Skip agrees, hurriedly pressing the button as he draws his plasma pistol from its holster.

Edwin stunned by the creature that suddenly showed burst from the cryo unit. He had never seen or heard of anything like it. Unfortunately he hadn't seen a need to carry a weapon, which may have been an oversight, so he grabbed anything close that could be used as a club and moved slightly in front of Val and the kids. "Might want to get the kids back as far as possible Val."

Osram looked over in surprise as one of the crates suddenly burst open.

He took a step back and ducked slightly as the strange creature's claws narrowly missed him.

Hearing the telltale of the door cycling he shouted to Val, "Get them to the door!  Soon as it cycles get in and seal it then open the bay doors!"

Osram's suit sealed just past his shoulders along his metallic upper arms against locking rings specifically designed for that purpose, and for good reason.

Raising his right arm Osram's hand and forearm split apart revealing a blunt metal cylinder as it extended out while his left hand grabbed onto a handle of sorts that had been formed by his cybernetic's transformation.

A high pitched whine began as he stepped towards the creature and attempted to sonically bore a hole through it.


Osram rolled 12.  Melee

Val wrapped Evelyn in a blanket and swiped her up into her arms and ran for the inner airlock where the door was opening to let Skip in.

She didn't even check but only hoped Ed would grab the boy. All the while both children were crying out.

Evelyn: "NO! Nooo!"

Adamus: "Don't! Please don't!"

@SKIP will be able to make it in just as Val pushes her way past into the decontamination area. If they could get both kids inside to safety the rest could fight the

@ED will be able to pick up one of the crowbars used to open the crates. Improvised club +0 accuracy, 1d6 + Brawn or Melee bludgeoning damage, whichever is highest (or half this bonus if used one-handedly).

@OSRAM's Sonic Drill buzzed and whirred with power, but the creature dodged it. It nipped and growled at Osram, it's weird spines standing on end.

---

OOC
Okay folks. Make whatever checks you feel are necessary. If you're trying to notice or find something, figure something out, hit something, or manipulate someone or something, roll the most appropriate skill/attribute you can. You can roll attack and damage if you're unsure if you hit it or not.

01:48, Today: Game Master, for the NPC creature, rolled 9 using 1d20+5.  bitey bite. – 9

Creature
AC>12?; HP??

As the door opens, Skip slips through and to the side so Val can get the kids inside.  He trains the plasma pistol on the creature, trying to track it as it moves.  But, he holds his fire for the moment.
08:55, Today: Skip Tracer rolled 13 using 1d20+6.  Insight-Empathy-Emotional state of creature.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 00:09, Sun 11 Feb.

"You can always back away!"  Osram yelled at the creature over the sound of his drill.  He didn't expect it to understand, but one never knew.

None the less he attempted to reinforce his suggestion by jabbing at it with the drill again.



Osram rolled 10.  Melee.

Gill's nap had been ruined, thus he decided to see what had freaked Skip out so baddly. He stopped by his cabin to get his giant foam cowboy hat that signaled he was now Turd Ferguson. He arrived just in time to assess the situation. Kids screaming no and reaching for a dunosaur sized canine.

He held uphands to stop Val."Hey kids, I'm Turd Fergedon. Is that your guard dog? Is he house broken? Does he know commands like sit and stay?"

Edwin moved slowly, the crowbar held low more to try and fend off an attack than to attack. He picked up the boy wrapped in the quilt. "Okay Adamus, everything is okay. No one is going to hurt anyone."

He wasn't entirely positive about that last part but hopefully the child would pick up on it. With any luck, and if the critter was some sort of guardian, maybe things might settle down with out anyone getting hurt.

OOC: If needed.
11:56, Today: Edwin Arlo Park rolled 16 using 1d20+6.  Diplomacy.

@SKIP gets a sense of blind rage from the creature but there was also pain and fear. Not unlike the unruly attitude you'd get throwing a stray animal into a cage, beating it, and starving it then suddenly opening the cage.

@GILL the kids looked at Gill on the other side of the door through the window but didn't seem to understand him or pay him much mind. They turned and looked at Osram, Skip, and the creature.

@ED Adamus doesn't struggle against Ed but allows Ed to carry him to the exit. Ed's soothing voice allows the child to calm down long enough to respond cohesively instead of screaming.

Adamus: "Please sir, don't hurt him! He's just scared." The boy didn't want them to hurt the angry beast.

---

OOC

11:12, Today: Game Master, for the NPC monster, rolled 12,11 using 1d20+5,1d8+5.  bitey bite. – 12,11 MISS

Good thing both Osram and monster are rolling low. Nobody's lost hit points yet. LOL

This message was deleted by the player at 19:23, Mon 12 Feb.

Osram!  Stop!  Step back!  It's scared and hurting!  Skip calls out, hoping to keep this from escalating.  He steps forward as he holsters the plasma pistol.
With his arms up and showing them empty, he tries to push a wave of calm and peace towards the creature, hoping to let it know he means no harm.

16:48, Today: Skip Tracer rolled 19 using 1d20+4.  Animal Handling+Empathy.

Jhenko On coms: "All hands, red alert for anyone not already up and at'em. We have another intruder aboard. Andre, I have override codes for the cargo bay and I'm heading your way. Everyone else evacuate the cargo bay. I can space whatever it is."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 02:50, Tue 13 Feb.

Gill went to the Coms panel and interacyed with tge Captain, "Boss it looks like a big dog. Gimme a chance to calm this all down, Okay?"

Then he opened a channel into the bay, "Heal!"

If  you don't mind Ed, Gill is trained in Taming/Animal handling so I used your action as an aid to get advantage.
11:49, Today: Gill Rurry rolled 21 using 1d20+6.  W/ advantage from Ed.
11:49, Today: Gill Rurry rolled 15 using 1d20+6.  Taming/Animal Handling.

"It's scared?  Funny way of showing it."  Osram replied to Skip.

He did however, take a step back and get ready to dodge more claws, just to see if Skip might be right.

Across the comm he replied, "Already working on it Captain.  You can vent the bay as soon as the interior lock seals up."


Going to Defend this round

Val holds both kids tightly freeing up Ed's arms unless he wants join the hug session.

"It's okay. What do you mean don't hurt him? Is that..."

She looks confused.

"Is that thing a friend of yours?!"

Edwin's confusion matched Val's expression. He was willing to take a chance though, "Adamus can you get your friend to calm down before anyone gets hurt?"

He then looked to Val with a what the hell have we gotten ourselves into expression and whispered, "Do you think the creature is natural, engineered or something else?" After having to deal with a gremlin, or still having to deal with a gremlin nothing was off the table.

Adamus [Speaking Roswellian]: "Varghast! Don't bite. Calm down. Don't bite!"

The creature's antenna-like ears perked and it looked at Adamus and Skip and listened to Gill on the comm system. Then it looked at Osram. It kept looking back and forth like a dog with two owners telling it to go in different directions.

@EMPATHS: The creature's emotional state has transitioned from anger to confusion and hesitation. It is still afraid and agitated though, but not actively hostile...for the moment.

---

The creature Defends this round and takes a step back from Osram.

"I don't know what to think. I just know we pulled two kids and a weird monster out of cryo and I'm not sure what's in the other cubes..."

She holds Evelyn tighter.

"You okay, sweetie? Is that your uh...dog?"

Evelyn: "Varghast isn't a dog, silly. He's a barghest. He's Varghast the barghest!"

Evelyn seemed to be calming down too if she was making puns. Val looked at Ed with the same "wtf is going on look".

Gill thinks he has this in the bag. He calls the Captain again, "Boss I got this under control, no need to vent the cargo hold."

Jhenko On coms: "Alright, if you got it handled, I'm stopping by engineering for a status update on our ship. You all handle whatever is going on in the cargo bay. Keep me apprised."

Skip continues sending the Empathic wave, hoping to soothe the creature.  Osram, lower the sonic drill, please.  He keeps his voice calm and soothing; as best he can, at any rate.
We're not going to hurt you any more, or the kids, he says to the creature.  We are sorry for the confusion.  Let's everyone stay calm.

14:53, Today: Skip Tracer rolled 12 using 1d20+4.  Animal Handling+Empathy.

Osram, deciding to ride this wave and hope everything worked out, deactivated his drill which retracted leaving him with a normal metal arm once again.

He held both hands out, palms down to try to signal to the creature that he wasn't going to try to punch holes in it anymore, if it was willing to stop trying to use those claws to carve him up.

The beast continued to wavr. It wasn't sure what to do and still seemed confused. But it stopped flailing, growling, and attacking so it was clear that it really did behave much like a well-trained canine that simply can't seem to understand its commands. It begins to slink back towards the crate it burst out of managing to stay away from the pool of acid and melting organic material it had knocked over.

Three crates were open. Two had contained living creatures and one acidic good. It would done on Osram that the acid was releasing some fumes that might be a bit of a hazard if he stayed put for much longer.

Adamus: "It's okay boy. Easy. Does anyone have any food? He likes protein."

Val: "Like a protein bar?"

Osram reorganized the cargo bay multiple times per week at NOD's direction to maximize efficiency, and get some good old fashioned exercise.  As such he had a very good working knowledge of the inventory and location of everything currently in the bay.  It had proven helpful when choosing which containers to jettison as a distractive measure for the fighters a short while ago, and would be handy now.

Moving slowly so as not to scare the creature, he gave the acid puddle a wide berth and moved to a stack of containers and shifted a few things around until he found the one he wanted.  Cracking the top he took out a few sealed pouches and headed back over to Varg.  He tore the long edge off of one of the pouches, opened up the gussets on the opposite side, and crimped the torn side so it would stay open.  He then set the pouch down about midway between himself and the beast and backed away again.

The pouch contained a red tinged powder that was dehydrated cultured protein.  When you mixed it with water you could form it into a shape and let it rehydrate in cold storage overnight where it would coalesce into a solid.  Everyone said it was just like "beef", but Osram had never actually eaten the real thing, or seen a cow in anything other than a picture for that matter, so he couldn't really say.  He did know for a fact it made for good eating compared to some of the things that passed for nutrition available out in deep space, that at best were bland and tasteless, and at worst were  foul tasting pastes that left you thinking you'd just eaten some industrial byproduct.

He just hoped the dog not dog thing would figure it out.