Eclipse Phase: Glory

[Dog Pants]

Who put Marvin the robot in a flesh morph?

[Joose]

I'm loving the group dynamic here.

Assuming you are not overly fussy about the transport you get to Casa Arturo, you quickly get a response to a request for transport posted up on the local mesh. A spacecraft design enthusiast called Marksley is heading that way in his own ship, and has plenty of space for passengers. He is docked a couple of spines over from where you arrived, in a docks more used to passengers than cargo. Apparently he has just received delivery of some "exotic animals" and is ready to depart when you are. His message ends with:

You should be able to spot me at the airlocks pretty easy. I'll be the synthmorph playing a banjo.

[Dog Pants]

Sounds friendly. As a banged up synth I don't think anyone could accuse me of being fussy, and maybe Usagi will feel at home (note I'm not saying that in character).

[FatherJack]

Sounds friendly. As a banged up synth I don't think anyone could accuse me of being fussy, and maybe Usagi will feel at home (note I'm not saying that in character).

OOC: not really getting the reference there, monkey uplift thing?

IC: Usagi's got no problem slumming it on any transport she can get. Science! is more important than comfort.

[Dog Pants]

Yeah. Exotic animals? I'll get my coat.

[Joose]

You arrive at the docks. The guy was correct in his saying you couldnt miss him. Grimmie has kindly illustrated the situation:



Marksley is standing in front of one of the airlocks. His unusual looking morph has been made to look like it is powered by cogs and clockwork, with a hint of steam power. His clothes are similarly retro looking, with a straw hat, goggles and some rather snazzy red suspenders. In contrast to his side to side swaying dance, which is oddly jerky, he is playing his banjo with incredible grace and accuracy. There is a crowd of small animals around him that appear to be some sort of horned rabbits. They are yodelling along with his banjo playing.

Even by Locus' standards, its a bit of a bizarre scene, and has attracted a small crowd.

As he sees you approach he brings his tune to a conclusion and takes a bow. There is a smattering of applause from his impromptu audience. The airlock behind him opens and his rabbits all hop in and disappear up the slope on the other side that leads up towards his ship. Strolling over towards you he gives his hat a tug in greetings.

Howdy folks! You the fellas heading to Casa Arturo? You like my jackalopes? Had them made special! My ship, the Airheart, she's just past that airlock there. We'll be on our way soon as you're aboard, travel times no more than a few hours if we get a good clear run. Should be comfortable enough. She's roomy, but I've normally just myself for company. All aboard!

Without waiting for (or giving any opportunity for) a reply he spins on one foot and totters off through the airlock after his animals. As he walks there is the faintest sound of clicking and the hiss of hydraulics.

[fabyak]

Unlabelled raises his eyebrows (if he has any on his morph) and is lost for words for a few seconds before wandering on board

[Dog Pants]

DCOM catches Unlabelled's expression and follows.

I was about to say the same thing.

[FatherJack]

Should be an...interesting trip.

Usagi joins them on board.

[Dog Pants]

Nice pic by the way Grimmie!

[Grimmie]

Nice pic by the way Grimmie!

Thanks!

[Joose]

The ship itself is...flamboyant. Much more so than any of you are used to, certainly. The whole thing is made in swish art-deco shapes, with a lot more in the way of brass dials and switches as controls than normal. Of course, they could all just be for show, but they look convincing enough. Its a reasonably, but not absurdly large ship. In real world terms, if a big ship was a rock bands tour bus, this is more minibus. But then, you are all far more used to jetting around space in the shuttle equivalent of a Fiat 500, so its still more roomy than most. You can hear the occasional quiet yodelling voice echoing through the air vents, but there is no sign of where the jackalopes have gone other than that.

Interestingly for such a swish ship, there is no attempt at artificial gravity. Often ships this size have a doughnut shaped section that can be spun to make living quarters for crew. This place is all microgravity. (BTW, microgravity is basically what people mean when they say "zero gravity", its just a little more technically accurate. I wouldn't bother being so picky about the language myself except they insist on using the right terminology in the sourcebooks and I want to keep it consistent. Basically, unless you are in deep, deep space there is always *something* nearby exerting *some* gravity on you, even if that is just the Sun, so you will never really get zero gravity. Microgravity is what they experience on the ISS.)

The airlock opens into a cargo bay area towards the rear of the ship. Theres a bunch of metallic storage containers, about 8 foot square. You can do me a tech based roll if you want to have a go identifying them. Marksley leads you through the centre of the cargo bay, up a central strut with handholds to propel yourselves and shows you to a kind of lounge area roughly central to the ship. The walls (which continue the art deco look) alternate between slim oval windows and wall mounted artwork, with the occasional antique styled monitor screen and bit of microgravity furniture (basically sofas with webbing on that you can strap yourself into so you don't bounce off hard surfaces when the ship is manoeuvring). There is a drinks cabinet complete with globular microgravity containers that Marksley gestures at.

Well, make yourself comfortable here, help yourself to drinks and suchlike. Theres a washroom through that door if you need to freshen up at all. I do ask that you don't leave this area during the flight, more for your safety than anything else. I need to go fly the old bird, so I'll leave you fellas alone.

He whirrbuzzhisses through another door, heading towards the forward section of the ship. After a couple of minutes there is a brief high pitched whistle, then you hear a rumble of engines and feel a gentle tug as the ship starts to accelerate. Anything you guys want to do during the flight?

[FatherJack]

Not sure how to do 'tech-based' roll, but Usagi isn't particularly curious about the containers anyway - it's only a shuttle with some boxes on. She's happy to strap into a sofa, but is fainty wondering where the lovely bunnies went to.

Usagi (as a name) roughly translates to Bunny, rather than the literal translation of 'rabbit'.

[Dog Pants]

That explains Usagi Yojimbo.

My skills are all people and no technical, but I do have a decent level in Profession: Smuggling Tricks. Is that any use?

[fabyak]

Ill do a tech roll when im not on my phone

[fabyak]

I need an adult! Well, some help anyway with the tech roll.

Also can my Muse tell me anything about the ship as he has an interest in spaceship models?

[Joose]

Ok, so first some specific answers to questions:

My skills are all people and no technical, but I do have a decent level in Profession: Smuggling Tricks. Is that any use?

In this case, sure.

I need an adult! Well, some help anyway with the tech roll.

Right, so rolling knowledge style skills is basically the same as other kind of skills: just roll a d100 and get under your skill rating. I will add or subtract from that depending on how common the knowledge is; "Who is the current President of the USA?" would get a hefty bonus, whereas "What is the boiling point of this obscure chemical compound at twice standard atmospheric pressure" would get a negative bonus. The less obvious bit is what skill to use, but you can go by this general rule of thumb: If it seems logical to you that a skill you have could give you some knowledge of a subject then use it and I will adjust its modifier appropriately. For instance, if you are trying for some information about nanobots and you have Hardware: Nanotechnology then I might even give you a bonus. If you had Hardware: Computer Science instead you could still use it, as both are broadly technical, but I would put you at a negative modifier as the information you want to know is on the periphery of your expertise. If all you had was Academics: Ancient Greek History you shouldn't even bother rolling. I should probably also add that I wont necessarily tell you what these modifiers are either: that way if you were to pass a test without the modifier but fail the test with the modifier I can feed you false information

So specifically for this, any Hardware skill would do, but something specific to heavy machinery or cargo would get a bonus, things like nanotech or biotech might get a penalty. Academics skills around hardware related things might also apply, as would any profession skill that is related to cargo (hence Pants being able to use his smuggling skill).

Also can my Muse tell me anything about the ship as he has an interest in spaceship models?

Absolutely, just make a skill roll like you would do for things you know yourself.

[fabyak]

If lab tech counts ill do that:

Rolled 28

Also will ask my muse if theres anything suspect or significant about this ship and previous pilots if known

Rolled 25

[Dog Pants]

"Who is the current President of the USA?"

That's not an easy question at all. It's probably some huge nanobot swarm or a mutant. Or a huge swarm of mutant nanobots.

I like your method of using skills (or EP's, whichever).

Profession: Smuggling Tricks (50)
8, 4: 84 Severe Failure!

What boxes?

[Joose]

If lab tech counts ill do that:

Rolled 28

You think the containers in the cargo hold are normally used to transport large synthmorphs.

Also will ask my muse if theres anything suspect or significant about this ship and previous pilots if known

Rolled 25

Not particularly. Its not like there is a central registry for these things, but from what your muse can tell it is a custom build based on a small cargo ship design, modified for increased speed at the expense of some cargo space. Its also worth noting that the lack of hab ring as well as certain design features spotted on the hull on the way in (you could see the exterior of the ship from the docks/airlock tunnel) could be for stealth. Some of it looks suspiciously like it is designed to defeat active sensors and all the heat vents point backwards, meaning you could only spot it thermally if it was moving away from you.

Profession: Smuggling Tricks (50)
8, 4: 84 Severe Failure!

What boxes?

You are not even sure that they *are* cargo containers.