The Legonater

Thanks for the kind words, WBD! I do really like what we all put together for Heroica: GatS. Our system was really good, and we had a lot of super cool ideas to play with. Unfortunately, it looks like timing wasn't in our favour. I know for me, GatS wound up peaking during one of the more stressful times in my life, and it doesn't seem like I was alone in that. And it's a shame that we were never going to get the sort of player-base we had in Heroica: Fantasy. But I'm glad that we gave it our all! We'd talked on and off about a sequel to Heroica for years and I think I can rest pretty well knowing that we tried. I, for one, am really proud that I got to pull off #7 with you all - in a time where I wasn't doing a lot creatively, that one stands out. Gotta look into actually DM'ing at some point now. I definitely have a lot of ideas for Hart in the back of my mind that need to be reworked (I had a Word document stuffed full of Hart puns for Quest titles. "Sgt. Piper's Lonely Hart Club Band" may have been my favourite). Thanks to everyone that made this brief return possible, especially the old folks who came back after all these years - it was truly a joy to play alongside you once again! Who knows, maybe we'll get the chance again, some day!

I'm still around! I stay logged off most of the time, but am still checking pretty regularly. I had a second Hart quest on the rocks but haven't really put any work into it over the past couple months for a variety of reasons - including the dying state of everything. IIRC the outline is basically finished (I wanted to put together a shorter venture after how long #7 was), there's just a few builds that would need to be worked on.

My post editor was still, bizarrely, holding onto a write-up about #1 from September. This is what I get for using three different devices on this forum. It's good to have you back, KotZ! I think there's been a lot of online burn-out going around, which is reasonable given how chaotic everything continues to be out in the real world. Don't feel too bad about dropping out, I'm just grateful for what you were able to bring to the table when you were with us! Regarding the battle system, I do think there's a bit of a learning curve to it. In particular, the new system is very reactive in a way that 1.0's never was; instead of sitting in one spot and repeating your attack, the players and the enemies are encouraged to dance around each other to find the perfect range and such. That said, running the combat is actually vastly easier! There's a lot less number crunching, at least. In the case of #7 at least, I think battle length was largely up to the players. My goal was for each encounter to take about five rounds, with the exception of the final boss, which I planned for about double that - and we broadly hit that benchmark for all of them! My hope was also to have at least one update per day; we fairly frequently got that but it took some doing. This is the biggest point of difference from 1.0, where I think we had enough engagement that we could easily do two or three rounds per day, and it wasn't until we had the giant parties where we were slowing down to an update every day or so. Encounters that theoretically could have lasted a couple of days became week-long events. So it's a combination of factors - less engagement, more strategy, and just the general weirdness of a new system. Should we keep everything running consistently I think eventually people would ease into the system and the overall pace of things would pick up, but that's dependent on 2.0's overall growth and self-sustainability. A quick add, but character builds are also a thing I think would figure themselves out in the long-term. It seems to me that it's really tough to build a level 1 character who's able to really deal damage without coming at the expense of other traits that might benefit your character's roleplaying. After a couple of quests, however, I imagine people are better able to figure out what they need to be doing and how to get there.

One year already! Thank you to WBD, Duvors, and all the players and MMs who have made it happen!

Soren leans back, a thin grin crossing his face. I dunno, if your ignored problems aren't going away, it sounds to me like you're just not running fast enough. This weird mind of yours, for example. 'Sounds like a big problem - it also sounds like diggin' around is gonna do you more trouble than avoiding it will.

Greetin's, Merei. Soren listens over her words, and shrugs somewhat. What we don't know, we don't know. I can get behind the whole endeavor for knowledge 'nd all, but 'seems to me it just leads to trouble more often than not. 'Best to keep to yourself and be content as things are. It takes Soren a beat before he realizes he may have immediately bumped against this individual's worldview mere moments after meeting her, and coughs once into his hand to distract from any potential awkwardness. Uh, crazy mind monsters sound neat, though. What 'sactly do you mean by that? "A different mind" and all.

Soren scratches his chin for a moment. Release, I guess. It killed a bunch of folks in the war, 'may have even been responsible for the gate collapse. 'Was sick and tired of living in hiding and wanted to live in peace. I guess I sympathize, past is the past, y'know? In any case, the cards played out an' we had to fight it, but we only destroyed the hardware, software is still out there somewhere. And how about you, miss... - ah, shit, I don't think I actually got your name. Mine's Soren, by and by. What exactly got you on recovery duty?

Soren ponders the question for moment before nodding. Yeah, I guess that's what they're calling us. Uh, 'been on one or two 'adventures,' yeah. Did a train job, kind of a basic information-grab op, thought it nearly got screwed to poor communication. And, uh, then got paid to investigate some weird radio interference on Corvanis and traced it to some old pre-Gate Collapse bot. 'Dealt with that cleanly enough. How about you?

Nursing a drink and a mild headache, Soren looks about the Hall. One peculiar character had arrived with a motorcycle and left just as quickly, succeeding in befuddling the weary pilot. The Celestial's arrival was the first real livelihood the Hall had seen since Zaria's arrival. He didn't quite recognize this newcomer but she seemed to have a solid familiarity with the Hall, so perhaps she was a hero he'd yet to cross paths with. It seemed like she was troubled, deep in some sort of study, and Soren's own withdrawn nature told him she probably didn't want to be bothered. He wasn't sure how much he wanted to start a conversation himself. But his introversion went to war with his boredom, and the latter won out. Glass in hand, he waded over to the corner she sat in, and motioned to an empty chair. 'Mind if I take a seat?

If I may, Duvors' tone may have come off as a little harsher than intended, but don't take that as a sign you're not welcome. The guidelines exist for a reason, not to spite you specifically. Every player joining Heroica has to start at the same level for balance's sake, so that everyone can play on the same level! We couldn't just let everyone have cloaking generators and motorcycles - though I'm sure you could build up to those elements over time.

Soren regards the shaken priestess with a hesitant eye. Whatever helps you sleep at night, I s'pose. 'Not sure if that would be much comfort to me... but you do what you can with what you have. It's a dangerous world out in these stars. Thanks. Sounds like I just missed it, eh? Here's hoping something shows up soon, then.

Everyone needs a janitor. 'Specially one who doesn't have any big names they're responsible to. Heroica: the galaxy's fall guy. It's got a certain ring to it. Soren shrugs, thinking further. Of course, the non-corpo jobs aren't much better. 'Took another job where we hunted down some robot that went back to the Gate Collapse. That got pretty messy too. Everyone's looking to get someone else to clean up their history.

If by safe you mean boring, sure. Soren rolls his eyes a little behind his sunglasses. ‘Looked like the job economy here was a little slow so I tried to find my own work. Huge mistake. Wound up pulling a shuttle job for some rich folks on Ebria, but they neglected to tell me they were bringing guests, and then made an additional “little” pit stop, so on and so on - by the time everything got squared away I barely broke even. But yeah, it was “safe,” I guess. How about you? You took that cushy corpo job, right? ‘Can’t imagine that was too exciting.

Soren strolls into the Hall, surprised to find it relatively empty. Hello? he calls weakly, before striding up to the bar. Thorvald, give me a rye. 'Guess it's been quiet 'round these parts, huh?

This post got meatier than I was expecting, so I'm spoiling the subsections for ease of scrolling: Act 1 - Port Charon and the Forbidden Sector Act 2 - Searching Valencia Also, you never went to the Head/bathroom, which is fair because there wasn't much there. You would have ran into Jim McMaugh here hiding in a stall, insistent that he was safe from the Hydra. It was probably my favourite build in the quest, though, so I feel obligated to share it here: Act 3: Cargo Containers and Endgame: Character Breakdown: karmajay/Kirwin - I really like Kirwin! After seeing some of their naiveness in their previous quest, I was really set on bringing them into this morally grey mess and seeing how they reacted. You didn't disappoint; Kirwin plays nice with those around them, and I enjoy how much mileage you were able to get out of all the television they watched. Seeing them get increasingly angry at the Hydra brought out some neat shades to your character. I know you said you weren't sure how to bring Kirwin's voice to the final debate, but I think that works for Kirwin - they're still a little new to this, and were thrown into a shaking set of events, it makes sense they'd be a little quieter. I also think it's fair to be frustrated with how combat went for you, especially for a pacifist character in what was largely a dungeon crawl. In reflection, the sprouts were in every combat encounter, and there may have been better ways to balance their use. There are ways you might have been able to get a little bit more mileage out of your flamethrower, though I'm not sure damage was your goal. In any case, I really encourage investing in Skill - I think a pacifist character is a great concept, and I hope you're able to continue building Kirwin in that direction. Zepher/Merei - You know how much I loved your quests in 1.0, and it felt like a privilege to be on the other side of the table. Merei constantly surprised me with how willing she was to hear out other perspectives, even ones the rest of her team felt were dangerous. You single-handedly brought a lot more character to the Starblazers than I was expecting, and I love how much Merei connected with Greenlaw. Merei is mechanically really interesting; splitting your magic proficiencies is a bold move, but I think once they're more built-up she'll be a very powerful player in this game. Together with Kirwin you played support incredibly well. I was more than happy to let Merei use her background to combat the Hydra, that's exactly the sort of creativity I'm looking for! I was also really surprised with her decision to stay on Valencia with the others - I think if the quest had run shorter I would have loved to see that play out a little more, but even as is it reflects a lot about her priorities. KotZ/Varen - I liked what we saw of Varen! He was one of the less upstanding members of this party, having a sort of rough and tumble roguishness, and I was curious to see how much that would bounce off the other players. When Varen was there, he was really there, taking the events in a sort of sardonic slide that only occasionally betrayed how horrified he was at everything. Unfortunately, he wasn't there a lot of the time, and I think you disappeared entirely in the last run of the quest. I hope everything is going okay! Mechanically, Varen was a good help in combat, and your biggest play is going to be building up your long-range skills. I was expecting to see Varen shine the most in RP-sections like the diner, but your availability meant you weren't able to take the spotlight as much as you could. His interaction with Ilbery stands out to me, though, and I hope to see more of that in the future! Kintober/Zaria - You took charge in a big way for this quest, and it paid off. We really got to see Zaria at her wit's end, and the zeal with which she began to hunt down the Hydra was a cool development. Zaria made some of the bigger moral plays here, personally killing both Gail and Duncan. Seeing her that dedicated was very cool and a little spooky. It seemed like letting the Hydra live at the end really weighed on her; her determination to save lives over accomplishing what she felt were her duties speaks pretty well to her character. In combat, you were really the powerhouse here. I tried to have the Root zero in on you a little bit as you made yourself the clear threat, but you withstood just about everything it threw at you! Zaria's not quite at the level Guts was in 1.0, but with some proper character building, I can easily see her getting there. And I think that's everything! I look forward to hearing your further thoughts, but this was really a cool thing to bring to life with you guys, and thank you so much for sticking along!

Gonna answer a few questions before writing breakdown stuff probably later today. I do think this was the biggest weakness of the quest - because of how open and optional exploration was, I didn't want to make any assumptions about player action, but this led to a lot of dead air. It's the sort of thing that would be fine in a tabletop setting because these player and MM interactions would take maybe minutes at most, but could stretch into days in an online setting like this one. I did try to streamline the process as we went on, but it was still probably the biggest contributor to the quest's length. I've spent time trying to think if it would have been effective to try to condense Valencia at all: would I axe the cargo containers and have Viper locked up somewhere on the ship? etc., but doing so always seemed like it would screw with the overall pacing of everything. I'd be curious to hear other solutions to streamlining this kind of exploration. Because Luce was technically an enemy, she rolled her first death save at the end of that first round. Had the dice worked out her way, Luce would have probably recovered just fine. I do get the frustration, especially with the miscommunication regarding Luce's health pool. There were a few moments of this quest (like most enemy specials, or how the tendrils worked) that I left vague until player experimentation largely to convey how alien this creature was, but I was never sure if that felt reasonable or if it came off as deliberately obfuscating. Luce's death is especially a tricky subject because I doubt there will be a lot of situations where the heroes will want to stabilize an enemy, but I'm satisfied with the way it was handled. Consequence is a big theme of this quest, and it would seem counterproductive to me to erase maybe one of the biggest direct consequences of the heroes' actions. Besides, if Luce lived to the end of the fight, I'm sure the ensuing conversation would have played out pretty differently. Honestly haven't played very much Resident Evil, so that was never quite my endgame! Duncan had some elements of that Hydra-mutation angle, and if Merei hadn't burned the sprouts out of Ilbery, something similar would have happened with that fight. But I think the Hydra is mostly interested in growth, and the humans are just sort of a means to that end. The group at the end served as a mouthpiece to communicate with these other humans running through its ship, as well as to broaden its own intelligence, otherwise they would have ended up cocooned like the group in the crew quarters. Most of those RE references are scattered influences from a bunch of other single-player games. In particular a lot of pull from the opening of KotOR II (the 'edit together a bunch of recordings to bypass a voice lock' puzzle is stolen directly from there) and Prey 2017 (there's a lot of the Typhon in the Hydra). There's also a lot of other pulls (a good chunk of the body horror was probably inspired by Annihilation) but those are definitely the weightiest ones. So, originally I had planned for the Starblazer/Hart tension to escalate into a sort of bar fight that would then be broken up by Dean and Duncan. The battle map for that fight was actually the first thing I put together in Stud.io. But when I started trying to cut things down, the fight was one of the first to go - the important bit was establishing that tension and then introducing the ITAs as roadblocks, and the fight was only going to extend the amount of time it took to actually get to Valencia. So, giving CP wasn't really a thing that had occurred to me because the fight was no longer on the table - though you're probably right that it was still worthy of CP. I also didn't expect anyone to actually hear out the Starblazers, so I was already spinning my wheels trying to get that tension happening at all. I'd have to check my notes, but there were a number of problems mostly to see what the party would do, without any "singular" solution in mind, and this may have been one of them. Kirwin was later able to build a flamethrower in the science lab, and I imagine pushing Ilbery into one of the consoles would have had a similar reaction. Lots of room for imagination. If you had killed Ilbery outright, more sprouts would have spawned from his body, and you would have had a slightly harder fight.

Damn, is #7 the first quest to end since 2021? We've really moved out of the starter quests period. There's a lot one could say about this quest but I want to start with outlining a few core themes that went behind this thing. First of all, many thanks to karmajay, Zepher, KotZ, and Kintober! We've firmly set ourselves as the longest quest in 2.0, but you guys were great at keeping things active and moving at a decent pace. This one was a journey, and while there wasn't a lot of room for inter-party interaction, there was still a lot for you all to react to. Part of my core pitch for this was "what happens if you take a group of fairly lawful characters and throw them into just the worst situation imaginable?" and you all ran with it as a way to explore your individual characters, which is exactly what I was hoping for! It was cool seeing party consensus start to splinter towards the end - never in a way that would functionally divide the party, but just enough to show how different this party actually was. I also loved how everyone felt like they found their own role in the group as the Quest progressed. Kirwin was the engineer, helping out with tech and keeping their flamethrower close at hand, Merei was support, boosting the party and keeping everyone at bay, while Zaria and Varen shared offense in varying capacities. The core seed of this quest came while we were beginning to finalize planning on 2.0 - probably, honestly around a year ago now. I tried to think what we could do in the sci-fi theme that we would never have been able to do in fantasy, and the first thing I settled on was Alien. From there, I thought up Jefferson Hart Mortizar, the eccentric entrepreneur behind a partially-illicit business conglomerate. In a way, #7 serves as an extended introduction to Hart Industries - at once a legitimate shipping operation with extensive reach, and a dangerous victim of its own hubris. I don't know, there's something delightful to me about that as a faction; there's a lot of innate quest potential there. Ideas for the quest sort of grew out of the central "hauling a dangerous alien that got loose" premise until I came to the ending. Once I settled on the ending choice, "kill the Hydra but sacrifice the crew" or "save the crew but risk the Hydra surviving," I went back to seed that idea through the rest of the quest. How do you act when the immediate consequences are dire, but the distant consequences could be even worse? The whole world of this quest was filled with unforeseen domino effects, starting with how Mortizar's hope of taming Port Charon lead to destabilizing the Starblazers. This led to Viper trying to get back at Hart, and Ilbery panicking and rerouting through the Forbidden Sector, and the damage in the cargo containers, and so on and so forth. There were a couple other seeds scattered throughout, like naming the stars Scylla and Charybdis. Basically, I was hoping to build the whole quest up to that final choice, and I was happy that it seemed suitably strained. I hope it didn't feel like I was railroading you into one decision or another - I genuinely at one point thought you would commit to blowing up Valencia, so there was definitely room to go either way. On that note, I really hoped to develop a players-first MM mindset in the makeup of this quest. I went back to some of the quests I lead in 1.0, as well as the quests I really enjoyed playing in. I had big ambitions for my 1.0 quests, but they were very plot-heavy. I had a big story planned with huge twists and turns, but I don't know if it was very player-focused. So, goal one was to go "smaller" and narrow in on an open world for the players to explore... which wound up becoming way deeper than I had initially planned because I ended up having so much free time with little else to work on. I turned to a lot of the RPGs I grew up with and a few I've enjoyed recently (especially KotOR II, Prey (2017), and Mass Effect) to flesh out the tone and create something that would hopefully have a lot of player engagement and force you to make interesting decisions. I realized partway in that I'd based it pretty heavily on single-player RPGs, and so I wasn't sure how well the journal-driven narrative would translate to a multiplayer form. It seemed like you all got pretty invested in it, but I tried to give you plenty of off-ramps in case you weren't interested in listening to any of them; I think the only strictly necessary ones were in the med lab and in the captain's lounge. Plenty of the rooms were also optional, but I think you up visiting all of them except for one. So, despite being more focused, #7 wound up having a lot more moving parts than I think I originally planned (like a full crew roster, a timeline of events leading up to the quest, the Hydra's background growth, etc. etc.). All in all, this was a lot to work on, and there were some hiccups, but I'm pretty happy with how it all shook out. I'll probably give it a moment before I MM again, but I'm already generating ideas so I might alternatively pitch them while they're still small so that they don't germinate into a five-month epic again. One last thing in terms of overarching ideas, I wanted to talk about Stud.io a little. I do not have a lot of pieces for set-building right now because most of what I have is for display, so Stud.io was a life-saver in terms of actually being able to create a cool environment. Digital environments were really helpful in a setting like this where there was a lot of copying and pasting with slight changes. Having full access to unavailable colours was also great - the Hydra pieces technically are all in a speckle-black copper that would basically be impossible to replicate with actual pieces (I would probably alternate to a black or brown, but the copper rendered really nicely to create something very alien feeling). Lighting mechanics are also very fun, and created some very moody settings, though I'm still figuring out control over some of the basic overhead lighting. The biggest con for Stud.io is the minifig selection. It's really lacking in useful alien parts, and it can often be difficult to make major NPCs look just quite like how you want them to. I think it worked well enough for this quest, but I can see it having diminishing returns as you're forced to reuse pieces - I think next quest I'm going to experiment with putting real-world NPCs into digital environments. Anyways, that's broad strokes to get things started. I also want to do player feedback and probably break down the individual parts of the quest more, but I'm also happy to answer any questions!

I did throw in an extra point for the boss fight, but I'd be happy to throw in an additional one for completion. I think WBD said he aims for a character point per month, which I thought I was going to dramatically overshoot, but wound up being pretty accurate. I'm a little nervous about over-leveling people, but I think it could be warranted given the length of this one.

MM Note: If y'all want to RP anymore, feel free to do so! Too high a price... maybe if we had acted sooner... but how can you commit to such a course when you don't have all the variables? Ilbery considers for a moment, morosely staring out the viewscreen and into the space beyond. We all must do what we think is best... and hope it was all worth it. Us and our bleeding hearts. An imperceptible grin crosses Greenlaw's face as she met Ilbery's gaze. It was impossible to tell how remorseful she was - perhaps only the impending Hart investigation would prove anything. The group settled in for a long few days waiting for rescue. They would unhook the other cargo containers and have regular shifts, stopping the Hydra from growing enough to attack them. With what remained of the power reserves and their dwindling food, it would not be a cozy journey, but it would be a relatively harmless one in contrast to the bloody hellscape that they had endured to that point. The Forbidden Nebula continued to surge around them, threatening to cover all the mess that had been made. All would be lost in the abyss of space, testified only by the witness of the survivors. Only time would tell what would become of Valencia's legacy. -------- Coming out of the nebula, boss. I've connected with the pilot of the ITA shuttle, we can lead them out. Thanks, Alexa. We'll pit stop at the Port to refill and drop off our esteemed guests. Thank you, sir. We won't forget what you've done for us. Then we take these heroes home. I bet you'll welcome Ebria Station after a trip like these - always feels longer than you'd think, eh? There was, at least at first, no answer. The horrific sights of Valencia still lingered in their minds. They sat uncomfortably with stories of corporate hubris and horrific sacrifice. Had they lived up to the name of Heroica? They could only hope so. If nothing else, they could rest knowing that they saved as many lives as possible - and without them, things would have surely gotten even worse. In that regard, if nothing else, they had been heroes. THE MISSION IS SUCCESSFUL! The Party: Kirwin (karmajay)Character Points: 7/20 Vitality: 6/6Velocity: 1Strength: 2Skill: 1Smarts: 3Proficiencies: Coding 2, Piloting 1, Engineering 2, Explosives 1, Technology 2 Credits: 118Equipment: Drone (Standard Long Range Elemental Weapon), Adventuring Leathers (Standard Kinetic Armour), Utility BeltInventory: 2 Hampering Minor Chemical Contained grenades, 5 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), Hart Rifle (Calibrated Long Range Energy Weapon Merei Teo (Stable)Age 24 Female, Helioi-Touched Celestial (Born Menahi) Character Points: 6/20 Vitality: 6/6 Velocity: 2Strength: 2Skill: 2Smarts: 3Spirit: 1/3Proficiencies: Occult 1, Religion 1, Coding 1, Insight 1Known Spells: Healing Light, Solar Flare, Gravity SinkCredits: 186Equipment: Teo Family Pocket-Watch (Kinetic Weapon), Utility Belt (Grants +1 Engineering or Medicine Check Success) Inventory: Essence of Intellect, 2x Plasma Potion, Aether Brew, Nanite Elixir, Holo-Tome (+1 to non-Spell Arcana, Nature, Religion, and Occult Checks), Hart Containment Gear (Standard Kinetic Armor, +1 Survival) Varen Nastayo (KotZ)26, Male, HumanCharacter Points: 7/19 Vitality: 5/5Velocity: 2Strength: 2Skill: 2Smarts: 2Spirit: 0Proficiencies: Culture 2, Deception 1, Insight 1, Persuasion 2, Long Range Weapon 1, Coding 1*Known Spells (if applicable): Credits: 199Equipment: Lawyer's Rifle (Standard Long Range Energy weapon), Translator CubeInventory: 1x Essence of Glibness, 1x Essence of Intellect, Ion Repeater (Standard Energy Long Range Weapon), Adrenaline Decoction, 2x Bulking Stim, Aether Brew, Ion Scope (This weapon ignores Obscurement), Acid Sack (Apply to weapon, weapon causes poisoned 1 for the duration of one battle, Essence of Precaution Zaria Kanara (Kintobor)226 Year Old Female ElfCharacter Points: 7/21 Vitality: 6/6Velocity: 3Strength: 2Skill: 2Smarts: 1Spirit: 0/2Proficiencies: Athletics 1, Religion 2, Melee Weapons 2Known Spells: Warding Bond, Sonic SweepCredits: 214Equipment: Power Khopesh (Standard Kintetic Melee Weapon), Dune Sea Armour (Standard Kinetic Armour w/ Repulsor, +1 Defend Rolls), Farsight GogglesInventory: Plasma Potion (4), Aether Brew x2, Essence of Toughness, Holoscroll (Enhanced Vision), Bulking Stim, Hydra Goo (Apply to a weapon, weapon can cause restrained once per quest) ---------

I was basically going to let you talk to Greenlaw and Ilbery and then fade out once you were done. Same goes for the other group - if you guys are feeling resolved I can wrap things up, but feel free to talk more if you want!

Greenlaw sticks up her nose a little, put out by the comment. Dearie, did you know, when stepping on Valencia, that you'd have to put down a fellow life? Do you think Viper knew when he snuck onboard that he'd unleash a monster? Everything has its consequences, who are we to know what the results will be? She turns to Merei briefly, before staring ahead again. I insisted our safety parameters were secure - and they were, until they weren't. Sabatoge, dangerous nebulae, gunfights... you can't predict everything, dear. You certainly could have tried... Merei is right. We'll keep secure until the rescue craft comes. Your inner flame certainly seems adept at holding the Hydra at bay. I imagine something about the heat it keeps them from bonding together. I think Gail had spare flares locked away in the security closet... I could get us access there. As for the connection... I'm not sure it's something the others will fully appreciate. They felt resistant to it. I know, because for a moment... they were me. And I was them. United in one consciousness. And the mind of the Hydra... so old and powerful... I have no words for how it felt. It was unworldly. ------- The boss is going to be pissed, Alexa calls from the cockpit. Well, that's Mr. Mortizar's problem. I'll put in a word, we can see to it that Greenlaw is given a full examination. And I will personally speak to Mr. Mortizar on your behalf - whatever hubris that led to... this mess... shouldn't become indicative of Hart's standard operating procedure. And it won't be. This is already going to be a journalist shitstorm, I just know it. It's only thanks to the four of you that this isn't a total wash, and you deserve our full thanks for that. I'll be making sure an additional 25 credits are wired into your accounts along with the 50 we had agreed upon. It's a small compensation, but hopefully, it's something. I'm sorry for all of this. As for you... Jace turns to face Viper. I suppose I have to thank you for your services as well. I'm sure Hart Logistics will have to reconsider its routes through Port 927-C after this incident - it seems your Starblazers are going to win big from all of this in the end. A fascinating twist. I can't pretend I planned it that way, but I guess if it takes Hart's stink out of our station, that's something I'll celebrate. I bet it is...

The heroes help organize the evacuation of Valencia. McSorley plants the transmitter and sends out a signal out to Port Charon. It's a solemn business, but one-by-one the group divides the group between Actaeon and the ITA shuttle. Merei says farewell to the rest of her party, before the three step back into the shuttle they began their mission on, joined by Viper, Dean, and McSorley. There is a brief explanation before Alexa separates from Valencia and begins to make their way out of Forbidden Sector, hopefully, to never return. Well, that wasn't a pretty operation, but you got it done. Jace sighs deeply, glowering occasionally at Viper's presence on his ship. After a few minutes, he brings himself to turn back to the heroes. Kirwin gave us a pretty brief rundown, but can you three explain exactly what happened on there? And why there's a Starblazer in here instead of Merei? ------ The celestial, meanwhile, stays aboard Valencia, gazing out the main viewport along with Ilbery and Greenlaw. Tyne Jr. stands at the bridge controls, familiar enough with the systems to keep Valencia's lights on and guide whoever comes for them. ...I can't believe that it came to this. Who could have known, when we began... that it would bring us here. If only we could have saw...

Yeah, we should be able to uncouple the pods without issue. Good thinking. If we're transmitting from Delta, that's going to confuse the other rescue ship. The Delta transmission is just to cut through the nebula. I must assume these folks were able to pick up Alpha's transmissions once they were in the Sector. Besides, we'll have someone actually manning the bridge this time to guide them in. I say we go for it, any other questions?

Mmm, yes, if those holding fort want to recover some lost goods, I'm sure that would be appreciated. That said, if we're all agreed, it's probably best we start moving. I'll rig up the transponder and try to reach Port Charon, if no one is opposed. You all best be making arrangements. I think someone said there were other survivors in the ship? Simon, you should go 'n tell them we have a ride out of here. And thank you lot for coming in and saving our skin. Heroica, I think you said your name was? I don't know what would have happened to us without you. I can't imagine anyone at Hart is going to be overjoyed at what went on here, but you deserve credit for getting us out in... well, mostly one piece. MM Note: No one else has laid claim to the rifle, so I'm giving it to Kirwin a la Zepher's outline but you can feel free to trade it out or sell it at your leisure! Everyone gains 2 Character Points! The Party: Kirwin (karmajay)Character Points: 7/20 Vitality: 6/6Velocity: 1Strength: 2Skill: 1Smarts: 3Proficiencies: Coding 2, Piloting 1, Engineering 2, Explosives 1, Technology 2 Credits: 38Equipment: Drone (Standard Long Range Elemental Weapon), Adventuring Leathers (Standard Kinetic Armour), Utility BeltInventory: 2 Hampering Minor Chemical Contained grenades, 5 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), Hart Rifle (Calibrated Long Range Energy Weapon Merei Teo (Stable)Age 24 Female, Helioi-Touched Celestial (Born Menahi) Character Points: 6/20 Vitality: 6/6 Velocity: 2Strength: 2Skill: 2Smarts: 3Spirit: 1/3Proficiencies: Occult 1, Religion 1, Coding 1, Insight 1Known Spells: Healing Light, Solar Flare, Gravity SinkCredits: 161Equipment: Teo Family Pocket-Watch (Kinetic Weapon), Utility Belt (Grants +1 Engineering or Medicine Check Success) Inventory: Essence of Intellect, 2x Plasma Potion, Aether Brew, Nanite Elixir, Holo-Tome (+1 to non-Spell Arcana, Nature, Religion, and Occult Checks), Hart Containment Gear (Standard Kinetic Armor, +1 Survival) Varen Nastayo (KotZ)26, Male, HumanCharacter Points: 7/19 Vitality: 5/5Velocity: 2Strength: 2Skill: 2Smarts: 2Spirit: 0Proficiencies: Culture 2, Deception 1, Insight 1, Persuasion 2, Long Range Weapon 1, Coding 1*Known Spells (if applicable): Credits: 124Equipment: Lawyer's Rifle (Standard Long Range Energy weapon), Translator CubeInventory: 1x Essence of Glibness, 1x Essence of Intellect, Ion Repeater (Standard Energy Long Range Weapon), Adrenaline Decoction, 2x Bulking Stim, Aether Brew, Ion Scope (This weapon ignores Obscurement), Acid Sack (Apply to weapon, weapon causes poisoned 1 for the duration of one battle, Essence of Precaution Zaria Kanara (Kintobor)226 Year Old Female ElfCharacter Points: 7/21 Vitality: 6/6Velocity: 3Strength: 2Skill: 2Smarts: 1Spirit: 0/2Proficiencies: Athletics 1, Religion 2, Melee Weapons 2Known Spells: Warding Bond, Sonic SweepCredits: 139Equipment: Power Khopesh (Standard Kintetic Melee Weapon), Dune Sea Armour (Standard Kinetic Armour w/ Repulsor, +1 Defend Rolls), Farsight GogglesInventory: Plasma Potion (4), Aether Brew x2, Essence of Toughness, Holoscroll (Enhanced Vision), Bulking Stim, Hydra Goo (Apply to a weapon, weapon can cause restrained once per quest)

Ma'am, I'm not sure there's any plan I much like here. But if we can guarantee these people's safety, well, that's good 'nough for me. Simon stands up, carrying Luce's body in his hands. If the priestess here is right and this damned thing will burn in the sun, then that's something. Besides, the sooner I get back to my family the better. I can fly that second shuttle; you're going to need someone skilled to get you out of this cursed nebula. Kirwin Explosives Check (DC 3/5) - 1, 6, 5, 1 (Two successes) Kirwin searches the cargo bay for something they can rig up, but is unable to find anything that would destabilize the coupling enough to incinerate the entire freighter. I'm sure they'd love to take a crack at this, but getting in touch with 'em will be the same issue as getting in touch with anyone else. Maybe if we get a signal boosted to them they could come and figure something out, but being honest, my crew probably wouldn't have much more luck than Kirwin. We deal more in petty smuggling than, uh, ship destruction.