"I'd say you did, yeah?" Cueta says to Leila, nodding her head back in the direction of the landing pad. Cueta's normally taciturn demeanor then slips a bit, for a second. "Glad you all are OK."
Turning her attention to the aliens, she continues Leila's line of questioning. "Oi! And do you know where did these spiky demons went?"
Ah, the five foretold to me have arrived. Tzayl says making the holy gesture of the Storyteller, though it seems like an unpracticed motion from the kish. See my followers? How Talavet speaks true? she says. There is a murmur of appreciation from the ones around her and what sounds like a huff of derision from Yazt.
The strangers who came to us before were also foretold to me but the Chieftan and Huntmasters did not heed my warning. I do not know what you mean by them seeming 'dead', but from my understanding they were servants of a... devourer of stars... who Talavet abhors. They seemed very angry and seemed to revel in it. Tzayl falters for a second [/b]I am sorry but I am new to Talavet's faith and much is not known to me.... but in any case they left in the metal cloud they came in, much like the one we saw you come in.[/b]
She ushers for water to be brought for everyone and motions to a few low couches as she continues.
We welcomed them into our great temple which, by tradition, is open to all, but they profaned the Vault of Tales and attacked us, causing many deaths and much destruction. Then they left and ascended into the sky. Tradition dictates that we must maintain the temple and must keep it open to all but after this Huntmaster Xavra sealed himself and some of his warriors within, claiming it must be kept safe from other strangers. My objection to this was not appreciated an I was exiled to this corner of Istmak. But I am fortunate that those who believe in my words and Talavet chose to follow me in exile and now we are a community here at the edge.
Astrianna is standing with her hands on her hips as she listens to Tzayl, slowly rocking back and forth on her heels. She hears Cueta's approach but does not respond, keeping her head-mounted camera firmly focused on capturing the exposition dump that would make putting together the video for this adventure way, way easier.
When it was finally over, she spins and smiles at their formerly freeze-dried pilot. "Cueta, you're back! I could really use some of your weird-ass healing." There was a glance over the human's physique. "You thawed out way better than last time."
Turning back to the priest, the half-elf blows some air out of her nose that briefly fogs up the inside of her helmet before the moisture is wicked away. "Talavet is right to abhore The Devourer, and its cultists destroy everything they touch." She thinks for a moment before continuing. "Look, obviously your prophecy was right on both accounts now, and we definitely need to see this Vault of Tales in your great temple. Bring yourself and your community out of exile using us as proof that Talavet is looking out for your best interests. Then you can take us to the temple and together we speak with Huntmaster Xavra. Maybe we can sort all this out."
Cueta nods, smiling. "Weird-ass healing, sure. Anyone else, chinney?"
"I'm fine but thanks for asking." Leila beams up at their reanimated pilot.
"We should talk to them yeah. Uhm from behind something solid I think, just in case."
Hmm. She wondered how many people this station/platform could actually fit. Probably enough warriors that fighting through a fortified temple would be a painful task, even if some where killed by the cult. No she really hoped this huntmaster could be talked to.
"You seem well, Cueta" Prospero-4 says, after having observed the woman for a while. "However, I suggest daily medical checks to avoid future cases of post-cryofreeze neural shocks."
"The Vesk is called Vek. A Pathfinder assigned to complement our team." he then adds, realizing Cueta missed the introductions earlier.
Then turning back to Tzayl and her information, the android frowns on hearing Astrianna's plan.
"Do we have alternative options for entering the temple? Manufacturing a sleeping gas to neutralize Xavra's followers nonviolently, for example? I merely wish to raise my concern that success rate of 'talking' has not been very good so far."
”Their caution is understandable,” Vek replies. ”We have done little to earn their trust, nor much to distinguish ourselves from the outsiders who came before. But there is not time for trust to grow naturally - unless we simply wish to trust each other as the stars go dark. Honored priestess, is there a way we might prove ourselves trustworthy and not the same as those who came before us?”
"What do you mean talking hasn't worked out?" Astrianna whirls on Prospero before pointing towards Yazt. "I convinced him to bring us to Tzayl didn't I?!" It seems she was conviently forgetting about all the shooting that was inbetween her getting the shit kicked out of her and the present moment.
"Regardless, I need a rest. While I'm at it, could you reinforce some of these holes in my spacesuit, Leila?" She says while dropping her arms and taking a seat on the floor. "I'm going to calibrate the hybrid translation software so we can all better understand what's going on here."
With a few taps on her wrist-mounted holocom, she starts to listen to a few recorded conversations and their trasnlations. "Tzayl, all the writing that adorns the buildings here in Istamak... is this the kish language as well, or just that of your ancestors?"
If you wish to rest Tzayl says Then please do so, there is more space in these structures then can house all of us exiles. There are clean places where you can rest and sleep if you wish and you will be welcome. If you commit to healing the damage done by the other strangers then I can provide healing as well just as your priest can. Tzayl makes a hand spreading, head bowing gesture towards Cueta.
As for speaking with the huntmaster, I am afraid the desecration of the Temple has made him close his ears to any voice that disagrees with him. He does not even open the temple doors for anyone which is in direct violation of our traditions but he is a peerless warrior so none dare try.
However I have heard the voices of our ancestors speak tales to me which say there is another way in other than the front doors into The Temple Found. Much of what they say does not make sense to me, though it may to you. But first you must prove yourselves worthy. There are two places where we go to commune with them. The House of Renewal which is a place of either healing, or silence, and The Maze of Ghosts where visions of our ancestors is the strongest. If you are worthy then they will speak to you and perhaps tell you what you need to know. I can tell you where you will find them.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"My apologies, Astrianna. I registered the activity on the landing pad as intimidation, slaughter, and torture. I will re-calibrate my vocabulary. I now see talking is definitely an option in dealing with Xavra." Once more, the android's emotionless face makes it impossible to tell whether he is actually serious, or has learned practical application for sarcasm.
"How exactly do we prove ourselves worthy?" Prospero-4 asks Tzayl, interested of the possibility avoiding temple's the front door.
"And I would like to rest as well."
Those are the places where the connection to our ancestors is strongest. If you are worthy then they will impart their wisdom to you. Tzayl explains.
Astrianna opens her mouth to respond to Prospero, and even has one finger raised to punctuate whatever point she is about to make, but after a second of silence sighs and drops her hand. "Well, it sounds like we need to go to this... Maze of Ghosts. We've wasted enough time on the tail of the Cult and can't risk falling any further behind." She finally says, deciding compeltely ignoring the android's comment was for the best.
"I'd say we're already worthy! We got here, didn't we?" She exclaims before adding another question on top of Prosero's. "Are there actually ghosts in this maze? As in, the OOooooOOoohhh haunting kind with a hatred of the living?"
A shiver runs down Cueta's back. Swallowing, she hopes the others didn't notice. Ghosts were bad news in that they were hard to hit. And other than flying ships, that was the thing that Cueta found herself excelled at.
"Yeah, yeah? Tell us more about these ghosts then?"
They are wondrous, and wise... much of what they say does not make sense, but they speak to the worthy and much wisdom can be gleaned from their utterings. Tzayl says To get there leave from here along the southern edge heading back towards the lichen farm where your cloud is, but take the first left and travel north, it is just after The Giant's Pantry. If you wish to go to The House Of Renewal then keep heading north and turn left again at the Spires, it is at the edge of the Hunting Grounds
The alien makes a motion that seems to indicate caution. Hearth, where the rest of us live is on the other corner of Istamak, north of the Temple Found. Please avoid going there as the Chieftan and the other followers of the Huntmaster will not be as welcoming as us exiles, as well you might be attacked by the wild beasts so please, be careful.
This would be way easier with some GPS coordinates. Astrianna thinks while the alien priest rattles off a bunch of analog directions. "Past the lichen farm... got it."
Rested and ready to go, the vlogger hops up and stretches briefly. "Let's move out, team! We have some ghosts to talk to."
Vek smoothly rises from his seated position, his companion orb twinkling cheerfully like a dragonfly over a calm lake. "Vek, formerly of the Imperium, now of the Starfinders," he says placidly as he offers a hand to Cueta. "I am glad to see my hope of your revival was not unfounded - I asked Pumpkin to save your dashboard configs and chair settings before making any of my own adjustments, so it should be simple to make it as if you never left the bridge."
Cueta grasps Vek's hand, her hand just wavering in hesitation before she does so. "Oi, nice to meet you, chinney? Truthfully, I'm still getting used to the idea of you guys being the good guys. I just woke up - before I woke up this time - after being in the freeze for seventy-five. Seems like just yesterday you guys were the terrors of the 'verse, yeah?"
"Yes! Ghosts! And normal talking, not Astri talking." Leila perks up and then gives Prospero a nod to make sure he doesn't start shooting them right away.
Before they leave she has another quick question about the ghosts in question though. She was trying to figure out if the ghosts would be insane or simply frustrated from spending a millennia trying to get their descendants to reboot the wifi. "How do they not make sense? Do they want to know why their bows are raining because everything is made out of Tuesdays and the clock is moist - or are they just using strange and meaningless words?"
Ooooh right! Cueta has been on ice. Uh oh I hope she doesn't say anything offensive ... Leila suddenly snaps alert and cautiously watch their pilots interact. Eh-heh. It would be awkward if they started a fight or something ...
"I hope they are more cooperative than the one on Drift Rock." Prospero-4 says, and stand up. Since there is only one way of finding out, they might start going there already.
"Maze of Ghosts, then?"
The android studies the images they took from space while approacing the landing pad, and tries to map the route following Tzayl's instructions.
All the marks in charcoal are ours, the rest are from our ancestors Tzayl says answering Astrianna's questions about markings. We do not understand their runes
"Aye, Maze of Ghosts then," Cueta says, unholstering her rifle as soon as they leave the building. Cueta's stomach rumbles, audibly. "Looks like we'll be passing this Giant's Pantry on the way, yeah? Think there's some food there? I didn't finish my tamales..."
**
The group makes its way out of the little enclave of what honestly looked more like abandoned residential condominiums than anything else. They move towards the building they were able to identify with their advanced recon techniques and Cueta's almost uncanny ability to track across any kind of environment as if she was a native.
In fact she's able to spot a flying predator before it spots them and wave the group into cover under the uprooted asphalt of a long unused highway.
After the shadow of the beast passes away it's only a five minute hike to their destination.
Much of the building they have been pointed towards turns out to be buried under the rubble of other structures, which is probably why it is as preserved as it is. The front entrance, though, has been sheared of by some ancient calamity, revealing metal structural supports, pipes, and bits of wiring. The ground is littered with rubble, some of which seems to have been cleared away to create a path.
The interior decor of the place, even though faded by the wear and tear of many many years, still seems recognizably bright and cheery.
Before the interior however, coiled around some of the overhanging metal beams is a massive serpentine creature. Its tough looking red hide is over 2 metrons in length and there is a wicked looking dark spike underneath a mouth filled with serrated edges. It notices the group at the same time they notice it and it hisses. The group is just able to attack it before it does though.
"Oh hmm." Leila notices Cuetas plight and starts patting down her own suit. Surely there were some emergency rations there? Yes of course, but she couldn't look too stuffed with food - they'll come begging for snacks all the time. Plus she had to figure out how many halfling portions it would take to feed a Cueta sized human. Two? Hmm. But she's huge... Eventually she "finds" half a pack of jerky, a can of beans and a nondescript silver bag of sugary liquid (it was just some cheap juice she'd stripped the paint from - wouldn't want to hand away free advertisement!). "Here!" she beams. "Just don't litter - it might anger the ghosts!"
---
Astrianna makes a face at the flying creature as if she had smelled a gas leak. "These sentients live in this place with all these wild beasts free to terrorize them? I thought Castrovel was bad, but at least you can leave."
A cursory inspection of their destination reveals it is, in fact, a ruined dump.
Then she notices the snake-thing on the beams above the entrance and grimaces. "Oh great, it's not just a dump, but a zoo." She complains, laser pistol suddenly appearing in her hand.
Placing the pistol over her forearm, she carefully aims and fires a high-powered blast of photons at the creatue. "Bring it down!"
"Well they could leave too if they had a spaceship..." Leila suddenly got a shiver up her spine and a vision of a bunch of odd aliens trying to get Pumpkin to fly them off-world. Brr! Luckily fate instead gives her a huge snake thing to worry about as a distraction! She draws her enchanted thunderstrike pistol and fires - hopefully at that hungry looking beast.
"Unknown species - more likely to be a constrictor than poisonous." Prospero-4 states, once he sees the serpent. Dangerous as the situation might be, this is a good opportunity to test the suit's intergrated weapon hardpoints in real combat situation.
The android extends his right arm, pointing it toward the creature. The is no mistaking the massive bulge and barrel on the forearm is anything but a big gun, and the loud boom from two quick shots confirm this.
Snarling, Cueta steps forward raising her rifle and firing twice...
As the blasts of guns ring through the alien atmosphere, one brave warrior refuses to keep his distance. With a mighty roar, Vek races like a shooting star towards the unknown creature, his hands aglow with blue flame. As he reaches the building, he somehow goes straight up the wall, delivers a mighty punch, then falls back down to the ground like a particularly heavy feather.
Prospero and Leila land shots that seem to bother the beast while Astrianna's shot doesn't seem to cause it to flinch. Cueta's barrage of rifle fire goes wide.
At the exact same time that Vek charges at the beast in a truly impressive display though , the serpent like creature leaps past, causing the Vesk Solarian to miss completely.
The beast latches onto the other tasty looking morsel that moved towards it, that being Cueta. Its bite is vicious and clamps down on one of her legs and it rapidly starts to coil around the human, locking her in place with a grapple. She can feel it start to squeeze!
Prospero-4 retains his position, and keeps firing his arm-mounted sonic shotgun.
Vek turns around nimbly and speeds back towards the creature like a meteor falling planetside. "My apologies Cueta - it was supposed to come after me."
Round 2
Astrianna flinches as the snake-thing plops down in their midst with no fear and begins squeezing Cueta like a certain trademarked frozen treat that she has yet to negociate a brand deal with.
"Careful with that shotgun Prospero, we just got Cueta back!" She yells while whipping out her disintegrator pistol and firing with what seemed to be comically reckless abandon.
"Why do they all want to eat Cueta?!" Leila shrieks and flips up her survival knife. She waves it around and dives for some exposed fleshy bits. "Take this! Let her go!"
edit
"It could be that the freezing process alters the proteins, and so making the flesh more tender - and perhaps more attractive for beasts such as this." Prospero-4 comments, intrigued by Leila's observation .
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Cueta yelps as the creature bites onto her leg, and screams, rage-filled but also panicked, as it twists itself around her.
Panicked, Cueta yells. "ITS CAUSE I'M GODDAMM SWEET, YEAH? BUT I. AM. NOT. A. SNACK!"
Motes of starlight shoot from the pilot, buffeting the serpent, Cueta's patron rising to her defense as the serpent squeezes even harder...
A barrage of attacks from all sides causes the beast to drop very very dead. Its coils slacken, allowing the struggling human to push her way out of the coils.
Beyond it, and the last bit of rubble leading to the entrance, is the first room of the structure named The Maze of Ghosts. Along the western wall of the small area is a booth with a wide open window. To the north a doorway is blocked by a thick translucent shutter that seems to be made of some sort of synthetic crystal. The walls are adorned with charcoal and paint murals depicting a large blazing circle in front of which stand titanic figures looking down benevolently on a floating city.
The group spreads out to look over the different corners of the room while Astrianna stands in front of the mural recording it for the amusement of her viewers. She realizes the giant figures depict the ancestors of the kish protecting and guiding their descendants. As well they are all very subtly pointing to a part of the eastern wall that is just a bit offset from the rest of it. Touching it reveals a hidden panel that swings open easily revealing a switch which Leila and Prospero deduce is a breaker switch.
Throwing it dramatically causes a sudden burst of staticky and high pitched music to start playing all around the group. A holographic projection of the city appears in the center of the room full of glitches and visual artifacts indicating degraded storage or memory units. A voice starts speaking in a language that your translation software struggles to decipher. It is similar to the language the kish speak but it seems to have a lot more syllables. All the software can understand through the static is..
"Welcome.. Istamak, shining city... see living history... questions.. soon".
The message repeats again and the shutter to the north slides apart.
It leads to another room where the murals continue. These show smaller figures in the streets of a stylized city looking in reverance towards a large archway to the west leading into a wide, dark, hallway. High pitched music and the flickers of further holographic display grabs their attention. There is a small counter to the North west and a numer of dusty shelves and empty hooks occupy the eastern side of the room.
It seems the shelves were completely undisturbed by the pilgrims visiting the place and so the group finds an arm projector that looks and behaves very much like a holoskin.
Well versed in checking for ambushes, Cueta looks behind a cubby-shelf in the north west corner and discovers a very well hidden door.
Grimacing as the music blasts throughout the room, Cueta stands, straining her ears once it shuts off, listening for the approach of any snake creatures or other creatures drawn by the ruckus. Satisfied that nothing is coming, she nods towards the secret door and looks for a way through it.
"Pew!" Leila pokes the snake a few more time to make sure it isn't just trying to fool them. With a sigh of relief she then looks over Cueta to make sure she's ok. While she does, she contemplates if the pilot would notice a nibble. Probably. Let's not. Curiosity had to be unsated for this one. "Hmh. You're okay? Okay-ish? Maybe we should get you some owlbear spray or something so this won't keep happening..."
Astri had galvanized them enough that some silly music wouldn't harm the crew of the Sunrise Maiden. Leila looks up and around, trying to catch everything. "It's a museum? Oh or a tourist info site! I've heard they have those on vacation-levels..."
"Hmm. Is there actual ghosts here or did they just don't know what holograms are?" the halfling ponders out loud as she looks around for any sort of computer interface. There could be no harm in poking around in their system right? "Oh - but did they know to flip the switch to actually activate the holograms? Hmm."
Astrianna seems very disappointed when the holograms appear. "These aren't ghosts!" She exclaims with a wave of her hand at the blathering holograms. Real ghosts trended very well on the infosphere- hell, even fake ghosts did well. "These are tour guides!"
Leila makes some good points, and the half-elf hmmmmms at length. "Well, maybe this was a museum at one time and the last of the old occupants of Istamak that knew how to boot up a computer reprogramed them for future generations?" She suggests as they walk up to what was probably a gift shop at one point. Without a thought she snags the piece of alien technology on the counter and places it in her bag.
When Cueta points out the hidden door, Astrianna suddenly appears and starts to open it. "This is probably where they kept the good stuff for the gift shop! The mithril-plated commemorative replications of the floating platform and ssuch"
The door leads to a corridor whichs runs around the perimeter of the building, allowing access to the computer consoles that govern the programming of each display. It is about 5 degrees warmer in this poorly ventilated area than outside. Three hidden entrances to the corridor are plainly visible as the group makes a circuit around the entirety of the building. The third door they find confirms this as it leads to the booth at the entrance.
Down one branch of the corridor the group finds a stash that must have been placed by some sort of survivalist that knew of this place. Amongst the remains of what seems like months of rations there is a haste circuit armor upgrade, a shock fusion seal (8th level), and a
snub scattergun with 16 shells, all hidden within a mk 2 nullspace chamber.
It is quite surprising, but also surprisingly convenient, that this ancient civilization had achieved a level of technology so VERY similar to the Pact Worlds!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
After a few seconds, Prospero-4's initial breach&clear tactic starts to feel unnecessary. And when the holograms start playing, the android lowers his weapon. He stays still for a moment, trying to optimize the translation software to better understand the ancient words. He is unsatisfied by the imperfect translation, but at least it is enough to understand the purpose of this place.
"I do not have any real data to back this up, but it is a high probability that these holograms are what the locals referred as ghosts. This one is not very informative, however. But if the pattern follows any of the museums in Pact Worlds, we should encounter more informative holograms in the following rooms. In fact, it is a very good opportunity to learn about the builders of this world. The natives have little real knowledge, and I am sure the Starfinder Society would... Oh! A gun!"
It is, in fact, very hard to distract Prospero-4's single-track line-of-thought. But firearms are an exception to the rule, and the android forgets all about the historical value of the museum, and goes to pick up the snub scattergun.
Astrianna's enviromental conditioners kick into overdrive when they enter the cramped chamber, keeping her soft and supple flesh a refreshingly cool temperature. "Ah ha! Stuff!" She announces with glee on finding the cache, and she starts to pick through it. "It's kind of strange how similar all this technology is to ours... This is bordering on "not a coincidence" if you ask me." The half-elf speculates out loud, mostly to her future viewers, so she will seem REALLY smart if it turns out to be true.
As they make the circuit and map out the interior of the building, Astrianna stops at the door leading into part of the tour they hadn't been on yet. "know we're supposed to follow the holograms, but.. Leila, why don't you pop open that door and slide in a fiber-optic to peek at what's waiting for us at the end of this little "ghost" tour."
"Nothing is coincidence, yeah?" Cueta says, thinking of her first time on ice and then suddenly feeling a bit deflated.
If nothing was coincidence, then everything is preplanned. If everything is determined, then what was the point of waking up at all? Things would work out however they were intended to work out, regardless of her involvement. But then, if she was part of a larger plan, she'd need to go through the motions to make that plan happen right? So there was some point to waking up after all, and not just to retire on the Nine with a little water-farm, spending her days sitting on the front porch with a Husker, which sounded really fookin' lovely, to be honest. So things weren't determined. But that meant that they could all fail, and the world could be destroyed, which could also happen if things were determined to happen that way, if that was how things worked.
The onset of a migraine stabbing into her temples, Cueta sighed. The main point was, the pilot decided, that the eggheads handle such matters.
Sliding her rifle into her holster, Cueta drew her curveblade and waited, nodding to Vek. "If ultraviolence happens, you go first. I think you're meant to be our linebacker."
"I'll take a look!" the halfling replied and header for the secret passage. She wasn't sure why there were secret passages in a museum - maintenance maybe - but they'd find out. And hopefully it wasn't just a discreet trash compactor.
Leila pokes her head out and sees to the north what looks like a primitive shrine with solemn murals and a small table set with what look like offerings.
To the south is a display of holograms which seems to feature some very official looking Kish like figures in fancy clothes discussing matters over papers and charts.
"So huh it looks like some sort of shrine up there. Maybe there's where they go to pay respect? And scheming holograms to the south. Hmhm. Maybe they have something interesting to say!" Leila shares what she sees.
"Yes, the familiar design of these items is very odd. This gun, for example, is almost exactly the same design as the one reviewed in Guns & Battery issue 387. Could these have been left behind by the Devourer cultists, instead?"
But familiar design also meant Prospero-4 didn't have to spend time figuring out how the weapon worked. He pulls the fore-end to load a new shell into the chamber, and the weapon does that with a satisfying sound.
"Shrine? Would that mean somebody has been here recently?" he responds to Leila. And starts moving towards north.
"Hmm, maybe this really is just a museum and not some hideous trap to kill us all." Astrianna muses while poking open the door panel and sticking her head into the passage and can only see what Liela described.
Prospero rambles about some gun nut stuff and moves past her to the north. "I think we were supposed to come in from the other side and listen to the hologram spiel, but whatever, we'll figure it out." She comments, following the (heavily armed) android towards the shrine.
The group emerges from the maintenance access and heads left towards the shrine. It seems the holographic projections here have stopped working and the kish have replaced them with murals depicting kish figures in solemn poses, their heads looking up towards the stars and sun with their bodies seemingly lit by an inner fire. The small table in the center of the murals is covered with tiny effigies crafted from wire and metal.
Just as the group starts to focus on what's in front of them Vek gets a sense that there's something very wrong happening behind him. He turns just in time to see two holograms suddenly standing disturbingly close to him. One of them looks very official while the other looks like some sort of military guard. They both lash out just as Vek sees them. The sword of the guard and the fist of the official seem to turn solid moments before they land causing the Vesk a fair bit of pain.
It's only Vek's grunts that cause the rest of the group to turn around to see him being molested by flickering blue images. Seeing him stumble as he absorbs punishment from them is a bit surprising!
How DARE... violate.. sanctity... of this place... secrets meant only for kishalee... foul strangers... as the .... Istamak ... driven from here! Kill them!
Your translators struggle to keep up with the variant of the language they've just processed.
The most advanced varieties of holograms can be programmed with artificial personalities and interact with their viewers. Implementations of this most sophisticated version of the technology are wide ranging, and holograms serve as instructors in educational institutions, as tour guides for famous locales in large cities, and even as concierges at luxury hotels.
On very rare occasions, usually through a fault in the machinery of its projector, an advanced hologram gains a modicum of sentience and, sometimes, a twisted idea of the reason for its existence. These “tech ghosts,” as some call them, can appear in almost any shape, limited only by the capabilities of their projectors, and they use their forms of living light to harass their foes—sometimes even striking from a hiding spot in another holographic display—though they are always confined to the area near their projector.