Heroica: Glory Amongst the Stars - Mission #7: My Bleeding Hart

[karmajay]

Kirwin says "There is a plasma potion here and I have another if anyone was injured."

Kirwin investigates the operating station.

[The Legonater]

19 hours ago, Kintobor said:

"Dean." Zaria takes a moment to try and find the words to say to the terrified agent, failing. "There was nothing left for me to do but to end his suffering. I made my strike on him as painless as I could. All journey's come to an end. Some much shorter, much more tragically than others. I am sorry." She straightens herself and produces a cloth from her satchel, from which she solemnly cleans her blade of blood and ichor. "May his final journey to the place where all travels end be swift and comfortable."

Dean looks back at the airlock, a horrified expression still on his face.

I... I understand... I just... stars, how did it come to this?

8 hours ago, Zepher said:

Merei goes to collect any identification on the body.

The eye follows Merei as she steps over to the body, and finds a dog tag identifying him as Quincy Shaw.

7 hours ago, Kintobor said:

"If it wishes to hear us it would decide to grow ears." Zaria comments.

At this, the eye turns back to face Zaria.

23 minutes ago, karmajay said:

Kirwin investigates the operating station.

Kirwin finds the room cleared of any Hydra. The cargo cell is wide open, leaving the contents available for access. 

[Kintobor]

On 2/19/2022 at 5:48 PM, The Legonater said:

Dean looks back at the airlock, a horrified expression still on his face.

I... I understand... I just... stars, how did it come to this?

Zaria remorsefully purses her lips. "Why the Joyful Hotelier would decide to litter the paths of mortals with grief, tragedy, and violence? I do not know fully. Most of us are here but a brief moment, for a tiny fraction of time.  So much pain. So much sorrow. So much joy. So much fleeting happiness. We are all just fragile things, soft and small..." Zaria reaches into her bag and produces the birthday gift Duncan left for Dean as well as his badge. "No life can be spent without feeling grief or misery. What matters is we keep moving on. This gift means nothing to me, but clearly your friend meant for you to have this."

On 2/19/2022 at 5:48 PM, The Legonater said:

At this, the eye turns back to face Zaria.

Zaria silently shakes her head in disbelief. "Do you understand me?" She asks the eye. She expects no response, but this Hydra had proven far more wily and intelligent than she initially thought.

[The Legonater]

4 hours ago, Kintobor said:

Zaria remorsefully purses her lips. "Why the Joyful Hotelier would decide to litter the paths of mortals with grief, tragedy, and violence? I do not know fully. Most of us are here but a brief moment, for a tiny fraction of time.  So much pain. So much sorrow. So much joy. So much fleeting happiness. We are all just fragile things, soft and small..." Zaria reaches into her bag and produces the birthday gift Duncan left for Dean as well as his badge. "No life can be spent without feeling grief or misery. What matters is we keep moving on. This gift means nothing to me, but clearly your friend meant for you to have this."

Dean takes the gift into his hand and looks deeply at it. It is still wrapped in a paper-thin material, which covers the small box held in Dean's grip. He moves to unwrap it, and then pauses. With a resolute nod, Dean takes the still-wrapped gift and places it in a pack with his other supplies.

For later.

4 hours ago, Kintobor said:

Zaria silently shakes her head in disbelief. "Do you understand me?" She asks the eye. She expects no response, but this Hydra had proven far more wily and intelligent than she initially thought.

Zaria Nature Check (DC 3) - 3, 5, 5

The eye continues to gaze blankly at her. After her question, it gives a slow blink, but Zaria is unable to tell if this is a response or simply an instinctual impulse of the creature. 

[Kintobor]

Zaria squints suspiciously at the eye stalk. She moves around it and into the operating station.

"What are we looking at, Kirwin?" Zaria asks.

[karmajay]

On 2/19/2022 at 5:48 PM, The Legonater said:

The cargo cell is wide open, leaving the contents available for access. 

Kirwin investigates the contents.

[Zepher]

Merei looks around, trying to determine if this cargo pod has the same set up as the one they were previously in. "I wouldn't say no to that potion." She centers herself. "We need to make it to Delta Container. That is where the supposed bomb is, and McSorley, hopefully. We know the bomb was fake, but the energy supplies there should be able to effectively blow the ship. I trust you and I to figure that out, Kirwin. We were just in Beta. That would make this Gamma, and the next Delta." She looks squarely at both Viper and Dean. "We don't know where the Hydra originated, but there were some containers marked restricted, shipped by Mortizar, in container Gamma. Is that of any interest to anyone here?"

OoC: Hopefully got that all right, just trying to synthesize some info from a lot of months and also go off my understanding of the greek alphabet.

On 12/19/2021 at 3:54 AM, The Legonater said:

I'm not sure... memory recall is not exactly a pristine factor of my condition. Ilbery is clearly still woozy despite his healings. That said, you can access crew files from my office... it appears you already have the key. There were... twenty-two of us in all. The files can give you names and positions... 

As for the Starblazers... like I said, one of them hopped on board before we left. Tampered with my damn ship, made all sort of claims. We locked him up in Container Beta. Food, water... but no visitation. I guess we were going to drop him off in a cell on the Queen of Hearts. 

Timeline? It all still feels hazy... I remember we set off from Port Charon on 08/17. We caught that Carpathia scumbag, got him to talk, and he spouted a bunch of BS about Starblazer operatives and sabotaging Valencia. It was hard to tell what was fake or not. We make the final call to shortcut through the sector. Then with all the gravity surges... I don't know that Hydra thing hooked a ride to us, but I guess it got agitated. Bugsy was victim one, things got worse from there. Our engines shorted out, and we had to implement lockdown measures to ration our supplies. McSorley made a damn ruckus, kept saying we needed to get a message out through the cloud...

There's a bunch of power equipment stored in Container Delta, enough to light up a damn city if you ask me. Someone was shipping some heavy-duty batteries, I guess. McSorley wanted to hitch a comm device to the power supplies, he believed it could boost our output enough to get a clean signal out of the nebula. Radio for help. But... I said no. I told him to rig the equipment to overload instead. We've made enough mistakes here, it was time to blow this whole ship, take out this Hydra thing with it. ...I don't know what happened to McSorley. He went missing a couple of days before I lost myself, but I think he was headed back there. Shortly after... everything went black.

On 12/20/2021 at 6:41 PM, The Legonater said:

<Valencia|Cargo Manifest>
Kirwin looks through the collective files, sorting through readouts of fine jewels, crates of cash, and other relics, ordered by all sorts of clientele. Then, in Container Gamma, they find a collection of orders from Jefferson Mortizar. There are five crates, all labeled RESTRICTED. 

 

 

[The Legonater]

4 hours ago, karmajay said:

Kirwin investigates the contents.

Kirwin looks through the crates, uncovering five Plasma Potions and four AetherBrew Potions.

2 hours ago, Zepher said:

Merei looks around, trying to determine if this cargo pod has the same set up as the one they were previously in. "I wouldn't say no to that potion." She centers herself. "We need to make it to Delta Container. That is where the supposed bomb is, and McSorley, hopefully. We know the bomb was fake, but the energy supplies there should be able to effectively blow the ship. I trust you and I to figure that out, Kirwin. We were just in Beta. That would make this Gamma, and the next Delta." She looks squarely at both Viper and Dean. "We don't know where the Hydra originated, but there were some containers marked restricted, shipped by Mortizar, in container Gamma. Is that of any interest to anyone here?"

OoC: Hopefully got that all right, just trying to synthesize some info from a lot of months and also go off my understanding of the greek alphabet.

Merei determines that Gamma has the same layout as Beta, and supposes that shipping containers like these are likely mass-produced.

I think I pretty thoroughly made my mess. At this point, I mostly just want to get off this death trap.

...Duncan and I came here to investigate. I'd like to finish the job. 

MM Note: Yep, that all looks correct! 

[Zepher]

"I'm disappointed, Viper. I thought you were unhappy with Hart. If he is shipping things he shouldn't, I'd think you'd want to know that." Merei waits for the potions and aetherbrews to be distributed, and then pokes her head into the main cargo bay. "Kirwin, do you think there's any way to determine through the computers which were the restricted crates belonging to our employer?"

[karmajay]

2 hours ago, Zepher said:

"Kirwin, do you think there's any way to determine through the computers which were the restricted crates belonging to our employer?"

Kirwin says "I can try"

[Zepher]

OoC: Karma! You found those potions and brews, I think it’s only fair you distribute them!

[The Legonater]

6 hours ago, Zepher said:

"I'm disappointed, Viper. I thought you were unhappy with Hart. If he is shipping things he shouldn't, I'd think you'd want to know that." 

I usually put saving my skin over putting the knife in someone else. But since you make such a compelling argument, and I don't exactly have anywhere else to be, why don't we take  look?

4 hours ago, karmajay said:

Kirwin says "I can try"

Kirwin Coding Check DC 1/3 - 6, 4, 3, 2, 2

Kirwin tinkers away at the security console, and while they can't determine Mortizar's shipments from this console, they do find a way to identify the containers. Each shipment headed directly to Jefferson Hart Mortizar has a unique shipment code, 327, preceding the rest of the shipment information. These codes should be available on the crates in the main cargo bay.

[karmajay]

Kirwin says "If you are checking containers, each shipment headed directly to Hart has a unique shipment code, 327, preceding the rest of the shipment information. These codes should be available on the crates in the main cargo bay."

[Kintobor]

“Then we should head to the cargo container cautiously. The last thing we need is to run into another of those larger Hydra creatures and not be ready to face it.” Zaria takes a moment to adjust her belts and pouches before nodding to the rest of the group, moving to the cargo hold.”

[Zepher]

OoC: I'm just going to distribute this loot, if that's okay with everyone. @karmajay, if you want to do something different with it, let me know! But I want to move forward. Also, everyone watch your Inventory! Remember we have a limit of 10, so I think a lot of us are at the very edge of what we can comfortably carry. Also, @Kintobor, you have a nice armor attachment I think you can use but which you aren't right now!

Merei takes the potions and brews from Kirwin, distributing them. She gives one potion to each member of the party, including Viper. She takes two Aether Brews for herself, and gives one to Zaria and Kirwin each. She then drinks a potion and a brew. "Let us go find some containers." She walks into the main cargo hold.

[Kintobor]

OOC: I believe I posted somewhere about attaching the mod to Zaria’s Dune Sea Armour, but if not I can do that later.

”Thank you.” Zaria nods in appreciation towards Merei as she’s handed a potion which is placed in her satchel.

[karmajay]

ooc: I don't need any aether brews since I don't use spirit but thanks :)

Kirwin drinks a plasma potion while following the others.

Edited February 23, 2022 by karmajay

[The Legonater]

15 hours ago, Zepher said:

Merei takes the potions and brews from Kirwin, distributing them. She gives one potion to each member of the party, including Viper. She takes two Aether Brews for herself, and gives one to Zaria and Kirwin each. She then drinks a potion and a brew. "Let us go find some containers." She walks into the main cargo hold.

Merei plasma potion - (6) = Six vitality recovered.

Merei Aetherbrew - (6) = Six Spirit recovered.

Kirwin plasma potion - (4) Four vitality recovered

The party begins to divide the spoils:

The Party:

Kirwin (karmajay)
Character Points: 5/18
Vitality: 6/6
Velocity: 1
Strength: 2
Skill: 1
Smarts: 3
Proficiencies: Coding 2, Piloting 1, Engineering 2, Explosives 1, Technology 2 
Credits: 18
Equipment: Drone (Standard Long Range Elemental Weapon), Adventuring Leathers (Standard Kinetic Armour), Utility Belt
Inventory: 3 Hampering Minor Chemical Contained grenades, 4 Plasma Potions, Hacking Chip, Captain Ilbery's Security Card, Alien Mandible (Standard Kinetic Weapon), Makeshift Flamethrower (Standard Short-Range Elemental Weapon), Skeleton Key Card (Unlocks 1 lock per mission)

Merei Teo
Age 24 Female, Helioi-Touched Celestial (Born Menahi) 
Character Points: 4/18
Vitality: 6/6 
Velocity: 2
Strength: 2
Skill: 2
Smarts: 3
Spirit: 3/3
Proficiencies: Occult 1, Religion 1, Coding 1, Insight 1
Known Spells: Healing Light, Solar Flare, Gravity Sink
Credits: 161
Equipment: Teo Family Pocket-Watch (Kinetic Weapon), Utility Belt (Grants +1 Engineering or Medicine Check Success)
Inventory: Essence of Intellect, Plasma Potion, Aether Brew, Nanite Elixir, Holo-Tome (+1 to non-Spell Arcana, Nature, Religion, and Occult Checks)

Varen Nastayo (KotZ)
26, Male, Human
Character Points: 5/17
Vitality: 3/5
Velocity: 2
Strength: 2
Skill: 2
Smarts: 2
Spirit: 0
Proficiencies: Culture 2, Deception 1, Insight 1, Persuasion 2, Long Range Weapon 1, Coding 1*
Known Spells (if applicable): 
Credits: 124
Equipment: Lawyer's Rifle (Standard Long Range Energy weapon), Translator Cube
Inventory: 1x Essence of Glibness, 1x Essence of Intellect, Ion Repeater (Standard Energy Long Range Weapon), Adrenaline Decoction, 2x Bulking Stim, Aether Brew, 2x Plasma Potion, Ion Scope (This weapon ignores Obscurement)

Zaria Kanara (Kintobor) 
226 Year Old Female Elf
Character Points: 5/19
Vitality: 6/6
Velocity: 3
Strength: 2
Skill: 2
Smarts: 1
Spirit: 1/2
Proficiencies: Athletics 1, Religion 2, Melee Weapons 2
Known Spells: Warding Bond, Sonic Sweep
Credits: 139
Equipment: Power Khopesh (Standard Kintetic Melee Weapon), Dune Sea Armour (Standard Kinetic Armour w/ Repulsor, +1 Defend Rolls), Farsight Goggles
Inventory: Plasma Potion (4), Aether Brew x2, Essence of Toughness, Holoscroll (Enhanced Vision)

Viper Carpathia (Will take suggestions)
Vitality: 5/7
Velocity: 2
Strength: 4
Skill: 2
Smarts: 3
Spirit: 0
Proficiencies: Athletics 1, Persuasion 1, Short Range Weapons 2, Survival 1
Equipment: Starblazer Armour (Standard Kinetic Armour), Captain's Sidearm (Standard Short-Range Energy Weapon)

15 hours ago, Zepher said:

"Let us go find some containers." She walks into the main cargo hold.

The cargo hold of Gamma is filled with a series of crates and containers like Beta was. Many have been jostled and pushed around by the tidal forces, and others have been damaged by blasterfire. It would take some time to go through all of the cargo individually, but one crate standing clear in the middle stands out to the whole party. Its identification panel is still accessible, but little else is - it has been more damaged by the journey than any of the other crates around it. More than that, growing out of the crate are shoots and tendrils that reach towards the walls and spread up to the ceiling. From there, the growths move outward to both the entrance the heroes arrived from, and the airlock to Delta. In fact, the path to Delta, while still very accessible, is veritably filled with the shoots and tendrils, leaving the cargo chamber feels almost barren in comparison.

 

Edited February 24, 2022 by The Legonater

[karmajay]

OOC: I drank a plasma potion above, thanks!

[Kintobor]

"If there is residue of blaster fire in here it means there were people in here attacking something." Zaria approaches the eviscerated crate cautiously, peering inside.

[The Legonater]

9 hours ago, karmajay said:

OOC: I drank a plasma potion above, thanks!

MM Note: Fixed

8 hours ago, Kintobor said:

"If there is residue of blaster fire in here it means there were people in here attacking something." Zaria approaches the eviscerated crate cautiously, peering inside.

That something may have been me.

Zaria Perception Check (DC 1/3) - (2, 1, 6) One success

The tendrils seem occupied, not concerned with Zaria's investigation. The identification and control panel clearly still work, but the rest of the crate seems, largely, to have been destroyed from the inside out. 

[Zepher]

Merei checks the identification and control panel, trying to determine who was shipping the box and if it’s contents are described.

[Kintobor]

Zaria turns her attention from the eviscerated box to Viper after his comment. "Would you mind telling me what happened in here?" Zaria asks.

[The Legonater]

9 hours ago, Zepher said:

Merei checks the identification and control panel, trying to determine who was shipping the box and if it’s contents are described.

Merei Coding Check DC 1 - 4, 3, 1 (One success)

Merei looks over the control panel and is successfully able to pull up its shipping ID:

<327-1101-2409>
<Shipment from: UNLISTED|Shipment to: COSMOPOLI>
<Contents: UNCERTAIN - REQUIRES FURTHER RESEARCH>

31 minutes ago, Kintobor said:

Zaria turns her attention from the eviscerated box to Viper after his comment. "Would you mind telling me what happened in here?" Zaria asks.

Viper gives a shrug.

It's as I said before; I came here to hide after Valencia took off. Gail and company came storming in here, guns blazing. 'Guess they must have accidentally woken whatever it is was sleeping in there. 

[Zepher]

Merei nods just once upon seeing the number. “I try to not be imaginative. But it is nice to have it confirmed from time to time. This is a Hart container.” She stands and looks at the spread growth on the ceiling. “Very well. Let us proceed to Delta and prepare to destroy this ship.”

Quote

<Valencia|PersonellFiles>
Barlow, Ruby - Cargo Engineer (Deceased, Cargo Hold Beta)
Callaghan, Artemis - Assistant Engineer (Deceased)
Dunn, Simon - Head Pilot
Fitzgerald, Gordon - Assistant Pilot ("Abandoned" in Mess Hall/possibly dead?)
Gail, Andrea - Chief of Security (Deceased)
Greenlaw, Linda - Lead Scientist
Ilbery, Edward - Captain (Retrieved)
Irving, Jane - Assistant Pilot (Retrieved)
Larson, Alexi - Bridge Engineer (Retrieved)
Lightfoot, Edmund - Comms Officer ("Abandoned" in Mess Hall/possibly dead?)
Luce, Jamie - Doctor (Went to retrieve Fitzgerald and Lightfoot)
McMaugh, Jim - Custodian
McSorley, Ernest - Chief Engineer (Set Off To Destroy The Ship / UPDATE: Plant Signal Booster)
Moran, Michael - Cargo Security (Deceased, Medical Bay)
Morrison, Joan - Security Sergeant (Deceased, Cargo Hold Beta)
Noble, Jim - Bridge Engineer
Shatford, Robert - Bridge Engineer
Shaw, Quincy - Assistant Doctor (Deceased, Cargo Hold Gamma)
Truxton, Tamsin - Cargo Security (Deceased)
Tyne Jr., Wiliam - Cargo Security (Retrieved)
Worley, Frederik - Engineer (Retrieved)
Wood, Greg - Comms Officer (Deceased, Hallway Explosion)