Avery/GM: Hey listeners, welcome to episode 36 of Beyond the Furthest Stars! Thank you for your patience during the small, impromptu hiatus that I took during the holidays. Just a lot of medical stuff going on that I just needed to focus on that. I hope you found some new shows to check out, specifically the two shows we dropped in January for our feed drop. You know, be sure to go check those out. I hope you enjoy them. This is episode 36 of Beyond the Furthest Stars and again we, just to recap, we are diving into Zahn’s backstory by going back to his home and trying to get some technology from the computers on Zahn’s home world station and we’re finding lots of trauma in here. So just a warning there is some discussion of rodents, some discussion of violence, some potential limb removal, and just general violence. So listener discretion is advised and yeah, hope you enjoy!

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

Avery/GM: Zahn just finished hacking this computer up here in the corner and learned that three years ago Amanda activated something called Eli on level five and Polaris was able to disable two of these laser grids leading to this mysterious box over here with one more laser grid to go. What's the play?

Zach/Zahn: Well, Zahn's gonna hit the button to turn off that last bit of laser.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Bee/Polaris: As Polaris was about to, like, get a running start to, like, gymnastics his way through the lasers.

Zach/Zahn: Full spy movie, spy movie, no, no makes sense. Oh, yeah, my flips and acrobats just let me jump over these lasers.

Bee/Polaris: That, that requires incredible luck and calculations to be able to move in such a way that you don't touch any of the lasers.

Avery/GM: Oh hey, here's something interesting. I didn't actually put what is in that container in the notes, so that's brilliant. ,

Chris/Ollie: what's in there? Nothing.

Bee/Polaris: You know how some horror games when you're looking for something, like you open stuff and it's all just empty drawers?

Avery/GM: Yeah. No, but I meant to put something I meant to put something in there, so

Zach/Zahn: Oh man, is this supposed to be like the…. the pre boss room , stockpile of health potions?

Avery/GM: No. Nope. There's no boss. I mean, unless you count your father, but you know.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, we get to kill your father?

Zach/Zahn: , hopefully.

Caden/Bruce: Hopefully.

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Bee/Polaris: Let's go!

Avery/GM: I remember what I was gonna put in there.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: Are you opening it?

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Yeah. I was just gonna say. ,

Avery/GM: so Polaris Oh, go ahead.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, go ahead. No, I was gonna say something stupid.

Avery/GM: Oh. Polaris, you go down this hallway after Zahn deactivates the last laser grid and open up this crate. And you see that it is an attachment for like a vac suit, that is essentially a little mini jetpack.

Zach/Zahn: Ooh.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris picks it up, looks at it, and then, , looks over at Zahn. Can Zahn see Polaris from here? How far is this distance?

Avery/GM: Yeah, 60 feet, easily.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, never mind. Polaris is gonna, like, football throw it, but he can't do that, so he's gonna go give it to Zahn.

Avery/GM: Oh. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: What is that, like, less than 30 yards? Come on.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know what the average human throwing length is.

Chris/Ollie: The ceiling, the ceilings too low to throw.

Avery/GM: Also, do you want to throw a jet pack? I mean, compressed, , compressed gas hitting the ground.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, Zahn sounds like he wants to get a jet pack thrown at him.

Zach/Zahn: I was planning on attaching like stabilizers to my shoulders in a, in conjecture with my boots. So I don't know, I could take this thing.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Well, yeah, well Polaris just presents it to you because he doesn't know what to do with it, so.

Chris/Ollie: It'd probably go best on Polaris.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say, Zahn's gonna like, take it, and he's gonna look at it.

Avery/GM: Unless Bruce wants to...

Zach/Zahn: And he's gonna give you the, the turnaround gesture where he like, points his finger down and then spins it so you can turn around.

Bee/Polaris: , Polaris does a full turn but like, ends up facing Zahn again.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn face palm's, so he's like, just, just, show me your back. I'll put this on you.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. He turns around, actually.

Zach/Zahn: And then he, like, connects it to your suit.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: And then you get the readout on your facial display.

Bee/Polaris: Yay, I have a jetpack now. Also, I don't have, wait, what is it, what is it attached to?

Avery/GM: It's attached to your Vac suit.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, okay.

Avery/GM: And so essentially what this does, Polaris, is on your turn, you know, whenever you need to, , it basically gives you 60 feet of uninterrupted movement in any direction.

Chris/Ollie: So you, wait, it's 30 normal, so you just get double movement?

Avery/GM: That's Well that'll be in addition to your walking speed.

Chris/Ollie: So you get triple movement, okay.

Avery/GM: You, you'll have 30, 30 meters, or 30 feet of walking speed, 60 feet of jetpack speed. Once per turn.

Chris/Ollie: Once per turn.

Zach/Zahn: Damn, I need to add that to my own shit.

Avery/GM: And that's basically what your jet boots are, Zahn. I never, I never game mechanic'd them, but that is basically what they are. So, sorry.

Zach/Zahn: I should write that down.

Avery/GM: So, you've got a couple options here. What's the plan?

Zach/Zahn: I want to use the computer here to see what other, , potentially active things are going on, on the, on at least this floor.

Bee/Polaris: Don't we need to turn on the, , reactor?

Zach/Zahn: We don't need to, cause we have laser blades.

Bee/Polaris: No, well, it's for computer stuff.

Chris/Ollie: To use the PC.

Zach/Zahn: I, I put the battery into this PC.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's right. That's right. That is what you did. yeah. So, you know, that, The door to level two is locked. It says status locked. Automated turrets offline. And it says main reactor offline.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay, cool.

Avery/GM: And then it mentions that there is something docked in the airlock, which is your shuttle.

Zach/Zahn: Then I'm going to, , retrieve my battery.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: And say that the coast is clear.

Avery/GM: So yeah. So where to next? Do you want to go to the reactor or just cut your way through the door and get to level two or what?

Zach/Zahn: I just say we cut through the door.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Reactor is probably going to turn on all the turrets.

Zach/Zahn: All these auto defenses. That's my thought.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I was, yeah, I was just about to say, , I want to go to one of the turret boys and see if there's any ammo or batteries I can steal.

Zach/Zahn: Look at you, big thinkin

Bee/Polaris: I like making bombs.

Avery/GM: So, these turrets are good old classic bullet turrets. , so there are like, like you see in like the old war movies, like the little chain of, of bullets, like leading into like a feeder. And there's just like a little compartment on the floor that these, that this chain of bullets is coming out of. So, pretty easy to just disconnect and, and lift it. Whether you have any guns that can take those bullets is a different story.

Chris/Ollie: How big is the gun attached to the turret? Is it man size or is it too big to carry?

Bee/Polaris: Can I mount it on Ollie?

Chris/Ollie: Yes, exactly.

Avery/GM: I think a strapping young lad like Bruce could probably carry this gun, but I think most flesh boys would be hard pressed to actually carry this thing.

Bee/Polaris: Can we turn Ollie into a Ravager?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, I'm just imagining a mounted turret on Ollie's shoulders with Marty standing on the back.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Chris/Ollie: Ah, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.

Bee/Polaris: War Marty!

Caden/Bruce: I mean, Marty would never, but yes.

Bee/Polaris: Well, she doesn't have to fire the guns, Ollie can.

Chris/Ollie: Maybe they're just Ouchy bullets.

Avery/GM: Marty has been pushed too far.

Chris/Ollie: Marty's just holding on to the turret in order not to fall off.

Avery/GM: No, it's  Marty becomes John Wick and just, just gets pushed too far.

Chris/Ollie: Marty comes back as John Wick.

Avery/GM: I've seen things.

Bee/Polaris: We lose a medic, but we gain an assassin.

Avery/GM: So, I think, Ollie, you are a robot. You could probably also carry one with your tentacles, but it would, it would take up all your tentacle strength to carry one of these things.

Bee/Polaris: Can we put it on his big dog back? Like a pack?

Avery/GM: Yeah, do you have anything to strap it to him with?

Bee/Polaris: Glue!

Chris/Ollie: Well, we got a welder.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Zahn's got his,  Zahn's an engineer boy.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Zach/Zahn: I do have that kind of stuff.

Chris/Ollie: But it'll probably take a

Bee/Polaris: I also have rope.

Avery/GM: It'll take a little bit

Chris/Ollie: longer than we have.

Bee/Polaris: I have a survival kit. I also have rope.

Zach/Zahn: Just, just tie it to him.

Avery/GM: Yeah, if you want to do this, I'm going to need an exert, a strength exert check to rip one of these guns off of this thing.

Bee/Polaris: Can I use my laser blade?

Avery/GM: I suppose you could. Then I'll need a dexterity stab to make sure you don't ruin any components of the gun.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm so good at that. I'm so, so good at that. I don't know why I rolled three.

Chris/Ollie: The laser blade samurai.

Bee/Polaris: , okay. Dexterity stab?

Avery/GM: Yes, please.

Bee/Polaris: Eleven.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's, yeah, that's fine. Okay. I mean, you would have had, you know, five other guns to pick from. I'm sure, I'm sure five, one out of five rolls would have been fine. , yeah, you managed to, to cut this thing clean from its little turret assembly here. Zahn, are you going to try and field weld this thing onto Ollie dog body? Or are we going to just tie it with rope or what?

Zach/Zahn: If he wants me to field weld this shit.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, we can always just take it off later. I don't really need it though, I can't shoot well.

Bee/Polaris: What?

Chris/Ollie: So if someone wants to ride me and use it.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, my shoot skill is awful.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, what's your shoot skill?

Chris/Ollie: , negative one.

Bee/Polaris: Oh shit, mine's two.

Zach/Zahn: Mine's plus one.

Caden/Bruce: Mine's plus zero.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, but out of all three of us here, who can ride Ollie?

Avery/GM: I don't know.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, I'll take the bullets out of all the other ones. I'll just like, you know how like, clowns will pull like, scarves out of their sleeve or whatever?  Polaris will do that with the bullets in the floor.

Avery/GM: , let's see. You've got Okay.

Zach/Zahn: You want me to roll a fixed check for fixing this thing to ollie?

Avery/GM: Yeah. So, no, so this is a, so this is a heavy weapon. So it's a heavy machine gun. So we'll say you get about 500 bullets out of it.

Bee/Polaris: Just the one or out of all five?

Avery/GM: After harvesting all five. And this heavy machine gun can, , basically, when you fire it, it can do like suppressing fire, and, you know, it can grant you some strategic bonuses, you know?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, it should have like the burst quality, right? Which will just be throwing lots of bullets.

Avery/GM: Exactly.

Zach/Zahn: , that is an 11 on my fix check, by the way.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's fine. So yeah, so if you do suppressing fire, basically it fires double. The amount of, , bullets and then automatically hits whoever it hits for, , half damage. So three, so it'd be nine damage automatically when you do suppressing fire. But this is also a very heavy weapon. So Ollie, you now have a heavy machine gun mounted to you.

Caden/Bruce: So you can no longer pass for a regular dog.

Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Where do I put all these bullets?

Chris/Ollie: , in my little saddlebag that you made.

Avery/GM: Yeah. That's fine.

Bee/Polaris: Okay!

Chris/Ollie: I have the belt feed coming out of the back around my neck.

Avery/GM: Heck yeah!

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, okay.

Avery/GM: Rambo Dog! I guess

Bee/Polaris: I guess write 500 bullets on you. On your sheet.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: , Ollie's gonna like, shake himself, and like, the turret's gonna light up and beep a bit and rotate a little.

Bee/Polaris: Aww.

Chris/Ollie: He's like, your steed awaits.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, does he want Polaris on top of him?

Avery/GM: Oh, are you gonna ride Ollie right now, or later? ,

Bee/Polaris: well, he's already crouched down.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, if we could, if we, we're about to go through this, , door to another level. I'm expecting a bunch of enemies, so I'd rather be in combat position as we go through.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris rides Ollie.

Avery/GM: Okay. Okay, so how are you opening this door?

Bee/Polaris: I mean, do we want to turn on the reactor or no? Is the reactor only for this level or for all levels?

Avery/GM: , it's just for this level. So the reactor is just for this level, because, if you'll remember, this, this station is basically a collection of ships connected together. So, this reactor is really just for this ship, or what's left of this ship, I should say.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: , is there a control panel to this door?

Avery/GM: Nope. It would normally open at, , sensing your motion. Coming towards it.

Zach/Zahn: Okay. Well, my idea to bust open the panel and use the battery to power it to open it is out the window. So we'll just, , Zahn will activate the laser blade in his wrist and just start cutting like at the seam, , down the middle, I guess, is it a two part door where parts ways, or is it a raise up? How's it, how's this door work?

Avery/GM: , it's just a sliding door one way. It would, it would normally just slide into this wall right here.

Zach/Zahn: Gotcha. Then I'm going to. Cut the seem here, so we can pull the door.

Avery/GM: Okay. Sure. , you do that, and a rat comes scurrying out under your feet.

Bee/Polaris: I stab it.

Avery/GM: It looks really nasty. You stab it.

Chris/Ollie: How big are these little rats?

Avery/GM: , they are rats of unusual size. , so No, I would say,  , no, I'd say they're, it is a pretty big rat. It's like a two foot long rat.

Zach/Zahn: That's a big rat.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that's a big rat. And it's scurrying up, scurrying up, psh psh psh, psh psh psh. , who's stabbing it? Someone said they were going to stab it.

Bee/Polaris: I'm stabbing it.

Avery/GM: Oh. Okay, , roll to hit. Or roll, roll your stab.

Bee/Polaris: I do not stab it.  

Avery/GM: No?

Bee/Polaris: No, I rolled two ones, but I have oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Do I have a thing? For stabbing… actually that's probably not gonna save me. Yeah, so that is oh I lied. I'm not good at stabbing I'm good at shooting. Okay, so that's four total.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you stab at it You miss its tail barely and it just hisses at you and then runs up

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Bye.

Caden/Bruce: Can Bruce seeing that Polaris was trying to stab it just like Whack said rat with his tail to, like, send it flying against a wall.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll, , Dexterity or Strength Punch. Whichever's better.

Caden/Bruce: Oh, punch. Interesting. Okay. That's a nine.

Avery/GM: Yeah! There you go. , you hit it. Go ahead and roll damage. Unarmed damage, which I think is just Two. Okay. Yeah, it hits the wall, hisses, and then skitters. There's other rats in here, and they scurry into the hole. Or they start to scurry into the hole.

Zach/Zahn: That's fine, we're gonna go down.

Avery/GM: Okay. Everyone's going downstairs?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Mm hmm.

Zach/Zahn: Level two!

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will. Ollie will take point, once again.

Zach/Zahn: And then as we're going down, , Zahn's gonna put in the group chat that we made with, , with Amanda, , question. What is Eli?

Avery/GM: Amanda replies back, oh, did you already make it to level five?

Zach/Zahn: We powered on a computer.

Avery/GM: Oh, you found my notes. Yeah. Eli was a special project that, you know, I know that technically the architects are supposed to be sealed in the Citadel, but they actually regularly communicate with me, or they did, for the first decade that we were here after stuff collapsed, and asked me to complete Project Eli a few years back.

Avery/GM: And I told them I would, but that would be the last thing I'd ever do for them. Zahn just Be careful, there's, there's a lot of things about your father that you still don't know, and I think it's better if you hear it from him. But just, be careful.

Bee/Polaris: Hmm, prolonging the Trauma.

Zach/Zahn: Dot dot dot. Noted. Dot dot dot. What should I expect for the purposes of our safety and preparation in the meantime?

Avery/GM: I'll tell you this, don't shoot Eli on sight, it's going to look weird. It's a robot and it's going to have a brain in it. Just don't shoot it.

Zach/Zahn: Got it. Don't shoot brain in jar. Thumbs up.

Bee/Polaris: Is this in a private chat or in group chat?

Zach/Zahn: This was the group chat that, , you set up that, yeah. Group chat with Amanda.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a brain emote in chat.

Avery/GM: And you come down the stairway into level 2. A sliding door opens at your approach, revealing another dimly lit floor. Entering this door, you see that this room is covered in plant material, with a large tree growing in the room.

Avery/GM: The weight of this tree is starting to push against the walls. , and a small amount of water has pooled around the floor in this room, flowing in from some unknown area further in on this, on this floor. You hear breathing and panting coming from down the dark hallway. Another thing that catches your eye is the floor, which appears to be covered in a thin layer of Grass, or moss, or some strange mixture of the two, and it almost looks like the grass is sort of trying to reach onto you.

Bee/Polaris: Ew.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. This is floor two.

Zach/Zahn: Glorious.

Avery/GM: Oh, and you'll also remember last session, Ripley reminded you not to eat the food on this floor.

Bee/Polaris: Well, we have Bentos anyway.

Zach/Zahn: If I knew how dark everything was going to be, I would have bought flares.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, what does my survival kit have? Let me look at that.

Avery/GM: I'm sure a survival kit would have flares.

Bee/Polaris: , I have flares and also a glow bug. I don't know what a glow bug is.

Avery/GM: It's like a little disc, a glow disc. Oh, well I have those. A palm sized disc that can adhere to any non-porous surface.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, sick.

Avery/GM: When turned on, it emits a white light, illuminating everything within 10 meters for 24 hours. So you could

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just puts it on Ollie's forehead.

Zach/Zahn: I was going to say, if we had a bunch of those, we could literally just like light our way to and from the shuttle. So we have like a direct route.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris puts the glow bug on Ollie's forehead so that he has like a little headlamp and he will get the flares ready. I have three, three thermo flares.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's gonna like, keep looking up and spinning around trying to like look at it.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so coming down this hallway you do hear some panting and some heavy breathing coming your way.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gets the gun ready.

Avery/GM: Whoever's taking point or whatever, go ahead and roll a dexterity notice check.

Bee/Polaris: I think that's both Polaris and Ollie.

Chris/Ollie: That'd probably be Yeah, I think Polaris would also roll.

Avery/GM: And Zahn.

Bee/Polaris: Everyone but Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: Hey, I like my position in the back so people can see. See Bruce could probably see over the top of them. I felt like if Bruce was to lead, all you'd see would be Bruce's back.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah. True.

Avery/GM: Yeah. I guess that's true. Bruce, you can also roll if you'd like.

Bee/Polaris: I got an 8, by the way.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn got a 7.

Caden/Bruce: I got a 10.

Avery/GM: Okay, , so the three of you don't notice, Bruce, you see it, , you see the flash of the muzzle, , come from this bush right here, , just in time to like, get like one word out.

Caden/Bruce: Duck!

Avery/GM: And I need a, , evasion save from, , Ollie, Polaris, well, Polaris, you're on Ollie, so I'll say Ollie and Zahn.

Bee/Polaris:  Ollie please.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled a 19.

Chris/Ollie: I didn’t.

Avery/GM: Oh shit.

Chris/Ollie: I rolled a 5.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris:  Oh no.

Avery/GM: you and Polaris both take 7 damage as this, , gun opens rapid fire, , down the hallway. Zahn, you're able to dodge out of the way, , but yeah, Ollie, you are, , hit with this weapon, and take 7. And you can hear some kind of, like, laughter coming from this bush.

Chris/Ollie: , what, what kind of weapon is this?

Avery/GM: It was a machine gun. So, did seven damage.

Bee/Polaris: K.

Avery/GM: to both of you.

Bee/Polaris: Cool, can I do more damage? Can I light up this fuckin bush?

Avery/GM: Yeah, well, I was gonna have everyone roll initiative.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. okay. Fair.

Zach/Zahn: That's a nine.

Caden/Bruce: Mine's a five.

Bee/Polaris: Two.

Avery/GM: Yeah, so, , Zahn, you're up.

Zach/Zahn: Holy shit, that's double sixes. So 14 to shoot this guy?

Avery/GM: Oh, that hits.

Zach/Zahn: it is 6 damage.

Avery/GM: You do hear an ow out of the bushes. , next up is Bruce. You rolled a 5, so you are up next.

Caden/Bruce: I did. what do I want to do is the question. , I mean, we heard an ow, but I mean, we don't know what else is happening. I guess Bruce will also shoot the bush.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Caden/Bruce: That's an eight.

Avery/GM: That… he's undercover through this bush. So that is going to miss.

Caden/Bruce: Okay. Can I also, out of curiosity, , Sweep my tail across the grass. I just want to know what's happening with this grass.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll constitution notice check.

Caden/Bruce: Well, this is not gonna be very good. Seven.

Avery/GM: Seven. Yeah. You sweep your tail across this grass. This, this grass feels alive, but not in the way that plants usually are alive. It feels sentient. It feels like it's purposefully trying to like, grab at you.

Bee/Polaris: Disgusting.

Caden/Bruce: Do I have enough of a turn to thump my tail on said ground?

Avery/GM: I would say so. It's, it's, it's just your body. Yeah. You can thump it. you flatten this grass and it stops moving for a bit. And yeah, it's flattened. For now.

Caden/Bruce: Hmm. Bruce is gonna purposely step sideways. We're just, we're just gonna keep moving. I don't trust the grass.

Zach/Zahn: I don’t trusts this grass?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, disgusting.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's kind of gross. It's okay. It's just the House of Horrors. It's fine. Ollie, you are next.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, well Shotgun Boy, , he done pissed me off. And he's really close to me. I'm guessing I move slower with this thing mounted on my back?

Avery/GM: Yeah, half movement.

Chris/Ollie: Half movement. Alright, well he's right here, so I'm just gonna get right up in his face. And, , give him the laser treatment while pointing this big ass gun at him.

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll to attack.

Chris/Ollie: So that'd be 19 to hit.

Avery/GM: That hits.

Chris/Ollie: Alright, so now I'm gonna roll my damage. , 10 damage

Avery/GM: Oof, , how do you kill this guy?

Chris/Ollie: I ready my… an attack, and nothing appears to happen, and he's like, H? What's going on? And then he just starts sliding apart.

Avery/GM: Yeah, this, this guy falls to the ground, not alive anymore. Pathway is clear, you hear

Zach/Zahn: Ooh, does the grass immediately start, like, crawling all over him?

Bee/Polaris: Does it drink his blood?

Avery/GM: Not exactly. You do see the grass underneath this person start to attach to the body.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is definitely making a face underneath his helmet.

Bee/Polaris: Does anyone have fire?

Avery/GM: From down the hall you hear a slurping noise.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. What does my survival kit have again? Also, oh, , how much time has passed since we did the… got the stuff from the box and got down here? Cause I gotta heal.

Avery/GM: I would say it's probably been about 20 minutes. 21 minutes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: You're healing in a third of a time?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. So, I got the damage back that the dude took away from me.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will look up at you and say, My apologies. I appear not to have enough meat in my shield.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris pat his side, and then just says, Ew.

Chris/Ollie: And then Ollie's gonna start grabbing some of the Bouillon Cubes.

Bee/Polaris: Well, I already have five. I was gonna check my, , survival pack to see if I have something to make fire. I think I do. Cause I wanna burn this body, cause I don't want it to turn into anything untoward.

Avery/GM: I mean, you have your flares, and you probably have something flammable on you. I mean, the guy's hair is gonna be flammable. . His clothing, you know?

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I have, okay. I do

Avery/GM: have a fire lighter. I don't know that you have a heat source hot enough to cremate the person, but you could definitely burn them pretty well.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, you're, yeah, you're right. Dammit. I take one of the real bullets and open it up and dump the black powder on him.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: You might need more than just one bullet.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris open… he's never used bullets, so he opens it, dumps it out, and looks down. And then just like looks over and he's like, Is this enough

Zach/Zahn: Zahn shrugs.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie shrugs.

Zach/Zahn: I'm an engineer, not a cremator.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks over at Bruce.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce just raised, like, doesn't even have eyebrows, but just like, has that look of like, the one raised eyebrow. And just shrugs.

Chris/Ollie: , yeah, Ollie just says… When we disposed of bodies on the Eos, They just went into a chute. I didn't do any of the burning myself.

Bee/Polaris: Why were there bodies? Never mind. Okay. Well, I hope this doesn't come back to bite us. In the butt. Polaris is gonna have his

Chris/Ollie: Don't worry, everything always does.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks at his bullet wounds and he's just like, Please no.

Zach/Zahn: Please. please no.

Bee/Polaris: , yeah, Polaris has the gun ready.

Avery/GM: Okay, and from down the hall where you heard that slurping, you hear some, like, wet feet hitting the ground, like, splashing through a puddle almost, and then it fades away.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is just gonna swap to his, to his bolt shooter now.

Bee/Polaris: If something breaches, if something, like, comes into the surface of the light, Polaris is readying the gun to just start opening fire.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, that's right, you can just have, like, a burst readied for anything that ever shows up.  

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, that's what Polaris is doing. He's tired of getting shot.

Avery/GM: Sure. , okay, , where to next? , coming down the hall, you do see that there is a door right here, or the hallway continues and turns the corner and goes further in. So you can either explore this room or keep going. 

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is… Polaris takes out a Boyan cube and throws it, , right in the, like, where you can see it from the corner, but we can, but we can see if something comes at it.

Avery/GM: Oh, like right here?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, sure. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. , you throw a boyan cube and nothing happens.

Bee/Polaris: What's the red stuff on the walls?

Avery/GM: Oh, just flowers. They’re just flowers.

Bee/Polaris: I don't like that. Thank you, though.

Zach/Zahn: I don't like that.

Avery/GM: I promise, it's just flowers.

Chris/Ollie: Just flowers. Are they acting The flowers acting weird, like the grass?

Bee/Polaris: Can we scan the gra… Hey, can Polaris Pat's Ollie, and he says, Can you scan the grass with your bio scanner?

Chris/Ollie: Ollie's gonna look down and start his scan.

Avery/GM: Sure. Are you scanning the grass or the flowers?

Chris/Ollie: I'd like to do both.

Avery/GM: Sure. That's fine. go ahead and roll an Intelligence Heal check for me.

Chris/Ollie: Heal?  oh.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah,  oh. I'm pretty sure all of us here are like minus in that.

Chris/Ollie: Maybe the biologist should've.

Avery/GM: That's a four, Chris?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, a four.

Avery/GM: Yeah. With a four, your, your bioscanner is picking up some readings, but they're very hard to interpret.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will say, Good news, this grass is most certainly alive.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a frowny face on the visor.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we're not 100 percent sure if that's good or not, Ollies. Looking at the dead man who's, like, slowly getting enveloped by the grass.

Avery/GM: Oh, it's just, like, attached to him. It's not, like, enveloping him yet.

Zach/Zahn: Yet.

Avery/GM: He also fell near that bush, didn't he?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: You see the, you see vines coming out of the bush.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris lights the bush on fire. Polaris lights the bush on fire.

Zach/Zahn: Well, now this whole area is bright. , yeah. , let's see. Well, thankfully the area is damp enough to where I don't think that the fire will spread rampantly. Cause there's literally standing pools of water, so.

Bee/Polaris: It's okay, we got those fire suppression, , bots. I'm kidding, we didn't bring those. What's, what’s up with these flowers?

Avery/GM: Sorry. No, you're fine. , go ahead if someone else or if Ollie wants to again.

Chris/Ollie: Ollie will offer up the bio scanner and say if anyone else would like a try.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will scan it.

Avery/GM: Sure. Intelligence heal, please.

Bee/Polaris: oh. , in, okay. Well, heal is definitely negative one. , because I have nothing in heal. But that cancels out my intelligence, which is plus one, so it's a total of eight.

Avery/GM: Hey, that's not bad. Not bad. Not perfect, but not bad. I will give you this. There are, not as advanced as like a sentient being, but there are detectable brain waves coming from these flowers.

Zach/Zahn: They're gonna try and mind control us.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a yikes emote on his advisor. , in types in group chat, flowers are giving off some detectable brain waves. Is this Eli? Is this part of Eli?

Zach/Zahn: I hope not. Zahn visibly shudders. , and then he's gonna, , Is there a, like a, control panel to open this door? Or, , do we have to cut it open again?

Avery/GM: There's a little door panel on the side that just looks like it's a hand panel. And the lights are flashing, so it is functioning.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna open it.

Avery/GM: Okie dokie. you open the door.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, it's a squad.

Avery/GM: It's a squad. , these two gentlemen here, er, ladies and gentlemen, , they do snap their weapons up towards you. But before any fireworks take place on their end, this person here holds up their hand and just says, now, now, now, that's no way to treat a guest, come in, come in. Welcome.

Chris/Ollie: Are you taking that prepared shot, Polaris?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is thinking about the grenade, actually.

Avery/GM: Welcome, welcome to our humble little home.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s just going to be like, Oh, sorry, wrong room. And he's going to close the door and then he's going to take out his pistol and shoot the panel.

Bee/Polaris: And just lock them in?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Okay. You shoot the panel. ,

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is still streaming on his helmet. He's going to ask, , what's her name? Amanda.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: He's gonna ask Amanda who these people are.

Avery/GM: Oh, that's, that was Coulson's, , squad. Friend? Foe? Oh, no, definitely foe. He's, he's kind of a weirdo.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we picked up on that.

Caden/Bruce: Kind of a weirdo.

Avery/GM: Coulson was a botanical researcher down on level two, , before shit hit the fan. And is kind of responsible for a lot of the weird plants down there. He's responsible for the toxins in the food.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Polaris looks at the rest of the group and is just like, should I cut a hole in the locked door and drop a grenade in? Cause they could probably get out eventually.

Avery/GM: You do hear clawing at the door.

Zach/Zahn: I don't know, these doors seem pretty tough. They were able to withstand, , Amanda getting besieged for extended periods of time. It's not like they have a chainsaw or anything to potentially get out.

Bee/Polaris: Is that a risk that you are willing to take?

Zach/Zahn: I mean. Do you want to risk cutting a hole when the wall opens and then them getting out that way?

Bee/Polaris: Not a large hole. Just a hole, grenade sized.

Chris/Ollie: We should probably leave them alive for later. In case we need trouble with the plants. Or need help with the plants.

Avery/GM:

Bee/Polaris: Would they help us?

Zach/Zahn: Probably not.

Chris/Ollie: Under duress.

Bee/Polaris: I don't… I think they have nothing to lose. Under duress is Not going to be a motivator.

Caden/Bruce: How many grenades do you have?

Bee/Polaris: I have, I have three left.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we can, we can save them. They'll, they'll, they'll, they'll be stuck in there at least for a while. We'll, and we'll hear them coming cause they'll be angry about being locked in the room and they'll just chase us. So we can be, we can prepare.

Chris/Ollie: when… the glimpse we saw of them, , what kind of like heat were they packing?

Avery/GM: Three of them had, like, heavy mach… the, not the heavy machine guns, submachine guns like that other person had. , and then there was one off in the corner wearing, like, a full, like, radiation suit.

Bee/Polaris: Buddy.

Avery/GM: Who was just rockin like, a pretty sick looking blade.

Bee/Polaris: Y'all, I don't know, if they get out, I don't wanna be flanked.

Caden/Bruce: I think, if you're going to cut a hole in the wall to throw the grenade, we would also need some sort of diversion, cause they'll be, they'll notice the sound.

Chris/Ollie: And who's to say they don't have their own grenade?

Bee/Polaris: They would have thrown it out the door by now to get out, no.

Zach/Zahn: He's gonna back away.

Bee/Polaris: Ollie, do you have extend-legs?

Chris/Ollie: I wouldn't think so.

Bee/Polaris: Damn it. Okay.

Zach/Zahn: He's not full Inspector Gadget Dog.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Just the really long tentacles.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, because if Polaris was gonna cut a hole, he wanted to do it up top so he could just drop the grenade down on top of him.

Chris/Ollie: I'm gonna pick you up under your arms like a baby with my tentacles.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, you could stand on his back.

Caden/Bruce: Do you want to sit?

Zach/Zahn: Or sit on

Caden/Bruce: Do you wanna sit on my shoulders?

Zach/Zahn: Or do that.

Avery/GM: You do hear from the other side of the door just say, Hey, it's better if you let us out now. You don't know what's waiting for you.

Bee/Polaris: What's waiting for us? Didn't expect that one, did ya?

Avery/GM: Oh no, I did. You just hear laughter on the other side. Just (laughter) What's waiting for you, yes. He's kind of lost it a little bit.

Bee/Polaris: True, true.

Zach/Zahn: Just a little.

Caden/Bruce: Just a little.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris does the upsie, the upsie hand, like grabbies at Bruce. So that he can, he can drop a grenade on these losers.

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, Bruce will, . Like, help Polaris onto his shoulders and stand up, which would make Polaris so tall.

Avery/GM: Sure, go ahead and roll dexterity stab to see how quickly you can get this done.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris just, he, he, the reason why he also wants to like do it up top is so that they can't shoot through it.

Avery/GM: Makes sense, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: That's going to be 10.

Avery/GM: Yeah, , yeah, you cut this hole real quick, drop the grenade in, and it does some damage. How much damage? I don't remember. 2d6!

Bee/Polaris: Okay, 2d6. That is Ten damage.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you hear the explosion on the other side of the door. The door kind of buckles a little bit, but not much. You hear some screaming coming from the hole. And then some laughter. They're still alive, but they are injured. To say the least.

But at least they find it funny!

Caden/Bruce: Jesus. Yeah. It's just…

Chris/Ollie: Ollie’s just like Have fun with that, bye.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well they're still alive. That's not ideal. Can Polaris see through the hole? It's like a, it's like a grenade. How thick is a grenade? Like a baseball?

Caden/Bruce: Like fist size, isn't it?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, between the two.

Avery/GM: So it's not very big, and you cut it at the top of the door, so you won't be able to see much because they were right up next to the door.

Bee/Polaris: Fair.

Avery/GM: But you do see sets of like Legs and arms and stuff on the ground, indicating that they are laying down.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, sets of legs and arms,

Avery/GM: Yeah, not like, not like severed from the body. We're not talking about a super powerful grenade or anything here. Just a, a good old shrapnel grenade, you know?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, you didn't take a peek into a butcher shop or anything.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no. Just, but that's what you can see. It's like, you can see like an arm here and a leg there. Like, just based on the angle that they fell at. So, they are on the ground.

Bee/Polaris: Hmm. . Polaris is gonna take the… If he puts the barrel of his laser pistol into the hole and aims down, can he get one of them?

Avery/GM: I don't think so, just because of how close they were. You might be able to hit one of them, like, in the hand or something like that. I would say that it's definitely going to be a tricky shot with like a minus two penalty.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, Polaris looks over at Zahn and says, er, no, Polaris looks over at Ollie and says, Ollie, can you hand me one of the branches of the burning bush?

Avery/GM: Jesus.

Bee/Polaris: I don't want to be flanked!

Avery/GM: You just shot a bunch of shrapnel through their ankles and their Achilles tendons and stuff.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: They aren't getting up anytime soon.

Bee/Polaris: Excellent. Okay, well then I guess we can just leave them there. And let them suffer, I guess, I don't know.

Zach/Zahn: Get consumed by the grass!

Avery/GM: No, I will say, actually, , When you're peeking through the hole, One of them did fall near a bush, And you do see the t the vines of that bush reach out and grab it. And after a few moments, you do hear screaming.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris makes a yikes, , emote on his visor. And, , it's just like, I think we're good here.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn gives the, , thumbs up, , readies his, his, , makeshift rifle and then he gonna peek down this hallway.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gets back on Ollie.

Avery/GM: No one else here has psionic powers, right?

Zach/Zahn: No.

Avery/GM: Okay, cool, so that won't matter. Yeah, so peeking down this hallway, you just see, , another bush, and you see that this trickle of water is coming from this door, or this wall here. Almost as if, like, it's leaking through the wall.

Caden/Bruce: Do I have anything in my I, I mean, I'm asking you, I should probably know this. Do I have anything in my inventory that I could use as, like a cup?

Avery/GM: Oh, I'm sure Bruce carries all kinds of, like, Tupper wares and, like, resealable containers and stuff. Yeah, I, I, I have no problem saying that you definitely have something.

Caden/Bruce: I'm gonna fill up my measuring cup and then I'm gonna walk back, like, to the water source. And then I'm gonna walk back to the plants and I'm gonna water them. I, I wanna see what they do.

Bee/Polaris: They get wet.

Avery/GM: Sure, are you watering the flowers on the wall?

Caden/Bruce: Yeah, I am.

Avery/GM: You water these flowers, nothing happens at first, you know, and that's fine. , but you do see that they subtly turn towards you. Like all the bulbs on this flower just kind of turn and face you.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will wave. But I am gonna befriend these things!

Avery/GM: They shift back and forth.

Bee/Polaris: No? Oh, they're waving too.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris, after learning that the flowers have braid waves, Polaris feels very bad about the bush.

Avery/GM: Does Polaris though? I thought, man, Polaris has suddenly grown some consciousness. This is great.

Bee/Polaris: No, I mean, well, cause he didn't know that it wasn't just like a plant. And he doesn't like take pleasure in burning people alive. He does it out of necessity. So like knowing that he set an innocent creature alive, , a light is not, he's not too happy about that.

Caden/Bruce: I think Bruce, after seeing the plant, like, wave at him, will, like, make a couple of trips to, like, water said plants and now his mission is to befriend said plants and just be like, Just know that we will try not to hurt you. As long as you try not to hurt us.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is like, right here when you say that. Cause he was about to ask for He was about to ask for a piece of this burning bush so we could set this one on fire so we could continue to have torches.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris was about to apologize.

Zach/Zahn: He's gonna like, choke on his own words, just turn around and go like this way, around the bush.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris says, can we put out the bush? I feel bad now.

Zach/Zahn: That would take a while.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, there's so much water here.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, what are you gonna do? You're gonna put out a giant bushfire with a drinking glass?

Bee/Polaris: Hey, Ollie, can you do the thing that dogs do where they dig, but like in the water so that you splash water on the bush?

Avery/GM: There is some water right over here.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: There is a first time for everything. Trot on over. And he's gonna give it a dig.

Avery/GM: Sure, , go ahead and do a dexterity, , work check.

Bee/Polaris: I'm so sorry, Bush.

Chris/Ollie: Dexterity work… 12.

Avery/GM: Oh yeah, you, you're so good at splashing, you're, it's almost like you were made for this, like, you know, at one point, , yeah, so yeah, you, you splash enough water on this thing that it burns out, , and you just kind of burned the, it hadn't been burning for too long, so you just kind of burned like the top layer of like foliage and stuff, , and you see like a little vine reach out and wave back and forth.

Chris/Ollie: It's all cool, man. , Ollie doesn't stop. He's absorbed.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, oh, he's doing the dog. He's like, he loves it. Okay.

Chris/Ollie: He's full on dog mode.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, jeez.

Bee/Polaris: Ollie. Ollie? We're good. Ollie, we're good.

Chris/Ollie: He's still going.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn’s gonna turn around and say Hey, can we get back to the task at hand now? You put the bush out. Come on, Ollie.

Bee/Polaris: Do the whistle. Do the whistle thing for dogs.

Zach/Zahn: , Zahn has his helmet on. He can't do the fingers and the mouth whistle.

Chris/Ollie: I just play an mp4 of a whistle sound.

Bee/Polaris: , Polaris like, puts his hands under Ollie's muzzle and like pulls upwards so he's looking up and he's just like, come on, let's go.

Chris/Ollie: , he's gonna be like, oh. Pardon me, how long has it been?

Bee/Polaris: How long has it been, Avery? I would like to heal some more.

Avery/GM: It's been about ten… we'll say about five minutes, not very long. Long enough that, I mean, those are some pretty big splashes that Ollie was given, so.

Bee/Polaris: Five minutes.

Chris/Ollie: might I suggest we get a pool for the ship?

Bee/Polaris: Alright, let's go.

Zach/Zahn: So it's coming from, the, the water source is coming from underneath this wall. So I'm just going to splash on by.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris waved at the bush as they left the bush that we put out.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Okay. As you pass these bushes, you notice that now they're, they're sort of reaching out their tentacles and waving at you.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris waves back.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn is deeply unsettled.

Avery/GM: So, coming down this hallway, you come to another door, and then another path leading off towards the rest of the this level. Which way do you go?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris asks the bush, Give us your knowledge, oh bush one.

Avery/GM: You want to ask the bush?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris says, Is the path dangerous, or no? And then he does a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Thumbs up, yes. Thumbs down, no.

Avery/GM: Is the path dangerous? You see a tentacle come out straight, and then point up.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. So yes, it's dangerous.

Avery/GM: , it nods the tentacle up and down.

Bee/Polaris: Is the door also dangerous?

Avery/GM: It nods the tentacle Oh no, it shakes its tentacle left to right.

Bee/Polaris: Door safe.

Zach/Zahn: , Zahn's gonna open the door.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gives it a boyan cube.

Caden/Bruce: Just feeding the plants meat!

Avery/GM: It takes, it takes the cube and it brings it into the bush and you hear some rustling inside.

Caden/Bruce: Oh God.

Avery/GM: And the bouillon cube is gone.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn visibly shudders.

Chris/Ollie: I was gonna, I was gonna suggest trying to water them with blood earlier, but.

Avery/GM: Oh God. I mean, that probably also would have worked. So coming into this room here. this room, as you come in, you see that this room has a couple of those bushes and some flowers, , not featured here on the map is also, , a bunch of crops of various kinds. You see corn, you see, , berries and, and other kinds of fruit as well.

Zach/Zahn: Why aren't they eating these?

Bee/Polaris: Because this is probably it. This is probably the poison.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, right. The food that we shouldn't eat on

Avery/GM: this level Also,

Bee/Polaris: wouldn't it be sentient?

(Avery laughs)

Bee/Polaris: I don't like that. Laugh, sir.

Zach/Zahn: , what's the status of this console?

Avery/GM: powered up Ready for you.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's going to, , log in, I guess.

Avery/GM: Sure. You come across the journal entries from senior botanist Sloan, , a name that you recognize, but you weren't, you weren't really interested in botany, so you never really interacted with this person as much. her entries cover the last two weeks before the collapse, , and indicate that the, , botanist core couldn't create food, , that wasn't contaminated from, , some unknown contamination source deeper in the station complex. , she discovered the problem, , a few weeks before the collapse of, of civilization on the station and just, but couldn't figure out what the source of the problem was.

Avery/GM: but it appeared that all the seeds and plants on this station had been contaminated with some sort of toxin. And any scenario that Sloan ran indicated that society would completely collapse due to neurodegeneration within three, , generations. Even if, even if the station had survived, once the terraforming was complete, the colony would have failed within three generations.

Zach/Zahn: Oh fun!

Avery/GM: From this food source.

Bee/Polaris: Big yike!

Avery/GM: being inedible. Or not inedible, but

Bee/Polaris: Contaminated.

Avery/GM: yeah, causing brain degeneration. The, the last entry shows that Sloan was preparing to make an announcement to the rest of the colonists to come up with a game plan going forward. And there is nothing after that date.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is gonna kneel down by some of the crops and like, inspect them. Cause like, I feel like him being a chef, I don't know, but like, I feel like he would think that he could maybe see what's possibly wrong with them?

Avery/GM: Yeah. So, just at a first glance, are you using your bioscanner or just looking with your eyes?

Caden/Bruce: probably the bit of both.

Avery/GM: At first, just looking at them, these plants actually look like some of the best crops you've ever seen. Like, there's no defects, there's no physical abnormalities. Like you know, sometimes you get some vegetables that look a little weird. No. These are like, perfectly engineered to grow perfectly.

Avery/GM: Activating the bioscanner, , you do come across, , information in these crops, or a cellular breakdown of these crops shows that, , this, , this crop contains a neurotoxin that is similar in makeup, but not exactly the same as one in this galaxy called Hyrus Ortraya, And Bruce, you know, just from your, your studies of botany from, you know, chef school doing, you know, what's edible versus what's not edible.

Avery/GM: , you, you did hear in passing that this neurotoxin is not harmful at low levels of exposure, but prolonged long term exposure. . Or, sorry, prolonged short term exposure causes headache and nausea. , continuous exposure over many years, , leads to a breakdown in decision making capabilities, rational thinking, and even the control of your own limbs.

Caden/Bruce: Hmm, is there any way to reverse it?

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll an intelligence knowledge check. See if you can recall that.  Intelligence, no, sorry.

Caden/Bruce: That is A five.

Zach/Zahn: Can Zahn? Zahn actually, for some reason, I decided to have him have plus one in know.

Avery/GM: Yeah, does Bruce share this information with the rest of the party?

Caden/Bruce: I think so, yeah. I think Bruce would be like, These Vegetables, they look Too perfect and The bioscanner basically indicates that what they're contaminated with in a short term exposure would cause the people to, and I basically repeat what you just said.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris can't help with that, he doesn't know anything about biology, so he's just tying a bow on the tentacle of this bush.

Zach/Zahn: I rolled an, I rolled an eight on my know check.

Avery/GM: Yeah. You real quickly don't recall anything about this particular neurotoxin being treatable, but, , you also vaguely remember, well, I don't know, Zahn, do you remember hearing about this announcement from Sloan or were you busy with your other stuff going on?

Zach/Zahn: I would have left shortly after any kind of announcement was made.

Avery/GM: So, so I will say that when you heard this announcement from Sloan, she tried to play it off as there was a cure and that it just needed, we just needed time for the medical core to, , finish research on it, , and asked for patience from everybody. But That didn't really seem to calm anyone's nerves or anything.

Zach/Zahn: Nah, I'm sure it's one of those it set off, like, mass panic in Zahn. That was probably, like, one of the many final triggers for Zahn to just be like, Alright, fuck this, I'm outta here.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Can't even eat the fucking food.

Avery/GM: Hmm. , other than that, on this computer you also see a button that says, Open door to level three.

Zach/Zahn: Are there any cameras attached to it?

Avery/GM: there are not.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna like, look at the button, look at everybody and be like, Should, should I just open the door to level 3 or should we like, do the, pry it open and see what the fuckery is?

Chris/Ollie: Have you been here before, Zahn? Which way is the door to level 3?

Zach/Zahn: I'm gonna asse it's this way, right?

Avery/GM: Yep. I mean, it's down, it's down the hallway and to the left, you know, yeah.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce is gonna walk over to a plant, and just, and just ask, and just be like, Is level three safe?

Avery/GM: yeah, you see two vines come out, and like, go like, almost like shrugging.

Bee/Polaris: The bush shrugged. Polaris will ask the bush that he's tying a bow on, Can you make a grid of the next room?

And, and, like, can you make a map with the vines?

Caden/Bruce: These might be sentient beings, but…

Bee/Polaris: Well, if you stand in a room, you could, like, draw a box. Like, you could draw the layout of the room.

Avery/GM: I'm gonna say they shake the vines no.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: is there a way from this terminal to power on the lights more efficiently? Divert power from something to the lights?

Avery/GM: Go ahead and roll an intelligence program, yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Hoo boy, alright that is a walloping seven.

Avery/GM: Yeah, I'll give it to you. , you control alt delete, access the task manager, , open up the console,  

Bee/Polaris: Trouble shooting lights.

Avery/GM: Yeah, , no, you divert power from, so there's, there, I'll give you this. You have three options, , to divert power from. Divert power from life support, which would possibly kill these plants. Divert power from air filtration, , which would, eh, just basically put anything that's not sealed in a vac suit at risk of inhaling whatever's airborne in here or, , divert power to, , door locks.

Bee/Polaris: That's a toughie.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, I'm just gonna divert power from the air filtration then.

Avery/GM: Okay, that's fine.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, after we're done with this place, no one's gonna need to come through here.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, hopefully that wasn't like an innocent person.

Avery/GM: But, Bruce, I will say that you saw something as the lights came on in this hallway and you're standing over here. You did see something down the hall slip through one of these doors. And it had kind of a reddish, a reddish skin that looked similar to yours, but not exactly the same. But kind of that same, like, lizard y texture.

Caden/Bruce: Whatever's down this hallway, I don't think we're

Zach/Zahn: Sounds about right, let's go!

Bee/Polaris: Polaris gets the gun ready.

(Outro plays, then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Intro and Outro Music Produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by tabletopaudio.com and used under an attribution, non-commercial license from creative commons. Tracks used today include secret facility and miconid colony. If you want to support us, check out our website 1upPodcasts.com. We’ll be back on February 1st with our next episode.

 

See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!