Terror on a small world

One of the Mudd's world androids has been exposed to Berthold radiation and malfunctioned. This normally wouldn't be much of a problem as the repair/reprogramming facilities on that world could counteract the problem. However, this android was aboard a warp shuttle as part of the limited exchange the androids have with the Federation prior to them being allowed to join into mainstream society. The warp shuttle sustained heavy damage and the rest of the crew were killed or incapacitated. The android knew enough piloting to steer for the nearest planet, but the damage was so extensive, the shuttle crashed. The crash killed the remaining crew and left the android disfigured and deranged. The planet is only at a medieval tech level and the "Monster" is terrorizing the countryside. The PCs have been dispatched on this Preserved seeded humanoid world in Prime Directive disguise to recover the rampaging android and shuttle to cover up the contamination to the culture.

The garbled transmission of the greyhound class warp shuttle USS Fitzgerald was barely discernable, with the only thing intelligible was “…comet…Berthold…out of control…” The transmission was enough however, to get a fix on the stricken shuttle. Warping to intercept, the shuttle changes course and is obviously under control as he heads for the restricted Camelot system, so named for it’s medieval tech level society that inhabits the system’s fourth planet –Avalon. Before the PC’s ship can close, the shuttle loses control during its landing attempt and crashes in a deep lake near a local major city. Required by the Prime Directive to remove all evidence of the shuttle, the ship closes to tractor out the wreck.

The location in the lake will require a Landing Party to beam down and attach pattern enhancers for the tractor beam to lock onto. The Landing Party, in addition to their period dress, will have to have concealable diving equipment to reach the wreck. Sensors can tell the hull is breeched badly enough that beaming into the wreck is not an option.

Beaming down will be a simple task and moving through the city will also be relatively without problem. Each day in the city will require an INT roll to keep out of the limelight and not run afoul of the local customs. If the INT roll fails, a LUC roll will find a means of avoiding a confrontation. If this roll fails, then the PC has done something to draw attention to themselves. The exact nature of this encounter can be left up to the GM or use some of the following examples:

“M’Lord, please forgive me.” The PC has crossed in front of a noble, or failed to bow properly, or some other offense to one of his betters. The foppish noble wants to show the PC “his place” and intends to do so right now in front of as many witnesses as possible. The noble draws his gloves and strikes the varlet across the face and demands the impertinent PC kiss his signet ring. Raising a hand against the noble is a capital offense, while refusing to show obeisance will result in being detained by the local sheriff and given ten lashes in the public square. A Federation History/Culture roll will remember parallels to one of the equivalent Earth societies and submit to the embarrassing ritual. If the roll fails, an INT roll will figure out which way the wind is blowing and also agree to play along and keep the dandy happy.

“Stop that man!” The PC walks into a fleeing local and is accused of theft. The escaped petty theft had the rotten luck to be wearing an outfit similar enough to confuse the merchant pursuing the thief and even more damning the thief planted the stolen item on the PC to aid in his get away. The PC can challenge the merchant to a battle of logic with resisted INT rolls to show the merchant is mistaken. If the PC can win best three out of five and turns over the merchandise, the merchant is happy enough at the recovery of his wares that he lets the PC go free. Losing the roll means he has offended the merchant enough that he starts a brawl. The PC has three rounds to subdue the merchant or the brawl begins to grow. Locals take sides and a free for all breaks out. The fight will last for ten rounds total before the watch shows up and everyone scatters.

“That’s him, he’s the one that done me wrong!” A couple storm up to the PC, one female and very pregnant, one male and very beefy with the female accusing the PC of breech of promise. Of course the PC is not guilty, but the crowd is all for the brother defending the honor of her sister against the stranger that took advantage of a young innocent girl. The brother demands an immediate marriage or he will show the knave what happens to ne’er-do-wells. En route to the local chapel, the brother loudly proclaims he doesn’t trust him to stand by his sister and his child, but a proper wergild would see that the child be raised proper. For 20 of the local gold coins (an exorbitant amount) he would spare his sister a lifetime of misery with a man so foul as to deny his own child. The pair are con artists attempting to bilk the PCs out of money, unfortunately with the mood of the crowd, their plan is working very well. The PCs won’t have enough coin on them to pay the 20 coin extortion, but the brother will settle for as few as five gold coins to raise the child in a sad, but fair way with an INT roll. A Psychology roll will figure out the scam and the best way to beat it. All they have to do is agree to go though with the wedding. The brother will blink in surprise, but is not bound by his own statements. The girl will stand next to the PC, but halfway through the ceremony, will collapse from the stress, the brother will shoulder his way through to his sister, then there will be a sudden burst of smoke that scatters the congregation. When the smoke clears, the two will be gone looking for an easier mark.

Once past this first encounter and introduction to the ways of the city, the PCs soon discover the town is all abuzz with the light of god that smote the lake early in the morning of that very day. Several of the city’s senior clergy are out blessing the lake from the mighty blow that left many dead fish floating on the surface and an eldritch smell in the air. Approaching the lake for an unobserved dive with so many people about is just not possible today. The PCs will have to wait until things quiet down.

As is typical for such an ignorant society, the PCs being outsiders arriving on the same day as a sign from god, does not bode well for the PCs, they are generally shunned and have a hard time finding a place to stay. Eventually they find an innkeeper with more backbone than the bulk of his fellows and is willing to give the PCs a place to stay in the great room of his inn.

The following morning there are frantic claims of the sighting of a “Monster” in the lake country. All hideous and unnatural looking, stronger than anything has a right to be and proof against injury. When the terrified fishers and farmers can manage a coherent word, the PCs find that the Monster has a horrid face to look upon and when stabbed with a pitchfork, broke the haft with one hand, pulled the fork free with the other, then grabbed and lifted the braw Edwain up like he were a sand-newt and broke his arms like he were a toy. The creature howled in some gibberish tongue and ran off faster than a horse a full gallop. The town forms a posse, led by the local baron immediately and searches for the Monster. The PCs can try to join the posse, but being out folk, they aren’t welcome.

The posse consists of four armored men, a dozen men-at-arms, and some three dozen stout locals. At noon, the posse returns in shambles. The Baron is alive, but bourn in on his shield by the two surviving knights, guarded by eight able men-at-arms and two walking wounded. The locals scattered in terror before the Monster, that killed one of the knights and two of the men-at-arms by the brutal method of grabbing the knight off his horse and beating the rest of the posse with his body like he were swinging no more than a rag doll.

An INT roll shows a bit of fabric clutched tightly in the baron’s hand. A Negotiation/Diplomacy roll will allow a PC to get close enough that he can recognize the cloth as Starfleet issue. If asked, the senior knight seems surprised then states that his lordship must have latched onto the creature and tore that free from the creature as he fought to safe young Alfric when the creature set upon us at the north elbow.

It will take another Negotiation/Diplomacy roll to get some one to give them directions to this local landmark. Later that day news is spread by town crier that the castellan sends out messengers to the baron’s vassals to muster within the week as well as imposing a curfew for the good of the good folk of the town from this horror in the woods. This curfew is a major complication for the PCs as if they are spotted outside, especially since they are already not trusted, will result in them being imprisoned.

The easiest way for the PCs to move about would be to enter a store room or the public jakes and be beamed from point to point. The north elbow is only eight kilometers away and fairly close to the lake. A tricorder scan will detect trace Berthold radiation and artificial skin cells. A quick consult with the ship and Starfleet records reveals the presence of a Mudd’s World android on the USS Fitzgerald.

Now aware of the nature of the “Monster” the Landing Party has a new task on top of their recovery of the shuttle to accomplish. The PCs have a couple options to stop this rampaging android. First, they can return to the ship and get properly outfitted for a return to the planet as knights-errant. Or, they can choose to stay in their current identities returning to the city via transporter to seek clues to the android’s whereabouts.

If they return the ship they can have arms and armor fabricated on the ship, then beam back down to the surface to claim to be knights of a holy order sent on behave of their far off lord to hunt the creature. This will gain the grateful assistance of the locals and a meeting with the local baron who has regained consciousness, but will be out of action for the rest of the season. He wishes the PCs Godspeed and good luck on their quest.

If they choose to stay in their original identities, they will have to come up with a reason to get past the locals distrust of outsiders to accomplish anything. A Psychology roll or an INT –50% will deduce that they will have to use their outside status to their advantage. A claim that: “Yes it is true, we are not what we seem, we are servants of god, sent to purge the land of this creature god sent to test you faith” will gain the PCs a nervous respect. (This is an extremely loose interpretation of the Prime Directive as a Federation Law roll will reveal, but given the contamination posed by the android, it is by far the lesser or two evils and despite a thorough dressing down by Starfleet legal the next time they are at a Starbase, the PCs will not be reprimanded for this course of action).

Never willing to challenge the will of god, the locals will assist the PCs in tracking the Monster. They will provide, rations, horses, and guides to help with this quest. The baron, who has regained consciousness, but will be out of action for the rest of the season, calls for these angels of the lord will also provide arms and armor for the PCs as well.

Tracking the android is more difficult than expected. The Berthold radiation detected earlier had already reached its half life and is now undetectable. Going back to the north elbow, the PCs can make Computer Technology or one half Psychology rolls to guess the android’s next move. Working on the assumption that the android is ruled by binary logic, the android will understand it is damaged. Its standard programming would tell it to go to a repair facility, or if unable to do that, make contact with local authorities to obtain assistance in doing so. The only repair facility the android would recognize would be the damaged shuttle. Since that is no longer a valid resource, it would seek local authorities. However, the local authorities are too primitive to understand the android’s requests, they attack. The android then defends itself.

A Computer Technology, Psychology, or one half INT roll will realize the android is in a logic loop. It goes to the repair facility, which is unable to help, it then goes to local authorities, gets attacked, defends itself, then starts the process all over again. The duration between the sightings is equal to how long it would take the android to walk from the wreckage of the shuttle to the nearest settlement and back to the shuttle. Moving freely through the countryside thanks to their role as “angels of the lord” the PCs make rapid time getting to the next logical location for the android to be sighted. Using their phasers set on heavy stun, even a Mudd’s Android will quickly be disabled. However, just before they reach the projected location of the android, they can hear the sounds of music and singing approaching. The local clergy, on hearing of the divine minions appearance, they have mustered the faithful to assist in the destruction of the monster.

No amount of talking or die-rolls will make these zealots turn away from their sacred duty and shortly after they arrive, the android appears. It has been severely damaged in the crash and while still humanoid in form, it is grisly to look it, especially if its nature is unsuspected. The clergy, emboldened by the divine minions in the form of the PCs stand their ground before the android chanting wildly and waving incense censers. The android attempts to communicate, but it’s synth-box is badly damaged causing its Galacta to be difficult to understand even to the Starfleet officers that speak the language. “I…I…I’ve <klik> I’ve <klik> sus-sus-sustain-tain-tain-tained a mal <klik><klik><klik>function. Please…please…please…<garble> to a re-re-re-pair <klik><klik>fa…fa…fa…cil <garble>”

Unable to use their phasers (not without risking a severe reprimand on their record. The PCs are already on thin ice with the angels of the lord bit), the PCs hesitate for a second. An INT roll will devise the strategy of speaking to the android in Galacta. Holy warriors and angels of the lord should be conversant with the minions of evil after all. A Bionics, Computer Technology, Leadership(one half), Negotiation/Diplomacy(one quarter), Psychology(one quarter), Computer Science, or Mathematics(one quarter) will give commands in the right syntax to force the android into a diagnostic mode. The android can then be ordered to return to the shuttle. Once in the water, one PC can slip away long enough to contact the ship and have them beam the human lifeform in the water back to the ship.

However, the zealots will not allow the hell spawn to be allowed to return to hell without paying for the deaths of three men and the injury to three more. The most zealous of the clergy charges forward to smite the creature with his crozier. This snaps the android out of diagnostic mode and triggers the self defense programming. The android snaps the bronze crozier as if it were a twig, grabs the clergyman and throws him screaming some twenty feet into the lake, where he sinks like a brick. The android turns on the rest of the zealots and this time, god on their side or not, they rout in every direction.

The PCs have to keep the android at bay for five rounds until every one of the locals is out of sight, then they can use their phasers. They have to resort to using their swords to parry the android’s attack to give the locals time to escape.

Once the android is subdued, a PC can dive to the shuttle wreck with their aqualung, affix the pattern enhancer, then everyone can beam back to the ship. During the night, the tractor beam will easily be able to lock onto the wreckage of the Fitzgerald and tow it out of the gravity well and into the Camelot system star.

Android

STR 160 END 200 INT 30* DEX 30* CHA 05 LUC 20 (Reduced by damage)

Unarmed Combat 20 to hit H-t-H: 25%

Android is immune to stun setting and only takes half damage from heavy stun.