Yggdrasil Mystery Hunt

[Keeper of Stories]

Yggdrasil Mystery Hunt



Credit: SId Guo via ArtStation https://www.artstation.com/artwork/k41z4K

A battle-worn ship has suddenly appeared at the top of Yggdrasil, circling Aquila's docking platform. The unknown vessel immediately began broadcasting a series of transmissions cycling through torturous screams, relaxed parties, and eerie silence punctuated by static and low guttural breaths. Yggrdasil's private security force, the Aquila Space Guard (ASG), has tried hailing the ship – there is no response. Flickering but powerful shields have thwarted multiple attempts to board the ship. The ASG is recruiting outsiders to help, promising several hundred credits in reward.

Playable Prompt: Open until Thursday, October 27th at 11:59pm EST
Are you willing to answer the call of the ASG? Help them discover clues! Write about how your character assists in their efforts. Some suggestions include searching for (1) a way to get past the shields, (2) identifying possible origins of the ship or (3) searching for information in the transmissions. Each response to the thread will reveal a clue! (I'll post clue-based replies to each post). The boarding party will have a bonus during the live investigation for each clue received. There is no limit to the number of clues.

Live Event: Friday October 28th at 9pm EST
The boarding party arrives on the ship. Your purpose -- to find out what happened here, and if there is a threat, contain it or destroy it. The action starts on Friday, October 28th at 9pm EST – more details to come!

You can participate in the playable, the live event, or both! Anyone who participates in this thread or the live event will receive the 2022 Yggrdasil Mystery Hunt icon.

[Quil Burke-Adia]

.

[Theo Carson]

RhyDin space, near Aquila Station

Hyperion emerged from hyperspace and moved into a traffic orbit, ready to head down towards Star's End. Even as they jumped back into normal space, however, the comm system signaled an alert. "Captain Carson? Broad spectrum transmission. It's not Aquila Station or ASG."

"Let's hear it." Theo leaned forward in his chair as the speakers flicked on.

"AAIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAARGH!" A piercing, anguished scream filled the air.

"Στο όνομα του Θεού! Turn it off!" Theo took a deep breath as the scream fell silent as suddenly as it had erupted. "V?" He turned to Vruck'ka, the ship's science/sensor officer, whose multi-faceted eyes showed no hint of distress from the sound. "You handle analysis of that... signal. See if you can glean any meaning out of it."

The insectoid Eskari's mandibles clicked, and a device upon their thorax lit up. "Of course, Captain. I have located the source of the transmission. It is coming from a vessel now moving into view beyond Aquila Station, configuration unknown. Would you like me to run a full sensor sweep of it?"

Carson nodded and glanced to the helm. "Bring us around so we can get a clear view of that thing. Comms, get me Aquila Station." Once the station's duty officer was on-screen, he flashed her a cheeky grin. "Daomara, always a pleasure to see your face! What's the news on this mystery ship?"

"Your guess is as good as ours, Theodosius." She smirked at Carson's reaction to his proper name. "We've tried hailing it, no joy. If you've heard the signal, you know what we got in response. Sometimes screaming, sometimes celebration, sometimes just... oddity. The shields are keeping us out, and we're gettomg mixed results from scans. We've been asking ships for any data they can provide, particularly explorers and scouts, figuring that with the blend of tech in RhyDin space, getting multiple perspectives wouldn't hurt."

"Makes sense. I've got V running a full scan of the ship and an analysis of the transmission. I'll have him send his results over to you, add it to the mix. Hyperion out!"

[Keeper of Stories]

Quil stared hard at the readouts for a moment longer, waiting. "I'm trying to beam something aboard. Magitek Advanced Research Crawler. MARC, for short. It's a spider-like android with a direct connection to JOTUUN. We need to get it inside this ship somehow without risking any lives." She sighed. "There has to be a way!"

A sudden thought struck Tegan and she spun around. "Wait! Don't try to send the robot yet. There's a better idea—" As quickly as possible she grabbed the wires connected to the MARC unit in the transporter bay and pulled them out of the back of the computer.

[...]

"This should do it..." She trailed off as she typed furiously. In less than half a minute, Tegan finished writing some code and sent it to the buffer for MARC before plugging the cables back in. The green light blinked as the new data was transferred over.

"Okay, done." The light went off. She flipped the main switch and the beams hummed back to life and renewed their assault on the shields. "Didn't want him getting ported inside before I was done."

Quil raised a brow. "And now?"

Shrugging her shoulders Tegan laughed. "We wait."

[MARC Statistics:
— Made of an Unobtanium Composite
— Direct link to JOTUUN for both audio and visual communication
— (9) total graviton-based micro-missiles for target neutralization
— Main camera also serves as a magitek pulse cannon and plasma laser to cut]

The spider-like android phased through the shields, appearing somewhere on the mid decks of the ship. The journey was not benign, as the graviton-based micro-missiles were neutralized when passing through the flickering shields. Audio communication became intermittent, sometimes transmitting what was present around the android, and at other times enhancing the already broadcasted transmissions. The video feed, however, was intact.

Everything seemed to be a deep, dark green. Verdant vines ranging from spider-like threads to curving trunk-like growths covered the ship's interior. Purple flowers have blossomed along the sides of the hull, and a carpet of green moss squelched ominously under the spider-droid's light steps. Bursts of steam hissed from the vents forming a thick fog.

Instructed to investigate, MARC proceeded forward. The camera zooms in on an oddity within the greenery, something white, red, and brown. There’s a slight curve, then a rounded edge. The camera pans slowly down, and deep within the vines are over two dozen yellow-white stones between five and twenty millimetres.

The audio cuts in from minutes of eerie silence; something rough drags across the mossy ground. The camera zooms out at the same time the spider-droid collapses forward. A dark mist is sprayed from deep within the greenery, covering the camera lens in a sticky mass. The spider-droid attempts to send out a pulse cannon, but it’s non-functional – it tries the laser, and the sound of vines crashing to the ground reverberates through the audio. Then the sound of metal being ripped from metal is heard by JOTUNN, before the feed stops completely.

[Keeper of Stories]

RhyDin space, near Aquila Station

"Daomara, always a pleasure to see your face! What's the news on this mystery ship?"

"Your guess is as good as ours, Theodosius." She smirked at Carson's reaction to his proper name. "We've tried hailing it, no joy. If you've heard the signal, you know what we got in response. Sometimes screaming, sometimes celebration, sometimes just... oddity. The shields are keeping us out, and we're gettomg mixed results from scans. We've been asking ships for any data they can provide, particularly explorers and scouts, figuring that with the blend of tech in RhyDin space, getting multiple perspectives wouldn't hurt."

"Makes sense. I've got V running a full scan of the ship and an analysis of the transmission. I'll have him send his results over to you, add it to the mix. Hyperion out!"

===== Full System Scan =====
Origin: Vadit Star System
Species: Vaditians
Class: Va-X-II
Model: Scientific Explorer
Internal Ship Temperature: 300-320K
Internal Atmosphere: Carbon dioxide, Water vapour, Nitrogen, Carbon monoxide, Oxygen, Sulfur dioxide, Argon, Helium
Lifeforms: Unknown
Weapons: Moderate armaments, disabled
Shields: Resilient Ablative Modular Array (RAMA) with modified reinforcements to the lower-aft research decks.
Operational Systems: Basic Life Support, Shields, Communications, Secondary Power Systems
Damage Report: Extreme damage to the port and forward sides of the ship, with some exposed sections

===== Transmission Analysis =====
V’s transmission analysis focused primarily on the screams, listening for anything intelligible and filtering out the primary sounds to discover what might be in the background. After iterative sweeps of the same promising section, V filtered out the foreground to reveal the sound of clicking, like a series of mandibles clacking together or perhaps a set of talons on the metal ground, which picked up in frequency and intensity until the screams reached their pitch.

[Quil Burke-Adia]

.

[Fragile Fury]

Misfit Squadron - Stars End Spaceport

"Fury, you're needed on deck." It was Hawk's voice blaring in her earpiece. "We've got a bogey showing up near Yggdrasil."

"SOP followed?" Diana asked she directed one of the line mechanics to take over the repair job she was doing.

"Of course." Hawk's usual cocky attitude bled into his tone.

"Contact GateWay Station and find out what they already know." She entered the communications room and looked over the screen before her. Beeps, blips, and other sounds directed her attention to specific map locations. "Transmissions recorded?"

"You think I'm doing a job fail today?" He smirked. "We have hours of recordings already. Not in a language that I recognize."

"We have several options for translators." Dee went quiet for a bit as she studied the map again. After all these years, her wing man knew that silence. Depending the circumstances, it might mean nothing or everything. "The nearby ships, the smaller ones, do we have any reason to believe they are connected to the large one?"

"Not at present, but we're keeping watch. Which translator you want on this?"

"Check with GardenTower, their resources will be useful if they allow us access. And Hawk?"

"Hm?"

"Check with our offworld contacts, see if they have any intel."

"Sound as well?"

"Yes. They might know that language or code." She gave Hawk a wry grin.

"While I'm doing that, queen bee, will you be doing?"

Diana laughed. "What I do best. Repair busted ship engines."

[Keeper of Stories]

She watched the screen as the little spider robot approached over two dozen yellow-white stones.

"Hold. Full spectrum analysis of whatever that is." Quil said, watching as the small beams of light rolled over the stones several times and began transmitting data to Sentinel One.

Spectrum Analysis - Element Composition


Preliminary Results: Enamel, Cementum, Dentin, Pulp

As soon as the system database booted up, she started searching through for anything remotely like what was shown on the screens. It could take a while. Sentinel One contained nearly one hundred *zettabytes* of information compiled from multiple worlds and timelines. "JOTUUN, contact me as soon as we get any hits."

<Affirmation: Yes, Commander.> The AI's voice echoed though the warehouse.

Planet Match: MW-426


Planet Recon Match: MW-426


MW-426 Record Logs:
Hostiles identified on Planet MW-426. No survivors.

In an instant Sparrow—and Quil within the cockpit—were transported into the occupying space around the strange ship. "JOTUUN. Route all power except life support to forward shields and weapons." Quil commanded. "Switch targeting to manual."

<Affirmation: Yes, Commander. Query: Do you plan to fire on the vessel?>

As if answering with an action—she squeezed the trigger on the main cannons.

The Va-X-II Scientific Explorer did not return fire, while secondary power systems quickly reinforced the RAMA shields with extra power diverted toward the lower-aft research decks. The cyclical transmission stopped ten minutes after Quil's barrage. A chilled, husky whisper in a rare language drifted across sub-space. For those with translators equipped in Vaditian, the terrorized voice said:

"Stop, please! We're alive, hiding in the frozen storage. Eight of us lef--" the sound of steam blowing through a vent interrupted the transmission, followed by CLICK----------CLICK---------CLICK--------CLICK-------CLICK------CLICK-----CLICK----CLICK---CLICK--CLICK-CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK and the sound of a singular, strangled scream.

A minute later, the repetitive transmission started once more.

[Keeper of Stories]

Misfit Squadron - Stars End Spaceport
"We have hours of recordings already. Not in a language that I recognize. [...] Which translator you want on this?"

"Check with GardenTower, their resources will be useful if they allow us access. And Hawk?"

"Hm?"

"Check with our offworld contacts, see if they have any intel."

"Sound as well?"

"Yes. They might know that language or code." She gave Hawk a wry grin.

Through a combination of translators, professional linguists, and decoders the following information was gathered:

Relaxed Parties
A multi-day celebration of the Vaditian Harvest Festival, which occurred 4-6 weeks ago. Filtered chatter reveals their next mission - a standard recon mission of the MF-Virdii systems, starting with sector W. The ship was scheduled to return home after three months of surveying in that system.

Silence with Static
The static is in military code typical to the Venoph region, which includes the Vadit Star System. It is similar to a CQD or SOS call. The code iterates through the following:
-- Start Signal --
Hostiles: MIN 1
Survivors: MAX 10
Hazards: Jungle. Breeding.
Assets: Ice.
Days of Distress: 12*
-- End Signal --

*The Days of Distress component took longer to figure out as the static seemed to change every 25 hours, but one of the code-breakers identified it as a progressive count regarding how long the transmission had been cycling.

[Quil Burke-Adia]

.

[Perpetual Motion]

Dr. Evelyn Augusta Bell was one of the holonet's most feared slicers, but for all of the wrong right(?) reasons. Often, when she encountered something with a wireless connection and the possibility of input, she would tell it to harvest all manner of messages floating around the 'net and send them to her pager. If she was asked, she would claim that she was looking for warnings left by her future self, or ones from her past self that she'd forgotten about. The truth of the matter was that those messages were fed into an AI to teach it how to create expanded dialogue options for the dating sims she played on her GamePark 32.



Sometime Tuesday night, she was strolling through a street brawl in the Undercity, trying to hack a well-loved Coca-Cola Freestyle--



--yes, one of those--

--when her pager gave her an unusual message: AHHHGH! URRK! hrrgh

"Hrrgh?" she said, eyebrows climbing past her pink plastic sunglasses.

"Hrrgh!" choked a flailing cyborg that staggered past her, trying to claw off an electrified chain wrapped around his neck.

"Oh, hrrgh, as in choking! Thanks, Neville," she wished the asphyxiating cyborg well, and found herself a seat on top of the Freestyle and a little further out of the way of the street brawl to try to figure out where her pager had harvested that message from. She kicked her heels, unlaced Doc Martens thumping against the dingy drink machine, and dug out her GamePark 32 in order to apply a far more sophisticated machine to her efforts.

Soon, she was sending signals to whatever computers may have survived on the ghost ship orbiting Aquila's docking platform, applying her mischief-loving criminal ingenuity to her efforts to download the ship's emails and internal messages to see what she could discover.

[Keeper of Stories]

"We managed to get MARC aboard, think we can use the same method to send a boarding party through?"

"We no longer have control of the main cannon, the Governor took the key. So we can't simply punch a hole in the shield. We might have success with the method we used to get MARC aboard."

Tegan replied to Quil before glancing up to Maggie. "I've been relaying all our findings to the ASG; it seems to me we've uncovered more than the ASG themselves has if I am being frank." A soft smile.

The ASG's command center was busy compiling information from several sources, including Tegan and Quil. Ivan ran his fingers back through thick, curly blue hair as he analyzed the method used to get MARC aboard -- the only successful boarding operation thus far. He opened up a comm-link to Sentinel One and started strategizing with Tegan about live transport options. A coordinated attack would be used to weaken the shields and force the Va-X-II Explorer to divert shields to the aft research bays while using a modulation-disruption spread from another ship to create a long enough opening for safe transport several decks away. The tricky part would be getting everyone home...

"That does it then. We'll get back to Sentinel One and ramp up the scans—see if we can't utilize the cannon's power reserves to amplify the strength of the Heldenforst Deep Penetration Scanner to give us more insight into what's going on inside that ship..." Quil nodded to Tegan firmly and pressed the side button on her watch. She vanished. Teleporting back to the warehouse.

[Quil and Tegan bolstered the strength of the scanner by connecting it directly to the primary cannon's power source raising the scanner's energy usage up to 1.2 zettawatts of power in an attempt to collect more information about what was going on inside the ship. Tracking movements, lifeforms, ect.]

Scans revealed a variety of plant-based 'life' across the entire ship radiating out from the lower research bays. This jungle had spread through 90% of the ship. Unfortunately, the same shielding that protected those delicate research bays also interfered with the scanners. Several times a rare larger life signal was detected, a faint blip that would appear and disappear just inside the research decks.

A freezer section just above the research decks revealed six humanoid lifeforms, some of them in critical condition. The spreading 'jungle' bordered the freezers on all sides. In the middle of one scan, power to the life support systems on the ship began to fluctuate. Three of the humanoids left the freezer bay, the life support systems returned to normal, and two of the humanoids life signs disappeared while the third returned to the freezer.

The scans also revealed a basic schematic of the ship.

[Keeper of Stories]

Soon, she was sending signals to whatever computers may have survived on the ghost ship orbiting Aquila's docking platform, applying her mischief-loving criminal ingenuity to her efforts to download the ship's emails and internal messages to see what she could discover.

Captains Log - VaxiStardate 103.061.212
Arrived at the MF-Virdii system, beginning exploratory reconnaissance. Officer [redacted] recommends an on-site planet visit to MW-426. While unusual, I have no reason to deny their request.


Varixill's Presonal Log - VaxiStardate 082.103.212
The boarding party returned with samples from MW-426 including vegetation, water, insects, eggs, flowers, and larvae. [Redacted] insisted on bringing a larger organism, citing the Metamorphosis Research Institute's current projects-in-action as fair grounds to modify our sampling protocol. I disagreed. The Captain trusts [Redacted] and so we brought the larger organism on board following every containment and quarantine protocol that I could think of. I've heard too many stories.


Captains Log - VaxiStardate 111.103.21
We are proceeding with our survey of the other planets while [Redacted] and Varixill work on analyzing the specimens from MW-426. The results are promising, with potential applications for the XIV-Plague project and the Terraform Institute. A few of the crew have fallen ill, so it has delayed our schedule. One of them is in medical quarantine.


Varixill's Personal Log - VaxiStardate 124.103.21
--- They are too ambitious! Something isn't right here. I'm finding evidence of erased records from Research Bay III's quarantine log. Something is happening in there, but [Redacted] won't let me see it because it will 'disturb the experiment'. I'm his [untranslatable] superior! He says that Xifen's medical quarantine has nothing to do with the project. [Untranslatable]. Absolute [untranslatable]. I'm going in there tomorrow to find out for myself.


Failed Outgoing Transmission - VaxiStardate 131.103.21
Va-X-II 'Metamorphos' Explorer returning home. Severe containment breach. Requesting assistance.


Captains Log - VaxiStardate 133.103.21
The samples have taken over the ship, we are practically a MW class planet now. The [untranslatable] continues to assault us on every side, stealthy until the very last moment when all you can hear is teeth. Before they died, Varixill created a compound that seemed particularly effective, OH- based, to slow the growth of the jungle and weaken [untranslatable]. I just hope we have enough -- the last research bay was compromised. [Redacted] insists that it was Varixill who broke containment, but there is something odd in their eyes, something they aren't telling me.

I've sent out a distress signal, and we should receive support within days.


Personal Log - Redacted VaxiStardate 143.103.21
It's working! I just need a little more time and a few more larva samples...

[Keeper of Stories]

Yggdrasil Boarding Party Live Hunt Event
Friday, October 28th - 9pm EST - #yggdrasil

With the help of several ships and interested parties, the Aquila Space Guard has arranged for a boarding party to investigate the Va-X-II 'Metamorphos' Explorer. The ASG is not liable for any harm or injury, bodily or otherwise, to the boarding party. All surviving boarding party members will be compensated according to the current ASG Hazardous Duties Contract (details can be found in our public system).

Interested members should check-in at the ASG Command Center at 9pm with prepared credentials and signed contracts.

Hunters
Choose: What is your weapon?! Describe what you are bringing to the hunt! For every person who posts and describes their weapon, either on the forums or in the green room by the start of the event gets +1 added to every attack.

Clues: The following clues have been revealed! When you use or act on a specific clue during the Hunt you can use a clue to get a +1 to a roll in the green room. These can be used to investigate, protect an innocent, attack a monster, help a friend etc. You may combine these with weapon bonuses!

• The origin planet of this monster is a jungle. The ship has been terraformed internally into a similar green jungle. The atmosphere is hot and humid, breathable but slightly acidic. Something in the jungle sprays a sticky dark mist. The jungle itself is a hazard. Either (or both) the jungle and monster are breeding.
• The monster is powerful enough to rip metal from metal. The monster is stealthy until the last minute, when a ‘clicking’ noise indicates it’s about to attack.
• The origin of the monster/jungle is the lower-aft research decks which are heavily protected and undamaged.
• The monster/jungles weaknesses may include freezing temperatures and strong bases.
• Advanced technologies may be disrupted or deactivated upon transport through the shields.
• Several victims have died, and all that remains is their teeth which seems to be repurposed by the jungle.
• There are no more than five survivors left, hiding in the cold storage/freezers.
• One of the scientists has an unknown ulterior motive.
• The life support systems are unstable.

OOC
Rolls: Every roll in the green room is a 2d6! This is loosely based on the Powered by the Apocalypse: Monster of the Week system. To roll in the green room use: ?roll 2d6 or ?roll 2d6 +1

Disclaimer: This is a Halloween based thriller hunt. Be prepared for themes such as suspense, unknown dangers, and body horror.

[Perpetual Motion]

Under most circumstances, Evelyn was happy to work and do her research around Zynn and their dinosaurs. What she worked on today was an exception. After holding her nose and forwarding everything she had gathered to the ASG (“Hrrgh. Cops!”), she went to work on various hydroxide-based compounds and effective delivery systems.

Rather than antagonize the people she might have to work with, she encouraged her partner in crime Olaf to awaken and liberate the mobile incarceration pods at a Stars End Port Authority precinct, then helped herself to their riot police armory.



The modified riot gun would launch grenades of caustic soda, scattering the hydroxide-based dust over a 1.5 to 2 meter area on impact. She also pillaged a number of suits and gas masks intended to protect riot police from the civilians they attacked.

Any leftover materials that she and Olaf and the newly liberated incarceration units had taken from the armory? were redistributed to the Undercity, naturally, to encourage the flourishing of uncivil disobedience against the next megacorp-backed crackdowns.

((I may not be able to make it to live play tonight! If I am not, I am okay with someone else making use of this tool. However I am not the GM, and cannot speak to whether that would affect any bonus. Happy hunting!))