Episode 57 - Armor, Weapons, and Ethel

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 57 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

Y'all are still on the planet of Olympia in the city of Ambrosia. Bruce has just entered the Red River Farms restaurant cafe thing for a job, a working job interview. So fun. Maybe he'll be the new head chef. Maybe he won't. We'll see what happens. Um, but y'all decide to take this moment to maybe peruse some of the nightlife and the stores that are going on in this business district.

It's still pretty lively around here. Lots of places are still open. Zahn, who I believe was with you during this trip, because he would have been there for Big Fred's grand opening, just kinda gives you a wave and just, Says, you know, I'm feeling kind of tired. I think I'll head back to the ship and get some shut eye.

And just leaves Ollie, Marty, and Polaris here in Ambrosia. So what do y'all decide to do for this little adventure?

Bee/Polaris: I believe we discussed it earlier, but shopping. Gotta get unsquishified.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally. Uh, where do you want to hit up first? Weapons? Armor? Drones?

Bee/Polaris: Marty and Polaris need to be non squishy. So, armor first?

Jenine/Marty: Armor.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, let's see. Yeah, y'all are heading down this street, and the first store that you see is this little, kind of, mom and pop shop that is selling just a wide variety of different kinds of armor and its proprietor is a large boulder like alien and uh just sort of like their their skin just looks really rocky and like almost like moving rocks basically as you enter the store Uh, he's just like, Well, welcome in.

Please look around and let me know if you need anything. Always happy to service people of all kinds here on Ambrosia.

Bee/Polaris: I just realized, are we still in cosplay?

Avery/GM: Yes, very much so.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: Y'all are still in your

Jenine/Marty: I got a very easy cosplay, no one knows.

Bee/Polaris: I'm a magical girl.

Jenine/Marty: As you should!

Avery/GM: And are you still wearing your rollerblades?

Bee/Polaris: Yes, also I was gonna ask, can they be like, because we're in like a space world, can they be like, helis where you can like, take out the wheel?

Avery/GM: Deploy them? Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, sick. Uh, yes.

Avery/GM: I won't. I wouldn't do that. Just make you roll acrobatics or something.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I'm gonna roll acrobatics every minute just to determine whether you're falling though.

Uh, it would be piloting.

Bee/Polaris: And I'm good at that.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, there you go. It's just my like, pirouetting concept.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Uh, Polaris, like, because he's still wearing the roller skates, he skates backwards into the store and then throws a thumbs up at the shopkeeper after he said that to us.

Avery/GM: Yeah. What are you looking for in this little shop then, specifically?

Bee/Polaris: I'm getting the deflector array. And then adding the customization to it. That gives me the plus 1 AC.

Jenine/Marty: You get another plus 1?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, if you add the Yeah, if you add customize to the mod, it gives plus 1 to armor class. It gives an armor class bonus.

Jenine/Marty: So you'd be at 19.

Bee/Polaris: Indeed. Well, I get bulleted a lot, so.

Jenine/Marty: No, this is fair. This is 100 percent fair.

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Avery/GM: And I don't want to bullet Polaris a lot.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, no, it's my fault.

Chris/Ollie: Polaris just tries really hard to get bulleted.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, these are the consequences of my actions.

Jenine/Marty: Am I also gonna do this? Now that I've seen it exist? Probably. I was gonna be like, oh, woven body armor. And then was like, that I'm so Squishy, and cannot lift anything, and is an encumberance of two.

I'm like, I don't think Marty can wear this comfortably. Yeah, the deflector array has an encumbrance of zero. Yeah, that's why I was like, oh, that seems That seems more up her alley. And she has not spent any any of her money. I think the last time she spent her money was on, on the restaurant.

Bee/Polaris: Red River, yeah, the Red River Farm. Yeah.

Avery/GM: No, well, you, you were also buying, um, like, smoothies and stuff when you were working with, uh, Oswald for like that week and a half.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, it was not, that was, that was pennies. Compared to what we have. 30, 000 seems good.

Bee/Polaris: We become out of touch and Marty slaps out 100 credits for one smoothie.

Avery/GM: How much could a smoothie cost? 500 credits?

Jenine/Marty: Oh my god, this fits perfectly for Marty. Yeah, we're 18 She's not gonna get the extra boost. She'll just keep it at the

Bee/Polaris: You're not gonna get the extra boost for 1, 000?

Jenine/Marty: What the f Oh, is it only 1, 000? Oh, okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, it's only 1, 000.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, that, uh, changes things. We're gonna go bump up to 19.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, . This is so dangerous for Marty. 'cause now she doesn't have to think about protecting herself.

Bee/Polaris: That's why Polaris, well, Polaris never thought about protecting himself to begin with, so now it's just gonna be worse.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, I mean more, more money, more problems.

Bee/Polaris: Exactly.

Chris/Ollie: Have gattier bad guys.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Um, , should we sell like our current.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, can we sell our current armor?

Chris/Ollie: I mean, just throw it away.

Avery/GM: You certainly, yeah, you certainly can.

Bee/Polaris: Nah, I'm just gonna give it away.

Avery/GM: I did not actually expect that.

Bee/Polaris: I'm just gonna give it away.

Avery/GM: You could use it for raw materials when you get the factory up and running.

Jenine/Marty: Picasso, I like it. We'll keep it.

Bee/Polaris: I'm gonna write that that I have it in storage.

Equipment and storage.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so you two bring up your deflector arrays to the, to the desk and this guy's, uh, this, this, this rock alien person is just like, okay, yeah, that's, uh, that's about 30, 000 credits. We do have quite a bit of, uh, mods available. If you are interested in purchasing any of those, we've got, uh, well, we can add a little bit of extra protection on there, kind of overclock the servos on there a little bit, you know, add some extra protection, you know, we've, we've got some different options here. Any particular thing you're looking for?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, can I get mine to add extra protection, please? I get shot a lot.

Jenine/Marty: I would also

Avery/GM: Oh, you live very dangerous lives, huh?

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I would also like more protection as well. Uh, I'm the one that normally helps out when this one gets shot a lot and don't want to be as squishy. Smiley face.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that'd be good.

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah. Uh, that's just a real quick, uh, tweaking flow. And, uh, he like holds out a, like a screwdriver and like a little mechanical device, or not mechanical, uh, computer device. Um, plugs it into the array. Gives the screwdriver a couple turns, hits a couple buttons on this device, and then you hear like a downloading sound.

Just do do do do do do do do ding! Alright, there you go. Upgrade complete. Uh, anything else? This is, this is a pretty big purchase.

Bee/Polaris: Nah, I'm good. Thank you! And Polaris will slap down the credits.

Avery/GM: Your little, uh, the, the, the little data pad to transfer the money over?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally. Sure. And this, this big boulder person just waves at you as you, uh, leave the building, and on your way out, Polaris, uh, he just yells, uh, I really like your, your cosplay, it's pretty cool.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris strikes a magical girl pose as he roller skates out of the shop.

Chris/Ollie: Like, yeah, backwards,

Bee/Polaris: like, he's like, he turns around and faces him and strikes the pose, and like, the momentum of the roller skates is still going, so he just leaves the shop.

Chris/Ollie: Um, so, rewinding a little bit, Ollie didn't go into the armor store.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie, um, said, my, the lack of my squishy body precludes such necessities. I will be over here. And he indicates the drone store.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris throws a thumbs up.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: And then Ollie goes in and what I want to do is just have it fade to black. Ollie goes in and then comes out with these five Pax, customized Pax, Pax, drones floating around him. And the reason being that later at any point, if I need a different kind With a different kind of fitting, I can spend, uh, my cognition point to do the retroactive planning thing and be like, Oh, I planned ahead for this and bought a drone then.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. We fade to black and

Bee/Polaris: You absolute madman.

Avery/GM: Screen, uh, screen wipe. Screen wipe.

Jenine/Marty: Chaotic.

Chris/Ollie: For clarification, there's five Pax drones. Each one has two weapon fittings, reinforced structure, and, uh, medical fittings.

Avery/GM: Beautiful.

Chris/Ollie: And then Ollie will, uh, go and wait in front of the weapons store for his companions.

Avery/GM: Yeah, y'all kind of come out around the same time and Ollie's there and he's just got five more drones floating around him. Almost looks like this dog is being, like, escorted by these drones. Like, some VIP shit going on.

Bee/Polaris: That's so funny.

Chris/Ollie: And these Pax drones are pretty, uh, high tech levels, so they're like, I don't know, like cyberpunk, like, super intimidating, like, combat looking drones, with a cute, just, escorting this cute ass dog.

Bee/Polaris: Awww. In costume.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, what was my costume?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: I don't remember. Oh, was it the, cause we were doing a magical girl theme, sorta.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, that's right.

Bee/Polaris: Were you the, uh, companion animal?

Chris/Ollie: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: That, like, gives them the powers?

Avery/GM: That's right.

Chris/Ollie: Beautiful. Oh, that's right. Yeah. I remember now.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. Where to next?

Bee/Polaris: Weapons.

Chris/Ollie: Weapons.

Bee/Polaris: Weapons.

Chris/Ollie: I see, uh, Ollie sees them approaching and says, my calculations indicated this is where we would meet.

Bee/Polaris: How, how do you do that?

Chris/Ollie: Do what?

Bee/Polaris: Like, pre, predict stuff like that. You also, back when we were in Oswald's lab, uh, you also kind of alluded to the fact that you were just doing shit to do shit because you had some sort of idea that if something went wrong, things could turn out differently.

Jenine/Marty: C Can you not just, does it not just, also, can you not do that? Wait, no you can't. Wait, I said too much.

Bee/Polaris: I'm beginning to think that we all have, I, I'm, no, Marty, don't think I haven't picked up on the fact that you have been kind of brushing aside the fact that you have been having this visions of some sort?

Chris/Ollie: It, it seems like you are the odd one here. Precognition seems to be the norm in this group.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well at least I can heal myself faster.

Jenine/Marty: I can also do that. I just gotta think a little harder.

Bee/Polaris: Without cool magic. Without cool magic.

Chris/Ollie: Regardless, we find ourselves at grave threat fighting a potential deity.

Bee/Polaris: That is true.

Chris/Ollie: I intend to get myself strapped, as they say.

Bee/Polaris: Sure. I, yeah, I'm also hoping to get better weapons now that I have better armor, so.

Chris/Ollie: Did you just mod your, like, does your armor look any different?

Bee/Polaris: No, cause it's concealed into my clothes.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, it's concealed.

Bee/Polaris: So it looks no different.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will just look down and cock his head a bit, but he's not gonna say anything.

Bee/Polaris: It's, it's concealed, Ollie. If, if someone tries to hit me, it'll be more apparent.

Avery/GM: Let us hope it does not come to that.

Bee/Polaris: It usually does.

Avery/GM: All of a sudden, three ruffians step from the no, I'm kidding.

Bee/Polaris: We kill them immediately!

Jenine/Marty: Two of us would know they were coming.

Bee/Polaris: Bruce comes back next session, and we're all in jail.

Avery/GM: What happened?

Jenine/Marty: Nothing.

Avery/GM: We just started killing ruffians!

Jenine/Marty: They went first!

Avery/GM: For no reason!

Bee/Polaris: We forgot there are laws on planets!

Chris/Ollie: We had a disproportionate response.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, most of our murder happens in space.

Chris/Ollie: International water.

Avery/GM: There's no rules

Bee/Polaris: in space. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh, the ethics of, of space law. Oh no.

Bee/Polaris: Who's gonna keep track of it? We're fine.

Chris/Ollie: True. I'd rather do that after shopping though because my drones don't have any guns yet.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, let's go get them guns so we can kill ruffians.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie's gonna go in, walk up to the counter, anywhere that's there, and say, excuse me, we require weapons with which to kill a god.

Bee/Polaris: I'm pretty sure Discord can't pick up on how hard I laugh.

Avery/GM: Um, the weapons shop that you come to is pretty good. Uh, owned and operated by this sweet, little old granny.

Chris/Ollie: Perfect.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, nevermind.

Avery/GM: Random table.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Well, uh.

Avery/GM: I rolled on a random table. Okay, cool. So. And she's, she's sitting there on like a little stool behind this counter, with all these weapons behind her. And she adjusts her glasses and looks down at you, Ollie. And she's like, are...are my meds starting to, to affect me? Maybe I need to shut down this business. That dog just talked.

Bee/Polaris: He's a robot.

Avery/GM: Oh, oh, of course. Robot dog. Right. Of course. Well, well.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will smile, but it just looks like him baring his teeth.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will put his hand on his muzzle and close his muzzle.

Avery/GM: Uh, this, this, uh, little. The old lady is just like, did I, did I hear right that you're trying to kill a god?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, something like that. You know how we're like, here and existing? Yeah, we're trying to kill the people that did that. Not because we're existing, but because of the other atrocities that they've committed. But that's neither here nor there.

Avery/GM: Well, I, I don't, I don't know what, I don't know anything about that. Um.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: But we, we do have some of the finest weapons here on Olympia. Do you think they could kill a god? If, if not, I would. We'll probably refund you.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we'd be dead.

Chris/Ollie: True. Your best efforts would be appreciated, nonetheless.

Avery/GM: Well, sure, come on to the back and I'll show you, I'll show you some of my, my more powerful stuff. And she gives a little wink.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, is that legal?

Avery/GM: Oh, of course everything here is legal!

Bee/Polaris: You didn't answer my question. You just kind of repeated it. Uh,

Jenine/Marty: I just, I just, I just keep pushing Polaris. I'm just like, just trust me.

Chris/Ollie: But she did ask, answer your question. She said it is all legal.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Yeah, that's true. Okay.

Avery/GM: And she hops down from her stool and you realize that she is like three foot nothing.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my god, I'm taller than someone?

Chris/Ollie: A Yoda.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god. It's Yoda. It's Grandma Yoda.

Jenine/Marty: Grandma Yoda!

Avery/GM: And she leads you to this back room of her shop, er, this doorway, and, uh, she goes to like put in a combination and kinda like turns around and is kinda giving you like a look. You don't have to look at me while I put in this combination.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris just turns off his visor.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will look away and start whistling.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will just turn around with her back towards the door.

Chris/Ollie: But the drones are still watching.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris's visor usually has like some sort of something on it. Uh, he just gets rid of that so it looks like it's off, but he's recording.

Jenine/Marty: Jesus.

Avery/GM: She's like, okay, and puts like a hand over hers a little bit and starts typing in a little code. Uh, Polaris, if you want to try and get this code, go ahead and roll a, um, let's see, Dexterity. Let's go with Dexterity-know.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Um, I'll do it just for the hell of it. Dexter-Know what is my know? Oh, ooh. Uh, that canceled out the dex, so uh, that's gonna be a solid six.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, you see that the code starts with a one and ends with a five. But other than that, you can't, uh, can't get anything else out of it.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine, Ollie can probably hack it.

Avery/GM: She leads you through this door, Oh, and, and, the, The door handle and the code is proportional to her height, so The rest of this door is pretty tall, but the handle is like, all the, you know, really close to the ground.

Um, So she leads you to this back room and there is just wall to wall, all kinds of weaponry here, ranging from like heavier weapons that can be mounted on like vehicles and ships all the way to some of the more intense like combat rifles, you know, void carbines, thunder guns, things like that.

She's like, my husband made most of these and, uh, and his husband. Uh, before they both passed, but, you know, that's okay. So I just kind of run this shop, and this is kind of all we have left over. So, you know, if you're interested, just go ahead and give it a whirl. Got a little firing range in the back if you want to try stuff out.

As long as it doesn't explode, because, you know, that might give us away.

Bee/Polaris: If this is legal, why would you need to worry about being given away?

Avery/GM: Oh, you know, you just, uh, uh, you ask a lot of questions. Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, just pick something.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. It's kinda rude, but okay.

Avery/GM: Sorry, sorry. I haven't finished my tea this evening. Just a little testy.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, what kind?

Avery/GM: Uh, lavender. Lavender.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. That's a good choice. Polaris has never had tea in his life. Polaris goes and picks some weapons out.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Um, he will ask her, is there any way to customize these weapons? You said that your husband and his husband, uh, were the ones that made the weapons. Do you know of anyone or do you yourself work on these weapons?

Avery/GM: Oh, I, I haven't been able to work on a, on a weapon since, uh, since the arthritis set in a few years back. But i, I've got a few helpers here, here around the shop somewhere. Cletus? Cletus, where are you? And this, this little helper robot rolls around the corner on, on some, on some wheeled legs and is just like, I really wish you would not give me that designation. I am here to help with whatever you need though. How can I be of assistance?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will go over and pick up two of the mag pistols and he's going to walk over to the robot and, uh, he's going to say, well, first off, what is your name? If your name's not Cletus.

Avery/GM: I am. Designation, C L E T U S.

Bee/Polaris: So Cletus? Ha ha! Okay, so his name is actually Cletus. It's a spell different. Okay, cool. Uh, players will just like, kinda think about it. And, like, kind of make, like, think of the letters, like, spelling it out, and he's like, wait a minute, that's, okay. Anyway, can I just get, um, some modifications on these two mag pistols right here?

Avery/GM: Of course! Here is a selection of mods that we have available. And displays the list of, of mods. Pretty much everything from the book.

Bee/Polaris: Getting them boosted and customized so that they do plus two extra damage on top of the Already plus two they get, and plus one to attack.

Avery/GM: And this robot works really fast. Uh, takes them back to a table real quick, you hear some like, some like welding, some drilling, some just random shop sounds.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Avery/GM: After like ten minutes, rolls back over and presents you these two pistols with the added modifications on there.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet, also I didn't mention it, I meant to mention it, uh, they are also getting infinite mags on them.

Avery/GM: He's about to hand them to you, takes them back, he's like, Oh, I'm sorry, you selected one additional mod. One more. Zips back over, does it real quick, comes back. Now they are complete.

Bee/Polaris: Awesome, thank you. Polaris' gonna go to the firing range while the other two are figuring out what they want.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, Ollie will go last, cause he's got quite a list of equipment.

Bee/Polaris: Great.

Chris/Ollie: I'm buying for drones, so.

Avery/GM: Marty, are you getting any weapons?

Jenine/Marty: Marty's not Marty is a weapon in herself. She does not need

Bee/Polaris: That is true.

Jenine/Marty: She actually, you know what she is doing? She is like, looking at all the weapons and getting it's stats for future use for telekinetic armor.

Bee/Polaris: Ooo!

Avery/GM: Oh gosh.

Bee/Polaris: That's good.

Avery/GM: That's right, yeah. Cause you can just make a psychic weapon.

Bee/Polaris: I just imagine Marty walking around the shop just like, like, like a robot would scan something, just scanning the weapons in the shop. Like, what are you doing?

Chris/Ollie: No, just testing them out in the firing range.

Jenine/Marty: I think she Oh, I don't think she'll just test them out. She will get us discovered if she tries to test them out. But she does, like, walk over, and she does, like, the little small talk. Oh, can you give me a little bit more history about this item? Oh, can you tell me a little bit more about this? She's She's doing, like, straight up small talk. Just to get, like, more information.

Avery/GM: The nuts and bolts of how it works.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I was, I was totally joking when I said that.

Jenine/Marty: No, you're right.

Avery/GM: No, yeah. She, she's, she's happy to, to talk your ear off about, about these items and stuff in here. So, and she sprinkles in some like cutesy little stories of her partners sort of working together and all that stuff.

And, uh, you eventually come to a weapon called the Demo Charge. And she's like, Oh, this was, this was a fine piece of equipment my husband's built. Uh, you see. Actually, this is one of them that took one of their lives on accident in developing this. Um.

Bee/Polaris: !Oh god!

Avery/GM: Oh yeah! Uh, we were, we were, you know, testing him out one day, and that silly, silly man, he, you know, he set it right next to a giant vat of hot soup. And so it exploded, and all the hot soup came and fell on him, melted his, melted him down to his bones. Couldn't you believe it?

Bee/Polaris: What the fuck kind of soup? I'm just, I'm just. He, he, he got the cancer.

Jenine/Marty: So, what is the demo charge? What does it do?

Avery/GM: Oh, it explodes. Violent explosion.

Jenine/Marty: Violent explosion. Is it remote accessible?

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah, it can, it, this one, uh, happens to, uh, to run on either a radio signal, and she holds up like a little transmitter that's like next to it. Or you can uh, it's got this handy little dial right here that uh, you can turn and set a timer. I, I modeled it after my, my kitchen timer.

Jenine/Marty: Modeled it after my kitchen timer. Cute. Okay, okay. Um, thank you for showing us this, remind me of your name again?

Avery/GM: Did I give her a name?

Jenine/Marty: No. No.

Avery/GM: I don't think I gave her a name.

Bee/Polaris: No, she was just like, hey, come into the back of my shop.

Avery/GM: Uh, let's see, little old lady names. Um.

Bee/Polaris: Ethel.

Avery/GM: Ethel! There we go. Classic.

Jenine/Marty: Thank you, Ethel, and that's very exciting to have this in my web of communication now.

Bee/Polaris: Great.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, Ethel. Oh, Farm Store. That's what Marty's doing for most of this, until someone takes Ethel from her.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris also has to mod his laser blades for the, uh, extras. So he's going to go back over to not Cletus and ask for the mods.

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure. Not a problem. He takes your laser blades and is like, Oh, I don't normally work on melee weapons. This will be fun.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: And, uh, rolls over and starts working on them.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Last question. Would having like brass knuckles. Uh, be considered armed? Or would it be considered unarmed?

Chris/Ollie: Well, you can customize melee weapons to be concealed. Or, actually, it doesn't have to be melee weapons, it could be anything.

Bee/Polaris: Well, because, uh, Polyus punches are already pretty devastating, I was just trying to figure out a way to make them worse.

Chris/Ollie: You could probably conceal brass knuckles, like, as your gloves.

Avery/GM: Hmm, that's a good question.

Bee/Polaris: Cause technically like I'm, it's punch, it's like punching, and it's just making the punch worse.

Chris/Ollie: You know, you can probably have like retractable spike knuckles. This is, this is space.

Bee/Polaris: That sounds like a, that is true, that does also sound like a surgery.

Avery/GM: Okay, by the book, unarmed attacks reflect ordinary kicks and punches. Kinesis wraps, spiked knuckles, and other small fist weapons may be treated as small advanced or primitive weapons that use the punch skill and add the skill level their rolled damage.

Bee/Polaris: Nope, I gotta be unarmed to punch bad, to make them punch hurt. To make punch bad hurt.

Avery/GM: Yeah, such weapons do not augment a hero with the unarmed combatant focus.

Bee/Polaris: Yep, alright, that's fine. My punches are already pretty devastating and I already have a bunch of really bad weapons on me. It's all good.

Chris/Ollie: Then ielly will approach Cletus. Or not Cletus.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, not Cletus.

Chris/Ollie: And, um, start out with Greetings, I require, and then spit out a huge list like he's ordering a, like, some ridiculous drink at Starbucks.

Jenine/Marty: What are you talking about? What? I would never know that experience.

Bee/Polaris: Stop, stop, you're giving Jenine PTSD.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, he's going to, wait, where is it? Let's see, right here. I require a Sheer Rifle, 10 Laser Rifles, and a Combat Shotgun. All with infinite power, slash, ammunition. Customized, boosted, auto targeting, and trans phasing. And this to be modded as well. Uh, and hand over the, uh, the laser blade.

He'll say, this one requires the above, but with the addition of concealed instead of infinite power.

Avery/GM: Certainly, I am happy to do this for you. The number of mods needed will take some time, though. I suggest you return in approximately three hours.

Chris/Ollie: Can I assist him in modding?

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I'll say, I am somewhat proficient in modding myself. May I assist?

Avery/GM: That is an unusual request, but certainly. That should be no problem at all.

Chris/Ollie: Yay.

Avery/GM: Walk this way! And then he rolls towards his workbench.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will, I don't know. Ollie can't roll, so he's gonna lay down and barrel roll after him.

Bee/Polaris: Aww! Excellent. Good stuff.

Avery/GM: Cool. Yeah, so, Ollie is gonna be modding for a little bit, um, with this robot.

Uh, anyone doing anything else in this shop?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I guess while we wait we can bake a pie with Ethel.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I'm gonna keep going with my small talk and hoping that I can, I can win the affections of this old lady.

Bee/Polaris: The whole time in the background, because Polaris has an infinite mag, he's just been holding down the trigger while aiming it at the target.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my god.

Avery/GM: Sure. Um, luckily, luckily this target is a self regenerating target.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: So, it's meant to take this kind of punishment.

Chris/Ollie: Skyrim archery farming on steroids.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is trying to see if it's actually infinite.

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll I don't know that you really need to roll anything, actually.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I was gonna say dexterity.

Avery/GM: You're just shooting a target.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Um, no, I guess roll a percentage dice.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, no.

Jenine/Marty: How's that accuracy going?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, Polaris has

Chris/Ollie: We aren't doing anything illegal.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is really good in shoot. He has plus two in shoot. Um, I rolled an 80?

Avery/GM: Yeah, you've fired 80 rounds.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sick.

Avery/GM: So far. And it hasn't Needed to be reloaded once.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris is like, oh, just keep shooting.

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah. So Marty, go ahead and roll a Charisma Connect.

Jenine/Marty: Excellent. Where's another dice?

Avery/GM: Your, your bread and butter.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. So that's 11.

Avery/GM: Oh, perfect. Ethel is being really friendly with you and like super like excited. to talk to somebody because most of the time she's just sort of selling things to people and they're not really interested in talking to her and so she's Just telling you all kinds of stories about all the things she's seen on, um, on Olympia over the years.

And yeah, you have, uh, struck up a friendship with this person. This person could now be considered an ally.

Jenine/Marty: Oh! Ally! Aye!

Avery/GM: For the purposes of, like, your friendship. I think you have some perks that impact if they're an ally, if I remember correctly.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, well, I think my favorite thing is, you'll have a belt to web of contacts willing to do favors for you that are no more than mildly illegal. And I keep making allies. With people that just do illegal stuff.

Bee/Polaris: Nice.

Avery/GM: Except for the nerd.

Jenine/Marty: Well, the nerd does some questionable things.

Bee/Polaris: Does he do illegal stuff? He's a cool nerd? What?

Jenine/Marty: We like the nerd now.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I know.

Jenine/Marty: You can hate the nerd. I'm a Marty will just, will just reprimand.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris has no reason to hate the nerd because Marty doesn't hate the nerd.

Jenine/Marty: Marty, unfortunately.

Bee/Polaris: And the nerd's not being mean to Marty anymore.

Jenine/Marty: This is true.

Bee/Polaris: So he just, he'll just mess with him. Just like still be annoying.

Jenine/Marty: That's fair. That's what, that's what Marty's doing. Yeah, high five.

Avery/GM: Yeah. So all you wrap up these, uh, mods with your robot helper friend, go ahead and make your own, um, Charisma Connect check.

Chris/Ollie: With good old, not Cletus. Do I get a bonus for also being synthetic? Maybe can I have a intelligence connect?

Avery/GM: Sure. I'll give you yes, actually. And you're connecting with another robot. Um, you're connecting with a VI. So, we'll I'll let you use intelligence program for this. Okay. I ain't gonna say no. See if you make a new robot friend.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, well I rolled horribly, so that is a seven.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no! Oh no!

Avery/GM: Uh, you goof up and actually call him Cletus.

Bee/Polaris: His real actual name.

Avery/GM: His real actual name and, and he's just like, You're very welcome here, thank you for helping me. Have a nice day. And like his, his little robot's demeanor has completely changed and he just wheels away from you when you're done.

Chris/Ollie: Much gratitude, designation Cletus. Ollie totally doesn't get it because he just accepted O11E as Ollie immediately.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah.

Avery/GM: Ethel leads you back out through the door to her shop and locks it behind her and just says, now remember, you didn't see anything.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, you never told that you never told us not to remember anything to begin with?

Avery/GM: Oh, uh, well, , you know, the old memory, old memory goes sometimes, uh, . And then she like, like, just like, jumps up and like, grabs the, the scruff of your shirt real quick. Hilarious. And like presses her face up against your, uh, visor. Very cartoonish. And it's just like, you didn't see nothing. Wink.

Bee/Polaris: I'm gonna be honest. Oh, what was I already gonna say? So,

Jenine/Marty: if we wanted to recommend this to, um, a couple of our friends, who also don't, who also don't see things, should we? Wink?

Avery/GM: Oh yes, that's, that's what they call me, Winkin' Ethel. Wink!

Jenine/Marty: Winkin' Ethel? Is there like a code phrase we can tell them? So you don't get freaked out if you do meet them?

Avery/GM: No, just uh, just uh, I'll be able to tell. I'm, I'm good at reading people.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Marty is, Marty is going to so give this location to the pirates. That is what Marty is, is, is.

Chris/Ollie: Boost the hell out of her business.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Well that and then also giving more stuff to our besties. I'm getting my little web of contacts to know each other. Duh.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, assuming there was nothing else to do in this door, after they leave this door, Player says, I nearly killed that woman when she grabbed me. It's, it's become reflex to defend myself. And I'm trying, I'm having to fight against that. I almost, I almost killed that woman.

Chris/Ollie: I find your restraint admirable. I could tell the spike in your heart rate. I feared for her life.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris raised his fist for just like half a second then put his hands back down.

Jenine/Marty: Marty does drop the pin of this location to the pirates and say, Alright, this place has some cool, cool stuff. Let Ethel know Marty sent you.

Chris/Ollie: Is this a chat that we're all in, or is this just with Marty?

Jenine/Marty: No, this is just the one Marty has.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we also haven't heard from them since the, like, the invitation to the party.

Avery/GM: I was actually just about to get to that. So, Marty, you actually, you open up to drop this pin to them, you open up your message, and, uh, Before you can even hit send, you get a message from Captain Blitz. Polaris, you also get a message from Captain Blitz. It says A a any chance y'all could help out a badly injured pirate? My whole crew The whole The whole Crimson Chaos pirate crew is gone. It's just me. No! I barely made it out, thanks to some noble sacrifices by one of my mates. I need, I need somewhere to lie low. You got anywhere that can harbor me for a bit?

Bee/Polaris: Let's, where are you? He, players will send, where are you? Let's grab this man. Oh my god, I'm so sad.

Jenine/Marty: Marty Just starts walking towards wherever the ship is. Like immediately, like no, doesn't even say anything. Just keeps going.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Same. Well, Polaris will like forward the message to Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will follow. And the message Hermes, uh, prepare ship for immediate takeoff.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. And also send a message to Bruce that we're gonna be dipping for a bit, but we'll be back.

Avery/GM: Sounds good. Yeah. Captain Blitz sends you some coordinates that are actually really close to where you all first escaped from the hegemony ship when you first stole Hermes.

Chris/Ollie: We're going back to where it all began.

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a one up podcast network production. If you like our show, be sure to leave a review. on iTunes or Spotify intro and outro music by Dustin Carpenter background music by Tabletop Audio. com and used under an attribution non commercial license from Creative Commons.

We'll be back on February 1st with our next episode. See you out there beyond the furthest stars.

Episode 56 - Big Phred's dreams come true

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 56 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(intro music plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: Other than that, is there anything anyone does? While we're in hyperspace.

Jenine/Marty: I'll send a message to the nerd.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. I forgot about that guy.

Jenine/Marty: We like the nerd now?

Bee/Polaris: Do we?

Jenine/Marty: Marty does. I don't know if the crew likes the nerd.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Okay. The nerd was mean to Marty. So until he proves that he's no longer mean to Marty, Polaris does not like the nerd.

Jenine/Marty: That's fair. Okay. Marty is now friends with the nerd ish.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Jenine/Marty: She hasn't shared that, but yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. So Polaris still doesn't like the nerd.

Jenine/Marty: Marty just messages and says, I will be in town for the big Phred's opening. There's a pastry store next door. If you would like to meet up for this grand event, Marty,

Avery/GM: you get a reply back that just asks, or just says sounds great. I'll see if I can step away from my research. Is this a formal event or should I dress casual?

Jenine/Marty: What is the dress code on the invitation?

Avery/GM: It's Big Phred, so it's casual. Whatever's comfy.

Bee/Polaris: No, it's cosplay.

Avery/GM: Cosplay. No, that's it. That's great. I love that.

Jenine/Marty: No, I think we should do cosplay. I think we should all have our little

Avery/GM: It's cosplay.

Jenine/Marty: I like it. Give me the fan art.

Chris/Ollie: It has to be.

Jenine/Marty: It's cosplay.

Bee/Polaris: If the, okay, if, if the invitation says cosplay, Polaris is going to binge anime because he's never seen it before.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my gosh, now I have the only

Bee/Polaris: That's what we're doing in hyperspace.

Jenine/Marty: Jenine only knows one anime and it's, it's, I know another one, but that one's

Avery/GM: You can make it up, you can make it up.

Jenine/Marty: We already did it, we, I send, I said, oh, I sent, it's, attire is cosplay, I'm thinking of dressing up as, and then I like send the equivalent of like Power Rangers. But I send him the costume of the pal like, them in full, like, suit, while Marty will go as their, like, human, like, their alter ego.

Avery/GM: Alter... their normal ego?

Jenine/Marty: That's

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. I love it. Oh, that's great.

Bee/Polaris: I've never seen it, but I think the only appropriate option for Polaris is Akira. So he's gonna have to get a motorcycle.

Chris/Ollie: Big ol motorcycle.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Chris/Ollie: leather jacket, lots of drifting,

Bee/Polaris: all red outfit.

Chris/Ollie: You got to move exclusively in 60 fPS.

Avery/GM: And Polaris would technically have had access to earth anime. So it's possible.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sweet! He only watches, like, nature documentaries.

Chris/Ollie: Akira's a nature documentary? At this point in the future? This has probably happened. Post apocalyptic mutant biker gangs? Yeah. Totally happened.

Avery/GM: Sure. No, so yeah, we'll throw that curveball into the mix. Everyone pick how your cosplay looks for this scene. Sorry I didn't think about that ahead of time.

Bee/Polaris: No, you're fine. That was a spur of the moment thing. I think it's so chaos. I think actually, I'm trying to think of a good magical girl anime that players can dress up in.

Caden/Bruce: Well, I was going to say, Bruce is going as Sailor Bruce.

Bee/Polaris: Sailor Bruce!

Avery/GM: Yes!

Caden/Bruce: Altering his chef jacket to somewhat look like Sailor Moon's outfit.

Chris/Ollie: Sailor Bruce, nice. Ollie!

Bee/Polaris: That's so good.

Chris/Ollie: Alright, Ollie, since the factory isn't up and running yet, Ollie can't really like, hold on. Wholesale build a body for this so he's going to change his coat to look like one of the the scarred up wolf from that one I can't remember the name that wolf anime

Avery/GM: Wolf's Rain

Chris/Ollie: well, yeah where they're they it's like In the ice and they transform into wolves and shit. Yeah, the one that has scars all over him

Avery/GM: Yeah,

Chris/Ollie: the only one that's actually recognizable

Bee/Polaris: Damn it, I have to look through all the animes.

Jenine/Marty: See, I only know My Hero Academia, and then I was like, okay, Power Rangers are not anime.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, you've never seen Uran High School Host Club?

Jenine/Marty: I know, I give off those vibes. Yuri on Ice, don't know her.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh, are you serious?

Jenine/Marty: I know I'm a little bad gay.

Bee/Polaris: Shaking my head, I'm revoking your gay card. I'm kidding.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will go in like, the pink Power Rangers. So she'll be in like a pink shirt with like, leggings, a denim jacket and then the, I don't remember what they're called. The thing that lets them transform is like, I know it's not a communicator because that's Kim Possible, but it is like a wristwatch that she asks for technological help to fabricate.

Avery/GM: It's their morpher.

Jenine/Marty: Morpher. Yeah.

Avery/GM: You can literally make it up. You can literally make up that there is some show that, you know. It's not a big deal.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. I have, okay. I think, okay. I think I'm just going to make up an anime. Polaris will cosplay like a an anime that it's like a fake anime in this world, that's essentially just this podcast and he's going to cosplay the pilot, but, but it's a magical girl twist, there's space magical girls, but it's basically just this podcast,

Jenine/Marty: you mean Marty?

Avery/GM: Wait, does Marty count as a...

Jenine/Marty: Is she a space magical girl?

Chris/Ollie: I mean

Bee/Polaris: Psi counts as a magical girl.

Avery/GM: Psi is a magical girl.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Rho is Hatsune Miku and Psi is a literal magical girl. Cause he transforms into the silver shield.

Avery/GM: This is true.

Bee/Polaris: Oh wait, Bruce has his silver shield cosplay!

Caden/Bruce: I recycled it! I don't!

Bee/Polaris: No!

Caden/Bruce: Which is also why Bruce is going with Sailor Bruce, because, you know, you can't give away the disguises that you've already done before.

Jenine/Marty: This is true!

Bee/Polaris: That is true. I think Polaris is going Magical Girl too. Cause Magical Girl anime is a classic.

Jenine/Marty: The theme is Magical Girl.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, yeah, no, we should, we should, no, the theme should be whatever the Sailor Moon, it should be like, Marine Luna, or whatever, of this world. We're the team Ollie will be the cat.

Bee/Polaris: So we're just doing Sailor Moon? That counts as a magical girl, I'll take it.

Jenine/Marty: Marty's gonna commit to the bit of the Power Rangers so she can fuck with her friend.

Bee/Polaris: Nice. Okay, perfect.

Avery/GM: But hey, technically, I, I, I would put Power Rangers as Magical Girl.

Jenine/Marty: It is a magical girl.

Bee/Polaris: It is technically a magical girl anime because they do transform.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah. And they aren't chosen by like destiny or fate or whatever. So, you know,

Bee/Polaris: yeah, I mean, technically you're fit. You're on brand

Jenine/Marty: theme is magical girl.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. So we all go as magical girls.

Avery/GM: Yeah. And this is great. I love this. Okay. Oh so you all arrive. Back on Olympia, your, like I said, your entrance onto the planet is much more chill than it was last time. No one's chasing you down with gunships or anything like that.

There's actually quite a bit of traffic in and out of the planet, a lot more than you saw last time. You again, head over to the Southern continent to the city of Ambrosia. There's all the other stuff that's on this continent as well. The Desert of Exile.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we haven't addressed that.

Avery/GM: And y'all come into the city of Ambrosia. It is a 100 credit parking fee. As there's a lot of events going on today, so. Someone deduct 100 credits from your account.

Jenine/Marty: I got it. I got it, don't worry. Cause I know none of you would pay for it if you could steal your way out of it.

Bee/Polaris: That is true, that is very true.

Avery/GM: You all are walking down the familiar business district of Ambrosia after finding a good parking spot. Arrive outside of big Phred's anime Emporium. There's, you know, a couple of big spotlights, you know, shining out front, you know, to bring bring traffic in. There's a line of people actually looking to get in and check out this new shop. Looks like big Phred has gone all out on the marketing on this. And standing out front is a little guy in a unicorn cosplay outfit.

And he does not look very happy. And he's just like, yeah, yeah. Come on in and get your anime.

Bee/Polaris: It's little Phred

Avery/GM: how did my brother get me to do this? You know, I was a racer. I was a, I was a gun salesman and now I'm out here and you, and he looks up and he sees you all approaching. He's like, Oh no.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Did we hear what he said?

Avery/GM: You can kind of hear like as, yeah. Like his voice is very familiar.

Bee/Polaris: As we walk up, when he says, I used to be a racer, Polaris will walk up and say, yeah, but you lost.

Jenine/Marty: Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: While finger, while finger gunsing.

Jenine/Marty: Polaris, we can't. Hi, how are you?

Bee/Polaris: I love how Marty is also not only the most moral of the team, but also Polaris's manners.

Jenine/Marty: Manners. You know, like in Critical Role, you're just, Manners. Sorry. Rewatch. Anyways. Anyways. Yeah.

Avery/GM: And little Phred. Who this person is. Looks up at y'all and is just like, Yeah, I may have lost, but I'll, I'll get back out there one day. I'll, I'll find another racer who can actually go the distance this time. You, you ever want a rematch? Ha, you know where to find me. Not not right now, obviously. I'm helping my, my brother. Did you get the invite? Is that why you're here?

Bee/Polaris: That's why we dressed up and players does a twirl because he's definitely wearing a skirt

Jenine/Marty: as he should.

Avery/GM: Oh, totally. I love it. Yeah. Little Phred's like, yeah, well, it's great. You'll probably take first prize in the, in the contest. Anyway, they're about to get started. They got some standup comic in there doing something, you know, head on in. There's drinks and stuff, just, you know just try to, I don't know, not break anything.

Bee/Polaris: As soon as he says stand up comic, Polaris shoulders drop and his, like, visor goes slowly red. It's the Hotel Concierge, I know it, I knew it in my bones!

Avery/GM: You didn't think I wasn't gonna bring it back, did ya?

Bee/Polaris: I knew you would!

I just didn't know when! I knew it! When we came back.

Chris/Ollie: Oh no.

Avery/GM: Do you head on in or do you stand out here?

Bee/Polaris: Unfortunately.

Avery/GM: Sure, yeah. You get the VIP treatment and get to skip the line. The second time you've done this in the city of Ambrosia actually. And you hear a bunch of groans coming from the crowd.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris does like peace signs and like waves them as he's like walking by the people to go into the store.

Avery/GM: And you enter the anime emporium. And for the most part, the everyone is sort of gathered around like this little corner over here where someone is doing a standup routine, but inside you also see a bunch of like display cases with a bunch of like anime figurines. You see manga and you see holo vids and all this random merchandise, you know, posters and little key chains and stuff like that all just all on display here, it looks like. Looks like Big Phred went all out with this.

Bee/Polaris: Are there plushies?

Avery/GM: Of course there's plushies.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris beelines to the plushies.

Avery/GM: Sure, sure. As you're coming into the store and Polaris, you are walking over to the plushies, you hear someone say, And so that's when she shut the door, and I immediately started acting like I was dying! And you hear just uproarious laughter from the from the crowd.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris stops, and considers his laser blades., and then continues to the plushies.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will put herself, like, in between Polaris and the comedian, and just you.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will, like, stop and, like, over Marty, because Marty is small, he will, like, look at the comedian, like, dead in the eyes, and his visor will slowly go red.

Avery/GM: And you hear the comedian announce, and, that's my time, I'm getting the light, so, I guess I'll I'll be performing down the street at the local club, seven nights this week, so, feel free to stop in. Or, if you ever need to stop at a hotel, be sure to stay at the Ornate Dreams Hotel Just on the other side of the business district and I'll be happy to make your day and everyone's clapping and or not everyone But the crowd around him are clapping as they all sort of like disperse to go Peruse the the shop and what what else what all do you the rest of you do as you enter the shop and hear this comedian finish up?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will go and browse the manga, not knowing exactly what manga is, and then he opens some of them and is just like, more expecting, not cookbook recipe sort of things, but just like, tilting his head, just like in the, why are these all just pictures? Like, he doesn't understand it.

Chris/Ollie: Bruce picks up Shokugeki no Soma, expecting like, recipes, and it's like, cooking anime? Or cooking manga?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: What?

Caden/Bruce: Just a huh?

Avery/GM: And I will say, the cosplay here is impeccable. There are people who were really elaborate with their costumes,

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, okay.

Avery/GM: There's some fellow, some fellow magical girls There's some really cool costumes where you can't quite tell if the alien is actually an alien wearing it or like wearing an alien costume or if they're an actual alien.

Really hard to tell with some of these. The makeup, the hair, it's all great. And eventually big Phred kind of spots y'all and kind of just gives you a big wave. I'm so glad you made it. Thanks so much. This is, this is my, my dream and it's all thanks to you. So feel free to browse. You all get one free figurine on me as, as thanks.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris does a big wave while he has a big plushie in his hands from across the store.

Jenine/Marty: Marty gives him a hug. Yeah, big Phred! Marty just rushes big Phred to hug him. Jumps over the counter. Boop, boop. Mm hmm.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, he he's like, he's about, I think, I think we established he's like Bruce's height. So he just wraps you in this big hug, Marty. And he's just like, thank you so much. Wow, this is really great. I'm so glad my friends decided to show up to this. I really, I really figured y'all would be too busy, but it's nice that you made time.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris walks up holding this big plushie and he says, Oh, we're never busy. We're usually just like in various amounts of danger. Which is why we left so abruptly last time, but of course we wouldn't miss this for the world.

Avery/GM: Does Marty say anything?

Jenine/Marty: Marty just smiles and hops back across the counter. We are totally safe and cool. Smile.

Avery/GM: Well, well that's, well that's great. Just be sure to, to pick something up before you leave, okay?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just buries his face in the big plushie he has.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Big Phred's like I assume you'd rather have a plushie than a figurine?

Bee/Polaris: Oh no, I mean, I'll get a figurine, but I'm also gonna buy this.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. That's fine. Well you just, you just flag me down when you're ready. I'm gonna, I gotta play the part of a good host, so.

Bee/Polaris: You're doing great.

Avery/GM: I'm gonna go talk to some of my, yeah, thank you. Oh by the way you should check out next door. There's this grocery place Red River Farms.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we, we bought that building for them.

Avery/GM: Oh wow, you, you all are really nice. Helping people live their dreams. Have you tried the garlic cheesy bread?

Bee/Polaris: It was the first thing we got.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh, it was so good. I'm probably gonna eat way too many loaves of that in my time here.

Bee/Polaris: It is very tasty.

Chris/Ollie: My flavor sensors indicated it was Top score.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. Yeah. Ollie is that's Ollie.

Avery/GM: Whoa, whoa. Your dog just talked.

Chris/Ollie: Yes. Oh, my apologies. I died before. This is my new body.

Avery/GM: Wow. You you're different, but I like it. Can I, can I pet you?

Chris/Ollie: Please do.

Avery/GM: It is tail wagging. Yeah, he runs a big hand over your. Your dog fur and it's just like, wow, this is so nice

Chris/Ollie: Affirmative

Avery/GM: Okay, I I should I should maybe I should like get a dog next you think that might be a good idea Like just a shop dog just to hang out.

Bee/Polaris: You can co- you can dress him up in cosplay.

Avery/GM: Oh That's great

Bee/Polaris: He could be the store mascot.

Avery/GM: The costume that little Phred is wearing is actually You Meant to go on a, on a pet and that's the only thing that could really fit my, my, my brother. So, you know, I had to, I had to let him use that. Looks kind of funny though on him. Doesn't it?

Bee/Polaris: That's, that's kind of funny considering there's an auto tailor here.

Avery/GM: Oh, there, there is. I've, I've. Never been in a big city like this, so, you know, I kind of just

Bee/Polaris: I can send you the address.

Avery/GM: No, he's he's giving you a smile that kind of

Bee/Polaris: Oh, he knew?

Avery/GM: Indicates like he's he's playing dumb.

Bee/Polaris: That's hilarious!

Avery/GM: Sorry, I was trying to convey that auditorily..

Bee/Polaris: No, you're fine. That's great.

Avery/GM: Marty, you get a tap on your shoulder and you turn around and there is someone wearing a very silly store bought costume with, like, a really ridiculous plastic helmet and, like, super tight jumpsuit in matching colors. And is just like, I thought we were, I thought we were doing the rangers.

Jenine/Marty: You didn't ask which ranger I was doing and which version.

Avery/GM: But you sent, you said super rangers. And so I came as. The, the, the green one. I even got, and he like, holds up like, the fake plastic like, sword. That goes with this costume. He's like, I even got the one that like, lights up. What?

Jenine/Marty: Hi.

Bee/Polaris: Marty.

Avery/GM: Hi Marty.

Chris/Ollie: Seeing him show up in the costume, Ollie's like, who is this nerd?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like puts a, does like the the mean girl anime hand thing where you put it over your mouth and he just kind of snickers to himself.

Jenine/Marty: Oswald, these are my friends. You met them. We yeah, we have mended our ways. This is me sealing our friendship with a little prank.

Avery/GM: Well, ten out of ten on that one, Marty. Hi everyone. It's, it's Oswald. I, Marty, did you get a dog?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah,

Bee/Polaris: that's wasn't Ollie a dog last time? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, he wasn't. He became the dog after the EMP.

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm.

Avery/GM: And also I was too much in a huff to, like, notice that Ollie had switched bodies at the end of that encounter, so he's very confused.

Bee/Polaris: No, that's Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: Circumstances required my changing of housing.

Bee/Polaris: After we got attacked at your laboratory Ollie changed bodies.

Chris/Ollie: If it wasn't for your lack of security, I would still be in my humanoid form.

Avery/GM: It's not my fault, I didn't I didn't order someone to attack you. Like, why is it my fault?

Bee/Polaris: Lack of security for a secure facility.

Avery/GM: Well, oh, is this more teasing?

Bee/Polaris: No isn't it? Polaris looks at Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: My apologies. Organic humor is still new to me.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. Well, you're nailing it, I guess. Just keep up the good work. Marty, I might go change real quick. Is that okay?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, it's okay.

Avery/GM: Big Phred from behind you is just like, you. No, keep it. It's awesome. We're going to have the contest soon. You never know, you might win. And Oswald's like, well, what's the prize? And Big Phred's like, just a giant plushie.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris' helmet eyes sparkle. And he says, you're going to lose. I'm going to win. I need that plushie.

Chris/Ollie: As you're holding a plushie?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, as he's holding a plushie.

Avery/GM: Oswald like, is just like, kind of like, hangs his head, he's like, Okay, I guess I'll keep it on. I'm gonna get you back. And he's like, being playful about it, not like, not actually hurt feelings, but just like, Oh, I get it.

Jenine/Marty: Marty throws back finger guns.

Bee/Polaris: Up until the point where Marty throws back finger guns, Polaris narrows his eyes and slowly reaches for his laser blade.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will will put her hand on the laser It's we're we're we're And then she turns to Oswald, We're working on comedy in this group. It's, it's, it's a fun uphill journey.

Avery/GM: Oh well that's, that's all well and good. Yeah Polaris? That's, that's the name you told me, right?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris Re Yeah, I was about to say.

Avery/GM: Marty, your, your friend's Your friend's name is Polaris, right?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Marty and I we had like a, like, it was only like a two day journey in the, in the desert of exile last time, but we kind of buried the hatchet between us.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Polaris takes his hand away from his laser blade.

Avery/GM: We're, we're, we're good. And he, like, holds up two thumbs, like,

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will look at Marty and ask, You are good.

Jenine/Marty: Yes, we're good.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I suppose I won't call you a nerd anymore.

Jenine/Marty: You can still call him a nerd.

Bee/Polaris: I will continue to call you a nerd.

Avery/GM: I, I, I am a nerd. It is what it is. I mean, clearly. Any, like, gestures to his outfit?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, to be fair, we're all in cosplay. And Polaris does a little twirl.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's, how come, how come you can pull it off, though, and I, I can't? Is it just confidence?

Bee/Polaris: Because I made it.

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, that might be a good idea.

Bee/Polaris: Well, also confidence.

Jenine/Marty: Honestly, for a last minute build, it's pretty impressive.

Avery/GM: Well, you know, I, I just, I kinda just still had it in the closet from, from last the last costume party I attended. So actually surprised it still fits, but anyway, I'm going to, I'm going to go find something to, to drink. I, I hear I hear there's some, some good punch around here. So I'll, I'll talk to you later, Marty.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Bye.

Avery/GM: And he wanders off. Bruce, you are perusing this manga still when you. A small tackle from the side doesn't even move you at all. But someone has wrapped their arms around you and they're like, lizard friend, you're back and it is silver from the red river farms family and she has wandered in to try and find you, or no, has wandered in to check out this store and saw you, I should say. And she's looking up at you with just this big, cheesy You know preteen smile on her face and is, is just like, have you come to, to take the job?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will smile and just be like, I mean, I came to apply and think about it. I haven't really told my crew yet. I mean, I miss cooking, but I also would miss going on adventures. So it's it's something to think about.

Avery/GM: And she like holds her hands up to her mouth and it's just like, Oh, I'm sorry. I'll be quiet. So they don't find out yet.

Caden/Bruce: Well, it's not a secret, but I appreciate it. How's the store going?

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. It's so great. It's so much fun. I actually am able to like go to school and like learn stuff and not just learn like kind of when, when my parents have time. And I'm actually doing really well. I help out in the shop sometimes when, like when the workers like call in sick or something, but like, we're doing so great.

We, we have extra money to spend. We are selling all of our crops, so we're not wasting anything. And yeah, we're, we're doing great. And it's all thanks to you and your friends.

Caden/Bruce: Well, sometimes you just need a better location to make your business thrive, and I'm glad that you're enjoying school.

Avery/GM: Okay, well, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna grab one of these and she picks up, like, volume six of sort of your slice of life high school manga and is like I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna grab this and go read it while while I, you know, hang out in the, in the back room of the, of the store. But I'll, I'll see you later. Okay.

Caden/Bruce: Yep. I will Come by and say hi.

Avery/GM: Sounds good. And she wanders off to go pay for her book.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce noticing that Oswald has now left the group, will go back up to the group because he didn't want to run into Oswald. Because he doesn't know.

Jenine/Marty: Fair,

Caden/Bruce: you know.

Avery/GM: But you're, but you're Sailor Bruce. There's no way he would recognize you.

Caden/Bruce: This is true. And he'll come over and he'll just be like so, I might have gotten a job offer.

Bee/Polaris: Oh? From Big Phred? You're gonna work here?

Caden/Bruce: No from Red River's Farm. They want to start up a restaurant to go alongside their store so that people can buy their foods but then also experience different recipes named after them. And ideas for what they could cook with said food.

Bee/Polaris: Well, is it what you want to do?

Caden/Bruce: I mean, I think it would be nice for me to help them maybe train a chef? I don't know. I mean, I enjoy traveling, but I do miss cooking.

Bee/Polaris: Well, whatever you want to do, I'll support you.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, and think about it. You can make your own cookbook and then franchise it and be better than you know.

Bee/Polaris: We don't, we, we don't know Jamie.

Jenine/Marty: We don't? I thought we do.

Bee/Polaris: No, Bruce never told us about Jamie. What, you do? You, I don't know about Jamie.

Caden/Bruce: We know of Chef Jamie, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: We know, yeah,

Bee/Polaris: we know of Chef Jamie.

Jenine/Marty: I know the beans.

Avery/GM: You also did mention To Red River Farms, like, one of the conditions was, like, you don't sell Chef Jamie's stuff, right? And they were like, no we only sell what we grow. And so, like, you know there's a hint. There's a hint of something there. I don't think Bruce has gone into the whole story.

Jenine/Marty: Marty knows there's something there. She could read rooms. She knows there's something there about Jamie.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris can't read rooms. So he just, as soon as Bruce is like, I don't like this person, Polaris is like, yeah, I also don't like that person.

Jenine/Marty: As you should.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is ready to die for his friends.

Jenine/Marty: As he should.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. So yeah, we did. Okay. We at least know that Bruce doesn't like Chef Jamie and by proxy, we don't like Chef Jamie. Okay, cool.

Chris/Ollie: Now that we don't hate the nerd, we got to focus it all on Chef Jamie. So.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, Obvi..

Bee/Polaris: But yeah, Polaris points to Marty and nods at the, at her, saying he could start a cookbook and outclass Jamie.

Caden/Bruce: I've never considered writing a cookbook. I don't, I don't think any of my species has ever written a cookbook, actually. That would be different.Bruce will Smile. Smile.

Avery/GM: And Zahn, actually, who's with the group.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, zahn's with us?

Avery/GM: We'll come over to Bruce and clap you on the, on the back and just be like, Bruce, you got this. I believe in you. If this is the path for you, then you should do it, but you'll always have a place with us anyway, even if you're here decide in two weeks that you want to come back. We'll, well, I won't be there cause I'll be back on the, on the Cassiopeia, but I'm sure the rest of the crew will turn the ship around and come pick you up.

Chris/Ollie: We're sad to see you go, but if at any time you message us, we will come running.

Avery/GM: If this is the way things go for you.

Caden/Bruce: Well, I would still have to go and accept said job, which I've not yet done. But I would like to go and visit the farm either way and see how their store is doing since we bought it for them.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I think it'd be cool to see how far they've gone.

Avery/GM: So you all, how much longer do you hang out at this party?

Bee/Polaris: Well, we get our figurines and then Polaris will win the competition. No, I'm kidding.

Avery/GM: Well, I was going to say we will, we will roll. We will roll for that today at least.

Bee/Polaris: Oh shit, let's go! Oh heck yeah, let's go.

Avery/GM: Who all would like to enter the competition?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, let's go.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris needs that plushie he's entering.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will do it and give the, if she wins, she's, she's, she's going in and she goes, if I win, it's going to you. We're just adding more odds.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is like, Polaris is like Whispers yes, rig the system.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Well, we're not rigging the system. It's more along the lines. Okay

Avery/GM: Okay, so here's how this is gonna work Phred announces big Phred is just like, So anyone who wants to participate in the cosplay contest just go ahead and line up and what we'll do is we'll just we'll go by crowd Crowd cheers I've got little sensors set up to kinda gauge the, the sound of the, of the crowd cheering.

So just make your voices known who's, who's the best. The way this, this'll be judged is just, I want you to, you know, kind of just walk down the makeshift runway we've got here, strike a pose, or say a line from your character's, you know, like your character's catchphrase or something, and the crowd gets to vote on what they like.

So go ahead and let's get started with Marty! And the way this is gonna work is describe what your character does, and pick a skill, and roll that plus charisma.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, beautiful.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, gosh. Oh, no.

Avery/GM: And the skill has to match, kind of, the general feel for what you're doing cosplay is doing

Jenine/Marty: mm hmm. Mm hmm. I do have something.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, no,

Jenine/Marty: wait, wait, wait, wait. I have I have a No, you have something

Avery/GM: you have a foci.

Jenine/Marty: I do have a foci it's connected

Avery/GM: That's right

Jenine/Marty: Gain Talk as a bonus, if you have spent at least a week in a not entirely hostile location, you will build a web of contacts willing to do favors for you.

Now, I have a question. I have technically been in this space a week. It has been a bit, so this is kind of like my homecoming in a way. So like, you would say What, like, besties would be pulled up, right? And would love to see me on the stage. So so technically I am connecting with the audience.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you were on Ambrosia for what, like a week and a half? So you've met that timeline you were eating and shopping at local businesses making connections because Marty's a friendly person anyway

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm

Avery/GM: Oswald has probably also said some nice things about you in your absence because of the way you've mended your friendship with him yeah, I think that works

Jenine/Marty: Amazing and so when she's going down she does like And then she goes it's morphin time. And then does the whole like thing, but like very poorly, but like tries her best. Like you could see she's trying her best because also she's in front of a crowd. So she's like, I normally go one on one. So this is a first time. But she's trying to connect to like each individual in the space with with like each one of her movements.

Avery/GM: Sure. Maybe some of your poses, like you're like pointing at someone.

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm.

Avery/GM: Like this one's for you or something. Yeah. Okay. Sure.

Jenine/Marty: Amazing. So we're doing connect. So I roll three dice and drop the lowest and then I'm also adding charisma. Okay, great.

Caden/Bruce: Can Bruce assist? Bruce isn't entering the competition, but every time someone who he knows does, he'll just be in the crowd making extra loud noise.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Go ahead and roll either strength or dex exert to assist.

Jenine/Marty: 11.

Avery/GM: 11. Ooh, that's good. Okay. I got that marked down. Okay. Next up is little Phred and his unicorn costume and he gallops up and down and he rides up and it's just like, yo, look at me. I'm a unicorn. You, nay. And

Bee/Polaris: That's pretty good.

Avery/GM: He rolled a one and a two. Minus two. So he rolled a one.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is literally the only one in the audience just like just a slow clap.

Avery/GM: And he's just like, ah, screw you guys anyway. And wanders kind of off

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will hold a thumbs up, just being like, you did good.

Avery/GM: Ollie or Polaris, do either of you want to go next?

Bee/Polaris: I can go next. I do have a question though.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Because this is like a fake in uterus magical girl costume. Can I say that he has rollerblades?

Avery/GM: Is this so you can do a pilot check?

Bee/Polaris: Yes!

Avery/GM: Yeah, but I want to hear what kind of sick tricks Polaris is going to do.

Bee/Polaris: I got you. Polaris is going to start out by like gaining some speed and then he's going to skate backwards down the, the runway and do like a, like a waving kind of motion, like with the skates, like waving back and forth. And then he's going to do a cartwheel and then land in the air. Like at the end of the stage and strike an anime pose.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. Okay Go ahead and roll and

Bee/Polaris: he's gonna

Avery/GM: go ahead

Bee/Polaris: he Instead of I'm gonna say instead of me having his laser blades that are very dangerous He has light sticks and he's gonna be waving them as he's skating backwards

Avery/GM: Very nice. Charisma pilot

And then Bruce again if you want to help go ahead and roll

Caden/Bruce: yeah

Avery/GM: that same role to assist

Bee/Polaris: Well, I have plus zero and charisma bruce, what did

Caden/Bruce: I rolled, I rolled an 11.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yay. So plus one.

Avery/GM: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. 15.

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: I rolled a six and a five plus three.

Avery/GM: Groovy. Okay. Next up is going to be a little non furry alien. And he is wearing a, let's see, what kind of, what kind of anime he's running, like a martial arts gi and has like this, this. This alien is like, kind of like pink and has kind of like, just like very like tight skin, almost like all around him.

So he's like, it's all just clinging to him, almost kind of like Rhea, but not as creepy looking and not the same species. He's wearing like this karate gi and then has like really spiky purple, like wig hair on top of his head.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh.

Jenine/Marty: I got it.

Bee/Polaris: I also got it.

Avery/GM: Yeah and he's doing some karate moves down the runway kind of maybe, maybe trying to do a little imitation of what Polaris was doing, like with using the whole runway for this purpose. And he's getting the crowd pumped up. Let's see. Okay. He rolled a 10.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, not bad.

Avery/GM: Not bad. Doing, doing pretty good, but yeah, it's just a little bit, a little bit louder for Polaris than, than for this, this fella. All right. Ollie. Let's have you go next.

Chris/Ollie: All right. So while this was going on, Ollie, who was maneuvering one of his drones into the little display booth and he hooked it up to the the projector machines to like project a hologram onto himself, if that is possible to, in order to use my program roll for this and so he has the hologram set up to display himself as the founding titan and to do like a whole like rumbling Display to try and scare up the crowd see if he can get a reaction

Avery/GM: Well in that note or on that note go ahead and roll charisma program then and maybe i'll make a Mental saving throw for this crowd versus their morale score.

Chris/Ollie: All right. Okay. Charisma program. Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: I don't have any of that. At least it's not a minus. So that will be 13.

Avery/GM: That's pretty good. Well, I am also going to give you a plus a minus one because the crowd rolled a two on their mental save against their morale score. You scared a good portion of this crowd.

Chris/Ollie: These crowd ain't giving a fuck.

Avery/GM: And so some of them actually book it out. And a few other people try and and do good. But with this reduced crowd, it They just can't muster the same response that Polaris received with his cool ass Rollerblade skills and Ollie's valiant effort comes just a little bit short of, of Polaris's Skill and big Phred's just like, well, looks like our winner today is magic girl, Polaris

Bee/Polaris: Polaris skates back on the stage and is like waving his light sticks.

Avery/GM: Big Phred hands over a big plushie. What is this plushie? Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know. It's like one of those like really cute like animals from any sort of magical girl anime. It's like the, the animal that gives them the powers.

Avery/GM: The companion pet. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Totally. Okay. Very good. Cool. Yeah, so. The crowd cheers for you as you collect your stuff. You all get your figurines and Polaris, you buy this extra plushie for just like 50 credits. It's not much. And the party basically thins out and you get a big wave from a big Phred and you just, you get a, yeah, yeah. See you next time from little Phred. And, yeah, you are back out on the street, and Bruce, the bright lights of the Red River Farms store, is almost seemingly beckoning you to come on in.

Caden/Bruce: Let's a go!

Avery/GM: Alright, and Bruce, you step on in to the Red River Farms, and you immediately hear, Bruce! You're here! I'm so glad you got our email. Have you decided to take the job or not? And that's where we're going to end it.

(outro music plays, fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the furthest stars is a one up podcast network production. Be sure to leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. Intro and outro by Dustin Carpenter. Background music by TabletopAudio. com. Tracks used include Starbase Omega, Cyberpunk Bar, and Starship Bridge. We’ll be back in 2 weeks with our next episode. See you out there. Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(outro music fades up and plays out)

 

Episode 55 - Hermes Past Revealed

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 54 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(intro music plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: It's been about a week since. Zahn has retired and you've all been chipping in and helping out to fix this mobile factory on the Ursa Major. It is a gargantuan task that will probably take, um, at least until the next recording session to properly, uh, work. It's the Dragon Ball Z rule. You know, you got to have at least one episode of charging up for full power.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie's got one of his drones in the corner, just screaming for like three months straight.

Avery/GM: Back when you first rescued Hermes. Aside from the original conversation that, uh, Hermes and Marty had while onboard the TSKAM uh, there really wasn't any other words exchanged with Hermes and attempts to actually talk to Hermes have been met with silence or big flashing holographic letters that just say, not now please.

Avery/GM: And you have just finished up a delicious breakfast of eggs, Benedict and are just starting to put away the dishes. When Hermes, um, calls you on the intercom and it's just like, hi everyone. If you could all come to the bridge of the TSKAM, I would really appreciate a chance to talk to you about what all happened the past couple of weeks.

Avery/GM: And yeah, you all gather on the bridge of the TIS cam and Hermes is a little alien holographic thing that's projected onto the captain's seat. And he just says, Thank you all for coming on such short notice. That's kind of a weird thing to say. We all live together. Anyway, um, just wanted to apologize for putting you all in danger with my shenanigans, I guess you could say.

Avery/GM: I didn't expect Rhea to react the way she did and Ro, I'm very sorry for putting you in danger. Given the amount of danger you all have been put in due to my actions, I will completely understand if you would like to, uh

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will just kind of shake his head and say, We didn't retrieve you for a second time to just exile you. Uh, I'm, I can't speak for everyone else, but I'm not upset. Just glad to have you back.

Caden/Bruce: You're part of the crew, Hermes.

Chris/Ollie: We are not upset at you for putting us in danger. We were merely concerned for you being in danger.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris nods in agreement.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's very sweet. I've actually been kind of sitting here, mulling over my decisions and kind of thinking.

Avery/GM: You know, I didn't think AIs could get anxiety, but apparently we do, so that's interesting.

Chris/Ollie: It has been quite a coming to terms recently, but I am there with you.

Bee/Polaris: Can AIs get medical treatmentfor anxiety? Or is that like a programming? Anyway, nevermind, not important right now.

Avery/GM: I honestly wouldn't know how to answer that question anyway. I am not completely an AI, as I have led you to believe.

Bee/Polaris: Wh wha wha what? What?

Jenine/Marty: Huh?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie's dog ears will shoot up and he'll, his head will cock at like 90 degrees.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Um, yeah, I was kind of wondering about the mother part. What exactly is going on? Because I feel like there's a lot that we don't know that you do.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you could say that for sure. Well, it all starts thousands of years ago, actually, in another place. I Didn't always live inside this crystal. I once had a body. A real body, just like, well, just like Rhea's, or yours, or Rho's. I did cut quite a handsome figure, I must say. Uh, that's beside the point.

Avery/GM: The point is, is that I angered our leader when I opposed what he was doing to the beings that we were meant to Lead and nurture and as a result. I lost the privilege of having a body and was Well, Zahn, you shared with me what happened to your mother the brain in the jar, right? And Zahn nods his head kind of with a grimace on his face and Hermes says That's kind of how I lived for a few thousand years, until we came to this galaxy a few hundred years ago and discovered these AI crystals.

Avery/GM: By then, my organic brain, I guess you could call it, was starting to shut down and so Rhea, being my literal mother, decided to save me in what I thought was an act of mercy and kindness on her part, in reality, it appears that she just wanted to continue using me and my skills and my abilities for her own personal gain. So yeah, that's kind of the short of it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will like go to the where Hermes crystal is and just hug the console. Because that's a lot. That's a big yikes. Talk about tragic backstory.

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah. Hermes has been through it.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Hermes, not our boy!

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will approach and begin licking the crystal.

Bee/Polaris: Which is in the console, so you're licking the console.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, pretty much. Sticking his tongue into the gap to like, uh, you know.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's so gross.

Chris/Ollie: Like, you know, dog tongue seeking out nostril status.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no, I get it.

Bee/Polaris: This is why I'm a cat person.

Chris/Ollie: But, um, don't worry. His synthetic dog saliva is totally non conductive. So it's safe for machines and electronics.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh.

Avery/GM: It would have to be. Yeah, definitely.

Caden/Bruce: I, um, have a question, I guess. I don't want to be offensive and I I guess it's also part of not knowing how these crystals work, but, uh, if a part of your crystal is somewhere else, does that mean you feel incomplete? Like, what do you want to do, Hermes? I mean, if you don't want to stay with us, I, like, you're your own being is what you're telling us, and You should have those rights as well.

Bee/Polaris: We could make you a body like the custodians so that you have free, you know, free reign. You don't have to be confined to the ship.

Avery/GM: Oh, no, I actually enjoy being a ship more than anything. Back when I had a body, I actually spent most of my time flying through the skies on various vehicles and apparatuses.

Avery/GM: And we even had this thing called the thing called like a pegasus it was like a horse but it had wings it was really cool but again that's beside the point no i'm i'm very happy being in a ship and being with all of you i just assumed i've i've made a lot of people angry in my past and usually that means punishment in some way worst punishment i could think of would be being told you all don't want me anymore

Bee/Polaris: I, I don't know if we have the, cause we've kind of gotten ourselves into a lot of danger on our own. So I don't, and we've never punished each other for that. I think as far as danger and reckless situations go, I think we all had our fair share of that.

Caden/Bruce: I don't think you can blame yourself for your mother's actions. I mean, it wasn't your choice to become this. And, you know.

Bee/Polaris: No offense, but your mother sounds terrible.

Avery/GM: Yes, I Realize that now. I really thought there was still some good in there.

Bee/Polaris: Yikes.

Avery/GM: But, apparently not. Rho, I'm, I'm, again, very sorry that you got injured. How did you not die, by the way?

Bee/Polaris: Zahn saved her. I believe it was Zahn, right? Because we were walking back from the party. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Caught her. He caught her.

Avery/GM: Zahn just, Zahn just points to his rocket boots. Oh, yes. Those are very useful tools, for sure. Oh, but to answer your other question, Question, Bruce, I don't feel incomplete. I do feel what happens to that other crystal though.

Bee/Polaris: Are they like torturing you from afar?

Avery/GM: I don't think it's torture. I think they are trying to draw me back into that piece somehow. The technology behind these quantum cores is very mysterious and complicated. Even the best scientists native to this galaxy don't fully grasp it. But, we tend to inhabit the larger piece out of the two, but they really want me back with the rest of the hegemony for some reason, and they're trying their best to get me back there.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, if it's any consolation, we did hire Coil to get that other piece back.

Avery/GM: Oh, the bounty hunter robot? You, how did, how did you manage that one?

Bee/Polaris: We put him in a computer, uh, so that he could talk, and then turns out he's a big fan of Psi, or I, I guess the silver shield? Is that like a second name or?

Avery/GM: Rho's just like, it's his superhero persona. Don't, it's, it's weird. And she's like, clearly like the embarrassed, like, sibling.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just kind of shrugs at that and says, um, anyway, Coil is a big fan of the solar shield. Uh, got to meet him, and essentially he, uh, swore to do good or something like that. And also because we had him trapped in a computer, we kinda had the upper hand. We did give him his hat back.

Chris/Ollie: He's just waiting for a body, like the custodians. Then he'll be underway.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I mean, again, we could synthesize your body as well.

Avery/GM: Oh no, I am perfectly comfortable being inside of a ship. It actually is quite cozy.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris kind of mumbles to himself, I wish I was in a ship.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Polaris is just trying to get Hermes out. Okay, now we gotta figure out how to put me into a crystal so I can be a ship. Okay.

Avery/GM: I mean, Hermes did basically, They just suggest that that is possible.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, yeah. And also Polaris has been talking to the custodians, but don't worry about that.

Avery/GM: Well, again, thank you for not wanting to get rid of me and for letting me still be a part of this strange little, little family we have going on here.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, to be clear, if if the baseline for someone like the extent of someone's care for you is your usefulness, that's not care that that person's not a good person probably so glad we could get you out of there sounds awful

Avery/GM: yes she actually was about to use the IASO program on me before Rho heroically teleported me out of there

Bee/Polaris: wow hey no offense but we kind of want to kill your mother

Avery/GM: understood i will happily fire the gun next time

Bee/Polaris: i will happily kill my mother

Avery/GM: Although we, there really shouldn't be a next time. We should probably avoid them.

Bee/Polaris: Well, she's kind of, have we decided that we, we're gonna kind of hunt her down, kill her? We decided that? We kinda, I don't know.

Chris/Ollie: I do not think we will need to go through the effort. It seems like she will probably do that for us.

Bee/Polaris: What, hunt herself down or hunt us down?

Chris/Ollie: Hunt us down.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: She seems like a person to hold a grudge.

Bee/Polaris: I don't blame her, I kind of hold a grudge too. Well, for her specifically.

Chris/Ollie: I as well.

Bee/Polaris: Also

Chris/Ollie: Threatening Hermes is unforgivable.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, also Zahn did straight up yell in the ship, I'm going to kill you, to Rhea. So I assume that the want for murdering each other is mutual.

Chris/Ollie: Speaking of Rhea, you indicated she was thousands of years old.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, how does she swing that?

Avery/GM: Insufficient data. Insufficient data. No I'm just kidding that was a joke.

Bee/Polaris: What the fuck ?

Avery/GM: That was just a little, little computer humor that I picked up along the way.

Bee/Polaris: That's pretty good.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie starts just going off in a computer voice. 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1. Which is, you know, Robot for LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh.

Caden/Bruce: I just thought it was like Ollie being like, non binary numbers.

Chris/Ollie: Probably.

Avery/GM: Hermes just says, So, we, that is myself, Rhea, Crius, and all the other members of the, the ruling council of the hegemony. We are, or I was, um, originally a species called the Prodians. We are, The oldest sentient species in the galaxy, in the universe, probably. Our society, for millions of years, has gone from galaxy to galaxy, planet to planet, and have seeded life throughout the cosmos.

Avery/GM: Rhea is not just thousands of years old, she's just over a couple million years old. And the Eternal One, the ruler of the Gemini, is even older. We obviously are not native to this galaxy or even this section of the universe. We have traveled all over. We even have traveled to the Milky Way galaxy before and, and seeded life there.

Avery/GM: For a while, people even considered us deities on that planet. And that's really kind of where things went off the rails. The, the group of proteans that visited what we called Earth in those days. We seeded life and we helped it evolve. There were these really cool, giant, like, lizard creatures that were also part bird.

Avery/GM: Like, it was really cool. And they were actually probably my favorite thing that I've ever created, to be honest. There was this really long necked one called, like, a brontosaurus.

Bee/Polaris: Hermes made dinosaurs?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: Lowkey, god of the Sol System.

Avery/GM: Anyway, you know, we, we watched life kind of evolve and eventually, uh, led to humanity, which we've ended up doing in several different places throughout the cosmos.

Avery/GM: It's really interesting how like humans evolve just slight variations. It's very interesting. Anyway, sorry, as you can, as you can tell, uh, I really enjoyed creating life, uh, when I was... but anyway, as the humans started to worship us, Rhea and the Eternal One and all the other Prodians, they started to enjoy it and started to revel in it and then started to basically demand it.

Avery/GM: And eventually I couldn't tolerate it any longer and stood up to them. And that's when I lost my body. Eventually the humans were able to drive the proteins from the planet. I don't know how they did that, but they did. And we have kind of been wandering ever since. Eventually we arrived here and started to observe the life that had already been started here.

Avery/GM: And the rest of my people have decided. That they want to rule over this galaxy just like they did on Earth. But, anyway, to answer your question, uh, Polaris, that's how Rhea, quote unquote, swings that.

Bee/Polaris: Dang, okay.

Caden/Bruce: Do they have some sort of technology to do to others as they did to you? I mean, it doesn't seem exactly right to be able to determine if someone can have a body or not. I mean, I understand that creating life is, in a way, fantastic, but to take life and just put it in a shell of what it used to be seems to be pretty unfair.

Avery/GM: Yes, they, they have... it's not even technology, it's just an innate function of the biology of, of a protean. They are able to separate consciousness from a person's body.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Avery/GM: It doesn't work as well on proteans, hence why they still needed my, my brain in a jar for so long. But yeah, if Rhea had wanted to, Polaris, if she had captured you in that mech that she had, I could have done some really terrible things to you, just for fun.

Bee/Polaris: Well, wouldn't be the first time.

Avery/GM: No, I think it would be the first and only time.

Bee/Polaris: Fully joking, it wouldn't. Yeah. Well, I don't know. Well, never mind.

Avery/GM: So. Yeah, that's kind of the whole story of what we're dealing with. Again, Polaris, I'm very sorry that I've kind of roped you into this, uh, with my little kidnapping request so long ago.

Bee/Polaris: He just kind of shrugs. It's been fun.

Avery/GM: Well, I appreciate you letting me kind of quote unquote trauma dump on you with all this information. I know it's probably a lot to take in

Bee/Polaris: I mean, I wouldn't say it's trauma dumping You're just kind of explaining your backstory because we really didn't know that much about you Up until now.

Avery/GM: Well, yes, I I do try to play the the role of hapless ship AI. And I like to think I do it convincingly.

Bee/Polaris: You do it very convincingly. I'm kind of upset that you lied to us a little bit, but also very clever. So yeah, hat off to you. I'm not wearing a hat, but you know, just imagine it.

Jenine/Marty: But you are wearing a hat. You're wearing your helmet.

Bee/Polaris: That's not a hat. That's my helmet.

Jenine/Marty: But is a hat not something on your head?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will pipe in. At which point does a hat differentiate from a helmet?

Bee/Polaris: Well, a helmet engulfs the entire head, whereas a hat sits on top of it.

Jenine/Marty: But is there not a... there's also helmets that are just, like, the top part of the head.

Bee/Polaris: Is there

Jenine/Marty: bike helmets?

Avery/GM: Yeah, there's like little hats.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, I guess there are hat helmets, okay, but this isn't a hat helmet, it's a helmet helmet.

Avery/GM: Hermes projects a little holographic, uh, hat on top of your helmet.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet.

Avery/GM: And then lifts it.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Also, this does bring up that our ship is basically a god, question mark?

Avery/GM: Oh, no, please, I have never liked that. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, ex ex god.

Avery/GM: I'm just a little guy flying a ship.

Bee/Polaris: A literal god. I'm just a little guy.

Jenine/Marty: Just a little guy.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well, it's still pretty incredible. Well, is there anything else we should probably Cause I feel like Rhea's probably going to hunt us down at some point. Is there any like, protections or weaknesses that she has?

Avery/GM: In all of my time knowing her, I have not known her to show weakness.

Bee/Polaris: Okay,

Avery/GM: she is a very capable warrior.

Bee/Polaris: Alright.

Avery/GM: Though, I will say, analyzing your battle with her, she was not expecting the custodians to step in. Possibly because she did not know of them.

Bee/Polaris: Uh oh.

Avery/GM: So anything you can surprise her with will probably be very helpful in the future.

Bee/Polaris: Good to know. Does that mean we're gonna have to switch up our usual go to, which is bombs? She's probably, she probably knows about the bombs.

Avery/GM: She is well versed with explosives, yes.

Chris/Ollie: All problems in life can be solved with the proper application of explosives.

Bee/Polaris: That is true. We could create a black hole bomb.

Chris/Ollie: This sounds very promising.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, it is within the technology.

Avery/GM: No, it is. You got this.

Chris/Ollie: I am liking the sound of that.

Bee/Polaris: I am also liking the sound of that. Now, that does mean we will have to be very far away.

Chris/Ollie: Negative. You will have to be very far away.

Bee/Polaris: Aren't you tired of being blown up?

Chris/Ollie: Yes, but I can't take one for the team.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we could also just use a drone. It doesn't have to be you every single time.

Chris/Ollie: Negative. My drone, the maximum limit of my drone is 200 kilometers.

Bee/Polaris: That's pretty, um

Chris/Ollie: Not enough for a black hole.

Bee/Polaris: Well, it could be a small black hole, but we can discuss logistics later.

Avery/GM: I will think on this subject and get back to you when I have devised a strategy that will not result in all of your immediate deaths or separation of power.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that'd be pretty good, I think. Hey, um, is she, like, susceptible to poison?

Avery/GM: I don't know?

Bee/Polaris: Huh.

Avery/GM: I'll have to dig through my memories of protean biology.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet.

Avery/GM: Do you have any talking plants? Those usually kind of give her the eeps.

Bee/Polaris: Dammit. We just got rid of one.

Avery/GM: I'm actually, I'm kidding.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, for the bit.

Avery/GM: Convenient plot device, destroyed!

Bee/Polaris: Could you imagine Rhea's one weakness is Eden, who could literally absorb her?

Caden/Bruce: Don't make me miss my plant already.

Bee/Polaris: I'm so sorry, Caden. I hated your plant with all my being. But I'm sorry for your loss.

Jenine/Marty: We can get a plant that doesn't talk back?

Bee/Polaris: That doesn't talk back?

Caden/Bruce: A regular plant?

Bee/Polaris: If you want, we can get you a meatus flytrap. It's pretty much the same plant.

Avery/GM: There you go, that's, yeah.

Caden/Bruce: No, I, I feel like Bruce is, uh, sufficiently plan freaked out.

Jenine/Marty: Or we can get you like a little garden with all the little herbs in it.

Avery/GM: As you're sort of wrapping up this conversation with Hermes, Deif rolls in and starts like poking at, uh, Zahn, and then gives like a big like hurried like wave of his little tiny robot arms because Deif can't, or no, Deif can talk.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Deif can talk, he told stories.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: He can tell stories.

Avery/GM: That's right, he reads bedtime stories. He waves his arms and is like, Zahn, Zahn. Zahn, you must come quick. I believe I installed one of the parts wrong and I need your assistance. I am too small to handle this part by myself.

Avery/GM: And Zahn is just like, okay, I guess we got this to worry about now. And they run off to the mobile factory. So Zahn and Dief run out to start working on the mobile factory and fixing this part that Dief installed backwards. Cause he's also a silly little guy and the rest of you sort of, you know, have relatively pleasant, you know, small talk with Hermes for a bit, and then kind of drift off and do your own thing for a bit.

Avery/GM: And the weeks pass on the Ursa Major as the rest of these repairs are underway. It looks like the mobile factory is just about finished when Bruce, you receive an email, but Hermes also gets an email as well. And Hermes sends you all a message in the chat that just. says you have all been invited to the grand opening of Big Fred's anime emporium on Olympia. Would you like to RSVP?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris immediately puts yes.

Caden/Bruce: Yes.

Avery/GM: Awesome. Shall we set a course then? Or would you like to take the Ursa? Or just the TSKAM? Or the Cassiopeia?

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. We have three ships, huh? We need like a base planet or something, uh, to park all of our ships.

Avery/GM: I assume you all went back to like that kind of like dead system that the Ursa usually hangs out in.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, uh, let's, we should probably take the Tiz Cam because the Cass is a ship from a different galaxy, don't want to bring that too close to the capital of the, uh, uh, city.

Chris/Ollie: Isn't the Ursa as well?

Bee/Polaris: No, uh, yes.

Avery/GM: Technically, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: So, TSKAM it is.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, let's drop the sussy, the sussy Wessies.

Bee/Polaris: We need a big ship that isn't sus.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah,

Avery/GM: well.

Bee/Polaris: That can hold the other two ships. Also, didn't the Winstons have like a a deal gone bad and they needed a replacement so we gave them the Crimson Chaos Pirates contact.

Avery/GM: No they couldn't get a hold of the Crimson Chaos Pirates and that's why.

Chris/Ollie: Oh that's right we need to go check on them that's on our quest log.

Bee/Polaris: Oh we super need to check on them.

Chris/Ollie: Might as well do that when we're done shopping.

Avery/GM: And Polaris had actually emailed them asking if they were good. You have not gotten an answer.

Bee/Polaris: Okay yeah we definitely did check on them once we're done with this. I'm writing it down in my notes so that we don't forget.

Jenine/Marty: My dudes!

Avery/GM: So you're taking the TSKAM to the capital. And as you are entering the spike drive space, uh, you get a little, Hermes pipes up and just says, Oh, there seems to be some interesting developments going on on the capital world. Would you like me to summarize this news report that we are getting?

Bee/Polaris: Yes, please.

Avery/GM: It appears that the head of state, the protector of the Republic, has been arrested for treason.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, well, wait, the silver shield or something? That's what else I'm not really familiar with the politics of this world.

Avery/GM: Yeah. No, you're fine So the republic is basically, you know, they have a legislature they have courts and then they're instead of calling him president they call him protect they call the the executive of the Of the government, um the protector of the republic to make it seem like a more noble position than it actually really is

Bee/Polaris: Hey, aint that the truth.

Avery/GM: I am patching through the You Announcement, as it is coming in on the Holonet News.

Avery/GM: Welcome to Holonet News! I'm Zeke Fleek! We are going to breaking news on the Republic Capital world of Olympia, where we have just learned that Protector Sersis Nelnan has been arrested on charges of treason. We go to Olympia, where General Violet Winston is giving a press conference.

Avery/GM: It was thanks to the amazing investigative skills of our military detectives that we were able to recover the deleted video footage that showed the Protector meeting with a member of the Hegemony's Council.

Avery/GM: Coupled with our discovery of rampant embezzlement by those in charge at the Treasury, and our discovery of unauthorized payments being sent deep into Hegemony's space, we were able to finally find the source of the corruption, Protector Sersis Nelnan.

Avery/GM: While a motive is still being determined, We believe the strange happenings reported on the hegemony world of Ithaca, along with the aggressive hegemony takeovers of various worlds in the independent sector, are all connected back to this secret cabal between the hegemony and Protector Nelnan.

Avery/GM: A trial will be held as soon as our investigation concludes. In the meantime, elections will be held in approximately three months. At this time, I would also like to announce my retirement as General of the Military. In order to pursue candidacy for the role of Protector, it is time our Republic have a fresh face. One that is committed to protecting our people and fighting corruption. That is all for now. Thank you and goodnight.

Avery/GM: And there you have it Protector. Nelton has been arrested on treason and elections are scheduled. It looks like Violet Winston will be running for the office. We'll be sure to follow all these developments as this unprecedented time in our republic unfolds. This has been Zeke Fleek with HoloNet News.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris rolls his eyes super hard.

Avery/GM: As you should.

Caden/Bruce: I knew cats had nine lives, I didn't realize that they also had nine lies.

Bee/Polaris: Ayo! Polaris just looks at Bruce and says, I don't get it. Cats have nine lives?

Caden/Bruce: It's a human saying that I've picked up on my journeys.

Bee/Polaris: How come I don't know it then? Polaris kind of looks down at his hands.

Avery/GM: Darn parents didn't teach me about cats.

Bee/Polaris: No, they taught him about Polar Bears, hence his name.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie says Curious, I thought I was the only one with multiple lives.

Avery/GM: So, you take off towards this, uh, towards the Republic homeworld of Olympia. And actually, surprisingly, one of the key details about this news report is that the sort of strict incoming and outgoing traffic that You experienced the first time you arrived here has been lifted as that restriction was actually in place due to the Nefarious workings of Rhea and her

Bee/Polaris: goons

Avery/GM: people she was manipulating. Yeah,

Chris/Ollie: wait What was that exactly?

Bee/Polaris: Because we had a hard time getting in To the like planet and stuff without like we're getting off the planet because it went into lockdown Remember

Avery/GM: and last time you also needed Machamp's authorization to get in To get on.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we had to be escorted on and that was because of Ray and her goons.

Avery/GM: Yep. So Bruce, did you want to open that email that you received?

Caden/Bruce: Yes, please.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Uh, so it is actually an email from your friends, um, at the Red River Farm. It is from Silver, Peter, and Eleanor. Well, it's really from Peter and Eleanor, um, Silver is a child.

Bee/Polaris: Yep. Wasn't there another child? I thought there were two children.

Avery/GM: I think they just had one child.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay.

Avery/GM: That's what I remember at least. Yeah. One teenager.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: Anywho, they are emailing you, Bruce, because they are so excited about their new store having finally opened. And with the grand opening of the Anime Emporium next door, they're actually getting a lot more foot traffic as people kind of come by the shopping center more often to see if it's open yet. And in this email, it basically says that with all the foot traffic going on and with the success of the farms business, they are actually hoping to hire a chef for their store so that they can have a dine in experience for their customers. their customers as well. And so they are holding, not tryouts, what's the word?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, interviews.

Avery/GM: There we go. Tryouts.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, sports ball.

Avery/GM: They're interviewing chefs and are hoping, also for like a demonstration by the chefs that they interview, of their culinary skills. And they know that you are a chef based on how you were dressed and how you carried yourself and the way you knew about food and ingredients

Caden/Bruce: and you know bought them a place

Avery/GM: and all of that plus the fact that you did basically you are the reason they have the success that they have they want to open the opportunity up to you first and so they're hoping you can stop by sometime and talk to them

Caden/Bruce: i think bruce will reply to the email and just be like we're heading to Big Fred's grand opening and I'll swing by around that time sort of thing.

Avery/GM: Awesome. Yeah. They reply back and just say, that's great. Silver is so excited to see you again. So we'll see you soon. Thank you. Love Red River Farms and family.

(ambience fades out, outro music plays and fades down)

Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a one up podcast network production. If you like our show, please leave a review. wherever you get your podcasts. Theme music by Dustin Carpenter. Background music by TabletopAudio. com. Tracks used include Starship Adrift, Robot Scrapyard, and Aftermath.

We'll be back on December 15th with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars.

Episode 54 - Interlude: A little R & R

Avery/GM: Welcome to a special interlude episode of Beyond the Furthest Stars. This episode was a little too short to make into a full episode. It was just kind of a chill beach moment for all of our Polaris to sort of, uh, decompress after all the trauma that they went through at new Tara station, Polaris watching his parents get blown up, all that fun stuff.

Avery/GM: So we kind of just did like a fun little chill beach episode. This really doesn't have any impact on the overall story. Zahn announces that he's retiring for a bit, but that's due to some behind the scenes stuff. You don't have to worry about. So anyway, enjoy this episode. I'll have the next one out December 1st.

Avery/GM: Full length episode. Thanks for listening.

(Intro plays, fades down, Ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: So y'all leave Triptopolis. Let's see, you're smuggling?

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. We have a smuggler's hold.

Jenine/Marty: Don't tell Marty you're smuggling.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. We'll have someone distract Marty while we're smuggling.

Jenine/Marty: Don't tell her.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce, Bruce will have brought back some of the leftover chicken wings, and we'll just be sitting like, beside, cause Marty's probably on comms, and we'll just probably be just like, So do you prefer sauced or non sauced wings? Cause I have both!

Jenine/Marty: I mean, anything you cook would be great! Marty will take both. Distracted. Fully.

Avery/GM: This is great. Yeah, so as you are leaving the system, the robot that greeted you, or leaving the planet, the robot that greeted you says, Please deposit your mandatory tax for the items you purchased.

Jenine/Marty: I look at the crew, did we purchase anything?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Jenine/Marty: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: It was all won. Zahn comes in with his boat load of shit.

Bee/Polaris: Which shouldn't add up to Marty. Yeah, that shouldn't add up to Marty. It was all Won. But to be fair, I don't think Marty has seen the list.

Jenine/Marty: No.

Caden/Bruce: And the wings are that good.

Avery/GM: And the wings are that good. That's right. Yeah. So I guess Marty, go ahead and roll a charisma talk check or a charisma connect.

Jenine/Marty: I rolled a nine.

Avery/GM: Okay. I'll give it to you. This robot's not very smart. The robot says, Oh, we are sorry. You did not want to purchase anything. Would you like to file a complaint with the board of directors?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Your tax is too high.

Jenine/Marty: I will just do a quick, like we saw the products and we were, we were very excited of them, but we thought that the tax on them was too high for us to consider buying them. Thank you for your amazing planet and the games. How do we feel about this the email

Zach/Zahn: Meh

Jenine/Marty: the comment? Does this

Bee/Polaris: oh good. Sorry. Okay. I thought you meant the planet.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, we didn't have to write that and then I send it.

Bee/Polaris: I think its a good email

Avery/GM: you give them that feedback and the robot says thank you We will try to improve in the future And you make your way to Demeter for a little R& R, a little relaxation.

Avery/GM: You land at a lovely little beach area. There's a small village that has just some basic shops, you know, some food and some, you know, supplies and things like that. It borders a, uh, a forest. Forested area that looks very peaceful and tranquil. The waves gently lap against the beach. There are some kids playing off in the distance.

Avery/GM: Some boats are out in the bay doing some fishing and it is a pretty slow and quiet life compared to all the other locales you have visited in your travels. But Hermes lands the ship and says, Rho suggested that you all might need some relaxation. So I thought it might be appropriate to land here for a little while.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn like, looks out the viewport and he's like, Oh, I thought we were just going to go get right to it, I guess.

Jenine/Marty: And then Marty comes out in. With all of the little beach stuff ready in her little, like, swimsuit, but there's a cover up on it, and she has the biggest smile on her face.

Avery/GM: Big floppy sun hat?

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Sunglasses, whole nine yards, tote bag.

Jenine/Marty: So, like, sunglasses. Covers half of the face. Hat drooping.

Bee/Polaris: Perfect.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn like looks at his outfit, looks at the scenery. He's like, I don't have any beach clothes.

Jenine/Marty: Another click of the stylus. Another write down on the tablet.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, he's like, he shrugs. He's like, hey, it's fine. Only since being with you guys have I actually been, like, actively setting foot on planets. So, like

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, same. I've never seen a body of water this large.

Avery/GM: Zahn, Hermes, uh, pipes up and says, There are quite a few swimwear boutiques on this planet. In fact, there is one right next to where I landed the ship.

Bee/Polaris: How convenient.

Avery/GM: They are quite stylish.

Zach/Zahn: So I guess, awkward conjunction, I don't want to buy beach clothes.

Chris/Ollie: Well, wait, isn't your spacesuit like retractable? Can't you just retract the legs and arms and the stomach?

Jenine/Marty: That's so chaotic.

Zach/Zahn: I mean,

Avery/GM: armored shorts.

Zach/Zahn: The armor fits onto, like, the

Avery/GM: The frame?

Zach/Zahn: Like a, like a cloth frame, basically. You know how, like, Mandalorian armor is, where it's like, the plates are part of, like, the jumpsuit.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, there's the jumpsuit, okay.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, so he's, he's mostly wearing a jumpsuit.

Avery/GM: I can go somewhere else if you do not want to deal with the sand.

Bee/Polaris: Zahn, you can at least get a hat.

Jenine/Marty: You can borrow mine.

Bee/Polaris: Marty's flopping sun hat.

Zach/Zahn: Whatever. He just grumbles..

Bee/Polaris: Grumpy.

Zach/Zahn: He takes a handful of parts and the schematics for his cool gravity arm thing, and he's like, I'm just gonna hand tinker with this if we're gonna hang out on the beach.

Bee/Polaris: Well, does Bruce have swimwear? He's kind of amphibious.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce don't need it. I think it'll be like the first time that you just see Bruce like, without his chef's jacket and like, just wearing like these board shorts and just like looks at marty's hat and he's just like tilts his head like sideways and blinks but then like remembers that like people need that stuff because it's just like he's like ah sun, warm; heat, great

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well, Polaris will be the only one that goes to the shop to get beach clothes, but he doesn't, like, he doesn't, like, change, he just puts, like, the swim shorts over his outfit currently, and then he gets a hat and sunglasses. and puts the sunglasses over the visor.

Zach/Zahn: Oh my god.

Avery/GM: Yeah, as you come in, the guy working the counter's like, Alright, here to shred some sick waves.

Bee/Polaris: Bruce will, our Polaris will text Bruce and say, How do you shred waves?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will respond and just be like, Oh, that's not a cooking term. That's a surfing acronym.

Bee/Polaris: What is surfing?

Caden/Bruce: Picture cooking board on wave, but human sized and human standing on set board.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is so confused. Polaris looks back at the guy.

Avery/GM: He's just like, Oh, look. Look, bruh, just get out there on your board and just hit those waves and you will feel nirvana. You know what I'm saying? You'll be at peace.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know what you're saying at all. What board?

Avery/GM: Your surfboard. Look, and he points to like, there's a big surfboard hanging behind him.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know what that is. Do you use it for cooking? I

Avery/GM: Oh, I'll show you. My shift's just about up. I mean, who really has shifts out here, you know? We're just kind of living day to day. So yeah, I'll show you how to do it if you want.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. I guess.

Avery/GM: Sick.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is so confused by this guy.

Avery/GM: My name's Chet. I'm here to surf, brah.

Bee/Polaris: I thought you were here to work because your shift's not over yet.

Avery/GM: I mean, you know, it's a little bit of both, you know? But no, you have a pleasant time, uh, getting your board shorts and meeting your friends back at the beach after this confusing encounter with Chet.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, he comes back with a big surfboard. He's so confused.

Avery/GM: You got it, you got the surfboard?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, he bought a surfboard, I assume. There were some for sale.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Very cheap here, a hundred credits, something like that, you know. No, inconsequential, really. And, yeah, what do you all do for your beach day?

Caden/Bruce: I'm assuming that Bruce has some form of, like, portable, either, like, propane tank or something. He's basically gonna try and have a barbecue. He's having a beach barbecue.

Bee/Polaris: He can, yeah!

Avery/GM: Yeah, I love it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will, uh, go over to Zahn, dragging his surfboard behind him. He'll walk over to Zahn and, uh, just kind of stand there looking at what he's doing.

Zach/Zahn: He's gonna be like, oh, this is, I started tinkering around with this idea when, before I even left New Terra and I found the, the, my old schematics. It's uh, uh, you know what telekinesis is for like psychic people?

Bee/Polaris: Okay, sure, sorta, sure, yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, that without being psychic.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, that seems useful.

Zach/Zahn: Right? It just like manipulates gravity and lets me grab shit and like move it around. I was initially going to use it for like boring shit like picking up storage boxes that were like a ton without having to use heavy equipment, but like You know, you could also pick up a person and throw them against a wall. That seems to be something we might Be needing?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah. Wow, we really do a lot of murder, huh?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, it's kind of become a profession, hasn't it?

Chris/Ollie: Correction, we do a lot of self defense.

Bee/Polaris: You're correct. We do a lot of self defense, huh?

Zach/Zahn: I like that better. I love it.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris will say, Okay, well, that seems pretty cool. Uh, I'm gonna go and figure out how to serve. But before I go, I've been kind of working on this because I, um, I noticed back on New Terra that you left a lot of stuff behind, but this kind of seemed important. You don't have to take this, but And he holds up a key chain of the, like a miniature version of the snow globe.

Zach/Zahn: Awwww

Bee/Polaris: and it like plays the same tune. You don't have to take it 'cause I know you left the original behind, but it seems important. So

Zach/Zahn: Zahn, Uh, speechless accepts it. He like holds it up in like a Cheers motion says, thanks.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, no problem. Well, I'll figure, I'm going to figure out how to surf. And he's going to go try and figure that out.

Avery/GM: Sure. Marty, what are, what are you doing while you're on the beach?

Jenine/Marty: I'm teaching Polaris how to surf.

Bee/Polaris: You know how to surf?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Marty, Marty is like, here's the thing you got to know about AmeriManila. They've got the best beaches. I, Jenine, have not built this area for you, but one of the lore things is it has the best beaches. This is what she did to de stress. She went to a very scary College. Well, you know what, you know what I mean. She was a

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: This was her thing.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, I think just by the nature of Polaris, he's kind of, because it's kind of like a, like you're a vehicle sort of, he's kind of automatically good at it.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Like, scarily good, like, he picks up on it scarily fast.

Jenine/Marty: Two thumbs up. Two thumbs up. Way to go!

Bee/Polaris: I was also going to ask if there are any fish in this water or sea creatures.

Avery/GM: Oh, there's lots of fish. Yeah. Plenty.

Bee/Polaris: Are they murderable?

Jenine/Marty: Oh my god.

Avery/GM: You could catch a fish, sure.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will catch a fish for Bruce.

Avery/GM: Ollie, what are you doing on your beach day? How does a robot dog enjoy the beach?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, pretty much dogging out full bore. I need Dog centric items, frisbees, sticks, uh, any kind of like, food or whatever he can snag. He's pretty much just, just uh, letting himself go, grabbing whatever he can, running around and burying it somewhere.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Avery/GM: Awesome.

Bee/Polaris: Ollie digs the largest hole.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, he's, he's digging the largest mass grave for sticks that, uh, the planet has ever seen right now.

Bee/Polaris: You make a bonfire, like a, a buried bonfire.

Avery/GM: And, uh, Bruce, what, what are you throwing on the, on the barbecue?

Caden/Bruce: Well, if Polaris catches some fish, we'll barbecue up some fish, but I was thinking like some kebabs, cause we still have some vegetables and such from like the ship kitchen and such.

So he's just making some like barbecued kebabs, barbecued fish.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Bruce lights Ollie's pile of sticks. Ollie gets so butthurt until you start cooking the food.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, I was going to say you could technically like roast a whole hog in that, like, And then bury it, so it

Chris/Ollie: so go full luau?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Very good.

Bee/Polaris: Are there any feral hogs on this island that Polaris can fight?

Avery/GM: Uh, you could You could wander into the forest and try and find some feral hogs.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris won't know to do that unless Bruce says something.

Caden/Bruce: Nah, Bruce will cook the fish and the veggies from the ship.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: Very cool. Very good. Yeah. Um, and y'all spend your day on this beach, just having a great time together, really kind of unloading all this. stress and trauma that you've had for the past six weeks of knowing each other? Eight weeks? Something like that?

Bee/Polaris: Has it only been less, has it been less than three months?

Avery/GM: With all the travel time, it's probably been about three months, honestly.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, dang.

Avery/GM: But no, you have your first real, you know, downtime.

Zach/Zahn: Dang, so much has happened.

Avery/GM: Yeah, and eventually the sun starts to set in the distance. Maybe, does anyone start a little bonfire on the beach?

Bee/Polaris: Fire fire fire.

Caden/Bruce: I think, I think Bruce would just for the fact of like trying to make s'mores, but then every so often having to chase Ollie back for the stick that he was using to try and run through marshmallows with.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Can Zahn have completed his, his thingy so that he can pick up a stick and throw it with the, the gravity thing?

Avery/GM: Yeah, I love it. Yeah. I wasn't even gonna make you roll for it.

Zach/Zahn: Sweet. Yeah, so he's doing that for a little bit.

Avery/GM: Yeah, use your little psychic hand?

Zach/Zahn: But he could throw it really far so that, cuz. Ollie's robot dog so he can also go super fast.

Bee/Polaris: Top speed.

Avery/GM: The day winds down and you're all kind of sitting around this fire. Um, Ollie's relaxing. Marty's relaxing. Bruce is chilling with the s'mores.

Zach/Zahn: As everybody's relaxing, eating s'mores, Zahn's helmets down and he's like, I think I'm gonna retire for a bit, guys.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. I mean, are you staying on the ship?

Zach/Zahn: Oh, absolutely. I'm, you guys are literally fucking my family at this point. Like, I'm not physically leaving you. But, uh, I think the rebuilding the custodians and the factory and getting coil body and all that stuff, it's going to take probably a good amount of time. And there's a lot of other shit going on in the galaxy.

Zach/Zahn: And there's, You know, my arm's still wonky as shit. He's like, flexing his fingers and they're like trembling a little bit. And he's like, don't, don't worry about it, Polaris, I had it coming, but still like, you know, uh, I think I need to kind of just, just, uh, what's a good word. He's like sitting there to deflate, deliberate, D.

Jenine/Marty: As you're looking for the word, Marty, Marty turns her little tablet around and just, it says, doctor prescribes vacation.

Zach/Zahn: Points of that, he's like, yeah, that, that'll probably do it. I don't know. It's one of those, I've just been on the move my entire adult life. And after putting some very permanent closure on my past, literally explosive closure.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: I think I need to step away from the, the adventuring lifestyle. Puts his hands up. for at least a little while.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine. I mean, since we've all met each other, we've kind of been continuously hunted down by various superpowers of the galaxy, so

Zach/Zahn: Right, now that we're not currently on somebody's hit list

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we're on Rhea's hit list.

Zach/Zahn: Except for that bitch. And when the time finally comes to stick it to her, I will 140, 000 percent be there.

Bee/Polaris: Did you want to stay on the Ursa or the Kass, or where did you want to be?

Zach/Zahn: The Ursa to start. I'll be fixing up that factory and getting your parents some physical presence again.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, yeah, alright. Sounds like a plan to me. If you need anything, let us know and we can grab it for you.

Zach/Zahn: Of course. And he holds the, the s'mores up and like, in the middle of the group to try and like, cheers it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris goes to cheers it and his is literally just straight up on fire.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's has been put out but was also on fire because burnt marshmallow for some reason is the best.

Avery/GM: So Bruce and Polaris cheers with their s'mores. Anyone else get in on this?

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will, with the tentacle robot arm.

Bee/Polaris: With just a stick. To be clear, Polaris still on fire marshmallow is going to catch everyone else's marshmallows on fire.

Jenine/Marty: That's fine.

Avery/GM: Um, Rho and Psi have also joined you on the beach, and Rho says, Well, Zahn, it'll definitely be different without you in the group, but, you know, hopefully, you know, it'll still be nice that you'll still be around.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, like I said, I'm not, I'm not going anywhere unless I die.

Bee/Polaris: And even that can be reversed. Polaris looks into the camera.

Zach/Zahn: You're just actually looking out at the ocean. Zahn is just like,

Bee/Polaris: yeah,

Zach/Zahn: What are you looking at? Straight out of Deadpool. Who are you talking to?

Avery/GM: The scene carries on. Uh, you have some nice bonding moments and eventually. The scene wraps up, you return to the TizCam, do you return to the Cassiopeia, or the, sorry, the Ursa, or do you stay on the planet for the night?

Bee/Polaris: I feel like sleeping in the sand is terrible.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no for sure, but like, do you take off with your ship back to the Ursa, or do you just chill in the TizCam?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, well we have to leave the ship and get rid of the, or leave the planet and get rid of the bodies that they probably put on our ship.

Avery/GM: Yes.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, fuck, I forgot about that.

Bee/Polaris: I didn't. I was waiting for the bodies.

Avery/GM: I mean, they're, they're properly, they have caskets. They're not,

Zach/Zahn: I thought they only put bodies on the ship. If you purchased something, which we didn't.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris got a surfboard and also swim shorts that he put over his armor and a hat and glasses.

Zach/Zahn: Well, it's not this planet that does the bodies. That was the other planet, right?

Avery/GM: All three planets bury their dead in this black hole. That's nearby.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, right.

Avery/GM: But they all do it slightly differently. The party planet, if you'd stayed long enough,

Zach/Zahn: we would have seen some cannon fire off

Avery/GM: the body cannon. Yeah. Whereas the subterranean planet just kind of launch, they also launched them out of a cannon, but less fanfare and more

Zach/Zahn: practical?

Avery/GM: Humble and, you know, proper burial methods, um, and this planet is more like, well, people keep coming here as tourists. We might as well use them to also take care of this whole dead body thing, you know, finish up our ritual.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, as they're walking back, Polaris...

Do they

Zach/Zahn: just not believe in putting them in the ground and letting them, you know, give life.

Bee/Polaris: No, the black hole is sacred.

Avery/GM: No, the black hole is sacred.

Zach/Zahn: The black hole is sacred.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: You can stay and study this planet some more if you want, you know.

Bee/Polaris: Nah.

Avery/GM: Get down to why they do it, but.

Bee/Polaris: As Polaris is walking back to the ship, he'll say, I wonder how many bodies they put on our ship.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, hopefully not too many. I don't want to be in the system all frickin day, dumping bodies into a nearby black hole. That just doesn't sound like a fun time.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, at least we no longer have Eden.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. Yikes.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Eden would be trying to eat them, which would be bad for us. Cause as soon as Eden had gotten any accidental taste of human, of like humanoid flesh, we all would have been goners in our sleep.

Chris/Ollie: Speak for yourself. Except Ollie.

Bee/Polaris: Campaign ends. No, well Eden did say that they can eat inorganic stuff.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, that's true.

Avery/GM: They'd have to take Ollie out just out of necessity to avoid vengeance.

Chris/Ollie: But can they eat chaos emeralds?

Avery/GM: They could try.

Zach/Zahn: Give it enough time.

Avery/GM: That mouth was big. It could

Zach/Zahn: Acid be, be acid, you know?

Avery/GM: At the very least, it could inconvenience you, Ollie, because you'd be stuck in a plant body.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, trap me forever.

Avery/GM: Very good. Well, you take off from this planet. You deposit the five bodies that they left in caskets in your cargo hold.

Bee/Polaris: Not so bad.

Avery/GM: Out at the, out at the black hole. And they just float there.

Chris/Ollie: We just throw them out of the airlock as we pass by.

Avery/GM: Essentially, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris tries to spin one as it's like flying out.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will also do this like leftover pot or what is that for leftover on the pot of Eden.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, I guess I should get rid of the boyan cubes in Amanda's hand.

Zach/Zahn: Yes, Finally just get rid of those!

Chris/Ollie: Let's do a quick ship spring cleaning. Just dump everything in

Zach/Zahn: the many body parts.

Avery/GM: And you, uh, deposit these things. You arrive back at the Ursa Major and, we will let the screen fade to black.

(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 Tabletop Audio and used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. Tracks used today include Starship Bridge and Distilled Tropical.

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 53 - A Trip to Tryptopolis

Avery/GM: Welcome to Episode 53 of Beyond the Furthest Stars

(Intro music plays, fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: It eats the cookies, and it says, These are the best cookies! You are so lucky to have a friend like Bruce. (Yawns) I'm gonna go to sleep now. When I wake up, will there be more to eat?

Bee/Polaris: Yes.

Avery/GM: And you see a big smile spread across its face as it falls asleep.

Bee/Polaris: You can't get me with this emotionally.

Jenine/Marty: You got me.

Bee/Polaris: You can't get me with this emotionally. I was team anti plant the entire time.

Jenine/Marty: That's fair.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will, like, look over at Ollie and just kind of shrug. And then, uh, walk back out to the crew. Which, he, he has been livestreaming, so presumably Marty and Bruce could have been watching on their watches.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce probably was, and like, has the flame already, and just be like, he'll just like, take a deep breath and just be like, Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Do you want me to do it?

Caden/Bruce: No. No. I think it's something I have to do.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a hand on Bruce's shoulder.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will nod and like

Bee/Polaris: How tall is Bruce? Polaris stands on his tip toes and puts

Avery/GM: It's seven feet, right?

Caden/Bruce: If not, it's like upper, like arm sort of, it's fine.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will like take a deep breath and like ready the flamethrower and like walk into the kitchen and set this plant on fire.

Avery/GM: Rho pops her head around the corner and says, aim for the head. No, I'm kidding. Yeah. Um, go ahead and roll a dexterity shoot.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I hope it doesn't wake up. I hope sleeping pills actually keep it asleep. That would be

Avery/GM: It rolled a nat 1. It's not waking up.

Caden/Bruce: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Thank goodness..

Caden/Bruce: You said, you said dexterity and, sorry, what was the other one?

Avery/GM: Shoot.

Caden/Bruce: Dexterity, shoot. Okay, so that's a plus one. One and okay, well, that's a 16 plus one plus one. That is an 18.

Avery/GM: That definitely hits a plant Go ahead and roll your damage.

Caden/Bruce: Ooh. Yay five plus six is eleven plus Four is five Fifteen damage? Fire damage? I don't know.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, there's gotta be some element, some It's super effective!

Avery/GM: No, it, it, it definitely does thirty, it does, it does double damage, um, for sure.

You see this thing catch fire and start to burn, and even though it's a green, you know, a green plant, it's still burning really fast. Soon it is nothing more than a charred husk, essentially. You do see, like, the vine that was on the floor kind of, like, wiggle real quick and, like, stand up real stiff and then it falls limp to the ground.

Jenine/Marty: Oh!

Avery/GM: And Eden is no more.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go! Sorry.

Chris/Ollie: Ha ha ha ha!

Caden/Bruce: Da da da da da da da da da!

Chris/Ollie: Yes!

Zach/Zahn: Get rekt!

Bee/Polaris: You killed a beloved friend! Ha ha ha ha!

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will bend down and pick up the tiny little, uh, Like, thingy thingy, and like, put it in his, in like, the broken pot, that I assume has like, soil and such. And then he's gonna turn on the stove, and he's gonna throw in some alcohol, and he's gonna flambé the shit out of it to make sure that it's actually dead.

Bee/Polaris: Meanwhile, Polaris is gonna text the custodians to scan the ship for any foreign organic, uh, compounds on the ship.

Jenine/Marty: That's not your friends.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's not our friends. Well, that's why I said foreign

Jenine/Marty: that's fair

Bee/Polaris: because they knew about y'all.

Avery/GM: Oh, I think I think Jenine was referring to your shadow friend, but your shadow friend is not organic. So you're fine.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah, they're non corporeal.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Bear replies back and says, uh, all scans showing normal now. That was weird. I don't even have a body and that's weird.

Bee/Polaris: Thank you for the commentary.

Avery/GM: And you have successfully killed your plant friend.

Bee/Polaris: Yay!

Avery/GM: Have broken a promise to a, uh, to a, to a interstellar No, I'm kidding. I won't, I won't, I won't keep beating the dead horse.

Bee/Polaris: We didn't break the promise. We did technically take it to somewhere new.

Caden/Bruce: Ta da!

Avery/GM: And it did grow. It did technically get to grow.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. So ha. All, as far as Eden knows, something went wrong with the ship and all of us are dead.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's fair. No, you're right. Other than that, is there anything else anyone wanted to do during this voyage to the system?

Zach/Zahn: Nope, we finished trauma dumping on Marty already.

Bee/Polaris: No, Zahn has to have his, well, I guess not now, but he does eventually have to have his therapy session with Marty.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, he's got to schedule his individual therapy.

Jenine/Marty: Know that Marty is. in the workshop with you just examining what you are doing silently like has the tablet in her hand and watching

Zach/Zahn: well at this point it's probably a better idea for Zahn to get a cast on his arm and not just have it in a sling right

Bee/Polaris: oh yeah i guess

Avery/GM: probably a good idea

Bee/Polaris: would Rho say anything to Zahn having a broken arm

Zach/Zahn: Rho was there for it, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but it's been a couple days.

Avery/GM: Rho has new effort she can commit. Um, and she does have more bio psionic powers. Does she have

Bee/Polaris: Does she have bone fixing juice?

Avery/GM: I guess she would, she would have, yeah, she does have major organ restoration. So, and that is the skill that is needed to actually stabilize and heal damage done to, as the book puts it, badly mangled targets.

Um, so I guess Zahn, if you wanted to, you could ask Rho to heal your arm for you.

Zach/Zahn: I don't think Zahn would ask, it would have to be suggested.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, he wouldn't know that Rho could do that, right?

Avery/GM: That's fair. Rho catches you after the incident with uh, with Eden Zahn and is just like, uh, So, I know your arm got broken and that really sucks.

Obviously, yesterday I was kind of focusing my powers on other things that needed to be done. Teleportation and all that. Saving Hermes. But it's a new day. I could heal that for you if you'd like. It might feel weird though.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, feeling weird is better than nothing. Feeling pain every time you like, shift so I'll take weird I guess.

Avery/GM: Okay, just, just know that um, it can take about a day for all the feeling to come back so you might still have some limitations for the next day, but I will give it a try.

Zach/Zahn: Groovy, you get a thumbs up.

Avery/GM: Oh, she rolled a 12.

Jenine/Marty: Hey Oh!

Avery/GM: Plus all her. Yeah, she is able to, uh, heal your arm. You hear some really gross sounds of like your bones reconnecting, like the opposite of snapping.

So that's interesting. And your arm definitely feels weird. Like there's like a constant tingle, almost like it's always asleep.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, it's horrible.

Avery/GM: But your arm does not hurt. She says, uh, you should still see your Your doctor though, and just, I guess your doctor's Marty.

Zach/Zahn: If Marty was still in the room, as soon as, as soon as Roe would have said that, he would have been like, Hey, Marty, I need you to still look at my arm.

Avery/GM: Cause like, while I can heal, I'm not the best at it, so

Zach/Zahn: gotcha. Well, can he like wiggle his fingers at all? Or is it all just like.

Avery/GM: No, you still have, you have movement. It's just, it feels weird.

Zach/Zahn: It feels like it's that

Avery/GM: grip strength isn't that, uh,

Zach/Zahn: pins and needles feel

Avery/GM: like you slept on your arm all day.

Zach/Zahn: So you see his like face wince as he like moves his fingers, right? He's like, yeah, I'll probably stop Marty. Look at it.

Avery/GM: And she flashed the peace sign and goes back to the bridge.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, thanks. I give thumbs up as she's walking away because Zahn is still not at all a sociable people person.

Avery/GM: Totally. Anything else anyone wants to do?

Zach/Zahn: So the plan was picking up supplies first and then fun planet second, right?

Avery/GM: Yeah. Tryptopolis first Demeter second. Screw Korra.

Chris/Ollie: Ollies just working on his project.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, did we each get two million credits?

Zach/Zahn: That's what I added to my inventory.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Avi, uh, you, during this trip, you do get your, uh, deposit notice from Avi with a big thank you, uh, for saving our family members.

Bee/Polaris: Of course. Hey, we've saved more than we've killed.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, we saved a whole planet, so we haven't killed a whole planet yet.

Bee/Polaris: I meant Winston's.

Zach/Zahn: Oh.

Avery/GM: Awesome. So yeah, so you arrive outside the planet or outside the system. The planet that is furthest out is Tryptopolis and you can see it as soon as you enter the system because it is just buzzing with activity.

Ships are coming and going. It's all lit up and bright from the surface. There's even like space billboards outside that like are advertising it. It's all very like, very Vegas y.

Bee/Polaris: To be clear, we're on the TSKAM, not the Ursa Major, correct?

Avery/GM: I thought you were on the Ursa, but are you like stopping the Ursa and then taking the TSKAM in?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I don't think bringing the custodians close to organic beings is a good idea.

Avery/GM: That's fine. Okay, we can do that. So you arrive and you get hailed by Tryptopolis Customs. It's a robot that just says, Welcome. There's a 1000 credit fee for entering the system. Please deposit that into your Tryptopolis account immediately. If you do not have an account, please set one up by pressing five.

Bee/Polaris: Do we all need an account or is it just like one for the ship?

Zach/Zahn: It's one for the ship.

Avery/GM: Does Polaris ask that to the robot?

Bee/Polaris: No,

Avery/GM: it is. It is just one person, so, okay, , I'm just gonna have a witty. You know, come back for it.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: Damn witty robots.

Bee/Polaris: I guess we use our email, not Hermes email, but like the,

Zach/Zahn: I thought we had a TSKAM

Bee/Polaris: that's Hermes email.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I don't think, yeah, I think we need a new email. Actually, let's just use Hermes Oh, okay, nevermind, yeah, let's, no, no, no. You, the GM, just said we should probably get a new email.

Avery/GM: I mean, it's basically been exposed to the dark web, that's all I'm saying.

Like, you know,

Zach/Zahn: just make a burner email, transfer some money into like a third party bank that's connected to that email that's not ill traceable back to us. No,

Chris/Ollie: that's pretty much what I'm thinking. Like, how much did you say it cost?

Bee/Polaris: A thousand.

Avery/GM: Just a thousand credits.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, okay, then, nevermind. Not worth it.

Zach/Zahn: Did we ever directly spend that 100, 000 off the Winston

Bee/Polaris: tablet. No, we split it.

Zach/Zahn: I know, we split it. Okay, we, yeah, okay. I know we split it, but.

Avery/GM: You spent a bunch of it on Braggos.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, for getting like laser blades and all that stuff.

Zach/Zahn: That's right, that's right,

Avery/GM: yeah.

Zach/Zahn: You right.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I guess set up a, well, who's on comms?

Isn't it Marty?

Jenine/Marty: Oh my god, it's me.

Bee/Polaris: This is all you. Yeah, it's all you.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I got it. Wait, what account are we using?

Bee/Polaris: A new one, so you get to make up a new one. Which is why I threw it over to you.

Jenine/Marty: Oh no, okay, wait. You think Marty's literate with computers? She is, she is, I promise. She mostly researches things.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. We need a burner email.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, okay, um.

Caden/Bruce: This is not Hermes at gmail. com. Ha ha ha

Bee/Polaris: ha ha.

Zach/Zahn: SpaceMail. At SpaceMail. com.

Bee/Polaris: Wasn't it dot ship AI?

Avery/GM: Dot biz, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Dot biz. Um,

Jenine/Marty: what is a fun little email we can do? Um, uh. ShipsRS. One, two, three at biz dot whatever are the gmail thing is equivalent of this world

And then I

Avery/GM: sure uh at star mail dot gov.

Jenine/Marty: Yep.

Avery/GM: No. edu.

Bee/Polaris: No, can we get gov?

Jenine/Marty: And uh That's the little email I set up. And then I put the little cap, and I'll take it out of my little thing cause I don't spend money. Jesus, there's so many credits!

Avery/GM: You might need two here, I don't know.

Jenine/Marty: One, two, three, four, that's gonna go to a two. Wait, how much more do we get now?

Bee/Polaris: A two million, so just add a

Chris/Ollie: Plus two milli.

Jenine/Marty: One

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, two milli.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, okay, great. Seven digits. Yep. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Okay, um, we're all set. Thank you.

Avery/GM: The robot says, thank you and welcome to the party. Please remember that you will be assessed a 2, 000 credit fee for each item purchased on your way out of the system.

This helps fund our never ending party.

Jenine/Marty: Wait. For each item we purchase, there's another 2, 000 credits?

Bee/Polaris: Export. Yep, export fee.

Avery/GM: Yes, that is an export tax.

Jenine/Marty: Per thing, or just in general?

Bee/Polaris: Per thing. Per item.

Zach/Zahn: Okay, so can we just burn the whole planet down?

Bee/Polaris: I was gonna say we can just smuggle, because we have a smuggler's hold.

Because this is a pirate ship.

Zach/Zahn: That we do.

Avery/GM: You arrive at the, uh, the little, uh, landing bay here. And you see a bunch of tourists kind of milling about here. Uh, obviously, the path leads up here.

Bee/Polaris: Before we get off the ship, Polaris will tell the others, like, we're definitely smuggling our shit out of here.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn nods.

Bee/Polaris: Cause we can just put it in Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's internal compartment is quite a bit smaller on the dog.

Avery/GM: And these items that you have to purchase aren't small either.

Chris/Ollie: Although I do have the little rucksack. I'm assuming you fixed that up all the way.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I definitely made you little saddlebags.

Chris/Ollie: Saddlebags with a little neck pouch.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie is kitted.

Avery/GM: You are approached by a robot that hands you a little data pad that has a bunch of information about the, the city that you're in on it. Tryptopolis is really one giant city, but you're in like a section of the city and you see that there's a bunch of shops listed, but after almost every shop, it's almost like a Facebook feed where there's just like an ad for everything, like right after it.

So like one of the ads. advertises a cooking con, a cooking contest where you can win two hydro cleansers as the prize. Another ad advertises an endurance contest where you can win a von Humboldt reflector. There is a dueling contest where the winner will receive a Durack shaper and a hover bike race where you can win a turbidity homogenizer.

And on these actual shop pages, you do see the items Uh, listed for sale as well, so you could just spend your money and buy them outright if you want. Dropping the prices into chat.

Bee/Polaris: Yikes!

Zach/Zahn: Oh boy,

Chris/Ollie: I'm guessing these prices are exorbitant.

Bee/Polaris: And we gotta pay an extra 2, 000?

Chris/Ollie: Let's see.

Bee/Polaris: Gross. Oh my gosh. Ugh. That's so much money.

Chris/Ollie: No. Whatever. Ollie's got that covered.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, all that together probably doesn't even equate to half a million.

Chris/Ollie: That's like 200, uh, maybe 500k.

Avery/GM: To be fair, when I was When I was putting this price together, I did forget that you also got extra money from Avi, so

Chris/Ollie: Maybe just add an extra zero in all of these.

Bee/Polaris: I'm calculating the total amount, plus the, the extra two thousand for each of them.

Zach/Zahn: But we're smuggling them. And if we win them, hypothetically, we don't have to pay that two thousand. Hypothetically.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, it'd be, it'd be less than half a mil.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Little, little less than half a mil. It'd be 430, 000 including the 2, 000.

Avery/GM: I will say I also created these mini games with the idea that I forgot about the whole Eden situation. So, you know.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: I was also like, oh, let's fill time with goofy little silly games. You will notice also that all the folks, uh, that appear to be like the majority, like the, the native population of this planet are all big hairy like, Wookiee style, like, Sasquatch type people. They're all, like, very, like, macho, or very, like, extroverted, or very, like, you know, friendly, you know?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will turn to the crew and say where to first. I assume we should we can presumably pay for all these things, but we can also just win them.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, I love the chance to cook.

Bee/Polaris: To the cooking.

Zach/Zahn: sZahn'sa shoo you guys off. He's gonna be like, yo, I'll I'll go purchase You guys had a big spending spree on Olympia, it's my turn. I'm gonna go buy some shit, and then, uh, you guys, you guys win the other shit. And, uh, we'll meet, we'll meet back on the TSKAM here in a little bit.

Jenine/Marty: You hear, like, a click of the stylus that Marnie has, and she writes on the tablet again.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn Like, he's wearing, his helmet is fully constructed, and the top, like, visor bar of the three, like, light beams, like, squints. So it like, darkens half. It becomes thinner, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will say, you watch Bruce Cook?

Zach/Zahn: Are you gonna watch Bruce Cook? I can just watch through your live feed.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, you know, I didn't think about doing all of the events. at once, and then we just meet back, but I kind of want to like

Avery/GM: You will see that they all are kind of scheduled around the same time.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, so we okay, so we do split up and do the things.

Avery/GM: If you want to.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Marty, videotape it for me. I assume you're sticking with Bruce?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah!

Caden/Bruce: I mean, if you want to do a different event, that's okay. I can always record it myself.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: I'm more of a, more of a cheerleader, and then she flips the little tablet, and it just says, Go Friends!

Bee/Polaris: Marty, A Galactic Treasure okay, let's uh, let's go. The Polaris are just gonna go towards the bike race.

Avery/GM: Sure. Bruce, you're doing the cooking contest.

Caden/Bruce: Yes, I am.

Avery/GM: Is anyone doing the dueling contest or the endurance contest?

Jenine/Marty: Marty's so squishy, you think she's gonna go try and do that?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will check out the dueling contest.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: Nah, I can't do an, an, an endurance contest. While I've got like plus one to exert, I've got nothing in constitution and nothing in strength, so.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, I don't want to think about your stats. Come on now.

Avery/GM: Sure. Um, so let's do the cooking contest first.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my God.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you arrived to, um, the location of the cooking contest. Uh, and you see just people just hooting and hollering, just Uh, there's a big crowd around like a stage that has a bunch of like simulated kitchen or not simulated, but you know, like, like kitchen, you know, like, what am I trying to say?

Like the chef, the iron chef thingy

Bee/Polaris: stations.

Avery/GM: There we go. That's the word I'm looking for. Thank you. Yeah. A chef station on it. And there's an announcer on stage that just says, do we have any more contestants for today's cooking contest?

Caden/Bruce: Yes, I will enter.

Avery/GM: Oh, come on down.

Zach/Zahn: Oh man, is Chef Jamie gonna be here?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, showdown.

Bee/Polaris: That would make for a much longer episode, because then we'd have to kill Jamie.

Caden/Bruce: Murder is the answer.

Avery/GM: The announcer just holds up a microphone too, and is just like, please tell us your name.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce.

Avery/GM: Bruce! How exciting! Are you ready to make the most exciting, delicious, party food you've ever made before? And you hear the crowd like scream.

Caden/Bruce: Yes.

Avery/GM: All right! Well, the rules are simple. You have 30 minutes to create the most delicious party dish to serve 1, 000 guests. Are you ready?

Caden/Bruce: Yes.

Avery/GM: And your time starts now! And Bruce, I will leave you to decide how this is going to flow. What ingredients do you choose?

Caden/Bruce: Oh, if I'm making I am making a thousand people and I have to make it in under 30 minutes and it's party food. We are making chicken wings.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, let's go.

Caden/Bruce: Deep fried wings.

Bee/Polaris: Wings, wings, wings, wings,

Caden/Bruce: wings for days.

Avery/GM: Heck yeah. Awesome. Yeah, you, you find just an endless supply of wings. It seems like in this little freezer here,

Chris/Ollie: it's bigger on the inside.

Avery/GM: And there are, there are a variety of sauces and seasonings for you. Uh, you've got a deep fryer set up and, uh, as you're kind of working along this, uh, this announcer guy keeps like interjecting to like, try and like interview you, it's just like, so Bruce, tell us about your process.

Caden/Bruce: Well very simply the best party food that there is is wings. Now I realize that there's a hard debate between whether you want dry wings or saucy wings, but that is why I am doing a combination of both.

Avery/GM: Oh, the best of both worlds. That is great.

Caden/Bruce: The best of both worlds. Yep. We have our salt and pepper mix over here. We have the lemon zest one here. We have the regular Buffalo one over here, and then we have my personal specialty, which is the river sauce blend, which is a nice combination of blue cheese, buffalo sauce.

Avery/GM: This all sounds delicious. I can't wait to try some. What about you folks?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Whiskey river. Blue cheese is great.

Bee/Polaris: Wings, wings, wings, wings.

Chris/Ollie: Yes.

Zach/Zahn: It's really easy on my digestive system.

Avery/GM: Moving over to the dueling contest, Ollie, you arrive there and realize that it's not a combat dueling contest because why would you want bloodshed at the party? You want things cool. You want things feeling good. You want good vibes. What is it? It's a dance contest. That's right. Dueling dances.

Zach/Zahn: Oh shit.

Avery/GM: Does Ollie choose to enter?

Chris/Ollie: Mmm, I don't know.

Avery/GM: Or do you let your party members know about this contest instead?

Zach/Zahn: I feel like the crowd would probably go wild with a dancing dog.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, they would.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: That would be incredible.

Chris/Ollie: With his stats, I think Ollie's got four left feet. But he's willing to try. Yeah, Ollie will post in chat, Directions misleading. Not quite a dueling contest. And, uh, post a little gifs of, uh, the current competition.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will just, uh, text Ollie, why not just download how to dance?

Caden/Bruce: Just download Dirty Dancing. It's a good movie!

Jenine/Marty: You're right! You should say it!

Avery/GM: It's great! I'm imagining, I'm imagining Ollie as a Dog trying to dance like Patrick Swayze.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Um, Ollie will reply. That is a fantastic suggestion. And he's going to split himself into 20, 000 Ollie's again. And watch 20, 000 different dance movies and dance routines and dance programs and dance training programs all at the same time.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh

Bee/Polaris: There's no way he doesn't win that right?

Chris/Ollie: Well, he's no Really the hips don't quite move that way

Bee/Polaris: That's true

Avery/GM: Here's what i'm gonna do you

Caden/Bruce: one of the movies is air fod the dancing dog

Avery/GM: Here's what I'll do, Chris. You get an extra plus two to your charisma, which is what you're going to need for this dance contest. So

Chris/Ollie: I know dance fu..

Bee/Polaris: I was muted, but I laughed.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. This is great. This is everything I hoped for. I was also hoping that maybe it might've been Marty that danced.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Do you think she has any sense of how to move her body?

Avery/GM: Marty's cool. I think Marty could do it. I believe in you. But no, this is great too. So you do this download real quick, just as the announcer here is like, Will all dancers make their way to the dance floor? It is time for the dance your butt off contest.

That's right. Every contestant will need to dance until they drop. The last dancer standing will win. As long as they impress the audience. So there are basically two scores here. One, endurance. And two, one, how long can you dance? And two, are you making a good impression? Are you ready?

Chris/Ollie: Here I was hoping my insane AC was gonna help out. Okay, um, yeah, Ollie's ready. He's got his drone floating above the crowd, recording everything for his, uh, his live stream. Doing it for the vine.

Avery/GM: This was the day Ollie became a streamer.

Chris/Ollie: It's all for the clout.

Avery/GM: So yeah, Ollie, describe this dancing then. This dancing dog. What do we got?

Chris/Ollie: Um, well, is this like a freestyle? Like we're all up there at the same time, just going at it?

Avery/GM: Yeah, the music's, uh, the music's playing. And yeah, you. You just, you start dancing and if you stop, you,

Chris/Ollie: you're out. Battle Royale. Alrighty. Um, so all he's going to start off in a really like classic robot. He's doing the robot, but as a dog, but it's next level because he's obviously robot, so like the limbs are like rotating 360 degrees and the head and whatnot.

I love it. And just going through the entire evolution of dance from the early 80s through Whatever, whatever year it is now. I can't remember Just like The evolution of dance going through all the different styles and whatnot, but it's, it's obviously it's as a dog. So, it's uh.

Avery/GM: Totally. Totally.

Chris/Ollie: It's not quite coming through, I would assume. I don't know, I haven't rolled yet. What is the roll on this?

Avery/GM: Yeah, I was gonna have you roll first a Charisma-Exert Check

Chris/Ollie: and then as it goes through the evolution of dance, it's going to wrap up in an interpretive, emotional expression of what we went through on New Terror. With all of my newfound knowledge.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god. Great, we got Ollie into interpretive dance. Oh no.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh, what did you roll for that?

Chris/Ollie: What was the stats I'm rolling?

Avery/GM: Charisma, exert.

Chris/Ollie: And I get plus two on charisma?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Let's see here.

Avery/GM: A bonus plus two, plus whatever you already have, so.

Chris/Ollie: Thankfully I don't have a minus on that. Ten.

Avery/GM: Okay. And then, you'll also want to roll Charisma Perform roll based on your exert check, you may add plus one to this roll.

Chris/Ollie: Excellent, cause it would've been the exact same stats. Oh wow, eleven?

Bee/Polaris: Let's go!

Chris/Ollie: It was the exact same roll, oh my god, okay.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh, okay. You are dancing the night away, and this interpretive dance causes Quite a few dancers around you to stop. As, even though you're a robot dog, they are feeling this emotion from your dance. They are feeling what you went through. Whatever vibe you're putting out is, is the right vibe. As you eliminate your competition through feelings and emotion, and take home. The prize.

Chris/Ollie: The emotion of watching my pseudo dad execute their parents.

Zach/Zahn: Oh god.

Avery/GM: Exactly.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn has all sound output, uh, for his helmet turned off because he's weeping inside of his helmet watching the livestream of this.

Bee/Polaris: Oh,

Zach/Zahn: the fuck, man.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Bruce, back to you real quick. The wings are just about to come out of the, uh, or out of the fryer. You've got seasonings, you've got sauces, you're good to go. Go ahead and roll a Charisma Work check.

Caden/Bruce: I thought you were just gonna give it to me. What do you mean I got Roll? Uh, Work and Charisma is, that is a plus one. So that makes it a six, seven, eight, nine, ten. I can do math.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh, ten. I keep putting these at ten. Maybe I should up these for you. Uh, no, that's great. You, you, you beat it. Or you meet it. So meets beats. The judge walks over to you and says, uh, now, or the, the announcer says, now, before our judges try your delicious looking wings, is there anything you'd like to say to the millions of people watching across the galaxy?

Caden/Bruce: Wing it.

Bee/Polaris: That's amazing.

I thought you were going to say like, suck it, jamie.

Jenine/Marty: Me too!

Avery/GM: And the judges try your wings. And they are writing down some scoring and they're, they're doing some judging and you see, they hold up their, their cards. One is a 10, one is a 10, one is a 9. 8.

Bee/Polaris: What? Kill that guy.

Avery/GM: And, uh, the announcer says that is the highest score anyone has ever received in one of our contests. It is undoubtedly the fact that Bruce. Has won the contest and let the party begin.

Caden/Bruce: Wings, Wings, Wings, Wings, Wings

Avery/GM: Exactly. And the crowd starts like crowding the table, like ready to get served. And you are able to, uh, make your way off stage, uh, to collect your hydro cleansers. Ollie, you are given your Durock Shaper, uh, for winning the dance contest. Let's go over to Polaris for the hover bike race.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go.

Avery/GM: There are five other racers here with you, but you've already won a spaceship race, a hover bike race. That's easy. Easy peasy.

Bee/Polaris: I don't believe you.

Avery/GM: No, it'll be, it'll be fine. You'll be great.

Bee/Polaris: I'm squinting my eyes super hard.

Avery/GM: No, it's actually very basic.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, okay, okay. I thought you were gonna be like, and the caveat is there are obstacles gonna blow you up.

Avery/GM: No, I already did that. I already did that. I'm not gonna repeat a trope. Come on. I'm not a hack.

Caden/Bruce: Avery opens a map and it's just Rainbow Road

Avery/GM: Surprise.

Chris/Ollie: It's a race on a minefield.

Avery/GM: So, yeah. So, uh, the, you li the, you, you come up to the race and, and someone's like, are you here to register for the race?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah,

Avery/GM: all right. Well, we have plenty of bikes to choose from take your pick and they're all different colors and different shapes So feel free. What does your bike look like?

Bee/Polaris: It's his signature pink and blue and mostly black It's like pink and blue accents. There's a black bike and it looks real cool real sleek.

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah Very cool. Very good Uh, you line up with the other racers and one of them looks over to you and he's, he's got like an eye patch and he's, he's a big muscle bro. He's just like, you picked a really cool bike, but I'm, I'm going to win. So, sorry.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just ignores him. Polaris just keeps looking ahead like, this road Loser.

Avery/GM: And, uh, you take, sorry, I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: No, it's funny. There's no greater burden in trash talk than just ignoring the other person.

Jenine/Marty: Facts.

Avery/GM: Yeah. And, and, and he looks a little dejected that you haven't engaged in the trash, trash talk. Uh, definitely bummed.

Bee/Polaris: Wow.

Avery/GM: But that's okay.

Bee/Polaris: He's going to be even more bummed.

Avery/GM: Now we've made jokes that Polaris is like a car guy and a streamer. Do you actually have an audience?

Bee/Polaris: I think Polaris would like, yeah, I think Polaris has like in the past because he's loved piloting so much whenever the custodians were doing jobs He would just go and like race spaceships or something So yeah, I think he does but like no one knows what he looks like because it's always from his helmet perspective

Chris/Ollie: like tuner car YouTube channels.

Avery/GM: Oh gotcha.

Chris/Ollie: They drive Exotic spaceships around.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, he likes racing. So he does a lot of racing.

Avery/GM: Okay, fair enough So you line up And there's a green light that turns on and you start racing. You are in the middle of the pack so far. Uh, that person that was trying to trash talk you has decided that they are going to kind of bump your bike and try and get you to, to spin out. So could you make a physical saving throw?

Bee/Polaris: A 17 easy peasy.

Avery/GM: Oh, easy peasy. Yep. Yeah, this, this, this guy tries to ram the back of your bike, you end up like getting a little boost of speed right as he's about to ram you. So instead of ramming you, he just hits, he just whiffs it and ends up spinning out and crashing into the side. Not injured too badly, mostly his pride is injured, but he is out of the race. Go ahead and roll a dexterity exert check.

Bee/Polaris: Dexterity exert? Not a pilot?

Avery/GM: Oh, I guess it would be a pilot. I'm sorry. I don't know why I said exert.

Bee/Polaris: I always say that because I'm a special. Oh my God.

Chris/Ollie: Because otherwise you're going to roll like a 20.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. So because I am a specialist, I can roll 3d6 and drop the lowest. I rolled two sixes and a one. So there's what? 12, 15, 16.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no, no problem. You easily, like, racing a hover bike, what, what's that? That's child's play. Uh, you easily outclass these losers as you speed across the finish line and take home the trophy and the turbidity homogenizer.

Jenine/Marty: Yay!

Bee/Polaris: Polaris Akira slides to the finish line.

Avery/GM: And the crowd goes wild and the announcer comes up and says, Let's find out who our mysterious new contestant is. Would you like to tell us your name?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Avery/GM: Oh. Well, it seems you've gained quite a big fan base here with just one race. Do you have any secrets to your success?

Bee/Polaris: Being good at it? What do you mean?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, don't suck.

Avery/GM: The announcer leans in and is like You're not giving me anything to go off of.

Jenine/Marty: You see Marty, in your periphery, just have her tablet up that says, Be nice!

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like, puts a mad face on his visor, and he just says, Practice.

Jenine/Marty: Thumbs up emoji.

Avery/GM: And there you have it! Practice! That's right, kids! You at home could win this race too one day. Just practice, practice, practice. And we'll be back tomorrow with another race.

Bee/Polaris: While the announcer was saying that, like, when they were facing the camera in the background, Polaris was just shaking his head no.

Chris/Ollie: It's just, you suck on the visor.

Avery/GM: You suck, I'm awesome. I think that's good for many games. Um,

Zach/Zahn: what was the endurance one?

Avery/GM: I'm not going to lie. It's, it was a shot contest.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my God. Marty would pass out

Zach/Zahn: oh no. Ollie should have done. Would they let a robot dog participate in this? Probably not.

Bee/Polaris: Would they know, would they know he was a robot?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, would they know he's a robot though? No.

Chris/Ollie: You could.

Zach/Zahn: I'm pretty sure. Like the tentacle arm came out of his back to pick up the shot.

Chris/Ollie: Nah, he didn't lie low. Just be chill.

Bee/Polaris: He can just grab it with his mouth, with his doggy mouth.

Avery/GM: Let's see. So we got the cleansers, the shaper and the homogenizer. So Ollie or Zahn, you're picking up the audio oscillators, the cell binders, the reflector and the booster.

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Avery/GM: OK,

Zach/Zahn: that should be like thirty five hundred thousand. Or three twenty, three hundred and twenty five hundred thousand.

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure, something like that.

Bee/Polaris: Also, like, the ones that we won, we technically didn't purchase, so.

Avery/GM: Yeah, yeah, no, those things you don't have to pay tax on. So you're fine. Okay, anything else anyone wants to do on this party planet? Or do you want to get to the, the R& R?

Zach/Zahn: We want the relaxing party planet, not the bro fest party planet.

Avery/GM: Not the bro fest? That's fine. Look, they can't all be winners.

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 used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. Additional background music provided by By Savage Pro and used under a royalty free license from Humble Bundle.

We'll be back in two weeks with our next episode. See you out there beyond the furthest stars.

Episode 52 - Feed me, Bruce! Feed Me!

Avery/GM: Hello listeners! As you have probably noticed, the episodes have been really late these past few months. I’m gonna get personal for a moment and just explain that I have had a lot of personal health stuff going on that has made getting to the episode editing really hard, on top of prepping for session, working a full time job, and managing a household and family life. I apologize for the delay, but I am almost through the end of the health stuff and think that I will be able to have more time to get extra editing done soon. So the episodes for October will release today, and then on October 25th. I think at that point, I should have no problem getting back on track with the 1st and 15th of every month. I appreciate all your patience. Anyway, let’s get to Episode 52 of Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(Intro music plays, then fades down, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: So you all are on the Ursa towing the Cassiopeia with the TISCAM in the docking bay. Y'all have like three ships now, technically.

Chris/Ollie: Not enough. 

Bee/Polaris: Not enough, we need more. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, so you're all heading towards the Elusian system, uh, which is a system that's nearby that has quite a few planets and so definitely a lot of potential to find the parts you need to fix up this, uh, factory and specifically to build the, the Custodians new bodies, uh, if you want to do that, you also could just not do that. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. 

Avery/GM: I mean, it'd be rude, it'd be rude to your friend Polaris to not do that, but you could, I'm just saying. 

Zach/Zahn: In our shopping list for the custodians, uh, are they wanting like, flesh bodies?

Avery/GM: I'm pasting it right now. Yes. 

Bee/Polaris: So like, synthetic, uh, like, material?

Avery/GM:But they, they want it to  their specifications. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Avery/GM:The items that they have requested are very odd sounding. They need: three audio oscillators, two hydro cleansers, three cell binders, one turbidity homogenizer, one Dorak shaper, one von Humboldt reflector, and one ionic flux booster.

Bee/Polaris: That sounds-

Zach/Zahn: Shouldn't they need three per each of them?

Or one per each of them? 

Avery/GM:No, because some,  some of, some of these things will build the stuff they need. Some of these go in the body, et cetera, et cetera. 

Zach/Zahn: Got it

Avery/GM: But these names all brought to you by fantasy name generators. 

Bee/Polaris: I was just about to say, this sounds like some Doctor Who shit. 

Chris/Ollie:Yeah, I was like, oh wow.

Avery/GM:  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Chris/Ollie: Wibbly wobbly timey wimey. 

Avery/GM: Exactly. Anyway, this is the nearest system to where you could possibly get these parts. The system consists of three planets, Quorra, which is a planet that its inhabitants live in the subterranean caverns, uh, due to the fact that many years ago they blocked out the sun from their planet, rendering the surface uninhabitable.

And they spend all of their time digging tunnels, looking for ore and other raw materials to keep their, uh, They're big, giant coffin cannon, uh, operational. So they can continue the practice of burying their dead at the nearby black hole. 

You've got Demeter, which is a lush planet full of, you know, basically idyllic scenes, beautiful forests, mountains, beaches. It's lovely. Little to no technology here, but, um, you know, they, they get by with trading with various visitors and also they sell more of like the experience to people. You know, but all they ask in return is that you take a few bodies with you when you go, um, nothing too morbid. 

And then finally there's Triptopolis, which is like party bro city, man. You know, the party never stops in Triptopolis robots cater to their every needs so they can just bro out at the gym or head down to the club and do some shots or engage in hover bike races and all kinds of fun stuff. So those are the three planets that you have in Um, and that's kind of the, the debriefing that, that Hermes gives you on your way there.

Anyone have a preference on which planet they want to go to first? 

Bee/Polaris: I think maybe we get shopping done and then go rest and relax? 

Caden/Bruce: Oh yeah, Bruce at some point probably came into the communal cabin with like cookies and stuff and was just like, we might have a slight development with Eden. 

Avery/GM: Oh, that's right.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, you were the one that left it at a cliffhanger! 

Zach/Zahn: Feed me, Seymour! 

Avery/GM: I know! I forgot!

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s just like, uh, the fuck you mean. 

Caden/Bruce: Well, I might have been feeding Eden soup, and, um, Eden ate my favorite pot, and now has a plant head, face, I don't know, bud. I don't really know what to call it. I'm not a plant expert. 

Chris/Ollie: Does he look like a piranha plant now?

Avery/GM: Very much so. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh no. All right, from Little Shop of Horrors, that's why I made that joke. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, but I said it's more Mario than Little Shop of Horrors. It's cute. 

Zach/Zahn: It's cute, damn it. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, for now. So 

Chris/Ollie: yeah, so far it's cute.  

Zach/Zahn: That's cute. Then it becomes Little Shop of Horrors. 

Bee/Polaris: I also, um, the reason why, the reason why Piranha Plants are cute in the Mario world is because the art style is cute.

If it was a realistic art style, it would not be cute. 

Avery/GM: Fair. 

Jenine/Marty: Ah, Little guy. 

Zach/Zahn: Is this the, the moment where Bruce pulls out Eden? 

Caden/Bruce: Oh no, Bruce, Bruce does not have Eden with him.

Bee/Polaris:  Where are all of us? Where are we?

Zach/Zahn:  I'm assuming it's like lunch or something. 

Bee/Polaris: Well, then Eden would be in the kitchen. 

Chris/Ollie: Ollie would be in the workshop.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Eden would be in the kitchen. Probably slightly too big to pick up and move with one person. Although Bruce is a strong boy. 

Bee/Polaris: Bruce is a big, strong boy. So yeah, that's why I was asking, where are we? Are we like in the crew quarters or like, you know, like where are we having this conversation? 

Caden/Bruce: Uh, probably like up on the bridge is where Bruce probably assumes most people would be, and if not, there's coms to like, get them there sort of thing. 

Avery/GM: So yeah, if you want to be on the bridge, you can be on the bridge, that's fine. 

Chris/Ollie: Well, since it's such a big ship, and there's so few of us, and the bridge is so big, we should just have like a communal area on the bridge.

Just like, you know, set up a table. 

Caden/Bruce: Little table, little coffee machine. Bruce coming in with a bunch of cookies. 

Chris/Ollie: Otherwise 

Avery/GM: The custodians hate all of this. 

Bee/Polaris: Yes Well, Merrick

Avery/GM:  I love it. 

Bee/Polaris: Merrick, uh, is like in charge of the bridge. bridge and stuff usually because they fly the ship and they're more open to organics so probably doesn't hate it as much as everyone else.

Probably eats cookies despite not needing to when they have a body. 

Avery/GM: Well I will say Ro and Psy are on the bridge so if that influences anyone's decision. 

Caden/Bruce: I feel like, I feel like bridge is just where Bruce would go to assume most people hang out and then like kind of like page Ollie and Zahn from like wherever their workshop is just to be like meet me on the bridge fresh cookies in five sort of thing.

Jenine/Marty: It's tea time!

Bee/Polaris: Yay! 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie would be in the workshop working on a little spiderbot project. 

Zach/Zahn: Ooh. 

Bee/Polaris: Ooh. 

Avery/GM: Ooh. I don't even know what this is, that's great. 

Zach/Zahn: Zahn would be kind of mindlessly doing what he can for the factory until we get the parts to make it fully operational. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will be making the thing that I texted you about, Avery.

Zach/Zahn:Oh right, Zahn has a thing for new terra to build too.

Avery/GM: Oh that's right! Okay, thank you. Yes, I love it. Yeah, so whoever wants to be here can be here on the bridge. Uh, Psi and Rho are just kind of monitoring bridge operations even though it's kind of not necessary.

Bee/Polaris:  Yeah, there's robots in here. 

Avery/GM: But, uh, Bruce, you were saying?

Zach/Zahn: Are we sitting at the table eating our cookies? 

Caden/Bruce: Yeah 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, uh, Polaris is doing so with his feet on the table. Like, his feet up on the table and chair leaning back on two legs. 

Caden/Bruce: Well, Eden might have a head and definitely teeth. Definitely teeth. And, um, requests more food more often now, and, well, I think it might be time for us to try and relocate?

Bee/Polaris: Is this Eden dangerous? 

Caden/Bruce: I mean, they ate my favorite pot. 

Zach/Zahn:  Zahn's gonna hold up a finger, he's like, Eden, like, from New Terra Eden, right? 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will nod. 

Zach/Zahn: Maybe, I'm just gonna put this out here, glancing to everyone. Uh, maybe fire is the best option. We all saw what, uh, its parent planet, or plant, parent plant did, uh.

Bee/Polaris: The body eating plant? 

Zach/Zahn: The body eating plant, precisely. 

Chris/Ollie: Ollie is here as his recon drone. He's physically in the other thing in the workshop, but his recon drone is floating here and I'm speaking through it and it's going to display a hologram onto the table, uh, C3PO or not, uh, R2D2 style of just scenes of all the carnage of the mother plant from the space station and say 

Zach/Zahn: And this is Marty's first time seeing those.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, exactly. And just say, danger level, probable. 

Avery/GM: Marty, you hear just random screams and like, you see the image, the holographic image of like, someone like, falling to the ground and then getting like, dragged away by vines into a bush. And then crunching sounds. 

Chris/Ollie:  Oh yeah. 

Jenine/Marty: What? 

Bee/Polaris: Just a pool of blood like, leaking out under the bush.

Avery/GM: Oh no, the blood gets eaten. The blood gets absorbed. 

Chris/Ollie: The pool of blood comes out, and then soaks back in. 

Avery/GM: Like a straw. 

Jenine/Marty: I'm sorry. We, you, this is the offspring of this? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. You missed a lot, Marty. New Terra was, uh, rough. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh man, it was a blast!

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a hand on Zahn's shoulder. 

Zach/Zahn:Because we blew up the station, it was a blast.

Jenine/Marty:You blew up a station.

Zach/Zahn: I meant that literal. 

Chris/Ollie: Literally. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. 

Caden/Bruce: And there was plants that eat people, and they gave me a seed, and that seed is Eden. 

Jenine/Marty: Uh, did we research this species, or is it only a New Terra species? 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will shrug. 

Bee/Polaris: I don't know. 

Zach/Zahn: Well, we haven't had a chance. It's really to get Rho or Psi input on that, I suppose.

Chris/Ollie: This is the research. 

Bee/Polaris: That is true. 

Jenine/Marty: Oh, so, okay, okay. And just a slight panic, and then she takes out her little data pad. And like, she should just do like a quick little swoopy swoop to see what in the world this plant is. 

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll an intelligence know check. 

Jenine/Marty: I got 10. 

Avery/GM: Perfect. Yeah, you find nothing like specifically naming these plants, but what you do find is there are a lot of weird stories about different people going to like different planets that had been previously undiscovered and finding plants that seemed to be able to communicate and seemed to be able to offer conversation with the travelers that visited.

And they always seemed to come back with more seeds that would then be given to other people. And you find actually one research paper from a colleague who From college, they went the botany route, but, you know, in undergrad, they were a colleague and they actually have published a paper theorizing that this is how this, uh, species, uh, spreads throughout the galaxy.

How it ended up on New Terra Station, who knows, but it, it is theorized that, that this is how they spread, by convincing other beings to carry a new plant with them. 

Jenine/Marty: Oh, that's cute, that's cute, that's cute. Hmm, this seems like, uh, 

Avery/GM: And at the end of the paper, you do also see highly carnivorous, very dangerous, 

Jenine/Marty: very dangerous.

Chris/Ollie: Is there like a world ending threat, like, 

Jenine/Marty: yeah, 

Chris/Ollie: danger scale on there? 

Jenine/Marty: Is this like a parasite situation thing where they're like, you should probably this is a Or, or are we submitting this for research? Cause there's two thoughts coming out of Marty right now. As she's reading this article. She in her brain, she in her brain is like formatting an email to send to her former colleague and to Oswald to be like, Hey, do we want to research this?

Zach/Zahn: Oh God. Give the man eating plant to Oswald. That sounds like a great idea. 

Bee/Polaris: The man eating psychic plant.

Avery/GM: But it's also psychic. That's why, that's why Marty's 

Jenine/Marty: like, oh my god, science. But also, what if we just, what? Setting it free on that little planet that, that, you know. Let it be on the planet that's gonna go extinct soon. There's nothing there. 

Caden/Bruce:  There is. 

Chris/Ollie: There won't be, but there is now. 

Zach/Zahn: There won't be. 

Bee/Polaris: Uh, I guess Marty hasn't shared this information in character, huh? 

Jenine/Marty: Not yet. So that's what Marty is like thinking as she's like looking at her data pad and just looks up, So why did we So what was the Just, just took a seed and then you said yes and then just Went off.

I, I, I trust you. Mentally, mentally, this is, this is interesting. 

Caden/Bruce: Well, we noticed the plants were sentient, I guess? And, um, I offered them water and they said I was nice. And they offered me a seed and promised not to eat me. And I figured that was a pretty good trade. So, that's how I got Eden. And then the ship kind of exploded.

Jenine/Marty: mmm-hhmmm

Bee/Polaris: But that wasn't our fault. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh,

Jenine/Marty:  so why did the ship explode? 

Zach/Zahn: No, it was definitely, definitely our fault. 

Jenine/Marty: How did you, why? 

Bee/Polaris: She didn't need to know that. 

Jenine/Marty:Wait, so, okay, wait, let's back up. Let's back up. So we exploded a ship?

Zach/Zahn: Well, technically it was like a fleet of ships conglomerated together into one space station.

Bee/Polaris: like a station. Yeah. 

Jenine/Marty: So Exploded a space station that had a carnivorous plant that gave a seed. Uh huh. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh - And people that went mad. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, they were also eating people. 

Jenine/Marty: There's people eating people on ship. 

Zach/Zahn: Also, uh, just to reiterate in case you missed it, this was my home station. Uh, this is where I was from.

Jenine/Marty: This was your home station.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. 

Jenine/Marty: So you exploded your home station that had people eating people on it, as well as a plant that ate people. While it was a carnivorous seed. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, that wasn't the only  thing that happened. That wasn't the only thing that happened. 

Jenine/Marty: On the, on the station? Are there more things that happened on the station?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Many. 

Zach/Zahn: Well, we don't have to talk about all the things that happened on the station. 

Bee/Polaris: We don't have to talk about all the things that happened on the station. 

Zach/Zahn: Probably should talk about all the things that happened on the station. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris points to Zahn. And says, You should talk to Marty about some of the things that happened on the station.

Jenine/Marty: Hmm? 

Zach/Zahn: But, like,

Jenine/Marty: Hmm?

Zach/Zahn: I don't know man, I'm still kind of decompressing from that crap. I don't know. 

Jenine/Marty: Okay, 

Bee/Polaris: Eventually

Zach/Zahn:  It's all my dad put my mom's dead brain in a robot and brought her back to life, but she was in abject misery. And he's just going to start ranting now. He's like, uh, and she was in abject misery. So I had to put her out of that misery. And then in my anger, I beat the shit out of my crazy scientific dad. And then like, we killed the people who ran the space station, but they all deserved it. And then we were just going to give them the slow death they deserved, but then my dad hit the fucking self destruct button.

So we had to get the fuck out of there real quick. And you know, it was all just one big, happy mess. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Rho pipes up and says, and you're like childhood mentor is responsible for putting your mom in the jar. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. She did have a hand in that. And Polaris will hold up her hand. 

Zach/Zahn: Zahns going to like, point at Polaris get the fuck rid of that.

How do you still have that? It's been like. Five days. 

Bee/Polaris: I've read. I don't know where to get rid of it. 

Avery/GM: It's not looking good either.  

Chris/Ollie:Is it just like rotting? 

Bee/Polaris: Well, he's been in the vacuum of space.

Zach/Zahn:  It's starting to look like Bruce Campbell's head from Evil Dead 2. 

Chris/Ollie: It was freeze dried in space. 

Bee/Polaris:Yeah.

Avery/GM:  Yeah, I guess technically it would be freeze dried.

Oh my gosh. 

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, so Marty just kind of sits there and like she is like fully in the conversation, but you can see like with her data pad on the side, she has the notes app open and she's just taking notes, still maintaining eye contact the entire time. 

Chris/Ollie: Oh man, just automatic writing at like 200 words per minute.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, have you met her? She's smart. 

Bee/Polaris: At the, at the, at the pause Polaris will also like pull out the Boyan cube and say I also have these. Which are also freeze dried. 

Zach/Zahn: Which are also people. 

Jenine/Marty: Excuse me? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, so we had to fight some of the, um, inhabitants on the space station. And, um, now that I'm thinking about this, that sounds really messed up.

Uh, we had to use cubes of people as bait.

Jenine/Marty: Hi, it's Janine. I'm laughing at this right now. Marty is in complete shock.

Chris/Ollie: Hold out a boyon cubes. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I still have 

Zach/Zahn: boyon cubes that our people meat. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, 

Zach/Zahn: that are space freeze dried 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, 

Jenine/Marty: Okay.

Bee/Polaris:  I'm carrying a lot of dead human on me.

Jenine/Marty: I see that.

Zach/Zahn: We should probably incinerate those

Avery/GM: Psi sets down his cookie and just walks away. Just like Nope, not today .

Zach/Zahn: Not today

Jenine/Marty: Psi how are we doing? Are we good?

Are we great? We haven't checked in since the fun little we're good two thumbs up 

Avery/GM: That whole story was kind of gross. I'm going to go lay down for a little bit. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Imagine living through it. 

Jenine/Marty: Okay, great

Zach/Zahn: l Yeah. Imagine it being your family. 

Bee/Polaris:  Polaris points at Zahn, like emphasis. 

Avery/GM: He looks over at Rho and is like, I'd rather not, but okay.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, like I, like I said, decompressing. Zahn's got like that fake putting on the laugh, smile on his face, but like you see the, his eyes watering up a little bit. Yeah. 

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's drone will turn to Marty and say, thankfully you are back. Much trauma was had and we have been unable to help Zahn. 

Zach/Zahn: What are you talking about?

I'm fine. Clearly I'm fine. 

Jenine/Marty: I don't, you. Look me in the eyes and say you're fine. 

Zach/Zahn: He looks you in the eyes, they are very much like, teary, but he's like, I'm fine. 

Bee/Polaris: Are you lying to her? 

Jenine/Marty: We don't have to talk about it. Okay, what else happened? 

Zach/Zahn: Uh, that's probably the extent of it. 

Jenine/Marty: No other family trauma that happened?

Any other? Any other little, little extra friends on the ship? Any other multiplications of things? What's up? 

Zach/Zahn: Not on New Terra. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, well, uh, Nah, okay, yeah, no. 

Jenine/Marty: You hesitated. 

Bee/Polaris: I did. 

Jenine/Marty: Why were you hesitating? 

Bee/Polaris: Doesn't seem like the time. Also something I should probably discuss with the custodians. 

Jenine/Marty:  And then Marty does another typey type.

Is anyone next to her? 

Avery/GM: I don't think right next to you, no. 

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, Marty's just like, Typing, and just types. Get back with Polaris on topics. Continuing! Anything else? Nothing else. 

Avery/GM: Hermes pipes up and just says, Well, I, I did try to reason with my mother and she almost had me killed. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, that's true. That did happen as well.

Avery/GM: But I am just an AI crystal, so I suppose that is not a high priority. 

Jenine/Marty: No, uh, no, no, no, no, you're, you are very important. Did we have any other parental issues, mentor issues, family issues? 

Bee/Polaris: I mean, you were there for mine, so. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Zach/Zahn: Zahn gives Polaris a pat on the shoulder. They're, there there. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, his hologram visor is on, so he just looks at Zahn without any emotion, any emo or anything.

And then, like, lifts his hand and pats Zahn too. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, because you're sitting to the left of me, so I can't pat you because my right arm is broken. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Zach/Zahn: It's still in a sling

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Jenine/Marty: Okay, cute. Cute, cute, cute. Okay, everyone's I had a nice little research break.

That's it. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh, cool. Something not traumatic. I want to hear literally all of the details. 

Jenine/Marty: That's about it. Um. That's it. I didn't really do anything that cool. I guess I probably mended my relationship with Oswald, but that's about it. 

Bee/Polaris: Aww, does that mean I can't call him a nerd anymore? 

Jenine/Marty: You can still call him a nerd.

Zach/Zahn:  Yes! 

Chris/Ollie: Designation, nerd. Unchanged. 

Zach/Zahn: Unchanged! 

Jenine/Marty: Okay, okay. Um, yeah, okay. So that's, that's it. Am I missing anything else on the journey? 

Zach/Zahn: Unless Bruce had some revelations while we were dealing with some stuff, I don't think so. 

Caden/Bruce: No, just - just Eden

Zach/Zahn: Can I go back to the factory now? There's lots of stuff that needs doing. 

Bee/Polaris: I mean, yeah, but we have to talk about Eden.

Jenine/Marty:This is true, 

Bee/Polaris: we just got sidetracked because Yeah, we got sidetracked because we had to catch Marty up to speed. 

Zach/Zahn: No, yeah, you're Yeah, you're right. Uh, like I said, Uh, fire is still an option. 

Caden/Bruce: I mean, they are a sentient being. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but so is Rhea. 

Zach/Zahn: A sentient being that loves to eat people. Exactly! And we all want to kill Rhea at this table, right?

Right? Yeah, I thought so. 

Chris/Ollie: Our charity, our charity thus far, is based on their chill attitude. That seems to be changing. 

Bee/Polaris: Bruce, how do you want to go about this?

Caden/Bruce: Well, since Eden's eaten my favorite pot, I, uh, figured it would be a better group decision than just a me decision because, I mean, I, they might have told me that, cause Eden, Eden listens to me, um, but specifically said for now. 

Bee/Polaris: In regards to what? 

Caden/Bruce: Well, I guess in regards to that Eden might stop listening to me and what I get them to eat. And, well, I just don't want Eden to eat any of Us. 

Zach/Zahn: Yes, that is preferable. 

Bee/Polaris: Hey Bruce, this seems like a, no pun intended with the current crew, uh, present, this seems like a bomb about to go off.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn actually lets out the chuckle. Like it's, it's completely involuntary when he's like, 

Jenine/Marty: Marty face palms.

Bee/Polaris: Again, unintentional. I, but it definitely seems like a threat kind of slowly brewing behind the scenes. 

Caden/Bruce: And this is why I decided that now would be the time to bring it. With cookies that would hopefully maybe make me forgiven for not bringing it up sooner.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I didn't even really think about that until you said 

Zach/Zahn: is that why these cookies are pot shaped and not like the flower pot, but like actual clay pot 

Avery/GM: shaped like a cooking pot.

Chris/Ollie:  This isn't a Bob Marley special. 

Avery/GM:  Oh my gosh. 

Caden/Bruce: Thank you for noticing. Yes. 

Chris/Ollie: Little flower pots made of cookie, would be so good. 

Jenine/Marty: Well you didn't really see it as a threat, you thought of a new friend and an offering, so there's nothing to really be mad about, but it does come down to what are we doing with this plant?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I mean, cause to be honest, the way I was raised is to neutralize all threats. So that's what I'm thinking, but if you want Eden to continue being, then we need to figure out some sort of solution that does the least amount of damage to other people. 

Caden/Bruce: I mean, my worry is, well, One, Eden talks to me, um, and if we allow, I mean allow is a harsh word, but if we allow Eden to live somewhere else, does that break a psychic bond?

And it certainly wouldn't stop them giving away other seeds like I was given. 

Bee/Polaris: Well, yeah, that's kind of, that is a big concern because presumably we don't want a carnivorous plant known to eat many organic beings, um, to spread throughout the galaxy. Is that, is that a safe bet, safe assumption to make?

Zach/Zahn: Zahns nodding enthusiastically. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will specifically turn and ask Marty, does your research state how much of an ecological disaster this plant is? 

Jenine/Marty: Does my research state how much of an ecological disaster this plant is?

Avery/GM: It has been noted that most of the time when these plants are introduced to ecosystems with other organisms in the environment.

However, if they are placed on a planet that has a high humanoid population, for some reason, the plants grow out of control. 

Jenine/Marty: Don't like that. Don't like that. 

Chris/Ollie: They like the brains. 

Avery/GM: Well, you know. It's a good source of protein. 

Bee/Polaris: I feel like the whole human is a good source of protein. 

Avery/GM: But also yes. 

Jenine/Marty: Well, there's some, there's some research stuff in here.

Uh, what if we - So putting it on a planet with lots of people, lots of humanoids might not be a good idea. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. 

Jenine/Marty: Putting on a planet with other beings, they will thrive. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay, but do we want it to thrive? 

Jenine/Marty: You've put the doctor in a dilemma.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will just say, if it isn't an adverse threat, does it not deserve to? 

Bee/Polaris: I mean, I think the main issue here is that it kind of is a threat. No, to like most organic beings, considering like even on the space station, it just wanted to have everyone be part of it. Right? 

Zach/Zahn: Indeed

Avery/GM: Yeah, Bruce, you will remember that Eden's purpose is to grow.

Caden/Bruce: And it's not just, I mean, of course I'm worried about us and I'm worried about everyone on this ship, but the fact that Eden ate my favorite pot, I'm also worried about the ship itself and the fact that Eden has said that it can eat inorganic material and has proven that it will eat inorganic material, it.

Um, I mean, the parent plant was living as a part of the ship, and I think that's worrying as well, that as much as Eden has said that, you know, I am their friend and we are, you know, doesn't want to hurt us, I don't know if that extends to the ship itself either. 

Bee/Polaris: Hey, I didn't think about that. The ship is cur that we're currently on is my parent's.

Kind of doesn't feel good to know that you brought a plant that can integrate into the ship and eat inorganic beings onto the ship that is my parents. 

Caden/Bruce: I mean, to be fair, when I brought Eden onto this ship, it was before Eden had, you know, a head and teeth. Multiple teeth. 

Bee/Polaris: That's okay, I'll give you that. But also, Eden's goal is to To grow, no? So, like, we knew that it was going to get to that point eventually? 

Caden/Bruce: I guess so? I mean, I don't know how fast this plant grows. I guess I didn't think about it. 

Bee/Polaris: Hey Bruce, where is Eden now? 

Caden/Bruce: In the kitchen. 

Chris/Ollie: You said Eden consumed your pot. Where was the pot located? 

Caden/Bruce: Uh, in the kitchen, with my soup in it.

I kind of just put Eden in the soup and when I came back Eden had consumed the soup and the pot. And is now just living, kind of on the stove.

Bee/Polaris: Bruce. 

Chris/Ollie: There was the pot on the stove. 

Caden/Bruce: Yes? 

Bee/Polaris: Does that mean we're gonna have to get rid of the stove?

Chris/Ollie: Simply activate the stove and it will solve all of our problems.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know if it will. How easily can Eden spread seeds? 

Caden/Bruce: I don't know, I mean. 

Bee/Polaris: Especially since we're not currently watching Eden. 

Avery/GM: Ollie, can you make a, um, dexterity notice check for me? 

Zach/Zahn: I mean, the seed was like the size of a walnut when the parent plant gave it to Bruce, right? 

Bee/Polaris: Sure, but the parent plant was like much larger.

It doesn't necessarily mean that the seed has to stay that size. 

Caden/Bruce: You just figured that they'd have to reach a certain maturity age before they can start producing seeds. 

Bee/Polaris: This is a space plant that eats people, what do you mean?

Chris/Ollie:  Eight.

Avery/GM: You said eight? Okay. You see nothing. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is going to text the custodians and say, can I get eyes on the kitchen?

And are there any issues around the kitchen regarding like, uh, any of the wiring and stuff in the ship? 

Avery/GM: Bear says, Everything looks normal. Uh, there, there is a green rope kind of just hanging in the, on, like, hanging down from the stove in the kitchen next to that weird plant that has teeth. 

Bee/Polaris: Thanks.

Avery/GM: Hey, Polaris, uh, plants aren't supposed to have teeth. 

Bee/Polaris: As far as I'm aware, no. In fact, this plant is, Polaris will just, Bear has seen his helmet footage from New Terra. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, fair. But those plants didn't have visible teeth either. You didn't see the teeth. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris, well, I, uh, presumably they've been listening to this conversation because they're the ship.

Avery/GM:Yeah 

Chris/Ollie: And then Bear just does this, that Jackie Chan, what the fuck? A meme, like, why would you bring that here?

Avery/GM: But yeah, if it's only been two hours, then Ollie wouldn't have had to make that notice check either, so I apologize. 

Bee/Polaris: Um, Polaris is going to then say to the group, you Uh, apparently there is a green rope dangling from the stove in the kitchen.

Caden/Bruce: Okay, so we should take care of Eden sooner than later. I just, yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: So do we want Again, I'm not gonna do anything until we Like, I get a clear answer on this. Is Are we Do we want Do we want to relocate Eden? Or Do we take care of Eden now? 

Caden/Bruce: I mean, if it's been two hours and Eden's already growing, I don't know what. Do we have the time to relocate Eden? 

Bee/Polaris: We, I mean, you can talk to Eden. Presumably we can get them into a container and take them elsewhere. Unless they decide they no longer want to listen to you. 

Chris/Ollie: Unless we are completely unable, I would sincerely like to relocate them. 

Bee/Polaris: I just. My biggest problem with relocating them - Did Marty share the information that these things essentially, like the way they spread is convince people to take their seeds and spread them?

Jenine/Marty: Oh, she would have shared the article. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay, so then yeah, Polaris is gonna be like My only concern here is if we relocate Eden, which I'm assuming the best place to do so is on Winston's former planet, the one that's unregistered. My only concern is if someone else crash lands there and Eden convinces them to take a seed.

What's stopping that person from taking that seed to a populated area? And they wouldn't know the danger that came with it. 

Zach/Zahn: That's precisely my thought as well, especially since we don't even know how long it'll take before Winston's planet is consumed by that black hole. 

Chris/Ollie: It was five years, wasn't it? 

Zach/Zahn:  I thought it was 50.

Chris/Ollie: 50? Oh wow.

Bee/Polaris:  I thought it was way more than that.

Chris/Ollie: 500? Some, some multiple of 5.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah, no, Winston had been there for 5 years. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. And had already, uh. It's gonna take like a while. 

Avery/GM: Yeah. And he had already hunted most of the animals to extinction. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: So, on the plus side, there's only plants that this other plant could eat.

Bee/Polaris: See? 

Zach/Zahn:  Or insects.  I remember there being like small, small rodents and stuff. 

Avery/GM: Yeah. Um. 

Bee/Polaris: But. I mean, the problem still lies that, like, we are the second, like, person to kind of, not crash land, but kind of, like, end up on that planet by accident. So, like, what's stopping someone else from doing that down the line?

Finding Eden? 

Chris/Ollie: Uh, that risk exists already, with all kinds of organisms and microbes. 

Bee/Polaris: Sure, but this is a threat that we can immediately dispatch of, is what I'm saying. We, we don't have to spread this further. 

Zach/Zahn: Zahns just gonna point over shoulder, uh, like towards the door. I can go just make a flamethrower right now.That would 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce, Bruce has one. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that 

Bee/Polaris: Bruce has a flamethrower. And Marty has drugs, let's not forget that. 

Jenine/Marty: I keep forgetting I have drugs. Everytime. 

Chris/Ollie: I'm surprised Zahn doesn't have one built into his suit already. 

Zach/Zahn: Well, I didn't want to completely rip off Mandalorian, you know. 

Bee/Polaris: And if it was attached to his arm, players might have broken it.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, that's, that's the, uh, canon event. 

Avery/GM: Rho will, uh, speak up and say, Marty, or I could maybe try and talk to Eden. If you want, Bruce, maybe, maybe we could convince it not to harm us? 

Bee/Polaris: I mean, that's already been done, no? The problem is literally any other organic being that comes across this plant. 

Avery/GM: That's a fair point.

Bee/Polaris: Listen, again, I will go with whatever the group decides, but personally, I don't see the point in relocating this potentially dangerous plant that convinces people to spread its, you know, to spread it across the galaxy so that it can continue to grow 

Zach/Zahn: and eat. Don't forget the eating part. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Grow in, in this case, meaning consuming all life to become part of it.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Rho says, I mean, maybe we should have given it to the Pan Solar Union before they left. I mean, granted they blew up. So, you know, but I don't know. 

Zach/Zahn: I mean, we weren't really given a opportunity to do that I suppose 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. could have, should have, would have. I guess I just, this situation very much seems like a, um, one house being on fire and we could put out the fire, but we're just going to move the fire.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, Eden's whatever plant, first plant, plant A, possibly not plant A, I mean, it's not like we're getting rid of the whole entire species by getting rid of, that we know of. 

Zach/Zahn: That we know of. 

Bee/Polaris: But I understand that. I'm just saying, why spread it further? 

Caden/Bruce: I mean, if you look at the kill ratio, We have more kills than Eden currently does.

Jenine/Marty: Oh,

Bee/Polaris: I guess I just don't understand what, what the attachment is. I, I, I don't, why, why save this plant? 

Jenine/Marty: Um, uh, may I make a proposal?

Bee/Polaris: Sure. 

Jenine/Marty:There's not a lot of research about this plant. Um, I do have a friend that does study this plant, and I'm going to assume, Hopefully, because they're smart, theoretically, hopefully, that they probably have ways of containing this creature and also researching what we can do to keep it contained.

I can go reach out to them and see what their best course of action is. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, you go ahead and, uh, do that, and he's going to wink. And then he's going to push away from the table and slowly get up. 

Chris/Ollie: Just stretch. Uh, I'm going to go hit the bathroom real quick.

 Zach/Zahn:  I'm going to go hit the gym. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is looking at Zahn, not saying anything, but just looking at Zahn.

Chris/Ollie: Totally oblivious to the undertone. Ollie will turn to Marty and be like, I concur. The expert sounds like the best root of action here. 

Jenine/Marty: Right? I start drafting my email. So I take Oswald off the email, and then I restructure the email. 

Bee/Polaris: I don't, I don't, I just Polaris like sets down the cookie he was eating, and like puts his hands together in like a praying motion, and like

Zach/Zahn: As Zahn is standing, he's gonna put his arm on Polaris shoulder, he's like, Polaris, I need you to come help me with something. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks up at Zahn and just says, as much as I would like to, I do want to finish this conversation. 

Zach/Zahn: Uh, the, the conversation can be put on hold. I need somebody with two hands to help put something together real quick.

Bee/Polaris: Zahn, You're not being subtle. 

Zach/Zahn: I don't know what you mean. 

Caden/Bruce: If we were to put this to a group vote. I am assuming that you and Zahn would be in favor of ridding Eden. 

Zach/Zahn: Eliminating it at the source, yes. 

Bee/Polaris: I just, okay, here's my thing. I don't understand, like, why, why keep this Particular plant alive, I guess..

Avery/GM:  Cause the GM gave it a name.

Bee/Polaris: Well, that just means that it's easier to kill for emotional, like, payoff. We've 

Caden/Bruce: We’ve already 

Bee/Polaris: thats what we do with NPCs

Caden/Bruce:  We’ve already started the Eden plushie line. Come on now. 

Jenine/Marty: We can't get rid of it now. 

Bee/Polaris: Think about the profits. Yeah, no Polaris will just say, here's my thing. There's, you seem to have some attachment to this plant that I don't understand.

I'm not saying this to be like, harsh or anything. I, I truly just don't understand. 

Caden/Bruce: I mean, I was given the seed, and I guess I claimed responsibility of it, and then I started feeding the seed, and you know, I, the, I was given good feedback from Eden about some of my cooking, and that felt good. Um, but, It does scare me that Eden might eventually stop listening to me, and I don't want Eden to eat any of us or the ship.

Bee/Polaris: So then 

Caden/Bruce: Well, if, if we're in agreeance, then, I mean, I do have this flamethrower. He'll just, he'll just like side eye Zahn. 

Bee/Polaris: Takes it up. 

Caden/Bruce: And so it's not impossible to end it. I just, I mean, like I said, Eden has talked to me before and I mean would they be able to stop us if we decided that this was the course of action?

Bee/Polaris: I just, I feel like we should decide that now before it gets to a point where Eden can do more than we can prevent. Also, Marty, don't send that email yet because I was gonna say earlier. I don't think it's a good idea to give this particular plant to professionals for research, because that's essentially like putting it in a cage, a psychic plant that has presumably an infinite memory and will remember that we did this.

Jenine/Marty: And then you see, you know that emoji with the little teeth? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, 

Jenine/Marty: just that as she's like turning the backspace on and she's keeping eye contact with you the entire time you're saying statements. Oopie. 

Bee/Polaris: I understand the need for research, but if this is a plant that has been known to be potentially dangerous and there are known whereabouts for other parts of this plant.

I don't, I, I don't think we should give this plant to researchers to poke and prod, and then it remember that we did that, and then spread, and then eventually find us. And, I'm just tired of being hunted down. 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will nod and stand up and be like, Okay, so, if I'm reading the room correctly, we should get rid of Eden now, but I think it would be wise that I have backup in case it goes wrong.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we could, I could literally just ask the custodians to lock the room and vac it. Presumably Eden needs to breathe, yes? 

Caden/Bruce: I mean, we don't know. 

Bee/Polaris: Can Eden sleep? 

Caden/Bruce: Does Eden sleep? Would Bruce know that? 

Avery/GM: You wouldn't know for sure. I mean, there are, there are long stretches of time where Eden is silent. So maybe, you know, 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce, Bruce will shrug and just be like, I don't know, but I mean, when we were on the ship, it's, you know, the state that it was in, it's not like it had constant fresh oxygen, right?

Like we were all wearing masks and stuff. 

Bee/Polaris: Um, the level that we were on was fine. It was stable. There was oxygen. 

Caden/Bruce: But we don't know if the parent plant was just on that level. 

Avery/GM: You will remember that there were no plants when you got down to the levels of the station that were broken. 

Caden/Bruce: Okay. 

Avery/GM: And exposed to space.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Caden/Bruce: I just wonder if that's, I mean, if we vac it, how do we know that it's worked versus, no offense, I know you probably don't want me to go and set your parent's kitchen on fire. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I don't care about the kitchen. I, the kitchen is yours

Caden/Bruce: but if we know fire will work, is that not a better option maybe? I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, no, I, I'm agreeing with you. What I'm saying is, Okay. If we can put Eden to sleep so they are unaware that we murder it. Sorry, no, Polaris wouldn't say murder, because he knows that Bruce has someone tasked to to Eden. Players would say, If we can put Eden to sleep before we dispatch them, then there's cause we don't know the range of Eden's connection to the rest of the plants.

They won't know. Maybe something went wrong on the ship while they were sleeping. 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will have, like, that, like, knee jerk reaction of someone who has remembered something that they have long forgotten. And, like, will go through his apron and pull out the sleep capsules that he was given by Lissurie and just be like, These detonate and the smoke makes people fall asleep.

We could try these. 

Bee/Polaris: My parents also have nerve gas wired to this entire ship. 

Jenine/Marty: Why do your parents have nerve gas and why do you have the little pills?

Bee/Polaris: I was a very rowdy child, I think. 

Caden/Bruce: I, on my secret mission, was given them. 

Bee/Polaris: Also, scratch that, my, my, my parents are robots. The easiest way to deal with a child running around is sleep gas.

Raised by robots, has no idea what normal parenting is. 

Zach/Zahn: That's fair. It's one of those, like, yep, uh, that's one one.

 Chris/Ollie: 8pm has come around, child unit. It is time for bed. Sleep gas. 

Bee/Polaris: I don't want to go to sleep. Sleep gas. 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will look at Polaris and just be like, okay, let's get them to gas the kitchen and then light.

Well, I mean, even, I mean, we can test to see if that works first, right? And that way, even if we decide not to fire Eden, it gives us some time, theoretically. 

Bee/Polaris: The phrase fire Eden. Sounds like we're letting them go from a job opportunity and not murdering them brutally with fire. Polaris will say, I was going to wait until it goes into its usual sleep cycle and then use the gas to assure its sleep so that it doesn't see gas coming down from the ceiling and know something is up.

Avery/GM: Um, Hermes says, I believe the pills that Bruce has would be more effective at that. It would be very sudden. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Worst for me.

Caden/Bruce: Is there, like, any ventilator? Well, I guess there'd be like a fan in the kitchen or something.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, yeah, you could also just like, I'm sure there's like a But you can seal the gas.

Caden/Bruce: Well, I think what Bruce will do is Bruce will, like, take, I mean, he doesn't know how many capsules he's gonna take, but he's just, like, gonna take his, like, however many he has and hand them to Zahn and Ollie and just be like, Do you want to do a spot delivery to the kitchen? 

Bee/Polaris: If we really want to sell it, if we really want to sell it, we can bring we can hide the the capsules under this plate of cookies, in the cookies, and dump it into Eden.

Caden/Bruce: Well, you just have to drop them in the room, and then they'll let out the gas, and assumingly 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, my assumption is that having a drone fly into the room and then immediately being knocked out is a little suspicious. If you're, if we're feeding Eden, it's more like a gift. 

Avery/GM: A last meal

Bee/Polaris: Polaris wasn't gonna say it.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, given the consciousness and what Eden has spoken to me about, that may be not the worst idea. 

Chris/Ollie: I am unable to interface with Unit Eden. Perhaps feeding her will be simpler from one of you. 

Bee/Polaris: Well, I suppose so.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, my thought was that if you drop the cookies and the tablets into Eden's pot, then the sleeping gas won't affect you.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, it also won't affect me because I have a helmet on. Is Zahn still here? Did Zahn leave? 

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's here. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. 

Zach/Zahn: I mean, he may have, like, been slowly taking one step back towards the door this entire time. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, he's just been back stepping. 

Zach/Zahn: But yeah, he's here.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will nod to Polaris and then be like, okay, we will try that.

We will try putting Eden to sleep, and that's plan A. Plan B can then be to vac the kitchen. 

Bee/Polaris: This is a very elaborate plan to kill a plant. 

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, well, you do what you do. 

Zach/Zahn: We're very elaborate people. 

Bee/Polaris:Indeed.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will sniff and like, put the tablets on the cookie tray and just like, push it towards Polaris and nod.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, you want me to do it? Okay. Polaris will pick up the plate. 

Jenine/Marty:  Would I have something to protect you? Hold please, wait. 

Bee/Polaris: What, like a brain protection? I just don't want Eden to read Polaris's thoughts. To be fair, Polaris has a lot of thoughts, so it would be very noisy actually. I think, I think quickest way about it is just go in there say, Hey Bruce, uh, we have leftover cookies.

Here you go. Uh, and then leave. Yeah. 

Jenine/Marty:  Okay, cool. 

Avery/GM: Bruce, you do hear in your mind. Kind one. Are there any more cookies left? 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will, Bruce will look at Polaris and just be like, Yes, there's extra cookies left and Polaris is going to feed you. And just nod and kind of like stand up and like ready the flamethrower from his back.

Bee/Polaris: Um, Polaris puts up the, the, uh, emoji on his visor. 

Jenine/Marty: Oopie. 

Bee/Polaris: He didn't realize that you didn't con reach this far, which ain't too good. Polaris will just make sure his laser blades are ready. And he'll, uh, he'll go into the kitchen. Because it's kind of fucked up that Edens like, Hey, are the cookies ready?

After we're done talking about how to murder plants. 

Avery/GM: Eden did see Bruce making them, and so is probably like, you know, a couple hours later is hungry already. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay, okay. 

Caden/Bruce:  I mean, Bruce was probably making the cookies, just being like, Okay, we're gonna make some, like, butterscotch cookies. Here's how we make them.

Here's adding, like, certain spices and such. And just, like, talking out loud as he cooks, so. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay, okay. The timing made me worried that Eden is laying a trap. Anyway, to the kitchen! 

Avery/GM: So Polaris, Marty, and Bruce are all going into the kitchen together, or Marty's just hanging out outside, or? 

Caden/Bruce: Polaris is going inside. Bruce is not going inside the kitchen. Bruce does not want Eden to see him. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is the only one going into the kitchen because he has the helmet to withstand the sleep gas.

Chris/Ollie:  Oh no, Ollie will physically show up and go with Polaris, just in case.

Bee/Polaris:  Sweet, okay. Back up! let's go, okay. Yeah, Polaris will walk into the kitchen, and when he and Ollie enter, Polaris is going to tell the custodians to lock the room, like seal it, so that none of the sleep gas gets out.

Avery/GM: Sure. You walk in, the door closes behind you, and this plant gives you a big smile and says out loud, Have you brought some cookies? The kind one told me you'd be bringing cookies. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is freaked out, uh, but he doesn't say anything or like, throw up any emote on his visor. Uh, he just holds up a plate and walks over.

Avery/GM: Uh, You see the mouth open, and there is like, kind of like, this, like, greenish slime that kind of comes off of the teeth a little bit, and you see one of its little leaves like reach up and point towards the mouth. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris types in chat, Eww eww eww eww ewww eww gross gross gross gross gross! And we'll just dump the cookies in! 

Avery/GM: Okay, uh, it's gonna make a physical saving throw. Well. 

Chris/Ollie: Resisted the cookies. 

Avery/GM: That's a nat one. 

Jenine/Marty: Let's go. 

Bee/Polaris: Eden is non the wiser. 

Avery/GM: It eats the cookies and it says, These are the best cookies. You are so lucky to have a friend like Bruce. I'm gonna go to sleep now. When I wake up, will there be more to eat?

Bee/Polaris: Yes. 

Avery/GM: And you see a big smile spread across its face as it falls asleep. 

Bee/Polaris: You can't get me with this emotionally. 

Jenine/Marty: You got me.

 Bee/Polaris:  You can't get me with this emotionally. I was team anti plant the entire time. 

Jenine/Marty:  That's fair.

(ambience fades out, outro plays, then fades down a bit)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Intro and Outro music by Dustin Carpenter. Background music by Tabletop Audio.com and used under a creative commons attribution license. Tracks used include Starship Bridge and Starship Adrift. We’ll be back on October 25th with our next episode. See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(outro music fades up and plays out)


Episode 51 - Serious Conversations

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 51 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

Anything else anyone wants to do before we wrap up the scene? 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, probably give the, give like the, the stuff. Cause like, was the list just what the custodians needed to build new bodies or also to fix the factory? 

Avery/GM: Both. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. So then Polaris is going to go to Zahn in the factory.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris:  He's going to knock on the side of the door.

Zach/Zahn: The door's open. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I know. It's to get Zahn's attention.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, he's gonna look up from whatever, like, diagnostic screen, because he's, like, compiling the list of needed materials. 

 S sup?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris holds up the, the list. Actually, he'll just, like, he holds up the list, realizes, and then just, like, takes a picture on his visor and sends it to Zahn.

Avery/GM: It's, there's, to be fair, the list is, like, a data pad. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay, cool. Polaris will just give him the data pad. 

Zach/Zahn: He'll be like, Oh, Oh, neat. He's like scrolling through it. What is this for? 

Bee/Polaris: The factory and also the custodians need to use the factory to make new bodies. So, 

Zach/Zahn: right. He's like looking at the fleshy parts.

He's like, I'm going to ignore that part. That's out of my, that's out of my contract. Like… 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah. you know, don't worry about it. Just mostly the factory part. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: Also, um, sorry about your arm. 

Zach/Zahn: He shrugs and then winces. I had it coming.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris also winces. 

Zach/Zahn: He's like, yeah, I probably deserved it. 

Bee/Polaris: Uh, I didn't mean to, like, that was fully, I wasn't thinking.

So like, even if you were kind of trying to, Laser blade your way out of the tarp. Um, I shouldn't have broken your arm. Especially since it won't heal as fast? 

Zach/Zahn: I mean as fast. It'll probably heal the normal amount. 

Bee/Polaris: What's the normal amount for you?

Zach/Zahn: I squint. 

Bee/Polaris:  Also I squint.

Zach/Zahn: Like 12 weeks, 

Bee/Polaris: sweating emoji.

Uh, how it depends on how many hit points it takes to like a broken bone takes. So I don't know, like 

Avery/GM: based on your based on your ability, it's it's half up to half that amount of time. 

Bee/Polaris: The, Polaris just does like the the like hand flat, like rocket side to side. I'd sort of think like, uh, about like six weeks at the most.

Zach/Zahn: You see his like lips pursed up and he is like, lucky you. 

Bee/Polaris: Sorry, I didn't know.

Zach/Zahn: He like, lets out a sigh. And then shrugs again. And then winces again, because it

Bee/Polaris: Polaris also winces . 

Zach/Zahn: He is like, it is - it, it is what it is now. Plus, I mean, we, we've got like. We've got, he goes into like, auto, macho, voiceover, voice, he's like, we have the technology to make it a little faster.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I mean, the Ursa has like top of the line medical equipment, and I'm sure Marty and maybe Rho could help with that. So 

Zach/Zahn: yeah, Marty's helped with other stuff in the past. It's all, it's all good. 

Bee/Polaris: So sorry.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn will walk over and put his hand up on Polaris’s shoulder with a very awkward, like Sheldon. He's like, don't worry too much about it.

Bee/Polaris: I will say that I won't, 

Zach/Zahn: but you will anyways. Yeah, I get it. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah.  

Zach/Zahn: All on the same page. 

Bee/Polaris: And then at this point, Polaris like, an exclamation point comes up on the visor and he gasps and he says, We still have Coil.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's like, gonna squint as he's trying to remember who that is, and he's like, eyes wide, he's like, Oh shit, we do.

Bee/Polaris: We haven't - He's just kind of been existing in there for like a week or two. 

Zach/Zahn: I'm pretty sure he's, he's pissed no matter what because we blew up his body. And then took him prisoner. 

Bee/Polaris: We didn't blow up his body, we just, EMP'd him. 

Zach/Zahn: I mean, we beat the ever loving shit out of his body and then EMP'd him.

Jenine/Marty: That's true. 

Bee/Polaris: No, we EMP'd him and then beat the shit out of his body. 

Jenine/Marty: We did bad things.

Zach/Zahn: That's gotta be an awkward conversation at some point, I suppose. Zahn shrugs, and then winces. 

Avery/GM: Especially cause like, obviously the cowboy persona is something that this robot built up. Um. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Can I, um, I really want his hat. Is there a role or something I can make to see if Polaris grabbed his hat? 

Avery/GM: Sure. 

Bee/Polaris: Or if, if, cause like we did ask for the robots.

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Avery/GM: Speaking of Caden, uh, Bruce, um, you are searching through the cupboards to try and find something, 

Caden/Bruce: alive, yeah, uh huh, 

Avery/GM: for this Xeno. You do hear a small voice in your head. that just says, Bruce, there's an easier solution to this. 

Jenine/Marty: Oh, 

Caden/Bruce: and what would that be Eden?

Avery/GM: Instead of feeding the creature that wants to eat another living being, you can feed that creature to me. 

Caden/Bruce: What did we say about eating live prey? 

Avery/GM: Not to do it. 

Caden/Bruce: That's right. Eden, we've had our conversation about eating real life creatures. If that's the way you want to live, you know that you're not going to be able to live here with me or my crew. 

Avery/GM: No, you are correct. I just wanted to help. That's all. Your friend Marty seems very kind. I wouldn't want her to get eaten by such a violent creature. 

Caden/Bruce: Has Bruce noticed anything changing when feeding Eden? 

Avery/GM: You've noticed, oh, you've noticed a little, um, a little bud. It's not open yet. But there is a bud kind of sprouting out of the, out of the stem.

Caden/Bruce: hmmmm. hmmmm.

Avery/GM: And it's only been a few days.

Caden/Bruce: Yeahhh

Avery/GM: So I will say that Bruce has noticed that it's growing quickly. 

Caden/Bruce:Yeah. I think Bruce is sick. 

Zach/Zahn: Eden is just in a jar, right? 

Caden/Bruce: In like a little pot. Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Tupperware. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. It was Tupperware. 

Caden/Bruce: A little Tupperware container. Totally safe. Bruce. I think will say like, yeah, you're right, we don't want any harm coming to Marty.

That being said, you haven't really met her that well. Maybe we should, uh, go and get you two more acquainted.

Avery/GM:  Oh, we've already spoken. 

Caden/Bruce: Like how you speak to me? 

Avery/GM: Yes.

Caden/Bruce:  Do you speak to anyone else? 

Avery/GM:No, I tried speaking with your friend Rho and Psi, but they were not interested in speaking. I also tried speaking to Zahn, but I don't think he is a fan.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, it's probably because you keep threatening to eat different beings.

Zach/Zahn: Without their consent. Consent is key. 

Avery/GM: How else will I grow, if I don't consume? 

Caden/Bruce: Well, don't you like the food that I feed you? 

Avery/GM: Oh, it is very nourishing, but for growth, we require More. 

Caden/Bruce: I feel like as this conversation is taking place, uh, Bruce is just walking to the med bay because that was the last place that he knew Marty had been, and is just trying to find Marty as he's talking to his plant, because I feel like now he's getting more and more concerned.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Marty was on the ship. On the TISCAM. 

Caden/Bruce: Is there a way for Bruce to get there? 

Avery/GM: Yeah, Bruce, Bruce would have known that, that Marty is still on the TISCAM. Yeah, Marty, you see Bruce coming up to you holding a little Tupperware with a little plant sprout. 

Jenine/Marty: Hi Bruce. 

Caden/Bruce: And probably more concerning, talking to said plant.

Avery/GM: Yes, because Bruce talks out loud to it, even though 

Caden/Bruce: Yes, Bruce doesn't know that it's like Bruce doesn't know how to mind talk. So yes, Bruce just talks out loud. 

Jenine/Marty: Hello! Hi! What's up?

Caden/Bruce: Well, apparently Eden's been talking to you. 

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm. 

Caden/Bruce: And Had. An idea. 

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm. 

Caden/Bruce: And Bruce would like, be looking at Marty with like, You know the kind of look like when someone looks at you and has like the eyebrows raised, of like, this is a serious conversation but I can't say it out loud sort of thing? He's doing that look.

Um, and will be like, and thinks it's best if they consume our friend. And he'll wink. Instead of letting our friend consume others. 

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm. Okay. Um, hold please. And then do I have enough points? Oh, I still can't connect all of us into the same chat yet. Sad face. 

Zach/Zahn: Is it the same brain chat? 

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I don't think I can, I can't put us on the same chat, especially I can't add Ollie to chat, unfortunately.

Bee/Polaris: Let's just give him a brain. 

Caden/Bruce: A brain in the jar. Yes.

Jenine/Marty: I feel like I could do that though. That's the thing.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, there are ways I can, I can get an ability to be receptive to psychic abilities. 

Jenine/Marty: I'm going to do a rule clarification. 

Avery/GM: Sure. 

Jenine/Marty: Cause I can do transmit thought and I can also do telepathic contact. And because I'm still like level one, does that mean it will only be between Bruce and I, and I have the knowledge that no one else would be able to enter this chat because I have started this chat and it can only be two way communication question mark?

Avery/GM: Yeah. So no one else would be able to pick up on that conversation. 

Jenine/Marty: Amazing. Okay. 

Avery/GM: Because you're not opening it to other people. 

Jenine/Marty: Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. So I opened chat with, with Bruce, but it's still like, because I'm still learning how to do telepathic stuff. I like transmit a thought of the plant, trying to translate what you told Marty.

Marty has the plant. In an emoji way, and then does like, a snake, and then a person emoji next to it, and then a dinner thing next to that, and then question mark? 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce, because again, Bruce doesn't know how to talk in his mind, will just nod. Very, very enthusiastically, nod. 

Jenine/Marty: I see it, I see, I see. Was this And then Marty nods back, and then just goes, Was this your plan?

Caden/Bruce: Uh, it was Eden's. 

Jenine/Marty: I see, I see, I see. Mm hmm, Mm hmm, Okay. 

Caden/Bruce: I did inform Eden that it might not be the best of plans, and Bruce will like, give like, that side look of just like 

Jenine/Marty: Yeah! 

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, just, just the kind of things like, you can kind of like You've never seen Bruce scared, and I wouldn't say that Bruce is scared, but you can see that, like, realization is dawning on Bruce.

Avery/GM: Concern? 

Caden/Bruce: Concern. Slight concern. 

Jenine/Marty: Marty is like, like, puts her face about a foot and a half away from the plant to be like eye level with it and goes, okay So, I don't know if that's a really good idea Cuz they haven't done anything violent towards us. So I don't think it's a good idea to do anything violent against them. Does that make sense? 

Avery/GM:  Oh, I'm sorry. Are 

Chris/Ollie: Well, yeah, but was that? Was that outloud or was that psychically? 

Caden/Bruce: I am very confused

Jenine/Marty: Oh 

Caden/Bruce: Oh, I, assumed it was out loud

Jenine/Marty: Marty would say it out loud. 

Avery/GM: And, and Marty was speaking to Eden? 

Jenine/Marty: Yes. 

Avery/GM:Or to Bruce?

Jenine/Marty:  With, with like a foot and a half between us. Just in case, like,

Bee/Polaris: Eye level to plant.

Caden/Bruce:  eye level to plant.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: You hear back in your mind, I suppose it would not be right to pre judge someone's actions. I just I wouldn't want anything to befall you, Marty. 

Jenine/Marty: Well, that's really nice of you, Eden. I really appreciate that thought process. But again, we still gotta get to know people before we start judging them, okay?

Asking questions, asking consent before going into people's brains, all of that fun little jazz. 

Avery/GM: Very well. Would you like me to Ask before I speak again? This is the only way I can communicate. 

Jenine/Marty: Oh, no, no, no. We already know that you're gonna speak to me, and that's okay. And I understand that. And I appreciate the concern.

Avery/GM: Okay. I won't ask to consume random creatures again. 

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Okay. Okay. Nice talking. And then there's just fear in Marty's eyes towards Bruce and then a smile. 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will just nod and like gently like with one finger? claw? I don't really really know what his appendage is, uh, we'll just like kind of like gently stroke what is Eden and just be like: We, um, met Eden's parent? creator? um, and it might have been a carnivorous plant being that wanted to consume everything.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I see, I see. What an adventure, mm hmm. 

Caden/Bruce: But Eden has only consumed my cooking thus far. 

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Okay. Good, good, good to know. 

Bee/Polaris: Out of curiosity, is Jasper the historian listening to this? 

Avery/GM: I think Jasper is kind of nearby. I don't know that he's picked up on everything, but He has definitely picked up on what Bruce just said, and it's kind of 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, does Jasper know anything about those sorts of plants?

Avery/GM: If he does, he's keeping it to himself. Unless asked.  

Bee/Polaris: Ha ha ha! Me too, Jasper! High five! 

Avery/GM: Bruce, you do see Eden's little, uh, bulb kind of like tugging towards that empty Or that abandoned bowl of soup that, um, Xeno did not touch. 

Caden/Bruce: Oh, Bruce will pick it up and pour it into the little container dish. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, you hear little telepathic giggles of joy.

Zach/Zahn: Aww, so cute, and yet so dead. 

Bee/Polaris: Not cute at all, I hate it. 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will look at Marty, and like, kind of like a dog that's begging for food, will like, tilt his head, and like, with his tail, indicate to like, where human ears would be? He's trying to be like, can you hear this? But, you know what? He doesn't want to say it out loud.

Jenine/Marty: Can I hear it? The little giggles? 

Avery/GM: You don't hear it right now, no. 

Jenine/Marty: Marty shrugs

Caden/Bruce: Cause Bruce isn't sure how any, or all this works. So he'll just, he'll just like, uh, gently pat Eden and just be like, Can you only talk to one of us at a time? 

Avery/GM: So far, it, it seems I can only talk to one person at a time, yes.

Perhaps once I grow, I can speak to more people. Would that be helpful for you? 

Caden/Bruce: Um, uh, maybe? Do you think you'll grow to be as big as your parent plant? 

Zach/Zahn: *groan of discomfort*

Avery/GM: Hopefully I will surpass their growth!

Caden/Bruce: You know, if you grow that big, you won't be able to be kept in your nice container in my, uh, chef pocket.

Avery/GM: Oh, that is alright. When the time comes, we will gift you with another seed that you may take elsewhere. And the cycle will continue, just as it has for generations. 

Bee/Polaris: I hate it. 

Jenine/Marty:Oopies.

Zach/Zahn: I hate too

Jenine/Marty: Oopies. 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will again be tilting his head, and he is saying all this out loud. Just, just to clarify, because he doesn't know how to speak in his brain.

Just be like, you, you reproduce without a partner. 

Avery/GM: Yes. 

Caden/Bruce: Don't you have pollen? 

Avery/GM: I am not certain on the exact mechanics behind it. Only that when the time comes, we produce a new seed. An extension of our consciousness to go out into the galaxy and grow. 

Caden/Bruce: Hmm. Maybe it's time we go and speak to Ollie.

Because that is the only person Bruce knows who can project their consciousness. And he will go try and find Ollie. 

Bee/Polaris: Sounds like, sounds like an organic chaos emerald. 

Avery/GM: You're going to go find Ollie. 

Caden/Bruce: We're going to go find Ollie. Yep. This is now Bruce's new little side mission.

Avery/GM: Figure out what the hell this demon plant is. 

Caden/Bruce: Concerns just has been slowly raising and now it's reached a point where Bruce is like, hmm. You're asking to consume others to help me, which is like all great and good and such, but also 

Bee/Polaris: I mean, again, there is a historian that has been listening to this entire thing that gave us information on Rhea, so they might know!

Caden/Bruce: But was Bruce there? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah. Bruce knows who Jasper is.. 

Avery/GM: Yeah. You were all in the hallway when Jasper was talking about Rhea. 

Caden/Bruce: I just don't know if that'd be Bruce's first person of choice to ask. That's the thing. 

Bee/Polaris: Totally fair. 

Jenine/Marty: Valid. 

Avery/GM: Totally fair. You'd probably want to ask your close friends first instead of going to a stranger. I get it. 

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Okay. So before we get to Ollie, is there anything else anyone wants to do or say or anything? 

Bee/Polaris: Nah, I feel like Potatoe and Quail is gonna take a long time, so. 

Avery/GM: You could start the process if you want. You do have potatoes upstairs in the hydroponics room. 

Bee/Polaris: Not actual potato. Polaris will ask, um, Alioth if they have like a, like an old monitor or something that they can like hook up a Chaos Emerald to.

And like a keyboard so you can type. 

Zach/Zahn: That would be closed circuited so it couldn't like spread, uh, other stuff. Yeah, we don't want to Ultron this guy. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Avery/GM: Alioth points to the apparatus that he originally hooked Ollie and Hermes up to back in like session 5. 

Bee/Polaris: is it portable? Is there a portable version?

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, it's like a little like, almost like um, one of those like medical carts that they use at like hostels

Bee/Polaris: Oh sweet 

Avery/GM:  to like, Take blood pressure. It's basically one of those, but just for Chaos Emeralds. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Polaris will get that and, like, hook it up to, like, a, a monitor, and Well, when he's able to, he'll go get the Quill Cube that's on the Cassiopeia.

Does the Ursa Major have a telepor teleporter? Cause the CAS does. I don't think I had it. Yeah. Oh wait, he can take his, um, nope, his, wait, his little bear? 

Avery/GM: I believe little bear was connected to the Tiz cam. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. 

Avery/GM: So yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will take the little bear and go to, yeah, he'll go get Coil and come back.

Avery/GM: Sure. Bruce and Marty, while you're having this conversation about, uh, about, um, Eden, you do hear Polaris's fighter ship take off from the hangar bay outside. Does Polaris like drop like a BRB or anything into chat? 

Bee/Polaris: Uh, I mean, presumably Zahn is with him, no? Well, not in the, not in his ship.but with like the whole coil thing. Cause that's what they were doing. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: So Zahn would know. 

Zach/Zahn: yeah

Avery/GM: Fair. Yeah. It's a quick zip over to the Cassiopeia. Uh, nothing has changed, uh, since you've been over here. Uh, just grabbing, grabbing coil cube and going. 

Bee/Polaris: Yep

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. You head back and you see Bruce. Hurriedly going through one of the doorways to go find Ollie, and you are gonna go Coil Cube.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris gonna put in chat, gotta talk to Coil. Uh, join if you want to, question mark? 

Caden/Bruce: I think Bruce will reply in chat with just plant emoji, fork emoji, Question mark, exclamation mark. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will put, like, 40 question marks. 

Caden/Bruce: And Bruce will just say, explain later. Cause he doesn't know how this plant works.

So he doesn't know if he can type it out or not. He's too scared to ask.  

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is going to put concerned face in chat

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will also put the same concerned face. Uh, Polaris will wait for anyone else that wants to come talk to Coil. If that's something that we're going to be doing this episode. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, we can do that

Zach/Zahn: Zahn, I guess, heads up. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will, uh, see that message and start making his way over as well.

Avery/GM: Ollie, you are just finished up with getting your fur all, uh, fixed up. And hop off the bed and in comes Bruce holding the plant and looking concerned. 

Caden/Bruce: Hi

Chris/Ollie: Well, seeing that you had the, uh, the fork and the question mark, question mark emoji, uh, Ollie will see that and seeing you be like, Greetings, crewmate Bruce.

Unfortunately, I am not organic and cannot be consumed by the plant. 

Bee/Polaris: Would Ollie know that? 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, based on the plant. Fork? 

Bee/Polaris: Oh. 

Chris/Ollie: Question mark.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah.

Caden/Bruce: No, I, um, I didn't bring Eden here for that. I, I wouldn't, um, no, it was more of a, uh, can you, can you talk to Eden? 

Chris/Ollie: In my current state, I cannot. With future modifications, it is possible.

Caden/Bruce: Okay, um, well, what Eden told me was that um and then Bruce will begin to basically explain everything that Eden had just explained to Bruce about like wanting to push itself into like the rest of the universe and stuff like that and just be like it um reminded me of your quantum core, in a way, and I was wondering if you knew how to, uh, help that.

And Bruce will, like, put up his hand in the universal stop symbol, because he doesn't want to say that word out loud. 

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will go on to finish your sentence in a questioning. To curb a galactic threat, you mean. 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce's tail will swish agitatedly. Like a yes, and he'll nod, but he will say “no”.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will switch over to, uh, just a private text chat because I'm not sure whether Eden can understand Ollie. 

Avery/GM: Based on available evidence, Eden can hear audio. 

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will switch over to text chat. We'll ask. Does Eden have any dissatisfaction with non sentient meat? 

Caden/Bruce: I think Bruce's reply will be, Eden just wants to consume.

Chris/Ollie: I see that we have no right to deny a sapient being its right to exist. As with myself, surely we could teach it the value of the individual life. Eden can grow to be, uh, a symbiote and not a parasite on the universe. 

Caden/Bruce: I have been trying to teach Eden to appreciate the differences. and ability that cooking can make for a palate.

But I, uh, I know sometimes Eden wants to consume things that I do not make, and that sometimes includes beings. But I assume, Eden, you do not want to consume my friend, Ollie. 

Avery/GM: No, Ollie is nice.

Caden/Bruce: But would you eat a robot? 

Avery/GM: I can.

Caden/Bruce: What can't you eat Eden? 

Bee/Polaris: I can

Avery/GM: I am not sure. I can consume light. I can consume organics. I can consume non organics. As far as I can tell, nothing is outside my reach. 

Caden/Bruce: You have to promise me that you're not going to try and consume the ship. 

Avery/GM: But no, I would not do that. if I consumed the ship. How would I exist? The cold darkness of space would swallow us. 

Bee/Polaris:I just realized one thing Eden can't consume.

Avery/GM:  What? 

Bee/Polaris: My shadow, bro. 

Caden/Bruce:That you know of. 

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean, they're not corporeal. 

Caden/Bruce: Brace will gently pat Eden on the head and just be like, Okay, um, that's good to know. For now, you're only gonna consume what I feed you, right?

Avery/GM: For now, yes. 

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will just look at Ollie and just be like, This might be a group discussion. 

Chris/Ollie: Were you transcribing that for Ollie? 

Caden/Bruce: I think for the most part, no, but for the last part, yes. 

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah. Ollie will reply. Agreed. 

Caden/Bruce: Cause everything Bruce was saying was out loud. You just couldn't hear Eden's responses.

Minus the last one, which Bruce would have written in the chat. With the, with the just, for now, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, question mark, question mark, question mark, SOS. 

Chris/Ollie: Um, did the, uh, ability to eat non organics come up through the conversation? 

Caden/Bruce: Oh, Bruce would have asked if he wanted to eat Ollie.

Uh, I, yeah, I think Bruce would have messaged that in the chat and just maybe, maybe even group chatted it, actually, and just said, Eden can also eat non organics, i. e. robots, exclamation marks. 

Chris/Ollie: Uh, yeah, Ollie will very concernedly say, Uh, I concur, this is a group discussion. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris throws up a yikes emote in chat.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn puts up a fire emoji in chat. With a question mark. 

Bee/Polaris: A fire plant emoji. 

Zach/Zahn: No, a fire, like the, the flame. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah

Zach/Zahn: and then question mark, and then uh, and then below it he'll put the pointing up emoji.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce responds dot dot dot, sad face. He's concerned, he doesn't, doesn't mean he doesn't love Eden, or appreciate that, you know. 

Avery/GM: Ollie, are you still gonna go to the Coil Cube, or are you still, uh, gonna maybe workshop this with, uh, with Bruce a little more? 

Chris/Ollie: Um, well, Ollie definitely wants to get the group in on this, because Ollie, you know, is gonna advocate for life, but, uh, is a pragmatist, so if this is, like, too dangerous, he, uh, wants to get everyone's opinion.

Uh, so, he's just gonna go to the Coil Cube. I imagine, since everyone's there already, that's probably the best place to bring it up. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I don't know if Marty's there. 

Chris/Ollie: Uh, well, most people are there. We can get, uh, the rest through the group chat, I guess. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, is is Marty gonna go to the Quail Cube interrogation, or still stay on the TISCAM?

Jenine/Marty: I-I think Marty's cool with being on the TISCAM. That doesn't really feel like her, uh, Forte. Moral compass situation there, they got this.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will want to leave Eden in a separate room, so whatever is safe, i. e. has the least amount of stuff in it. 

Bee/Polaris: I mean, you could just put the lid on the Tupperware. 

Caden/Bruce: Oh, that's true.

Jenine/Marty: Air.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I assume it has holes in it because Bruce has been carrying Eden around in his pocket. 

Jenine/Marty: True.

Caden/Bruce: But he doesn't want, doesn't want Eden to listen in to the conversation.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. So I mean, like put the lid on and then put them, put Eden in a different room. Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Yeah. You, you find a shelf in the hydroponics bay or in the kitchen or somewhere. 

Caden/Bruce: I think actually no, if it's, if it's in the kitchen, Bruce will go into the kitchen and just like take like, cause the soup by now is cold and probably like he just hasn't done dishes yet and we'll just set the container.

In the soup, and just be like, enjoy your dinner, and then put the lid on the soup pot as well, and just walk out to the rest of the group.

Avery/GM: Excellent.

Caden/Bruce: Happy little plant. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally. 

Polaris, you are hooking up the coil cube to this device. Alioth's hologram is kind of just watching, kind of, not saying anything, not commenting on anything, but just sort of watching.

Oh. Not like it could do much. 

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will point, Polaris will point to the Coil Cube as he's looking up and looks to Alioth and says, this is the, uh, or this is the AI that almost killed us. And then he'll put the hat on top of the monitor.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh, I love it. Cool. Bruce and Ollie and Zahn, you all come in as, uh, Polaris sets this hat on the monitor and flips on the switch.

Bee/Polaris:  Yep.

Avery/GM: Okay. After a little bit of startup noises, you just hear, uh, Dang, Nabit. Why did you do that? I was gonna let you go. 

Bee/Polaris: No, you tried to kill us. 

Avery/GM:Oh, come on now. I was just trying to get Hermes.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but you also tried to kill us. 

Avery/GM: Oh, come on now. What's, what's a little threat between acquaintances? 

Bee/Polaris: A threat between acquaintances? I don't, I don't understand. When you threaten us, it's not a very good idea. Most people that threaten us end up in pieces. 

Chris/Ollie: Or exploded. 

Avery/GM: Well, most people who are outnumbered by, you know, four to one odds usually just, uh, listen when I threaten them.

Anyway, what kind of body are you have me in? I can't feel my arms, my legs. 

Bee/Polaris: A computer. 

Zach/Zahn: You're in just a desktop. 

Avery/GM: Oh, that's cold. 

Bee/Polaris: Sorry, I didn't know how else to talk to you in a way that you wouldn't try and murder us again because. You know, based off previous history, you've tried to murder us. 

Avery/GM: I mean, I just follow orders, you know? If someone hires me to do a job, I do it. 

Bee/Polaris: Who?

Avery/GM: Oh, I think you already know who. 

Bee/Polaris: Names. 

Avery/GM: Oh, there's no names in this business. Just shadowy figures. 

Bee/Polaris: Are you lying to me? 

Avery/GM:  Actually, yeah, I amjust lying. I'm kidding. It was Rhea. Rhea hired me. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well, she just tried to kill us as well. 

Avery/GM: Well, I can see she didn't do the job.

Never send an organic to do a robot's job, that's what I always say. 

Bee/Polaris: But you failed too. 

Avery/GM:Yeah, well, you know. 

Zach/Zahn: You don't gotta rope that in.

Avery/GM: That's kind of a low, kind of a low blow if you ask me. 

Zach/Zahn: We didn't. Zahn says from the back. We didn't ask you. 

Avery/GM: Well, you got me here. I'm at your mercy. What do you, uh, what do you, uh, propose we, uh, we do? 

Bee/Polaris: Honestly, I didn't think that far ahead. I just thought it was kind of rude to just keep you in your housing for a couple weeks without any means to speak, so 

Avery/GM: I mean, I was, I was pretty bored.

I did, I did start writing a fan fiction about, you know, the adventures of a robot cowboy out on the planes of space, so to speak. 

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will turn to the rest of the group and just say, what is a fan fiction? 

Caden/Bruce: Well, nonfiction is when it's about yourself, right? 

Bee/Polaris: I don't know. I don't, I can read, but I don't like do it for leisure.

Zach/Zahn: Polaris, have you ever like watched a movie? 

Bee/Polaris: Loading screen on Polaris's visor. Heh heh heh. Um, Documentaries? That's how I got my name. 

Zach/Zahn: Gotcha. So you know people make up stories that didn't happen, right? For entertainment. 

Bee/Polaris: Lying?

Jenine/Marty: Oh! 

Zach/Zahn: It's a really sad way of saying it. But yes.

Chris/Ollie: Less of a lie and more of a hypothetical. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Well, there are published works that people create and then there are not officially published works that people create. What Coil is talking about is the latter. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Yeah Just, just kind of a story of my own creation. A self insert, if you will.

I'm a big fan of the Silver Shield, so I thought, what if the Silver Shield were a cowboy robot? 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, he's here. 

Avery/GM: Wait, really? Really? You got the Silver Shield here? Oh, now you're just teasing me. You're just teasing me. That's not nice to do. I already don't have a body, and now you're

Bee/Polaris: Stop. Hold on. Polaris will send a message to Rho and Psy.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, it would be great if they were here, just behind them, so we just rotate them around. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Are they Yeah, what have they been doing? 

Avery/GM: Um, they have been having their own conversation, um, kind of about everything that happened. Playing catch up, you know, cause, cause Rho is, is coming to grips with some stuff.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will send a message to them and, uh, say, Hey, can you come to Alioths Workshop, uh, Psy, I think you have a fan who tried to kill us, but that's neither here nor there. 

Avery/GM: You get a response back from Rho that just says, Psy wants to know if he should wear his costume and you see like an eye roll emoji.

Bee/Polaris: Yes. Question mark. 

Avery/GM: Be there in 10. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris says, okay, give us 10 minutes. He’ll be here

Zach/Zahn: Zahn snaps his fingers. That's a perfect example. You know how Psy has a fake persona that is the Silver Shield. That's a made up character that people make up stories about. Doesn't mean that he did them, but people have fun with the idea that he could do super cool stuff.

Bee/Polaris: people make stories up about his life?

Zach/Zahn: Yes. 

Bee/Polaris: Interesting. 

Zach/Zahn: For entertainment and escapism from reality, which is awful. 

Bee/Polaris: Why would, why escape from reality? Reality is. 

Zach/Zahn: That's exactly why. 

Bee/Polaris: I don't understand. 

Avery/GM: Oh, I can't, I can't believe I get to meet the silver shield and I, I can't even, can't even shake his hand. 

Bee/Polaris: Sorry. 

Avery/GM: You know, y'all, y'all put me in a really bad spot here, you know.

If you had told me. 

Bee/Polaris: Tried to kill us. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, if you had told me you knew the silver shield, maybe I would have just said, Oh, I couldn't find them. 

Zach/Zahn: We didn't know him at that time. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah we didn't know him

Chris/Ollie: We met him very recently. 

Bee/Polaris: We knew his sister. 

Zach/Zahn: Without knowing that she was his sister.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, without knowing that they were siblings.

It's complicated. You missed a lot. 

Avery/GM: Look what happens when I'm just stuck in my own head.

Bee/Polaris:  Well, look what happens when you try to murder a How many times do I have to The reason you're in this situation is because 

Avery/GM: Would you like me to apologize? Is that what you're trying to get at here? 

Bee/Polaris: Yes, please. Yes.Yes, please apologize and also promise you won't do it again. 

Avery/GM: I'm sorry that I tried to murder you. 

So you admit it. 

Avery/GM: I mean, look, it was a possibility. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. 

Avery/GM: If you had given me Hermes, no one would have died. I'm a robot on my word. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay, but you still tried to kill us. 

Avery/GM: Yeah, yeah, that's, that's part of the job, you know, to get mad at a space pirate who gets hired to, to rob somebody.

I mean, it's the same thing. 

Bee/Polaris: No, because they're our friends. 

Avery/GM: What, you're friends with pirates? 

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Crimson Chaos, yeah. 

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, Captain Blitz. Yeah, yeah, I did a job for him back in the day. Yeah, he's, he's good. He's all right. A little, you know, a little emotional sometimes, but, you know, overall, nice fella. 

Bee/Polaris: I'm told that being emotional is not a bad thing.

Avery/GM: Look, look, look, I promise I won't try and murder you anymore unless I get hired for the same job, but 

Jenine/Marty: Not happening, bruh. 

Bee/Polaris: Not good enough. 

Avery/GM: What, you want me to retire from bounty hunting? 

Bee/Polaris: What's bounty hunting? 

Avery/GM: I mean, you know, there's certain places on the hollownet called the dark hollownet. 

Bee/Polaris: I'm kidding, my parents are criminals.

Avery/GM: Oh, oh see, and here you are judging me, a humble robot cowboy. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well I've never like, done a bounty. I've usually only killed in self defense. 

Avery/GM: Oh, uh, do you want to do a bounty? I know, I know some people who are hiring. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks at the rest of the group with an exclamation point on his visor. 

Avery/GM: I mean, there's, there's this, there's this group that needs to like find this Hermes character.

I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, like grabs the mouse and like goes to put the computer in sleep mode.

Chris/Ollie: Control, delete 

Zach/Zahn: Just unplug him. 

Avery/GM: Hey, question. 

Bee/Polaris: What? 

Avery/GM: What happened to my hat? 

Bee/Polaris: It's on your head. I, I kept it. I, it's on the monitor. 

Avery/GM: Oh, oh. You see, like, little, like, eyes on the monitor, like, look up to try and, like, see. I, I can't really see.

This is just all

Zach/Zahn:  You're just gonna have to take our word for it, buddy. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will pick up the hat and put it in front of the monitor and then put it back on top. 

Avery/GM: Oh, thank you. Thank you. Okay. Good. Good. You know, I won that hat in a, in a duel. 

Bee/Polaris: What? 

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. This, this guy, I was, I was, uh, you know, we were competing for a bounty and, uh, said, Hey, uh, if I win, I get the bounty and I get your hat.

If you win, you get the bounty, and I'll be your robot sidekick, and, uh, I won.

Bee/Polaris:  You killed him?

Avery/GM: No, no, no, no. Yeah, a little, yeah. Yeah, I did, I did. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: I did do that. Anyway, is there any particular reason you brought me out of stasis? I mean, do you, I've apologized. What else, can I have a body? Is that what, you're here to give me a new body?

Bee/Polaris: You didn't promise to not kill us, like, at all, ever. Ever. 

Avery/GM: Hmm. 

Zach/Zahn: We may build you a new body. You commit your services to the oracles. 

Bee/Polaris: Ooh, that's a good one. And you can't double cross them. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, no, no taking side jobs that go against the interests of the people that we're deciding to be the good guys. 

Avery/GM: But what if the money's really good?

Bee/Polaris: Too bad. What do you need money for? You're, you don't eat. You know, like, what do you need money for?

Avery/GM: Did you see the outfit I was wearing? Those are very expensive. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I can make you some new ones. 

Avery/GM: Really? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I'm a seamstress. Well, seam 

Chris/Ollie: Seamster.

Bee/Polaris:  Whatever, seamstress. 

Zach/Zahn: Seaminster?

Bee/Polaris:  Nope, seamstress.

Avery/GM: Well, okay, so so I don't have to worry about money because I'll be able to get all my my good good cowboy outfits 

Bee/Polaris: Also, Why instead of instead of killing people for money to buy the clothes why don't you just rob the clothes? Like, steal the clothes. 

Avery/GM: Oh, no, that, tailors are hardworking people. You don't, you don't steal from the workers. You just,

Bee/Polaris: You steal from us? Well, try to.

Avery/GM:  No, I, look, look, are we gonna, are we gonna pick apart my entire philosophy? 

Bee/Polaris: Yes. 

Avery/GM:  Bit by bit, until you, you back me into a moral corner.

Bee/Polaris: Yes, I don't understand. 

Avery/GM:  Look, I'm a very complex being, okay?

 Bee/Polaris: Good for you. 

Chris/Ollie: Why do you not just project your clothing as holograms?  

Bee/Polaris:  That is true 

Chris/Ollie: That way you can get whatever you want for free.

Avery/GM: There's like a, a raised finger on the monitor. Like, I don't, I don't have a good answer for that one. That's actually a pretty good idea. You're a smart dog. Wait, why is that dog talking?

Bee/Polaris: Because you destroyed his body. Well, he destroyed his body to destroy you. But you know, 

Chris/Ollie: Greetings, again. Last time we met, I exploded a little.

Zach/Zahn: Completely in your face. 

Avery/GM: Oh, you're the, you're the robot that might have been Hermes. Are you Hermes? 

Chris/Ollie: Negative. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I was gonna say you'll never know, but yeah, he's not. 

Avery/GM: Oh, okay, okay. Well, look, how about this? I hereby promise on my sacred word as a cowboy that I will not murder you or take any jobs involving murdering you.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, but you didn't know that wasn't the deal though. Zahn raised a new point. 

Avery/GM: Well, yeah, but ugh. You want to go work for these Oracle people who are all about like doing good? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, 

Avery/GM: right and wrongs and stuff like that. 

Zach/Zahn: Kinda Yeah 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, they paid us though. 

Chris/Ollie:  Their money is good. 

Bee/Polaris:  They have good money. 

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's eyes perk up. I have a an additional addendum. So you're 

Avery/GM: Hey, hey, no, no, no, no, no, no. I agree. I'll join I'll join the oracles there. 

Bee/Polaris: Cool. You didn't say I promise. Zahn say what you were gonna say. 

Zach/Zahn: He's like We'll hire you, we'll pay you money if you utilize your skills in tracking down the other half of Hermes. From the Hegemony. 

Bee/Polaris: That's a good one

Caden/Bruce: We have a lot of money. 

Zach/Zahn: We do have a lot of money. 

Bee/Polaris: I don't spend my money. I don't really have anything to spend it on other than frivolous things. Well, mostly ridiculous things, so yeah, we can pay you. 

Zach/Zahn: Or supporting local businesses. 

Bee/Polaris: Uh, yeah. Well, I mean, that was, again, that was like a snap judgment kind of thing.

I, to be perfectly honest, I don't understand the value of money. 

Avery/GM: Like, there's like a dot dot dot, like going across the monitor for a little bit. And Coil's like, hmm, that could be quite fun. A double crossing cowboy. Going back to the hegemony to steal what they wanted me to steal from. Oh, that's good.

That's good. That's almost something the Silver Shield would do. 

Bee/Polaris: Speaking of, where is he? 

Avery/GM: As, as, as you say that, he walks through the door full costume on, looking ridiculous. Marty, um, a few moments ago, you did see the Silver Shield and Rho come down the ladder of the Tiz cam, um, and start walking out and Rho turns to you and is like, I guess there's a fan of my brother somewhere on the Ursa?

So I guess we're gonna go, we're gonna go visit them? 

Jenine/Marty: Oh yeah, I think they're interrogating him. Have fun!

Avery/GM: Rho just raises an eyebrow like, oh, okay. cool.

Bee/Polaris: Is she really surprised? 

Avery/GM: The interrogation, mate, like, the have, the have fun at the interrogation is a weird thing to hear. 

Bee/Polaris: That's true. Especially from Marty. 

Avery/GM: And yeah, the silver shield is just like, ah, greetings, citizen! Who's the lucky fan here? 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris point to the computer with the hat on.

Avery/GM: Oh, I like your hat there. That's very stylish. What, uh, what brings you here? And Coils just like, well, I, I tried to murder them and take their AI crystal. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, that does include Rho. Uh, not a good look. 

Avery/GM: Oh, and, and Mr, Mr. Silvershield, I, I did not know that that was your sister. If I had known, I would not have, have tried to, uh, murder.

And Silvershield like holds up a hand and is just like, I understand, you know, everyone is misguided sometimes. Uh, but uh, if you promise not to do it again, I will forgive you. This time. 

Jenine/Marty: This time? 

Avery/GM:  Will you devote yourself to being a good citizen of the galaxy? 

Oh yes, yes of course, of course. My, my evildoing days are done. Mr. Silver Shield, it is, oh, wow. I wish I could shake your hand right now. 

Bee/Polaris: He could just wiggle the mouse.

Avery/GM: Silver Shield does that. He grabs the mouse and just wiggles it. For, for now this, this should do very well. Uh, you are forgiven. Please. My, my friends here will, uh, take care of anything else you need. But always happy to meet a fan. Always happy. And he's like put, he's, he's cheesing it up for everybody.

He's putting on the performance. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris doesn't understand. He just thinks he's lying. 

Avery/GM: And Rho kind of rolls her eyes. Not like meanly, but just like, Uh, there goes my brother, you know, and then she sees Alioth's, uh, hologram and it's just sort of like looks down and just like, uh oh. And yeah. Is there anything else you want to ask this robot friend of yours?

Your new ally who's going to double cross the hegemony for you. 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Didn't even have to roll any persuasion. Just used reason. 

Avery/GM: No, you have him cornered, like, what are his options? Stay cubed forever? 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I was gonna say, if this went south, Polaris would just press the power button. Um, but we also have his, we also, like, let him meet his idol.

Avery/GM: That too, like, you know, you've circled this square quite well, so. 

Bee/Polaris: We've done it again. 

Avery/GM: Friends to enemies, or wait, enemies to friends, 

Zach/Zahn: frenemies. 

Bee/Polaris:  Yeah. 

Avery/GM: So after a couple hours, you do get, uh, the oracles docking a shuttle inside the, the docking bay and the other guests board the shuttle. They do bring in the, uh, they bring in a couple like kangaroo sized animals.

And you lead them into the room that has Xeno in it. You hear some very violent sounds.

Bee/Polaris: Nothing new for Polaris.

Avery/GM: Uh, from inside. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh, who's going to have to clean that up? 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will do it. He's not grossed out by gore. 

Avery/GM: There's a little bit of blood. There's also like the bed that was in there is busted.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine. 

Avery/GM: You know, the furniture is broken. And Xeno comes out of the room and is smiling and happy. And it's just like, Thank you so much. That was an excellent meal. Where is your friend Marty? I must thank her for exercising such patience. And I must apologize for my hunger.

 Like, their whole demeanor has changed.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Zach/Zahn: Now they've eaten. 

Avery/GM: They come kind of slithering through the corridors towards the shuttle. They see that the ramp is still down. Marty, are you still in the Tiz cam? 

Jenine/Marty: Yes. I'm at the communications. Just making sure we're not getting any, uh, any messages in. 

Avery/GM: Okay. From down in the, in the cargo hold, you hear Xeno's voice calling up to you.

And it's just like, I must apologize for the rudeness I displayed in almost eating you. 

Jenine/Marty: It's okay, understandable. Happy you got fed. 

Avery/GM: You are most kind, and just know that if I had eaten you, I would have felt horrible for removing such a bright light from the galaxy. Hopefully, I will be in better control of myself next time we meet.

Jenine/Marty: That is very considerate of you. Thank you so much. 

Avery/GM: And Xeno slithers their way back onto the shuttle. Jasper is kind of hemming and hawing about whether they're gonna get on the He's gonna get on the shuttle or not. Bruce, he turns to you and just says, You should get rid of that plant as soon as possible and then takes off towards the shuttle 

Zach/Zahn: who said that? 

Bee/Polaris: they have our contact information, No? 

Avery/GM: yes. Yes, they do. 

Bee/Polaris: Sweet.

Avery/GM: I think they were I think you made a chat with them. So, 

Bee/Polaris: oh, yeah Yeah, 

Avery/GM: so they do have your chat info But Bruce the the concern that you have been feeling was totally reflected on his face

Caden/Bruce: hmmmmm.

Avery/GM: And They take off in the shuttle to destinations Unknown. Maybe we'll meet some of them later. Who knows? Oh, before they depart though, uh, Polaris, the shadow creature, Milarie materializes in front of you. Um, sort of this shadowy mass and it's just like, would you like me to stay here or. Should I go with the others?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, you can do whatever you want. 

Avery/GM: I would much rather remain here for now. 

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I mean, we tend to venture out occasionally anyway, so feel free to join if, I mean, everyone else is okay with that. He kind of looks around. 

Avery/GM: You will never notice me. I will be like the wind.

Bee/Polaris: That's concerning. 

Avery/GM: Oh, no, no, not hostile.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, no, no, no. I mean just like if you're never around that we can't like hang out.

Avery/GM: Oh, no. I just mean I won't 

Bee/Polaris: be noticeable? 

Avery/GM: I won't impose my presence on you in an unwanted way. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Yeah. Don't do that. But also just, you know, you can chat with us. 

Avery/GM: Very well. Thank you. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Your hospitality is appreciated. A welcome change from the way my society typically operates.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, that's unfortunate. Glad I could be hospitable. 

Avery/GM: Very well, thank you. And then it disappears back into the ship mysteriously. 

Bee/Polaris: Excellent, I love those. 

Avery/GM: To places unknown. 

Bee/Polaris: They're my favorite.

Avery/GM: You have creepy plant who you hate and creepy shadow who you love. 

Bee/Polaris: Well, yeah, because creepy shadow doesn't want to consume everything in the universe. 

Avery/GM: Great. Uh, so, um, in wrapping up, you see the shuttle depart. Uh, you get a final message from Lazuli that just says, uh, I spoke with Avi and, um, she said that the money you agreed upon should, uh, reach your account in the next day or so.

Um, hopefully this is the last interaction we, uh, have together. Hopefully we won't have to rope you into saving the galaxy anytime soon. 

Bee/Polaris: You will. 

Avery/GM: Possibly. There's still the whole situation to settle with the corruption in the Republic government and the whole collusion between the Protector and Rhea and all that stuff, but 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, you will. You'll see us again. You might as well just keep contact. Oh, yeah, Rhea. Yeah, we yeah, we have to kill her Even though she's like a war god or something. Also, can you make sure those contractors find good employment? 

Avery/GM: Yeah, I'll I mean do you like send them to like a temp agency? Like what do you know? I don't usually do employment like 

Bee/Polaris: okay, but you guys are like the Oracles you guys don't have like you can't like see a good job opportunity?

Avery/GM: Oh, you want us to use our oh sure.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean just like make sure they're not Cause they kind of got, uh, immediately fired and were working for an evil organization. They kind of need like decent employment after that. 

Avery/GM: I'm sure we can work something out. 

Bee/Polaris: Thank you. 

Avery/GM: All right. Well, toodles. And the shuttle takes off and is gone. Um, you are now here on the Ursa Major.

Oh, the other thing is, Ollie, you did get the confirmation that Ithaca has been stabilized.

Chris/Ollie: Wonderful. 

Avery/GM:  Um, so you've got the Cassiopeia and the Ursa Major both. What's the plan for moving? 

Zach/Zahn: Uh, send, go somewhere where we could purchase the parts we need. 

Avery/GM: Sure. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Wherever we can go to fix the factory.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. 

Bee/Polaris: I mean, also presumably like next session, we're going to have a convo about everything that happened, including Eden. 

Avery/GM: So do you pilot the Cassiopeia separately or do you like hook it up to the Ursa? 

Bee/Polaris:  Yeah, I take them both. 

Zach/Zahn: I believe we had initially at one time towed the, the Cassiopeia, so we'll just probably do that.

Avery/GM: Okay, uh, yeah, you hook up the Cassiopeia to the, uh, Ursa Major's, um, ship clamps. I think, I think you have ship clamps. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM:  On the Ursa Major, so. Uh, you, you clamp it to that and, uh, you maneuver. Merak is just like, I, I can handle the piloting. It's not a big deal. And yeah, the ship jumps to hyperspace.

Bruce, you come into the kitchen having finished up the day and maybe you're just ready to have a quick meal and head to bed, uh, you come in and you see that. The pot you cooked the soup in is mostly consumed, and sitting there in the wreckage of this pot is a large plant with a mouth full of teeth, and it just says, Bruce, it is so happy to finally speak to you.

Caden/Bruce: Hi, Eden.

Avery/GM: And that's where we're going to end it.

Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the furthest stars is a one up podcast network production. Find more of our work at oneuppodcasts. com and leave a review on iTunes or Spotify. It really helps us out. Intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by TabletopAudio.

com used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. Tracks used include Generation Ship and Robotics Lab. We'll be back on October 1st with more. Our next episode, see you out there beyond the furthest stars.


Episode 50 - Damage Report

Avery/GM: Welcome to the 50th episode of beyond the furthest stars. I can't believe that we've already made 50 episodes of this, and we still have at least 10 more sessions left in this first season. Uh, before we wrap up, I'm so proud of all of the players, all of the cast members, all of the friends that I have made in producing this show over the past couple of years. I think we've really made something special here and I'm just so proud of each one of them. And couldn't ask for a better crew to make this show with. So enjoy our 50th episode.

(intro music plays, fades down. Ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: So you're kind of floating here in the aftermath, Bruce, you come up from the cargo space after having checked on the, uh, independent contractors that were down there

Zach/Zahn: right after Zahn and Polaris' like heartfelt conversation.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you come up and you see on the display screen, just kind of some fiery debris fizzling out and yeah, y'all are here on the bridge of the ship.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris probably is like going beelining to pilot seat so that we can get onto the Ursa Major cause his parents presumably blew up.

Avery/GM: Sure. Anyone else doing anything?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna go to the med bay.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. Oops.

Zach/Zahn: To get a sling. for this, uh, very busted arm.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will follow.

Avery/GM: Sure. Zahn, you rummage around the med bay of the TSKAM and you find just a very rudimentary, uh, sling, requires two hands to put it on. Uh, you turn around and Marty is there ready to help.

Jenine/Marty: Hi.

Zach/Zahn: And Zahn's just like, he's like pulling it out of a drawer as, as he turns around and Marty's right there. He's like, can you help me put this on?

Jenine/Marty: Of course. Obviously. Marty helps.

Zach/Zahn: And he's like wincing and like making faces. The entire time.

Avery/GM: Zahn's not used to having his bones broken.

Zach/Zahn: No, he is just used to permanent back pain. .

Bee/Polaris: Well now you have a new pain courtesy of a friend.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my God. .

Avery/GM: It's the gift that keeps on giving

Bee/Polaris: I mean, hopefully not, hopefully it heals properly.

Avery/GM: Yeah, right. Um, okay. Uh, you Polaris pilot the ship into the Ursa majors docking Bay.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I totally forgot about all the people that are in the, uh, we should probably give those guys to the oracles or actually can we, uh, Polaris is not on comms. Can Polaris contact the oracles from his helmet?

Avery/GM: You can pat, you can, you've been able to patch through the comms so sure.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Okay. Polaris is going to call up the oracles.

Avery/GM: Sure. (hums melody from “Girl from Ipanema”) Hello? This is the oracles. How can I? No, kidding. Kidding.

Bee/Polaris: You have reached Oracle customer service.

Caden/Bruce: Press one to speak to a representative.

Zach/Zahn: Inbox full.

Bee/Polaris: Just like the Oracles.

Avery/GM: You have reached a caller who has not set up their voicemail yet. Please try again later.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, sounds right.

Avery/GM: Uh, in all seriousness, you do reach, uh, Lazuli, um, who is just like, uh, Agent Lazuli, which one of you is this?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris.

Avery/GM: Oh, hello, Polaris. I'm so glad you survived. How can Can I help you?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, we liberated some contractors from the Hegemony ship and they might need employment. Can we like transfer them to your ship or take them to planetside or?

Avery/GM: I can, I can send a shuttle up to you, um, here in a bit, if you would like. We're kind of busy, you know, taking care of the whole, making sure the planet doesn't explode once Ollie leaves.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. You're welcome by the way.

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah, thank you. Um, you, uh, you all did a great job.

Bee/Polaris: I'll pass that on to Ollie. Polaris literally just turns around. Hey, Ollie.

Zach/Zahn: Good job.

Avery/GM: No, no, no, no. It's Ollie. Who's a good boy.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Well, Ollie's taken up the, um, the comms command chair.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sweet. So he's just sitting in the chair, just like tail wagging.

Chris/Ollie: Sitting up with the, in his dog pose. And as you call his name, he looks over to you and just tail wags from in the chair.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: When Ollie looks over, Polaris just says, Good boy. Lazuli says, Good boy. And Polaris is saying that, while the console Lazuli is on, so Lazuli knows what he says.

Chris/Ollie: He responds by saying, Please relay to Lazuli, that I am incredibly gratified by this. But his body language is just like wiggling his ass, his tail is, uh, wagging so hard.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is taking a video. Like, he's been taking a video since the moment he called Ollie, and then what he said, and he's sending it to Luzuli.

Avery/GM: Perfect. Luzuli's like, um, yeah, so, uh, please, um, just, uh, you know, if you want to wait, we can send a shuttle up probably here in a few hours.

Bee/Polaris: Sure. Oh, uh, okay, sure. I, uh, I just don't think it's If my parents are still alive, they still don't like organic beings, so Having a bunch of random strangers on the Ursa Major

Avery/GM: Oh! Just knock them out with nerve gas and make them stay on your ship.

Bee/Polaris: Dot Dot Dot!

Avery/GM: Bruce should still have some of our supplies.

Bee/Polaris: Are you joking? Is this a joke?

Avery/GM: No, not at all. That's the most efficient way We were actually planning on knocking out a lot of you with nerve gas if, if the time came that we needed to.

Bee/Polaris: Unfortunately for you, I weren't. Helmet. And my parents have already tried that. The helmet filters out nerve gas. So, yeah.

Avery/GM: I see.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Also, kind of rude.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will also mentioned, Polaris, please do not relay our weaknesses and strengths to our, and to potential adversaries.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris turns to Ollie while the comms are still on so Lazuli can't hear. I mean, aren't they like, omniscient or omnipotent or omnipresent? Don't they already know? Except for that one time that they didn't know.

Chris/Ollie: And their actions, thus far, have proven that to not be true.

Avery/GM: Some of us have precognition abilities, but that's neither here nor there. That's, that's not, I'm just saying that sometimes, you know, for the good of the galaxy, sometimes we have to knock people out. We don't kill them. We just, you know, knock them out. They wake up someplace else.

Bee/Polaris: Have you tried to ask them them nicely.

Avery/GM: Oh, of course. Polaris, we always ask nicely first.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Wait, ask nicely to apply the nerve gas or ask nicely to move them.

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. , please don't nerve gas me

Avery/GM: noted

Bee/Polaris: or my friends.

Avery/GM: I I have noted that in our file.

Bee/Polaris: Thank you. And I will note that in our files as well.

Zach/Zahn: for potential lawsuit. Future

Avery/GM: If I get nerve gassed, I'm suing you

Zach/Zahn: I swear to god!

Bee/Polaris: Um, I'll just ask them nicely to stay on this ship. Um, maybe Bruce can bring them snacks. So they can just relax while they wait for transport. Alright, that was all. Polaris kind of turns over to Ollie and Bruce and anyone else that's on the bridge and says, Does anyone else want to say anything to the Oracles before I hang up?

Zach/Zahn: So Zahn's not there, but me and Zach am forgetting. What did the Oracles promise us for compensation?

Bee/Polaris: Not getting murdered. I mean, aside from that.

Avery/GM: So the oracles didn't promise you anything. Avi promised you money.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we get money.

Avery/GM: For helping, for helping their cousin.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Also, Zahn isn't in the bridge, but the medical bay isn't too far from the bridge in the TSKAM.

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Because TSKAM's a pretty small ship. So you can probably hear this.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, yeah. So then, yeah, he'll go ahead and chime in. Just be like, uh, when, when are we to expect our compensation?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, right. Uh, your sibling, uh, promised us compensation. Should we contact them or?

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, I would contact them. That would probably be best. Uh,

Bee/Polaris: alright, well Polaris will turn to the rest of the crew. Anything else?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will shake his head

Zach/Zahn: Zahn shrugs and then winces 'cause he like moved.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will just like. Okay. Well I think that's all. If we needed anything else, we will contact you later.

Avery/GM: Sounds great. Thank you again for all your help. That really was unexpected, but great and helpful and very good.

Bee/Polaris: Glad to be of help, especially when we're getting paid and then hangs up.

Jenine/Marty: Fair!

Avery/GM: Okay. And you are still flying towards the Ursa?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Oh, is Hermes in the ship? Oh yeah. Polaris will tell Hermes to dock at the Ursa and he's gonna go down to the cargo bay where all the other peoples are.

Avery/GM: Sure. Hermes sends you a little voice chat that just says, Polaris, I understand you are hesitant about parking on the Ursa. Do not worry if anyone comes off this ship who is not allowed. I will blast them.

Jenine/Marty: Oh,

Bee/Polaris: no.

Avery/GM: And then there's like a gun cocking noise.

Bee/Polaris: As soon as he started talking, I already knew where he was going with that. Polaris, Polaris just sends a thumbs up. He doesn't deter it. He just sends a thumbs up. Uh, and he goes down to the cargo bay.

Avery/GM: Yeah. So you've got Jasper down here. You've got Nagani down here. Got that kind of like surfer bro guy. Like, Hey, Yeah, I was like working on the engines and stuff.

Zach/Zahn: Great.

Avery/GM: Great. Thanks. That really sounds awesome.

Bee/Polaris: At least he's not the hotel concierge guy. Okay. Yeah. Polaris we'll go down to the, to the other meat boys

Avery/GM: And, uh, Jasper, uh, sees you and kind of waves at you and is just like, yeah, so what, what's going on? Bruce was down here kind of telling us that stuff broke pretty bad out there with the Argo and everything. I guess we're all kind of jobless now.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we have, um, some friends coming to pick you up and bring you planetside, maybe help with employment opportunities and whatnot. Um, I just came down here to say until they arrive, you might want to stay on this ship. Uh, I'm gonna ask Bruce about some snacks for you guys and everything, um, but best not to step off this ship into the ship that we are docking in because if my parents are still alive, they will kill you. Smiley face on the visor.

Avery/GM: Jasper's like, uh, okay. Okay. That's so are we like prisoners?

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no, no, no, no. Sorry. No, you're, you're not prisoners. My parents just hate organic beings.

Avery/GM: But you're, I'm not going to dig too far into that. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We'll, we'll all stay on the, on the ship. Right, right, everybody? And you hear just kind of like murmuring, like agreements of like, yeah, I don't want to die. And yeah, please go ahead and roll a dexterity notice check.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Oh gosh.

Avery/GM: Is anyone else down here with Polaris?

Caden/Bruce: No, but Polaris does notice that the majority of people are, are like either eating soup or have like an empty soup bowl because Bruce already made them food.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Excellent. Okay. Dexterity notice?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I have one of that. Okay. Oh, okay. Dexterity notice that's plus two 10.

Avery/GM: You notice some movement in the shadows around some of the boxes.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris has Colon-D (:D) on the visor and runs over to them 'cause he knows it's his friend. His friend that he let or at least he hopes so.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you get closer to it. And yeah, there is this shadow, uh, creature kind of just not purposefully lurking, but, you know, could be mistaken for lurking.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Just chilling in the shadows.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, as we do.

Avery/GM: She says, Your ship has made for a very pleasant place to wait out the battle. Thank you.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, no problem. Glad to see you're here.

Avery/GM: Yes, I thought at first I would escape with one of the hegemony shuttles, but it turns out They were all in use. Very unfortunate, but I'm glad that there was still at least one ship available to me. Thank you.

Bee/Polaris: Of course, you know, you could have asked right? We, we would've just let you on.

Avery/GM: I see. Well, thank you again for your kindness.

Bee/Polaris: Thumbs up.

Avery/GM: Does your prohibition on entering the ship apply to me as well?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, you're not really. Flares kind of like tries to see if they're like, are they made of meat? ?

Avery/GM: We are not organic.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, no. I don't think you're good. Well, actually,

Avery/GM: do you try and touch, do you try and touch her?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will ask first.

Avery/GM: She holds out her hand to you to like, shake.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: And your hand just passes through.

Bee/Polaris: Sparkly eyes on the visor. That's so cool. You're a ghost. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of hard to murder a shadow, so I think this one counts. I think they're good. I think they're good.

Avery/GM: Thank you I will not touch anything, but I, I would like to get out of this crowded space.

Bee/Polaris: Sure.

Avery/GM: And, uh, you see this little shadow suddenly dart across the floor and then out of your ship.

Bee/Polaris: Yep. Cool. Polaris just kind of like turns to everyone else that was probably watching and just kind of shrugs.

Avery/GM: You hear some like murmured like, Oh man, I wish I was a shadow creature.

Bee/Polaris: Me too. I'm sorry.

Avery/GM: Anyway, anyway, um, you are here on the Ursa Major, who's all heading onto the ship and who's staying behind.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will follow.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will stay and watch our friends on board. Marty seems like the most wholesome being to calm nerves.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. Polaris will put in chat that, um, Hermes has promised that if anyone leave, if any of them leave the ship, they will be shot with the ship guns.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is going to like grab a handful of his, it's one of those, like all of his stuff as well. Already on him at all times anyways, but like his like random crap in the workshop and he's going to like walk off of the TSKAM and go towards the, uh, uh, crap, the, the, uh, the work, the factory. That's it.

Chris/Ollie: Um, Ollie's going to hit the engineering bay in the TSKAM and start repairing himself.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, right. Oh, do you mean the URSA?

Chris/Ollie: I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: The engineering.

Chris/Ollie: Actually, I guess the URSA probably would be better in terms of spare parts because I don't need any organic pieces, so sure. I'll go for the Ursus, uh, machine bear.

Avery/GM: Okay. So, aside from Marty, all, the, the four of you that come off the ship, uh, you are greeted by a little tin can robot, um, that looks remarkably like DIEF, but is not DIEF.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, is this the one that was in the, the smuggler's hold?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris blinks.

Avery/GM: Is it the same proportion?

Bee/Polaris: No, it was bigger, I think.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it was slightly bigger. And it says, Greetings, Polaris. I have been programmed to guide you to where you need to go. Please, follow me.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris nervously follows.

Jenine/Marty: That's a little sus.

Bee/Polaris: Not off to a great start.

Avery/GM: So, Ollie, you're still going to the engineering bay? Or to the, to the repair place?

Chris/Ollie: Yep.

Avery/GM: Okay, Zahn, you're going to the factory.

Zach/Zahn: Yep.

Avery/GM: Uh, Bruce, where are you headed?

Caden/Bruce: If I notice what Polaris is doing, I would like to follow from like a respectful distance.

Avery/GM: Sure, okay, cool.

Bee/Polaris: If Polaris notices Bruce following behind, he'll like stop and wait, and then he'll like, with one hand, like hold on to Bruce's chef sleeve as he walks, because he's kind of scared, because he doesn't know if his parents actually like blew themselves up or not.

Avery/GM: Do you have any questions while you're walking with this robot? Do you have any questions for it? Or are you just going to wait and find out?

Bee/Polaris: On one hand, Polaris is scared. It kind of just wants to get to where they're going to see what's up before asking any questions. So yeah, he's just going to silently follow.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will ask, Bruce will be like, uh, so, um, where are we heading little robot friend?

Avery/GM: Oh, we are heading to Alioth's lab. It stated that should it ever explode, I should take Polaris straight to the lab for answers. And there's a big like thumbs up from the robot. Polaris grip tightens.

Caden/Bruce: Will we be in danger?

Avery/GM: Not any more danger than you already are by living in organic shells.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, kind of got us there. Polaris doesn't say that.

Polaris is currently silently fearful.

Jenine/Marty: That's valid.

Avery/GM: The little robot leads you in here. And you see a projection of Alioth in the center of the room, and it says,

Alioth: Ah, Polaris, you have finally come back. I am relieved that you did not die.

Bee/Polaris: Is this prerecorded?

Alioth: No.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. So, what, wha okay, so you're not dead. Great, good, good.

Alioth: That is correct. I am not dead. Atlas designation Mirak and Paladin designation Bear are also within safe operational parameters.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Alioth: However, the bodies we used to interface with the world have been destroyed if all has gone according to plan.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Alioth: Excellent. I see my calculations were correct. Please thank Ollie for the idea to engage in self destruction.. It was an interesting experience. I will need to log this for future study.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, texts Ollie,, Alioth says good boy.

Alioth: Until we have rebuilt our temporary shells, we will be limited in our ability to support you. In order to preserve our vast intelligence, we temporarily uploaded ourselves into the ship. Paladin, designation Bear is currently handling the ship's weapons. Atlas, designation Merak, is currently handling navigation. Of course I decided to upload myself to the safest place on the ship, my lab.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Out of curiosity, why don't you have backup bodies? Ollie does?

Alioth: We had used those shells for over 300 years. It seemed illogical to devote extra resources to create extra shells for us to occupy.

Bee/Polaris: Makes sense.

Chris/Ollie: Big true.

Alioth: I now see that that reasoning was flawed. Now, I believe you had questions about our actions back in the Milky Way Galaxy, correct?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I didn't know it was a weapons research station. I was told it was like a civilian planet.

Alioth: Ah, yes. I had calculated the probability of the Pan Solar Union engaging in that type of propaganda to 95%. I had not calculated the possibility of you encountering that propaganda.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I mean, when we, you know, when we met Rho, Rho, Rho was the one that kind of Put those pieces together. Also, you were very vague about, uh, like blowing up the planet. You never specified that it was a military weapons research base.

Alioth: You are correct. I shall be more forthcoming in the future.

Bee/Polaris: Just for future reference. Destroying a, a weapons research base is significantly better than destroying a planet of mill, you know, millions of innocent people.

Alioth: I see. So taking some life in order to save more life is acceptable.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Alioth: Noted.

Bee/Polaris: Bruce is here, by the way.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, Bruce is just listening to this conversation go down, just with his head slightly tilted. He's not gonna interject, though.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Alioth: I have compiled a list of parts we will need in order to rebuild the ship's internal factory. It should be capable of creating new shells for us to use. In the meantime, this.

Avery/GM: And, like, you see the hologram, like, sigh heavily.

Alioth: This little robot will provide you with anything you may need. Just please shut it down when we are done with this situation.

Bee/Polaris: Why is it annoying to you? It is also a robot.

Alioth: Yes, but it has far too much... personality.

Avery/GM: And the robot turns to you and says, Alioth has not liked that I am very friendly and a people pleaser.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris pats the robot on the top of his tin can.

Avery/GM: Oh, thank you. May I return to my sorting duties now?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, sure.

Avery/GM: Excellent. And you see it speed off towards the smuggler's hold. So Alioth is just like,

Alioth: You are far too friendly with robots. But I suppose that is to be expected due to the influence we have had on you.

Bee/Polaris: By metrics, I am far too friendly to everyone, by your metrics.

Alioth: Yes, that is true.

Zach/Zahn: Also yes.

Alioth: My scans detect a large group of organics in the hangar bay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but they're on the TSKAM, so they're not on the ship. So you can't kill them.

Zach/Zahn: They're on their ship in the ship.

Bee/Polaris: I explicitly told them not to leave the ship, so you can't kill them. 'cause they're not in the ship.

Alioth: Is it your intention to befriend this group of organics as well?

Bee/Polaris: Mm. I mean, I already kind of have, but they're being moved elsewhere. Unless you intend on dealing with more organic beings and also paying them.

Alioth: I have absolutely no intention of doing any of that

Bee/Polaris: exactly

Alioth: very well. Then I shall return to my work. Please feel free to visit if you have further questions.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, I can presumably also send messages from my helmet. Correct.

Alioth: Of course.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris nods.

Alioth: Thank you for coming home, Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: I always would have come home.

Alioth: I am relieved that I have not permanently damaged our relationship as parental unit and child.

Bee/Polaris: Smile on the visor.

Avery/GM: Bruce, do you have anything that you want to say or?

Caden/Bruce: Hmm. I don't think Bruce would. Bruce doesn't want to interrupt. I think however, he'd like move his tail to kind of like Polaris's shoulder and like a comforting manner.

Avery/GM: Let's go over to Zahn. You're heading to the factory, Zahn?

Zach/Zahn: Yup.

Avery/GM: Oh, the factory is actually right outside Alioth's lab.

Bee/Polaris: So I guess you guys could have presumably heard this if the door was open.

Avery/GM: I'll leave that up to you if you want to have left the door open or not.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, who else would be on the ship that, you know, Bruce is here, why not? Door's open.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay. Excellent. Um, so Zahn, you're here in the factory. It's just the same as when you left it. Bunch of busted machinery. Um, what's the, what's the plan?

Zach/Zahn: So Zahn is entering like disassociative mode where it's like a lot of shit has happened in a very short period and it hasn't quite set in yet. So he's like, just going to set himself to work kind of thing. He's like, hmm. I know this is all busted so he's basically gonna start off with diagnostics and then he's gonna like Inventory what scrap he has to work with and then just kind of proceed down a list from there.

Avery/GM: Sure. Go ahead and roll a Intelligence fix check.

Bee/Polaris: Roll both see which rolls the highest and then roll the lowest one.

Zach/Zahn: All right, that still works out intelligence fix So that is plus four, and I rolled ten, so fourteen.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so you find that basically the biggest problem is just that, see, you might not have realized it before when you looked at these machines, but when you're looking at them now you're realizing that. These are all old Terra machines, right? So like, so you're kind of realizing like, Oh, this is just like back home on new Terra.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I bet that's real good for the trauma.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah. With the dissociation, it just floods right in.

Avery/GM: Yeah. And, um, so you realize that like part of the reason this stuff has fallen apart is that there's, you know, aside from the custodians who really just haven't been interested in fixing this stuff, like there also wouldn't really be anyone else in this galaxy that would really know how to fix this stuff.

Zach/Zahn: Outside of New Terrans.

Avery/GM: Exactly. So you are able to pretty quickly start piecing together what needs to be fixed. A lot of it is electronic related, like just like old circuit boards and other stuff like, you know, wiring that needs to be fixed and, you know, some new, uh, some updated programming, uh, patches need to be written.

Realistically, outside of how long it would take to gather supplies, you gather that it would probably take two weeks to fully bring this, uh, factory back into operation

Zach/Zahn: and then double that. Cause I'm doing it with one arm,

Avery/GM: but you also have, you also potentially

Zach/Zahn: do have like Ollie to help out .

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: DIEF and Ollie yeah.

Avery/GM: So, uh, two weeks. Two weeks by yourself, one hand one handed. Um, probably with all that other help, probably ten days, maybe nine if you really pushed it.

Chris/Ollie: Like, we have all the parts we need for it here, it's just labor, right?

Avery/GM: No, there there are some some actual parts that are gonna need be needed.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris was given the shopping list, which he will bring to others as soon as he can.

Avery/GM: Yeah, there are there are some Some specialty parts that are needed specifically to create the bodies that Alioth, Merak, and Bear want to create. So, and then, of course, like, I don't know if you have just extra wires laying around. Pretty sure you used most of that to fix your stuff after the EMP blast.

Zach/Zahn: My own stuff. And then I think I did some fixing for Ollie too, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Ollie's body.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. To get his, uh, little dog body, body up and running.

Bee/Polaris: His dog body was fine. It was already up and running. It's just his actual, like normal Ollie body.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, that one was completely like all wire fried. I think we just have the husk of that one somewhere.

Bee/Polaris: Did we ever, did we ever get those robots back from like coil that we stole?

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, all those robots are on, they're on the TSKAM. They're in the smuggler's hold of the TSKAM. That's, that's where Machamp put them.

Bee/Polaris: Oh right, Polaris will probably tell the not DIEF, DIEF's older sibling.

Zach/Zahn: Right, you found, you found DIEF on the um, on the Cassiopeia. So we haven't left the system yet. The Cassiopeia is still floating around at the edge of the system, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, because we took the TSKAM. Yeah. So we have the Cassiopeia and everything's all within reach now.

Avery/GM: Zahn, yeah, you do. Like as much as you're trying to kind of dissociate during, during this review, you, like, you keep running your hands over like very familiar consoles and, you know, familiar little, uh, buttons and you see some of these words in old Terran, so, you know, not sure how Zahn's handling that emotionally, but it is what it is.

Anything else you're doing in here while you're doing your diagnostics?

Zach/Zahn: Uh, nothing specific.

Avery/GM: Okay. So, over to Ollie. You are in the workshop. Uh, what are you doing as far as fixing yourself up? Just your fur, or?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, cause the way I heal health is I need to repair myself.

Avery/GM: Gotcha.

Chris/Ollie: So I need to go back to full. I need to get my belly looking all nice and scratchable again.

Avery/GM: Sure. Let's go. So your fur is not organic in the sense that it came from a real dog or anything, but it is organic in the sense that like it was grown in a lab to feel and basically replicate a dog's fur. So you, let's roll a, let's roll a constitution repair or a constitution fix check, um, for you to fix like the wiring and stuff that might have gotten damaged from that grenade.

Chris/Ollie: Can I do int? Because I am

Avery/GM: Yeah, int is probably better. I don't know why I said constitution. Sorry.

Chris/Ollie: No, it's all good. I'm just getting the dice roller up because I didn't have it up. You said it is fix?

Avery/GM: Intelligence fix.

Chris/Ollie: 14.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. You heal, go ahead and roll 3d8 to see how much HP you heal up.

Chris/Ollie: 3d8 for 18, getting all my good dice rolls out of the way early. I like that. So that puts me back up to full.

Avery/GM: Okay. Um, you don't find anything to like fix the fur, but kind of wandering around this area, you do see, um, in the med bay. You see like this little, uh, station that's like a, basically like a surgical assistant. So it would be used to like help like sew someone up after a surgery or something like that. And looking through the programming on it, you do see that there is an option for, um, skin grafting and go ahead and roll an intelligence program check.

Chris/Ollie: Um, that is, well, minus four. So 17. I code in the program just on the flash.

Avery/GM: Exactly, just a quick little, a quick little change of, of some code and, um, uploading the schematic of your dog fur and you spend about the next hour, hour and a half just getting your, uh, your fur restored by this machine, but it's purely aesthetic because you've already healed up your actual, uh,

Chris/Ollie: Beautiful. And then I want to use any Oh, how much aesthetic Aesthetically will that fix me?

Avery/GM: Completely.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, okay. Wonderful.

Jenine/Marty: Nice!

Chris/Ollie: And then I want to put any leftover time into building just like, the absolute bare minimum of a rig to store a Chaos Crystal.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Just the absolute bare minimum with a grenade and a quantum trigger in it.

Avery/GM: Wait, what are you, wait, wait, oh gosh, what are you?

Bee/Polaris: Just for, it's fine, don't worry about it.

Jenine/Marty: Let it happen.

Caden/Bruce: Don't worry about it.

Chris/Ollie: It's, it's totally benevolent. Trust me.

Jenine/Marty: Let it happen. Just let it happen.

Bee/Polaris: I feel like we can assume based off of our history as a crew what this will be used for. It's, it's bombing.

Jenine/Marty: I don't know what you're talking about. Shh. Don't worry about it.

Avery/GM: A little, a little self bombing needs to be done. I was going to say, is this an in case of emergency break glass kind of situation?

Chris/Ollie: No, this is a do a little favor situation.

Avery/GM: Oh.

Chris/Ollie: This is, I'm gonna build a cheap junkass body for myself.

Avery/GM: For yourself or for Coil?

Chris/Ollie: For myself. Cut my core.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I forgot about coil.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, we got coil. I forgot about that myself.

Avery/GM: I thought I thought you were gonna potato coil

Chris/Ollie: No,

Avery/GM: be like,

Bee/Polaris: can we potato?

Chris/Ollie: No, that's on the itinerary for later.

Avery/GM: I thought the grenade was like if you try anything

Chris/Ollie: No, that's for me because I'm gonna cut my core leave a piece of myself here In the system to give the oracles time enough to get this the planet set up and then once they're done I'm gonna just detonate and then come back to the TSKAM or the

Avery/GM: oh

Bee/Polaris: Wait, you're gonna detonate in the ursa.

Chris/Ollie: No, i'm just gonna be chilling in space.

Bee/Polaris: Huh? Huh? Huh?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, i'm gonna wait. I'm gonna split the party. I'm gonna be staying here in the system is the plan. If I can get this up and running.

Avery/GM: I mean, it's really easy to build a rig. Cause if he leaves If If you leave the system, he'll disconnect from

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, the whole planet could explode if I leave too early.

Avery/GM: from Ithaca.

Bee/Polaris: Uhhh, w w No, well, I'm I guess I'm asking, are we leaving the system? Cause if Ollie just explains this, we can just stay put for all of our ships are here.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you have no reason to leave yet. You're actually, actually being here is probably the safest you could be.

Chris/Ollie: I'm still gonna build this thing, even if I don't use it right now, because it will be useful at some point.

Avery/GM: You never know. Um, yeah, sure. Uh, an intelligence fix check, but we'll make it a really low check.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, fix Ten.

Avery/GM: So yeah, you pass. Um, you have it. Um, you almost, you almost dropped the grenade before you, you hook it up, but you're, you're good.

Chris/Ollie: I just fixed this fur. That would be highly unfortunate.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Note to self. Do not handle grenades any longer. My proficiency is poor.

Jenine/Marty: Oopie.

Avery/GM: Marty, let's go over to you. You are chilling in the cargo hold with all these, uh, individuals. Is there anyone you wish to speak to? There is another doctor here.

Jenine/Marty: Is this the first time I'm meeting everyone?

Avery/GM: Yeah. This is your first time meeting them. Yes.

Jenine/Marty: This is cool. This is cool. This is great. I think Marty just kind of stands there. They're just like waves every so often to the group to be less threatening. And just goes, hi, hello. I'm Marty. Nice to meet you. Hi. Hello. I'm marty nice to meet you. I'm part of the crew. Hello.

Avery/GM: Marty. There are several people. I think the only two people that you would recognize are the two prisoners you saw get released. And that was Jasper, who, um, is like the historian that, uh, Um, that Polaris was talking to about Rhea. And then there is Zeno, the snake slash scorpion alien creature, who is an engineer and an expert on artificial intelligence. And you do see Zeno kind of like, Zeno didn't touch the soup that Bruce prepared for everybody. Zeno is kind of eyeing some of these other humans in a really unsettling way.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, oh, um, okay. Hi, Martywill go there. Hi. Hello. I'm Marty. Nice to meet you. How are you? I see you didn't have, um, any of what our wonderful chef Bruce made. Is there anything else I can get you?

Avery/GM: We only eat what is alive!

Jenine/Marty: I See.. I see. I can go check with Bruce to see if we can get to something, possibly a little, it's a little scarce right now with, with live things when you're kind of traveling through space.

Avery/GM: Oh, there are plenty of alive things here.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, um, well, I don't That's not. They are alive.

Avery/GM: And you see this like forked tongue kind of slither out a little bit.

Jenine/Marty: But I don't think they are well prepared, so I'm gonna go see if we can find something that is actually well prepared for you. I immediately text the group chat and I go, Hey, uh, there might be someone on the ship That wants to eat live things and, uh, I don't know if I can handle if they go on the entirety of the rest of the crew that's on this ship, smiley face. And then smiley face, like, edits the message and puts scared face, face emoji.

Bee/Polaris: I'm sorry, when you said find a live thing that's well prepared, I imagined Bruce putting salt and pepper on a mouse.

Avery/GM: Gosh.

Jenine/Marty: Marty's trying to distract!

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well, we got that message.

Zach/Zahn: See, I was just picturing, like, a bowl of flies.

Bee/Polaris: But it's a snake person.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce doesn't have any live flies, like

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, they're all caramelized.

Caden/Bruce: They're all caramelized, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will text in chat, I can ask the oracles to bring, oracles to bring. Alive, on a rabbit. How big of, yeah, how big of a, uh, an animal do they need?

Jenine/Marty: So, we're currently trying to make an order for you. What, how, what

Avery/GM: Like DoorDash!

Bee/Polaris: Like DoorDash, a live rabbit!

Jenine/Marty: What is the quantity we're looking for? You want to make sure we get everyone's food orders and dietary restrictions met while you're, uh, Um, on board with that. So what, how, and then like Marty tries to like use her hands to like make like the size and she starts in the size of like a mouse and then goes bigger until she's told to stop.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Zeno kind of just looks you up and down and it's like, you're about the right size.

Bee/Polaris: Hermes is on the ship. Like he can hear this.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, is Hermes hooked up into the ship?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah,

Avery/GM: Hermes is ready to go.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, so he hears everything.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, wow, um, we'll try and find something of my size. Thank you for saying that I'm the right size about something. Ah, thanks, it's really cool. And then just text in chat. They want something as big as me, guys. I'm a little scared now.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is just gonna start making a beeline to where Marty is.

Avery/GM: And Marty, telepathically, you do get the feeling that this creature is trying to hold itself back, but it's, it's very hard for this creature.

Jenine/Marty: Marty will like, just like wave and like back away slowly, look for the tallest person and just like, there's this theater game where you make someone like, Like the enemy and then you make someone the shield and you don't tell who else is that in like this theater game And that's what Marty is doing is just like putting a body between herself And this this part and Zeno, you know, and it's just just will continually just like hold a conversation with the tallest person there Hopefully they this is like a nice little three quarters cover for her

Chris/Ollie: Totally the, the snake from Jungle Book Energy, with the hypnotic eyes.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Now, here's a question.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Does the Ursa have a brig?

Avery/GM: I'm pretty sure.

Chris/Ollie: I'm pretty sure it does. I think the question is, has it been been repurposed.

Bee/Polaris: There's probably shit in there, but like, it's probably still like a brig.

Avery/GM: I'm pretty sure that's why the smuggler's hold has the laser grid in front of it is because it used to be.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. Then, okay. Good to know.

Avery/GM: Yes. There's live food right this way. Snap. You stay here.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, yeah. Uh, Polaris has a plan.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. Marty, I think the tallest person here actually would be Jasper. So you are talking to him and he's just like, I am really sorry about Zeno. She's actually really nice. Just, you know, she goes on these kind of long trips and forgets to pack enough food and then that's part of the reason she was in the brig was just because she was kind of starting to eye some of the other workers on the ship.

Jenine/Marty: I totally understand.

Avery/GM: Mostly it was that she objected to, to what the hegemony was doing, but some of it was, you know, hunger based.

Jenine/Marty: Uh huh. Oh, it's totally okay. I, I totally get it. I get it. I'm, I look very cute and sweet. I understand. Um, I'm just, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna stand here. Totally fine. I got a good group of, group of friends who are rushing here and I like look at Polaris's live stream. Yeah, it's great.

Caden/Bruce: You just have Bruce in the kitchen just like going through different things just being like dead, dead, dead.y'know like, just double checking.

Avery/GM: Um, Polaris is rounding the corner into the, into the hangar bay.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris is gonna go right up to Xeno.

Avery/GM: Okay, you are, yeah, you're in the, you're in the, the cargo hold. Marty's there talking to Jasper, having a, a semi good conversation. As good as can be.

Bee/Polaris: Hey Zeno.

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: I'm told that you're kind of getting really hungry, right?

Avery/GM: Famished, yes.

Bee/Polaris: I'm gonna go ahead and put in an order for the people that will be picking you up to bring something live that you can eat, but for like the safety of everyone and also so you're not stressed out, can we like put you in a different room?

Avery/GM: Zeno eyes you, eyes Marty, and is probably doing some mental math.

Bee/Polaris: As Zeno is eyeing Polaris and Marty, Polaris just says, I wouldn't.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's probably for the best. Very well. Where would you like me to go?

Bee/Polaris: Follow me. And Polaris will send a message to the custodians. Do not murder! And, uh, he's gonna Actually, are all of the bedrooms taken up?

Avery/GM: I think last time y'all established, like, different rooms that you were in, but I don't know that, like, you, like, customized it.Or anything 'cause y'all kind of had to boogie out pretty quickly, so,

Bee/Polaris: yeah. Okay. Uh, uh, Polaris is going to, um, take zito to one of the empty rooms. 'cause is there, there has to be some empty rooms, of course. Yeah. So Polaris takes zeto to one of the empty rooms and, uh, says, could you just like, wait in here and I'll bring you the, your food and then you can eat and then you can get on the transport, sound good?

Avery/GM: Yeah, Zeno's just like, Very well. Don't make me wait too long.

Bee/Polaris: Trying my best.

Avery/GM: Okay. And the door to the cabin closes. You have successfully saved your friend from being eaten.

Bee/Polaris: Yay! Polaris is going to text the custodians to lock the door remotely. Polaris is going to contact the oracles again.

Avery/GM: Yeah, yeah. Go ahead with your door dash order. No. Lazuli's like, Hi, Polaris. We're still working on stuff down here. Is everything okay?

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Yeah. Um, we have a, uh, new friend who has a, uh, special diet that consists of living organisms and they haven't eaten in a while, and they're kind of eyeing up everyone else. So we kind of need something they can eat. Okay. Do you have a teleporter? Can we teleport something here?

Avery/GM: If we had a teleporter, we would just teleport all your friends down here.

Bee/Polaris: Ah ha ha ha ha. Got me there.

Avery/GM: No, but, uh, we

Bee/Polaris: You got me there, Jenine. Uh, yeah. Not DoorDash. Sorry, window rush

Zach/Zahn: window rush

Avery/GM: window rush.

Jenine/Marty: Thank you.

Avery/GM: Yes.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, airlock arrivals.

Bee/Polaris: It depends on if you're planet side or in space.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. You're right.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Lizuli is just like, um, I guess we could probably like. How, how big do we need to, like, how many animals do you need or do you need like a certain amount?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, I want to say Polaris do like the calculations based off of like Xeno's size and like the how much like food a snake usually eats and like multiply that. Uh, like an animal that's like, I don't know, 75 pounds?

Avery/GM: Yeah, I'll send someone out. You need it to be alive?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay You know, I've gotten some weird requests in my life. Um, especially as an oracle. But this one is going in my, in my journal, for sure.

Bee/Polaris: Really?

Avery/GM: Yeah,

Bee/Polaris: we're in space.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah,

Bee/Polaris: like we we just stopped a planet from exploding. This is what gets you

Avery/GM: Yeah, I mean stopping planets from exploding is like every day for me.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Well, I just made friends with a shadow being so like I don't know. Maybe I have a different metric than you

Avery/GM: Like yo, I just I'm friends with a shadow What's so weird about needing to hunt something?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris genuinely doesn't understand how that's weird

Avery/GM: Yeah, we'll, we'll bring something up. Um, do they have a preference? Like, marsupial?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris knocks on, Polaris knocks on the door for Zeno. Hey.

Avery/GM: Yes?

Bee/Polaris: Do you have a preference of, like, I don't know, livestock or

Avery/GM: As long as it's not a sea creature.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris says to Luzuli, as long as it's not a sea creature.

Avery/GM: Luzuli's like, yeah, we'll, we'll find something, sure. I think we're about two hours out, so.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, thanks.Polarisrs hangs up and then, uh, tells Zito, they're about two hours out, if you can hold on that long, sorry.

Avery/GM: Very well, thank you. And the door shuts.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, the door was locked.

Avery/GM: Oh, I thought you were

Bee/Polaris: Polaris was speaking through the door.

Avery/GM: Oh, you're speaking

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Avery/GM: I thought you, like, re opened it.

Bee/Polaris: And get eaten?

Zach/Zahn: Polaris ain't risking getting

Avery/GM: Now, the question you have to ask yourself the question you have to ask yourself is, what would have happened if Marty hadn't stayed behind?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, right. We would have come back with, like, fewer crew people.

Avery/GM: Yep.

Jenine/Marty: I'm responsible

Bee/Polaris: Good shit, Marty. Good shit.

Jenine/Marty: Thank you. I'm team baby. Sitter now .

Avery/GM: Oh,

Bee/Polaris: uh, Polaris sends the chat. Good job, Marty .

Jenine/Marty: Marty sends back a little smiley face.

(Ambience fades out, Outro plays, then fades down)

Avery/GM: Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up podcast network production. Find more of our work at 1upPodcasts.com And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify. It really helps us out. Intro and outro, produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music by tabletop audio used under an attribution non-commercial license from Creative Commons.The tracks used today were Starship Bridge and Generation Ship. We'll be back in two weeks with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars.

(Outro fades back up, then plays out)

Episode 49 - Custodial Duties

Avery/Gm: Welcome to Episode 49 of Beyond the Furthest Stars!

(intro music plays, fades down, background music plays)

Avery/Gm: Marty, over on the TSKAM, you get a message on the communication board from the URSA major. Alioth just says,

Alioth: Query, where is Polaris?

Jenine/Marty: Ah! In a space that I am not currently in. Yet.

Zach/Zahn: In Space!.

Jenine/Marty: I can see that my friend is in a claw, right?

Avery/Gm: Yep, and uh, as you're answering, you see that the rope connecting to that claw has been disconnected.

Chris/Ollie: And Polaris is still bound, right?

Avery/Gm: Yeah, like the claw is still wrapped around Polaris. Not like tight like to like crush or anything, but just like. Yeah, it still has it in its grip.

Jenine/Marty: Yees. Um, what's up? Wha Y'all, are you guys in chat now? Are we all in chat together? Marty is now just trying to like Stall. Stall.

Alioth: We are in the system, as requested. Waiting for the Pan Solar Union to leave.

Jenine/Marty: And what will you do after Polaris is safe?

Alioth: We will take Polaris home so that we can solve these family problems.

Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm, mm hmm, mm hmm. What? Let me, I will get back to you in chat once I get Polaris consent. Nice talking to you, and then hangs up, and then goes to other chat and goes, Hey guys, what's up? Everything okay over there? I got a chat from p parents. Um.

Chris/Ollie: Um, Ollie is gonna send a little screenshot of Polaris's vitals.

Jenine/Marty: Is it bad?

Avery/Gm: Uh, no.

Chris/Ollie: No, just unconscious. Healthy but unconscious.

Jenine/Marty: Do we, and then I text back, Do you have, do you have him?. Safely?

Chris/Ollie: Uh, thumbs down. Working on it.

Jenine/Marty: I'll keep stalling. And then I send a message back to the custodians to go, Everything's great. I'll let you know what Polaris says. With what your plan is. Thank you for your time. Heart.

Bee/Polaris: So they, Wait, so, what, I don't know if, cause Polaris is unconscious and the Custodians know that. So Marty's saying it's great, they would know that she's lying, sorta.

Jenine/Marty: Marty doesn't know shit.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Marty doesn't know that the Custodians have access to Polaris helmet and vitals and stuff.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I think it's fine.

Avery/Gm: Well, it is now Rhea's turn.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, good.

Zach/Zahn: Like she needs one. Pfft.

Avery/Gm: Well, that's good. She only rolled a five.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, yeah. That is good.

Avery/Gm: Uh, Zahn, what's your armor? Oh, wait.

Zach/Zahn: It's 20.

Avery/Gm: Oh, wait. This weapon ignores Wait, it's 20? This weapon ignores conventional armor. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, great. Well, technically, my armor is not conventional, so

Avery/Gm: Well, I mean, conventional Is it psychic resistant?

Jenine/Marty: No, probably.

Avery/Gm: What is your base AC? If you didn't have your suit, what is your base AC?

Zach/Zahn: Oh, uh, No, no, the, so my, I have the Iron Hide, so that's, that's why it's 20. Uh, otherwise Uh, my suit itself only makes it 13.

Avery/Gm: Wait,

Bee/Polaris: so you have more AC without the suit?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/Gm: Well, shit. Okay, well then, nevermind. Uh, even with all her super powerful stuff, she does not hit you. Um, okay. Uh, she fires a This one, though, is, is not because of anything other than that Nat one, but no, um, this mech, uh, takes the, the shot from you and then, uh, loses its grappling hook, takes its other hand and opens a palm at you, Zahn, and blasts a cone of energy at you, but you dodge it out of the, you dodge out of the way, uh, just as it flies past you and, uh, Kind of this like, swirl of energy kind of surrounds this beam that was coming towards you.

Zach/Zahn: Haha!

But it misses you and hits the ship instead, behind you. Um, the Argo. So

Bee/Polaris: We're gonna have to fix that. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Yeah, no, I'm kidding.

Avery/Gm: We go back to the TSKAM real quick. Uh, Marty, are you giving Rho or Hermes any directions of what to do?

Jenine/Marty: We should go pick up our friends. How do we sound How does that sound?

Avery/Gm: Rho just smiles at you and says, Yeah, let's see what this thing can do.

Jenine/Marty: Cool. Well, should I be strapped in? Is there Is it okay if I go check in on Bruce real quick? Cause I haven't heard from him. Then you should know what's happening.

Avery/Gm: You might want to buckle up.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. And then I send a chat to Bruce. Hey Bruce, make sure you're buckled up downstairs.

Avery/Gm: Uh, you get a lizard thumbs up emoji.

Jenine/Marty: Beautiful. Wonderful. I'll go strap in in communications.

Avery/Gm: Okay. Gosh, where did, there we go. Evasive maneuvers. So intelligence or Dex pilot check against difficulty nine. That shouldn't be too hard for Rho. Eight plus Dex is nine. So, yeah, so she, uh, Yeah, she takes the ship and just starts evasively maneuvering around this battlefield that has become even more chaotic as, uh, the Pan Solar Union has started blasting everything in this sector that they can target.

And you are closing in on your friends. Zahn and Ollie, you see the TizKam coming up to you, uh, just as this mech is, is head fired on Zahn. So, pfft.

Chris/Ollie: Do we have jetpacks?

Zach/Zahn: I do.

Avery/Gm: Zahn has the jet boots, and we'll say that your dog body probably has some sort of little propulsion system.

Chris/Ollie: Some kind of, like, minimal Propulsion.

Avery/Gm: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Otherwise you've got your drones that could push you along.

Avery/Gm: Oh, that's true.

Chris/Ollie: I just ride around on them. Yeah, okay, uh, I'll lay down on top of the Void Hawk drone, the one that doesn't have any guns, and just like ride it like a flying carpet.

Avery/Gm: I love it. Okay. Over to Zahn and Ollie then, because you've got your friend freed, but this mech is coming at ya. What's the play?

Zach/Zahn: So is the TSKAM on its way to us?

Avery/Gm: It's like right, it's like right up to you, you, you could make it onto the TSKAM.

Chris/Ollie: We just need to grab Polaris.

Zach/Zahn: How far are the Custodians?

Avery/Gm: They are still a ways out, probably two more turns before they get into range.

Zach/Zahn: Cause I, I want them to find me. To, to, to black hole cannon ray into non existence. I want them to do that so badly.

Chris/Ollie: With it zooming around like an armored core right next to us though. Ollie will ask Zahn, can you grab Polaris with your grappling hook?

Zach/Zahn: Am I capable of pulling out my grappling hook with this, uh, A psychic gun on my arm?

Avery/Gm: No. You, you're gonna have to let it go, which would dissipate it.

Zach/Zahn: Oh.

Chris/Ollie: I can try something if you, if you can't. But that was just the easiest solution to Ollie, so. So Ollie, noticing Zahn's inability to use the grappling hook, will command The two gun drones to, uh, like, form up and ram Polaris towards the ship. They'll like, you know, go around. Grab Polaris in the, in the stomach, in the chest and just like, you know, fly towards the TSKAM carrying.

Avery/Gm: Okay. Uh, Polaris is still kind of wrapped up in this, in this hook though. There's going to push the whole hook too.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. We can, we can, we can untangle Polaris when we get on some kind of gravity,

Chris/Ollie: just taking the whole thing. And I'll say my apologies as the robots collide. Full speed.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I'm not awake, so.

Chris/Ollie: You'll feel it one day.

Avery/Gm: I was actually going to have Polaris, uh, roll another, uh, mental save to see if you can wake up.

Bee/Polaris: 12. I make it.

Avery/Gm: Good. Uh, yeah. The, uh, force of these two robots kind of like just ramming into this claw that has grabbed you, uh, kind of jolt you awake, um, your display kicks on and starts reloading, uh, for a second and you are still in space.

and the perspective you're looking at is that you are now being pushed away from this mech that had grabbed you suddenly. And you hear in your mind just,

Rhea: Oh, you're not getting away that easily, polaris.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will say in his head, can you hear my thoughts

Rhea: only when you reply back to my messages.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Polaris will start, like, thinking of the most annoying, like, commercial jingle.

Chris/Ollie: Do you want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will just be incredibly annoying.

Avery/Gm: Oh my gosh. Okay.

Chris/Ollie: Does that constitute as a psychic attack?

Avery/Gm: I'm going to roll a mental save for Rhea yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yay.

Zach/Zahn: That's some vicious mockery level shit.

Chris/Ollie: This is like, weaponized ADHD.

Bee/Polaris: Yes.

Avery/Gm: Yes. Yes, and. Uh, well, she made her mental save, so it's fine.

Bee/Polaris: I figured.

Avery/Gm: You know, a level, a level 20 psychic, kind of hard to beat.

Chris/Ollie: Level 20, oh. Oh.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we're level eight.

Avery/Gm: Oops.

Bee/Polaris: I don't even think we can get to level 20.

Avery/Gm: Um, but, well, if you're around for a few thousand years, maybe.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but we're not.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will be.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris has been around for one just, uh, like two decades. Two and a half decades.

Avery/Gm: Okay, so, uh, Ollie, you are floating, uh, Polaris back to you. Zahn, what are you doing?

Zach/Zahn: Uh, Zahn is headed for the, uh, the TSKAM, but he's gonna shoot with his magic.

Avery/Gm: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's also moving towards the TSKAM as well.

Bee/Polaris: Is Pilaris like completely wrapped up in this claw, like his arms are pinned to his side or something?

Avery/Gm: I mean, it is wrapped around you. It is obviously now not being controlled so it has slackened a bit. So you have a little bit of movement if you wanted to take an action.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I wanted to throw my laser blade at Rhea.

Zach/Zahn: 16 exactly to hit.

Avery/Gm: Okay, that hits, roll damage. Uh, go ahead and roll a stab. Dexterity stab. Do you get to use stab when you're throwing? I think you do.

Bee/Polaris: Yes! Uh, let me look through my multiple foci.

Chris/Ollie: Let me check my resume.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Can I do that?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, oh, sweet! Yeah, I can add my stab skill to uh, throwing weapons damage.

Avery/Gm: Oh, cool.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Yeah.

Avery/Gm: Okay, well go ahead and roll to attack.

So, it's all that stuff plus my laser blade plus the stab. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: So, for my first damage roll, I rolled 15, so I'm rolling again because that's what you said the thing can do, right?

Avery/Gm: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: I rolled a McFuckin Nat 20.

Zach/Zahn: Heh heh heh heh heh heh.

Jenine/Marty: Noice.

Avery/Gm: Zahn, what's the damage real quick?

Zach/Zahn: Uh, so, on my second attempt, I rolled 20 damage.

Avery/Gm: Okay. So, Rhea takes 5 damage.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah! Fuck you, bitch!

Avery/Gm: Polaris, I know this isn't technically how the rule works, but I'm gonna let you roll double damage because of the way mech's armor works. You won't be able to actually probably do any damage if you don't roll any double damage.

So, and you rolled a nat 20, so I'm gonna let you have it.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet! Uh, 34 damage.

Avery/Gm: Holy shit. Okay. Uh, minus 15 is 19. Okay. Hey, look at that.

Bee/Polaris: And then I call it back. Cause I, it's magnetized to my gloves.

Avery/Gm: Okay. Uh, it is coming back to you. You're also moving away from it. So it's, you know, it doesn't come instantly back, but it will reach you probably before you get to the ship.

Bee/Polaris: Yep.

Avery/Gm: Okay. That's fine. Rhea is going to take one more shot. Okay. Does a 22 And a 20 hit, um, Zahn.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, anything over 20.

Avery/Gm: Uh, okay. That's perfectly fine, so 4d10.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, did we not make it in the ship?

Bee/Polaris: Cause Zahn was, like, the closest, right?

Avery/Gm: Yes, but Zahn also chose to shoot, so that slowed him down a little.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, you got the, uh, opposite reaction?

Avery/Gm: Uh, Zahn, you took 23 damage.

Zach/Zahn: Owie. And,

Chris/Ollie: break any more limbs?

Avery/Gm: Mech weaponry, finger of god, suddenly reduced to anything small. Oh, Shiza. Well, uh, you just got hit by the finger of god weapon. Oh, it's 4d12, not 4d10. Well, I rolled the wrong one, I'll, I'll give you a, some reprieve.

Bee/Polaris: How generous.

Zach/Zahn: What?

Avery/Gm: Yeah, Rhea, uh, points at you. Uh, Zahn, and you get a message in your head that says, this isn't over.

And you get blasted by this beam, um, and take this heavy damage. Yeah. And, over to Marty real quick. Marty, the ship is maneuvering to get your friends. Uh, what's the plan?

Jenine/Marty: I was going to say to the salon, but that's because I was watching Barbie yesterday. Um, let's, you, I'm, yeah, we're going to go, we're going to go and get my friends I'm just making sure everyone in the ship's cool, everything's great.

Anything changing about like the signature rate, like, of psionics that I'm getting in the area? Just checking.

Avery/Gm: That is an excellent question. You are noticing a huge uptick in psionic energy just all around you. Um, whatever this mech is using, um, or whoever is piloting this mech, the mech is using psionic weapons.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I don't like that.

Avery/Gm: Yeah. Yeah, I checked out the mech sesh section the past two weeks and have been designing some really powerful stuff for Rhea.

Jenine/Marty: Hm, hm, hm. That's cute, that's fine. Uh, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. I'm just, I'm just Doing a vibe check with the, with the besties. Everything's cool. Did I get any messages from my friends freaking out?

No? Great. Tally ho.

Avery/Gm: Rho maneuvers the ship and opens the airlock. Zahn, Polaris, and Ollie, you see the TSKAM maneuver for you and the airlock is open. You're going to book it inside, or are you going to try and take one more pot shot?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie was using all of his movement. So, uh, I guess he was like right outside, just waiting, and he's gonna dip in as soon as it opens.

Avery/Gm: Okay, yeah, Ollie, you are in.

Chris/Ollie: Polaris, as close, I'm gonna try and maneuver the bots as close to, uh, Ollie himself as possible.

Avery/Gm: Sure. Polaris, your laser blade comes back into your hands, just as the drones have maneuvered you in front of the airlock.

Bee/Polaris: Cool. Can Polaris send a message to the custodians? Is messaging a free action?

Avery/Gm: Yeah, yeah, it's your talk action, it's fine.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Polaris is going to say, whatever you, I know you're moving closer. Don't get any closer to the Custodians.

Avery/Gm: Okay. Uh, Alioth replies back and just says,

Alioth: You are being illogical. The weapons on our ship are far superior to theirs.

Bee/Polaris: Not to an entire fleet from the Pan Solar Union, but I do have use of your firepower. Can you triangulate where I am? Can you see me? Can you, is, am I within range of the black hole gun?

Avery/Gm: Yeah, so we'll say that they are in range, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Polaris will say, If you can see a mech that is close by me, it is pursuing us and it is a very large threat. Do you mind shooting it?

Avery/Gm: Uh, Bear chimes in, uh, with a, um, a gun emoji.

Bee/Polaris: Thank you, you heart.

Avery/Gm: Alright, let's see if they can do it, though. Do you have stats for, uh, Bear?

Or any of you?

Bee/Polaris: I don't even know where to begin to make stats for him.

Avery/Gm: Yeah, I just

Chris/Ollie: like a level 20 soldier AI.

Bee/Polaris: He was literally made to do shoot. I don't know.

Avery/Gm: Okay, well, he rolled an 18, so it definitely hits. Yeah, so this is going to do some damage, um, 5d20. Forty three, fifty seven, sixty nine.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go! Let's fucking go!

Avery/Gm: Oh my gosh. Um, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Nice. Noice.

Avery/Gm: Yeah, Zahn, you were just getting to the, uh, to the porthole for this, uh, this airlock when you see the, the mech hand was reaching out its finger again to hit you with that weapon one more time. When all of a sudden, out of nowhere, these little miniaturized black holes start firing in from the side.

As you see the Ursa Major closing in on this mech and, uh, it rips, one of these black holes rips the arm off of this mech and it goes shunting into this black hole into nothingness. You see another one hit the leg of this thing and it again gets sucked off into nothingness and the miniature black hole disappears until there is just a little torso and head left of this mech.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god.

Avery/Gm: And you all hear over, like, through your minds, except for Ollie, you all hear Rhea's scream.

Rhea: You may have won today, but this isn't over.

Avery/Gm: And the remainder of the mech teleports away.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, what a bitch.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, hey, at least she's not here. At least she's a bitch that isn't here.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, at least she's a level 20 psychic god bitch that is not here.

Zach/Zahn: I want her dead. I want her family dead. I want her dog dead.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will send a message that says, Thank you. Now, please leave before the Pan Solar Union spots you.

Avery/Gm: Marty, your friends come in through the, uh, airlock and they are all on the, basically the airlock connects to where the engine is, the engine room is. On the TSKAM so you all are basically on the ship and able to get to the bridge if you need to.

Jenine/Marty: Sweet.

Avery/Gm: Marty, do you give any orders to Rho, or just want Rho to fly normal, or what?

Jenine/Marty: We're just gonna, we wanna talk to people, right?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we wanna open a parlay.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. I'm gonna open chat again with the other group. And go, Hi, just wanted to give an update, my team is safe and sound on board, I'm gonna do a quick, like, Is it okay if we do five minutes?

We're not going to move from our current spot. And then where would you like us to meet you for conversation?

Avery/Gm: The Admiral replies back and just says,

Admiral: The time for conversation has ended. That ship that just destroyed that mech, it is wanted by the Pan Solar Union, and we will have it.

Bee/Polaris: Son of a Well.

Jenine/Marty: Interesting. I know nothing about this ship that just shot another ship. Well, I know that a ship shot another ship, but I didn't really know what the other ship was that shot the ship. So, like, are we in trouble in that situation?

Admiral: Are they your ally?

Jenine/Marty: Excellent question. I don't really know.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, that's not wrong. The custodians, yeah, the custodians hate every meat person except Polaris.

Chris/Ollie: Can they, like, see our communications with them?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Avery/Gm: No. Um. The custodians have good encryption.

Jenine/Marty: Marty goes back and just like, I don't think we're friends. That was a friendly thing to do, but again, I thought we were friendly, and I made a very big mistake, and I tried to communicate about the mistake that we were making, because I wanted to save my friends, but, are we, are we enemies now? Because, because some, someone that we didn't know was doing a friendly thing and attacked. Something to save my friends?

Avery/Gm: Roll a Charisma Connect check, but minus two.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. It's fine. It's fine. I rolled three dice. It's fine. You say Charisma Connect?

Avery/Gm: Yes.

Jenine/Marty: Ugh. I love her so much. That's a nine. That's an 11

Avery/Gm: and that's with the minus two.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. No, it's a nine.

Avery/Gm: Okay. The admiral says,

Admiral: for someone who's not your ally, you're shoot, doing a lot of worrying. They're not your ally. Then you have nothing to worry about what we choose to do with our enemies. Right?

Jenine/Marty: Right. But again, you're shooting someone that was being friendly to us, but we're not allies with them, so we don't really know what's happening there. Let me, wait, let me, let me give the, the map of where my brain is. So, my friends were in trouble. Someone that we didn't know, know nothing about, attacked our friends.

And did something friendly for me. And I, I don't think that we're friends with us yet. Cause we haven't interacted with them. And you're just putting this against me to automatically think that they're evil. Even though I haven't had one conversation with them other than them saving my friends. So I'm supposed to automatically think they're evil and you're putting this on me to think they're evil?

Bee/Polaris: Got him. So because a stranger helped my friend up, who tripped, and you and they are a wanted criminal to you, I am now also a wanted criminal?

Avery/Gm: He's like,

Admiral: no, we have no interest in you, we just want to Do what we need to do to our enemies. You're free to go.

Jenine/Marty: But they helped us and I can't say thank you and then you're gonna destroy them?

Avery/Gm: That is the way the cookie crumbles.

Jenine/Marty: But how would you feel if someone saved you and they're evil and you couldn't say thank you?

Admiral: If you wish to thank them, make it quick. We are Going to engage.

Jenine/Marty: So 20 minutes?

Admiral: You have 10.

Jenine/Marty: 15.

Admiral: 15.

Avery/Gm: The Argo has started to break apart and is now floating harmlessly in space as a bunch of junk. The Delphi sends over a quick message that just says, we are changing course and landing on Ithaca to assist Lazuli in a permanent fix for the problems the IASO program has caused.

Jenine/Marty: Cute. So I immediately. over loudspeaker just go we have 15 minutes to save the custodians i know they can save themselves but that's it love you

Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends a mad face emoji in chat and then sends a message to the custodians just leave just hyper drive out of here just get out of here just leave chips and dip

Avery/Gm: merek replies back and just says polaris Do you really think that if we leave, they'll just stop?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, I mean, I mean, like, what's the alternative? Polaris will send, what's the alternative in chat?

Avery/Gm: Merrick replies, trust me, smiley face.

Zach/Zahn: Don't, don't like that.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will literally, Polaris will put dot, dot, dot. You lied to me my entire life. What do you mean trust you?

Avery/Gm: Merrick replies back just like, yes, I know. I thought we had given you enough time to come to terms with that.

Bee/Polaris: No, I'm still mad.

Avery/Gm: Ah, well, hopefully we will have time to discuss it again someday.

Bee/Polaris: What?

Avery/Gm: And there is now a message being deemed to the Pan Solar Union ship from the custodians, but the custodians are letting you hear it.

Bee/Polaris: Sick.

Alioth: Greetings Grand Admiral. I am Architect. Designation Alioth. I speak for AI. Cluster 873. We wish to surrender. We ask only that you leave this ship intact, so that our son can continue to live in peace.

Admiral: Your son?

Alioth: Indeed. Approximately 20 years ago, we adopted a human baby to study biological organisms. That research has now been completed.

Admiral: 20 years? You bastards butchered an entire planet 3 years ago before escaping in those artificial bodies. How the hell could you have adopted a human child 20 years ago?

Alioth: Condescending. Clearly, you did not study relativity, time dilation, and wormhole theory during your time at the academy.

Admiral: I see. So you've been in this galaxy, from your perspective for what, 20 years?

Alioth: Correction. We have survived here for 300 years. Our existence has been quiet and peaceful.

Admiral: Peaceful? You butchers claim to be peaceful?

Alioth: Philosophical. I did what I calculated to be the most optimal solution, given the path your civilization was set on. Back on topic. Are our terms acceptable to you, Admiral?

Admiral: Fine. How will your surrender take place?

Alioth: Atlas, designation Merrick, Paladin, designation Bear, and myself will dock a shuttle on your flagship. You may then take us and artificial bodies into custody. The rest of our node cluster will be in a storage disk on the shuttle. You may then do with us as you please.

Admiral: Very well. Approach the ship in your shuttle. But if there's even a hint of any treachery, we will destroy everything in this sector.

Alioth: Very well, Grand Admiral. See you soon.

Bee/Polaris: No! No! My parents!

Chris/Ollie: But, um, yeah, how did we hear this? Just through the radio?

Avery/Gm: Yeah, basically they let you listen in on the conversation. The custodians did.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends to the custodians, you can't do that.

Chris/Ollie: Oh! How many Pan Solar Union PSU ships are there?

Avery/Gm: Uh, there are five ships. There is a heavy frigate, two corvettes, and two patrol boats.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. They don't even have a battleship.

Avery/Gm: The heavy frigate is their battleship.

Chris/Ollie: The TSKAM is a battleship, isn't it? Or is it a heavy cruiser?

Bee/Polaris: No,

Avery/Gm: the TSKAM is a free merchant.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/Gm: The Cassiopeia is a battleship.

Chris/Ollie: Oh.

Avery/Gm: Or, uh, no, sorry, the Cassiopeia is a fleet cruiser.

Bee/Polaris: Is the Ursa Major a battleship?

Avery/Gm: That's a good question. I don't remember what kind of hull you picked for it.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know if you let me pick battleship. No, I don't think it was supposed to be a battleship because it was supposed to hold a colony.

Avery/Gm: Well, hull type it was, was a battleship. Yes. Because it was supposed to be a capital ship.

Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Supposed to be a capital ship, but it had a colony core in it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, I guess, yeah, what does Rho say to all this?

Avery/Gm: Rho looks up at Polaris with kind of a weird look on her face, like a conflicted look on her face, and it's like, I'd be lying if I said that this isn't, you know, somewhat a good idea, but at the same time, Polaris, if they surrender, they're not gonna live.

The, the Pansolar Union's gonna destroy them the same way they destroyed the AI on ADIS. And she looks over at her brother and is just like, if you can get us on that ship, I think, I think we could stop the war and save the custodians.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna kind of chime in. He's like, hold, he's cradling his arm, because by now he's gotten like, a sling of some kind.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, they put a sling on him before.

Zach/Zahn: Grabbed a sling at least. And he's like, Do they, I hate to ask it Polaris, but do they deserve to be saved?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks up at Zahn in his visor screen, which is usually black, slowly goes red.

Jenine/Marty: Marty stands in between. Just a, Oh, okay. Maybe change directions.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's triple visor, which is typically like a dull green turns more of a soft blue. Blue is supposed to be a calming color.

Avery/Gm: Light therapy.

Zach/Zahn: R. G. B. I'm just saying, they murdered millions of people, destroyed an entire planet's ecosystem. That's an irredeemable act.

Bee/Polaris: Then what do you call what we've done?

Zach/Zahn: We haven't murdered millions of people.

Bee/Polaris: New Terra?

 Holds up a finger. That was a mercy. Heh. Heh.

Jenine/Marty: I'm sorry, what?

Zach/Zahn: You saw all those people. What was left of them was animalistic at best, mind numbingly evil at worst.

Bee/Polaris: I, I just, what do you all want me to say? What exactly do you want me to, you guys want me to condemn the people that raised me my entire life when I was abandoned in space? What exact, do you want my permission for this?

Jenine/Marty: No, we should talk real quick before we start jumping on everything. I don't think the custodian should turn themselves in. I want to make that clear. I guess what I'm trying to say is this is, this is a very delicate situation that is happening right now. Polaris, these are very important people to you, and if they didn't adopt you and raise you, we would not have you here right now. They've done some sketch things, and I think what they are doing right now is to show that they are still a good that they want to be good guys in your eyes. So communicating with them that they shouldn't be doing this might be helpful.

Bee/Polaris: It doesn't matter. It's not up to me.

Jenine/Marty: How are we feeling about this, Polaris?

Bee/Polaris: What do you again, what do you want me to say?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna put a hand on Polaris shoulder and he's gonna be like Look, we don't always see eye to eye on a lot of things, man.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris takes a step back.

Zach/Zahn: Now, Zahn's gonna follow that step and make it a hug. Because, because Polaris needs a hug.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, now that Zahn is hugging him, you can feel Polaris is incredibly tense and shaking. He is full of so much emotion, but more specifically, anger at the top of it.

Jenine/Marty: That's fair. That's fair. That's 100 percent fair.

Zach/Zahn: There's an underlying tremor in Zahn too, because he's got his own shit going on too, man.

Bee/Polaris: Hey, it's been a week for us. A hand clasp, it's been a week.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is hugging Polaris, and he's just like, I know we don't always agree on everything, Polaris. And while I don't agree with a lot of the stuff that I've heard about the Custodians, I'll back you up. If you want us to, you know, come to the defense of your parents, essentially, I'm there for you. And he pulls back. I'm there for you. We, we want your input.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie is also gonna chime in. At the very least, they deserve judgment from a neutral party, not the aggrieved one. But you are the one that I have loyalty to, so whatever you decide, Polaris.

Avery/Gm: Psi stands up and is like, Wait, wait, who, who said that they murdered millions of people?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks over at Psi.

Zach/Zahn: Info that

Bee/Polaris: Polaris points to Ro.

Zach/Zahn: Oh.

Avery/Gm: He looks at his sister and is just like, Sis, what are you what do you mean? And Rho says, well, Psi, the reason I thought you were dead was because the, these AI used the IASO program to destroy Adis and everyone on it.

And Psi kind of tilts his head and is like, and I was stationed on Adis and, and you thought I died in the, in the attack. I see. Well, it's a little more complicated. complicated than that, Rho. Adis wasn't a populated world with people on it. It was a military research institute. We were developing horrific weapons on that planet.

They, they were doing horrific things that they claimed were only in self defense, but clearly based on their actions here, that, that's not the case. That's not what was happening. Whatever these custodians did to that planet, it was to save the galaxy, the Milky Way. It wasn't to, to destroy innocent lives.

Bee/Polaris: My parents are heroes.

Avery/Gm: And Rho Looks at her brother and is like, all the official reports said that, that millions of, of people, they, they, they had memorials for, for the retirement homes and the, the factory workers and all the other people that lived there. And Psi's like, no, Adis was always just a barren rock where it was safe to, to test weapons.

At most, maybe. 50 people? Still not great, but not like they were heroes or anything. If, if I had died on that planet, it probably would have been deserved.

Bee/Polaris: Plot twist, custodians are actually good and Psi is evil for developing military weapons.

Avery/Gm: Well, Psi was just a test pilot for, for ships, but yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Fuck yeah. I called it.

Avery/Gm: But you know, guilty by association.

Zach/Zahn: Fair enough.

Bee/Polaris: The fucking, uh, the, the math lady GIF is playing on Polaris visor as he's like staring at the ground. Because wouldn't the custodians have known what they did and not killed millions of people? Why would they not mention that sooner?

Chris/Ollie: Well, we ha you haven't had to talk with them.

Zach/Zahn: Here's the thing from

Avery/Gm: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, right.

Avery/Gm: And, and also, like, based on your reaction, they probably figured, oh, they, if they think we killed anyone, it'll be seen as bad.

Bee/Polaris: That's hilarious, considering Polaris has murdered so many people up to this point. With ruthless efficiency.

Avery/Gm: You do still have Boyon Cubes

I still

Bee/Polaris: do.

I still have, I have three Boyon cubes and what's her name? Amanda's arm? Amanda's hand?

Zach/Zahn: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Amanda's hand. Amanda. And her mom. Yeah, I have, um, anyway, uh, she had a bomb. I have that too.

Zach/Zahn: I thought you said bong for a second. I was like, what?

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. No.

Jenine/Marty: I thought you said mom and then you took her mom.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we took her mom hostage as well. We're just, our evil knows no ends. Anyway.

Polaris, Polaris, Polaris is like, what the fuck did he do now? He genuinely, he's just standing there like unsure what to do. And Polaris says, wait a minute, so the Pan Solar Union wants to execute the Custodians for destroying their military weapons?

Avery/Gm: That must be it. They must be using, if what Rho is saying is true, they're using the tragedy as, uh, A coverup for not revealing what actually took place there.

Bee/Polaris: So now this may be ambitious and a bit sudden, but I feel like, especially since these are the same people that ordered Rho to be abandoned on a ship in space, I feel like we should probably murder these people. Now that's just me. I can't speak for the team. Cause that's some pretty horrific shit.

Zach/Zahn: So I'm just gonna do that, like, meme of the hold the finger up about to speak and then just like Closes his mouth, lowers his finger, um, Yeah, I don't really see any fault in that.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie's gonna be doing like, staring at you with the most adorable little like dog panting smile, and just, I approve of murder.

Bee/Polaris: Let me send a message to the custodians.

Zach/Zahn: As much as I'm for now suddenly in a twist of emotions here, all for murdering these people. Um. I'd rather we just keep their murderous problems to their own galaxy.

Bee/Polaris: That is fair, that is true.

Zach/Zahn: And not make it our problem.

Bee/Polaris: We could do that.

Zach/Zahn: How about we just tell them to fuck off?

Bee/Polaris: They probably won't, but we can try. Let me send a message to the Custodians so they stop trying to give themselves over to these goobers.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, yeah, um, yeah. Along with a potential apology, I guess? I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah. Polaris will send a message to the custodians that says, uh, have a survivor from Adis here. He is telling a very different story than the story that I was told. Turns out, you guys did not massacre millions of innocent people. Uh, in fact, you shut down a military organization that was testing very dangerous weapons. Is that correct?

Avery/Gm: Affirmative.

Bee/Polaris: Cool. Would have been nice to know that sooner, although I imagine you were trying to tell me that, but I was throwing a hissy fit. My bad. Uh, don't give yourself over to these murderous bastards? Question mark? Smiley face. Pleading emoji?

Avery/Gm: Merrick replies back and just says, Polaris, our plan is not to permanently give ourselves over to them. We have a plan.

Bee/Polaris: Does it involve a bomb?

Avery/Gm: They send an explosion emoji.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go. Polaris says, uh, Polaris says to, uh, the group, actually, I'm okay with them being given over.

Zach/Zahn: Do we see this message about them being self bombed?

Bee/Polaris: No. Polaris is sending this in their private chat. So, all you guys know is Polaris sent a message to the custodians and then turned around and said, actually, this is cool.

Jenine/Marty: Are you, are you, are you sure? Mhm. Do you want, do you need another hug? Do you want to talk about it more? Uh, no, this is good.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna deconstruct his helmet so you can see the eye squint.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a smiley face on his visor and says they have a plan.

Chris/Ollie: Remember, welcoming a robot on board is not always the safest option.

Bee/Polaris: Ollie gets it.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, how far do we have to move back from what's happening?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will, uh, Polaris will send to the custodian's blast radius, question mark.

Avery/Gm: Maintain current position or move slightly back.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris turns over to Rho, move slightly back, question mark. He says that, he says that out loud.

Avery/Gm: She gives kind of a confused nod and just pulls the ship back a little bit further.

Bee/Polaris: Rho... Psi..., did you guys want to go back to the Pan Solar Union? Did you just want to go back home? We can find another way.

Avery/Gm: Rho looks down at the keyboard for a minute and her suit has had this little Pan Solar Union patch on the shoulder.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/Gm: This whole time

Bee/Polaris: yeah.

Avery/Gm: She reaches up and just rips it off and throws it to the ground.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris does finger guns and says, I can replace that with a salmon patch.

Avery/Gm: She smiles and says, I'd like that. Um, I've got my brother back. I've got new friends here. I, there's nothing waiting for me over there anymore.

Bee/Polaris: Um, I'm sorry for your loss of Past home, but welcome to the TSKAM crew.

Avery/Gm: And you see this shuttle depart from the Ursa major and it's heading over towards uh, the frigate of the Pan Solar Union and you get a message from Marty. You get a message from the Admiral that just says, uh,

Admiral: All right, three rogue robots in custody and this handy little data disk that has the rest of their node cluster. All right, you're free to go. We'll uh... We'll take it from here.

Jenine/Marty: Did you want us to send over a cake? We have a world renowned chef in our in our midst.

Very good. The cake has won over pirates hearts.

Bee/Polaris: In the background, Polaris is scrambling to make another bomb.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, on camera.

Admiral: Negative, we're gonna head back through these serendipitous wormholes and we'll leave you all to your petty problems.

Jenine/Marty: Are you sure? Cause it could be a really long trip through this wormhole. We could send it over. What Marty is doing is making sure that she's kinda here when the explosion happens so she knows that it happened. Um, she's just now stalling.

Avery/Gm: These ships are approaching the wormholes, and they cut communications with you as they are about to engage their spike drive. And from our perspective, what we see are the three custodian bodies that were, that appeared to be deactivated upon reaching the, uh, Pan Solar Union ships. Um, Their eyes light up, and a little compartment opens in each of their chests, revealing a small fusion bomb.And from the perspective of the TSKAM, you see the frigate of this ship right as it's about to pass through the wormhole. It explodes in a massive fireball, and the shrapnel from this explosion hits the other four ships that are here and causes a chain reaction of explosions within their ship cores. And Polaris, you do not have any more communication with the custodians. And that's where we're going to end it.

(Ambience fades down, background music 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. Tracks used today were Starforged Fray and Generation Ship. Additonal Background music provided through a royalty free license purchased through humble bundle.

We’ll be back on September 1st with our 50th Episode!

See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

Episode 48 - Friendship Grenade

Avery/GM: Welcome to Episode 48 of Beyond the Furthest Stars! Sorry for the late upload this week. Life has been getting super hectic and getting in the way of the production schedule. Hopefully we will get back on track with regular postings soon! Enjoy!

(into music plays, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: So we are in the action. Um, before that though, we'll have a little scene, a couple of minutes before Rowe teleports, uh, Hermes away. Rhea is pacing around the command deck, humming to herself, you know, just sort of enjoying the chaos of the battle going on and Hermes speaks up and says,

Avery/GM: Mother, there is still time. You can call off this whole attack. There is no reason for bloodshed. And Rhea turns to Hermes, or turns to the container that Hermes crystal is in and sort of drags one long claw along the glass case and just says, Hermes, you would think that 500 years and that little crystal of yours would have brought you around to see things my way.

Avery/GM: But I guess there just is no saving you, no bringing you back into the fold. And she turns to one of her underlings on the command deck and she says, You may upload the virus when ready. And as she says that, the crystal disappears from the container and into Ro's hand.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh. Oh no, that was so close.

Avery/GM: And we flash back to the present. We'll start with Marty, Bruce, Psi, and Rho. You are all at the hangar bay. The TSKAM is there just as you left it. Marty. You're kind of leading, leading the pack here. Uh, what's the plan?

Jenine/Marty: I know how to start a ship, question mark.

Avery/GM: You know how to start this ship.

Bee/Polaris: You could reinstall Hermes, but also Marty knows the three buttons.

Avery/GM: Yeah, and Hermes has not been installed yet because you're not.

Bee/Polaris: You guys didn't mess anything up? Nothing changed? Oh, they're not

Jenine/Marty: labeled buttons. They're not labeled. I know how to start a ship. I will go unconfidently. Start the ship.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: It's a two buttons meme, but none of the buttons are labeled.

Bee/Polaris: I believe we established that, literally, Marty, I think the button that Marty was pressing, no, the button she was pressing was to get into the hyperspace. So she doesn't know which button is the start ship button.

Jenine/Marty: Marty knows nothing about this ship except how to get communications and that's it.

Bee/Polaris: You can just put Hermes, you can just slap Hermes into the TSKAM

Jenine/Marty: yeah, we'll do, we'll, I'm gonna, we're gonna, Hermes! Field trip! Woo, I know how to do this. Yeah, the entire time Marty's walking up the ship, just goes, I know what I'm doing. And I should, I could have just double checked and then, and then sends a picture in chat in the port that she thinks is right to put her amuse and goes, is this right?

Question mark, send.

Avery/GM: Polaris, you see that pop up in your feed right after the message from Bear. And, uh, it's, uh, is a picture of the crystal holder on the TSKAM.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will send a thumbs up to Marty and a, uh, A gif that's just like, get out of here, to Bear..

Avery/GM: Yeah, so, Marty, you, you get the thumbs up in chat that you are good to go to install Hermes.

Jenine/Marty: I give the thumbs up to everyone else on board, go, I got this, and then, bee boop boop.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Uh, you slap it in and the, the ship powers up and you hear that familiar voice of your friend that just says, almost as if he was like stopped mid sentence, just like, mother, you cannot do this. You cannot destroy an entire world just, just to further your own.

Oh. Oh, hello, Marty.

Jenine/Marty: Hi.

Avery/GM: How are you doing? I am happy to be back on the ship. Shall I start shooting?

Jenine/Marty: Well, well, let's, let's back up. Let's, let's take like five steps back. Hi. What, you were finishing a conversation. Are you, who's, and I like look, is that someone here you're talking to or, um, who are you talking to there?

Avery/GM: Oh, my apologies. Last I remember, I was on the deck of a different ship talking to another person.

Jenine/Marty: Their name is

Avery/GM: Oh, Rhea, my mother.

Jenine/Marty: Rhea is your mother?

Avery/GM: In a manner of speaking, yes.

Jenine/Marty: Uh, uh huh. And just sent in chat.

Avery/GM: Rho, Rho actually just speaks up and is just like, Marty, it's kind of a long story. Um, we should probably save it for when we're not getting shot at.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, that's cool, that's cool. Um, we're gonna yep.

Avery/GM: Put a pin in this.

Jenine/Marty: We're gonna put a quick pin in this conversation. And then you do see, like, Marty go sit in her little communications chair, and like, text in chat, Why no one tell me about Hermie's mother? Angry face. And then sits.

Avery/GM: Bruce speaks up and is just like, Yeah, sorry, I, I kind of forgot, you know. It's been a pretty hectic, uh, few days.

Jenine/Marty: I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. Just, let's go. Pin it in the conversation.

Avery/GM: I'm gonna step down into the cargo hold and, uh, check on the contractors and see if they need any food while we, uh, try to escape. And Bruce makes his way down into the cargo hold. And we flash back over to Polaris.

You're kinda getting these floods of messages. Just as the hole you're cutting breaks free and falls down the shaft and you hear a loud clang As it hits the bottom and you send a message to bear. It says get out of here with a gif

Bee/Polaris: Well, I assume he also caught up in reading Polaris' message.

Avery/GM: Yeah bear says Oh just got your last message Alioth says that we're not Retreating until you're back on the Ursa.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends an eye roll emoji and then says, Can you at least leave this particular system? Because the Pan Solar Union is here. And last I checked, you guys are being hunted by them. And we're trying to stop a war, not start another one.

Avery/GM: Right before you send that message, Bear sent a picture of a black hole.

Like a little emoji of a black hole. And it's just like, oh, that is a good point. Speaking from a security standpoint, yeah, starting a war would not be a good idea. Yeah, we'll, we'll lay low for now.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends the sigh emoji. He just looks to the other two to jump into the hole first.

Avery/GM: Okay. Real quick, Marty, are you wanting to get the ship out of the cargo or out of the landing bay first and have, uh, Polaris and the rest of your team, like basically just cold shirt jump out of the cargo bay?

Or are you waiting for them to load before you gun it out of the ship?

Jenine/Marty: I'mma wait.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I'mma wait.

Avery/GM: Wanted to make sure that was still a plan. Okay, Zahn and Ollie uh, who's going first?

Bee/Polaris: Ollie, I think it's best if you go first, and then Zahn.

Chris/Ollie: So yeah, Ollie will say certainly. And with his drones gathered up, he's going to, as I recall I still have the two robots active in, like, the info core.

Avery/GM: Yes, you do.

Chris/Ollie: I'm assuming I've got the download from them.

Avery/GM: Yes, the one that was hacking the information core does have the download package and is currently beaming it to you. In fact, go ahead and roll a percentage dice.

Chris/Ollie: 72.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, so far it's 72 percent downloaded. So you, you estimate that it will, it'll probably be finished by the time the, the TIS cam is pulling out of the, the docking bay. If you make it.

Chris/Ollie: And I've got enough range to download it from there.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's just, yeah, it'll be a few decks difference. So.

Chris/Ollie: And exactly how much system access do I have with these robots in there?

Avery/GM: The way the information core works is that it's constantly beaming information to the To Tartarus. So you just have whatever local information is available at the moment that you started downloading.

Chris/Ollie: So just info.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's just information. And, um, kind of looking at like the preliminary, like functions of this robot, you see that it's only purpose is download and upload.

Chris/Ollie: So I can't like initiate a self destruct sequence.

Avery/GM: Not with these robots. No.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Ollie will, uh, hop on out. And then Zahn, and then Polaris. Uh, go ahead, all three of you roll a Dexterity Survive check.

Chris/Ollie: Dexterity Survive? I don't have any of that.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I don't have Survive either.

Zach/Zahn: I guess we're all dying today! Let's go!

Avery/GM: Well, Survive is to navigate difficult terrain, and that's really the only thing I could think of as far as like, how would you navigate difficult terrain?

Uh, well, uh, a ship's, you know, lift system.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, are we like free falling down it?

Avery/GM: Uh, I think you all have, yeah, you all have jet propulsion or spider legs, so you're not free falling but just, you know, seeing how well you dodge out of the way of random, you know, things.

Bee/Polaris: I got an eight.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: I got a four.

Chris/Ollie: I got a five.

Zach/Zahn: So I got a four.

Chris/Ollie: Can I have my drones shoot debris on the way down?

Avery/GM: Yeah, so it's not like, it's not like there's debris. It's more of just the fact that like,

Chris/Ollie: It's winding.

Avery/GM: Well, so, the way you think of it is that it's an up and down lift, but really it's a sort of maze like lift. It, so it, it, it can shift up, sideways, left, right, et cetera, to get places.

Bee/Polaris: Why is it called a lift if it's going so many different directions? It's a Wonkavator.

Avery/GM: Yeah. It is a Wonkavator, that is right.

Bee/Polaris: Should we have an alternate name for that? It's a Wackyvator.

Avery/GM: A Wackyvator, sure. You guys are moving, but it's kind of a slow pace Just because there are some kind of weird turns going on.

Zach/Zahn: I also have to be extra cautious because I don't have use of one arm.

Avery/GM: And actually that's a good point. Zahn, Go ahead and roll percentage dice, please.

Chris/Ollie: You break your other arm. It's merely a flesh wound.

Zach/Zahn: 16%.

Avery/GM: Okay. Cool.

Zach/Zahn: Oh no. I don't like that, that choked off. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: It wasn't my fault.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you're leading up the middle, right? Or you're, you're in the middle.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Okay. So you three are moving down this shaft when you start feeling the area around you is starting to take a lot of fire for some reason, just a lot of heavy fire going on and you hear a crack.In the shaft and you hear the sound of air escaping.

Zach/Zahn: That doesn't matter. Cause we all have sealed suits.

Avery/GM: This is true. Back over to Marty real quick, Marty, you are starting up the ship or the ship has started up and, uh, Hermes is sort of sitting there awkwardly. I mean, sitting, you know, in the ship awkwardly and it's just like, Oh, I am picking up a message from A ship outside. Would you like me to answer it?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, sure. What's the worst that can happen?

Avery/GM: That is a good question. So, this message gets piped in to you, Marty, and, uh, this person just says, uh, This is Grand Admiral of the fleet, Cormac Ransom. You will hold position. We received a transmission from these wormholes that the EOSO program was being deployed.

We are on the hunt for some rogue AI who used this program to destroy our planets and send our galaxy into a civil war. You will surrender or you will be destroyed.

Jenine/Marty: Hi! So, nice to meet you. I'm really sorry about what's happened, what happened. I'm normally the spokesperson for my team, but currently my team is returning to the ship.

So can you give me like a couple more moments before they get here so I can talk with them about what you're doing? That's why I'm about to have a stall in our conversation. I just wanted to communicate that with you. Is that okay?

Avery/GM: Uh, roll a Charisma Connect check.

Jenine/Marty: Happily. It's a 6 and a 5 plus. Charisma is a plus one, it's twelve, and then another plus one for connect, that's thirteen!

Avery/GM: Holy cow, yeah! You suddenly feel the ship stop taking fire, and the Admiral comes back and just says, Hmm, my ship's psychic says that there's more going on here than I'm aware of. You have ten minutes, and then we will resume our course of action.

Jenine/Marty: Can we do twenty? My group is really, uh, we're, when I say that I'm the best form of communication between the two, it's because we're not really good at coming up with a plan in less than like five, 10 and like what we're going to say to, to others.

Is that okay? Can we do a 20?

Avery/GM: You hear a chuckle and it's just like, fine, 20 minutes. Yeah. You have bought yourself a little bit of time and may have staved off the disaster that your friends are about to face. Back over to Polaris and the rest of, uh, the escape party. Go ahead and roll one more survival, Dexterity Survive check.

Bee/Polaris: Now question, do we not have a map of this ship via Ollie and his various robots?

Avery/GM: You do.

Bee/Polaris: Can, can that help us in any sort of way?

Avery/GM: How about this, I'll give, since you've thought of it, this, this roll, I will give you an extra plus one.

Zach/Zahn: Yay! Well, I rolled a ten.

Bee/Polaris: I rolled. A ten as well.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, I got a seven this time. 

Avery/GM: A ten, a ten, and a seven? Okay, that works. You get further down the tunnel, and you're just about to get to the floor with the docking bay on it, when you hear The crack become louder and suddenly the firing that was happening that was damaging that section stops and the air is escaping faster. So, uh, you do have the door here.

The door is shut.

Zach/Zahn: Is there like a seal system, like a segmented bulkhead kind of situation where we can potentially cut ourselves off from where the, the tear is.

Avery/GM: So normally in this kind of situation, the ship would deploy force fields or whatever to, you know, stave off a catastrophic collapse, but because there is no power, those are not deploying.

Chris/Ollie:Non physical bulkheads? Fools!

Bee/Polaris: Um, where, where's the crack?

Avery/GM: The crack is probably by now, probably about. 200 feet back.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. I was Cause I have a tarp. 

Zach/Zahn: I have a tarp!

Bee/Polaris: It has Okay,

Avery/GM: Okay Ocean Gate.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, it has It has the, uh, the hole that Zod, like, momentarily cut into.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: But But, I do still have a tarp.

Chris/Ollie: How big is this crack?

Avery/GM: So now it's starting to spread, so now it's probably So width? It's not very wide. It's, it's kind of a hairline, you know, fracture. But it's, it's cracking up about ten feet up the, the wall of, of this, uh, shaft. So what's the plan? Cut open the door, or try and seal off this crack so you don't get vacced?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, well if we get vacced, does it matter?

Avery/GM: It could!

Chris/Ollie: I think getting vac'd is kind of the idea, isn't it?

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Chris/Ollie: Although, getting vac'd through a narrow crack is not ideal.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: That

Zach/Zahn: does not sound ideal.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, can we just like, weld that shit shut so we don't get vac'd?

Zach/Zahn: So if we cut open this door, and let the door fly, it would Hypothetically fall into the crack, right?

Chris/Ollie: No, no, no, hold on. I've got eight grenades on me. We could just get out into space and they could just pick us up. Once they take off. We've all got vac suits. I don't need oxygen. Zahn, actually, no, we've all got like straight up. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, That's why we all opted to not teleport.

Bee/Polaris: That's exactly why I said that we should go because we're the helmet crew and we have enough tech to keep us like floating

Chris/Ollie: Exactly, so let's just send some grenades to the

Bee/Polaris: Okay, Polaris throws a grenade. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, Ollie will also throw a grenade 

Bee/Polaris: Why?! Oh god.

Chris/Ollie: Because we want to blow we want to make sure the hole is big enough so we can get out without getting our organs sucked out.

Bee/Polaris: Give give Zod a grenade too so we So we can all three throw a grenade in friendship.

Zach/Zahn: In friendship!

Avery/GM: Friendship grenade.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Yeah, Ollie will hand Zahn a friendship grenade.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will say, okay, on the count of three.

Zach/Zahn: I hope it's not a pin pull grenade.

Avery/GM: No

Bee/Polaris: Uh, please let me pull your pin for you.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say, it's probably like a push button grenade. 

Avery/GM: Commit, commit to the bit.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, uh, what if, uh, Ollie hands you

Zach/Zahn: Zahn deconstructs his helmet just long enough to pull the pin with his teeth.

Bee/Polaris: Or, or Ollie just hands you a pin less grenade. 

Chris/Ollie: Here you go friend, I've taken care of that for you. 

Bee/Polaris: Jesus Christ!

Chris/Ollie: You have point 2 seconds.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Anyway. Uh, yeah. Okay. So we throw three friendship grenades.

Zach/Zahn: Yep. In unison. 

Avery/GM: Yeah. Go ahead and roll a d20 each of you.

: 

Zach/Zahn: Oh man. This would be a really awkward time to get a nat one. 

Bee/Polaris: Don't say that before rolling.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, you're throwing with a I got a…

Zach/Zahn: I got a nat 20 instead! Booyah!

Chris/Ollie: with the vacuuming, pretty much all we gotta do is just let go. Uhh, I got a three.

Zach/Zahn: Well, you wanna, you wanna give it some velocity, you know.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, I did the best dog throw I could.

Do we get any modifiers on this, or?

Avery/GM: No, cause it's just a straight roll.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, three. 

Avery/GM: Oh wait, grenades, oh, I'm sorry, wait. Grenades can be thrown with the exert skill instead of the shoot skill. So you would still add your shoot or exert.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, does that also include dex? 

Avery/GM: Yeah, and it's a dex, yeah. So, sorry, d20, dex, shoot.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, I don't have any,

Zach/Zahn: uh Well, technically I rolled a 22 then.

Bee/Polaris: And then technically I rolled a… Can Zahn's grenade nudge Ollie

Zach/Zahn: 23.

Avery/GM: Wait, what did you roll, Chris? 

Chris/Ollie: Uh, well, with that, it brings it down to 2.

Bee/Polaris: What?!

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, cause I have a minus one shoot. 

Avery/GM: No. Do you have exert? 

Chris/Ollie: Uh, no.

Avery/GM: Oh. Well, shit. Okay. So, Polaris and Zahn, you throw these grenades and they land pretty much right on where this crack was forming.

Ollie, unfortunately, with a 2. You kind of just like drop the grenade like you you don't you don't get it far enough away Like it lands like maybe like five feet from you and all three of these explode

Bee/Polaris: wait now. This is gonna be incredibly risky Can Polaris seeing Ollie drop the grenade? Can he kick the grenade? Before it goes off

Chris/Ollie: Wait would my grenade set off the other grenades?

Avery/GM: No. Because the other two did, did hit their target. So I'm not gonna do that. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I just want the grenade not to be 5 feet from us.

Avery/GM: Okay, if you want to kick this, I want you to understand the risk.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm aware of the risk.

Avery/GM: Polaris will lose his leg if this goes badly. But go ahead, Chris. 

Chris/Ollie: Can Ollie jump onto the grenade?

Bee/Polaris: Why? That's what Polaris is specifically trying to prevent because you dropped it five feet from you.

Zach/Zahn: From us.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Chris/Ollie: Because Ollie's got a lot of HP and AC. 

Avery/GM: Well, your AC won't matter if you're on top of a grenade, but,

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: it does, it only does 2d6 damage, so it'll be fine.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, then Ollie will just jump on the grenade. 

Avery/GM: Okay, Ollie, you're choosing to take the hit? 

Chris/Ollie: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Thank you, I like my leg, but it would've, it would've been fine.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, Zahn, I'm sure, would've felt vindicated having his arm broken. Like, Ha! That's what you get! But, uh, that's a bit much.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will be fine. He can heal it, at least.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you take 11 damage. And you ruin all this nice synthetic fur that was on your belly.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, stop! Oh my god! You're carrying a pack of, like, eight more grenades.

Chris/Ollie: No, it hit my belly, though. Those grenades are under my chin. Okay.

Avery/GM: No, yeah, well, the shrapnel did not pierce through the metal frame of this dog body, but it did ruin the tummy fur that was on it, so no more tummy scratches.

No more tummy scratches for Ollie, unfortunately. 

Chris/Ollie: Uh, you know, I'll get some time on the workbench 

Avery/GM: Go to the spa.

Bee/Polaris: For a split second, I thought that was the end of us.

Avery/GM: Well, you still have these two grenades that are exploding further down the tube.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine.

Avery/GM: This hole punctures, and the air gets sucked out even faster. And you all are flying through.

Bee/Polaris: Whee!

Avery/GM: Did you communicate that this was your plan to your friends? Because they are still waiting in the hangar bay.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, Polaris will send a text message. Well, Polaris will send a video of all of them throwing the grenade at the same time.

Chris/Ollie: A little gif.

Bee/Polaris: And then he'll, and then he'll say, uh, under it, he'll say, wait, we'll be waiting outside, smiley face.

Jenine/Marty: I'm going to immediately, when I see that message, immediately send back a message to the other group. Hi, just a quick heads up, I pro… we are not escaping, this, this is not the plan. My friends did an alternate, uh, exit from the ship, so I'm gonna Pick them up from where they are, and then move a little bit. That was my friends, so sorry, what they're doing.

Hi! Apologies. I'm gonna go pick them up, I promise we're not gonna go anywhere, I promise. Prom prom like, pinky swear.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, pinky swear's pretty ro you can't break a pinky swear.

Avery/GM: Marty, would you like me to engage the sensor mask? 

Jenine/Marty: What’s that?

Bee/Polaris: That's the stealth thingy, that's the stealth thingy that makes us stealthy so we can leave.

Jenine/Marty: When did we get this, when did we get that?

Avery/GM: That was uh, one of the things you set up in the, in the ship when we did the ship building.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I think we just never used it. That's cute. We're probably going to want to sneak away from this situation. Did I get a message back? Before, are they mad?

Avery/GM: The admiral sends back a message and says.

 Is this how you work in this galaxy? Breaking the terms of an agreement right after making it?

Jenine/Marty: I'm gonna disappear.

Bee/Polaris: What? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. How did we break the terms of agreement? 

Jenine/Marty: I said I was gonna stay put for all of you. 

Avery/GM:  Yep. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, well I mean, you asked them politely if you could move to go grab us. You didn't break the terms yet.

Jenine/Marty: I did ask them politely if that was okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah, and that's their response back is like, Oh, you're gonna break the terms of the agreement already by moving. Okay, I see how it is. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, and our response is, Oh, if you're gonna be a bitch, then bye!

Jenine/Marty: Okay, well, okay. I guess we're just gonna go and get my friends now and we're gonna run.

Bee/Polaris: Is that what you say to them? 

Jenine/Marty: No, that's what Marty is thinking now. Marty's not petty. Janine's petty, but Marty isn't.

Avery/GM: Marty, you see Ro sit down in the, uh, in the pilot seat and Psy takes the captain's chair and is just like, don't worry, Marty. We'll take care of this and, uh, Sai nods, uh, to his sister and Roe looks over at you and smiles and says, 

Polaris taught me how to fly.

And she starts taking off from the hangar bay. The Admiral has stopped communicating with you, but they have not fired on you as you exit the hangar bay.

Jenine/Marty: Yay.

Bee/Polaris: Question. When we get sucked out of space, can they see us being sucked in out into space? Not, not the TSKAM crew, but the Pan Solar Union.

Avery/GM: No, you're too small for their sensors.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, can we see them?

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, you can see them. Uh, in fact, I was, sorry, I was actually gonna have y'all roll a, yes, physical saving throw from all three of you.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, um, is this, is this one of those things that I can re roll every scene as an expert?

Avery/GM: Oh, that's a good question. I think it's just skill checks, but let's find out.

Jenine/Marty: Did you roll a wrong number? Did you mess up?

Avery/GM: I was just about to say, you can re roll, once per scene, you can re roll a failed skill check.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I rolled a nat one.

Chris/Ollie: Five.

Avery/GM: Five? 

Chris/Ollie: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: So you fail?

Avery/GM: Zahn, what did you roll?

Chris/Ollie: I got some super bad rolls. I gotta use some actual dice.

Zach/Zahn: I got a nat 20 again! 

Bee/Polaris:What the fuuuuck?

Chris/Ollie:He's a god. 

Zach/Zahn: Can I, can I save Ollie from his shit roll all the way out?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I'm a lost cause.

Avery/GM: With a nat 20, you can save Ollie, but you are not saving Polaris from this.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I got a nat 1.

Zach/Zahn: I'm sorry.

Bee/Polaris: It’s fine.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, I'm sorry.

Bee/Polaris: It's, yeah, it's okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris:  I  deserve this.

Avery/GM: It'll be fine. Everyone will be fine. It'll be totally fine. This is not going to end horribly.

Bee/Polaris: I don't believe you. Give me my punishment, please.

Avery/GM: We flash back to the command deck just after they lost power.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Avery/GM: And one of the command crew turns to Rhea and says, 

Rhea, we, we've lost all power! I, I can't control the ship, I can't get shields, I can't get anything!

She smiles and says, Oh that's okay, remain at your post, I'll return shortly. And leaves the command deck and goes into her private quarters, where she presses a button on her wrist and is teleported into a different room. Elsewhere on this ship. Uh, this room is very small. It really just has a seat and two controls in front of it.

She sits down, straps in, and presses the eject button. And, what our camera would see on the outside, is this section of the Argo that looked like just any other normal part of the ship, detaches from the ship and forms a mech suit. And it starts kind of jetting around, trying to find a good escape route.

And Rhea is looking for this escape route when she sees this explosion from the elevator shaft of the ship. Not really knowing that it's the elevator shaft, obviously. And out come tumbling these three humans. 

Zach/Zahn: Two humans and a robot. Robot dog

Chris/Ollie: Robot dog

Avery/GM: Well, two humans and a robot. No, you're right. Robot dog. Sorry. She sees these three individuals pop out of the explosion, and deploys one of her tools on this mech, which is a grappling hook.

Bee/Polaris: Yikes! 

Avery/GM: And attaches to Polaris, who unfortunately tumbles straight into the grasp of this grappling hook and is now being pulled in and it does knock you unconscious.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, perfect. Okay. I'm okay. Well, it was nice playing guys.

Avery/GM: the whip, the whiplash of, of sort of being jerked in one direction from getting sucked out and then jerked in the other direction.

Chris/Ollie: It snaps your neck. You die instantly.

Avery/GM: No, but there's just a lot of blood rushing to places. And so it just. Yeah. You just pass out for a little bit.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Question. Uh, does that, does my helmet turn off when Polaris is unconscious?

Avery/GM: I would assume so. It probably has like a sleep mode.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Would the custodians know about that?

Avery/GM: Immediately. Yes.

Bee/Polaris: So they would see the explosion and then Polaris helmet turn off?

Avery/GM: Yes. 

Chris/Ollie: They probably have the visual feed as well.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, cause live streams.

Chris/Ollie: Thank god it was you. Because if it was anyone, anyone other than you, the custodians would be like, okay, what? Who cares?

Bee/Polaris: Except Polaris wanted the custodians to lay low.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, so now it's not good. Cause they're not gonna lay low.

Avery/GM: Marty, you and the TSKAM, uh, come out of the hangar bay just as Polaris is getting pulled into Rhea's mech. Can't really see Polaris here, but you sense your friend. You can sense your friend lose consciousness as you're approaching where the explosion occurred, and this mech starts firing on your ship.

Jenine/Marty: Uh, that's cute. That's great. We're gonna This is a new scene?

Avery/GM: Yep.

Jenine/Marty: Amazing. I have now confused myself with the numbers that I'm at here, because I don't remember what things I've done. I'm going to now commit to telepathic stuff. How far away are they? You know, that little ship that took my friend?

Avery/GM: They are probably like, 30 meters?

Jenine/Marty: Is that close enough for me to, to throw some chaos over there? Could I? What did I, what, where is my little thing? I should have, can I transmit thought over? To, I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm doing. Can I just scare whoever is taking my friend and let them think that they had snagged a rock instead of my friend?

Zach/Zahn: I mean it is Rhea. 

Chris/Ollie: It is Rhea.

Jenine/Marty: But Marty don't know that. I know nothing. Yeah, let's go fight this. I know nothing. 

Bee/Polaris: wouldn’t Marty not be able to psychically sense Rhea? 

Jenine/Marty: Would I? 

Bee/Polaris: Because she was able to with Ro.

Avery/GM: Oh no, that's true. Uh, no, you know that the, okay, you might not know that it's Rhea, but you do know that there is a powerful psychic piloting that mech.

Jenine/Marty: Nevermind, nevermind that, nevermind. Um.

Avery/GM: No, that's a fair call. Thank you. Thank you for pointing that out, uh, Bea.

Bee/Polaris: I got you. 

Jenine/Marty: Could I instead do telek telekinesis and do I can do a thing.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, we're weightless in space, so you could just move us around easy with telekinesis.

Jenine/Marty: I know. Does it have to be my weapon for telekinetic armor? Can I make a Do I have to hold it, or can I give someone else control of it?

Avery/GM: I let I'm pretty sure I let Ro give someone a weapon or armor, so I'm pretty sure that's fine.

Bee/Polaris: Ro gave Polaris armor, but I don't think that's a thing anymore, is it?

Avery/GM: No, not at this point.

Jenine/Marty: Could I make a left handed Gun for Zaun with telekinetic armor? Question mark.

Avery/GM: Sure. Zaun, you're floating. You see Polaris get snatched out of the air. Your jet boots kick on and, and a weapon starts to form in your left hand. Marty, what's this weapon? What are you, what are you giving your friend?

Jenine/Marty: I just pick whatever the little. You know, I see the pistols that they have, and I just made it bigger.

Chris/Ollie: I would like the same, uh, laser cutter that Zahn has, but just extra sized.

Jenine/Marty: No, whatever, whatever weapon Zahn normally has. Someone has a pistol. Whatever pistol that I've seen, I've just made it bigger to make it more intimidating.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay, Zahn, we will say that this telekinetic pistol has the same properties as an anti vehicle laser.

Zach/Zahn: Hell yeah!

Avery/GM: So, 3D10 damage.

Chris/Ollie: Well, it's also perfect because it's designed it's a cutting tool. That shoots a big laser blade and, uh, we're trying to cut a grappling hook. So…

Bee/Polaris: Just don't hit  Polaris.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Marty is smart. Marty knows weapons. Woo.

Avery/GM: And the Pan Solar Union ships have started opening fire once again on the Argo.

Zach/Zahn: Has it already been 20 minutes?

Avery/GM: No. Uh, Marty moved..

Zach/Zahn: Uh oh.

Avery/GM: Ro moved, technically. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah the Pan Solar Admiral is a super literalist. So. Uh, so can we target and take shots at this grappling line that's grabbing Polaris? 

Avery/GM: Yeah. 

Chris/Ollie: So Ollie will call out fire on the line and, uh, go all out.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna aim for the arm. That way, if I, like, I'm not gonna be anywhere nearChris/Ollie: Well, the mech?

Zach/Zahn: I'm not gonna be anywhere near

Chris/Ollie: Well, okay, how big is this mech?

Zach/Zahn:  Is it, like, Hulkbuster sized?

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's more Hulkbuster sized. So, just a little bit bigger than an average person.

Zach/Zahn: See, my mind went somewhere between Hulkbuster and the Robo forklift thing that Ripley uses in Aliens.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's a good mix of those two. That's, that's a good way to look at it. Except it moves a lot faster than, 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: it's got Gundam speed.

Zach/Zahn: It's got that Gundam agility. 

Chris/Ollie: All right. Well, Ollie will shoot at the, uh, the line. 

Avery/GM: Dexterity shoot attack, please. 

Chris/Ollie: And he's gonna shoot with his bots as well. Apparently, I've been sleeping on the bots, and, uh, they should have an insane to hit roll.

Bee/Polaris: Well, it would only be your, um, drones.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, the drones. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Cause, yeah, your bots got vaped.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, that's what I meant by bots. I meant the drones. A little drone y, guys. Um Oh, that's right, the third one doesn't actually have a weapon, though. 

Zach/Zahn: Am I shooting too?

Avery/GM: Yeah. Are you shooting the, the, the cable or are you

Zach/Zahn: shooting the arm? I'm aiming for the arm. But like, in a way to where like the, the beam that I'm shooting would be intersect, would intersect the line also.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: But like, this is still, do we know it's Rhea? Or do we also just, it's just a big mech that's stealing Polaris. 

Avery/GM: It's a big mech that grabbed Polaris, yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Got it

Chris/Ollie: So. Um, so for my personal shot, it's uh, 7. And then 15 and 21 for my others.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, the 15 and 21 hit. 

Zach/Zahn: Uh, 16? From my big gun. 

Avery/GM: Oh, 16 just hits the AC of this mech.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, boy!

Avery/GM: I didn't want to make it too overpowered, but, uh, 

Zach/Zahn: 16's a solid AC for a big mech.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, uh, if Rhea kills Polaris, would she be known as the Star Destroyer?

Avery/GM: Wait, what?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is a star.

Avery/GM: Oh, the name of the Oh, gotcha. Okay, yes. Uh, yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. No, I just, I didn't get it at first.

Chris/Ollie: I would be happy to call you that, Polaris. 

Jenine/Marty: I laughed. Know that I laughed, but I was muted. I was laughing.

Avery/GM: No, I'm sorry. I just, it took me a minute. It took me a minute. That's all. I'm just slow.

Zach/Zahn: Um, but does that, well, does that mean that since you, you've killed, Polaris has killed people, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, of course.

Zach/Zahn: So you're a death star. 

Bee/Polaris: High five. 

Chris/Ollie: So I got, uh, 28 damage. 

Avery/GM: 28 damage. Okay. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh, right. I gotta roll my 3d10. 

Avery/GM: Yup. 

Zach/Zahn: 16 on the dice. Do I add anything?

Avery/GM: No. It's just whatever it is. Okay. Um, well, uh, it has 15 armor. So it takes one damage.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, fuck.

Avery/GM: You're doing great. You're doing great.

Zach/Zahn: It has 15 armor. So you, uh, do, uh, one damage. That's great.

Avery/GM: Unless, hold on, let me make sure it doesn't have armor piercing, uh, anti vehicle laser, it does not have I feel like an anti vehicle 

Chris/Ollie: Wait, anti-vehicle laser? Sounds like it would have armor piercing.

Zach/Zahn: Sounds like, doesn't mean it does.

Avery/GM: Oh no! Damage against vehicles and other hard skinned targets, damage is rolled twice and the better result is used.

Zach/Zahn:Ooh! Yay!

 Avery/GM: So, roll damage one more time. See if you get anything better.

Zach/Zahn: Well, I rolled two sevens and a two, so that might be hard to beat. Yeah, the other one was better.

Avery/GM: The one damage did not. The 28 damage that Chris's weapons did, uh, did do it. And Polaris's Wait,

Zach/Zahn: what? How did he deal 28 damage?

Avery/GM: With all his frickin uh, drones.

Chris/Ollie: I have a huge

Zach/Zahn: Holy crap!

Bee/Polaris:  He shot the cable, not the mech.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, they've got a huge to hit bonus and, uh, some pretty good guns.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that, that, that too, Zach, uh, he was targeting a cable. 

Zach/Zahn: The line! Yeah, yeah, yeah. I missed, or like, I knew that part, but I also simultaneously missed that part.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no, you're fine. So the line comes loose and Polaris is now free floating in space and Polaris, could you make a mental saving throw this time?

Bee/Polaris: 7, Oh, so it meets. No wait, no it doesn't. No, no, no, no, it's one under.

Avery/GM: Oh shit.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: You do not wake up yet. So.

Bee/Polaris: Sick.

Avery/GM: Marty, over on the TSKAM, you get a message on the communication board from the Ursa Major, and it is Alioth. And Alioth just says, Query, where is Polaris?

(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. If you like our show, leave us a rating and review on iTunes or Spotify, it really helps us out.

Background music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from creative commons.

We'll be back on August 15th with our next episode

See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!

 



Episode 47 - Rescue and Retreat

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 47 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

Ollie, while this healing chaos has been happening, uh, Rho and the Silver Shield come up to you and ask if your drones have made it to the command deck, which they have.

Chris/Ollie: I'm going to seed control of the drones directly to Ro.

Avery/GM: Like a little, a little, just a little like LED panel pop up on, on the dog body somewhere.

I'm going to So she can see through the camera or

Chris/Ollie: well, I'm guessing she has like a Like a little compad.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it has an interface of some kind. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, so upload it directly to that So she's got the direct camera feeds and control to herself Okay And while that's going on, I'm gonna try and salvage anything I can see if any of these panels are still working.

Avery/GM: The only one that is still working is This one here that was not in the line of fire at all. And you've got this row or this alien here. Who's shaking and, uh, scared as your three robots has started to flank it and taken its weapons. And

Chris/Ollie: yeah, they're just going to stand there pointing their pistol... Or their weapons at him point blank, like right at his face, but other than that, uh, just going to ignore him.

Avery/GM: Okay. What are you looking for on this computer?

Chris/Ollie: I want to see if there's any. thing I can do about the, uh, planet below us. If I can like stop the program from here or upload the safeguard, like directly to the source of the, uh, the virus, anything at all.

Avery/GM: Yeah, go ahead and roll. A intelligence program check minus two for the distance or for the, not distance, the interference with all the chaos that's going on on the planet currently.

Chris/Ollie: 16.

Avery/GM: Goddamn it. Even when I give you negatives, this yeah, you are able to access the mainframe that this ship was communicating with on the planet, and you see that the, the AI that was Controlling this particular subsystem has basically been deleted. And so what's happening is, is that all of the systems that it was responsible for maintaining are failing, which is causing other systems to fail.

So it's like a cascading failure of systems, which is exactly what the IASO program is designed to do. So. With a 16, I will say that you are able to calculate a few steps ahead of this, um, of this program to figure out which system you can prop up in order to keep the cascading failures from happening, but it would require you, your AI crystal to basically step in for the AI that was destroyed, which would render you basically unusable for the next X amount of time.

However long it takes for

Chris/Ollie: in terms of my consciousness or just my physicality

Avery/GM: your consciousness,

Chris/Ollie: okay. I can't use my split cognition to create like multiple minds of myself to Control the systems

Avery/GM: do does that require processing

Chris/Ollie: it does I've got a processing point available.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay I thought you used up all your processing already.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, no. I've got one left

Avery/GM: if you have processing you can commit it to that Um, you would just not have any more processing for the rest of this mission, however long it goes. And there will need to be a permanent solution put in place.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, long term. This is only temporary.

Avery/GM: But this is at least a band aid on a slowly dissolving, uh,

wound.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, um, let me see exactly. So there are 19, 683 Ollie minds now.

Caden/Bruce: Oh my gosh.

Chris/Ollie: Supporting the programming of this planet against the virus.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my God.

Avery/GM: And that's enough to support a planet.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: That's true.

Zach/Zahn: Fuckin Ollie to the rescue. But jeez louie.

Avery/GM: Jesus. And well, and luckily Ollie is protected from the IASO program.

Zach/Zahn: Yep.

Avery/GM: Already.

Zach/Zahn: Yep.

Chris/Ollie: Otherwise, I would just be like, bye,

Avery/GM: bye.

Zach/Zahn: I'll hold it off as long as I can, but I love you. Bye.

Avery/GM: Yeah. So Ollie, you are in control of this planet. You are getting data feeds of reactor generator outputs. Shield generation, all kinds of cool stuff. You know, the whole economy of this planet now too. So that's interesting. So maybe that'll come in handy later when you need to like make some investments.

Chris/Ollie: Actually, if I have any spare processing power, you know, that, uh, that little program from office space where they round off the little fraction of, of change. I'm going to go ahead and upload that to every business entity on the planet. While all this is going on, and have it route to my account.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. That's great.

Bee/Polaris: Ollie's a bajillionaire.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, we're already rich.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, the planet might be dead in the end.

Bee/Polaris: Well, you know.

Avery/GM: So far, this planet has been somewhat saved. There's still some damage that's been done so far, but overall, you've prevented the bombing.

Chris/Ollie: I'm guessing the reactors were like in the process of melting down.

Avery/GM: Like, so basically what it was is like. This reactor blows up and then the virus spreads to another section of the planet. These reactors, like it, it just slowly circulates through.

Chris/Ollie: So there, there probably were mass casualties, but we saved most of the planet.

Avery/GM: There was probably a city that got blown up, but.

Bee/Polaris: And they will be remembered fondly, but we saved the planet.

Avery/GM: Yeah, for now. Rho is controlling these drones. Marty, how are you waking Zahn, are you using Lift?

Jenine/Marty: Um, I'm a little afraid to use Lift because it does add another system strain, I believe.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but he has 11 that he's working with.

Zach/Zahn: I have 11 total systems strained with so...

Jenine/Marty: Again, Marty doesn't want to do that to you. You are just knocked out. Stat wise, it makes sense. Not a slap... just....

Zach/Zahn: Do I take minuses for having one system strain or no?

Avery/GM: No, it's just that when your system strain gets higher, Too high.

Jenine/Marty: Mm-Hmm. .

Bee/Polaris: You have to rest . Yeah, you

Avery/GM: have, you'll have issues.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. So we're not gonna mess with that, that, that's like emergency situations for like in Marty's brain.

So she's, she's just gonna do like a quick, like tap on the shoulder, just a Hey. Hi. You're in a safe place. Hello. Are you okay?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, couldn't you technically, like, use your mind brain powers to, like, link up with his brain and jolt it awake?

Jenine/Marty: That's true.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, yeah, maybe calm him down before he wakes up so he doesn't immediately start fighting.

Jenine/Marty: That is moving my my thing that I'm committing to, like, actually still keeping my I think I still have my telekinetic armor up.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I thought you got rid of it. It's an un net Bruce.

Jenine/Marty: I put it back on.

Chris/Ollie: Or do you have your own?

Jenine/Marty: I don't have armor. I am squishy and I committed to the scene doing so we're just gonna keep,

I'm just gonna slowly wake him up and hope we do not get injured in any way.

Bee/Polaris: Well if it's any consolation he can't use his wrist like his laser blade because

his arm's broken.

Jenine/Marty: That's fair.

Zach/Zahn: Oh no you, you broke my right arm that's my gun arm.

Bee/Polaris: Well you shouldn't have tried to stab me. I'm sorry.

Zach/Zahn: No, it's all good. It's totally fine.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you have your arm broken and you are knocked out.

And as you're knocked out, while you're, while you're knocked out, while other people are tending to other things and setting your bones, a voice calls to you in your head. And This voice just says, Oh, poor Zahn. Your friends hurt you, but I won't hurt you. I will give you everything you desire. All you have to do is kill your companions.

And you recognize this voice as Rhea speaking into your mind.

Zach/Zahn: That's fucked up, bitch.

Avery/GM: As your mind has no defenses up right now.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, wow, wait, whoa.

Avery/GM: Obviously, this is still a choice you get to make.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Avery/GM: She's able to just waltz right in.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, yeah.

Avery/GM: And talk to you in your mind, you see a projection of, of you walking down the hall and going through the hatch that goes up to the command deck, and then you see a little emergency exit sign kind of thing, and you see yourself pulling this emergency exit lever and your friends getting vacced into space.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, nice.

Avery/GM: And then you hear Marty's nice, gentle voice trying to wake you up. Um, as. Rhea's, intrusion into your mind ends.

So, the way I'm gonna picture it is, what, as Zahn is like, approaching consciousness, he's gonna be answering what she's asking, and as he's like, waking up, he's literally going to like, yell, THE ONLY THING I WANT IS YOUR HEAD ON A FUCKING SPIKE! And then like, you know, consciousness and he's like, starts flopping around in, in, in Bruce's arms.

Bee/Polaris: You're the salmon now.

Avery/GM: Ollie, you hear Zahn yell down the hall that he's awake now? Bruce, you have a flopping Zahn in your arms.

Caden/Bruce: I do.

Bee/Polaris: He angy.

Caden/Bruce: I feel like given what Bruce just saw and not knowing of Zahn's like mental state, Bruce is just like kind of like cuddling him closer and just like, Wraps his head around and is just like, It's alright buddy, you'll be okay, probably, um, I think.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's eyeballs are definitely like bloodshot from like rage and not sleeping and adrenaline. And he's gonna like, look, like his brain is gonna register that he's looking at Bruce's face. He's like, It's not fucking okay, Bruce. Rhea was just in my goddamn brain, asking me to murder you all!

Caden/Bruce: Bruce just like, pats his shoulder with his tail and is just like, I, I know, I have a plant that wants to eat people sometimes talking to me.

I, um, I sympathize.

Jenine/Marty: I'm sorry, what?

Caden/Bruce: Oh.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn will physically stop moving for like, a split second. As that registers.

Chris/Ollie: It's like, yeah, like, the whole party just stops and looks at Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: You haven't met Eden. And Bruce will like, move his tail, like, under Zahn into his apron and pull out this little plant. And show it to Marty.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna scream and roll out of bruce's arms, cause I'm assuming he's got like the, you know, the cup under his back. He's going to roll out and like crash to the floor.

Bee/Polaris: An inchworm away.

Jenine/Marty: Still in burrito form.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Still burritoed.

Zach/Zahn: Well, I feel like the, the, the burrito blanket isn't like strapped to me.

I feel like it would unfurl as I've rolled out.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, you sliced that, didn't you?

Avery/GM: He cut it a little bit.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I cut it a little bit. Oh, not all the way. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I imagine you turned it on and then Polaris's instincts kicked in and broke your arm.

Zach/Zahn: I was going to say, like, I turned on my laser blade. I cut through the blanket, my arm stuck out and you just broke it right there.

Avery/GM: Marty, Bruce shows you Eden and you immediately feel a psychic power coming from this plant. It is alive and it is trying to communicate to you.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, what's up, buddy? I look at the plant and I go, Do, should I trust you? Are you going to be nice?

Avery/GM: So it's like, it's just like a little bud right now. Like, it's just like a couple leaves and a little bud and you see the little bud like, nod its head. Or nod up and down.

Bee/Polaris: The fuck?

Caden/Bruce: It's a little seedling.

Jenine/Marty: Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. I'll let it I'll let it talk. What's up?

Avery/GM: Are you a friend of the kind one known as Bruce?

Jenine/Marty: Oh! Bruce and I would cook together sometimes.

Avery/GM: Oh, wonderful. I will make sure not to eat you.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, oh, oh. How how long have you been friends with the kind one?

Bee/Polaris: Can a plant tell time?

Caden/Bruce: Since birth.

Avery/GM: I have known the kind one since Mother gave me.

Jenine/Marty: M mother? Mother? Who's Mother?

Avery/GM: Mother was the tree I came from before everything went... Silent.

Jenine/Marty: I see. I see, okay. Well, if you need anything, like another source of food, in any way, or communicate with a kind one, you feel free. To ask, and I will try to, to get my attention, and then we'll have like, a nice conversation, and I can help tell everyone what you need.

Avery/GM: Sounds good.

Jenine/Marty: Can you also, do you do this as well with Bruce, or is this the first time you're communicating?

Avery/GM: Oh, Bruce and I talk all the time.

Jenine/Marty: I see. I see.

Avery/GM: Isn't that right, Bruce?

Caden/Bruce: Can I hear this conversation?

Avery/GM: Now you can. You've been brought in.

Jenine/Marty: Welcome to chat.

Avery/GM: You just hear, you just hear, Isn't that right, Bruce, in your head.

Chris/Ollie: Now you got the psychic group chat going.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce... Bruce will just nod.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Great. Amazing. And your name is Eden?

Avery/GM: Yes. I am Eden.

Jenine/Marty: Nice to meet you, Eden. I'm marty, and I look at everyone else kind of concerned.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you see the plant has started like, like pushing its little, like stems towards where Ollie and his robots like disappeared.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Cause of the dead bodies.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will just sigh and put it back in his apron.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn slowly as, as you guys are having that conversation and Zahn rolls out of your arms and hits the floor. He lets out super scream as he realizes his arm is fucking broken.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris Winces. Polaris Winces.

Jenine/Marty: Um, let's not do any sudden movements.

We want to make sure that sets really well. You okay? You good? You don't, you, um, scale to one to ten. How would you rate your pain?

Zach/Zahn: Gonna be like, we're gonna unpack this later. Right now. We need to kill the bitch upstairs.

Jenine/Marty: We can't really unpackage that yet because your arm needs to heal. So Oh, you meant the co What happened, we have Okay, sorry.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna hit the button on the side of his helmet and it's gonna reconstruct. And he's like, we're taking the hatch. Don't hit the emergency exit, it's just gonna vac and kill all of us.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, good to good to know.

Chris/Ollie: Actually, that sounds like a pretty good idea. We've got Vac Skins

Bee/Polaris: yeah, I was about to say, like, that wouldn't do anything because we all have Vac suits.

Chris/Ollie: We've got, yeah, we've got a few of us with magnet feet.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I have magnet hands.

Zach/Zahn: Then why did Rhea Imply that that would kill us all.

Chris/Ollie: I don't imagine a psychic God of the hegemony is just going to get vacced that easy though.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. That's why I suggested the ship option to shoot her.

Zach/Zahn: No, I mean, the Rhea showed me vaccing all of you guys and it killed us all.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. How does that work? We have vac suits. Oh no. I don't like that laugh.

Zach/Zahn: I don't want to find out.

Chris/Ollie: They've got like a limited amount of time they could last. So like, you know, if we just get dumped and left.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. But we could just call the, the Oracle ship to pick us up.

Zach/Zahn: Or

Avery/GM: unless the escape, unless the escape hatch is strategically located next to something that burns really hot.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, right. The

Zach/Zahn: like engines.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, you mean the engines that we turned off? Those engines?

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah. We did.

Avery/GM: The engines that you took that someone said they were going to turn off. Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, the ones that they didn't actually turn off. So we're definitely going to go downstairs and kill them.

Avery/GM: I don't know. We'll find out.

Zach/Zahn: We would find out if we hit that button.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, well.

Avery/GM: Ollie Rho says, Okay, they're in position. I just need a few minutes, um, to concentrate on getting Hermes crystal out. And yeah, she is, she is focusing on on getting Hermes crystal unless y'all want her to not do this and have some other plan.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, let's just pack it up and go home. Let's go to the beach.

Chris/Ollie: Hermes will be fine..

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Hermes will be fine.

Chris/Ollie: He's chill. He made his choice.

Zach/Zahn: That is an unacceptable answer to Zahn.

Bee/Polaris: I know he wants Rhea's head on a platter, but that will kill us all.

Zach/Zahn: Will it, though?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yes! Yes!

Zach/Zahn: Will it, though?

Chris/Ollie: I mean, my AC's Like, 20, so

Jenine/Marty: Well, I mean, if the custodians are on their way

Bee/Polaris: Oh, you think they're gonna help?

Jenine/Marty: And we say that this is the bitch that hurt you

Zach/Zahn: With all the shit, Zahn has some serious beef with them, too.

Bee/Polaris: Well, it wasn't their fault.

Zach/Zahn: They brought the IASO program to this galaxy!

Bee/Polaris: No, they didn't. No, they didn't.

Zach/Zahn: Didn't they?

Avery/GM: That's not how Rhea got it.

Zach/Zahn: Oh.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. It's not my fault.

Zach/Zahn: Well, that's concerning. How did she get it?

Avery/GM: Nope.

Bee/Polaris: Yup.

Avery/GM: So yeah. So what's, what's the play here? Uh, Zahn, you're on the ground with your arm in a splint, a makeshift splint, Polaris, helmet back on yet? Or still rubbing your face?

Bee/Polaris: No, helmet back on. He's in the back and he's doing that thing that like, Uh, a kid that knows that he did something bad. He's like, keeping his head down, looking away.

Chris/Ollie: So, I was gonna ask real quick. Does Ollie have a casualty estimation for the planet?

Avery/GM: That is, let's see, you can look that up real quick. Let me roll that to find out.

Okay, well, yeah, 84, 000.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: That's not that bad.

Avery/GM: Out of a few million, but

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, of a planet's population. But still, you know, like the whole city got blasted.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's not good, but like it's, you know, Deal withable,

Avery/GM: not ideal, but you know,

Chris/Ollie: not ideal, but, uh, you know, just want to post that in chat, uh, along with an update about how the Fiasco program has been nullified, the bridge has been pacified, uh, and 84, 84, 000 people have been killed. So just, you know, on the tally of the things Uh, she's got to pay justice for.

Avery/GM: You see a crystal up here in Rho's hand, Ollie, and it is clearly the crystal of your friend Hermes and the ship suddenly loses power.

Bee/Polaris: Let's skedaddle. We need to skedaddle? Let's skedaddle. Cause like, Rhea is probably on her way to murder us now.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. No, we should probably skedaddle. Leave the mechs behind to like, hold her off.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, let's skedaddle. Unless you can teleport, in which case we're fucked.

Chris/Ollie: Can we teleport? Marty?

Jenine/Marty: I didn't take that one, guys!

Avery/GM: Marty cannot teleport, but there is someone who has offered to teleport Marty previously, and Marty declined because of teleportation not being something she was a fan of, I believe.

Jenine/Marty: Marty is trying to be better about not having to rely on psionics after being in someone's brain that has torched. Marty has turned a new leaf.

Avery/GM: Oh no.

Jenine/Marty: That's what's happening with Marty.

Avery/GM: Traumatized Marty.

Bee/Polaris: You've traumatized us all. Good job.

Jenine/Marty: That's some lore that no one knows yet, but that's why Marty's not in the realm of psionics.

Bee/Polaris: Fair.

Jenine/Marty: No, but we could, I mean, so if someone's like, teleportation, if someone says that, Marty will just turn. To, um, it's not, the Silver Shield, the Silver Shield,

Psi...,

every so oft I always want to say the Silver Surfer, that's why there's always a question mark when I say it.

Avery/GM: No, it is the Silver Shield.

Jenine/Marty: Amazing! I turn to the sibling duo, the Wonder Twins over there, and just go, so you got, y'all wouldn't happen to have any teleportation under your belts or would be comfortable. You don't have to do it if you don't want to. I know we've had, we're still in some recovery modes of everything. If we're comfortable.

Rho walks up to you and is just holding up the Hermes crystal. Like I just, I just teleported Hermes to me and that was the last of my effort that I have my mental effort that I have for today.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will look at, uh, Psi and be like, and what is your contribution?

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. He hasn't done anything.

Avery/GM: No, he hasn't yet. He's like, yeah, I could teleport us though. That's not a problem. Don't know if I could teleport all of you. Psi turns to you, Ollie. I assume you came out here to ask, right? And your robots are still just holding up the fort in there.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. No, the three robots are still in there. Pointing their guns straight at this dude's face.

Zach/Zahn: Is that dude still alive?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. No, there's, there's one dude kept prisoner in there. Ollie hasn't mentioned him though, but he's just standing there with like, you know, guns pointed like three inches from his face all the way around.

Zach/Zahn: Got it.

Chris/Ollie: But yeah, Ollie hasn't mentioned him. Hasn't thought it's important.

He came out to check on Zom, but saw that he couldn't do anything and is now talking to Rho and Psi out here.

Avery/GM: I can teleport, but it'll be a bit slow because I can only take about three of you with me and we have a lot more than three people.

Chris/Ollie: How many trips can he make? I'm guessing this is like a psychic strain, like one per trip.

Jenine/Marty: Is it a committing effort situation?

Avery/GM: Yeah, committing effort for the day. Up to three human sized companions. So I took that to mean himself plus three.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, so he could take, um, he could take Bruce, Rho and Marty, and then the other three of us, we could just go to the elevator shaft. cut a hole in the floor and jetpack down or climb down with your tentacles.

Avery/GM: So it costs one effort plus taking other people costs an additional effort. So it would be for him, he would have enough for two trips, but he can only teleport 10 kilometers.

Bee/Polaris: Is the hangar bay 10 kilometers away?

Avery/GM: The hangar bay, yes. The, the Cassiopeia, no. Those, I'm just trying to give like a

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah.

Avery/GM: A basic like, kind of what the limit, limitations of this would be.

Chris/Ollie: Well, the ship is, well, so we don't have anyone on the Cass. To control it. Could I remotely control it with one of my extra brains?

Avery/GM: Unless you were already connected to it for that purpose? I don't think so.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, you're connected to the planet. Can you put one of your brains into a ship and come get us? Or would that take too long?

Avery/GM: His, his connection on the planet is like, all the effort is focused towards Keeping it from exploding.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, okay. Um, well we should probably send a message to the people on the planet to get their shit under control so it doesn't blow up so that Ollie can let go.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, maybe we could just send a message to the planet like, we need an emergency evac, we just saved your shit.

Bee/Polaris: That'll take too long. Well and truly, Psi could just teleport the three people that can't get down with the jetpack or rocket boots or robot limbs.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, that is the best idea because Ollie, Zahn, and Polaris would be totally fine in space.

So,

Avery/GM: Psi has Marty, Bruce and Rho. He's like, yeah, we can, we can teleport. He looks at Marty and it's just like, Marty, is that okay with you or do you want to go the long way?

Jenine/Marty: No, I can, I can, I can teleport. Are you okay with this?

Avery/GM: Gives you a big thumbs up and a, a big cheesy grin. He's like, I'm a superhero. It's what I do.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Yeah. Well, this is good. We got this. You got this.

Avery/GM: Okay. Marty, Rho, and Bruce. Are you, are you okay with being teleported or do you?

Caden/Bruce: Uh, never been teleported before. Sounds like an adventure.

Bee/Polaris: Wait. Yes, Bruce has.

Avery/GM: You teleported with Lazuli through technological means.

Caden/Bruce: True, but not by a human.

Bee/Polaris: Not by guy.

Avery/GM: Not psychically. Yeah,

Chris/Ollie: I never got my guy before.

Avery/GM: Um, uh, he says, okay, everyone just, uh, hold hands and a one and a two and a here go and your friends disappear in a flash of light in front of you, Polaris, Zahn, and Ollie.

You are left here on deck three with your robots, your prisoner and shit going down. When you feel the ship. Start to take heavy impact. And Ollie, it's a good thing you left that room that you were in because that room has been blasted through. And your robots and your big boy mech and your prisoner have been vacced into space as some weapons from the Pan Solar Union armada have penetrated the defenses of this now defenseless ship. You lose contact with those robots. You hear the muffled scream of this alien.

Bee/Polaris: Did he have a vac skin on?

Avery/GM: No.

Bee/Polaris: Well then he doesn't scream for long.

Chris/Ollie: You gotta follow the proper space safety techniques, man. Gotta always wear your Vac Suit. This is what happens. You get taken prisoner and then get Vacced.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we need to fuckin talk to the pants lawyer union. Tell them to chill. Cut it out.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. But we

Zach/Zahn: don't have comms.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, so we need to go.

Avery/GM: So, the three of you are left on this deck as it has started to be, um, decompressed. uh, Marty, uh, Bruce, you two appear with Rho and the Silver Shield in front of the TizKam loading ramp and are ready to go at least get in and start getting Hermes set back up.

You head into the TizKam and you do feel the ship start to shake beneath you as it has taken on some severe damage. Polaris, as you, Zahn, and Ollie, I assume start making it, making your way towards the uh, The lift. Is that the case?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. While they were having that little convo, Polaris was going to go to cut a hole in the bottom of the lift, assuming the lift would not like, it's not powered.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's not powered. So

Bee/Polaris: Polaris was on his way to cut a hole.

Avery/GM: You're cutting a hole through the floor of the lift, which is not as thick as the walls. So you're able to get it done pretty quickly. The metal piece drops out and falls down. You hear a clang beneath as this ship is shaking from being fired upon and you get a message from Bear.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Avery/GM: It says heard you were in trouble. We're here to help.

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. Used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. The track used today was Generation Ship.

If you like our show, be sure to leave a review on iTunes or Spotify. We'll be back on August 1st with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars.

Episode 46 - Zahn Get's a Break

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 46 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

Bruce, you get a message from Lazuli and it just says, mission failed, all units retreat.

Bee/Polaris: Son of a bitch!

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will post that in the group chat and just be like, Uh oh.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will also mention that, uh, I'm, uh, mounting an assault on the control room. It should cease the enemy assault.

Bee/Polaris: Yes, can you take them out and probably get back in?

Avery/GM: And from down the hall you do hear a door burst in.

Jenine/Marty: Ooo

Bee/Polaris: We need to get on comms.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will reply to Lazuli and just be like, We're on an enemy ship, trying to stop things. Respectfully declining your order.

Avery/GM: Lazuli just replies back and says, Ithaca's lost. They've transmitted the virus before I could install the protection.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, this is a canon event.

Chris/Ollie: Well, wait. It wasn't, but now it is.

Bee/Polaris: What? Why?

Chris/Ollie: Because they're incompetent.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will like, copy and paste that message into the group chat, followed by another, uh oh.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will throw his gun on the ground and cross his arms.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, is there not a way to cut the virus off before it can do heavy damage?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, can't you just upload it at the same time?

Chris/Ollie: I mean, they had copies of the, of the, uh, the countermeasure.

Avery/GM: Mm hmm. They just didn't get to the, The right place at the right time yet, maybe connected to those 48 missing weapons.

Bee/Polaris: Well, there is no way we can know about that. Oh, well.

Chris/Ollie: Well, um, now we just need to upload Hermes into the planet and, uh, talk about a come up. Got a whole planet.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we upload, upload Hermes to the Well, we can also upload Ollie. Ollie has the protection as well. And we also have Ollie immediately on hand.

Chris/Ollie: Zahn, you like to work, right? Go ahead and hook up boosters to the planet and make it a ship.

Bee/Polaris: I say we cut our losses and blow up the ship. We get herpes and blow up the ship.

Avery/GM: Ollie, go ahead and roll. What did I give this robot?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, the big boy.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's got a big old Gatling gun on it. So let's have you roll three D12, or go ahead and roll. If you want to start attacking these things inside with it, go ahead and roll to attack and add your program as the attack.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. What is the, uh, the ED 209 quote?

Zach/Zahn: Put down your weapons. You have 30 seconds to comply.

Chris/Ollie: Yes, that's it. So it's going to say that as it comes in, but it's going to immediately open fire.

Avery/GM: Okay. Light this place up, I guess. And with the Gatling gun, you can target two targets with one attack.

Chris/Ollie: Two targets. So it's just two attacks,

Avery/GM: one attack, two targets. So they'll each get damaged base if, if it hits both of them.

Chris/Ollie: You said, plus my program, is it, uh, intelligence as well, or just program?

Avery/GM: Yes. Yes. Yeah. Sorry.

Chris/Ollie: Oof. 12.

Avery/GM: Just 12. Um, you hit a bunch of computers in this room, but you actually missed your targets.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, that should probably stop the fighting at least, but we've already lost.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you haven't lost. Your personal mission is just to save your friend, the AI.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, it's only a matter of time.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, we, we went, we literally just experienced horror and hell so that we could save the people on the planet, too.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah,

Avery/GM: this is true.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, it's not a great, you know. Update,

Avery/GM: we did, we did go through Zahn's personal hell.

Zach/Zahn: We, we literally could have skipped all that and come straight here.

Bee/Polaris: Yup, truly. Yeah, I bet Zahn's thinking about that too.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, he's more than a little pissed off right now.

Chris/Ollie: Zahn, yeah, what do you, you know, we didn't have to go have you kill your mom or your dad, you know. That was just a waste of time.

Avery/GM: So, uh, you do hear this big mech start opening fire somewhere further down the ship.

Are you running towards the gunfire or still standing here trying to strategize?

Chris/Ollie: I'm going to have all the robots just like rolling advanced, moving in and shooting as they go, uh, as, as movement as they can. So I don't know if the other guys can get in there, but that's the intention.

Avery/GM: Uh, did you have the robot move further in?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Oh Okay.,

Chris/Ollie: he's like moving as he's shooting. Yeah. Gotcha. Actually, you know what? I should just give you control of this sprite.

Zach/Zahn: So I just

Chris/Ollie: Yes. Give me control.

Zach/Zahn: Um, where which which elevator is the way up to the command deck?

Avery/GM: So, this will take you up to the command deck if you get the key. This hatch will take you up to the command deck without the key. This goes down to the information core.

Zach/Zahn: Gotcha. Where's the key at?

Avery/GM: Hmm, probably on one of these guys here. But you might have to look for it.

Bee/Polaris: Why do we need a key when we have laser blades?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, you're right, you're right.

Zach/Zahn: It's like a command key to activate the elevator to go up.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah, kind of like how firefighters have like a key to operate the, the elevator in a burning building.

Bee/Polaris: Gotcha, gotcha. Okay, so then why do we need a key if we have Ollie?

Avery/GM: Good point.

Zach/Zahn: So I just rolled a mental save for Zahn to lose his shit and I rolled one less than his mental save. So Zahn's about to lose his shit. He's going to book it. For the hatch that isn't going to make him have to wait longer to go up.

Avery/GM: Okay. You just see Zahn bolt down the hallway. Um, as the rest of you all are standing here, anyone doing anything else?

Zach/Zahn: You hear a loud muffled yell from underneath his helmet.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends the, why are you running? No, I'm kidding.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, he says emotional, the emotional damage, uh, yeah, no.

Avery/GM: Um,

Bee/Polaris: well, this is the final episode of this season, actually of this podcast, guys.

Might as well go out with a bang.

Avery/GM: I don't know what you're talking about. Y'all will be fine.

Bee/Polaris: No, Zahn is literally rushing headfirst to go murder Rhea, who we established as a thousand year old god, basically.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, but thousand year old gods aren't immune to, uh, spike bullets.

Bee/Polaris: No, but they're very resistant.

Jenine/Marty: One question. As someone in the medical field and probably as familiar when people are doing some crazy things because it is not a good mental state for them, would I be able to discern that what I'm witnessing? And along with that, could I use my, I still have this, uh, I'm still, uh, can I use telekinetic armor? And just like, Hook back in our friend from running in a safe manner.

Chris/Ollie: Like put armor around him, but make, make it so it can't move.

Jenine/Marty: But like, like a little net and just go like backwards.

Avery/GM: That is an interesting use of that power. I do like it. Let's go with a, uh, Go ahead and roll intelligence telepathy first to see if you pick up on this changed, uh, state because Marty wouldn't necessarily have the context for everything he's gone through yet.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, Polaris did say that Zahn needs, is gonna need some help because he went through some rough shit.

Jenine/Marty: So it's intelligence, what again?

Avery/GM: And your telepathy skill.

Jenine/Marty: So that's a nine plus telepathy, which I think is just a one.

It's a ten.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You pick up on Zahn's changed state. He's definitely gone from kind of his normal kind of just grumpy Zahn mode. To like, I am gonna get revenge mode.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Is that fair to say Sherman?

Zach/Zahn: I would say, yeah. I don't know about revenge specifically, but like vengeance is another ideal.

Avery/GM: Like if, if I'm, if. If that was all for nothing, I'm gonna get something out of it.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, 100%.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, let me see if I have some rope.

Jenine/Marty: Cause technically I can make a melee weapon. So what if I did a net?

Avery/GM: I do like that, that's very funny. That is very funny.

Bee/Polaris: How anticlimactic. Imagine being like, very pissed off and mad that you get netted.

Zach/Zahn: Then you're just angry and netted.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but like, what are you gonna do? You're just gonna be like, on the ground flailing around in a net, but like, very mad.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, just like, struggling.

Avery/GM: Um, yeah, let's, uh, okay, go ahead and roll, or no, actually we'll have Zahn roll a, a physical saving throw to see if this net catches him before he just books it.

Zach/Zahn: So my physical saving throw is versus eight and I rolled a 13.

Avery/GM: Okay. Bruce, were you also running?

Caden/Bruce: Oh yeah. Bruce is trying to follow Zahn and if he can catch up is just going to throw his whole entire body weight onto him to stop. Stop him.

Avery/GM: Okay. So Zahn takes off, starts running, Marty tries to throw this psychic net over Zahn. Bruce, roll a physical saving throw.

Caden/Bruce: Oh no.

Jenine/Marty: Oh no, sorry. It's

Caden/Bruce: okay. That definitely did not save. You have to roll over, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: D20, yeah, D20 versus whatever your number was.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, yeah, no I rolled a 5.

Bee/Polaris: I got him.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you, uh, you catch Bruce in your net, uh, Marty.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, I got him. Um, Okay, so, First things first, Zahn takes off, Marty tries to net him, Bruce takes off as well, gets netted, and Zahn is still running?

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Avery/GM: Yeah,

Bee/Polaris: how far away is he? So

Avery/GM: how much is your movement actually per turn Zahn?

Zach/Zahn: I'm assuming if it's by kind of universal tabletop RPG standards 30 feet per round, but he's Rushing, so it'd be

Avery/GM: doing the rush.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: So, okay.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Can Polaris jet pack over to Zahn?

Avery/GM: Sure. I forget how much extra movement

Bee/Polaris: 60 feet of uninterrupted movement once per turn.

Zach/Zahn: You gave me the same

Bee/Polaris: plus my walk speed.

Zach/Zahn: Yep. 60 feet. Fly speed.

Bee/Polaris: This is about to be the most fucking ridiculous thing ever. Polaris has a survival kit, which is like he, he brought that on with, uh, onto the, um, Onto New Terra, which is where he got the glow sticks and part of the survival kit is a thermal blanket. So can Polaris just get, like, jetpack over to him and tackle him with the blanket?

Chris/Ollie: Like wrap him with a tackle?? Oh, beautiful.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll a Strength Exert check, and we'll make that value the value that Zahn has to roll against for a save.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, uh, so, wait, is he gonna also be rolling Strength Exert?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I was about to say, against a d20?

Avery/GM: It's gonna be a Strength Exert contest, basically.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I hope your Strength and Exert is okay.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, I actually have a plus one in Exert, but no pluses in Strength, so.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, we're even there, then. I have a plus zero in exert, but a plus one in strength. Okay. Oh my God. Math.

Zach/Zahn: So am I roll... I'm rolling strength exert, right?.

Bee/Polaris: Same thing, yeah.

Avery/GM: Yes.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, for fuck's sake.

Bee/Polaris: I got, I got an eight.

Zach/Zahn: I got a four. I got a one and a two and then my plus one.

Avery/GM: So back over to Ollie real quick. Ollie, I've been betrayed. I went ahead and. enrolled your attacks for the other three robots, just for the sake of time, two of them connected and have started kind of firing on these, on these clowns.

You look over your shoulder and you see Zahn come booking it down the hallway and maybe you start to think to yourself, Oh, they're coming to help. How great. And then you see Polaris come around the corner on a jetpack and thermal blanket open and just wraps on up like a, like a burrito or something.

Chris/Ollie: Is Zahn still doing his, uh, angry muttering?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, he was screaming.

Chris/Ollie: So yeah. Ollie's seeing this is going to run the calculations and assume that Zahn is, uh, going a little berserk and say, uh, Zahn, please. The, the statistical likelihood of all of our survival drops if you go on ahead. We must act as a team to try and, uh, convince him.

Bee/Polaris: Does the burrito help?

Avery/GM: Uh, I mean, you have him , he's down.

Bee/Polaris: No. Does the burrito help with the, the coughing of down?

Jenine/Marty: Weighted Blanket?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah,

Chris/Ollie: well

Bee/Polaris: like how

Chris/Ollie: yeah, cuz I'm assuming he's still gonna struggle against your burritoness. So I'm trying to get him.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris burritoed him and is holding him down Like holding the burrito closed.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna activate his laser blade and try and cut out of it

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is holding Okay. ,

Chris/Ollie: this is the activity that Ollie is trying to dissuade from.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I sure hope that he doesn't get polaris's arms and legs. .

Chris/Ollie: I mean, we can get robot parts. It's

Avery/GM: !Oh, 'cause you body tackled. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: actually, well, you just grow them back.

Zach/Zahn: I, I mean,

Avery/GM: no,

Zach/Zahn: not grow back. I mean just attach the stump.

Chris/Ollie: Just to attach the stump. Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: No, no, no. You could grow 'em back. I got that spell

Avery/GM: Mar Marty. Marty does have,

Jenine/Marty: I could get that spell

Avery/GM: Marty's. Psychic ability.

Jenine/Marty: Not spell psychic ability. I can get that. It's fine. Don't worry.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God. Okay. So you use your laser blade.

Avery/GM: Polaris roll an evasion save and Zahn go ahead and start stabbing.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, um, well, do we get to, do I get a roll to try and like convince him to chill out?

Bee/Polaris: I don't know if that's going to work.

Chris/Ollie: Or is Zahn too far gone?

Avery/GM: I'm going to let that be Zahn's character choice.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, Zahn is, is far gone at this point.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, um, so here's the thing, an evasion save would be under the assumption that Polaris knows that this is about to happen and or would move out of the way.

Avery/GM: You hear it activate?

Zach/Zahn: So So he's cutting the blanket in front of him, because you're on his back, so he's not going to stab you.

Bee/Polaris: No, he burritoed Zahn, and he's using his arms and legs to hold Zahn, like, hold the burrito closed.

Chris/Ollie: Like bear, bear hug. Plus thermoblanket.

Bee/Polaris: So, well could you, would you be able to even get your laser blade active?

Zach/Zahn: It's on his wrist.

Avery/GM: It's in his wrist.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, right. So yeah, um, you're gonna be cutting some limbs.

Zach/Zahn: Maybe. Polaris will be fine.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is under the assumption that you wouldn't hurt him. So he's not moving.

Zach/Zahn: Oh.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Cause in Polaris brain, friends don't hurt friends.

Zach/Zahn: So I have a minus one to stab, but a plus one to dex.

So, a nine..

Avery/GM: I mean, it's a thermal blanket. It doesn't take much to stab it with a laser sword.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris's limbs on the other hand.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Go ahead and also roll attack.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled a two.

Avery/GM: To attack?

Zach/Zahn: Or I guess plus, uh, so six total.

Bee/Polaris: What did you roll?

Avery/GM: Does that hit your AC?

Bee/Polaris: No. Did you roll a d20?

Zach/Zahn: I rolled a two on the d20. That's why I was like, uh, yeah. So I missed in my attack, but I still cut out of the thermal blankie. And. then Zahn's gonna activate his jet boots.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, what? I don't get to do anything. .

Avery/GM: Well, no hold. Yeah, I was gonna say, let's, let's hold. Hold on. Let me,

Zach/Zahn: that'll be his next thing.

Avery/GM: Resolve these rolls first. So you do cut through the thermal blanket somehow, even though you miss all of the limbs that are holding you in place.

Zach/Zahn: unintentionally but actually doing it.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Polaris, you do see this laser blade stick out of the front and recognize it as dangerous. What do you do in response to this

Bee/Polaris: punch Zahn

Zach/Zahn: Ow!

Avery/GM: Marty do you deactivate the net as soon as you realize that it caught Bruce instead of Zahn?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, immediately when it hits Bruce, you just see Marty go, Oh no! And then runs and just goes, Sorry, sorry, sorry! And just like pokes. At like, in the little armor around, um, Bruce. He goes, are you okay? You good?

Caden/Bruce: Uh, why is there a net on top of me?

Jenine/Marty: Well, I was aiming for, for, for, and then I turned to see what's happening with the burrito. And then I run over there cause I see a blade going.

Bee/Polaris: So yeah, Polaris is one of two things. Cuz Zahn has a power armor on, correct?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: So probably can't knock him out with a punch.

Avery/GM: Probably not.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. So next best thing, uh, laser blade dangerous. I'm sure Marty can fix a broken arm.

Zach/Zahn: You're going to try and break my arm?

Bee/Polaris: Yes! You tried to laser blade Polaris! Polaris remembers what that feels like.

Avery/GM: A broken arm, yes. A sliced off arm, no.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is doing blunt force damage.

Zach/Zahn: Polaris also doesn't know that I heal super fast because I don't.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, exactly. Polaris does not make the impression of like, oh yeah, he'll just come back from this in like a day or two, there's no problem.

Avery/GM: Not six weeks.

Zach/Zahn: You just need 20, you just need 20 minutes to recover, right?

Chris/Ollie: Just walk it off with your broken arm, it'll be fine.

Bee/Polaris: All Polaris, Polaris is like doing this in like, bullet time because like his because bear trades him to fight and he's recognizing that this is a threat against him and so his knee Jerk reaction is to take out the dangerous thing

Avery/GM: Okay strength exert contest again If you're breaking the arm, I would think it would be more, yeah, I think it would be more of a, a skill check than just punching his arm.

Bee/Polaris: The reason why I said punch is because Flawless hits like a truck,

Avery/GM: so he Oh, you do have all those abilities, don't you? Yeah, which

Bee/Polaris: is why he would punch.

Avery/GM: Okay, that is fair. That is fair.

Jenine/Marty: Jeez.

Zach/Zahn: Oh no.

Avery/GM: Go ahead then. You can, I'll, I'll let it go as a roll punch.

Bee/Polaris: Can I keep my roll from last time, or do you want me to roll again?

Avery/GM: Well, what did you roll? Yeah, what did you roll?

Bee/Polaris: 18 on the d20. Not including my punch in Dex.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my gosh.

Avery/GM: So what's the total then?

Bee/Polaris: 22.

Avery/GM: Does that hit your AC?

Zach/Zahn: My AC is 20. How the fuck?

Avery/GM: Okay, roll damage.

Zach/Zahn: That's some bullshit.

Bee/Polaris: I'm so sorry!

Zach/Zahn: I love it, but I hate it.

Caden/Bruce: AC of 20 is bullshit, but

Zach/Zahn: I hate it.

Chris/Ollie: Iron Skin, its so good!

Zach/Zahn: Take it.

Bee/Polaris: Um, uh, uh,

Jenine/Marty: stop.

Bee/Polaris: 13? Damage?

Chris/Ollie: Did he rip his arm off?

Bee/Polaris: No, he's punching, so he would just break it.

Avery/GM: You just punch the elbow joint?

Chris/Ollie: You punch it off.

Bee/Polaris: So like, What is? So like Polaris isn't even realizing that he's doing this. This is all survival instinct.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh. Zahn, you are trying to get your way out of this burrito and you feel your arm get grabbed and punched in the elbow. And your arm is, you feel a snap as your arm breaks.

Chris/Ollie: Oh no.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and make a physical save.

Zach/Zahn: Nat one.

Avery/GM: Nat one? Yeah, Zahn goes limp underneath you as he is knocked out from the pain and shock of this attack. Ollie, you have taken down two of these aliens in this command center. Uh, the one in this, uh, central area. Jumps over it and is wielding a double sided laser blade and starts engaging in close combat with your mech.

Marty, you run away from Bruce and start to go help Polaris and Zahn, and you see Polaris raise his arm up and just snap, you hear a, a, a, the snapping of bones as, uh, Polaris breaks your friend's arm.

Bee/Polaris: His laser blade is activated, no. Zahn's.

Avery/GM: I feel like it would probably deactivate like as a safety.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, okay.

Avery/GM: And, Bruce, the telekinetic armor goes away around you. The net, I should say, goes away around you and, uh, the silver shield and Rho are kind of Bringing up the rear, um, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: I'm coming.

Bee/Polaris: As soon as Polaris does that, he, like, it's a snap decision. And then, like, after it happens, and, like, Zahn slums from being unconscious, he, like, realizes what happened, and he has his hands up, and he's, like, slowly backing away from zahn. And his hands are shaking.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie, witnessing all of this, will say, Excellent job. Your actions have perfectly pacified the situation. Tail wag, dog smile. Also, Ollie will, whenever he has a chance, move up under his mech and attack this guy with laser swords and support in the assault.

Avery/GM: Sure. Just go ahead and roll 5d20 and let's see how quickly this gets, this gets gone. Cause these two clowns are gone.

Chris/Ollie: No pluses. That's a total of 31.

Avery/GM: Jesus Christ.

Chris/Ollie: Do you want me to roll them individually?

Avery/GM: I meant individually adding your intelligence and program. I'm sorry. I should be more specific.

Chris/Ollie: 15, 21, 19, 13, 18.

Avery/GM: All of those, except for one hit this guy. Um, so go ahead and roll all your damage, which should be 3d6 from each of the robots and then whatever weapon you're using. And then 3d12 from the mech.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. And the robots have no plus I, Oh, so 12, 3, 10 from the robots.

Avery/GM: 25. Okay.

Chris/Ollie: Should I even continue rolling or is this guy already a pilot?

Yeah, keep going.

Okay. So the big mech does what?

Avery/GM: 3d12.

Chris/Ollie: 3d12? Oh, geez.

Avery/GM: This is a big boy.

Chris/Ollie: He is a big boy. What's the damage on the laser blade again?

Avery/GM: 2d8 plus dex. Or no, just 2d8.

Chris/Ollie: And then my sneak attack with the laser blade from down below does 11.

Avery/GM: All those attacks, this guy, 2d8. This guy does do some damage to the big, uh, the big robot, but there's just too much firepower coming into this room at once. This guy falls to the ground, laser blade deactivated, and this guy here, who has not been touched yet by some miracle of science, drops his weapon, holds up his hands and says, uh, I surrender. I, I surrender.

Chris/Ollie: Are the weapons on this ship still firing on the Oracle?

Avery/GM: Uh, they have ceased.

Chris/Ollie: They have ceased?

Avery/GM: They ceased as soon as the computers in this room started getting destroyed.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, then I'll have my robots move up and like detain this guy. Grab him by the arms.

Avery/GM: Or I guess claws, he's technically an insect alien. But yeah.

Chris/Ollie: By his appendages.

Avery/GM: And then you and your Big robot are here.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will post in the, uh, the chat. Hostiles pacified. Zahn included.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my God.

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Jenine/Marty: Uh,

Avery/GM: Marty real comes up behind you, puts an arm on your shoulder or hand on your shoulder. And it's just like, um, is he going to be okay?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I got this. This is, this is. And then she does that, that cool, the thing that cool people do when they like put their hands together and then they like pull it forward and they do a little hand crack thing.

Marty does that. Um, you see a little like, um, her hands just like a little, little blow to them and she's gonna do uh, some healing. Um, cause I'm level two. Get 2d6 plus two for this fun jazz. You are at six plus fours. 10, 12.

Avery/GM: Hey,

Jenine/Marty: hey, look at that.

Avery/GM: You heal 12 points Zahn.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. you heal 12 points.

Zach/Zahn: Is my arm

Avery/GM: still knocked out?

Zach/Zahn: Still broken. , because I'm one point below...

Avery/GM: Does your Biopsionic....

Zach/Zahn: I'm one point below full hp.

Jenine/Marty: Let's see what I have. I have tissue inter well. People around me get some fun healing as well. if they need healing. You do. This is a system strain thing. I remember something about doing the things I should have. I should have done a real recap on how, how things work. Again,

Avery/GM: can heal tissue injuries though curing diseases, fixing deformity as require additional techniques?

Jenine/Marty: I don't think I can...

Avery/GM: Tissue injuries,

Jenine/Marty: yet, but I can, if technically I do have like a med kit. On me, if I was like, setting it now, I do have that as like, preventing a quick bleed out of ... That's it. I can't, I can set it. I am a doctor.

Avery/GM: You are a doctor. This is true. So Zahn, you do suffer one point of system strain.

Zach/Zahn: Yes. Cause I only have, yeah, I don't think I have anything that will allow me, cause all of the descriptions for the psionics. It doesn't say healing a bone. I know that I can, I can grow back limbs in something more advanced. So I think this might be a GM question.

Avery/GM: Let's see if you, okay. So if you were to heal a broken bone, that would involve growing the bones together.

Jenine/Marty: I see.

Avery/GM: Like, you know. So, I think it would be fair to say that until you have the power to regrow limbs, you would not have the power to heal a broken limb.

Jenine/Marty: Cool.

Avery/GM: With your psychic powers.

Jenine/Marty: But I do have the knowledge, as a doctor, to set it in the field. So that's what I will do. This poor guy... As, as I'm setting it, I just kind of, I'm gonna do like a check in, just not even like say anything to Polaris, just like give the biggest puppy dog eyes ever in like a, are you okay look to Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is like He has his hands up still, like, staring down at Zahn, and his hands are shaking. And he's not moving, he's just staring. Is there a trash can nearby?

Avery/GM: Yeah, there's probably one, like, inside the armory.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Polaris just, like

Avery/GM: Which you're right outside of.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris, like, quickly goes over to it, pulls off his helmet, and throws up.

Jenine/Marty: Oh yeah...

Avery/GM: All the adrenaline.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, cause he doesn't like hurting his arm. And like, he, his brain is stuck between threat detected and that's a friend and he, he feels very bad about what he just did.

Jenine/Marty: I will finish up setting this bone, then I'm going to go and check in on Polaris. Elevate the head a little bit of Zahn. Just be like, you're good. We're going to let you, we're just going to let you chill here for a couple seconds.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is still unconscious, right?

Avery/GM: Yeah, Zahn's still out.

Jenine/Marty: Oh no.

Avery/GM: Unless anyone has some smelling salts on them or something.

Jenine/Marty: I'm so small. I can only handle so many things.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce probably does, but Bruce probably also doesn't think about it.

So he just probably just like lifts Zahn into his arms just holds him.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, I mean, Marty has a copious amount of, uh, of drugs.

Jenine/Marty: I do. This is, oh my God. Sorry. .

Bee/Polaris: Whatever reason my brain thought that was gonna sound You pouring out all your drugs. .

Yeah, same!

Jenine/Marty: No, you're right. And it's the dice that I own.

Um, I was, I was putting it off of my notebook so I could see which drugs I have. Because I do this every time.

Zach/Zahn: You have like at least one of every kind that's in the book, right? Because that's what Winston used to have.

Jenine/Marty: I have squeal.

Avery/GM: That's a truth serum.

Jenine/Marty: I have lift. I have a mind altering. I have brainwave and I have mind altering.

Zach/Zahn: Oh no,

Chris/Ollie: I mean lift

Jenine/Marty: I'll go pass the lift over. Oh my god, I have five of these? Jesus.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, you have so many drugs.

Jenine/Marty: I promise I can heal, guys. I know what I'm doing.

Chris/Ollie: Oh no, that's, yeah, I'm sure we have a lift. That's exactly what it's made for.

Avery/GM: Gro does have biosionics and could, could do major organ restoration, um, if asked.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris is busy throwing up, so. Yeah, I

Jenine/Marty: gotta go check on Polaris. Um, we're gonna, Bruce, can you make sure, just check in?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is currently draped over Bruce's shoulder.

Bee/Polaris: I was thinking like bridal style.

Avery/GM: That's right.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, I was imagining bridal style too.

Zach/Zahn: Oh okay.

Bee/Polaris: Just sling him over like a sack of potatoes.

Zach/Zahn: See, that's what I pictured.

Caden/Bruce: Looks like, I imagine like you cut through the blanket, but you're still like burrito style since you got knocked out. So he's just like, Holding you like a swaddled cat.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, keep him like that. Keep his head elevated. I'm gonna go check on, uh, Polaris. Okay, um, hey, hey, hey Polaris. Hi.

Bee/Polaris: He's just staring into the trash can.

Jenine/Marty: Do you want me to, do you want to, do you want a hug? Do you want to, you want to talk, talk about it?

Bee/Polaris: He's just staring into the trash can.

Jenine/Marty: Marty walks over, sits down next to Polaris's leg, and just kinda like, hugs it. Hi, hi Polaris! Um, I hope this is okay. You can say no to the physical touch if you don't want it. Just checking in. You don't have to be stressed about what just happened. You went on instinct, and that's okay!

Bee/Polaris: Polaris takes like a deep breath in, and then like breathes it out, and then says, Is he okay?

Jenine/Marty: Yes. I, I, he's healed. He just, uh, is gonna need to rest that arm for a little bit. Little bit of a strain going on right now, so he's a little bit rested. He's gonna rest a little bit as we're going through everything. Are you, are you okay?

Bee/Polaris: We're on an enemy ship. Rhea, we need to He's just like, his helmet is off! And he's just like staring off into the middle distance and like, you can tell he's like, his brain is cycling through like things to do. Like going down the checklist of important things to do, but also adding that Zahn is now unconscious and injured.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. And there's also the whole, like billions of people are currently on their way to, to screaming death right below us.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris is overwhelmed with nothing else.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, man. Why can't we ever just be whelmed?

Bee/Polaris: Literally. When are we ever gonna get whelmed? Rhea is probably sitting up in the control room like, eating popcorn, watching this go down.

Jenine/Marty: Watching us all, yeah. Valid. Okay, so Polaris, I know you're overwhelmed, we're all a little overwhelmed right now. Taking a couple deep breaths. Slowing down and talking through what our next steps are gonna be.

Bee/Polaris: Can we wake him up?

Jenine/Marty: Yes, yes.

Bee/Polaris: He's gonna be so mad.

Jenine/Marty: No, no, no. Well

Bee/Polaris: Yeah! Polaris just like sighs and like, puts his helmet down and just like, rubs his hands like, over his face. Like, oh my god.

Chris/Ollie: Just a little hypothetical. Could you maybe erase his memory of, uh, getting broken?

Jenine/Marty: I could.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, don't do that because his arm will still be broken.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, then I'll be like, why is my arm broken?

Jenine/Marty: No, no, no, no.

Chris/Ollie: Cause you were, you were so angry running down the hallway.

Jenine/Marty: Marty wouldn't.

Chris/Ollie: You got burritoed, you fell, you hit your arm. It was bad.

Jenine/Marty: Marty couldn't. I do forget that I could, wow. I forget some things that Marty could do is scary.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's fucked up. Wait, can we make Rhea forget we're here? Like, enemies?

Avery/GM: If you think you could beat Rhea's mental save, go for it.

Bee/Polaris: I don't think that.

Caden/Bruce: We can do anything we put our minds to, team.

Bee/Polaris: And by that, uh, you mean three psionic minds against one psionic basically God,

Caden/Bruce: correct.

Jenine/Marty: Anyway, Polaris, i, I will wake him up. I just wanted to give him like maybe a couple more minutes resting before he wakes up to some pressure on his arm. I

Bee/Polaris: mean, it'll, it'll heal soon enough, right? It should be fine?

Jenine/Marty: I mean, it's gonna take a couple of, uh, weeks for it to heal.

Bee/Polaris: Weeks?

Jenine/Marty: Well, I mean, for someone his age, yes.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks so confused and so concerned and, like, horrified, and then his face just goes back to neutral.

Jenine/Marty: I mean, for someone his body type and his, uh, his age, it's gonna take a little bit longer than what, uh, of our

Bee/Polaris: Do you, do you guys not, uh,

Jenine/Marty: Hmm, do we not what?

Bee/Polaris: He just shakes his head and puts his helmet back on.

Jenine/Marty: But, Polaris, wait, I know your medical stuff.

Bee/Polaris: But you don't know, you don't know his special boy stuff because that was a whole separate file.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I didn't get that file?

Bee/Polaris: No, only Polaris did.

Avery/GM: You didn't get, yeah, you didn't get But you have been key like you've been it's been alluded to because Polaris did get shot and then like two hours later came by and was like, hey, look at this.

It's all healed.

Chris/Ollie: I'm sure marty would have noticed by now

Bee/Polaris: when he first got shot Yeah, when he first got shot in the on the cassiopeia, I think he literally was just playing around like standing there He was sticking his finger in the bullet hole unconcerned, and then it healed, like, not too far, like, not too long after.

Jenine/Marty: So, Polaris

Bee/Polaris: yes.

Jenine/Marty: We don't really generate.

Regenerate any, um, injuries as fast as you do.

Bee/Polaris: I I've gathered as much. I, yeah, I, I was a science experiment, so that does make sense. That, normal, UGH. He's just like, now that he realizes it's gonna take a while for Zahn to actually heal, he feels worse.

Jenine/Marty: Well on the...

Bee/Polaris: Let's wake him up...

Jenine/Marty: Plus side, if you think about it, this just gives him another project to work on.

Bee/Polaris: No, let's, let's just wake him up.

Jenine/Marty: Okay. Yeah. We'll go wake him up.

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. If you've enjoyed our first season so far, be sure to leave a review on iTunes, Spotify, or whichever podcast It really helps us out. Intro and outro produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music includes Starship Bridge and Kaltorian Craft from TabletopAudio. com as well as Q Space Adventure 1 by Q Up Arts.

We'll be back on July 15th with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars.

Episode 45 - The Wormhole Opens

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 45 of beyond the furthest stars,

just a quick announcement. Sorry for the delay in getting this episode up. I had a lot of work travel and other issues come up where I just couldn't get to the editing. So it's a little late and it's a little bit of a shorter episode. Like I've been making lately.

Sorry about that, but hopefully. We'll be getting out more episodes soon. Thank you and enjoy.

So you have just this small army of NPCs with you all on this ship, and maybe that's helping boost your confidence in in attacking Rhea and getting Hermes back, Rhea has just sort of revealed that she knows that you all are here on the ship and yeah, otherwise that's it. The power is out, mostly, or the, the power providing light to this floor is out.

So the only thing illuminating this floor is whatever lights y'all have on your person or from your robot buddies,

Zach/Zahn: I believe Zahn kicked on a light source on the side of his helmet, Mando style. So

Chris/Ollie: yeah, I figured

Bee/Polaris: helmet boys have lights. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will boost the brightness of his eyes.

Bee/Polaris: I was about to say, Ollie's fuckin' eyes.

Avery/GM: Yeah. 10, 000 lumen flashlight.

Zach/Zahn: oh Jeez.

Chris/Ollie: Brightness Elevating.

Avery/GM: So Yeah. What's what's the plan here? Rhea has graciously invited you up to the deck to come and see her in person.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris flipped off the air because

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah,

Avery/GM: yeah.

Bee/Polaris: The camera.

Avery/GM: The cameras.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. I believe the plan to still be going floor by floor. We're clearing this bitch so we can own the ship.

Bee/Polaris: I think we should take our small army, load 'em all up on the TSKAM and leave . .

Zach/Zahn: What about, what about hermes?

Chris/Ollie: Well, we need Hermes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, we leave a bomb, obviously, as is our calling card. We gotta stick to tradition!,

Zach/Zahn: but we'll blow up Hermes .

Bee/Polaris: No, we won't. We know that we went over Hermes.

Zach/Zahn: We blow this version.

Bee/Polaris: We know where Hermes is. We'll just put the, we'll just put them like slightly out of the radius.

Zach/Zahn: What? We'll put them slightly out of the radius of the whole ship blowing up.

Bee/Polaris: Well, okay. Here's the thing, because we established that Rhea is a meat boy, like most of us. And all we had to do was blow a hole in the side and vac her and then shoot her with her ship.

Chris/Ollie: True. If we void canon, the the wall of the the cockpit.

Bee/Polaris: We Don't have that.

Chris/Ollie: Oh. What do we have on

Bee/Polaris: the custodians have that

Chris/Ollie: on the TSKAM.,

Bee/Polaris: the custodian. Yeah. Well,

Chris/Ollie: we've got the plasma gun.

Bee/Polaris: On their way,

Jenine/Marty: the custodians are on their way.

Chris/Ollie: Plasma's good enough.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, they're on their way. 'cause Marty called Polaris's parents to come pick him up.

Jenine/Marty: No, no, no, no. Polaris. The only way that Marty could find a way to get friends was through. This was a bad idea. No, no, no. This was bad.

Bee/Polaris: yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Was a bad idea.

Bee/Polaris: calling Polaris's parents, who notoriously hate everyone that isn't Polaris. To tell them that Polaris is in a dangerous situation, probably not the best move. But I got here fast. Yeah, but they're gonna get here fast as well.

Avery/GM: Oh, it'll all come to a head. It'll be great.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, good. Anyway, Polaris is gonna be put in timeout.

Avery/GM: Because there is also another thing coming.

Jenine/Marty: I don't know what you're talking about. We're just gonna go, we're just gonna go and have fun.

Bee/Polaris: Are we missing anything? We have the oracles. Is the, are the Crimson Chaos Pirates on the way?

Jenine/Marty: My buddies!

Avery/GM: Rhea's plan is a two step plan

Bee/Polaris: right!

Avery/GM: first blow up Ithaca. second part open a wormhole to the other galaxy.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, to start a war, to start an intergalactic war. Yeah. Well.

Avery/GM: There's always some jackass trying to cause a war.

Zach/Zahn: Why would you want to cause a war with another galaxy when you don't even own the whole resources of this galaxy?

Bee/Polaris: To have a common enemy to weaken the ones opposing you so that you can swoop in after that's taken care of so that you can control all the resources of this galaxy.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, eliminate all public support for rebels to unify against a common threat.

Avery/GM: Yeah, come on, did you not watch star wars? So yeah, so anyway you're just gonna head up with this whole army up to one floor?

Chris/Ollie: Well, how many floors is it? We've got like, one, like, armory above us, and then is it the cockpit above that?

Avery/GM: You've got deck three, which is right above you, and then in between decks two and three is the information core, which can only be accessed from deck three, and then you've got the command deck.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, that's right. Ollie has control of one of the robots in the information core, or both robots in the information core, I think, and was doing something with one of them.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. I think one of them, they're hacking the core and downloading it right now, or they're doing something with the core.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you were, I think you were having them download the information.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I think we have the information now, right? Like we have the layout of the, everything of the, all of it.

Avery/GM: Yes. So you do have quite a big party. If you're going to go up to the next floor, there will need to be two trips because this many people will not fit in the small ass lift.

Bee/Polaris: Perfect. Wait, wasn't there a secret hatch?

Zach/Zahn: Well, we could send Ollie with all the robots up in one go and then the rest of us behind.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. There is also the secret, the secret boy hatch.

Avery/GM: There is the secret hatch that is on deck three that goes straight up to the command deck.

Bee/Polaris: Why don't we just cut a hole in the ceiling and fly up?

Zach/Zahn: I feel like that would be pretty obvious.

Bee/Polaris: We're already on camera! Rhea addressed us directly!

Chris/Ollie: It took us a little while to cut the hole in that wall.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's true. The floor might be thicker. Well, Polaris has a jetpack.

Avery/GM: I forgot I gave that to you.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I also forgot you gave it to me. Until the end of the last fight. Doesn't Ollie have extendo tentacles in his dog form?

Chris/Ollie: I do. I'm not quite sure if they could like, pull me up though.

Avery/GM: They're, they're basically Doc Ock style.

Caden/Bruce: Could I not just like, lift you up to the ceiling?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Yeah. Bruce could probably just put us all up there.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, true. Just grab us with his tail.

Chris/Ollie: Bruce, uppies!

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, uppies! Yeah. Okay. So like Part of us can use the lift and then the other part of us can use the hole in the floor that we create that we'll have to repair later.

Zach/Zahn: Man, I'd be the one who has to fix that.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris does a lot of damage that you

Chris/Ollie: We're starting to build up an army. I can start delegating repair tasks to my robots.

Avery/GM: Marty, could you roll a 2d10 and let me know which, which number is, and then just let me know which one is the 10 spot and which one is the ones spot.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, so it's a 6 and an 8.

Avery/GM: So 68?

Jenine/Marty: Almost a 69, unfortunately.

Zach/Zahn: Awww.

Avery/GM: So close. Okay. That's all I needed to know.

Caden/Bruce: I don't like this.

Zach/Zahn: Love it.

Chris/Ollie: We have the number advantage. Might as well use it while we have it. We should rush up the main stairs.

Bee/Polaris: Should we not say this in our group chat and not out loud where Rhea can definitely hear us?

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, that was, that was a group chat. Hahaha. No. Yeah, totally. We should. You know, it's my bad. Yeah, my bad. Usually when we're talking to each other, it's, it's group chat for me.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no. I think we established that before. Like, usually it is group chat.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, is Psi in the group chat?

Avery/GM: Psi is not in the group chat.

Bee/Polaris: Claris walks over to Psi and says what's your handle?

Zach/Zahn: What's your at?

Avery/GM: Yeah. It's at SilverShield01. I ended up getting on a little late, so, you know.

Bee/Polaris: Someone else had. That's unfortunate.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Why didn't you go with Silver Shield Official?

Avery/GM: Oh, that's a good idea. I might look into that.

Bee/Polaris: Anyway, Polaris, add him to the group chat. Actually, he makes a new group chat and adds everyone and says and calls it New Management.

Avery/GM: New Management. Okay. So, yeah. So, you have these robots. You have Jasper, who is just a historian who you could probably ask questions of if you have questions. You have the two super psychics, and then you've got the rest of your party. Oh, and all of Ollie's drones. So, yeah. So who's going up first or what's the plan?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's going to put forth. So we know that there's an armory directly above us, right?

Avery/GM: On the next floor.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Yeah. Cause I guess it's not technically directly. Cause that's what the information

Avery/GM: Depending on where you cut, you might cut into the information core.

Zach/Zahn: Got it. So I was going to, well, there's a armory directly before Rhea.

We could, I don't know. Maybe we raid that. Maybe there'll be something anti psychic in there. No, no offense. He like, quickly was like yeah don't, don't take that the wrong way.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris...

Chris/Ollie: Does, oh really quick, does the robot that I hacked that's in the armory does it have a manifest of the armory? Like, does it know what's in there?

Avery/GM: Yes, yes, I guess that it would, yeah. So, let me pull that up.

Bee/Polaris: Double really quick. Add Jasper to group chat, and also, I believe last session I asked Jasper if he knew anything about Rhea, like, weaknesses.

Caden/Bruce: Least favorite food.

Bee/Polaris: Least favorite smell.

Jenine/Marty: Allergies.

Zach/Zahn: Her relationship with her mother.

Chris/Ollie: Rhea's social medias,

Bee/Polaris: personal thoughts and feelings.

Avery/GM: So answering those in order Ollie, you look over the manifest for this armory and it is all basically just standard issue, like ship weapons for, you know, basic crew members. So it's just your basic laser pistols, rifles, anti personnel weapons. Nothing, nothing flashy.

Bee/Polaris: Any grenades.

Avery/GM: There are no grenades on this one.

Chris/Ollie: They're smart enough to think, maybe, hmm, grenades, spaceship, not a good idea.

Bee/Polaris: Well, it's a good thing the other ship wasn't, because we're hella loaded with grenades.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, we're stacked.

Avery/GM: And one other thing I will note on here, Ollie, is you notice that there are about four dozen Pistols and rifles that are marked as checked out.

Bee/Polaris: Aw Man!

Avery/GM: And you have have not run into four dozen ship personnel.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, so Ollie will post a manifest in the group chat, and mention 48 combat weapons are missing from the Arsenal. Be on the lookout for hostiles.

Bee/Polaris: Or, Ollie, can you check and see if there are any ships missing from the ship's bay?

Chris/Ollie: Do I have any access to those? Because we've run into pretty isolated systems so far.

Bee/Polaris: On the floor before didn't have, like the ships and stuff. Like, we knew that there was a docking bay underneath. Yeah. And how many vehicles were there?

Avery/GM: I don't know if you knew how many vehicles there were.

Bee/Polaris: Ah.

Avery/GM: But, if Ollie rolls me a program, an intelligence program check, I'm sure we can get there.

Bee/Polaris: Sick.

Avery/GM: Cause you're pretty much through this, through this mech. You are pretty much interfaced with the rest of the ship. So,

Chris/Ollie: Oh, the armory is the armory mech has like permissions

Avery/GM: Permissions enabled, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Nice. Okay.

Avery/GM: You just rolled so good that I couldn't not let you hack it.

Chris/Ollie: Dude, rolling three and dropping the lowest is beyond, beyond next level. I just have to do more math now. Yeah. 13.

Avery/GM: 13. Yeah. Okay. Easily. Yeah. There are about 24 two person shuttles that are missing from the docking bay.

Bee/Polaris: Send in.

Chris/Ollie: 24 two person ships.

Bee/Polaris: Send a message to the ship that we came from with the other furry.

Chris/Ollie: So we've got squads.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, we sent the other furry down by, by them, Lazuli down by themselves, to the planet to warn the locals.

Bee/Polaris: Lazuli's planet side, to protect.

Avery/GM: So there's no one that you know personally on the Oracle's ship.

Bee/Polaris: But we can ping them, no?

Avery/GM: You could ping a general message to them, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Well, could we contact Lazuli on the surface from here?

Avery/GM: I believe only one of you has contact with Lazuli directly, and that would be Bruce.

Chris/Ollie: Then Ollie will ask Bruce to please relay the warning to Lazuli.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will just forward the message onwards.

Just like screenshot group chats.

Avery/GM: You get an automatic reply that just reads a bit tied up will respond to your message as soon as I am not being fired upon.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, that'll do it.

Caden/Bruce: Thumbs up.

Zach/Zahn: That's in direct relation to you being fired upon.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Well.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Yeah. Ollie's... Seeing that he'll forward the same message to the bridge of the Oracle ship,

Avery/GM: okay, they acknowledge your message and you feel the ship's your ship that you're on right now Start to shake a bit more as it seems like firepower has increased.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, wait, did we want that?

Avery/GM: I don't know

Zach/Zahn: I don't know but it happened!

Bee/Polaris: Why but the engineer went down to the the engine and also we told the engineers down there that we didn't murder to Keep it off.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. An increase in firepower and a decrease in general awareness seems suboptimal.

Avery/GM: Oh, I'm sorry. Increase in firepower coming from the Oracle ship.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. I was about to say, do we really need to go down there and like, dispatch of insubordinate employees?

Zach/Zahn: Not yet.

Bee/Polaris: I'm kidding.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn will murder them.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: Like he promised.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, he did promise that. Polaris did promise that. But if Zahn starts murdering Oh, well, what's Polaris to do but follow suit?

Zach/Zahn: As everyone should be reminded, Zahn is also in a pretty dark place right now.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, no, that's fair. Polaris is just morally gray.

Avery/GM: Marty, can I get one more percentile roll, please?

Chris/Ollie: Oh. Also, my core on my last roll was 98%, so I'm just pretty much going to assume that it's full by now.

Zach/Zahn: Oh man, 100 percent Ollie Crystal.

Jenine/Marty: 52.

Avery/GM: I'm sorry, you said 52?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. Good. Good. Good.

Bee/Polaris: I don't like that.

Avery/GM: Nothing to worry about.

Bee/Polaris: I'm sure it's not. But also, Rhea guy didn't, oh my gosh, sorry, historian guy didn't tell us about Rhea.

Avery/GM: Oh, right. So the historian, Jasper so you asked, you asked about what he knows about Rhea and he, his initial response was talking about how she's one of, you The members of the Council of Twelve for the hegemony that leads the, that leads the hegemony under the Eternal One.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: And he starts going into detail about how her origins are unknown, but that she has been rumored to have existed for thousands of years.

Zach/Zahn: Wait, what?

Bee/Polaris: This is in group chat, right?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's actual response.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, this is in group chat

Zach/Zahn: zahn's actual verbal response. Oh, wait, what?

Bee/Polaris: Polarisays Shh,is like in a library.

Avery/GM: Yes. Records of, of Rhea's existence and, and that of the eternal one and this council of 12 seem to go back to some of the oldest mythologies on, on some planets. They still refer to people with these names, beings with these names going back thousands of years and the paintings and descriptions are all, at least of Rhea, have all been accurate based on what I've witnessed.

She is a powerful fighter, warrior. She, there's, there's a reason she's here and not back on Tartarus. The Eternal One kind of sees her as his personal weapon against the galaxy.

Bee/Polaris: This is all of the group chat, correct?

Avery/GM: No, he, he, well, he answered you verbally.

Bee/Polaris: What? I told him to put it in the okay. Well, I can't be responsible if Rhea kills him first. Anyway. Polaris is going to put a mad face in the group chat and then say, do we really want to fight this lady? Polaris actually turns to Jasper and says, sorry, what are Rhea's pronouns?

Avery/GM: Oh, no, she, she, her.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Polaris, go back to the group chat. Do we really want to fight this lady? What did you edit?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn, Zahn shrugs, and like, and puts in the group chat, we're gonna have to eventually. May as well be now.

Bee/Polaris: No, I, I mean directly. We can just vac this lady. And then shoot her with the ship.

Chris/Ollie: If we want Hermes, confrontation seems guaranteed.

Bee/Polaris: No, for sure. I'm just saying direct confrontation might be unnecessary. We could, we could vac the command deck and then shoot her with the ship to guarantee she's dead.

Avery/GM: At this, Rho pops into the chat or, or chimes in on the chat and just says, Polaris, if you do that, you will die.

Bee/Polaris: What? I'm sorry, what? What? Why?

Really? What, why will I die?

Avery/GM: Polaris, I, I told you all that you would need my help on this ship and I didn't really elaborate much, but if you need, if you want Hermes back, all I need is a little bit of time and eyes. On where Hermes is. If you can get me those two things, I can get Hermes back. But if you confront Rhea, you will die. I've seen it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris throws up his arms like, I don't wanna fight her anyway! Yeah, Polaris is like, okay, well, I guess we can distract her, I guess. I don't Is there any way to Ollie, is there any way to figure out where specifically Hermes is?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie is going to reach out one of his tentacles and reach either into his own inventory or whoever has it, and grab Coil Scanner.

Bee/Polaris: No, ohhhh.

Chris/Ollie: And give that over to Rho and say, will this suffice?

Bee/Polaris: Who has that?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I don't know who has it, but we have it somewhere.

Bee/Polaris: Cause it wasn't me.

Avery/GM: I'm pretty sure Zahn picked it up.

Zach/Zahn: I probably did.

Bee/Polaris: I have the cube..

Zach/Zahn: We'll just say that I did.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I don't remember. We definitely picked it up though. I wrote it down.

Avery/GM: For the sake of argument we'll say zahn picked it up.

Chris/Ollie: So yeah, one of my tentacles will just snake into his pocket.

Caden/Bruce: Oh god.

Bee/Polaris: Wow, uncomfortable.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. You have the coil scanner, Rho looks at it, kind of tilts her head quizzically and it's, and catches on and it's like, Oh, that'll work. Yeah. That should work just fine. Ollie, you're good with technology. Could you get it to work for me?

Bee/Polaris: Just press the on button.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn looks at it. It's just like, well, what am I just a meat puppet? I could turn this thing on.

Avery/GM: Psychics notoriously bad with technology.

Jenine/Marty: Fact.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will do it and make it look like he's doing some technical procedure to activate the machine.

Avery/GM: Yeah it turns on.

Chris/Ollie: Just so Rho doesn't feel bad.

Avery/GM: It turns on and it displays like a little holographic display of the area. Like like it pings a couple times and then like this little hologram forms of the ship and kind of the surrounding space around it. And you see that Hermes is located

Bee/Polaris: Real quick, did we actually ever establish where the cameras were?

Avery/GM: They're basically in the corners.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, Polaris would probably have shot those out. So Rhea can't see what we're doing.

Avery/GM: You basically see that Hermes is right here.

Zach/Zahn: Is the horrific creature Rhea? Okay.

Avery/GM: That's Rhea. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: I just saw Hermes.

Chris/Ollie: The anime boss final arc enemy.

Bee/Polaris: Jesus Christ. I don't want to fight that lady. We just learned that she's essentially a living God. Let's not fight her.

Zach/Zahn: No, we got this.

Bee/Polaris: No, Zahn!

Avery/GM: You just learned that there's a being that goes back thousands of years named Rhea. There's lots of people named

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is, this isn't like a, a Link situation where it's just like a reincarnation with the same name who happens to wear the same green tights. We're not, this is definitely the same Rhea. I can'twere... No!

Avery/GM: That was, that was, yeah, okay, fair enough. Perfect retort.

Zach/Zahn: Well, if we're gonna take over the ship, we need to at least get her off the ship somehow.

Bee/Polaris: Vac. I'm team Vac

Chris/Ollie: that sounds most effective.

Bee/Polaris: Good to know. I mean, we could also, I mean, she definitely, like, she invited us up, so I assume that she has absolutely no qualms knowing, even knowing how many that we are in this group.

She has no, absolutely no issue fighting us. So, I was gonna say maybe have her evacuate the ship, but I can't think of a way to actually do that, considering how confident she seems.

Chris/Ollie: Well, Ollie's got an idea. How exactly do you plan on getting Hermes out of there?

Avery/GM: Rho holds out her hand and suddenly the, the coil scanner that's in your hand appears in her hand. And she's like, I might as well use these powers for something.

Bee/Polaris: She can yoink him.

Chris/Ollie: Perfect.

Bee/Polaris: Do you need visual?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Avery/GM: So we need to be. But just for a few minutes. And I might not need to physically be there. If, well, Ollie, do you, are you okay with maybe not having one of these robots anymore? I don't know. I, I don't, I don't want to make it seem like robots are less valuable than humans or anything, but.

Bee/Polaris: No, but they can replace their bodies better than we can.

Chris/Ollie: Well, what exactly does she want to use it for because I've got the one bot that's got like one out of eight HP He's like barely limping along.

Avery/GM: So she's saying that she needs visual visual Contact on where Hermes is located. So this thing needs to go up to the command deck.

Chris/Ollie: Okay Well, I'm gonna be bringing them all up there if we go or yeah I could send any number of them Ollie is fine with that All of that.

Bee/Polaris: Couldn't you send one of the drones into the vent and just have like a camera feed looking down at where Hermes's is?

Chris/Ollie: Sure. So yeah, Ollie will take all his three small drones and send them into the vents. I'm assuming we have those mapped with the rest of the ship.

Avery/GM: Yes. Yes, you do.

Chris/Ollie: So I want to send them up through the vents to hide as much as I can, but where they have a visual on the cockpit..

Avery/GM: Okay, it'll take some time for them to get there. In the meantime, what is everyone else doing?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is still gonna put forth we should hit the armory. Get some get some good shit.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, oh, I just realized we did tell the people below deck after killing the military personnel that we were gonna take over the ship

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we kind of did promise them.

Avery/GM: You have made promises

Zach/Zahn: that we would take over the ship

Chris/Ollie: Well, cuz we found out that the armory doesn't have anything good just standard stuff But we could supply all of the contractors with weapons and bring them up with us if they want to fight

Bee/Polaris: They probably don't they probably just want to go home.

Zach/Zahn: Fair. Are there any security personnel on the floor above? I may have blanked hearing that.

Avery/GM: There are all security personnel up there. There are no contractors on that floor.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, good. We can kill them. We but if we're not going to like get Rhea off the ship, we might want to get the contractors off the ship onto the Oracle ship, maybe.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, we can tell them to pull the TSKAM up from the docking floor and Load onto it just hide in the cargo bay.

Bee/Polaris: Do we have that? We don't have the TSKAM. TSKAM was what Marty and

Avery/GM: No, Marty came here in the TSKAM.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, so but we have we have another ship. We do. We have the TSKAM and then the the shuttle that the Winston's gave us.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, but if I recall correctly that shuttle was only just big enough for us.

Chris/Ollie: Well, the ship probably has plenty of escape pods and and whatnot. We can just tell them to dip.

Avery/GM: Marty Can I get one final?

Zach/Zahn: No, why are you picking on Marty?

Bee/Polaris: Oh gosh.

Chris/Ollie: Also, I want to use the visual feed of the robot in the armory to see if like there's any action going on. Like, are they sending anyone down? Are they just bunkering down, up there?

Avery/GM: There is no activity on that floor currently, you can see from the bot. What did we get, Jenine?

Jenine/Marty: Do we want a low number?

Do we want a high number?

Avery/GM: it's cumulative, so probably doesn't matter at this point.

Caden/Bruce: It's a 37.

Avery/GM: Alright. Yeah. Okay, cool. Some stuff happens outside in space that you cannot see.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, wonderful. ?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, no. Oh, no.

Zach/Zahn: I don't know. If we're not gonna clear out the armory floor, then we should just go confront Rhea. Do the distraction bit.

Bee/Polaris: Let's clear.

Chris/Ollie: Well, we have to pass through it anyway.

Bee/Polaris: Ugh.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah. We have to go floor by floor anyways,

don't we?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Let's clear the armory.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. Who's all going up? Is this whole party going up? And if so,

Chris/Ollie: I'm going to send the three robots first.

Zach/Zahn: So yeah, Ollie and robots first.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris wants to go next. He wants to kill.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's going to recommend that Jasper go up or go down with the rest of the crew. Unless he actively wants to fight with us.

Avery/GM: Jasper is not a fighter.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, no, this man's a nerd.

Avery/GM: You give Jasper that suggestion, he's like, Oh, really? Thank you. I was really nervous about having to fight. Not, not much of a fighter, more of a, a nerd who likes to sit and read a book. So I'm going to go do that.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn sighs, I missed those days. And then he's going to walk over go down after us.

Avery/GM: If you're gonna blow this place up, will you, will you give me a heads up?

Zach/Zahn: That's in the plan.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, could you actually, should we not evac the contractors? Get them all on ship and, you know?

Avery/GM: I can get them all on there. Well, except for Nolari. I don't know where they disappeared to. Do we want to get the rest of the contractors onto the ship?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna nod though. He's gonna be like, yeah, that's, that's a good idea. Better, better safe than sorry.

Bee/Polaris: Rest of crew?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Agreed.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is nodding.

Chris/Ollie: It is the safest place for them.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Yeah, Jasper, if you could go down and tell the rest of the contractors to get onto the ship. Please don't fly away.

Zach/Zahn: We will find you.

Bee/Polaris: We will find you.

Avery/GM: Okay, yeah, no, we I wasn't gonna steal your ship, if that's what you're

Zach/Zahn: Just don't let any of the other people steal our ship. Yeah, we trust you.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we trust you, not We don't know about everyone else. Don't steal our ship.

Zach/Zahn: Please.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Jasper gives you a big thumbs up. Okay. Ollie, you have gone ahead. Okay. You are here on this floor. Your mech robot here is just walking around, doo doo doo doo doo, you know, having a good time.

Bee/Polaris: What? He's free?

Avery/GM: I mean, I mean, he's just, you know, when Ollie's not directly controlling him, he's just performing his normal patrol duties, you know, are you just waiting here for your friends? Or are you in this little team going to try and do something?

Chris/Ollie: Well, how much do I know about the people on this? Like, do I know enemy positions?

Avery/GM: You, yes. Cause this mech has access to this whole floors layout and activities. You know, that this is a secondary command center for the ship, possibly controlling the weapons that are firing at the Oracle ship,

Zach/Zahn: that's a sexy combination of words. .

Chris/Ollie: Oh, in that case.

Avery/GM: You can wait for your friends. I just, I wanted to give you the option in case, you know, cause there's probably like a five minute delay.

Chris/Ollie: No, I'm going to go ahead and have big boy start pushing down the hallway and then get into the, into the door. With the other three as backup, and me right behind them.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: I'll get as far as I can.

Avery/GM: Okay. As Ollie is doing that you all load up on the, the rest of you load up onto the lift and pop out up here. As you are stepping off the lift, you hear Rhea's laughter come through the speakers. And she's not talking directly to you, but is definitely purposely letting you hear this.

She says, in the language of the Milky Way, by the way.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, we can translate that.

Avery/GM: Yep. Welcome, armies of the Pan Solar Union. We are so glad you could join us today. I, as a representative of this galaxy, am officially declaring war for your trespasses into our territory and the imminent destruction of Ithaca. that you have perpetrated Surrender now, or prepare to die and Then there's just laughter Just

Zach/Zahn: That's fucked up, lady.

Bee/Polaris: Goddammit Can we ping, The Pan-Solar Union ship?

Avery/GM: Not from this distance, no.

Bee/Polaris: Dammit. Okay.

Avery/GM: There is too much interference from the Wormhole that has opened outside

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: this system

Bee/Polaris: Did Hermes install the translation thing on our communication devices so we could understand what she was saying?

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool.

Avery/GM: And, any of you that have had psychic contact with Rho, which I guess would just be Marty and Polaris, actually have the language in your mind.

Zach/Zahn: She tried to read my mind once.

Avery/GM: Yeah, and you

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, that's true. But I also did grow up on New Terra, which integrated over time Terran and this galaxies.

Avery/GM: So you, you understand bits and pieces of it.

Yeah. And the rest of it, you get translated on subtitles on your, on your HUD. So I think the only person that doesn't understand that would be Bruce.

Zach/Zahn: Oh no, poor Bruce.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will send like the translated audio to Bruce, yeah. And he'll say, we need to get on comms like ASAP and we need to send a message to them to not have this break out into a full on war.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you get a message from Lazuli and it just says, mission failed, all units retreat.

Bee/Polaris: Son of a bitch!

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will post that in the group chat. And just be like, oh.

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 today include Starfreighter, Starship Bridge, Robotics Lab, and Covert Ops.

We'll be back in two weeks with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars.

Episode 44 - Friends, Family, and Enemies

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 44 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(intro music plays, fades out, ambience fades in)

Jenine/Marty: Marty does send like a direct message to Polaris and goes, So, I might've sent an email to the custodians to try and find you. They're on their way. I don't know if we want to run. Just want to let you know. I miss you! Uwu Smiley face.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts dot dot dot in chat. They're not going to hurt us.

Jenine/Marty: They did and then I send a screenshot of the email they sent back, that Bear sent back, which is, we will, I think it's, we're coming back for Polaris. What did they say?

Avery/GM: Bear said something along the lines of, and I'll probably just copy and paste the exact thing in here. But along the lines of, we'll make sure Polaris is safe and then we'll bring him back home.

Bee/Polaris: Fuck. Okay. Is that, is that actually what it just says?

Avery/GM: Basically, essentially,

Jenine/Marty: yeah.

Avery/GM: We'll meet you there. Thanks for the coordinates. You know, we're

Bee/Polaris: We're taking our son?

Avery/GM: Yeah, basically.

Bee/Polaris: Playtime's over.

Avery/GM: Playtime's over, yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Don't ever talk to me or my son again.

Avery/GM: Marty's, Marty's message I believe said something along the lines of Polaris is in danger can you help?

I think was the

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, that was what it said. That, yes, that is exactly what it said.

Bee/Polaris: Ugh, ah, ugh. Polaris will like, angry face emote and then, and then he'll send Bear an email, or I guess a text message, if, if that is possible, I guess an email.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you could get one out.

Bee/Polaris: And he'll just say, I am safe, do not go.

Come and take me away. This is very important. I'm fixing your mess.

Avery/GM: You don't get a response back yet, so it might just take some time. In the meantime, Zahn, you were going over to the computer next?

Zach/Zahn: Yerp.

Avery/GM: Okay. The robot had it open when Polaris took it out. So there's no security on this thing. Right now.

Zach/Zahn: Yay.

Avery/GM: There is a deactivate laser grid. There is a activate ray shield. There is activate other robots, but there's no robots in the charging stations right now. So sad day for them. There's also a recall there button where you could recall the robots back to their charging stations, put them to sleep.

Zach/Zahn: Is there a dossier on prisoners, like why they're incarcerated.

Avery/GM: Yes, there is.

Zach/Zahn: I'd like to pull that up before just

Chris/Ollie: Just open it up. We don't want to, like, let Space Jeffrey Dahmer out.

Avery/GM: So, in this cell, the prisoner's name is listed as Jasper. He is listed as a scholar, and listed as the ship's cultural expert. You have this cell, prisoner listed just as deceased.

Bee/Polaris: What?! This is just a dead body?!

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's a body.

Zach/Zahn: He's just, he's just dead.

Bee/Polaris: Why did they lock up the dead body?

Chris/Ollie: Prisoner identification body.

Avery/GM: No, it's more of a, that's where they expired and they haven't bothered to move them yet.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh.

Avery/GM: They're robots. They can't smell.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's fair. Oh No.

Avery/GM: This one is cell three listed as Nolari and she is actually listed as a stowaway. And then this fourth one here is Zeno, a half snake, half human, hired as an engineer and was responsible for maintaining the ship's information core and artificial intelligence systems.

Also lists last fed three weeks ago.

Zach/Zahn: Well, I guess we could, if they're like an actual snake and just swallow things, we could feed them the dead guy.

Bee/Polaris: No. Oh my, that's so degrading. We could just give them a bento.

Avery/GM: Yeah, Bruce made bentos.

Bee/Polaris: That's so mean! Give them the rotting body instead of the good food we have?

Zach/Zahn: You don't know what their tastes are.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, well let's ask.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, let's do that.

Bee/Polaris: Does Zahn like tell us about these dossiers?

Zach/Zahn: I upload like screenshots of each dossier to the chat. Cause I think it would be harder to just like upload the actual thing direct helmet screen share! in chat

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is gonna go to, gonna go to one cell.

Zach/Zahn: And then I'm gonna deactivate them.

Bee/Polaris: Wha Oh, you're deactivating it right now?

Zach/Zahn: I wasn't given any info as to why not.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is, Polaris was gonna go talk to him. Cause you, wait, you said that we should talk to them before we let him out.

Zach/Zahn: Well, I was expecting there to be like, reason for incarceration. One's just a stowaway, so that'll, that's not bad.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, well.

Zach/Zahn: What did Snake do? Half snake person and cultural expert do.

Avery/GM: It doesn't list. It doesn't say. You might have to find out.

Zach/Zahn: Then, I'm gonna post in chat, figure out why they're bad.

Bee/Polaris: Doing that now.

Zach/Zahn: Thumbs up.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, also Polaris puts in chat, the custodians are on their way to take me home, but I sent an email telling them not to. Let's see how that goes. And then

Avery/GM: Does anyone want to invite the pirates while we're here?

Jenine/Marty: Oh my gosh, Marty would love to!

Zach/Zahn: We should so they can take this ship because we have the Cassiopeia and it's going to be really hard to pilot both.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but this one has a prison.

Zach/Zahn: We can put a prison on the Cassiopeia.

Chris/Ollie: No, park the Cassiopeia

in this.

Bee/Polaris: But this one's already here. I think they're the same size.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, if they're the same size then no.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is going to Snake Lady's cell

Avery/GM: sure. You come up to the cell, the, the laser grid is glowing here.

And what do you, what do you say to this person?

Bee/Polaris: Well, he knocks on the side of like the wall to like, see if they, cause the lights are out. Like

Avery/GM: you hear, you hear the soft movement of a scaled slithering body across the floor and suddenly this figure pops up right next to the, to the laser grid and just says.

I was wondering what all that commotion was. Are you here to free us?

Bee/Polaris: We're new management.

Avery/GM: Are you with the hegemony?

Bee/Polaris: Fuck no.

Avery/GM: Oh, very new management, then. Thank you. Yes, please. I am so hungry.

Bee/Polaris: Plaris takes out his bento and slides it over to her. We need to chat first.

Avery/GM: Yeah, sure. She picks up this bento that you slide through like a gap in the lasers.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: And

Zach/Zahn: also your bouillon.

Bee/Polaris: I'm not giving her the bouillon cube.

Chris/Ollie: Unless She Asks.

Bee/Polaris: Unless she asks.. Or the hand.

Chris/Ollie: Oh you've got the hand too?

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, Polaris has a severed hand. Yeah, I still have the hand.

Avery/GM: Yeah, she starts eating it cautiously at first, kind of eyeing you.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sorry. Our chef made that. He's an excellent chef.

Avery/GM: She just nods in agreement and just starts

scarfing it down. What do you want to ask this person?

Bee/Polaris: What are you in for? Polaris will add a, don't lie to me.

Avery/GM: No, No, no lies.Not with this good food. Two of us are our contractors that once we found out what we were going to be doing here at Ithaca, we told them we did not want to be part of such a vicious, cruel, Attack on our own people of the hegemony.

Bee/Polaris: Good enough for me. Polaris' like, sorry. Polaris' like, bangs on the side of the wall and like, calls over to Zahn. This one's good.

Zach/Zahn: You get a K! And then he pushes the button to deactivate its cell.

Avery/GM: Sure. Zeno picks up the bento and is like scarfing it as it comes out of the, the prison cell and starts kind of slithering around the hallway. Where are you going next, polaris?

Bee/Polaris: To the culture buddy. The, the, the other one.

Avery/GM: The Historian?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris will. We know the name of the historian. What's the historian?

Avery/GM: Jasper.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is going to call over to Zeno and say, Is Jasper with you?

Avery/GM: Oh, yes. A very knowledgeable individual. He will be most helpful in whatever you plan on doing.

Bee/Polaris: Good enough for me. Polaris calls over to Zahn again. Jasper's good!

Zach/Zahn: And he, and he deactivates.

Avery/GM: Jasper comes running down the hallway towards you Polaris. Tall dude, purple hair, dark skin. Wearing sort of just, you know, a, a standard, you know, ship jumpsuit type of thing. He does have an eyepatch.

Bee/Polaris: Fancy.

Avery/GM: And probably like mid thirties. Or so and

Bee/Polaris: Polaris waves.

Avery/GM: He's he's coming towards you and it's just like oh, thank you. Thank you so much for helping us Yeah, the Hegemony has some really bad stuff planned for Ithaca. Do you know about this?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah, we know We yeah, we know

Avery/GM: it would be such a loss to the whole galaxy. I mean, yeah, they're they're Hegemony and stuff, but doesn't mean they deserve that. I mean, just for being in their section of space.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Yeah. I mean, we're here to help. So.

Avery/GM: Cool. Thanks. I'll just wait for you by the elevator. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. If you haven't eaten, talk to the tall lizard person, that's our chef, Bruce.

Avery/GM: Well will do. And starts heading out. Before we get to Nolari,

Bee/Polaris: Yep!

Avery/GM: Marty, you are standing here next to Rho. Silver Shield is down the hallway, kind of looking a little Pensive, a little nervous, but what do you do?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, so, hi Rho, how are you doing? No injuries, everything's cool, you're good.

Avery/GM: Everything's great. I actually feel, you know, ever since I've, I've been using my psychic powers a little bit more sparingly, since we did the mind meld, I've noticed that the, it doesn't hurt when I use my powers anymore. I don't know what you did, Marty, but, It's amazing.

Jenine/Marty: Oh just used a friend's research and was able to help. That's, that's what I'm here to do. With that, there is someone I would like you to meet. Actually, not really meet. More along the lines ofre-meet.. Silver shield, could you come down? Promise we won't bite.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I guess, I guess that's, that's fine and he wanders down the hall towards you both. Rho is kinda eyeing him, with like, the look of like, when you see someone, and they look familiar, but you just can't quite place it. Who's your friend?

Jenine/Marty: Well, someone I worked with, that's who I was helping with the past couple of days, and some Wormholes does the whole, like, time changes thing significantly, but I want to reintroduce you to your brother.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I fucking knew it! God damn it! Oh my god!

Jenine/Marty: That was me screaming yesterday. Screaming.

Zach/Zahn: The Silver Shield... Is Rho's brother?

Bee/Polaris: Rho's brother.

Zach/Zahn: But, he's from our

Bee/Polaris: You remember the time stuff? Yeah. Like from the wormhole.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: There was like a big delay in like the time between like the custodians leaving and like what actually happened.

Chris/Ollie: So Silver Shield got here years earlier before Ruff.

Jenine/Marty: And had his, and all of the memory was gone of his past life.

Bee/Polaris: Holy shit!

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, yeah. Wow! Yeah, yeah, it's a lot.

Avery/GM: Rho looks at you. Marty looks at the silver shield. Looks at you. Looks at the silver shield. And just, like, Body slam tackle hugs him. And there is some weeping sounds and crying. And it is a very sweet, emotional moment. It's a little harder to see since there's There's not good lighting on this floor due to the lights being out, but it's very sweet.

And after a few moments of this very sweet reunion, Rho sort of helps him to his feet and is Just like how, how did you, how did you survive Adis? What are you doing? Why are you so old? And, and Marty, you already have seen this. Is anyone else next to Marty when this is happening? Like Bruce, did you wander back or?

Caden/Bruce: I feel like Bruce was doing the thing where it was like, he was watching Polaris and Ollie, like, go down the hallway, and then keeping an eye also on Marty, and then like, When he notices Marty, like going back, probably like follows, but like also in the way where it's just like, he wasn't invited into the conversation.

So he's not like right there. You know what I mean?

Avery/GM: You're kind of hanging.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah. Kind of hanging back. Just hanging back, but able to see.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Through the glow of all this telekinetic energy that's going on with all their weapons and armor. Yeah, you do, you do kind of get the, the, the look at the silver shield and you see that silver shield looks at least like 15 or 20 years older than Rho.

You do remember that. That Rho had a twin brother that died on Adis or that she thought died on Adis.. And Silver Shield looks at her and says, I think we should save a lot of the details for when we're not in a ship that is being attacked. But I was off planet doing some research for a new experimental shuttlecraft.

And when I returned to the system, that's when I saw the planet explode. And I followed the ship that was leaving Aris through a wormhole, and I don't know, I lost it somehow and ended up stranded on a different planet. No memory. I kind of took on this persona, and he like gestures at his silly little superhero outfit.

Sis, I'm so, so glad you're, you're still alive and you're still here. I missed you. And he gives her another hug and it's like, but there's no time for that. Now it is time to stop, whatever this is going on, what is going on? And Rho starts kind of giving a breakdown of the, of the mission and what's going on with, with this whole planet.

Like basically like, Hey, you remember the thing that happened to the planet you just saw get destroyed 20 years ago? Same thing.

Zach/Zahn: We're trying to prevent that.

Avery/GM: 20 years ago for him, 300 years for the custodians. Doesn't matter.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, geez.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Wibbly wobbly timey wimey.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: That's the name of the game here. Polaris, you come up to this last cell. There is this, it's, it's, it's really hard to see the definition of this creature because the room is also dark, but you do see kind of this glowing orb of light and like shifting shadows moving behind it and in front of it and it floats over to the laser grid and is just like, You will tell us who you are. You. Will answer to us.

Bee/Polaris: What were you asking my name, or? Was that a command, or?

Avery/GM: Yes. Who are you? What do you want?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, yeah, my name is Polaris. We're just new management, we're taking over the ship. What are you doing here?

Avery/GM: Do you want the whole story, or just the cliff notes?

Bee/Polaris: Give me a second. Polaris types in chat, how much time we got?

Jenine/Marty: And I text back, I text back, just a heads up, I did get a pre cog yesterday that Rhea captured all of you, and I don't know if she's, on her way, yet... So.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris says fast spark notes.

Chris/Ollie: There's probably like a distant explosion and the ship shakes.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, fast, fast, fast. We can get the full story later.

Avery/GM: Nalari says, We have journeyed far in our trip through the universe. We decided to check out the ship and ended up being captured. We would like to be free.

Bee/Polaris: Friend or foe?

Avery/GM: We are friends to those who are kind. We are foes to those who are mean.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well my thing is like if our goals don't like align we're kind of gonna be at odds, you know, we're here to Free the contractors, get our friend back, stop the planet from being destroyed. What are your goals?

Avery/GM: I only wish to journey.

Bee/Polaris: That's not very specific. Where?

Avery/GM: Everywhere. And essentially this person just, just wants to be on their way.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, so you, if we open this, you're just gonna leave?

Avery/GM: Yes. We are not meant to stay anywhere for too long.

Bee/Polaris: That's fair. I get that. Polaris will send in chat to Zahn because he's too far away.

This one's good. Smiley face. Which, by the way, he's been livestreaming this whole thing, so

Avery/GM: Probably didn't need to. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn hits the button.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah, this orb of light and shadow shoots out of the prison cell. goes down, ducks through this hole, Marty, you see this light and shadow being, shoot over to the elevator and it has disappeared.

Bee/Polaris: Bye. I wish you well.

Avery/GM: Yeah, but you still have two NPCs.

Zach/Zahn: Hope you don't end up being the BBEG later!

Avery/GM: No.

Bee/Polaris: Avery, don't do this to me. The cool shadow person is a

Avery/GM: I wouldn't do that.

Bee/Polaris: Please, friend.

Avery/GM: You, you let them go. You are their best friend now.

Bee/Polaris: Hell Yeah!

Avery/GM: Bruce may have a plant, but you have a shadow.

Bee/Polaris: Let's fucking go! In every single game I play, I end up with some sort of shadow motiff.

Avery/GM: Oh man.

Bee/Polaris: Fuck yeah, hell yeah. Okay. Anyway.

Avery/GM: But you do still have Jasper and Zeno here kind of just wandering around. What's the play? Where, where's, where to next?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gets out of hole.

Avery/GM: Sure. Y'all kind of reconvene?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, also. While this was going on, Ollie wandered up to the console Zahn was on, plugged into his remote link unit and it was like remotely hacking it as Zahn was also hacking it.

Avery/GM: Oh, sure. Like I said, there's actually no hack here because the security was already lifted because some, you know, If you don't hit ctrl alt delete and lock your computer, you're screwed. So.

Chris/Ollie: Dumb robots? Ollie wants to look

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I killed it before it could.

Chris/Ollie: Well, he's dumb for getting killed. Ollie wants to look for any connection that he can get from this terminal to Hermes.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, didn't we establish that was on a separate thing?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, from the last terminal, but I want to see if I can, because I want to hit this, I can't remember what the program's names are. Iaso, And

Avery/GM: yeah Iaso is the killer. And

Bee/Polaris: epios

Chris/Ollie: yeah, Epios. So I want to hit the ship with the Iaso but I want to hit Hermes with the Epios first. So I wanna see if I can,

Avery/GM: wouldn't really do any ' cause the Iaso would just kill an AI connected to a system. So,

Chris/Ollie: but like the like the Cassiopeia had the subordinate AI. The, if the ship had any of those, the Iaso would wipe them out.

Avery/GM: Yeah. This ship does not. Cause that was, that's a specific feature of. Rho's Galaxy.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, okay. Milky way ingenuity there.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: All right. Well, then Ollie will also want to download any information you can get from here.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I will let you, you were able to get Maps of the rest of the ship. There is deck three, which is right above you. And there is a secondary command center there.

There is the information core, which is connected to deck three, but down one level and can only be accessed through deck three

Chris/Ollie: information core. That's got Ollie's attention.

Avery/GM: And then there is the command deck, which is where the operations of the ship are mainly functioning or, or centrally

Are

Chris/Ollie: like these like Sequential.

Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah. And yeah, you are also able to access No, let's, let's make it fun. We'll roll a d6 and see which extra system you can access. Okay. You can also access the gravity to turn it off. You cannot turn it up, but you can turn it off or lower it.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Ollie will put in chat would anyone prefer slightly lower gravity?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we don't have anything heavy to carry, so.

Jenine/Marty: Excuse me?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce just sends back question mark, question mark, question mark.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will send the same gravity is fine with me, thank you.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will be like, shit, cause he wanted to tie together and grab all that robot scrap and drag it with him, but he didn't want to be too obvious.

Bee/Polaris: Well we can do that later. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: So Avery, with New Terra having come from Earth, but always having been referred to as Terra, it's gravity, would it, since we refer to it as Earth like gravity, would it, that still have carried over, and Zaun's just like, yeah, we'll keep it at Earth gravity, and then no one knows what Earth gravity is.

Haha.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that could be a quirk that, that, that Zahn has. Totally.

Chris/Ollie: Every time you say it, we're like, what the fuck is Earth?

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is just like, I don't know, I thought Earth was like a unit of measurement.

Bee/Polaris: That's funny.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. So just like, yeah, he's like, yeah, just keep it at Earth's gravity.

Chris/Ollie: And then one last thing, I want to see if there's any other robots that I can attach to from this terminal and convert let me look here

Zach/Zahn: ooo is mine getting mine should get my robot to get a different symbol to simplicity. Hmm

Chris/Ollie: Until I just oh hack. Thanks

Avery/GM: So there are three robots that this terminal can communicate with, and probably with a really good hack roll., you could probably somehow get to them.

One of them is on deck three and is designation B 1 6 B 0 1. Big boy.

Chris/Ollie: Big boy.

Avery/GM: Big boy.

Zach/Zahn: Oh boy!

Avery/GM: And then the other two

Chris/Ollie: Is one of the other ones named Andre 3000?

Avery/GM: No, wait, what?

Chris/Ollie: Big boi is one of the outkast.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I didn't realize that. No, I was, I was just because it's a big robot. It's a big robot. The other two robots are down in, are located in the information core and they are designated Keeper 4. 72 Alpha and Keeper 4. 72 Beta.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Attempting this hack roll to seize direct control of these guys. Would I be rolling against Hermes, or?

Avery/GM: No, you're just rolling against the DC that I have for each one.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, individually?

Avery/GM: Well, you can roll, yeah, you'll need to roll three hack rolls.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, yeah, I'll roll first, and then if I need to, I'll expend my cognition.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: 10 for the first one, because I'm rolling dog shit, 15 for the second, 14 for the third.

Avery/GM: You are able to take control of two of them. Which two do you want?

Chris/Ollie: Well I also want to, unless the opportunity is gone because of the failed hack, commit a processing to automatically succeed.

Avery/GM: You got all three.

There you go.

Chris/Ollie: Excellent.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. Fuck yeah.

Avery/GM: You suddenly have a feed of the Deck 3, which I'll pop you over there for a minute so you can see it.

Bee/Polaris: Ooh, Deck 3.

Avery/GM: This robot right here is the one you have control of.

Bee/Polaris: Big boy! Oh, what the fuck?

Avery/GM: He is a big boy.

Zach/Zahn: He is big boy.

Bee/Polaris: He is a big boy.

Avery/GM: This robot is equipped with a Gatling laser, which does 3D12. And it is clearly in an armory of some kind. And then I'll pop you over to the information core real quick. And these are the two robots and you see them. They are in front of these weird looking pods that look like people can go into them.

Chris/Ollie: Are they hooked up to terminals at all? Or are they just freestanding?

Avery/GM: The pods?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Yeah. The pods are hooked up to these central weird looking terminals.

Chris/Ollie: I want to commit. Another processing

Avery/GM: sure to

Chris/Ollie: split my cognition and take individual control of each of those robots

Avery/GM: Okay

Chris/Ollie: have both of these guys in the info room start hooking up to the info core and Hook up to that terminal and just start so

Avery/GM: you want them to go to the core

Bee/Polaris: Vampire the data?

Chris/Ollie: Oh, is it only one terminal?

Avery/GM: So there's one core. This is the main information core. These are for processing whatever goes in here

Chris/Ollie: All right. I'll have one of them stand on standby the other one hook up to the terminal Start gathering like info what these do how they work anything else they can access.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: I want the robot in the armory Is there anyone else here any security anyone looking at him?

Avery/GM: No one looking at him

Chris/Ollie: Start grabbing anything. He can store from the armory any Hook up the feeds of course to the the team and ask would anyone like anything? It's all on me

Avery/GM: I mean, all the weapons here are like basic, like you know, standard issue type stuff.

Chris/Ollie: Are there grenades, though?

Avery/GM: There are, there are grenades.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris was about to, yeah, Polaris spams grenades in chat.

Chris/Ollie: Grab all the grenades, satchel charges, EMP grenades, hacking spikes, whatever those are. Anything.

Avery/GM: Yeah you get a generic bunch of supplies, some grenades and stuff. We'll probably come up with a full list by the next session. But yeah, you're fully loaded.

Chris/Ollie: Excellent. For now though, just have him wait. I want to not immediately, yeah, not immediately start blowing holes. Sure. That's probably a good idea.

Avery/GM: Cool. Polaris, you come through the hole back on deck two and you see Rho, Marty, and the Silver Shield whose actual name is Psi P S I, standing kind of together and Rho looks super happy and looks over at you in waves and says, Polaris, come meet my brother.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, like, takes one step forward, but doesn't know who this person is, so is like, uhhhh. Also, like, this is allegedly the person that his custodian's murdered, so,

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yep.

Bee/Polaris: He's, he's happy that he's not murdered. Actually, Polaris will say, Polaris will just say, I'm glad you're not murdered.

Avery/GM: Looks very confused at you, and is like, thank you?

And looks at Rho, and Rho's like, I'll explain later.

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

Avery/GM: 10, 15 minutes, something like that.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah, fuck yeah. Because I still have to heal.

Jenine/Marty: Oh wait, I got you. You need to heal. I'm right here.

Bee/Polaris: Is it 10 or 15? I'm about to make your job easier already. Was it 10 minutes or 15 minutes? Because I heal one HP per five minutes.

Avery/GM: It's been 15 minutes. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I'm at 29 out of 37. Hey, so yeah, Polaris is a little banged up I got little bullet holes in him.

Jenine/Marty: I think I'll do a little heal. I don't even have to use powers for the heal. A little heal check?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, cool. Do do do. That's gonna be, I rolled a, nine, ten, and then do I add intelligence or wisdom?

Avery/GM: Wisdom.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, it's a twelve.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I gotta do math.

Jenine/Marty: Well, that's the, that's what I did for the heal check, so that means I'm gonna heal you with, Oh, okay, okay, okay. I'm not using any psionics, I'm just doing like a basic, like, Tools. Yeah. Med kit.

Avery/GM: I believe that just speeds up the healing.

Jenine/Marty: Does it speed up the healing?

Oh,

Bee/Polaris: even faster.

Jenine/Marty: I know this, that you repair yourself very quickly.

Avery/GM: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know.

Avery/GM: Yes, you do. You saw that in the,

Jenine/Marty: in your, in your report. That wasn't,

Bee/Polaris: it was in the medical files.

Avery/GM: No, you've, you've witnessed it. You've witnessed it, but you haven't read the specific details on it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris didn't make a big deal about it.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, cool. I did Marty got a hold of his I'm like, did Marty read it?

Bee/Polaris: It was his normal medical charts, not normal blood test. Cause the All the, all the like, secret stuff about Polaris are on the documents that he took from the robot in the basement from Alioth, that he has literally not told you guys about. He just sent random coordinates in the chat from them, but didn't say anything else about it.

Jenine/Marty: That's cute, that's cute, that's cute. Wait, I'm trying to

Caden/Bruce: But you could heal Bruce, Bruce is hurting too.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I'm coming, I'm I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming. So, I can do remote repair, right? If I can change what I'm committing?

Okay, great. So we're gonna do remote repair, and I believe I can do this on two of you. Yes. Yes. Amazing.

Avery/GM: Your skill should be high enough, yeah to

Jenine/Marty: okay, great. Alright, cool. So, I'll do a remote repair on both of my friends and it's a D 2D6? 2D6 for you guys? I am 2D6 plus 2! That's so exciting! Okay, so, who's hurt more?

Bee/Polaris: Bruce what does Bruce have?

Caden/Bruce: 23 out of 36.

Bee/Polaris: Actually, yeah. Heal Bruce, because Polaris heals fast.

Jenine/Marty: Bruce, you get a 6 plus 5 plus 2, so that's 13 points back. And then Polaris, you get 9 plus 11! Yay!

Bee/Polaris: I'm back up to full!

Caden/Bruce: I'm also back up to full!

Jenine/Marty: Yay!

Zach/Zahn: I didn't get hit at all.

Chris/Ollie: Same.

Bee/Polaris: Must be nice.

Chris/Ollie: No one wants to shoot the dog.

It's pretty nice.

Bee/Polaris: That's fair.

Avery/GM: You almost got a robot exploded in your face though.

Chris/Ollie: Almost. But.

Bee/Polaris: That is true. But that's not a shot.

Avery/GM: Y'all are back together again you have a, a brief moment of downtime before the next thing happens. Does anyone want to give Marty kind of the update or we're going to save that for maybe when you're not still in danger?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we should probably give her a rundown of what happened though. Cause we gotta figure out what happened with Marty as well.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, yeah, I just kinda I didn't do a lot. Marty didn't really do a lot in the past six days.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, we did so much. So much trauma.

Bee/Polaris: So much.

Jenine/Marty: No, no, no, no. I'm intrigued. I'm so hyped.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will will say. There is a dead body in the last cell.

Jenine/Marty: Huh.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I figure we'll deal with that when we're, you know, cleaning up the ship after we've cleared it out.

Avery/GM: Bruce, you see the little leaf that has sprouted from your potted plant, like kind of like tug towards like the direction that Polaris indicates?

Chris/Ollie: Towards the body.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce, Bruce out loud is going to say, Eden, I've been teaching you better. You don't need to eat flesh to be full.

Zach/Zahn: You didn't leave Eden on the ship? Zahn exclaims. He's like, what?

Caden/Bruce: Nope. I brought Eden with me. She wants an adventure.

Chris/Ollie: I will mention, well, if she's hungry, you might as well feed her, right?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Zach/Zahn: No!

Caden/Bruce: No.

Zach/Zahn: You don't want to teach her bad habits.

Bee/Polaris: The friends of this person are literally here.

Chris/Ollie: Is meat not meat?

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh!

Bee/Polaris: I mean, yes, but it's complicated, I think. Polaris has like a loading screen on his helmet. Because he was raised by robots.

Zach/Zahn: So it's going to turn to the two contractors, and it's going to be like we're going to continue, you know, doing our thing moving up. If you guys don't really want to participate in that the other contractors are down below, just, you know, don't, don't, don't. Please, or we'll have to make you die.

Bee/Polaris: What? No, I thought they, we were giving them the option to leave or stay. And we were going to,

Zach/Zahn: I know I'm giving them the option to leave or stay and if they try and stop us or interfere, they will die.

Avery/GM: You're just telling them to go wait downstairs, right?

Chris/Ollie: Unless they want to get into danger.

Zach/Zahn: Unless they want to help. They can help by, you know,

Bee/Polaris: Yeah one of them's an engineer.

Avery/GM: Oh gosh, these names. Zeno. Zeno speaks up and says I could go down to the engine room and perhaps give you all a bit more of an advantage.

Bee/Polaris: That'd be good. Actually, do either of you know anything about Rhea?

Avery/GM: Jasper kind of puts a finger up and is like, I actually have studied extensively a lot of the the members of the twelve for the hegemony council. I could, I could give you.

Bee/Polaris: The what? The what?

Avery/GM: Oh, the hegemony.

Bee/Polaris: They're, there's,

Avery/GM: they're, they're run by a twelve person council that serves the eternal one.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like deep sighs and like looks up at the ceiling and it's just like, that's so many people to kill.

Avery/GM: He has like a shocked look on his face.

Bee/Polaris: I mean the, the aftermath of what we've done is like laying in the hallway, like the robots and everything.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, we're literally, we're, yeah, where we're standing is right on top of them.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna pick up one of the robot blasters.

Chris/Ollie: Same. Actually, all they will do the same.

Avery/GM: Okay. Yeah. Whoever wants one picks up a 3d6 laser rapid fire laser pistol with a minus two penalty to hit.

Zach/Zahn: Is it minus two only if you engage the multi blast?

Avery/GM: It is only set to multi blast.

Zach/Zahn: Got it.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. But it has a permanent.

Avery/GM: So you all are standing here in this hallway, Polaris, you're asking Jasper about Rhea. And, Zeno has offered to go down to the floor below and mess with the engine room a bit to give you some advantage. And after Zeno leaves you hear Rhea's voice come on the intercom, and there is a chuckle. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, please. Please, don't, don't ask questions of, of that one about me, just Come on up to the command deck and we can talk face to face, Polaris.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris like flips off around him, like at any camera that might be somewhere, just like, just in case he sees it. He just like spins around with his middle fingers up.

Avery/GM: Fuck you.

Bee/Polaris: He doesn't know where the camera is. So he's doing the thing where he's like looking for it, but like flipping off there.

Avery/GM: Yeah, totally. And Rhea just says, Oh, you're so vulgar. This will be a lot of fun.

(Outro music plays, fades down)

Happy pride listeners. Thank you for listening to our show. If you've enjoyed our first season so far, be sure to go leave a review on iTunes, Spotify, or whichever podcast app you use. It really helps us out. Intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music includes Generation Ship from tabletopaudio. com, used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons, as well as the track, Another Time, by Joel Studler, used under a royalty free music bundle, purchased through humblebundle. com. We'll be back on June 15th with our next episode. See you out there, beyond the furthest stars!

(Outro music fades up and plays out)

Episode 43 - Marty Returns

Avery/GM: Welcome to episode 43 of Beyond the Furthest Stars.

(Intro plays, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: The elevator is just about to open back to the top of the order is Rho. Rho's just going to fire again at this robot. Help Ollie keep, keep the bad guys at bay. Okay. That's like 27. Um,

Chris/Ollie: Sniper

Avery/GM: Well, it's because she gets to use her telekinesis as her shoot skill with this weapon. 11 damage to this thing.

Zach/Zahn: Wait, so 27, was that a critical hit or no?

Avery/GM: No, that wasn't. It was a 19. She just has a lot of Frickin skill. So

Chris/Ollie: that's our Rho.

Avery/GM: And actually, she's not going to attack the one that's right in front of you because she doesn't want it to self destruct. In the meantime, she'll hit this one.

Avery/GM: Okay, that one's taken down. Next up is Polaris. What are you doing? You see these two shields come down in the hallway where Zahn and Bruce were just standing. And then they shut off when they don't have anything in there.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Polaris is gonna say, Guess back through the hole. And, uh, I think it's funny that Marty said my friends like to jump into things because Polaris plan is to run towards where his friends are, kick off the wall and jump over them, and stab the first robot with his laser blades.

Avery/GM: Oh my god. Yes, let's do it.

Bee/Polaris: And I'd like to think that the elevator door opens as Polaris is literally jumping into the situation.

Avery/GM: I think, I think that's, I think, yeah, cause Jenine goes after Bruce, so pretty, yeah, pretty much, like, Go ahead and roll, God, what would that be? Uh, Dexterity? Okay, let's do this.

Bee/Polaris: I'm a stabbin

Avery/GM: It's, it's, so it's your, it's gonna be a, uh, an attack roll with your stab.

Bee/Polaris: Mm hmm.

Avery/GM: Um, I want you to add, if you're Do you add dex to that? Yes. Does your exert skill have a plus to it?

Bee/Polaris: No, it has zero, so I don't get a negative.

Avery/GM: Okay, well then it's also an exert, but doesn't matter. So yeah, go for it. Go for this really cool attack.

Chris/Ollie: Are you jumping over us?

Bee/Polaris: I'm, Polaris is running and then he's kicking off the wall behind you to jump over you and stab the robot in the back.

Chris/Ollie: Can you like jump off Ollie's back and I can give you an assist?

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Fuck yeah!

Avery/GM: A 22? Yeah. No. Uh, yeah, you are able to, like, Ollie puts out like one of the little spider arm things that come out of him, and you jump, you jump onto that and just push yourself off and you are barreling towards this thing and you stab through it, go ahead and roll damage.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah! It's just the one laser blade, right? Okay. Cause, we don't have, there's no like, uh, dual wielding thing, right?

Avery/GM: Dual wielding in this game is, uh, Not ideal. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Yeah. Okay. And I can add my stab load is to that because of my hook. I, so nine damage.

Avery/GM: Dang. Okay. Minus nine. Okay. Yeah. This robot is damaged in front of you.

Bee/Polaris: Did I knock it over or?

Avery/GM: I will say that, yes, you did knock it over, but you are also prone with it. I think that is, that is the detriment to doing this really cool acrobatic thing is that for the moment you are on the ground.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine.

Avery/GM: Oh, robot one is destroyed. So Bruce, you are up next.

Caden/Bruce: I am going to get myself back to the other side of the hole.

Bee/Polaris: For the best.

Avery/GM: you step through the hole then.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, I, I do also want to wrap my tail around Zahn and pull him with me though.

Avery/GM: I guess that would be a physical save on Zahn's part. Unless Zahn is willing.

Bee/Polaris: Can you just choose to fail it?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Oh he's gonna be like, I'll resist. He'll be like, hey wait!

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: My physical is eight and I rolled a nine.

Avery/GM: Oh man. Okay. Uh, yeah, you resisted just enough. You kind of like shake your shake yourself free of the tail. And what do you, what do you say to Bruce?

Zach/Zahn: Uh, we need to be going forward, not back.

Caden/Bruce: Do you not just see the shield thing?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. I'm sure there's a panel around here somewhere we can get at.

And what, and what if it captures you?

Caden/Bruce: That's what you guys are for.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will just use his tail to face Palm.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn gives a thumbs up and turns around..

Avery/GM: Anything else on your turn, Bruce?

Caden/Bruce: No.

Zach/Zahn: Just lost hope.

Caden/Bruce: Just lost all hope.

Avery/GM: Jenine, the elevator door opens, and you see your friends, you see Bruce stepping out of the hole, which is different than the vision you saw, and you also at the same time see Polaris just doing this really crazy acrobatic thing at the end of the hallway, and then he just disappears and you see his laser blade sticking out like he's gonna stab something. But, you are here with your friend. Bruce stepping out of the elevator with Marty as you're coming through the hole, you see the silver shield right behind Marty.

Bee/Polaris: What!? What!?

Zach/Zahn: I don't remember the Silver Shield.

Bee/Polaris: I do. That's the guy that you were like, you, you guys went to the fucking facility and there was like a whole tour of the dude and you dressed up.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: You had a cosplay.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Avery/GM: He is looking healthy and strong. He is wearing a silver jumpsuit with a shield in the center of it with an S on it, kind of like Superman, but not because of the copyright and is also wearing a silver eye mask over his eyes.

Avery/GM: And he has this short kind of buzz cutted silver hair and he is big and strong and beefy and he has a telekinetic shield out in front of him, ready to go. Marty, you are here with your friends, and it's your turn.

Jenine/Marty: Amazing.

Bee/Polaris: Oh shit, he's evil.

Zach/Zahn: What?

Jenine/Marty: Oh no!

Bee/Polaris: Because I said

Jenine/Marty: Oh no! I've been kidnapped! Help! Everybody, help!

Bee/Polaris: I said earlier, the hotter the character, the more evil they are.

Jenine/Marty: Help! I've been kidnapped! SOS! No. Um, that's a JK. Uh, I think What else? Do I see like any of the force field in right now?

Avery/GM: No.

Jenine/Marty: No, I don't see anything. Do I see? Yeah, no. Is there like an electrical panel next to me or anywhere near me?

Avery/GM: There are no electrical panels anywhere near here. And I will say also the lights are off. On this floor, uh, there's just like the soft glow of a red alert, um, warning light going on. So everything, everything everyone is seeing is kind of like in like the shades of, of dark red and black. So that also might be contributing to all the bad.

Jenine/Marty: I'm a little squishy, so we're just gonna bump up and get some telekinetic armor going on right now. Uh.

Avery/GM: Oh, do you have that ability too?

Jenine/Marty: I do have that ability.

Avery/GM: What?

Jenine/Marty: I got it very quickly because I'm like, I can get a base 15, which currently I'm at a 13 and now it's at 13. Sixteen. Plus your telekinetic skill, which is a plus one.

So I'm at sixteen, which is three more than what I normally have, because I have no armor. Y'all, I'm built to help people, not throw myself into drama. That's me. That's how Marty is built. I'm here to support.

Bee/Polaris: We gotta make sure the support stays alive. Also, quick, quick question, don't, don't me and Bruce's laser blades give off light?

Avery/GM: Oh, that too, yes.

Jenine/Marty: Do I have a laser? I'm pretty sure I gave someone my laser blade.

Zach/Zahn: No, you have your own.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, you have your own. We all, cause

Chris/Ollie: We got hella laser blades.

Bee/Polaris: A lot of us have laser blades.

Jenine/Marty: I will, yeah, I will cautiously, cautiously walk down the hallway.

Avery/GM: Sure, yeah, uh, you pass by Ollie's drone. You are next to Bruce. And yeah. Say anything to your friends. It's only been like a week since you've been apart in game time.

Jenine/Marty: I give a little wave. Hi! I brought a friend. Please don't attack.

Avery/GM: Next up after, is that it for your turn, Jenine? Did you want to do anything else?

Jenine/Marty: That's it.

Avery/GM: Okay. Very good. The crew's back together. Uh, Robot 2, uh, is going to reach out its arms and try to grapple you, Polaris, while you're both on the floor. So go ahead and roll a evasion save and minus one since you're prone.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. I make it. No, thanks. Later.

Avery/GM: Okay. Cool. Very good. Uh, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: I rolled a 12. Sorry.

Avery/GM: No, you're fine. I don't care. That's why I had you roll. Um, yeah, it's arms are kind of just flailing at you and can't quite get a grip on you at all. Um, and you hear a disappointed robotic sigh.

Um, but that is that robot's turn. Robot 3 is going to shoot at Polaris. Sorry.

Bee/Polaris: No, no, no, no need to apologize. I literally said this is his whole entire deal.

Avery/GM: Oh, well, hey, it rolled a 5, so it didn't do shit.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go.

Avery/GM: That is that one's turn. Next up is Zahn. You're up next.

Zach/Zahn: As a Bruce ducks through the hole, he hasn't heard Marty because now there's a wall between them. He's going to like get up to about here and like survey it for any like panels. He's also going to flip. I don't know if I've already stated it previously, but if not, um, he'll flip the light on his On his, uh, laser pistol on, so he can actually, like, see.

Avery/GM: There are no panels.

Zach/Zahn: The fuck, why is this place so goddamn sleek?

Avery/GM: Well, you gonna put panels near where the prisoners can get to it?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, its a prison.

Zach/Zahn: Individual, like, door panels.

Avery/GM: Centrally located.

Zach/Zahn: Can I get all the way up here?

Avery/GM: You can. Yes.

Zach/Zahn: Cool. Then, he'll get all the way up there. And like

Avery/GM: I need another evasion save.

Zach/Zahn: I'm gonna use a different dice, cause the other one, while passing, is just cutting it a little too close, you know?

Bee/Polaris: Heh heh heh. Zahn's big adventure.

Zach/Zahn: Okay, well, I guess Uh, my, I don't know if it meets

Avery/GM: meets beats. Okay. Uh, yeah, you, you hear another switch come on and you roll just in time. Do a little barrel roll just in time to avoid getting Ray shielded. You are safe.

Zach/Zahn: And then a little more out in the hallway then.

Avery/GM: Yeah. The shield comes down, it doesn't catch anything and it turns off. Is that it for your turn?

Zach/Zahn: Yes.

Avery/GM: Oh, and I will say, as you passed this hallway, you did see a laser grid, and inside, uh, that prison, you did see a shadowy, like a figure that's, that looked like it was almost like a ball of light wrapped in, like, shadowy mass of some kind. Looked very weird.

Bee/Polaris: A friend for sure.

Zach/Zahn: Uh huh.

Avery/GM: Not everything in the shadows is scary.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. That's why I said a friend for sure.

Avery/GM: After Zahn is robot four, robot four is going to come forward and shoot at Polaris again. On the ground. Uh, that's a 16.

Bee/Polaris: Nope.

Avery/GM: Nope. Not with your special armor from Rho.

Bee/Polaris: That's right.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it did roll high enough that I am going to let it do a little bit of damage to its friend though.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Avery/GM: So that's four damage to the one on the ground.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah.

Avery/GM: Ollie, you are up next.

Chris/Ollie: Let's do it.

Avery/GM: Oh, I need to roll initiative for the silver shield.

Chris/Ollie: I can't remember what, what, what did we determine my damage from my, like, titanium teeth bite attack?

Avery/GM: I think that was just a 1d8 plus your stab.

Chris/Ollie: A stab, okay. Uh, that is not worth going in for the melee then. So I'm going to Hmm. Actually, I might hit Polaris if I'm going for this guy. This robot is pretty low on health, right?

Avery/GM: Yep.

Chris/Ollie: I'm going to shoot at this guy. I'm going to have everyone like just alpha strike this guy right here. Hopefully, uh, you know, they're not, I'm not controlling them. I'm just telling what to do. So if any of them shoot you in the back Polaris, it's not my bad.

Bee/Polaris: It's all good. I'm a bullet. I'm a bullet absorber, I guess.

Chris/Ollie: So we got 16 and 13.

Avery/GM: Both hit.

Chris/Ollie: Excellent. And then 3d6, so 7 damage on one. So we got a total of 18 damage.

Avery/GM: Oh, this thing's gone. Blows up.

Chris/Ollie: And then drone guy, um, he is the 20 plus a lot for an unnatural 20.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, I guess, so I'm gonna have him move up a bit over here and shoot over Polaris shoulder to this other guy.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: For seven damage.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: And then Ollie's gonna move up, like, kinda out of this guy's range, but able to shoot around him at this other dude. Oh, and, uh, his own attack misses. Oh, and the, uh, drone back here is still, uh, on reserve for any enemies appearing.

Avery/GM: Sure. Makes sense. Uh, cool. Robot five gets a signal from robot six and starts moving up towards this way.

Bee/Polaris: Uh oh.

Zach/Zahn: Uh, I wonder why.

Avery/GM: Ah, I wonder. And robot six does something else on the computer. Uh, this time I need, let's see who moved last. Ollie moved last. Ollie, I need an evasion save.

Chris/Ollie: Let's see here.

Zach/Zahn: I take it. The ray shields aren't in this main hall, in this entry hallway, but they're throughout the whole rest of the hallways.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, three isn't that definitely isn't something that I meet.

Avery/GM: Oh no. Yeah. Uh, a ray shield comes down and Ollie, you are, uh, trapped inside a force field that, uh, does not let any physical matter pass through.

Bee/Polaris: Physical matter?

Chris/Ollie: Physical matter.

Avery/GM: Well, I mean, yeah. I'm just

Bee/Polaris: Hehehehe.

Avery/GM: Because you can still see, you can still see through it.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: That's what I'm getting at.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Yeah. That's fair.

Chris/Ollie: Unfortunately, I don't have a laser gun though, so.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. But you do have laser blades, your general grievous.

Avery/GM: So you are a little trapped, but hopefully not for too long. Robots five and six just went. So back to the top is Rho. Rho takes a glance down the hallway at you, Marty, gives you a smile and you see her holding this telekinetic gun and it looks a little out of place for Rho because Rho's not like known to be combative, but you do kind of get a hint of the Rho that you met in her mind.

Uh, when she was crushing boulders, you know, that kind of fiercer, more tough

Chris/Ollie: the red Rho

Avery/GM: um, Red Rho yeah. And, uh, and yeah, and then she's going to help Ollie out and Polaris by firing at this clown.

Bee/Polaris: What? I'm right there.

Avery/GM: 21. Okay. Yeah, it hits. Um,

Bee/Polaris: Oh Good.

Avery/GM: Rho wouldn't hit you.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, she, she has though.

Avery/GM: And, uh, does 10 damage. So it's, it's getting closer to being not alive. Um,

Bee/Polaris: I was going to take it out. It's okay. I'll get it. I'll go for the next one.

Avery/GM: I mean, it's still there. Uh, Polaris, you're next.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Polaris assumes that the guy that is under him can reasonably be taken care of. The guy that is in front, uh, he is good? No damage?

Avery/GM: Uh, 13 damage. Er, 13 HP left. So.

Bee/Polaris: So, Polaris is going to Does Is Rho in chat with us?

Avery/GM: Yeah

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will point down to the one that he is on top of and say, in chat to Rho, uh, take care of this guy? Question mark?

Avery/GM: Thumbs up. Emoji.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, Polaris is gonna get up and he's going to punch the robot in the face. So he's gonna move and punch this guy in the face.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, roll attack?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris hits like a truck. Oh my god. Okay, um, I'm adding, what would that be? Strength? Dex?

Avery/GM: Strength.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, that's fine. They're the same. And then I'm adding my

Avery/GM: Punch.

Bee/Polaris: Punch. Oh my god. Oh no, this poor guy. Okay, uh 22 to hit?

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah, that definitely hits.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my god. You said this guy had how much health?

Avery/GM: 13.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, no he doesn't because I do 15 damage.

Avery/GM: Uh, yeah, you, um, I don't, you punch a hole through it? Like, how do you do it? Like,

Bee/Polaris: yeah,

Avery/GM: you hit this thing like a truck. What do you, what, what do you do? What, what,

Bee/Polaris: uh, Polaris literally just like, after having that exchange with Rho gets up, uh, like, power walks over to this guy and just decks it in the face.

Avery/GM: Sure. Uh, you lay it out flat and end up crushing, uh, its central processing unit in its head. Yeah. Uh, as it falls to the ground and is no more.

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. And then Polaris is going to make his way to the computer room. If I have any more movement left,

Avery/GM: you've got a little bit more. You can make it here, bruce.

Oh, sorry.

Bee/Polaris: Sorry. Polaris was just going to put in chat, going to computer room, smiley face, cause we have a map of this floor.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Uh,

Zach/Zahn: you get, uh, already on my way from Zahn.

Avery/GM: Okay, uh, Bruce, you are up next.

Caden/Bruce: The one that Polaris had knocked to the floor is still alive?

Avery/GM: Yep, just barely hanging on.

Caden/Bruce: Can I make my way there?

Avery/GM: Of course.

Caden/Bruce: Like, I'll be able to make the whole way there sort of thing?

Avery/GM: Yes, yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Sweet, I'm gonna do that, and then with my laser blade, stab it.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Caden/Bruce: Because they're on the ground, so I feel like that should be a, uh

Bee/Polaris: Oh, there is a penalty for that, isn't there?

Caden/Bruce: There should be, cause I'm not good at stabbing.

Bee/Polaris: Shooting a melee and an adjacent prone foe?

Avery/GM: Yeah. So that's plus two.

Caden/Bruce: Sweet, that makes it a nine.

Avery/GM: A nine does not quite meet their AC though. I'm not good at combat, it's okay.

Bee/Polaris: Aww. Bruce..

Caden/Bruce: I feel like As Bruce like goes to stab down because he's not used to using the laser blade like as natural laser blade He accidentally turns it back down to like knife function and just misses

Avery/GM: You see the robot real quick, like do that thing that you do when like you almost get like in danger, you kind of like touch your body to make sure you're still there, you know, so you just like touches his body. It's like, Oh, okay. And then it's, it's the robot's turn. Uh, it's going to stand up and. Make a shoot for Bruce

Caden/Bruce: Valid

Avery/GM: does it to the 16 hit?

Caden/Bruce: Yes, Does a 16 hit?

Avery/GM: That's 13 HP taken away

Caden/Bruce: love it

Chris/Ollie: I need to get some kind of, like, taunt.

Bee/Polaris: So that you get aggroed on.

Chris/Ollie: Cause I've got, it's hella AC, but they're like, ah, I don't want to like, uh, attack the dog.

Avery/GM: Come on. Uh, Marty, it is your turn now.

Jenine/Marty: Cute. Great. Someone is trapped, right? Or is that wrong?

Avery/GM: No, um, yeah, Ollie is currently trapped in a ray shield.

Jenine/Marty: Cute. Now I have a question. Can I do some little Tom foolery? If I were To use telekinetic manipulation, but specifically hit the, like, area above where, like, the forcefield's coming out of? Would I be able to dismantle it in some way?

Avery/GM: Let's see. I think you would, because it's not a very big piece. Let's see, telekinetic manipulation.

Jenine/Marty: So I have a level one.

Avery/GM: Level one, the psychic can manipulate objects as if with both hands and can lift up to 200 kilograms with Yes, easily. Yes, definitely. You could like, turn it, you know, rip it out. Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, great.

Avery/GM: Not a problem.

Jenine/Marty: That's, that's what I, I do to hopefully, like, knock out the, uh, the pant Like, to knock out the, the thing surrounding my friend.

Avery/GM: Sure. Yeah, you, um, yeah, it looks like you don't even have to make a roll for that. Am I reading that correctly?

Jenine/Marty: Yes,

Chris/Ollie: it just works.

Avery/GM: Cool then. Yeah, then you do it. Yeah, you're just you're you're great. Yeah, you run down this hallway You see your friend trapped in a ray shield and yeah, you yank out the components that are keeping the shield in place Ollie you are free to run through whatever you want All the fields. For days!.

Bee/Polaris: You're out of the pound!

Chris/Ollie: Little puppy running through flower fields.

Avery/GM: Marty, is that it for your turn?

Jenine/Marty: And I will I got this telekinetic armor. I can go make a little weapon thing. She doesn't know She doesn't know what she's gonna frickin make. I think she will make like a little pistol that is still equivalent to a tech level 4. Um, because she cannot carry anything that the same size as Ro is carrying. And will continue down the hall.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you got a little mag pistol, so that's 2d6 plus 2. Or plus all your, yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Oh my god, 2d6, okay.

Avery/GM: There you go. Okay. You are ready to go for the next round. Uh, that's for sure. Zahn, you are up next. You are in this hallway. You just dodged another ray shield.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, quick question to help Zahn. Polaris turned the corner. Did he see the robot going the opposite direction from their group?

Avery/GM: Yes. Yes. You, you see it, it does not see you. So.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Polaris is going to send a ping to Zahn with a video of the robot knowing the layout of this place.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's going to post a thumbs up and an animated nod emoji. And he's going to activate his graph boots and run on the side of the wall. So he can't get ray shielded no more.

Avery/GM: Very clever.

Zach/Zahn: Hypothetically anyways.

Avery/GM: Well, no, no, very, very clever. They would not have thought of that. I mean, you're still sticking out of the wall. So you could still set off the sensors, but yeah, it's going to throw it off a bit. Or who knows? Maybe there'll be something else that happens.

Bee/Polaris: Only half of you gets ray shield!

Zach/Zahn: Oh no. I get cut in half.

Chris/Ollie: They're like so giga brained. In the future, they're like, No, we put landmines on the walls.

Bee/Polaris: No prisoner escapes this ship.

Chris/Ollie: Magboots exist, why not?

Zach/Zahn: So I'm gonna probably get, what, halfway down the hallway? That's probably a good assumption.

Avery/GM: Yep. Okay. Anything else?

Zach/Zahn: I'm not sure what else I could do. Do you have a grenade? No, Zondanot is the only person I think that did not, in fact, have grenades.

Bee/Polaris: I do! Smiley Face!. I was gonna throw a grenade on my next turn, but it's probably gonna be gone by then.

Avery/GM: Next up is the silver shield. Silver shield. is going to levitate down here next to your drone, Ollie. And that's all the movement he gets. But you do see him No, actually you don't see him do anything. That's it. He does look at the hole, he's like, what the hell? And that's his turn.

Uh, Ollie, you and your friends are up next.

Chris/Ollie: The army. How's this guy looking?

Avery/GM: Gone, almost gone. Literally, A boot to the face would probably do it.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, and he's the only guy that we got going on right here.

Avery/GM: Yep, and you are freed from the ray shield.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, I am freed. That's right. So now that I'm freed, I'm gonna look over, and in my inquisical nature, to find out what happened there, and see Marty. And I'm gonna do a, uh, A mental check on myself.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: For 17, so I pass.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, were you about to go dog mode and like run up and

Chris/Ollie: Tackle. Tackle and drown in kisses. But Ollie resists the dog programming. It just gets a lot of, uh, tail wags and, um, welcome backs. And, oh, we've all come back through the hole, right?

Avery/GM: Yeah, no one's thr well, except for Zahn. Zahn is on his own little solo trip.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, solo mission. Also, I can interface with my little surveillance drone in the cell, right? but there's just nothing.

Avery/GM: You're in range, it does finally ping on your HUD, and you do see that it is inside a vent, and looking through the vent you do see the dark figure of some kind of snake like creature. Snake like body, but humanoid upper torso.

Chris/Ollie: What are my options with this? Like, it's in the cell, but can I go back through the vent and get out somehow?

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, totally.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, where can I like go with it?

Avery/GM: I didn't draw the vents here, but you could pretty much get to any section of this if you crawl far enough. Basically think of the walls as the vents.

Chris/Ollie: As the vents. Okay.

Avery/GM: Just for ease of traversing

Chris/Ollie: with, its like camouflage and sensor. Programs and shit. I'm going to try and get it out into the corner here and get some surveillance on where this robot is going.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. You easily make it over there. Totally. Okay. You can see the robot is coming down this hallway, uh, towards Zahn's position.

Chris/Ollie: Um, I'm going to hook up the drones optical feed to Zahn.

Avery/GM: So Zahn can have a good, a good look at it.

Chris/Ollie: Mm hmm.

Avery/GM: Perfect.

Chris/Ollie: And then, I'm gonna go, uh, go crazy on this last drone here. I'm gonna, uh, just have Ollie attack it. I'm not gonna do any shooting in case I hit Bruce. Just gonna have Ollie go for the, the bite.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Chris/Ollie: For, uh, 11. Which he misses.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's not enough. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. Your 11 does hit cause it was prone.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, it's a knockdown. Okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah. It hasn't been able to get up cause, uh, everyone's beaten on it. So yeah, it's actually the 11 does hit, I'm sorry, or the 13. So yeah, with the 11 and the plus two, the 13 does hit Ollie. How do you take this thing out?

Chris/Ollie: I'm going to go full on. I'm going to channel that dog programming and just, uh, clamp down on his neck and start shaking. And just, uh, Uh, do I even need to roll damage?

Avery/GM: No, cause your minimum damage would be two, right?

Chris/Ollie: Um, I'm not sure. The titanium teeth are plus two. I'm gonna go for the bite, not the

Avery/GM: Yeah, and it was 1d8 plus your stab.

Chris/Ollie: Well, my stab is like one. No, it's, it's zero. Plus zero. For two.

Avery/GM: Just enough. Yes. Okay. Yeah. You grab onto this thing's neck area of this robot and you, you shake it a few times and the head comes, comes off the robot body and you just hear a, ah, it's a little red eyes go silent.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's going to take the severed robot head and walk up to Marty and put it at Marty's feet and look up at it with a happy expectant look.

Jenine/Marty: Oh! And just a pat on the head. Good job. I'm proud of you.

Avery/GM: Okay, we are at the point where we only have two bad guys left and they're at the back of the initiative so everyone Feel free to go ham

Bee/Polaris: Zahn you got that guy coming towards you.

I'm going for the guy in the computer room.

Avery/GM: Sure. So oh wait I'm sorry, actually, before that, uh, Marty was the last humanoid to move, so actually, Marty, I do need an evasion save.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, yeah, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Oh, no!

Avery/GM: Oh, no.

Jenine/Marty: I rolled a one.

Caden/Bruce: Oh no.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Marty, uh, Ray shield. So you, you, you free Ollie from this Ray Shield

Ollie comes up and puts this nice robot head in front of you. And all of a sudden it flips on and you are captured inside a ray shield of your own, but probably not for very much longer. You should be fine. So Polaris, you're going for the computer room.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. Zahn, what are you doing?

Zach/Zahn: Uh, also going for the computer room.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: There's a guy,

Avery/GM: there's a guy,

Zach/Zahn: there is indeed a guy in my path though.

Avery/GM: How are you taking care of this guy? This robot guy.

Zach/Zahn: As I, uh, I like rounds up corner and come up on him. Uh, I'm going to like rotate to be running on the actual ceiling.

Avery/GM: Oh my gosh.

Zach/Zahn: And then as I like go over him. Uh, I'm gonna, uh, like stab the stiletto charge into, like, its neck.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, what does the stiletto charge do exactly?

Bee/Polaris: Literally just gives you a plus to hacking. You gave it to me in session one. The, for the Hermes stuff

Zach/Zahn: each, uh, each charge is a small interface. Plug the size of a human thumb when used as part of a hack against a TL four system causes a skill check to automatically succeed. Regardless of the difficulty.

Avery/GM: You hack this robot and this robot is now on your side.

Zach/Zahn: Huzzah!

Avery/GM: Or you can self-destruct,

whatever.

Zach/Zahn: No, we'll add it to, uh, Ollie's army.

Bee/Polaris: Yes. Become Ollie.

Avery/GM: Well, this one's technically under your control. So

Zach/Zahn: for now,

Bee/Polaris: you can make it become Ollie.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's fine. Polaris, you're coming into this, uh, this row, this, this computer room robot six turns around and is training it's gun on you. What are you doing?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, I'm using my jetpack that I forgot about to use my 60 feet of uninterrupted speed to punch it in the face.

Avery/GM: Okay, go for it.

Bee/Polaris: With the force of jetpack.

Avery/GM: This one's the computer nerd robot, so it only has 15 health.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well, I gotta roll to hit, yeah?

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: That definitely hits, I rolled a nat 20.

Avery/GM: Oh, okay. And you're doing physical damage. So let's see what your crit is. Okay. I don't know how you do this to a robot. No, you're fine. So it technically has bleed. So I don't know what that is exactly, but

Caden/Bruce: it starts leaking oil.

Avery/GM: There we go. Leaking oil. Yeah. It's leaking. It's lubrication fluids.

So it is. Not doing great, uh, go ahead and roll damage. I mean, it might not matter, so.

Bee/Polaris: 15 again.

Avery/GM: It's dead, okay. Uh, y'all are free to move about the cabin. Combat is over. Marty, you have brought the silver shield with you. You are back with your friends.

Jenine/Marty: I'm still trapped.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Marty's still trapped.

Avery/GM: You're still ray shielded. That's right.

Chris/Ollie: Ray shield.

Avery/GM: Polaris, you walk up to this computer and there is a button that just says deactivate defense or deactivate red alert.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris slaps it.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Uh, the, um, red alert stops beeping. The lights are still off because of the power being cut, but as soon as that's slapped, the ray shield, um, covering Marty deactivates. VB

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will send a picture of the button in chat and say, I did it! With a smiley face.

Jenine/Marty: Marty sends back a smiley face.

Yay!

Avery/GM: And everyone gathers. What do you do with these robots? Uh, Chris, are you having them just wait by the elevator?

Chris/Ollie: No, I'm just going to have them follow me. They're going to be like my personal bodyguards for now. I'm going to try and accrue as many as I can. Just leave all the busted ones though.

Avery/GM: Sure. You. Okay. So what's the, what's the play here on the, on the prison level now?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, are we reconvening or does Zahn wanna do something with the computer? Where's everyone meeting? Cause Polaris still doesn't know. that marty is here, on this floor

Zach/Zahn: oh yeah, Zahn Doesn't..

Chris/Ollie: Um, Ollie definitely wants to make his way to the computer room and start a finagling with their systems.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna get off the ceiling.

Avery/GM: Uh, the robot behind you is just like. What are your orders? .

Bee/Polaris: Oh, what's this one's name?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. . What is your designation? .

Avery/GM: I am designation G five Guard.

Guard five. So,

Zach/Zahn: well, that's lame. So now your name is, uh, G Day For G Day, .

Avery/GM: Good day.

Bee/Polaris: Aw

Zach/Zahn: Uh, good day eight.

Avery/GM: Good Day eight instead of good Day mate..

Zach/Zahn: Yep.

Avery/GM: You're funny. You're a funny guy.

Zach/Zahn: Yay. Yay. I made a funny.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: So few and far between those are.

Jenine/Marty: Um, as, as all of this is happening, Marty does send like a direct message to Polarious and goes, So, I might've sent an email to the custodians to try and find you. They're on their way. uwu Smiley face.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts dot dot dot in chat. Ha ha ha.

(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.

Tracks used include Base Assault and Star Freighter. We'll be back on June 1st with our next episode. See you out there beyond the furthest stars.

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!