BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Inception/Inventor's Hut

The following text displays when Jason Youngblood enters Edward Tellhim's hut:

• This place is fantastic! From the outside, it looks like a dilapidated hut. But once you get inside, you are amazed by what you see. The interior dimensions look easily four times the size the outside hints at, through some trick of refraction combined with the fact that much of the ground has been removed and the interior is substantially deeper than you would have thought.

• All around you, scientific projects, experiments, and other devices proliferate. It is very difficult to walk in here, because of the equipment covering the floor and perched precariously on tables and shelves, threatening to smash themselves into the floor and thus ruin any chance you have of Dr. Tellhim helping you.

• You can't see anyone who actually lives here, so you keep exploring. Around one corner, you are floored by a ghastly apparition. Stretching easily 30 feet into the air, a monolithic face stares back at you. Clearly, it is some sort of optical illusion, but it is optically unpleasant to look at, since the fantastic size magnifies each hair and pore until you're sure you would lose an arm in one if you got too close.

• There is some sort of repulsion barrier in this room, which makes it impossible to proceed. You spend valuable minutes trying to get past it, only to be frustrated at every attempt. As a last resort, you try speaking to the face.

• Hello?

• The eyes snap open and look maliciously at you. The sneer it gives you makes you feel very insignificant, and when the mouth opens and bellows at you, you can almost feel your hair being whipped back by the wind of its breath. The face is demanding the meaning of your interruption.

• You stammer out that you're here to see Dr. Edward Tellhim. The face squints as if it's trying to make out the features on your tiny face. It then hisses out an ultimatum:

• “Answer and be accepted, fail and be dissected.”

• The face then sits back to watch your reaction, and seems to be satisfied by the obvious nervousness it has inflicted upon you. However, you regain your composure by reassuring yourself that it is only a holographic manifestation, and cannot do any harm. You boldly tell the face to ask away. It seems impressed by your courage.

If the group does not include any members with "Excellent" repair skills:

• The face then sneers in an unfriendly manner, and proceeds to ask a horribly intricate question of mechanics. Your group stammers among themselves, trying to fake a plausible answer, because none of you know the correct one. The face is growing very impatient.

• When you do not answer in a timely fashion, the face becomes enraged. The eyes glow red, and the mouth opens as if to gnaw you to bits. You bravely hold your ground, knowing that a holographic image can do you no harm. The face raises its eyebrows in surprise that you haven't fled yet. Then a series of flaps on the walls slide back, and an impressive number of machine gun barrels poke through. They are definitely not a holograph, and you beat a hasty retreat.

If the group has the necessary technical skills:

• The face then sneers in an unfriendly manner, and proceeds to ask a horribly intricate technical question of mechanics. Your technician rises to the occasion, authoritatively answering the question. The face looks shocked that anybody would know the answer to its riddle, and vanishes.

• Your group proceeds down the hall, a bit more nervously than before. Rounding one corner, you hold up a hand of caution to stop the group. You want to play it safe here…when the floor slides apart and you are dropped to a new level of the complex!

• You try valiantly to gather your wits about you. While you try to calm everyone's nerves, Rex assesses the situation and declares that you are in no immediate danger.

• Then the room is engulfed in a blaze of color, and you are once again face to face with the face.

If the group has a member with "Excellent" rated medical skills:

• It looks substantially meaner, and grills you with a new question. This one involves biochemistry and neurological impulse terminology. Your doctor stands boldly forth and answers the question, and even manages to lecture the face thoroughly on the subject. The face gets bored, and vanishes to escape the onslaught of information.

• A wall slides up in front of you, and you proceed through into a scientist's playground of gadgets and devices. There are things here your Tech can't begin to understand. You use the respite to gather your wits and nerves, because you're sure the face will return.

• You chastise yourself for thinking of it, as if it will read your mind and reappear.

• It does. This time, it's not sitting still like some statue. Instead, it circles the group, sneering and snarling like some desperate shark. It wastes little time before spitting out the next question, a historical fact about the tactical techniques used in the Battle of Mallory's World. Rex allows the face no time to gloat by instantly answering the question from firsthand experience. The face looks about to panic, and it vanishes.

• The group proceeds around another corner, and this one is a dead end. You don't leave, however, knowing that this place is full of surprises and this dead end may be more than that. As you look for the hidden exit, the face reappears. It seems satisfied with the others who have answered its questions, and zooms in on you.

• You bravely hold your ground as the face comes so close that you could use the pupil of its eye as a full-height mirror. The face stares at you for a while, and then hisses out its question…

• “Jason Younglood… Tell me where your father is!”

• You say that you don't know. The face repeats the question.

• “I don't know!”

• It demands an answer.

• “He's dead!”

• The face grows more angry.

• “He's dead, he's dead.”

• The emotion is taking you over.

• The face bellows “TELL ME!”

• “Tell you? I'll show you.”

• With that declaration, you unholster a machine gun and fire round after round at the horrible face. A look of genuine surprise shows on the face, and it vanishes. You continue firing, tired of these games, tired from exhaustion, and fueled by frustration. As soon as your ammo clip runs out, a side door pops open, and the face reappears. This time, it's human-sized and attached to the rest of the body.

• “Hey! Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?! Put that thing away!”

• The lanky man is pulling at his face, and globs of distortive makeup are coming off. The face under that mess is staring back at you now, and it belongs to Dr. Edward Tellhim.

• Still running on adrenaline, you heft the machine gun and demand an explanation from him regarding the questions about your father. Dr. Tellhim explains that Jeremiah still owes him some C-Bills and some Xantaran ribeye steaks for the lock he created, and he just wanted to collect.

• You then demand the meaning of this gauntlet you were forced to run. He explains that it is meant to scare off peddlers and salesmen. The questions will screen out anybody who is too unintelligent to waste time talking to. He then expresses sorrow over your father's death, because Jeremiah was a good man.

• This brings you back to the real reason you are here. You show him the holodisk, and ask if he can repair it for you. He says that it would be the least he can do, after what he put you through.

• He rubs some complex goo on the disk, then runs it through some sort of buffing machine. When that is done, he hands it back to you.

• You examine the surface of the disk, and are impressed with the excellence of the repair. There is no evidence it was ever damaged. Then you ask if there is a private room you could retire to, so that you may view the rest of the message.

• He leads you to a small room with a viewer in it. You watch the rest of the message and learn the password. There is also quite a bit of mushy stuff, and it takes you several minutes to regain your composure before you can return to the others.

• You offer to pay off your father's debt, but the eccentric old inventor waves it away, and instead asks what he can do for you. You ask for directions to the nearest Star League Cache, and are shocked when he tells you that it is hidden in a cave just southeast of here. You thank him, and leave his hut.