Heroica: Glory Amongst the Stars - Mission #9: He's Dead, Jim

[Endgame]

"Lead? Is that... Why?" Decker says, dumbfounded, planting his hands on his knees to recover his breath.

 

"Well, Ronin, this, uh, may not 'ave been the most fruitful venture. Let's keep going..."

Decker begins to walk in the direction of the floating light, trying to catch a glance at the floating square (anything could be evidence down here. Or a pile of filth) as he proceeded.

[Yzalirk]

"Unfortunately not... but it was worth investigating.  Who knows what surprises the architect behind this labyrinth left."

Ronin begins to follow Decker again, continuing to carve their path deeper into the tunnels.  Then a Rocketpack begins to digitize in front of him with a card reading "Happy Yul'Yom."  He grabs it and equips it.

[Duvors]

The floating piece of plastic doesn't seem to have any particular relevance, or even any clear purpose. Which is probably why someone threw it down here. As you pass by the T-way, you see that it leads through into another pipe running parallel to this one. Eventually turning the corner by the broken light you discover... another corner. turning in the same direction no less. With no where else to go but ahead, you turn again and find...

... a dead end.

[Endgame]

Decker shines a flashlight down the small opening at the base of the wall. Did the water go deep enough where crawling or wading under would be possible?

"Do I even wanna know if this is possible?" Decker grunts. "Mark the wall Ronin. We should go backwards to where we were before, and take the passage leading right. Well, left on the way back, but you know what I mean."

[Yzalirk]

Ronin follows Decker again.

[Duvors]

On 1/3/2022 at 4:54 PM, Yzalirk said:

Ronin begins to follow Decker again, continuing to carve their path deeper into the tunnels.  Then a Rocketpack begins to digitize in front of him with a card reading "Happy Yul'Yom."  He grabs it and equips it.

MM Note: I'm sorry I forgot to mention earlier, but you cannot equip the rocket pack as the armor you're wearing already has a special quality.

On 1/4/2022 at 3:40 PM, Endgame said:

Decker shines a flashlight down the small opening at the base of the wall. Did the water go deep enough where crawling or wading under would be possible?

As Decker looks down, he can clearly see that the grating to drain the water is blocked by a pile of indeterminate filth. As he looks down, he notices that his air toxicity detector has tuned red, no doubt the the blockage has allowed a gas pocket to build up here. He also spots what looks like a discarded shield sitting on top of the morass:

 Old Wolfclaw Veteran's Shield (Substandard Kinetic Armor) Dented Iron: This shield isn't as badly damaged as it looks, the first three upgrades to it are half price, and this quality disappears afterward.

MM Note: Substandard is an item quality one step below Standard, meaning it adds no successes to relevant combat checks. I can't respond to the rest of your actions at the moment, so hang tight.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Duvors

[Duvors]

You choose to head back to where Ronin left his first X, ignoring the entrance to the parallel tunnel, and find yourselves back where you started. This time you choose to take the other passage, turning left only to immediately come face-to-wall with a right-hand turn. Turning again you follow a short straight passage to find yourselves in a long tunnel.

To your right is another passage just down from where you are that continues in the direction you were just walking. And beyond that a corner that, if you're right, must be the passage that was on your right when you entered.

Both Heroes Perception Check (DC 3): Decker (1,5,1,6) two successes. Ronin (6,5,4,1) three successes.

Decker doesn't see anything despite being the one holding the flashlight. Ronin however is able to see a small brownish puddle under some suspended pipes - and marks leading from it.

On your left, another passage curves back around out of sight. As you step out into the tunnel however, your air toxicity detectors, having been green for the past while, turn red.

[Endgame]

Decker takes up the shield just as his Yul'Yom scope materializes in the back pocket of his suit. He slings the shield across on his back and attaches the scope to his shotgun, before proceeding along.

"Think we ought to be following those marks, Ronin? Someone had to have left those. Seeing as its trailing from the pipe drip, we mus' be behind 'em."

[Yzalirk]

"I agree friend.  Maybe the owner is still alive.  This is the best lead we got, let us follow it."

Ronin follows the trail.

[Duvors]

The trail leads away from where you entered the maze, down the tunnel across the water. It is easy to guess that Gregory was following the right-hand wall, a tried and true tactic and one that doubly makes sense considering that the other way would've involved surmounting a difficult obstacle that could also have prevented him form being reeled back in. As you move away from the other unexplored tunnel, your toxicity detectors go green. It seems that the source of the choke is down that way.

You follow the footprints down a straight passage, keeping the flashlight trained ahead to see through the darkness. You can already see orange light ahead, and soon you reach another junction.

Despite multiple lights being broken, you can easily see the trail ends just ahead, an object lying amidst a group of footprints under a manhole. Concerned by this, you rush toward the scene.

As you reach the spot, you take a quick look down the passage across from the manhole and see that it's blocked by a large grate. As the flashlight illuminates the scene, you can see that the object in the midst of the footmarks is a broken flashlight of the same kind Arno gave you.

What will you do?

[Endgame]

Decker sweeps his flashlight across the scene, and scowls upon finding the broken flashlight.

"See that, Ronin? We're on the right path... Assuming that's ol' Greg's."

Decker inspects the busted flashlight to see how thoroughly steeped it is in sewage. Was it recently discarded?

"And this grate... Hrmm."

Decker checks the ceiling and the area around the large grate, trying to see if there was a mechanism of sorts keeping the grate shut.

 

[Duvors]

On 1/8/2022 at 7:18 PM, Endgame said:

Decker inspects the busted flashlight to see how thoroughly steeped it is in sewage. Was it recently discarded?

There isn't any way to concretely tell how long the flashlight has been here. It certainly isn't steeped in sewage, considering it's sitting in the walkway. However, it seems that Greg went here directly from where you entered, so this would've happened when he first came down here a week ago. That would be consistent with the fact that the prints are dry.

Decker Perception Check (DC 1): (4,3,6,6) Three successes.

As you are looking around however you spot two things; a little spot of dried blood near the flashlight, and a discarded hardhat sitting on a pile of muck in the river of sewage.

On 1/8/2022 at 7:18 PM, Endgame said:

Decker checks the ceiling and the area around the large grate, trying to see if there was a mechanism of sorts keeping the grate shut.

Decker Perception Check (DC 1, 3): (1,5,6,4) Three successes.

Crossing over on a plank that has been laid across the gap, you approach the grate for a closer look. Upon closer examination, you see that it is some sort of gate designed to slide into the ceiling, but the control mechanism is nowhere to be seen and lifting it by hand would be an arduous task. However as you look around, you just barely spot something in the beam of your flashlight. Quickly turning it back, you see another spot of dried blood - on the far side of the gate.

OoC: @Yzalirk?

[Yzalirk]

Ronin looks around seeing if he can spot any conduit or wiring that may lead to the gate.

"Decker, do you see anything that may open this?"

[Duvors]

1 hour ago, Yzalirk said:

Ronin looks around seeing if he can spot any conduit or wiring that may lead to the gate.

Unfortunately, you cannot see any exposed wiring, indicating that they must be safe in the (sadly undamaged) walls.

Ronin Insight Check (DC 1,?): (2,1,6) One success.

However, you think that you could possibly use your katana to cut through the bars. It may not work though, and you'd be abandoning the opportunity to see what's down the other passage or above the manhole - there might be something important there! Still, no harm in trying, right?
Still, you can't shake the feeling there's something... off about this scene, something you're missing. Perhaps a second look would be in order before you rush headlong in all directions.

[Endgame]

Decker paces around the scene of the crime.

"Let's... Okay, not my strong suit here, but let's riddle this one out. Lessee here. It looks like our pal followed the righthand walls, staying away from highly toxic areas. Okay, fair enough. He gets here. There's some sorta struggle, judgin' by the blood and such..."

Decker takes another look at the flashlight, tries to pick it up and turn it on. Was it damaged in any way?

"Seein' as the blood is by the flashlight and not the hardhat, my guess is that the hardhat must've gotten knocked off his block first, and then he got whacked, making the first blood stain..."

Decker also inspects the hard hat closer. Was it dented? Any sign of a struggle?

"But there's blood on the other side of this gate too. At a certain point in all of this, they must've undone the harness on 'im too, but Iunno when... They whacked him one last time when they got him pas' the threshold of the gate too."

Decker crosses his arms and turns to Ronin.

"Does anythin' about this bother you, friend? Didn't Gregory go missing a week ago? How was there still a trail here? You'd think the sewage would wash away his tracks, no...? Maybe I'm paranoid..."

[Duvors]

20 hours ago, Endgame said:

Decker takes another look at the flashlight, tries to pick it up and turn it on. Was it damaged in any way?

The flashlight is indeed broken and unusable, the lens has come off completely and is currently in two pieces.

20 hours ago, Endgame said:

Decker also inspects the hard hat closer. Was it dented? Any sign of a struggle?

Not dented per-se, but you see the chinstrap is slightly damaged as if it was yanked off. Feeling it in your hands, it seems sturdy enough to take a blow without denting - probably why it was torn off in the first place.

20 hours ago, Endgame said:

"Does anythin' about this bother you, friend? Didn't Gregory go missing a week ago? How was there still a trail here? You'd think the sewage would wash away his tracks, no...? Maybe I'm paranoid..."

Decker Insight Check (DC 1,?): (4,3,2) One Success.

Judging by how stagnant the water is, and the fact that it's entire surface is covered in a mat of puke-green algae, you don't think there's been a serious flow here in years - hence no flooding. That makes sense, considering it never rains on Ebria, what with it being a space station and all. Still, you can't help but wonder why Greg was grabbed here. The whole thing seems a bit... random? Why would anyone be here right when Greg came along? And it has to be an anyone rather than an anything if they thought to close the gate behind them.

[Yzalirk]

Ronin grabs the bars, shaking them.  Thinking he can break them, he steps back and unsheathes his sword and strikes at them.

[Endgame]

Decker watches as Ronin tries to hack through the bars.

"Someone was down here, Ronin. They whacked Greg. Smart enough to unhook the latch on his cable before draggin' him off, too, otherwise tha cable woulda gotten pinned under the gate..." Decker shakes his head. "I'm not feelin' great about this."

[Duvors]

20 hours ago, Yzalirk said:

Ronin grabs the bars, shaking them.  Thinking he can break them, he steps back and unsheathes his sword and strikes at them.

Ronin Melee Weapon Check (DC 5 1[Calibrated Energy Weapon]): (6,4,3,2,1) Two successes.

You have no difficulty in cutting away enough bars to make a hole big enough to pass through. The spots where you cut through are glowing with a dull orange heat, but getting past them without burning yourselves should pose no difficulty.

There are now four paths open to you, the manhole, the blind corner, the path beyond the gate, or back the way you came. Alternatively, you could stay here a little longer and make a second attempt to gain some insight about what happened here - it's not like the evidence will grow legs and walk away. Or you could attempt something I haven't considered.

What will you do?

[Endgame]

Decker nodded as Ronin sliced through the bars like a hot knife through butter.

"Is that what Mervin gave ya? He geared ya up pretty good, huh?" Decker walked over, watching the orange molten metal sizzle out. "On one hand, our man might be in here, and we could get outta here easy. On tha other, we might be rushing into an ambush. I'm down to either keep goin' here or takin' a peek around the blind corner. What's your call, Ronin?"

[Yzalirk]

"This?  No this is my personal sword.  An heirloom you can say."
Ronin sheathes his sword.
"Let us take a peak.  If there is nothing of interest we continue forward."

[Duvors]

After a moment of deliberation, you decide to take a look down the side passage before continuing forward. Possibly remembering the shield you found and hoping for more... useful junk. The tunnel ahead of you seems almost pitch black, but as you continue you see a dim ghost-glimmer at the end. Arriving at your destination, you see the source...

...mushrooms!

[Endgame]

"Mushrooms," Decker muses. "Wonder how they glow like that?" Decker glances at his toxicity meter to make sure being near the mushrooms' spores wasn't driving it crazy.

[Duvors]

3 hours ago, Endgame said:

"Mushrooms," Decker muses. "Wonder how they glow like that?" Decker glances at his toxicity meter to make sure being near the mushrooms' spores wasn't driving it crazy.

Decker Nature Check (DC 1): (3,6,1) One success.

Looking down, you see that your meter is indeed red, but it's not immediately obvious if it's the fungus or not. The last dead end was like this too, so it might simply be the lack of airflow. Looking closer, you actually think you recognize these 'shrooms - they're Shuelj Mushrooms, a species native to Phaejhar and quite harmless. They like dark, damp conditions and the glow is produced by symbiotic bacteria. They're also edible, though they do odd things to you.

Decker Perception Check (DC 2, Lightly Obscured): (6,6,5,2, -2) One success.

You also see... nothing. Nothing at all. Definitely nothing interesting to find here. On the other hand, you do gain a better understanding of how flashlights work.

 Flashlight (Tool) Reduces nonmagical darkness-based Obscurement by 2 steps, -1 Stealth successes.

[Duvors]

MM Note: @Endgame, @Yzalirk, are you actually enjoying this?