The Unseen Servant forums

Marullus wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 3:10 pm At Shadrach's request, Báleygr pulls the floorplan for Deck D, which is apparently through the bulkhead doors and up the ramp from the portal module. As Shadrach suspected, it does appear to be a single long hallway. The lemon-scented air from the overhead ventillation system seems to be warming, your breath no longer steaming in the room.

Station-Deck-D.jpg

Skimming files as he navigates the mainframe, Báleygr continues his pursuit of numbers, allegiance, purpose. Deck C and Deck A remain firewalled but he can ascertain that almost the entire expected population lives on Deck B. He hacks a surveillance camera that shows individuals that are not only human, but... eating at a Parisian 'outdoor' cafe under a solarium ceiling.
Deck B cafe.png

With the push of a button, the bulkhead doors slide open, a wash of lemon-scented cool air coming down the ramp as the the atmosphere regulates. The ramp leads upwards, Deck D ahead.

Báleygar Gangleri

"There is an elevator, not sure if it's also locked out now.. With so many portals, it's strange there's no security in here. Cameras or something to alert the residents that someone's arrived."

I'm not the professional tactician that some of the marshals are, Taavi says. But I suppose my vote is to take the lift. For no reason other than I prefer it to meeting the residents cornered here.

Hansel nods and says If we're gonna be doing it, we should get doing and starts to move for the lift.

Emile follows the others

Shadrach jerks his head toward the hall beyond the chamber. "C'mon. This place isn't defensible and there's no line of retreat anyway. We can't go back, so let's go forward. Grim, izviđati". Obediently, the not-hound bounds forward, slithering from shadow to shadow as it heads toward the expected location of the lift.

Shadrach follows behind, the spike thrower settled in the pocket of his shoulder and held at low ready.

Ambiance: Caution

Grimm lopes up the ramp, partially disappearing like liquid shadow as he pours into each patch of darkness. Bringing your own shadow-horror does nothing to reduce the creepiness you feel at the space station's empty, matte steel hallway. Báleygr expresses worry over the seeming lack of security, the emptiness strange to the spacer's expectations.


The ramp comes up from your teleporter module to reveal the straight hallway before you at its top. The floor and walls are all a matte metal, clean and unmarred, the corners of the ceiling slightly rounded where they meet the walls but squared at right angles at the floor. Some wall panels have notches that they may be detachable to access wiring or piping behind. The hallway is wide enough for two men to walk abreast, Hansel and Shadrach taking the lead. The running lights on the floor cast dim-yellow illumination in the dark hallway ahead, the overhead light panels coming on one at a time as you near them, a soft-white glow advancing with you. Emile and Taavi follow, then Nora who hovers protectively over Oliver. Báleygr brings up the rear, making sure Nora and Oliver don't fall behind. His drone hovers just below the ceiling. Not really enough room for it to be above the party, it trails behind.

The entire deck hums with the white noise of machinery, vibrations felt through the walls. At the top of the ramp is a door on the right wall, the seam down the middle sealed, neither left or right sides retracting as the group tentatively approaches it, guns drawn. With no threat emerging, the group proceeds ten yards further down the hallway, finding a door on the left which also doesn't open of its own volition and reveals no threat. Fifteen yards down the hallway, another door on the right. It doesn't open. The group pauses, then passes by.

Just past that, the white matte-plastic door on the left, limned with pale green illumination, marked as the elevator. The hallway extends another fifteen yards beyond to a wall, another hallway continuing to the left around the corner. The hallway remains eerily silent except for your scuffing footfalls and heavy breathing.

As you approach and the ceiling light panel activates outside the elevator, the elevator doors slide open, a wash of lemon-scented air. The elevator interior is empty, pristinely clean white panels on every side, not even scuffing on the floor. A voice comes over the speakers from within, perfectly accented Kumenkha dialect, "Welcome, pravoochraniteli! Please enter, and ascend."

Russian:

Hansel looks at the others in surprise. I'm guessing if they know who we are, and could do that, the door could have also opened on a bomb. I'm thinking meeting them friendly-like may be the best course?

Taavi
A very good point. If they wanted us dead, they could have already achieved that. And they know who we are. I think approaching them with friendliness is the only option that makes sense. We have no exit, and we are probably already overpowered. And besides (knowing that the residents are listening), we didn't come here with intent to harm.

The lawyer discretely unfocuses his eyes, accesses the psychic zone of his mind, and opens telepathic communication with the four marshals. If each is willing. He transmits, We can use this channel for silent, confidential communication when we encounter the inhabitants. I'll have to be the hub for communication-- you won't be able to transmit thought communication with each other. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will transmit every communication I receive to every other marshal. Nora and Oliver won't be a part of the "network"-- they'll need oral communication, alerts, and/or direction. We have to remember that, especially during times when things get urgent and immediate.

Emile holsters his SunShooter, but does not strap it in. Perhaps they are friendly. Perhaps they are watching now. Regardless, as you say, they treat us peacefully. I say we approach in kind.

Shadrach shrugs. "The system knows we're here, at least. Might as well keep going."

Grim swirls into the scant protection of Shadrach's shadow, curling up like a hound.

Sorry for the delay.

Ambiance: Banjo Beat

The group steps into the pristine white plastic of the elevator, the soft-white light surrounding the perimeter of the ceiling. A stronger puff of lemon scent assaults your nose as the doors close and the pressure adjusts slightly. With no room for it to hover in the elevator, Báleygr's drone lands in his hands and compacts itself to fit in his backpack. Emile holsters his six-gun, leaving the strap open, while Shadrach continues to hold his spike thrower, the shadowy hound crouching near his legs. Taavi and Hansel prepare for the diplomatic approach, Taavi exhausting himself by re-establishing the telepathic linkage among them for... whatever happens next. Oliver pulls down his goggles, putting on a serious face, while Nora looks wound-tight, her thumb flicking over the hilt of the knife sheathed on her thigh. It's a cozy fit with seven of you.

There is a gravity shift as the room begins to move, sliding up its shaft. The white noise of machinery is left behind, a soft tone going 'bing' as you pass deck C, then arrive at deck B, where it stops. The doors slide open, letting you out.

"Welcome visitors! We are glad to have ya'll." says a cheerful male voice, a Kumekhna City accent.

The not-quite dog sidles out first, like a shadowy herald, slipping to the left beneath a set of three chairs. Taavi and Hansel step out, Emile and Báleygr next, all with empty hands. Shadrach holds his spike thrower stands behind them, Nora and Oliver close, touching his right side.

The clean, all white, lemon-scented welcome center is a square well-lit room about 18 meters across. Each corner has an inset, making it more of a plus-shape design - you are entering from one corner inset which is the elevator. The next corner inset to your left also has a pair of elevator doors. The end of each alcove has a rounded bulk-head door, also clean and white. A round desk is in the middle of the room, a man and two women seated within its center. The man wears a wide-lapeled grey suit, the current fashion of Kumekhna City. The two women wear dresses and have plain features; they would be comfortable in the town of Prudence. Their smiles never falter, looking from the dog, to the road-worn Marshalls, to the ready firearms, to the small boy peering between Taavi and Hansel to get a good look.

"You may call me Victor and I am your welcoming host. I assure you that you are quite safe here. Hospitality is our proud tradition and you will be comfortable and cared for throughout your stay." A numbered locker hisses and slides open on the wall of the inset to your right. "If you would be so kind as to put your weapons up in the locker here, they will be quite safe. We will give you the access card to make you comfortable."

Taavi steps forward and uses his courtroom manner. Which is to try to appear courteous, polite, candid, scholarly (to the point of being a little eccentric and absent-minded), unassumingly-- and somehow confident. Thank you very much for your welcome, Mr. Victor. I must say, we are surprised by our surrounding. I will admit that I for one did not suspect that such an installation still exists. Let me first assure all of you that our intentions are peaceful. We are merely accidental explorers who stumbled upon something that we thought could not be explored. Namely-- as you of course know-- an advanced technology portal, in an unexpected place.

He pauses for moment, as if weighing things in his mind. Mr. Victor, you without doubt know quite well the horrific experiences my colleagues have very recently experienced on the other side of said portal. And so you will understand their reluctance to immediately surrender their... specialized tools. But as a show of good faith, and in appreciation of your kind welcome-- and not having obliterated us at first detecting, vacuum-dumped us into deep space, or otherwise disposed of uninvited intruders... I will place this comparatively primitive weaponry into the indicated locker. A significant reduction in projection of comparative power, and a quid pro quid of sorts. But I will ask that my colleagues be allowed to keep their own tools, for the time being. The closing on middle-aged lawyer steps to the locker and slowly and deliberately lifts his rifle's sling from his shoulder and places the weapon in the locker and closes its door.

I'm sorry to have been so direct as to force things, sir, madams. As I've said before, things have been unsettling and... horrific.

He says telepathically to the marshals, with instant and quicker than speech transmission of thought, in lightning fast succession, Let's see how they react to that. We must remember that this station maintains a portal in the basement of a backwater Sons bar. To Balegyr last, Marshal. you and your drone are the intel of this group. I would ask that you observe and act last in combat situations. And realize that Nora and young Oliver cannot hear this. We cannot forget to inform them of what to do in combat situations. You're the best situated for that, I believe, marshal. Please launch your drone at the optimal time, according of your own tactical decisions.

The psychic lawyer has barely a chance to glance back to the space station hosts. Sir, you speak in the tones of a resident of urban Kumekha. A town of my own birth. Are you also from little Kumekha? A smoggy little city only famed for its griddle potato pancakes?

Be ready, friends. They want to kill us.

Talk - 0 [2d6]=2

Emile tips back his hat and smiles.

Victor. Ladies. Gentlemen, Emile's eyes move from face to face, I am Emile. As my colleague Taavi here states, we are willing to give a show of good faith. However, as duly appointed Marshals, we are unable to relinquish our weapons. Even if we were to dress down to the suits we were born in, we would still need to keep them with us to defend the innocent, which I'm sure you count yourselves members of.

Now, we know that this is a contained habitat in the depths of the vacuum of space, and you know that we are aware of this fact. Believe me, we have no intention of doing anything that might endanger it or the residents here.

He thinks to the others: I'm not sure that was at all convincing: this could get interesting right quick.

Emile Cha+Talk [2d6r2+2]=6+2=8

Hansel mentally kisses the blarney stone clears his throat and starts to speak As my fellow marshals have said, we really must insist on keeping our arms. Though, of course, I could shed this armor and combat rifle as a sign of good faith, if it would help. Please understand, this isn't a reflection upon you or your hospitality, which is most welcomed and appreciated. Rather, it is a function of, as my friend said, our duty as marshals to be able to respond to danger should it appear. And given our most recent experiences before coming through the portal - which we still don't quite understand it's relation to this station - we have faced attacks of undead creatures at a farm and what I can only call demonic ones at what we thought to be a tavern, we are a might on the skittish side.

Hansel will "act as if" his words were persuasive and move over to one of the lockers and start stowing his Harmony Armor and combat rifle, moving his laser pistol and other gear to his belt (still wearing the armored undercut).



Talk [2d6+3]=8+3=11

They are way too comfortable with a bunch of heavily-armed strangers just showing up. I don't like it. And ain't nobody ever been so calm to meet a church grim, Shadrach sends through the telepathic link as he glances down at the shadow-hound. He makes no move to divest himself of his weapon, though the servomotors that augment his reactions are quiet...for now.