Episode 2.02: Rivulets of Copper, Eyes Aflame

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: Daring, indeed. I count 3 Successes vs. Difficulty 3. Success!

Current
Momentum 3 (pending decision by Tobin to spend 2 Momentum to counter the Sensor Glitch Complication)
Threat 3

The ensign expertly manipulates his tricorder to communicate with the apartment door lock, and emulates bypass commands to tell the door to open. Just as the V'Kor bodyguard's body disappears into the Drake's transporter effect, the door swishes open and the thick aroma of west rust assaults O'Neil's nostrils. The interior of the entryway is dark.

[Renny]

Cole nods in appreciation at O'Neil's handiwork, but his face remains fixed as he gestures ahead with the phaser, indicating that O'Neil should lead with Cole covering him.

[Patrick Goodman]

O'Neil nods, and scanning ahead for life forms in the apartment, slowly enters the darkened entryway.

OOC: Using the tricorder to scan for life forms. Considering the state of the guard they beamed up, he's looking for faint life signs as well. What do you need me to roll, chief?

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: Let go with Insight + Security vs. Difficulty 1. Tricorder is providing the capability (remote sensing if someone inside is alive), so it doesn't provide an Advantage.

[Patrick Goodman]

OOC: O'Neil life form scanning Task
Insight + Security (9+4), TN 13, D1, Forensics might apply

Rolled 2d20 : 3, 6, total 9

Come on, come on, come on....

[Patrick Goodman]

Accidentally hit the shift key on some of my brackets the first time, in case anybody in the peanut gallery's wondering how I managed to edit that last post without it showing off the "Tampered" warning....

[Nolmir]

OOC: Yeah, let's spend the 2 Momentum to buy off that complication.

Tobin quickly hails Cole's communicator. "Les to Cole. Looks like somebody just transported out of N'Varas' apartment."

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: Yes, I will say, in this situation, Forensics applies. 3 Successes vs. Difficulty 1. Success, plus 2 Momentum generated!

Spending Momentum to Obtain Information is a good way of finding "faint life signs." Hint. Hint.

The ensign isn't picking up any life signs as he scans the interior of the apartment, though his tricorder pinpoints two vulcanoid forms in the bedroom and one in the kitchen/dining area.

[Patrick Goodman]

OOC: Which one am I closest to, the kitchenette or the bedroom?

And I will absolutely spend Momentum on Obtain Information to detect those faint lifesigns if they're detectable. One point for sure, both if they're needed because of the separation.

Once the Momentum spends are reconciled, I'll fill Cole in.

[Davy, aka GM]

OOC: Only a single point of Momentum is necessary to ask a single question. And, they're all within the tricorder's range, so only a single question is needed to determine faint life signs.

And O'Neil is closer to the kitchen/dining area. Bank the other?

Current
Momentum 3 (1 pending, O'Neil)
Threat 3

O'Neil increases the sensitivity of the readings - significantly reducing range to just the immediate 30 meters or so, but more than sufficient to cover the apartment - until he's able to get a reading. The ensign isn't sure if the reading is an artifact of the sensor itself (considering the increased setting) or the genuine article, but he has a single blip. If someone is still alive in there, they're in the bedroom...

[Patrick Goodman]

OOC: Bank it. We might need it soon.

O'Neil sighs deeply, then moves cautiously toward the bedroom. Over his shoulder, he calls, "Sir, I've got three bodies, two dead, one mostly dead. I am proceeding toward the latter, in the bedroom."

[Renny]

"Proceed Mr O'Neil," Cole responds, his gaze moving left and right, "I'm right on your six."

[Patrick Goodman]

OOC: What do I see upon entering the presumably gore-soaked bedchamber?

[Davy, aka GM]

The apartment is dark, save for the hallway light filtering in through the foyer into its intersection with the common room on the left and the kitchenette/dining area on the right (and ahead). Guided by his tricorder, the ensign crosses the threshold and steps lightly as he passes into the common room. To his right, a body lies contorted in unnatural ways, a grisly scene of glistening brownish gray pooling around the eviscerated remains of the second V'Kor bodyguard.

The functionally-appointed common room isn't occupied by the dead or the living, but the door to the bedroom is open and the faint outline of two forms come into view. Even in the dimness of the city lights through semi-opaque windows, O'Neil can see the carnage. The male body - likely N'Varas himself - is separated from its head by nearly a half-meter as its arms reach protectively toward the other, tightly balled up body. The blip on his tricorder tells him she may still be alive, though he sees no signs of life from where he stands.

Thankfully, the apartment is otherwise empty of other life.

[Patrick Goodman]

O'Neil swallowed hard to keep from vomiting. All the simulations and forensics training in the world weren't enough, his professors had told him, to prepare you for the real thing, and they'd been right. "Good Lord," he said under his breath. Then, turning to look over his shoulder again, he called, "We're clear, sir. I've only got one life sign, and it's extremely faint. The investigator appears to have be dead. With your permission, I'd like to beam her up to the ship and see if we can save her."