The party return to the airlock chamber, planning to venture up the chute they noticed previously. As they peer through the doorway, making sure it’s safe before unlocking it, 9 androids drop down the chute. That’s unusual.
Kant quickly hacks the door mechanism to keep it locked. They wait to see if the group manages to escape, which they don’t. Returning, the group engages in a conversation with the androids through a speaker system in the airlock, convincing the robots they are part of a CloudBank team running experiments, hoping to suss out what their deal is. They learn they are failed androids, trying to escape. Good to know, but the party realize they their cover story is going to fall apart as soon as the androids see them. So they run away! And then come back and bang on the door pretending this is the first time they’ve seen these androids and that they are a new group here to help them escape.
They learn Android 842 managed to free the other 8 robots from a testing chamber at the top of the chute. They have no interest in returning, but describe the space as best they can. The chute leads to the Dis/Assembly section of the station. They give the androids a walkie talkie and tell them to wait for them in the elevator platform room. They then venture up this chute.
As they get closer to the end of the chute they hear the screams of agony from many androids. The room is pitch black, and they keep their lights down to not attract attention. [A stressful scene, so they roll to gain stress.] They move towards the loudest and closest sounds, finding one of the testing pods. They free an android, instructing it to go and free another, so one and so forth. They manage to free 14 androids in this way before that pod goes silent, the remaining deactivated androids being picked up and deposited down the success chute they just climbed from. As they look around the room they can see other pods slowly powering down. The room gets quieter and quieter, the screams abating as the testing ends abruptly, the androids and the testing machinery being powered down. [Another roll against fear to avoid gaining stress.]
Presumably Monarch knows someone is tampering with the facility.
Kjell and Kant arrive on the Bell, smuggled in by a ship resupplying the station. Kjell believes The Deep is of great importance to his religion, and has his own reasons for venturing there. Kant is an android assigned to watch over him while he does this missionary work. They meet Upgraded Repair 812 (UR812) and Scott Van Clapper, who have been biding their time on the Bell waiting for more divers so that they might return and continue their search for super-science. [UR812 and Scott characters from the one shot I ran.]
Despite the warnings of Arkady, the leader of The Bell, the group plan on entering the station from the 6th floor, the engineering and maintenance level. Arkady deposits them in the loading dock. They decide to take an incredibly massive lift to what they assume to be the factory levels of the station, the 3rd floor. Klaxons howl as the lift arrives, but thankfully nothing is drawn to the sound.
The lift takes them to another cavernous room. There are pallets of finished androids, deactivated, ready to be moved elsewhere. The space is 0G and the party float about the room. The make their way down one passage that leads them to an airlock chamber. It is a dead end, though a chute looks to empty out into this room. They decide to backtrack and take the other exit. A hallway leads them to yet another industrial sized room, filled to the brim with deactivated androids. Thousands and thousands, stretching out into the darkness. They cautiously explore the space, and come upon a small stash that looks to have been left by another Diver. They grab the loot and retreat back to the proceeding area, which felt somewhat safer, where they decide to rest.
Loot:
Possible Artifact: Industrial Looking Mysterious Slag
Laser Cutter and 2 batteries.
3x Plastic Explosives (3d10x10, 20m, Scavenging/Explosives. Check to shape charge (reduce DMG to 3d10 and set safe zone) and detonator.
Distress beacon.
Troubleshooter helmet (bullet hole in forehead).
Chromed Revolver.
Everyone gains 10XP for surviving their first session.
