You ponder the debris pile while the rest of your team forms up around you. You are pleased to notice Enforcer Havelock watching the rear without instruction.

Neonate Cian looks at the debris pile and sighs. "let me guess: the mapslate wants us to go right through that."

Initiate Cat glances at the side door wistfully, "we could try going around..."

You nod at the side door, "take a careful look if you want to. That door is supposed to lead into a maintenance area. The emergency hatch was to either evacuate or seal that area off if a process got out of hand. Given that it's in the middle of this hallway, I'd say that that area is at least as badly damaged. We'd also need to clear this lot out of the way to lead a servitor back through here anyway, given that their pathfinding algorithms tends to be... sub-optimal at best under these conditions. We'll take turns watching our rear, moving this mess into the side room, and resting. No reason to push ourselves too hard at this juncture. Atellus has first watch. Kathrine, if you would help me make a place to put this debris...? Thank you. Cian, stand by, you've got first haul."

You prop open the side door with a handy piece of plating, satisfied to see your prediction pan out. The other doorway out of the room is half caved in with a sparking electrical conduit rammed right through it. The room itself will serve as a dumping place.

Cian strength test: failed by >20. Now need 7 successes to pass the obstacle.

Cian hauls on the emergency hatch, intending to use it as a sled to haul more of the debris into the room. He only succeeds in pulling a muscle in his back and shifting some of the debris onto the floor. Mildly annoyed with himself, he settles for moving what loose objects he can grab out of the way.

Kathrine strength test: failed by >10. Now need 8 successes to pass the obstacle.

Kathrine spends as much time grousing at overly muscled men trying too hard and hurting themselves as she does actually moving debris. She does manage to move some of the pile, but a large section of iron pipe falls down against the hatch, adding almost as much to the pile as she removed.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Strength test: move debris. Success: needed <14, got 4. Now need 6 successes to pass the obstacle.

You take a look at the pipe and the hatch, and decide to use your staff to lever something free. The hatch looks nearly as large as you are, and probably weighs two or three times as much before other things got piled on top, so you decide to lever at the pipe. You are careful not to bend your staff, which is only made of aluminium, not blessed adamantium, but the pipe slides free easily enough, along with a nice stack of other bits which you quickly drag to the dumping pile.

Atellus strength test: failed by >20. Now need 8 successes to pass the obstacle.

Atellus just starts hauling on objects, and moves quite a few of them to the duping pile, but for every one he moves, another one seems to take its place. by the end of his rotation, the pile is no less diminished, and a fair bit more disorganised, then before.

??? hours pass in patient work: 7 automatic successes granted. Now only need 1 success to clear the obstacle.

Cian strength test: Succeeded by >20. Obstacle cleared.

After what seems like half a day, but was probably much less, Cian finally hauls the last of the debris out of the way. He spikes the emergency hatch into the top of the dumping pile with a huge grin on his face. "well, that's done. where to next?"

You consult the map slate, "about a half kilometer of corridors, given that we still have to detour around a chymistical facility that is marked as 'battle-damaged: leaking tanks.' I'm surprised that it didn't detonate, given how volatile those facilities tend to be. Is everyone hydrated? Fed? Last chance to grab something from our habs or to use the facilities there for a while.”

Nobody needs anything, so you lead the way deeper into the hulk. A kilometer of corridors later, the map not being completely up to date, you come across your next minor obstacle: the liquid leaking from the chymistical laboratory is in fact high corrosive, and has eaten through the wall into the corridor you had intended to use to bypass the lab. Fortunately, there is a broom closet nearby with a few mops left in it. It may be enough to clear a path, or it may not. You could also try skirting around the mess, but it would involve a bit of semi-fancy footwork.