In it for the Money?

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NABO Inactive forever!

Dec 18, 2021 6:29 pm
Dec 18, 2021 6:29 pm
In it for the Money?
So, the solo game I’m planning is a playtest of a game by Blackoath Entertainment (so keep in mind that rules might change during play and if you happen to read and want to give feedback to the creator, I’m sure he’d be grateful as well). The game is called "Across A Thousand Dead Worlds" and is about searching for resources and a replacement for earth that’s drowning in its own mess with the help of ancient alien technology that’s badly understood (much less expertly controlled) with a dystopian/horror kind of vibe.

The initial starting point is Karum Station, a station found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that is owned by the megacorporation "Drake Industries". I’ve decided will be playing with characters (seems to be fairly deadly) who were in debt to a corporation back on earth called "St. Vincent’s Association" or "St. Vince" for short. St. Vince has struck a deal with Drake Industries: for a cut of the profits, they will send up a steady stream of debtors.

First up is Raymond Silt, a stoic man, became indebted when he injured himself on his old job operating heavy machinery in a mine and couldn’t afford the medical bills. His lingering injury has cost him some strength and nimbleness, but he never lost his commitment to give his best effort whatever he’s doing and deal with wherever that may take him. A screenshot of the character sheet can be found below. He’ll likely be working in a team of three, possibly always a different one, they’ll be generated with the help of the random NPC tables in the book.
[ +- ] Raymond Silt
I'll be posting the first bit of story now, more of a mood setting and background thing, no mechanics involved yet. If you would like to comment on developments, please use the OOC thread

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Dec 18, 2021 9:29 pm
Dec 18, 2021 9:29 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
The transport pod docks at one of the many ports at Karum station and Raymond is jostled awake from the nice dream he had been drifting off to. He sighs and looks around; to either side of him, there are two more seats, then a hallway and another three five-seat-blocks. When he entered back on earth, he counted five rows, and many of them are now filled with tired looking humans in all shapes and sizes.

St. Vince had paid for the trip, sure, but it is a class D compartment, above only the compartment that holds pets higher class passengers might have wanted to bring. The passengers who were there for the excitement - a vacation - and could pay up. But not Ray, and, most likely, not the other passengers in the class D compartment. They would be the ones calling Karum their home for the foreseeable future. Some seem excited, some downright terrified. Ray himself is just trying to pay off his debt and make the best of his situation. He faintly hears a pleasant voice in the class C compartment announce that the passengers may exit now. He unbuckles himself, stands up and stretches for the first time in hours. Using his good arm, he pulls at the handle attached at the bottom of his seat and with a hydraulic whirr the seat lifts towards the ceiling to reveal his baggage area. As instructed, he had only taken some essentials. Not that there was much else to take in the first place…

He pulls out his duffel bag and produces a wrinkled piece of paper from a zipper in the side. The Memorandum of Agreement, signed by him.
[ +- ] Agreement
He was told things would go much smoother if he had it ready when they arrived. He ignores the quiet but persistent alarm bell going off in his head, the voice saying, "You’re signing away your life to a soulless corporation", but in truth, he thinks, his life was signed away the day of his accident. The second his mates decided to not let him bleed out in that mine, take him to the hospital instead. He couldn’t blame them, there was no way he would have watched any one of them die like this. Besides, it’s in the past now, he can’t change what happened.

The automated voice Ray previously heard from the C class compartment is now played in class D as well: "Retrieve your belongings from the baggage area under your seats and proceed to the exits in orderly fashion. Thank you travelling with us and please mind the gap". Mind the gap, an old english saying. Ray isn’t sure where it came from, but he was taught that it meant wishing someone good luck and reminding them to be careful. Of course, for the other part of the message, asking a crowd of tired groggy people to proceed in orderly fashion has never really worked and without attendants to enforce it, Ray finds himself in the middle of a crowd pushing out the airlock. He is shoved from side to side, but he’s okay with that. He isn’t in a hurry to get started, so he sways with the pack like a lone boat on big ocean waves.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Dec 22, 2021 1:31 pm
Dec 22, 2021 1:31 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
After finally exiting the shuttle and walking down a short hallway, Ray is standing in front of a fork in his path. To the right, a sign saying "Permanent Stays", to the left, a much nicer looking corridor with a sign reading "Visits". Turning towards the right, he notes that he was correct; as far as he could see, no one from his compartment is taking the visitor entrance. He arrives in a hall that is buzzing with both excitement and the workings of robots registering everyone who comes through. Only a couple of grim looking guards are on standby, their orange and gray jumpsuits sporting a KSA badge.

Ray walks up to one of the terminals and inserts the ID card in the slot. On the screen a younger version of himself smiles back at him triumphantly. The picture had been taken when he just got his job as a miner, and to him it feels like decades ago. The screen asks him to correct or update any missing information in his files. He had gotten used to having his whole life - medical history, recent purchases, employment records, certifications - laid out in neat tables in front of him and no-doubt also searched thoroughly by anyone looking to hire or sell anything worth more than 500 credits.

At the past addresses section, he stops abruptly. He can’t deny a certain sting in his chest area when he marks the address of his now-former girlfriend as outdated and enters Karum station instead. They had agreed that this arrangement wouldn’t work for them and parted ways on good terms before he left, but damn if he didn’t still love her.

Finally, he scans the signed Memorandum of Agreement into the machine. After finishing the input, the screen demands Ray step inside the body scanner and prepare to be scanned as well as take a new picture for his file. He obliges and is sent on his way with the room number to his new home. A bed, a table, some compartments, and a gear closet, plus access to a bathroom shared with his next-door neighbor, whoever that may be. That’s the entirety of Raymond’s living quarters at Karum station. Together with food and some other necessities, he’ll be paying 20 drake coins a week to stay here (plus a weeks' worth of canteen food for 5 coins and the lowest insurance tier for another 5). At least it’s got a nice view.

https://i.ibb.co/dpDK878/pic2.png

He barely has time to set down his bag when the table begins to ping. He notices that there’s a screen in the middle that he didn’t see before. The message popping up summons him to the instructional course set to take place tomorrow. "So this is it, huh?", he says and lays down in his bed, staring at the ceiling.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Dec 22, 2021 1:41 pm
Dec 22, 2021 1:41 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
The next morning, he is rudely awakened by an alarm he doesn’t remember setting. An automated voice informs him that the roll call for the instructional course would start in half an hour. "Fuck", he groans. He had skipped dinner because he fell asleep early and now with 30 minutes left, he doesn’t have time for breakfast either, not to mention he still has to find his way through this unfamiliar place.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Does he make it in time?
[ +- ] Mechanics: Instructor NPC
Ray throws on some functional clothes and quickly studies the station map he can display on his table screen. Then he takes off, running towards section Gamma. Completely out of breath he arrives at the briefing room just as the apparent instructor was about to close the door behind her. She throws Ray a dirty look: "How nice of you to join us. Silt, I assume?", she asks looking at the infopad in her hand. Ray wordlessly scans his ID card and shuffles past the woman.

She steps in front of the crowd assembled in the room. She doesn’t look particularly pleased to be there, maybe even bored. She begins: "Welcome at Karum Station. I’m River Jean, section lead for your batch of deep divers, meaning I’m your connection to missions. Today you’ll be learning what we do. You’ve all signed your Memorandums of Agreement, so I expect you know that this isn’t a job for people who wish to grow old watching the sun set on their porches. This introductory course is designed to be as safe as possible, and yet, some idiots keep managing to get themselves killed." She peers at Ray specifically and continues: "But no worries, you’ll be immortalized on the wall of shame." The wall she is gesturing to has a larger header 'Dedicated to those who gave their lives in pursuit of progress', and each name etched into it includes the coordinates of their place of death if they could be recovered or the coordinates of their last known destination if they were lost. The location the introductory course apparently takes place at has its own section, a column with approximately 40 names.

She then proceeds to explain the process of undertaking an expedition and after about an hour of mind-numbing detail on official procedure and paperwork, the section lead finally asks the group the follow her to the port for some practical demonstrations.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Expedition Flowchart
River Jean leads the crowd into a short range group transporter and while the transport takes off, announces: "Usually, you’ll be travelling for a couple of weeks at a time, and you won’t know what to expect, so you’ll get the same standard gear for every mission, but you can purchase extra. Today, we’ll just be making a quick jump to a small moon in orbit and all you’ll need is a Vacc Suit, oxygen, one day of rations and these two little things I’ll demonstrate when we’re there." She's holding two gadgets, one looking like a soda can and one like a radar gun.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Planetary Details


The group makes a rather rough landing on a rocky surface and Jean ushers them all out. They’ve landed on the side of the moon facing the sun and looking towards the sky past the barely existant atmosphere, they have a breathtaking view of the asteroid belt they’re in the middle of. They can even see some smaller asteroids hurtling towards the moon they’re standing on some distance away. If one is close enough, a tremble can be felt beneath their boots, like waves rippling through. She explains: "You’re smack in the middle of the sunny side of this rock. You will be sent out in teams of two. You will travel on these buggies in a straight line away from the center until you reach the dark side. These suits won’t protect you from the cold in the dark for long. Nevertheless, we have placed one alloy cube for each team at your destination somewhere just across the light-dark border. You have 24 hours to get there and retrieve it. You will use this to scan for the cube". Jean is holding up the radar-gun looking gadget. She gives a quick introduction into its functions.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Survey Scanner
"You can use it to call for help as well, though I’d think twice about that, Divers who don’t manage this easy introductory course will likely have issues getting their missions to unknown places approved and you’ll be left fighting for scraps. Now for this little precious thing", she says, holding up the implement looking like a soda can, "it’ll allow you to assess a planet for its suitability to terraforming. Stick it in the ground and let it work for 24 hours.". She sets the piece down on the ground and flips the switch on the top, which causes the smooth looking metal surface to split in thin vertical sections. Eight of these sections fold themselves outward until it the device is being held up by them like a bizarre spider. The legs start to rotate, drilling themselves into the ground and River finishes her demonstration: "After it has drilled into the surface, you need to flip the switch again to start the analysis. Now since the duration is conveniently 24 hours, just like your task, your time is on as long as this thing runs. Any questions?". After clarifying some details, Jean sorts everyone present into a team at random and with that, the challenge is on.

https://assets.3dtotal.com/data-import/data/images/interviews/1052-tid-planet-storenus-jpg.f2mxai.image.c25.jpg

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Jan 3, 2022 2:47 pm
Jan 3, 2022 2:47 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
[ +- ] Mechanics: Partner NPC
Raymond’s partner for this task smiles at him and introduces themselves as Kainoa. Without hesitation Kainoa hops onto the buggy assigned to their group and shouts "See you later, losers" towards the other groups who are standing around, carefully reading their maps and measuring out angles and distances. Raymond raises an eyebrow: "Shouldn’t we also be checking where we’re going?", he asks. Kainoa pokes out their head, winks and says: "Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. You drive!", so Ray shrugs and climbs into the other seat.

The cabin looks familiar to Ray, just like the vehicles he used to drive back on earth at his old job; two seats in the front, a steering unit that can be moved around the cabin on rails running throughout, the back has some storage room as well as some fold out seats built into the floor and sidewalls. Usually, as is the case in this buggy, the steering console is locked in the middle between the two front seats and the rest of the controls are grouped overhead and just below chest height along the front of the vehicle. The console has four separate joysticks, one for each wheel. As Ray powers up the engine, some lights indicate to him that the front wheels are currently coupled and the back wheels fixed so he only needs to steer with one front wheel joystick.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Drive the buggy
For a brief moment, Ray feels transported back to the mines, driving this buggy feels so natural to him. He pushes a button for the cabin to pressurize. The door locks airtight and Ray and looks at Kainoa: "Well?". In turn, they pull out a 10x10x10 cm transperarent cube and connect it to the console. It immediately begins rendering a 3-dimensional image of this planetoid, including their own buggy and a dotted line, almost certainly their intended course that takes into account the landscape features they’d have to bypass. Ray nods: "This is probably not allowed here, is it?"

https://i.ibb.co/RT05Qh2/pic3.jpg

This question, of course, prompts Kainoa argue at length the morality of the issue to Ray. Ray doesn't engage with counter-arguments. He mostly tunes out, but from what he could gather, Kainoa had paid off the pilot of their transport here for information and to be able to take along this extra item once they knew what the task would be. Not deterred by the lack of engagement, Kainoa continues to talk, and Ray focuses on keeping the buggy on the dotted line and occasionally marvel at the landscape.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Landscape Features
Particularly unnervingly, the dotted line at some point leads through a gap between two plateaus, just about wide enough to be able to fit two buggies side by side, though of course they are alone. Sometimes it feels as though the steep walls are moving, inching closer, but Ray shakes off the feeling. The navigation device wouldn’t have sent us through here if it wasn’t wide enough for us, Ray thinks. Kainoa blabs happily on, seemingly not bothered by the occasional small boulder tumbling off the cliff face, with no indication of what might have set it off. Exiting the canyon, Ray can finally see the day night border and the sight releases some tension from him. After eight hours of driving they arrive, two hours ahead of schedule, thanks to their device.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Jan 12, 2022 4:16 pm
Jan 12, 2022 4:16 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
Ray and Kainoa put their helmets back on and step out, the day night border stretching in front of them, dipping half the surface into darkness. Thanks to the lack of atmosphere on this moon, the line is clearly visible and to the two standing in front of this looming darkness, it feels almost as if they could touch the shadow. Kainoa walks along the line a couple of steps and Ray pulls out the survey scanner, using it how River Jean had shown them.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Find the hidden alloy
[ +- ] Mechanics: What happens instead?
The survey scanner starts chirping softly and among the black background with white outlines a blue shape appears. Ray immediately engages the communication system in his suit: "Stop! The scanner is detecting organic matter here. We aren’t alone." Kainoa stops where they were. Eyes darting around, trying to make out any danger, and slowly walking backwards, they approach Ray again. They say: "There shouldn’t be anything here, they exterminated the few creatures that were here a long time ago". Ray watches the shape carefully: "Maybe they did, and they just left this one’s body behind. It doesn’t seem to be moving." And then points towards a boulder to indicate the location of the organic matter. The duo doesn’t have any weapons, so they figure their best bet is teamwork and the element of surprise. They coordinate to each approach the boulder from the opposite direction and jump around the last bend at the same time. But what they find is not some exotic alien. Under a thin cover of dust, they've discovered what pretty clearly looks like human remains inside a space suit. "Oh shit", Ray hears Kainoa exclaim in his earpiece.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Emotional State and Stress; Picture of what they find
OOC:
Since the opportunity presents itself, I’m going to test something else within this game. Not really another game, more a method I have come across. It’s called "Nine Steps And A Bloody Heart" and is a short ruleset by Riccardo Fregi on how to run mysteries in a solo game. Could be a murder or any other "enigma". The mystery will likely not be contained in the current location and will stretch while Ray’s adventures continue
[ +- ] Mechanics: Rules - Contains Spoilers
After both of them stand around at a loss for words for a good 20 seconds, Kainoa speaks up: "So, uh… what do we do?". "Call it in, break off the mission", Ray replies. "No way, man. Maybe that’s part of the challenge, a surprise part they didn’t tell us. Either way, if we can’t finish this, we might as well go back to earth.". Ray doesn’t feel like this is supposed to be part of the challenge. He has a knot in his stomach, even more so when he realizes that the second part of Kainoa’s statement is true and he’ll be buried under an even higher mountain of debt. "We at least need to get this poor bastard off this rock", Ray can tell Kainoa definitely isn’t a fan of this idea but he won’t falter on this issue and that’s something Kainoa can tell. They nod, "Fine, but I’m not touching it. I’ll go look for the cube", then they hold out their hand and Ray puts the survey scanner into it.

Raymond gently starts wipe away some dust from the suit to identify the victim and nearly has a heart attack when suddenly a stranger’s voice pops up in his earpiece saying "Person in need of assistance – 0 meters ahead". He jumps back and the voice continues "Person in need of assistance – 1 meter ahead, 35° left". He turns around, Kainoa doesn’t seem to be getting this transmission, at least they aren’t reacting at all. Ray figures this must be a personal distress beacon that leads a potential rescuer to the victim but it must be running low on energy since the body has been here a while and therefore only activated on very close proximity. The suit seems to work just fine, projecting the health information of the dried out body onto the front glass in the helmet and warning the long dead wearer of hypoxia and hypothermia. There must be a hole somewhere, otherwise the corpse would have been preserved better, but, after carefully carrying the corpse to the buggy and taking the transcripts of the health records, Ray concludes the hole must have appeared after the person in the suit was already dead.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Jan 22, 2022 10:16 am
Jan 22, 2022 10:16 am
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hints
After checking the data, which unfortunately only included operational sequences the suit itself went through and no information about the wearer, Raymond sits down in his chair and leans back, staring at the corpse: "Who are you and what happened to you?", he asks, and wonders why the corpse had such a fancy suit in the first place. A knock on the buggy side has him perking up, but it’s only Kainoa. They’ve been searching for what must have been an hour now and the suit can’t take much more than one hour in the dark. They’re basking in the sunlight and hand the survey scanner back to Ray, explaining which area they’ve already searched.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Find the hidden alloy
[ +- ] Mechanics: Is it reachable just by walking up to it and grabbing it?
Kainoa had been strategic and there wasn’t much area left that could be considered ‘just across the light-dark border’ as per the instructions. And sure enough, after ten minutes the scanner picks up the molecular signature of the alloy cube and Ray squeezes through a passage to get to it.

His survey scanner tells him the goal is just 20 m in front of him but one more step later, he suddenly feels like a cold hand is squeezing his heart. He looks down on himself a bit panicked: Is his suit allowing the in the cold? No, it looks completely fine. His gaze combs the surrounding area – there’s nothing here but more rocks! The cold hand’s grip tightens, and he falls to his knees, is this a heart attack? He feels like he wants to take off his helmet to take a deep breath but tells himself: "Don’t be stupid, Ray, there’s no air for you here. You need to get help if you don’t want to end up like the corpse". Head starting to spin, he manages to prop himself up on a boulder. "One foot in front of the other, nice and easy. You aren’t dying here." As soon as he finishes his sentence, the pressure from his chest disappears, his breathing evens out and he feels a lot calmer.

He stops, confused. Must have been a panic attack then, he concludes after taking a minute to process things. Either way, he has to get the alloy, so he braces himself and, muttering some appeasing words, he again walks towards the cube. And again, the cold hand burrows into his chest. He groans and stumbles backwards, only for the feeling to disappear once more. "This isn’t me, there must be a force field around this thing", he says to himself before opening the communication channel to Kainoa: "I’m coming back out, there’s… an issue with the alloy".

Once back with the buggy, Ray and Kainoa sit inside, eating their bland rations for the day, while Ray explains what happened. Kainoa, in very atypical fashion for them, thinks quietly before giving an answer: "There’s two options here. Well, three really, if we include the possibility of you having some sort of physical or mental health issue. But as for the other two: Either this is a time thing, we might be too early, and they haven’t unlocked the ‘force field’ yet, or this is just some shit we have to get through." Raymond rubs his temples: "If you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to try. And when you discover that I was correct, we can wait for a couple of hours until we’re on schedule with the rest and try again."

Kainoa agrees to the plan, and when they come back from their attempt to take the alloy cube, complaining of having felt like something was crushing their skull, Raymond and Kainoa climb back into the buggy and take a nap for two hours. Half their challenge time is up, it’s now or never. Both of them approach the cube and stop just before the dangerous radius. A step forwards confirms Ray’s suspicion: If it was time-activated, they didn’t have the waiting time to spare. They had agreed on tossing a coin to see who goes first and Ray drew the figurative short straw.

He stretches, his plan is sprinting in, grabbing the cube, and hopefully not going insane in the process. He takes a run-up. He enters the zone.
[ +- ] Mechanics: What happens because of the zone?
The closer he gets to the alloy, the more he feels like his heart is being crushed, and then his lungs too. As if, instead of them being filled with air, they contained a vacuum. The darkness rushes in on him, the last few meters it overtakes him. He falls, but realizes he can still move, just not see. So, he crawls onward, between moans of pain repeating to himself "One foot in front of the other", he stretches out his arm, finally feels the cube under his gloved hand, and… all the pressure ceases to exist. He lays down, his vision returns, he can breathe normally. Slowly he also realizes that Kainoa had been talking to him through his headpiece "Come on, get up. I can’t come get you. Come on!". Ray answers, to Kainoa’s surprise: "It’s all good, it stopped."

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Feb 16, 2022 9:42 am
Feb 16, 2022 9:42 am
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
Having successfully retrieved the alloy cube, Kainoa and Raymond make their way back to the buggy. Ray doesn’t even ask; he just sits in a passenger seat and tells Kainoa: "Wake me when we’re halfway there". He dozes off quickly between the monotone noise that is a mix of the engine, the surface crunching beneath the buggy’s wheels, and Kainoa’s chattering about… god knows what. It’s not a good sleep by any stretch of the word, but when Kainoa wakes him a few hours later, he’s at least confident that he won’t fall asleep while driving. When their starting point comes into view, Ray wakes Kainoa, who had also taken a nap after his driving shift. With a yawn, they disconnect the navigation device from the dashboard and hide it in their suit, safely out of view.

River Jean receives them with a smile: "So you’re not as useless as expected, Silt. Congratulations, your team is the first. Did you enjoy our little surprise challenge with the proximity-activated low frequency hum inside your suit? Tends to really test diver’s resolve without actually damaging anything.", but before Ray can answer, Kainoa interrupts: "Yeah, I guess. But the corpse was really unnecessary". The section lead looks at the duo, confused: "The corpse?" and Ray can see the expression turn into horror what Kainoa opens the cargo door in the back and reveals the body. Jean swears: "Fuck, that’s a problem". Again, Ray sees her expression change, he’s guessing right now she has the official procedure on her mind, but also the same questions he asked himself: Whose body is this and how did it end up here?

He senses his chance to get some more info out of Jean while she is absent-mindedly typing something into her infopad. "It has one of the expensive suits, maybe a visitor at Karum Station", he says non-committally. Jean doesn’t look up: "Hm, what? No, we never leave the visitors out of sight. They’re like children, they think they’re getting the adventurous life out here, but it’s all set up. Can you imagine, if one of these rich kids, D-list celebrities, or ‘I dreamed my whole life of this’- romantics died or disappeared? Karum would have to close the visitor section for good…", then she stops herself, realizing who she’s talking to: "…but this is none of your concern now anymore, Silt. Thanks for bringing it to our attention."
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hints
[ +- ] Mechanics: Try to spot who to and what River Jean is typing about Ray and Kainoa’s discovery
Raymond tries to peek on her infopad. She had apparently informed a KSA member named Nikos Tsakiris that there was a body here to be taken up to the station for further investigation. Unfortunately for Ray, the way Jean is standing is making it impossible for him to discreetly check which part of the station and to whom. Ray makes a mental note to pay this Nikos Tsakiris a visit when he has the time, but for now he’ll go and sit in the transport shuttle back and wait for the others to arrive. They trickle in, one by one. When the terraforming probe informs the gathered group that the time is up, they all watch as River deinstalls it and packs it up. The moment has an almost ceremonial feel to it, they were official Karum Station Deep Divers now. The mood in the transport back to the station is a strange sort of silence; Relief, anticipation, pride and a feeling of being prepared for anything space may throw at them hangs in the air, and no one dare try to cut through it with words.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Feb 22, 2022 5:17 pm
Feb 22, 2022 5:17 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
The transport docks at Karum station and the crowd starts heading towards the exit while River Jean tells them where to find her office to schedule missions and to expect to have the door shut in their face if they come to her with stupid questions they just as easily could have looked up on the computers integrated to their desks.

Ray also pulls himself out of his seat, and trudges toward the exit after most of the crowd had left. He is too tired to notice the examining look River Jean is throwing him. Yawning, he enters the hallway and decides that he’ll just grab a snack at one of the dispensers along the route back to his accommodation and not eat in the cheaper, but further away canteen. A little cart glides past him on the rails set in the ceiling, carrying supplies and some people, and right now, he really wishes he’d have the spare change for this service.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Emotional State and Stress
Back in his room, he sits down in his bed and opens the nutrition package: A grey-brown block available in a variety of artificial flavors that can be combined with hot water to make soup, fried for a crispier consistency, or just be eaten as-is. Not having access to a kitchen area, Ray goes for the raw, chewy version and is pleasantly surprised that the creators nearly nailed the taste of spinach and salmon lasagna. Not that he was able to get real salmon back on earth anyway…
[ +- ] Mechanics: Neighbor NPC
Suddenly the door to the shared bathroom opens and a man who obviously just stepped out of the shower and hasn’t even dried off yet walks in. He stops in his tracks as soon as he spots Ray and laughs "Oh, I didn’t think I’d be getting a new neighbour so soon. I’m Addison Cheng, my pleasure", he takes a little bow when he introduces himself and reaches back around into the bathroom to grab a towel while he does so. He wraps it around his waist and cheerfully continues: "You are lucky, your room has a window. Mine’s been boarded up since it was hit by debris." Cheng gestures back at his room and Ray peers through the open bathroom doors into a bunk room with a layout that exactly mirrors his room’s. That’s where the similarities ended, however: The mid-20’s looking man had apparently painted a mural of traditional southeast Asian imagery mixed with pre-environmental collapse earth landscapes all over his room’s walls.

Still not having said anything since Addison entered his room completely naked, Ray puts his surprise to the side and answers while pointing towards towards Cheng’s room: "Did you paint that?". Addison nods: "The permit cost me extra, but it was worth it, right? People here like to pretend that they don’t, but I’d bet most miss home just as much as me. My family on earth is counting on me to be the one that finds a new place for us to live, or at least earn enough money to send home until someone else does", he chuckles awkwardly "Anyway, if you need help with the bureaucracy around here, I’ve had some… interactions with the KSA". "I’m Ray, by the way, and I appreciate the offer. I do actually have a question: Have you ever come across a KSA official named Nikos Tsakiris?". Addison laughs: "Have you already gotten yourself into trouble? At least you look like you haven’t met him yet, he’s one of the guys they call when they need some muscle." "Do you have any idea where to find him?", Ray replies, and Addison thinks for a second: "Only the big wigs in the KSA have their own office, but, like I said, if you make enough trouble, he’ll find you. What do you want from him?" "Information". This answer elicits a mischievous smile from Addison: "If you want, I can help you find him, I have nothing scheduled for a couple of days". Ray chews on the rest of his nutrition block and thinks through his options, of which they weren’t many since he was a complete newbie, and his new neighbour seemed nice enough: "Alright, but for now I just want to sleep". Cheng now looks slightly embarrassed: "Ah right, sorry, I’m still in your room, aren’t I? I recommend you lock the door, always. Not because of me, but not everyone on this station has good intentions, and, uh, I occasionally bring people back to my room. I don’t always have the best choice in partners…", he says and a glance at Rays somewhat amused but clearly exhausted face prompts him to continue "…but I’m oversharing again. It was nice to meet you, see you tomorrow!". Then Cheng exits the same way he came, with most of his pride still intact.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Feb 26, 2022 1:17 pm
Feb 26, 2022 1:17 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
The next morning Ray wakes up to a knock on the shared bathroom door. He checks the clock: 10:30 central earth time. He had been warned that his sense of time would go out the window in space without the nice 24-hour light/dark cycle he was used to on earth. He turns on the lights and blinks a couple of times to adjust to their blinding brightness. A second knock follows on the bathroom door. Ray gets up and stretches, walks to the door, and opens it.

Of course it was Addison who knocked, prepared to discuss some plans, he hands Ray a nutrition package and cheerfully says: "Breakfast is on me, let’s get started". Addison squeezes past Ray and sits down at his table while Ray yawns, tosses the nutrition package on his bed, and disappears into the bathroom for his morning routine. 15 minutes later, he emerges again feeling refreshed. Addison had been working on his computer in the meantime and was ready to explain everything to Ray while he was munching on a cube of breakfast cereal and milk: "Alright, Karum Station is huge, as you know, so the chances of running into the person you’re looking for are slim, and the guards aren’t usually particularly forthcoming with information. It’s quite possible he’s working in the visitor part too, which we only have restricted access to. So, my suggestion is this: we cause a mess for which they will need all hands on deck" Ray shakes his head: "I can’t risk this job. I’m not here voluntarily, I owe a large sum to St. Vince." Addison gives him a sympathetic look, but it only breaks his stride for a second: "I don’t want to be sent home either. Don’t worry, I’ve got this." Together they hatch a plan, and use the next few days to put everything into place
[ +- ] Mechanics: Are they able to finish all preparations for their plan? (Dropping notes in places without surveillance cameras and whispering the right things into people’s ears)

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Feb 26, 2022 2:10 pm
Feb 26, 2022 2:10 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/88/fc/1f/88fc1f76dcd2e315f1a11515a0c815a9--scifi-interior-space-station.jpg

Two days later, Ray and Addison are sitting in the corner of the canteen, watching their fellow void runners eat, and specifically looking out for that side-glance, the one that says: I know what’s about to happen, who can I trust?. Many here look like they have noticed the rumors going about, some even checking the time and leaving in a hurry as noon approaches. Another portion of the workers seems blissfully unaware. At precisely 12:00 central earth time, a small battalion of KSA officials enter through the several doors. They announce: "All workers in this room are detained and will be questioned due to the suspicion of conspiracy to unionize." Groaning and verbal protests can be heard from all directions, only Ray and Addison discreetly give each other a fistbump. Addison scans the faces of the guards, trying to find Nikos.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Finding Nikos Tsakiris
"Damn it, he’s not here", Addison whispers to Ray, who sighs as he watches the first batch of workers being led out for questioning. He quietly replies: "It wasn’t a bad plan. At least no one is actually in danger now that they showed up before the protest could begin. Someone must have ratted us out." A look from a KSA member quiets them down and they sit in silence for the next one and a half hours, until they are called up for questioning. They are led to a room just a couple of doors down from the canteen. It looks like a dining room for higher ranking staff: a heavy wooden table and chairs instead of the bolted together metal slabs the workers had, much softer lighting, pictures on the walls. The room is about 5x5 meters in size and the table together with most of the chairs had been moved to the side. Their handlers grab Ray and Addison by the arm and force them down into the lone two chairs left in the middle of the room. Then, all but one, who is standing directly behind them, and one sitting at the desk with files in front of him, leave. The one with the files looks up at his suspects: "You know what I spent my afternoon on so far? I went around, nicely asking people where they got these ‘rumors’ of unionizing from and imagine my surprise when every time I hear a new name and trace it back, I end up with you two. Isn’t that interesting?"

Addison is about to protest, but the guard behind him thrusts his baton into Addison’s back and tells him to shut up. When he adds another baton-strike for good measure, Addison whirls around and grabs the baton, causing the guard to make a swing at Addison’s head with his free hand.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Fight
As soon as Ray sees Addison turn around, he pushes himself back in his chair and gives the guard, who is busy swinging at Addison, a kick in the back that knocks the air right out of him. Then, in one elegant move, he gets up off the chair and holds it up as a defense against the man he just attacked. The KSA member, regretting his decision to hit Addison in the back, swings wide and is hit in the stomach by his own baton that he and Addison are still wrestling over. Despite the struggle, he manages to pull the baton back to himself and he raises it defensively. The other KSA official meanwhile, jumps up, drops the notebook in his hand and takes a run at Addison, whose attack comes too late and is countered by a baton strike in the ribs. Addison yelps and prepares to ward off further attacks. Ray decides this would be a good time to bash the KSA member over the head with the chair, but his grip slips and he only hits his opponents’ torso. He doesn’t have time to try again, as suddenly a frighteningly tall man in a KSA jumpsuit walks through the door right behind Ray, kicks the back of his leg to bring him to his knees, raises his pistol at the brawling parties and shouts at his colleagues: "Enough! Get out of here, I’ll handle this".

He glares at everyone until the other KSA members have collected themselves and left the room. His expression then softens considerably but he is still visibly annoyed: "Addison, I should have known it had to be you. What are you doing? You know I can’t let stuff like this slide". Addison gives a quick apologetic look to a mildly surprised Ray and replies: "Well, you never left me your contact, not like I could just call you." Nikos sighs, picks up the notebook that one of the KSA officials dropped, scribbles something in it, then rips out the page and folds it. Next, he walks over to Addison who is standing there lopsided leaning on his chair’s back, squats down and carefully examines the bruise that has already appeared on Addison’s ribs. He asks: "Well, here I am now, what do you need?". Another uncomfortable look goes from Addison into Ray’s direction: "It’s really less me who needs something. Ray here wants to ask you some stuff". "Does he, now?", Nikos asks without stopping his examination, now gently prodding the damaged area.

Ray clears his throat: "Yeah, actually, I wanted to ask about the corpse you recently brought here from LE Aello 3895. I would be grateful for any information you could give me regarding its origins, cause of death, and so on." Nikos looks past Addison at Ray: "I don’t know anything. I was just responsible for the transport.", he puts the folded piece of paper into Addison’s pocket, pulls his shirt back down and gets up: "You have my call sign now, just message me next time. I can’t tell if your ribs are just cracked or broken. You should go to the infirmary, ask for Doctor Correa, she can help you. But don’t you dare charge this one on the KSA, you were never even here as far as I’m concerned", he says, already halfway out the door. After a couple of seconds, the duo follows outside and after having cleared the area with the most KSA presence, Ray rubs his temples and says: "Now what? That wasn’t especially helpful". Addison shakes his head and smirks: "Quite the opposite, this is just his way of being helpful without alerting his colleagues. Doctor Correa must have been the one who did the autopsy, plus he’ll make sure our records stay clean from this. Couldn’t have gone any better."

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Mar 5, 2022 9:05 am
Mar 5, 2022 9:05 am
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
Raymond and Addison silently walk in the direction of the infirmary together, taking frequent breaks since breathing with his rib injury is currently difficult for Addison. Ray breaks the silence: "So, what’s the deal with you and Nikos? Is he one of the bad choices you warned me about a couple of days ago?", "Not really. Nikos is solid, reliable, even if he's a bit rough around the edges. He only arrived here about three years ago, I think, but I’ve been here since I was 14. The station is big, but not so big you don’t occasionally meet and barely anyone lasts as long as I have", he tells Ray with some pride in his voice. "14 seems awfully young to work on this station, didn’t know that was allowed", Ray notes, but doesn’t receive a reply, so they continue on in silence again.

The infirmary is a location at the intersection between the visitor and worker parts of Karum station. It was constructed as such for ease of access. The deep divers tend to injure themselves much more frequently, but, of course, the better paying vacationers were supposed to have quick access to medical services too. It’s not forbidden to wander into the hotel section of the station as a worker if you didn’t have to be there, but it is ‘strongly discouraged’ to reduce the risk of disturbing people trying to have a nice vacation.

Upon entry to the infirmary, everyone receives a color-coded bracelet that both literally and figuratively could open doors. Addison whispers: "I’ll go with the lowest insurance tier, that’ll buy you some time to find Dr. Correa until I get diagnostics. You’ll likely have to go downstairs to the mortuary. That’s restricted area for obvious reasons but the doors can be opened by any medical personnel card. Don’t ask me how I know this", he grins and pulls Ray over to one of the registration computers that spits out one patient and one visitor bracelet of the grey tier. While Addison sits down in the overflowing grey tier waiting area, Ray walks over to a nurse who seems to be there to keep an eye on everyone and to personally help the higher tier members. Why do it the hard way, when you could just ask? he figures and addresses the nurse: "Excuse me, is Dr. Correa available today?". The nurse turns and, with a glance on Ray’s wrist scoffs: "Yeah, but only for green tier and higher"
OOC:
This next part of the adventure will be a bit of a skill challenge where I will try to come up with several solutions of how Ray could get from one tier to the next and let the dice decide whether they work or not

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Mar 5, 2022 9:05 am
Mar 5, 2022 9:05 am
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
Ray thanks the nurse and looks around. Next to the grey tier section, there’s the purple section, and then there’s a short hallway connecting to the blue and green waiting rooms. The hallway has a KSA member standing watch, so purple is Ray’s most realistic option. He pulls the bracelet up so it’s covered by his sleeve and at the next opportunity, when both nurse and guard are looking in a different direction, he walks into the higher tier section. Confidence is the key, he tells himself, there’s no question that you belong here.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Are there any discarded wristbands around?
He scans the room for any wristbands people might have left behind, but no luck. He does, however, spot just the right person to get a bracelet from. An old lady, staring off into the distance is sitting in the corner apparently unattended. He walks on over and sits next to her, striking up a conversation. At least, he pretends to, he isn’t even sure if she can hear him. After about ten minutes, Ray is reasonably certain that no one is paying close attention and, patting the old woman’s arm, he attempts to slide off the wristband.

Having successfully removed it, Ray informs anyone who may be listening that he’ll be right back. He goes to the bathroom and puts on his new purple bracelet. Trying to stay clear of the waiting room, he makes his way to the purple patient rooms of the infirmary. Purple only the second lowest tier, so the set-up is still fairly basic and most of the people in here are Ray’s fellow workers. He sits down on one of the benches in the hallway and does his best to look like someone who is there to see a colleague while he stakes out the doors at the end of the hallway that lead to the differently tiered sections.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Can he walk through a door at the same time as someone with permission to go through there?
Sitting there for a while, he begins to notice a pattern, the door sensors appear to be registering when the person has passed through and closing at a comfortable distance behind them, but when someone else is near, they close much earlier, at some point even emitting a red light if an unauthorized person comes too close to an open door. Ray is sure that the security feed when the red light activates is going directly to the KSA officers on this floor. So, I can’t beat the machines, but maybe I can game the human system, Ray thinks and is briefly disgusted with the amount of manipulation he’s had to do recently.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Is there a disguise available?
He checks patient rooms for any props he might be able to use, and he can barely believe his luck when, next to an empty bed, he sees a machine that has a blue label. He assumes this must be some form of resource sharing between departments but doesn’t have the time to think about how it got there or if the fact that the machine hasn’t been returned yet means that the person who occupied this bed only just died. He grabs the appliance and makes his way to the guard’s station. As nonchalantly as he can muster, he walks up to the KSA officer, with the blue label prominently displayed and says: "Sir, I’m going to need you to open that door for me, I’ve been told to return this", the guard looks apprehensive: "The hell I will, where’s your access card?". Ray’s heart races but he stays collected: "Come on man, my colleague has the card right now", and when all he gets is a dirty look, he adds: "Okay, you know what? I’ll wait here for my colleague and if someone dies in the meantime, well, we know who to thank for that". This dramatic performance and some aggressive staring make the guard give in: "Fine, but your colleague better show up here within the next ten minutes or I’ll drag you out of there myself.", he walks Ray to the door to open it. Ray quickly steps through, not looking back, and sets the appliance down in the blue tier hallway once he’s out of sight. The blue tier is a popular choice with average one-time visitors, it’s unlikely Ray will see any of these people again, so he figures he can take some chances here.

He sees a woman with a green wristband move past him and walks along beside her: "Miss, excuse me! I’m here to visit my daughter in the green section and I seem to have left my bracelet back there when I went to grab something from my room, could you help me?"
[ +- ] Mechanics: Manipulate the stranger
The woman doesn’t even stop walking: "Ask security, not me". Ray stops and watches her walk off. Then a small voice pipes up from behind him: "You can have my wristband if you buy me a snack". Ray turns around and is looking at what he estimates to be a 6-year-old boy with straw blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Ray doesn’t hesitate: "Deal" and leads the boy to a snack dispenser. He checks the time: The guard gave him 10 minutes until his cover is blown and the child takes his sweet time to choose something.

Finally, Ray arrives at the green tier section. ‘Green tier and higher’ is what the nurse said, so it’s possible that Dr. Correa is here but she might also be somewhere else entirely, such as in the mortuary like Addison suggested.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Is the Dr. Correa currently on the green tier floor?
Ray walks up yet another hallway while he briefly considers just asking the nurse to call the doctor or fiddling with a stranger’s devices so they give off an alarm call, and deep in thought, nearly runs into someone else whose access card catches his eye: it’s Dr. Correa

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Mar 12, 2022 7:47 am
Mar 12, 2022 7:47 am
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
The young doctor looks up in surprise from the infopad she was immersed in. "Oh, sorry", she says and steps to the side to let Ray pass. Ray smiles: "Don’t be, I was just looking for you". She looks puzzled for a second and opens the calendar on her infopad: "There aren’t any patient visits scheduled right now." Ray doesn’t want to announce what he needs just yet so he replies: "Our mutual friend Nikos recommended I come see you", and for a fleeting moment Dr. Correa’s polite smile turns into a frown before she regains composure: "I see, let’s take this matter somewhere more private". She gestures and Ray follows her into an empty patient room. The doctor sighs and leans against a wall: "Look, Nikos contacted me, said he sent someone to see me about the package he gave me the other day. He meant the corpse of course, but I told him, just like I will tell you, that first, I couldn’t tell you anything if I wanted to because as opposed to seemingly everyone around here, I still have a code of ethics, and second, I’m not even done yet. This station doesn’t have a pathologist, I was just unlucky enough to come up first when I looked at a list. I know how to program the machines because we use them as doctors, but I’ve had to get creative."

"Please, I was the one who found the body, and I’m not usually one to stick my nose in other people’s business, but something about that situation just grabbed me and hasn’t let go since. I’m generally very much of the philosophy to go where life leads me and be satisfied with what I have but I also believe in treating others with respect and kindness. I have a suspicion that kindness and respect are not what this person experienced in their last moments.", Ray explains.

They argue back and forth for a while and Dr. Correa looks skeptical but is willing to divulge some information: "It seems that even though you’re going about it in the completely wrong way, we have the same goal. I still can’t tell you much. I ran tissue samples through some tests; it looks like you were right. I still have to double check this, but it seems like she was healthy, no diseases that could have killed her. Oh, and I found a nametag in the shirt she was wearing under the suit. At least the shirt belonged to a Gulia Borsotti.", she says, with an apologetic smile for not being able to give more information.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hints & Time
Ray smiles back at her: "That already helps a ton, thank you so much. Will you let me know if you find anything else?" Dr. Correa grimaces slightly: "I’ll consider it". A clock in his peripheral vision suddenly reminds Ray that his time is running out, so he excuses himself and hurries back to the KSA officer who let him through the door. Before the officer can consider that something is not quite right there, Ray walks up to him, thanks him profusely and informs him that he doesn’t have to wait for his colleague anymore, then hurries off again. He puts his grey bracelet back on and squeezes himself into the waiting room seat next to Addison, who hasn’t had his diagnostics yet. "Any success in your venture?", he asks quietly. "Moderately… wasn’t natural causes apparently. Do you know of a Gulia Borsotti? I was thinking it may have been a famous deep diver or otherwise well-known because of the gear, but I never kept up with that stuff ", Ray answers, and Addison shakes his head: "No, I don’t think so. Also, what do you mean you never kept up with that stuff?!" he says, feigning shock and launches into a lengthy lecture about the history of Karum Station and the heroes that came before them.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Mar 20, 2022 8:44 am
Mar 20, 2022 8:44 am
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
When they’re done at the infirmary, Ray and Addison retreat back to their respective rooms for the evening. All this talk about heroic deep divers had awakened some curiosity in Ray. Back on earth, he had never really concerned himself with what was going on up here, so he knows next to nothing about this particular group of people. He sits at his desk computer and searches the names Addison mentioned earlier and, after clicking through some newspaper articles and advertisements for books on legendary void runners, he decides to search for Cheng’s name. The computer informs him of a Cheng, Addison living on the station and that he isn’t authorized to see more information. But below that, he sees something he hadn’t expected: links to news articles about the famous deep diver Lia Cheng. The glamorous pictures show a definite similarity. Too young to be his mother, bigger sister maybe? Cheng loves his family and he’s passionate for this job, so why hasn’t he mentioned her? Ray scrolls further down to the last article about Lia Cheng; her obituary. Ray nods "That would explain it… but if he wanted me to know he would have told me", and that concludes the topic for him.

He closes the tab and sighs, time to get some actual work done. The mystery of the corpse had provided some welcome distraction, but now that his neighbor has been recommended to avoid heavy physical activity for a few weeks to allow his ribs to heal, the reason Raymond is on this station at all has forced its way back to the forefront of his thoughts. So, he gets up and makes his way to section lead Jean’s office.

"Silt, back for more already? Very good, I appreciate eager divers.", River greets Raymond "Take a seat and fill out the form. Protocol says I should be holding your hand the first time you do this, but I already showed everyone in the introductory course, and frankly, I have better things to do. I’ll be at my desk if you need anything." Ray nods and does as he’s told at the computer Jean pointed him to. River Jean looks over the form before submitting it officially and expresses her surprise at Ray’s first real mission going solo to an unknown destination. But she also respects the courage and approves his request, especially also because his team came first in the introductory challenge, and so, Ray steps out of Jean’s office only 24 hours from his first trip into the void.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Ship and Gear
The next day he spends doing nothing in particular, unless avoiding Addison counts as something particular. Ray is nervous and can’t take Cheng’s energy right now. He decides to write him a note informing him of the trip and slide it under the bathroom door just before he leaves. But for now, as his take-off time is looming ever closer, he goes down to the port, to pick up his gear, and inspect the craft he’ll be using. Walking around and looking into the KRM-01, he ignores his doubts about whether he really should be doing this and decides to name it the "Last Magnolia", in honor of a place in his hometown back on earth.

He grew up in an apartment complex next to the main street. The street itself was always busy, but the narrow side alleys were a stark contrast. Almost no one ever ventured into the parts where former independent merchants offered their wares, now abandoned and only waiting to be gutted both physically and in spirit, to be turned into one of the few mega-corporations’ sales points. Ray did like these side streets since they were less hectic, and a place he was particularly fond of, was a little shop that previously belonged to a florist. A doomed business considering the dying environment, even before the megacorps’ best efforts to oust competition, but the owner seemed to have made the most of it. A picture on the windowpane advertised the last magnolia, sold at that very store, and Ray was enchanted with the beautiful if yellowed depiction of the advertised flower.

What better way to start the journey into a new chapter in my life than to recall my beginnings? Ray thinks as he loads his expedition gear onto the Arsaidh craft.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Mar 25, 2022 4:19 pm
Mar 25, 2022 4:19 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
Before the take-off, Ray returns to his quarters and packs one of the very few personal affects he has with him: A laminated picture of him and his buddies from the mines. He runs his hand over the smooth surface: "If Peterson could see me now, he’d probably ask if I’m completely insane", he says and chuckles to himself. He puts the picture in his breast pocket and writes a short note for Addison as planned. He slides it under the bathroom door and leaves.

He heads towards the docks, his steps feeling heavier with each additional one. Nevertheless, he carries on. Arriving at the docks, he spots River Jean on a platform overlooking a good part of the storage hangar. Ray signs in at a computer terminal and knows that somewhere in this hangar, some workerbots are positioning his ship on the transport towards the take-off terminal. This hangar is filled with the sounds of both these robots and human laborers hard at work.

River Jean has now also spotted Ray and acknowledges his presence with a nod, but she doesn’t look like she’s planning to come down from her platform, and right now, Ray appreciates this. He makes his way to the take-off terminal and puts on his Vacc Suit. The time becomes a blur, at some point he gets on the ship, the ship is transported past a plaque reading Mind the Gap through the airlock via rails, and he takes off.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3b/da/98/3bda9822e40c9e40783c675a5432bfa6.jpg
[ +- ] Mechanics: Travel Stuff
The "Tayy Al-Ard", the unidentified process by which the Arsaidh Ships cover long distances in relatively short amounts of time, is impossible to predict so at this point, Ray can only hope he doesn’t end up in the middle of a star or somewhere even worse. On top of that, "The Whispers" tend to weigh heavily on divers, the Arsaidh technology trying to interface with their minds. On the other hand, he doesn’t have to do any steering himself, so he’s got the whole unknown amount of travel time to himself. Ray is usually fairly good about occupying himself, but the tension is getting to him this time and there isn’t much space to do anything, so he busies himself trying to figure out the spacecraft.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Can he learn more about the ship?
He first visually inspects some strange-looking details, cables that look like tendrils reaching into the hull of the ship. He tries to discern where they go when he suddenly sees a reflection in a shiny panel and nearly has a heart attack as he’s looking at another human face. He spins around, ready to defend himself, but freezes; the face is familiar: "Sh…Shelby? What are you doing here?". He receives no reply, just what appears to be his former workmate Shelby Peterson standing, looking in Ray’s direction. "I… are you here to warn me?", he asks, not sure if he can trust his eyes. Then he shakes his head and pats his chest pocket where he put the picture at the beginning of his trip. He pulls it out to look at what he actually knows to be Shelby’s face. When he looks back up, the Peterson on his ship is gone. "Great, first day, I’m already going crazy." He decides he best lay down and when he dozes off, he dreams of Shelby Peterson, the only reason his arm is at least still partly functional after his accident. He never did ask why a man like Peterson with his overabundance of caution would work in a mine, but it was undeniable he had the first aid skills when needed and he even kept checking up on Ray after his accident. Everyone had their role and Peterson must have thought that he couldn’t stop the dangerous work, but he could be there when something inevitably happened. The crew regularly ribbed him about it, but the man had the patience of a saint and laughed along.

Some hours later, Ray wakes up again, only to see his former girlfriend sitting at the controls. Ray groans, he is definitely not in the headspace to deal with the feelings left from that relationship right now, so he turns around and goes back to sleep. The next few days all the rest of his former coworkers show up and leave again. It reminds him of a story he heard as a child of a guy named Scrooge: A hard worker who was visited by 3 ghosts who claimed to care about him but tried to scare him into gifting his money to others because it was Christmas. They didn’t succeed, Scrooge held strong and resisted. Ray had always felt it was a sort of strange story, but he needed that right then and so he channeled his inner Scrooge to persevere despite the ghosts.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Apr 9, 2022 1:05 pm
Apr 9, 2022 1:05 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hexploration Rolls
The first thing Ray notices when leaving the warp bubble is that he isn’t dead yet. A pleasant surprise, really. The second thing he sees is a planet taking up nearly his full field of view and rapidly coming closer too. The planet is strikingly white – snow, clouds possibly? Or an alien landscape completely devoid of color?

His little ship continues its descent, silhouetted against the vast white planet. The light from this solar system’s star is dim, and dips everything into a cold blue-white light. A white dwarf, Ray concludes from the bits of astronomy he had retained out of the info material for prospective divers. As the small ship he’s in starts entering the planet’s atmosphere, covers come down in front of the viewscreen and Ray can feel something shifting within the craft. He decides he’d rather not know what’s happening right now and sits down, straps in and, again, hopes he arrives unharmed.

After a while the motion seems to have stopped, not abruptly or violently, just a powering down of propulsion system and then, the viewscreen panel slide off again. Ray marvels at his view:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2486/4354/products/Peter-Lik-Rouge-Framed-Recess-Mount_1800x.jpg?v=1590768273

His craft is surrounded by a lush overgrowth. The lower part is so covered in vibrant red bushes that he can’t see the ground from his position, and white, tree-looking growths shoot straight up between them in regular intervals. They reach up as far as the eye can see with occasional black twigs around the trunk. In fact, they reach up so far, it looks like they are what’s supporting the thick layer of clouds that appears to rest several hundred meters in the sky. Ray checks his instruments: no known toxic compounds or radiation, the atmosphere appears dense, almost water-like.

He knows that he has to be as quick as possible in order to maximize his loot, plus he hasn’t really been able to move much in the last week and it has made him restless. So he puts on his vacc suit, grabs his gear and exits the ship. After the reduced gravity on the ship, the weight of the atmosphere on this planet feels downright crushing, but even without that, the density makes it more difficult to move as opposed to earth. Raymond plants the terraforming probe into the ground as he was shown and turns on the survey scanner.

The quietness is of this forest looking like it would be full of life is eerie, Ray thinks, but immediately regrets this thought as he suddenly starts hearing whisper-like sounds. He looks back at his craft: More fuckery from the Arsaidh system? He lifts his survey scanner, and it lights up with organic matter of the foliage but no visible animals or creatures. Maybe the dense atmospheric gases just conduct soundwaves a little too well? Ray clears his throat: "Get it together, man.", he tells himself. He recalls his job as a miner back on earth; the mines would usually have a main corridor and then side corridors branching off. He doesn't really have any better idea, so he picks the direction that seems least perilous (even though, if he was being honest with himself, they pretty much all looked densly packed and difficult to get through) and decides that this will be the direction of his main corridor. He does his best to create a free path in the bushes he walks through, but the terrain makes progress slow. Ray's bad arm is aching and soon enough he is drenched in sweat under his suit.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Apr 17, 2022 3:13 pm
Apr 17, 2022 3:13 pm
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hexploration Rolls
Nevertheless, the lone void runner hacks his way through the alien jungle. So far he has only seen plants. Or, at least, what he assumes to be plants. Maybe I'm cutting through at sentient beings right now? Would they take revenge on me? Could they if they tried? the thoughts weigh heavy on his mind, but not as heavy as the atmosphere weighs on his body. He kneels down for a short break. I can’t let this get to me, he thinks while he watches a leaf of the plant he cut slowly drift to the ground. With a groan he heaves himself back up, his only consolation being that at least the way back will be easier. Occasionally, he pulls out the survey scanner to look for the precious cubes he came her for but no luck so far.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hexploration Rolls
He continues creating himself a path, when suddenly a glint not coming from his knife catches Raymond's eye. He freezes immediately. Straining to see, he tries to discern what it is that’s reflecting the already dull lighting and realizes that whatever it is, it’s on the ground. The whole area right in front of him, a good 20 feet across, had been covered in a membrane reminiscent of a beached jellyfish back on earth. A quite common sight all the way back home but this isn’t earth and Ray is fairly certain that this is not a jellyfish. It could be anything: Sap from the trees, liquified alien corpses, an entire creature in itself…

For a minute he debates what to do, he does want to know what he’s going up against, but he also doesn’t really have any tools to examine this puddle of jelly. So, he does the next best thing, takes the knife in his hand, drives it into a piece of the ground cover, and immediately jumps back, not knowing what might happen. This jump back turns out to be a smart choice quickly as the membrane suddenly converges down on the point where Ray had stabbed into it, enveloping some fallen leaves in the process. To Ray it looks like the slime is suddenly impossibly heavy, crushing those leaves inside. "Fuck…", he says, in a tone of voice halfway between impressed and concerned. Briefly he wonders if he should take a different path but at least he now already knows one of the dangers lurking on this one. Then Addison pops into his thoughts: "He'd know what to do. And he would probably be pretty bummed if I got killed by some space jelly after only leaving him a lame note... Ugh, come on, Ray. You have no business feeling bad for being rude to someone you didn't even know last week while your life is in danger. Focus on now", he tells himself and gets back to clearing a path in the same original direction but well past the hazard on the ground.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Apr 23, 2022 8:49 am
Apr 23, 2022 8:49 am
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hexploration Rolls
Ray checks the time; It had been an hour since he set out, his first oxygen pellet is used up and he hasn’t found anything worthwhile so far. At least the thick overgrowth is now letting up somewhat, the fauna is more spread out now and he can traverse his path more easily. The ground is a dark grey compacted mass of tiny smooth pebbles (not quite as fine as sand), giving in just slightly with every step.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hexploration Rolls
https://i.imgur.com/XjLuNYS.jpg
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hexploration Rolls
After having documented his discovery, Ray gets back on his way. The little creature is on his mind, still, and he wonders if Doctor Correa might be a good person to tell about his discovery seeing as she at least claimed to have a moral code. She was right, it is a rare thing to have in this day and age and in all honesty, to Ray, it is tempting to just let the KSA know and have them deal with it.

Being preoccupied with his thoughts, Ray neglects to watch his step and so, he has no chance to react when the ground beneath him gives in, opening a hole that looks like the mouth of the planet, devouring him. He should probably consider himself lucky, though, the dense atmosphere slowed his fall to the point where the only pain once he registers after he has tumbled down a good 30 ft., is in his already damaged arm. Still, he lets out a couple of choice swear words.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Making it out of the pit
Ray stands up, and looks up to the sky, he can see the striking white cloud layer and the upper parts of the plants reaching up there, while some ground cover pebbles roll down the edge of the pit. Then he looks around. He has landed on one of a number of ledges jutting out to create a sort of uneven platform with cracks in it. He crouches down on the ground next to one of the edges and looks through the narrow slit; there isn’t much to see past where his helmet lights go. He’s curious about this hole but all his common sense tells him getting out should be the priority here. Thankfully, he brought the thruster pack with him and, after a bit of fiddling with the controls, he safely arrives back at the ledge of the crater.

Raymond Silt

NABO Inactive forever!

Apr 30, 2022 9:05 am
Apr 30, 2022 9:05 am
In it for the Money?
Raymond Silt
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hexploration Rolls
He then picks up where he left off, on foot since he doesn’t want to deplete the fuel of the thruster pack. This time he’s intently watching his surroundings and the ground, making sure it won’t give in on him again. The ground starts feeling more solid and soon a strange geological formation starts to be revealed from behind the trees. His survey scanner tells Ray that there are veins of organic material criss-crossing this piece of solid rock. He decides that at least this would bring him some money back at Karum and documents the boulder meticulously.
[ +- ] Mechanics: Hexploration Rolls & Fight
When he finishes his work, he realizes way more time than intended has passed. I’m nearly 2/3 through my oxygen supply and I still need to get back! He thinks, his heartbeat picking up in pace. He turns around to the direction he came from, and briskly heads back to his ship; a bit annoyed at the lack of value generated by this mission, but also generally glad that he made it back alive. He immediately regrets this thought, though, as he is suddenly torn to the ground by something from behind just when he is passing by the hole that nearly did him in earlier. "Shit", he yells out and rolls back on his feet immediately, combat knife raised. As he turns to face his attacker, he looks right into the eyes of a massive, scaled creature, snarling at him from 20 cm away.

https://e7.pngegg.com/pngimages/490/618/png-clipart-legendary-creature-concept-art-monster-goblin-creature-legendary-creature-carnivoran.png

He freezes up but quickly regains his bearings and uses the opportunity to stab the beast right in the head. While the alien lets out a low grumble and shakes its head, he carefully backs up. The alien follows, Ray watching its every move, trying to discern a motive. Since it still seems disoriented, Ray takes his chance and takes several quick stabs at it before retreating again. The first two are met with hard scales but the third one finds its way through on the leg. The creature’s leg buckles and it falls onto a sharp rock, opening a bleeding cut to its underside. Again, it lets out a low grumble, more drawn out this time. The creature leaps up with surprising power and grace, positions itself between Ray and the hole and unsuccessfully attempts to sweep at him with its spiked tail. Ray tries to fend the creature off long enough to hide behind a nearby tree grouping but after nearly falling over thinks better of it and stabs at it half-heartedly before assuming a defensive position a few steps away.

Again, the creature moves between him and the pit, and Ray again dodges the heavy spiked tail. Then it dawns on the deep diver: the hole in the ground must have some significance to the alien – maybe an entrance to its lair? Either way, after the one who unearthed it returned, the creature must have thought he was back to finish the job and destroy whatever is there. Ray decides to change his approach: Any way possible, just leave. He scrambles to turn around, the creature sees its chance and stabs its clawed limbs at him. He falls but manages to pull himself a long a few more meters. He was right – the creature doesn’t follow. He can hear its vocalizations from his position on the ground and he turns his head just in time to see the tip of the tail disappear in the pit.
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