Wiki Gaming:Moons of Saturn/Command
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4. Command
Overview
The area directly under the ring is occupied by desks, chairs, sofas, water coolers, tables and other furniture (making it difficult terrain).
The black squares around the ring are computer banks that normally show all kinds of operational information about the station to the staff on the ring, but are now mostly blacked out. The few that are working dimly glow green.
Above, a geodesic dome shows a field of stars and hazy clouds - night fell about 30 minutes ago. The great orb of Saturn looms above.
The exit to the northwest is to the shuttle bay. (For some reason, the text disappeared!)
Other points of interest, I will describe as you come across / ask about them.
Detail
You are assembled at the concourse exit. On the central podium of the command ring, illuminated by an emergency light, you see another of the leathery creatures. It immediately hisses at you, your helmet torches signalling your arrival. It was examining some wirey contraption, which it drops on the floor (the yellow skull).
Flynn. (Are the pillars close enough to move to and get cover behind? If so, Flynn will duck behind one of them and make a Perception check to see if there are any more potentially hostile creatures about. 1d20 4 + 3 = 7 Roll Also, is the leathery humanoid immediately taking hostile action against us or just hissing?)
Williams. Williams sets Hallstat down, and advises Monowi to do the same, and prepare for action. “Monowi and Ordos, this could get hairy. Let's be ready!“
Williams will run behind a column closer to the center than Flynn, with his hand on his pistol, and take a ready action to attack as soon as the beasts start moving towards Bravo.
Initiative: 7. 1d20, 4 + 3
DM. I will update tonight, while you wait why don't you give me some initiative rolls.
(Flynn's initiative: 10 d20 7 + 3 = 10 Roll)
[Initiative Order: Zombies, Imp, Ordos, Monowi, Flynn, Williams; although I let you move first for the 1st round]
DM. (I decided to dispense with the line-of-sight feature, as I can't do a combined "player views", I would have to do one image for each of you. Also, line of sight is drawn to the center of a token, instead of the corners of a token, which is a bit limiting.)
The creature is just hissing.
Flynn takes cover behind the nearest computer bank, and Monowi takes cover just to his right. A zombie is sat in an office chair straight ahead, banging his head against the keyboard. Another zombie is sat on the floor near Monowi, playing with a fireaxe. Among the trash on the floor, you see a few shotgun shells. Flynn scans around for more hostiles, but is too distracted by the immediate threat.
The two zombies half-crawl half-run into Monowi, swinging their weapons (4 + 4 = 8; 4 + 1 = 5) but only hitting the support column. The fireaxe smashes into a screen, where it sticks, spewing out electrical sparks. She fires her shotgun point-blank at the keyboard-wielding zombie, but it grabs the barrel and pushes it away.
Whilst this is happening, Williams was moving further in. As he closes in, the creature on the central podium launches a firebolt (10 + 5 = 15). It smacks into him, flames washing over and melting the durasteel on his already damaged armour. (Williams takes 14 fire damage, and AC is reduced to 14). Williams slides over a desk makes it to the support pillar. He also hears a growling behind and to his left.
(You can now both take your Action, instead of Ready, if you wish.)
Flynn. Flynn moves to shoot the zombie with the axe with his pistol. d20 16 + 5 = 21 Roll
- (If that doesn't kill it, Flynn uses Pistol Discipline to make another attack. d20 17 + 5 = 21 Roll)
Williams. How far away am I from the monster now?
Knowing how desperate the situation is, when each round a party member will die just because no one is up close and personal woth the devil, Williams makes an attack with his pistol before his next round. Attack 1d20, 19 + 5 = 24.' Williams carefully aims at the monster, dealing 5 damage (1, 1 + 3) but also missing the vital parts since he is choking down an F-Max can too.
(Note: Williams did not get to close to any growling sounds he heard).
DM. Flynn waits until Monowi ducks out of the way, then double-taps the axe-wielder, and she drops.
GD, the imp monster is on the elevated command ring (the light-blue area), you are on the ground floor. It is 45 feet horizontally away from you, and 15 feet up. The whole ring and the central podium is primarily supported with tension cable, and also by the computer bank pillars. As you are only taking an action now (not movement, which you've done for this turn), uou can drink 1 can of F-Max as an object interaction, and another as an action, let me know if you want to do something else (like dodge or shoot).
I remind you that the way up to the command ring is some stairs to the south, and a rising platform to the east.
Round 2.
The zombie with the keyboard again tries to batter Monowi (11 + 4 = 15), striking her arm for 5 bludgeoning damage.
(By the way, here are your comrades current hit points: Monowi is now on 1, Hallstat 4 (but poisoned), Ordos 9.
The imp is next, but I'll pause to check GD is okay with the above.
(Ok now. I thought the initial movement was unrestricted since combat did not seem to have started, now it makes more sense.)
The leathery creature edges round the podrium and hurls another firebolt at Williams. (19 + 5 = 24 vs. AC 14 + 5 (cover); 17 fire damage). Williams is knocked into a chair, writhing as the flames burn, and the upholstery in the chair smoulders and catches fire.
Despite his wounds, Ordos moves forward towards Williams, using the furniture as cover, and fires his shotgun at the creature. (7 + 5 = 12). The shot impacts the side of the podium.
Hallstat also sees that Williams is in trouble, overcomes his feintness, and advances too, firing: (disadvantage, 6/12 + 5 = 11) a wide shot.
Monowi drops the shotgun, draws her combat knife, and stabs at the keyboard-wielding zombie (9 + 5 = 14; damage 1 + 3 = 4 slashing).
Flynn's turn now, and Williams can make a death saving throw.
Williams. The fire flames up around William's arms, 1d20, 2 failing the death save. --Green Dragon (talk) 20:34, 17 May 2017 (UTC)
Flynn. Flynn moves as close as he can to the leathery creature while still remaining in cover, and blasts it with his shotgun. d20 20 + 5 = 25 Roll)
- (If that kills the creature, next turn Flynn will try and grab the shotgun shells, if Monowi hasn't grabbed them by then)
Okay, SirSprinkles, Flynn can move forward until he is 45 feet away, using the office furniture as cover. That's long range for the shotgun, but normal range for the pistol. So uh I guess it's your choice, a) drop the pistol, draw the shotgun, fire one shot at long range, or b) fire two shots with the pistol at normal range. Don't forget you have your Fire Control feature too.
- (Alright then, Flynn shoots it once with his pistol and marks it using "Point Fire!")
Flynn moves up and takes cover behind a filing cabinet, and orders the other marines to concentrate fire on the creature on the podium. The pistol shot squarely hitting the creature's chest (12 piercing damage /2 = 6). He fires again (pistol discipline, 13 + 5 + 1 = 19 vs. AC 13 + 5 (cove) = 18; damage is 13 piercing damage / 2 = 6), another solid hit. The monster goes limp and tumbles off the edge of the podium, smashing into a glass table.
The keyboard-zombie and Monowi continue to wrestle. The corporal ducks, and the keyboard shatters into plastic pieces against the pillar. She rises up with her knife, planting it into the zombie's underchin (6 piercing damage).
Another zombie lumbers into view from behind a pillar to the north. It looks like Santa Maria, one of your fellow marines from fireteam Alpha! Her eyes burn orange and thick black oozes gushes from her mouth. She haphazardly fires her UAC pistol at Ordos but whizzes past and strikes the other zombie, who drops dead! Was that deliberate? (Actually I rolled a 4 and used the monster infighting rule :).
Without stopping to question it, Ordos fires back (15 + 5 = 20) at point-blank range, blowing her head clean off (25 damage!) Monowi grabs the shotgun shells as directed by Flynn.
Hallstat moves to Williams and tries to stabilize him (5 - 2 = 3), but is applying all the wrong techniques for burn wounds. He never did have much common sense. (forgot to move him on the map there, he's adjacent to Williams now)
For a moment, it seems all targets are down... then you hear a hissing above you.
(We are back to Flynn on the initiative order, so if he doesn't help Flynn, Williams should make another death saving throw.)
Williams. The fires seem to die down a little bit, 1d20, 15 succeeding the death save. --Green Dragon (talk) 22:01, 19 May 2017 (UTC)
Flynn. Flynn looks to where he heard the noise, keeping his weapon at the ready, just in case.
DM. Angus Stafford stumbled out of the prison cell, and finding no guards, recovers his personal gear from an unlocked security locker. Following an overhead gantry, he found himself on the upper balcony ring of some kind of control center (top right on the first map above). The place looks like a riot passed through. [No need for me to repeat myself here, description above :) ]
His attention is drawn to a firefight on the ground floor at the far side of the dome. Looks like marines being accosted by civilians and... some kind of alien humanoids? A flamethrower of some kind? One tumbles from the centre balcony, dead. Unbeknownst to the marines, another of the creatures prowls along the balcony directly above them. Angus is about 100 feet away.
Stafford. Stafford takes aim, and fires a shot at the alien creature on the balcony, hoping that if he helps the marines they'll overlook the fact he's a captured pirate and help him escape. Roll w/ disadvantage: 11 + 4, 15. If that doesn't kill it, he'll try and move slowly (15 feet) towards it.
DM Stafford advances and fires. It's a good shot, the creature barely reacts (4 piercing damage). Claws flickering with fire, it turns and bounds along the platform towards Stafford. Flynn looks up to see what is happening, but the support pillars block his view. The creature lobs a bolt of fire at Stafford...(7 + 5 = 12) but it passes by, incinerating a computer terminal.
Ordos (who at least is trained in First Aid) and Hallstat both try to beat the flames off Williams, and manage stabilize him. (Medicine check 8/1 + 4 = 11)
Monowi draws her pistol, slides onto the desk next to Flynn and aims up at the north section of the command ring (Ready action).
(Back to Flynn. Updated map incoming.)
Flynn. Flynn moves to identify the source of the gunshot, while keeping the rest of the squad (especially the wounded Williams) in sight, while still keeping in cover. He then Readies his action to attack hostiles with his shotgun.
Stafford. Stafford runs close to the alien creature (about 10 feet away) and fires his shotgun Roll: 17 + 4, 21. If that doesn't kill it, Stafford will back up as much as he can. (How much XP does a character get for the different demons?)
DM. Flynn positions himself behind the nearest support pillar. The floor of the platform blocks most of the view, but he can just see the upper torso of another creature, and a male human, running at each other. The line-of-sight won't get any better than this. Range to the hostile is 45'. So he drops his pistol, draws the shotgun, and takes the shot... (8 + 5 = 13 vs. AC 13 + 5 (cover)) miss!
Stafford has a clear path to the creature, and closes to a distance of 20 feet. The shotgun blast hits the creature in the shoulder (9 / 2 = 4 piercing damage). Buckshot seems ineffective! Before he can back up, this demonic alien is upon him! Monowi fires as it lurches forwards... (20! crit!... 25 /2 = 12 piercing damage)... and stumbles forwards, hitting the floor face first. It remains still.
Still lying on the desk, panting, Monowi yells "YEAH!". There are no more apparent hostiles.
(You each receive 100 XP. You can now consolidate, introduce yourselves to each other, and examine this Control dome closer. I don't feel like describing the whole thing in one go, just tell me if you are looking in a particular area or looking for a particular thing)
Flynn. "You! Up there! What's your name? We're Fireteam Bravo, just come back from an eel hunting mission to find this place infested with hostiles."
Stafford. "My name is Angus Stafford. I was being held in one of the security cells beacuse a shuttle I was tethering to our ship started it's engines, and it flew to here, so I was arrested. Eventually the cell door just opened, and I came out here. It looked like you needed help. By the way, do you have any food? I haven't eaten in three days. Also, what's going on? Why are there aliens everywhere?" (Angus is panicking a bit).
DM. (If you can secure the area, or part of it, you can take a 1 hour rest.)
Flynn. Flynn moves to the central platform to investigate the device that the first creature was holding, and to secure it for a rest.
Stafford. Stafford heads down the stairs to the south, and goes over to the group of marines (Monowi, Hallstat, Willams, ect.) and thanks Monowi for killing the alien that was attacking him. (If you want, GD, Stafford will apply a stimpack to Williams). Then, Stafford will go over to Flynn and help him with the investigation of the item (advantage on roll?).
DM. Flynn heads to the stairs to the south. Along the way, he notices bodies impaled on long exposed rebars (as shown on the map). It looks like they suffered terribly, with many wounds and in some cases dismemberment. He walks round to the central podium and there, illuminated by the emergency light, is the device. It's about the size of a tube of toothpaste, with many coils of wire weaving into and around a small energy cell and what appears to be a ceramic disk embossed with a pentagram. There are clips on one side that resemble those of a detachable scope.
(Make an Intelligence check; if you wait for Stafford then he can Aid you).
Also on the central podium is the station chief's computer console, one of half a dozen or so computer that haven't been smashed to smithereens.
Flynn. Flynn takes a closer look at the odd device. d20 20 + 0 = 20 Roll
- (When he's done with that, Flynn makes a Perception check to see if there are any more hostiles about. d20 5 + 3 = 8 Roll)
Williams. After Stafford applies the stim pack to Williams, forming an antibody on Williams around the flame marks from the attack, he gains consciousness.
| “ | Wow, thanks! Erm, who are you, and where is Bravo? | ” |
Williams listens to Stafford, and sees the rest of Bravo in good health inspecting what the monster was so fascinated with. Getting onto his feet, williams asks Stafford.
| “ | Do you know what that thing is? All these zombies came from the relic's power that came on your shuttle! Is that object the relic, and did you ever see the relic that you brought with you? | ” |
Stafford.
| “ | I never saw the relic on the shuttle unfortunately. There was a bulkhead in the way, but it was logged as an "unknown artifact" in the ship's manifest. | ” |
After explaining, Stafford goes over to join Bravo team and Investigate the item. Roll: 18 + 5 = 23
DM. Flynn and Stafford determine that the item can clip onto a firearm - it's a standard scope fitting - and it generating some kind of small energy field. But it's purpose is unknown.
As far as Flynn can tell, there are no more hostiles in sight. The doors to the garage, habitat, and shuttle bay are shut and apparently locked. The door to security is shut but not locked. The gates to the Life Support Concourse (where you came in) and the Refinery Concourse are open. You hear the background drone of the outpost, and in the distance a variety of unearthy whoops and howls echoing down the refinery concourse tunnel.
(If you haven't already, roll to see how many HP Williams gets back)
Roll: 5 + 0 = 5
Williams. Williams joins the rest of Bravo. After looking at the scope, and hearing the approaching whoops and howls, Williams begins to talk.
| “ | Stafford, we have been making our way to the labs since we got word of the artifact there. Its really great that we found a survivor from this mess, who isn't a zombie or some horrid monster. I hope you agree, since we would love it if you help us destroy the artifact and then get out of here. In fact, your clearance may be just the trick to help us activate the shuttle later! | ” |
Then, Williams will hurry with the rest of the party into the security module.
How close are the whoops now? Is there something to barricade the door with? Also, how does security look like and are there any items laying around?
DM. The sounds are some distance away, probably at the refinery itself. There are hundreds of desks and chairs that could be used as a barricade. The door itself can be closed, someone's just go to go over there.
Williams heads over to security. There are two ways in, the ground level door, and an upper walkway (the one that Stafford took). He opens the ground-level door. The security foyer is filled with zombies. (Shut door immediately now, or roll for Stealth if you want to quickly assess what's in there.)
Williams. I immediately close the door, and tell the rest of Bravo we need to go in from the upper catwalk. Williams then leads the rest of Bravo into the Security complex by this way.
Stafford.
| “ | I agree, I didn't see any zombies when I was there before. One thing you should know is; I'm not exactly cleared to bring the shuttle online- or anything else for that matter. I was tethering the shuttle to the pirate ship I work on when the shuttle activated and went into autopilot. I managed to board it, but it flew here and I was arrested. But, I may be able to bypass the security if we can get some Hacking Tools. Sorry to dissapoint. | ” |
DM. Monowi approaches Flynn. "Sarge... I mean, lieutenant, if we can, we need to rest or find medical supplies." (Monowi has 1 hp, Hallstat has 4 hp; I'll say now that they won't "level up" as fast as you PCs).
Flynn. "Good idea Monowi. Let's rest here. Then, we can try and find some medical supplies."
Williams. “Your decision, Flynn. We don't know that if we rest we will turn into zombies.“ This is my major concern. If the rest of the party is set on resting then Williams will to.
Stafford. Stafford agrees with Flynn. Can Stafford help search for useful items after the short rest? If yes, here is his Investigation roll: 18 + 5 = 23. Also, if anyone is still low after the rest, Stafford can use his other stimpack on one of them.
DM. Let me know if you are taking any special precautions, otherwise the consensus among the team is that the upper command ring would be the best place to rest, as it can only be accessed from 3 defensible points.
Stafford finds two computer terminals still online. The station chief's central terminal is flickering but active. It is password locked. On the west side of the command ring is the flight control suite. It has an active holographic screen which is tracking the local gravity wells: Saturn and its many moons , astronavigation paths, and spacecraft logs.
Among the debris, you also find the following items:
- Any mundane office equipment you can think of.
- On the ground floor, on a circular couch, an intact shotgun with 3 shells remaining.
- Near the shuttle bay access door, a shipping crate containing stripped-down components for 4 precision bolt rifles; but no ammunition
- Slumped in the chair at the flight control desk is the body of chief Cayo. On his person you find a quality set of portable speakers, an electric can opener, a couple of candles, and a coffee token.
There are also several barrels of explosive nukage near the refinery concourse. These barrels are not authorized to leave the refinery, it is unusual that they are here.
After the rest, Monowi, Ordos and Hallstat are back to maximum hit points, but Hallstat is still poisoned.
Flynn. "Is everyone well-rested? Let's go find some medical supplies, because we don't know how long this place will remain safe for."
Williams. "Yes, I am well rested. My armor is in tatters, but I don't see any other one here. Monowi, Ordos, and Hallstat can you please take the precision bolt rifles? If we go into the habitat to the medilab, for medical supplies, then I fancy we can use these. One of you who does not have a shotgun should take that before we leave here."
How heavy are the barrels of nukage? Are they on the upper command ring with us, and can we roll them along the walkway?
Stafford. Stafford confirms he is at full strength and willing to follow Williams' instructions, but before the team heads out, if he can and if the rest of the team agree to it, Stafford will try to hack into the computer terminal and check if any ships are bound toward this station as well as where the shuttle he got stuck in came from. If there is any way to from this terminal, he will also try to broadcast a warning if the rest of the team want to. Is it still possibe to attempt a hack without Hacking Tools? If so, here is Stafford's roll: 16 + 3 = 19..
DM. Useful information that you would know: The Habitat has a medlab that has all the medical supplies you might need; it also houses the United Nations Military Garrison (where you sleep and train) that has a small armoury with spare suits of armor, ammunition, one chaingun and one rocket launcher.
The three marines take and assemble the bolt rifles, although Hallstat complains somewhat that he has to lug the thing around without any ammo. Ordos slings the spare shotgun.
The nukage barrels are on the ground floor, near the "keep clear" yellow-striped zone outside the refinery concourse entrance to the west. There are six barrels, all full but sealed, each weigh about 40 lbs.
Stafford tinkers with the flight control computer and bypasses the password. Checking the logs, he find that the shuttle Sparrowhawk departed from Tei Tenga, a Kupier belt planetoid with an orbits some 125 AU from Sol. Stafford recalls that his captain was hoping to find a cargo of "fire dust", which is mined only on Tei Tenga. The log also shows shuttles from Tei Tenga also arrived a few days ahead of the Sparrowhawk, landing at the moons Rhea and Iapetus.
On the holographic display, three ships are currently detected by Pallas Station. An "unknown vessel" that Stafford suspects is the Black Hind, currently in orbit around Titan. Another shuttle, Quazatron is on route to the moon Dione, 1 day away.
Before Stafford can read any more information, the display suddenly goes black. Red text shudders into view: "BUT COME NOW, LET ME MAKE YOU SO THAT NO MORTAL CAN RECOGNIZE YOU.", repeated over and over, in wavering 3D. Then the whole console shuts down.
At the same moment, the blank, cold voice of Athena echoes over the tannoy: "Unauthorized terminal access detected in Control. Security has been alerted. Please stand by."
Stafford "That's strange. (To fireteam Bravo) Guys, are there any automated security measures to apprehend us? (other humans are probrably dead) Either way, we should go, someone or something is in control of the station network." Angus heads towards the habitat entrance.
Williams. Williams heads off with Stafford, and tells the rest of Bravo to hurry along.
Flynn. Flynn goes with Williams.