Powering the Nautilus Spiral

Mar 3

Sibylen Exosite, Part IV

Deep in the Sibylen Exosite, the crew faces two of the greatest challenges a party can face: a 30-foot drop and a puzzle. After Hailey tests the limits of "superhero landings," the party discovers the mysterious Nautilus Room.

Restoring power to this level is their only way forward, but in an abandoned alien quarantine facility, "turning the lights on" will come with a price.

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

[00:00:00] Star Master Jeff: Welcome to the Dark Star Adventure Cast, where the stars are cold. The void is endless and dangers lurk in every shadow out here. Trust is a gamble, and survival is never guaranteed on tonight's adventure cast.
[00:00:18] Haleyy: Yeah, jumping and punching. I'm gonna find some joy here.
[00:00:23] Felix: Oh, you're speaking my language. Lemme take a look at those.
[00:00:25] That's your
[00:00:26] Thorne: language.
[00:00:27] Robert: Amy. Look good. When you back that thing up, you are fine. Look a robot, when you back that thing up,
[00:00:33] Thorne: it actually took the stuff that I heard you say and it made me forget it.
[00:00:40] Robert: You are welcome.
[00:00:41] Star Master Jeff: So sit back and enjoy. This is the Dark Star Adventure cast.
[00:00:54] The crew of the scapegoat is deep within an alien quarantine building, long since [00:01:00] abandoned and covered by the sands of S Sibil and recently discovered by Froggy's Zeno archeologist friend Vera Mere moments ago, they encountered a deadly multi-armed machine intent on their destruction and narrowly avoided that outcome.
[00:01:13] With good aim and even better teamwork, they now find themselves. Is in a room of goo vats, a large vertical tube at the back of the hall leads downward. The tube is caked with residual goo and a large crack along its side hints at its former purpose.
[00:01:30] Felix: All right, so I lean over and I shine my light down the tube.
[00:01:34] I turn around to the team, well, looks like it's the only way forward is down 'cause we got a whole nother four down there.
[00:01:42] Star Master Jeff: Froggy stops his frantic pacing for a moment and he says, great. That's, that's great. But you know, I was kind of thinking that it's probably time that we leave, right guys? I don't,
[00:01:54] Robert: I don't see any other exits, y'all,
[00:01:56] Thorne: unless Felix wants to hit the goo pool again.
[00:01:59] I don't [00:02:00] really see any other option. Frog. Yeah.
[00:02:02] Haleyy: What do you think, Felix? Wanna swim with that monster again?
[00:02:06] Thorne: That's
[00:02:06] Felix: tempting as it is to get back in that beautiful, beautiful world. Uh, I'm good for now. Thanks,
[00:02:14] Star Master Jeff: Vera. Walks up and puts a comforting hand on Froggy's. Shoulder and she says, I'm sure that was the worst of it.
[00:02:20] Froggy. I mean, how much security could there even be in a hospital anyways?
[00:02:26] Robert: Yep. In my experience, um, quite a bit,
[00:02:30] Star Master Jeff: Voss or blights up from where it's perched on Felix's backpack, it says,
[00:02:35] Felix: I'm more worried about your oxygen. I'm safely back here on the ship as we've already established
[00:02:39] Star Master Jeff: multiple times I'm on the ship, but your oxygen tanks will run out eventually.
[00:02:45] How are your levels? Are your tanks getting. Dry yet,
[00:02:48] Haleyy: yet reporting in here at 85%.
[00:02:51] Thorne: Yeah, mine looks to be at about the same. Uh, that's not bad for a couple of hours of exploring. We should be fine.
[00:02:57] Star Master Jeff: Dr. Voss. I'm surprised you're still in contact with [00:03:00] us through the walls of this place. My comm's been dead since we got in here.
[00:03:04] Oh, uh, yes. Uh, well about that.
[00:03:06] Felix: Uh, so the uplink from the goat to our comms. As you know, Voss is made special by Omnitech for these long range missions. And boy, you could probably punch a signal right through a damn mountain. So a little bit of the sand and stone is. Well within its operating parameters,
[00:03:19] Star Master Jeff: huh?
[00:03:20] Must be nice.
[00:03:21] Haleyy: Hailey's standing next to Felix and just looking down the tube and all of this nasty goo that is in it, guys, I have a really bad feeling about where this goes.
[00:03:33] Thorne: Are Hailey. No choice. The doors are closed and we're slowly running outta oxygen, so it's forward or nothing.
[00:03:40] Robert: Hailey, how, how deep you think this thing is?
[00:03:43] Haleyy: Honestly, I can't see the bottom and um. We can throw rocks.
[00:03:49] Robert: You know, I love throwing some rocks.
[00:03:51] Haleyy: Okay.
[00:03:52] Robert: Okay. I was a rock skipping champion. Yeah, I think we could absolutely, uh, throw, throw something [00:04:00] down there.
[00:04:01] Star Master Jeff: So you look around and you grab one of the tiny annihilation bots. 'cause suspiciously, there's no other debris in this entire place.
[00:04:07] Whatever makes up these walls, floors and ceiling is not something that breaks down into pebbles. And when you huck it down there, like you just full on, just chuck it as hard as you can and it's like half a second. It's like
[00:04:18] dinging.
[00:04:20] Robert: Oh yeah. Hailey, you hear that? I hear that. Yep. What, what do do you, do you think it might be a little, uh, think it might be jump.
[00:04:28] Haleyy: Everything's comfortable. You juju say you're gonna jump
[00:04:33] Thorne: down there.
[00:04:33] Haleyy: We're still putting the plan together.
[00:04:35] Felix: Oh my God. We have rope. You guys used it to pull me outta the goo. Remember we have rope.
[00:04:41] Haleyy: So Felix, you're volunteering to go first.
[00:04:44] Felix: That's why we have you and Robert Hailey. You were the, the fighters.
[00:04:48] You go first, but thorn and I can help lower one of you down.
[00:04:52] Thorne: Better than jumping maybe, maybe one of you lower yourselves, lower each other even down into the hole and give us a good look [00:05:00] around. You got a light like Felix's. Anybody else got a light? I think we all have lights. I brought the rope.
[00:05:05] Robert: I got rope.
[00:05:06] End of list. Um, I'm happy y y'all lower, lower me on down and um, uh, uh, strap it torch to my face and we'll see what happens.
[00:05:15] Thorne: Sounds good that this period.
[00:05:17] Star Master Jeff: Thorn and Felix, you know, they both have flashlights in their backpacks because you packed their backpacks for them, because they cannot be trusted to pack their backpacks.
[00:05:28] Felix: You both have lights in your bags, all right? They're in the middle pouch, right next to the protein pills, so you can just get outta the light, tie the rope, and go down the hole.
[00:05:39] Star Master Jeff: Frogger says, wait, wait. You brought protein pills.
[00:05:42] Robert: Froggie, I will hurl you and your cat down this damn hole.
[00:05:46] Star Master Jeff: You don't even like the protein pills, Robert.
[00:05:48] Just give them to me. I'm hungry.
[00:05:51] Robert: Do you, are you going down, are you gonna, are you gonna rib it, rib it down this hole? Mm-hmm.
[00:05:56] Star Master Jeff: No, and that's, that's racist.
[00:05:59] Felix: Here. You gonna have one [00:06:00] of mine. Froggie. Well, they get, do all this here. I take off my bag and set it down and I give 'em some of the protein pills.
[00:06:06] Star Master Jeff: Thank you, Felix. Was that so hard? Robert Felix, don't
[00:06:10] Robert: feed the animals.
[00:06:11] Star Master Jeff: I'm a human.
[00:06:12] Thorne: You nebula, brains are wasting oxygen. Would you please just get down there?
[00:06:16] Star Master Jeff: Froggy sticks out his tongue from behind his transparent oxygen mask.
[00:06:19] Haleyy: I heard that.
[00:06:20] Star Master Jeff: And then he flicks off Robert and walks away.
[00:06:23] Robert: I'm trying to be the bigger man here.
[00:06:24] Hailey, what were you saying? I
[00:06:26] Haleyy: think we're ready to go and keep moving forward. Really wanna get out of this place? Yeah.
[00:06:32] Robert: Lower me on down.
[00:06:34] Star Master Jeff: Okay, so you get tied off and you're being lowered down.
[00:06:37] Robert: In my mind I am repelling and they are ideally three. But I mean, it's Haley, so I mean, girl could probably solo belay my ass down.
[00:06:49] Thorne: Yeah. She's the counterweight. And your feet are on the wall.
[00:06:53] Star Master Jeff: Exactly. You know what's funny is whether your first level or 20th level, the logistics of how to climb up and down a wall [00:07:00] always takes 10 minutes for every player in every game that I've ever DMed for.
[00:07:06] Felix: I kind of think jumping might been. The right choice.
[00:07:07] I don't know.
[00:07:08] Robert: Greatest puzzle ever in d and d and any other T-T-R-P-G is a 20 foot gap.
[00:07:14] Star Master Jeff: Do you wanna take up 20 minutes of time, 20 foot gap? One extra minute per foot of gap
[00:07:18] Felix: suspiciously mundane
[00:07:19] Thorne: door.
[00:07:20] Star Master Jeff: So I need Hailey to roll exert strength and I need Robert to roll exert decks.
[00:07:26] Robert: Gave me the deck roll.
[00:07:27] Yes sir.
[00:07:29] Star Master Jeff: Isn't that your jam?
[00:07:30] Robert: That is indeed my jam.
[00:07:32] Haleyy: Ho, ho, ho. This is
[00:07:33] Star Master Jeff: my
[00:07:34] Haleyy: day. I rolled a 12.
[00:07:35] Star Master Jeff: God damn. Okay, so we have a seven from Robert Ross, which beats the DC of six, and we have a 12 from Hailey, which beats the DC of six by a lot. So Hailey, you just lean back and casually lower Robert, down. Robert, you make your way down to the bottom, it's about 30 feet, and you flash the flashlight around.
[00:07:57] You're in a medium sized [00:08:00] room round, just like the first room that you ended up where there's a goo pool, it's a round room, about that size. On the floor of this room is a several inch high ridge that spirals out from the center of the room like a Nautilus shell, a forked pylon of black metal is stuck into the center of the spiral.
[00:08:21] It looks strikingly similar to the device. The void cultus at the truck stop had used though while their pylon looks cobbled together. And well human. This one is utterly foreign with multiple metallic loops, whirls and impressions that defy immediate understanding between the tines. At the top of this forked pylon is a small impression, just like the one you saw next to the pool upstairs.
[00:08:46] There's also a doorway leading to the west. You can't quite see what's in that room. You flash your flashlight and you see some surfaces in there, but it's hard to really make out exactly what they are. From the east side of the room where you are currently and next to you, there [00:09:00] is an empty G tube running horizontally through the wall out of the room to the east.
[00:09:04] Sealed off with an iris hatch on.
[00:09:07] Robert: We have a whole nother go jacuzzi room down here. Um, I'm gonna need everybody. I'm definitely needing Felix and Hayla here because um, we got one of those void tentacle forks. Um, I, the, the, I swear to, to, I, I saw kullu through. It was bad. There were tentacles. There's, there's something happening here.
[00:09:35] I need, I need somebody with, uh, way more experience in this. Y'all. Can y'all repel down here?
[00:09:41] Star Master Jeff: So you guys hear all that from upstairs? It sounds like the rantings of a madman.
[00:09:46] Thorne: Yeah. So just like a normal Robert conversation then?
[00:09:49] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. What you got out of it is that you should probably hurry up and get down to that sublevel before he ruins his Afro with floor grease or something.
[00:09:57] Felix: Yeah. Okay. Robert. Robert, just don't, just don't touch anything [00:10:00] because you don't know what you might set off. We'll be right down,
[00:10:02] Thorne: Felix. You go down next, make sure he doesn't break anything,
[00:10:05] Felix: and then I need Vera down there because she's gonna be able to help with understand some of this stuff.
[00:10:09] Star Master Jeff: Vera's like right next to you, she says.
[00:10:12] I'm ready to
[00:10:12] Robert: go down. Let's do this. And I'm just standing down there, uh, to like hitch people. We have Hailey on the, on the one end holding the rope and me if they accidentally fall and I'm catching 'em like a big old baby.
[00:10:25] Felix: All right, so I'll make my way down the rope next. I
[00:10:28] Thorne: don't know. I've seen what you do to babies.
[00:10:32] Star Master Jeff: And to guys, to to annihilation baby specifically, and also to men simply enjoying the sunrise on the rooftops.
[00:10:39] Felix: I am part robots, so I'm worried that he's gonna get taken over by his desire to kill robots lately.
[00:10:43] Star Master Jeff: He is a robot killer. Yeah,
[00:10:45] Felix: I will. I will swing my creaky robot legs around the rope and shim me my way down.
[00:10:50] Star Master Jeff: Okay, go ahead and roll. Exert dexterity. DC six.
[00:10:54] Felix: Oh baby, I made an eight.
[00:10:56] Haleyy: Nice.
[00:10:57] Star Master Jeff: Ooh, those creaky robot legs did you justice [00:11:00] today. You make your way down to the bottom safely.
[00:11:02] Robert: Amy look good when you back that thing up. You are fine looker, robot, when you back that thing up.
[00:11:07] Star Master Jeff: Jesus. Christ. Christ. Robert, stop. Uh, and I'll re-explain the room in a bit more detail when everyone gets down there.
[00:11:14] Hearing it through the lens of what Robert saw is probably not the best way to describe it. She's like, there's a purple dragon down there. I don't know what's going on.
[00:11:24] Felix: Alright, Vera, you're good. Come on down then froggy, then you, we don't wanna leave you up there alone.
[00:11:28] Star Master Jeff: Okay, so Vera hurries forward, she grabs onto the rope and she is going to attempt to exert Dex her way down.
[00:11:38] She gets it with an eight. So she slides her way down. You wanted froggy next?
[00:11:43] Felix: Yeah, I don't want him left. Sit there by himself.
[00:11:46] Star Master Jeff: You still have Thorn up there too?
[00:11:47] Felix: Yeah, but like if we just leave him and Hailey then like, Hailey's not gonna force. Like just get Thorn needs to force him down.
[00:11:53] Star Master Jeff: Froggy does not get any bonus.
[00:11:55] However, he rolled a nine but he gets a minus one 'cause he doesn't have exert, so he is at an eight. [00:12:00] So he makes it down just fine, surprisingly. But he stumbles at the bottom and he kind of like falls into Robert's arms. Uh, who catches them?
[00:12:08] Robert: This is one time froggy.
[00:12:10] Star Master Jeff: He looks up at you and he says, hi, uh, get your hands off me.
[00:12:16] Any blushes.
[00:12:17] Robert: Yeah. You know, you laughed it.
[00:12:20] Thorne: I look over at Hailey. Uh, Hailey, how you getting down?
[00:12:24] Haleyy: I'm gonna jump.
[00:12:25] Thorne: I had a feeling you were gonna say that.
[00:12:27] Haleyy: Yeah. Jumping and punching. I'm gonna find some joy here.
[00:12:32] Thorne: I just, I just gotta shake my head. Shake my head, and I grab the rope and I say, well. I guess that's up to you and I start climbing.
[00:12:39] Star Master Jeff: Okay. So, uh, exert decks and then afterwards, can you please look up the falling damage and what that's gonna take?
[00:12:48] Thorne: I got a seven.
[00:12:49] Star Master Jeff: Nice. Okay. That hits the DC of six just fine. So you are down there.
[00:12:52] Thorne: 1D six damage for every three meters. Fallen under standard gravity.
[00:12:56] Star Master Jeff: Okay. Every three meters.
[00:12:58] Felix: Yeah. Although we're not on standard.[00:13:00]
[00:13:00] We're not standard. Grab are we?
[00:13:01] Star Master Jeff: We're at 0.8 gravity, so if you jumped on there. You have the potential of taking 2D six damage,
[00:13:07] Haleyy: and I'm also gonna make a case for myself here. This is the kind of shit that I'm, my character is literally trained for and made to do. I am not Felix throwing himself down like a stack of bones into the bottom of this like tube.
[00:13:20] Felix: And Robert could catch
[00:13:21] her.
[00:13:21] Haleyy: I am an actual tactical person here.
[00:13:24] Star Master Jeff: Oh no. I refuse to catch Hailey. Hailey got
[00:13:26] Haleyy: this shoe. I'm gonna be covered in goo.
[00:13:27] Star Master Jeff: So you're making a case for, you're a soldier, so you should ignore fall damage.
[00:13:32] Haleyy: Not that I should ignore fall damage, that I am going to be a little bit more prepared and trained in how to land to prevent damage.
[00:13:41] Thorne: But you are jumping off a three story building.
[00:13:43] Haleyy: Yeah,
[00:13:43] Star Master Jeff: that's
[00:13:44] Haleyy: true. I'm jumping off three story building.
[00:13:46] Star Master Jeff: I'm gonna say that Yeah, I, I'm gonna say anyone can attempt to do this, but it really comes down to your ex, like your exert role, which you've ex you've, you've trained up, right? Don't you have a plus one in exert
[00:13:56] Haleyy: No.
[00:13:58] Anything with exert. [00:14:00]
[00:14:00] Star Master Jeff: Okay. So maybe you're not trained up for this.
[00:14:02] How do you feel
[00:14:02] Haleyy: about the physical throw? That, that I got earlier was amazing. Yeah. I could do a physical saving throw.
[00:14:08] Star Master Jeff: Hmm. Does that feel house Ruley? Brian, you tell me
[00:14:15] Thorne: It does a little.
[00:14:17] Star Master Jeff: Okay. So Hailey, you would normally just take 2D six damage if you jump down there, but I know there's a case to be made for that.
[00:14:23] You've trained for this. So for this one time only, yes. I'm gonna let you jump down there and roll a physical statement. Throw. I don't know why you're not just using the rope, but
[00:14:33] Haleyy: I'm saving the rope.
[00:14:35] Star Master Jeff: Are you bringing it down with you? Would you have to get back outta here? Potentially. Maybe
[00:14:39] Haleyy: the only way to go is forward
[00:14:41] Thorne: as far as we know.
[00:14:41] Yeah.
[00:14:42] Haleyy: Either way. Hailey grabs the rope. She just takes it with her. She does not have time to deal with notch. She is a brute force girl.
[00:14:48] Star Master Jeff: You guys are fucking lunatics.
[00:14:50] Haleyy: And you know what? She jumps down.
[00:14:52] Star Master Jeff: God, you give a mouse a cookie. Am I right guys?
[00:14:57] Haleyy: I rolled a six.
[00:14:58] Star Master Jeff: Okay, well A six is [00:15:00] obviously not good enough to beat your saving throw, so you take.
[00:15:04] Two to six damage and that is five.
[00:15:07] Haleyy: Oof.
[00:15:08] Star Master Jeff: But now you can go ahead and roll. Perform constitution.
[00:15:14] Robert: Yeah, I wanna see, I wanna see that superhero landing.
[00:15:19] Star Master Jeff: I love doing like a skill and naming like a random attribute that doesn't normally make sense for it.
[00:15:23] Haleyy: Five.
[00:15:24] Star Master Jeff: Okay. So you just barely miss it. So you land everyone grimaces.
[00:15:30] 'cause you land so hard. And then your face just crumples and then you like get ahold of yourself again. But everyone saw the pain on your face and then you just limp out of the tube a little bit.
[00:15:40] Haleyy: Goo threw me off.
[00:15:41] Star Master Jeff: Froggy runs up and he is like, oh my God. Hailey, are you okay?
[00:15:45] Haleyy: Is Perceval okay? Froggy worry.
[00:15:48] You about your own stuff. I got this.
[00:15:51] Star Master Jeff: You mean my cat? Are you threatening my cat? I just wanted to know if you were okay. Why is everyone so mean to me? And he, he walks off sulking. [00:16:00]
[00:16:00] Felix: All right, so I didn't even notice Hailey coming down because I am engrossed in this chamber. So tell, tell me what I see.
[00:16:07] Robert: Felix. Does it accurately feel like what I described to you?
[00:16:11] Star Master Jeff: Uh, yeah, we
[00:16:12] Thorne: swing our lights around and see if we can make sense of what Robert said.
[00:16:15] Star Master Jeff: I will redescribe the room so that everyone can remember what I said, because what Robert Ross said is
[00:16:22] Thorne: it actually took the stuff that I heard you say and it made me forget it.
[00:16:29] Robert: You are welcome.
[00:16:30] Star Master Jeff: You are in a medium sized round room, starting in the center of the floor and spiraling out. Is a ridge about three inches high, and it spirals all the way out to the walls and forms a a nautilus spiral. In the center of that spiral is a forked pylon of black metal. It looks very similar to the one the void cultus had at the truck stop, but theirs was like very human looking.
[00:16:57] It was like sleek and it made sense. [00:17:00] This one is like utterly foreign and alien. It has all these metallic loops and whirls and impressions and, you know, weirdness bolted onto it. It defies immediate understanding, but maybe with, with research and times, someone could figure out what all this is for, but most importantly, at the top between the forked tines is an impression that looks exactly like the one that was next to the goo pool upstairs,
[00:17:22] Thorne: like a bunt cake.
[00:17:24] Star Master Jeff: No, no,
[00:17:24] Felix: it's the one
[00:17:25] Thorne: that Voss can fit in. Oh, the Voss hole. Yeah, the, the Voss Hole. I'll call it something else in the future.
[00:17:31] Star Master Jeff: There is one exit from this room. On the West wall is a doorway leading into another room where you can see maybe like a couple vats in there. It's kind of hard to tell from over here.
[00:17:42] You'd have to walk a little bit closer. And also here on the east wall is a horizontal go tube with an iris aperture hatch on it. That's sealed. But the horizontal Go tube is completely empty and it runs out through the east wall, which for those [00:18:00] of you keeping track, puts it outside of the immediate facility because the front door to this place is to the West.
[00:18:06] Hmm. So this, this Go Tube leaves the facility.
[00:18:10] Thorne: It, it's empty. You said? Empty of. But it is closed. So is it closed on the far end you mean? And it's open on this side. That's how I can tell It's empty. Or is the aperture also transparent?
[00:18:21] Star Master Jeff: It's a transparent tube with an aperture on top of it.
[00:18:23] Thorne: Oh, it's on top.
[00:18:24] I see.
[00:18:25] Star Master Jeff: And Go Tube is empty and runs through the wall. So you can always see this part of the Go Tube. You can't see where it leads to. Okay. So now that you're all in here and flashing your flashlights around, you run them along the ceiling and you notice that there are more iris hatches, just like at the end of this GTO dotting a 15 foot high ceiling.
[00:18:44] They are obviously connecting this room to the VAT chamber above with a single iris hatch below each of those individual vats up above grooves are cut into the ceiling. The grooves are about a fingers breath wide and several inches deep. [00:19:00] The groove runs underneath each of these apertures.
[00:19:03] Felix: Hmm. Let's not open those.
[00:19:05] Um, as I'm going around the room, I'm trying to make a couple observations. One did lights automatically turn on because they did in other parts of the facility,
[00:19:13] Star Master Jeff: there does not seem to be any lights in this room. At least none that automatically turn on.
[00:19:18] Felix: Okay. I take out my data pad and I'm kind of as, I've had some walks so far looking at different electronic interference or signals from the robots above, and I'm picking up any signals or interference on my data slab.
[00:19:29] Star Master Jeff: No, if there's anything down here that could cause interference the, it's aur.
[00:19:33] Felix: Well, I'm not picking anything up and this, I don't know. This part of the facility seems abandoned or dead somehow, although I don't know. Boss, do you wanna give this a try and adjust her towards the pit?
[00:19:45] Thorne: Absolutely, yes. Slot me in.
[00:19:47] All right,
[00:19:48] Felix: so I'll orient her orb correctly 'cause I know there's like a little spinner disc at the bottom and place her in the invitation.
[00:19:55] Star Master Jeff: So after just a few moments, she says.
[00:19:58] Thorne: Yeah, [00:20:00] uh, it's quite interesting. Everything is disconnected. Uh, it's unpowered
[00:20:05] Star Master Jeff: almost, but I can kind of see what the intention is here.
[00:20:09] There's a control for filling up the tube, the one that leads off to the east. I can't open the aperture on it, but once it's filled up with goo, it looks like the aperture opens up on its own, but it's unpowered, so I can't do that. And. There's something else here. It feels like the digital ocean that we encountered upstairs.
[00:20:30] Some sort of connection to it, perhaps.
[00:20:33] Felix: Be careful, doc. We don't know what's in there, so it seems like we need power. Any, any hints on that where power source might
[00:20:40] Thorne: bes behind this door? So I go over there and I shine my light beyond the door and see what's on the other side.
[00:20:46] Star Master Jeff: So this west door, it's uh, six feet tall, but strangely enough it's only two feet wide.
[00:20:51] It leads into a cramped room with a low six foot ceiling. At the center of the room are two empty cylindrical vats, [00:21:00] just like the ones that are upstairs, but much larger and completely lacking in goo. Each vat also has a drainage aperture leading to a sphincter like formation in the floor. Probably an alien drain.
[00:21:14] Both apertures for each of the vats are currently open. Suspended above. Each vat is a cluster of metallic, multi legged devices that hang from the ceiling, like mechanical spiders. Each bristles with an assortment of cutting blades, probing arms and diagnostic tools mounted at the tips of their segmented limbs.
[00:21:32] On the wall next to you, thorn is a glob or a goo bunt cake, as we were calling it on the first floor. And one last detail mounted to the ceiling is a single cylindrical vat of goo. Just like the ones that are upstairs on its top and bottom are iris hatches, so things could be dropped in and things could be dropped out of it.
[00:21:55] It also is mounted to a groove in the ceiling, exactly like the grooves that are in the [00:22:00] spiral room. The groove in this room runs directly over both of the vats and out the east wall, but just simply stops at that wall. There's no actual way for it to move on into the spiral room.
[00:22:11] Thorne: It's like in this room we got some giant vats and some kind of.
[00:22:15] Less than friendly looking machinery. But take a look at all these grooves. I don't know, VO Felix, you think there's any significance? Look how they go around, out of all these vats. And there's more goo up there in the ceiling too, in another one. I have to think that, I don't know. It's all connected somehow.
[00:22:34] What do you think?
[00:22:35] Robert: Uh, well, well y'all come on in here, but, uh, I'd like to clear the room first. Um, make sure there's no, uh, no hazards. And I just scatter around the room, make sure there's nothing that's gonna, uh, attack him.
[00:22:45] Haleyy: I'll assist with that if I can.
[00:22:48] Star Master Jeff: So, Hailey, you're assisting Robert. Go ahead and roll.
[00:22:51] Notice wisdom.
[00:22:52] Haleyy: I rolled a five.
[00:22:54] Star Master Jeff: Okay. You unfortunately are unable to assist him, but Robert, you don't, so you don't get a [00:23:00] plus one, Robert. But go ahead and roll your notice with your plus one,
[00:23:04] Robert: uh, uh, intelligence or wisdom.
[00:23:06] Star Master Jeff: Wisdom please.
[00:23:07] Robert: Oh, and 'cause I'm so wise, I roll the four.
[00:23:10] Star Master Jeff: So both of you guys kind of poke around for a little while, but you're not really paying that much attention and you don't find anything.
[00:23:17] Robert: Um, yeah, e everything looks safe. This, uh, crazy cutter bot seems, seems safe enough. Maybe don't poke around a bit. Like maybe do, I don't know. Come on in y'all.
[00:23:28] Felix: Gotcha. Wait, wait. Did somebody say crazy machines?
[00:23:32] Thorne: Yeah, the kind with scary blades and pokey drills.
[00:23:36] Felix: Oh, you're speaking my language. Lemme take a look at those.
[00:23:38] Thorne: That's your language.
[00:23:40] Star Master Jeff: So Felix, you go into this room, uh, and what you want to examine these two spider like machines?
[00:23:45] Felix: Yeah, I wanna get a closer look at them. I'm trying to basically understand like are they functional and what is their function?
[00:23:53] Star Master Jeff: So they are these spider like mechanical beings that are hanging [00:24:00] above these empty vats.
[00:24:02] They have cutting blades, probing arms and diagnostic tools mounted on the ends of their limbs.
[00:24:07] Felix: Judging by, I mean, it's all very, I mean, alien seems redundant, but all very alien. But based on what we know of this place and what we saw upstairs, I think these are some kind of med bots and they might be a bit, I don't know, more extreme some of things we're familiar with, but perhaps there was some kind of.
[00:24:23] Disease that required the excising of limbs in order to stave it off.
[00:24:28] Thorne: You think that the VATS upstairs connect down here and then they perform some kind of weird surgery?
[00:24:33] Felix: I do. And then this might be, and I point to the, the tube running in on the wall. This might be some kind of waste disposal tube.
[00:24:40] Thorne: Waist disposal, though. That's the word you're gonna use.
[00:24:44] Felix: Yeah. What else? Yeah. For waste? Mm-hmm. When something stop being useful, it's waste. Uh, Hailey, did you notice that weird thing in the other room that looks like the thing that was attached to the void?
[00:24:54] Haleyy: Yep. Still kind of processing that whole thing.
[00:24:57] Um,
[00:24:58] Felix: I say this to distract from the [00:25:00] weird look that thorn's giving me, that I don't understand.
[00:25:04] Thorne: Yes, that is the look I'm giving you.
[00:25:07] Haleyy: And Hailey was trying to help obviously with Robert's look around the room, but was most certainly distracted by the giant potential portal looking device.
[00:25:17] Thorne: Every two seconds, you look back over your shoulder at it.
[00:25:19] That's why you didn't roll very well. You were trying to look around, but you're like, what? Is it still there?
[00:25:23] Star Master Jeff: Vera moves into the room. Oh wow. Wow. This is really amazing, guys. I mean, we obviously can't take this with us, but well really anything here, which kind of sucks, but this is incredible. If we can hang onto this place, we could really make a lot of money.
[00:25:39] Felix: Yeah. One can hope
[00:25:40] Haleyy: Vera.
[00:25:40] Star Master Jeff: Mm-hmm.
[00:25:41] Haleyy: Think right now we're focused on getting out.
[00:25:43] Star Master Jeff: She takes a quick glance at her oxygen meter and she says, I mean, I'm still at 75%.
[00:25:49] Haleyy: It's not been that long since we've been in here, Vera. I know.
[00:25:53] Robert: I feel like we still need a way out. That doesn't help me without
[00:25:57] Star Master Jeff: Froggy. Says, yeah, [00:26:00] Vera.
[00:26:00] You know, we're not all Braves, Zeno, archeologists, you know,
[00:26:04] Robert: froggy. If you're
[00:26:05] Felix: not feeling brave, you're not gonna like what I think is the way out
[00:26:07] Haleyy: froggy. Just remember to keep your breath slow and even. If you feel yourself getting anxious while we are down here, just think of exercises to help you calm down.
[00:26:18] What's your oxygen at right now?
[00:26:20] Star Master Jeff: I'm feeling anxious.
[00:26:21] Haleyy: Think of Percival.
[00:26:22] Star Master Jeff: I'm at 73%.
[00:26:24] Haleyy: Okay. Don't
[00:26:24] Felix: feel anxious.
[00:26:25] Star Master Jeff: Vera was at 75%, but I'm at 73%. That means I'm using too. You're fine. Much oxygen. Am I gonna die?
[00:26:30] Haleyy: No.
[00:26:31] Felix: Well, I'm not. I'm not giving you mine.
[00:26:32] Haleyy: We got you. There's a space for you on the scapegoat. We're gonna get you back to it.
[00:26:37] Star Master Jeff: Okay? Um, listen guys, I don't wanna like lie to you, but this is really bad. We're all going to die down here, and I'm pretty sure we're all gonna die.
[00:26:49] Thorne: Lock it down.
[00:26:50] Star Master Jeff: Seriously.
[00:26:51] Thorne: Clock it down.
[00:26:53] Star Master Jeff: He's having a panic attack and you're like, lock it down. He's like, that's what my dad used to say to me.
[00:26:59] Thorne: I go [00:27:00] over to him and I grab him by the shoulders from behind, and I'm like, massaging him. You're gonna be all right, champ. No
[00:27:05] Felix: kind.
[00:27:05] Thorne: We're gonna, we're gonna figure this out.
[00:27:08] Felix: Froggy named five things you can See.
[00:27:10] Star Master Jeff: I see an alien spiral and an alien black thing. Alien vats, and there's alien thing everywhere. This isn't good, guys. Yeah. All good. I can't point to any normal things in here. There's nothing normal. So
[00:27:24] Felix: Frogy, I've got a plan. Don't worry. We're gonna get outta here.
[00:27:26] Star Master Jeff: A normal plan, please tell me it's not gonna involve.
[00:27:29] Go into the third level of alien stuff.
[00:27:32] Haleyy: What are four things that you can touch?
[00:27:36] Star Master Jeff: He puts a, he puts his hand on thorn's hand. Aw. Who's massaging him?
[00:27:41] Thorne: There, there buddy.
[00:27:42] Star Master Jeff: In this episode of the Dark Star Adventure Cast, the crew is given the, the difficult, not impossible task of calming down. A panic stricken froggy, never has an anxiety attack, slowed down a session.
[00:27:57] As much as this
[00:27:59] Thorne: can we give a [00:28:00] hypo spray?
[00:28:01] Robert: So, so froggy you chill? We good? Okay, now how are we gonna get through this here door?
[00:28:08] Thorne: Yeah. Felix, I want to hear this plan of yours.
[00:28:11] Felix: So I'm pretty sure what we need to do is fill this tube with goo and get in.
[00:28:18] Robert: Sweet Jesus.
[00:28:19] Felix: Hmm. Because I'm pretty sure this is a transport tube and hopefully it leads to a way out.
[00:28:26] Star Master Jeff: Vera goes and kneels next to the empty tube and she says transport tube. What do you mean
[00:28:32] Felix: For like moving stuff between sections of the facility?
[00:28:35] Star Master Jeff: Huh? It is very large. So what you think this fills up with? Goo and then there's like a current. It
[00:28:40] Felix: could be, or we propel ourselves along. I mean, you can breathe in this stuff, it's fine.
[00:28:44] It's oxygenated
[00:28:46] Star Master Jeff: incredible. Yes. I mean, I wanted my chance in the goo pool all along.
[00:28:51] Felix: But first thing, first, you gotta fill with goo first and maybe that giant pile on tuning fork thing in the other room can help.
[00:28:57] Star Master Jeff: Voss says, I don't want to [00:29:00] interject too much, but I take, uh, offense to the continual use of the word goo.
[00:29:07] Thorne: You got something better,
[00:29:08] Star Master Jeff: most likely. A nano fluid.
[00:29:11] Felix: That's a good point.
[00:29:12] Star Master Jeff: Vera says, I'm gonna call it goo nano fluid's too long.
[00:29:15] Felix: I'm gonna call it nano fluid.
[00:29:17] Star Master Jeff: We need a shorthand. Goo goo goo. We all agree. Goo
[00:29:20] Thorne: goo. I don't care what we call it.
[00:29:22] Felix: I, I do, by the way, want to collect a sample of the nano fluid at some point.
[00:29:26] Thorne: Yeah.
[00:29:27] Star Master Jeff: Okay. You gotta get some first.
[00:29:28] Felix: Yeah, I know. Maybe some of the dried stuff or when we fill this too, but I'm going to, I'm gonna go for some. Alright, well, I mean, the only lead is this thing and I gesture to the weird pile on thing.
[00:29:42] Thorne: It needs to be powered. That's all I know.
[00:29:45] Felix: I mean, I, I don't like looking at this thing.
[00:29:47] It's making me uncomfortable. The longer I look at it,
[00:29:50] Star Master Jeff: a sob escapes froggy's throat.
[00:29:56] I miss my cat.
[00:29:57] Felix: Who wants to get up close and personal with this weird thing? And [00:30:00] I'm not talking about froggy,
[00:30:01] Star Master Jeff: I talking about the fork. Hey,
[00:30:05] Robert: froggy, froggy, I'm, I'm gonna hold your hand real quick. We are together.
[00:30:09] Haleyy: Froggy. Three things you can hear. I
[00:30:12] Star Master Jeff: hear Robert lying to me. I hear. I hear, I hear Felix insulting me and calling me weird, and I can hear thorn's loud breathing as he is still massaging my shoulders and it's starting to get awkward.
[00:30:25] Haleyy: You are present in the moment, so,
[00:30:27] Star Master Jeff: okay, Felix, all eyes are on you.
[00:30:29] Felix: Well, I, I don't wanna, I don't wanna to, to run this thing. I was thinking that Hailey, if you want to get, you've got some kind of connection to this thing from, from the before. Maybe you're drawn to it somehow.
[00:30:39] Star Master Jeff: It's
[00:30:40] Felix: the, the crazy pitchfork.
[00:30:42] Haleyy: Go over to the crazy pitchfork and I'm near it. Do I like sense or feel anything? I'm assuming this is like an inactive portal.
[00:30:50] Star Master Jeff: This is all completely inactive, feels shitty Being down here. You feel very much not at ease, but not any worse. [00:31:00] So except for your own personal anxiety when you get close to the pylon
[00:31:03] Haleyy: mm-hmm.
[00:31:04] That's not necessarily caused by the pylon. That's just me being like, or Hailey being like, uh, breathe. Experiencing this. Yeah,
[00:31:12] Star Master Jeff: exactly.
[00:31:13] Felix: And what about the grooves? What about the grooves? Thorn? I mean,
[00:31:17] Haleyy: what about the grooves?
[00:31:18] Thorne: Well, you tell me. I don't know, but they're,
[00:31:20] Felix: I'm not an, I'm not an alien archeologist.
[00:31:22] Those don't look any, like any tech I'm familiar with. Don't they look like traces to you? But traces to and from what? Thorne a power source to something that requires power. All right. Well, if you can open up a door to the power, let me know.
[00:31:35] Robert: Have we investigated the bunt cake? I heard there was a bunt cake.
[00:31:39] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. Would you guys like me to re-explain the grooves as well? Yes. So the grooves are a few inches deep and about a fingers breath wide. The groove runs around the perimeter of the room underneath every single one of the apertures. In the other room, there is a vat, just like the ones upstairs, hanging off of the [00:32:00] ceiling off of one of those grooves, and that groove goes over both of the vats in that room and then bumps into the east wall.
[00:32:08] Robert: Well, y'all, is there any way we can, uh, the, these might be transfers within the wall we might be able to utilize?
[00:32:16] Felix: Could be. It could be. That's the way the goo is funneled into here. I'm sorry, the nano fluid.
[00:32:22] Thorne: Nano goo.
[00:32:22] Robert: How do you think that, how, how do you think we can power 'em? The, the tho those nano whatevers.
[00:32:27] Felix: We got this guy right here and I point my thumb with the bump cake on the wall. We've had muck so far with these controlling things. I can give it a try
[00:32:35] Thorne: better
[00:32:36] Felix: than standing here, waiting for our oxygen to deplete. Have at it.
[00:32:39] Robert: I'm at like, I'm at like, what, 65 at this point I would think I've been breathing a little heavy.
[00:32:45] Felix: You're a big guy, Robert. I use less 'cause I have half a body.
[00:32:49] Star Master Jeff: That's true.
[00:32:50] Robert: Yeah. You're at 80% still.
[00:32:51] Felix: Yeah. I don't have to oxygenate my legs. Um, so I will go over and poke my hand into the nano fluid doorknob.
[00:32:58] Star Master Jeff: Okay. You feel [00:33:00] that sensation of your hand being cradled by a giant hammock with each individual finger cradled by a slightly smaller hammock.
[00:33:07] Felix: I close my eyes and kind of try to feel my way around it. You know, I had to muck upstairs understanding that I could control the little, uh, the little bot. So I'm trying to like identify like an on switch, like power, you know, something that feels like it's off, but I can turn on.
[00:33:23] Star Master Jeff: Okay. So instead of just randomly moving your hand around like Hailey did on that first wall, you're trying to like feel and figure it out.
[00:33:30] Felix: Yep.
[00:33:31] Star Master Jeff: So go ahead and roll. Program wisdom.
[00:33:35] Felix: Uh, I got a seven.
[00:33:37] Star Master Jeff: So you feel that it can control things around you, just like the, the glob from the first floor.
[00:33:43] Felix: So it can control things around me. Can I turn lights on or can I, can I turn power on?
[00:33:48] Star Master Jeff: You can't, there's nothing for power, but you are able to twitch your fingers and get a soft glow to suffuse both rooms down here so everyone can turn off their flashlights.
[00:33:59] There [00:34:00] is now a luminous blue glow coming out of the wall, ceiling and floor.
[00:34:05] Felix: That's something. Can I fill the tube with goo?
[00:34:09] Thorne: Yeah. Feel around for like an utter
[00:34:11] Star Master Jeff: you, Jesus.
[00:34:15] Felix: I make a milking motion with my hand instead of me.
[00:34:18] Star Master Jeff: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The adventure rejects you and you are no longer in this campaign. Uh, you, you search around and try to identify what you can only name as a sub-routine that would do something like that.
[00:34:33] You get the sense that the globs really only affect the walls or like the structure of this place.
[00:34:41] Felix: In that case, then as I'm doing that, is there another door I can open? 'cause I know that Hailey was able to open a door before. Can I remove parts of the wall?
[00:34:48] Star Master Jeff: You feel like there is a pre-programed opening that you can open, but it's in the other room
[00:34:54] Felix: and I can't control the other room from here.
[00:34:56] Star Master Jeff: You feel like you could, but the opening just doesn't make any sense. [00:35:00] It's a small opening towards the ceiling on the wall.
[00:35:04] Felix: All right, well this is, can somebody go in the other room for me and let me know what you see when I do this there? What are you doing?
[00:35:10] Haleyy: I just like, does that get me closer or farther from my spiral portal to go into the other room closer?
[00:35:16] Yeah. I'm, I'm standing here I guess.
[00:35:18] Felix: So the hole I'm about to open is in the ceiling in the room with the spiral thing, Hailey.
[00:35:23] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. It's near the ceiling on the wall.
[00:35:25] Felix: Yeah. Yeah. So I'm in, I'm currently in the room with the spider robots. Thorn and Robert are now in the room with the tuning fork.
[00:35:33] Star Master Jeff: So you twitch your fingers and everyone in the other room you see like a tiny hole appear right where the track hits against the west wall, which is the wall that's shared with the room that Felix is in.
[00:35:48] And as Felix moves his fingers more, the hole kind of opens further and then contracts.
[00:35:53] Felix: What does it look like?
[00:35:54] Thorne: It seems like you're opening some kinda hole in the wall. It's pretty high up though. [00:36:00]
[00:36:00] Star Master Jeff: As you fly, it's like 15 feet up and as you flash your flashlight around, it looks more like a tunnel
[00:36:06] Thorne: maybe.
[00:36:06] It's like some kind of tunnel. How big is it? Thorn? Uh, I'd say it's like, how big is it?
[00:36:13] Star Master Jeff: Well, it's oscillating because he's messing around with it. But the largest you've seen it get is like two feet by two feet.
[00:36:19] Thorne: It's like maybe two feet, but you won't stop changing it.
[00:36:22] Felix: Sorry. It's addictive. It's like a little
[00:36:24] Thorne: fidget.
[00:36:25] Felix: Um, so maybe we could get Vs. Up there. Do
[00:36:28] Robert: you think, uh, most of us could fit up there, thorn or, uh, just a little thing.
[00:36:33] Thorne: I mean, if you like get on Haley's shoulders and then I get on your shoulders, then maybe I could look and see in there. But actually getting in there, that's another story. I could roll Voss down the tunnel, I guess.
[00:36:47] So it looks like it, it leads to above your room, right? Right at the end of the track even.
[00:36:53] Felix: All right, so I'm going to. Leave the aperture open as wide as it can. But before I disconnect from the [00:37:00] glob, I wanna check one more thing. Do I have the ability to, to manipulate like the, like the atmosphere in this room?
[00:37:04] Can I like increase the levels of oxygen?
[00:37:07] Star Master Jeff: You cannot.
[00:37:08] Felix: Okay.
[00:37:09] Star Master Jeff: It seems like the glob can only control the structure.
[00:37:12] Thorne: Is there any chance you can, um, can you move the grooves?
[00:37:18] Felix: What? Move the grooves.
[00:37:20] Thorne: Yeah, or turn this, the room itself like spiral in any way.
[00:37:25] Star Master Jeff: You cannot turn the spiral. You cannot move the grooves.
[00:37:28] The grooves themselves. You can only seem to move the structure of the room.
[00:37:32] Felix: I mean, it is possible that my hand is not the same as the hand of the creatures to build this place. I might not be equipped to actually manipulate everything. I think I've done what I can. Can I like manipulate the height of the ceiling in either room?
[00:37:45] Star Master Jeff: Yes. You start to move your hand, but you can feel a lot of resistance as you try to like mess with the ceiling itself. It, it almost feels like the strength of your fingers aren't enough to do this task.
[00:37:59] Felix: I'm gonna get both my [00:38:00] hands in there
[00:38:01] Star Master Jeff: with both your hands working in tandem, the ceiling, and indeed the floor as well become movable.
[00:38:08] Felix: Oh, oh, oh, here we go. And now we got something and I start moving the floor into the other room that they're in.
[00:38:16] Thorne: Oh, you're definitely doing something now.
[00:38:17] Felix: Oh, alright. Well I can move the, this is weird. This is like nothing I've ever felt before. I can move the ceiling of four in each room. I'm just gonna need y'all to tell me where to put this.
[00:38:28] Thorne: Well, you wanna get the hole you open, lined up with the groove in your room.
[00:38:33] Felix: Alright. I'll move the ceiling in their room down to see if I can get it to line up with the ceiling in the room. I'm in.
[00:38:41] Thorne: Felix, you're, you're, you're bringing the ceiling down. Please tell me that you have, uh, good control over bringing the ceiling down.
[00:38:47] Felix: Um,
[00:38:48] Thorne: yep,
[00:38:49] Felix: yep. Sure.
[00:38:50] Thorne: It's getting pretty low. I don't know. You're almost there.
[00:38:54] Star Master Jeff: Uh, Felix, stop that. You're gonna crush me. I'm on this pile on and I [00:39:00] can't move on my own. I mean, you're gonna crush, you're gonna, you're gonna crush my camera 'cause
[00:39:04] I'm back on the ship.
[00:39:05] Felix: Safe and sound. Yeah. Hold on. Okay. Right,
[00:39:07] Star Master Jeff: right.
[00:39:07] Felix: So I'll, I'll stop that one at about eight feet and then bring those ceiling into my room up to level it.
[00:39:15] Star Master Jeff: And you left the two by two foot hole open.
[00:39:18] Felix: Yes.
[00:39:18] Star Master Jeff: So you see, as you raise your ceiling up to eight feet, you slowly see the hole revealed. Then you line it up until the two tracks click together.
[00:39:28] Felix: All right, and now I'll, I'll step back kind of exhausted with my hands out of the nano fluid.
[00:39:33] Oh damn, that was hard. Program is not usually this taxing
[00:39:39] Star Master Jeff: vera is right next to you and she says, well, you've still gotta like do the rest of this.
[00:39:44] Felix: Yeah, I know. I needed a minute, Vera. Jesus.
[00:39:47] Star Master Jeff: I'm sorry. I just wanna see it. I gotta see it. This is so cool. And then in the other room you hear Vos say,
[00:39:55] Felix: it's quite cool, isn't it?
[00:39:57] Star Master Jeff: The two xeno professions are psyched. [00:40:00]
[00:40:00] Felix: I know. Meanwhile, I'll just risk deep in goo. Been there, done that.
[00:40:04] Thorne: If you wanna know what I think I, I think it's mildly cool. I guess. I don't know.
[00:40:08] Felix: Well, what's the next move? What do y'all think?
[00:40:10] Thorne: The vat in the ceiling in your room. It's full of goo.
[00:40:13] Felix: Alright, well Vera, you wanna see some more cool stuff?
[00:40:15] I guess. Let's see what can happen. So I'm gonna put both my hands back in the nano fluid control panel. And the only other thing that I see right now is this other VAT that's in this room that I'm in. That's like got some goo in it already. I wanna see how I can manipulate that.
[00:40:30] Star Master Jeff: You can't directly move the vat,
[00:40:32] Felix: okay?
[00:40:33] Star Master Jeff: But it is in that channel, in the ceiling, and you can control the ceiling.
[00:40:39] Felix: Only raising lower though. Or can I like tilt it?
[00:40:42] Star Master Jeff: Oh, you better believe you can tilt it.
[00:40:44] Thorne: I let gravity do my moving.
[00:40:46] Felix: Oh, alright. Now this is getting weird. As I start kind of tilting the ceiling around,
[00:40:51] Star Master Jeff: you tilt the ceiling and it causes the vat to move towards the hole.
[00:40:55] And then you like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. You slow it down by tilting the other way. Yeah. But. [00:41:00] Before long based off of your previous programming role, you kind of get into an interesting double-handed movement where you're kind of undulating the ceiling like waves, and you're pushing the vat forward into the next room.
[00:41:14] So it's less of tilting the entire ceiling and more about creating bulges in the ceiling.
[00:41:21] Felix: This is weird stuff. Hey, will you let me know when I'm near one of those other apertures?
[00:41:27] Haleyy: Yes, I say tentatively looking out for anything that's changing in the environment.
[00:41:33] Star Master Jeff: So you bulge the VA out. Uh, it's currently already filled with goo and you reach one of the apertures.
[00:41:40] Haleyy: You've reached one of the apertures.
[00:41:43] Felix: All right, what am I over right now?
[00:41:45] Star Master Jeff: Just, uh, the spiral. The spiral covers the entire room.
[00:41:49] Felix: So Voss said, we've gotta aase in power. Right?
[00:41:53] Haleyy: By dropping stuff, presumably onto the spiral. Everything in this room seems connected to that somehow.
[00:41:58] Felix: Yeah. And this nano [00:42:00] fluid is pretty spectacular.
[00:42:02] Star Master Jeff: Rivera says, hold on, wait, you're gonna just drop goo. That doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't there already be goo in the spiral?
[00:42:10] Robert: I think we have to end up lining up the spiral. I mean, this, this seems like a fluid system now that you can move the ceiling, um, in full topsy turvy, left right undulate patterns.
[00:42:21] Uh, we, we might wanna just make sure that we line this whole system up.
[00:42:25] Star Master Jeff: Froggy is kind of running it finger along the ridge of the spiral and he says, Vera, I, I think they're probably right. Just like in the tube over there. There's like, uh, some scum. From like old goo, maybe it just, maybe it just dried up.
[00:42:42] Vera gets down and she kind of like, she rubs the, the spiral as well, and she says, I, I don't know. And she brings it over to Dr. Voss. What do you think, Dr. Voss?
[00:42:52] I think that's actually perhaps the first accurate observation ever recorded from young Reginald. Well [00:43:00] done froggy.
[00:43:01] Felix: Well, in that case, I'm gonna open this vat and you all might wanna come in here when that happens.
[00:43:07] Star Master Jeff: Yes, sir. Everyone piles into the next room. Crowds around Felix, as he vigorously moves his two hands inside of the glob.
[00:43:15] Felix: Don't, don't look at me while I do this.
[00:43:19] Star Master Jeff: And then you what?
[00:43:21] Felix: Uh, so I'm trying to like, basically open the aperture leading out of the vat that we just moved into that other room.
[00:43:28] Star Master Jeff: You don't seem to have like full control over it, but as you're like undulating the ceiling, the ceiling kind of bulges out and makes direct contact with the vat.
[00:43:37] And when that happens, it sort of like adheres, almost like magnetically seals and the aperture on the top opens. Now this vat is already full of goo, so the goo that is in whatever vat up above can't really drain into it. Mm-hmm. The aperture on the bottom of the vat stays closed.
[00:43:55] Haleyy: What happens if I punch the aperture?
[00:43:58] Star Master Jeff: So are
[00:43:59] Haleyy: you, they're like [00:44:00] legit.
[00:44:01] Star Master Jeff: It's at, it's eight feet tall because Felix has lowered the ceiling. I'm,
[00:44:05] Haleyy: I'm gonna get onto, um, Robert's shoulders.
[00:44:07] Felix: I can just lower the ceiling more,
[00:44:09] Haleyy: lower the ceiling,
[00:44:13] Star Master Jeff: them the ceiling's eight feet tall, but the vat is already two feet long. It is at her height. We don't need any human pyramid. You can still get on Robert's shoulders if you want.
[00:44:24] Haleyy: Perfect. I punched the bat. Oh
[00:44:25] Star Master Jeff: yeah.
[00:44:25] Robert: I'll be like, uh, squatting, like shuffling on my knees for this.
[00:44:29] Haleyy: Our goal is getting this fat to drip down onto the spiral basically.
[00:44:32] Right?
[00:44:33] Robert: Yep.
[00:44:33] Star Master Jeff: I like how excited everyone got when she said, I can get on Robert's shoulders. It was an explosion of everyone chattering. I had no idea what was happening.
[00:44:41] Haleyy: Punch the vat.
[00:44:42] Star Master Jeff: Okay. You punched the vat. Boom. It's actually. It feels indestructible,
[00:44:47] Haleyy: but I just shot up a bunch of stairs
[00:44:50] Star Master Jeff: and well, they, they cracked a little bit from a bullet.
[00:44:53] Haleyy: I pull out my rifle
[00:44:55] Star Master Jeff: after you punch it, you know, you're kind of like eye level with it and you're, you're, [00:45:00] you're right next to this vat now and you realize there's, uh, a little glob on the side of it.
[00:45:07] Haleyy: Haley pushes the button. She is very overwhelmed right now. There's a lot going on in this room. There's a lot of goo,
[00:45:16] Star Master Jeff: so you stick your digit into the glob and you swish it around a little bit, and the aperture opens up underneath splashing nano goo all over your feet and all over the spiral.
[00:45:28] Then all of the goo from the vat on the first floor rushes into the vat after it into the empty space, straight through, right to the floor, and fills up the spiral even more. So two full vats have now splashed onto the spiral, and it seems to be about a fourth full. However,
[00:45:46] Haleyy: what's, wait, wait, wait. No.
[00:45:46] Felix, what did you call this before?
[00:45:50] Felix: Uh, nano fluid.
[00:45:52] Haleyy: All right, guys, we are now changing our terminology. I am not covered in goop. Or goo or glob, it's nano [00:46:00] fluid.
[00:46:00] Robert: How does it react with the spiral?
[00:46:03] Star Master Jeff: When it goes into the spiral, it like perfectly fills in the ridges and then rushes straight to the center of the spiral, butting up against it as hard as it can.
[00:46:11] Nothing else seems to happen. However, when this happens, when the aperture opens and goo starts to splash all over the place, just wet and wild. You hear a mechanical warring noise?
[00:46:23] Felix: I knew it
[00:46:23] Star Master Jeff: shocked. You turn to find the two mechanical arachnids on the ceiling starting in fits and bursts to life. They begin to thrash and cut and probe inside the empty goo bats before turning blue.
[00:46:40] Lasered eyes upon you. From the other room. Vos says, you
[00:46:44] Felix: have to get out. They recognized you as threats.
[00:46:47] Haleyy: I thought those were like shower heads. They just happened to look like spiders because they were alien
[00:46:55] Felix: aliens. Alien shower. Alien shower heads with saws. They have really [00:47:00] hard hair.
[00:47:01] Star Master Jeff: Well, you know, shower heads or killer murderous spider robots.
[00:47:06] Either way. We're gonna have to deal with them next time because we are out of time for tonight. So our cast today has been Doja as Robert, Brian as Thorn, Scott as Felix, and of course Stephanie as Hailey. And then there's me, star, master, Jeff as everyone and everything else. We have merch. So head on over to darkstar adventures.com where you can rep scrap jacks.
[00:47:31] Grab a Afia latte or gear up for your next pint at Rogers billiards. And over on our Patreon, I am now dropping my complete and only lightly edited notes from each and every session. These notes are the exact documents I use to plan and run my games and are full of extra lore missed opportunities and future plans.
[00:47:53] If you'd like to know how I actually run this game, those. As logs or something you are not going to want to miss. So head on [00:48:00] over to patreon.com/darkstar Adventure cast to scan the feed. Well, that's it for our episode today. Thanks so much for listening. We really, really appreciate each and every one of you.
[00:48:10] It's been so amazing to watch our little podcast grow and to talk to all of the people out there who have enjoyed listening to us. We really appreciate it and we cannot wait to keep exploring. The Viridian expands with you. We'll take it easy and we'll catch you on the next one.