Eclipse Phase: Devoted

[Joose]

Certainly a good roll. You still need to answer his follow up question though.

[fabyak]

Some retards decided to try and take on some Ultimates and they lost. No big surprise there but they got a lucky shot away and now we need some repairs to the ship and the life support so if you'd be so kind as to hurry the fuck up so we don't die up here we'd be much obliged

[Joose]

Alright, cmon then. Bay four is free.

The huge outer doors of the docks airlock swing open, letting you in. The ships computer takes over and takes you in. The outer doors swing shut again and noise slowly builds up as the airlock pressurises. The inner doors then swing open, giving you a view of the docks.

The docks themselves are a large, hollowed out cavern, approximately 400m in diameter and about a kilometer long. There are a large number of ramshackle buildings at the edge of the clear area, with jungle like plant life covering every inch of the cavern walls and a number of the buildings. The station is currently in its night cycle, so the main lights are off. The only light comes from the dozen or so airlock doors set into the walls and the windows on the few operable ships docked there.

Docking arms of various lengths and sizes jut out, with painted numbers at the end. Number 4 is indeed free. The only ship of any size other than yours is a large container ship settled in to the other side of the docks, which your mesh IDs as the Bullock, out of Extropia.

As your ship connects to the docking arm at berth 4, a group of figures push off from one of the buildings and start to drift towards you.

The local mesh sends you all a message:

Code: Select all

Welcome to Zombi

[Dog Pants]

They look like they're coming to take our bags or mug us? Also, I wish I'd asked how we were going to pay for repairs.

[Joose]

It looks like the latter is more likely than the former, but they don't have their weapons drawn. You can do a kinesics roll to get a better idea if you want (kinesics is basically bodylanguage, so you can use it to judge intentions as well as tell if they are lying, scared, angry, not actually human etc.)

[fabyak]

Kinesics (16)

Roll(1d100)+0:
62,+0
Total:62

I could just about tell that that movement indicated that they were walking. I couldn't say in which direction though

[Joose]

They are floating, but your kinesics isn't good enough to notice that.

[Dog Pants]

Kinesics gotiem!

6, 9: 69 Failure!

Fuck it then, I'm treating them as potential hostiles. If it's prison rules here I'm going to go out and let them know I'm a big dog. Assuming we have an airlock, I'll get in and open the outer door (after closing the inner on, obv). I'll wait there for our guests with my gauss AR in one hand, casually resting over one shoulder. If they turn out friendly I doubt they'll be surprised to find an armed bastard here.

[Joose]

You do have a functioning airlock, but you don't need to be too careful. Zombi, the docks area, is pressurised and has atmosphere.

The guys floating over your way are armed, but they dont have weapons drawn. They look like a bunch of thugs.

Do you have any skills relating to criminal social conventions? If you do, feel free to roll.

[Dog Pants]

I expect everyone here look like thugs. I look like a thug. Networking: Criminals?

Just in case it's worth rolling:

5, 5: 55 Critical! Failure!

Ah fuck. This is your fault Joose.

[Joose]

I expect everyone here look like thugs.

True, but theres thugs and then theres *thugs*.

5, 5: 55 Critical! Failure!

Nah, you are fine. Its a reasonably simple test, so I'll give you a +30, which makes it a pass. I wont give you the critical bonus though.

These guys look like very low level goons. Like, the lowest level available. They are almost certainly just sniffing around because they saw a beat up ship that wasn't local and are hoping for some easy prey. A chap at the front, with a white skull tattoo over his face and a couple of gold teeth showing in his grinning mouth looks like the groups leader.

[Dog Pants]

Funnily enough I also have a skull-like head and metal teeth, except in my case it's because my head is made from armoured titanium. Hopefully a well armed combat synth will be enough to give them a change of heart, but if they get within gesticulating distance I'll make a friendly pistol gesture at them with my fingers. I can try (and probably fail the way my rolls are going) an intimidation roll when I get home if you like.

[Joose]

I would like!

[Dog Pants]

Skill 45:

4, 2: 42 Success!

I'm a little bit intimidating.

[Joose]

The leader stops his approach, grabbing on to a jutting out piece of pipe. His grin fades as he gets a proper look at you, and he turns to mutter something to his mates. They laugh, in that "the boss just made a not very funny joke" kind of way. The group pushes off and scoots away from you again. The leader gives you a sneering look over his shoulder as he goes.

[Dog Pants]

Must have thought we were tourists. Right, anyone any suggestions how we go about getting the ship fixed? Maybe just hit up the nearest bar and ask about?

Actually, I'll hit the mesh.

Research 30

8, 9: 89 Severe Failure!

Jesus. Guys, I think we're on Mars!

[FatherJack]

I'll try a research roll:

Roll(1d100)+0:
24,+0
Total:24

Not sure what it's against, umm, oh, just general 'research', 75. Thought it was gonna be specific like the Networking ones.

[Joose]

Not sure what it's against, umm, oh, just general 'research', 75. Thought it was gonna be specific like the Networking ones.

Nah, research is just your ability to felcher through a bunch of information to find the stuff you are looking for, really. Its like how good your google-fu is.

DCOM struggles to get on to the mesh at all, the reason for which becomes apparent when Usagi has a go. The Mesh here is about as well thought out and intelligently constructed as the frankenstein's monster of a hab that it serves. There is a publically accessible mesh, then various "local" meshes specific to the different areas of the hab. These are locked down to only be available to be groups that control those areas (although most of them can be accessed remotely). It all reminds you a bit of old medieval fiefdoms. There is also mention in the public mesh of a highly secure network that runs between some of the more important facilities that is entirely hardwired, nicknamed Styx. Finally, there is a utility mesh that runs things like power, recycling, lights and so on.

The public mesh gives you a fair bit of info about the layout of the hab. This includes a handy(ish) map.

The docks area you are currently in is called Zombi (1). Just "below" you is Peristyle (2), Nazons headquarters, home to his personal psychosurgery team (called the Houngan) and tipped by his personal quarters (A). Sticking out "above" the docks are Psychopomp (3), the hub of Legbas ego trafficking operations, housing the resleeving and egocasting facilities. Hanging off Legbas arse like a cuboid hemorrhoid is Guinee (4), a server farm running a time accelerated simulspace where forknapped individuals are put to work as infomorphs. The Fetish Market (5), on the other side from Zombi, is a big open market and storage space for cortical stacks. Uptown (6) is the home of the Petro Nanchon, the gangs business oriented faction. Marinette (7) is a maze of beehive corridors dug into the asteroid itself and is home to the Rada Nanchon, the bulk of the gang. The torus near the "top" of Legba is Samedi (8), home to the Ghede Nanchon, who are responsible for the pit fights and torture porn XPs. Finally, in the centre of the asteroid, is Nana Buluku, the secured and shielded chamber that houses the reactor that provides the majority of the power to the asteroid.

The mesh also gives some details on where you might get repairs. The docks have a number of workshops and ship related facilities dotted along them. The economy here is an old style one: credits not reputation. There is also indication on the mesh that cortical stacks themselves are used for currency. The few places that list prices show things around here to be pretty pricey compared to the average.

As you are meshing, a couple of things happen. The first is that a Creepy bot (thats not just a description, its a kind of small insectoid robot used for small tasks) skitters up to you and leaves a folded piece of paper floating in the air in front of you. The second is a coded message from Timoti. It doesn't actually have any information in it particularly, but he has left the source location data intact. This gives you a specific location within Psychopomp.

[Joose]

*cough*

[Dog Pants]

Well I'm oblivious to the Mesh stuff, so I'll grab the creepy paper and take a look.