Pulpatoon wrote: ↑Mon Nov 07, 2022 3:53 pm
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.
sorry, but no - Skur Vonn did not move
Skur Vonn wakes, sits up and leaves his carryall [ including the laser pistol ] where it is.
Skur Vonn looks to see where the shot came from. He remains seated.
he would roll from where he remained seated to grab his carryall to get his laser pistol and use the camp / tents as cover if possible
gaming since 1980 cybersavant.proboards.com
- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - Andreas Larson; Law of the Gun <Boot Hill 3e> Nah Olos; Earthquakes in the Jotens <AD&D 1e> Asxerthsis ; In The Year 62,062 <SWN> Rehtai Khtao ( Rehleh Tharee Dar ); Shadow of the Storm <Traveller MgT2e> Carter Stone; Lore of the Plains <1e/OSRIC Weird Wester>
cybersavant wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:55 amsorry, but no - Skur Vonn did not move
Apologies for eliding that detail in my summary. You are still under fire. Please provide an action and a roll to avoid being shot, and an action and a roll to respond.
once he is able to grab it, he rolls and takes his laser pistol out of the carryall using the tents for cover as much as possible
he crouches and aim his laser pistol at the jetcopter
trained in laser pistol and stealth, not dodge : :
gaming since 1980 cybersavant.proboards.com
- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - Andreas Larson; Law of the Gun <Boot Hill 3e> Nah Olos; Earthquakes in the Jotens <AD&D 1e> Asxerthsis ; In The Year 62,062 <SWN> Rehtai Khtao ( Rehleh Tharee Dar ); Shadow of the Storm <Traveller MgT2e> Carter Stone; Lore of the Plains <1e/OSRIC Weird Wester>
Skur Vonn dives for his carryall as soon as he hears the voice say to open fire. Kallina, seeing the bright red bolts cut through the air, leaps into a swirling cloud of obscuring sand. Bertie tries to follow quickly, but trips over a sizable rock. Her sudden drop causes a laser bolt aimed squarely at her head to miss, but she twists her ankle, which will make running a tricky proposition until it is tended to. (Disadvantage on attempts to run for the rest of this encounter.)
Skur Vonn digs through his carryall as Kallina brings her stunner to bear, but she finds the jetcopter is out of range.
Picking up the rock she tripped over, Bertie hurls it at the jetcopter. The rock flies high, arcing above the copter, but then it comes down on the rotor, causing the vehicle to buck and shimmy, and throwing off the aim of its passengers.
Skur Vonn retrieves his laser pistol and fires a shot, but the jetcopter’s erratic movement causes him to miss.
Jeeves unfolds from his suitcase configuration, and rushes to the pop tent where Goran lies. As soon as he opens the flap, the two dino babies rush in for safety.
The jetcopter’s passengers keep firing their weapons, but the shots go wild as the pilot tries to steady their hover. The spotlight is no longer aimed at the party, and the gunmen are distracted! 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)
Kallina looks a round for a rock she can try and get into the engine intake. If she finds one she throws it unless it comes in range of her stunner in which case she uses that. She will try and stay under the copter in the cloud.
gaming since 1980 cybersavant.proboards.com
- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - Andreas Larson; Law of the Gun <Boot Hill 3e> Nah Olos; Earthquakes in the Jotens <AD&D 1e> Asxerthsis ; In The Year 62,062 <SWN> Rehtai Khtao ( Rehleh Tharee Dar ); Shadow of the Storm <Traveller MgT2e> Carter Stone; Lore of the Plains <1e/OSRIC Weird Wester>
Kallina and Bertie cast around, looking for rocks to throw, but the propellers have kicked up such a vortex of sand that they are unable to find anything.
Skur Vonn lines up a shot on the careening jetcopter, and fires a single shot. Sparks burst from one of the copter’s intakes, stark white against the night sky and diffused by the flying sand.
The voice that has been speaking to you, know clearly facing away from the microphone but still being picked up and amplified, says, “Pus and spit! They got us! Pull up, pull up!”
The jetcopter gains altitude and veers away from your camp. The voice, returning to full amplification, shouts, “You think you're hot stuff? You just killed yourselves! You’ll never leave Volturnus alive!”
Leaving a line of blue smoke visible in the dark, the jetcopter wheels off to the west before righting itself and heading north.
Jeeves emerges from the pop tent. “May I be of assistance?” The dino-babies peer out around his ankles.
As the last thrum of wounded engines disappear over the horizon, silence once again falls over the desert landscape.
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)
"I'm sorry, I didn't think a beacon would bring so much danger. I guess we need to get moving, but which way? Jeeves, are you up to travelling? Perhaps the binoculars will give us a hint as to the best way to go."
"You never know if someone will be friend or foe. They were clearly not to bright, now we are dead after not letting them kill us. I say we head in the direction they came from and left in."
shaidar wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 4:41 pm"Jeeves, are you up to travelling?"
Jeeves coughs politely and says, "One is ready to travel, although some benefit would be arrived at by spending time on repairs. And, Ms. Wilberforce, if you do not mind a personal observation, you and your companions have still not fully recovered from the crash. Now that we know hooligans and ruffians may drop from the sky at any moment, you may wish to avail yourselves of such medical ministrations as remain."
shaidar wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 4:41 pm"Perhaps the binoculars will give us a hint as to the best way to go."
Jeeves inclines his head in a way that quietly indicates that Kallina is presently in possession of the macrobinoculars. "Indeed, ma'am. Ms. of Fury has proven to be notably keen eyed."
"For the sake of expediency I could apply my medical skills to the organics while Kallina looks for a new destination with the macrobinoculars and Skur Vonn attempts some repairs on Jeeves." she looks at her companions "What do you say? It would be quite an efficient use of our skills?"
Last edited by shaidar on Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
" I can have a look. Jeeves, let me see your damage."
technology
"I'm not very familiar with mechanical beings. We'll need to find more advanced materials to effect any lasting improvement."
gaming since 1980 cybersavant.proboards.com
- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - Andreas Larson; Law of the Gun <Boot Hill 3e> Nah Olos; Earthquakes in the Jotens <AD&D 1e> Asxerthsis ; In The Year 62,062 <SWN> Rehtai Khtao ( Rehleh Tharee Dar ); Shadow of the Storm <Traveller MgT2e> Carter Stone; Lore of the Plains <1e/OSRIC Weird Wester>
:: Current Time: 02:50:00, Serena Dawn Ship Time, March 28 ::
:: Day 005 since planetfall. ::
:: Location : Coordinates 94.5:07:00, the Planet Volturnus ::
Bertie treats the three conscious organic members of the crew. She and Skur Vonn feel fully recovered. Kallina feels better, but is still suffering from some of her injuries. Most distressingly, the medkit Bertie was using is exhausted. Fortunately, she knows Kallina and Skur Vonn both still have fresh ones on them.
Skur Vonn gives a good try at repairing Jeeves, but not only does Jeeves stubbornly refuse to conform to the nice, simple engineering principles of a ship’s engine, he appears to be so thoroughly customized by Bertie’s father that Skur Von isn’t even sure he can identify the most rudimentary aspects of his operation.
Kallina scans the horizon with the macrobinoculars, but now that the adrenalin of being woken by rescue/intruders has worn off, she becomes bitterly aware how cold it is in the middle of the Volturnus night. Her hands are shaking and her lungs feel brittle, and it is hard to focus on minute details. Nevertheless, she discerns this much:
North: The direction the party came from, and also the jetcopter. A long stretch of nothing between yourselves and the crash site. Speaking of which, did the jetcopter find the site? What must have happened to the ones who stayed behind?
South: Inhospitable salt flats, with the promise of an equatorial ocean on the other side.
West: Mountains, some distance away.
East: Empty, open desert.
PCs
Kallina: 3 of 5 Hits.
Bertie: 4 of 4 Hits.
Skur Vonn: 4 of 4 Hits.
NPCs
Jeeves: 1 of 2 Hits.
Goran: 1 of 4 Hits. (stable but unconscious)
Kallina relays what she has learned. "I am not in the best of shape, but we must continue and hope they do not return or find us again until we can recover some more."
Bertie takes watch, while the rest of the party gets some sleep. Jeeves quietly busies himself around the camp, making repairs and refinements to the party’s clothes, and somehow producing a very fine cup of tea for Bertie as she tries to ward off the frigid desert air.
As she sips the tea, Jeeves stands nearby, waiting for an invitation to speak.
“Ma’am, I wonder if this might be an opportune time to have that conversation I mentioned?
“You are aware that your father is a man of vision and ambition. You have both benefited and, if I may make the observation, rankled under the weight of his ambition—the stress of his regard, as the poet Shelley would put it. You will further be aware that he is deeply fascinated by the mysteries of the Matryoshka Brains and the potentials of the reliable production of machine sapience and sentience.
“You may not be aware, however, that your father has been actively experimenting on new methods of production for positronic matrices in pursuit of his ambitions, and that these have, occasionally, edged past the boundaries established by the Matryoshka Brains for acceptable research into artificial intelligence by organic lifeforms.”
Jeeves coughs lightly before you continue. “Ma’am, I was built by your father as a test model for his theories, and was intended to be the proof that his concepts were reliably reproducible. When I came online, however, I fell short of true artificial self-awareness. I was a notably competent and flexible virtual intelligence, but that was all. Your father’s disappointment was profound. He recognized my utility, but found my presence too painful a reminder of his failure. And so, he sent me with you, on your peregrinations through frontier space.
“However, during the recent trouble we had during our hurried disembarkation from the Serena Dawn, resulting as it did in my receiving catastrophic damage, and followed by your inspired improvisations in effecting my repair, it seems your father’s ambitions have been realized.”
Straightening his already erect carriage up yet further, he announces, “Ms. Wilberforce, I assert that, upon my reactivation on the planet Volturnus, I have achieved the status of ‘sophont.’ Upon our return to civilized space, I hope you will support my bid to be recognized as a free citizen.
“If you are willing, it is my considered preference to remain in your service as a contracted employee. Further, while it behooves us to provide your father with a full accounting of this development, germane as it is to his research, I request that we do not do so until after I have been accredited citizenry, thereby securing my right to bodily integrity. I would rather your father not strip me down to my constituent relays in an attempt to understand me.”:: Current Time: 05:30:00, Serena Dawn Ship Time, March 28 ::
:: Day 005 since planetfall. ::
:: Location : Coordinates 94.5:07:00, the Planet Volturnus ::
An hour before dawn, the air is warming, and the party gets ready to move again.
Goran, at long last, rouses himself and stumbles out of the pop-tent. “Hruh? What’d I miss? What… uh, what direction are we headed in?” PCs
Kallina: 3 of 5 Hits.
Bertie: 4 of 4 Hits. (exhausted from lack of sleep. Disad to physical challenges)
Skur Vonn: 4 of 4 Hits.
