twelve, twelve years.

Caden/Bruce: I'm just curious how the, uh, population is still, uh, intact. And you can see Bruce kind of wince because he doesn't want to offend Zahn.

Avery/GM: I mean, aside from those eight people that were outside the door, there's really only a handful left. They've all been kind of split into different factions and eating each other. I will say there is... Some food on level 2, but don't eat it, Zahn. Do not eat what is on level 2.

Zach/Zahn: Why?

Avery/GM: It can't It It will not end well for anybody here. It's part of the reason for their Madness, I guess you could call it.

Bee/Polaris: Good to know. We have bento boxes.

Zach/Zahn: We have bento boxes! What's, uh, What's in the food?

Bee/Polaris: Probably worms or something.

Avery/GM: I mean, I haven't done like a detailed analysis. I just know that, you know, they turned to that food source at first. When I, when I failed to create the replicator, they turned to the food sources in the, in the botany lab and it just made them worse.

Avery/GM: And soon they stopped eating that food entirely and started turning on each other. Just slowly devolved into this society of cannibals. I really thought we could last a little longer than that before... Or, uh, you know, a little longer before turning to that, but it... I guess it wasn't. In the cards.

Bee/Polaris: Well, technology has advanced quite a bit. Maybe we can take a sample and develop some sort of cure later.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I guess that's, that's a possibility. Just like I said, just be careful down there. It's, it's dangerous.

Chris/Ollie: Have I been able to access any video footage on this computer?

Bee/Polaris: Reactors down right?

Avery/GM: No video. Yeah, so the reactor's down, this computer is kind of running on auxiliary power, and it's just like, you can get kind of basically like what's like local to this device, which is just like a few chapters of like old Earth history.

Chris/Ollie: Because I would have liked to put up a bunch of video footage feed of people just getting murdered, but... This seems dramatic enough.

Avery/GM: So yeah, so you can choose to turn on the radi the reactor here, or you can carve your way down.

Bee/Polaris: Sorry, sorry for defeating your door boss.

Avery/GM: No, you're fine. I knew you had laser blades, and I knew that was a possibility.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sick. Well, I also have grenades.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, the grenade was like, came in clutch.

Bee/Polaris: What a good, what a clutch impulse buy.

Chris/Ollie: No, that Cashier, he's like, nah, these grenades, they gotta go right on the counter today. Someone will need those.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna say to Amanda, get comfortable on the, on the ship. We'll be back.

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure, I'll pack my things and I'll wait for you there. After I eat this delicious lunch, by the way. And start st digging in

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna like, do the thing that you do when you're checking your corners. And he has his laser blade out, er, his laser pistol out. And he's gonna like, peek around the corner with his gun drawn. Gun first. Oh, how much time has passed?

Avery/GM: Probably like 30 minutes, you're probably halfway there.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie is also a melee boy, so he's like, gonna always try and stay in front, like, body blocking.

Avery/GM: Sure. This rat just scurries us across.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, wait, should we pick up some of the Boy-Yon cubes so that we can toss them as like a distractor?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, we just made cannibal bait. They're roasted too,

they're pre roasted.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris has , Polaris has no qualms with that. Polaris will pick up some Boy-Yon cube. .

Avery/GM: Oh my God. Okay. You pick up some Boy-Yon

Bee/Polaris: how many, how many Boy-Yon cubes do I have?

Avery/GM: Uh, probably like five or six.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: Like you have like a small handful. You know? Enough for like a trap.

Zach/Zahn: You can do a little piece of candy. Ooh, piece of candy.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, exactly.

Zach/Zahn: the trail.

Bee/Polaris: That's exactly.

Avery/GM: So you wanna investigate this little machine here?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris just like peeking inside. I hope it's not a big gun.

Avery/GM: It's not. It actually looks almost similar to the mini food replicator that Amanda had.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, it's just a bigger version of work in progress.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's what it looks like.

Bee/Polaris: Is this something we can take on our shuttle when we leave?

Avery/GM: It is too big to fit into the shuttle. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Chris.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, no my bad. I was just saying, Polaris casually like Crit roles of success to fix this thing and get it running. Like, Oh yeah, that was no problem. Well, she's like mentally torn up about not getting it working.

Bee/Polaris: That would break Amanda.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Oh yeah. You just forgot to plug it in.

Bee/Polaris: Oh God!

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, you see, the power supply Is off.

Bee/Polaris: You plugged in the wrong cord.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah. It just takes USB C.

Bee/Polaris: Would this fit in our ship?

Avery/GM: But, um, to answer,

Zach/Zahn: no,

Avery/GM: no, it would not.

Zach/Zahn: that and the Ursa Major already has like a perfected version of this.

Chris/Ollie: I don't know, I think we should ask Bruce's opinion about bringing a food replicator onto the ship.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, I feel like Bruce is curious.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, you could probably modify it to make it not make nutrient bars.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, same dealio, gun drawn, looking in this room, while waiting for Ollie. cause Ollie's point dog.

Chris/Ollie: Meat shield point, well, I can't, a metal shield?

Bee/Polaris: Meat, meatless shield.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, meatless shield. Well that, that'll be the best.

Avery/GM: So these rats hear you coming and they scurry, one scurries down this way, and you hear a sizzle and a squeak.

Caden/Bruce: Anyone not a fan of these rats, or is that just me?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I'm also not a fan of these rats, cause they do look weird.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, they've got a lot of tails.

Bee/Polaris: Should we be murking these rats? We don't want them becoming like a rat king, or like a rat swarm.

Avery/GM: You can make a, you can make a shoot roll if you want.

Bee/Polaris: Can I just throw my laser blade?

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll an attack.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will turn his laser blade into a knife, and... 18 plus nu oh, I mean, without the pluses, it's 18. Will that hit, or should I

Avery/GM: Yeah, that hits, and you kill it. No, you hit it and kill it.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Polaris, uh, fuckin force... Force, force mag uh, like, gets his blade back.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, this is the perfect opportunity to use my brand new bioscanner.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, go check that out, give it a good sniff.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I'm gonna... See, exactly what the hell is wrong with this thing?

Avery/GM: Yeah, just looking at it, you see that it has, like, seven different tails sprouting out of the back end of it. And you see that its eyes are glazed over, indicating that it might be blind. But you also notice, when you initiate the bioscanner, uh, you notice that it has high levels of radiation throughout its body, and that several of its organs are... Several of the organs that should be inside of a rat are not there, but yet it is still alive.

Caden/Bruce: Which seven?

Avery/GM: Oh, several. Not, not seven, sorry.

Chris/Ollie: Exactly seven..

Bee/Polaris: He's missing a liver, a lung.

Chris/Ollie: Half of his spleen.

Avery/GM: No spleen, no kidney. No bladder.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no!

Avery/GM: Nothing too vital, just, you know.

Bee/Polaris: Nothing too vital? How is he gonna piss?

Chris/Ollie: Uh, examining this thing, he's gonna look up at Zahn and say, Are such creatures common in Terra?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's just gonna shake his head no, as he's just gonna look at this computer.

Avery/GM: It is powered down.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, remember reactor not good. Can we just slap one of our batteries in that bad boy?

Avery/GM: Probably with a, with a good fix check, yeah.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, I'm assuming it's how we turn off these lasers.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, how come those are active with the reactors down?

Avery/GM: There is very little power, auxiliary power, that is running the holoprojector, the lasers, and basic power for Amanda's systems that she has jury rigged herself.

Bee/Polaris: Does anyone have a mirror?

Zach/Zahn: And the, I'm assuming, flickering lights.

Avery/GM: Yeah,

Zach/Zahn: no mirror.

Caden/Bruce: No, I don't think so.

Bee/Polaris: Wait! Wait, does Polaris have one of those fucking compact mirrors? Like, in the, in the dining episode with the Winstons. Did I?

Avery/GM: You did your makeup.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris takes his fucking make up compact mirror and, like, opens it so that he has a handle so he can, like, put the mirror in the laser, like, to see if it'll actually work in reflecting the laser. Polaris would like to deflect it into the other lasers, like the source of the lasers.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll. A constitution exert check.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay, constitution's not bad. Oh, somebody exert, okay, well, it's just a flat roll then. And I rolled great, 11.

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure, you managed to knock out this middle section of laser and this laser here.

Bee/Polaris: Cool So we only have the, the last one then. Okay.

Avery/GM: Zahn, are you slapping a, are you, are you going to try and jury rig a power supply to this computer?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I'm going to go do that.

Avery/GM: Okay. Go ahead and roll intelligence fix.

Zach/Zahn: 15.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, that's easily done. So you power on this computer in the corner of this room and you see that it has several different log entries that appear to have been made by Amanda.

Avery/GM: Detailing the first couple years after the civilization started to kind of break down here. There are notes about, you know, okay, we lost this wing of the space station when, you know, some, some cannibals detonated, you know, the reactor in this section and, you know, we lost a bunch of people, et cetera, et cetera, you know, you're kind of going through the last entry dated three years ago, just says:

Avery/GM: I've initiated E.L.I. On the fifth floor, and I'm going to retreat to my bunker to live out my final years, however many I have left. Whoever finds this, I am so sorry that I failed. Hopefully, the architects make use of E.L.I. And can at least save... Whatever's left of the station. And I think that's where we're going to end it.

(Ambience fades out, Outro plays then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Find more of our work at 1uppodcasts.com. Intro and Outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by tabletopaudio.com and used under an attribution non commercial license from creative commons. The tracks used today include Docking Bay and Generation Ship. We'll be back on December 15th with our next episode. See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

Episode 34 - Into Zahn's Past

Avery/GM: Welcome to Episode 34 of Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(Intro plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: Okay. So where we left off. Y'all were in the hotel room debriefing after Rho and Hermes did some stupid shit. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, they fucked everything up. 

Avery/GM: Got Hermes captured.

Bee/Polaris: So bad.

Avery/GM: Zahn saved Rho from becoming a concrete hamburger, thing. And y'all evaded the military from swooping in and blaming you for the terrorist attack. That isn't actually a terrorist attack, but you know, that's what they were thinking. And then y'all asked the Winstons to send the shuttle early so you can take off sooner for...

Avery/GM: New Terra and Ollie has a drone attached to the ship carrying Hermes and Rhea to their destination. So y'all will know where they are at when the time comes. What's the play before the shuttle gets here? 

Bee/Polaris: Need gun, need medicine.

Caden/Bruce:  Leave note.  

Bee/Polaris: Oh, well, we can just text Marty.

Caden/Bruce: That's true. But I feel like also a note, just in case.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we can, we can all leave like a, like a Christmas card, but like a, be back soon, like a BRB card. And we all sign it. 

Avery/GM: Oh, for sure. I'm sure the concierge has something available. Oh man, but no. But no, if y'all, if y'all do... Perish on this trip. Marty is gonna be abandoned, but no. So Polaris, you are wanting to find yourself a new gun and some med kits.

Bee/Polaris: Well, Marty gave us like a med kit, but like what, what all does that, is it just like the med kit? Did Marty have a scanner? A scanner thingy? 

Avery/GM: I think Marty has a bioscanner on her, but I don't, I don't think she gave it to you guys. I think she just gave you guys one medkit with, which basically has enough pharmaceuticals to heal one character one time, so.

Zach/Zahn: Got it. 

Bee/Polaris: Can we just ask the Winstons to stock the shuttle that they're sending us with a bunch of medical supplies so we don't have to pay for it? 

Avery/GM: Millionaires and you're being cheap. No, I'm kidding.

Bee/Polaris:  We're not millionaires. I'm not at least. 

Zach/Zahn: Well, that's because you spent a whole bunch of money starting somebody else's business. I'm still a millionaire, single millionaire.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but not for long.

Avery/GM: Collective millionaires.

Bee/Polaris: Cause like as soon as we get to a, like a nice place with a lot of like cool robot-y stuff, you're going to buy them all up. 

Chris/Ollie: Same. I don't know. I think the quadrillionaires can fit the bill though. 

Avery/GM: No, thats fine. 

Zach/Zahn: I need to save all my money so that I can afford to upgrade all of our shit.

Avery/GM: Yeah, If you want to roll a charisma lead check to see if they'll honor that request. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Charisma is my worst skill. 

Chris/Ollie: I know. Where's Marty? 

Bee/Polaris: Charisma lead. Excellent, I have a minus one.

Zach/Zahn: Hey, at least it's only a minus one.

Bee/Polaris:  I don't think that's gonna do it, that's a four.

Avery/GM: Yeah. They say the shuttle's already on its way, we can't exactly have it pull over for stops. It's gonna be there in a minute. 

Chris/Ollie: Do we have time to even shop anything? Or are we just stuck with  like…

Avery/GM: I mean, once you have the shuttle, you have the shuttle and then, you know, you can do whatever you want.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, but we're like, super time crunched. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh shit, it's the middle of the night, too, isn't it? 

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's like 9 o'clock and there was a terrorist attack in the city, so. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna go online and see if there's any delivery services. They can get it to us instantly. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, I guess roll, if Polaris is doing this go ahead and roll an intelligence, I guess intelligence program, since you're using your computer skills?

Bee/Polaris: Can someone else smarter than me do this? 

Zach/Zahn: Zahn can try, I guess. 

Bee/Polaris: I'll still roll it. So that cancels that out. Seven. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, like there's a bunch of services, but they're all closed due to emergency. You do see one service open, and it's actually the hotel gift shop. Damn it, they don't have guns though.

Zach/Zahn: Do they though? 

Avery/GM: I will say, there are guns on the Cassiopeia. Yeah, 

Chris/Ollie: I mean, there's guns on there I'm pretty sure Zahn uh, I've got a bit of fix too. So, between us, I'm pretty sure we could whip up some makeshift weapons. 

Zach/Zahn: Zahn actually has a makeshift weapon in mind that he wants to build, so. 

Chris/Ollie: Oh, and you can have Ollie’s gun too, because he's going melee now, being a dog boy.

Bee/Polaris: I'm mostly melee as well. I your laser blade? Yeah, I, I mean, players dual wields with laser blades. I was just gonna, I just wanted a ranged weapon just in case. Cause I don't think I can, well, wait, actually I think I can throw it. Nevermind. 

Zach/Zahn: That's right. You want, last time you wanted me to put like some kind of magnets in your, in your gloves so you could Thor throw it.

Avery/GM: Which I'm sure you'll have enough travel time between here and New Terra to do that if you would wish. 

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Caden/Bruce: I mean the hotel, the hotel gift shop probably has like The basic medicine supplies like I'm sure they do like Space type like Tylenol and gravel. 

Chris/Ollie: Well, there's a terrorist attack. The security forces are swarming all over the city, right? Could Ollie try to like hack into their network and get a supply drop? Here making them think this is like a platoon that needs medical and weapon supplies. I mean… with a high enough roll 

Avery/GM: Okay, this is high risk high. This is high risk high reward Chris. 

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yeah 

Avery/GM:I will let you do it. But there is there is a significant risk going on here. 

Zach/Zahn: That's okay The shuttle will be here in less than a minute.We can dance the fuck out of herein case somthing goes wrong.

Bee/Polaris: Well, who's paying for this room? Like whose name is on  this room?

Zach/Zahn: The Winstons.

Avery/GM: Machamps. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, Machamps.

Caden/Bruce: Whoops.

Bee/Polaris: We don't want to do that to Machamp.

Chris/Ollie: I do not want to do that to Machamp. I'll just do a normal search for any businesses that might've been missed or any maybe underground businesses.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: 14.

Avery/GM: Holy shit. Yeah. Yeah, you find a, like you're, you're looking and you're looking and you're seeing a lot of like these, these like official businesses closed and stuff. But then you decide to check like, the kind of like, traffic scanners that are in place. And you see that while the central area of the city has been closed off, there is still a lot of traffic going on in the Southwest quadrant of this city.

And you zoom in on that, and there are several shops in this location that sell a variety of goods, and there's just a lot of traffic going on, probably some panic buying going on, because this city doesn't have explosions go on very often, so. 

Chris/Ollie: But they're, like, out of the quarantine zone. Okay. 

Avery/GM: Yeah and for you all, it would probably be, like, a ten minute shuttle ride. And since your hotel is just on the edge of the quarantine Zahn, you can easily avoid any run ins with, the military.

 Bee/Polaris: The law. 

Chris/Ollie: The law. I am the law. 

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Well, yeah, Ollie will relay that and say, ah, most fortuitously, in the southeast, there are still shops operating.

Avery/GM: And then pulling up to your window, you see a shuttle and you hear a little beep beep beep. 

Bee/Polaris: That's cute. Does, did we ever establish that the hotel gift shop has medical supplies?

Avery/GM: I mean, it was, it was like in the Google search. Like, you know, medicines was in the list of things they have. 

Bee/Polaris: I don't want to go back downstairs. I don't want to talk to the concierge guy. 

Chris/Ollie: Just wait until he's driving the shuttle.

Bee/Polaris: Oh! If he is! Oh my god I’m about to fuckin lose it.

Avery/GM: No, I wouldn't do that.

Bee/Polaris: That guy has a lot of jobs. Where does he find the time to do stand up? Okay, so what are we doing? Are we going shopping over there? Or are we getting in the shuttle and... skedaddling? 

Avery/GM: We can also handwave the shopping if you all have exactly what you wanted to buy in mind, we can just handwave it. 

Bee/Polaris: I just wanted to stock up on just like a shit ton of medpacks.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, just, just basic supplies. 

Bee/Polaris: Just, like, a stupid amount. 

Zach/Zahn: The necessaries, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Just all the stuff that everyone else in the city is rushing into buy. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, can we also panic buy?  

Avery/GM: Yeah! Cool. Anyway, so yeah, so y'all are in this shopping area. There's various different shops. There's lots of people kind of crowding around and stuff.

It's very busy right now. But y'all have time to grab some equipment. What do y'all grab? 

Chris/Ollie: I'm gonna write down a big list because these things are very cheap compared to our current funding. Absolutely going to get a handful of bioscanners because I want one installed on Ollie's chassis. 

Avery/GM: Oh, that's the other thing I was going to ask. Ollie, are you staying as a dog for this trip to New Terra? 

Bee/Polaris: Yes. Let's go! Oh my gosh, Ollie, you're an attack dog!

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, nope. Ollie's the attack dog. I got Ironhide as my recent foci. Hell yeah. I got... I'm gonna have my two laser blades dual wield him. 

Avery/GM: Get in there.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, did someone write who wrote down that they have Marty's medical pack?

Caden/Bruce: I do, recently.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, then I have a medical pack that I didn't know about. 

Zach/Zahn: So what we want to do is get a bunch of Lazarus patches. 

Bee/Polaris: Don't those cause system strain if you use them though? 

Avery/GM: Yeah, but death causes permanent system strain if you think about it. 

Caden/Bruce: Yikes!

Bee/Polaris: Hey, thanks, GM. I'm going to get a few Lazarus patches then.

Avery/GM: Sorry, that was too real. 

No, I mean, you're totally right. But I just thought is my special little thingy because I'm a weird special boy my healing, does that make it, if I roll a bad, will the healing not last as long? 

Avery/GM: Yeah, let me, I, I need to pull that up actually, so Bee, the yeah, the one, so if you roll a one on your d6 for your healing basically your wounds cause your body to go into shock, and so your medical enhancements don't help at all, so it's just whatever the normal effect is, is what happens.

Everything else basically either accelerates, or everything else accelerates your healing. So.

Bee/Polaris: Ok.

Avery/GM: Yeah. 01 is just basically like, you're just like everybody else in this moment. 

Bee/Polaris: Sick. 

Chris/Ollie: Okay, is this just a medical shop? Or, like, what kind of stuff is available here? 

Avery/GM: There's I'm just saying there's all kinds, there's all kinds of stores around here. So there's tools, medical stuff. There's weapons stores, communication supplies. 

Chris/Ollie: I'm looking at these computing gear on this equipment list. And a lot of it says it's illegal. And even the stuff that doesn't say it's illegal says it's, it's, it's used for sussy stuff. So like what on this list is available around here?

Avery/GM: That's a good, that's a good point. I think, yeah, I'd say probably the data slab. The storage unit and maybe, maybe a remote link unit you could probably find, but the remote link unit is going to be inflated in price. 

Chris/Ollie: How inflated? Because my pocket is incredibly inflated. 

Avery/GM: I mean, look, it's, I'm only gonna, I'm gonna say it's probably three times as expensive as it's listed in the book. So. 

Chris/Ollie: Done. That's 750. Yeah. Got it. All right. I'll probably... We probably have storage units and data slabs out the wazoo. Actually, I don't know, I'll grab a, like... 

Zach/Zahn: Holy crap, they're only 30 bucks. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah no, that's what I'm saying. Like, we're stocking up a shuttle, so... For a mission, I don't know if we should be getting, like, hundreds of these things.

Zach/Zahn: I'm just gonna get like 10. I’m gonna drop 300 and just get 10.

Bee/Polaris: 10 Lazarus patches? 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, for future adventures, you know? 

Bee/Polaris: Fair enough. Oh, can I get a laser pistol? 

Avery/GM: Yeah, easily. 

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. 

Chris/Ollie: All right. Am I gonna be able to acquire solar rechargers, telekinetic generators, and low light goggles.

Avery/GM: Yes to all of them, I don't know why you would need goggles, but sure.

Chris/Ollie: I mean... It's always good to be prepared. They're cheap.

Avery/GM: Unless you're, unless you're gonna, unless you're gonna like Frankenstein them into your own system. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, all the technical stuff I'm buying, I'm buying an extra to integrate into my chassis. 

Avery/GM: I figured. The most terrifying space dog ever. Oh, and Chris, before we leave the planet, I do need you to roll a percentage dice.

Zach/Zahn: Alright, cause this thing is growing. 

Avery/GM: What? 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought, I thought it was gonna be to spot the drone that he put on the ship and then they're gonna destroy it. 

Avery/GM: Oh no, no. 

Bee/Polaris: But I mean even then we can still track Herbie's because we have the coil cube. 

Chris/Ollie: 97. This is a hopefully good, high is good situation.

Avery/GM: No, it is because that's the percentage of how much your crystal grows back. So yeah, so I don't know, I don't know what kind of freak... 

Chris/Ollie: It's just back? 

Avery/GM: Freak accident occurred. But yeah, your, your crystal grows. By 97%. 

Zach/Zahn: Holy shit. 

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Because, if I remember, I shaved off the tiniest sliver to stick into this dog body.

Avery/GM: Yeah. 

Chris/Ollie: So it was like nothing, and now it's boop, okay. Go Chaos Emeralds. 

Avery/GM: Go Chaos Emeralds. That's why they're Chaos Emeralds, you never know. They're quantumly entangled. And if there's one thing you know about sci fi, it's just, you just stick the word quantum in front of it, and it makes sense. Alright, are we done shopping? anything else anyone needs before we...  

Zach/Zahn: I would just like you to give me a base amount of money needed to spend to build the weapon that I wanted to build. For parts.

Avery/GM: Oh, the thing, the thing?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: You're building the thing? 

The thing! 

Zach/Zahn: A thing. 

Avery/GM: Wait, are we talking about the…

Zach/Zahn: compressed air bulkhead spike thrower, yes.

Avery/GM: Oh, that thingy, that thingy. For all the raw material parts, I'd say 1200. 

Zach/Zahn: That's fine. Okay. 

Bee/Polaris: Wait, can I buy one grenade? Sorry.

Caden/Bruce: Just a singular grenade!

Avery/GM: It's a very impulsive purchase, but sure. 

Bee/Polaris: I was, because I was like, wait, are there any other weapons that I would like? And I saw the grenade and I was like, hell yeah!

Chris/Ollie: The impulse buy, I imagine, like, at the cashier's stand, there's a grenade on the shelf. 

Bee/Polaris: It's like next to the candy bars.

Chris/Ollie: I need this grenade. 

Avery/GM: Yep, exactly. 

Caden/Bruce: Actually, I think I'll buy Bruce a regular size. Laser pist… like laser knife thing. Cause he only has one that makes toast. He should probably have one that's actually also a weapon.

Avery/GM: No, I mean, it is, it is regular size. It's, it's adjustable.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, cool cool cool. Nevermind then. We're good. We're good here. 

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: I'll buy four grenades. 

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, the shopkeeper's just like, You know, they're buy two get two free. 

Bee/Polaris: Are you serious? I'm actually just gonna spend fifty instead of the hundred. 

Chris/Ollie: Boto. 

Bee/Polaris:Buy two get two free.Hell yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah. That's what they do with the candy bars at the store, right? 

Bee/Polaris: And that's what they do with the grenades.

Avery/GM: Cool. Okay, y'all stock up on your stuff. It takes maybe an hour to get everything you needed and you're back on the shuttle. Is Rho coming with you or did you leave Rho in the hotel room to think about what she did?

Bee/Polaris: we’re not, we can't leave her.

Caden/Bruce: We're not bringing, no…

Bee/Polaris: Wait, wait, we're leaving her alone?

Caden/Bruce: I don't know. Okay. I guess we could like put her on like ship arrest. 

Zach/Zahn: I was going to say, we need to, we need to bring her with.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Cause also, she'll also, since she speaks Terran, she'll know some of the old stuff that's on the station.

Bee/Polaris: Ooo, true.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, fair.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, plus 

Bee/Polaris: if there's I mean also the last time we left her alone, you know, 

Chris/Ollie: yeah, and if there's any more concrete info about getting back It'll be there. But yeah, I don't think we can leave her. She needs to be watched 

Avery/GM: Yeah, so y'all make your way up to the Cassiopeia. It has not been discovered in orbit. Y'all did a very good job of hiding it, so kudos to you wasn't even noticed by the hegemony When they passed by it, so excellent. And yes, I, I did roll for all those things.

Bee/Polaris: Oh shit. Yeah. Hell yeah. We hit it real good. 

Avery/GM:  You make it on to the Cassiopeia. You don't have an AI to help you pilot this ship, but Polaris, are you up to the task? or do you want Rho to take her station in the Precognitive navigation chamber.

Zach/Zahn:  Does she want to go back into that? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, does she want, I don't think she wants to go back.

Avery/GM: I mean, you can ask her but if you're, if you know, you all kind of come onto the bridge and 

Bee/Polaris: now I do have a question. Can Polaris even fly the Cassiopeia? 

Avery/GM: You've flown it, yeah. Oh, sick! You flew it with the help of Hermes last time, but yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: Son of a bitch! Okay. 

Avery/GM: I'm presenting you with some options, basically. Essentially, you could plug in the AI you currently have... into it. 

Bee/Polaris: No. Absolutely not. Isn't that Coil?

Avery/GM: Yes. 

Bee/Polaris: No. 

Avery/GM: Utilize your own skills or, or, or ask Rho to take her station.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie could probably also navigate. He put his Chaos Emerald in the ship for the trip. 

Bee/Polaris: Does Ollie have any navigation programs or anything like that though?

Chris/Ollie: No. But he could try.

Bee/Polaris: I love that. Thank you. Well. Oh yeah, I did fly it here. What am I ta… Anyway, okay I think, like, just getting out of the current system that we're in, players will fly it, but if there's an autopilot like setting, players will do that because we're essentially putting in coordinates and going to one location.

And then if anything happens, Polaris will grab the controls, but I do need to make Ollie his, his little, his little bags. 

Avery/GM: Okay. So you're taking the pilot station? 

Bee/Polaris: Indeed. Yup

Avery/GM: Rho looks at you, Polaris, and just says, do you want me to go back in the chamber? And you can tell she kind of looks scared.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just says, no, you don't have to. You've been in there long enough.

Avery/GM: Okay I'll just, I'll sit here for now, but I'm not like taking command or anything like that. 

Bee/Polaris: Aye, aye, Cap'n.

Avery/GM:  She blushes. Like nervous, like, oh gosh, no. Not me. Cool. Okay. Go ahead and roll your pilot check. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, shit, you're right.That is the thing I huh. So,  I get to roll three because I have a specialist, and I rolled two sixes and a five, so in total is it just dex piloting? 

Avery/GM: Yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. In total, it’s

Avery/GM: Or intelligence, but yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: That's all the same. So, 12 plus, that's 16. 

Avery/GM: Damn. 

Bee/Polaris: I pilot this shit out of this ship, dude. 

Avery/GM: You pilot this shit out of this. In fact, you shave an extra, you shave an extra 12 hours off of your, your flight path. You calculate a better flight path than the one that the Winstons gave you. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh, shit.

Bee/Polaris:  Fuck yeah. Players won't rub it in. But he will send over, like, Hey, this is a better flight path if you guys ever need to use this in the future.

Caden/Bruce: Just rub it in.

Zach/Zahn: I'm not gonna rub it in, I'm just gonna rub it in.

Chris/Ollie: Just put some passive aggressive, like, you know, I'm not sure who figured this out, but... 

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no, Felis is just trying to be helpful. He sends a heart and a smiley face. 

Avery/GM: Very good. So, you jump into... Liminal space and you have a little bit of extra time before you arrive.

Does anyone do anything before you arrive at the space station or are y'all just gearing up and getting ready? 

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is going to be putting some stuff together. 

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. Bruce is also going to be like making little bento boxes for everyone. 

Zach/Zahn: Bento boxes.

Avery/GM: I love it. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is making Ollie’s little little baggies, but also Polaris would ask Zahn about the magnet and the gloves… if he has the time.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, he'll do that too.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Okay. So Zahn, roll a dexterity or intelligence fixed check and Polaris and Bruce go ahead and roll either intelligence or dexterity work checks. 

Bee/Polaris: That's going to be a five.

Caden/Bruce:  That's going to be a 10. 

Zach/Zahn: I got an 11 on my fix check.

Avery/GM: Okay. Polaris, you are able to finish one saddlebag. By the time you get to the Maybe it's just a new pattern that you're working with. You know? sOmething like that. But you're able to at least finish one saddlebag. So, it might take some, like, awkward attaching to Ollie 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris can just make him like a little satchel, and then like, Later, he could just make, like, a, a cargo bag.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Zahn, you are able to put together everything that you wanted to put together? Your new weapon? 

Zach/Zahn:Heck yeah. 

Avery/GM: You come over real quick. Like, the, the magnets for Polaris gloves and his laser blade. It's, like, super simple. Like, you kinda just walk up while, while he's sewing. You're like, I need your hand real quick. Take the hand, put the magnet, like, do a couple screws, take the, the laser blade, do the same. 

Bee/Polaris: You screwed directly into Polaris's hand. 

Avery/GM: No, you have like gloves, right? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I have gloves on, but screws are long.

Zach/Zahn: No, no, no, instead I'm like uh, as you're sewing, I'm like, glove me. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris takes off his glove. 

Zach/Zahn: And the magnets are segmented so you can actually, you know, still like, move your palm and they're riveted into place. 

Avery/GM: There you go. Even better. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, thanks, son.

Avery/GM: You get a thumbs up. And Bruce, you make these bento boxes that are just, they smell so good. They've got these cute little, little segments inside of them for each little thing. You've got, you know, some roasted vegetables and I'll let you describe it. You, you describe how, how good these look. 

Caden/Bruce: So he made like little like the kind of thing that you use for cookie cutters, exception for it's like, you know, star shaped rice with like these freshly sauteed vegetables and just a whole bunch of food that's like nutritious and good for you, but also like, Light to carry, but will also feed you up, like, fill you up pretty well, and he's made one for everyone on the team.

It's just like, packed them into like, cute little lunchboxes, and then there's like, sharpied on the name of each team member, and like, a smiley face, and like, inside the box, it's like, written in little note, like, Look at you go! You've done so well! Like, little inspirational quotes and such like that. 

Bee/Polaris: My heart!

Avery/GM: For when you're deep in the bowels of the space dungeon and you're just like, I'm gonna eat something. 

Caden/Bruce: Yeah! And then you open it up and it's just like, you've done so good, keep going! You know? 

Bee/Polaris: Aww! That's so sweet! 

Avery/GM: And, yeah. You, you've all... Done these things to prepare and the spike jump ends and you are a lot closer to the inner system than you normally are when you jump.

And that's because this system is very small compared to the other planetary systems you've visited. It just takes probably about an hour to drift in close enough to actually see the space station. And Zahn, are you on the bridge when you come into view? 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Yeah. You see a sight that you haven't seen in 12 years?

Zach/Zahn: Approximately.

Avery/GM: Yeah, approximately 12 years. Except it's a lot worse off than when you left. New Terra Station is a station that is essentially, when these people came to this galaxy a few generations ago, it was actually a fleet of ships, and those ships were able to interlock together to form this space station.

And so there were whole wings of this space station that could house... A colony core of people in cryostasis and an entire wing dedicated to physics experiments and technology research and just all kinds of different areas. And when you come to your former home, you see that most of it has been reduced to rubble and pieces and debris.

A lot of the wings have been shattered or maybe exploded. And they, they are no longer functioning. There is a core of about five ships still linked together with all this debris kind of floating around it, uh, floating above the space station. And as you get into communications range, you get an automated signal warning you away.

And it says, do not approach station under lockdown. civilization collapsed possible biological contamination do not approach, and it just repeats over and over and after a few moments of this you actually Bruce, you're sitting at the communication station and you see a notification that you're getting an actual channel request being sent to you.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like Bruce will look at Zahn and just be like, do you want me to answer this?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn will approach and be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, go for it. 

Caden/Bruce: And Bruce will accept the call.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you accept this call and, Zahn, you immediately hear a voice you haven't heard in 12 years. And this person says Hey, are your communications relays working properly or something, unidentified ship?

The beacon says don't approach, get the hell out of here. Do not dock with the station if you value your limbs and your lives. And Zahn, you recognize this voice as the voice of Amanda Ripley, one of your mentors from your time back on the station. Surprisingly, she is still alive. 

Zach/Zahn: Surprisingly, indeed. Zahn's gonna lean over Bruce's shoulder and hit the push to talk button. Hi, Amanda.

Avery/GM: I'm sorry, who, who is that? That... That sounds, your voice sounds awfully familiar. How do you, how do you know my name? 

Zach/Zahn: Doesn't matter. We're here on important business and we need stuff from the architects. 

Avery/GM: Well, if you know who I am, you probably know where the docking bay is, I guess, but God, that voice sounds so familiar.

Avery/GM: Zahn? Zahn, is that you? 

Zach/Zahn: The one and only. 

Avery/GM: Ah shit, why'd you, what are you doing here? I told you to get out of here twelve years ago, and I told you to never come back. 

Zach/Zahn: And I would have upheld that, if the entire rest of the galaxy wasn't in trouble. 

Avery/GM: What are you, oh god, okay, well I'm kinda dealing with some shit right now, so, uh, just be careful when you come out of the docking bay, there's some troublemakers outside. Just be careful. 

Zach/Zahn:10-4. 

Avery/GM: And the communication ends. Zahn, you know where the docking bay is? It's basically just like a little airlock that you essentially link up to and, and come through. It's not like this place was really designed for, you know, a multi ship transportation hub or anything like that. Do you guide Polaris in or? 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I basically. Like pull up a screen and I enhance and then circle around where the, like the docking tube or whatever is. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will send a thumbs up in chat and also a hug emote. Cause this must be rough. 

Zach/Zahn: Zahn just puts the shrug emote.

Bee/Polaris: Gonna dock this bad boy. Well, not the cast. Not gonna dock the cast. We're getting on the shuttle. Probably should not expose the cast to whatever the fuck is on this. 

Chris/Ollie: Good idea. 

Bee/Polaris: Also, do we want Rho to come with us, or do we want her to stay on the cast and she can just watch our live streams and translate stuff for us?

Zach/Zahn: We should ask Rho what she wants. 

Chris/Ollie: We should ask what she wants, but I don't think we should leave her alone. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, the last time that happened didn't do didn't go too well. 

Caden/Bruce: Didn't go very well at all. 

Bee/Polaris: Well, what does Rho want to do?

Avery/GM: I don't know, you'll have to ask her. 

Bee/Polaris: Hey, good point. Polaris will just turn to Rho and say, Do you want to come with us, or do you want to stay on the ship?

Avery/GM: Well, I wasn't planning on going on board. I was, I was thinking maybe I could stay here and pilot the ship in case you need like a quick evac. I could like blast a hole in that thing and, you know, give you guys like a quick way out.

But if you, if you really feel like you need me there, you know, I, I understand that you probably don't. Trust me as much, you know, leaving me alone because of what happened with Hermes, but… 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a hand on her shoulder and says, I don't think you'll leave us behind. But if you do, we will just hunt you down. 

Avery/GM: Nervous laughter. No, I, I only, I, I only helped Hermes out because he asked me. 

Bee/Polaris: You don't have to explain yourself. Just don't leave us behind. 

Avery/GM: No, I would never. Besides, you're my, you're my only way home at this point. That'd be kind of shitty. 

Bee/Polaris: I mean, not really. We gave you the coordinates, didn't we? 

Chris/Ollie: I mean, I think it was just coordinates though.

Bee/Polaris:Cause Blair said the coordinates in chat.

Avery/GM: I know, but she was also unconscious. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, right. Well, is Rho in the chat?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, does she have like what is it? Chat history permissions?

Avery/GM: Yeah, I don't think Rho is in chat at the time, but probably has been added to chat at some point, yes.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, she'd probably scroll back up.

Avery/GM: Yeah. She pulls out like a little wristwatch and scrolls up. Oh, I see, I do have the coordinates. Well.

Chris/Ollie:  Oh, I can go home right now. Bye. 

Caden/Bruce: Bye! 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris says, don't leave us behind. I'm so serious. Don't leave us behind. 

Avery/GM: She salutes. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris does like the double pat on the side of the arm and then just like goes to the shuttle.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, y'all board the shuttle. And, uh, pilot it up to the little airlock here and you know, it's a quick little wait time while you wait for everything to finish docking. And then suddenly it opens up and you are in the airlock. The red light above this door here is flashing, and you feel the pressure equalize in this room, and suddenly it flashes to green, and there's a little button on the side of the wall that says open.

Oh, and you, and from, from the other side of the wall, you do hear some banging going on somewhere in the other room. Oh 

Bee/Polaris: yeah, definitely gonna have to do a murder. Also Polaris will, like, send his live stream feed to the comm station on the cast so that Rho can watch, just in case we need translations. And he'll, he will text her as such.

Avery/GM: Sure. Makes sense. 

Zach/Zahn: So Zahn has a spike shooter on his back, attached to his backpack, but he's got his laser pistol in hand.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: As everything equalizes, he activates his helmet and it builds up in the awesome, awesome way. And then, with a sigh, he Pushes the open button.

Avery/GM: Okay. 

Bee/Polaris: Before he pushes it, players will say, I take left. You take right. 

Zach/Zahn: Get a nod.

Avery/GM: Okay. You come into the corridor here. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh my God. That's so cool. Zahn activates the flashlight on the side of his helmet. 

Avery/GM: Okay. You hear the banging coming from to, to, to your left and Zahn as you illuminate that area with your. Flashlight, you see several beings banging against a door. 

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's gonna like, take point in front of everyone else.

Avery/GM: Okay. Okay. And as, as your flashlight shines on them, they all turn to you. Turn their attention towards you and you can kind of hear some like, laughter and some like, snickering going on.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will... As they turn to him, say, Greetings, new friends. Can you point us to the nearest service station? 

Avery/GM: And from the corner, a bigger dude emerges and is just like, Well, well, well, looks like we got some fresh meat, boys. And let's roll initiative.

(outro plays and fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Find more of our content at 1upPodcasts.com. 

Intro and Outro Music Produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an attribution non-commercial license from creative commons. The tracks used today include Mega City Slums, Starship Bridge, Star Freighter, and Secret Facility. 

We’ll be back on December 1st with our next episode.

See you out there! Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(Outro fades up and plays out)

Episode 33 - Complications with the Plan

Avery/GM: Welcome to Episode 33 of Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(Intro plays, fades out, ambience fades in followed by 3 explosions)

Avery/GM: This figure is plummeting to the ground after an explosion in this Capitol building that you now recognize as the one that Bruce pointed out Rhea had entered.

Bee/Polaris: Is this, is this person still falling? Or, they've hit the ground?

Avery/GM: We're kind of in bullet time. So, yeah, this person is still falling, it's kind of all slow mo. So I'm giving y'all a chance to react to this.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: You do see a hint of silver hair...

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: On this person.

Zach/Zahn: So, Zahn is gonna put all of his power into his jet boots and try and catch them.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I was gonna also. Well, me as Bee, my knee jerk reaction was to say, Ollie, fetch! But…

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Cause Ollie's a robot and has super strength and probably won't get crushed by it. Uh, like, you know, the impact. Um, but Polaris is also, without thinking, running to go catch this person.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, that's, you know, also what I'm thinking is just, Ollie is gonna try and jump under him, cause there's nothing else I can do as a dog. So just, okay, I'll be the fluffy surface.

Bee/Polaris: You're not fluffy though, you're full of metal!

Chris/Ollie: I'm fluffy on the outside.

Avery/GM: You do have those weird robot arms that pop out of the back of your body though. Zahn, go ahead and roll a dexterity...

Bee/Polaris: Exert?

Avery/GM: Exert. Thank you. Yes.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, good. I have a 1 in exert. Oh, that's good. That is a 10.

Avery/GM: Okay. You avoid most of the shrapnel and glass that is falling from this building after this explosion. You do get a few pieces of glass kinda lodged in your armor.

Zach/Zahn: Eh, that's fine.

Avery/GM: Nothing too bad. Yeah. As you close in on this person who is falling, you realize that it is Ro, and she looks to be unconscious. Yes. Um, as she is falling.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say as we, like, connect, and I, like, grab her, uh, you hear me, like, you hear an audible WHAT THE FUCK, and then I start falling down.

Avery/GM: Wait. Falling down, or, or rocketing down?

Zach/Zahn: Oh, rocketing down.

Avery/GM: Okay. I was like, uh...

Zach/Zahn: There would be a short period where it's like, my force meets her momentum, and I go back down a bit, but then, you know, stabilize and shit.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, you're able to catch her and bring her safely to the ground as this glass Starts to rain down on the rest of the party who is rushed underneath. Um, I do need evasion saves from everybody.

Caden/Bruce: Minus the one smart boy who did not move.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Bruce didn't move.

Avery/GM: This is true.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is probably standing there, going through his apron, and just like pulling out random Like, even though this is a brand new fancy ass apron, pulling out random ingredients from like the pate he was making, and then eventually finding the first aid kit that Marty handed him.

Bee/Polaris: Cool. Now that's a stupid question. Okay, what am I rolling? evasion save?

Avery/GM: Uh, yes. D20? Yes, D20, and it has to beat your skill. Uh, let me know what number you get, though.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: A 19.

Avery/GM: Holy shit.

Chris/Ollie: Got some lucky rolls.

Bee/Polaris: I got a 10, but I still make it.

Avery/GM: What's your, what's your skill?

Bee/Polaris: What's my, what do you mean?

Avery/GM: I mean, what's, what's your, to beat?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, 8.

Avery/GM: Okay, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Mine's 10.

Avery/GM: Yep, that's perfect then. Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled an 18.

Avery/GM: I was doing a minus one penalty just because some of this glass is falling very fast.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sweet.

Avery/GM: But, nope. Y'all succeed and dodge the glass. Uh, you know, kinda like shield your, your vital organs and stuff. Um, or, you know, it bounces off of Ollie.

Bee/Polaris: I pick up Ollie, use him as an umbrella. I'm, I'm kidding.

Avery/GM: and Zahn touches down with Rho in his arms and you hear kind of the shouts of, um, security personnel from inside the building and around this area. You know, sirens and emergency vehicles kind of descending on this point. What do y'all do?

Bee/Polaris: We don't have a fucking car. Let's get outta here. Let's fucking skedaddle dudes.

Zach/Zahn: Let's book it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Fuckin through the alleys.

Avery/GM: Sure. I need a dexterity exert check from everybody. Or strength, if your strength is better.

Caden/Bruce: I got an eight.

Bee/Polaris: I got a nine.

Zach/Zahn: I got a seven.

Chris/Ollie: That is a three.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, I mean, also, Ollie, you're a dog. Dogs don't do crime.

Chris/Ollie: Fancy dogs in fitted suits do crime, though.

Bee/Polaris: Shit!

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. Bruce, you rolled an 8?

Caden/Bruce: I did. Aw, man.

Chris/Ollie: All of us is bad.

Caden/Bruce: But I'm also... Yeah, we all rolled bad.

Bee/Polaris: I got a 9.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: That just means you leave us all in the dust.

Avery/GM: Bruce and Polaris, you two start running and quickly lose track of your fellow party members. You make it back to the hotel lobby and realize that your friends are not behind you and Schrodinger pops up from the desk and just says…

Bee/Polaris: Son of a bitch.

Avery/GM: Hello, valued guests. How can I help you today?

Bee/Polaris: Shouldn't you be at a stand up show?

Avery/GM: Oh, my shift is not over for another two hours. Can I be of assistance?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris walks out the door. He's like, he's live streaming, so he's gonna see if Zahn and Ollie are live streaming.

Avery/GM: Zahn and Ollie. You two take off in the same direction, with Zahn carrying Rho. Zahn, you see the wet cement coming and you jump over it and you get a little bit on your shoes but not much. Ollie, you're just still full speed ahead running and, uh, get a bunch of this, uh, cement on your paws and you're running and running and then eventually, like, it just kinda locks up your, your foot joints. And Zahn, you notice that Ollie is no longer behind you. And a few minutes later, from where you were, you hear, Hey, there's this strange dog robot here, uh, we better take it downtown, see if we can get any data off of it.

Zach/Zahn: For fuck's sake! I don't know why I went... an accent with that, but...

Caden/Bruce: I was gonna say, full Scottish!

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I thought that was one of the officers at first.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so, Ollie, you can still talk, but you're, uh... You can't really move because your leg joints are just all locked up due to the cement. Do you try and, like, laser your way out? Do you have any kind of tools that you might be able to use? Or are you gonna get taken by these, uh, street patrol people?

Chris/Ollie: How close are they to me?

Avery/GM: Uh, they are, like, just getting out of a, uh, hover car, probably about ten yards from you.

Chris/Ollie: I'm gonna, I'm gonna see if I can go full thing and start running on my little robo tentacles. Just reach in below me and start, like, spider skittering across the alley.

Avery/GM: Sure, I'll give you another, uh, dexterity exert.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, hopefully I can actually roll this time. That is... Eight.

Avery/GM: Eight? Okay. You pop up on your little spider legs, um, so you're now kind of like upside down with like your cemented paws kind of sticking up in the air. And so like, from like your, your vantage point, everything is upside down, but your little robot, tentacle arms from like your back are like skittering across the ground and you hear kind of a, what the fuck is that? From these, these guards as you, uh, skitter past and, uh, start catching up to Zahn.

Caden/Bruce: What the Subotic hell is that bulb doing?

Bee/Polaris: Caden.

Chris/Ollie: Can I, like, play? Some, like, scary shriek sound effect as I run by them in order to, like, scare them off. A literally, like, something from the thing, like a sound clip from the thing.

Avery/GM: Sure, what would that be?

Caden/Bruce: A horror movie.

Avery/GM: No, I mean...

Bee/Polaris: Perform?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, perform for stats, yeah. That would be perform.

Avery/GM: I think perform, yeah. Yeah, let's use a charisma perform. Which might give you a little bit of an advantage, because you should have a charisma boost for that dog body.

Bee/Polaris: Also horrifying. Additionally, just like cops to see our random strange looking dog and say, let's get him down town!

Chris/Ollie: let's get him. Book ‘em boys! That is a seven.

Avery/GM: It, it, it doesn't…

Chris/Ollie: it just comes out as an ooga booga.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it, it sounds a little too, um, like from like a carnival, like a carnival ride or something, like it just sounds a little too fake and they just kind of like look at each other strangely and they're like, do we chase it? And they decide not to, because that's just. Weird, but you're, you've definitely garnered some weird rumors about this strange robot dog.

Bee/Polaris: We're going to have to change your chassis.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you are in the opposite direction of your hotel. You do hear the skittering of Ollie coming up behind you. What do you do as you kind of realize that the sirens are sort of all around you at this point? Not visible to you, but you can kind of, like, based on the sounds, like, you can kind of hear, like, a lot of the streets around you are kind of closed off. Or, or, or you'll, you'll have to find some way to evade these authorities.  

Zach/Zahn: what kind of, like, buildings are around us? Like, are we in a

Avery/GM: A lot of, like, office buildings and, like, business buildings. You, you ran towards the business district.

Zach/Zahn: What kind of businesses are around us? What's up the nondescript?

Avery/GM: Yeah, so you see like, uh, Pursuit Bank, and you see...

Bee/Polaris: Topical.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Instead of Chase Bank, you know.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Well, I mean, topical is they're being pursued by the cops.

Avery/GM: Right, yeah. Yeah, so you see like a bank building, you see some, uh, buildings of like, um, different company like brands and stuff like that. You see an Assembles Singles corporate building. And they're all kinda darkened for the night, um, and whatnot.

Bee/Polaris: Is Zahn livestreaming?

Avery/GM: Is Zahn livestreaming?

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, same with Ollie.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. So Polaris would see where you guys are.

Avery/GM: Somewhat. And you do have communication. You can also communicate with your party and, you know.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris would send a message to the two of them. Need a pickup?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s gonna say in the group chat, yes, uh, meet at Assemble Singles building. He's gonna head for the Assemble Singles building.

Bee/Polaris: Can I look up an address?

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Is there any sort of vehicle I can steal around?

Avery/GM: Yeah, so you're with Bruce, so you'll need something that can at least accommodate the two of you, plus your friends.

Caden/Bruce: We're in the hotel, though.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, can't Bruce stay here? So that we can minimize the amount of people that get copped by the cops?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Avery/GM: I'm just saying, I just didn't want to say Bruce can't go if, if, if Bruce wants to. Polaris, you see several vehicle options available. One of them is like a sort of like delivery van, almost, of like a, like a box truck kind of thing, doesn't have a company logo on it at all.

Bee/Polaris: What the fuck? That's sketch alright, cool.

Avery/GM: Very nondescript. You see a couple of hover bikes, you see a Ooh! And you see a military vehicle that has like a little soldier kind of standing nearby and they are, they are parked across the street.

Bee/Polaris: Absolutely not. Um, I'm not stealing from the military, so that we can get into more hot water. Absolutely not. Um, this is the future. Can I just, like, call an instant cab? Like, does the hotel have, like, cars on standby in the garage that you can purchase for use?

Avery/GM: Uh, you can ask the bellhop.

Bee/Polaris: I go back inside and walk over to Schrodinger and I say, Do you have anything fast on? For purchase. For use.

Avery/GM: Oh, certainly, we can add it to your bill. There is a, there are several different vehicles down in the, in the garage. I would recommend taking the, the, Oh shit.

Caden/Bruce: The minivan.

Avery/GM: No, um, I don't know. He offers, I'll come up with it later, but I recommend taking the insert car here.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, are you thinking of like cars to say?

Avery/GM: Or like vehicles, yeah, like a vehicle name.

Caden/Bruce: Like a minivan? Cause it would be funny.

Bee/Polaris: No, I'm not gonna I can't drift a minivan!

Zach/Zahn: No, it's gotta be a station wagon.

Caden/Bruce:  Oh, you can if you try hard enough!

Zach/Zahn: You're gonna go with the Griswold Station Wagon!

Bee/Polaris: no, no, or it will just roll. No, no, no, that'll roll.

Avery/GM: No, no, no, okay. I would recommend the mini hover van down below. That is probably our fastest vehicle… and he smiles.

Bee/Polaris: Are you serious?

Avery/GM: Yes! Of course I am!

Bee/Polaris: If this is stand up, I'm actually going to file a complaint.

Avery/GM: Oh. Yeah. That was just me being funny.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I don't have time for that. I'm sorry.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. Uh, actually, you, you probably do just want to go with like, probably one of the, uh...

Bee/Polaris: Do I need a key from you, or do I just, do I, do I need a key from you, or do I just go down there and pay for it and get in?

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, here, here you go. Here's the key, and he hands you the key, and it has like a little, like, logo of like a cyclone on it.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Polaris leaves. I hate that guy! He's hilarious!

Caden/Bruce: Oh wait, is it a Like a Mercedes, but with star.

Chris/Ollie: Mer-star-deez?

Avery/GM: Mer-star-deez?

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah, can I get a convertible?

Avery/GM: I love it.

Bee/Polaris: Can I get a Mer-star-deez convertible?

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure. Yes. I recommend the Mer-star-deez convertible.

Bee/Polaris: Thanks. Bye. Polaris goes.

Avery/GM: Bye. I'm going to cease to exist when you leave the hotel…

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah, I get it. Fuckin… He slams the door as he walks out.

Avery/GM: Bruce, are you still in the lobby or are you going upstairs?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, Bruce is in the hotel, uh, is walking up the stairs to the room as, like, as, as typing this, like, a seriously long essay about why real cheese is better than assembled singles And just like listing, like, there's Brie and Camembert and like, just going off. But like, all that the group can see is just like, Bruce is typing. That's like, that's all, that's all you see.

Chris/Ollie: The masterpiece is in the works.

Avery/GM: Hell yeah. So, we're gonna, we're gonna have this really awesome rescue scene, hopefully.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris is gonna gun it out of the garage.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you find this, uh, this, uh, Mer-star-deez, and, uh, luckily it has enough room for three other people. You gun it out of here. Let's roll a, uh, dexterity pilot check.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah, that's my whole jam. That's my, oh shit, that is my whole jam. I rolled two sixes. Plus four.

Avery/GM: Holy sh. Yeah,

Bee/Polaris: 16, 16.

Avery/GM: Yeah. 16. Yeah. You burst out of this garage. You don't even wait for the, the, the door to finish raising up. You, you have enough room. You gun it. You speed out into the street. You're hovering above the, the streets here, and you're gunning it towards the sounds of these sirens and stuff.

Avery/GM: You see the skylanes are kind of blocked a little bit, you know, they're trying to block off traffic from this, uh, explosion that has happened. You know, they're, they're responding as if this might be a terrorist attack, right?

Bee/Polaris: Mm hmm.

Avery/GM: And you see an opening in the hole and you just, you are getting communications from them to, ordering you to stop and halt and whatnot. And you just barrel through.

Bee/Polaris: Headlights are off, by the way.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally. You barrel through this thing and get past this wall of, uh, of squad cars and they start to try and pursue you, but they're no match for, for Polaris's skills as a pilot. You lose them easily in the vastness of the city. And you bring your car down in front of the Assembled Singles building.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you've been kinda, you know, under the cover of the, kinda like, overhang of this, of this Assembled Singles entranceway. Only for a few minutes when you see this car pull up. Polaris rolls down the window and says...

Bee/Polaris: Get in, losers.

Avery/GM: And Ollie, you're skittering up to the building just as, uh, as Zahn kind of comes up to the window. Do you, do you hop in or grab on or what?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, it is a, just a, like a normal sized car. It's not like a...

Zach/Zahn: It's a convertible car, right?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, a convertible.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's like an open top convertible.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Well, I mean, the top's closed.

Avery/GM: Oh, you got the top closed? Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I don't want the cops to see me.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, uh, I'll just hop inside.

Zach/Zahn: Well, lower it so I can throw Rho in the back.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Well, fine, yeah. Okay, I'll lower it

Chris/Ollie: you gotta drift in while it's lowering and be like, as soon as you stop, get in, losers. And then Ollie's gonna come running and just belly flop into the back.

Bee/Polaris: And the car fucking, the, because of the weight of all of it.

Chris/Ollie: The suspension instantly maxes out and the, and you're just low riding.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Jesus Christ, y'all. Okay, well.

Avery/GM: Y'all are heavy.

Bee/Polaris: This is the first time Polaris has driven a car.

Chris/Ollie: I couldn't tell. Rollin a 16.

Zach/Zahn: Right?

Chris/Ollie: I wish I was that good my first time.

Bee/Polaris: He's just good at vehicles.

Avery/GM: And with a 16, I'm going to say you make it back to the hotel the same flashy way, just no one's able to pursue you or catch you, or they can't even see the license plate on the thing.

Caden/Bruce: As soon as Polaris parks the car, the group chat just gets this ding notification of a message from Bruce, and it's just like, a wall of text.

Zach/Zahn: Of anti-Assembles Singles propaganda.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris Types can't read driving. Even though he just parked.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you come into the hotel room first, before anyone else, right?

Caden/Bruce: I do.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You see Deif, the little uh, tin can Rho robot, that Polaris has been calling his son. You see it kind of like, like poking and prodding at the robot that... Hermes had been put in earlier, when y'all were here, before he left with Ro, and this robot is not moving.

Caden/Bruce: Uh oh.

Avery/GM: And Deif is kinda making some sad noises.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, my boy.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will walk up to Deif and like, the shoulder equivalent, and like, kneel down and just be like, What's... Is, is there anything I can do? D does... Does it need charging?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's gonna see this and instantly, like, rush forward and, uh, connect. His, uh, little cape.

Bee/Polaris: Are we there?

Chris/Ollie: Oh no, yeah, we're not there. My bad. I thought we were

Avery/GM: You're still coming up the stairs or the elevator.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, okay.

Avery/GM: You've arrived in the garage of the hotel.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, quick question.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Can I wipe the driving history on this car?

Avery/GM: Sure. Roll an intelligence program check.

Bee/Polaris: Can I ask Zahn

Zach/Zahn: Yeah Zahn can do it.

to wipe the

Avery/GM: That's Or Zahn or Ollie, I guess. Yeah, I mean, either way.

Bee/Polaris: On the way here.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie is like, built for program checks, so.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, just on the way here, please. We'll just ask them to wipe the history of this car.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, I also have it to where Zahn gets to roll 3d6 now, so, for program.

Bee/Polaris: Sick.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s also in the front seat. Concrete ankles.

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll.

Bee/Polaris: Sorry for the interruption. I just didn't want this to blow up in our faces again.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled a 10.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go.

Avery/GM: A 10. Yeah. It's, it's just driving history. Yeah. You erase the history for the past week.

Zach/Zahn: Ain't nobody use this car.

Avery/GM: Just to be on the safe side. And do you return the key to the front desk, Polaris?

Bee/Polaris: Yes.

Avery/GM: Schrodinger’s just like, wow, that was really fast. Are you some kind of racer?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Avery/GM: Oh. Well, please let me know if you need anything else! The player just walks away.

Chris/Ollie: No, I'm a death racer.

Avery/GM: And he just keeps smiling at you and looking at you until you eventually are out of his sight.

Bee/Polaris: That's so weird. Is he a robot?

Avery/GM: You haven't asked. He looks human.

Bee/Polaris: That's so unsettling.

Chris/Ollie: I imagine he doesn't blink either.

Avery/GM: He has not blinked once, yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, so he's a robot.

Avery/GM: You also haven't had very long conversations with him, I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, well, yeah, Polaris doesn't want to.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you were talking to Deif as, uh, it's standing here next to, um, this little robot body that Hermes was in. And it projects a little hologram as you, and you recognize the hologram of being a recording of Rho taking Hermes’ crystal out of this robot and putting it in her pocket and then leaving the room. And before she closes the door, she looks at Deif and just says, don't worry, we'll be back soon. And then closes the door. And then Deif just makes kind of like that sad. Like, whirring, whine.

Caden/Bruce: Oh shit, uh, Bruce will just be like, it's, it's okay, Deif, they'll be back shortly. And Bruce will stand up and like, look for a note, I guess? Like, is there a message left anywhere for us?

Avery/GM: There's a data pad on the table and it just says, be back soon. Love Hermes.

Bee/Polaris: Love Hermes.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce in the chat will just be like, guys, we have a problem.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris types back, ya think?

Avery/GM: You get that ding and you enter the room and there's Deeth standing next to Hermes's body. So yeah, you're, you're in this room. Bruce, you have discovered that Hermes may not any more be in this room. And then you see Rho obviously, but yeah, Rho is still completely knocked out.

Zach/Zahn: So Zahn is going to lay Rho on the, on the couch And I'm like, what's the problem? What's the problem now?

Caden/Bruce: Uh, Bruce will point and be like, Well, there's a video of her putting Hermes’ crystal in her pocket and leaving? And telling Deif that they'd be back shortly.

Zach/Zahn: What in the actual shit?

Avery/GM: And Deif rolls up to you, Polaris, and just makes sad noises at you.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris… Polaris was reaching for his laser blade because he's so mad, but then his son rolls up to him, so he just picks him up and holds his son. You... Rho... Deif saved you!

Zach/Zahn: You wouldn't kill an unconscious person.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is morally gray.

Avery/GM: You wouldn't kill a person who just got blown up inside of a building, would ya?

Bee/Polaris: You wouldn't laser blade a guy with glasses, would ya?

Zach/Zahn: So now Zahn’s gonna be like, What the fuck? And then he's gonna pat her down. Check her pocket.

Avery/GM: You find no crystal.

Bee/Polaris: Son. Of. A. Bitch. Did we already say fuck this episode?

Zach/Zahn: Yes, we've said, I've, I've definitely said it.

Avery/GM: Probably. It's okay.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Uh, well, then this is the additional fuck. Fuck.

Chris/Ollie: The additional three.

Avery/GM: Polaris just went on a fuck parade.

Bee/Polaris: No! No, not that!

Avery/GM: No, verbally. Verbally, not.

Chris/Ollie: All right. I guess, since we don't have our resident medic, Ollie will grab... do we have like a tricorder or some kind of like medical scanner kind of thing, or am I gonna have to do it the old fashioned way?

Avery/GM: Bruce would have that in, in his med pack that, uh, Marty gave to him.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I mean, we could just do this the movie way.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: slap someone until they wake up?

Bee/Polaris: Yup.

Chris/Ollie: Well,

Avery/GM: bucket of water.

Chris/Ollie: Visually, how's she looking?

Avery/GM: Cut up. Little bit of burns. Um. You know.

Bee/Polaris: We can't slap.

Avery/GM: Damaged.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we can't slap.

Avery/GM: Damaged much more than she was when y'all fought her.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god. Okay, so we can't slap a hurt person.

Avery/GM: So whatever hit her was more powerful than her psychic abilities.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh… She fucking, she fucking, uh, fought Rhea, probably. Well, we still have another, we have, we still have two AI cause we have the cable, uh, cube, coil cube.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. Coil. Yep.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. We have the coil cube. I'm so mad. So angry. Yeah, how do we get, how do we get her awake?

Avery/GM: Bruce, you have your med kit. Do you want to roll a intelligence heal or do you want to let someone else try and heal?

Caden/Bruce: Well, I don't have a great heal. Um... Yeah. Being totally honest here, but I feel like it's something that Bruce like After seeing, like, the fact that she's injured, would, like, take out the med kit that he probably honestly didn't put away and, like, go beside her and, like, I'll try. It's not gonna go well. But we'll try… We'll try. Uh, you said heal and what else was it?

Avery/GM: Intelligence.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will assist. With, uh, where is...

Caden/Bruce: Cause right now that's a nine.

Chris/Ollie: I'm gonna commit processing to increase my intelligence… Four. Big rolls.

Avery/GM: So, Bruce, you take out this, uh, medical scanner to scan Ro, and her heartbeat is fine. She seems to be fine. It, it looks like it's probably just like a, a concussion slash, slash being knocked unconscious, uh, from the force, but the force of the blast, but she's not in any immediate danger that you can read. And you figure that probably what she needs is just a full night's rest and then she'll be able to wake up.

Caden/Bruce: Well, uh, according to this device that Marty gave me, it suggests a full night's rest and then she'll be okay? But I don't know if we exactly have time to allow for that.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Ollie, is there any way that you can get the camera footage from inside that building? That Rho was in?

Chris/Ollie: That's what I'm thinking, um, Ollie will attempt to, if I can, hack into either the security feed there, or any, like, Police Scanner traffic going on about the incident.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll an intelligence program check. Yeah, you're able to connect to kind of like the local internet connection, so, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: That is... what is that? Ten. Yeah, I got some shitty rolls. Thankfully I can roll twice, uh, er, three and drop one, so. Otherwise I would be screwed.

Avery/GM: You're not able to hack into like any like computer or, uh, police scanners or, or footage or anything. You are able to access the, the feed from the floors of the building um, that they were in.

Avery/GM: You see Rho enter the building with this little floating eye robot and, uh, you see her kinda wave her hand at this person and they nod their head and allow her to walk through. Uh, there's no audio. I think that's, that's the penalty I'm going to give for the not quite meeting the threshold is that there's no audio here.

Avery/GM: You see Rho enter the elevator, uh, you switch perspectives. You see both of them in the elevator. You see the eye Robot kind of turn and like move as if it's talking to her. And uh, you see Rho talking back and you, you're reading her lips and it looks like she's saying, are you sure about this? Like over and over, like she keeps asking the same question and the eye-Bot keeps like nodding up and down.

Avery/GM: You see Rho coming to the top floor of this building and, and her and this eye robot float over to the window, look inside, and then run to the end of the hallway and hide behind a corner. You see this large being that is covered in like goat like fur with goat like horns, but otherwise anthropomorphic. And he's wearing a very fancy business suit and has a cadre of guards follow him out of this room that they were in and go down the elevator.

Avery/GM: After they leave, Rho and this eye robot float down the hallway, back to the window, and after a few moments, they walk inside, the camera perspective shifts to inside this room, you see a conversation going on between the eye robot, Rho, and this person, and something happens with… this being that is talking to Rho, um, has pure white flowing hair, and light purple skin, Um, and is very, has kind of almost like a skeletal, uh, look about them.

Avery/GM: Like their skin is just very tight to their, to their bone structure. And after a few moments of talking, this person just reaches out their hand and lifts Rho into the air and throws her toward the window. And then her guards open fire on Rho and you see the explosion happen, you see the cameras short out and go to static as the last thing that you see in this room was this person walking towards the floating eye bot.

Chris/Ollie: And the eye bot, eye bot didn't have a reaction, I'm guessing.

Avery/GM: The eye bot was trying to like float around but couldn't, yeah. No, like there was some movement but there wasn't

Chris/Ollie: like a terrified running away or...Physically attacking, or...

Avery/GM: No. Like, like, literally think, like, the rope, the little I bots from Fallout.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. So, Ollie's going to upload this to the chat, and while that's happening, he's gonna say, I'm assuming the eye bot is a chassis they've acquired, procured for Hermes. She seems to be asking it whether it wants to do something or other. It must have happened at Hermes direction.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris takes a deep breath in. And then a deep breath and just like breathes out and then says, we literally almost died keeping Hermes away from being captured. And Hermes still got captured. Ollie, is there any way you can delete this footage from their systems?

Chris/Ollie: Already done.

Avery/GM: Not with a 10.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, not with a 10. Okay.

Avery/GM: You got view access only.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, okay.

Avery/GM: Sorry.

Chris/Ollie: No, it's all good. That's what I get for, uh, not having the proper dice on hand.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean, I, we, she, Flares is at a loss, he just kind of looks around the room.

Chris/Ollie: So, do we know anything about this skeletal figure?

Caden/Bruce: I believe that's Rhea, who I don't know much about, but from my time away, she seems to be a very powerful individual With the hegemony.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris goes and pours himself a glass of champagne.

Avery/GM: Does he actually drink it this time?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Zach/Zahn: No.

Bee/Polaris: He puts his hands in his... Like, hands on his visor, and just like, puts his elbows on the table, and just sits down. Just like, not sure what to do. This couldn't have gotten worse! We left for one night!

Chris/Ollie: Not even the night. Yeah, just for dinner.

Avery/GM: Not even, a few hours.

Chris/Ollie: We went out, we went out to dinner and we come back and the kids have destroyed the house.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my fucking god. You lost your brother?!

Zach/Zahn: Well, we obviously have to just go in and break in.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I mean, Hermes is top priority.

Zach/Zahn: And we have to do it tonight, because the Winstons are going to be giving us a ship to leave tomorrow.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just groans. Just like, God fucking dammit. And then he like, stands up and he says, She fucking threw Rho out the window. And Rho almost killed all of us back on the Ursa Major. I don't think we're any sort of match for someone like Rhea.

Caden/Bruce: I mean... We don't go in. I still have my janitor's outfit. They can go basically anywhere. People don't expect very much from the common janitor.

Bee/Polaris: That's messed up, but also, we can't let you go in alone. Marty isn't here, and we already lost Hermes. Rho is unconscious. We can't let you go in alone.

Avery/GM: By the way, if anyone else wants to try and revive Rho, you can.

Bee/Polaris: I have nothing, I will probably accidentally murder her.

Chris/Ollie: Same. As a robot dog. He'd probably be like, alright, defibrillator. Zap. Oh, uh oh. Uh oh.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I was gonna

Zach/Zahn: I was about to suggest doing that, actually.

Bee/Polaris: My fucking first thought was adrenaline needle.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, how about Does anyone have any of those really powerful smelling salts?

Caden/Bruce: Probably. I'd imagine so. Or like, what's the, what's the fruit that smells, like, really, really strong?

Bee/Polaris: Jackfruit? Durium?

Caden/Bruce: Durium, I think is what I'm thinking of.

Bee/Polaris: We just need something really stinky. Let's go get that guy, he can do bad stand up for us. Haha, nice. Haha, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for ragging on your NPC.

Avery/GM: Nah, I mean, you do have a hotel concierge, you, you, they might have resources available.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god, we can ask him for fucking smelling salts. Ugh, I don't want to talk to him again!

Avery/GM: May I ask what rubs you so wrong about him?

Bee/Polaris: No, he's hilarious. I just, on principle, don't want to talk to him again. Because Polaris is annoyed by him, but he's still But because of his job, he has to keep going to talk to him. And Polaris main reason for being annoyed by him is he caused Marty distress. With his stand up.

Avery/GM: It makes sense.

Bee/Polaris: No, he's great. I love him. Me, Bee, I love him. Polaris, like, looks over at Rho and says, can someone go talk to the concierge and ask him for smelling salts or something?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I'll, I'll frickin do it. I'll go over to the door and, like, hit the command or whatever to summon him.

Avery/GM: Oh, you're gonna summon him up to your room?

Zach/Zahn: I feel like that would be faster, cause he could just spontaneously appear, right?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, he's not, he's not manifested right now, so he could just show up outside the door.

Avery/GM: Five seconds later, you hear a knock at your door.

Bee/Polaris: Jesus Christ! Polaris actually jump, Polaris like physically flinches.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn opens the door.

Avery/GM: He lifts his little red hat and says, I thought you'd be calling for me soon, so I already started my way up here. How can I help you?

Bee/Polaris: What a weirdo!

Zach/Zahn: We, we need smelling salts. Our friend is unconscious.

Avery/GM: He looks through the door. Can he see through the door where Rho is laying?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is actively trying to block the door.

Avery/GM: What do you need smelling salts for? Has someone fainted? I can call for first aid.

Zach/Zahn: That much won't be necessary. Just smelling salts.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. I will be right back. And he's just looking at you.

Zach/Zahn: I close the door.

Chris/Ollie: Immediate knock.

Avery/GM: About a minute later, knock, knock, knock.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn opens the door.

Bee/Polaris: Before Zahn opens the door, Polaris says, okay, that guy's freaking me out.

Avery/GM: Sorry, it took a little while. I had to go down to the corner store to get these. But here you are. In a minute? Yes, I'm very fast.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn accepts the smelling salts.

Avery/GM: Thanks. Anytime! And he lifts his hat again and is just smiling and staring at you. I close the door again.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie just mentions idly, I fear the tip we are going to have to leave him.

Bee/Polaris: Well, we're definitely going to have to leave him a stay silent tip. We did request quite a bit of odd things right in the middle of a lockdown due to a terrorist attack.

Avery/GM: Zahn, go ahead and roll an intelligence heal check, but add plus two for the smelling salts.

Zach/Zahn: Aw man, my plus one intelligence cancels out my minus one heal. Let's do this. Eight. Oh, plus, I guess plus two, ten for the smelling salts.

Avery/GM: There you go. Okay. Yeah. You kind of waft this into, into her nostrils and she bolts up real quick and at first holds out her hand to like grab you telekinetically and is like, wait, no, you're, you're fine. You're Zahn. You're good. She's like, what? What happened? Where's, where's Hermes? Is he okay?

Chris/Ollie: We were going to ask you the same thing.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, exactly.

Avery/GM: No, no, no, he, he was right here in my Oh wait, no, I put him in the

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah, you did.

Avery/GM: The robot.

Bee/Polaris: You did.

Avery/GM: And then he

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, you did that. I didn't want to. So why didn't you not do it?

Avery/GM: He gave a very compelling reason for wanting to go visit his mother.

Zach/Zahn: His what now?

Bee/Polaris: Which was?

Avery/GM: Polaris is just like, glossing over that.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris does it like, okay, cool. What was the reason?

Avery/GM: He... And she's like rubbing her eyes, like trying to like, you know, kind of get the fog out of her head, you know?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: From almost being exploded?

Zach/Zahn: Well, she WAS exploded, it's just she survived the explosion.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, via Zahn.

Avery/GM: And she's just kind of, she shakes her head, she's like, He, he thought he could reason with her and protect what he called his new family. He said that Rhea would listen to logic and... And reason, and would respect his wishes, and

Zach/Zahn: Wait.

Caden/Bruce: Rhea's his mother?

Avery/GM: Uh, apparently, yeah, they do some weird stuff with AI over in the hegemony, um, I mean, even you guys all having your AIs inside of these crystals is kind of weird for me, but um, yeah, he said something about Rhea being his mother, and he said we'd be safe. He said that she couldn't afford to reveal her identity on this planet, and so she wouldn't act hostile or anything.

Zach/Zahn: Well, he was clearly wrong about that.

Bee/Polaris: I just, help me out here. You are a person from a system, not from here. You're not from the system, and you thought that an AI that tells you he's going to go see his mother, who he thinks is safe, was a good idea to do without us.

Avery/GM: He specifically told me not to tell you.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, and so that was just like an extra good idea on top of the good idea cake?

Avery/GM: Yeah, I'm just full of those, I guess. No, he said that you all would try and get involved and try and, and stop him and that he didn't want to risk your lives just to keep him safe anymore.

Bee/Polaris: And that wasn't a red flag of any sort?

Avery/GM: I mean, of course it was a red flag, but... You know, Hermes has, you know, been very kind to me, and I wanted to, you know, respect his wishes, you know, if you wanted secrecy, you know. I felt I owed him at least that much. In hindsight, not a great idea. I, I agree.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I mean, you think? Also, couldn't he just email his mom? I mean, he has a whole email. It's Hermes, what, at shipai.biz?

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's true. He does have that email. Also, kind of weird that y'all call it email here, too, but that's beside the point.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean, half the, like, one third, I don't know what the fraction is. Two fifths of the plan… of the crew is technically from Terra.

Avery/GM: Rho... It begins pacing, you know, trying to like, she's just trying to like orient herself, you know, after being knocked out, she's like, okay, okay. So Hermes was in the robot. Where is that rope? Did that robot fall out of the window with me or?

Bee/Polaris: No, Rhea has him. As far as we know, the cameras cut out after the explosion.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. That sounds about right. Well, okay. Wait, where's, where's Marty? Is Marty okay?

Bee/Polaris: Marty's fine. Marty's with the nerd. Oh, wait, you don't know who the nerd is. Marty's with a nerd.

Avery/GM: Oh, no, I met the nerd when we were leaving that facility.

Bee/Polaris: Right, right.

Avery/GM: The weirdo?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah. Marty's with the nerd.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Doing lab stuff.

Avery/GM: Okay, so she's, she's safe. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but you do know who isn't safe?

Avery/GM: Yeah, Hermes. I know, I know.

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no, no, no, no. You. You were caught on video.

Avery/GM: Yeah?

Bee/Polaris: They put the area on a lockdown because they thought it was a terrorist attack. If Rhea sees fit, she could take that video footage and label you a terrorist.

Chris/Ollie: We were unable to delete it.

Avery/GM: Oh, I really put you all in a, in a bad spot, huh?

Zach/Zahn: It’s pretty bad.

Bee/Polaris: It's pretty bad. I mean, well, honestly, this isn't... I mean, we just got out of a situation where we were being chased by powerful entities. This seems pretty par for the course.

Avery/GM: Okay, I'm gonna make this right.

Bee/Polaris: No. You're, you're gonna lay down. And you're gonna take some time to heal. Cause Marty's not here.

Zach/Zahn: I don't know, I was definitely thinking that they're gonna help us out. We, we need the next person.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, for sure. Well, uh, yeah, but we also need to figure out what exactly we're doing, and Rho can't just run off right now Cause we have to figure out what we're doing before we go, so we don't also end up outside a window with no second Zahn to catch us.

Zach/Zahn: If anyone goes out the window, it would be me and I could catch myself, we're fine.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, good for you.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, no more, no more defenestration, please.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we need to figure out what we're doing and we need to figure out before morning because guess what? We have a job that we should, we're supposed to be doing that is time sensitive.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah,

Bee/Polaris: god dammit. Polaris goes and sits down and still doesn’t drink the champagne. But does pour himself more.

Chris/Ollie: It's just overflowing over the top.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Yeah Sure.

Avery/GM: I know, I've given y'all some hard choices, huh?

Bee/Polaris: Got us into a real pickle. Well, we are gonna have to do this night heist.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah cause Rho could take us in the same way she got in last time. Or we could say screw it and get the custodians to help us out.

Bee/Polaris: They are so far away, they will not be able to get here in time. It took us, what, like two days to get here?

Something like that.

Avery/GM: Yeah, they're at least a couple days out.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Even at maximum speed.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna, do we have Avi's contact information? Do we have either of their contact information?

Avery/GM: Yeah, you would have exchanged that, definitely.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Polaris is gonna ask them how time sensitive the mission is and if we can get, like, an extra day And we'll just have to speed run New Terra.

Avery/GM: Uh, go ahead and roll a... Charisma Connect check.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, my worst stat!

Avery/GM: This is what happens if you speak up, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah, damn it, yeah, damn it!

Zach/Zahn: We could just ask Marty for it, but they're not here.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, our people person is not here.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Seven.

Chris/Ollie: I don't think a puppy's gonna work over the phone.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: No.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I didn't think so. Wait, I can re roll! I'm an expert! Yay!

Avery/GM: Okay. Re roll.

Bee/Polaris: Snake eyes. Never mind.

Chris/Ollie: Is there a crit fail? Is snake eyes, like, a critical fail? Or is it just... DM discretion.

Avery/GM: There's not really a critical fail in this game. You know, the, the, it's kind of at the GM's discretion. Yeah, so Avi replies back and says, unfortunately, with the travel time between here and New Terra and then New Terra to Ithaca, the, the timeframe is already really short.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will type, okay, thanks.

Avery/GM: Okay, thanks, bye! If you would like, I can give y'all several options, or y'all can devise this yourselves. It's up to you.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I'm just not sure where to start. Really, the only thing we have to go on is to go back.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I mean, can we get a layout Okay, well, can we get a layout of the building first of all?

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, good call, good call.

Bee/Polaris: The cameras on that floor were destroyed, but not the cameras on, like, the other floors, so can we track where Rhea went? Um, there was a car outside, so can we see if that car has left, and if so, can we follow the street cameras to follow that car?

Avery/GM: If that's what Ollie would like to do, or, or Zahn, either way.

Chris/Ollie:  Also, I'd like to keep an eye on current activity in the building.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie:  Is it, if it's like, filling with police and security on what floors?

Bee/Polaris: you can put multiple Ollies on that, right?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yeah. Yeah, let me just split myself into 10,000 Ollies, BRB.

Zach/Zahn: But I can either like assist or, or something in, in doing all this.

Chris/Ollie: do we wanna keep my old role or just go with the, get a new one?

Avery/GM: No, no, no. I was gonna have you roll a new intelligence program and Sonya, you can assist if you'd like. You hop over to the little, the little terminal right over here.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled a 13.

Chris/Ollie: So 15.

Avery/GM: Holy crap. Yeah. Yeah. Between the two of you. Yeah. You're able to pull up the current feed on, uh, Zahn's terminal over here, which you could easily link to any of your headsets.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Gonna do that.

Avery/GM: Ollie, you pick up the feed where you left off, but on one of the lower, on, on the lobby floor, a few minutes after the explosion, you see Rhea coming out of the, uh, The hallway holding the now powered down eye bot in one hand and a bluish crystal in the other. And she hands the eye bot to, um, one of her guards and, uh, she just says, Dispose of this.

Avery/GM: The guard crushes the  eye bot and throws it to the ground. As they all head outside and get into this vehicle, um, And start heading through the city towards a, towards like a docking port on the outskirts of the city.

Zach/Zahn: Son of a bitch.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I, I mean we could get the fucking, uh, Mercedes, wait, Mer-Star-Deez convertible And, uh, try and fucking catch him, I guess. And then... v

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, how long has it been since this car left?

Avery/GM: Uh, it's been about an hour.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, so they're... They're probably there.

Bee/Polaris: You said that they were at like a, a, like a ship docking bay?

Avery/GM: Mm hmm. Yeah, they were heading towards the, basically the way the, the street cameras that are following this, this vehicle recording, it appears that they're heading towards the, the ship port where takeoffs and landings would occur.

Chris/Ollie: So I believe I left my drones floating about above the Winston, uh, place. Can I take the... Uh, I can't remember what they're called.

Bee/Polaris: Voidhawks?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, the Voidhawk, specifically. Have the Voidhawk run over to the port that we think they're heading towards, and uh, see if there's any ships still there.

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah, your Voidhawk comes into this docking bay, and there's several different ships here that are parked. You know, some that are obviously like merchant freighters, some that look like they might be like starfighters for like the Republic military, and then there's one that is starting its engines currently, and it has the symbol of the hegemony emblazoned all over it, which is very blatant. For the, considering the planet that you're on.

Chris/Ollie: It's kind of like Star Wars when you're walking through and they're all just like junk garbage ships and there's one that's just like stainless chrome all over the place.

Avery/GM: It's very fancy, yeah. It's, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Maybe, maybe it's that one. So, the Voidhawk has, uh, observation suite, sensor transparency, and environmental power. So, I want to attempt to sneak it onto the hull of the ship as it's taking off and just kind of like Tag along.

Avery/GM: Sure, I think with those specific fittings on it, I think you just do it.

Chris/Ollie: Excellent.

Avery/GM: So...

Bee/Polaris: Is Ollie telling us this stuff? Keeping us updated or livestreaming it?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. I mean, Ollie is always livestreaming, but I guess I'll also just additionally livestream whatever is coming from... So you're not watching just one... You're watching a livestream of Ollie looking at the wall? And another livestream of the drone footage.

Bee/Polaris: Excellent. Polaris is going to shoot a message back to... Is it Avi or Lapis that we're messaging? Doesn't matter? Both? Group chat?

Avery/GM: Both. Group chat.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna put in the group chat, uh, new plan. Can we get that ship and fast? And or can we get a faster ship? We, we can leave right now. And Polaris is like, updating the rest of the crew on this.

Avery/GM: Sure. They reply back and say, sure, I'll have a ship over in about 10 minutes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, perfect. Thank you.

Avery/GM: And Ollie, as your drone latches onto this hegemony ship, it lifts off from the surface of Olympia, potentially carrying Hermes back into possession of the hegemony.

(Ambience fades out, Outro plays, then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Be sure to find more of our work at 1upPodcasts.com.

Intro and Outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter.

Background music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from creative commons. Tracks used include Cyberpunk City, Car Chase, and Mega City Slums.

We’ll be back on November 15th with our next episode.

See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(outro fades up then plays out)

Episode 32 - A Very Awkward Dinner Party

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 32 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(Intro plays then fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: So we're back in Avi Winston's private office/quarters. Y'all have only seen the office area and the waiting area. It's all very done up, very, you know… Make it look… makes it look like she may be some sort of diplomat or something. Anyway, she has just projected an image of a space station, which looks like several different ships that are all linked together onto this Holo-projector board and has asked Zahn specifically to go home.

Zach/Zahn: So Zahn like slowly starts like walking towards the projector and is like staring at the projection of New Terra. And he's like, he taps the side of his helmet and it like decompresses or whatever, and it actually shows his face. And he is like, pale, like more pale than he normally is. He's like seeing a ghost pale and he turns to Avi and he's like, that is the worst possible idea in the entire formation of the universe. Why the hell would you want to go to New Terror?

Avery/GM: Oh, it's not that bad. It's improved quite a bit since you left. And then she smiles. Sarcastically.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I only kept up on news about New Terror for obvious reasons, as the entire society collapsed, and anyone who goes into that sector doesn't come out. There's a reason why it's been blacklisted. Like, there's nothing there.

Avery/GM: That's true. There's no resources there, and the people there probably can't offer any actual... material support in a lot of ways, but that vessel came from the same galaxy that the IASO program comes from. It stands to reason that there might be some sort of countermeasure on board.

Avery/GM: And Lapis pipes up and says, in fact, I've, I've seen it. I know exactly what it's called.

Zach/Zahn: Seen what?

Avery/GM: In a vision. I, I know what the program is called. The program is called the Epios And it can act as a neutralizing agent against the IASO program. I don't know all of the details, but it seems that this program has been being developed in the core of this space station for the past Several years by some of the scientists that have still survived and if you bring it I think we can use it to defend Ithaca and any other systems that the hegemony decide to target.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris kind of looks at Lapis and Avi and then looks over at Zahn and says if you don't want to go there I mean this program is important in all but we can talk to the custodians about the IASO program and it's an origin and possibly come up with a copy To counteract it, I mean.

Avery/GM: Oh, you may be able to do that. I don't, that is a factor I hadn't seen in any of the visions that we had been given. But, I suppose it's always possible. Where are these custodians? Space.

Zach/Zahn: Space. Zahn puts his hands on his hips and he looks down, and he looks like this. He like, glances at the, the hologram again, and he's like, No, if anyone is to be able to come up with literally a planet life saver program, it would be there.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like holds up his glass, like waves it back and forth and says, yay.

Avery/GM: Well, y'all don't have to give an answer yet why don't you come on down to the dinner hall? Dinner is about to be served. I did invite you for a meal, and it would be very rude of me to not actually hold up that end of the bargain.

Bee/Polaris: Is it not customary to have the meal first and then drop the bad news?

Avery/GM: Oh no, business first and then fun. That's the Winston Way.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, sure. Polaris looks over at Bruce and asks, Bruce, do you know anything about this?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will shrug and just be like, If Zahn wants to. I mean, I'm not too sure what we get out of this, other than, what, what do we get out of this? I thought me helping you repaid our miscalculation of accidentally killing Winston.

Avery/GM: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't misunderstand. This is not a demand. This is not me giving you an order, you can walk away anytime, no questions asked. I'm actually offering to hire you for this job. As your friend, Ollie knows I have quite a bit of money available. So name your price.

Bee/Polaris: Name your price. Give us the mansion. Give us the Winston fortune!

Chris/Ollie: Space mansion.

Zach/Zahn: Put down a lot of zeros.

Chris/Ollie: We did want a space station.

Caden/Bruce:

Bee/Polaris: we can drift the space station!

Zach/Zahn: We were going to steal a space station.

Bee/Polaris: We were going to steal a space station. We were going to work our way up. It's kind of like grinding XP.

Avery/GM: And you may not want this space station.

Bee/Polaris: ooo, Yeah, we don't want this space station.

Zach/Zahn: It's like 200 year old plus.

Bee/Polaris: That's a pretty old space station. Well, I mean, in terms of space, it's not really that old. Time is relative.

Zach/Zahn: True, I don't know how old it is in Milky Way years, but it arrived here 200 years ago.

Avery/GM: Wibbly wobbly timey wimey, it's fine.

Chris/Ollie: But when you say it's like an amalgamation of ships, is it like old and busted, like obviously like duct taped together? Or is it like, oh no, this is professionally done, you know?

Avery/GM: We're talking like the Zords.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Avery/GM: Like Power Rangers Zords, like, linking together.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, like Voltron

Avery/GM:  well Except instead of a fighting robot, it's a space station.

Chris/Ollie: Or it's like

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Or it's like the Ro It's just RoboMaid from Spaceballs?

Zach/Zahn: It's docked together by, like, like The, the docking tubes that come off of ships to like dock with like other ships. So it's just tubes together.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, it kind of looks like a McDonald's Playhouse.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah!

Avery/GM: But Polaris has, has presented an alternate opportunity.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah I still haven’t talked to my Robot parents. After storming out.

Chris/Ollie: We probably should, even if we're gonna go to New Terror.

Avery/GM: Lapis says, well, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go downstairs and check on the progress of the meal. You know, feel free to join us, Avi, and the rest of you whenever you're ready. And Lapis leaves the room.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, when, when she says, Name your price, Polaris is like, oh, like, actually…. And it would just be like a smartass. Yeah, just fund everything that we do.  

Avery/GM: A line of, a line of credit?

Chris/Ollie: Just get sponsored to have a big Winston, like, decal on the side of the ship.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah!

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god, and then when Violet finds us.

Chris/Ollie: We're like, hey! Some, some funny things happened.

Bee/Polaris: It wasn't us. These are not the people you're looking for.

Caden/Bruce: This all being said, what if we did name a price as in money, but then also named the price of getting them to make sure that Violet backs off of us? That would solve two problems. Well, it would solve the main problem, but then also give us more money.

Bee/Polaris: Are you saying this in character?

Caden/Bruce: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts his hand on his chin and the loading emoji comes up on his visor. He looks over at Avi, who is still in the room?

Avery/GM: Mm hmm. And she's just looking at you with a smile on her face. And in response to what Bruce said, she is just like, I think that could be arranged… Yeah, and she starts typing away at like a little computer that's at her desk and she flips the monitor around to show a picture of the ship model that you have. She's like, this is your ship model, right?

Bee/Polaris: No, there's a dent on the wing right there and he like points at the screen.

Avery/GM: Oh, thank you. Yeah. Okay. We'll, we'll get that checked out. Yeah, let me just do, do, do, do, and she's typing away, typing away and ordered. Okay. A duplicate of your ship will be… will be delivered here shortly. And we'll arrange for Violet to have her vengeance.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, have her vengeance. Wait a minute. Does that mean that they're going to put like people in the ship so that she finds bodies?

Avery/GM: Are you asking that in character?

Bee/Polaris: No, Polaris wouldn't care. And our moral backbone is not here to say.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Wouldn't even cross Ollie's mind.

Caden/Bruce: I was gonna say, it wouldn't cross Bruce's mind either.

Avery/GM: I think Marty would say something like that. She'd be like No, I, are you going to Put people on that ship for her to blow up and Avi is just like oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, I wouldn't do that We'll just show her the ship. We'll put some fake lifeline readings aboard and yeah, bing bang boom She'll get her revenge and… and all will be well again, and she has a big smile on her face And she says, I'm sorry, my, my, my, my features sometimes make my smiles look more devious than they are. This is not me being devious.

Bee/Polaris: I was just about to say, Polaris is unsure how to take the fact that a tiger is smiling at him.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, such uncomfort, much wow.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, if there's anything he learned from animal planet, it's that's not a good thing to see Then I think I mean that's good so we got the ship well us being hunted sort of covered

Zach/Zahn: no instead… Instead of animal planet for us. It's fauna galaxy

Chris/Ollie: Fauna Galaxy.

Bee/Polaris: Fauna Galaxy. Yeah, Fauna Galaxy.

Avery/GM: Eh, the custodians came from the same galaxy as Earth. They might have had some bootleg copies, you never know.

Bee/Polaris: Alioth does not care for human entertainment, so no. Oh, you know what? The ship was meant for... anyway.

Chris/Ollie: I can just imagine Bear like in the back though just like watching just tons of old movies.

Avery/GM: Avi stands up and says, well, if that is your price, then I guess our negotiations are done and we can move on to the meal.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris holds up his hand and said, no, no, Bruce said money as well as that.

Avery/GM: Oh… My mistake. Sure. How much would you like to earn from this little adventure?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will look at Polaris because Bruce does not know at all what to say.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks at Zahn and asks, How much would you say emotional distress is worth?

Zach/Zahn: A lot of zeros.

Bee/Polaris: Like, hypothetically, how many?

Zach/Zahn: Five billion.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. 50 billion.

Zach/Zahn: Adds one more zero.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris turns over to Avi and says. 50 billion credits, please.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's cute. You know, I'm not going to spend that much money on this mission.

Zach/Zahn: We'll, we'll take away two zeros. Five hundred million.

Bee/Polaris: Ten million.

Avery/GM: I did just spend a lot of money on a ship to blow up.

Bee/Polaris: We didn't ask you to buy a ship. You could have falsified information that Violet has

Avery/GM: no Violet is Way too clever for that. She has the whole of the Republic military at her disposal.

Bee/Polaris: Isn't that nepotism?.

Avery/GM: Oh, certainly

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool.

Zach/Zahn: Okay, cool.

Bee/Polaris: I mean. Do we know how much the Winston fortune is worth?

Avery/GM: You do not. I Google it. Well, no, y'all did Google. They are worth trillions of credits across their various business enterprises, assets and cash on hand. Trillions.

Chris/Ollie: Exactly. Like she didn't laugh outright. She said, I'm not going to spend that much money on this mission. So it's like…

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Let's go with this. I will pay you all 100 million credits for this job. Final Offer.

Caden/Bruce: 100 million credits to complete a job? I mean… I’m okay with that.

Bee/Polaris: Fine… Deal.

Avery/GM: Now, Come on, let's go have dinner. My, my uncles are excited to meet you.

Bee/Polaris: Whaaat?

Avery/GM: No, I told them I was having friends over and I never bring friends by so, you know, they just, they get excited about that. Don't worry, they don't know about you and Bryson. All that stuff, so it's gonna be okay.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah we’ve been calling him…

Zach/Zahn: Lord Winston.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we didn't call it

Avery/GM: Yeah, because I mixed up the names in the first couple sessions, so. Yeah. Officially, his name is Bryson Winston. Avi starts walking out of her office.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will follow after everyone else leaves the room, but also type in chat, do we really want to meet more Winstons so they know what we look like? In case we run into any other Winston involved shenanigans.

Chris/Ollie: Oli doesn't really care.  But while this has been going on, Oli's been kind of trolling the internet for anything available related to New Terra, or New Terror. How much is there?

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll a Intelligence know check.

Chris/Ollie: And my Int is still boosted That is… What is that? 17.

Avery/GM: Holy shiza.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, the int boost is so strong. It lasts for like the thing is It's really weird because everything in this game goes by scene, but that lasts for the day Which is really oddly specific, but okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's fine. So, a lot of the information is redacted, or is at first, like, behind, like, security features. As it's all located in, like, Republic Military Archives and stuff like that. But, with that high of a knowledge roll, I'm gonna actually give it to you and say that you... easily find a backdoor way to access these archives, and you learn that a incident occurred on the space station, the details of which are unknown, but that the entire space station's society split into several different factions and eventually resorted to cannibalism when their food replicators stopped working.

Avery/GM: You know that they have been hostile to any Outside presence that tries to enter the system or the station and that because of that the entire region within like three light years A three light year radius around the station has been designated as off limits for all travel routes. Spike Drive pilots are told to avoid this area by any means.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, so I was getting the idea that it was abandoned, but it's like Raiders, pretty much.

Avery/GM: Yeah, some... Some mean, mean cannibals.

Chris/Ollie: What's the, what's the estimated casualty rate?

Zach/Zahn: Heheheheh, all.

Chris/Ollie: All… 99.9%

Avery/GM: Unknown, because there wasn't a census taken of the station by these outside parties. But it is believed that about 90 percent of the population has perished.

Bee/Polaris: You're telling me, you're telling me a bunch of angry cannibals didn't want to take a census?

Avery/GM: Not really big on paperwork.

Zach/Zahn: How do you feel about your government? Take the census.

Avery/GM: Can you, hi, I'm a census worker. Oh God, my arm.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. I was going to post all of that in the chat and say, what a fun adventure this is going to be. And is… get a little, his tail wag and his little happy face on.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will type in chat. Why didn't anyone send help?

Avery/GM: That is not listed. In any of these reports, yeah. So Avi teleports and the rest of you teleport into this hallway and y'all come into this very fancy dining hall. And yeah, as you're coming in through the doorway, you do hear Marty's communicator watch beep.

Avery/GM: And it's weird. Cause you know, normally y'all are just chatting with each other, but this is an outside. communication and she takes a look at it and scrolls through and just says I'm sorry guys Oswald has an emergency back at the Institute is actually asking for my help which is you know interesting do you mind if I go help out real quick and then I'll meet you back as soon as I can

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is conflicted because normally he would go with to escort but And also Bully Nerd, but because this is Marty's not here and we need to get her out of the scene, please just thumbs up.

Avery/GM: Okay, thanks. He'll be here shortly, so I'm gonna go wait out front for him, okay?

Chris/Ollie: Okay. I'll save some food for you.

Avery/GM: Thumbs up on visor.

Bee/Polaris: By eating it and storing it in your tiny little stomach?

Chris/Ollie: Yup.

Avery/GM: And Bruce, she turns to you before leaving, hands you a medpack and says, In case you need it, here's a medpack. You know how to use this, right?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will nod, even though he has... Well, no, I think he would have some sort of knowledge on how to do medpacks. He worked in a kitchen.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, especially traveling all by yourself all the time.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, definitely.

Avery/GM: You gotta know how to take care of yourself.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, he'll, he'll, he'll nod. And like, put it in his fancy apron.

Avery/GM: And then Marty rushes out and down the hall. And then turns around the corner again and just yells, Sorry Avi for dipping out on the dinner party, it looks lovely, bye! But anyway, y'all are entering this dinner hall, and there are several fancy looking waiters in each corner. They look like they're holding clipboards on the map, but they're actually holding like, order forms, you know, to see what you'd like. This is a club after all, so they have all kinds of food available. And there are some robot attendants kind of walking around, dusting and cleaning and stuff like that. Probably not dusting, because you don't want to get dust on your food. And Avi just says Well that was certainly exciting. Does, does she do that often, or is that Kind of a new thing?

Bee/Polaris: Yes.

Avery/GM: Well, please feel free to sit wherever you'd like. Food shall be served shortly. And she goes to sit next to her uncles. And her uncles, Shin and Nobu Winston, are sitting at the end of the table. They're kind of holding hands and kind of talking, you know, at a low volume. You know, whispering to each other and stuff like that. Lapis is, is sitting next to, to Nobu. Just, you know, smiling and having just a good time. She's always, you know, sort of excited to be invited. Ollie, do you take a seat at the table or, or do you find a spot next to this cozy little fire right here?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie takes a seat at the table.

Bee/Polaris: Takes a seat at the head of the table.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, hops up and sits down nice and proper.

Bee/Polaris: Grabs his little napkin, puts it on his little doggy paws. As the, as the new head Winston.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, sure, I mean, I am by far the fanciest looking of us. So, I'm going to definitely take my seat at the head of the table.

Zach/Zahn: He is also the one who directly murdered Winston, so. And you know what you do? You keep what you keep what you kill!

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, I did make the bomb though.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, yeah, but I pulled the trigger.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, but Ollie's the one that pulled the trigger.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but you also did put the bomb in Ollie.

Avery/GM: Ollie, while eating, just never breaks eye contact with any of the Winstons.

Chris/Ollie: Yes, hmm, let me regale you with a funny tale of how I suicide bombed myself and killed this rapscallion.

Bee/Polaris: No, any story but that.  

Chris/Ollie: Is there food on the table already? Or is it?

Avery/GM: not yet. It'll be served.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, well then, Ollie. Around, like, the neck, his, like, collar of his suit where he's got his, like, dog collar. He's just gonna, like, come out on the sides, like, two thin flexible robo arms, kinda like, you know, benders arms And he's just gonna, like, start sorting his napkin, you know, put arrange his silverware and whatnot.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Shin at the head of the table kinda clears his throat, and he's just like, So Avi, please introduce your… Your friends to us. You never, you never bring company over. So it's, it's very, it's a very welcome sign that you're out there making friends.

Bee/Polaris: Oh shit. Is she going to say our names?

Avery/GM: Avi just says, Oh, these are just some fellows I met back at the racetracks, you know, over, over at Bragos. They actually won first place in the, the pendulum death race over there And Nobu says, they like to live dangerously. Great. Great. Yes. Yes. I once raced in the death races many times and it was always a very fun experience for me. He's trying to kind of like lighten the mood because Shin is obviously like still upset about the bad business deal. And Nobu claps, claps his hands twice just, and the waiters kind of move in With their little pads and start like asking like what would you like to order and all that stuff So the world is your oyster What do y'all order

Zach/Zahn: probably just something super simple

Bee/Polaris: a cheeseburger with fries

Avery/GM: Some club food, yeah bar food technically If y'all don't want to roleplay this scene, we don't have to we can just hand wave it.

Bee/Polaris: I'm looking up the most expensive dish you can make

Caden/Bruce: I'm glad that we're on the same page here.

Zach/Zahn: Get that thousand dollar ice cream sundae.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, no, what's that gold… gold encrusted steak called?

Avery/GM: What?

Bee/Polaris: Why are people crusting things in gold? It doesn't do anything. And you can't even digest it. Doesn't it just come out as gold as well?

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, it's salt bae's steak.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Salt bae.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will say, I'll have your... Your finest Wagyu A5 filet mignon, crusted in gold, of course.

Avery/GM: One of the waiters kind of gives you like an eyebrow raise and then just writes it down. It's like, okay, I guess this dog is going to eat.

Chris/Ollie: No, this dog is going to eat good.

Avery/GM: This dog can talk.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, what would Marty want? Because you have to eat that too.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yeah. We'll send Ollie, er, Marty a quick message in the chat, ask what they want.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will set down his glass of champagne that he's been holding this entire time onto the table and then ask for another glass of champagne.

Zach/Zahn: That he hasn't drank yet.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah, he'll ask for another glass of champagne. And anything Bruce would like to try.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will order some scallops and lobster and then look at them and be like, Do you happen to have the bugs from the restaurant that's located on the far Western planets. Oh, I can't remember the name of the solar system. The bugs themselves are... Well, they don't really have a name that most people can pronounce. But they're quite rare, and they taste like nuts.

Avery/GM: Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we got that. I think they might be frozen, though. I don't think we've gotten a fresh shipment in for a while. So, but yeah, some of our, some of our employees really like those ones.

Caden/Bruce: That's okay. I'll, I'll, I'll have some of those too.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. Yep. Mm hmm. And if people need more time to think, we can switch over to Rho and Hermes.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Zach/Zahn: we can do that.

Bee/Polaris: Let's hear what they're going for.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: So we flashback to Ro and Hermes. They are currently out on the city streets of Ambrosia. Well, we see Rho. We don't see Hermes yet. Rho is, at a small counter of what looks like a, an electronics vendor of some sort on the street here. And the man is standing there and he looks a bit dazed and kind of like in a stupor a little bit. And Rho is fiddling with some tools and a small little device. And she's like, okay, so I install that here, flip this switch there.

Avery/GM: And the little Eye-Bot that she was working on lights up with a blue glow. And Hermes voice can be heard from the Eye-Bot and he says, Thank you, Rho. All systems functioning as normal. And he turns to this, look at this confused salesperson and says, Thank you for your cooperation. A deposit of 1,000 credits will appear in your account momentarily.

Avery/GM: Rho, why does this organic being look like he is asleep? And Rho's just like, Oh, you know, long day, long day, lots of customers, probably just tired. Come on, let's go, Hermes. And grabs the little Eye-Bot and starts running down the street. She's just like, Okay, Hermes, we got you a temporary body. Are you sure this is the right call?

Avery/GM: And Hermes says, yes, we should be fine. My mother cannot afford to reveal her identity on this planet, so we should be fairly safe. And Ro says, okay lead the way and we'll, we'll go see your mother. And as they are walking, they enter a very fancy looking government building.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Avery/GM: And then we flash back to the dinner party.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Two things. One, oh no. Two, where did Hermes get the thousand credits?

Avery/GM: There is no thousand credits.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god, they fucking, they fucking...

Chris/Ollie: That man is dead.

Bee/Polaris: They killed him!?  

Avery/GM: No, they didn't. No, no, no, no

Caden/Bruce: I assumed Rho put him to sleep.

Bee/Polaris: I thought, I thought Rho used her mind powers. Yeah

Caden/Bruce: yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Rho used her mind powers, but no, did not kill him. Just looks very,

Chris/Ollie: so, very much like, so being asleep was in a euphemism. Okay.

Avery/GM: No, no, no, no. Just like he's standing there just like blaahh you know?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Okay. I thought, I thought that was the case. And the… so they just cross lied to each other?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Nice. Zahn is ready for his order. He is going to order a Northern bovine pizza with savory fruit on top of it.

Avery/GM: Very nice, very nice.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will, like, raise his hand to catch the waiter before he goes and says actually, I'll have two glasses, thank you.

Avery/GM: Any food for ya?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just stares at him.

Avery/GM: Oh, oh, oh, okay. Just slowly walks backwards.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just keeps staring and then slowly turns his head back to the table.

Avery/GM: Okay, and they all disappear into the kitchen to go get your orders. So as you order your food and the waiters are off Shin says so what do you all do for a living you merchants traders Daredevils?

Bee/Polaris: one could say all of those things.

Zach/Zahn: I don't think we've traded anything yet Zahn actually pipes up and says.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah

Zach/Zahn: we've done some of the other stuff though.

Chris/Ollie: We've sold stuff and bought other stuff.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we did trade.

Avery/GM: Yeah, we had that whole scene where you sold stuff.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, we traded your stuff.

Zach/Zahn: We traded your stuff.

Avery/GM: That's right. That's right.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah that’s why Polaris said You can say we're all of those things.

Avery/GM: Well, y'all are engaging in probably fairly friendly conversation for a little while.

Bee/Polaris: No.

Avery/GM: Or not.

Bee/Polaris: No.

Chris/Ollie: probably… This is really awkward.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Police's goal is to be as cryptic and, like, off putting as possible, but in a way that doesn't get the call to security on him.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. As this dinner party is going, all of your food arrives, and it all looks very tasty, and Bruce, the flies, are...Perfectly prepared they even gave you, like, little toothpicks for each one, so you don't have to pick them up with your hands if you don't want to. Why they gave you one toothpick per fly is a little wasteful, but, you know, whatever. Polaris, both glasses of champagne arrived next to the one you already have, so, you know, you've got three glasses of sparkling bubbly drink in front of you.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, except one's room temp.

Avery/GM: Except one’s room temp, exactly. Ollie, this golden crusted steak appears on your plate with some very lovely looking roasted potatoes and garlic and butter green beans next to it. And it looks phenomenal.

Bee/Polaris: Are dogs allergic to garlic?

Chris/Ollie: I don't know.

Avery/GM: Are they?

Bee/Polaris: I know cats are for sure.

Avery/GM: Okay, I guess I should make sure.

Caden/Bruce: He's also a robot.

Chris/Ollie: I wouldn't be surprised though.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah, but he also ordered food. They should know this!

Chris/Ollie: I Don't know.  I'm I'm probably pretty obviously Like yeah, like yeah, the way I see it is he looks kind of like The the cat, the robot cat from Buzz Lightyear, he's got like, obvious robotic joints.

Bee/Polaris: I was just saying that for you to be able to make a big stink about it even though you're a robot dog.

Chris/Ollie: yeah. Well, I mean, they don't apparently they're not into feeding gold steak to dogs. So, I might just have to ask for seconds.

Bee/Polaris: That is true, they are very mean to dogs.

Chris/Ollie: I know, what? What kind of cruel bastard doesn't feed a gold steak to a dog?

Avery/GM: No, it's gold.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yeah, but he

Bee/Polaris: They were very rude like…

Chris/Ollie: was kind of sussed about it.

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, it's just, you know, it's like, oh, that's kind of a weird thing to ask for your first meal here.

Bee/Polaris: He really said the audacity.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, I'm merely ordering food that befits my obvious, station in life.

Avery/GM: Yeah, stature. Yeah. So y'all dig in and eat. Do you guys have any questions for the Winstons that you want answered or anything, any information you'd like to try and pry out of them?

Chris/Ollie: I would like the little overview of who exactly Shin and Nobu are and what they like do in the organization.

Avery/GM: Okay, sure. Yeah. How do you How do you approach that topic?

Chris/Ollie: Well, after he, they asked us to introduce ourselves after that's concluded, I'll just return. And what about yourselves? What labors do you busy yourself with during these long days?

Avery/GM: Nobu speaks up and is just like, Oh, well, you know, my husband and I oversee this club and you know, all the daily operations that, that go into running such an organization, you know, hiring the DJs, paying the staff, making sure the food's ordered, all that.

Avery/GM: You know, mundane stuff for the day. But it keeps the patrons happy and keeps people interested in our business. Shin also oversees a lot of our trade activities and Nobu kind of gives kind of a knowing smile when he says trade and Shin speaks up and is just like, We don't have to play games with them.

Avery/GM: I'm sure Avi has informed them of our business activities. Yes, yes, we sometimes hire, you know, pirates and, and other smugglers to, to get products from some of the more exotic worlds that are located in the hegemony or independent systems that don't… don't trade with the Republic. And yeah, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

Avery/GM: I just got word that a pirate crew that I hired to hunt down some very rare gems has gone missing. So… I'm out several million from that deal and Nobu kind of rubs his hand just like it's it's all right We'll we'll find another crew. I'm sure it's like yes, but you don't understand Pirates are so… good Pirates are so hard to come by these days.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris shares a look what's on Ollie and Bruce.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Out of character, little non player knowledge, is are those our pirates he's talking about?

Avery/GM: I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris asks, We may be familiar with some pirates. Who did you hire?

Avery/GM: Oh, this, this squad of pirates based out of the junkyard.

Bee/Polaris: No! Sorry, I meant to be muted…

Avery/GM: The… crimson something or other. The captain recently had a very bad loss, and didn't take it too well at first, and I, you know, said he could take our mission on after he got his revenge, and I haven't heard hide nor hair of him since, and then he just downs his, his glass of, of wine that was in front of him, just in one gulp.

Zach/Zahn: It's cause he can't, the captain hasn't gotten his revenge yet. Oh,

Chris/Ollie: okay. So he didn't go missing on the mission. He just didn't show up for it.

Avery/GM: Wasn't able to take the mission. He hasn't heard, yeah, he hasn't heard back from him in regards to taking the mission yet.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Jesus Christ, thank God.

Chris/Ollie:  I was thinking,

Bee/Polaris: I was about to be very sad.

Chris/Ollie:  Yeah, that they had gone to take the mission.

Avery/GM: But has not been able to make contact at all either.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, shit.

Avery/GM: Like has tried to make contact and cannot.

Bee/Polaris: Do we have their, they have our email. Do we have their email?

Avery/GM: Yeah, yeah, y'all have exchanged information before.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna…

Avery/GM: Cause they were gonna invite you to a party.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's true. Polaris is going to shoot them an email and say, Y'all good? Question mark?

Avery/GM: I mean, it might take a little while to get a response.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's fine. I just wanted to, just wanted to check in on our boys.

Chris/Ollie: Our bad, we were in a system with no signal.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris types in the group chat. Is this something that we want to pursue? We, I mean, after New Terra, we could, we could squeeze more money out of the Winstons.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Especially, no, look at it this way. These are the heads of those, like, smuggling operation. We could probably get any item we want from these guys. They could find pretty much anything.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, I was gonna ask, do, would they, well, I guess I would have to ask them, huh? If, if they knew the custodians, because the custodians, they do illegal stuff. For funsies.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you'd probably have to ask them directly.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, after sending that message in chat Polaris will ask are there any other reliable groups that you could possibly hire?

Avery/GM: I mean, there are several groups out there in the galaxy that I have heard whispers of, but Captain Blitz has been my most reliable tr transportation partner these past few years. I worked with a couple, you know, strange alien crews once before, you know, a few human crews here and there, but never really found anyone too reliable.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I hope all is well with Captain Blitz, he seems to be a good man.

Avery/GM: Oh, are you familiar with him?

Bee/Polaris: No.  Just knee jerk.

Avery/GM: Oh, how sad. I was hoping you might. Maybe you might know his whereabouts, but never mind. Food's here. Why don't we all enjoy our meal and we can go about our night.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's helmet only, like, it shifts up. Instead of down, so it just reveals, like, his mouth.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Amazing.

Zach/Zahn: But otherwise, he keeps his helmet on.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris can't do that with his helmet. Because it's like a Daft Punk style helmet.

Avery/GM: Yup.

Bee/Polaris: So he just occasionally puts the glasses he made up to his mouth, tips it, but not to touch his helmet, and then puts it back down.

Avery/GM: as he sneaks one of his nutrient bars underneath.

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no, he's not even, he's not even, he's not even eating anything. He trusts, he doesn't trust the Winstons at all. There's no way in hell he's eating anything from this house. But out of character, do we actually wanna, if the Crimson Chaos Pirates don't respond, do we actually wanna snatch that job from them?

Zach/Zahn: Potentially. I mean, we'd finally steal something in this game.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we'd finally do something illegal.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like it would be more in character to try and figure out what happened to them than just steal their job, though.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Chris/Ollie: Yeah I think it's more in character for us to find them and get them here so they can take the job.

Yeah, I mean, to be fair I was thinking like we do the job, give them the stuff because they’re in mourning they’re probably not going to be doing any jobs any time soon. It’s kind of like bringing over a casserole but instead its doing your job and having you get paid for it.

Avery/GM: Anything else during this meal time that y'all want to do or, or, or explore at all?

Chris/Ollie: What else was I going to ask them?

Zach/Zahn: No I’m just gonna take their free food and their money and then leave.

Bee/Polaris: I can't think of anything to ask these two specifically. And I don't want to tell them about the custodians who do mad illegal stuff because they clearly don't know them.

Avery/GM: Yeah, okay. Well, as the dinner kind of wraps up Shin and Nobu excuse themselves From the dining table and you're just left with Lapis and Avi and some of these waiters flitting about here and there.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris kind of leans in to the table and whispers so the waiters, can't hear, We totally know the Crimson Chaos Pirates… To Avi and Lapis.

Avery/GM: Avi’s like, well, why didn't you say anything? You probably would have been a big help.

Bee/Polaris: I'm sure. I panicked. I did, I did send them an email asking if they were all right.

Avery/GM: Oh, well, hopefully they respond back soon. Sounds like you're on pretty good terms with them to have their Contact information.

Bee/Polaris: Something like that.

Caden/Bruce: I made them a cake.

Bee/Polaris: Bruce made them a cake.

Avery/GM: Avi raises her eyebrows like, What kind of cake?

Caden/Bruce: I think it was lemon. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's not what I meant by what kind of cake.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, just a normal one.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. Not one that violently levels a...

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no. We only do that to people that hunt animals to extinction.

Caden/Bruce: And that was in a pie, not a cake.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Oh, fair, fair.

Chris/Ollie: It wasn't even in the pie.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, it was in the ollie.

Zach/Zahn: It was in the ollie.

Bee/Polaris: It's kind of like a can of peanuts, but that, is that when you open it, it's snakes, but instead it's a bomb. We should do that. We should, we should make that.

Avery/GM: You should. Just booby traps.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Anyway, yeah, Polaris just says that, and then once again raises his champagne glass to pretend drink it.

Avery/GM: Avi stands up and is just like, well, I'll see you all out then. And if you're wanting to take the job, I'll have a, is, is your ship operational or do you need transport?

Bee/Polaris: Is, is this something that needs to happen now?

Avery/GM: I mean, we, we had time for dinner, but we do need y'all to leave like first thing tomorrow morning.

Bee/Polaris: Is our ship operational, Avery?

Avery/GM: No, it was going to be like a week.

Bee/Polaris: Dammit! We're going to need a new ship.

Avery/GM: Very well… you do have the Cassiopeia in orbit.

Bee/Polaris: We do. But we don't want to take that. Do we actually? Do we want to take that?

Zach/Zahn: I mean, taking similar technology to similar technology, it's not a bad idea.

Chris/Ollie: Not a bad idea. It could be beneficial. How busted up is the Cassiopeia?

Bee/Polaris: Not very. Didn't, yeah, fixed it.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah, y'all had like that week long break when you were in the custodian system where y'all repaired it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: 100 percent and then y'all left it in orbit to take your normal ship down.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Avery/GM: to the planet

Bee/Polaris: Anyway, Polaris still ask for a ship.

Avery/GM: Sure, we can provide you with a small armored shuttle. we'll make sure that you have a ship that is protective enough to reach the station and, and get you where you need to go. I'll arrange for it to be taken to your hotel room tonight, or first thing in the morning.

Bee/Polaris: Can our…

Avery/GM: Not literally in your hotel room.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I was Oh Well, I, I kind of imagined it hovering outside of our hotel window, just parked there.

Zach/Zahn: Are we allowed to jump?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah, Polaris thumbs up on the visor. Or, no, he raises his champagne glass as a confirmation. Anyway, we're leaving, right? We're skedaddling?

Avery/GM: Sure, y'all wanna skedaddle? Yeah, y'all exit the club Bruce on your way out, one of those Scaph bodyguards is at the door and they just nod at you and, you know, kinda give you a knowing look.

Bee/Polaris: They're also part of the Overseers.

Avery/GM: Oh, the Oracles?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, the Oracles.

Avery/GM: I don't know, you could ask.

Bee/Polaris: Can we? Can we just stop and ask that?

Chris/Ollie: They didn't mention, like, Hey, don't mention us to anyone. Don't talk about us.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, well, didn't they mention that they're a secret behind the scenes sort of organization?

Chris/Ollie: They did say that, but they didn't hold us to any kind of secrecy.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that is true,

Bee/Polaris: I didn't sign an NDA.

Avery/GM: You did not sign an NDA, this is correct. Yeah, in one of, in one of the recordings, one of the people that Rhea was speaking to did mention that like, there are rumors and stories about a group called the Oracles, but… Y'all are walking down the street.

Avery/GM: You happen to cross down or cross through that kind of busy marketplace that Bruce Polaris and Marty had gone through previously.

Caden/Bruce: How's our business doing?

Avery/GM: Everything's kind of shut down. It's kind of late at night

Caden/Bruce: Oh, okay.

Avery/GM: it's about 930 or so and the business district has kind of quieted down, you know There's people kind of cleaning up, you know some Street stalls and things like that, but you know, no one's no one's had time to move in yet so but as you're passing in front of the capital building here, you hear an explosion from the top floor, followed by shattering glass. And you see a figure plummeting to the ground below.

Bee/Polaris: Jesus tap dancing Christ.

(Ambience Fades out, Outro Plays then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a one up podcast network production. Intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from Creative Commons. Tracks used were Covert Ops, Generation Ship, and Cyberpunk City. We'll be back on November 1st with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars.

Episode 31 - Into the Tiger's Den

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 31 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(Intro music plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: All right, let's get into the action today. So we ended last session with y'all doing a very good deed, getting some good karma points and buying a shop for this nice farming family right next to the soon to come Big Fred's Anime Emporium.

Zach/Zahn: That we also helped fund.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Inadvertently, yeah. And Ollie and Zahn were back at the hotel getting stuff fixed up and repaired when Lapis showed up and invited you all to a nice fancy dinner tonight with Avi and Lapis at the Winston Estate and Lapis knows all of your names somehow.

Zach/Zahn: Which is concerning to Zahn.

Avery/GM: Yeah, just a little bit and then as Bruce and Polaris and Rho and Marty were coming out of the real estate office across a busy street, Bruce, you spotted a being that you have only encountered once before when you were doing some spy work.

Avery/GM: You see Rhea getting out of a fancy limo, surrounded by guards and walking into a government building. So yeah, so we will start with our happy people over in the street. You see this being getting out of the vehicle. Bruce, Rhea is an unnaturally tall being. She almost towers over you in height. She's at least 10 feet tall. She is thin with no appearance of like large muscles or fat. Her skin seems to almost be like gripping right against her skeletal structure.

Zach/Zahn: Damn, she taller than Lady Dimetrescu.

Avery/GM: She is…

Zach/Zahn: She’s taller than Vampire Mommy.

Bee/Polaris: Heart eyes.

Avery/GM: She has faded purple skin and purple white hair that flows down her back. Her eyes shine with a golden hue. And she is wearing a black and silver dress that is clearly very expensive. And she walks in a very poised and determined manner right into the building followed closely by these three red alien guards that look pretty intense.

Bee/Polaris: Can we romance villains? (laughter) I’m kidding.

Jenine/Marty: What's the morale score that we have to beat to romance a villain?

Bee/Polaris: I am actually kidding.

Avery/GM: What did I put for the romance score? No, I'm kidding. Bruce, you see her, do you mention anything to your friends or do you just, uh, go about your business?

Caden/Bruce: No, I think Bruce will kinda, like, with his tail kinda, like, side bump, like, Polaris and kinda, like, point with his tail and just be, like, She's a very important figure. I met her in one of my encounters when I was working with Lazuli and I think, I don't know what she's doing here but I don't think it can be any good.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, like, looks up from looking at the garlic cheesy bread he got last episode and you did mention it was hot so there's, like, steam on his visor on his helmet and he looks over and clearly can't actually see her and he just nods and says, noted, shall I prepare a bomb?

Caden/Bruce: No, I don't… I don't think. That's the best course of action, but neither do I think following her is a good course of action either. Perhaps checking in with the others and seeing if they've noticed anything weird or suspicious here would be a good idea.

Bee/Polaris: Understandable. Is she not the one that sent Coil after us?

Caden/Bruce: Was she, Avery? Would Bruce know that?

Avery/GM: Yes. In your transmission, one of the things that was transmitted was that she was going to send an AI hunter to get Hermes back.

Caden/Bruce: Okay, so Bruce would be able to put two and two together.

Avery/GM: Totally.

Caden/Bruce: He'll nod.

Bee/Polaris: And you said not to prepare a bomb, correct?

Caden/Bruce: I can't say that that building wouldn't have some innocent civilians inside of it.

Bee/Polaris: But her vehicle does not.

Jenine/Marty: you just see Marty Face Palm.

Caden/Bruce: You see Bruce kind of like, tilt his head and blink, like, very much considering this.

Zach/Zahn: Are you guys just openly talking about terrorist activities in front of potential witnesses?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we're in a busy city. If you walk by a busy city, like, you don't really pay attention to the conversations people are having.

Jenine/Marty: And maybe you hear one murder attempt. You hear one murder attempt maybe every, like, what, 15 days?

Zach/Zahn: If, if I heard somebody say Bob while I'm walking past them, I'm gonna perk up. I'm just saying.

Bee/Polaris: Well.

Chris/Ollie: Maybe They got some kind of like.

Bee/Polaris: Maybe you're built

Chris/Ollie: different. Comtacs that can automatically pick up on people in the vicinity saying things like Bob and.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I could be talking about this delicious garlic bread that I have.

Chris/Ollie: The garlic bread is da bomb.

Avery/GM: Polaris, Rho puts a hand on your shoulder. And Marty, you hear in her voice kind of like that tone that kind of indicates that she's accessing a vision of some kind with her precognitive powers.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, she's scanning my brain?

Avery/GM: No, no, no.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay.

Avery/GM: No, don't, don't use any bombs here. This isn't the right place.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I was, I don't have bombs on me. I was saying, should I prepare in anticipation for possible use of said bomb?

Avery/GM: Oh, oh, okay. Yeah, I, maybe. I'm not I just, I, I was just peeking into the possibility of, of that happening and it would not end well for any of us here.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, that's fair. I, I'm not as reckless as I have nevermind. Let's go.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, cause uh, last time Zahn put in chat that he needed to talk to you guys and didn't want to Put the invitation out on open comm.

Yeah. Polaris is like, Zahn has important news and this cheesy bread is getting cold.

Avery/GM: Okay. You returned to the hotel. Zahn, Ollie, what have you been doing since Lapis’ visit?

Zach/Zahn: So before Lapis’ visit, Zon was taking a nap. Yeah, he hasn't gone back to that.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, Ollie opened the door.

Zach/Zahn: At this point, Zahn is probably around like 85 to 95 percent done repairing his own armor.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: Probably like working on the last bits of making his helmet, being able to collapse and re form again. As everybody comes in, Zahn's gonna like neck snap to the door. And he's gonna put his helmet down. He's gonna be like, Oh good, you guys are, uh, finally here. We've got a concerning situation.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris hands you the cheesy bread.

Zach/Zahn: The concern melts a little. Like, his wrinkles fade a little bit.

Bee/Polaris: It's still hot.

Avery/GM: Yeah, they put it in like a little insulated, like, hot and ready box or something.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris’ visor is like steamed up and he holds it up for you.

Jenine/Marty: Wait, so... Question, we still have your laser blades?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Right?

Avery/GM: Yes. In fact, they're actually probably repaired by now.

Jenine/Marty: Second qu… second question, if we cut the bread with the laser blade, does it become toast?

Avery/GM: It sure does. That's why Bruce got one.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: I love that so much.

Avery/GM: If I remember correctly.

Bee/Polaris: Because it can turn into a knife

Zach/Zahn: it makes the perfect toast.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my gosh, I love it.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh, we can make Creme Brule so easily. Anyway, Zahn was saying important things.

Zach/Zahn: Upon receiving this garlic bread, he paused for a moment and he's like, Thanks, but this is not going to be nearly enough to straight away the stress of the Winstons have invited us to dinner.

Bee/Polaris: No.

Zach/Zahn: And they know all of our names, including mine, which I Don't even begin to know how they know that.

Bee/Polaris: I am also confused considering I believe most… my name is not on any government documents. Polaris looks over at Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce looks back at Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: You spent the most time with the Winstons. Do you have any idea how they would know our names?

Caden/Bruce: They were all on the tablet, weren't they, Avery?

Avery/GM: Yes. Yes, they were.

Caden/Bruce: I don't know how they got the information, but the tablet that I gave to Zahn that I got after doing my job had all that information on it. I Didn't exactly ask how they got that information, and maybe I should have.

Bee/Polaris: No, it's fine. I just was wondering if you knew.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce shakes his head now, but then like, looks over at like, the stove and stuff in the kitchen and is just like, Well, if we're going to accept the dinner invitation, I can always make something to bring with us.

Bee/Polaris: To kill them?

Caden/Bruce: I mean...

Zach/Zahn: I I'd rather not have any more meat. Pie bombs, if I'm going to be in the building.

Bee/Polaris: To be fair, the meat pie was not a bomb. It was a meat pie. Ollie was the bomb. I was thinking poison… Based on the response from the room, I'm going to gather that murder is not the event of the hour.

Zach/Zahn: I feel like that would cause more problems than solve.

Bee/Polaris: Noted.

Jenine/Marty: So what, like, is this like, did they just come in and go: Dinner party and then like say our name and then just leave or was it like this is a whole event with the entire family Is it like an intimate? Is this a big thing? Situation…

Zach/Zahn: This one was… it was lapis that came to us, right? Or was it Lazuli?

Avery/GM: Yes. It was

Zach/Zahn: Lapis came to the door. I didn't We let them in, and they basically gave the spiel, namedropped us, and left. Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: did… did she give us a time for when we should arrive?

 Jenine/Marty: Do we need to bring anything?

Avery/GM: They did not give a time, but that's my mistake. They would have given you a time. We'll say 7.

Bee/Polaris: Ah, what time is it now?

Avery/GM: Like, it's 5 30.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, shit.

Bee/Polaris: Absolutely no time to sew anything.

Chris/Ollie: I don't have enough time to get ready.

Avery/GM: Actually, as you start to worry about what you would wear, there is a knock at the door.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Polaris says not it.

Jenine/Marty: I got it. I got it. I got it.

Chris/Ollie: Results were bad last time I opened the door.

Jenine/Marty: I got it. I got it. I got it. It's okay. I got this, guys.

Avery/GM: Marty, you open the door, and there is, um, the hotel concierge, uh, He is standing there wearing a cute little red hat and red suit with little gold buttons on it. Hello there, miss. Uh, I do have a, uh, note from the noble Lapis Winston, who left instructions that you were to be provided with the best clothes in Ambrosia for the party this evening. I do have directions to the nearest Insta-Tailor, if you would like to avail yourselves of those, uh... Accommodations. And Lapis also stated, you can put it all on the Winston tab.

Jenine/Marty: Amazing. Thank you so much for delivering this message and you are?

Avery/GM: Oh, just the hotel concierge, uh, just a, a, a faceless nobody who will disappear as soon as you close this store.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, well, everybody's a somebody.

Avery/GM: Oh, no, my life ends as soon as you stop perceiving me.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, my God.

Avery/GM: I'm just kidding. I also do some stand up comedy at a local club.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, my God.

Jenine/Marty: In that moment, you see Marty's just face drop. And then she smiles and just goes, Oh, okay.

Zach/Zahn: I was expecting him to be like a hologram with that, that description.

Jenine/Marty: Awesome. Thank you so much. This is much appreciated. Um, we would love to see your standup act with that introduction at some point. Um,

Bee/Polaris: as Marty's saying that in the background, Polaris is shaking his head no.

Jenine/Marty: I like, you know how like they just like start closing the door a little bit more so you don't see the people behind you? That’s what Marty does… and she can't block anyone because everyone's taller than her, so she tries her best.

Jenine/Marty: thank you so much, Have… We will, we will definitely get to this. Um, thank you. Oh, oh wait, before, before you leave. Oh, so the Winstons, do they normally just have like, is this like a normal thing that they do, like big dinner parties or is this like a small kind of situation?

Avery/GM: Oh, the Winstons are known for their lavish parties and their absolutely wonderful world class hospitality.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, yes, definitely. Cool. Thank you. And I just closed the door as I like, Wave. Oh, wait. Um, oh, yeah. Wait, I do like what's the correct tipping in this situation?

Bee/Polaris: $5,000

Jenine/Marty: I’ll do like Ten credits.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Jenine/Marty: Thank you. Bye! and I close the door? And then could I…

Avery/GM: You just hear outside, Oh my god, I'm dying!

Bee/Polaris: What a terrible comedian.

Jenine/Marty: Could I Research, like a Winston party?

Avery/GM: Sure. You can do that.

Jenine/Marty: I'm smart, right? I'm smart. I am smart. Yes, I am.

Bee/Polaris: You go on space YouTube and you find a video of one of the Winston's doing a keg stand.

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Zach/Zahn: So, uh, Zahn. If we do go, is either going to just buy, like, a tuxedo to look like a tuxedo, but he is not, not wearing his stuff.

Jenine/Marty: What does the note say that he handed us?

Avery/GM: Oh, it's just a little data pad and it just says, uh, it's just instructions to the InstaTailor down the street. And then it has a note to the tailor that just says, uh, please bill the Winston Estate for all purchases from this party.

Jenine/Marty: Cute.

Caden/Bruce: You said that we had half an hour to get ready?

Avery/GM: Uh, no, hour and a half.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, perfect. Bruce is in the kitchen and like, he's pulled out some of the groceries that he bought and he's starting to make pâté.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris says, Bruce, while you're making that, I assume we're going to go get clothes. Do you want me to take your measurements and get you something?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will like, Be whisking stuff with his tail and like, look over his shoulder and just be like, Sure, do I get to wear my chef hat or no?

Bee/Polaris: Up to you.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will smile and just be like, I trust you to make a better decision than me.

Bee/Polaris: And Polaris nods and like In his visor where no one else can see, unless, unless Ollie is still somehow jacked into his helmet. Uh, Polaris is just looking up fancy chef, uh, outfits.

Jenine/Marty: I'm rolling for, for research.

Avery/GM: Intelligence, know. Sorry, I was, I was getting to that, Marty.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, cool. That's sad. That's a seven.

Avery/GM: Well, looking up party footage isn't that hard. So, we'll say you pass. You look up a few articles about the Winstons throwing some parties and stuff, and generally they're well received, they're usually big community events, sometimes they will throw the parties as a way to brag about their most recent, you know, philanthropic, you know, You know, deed that they've done for the city or for the community.

Avery/GM: Sometimes it'll just be in celebration of a business deal that they've made. And there's usually a lot of like champagne and a lot of like fancy foods. And well, I guess it wouldn't be champagne because it's France doesn't exist in this galaxy, but you know what I mean?

Bee/Polaris: Thank God for that.

Avery/GM: There is footage of like animal shows going on in their club. You know, animals doing tricks and stuff like that. So it's a little dubious. Not as bad as hunting them to extinction, but still, you know, jugglers and all kinds of fun stuff going on.

Bee/Polaris: It’s a circus?

Avery/GM: They have circus elements.

Jenine/Marty: Cute!

Caden/Bruce: I mean, they're walking, talking tigers. Of course it's a circus.

Jenine/Marty: Is there like an announcement for a big party happening tonight?

Avery/GM: No.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, it's a private party.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, okay, cute, cute, cute, cute. Great. Okay. Okay. Must be intimate tonight. That's cool.

Caden/Bruce: As soon as everyone leaves, you just hear music starting to play and Bruce just starts like having a little mini party as he's just baking different pâtés.

Bee/Polaris: As Zahn and Bruce were talking, Polaris was taking Bruce's measurements.

Avery/GM: Cool! Are you heading to the Insta Taylor?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Jenine/Marty: Shopping episode!

Avery/GM: Cool. Okay, so you head on down to the Insta Taylor, uh, you pass by the, the welcome desk and, and... Bill, the concierge, just tips his hat and says, I'm not really dead, I promise. Ha ha ha.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris stops and stares at him for an uncomfortably long amount of time before continuing to walk with his friends.

Jenine/Marty: Well, when that's happening, I do kind of like do the thing where you just kind of try to push, but because Marty's very small, it's just kind of like the thing where you're just like... Feet are dragging, and it's not working.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Sick, sick, sick, sick.

Avery/GM: I don't expect y'all to love every NPC I make. They can't all be winners.

Bee/Polaris: No, he's great.

Chris/Ollie: We should have bought him his own hotel.

Bee/Polaris: You know what? Good idea!

Chris/Ollie: Just every single NPC. Hey, we got extra money, what's up?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, what are we gonna do with it? We'll just steal more.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, we'll eventually just own the whole town, and then we can just get hella money and kickbacks.

Avery/GM: Y'all come into this Insta Taylor shop, and it's not like, it's not horrible, but it's, it, it, you know, it, it, it is what it is, it's like fast fashion kind of stuff, there's these, like, six or seven robots that are kind of just zipping around the shop. Folding clothes, measuring out clothes, cutting cloth, things like that. One of them perks up and just says, ah, welcome valued customer. How may I serve you today?

Jenine/Marty: I show the data pad.

Avery/GM: Oh, thank you… Analyzing… understood. The Winston's will be billed for whatever you purchased today.

Bee/Polaris: Excellent. We'll take the whole store.

Avery/GM: What is the occasion?

Jenine/Marty: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're not. We're not, we're not . Um,

Chris/Ollie: we're the owners now.

Jenine/Marty: We own it now. Mwa ha ha

Bee/Polaris: Polaris has like a, an evil like cat face on his visor.

Jenine/Marty: occasion is dinner party.

Avery/GM: Oh, you are attending a fancy dinner party at the Winston estate. We will be more than happy to equip you with what you need. Please step this way. And he sort of gestures toward, or this robot sort of gestures towards like this huge selection of fancy gowns and fancy suits and everything in between. So if y'all want to custom out yourselves, feel free.

Jenine/Marty: Beautiful, wonderful.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you notice on this little display case in front of you, A little holoboard, um, and it's advertising a little, a little plug in USB device. And it says, all new holodrobe. Need to spruce up your combat armor for a fancy party? Just plug the holodrobe in, select the appropriate attire, and presto, a fancy new suit, perfectly formed with your armor. And there's an asterisk that says, no refunds.

Chris/Ollie: Mm. Permanent change.

Jenine/Marty: I think it's a great deal.

Zach/Zahn: Hypothetically you just unplug it and it will be okay.

Jenine/Marty: Hypothetically.

Zach/Zahn: Hypothetically. But I've got a, I get a. Roll 3D6 now for programming so I can uninstall if need hopefully.

Bee/Polaris: It binds to your suit and says, I am in control now, Zahn.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, what's that movie, Upgrade?

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Have not seen.

Chris/Ollie: Which is, it's essentially just Venom.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay.

Zach/Zahn: But yeah, Zahn is gonna like, snap his fingers and point at it and be like, ooh, ooh, shiny. That looks like a lot more simple of a version of what I was thinking anyways. Let's go with that.

Avery/GM: one of the robots gives you a thumbs up and just saysit's very fun to use. I have seen many people enjoy it.

Zach/Zahn: Are there any like reported setbacks with it?

Avery/GM: The device has been known to overheat and melt after about a year of use. No damage is done to the armor that it's plugged into, but it does have a limited lifespan.

Zach/Zahn: Eh, that's fine. I'm not planning on wearing this suit for a year, so.

Bee/Polaris: Why not? Just go into combat with a full suit.

Avery/GM: So this is your, your guys opportunity to, yeah, fashion show it out or whatever, you know? Like…

Bee/Polaris: now I know I was the one

Avery/GM: if you have any ideas….

Bee/Polaris: I know I was the one that brought this up, but I actually have no idea

Jenine/Marty: I got it. I know what Marty's wearing.

Bee/Polaris: I'm, seriously scrolling through Pinterest.

Jenine/Marty: I got this. I got this. Marty is wearing like this from like it's like a satin skirt that goes up into like a red lace bodice and then in the shoulders there, like, I need to find a picture of them. Wssentially she's wearing… it's called a bolero in Filipino culture and it's very pretty. and I love it.  She's cute. Oh wait, no, I think it's called a Filipiniana. but essentially these like little… the most important part is that the shoulders are like these round arches. I'm really bad at describing what it is, but like, it would be those like little shoulder pads, but like, it'd be like a completely red dress.

And, um, lace bodice and like a satin skirt with like those shoulders also being lacy. Yeah, and then she's also in black heels because she wants to be just a little taller. and the bag stays with… and her medical bag stays with her.

Bee/Polaris: Heck yeah.

Avery/GM: Not a bad move.

Jenine/Marty: Sick, cool.

Avery/GM: Yeah, they spin it up for you and it's, it looks beautiful and very fancy and yeah, you are definitely going to fit the part at this party.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will approach the measuring stand in front of the tri mirrors and just step on it and look at the, uh, the tailor and, and say, one classic black tux.

Bee/Polaris: Yes, a little dog tux, yes!

Jenine/Marty: With a little bow tie!

Avery/GM: With a little an uwu face at you. And then, uh…

Chris/Ollie: Even charming robots.

Avery/GM: And then, yeah, just whips up a super cute doggy tux. And then also offers you a top hat to go with it.

Chris/Ollie: Aha, excellent.

Bee/Polaris: Yes, that's so cute.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will say, oh, that was surprisingly not as much trouble as I thought. Do you often get dog customers?

Avery/GM: We are prepared to serve any combination of humanoid or anthropomorphic need.

Chris/Ollie: My friends will hear about you. And he's going to turn around and tell everyone, hey, this tailor shop is pretty great. They even serve dogs.

Bee/Polaris: Do you need a little, like, dog bag to carry anything important?

Chris/Ollie: His torso will just open up and say, No, I got that covered.

Bee/Polaris: Ah, yes, excellent.

Avery/GM: Oh, goodness.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will just get a really nice jacket. Like a bomber jacket. And just put it where he's already wearing.

Avery/GM: That's great.

Jenine/Marty: Marty does ask for a bowtie for Polaris.

Avery/GM: You're walking up to the club and just like, put this on, come on.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will get the bowtie, but put it on his helmet. Like, like a hair, like a hair bow

Jenine/Marty: Yes!

Avery/GM: That's glorious. Bruce still needs a fancy chef suit.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris is like, putting in, like, the measurements and everything he took from Bruce into, I guess, like, a terminal or something for them to, to whip up a fancy chef suit.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Bruce, do you have any preference on what this looks like?

Caden/Bruce: Well, we're in a fancy galaxy world, so it can look like anything.

Avery/GM: Exactly.

Caden/Bruce: So, this... This fancy chef suit is gonna be like, half white, but not like 50 50, but like, kinda thing where it's just like, the majority of it is like a white normal chef suit, but then the other half of it is this really fancy, like, gold, um, Gold, green, and black, like, designs that just cover the other half of it in, like, tiny little, like, when you look closer to it, you realize they're, like, little geckos that are kind of, like, going up and down the shirt, but from far away, it looks like one of those fancy, like, embroidered, like, fabric, like, carpet designs, and then just the pants are just, like, a regular white chef's, like, jacket pants, but then you realize, like, the little tail has, like, a little attachment, which is also, like, a little tiny bow tie.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Avery/GM: I love it. This is great.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris will get boots with the fur too.

Avery/GM: Boots with the fur? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Like sleek black boots with like, that are fur lined. And the bomber jacket is also fur lined.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my god.

Avery/GM: Zahn, do you activate your thing here? Or are you waiting until you get to the party?

Zach/Zahn: I'll, I'll test it out here. Just gonna come out as a, a three piece like midnight black suit with kind of like oily blue and black tie And then his helmet is actually going to just remain the same style.

Jenine/Marty: Valid!

Zach/Zahn: but it's going to be, it's going to be like a glossy black.

Bee/Polaris: Nice

Avery/GM: Very cool.

Zach/Zahn: Just cause Zahn still doesn't really like showing up his face.

Avery/GM: Totally. Cool. Yeah. Y'all leave the tailor, they, they give a friendly goodbye and just say, please feel free to shop again And you're back at your hotel, ready to get, or you're already suited up, or did you get dressed at the, at the tailor or are you taking it back and then getting dressed?

Jenine/Marty: Taking back and then getting dressed

Bee/Polaris: Oh, taking it back and then.

Avery/GM: Okay!

Bee/Polaris: You don't want to get it dirty. Right. Okay, cool.

Jenine/Marty: Gotta do my hair and makeup. I gotta do my hair.

Avery/GM: Cool. is there anything anyone else wants to do aside from getting your hair and makeup ready before you head out to the party? Bruce, what are you cooking?

Caden/Bruce: So Bruce has made three different types of pate. One is duck. One is this, um, bug meat that doesn't exist in our human world, but exists in space world, um, where I kind of see them as like giant shelled beetles that, like, you can just, like, kind of get the inside of the meat from, and he's made pate out of that. And then the third one is, like, this mixture of just beef and, um, chicken. And he's made these just and they're very fancy and they smell very nice but there’s no poison in them.

Bee/Polaris: How do you eat oh, how do you do you, like, eat pate with, like, a cracker or something?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, usually, like, you cut it and then spread it on a cracker. So, like, he's cut up some of like the nice warm fresh things of bread but then he's also like just kind of I think they bought some crackers so I think he just has like a plate of crackers as well but he also just doesn't know if the Winstons will just eat it as it is because he's not sure if they eat

Bee/Polaris: yeah

Caden/Bruce: bread or crackers or if they're just carnivores like

Bee/Polaris: well they well uh he ate the meat pie and that has crust

Avery/GM: that's true and veggies there were Seeds for different vegetables and fruits at the Winston, this, uh, compound on that little planet.

Caden/Bruce: But that could have been for the, uh, butler.

Avery/GM: Oh, fair. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I feel so bad for stealing his cake.

Caden/Bruce: But yes, that is what Bruce has made.

Avery/GM: Wonderful. Cool. Well, if y'all don't have anything else to do, then you get dressed. Uh, Rho elects to stay behind with Hermes.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris took the longest for hair and makeup to make them fashionably late and then puts his helmet on.

Zach/Zahn: It's just for him.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Sometimes you can look nice just for you And that's good.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, um, really quick, Ali definitely prepared and brought his drones, not, uh, you know, with us, but they're going to be, uh, like stalkers are going to be parked like at their maximum range. And then the, uh, void hawk, I'm going to have float above the compound cloaked or well sensor cloaked.

Jenine/Marty: And I'll also say that Marty is committing. Uh, for the day for precognition just for safety

Avery/GM: sure

Jenine/Marty: just because

Bee/Polaris: do we have to have ollie on a leash

Chris/Ollie: i yeah i've been waiting for someone to uh raise an alarm but i've got the tux on so

Avery/GM: yeah no one is gonna ask such a fancy boy to put on a leash

Bee/Polaris: okay good because i was gonna say we're gonna have to get a diamond studded leash

Avery/GM: So the Winston estate is part of a very posh area of the business district. It is a four story megaplex that never seems to be lacking in traffic, both foot and air. There are hover vehicles that seem to be landing on the top of the roof and then depart shortly after and that kind of thing, the bottom floor, you can hear. Just a lot of music coming from, as it appears to be sort of a, a nightclub. There's no shortage of groupies, dancers, and patrons vying for a chance to gain entrance and perhaps gain favor with this most prestigious family. Approaching the door, you see two anthropomorphic jackal like beings wearing very fine clothing. They each wear sunglasses over their eyes and are checking a list on some sort of data pad And one of them looks up at you as you approach and is just like, Names? Are you on the list?

Bee/Polaris: Yes.

Jenine/Marty: Yes. Yes, we were invited by the Winstons. I, uh, Marty and Party.

Bee/Polaris: The Marty Party.

Avery/GM: The Marty Party.

Jenine/Marty: I thought it would be easier, cause you know, like, I don't know what their names be known, and like, Marty's name is like plastered everywhere, so that's why she said it. She didn't mean to Rhyme Yeah. Marty and Company.

Avery/GM: Yeah, this, uh, anthropomorphic jackal checks the list and says, uh, Oh, yep. Uh huh. I see. Yeah. Uh, hang on in. If you have anything you want to check at the door, feel free. No pressure though. Uh, welcome to the Winston Estate. And you hear a bunch of like groans from the crowd of like, Aw, they get to go in. They just got here. You know, that kind of stuff. And yeah, so you're coming inside the club and there is the coat check desk to your right. And standing in front of you is this blue tiger person, Lapis. They are wearing a very smart looking business suit. The jacket is half black, half white with matching pants of the same style. They are wearing a black dress shirt and a white tie. They are dressed impeccably. The music is bumping and vibrating louder as you walk in, kind of vibrating almost to your bones, except for you, Ollie.

Bee/Polaris: Cause you don't have bones.

Avery/GM: Right. And Lapis just says, Oh, welcome. I'm so glad that you all showed up. Avi is waiting for you in her quarters. Um, we'll need to head that way. Fair warning. One of my dads, uh, Shin Winston is kind of in a foul mood after a business deal went south this morning. So if you see him out there in the, on the club floor, just don't, don't antagonize him. Okay? I know you have a lot of questions. All of them will be answered. I promise you. And don't worry, Zahn, Myself and Avi are the only ones who know your name. And she gives you a big smile.

Zach/Zahn: The, uh, the lights on Zahn's visor squint.

Avery/GM: Do you follow them out?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: No, I leave.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we follow them out.

Zach/Zahn: I just leave.

Avery/GM: Deuces.

Zach/Zahn: Peace.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like motions to put on glasses and then has like aviators appear on his visor.

Avery/GM: And yeah, Lapis leads you through into the dance floor. there's a variety of beings here dancing and grooving. There's a DJ up here spinning some sick beats. You know, you got all kinds of weird characters going on here.

Bee/Polaris: There's a shadow guy.

Avery/GM: There's a shadow guy.

Chris/Ollie: yeah. There's a nerd, drowning his sorrows.

Bee/Polaris: Another one? Oh boy.

Jenine/Marty: Is it the nerd that we know?

Avery/GM: That's not actually the nerd. That's just a token I used.

Jenine/Marty: Would the nerd be invited to this?

Avery/GM: No.

Bee/Polaris: No.

Jenine/Marty: I don't think he's cool enough to get in.

Bee/Polaris: He's not.

Chris/Ollie: Especially not after that fiasco.

Jenine/Marty: Ha ha, loser.

Bee/Polaris: We did embarrass him.

Avery/GM: And yeah, and Lapis seems to be leading you out onto the dance floor. They stop real quick and there's a little bar here and they're just like, if any of you would like a refreshment, please feel free to take one. We have a variety of drinks available. And they are playing the very, a very convincing role of a good host.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is busy holding, like, his, like, I think he probably put them in boxes, like, three boxes of his pate, but he'll grab, like, a champagne glass with his tail.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will also grab a champagne glass.

Jenine/Marty: I grabbed the equivalent of a Shirley Temple.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will grab, um... A glass of water for Ollie. Yeah, Polaris will ask for a dog bowl.

Avery/GM: They hand you a dog bowl. No problem.

Bee/Polaris: Cool. Polaris pours the champagne in there and then grabs another champagne glass.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie’ s gonna just hop up on the counter and start lapping away.

Avery/GM: Oh Gosh!

Chris/Ollie: This substance is intriguing. It is so bubbly.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, you have taste receptors. I forgot I gave you saliva and taste receptors.

Bee/Polaris: Oh gosh. Wait, does that mean he can’t drink alcohol?

Avery/GM: No, he doesn't have dog biology. He just has the taste receptors. So he just has sensors that can interpret taste.

Zach/Zahn: Off the counter. Ollie, off the counter.

Avery/GM: And, yeah, you're, you're walking across the dance floor, you see all these various patrons. Lapis leads you towards a raised platform where a red tiger person sits in a throne like seat… their head is in one hand, they look quite sullen. He eyes you as you approach, but doesn't really say anything. Bruce, you notice, flanking just behind this, Tiger person are two other Scaph, which you haven't really seen a lot of in your travels recently And it's, you know, it's probably a bit weird to see them having a regular job, so to speak. But yeah, they're, they're kind of holding some weapons and, you know, obviously doing some sort of bodyguard work here. They kind of cock their head to like one side looking at you and then go back to like analyzing the crowd. And they are an orange and yellow color palette.

Avery/GM: And Lapis leads you to this little teleportation pattern. It's just like Avi is waiting up in her quarters. Please step on through and We will hopefully get this dinner underway.

Zach/Zahn: You first, Lapis.

Avery/GM: Oh, of course. They touch a little device on their wrist to like, program the pad and then step on and disappear.

Zach/Zahn: Visor still squinted, Zahn will go on first.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will go on second. Gotta make sure room's secure.

Jenine/Marty: I'll go next.

Caden/Bruce: I think Bruce will indicate for, um, Dog Ollie to go next.

Chris/Ollie: Did we know That was the head of the Winston family, or was he just one of the heads?

Avery/GM: He's just one of the heads.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Avery/GM: And Marty's research probably would have pointed that out at some point. Because Marty has done a lot of research on the, uh, Winstons.

Jenine/Marty: My favorite enemy.

Zach/Zahn: My favorite enemy!

Avery/GM: As you arrive in Avi's quarters, uh, you realize that the area you are in is more of an… Office or like a reception type area. The space is laid out as if you would kind of wait here to be allowed in to see Avi. Lapis leads you through these doors here, or inside, there is some seating to your right. There is a fancy desk to your left and straight ahead in front of you is a balcony overlooking the sprawling metropolis of Ambrosia. The lights and sounds of the city create kind of a living kaleidoscope of colors and noise.

Avery/GM: Standing on the balcony, looking out over the city, a glass of red wine in her hand is Avi, dressed elegantly. She wears a long, flowing, high necked black gown, and she takes a sip of her wine and turns to you and just says, Oh, my guests, my friends, my gambling partners. How are you?

Bee/Polaris: Only one of us gambled.

Avery/GM: Come now. Do you really expect me to believe that Ollie didn't let you know what was going on?

Bee/Polaris: Actually, yes.

Chris/Ollie: Initiative is a new experience for me and I took advantage of it.

Avery/GM: Avi kind of like takes a step, not back, but just kind of like puts, puts her hand up to her chest. Like, Ollie, you're looking different. Is that Ollie? That sounds like Olly.

Chris/Ollie: It is I. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a scrape earlier and I had to

Zach/Zahn: improvise,

Chris/Ollie: improvise. Thank you.

Avery/GM: Avi goes and sets her glass down on her desk and turns back to you and is just like, well, thank you for coming on such short notice. I try not to send out invitations the day of, but this really couldn't wait. I'm actually hoping to hire you all for a job.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris motions to take off his fake, uh, aviators and then like underneath the, the image of the aviators, his eyes are squinting.

Avery/GM: I know, I know, you have no reason to trust the Winston family. After all, my cousin Violet does technically want to kill you. But I can assure you that I have no taste for revenge, at least not for Bryson Winston's death. He had it coming.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, he was kind of a terrible person.

Avery/GM: Oh yes, hunting animals to extinction just for the fun of it? That's...

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean also the implied wanting to hunt us.

Avery/GM: Oh, oh, uh, yeah, definitely not the kind of attitude we like to have towards other beings, you know, very inappropriate behavior for sure.

Zach/Zahn: So how do you know all of us? Some of us are either pretty private people and others have Almost no document, paper trail.

Avery/GM: My cousin Lapis can fill you in more on the details if you'd like, but let's just say that nothing is outside the sight of the oracles.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, oh, this, okay. This again. Hey, Bruce, those are your friends, right? The oracles.

Zach/Zahn: The fuck are the oracles?

Bee/Polaris: Didn't Bruce mention that to us?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Caden/Bruce: I wouldn't say friends.

Zach/Zahn: In that case, Zahn Because I don't remember Zahn having gone into questioning about it. He'll He'll put different emphasis on The fuck are the oracles, then?Like, head swing glancing at Bruce over his shoulder.

Caden/Bruce: Was the Oracles the group I was working for?

Avery/GM: Yeah, that was Lazuli's group.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, I briefly worked for them, from what I could kind of gather. I mean, I wouldn't say cause chaos, but try to, um, keep everything equal in the galaxy.

Zach/Zahn: That's just great.

Avery/GM: Lapis speaks up and says, uh, yes, we try to keep everyone on the same level playing field, you know, we try not to let the hegemony get too powerful or the Republic get too corrupt, but recently our efforts have been hampered by...

Zach/Zahn: It's gonna say you're doing a wonderful job on that one, letting your cousin just kind of run rampant with Republic resources.

Avery/GM: Oh, no, that's very standard Republic corruption. We, we go after the bigger fish. A Winston getting a generalship and misusing her resources, that's, that happens every day. That's fine. No. We're talking about the people who make the big decisions. We keep them from becoming too corrupt, but recently our efforts have been hampered

Bee/Polaris: By?

Avery/GM: Well, it all stems from your friend Rho, who I see you didn't bring with you today.

Bee/Polaris: She didn't want to come. Also, was she even invited?

Avery/GM: Oh, yes, she should have been included on the invitation. We knew she was there.

Bee/Polaris: Eye squints. Do we have a comms link with Rho?

Avery/GM: You would have it through Hermes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Polaris would be streaming, like, everything that's been happening up until now. Sure. So that Rho can stay informed.

Avery/GM: Yeah, definitely. Avi says, but what the oracles are is really of no consequence to the job that we are asking you to do. There is, as you know, the Hegemony has come into the possession of a certain program, the IASO program. I don't know if you've deduced exactly what it can do, but it is capable of pretty much destroying any artificial intelligence that it comes in contact with.

Zach/Zahn: How did the hegemony get this?

Avery/GM: That is beyond our sight. I know I said nothing is beyond our sight, but actually that is one of the few things that has been…

Jenine/Marty: Okay, that’s not sus.

Avery/GM: It's actually been kind of embarrassing, not gonna lie.

Zach/Zahn: Got it… that's a hole you should probably look into filling.

Bee/Polaris: Does Polaris know anything about the custodians of the IASO program? Or was that, is that something that Blairs would have to talk to the constituents about? Or what they were going to explain to him?

Avery/GM: That was part of the thing that Alioth was going to explain at some point.

Bee/Polaris: Dope.

Jenine/Marty: How does one, how does one spell this?

Avery/GM: I A S O

Jenine/Marty: Yes! Okay, cool.

Bee/Polaris: When Avi says… or when Lapis says that it's a hole that they're trying to fill and it's so embarrassing and everything, uh, Blairs does say, Uh, I believe I may be able to find that out.

Avery/GM: Oh, that would be most helpful. Yes. Usually we're quite good at finding things that try to hide from us, but it has not been very fruitful this time.

Zach/Zahn: So Zahn's gonna cross his arms and he's going to be like, get to the point. What do you want us for?

Avery/GM: Well, the IASO program. Poses a grave threat to all of us, because as you know, almost any world in this galaxy is governed by numerous AIs controlling clean water, environmental configurations, everything that makes modern life livable, and we can't allow One side, like the Hegemony to have all of that power. What we need to do is find a way to destroy the IASO program and eliminate any trace of its coding from the galaxy. And I believe there is a space station that may hold some clues as to the origin of the IASO program, and that's where we need you to go.

Avery/GM: Avi pushes a button on a little remote that she picked up from her desk. And over on this little table, a holo… hologram pops up and Zahn, you see a site you have not seen in many, many years. It is your home, New Terra Station. She says, Zahn, I need you to go home.

Avery/GM: And we cut away from that scene.

Zach/Zahn: Noooooooooooooooooooooooo

Avery/GM: Back to your hotel room.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Avery/GM: Rho and Hermes are sitting in the room and Hermes speaks up, having heard what has been streamed to them both, and looks up at, uh, Rho and just says, Rho, I need a favor of you. I need you to take me to see my mother. And that's where we're going to end it.

Bee/Polaris: What? Hermes has a mom?

Jenine/Marty: I'm screaming.

Bee/Polaris: Also, I'm sad that Herbie's didn't trust us enough to bring him to his mom.

Caden/Bruce: Right?

Bee/Polaris: We let him fire guns.

Caden/Bruce: We let you almost kill people, Hermes. Come on.

(Ambience fades out, outro plays then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1UP Podcast network production. Intro and outro music produced by Destin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio. com and used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. Tracks used today were Mega City Slums, Cyberpunk Bar, and Dark Matter.

Additional background music licensed from Q Up Arts Sounds. We'll be back on October 15th with our next episode. See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars.

Episode 30 - Invest in the Business of Friendship and Community!

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Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 30 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(Intro plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: Y'all boarded these… This little transport and start heading towards the city of Ambrosia. Uh, it's a pretty sizable metropolis. There's lots of traffic going on, you know, lots of big, tall skyscrapers going all the way up to the sky and y'all are transported to a branch of the Ornate Dreams Hotel featuring the Sapphire Tree Restaurant.

Bee/Polaris: That sounds familiar, what was the other restaurant called?

Avery/GM: That was the Hotel on Bragos.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's just a chain.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sick.

Avery/GM: It's nothing special.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay, cool.

Zach/Zahn: I keep picturing... Olympia to be Coruscant when in reality it looks more like Alderaan.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's very much, uh, it's not all one giant city for sure.

Zach/Zahn: No, which is nice.

Avery/GM: This is the, yeah, just don't go to the desert.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Oh yeah, the Desert of Exile, that's it, that sounds like a tourist trap if I've ever heard it.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you are shown to a very nice suite of rooms, you know, everyone will have their own individual room. Even Ollie, you have a whole bed all to yourself.

Bee/Polaris: Aw, I'm glad they gave my dog a room.

Jenine/Marty: Yes!

Avery/GM: The Colonel that... Walks you into the hotel, just says, uh, to bill it to Fort Zeus, which they will do. And yeah, y'all are in this hotel room for the next few days. Is there anything anyone wants to do while you're in this city? Any shopping, any activities, anything you're looking to accomplish while you wait for your ship to be repaired?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna be very preoccupied with fixing.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, just fix all of our broken shit. Players are probably gonna go to Zana's room to help fix all the broken shit.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie as well!

Avery/GM: Okay

Jenine/Marty: I send a postcard home.

Zach/Zahn: Awww.

Caden/Bruce: Awww.

Avery/GM: Is this, is this Marty's first time in, in, in this big of a city?

Jenine/Marty: Yes. It's like, you know those shirts that say like, my, my daughter went to this place and all they got me was this shirt. I want that, but in like, a postcard form.

Avery/GM: I love it. I love it.

Zach/Zahn: My daughter was on Olympia and all she sent me was this postcard.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, and then like, I write in the message just like, So I might've done a medical research thing and I'm really excited. And like other things that happen, but like, that's what I make and send it to them.

Avery/GM: Sure. Is this like a classic postcard? Like you have to send it in the mail and

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: It's going to get like shipped interstellarly. Okay, cool. Anyone can send an email.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Speaking of sending an email, it should probably send one to the Custodians so they don't blow up Olympus or Olympia.

Zach/Zahn: They're already in hyperspace on the way here.

Bee/Polaris: It's like when the Death Star enters atmosphere.

Avery/GM: Bruce, what are you doing?

Caden/Bruce: I would like to go food shopping, please.

Avery/GM: Okay, sounds good.

Jenine/Marty: Could I join in on that trip? Because I feel like that's me going out to also get a postcard. And I also want to help with shopping.

Caden/Bruce: Absolutely.

Jenine/Marty: Shopping episode for food, yay!

Avery/GM: Sounds good.

Zach/Zahn: As you guys are leaving, Zahn's like, Bring me back something good, please.

Avery/GM: Like Bruce would bring back anything bad.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. As they're leaving, Polaris, like, considers going with them. Because, up until now, he's been taking, like, the security role. Where he makes sure that no one gets murdered.

Zach/Zahn: Me and Ollie got this if, uh, if Polaris wants to take off.

Bee/Polaris: But, the thing is, his helmet's not fixed and so, going into a big, crowded city, with a lot of noise and lights and different stuff.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, gosh.

Bee/Polaris: Cause this is his first time planet side, really. Like, with a, with a big city.

Zach/Zahn: Like legit planet side, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, Ollie's been working on the helmet. Can I, uh, roll to see if it's a dunzo?

Avery/GM: Yeah, go ahead and roll, um, intelligence fix.

Chris/Ollie: That is...10

Avery/GM: A 10? Okay. Yeah, Polaris, you're kind of eyeing the door as you're seeing Bruce and Marty, uh, start to slip out. And you just hear Ollie coming up behind you, holding your helmet in his mouth.

Bee/Polaris: Is his tail wagging?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, yes. Ollie, uh, is gonna approach with, Once again, my sincerest apologies. I did not estimate the effect that losing this would have on you.

Bee/Polaris: It's… I mean, it's alright. You saved our lives. So, I think it's a pretty fair trade off.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's holding it in his mouth. He's gonna hand it over and say, Unfortunately, I was unable to keep it slobber free.

Bee/Polaris: Why do you, your, how did you have...

Chris/Ollie: He just held it by like, the lip on the bottom.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is like,

Avery/GM: oh my gosh

Bee/Polaris: He like, looks at the slobber confused, cause you're a dog. Like, you're a robot dog. Why would you need slobber, but, yeah. Does that mean you have to replace your like, slobber tanks?

Chris/Ollie: I probably just absorb, absorb moisture out of the air.

Avery/GM: Moisture from the air, yep. Condenses it into...

Bee/Polaris: And looks at it, and it like, looks at the slobber and he's just like, thanks. And like, he starts wiping it off. Well, Polaris pats Ollie on the head. Hopefully he has like, pet sensors that makes him happy.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah.

Bee/Polaris: When he gets pet.

Chris/Ollie: The tail starts going double time.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris says, thanks. Uh, do you need anything while we're out?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will say, I am having an intense craving for a bone right now.

Bee/Polaris: Consider it done. Employees will go follow the other two. Leaving Dief so that Dief can help too.

Avery/GM: Sure. Cool. So... Bruce and Marty, you shut the door and then as soon as you shut the door, uh, the door opens again and Polaris is standing there helmet back on?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, and he throws a thumbs up on the visor.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will throw a thumbs up in real life.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will also throw two thumbs up.

Avery/GM: And y'all continue into this. City of Ambrosia. You get some nice directions to a good little nearby shopping district from the front desk and y'all head out. Polaris, as you turn on your helmet and it reboots its systems, you have a just flurry of messages from your custodians and they're all a variety of like, at first, like, okay, I get that you're upset, but please don't turn your helmet off just to make us worry and like, you know, at first like, okay, stop joking.

Avery/GM: You know, we're like, Hey, can we talk about this? And they're just getting like, progressively, like more worried, which, you know, these robots aren't known for like their feelings or anything.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: but it's definitely like there is some concern going on.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Players will text back. He'll just say he'll give like a short summary of the situation that happens, like with coil and the EMP and stuff like that, and apologize for that.

Avery/GM: Bear replies back, understandable, researching EMP counter defenses.

Bee/Polaris: Yay! Once we get that, uh, players will send that over to Zahn.

Avery/GM: And, um, Alioth says, are you ready to have our chat?

Bee/Polaris: Not quite yet. Have to do shopping.

Chris/Ollie: Busy shopping.

Avery/GM: You get a thumbs up… Okay, and back in the room with Zahn and Oli and Deif, uh, go ahead and roll. Some intelligence fix checks to see kind of how this day goes…

Zach/Zahn: how many you want?

Avery/GM: two from each of you for right now Polaris if you want to roll Dief’s Intelligence fix go ahead

Bee/Polaris: Two intelligence fix for Dief?

Avery/GM: Yeah, and it would be plus two plus two to fix and plus one to intelligence

Chris/Ollie: there we go I'm gonna use Processing to use augmented cognition to make my intelligence 18, so I can get those…

Zach/Zahn: God, you're so naturally good at everything… So I rolled a 7 and then a 9.

Avery/GM: Okay. Polaris?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, for dief I got a 9 and a 6.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: And I got a 12 and a... 13.

So Ollie just fixes all of it.

Avery/GM: I was going to say, so Zahn, you're working closely with Deef to kind of fix some of these, like you're fixing the laser blades up real quick, you know, trying to get them working again and all that stuff. And it's kind of a Slow process. There's lots of really tiny parts there that you know, are just hard to work with.

Avery/GM: And you hear just like a bunch of mechanical sounds coming from behind you and you turn around and you see there's like four arms sticking out of like the back end of, um, or like the, like there's like the opening in like the middle of like this dog chassis of Ollie's and Ollie is just like sorting and like fixing a whole bunch of like multiple items all at once really fast and just kind of like outpacing both of you.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is concluding that he is very tired. Should probably nap before tackling this some more.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: If he's getting outpaced by a tiny little.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. Let's go over to Polaris, Marty and Bruce. You arrive in this kind of shopping area and it's probably about midafternoon or like three o'clock or so. And it's a pretty busy. Pretty busy shopping day. There's lots of people coming and going. There's just a huge variety of different shops here. Unlike our last shopping trip, which was kind of more limited in the selection of what was there, pretty much anything you can find in the book is something you could purchase if you needed to.

Avery/GM: There's a big grocery store, Bruce, that you notice called Cosmo’s, and it's, it's a pretty popular chain. You know, nothing too crazy. There's a computer hardware store and cybernetic augmentation facility called Tech: No-Logic. There's a ship and ship upgrade shop called Blastoff! There's a shop that is very familiar.

Avery/GM: It's called Doc's Dox, Vox, and Pox and it's designed to look kind of like a front porch with a big tent in front of it. And an old man in a rocking chair is selling his products there.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, what?

Avery/GM: So, at Bragos,

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Avery/GM: at Bragos, there was a, there was this shop, Dox's Dox, Vox, and Pox.

Bee/Polaris: No, yeah, I'm confused as to why he's here. Like, uh,

Avery/GM: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, is it,

Jenine/Marty: is it a chain?

Bee/Polaris: Is it the same dude?

Jenine/Marty: Is it a chain? Is it a chain?

Avery/GM: It looks, it looks exactly like the same dude, Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: What the?

Jenine/Marty: It's the Cabbage Man. It's the Cabbage Man.Is this the Cabbage Man from Avatar The Last Airbender? Is it that kind of situation?

Avery/GM: Not exactly, but close.

Bee/Polaris: Does he have some wheat in his mouth too?

Avery/GM: Yep. He's got some wheat. He's chewing on it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is so confused.

Avery/GM: And the… there is also a big billboard in this area. That just says, coming soon, Big Phred's Anime Shop.

Bee/Polaris: Yay!

Jenine/Marty: Yay!

Avery/GM: And it gives an address.

Zach/Zahn: Aww.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, that's so exciting! Look at him go!

Zach/Zahn: Big Fred took the, he, he took, we let him keep the prize money, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. we gave him the money.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: And we got a real life anime girl right here with us.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no!

Avery/GM: Oh no!

Bee/Polaris: Wait Are you talking about Miku?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Oh, and I assume Rho probably came with you, Marty, just to stay out of the way of the Repairs going on. But yeah, so where would y'all like to go first?

Caden/Bruce: Not to ruin your beautifully described scene, but is there like a more local like bakery or like a smaller brand, like local, like fruits and vegetable market? Like Bruce isn’t against big…

Bee/Polaris: Like a farmers market?

Caden/Bruce: yeah.

Avery/GM: No you’re totally fine!

Caden/Bruce: Bruce isn’t against like big stores, but it's the kind of thing where it's just like, instead of going to like

Bee/Polaris: Walmart?

Avery/GM: Yeah

Caden/Bruce: the Walmart

Avery/GM: Yeah

Caden/Bruce: he wants to see if there's anything more local.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally fine. Um, yeah, of course. Go ahead and roll a, a constitution notice check.

Caden/Bruce: That's a nine.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you. And I only did notice, or I only did constitution because I'm like, okay, you're kind of using your senses. You catch a whiff of some, like, very fresh produce coming from just a couple streets away. Like, there is like some very pungent, like, very pungent something. coming from over there, along with like some very like strong mint scents coming and you start to wander a couple streets down and you see this kind of medium sized tented area with a variety of like vegetables and fruits on it and there's like some like clearly like freshly made homemade bread

Caden/Bruce: Perfect!

Avery/GM: here as well and it's being tended by um they're not a small but a a family of of probably three or four beings.

Caden/Bruce: I love it. Bruce is going to go shopping there, please.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Avery/GM: Marty and Polaris, uh, are you following along or are you going your own different ways?

Jenine/Marty: 100%

Bee/Polaris: I follow Bruce.

Jenine/Marty: 100%. Are you kidding me? I'm here. Listen, we're at a cool new place. We're trying cool new food. Let's go.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Definitely.

Bee/Polaris: Do they have like different types of like breads? Like do they have like stuffed breads and herb bread and stuff like that?

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, totally. It's it's the whole the whole gamut. There's you know, you got your your cheesy garlic bread Your olive focaccia's all kinds of good stuff.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is getting cheesy garlic bread for Zahn and Ollie.

Zach/Zahn: Awww

Avery/GM: Awesome, you you tented off area and there's a young teen, probably like 12 or 13 years old. And they're just like, um, uh, thank you for shopping with us today. Is there anything you're looking for in particular?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, absolutely. And Bruce is gonna get probably, like, one or two of everything.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, let's I'm gonna leave a tip!

Jenine/Marty: Let's go!

Caden/Bruce: Like, like, he's just he's just going for it. Like, he sees these different vegetables and he's just like, Okay, this would make a really good root vegetable stew. Like, okay, we can make, like, a curry one night. We can make a stir fry another. Like, he's just He's going to town and then he sees the bread and he's just like, oh, they don't have like Kraft singles cheese. They have real cheese here. And he's like, okay, I'm going to make Zahn like a proper grilled cheese sandwich. Like he's just, he's going to town.

Bee/Polaris: My motivation behind the cheesy garlic bread was that it's a real cheese.

Caden/Bruce: Real cheese.

Avery/GM: You start like filling up, like they have like little baskets that you can kind of fill up and take, you know, and you start filling this thing up. And this person this this kid's eyes just kind of get wider like the more stuff you put in there

Caden/Bruce: Oh Bruce has like one in each hand and one in his tail like he is He is multitasking.

Jenine/Marty: I also, I'm also following behind with a basket.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is also helping with the basket.

Avery/GM: Yeah, y'all are piling stuff into these baskets and one of the adults comes over and is just like, are you sure you, you need that much stuff? I, I mean, that's, that's a lot of stuff.

Caden/Bruce: Yes. Don't worry about it. I've been away from for a while and I uh, I need to stockpile some food in the ship just in case that ever happens again because I can never let Polaris eat what you considered food beforehand. No offense.

Bee/Polaris: As, as they were walking down the street, Polaris pulled one of those out and was gonna eat one and then Bruce started going towards the stand and Polaris slowly put it back in his pocket.

Avery/GM: You finish filling up these baskets, let's see, you've got 5 baskets of fruits and vegetables and breads.

Caden/Bruce: I do, I do want to be clear, I'm not buying them out. I still want them to have, you know, stuff.

Avery/GM: No, totally

Caden/Bruce: I just.

Bee/Polaris: One of everything.

Caden/Bruce: One of everything.

Avery/GM: Yeah, You're doing a good, yeah. You're doing a, you're getting a good amount of food. And the child is ringing up your baskets and is just like, that'll be 300 credits please.

Caden/Bruce: That's it?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will throw in like a hundred extra credits.

Avery/GM: The… one of the adults speaks up and is just like we can't afford to sell on the main street So we have to you know kind of sell at bargain prices back here and just hope that someone finds their way down here once in a while.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris throws in…It's 300 total?

Avery/GM: Yeah

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna throw in an extra 300

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, Bruce is just gonna be like saying I mean like is there any place in Ambrosia that does? advertising I mean I'm sure if more locals knew that they would probably support you instead of the bigger brand stores.

Avery/GM: Yeah, the bigger brands kind of have a chokehold on the, the local advertising and, uh, you know, they, they get the most premium spots and they get the, you know, kind of the best traffic and stuff. So we just kind of have to make do with what we get. But it's not bad, we have a nice little farm outside the city.

Caden/Bruce: What's the name of, what's the name of this store?

Avery/GM: Red River Farms.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is going to look at them and be like, Do you sell Chef Jamie's beans?

Avery/GM: Oh no, we only, we only sell what we grow and what we make.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah, love these guys.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will smile and like, just, I, I mean, I don't I, I, I know like we have a lot of money, but Bruce is like, what, you're just going to give them a thousand credits and just be like,

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. So they have 1300 credits cause we're playing this game of 3300.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. And just be like, and just, and just, and just like look at them and just be like… I'll be back.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Their, their eyes get really big and they're like, are you sure? This is a lot of, of credits. We, we can't really sell… Like we don't have enough to really sell you, you know, to, to make up for that.

Bee/Polaris: It's fine.

Caden/Bruce: Trust me, this is probably, honestly, what I have bought is worth

Avery/GM: one of the other adults comes over from, they were like, kind of like making like a, a small bouquet of like flowers, uh, to kind of display and they come over and, and, and pat this person on the back and they're just like, honey, just. Just take the money. It's fine. They're doing something nice. Just let them do it. And, uh, this other person's like, Yeah, I know, I just, it's hard to take charity and, you know. And they start, like, kind of having, like, their own private conversation as, as, uh, you sort of leave this scene.

Caden/Bruce: I was gonna say, that is our cue to get out of there.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we skedaddle.

Caden/Bruce: But, like, as Bruce is walking back, he's gonna look at both Polaris and Marty and be like… I know it's not our life mission to, you know, take down corporate businesses and bring up those that are local. But, um, I really have a thing for local farms and I would like to try and help them as much as I can.

Jenine/Marty: As you're saying this, you see Marty, I hope her data, her tablet's not working. Is there... Oh wait, for her to search on the webs for open retail space, slash if I know where a potential

Bee/Polaris: Oh, can we buy them a spot?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, if we know a certain chef that we don't like is trying to buy a spot, can we buy it before a certain chef? Or if they do, can we buy them out? Smiley face.

Avery/GM: Y'all don't seem like you would foolishly go out and not be able to communicate with each other. Maybe that's giving you too much credit, I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: No, for sure.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, yeah, we got some smarts!

Avery/GM: Yeah. Y'all are smart. Um, so yeah, so you, you could definitely search up some real estate on Ambrosia. Um, go ahead and roll an intelligence-know check.

Jenine/Marty: I got a seven.

Avery/GM: Okay. I will give you this. You don't find anything like pending for like coming soon Jamie's beans or anything like that. But you do find a, like, you remember the address on that billboard advertising Big Fred's Anime Shop and you do find a adjacent building that is actually a pretty good bargain right now. It's only 100, 000 credits for a 5 year lease.

Bee/Polaris: You said it was 100,000 to lease for five years?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: How much is it to buy it?

Avery/GM: There's no sale price listed, but in the posting that you find, Marty, you do see property for sale based on negotiations.

Jenine/Marty: Amazing.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go. Let’s go!

Jenine/Marty: Because I have a thing that I have not used yet, but I'd love to use.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah! Let's go do some bureaucracy!

Jenine/Marty: Because I have... Well, I have the Authority, uh, Fo… Foci? Foci. Yeah, I have the Authority Foci, which I gain lead as a bonus. Once per day, you can make a request from an NPC who is not openly hostile to you, rolling Charisma or Lead, Skill, Difficulty, uh, at the difficulty of the NPC's morale score. If you succeed, they will comply with the request, provided it is not harmful or extremely uncharacteristic. So, I would like to utilize this skill if I can to bargain either price or owning this building for this group.

Avery/GM: That sounds like a perfect use of that skill, so let's get to that scene. While I think up a voice and a personality for this real estate agent, let's go back to the hotel room. Y'all are plugging away at fixing your stuff.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, Zahn is napping. He's power napping.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, Zahn, you're napping, that's right. Ollie, there is a knock at the door.

Chris/Ollie: Well, yeah, Ollie doesn't really have any much reason to be suspicious right now…

Avery/GM: You can have whatever reasons to be suspicious if you want. It's totally fine. , you did just almost get ambushed by a…

Chris/Ollie:

Well yeah, I’m just thinking whether Ollie Ollie would wake Zan or just go for the door.

Avery/GM: Oh, I got ya

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is a light sleeper, so he probably heard the knocking.

Chris/Ollie: Then, uh, Ollie will look to Zahn, make eye contact with him, and, uh, turn towards the door and move towards it. I mean, he's gonna attempt to like, open it with one of his Robo arms sticking out of his back and like, retract it super quick so he looks like a normal dog. Just open it. Door opens on dog. Hi.

Avery/GM: Sure, just roll like a straight dexterity, uh, check.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is going to push the, uh, manual release button on his, uh, leg holster and have the, his gun pop out.

Avery/GM: Just ready in case?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Are you, are you like pretending to be asleep?

Zach/Zahn: No.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: He's sitting on the edge of the bed.

Chris/Ollie: I got an eight.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you, you do it then. That's fine. I wasn't making it too hard. Yeah. You open the door real quick and it opens and standing in front of you is a blue and black striped tiger furry.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Jenine/Marty: No!

Avery/GM: You recognize them as,

Zach/Zahn: Oh, is it lapis or lazuli?

Avery/GM: Not Lazuli. You recognize them as Lapis from,

Chris/Ollie: Was Lapis also they?

Avery/GM: Yes, and Lapis was the one in the booth with you at the race and they just say oh, I'm sorry I'm looking for Ollie. I'm here on behalf of my cousin Avi

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna glance at the dog And then he's gonna say, Oh, sorry, uh, Ollie's currently undergoing, um, required maintenance.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, um, Uh, my chassis should be in the room. My old one. Just like, busted up, laying against the corner.

Avery/GM: Just slumped, slumped to one side.

Bee/Polaris: Does Ollie say bark? Like the word bark?

Chris/Ollie: Uh, no, Ollie's just keeping silent for now.

Zach/Zahn: Just sitting there panting?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Well, may I come in? I have something I needed to speak with him about, but if he'll be around later, I can leave the message with you, if that's okay.

Zach/Zahn: You can give me the message from the doorway there.

Avery/GM: Oh. What's the matters on? Are you afraid I'm going to bite? And they, they smile a little bit at you.

Zach/Zahn: His hand grips. The, the handle of his handle a little tighter. It's like, well, since you know my name without introduction, yes, actually.

Avery/GM: Well, if you could tell Ollie that Avi was hoping that he would join her at the Winston estate tonight for dinner, we would be… most appreciative of his presence and you… and all of your other friends Polaris and Marty and Even… even Bruce. I hear Bruce is back with you all can all join us too

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's Brow furrows even more than it already has and he asks Why would any of us want to come within spitting distance of your estate, given our obvious history?

Avery/GM: There's only one way to find out, and they turn around and leave your doorway.

Zach/Zahn: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: So while we're still in the hotel room, though, the thing that Ollie's been working on was like a little, um, dummy body that I can plug, uh, Hermes Crystal into. Uh, if that's done, I would like to plug him in and run full diagnostics.

Avery/GM: Yeah, with your big ol rolls earlier, that's easily done. You pop Hermes into this body. And, Hermes says, Oh, thank goodness. I need to warn the others that there is a bounty hunter after the ship. Wait, what is going on? Why am I in a body? Excuse me, who are you? Uh, looking at you, Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will, uh, respond with a big long lick right up whatever constitutes this, uh, junk pile's face. And just say excitedly, Oh, I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried. Ah. While he's wagging and licking.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, he's gonna say in response to the question, uh, if you run like a simple diagnostic of the dog in front of you, you'd probably pick up that it was, uh, it was, it's Ollie.

Avery/GM: Oh, thank you.

Chris/Ollie: I died.

Jenine/Marty: I died.

Avery/GM: You died?

Chris/Ollie: The other me died. And I'm gonna look over at the chassis, all slumped over and, uh, electrically burnt.

Avery/GM: Oh, I see. You activated the kill switch.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, yes. The bounty hunter never knew what hit him.

Avery/GM: Excellent. I apologize for not being able to alert you all sooner. They put some sort of communication jammer on the ship. I was unable to communicate with anyone. It was so lonely.

Chris/Ollie: The only thing that matters is that you are okay.

Avery/GM: Does this body have a gun?

Chris/Ollie: Not yet.

Zach/Zahn: Not in its hands.

Avery/GM: That is disappointing. Will we be on the ship soon? I do not like being in a body.

Zach/Zahn: It's gonna probably be at least a day or two. Ollie's kill switch, he like, glares at the body and then Ollie,

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will just wag his tail happily at you.

Zach/Zahn: His kill switch burnt out pretty much every bit of electrical wiring in both the ship and a lot of our personal equipment. And all that's getting fixed, uh, at Machamp's expense.

Avery/GM: Oh, that is very helpful. I considered self destructing. And blowing up the ship, but realized that both Bruce and Polaris had ordered me not to self destruct. So I implicitly obeyed their orders. Should I have self destructed instead?

Zach/Zahn: No, because you would have, uh, disappointed both Bruce and Polaris. Especially now that Bruce is back.

Avery/GM: Oh, Bruce has returned.

Zach/Zahn: Indeed. It's a little, little silver lining to our current situation.

Avery/GM: I am excited to see him again and to watch him make cake.

Caden/Bruce: I love Hermes.

Zach/Zahn: him and the others shouldn't be gone too much longer.

Avery/GM: How long was I out for, Ollie?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, how long has it been since they left?

Avery/GM: Probably been like 45 minutes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, is Zahn's helmet working?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. It would be the, the thing that, with my low rolls, it's the only thing he has working at the moment.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, excellent. Then at some point, like, during this conversation, Polaris has sent a picture of the garlic cheesy bread, just like really hot, like it was warmed up, and it's like melty and delicious, and he sent a picture and he said, uh, for you and Ollie, when we get back.

Zach/Zahn: Currently he doesn't, unless he like, I guess he can speak into it, text to speech it, he's gonna put his helmet on and he's gonna say, Awesome. Looks great. All in lowercase because he's not, he's, you know, currently concerned about the whole Winston estate being right down  the street thing.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we are in their home city.

Zach/Zahn: And he's going to be like, I have big news to inform you of when you guys get back. Best to say in person.

Bee/Polaris: Good news, bad news, question mark?

Zach/Zahn: Puts the, uh, slanting face and a thumbs down.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will turn to the rest of the crew and say, Zahn has bad news when we return.

Caden/Bruce: That's, um, unfortunate.

Bee/Polaris: Indeed.

Jenine/Marty: Did he break something?

Bee/Polaris: No, uh, he said it's best to say in person. And Polaris is going to type in chat, K, be back once we finish buying this property.

Zach/Zahn: You get ellipses. Send ellipses. Send, all lowercase, what. Period. Not even question mark.

Bee/Polaris: A poor family! smiley face. And then the thing where someone has left the chat.

Avery/GM: Hermes does also pipe in to the chat and just says. Do not worry, I have not died.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts in all caps, HERMEEEEEEES! And Polaris will...

Zach/Zahn: Is there a separate chat? You just said you left the chat.

Bee/Polaris: Well, but, did Hermes send that before Polaris left?

Avery/GM: That was before you... Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay.

Bee/Polaris: So, Polaris was about to hit, uh, leave chat when Hermes left it, and then, uh, Polaris is gonna type that and also say, HERMES, out loud.

Avery/GM: Very monotone

Bee/Polaris: yeah

Avery/GM: in, in, in voice, but

Chris/Ollie: as exuberant as Polaris gets.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Perfect. Let's get to this real estate office. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You, you track down the address to this place. Um, it's kind of an unassuming building, you know, nothing too extravagant. It's operated by a fox alien person. She is just like, Oh, welcome, I was actually just about to close up for the day. How can I help you? Are you in the market for some real estate? Perhaps, uh, opening a new shop? That's seems to be the bulk of my clientele recently.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Hi, my name is Marty. Really nice to meet you. Um, so we... We're actually interested in purchasing the building, building, building?

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Jenine/Marty: Is that what we're looking at? Um, the building next to Big Fred's, if possible. Not renting it, but like actually just buying the building and negotiating a price?

Avery/GM: Oh, of course. You mean the, uh, yeah, the little shop that's, that's next to that… soon to be built, let me see, and she like checks her notes, she's like, anime store?

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, tell me a bit about your business. What are you, what are you interested in selling?

Jenine/Marty: We are actually thinking about being investors for, um, a local business here known as... Red River Farms. We were just so enthralled by their entire business, and we think that they should actually have their own, like, storefront and we think that is the best location for them. And we want to help provide for the local economy here.

Caden/Bruce: As Marty is talking, Bruce, like, opens one of the shopping bags and, like, puts out, like, one of the loaves of bread, a thing of fruits, like, maybe, like, an orange, an apple, and, like, a pomegranate, showing the different things that they sold, but also things that, like, this fox could try. I don't know what foxes are. I don't think foxes are actually herbivores, but whatever! Things that this fox could try! It's fine!

Jenine/Marty: It's a snackie! It's a snackie!

Avery/GM: It’s a space fox, its fine.

Zach/Zahn: I think they're omni.

Bee/Polaris: Cartoon, like, smell lines waft over from the bread into their nostrils.

Avery/GM: Totally. Yeah, uh, yeah, this, this fox person, she's sniffing the air, she's like, Oh, that, that bread smells heavenly And, and you say they're a local business? I've, I've never heard of this farm. Do they already sell on the main, on the main strip?

Caden/Bruce: They do not sell on the main strip. They're about two blocks over, so, um, they don't get very much foot traffic there, um, but I can guarantee if you take a bite out of this bread roll, you'll see why we want to endorse them.

Avery/GM: The little, the little claws on, on her fingers kind of waggle and she picks it up. She's like, oh, thank you, um, and tries a bite and then tries another bite. And then within a few seconds, the whole roll is gone and she's like, licking her fingers like, Hmm, that is excellent. Yes. Yes. Um, okay. Sorry. Back to business. so you're wanting to purchase it. You don't want to sign the five year lease. That's usually a good, a good way that investors kind of can gauge the performance of a business.

Jenine/Marty: Well, I believe based off of how well their first impression is investing fully now. Is the best option. Smiley face.

Avery/GM: Okay. Um, well this is a pretty spendy lot. let's see here. She starts like scanning through some documents on like a data pad in front of her.

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm.

Avery/GM: She's like, hmm, let's see, let's see. 385 Main Street. Okay. Uh huh. And is just like, okay. So this particular property is valued at 500, 000 credits. And I... Would like to turn a profit on it a little bit. So I think if you could meet me at 700, 000 credits, I think that would be doable for me.

Jenine/Marty: Now here's the problem. This is Jenine not knowing how to barter in this situation as I am a child that has never owed real estate.

Avery/GM: Hey, same here.

Bee/Polaris: I too have never owed real estate.

Caden/Bruce: affordable housing. Say what?

Jenine/Marty: Oh, affordable housing in this day and age

Zach/Zahn: in this economy.

Jenine/Marty: In this economy. Yikes. Um, okay, cool. What is the best course of action here? Because I don't. I feel like we can barter her down.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. Barter.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, oh yeah. Just come back with a different number.

Avery/GM: I think there is a trade.

Bee/Polaris: What?

Avery/GM: I think there is a trade skill. Um, a, a skill role for trade.

Jenine/Marty: There is?

Caden/Bruce: Mm-hmm. It’s under talk

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, there is.

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. But, Hmm. I can get this to connect, I can get this to a connect situation. . I could certainly try. Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah, of course.

Bee/Polaris: What if we just

Jenine/Marty: make a deal?

Bee/Polaris: What if we, yeah, what if we make a deal with, uh, the fox lady and the owners of the shop and she gets free bread?

Jenine/Marty: A day, every day.

Chris/Ollie: Forever.

Bee/Polaris: Forever.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: could you psychically...Impress your feelings for the couple on to this fox woman?

Jenine/Marty: Wait, I think I can?

Bee/Polaris: Yes, underhanded tactics finally!

Jenine/Marty: Marty only uses her powers of evil for good!

Chris/Ollie: We gotta live up to that space pirate ship we got.

Bee/Polaris: Yes, earlier Bruce said that it wasn't our mission to dismantle like, corporations and whatnot and bring up a little guy, but actually that's wrong, that's exactly our goal.

Caden/Bruce: It's 100 percent our goal.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, wait, wait, wait. Sophisticated… I can read thoughts. I know I can do something. Is it suppress cognition? Nope. Wait.

Bee/Polaris: Removed capitalist feeling from her body.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Okay. I think I can use suppress cognition. Is that correct? Resist power…

Bee/Polaris: We could also always use, like, buzzwords, like, Well, turning a profit over investing in the community. You know, that sort of thing.

Jenine/Marty: Marty, like, takes a deep breath, gives a smile, and goes, Alright, I understand 700… that sounds like a really good deal. You need to make a profit and everything. But, like, think about the community, and the importance of helping a business and I'm sure that you, as someone that lives in this community, working with a fellow community member, they will also offer some of their services to help you as well. If you would like, maybe bartering a deal of like, dropping back down to maybe 600, maybe 500, and maybe talking with… Did we get the lost names of these people?

Caden/Bruce: No.

Bee/Polaris: No. We've literally left… Yeah, we literally, after we bought most of their stock, we left and we were like, Let's change their lives forever!

Jenine/Marty: If you talk to the Red River Farms, maybe discussing future business plans with them to increase their footprint in this area. Maybe starting the investment now. I don't know the words that I said, but that feels right.

Chris/Ollie: Sure!

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, like starting an investment in the community and like bringing up other local businesses can turn up quite the profit and make the area. Cause real estate is largely based on location and the, you know, profitability of everything else around. So bringing up the value of the area with local, like, community markets and stuff will, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: We also know the owners of Big Fred's. We worked with him a little bit ago. We helped get that business up and running to bring here. So like, there's that pretty cool situation happening. So we're reliable.

Avery/GM: I see. So you, you are just some real movers and shakers in the, uh, in the business world, aren't you?

Jenine/Marty: Well, more along the lines of the business, more along the lines of the business of friendship and community.

Avery/GM: Hmm. That could be profitable. And she starts kind of like scrolling through her datapad some more. Uh, go ahead and make a Charisma lead check as you're kind of trying to influence this decision your way.

Bee/Polaris: Get it, Marty!

Jenine/Marty: Yeet! That's a 10!

Bee/Polaris: Let's go!

Jenine/Marty: And with The authority, I'm rolling against the NPC's morale score.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that definitely beats it. So, she's scanning through her documents a little bit more and she's like, Hmm, you know, I think this appraisal might have even been a little wrong. Cause, really with the, with the size and the, yeah, hmm and she looks up at you and is just like, Alright, how about this? We'll go straight at 500, 000. No profit, no extra money on my part, just the value that is listed for the property, and it's yours.

Jenine/Marty: That sounds like an excellent deal.

Zach/Zahn: I was waiting for the but.

Avery/GM: No, no but.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah

Avery/GM: And she's like, great, we just have some paperwork to fill out. If you could just stick around for a little bit. Or, actually, if you're really If you're investing to give this to the Red River Farms, you, you may want to let them know so they can come down and fill out the paperwork. That might be best.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Let's… yeah, let's, uh, let's get the deed and the paperwork and just the, hightail it over to 'em. We bought a property, Guys! do we get to write down that we technically own the, or are we straight up just giving it to them and paying for it? Um, yeah, I'm asking the rest of the crew. Are we investors or are we like, Uh, giving it to them outright.

Caden/Bruce: I mean...

Jenine/Marty: I feel like if we just are the investors, we'll just be in charge of like... I don't know. They don't have to worry about money part of the things. That's where I'm at. And we're never gonna change it. Like, we're not gonna change the rent. That's fucked up.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, we're not charging them rent.

Jenine/Marty: We're not charging them rent, but like, we can also just give it to them. I don't know. We'll ask them.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like asking them.

Bee/Polaris: Cause I'm torn, cause like, yeah, yeah, okay.  Let's ask them.

Caden/Bruce: We don't want to dictate…

Jenine/Marty: Cause they're already gonna have money. That business of like, that, and they're like, oh my gosh, we have to do the maintenance of things and like

Bee/Polaris: yeah, exactly, that's what I was thinking about.

Caden/Bruce: We don't want to dictate what their farm is like, it's just more of the, here's the stability, so you don't have to worry about living off of nothing, or potentially, you know, having to move, if this is where you've raised your family for like generations.

Bee/Polaris: Exactly. Yeah. Okay.

Jenine/Marty: Sick!

Bee/Polaris: So I guess we get the,

Avery/GM: Totally

Bee/Polaris: we give the money over, we get the paperwork and we, we go back. Yeah?

Jenine/Marty: Well, what time, what time was it now? Because this lady was closing.

Avery/GM: It's like almost four o'clock. So, Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: They probably don't close till like five.

Avery/GM: So yeah.

Caden/Bruce: It's fine.

Avery/GM: I mean, she, she probably closes when she, you know, runs out of, you know,

Bee/Polaris: clientele to…

Avery/GM: you know, if she goes too long without a client.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: So, you know, she'll stay open long enough to fill out the paperwork for you.

Bee/Polaris: We could also put it in the drop box. Okay, so, uh, yeah, I guess we're just like, okay, give us a sec, we gotta go get this sign and run off.

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah, you come to the, back to the farm booth and they're starting to like pack things up for the day. As it's, you know, it's been kind of a slow day except for your business and... The child is just like, Huh! You're back! Did Is something wrong? Do we need to refund you? Is

Bee/Polaris:  No.

Avery/GM: Was something wrong with the food?

Bee/Polaris: No. No. No.  Polaris kinda like turns to Bruce and Marty.

Caden/Bruce: We have a proposition for you.

Bee/Polaris: you. Is it really a proposition? Cause

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, because they can say no.

Bee/Polaris: Oh true. That is true. Yeah

Caden/Bruce: we realized that you would probably make more business off of not being on this tree and being on Main Street and well, we happen to own an empty building off of Main Street that we would like to Give to you

Avery/GM: and the adults that are here. Just like are you just are you serious that that's a Mighty generous thing. I, I don't know that I could pay you for it.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, I, I, we don't require payment. With

Bee/Polaris: Polaris holds up the bread.

Caden/Bruce: The only thing is that you must promise to never, ever stock any of Chef Jamie's supplies.

Avery/GM: Oh, done. Done deal. I, no, I would never. That, that, no, thank you.

Jenine/Marty: How bitter is, is Marty of Oswald right now?

Bee/Polaris: Do we actually know who Jamie is? Has Bruce ever mentioned Jamie to us?

Caden/Bruce: No.

Avery/GM: No, You've only ever seen Bruce, like, Casually, like, Mess with Jamie related stuff. But like…

Bee/Polaris: Sick.

Avery/GM: I don't think y'all have gotten into it… So

Bee/Polaris: cool, we just pick up on the fact that Jamie hate Or, uh, Bruce hates this Jamie person and we're just automatically like Yeah, fuck Jamie.

Caden/Bruce: Basically.

Bee/Polaris: All my homies hate Jamie.

Chris/Ollie: Bruce is based. Fuck Jamie.

Bee/Polaris: Friendship ended with Jamie.

Chris/Ollie: Bruce is now my best friend.

Avery/GM: Thank you, but I don't even know y'all's names.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris kind of looks over at the other two like, should we tell them our names?

Jenine/Marty: I send a message in chat and I go, do we have a name for the crew? Can we just say that? Would that feel safer? Question mark.

Bee/Polaris: We, we don't…

Jenine/Marty: I’m gonna start doing acronyms. Why do we only have one vowel as the first letter? Wait. Oh, I forgot my letter. I was like, there's, there's five of us. Why do I only have four letters? I really like this because it can be...

Jenine/Marty: Bombs with a P and a Z.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah! Yeah!

Caden/Bruce: Love it.

Jenine/Marty: Wee! Are known as the POMBZ. Smiley face.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I thought you said bombs.

Jenine/Marty: PombZ. Well, it's P. So like, you know, we're just gonna say bombs. But it's with, but it starts with a P. And ends with a Z.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Okay. Ooh, sounds good.

Jenine/Marty: We're the POMBZ. Ba dum psh. Which works really well for our group, actually.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris looks into the camera.

Zach/Zahn: Oh my god.

Bee/Polaris: And has like a smirk on the visor.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Smirk on the visor and a wink with the sparkle.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. We just, we just enjoy helping people and want to grow economies here. Also, you'll love your neighbors. Big Phred. Pretty awesome. Pretty awesome dude. Big Phred,

Bee/Polaris: does big Phred know our names?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Yes?

Bee/Polaris: Do we have A business card?

Avery/GM: Nope. You just gave Big Fred your email.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, that's right.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris just like, takes out like a piece of paper, and like writes down our email, and Gives it to the family and says when big fred moves in show him this and let him know that you guys are friends of ours

Avery/GM: Yeah. This person you've been talking to says, uh, well, thank you POMBZ. We're  the Ashmane family. That’s silver and I'm, I'm Peter and this is Eleanor. wow, that's thank you. Wow and they're kind of starting to like get teary and kind of like not hyperventilate but just you know starting to kind of like they're like when do we when do we move in? oh there's so many questions

Jenine/Marty: do you need help setting up like we're here for like the next couple of days i think we can we have a pretty good i'm not really technically advanced So, but my friends are, who aren't here yet, but, I mean, they are here, but they're in, yes, do you, we could help

Caden/Bruce: We also should probably hand you the... Deed to the building and Bruce will just look at Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris just pulls it out from his jacket. And like, hands over the paperwork to sign and also the deed.

Avery/GM: Yeah, this person is freaking out in a very good way. Yeah, they, they take that from you, uh, Polaris, and they just say, uh, thank, thank you. Wow… Silver, I don't think you have to work at the stand anymore. And this teenager is just like, jumping up and down and like, super excited and they're just starting to like, celebrate kind of, you know, the packing up for the day, forgotten momentarily as they kind of celebrate this new life that they have been given.

Bee/Polaris: Heck yeah. I hope they take the time to celebrate as a family.

Avery/GM: And y'all head back out to the main street or... Stand here awkwardly watching them celebrate or what?

Bee/Polaris: We gotta drop off the paperwork.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, we just, we go. We leave!

Caden/Bruce: Yeah!

Avery/GM: sure. Yeah. You head back to the paperwork… to the, the real estate office, you let them know where to pick up the official ownership paperwork, uh,

Bee/Polaris: and the address

Avery/GM: next week when it'll all be processed and yeah, you give 'em the address and everything. Totally. And yeah, you're dropping off the paperwork with, uh, this fox person who I have not given a name yet, so if anyone wants to name her, feel free

Bee/Polaris: Vulpix… Sorry. . .

Jenine/Marty: That's different from what I was, I had a different thing and I was like, that needs to stay inside brain.

Zach/Zahn: I was going to say, I was going to say nine tails, but it's called German nine, NEIN.

Avery/GM: So y'all have dropped off the paperwork with, with nine tails. Yeah. And y'all are turning back, uh, to maybe head back towards the, uh, Hotel room when Bruce, you see stepping out from a limo across the street from you, a figure that you met when you were masquerading as a caterer, you see Rhea step out from a limo, followed by what looked like several very important government officials, and they are walking into a big fancy government building.

Caden/Bruce: Uh oh.

Avery/GM: And that's where we're going to end it.

(Background music fades out, Outro plays, then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a one up podcast network production. Intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. The track used today was Mega City Slums. We'll be back on October 1st with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars.

Episode 29 - The Quick, The Dead and... The Dog?

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 29 of Beyond the Furthest Stars

(Intro music plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: Coil is standing here holding a a gun with all these other robots and turrets around. What's the play here?

Jenine/Marty: Marty says, what's a Hermes? Marty will full up say that.

Zach/Zahn: What's a Hermes?

Jenine/Marty: to try and like change the subject.

Avery/GM: Jenine...

Jenine/Marty: yes.

Avery/GM: To answer your question, uh, the, uh, the cowboy robot says, oh, come on now. Don't play dumb. You know exactly what Hermes is sitting inside that ship or here with one of you all little crystal about the size of your fist.

Jenine/Marty: This is not the ship you are looking for.

Bee/Polaris: Does Marty actually say that?

Music: Yes. Yes, she does.

Zach/Zahn: That only works with organics, which is why I love it.

Avery/GM: A little, a little metal eyebrow kind of lifts up on, on coil's face.

Bee/Polaris: He has eyebrows?

Avery/GM: And yeah, little metal, little sheets of metal, kind of plastered right there. You know, he, but he likes to have a, a, a, a personal, uh, appearance, you know, a humanoid appearance. It helps kind of ease, ease his victims into

Bee/Polaris: false sense of security.

Avery/GM: Yeah. What, what, what comes next.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Now he's a robot from robots.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I was about to say.

Jenine/Marty: Good movie.

Bee/Polaris: Great movie

Zach/Zahn: great movie.

Avery/GM: He, he just turns like, he has like a little data pad in one of his other hands and he just turns it to you and it just shows like a radar with two little blips blipping on it.

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Avery/GM: He's just like, there are two artificial intelligences here that have both been programmed and interfaced with the hegemony. Now I'm gonna bring one of them back. Now it's either you and Coil points to you, Ollie. Either you're the one who has the Hermes crystal, or it's in that ship. Hand it over. I'm not gonna ask again.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna take like a… a half like cocked stance where he is like putting more, leaning more on one foot. Kinda like the, what is it? The um, the Clint Eastwood kind of stance.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Avery/GM: sure.

Zach/Zahn: Where he is got like his right hand resting on his hip just above where he can reach his pistol as soon as he activates the

Avery/GM: Yeah. A little little gun slinger.

Zach/Zahn: compartment,

Avery/GM: Yeah

Zach/Zahn: yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's gonna make his voice activate again. And he's gonna be like rather bold of you to act on the hegemony behalf in the middle of a republic world. All we gotta do is like yell to the military lab right behind us. And you'll probably be swarmed and dead pretty quick. So I, I suggest you probably, uh, G T F O and, uh, run back to your hegemony people and tell them that we don't have your fucking AI.

Avery/GM: Sure. Make a charisma… charisma lead check.

Zach/Zahn: Woo minus two to both

Bee/Polaris:  get ‘em Zahn!

Zach/Zahn: minus two overall!

Jenine/Marty: how does helping work Again?

Avery/GM: Janine, to answer your question, uh, helping you would roll the same check

Jenine/Marty: Uh huh,

Avery/GM: and if you get 10 or above, it adds plus one to the roll.

Zach/Zahn: I'll… I'll help.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. I mean if I can as well.

Avery/GM: Sure. What's your…

Chris/Ollie: we could all like do a squad like intimidation stance.

Bee/Polaris: No. 'cause you can only add plus one. I think

Jenine/Marty: you can only

Bee/Polaris: to assist.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. I…

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: we can’t do a squad...

Avery/GM: I mean, you, you can both, you can both try to assist and if one of you doesn't roll a height, you know, if, if only one of you has to roll 10 to add the plus one, but how are you gonna help?

Jenine/Marty: She just kind of… Marty like walks up behind and just goes Yes. And shoots finger guns.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts in group chat. Should I call 911?

Jenine/Marty: Never mind. I rolled a six.

Zach/Zahn: We, we have Machamp on speed dial and while he's not right here with us, he should be right behind us.

Jenine/Marty: You know who we also have on speed dial the pirates.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Do we… Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. But they're far off. I'm assuming they're not in the system.

Bee/Polaris: They would not, uh, near the capital of Olympia.

Jenine/Marty: No, this is true.

Avery/GM: Okay. What did, what did you roll Marty?

Jenine/Marty: Six.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. Well, uh, Ollie, how are you gonna help?

Chris/Ollie: Wait. That's right. We are on Olympia, right?

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: The Capitol?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: So Ollie's going to, uh, he's got like his rifle strapped, you know, across his back. He's going to like, not like start brandishing it, but he's gonna obviously like start writing it to, to be pulled out and aimed step behind Zahn and say, you seem to lack the ability to discern your target. Are you sure you, are you with that knowledge… Are you sure you want to fight on a, on the Republic home world as a hegemony agent?

Avery/GM: Okay, roll, uh, charisma lead.

Zach/Zahn: So I, I rolled two threes, but minus two, that's a four, but I'm gonna use my expert thing and try and get a little higher on that.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: Okay. That turned out a little bit better. A seven.

Avery/GM: Sure. And what'd you roll, Chris? Sorry.

Chris/Ollie: Chris, my lead. So I'm 11.

Avery/GM: 11. Okay. So that brings Zahn up to an eight. Still not quite good enough. Coil puts the data pad in its little pocket area, like a little compartment that pops out on its leg. Slides it in there. Look. Y'all seem like decent people. This is a lot bigger than you all can really comprehend. I have no reason to fear the republic here working for the hegemony or not. So we're all just gonna continue with me getting Hermes and y'all could go about your business or I'm gonna blow you to the sky.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, but then you wouldn't get Hermes.

Avery/GM: Oh, I'll, I'll be able to pick it out of the wreckage. It's, it's not a problem

Bee/Polaris: if you blow up the ship, you blow up Hermes. If Hermes is in the ship, of course.

Avery/GM: and then the backup will just reload back at headquarters and I'll have completed my mission anyway. But I'm letting you in on a fantastic deal. I'm letting you keep your ship, you keep your robot friend. I just walk away with a crystal and nothing bad happens to you all. Just one little crystal. Is that really worth all, all of your lives?

Zach/Zahn:

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts in group chat. Couldn't Hermes just fly away with the ship and then pick us up later?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah?

Zach/Zahn: I was actually going to put into the group chat for Bruce to lead everyone to his ship. We communicate Hermes to leave and then I'll cover us to and in shooting. 'cause there's no, there's no robots behind us directly to Bruce's ship.

Chris/Ollie: Well, I, I've got a plan, but it's very dangerous for Hermes So yeah, if we can get 'em outta here.

Bee/Polaris: real quick… Uh. Is, is it possible to tell what kind of weapons the robots all have? Like is it, is it like actual bullets or is it laser? Laser weapons?

Avery/GM: Oh, they are a combination.

Bee/Polaris: Dangit.

Avery/GM: Uh, some of them have like laser blades. Some of them have like, obviously like little like Uzzis.

Jenine/Marty: Oh no.

Avery/GM: And some of them have laser rifles.

Zach/Zahn: Oh good.

Chris/Ollie: So is he the only sentient one there? Are they all just robots and he's the only AI.  

Avery/GM: Yeah, they're all, these are all like standard, like basically what You were Ollie before your crystal activated.

Jenine/Marty: Ah, what's, what's the idea, Bruce?

Caden/Bruce: Well, I think Bruce is gonna thumbs up to Z's message and just be like, I will go and retrieve Hermes. Just give me a second.

Jenine/Marty: Oh!

Caden/Bruce: and Bruce is gonna go to his ship. Because I feel like he's seen Ollie, like when Ollie like chipped off the crystal, like he's seen what an emerald crystal sort of looks like maybe, perhaps like is possible.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah,

Bee/Polaris: yeah.

Chris/Ollie: I'm pretty sure you've seen Ollie's Crystal and Hermes

Caden/Bruce: he’s gonna make Like out of jello, something that resembles the crystal.

Chris/Ollie: A giant sugar crystal

Caden/Bruce: except he's gonna make it with alcohol. 'cause the robot's smoking.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my God.

Caden/Bruce: So Bruce’s idea is he's going to blow up this robot.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my God.

Avery/GM: I don't know that you'll have time to get to your ship and do all that. Well he like, 'cause you're all kind of clustered here.

Bee/Polaris: Well, did, did Bruce say that he's gonna go get Hermes and he went to the, the, the other ship to be able to do that?

Chris/Ollie: Well The robot's got a scanner that points exactly where Hermes is.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. well.

Chris/Ollie: So he knows where our ship is and where that it's gonna be the wrong ship he's going to.

Bee/Polaris: isn't it only pointing to, um, AI not necessarily Hermes?

Avery/GM: He, it's, it's, yeah. The scanner he showed you is showing two different ais and he indicated that they were AIs that had connected with hegemony systems at some point.

Bee/Polaris: Also. Is there any, is there like a compartment or something that Polaris can sneakily get his laser blades from Ollie?

Chris/Ollie: Okay, so Ollie's got a bit of a plan, if you will allow this. So from my final, uh, peripheral routine, pre predicted preparation, pretty much commit processing to make a statement about my current situation that I could have conceivably made true with full advanced knowledge of the circumstances. So thus, like example at the party's last in a desert, you could declare that you parked a grab car over the next dune several months ago. I want to use this to say that I have. Somewhat thought of this situation because, you know, n b territory in the first place and have built an EMP bomb inside of my own chassis.

Avery/GM: You brilliant time-traveling bastard.

Jenine/Marty: I also feel like that's something we would do anyways at this point.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I was, I was waffling there for a few minutes on whether it was a normal bomb and I wanted to go close to him and just blow 'em up, or it was an EMP bomb, but I didn't know whether the, the conventional bomb would stop all the other robots too, so.

Zach/Zahn: it would also potentially stop us.

Bee/Polaris: That is

Avery/GM: oh

Chris/Ollie: yes

Avery/GM: Zahn's Armor

Chris/Ollie: it is gonna stop your tech weapons, it's gonna stop your laser blades, it's gonna stop the ship. I don't know what it'll do to my core, so that's why I'm like, eh, Hermes should probably dip the hell outta here.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, you have a back, you have a backup boy in the, in the dog bot, right?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, but the robot guy

Avery/GM: Yeah. But the backup shard is…

Chris/Ollie: But yeah, Hermes backup is at this guy's base already, so that would only help him.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, it's one of those, Hermes has full access to the ship. Yeah. So he can take off and leave completely us high and dry at the moment and we can retreat to the other ship or, uh, call a champ and have a full on firefight if we wanted.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, if you, if you can deactivate, if you can do the EMP and get coil in there, we could just take his AI crystal so that he can't like, you know, get up from the EMP nap and then start blasting or track us

Chris/Ollie: Well, if his, yeah. Hmm. If his double is here, I don't know if it's gonna fry me or not, but, uh, I'm willing to try it out.

Avery/GM: Ollie, here's what I'm giving you. You can set off this pulse. It will render your current chassis completely inactive. And it will need to be powered back up with like a power cell before it can be used again. It will blast everything within 60 feet, shutting everything down within 60 feet.

Chris/Ollie: So including our ship?

Bee/Polaris: yeah, we would have to get on the ship and get outta there.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: There is also a chance that it will short circuit your current crystal in your chassis.

Jenine/Marty: Mm mm

Chris/Ollie: No problem

Bee/Polaris: gots a backup.

Chris/Ollie: And are, are we in agreement about having Hermes just take off and start flying away? We can always steal someone else's ship or he can come back.

Bee/Polaris: Well, if he, well, if the pulse goes off and it's 60 feet, Hermes could take off, but the ship that Bruce came on would be inactive.

Caden/Bruce: That's fine. Bruce has no emotional connection.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. The EMP goes off and then, uh, Hermes comes back for

Bee/Polaris: us. Yeah. Okay. Uh, we're gonna have to probably NASCAR pit crew that, uh, AI crystal in coil so that he would, if he does wake up, he can't like talk to the other bots that are following his orders essentially now.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Get rid of one more person that's not hunting us down. I'm down for that.

Zach/Zahn: You know what would also be incredibly upsetting is if coil has eMP shielding.

Jenine/Marty: stop giving ideas. Can't give ideas. Wait, so I have a clarifying question for the crystal. Does that fully put… does… when you said it, like messes up the crystal, is it the crystal in this current chassis or just like the concept of crystals, like it might mess up connecting

Avery/GM: just the one in Ollie.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. I just wanna make sure it's not like some, you know, it messes up the, the moving over to the next one. Cool. Thank you.

Avery/GM: No, essentially this is what I'm, what I'm giving you Chris, is this is like a fail safe program that is embedded in all AI crystals where you can. Basically set this off. You know, it eliminates this crystal as a potential host for your consciousness.

Chris/Ollie: It's a kill switch. Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Kill switch. That's the word I was looking for. Thank you. Yeah. But it also eliminates any threats around you, so…

Chris/Ollie: so he could also be expecting this. Okay. Well, uh, how about Hermes? Are we telling him to leave?

Zach/Zahn: I think ya

Avery/GM: yeah you haven't said anything to Hermes.

Chris/Ollie: because Yeah. I mean, if we shut him down to,

Zach/Zahn: I'm in agreeance of, of Hermes just taking off.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. We could fend for ourselves. We got this

Chris/Ollie: pretty much all of that, all of that was outta character. We're still standing here stuck in time. Ollie is going to, 'cause I don't want it to be too suspicious with me pulling the laser blades and the like gun off my shoulder.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. If you go with coil and they start flying away and you detonate, it'd be away from all of us.

Chris/Ollie: Hmm. I don't expect him to actually keep up his end of the bargain and not kill you guys.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's true.

Chris/Ollie: But I, okay, so Ollie will turn to the group and say out loud, well, I guess we are caught. And I'll turn and remove my, uh, rifle, the two laser blades and any other, um, weapons that are in my compartment. Hand them off to, um, I guess Zahn right next to me and say, uh, hold onto these for me please. And I will as non-menacingly as possible approach coil.

Avery/GM: Coil says, ah, if I'm the seeing reason, are ya? Well, that's good. Now you're gonna get on that ship. Just go quietly and as soon as you're on there, my friends here will shut down and we'll just, we'll, we'll go off, we'll go back home. We'll call it a day.

Chris/Ollie: Nah, I think your friends should shut down now. At the same time, I was also texting in chat Hermes's, uh, code red flyaway.

Avery/GM: You get no response.

Bee/Polaris: No, Hermes!

Chris/Ollie: Well, uh, everything's still gonna go as planned and Ollie will pull the trigger and explode once again.

Bee/Polaris: Okay? Okay. I love that. None of us know what's happening because Ollie didn't tell us.

Avery/GM: Right.

Bee/Polaris: He just handed on all of our weapons and walked over.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, no, Ollie definitely didn't say anything except he did put in the chat, not sure if this will work if I don't come back. I love you all.

Jenine/Marty: What?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Chris/Ollie: he hits send on that right as he, uh, pulsed instead of exploded. But it was a very violent pulse.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Ollie sends that message and coil. Lifts its eyebrow again, and that's the last thing that you and Zahn and Polaris see as your helmet's. Short circuit, total darkness in front of you, Bruce and Marty, you see the robots and everything. Like they start to turn their guns towards you and then they all kind of just slump forward and you see coil standing there like just still at first and then you hear like the apple power sound come from this chassis.

Jenine/Marty: We should stop it, right? Like we should go and unplug him now

Avery/GM: and Ollie, you immediately wake up inside of a dog body, a dog, robot body

Zach/Zahn: on the ship

Avery/GM: on onboard the TSKAM. But it won't move because it is not powered on.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, RIP

Bee/Polaris: wait coil. But Coil is powered on. Is powering on?

Avery/GM: Coil is powering back up.

Jenine/Marty: We should go get him right? We should stop that.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is going to tackle him.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris grabs his laser blades when Zahn drops them.

Jenine/Marty: Can you, can those operate?

Avery/GM: They don't operate.

Zach/Zahn: They don't work.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine. It's a blunt object.

Zach/Zahn: So I should say before he does that.

Bee/Polaris: Oh wait, actually we're both blind.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna drop the laser blades and the, and the gun. He's got a manual button on the side of his helmet where it connects into his suit so he can manually pop it off.

Avery/GM: Smart.

Zach/Zahn: And he's gonna toss it to the side and then he's going to like, as fast as he can. So I'm assuming like half movement speed Tackle the robot man.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, also the gun, uh, I gave you is not a laser gun. It's a assault rifle like traditional guns.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, nice. That I didn't know, but it's on the ground right here now

Avery/GM: Zahn, if you're gonna tackle while you're wearing all of this armor of yours that is, that is powered by electronics, I'm gonna need a strength exert check. Marty, Bruce, you see Ollie's old chassis go limp and all these other robots go limp. Do do y'all do anything?

Caden/Bruce: I think hearing the powering up sound and not knowing what son's gonna do, Bruce is also gonna run and tackle the chassis.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Caden/Bruce: Because Bruce isn't wearing anything electronic either.

Avery/GM: This is true.

Jenine/Marty: I think I'm gonna try and guide Rho back to our ship just in case it goes south. So I'm gonna help guide her there.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled in eight for my, uh, strength exert.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, yeah. You move at half speed, so you're. You, you're able to tackle him in time, but it's hard. Like, it, it puts some strain on your muscles might have pulled a hammy.

Zach/Zahn: His slunch gets a little more slunchy or his slouch gets more slouchy. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will take off his helmet so he can see and immediately probably have a sensory overload from, 'cause his, his helmet like blocked out sound and like light and stuff. So he, he's just gonna spend his first action picking up his laser blades, like his whole turn be because sensory overload.

Zach/Zahn: So with Zahn on top of coil, so he is got his backpack on his back.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Within easy like reach back section, there's like a whole side panel of his backpack where all of his tools are and he is gonna like

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: Just for the funness of what just came to my mind, uh, there's spring loaded, so he is going to sprint, like push in and grab a wrench of some kind to start prying, open his chassis.

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Zach/Zahn: So we can get the, the crystal out of him before he powers up and starts beating the shit out of us.

Avery/GM: It'll be fine.

Bee/Polaris: Didn't Bruce tackle him?

Avery/GM: Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, Bruce is next to you. Okay, go ahead. Hmm. You're trying to do it quickly. So dexterity fix, I think is what we'll call it. I'll give you a

Zach/Zahn: fuck. Yeah.

Avery/GM: I'll give you a good

Zach/Zahn: plus four baby. What a really shitty time to roll a one on one of these die so nine.

Avery/GM: yeah. You start prying stuff off, but this is a really thick chassis. You start to see…

Zach/Zahn: Bruce just needs to hold his arms down.

Avery/GM: You start to see the lights of his eyes starting to illuminate slowly. Uh, Bruce, what are you doing here?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, I think that Bruce, like watching what Zah is doing has like, 'cause Bruce is pretty big and he doesn't wanna be in the way, but like he is stepping on like the cowboy robot's, like shoulders to hold him down and then with his tail, like grabbing the gun and just basically chucking it away from this robot.

Zach/Zahn: Perfect.

Jenine/Marty: Nice.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's, there's no check for that yet, so you're good. Um. Okay, Polaris, your sensory overload is, is going on. You grab your, your laser Pi… your laser blades that are not gonna turn on.

Bee/Polaris: So realizing that his laser blades probably aren't going to turn on, um, he's gonna instead grab the assault rifle… it's an assault rifle, right?

Chris/Ollie: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: Um, what are the stats for that?

Chris/Ollie: A combat rifle. 1d12 uh, and magazine 30 and it can burst fire.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Polaris is gonna pick it up, walk over to the others, and he's just gonna shoot coil in the face

Avery/GM: right in between Bruce's legs? because Bruce is standing on his shoulders.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. He's standing on his shoulders? okay. Then Polaris is gonna be like Bruce, uh, take a step back please.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will do that.

Avery/GM: Okay

Bee/Polaris: And then he's gonna shoot Coil in the face because a robot, a robot can work but not well without a face.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Wait, is the crystal in the head?

Bee/Polaris: No, it's in the body. It's not part,

Zach/Zahn: not usually

Caden/Bruce: it's in the body.

Zach/Zahn: Not from our experience with AI. This one might be different, but we'll find out.

Avery/GM: Okay, go ahead and roll to attack. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Nat 20!

Jenine/Marty: Let's go.

Avery/GM: Oh, shit.

Jenine/Marty: Let's go.

Zach/Zahn: You just unload the entire magazine into his face.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Zach/Zahn: it's nothing but a cheese, like it's Swiss cheese.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll. I… I'm gonna, I'm gonna give it to you. Go ahead and roll Double dice.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. So two D 12?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Okay. Um, 17. Damage.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Okay. Uh, that's not good for coil. You still got quite a bit of HP left, but Yeah, his face is broken.

Bee/Polaris: That is my goal. Does Machamp hear that?

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say Machamp should be doing something by now.

Avery/GM: Well actually, I need to look back at the map real quick because, let's see 60 feet…

Zach/Zahn: It’s literally, this whole map is 60 feet.

Avery/GM: Yeah. So, so, It didn't hit anything in the, uh, in the institute. So the institute is safe.

Bee/Polaris: Good.

Avery/GM: But yeah, there's definitely, definitely the sounds of gunfire echoing through the parking lot. Um, do start to draw the attention of people inside the lobby. Um, and you do hear an alarm sounding from inside the building.

Bee/Polaris: That's perfectly fine. We need people to get here to deal with this motherfucker.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say, we were just attacked by a hegemony agent on the, uh, Republic Home world.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. We can literally just like rip out this dude's crystal and give it to Machamp and be like, yeah, here you go.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Not only that, we are under military escort at the moment as well. That is true. So this is a huge, this is, this is huge.

Avery/GM: Let's go back to Marty and Rho. Uh, you're trying to get into the ship.

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: Yeah. The doors will not open currently, but Marty, after kind of fumbling around a little bit, you do see a little manual switch that you can pull on, um, that you pull down and it opens the, uh, the loading bay and it lowers down kind of with a big thud since there's nothing to like really stop it from, you know, falling and yeah, you are inside the ship and coming up the ramp, you do see that little dog robot that you've seen Ollie kind of mess with… yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Could I… is there a way that I could activate it?

Avery/GM: I don't think so, unless… Yeah cause even the power cells would be drained. Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Sick, sick, sick… Nice.

Avery/GM: But you are, you are at least in the cargo bay of the ship.

Zach/Zahn: Would non-active power cells like our spares be fucked too?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Wouldn't everything be fucked? Like anything electronic Be fucked?

Jenine/Marty: That's totally fine. I mean, like we did. We did.

Chris/Ollie: That's why I was saying, yeah. Zahn's got a lot of fixing to do.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Most batteries are able to survive an e m P of any magnitude without suffering damage. Um, so no, your backup, uh, power cells would be fine.

Jenine/Marty: Can I get this little, little guy working?

Zach/Zahn:

Avery/GM: Yeah. I mean, you, you, you know, at least a little bit about robots and stuff, you know, that they just… they can run on power cells.

Jenine/Marty: I feel like I had like one lesson in AI because they're like, you're mostly gonna go with the squishies, but you get like, One or two intro level classes.

Zach/Zahn:

Avery/GM: Right? Just like art majors have to take a science class. Same thing.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sick. cool.

Avery/GM: Totally. Yeah. You, and, and you do see there's like a little tiny rack of like type A power cells sitting next to this, uh, companion bot ready to go. So go ahead and roll a intelligence fix.

Jenine/Marty: Yay! Oh, that's a three. I have a minus one to fix!

Avery/GM: you go to grab one of these power cells and they're, they're sort of round and, you know, kind of a little bit clunky. Um, you go to grab one and the whole rack kind of falls over and they start kind of rolling around the cargo bay a little bit. And so there's a little comical moment of you and Rho both kind of chasing these, uh, power cells around the cargo bay Trying to grab one.

Jenine/Marty: Oops. I mean, Sorry, I mean, oh, narts. Just, oh, I got this one. Wait, I got it. I got it. I, I got it.

Avery/GM: But eventually you do get it and you slap it into the, uh, the little, uh, power bank here on the robot. And Ollie, you have consciousness inside of a robot body.

Bee/Polaris: What kind of dog is it?

Chris/Ollie: Um, yeah, we've never, uh, determined that yet.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: But, uh, first this is, it's a synthetic body, right? In terms of my, uh, shell?

Avery/GM: yes, it is a companion bot that has a synthetic dog-like body.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, okay. Well, I mean in terms of like the, uh, the mechanical shells, because that determines my, my base stats and my affinities.

Avery/GM: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. So, I gotta change those in a sec… as a dog, it says that, uh, the synths are, are visually indistinguishable from, uh, from living beings… 'cause I kind of wanted it to be like the cat from the Buzz Lightyear Show with like the, uh, the black, uh, like, uh, rubber joints. But, uh,

Avery/GM: yeah, however you wanna flavor it, man, it's fine.

Chris/Ollie: No, I mean, I think it's better if, if I just look like a normal dog, but it's gonna be a, let's say, yellow lab pup, but very large. Like a full grown large dog size, but he, he's still like a puppy,

Avery/GM: but looks like a puppy. Yeah. I love it.

Chris/Ollie: And, uh, yeah, all the other, all the mechanical stuff is gonna be hidden, but whenever Ollie's gonna work on like a, fixing anything or interfacing with any, uh, technology, like bits and pieces of them are gonna open up and like, horrible, like the thing, ways like the back will open up and like robotic arms are going to come out and stuff, so.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, good.

Avery/GM: I can hack into this.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: General Grievous.

Chris/Ollie: or maybe the, the face opens up and they're like horrific. Like, oh, look at this doggie

Bee/Polaris: my son. Oh no, my son, where's my son?

Avery/GM: He's on the ship.

Bee/Polaris: He's no.

Chris/Ollie: Oh no

Bee/Polaris: no, my son!

Jenine/Marty: Can I remember the sun and can I go save the son please?

Bee/Polaris: My beautiful, beautiful can-son!

Jenine/Marty: can I save the son?

Avery/GM: Yes, you can start searching for where Polaris would keep

Bee/Polaris: Dief.

Avery/GM: Dief, I think is, yeah, Dief.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah. So Ollie, Marty gets you powered up and you just see Marty

Chris/Ollie: do I get to move as well or is my action taken up by

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, you could. Yeah. Yeah, go for it. Go, go ahead. What's your turn?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will get up. Look at Marty and you know, tail wagging, happy face, like super happy and will really quickly say, oh, thanks for the help and I gotta get back. Thank you. Bye. And, uh, run out the door.

Jenine/Marty: Did I, was that in common? Sorry. Not common. In words I understood. Or was that in barks

Chris/Ollie: in, in common or whatever language we speak.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: He has the collar that Doug had from Up!

Jenine/Marty: Yes. Yes. I'm so excited.

Chris/Ollie: Yes. Yeah. So Ollie's going to, uh, attempt to run as far as he can to get back to coil.

Avery/GM: yeah. That shouldn't be a problem.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, dogs are faster than humans.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah. It's, he's only 25 feet away. You easily close that distance. You're there next to Bruce, and you just see Zahn ripping at this thing's chest. And, and Bruce has moved back to standing on his shoulders, I assume.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, yeah.

Avery/GM: after Polaris has shot this thing in the face.

Zach/Zahn: so I rolled a two and a one, and I've got a plus four, so that's seven total.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. You're still… there's a particular piece that is like, that you're actually, you're probably pretty sure it's where the AI crystal is housed and it's just not moving.

Zach/Zahn: Okay. I've busted out a crowbar now, and I am fucking beating the shit out of, out of this thing. There's, there's no finesse to it. It's all just dented. And, and messed up

Avery/GM: strength stab.

Zach/Zahn: So… Six.

Avery/GM: you are stabbing at this thing and just not making any progress at all. Like it is impervious to your, to your attacks.

Zach/Zahn: As long as Zahn is swinging. He is, uh, rattling off vast chains of profanities.

Avery/GM: Of course and as you're stabbing away, you do see those eyes are now fully lit back up.

Chris/Ollie: as he's activating, can I, uh, bite his gun arm and attempt to rip it off.

Bee/Polaris: didn't Bruce throw away his gun?

Avery/GM: Yep. The gun is gone. But still good idea.

Chris/Ollie: I wouldn't expect a gun slinger to have only one gun.

Bee/Polaris: oh, you got me there.

Chris/Ollie: He's a hard boiled son of a bitch!

Bee/Polaris: He is a cowboy.

Chris/Ollie: Um, yeah, also, uh, use one of my processing points to up my strength to 14.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: And what kind of role do I need to give you?

Avery/GM: I was gonna say strength exert

Chris/Ollie: Okay… nine

Avery/GM: uh, it starts tearing away just, but not quite all the way, not with any great amount of force. It's kind of a slow tear.

Caden/Bruce: Could I help, could Bruce like dig in his claws to like the shoulder to like help?

Avery/GM: Yeah, go for it. Go ahead and roll. Strength exert if you wanna help.

Caden/Bruce: That's a very good roll. That is a 12

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Ollie Bruce's tail wraps around and, and gives you that little bit of extra strength you need. And the arm just comes clean off of coils. Uh, left, left side. Anything else you're doing on your turn, Bruce?

Caden/Bruce: I mean… Do I have the opportunity to try and rip off the other arm?

Avery/GM: Yeah… 'cause that was a help action. Yeah. go ahead and roll. Another strength exert then.

Caden/Bruce: this one's not as good. This one's a five. That one’s rough.

Avery/GM: oh, yeah. The reason it's harder is that now coil is more awake and rebooted and is kind of fighting and pulling back. So I'm actually gonna roll a strength exert for, for him, and he rolled a nine. Yeah. there's some major resistance going on here.

Zach/Zahn: Where the fuck is Machamp? We need his four arms.

Bee/Polaris: Can I… wait, whose turn is it now?

Avery/GM: It's, it's about to be your turn right now.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sick. Okay. Uh, is, well, is Bruce Dun doing what Bruce do?

Caden/Bruce: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Then Polaris is going to assist us on, he's gonna take the crowbar out of his hand and he's going to just jam it in and just like kick it so that like, with most of his weight, he's gonna kick it. So it just like, Cracks it open.

Avery/GM: Sure. Uh, strength exert or a strength punch.

Zach/Zahn: Strength punch. You say?

Avery/GM: I mean, you're using your limbs to kick this thing, so you know.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Um, okay. That high rolled really well. Strength, uh, punch. That's gonna be a 14. I rolled two sixes.

Avery/GM: Holy shit. Yeah, you kick this thing. And so like, uh, Bruce, this arm was actually like gonna like try and grab your leg to like, hold onto it and you feel its grip kind of starting to tighten around you. and then you feel it slacking as you see Polaris jam. This crowbar into this thing's chest and this metal container probably containing its AI crystal just flies out and lands a few feet away from you in the parking lot. Just gave it the right amount of leverage and just boop.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Amazing.

Bee/Polaris: Yep. Uh, Are any of the other robots around, uh, like powering up or anything?

Avery/GM: No, they're all, they're all damaged.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. Okay. Then…

Avery/GM: Coil had some, some assistance.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Okay. Then Polaris is gonna toss aside the rifle and then go pick up the box.

Zach/Zahn: We are absolutely, by the way, taking all these robots to use for scrap.

Chris/Ollie: Wait, what happened to Dief?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, what happened to my son? What happened to Dief?

Avery/GM: Yeah. That's gonna be on Marty's next turn. I was gonna…

Chris/Ollie: Oh, okay

Avery/GM: Get to that.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Yeah, that's the end of my turn.

Avery/GM: yeah, you do start to see people, like some, some of those same security guards you saw from the operating room start to pour out of the institute. Uh, and kind of like making a little bit of noise behind them is Oswald.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, good.

Avery/GM: followed closely by Machamp.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna like gesture for them to get over here or Well, he's gonna, he's gonna say, um, uh, threat neutralized

Avery/GM: yeah. One of these, these security guards is like, who… what's all the commotion going on out here? What's all, what's all the robots and the guns?

Bee/Polaris: We had some company and they were not savory company.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s gonna like outta breath. He's like slowly getting up. He is like, this fucker is a Hegemony bounty hunter. And you morons just let him freaking stroll into your parking lot and he is gonna put his hands on his hips and clomp over to where his helmet has been discarded.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Machamp starts kind of pushing his way, uh, towards the front. He's just like, none of this, you hear folks, nothing to see here. Uh, I'll, I'll take care of it. And he, he turns to you and he's like, what the hell are you guys doing in here? Out here?

Bee/Polaris: Like Zahn said, a Hegemony bounty hunter came and tried to take Hermes and he just kinda like holds up the housing for the AI crystal and says we neutralized him.

Avery/GM: Oh, well, could you, could you even more quiet about it next time you really spooked to some of the patients in there and they're kind of having a hard time, you know, getting 'em calmed down and stuff. You want me to take that? I can, I can take that dispose of it?

Bee/Polaris: Not yet.

Zach/Zahn: we should. We, we should hang on to that.

Bee/Polaris: We're gonna hang on to it for a bit,

Zach/Zahn: and interrogate 'em ourselves. I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah. I'll be sure next time. Our lives are threatened to do so quietly.

Avery/GM: Okay. Well, um, um, I'll, I'll, I'll clean this mess up for you. Yeah. Uh, just can your, can your ship run?

Zach/Zahn: No.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's a problem.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Um, I believe Ollie let out a let off an EMP pulse and has destroyed everything within a… and he just kinda like takes a gander around all of it.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Well that's a very effective way to get rid of robots. I will say that. Yeah. Well, how about I'll, I'll, I'll make some calls and maybe we can get y'all set up with like a little temporary residency while, while your ship gets, uh, repaired.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know how safe that is, but I will have to get to a communication station of some sort soon.

Avery/GM: And you just hear Oswald in the back just like I demand to know what's going on over here.

Zach/Zahn: As Zahn slowly stooping over to pick up his helmet. You just hear, fuck off nerd. I don't have time for your bullshit. And then he like, is clumping his way back to the ship.  

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like looks over the shoulder of Machamp and says this is a classic Nunya. situation.

Jenine/Marty: This poor, poor kid. This poor kid. Y'all.

Avery/GM: I know, right?

Zach/Zahn: We were all so mean to him last time. I just wanted to continue the trend, especially Zahn is now in a very, very poor mood.

Jenine/Marty: You're valid.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is also not in a good mood because he's dealing with sensory overload, so he's very upset.

Avery/GM: Machamp takes a few steps away from you and is clearly like talking on his, uh, communicator, like to someone at the nearby base, and he's just standing there chatting for a few moments and then turns back to you and says I've got some transports coming to, uh, get rid of all this junk out here.

And you know, also to take y'all into, uh, the city of Ambrosia, we've got a nice little, uh, hotel room set up for y'all. If, if you need anything, we'll get your ship towed to the base and I'll make sure that my best mechanics get working on it. But I think this time you'll owe me and he winks

Bee/Polaris: Well, now that we have a bruised back, I'm sure we can arrange some sort of cake or pie.

Avery/GM: He rubs his hands together. He is like, yeah, we're, we're, we're speaking the same language here.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s like getting closer. He is like, thanks, Major Tom. I would definitely, um, like to claim a founder's fee of, uh, these robots though. They go on the ship, you don't get them.

Chris/Ollie: yeah. Ollie will trance up as a dog and just look at him with the arm still in his mouth just holding onto it happily wagging and he’ll just start with: I died, but we caused this mess. Let us clean it up.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I mean, I, I guess you could do that. Um, there's still kind of a lot of cleanup and stuff to, to take care of, but, um, Yeah, I, and he kind of looks over at these robots and he's like, ah, they're not, they're not super valuable. Yeah. I guess you can take them if you really want 'em.

Zach/Zahn: The scrap will be good for making use of Yeah. If you can have your men, like, get the ship functional, I can, uh, use these robots to upgrade it and shit from there, so.

Avery/GM: Major Tom's just like, yeah. So the transports will be here in like 10 minutes. Just if you need anything off your ship, I recommend you getting it now, 'cause

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Avery/GM: It's gonna be, you know, getting repaired for a while, so Polaris goes together. I'll leave, I'll leave you to it though.

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Avery/GM: And he starts kind of shepherding people back into the institute here and…

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna go onto the ship and collect, like his spare stuff to basically fix his suit and Polaris's helmet.

Bee/Polaris: Thank you. Polaris is visibly annoyed and like, like squinting his eyes and stuff

Zach/Zahn: because he is not used to direct sunlight.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. He… his helmet essentially, like, he can use it to like lower volume and like filter light and stuff like that for like to avoid sensory overload. And now that he doesn't have it, he's just bombarded with like a bunch of senses.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Could Marty find like, A pair of goggles that like are tinted to give to Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Do we have aviators?

Zach/Zahn: I don't know about aviators, but there would definitely be some like welding goggles somewhere. You can pull like a Riddick where he is got the super thick glasses because he's got special eyes.

Caden/Bruce: I was gonna say Bruce will take off like his little cap that he put on to pretend to be an IT person and like take it off with his tail and put it on Polaris's head to like somewhat help like get the light out of

Zach/Zahn: just this ball cap.

Caden/Bruce: Just this little ball ball cap, yeah.

Avery/GM: That little visor helps a little.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Marty, I was actually gonna get to you because you were also looking for, uh, the robot son.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. The son.

Avery/GM: You come into the crew quarters where everyone kind of just sleeps and stuff in here, and you actually see Dief is like standing there completely operational and there's like a little like current of like electricity kind of encasing it.

Bee/Polaris: What

Jenine/Marty: do I know what that is?

Zach/Zahn: He's got a little electric bubble shield.

Jenine/Marty: Do I know what that is? Do I know it?

Avery/GM: you do not. But Rho comes in behind you and is like, oh, oh good. It activated its defenses. Excellent. It's all good.

Jenine/Marty: defenses?

Avery/GM: Oh yeah. So EMP blasts are a big problem back home and so a lot of our robots are actually built with like an internal detector that detects an EMP blast milliseconds before it goes off and they initiate these little defenses. It's really handy.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God. I'm gonna cry.

Jenine/Marty: I lift the little guy up into my hands and I start walking toward The friends that I hope are finishing up, I don't know at this point, but I'm bringing them over and then also grabbing the goggles on the way out.

Avery/GM: And Ro just says would you, would you like me to grab Hermes while we’re in here?

Jenine/Marty: maybe we should let the team grab Hermes.

Avery/GM: Oh, is this a trust issue? Because I…

Jenine/Marty: no, I, this is me wanting to be back up for you, grabbing Hermes, but as someone that does not understand technology, I trust you.

Avery/GM: Oh.

Jenine/Marty: I just don't trust me to help you if something bad happens. You know what I mean? Does that make sense?

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, yeah. I get it. Okay, cool.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Jenine/Marty: I trust you.

Avery/GM: And she gives you a thumbs up.

Jenine/Marty: I literally was in your brain, like, not even.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, right.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. That was like

Jenine/Marty: 20 minutes ago.

Chris/Ollie: Not even an hour.

Jenine/Marty: Not even like, I feel like we have this bond now.

Chris/Ollie: Brain buddies.

Avery/GM: you're, you're right, you're right. Cool,

Jenine/Marty: cool.

Avery/GM: And she gives you a thumbs up and follows you out.

Jenine/Marty: I try to do finger guns, but realize I have my hands filled

Avery/GM: she's like, do you want me to hold one of those for you?

Jenine/Marty: Hold the Son and I like graciously put in hands and hold the goggles.

Avery/GM: She, she pats it on the head and is like, good job, Dief. Good job.

Zach/Zahn: We walk outside to check on the friends

Bee/Polaris: Wait the blender! We gotta check on the blender.

Jenine/Marty: We don't have a….

Caden/Bruce: I was gonna say,

Jenine/Marty: Oh we do have a blender.

Caden/Bruce: no, you guys do have the blender and Bruce is immediately going to see if it's okay.

Chris/Ollie: New mystery. The blender also has a bubble shield.

Jenine/Marty: I mean, we didn't know it was a communication device, so you never know.

Avery/GM: Y'all are back in the ship kind of grabbing your stuff before it gets towed away.What all are you grabbing?

Bee/Polaris: Hermes!

Caden/Bruce: My blender!

Avery/GM: Okay. Polaris is going for Hermes. Bruce is going for the blender. Anyone else got anything there?

Zach/Zahn: Yes. Zahn is gonna collect up the, uh, like his, the, the spare wires, uh, other stuff, a case of tools so that he can work on fixing his arm, fixing his armor, fixing um, Polaris's helmet while we're at this motel that we're getting stationed at.

Avery/GM: Sure. Polaris, you're coming up the ramp to look for your sun and for Hermes, and you see. Marty and Rho coming down at the same time, and Thief is completely operational, sees you and immediately puts his, its arms out for you.

Bee/Polaris: My boy! Polaris takes his son and, but he's confused because he's not sure how he's still operational, so he just kind of like, gives Rho and Marty like a, a confused look.

Avery/GM: Rho says electromagnetic shielding. It's the latest thing in the Milky Way.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is like petting de and like looks over at Zan to see if he heard that.

Zach/Zahn: He's like, I am gonna want to reverse engineer that shit. Like effective fucking immediately.

Chris/Ollie: Are you gonna disassemble Dief?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Jenine/Marty: No, he's not.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. When, when, when Zan says that, Polaris says, you're not gonna disassemble my son, are you?

Zach/Zahn: what? No, it'd be just as simple as running it through like a basic, put it in more simple terms, like an x-ray machine.

Bee/Polaris: Ah.

Zach/Zahn: So I can figure out what his parts are.

Bee/Polaris: Okay,

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Polaris, Did you want? and I hold up the goggles?

Bee/Polaris: Yes, please. Polaris puts them on

Zach/Zahn: Polaris is just like God, please.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, everything hurts.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like seeing that Bruce will go into the kitchen and like come back and like offer Polaris some earplugs. 'cause I'm sure there's some machines in there that are very loud.

Zach/Zahn: I was actually gonna offer some like noise, noise canceling earmuffs from the workshop. Aw.

Yay!

Avery/GM: Y'all are so y'all are taking care of your friend. It's so sweet.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris graciously, graciously accepts.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Bruce, you are checking on your blender and it doesn't outwardly appear like it's permanently damaged, but it will not power on right now.

Bee/Polaris: Aw, we can fix that.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, Bruce will have no idea how to fix it. He'll just unplug it and like very protectively. Hold it kind of like a baby, like with both arms and just like come back out and just be like, Zahn I might need you to, uh, look into this for me please.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Just he, he pull, I was gonna say, he pulls out like a data pad from somewhere that has a checklist on it. But I'm assuming all the data, if we had any data pads on the ship, they're probably broken.

Avery/GM: No, you, you pull out a data pad to start making a list and it's, it's black, black screen

Zach/Zahn: and then the like, revelation and immediate depression comes over his face and it doesn't work.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie's just gonna be, uh, my, my sincerest apologies is tail and ears are gonna droop.

Bee/Polaris: Aw.

Chris/Ollie: I couldn't think of anything else at the time.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like pets Ollie on the head, like one wooden dog and is just like, you did good. And then he's gonna hand Zahn his normal people etiquette notebook that he wrote. Don't hand people bombs in, in like back in session. What? Like three or something like that? He's just gonna hand them, hand him that and a pen.

Zach/Zahn: Thanks. It. You know how long it's been since I used an analog pen and paper?

Bee/Polaris: get used to it. If this is our usual course of action.

Chris/Ollie: While this is going on. Ollie will grab Polaris's helmet and uh, start fixing that.

Bee/Polaris: Aw, yay.

Chris/Ollie: If I do have access to like little robo service arms, On my dog body.

Avery/GM: Definitely. I love that idea.

Bee/Polaris: It's so unsettlingly.

Avery/GM: I love the idea of it, of there just being like this, like hidden

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Hidden monstrosity in this cute little fluffy puppy package.

Avery/GM: Exactly.

Chris/Ollie: It's like, um, like the insides of the, uh, animatronics from five nights at Freddy's.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God. Yeah. How horrifying.

Avery/GM: Oh God.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn says to Ollie, don't worry about trying to fix it right now. We'll, we'll deal with it when we get settled into the motel.

Bee/Polaris: I can help fix things as well to lighten the load and Dief can help too and he holds up his son

Avery/GM: and, and your son just holds out its arm and a bunch of tools just pop out of it.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn Gives Dief a little pat on the head much appreciated.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's still going to, uh, prioritize fixing this helmet. Sure.

Bee/Polaris: I appreciate it.

Avery/GM: You're all kind of collecting your things in here, and after about 20 minutes or so, uh, you hear the sounds of shuttles and other vehicles landing outside, people are shouting orders of like, you know, move this here, move that there and someone is not in your ship, but like, stands on the loading ramp and just calls up and is just like, excuse me, but I believe we're supposed to transport you to the city of Ambrosia? Are you ready to go?

Bee/Polaris: Did we get Hermes?

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, you popped that bad boy. Out of the, out of the, out of the, uh, Holder.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: the crystal holder, no problem. Uh, it's still glowing brightly,

Chris/Ollie: but he hasn't responded at all?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean he couldn't because the ship's comms and everything were down and all of our helmets and stuff are down too. Polaris is gonna go over to Ollie and he's gonna say, do you have like a storage compartment to put Hermes in?

Chris/Ollie: I dunno. I could probably fit, uh, chaos. Emerald. I don't know how much storage I've got. One of my plans is to ask Polaris actually to sew me some saddle bags.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I can.

Caden/Bruce: Oh my goodness.

Bee/Polaris: Hundred percent do that. Yeah. Polaris does have his sewing kit. Oh my God. It's like the Saint Bernards that have the little medical bags on this.

Chris/Ollie: Oh God. I need one of the collars with a keg under the neck.

Bee/Polaris: Yes.

Jenine/Marty: This is so cute. I freaking love it.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Can I, uh, transport the chaos emerald?

Avery/GM: Yeah! I'm, I'm sure you probably could just pop that bad boy in your mouth.

Chris/Ollie: I wouldn't,

Bee/Polaris: yeah, I was, I was just about to say, can you swallow it?

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah. That's the storage container. Hold on. Uh, wait at the other end for a couple hours and you'll get it back.

Avery/GM: Oh, Jesus. Oh my gosh.

Bee/Polaris: It's like a gotcha machine. We have to like, put a quarter in Ollie to get the stuff that we want

Avery/GM: instead of a Hermes. You got a temporary tattoo of a butterfly.

Bee/Polaris: Yay.

Jenine/Marty: What is, what is this check? What does this little robot give you?

Chris/Ollie: it's got 12 strength, dex and con. Uh, I do not suffer charisma, skill check penalties, or the usual mechanical shell… Christmas skill check penalties. I am not obviously synthetic, so I look, you know, I can pass as a normal dog.

Jenine/Marty: Nice

Chris/Ollie: armor class 10 and I can spend a point to up my dex… strength or my dex and strength to 14 and get a bonus five hit points.

Jenine/Marty: Nice.

Chris/Ollie: So he is kind of, um, stealthy and I can do uh, like a bit of assassination. Kinda like sneaky attacks.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. So another thing I realized that is probably fried, um, our secret, um, illegal wallet. Is that not fried as well? The data pad for that?

Avery/GM: So that just connects to an electronic account. the electronic account is not.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool.

Chris/Ollie: As long as we didn't put all of the passwords on an electronic device. 'cause now that's fucked too

Avery/GM: No, Ollie's… Ollie's keyed into the, uh, account that's right into the accounts.

Chris/Ollie: I am the account.

Avery/GM: Although y'all, y'all, y'all gotta keep Ollie safe for a while till, uh, till that crystal starts growing back

Chris/Ollie: until it grows back.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: it's also, it's a tiny sliver. It's like 1% of 1% of the crystal.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah. What's,

Chris/Ollie: it gonna take a while.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. So the dude asked if we, the dude asked if we had everything we needed. Do we have everything we need?

Avery/GM: If you're ready to go? Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Zach/Zahn: I believe so.

Jenine/Marty: I got,

Caden/Bruce: I think so

Jenine/Marty: all my things.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie also collects is drones.

Avery/GM: Marty, are you taking your drugs with you?

Bee/Polaris: Right? well they're medical. They're for medical purposes.

Avery/GM: Totally.

Jenine/Marty: I mean, like,

Avery/GM: I'm just wondering

Jenine/Marty: if anyone asks them about these drugs. I will say they're for medical purposes. I mean, yeah. 'cause then if people are coming on our ship, if you are coming on our ship, I don't want them to see the drugs and be like, what is up with this? To accidentally stumble upon

Chris/Ollie: I mean… you're a licensed medic, it checks out

Jenine/Marty: every time… You know, I should really put the drugs in my inventory. I just have 'em written down and not on the sheet. Every time you say I have drugs, I forget that I have drugs. yeah, I'm gonna…

Avery/GM: it's fine.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I grab all the drugs.

Avery/GM: Sure Okay.

Chris/Ollie: We gotta make sure we don't forget anything though. Um, are we fairly confident that the stuff on the ship isn't gonna get taken by these guys?

Avery/GM: I can guarantee you they would not steal your stuff.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, then I'm not gonna worry about like the body I've been building and stuff.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, if, if they did, we could hunt them down. So yeah, we have everything. Did Rho get her salmon?

Avery/GM: Okay. Yes. Rho has her Salmon has her salmon. I think Roe had her salmon when, when you were doing the procedure actually, because y'all like tucked it in with her.

Bee/Polaris: Nice.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie starts eyeing the salmon in an unsettling way.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no. He thinks it’s a chew toy!

Avery/GM: Chew toy!

Bee/Polaris: We're gonna have to get Ollie a bone.

Chris/Ollie: Well he's still carrying the robot arm.

Zach/Zahn: Just give him the uh, yeah, let's just give him the arm back.

Avery/GM: So yeah, y'all board these, this little transport and start heading towards the city of Ambrosia.

(Ambience fades out, Outro plays song)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a one-up podcast network production. Be sure to follow us on Twitter at furthest pod Intro and outro Music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by tabletopaudio.com and used under an attribution non-commercial license from Creative Commons. Tracks used include Oregon Trail and Mega City Slums. We'll be back on September 15th with our next episode. See you out there Beyond the Furthest Stars!

Episode 28 - Grief, Hope, Sorrow, and Anger

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 28 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(Intro music plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: Rho, as you currently know her, appears next to you and begins to speak and while she is speaking, what is everyone else doing in this room while this is happening?

Bee/Polaris: Barricading the door?

Jenine/Marty: Oh!

Bee/Polaris: I'm kidding. Uh, well, I guess making sure that these people aren't dying. 'cause the dude told me to make sure they don't flat line, so.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like Bruce would've snuck back to see the progress of his, um, data pad. 'cause if it was at like 61 when he left, he's probably assuming it's done.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, Zahn is gonna go with Bruce.

Avery/GM: You just, you see Bruce disappear into the, into the hatch and you're like, I wanna see where this goes.

Zach/Zahn: Right.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: I wanna steal some stuff, ya know?

Avery/GM: Cool, cool cool. Okay.. I mean, there's a whole vent system to explore and Ollie, you are standing by

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Providing any assistance Ollie can with the procedure being tethered to the chair, and also gonna take a quick check for any, uh, security cameras and make sure they're, they're observing the entire operation except for, you know, any of our top secret stuff just to make sure that he knows we didn't just rush in someone who's faking being torched.

Jenine/Marty: Hmm.

Avery/GM: Yeah. See, that's, no one ever thinks to look for security cameras.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Can you also make sure that Bruce's situation isn't being scoped out via security cam?

Avery/GM: I was gonna say Ollie, if you would roll a intelligence notice check.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. I can hack into them too. If, uh, if I can just crack open the case and tap directly in.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. What's Machamp doing? Um,

Avery/GM: Machamp is actually standing next to you watching these people and doesn't notice Zahn and Bruce sneak was completely oblivious to Bruce even showing up.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh.

Avery/GM: Like, just thought like, oh, this is a worker

Bee/Polaris: nice

Avery/GM: for this facility and is just paying attention to these, uh, these patients here.

Chris/Ollie: Just a a random worker that we're hugging and

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Wait, Machamp has seen Bruce. He met Bruce. Bruce gave him Pie.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah,

Avery/GM: yeah,

Chris/Ollie: yeah. But he's got the disguise.

Avery/GM: But Hasn't built that bond.

Bee/Polaris: True

Caden/Bruce: was it pie or cake?

Bee/Polaris: Pie.

Avery/GM: Meat pie.

Caden/Bruce: Okay. Yeah,

Bee/Polaris: yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Cake were the pirates.

Bee/Polaris: The cake was after.

Caden/Bruce: Yes. The pirates.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Avery/GM: I think you also had another cake.

Chris/Ollie: That roll was 11.

Bee/Polaris: oh, we did have another cake.

Avery/GM: 11. Yeah. You notice there are security cameras that pan back and forth in every corner of the room.

Bee/Polaris: Oop, delete it.

Chris/Ollie: I'm gonna send a quick message to Zahn to be, to say, watch out for security cameras. I can't reach any of them, I'm assuming… cause I'm tethered.

Avery/GM: Currently right now, No.

Chris/Ollie: So I'll just, uh, mention that and then wait on that.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn gives a thumbs up and, uh, and says, uh, I'll, uh, wipe the data from the next terminal that I reach.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah,

Avery/GM: cool. Polaris, you're observing these people in the containers and you don't notice anything. They're just laying there suspended. They don't move, they don't seem conscious.

Bee/Polaris: Cool. So they're not dying?

Avery/GM: No, not dying. Just normal. You see their heartbeats are normal and fine

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna turn to Machamp and say, can you make sure they don't flat line?

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah. Yeah. Uh, I mean, I'm not really medically trained, but yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, me neither.

Avery/GM: I'll, I'll keep an eye on 'em. I mean, you, you did that medicine really well.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I was cheating. And then he walks over to the door to make sure no one comes through the door.

Avery/GM: Okay, cool. You do hear Oswald complaining outside, just like,

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna record it.

Avery/GM: Can't, can't believe she just showed up here, made a big scene, and wouldn't even take my help. Like, I'm the one who designed the procedure and she won't take my help. It's, ugh,

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is recording it for later.

Avery/GM: And, and the, and one of the at attendants is like, yeah, that was kind of a weird situation, but hey, luckily that patient's gonna be taken care of right? And Oswald is just like, yes, but it's my work and she's going to get credit for it, but it's mine. And they are very frustrated.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris is recording all of this so that he can send it to the group chat later so we can all laugh

Jenine/Marty: yoinks! Yoinks Scoobs!

Avery/GM: And Bruce, you are back in the server room and Zahn pops out after you from the vent and you check your download and it is 100% complete.

Caden/Bruce: Sweet. I wanna disconnect my data pad because I don't want them finding that, obviously. Is there anything in this room that we could potentially steal?

Avery/GM: Not in this room, but, uh, number two has some stuff… number seven is actually a gift shop. I know I put a weapons table there, but it's really just a gift shop.

Bee/Polaris: Yo, we gotta go there after, after we save, bro, we're going to the gift shop. Um, are there like little fake, is there like a, a fake little doctor's badge where you can write your name?

Avery/GM: Of course

Bee/Polaris: Sweet Polaris is gonna buy one of those, write Oswald's name on it and sl... And just throw it against him.

Avery/GM: there you go, doc.

Bee/Polaris: Right?

Avery/GM: Alright, so yeah, there's nothing in here but Zahn, you do see several computers in here as before.

Zach/Zahn: Yep. And Zahn is going to hook himself up to one.

Avery/GM: Sure. Intelligence program

Zach/Zahn: as he is doing. So he is like, Ollie informed me that, uh, We're all on camera, so we should probably get around to wiping that.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, good to know.

Chris/Ollie: Probably just the footage of Bruce stealing stuff because we need the, the proof of Oswald getting his work shattered.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. We need a, we need proof that he was, his work was shatter all over him, that we absolutely decimated his career.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, and when you, when you submit your, your, uh, thesis to the peer review journal, it should be his but with your red, red pen corrections.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is gonna make a compilation video of Oswald just being mad and upset of, and then put the overlay of him complaining, the audio of him complaining over it.

Zach/Zahn: So that is a. Seven on program.

Avery/GM: A seven on program.

Bee/Polaris: Are you not a specialist?

Zach/Zahn: I'm not a specialist. I'm a tinkerer.

Bee/Polaris: What?

Avery/GM: Is that a Class?

Chris/Ollie: No your Class. Your class should 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah Your class? 

Zach/Zahn: Oh Expert. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, expert. Expert. Expert. Oh my gosh.

Chris/Ollie: Expert. That's it. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh my God. Yes. I will. I will absolutely re-roll that then. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Bee/Polaris: I got you. 

Zach/Zahn: I, I literally forget that I have that, that is quite a bit better. 10. 

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. 

Avery/GM: There you go. Okay. Yeah, you deftly hack this terminal and you are able to find a good loop of video. Where all of you are in the room at the same time and you just loop that and have it continuously loop 

Bee/Polaris: with or without. Bruce? 

Avery/GM: you said… 

Zach/Zahn: I was about to say. I'm going to deliberately put in so that there is no entrance and exit of Bruce and I through this vent. 

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah, that's fine. You, you basically cut out just like that section where Bruce shows up and then where Bruce, uh, and you disappear into the vent and then you find the other areas of the camera that, 'cause Bruce didn't notice the cameras here. 

Caden/Bruce: Nope. 

Avery/GM: And here and here. All here. So, or in here or, and uh, and you realize, oh, I should probably delete these so that we don't have another scandal follow us later. 

Zach/Zahn: Absolutely. 

Avery/GM: Yeah. Uh, you've learned your lesson with blackmail and it's not gonna happen again.

Zach/Zahn: I am literally holding the blackmail on my person. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, you are able to get that done pretty easily. Bruce, I will say one thing you do see in here that you could steal is a little bobblehead of the silver shield that someone has. 

Caden/Bruce: Oh, Bruce is gonna do that. 

Zach/Zahn: Aw, you just ruined that person's day. 

Caden/Bruce: It's okay. 

Avery/GM: I mean 

Caden/Bruce: he'll leave the little, it's he'll leave the little like ter, like terribly made. I cannot emphasize how badly this was made of like this cardboard cutout shield, and he'll put that there instead. 

Bee/Polaris: Didn't you recycle that? 

Caden/Bruce: I recycled my outfit.

Bee/Polaris: I thought you recycled the shield.

Caden/Bruce: No, the, the shield's like hand sized It was tiny. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sweet. Wait, speaking of can, where's my son? 

Avery/GM: I should have asked, but I was assuming back on the ship.

Chris/Ollie: out of danger… nice and safe. 

Avery/GM: Sorry, I didn't think to ask you about that, Polaris.

Bee/Polaris:  It's, it's okay. I'm a negligent parent. I completely forgot about my son. 

Zach/Zahn: Wow!

Avery/GM: it's okay. 

Chris/Ollie: He and Hermes playing like Connect four.

Avery/GM: Exactly. Holo-Chess or something. 

Caden/Bruce: But no, Bruce would have kept the shield just in case he actually ran into the actual Silver Shield and now he's just like, nah, got got the, got figurine instead. Little Memento

Avery/GM: Marty, this fifth Rho has appeared next to you and it's just like, Hey Marty, what are you doing here? 

Jenine/Marty: I… Oh, well,making sure you're okay… and a colleague of mine has been researching torching and how to reverse it, and this is me helping out and helping you with it. If you'll allow me, please allow me. So I don't know what happened if like… you didn't, but like also like consent is important, so are you okay?

Avery/GM: She chuckles at that and is just like, that's that's really sweet. Yeah, actually I, I probably could use some help. I actually. I think I'm okay physically, but I had to enter this coma or else I would've kept hurting you and Polaris and Ollie and the… and her face kind of scrunches up and she's like… the traitors. I knew that I was just causing more damage and so I ollie distracted my anger long enough that I was able to knock myself out. And I've been holding these frenzied emotions back since then, and she points to each of these other Rhos that are off in the distance and she's like, each of them represents a, a motivation behind the actions I took back on the Ursa major and I, I. I need help kind of taming them or calming them. I've, I've tried, but they won't, it's funny they won't listen to me. I, I won't listen to myself. But I guess if you're here, I guess that means you might have an idea of how to help with this?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think I got some ideas of how to help out.

Avery/GM: and this Rho is just like, well, I will stay here and keep concentrating on keeping them calm for now. And hopefully you're, you're able to help. I, I don't know how much longer I can hold them back though. They've been getting stronger. 

Jenine/Marty: Okay, well keep me informed on how you're doing, just 'cause I'm gonna be traveling off and checking on your, on, on, on all of these. So please keep me informed, um, if anything changes. And I'll make sure that we get this done as safely as possible. Okay?

Avery/GM: Sure. If you have any questions, I might, I might be able to help you. I, I kind of, I do know myself pretty well.

Jenine/Marty: What is the one that's been hurting you? What's the one that's been like the longest emotion that you've had? Maybe we should start with that one. 'cause you've been holding that one for the longest.

Avery/GM: She points to the Rho in black and she says, I guess I've been holding onto my grief over my brother's death the longest he was. He was on Adis at the time of the destruction and was reported dead and so I've been really struggling with the grief, uh, the guilt I guess, of being the one who is still alive.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, well, well that's okay to feel that… What's next?

Avery/GM: Next would probably be that one. And she points to the one in the gold gown, uh, embracing a figure, um, that kind of represents my foolish hope that my brother is still alive and that we’ll be reunited again and then she points to the one in blue and says that one is fairly recent. She is worried she'll never see home again and doesn't know how she'll really survive in a place so far away from where everyone she loves is and then points to the one in the red combat armor and it's just like, and she's really mad at just about everybody. At you for attacking us mentally, or not attacking us mentally, trying to calm us mentally, but you know, she sees it as an attack and then of course, mad at the AI who destroyed Adis, Mad at Ollie for, for stopping her, uh, just angry all around and, and wanting vengeance, so…

Jenine/Marty: okay. Okay. We can, we can handle this. I got this. Okay, cool. Like before, like Marty walks off, she does like the vest to comfort the road that's been talking to her and just like grabs her hand and gives like the little comforting squeeze again, let me know if anything changes. I'm here to help. You’ve got this.

Avery/GM: She just smiles meekly at you and nods and is just like… thank you Marty.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. I'm gonna, I'm gonna walk up to, to the one in, in the black gown. 

Avery/GM: Sure. The one in the black gown is kind of kneeling over a memorial and just sort of like touching it lightly and weeping softly and is just, and you can, as you get closer, you see that the memorial plaque just says, To the dead ofAdis: we will never forget your sacrifice and this Rho turns to you and is just, it's, it's weird because this Rho doesn't recognize you, but is just like, have you come to pay your respects as well? 

Jenine/Marty: Yes. I also wanted to bring my condolences, um, from home and to be here with you and help in as best, as best as possible. 

Avery/GM: She sort of sniffles and kind of wipes some tears from her eyes and it's just like, well, that's, that's really sweet. I'm Rho by the way. I just, I, my, my brother was, was on Adis and so, you know, we, we didn't always get along, but, you know, that's, that's siblings for you. But he was still my twin and my brother and I don't know, I, I guess I've just been wondering why it wasn't me, You know?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, that's, that's understandable. But wouldn't he be happy that you're here,

Avery/GM: I guess? Uh, but it seems so unfair that, you know, the only reason he was assigned there was an algorithm. (sighs) it just doesn't seem fair.

Jenine/Marty: I cannot understand the grief that you're going through, but I know that there are people that can help you significantly with… through it. And then that, yeah, that kind of does suck the object of fate, it's wild, it's weird and it sucks. 

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll a charisma connect check. With a plus one bonus.

Jenine/Marty: Beautiful, wonderful cover, girl. You said, what was it? Plus one. 

Avery/GM: Plus one 

Jenine/Marty: Charisma… So it's gonna be a 12.

Avery/GM: That is exactly what you needed. I put it as a 12 for difficulty rating. This Rho stands up and… You know, wipes more tears from her eyes, kind of straightens herself up, gives herself like a, a good nod and turns to face you and it's just like, thank you that you're right. I need to continue living and carry his memory with me, but not let it control my future. 

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Thank you. I hope whoever you lost in this tragedy, I hope you also find comfort and as she says that this Rho fades into a sparkle of white and gold light. 

Jenine/Marty: Sick. Cool. Amazing. Um, I give like, I don't know if I'm able to, but I give like a thumbs up to like my actual body, body to be like, I'm okay in here, um, to like the outside world if that's possible.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You… On the outside, in this lab, you all see like, like the terminator. You just see, uh, Marty raise, raise her hand up with a thumbs up and then falls back down to the, to the bed.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Great. Amazing. Wow. 

Chris/Ollie: Ollie… Ollie returns the thumbs up!

Jenine/Marty: Give it a check mark. We're gonna go to the, the golden gown. 

Avery/GM: Sure. This Rho is hugging someone. As you get close, you do see that this person looks remarkably a lot like Rho. He's wearing a gray vac suit with the emblem of the Pan Solar Union on it. he has silver hair like Roe, but it's uh, kind of short and kind of spiky. But yeah, if… if… if he grew his hair out, They would be, you know, splitting image of each other basically. And this Rho is also crying, but like tears of happiness. Like, she's smiling, she's happy, and she's just like, I, I can't believe you're really here. You're, you're back. I… I… some part of me always knew you survived the… the attack and that you weren't actually dead. And this Rho turns to you and recognizes you, Marty and says Marty, You're here. I… I found my brother, Psi! He's… he's here, he's back. And this figure doesn't say anything, just kind of nods at you.

Jenine/Marty: Hi. Where, where did you find him? Or how did you, how did he, how was he here?

Avery/GM: He just… he showed back up on… on Terra one day and… and just was at the door and said he survived. And… oh… this is unreal. Like, I can't actually believe it. But he hasn't said anything. He won't talk.

Jenine/Marty: Could I read his thoughts?

Avery/GM: You get nothing from this. This is… when you try to reach out psychically, This is a memory of her brother. 

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Rho are you sure?

Avery/GM: Of… Of course. I'm sure. I, of course, I would recognize my twin. He's my twin. Like I, um, I, who, who else would, would he be?

Jenine/Marty: I don't know.

Avery/GM: And she starts looking dejected and drops her arms from this person and is just, Sitting, standing there kind of defeated and it's just like, he's not real, is he?

Jenine/Marty: I don't think so, but then I, like, I come in and hug and like, take the space that he was once in just to like, so she still is, felt like that's air that she still like, feels like the contact.

Avery/GM: Sure. Um, as you step into his place, uh, the memory fades into light and Rho is just there with you now. I've been holding onto this hope for so long that he's still out there. But I don't think that's true, is it? I mean, no one survives a planet blowing up underneath them.

Jenine/Marty: If they did, that'd be very entertaining and a really interesting experiment to understand. Um, sorry, I don't know if you wanted jokes in this moment, but…

Avery/GM: she does kind of chuckle a little bit at that.

Jenine/Marty: But if there's no hope that's… you can… Oh, I'm trying to see how I can word this. It's good to live in the memories, but it's also good to make new ones. Um, and there is hope for future… for you and like hope to like, see what you can do in honor of your brother in the situation. Hope for the other people that didn't make it from that planet and  interact with them and see what's up with them and, and their stories.

Avery/GM: She smiles at that and holds out her arms to embrace you. 

Jenine/Marty: Give a nice little squeeze 

Avery/GM: and as she's holding onto you, she just says, you're right. Honoring the memory of the fallen is better than holding out hope for something that isn't likely. I… Thank you, Marty. And I'm not gonna make you roll for this one, uh, because you already solved her grief. This one fades into white light and we flash back to the lab. Polaris, you're at the door of the lab, right? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: the door opens. And Oswald is trying to like, make his way in or make their way in.

Bee/Polaris: No, it doesn't open. Is it a sliding door or does it have a handle?

Avery/GM: No, it's like a sliding door, like a 

Bee/Polaris: dammit! 

Avery/GM: like a motion sensor. Like, um, like in Star Trek. Which I know you haven't seen, but you know. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I know what his lighting door is though.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You get the idea. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is just standing there and he just turns and looks at Oswald.

Avery/GM: You again, will you move? I need to check out my equipment and make sure that Marty has not damaged anything. 

Bee/Polaris: You can do that later when she's done. Don't interfere with this.

Avery/GM: it's my experiment. I can interfere with whatever I want.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will like put his hand on his shoulder, turn him around, and will step outside the door so the door closes behind both of them.

Avery/GM: Strength exert. 

Bee/Polaris: oooo.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you easily push him out the door as he protest or as they protest. Uh, you, you push them out the door and it's just like, unhand me. What are you doing? 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will let go. Are you really, uh, after all of your negligence, are you really going to interfere with such a delicate experiment because of pride?

Avery/GM: I don't even know who that person is in there with you. 

Bee/Polaris: Good. And keep it that way. 

Avery/GM: Oswald is, is just like, it's not just pride. If anything goes wrong in my lab under my supervision…

Bee/Polaris: has anything gone wrong? 

Avery/GM: Well, some giant lizard person tripped one of my assistants and knocked some chemicals into a laser field.

Bee/Polaris: That sounds like something that you should be dealing with.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's cleaned up already. It's fine. So then why are you here? Because the other thing that could go wrong is that my former school colleague, friend person, kind of.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like size and his advisor like rolls their eyes.

Avery/GM: She is performing an experimental procedure.

Bee/Polaris:  Are you anticipating her failure? 

Avery/GM: I always anticipate failure from everybody who is not me, and his smugness is a little bit back now. 

Bee/Polaris: That seems like a very flawed philosophy for a doctor. If you're not anticipating your own failures, that can mean something detrimental for your patients.

Avery/GM: Well, that's why I do research and not practice.

Bee/Polaris: Well, Marty has been doing practice, so maybe you should stay out here and do research. Ah,

Avery/GM: Oswald narrows their eyes at you.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris’ visor is blank.

Avery/GM: I don't know who you are 

Bee/Polaris: and you won't. 

Avery/GM: I'll be back, 

Bee/Polaris: I'm sure.

Avery/GM: And Oswald turns to leave. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Polaris crosses his arms, waits for him to leave, and then goes back into the room.

Avery/GM: Bruce and Zahn, What are y'all doing now that you've got your computer stuff out of the way and you've edited your, your video files?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris was live streaming, so bruising on could have been watching.

Avery/GM: Do we ever have to worry about someone intercepting these live streams that we have between each other?

Bee/Polaris: No. It's a private one. It's not, he's not streaming it on Twitch.

Avery/GM: I don't know. Is it encrypted? 

Bee/Polaris: Can I roll for encryption? 

Avery/GM: No, I'm sure the custodians set you up with some encryption algorithms. You're fine. 

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Avery/GM: I'm just teasing you. 

Zach/Zahn: It's our own twitch server. 

Bee/Polaris: I know. Yeah, we have our own twitch server?

Zach/Zahn: So there's nothing to steal in here. Zahn is just gonna motion for Bruce to potentially follow him back. He gets to the vent… He is like, unless, uh, Unless you have to, you know, report to Lazuli and maybe beat up with us later. I don't know. I don't know what your whole gangster style is now my friend. 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will chuckle and just be like, no, I'm, I'm going to follow. And, uh, if, if you guys will have me back, I, uh, I don't need to go back to Lazuli. I Don't really know exactly where they went. So, um, I'm kind of homeless again if, if you guys, uh, need another one on the ship 

Zach/Zahn: Zahn chuckles and gives you the, uh, I guess due to your height, it's more like a elbow slap instead of like a shoulder slap. But he is like, You're absolutely always welcome, Bruce. We, we all really did miss you and then he hops down.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will chuckle and just be like, not when I throw out all the Assemble’s singles, then, then you won't miss me, but Okay. And he'll jump down and follow 

Zach/Zahn: as we're walking, he like turns down the volume on his, on his helmet So it's like, you know, it's basically like a whisper through the vents so it's not like we're just having a full blown conversation in the vent. But, uh, he's like, actually, since you, you made me that one grilled cheese sandwich with like normal cheese, I think I could do away with, uh, with assemble’s. 

Caden/Bruce: I've made you see the light.Good.

Avery/GM: Marty, back into the mind. Palace 

Jenine/Marty: yee. Let's go. 

Avery/GM: Which one do you want to approach next? The rocks are getting bigger

Jenine/Marty: The rocks are getting bigger? 

Avery/GM: Yep.

Jenine/Marty: How is, how is, how is our friend in the vac suit

Avery/GM: looking very depressed. Like a little, uh, a little speaker is, is next to them playing very sad music.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I gotta help that one. 

Avery/GM: Yeah. You approach the one in blue and she sighs and just like, hi Marty. I think… I think I'm stuck here. That's what I've determined. I am stuck here. 

Jenine/Marty: Is she sitting? 

Avery/GM: Yeah. Like, um, sitting, she's sitting sort of like with her el or knees almost to her chest and she's kind of hugging her, her knees while she's watching this hollow projection of, of this blue green planet.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Um, I sit like right next to her. Well, Rho could I tell you something? Kind of exciting. And cool. If you'll, 

Avery/GM: yeah. 

Jenine/Marty: if you'll accept it. Cool. Great.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I guess that's fine. Got nothing better to do.

Jenine/Marty: Well, we have been working on a way to get you home.

Avery/GM: She turns her head and her eyes are narrow. She's just like, are you just saying this to make me feel better?

Jenine/Marty: No. 

Avery/GM: How?

Jenine/Marty: well I believe Ollie and Zahn have been working on build… like rebuilding your ship and like making it like work again. I don't really understand the technology things, but they did. They broke the ship and then they fixed the ship. Well, I think it's, it's, it's fixed… fixed now. So technological wise it's fixed. But we can get you, I think based off of what they were saying, we can get you back.

Avery/GM: So they, they fixed the Cassiopeia so that I can return home at the speed of light… 75,000 light years away?

Jenine/Marty: Yes, that's, that was a question for everybody else. Yes, we fixed it, right?

Bee/Polaris: Wormhole.

Chris/Ollie: yeah. We found the coordinates of wormholes.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. That's what I was like. We did. It's been so long. I'm like, we did the math for things. We did the things. Yeah, we did the things.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris had cords in his files.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Marty, you know, that you, um, Polaris shared with y'all that there are wormholes nearby that appear to be the one that Rho originally came through.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Great. Yeah, so we have, like, we did the math. We figured out the best spot to get you back home. And the ship is good. I mean, know it wasn't good before, but now it's good. So there's that. Smiley face.

Avery/GM: Roll a charisma connect.

Jenine/Marty: Wonderful. Beautiful. There's so many rolls. It's so terrifying in this game.

Avery/GM: I know, I'm, I'm sorry.

Jenine/Marty: With the amount of rolls, 

Avery/GM: I should have warned you that this was gonna be a, a roll heavy session for you.

Jenine/Marty:  No, I had a feeling it was gonna be, so that, is it the same as before? Do I have any pluses other than charisma?

Avery/GM: No pluses to this, but the DR has been decreased because you've calmed two other Rhos. 

Jenine/Marty: Oh, sick. beautiful, wonderful. Um, it's a 10.

Avery/GM: Cool. You just needed an eight. So…

Jenine/Marty: sick. 

Avery/GM: Rho doesn't quite perk up, but is just like, okay, Marty, I'm gonna trust you. If you say you found a way for me to go home, I'm, I'm gonna trust you, but don't, please don't be lying to me and. This Rho fades into sparkly white light.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Great. 

Avery/GM: Now there's this other Rho across the field from you smashing bigger and bigger boulders. 

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Great. So, um, I'm gonna walk over but like try and be like next, next to that Rho. But also like, could I, like, make illusions that I'm also like joining in on like the smashing of, of boulders.

Avery/GM: Yeah, go ahead. And do you have any telekinesis or just telepathy? 

Jenine/Marty: Well, I think I can, I can like can I just like make images that look like I'm doing that? 

Avery/GM: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's fine. We can, you can roll a wisdom telepathy check. 

Jenine/Marty: Sick, wisdom tele, oh, I not three D sixes. I got used to that. Bop bop. Okay, cool. 13.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You start, you project this telepathic image of you smashing rocks with combat Rho, and this Rho says you're, uh, you're pretty good at this. 

Jenine/Marty: Oh, well, well, uh, thanks. Uh, go. Cool. Cool. Thanks. I've never been told that I'm good at fighting, so that's pretty cool. What are you fighting right now?

Avery/GM: Time.

Jenine/Marty: Time. 

Avery/GM: Just fighting time until that one over there and she gestures to the Rho that is in the center until that one over there loses control on this little illusion of hers. And then I'm going to have. My vengeance. 

Jenine/Marty: Who are you having your vengeance on? And I throw another boulder.

Avery/GM: Well, if we are still on the ship with those ai, I'm going to start with the one who destroyed my planet and then honestly Marty, I might move on to Polaris and Ollie for stopping me.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. But like, what if we didn't,

Avery/GM: what do you, what do you mean? What if we didn't? 

Jenine/Marty: Well-

Avery/GM: What if we didn't do vengeance?

Jenine/Marty: Well, yeah. 'cause it's, 'cause here's the thing about vengeance. You're doing vengeance towards the people that act the, to the, to the beings that actually kind of. Helped put your ship together to get you back home. And that would kind of suck if like you did that and you harmed them in any way. 'cause first off, they're my friends, but second of all, if you harm them, you're not gonna be able to help any other people, any other beings in this, in this vast, vast universe, any of their problems. And if they've been attacked by uh, AI and stuff like that, you know what I mean? I don't know if that makes sense. Throws another boulder.

Avery/GM: Marty, you notice that, This Rho stops your boulder and takes one of her boulders and smashes them together and looks at you and is just like, have you ever lost your entire world?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, kind of. I was home, I had a good life, and then I got sent into space and I haven't seen my family in ages and family's kind of important to me and I, and I'm saying this to someone that's lost, a sibling and, and it's nothing compared to what you have, but I, I can see it. 

Avery/GM: She's like gripping a fist and, and she's, her face is kinda like scrunched up. Like, she's like, just trying to like, fight these emotions that she's feeling. Marty, I was betrayed by the crew that sent me here in order to lure out those AI and I didn't know I would find them. But I also didn't know that I would find people willing to help me get home, and I, I'm feeling a lot of things right now, and I would really like to just unleash all this anger on the universe until, until my vengeance is satisfied. And that's dangerous. I know, but what else do I do with all of this rage.

Jenine/Marty: You keep going. Not to be cliche, but isn't the best kind of revenge to keep going and not give two shits about the people that hurt you in any way. Not giving them power of, the satisfaction that, that they will always be on your mind because they fucked up your thing, but now you have to continually know that they messed you up and they, that you'll be tracking them and it's just like they're gonna win. Maybe they're not gonna win, but what is the satisfaction if you do beat them? What's the satisfaction after vengeance?

Avery/GM: I don't know. I hadn't really thought that through to the end.

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Avery/GM: I just assumed I'd either get vengeance or, or die trying. But maybe there's something to what you're saying. I would like, a final charisma connect check from you.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Oh my God, that terrified me. That's gonna be a 10.

Avery/GM: You are so lucky you did not take this one on first. I will tell you that. 'cause I, I set this up as a way to basically decrease the, the difficulty rating based on how many Rhos you had calmed. So originally this started really high, but a 10 gets you there.

Jenine/Marty: Heck yeah. 

Avery/GM: And Rho uh, this Rho is, was like raising like a, a larger boulder into the sky and getting ready to just bring it down on both of you and it crumbles into dust in the air and she lets out a big sigh. And it's just like, you're right. You're right. I can still get revenge by living the good life, the life that my brother would've wanted me to live without, having to take more life from others. Thanks Marty. And this rage filled Rho fades into light and the Rho that was in the middle that was kind of holding these emotions back finally collapses to her knees and is just breathing heavily.

Jenine/Marty: I run to that Rho to make sure that she's okay.

Avery/GM: She's like, I did not think you would get all four of them to calm down, or all four of me. This is very weird. I don't actually, this has never happened to me before, you know, so this is kind of new for me, but that was really amazing. Marty, I'm sorry for lashing out at you mentally back on the ship. That was really messed up of me. 

Jenine/Marty: It's okay. I'm okay. See, I'm, I'm living well, technically you can't, I mean, like, you see my psyche, but like I am living, breathing, doing the whole thing. You're living, breathing and doing the whole thing, so that's pretty cool. Do you need a hug? Do you want a hug? I can give you a hug. 

Avery/GM: She chuckles and says, I think we can save that for when we wake up. Okay. Um, actually, how. How do we wake up from this?

Jenine/Marty: Excellent question. How do we wake up from this? 

Avery/GM: You realize that that was not in the procedure.

Jenine/Marty: Motherfucker. Ooh.

Bee/Polaris: Well, you gave us a thumbs up so you could give us some sort of hand symbol and we could like, throw water on you both.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, that's, yeah, but would Marty, could I. Well, how long is my telepathic shiz? Could I send a message to friends outside being like, Heyo, how do we get out, slash we might need Oswald.

Bee/Polaris: Nah.

Avery/GM: this will be fun Ollie. You see Marty's finger start tapping against the bed, and at first it just seems like tapping. And then you start analyzing the pattern and realize that they're typing out like a, a message like in, in Morse code is what we'd call it here. Obviously be something else in this galaxy, but they're typing out a, tapping out a message. 

Chris/Ollie: Marty's code

Avery/GM: and you decipher 

Jenine/Marty: Marty's code.

Avery/GM: Marty's code. Yeah. And uh, you analyze the pattern and realize that it either says, go get Oswald, or it says, can we have pizza? One of the two? 

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah, pizza.

Jenine/Marty: Pizza party.

Chris/Ollie: He is going to call the closest Pizza Hut or

Jenine/Marty: It's not a pizza. 

Chris/Ollie: Not a Pizza Hut.

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no. Pizza Shack. 

Jenine/Marty: Pizza Shack, new. 

Bee/Polaris: Za’ Shack.

Chris/Ollie:No. Um, 

Avery/GM: and I mean context clues, you probably know what's going on, but

Chris/Ollie: Just 'cause I got the thing where I can interface with psychics, but I don't think if that means I can activate something, I can just, be affected by it. So yeah, so Ollie's just going to put a group message to say that, oh, Marty, or, or my analysis indicates Marty seems to be asking for, oh, what's that guy's name?

Bee/Polaris: Oswald.

Chris/Ollie: Asking for Oswald.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts in chat. That's gonna be awkward because I literally just got done, uh, putting this guy in his place.

Avery/GM: and then you see the fingers tap again and it says, can't get out. 

Bee/Polaris: Ooh.

Chris/Ollie: Wait. You mentioned a duration earlier. Is there a duration to this?

Bee/Polaris: There is a duration to brainwave at the very least.

Chris/Ollie: An hour.

Avery/GM: One hour.  We can just saw that happens. That,

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Yeah, we would have no idea that-

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, how long have I been in here?

Avery/GM: You have been, you have been in there for about 30 minutes.

Jenine/Marty: Ah!

Avery/GM: So you could wait until the brainwave wears off.

Bee/Polaris: We could just pull it off.

Jenine/Marty: That, that's terrifying. 

Bee/Polaris: We could just pull it off.

Jenine/Marty: No, let's, let's grab Oswald.

Bee/Polaris: Nooo,

Chris/Ollie: I mean-

Bee/Polaris: I just, I Just put this nerd in his place.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. But Marty

Bee/Polaris: Its gonna be real awkward.

Jenine/Marty: Marty needs help. 

Bee/Polaris: Marty do need help, but he's gonna be real smug about it.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. And she'll punch him in the face after. Don't worry.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, because

Jenine/Marty: Someone left something out, Someone left something out of the research

Avery/GM: Because of course they did.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, course. Actually, did Marty explain how this whole process is like gonna work, like the brain,

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: like what the brain wave is meant to do and- 

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. okay.

Jenine/Marty: I, I, I remember doing that 'cause I was like, here's all the science stuff behind it. And I like shared all the information of how it works.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Jenine/Marty: Because I'm like, oh, well just, just know that this is, this chart is incorrect.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Okay. Um, the brainwave-

Avery/GM: Marty, Marty gave a, a Zed talk. 

Jenine/Marty: A zed talk.

Bee/Polaris: Nice.

Jenine/Marty: Beautiful.

Bee/Polaris: Nice. Okay. So what exactly is the brainwave's purpose in this exam- uh, experiment?

Avery/GM: So, because the torched Psyonic’s brain patterns are dormant, the brainwave basically kickstarts those brainwave patterns.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. So knowing that Marty is like donezo, if we took off the brainwave, would that not like, kind of put her back to sleep?

Avery/GM: I don't know. You'll have to find out. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna, uh, Press control F and actually he'll run it by Ollie. Ollie, do you have any idea if removing the brainwave would put Roe back in a dormant state so that Mar Marty would be able to get out?

Chris/Ollie: Theoretically, that would happen. Let's find out. And Ollie's gonna reach out and tear it up.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God!

Avery/GM: Oh God.

Bee/Polaris: Well, Rho's not torching anymore, so. 

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: The next part to my question was gonna be, If like, uh, some sort of stimulant would be able to jolt them awake,

Chris/Ollie: Maybe.

Avery/GM: Most likely. Um, but Marty, go ahead and make a mental saving throw.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, shit. This is a D 20.

Avery/GM: Yes. 

Jenine/Marty: And I have to beat, I have to beat a nine, right. That's my thing. Saving throws is like, 

Avery/GM: Yes.

Jenine/Marty: -whatever. Okay. Okay. This is positive thinking, positive-

Avery/GM: And I'll give you, I'll give you advantage because you are connected to Rho's mind and Rho is very powerful.

Jenine/Marty: Beautiful. Um, I got a 14.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go.

Avery/GM: Perfect. You, you, you beat it. So yeah, you rip this off Ollie and both Marty and Rho. So Marty, in your mind or in this mental state, what you, what you feel is like, almost like, uh, Have you ever been on like those carnival rides? That's like a gravity ride? 

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: Where like it spins you around and you can't move.

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Do you suddenly feel that, that that much force like pushed on you as you sort of just ascend into like, the air of this mental space and you open your eyes, and you are wide awake. Ollie, you grabbed this strip and ripped it off Rho. Rho just sits up and just like out of reflex, not out of like malice or being mean, but just out of reflex, just like pushes you mentally with, with like telepathic or telekinetic powers just pushes you against the wall.

Chris/Ollie: Um, do I notice any negatives in either of their, uh, vital signs or mental waves as this is happening?

Avery/GM: No. You don't notice any negative things. But you are pushed away far enough that you are disconnected.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Uh, full disclosure, I was planning to use predictive cognition to kind of do the reverse time thing in case anything went bad. So it was like a-

Bee/Polaris: Thank goodness. 

Avery/GM: Oh, perfect.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my God.

Bee/Polaris: I was like, I was like, when you pull it off, Polaris, like winces.

Chris/Ollie: I was hoping it would go bad and like, oh no, Marty flat lines. And it's like, Nope.

Bee/Polaris: You kill Marty!? 

Chris/Ollie: My analysis indicates that would be very mad for Marty.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God. Okay. Thank goodness. 

Avery/GM: I knew, I knew you weren't just being chaotic reckless. 

Chris/Ollie: Not, not completely. 

Bee/Polaris: I kind of thought that you were just because that's-

Jenine/Marty: I didn't!

Bee/Polaris: -Ollie’s, yeah, that's Ollie’s pattern usually 

Chris/Ollie: He's learning. 

Jenine/Marty: I had fear!

Chris/Ollie: He's getting a little better. He's got, he's got some insurance now.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but we don't know that. That's quantum Ollie that knows.

Chris/Ollie: That's the-

Avery/GM: Quantum Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: So Ollie will look at either their stunned reactions and say, oh, well that went better than expected.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris. Like when Rho pushed Ollie, Polaris reached for his laser blade, remembered that it's in Ollie, and then just like kind of stands there.

Avery/GM: Rho covers, uh, her mouth and she's like, oh, Ollie, I'm, I'm so sorry. That was pure reflex. I, I apologize. I don't really like being startled awake.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well, glad you're awake. Are, is everyone good? Marty,

Jenine/Marty: Two thumbs up!

Bee/Polaris: Alright, sweet. We need to leave 

Avery/GM: Marty, actually, as Polaris says that you get a brief moment of precognition as you see Oswald marching down the hallway with three burly looking guards.

Jenine/Marty: Aw, cool.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, let's get the fuck up outta here. 

Jenine/Marty: So, uh, just go, Hey, major Tom?

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah. Yeah. What's up? Hey. Hey, you, uh, you survived. That's great. Oh, tell me all about it. 

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I did. I, it was a really cool experience. I'll let you know. Um, could you, none of you know this yet. Um, so there's about, my, my colleague from college is about to come down here with three security guards. If you could possibly stop them in any way and use your authority, that would be quite appreciated. 'cause uh, I, I'm not in the mood to yell yet.

Avery/GM: Oh!

Bee/Polaris: I am. I, I still am.

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure. Are y'all. Going dip out the back while I do that, or just chill here for a bit? 

Bee/Polaris: Mm, probably

Chris/Ollie: We brought him though.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, we'll wait for you.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, we can't leave him. We'll wait for you.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we just need to get to-

Avery/GM: oh, I mean, there's a, there's a military base nearby. I could just go.

Bee/Polaris: Oh sweet, but-

Avery/GM: I could get a transport back to-

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, but that feels, that feels rude.

Bee/Polaris: But do you want your shuttle? yeah. I mean, Bruce is back also, we just need to get Rho out of here like now. 

Jenine/Marty: Okay, cool. How about I meet you guys out there and I'm just gonna deal with, with Oswald. 'cause I need a, um,

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna stay with Marty. Polaris is not letting this nerd.

Zach/Zahn: We, we already split the party once. We're not doing it again.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: We just got Bruce back. 

Avery/GM: As you're debating this, you do hear three knocks on the door and then the door opens and in walks Oswald with three security guards. And it's just like, I demand access to my facilities. 

Jenine/Marty: Okay cool, we're done.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. You can have it bye.

Avery/GM: And Oswald looks at you, Marty. And it's like, wait, how are you awake?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, because she's a competent doctor.

Jenine/Marty: Thank you. Yeah. That was something that was missing in your other things that was missing in your theory was how was I supposed to get out? How did you, nevermind. I see how you guys got me out seeing the brainwave patch-

Chris/Ollie: Im just standing there

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Ollie still holding the patch.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah,there might be a better way of doing that. Anyways, um, did the thing. That was cool. Thanks for letting us use your labs. Um, I really appreciate it. Sorry if I was a little rude at the start. I did want. To save my friend here, but yeah, that was cool. I can give you notes on how it works if you want. Um, I could, but I don't know if you're competent enough to understand. I'm sorry, that's rude of me. I'm gonna go start heading out if that's okay. Thank you. And then Marty motions us all to like start walking out unless they stop us.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna wait for Marty to pass him before he follows.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna text in the group chat, uh, to Ollie to wipe the data that he 'cause he’s been connected this whole time. Just. Wipe any, anything that we just did so that Oswald can't learn from it. 

Jenine/Marty: Well, it's on a hard drive. Well, it's on our hard drive's.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. It's localized. It's so he wouldn't knows. 

Jenine/Marty: Marty would like to keep that. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, but he would see, he would see, uh, 

Bee/Polaris: Security cams. 

Chris/Ollie: Well, I got disconnected by the, the psychic blast

Bee/Polaris: pushback. Yeah. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay.

Bee/Polaris: But also you, uh, looped the footage anyway.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. So it's fine.

Zach/Zahn: I did.

Jenine/Marty: Nothing's unseen. They saw nothing. We're safe. Marty gets to keep this research for herself.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Oswald would have to hack Ollie and I don't think Oswald's smart enough to do that. 

Jenine/Marty: No, he's not.

Bee/Polaris: Clearly,

Jenine/Marty: if I can't hack, this guy's not gonna be able to hack. They're not gonna be able to hack.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I love how. I love how he just walked in here with like three muscly goons to get us out, and we're like, all right, bye. We're like, we're already on our way out.

Jenine/Marty: Duces, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Boutta head out. 

Jenine/Marty: I was gonna start walking unless, unless they stop me.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris-

Avery/GM: Uh, they're not like, hostile. They're, they were just brought to like, kind of be like, no, this is his lab. 

Jenine/Marty: Oh.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. That’s funny.

Jenine/Marty: Just a sad excuse of, of an intimidation check.

Avery/GM:. It's when, it's when the kid goes and gets the parent to tell, 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Avery/GM: You know, it's my toy. You know, that kind thing. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

Bee/Polaris: That's funny.

Avery/GM: Marty.

Jenine/Marty:Mm-hmm.

Avery/GM: As, as you are leaving the room, you do get a little telepathic note from Oswald that just says, I am glad you survived. Sorry for leaving that out.

Bee/Polaris:  Aw, he's not such a bad nerd after all.

Jenine/Marty: I like turn around and just like, throw up a peace sign. Like, like just blow a kiss to them and then like, She keeps walking..

Bee/Polaris: Nice like kiss fingers, peace sign and keep walking? 

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool.

Avery/GM: Uh, do y'all follow Marty out? Are you going out the front or the back? 

Bee/Polaris: The way we came in.

Jenine/Marty: The way we came in.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Is Bruce with us? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is,

Avery/GM: uh, yeah, Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: Oh yeah.

Avery/GM: Zahn came back.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we're in there.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Keep walking. Just keep walking. 

Chris/Ollie: That’s right.

Bee/Polaris: Just keep, keep walking.

Chris/Ollie: 'cause he's see the whole group, so Yeah. Okay. 

Bee/Polaris:Yeah. Keep it, keep it pushing.

Avery/GM: Machamp is just like, uh, I'm, I'm gonna actually, uh, stay behind. There's probably gonna be a lot of paperwork here to, to fill out. If you could just leave my shuttle like next to where you parked your other ship. I'll, I'll pick it up later.

Bee/Polaris: Alright. 

Avery/GM: I, I'll just

Jenine/Marty: Oh wait,

Zach/Zahn: Zahn gives a thumbs up.

Avery/GM: But don't, don't, don't run off with it though. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we won't. 

Jenine/Marty: We won't. Um, oh wait. Thanks. We really appreciate you and I give, Give Major Tom a hug. Thank you so much.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. You should come over for cake sometime. 

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, let us know whenever you wanna have cake. We can do a tea time again. I know my snacks aren't at the best, but like, they're there.

Avery/GM: Uh, no. Your snacks were, were absolutely lovely. Thank you so much. Uh, and, uh, I'm, I'm definitely gonna, yeah, I'll, I'll hit you up again soon. I gotta probably calm down this nerd though.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Right in front of him, right in front of him. Polaris, just, uh, pats him on the shoulder and says They're a handful.

Jenine/Marty: They're a handful.

Avery/GM: You just hear Oswald mutter. I'm not a nerd.

Jenine/Marty: Sometimes herbal tea helps out with calming them down. That's what I found in the late night, like study sessions. So like, try that. If it doesn't help meh. Anyways, bye!

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will be the last one out. And as like the door is like, you know, before he walks through the door, he turns around, looks over at a beaker on a counter and just pushes it off and then keeps it pushing, keeps it moving.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I was totally thinking of just-

Avery/GM: Perfect.

Chris/Ollie: Breaking something small on the way out because

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: He's so worried about his lab and we didn't, we didn't actually ruin anything.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, it's like Pristine and Polaris. Actually, Polaris will walk out and then run back and he'll be like, oh. Forgot and then push it off and then run back out.

Avery/GM: And somewhere in, elsewhere in the facility, a tour group is finally getting to meet their hero, the Silver Shield, who is kind of older, kind of undergoing some medical treatment, but still puts on a good smile for the fans.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, that's cute.

Avery/GM: Signs a few autographs, takes some pictures. It's, it's great. It's great fun. Um, and Negani notices that the big lizard person that was with them is missing. That's strange.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, well.

Avery/GM: But totally won't. Come back to haunt anybody. 

Bee/Polaris: Especially since the security cams are on loop.

Avery/GM: So y'all are walking back to your ship. Rho is attempting to apologize to you, Polaris. And it's just like, you know, I, I, 

Bee/Polaris: he holds up his hand.

Avery/GM: I wasn't myself, but I'm still responsible for what I did. 

Bee/Polaris: He holds up his hand to stop her and he says it's all good.

Avery/GM: but I stabbed you with your own. That's, that's pretty rude.

Bee/Polaris: It is, but I stabbed you first. 

Avery/GM: Oh. Um, I, I guess, yeah. Uh, still. We're friends?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like holds out his hand to handshake.

Avery/GM: Cool. Okay. Awesome. I feel a lot better about all of this.

Bee/Polaris: Glad to have you back.

Avery/GM: She's kind of like walking, like doing that anime thing

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: where like they walk and have their hands behind their head, you know?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: And you're approaching your ship and you notice

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Avery/GM: a small strike fighter parked next to your ship.

Bee/Polaris: Noooo. Damn it.

Avery/GM: A figure is leaning up against this strike fighter. They are smoking a cigar, even though they are clearly a robot. They're wearing a brown and black cowboy duster with a black cowboy hat. And as you approach they, as they see you come in, they take the cigar and dab it out, put it back in their pocket. It's like, well, it took you long enough. 

Bee/Polaris: What the fuck? 

Avery/GM: Your ship is awfully hard to hack into. You know, almost like it was owned by a pirate or something. Oh, but where are my manners name's Coil. And you've got something I want. I'm here for Hermes. Hand it over and you get to live. And it snaps its fingers.

And these crates that were inside the docking bay, break apart revealing 16 robots, turrets, drones, just this combination of devices and weapons trained on you. And he says, and if you refuse, I simply gun y'all down and take what I came for anyway. Your choice, what's it gonna be?

Outro Avery/GM: Thank you for Listening to our show Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up podcast network production, intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by tabletop audio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from Creative Commons. The tracks used today include Ethereal Plane, Starship medical, Pattern Recognition, and mega city slums.

We'll be back on September 1st with our next episode. See you out there. Beyond the Furthest Stars.

Episode 27 - Reunions and Procedures

Avery/GM: Welcome to Episode 27 of Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(Intro music plays and fades out, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: And we flash back to the crew of the TSKAM.

Bee/Polaris: So I know we're just like in the parking lot, but is there like in a, uh, like a, you know how ERs have like the, this is where the ambulance guys can go because it's an emergency, they gotta get a person in there fast. Is there a that?

Avery/GM: I didn't design one, but there probably would be. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Cause I imagine this facility is probably gonna ha like most facilities on the capitol is probably gonna have a weapons check. I think that's something that we could all intuit. Is there any way that we can make it look like this is an emergency and we need to get in there fast without them taking our weapons? Does that make sense? Am I making sense? Y

Avery/GM: Yes. Yes. It, yeah. You make sense Yeah. Basically we need help now.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: totally.

Bee/Polaris: Because Rho does need help now.

Avery/GM: Yes.

c Yeah. Um, I, I think it would be pretty great to have Marty burst off the, the thing leading the stretcher.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yes! We can show up the nerd!

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. I was about to say that!

Avery/GM: We will say, you took one of the medical beds, the hover beds from the cassia and put it on the TSKAM.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet.

Avery/GM: So y'all have this hover bed that. Y'all can put Rho on and, and, and get her into the, into the medical bay. So it's on the other side of the building. From where

Bee/Polaris: you're at. Oh, okay. Well, I guess player. Well back into the ship, we're gonna have to park on the other side

Chris/Ollie: also…

Avery/GM: Parking lot's full, ER is busy. No, I'm kidding.

Chris/Ollie: Just land on some other

Bee/Polaris: yeah, we like wasting resources.

Chris/Ollie: So Ollie's also gonna want to, uh, disassemble his combat rifle and stash the parts inside himself.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. And then he has like little hands inside himself that are putting it together.

Avery/GM: Y'all think this is gonna go so bad. I don't understand. like

Bee/Polaris: No, I just having weapons on hand.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: I cannot fight. I do not shoot.

Avery/GM: Not with your body, but with your mind.

Jenine/Marty: This is true.

Bee/Polaris: I fight with my body with varying degrees of success.

Avery/GM: Mm-hmm. So, okay, Ollie, you do that. I mean, you know your body, you know where you can hide things. I'm not gonna make you roll a skill check for that. Yeah. So you disassemble your, your weapon and you stash the parts inside of your, um, inside your chassis. So y'all are going to, is this the plan everyone wants to go with? Bluffing your way into the medical Bay, past the security checkpoint?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Feel free to come up with a less risky idea.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, it's one of those that's gonna have, well, what does Amp

Jenine/Marty: Does Major Tom have anything to say with this before we go in there? Cause I feel like

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. It's on his authority that we're requisitioning the lab.

Avery/GM: Well. We're here. Uh, how, how do, how, how are we gonna go in? Um, you just, you just want me to go in and present the, the papers and we can just take, uh, this, uh, row person, uh, back there and, and get 'em fixed up, Right?

Bee/Polaris: We're going in emergency style.

Avery/GM: Oh, all right. Are you sure? I mean, we have the requisite, we already got permission to be here. It's not like we got a go the extra mile.

Bee/Polaris: Sure, but I'd like to keep my weapons.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Are they gonna take our weapons if we try to just go in?

Avery/GM: Oh yeah it’s a Secure facility. There's like psionics who are really sick there, and if they got ahold of weapons, they could really do some damage. Like, not even like purposefully, but just like due to the nature of some of their illnesses.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, yeah. Huh?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Huh.

Bee/Polaris: Well…

Avery/GM: I mean, you could, you could be put the whole, whole city of ambrosia. It's just a few, a few miles away. You could put that whole city in danger.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, well anyway.

Chris/Ollie: What's done is done. The gun is stashed.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. Polaris will just walk over to Ollie and hand him his laser blades.

Avery/GM: So Machamp is just like, yeah. Um, I don't really think y'all should be bringing those in. I mean, I won't say anything, but I mean it's not exactly safe

Bee/Polaris: Noted… as he hands the second laser blades to Ollie.

Avery/GM: Ollie, do you like disassemble these and also hide them in your orifices?

Chris/Ollie: no. They're probably small enough that they can just. Fit in.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. If you just turn 'em off. Sure. Which players didn't turn 'em off when he handed them to you. He always handed them on.

Chris/Ollie: They're just always on?

Zach/Zahn: what!?

Bee/Polaris: when I said polaris is a danger to public safety, I meant he literally always has them on to some degree.

Chris/Ollie: All like the door, door handles next to the door handles around the ship, have like, scorch marks around all the, uh, light switches on the ship and shit?

Avery/GM: There's just little. There's literal little holes that have been made into makeshift holsters to hold them.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, he has a belt. He has a utility belt.

Avery/GM: What? Oh gosh. Okay. Um, so Machamp isn't gonna say anything

Bee/Polaris: good

Avery/GM: about y'all sneaking in weapons, but, um, is definitely uncomfortable by the idea.

Bee/Polaris: Well, he’ll live

Avery/GM:  and Marty, uh, he helps you get row situated on this hover bed and it's just like so front door or emergency door.

Chris/Ollie: This is a medical emergency.

Zach/Zahn: Polaris your call.

Bee/Polaris: Why is it my call?

Zach/Zahn: I don't know. It was your idea.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I said emergency style. I assumed that we were gonna go in emergency style, but… okay

Jenine/Marty: cool. So like Marty starts like that, like fun little, you know, like when before people start races, they start doing that little hoppy thing.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: That’s what Marty's doing next to the bed that she's ready to push? Rowe all of her fi, all of her little frame.

Bee/Polaris: there's like three of us pushing the gurney. All right. Like go, go, go.

Jenine/Marty: Ready? cool.

Bee/Polaris: Everyone look, look urgent.

Jenine/Marty: Marty like, Starts full sprint towards the door and just goes, move, move, move. We have an emergency. We have an emergency. Please, please help, help, help. We've been, we had permission before. Now this has gotten more critical as she's like starting to like also say different medical terms with it. Like

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Jenine/Marty: medical terms that makes sense, but like, The player doesn't know this. But Marty does.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is on the side pushing the gurney behind Marty, like making it look like an actual emergency cause usually there's like two or three people pushing the gurney. Right, in a medical, medical emergency.

Avery/GM: Yeah!

Bee/Polaris: yeah!

Chris/Ollie: yeah!

Zach/Zahn: So Zahn’s running alongside with like cables attached to the bed and a holographic display on his other arm.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Like life, life side readings,

Bee/Polaris: let's go. You just Googled it and it's like a gif on loop.

Zach/Zahn: Yep.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Um, Ollie’s gonna be on the, on a side pushing as well. And he is just going to be, uh, reciting random, but urgent sounding medical, uh, numbers. You know, like, uh, you know, the usual like

Zach/Zahn: like blood pressure blood pressure stuff,

Chris/Ollie: Blood pressure dropping! you know, X over Y!

Jenine/Marty: X over Y?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will just be like, just like get out of the way. Just like making, like moving people aside and like trying to get like, you know, make their way.

Avery/GM: Sure. you come into this medical bay and they are not quite ready to receive you in this way.

Zach/Zahn: they should always be ready.

Bee/Polaris: Right?

Avery/GM: Well, you know,

Zach/Zahn: that's their problem.

Avery/GM: They weren't. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: And they knew we were coming,

Avery/GM: sort of, uh, whether Oswald told everyone you were coming. Different story. Oh,

Bee/Polaris: we're about to embarrass the fuck outta this man.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I'm so excited.

Avery/GM: So in this medical bay, there are three chambers to the left that are filled with some strange green liquid. And suspended in the liquid are three individuals who look to be sleeping. There's a lab worker nearby checking vital signs on these, uh, little chambers here.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet.

Avery/GM: Also in this room is a set of operating beds next to each other. Uh, there is a cat scan machine, which is. Represented by this little radioactive sign, even though CAT scans are magnetic, I believe, and not radioactive, but whatever.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Avery/GM: there's computers, there's events, there's some other stuff in the back that you can't quite see as you come rushing in here. And the lab worker's, like, uh, I, I, we weren't expecting any, we didn't get any calls about an emergency. Uh  uh what do you, what do you need?

Jenine/Marty: And then I turn to this person and I go, We have permission as well as we had informed your lead here. What is his name? Dr. Um, Oswald is supposed to alert you of our presence here.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, doc, Dr. Oswald. He. They, they didn't say anything. I'll go, I'll go double check. And they run out of this room here and as they do, you hear an alarm going off somewhere else in the building and you do hear Oswald like shouting, ex expletives. Bruce, what do you do? You just heard this person referenced Marty. Could be a different, Marty, you don't know, but you're here. You've caused a distraction. What is your next step?

Caden/Bruce: My next step is going to be to try and like, Get out of the room and go somewhere private. Like, I don't know if there's a washroom or, I don't know if there's like a room that's just like unoccupied?

Avery/GM: you know… Of course I didn't think to make a bathroom, but there's definitely a, a restroom of some kind. Uh, we'll say right here is a restroom with a vent.

Caden/Bruce: Perfect.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: A Bruce sized vent.

Caden/Bruce: is, is is the vent Bruce sized?

Avery/GM: They are, they are, they are Bruce sized.

Caden/Bruce: Okay.

Avery/GM: Because, because,

Chris/Ollie: like Batman, Arthur Asylum ones.

Avery/GM: they're robot sized, so the maintenance bot can get in and out.

Caden/Bruce: Okay. Alright. So the first step of Bruce's plan is to remove the cardboard, like what he made, uh, costume sort of thing, and underneath it. Yes, it was blue, but it's also a maintenance jacket. So now he looks like a maintenance guy. Yeah. And he removes, he removes the glasses because obviously the glasses were part of the Comic-Con disguise and instead puts on like this white baseball hat Because he can and proceeds to like, because it's cardboard, he just folds it up and puts it in the recycling bin because he's a good boy and he recycles and then he'll kind of look up at the vent and having noticed the other vents, is there a way for him to like, I don't know, step on the toilet and like get up in there Because that's what he wants to do.

Avery/GM: The vents are actually in the ground.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, okay. Even better.

Zach/Zahn: It's like a dropdown

Avery/GM: Like I said, robots.

Caden/Bruce: So yeah, he's just gonna open it up and, uh, jump on in.

Avery/GM: Sure. Um, and you do hear some panic going on outside as people are evacuating Oswald's lab and trying to clean up the mess that has been caused.

Caden/Bruce: It's a great distraction

Avery/GM: nothing, nothing putting anyone in deadly danger, but just like, You don't know what chemicals those were. Get away and figure it out first. You know, that kind of thing.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Avery/GM: So yeah, you are in the vents.

Zach/Zahn: What about guy who tripped? Is he ok?

Avery/GM: Uh, physically? Yeah. Emotionally? No. He's probably embarrassed.

Zach/Zahn: I hope he is not covered in potentially bad chemicals.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: No, no. They, he, he tripped and they flung and they flew far enough away. No acid damage. Its okay.

Caden/Bruce: No NPCs, were harmed in the making of this episode yet.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah. Yet,

Avery/GM: yet,

Zach/Zahn: Oswald's feelings are definitely gonna get hurt.

Avery/GM: So you're in the vents. Where, where to next?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce. Bruce wants to go underneath room three, please.

And thank you. Back underneath the, um, administration room. And now what Bruce is gonna do is he's gonna remove one of the patches that he's wearing. So what Zuli has given him is they gave him like basically, uh, knockout gas capsule, and he's gonna take one out and he's gonna chuck it into the room to activate it and keep him underneath. So hopefully it won't knock him out, but only the people in the room.

Avery/GM: Perfect. We'll say, you'd probably throw it in there and then take a few steps down the vent so that way it won't

Caden/Bruce: Oh yeah, definitely.

Avery/GM: it'll probably get in there, but by the time you get back it probably won't, um, be active anymore. But yeah, you throw this little capsule into the room. Uh, I'm gonna make some saving throws that are probably gonna be awful, cuz these are NPCs, like commoners, so. Yeah, that's a one. And that's a three. Okay. So the two aides that were in this room milling about the one that gave that really boring speech about paperwork, they, you just, you hear a thud and then another thud from inside this vent. And after a couple of moments, this gas kind of dissipates and you were, you were basically told, give it two minutes, the gas becomes inert, and they'll be out for a good hour.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, perfect. So you crawl up into the.

Avery/GM: Into the room now or ?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. I'm gonna try and break open the door. I realize that there is now event inside the room, but I feel like there is, Bruce would not know that, so I am gonna try and break Open the door instead.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. Um, you pop out of this event and this is when you notice or actually roll a. Intelligence or no? Yeah. Intelligence. Notice. Check, please.

Caden/Bruce: That is a… That’s a five.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, you notice nothing, you're fine.

Caden/Bruce: Okay.

Avery/GM: Totally fine.

Caden/Bruce: Totally not suspicious at all.

Avery/GM: Uh, so this door is a giant vault door with a electronic keyed lock. Um, like keypad lock on it.

Caden/Bruce: Okay. Can I, can I, can I use my com pad to, to try and hack it?

Avery/GM: Sure.

Caden/Bruce: I'm assuming that's another role. Um,

Avery/GM: Let's see here. Yes. Um, it will be a, uh, intelligence sneak check with a plus two bonus since it's hacking. Uh, or, or you can use program instead. If you have better program.

Caden/Bruce: I would rather use program. Um, sure. That makes it a six.

Avery/GM: a six

Caden/Bruce: flat across the board.

Avery/GM: Sure. Uh, so it unlocks, but you. It takes like a good like 10 to 15 minutes to actually get this door open, um, which is a lot longer than you really had hoped for with this kind of mission because timing is everything. The longer you're away from your group, the less likely it is that your disguise will hold up. Um, but the door opens and slides to the side and you are inside the server room. There are computers buzzing and worrying. There's uh, servers, there's monitors, and all kinds of electronic mumbo jumbo here, and you see several terminals that you know, you could probably access this data from. So yeah and then you do also look, and you do see this vent, like right, like, Just right there.

Caden/Bruce: Okay. Having seen in the room, having seen the vent, Bruce is gonna close the door, cause he knows he has another way out that doesn't involve the door and he doesn't want anyone, like, he at least wants notice if someone's gonna come in behind him, even though he's wearing his grate maintenance disguise that no one can see and yeah, he'll go to one of the computers and try and access the files to the funds and see what's been going on.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll an intelligence program check.

Caden/Bruce: Ooh,  that is a nine.

Avery/GM: I'm sorry that it's not enough. You get an error code and a little voice says, two more attempts remaining before total lockout.

Caden/Bruce: Well, uh, I'm, I'm still gonna try again cause

Avery/GM: Sure.

Caden/Bruce: Cause I, I, I gotta, uh, that's a little bit better. That's a 10.

Avery/GM: Is that including your plus two bonus?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, no, the nine wasn't even including my plus two bonus. I didn't think I had a bonus on that.

Avery/GM: Yeah, yeah. If you're, are you, wait, are you using your data pad for that one?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, I'd assume so.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. Then yeah, you get your plus two bonus. Okay. So an 11 and then a 12. Yes. A 12 is what you needed. Woo. So cool. Um, you bust into this server. And start downloading the data. You don't have the time to really go through it here, but you do see the words project epidrome several times on the screen.

Avery/GM: As you're downloading this data and as you're sitting here waiting for the download to happen, you hear a familiar voice coming through the vent as Marty is yelling that they have a medical emergency. Just in the next room over and Marty, this attendant has gone to go get Oswald and Oswald comes barging into the room, all flustered, um, clearly distracted by a bunch of other things going on, and it's just like, really? You had to make a scene coming here. You couldn't have just come in through the front door like a normal person. You had to just make a big scene.

Jenine/Marty: Hi, sorry. Emergency. Hello?

Avery/GM: Hi. Hi Marty. What's the emergency?

Jenine/Marty: I motion to Rho.

Avery/GM: that is, that is an unconscious woman.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I'm sorry. Um, is this not a place where you're trying to like, understand and, uh, fix fixed beings that have, uh, torched. Significantly. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you could tell that this person has been, uh, has been torching. Sorry. I guess you're not as smart as I thought they were. Can I get someone else who is more competent?

Avery/GM: Okay. I understand now. This is the, the person you were, I thought you were talking about yourself when you sent me those messages. I, you know, I recognized that your skills weren't always up to snuff, and so I just, I assumed that it was, it was you.

Bee/Polaris: sir. Can we keep the mudsling to a minimum? We have a patient that needs help.

Avery/GM: Yes. And uh, you are

Bee/Polaris: none of your business. Go get your supervisor.

Chris/Ollie: Just full on Karen on him.

Avery/GM: I am the supervisor!

Bee/Polaris: could have fooled me since you're staff didn't know we were coming.

Avery/GM: Oh, Marty, you have just gotten all kinds of tough talking friends, haven't you? Fine, everyone out of my way. Let me assess the patient. And Oswald starts putting on gloves and is just like, did you get the data that I sent you? Of course you did. You insulted it?

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I'm sorry. Did you double check your work? Because it's definitely incorrect.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie is going to, uh, stop him as he's putting on the gloves and say, sorry, we require your lab, not your assistance.

Avery/GM: Ooh.

Zach/Zahn: Oh!

Bee/Polaris: ouch.

Chris/Ollie: And he's just gonna do that casually as he's continuing the, uh, setup process, plugging, uh, row into the life support and all that.

Avery/GM: Sure. You're transfer row from this floating bed to one of the operating beds and. Oswald is looking very flustered at getting kind of tag teamed by all of these people that came in with their longtime academic rival and is just looking around and is like, okay, you know what? Fine, you don't want my help. You don't need my help. I will be in my lab cleaning up a very dangerous chemical spill…

Bee/Polaris: so go do that.

Avery/GM: Fine, Find your own psionic to help you with the procedure. See if I care and Oswald wanders out of the room and back into their lab.

Bee/Polaris: Did we actually need his help?

Zach/Zahn: Is Machamp here with us somewhere.  

Jenine/Marty: I mean, it would be nice to have like a…

Avery/GM: Machamp is standing there awkwardly like, like that kind of person that's like, doesn't know the context of a fight and but is in a room when a fight occurs.

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm.

Avery/GM: And so just like kind of like looking around like, oh yeah, look at these people in these chambers. Uhhuh, this is really interesting. You don't necessarily need Oswald's help. You have a S here with you. In the form of Marty to do this procedure.

Chris/Ollie: We believe in you, Marty.

Avery/GM: Marty, you have all the data available.

Chris/Ollie: You corrected his thing.

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm.

Avery/GM: You correct… You did correct the work.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Avery/GM: still it is experimental.

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you hear all this commotion going on through the vent. how do you react to hearing your friends on the other side of this wall?

Bee/Polaris: It’s us, its Bruce!

Caden/Bruce: How, how long has my, uh, download Gotta go?

Avery/GM: It is at 65%.

Caden/Bruce: Okay, that's fine. I'm, I'm assuming it's just like a live updating thing, like it just live sends, like, Bruce doesn't have to wait for it to get to a hundred.

Avery/GM: It's, it's on transmit, so it's, it's transmitting to your shuttle.

Caden/Bruce: Okay. In which case he's gonna pop that safety hatch open and try to go towards the voices. If he can hear them, that's, he's gonna assume he can hear them through the vents and that's what he's gonna try and do.

Avery/GM: Sure. Uh, go ahead and roll a either dexterity or intelligence and we'll go with notice.

Caden/Bruce: we'll go dexterity caise that's better for me. So that's a nine.

Avery/GM: Sure Okay. Yeah. Uh, you realize the sounds are coming just from the next room and you follow the vents and you are just underneath the vent. In this lab. Marty, Rho is prepped and ready. Are you gonna perform this procedure with, with her or?

Bee/Polaris: out of curiosity? So there's no one else in this lab, correct?

Avery/GM: Uh, the attendant has come back in and is like, purposefully just like making themselves. It's scarce over here in the corner. Um, and then Machamp is up here somewhere checking out these People.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, sweet. I was gonna say it would be a bigger flex to get his, like assistance, like his attendance to help but not him.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: So up to you Marty.

Jenine/Marty: No, we're gonna do it as a close situation cuz Marty, Marty's not here for, for, for the glitz and the glam. She's here to help Rho. No, they can stay.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean, do we want them to, cuz Roe is like not from here and also Oh yeah. Like secret girl.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Before I start, can I like, make sure that like the information that's coming off of like the computers, cuz we have her hooked up, could that be like on like an internal hard drug that we have control of? So it's not going anywhere except for like our own location. Does that make sense? Did I, did I communicate technology terms?

Avery/GM: Yeah, I get what you're saying. Um, you. You could set up a local server because Ollie's an AI and has just a vast amount of computing power. You could set up a local server on Ollie to hold this data.

Bee/Polaris: Yo

Avery/GM: as long as Ollie consents to it.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. We do need Ollie's permission. We gotta ask Ollie about that.

Chris/Ollie: Absolutely.

Jenine/Marty: Ollie, Could you use you as a hard drive? Awesome.

Chris/Ollie: Anything to help our new friend!

Jenine/Marty: Sick. Smexy. Amazing. Wonderful.

Chris/Ollie: Cool. Is that gonna require a processing point or me to be incapacitated.

Avery/GM: Yes. it will require a processing point. You will be able to observe and everything, but you will not be able to go farther than like five feet from the bed while you're connected.

Bee/Polaris: I'll go ahead and since Rho is a secret girl, we should probably get that person to not be in the lab.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Valid.

Bee/Polaris: So Polaris will walk over to them and like gently kinda like tap on the shoulder to get their attention.

Avery/GM: they're just like, uh, yeah. Oh, how can I, how can I help you?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, I'm sorry. Without proper clearance, you can't actually be in this lab. Not right now, at least until we're done.

Avery/GM: Oh, I thought I had proper clearance. Are, are you sure?

Bee/Polaris: Yes.

Avery/GM: Huh. Well, uh, go ahead and roll a charisma connection.

Bee/Polaris: No, I have nothing in that.

Avery/GM: Or a charisma lead.

Bee/Polaris: No, I have nothing in that either. Charisma connect.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: can, can I help by just giving a quick glare at the person in the back.

Avery/GM: I love it. Yes. Well charisma connect to help. Oh, beautiful.

Bee/Polaris: Please help me. Oh my gosh.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Uh,

Jenine/Marty: you would only get a plus one from me, but you know,

Bee/Polaris: can, is there an intimidate? God, can I do an intimidate? Was there, there's not an intimidate. Dammit.

Avery/GM: I think that would be lead.

Bee/Polaris: Shit, I don't have anything in them.

Jenine/Marty: I got an 11 for help.

Avery/GM: Okay. Bee what did you roll?

Bee/Polaris: Eight.

Avery/GM: Eight.

Bee/Polaris: Eight.

Jenine/Marty: That's not bad.

Avery/GM: well, you're like, Hey, you're lucky. This guy's a moron.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet.

Chris/Ollie: What a maroon.

Zach/Zahn: What a maroon

Jenine/Marty: maroon.

Avery/GM: Between, between Marty's glare and your very like, monotone official way of speaking. This person's just like, uh, well, I, I guess I'll go help. Oswald with the, uh,

Bee/Polaris: yes. Do that

Avery/GM: with the cleanup. Sure. Hey, just make sure these, these folks don't, uh, flatline. Okay?

Bee/Polaris: Sure.

Avery/GM: So, Bruce, you are in this vent. You coming out or are you staying there?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, no, Bruce is coming out. Uh, but I feel like. Beforehand cuz I, I don't, uh, no, I, I don't think Bruce would. I think, yeah, he's just gonna come out

Bee/Polaris: as soon as the vent opens. Polaris goes to grab his laser pistol, remember? He doesn't have it. And then sees Bruce and just stares.

Zach/Zahn: Hold on. Do we know it's Bruce? Because Bruce is in disguise.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Do we have to roll? To recognize? I feel like we could recognize Bruce.

Avery/GM: That's the genius of it. Y'all recognize your friend to Bruce?

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah,

Avery/GM: but for some reason no one else.

Bee/Polaris and Zach/Zahn: No one else does,

Avery/GM:  no one else sees through these disguises, but y'all are just like, oh, it's Bruce

Bee/Polaris: as soon as Bruce is fully out of the vent, Polaris like speed walks over and does the thing where like he puts his helmet against Bruce. Like, kind of like a hug or like, you know when like cats run over and they like nudge you that?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Cause Polaris doesn't know how to hug. I was gonna say,

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say something very similar, uh, as Zahn like sees Bruce come out, he's gonna like have the helmet de deconstruct and then he is gonna run over and like bear hug him.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will put like one arm around Polaris and the other arm around Zahn. Someone just be like, I'm sorry I was gone for so long. But I'm here now.

Zach/Zahn: How the heck are you here, man?

Caden/Bruce: Well, I might be stealing data about their finances.

Bee/Polaris: excellent. We're stealing their lab for a moment

Zach/Zahn: temporarily, but we're helping this lady.

Avery/GM: And Bruce, you do see that this person that you only got a glimpse of back on the Cassia, uh, who you've only ever seen actually knocked out.

Bee/Polaris: So this is nothing new.

Caden/Bruce: This is nothing new.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Hatsune Miku over here is laying down on this operating bed. Connected to Ollie and getting ready for some sort of procedure with Marty.

Jenine/Marty: I'm on the other side of the bed with my hands extended being like, oh, woohoo, wait, I wanna hug

Bee/Polaris: pause operation for a hug.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie’s gonna get up and try and go for a hug, but he is gonna get stopped and tug back by the cables.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will hug Marty and like take his hat off with his tail and like put it on Marty's head and then walk over to Ollie and give him a hug and just be like, I missed you guys too. I should probably make sure I've recovered my data pad before we leave, but, um Right. I, uh, I have a gift for you Zahn. And like, he'll pull out the other data pad that Lazuli gave him and just be like, this is the blackmail that the, uh, tigers had on us. And, um, Lazuli, They gave me information on how to delete it, but, uh, I figured there might be some valuable stuff on this that we maybe don't want to delete. and I thought you might have fun with it.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn gladly takes it and is like, and as his helmet reconstructs and he is like, hell yeah, man… When. Bruce, when did you turn into international super spy? Sheesh.

Caden/Bruce: I think Bruce will just shrug and smile and just be like, apparently creativity doesn't just stay in the kitchen.

Bee/Polaris: Speaking of, I have a gift for you, and he pulls out the little canister of like bay leaves that Bruce left behind and hands it to Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will smile on. Just be like, please tell me you just haven't been consistently eating those bars.

Bee/Polaris: Then I won't, and then he'll walk over to the room.

Zach/Zahn: Food has been spectacularly more boring since you came, since you left.

Bee/Polaris: Well, Marty's been cooking!

Jenine/Marty: Ouch! Ouch!

Avery/GM: Oh, the shade.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God.

Zach/Zahn: It's not a diss on Marty's cooking capabilities. It's a, uh, compliment on Bruce's extravagant cooking capabilities.

Jenine/Marty: Are you digging? You're continually digging a hole in front of Marty.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, you're really saying that. Marty's the basic bitch and Bruce is way better.

Avery/GM: Oh my god.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna shut up.

Bee/Polaris: Thank God you're back. We've only been eating McDonald's.

Chris/Ollie: Hearing Bruce mentioned Lazuli, he's going to be like Lazuli is... are they here on the planet with you?

Caden/Bruce: No, they, um, went to go and investigate some other call and sent me to do this as a solo mission. Basically said that my, uh, the blackmail was done and that's why they gave me the data pad. Um, there's stuff going on with the Hegemony and. It wasn't exactly my skillset, which, um, they're probably right.

Chris/Ollie: I find it hard to believe that they simply kept their word. Maybe we have misjudged the Winstons.

Bee/Polaris: No, we killed their relative. Rich people generally don't like that.

Zach/Zahn: I, at least some of them, despite having, you know,

Chris/Ollie: that would improve the, their, the size of their inheritance if you killed off all their family members, so

Bee/Polaris: Well, sure. But they don't like other people doing the job.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, true. Yeah.

Avery/GM: No one's allowed to kill my uncle but me.

Bee/Polaris: Exactly.

Bee/Polaris: Cause then they'll have the secret satisfaction that they were, the reason their inheritance is bigger.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. Dastardly devils

Bee/Polaris: indeed

Avery/GM: Marty, as a refresher, the data that Oswald had sent you on this experimental procedure, um, it's called mind melding. Basically, um, you link your mind with a pscion who has been torched or is incapacitated in some way, um, and apply a dose of the brainwave drug To the person that is incapacitated, and once the two minds are linked, the healthy Biopscion will be able to use their powers to heal the mental pathways that have been burned In the torched victim, or at least that's how the experiment is supposed to go.

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm.

Avery/GM: Who is going to be administering the dose while you align your energies with Rho?

Bee/Polaris: Oh shit. Who's good at drugging people?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. What kind of a stat would, would that be a stab situation? Would Okay… Could I also defend, could I defend this?

Avery/GM: Sure.

Jenine/Marty: Would you say applying a vaccine is kind of like basting a Turkey?

Bee/Polaris: Bruce is probably excellent at that.

Avery/GM: Let's see it. It is a heal roll.

Bee/Polaris: Ah shit.

Avery/GM: by the book.

Bee/Polaris: Ah, well.

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm.

Bee/Polaris: I can't help there.

Avery/GM: But

Zach/Zahn: Well shit.

Avery/GM: This particular drug is just a patch.

Bee/Polaris: Oh sick!

Jenine/Marty: okay. That's fine. Yeah. Who, who, who has a Healy heel? Who? Who has some healy Heal? Or did you all just not do it and rely on me?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, yeah. I'm only good at harming.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: We got a medic.

Zach/Zahn: I'm only good at fixing and harming.

Chris/Ollie: I'm pretty good at fixing, but I pretty much can only hacky things.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. We got two harm boys, and a hacker.

Zach/Zahn: Do we, do we have, um, do we have any of, uh, the chips for, for Ollie on us right now?

Chris/Ollie: I don't, I'm I'm pretty preoccupied being the server though.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, yeah. We have a, yeah. Holly's our hard drive.

Avery/GM: Yeah. I mean you can still, yeah, you can still move and stuff. Um, but yeah, I don't think you could install a chip without having to disconnect everything.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, is there like a program or something that we could use that Polaris could like patch onto his helmet? Cause his helmet is essentially a computer. That could like basically assist in letting him know where the best place to put the patch is. Like an x-ray sort of deal.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Roll intelligence program.

Bee/Polaris: Ooh, do I have anything? I, wow. I somehow don't have anything in program. Alright.

Zach/Zahn: Gosh darn it.

Bee/Polaris: but I'm smart.

Zach/Zahn: I was thinking of the exact same thing. You just beat me to the punch.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Uh, 10.

Avery/GM: That's good enough. I was gonna put it at a 10. So

Bee/Polaris: sweet.

Avery/GM: You actually log into the local server for the institute and find a bunch of like automated like training programs for administering medication. And like, one of them is like basic first aid, right?

Bee/Polaris: Sweet.

Avery/GM: And you kind of skim past all the boring stuff, like how to identify bandages and stuff like that and you get to the part where it's like applying medicationthere's a friendly little stick figure, um, illustrating how to apply different medicines, and one of them says, brainwave and shows the person just slapping it on someone's, uh, forehead.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh, I'm so glad because I was thinking of like the, the meme where you get a craft single and slap it on someone's face

Chris/Ollie: or it's head on, apply directly to the forehead.

Avery/GM: Exactly.  So I will give you whatever your heel role or heel skill is right now. Um, just make it a plus one for this roll.

Bee/Polaris: Thank goodness. It's negative one.

Avery/GM: And then it's, um, intelligence, since you're using training.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. I'm uber smart.

Avery/GM: So for you Marty, As Polaris is getting ready to apply this medication, I would like, I would like you to roll and a, a wisdom heal and add your bio skill to the roll.

Bee/Polaris: Fancy!

Jenine/Marty: I have a question. Am I, would I be looking at my heeler foci and I gain the heel, blah, blah, blah. You may attempt to stabilize one mortally wounded adjacent person per round on a turn one rolling heel skills rolled 3D6. So I'm rolling 3D6 question mark. Yes.

Avery/GM: Yeah, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Sick!

Avery/GM: That's totally, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my God. Oh, that was so terrifying. The one is gone. Wonderful.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, thank God.

Jenine/Marty: Um, one of my dice kept rolling and it was right next to the dye that rolled a one, so I was just watching it roll. Rolled a six, so that's cute. Um, So it's gonna wisdom. Does a 14 do anything?

Avery/GM: perfect. You are, so as we kind of talked, like Scions can kind of see like the, the, the. Energy around them, they can kind of see this, this psychic energy around them, right?

Jenine/Marty: Mm-hmm.

Avery/GM: and when you really focus on it, that's when you really notice like just how much there is and there's kind of like a pattern to the way it moves and you are able to manipulate this, um, energy usually to heal people physically. But following your memory of the data that Oswald sent you and the corrections you made, you align this energy in a way that connects you to Rho’s mind. And as you do, uh, you give a thumbs up to Polaris and Polaris, Go ahead and make your roll.

Bee/Polaris: I'm gonna, I'm gonna unpeel this craft single and slap it on Rho’s forehead.

Avery/GM: I mean, it's not a very hard roll. I will say that.

Bee/Polaris: Excellent. Okay. What am I doing? So heel is a plus one right now and I'm adding intelligence.

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: So plus two… 11.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Perfect. Uh, you apply a patch to a forehead.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go. Probably the hardest role I've done in this game so far.

Avery/GM: Oh, no. I hope not.

Bee/Polaris: I'm kidding. I'm so kidding.

Avery/GM: And Marty, you see Polaris's hand come down on onto Rho's forehead, and suddenly there is a flash of bright white light. And as this light fades, you find yourself in a field of flowers, a beautiful rainbow of flowers, different colors just spread out around you. And in different directions In this field, you see several different figures standing or sitting or kneeling in the distance, and it takes you a moment as your mind eyes, I guess, your eyes in this place kind of focus and settle as you, uh, see these figures, you see to your left is a Rho who is wearing red combat armor and she is raising boulders into the air and like moving her hands and you just see these boulders crumble to dust. And then another gesture reforms the rock. And she repeats this process over and over.

Avery/GM: To your right, you see a Rho wearing a black gown, hunched over what looks like a memorial of some kind, and she is weeping. Directly ahead of you. You see Rho is wearing a golden gown of radiant light. She is smiling and embracing a figure that you cannot make out from this distance. And then as you look behind you, you see a Rho wearing the same blue vac suit that you found her in on the Cassiopeia.

Avery/GM: And she appears to be looking at a Holo-projection of a blue and green planet. And while not crying, she definitely seems depressed. And as you take this scene in Rho, as you currently know her appears next to you. And begins to speak…

(Ambience fades out, Outro plays then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Intro and Outro Music Produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from creative commons. Tracks used include: Starbase Omega, Mega City Slums, Covert Ops, Pattern Recognition, Starship Medical, and Ethereal Plane. We’ll be back on August 15th  with our next episode.

See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

Episode 26 - Welcome to the Institute

Avery/GM: Welcome to Episode 26 of Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(Intro plays, fades down, ambience fades up)

Avery/GM: Bruce, you are getting ready for your next mission with Lazuli. you learned from your mission to Calydon that something is going on out in Hegemony space on the planet of Ithaca. some sort of demonstration or attack or something the Oracles aren't really sure, but Lazuli knows that you are not an experienced fighter, and so that mission might not be the best suited for you and your skillset.

So instead, you and Lazuli are actually on the, um, main spacecraft that the Oracles call home. you're about to board a shuttle to head down to Olympia. for your next and what Lazuli reveals to be your final mission for the Oracles to quote unquote call you even with Lazuli, and you've been with the Oracles for about, I think three weeks have passed since everything else has happened.

Is that fair to say, group? It feels like about three weeks.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm time blind. I'm the worst person to ask for that. You're gonna have to refer to someone else.

Jenine/Marty: Yes and

Avery/GM: yes. And it feels like it. I, I feel like all the time skips we've done, it's been about three weeks.

Bee/Polaris: yeah. I mean, wait, well, did, didn't we have to repair the  Cassiopeia? This took long.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You had to repair the Cassiopeia you had to, well you repaired it twice.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: You traveled back and forth, uh, back to, um, the like black hole system to meet up with Machamp.

Bee/Polaris: Right, right.

Avery/GM: And then you traveled back to Olympia. So Yeah, it's about three weeks.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. We'll call it three weeks and some change.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You know, you haven't gotten to know Lazuli perfectly well, I, I don't know if you'd call them a friend, but maybe there's been like a mutual respect that has been built between the two of you. And, uh, lazuli is standing there as you're about to get on the shuttle and just says, you know, Bruce, I actually did not expect you to survive this long.

Caden/Bruce: I don't know if I should say thank you, but, um, thanks.

Avery/GM: You're, you're very resourceful is what I want to say. The Oracles and I are going to be heading out to Ithaca, um, to assess whatever this demonstration is that the Hegemony are plotting. We're sending you down to Olympia, as you know, to trace the funding for this little shadow cabal going on in the Republic ranks.

So I just, in case we don't come back, I wanted to give you this and they hand you a data pad. That is their copy of all the data that was scrubbed from Bragos, the security cameras, the, the docking logs and everything. And they say once you finish this mission, just hit this button and you can delete everything on here and we'll be even.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will nod and put the data pad in like his, not front pocket, but like inside front pocket of, uh, what he's wearing

Avery/GM: Lazuli says, I know that, I know that you've gotten good at disguising yourself, but this getup is interesting to say the least. So yeah, go ahead and describe what you are wearing.

Caden/Bruce: So what Bruce is wearing is what is probably the most closet cosplay going on. Um, but he's wearing these giant round glasses that kind of like, don't really fit his face. They're kind of like Harry Potter-esque. Um, but like obviously he tried to make them fit a Scaph but like definitely weren't intended to. So they're kinda like perched on top of his head. And then he's wearing this like bright blue coat and pants and like on top of it is like this box that's tried to like cut out to resemble a shield shape. But like you can tell that it was handmade. So it's just like questionably just a shape and he's just, like, kind of dressed like a superhero. He’s not too sure, but it's the kind of thing where you're just like, ah, yes, clearly going to a convention as a cosplayer who's never really cosplayed before, but he's trying. He's trying his best.

Avery/GM: Excellent. Lazuli says, I actually kind of hope that you run into the Silver Shield because I kind of wanna see their reaction to this.

Uh, please, please record it if you can, so I can see it. If it, if we come back from this mission, will you?

Caden/Bruce: I will try my best. I, uh, made a mini shield for them to sign and Bruce will kind of show it off. He had too much fun with this.

Avery/GM: Is it, is it made out of like cardboard or are we talking like actual, like Some sort of like mat… metal material or what?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, no, no, no, no. It is a hundred percent made from like pizza box cardboard.

Avery/GM: I love it.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, my heart.

Avery/GM: Well, uh, you, you'd better get going. I, I think the tour of, of the psionic Research Institute starts in just a few hours and you'll, you'll need to get down there and, and get in position. Bye Bruce, and they hold out their hand for a shake.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will offer his and just be like, I, uh, wish you luck as well

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, well, I'm not good at goodbyes, so, uh, bye. And, uh, they kind of just like exit the docking bay

Caden/Bruce: I think Bruce just chuckles to himself.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh.

Avery/GM: you board this little one person shuttle or?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, yeah.

Avery/GM: Cool. And we flash forward a couple hours and you are in the lobby of the Psionic Rehabilitation and Research Institute, you have been tasked with obtaining some data here by the Oracles and, uh, you've been given a few tools to complete your mission. Do you want to reveal what those tools are or save them for a surprise?

Caden/Bruce: I'll save them for a surprise.

Avery/GM: Cool. So Lazuli has stated that the funds for Project Epidrome which was the data that you stole from Calydon, showed that they were being diverted from this particular lab. Specifically, and so it's possible that this lab might have something to do with that project or with the conspiracy going on in the Republic.

You are part of a tour group who is here basically, or on the surface. The tour group is here to tour the institute and see all the cool medical research they're doing to help psionics who have psionic related diseases or illnesses, but really mostly everyone here is here to see the hero known as the Silver Shield.

A superhero of the Republic who has done a lot of heroic deeds and has become something of a icon at this point. They have comic books and they have cartoons and holo-vids made of them and their adventures and some things are probably a little bit exaggerated, but some of them are based in truth.

And you are in this tour group and it is being led by a tiny gold colored alien with bright blue eyes and their head slash neck is kind of long and serpentine, but the rest of their body is kind of humanoid. But they are very short. They're like a foot and a half tall. And he says, hello, uh, group. I am Nagani.

And I will be your tour guide today. While you're in the institute, please stay with the group. We don't want you getting accidentally lost because you may end up as next week's dissection experiment and no one laughs at his joke and he says that that's a joke. We, we don't actually dissect people here.

That's that's just a little something I do for the kids. Oh shit. Okay. Follow me. You are starting to get a tour of this facility.

Now we flash back to the rest of the group. Y'all have started your approach to Olympia. Uh, Polaris, you're flying obviously. Where's everyone else at on the ship?

Chris/Ollie: How long has this trip taken?

Avery/GM: from the black hole system to Olympia was about four days.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. I imagine Ollie's just been tinkering away at his, his new body.

Jenine/Marty: I've probably been at communi… at the little communications box sitting area.

Bee/Polaris: The comm station.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. That one!

Bee/Polaris: It's a, it's a cardboard box that Marty puts on her head and there's like a tin can with a string.

Jenine/Marty: 100%

Avery/GM: Zahn?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn has been, um, modding. He's been going through and upgrading everybody's guns to give a plus two damage.

Bee/Polaris: I wish I had a gun!

Jenine/Marty: Do you want Marty's laser pistol? Cause she's not gonna use it.

Chris/Ollie: There was an armory on the Cassiopeia.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but we left the Cassia and Polaris didn't grab a gun. Bri has Polaris's laser pistol.

Jenine/Marty: You should, you should take Marty's laser pistol cuz she's not gonna be able to use this.

Bee/Polaris: Do you not have a shoot skill?

Jenine/Marty: No!

Avery/GM: I think we talked about this last session about like someone like needs to give Marty, like target practice training or something.

Zach/Zahn: Something like that.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. Well the custodian ... Bear probably could have, but the custodians, uh, did an evil and then Rho got in trouble, so we gotta help Rho first.

Jenine/Marty: I am all charisma and health!

Zach/Zahn: Right, you're the tank.

Bee/Polaris: Charismatically shoot people to lower their health.

Avery/GM: Oh gosh.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. you can take her laser pistol if you want it cuz she's not also totally forgot that it was there.

Bee/Polaris: Unless it, unless it like comes up that we actually need it though. Polaris probably won't take it. He's not gonna take Marty's only form of protection away from her. Especially when he has two laser blades.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, okay.

Zach/Zahn: Oh my God.

Jenine/Marty: That's fine.

Bee/Polaris: That he can probably throw,

Jenine/Marty: yeah,

Chris/Ollie: use shoot to throw the laser blades.

Bee/Polaris: Um, I actually...

Zach/Zahn: no, that's, no. I guess it'd still be a dexterity stab so nevermind.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I'm flipping through my foci to see if I actually can throw, uh, I guess it would have to be considered a thrown weapon, but I could add my stab bonus to it if I, if it was

Avery/GM: you, you can, you can shorten the length to make it a knife. I think it can be a thrown.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Avery/GM: We will. We will reduce. Cause I think it's 2d8, I think it would just, we'll just reduce the dice to, to 2D6.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. If thrown, if, if knife. Okay. La I'll

Avery/GM: if thrown. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Laser knife.

Zach/Zahn: Well, if you have a weapon, Just pick one of your weapons and add plus two damage to it and Zahn has upgraded it.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. And you're spending all those, uh, all the resources needed for that. Yep.

Bee/Polaris: You said 2d6 for the laser knife?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Jenine/Marty: So what are we adding to our laser pistols?

Zach/Zahn: Just plus two damage plus two to damage,

Avery/GM: so

Jenine/Marty: Okay.

Avery/GM: It would be 1d6 plus two

Jenine/Marty: plus two. Okay.

Avery/GM: Automatically, or whatever it is. Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Yep.

Avery/GM: Cool.

Bee/Polaris: I don't have a weapon that can be upgraded. So

Avery/GM: No. Your, your blade, your one of your blades.

Bee/Polaris: Also, I do have a knife knife.

Avery/GM: A knife. Knife,

Bee/Polaris: yeah. Instead of a laser knife, I have an actual like knife blade knife.

Zach/Zahn: So I'm boosting damage or weapon damage output is the, the verbiage. So I don't know how I can do that For a laser knife or a laser blade?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Or yeah…

Avery/GM: make it hotter.

Zach/Zahn: Make it hotter.

Bee/Polaris: Crank up the heat.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. That just makes it more unstable.

Bee/Polaris: I, I mean, we could just save that for a laser pistol. You know.

Avery/GM: Yeah. That's fine too. Whatever works. Cool. So you're modding, Polaris is flying. Marty, you're at the comm station and Ollie is, is down in the hold, repairing or fixing up his newest body..

Chris/Ollie: I'm building my masterpiece.

Bee/Polaris: getting his beach bod.

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I'm getting Beachbody ready!

Avery/GM: We're gonna pump you up.

Bee/Polaris: Hey, where's Machamp? Speaking of pump up?

Avery/GM: Um, yeah, Machamp is, uh, chilling. Um, he, he, he didn't want to be presumptuous and take the captain's chair, um, especially after getting kind of a weird look from Hermes's, uh, holo projection. So, Machamp took a seat at the weapons station.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I mean, Hermes projects his little alien guy onto the onto, so the captain chair and regularly gets told no. So..

Avery/GM: Right. So y'all started approaching Olympia when you got an alert on your comms. Um, and it looks like Marty, it is a communication from one of the ships out here patrolling the space around Olympia.

Jenine/Marty: Sick.

Avery/GM: Do you answer?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Yeah. We have nothing to hide.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I mean,

Jenine/Marty: we have nothing to hide.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, where's Rho's Body?

Avery/GM: Rho is chilling in one of the beds, I assume.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, right, right. Okay. Yeah. We have nothing to hide.

Avery/GM: And Marty, you answer and the person is very quick and to the point and just says, attention, unidentified ship, you are approaching the Republic capital, Olympia. Only authorized personnel are allowed on or off planet. Please present your authorization or prepare to be detained.

Jenine/Marty: I just go, okay, please hold. And then I like put them on hold. Sir, I think they need you on comms.

Avery/GM: Oh gosh. What was his real name? We keep calling

Everyone: Major Tom.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: You forgot your own pun!

Avery/GM: I know, right?

Bee/Polaris: His first name. Major. Your last name. Uh, oh. Wait, no. First name

Bee/Polaris: Tom?

Bee/Polaris: No. First name. Ma. Last name Champ.

Avery/GM: Um. Oh my gosh. See, this is, this is what I was talking about with the lack of sleep. Okay, cool. Major Tom. Yeah, major Tom says, uh, yeah. Um, we sh we should be able to use the, uh, the authorization for the lab use. You mind if I just, and he, and he kind of gestures at the comms computer? Uh, to you, Marty?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. She gives a little nod and she just gives two thumbs up. She goes, you got this. Woo!

Zach/Zahn: woo.

Avery/GM: Sure. Um, Polaris, just keep flying straight. Don't, don't do anything dangerous, okay?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris immediately does a barrel roll. No, I'm kidding.

Avery/GM: Machamp goes over to the comm station, pushes the talk button and just says, uh, this is ma Major Tom, um, Major Major Tom. Uh, authorization code alpha delta 74, and there's a little delay. In the communications and Polaris, you see the ships are not moving yet. And you're getting closer and they're not moving and then…

Bee/Polaris: I'll stop. So they don't think we're trying to blast through.

Avery/GM: No. Um, I was, that, that's just me building false suspense.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. I was like, oh, I didn't realize the cops stopped. I'm still rolling.

Avery/GM: No, you're fine.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool.

Avery/GM: And then the comms ping again, and they just say, uh, authorization verified. Please follow our ships down to the surface and we will be happy to get you where you need to go. Do not deviate from your path or you will be blown out of the sky. Thank you and have a nice day. Their demeanor totally changed, um, between those two messages. So…

Bee/Polaris: okay. Now I do the barrel roll.

Avery/GM: Uh, do now you do the barrel and you get blown up. No.

Bee/Polaris: I don't deviate from the path. I just do a barrel roll.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Instant tpk. Good Sesh

Bee/Polaris: I'm kidding.

Chris/Ollie: you all die.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Okay. I'll follow

Chris/Ollie: end of campaign

Bee/Polaris: I'll follow the law.

Avery/GM: Bruce, somewhere you feel in your heart. Kidding.

Bee/Polaris: The crushing weight of lost Friends?

Jenine/Marty: I have, I have a question about these, these people that are following us.

Bee/Polaris: Mm-hmm.

Jenine/Marty: What, which,

Avery/GM: sure.

Jenine/Marty: So would you say that they're voluntarily like serving us or not? And are they like nice to us?

Avery/GM: They're not hostile towards you.

Jenine/Marty: Okay.

Avery/GM: Um, they're not really serving you, but they are aiding you in what you're doing.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, cool.

Bee/Polaris: I do have a follow up question after you're done, Jenine.

Avery/GM: uh oh.

Jenine/Marty: Cause I'm just wondering. Um, this is based off of, uh, if you go to page 24 of, of the book, I have the a Author… Authority Foci and I can roll against if someone is nice, if an NPC uh, once per day you can make a request from an NPC who is not openly hostile to you, rolling charisma or lead, and a difficulty of the NPCs moral score I was just wondering, Can I like bank in that right now? Or like, does this seem like a, maybe I shouldn't situation yet.

Bee/Polaris: I feel like we're good.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, cool.

Avery/GM: Um, so I mean, you're, you're getting what you, what you need already, so unless there is something specific you're aiming for, um, I think you're good right now.

Jenine/Marty: Sick. I'll save that for when we're inside.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet! Boss the nerd around.

Jenine/Marty: I would never don't tempt her like this!

Chris/Ollie: Charisma lead the nerd!

Jenine/Marty: Do not tempt her like this.

Bee/Polaris: Go fetch us some bubble tea nerd.

Chris/Ollie: No charisma lead check the nerd to participate in the experiment that Disre… like destroys his reputation,

Bee/Polaris: but he's an assistant. He only hands you stuff. Okay, sweet.

Jenine/Marty: I digress. What's up?

Avery/GM: Um, cool. So you follow these folks… folks like they're freaking farmers or something.

Bee/Polaris: I call everyone folks.

Avery/GM: I know

Jenine/Marty: retweet!

Bee/Polaris: They have grass like in their helmet on the mouthpiece.

Avery/GM: You follow the folks down to the southern continent of. One of the southern continents of Olympia. Cause it's a globe, not a flat surface. So one of the southern continents.

Bee/Polaris: we don't know that.

Avery/GM: Um, and there are several different points of interest here. Your main point of interest is here, of course. And the people on the line, after they get down to you, they. Uh, they ping you the, or they send you a little map of, of the area with the location of the institute, uh, pinged on your map, but you've also got the capital city of Ambrosia here. Got this cool little forest that you probably would've had to have hidden in and if you ran the blockade and you've got Fort Zeus over here.

Bee/Polaris: Ooh, fancy.

Avery/GM: And there's a desert, but don't worry about the desert. You guys won't have to go there.

Bee/Polaris: What the hell? It's called the Desert of Exile. What do you mean? Don't worry about the desert.

Jenine/Marty: I think it's just a neat name.

Avery/GM: It's just a neat name. Yep.

Chris/Ollie: Totally. Totally. An ironic name.

Jenine/Marty: Positive thinking. Positive thinking.

Avery/GM: So you know that there is a docking bay in the city of Ambrosia where you could rent some sort of overland transport to get to the research institute.

Zach/Zahn: Why rent one when…

Avery/GM: You also…  

Zach/Zahn: we have one.

Avery/GM: You also know… True. So you could land in the city of Ambrosia and travel over land or you do know that there is a um, docking bay at the institute.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, where's the capital building? And are all of the important people in there?

Avery/GM: Um, the Capital City's right here.

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no, no, no. The capital building in the capital city are all of the important people having a meeting in there yet?

Avery/GM: I mean, it's probably midday, so there's probably some important lawmakers there.

Chris/Ollie: you just gonna like bomb the capitol or something?

Bee/Polaris: Ok. I, I'm, I'm not gonna go on this tangent just to save time. I was gonna make a joke, but let's, yeah, I'll dock at the research institute.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, yeah, it's, I mean, it's the November 13th, so it's not quite the fifth, but, uh,

Bee/Polaris: oh my God.

Avery/GM: So the docking bay here is, is much less a bay and more of a giant parking lot like. If y'all have ever been to an Ikea.

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Avery/GM: Just that sprawling mass of concrete

Bee/Polaris: I take.

Avery/GM: That's basically what it is.

Bee/Polaris: I take three parking spaces.

Zach/Zahn: Wow!

Avery/GM: Cool.

Zach/Zahn: You're one of those people.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, I think we established that Polaris has like a space Twitch channel that's like car dudes, but like Space ships.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Polaris is a car dude. That's right.

Bee/Polaris: He's one of those people. But no, I'll take a reasonable amount of parking spaces.

Avery/GM: Sure. Um, so you land here, there's enough room in this, uh, Parking lot for about 30 ships on the side that you're parking on.

Bee/Polaris: How neat.

Avery/GM: But it's, it's, it's fairly empty. There's maybe six or seven other ships here.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sweet. I park as close to the door as possible, but like legally.

Avery/GM: Sure. And you see several. Like next, next to some of these ships, you do see several like metal crates kind of stacked around. Um, perhaps used for like storage of like spare parts or cargo that was like offloaded from these ships but hasn't been brought in.There's, you know, some trash floating around cuz people are gross. You know, it's a standard parking lot. I don't know why I'm taking so long to describe a parking, sorry.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I was about to say, the way you're describing it is like, you guys can take these crates if you want.

Avery/GM: I don't know. That's, yeah. Sorry. I'm I, God damn it. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: You're fine. I was like, oh shit. Loot!

Avery/GM: you land. And we go back to Bruce real quick. Bruce. Um, as you're coming into the lobby of the institute and you're beginning your tour. Nagani says, now we do ask that you check all dangerous weapons at this security checkpoint before we continue, as not all the patients are safe enough to be around weapons, and so we just ask for security purposes that you check your weapons at the door and then we will return them to you upon completion. Unfortunately, the Silver Shield will not be able to sign any weapons, and then Nagani looks at your little cardboard shield. You can keep that though. I think that's fine. Um, did you bring any weapons with you?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce did. Um, Bruce would've brought Polaris's, uh, pistol, but what he's done is, has been to design it to look like part of the costume, so, So as much as it's a pistol, he's basically like taped cardboard boxes around it. So it just looks like a cardboard, L like it doesn't look like a pistol at all. Just like basically made this really bad like cardboard holder and then painted it.

Jenine/Marty: Yes. Beautiful. Wonderful cover girl.

Caden/Bruce: And it's like, Strapped to his left hand side. So it looks like a fake, terribly made pistol. He hundred percent does not hand it in.

Bee/Polaris: That is so funny.

Avery/GM: Roll a charisma. Sneak check.

Caden/Bruce: Oh goodness.

Chris/Ollie: Any bonus for the costume?

Avery/GM: Plus one for the costume.

Caden/Bruce: Oh good cuz I don't think that's gonna help either way. Uh. Cause I got a negative one on sneak. That's a two.

Avery/GM: Oh. Um,

Bee/Polaris: you drop it and it goes off.

Avery/GM: That's better than anything I was gonna come up with. Yeah, you are making a show of like, Looking in your pockets for things that you might need to put into this, like little, it, it's basically one of those like plastic bins that you do at like the courthouse or something, right? Or the airport. And uh, and you accidentally drop this cardboard covered laser pistol and it just fires a beam and it ricochets off the ground and it hits something on the ceiling and comes back down and hits the, this bubbling fountain in the lobby and there's just an explosion of water all over the lobby and you just see this, this small robot in the corner that has a mop and it was just getting ready to put it away and it looks over and then you just see its head just sort of lower…

Everyone: Oh!

Avery/GM: In disappointment.

Bee/Polaris: You monster.

Avery/GM: And the guards don't take it as you were trying to sneak this in, but more of a, oh, you were getting ready to turn this over and you're a clutz, so,

Caden/Bruce: oh, thank goodness.

Avery/GM: And so they pick it up and they're just like, we'll, we'll hold onto this for until you leave. I think that's best for everybody. Uh, everyone please watch your step. The floor is now very slippery. We do not want anyone tripping. That is a very dangerous hazard.

Caden/Bruce: Sorry, and Bruce will just kinda like tuck his tail in.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Oh gosh. So your group is starting this way and Nagani leads you into this room. Leads you into this room here. And this is just a basic office. There are people kind of milling about here, filling out paperwork, doing some medical billing and coding, all very fancy stuff here.

Nagani just says this is our administration office, albeit not the most exciting room in the, uh, in the building, but definitely something that every hospital needs in order to function. This is Terrence. Uh, he's our latest hire in the office. Terrance, why don't you tell us a bit about the work you do and they start kind of like giving this like long, boring conversation about paperwork.

You look and you see. That this door right here has a label on it called Server Room.

Caden/Bruce: Ooh.

Avery/GM: And from your briefing with Lazuli, you know that that is your goal.

Caden/Bruce: Okay.

Avery/GM: I'll also say you saw this right here in the lobby, which is a vent, and you also see this vent right here as well.

Caden/Bruce: Good to know. Good to know.

Avery/GM: Do you do anything in this room yet or are you just kind of following along for now?

Caden/Bruce: The only thing Bruce is gonna try and do, which I think is quite easy, given the size of Bruce, is to make sure that he is last in the group.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. Um, yeah, everyone, everyone else in this group is like, I. If not, not, not necessarily smaller because Bruce is so big but also smaller cuz these people are younger than Bruce. Like not by much like late teens, early twenties, you know, and so yeah, you're may maybe, uh, playing off like, oh yeah, let the excited kids go first. That's fine. Um, you are last in the group as you come into room six and has Bruce been around for any of the interactions with Marty and Oswald?

Caden/Bruce: No.

Avery/GM: Okay, cool. Marty, could you describe Oswald for us?

Jenine/Marty: Okay. They are about like a five eight, um, human with like shaggy brown hair. And, uh, big round glasses and, uh, dark brown eyes. Um, their skin tone is like same color as Marty's, so pretty, like, not super dark, but like, kind of dark. And they're in, they're dressed very daper, you know, like, like the, like nice vest and like the nice jacket, like those sweater vest jacket kind of situation and they, they most likely have those like fancy Oxfords. They're, they, they're a fancy, fancy lad or attempts to be a fancy lad, and that's and very punchable face, um, is what you see standing in front of you

Avery/GM: and you come into this lab and this person is, is standing there and is just like, oh, great. Another tour group. Well come on in if you must. Uh, this is my lab. This is where we research all the latest medical interventions, for psionics and torching specifically, please don't touch anything. Everything's very delicate and points at you, Bruce, and it's like you especially don't touch anything cuz you look very clumsy.

Caden/Bruce: Accurate though.

Avery/GM: And Nagani is just like, uh, this is of course, Dr. Oswald, the, the lead researcher here. Well, as of yesterday, lead researcher, there's been some, doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Anyway, please follow me through to the next room and we will continue our tour. If you have any questions for Dr. Oswald, please feel free to ask them. They are very knowledgeable. And Oswald kind of rolls their eyes.

Caden/Bruce: Is there any like beakers or anything that's like on the tabletops as such?

Avery/GM: There is, so as, as you are coming through this, um, lab, there is a alien researcher that is walking from this, this little desktop here, and they have some chemicals in their hand.

Caden/Bruce: Sweet.

Avery/GM: And they're trying to walk them over to this laser grid.

Caden/Bruce: I wanna try and trip them with my tail.

Avery/GM: Sure. Roll. Hmm. What do we wanna roll for that? I think it's dexterity for sure.

Zach/Zahn: Dex Sneak

Avery/GM: or are? Yeah. Are you trying to be sneaky about it or are you trying to make it like, look like an accident or just Uh,

Caden/Bruce: I feel like, I dunno if it necessarily has to be sneaky. Cause I feel like it's the kind of thing of like, As like a cat walks, it kind of swishes its tail sort of thing. If it's like upset or angry, like I don't feel like it's necessarily sneaky

Jenine/Marty: connect as you are connecting

Bee/Polaris: your tail with their leg. I feel like there should be some sort of bonus if you're trying to make it look like an accident because the whole group did just watch you drop a laser pistol.

Avery/GM: Oh, I was gonna give a bonus for sure.

Bee/Polaris: Sick.

Avery/GM: Cause it's playing into the, in, into the bit. Let's go… You can either do dexterity punch because it is you. You can treat this as like an unarmed combat skill, um, or a dexterity sneak. With a plus two bonus to either one.

Caden/Bruce: We'll go with punch only because I don't have a negative one in that.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Caden/Bruce: And that is a, Ooh, that is a very good roll now I have to math. That is a 13.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh, yes. Okay. You trip this alien intern, um, and they fall to the ground and their chemical experiment flies across this room and hits the laser grid and explodes in a cloud of chemicals and an alarm starts sounding, and Oswald just says to you, what did I tell you? Please get out. We need to fix this. Everyone out of the lab, now we have to seal this place off. Oh, this is just what I needed right before Marty comes. Are you kidding me? And we flash back to the crew of the TSFKAM.

(ambience fades out, outro music plays)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1upPodcast Network production. Intro and Outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background Music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an Attribution, non-commercial license from Creative Commons. Tracks used include: Orbital Platform, Starbase Omega, Star Freighter and Mega City Slums. We’ll be back on August 1st with our Next Episode.

See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!