S-Series One-Shot

This page is part of the **S-Series One-Shot** adventure and has no connection to the world or characters of Alivast. This page should only link to other pages related to the S-Series one-shot.

In another time and another place, a young woman reactivates four prototype robots in a desperate gamble to find allies to retrieve a powerful suit of ancient armor and save her village from an invading army.

The S-Series One-Shot was streamed and recorded on May 2nd, 2018. It does not have an episode number because it is a completely separate game outside the regular continuity of The Unexpectables.

## Setting and Story

The S-Series one-shot takes place in an unnamed land that shares certain design elements with media set in post-apocalyptic words, such as the series of movies about an angry man named Max. These elements include re-purposed modern items (pieces of vehicle tires used as shoulder pads, for example), guns, vehicles, and high and low technology items existing side-by-side.

The story centers around four robots reactivated by a young woman named Gertrude who seeks to find armor that will help defend her village against an group called the Ripper Gang. Gert entered the abandoned facility where the S-Series robots were stored with her brother and after he was killed by gang members, she discovered the robots in storage and reactivated them in hopes they could aid in her quest.

## Characters

### Player Characters

#### Osiris

Osiris is a beautifully ornate robotic centaur with an electric lance permanently attached to one arm. His face resembles a porcelain mask, and his joints are reminiscent of a marionette, and his entire body has baroque ornamentation embelishing it. He speaks in a very noble, yet enthusiastic manner, utilizing archaic chivalric verbiage and mannerisms, especially when addressing Gert. She notes that he is similar to guard robots in her city.

Osiris is a melee combat specialist capable of delivering devastating blows with his shock lance. He also demonstrates considerable agility when he was able to leap over the other members of the group on a narrow catwalk, or jump on top of a moving armored personnel carrier in order to attack its gunner.

##### Osiris Trivia

* When he is in "battle mode" his normally white eyes glow red.
* When the group is piloting the armor, he controls its arms.
* Osiris was played by LaniPator

#### Skitter

Skitter, designation S-Series 119, is a small, spider-like robot that was the third to be reactivated by Gert. Unlike the others he was not in a tank, but in a crate on the floor. As per his name, he is constantly in motion, searching for usable materials which he drags off to any available corner for analysis and storage. His definition of usable materials is rather vague, so he often ends up collecting items of dubious value. He can climb walls and stick to ceilings and is equipped with a defibrillator. His built in-weapon is a dart with a paralyzing toxin. During the vehicle chase, he operated the vehicle-mounted machine gun with fair accuracy.

##### Skitter Trivia

* Skitter was played by Takahata101
* MontyGlu was overjoyed with Takahata101's rolls that determined his arachnid form because according to her he is deathly afraid of spiders.

#### Bolts

Bolts is the first of the S-Series to be reactivated by Gert. He is a 5'6" (168cm) humanoid robot in poor condition with exposed wiring, missing panels, and some intermittent functioning of his speech functions. His original designation was S-Series 01, but upon prodding by Gert he chooses another designation. He finds an old memory file of some engineers referring to him as a "fucking bucket of bolts". Despite Gert's suggestion of "Bucket" he instead chooses "Bolts".

Bolts is prone to reciting bits of odd information or 'memes' of a society long dead, though he occasionally has moments of more lucid behavior. He is sometimes a little rude, at one point calling Gert fat, which causes her to push him off a catwalk, though she immediately regrets it.

Bolts has a "Scan Human" function that allows him to determine strengths and weaknesses of the target. He is equipped with a simple, shoulder-mounted gun, and each of his arms can transform into a cannon that does massive energy damage, but results in the destruction of the corresponding arm from the strain.

##### Bolts Trivia

* Bolts was played by SenileSnake.
* During the stream, SenileSnake had a bad connection causing his voice to sound robotic and occasionally drop audio. MontyGlu and the other players enjoyed this because it worked with his character's broken-down and erratic functioning. Since his audio was recorded locally, this distortion does not appear on the podcast, but is preserved in the YouTube upload.

#### Maverick

S-Series 0096, code named Maverick, is a 10 foot tall (305cm) robot that at a glance is identical to a human male. His appearance was anatomically correct to the extent that his original nudity caused Gert to be very embarrassed and avert her eyes until he put on some clothes.

In addition to his clothes, his equipment includes a shotgun which he uses to great effect.

### Non-Player Characters

#### Gertrude "Gert"

Gert is a young woman driven to act when her village is threatened by invaders and her country abandons its residents. She has red hair tied in a bun, wears scavenged clothes, and has a pair of goggles around her neck. She carries a thick book of technical drawings of the massive facility that she uses to guide the robots to where the armor is located.

She is resourceful and dedicated to saving her village and at the opening of the story uses her technical skills to reactivate the long-dormant S-Series prototypes in a race against time before she is discovered by the Ripper who killed her brother, Jay. She is able to expertly repair her robot companions when provided the tools and opportunity in a further statement to her technical prowess.

She is initially a bit dismayed at the sometimes erratic behavior of the prototype S-Series bots, but grows to appreciate them. She does have her limits, however. When Bolts calls her fat, she pushes him off a catwalk to the floor 30 feet below.

Gert is badly injured during a running battle with the enemy as they drove through a tunnel connecting different parts of the facility. Osiris was able to carry her on his back until the group found an automated medical facility that could tend to her wounds. Though she survived, she unfortunately still bears the scars from the incident.

In the epilogue, Gert rewards the S-Series bots with pristine new chassis and tells them how she stole their memory cards and saved them from erasure.

#### Floor-Cleaning Robot

This little round robot scoots about part of the facility where it keeps the floors clean. It has a little gun which pops out of its top when threatened by Osiris, but when Skitter and Bolts convince it that they are non-hostile, it stands down. It plays a key role by extracting Maverick's memory card, allowing him to join the other S-Series in operating the armor.

Its fate is unknown as it did not appear in the epilogue.

## Trivia

* The session involved a lot of house rules for firearms, the robots' abilities, and the giant robot combat that were created just days before the session.
* Players rolled 1d8 followed by 1d20 to randomly determine their robots form and appearance/condition. MontyGlu used modified clockwork construct tables from the game Shadow of the Demon Lord.
* MontyGlu cited Gundam, Junker town, and Fallout as some inspirations for the setting.
* The player characters were technically level 3 but had several home-brewed abilities that MontyGlu admitted would be outright broken in a long-term campaign.
* The final blow that defeated the enemy armor was a spinning headbutt that was the result of 3 natural 20 die rolls for a total of 69 damage.
* Chicks dig giant robots.

## Gallery

* Clockwise from top left: Bolts, Skitter, Maverick, Osiris. Fan art by @SirMalervik
* Osiris, Maverick, Bolts, and Skitter official art by @CitricKing
* Osiris, Skitter, Bolts, and Maverick official art by @ThatArtJack
* Bolts chooses his name, much to Gert's dismay. Fan art by @DnetsE
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