Adventure Overview
Players: Rei, Mr. Rhyze, Morton.
Enemies: Fenixa Infernos, Jawas, Cowboys and ancient monsters.
Started: As the heroes were captured by the Fenixa Infernos.
Ended: With the destruction of the Time Machine.
This adventure began with the awakening of Mr. Rhyze. Morton and Rei recovered their senses soon afterwards. The three protagonists found themselves locking in a cage of some sort. They appeared to be in the back of some sort of cargo vessel. Their possessions were stacked against the wall on the far side of the room, completely out of reach. All three were bound, Morton and Rei by rope, and Mr. Rhyze by a solid admorite chain. Evidently their captors were aware of the psychic fire which the communications officer could bring forth, and were taking no chances. With luck and skill, Morton and Mr. Rhyze managed to free their hands. However, the knots binding Rei simply seemed too complicated. Rather than freeing her, the two ended up tightening the ropes and cutting off circulation to the janitor's hands. Fortuntely, Morton managed to rip the ropes before Rei's hands went completely numb. Now they only had to find a way out of the locked cage. Rei had managed to keep her ring of keys from Epsilon, and now began trying everyone on the cage lock, hoping to find one that would fit. Before she could finish this endeavor, the prisoners received a visit.
The hatch at the back of the cargo ship slowly opened, confirming the fact that they were still docked somewhere. Rayde stepped onto the ship, bouncing his official Blitzball. He told them that they would soon be on their way to Fenixa. Apparently, one of his friends back on that fiery world was willing to pay a price for Rei. Rhyze and Morton would likely be sold as slaves, since no one seemed willing to pay for them. Rayde had even asked the 'leader' of their expedition, someone who called himself 'Manolo', but that man had refused to pay any sort of ransom and claimed it wasn't part of his budget. In the meantime, Rayde planned to let his fans have a little fun with the captives. Five greasy Fenixan fans stepped onto the ship, half carrying loaded PK-43s and all wearing Official Blitzball T-shirts. Rayde gave one of them a blitzball before departing with a smirk. Thus armed, this fan entered the cage and began taking shots at the captives. Mr. Rhyze and Morton tried to avoid the throws, but still took several painful hits. Rei simply ignored this whole commotion, and it paid off. Her oblivious janitor abilities somehow caused the fan to miss her with every shot. The fans outside the cage cheered on their comrade even as they kept their guns squared on the trapped heroes.
Just when the torture was growing unbearable, the door at the back of the vessel tore open and a man lept in, hefting a massive blade-hammer. It was Jecht, the legendary Blitzball player, but the fans never had a chance to recognise him. A single spin-strike left all four bloody and beaten. The fan within the cell suddenly found himself alone against three angry prisoners. He did not last long. The group quickly used his keys to free themselves and collected their possessions. Jecht made several blunt remarks about bailing them out, and how lucky they were that he was here. Once all that was said, he led them out of the Fenixan ship. They found themselves within Space Dock 8, the same area where they had rescued Julio the previous day. The only other people in the hangar were five other Fenixan fans, who were rushing towards them shooting. Jecht told them to escape before station security arrived, or they would be filling out bureaucratic forms for months. However, before the three could escape, they found themselves face to face with Flavius and Tortilla. The Fenixan Infernos had no intention of letting them escape, but they proved no match for Jecht, who cut them both down. Morton was quick to grab Tortilla's powerful PK-97, and Mr. Rhyze looted Flavius' great scimitar for good measure. The three then made their escape, leaving Jecht to fend off the Fenixan fans. Before exiting the docking bay, Morton happened to glance up at the overhead control balcony, and noticed a single man watching the encounter. He quickly turned away upon noticing Morton's one-eyed gaze.
The Man in the Black Trenchcoat Upong exiting the space bay, the three found themselves once again in the crowded hallways of Starbase. A team of red-shirted security personnel were making their way towards the bay, but they were easily avoided. The protagonists made their way back to the Holiday Inn, where they discovered a few things. The first was that Manolo had re-opened room service. The second was that they had been captured for about a day. This meant that they would only be staying one more night, before leaving the next morning for Space Station Epsilon. As could be expected, the three were very hungry. Mr. Rhyze decided that they would eat after a quick visit to Crazy Sam. At Sam's, he sold the great scimitar, though not before being threatened by Sam's rifle. Morton grabbed Manolo and convinced him to purchase missiles for their new Heatwave. The two went to the Gap, (Galactic Alliance of Planets) where they found a bunch of people dancing around in colored sweaters. They bought ten Heatwave missiles, and then departed. Morton wanted to eat some Terrorian food, and so headed to the station's food court. He found a small barbecue at the edge of the court which promised real Terrorian Cooking. After ordering five very cheap hamburgers, the attendent tossed something on the grill which made a 'Meow!' sound. Don't ask what's in their burgers. Meanwhile, the others were also dining on burgers, at the local McCrock's. After eating, the group returned to their respective rooms to sleep. The next morning, they would return to space station Epsilon.
Race: ??
Occupation: ? Travelling Ice-Cream Salesman, perhaps?
This mysterious figure was spotted briefly by Morton. He was watching the encounter with the Fenixa Infernos. Nothing else is known about him. He disappeared from sight moments after noticing Morton's gaze. His only distinct characteristic was the long, black trenchcoat he was wearing at the time.
Preparations to leave went smoothly. The bill at the hotel turned out to be fairly high due to all the room service, the Pokemon channel, and several hams. Mr. Rhyze put those down on his report as 'Manolo's stupid expenses'. All their supplies were loaded into the ship. Morton insisted on flying the new Heatwave, which meant that the larger Falcon was crammed into the holding bay. The take-off seemed routine. The SG-3 easily made it out of Starbase. However, as Morton prepared to follow, a large Jawa ship tried to block the bay door. Only with the extreme speed of the Heatwave could Morton make his escape. The Jawas loudly protested this with shouts of 'Houdidi!', but it did them no good. For this journey, Morton had decided to use Squirrtle as the Hood instrument of the Heatwave. The pokemon also proved apt for washing the cockpit. About two and a half hours into the trip, the two ships approached another field of space debris. It looked very similar to the wreckage of an Electran vessel they had found earlier. Nothing mroe could be determined without examining the wreckage more closely, and no one was eager to exit the ship. Without any more incident, the two ships reached Epsilon an hour and a half later. Mr. Rhyze's replacement granted permission to dock, and the two ships smoothly landed in the military hangar. Commander Zaya was waiting for them, as was a very serious Jean-Luc Picard.
After executing a starfleet salute (standing still), the two commanding officers welcomed the team home. Neither were pleased with the fact that Morton had returned three days later than intended. He tried to explain that his ship had been damaged, although his excuse was weakened when others mentioned that he had made few attempts to fix his damaged craft once landing on Starbase. After dismissing the others, and ordering Morton to report for a special meeting later, Zaya met with Mr. Rhyze to go over his expense accounts. She found them to be in order, and told Rhyze he could return to his duties. After having the cleaning supplies unloaded, Rei was ordered by Picard to clean up a mess he had discovered outside his room. It seemed that things had already returned to the routine.
Personal Notes:
-You've noticed an old white-haired man has been poking around near the boiler room much more than anyone should. He must be one of the recent arrivals, although this still does not explain his interest in your 'secret' lair.
-These black marks require a great deal of effort to clean. As far as you're concerned, the type of complicated shoes which leave marks should be outlawed. The sooner you can get rid of these shoes, the cleaner Epsilon will be.
Mini-Objective:
-Clean up all the blacks marks scattered throughout the station.
Work log: Communications lately have been mostly routine. Your replacement seems to have left the station in a good state. However, he has destroyed your Free-Cell record. It looks like you'll have to rebuild it from scratch, but you don't expect that will be much of a problem with your computer skills.
Incoming Transmissions:
(This is a log of all recent transmissions sent to the station from the outside.)
-Several news reports have mentioned your actions during the Blitzball game. Analysts suggest that your incredible sphere shot, reminiscent of shots used by the great Sir Jecht, was the key factor which led the Deksiil Crescent Moons to victory. Reports also mention some sort of riot which took place after the game. Several Fenixan fans were arrested in the ensuing violence.
-You have received several requests for permission to dock. They have all been duly granted. One was of interest because the ship involved (some sort of custom Falcon) challenged you to a space race in a most arrogant fashion. Of course, you have much better things to do than zoom about in space.
Outgoing Transmissions:
(A list of transmissions sent from your console to the rest of the galaxy.)
-Encrypted transmissions are still being sent from your console. Several must have been sent while you were away, which eliminates anyone who accompanied you. You never thought any of them were capable of this sort of thing anyway.
-You have also transmitted Commander Zaya's full report to Star Fleet HQ, where it was received by Vice-Admiral Flanedra. The contents of this report was nothing you didn't expect.
System Status:
-The systems are working perfectly. However, your free-cell winning streak has been reset to zero thanks to the work of your replacement.
Personal Notes:
-Since your trip to Starbase, you have become very curious about Senor Nabob's presence on the station. The Coffee-Barons very much wanted you to kidnap him. Of course, that proposition was not feasible. However, Nabob must clearly be up to something, and it might be worth something if you could find out more about it.
-While intending to practice your new Sphere Shot, you found a basketball net set up in the Hydrosphere. Who would play b-ball when you could play Blitzball?
Mini-Objective:
-Uncover Senor Nabob's scheme, and his purpose on the station.
Work Log: You didn't expect the Commander to be pleased with your decision to stay at Starbase. The consequences of your stay include a great deal of menial labor. You have been assigned to maintain the outside of the station. This task requires a great deal of welding and boredom, almost in equal quantities. Your colleague, Falco Lombardo, has been sent to Sphere in one of the Falcons. He's escorting the Spheran Prison Starstreak which is taking Jabba and his goons to a more permanent holding facility.
Space Fleet Status:
Military Supplies:
Docked Flights:
Personal Notes:
Mini-Objective:
The action resumed as the PCs gathered in Bennigan's for the afternoon meal. Rei took this early opportunity to ask Jamal about his shoes. The rapper admitted that he had recently obtained new shoes, but they certainly didn't cause marks. Rei took a moment to confirm this before returning to her meal. Morton mentioned the black mark he had found in the military hangar, and took a few moments to grumble about his current task. He also told the others of the visiting ships. Upon checking, there did seem to be a great many more Electrans in the pub than usual. For his part, Mr. Rhyze talked of the Falcon pilot who had challenged him to a race. Morton found this news to be of great interest, and decided to head back down to the military hangar to examine this custom Falcon. At this point, an announcement over the intercom directed all bridge personnel to report to their posts. The yellow alert lights also started flashing. Mr. Rhyze quickly left for the bridge. Rei was more interested in discovering who was wearing the marking shoes, and in cleaning up all these annoying marks. Her first stop was to visit Blank to inquire about the visiting ships. The security chief told her the names of the captains, and told her that only the man with the Falcon had requested a guest chamber on the station. The others likely planned to stay on their ships. Rei decided to visit this room, meet this pilot, and check his footware.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rhyze had reached the bridge. Commander Zaya told him that three Drakhaan fighters were approaching the station, and no Spherans were currently expected. The communications officer hailed the ships, and received a response on screen. The man who appeared on the screen identified himself as Captain Ataris, with the Spheran military.
Captain Ataris Ataris stated that he must speak with Commander Zaya privately. Zaya gave the Captain and his men permission to land, but requested that they give notice next time they intended to visit. The three Drakhaans landed in the military hangar. The two other Spheran pilots made small-talk with Morton while their Captain went to speak with Zaya. During this time, Rei had reached her destination. Along the way, she spotted another black mark in the corridor, and brought her potent Mr. Clean to bear on it. Shortly after she knocked on the room's door, it was opened by the pilot she sought. However, he proved to be much more 'troublesome' than she could ever have expected.
Johnny 'The Man' Johnny bore no reluctance to show off his shoes, and Rei quickly ascertained that they were not the ones making the marks. When she left, The Man followed behind her and continued to demonstrate his 'witty' pick-up lines. His perseverance was amazing, and he followed the janitor all the way through her examination of the Bionicle science vessel. Her footware inspection did not go over as well on this ship. Before she could check all the footware, she was taken to meet the vessel's lead-scientist.
Professor Soliantis Soliantis had heard that Rei possessed a conservatory and a Squirrtle, and he wanted to investigate both. Rei recognised him as the man who had been scoping out the boiler room. She denied everything, and demanded to inspect the crew's footware. Soliantis countered by refusing the inspection unless he was granted permission to inspect the boiler room. Johnny looked bored. In the end, Rei left without admitting anything, or checking any shoes. The Man followed, but she finally got rid of him by convincing him to inspect his ship lest it be damaged by the untrustworthy engineer. Rei's next destination was the Electran vessel, the Croissant. On her way across to that docking bay, she happened to notice Captain Ataris entering the engineering bay. This did not deter her from her investigation, and she had soon checked the footware of the Electran crew currently on the ship. Discouraged from discovering the foul footware, she decided to see about the task of cleaning up all the marks scattered throughout the station. By this point, the Spheran ships had departed, leaving Morton to return to his duties. At least, until Johnny entered the hangar.
Johnny made several derogatory comments about the Heatwave before challenging Morton to a race. The bored pilot was eager to accept, and the two soon flew out of the hangar under the pretense of a normal patrol. That pretense disappeared as soon as the race began. The ships were roughly equivalent in speed, and only the piloting skill between the two could make the difference. As the two ships rocketed towards the Asteroid belt, Johnny's custom Falcon pulled ahead. However, once they entered the belt, Morton managed to blast several asteroids from his path with his lasers, and the enusing rubble slowed his opponent. As they approached the station for the final stretch, the two were dead even. However, Johnny bumped Morton's ship several times and maanged to pull into the lead at the last moment. The race was over, but the reprecussions were just beginning. Picard's voice came over their communicators, asking them why they had violated several intergalactic speed laws on their patrol. Jean-Luc informed them that they would have to fill out several forms to explain this little misadventure.
During the course of her cleaning, Rei discovered several strange things. The first was some sort of animal dropping in the outer ring hallway. She brought it to Vance for analysis, and after bearing blows from his rapier wit, found out that it was definitely horse droppings. Furthermore, while checking sick bay, she found Sam examining the corpse of a Red-shirt who had been badly beaten by a blunt object of these sort. Both of these events were reported to security, but no one really know what to make of them. It was in this atmosphere that supper was served and eaten.
After dinner, Mr. Rhyze decided to pay a little visit to Senor Nabob. However, he found Nabob's room closed, and the coffee-baron denied being present inside the room. Mr. Rhyze tried various methods of gaining entrance, but Nabob adamantly refused to receive him. As the communications officer left, he noticed Manolo and one of the annonymous technicians from the shore-leave approach the door. They announced they were here for the poker, and had brought coffee beans. Nabob left them in. Rhyze recalled that Rei had an old bag of coffee beans, and rushed to acquire them. With these beans, he was able to gain entrance to Nabob's room and the poker game. All the gamblers had non-marked bags of coffee-beans. However, the annonymous technician also had a high-quality bag. He wagered this entire bag on the last hand, and only Nabob could see his bet. Senor Nabob won the hand, and the entire bag of coffee beans. Afterwards, he handed the technician a small pouch. All three players left at this point, leaving Nabob to sip his coffee. Mr. Rhyze followed the technician back to the latter's room, but he had already figured out what kind of deal was going down.
-2 Falcon Fighters in perfect condition.
-1 unarmed SG-3 military transport capable of holding 20 people.
-1 recently acquired Heatwave. This ship is FAST!
-1 extra Falcon class missiles, not counting the four already loaded on each of the three Falcons.
-30 'slightly-used' Falcon missiles purchased from Crazy Sam.
-3 Space-suits complete with oxygen tanks providing fourty minutes of breathable air.
-Welding torches, masks and maintenance supplies. You feel like you have a bucket on your head when you wear ark-welder's mask…
-The Bionicle, a science vessel from Deksiil, is currently docked in Space Bay 1. These scientists are apparently doing some type of biological research.
-A trading vessel from Electra recently docked in Space Bay 2. You believe this ship is called Le Croissant, or something like that, and is on its way to Sphere to market its cargo.
-This one is more to your interest. A flashy-looking Falcon Fighter landed a couple hours ago in Space Bay 1. You haven't had much time to examine it, but it looks to have been heavily customized.
-Urban myths around the station have recently told of some mysterious figure known only as 'The Litterer'. Apparently, this villain will stop at nothing to create a mess.
-This menial labor is really getting on your nerves. You can't wait to get out into space with the new Heatwave. You're feeling the need for speed.
-You have also found several annoying black marks streaked across the floor of the military hangar. You're not sure what could have caused them, but they don't seem easy to clean.
-Test out the speed of the new Heatwave.
Race: Spheran
Occupation: Captain in the Spheran Military
Ataris has the look of a professional soldier. His face is hardened and creased, and his dark hair is closely cropped. He wears the traditional grey Spheran military uniform. He is also one of the commanding officers of the Red Wings, a famous squad in the Spheran space fleet. He is apparently in charge of the Spheran forces stationed near Sector Y. He came for an unannounced visit to Epsilon to speak privately to Commander Zaya about 'jurisdictional issues'. And unlike members of the Deksiilan starfleet, Ataris actually knows how to salute!
Race: Tortalian
Occupation: The Man...and a pilot
Aside from himself, Johnny had only two real interests: women and ships. He would often try to combine the two by getting women to 'check out' his customised ships. A skilled mechanic, he had made many improvements on his favorite custom Falcon, which made it very much faster than any normal ship of its type. The Man liked to prove this by racing any decent pilots he could come across. He had short blond hair, and wore a flashy purple jacket. Anyone who has played Chrono Trigger could probably figure out his theme music. Johnny The Man challenged Morton to a race, and will likely challenge him to many more, if the game is any indication.
Race: Deksiilan
Occupation: Biology Researcher
Soliantis was a professor from the University of Deksiil. His area of expertise was ancient species of animals which had gone extinct thousands of years ago. He came to Space Station Epsilon to investigate rumours that the custodian possessed such a creature. Soliantis wanted to do research on this Squirrtle, and discover how a supposedly extinct species could be reborn anew. Soliantis had white hair and a bushy beard. He customarily wore a white labcoat. His knowledge of monsters is considered very highly by the Intergalactic science community.
Before he could reflect more, the communications officer was called to the bridge. Commander Zaya wanted to send a message to the Electran Steel Star station about the wreckage which the team had found in space. Before this transmission could be sent, the bridge-crew heard a strange pounding. Just then, the turbolift doors opened to admit a large, floating Geodude. This monster immiediately attacked, killing several Red-shirts. Zaya had Rhyze call for security while she opened fire with her laser. The Geodude proved resistant, but was weak against water. When Morton and Rei arrived, they also brought the Squirrtle, who washed away the Geodude's rock armor. The battle was soon won. Security still hadn't arrived, and when Zaya sent a message for all personnel to report, there was little response except for a distress message stating that security was under attack. The Commander put the station on red alert and ordered the PCs to find out what was going on.
Their first stop was sick-bay, where they found Sam being attacked by a pair of barbarians much like the furious barbarian which had fought Morton in a previous adventure. After defeating these enemies, Sam agreed to accompany them. Their next stop was Bennigan's, where Jamal, Lucky and Soliantis were being attacked by dogs with bees in their mouths. Soliantis stated that these types of monsters hadn't been seen for years. In security, they found Blank and a brigade of Red-Shirts facing a giant Shoopuf. The monster was eventually brought down, but not before several more Red-Shirts were injured. Sam remained in security to care for the wounded while Blank joined the team. All the monsters they had fought so far had been native to Chalchak, and Mr. Rhyze figured that Senor Nabob must have been responsible. As such, they proceeded through the ring corridors towards his room. On the way, they encountered a group of three mounted cowboys, armed with outdated PK-27s. The Cowboys thought to rob the group, but this proved to be a big mistake. They were also shocked by the size of Morton's PK-97 gun. Upon reaching Nabob's room, they could hear the humming of some sort of machinery. However, Nabob denied any knowledge of this current situation. A quick search of his room seemed to confirm his denial.
It was only then that the heroes recalled Grassmann and his time machine. This explained the sudden appearance of these strange, extinct creatures. It also explained the noise of machinery which they now heard: Grassmann's room was adjacent to Senor Nabob's. A knock on the Winfried's door confirmed their hypothesis. Grassmann told them that he had finished his Time Machine, but it was out of control. He figured there must be an error in his boolean logic, but he wanted to leave the rest up to them. As they watched, a massive form stepped through the sparking time machine. It was big, hairy and full of rage. Big Foot. Fighting Big Foot proved disastrous, and only made the monster angrier. Their only hope was to push the beast back through the Time Machine. Only through the combined efforts of all present (including the tiny contribution of Grassmann) could the beast be pushed back. As Big Foot stumbled back into the Time Machine, he flung his arms about in fury and smashed the malfunctioning device, wrecking it. With a sigh, Grassmann said that he would have to start all over again. The heroes could hardly contain their groans. But at least the Time Crisis was over...for now.
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