Jason emerges into a dark, fog-choked forest beneath a sky without visible stars. His floating sentient Nintendo Switch keeps pace beside him, its display pulsing with anxious blue light.
Several dozen mercenary robots advance through the trees, armor slick with condensation. Their weapon emitters sweep the route, slicing bright lines through the fog and bark.
the sentient Nintendo Switch
Multiple targeting systems have acquired us. The digitized consciousness stash remains secured, but its original owner is transmitting a destruction command.
Beyond the closing perimeter, abandoned laboratory frames jut from the undergrowth. Altered organisms shift behind transparent leaves, while unfamiliar silhouettes crowd the path ahead.
The Mercenary Robots
Unauthorized possession confirmed. Surrender the consciousness archive for immediate deletion.
Jason
The fog is dense enough to hide movement.
A distant signal pulses through the trees, making the stolen archive vibrate against Jason's gear. The robots tighten their formation as weapon-light flickers across his red-and-black hoodie.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the mercenary perimeter
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the stolen consciousnesses alive
““Yep I can see them shooting at me!” I was using my to dash as quickly as I could, using parkour to jump from tree to tree and use my momentum to remain hidden in the fog as I tried to make my way back to my ship, “the lonely asteroid”.”
FAILURE (Good Athletics, rolled -1)
Jason
Yep, I can see them shooting at me!
Jason launches through the fog, feet striking trunks and branches in rapid succession. Energy bolts flash behind him, scorching bark and turning each leap into a split-second calculation.
He uses the trees as stepping stones, keeping his momentum and vanishing between weapon sweeps. The Lonely Asteroid's faint locator signal pulses somewhere beyond the laboratory frames.
the sentient Nintendo Switch
Your current vector is favorable, but the robots are predicting your rebound points.
A burst strikes the trunk beneath Jason's landing. The branch shears away, dropping him through the fog and scattering wet leaves across the abandoned laboratory's transparent growth barriers.
He hits a slanted metal frame and rolls to a stop inside the laboratory perimeter. The direct route toward the ship is lost behind collapsed scaffolding, while robot targeting lights converge through the trees.
The Mercenary Robots
Movement disrupted. Containment route updated. Archive signal remains active.
“I slid down the metal frame, pulling out an EMP grenade and a revolver, throwing the grenade at one of the robot’s head and shooting it, while blasting a hole through the robot’s face before I started running again.”
FAILURE (Good Marksmanship, rolled +2)
Jason slides down the slanted frame, one hand reaching for the EMP grenade and revolver. His wrapped fingers find only empty loops and cold metal.
The missing weapons cost him the attack. A targeting beam snaps across the frame as he drops behind a fractured growth barrier, and the robots redirect their aim.
The Mercenary Robots
Weapons discharge absent. Pursuit continues. Archive signal remains active.
Jason breaks into a run through the laboratory perimeter. Bolts punch sparks from the frame behind him, forcing him away from the direct route toward the Lonely Asteroid.
the sentient Nintendo Switch
The collapsed scaffold is drawing their fire. A maintenance access lies open beneath the eastern growth barrier.
Through transparent leaves, Jason glimpses a narrow service hatch descending below the laboratory floor. Its manual release still glows green, offering cover and a possible route around the formation.
Jason
The weapons are not here.
“Does the service hatch extend into a ventilation system?”
NO, AND WORSE (Likely, rolled 99)
The green manual release unlocks with a hollow click, but the hatch opens onto a vertical equipment shaft, not ventilation. Cold vapor pours upward around Jason's boots.
Below, magnetic service rails descend into darkness. Warning lights awaken one by one, revealing a sealed containment door far beneath the laboratory floor.
the sentient Nintendo Switch
Correction. This is a reactor maintenance shaft. Its lower systems are activating, and the access ladder has retracted.
The hatch frame shudders as the laboratory reroutes power. Transparent growth barriers cloud with defensive sealant, narrowing the space behind Jason while targeting beams sweep closer.
The Mercenary Robots
Intruder located at maintenance access. Containment doors engaging. Archive signal remains active.
A heavy blast door begins sliding across the hatch opening from the forest side. The shaft offers no sideways passage, only the dark descent and the rising mechanical hum.
“I dash to the door to hack it while running a heat signature and AI concealment program to hide myself from the mercenary robots temporarily while I figure out how to get out.”
SUCCESS (Superb Hacking, rolled +2)
Jason dashes down the shaft toward the sealed containment door as the blast door slides shut above him. Cold vapor coils around his sneakers and red hoodie.
Jason
The door's control system is still connected.
His floating Nintendo Switch projects a tight blue interface over the door panel. Jason links into the maintenance network while a second process maps heat signatures through the shaft.
the sentient Nintendo Switch
Concealment program active. I am masking your thermal profile and corrupting the robots' predictive targeting feed.
Code floods the panel, bypassing reactor locks and rewriting the door's authorization sequence. Above, targeting beams pause, then sweep past the concealed shaft without finding him.
The Mercenary Robots
Thermal trace lost. Search pattern recalibrating.
The containment door unlocks and rolls aside, exposing a pressurized service corridor lit by amber strips. Behind Jason, the blast door seals completely, leaving the robots cut off.
Quest Complete
Escape the mercenary perimeter
Skill Upgrade: Marksmanship Good→Great