Adrift in a sea of stars

"Celestinian, noted" thinks SDX, processing memory in search of relevant data...

Knowledge (Planes)
Result of the throw of dice "1d20 +10" :

6 + 10 = 16

whit10 wrote:uh... it doesn't really work like that. lol (player comment)

"I still sense the creatures.  I do not sense any actual destination yet."

"No... I mean, what is that thing up ahead," Tarro says, walking to the cockpit and pointing.

"I'm afraid I do not know. Suggestions?"

"I guess we wait and see." Keep working on sensors.

thanks for being so active and interested!  anyone know what happened to Rob?
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See Force allows you to feel the relative strength\weakness of the Force in somebody or detect the presence of Force users or to oppose a Force Stealth check to avoid detection.  I could certainly see it being used to detect the Force in a place (the cave is strong in the dark side, I sense coldness in there, etc).

Shivak senses a very low level of Force ability with the wisps.  They are living beings, so they have some connection to the Living Force (as Quigonn believed) but the thread is so thin, they do not have any active ability.

Shivak senses no Force connection to the ribbon-like ripple ahead.

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SDX adds to his knowledge of Planes with his discovery of the wisps.  The closest reference would be to "space plankton" that are found on ships and space stations.

http://www.newstatesman.com/2014/08/curious-case-space-plankton

Life can exist in the vacuum of space, but nothing so large or complex has ever been discovered by the Prime.  SDX wonders if these wisps exist.... what other vacuum-dwellers might have evolved?

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Tarro is able to get 1 mode of sensors operational at this time.  They need a lot of work, like everything else.  Reference page 210 of the Revised Core Rule book for the 4 types of sensors (passive, scan, search, focus) and what they each do.  Then choose 1 and roll Computer Use (or have someone else do it) to use sensors on the ribbon-like ripple.

Chris wrote: thanks for being so active and interested!  anyone know what happened to Rob?

Nothing's happened, I'm still here. Sharn is resting. Wake him up in another 7 hours I guess, or whenever GM says he's had a full rest.

Robyo wrote:After a long day and a cup of earl grey, the wookie passes out.

Chris wrote: No one has had a chance to rest (except Sharn for an hour or so)

"Posit theory: vacuum lifeform behavior indicating direction of travel towards ribbon nebula as response to our query. Recommend proceed on azimuth indicated, at caution."

"I think anything other than passive sensors might spook our new friends, what do you think SDX? Shivak?"

Robyo wrote:
Nothing's happened, I'm still here. Sharn is resting. Wake him up in another 7 hours I guess, or whenever GM says he's had a full rest.

Chris wrote: No one has had a chance to rest (except Sharn for an hour or so)

Chris wrote:
Bos calls out loudly enough for SDX and Sharn to hear, "Guys.... look at that!  In all my years as a spacer, I have never seen anything like it"

Ok, Sharn is sleeping I am glad Rob is still with us

MAS wrote:"Posit theory: vacuum lifeform behavior indicating direction of travel towards ribbon nebula as response to our query. Recommend proceed on azimuth indicated, at caution."

Yes, picture is of a nebula (specifically the Witch's broom) but what the party sees is not a far-off nebula.  It is long and stretches like a ribbon across the party's limited view.  The view is limited by the cycling swarm of wisps around the ship and your only clear POV is directly ahead.  

It is more like this but with a hazy mirage-like effect that distorts the appearance.



I think "focus" would allow you get a reading, aiming out your POV (see above) and not scan the wisps, if that is your intention

navyik wrote:"I think anything other than passive sensors might spook our new friends, what do you think SDX?  Shivak?"

Just need a Computer Use roll from someone if you want to scan the ripple

"Effect of scan on vacuum life-form unknown variable, recommend proceed in cautious increment."

Irwin flies up to the console. "Squak! Crikey fellas, I can use the computer sensors. You think our visitors would mind being scanned?"

Take 20 on the sensors.

Robyo wrote:Irwin flies up to the console. "Squak! Crikey fellas, I can use the computer sensors. You think our visitors would mind being scanned?"

Take 20 on the sensors.

are you scanning the wisps or the ribbon (destination)?

Tarro (I think) asked for the ribbon, but you said "visitors" (wisps).

"Focus" is a very specific type of scan, so you have to choose a target. Taking 20 here is fine, it just takes a couple minutes, which at your current speed shouldn't be an issue.

Irwin will scan the ribbon first.

Robyo wrote:Irwin will scan the ribbon first.

The normally expressive Irwin is at a loss of chirps, " <squawk>.... I.... am not sure what I am looking at. The ribbon registers on the sensors almost like...... Hypermatter, just flowing in a current through space. But Crickey.... that doesn't make any sense! Every 3rd grader knows that "Hypermatter" is just charged tachyons which are annihilated as they accelerate to infinite speed within a reactor. The hyper-drive adjusts the faster-than-light hypermatter particles to allow a ship to jump to light-speed without changing its complex mass and energy. "

"Can we collect it somehow to recharge our hyperdrive?"

navyik wrote:"Can we collect it somehow to recharge our hyperdrive?"

Hypermatter in this state (if that is what it actually is) is a totally new phenomenon. I am open to hearing creative ideas of how to collect it, but there is no existing technology on the ship to do so.

Any actions before the wisps lead you into the ribbon?

SDX takes 20 as he considers how to harvest the hyper-matter...

+ 16 / Knowledge (Hyper\Quanta-matter)

-36-

Irwin takes 20 on scanning the aliens.

Robyo wrote:Irwin takes 20 on scanning the aliens.

Irwin (living up to his namesake) chirps about his discovery.  "These creatures most closely resemble Aequorea victoria, also sometimes called the crystal jelly.   They share many characteristics with bioluminescent hydrozoan jellyfish, or hydromedusa.

Aequorea victoria typically feed on soft-bodied organisms.  Crickey!  It's a good thing Tarro came back inside, he probably looked like food.

Aequorea victoria have a dimorphic life history, alternating between asexual benthic polyps and sexual planktonic medusae in a seasonal pattern.

This creature is capable of producing flashes of colored light by a quick release of calcium (Ca2+) which interacts with the photoprotein aequorin. The colored light produced is in turn transduced to green by the now famous green fluorescent protein (GFP)."

MAS wrote:SDX takes 20 as he considers how to harvest the hyper-matter...

+ 16 / Knowledge (Hyper\Quanta-matter)

-36-

As Irwin is scanning them, the wisps carry the ship into the ribbon-like stream of raw hypermatter.   It does nothing to the ship itself, but the wisps seems to react to its presence.  Their bioluminescent flashses change and they begin to move through space at near-light speed, carried by the hypermatter stream.  They continue to form a turbine cylinder around the Wrenvenge and carry it with them.  They seem to enjoy being in the current and one might even call their behavior "playful".  They dip and weave like sea turtles in an underwater current.

This observation helps SDX.  Normally, the accelerated tachyons are contained safely within a reactor core as they are annihilated.  The same reactor core is also keeping this free flowly hypermatter out, so it cannot interact with the engines.  The wisps appear to act as biological reactors once they are in the stream.

Much in the way that the green flourescent protein (GFP) can be harvested and removed from regular jellyfish, SDX theorizes that whatever proteins allow them to hyper-synthesize the free-flowing tachyons might also be harvestable.  It would need to be applied to the exterior of the ship, probably on the engines themselves to allow them to collect the accelerated tachyons.

Alternately, it might be possible to design a reactor core that opened to the outside with some kind of sail to funnel the tachyons into the core, close the core and then complete the reaction.

I found a better image of the tachyon\hypermatter current



It does appear that there is some kind of cloud or nebula that the stream is flowing through.  The wisps appear to be guiding the ship towards it.

To clarify - SDX theorizes that the crew could physically utilize the creatures we have encountered to make a coating that would be applied to the engines, that would absorb and transfer hyper matter into the engines. Is this correct?

This would involve their capture and destruction I would imagine?

MAS wrote:To clarify - SDX theorizes that the crew could physically utilize the creatures we have encountered to make a coating that would be applied to the engines, that would absorb and transfer hyper matter into the engines. Is this correct?

This would involve their capture and destruction I would imagine?

In theory: yes, yes and yes

"Hyper matter collection may be possible through an application of processed vacuum life-form bio-matter to container ship engines. I will require quantity X weight of bio-mass and Y time duration to prepare application."

just in case this got lost under the pretty picture

Chris wrote:

It does appear that there is some kind of cloud or nebula that the stream is flowing through.  The wisps appear to be guiding the ship towards it.

the ship is moving at a slow hyperspace speed, without having entered the classic hyperspace tunnel

any immediate actions before you reach the cloud\nebula ahead?

SDX maintains his action readied earlier. Hostile action will trigger a Summon Monster SLA.

MAS wrote:SDX maintains his action readied earlier. Hostile action will trigger a Summon Monster SLA.

If I didn't address this earlier, then I apologize.  

Readying an action doesn't work the way you are suggesting.  Specifically, it contradicts the concept of being "Flatfooted" before your first action.

Flatfooted:

Flat-Footed: A character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed, unable to react normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity.

You can't (effectively) ready an action before combat starts.  You are Flatfooted until your first action (on your first initiative).  Even if you do ready an action, you do NOT get to take it because you are Flatfooted and cannot react normally until your first action (based on initiative).

Plus, IF I allowed it anyways,  it just becomes a silly stack (think interrupts in Magic) of readied actions that would muck up the start of every fight because all of my bad guys would walk around with a readied action too.  

Roger that, now that you mention it, I remember that...

"I think they're planning to carry us on the stream, should be faster than smearing their guts on our engines... 'Never cross someone who's already going to help you.'"

"Action delayed pending further data collection. Intention to observe results of contact with hyper-matter stream."

navyik wrote:"I think they're planning to carry us on the stream, should be faster than smearing their guts on our engines... 'Never cross someone who's already going to help you.'"

Correct, they are already carrying you in the stream towards the cloud nebula. I love Tarro's quotes, though I can't imagine a Hutt agreeing with this one

MAS wrote:"Action delayed pending further data collection. Intention to observe results of contact with hyper-matter stream."

Can you clarify?

How is SDX going to observe - with sensors, visually, so other way?

Which contact - the wisps or the ship's?

I am going to advance the scene, but I am happy to give SDX answers post-facto.

continue the adventure here

https://lodgestgaming.forumotion.com/t280-welcome-to-nowhere#15224