Cairo

Shaun Hearing Novia's warning Shaun is quick to snuff and stow the lantern, before starting to move back towards the tunnel using the candle light. "Was Malice alone?" he asks Novia in a low voice. "Forcing her to fight from the tunnel might be more beneficial to her than us. She has the upper hand one-on-one," he comments to Doørfin. "But perhaps the tunnel entrance is still the best place to set up. If there are open, shallow graves close enough, we can hide out of sight in them and hopefully get the jump on her."

Very nice, got my Animal Summoning back! Edit: Based on what Malice said, it sounds like she has company. Shaun didn't hear her words, though.

ImpBiscuit A Chib woman with platinum blonde hair, dressed in an elegant, white bell-sleeved romper with lavish copper-colored cuffs and details. She wears boots in a similar style, a white stocking only on her right leg, and a three-tailed dark blue cloak. For jewelery she has a four-pointed obsidian star pinned to her hair and a copper circlet floating above her head. Biscuit also spots what the bones are up to, and follows Mercurius' lead in pouncing on the nearest skull and trying to grab it. "Hey, get back here!" she hollers at it as it manages to hop out of her limited reach.

I want to check what's in Malice's coffin / whatever that wooden thing buried in her grave is. However, I don't want to do that exhausted. It also doesn't make much sense to me to slog through the tunnel to a better place to rest, then slog back here to investigate the grave, then presumably slog back through the tunnel a third time. I don't think we have any good food to eat, so eventually we're going to starve. We shouldn't waste that limited time going back and forth 😅 So.. rest in the cave?

ImpBiscuit A Chib woman with platinum blonde hair, dressed in an elegant, white bell-sleeved romper with lavish copper-colored cuffs and details. She wears boots in a similar style, a white stocking only on her right leg, and a three-tailed dark blue cloak. For jewelery she has a four-pointed obsidian star pinned to her hair and a copper circlet floating above her head. The pressure wave from the mana grenade is but a gentle breeze by the time it reaches Biscuit, making her hair and cloak and the mist around her dance gently. She looks down at a skull that rolls to a stop not that far away, with the spiral icon floating above it. "Oh dear. We could have avoided this, you know?" The Chib lifts her face to look across the battlefield at the remaining Skelemen. "It's not too late to reconsider!" she hollers.

And posted! Fingers crossed we find something that'll work in our favor.

Shaun Shaun has slowed down considerably since the group first entered the cave, taking longer and longer to respond, or process an idea and get to the doing part of it. He finally gestures at Flickwit with the two-handed sword, held weakly. "Myself as well. I had little to give to begin with, but that stretch of tunnel took the rest it would seem. I need a moment... or two, to gather my strength." The wizard glances towards Doørfin. "I believe we have not yet fully taken in the far end of the cavern. Perhaps there is a nook for us to rest in. Either way, I would leave digging up graves for when we are rested. If it is Malice you dig up now, I fear I'm not of much use in a fight."

Spoiler warning! Don't read this thread if you don't want to find out what's happening behind the scenes and just want to read the finished product. In Tess mentions she'll file her medical assessment of Rhyne's gene therapies with the ship's JAG officer. That calls for a Reason (9) + Science (3) Task roll to determine the accuracy of her work, and the roll (above) tells me she did a fine job: 15 and 2, where 2 is not only a success but results in Momentum on account of her Forensics Focus. I'll use that Momentum immediately to create an Advantage: Advantage: Analysis of Rhyne's Gene Therapies Tess has filed a very accurate and comprehensive analysis of Rhyne's gene therapies with the ship's JAG officer, which will prove useful later.

ACT 3, SCENE 3 The camera cuts to white, staying that way for a moment before the Legacy slides into view in a low three quarters shot. A slow orbit of the ship is accompanied by Tess's voiceover. Chief medical officer's log, stardate 6472.76. The Legacy has now been stuck in whitespace for two days. The engineering team has completed their inspection of the ship and report it structurally sound. They've also remedied issues with our sensors, though we're still not detecting anything notable out there. Several shots follow, showing the crew working on modifications to the ship and observing artifact readouts on various screens and portable tricorders. Although their actions are not accompanied by sound it's obvious a good portion of them aren't able to speak and are using other means to communicate. Chawas has continued to lead efforts into understanding the artifact now that we're able to monitor its status externally. Her team's updated stations on the bridge and key locations around the ship to provide readouts on demand. The beacon I mentioned previously continues to transmit without fail, but so far there's been no response. Meanwhile a small team of engineers, scientists and medical staff have determined the artifact's current activity levels don't pose a risk to the ship and crew. The camera cuts to the hangar bay where it approaches a workerbee. Several crew members from different disciplines are gathered in a ring around something in front of it. As the camera booms up to look over them a misshapen, discolored piece of scientific equipment held in one of the workerbee's claws becomes apparent. A crew member is scanning it with a tricorder, looking concerned. Exposure to whitespace beyond the ovoid-shaped bubble generated by the artifact is to be avoided however. While our sensors now show the area within it to vaguely resemble interstellar space, anything crossing beyond becomes invisible and otherwise undetectable, and when brought back is malformed on a molecular level. The scientists theorize the laws of physics in whitespace are incompatible with our own. The camera transitions to the officers' dining room where the senior officers are gathered for a briefing. Rhyne is standing at the front of the room, going over readouts presented on the screen next to him using some kind of device to produce captions on the display as he remains unable to speak. He looks serious as he switches to a view showing what looks like genomic data. The other officers appear taken back by whatever it is he's showing and telling them. Tess' voice, too, becomes ever so slightly more hesitant. Commander Rhyne will provide a full report on his own findings, which I've independently confirmed. They'll show that the commander has in the past been subjected to gene therapies which he swears to have been unaware of. The therapies resulted in commander Rhyne's immune system mutating an otherwise benign virus contracted prior to his transfer to Legacy, leading to the disease the crew is dealing with. I'll file my medical assessment separately with the ship's JAG officer, but legal ramifications aside I believe we now have a place to start looking for a cure. The camera does a few more cuts, showing different meeting rooms with small groups from a different discipline each gathered over gadgets or information on projects they're running. Some of them are communicating through sign language. As for the disease, some eighty per cent of the crew are now showing the symptoms, of which over half have lost their ability to speak. In response department heads are piloting various ways to adapt, ranging from sign language to text-to-speech communicator attachments. The captain has called for a second meeting later today to present the senior officers with an emergency solution for situations where these methods would prove insufficient...

ImpBiscuit A Chib woman with platinum blonde hair, dressed in an elegant, white bell-sleeved romper with lavish copper-colored cuffs and details. She wears boots in a similar style, a white stocking only on her right leg, and a three-tailed dark blue cloak. For jewelery she has a four-pointed obsidian star pinned to her hair and a copper circlet floating above her head. Prior to the appearance of the skelemen... Biscuit looks surprised by the presence of guns in what she had understood to be a medieval-style video game. The fanciful way in which some of the weapons appear makes her take a careful look at the piddly sword just hanging from her belt. The Chib subtly adjusts her cloak so as not to draw attention to an implement that clearly doesn't measure up to everyone else's. "The back of the group sounds good to me. Let's get those flowers delivered!" Out come the skelemen... Biscuit regards the animated skeletons from the back of the group, initially taken back by their sudden appearance but soon more focused on their amusing conversation. "I'm rather attached to mine!" she quips, the obvious answer to their plans. "Terribly sorry! Now may we pass please?"

That sounds reasonable. The map might not show for example a mechanism (even an unhidden one) to open a passage. If Shaun and Flitwick participate I believe we then roll for exhaustion, because noted that we've now come down from an adrenaline high and need to either rest or risk it. It's appropriate that my next IC post for Shaun acknowledges that choice. (and also that Shaun thinks Doørfin might be on to something with his comment about Malice's freshly disturbed grave)

You too! I'm also occupied this weekend and unlikely to be able to post. As for rest vs. risk exhaustion, here's the tally as I understand it: No need to rest, let's push on: Doorfin, Novia Risk exhaustion: Shaun Let's rest: Flitwick Looking at the map there doesn't seem to be any other obvious way out of the cavern than the way we got here (the bit in the top right corner appears to be a dead end), so we could have Shaun and Flitwick rest while Doorfin and Novia search for hidden passages (and in the process keep watch). That's my suggestion. If no one objects we do it, if someone objects please provide an alternative so that we at least keep discussing what to do. Of course, although we're doing this OOC I suspect there's going to be an IC consequence to delaying a decision so let's also keep that in mind 😅

Yes. 😅 I say we risk exhaustion this time. Other thoughts?

As I started thinking about advancing the timeline, I realized Chawas would naturally use that time to investigate the artifact now that she's able to get readings from it–she even said as much on-screen. To that end I did a ship Task roll (above). The 19 is almost but not quite a Threat, but more importantly the 1 is a success and results in Momentum / Advantage, as I consider the 'Modular Laboratories' ship Talent to apply here. Chawas is able to easily set up a dedicated, convenient working space nearby where she can focus on analyzing readouts from the artifact. The success means Chawas learns more about the artifact. The crew will now know for a fact that the artifact doesn't pose a threat, and that it's not so much 'taking over the ship' as extending its capabilities–with some kind of power cost, of course. They'll know the beacon is an emergency beacon. They'll also be able to monitor the artifact from the bridge or elsewhere just like any other ship system, which wasn't possible before. Operating the artifact beyond its automated processes (like the ones that kicked in when the Legacy entered whitespace) still requires Tess to directly interface with it, however. As for the Momentum / Advantage, by my latest reading of the rulebook it's unclear to me if Momentum from a ship Task roll can be banked, or if it's instantly exchanged for an Advantage. This time around I rolled for an Advantage. The first two attempts ('A Chance Encounter' with an old ally, and another 'Helpful Species - Primitive') don't really fit. The third one ('Advanced Prototype') seems promising. I need to think about what it is and how to bring it into play. Although the Advantage came from a roll related to the artifact, it might not be related to it. Notes on the narrative threads I'm tracking right now (spoilers): An ancient (extinct?) species whose advanced technology must be understood so it may either be restricted or made use of. UPDATED: The artifact onboard the Legacy (obtained in 2071) is a 'whitespace drive unit' (needs a better name). It does not pose a threat Planets the ancients used to inhabit are not yet defined (not important right now) Tess was somehow affected by her strange interaction with the artifact the Andorians extracted. The Federation's artifact identified this effect and marked Tess as a qualified operator (the genetic key) As a result Tess has been assigned to research the artifact The unidentified group hunting for this technology whose goals are not understood. It's unknown if the Legacy infiltrators are part of this group. They killed worker 08724 (Yexis Esrad, Bolian male) at the UP shipyard to use his identity to board the ship The Andorians in the cold open are willing and active participants in whatever they're doing. Other facets of their operation are not yet known Was the Andorian trio affected similarly to Tess? The group has one artifact (obtained in 2068), and have a considerable head start into understanding it Tess' situation. She has religuished command of the Legacy back to T'Rel for now She and Chawas have discovered the artifact is creating a 'whitespace bubble' and transmitting an emergency / location signal She is infected but resilient to Rhyne's Disease thanks to her interactions with the artifacts. She suffers muscle spasms instead of losing her speech She promised to update Mahan on what connection exists between the disease and his terraforming project Chawas has been harboring feelings for Tess for years Her most important relationship on Legacy might be with Chawas She hasn't been in a romantic relationship for several years (reasons TBD) She's now looking at a second five-year mission - will she really accept that? She wants a command of her own but didn't get it. Was it just because there wasn't availability, or does someone require her to still prove she's capable? USS Legacy and crew. NEW: Legacy carries some kind of Advanced Prototype that is useful in the current situation (what is it?) UPDATED: The artifact has brought the ship to 'whitespace' (similar to subspace, but next level) and is transmitting an emergency signal. The artifact can now be monitored like any other ship system. Tess is still the only one who can operate it The crew is aware of the mystery triangle ship (Borg Delta) but doesn't know what it is Tess has relieved Cherog and Rhyne of their duties due to sickness. She temporarily relieved T'Rel, but has for now allowed her to command again Rhyne has figured why the terraforming virus mutated and started infecting humanoids. Will share his findings as soon as he can There's been a breach in quarantine protocols during the gravimetric distortion crisis. Spread of the disease has sped up. Gatherings are limited, shifts and workgroups closely monitored. Most of the time crewmembers are stuck in their quarters. 60%+ of the crew is infected, 30%+ have lost their ability to speak Was Investigating a spatial rift in Bassen Rift (actually a Borg transwarp conduit) Ship carries highly sensitive data on Mahan's bleeding edge terraforming project Rhyne might have received illegal gene therapies in the past, but is not aware of them if he has Rhyne was originally infected while working on Mahan's terraforming project. Most common symptom is loss of speech. The entire crew will get sick. What's the cure? Cherog needs to interview nurse Reade about the infiltrator (for now assumed to have been Yexis Esrad) A device of unknown purpose has been covertly installed in Tess' office (and N others in undefined locations) Ship is on its shakedown tour The Borg. A Borg Delta (scout ship) has been scanning Romulan (and Federation?) planets for something One or more Borg Ships have been using a transwarp conduit in the Bassen Rift, causing the anomalous readings Legacy came to investigate The Romulans. The Romulan Bird of Prey also entered the spatial rift. Unknown if it survived Commander Korrius wants more proof of Federation's involvement The Romulan Bird of Prey has been tailing a Borg Delta into Federation space, thinking it's a new Federation spy ship The Romulan Bird of Prey's cloak caused the spatial rift (transwarp conduit) in Bassen Rift to rip open

In addition to : 1) Can Shaun recognize a pattern to the candles? Are they only on top of headstones next to open graves for example? 2) Are there any burned-out candles suggesting the candles are mundane and require replenishment? 3) Are there any unlit candles that are not burned out? 4) Do all candles burn with the standard yellow flame? 5) Do the flames radiate warmth?