Adventure Log 002: Crash on Volturnus

[Rex]

Kallina

Do the Link and Anti-Stun Implant count for what she can carry?

She leaves behind some of her gear. "Going to have to leave some stuff behind, hopefully we don't need it."

Lockcompick and Barda's Handcuffs,

She then picks up the following:

2 days rations, environmental protection cloak, pop tent, and med kit

[shaidar]

Bertie

"If it's 100 miles to the equator, I can see that being at least 5 days of walking. Who of us here can manage that?"

[Rex]

Kallina

"With only 2 days rations it won't be fun, but I should be able to manage it."

[Pulpatoon]

Do the Link and Anti-Stun Implant count for what she can carry?

Good question. They shouldn't, from a physical encumbrance point of view. For simplicity's sake, I'm inclined to keep them as are, just so that we don't have multiple tracks of equipment. So... um, let's say the, uh, biomechanical load of these devices is just taxing enough on the body that it counts for inventory. If anyone ever wants to cyborg out, we can take a more considered examination of how these things should work.

Also, feel free to indicate if you want any of the NPCs going with you. Goran isn't eager to have them in his camp, but will accept them if you are not interested in having them tag along.

[Rex]

Fair enough.

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn

"I'm up for going. I think we all should - it's a death sentence to stay. We don't have enough food to get there, far less get back."

[Pulpatoon]

Bertie, Kallina, and Skur Vonn spend the rest of the day and evening packing up for their foray into the desert and resting between bouts of Xenoendospheric Biome Shock. Goran spends as much time prepping the campsite to sustain the castaways for as long as possible. Hilberth and Interlocutor Kdantk get into another fight over who else should go on the expedition. Kdantk insists he should stay to help care for his fellow vrusk, and that Hilberth will be needed to help carry food and water back. Hilberth rejoins that his biology makes him the least suited to explore a desert, and the Kdantk is clearly capable of carrying larger quantities with his eight legs.

Goran shoots the party a look that says Please take at least one of these pieces of vacuum-bait off my hands.

(Bertie and Kallina have both opted to take a Pop Tent, but I’m assuming that the party only plans on taking one, and leaving two for the camp. Correct me if I’m wrong. Otherwise, I believe the spreadsheet is now accurate to people’s expressed wishes.)

As the party turns in for a night’s sleep, Bertie notes that the middle of the day is too hot for effective travel, and the middle of the night is too cold. The most ideal times for travel are the hours before and after dawn and dusk.

---

The next morning, the party wakes up to find the pre-dawn air is already roasting hot. Some feel their symptoms lessening, but Kallt'kan and Chrt'kltal are visibly worse. (Bertie and Skur Vonn, please roll against new planet flu. Kallina already rolled and failed for today.) Bertie gets immediately to work on repairing Jeeves (Please roll with Advantage +1 {+2 if Skur Vonn is helping} {Advantage negated if you still have new planet flu}).

Meanwhile, Goran prepares the days rations for the camp. Afterwards, he discretely approaches Bertie, Kallina, and Skur Vonn. “Guys, you’re taking too much food. You've barely left us enough rations to feed everyone for a single day while you’re away. I know you’ll need food to explore, but you might find food out there. We won’t, sitting back here. Also, if you could spare another Medpak or two, it would be appreciated.” With this, he looks nervously back at Kallt'kan and Chrt'kltal, whose chiton has started to show patches of mottled white against the green.

After the morning, the party rests through the heat of day. When the worst of the heat is over, it’s time to head out. It seems like you should have about six hours of traveling time before you need to set up camp.

:: Current Time: 14:00:00, Serena Dawn Ship Time, March 27 ::
:: Day 003 since planetfall. ::
:: Location : Designated campsite, Coordinates 100:00:00, unknown, the Planet Volturnus, Volturnus System, Frontier Space ::

Anything else you want to do before you head out? Are you headed south? Are you taking any NPCs other than Jeeves with you?

---

PCs
Kallina: 3 of 5 Hits. (flu)
Bertie: 3 of 4 Hits. (flu)
Skur Vonn: 3 of 4 Hits.

NPCs
Jeeves: 0 of 2 Hits. (deactivated)
Goran: 4 of 4 Hits. (flu)
Hilberth: 1 of 1 Hits. (flu)
Interlocutor Kdantk: 1 of 1 Hits. (flu)
Kallt'kan & Chrt'kltal: 1 of 1 Hits. (flu)

Gear left at Camp
3 medkit
5 stimdose
4 antitoxin
30 glow rods
Rations (6)
4 environmental protection cloak
2 Pop tents
1 Nightvision goggles
1 Climbing gear
1 Macrobinoculars
1 Barda’s Handcuffs
1 Lockcompick
2 Stun Grenades

Actions?
Next update: Wednesday!

[shaidar]

Bertie

Bertie gives a medpak and two rations packs to Goran, and takes two stun grenades

"We have no idea what is safe to eat on this planet so I don't think hunting is viable. We shall have to survive on half rations and hope we find some help before we starve."

Flu roll:

Roll: [_2d6]=(3+5)=8, dis/advantage[1d6]=5

Fixing Jeeves:

Roll: [_2d6]=(6+2)=8, dis/advantage[1d6]=1
So a 9, or 10 if Skurr Von helps.

If that doesn't bring him online then Bertie is going to leave him with the others to lighten her load.

[Rex]

Kallina

Kallina's equipment looks fine now.

"Not sure we should drop below 2 days rations each on the move. If we don't make it, you are doomed too."

[Ythgar]

Goran

flu roll: [_3d6]=(3+2+2)=7

Unable to shake the flu, Goran takes stock of the camp situation and with a sigh tries to keep the bickering parties separated.

[cybersavant]

Meanwhile, Goran prepares the days rations for the camp. Afterwards, he discretely approaches Bertie, Kallina, and Skur Vonn. “Guys, you’re taking too much food. You've barely left us enough rations to feed everyone for a single day while you’re away. I know you’ll need food to explore, but you might find food out there. We won’t, sitting back here. Also, if you could spare another Medpak or two, it would be appreciated.” With this, he looks nervously back at Kallt'kan and Chrt'kltal, whose chiton has started to show patches of mottled white against the green.

After the morning, the party rests through the heat of day. When the worst of the heat is over, it’s time to head out. It seems like you should have about six hours of traveling time before you need to set up camp.

Skur Vonn

In a hushed whisper Skurvonn replies, "Staying here is a death sentence. Even portion out our rations we'll run out of food long before we find help." He leaves to assist with repairing Jeeves.

"We should travel twice a day, and only eat a portion of the rations, to stretch them out." Once they're well on the way he adds, "Forget any illusion of returning here. Even if, by some miracle we find food or help, there'll be no one left alive to aid. We simply don't have enough of anything."

[Rex]

Kallina

"Rations wont be the problem, you can go weeks without food, water is the issue."

[Ythgar]

Goran

Goran speaks with Kallt'kan & Chrt'kltal about whether they can fashion some sort of moisture collector from what's available at camp.
If anything would help with that effort, Goran will leave it behind with them. He then grabs his rations, an environmental protection cloak, the climbing gear, and sets off with the expedition.

[Pulpatoon]

As the party prepares to leave camp, Goran asks Kallt'kan and Chrt'kltal about jury-rigging a moisture collector. They look a little startled at the suggestion. Kallt'kan says, “We… I’m sorry Goran, we’d be much more helpful if we could. But we don’t… we simply don’t have the skills to do this sort of thing…” Chrt'kltal interrupts him, “We’ve never done anything like it before, but who knows what information might be tucked away in our link caches. I’m sure we’ll find something, and we’re very good at following directions, aren’t we, darling? Don’t worry about us, Goran. We’ll make the best of it.”

Hilberth, meanwhile, declares that he must preserve what little moisture he has left and buried himself in the sand with only a few sensor-frond sticking out.

Bertie and Skur Vonn have a much easier time working on Jeeves, this time, and soon the robotic valet unfolds himself and takes a look around the camp. “Thank you for excusing my recent convalescence. One observes that we have undergone a change of circumstances. How may I be of service?” He gets to work quickly, making the elderly vrusks more comfortable and repacking everyone’s carryalls so that they are more efficiently arranged. He packs an additional carryall to sling over his own chassis, and puts the nightvision goggles, macrobinoculars, an additional environmental protection cloak, and a second pop tent in it. “I have further carrying capacity, should anyone care to redistribute any of their goods to my pack.”

Jeeves also takes a discrete moment to say to Bertie, “Ms. Wilberforce, the matter is not urgent, given our current straits, but when the opportunity is judicious, I would appreciate a word.”

---

:: Current Time: 14:00:00, Serena Dawn Ship Time, March 27 ::
:: Day 003 since planetfall. ::
:: Location : Designated campsite, Coordinates 100:00:00, the Planet Volturnus ::

After the midday rest, Bertie, Kallina, Skur Vonn, Goran, and Jeeves bid farewell to the passengers remaining at camp. Skur Von looks glum, convinced that they are leaving these four to die in the desert.

The hike south is long and monotonous. At first it is easy, crossing flat plains, but soon they enter an area of dunes, and it is hard to find an efficient way to climb up and down the shifting banks of sand.

Strange clouds roll overhead, wispy and gold, but with scattered flashes of green, white, yellow, and red from the airborne vegetation. Far off to the southwest, you spot one of the gas-bag whales leading a pod of smaller creatures in lazy arcs through a denser patch of clouds. Skur Vonn thinks he hears a deep thrumming noise off in the distance. For second his heart leaps, thinking the sound might be an atmospheric engine, but it doesn't continue, and he concludes it is more likely whalesong or storm sounds.

---

:: Current Time: 20:00:00, Serena Dawn Ship Time, March 27 ::
:: Day 003 since planetfall. ::
:: Location : Coordinates 94:01:00, the Planet Volturnus ::

The shadows are beginning to lengthen, and the sky is taking on new colors. Small insect-like creatures rise up from sparse weed clumps and begin to flit around. They are too small to be anything more than a nuisance, but what a nuisance! They flock to the party’s eyes, mouths, and nostrils, drawn to the moisture to be found there.

After some practice, the party has figured out that it is easiest to cross the dunes by walking along their ridges rather than up and down their slopes. It is an indirect, frustratingly circuitous path, but much less exhausting.

Walking along the cusp of a dune valley, Goran finds his footing becomes insecure—the sand here is much looser than anything else he’s trod on so far. He immediately sinks in above his knees and is drawn down the slope of the dune, towards the conical center of the valley. His attempts to find purchase and arrest his movement fail—the sand seems as fluid as water. At the same time, the others notice movement at the bottom of the funnel-shaped depression. Two eyeless triangular heads briefly crest the surface of the sand. They circle the bottom of the funnel once and submerge, although their bulk can still be seen rippling through the sand. They make their way towards Goran, who is now up to his waist in sand and about halfway down the slope!

---

PCs
Kallina: 2 of 5 Hits. (flu)
Bertie: 2 of 4 Hits. (flu, will recover on Day 4)
Skur Vonn: 2 of 4 Hits.
Goran: 3 of 4 Hits. (flu)

NPCs
Jeeves: 1 of 2 Hits.

NPCs left at Camp
Hilberth: 1 of 1 Hits. (flu)
Interlocutor Kdantk: 1 of 1 Hits. (flu)
Kallt'kan & Chrt'kltal: 1 of 1 Hits. (flu)

Gear left at Camp
4 medkit
5 stimdose
4 antitoxin
20 glow rods
6 Rations
2 environmental protection cloak
1 Pop tent
1 Handcuffs
1 Lockcompick

What do you do?!
Next Update: Monday!

[shaidar]

Bertie smiles at Jeeves:

"I'm glad you're back with us Jeeves. If you want to talk, then I'm sure we can find time for a private discussion on the journey, just say when. I was wondering if you would be up for helping us by connecting to the network I've set up and monitoring the sensors? I'd be particularly interested in any signals we might detect, either from the planet or the ship in orbit. "

I'll post about the current situation a little later.

[Rex]

Kallina

"Watch out Goran, something is in there with you!"

Can Kallina get within stunner range of the creatures path without getting into the soft funnel sand?

[Pulpatoon]

Bertie "I'm glad you're back with us Jeeves. If you want to talk, then I'm sure we can find time for a private discussion on the journey, just say when. I was wondering if you would be up for helping us by connecting to the network I've set up and monitoring the sensors? I'd be particularly interested in any signals we might detect, either from the planet or the ship in orbit. "

Jeeves links himself into the network, which currently consists of:
: Jeeves :
: 4 data links (Bertie, Kallina, Skur Vonn, Goran) :
: 2 polyvoxes :
: 1 sensorpak :

Can Kallina get within stunner range of the creatures path without getting into the soft funnel sand?

I think. stunner is shorter range than, say, a laser pistol, so you think you would need to enter the funnel part way to be sure of a solid shot. However, you're also pretty sure that the sand will block the stunner whenever these creatures are submerged.

[Rex]

Kallina

Kallina has a rope in a can, does that shoot out or would she need to toss it to Goran?

[Pulpatoon]

Probably more fun if you can shoot it out like silly string, right? Let's say that it can shoot out about ten feet, and Goran is about 10' away. Bottom of the funnel is 25'. The moving shapes are about 10' away from Goran.

[Rex]

Kallina

"Catch this Goran!"

She shoots the rope out at Goran, holding onto the can.

Rope shoot [_2d6]=(4+2)=6 A/D [1d6]=5

She has Athletics and hopefully that helps.