IANNA: {Good work, let's keep on our toes for more though. Also, those winded, rest up while you can.}
IANNA (OOC): Just in case another wave comes in the next turn, those low of stun/end should take recoveries. After that would be setting up some sort of watch for more bugs (probably on one of the walls). Curt would be best for that as he can watch in a non human form. Then have Tal, Marco and Dasan go through the pods with the rest of our help. I can't remember who has engineering skills necessary for identifying the needed parts.
DASAN(OOC): Dasan should be able to help with the search. Besides... who knows what kind of cool stuff he might find. Dasan will definitely look for alien tech that he can try to reverse engineer. I may even apply exp to an alien tech skill slot if the GM thinks he has had enough stuff to study.
The group spends the next hour or so searching the pods but find no other parts needed to fix repair jump drives of the Darklight. As they are winding down their search Dasan and Tal both hear some distant sounds and, through the mental link, ask everyone to quiet down for a moment. As they do, everyone is able to hear some distant singing, coming from somewhere on the platform to the (relative) north and west of the pod room. The words can be clearly heard by everyone, "I AM the pirate king. And it 'tis, it 'TIS a GLORIOUS thing to be the pirate king."
GM: The singing is in the common imperial language and seems to be a single voice some distance away from the pod room on the platform above.
MARCO: Is this song a reference to a movie or theatre production that someone might be familiar with?
GM: You can assume that the Pirates of Penzance is popular in theaters nowadays.
IANNA (GM): How far away would Ianna estimate? Within 600 meters? Within 100 meters? Essentially, how easily could Ianna use her Distant Senses to check it out quickly?
TAL: "What in the blue blazes is that? Captian, would you like me to fly over and do a quick recon of the source of that, er, singing?"
IANNA: {Hold on that,} replied Ianna over the mindlink. {It may be safer for me to send forth my senses before exposing any of our physically.}
MARCO: {For that same reason, I am going to hold of on a mind-scan.}
Ianna stands stock still and activates her Distant Senses. Through the invisible perception point, she can see a group of people about 50 meters away walking in the direction of the Pod Room (and directly toward her perception point). Leading the group is the man who is doing the singing. As they get closer, Ianna is able to see the man well enough to recognize him as one of the five "high value" mutant prisoners from the Dar Formuth, a pirate lord by the name of Seliff G'Damnuk, also known to go by the name of Dark Claw. The remaining men in the group, about 15 or so, are all human and are likely former crewmen and guards from the Dar Formuth. All are armed. While the pirate lord seems downright merry, the remaining men all have a tired and hunted look about them as they follow the pirate lord.
The group turns down the passage between the pod room and the room with the red mists. "Look lively men," he says in a voice that is clearly audible to the group in the pod room. "There could be more of those shadows about."
GM: The group has dossiers of the five mutant prisoners in the databanks of the Darklight and everyone has had the chance to read through them. What you know of Dark Claw is that his powers revolve around a sheath of inky blackness with which he is able to surround himself. The blackness can repell attacks (force field), allows pseudo-flight (superleap) and can anchor him to any surface (clinging and KNB resistance). The most dangerous property of the blackness is his ability to form a deadly sword of blackness that can cut through most any material (potent HKA).
MARCO: Once we determine that this is not the mentalist prisoner, I will do a find minds (exact count, general location, focused towards the noise).
MARCO TECH: Find Minds [rolled 7] effect [rolled 6 3 1 1 6 5 6 5 3 6 2 3 - Total: 47, Body: 14]
Marco has everyone move behind him and then sends out a mind scan in a 120 degree arc in front of him. He picks up a total of 18 minds in the pirate's group.
IANNA: Ianna shares her findings with the group over the mindlink. {Well, I'm thinking we should talk to them. Any reasons not to? As we discussed we would maintain that we're just explorers with a mercantile vessel and got trapped here.}
IANNA (GM): Is there any thing about the darklight that would tip off that we're really on a military-sanctioned mission? I was thinking not but I wanted to be sure before I opened a dialog with them.
GM: No, the Darklight is an old Scout ship with no military markings. The only active duty military personnel in the group are Marco and Shooter and I'm willing to assume that they are not wearing their uniforms if the group so desires.
TAL: "Um, they may decide that we're their next victim? We don't know their situation. Our having an even moderately functioning spaceship might make us targets."
JACK: "And that's a problem? We have a nearly ideal situation for taking on Dark Claw here. if he decides to make us his enemies sooner rather than later. I am all for trying to get some intel from him first, but keep in mind that we are here to detain these escapees, and one at a time is far preferable to all five at once, don't you think?
JACK (OOC): Yes, I know Jack is ignoring the 15 to 18 refugees following him, but this is how he would think, they are not a serious threat in the first place, and they might even be following him unwillingly and refuse to act to save him.
SHOOTER: Shooter remains quiet as the captain decides what to do next.
DASAN: Dasan looks up from one of bugs weapon sticks. {The way you discribe the situation, they may be following the pirate because he is immune to the shadows attacks and keeps them safe to some degree. If we can put him in his place and give the others a way to get out of here they may not fight us.} Dasan starts murmmering in a low tone. "Now how to open you up with out causing damage to you or blowing myself up."
IANNA: {Quite possibly, I'm pretty sure that the prisoners are ruling through might and once defeated the others will back down. However, with the mentalist we can never be too sure if they'll not fight to the death. Either way, we want to avoid a fight right now anyway.}
IANNA: {My thought was we do want to establish contact and learn what we can. Isobella, Marco any thoughts?}
IANNA (OOC): I want to make sure you all get to weigh in on this. You never know what clever suggestions you might throw out there.
MARCO: {A quick review of our situation makes me think that we could establish and continue a ruse of some sort for a short time. By the way, I sense 18 minds ahead.}
SHOOTER: {How about if we make contact, but we hold a couple of people back in reserve.}
JACK: {Sounds good to me. I have the skills to make me believeable in whatever role you want me to play, and the defenses to stand up to any surprise attack they may attempt, so I volunteer to assist in the direct contact. Do you have any specific ploy or ruse you want to try? Do you want to do the talking yourself or shall I do it?}
DASAN: {If we decide to leave some people behind it might be best if I stay back} Dasan looks down at his laser rifle and mini gun.
TAL: "Captian, didn't you report that there were about 15 guards and the pirate captian up ahead? If Marco reports 18 minds, then there's an extra mind or two out there, as yet unaccounted for."
IANNA (OOC): Yeah, how sure is Ianna of her count of their group compared to Marco's count? Maybe we need to do another check to compare counts again to see what we can. I'm pretty sure we'll still need to go forward with a few of us to interact with the rest of our group in reserve. Though it's best to figure out where all these minds are. Does Marco have an ability like Mental radar where he can pinpoint their locations. That would be a cool power if he had it. I'll send an IC turn shortly once I get clarification on the counts.
GM: Marco picked up exactly 18 minds. Ianna estimated that there were about 15 people or so in addition to the pirate lord. She could easily be off by a few.
Before the pirate lord and his followers can get out of range, Ianna quickly activates her distant senses again, targeting a point some distance to the (relative) east where a walkway exits the platform and extends out over the red mists. She sees the group and carefully counts each person. She comes up with 18 people in the group, including the pirate lord.
IANNA: Checking quickly the captain replies to the others, {The mind counts check out. Okay, Jack, Isobella, Curt and I will go talk to them. The rest of you be ready as you may need to come bring the big guns. We'll see how far conversation will take us.}
IANNA (GM): I don't know the best way to get close to where they are. I could teleport the four of us to the other side of the wall, where the group wouldn't likely notice us but I'm not sure that would work. I don't want to show off the teleporting powers right now and wish to preserve our 'normal' status. Ideally I'd like the 4 of us to get close so we can walk towards them to make contact. If we can get ahead of them and then 'naturally' greet them as they come closer that would be great too. Just not sure the proximity and bearing of their group to figure out how to get close. Ianna can just call out with something like this, "Hello there! We're glad to see other humans in this strange place." She'll definitely be using her interpersonal skills to try to create a positive rapport.
GM: Getting ahead of them will be difficult since Ianna is not sure of the terrain in that area. I will send the next turn where Ianna, Jack, Isobella and Curt overtake and greet them. The rest of the group will hang back in the vicinity of the pod room where they can come running if trouble breaks out.
IANNA: {Yes, Jack. I'd like you and I to be front and center in the interaction. Isobella, I'd like you to be most observant about the pirate key and all the men. Anything you can pick up will be most useful. Curt, I also want to be ready for whatever they may try. You might need to use your stretching ability or shapeshifting if talk goes downhill.}
IANNA: {As for my approach, the story is we're a civilian science vessel searching for ancient civilization when we encountered the anomaly. We've had both run-ins with the bugs and shadows and are simply trying to survive. The goal is to earn their trust, learn more about what has happened and what they know of this place. We also need to know how strong of a grip the mutant prisoners have over the Imperial crew members. We will probably need their help if we're to succeed.}
IANNA: {We don't need to hide our roles in running the ship though I don't know Marco or Shooter's history with the Empire to be known. I also don't want our powers to be exposed until we have to. Especially Marco's mental powers. Questions?}
JACK: {I will back whatever play you want to make, I should be able to take your mental cues and shift gears pretty quickly. The one concern I have is that if we seem to have NOONE with powers they might be pretty wary and not believe that we could have survived to this point without it. I suppose heavy weaponry could have prevailed against the shadows, but we're not really showing a lot of that, either. If you want me to be wounded for this conversation I can whip up something believeable fairly quickly, but I can't do it once we're already there, we need to decide now.}
IANNA: {Hmm, it might be good to show some weapons while we're out. How about we all go visibly armed? I don't want to show signs of weakness and I'm not sure that having you be injured will help us. Since we'll indicate this is only part of our crew that should leave some question in their minds. If we show off powers then they'll know we're mutants and I'm not sure I want to start off with that being known.}
IANNA (OOC): I don't know what sort of ranged weapons folks carry but Ianna does have a heavy pistol. Hopefully we have a few spare guns that we can carry in case the others aren't armed.
GM: The follow are the obvious weapons for the group:
CURT - Colt Manhunter (heavy pistol)
DASAN - Multiple Cyber Weapons
IANNA - Speldar 9mm Pistol
ISOBELLA - Defiance Super Shock, Speldar Stunner
JACK - None
MARCO - Svarov Mini (light pistol)
SHOOTER - Sharp's Sniper Rifle, Colt Manhunter (heavy pistol), Bayonet, Speldar Stunner
TAL - Speldar 9mm Pistol
GM: Dasan and Shooter have the most obvious heavy arsenals, with Dasan's looking heavier.
IANNA (OOC): I know some may not have the skills to use weapons. Ianna really doesn't use a weapon but IC she would have had training so I bought the WF slot due to her special forces training. I also think it's really smart to have different attack options and the pistol of Ianna's turned out to her best attack against the shadows. You simply don't know when you'll need a radically different weapon than you usually use. In supers games it doesn't make a lot of sense for all characters to be packing heat and is definitely the exception if they do. But for a SciFi game it does.
IANNA (OOC): I'm guessing Jack probably doesn't have training and will never due to his philosophical outlook. Curt really should have at least the issued weapon that we got on this trip. I do remember Curt having a pistol back in the old game so IC it makes sense for him to still have the WF. Jason/Steve, does the new design of Curt not have that anymore?
IANNA (OOC): I guess since we're talking about this before the four of us headed off, she would swap Curt and Dasan to have the more visibly armed person with her. She definitely wants Shooter in reserve watching the group.
DASAN:{I'm good with that. Just remember that I am not a good mediator and that my forcefield is spent.}
DASAN(OOC): Is there any chance for me to figure out how one of these sticks work? It might come in handy for Isobella to augment her stick for a short time.
GM: Yes, Dasan can easily figure out how the sticks work. If Isobella wants to use one for any length of time, she will need to pay for it with points.
JACK (GM): I went back through the old turns in question and realized that there were less weapons than I thought, more basic equipment and binoculars and vacc suits and the like. I am fine with stipulating that Jack never took any weapons, he doesn't really like them and would only consider them props to support a ruse or an absolute last resort. In this case since it came up he would ask Shooter if he can borrow the Colt Manhunter just for appearances' sake, but if Shooter would rather not that's fine too.
SHOOTER (OOC): Shooter toolk the Speldar Stunner as the freebie weapon. The Colt Manhunter is paid for with points. That said, however, he will loan Jack either or both weapons.
DASAN(OOC): Jack can borrow Dasan's spare pistol that he took at the beginning of the adventure.
ISOBELLA (OOC): Jack is welcome to borrow either of Isobella's guns for show. If it come to a fight, neither is likely to be using a gun. Also, Isobella is wearing some fancy armor, which might give her a more formidable appearance.
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