1.5 - The Wyr River: Hunger strikes....

This is definately a room to remember. The beds are not only comfy, but they offer healing and give a little bit of a (temporary edge).

As a reminder, this is what you've seen and been able to see from the window panels.



You have two doors, the one you came through and the one Tara was watching. The hall you came through continues to another door. The window panel is dark and you cannot see into the room.

The other door leads further into the complex. Tara has already examined the door. It is locked and looking through the door panel shows a dark hall. Tara thought she saw something moving beyond the reach of the light.

Food would be a good thing to find soon.

You would guess maybe 400 yards (365.8 meters)...that would be to the first dome.

(Ooc: kudos szemely! Hahaha, that's funny. Now I'm concerned...)

Darazen pulls out a piece of Numenera and places it on the ground. Its legs unfold and it stands there looking, waiting for a command. "Find Food", Darazen tells it and it starts skittering about. It moves to the walls and the consoles and stops a moment at the door to the east. Locked and dark, it scurries north, to the door you came from. It scratches at the door for a few moments before returning to Darazen. It "looks" up and then returns to the door, scratching again.

Approaching the door, the panel lights up and you punch in the code to unlock it. The door slides open and the spider skitters forward into the hall. (GM note: this hall leads up on the map)

The spider gets to the T, stops and looks left, then turns back right and continues on to the next door. It stops and scratches at the door before turning around to see who (in the party) is following it.

Who is taking point, and who is opening the next door?

Darazen: A 20? Take back your effort then.

This door has panels just like the others that light up when you approach the door. Yui, taking point, steps up to the door and it opens.

"Perhaps the spider is too small, or the door does not recognize it.", Darazen says out loud to no one in particular.

As the door opens, the lights snap on and a rush of air pushes an odor out. The air is dry and the odor is stale. The spider scurries in.

The room is 100 x 60 ft with the same white walls. There are tables and benches and chairs, mostly over turned with broken plates and platters scattered about. The room is clean, otherwise.

On the north wall, there are several panels next to smaller (2ftx1ft) doors, each about 4 ft from the floor. All but one of the panels are now lit and blinking.

At either end of the wall are doors. Unlike the doors from the halls into these rooms, but there are no panels. Both doors are closed.

There is a door like the others you have seen on the east wall. Only the left panel is lit and through the window, you see that the hall on the other side is dark.

From the window on the south side, a flash of light can be seen as more rocks are turned to dust in the sky above the town.

The spider has climbed to the middle of the north wall and attached to one of the smaller doors.

Picking up the spider from the door, you notice that these doors do slide, but there are no handles or knobs. :)

(Ooc: nice idea, Q)

Darazen places his palms on the flat door and pushes in and down. Feeling resistance, he pushes up and feels a little give, but it fails to open and a buzz eminates from the panel to the left of the door he is working on.

Darazen turns to the rest of the party, "Hold on folks, I know you are hungry and I am too, and the spider said there was food here, but I think the panel needs to be used. Don't smash the doors yet, let me see if me or Vult can figure these out."

Opening his book to the entries and notes he took from their work on the port doors, he starts examining the symbols and sections on the lit panel. After a few minutes, Darazen closes his book and presses a few buttons. The display lights up and the symbols change. Darazen pushes a few more buttons until the symbols represent letters and the become more than gibberish.

"Apparently, our language of 'common' or the 'truth' is known as 'English' here. Okay, let me try this".

Darazen pushes a button, then says, "I would like a shepards pie without peas, bangers and mash, English tea with two lumps of sugar and..... A proper scone. Thank you."

The panel goes dark for a moment, then lights up with a few flashing lights. The sound of machinery and other Numenera hum from behind the wall. A small recessed light above the door flickers back and forth and then the panel beeps.

The door slides up and reveals a small cubicle with a tray. On the tray is a plate with a pie, another plate with potatoes and sausages, a cup of hot tea and a baked cake. The aroma of hot food bursts forth and surrounds you all.

Darazen takes the tray out and the door closes. "Well, that answers that. I think the other five units do that same thing. Don't everyone rush this one, give me a minute and I will set up the others. Also, this looks like food and smells like food....but...."

He turns back to the tray. He puts it on a nearby table. Overwhelmed by the smell and his hunger, Darazen picks up the sausage and sniffs it, then takes a nibble. He swallows and then starts to take another bite. He coughs and starts to gag. With his free hand, he grabs his throat and starts to choke.

After a quick moment, he stops and straightens up and smiles, "just kidding...sorry, but this is really good." He tries the tea and finds it good as well.

Darazen takes another bite and walks the the next panel and begins to work.

Once Darazen gets the panels set to the right language, everyone can put in their orders. :) Some things may not be available, like sushi (come on fresh fish?) but you can find alternatives and the panels will give you direction and even a menu to choose from, if you like.

As the smell of the food wafts into the area, Khoren will attempt to exactly duplicate Darazen's order, hopefully not mispronouncing the strange words too badly.

OOC: Rested AND fed? I am too good to you all.

XP award: 2 XP to Merlin for figuring out the food dispensers.

you got it, a plate filled with British food. Everything is bland, but hearty....tho the tea could be better.

Ooc: oi!

You are so hungry that you did not notice the steak was different than what you had asked for. Thinking back, the panel beeped a few times, but you were not sure what that meant. And, Aneen steaks tend to take 15-20 minutes to cook and this one was done in under 5.

After several bites, you notice the flavor is different. You look down and see the meat has more "marble" in it. You pause for a moment, reflecting on the taste. It is not a bad taste. As a matter of fact, it is quite good.

You take another bite and the tenderness strikes you now. Aneen is rather tough and chewy, yet this is tender and almost melts as you chew.

You take a sip of the water. It is cold, crisp and refreshing in the clear glass cup. You hold it up to the light. Nothing is floating in it.

"This is good", you think to yourself.

Perception checks, everyone

Khoren, slightly alarmed by the beeping of the machines, is distracted nonetheless by the odors and sensation of the food.

Paul needs an extinguisher.

Must be fixed.

Ooc: so what happens? I assume Kai isn't active.

Jim is up north right now.. Dunno when he'll gets back in town.

Yes, Sorry... Real Life...work has had me swamped, putting together a kickstarter and then a quick trip to visit family in the Windy (and cold) city. But, I am back now.

Perception Check Results: Everyone with the exception of Tara (who is oblivious) and Yui (who did not roll) will see this.

As you are sitting at the tables and enjoying your meals, you see the eastern door shimmer. It appears to open, yet remains closed, and through the door walk in several people, men and women dressed in white uniforms with a yellow or red strip down the right sleeve and side. All seem seem to be talking to each other, though no sound can be heard.

Some make their way to the food dispensers along the way and a few pick up a pitcher of dark liquid and pour it into the cups in their hands. Three others turn and walk to the south door and disappear into the hall.

As the ones that remain move around the room and take their places, a chatting couple move to the place that Utazó is at and a few others move to Darazen's table. One of the people sits down in the same chair as Utazó (who shivers, but does not move). You see both, sitting in the same place and the man is talking to the woman sitting now beside him.

A man and woman sits down next to Darazen and continues their conservation. After a few moments, another approaches and sits down in the seat Darazen is occupying. You see the figure pass right through, into and around him. Darazen takes on a glow about him. As Darazen feels a chill, his mouth opens, maybe to ask a question of someone and a soft, wispy sound comes out.

"The computer model shows the worst of the storm is over. Good thing too, the laser emitters were starting to cook. Too many meteors in that last storm for the defensive guns and shield to handle. I spent the last hour routing and rerouting coolant to the system. I heard reports from the geodomes that they took a direct hit. Have not heard how bad yet, but it could not have been that bad or our crews would have been ordered in to assist. All I can say is that the commander had better take head and get those upgrades in soon. If we have another storm like....

The room takes an eerie glow as the light panels take on a red tint. They seem to be pulsing. Panels near the windows and doors have lit up with the words "Red Alert" flashing on each. The room is quiet, though, only the hum of the machinery. The person sitting in Darazen looks around and the wisp of a voice exclaims "Damn, no rest for the wicked... let's go."

She and her colleagues stand up and run to the door. Again, it shimmers and opens silently and they disappear into the hall. From the other door, the three figures come sprinting through and follow their colleagues. As they leave, the eerie red fades and everything appears to be back to normal.

You see Vult start scratching on a piece of paper, numbers and arcs and lines and triangles and .... you head starts to spin.
You find a picture menu on the screen and start scrolling through it. You find two items that look like the dark liquid you saw and ask for a glass of each. The machine beeps and produces both in glasses on a tray. Picking up the first one, it is hot and steaming. It has a fragrant aroma, smelling of something roasted ... but you cannot put your finger on it. The smell is good and you put the cup to your lips and take a sip. It is hot, but what strikes you is it is very bitter. You spit it out asking how anyone can drink stuff like that. You put the cup down and pick up the second. It is cold and has chucks of ice in it. The chunks are all uniform and float freely. Looking closer, the liquid seems to boiling slightly and bubbles rises up, still it cold. "Odd", you think. You lift the glass to your mouth and the bubbling fizz tickles your nose. You take a sip and the cold, the bubbles and the ice cannot hide the fact that this drink is sweet. It reminds you of a drink your mother gave you as a child made from a bean that grew locally. She sweetened it with the juice from another tree and this is like that, only sweeter and bubbly. You take another drink. It is almost too sweet, but better than that bitter concoction. You drink the rest.
The hall on the other side is dark. As you approach, the panel on the left of the door lights up. The panel on the right remains dark. Peering through the window, you press your hands against the door, cupping them and hoping to shield the light from getting in. The window is cold, but you hold your place, waiting for your eyes to adjust.

As your eyes do adjust, you see a hallway on the right about 20 feet down from the door. You concentrate more there appears to be shadows moving very slowly in the distance, maybe 50-60 feet away. They are barely illuminated by the light bleeding from the window.

After several minutes of scratching and calculations, you are not sure. You could be somewhere else, but the stars groups are pretty much the same. The terrain is different that anything you have ever seen, but it does match what is described as beyond the south wall.

Still, the sky is too different. That device said that whatever it was tracking was 238,900 miles or so away. It is possible. There are Numenera scholars who think the moon is 235k to 240k miles away. That would fit, but no one has ever been there and the moon has this big green stripe. Maybe you are near the stripe, like above or below it or something.

Still, something about it makes sense. It is plausible. You feel you need to study more.

As you look out the window, a canon on the ridge above lets out a silent beam and shatters that was falling towards one of the domes. Searching the landscape, you notice other such cannons posted around this structure. The rocks are not hard to see, when they get close and the cannons strike each one, sometimes more than once to turn them into dust. As your eyes fall to the northern most dome, move above catches your eye.

A large rock is falling to the ground, coming straight for the dome. You scan the cannons and the two closest seem to be trying to respond. However, they don't seem to have the arc right. That's when you see it, on the northern ridge, the debris of a cannon and its station. It's been smashed and has partially slid down the ridge. You look up and the find the rock again, following it down as it crashes into the northern most dome.

"Yes, we could still be at risk."

Juicy, but needs A1

The left panel is lit and functions okay. But, you also know the left panel controls the door side. You step over to the right panel and it is not light and does not react to you as you try pressing it in different locations.

You know you can open the door from the left panel, but it will not control the other functions.

You are on the right track, but when you pull the panel off to expose everything. There are cards and crystals, but nothing is lit up. One crystal in particular looks burnt and cracked.

Overhearing Darazen and Utazó, Khoren will attempt to assist them in repairing the console.

Pulling a couple of crystals from the food dispensers, the size and colors do not match. Tracing the control paths, Khoren finds them leading to a small room in the back. The door opens to the back room without issue. In there are consoles cubes where the circuits lead from each panel into each cube.

Even though all but one of the food panels are lit, all the cubes have power. Khoren picked the one cube that was connected the broken food panel. He opens it up and carefully removes several of the crystals. He comes back out and offers them to Darazen and Vult.

Vult takes one of the crystals and it slides into the holder where the burnt crystal was it it starts to glow. The crystal flickers and one or the others starts to hum and vibrate.

(Vult and Darazen: Intellect and a speed check)

Ooc: Darazen basks in the awesomeness of Darazen's intellect. Lol

The vibrating crystal starts to hum and Darazan knows he had to get it out quickly. If it shatters, it may detroy the assembly. He reaches in and pulls on the green crystal. He feels a tinge or tingle. He pulls a bit harder and it comes free and the panel powers down.

Darazan looks at the green crystal in hand and it looks like it was damaged too. He sorts through the loose ones Khoren brought back and finds one that looks close in size and color. He puts it into the place where the other was and the whole closes around the slightly smaller crystal. It lights up as does the rest of the panel. There si no smoke, or alarm and it seems to be working okay. Darazen closes the panel and the front lights up with the familar controls.

(XP Award: 2 XP each to Darazen, Volt and Khoren for fixing the broken door).

Darazen looks over to Utazó. "Catch", he tosses the cracked crystal, "You like broken things. Or you like to break things... I forget."

With the door panel fixed, you can move on.

Ooc: depends where "here" is. If it is 238,000 miles from where we started then I don't know ;)

As the door opens, the lights snap on and gravity goes to normal, Khoren and Utazó take point. At the end of the 120 ft corridor, a shape falls to the floor in a puff a dust and clatter of debris (perception check, Khoren and Utazó have an "asset" or "advantage" of two levels as they are on point) . A door is closed at the end.

About 70 ft down, a corridor opens to the right and continues 40 ft before ending in a door.

Drawing a throwing dagger, Yui spots Khoren as he approaches the fallen mass.

---

OOC: Do I roll, or is it only for Khoren and Utazo? But heres a roll just in case.

Khoren sees a flicker in the corner of his eye. he turns to look and a fleck of something gets in his eye. It stings, burns and causes the eye to tear up suddenly.

Utazó, for a moment, sees a body floating in the air. It hangs there like being suspended from strings and suddenly, the strings are cut and it falls to the floor. As it impacts, there is little sound and a cloud of dust appears around it. As the dust settles, there is nothing left, no body, no clothes, and even the dust seems to be vanishing....leaving only two cyphers.

Utazó looks down at the pile of dust at her feet as the floor starts to absorb it. Closing her eyes, she sees the shapes of two people floating for a moment before they fell.

"They must have been in this corridor for many years, and we disturbed them. May they rest well."

As the dust disappears, there are four cyphers left. Two of one type and two of another.

The first type looks like an emitter of some type and they seem to have some power left in them.

The other two are not like anything that you have seen.

Khoren moves down the right hallway and stops at a closed door.

Darazen examines the two unusual cyphers first.

Bump!

ooc: I sort of sense this game is dying a slow lingering death.... (Back of hand on forehead) "oh woe is me, make it stop! The infamy, the infamy, they've all got it infamy."

We do have seem to have slowed down in our post frequency.

Ooc: I'm with Jim now. He promises to get us going again. Hang tight.

The cyphers are simple. Two laser emitters which while looking them over, you find they are discharged. The other two Cyphers are harder to decypher and Darazen and Vult agree to move on while they look them over. Sooner, they discover them to be handheld controller and a type of electronic book. Soon, they too are completely discharged and useless (but it gave them some things to add to their books).

Moving on... next thread.