Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

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Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#1 Post by Pulpatoon »

:: Location : The Planet Volturnus, Volturnus System, Frontier Space ::
:: Day 013 since planetfall. ::

The Ul-More lead you through a cave-mouth, into a large, echoing chamber. The atmosphere is a great relief—cooler than the desert, less noxious than the Burning Lands. There is a mineral tang to the air, and the slightest hint of humidity.

The Ul-Mor set up camp at one end of the cavern, reminding you that you are still strangers from the tribe and, even after the many travails you have shared, you must remain separate and not share resources. They point out a good place to set up a secondary camp, however, and promise you that water will be easier to find in the coming days.

The Ul-Mor are clearly more relaxed in the cover of the cavern, and are more boisterous and celebratory when they make their evening meal of funnel-worm steaks. The Ul-Mor take turns entertaining each other by stepping up in front of the others and engaging in what might be a manner of dance, which involves contorting and contracting one’s body in a manner that strikes your eyes as awkward and painful-looking.

Jeeves prepares your own dinner at your camp, mixing loper meat, worm meat, gourd, and a few packets from the ship’s rations to create a meal that could almost pass for a culinary experience.

Goran says to each of you, “Hey, we should back up the polyvox’s language module for Ul-Mor. It’s worth a fortune when we get back to civilized space, and we nearly lost it when that worm got me. I just ditched Interlocutor Kdantk’s research to make space in my link, and I think it’s be a good idea if some of you did, too.”
PING!
:: A member of your local network : Goran : would like to share a file with you. Do you wish to clear space for this packet? ::

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XOOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)XOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OO
Goran: XXOO

What would you like to do before starting an expedition through a system of caves in the morning?
Next Update: Friday!

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#2 Post by cybersavant »

The Ul-Mor are impressed, excited, and intimidated by this sight. “Was that beast or spirit? When you lived in the sky, was that your form?”
Skur Vonn says, "It is a thing, like my laser. But instead of lightning, it has wings. Those that ride it also have weapons like this - to shoot us without landing. They do not share as the Ul-Mor do. They covet and take what is not theirs. They do not speak truth."

Skur Vonn clears space to accept the data packet. To his companions he whispers, "Did the pirates find the tribe do you think?"
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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#3 Post by Rex »

Kallina

Kallina will rest and contemplate their future.

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#4 Post by shaidar »

Bertie

If there is enough space on her device to store the polyvox data without wiping any of there survival data she compiled then she will.

She will also try and use the sensor pack to see if the planet has any kind of magnetosphere or something they might use to track the journey through the tunnels:

Roll: [_2d6]=(6+6)=12, dis/advantage[1d6]=5
Educated, technology, so 13!

Watching the Ul-Mor dance she watches quietly for a while then asks "Is that dancing? Do you do it for pleasure. We dance too, usually to music..." she will then try to find out if they have instruments and try to explain what they are using pictures and audio recording from her device, if that seems to be going well she will find some instrumental music that she can dance to, and encourage everyone to join in.

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#5 Post by Pulpatoon »

The Ul-Mor listen respectfully to Skur Vonn’s tales of winged lightning that covets and tells lies. Afterwards, they look at each other and agree, this one is getting better at telling stories. Then they seek out Bertie and Kallina and ask “No, really, what was that thing?”

Bertie is able to store the polyvox data in her link by wiping the Interlocutor’s research, being careful to preserve the cache of survival data she has been accessing.

Bertie gets into a long conversation about dance with the Ul-Mor. They grasp the subject, but feel that what they are doing is different, although they have trouble describing exactly where the difference lies, as the polyvox finds portions of this conversation difficult to precisely translate. “We derive pleasure from it, as one might from any important task done well. But it is not for pleasure. It is a way of marking significance. For an experience to become [memory/architecture/navigation], it must be [digested/exercised/woven] to mark it in the sinews of the body. For memory to become history, the [untranslatable] must be [demonstrated/mirrored/reciprocated] with the tribe. There are other [movements/forms] we engage in that are more frivolous, meant to amuse an audience or even just the performer. Here, let me show you… perhaps you could make some of your music and we can see if they work together?”

The party pulls up various media files until they find some music that the Ul-Mor respond to, and pass a happy hour watching the Ul-Mor tumble and contort themselves in ways that alternate between graceful and comical. Some of the party get up and do a few dance moves, themselves, which the Ul-Mor find equally delightful.

Afterwards, Bertie sets to figuring out how to navigate via magnetosphere. The planet has an active core, and a healthy magnetic field, but there are disruptions to it that make navigation based on it seem unreliable—she observes that there is something causing massive magnetic disruptions in this region. What should be orderly, dynamic bands of magnetism are folded and roiled. Given the intense geological activity that formed the Burning Mountains overhead, it could be geological in nature… or, perhaps something else? Something without a clear explanation? She is unsure how far this effect extends… if only she’d taken control readings at other points of their wanderings! Whatever the cause, and however far its extent, she is able to craft an adaptive routine that should prove reasonably effective at filtering out the disruptions, making navigation still possible. It is a tidy piece of math, if she does say so herself.
:: Day 014 since planetfall. ::
The party woke the next morning, packed up their camp, and fell in at a discrete distance behind the Ul-Mor who proceeded into the caves. The relief of spending a night’s rest out of the desert heat is almost indescribably pleasurable.

The cave passages go deeper and deeper, winding around but, Bertie observes with her adaptive magnetometer, consistently heading northwest. The tunnels sometimes narrow down to as tight as 5 meters across, but other times broaden into caverns a kilometer across.

As you journey, you pass hundreds of smaller side tunnels. The Ul-Mor warn you to avoid these.

You pass groves of fungus with stalks like tree trunks. These smell horrible, but the Ul-Mor will occasionally stop and pick little red worms out of the fruiting bodies as a source of food. Analysis shows that they are not actively toxic to you, but are likely to cause severe gas pains.
:: Day 015 since planetfall. ::

Another day begins in the darkness of the caves. Goran has a packet of glowrods, but you are rationing them carefully. Skur Vonn is more comfortable in the gloom than he was out in the sun-drenched desert. He is able to pack away his sun-goggles for teh time-being. The Ul-Mor do not see particularly well in the dark, but rely on their lopers when traveling, and make sensitive use of their tentacles when unmounted.

As always, and at the insistence of the Ul-Mor, you walk a good distance behind the tribe, and when trouble comes, it finds them first. You are sharp chirrups of alarm from ahead, and you can dimly see the Ul-Mor scattering and readying spears.

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XOOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)OOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OOO
Goran: XOOO

What do you do?
Next Update: Monday!

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#6 Post by Rex »

Kallina

Kallina signals to hold up and take defensive positions. Reading her stunner.

In case roll [_2d6]=(2+4)=6 A/D [1d6]=6

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#7 Post by cybersavant »

Skur Vonn looks ahead into the darkness and readies his laser pistol.

if he sees a clearly defined threat and no Ul-Mor are in the crossfire, he will shoot if they are being attacked or are attacking


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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#8 Post by shaidar »

Bertie takes cover and looks around for a rock or something to use as a weapon.

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#9 Post by Pulpatoon »

From a distance, you see the Ul-Mor scatter, ready spears, and then circle around one Ul-Mor who appears to be struggling with something. The Ul-Mor perform some maneuver with their spears, and then tighten their circle and attack something on the ground.

Athru comes back to where you are defensively positioned, and whistles, “Come, you should see this.” He leads you to the tribe, who are gathered around something that looks like a giant amoeba. “It is a dropper. They cling to the cavern’s ceiling…” Athru indicates the stalactite-crowded roof three meters overhead, “...and dangle a thread down below. When they touch something, they drop down on them, and burn them with acids.” You can see that Kahai Long Rider had been the victim of the dropper attack, and is being treated with salves for extensive nasty-looking acid burns. “They are very hard to detect, even for our lopers. Walk carefully. Where there is one, there will be more. And they are not easy to kill, for they have no vital organs, and their forms flow like mud around many weapons.” The Ul-Mor demonstrate their technique for killing a dropper, which involves pinning it with several spears and pulling it apart from different directions.

The tribe and the party proceed carefully through the rest of this cavern, peering into the dark recesses for more amoeba-like blobs lurking above. Even with Yazirian nocturnal vision, Skur-Vonn finds them well-camouflaged and difficult to spot.

The party and the tribe travel together to help each other spot droppers, but, when you break for camp that evening, the Ul-Mor again maintain their distance, setting up on the far side of a moderate-sized cavern that is the intersection of five tunnels. The tunnels radiate away from this cavern like the fingers of a splayed hand. Your camp is by the southmost tunnel, the passage by which you traveled to this spot and the thumb of the hand. The Ul-Mor have camped by the tunnel that would be the ring finger.

Jeeves makes dinner, and everyone settles in for a night’s rest.
Each of you are awoken in the night by a queasy, shaky feeling, like you are about to be sick. But you quickly realize that the feeling is not internal—it is the rock beneath you is what’s shaking! You hear loud crashes and screaming lopers. You feel a grinding vibration through your bones. Grist and gravel strike the exterior of your pop-tents, which fold in under the weight.

Emerging from the sagging tents, you see the results of a devastating cave-in. The caverns is much smaller now, with a wall of fallen rock blocking you off from where the Ul-Mor were. Three of the five tunnels are collapsed of inaccessible: only the index and middle finger remain open.

An adult loper lies dead, crushed by debris. There is no sign of the Ul-Mor. And Goran is missing.

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XOOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)OOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OOO

What do you do?
Next Update: I think we’ll be doing once-a-week updates for a while. Expect a new post on the weekend.

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#10 Post by cybersavant »

Skur Vonn goes over to the cave-in to see if any of the fallen rocks, especially where the ring finger tunnel is, are easily moveable.
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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#11 Post by Rex »

Kallina

Kallina will check around and see who is injured and missing, also inventory any damaged gear,

"Report in, we need to figure out our situation then make a plan."

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#12 Post by shaidar »

Bertie

"Oh my, is everyone OK? Jeeves are you safe? Can you contact Goran's link through the network? Let me see if I can use my telepathy to contact Goran or the Ul-Mor through the rocks."

Bertie gets as close to the cave-in as she thinks is safe, then tries to use her telepathy to contact anyone on the other side.

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#13 Post by Pulpatoon »

PING! PING PING!
:: Local network disruptions detected. ::
:: Local data link and appliance query has resulted in the following responses :
: No regional datastructure responding. :
: No global relays responding. :
: 3 links responding. : Personal Tags : Bertilastrix Wilberforce : Kallina of Furie : Skur Vonn :
: 1 robot responding. : Personal Tag: Jeeves :
: 1 polyvox responding. :
: 1 sensorpak responding. :
: Broken link : Personal Tag : Goran : Not responding :
: Broken link : Adaptive Polyvox : Not responding :
: Broken link : Lockcompick : Not responding :
:: Would like to maintain a local network among these devices? [Y/N ]::


Skur Vonn investigates the rock fall. After shifting some of the smaller rubble and bringing down a cascade of gravel, he uncovers rocks larger than he is—some are as large as the pod in which you crashed on Volturnus.

Kallina reviews the equipment, and finds the remaining four members of the party had their carryalls on or near their persons, and so the equipment was safe. One of the pop-tents is damaged, but seems repairable. The other is totaled. Goran’s equipment is gone.

Everyone is bruised and scraped from debris, and breathing is uncomfortable with the air full of dust, but none of the four appear seriously injured.

Bertie reaches out telepathically to the Ul-Mor, and picks up on Athru, the Ul-Mor that she has spent the most time in contact with.

<<You are alive! Thank the spirits of rock and darkness! We have lost two Ul-Mor and three lopers. We have recovered the bodies of the one Ul-Mor and its mount, but the others are gone—almost certainly buried under the rock.

<<It is very dangerous to remain here. When the rocks move in the caves, often the air becomes corrupted with poison. We cannot linger here to mourn our dead. We must move on.

<<There are many paths through the caverns. You are blocked from the safest one. You can try to find your way through, or you can return to the desert where we found you. Do you have weapons? Will your spirits protect you? How are your food and water reserves?>>


Athru Sea-People’s Bane warns you of some of the dangers to be on guard against in the caves: <<You know to watch for droppers. There are also rasties and flitters—both are small but viscous, and will try to swarm you. There are larger animals, too, like the shovelmouth and the bear. When the earth moves and walls crack, beware of poisonous air or burning magma. And the spirits underground are stranger than the ones that know the light. They may seem deceitful or confuse you with impossibilities.

<<We must go now! And so must you! You and your people are strange, Bertie, but I am glad we have met and faced danger together. I hope for us to meet again on the other side of the mountains. I hope to bring you to my tribe and introduce you to the you-shaped creatures my people have told me of. I hope you and your friends travel with safety and speed.

<<Goodbye.>>

The path back to the desert is blocked. You are separated from the Ul-Mor. Two paths remain open: the index and middle finger. There is nothing apparent to help you choose to pick between them, but you know that this is a monumental choice. Choose incorrectly, and you could become hopeless lost, or stumble into impossible dangers. But then, you don't know that there is a correct choice. You could be doomed already!

Somewhere, you here the deep groan of massive rocks shifting ever so slowly.

Ongoing Tallies
Food and Water: OOOO
Lights: OOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)OOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OOO

What do you do?
Next Update: Next weekend!

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#14 Post by shaidar »

Bertie

"Athru! I am sorry for your loses. I fear Goran is no more. We have what we need to survive, for a while at least. Thank you for your help, advice, and most of all your friendship. I hope we all meet again on the other side of the mountain and we meet your clan. Safe journeys, my friend. "

As the mental communications breaks, she notices the repeated pings of her link and she absently selects the option to main the local network connection.

She turns to her friends "I managed to communicate with Athru. He warned we should not stay here too long and these rock falls often release poisonous gasses...." she then goes on to repeat Athru's warning to her.

She focuses on her link "I wrote a program that has been using the sensorpak to monitor and record our journey. I hope that this data will help us choose the right path forward."

Bertie starts to work through the data she to determine which tunnel to take:

Roll: [_2d6]=(4+2)=6, dis/advantage[1d6]=4

She has the science and technology skills to gain advantage, plus is educated, which gives a 4+4+1=9

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#15 Post by Rex »

Kallina

"I wish them and us luck. Lets see what we can get from the sensors and then get moving. I fear not only poison gases but another cave in as well."

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#16 Post by Pulpatoon »

Bertie finds her scanner is having a hard time maintaining definite readings of the are due to the magnetic roiling effect she had noticed earlier. It also appears the rock is honeycombed with cavities from gas bubbles trapped when these rocks cooled. This is making it hard to identify the true tunnels and caverns. However, she does make one startling realization: the index finger tunnel is unstable. About 100 meters in, that tunnel splits in two, and the rejoins about 50' past that. This entire section shows active movement from pressures building up below it. If you want to go down that tunnel, you will need to move as quickly as you can in the hopes of not getting caught in either another cave-in or a magma burst.

The ring finger tunnel seems more stable, and splits in three about 200 meters from your current location.

A warning light alerts Bertie that compensating for the magnetic flux is exerting a heavy drain on the sensorpak's batteries.

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#17 Post by shaidar »

Bertie passes on the information she has found

"It seems we need to deactivate the sensorpak and reply on our own whits, mostly anyway, we could use it in short bursts I suppose in extreme situations. I would suggest we avoid the unstable tunnel, even if we get past the danger point we could end up with magma chasing us. However, I will go with whatever the majority decision is."
Last edited by shaidar on Mon Feb 20, 2023 5:39 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#18 Post by Rex »

Kallina

"Makes sense, shut it down and will use it mostly to confirm the water we drink or food we eat is safe. I will lead the way."

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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#19 Post by cybersavant »

Skur Vonn nods, hefts his equipment, and holds his laser pistol at the ready, barrel aimed low for now.
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Re: Adventure Log 003: Journey Beneath the Planet Volturnus

#20 Post by Pulpatoon »

:: Sensorpak Geospatial Readings ::
Volturnus Caves Image 001.png
Volturnus Caves Image 001.png (892.37 KiB) Viewed 1116 times

:: Red Zone: This region is experiencing dangerous instability. Approach with caution. ::
:: Blue Star: The current location of this Sensorpak device. ::

:: Sensorpak batteries unstable. Please remove from source of magnetic disruptions and recharge at soonest convenience. ::

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