First Voyage, Sketchy Notes vers. (pt. 3)

Scene 5

Chaos Roll 7... Altered Scene: Punish Love

Oracle Time

Does Marshall believe Hugo? Yes

Round 5

Marshall gets a shot to the jaw by Molly for 1 damage

He seizes her.

Hugo grabs her panacea pills from the desk.

Molly struggles, but can't escape Marshall.

Round 6

Marshall holds on to Molly as she bucks, fights, and snarls.

Pinning her arms and grabbing her jaw, Marshall makes it possible to force-feed Molly the nanotechnology-based medicine.

Round 7

Marshall puts Molly into a hold and waits until the panacea takes effect.

Molly re-saves at +4, and gets a total of 25.

End of Combat

Marshall

hp 5/6

Hugo

hp 4/8

Molly

hp 3/3

Dejah Thoris

hp 43/120

Ma: "What just happened?!"

Hu: "Look she's got that orange powder all over her. My guess is she accidentally got dosed. But, Christ, she was saying things... she knew stuff about me... showed me things. It was like those stories you hear about psionics, man. And it was terrifying. "

Ma: "Well now we know what we are here to find, then."

Hu: "You think Qath knew about this?"

Ma: "I think they suspected something. Crazy, cultists? Probably not.'

Marshall begins cleaning up Hugo's injuries using the first aid kit on the lab wall.

Hu: "I can't wait to get off this rock."

Chaos Index 🔻7

Scene 6

Chaos Roll 4... Interrupt Scene: NPC Negative: Spy a Path

Let's refine this with the Oracle:

Did Molly get any valuable insight into the cult? Yes

Does she understand what is coming? Strong yes + Rsndom event: NPC Negative: Starting Weapons.

Molly staggers into the common room, where Marshall is sitting monitoring his security nnet. She rubs her bruised arms.

Mo: 'I feel half dead."

Ma: "You got a faceful of the drug the cultist was using. It made you go berserk. Do you remember anything.?"

Mo: "Terrifying hallucinations. Deep, horrible, monstrous. "

Ma: "Hugo seems to think that you were overloaded with psionic power. He says that you were screaming at him and shoeing him visions connected to an old girlfriend before you attacked him.

Mo: "I... " [Molly regards her sore, red knuckles.] "... is he okay?"

Ma: "He has a hell of a shiner. Some scratches. He will live... "

Molly glances down uneasily... for one rare instance she is at a loss for something to say. Marshall detects this, and pours her a cup of coffee.

Ma: "I hate to ask, but is there anything you saw -- anything you learned that might help us?"

Molly meditates deeply, holding the coffee cup in her hands. She shudders.

Mo: I was traveling the Mindscape... the collective unconscious as a world. I could see oceans of feelings and desires. I tried to swim up. But something pulled me down. It... it started burning away who I was. I lost track of who I was.; what I wanted; what I could remember. I was Drowning in the darkest parts of human souls. There are minds down there that don't belong to people. They are -- things all by themselves. Maybe that's what demons are..."

Ma; "Go on."

Mo: " There's something about this place; this planet... bad things happened here, maybe. Long Ago, I mean, that scarred this place. But the Demons, the bad thoughts are close here. It is easy to get sucked down. To wallow in bad feelings. "

Ma: "I think I can feel it like a bad vibration here... maybe that's just my imagination after seeing what it did to you. But my gut tells me it's more."

Mo: "These cultists, they've been wallowing in it. Taking that drug and diving deep into the dark side of their minds."

Ma: "Sound bad. But it would explain shooing first and asking questions later. Hell Even if they weren't crazy, this could be refined into a fortune. Psi-inducing drugs are rare, a new one on the market... especially one the is human compatible? We might have just made QRC a mint."

Mo: "I'm... not sure we shoulf let this out."

Hugo wanders into the room, his face a mess of bruises and cuts.

Mo: "Jesus! I am so sorry."

Hu: "You weren't yourself, and I will live. But it begs the question: Who the hell were you?'

Mo: "I... I got taken over by something angry and lonely, and evil in this place. Something that the drug could let me contact."

Hu: "Like a spirit?"

Mo: "I guess so. More like a dark impulse that people's minds create, that wants to be indulged. A evil thought that wants to ride around in brains... Damn, I wish human languages had better words..."

Hu: "Okay so a bad idea looking to be thought. I just saw too much to believe you'r lying... as long as you are you again..."

Mo: "I... think so. In fact, I feel so numb right now. Like I've lost whole feelings. I didn't know I had. It's frightening... but we've got bigger things to worry about than brain damage right now."

Ma: "Like what?"

Mo: "We've given these cultists enough of a bloody nose that they're afraid to pick a fight. Instead they've found a way to give one of these impulses it's own body, and have sent it on its way to kill us."

Ma: "Can we fight it?"

Mo: "I... have no idea. Psionics are so rare, and the older races don't like sharing what they know... Or the drugs that create it. It's not exactly a precise field of study."

Hu: "This day just keeps getting better, and better... Any chance a rocket barrage might work?"

Mo: "I don't know. Anything's possible, I guess."

Hu: "Well, I managed to find the parts I need from the Shike wrech, and I've got the walker's fac working, after all."

Oracle Time:

Do they have time to prepare? Yes.
Does Hugo trust Molly? No... forgiving and trusting her will take time.
Is Molly goign to oppose taking the sample for QRC? Yes

Hu: I will get out there in the exowalker. Marshall, probb]ably best if you cover me with the ship's laser."

Hugo starts connecting his armor to his suit again.

Mo: "And what about me?"

Hu: "Get to the lab and start coming up with alternative in case this thing is not kaboomable."

Hugo steps out, but gives Marshall a look as if to say "don't let her do anything stupid."

Chaos Index 🔻7

Scene 7

Chaos Roll... 7

Hugo watches as the ammo count climbs in his missile launcher... 3 shots now. He glimpses up at the laser turret on the ship, makes sure it is tracking him. He sighs a ragged sigh. Triple checking the early-warning system. Hoping it can pick up telekinetic forces. After a moment he punches up a private channel to Marshall.

Hu: "Are we sure we trust Molly on this? The more I stop to think, the more stupid I feel standing guard against a Bad Idea."

Oracle Time:

Is Marshall sharing Hugo's mistrust of Molly? Yes.

Ma: "Keep an eye out for now. I am trying to think up a more realistic plan."

Hugo starts to think about his alternatives... he doesn't have time to speak before the horror slams into the side of the walker, rending it with bizarre, semi-human claws. (nat. 1 attack on the surprise round.)

Hugo saves vs. the terror effect and gets a 12. He is too frightenred to be able to act except to flee for 3 rounds.

Marshall saves vs. terror and gets a 20.

It's first blow is so hard the exowalker staggers, but takes no real damage. Hugo swears as he grips the controls His mind screams with terror and he freezes, unable to remember how to operate the walker.

Rolling Initiative

The Vile Tulpa rips at the walker dealing 6 damage to the exowalker.

Hugo fumbles with the straps and unbuckles himself and bails from the 'walker, scrambling for the rocks.

Marshall shouts a warning to Molly as he aims the laser.

The beam rakes the ground near the creature causing loose debris to explode a string of explosions.

Molly, aware that Hugo is in danger, and that there is nothing she can do in the ship, she grabs her slug-thrower, a sleek, carbon-fibre pistol and runs for the harch.

Round 2

The Vile Tulpa leaps over the exowalker and pounces on the scrambling Hugo, driving him to the ground and slashing with claws.

2 attacks do 10 damage. Hugo loses 6 CON! (7 remain). No serious injury.

Cursing, Marshall aims the laser cannon (I am applying his boost:) His roll is abysmal.

Underestimating the width and power of the beam, Marshall aims and fires again. The tulpa leaps out of the way, and the laser sweeps over Hugo; he is gone in a flash of light and steam.

Molly reaches the hatch, just as Hugo dies. Panicking she throws herself down and calls up her commlink, desperately trying to hack the exowalker, even as the Tulpa heads towards the hatch. She manages to patch in...

Round 3

The Tulpa rushes forward to the Dejah Thoris, ducking up close where the laser can no longer target it.

Marshall rushes to his locker and grabs his plasma rifle.

Molly begins attempting to get a firing solution from the damaged 'mech's missile launcher. The weapon whines as it turns to aim at the Tula's back. She gets a 22. Target acquired...

Round 4

The Tulpa digs its claws around the edge of the airlock hatch and begins to pull with reality-bending strength,

Molly aims the Rockets, calibrates the warheads and unleashes hell, well aware that a miss could kill them all... 15! 18 damage! The blast slams into the creature and splashes it with a tight bubble of plasma.

Marshall skids to a stop at the airlock.

Round 5

The Tulpa plays dead... neither Molly nor Marshall realize it. They wait, holding their breath.

Then Marshall opens the airlock carefully, leading with the plasma rifle to look at the smoking ruin on the ground before the airlock.

Round 6

He takes a few cautious steps, holding his breath. When it launches itself to its feet, he is expecting it, and pulls the trigger, only to hear a hiss and crackle as his weapon malunctions.

The Tulpa rakes him with a claw, reducing him to 1hp.

Molly fires her slug-thrower 2hp, the bullet grazes the creature's rubbery flesh, causing it to leak clear vapors.

Round 7

Marshall whips at it with the butt of his rifle to no avail.

Molly waits screaming at him to get clear.

The creature rips into Marshall, reducing him to 0hp, and grapples him.

Round 8

Twisting Marshall around and lifting him by one arm the creature dangles him in front of Molly, then rips into him with a claw -3 CON

Crying an apology, Molly pulls the trigger and hits Marshall by accident -3 CON. Marshall goes limp

Round 9

The creature hurls Marshall at Molly, he crashes like a ragdoll at her feet (1 CON remains... surprisingly alive)

It slashes at Molly with a claw as it springs after him.

Desperate, Molly fires her slug thrower point blank and carches it in one pale white eye, the creature staggers back onto the ground.

Round 10

The creature staggers to it's feet strangely translucent and leaking vapors.

Molly unleashes another missile barrage, praying for a hit, The creature is slammed with a barrage of tight-yield plama bottles. The heat and the shock still slam into her from the closing door. She and Marshall take 9 damage.

Molly has 6 CON remaining and a cracked rib... but the Tulpa... and Marshall are dead,

End of Combat

Marshall

hp 0/6

0 CON

Hugo

hp 0/8

0 CON

Molly

hp 0/3

6 CON

Dejah Thoris

hp 7/120

non-flying

Chaos Index 🔺️8

Scene 8

Chaos Roll 3... Altered Scene: Move Away from Thread: Ambush the Spiritual

Oracle time:

Did the destruction of the Tulpa harm the cultists? Yes
Did it harm their psionic abilities? Yes
Did it shake their confidence in Yth? Yes
Are they willing to abandon the cult? Extreme No
Did they turn on Yth? Yes

Brother Om's heavy, elephantine feet thud in their space boots as he treads across the stony waste. He is in a half trance, his tentacles dragging dully in the dust. His head hung low in its helmet, every step a shot of migraine-like pain. Sister Alchemy, riding on his hunch was gasping through their intercom.

Brother Hatchet was still capable of walking upright and straight, but his hands shook where they held the axe - a memento of his days as a raider.

The Dejah Thoris sat in a mess of scorched rock. And debris. A tattered corpse slouched half-in and half-out of the exowalker. Alerts could be heard from the open airlock where a tattered corpse lay in a pool of blood.

Slowly, the cultists scanned the area; no sign of any living interloper.

(Molly rolls a 5 to deceive the cultists, they roll a 3 to see through it.)

They crept slowly into the ship readying what arms their shaking hands could manage.

As they stepped into the Dejah Thoris, disappearing into its hull, the exowalker and its passenger came slowly to life. The rocket launcher thundded as it launched several carefully targeted barrage into the Dejah Thoris. The ship erupted into a ball of plasma.

Slowly, Molly aimed the shuddeting exowalker towards ther colony.

Chaos Index 🔻7

Scene 9

Chaos Roll... 4. Interrupt! Move Away from a Thread Escape the Planet): Malice, A Path

Oracle Time?

Is Yth trying to sabotage his ship? Strong No
Is he trying to make sure no one else gets off the planet? No
Is he planning an ambush.for Molly? Yes
Is his ship the bait? Extreme Yes

Feverish and sick, Yth staggers to the Thuvia with another load of plant samples. His head screamed at him. Something went very wrong with G'gix. Now his head was nothing but howling madness. His own Chosen had walked off, after beating him.

Now there was nothing left but escape. Well, escape and revenge. When the exowalker came clattering over the rise, he froze. he had not expected that the interlopers would handle his Chosen so readily.

As Molly approached i rolled for surprise, and both were surprised. how things go next depends on initiative:

Rolling initiative

Molly 5, Yth 6

Yth dove for cover behind a pile of parts, hoping he hadn't been spotted: Stealth 3 vs. Molly's Perception 13. For a moment, he held his breath, as the walker began limping towards the Thuvia. Then the scream and roar of its missile launcher came.

Molly attacks, rolls an adjusted 18: 17hp damage. Yth is consumed in a storm of plasma. Never knowing if the trap he was banking on would work.

The exowalker shuddered to a stop near the Thuvia. An old, but sturdy light merchant ship, before Molly climbed off slinging Marshall's plasma rifle. She checked the ruin of air processors and moisture collectors that she had just reduced to slag, and the smoking Yoc in it. Was it over? It felt too good to be true.

She scoured the base at rifle-point. There was little worth taking. A careful hack of the computer got her the digital key for the Thuvia. She collected extra fuel, and checked the ship's systems.

I will give her a DC 15 Computer test to detect the tampering of Yth's trap: 8. The she unleashed a computer virus on the base, burning away all research, all formuale, all manifestos.

As she stepped on the Thuvia, and closed the airlock Molly pulled off her breather, which was the trigger the system was waiting for. With a his, a fume of the orange Seed filled the air chamber, blasting her with another dose of toxic levels of the hallucinogen.

Molly's save vs. Poison, with a +4 because she has had her psionic potential burned out and +2 vs. mind-altering effects, comes to 24. She slams her breather back on and crouches in the airlock, her fingernails digging into her palms as she fights off the mild hallucinations. Once the orange powder settled, she staggered over to the control, wiping orange scum off of it, and begane the process of hacking past the ship's locks.

Chaos Index 🔻6

Scene 10

Chaos Roll 3... altered scene: Ambiguous: Neglect Anger

As Molly positioned the Thuvia over the horizon of Uuthan she let out a quiet prayer, and then unleashed a barrage of energy beams across the surface, raining down hundreds of carefully targeted blasts.

As she sat at the control panel staring numbly at the blazing desert she felt a presence, the barest inkling that she was not alone. Through her scorched perceptions, she could feel the Eye of Chaos, and a crawling legion of horrors reaching for her from the depths of Akasha.

She got up and made a cup of coffee, focusing on the process and the experience until the last of the Seed was burned out of existence, and the raging demons howled their last impotent fury.

After the last long sprint of computer hacking was done to make the Thuvia legally hers, Molly plotted a course and veered away from Uuthan. Once the strange lights of hyperspace were around her, she sat and dictated the first entry in the Thuvia's new log.

Mo: "I will share no further details of what happened on Uuthan here, save it to say that the crew of the Dejah Thoris: myself, pilot Hugo Cabret, and scout Marshall Montag were beset by a dangerous cult hiding on the planet, guarding the object of their religious worship with jealousy and violence.

"I do not know if the Qath Research Combine was aware of the dangers we faced down there. Or what we were sent to collect. But I cannot let the horrors I witnessed on that planet be repeated. I have set fire to the planet's largest biome, and ignited its atmosphere where I could. Hopefully nothing will be left by the time anyone goes searching for the Dejah Thoris.

"in the meantime, I am taking command of the Thuvia, a tramp space hauler, and head to a place where QRC are unlikely to find me. I will live under the radar for awhile until I can learn who is really in charge of QRC, and if they actually sent me to my death.

"I have lived my whole life in space. If anyone can make a life with nothing but a ship, it's me. I will have to choose a crew wisely, and my first few ventures carefully. Anu bless me on my path..."