The Methane Switching Station

Aug 19

Wafisa, Part 2

Finished the episode? Hear the Star Master Log for behind-the-scenes narrative insights here.

In this episode of Dark Star Adventurecast, the crew of the Scapegoat moves to rendezvous with Dr. Elara Voss, a xenolinguist working for Omnitek Holdings. But things don’t go as planned: Dr. Voss refuses to entry to the station, demanding they restore methane supplies to her research base before she’ll cooperate.

Can they reroute the methane flow and earn Dr. Voss’s aid? Or will the dangerous streets of Wafisa claim another victim?

Meet the Crew:

Jeff as Star Master (Game Master)
Brian as Captain Thorn
Stephanie as the warrior Haley
Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert
Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix

Episode 4
Felix (Scott): [00:00:00] Welcome to the Dark Star Adventure Cast where the stars are cold. The void is endless and danger lurks in every shadow out here. Trust is a gamble and survival is never guaranteed On tonight's adventure cast.
Robert (Doja): Lemme tell you, this planet smells like farts.
Felix (Scott): Well, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Felix (Scott): They're only humans.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Haley with two Y's has some skills and they are like violent.
Thorne (Brian): Those drives weren't that hard. Punched right through 'em.
Felix (Scott): Now let's get out there and hack the galaxy.
Haleyy (Stephanie): I'm going to Afia. I'm getting my WAA latte from WAA bucks and then gonna to Afia land.
Star Master Jeff: You get Waa cinnamon on your WAA latte?
Haleyy (Stephanie): Mm-hmm.
Star Master Jeff: Mm-hmm. All I paid for it with [00:01:00] Afia
Robert (Doja): credits.
Felix (Scott): I went to Afia and all I got was this lousy waa.
Thorne (Brian): All I
Felix (Scott): got
Thorne (Brian): was this lousy bullet wound
Star Master Jeff: problem with Mafia is that it's all paper straws in your wolffia lattes
Haleyy (Stephanie): that does the grand work.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Is that is. Yeah. Paper straw? No, the cardboard straw thing. Oh
Star Master Jeff: yeah. Cardboard straws only. That's the great work of the Guardians of Waa.
Robert (Doja): I thought that the great work was making everything called Wafi because it's a real wa FISA shit. Oh,
Star Master Jeff: oh,
Thorne (Brian): got 'em.
Star Master Jeff: So, yeah. So I guess last time you were, make your way to Dr.
Star Master Jeff: Aara Voss, who is supposedly at RAA four, which is a research base owned by Omnitech Holdings, and you were waylaid by two. Guardians of the great work,
Thorne (Brian): incredibly rude guardians,
Star Master Jeff: incredibly unfun people. After seeing how well armed you were, they backed off. Then they came back and decided to kill you and take your money, which they think is rightfully theirs.
Star Master Jeff: In service of the great work, [00:02:00] Ailey and Thorn were mortally wounded and brought back by the strength of good medical roles and Lazarus patches. After going back to your ship, you found it. Started by more guardians of the great work, and so you decided to simply continue your journey to find Dr. Vos and hopefully find reinforcements to take back your ship.
Star Master Jeff: You are moving south. There is a mile ahead of you. You move cautiously through the abandoned streets of waa. You do not need any other resistance. As you move towards Misrata four, it's not long before you arrive at the door of Misrata four. Here you can see there's a great double door crafted of metal.
Star Master Jeff: There's a digi pad off to the right assumably to type in the code and gain entry. There's a security camera up on the top right. [00:03:00] It is starting to get dark out. The 36 hour day of Waa is finally coming to an end. And going into the eight hour night cycle.
Felix (Scott): Well, we're expected, aren't we? It's Omnitech, after all.
Thorne (Brian): You may be right, but that might not be it to our benefit.
Felix (Scott): We all work for the same master. I walk up to the door, wave at the camera, and look at the keypad to see if there's like a ring button to push.
Star Master Jeff: Yeah, there's a call button.
Felix (Scott): Yeah. I push that. I push the call button.
Star Master Jeff: The camera swivels to watch you as you walk up to the keypad and when you press the button.
Star Master Jeff: A light flicks on, on the keypad, and you have the distinct feeling that you're being watched from two different angles. A voice comes out from a unseen speaker. Yes. What do you want?
Felix (Scott): Uh, this is Felix Champlain with Blackout one. We were sitting here for Voss. We've got some wounded here, so please let us in.
Felix (Scott): Help us out [00:04:00] and we'll be on our way.
Star Master Jeff: Voss is here, but. We're currently not allowing entry into Ms. Stratta. Four
Felix (Scott): did. Didn't you hear me? We're with Omnitech. We're part of blackout one.
Thorne (Brian): I believe we have the proper clearance
Haleyy (Stephanie): and we're injured.
Felix (Scott): Entrance denied what slammed the door. We were told to come here.
Thorne (Brian): We speaking with
Star Master Jeff: I am Dr. Vos, and I'm telling you, entry denied. This is no more an omnitech holding research facility as it is a circus. I owe nothing to that corporation.
Thorne (Brian): Well, great, because we don't give a damn about them either. But we've got a few bullet holes in us and we'd really like to come inside and get them tended.
Star Master Jeff: I don't mind helping you with your injuries, but you must tell me why you are looking for me.
Haleyy (Stephanie): That's understandable. Omnitech received a deep space transmission. Do you think you're the person to figure it [00:05:00] out?
Thorne (Brian): You are the most skilled xeno linguist they could think of. That should be worth something, right?
Star Master Jeff: Omni Tech's opinion of me is worth dirt. What I'm hearing is you have a ship and you want to take me away from Wolffia. Is that correct?
Thorne (Brian): If you're willing,
Star Master Jeff: who is your ship's comms officer?
Felix (Scott): Yeah.
Star Master Jeff: Tell me about your ship's, electrical and comm systems.
Felix (Scott): It's a standard frigate. What do you want to know?
Star Master Jeff: How standard is it?
Felix (Scott): Pretty boilerplate from what I could tell. That wasn't really my focus getting out here.
Star Master Jeff: Do you have any sort of artificial intelligence on your ship?
Felix (Scott): Nothing. I turned up and you know, I was looking over the code pretty closely, looking over the operating system, but I wasn't looking for anything in particular.
Star Master Jeff: Have you searched your ship for bugs? Have you searched your ship for Omnitech? Holding spies.
Thorne (Brian): Well, if there were any in the cargo hold, I can guarantee you they're not in there anymore. [00:06:00]
Star Master Jeff: I'm interested in leaving Wolffia, but my work here is not done yet. I'm willing to make a deal. The people at this research base are lost.
Star Master Jeff: We the rest of work. Our goal here of studying foreign life and how it reacts in high methane environments in the hopes of perhaps colonizing some of the most dangerous worlds in the system. Has been stymied, the great methane fences that power our, our base here have been shut off. The guardians of the great work have been systematically taking switching stations all over the city and turning them only towards their sector.
Star Master Jeff: Of course, that means that our base no longer has a methane supply, which as you know, is what Wolffia is known for.
Felix (Scott): Yeah, yeah. No, we do that for sure.
Star Master Jeff: Totally. Go to the methane switching station that's nearby, turn it back towards us, destroy the controls, [00:07:00] and then now give at least a few months of research time to my compatriots, at which point I would be happy to leave with you knowing that my friends and compatriots can continue on my studies and it has not all been in vain.
Felix (Scott): Yeah, I mean, that sounds great, but can you help us out a little bit? First, we got some hurt people here.
Star Master Jeff: There is a delivery bay on the back of Estrada. Four. By the time you've circled around, will already have pushed something out of the slot door for you. Travel South a kilometer, you'll find a switching station at the corner of fourth Ave.
Star Master Jeff: Careful, it's probably guarded by the guardians of the great work as they take these switching stations. They've been leaving loyal soldiers behind. Take them out. Switch the valves that we regain our methane access and to destroy the valves so they can't take it back. And then I'd be happy to join you for a few months [00:08:00] sojourn to the far region of the galaxy.
Star Master Jeff: In fact, I'd be happy to never come back to Afia ever again.
Thorne (Brian): It OI
Haleyy (Stephanie): had one too many with Fesa lattes. Hell
Robert (Doja): yeah. Lemme tell you. That created a whole bunch of methane for me. Those with fesa lattes who bought. Now, doctor, is there any way you could tell us what is the great work?
Star Master Jeff: Oh, the great work. Well, to fully understand it, you'd have to know what FE'S history, but suffice to say the great industry of Wafi was gas mining methane specifically.
Star Master Jeff: Well, they want to reconstruct what was lost to entice back the corporations that abandoned us and make. The we'll fe some mega city. Great. Once again. Of course, by doing that, they're stomping on the little people. Whoever's left here, the researchers, the kilometers, the people with no cred to leave.
Star Master Jeff: They're the ones that are suffering. [00:09:00]
Felix (Scott): I appreciate the help and that we'll be back as soon as we can.
Star Master Jeff: So you go around back of Estrada four and you find that there's a docking bay. It's basically a big double door with a slot in it. And out of the slot, which is now closed, has been pushed four packets of lift that are now laying on the ground in their shrink wrapped magnificence, tearing them open one at a time.
Star Master Jeff: You administer them to Haley and Thorn. And are you guys just trying to get back up to full hip points?
Star Master Jeff: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Star Master Jeff: Okay. So roll 1D eight each and out. Give you back a certain number of hit points and if you need to, you can use the second lift for each of you as well. So Hailey got a three. So Hailey, go ahead and rule another one, D eight.
Star Master Jeff: If you wanna get back up to full and thorn, you're back up to full with a roll of seven A out of four lift packs. You've used three and Hailey's second role is, [00:10:00] okay. So Hailey, you're up to full thorn's, up to full, and you have one more lift pack for a later date. I'll hold on to that. So everyone is now healed up to full.
Star Master Jeff: You have one extra lift pack and you have a kilometer of space between you and the nearest switching station. It is getting dark. You were not allowed to access into Estrada four. There are, however, a lot of derelict buildings around. If you wish to rest for the night, what would you like to do?
Robert (Doja): I'd like to, uh.
Robert (Doja): Take high ground here if I can, and, uh, see if I can get a lay of the land, uh, see if we see any of them, uh, guardians, uh, doers of the great work, uh, in our near vicinity.
Star Master Jeff: Okay. So what does that look like? Are you trying to climb up one of the skyscrapers, like 3, 4, 5 stories?
Robert (Doja): Yeah. Uh, so I'd, I'd prefer to go to a high but accessible building with a view on a main road, um, and.
Robert (Doja): Basically use my, uh, good old fashioned binoculars and [00:11:00] LASIK to see as far as I can, and especially look, uh, for anybody who's patrolling.
Star Master Jeff: Okay, excellent. Is anyone else going with Robert?
Felix (Scott): No, but I'll go into the ground floor, like we can all go into the ground floor of whatever building he finds and see if we can set up for the night.
Felix (Scott): 'cause I, I do feel like we should probably. Hunker down for the night. Also looking for access points 'cause I'm gonna try to get some more information about the area to see if there's any systems that I can get in on.
Star Master Jeff: Okay. So are you setting a camp on the ground floor of that building or somewhere else?
Star Master Jeff: The ground floor of that building.
Robert (Doja): I agree. And I am finding a building where I can survey reasonably around it. We have comms so I can communicate if somebody's coming and letting the injured rest as much as possible.
Star Master Jeff: Thorn and Hailey, do you guys have anything you want to add?
Haleyy (Stephanie): Honestly, I think Hailey right now are just hoping to finish up her recovery.
Haleyy (Stephanie): So
Star Master Jeff: yeah, I think we're just on the mend at the moment.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Yeah.
Star Master Jeff: Okay. Sounds good. [00:12:00] So Felix, on the ground floor, you set up camp while Thorn and Hailey begin to just rest and you're, you know, trying to make them comfortable. Are you building a campfire at all?
Felix (Scott): What's the ambient temperature like?
Star Master Jeff: So here on Waa, there is a dense swirling fog that is currently blanketing the area.
Star Master Jeff: It carries a faint metallic tang to it. The temperature hovers at a damp 63 degrees Fahrenheit, which for our European listeners, too bad. It's 63 Fahrenheit. I'm not gonna tell you the Celsius boom. Got 'em. It's cool, but uncomfortable as moisture clings to everything around you, it is damp and any wood that you find that's not already undercover is, is damp and practically unusable.
Felix (Scott): We are inside. So is is, are the buildings offline? There's no heat.
Star Master Jeff: Correct.
Felix (Scott): Okay. But we're inside, we're outta the dam at least. So that's, yeah,
Star Master Jeff: you're inside. A lot of the windows are blown out. The doors are off their hinges, but you are inside and you're dry.
Felix (Scott): Okay. I think that I'll have to do [00:13:00]
Star Master Jeff: so no campfire.
Star Master Jeff: As Robert Ross makes his way up to the fifth story and pulls out his high powered binoculars, go ahead and give me a notice int So as the sun is setting over the city of Whaa on the planet of w Whaa, you move your. TL three binoculars across as much of the city as you can see before other buildings begin to block it.
Star Master Jeff: You are in one of the taller buildings of the area, however, you're only up on floor five. So you look over the lower buildings and around the taller buildings where you can, time passes. You're up there for a couple hours as Felix is downstairs sitting at camp and everyone is enjoying a, a spartan dinner of whatever rashes you have on you.
Star Master Jeff: It's not long before you start to see patrols. Seems to be irregular. Not on a particular like timing. It's not like it's every hour, but you do see 2, 3, 4 men at a [00:14:00] time walking by with flashlights, brandishing guns. So I
Robert (Doja): come downstairs y'all. I saw quite a few patrols coming this way. You might have seen some lights.
Robert (Doja): I suggest we make our way up. One more story. Take a position where we can ambush 'em if they come and control us. Y'all ready to move?
Felix (Scott): Yeah, that sounds right to me. Robert. Good eyes. Yeah, we saw some lights go by here, so I think it'll be good to get up before
Thorne (Brian): thorn's, like already mostly asleep, so someone's gonna have to stir him.
Felix (Scott): Don, Hey, come on. Hey.
Thorne (Brian): What?
Felix (Scott): No, it's time
Thorne (Brian): to, time to
Felix (Scott): go? Yeah. Up. Up. One more forward. Then you can go back to sleep. Worry bud. Man.
Robert (Doja): Thorn, don't you even worry about it. I carry him like a big old baby. A Hailey, I can't carry your ass upstairs. Sorry bro. I got
Star Master Jeff: it. I'm,
Felix (Scott): yeah. Me? Yeah. Me neither.
Thorne (Brian): Oh, thank you, Robert.
Thorne (Brian): That's perfect. I take one credit and I like put it in his like [00:15:00] chest pocket. That that's for your trouble is my friend.
Star Master Jeff: So you make your way up and no campfire still, everyone beds down for the night. Robert ever vigilant takes out his binoculars and sweeps the landscape once again. And it's a good thing you moved because in the twilight hours of the night, as we get towards 3:00 AM a patrol goes by, that actually enters your building and looks around on the first floor.
Star Master Jeff: You can hear voices echoing. They don't simply come in and leave. They weren't searching. They hang out. It seems that they've chosen this. Derelict building as their clubhouse for the night. They're probably trying to avoid guard duty as much as they can from one floor up. You hear their raucous laughter, you hear the clinking of bottles, you hear the swears, the dirty jokes, the fight that breaks out.
Star Master Jeff: And as [00:16:00] dawn breaks, you hear them get up and leave. Robert, you see them outta the window and follow them with the binoculars as they move off. It's the east stumbling drunk. If you hadn't moved there may have been a nasty fight this night. Good job y'all.
Felix (Scott): Yeah, thanks Robert. You really saved our ass on that one.
Felix (Scott): And you know Robert, I just wanna say you didn't need that bionic eye to see that you did. Well man, thanks.
Robert (Doja): It only cost me a million dollars. Fuck you Nexus Corp.
Felix (Scott): Yeah, man. Fuck Nexus Corp. Fuck Nexus Corp. Yeah. Fuck
Robert (Doja): Nexus
Star Master Jeff: Corp.
Felix (Scott): All right. Now, what do you say? We get on with the job.
Star Master Jeff: So you get up and you begin to make your way back out to the street in the light of a new day.
Star Master Jeff: So you have a little bit of a distance to go and you'll arrive at the switching station that Dr. Ola Voss told you about.
Haleyy (Stephanie): I would like guys, if we're all on board to move slowly and use the buildings for cover. [00:17:00]
Thorne (Brian): Yeah, basically, exactly what I was gonna say was we should keep flow and quiet and you know, keep
Star Master Jeff: our eyes peeled.
Star Master Jeff: Okay, so the four of you move out into the light of a new day. The dawn on this planet is beautiful. Instead of the rich pinks and purples of older earth, you find yourself looking at the greens and yellows of a foreign land. The different mixture of gases in the air, although it's still breathable and sometimes smelling a bit foul, create a beautiful mix for the nearby star to reflect off of.
Star Master Jeff: The air is crisp. The fog from the previous night burns away as the sun of this world crests over the horizon. After a kilometer of moving your way carefully through the streets, you find yourself looking at the switching station, an unassuming building amidst a block of other buildings. The station is not very large.
Star Master Jeff: It is simply [00:18:00] two stories tall with a double door on the front, on the roof. You can see a guardian of work rifle strapped securely to his back. He's sitting on a chair looking out at the sunrise. He seems to be appreciating it. The door is closed.
Robert (Doja): Are there any buildings in the near vicinity where I could get a level view of him?
Star Master Jeff: Absolutely. Yeah. A lot of the buildings in the area are, two stories are taller.
Robert (Doja): Now, what do y'all think? Uh, do y'all want me to scale one of these and uh, try to take 'em out?
Felix (Scott): We don't know how many more are inside, right? No idea. I wonder if there's an access point I can get in. Maybe get a view of the inside getting to the security system.
Thorne (Brian): I love that. We just can't risk being spotted. It looks right now he's not paying attention, but
Felix (Scott): yeah. Is there a computer terminal or anything like on the front of the building?
Star Master Jeff: No, there's a double door closed. There is a keypad. [00:19:00] And then one side of the building is pressed up against the building next to it.
Star Master Jeff: The other side there is a narrow alleyway that leads off to the back. There are no windows or anything else on the front of this two story building.
Thorne (Brian): And he's facing towards the building that it's right up against or the alleyway building
Star Master Jeff: he's facing out towards the street at an angle away from you as he is watching the sunrise over poa.
Star Master Jeff: Okay,
Thorne (Brian): so we could like scoot towards the other building possibly.
Star Master Jeff: Yeah, he's facing away from the alleyway at a 45 degree angle.
Thorne (Brian): If we move fast, we could get into that alley before he sees us, and then maybe we go ahead with the Roberts plan.
Felix (Scott): Sounds good to me.
Thorne (Brian): We'll follow your lead.
Star Master Jeff: Okay. If that's the plan, I need everyone to roll a sneak decks.
Felix (Scott): Well, guys, it's gonna be bad.
Star Master Jeff: I'm sure everyone is excellent at that.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Totally.
Star Master Jeff: Ah, that's terrible. Okay. So three of you sneak forward quite adeptly. [00:20:00] The fourth of you, Felix sneaks forward what seems to be loudly but isn't that loud. And this guy is two stories up and distracted as he, as he is. He crying.
Star Master Jeff: He's looking at the beautiful sunset single tear Co down his rough cheek and into his thick beard. He wipes it away and then nervously looks around. No, nobody saw him cry at the beautiful sunrise. Nobody noticed his vulnerability as the four of you sneak into the alleyway on the southern side of the building.
Robert (Doja): Felix, I've been telling you, you gotta oil them these up. I mean, we've been talk since bi. That's Biox 1 0 1 anyway, I think. Do y'all see a terminal up over here? Do you see anything that we might be able to tap into?
Felix (Scott): Listen, these legs are not my fault. The new ER military fucked it up when they put 'em on me.
Felix (Scott): I've been trying to fix 'em. You know that Robert?
Thorne (Brian): I can get you a great deal on some WD 40.
Felix (Scott): Yeah, it doesn't work, man. You know, I've [00:21:00] tried. It's a, it's a sore spot. We're here, we're safe.
Star Master Jeff: There are no ports here in the alleyway, but as you move your way back to the rear side of the building, you do find that there is a rear window, but there is no port and there's also a ventilation, very small ventilation hole.
Star Master Jeff: Probably no larger than a child could fit through. Yeah. Felix, would you like ies?
Felix (Scott): Man, I'm not that small. The window. Oh, to the window. Oh, oh yeah, yeah. Sorry.
Star Master Jeff: I didn't fully explain. The back of the building is an equally as skinny alleyway, so the side of the building and the back of the building are just alleyways that are like four feet wide
Felix (Scott): and so they're just buildings all around basically.
Star Master Jeff: Yeah. Mega city life. Yep. Hashtag it's buildings all the way down. Oh,
Felix (Scott): like, I mean, Robert or Hailey, if you, if one of you wanna gimme a boost up?
Haleyy (Stephanie): Yep.
Felix (Scott): I can look in that window, see what I see.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Yep. I'll give you a boost.
Felix (Scott): All [00:22:00] right.
Star Master Jeff: Okay. So Hailey, I'm not gonna have you roll because you're strong af. Mm-hmm. You effortlessly pick up Felix onto your shoulders and then just cheerleader lift him.
Star Master Jeff: He's just standing on your palms. You just lift him up, just shoulder pressing right over your head. Mm-hmm.
Felix (Scott): I got metal robo legs.
Star Master Jeff: That's right. Yes, you do. Little buddy, don't you?
Haleyy (Stephanie): No problem here.
Star Master Jeff: No problem. Hailey. Boom shoulder, military shoulder presses you up to the second story window where Felix. You actually have to crouch.
Star Master Jeff: Otherwise you're gonna be way too visible. So when you look through this top window, you can see that there is an empty room in there, but there is a open door that leads out into what appears to be a hallway terminating and a staircase that goes off to the left down.
Felix (Scott): All right, y'all, there's a room up here.
Felix (Scott): It's empty, but I don't know if it's gonna be empty for long. Hold on. Lemme check something. I'm gonna check [00:23:00] around the edges of the window that I can see if there's any like. Sensors that would harm if the window was opened.
Star Master Jeff: Okay, roll Notice wisdom
Felix (Scott): eight.
Star Master Jeff: Okay. With an eight, you trace your fingertips along the edges of the window while looking inside as much as you can through the paned glass.
Star Master Jeff: You see no wires, electrical or otherwise. You see no sensors, no electronics, nothing that could possibly be tripped by you opening it.
Felix (Scott): All right, everybody. All right. I'm gonna pop this bad boy open to see if we can get inside. I,
Thorne (Brian): no, I,
Haleyy (Stephanie): mm-hmm. I
Felix (Scott): can't see you. I'm on the shoulders of a giant.
Haleyy (Stephanie): I lift my arms and give him a double thumbs up.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Oh,
Felix (Scott): hold on. Thumbs.
Star Master Jeff: Push him higher. You're just like, Hey, thumbs up. She just fucking chucks you up to the roof. Can you take me Hi? Yeah. We're gonna get copyright strike now. Great. Oh, that helps. Wanna leave? All right.
Felix (Scott): I'm gonna try to [00:24:00] open the window.
Star Master Jeff: Eight slides open effortlessly.
Felix (Scott): All right. I'm going to, as quietly as I can, pull myself into the room.
Star Master Jeff: You've already rolled a sneak check previously, so I'm gonna continue to use that. You pull yourself into the room and slowly let yourself down onto the floor. You can hear two voices coming from outside of the room, quite a distance away. You're not sure if it's on the same floor or on the lower floor.
Felix (Scott): All right, what else do I see in this room?
Star Master Jeff: This room appears to be a storage room of sorts. There are several different cabinets, all of them closed, and there's also a bunch of shelving along the southern wall, but all of the shelves are completely bare. Probably rated or just simply destroyed over time.
Felix (Scott): All right, I look down. All right. It's clear. [00:25:00] Thorn, can you get up here too?
Thorne (Brian): I look at Hailey as though preparing for a boost. I'm not quite as light as Felix, I don't think, but
Haleyy (Stephanie): Oh, doesn't hurt to try.
Felix (Scott): We're probably about the same 'cause of my robo legs.
Star Master Jeff: What's your strength? Haley
Haleyy (Stephanie): Fifteen's just Christ.
Star Master Jeff: You can lift tho.
Star Master Jeff: No problem.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Yep.
Star Master Jeff: Thorn's. Like, I'm not as light as Felix, so it's gonna be a pro. And then you lift him as though he were a baby. Mm-hmm. Thorn's like a little husky. So I'm very
Haleyy (Stephanie): strong. Yeah. And very wisdom. He's, he's
Star Master Jeff: like a fat baby. And you lift him up, you lift up the fat baby that is thorn and you shoulder press him up to the window.
Felix (Scott): I help him in
Star Master Jeff: and I crawl in.
Felix (Scott): Come on. All right. Thorn over here.
Thorne (Brian): What is it?
Felix (Scott): How are we gonna get the other two up?
Thorne (Brian): I don't know. Same way, but we'll pull. I,
Felix (Scott): I guess I laid out the window. Robert, can you get up here too?
Robert (Doja): Yeah, but here's the real question. How are we gonna get Hailey up? I think she's gonna have to stand on my shoulders.
Robert (Doja): I jump and she just vaults up [00:26:00] in that thing. God damn, girl. Wait a minute. Hold on. I have to read you. I don't think,
Star Master Jeff: I don't think I can do that.
Thorne (Brian): No, I'm pretty sure she has a 10 foot standing jump. That's reasonable, right? Yeah. I don't
Star Master Jeff: know. I don't think, well, lemme just calculate real quick and no way in hell okay.
Star Master Jeff: Nope.
Star Master Jeff: Yeah. But uh, you can lift Robert Ross up mm-hmm. If his afro's not too heavy.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Yep.
Star Master Jeff: All I'm saying is she can definitely dunk.
Robert (Doja): And my question is how we're gonna get her up in there. I think she's gonna have to stand on my shoulders and then pull my ass in.
Haleyy (Stephanie): It's true. That might be the best way. Yeah. Let's do that.
Star Master Jeff: Robert, what is your strength? I'm sitting at a 13. Okay. And Haley's a, a big dog.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Haley's big. Yeah.
Star Master Jeff: Okay, I'm gonna need you to roll exert. Okay. Wow. Nice. Great roll. Okay. So Hailey Clumsily climbs onto your shoulders and your thighs of granite. Just absorb [00:27:00] the immense weight that's being placed upon your fairly skinny frame.
Robert (Doja): Girl, don't touch the afro. Do not touch the afro. No, no, no, no. You, no.
Star Master Jeff: What do you, girl? Stop it. Stop it. And then you shoulder press her as high up as you can. Just grabbing onto her the backs of her knees and just w wavering her up as high as you can. Hailey, you're able to just barely grab with your fingertips onto the window frame.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Mm-hmm. Oh, I'm actually pretty impressed. But
Star Master Jeff: so you grab onto the window frame and your grip breaks the cheap plastic of the winter frame as you grip it and pull yourself in and clumsily fall to the ground. And I'm still using everyone's previous sneak checks. You hear two voices downstairs, everyone can hear them, kinda blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Star Master Jeff: And when Hailey clumsily climbs through the window, the talking stops.
Felix (Scott): We freeze. I freeze.
Haleyy (Stephanie): I freeze,
Felix (Scott): freeze. [00:28:00] I un unclipped my laser pistol from my belt.
Star Master Jeff: I need the three of you to roll notice wisdom. That's not bad. Okay? 8, 7, 8. So all three of you hear hushed whispers and then the creek of footsteps climbing the stairs,
Felix (Scott): and there's nowhere to hide in this room.
Star Master Jeff: It's just a bunch of like skinny storage cabinets that are like lined up against the walls. No closets, no bed to hide under, nothing like that.
Felix (Scott): I would like to try to get behind one of the storage cabinets so I'm not seen. Mm-hmm. If they come into this room.
Star Master Jeff: I think outta the three people in this room, you're the only one that's small enough to do that.
Star Master Jeff: And I think there's only one spot to do that. So you go into the corner and you wedge yourself between two storage cabinets and hide from view of people coming in through the door. But if they go all the way into the room, they'll be able to see you. Yep.
Felix (Scott): And I've got my laser [00:29:00] pistol at the ready,
Star Master Jeff: uh, thorn.
Star Master Jeff: And Hailey, what are you thinking?
Thorne (Brian): So I was thinking we get on either side of the door. You know, I'll get on the side that, does the door look like it swings open on a hinge or slides open the door's wide open. Oh, it's open? Yeah. Okay. So just get on our other side of the doorway and that's the best we can do.
Thorne (Brian): And I'm just gonna quickly, I don't even know if there's time to stick my head out the window and tell Robert what's happening. I'm not going to, I'm actually just gonna go up to the door
Star Master Jeff: and the door does swing open. It swings open away from the side. Felix is on.
Thorne (Brian): Okay. Well I'd like to be behind it.
Star Master Jeff: Okay, so you go and you tuck yourself behind the door and you can see between the crack of the door and the wall,
Thorne (Brian): and I kind of just gesture for Hailey.
Thorne (Brian): Yeah.
Star Master Jeff: And Hailey, you're on the other side and full view of anyone that takes even one inch of a step inside of the room, they're gonna see you. Robert, you have no idea what's going on. Your friends have completely disappeared. I'm just whistling
Robert (Doja): Dixie over [00:30:00] here. Y'all, I'm trying not, I'm trying to keep my cool, but I deeply wanna be like, Hey, y'all, how's it going?
Robert (Doja): But I, but I don't because, whew. I, I'm cool. I'm cool.
Star Master Jeff: Okay. But here we go. You hear the creeks of the footsteps as they approach the doorway. Haley, you're the only person that really matters right now. Can you go ahead and roll a sneak intelligence?
Haleyy (Stephanie): So what I imagine, 'cause I'm like, regardless of how the sneak goes, I'm not betting on it going well, but I'm preparing to, 'cause I have my revolver, but planning on grabbing one of the guys as soon as he comes through, shooting the other one or, and then punching some order of things.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Okay. So sneak
Star Master Jeff: So yeah, sneak intelligence because it's not about. Moving quietly. It's about understanding eye lines. [00:31:00]
Haleyy (Stephanie): What? Wow.
Star Master Jeff: Okay, so you with a seven? Mm-hmm. Tuck yourself into the corner the best you can. You're like, well, if he moves here, what are the chances that they approach the door from this angle or this angle?
Star Master Jeff: And you move yourself and you squish up against the wall of the storage cabinet next to you as best you can, so that no one will see you until you're ready to pounce. Everyone else is completely hidden, unless these two men. Walk into the room like full tilt and go all the way to the center of the room.
Haleyy (Stephanie): So am I able to like aim my revolver right now to like, once they're enter the room, like it'll be at the right height to like shoot them?
Star Master Jeff: Ooh, that's a great question.
Haleyy (Stephanie): I would like to shoot one of them basically in the head and then immediately punch the other one.
Felix (Scott): Brutal. There's a hit role modifier of a plus two for shooting from a prepared firing position.
Star Master Jeff: Oh.
Star Master Jeff: Great. Okay. So yeah, so you're using a prepared firing position, so that'll give you a plus two. So you aim your gun at what you assume is gonna be head height. Yep. [00:32:00] And you wait, you hear them walking closer and closer. You hear a hurried whisper,
Felix (Scott): wait, was it over here? No quiet.
Star Master Jeff: And you hear them move closer and closer.
Star Master Jeff: And then you see a face as a man slowly sticks his head into the room and locks eyes with you.
Haleyy (Stephanie): And I shoot.
Star Master Jeff: Roll the hit. Don't forget your plus two. A man has brown hair and blue eyes. He has stubble. He has very kind eyes. You think he might be a, you think he might be a Scorpio? In fact, in another life, you and him may have connected on an emotional level.
Haleyy (Stephanie): I think in another life I would've hit him. Wait. I'm a warrior. I can re-roll this.
Felix (Scott): No, you can make it hit automatically.
Haleyy (Stephanie): I make it hit automatically.
Star Master Jeff: Okay. So the man with the kind eyes in one dimension would have lived because you [00:33:00] rolled an eight, but you decided that this man who has a family and kids, he must die.
Star Master Jeff: So you use your warrior ability to make sure that you murder this man. You deal, oh my God, six points of damage. You blow his head clean off. With the, the overly large sidearm that you carry, for some reason, an old world bullet courses through his temple out the other side of his head and penetrates straight through the door.
Star Master Jeff: That thorn is hiding behind at kitty corner and thorn. The bullet embeds in the wall right next to your own head, as the man on the other side collapses to the ground and in the hallway you hear a startled gaff. And then you hear thudding footsteps as a man begins to run away.
Felix (Scott): All right. Alright, I hear, Hey, it was gunshot.
Felix (Scott): And I stick my head out from behind the filing cabinet to see what's happening and hear the guy moving down the stairs. And as I see the body fall on the floor, I step out to pursue. [00:34:00]
Star Master Jeff: Okay? So you step out past Haley and you see a heavyset man. Trip and fall at the top of the staircase and begin to try to scramble head first down the staircase.
Star Master Jeff: His upper half is still visible though.
Felix (Scott): I would like to shoot upon him.
Star Master Jeff: Oh my God, you guys are ruthless. What if these are just normal people?
Felix (Scott): Well, you know, they probably are. That's actually a question. Are they wearing the, the armor of the guardians of the or? The great work people.
Star Master Jeff: What if I said no, feel a little bad,
Felix (Scott): I would probably still be shooting him.
Haleyy (Stephanie): And for a penny and for a pound? Yeah.
Star Master Jeff: What if I said they were wearing the robes of aesthetic monks?
Felix (Scott): Well, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do. They're only humans. Okay,
Star Master Jeff: but, but I mean that's all theoretical. They are wearing the armor. But I just wanted you guys to question your morality because you are awful people.
Star Master Jeff: You're just going around killing, well, who am I running this game for? I'm learning so much about you. [00:35:00]
Felix (Scott): You
Star Master Jeff: give me a gun. I've never imagined that Steph would say, and then I wait for the man to walk in so I can shoot him in the face.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Look, Hailey with two Y's has his. Has some skills and they are like violent.
Felix (Scott): Robert's gonna be so mad he missed all this. No,
Star Master Jeff: Steph is still controlling Hailey and Steph is more psychotic than I thought.
Robert (Doja): My immediate reaction to when the gunshots go off is to run out into the clearest shot I have of the guy sitting and watching the sunset, magically enjoying life and shoot that motherfucker in the face.
Robert (Doja): Oh my God. What is wrong with you guys? Geez, you guys with the face.
Star Master Jeff: Felix and Robert both give a role to hit. I need Robert's role to hit to be at a minus two because he is two stories down. Shooting up at an angle. Felix, you're just a flat. Oh, actually Felix, you get a plus two because he's prone.
Felix (Scott): Yeah, I do.
Star Master Jeff: All right. Bunch of fucking psychopaths. [00:36:00] Oh my God. Rod
Robert (Doja): Robert. Wow. Oh my God. I look up at that guy and I'm so deeply sorry. I know you're enjoying the sunset, but I run up out there and fire 8 22 with my combat rifle with 16 points of damage.
Star Master Jeff: And as you run out, the man hears the thudding of your footsteps, and he looks down tears still in his eyes from viewing the beautiful sunrise just moment before.
Star Master Jeff: And the look on his face is, oh, who is this? Will this be a new friend to enjoy life with?
Star Master Jeff: And then.
Star Master Jeff: You send him to the infinite black,
Felix (Scott): you're killing me with this,
Star Master Jeff: you could have killed three people with that shot. Meanwhile, inside Felix takes aim with a [00:37:00] plus two, which puts him at a 18, which hits the prone slightly husky man, that's scrambling to get down. The staircase and plants a bullet into his spine.
Star Master Jeff: The man screams in pain and begins to roll down the stairs. Sudden heavily. He continues his bloodied crawl, screaming. Oh,
Felix (Scott): oh no, please, no.
Star Master Jeff: Oh my God, they're so noisy.
Felix (Scott): Hailey Thorn. Little help.
Star Master Jeff: By they do you mean people? Yes. They're just people.
Haleyy (Stephanie): I will try to shoot at this guy
Star Master Jeff: Thorn starts to come out from behind the door.
Star Master Jeff: Hailey, you shove it closed on his face. Again, as you walk back out into the hallway, lean over the railing and take a pot shot. Go ahead and roll down. Oh my God, that's just what I imagined. Yeah. These oranges just behind this door in the kitty corner, [00:38:00]
Star Master Jeff: and he keeps trying to come out. People
Star Master Jeff: keep just closing him back in.
Star Master Jeff: Oh man. So an 11 is gonna hit this prone guy, one story down from you. Boom. Four points of damage your pistol echoes. Through the switching station as you put this poor husky man out of his misery, oh, above you. You hear a body thud against the roof, and then you hear Robert say something. You think it might've been like yazi.
Star Master Jeff: You're not sure though.
Thorne (Brian): Well, I, I actually wasn't gonna give Chase. I was just gonna check the possessions of the guy dead in the floor in front of me here.
Star Master Jeff: So for the third time, you attempt to exit out from behind the kitty corner.
Thorne (Brian): Yeah, I first looked with a grimace at the bullet that went through the door and nearly killed me as well.
Thorne (Brian): And then I, I step out finally from behind the door Now that all of my friends are out of the way, and I just check this guy's pockets.
Star Master Jeff: So I'm gonna fast forward and assume that you guys search all three of them. [00:39:00] You find. Three rifles in the same disrepair as the two guys from previous, so you may or may not want those.
Star Master Jeff: They're fairly cheap and they don't work very well. They actually have a chance to misfire. That's pretty high. You also find 37 credits if someone wants to write that down. And I do. On the man on the roof, you find a family heirloom memento, and he has the same sort of rifle. He has the same sort of armor.
Star Master Jeff: He has a couple credits on him, 37 total across all three of them, and he also has a picture of an incredibly faded, wrinkled picture of a woman, perhaps his mother, perhaps a long lost love. It's hard to know for sure. No way of knowing
Thorne (Brian): now.
Felix (Scott): Well, while Thorn is looting, um, I do wanna make sure that there's nobody else in the building, so I am working with Hailey to secure the area.
Felix (Scott): And also letting Robert [00:40:00] in.
Star Master Jeff: Yeah. You open the front door and Robert's able to walk right in. You look around the switching station, which is comprised of three rooms on the first floor and two rooms on the second floor. There's no other guardians in here at all. And you find the computer terminal that controls the switching station.
Felix (Scott): All right. Let's finish what we came here to do.
Star Master Jeff: So you are denied access 'cause you don't have the access card.
Felix (Scott): Oh, she should have given us the access card. Well, I mean, there's no problem for a guy like me. I will attempt to hack in.
Star Master Jeff: Okay, great role. It's a fairly unguarded utility in this like municipality.
Star Master Jeff: There's really no security put on it at all. Besides what you end up finding out is an incredibly common password. You're like, oh man, how am I gonna log in? Then you just type in admin, admin, and then you're in. Now you have access to the switching station.
Felix (Scott): Classic down. All right. I look for a way to [00:41:00] repoint the vents to the Omnitech Holdings facility.
Star Master Jeff: Mm-hmm.
Felix (Scott): And then basically sabotage the system to shut down so it can't be changed again.
Star Master Jeff: So yeah, that's no problem at all. You point the methane pipes back to routing towards that portion of the mega city, and then you disable the controls as best you can. Now you're not positive, but. You think someone could probably reactivate them if the computer terminal is still standing?
Thorne (Brian): You're saying if the terminal wasn't here, they wouldn't be able to.
Felix (Scott): Yeah, but I guess that's true.
Thorne (Brian): I just glance at Hailey.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Yeah. Sounds pretty simple to me. I'll punch it.
Star Master Jeff: For Hailey, you walk up and just give it the business. Yep. You just punch the hell out of the screen. Keyboard. Various hard drives as far as you can tell,
Haleyy (Stephanie): thinking to myself, finally, I get to do this, which is my favorite thing.
Star Master Jeff: Those
Thorne (Brian): drives weren't that hard. Punched right through 'em.
Star Master Jeff: You punch a light switch that's nearby 'cause you're not [00:42:00] really sure what's connected to this computer. You like punch like an I beam that's just supporting like the place you're like Yeah. D it
Felix (Scott): Hailey. It's just you already got it. It's just that.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Okay. Alright. Alright.
Felix (Scott): That right there.
Haleyy (Stephanie): Got it? Yep. Thanks. That was, that was it? Yep.
Star Master Jeff: So all that's left is for you to go back to Misrata four and see Dr. Avara Vos. But we're out of time for tonight, so we'll have to continue that adventure another time.
Star Master Jeff: Well, that's it for tonight, but before we go, let's take a moment to hear the thoughts and feelings of our crew about tonight's adventure.
Robert (Doja): Well, whew. Lemme tell you, this planet smells like farts, but actually been a real, uh, uh, good experience. We got rested up and you know what? Hopefully me shooting that guy in the face doesn't turn bad for
Haleyy (Stephanie): us.
Haleyy (Stephanie): You know what? This all started off in a pretty, pretty rough place for me. You know, I was like bleeding [00:43:00] out on the ground, but started looking up when surprisingly, Dr. Vos offered us a pretty good deal and was just really glad that for once a fight ended up going my way and making some contemporary. Out of a, uh, computer terminal.
Felix (Scott): Well, we met that Voss, well met is a strong word, and, you know, I didn't really like her insinuations that I didn't do a good enough job checking out the scapegoat. Like I, I mean, I am more than capable and there was nothing, any, anyway, now she sent us on some mission route, some methane around, which, you know, Hayley got to work out some of her frustrations on technology, I suppose.
Felix (Scott): So it all ended up all right.
Thorne (Brian): I knew this Dr. Voss was gonna be a bit difficult, but I was hoping that she would just come along without too much trouble. Either way, it doesn't seem like there were any witnesses. Now all we gotta do is see if we can actually get the scapegoat outta here. Thanks
Star Master Jeff: for listening, everyone.
Star Master Jeff: This has been another awesome adventure from. [00:44:00] Dark, dark star. Star
Star Master Jeff: who into space.
Star Master Jeff: Whoosh.
Star Master Jeff: Hey, and just one more thing before you go, I'd like to give out a huge cosmic thank you to Brad, our first and founding patron on patreon.com. You're keeping the lights on the mic's live and the story chugging along. Thanks so much, bud. We couldn't do it without you. If you'd like to be included in this monthly shoutout, please check out our membership options on patreon.com/darkstar Venture cast.