Watching the halls, it became clear that the monsters were no longer overly interested in the adventurers since they left the bridge. So once everyone was healed and they grabbed some medical supplies, the group of adventurers cautiously headed to the gantry once more to see if the creatures were still around.
Though the monsters could be heard in the distance, the adventurers did not see any and so decided to make their way through the ship to see if they could discover a different way to gain entry to the bridge.
As they entered the gantry, Seraphina and Buzz began to try and figure out if they could secure the doors behind them. As they did this, Buzz noticed that the ship was equipped with a failsafe and that the Bridge module was currently remotely controlling the entire ship. The bridge could likely operate like this with the rest of the ship shut down for quite a while, and if the hull of the bridge module were to be damaged, it would jettison leaving the rest of the ship behind. Seraphina determined that the only way to rectify the situation would be to reactivate the reactor and get the ship running again.
Not sure what else to expect, the group of adventures continued down the Gantry toward Engineering and stopped on the floor that they had entered the ship on. The only room they had not explored was opened and they discovered a hydroponics setup containing a quantity of known plants as well as a bunch of others that they did not recognize. As Seraphina, Max and Buzz looked around, they were struck with an overwhelming lethargy and passed out.
Alex saw everyone passing out around him and realized that a very large plant with many vines was descending from the ceiling and wrapping up his now sleeping colleagues. Thinning quickly, Alex shot the plant and managed to get it to drop the adventurers. Max, Seraphina and Buzz woke from dreams of fond embraces of lovers and family members, only to see Alex now wrestling with the plant. With everyone awake once more, the group quickly killed the predator and shook off the last of its effects.
Max took a look around and discovered there was a data pad which contained a description of the plant, indicating it was yet another experimental combat genie engineered by Dr. Williams and designed to use specific sounds to incapacitate its victims. There was also information here about how the other ECGs they had been encountering were partially engineered to mimic grass seeds and burrow into mammalian brain stems.
Continuing their investigation of the ship, they next found the captains quarters, where Max was once more successful in hacking into and searching Captain Vilkinov’s personal records. Here there was a short audio log where Vilikonov questioned William's about the veracity and ability to control the ECGs he was getting ready to unleash on Earth. Williams was tight-lipped, but indicated there was indeed a chemical gas that was inert to mammalian creatures, but which would poison the ECGs; though he failed to mention what that was.
As the group continued down they entered the security level and discovered the Security robot control center. Here Max was able to hack the system to shut the robots down, after failing to initially adjust their targeting parameters. There was another room to the side that appeared to contain a large .DOS server, which the adventurers decided it would be better to avoid for now. Max was able to unlock the rest of the ship’s doors from here, but the bridge remained inaccessible.
Finally they reached Engineering and discovered the reactor and environmental controls. Seraphina worked with the others to make a few quick repairs and then reboot the reactor. Reviewing the log, someone named Scott.DOS apparently had remotely shut the reactor down. With the ship’s reactor humming once more, they began the trek back toward the bridge. On the way back up, they decided to stop on the security level once more and see if they could find out who Scott.DOS was.
When they approached the .DOS server, they discovered a digital personality named Scott who was very willing to help them. After he confirmed they were from NEO, he indicated that he was looking to defect to NEO and no longer wanted to belong to RAM. The adventurers agreed to these terms and asked what could be done about the monsters and whatever was on the bridge. Scott explained that Dr. Williams was going to attempt to sterilize Earth and Scott could simply not abide, which is why he shut down the reactor, which inadvertently released the ECGs on the ship. Once security realized what was happening, they disconnected Scott from the ship’s computers and then attempted to regain control of the situation. Since Dr. Williams died quickly, the rest of the crew, now cut off from Scott, had no way of knowing that the creatures could be killed with Argon gas.
Scott helped the adventurers find some canisters of Argon in the cargo hold, which had likely been brought on board for just such a situation. With the gas in hand, Scott instructed the group on how to interface them with the environmental controls, but it was going to take Seraphina manually overriding the intake to accept something other than oxygen.
Seraphina began to fight the controls, realizing that whatever was on the bridge was actively trying to inhibit her attempts to do this. Max, Buzz and Alex stood guard at the door to the control room, because once the gas began to flow, what had to be the rest of the living ECGs flooded Engineering, throwing their lives away to stop Seraphina.
A few tense moments of shooting and collapsing ECGs, and the ship’s atmosphere contained the few parts per million of Argon gas required to kill the creatures, letting the adventurers relax for a short moment, before heading up to the bridge to finally seize control.
When they arrived at the bridge, the ECGs there were in the process of trying to fire up the engines. There was a shoot out with a few of the adventurers taking some hits but ultimately the ECGs were shot dead. Standing on the bridge of their new ship, the group took a collective breath and hoped nothing else would go wrong before they could get back to Salvation III.
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