Seclusion: An Alien Solo RPG Campaign. Act1, Part 2: Did IQs just drop sharply?
This easy cargo run has some complications. That's fine, all good. So long as you get paid for your troubles, that is just living out in space. But weird things keep happening and people are starting to get scared.
Welcome back to Seclusion: An Alien Solo RPG Campaign. In Act 1, Part 2, we start getting to the bottom of why the Bison dropped out of FTL earlier than expected. The answers are a bit more gruesome than the crew expected.
Now let's play.
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Scene 6 - Roll: 1 Stress dice - A blank.
The Captain breathes in heavily, “Alright, we can’t worry about a fuck up in the cargo handling right now. We need to figure out why the hell we are stopped here and then get going again. Like I said, if it's company bullshit, we should get paid extra for it.”
“I can assure you captain that if it is company related you will be compensated as appropriate,” says Conrad.
Eugene steps forward, “Captain, I can see if the Bison can pick up this lifeboat on the scanners. It would be good to know if there is anything actually out there.” The Captain nods and the meeting breaks up.
Eugene heads to the bridge to access the scanners. The ship initially didn’t pick up anything but that doesn’t mean anything. Passive scanners are only built to find things that may hit the ship. Eugene fires up the scanner station and sees if he can find something.
Roll Comtech (1) - Wits (4) - Stress (1) - 1 Success, no Panic
With the full scanner array activated and searching, Eugene kicks his feet up on the console to wait. Space is huge and these searches can take hours. Before he can even get settled in the scanner console beeps. A contact! And it's close!
Eugene scrambles to access the data. A Class D Lifeboat? That’s some fancy piece of equipment floating way out between the stars. Lifeboat is a bit of a misnomer, a Class D has several rooms and can maintain life support for several crew members for months awake and decades if they are asleep.
The Captain rushes in, probably alerted by Muther. “Well shit Eugene, at least there is something out here. A Class D? God damn, the salvage on that will more than pay for this detour and our lost bonus. OK, get Casper up here. Let’s see if anyone is home.”
Scene 7 - Roll: 1 Stress dice - A blank.
Suited up, Eugene stands ready at the airlock. Casper is making the final adjustments to heading and speed to bring us right next to the lifeboat. Eugene is happy to lead the boarding party, along with Kat, who is less enthusiastic. But the ensurance of danger pay by Conrad gave her the motivation to get suited up.
The Mark 50 Compression Suits are hard to move in but sturdy and reliable with lots of air supply. Casper comes over the suit comms “OK Eugene and Kat, be safe out there. We are about to kiss the lifeboat so hold on. Once we make contact you’ll have to pop their airlock. I can’t see from here what state it's in so you may have to cut into it. Good luck.”
Eugene hangs on to the handles as he feels a hard clang as the two ships meet. Kat pushes a few buttons and the Bison’s airlock doors open. They are met with the outer doors of the lifeboat. Eugene reads The USCSS Requiem.
Kat comes over the comms “Door is locked, I can start cutting but may be worth seeing if you can overload the controls first?”
The control panels look undamaged but without power. Eugene pops the front plate to see if he can get something going.
Roll Comtech (1) - Wits (4) - Stress (1) - 2 Success, no Panic
Spend the extra success to get - You get new or unexpected information.
A few connected wires and the panel lights up. At least the lifeboat still has power, that’s a good sign. Data starts scrolling on the panel and something catches Eugene’s eye. The ship hatch was locked from the outside. How is that possible? The ship is FTL days away from anything. Eugene relays the information to the Captain.
“Eugene, that’s definitely weird, but we still need to get in there. Pop the hatch and be careful in there. Make sure your sidearm is ready.”
Kat looks at Eugene impatiently. Eugene punches in the door open command and the Lifeboat’s airlock starts to open.
Scene 8 - Roll: 1 Stress dice - A blank.
Eugene looks into the darkness that is the Requiem interior. The suit's flashlights barely make a dent in the darkness of the ship. (All firing moves will receive a -2 dice penalty until the lights are on). Eugene checks his oxygen levels and sees that (Oxygen roll - Rolled current oxygen level of 5 and rolled 2 panic dice, removing two oxygen levels already) his oxygen is already at 60%. I guess it took longer to get in than expected.
Kat moves ahead and says “I’ll head to the reactor to see if this tub has enough juice to fire up the lights and other things.”
Eugene nods and checks the atmosphere of the ship.
I’ll roll on the yes or no oracle. Three base dice and three panic dice. I get one panic symbol, which is a negative.
The suit shows no atmosphere at all. Did someone vent the ship? Must have been, because they didn’t spot any significant structural damage. Eugene grows more concerned and decides he will head to the control console to find out more information.
Spotting the console isn’t hard, it's right in the centre of the small ship. But Eugene is disappointed when he finds it. Smashed to all hell, with an axe still buried deep in it. Pointing the flashlight around, Eugene sees if he can spot any signs of what happened here.
 |
| It's a cold dark ship, this lifeboat. |
Roll Observation (1) - Wits (4) - Stress (1) - 1 Success, no Panic
Eugene spots something but what does he find? Rolling on the Effect-Ship table. I get Bizarre Guns… I’ll take that as guns that are out of place on this type of ship.
The light beam of the suit only allows Eugene to search small sections of the ship at a time, but he quickly sees the unexpected shape of a shotgun on the floor, along with a smattering of expended shells. Eugene calls in the find to the Captain.
“Well shit Eugene, sounds like there was some sort of a fight on that ship. Well, see if you can find anything else, and then hurry on over. Be sure to check for any cryo pods.”
“Roger, Captain. I’ll be in touch with more information soon.”
Scene 9: - Roll: 1 Stress dice - A Panic. Something abnormal happens.
Aircheck - 3 dice - 1 panic. Air down to 2.
Breathing harder, Eugene notices his oxygen is starting to dwindle. If it gets any lower, he’s going to have to beat it back to the Bison.
Eugene’s radio crackles, “Eugene, this is Kay. I’m at the reactor in the other room. I’m going to throw the switch. Hopefully, something happens.”
Does the reactor work? Oracle says yes!
Lights flicker on across the ship and Eugene is momentarily blinded. Stumbling around he steps on something slick and begins to fall.
Roll Mobility (1) - Agility (3) (-1 for wearing the suit - Stress (1) - No Success
Pushing the roll. +1 Stress (now 2), 1 Success
Eugene tries to balance himself but can’t in the bulky suit. Instead, he reaches out and grabs onto a handrail, just preventing a nasty fall. Looking down at what he fell on, he sees a puddle of green slime-like substance. Looking up, Eugene can’t find the source of the slime. It isn’t anything he’s seen before.
Keying his radio Eugene calls Kay, “Hey watch your step in here. Some sort of leak on the ground. Let’s head to the cryo-sleep pods on this boat.” Kay keys acknowledgment.
The cryo pods are behind the last closed door of the ship. With power on, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get it open. Kay hits the open button and the door obliges.
Question for the oracle. How many pods are there? A D3 - 2 Pods with people in them but I’ll say a third empty pod. Are they still alive? 2 Panics and no successes. That is a hard no. But why so negative? I know…
Scene 10 - Roll: 1 Stress dice - A Panic. Something abnormal happens.
Aircheck - 2 dice - 0 panic. Air stays at 2.
The scene inside is something out of a horror movie. There are three pods but it's easy to see both crew members are dead. +1 stress of Eugene. One of the crew made it halfway inside their pod before it looks like something ripped it apart. The other pod was smashed in, the person inside carved up like a Christmas Turkey.
The third pod looks to be empty and untouched. Kay says “oh shit, oh shit. I’ve heard stories about this sort of shit but I never thought I’d see it.”
Does Kay panic? Oracle says no, Kay keeps it together.
Eugene steps inside slowly and pulls his pistol out and updates the Captain over the radio.
“Two dead? One missing? That must have been the person who closed the airlock from the outside. That sounds like a case of space insanity Eugene. I’m going to send over Juno to take a look at the bodies but why don’t you get out of there for now? By the way, Bison’s sensors must be malfunctioning because it's counting a third lifeform on the ship with you. Keep an eye out for anything unusual.”
Scene 11 - Roll: 1 Stress dice - A blank.
Back in the ready room, the crew of the Bison sits around the meal table waiting for the captain to speak.
“Ok, this is an odd situation. But Conrad has confirmed to me that the company will likely pay us for the expenses for the recovery of the lifeboat, our missed bonus, and something on top of that. So we are coming out on top. Also, they seem to have admitted to the whole mix-up with the cargo, so that isn’t our problem either. We are only a couple of days out from the colony, so we are going to finish this trip awake. Any questions?”
Juno the medic speaks first, “Captain, that's all good but those people who were on the lifeboat. They were ripped apart, from the inside. I’ve never seen anything like it. I really think we need to put them under proper quarantine rules.”
The Captain nods, “Yes that's all accounted for. Jessica has placed the bodies in an isolated portion of the ship, and under Conrad's direction, she is going to run a few tests. As a synthetic, she doesn’t have to worry about contamination.”
Eugene shuffles uncomfortably in his seat and the Captain invites him to speak. “Captain, Muther said there was another life form on that ship. What if the thing that killed those people made it onto our ship? We are still connected. If it's small, maybe it snuck over and nobody notices?”
Conrad laughs, ‘What Eugene? A bit scared about a ghost the sensor picked up? As the Captain said, we are safe. So let’s all hit the bunk and grab some sleep. Dream about all the money we are going to make on this trip. Sweet dreams everyone.”
—
Well, that is the end of Act 1. You can see things getting ratcheted up for the crew. Next week we will get into Act 2 and that is when things really start going downhill in any Alien movie.
Good luck soloing out there folk.
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