SWT: Entity - Chapter Five
Such Sights
Welcome back to Solum’s Weird Tales - Entity! Last time, we found a treasure trove of synthetic material with which to begin creating the innerworkings of our Holo mapping room. Best not to think about where they came from, of course, but we also found a few other oddities, such as a 21st Century NASA probe, another chance encounter with a hostile AI and it’s meat puppets and some ancient wall carvings, suggesting the Red Pyramid is even more mysterious than it appears to be. Let us join Arden as they get ready for their next expedition!
IAP Arden (They/Them)
ADAPTIVITY - 5 ANALYTICS - 4 TECHNOLOGY - 3
Survival - 3 Physics - 2 Robotics - 1
Communication - 1 Biology - 1 Information Technology - 2
Navigation - 2 Chemistry - 3 Engineering - 3
Mission - Pathfinder
Arden’s Cave - Day 10
I have a functional, or at least, mostly functional, mapping center. I’ll need a power source to keep it running which should be easy enough to jury rig. This planet has a sun, weak as it is, and there are energy signatures on my long range scanners. The real goal is information. I need somewhere to get accurate, long range readings of the topography, and I need a way to record my suits passage so the I could upload it all to the mapping software. Time would tell if I achieved either.
Location - Acidic Springs: Volatile geothermal pools spewing toxic, acid-laced steam, shaping a corrosive environment hostile to most forms of life.
I had a bearing on the tallest summit in the local area thanks to my earlier data gathering but my long range readings were picking up a lot of heat. My suit should be fine as long as its seals were all in good order. I had taken some hits and many of the joints were suffering from fresh strains since landing, so I would need to make sure to do a few more checks than usual to make sure I want walking into a death trap.
Travel - 2 Challenge
You find a fragment from a neutron star that emits critical levels of radiation.
The summit was within the confines of the desert, but in an area unexplored thus far. Something odd happened on the hike to the mountains base. I walked for two hours off the beaten track and found myself standing at the top of a small crater with no memory of how I had arrived there. When I came back to myself, my HUD was flashing green and red, warning me of critical, possibly lethal amounts of radiation nearby. A human would be moments away from death, even in a fully shielded space suit, and so I had to problem solve quickly before my shielding buckled and I became a puddle of pioneer.
Physics, Chemistry,EngineeringDC 7 - 6 and 8. Reroll 8 for a 10 weak hit. Strain marked.
Something within the crater bubbled and popped, creating a chemical reaction that triggered the pulses of radiation. I spent too long trying to isolate and underside the various compounds within in the desperate hopes of claiming something salvageable in this unconsensual detour, but as my fielding failed, my suit took on the brunt of radiation, and the interior of the suit was filled with an acrid burning smell reminiscent of a tragic automobile accident. I scrambled backwards, my quick processing at least allowing me to navigate a path clear without succumbing to too much damage, but the servos in my suit whined and groaned in displeasure.
Data Spent 2 Location Roll 4 Challenge Threat 2
(This means 2 separate challenges - Low rolls are rough haha)
1St Challenge - The ground underneath you begins to erode rapidly, revealing a deep chasm.
Getting back on track took a while but I eventually reached the base of the mountain and started to climb. As I had suspected, the mountain was active, with strong heat readings just below the surface, bubbling and waiting to erupt. I couldn’t tell how soon it would be before the heat popped as the readings were increasingly erratic, and very unusual. That should have been my first warning. When the ground began to turn to dust beneath my heavy step, I was looked down in suprise, my first mistake. So many cases of surprise in the week and a half since my ejection from the Phaeston, after a human lifetime of expected events. I was not enjoying the change.
Survival
NavigationDC 8 9 and 4. Energy reroll and get a 3. Strong Hit.
I powered my jets immediately. The gravity here was slightly below 1G, enough for my stabilizing jets to give me a bit of a lift off the ground which, when combined with the enhanced strength of the suits legs, enabled me to leap over the opening crevice and bound from solid ground to solid ground until I eventually found rock that was willing to stay in place. I frowned. This had better be worth it.
Challenge 2 A rogue AI entity from an ancient civilization crosses your path.
I saw other crevices as I walked, mostly empty chambers underground but a few filled with liquid magma, the heat from it strong enough to trigger a warning on my HUD. When I reached the summit, I found that the smoke and fumes from the top of the volcano made it largely impossible to view the surrounding area with any certainty. I heard the familiar squeak and bark of a microphone coming on line and a series of beeps and whistles. Turning, I saw a small, smooth orb, floating a foot off the ground. I looked at it for a few moments, and its blank, chrome shell regarded me in turn.
Robotics,IT, CommunicationDC 6 - 2 and a 3 strong hit.
It took longer than I would have liked, but I established a dialogue with the small orb. It was not so dissimilar to myself. It was an AI designed for exploration. It had a recycling unit in its chassis that used the heat from the volcano to keep it ticking over. Supposedly the sun was too weak for its solar recharge units. It was content here and seemed disinterested in learning more about the large, blood red pyramid in the sky. I gave it a map to my home, in case it changed its mind. It would be nice to have company. For now, it shared what knowledge it could with me and I tried to parse it before preparing for the short jaunt home.
Data retrieval. DC 8 5 and 8 strong hit +4 Data
The orb had previously resided on an active volcano taller than this one, 40 Kilometers south of our current location. The volcano had settled down and then flash frozen over night, leaving the orb no choice but to abandon it in search of a more reliable power supply. It seemed largely unfazed by this bout of unnatural phenomena. That mountain would have to be my next destination, but I would stop by my cave first, and upload what data I could into my nascent mapping system. Every little helps.
Arden’s Cave - Day 11
Is it possible for a synthetic mind in a purely synthetic body to feel fatigue? I hadn’t had cause to wonder previously but now I was sure that I knew. Perhaps I was due for a full reboot and diagnostic scan but there was no other way to describe the feeling in my servos. I felt tired. I didn’t really know how to deal with that, so like my human crew before me, I chose not to think about it and accept it as my new state of being. How they lived like this for extended periods, I would never understand.
Location - The Rain of Corrosion: A region experiencing constant acid rainfall, resulting in oddly shaped, eroded geological formations and an eerily desolate terrain
The heat powered orb I had met had given me the coordinates to the tallest mountain in the region, but I noticed something odd when running it through my scanners. The path there was littered with odd geometry and atypical landmarks, and the climate readings from the area were unclear and hard to parse. I wouldn’t know for sure what was happening until I got there, but I knew that the area was prone to sporadic and intense rainfall. The strange readings were reported right up until the base of the mountain. I would have to hope the issue became evident upon my arrival.
Travel - 5 Nothing
The journey was simple enough, I had traversed much of the path before, so I was getting used to walking between the dunes in a way that didn’t disturb the surface overmuch, giving me several hours of peace in which to contemplate my data packets.
Spend data + 4 = 12 Challenge + Opportunity + Finding + Aspect
Challenge - You encounter a river of molten metallic substance blocking your path
The area surrounding the base of the mountain was very unusual. The area had enough craters and dips in the landscape indicative of a low orbit bombardment, but something about the shapes of the craters was off, slightly, forming patterns and shapes I found hard to explain. Fortunately there were a few structures littering the landscape and the odd shapes and geometric patterns formed by their remains, when combined with atmospheric reports, made it clear that this area suffered from some form of hyper corrosive acid rain. I increased my pace the moment I confirmed this, but had to make a break for cover when the rain began, out of a clear sky no less, to hammer down on a metallic bridge in front of me, melting it away into molten, red hot artificial magma. The rain fell in bursts, seemingly at random. I had to be quick, or I’d find myself trapped
Engineering,
Chemistry, Navigation,Robotics
Navigation DC 7 - 3 and a 10 Weak Hit - take a strain.
I leapt over the small fissure that had opened up in the ground next to me revealing more molten metal and pumped my stabilizing jets to keep myself skimming in the land while I mapped a direct path to the base of the mountain. I tried to trace the atmospheric fluctuations, but it was totally random and the moment from when I would get the reading and rain would begin to fall could be measured in nanoseconds. I had navigated around a few large pockets of corrosive sludge and liquid metal when I saw my target just a few short steps away, but the foot of my suit broke through the thin crust of earth over a large fissure, and I had to wrench the boot out with a squeal of servos and distressed metal. I pumped my stabilizer jets for the last few meters as I ran a diagnostic. The gears around the ankle were showing minute tears and fractures, but were functional. The bottom of the boot and most of the grip had melted clean off. I would have to repair that, when I got the chance. For now, I seemed to be clear of immediate danger, the rain having eased as suddenly as it appeared.
Opportunity - you encounter dormant construction droids. Reactivating one could yield 3 Resources on Success.
The mountain was tall, but the path seemed to have been traveled by something with large. I found what that something was at the halfway mark - a thick, industrial droid with tracks and harvesting gear mostly ravaged by corrosive rain and beyond repair. The payload, however, was secure within its hold.
Robotics, Engineering
Engineering dc 6 10 and 1 weak hit. Mark a strain and gain 3 resources
I cobbled together something usable from the parts of the droid that were not melted and used it to divert a shock of energy from myself into the battered old droid. It was, perhaps, a little too rushed as I immediately felt the feedback along my torso and back and into my power generator, leaving my heads-up display an angry red as it reports a power fluctuation systemwide before it eventually mellowed to its usual green blue color. The droid slumped and several excellent condition minerals dropped out of it to the ground, which I scooped up and loaded into my suit storage. I would have to start naming them soon as I had formed quite the collection and yet no two had thus far been alike.
Finding - A nearby magnetic anomaly interferes with your equipment, but also generates a small amount of usable power. Gain 1 Energy.
At the top of the mountain, I was far above the clouds and atmospheric disruptions that caused the acid rain. It was peaceful, at least, and I basked in the pristine view of the stars in the sky, only slightly disturbed by the Blood Red Pyramid that floated lazily in the center of the vista. I felt something then, a slight magnetic pulse that pulled me ever so slightly upwards, before dropping me back down again. I hummed in consternation as the pulse sparked and my suit alarm went off for a millisecond, but my readings returned to normal a moment later, only with my battery showing a slight increase in charge. I spent a few moments experimenting with the strange phenomena and was able to repeat the event at the expense of some of my newly claimed minerals, much to my amusement and my batteries relief.
Lose 2 resources and recharge an extra energy (new energy 6/10)
This is an upgrade ability, so it doesn't use my side activity slot.Aspect - Geographical data 3/4
Gather Data DC 8 - 1 and 8 gain 4 data
I spent several hours using the great height of the mountain to map the local area manually before deploying my probe to do the rest of the work for me. I had experimented with the old NASA probe while I waited for my suit to self diagnose, and I was happy with the result. It found the alien planet’s orbit easily enough, and I could communicate with it with minimal alterations to the original design. I could interface with the probe from a great distance and nudge it along to different areas once it had enough readings of the local topography. It would be a while before I was able to map the whole area, let alone the whole planet, but it was an excellent start. I was almost ready to fully assemble my holo-navigation module. I just needed to see to the last few details, and preferably, a way to automate my onboard navigation system to update in real time. Then it would just be a matter of putting it all together.
I didn’t get off to a great start, but pulled it back in the second expedition! I hope I see my little orb friend again, they are the first seemingly friendly thing Arden has met so far. I like that there isn’t much guidance one what an Aspect is. I wasn’t sure I would at first, but it really helps to build that feeling of being out on the frontier and building stuff, even if it is hyper advanced technology I know next to nothing about. I could see working some extra random tables in to flesh out some of the story beats, but so far I haven’t felt a need. Thanks for reading!
Excellent expeditions. The acidic pools and radiation scene was unnerving - in a good way. floating Blood red pyramid: I've seen in the art of the book - but sounds very Eldritch when described here. Loved it!