hexarchate_rpg | Move 7 (Chapter 1.7)

Time: 361
Place: Station Moongray, at last!

[GM's note: If your characters wanted to make any preparations or do any interactions in between Move 6 and Move 7, that's totally fine--just start a thread here with an appropriate subject header so everyone knows. If it's more in the nature of character RP than plot-related RP, it's also fine to start a separate character RP post.]

The Wasp
The Wasp is securely docked under Kaliyan's guidance in one of Moongray's bays--pretty roomy, but Moongray must be used to receiving shipments of raw materials for any fabrication, plus any specialty equipment they can't make or replace with what they have on-station.

In response to Alaric's last communication with the Wasp [Move 6], it responds with a box containing the Wasp, a bag-of-water human figure, and the Rebellion's logo and a "1." Then it pauses and sends two juxtaposed illustrations, one of a moth inside a box with a specifically Nirai voidmoth logo, and one of three moths outside the box.

The welcome on-station
When anyone who's coming on-station emerges, Andan Bokali and Nirai Pavn lead the way.

The group is greeted by Station Administrator Nirai Paerani Shan--who watches them from behind a translucent partition. Shan is a short, stumpy woman whose every inch of visible skin is covered with tattoos and/or implants. The lenses covering her eyes combined with the colorful, shimmering shawl she's wearing makes her resemble a butterfly. "So what's this I hear about trade goods?" she says through an intercom system that distorts her voice.

A rather harried looking group of security workers appears at another door that is blocked by yet another translucent partition. Interestingly (and this was not mentioned in the briefing materials), their leader appears to be a broad, muscular lieutenant seconded from the Kel--the Nirai uniform looks like it only barely fits him, and the golden Kel ashhawk at his breast gleams in the lights of the docking bay.

"Before we start negotiating," the lieutenant says after an inscrutable look in Shan's direction, as if he's used to her jumping the gun (so to speak), "I will have to ask you all to submit to a security and medical scan, for everyone's safety. It might tickle if you have any implants." He holds up a handheld scanner.

Bokali looks bemused. "I always do love being the guinea pig for any bored diseases, but I don't even feel so much as a sniffle coming on."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Did the rest of the party get maps, or is there versions that went to Ankat and Ashari but not the others?

Questions for the GM! 1) What are the exits/entrances to the bay, and is it ever possible to straight up ram a moth through station walls. 2) Can implants/augments like the ones later hexarchatian citizens would have be turned off, and are they removable without surgery?]

Edited 2017-08-22 16:13 (UTC)

[I'm going to leave the disposition of maps to the players. ;)

1. Besides the one you came in from (to your back), there are three exits/entrances to the bay, straight ahead, left, right. The administrator is straight ahead and the security is to the right.

You can definitely ram a moth through station walls but it would most definitely be considered a hostile move, and the Wasp isn't a warmoth. It could take a lot of damage in the process.

2. Visible implants like what the station administrator has might or might not be able to be turned off depending on what they do. Augments from Cheris's era definitely could be turned off, and are generally subdermal and might not even be detectable by scanners from this day and age unless you're doing something like actively trying to hack the station grid with them. They'd usually require surgery to remove.]

[Would implants from Ashari and Sulen's time show up as suspicious? I don't think Ashari has anything out of the ordinary for their time, but this is the past got them and a few problems could probably arise.]

[Well, worldbuilding-wise I could go either way on this. Maybe a more useful way to look at it is, do you want a subplot dealing with Ashari and Sulen's suspicious-looking implants, or do you just not want to deal with it? If the former, then we can make them a bit suspicious, and if the latter, we can say they show up as harmless and the station security doesn't care.]

[I'll opt out of the obvious implants plot, but not any implants-go-weird-after-scan plotlines!
re the moths, I would never be so cruel to dear fluffy Mothra :( and now Mikodez will be sensible enough to not try, unless he's desperate.]

[Noted! If anyone else has preferences on implants-and-scanner plotlines, do feel free to drop a comment.]

[I don't even know if Ashari has maps. It depends on whether they got a chance to debrief Sasha after the reception.

Mikodez could ask Sasha for data, if he wants!]

[(no ask only steal) It does sound like a good idea to have him ask so he can double check on the accuracy of information that he gets from her. Sasha sending a basic packet with maps and schedules to the entire crew could also be irreproachable sysadmin behavior to enemy eyes, if there was no time to have a meeting?

Also -- how averse would you be to Mikodez getting to see what Sasha has accessed through the last move? Especially the personnel files.]

[Sasha doesn't dislike Mikodez; she just gets territorial about her network. Anything he learned about manipulating Nirai in school will likely work on her, as well. I started a slight-flashback scene, above.]

Move 7 (Chapter 1.7)

Re: checking on plans from the previous move

[exits, moth-ramming, and implants/augments]

Re: [exits, moth-ramming, and implants/augments]

Re: [implants/augments]

Re: [implants/augments]

Re: [implants/augments]

Re: checking on plans from the previous move

Re: checking on plans from the previous move

Re: checking on plans from the previous move