Mothership: Advent Dawn Session 4

 This was a doozy of a session, and I ended up with  pages of notes!

 

Ossie, wandering lost in the ship for a bit came around a corner to find Doc Stirling, Chl03, and a golden retriever exiting a reactor room. They quickly exchanged stories about what they'd seen, and pressed on. Noping past several suspicious looking rooms, they come to a massive chamber labeled Paradimensional Drive. 

Within the chamber, warning lights were flashing, and a weird sensation passed over everyone. Doc Stirling flashed back to when he tried to attach a liver to an elephant and it did not go well (and how he lost his funding). Ossie flashed back to his 3rd divorce when his now ex wife stabbed him. 

When they come back to themselves, they notice the droids in the room scrubbing only semi-effectively at the blood stained floor where "Corrupt Heart of the Ship" is written. Mostly they're just smearing it. Looking up at the drive itself, a tangled mess of wires and tubes and thrumming a pair of eyes that aren't there look down balefully. 

Ossie swallows the bile rising in his throat and rushes over to a terminal to stop the drive from engaging. He starts to hack it when nanites swarm out of Ossie and into the terminal!  He can't get past the system login. A thick black liquid (oil?) oozes out of the terminal connection. Ossie foolishly touches it and feels a stinging in his fingers where the liquid soaks into him. Stirling comes up to see what's going on. Chl03 uses one of the inactive androids to hook the extra Chl03 head up to, in hopes that she can provide some help.

Other-Chl03 almost immediately begins to scream and burn, the android skin blackening and the smoke  that surrounds her acts more like watery shadows that cling to the android body. Her eyes glow the same red as the eyes above that aren't there. The rest of the room warps and darkens too, the shadows thickening, despite the light levels remaining the same. Ossie and Stirling run for the door... or where they think the door is. 

"I told you to stay out of my fucking head" Chl03 yells. It is unclear which Chl03. The sound of her nailgun rings out. Ossie keeps trying to find the door, and avoiding the androids. He's hit by something, stumbles and keeps going, miraculously arriving at the door. Stirling appears there as well, with Kissygirl the golden retriever with him. Was he there first? Ossie isn't sure. They yank the door open and run for it while the Chl03s continue to battle. 

A short time later they find themselves in a much quieter section of the ship. The signs say Section 14, for what little that's worth. They come to a door to a crew lounge, and within is a skinless android doing some repair on itself, a pair of humans munching on a human arm. The bartender, Hank warns Ossie and Stirling that Hanks is a place of peace, and anyone who breaks that peace will know none. He offers them a drink. It's called "The Fuck" and is made with "anything that can ferment, and a lot of things that can't" Neither Ossie nor Stirling much care at this point and they drink it down. He asks Chl03 to change the music.

Chl03?!? This one, again, just a head, says she's been on the ship 37 days. And she warns that the drive will activate in just over 3 hours. Ossie and Stirling finish their drinks and make to leave. Hank gives them a growler to go, and wishes them luck finding a way off the ship. 

Continuing with little idea of where they are or where they're going, they come to some weird writing on the walls... maybe in blood? Kissygirl licks it. Just beyond it is the door to the waste processing facility. It is remarkably huge, with catwalks, conveyor belts, massive vats... the sort of place you'd expect in a major hive city, not on a spaceship. Nevertheless, hooch in hand (and bloodstream) they decide to check it out in hopes there might be an escape pod. 

Not long after entering, below the sound of running feet. A human boy(?) being chased by a slimy reptilian thing. Stirling takes a shot at it, but misses. It is enough to get the creature's attention, and the boy runs off. Kissygirl vomits up some 2" long purple worms at the creature, and it flees. Ossie is further freaked out, but at this point who can tell? Stirling says she's a good girl. 

Further into the facility they see large blob things moving along on another catwalk, and more of the slime reptile dog things. Kissygirl shows more of those purple worms and keeps Ossie and Stirling safe(ish). Down below they walk above a big 6 legged version of the slime dogs, with tentacles on its back. It SHOOTS them up toward the trio, and Ossie gets bit by one. It holds on, and starts emitting a high pitched noise, loud enough to travel over the sound of the facility. Ossie blows the worm off with his revolver, the last shot. Stirling slaps a quick bandage on it, and they press on as quickly as they can. 

Ahead, a flooded area but a hatch out of the facility. Something is clearly swimming in the flooded area, but Stirling things he can make it to the door... and he does, but gets bitten by something in the foot as he gets the door open and the gross sewage flows out into the hall, draining away. Ossie hobbles after Stirling and they close the door behind them, and Stirling patches himself up... or at least stops the bleeding.