Adventure Overview
Players: Morton, Faust and Jazz.
Enemies: Space Monsters, Space Vampires, Jawas and much more.
Started: As the heroes landed on the asteroid.
Ended: With the capture of the Epsilon team.
This adventure picked up right after the To Be Continued style conclusion of the last one. It opened as the two Epsilon ships landed on the mysterious asteroid. They had chosen a patch of craters as a landing site, mainly because it offered some concealment for their ships from aerial observation. This landing area was also on the opposite end of the asteroid from the location to which the encrypted messages had apparently been sent. By proceeding over the surface of the asteroid, Zaya and Vance figured that the team would be able to elude potential scanner sweeps, given the very real possibility of hostile forces inhabiting the area.
Personal Notes:
-There's nothing like high octane space combat in an asteroid field to get your adrenaline pumping. And better yet, the destruction of those Star Pteranadons puts you up to the next flight rank, giving you a classification of competent as opposed to mostly harmless. As far as you're concerned, this mission is already a success.
-Unfortunately, things seem to be going downhill from here. Due to the possibility of scanner sweeps, your commanders have deemed it too risky to continue this expedition in ships. Which means you'll have to proceed in the land vehicle Vance packed into the back of the APC. And driving one of those isn't nearly as much fun as flying about in the fully-fitted Vesper.
-Still, travelling across the surface of this asteroid does present interesting opportunities. The entire belt is supposedly rich with rare and precious minerals, including zirlithium. You wouldn't at all mind finding something similar to the Sunstone, especially one that can actually enhance the speed of your ship. Your orders instruct you to proceed to the co-ordinates on the other side of the asteroid, where the mysterious transmissions were being sent. But there's surely no reason you can't take the scenic route and search for these stones along the way.
Mini-Objectives:
-Obtain as many rare stones as you can, without alerting your companions to your intentions. (After all, they might take after Muradin and attempt to take what should rightfully be yours.)
Personal Notes:
-Flying through an asteroid belt isn't exactly your idea of a good time. Mainly because space battles do not present many opporunities to pick up corpses. But at least it did give you a chance to finish reading some of the D&D books that you recently acquired. You're now confident that you understand the rules system, though becoming so did require the boredom associated with reading through the mostly useless Complete Druid's Handbook. On the other hand, the book covering vampires seems like it might actually come in handy at some point.
-On the topic of vampires, now might be a good time to investigate certain rumours. You've been instructed to proceed across the surface of this asteroid in the land vehicle that Vance packed into the back of the APC. This would be a good chance to look for any signs of the rumoured space vampires. This large asteroid would make an ideal location for these fiends to hang out, if they actually exist. It might also present a good opportunity to test some of the vampire-slaying techniques you've been researching.
Mini-Objectives:
-Search the asteroid for space vampires. And if they're hostile, take them out.
Personal Notes:
-You can't believe the number of N*Sync fans that surfaced on the station during your fake promotion. These people clearly have no musical taste at all. They don't even appreciate cool bands like the City People or BABA. And they're violent, too. It took Blank and his security teams quite some time to calm down the riot that began in the pub. That's weak. It should be all about peace, man.
-It seems that you'll be proceeding across the asteroid itself in some sort of land vehicle that Vance packed into the back of the APC. From your point of view, this is an extremely groovy plan. You didn't enjoy flying that clunky APC, and can only assume that this new vehicle will prove more maneuverable. And that it has some sort of radio. Regardless, cruising along is a great way to pick up chicks, and you intend to do no less. Of course, some would consider it unlikely that you would run across any women on an uninhabited asteroid. But you've read records of the famous Captain Kirk's adventures, and you know that such things have been known to happen on multiple occaisons.
Mini-Objectives:
-Spend as much time as possible driving the land vehicle. Your funky rhythm obviously makes you the most qualified to cruise, regardless of your actual driving skill.
It took a few moments for the team to disembark from their ships, even after having executed perfect landings. Given the lack of atmosphere on the asteroid, spacesuits were part of an essential dresscode. Unfortunately, Jazz's helmet was incapable of fitting over his gigantic afro, and required some serious customization before the DJ could even get it over his head. This involved cutting out the top and extending the helmet through the use of some strobe light sockets. This resulted in a somewhat top-heavy helmet, and most people would have had trouble moving around while wearing it without falling over. Fortunately, Jazz's massive 'fro had accustomed him to a higher center of balance, and he was thus able to move around just fine. By this point, Morton, Faust and Blank were already suited up and had opened the back of the APC to reveal their new mode of transportation, the Windows Explorer. This vehicle was equipped with its own onboard atmospheric generation system, and enough passenger space to fit the four of them along with a minimal amount of cargo. However, Jazz was there before any of the others could get inside the Explorer.
Sliding into the driver's seat, the communications officer declared that it was now time to go Cruisin'. Morton could only agree, and suggested they take the scenic route to their destination. Faust was skeptical of this notion, and declared there really wasn't much worth seeing on a barren asteroid, with the obvious exception of space undead. Jazz ignored this point, and assumed his cruisin' position, slumped down in his seat with only one hand on the wheel. Concerned by this posture (or lack thereof), Blank asked Jazz if he actually knew how to drive. Jazz paused a moment before replying to the affirmative, in a manner that left real doubt in the matter. Regardless, the DJ declared himself the only one capable of cruisin', and thus picking up all the chicks they were sure to encounter on this asteroid. Faust once again questioned the likelihood of encountering any such thing, but Jazz retorted that the logs of the famous Captain Kirk suggested that women could often be encountered in the strangest places. Blank's warning not to mention the name of Captain Kirk came too late; a transmission seconds later announced that Jean-Luc Picard had already heard the reference, and he wasn't pleased in the least. Thinking fast, Jazz quickly claimed that the communications were shorting out while personally making static noises. After doing so for several minutes, he shut off the communicator, thus cutting the team off from their superiors at Epsilon. Which might be just as well, considering the detours that Morton and Jazz intended to take before heading towards their destination.
Exploring asteroids in the Spheran belt can be dangerous, especially when this exploration requires actually landing on the surface of these asteroids. As certain recently deceased PCs could testify, the dangers posed by the lack of oxygen are serious indeed. And while space suits might help reduce this danger, they tend to be rather fragile, and don't hold up well when worn in encounters with some of the more vicious space monsters that make their home in the belt.
These are the kinds of situations that require the Explorer. Now, intrepid Starfleet officers can explore the perilous asteroids from the comfort of this speedy, stylish vehicle. It's been specially designed to operate in space, with a mini onboard atmospheric generator and armor that can supposedly withstand a fifty megaton blast. It is also outfitted with the latest stealth technology, making it almost invisible to most scanning devices.
Driving the Windows Explorer relies on many of the same skills as driving a car. The following moves can be performed while doing so. The checks are listed according to the driver's skill. A successful move allows the Explorer to go the distance specified in the speed column. A failed check results in the Explorer crashing. Note that this also seems to happen randomly, whether the check is failed or not. It should also be noted that the stealth technology of this vehicle isn't perfect, and that certain techniques will tend to attract more attention than others.
| Move | Driving 1 | Driving 2 | Driving 3 | Speed |
| Crash | -- | -- | -- | 0 |
| Usually accompanied by all the screens going blue. This move is performed whenever a check for another technique is failed. | ||||
| Exploration | x2 Dex | x3 Dex | x4 Dex | 5 |
| The Explorer moves at a steady, if cautious pace. | ||||
| Cruisin' | x1 Dex | x2Dex | x3 Dex | 8 |
| The name says it all. Maximum style, designed to attract attention. | ||||
| 2 Fast, 2 Furious | x1 Dex +10 | x2 Dex + 10 | x3 Dex + 10 | 12 |
| The driver becomes furious, and consequently drives much faster. | ||||
| Stealth Mode | x2 Health | x3 Health | x4 Health | 7 |
| This mode was invented by a famous phantom army, and consists of playing extremely loud music that supposedly masks the sounds of your approach. | ||||
| Repairs (Mechanics) | x1 Dex | x2 Dex | x3 Dex | 0 (1d12 recovery). |
| This involves all passengers of the Explorer pulling out welding torches to fix the vehicle. It is based on the mechanics stat. Each successful check results in 1d12 HP recovered for the vehicle. | ||||
Jazz was now ready to drive, and managed to successfully back the Explorer out of the APC without a crash. He had already decided what to do first, and it involved a whole lot of anger. Blank was quick to point out that Jazz had the vehicle facing the wrong direction, but Morton quickly reiterated their intention to take a round-about route which would surely discombobulate any foes on the asteroid. At this point, the vehicles snazzy scanners finished their analysis, and had several things to report, aside from the half dozen fatal exceptions that could only be expected from such a machine. The readings showed several distinct and interesting landmarks scattered over the asteroid's surface, and displayed them in a map format that vaguely resembled the thing shown below.
Morton had only to examine this map for moments before deciding on the team's first destination. Clearly, this smoldering wreckage needed to be investigated. The nature of these crashed ships might very well identify the occupants of the asteroid. Or so he claimed. Jazz didn't need much convincing, and brought this group to their destination in a single round of 2 Fast, 2 Furious driving. The wreckage field was fairly large, with several sizeable and jagged chunks implanted into the asteroid's surface in such a way that they were visible from very far away. As the Explorer got closer, the team could determine that some of the scrap was fairly recent, and still smoldering. With some talk of looting that even Blank didn't object to, the three heroes quickly disembarked from the vehicle and started searching through the wreckage for anything of value. Blank decided to stay behind and guard the Explorer, which turned out to be a very good idea. Morton had his own 'good' idea, and it was to look for the shards of dilithium cyrstals that might once have powered some of these ships. And he found some, though there wasn't much of them left.
Jazz found something as well. While digging through what had once been the cargo bay of a trading vessel, he discovered a CD containing some spare drivers for the Windows Explorer. They would surely come in handy, especially in the case crash, which was a matter of when rather than if when dealing with the Explorer. Jazz went on to note that almost all the ships crashed here appeared to be trading vessels, and most showed signs of having encountered space monsters. There didn't appear to have been any survivors. This didn't bother Faust, but it did interest him. While regretting that they couldn't bring the charred corpses with them back to Epsilon, he was carefully checking the bodies to ensure that they were actually dead, and not members of the Undead. After all, you never knew where Space Vampires might be hiding out. As such, Faust was poking through the dead when he thought he saw one of the corpses stir. This particular one was wedged against a pile of wreckage, and almost out of sight, thus making him almost doubt the flash he movement he thought had come from that direction. Deciding to investigate, the mortician went over and started poking the corpse with his scythe. This prompted a loud shout. And that shout sounded like a very enthusiastic 'Houdidi!'
Before anyone could react, a brown-robed Jawa pushed aside the body and opened fire on Faust with his stun lazer. Of course, these weapons were primarily designed for use against droids, and inflicted little pain on a human target. However, the spacesuits were hardly resilient, and a shot from the Jawa gun left Faust's suit in a bad state indeed. At this signal, several other Jawas broke cover from among the wreckage and started their nosiy assault. They had been first to stake claim to this wreckage field, and they intended to keep its materials for themselves. In addition, several of the Jawas had recognised Morton Ragnarsson, their sworn enemy, and were now out for revenge. Another horde of Jawas had already converged on the Explorer, doubtless planning to salvage parts from the vehicle itself. Fortunately, Blank was fast enough to get inside, and was then able to use the Explorer to ram any Jawas that got too enthusiastic. The members of the team on foot weren't so fortunate. Morton's autoblaster was easily able to send the Jawa he faced flying, and Faust's scyhe had a similar effect. Even Jazz's Kung-Fu was almost enough to drop one of the Jawas in a single blow. However, the spacesuits worn by the heroes could only take a small amount of damage before being rendered useless, and thus leaving the wearer with no air to breath. Morton was only too aware of this as the Jawas blasted his suit down to a tenth of its strength. By this point, all the nearby Jawas had been defeated, but the slow grinding of treads and shaking of the earth heralded the approach of a massive Sandcrawler, its single rotating lazer blasting into the Explorer's armor, and leaving a hole in its wake. Deciding that they had heard 'Houdidi' enough for one day, the heroes quickly piled back in their vehicle and made a quick escape, leaving the Sandcrawler in their dust.
Jazz was ready for some Crusin' towards the team's next destination, which turned out to be the Lunar Spires. There was obviously no way that the Sandcrawler could keep up with such a stylish and speedy pace, and it soon receeded into the distance. While they drove, Morton looked into the possibility of fixing his badly damaged spacesuit. Being skilled in medical practices, Faust offered to stitch it together through the use of his seemingly infinite twine supply. Of course, this really didn't work too well, as it was hard to make the suit airtight with only crude stitches to hold it together. Eventually, the pilot dipped into his own kit of tools for the handyman's secret weapon: Duct Tape. This proved much more effective for fixing up the suit, although it did leave it looking a fair bit less professional.
A single dose of cruisin' was unfortunately not enough to get the Explorer to the Lunar Spires. And while attempting to repeat the maneuver, Jazz ended up crashing the vehicle. Several times. All the interior screens went blue, and pop up messages claimed that some sort of fatal exception had occured within the system. As well as being highly annoying, this also atrracted the attention of a Star Pteranadon that was flying overhead. Obviously sensing the presence of edible heroes, this pteranadon swooped down to investigate the currently immobile Explorer. Hoping to distract the beast, the group started tossing food out the window, including Morton's case of Vanilla Coke. However, this beverage had the unexpected effect of enraging the beast, and it let loose a star blast that further damaged the vehicle's armor. It seemed there was no choice but to fight. Of course, none of the heroes were eager to venture out of the protection of the Explorer, and they thus resorted to Morton's autoblaster, Faust's necromancy and Jazz's use of the twin Jawa guns he had purloined after their earlier encounter. The Star Pteranadon went quickly under such an onslaught, though not at all due to the powers of the Jawa weaponry. Faust really wanted to keep such a corpse, but admitted that dragging it behind the Explorer for the remainder of the mission would likely not be a good idea. As such, the group decided that they would return to the landing craters after their visit to the lunar spires, and thus drag the corpse of the Pteranadon back to their ship in the process. After some heavy repairs on the Explorer, the team was finally ready and able to proceed to the Lunar Spires.
These spires turned out to be large outcroppings of rock, stretching high into the space. A few of them showed signs of molten material, while others were veined with colorful minerals. The terrain surrounding the spires was harsh and bumpy, and eventually caused the Explorer to randomly crash. This also fried the current drivers, but fortunately Jazz had a CD of new ones ready to go, and after a bit of COM port configuring, the machine was back on track. Still, Jazz decided it wouldn't be wise to get too close to the pillars, considering the bumpy ground ahead and the fragile nature of the Windows drivers. In moments, he had joined Morton and Faust in leaping from the vehicle. Not surprisingly, Morton was the first to reach one of the spires, and decided to take some rock as a...scientific sample. He found the spires to be quite resilient, but the use of his big muscles soon changed that. Meanwhile, Faust was also interested in furthering science. He had spotted several small critters scittering throughout the spires, and decided to catch a couple for his...research. His first prey was a small rodent-like creature which, while quick, was soon captured by the frenzied mortician. After giving it a few zaps from his cattleprod to calm it down, Faust quickly pulled out some twine and tied the creature up. His next target proved more dangerous. It was a silvery lizard that ended up biting Faust as he attempted to sack it in one of his empty laundry bags. This snake bite caused a fair amount of damage to Faust's suit and served to poison him. But the mortician had prevailed, and brought his catch back triumphantly to the Explorer. He even had time to duct tape up his suit, using the last of Morton's supply, and suck out the poison as they drove back towards the landing craters. Blank noted that this stop hadn't really allowed them to accomplish much, but Faust was quick to play up the scientific merit of their actions.
A 2 Fast, 2 Furious later, the group had arrived back at the location where they had fought the Star Pteranadon. Using large quantities of twine, Faust tied the beast to the Explorer, letting the beast drag behind as they slowly picked up speed. However, their loud explorations of the area had not gone unnoticed. Within moments, Jazz noticed readings on the scanners, and Morton noticed a similarly placed cloud of dust on the horizon that seemed to be converging with their projected route - fast. Interpreting the scanner readings revealed that the approaching object was speeder, sized for Jawas and occupied by three of them. The speeder was also every bit as fast as the Explorer, and soon closed the distance between the two craft. It also had a rotating lazer cannon that aimed rightat Morton and blasted a considerable dent in the side of the pilot's vehicle. Furious both from this and his own driving, Jazz decided to vent his roadrage by ramming the speeder. Given that it was built for Jawas, it was obviously smaller than the Windows Explorer, and a quick sideswipe caused two of the Jawas to go flying out of their craft with loud trademark shouts. However, the third and final Jawa was able to maintain his precarious perch, and actually regained control of the vehicle several moments later. The speeder's deadly laser prepared for a second shot, but before it could shot, Morton let loose some shots of his own and blew the last Jawa from the speeder. Plans to strip down the vehicle vanished as it spiraled into an outcropping of rock, its explosion hollowing out yet another crater in the asteroid's surface.
By this point, the team had almost reached their landing location, and several more minutes of driving saw them there. The Explorer was in a bad state, but the first order of business was clearly to get the Pteranadon (or at least as much as would fit) into the APC. This was certainly Faust's top priority, and he was most disappointed to note that the entire creature wouldn't be able to fit into the APC in addition to the Windows Explorer itself. Rather than cut the corpse up, Faust decided to once again make use of his twine supply, and tied the Pteranadon to the back of the APC. This task finished, the four made their way back towards the Explorer. With no one operating the scanners, they were totally unaware of the danger swooping in from above. They didn't even see the ship until it had already fired shots from its linked Dark-Side Cannons at the stationary Explorer, causing massive damage. Morton rushed back towards his own ship as the Scith Interceptor swung around for another pass. The others rushed for the cover of the APC, not at all sure that the Explorer could take another such hit from the Interceptor's cannons. But by the time the next shots were fired, Morton's Falcon-X was already rising into space, and thus they were aimed at him. The ship's shields held, and Morton prepared for some fast-flying space combat. However, the Scith were unwilling to accomodate him, and instead flew off into space. Morton tried to pursue, but his spacesuit cramped his style (or so he might claim) and his foes got away.
Noting the possibility that the Scith might return to this location while they were away, the group cautiously decided to park the ships in a different crater before seeing to the badly damaged Explorer. It took several rounds of repairs before the vehicle was even able to function again, and it was only due to the proficiency of Blank and Morton in mechanics that it didn't take twice as long. But once it was finally said and done, the Explorer was almost as good as new. But everyone inside it could hear the shrieks and snarls of monsters that had apparently been roused by all the commotion. Deciding that it was time to get as far away from the area as possible, Jazz quickly got fast and furious, and not long later the group arrived at the mysterious structure.
The mysterious structure in question appeared to be a two-storey log cabin that appeared, on the outside at least, to be abandoned. The fact that someone had brought enough wood all the way to a barren asteroid in itself was strange enough, and thus the heroes decided to investigate the two-story building. The door hung on only one hinge, and soon on none after Morton was through with his loud knocking, to which there was no response. Pushing his way inside, Jazz pulled out and lit a pole lantern that he apparently carried with him at all times. Morton had a flashlight of his own, whereas Faust relied on his own vision to pierce the darkness. And it was fairly dark within, with the light of the stars partially blocked by the cabin walls. The main floor contained little more than a couple pallets and a kitchen area, all of which looked to have been ransacked in the not so distant past. Morton was intent on doing so again, and led the group over to the stairs. They quickly decided to check the second floor before the basement, and soon convinced Blank to lead the way, noting that his spacesuit was the least damaged. There was only a single room on the second story of the structure, and it was occupied only by old supplies such as wieners, beans and buns. Although Jazz was tempted to take some, Faust noted that they had no idea how long the food had been sitting in the cabin. There was nothing else to see here, so the heroes turned their attention on the basement. As they made their way down the stairs, they could see that a light shone from the lowest level of the structure.
When they finally got down there, they found fresh signs of life. This took the form of an old bearded man in a red jumpsuit and straw hat, who was hitting the stone walls of the basement with a pickax. Not very hard, but with many chuckles. Morton quickly recognised him as Frederique Hernandez, the prospector he and Mr. Rhyze had met long ago during their visit to Gangsta's Paradise. Frederique's reaction to Morton was much the same now as it had been then. He started leaping up and down and insisting that there was GOLD under this here asteroid, and he meant to get it, he did! There were two other people in the room. One of them wasn't so much a person as a mule. But Frederique was quick to proclaim this animal every bit as (and perhaps more) useful than his other assistant, who stood nearby holding an old oil lantern and glowering at the newcomers.
Placido Domingo Please proceed to page two of this adventure to boldly go where no reader has gone before.
Race: Fenixan
Occupation: Untrustworthy Miner's Assistant
Placido Domingo wasn't the first character to be described in his occupation summary as untrustworthy. But he certainly merited the adjective. Domingo could otherwise be described as a swarthy, mustached man with a big belly, a straw hat and a pair of tight overalls. There were some allegations that he had once been some sort of famous opera singer, but given his current state, this seemed most unlikely. Aside from being untrustworthy, his other main point seemed to involve doing as little work as possible and warning everyone that almost anything was too dangerous to be attempted, and that they would be much better off just going home. It was unknown at first why he didn't simply follow his own advice, but instead he claimed to 'assist' Frederique Hernandez in his search for gold on the asteroid.
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