Derrick and Breogh are able to make out a few things amongst the wreckage as they approach the pods and clear space for a deeper investigation.  While there is a light sheen of dust on the outside, most of what is making the glass opaque (assuming it isn't the glass itself?) is something inside the pods.

Artor's "dexterity" causes him to trip and stumble toward a control panel along one wall.  There is a brief, sparking explosion, loud and smoky but not injurious.  As a plume of acrid, bluish smoke strikes his mask, the door to the hall slams shut.  A brief alarm (?) squawks before being strangled to silence by a lack of power.  The lights overhead flicker briefly before changing to a sickly yellowish hue.

Derrick turns to face the door as it slams shut and the alarm sounds, his posture is immediately tense. Though he doesn't have high hopes, he strides over to the closed door and immediately makes an attempt to open it the old fashioned way. He is able to get decent purchase in a part of the door as he braces himself and pulls. His muscles straining as he pulls, he begins chanting to himself: "Larak tarath. Larak tarath. Larak tarath..."

Derrick rolled 17 using 1d20.  Might (1 Free Effort). That hits a 6.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:12, Sat 09 Dec 2023.

In reply to Derrick (msg # 114):

"Watch it Derrick!" Alyssa says. "You might strain your back if you lift that door! It looks heavy!"

Retreating instinctively from the acrid bluish smoke, Artor coughed once; his tattered bandages roil for a moment, the form beneath in flux until greenish-black tendrils leak out for a few moments whilst he settles himself. He muttered beneath his breath for a moment, adding unnecessarily, "Be careful of your footing in here"

The fact that the ship seems to react to isolate whatever might be on those pods alarms Breogh as it leads him to frightening hypothesis, should that thing escape to attack them. He wonders if the travel bubble cypher he has left could be of any use in those close quarters.. he really doubts it so maybe he could help Derrick a little to keep the door open  "Can we help you pushing!?"

Sifting through the debris, Breogh is able to make out 7 shins and 11 wires, plates and other pieces that may be useful for crafting (parts).  Derrick dusts off an adhesive patch still in it's seal but the grinding of the door distracts him before he can determine more.


Leaping across the room and using his legs on the wall for leverage, Derrick's quick thinking and substantial strength slow the door's final sealing sequence.  You hear an impotent clicking once, twice.  Then some mechanism in the wall breaks with the screech of tearing metal and the door slams wide open, although out of alignment with the track.  It is unlikely it could now be closed without a substantial repair effort.

Slow to react to the closing aperture, Artor shivers as Derrick's efforts wrench it off it's tracks. After a pause for the dust to settle, he mumbles, "Best not become trapped in here, eh. Caged. Caught."

Breathing a little heavily from the exertion, Derrick relaxes once he feels the resistance in the door stop. There is no sheen of sweat on his crystalline skin, but there is a very faint trace of micro-cracks up his arms. The cracks begin to fade even as he straightens and faces the others. "I'm alright. And we aren't trapped. So that's good!"

He moves over to the sealed patch where he had dropped it on the ground, picks it up and hands it to Alyssa. "This looks like it might be useful. Any idea what it is?"

Mood Patch.  Level 8.  Adhesive patch that activates when slapped.  Once activated, the patch transfers a substance that makes the wearer completely truthful for one hour.

With the crisis of the door dealt with, Derrick returns to the strange tanks. He pulls out the Access Glasses as he stares at the tank on the left. He puts the googles over his eyes and the rings around his wrists. Facing the glass, he attempts to reach through and find anything on the other side.

Using Access Glasses (lvl 6).
This message was lightly edited by the player at 16:36, Sun 24 Dec 2023.

Derrick proceeds cautiously with his attempt. He uses the glasses ability to see through the side of the tank and well as the rings' ability to let him reach through. With Agatho's guidance, he proceed carefully with his probing...

Derrick rolled 12 using 1d20.  Salvaging Numenera (2 Assets, 2 Effort). So that's difficulty 8.

Witnessing the success the others had had, Artor went to search the other tank

21:14, Today: Artor rolled 11 using 1d20.  Salvaging Numenera, Effort, Trained

Artor's efforts are successful, although a bit less so.  The tank he worked on was in worse shape to begin with, though.

Breogh looks with curiosity at Derrick and Artor as they probe the tanks..."By any chance do you think there might be some item inside that can help us with that entity that we left in the dark undisturbed on the other place we were before?"

Alyssa investigates the pods. Is there something in them? And can the pods be opened? And should they be opened?

One of the pods, partially open and obviously damaged, has some tubes and wires hanging loose around some bones that crumble to dust as the lid is opened.  Two others seem empty and sealed.  If there is some sort of code or protocol to open them, it's not obvious.

Alyssa starts to investigate the two unopened pods to see if she can figure out how the might be opened. Perhaps there's some sort of control panel anywhere?

18:20, Today: Alyssa Yulo rolled 4 using 1d20.  Understanding Numenera. – 4

I'm specialized in Understanding Numenera so that would beat a 10
This message was last edited by the player at 17:21, Mon 22 Jan.

While the others continue to investigate the other pods, Derrick turns to look at Breogh and shakes his head. "Unfortunately I don't think so. These gloves would probably help scavenge one of the other tanks and there might be something in there though..."

Artor shook his head, too, holding up a series of bars and rods he had recovered, "Some iotum, some shins, some synthsteel. I can make something of it when we return to the settlement, perhaps"

Alyssa is able to find control panels on the remaining pods, although there is no power left.  It could be possible to connect them to some bits of Io (iotum) to activate the pods, but this would be temporary at best.  With some time and effort, the entire apparatus of each might be disconnected from the ship and transported back to New Yenth, to be worked on and studied.  This would take some coordination with the aldea, for the labor.

Derrick does his best to help Alyssa with her search, but as it becomes clear that more resources are necessary to salvage the numenera, he speaks up. "I think that we should take what we've got back to the aldea and let them know what we've found. They can decide if they want to come out here and help us recover these pods or not."

"I agree. We have other more pressing concerns. We still haven't found any traces of the missing people or whatever happened to them." Alyssa sighs. Things are rarely easy.

"And there is much more to explore before we bring them here, to ruin"

It was not clear whether Artor's ominous one concerned the ruin they were in, or some fate he foresaw

Breogh remained with his arms crossed while looking at some inexisting horizon at the same time he heard the others...

"Well I agree also we need to focus then on finding what could have happened with the missing people.. among the  signs i saw before in  the wall there were a few more signs saying "quarters" and "Storage 1", we might find something in that storage that might give us a clue.. like i dont know.. if something got loose it could have raided that storage for food.. also based on the fact that we almost got trapped by that door mechanism there might be some working power source inside .. once we are outside of this room we can try looking for internal connections , like some power network that we could trace in some direction"

“I know little of the streams the ancients harnessed within such places”, offered Artor, though perhaps he knew more than he cared for given his upbringing on Srithal, “Let us try this ‘Storage One’ you speak of”

Derrick acknowledges the wisdom of more fully exploring the strange vessel before they return. He does however remind the others: "Don't forget what we found at the entrance to this place. Evidence that someone ran afoul of some trap and was killed. I think it's an unfortunate possibility that was one or both of our missing people.

After Derrick kept the door from closing, Agatho gave him an appreciative nod, and went to examine the two sealed pods...

OOC: Premonition, then Scan...