You have Kyrillian in his room.  He is panicked and scared, and Kri'lik has just convinced him to tell you everything he knows.

A few doors down is the room of Kyrtok with a strange machine and some messages that were on his computer.

You also hold a pen-like infrared device that tracks positioning.

A mysterious blackness-cloaked figure killed Kyrian and disappeared through a wall.

Kyrillian says, "The Matrix Project was formed to use the Matrix virus against some sort of invasion by extra-dimensional creatures.  It was thought their broadcasts and transports could be interrupted by inserting the Matrix virus.  Kyrtok and I were charged with experimenting with the blackness they use for transport.  Somehow, they tracked us here."

He stops to take some deep breaths.  His hand is shaking.  "We didn't know how imminent it all was.  We didn't know they could find us out here.  Your message clarified that the invasion is imminent.  We don't know when, but the message we decoded also showed the Sathar are in league with them."

In reply to GM Heath (msg #1):

"So, if the Sathar wasn't enough now, we've got to worry about this other race helping them to wipe us out?  We need to find out more about this other reatures and get back to our own little war with the Sathar.

Hey, relax will ya!  I'm not going' to blast you.  We could help you if you're willing to help us out with this stuff."

Kyrillian nods.  "Kyrtok was experimenting with a way to duplicate their...method of travel, dimensionally speaking...with that machine.  He wanted to be able to cut off their access by reversing the flow, or to send something to them to warn them off.  He said it had to do with light flowing through the special crystals and creating a distortion of time-space around their dimension, or something like that.  He said one of them, who is against the invasion plans, communicated with him, sent him something on the computer, and that's what he was trying to figure out when...when they killed him."

Desiraye looks surprised at what Kyrllian had said about one of 'them' being against the invasion, "One of the Sathar allies is against the invasion?  We need to find out who and how do we get in touch with them.  My people and I can kick ass but, we're going to need all of the helpo we can get!"

Kyrillian says, "No, not Sathar.  One of those extra-dimensional creatures.  What we know of them so far is that sometimes they move around us without us being able to detect them visibly.  They can be invisible, in other words.  The other thing they can do is cover themselves in the blackness like a cloak to help them quickly act and move between dimensions."

OOC: That's what I meant by Sathar Allies, sorry for the confusion but some more good information.

Hammer is not amused at hearing the powers of the baddies planning an invasion.
"Ooh, great.  Our next enemy can be invisible OR can be covered in this nasty super-blackness?
What next?  Aliens that can turn me into ... flesh?  Eeeew!"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:08, Sat 06 Aug 2011.

"Break down everything we can from the victim's room and we'll need all of your stuff to Kyrillian.  We need to get somewhere and get all of the information we can on how to go about handling this."

In Kyrtok's room, you find that, unfortunately, the strange device is bolted to the floor.  But Kyrillian is willing to translate the e-mails if you want.

"Let's get started and don't leave anything out!"

"I'd like to add that language to my Polyvox.  Can I scan those messages, please?"

Hammer wants his PolyVox to be ready to decrypt that language, if/when they encounter it.

"Smart thinking Hammer."

You can already understand their language in the Polyvox, which is why you can understand Kyrillian now.  But Polyvoxes cannot do anything about literacy.

Professor Kri'lik continues to work with Kyrillian as the alien translates the emails. He pays close attention, trying to determine if the alien is speaking the truth or not. He also reexamines the Sathar writing found on the strand device looking for any further insight on it.

"Someone should contact Kent and explain to him what's going on!"

Kyrillian translate the e-mail:  "It is from Kyrian to Kyrtok," he says.

"Kyrtok,
Have experimented with the machine.  No ill effects from experimenting with the buttons, but still no results.  Get Kyrillian to analyze color sequences.  We must get it to work.

My contact sent me a strange file with pictures of different suns.  He says he cannot tell me more.  Something about how their minds are connected and they will know if he reveals more.

I am nervous because I was told the body count and number of deaths in preventing this invasion is inconsequential.  Could that mean us as well?

I am told that getting the machine to work will bring a datapad or artifact to us that will allow us to decode the alien messages received on Moneyspider through the Matrix Hole Between Worlds.  The Qantariate discovered our universe because of the Matrix.  I think it should be destroyed but the Synths believe it is critical to our success in preventing an invasion that will destroy our universe more surely than an antimatter annihilation.

The artifact can be taken to Tariel Nuna on Kraatar, who knows about the Shadows of Rakon and is best suited to figure out what it means.  We should also get Dr. Legrange involved.  He's brilliant.

I have decoded the "cycles" listed by the aliens.  Each cycle is the equivalent of 1 month.  This means we have less than 2 cycles left before the invasion!  I'm in a panic.  The worm creatures are involved too.  How, I don't know, but somehow."

In reply to GM Heath (msg #16):

"Should we be taking this thing off of the station?  And how do we get this 'artifact?"

Kyrillian says, "Apparently, once you get the device to work, the artifact will come through, like something through a wormhole.  We just haven't figured it out yet."

"I hope we can figure it out soon.  I don't like this two cycle thing before the attack begins.  What is that like two months or something?

How close are you guys to figuring this out?  I'm sorry but, I'm a little inept in this department to offer much except for some suggestions."

"Who's this Dr. Legrange? Can he help with the device or only the artifact?"

"And where the hell is this planet Kraatar?"

"If it sounds like we only have roughly two months, we better start doing something quick!"

"If you have not figured the device out yet, please tell us what you have tried so we will not waste time."

Kyrillian says, "We have tried the machine with these disks.  They change color when they are placed in the slots and the buttons are pushed.  He tried various combinations but didn't seem to get it right.  Beyond that, I don't know many details because Kyrtok was the one doing the experiments, not me."

He says, "Kraatar is a system not too distant, a mountainous, rugged planet is habitable there, and it's where the famous scientist Dr. Legrange lives.  He will soon be presented with an award.  It's his genius mind that may be helpful here, not any particular knowledge he has."

OOC: For those of you who've been around when the adventure voting was going on, you might remember that Kraatar and Dr. Legrange are part of the setting and plot for Dark Side of the Moon.  I will be merging this adventure into that one to keep it fresh.

OOC: I guess we need some combat in here to wake you guys up.  :)

Sorry, been a little busy.

DSotM is one of my all time favorites!

I'm ready to go and BTW, combat is cool!

It's not going to start just yet though...

OOC: I think you guys need a little push regarding the "device."  I'll do intelligence checks and things for you but you will feel very satisfied if you solve it yourselves.  Feel free to experiment with it.  It won't hurt anyone and requires a few tries to see patterns emerge.

I was hoping some of the 'tech' guys on the team would be into it more.

This group doesn't seem to be as much into puzzles and riddles as some of my other groups.  The riddle thing on the Pegasus also seemed to stop everyone dead in their tracks.

Killed me.  Not good at them at all.

C'mon people, let's get this going again.

Hammer says, "We should go try out the machine and see what it can do."  He goes back to the main room and pushes the button on it.

While Hammer is at the machine, Desiraye stands a little back and with her hand near her holster just in case something'jumps' into the room and decides to start the alien invasion early.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:39, Fri 19 Aug 2011.

S'Krllk watches Hammer, and states, "Perhaps we need to re-arrange the lenses to match the colors of the stars in that message."

"I'm almost postitve the way wwe first saw them is the orer they should be in!"

Kri'lik looks at the machine to see if there is any Sathar writing on it as well.

There is no other writing on the machine.

"Am I wrong?"

I'm not sure what you mean by "order."  How they were placed in the machine initially when you entered the room was incorrect.  You will have to put the proper colors of disks into the machine slots in the proper order for it to work.

When the black hand drops the item and disappears, you hear something from behind you in the room, like something moving, yet when you look, nothing is there.  It came as though it were standing on top of the bed and sounded like someone taking a step across the bed.

The device can fit in the palm of your hand.  It is round and has a pulsing glow that looks like this:

"WHOA!  What the frak was that?  Did you see that?" Desiraye says excitedly when she sees the hand appear and drop something in the room.

Ever the curious one Professor Kri'lik moves over to the new items and waves his gauntleted left arm above it scanning the device with various gear.

Using Fauna-CAS(Formerly bioscanner), Flora-CAS, Motion Tracker, and Envirokit (Bioscanner, Vaporscanner, Geoscanner).

The device shows up as something that is not normal matter.  It shows up as unknown, but it also does not radiate anything that appears damaging.  You should be able to touch it without being harmed.

As Kri'lik is scanning and you are all watching, you hear a "bang" from behind you, like a foot or boot slapping the floor.  Even as you turn...and see nothing there...the strange round object lifts up and begins floating out the door.  You will have to run to catch up because it appears that something not visible to your eye is beginning to run down the hall with it.

As Kri'lik begins to run down the hall after the object he says, "Screw this.." He then draws is holstered laser pistol and sets it for 2SEUs and fires several times at where he would thinks a body might be...

Tha twas the same thing going through Desi's head when she heard Kri'lik say that and saw the object head out the door.  Once again, in pursuit, Desi draws out her laser pistol and takes off after the object and whoever/whatever grabbed it.

Desi and Kri'lik take off, and fire at the escaping invisible thing.  They hear a whooshing sound which might be a grunt, and then a black entity appears as it falls to the ground, dropping the strange orb.

It is garbed in pure black, like flowing robes cut into a million tatters, but you cannot see its body yet from this distance.

Desi begins to advance on the invisible thing with her laser pistol pointed at its position on the ground.  She yells out, "Stay on the ground!  Stay on the damn ground and don't move!"

It begins shaking.  At first, it seems like a tremor, but it starts to look more and more like it is vibrating and simultaneously having a seizure.

As the blackness drops Kri'lik slows down his aged legs and comes to a halt panting a bit. "That worked better than I though." He says. That is until the body starts to shake. Using his bioscanners he starts to move closer as Desi yells at the darkness and says, "I hope its not going to explode on us." He checks his scanners again for anything out of the ordinary.

"Is it a hologram?"

Examining the black figure with your scanners uncovers that:

The being is made up primarily of neutrinos that normally move directly through matter in this universe.  They are encased by something that only be classified as antimatter, but not in the traditional sense.  The sensors are going wild because it is an unknown form of matter.

The cloak and body shudder once more and then disappear, leaving the orb on the ground and a humanoid black outline similar to the black smudges you have seen elsewhere.  The orb rolls to Desi's feet.

Kyrillian walks up behind Desi, holding up his wrist.  "This is a type of motion sensor," he says, looking down at the watch-like device.  Above it floats a hologram.  "I turned it on when the orb started to move, and the invisible figure showed up."  He turns up the volume.  "I can edit out each of your signatures and see what shows up.  Maybe it can be our detection system.  If my hunch is right, more of these things will be coming for the orb."  He points at the pen-like tracking device you had found previously.  "I don't know for sure, but my guess is they use those devices to home in for whatever sort of teleportation they're using."

He edits out your signatures and tells you it will beep if there is movement headed your way.

In reply to GM Heath (msg #51):

"Whoa!  It's like a tracker huh?  You guys wanna find this thing or what?"

"we must secure this orb and get it to the doctor. That was your plan was it not? Kri'lik says refering to the alien Kyrillian.

Desi puts on the watch device and then turns to Kri'lik and the others, "You going to cover me with that gun or you want me to cover you?"

S'Krllk had walked, sedately, after the pursuit. As he arrives and hears the plan, he points out, "You know you won't have to chase it. It came for that device in the first place, so it's sure to be back."

To clarify, his watch device is not a tracker.  It merely detects motion nearby (like a radar).  If you've seen the movie Aliens, think of it like those devices.  So if any "invisible" creatures approach, he should be able to tell that something is nearby through movement.

As Kyrillian is showing you the device, you see a white glow from the edge and a slow beep.

"Something's coming this way," he says nervously, looking back down the hall.  "It's still a little ways off but getting closer."

OOC: OK, exactly what I was picturing it was.

BIC:  Desiraye goes back into a tactical shooting posture and tries to figure out where the target is.

FYI boss Krilik has a motion scanner in his arm gauntlet too.

Slot 4, Motion Tracker (Zebulon’s Guide pg 81) 400 credits Size B 10-50 meter range
Motion: This type of scanner identifies any movement within its range. The problem is that it does not
identify the moving object, only that "something moved over there."

Thanks for reminding me.

The target is still around a few turns in the hall, maybe 50 meters away.

At the mention of a motion scanner the Doctor slaps his face and says I have one of those too. Pulling up his gauntleted arm he turns on the scanner. "There some rapid movement some 50 meters away. Just at the extreme range of my scanner. If we are going to track it we better move now!"

"OK, let's move out.  Call out the distance and movement Doc.  Let's see if we can't capture one of these things or at least see what it wants besides the obvious," Desiraye says as she begins to move in the direction called out on the threat.

Kyrillian's eyes open in horror.

3 more dots just lit up on his device.  "There are more coming," he says in a panic.  "I...I know where there are some weapons, including 2 turrets.  Follow me."

He begins leading you down the hall.

Desiraye grinned at the mention of weapons, "Now you're talking my language!  Lead the way!"

Kri'lik does his best to try and track any movement he finds on his scanner and relay that info to the rest of the group.

"If they're coming after this thing, shoot to kill!"

Kri'lik noods and sets his laser pistol to 10 SEUs. He also draws his K-Pulse pistol while continuing to call out motion data from his sensor.

S'Krllk makes sure his needler has the barbed needles loaded, and prepares to fire.

Here's a map for you.  It shows where you are.  The strange device was in Kyrtok's room.  The science quarter is under quarantine.  This also shows where the weapons experiments were going on (the place Kyrillian mentioned).



Unless anyone says otherwise, I will presume you are going to the place with the weapons.

OOC: Yes, to the weapons!!!