Session 143 The Airlock Escape and the Gaseous Cloud
Session Details
| Session Date: | 27 January 2025 |
|---|---|
| Game Date: | Afternoon |
Session Summary
Synopsis
A desperate retreat through a spore-choked corridor leads to a frantic standoff at a secure room. The party battles a wave of Vegepygmies to save a fallen Robo Dame and an unconscious Nail. After a harrowing struggle to clear a body from the door's sensors, the party secures a short rest, only to hear the sound of something powerful denting the metal doors from the outside.
Continued from Session 142 The Robot Gauntlet and Egon's Tripping Jokes
This Session
The Spore Wave and the Corridor Retreat
The transition into the hallway was a descent into a literal wave of green. As war-horns echoed through the metallic vents, the Vegepygmy reinforcements arrived not as soldiers, but as a flood.
The Spore Cloud: The Vegepygmy Chieftain unleashed a localized "spore-storm" (DC 15). Egon, appearing more fungus than man at this point, wove through the cloud with his Halo of Spores pulsing, his Symbiotic Entity making him a ghostly, necrotic predator amidst the paralyzing haze.
The Fall of the Droid: The party watched in grim silence as a Police Droid—a machine designed for order—was swarmed and dismantled by the pygmies. It erupted in a final geyser of sparks, its chassis becoming a makeshift ramp for the advancing green horde.
Nail's Grievous Injury: Amidst the chaos, a spear found its mark with sickening precision. A Critical Hit (59 on the table) nearly took Nail's arm off. The "Not that arm!" injury left him reeling with +8 damage and a crippling Disadvantage that threatened to make him the next victim of the swarm.
The Rearguard: Balmaris anchored the retreating line with a 2nd-level Protection from Poison, providing a magical bulwark against the toxins. Aldran, realizing steel wasn't enough, conjured a Silent Image of a prehistoric Ankylosaurus to spark a primitive panic in the pygmy ranks while Durmen’s Magic Missiles picked off the stragglers.
The Airlock Crisis
The hallway eventually constricted into a bottleneck at the entrance to a secure room, turning the retreat into a frantic scramble for the threshold.
Nail’s Gaseous Escape: With Nail wounded and snagged in the doorway, Egon realized the fighter wouldn't make it through in physical form. He channeled Gaseous Form, and with a frantic "huffed" consent, Nail’s physical body dissolved into a translucent mist that drifted safely over the heads of the pygmies and into the room.
A Stroke of Luck: The tide turned briefly when a Vegepygmy Warrior, over-eager for the kill, suffered a catastrophic Critical Fumble (113). The creature slipped on the blood-slicked floor, knocking itself unconscious and inadvertently blocking the path for its brethren.
Clearing the Seal: The airlock doors began to hiss shut, but the mangled remains of a pygmy jammed the sensors. With the sound of an "angry strike," Aldran swung his +1 Greataxe. His Dirty 20 sliced the creature in half; he snatched the upper torso and hurled it across the room, allowing the airlock to finally seal with a hiss of pressurized safety.
Short Rest and The Banging at the Door
The silence following the airlock seal was heavy. Balmaris immediately moved among the wounded, his Channel Divinity: Preserve Life mending broken skin and closing spear wounds with a 35 HP burst of radiance.
The North Door: The relief lasted only minutes before a rhythmic, heavy thudding began. Not the scratching of pygmies, but the heavy, deliberate strike of metal on metal.
Fist Dents: As Balmaris braced himself on a table and Aldran piled furniture against the sliding doors, they watched in horror as the reinforced steel of the North door began to bulge inward. Massive, fist-shaped dents began to appear in the metal.
The Nurse's Departure: As the Translate spell faded into static, Robo Dame stood. Her eyes fixed on the dented door. To the party’s frantic questions, she offered only one word: "Droid." She turned and began walking toward the source of the impacts, leaving the party to wonder if she was heading toward a savior or the thing that would finish them off.
Session Results
Experience
The running tally of XP earned is found on the Party Experience page.
Treasure
None; the party's only wealth was the air they were currently breathing.
Tasks or Quests
Survive the North door breach. Figure out why Robo Dame is walking toward the danger. Treat Nail's arm injury during the rest.
Rumors or Intelligence Gained
Whatever is on the other side of that door has enough strength to treat reinforced bulkhead steel like parchment.
NPC's of Note
Robo Dame (Nurse), Vegepygmy Chieftain, Berserk Android.