IC: E-i-E - Ardent Emancipation

[Philistine]

Graff's voice crackles coldly over the comlink. "Open comms, rookie? All right by me.

"Fact Four. The initial mission brief warned of extensive, lethal traps all through this facility, so there is ZERO reason to believe that the traps we've stumbled into are in any way connected to either the Sith bioweapon or to this mysterious presence you claim to have contacted within the facility. Moreover, setting traps does not seem to be within the capabilities of the victims of the bioweapon; and if they're the work of your Mysterious Presence, then it clearly has the run of the facility and the "race" is already lost.

"Fact Five. The "race." You claim this Mysterious Presence - which only you have had any contact with or even sensed - has "challenged" us to a "race" to the objective. Karking think about that for three seconds, would you? If it's hostile and even moderately intelligent, WHY would it tell us its plans? And if you believe someone is so malevolent, why would you ever trust anything they say? We know of an excellent reason for our presumed opponent to lie - namely, to provoke us into rushing ahead blindly. With Krayt inbound we're certainly on the clock, but this "race" idea is like something a Kowackian Monkey-Lizard would dream up.

Fact Six. We don't know the layout of this facility, and we most particularly don't know where inside it the objective might be. For all we know, it could be on this very level - which would make sense in a way, as the one-way design of the facility means that "near to the entrance" is also "far from the exit." But since we have no idea where anything is here, your whole "no time for exploring" schtick is just karking ridiculous. Any move we make at this point is "exploring!" So I'm going to go poke my head down that hallway, because that's the most promising avenue of exploration we have at the moment. If you're determined to climb the elevator shaft, that's your funeral."

Graff turns and strides off toward the stairs leading up to the unmarked hallway.

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Perception: (1d20+12)[19](31)

[Major]

Kelaeon took a deep breath as he clenched his fist and paused for a moment as Graff spoke. He was starting to question the man's ability to not be a liability or at the very best to not get killed running off by himself. "I was under the impression we had more important things to do then be petty, but since you clearly don't..." Kelaeon says rolling his eyes.

"Fact four, as you put it so maturely, are you even listening to yourself speak? Because if so then I'm even more worried about your mental state. I'm hoping the Vong spores are screwing with your brain, because I'd be very worried otherwise. You say there is zero reason for us to suspect the traps are connected because we knew there were traps. Yet you don't find the nature of the traps, the fact that there is suddenly a bioweapon and a dark presence, at all strange? So far most the traps have served to puncture suits, so unless you consider the bioweapon to be normal prison security defenses I think it is safe to say that at the very least some of these traps are not normal prison defenses. Let's compare the prison defenses we knew about to these new ones. Alright, the droids and the venting of the systems, seems like normal prison defenses. The shield generators that were supposed to exist, seems normal. The heavy blasters that auto-target anyone entering the wrong way, excessive, but makes sense as well. We knew there was a labyrinth and it was confusing, again makes sense to cause prisoners to get lost. Now let's compare to spike pits, bioweapons, and dark presences that recognize us. In addition, it is stupid to plan for the best and all plans should automatically assume the worst. Somebody released a bioweapon here and somebody is going after the doctor, you can assume all traps are normal prison traps, but it is safer and will have much less deaths to instead assume the worst and work on avoiding traps rather than trusting that we can get the prison not to hurt us."

"Fact five, I'm not sure if you realize this but Force Sensitives are sent on missions for a reason. You might not be able to sense it, but honestly, I don't give a damn. I'm here for this very reason. Everyone here is supposed to provide some addition to the team and if you want to ignore something just because you can't sense it then you can turn around and head back to the ship now since trusting the entire squads perception is what is important here, not just your own. This is not the 'Graff' show, and you are NOT in charge of this mission. You can listen to everyone's senses, as opposed to just your own, or you can leave. Moving on past your implied statement and on to the race, you'll notice we are stopped here and working on what is best. You'll notice we made our way to this location then waited and didn't just jump on an elevator. This has little to do with blindly rushing ahead and more to do with saying not to waste time with things irrelevant to the mission. This is ignoring the fact I said the presence was dark and dangerous. As for why? Because the vibe I got from the conversation with them. I don't doubt they want the traps to work, but I also don't doubt they will move toward the doctor."

"Fact six, I'm going to question your ability to listen now. My comment about exploration had nothing to do with whether we went down the hallway or up the elevator, that was in regards to running off and exploring ships. Context, you might want to learn it."

Kelaeon nods at the hallway,"Now then, I will agree with you on one point. We don't know where our target is and sadly using the Force won't help much since in a labyrinth style prison direction isn't much aid. I don't trust the elevator, and can agree that climbing the shaft is not optimal. While I dislike heading toward an unmarked area, it does seem the better of the choices." He nods at the hallway, "Let's move. Again, stick with a partner. At least two, preferably more. Keep an eye on your partner at all times, call out if something happens as quickly as possible."

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Forgot the perception roll after the monologue so...see ooc thread

[Noedig]

Jarik opened up a private channel to Jax amidst the tirade.

"Sith me, they sound like a married couple. Makes you wish we had a military leader, don't it? Less moaning and fewer pissing matches, that's for sure."

[Felhammer]

Jax hits his private comm and responds, "Damn non-military "officers". Don't know a karking thing about the military. Heck, most of the time real officers don't know much either. I only follow Gruntficers, like you sir. I'm glad you're here to straighten these poodoo "officers" out."

[Noedig]

"Tell you what, kill 'em both."

Jarik changed his mind as the words left his mouth.

"Nah, scratch that. Deadeye's too good of a shot to get rid of and we need Stumbles to find the VIP. Plus Ice, Blue and Bones are down here and there's no way we could convince them to play along. Damn. Ah well, can't win 'em all."

[Thundercracker]

Ice
Ice is unable to hear anything from the box over the chatter from his team, but he's unable to feel any vibrations coming from the box either, so he assumes either the dampening field inside is preventing any signal from getting out, or there's nothing alive inside the box. He stows it back in his pack, then moves to follow Graff up the staircase leading to the unmarked hallway.

"The prison is huge; too big to search all of it. We need to find a map or an idea of where in the prison our worm is," he says, "keep your eyes open for datapads or computer terminals... and traps."

The Mrlssi pulls out his state of the art datapad and attempts to overlap their location on top of the 3D image sent to him by the Red Dawn's crew.

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Ice will begin mapping their progress through the prison on his datapad, and forward it to any datapads the rest of the party may be carrying; let me know if that's not possible.

[Felhammer]

Everyone walks up the narrow spiral stairs, which are only wide enough to accommodate one at a time. Kel is the first to the door. It is unremarkable in every way. Just a standard issue, Imperial Reinforced Door, which is used across the Empire. A small control is located to the door's right, on which two buttons flash - one that says open, the other close. Kel taps the open button. With a swoosh, the door flies open, beyond which lays a long, tight, dark hallway. The light from the cargo area floods into the hallway revealing a simple passageway with - gray-steel walls and ceiling and standardized deck plating. A lone door stands at the end of the hallway. It, like the door you just opened is of standard imperial design with a small control panel flashing to its right.

As Kel takes a step into the passageway, an eerie red hologram manifests before him at the end of the hall. The Chagrin female speaks in hushed whispers, "I am the Lady of Pain. Welcome to my prison. There is no hope of escape except through the lone exit at the top of the mountain. Don't think about stepping backwards, the hallway's deck plating has been lined with thermal detonators. Any back stepping will immediately trigger the trap. I hope you enjoy your time here, for you may die. If you do, please scream loudly..." The hologram whisks out of existence.

[Noedig]

"Oh fan-karking-tastic. We just stumbled into a regular Sith fun house. Brilliant."

Jarik reached for the toolkit in his utility belt, but stopped midway.

"I'm not gonna kark with this set up. It's probably tamper proof, and if there's a thermal det under each tile, I'll blow a hole in this mountain the Dawn could fly through. This is the point of no return. We go into this hallway there's no goin' back."

Jarik turned to the remaining squads of his platoon.

"Anyone wants out, now's the time. I ain't gonna order you into this deathtrap. Volunteers only."

[Thundercracker]

Ice
"Well, she was nice," Ice says, "anyone see the holo projector?"

[Felhammer]

None of the Boom Panthers move a muscle. They're in this for the long haul.

Ice spots a tiny little projector on the ceiling at the end of the hallway. He attempts to network with it but finds it has no wireless capabilities.

[Thundercracker]

Ice
"If that holoprojector is linked to a central computer and someone could boost me up to work on it, we might be able to slice into it from the projector and get a prisoner manifest or a map," Ice says, "Or we could just hope we find something else later, when we aren't in a room full of thermal detonators, your call."

The Mrlssi looks to Kel.

[Major]

Kelaeon pauses, "We'd have to be very careful. I don't want you just lifted since if someone stumbles or you fall it could end up killing you and others. If you think you can access it I'll use the Force to lift you so you can examine it, otherwise we move on." Kelaeon states.

[Thundercracker]

Ice
"Why not everyone move forward first, just in case something goes off, only me and Kel get blown up?" Ice says.

"And that way, I don't get blown up if anyone decides to accidentally fall backwards," he thinks.

If the holocam is embedded in the wall, the Mrlssi unslings his pack and pulls out a durasteel cutter, hanging it from his belt alongside his toolkit.

"Someone hang on to my pack," he says, "ready when you are."

Spoiler

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The idea is that the holo projector is wired to some kind of central computer. If it's immediately apparent that this is not the case, Ice will skip trying to hack the projector.

[Noedig]

Jarik smirked behind his helmet.

"You all are the biggest bunch of dumbasses, ever. I gave you idiots a way out, and I've got witnesses. So you've all got a hard-on for death? Fine by me, we'll see if we can't get you laid."

[Major]

"Right," Kelaeon says with a sigh, "Here is hoping we don't blow up..." Kelaeon mumbles as he waits for the others to move past and ahead.

[Felhammer]

Everyone shuffles through the hallway. There's a tense moment when Graff almost takes a step backwards as he sneezes hard but he maintains his composure. Kell taps the door panel, revealing a small room with three more doors. Ice remains at the far end of the hallway, waiting until everyone is clear. Everyone files into the crammed room. Kel now stands on the opposite side of the hall from Ice.

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____________
|.................|
|.................|
|.......K........|
|____ ______|
.......| |.......
.......|P|.......
.......| |.......
.......| |.......
.......| |.......
.......| |.......
.......| |.......
........ I


K = Kel
I = Ice
P = Projector

[Major]

"Alright let's hope this works." Kelaeon says drawing on the Force to try and grip Ice. "Let me know when you are ready and I'll lift you." Once Ice was ready, Kelaeon would try to pick up the man.

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Move Object
Use the Force check: (1d20+16)[20]
Edit: DC 20, so can pick up to large size and if I decide to smash Ice against a wall or chuck him at evil things its 4d6.

Not using as weapon so no need for damage, just making the roll for maximum size. Honestly not much need for the roll anyways since its a DC 15 to pick up Ice and Ice is willing so no need to beat will save, but eh, whatevs.

Spending standard actions to maintain the power obviously from round to round.

[Thundercracker]

Ice
"Just don't drop me," Ice says, "in case you hadn't noticed, not only are these feathers vestigial, they're inside my suit."

[Felhammer]

Ice is lifted off the ground and slowly brought into the hallway. As he nears the halway mark, the hologram reappears. The woman has a frown on her face as she says, "Shifts in air currents detected. Flying creature assumed. Raising floor to compensate." Suddenly a loud grown can be heard as the floor slowly moves up and up and up until Ice's feet are mere milometers from the deck plating. The woman then says, "No pressure detected. Lowering the floor to previous levels."

A collective sigh of relief can be heard from the troopers behind Kel who were all holding their breaths.

Ice is then maneuvered up to the projector and begins to poke around. He finds that it is not connected to the main server but a secondary server, which includes control over the Prison's intercom. Ice manages to wirelessly network the intercom with his datapad. He also finds a single line of text written by someone with access to the secondary servers; it merely reads, "They're banging. Banging. Always banging. Why can't they go away? Why must I die this way?"

While that is going on, Jarik and Sairen look about their new surroundings. The three doors are painted a different color - one red, one blue and the last green. There are no distinguishing marks or labels other than the colors.

[Thundercracker]

Ice
"Alright, get me outta here," Ice says.

Once in the room with the others, he lets out a sigh of relief.

"I could only get into a secondary server, which gives us control over intercoms," he says, "listen to this."
The Mrlssi hits a button on his datapad and plays back the recording from the intercom server.

[Major]

Kelaeon sighs, "Better than nothing and good to see how it reacts to us flying over..." He notes as he sets down Ice gently.

[Thundercracker]

Ice
"Red, blue, and green. Any normal person would pick blue or green, the safe colors, so I say we either open the red door, or look for a secret door in the ceiling," Ice says.

[Noedig]

"I say 'kark it.' You lot are in command, not me. We're the hammer. You point, we smash, end of story. Pick the karking door, we'll kick it in."

[Major]

"One safe against two dangerous also seems most likely." Kelaeon says with a nod, "Anyone else?"

[Mithric Gunn]

"Perhaps they all lead to danger? No way of knowing until we open one. Does anyone have a chance die?"

[Iron Victory]

"Sith torture-prisons aren't exactly my expertise. The red door seems the best pick, however, it could very well be a no-win scenario. The only way to win a game against Sith is not to play." The Chiss gestures absently at Kelaeon and Sharka. "Aren't force users able to sense the short-term outcomes of actions? Couldn't you try that on the doors?"

[Mithric Gunn]

"It didn't work before, but its worth a try."

Spoiler

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(1d20+17)[33] utf if we go in the red door.

[Noedig]

"I would kill for a cigarette right now. Damn plague."

[Thundercracker]

Ice
"Fine, I'll go through," Ice said.

The Mrlssi pulls out a line from his utility belt and ties it around his waist, then hands the loose end to Graff.

"Hold this," he says.

He then begins inspecting the red door for signs of being rigged with some kind of trigger or trap.

"Knight Kel," he says, mimicking an official sounding inquiry voice, "how did you deem it was in the team's best interest to let your only slicer and mechanical specialist take point position in a prison filled with deadly booby traps?"

With that (assuming Ice does not find any traps), the diminutive slicer pushes the door open while standing against the wall, near the hinge.

[Noedig]

"I thought bad ideas were my thing, Ice. Remember the Wheel?"