Asteroids and Athletes Ch. 01

Cesar: *rolls percentile and looks at book* (D1A2) Hello Captain Sule. Everything is normal. We passed a large S-class asteroid, but the ship was able to maneuver around it without issue.

Maddy: That's good. Are we close?

Cesar (D1A2): It will be approximately three more days until we enter the atmosphere of Aldez IV.

Maddy: So I'll just sit and wait?

Cesar: We don't have to roleplay the whole thing. We can skip to arrival on the planet.

Maddy: Ok.

Cesar: You can eat your meals for the next few days and maybe do some exercise to pass the time?

Maddy: Sure.

Cesar: On the fourth day of travel at the end of the day you arrive at the planet, just subtract four days of food for the journey.

Maddy: Ok.

Cesar: *rolls dice* And your trip there is smooth and uneventful. You see on the monitor a gray planet as you are finishing some rehydrated food for dinner for the fourth day. As you pilot the ship towards the planet an alert pops up on the monitor. It appears to be a distress call.

Maddy: Can I answer it?

Cesar: Sure, after your finger touches the alert on the monitor, your holographic display illuminates and static on the speaker starts. The display is choppy of a Jozan woman, her face sad. You instantly recognize your mother.

(woman) Hello. I'm not sure if anyone will get this, Aldez IV has an asteroid field that...*makes static noise* anyway I'm trapped. *cries* Trapped on this ship and I don't know what to do. The others in the colony, they... I think they... they're dead. And my husband. Please if you hear this, *more static noise* have help. There's- *more static noise* I don't know how long the food will last, and I don't want to go out because they-

Suddenly the display disappears as the planet grows in size on the monitor. You don't see any oceans, just a pockmarked surface.

(Computer) Query, start landing procedure?

Maddy: Wait, was she just sending a message or is that-?

Cesar: You don't know.

Maddy (Yaae): Ok, I'll land.

Cesar: *taps awake the tablet and selects new music. It increases in tempo and sense of danger*

(Computer) Warning. Object detected in flightpath.

Maddy (Yaae): What is it?

Cesar (Computer): Asteroid field.

It will be tricky to navigate. Roll piloting.

Maddy: *rolls dice* 84...

Cesar: Not great. There are some large chunks of ice and rock that pummel the ship as you go through the asteroids. *rolls dice* Your ship takes 27 damage and... *rolls dice* you lose your entire communication array.

Maddy: What does that mean?

Cesar: It means you won't be able to contact anyone. But you don't have much time to worry about that as you are quickly approaching the planet. Your ship has 110 damage before you need to start worrying about hull breaches and an AR of 10.

Maddy: AR?

Cesar: Armor rating. Basically damage reduction. So while there was 27 damage, with the AR of 10, the damage is only 17 to the ship. That means your ship has 93 hit points left.

Maddy: Ok, do I need to make a note of that?

Cesar: Put it in the comment section of your character sheet, Space ship AR 10, and 93 of 110 HP.

Maddy: *writes* Ok.

Cesar: (Computer) Landing site for Mining Colony found. Beginning landing sequence. WARNING. Turbulence detected. WARNING.

Maddy: I'll buckle in.

Cesar: *rolls dice* The windows glaze over in fire from the atmosphere as you plummet to the surface at terminal velocity. When the windows finally clear you see gray mountains and valleys quickly approaching. Your retro-rockets fire, slowing your descent and angling your ship. A huge spider-like web of black buildings lie on a flat valley where you are approaching. The retro-rockets fire hard and your spaceship rests with a thud onto the flat black landing platform. The platform leads to a large building with snakelike tubes coming out.

And... that's where we'll end for tonight. *he pressed stop recording on the tablet*

"What?," I said, a bit surprised. "But I'm just getting to the planet."

"We can pick up again next week. Sorry it's late, I got something early tomorrow," he said.

"Oh shit, you're right." I looked at my watch, finally noticing it as midnight.

"We, pick up again next week?" he asked.

"Uh yeah, you had fun then?"

"I really did," I said, tossing out my beer in the trash.

"Next week we might get into some combat."

"Lit," I said with a smile. I wasn't sure what to expect, but combat sounded fun. I grabbed my bag and headed out of the garage. Cesar followed me to the door as I left. I turned back after stepping out from the threshold. "Ok I'm out," I said, reaching out a hand. Cesar grabbed it and shook it and then gave a fist bump.

"Seeya soon yeah?"

"Definitely," I said.

I walked to my car and began driving back. The experience was more entertaining than I was expecting. Something about how Cesar ran the game made it easy for me to feel connected. And although we had just started playing, I already felt lucky to have met Cesar.