Starlight:Running From Ghosts and Shadows (And It Scares the Hell Out of Me)

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October 28, 2016 – Episode 11: Running From Ghosts and Shadows (And It Scares the Hell Out of Me)

Game Outline

1. Goldstein – The legend of the dead sailor!
   1. Let me tell ya about something that happened back when the starlight was still being constructed.
      1. The old rough sailor is known to fall into these stories during lunch, flecks of food falling from his mouth as he excitedly gestures.
   2. This was back when I first came on the ship. I was working for a young cocksure ensign who thought he knew everything under the sun. You know, like most butter bars fresh outta college. Well, this was back when half the ship was still under vacuum because most of the hull plating and pressure fittings hadn’t been… you know, fitted and certified, not to mention the entire engine section was a complete mess with parts sticking out all over… well, anyway, we had these maps, see, that’d show you where was safe and where wasn't safe, red yellow green. Red meant zero pressure, green meant everything was hunky dory, yellow meant there was some pressure, but you still had to wear a pressure suit in case something went wrong. Well, old butter bars… (he looks around conspiratorially at the table), see, so I guess one night he got one of those dear johns from a dame he was seeing back on the eart’, and I guess he hit the hooch a bit hard that night, tryin’ to drown his sorrows. Next morning, the kid, probably obliterated, decides to hit o’ the hair, you know. Cut the edge off the brown bottle flu, you know? Anyway, I’m working, minding my own business in a green zone, running some wiring and the kid goes wandering by, like, all getting in my face about some little reg the way butter bars do. I generally ignore him, only..(he looks a bit distraught here) I guess I ignored him a bit too well. The butter bar says sometin about heading aft. I didn’t even put two ‘n two t’gether when he went through the pressure door into a yella zone without the proper gear. All’a sudden, alarms going off and there’s a pressure breech aft. I get suited up (I was onna the responders back then) and we head into yella zone… and all that’s left of the ensign is a single yella bar… (he reaches into his pocket and places a yellow ensign insignia on the table, which is slightly warped and scarred) and a shoe… and they say… his spirit walks da halls of da ship at night… his spirit foreva mourning the loss of his dame back on eart’… (without warnings a klaxon blazes for a half second, and the lights go out on the ship). WHAT DA HELL IS GOIN’ ON! (he shouts at the top of his lungs).
2. The ships lights come back on and a call goes over the speakers.
   1. Ensign Crochetti: eehh.. hello there everyone.. just wanted to let you all know that there was a-false alarm-thing. I think I bumped the wrong controls here, so… no worries. Nothing wrong, just smooth-a sailing here on through. Okee dokee, well, I guess that’s all. Have a…good day everyone.
   2. Golstein: Butter Bars. What’d I tell ya.
   3. If they have questions, the ensign’s name was Neff. John Neff.
   4. They didn’t find anything else of him. Not even his body.
3. Rest of the day goes by normally. What do PCs do?
   
4. The Haunting
   1. The next day, Lopez awakes in his bunk. A little doll is on the PC’s chest, with a yellow ensigns’ bar pinned to its dress.
      1. If they throw the doll away, it keeps appearing in various places. In the middle of If they don’t, other odd things will happen to try to steer them somewhere (wherever they go will be the right place though)
   2. There is no one else in the room.
   3. As you wander around you don’t see anyone else. The ship appears to be empty.
      1. Elevators don’t work.
      2. Stairways doors are locked and won’t budge
      3. The lights start to go out down a hallway.
      4. You hear a woman’s voice calling you down one hall. It’s Lt Cmdr Reed. She is wearing the flight suit of an MS pilot and half of her face is bloody
         1. Run towards her, when you reach her she disappears and you pass out
         2. Run away from her, she keeps appearing at the end of hallways. At some point, he rounds acorner, runs right into her and passes out
         3. Lights going out
         4. Flashing lights
         5. Fear check? (Discipline very hard upgrade twice)
5. PCs wake up to find Lopez gone. They have all slept in and Barnabas is at their door, and mad.
   1. “What the hell is going on you four? Do you realize what time it is, and where the hell is Lopez?” a sinking feeling sets in as you realize it’s 5 past 9, and you have all managed to oversleep.
   2. “I want the three of you to find Lopez and drag his ass as well as yours to the briefing room. This isn’t a pleasure cruise we’re on. NOW MOVE!” you’ve never seen Barnabas this angry
   3. As they seek out Lopez, various other crew members will point out having seen him
      1. “He was acting kinda strange, didn’t seem to be paying attention to anyone. I last saw him heading aft.”
      2. “he had a strange doll with him. I twas
      3. “I tried talking to him, but he just sort of ignored me.”
      4. “I saw him running like his ass was on fire and his hair was catchin’ headed to the unused stowage area on dis here deck..” this is from Goldstein.. he refuses to follow, however. “Nah, ain’t gonna find me going in der. Dat’s where… I gotta go.”
6. Haunted House
   1. Attached to a small side hallway, you see a doorway, marked 6F Aft Stowage. This is where Goldstein indicated he saw Lopez headed.
   2. The door is unlocked and leads to a large room filled with empty storage shelving. Somehow this room remains unused even though it’s off a main deck.
   3. Lopez is in this room, passed out on the floor, under pieces of shelving that isn’t fully assembled. When they get to him, the door closes and the lights go out
   4. Another door opens and an eerie green glow emanates from it.
      1. This is about when Lopez awakens
   5. There appears to now be only one way to go, deeper into the storage area.
      1. They’re unable to open the door. Something has locked it, and it’s reinforced steel
   6. The gallery
      1. The path leads to a hallway with a sickly green glow. Lining the hallway are several open cubbie holes with etched metal placards under them
      2. A voice calls out from the darkness…“Welcome to my ... house of terror, gentlemen.. muahahahah. If you want to find your way out, you’re going to have to … get a little dirty to find the keys! Bahahahahahaha!”
      3. “Brains” (damp, course sponge)
      4. “Guts” (“blood” and spaghetti) - key part
      5. “Eyeballs” (peeled grapes)
      6. “Flesh eating maggots” (rice)
      7. “Human skin” (tortilla with some oil on it)
      8. “Blood” (cornstarch with food coloring) – key part
      9. “Dismembered hands” (surgical gloves filled with warm oatmeal) – key part
      10. The “key parts” are cardboard cutouts wrapped in aluminum in plastic bags. They have to put the keys parts together, and approach the door and it will open.
      11. Some skill checks here. Average perception. Fear checks average. Failure means a setback on the perception.
   7. The library
      1. PCs have to find the right book to pull in order to open the next door. This will be a series of hard perception checks.
         1. 1st will be to realize one of the bookshelves seems slightly outset from the wall compared to the others
         2. 2nd will be to find the book
         3. Also needs a physical (athletics) to pull the book out. Help can be given.
      2. Unfortunately several books start start flying across the room and attacking them. They don’t do damage, but they do add two setbacks to any checks. They can try to fight off the books, but more just keep coming
      3. Once the right book is pulled, flying books all drop to the ground and the next door opens
   8. The Cemetery
      1. The library opens to a chilly, fog filled room. Gnarled, dead trees dot the landscape of gently rolling hills. You move down a path and find a low wrought iron fence. Behind the fence are a cluster of tombstones. A chill wind blows.
         1. If they interact with any of the props, there’s a chance they can figure out they are, in fact, props. Balsa wood trees, styofoam tombstones.
      2. When they move into the cemetery, it’s initiative time, as several skeletons lumber out of open graves and attack them.
         1. The “skeletons” are actually crudely welded together metal painted white
      3. They can find the exit down a ladder in one of the open graves.
   9. Music Room
      1. Down the ladder, they are at the end of a long corridor. The corridor is metal and featureless. After a short walk, a door opens to a large room with a pipe organ at one end. a spectral figure plays a haunting tune.
      2. “Welcome to sitting room, gentlemen. I hope you’ve enjoyed your… thrills and chills… unfortunately, your little trip ends here! Muahahahahahahah!!!”
      3. The specter disappears and the pipe organ begins to unfold to reveal a massive fire-breathing demon
      4. Fight with the “devil”
   10. After the “devil” is defeated,
       1. The creature falls down with a clang of metal and smoke. “I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!” it shouts, and begins to move. One of the arms reaches upward, it’s shoulder snaps, and the pieces clang down again.
       2. “Dammit! Dammit dammit!” you hear the captain shouting. A window opens above where the creature stood and you see the captain smashing a control panel. “Damn. I’m not allowed to have any fun!” the captain yells. “And worse of all you’ve ruined my haunted house!”
       3. “I told ya it wasn’t ready yet. Yeesh” Goldstein can be heard saying.
       4. The light goes out and the PCs are left in the wreckage.
7. The Ending
   1. Amongst the wreckage, they find two items – 1
      1. The actual dolly, worse for wear then when Lopez originally saw it. An eye is missing, a bit of the face is missing, the clothing is in tatters.
      2. In his pocket, Lopez finds the ensign’s bar.
   2. Remind Lopez that in his dream, the bar was on the dress. Hopefully he’ll put the pin on the fucking dress.
   3. Putting the pin in the dress, the spectre of Ensign Neff wordlessly appears before them. Half of his face is severely mangled, in the same fashion as the doll. One arm is lays limp at his side. He smiles and fizzles away.
   4. Goldstein will come down some time after this happens
      1. “Heesh, watta mess. Hey, where’d you get that dolly? Looks like something Ensign Neff used to keep around as a keepsake of his love. She had given it to him because it looked like her.”
8. The end
   1. This is a terrible episode.

Musical Inspiration
Song:	Mercy
Artist:	Muse
Album:	Drones
Listen online
Spotify
Google Play Music
Amazon Music
YouTube

Musical Inspiration
Song:	Thoughts of a Dying Athiest
Artist:	Muse
Album:	Absolution
Listen online
Spotify
Google Play Music
Amazon Music
YouTube