Sea of Stars - OOC III

[Destro_Yersul]

You're messing with time travel, you could fix that.

Anyways. I can't really do much more in terms of updates until somebody tries to open the door or something.

[Haval]

Anyways. I can't really do much more in terms of updates until somebody tries to open the door or something.

True. Anika will look around for a way in, but I'd like to check to see if there's any sign that the building still has power first. I assume if there's any defences we would have seen them already, but just in case.

Awareness +10 vs. Per 43
(1d100)[83]

[Destro_Yersul]

All the lights are off, every visible electronic thing appears unpowered, and the ship's augurs found no active power signatures. Not even when the signal was broadcasting briefly, which is very odd.

[Blarghy]

Psyniscience works through walls.

That's good to know! I'll go ahead and give it a try, then, in case there's something Warp-y waiting to ambush us just inside.

Of course, you also still need to figure out how to get inside the tower. The door's locked and has no power besides.

Might I suggest our universal skeleton key, Macharius's thunder-hammer? And if that doesn't work, invite our new Astartes friend to give it a try.

[Leon]

Might I suggest our universal skeleton key, Macharius's thunder-hammer? And if that doesn't work, invite our new Astartes friend to give it a try.

Im happy there is another key than my Axe

[Leon]

Security TN 63 (1d100)[17]

[rax]

The first floor atrium was a mess. There were no lights, the luminators long since dead. Shadows danced around the room as the team's lamp packs swept across the ruins of a grand statue, lying shattered and broken across the floor. The statue had been huge, and would have dominated the double-height room in which its pedastal stood if it weren't broken. Twin spiral staircases to either side of the statue's feet still stood, leading upwards. Other arches were place equally distant about the room, one opposite theirs and one each to either side. More damaged statues flanked the far arch, one reduced to a set of legs. The other, caught in the beam of Flannery's lamp for a split second, was strange. They got a glimpse of a humanoid shape with a bulbous, fish-like head, but when the praetorian turned the light back to look again, it was gone.

Apart from the fishy-looking statue, are the others recognizably Imperial? And what, exactly, is gone when the praetorian turns his light back on the fish-headed statue - the odd head or the entire statue? Or does this not refer to a statue at all, but something standing in the arch?

[Blarghy]

Yeah, I want a closer look at the statues; I might have Echo hunt around for the big one's head, after he checks his Memorance Implant. My guess is that it's the Rogue Trader we didn't hear about, but seeing their image might prompt Anika or Macharius to remember something useful. I'll resist the temptation to spend my last FP already, since whatever lurks here is probably deeper in anyway.

[Destro_Yersul]

Apart from the fishy-looking statue, are the others recognizably Imperial? And what, exactly, is gone when the praetorian turns his light back on the fish-headed statue - the odd head or the entire statue? Or does this not refer to a statue at all, but something standing in the arch?

Apart from that, yes, they are Imperial statues. The entire statue is gone when he looks back. It looked like a statue, but you didn't see it for very long. It was not standing in the arch.

[Leon]

Is it fish like in any way resembling the underwater planet we were on once long ago now?

[Destro_Yersul]

It's not. Anika got a good roll on FL: Xenos, and recognises it as an Eldar Wraithguard. Albeit one that's seen better days.

the other statues are very normal Imperial statues, as far as Anika can tell. They're not that old, so Archaic doesn't really apply.

[Leon]

From the outside and on the way down to the place, how large did it look?

[Destro_Yersul]

large-ish. The installation was designed to support a not insignificant astropathic choir, and at its peak probably had 25 or 30 of them, plus attendants. There's the main tower, which is mostly very tall with a bulbous bit at the top for the choir chambers. The Imperium is extremely extra regarding the heights of things. The tower's probably 100 meters high, but only 15-20 diameter at the bottom. This first level is, you would guess, about 20m tall to make room for the big statue. Most of the upper floors are probably living and working space, the tower could fit ~13 floors between the atrium and the choir chamber if they contained nothing but apartments. This place also has some pretty huge generators and you're not sure where exactly those are located. They would be quite heavy, so it's probably not high up.

All of which to say, the tower is only slightly larger than Westminster Clock Tower in London, home of Big Ben. Incidentally, similar to the size of the Statue of Liberty as well.

[Blarghy]

If one old Renegade Navis was able to quickly introduce Echo to Daemonology, I can only imagine what delicious Forbidden Lore Ahriman himself could teach. Mwahahahaha...

[Blarghy]

If we're gonna start searching the tower, is this another exploration challenge, like in Thule's lab?

[Destro_Yersul]

That's a good question. The tower's a lot bigger than the lab was, but would be a similar sort of challenge. We can run it the same way. You know the drill, pick an applicable Exploration skill or two and give me some rolls.

On the Memorance implant, it gives you Total Recall, which isn't strictly visual. You remember everything. I'd say it applies to audio as well.

[Blarghy]

Let's get some cluuuuues! Looking down the list of Exploration skills, I don't have very many of them, but Navigation is listed. Is it a stretch to use Navigation (Warp) here? On the grounds that Echo is combining what he felt from his previous Psyniscience check, plus the lessons of the not-yet-Traitor Marine, to try to guess at something useful.

Awareness (74): (1d100)[6]
Navigation (Warp) (86): (1d100)[58]

*Dances victoriously* I wasn't feeling so lucky; I figured I'd have to decide how much I wanted to keep that last Fate Point in reserve for an inevitable battle.

[PotatoGolem]

Macahrius is... not very good at Exploration skills. Luckily, Awareness and Search are both Basic skills!

Awareness: (1d100)[87] vs 17
Search: (1d100)[36] vs 17

Edit: Macharius is not helpful at all. Can he use his Exceptional Leader to give other people +10, or is this too long of a timeframe?

[rax]

Hannabel has Awareness, Navigation (Stellar) and Survival. Of those only Awareness feels wholly appropriate, though Survival might also count in the sense of understanding what the state of the remaining supplies could indicate about the number of people who lived here, how long ago they disappeared, and the like.

Awareness +10 test (1d100)[100] vs. 47

Survival test (1d100)[4] vs. 40

I'll happily take Macharius Exceptional Leader on one or both the rolls if that's allowed.

[rax]

...and let's re-roll that Awareness test. Yikes!

(1d100)[10] vs. 47

[Destro_Yersul]

I'll allow Exceptional Leader, but only once for the challenge. It's basically a free degree of success. So let's see. Echo gets 8 degrees of success, which are immediately nuked into oblivion by Macharius getting 7 degrees of failure. Hannabel gets 6 degrees though, so you have 7 total, plus one for Exceptional Leader. That's not bad. Writeup coming later once I'm less tired.

[Haval]

If we're good I'll hold off on rolling.

[Haval]

It felt appropriate to the visuals and like something Hannabel might say.

Agreed. I find that sort of thing entertaining. As where Shakespeare sometimes gets referenced in some of the books.

(I was listening to a song that quotes that lyric just before I came home and read that post)

[Blarghy]

I knew I was right to save a Fate Point.

Spoiler: Destro

Show

C'mon, lucky reroll!

Willpower (53): (1d100)[61]

...It's fine. I'm sure it's fine.

[PotatoGolem]

Well, apparently I was due for my yearly-ish having to unsubscribe and resubscribe to these threads to get notifications. Boo

[Destro_Yersul]

I knew I was right to save a Fate Point.

Spoiler: Destro

Show

C'mon, lucky reroll!

Willpower (53): (2d5)[3]

...It's fine. I'm sure it's fine.

That's what you get trying to ruin all my fun with fate points

Spoiler: Echo Only

Show

It's not that bad, anyways, that's a straight failure, so it's only (2d5)[3] Insanity points, no corruption or anything.

Well, apparently I was due for my yearly-ish having to unsubscribe and resubscribe to these threads to get notifications. Boo

I've heard a lot about notifications being terribly unreliable, so I've always just checked manually.

[Blarghy]

Mmmm, tasty insanity.

Kennoch's brain is out to lunch for a moment, but I'm fine with running (to a better location to regroup and assess the situation) or fighting (though I wonder if the constructs are even the real problem here; I'm still leaning toward a daemon being in control, so maybe they're prisoners too), or my personal suggestion, having Macharius grab an Astropath and then run, so we still have someone to question.

[Destro_Yersul]

The stars Echo is seeing through the dome look very different than they did a moment ago. Assuming the place is the same, you've jumped in time significantly. Echo estimates about 800 years, which would put you around when this station was operational. Can't have been much earlier than that because the Maw hadn't been discovered, and if you were too far past that the Astropaths would likely have died. The generators are obviously still working, and the fuel won't last forever.

[Blarghy]

Edited.

Echo is ready to fight, but as I said, I'm just as happy to explore this version of the tower again, or keep trying to talk to the Wraithguard, or break one apart to get a closer look at those black strands in their bodies. Seems like the Astropaths might know less than I hoped. Apparently they haven't bothered to investigate much on their own since getting stuck here, although I guess that might be why they're still alive. In any case, I have a hunch that we'll need to go back down through the tower and into the basement for more answers.

Takin' all bets; my money's on a Chaos-corrupted Infinity Circuit. When we first arrived, Kennoch felt a presence that he believes escaped from the nearby Warp storms, despite this planet being safe from them for an untold amount of time. The Eldar might've considered it a good place to stash their souls for that reason. I think the original Rogue Trader built this tower, found the Circuit, and intentionally or not, invited a mean old Slaanesh-daemon to the banquet. Now the dead Eldar are angry and the Wraithguard are falling apart due to their spirits getting slowly nommed.

Still doesn't quite explain the psychic buzzing, unless the daemon is just a big swarm of bugs. Or maybe that's the sound that a broken Infinity Circuit makes, like a busted TV.

[PotatoGolem]

I feel like we probably can't take a hundred wraithguard at once, right? Taking an astropath is a good idea though, we may want them as we keep exploring.