A few seconds after our shout of victory, the pyramid targeted our ship and shot it down. We can’t contact Brock or I-9, and hope they are just literally laying low for the moment. But we can shoot ghouls. We ran straight at the pyramid– it doesn’t seem to target individuals, or perhaps the creatures inside are only targeting larger objects. We got to our objective and found a 3′ perfectly round hole where the architects hadn’t placed one, and clambered inside. Sresaka and Ash were ahead of Lexx, Widget (still in my coveralls), and I, and within seconds, we were fighting ghouls off of the two of them. Lexx got the brilliant idea to try and sound like one of their evil overlords (having heard various radio chatter on the way in), and would have succeeded quite well if there hadn’t been a ghoul close enough to hear both him and his radio version simultaneously. Sre and Ash were pretty banged up (and manacled) in the few seconds it took to catch up with them, but we managed to kill(?) off the ghouls. Except for the one that got away. . . .
wererat
Rae, NG Ysoki Mechanic Xenoarcheologist born on Akiton, lately of Absalom Station. Hover Drone named "Widget 2.0."
Rae arrived on station about six months ago. She's friends with a Vesk Soldier named Sresaka, and a Lashunta Envoy, Lexx. Tolerates the Pahtra Operative, Ash.
Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls
So many things! We were in Drift space and an Inheritorworks Crusader ship from the Knights of Golarion met up and warned us about more Corpse Fleet ships near L476. They devised a distraction with the Stewards so that we could get to L476 and destroy the encampment we’d visited. We thought we’d lucked out– the electrical issues that we’d dealt with three weeks ago were no longer happening, and we saw a Grave Casket shuttle of leaving right before we arrived. Since there was no electrical storm, Brock was able to land and stay on the planet surface, with I-9 keeping him company. Widget was still hiding in my coveralls, sure the electricity would start arcing through the air. And lucky for him, as we soon found ourselves surrounded by ghouls! There were too many, and I was sure we were doomed, when we heard something very, very large almost hovering behind us. We ducked, the ghouls didn’t, and soon we were alone in the clearing, so much of what had been in front of us vaporized.
I am so glad we gave I-9 free will, and that Brock really likes us and was keeping an eye out. Between the two of them, they got the Please Don’t Shoot Us up high enough to allow them to target and destroy the undead creatures on the planet surface, without so much as singeing a single one of us.
We’ll have to do something special for our AIs. I can already hear Widget picking out cake frostings. Still lurking in my coveralls.
Hold on Tight
L476 is uninhabited. We checked all but one building, finding a few tablets with drained batteries. In fact, other than all the lightning hitting the pyramid, didn’t have a single battery, door, vehicle, or anything that worked. Widget said he wasn’t feeling too well and mashed his way into my coveralls, and Brock reported that Please Don’t Shoot Us was losing power and twice the normal rate it can accommodate. We had a few hours at most, so quickly went from building to building, being sure to check in with the ship often. We found plenty of rooms– some barricaded from the inside (but empty of people) and some just vacant. The weapon must not have been to blame, as there was still food and wilting plants inside the main building. We collected datapads and a hard drive or two as we went, but before we could check the last building, we were called back to the ship so we could leave while it was still possible. Widget said he felt a lot better when we were off the planet. We left just in time too, as that stupid corpse fleet ship was heading towards the planet as we went into Drift space. I hope they get stuck there!
As we read over some of the datapads (after recharging them on the ship), we learned that things weren’t going too badly for the expedition, until some idiots drilled a hole in the pyramid two weeks ago. We spend soooo much time in Drift space, but in this case, I’m kinda glad it took us so long to get there.
The trip to Absalom Station was super fast! And the Stewards, with my favorite, Deputy Venn, showed up when we were barely off the ship, heard our tale, and decided we must act quickly. We’re joining a fleet of steward ships (is that three, maybe?) and will be in Drift space again for three weeks. Luckily, this ship is in very good shape, and we were able to get resupplied in less time than it takes Widget to choose cake toppings. I hope we can outmatch the Barrow ship. Well, we can, but I hope they don’t have more ships waiting nearby!
Listen! You smell something?
Before we leave the ship to examine L476, I have to check all the sensor logs again. We arrived as expected in a system with a red giant sun, a gas giant, two asteroid belts, and a terrestrial planet. We kept scanning for a day just to make sure the system wasn’t swarming with anything hostile, then gave it another day for the gas giant and asteroid belts, and finally concentrated on the terrestrial planet and its two moons. We scanned that stuff for hours. I wanted to make I-9 feel more included, so I asked him what he knew about L476. How did we not think to ask him anything before? I guess he was so focused on restoring main power to Osiris Station that we assumed he hadn’t known anything.
Anyway, I asked him, and he went on and on and on, with more detail in a few minutes than we would have managed in another full day’s scanning. He gave us latitude and longitude of the ancient ruins that were of such interest to the Orcus project and the Corpse Fleet.
We stayed in orbit above the planet, close to one of the moons. It was hard to see the surface thanks to an electrical storm which seemed to be focused on a large obsidian pyramid. Scans detected an old wrecked warship in a huge excavation site and a smattering of smaller buildings that were obviously erected for the excavation crew. I realized I’ve missed doing this type of stuff, though I might have passed on a mission like the one we were scanning.
Lexx very politely attempted to contact anyone down on the surface. We found their shuttle, a Ringworks Wanderer class, and are planning to check that. I can see Ash already getting upset that we won’t be able to take that with us if it’s truly abandoned. The Please Don’t Shoot Us is bigger than the Rambler was, but we don’t have a bay large enough for a shuttle.
Okay. Am going to go see if Sresaka needs help strapping on a bunch of weapons, in case something shootable is down there… I don’t have a good feeling about any of this. Hopefully Brock will let us know if he detects anything else on or coming towards L476.
Addendum
Widget and I-9 were planning to flood the maintenance shafts with rerouted water to make a waterpark, whatever that is. We caught them in time. They were later observed sneaking down there with a sheet of cardboard and Lexx’s boombox….
Knock on Wood
Supplemental
We just heard what sounds like someone sawing wood and maybe some sort of hammer? And I now am remembering a conversation with the three AIs about deckplans and needing a bigger space for entertaining. We had all wondered about the pallet of lumber in the cargo bay. . . .