Scene 3: They mostly come at night

It doesn't yet look like we're in combat, so for now we won't be following Initiative order for posting.

The quickest and safest-looking route, to me, is around the exterior of the structure, past the fuel depot, up past the chemical storage service structure where you first entered the base i.e. NOT moving between blocks C1 and B1.

Let me know, please, if that's the route you'd take, or if you'd go some other route, or do something else.

I'd like to have a post from each of you, to describe what you're going to do next to start this scene - in particular, I'd like to give @McButterpants/Macwhirr a chance to catch up and make a post. @McButterpants if you (or anyone else) would like me to summarise what's going on, what's happened so far, in more detail, please just let me know.

Ah, that's great, @McButterpants - just wanted to avoid anyone getting left behind in the narrative.

As you got at least one 1 from your STRESS dice, you need to roll against the Panic table - for that, roll 1d6 + your current stress level (i.e. 1d6+4). I just posted something about Panic to the rules overview thread, including the Panic table.

What happens to you next depends on the result of your Panic roll.

Holroyd/@C1NDER please make a MANIPULATION roll - if @McButterpants rolls low enough on the Panic table for the action to stand i.e. not be overwritten by a Panic action, then you'll need two or more successes to resist Macwhirr's command (as Macwhirr got two successes).

Panic Roll

Text for Panic Table 9 is "DROP ITEM. Whether by stress, confusion, or the realization that you're all going to die anyway, you drop a weapon or other important item – the GM decides which one. Your STRESS LEVEL increases by one." - so you've dropped the Bolt Gun, and take an additional stress.

Holroyd/@C1NDER gets one success on their MANIPULATION roll, so Macwhirr's COMMAND roll succeeds (as you got two successes, and the Panic Table result isn't one that negates the action linked to the roll).

It looked like Holroyd was anyway going to follow Macwhirr's orders - but now they are required to do so i.e. to cover the others in the group so they can make it to the shuttle.

A lot happening at the moment, and I think the posts from today leave it somewhat ambiguous who is currently where doing what. I'll post here based on my sense of the PC's intentions, but if what I've come up with here isn't what you mean/want, let me know.

Macwhirr take a point of STRESS and make a Panic Roll given that you're within almost touching distance of a fiend from the pits of your nightmares...

So my take on the situation is that Morgan and Singleton are outside the lock, that they are waiting for Macwhirr and Holroyd to come out of the door, to be outside of the base. But they don't

I'm going to rule that the lock is built so that, by default, either the inner or outer door is open, but not both at the same time (it was set up like that at a time when the atmosphere outside wasn't breathable).

So there is now at least one shut door between Morgan and Singleton, and Macwhirr and Holroyd and the beast...

I'm rolling now for initiative.

Holroyd, Macwhirr - you've got a vision from hell staring you in the face... how are you going to respond to that?

Morgan, Singleton - no one is coming through the lock after you. Are you going to run to the shuttle, wait here, go back inside... or something else...?

Some xenos are so fast they get to act twice, some even three times per turn, hence the two Xenos in the initiative roll here.

I've included Morgan and Singleton in the Initiative, if they come inside, then this will be how they fit into the turn order.

EDIT turn order:

1st Hirsch
2nd Xeno 2
3rd Xeno 1
4th Macwhirr
5th Singleton
6th Holroyd

Oops. Of course, the thing that happens next is that the xeno acts given the initiative order I've drawn. Will try and get a post in about that before the site shutdown Keleth is doing...

The first attack of the xeno gives a 1. On the appropriate Xenomorph Attack Table that gives the Hypnotizing Gaze attack, which mechanically means MacWhirr takes +1 STRESS and makes an immediate Panic Roll. As there is no player agency involved in making this roll, I'll do it now for Macwhirr, so we can move forward with the combat. I've edited the Character Sheet to add the extra STRESS.

Macwhirr rolls well here, getting a 7 (the best possible outcome here). This gives us Nervous Twitch from the Panic Table, adding one further STRESS. I've added this also to the Character Sheet.

The second attack of the xeno gives a 3. On the appropriate Xenomorph Attack Table that gives the Deadly Grab attack, which mechanically means the xeno makes a 10d6 attack, damage 1, and needs to get a single success to knock Macwhirr to the floor and drag them to a nearby zone, prone, dropping all hand-held items, and making a panic roll. It rolls a single success, and as Macwhirr has no armour, and doesn't have anything in her hands big enough that she could use to block the attack, the xeno gets the one success it needs. Thus getting the mechanical affect described above, and Macwhirr takes 1 damage, which I've marked on the Character Sheet.

Macwhirr is AGAIN very lucky on the panic roll, getting 8, the best possible roll at this moment, this time getting the Tremble effect, mechanically causing all AGILITY rolls to be -2 until the panic stops.

Next turn is Macwhirr.

You get one fast and one slow action, or two fast actions, that you can take on your turn.

If you want to move, you could either Crawl without getting up (a slow action) or Get Up (a fast action) and then Run to SHORT range away from the xeno (another fast action).

Or do something else from the list of actions given here.

It might be simplest, if you're not particularly familiar with the Alien RPG system, that you tell us narratively what you'd like to try doing, and I'll then try and translate that mechanically according to the mechanics of the system...?

FWIW I'm surprised how relatively OK Macwhirr is at the moment... it could have all very easily have been all over for her already..!