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Post by red_kangaroo on Aug 30, 2021 13:26:13 GMT
"Of course I want to report a crime! Do you think anyone in their right mind would otherwise look into a camera like that? I tried to get your attention! But can you take me to safety? I worry about my life, being here. He said he sees all, you know? That he will know if I try to contact the authorities. He tried to claim that he is my FRIEND."
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Post by Spwack on Aug 31, 2021 3:26:36 GMT
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF" repeats the machine. Then: "PROCEEDING TO ESCORT TO SECURE LOCATION. YOU ARE BEING RESCUED, DO NOT RESIST."
The robot has a grip on one of your arms already, grabs the other one (that is holding the sword) and picks you up bodily. The robot head rotates 180 and starts walking backwards (now forwards) out the door. It's not particularly comfortable, are you going to struggle or otherwise resist?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Aug 31, 2021 8:50:26 GMT
"I'm Pippi, nice to meet you! And how do I call you?"
I won't struggle or resist for now, I will see where is he taking me.
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Post by Spwack on Sept 3, 2021 7:04:29 GMT
"MODULE IDENTIFICATION: 381018"
The robot marches away, carrying you behind it like a load of shopping. It makes a steady pace back towards the lift you originally came from. Apart from the whirr-clunk, whirr-clunk of it's steps, it's quiet out here amongst the trees.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Sept 4, 2021 6:23:53 GMT
"What happened here, module 381018? It's so quiet and nobody is anywhere. Creepy. Was there an accident?"
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Post by Spwack on Sept 6, 2021 10:02:25 GMT
"NO ACCIDENTS REPORTED. ALL RESIDENTS ARE ACCOUNTED FOR." The robot walks into the lift with you in tow, and presses the button for Ring 3. ((You can access a more advanced version of the station message-board here))
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Post by red_kangaroo on Sept 8, 2021 17:19:06 GMT
"Well, you might want to look into that. Uhm, are we going to be long? I kinda... need to pee. Urgently."
((Have you seen Babylon 5? I'm imagining this station as Babylon 5.))
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Post by Spwack on Sept 11, 2021 5:23:20 GMT
((I have not, but looking at images, H81 has much much wider rings with the vacuum of space filling most of the interior. Think five bicycle tires on the same axle))
The robot pauses. "PUBLIC URINATION IS AN OFFENCE" it says, but it seems a little hesitant. "REPLACEMENT CLOTHING WILL BE PROVIDED FOR... PRISONERS?" but you aren't exactly a prisoner, are you?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Sept 13, 2021 7:40:21 GMT
"Exactly, and I wouldn't want to misdemean. Therefore, I request to urinate out of the public's eye. Otherwise, you will be forcing me to commit an offence, thus commiting a crime yourself."
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Post by Spwack on Sept 14, 2021 1:16:30 GMT
The robot is silent. Then: "COMPLIANCE NOTED. ESCORTING."
The lift doors open, and you are immediately assaulted by a wave of noise and light. Every flat surface you can see is pulsating with advertisements for you-can't-even-tell-what because it's gone and changed again, and a scrum of filthy sweaty people froth and bubble in a miasma of their own gasses.
Actually, it's not really that bad, it's just a shock coming into Ring 3 A.K.A. "The Mall" after spending time in the stillness and emptiness of Ring 4. The robot carries you over to a blocky building, and a Personal Waste Evacuation Pod slides out and you are dropped unceremoniously in. The pod seals up, blocking out the noise of outside and leaving you in a dimly lit space.
What now?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Sept 14, 2021 13:15:30 GMT
I examine the insides of the pod.
Can the door be locked? Is there anything else that could be opened?
How big is the waste disposal chute? Can I see inside? Can I fit inside?
Is there camera inside of the pod (you never know...)? Any way to get to its electronics?
When the pod slid out, did it seem like I could escape though that shaft, should I be able to cut a hole through the pod?
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Post by Spwack on Sept 16, 2021 7:01:22 GMT
The door isn't locked so much as the whole pod is locked down, retracted into the wall.
It's quite small, you probably wouldn't fit unless you broke it extensively.
No. That would be a gross invasion of privacy, so not unusual for the station, but there aren't cameras in here.
If you cut a hole into the pod, you'd escape... somewhere? Into the maintenance ducts? It definitely wouldn't be safe, but it would be a way out. Think of it this way - the five rings, the docks, all of that is "onstage". The lifts and the maintenance areas, that's all "backstage". Backstage isn't comfortable, it isn't designed for you to stay there a long time, but you're still meant to move between it.
Right now in the sanitation pod, you're somewhere between "onstage" and "backstage". If you cut into the curtain here, in such a liminal place, there's no telling where you'll end up.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Sept 19, 2021 7:02:15 GMT
Into the liminal I go, then. I stab my smart-sword into the pod's wall and cut a hole for myself.
I will also cut myself a little bit and try to throw the blood on the walls as if there was a struggle, plus scratch "FRIEND was here" among the blood splatters.
Then I scram through the hole.
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Post by Spwack on Sept 19, 2021 9:31:09 GMT
Done.
Your smart-sword cuts easily through the plastic walls of the cubicle. Wafts of stale and cloying air push through the gap, and you can see the outside of several identical pods in rows around you, each with a tangle of pipes leading up, down and every which way. The pod you are in is hanging over darkness, you can't tell how far down it goes.
((Would you mind adding to your character sheet "Heat 1". You were caught on camera, weren't identified, disappeared from custody under strange circumstances. I'll round all of that up and down to 1))
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Post by red_kangaroo on Sept 19, 2021 15:55:04 GMT
((Sure!))
I will start climbing upwards.
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Post by Spwack on Sept 22, 2021 10:14:07 GMT
You clamber all the way out of the vandalised pod and start heading upwards along the rows. There are intermittent gusts of strange smelling winds that make you a little light-headed when you breath them in too much. At one point you use a pipe as a foothold, and while you are testing it to see if it will hold your weight, it snaps and sprays your boot with... unmentionable fluids. There's a yell of surprise and dismay from inside the pod.
What are you trying to find? A way back "onstage"?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Sept 22, 2021 17:27:25 GMT
I'm looking for a way back onstage somewhere interesting.
I have the ability On The Shoulders of Giants - assuming my escape from the security bot counts as me defeating him in a sense, I would like to use his ability to get called to places of crimes or unrest and emerge in such a place. I will try to stay hidden.
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Post by Spwack on Sept 28, 2021 7:37:30 GMT
Interesting. Since you defeated the robot "in a sense", you also get that ability "in a sense". Scrambling up and along the thicket of pipes and cables, you find an intriguing way of getting back. It looks like the back end of a garbage disposal unit, but instead of putting trash into a proper location, it's just being dumped directly into this offstage void. That is hugely against building regulations! Want to climb up it?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Sept 30, 2021 15:56:24 GMT
Yep!
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Post by Spwack on Oct 3, 2021 11:23:31 GMT
Crawling up the tunnel, you pass empty packets, broken bottles, and a foul unplaceable scent. As you reach the top, the underside of the bin lid, you hear a voice, speaking on a communicator by the sound of it.
"..." "Yeah boss, yeah. You shoulda 'erd 'im squeal" "..." "Yeah. I... I know boss. But like, you don't need to say it, aight?" "..." "Look, wouldya want, I'm sorry ok! I got nervous, I got antsy, I though 'e was gunna pull a fast one!" "..." "Ok boss, you tell them that. See, they'll all say the same thing- I, yeah- ok, ok, I know. I hear ya boss."
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Post by Spwack on Oct 12, 2021 8:56:31 GMT
What do you want to do? You can keep listening, but the spot is pretty precarious and kind of gross. If you want to wait until they are definitely gone, you can climb back down to a more secure ledge and just hang out (ha ha) for a while.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Oct 12, 2021 9:04:13 GMT
I will lift the lid slightly, trying to to peek out.
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Post by Spwack on Oct 14, 2021 3:15:02 GMT
CHA check: d2SiS3Su1d20+1
You prop up the lid just a fraction. Luckily, the person talking on their comm is facing away from the bin. They are wearing low-slung jeans, a heavily repaired synth-leather jacket, have a holster with some kind of weapon, and is that... blood, on their shoe?1d20+1
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Post by red_kangaroo on Oct 14, 2021 5:46:35 GMT
Is the source of the blood visible anywhere nearby?
Are they still talking, or have the boss stopped scolding them?
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Post by Spwack on Oct 18, 2021 4:11:13 GMT
You can't tell where the blood has come from. They are still talking, but sounds like it might be wrapping up soon.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Oct 18, 2021 7:54:10 GMT
I would like to wait in the chute and slip out of it once they start to leave, then follow them.
Dex if necesarry: XChO4tU4d20+4d20+4
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Post by Spwack on Oct 22, 2021 8:24:09 GMT
The gangster blips his comm, sighs heavily, and moves away. You scramble out of the bin, manoeuvring yourself, sword and briefcase as quietly as you can. Any part of the station of full of mysterious clanking and scraping noises, so it's not like you need to be ninja silent.
Your jaunt backstage has deposited you somewhere else in Ring 3, you didn't climb nearly far enough to be anywhere else. Unlike the neon bustle you saw before, there's nobody about around here. The fluorescent lighting is sparse and unreliable, and the floor and lower part of the walls are oddly corroded in places.
The gangster walks off down a corridor, and you hasten to follow. You have a little bit of trouble keeping up with then, as they take pretty much every turn, walking unhurriedly down access corridors and along gantries. Then, as you turn a corner to follow them, you see only an claustrophobic hallway, littered with large crates with a number of hatches off to each side that look welded shut. There's no sign of the gangster at all. What do you do?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Oct 24, 2021 21:18:23 GMT
Is there anyone else around? Any cameras?
If not, I will set the briefcase down on one of the crates and try to use my auto-lockpick on it. I can look for secret doors later, when it's less likely the gangster will be standing right behind them.
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Post by Spwack on Oct 26, 2021 2:30:38 GMT
No cameras. Actually, you can see a spot where a camera would be in a normal hallway, and in it's place is a gently sparking mess of wires.
You can't see anyone around, but surely that gangster only turned down this hallway a few seconds before you did...
The auto-lockpick whirrs and grinds for about half a minute, before emitting a delighted "beeble-de-beep!" as the case clicks open. Inside the case is a whole lot of black foam padding, gently cradling a wickedly sharp syringe, gun with a strange flange at the tip. A miniscule glint of metal seems to be floating in the syringe.
In the top part of the briefcase, is a tiny two-page pamphlet with the simple title "BULLET TIME". From the illustration, it looks like you're supposed to put the syringe gun up your nose and pull the trigger... yikes.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Oct 27, 2021 12:41:05 GMT
I stash the syringe into an inner pocket and lock the briefcase again.
What time of the day-cycle is it, roughly?
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