The Unseen Servant forums

"Great job Jeeves!"
"What would we do without you Jeeves? You're one in a million!"
"Thank you, Jeeves.”

Jeeves nods his head. “One endeavors to provide satisfaction.”

Kallina is pleased to find that she is feeling recovered from the new planet flu as she examines the gourds and Skur Vonn feeds one to the younger baby. She finds that they are too tough and fibrous to be easily eaten by themselves. Under their skins, they are full of tiny round nodules.

Bertie grimaces as she examines the sensorpak. It was knocked around pretty badly, somewhere between the sand shark attack and the sprint through the storm. It has not recorded any information, and will need repairs before it is fully operational.

The party fills the remaining space in their carryalls with gourds and smoked meat, not yet sure if either is safely consumable. Hoping the babies will follow, they prepare to head south.

Jeeves says, “Mr. Goran remains insensate, and will need to be carried. If we could find two sticks of adequate length and solidity, we could fashion a travois, but our current situation offers little in the way of trees.”

Taking turns carrying Goran, the party is slowed, losing the advantage gained by the newly-smoothed landscape. Additionally, while the babies continue to follow, the need naps often, and the party must either stop or carry them.

As the sun rises, the white glow on the southern horizon seems brighter and nearer than it was yesterday.

---

:: Current Time: 11:30:00, Serena Dawn Ship Time, March 28 ::
:: Day 004 since planetfall. ::
:: Location : Coordinates 94.5:04:00, the Planet Volturnus ::

By the time the party stops for their mid-day rest, they are exhausted. The air somehow seems even drier than the already arid atmosphere they experienced yesterday. Their lips are chapped, and they are developing blisters in all sorts of inconvenient places. Muscles are sore and cramped from carrying Goran and trudging through sand. Skur Vonn has had a particularly hard time of it, having slept poorly the night before, and even with his sungoggles cranked to maximum polarity, the unremitting light has given him a splitting headache.

Jeeves sets up the pop tents, and you gratefully crawl into the shaded interior and fall quickly asleep.

---

Too soon, you wake up to the afternoon leg of your journey. Your bodies protest against heading out again into the awful heat, but you carry on. The white glow is brighter, almost blinding. You can almost make out features in the distance—if only you had taken the macrobinoculars from camp! Ah, well. You’ll reach it, eventually.

---

:: Current Time: 16:30:00, Serena Dawn Ship Time, March 28 ::
:: Day 004 since planetfall. ::
:: Location : Coordinates 94.5:07:00, the Planet Volturnus ::

After hours more difficult slog, you see that there is some sort of shining white plain stretching out ahead of you. It takes Bertie some time to recognize what she is looking at—salt flats. The brilliant white glow is from a crust of salt covering the ground.

Formed by drainage from large saline bodies, salt flats can stretch for hundreds of miles, and are typically too harsh an environment to support any plant or animal life. There is almost certainly an ocean on the other side of this expanse of white, but you do not know if you will survive the journey to it.

---

---

As this terrible thought is sinking in, Kallina’s alert ears pick up a sound. It is very faint, and she needs a period of intense silence from the party for her to be sure that she is hearing anything, but… yes! Its is! Somewhere, off to the north, she hears the regular thrum of an engine, already fading into the distance.

---

Feel free to roll various knowledge checks to gain more information (can the meat be eaten? Can you identify the type of engine?) and to suggest better logistics for things like carrying Goran.

PCs
Kallina: 2 of 5 Hits.
Bertie: 3 of 4 Hits.
Skur Vonn: 2 of 4 Hits.
Goran: 1 of 4 Hits. (stable but unconscious)

NPCs
Jeeves: 2 of 2 Hits.

What do you do?!
Next Update: Monday

Bertie sighs

"I think traversing the flats will be a mistake, we should head in the direction of the engine sound. Skur Vonn, you are technically minded. Perhaps you can think of a way to make some kind of emergency beacon from what we have, the sensorpak, data links and even linking in Jeeves' comms systems, if he doesn't mind, of course. I'll see if I can think up a way of testing the food and water. "

She spends some time rereading the survival information she collated and racking her brains (medical knowledge) to see if there is a way she can test the water and/or meat for obvious poisons using the medical packs.

Advange from skills and +1 from educated:

Roll: [_2d6]=(1+6)=7, dis/advantage[1d6]=6

13!

Kallina

"Good ideas Bertie. I don't have much to offer but keeping watch and carrying stuff at the moment but I agree, we head towards the engine sound."

As she rests she pets and plays with the dinos.

Bertie

"I wonder why North? Perhaps they saw our pods go down and are searching for them. We can only hope that they have a search pattern that will bring them near us again. If we can't get some kind of beacon going we may have to resort to smoke signals. I wonder what kind of vehicle it was and what range it has. If we know that it might help us decide exactly which way to go. "

a roll to try and guess the type of vehicle/engine, tech skill and +1 from educated:

Roll: [_2d6]=(1+1)=2, dis/advantage[1d6]=3
5
lol, the dice gods giveth and they taketh away.

shaidar wrote: ↑Fri Oct 28, 2022 3:49 pm Bertie sighs
"I think traversing the flats will be a mistake, we should head in the direction of the engine sound. Skur Vonn, you are technically minded. Perhaps you can think of a way to make some kind of emergency beacon from what we have, the sensorpak, data links and even linking in Jeeves' comms systems, if he doesn't mind, of course. I'll see if I can think up a way of testing the food and water. "

were any of the creature's bones long enough to make a travois?

Skur Vonn

"Let's see what we have."

technology

cybersavant wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 8:35 am were any of the creature's bones long enough to make a travois?

technology

Assuming that the creature's skeletal structure is similar to what Skur Vonn is used to, its longest bones would be the upper leg bones. Your guess is that they would be around four feet long.

Could you please explain what the two rolls you have linked to are for? I assume the first one is for trying to build a beacon, but I'm unsure.

Although there are still a few hours of travel possible, Jeeves sets up camp along the edge of the salt flats while Bertie and Skur Vonn work on their projects.

The dino-babies briefly venture onto the salt flats, but find the crackly crust of salt under their feet unnerving, and quickly return to the sand where they chase each other in great, ragged circles. Kallina joins in the chase on several occasions, to the squealing delight of the babies, but she is not able to keep pace with them for long.

After some thorough research, Bertie has a brainstorm and configures the sensorpak’s spectrometer array to examine the meat strips and gourds. She identifies a compound in the meat that would be lethal to Vrusk and would cause extreme dehydration in humans and yazirians. Fortunately, having identified it, she is able to whip up a quick counter agent from some compounds in the medkits. She gives each member of the party a small blisterseal sachet of the compound with strict instructions to ingest about 2 millileters before eating any of the meat.

The gourds are safe, chemically speaking, but Bertie has to again jury-rig the sensorpak, this time reworking the passive repeater from the geological array to visualize the fibrous structure of the gourd in order to extract the water. She determines a precise series of cuts that allow a little less than half a liter of water to be squeezed out of a gourd. The resultant water has a strong botanical flavor which is probably unpleasant, but you hardly notice it in the present circumstances. Bertie also identifies a cluster of little round nodules in the center of the gourd that look like hay-colored fish roe, which she determines are somewhere between a seed and an egg. Had the gourds been left to harvest moisture from the beast, they would have eventually swollen and burst, spreading the next generation of microbotanicals out on the winds. Bertie determines that these, once stripped from their fibrous husks, should be highly nutritious.

Rations: [_4d6]=(1+6+2+4)=13 (I have added 13 rations to Jeeves inventory. In doing so, I noticed that he took the macrobinoculars! I should have had him offer them when you were approaching the salt flats.)

While Bertie is working on the food, Skur Vonn works on an emergency beacon. A beacon is a pretty easy piece of kit to put together—you just need an emitter with enough juice to reach out as far as possible. And nearly every piece of tech you are carrying has at least a rudimentary emitter in it. The trick is the juice. Skur Vonn identifies Goran’s shock gloves as a good source of robust batteries. The problem is, he’s pretty sure he’ll have to sacrifice both the gloves and whatever piece of tech he uses for the emitter. Candidates include:

• Bertie’s sensorpak
• Kalliana’s polyvox
• Kallina’s toxyrad guage
• Skur Vonn’s sensorpak
• Goran’s adaptive polvox
• Goran’s lock compick

(please let me know which item you choose to sacrifice)

---

:: Current Time: 19:30:00, Serena Dawn Ship Time, March 28 ::
:: Day 004 since planetfall. ::
:: Location : Coordinates 94.5:07:00, the Planet Volturnus ::

Jeeves prepares a meal from the rations for everyone (-3 rations). He attempts to feed some water and food to the unconscious Goran, but announces that he has had no luck, and that the prognosis does not look good.

Skur Vonn finishes the beacon and sets it to broadcast a simple signal. As it steadily voices its plea into the Volturnus night, the party goes to bed.

---

:: Current Time: 02:45:00, Serena Dawn Ship Time, March 28 ::
:: Day 005 since planetfall. ::
:: Location : Coordinates 94.5:07:00, the Planet Volturnus ::

The party is awoken from their sleep by the throb of an engine, growing louder. In the far distance, you see a white spotlight moving in a standard search pattern. Jeeves hands a pair of macrobinoculars to Kallina.

With the binoculars, Kallina can make out some details of the craft: a small, open-canopy jetcopter. It contains three passengers, which is odd, as that won’t leave much, if any, room for people rescued. On the side of the copter is painted a red devil surrounded by silver stars.

---

---

As the copter approaches, a laser beam strikes the sand near the camp. An amplified voice calls out, "We know who you are. Drop any weapons, and keep your hands in the air or you will be shot."

---

PCs
Kallina: 2 of 5 Hits.
Bertie: 3 of 4 Hits.
Skur Vonn: 2 of 4 Hits.
Goran: 1 of 4 Hits. (stable but unconscious)

NPCs
Jeeves: 2 of 2 Hits.

What do you do?!
Next Update: Friday!

Kallina

Whispering so just the others can hear. "They have the upper hand, best we cooperate for now."

She raises her hands and acts docile.

Bertie hold her hands up

"Um, I think you have us confused with somebody else. We're passengers from the Serena Dawn."

I vote for Goran's adaptive polyvox

While Bertie is working on the food, Skur Vonn works on an emergency beacon. A beacon is a pretty easy piece of kit to put together—you just need an emitter with enough juice to reach out as far as possible. And nearly every piece of tech you are carrying has at least a rudimentary emitter in it. The trick is the juice. Skur Vonn identifies Goran’s shock gloves as a good source of robust batteries. The problem is, he’s pretty sure he’ll have to sacrifice both the gloves and whatever piece of tech he uses for the emitter. Candidates include:
Skur Vonn’s sensorpak

Skur Vonn wakes, sits up and leaves his carryall [ including the laser pistol ] where it is.

Skur Vonn uses his own sensorpak as the emitter for the emergency beacon.

---

The jetcopter pulls to within 100 feet of your camp and hovers. The spotlight aims directly at you, making it impossible to see the copter or its passengers. The voice says, Looks like four of 'em... Yeah, okay, why not? Gather any weapons or valuables on the ground and back away. We got you in our sights and will shoot you dead if you don't cooperate sharpish." For emphasis, another laser bolt sizzles the sand near Skur Vonn's feet.

---

What do you do?!
Next update: Monday!

Kallina

Kallina backs away from her gear slowly, keeping her hands in plain sight.

Bertie doesn't move, remaining standing with her hands up.

We have no valuables, just what we need to survive here."

cybersavant wrote: ↑Sat Nov 05, 2022 10:46 am Skur Vonn looks to see where the shot came from.

The shot came from the jetcopter, but, with the spotlight shining in your eyes, you can't make out any more than that.

The party steps back from their possessions with hands held high, blinded by the spotlight and whipped by the turbulence kicked up by the jetcopter's blades.

The amplified voice speaks to someone else in the copter, “Okay, they’re clear enough, open fire.”

Laser bolts blast away!

Bertie, Kallina, Skur Vonn, and Jeeves are all targeted. Please describe how you will avoid being zapped, with a roll. Then let me know how you would like to respond, also with a roll.

Jeeves collapses into his suitcase configuration, hoping to lower his profile enough to avoid being hit.
Roll [_2d6]=(3+3)=6

A beam still strikes him, leaving a smoking hole in his casing (-1 Hit).

The baby dinos scream and run for the cover of the pop tents.

---

PCs
Kallina: 2 of 5 Hits.
Bertie: 3 of 4 Hits.
Skur Vonn: 2 of 4 Hits.
Goran: 1 of 4 Hits. (stable but unconscious)

NPCs
Jeeves: 1 of 2 Hits.

What do you do?!
Next Update: Wednesday!

Kallina

Kallina dodges and tries to obscure herself in the prop wash, drawing her stunner as she does so. If she can get a stunner shot into their engine exhaust she will try.

Stunner and Athletics.

Dodge [_2d6]=(2+3)=5 A/D [1d6]=5

Stunner [_2d6]=(3+3)=6 A/D [1d6]=4

Bertie does her best to run and dodge any laser blasts:

Roll: [_2d6]=(4+4)=8, dis/advantage[1d6]=6

She then looks around for a rock or something she can throw at the copter air intake or similar:

Roll: [_2d6]=(4+6)=10, dis/advantage[1d6]=5