The positioning of the nearby robot makes it impossible for Meyanda to move into a flank with Fifteen, but the android priestess settles for simply carving it up.
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Holg identifies the undead as pale strangers, creatures supernaturally proficient with firearms! They have spell resistance and resist weapons that aren't bludgeoning.
As he and Fireday rush across the room, Fifteen and Meyanda stay to deal with the guard near them. And deal with it they do, cutting it down in a barrage of flashing blades.
Molly opens fire on the guard that shot her, managing several hits. The last bullet goes deep into the creature's skull, and it falls lifeless to the floor.
The last guard fires on Molly again while the turrets track Fireday and Holg, blasting them with lasers!
The searing pain in her chest and the sensation of trying to draw breath underwater tells Molly that the android targeting her has hit something of at least semi-importance. Trying to keep it from affecting her aim, she ignores the dark edges to her vision and focuses on her target.
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Fifteen wants to help her wife, but they've had talks about this and she knows that her duty is to the group, not just the person she cares about.
Accordingly she races for the turrets and leaps impossibly into the air, dangling by one arm as she attempts to 'reprogram' the turret from the inside out.
Fireday closes the gap with the final guard and unleashes Heaven on it!
"Pale stalkers! Use bludgeoning weapons if you can" Holg charges in, trying to destroy the last stalker "Gorum, destroy my enemy!"
Figuring that Holg and Fifteen have things under control for the moment, Meyanda takes a moment to place a hand on Molly's shoulder. "Keep up the pressure!"
Fifteen dismantles a laser turret as Holg and Fireday slice and batter the final pale stranger. Molly fires another barrage of bullets, finishing off the undead guard before shifting her aim to the second laser turret. It sparks and crackles as the bullets tear through it before powering down!
Molly lowers her musket and presses a hand to her chest. "Gortaítear an fecking sin," she mutters to herself before dropping clumsily to her bottom.
"Holg, you need to help Molly." Fifteen says, dropping from the turret to the ground.
"NOW!" She yells when the cleric doesn't move as fast as she wants him to.
"What's up?!" exclaims Holg while he slices through the fallen pale undead making sure it is not going to raise again. Turning his head to look back, he finally realizes Molly's ill state.
"Oh, wow, what happened!?" the Kellid rushes to help the coiling halfling, drawing from his neck a collar of beads. He takes the healing one and applies it to Molly "Here, this should help"
He follows up with a channel to help heal also others in the party.
"Hei, you saw that turret explosion? You have to keep up doing that!" he takes the healing staff and applies further healing.
"It seems our contacts were right, the resistance here is strong" Holg looks around then for where to follow "Where do you think we can head to find those security controls?"
"Let's proceed with caution," Fireday says as the healing finishes. He begins searching the room for anything that may help them going forward.
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The crumbling posters on the walls of the monorail station promote Androffan culture and society and bear jingoistic phrases in Androffan like “Strength in Unity,” “Bringing Divinity to the Galaxy,” and “Security. Safety. Honesty.” The broken glass panels were once monitors that tracked the coming and going of trams.
Searching around, Fireday discovers a secret door in the west wall. It leads to a maintenance tunnel. "According to my records, that should take you to the surveillance control room," Casandalee says, her image popping up on the datapad. "You could access it to check out any cameras or internal sensors still operating within the wreck. The security control center is at the center of this deck."
The image shifts to a map of the security deck.
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"It is logical to view surveillance first." Fifteen says, from her protective position next to Molly. "No doubt there are other defenses in place and learning about them will help us."
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Molly takes a deep breath when the heavy sensation in her lungs is relieved by Holg's magic. "Thank you, Sir," she says to the man as her hand tightens on Fifteen's. She turns to her wife and presses a quick kiss to her lips. Only the android can feel the trembling in the halfling's body. "That was an experience I don't wish to repeat," she says with a lopsided grin.
Using her wife's hand as leverage, Molly pulls herself to her feet and adjusts her clothes. "Burned a hole right through my best tunic," she mutters. She spends a moment checking to make sure that the holes don't show anything she'd rather not.
"Let's make sure we destroy them then before we can suffer any retaliation like that" Holg nods and moves on towards the surveillance control after thanking Casandalee for her guidance.
The Kellid cannot other but chuckle at the indoctrination sentences they found around "It is funny this Unity"
Holg rushes through the metallic corridor looking for the southwest door leading to the surveillance room.
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"These posters make me wonder if Unity was once normal and it got infected with delusions of grandeur by the people who used it..." Fireday wonders aloud. He follows after Holg, weapon at the ready.
Fifteen disables another laser turret as you make your way down the western corridor until you reach the surveillance station. A bone-numbing chill fills this chamber. Blinking screens cover the walls and desks, showing moving scenes of secured hallways and trackless jungle. To the south, an elaborate desk and panels of smaller screens dominate a raised platform, while to the west, the wall appears to have been repaired after a massive hole was torn into it.
A single undead creature stands guard here. Human-sized and of a deathly blue color, this long-taloned skeletal creature is partially encased in jagged sheets of ice. She wears the tatters of an old uniform. She lets out a horrid shriek and flexes her claws!
"Good point Fireday... I do not think this Unity is anything else than a misused tool" Holg raises his greatsword and checks to balance it "I have the right tool to fix those"
His smile is cut by the opening of the door and the group finding out the icy creature "A winterwight!"
"How did an undead horror born from the coldest depths of the negative energy plane ended here?" Holg freezes, surprised by the sight, and loses his reaction "Use fire, not cold, and you will need good aligned bludgeoning weapons to hurt him good. You will need to do that trick you did with the demons again Fireday!"
"Be aware, his blightfire attacks, will drain your life force!"
Having just been told that the creature is going to be a literal nightmare to destroy, Fifteen restrains herself from rushing in and fires off a series of laser shots instead!
"How's it react to a musket ball?" Molly asks as she raises her weapon to find out for herself.
Fifteen blasts the wight with her laser pistol, melting some of its icy flesh. The creature shrieks, its wounds quickly starting to heal, as it fires a ray of crackling ice at the android!
Molly quickly opens fire with her musket, badly damaging the undead.
Fifteen's nanites surge into action, closing up some of the wounds as Fifteen continues to fire her pistol at the monster.
Fireday nods and raises his weapon up, holy power surging into it.
"Return to death in a wave of holy plasma, monster!" he says as he rushes up to attack with the blunt sides of the weapon.
Fireday lands a couple of hits, then Fifteen blasts the winterwight with three more laser blasts. The undead groans and collapses, the ice coating its body melting away as it dies!
In one pocket of the wight's uniform, you find both an orange access card and a unique prismatic card! It is sure to help you bypass some of this deck's defenses.
Studying all of the monitors here gives you a glimpse into several different areas of Silver Mount.
A16. The stripped remains of strange, metallic vehicles that look vaguely like birds with outstretched wings lie strewn across this hangar, amid stacks of parts and barrels of glowing liquids. Brilliant green banners bearing a gear-toothed eye dangle from the ceiling high overhead and flutter in a light breeze. The floor is littered with corpses--the remains of a Technic League team.
Habitat Deck:
B1. Choked with vines, this off-white building of pillars and domes epitomizes fallen grandeur. In places, the overgrowth has been cleared away and the classical stonework patched by unskilled hands. Metal crates and plastic barrels are stacked about the tiled floors. Three burly humanoids with antennae stand guard here, mounted on huge, four-horned reptiles.
B4. This laboratory features a large fuel tank and several cells with hulking creatures in stasis. A half-elf man works at a computer here.
B6. Inside this pumping station, two hulking froghemoths nest on a large clutch of eggs.
Security Deck:
C1. The remains of the pale strangers and broken laser turrets are strewn about the monorail station where you arrived.
C2. The floor of this room is cluttered in places with wheeled tables and overturned workstations. To the west, beds and coils of hanging tubing are partitioned off from the main room with flimsy walls and shining curtains. To the east, glass walls isolate a smaller room filled with lights, silvery tables, and upturned cylinders. In the northeast corner stand a dozen shattered glass cylinders; the fluids they contained long ago spilled out to stain the white floor. You can see flickering shadows out of the corner of your eye, but you can't get a good look at them on the monitor.
C6. A single car sits atop a glowing rail of energy in this chamber. Black panels with illuminated glyphs line the walls, and decaying benches and chairs have been shoved into the corners. Three pale security guards watch over this monorail station.
C7. Four large work bays fill much of this industrial space, with exposed cables and metal arms dangling from the thirty-foot ceilings. Massive, heavy doors stand at the north and south ends of the long room, while a smaller door leads east and three humanoid-sized doors line one wall of the largest workspace. The air is thick with ozone and smoke. A pair of heavy repair drones work here, building new robots.
C8. A railing runs along the southern end of this long room. To the north, several broken-apart, human-shaped mannequins lie strewn across the floor.
C9. This appears to be an office and workshop. Most of the shelves are empty.
C12. Fifty bunks, stacked three levels high, take up most of the space in this room. Crumbling bedclothes and long-faded portraits adorn each space.
C13. A combined cafeteria, kitchen, and pantry, this room looks as if it were once capable of providing both reconstituted meals and fresh-cooked selections, but today the chamber lies dusty and neglected. A short counter separates the dining area from the kitchen.
C14. Though similar in design to the port monorail station (area C6), this starboard station has not been repaired or maintained—its track no longer functions.
C15. Dark brown stains mar this otherwise spotless white hall. To the north, ominous red lights pulse along a solid black wall.
C16. The pink walls of this massive chamber almost seem to glow because of the intense illumination from above. Rows of identical cells enclosed by transparent doors fill much of the floor space. Walkways and railings atop the cells provide ample view of everything below. Four robots patrol the walkways.
C17a. and C17b. Each of these locations is guarded by looming robot with an immense laser cannon in place of its head.
C18. Rows of desks divided by short, low walls break up this enormous chamber. Banks of flickering glass panels cover the walls, with glowing streams of numbers and strange runes speeding across them. Massive blast doors stand to the east, west, and south, while the north wall holds three smaller blast doors and two smaller dark metal doors stand in alcoves to the southeast and to the southwest. No less than six robots stand guard in this room!
"Good job!" Holg uses the staff of healing to help Fifteen with his Polar Ray problems.
"What do we have here?" Holg picks up the prismatic card and looks at it astonished "This looks pretty unique. What can you achieve with it?"
The Kellid watches at the changing images in the monitors with most interest "Look, there is a half-elf working at B4, might he be the Prosser we were told about?" he plays a bit with the controls trying to zoom in and see better the image "There in C7, those devices seem to be working on new robots. We must stop them before they can keep with their job"
"It also seems a lot of powerful robots at C17-C18, it would be most fun there!" while the group discusses where is the best way to go next, Holg explores what is in the door to the east of this current chamber.
"I would ignore the habitat deck." Fifteen replies, "We need to strike at Unity, not every living thing making a home here. The robots are the only real threat."
Molly reaches up and taps on the screen showing the half-elf. "We should talk to him and convince him to tell us what he knows of the the place," she says. "Wandering around aimlessly won't help us." She glances at the room heavily defended by security bots. "No doubt we'll end up there, though."
Fireday watches the monitors with rapt attention.
"I don't know, Fifteen. Those living things making a home here may be allies against all the enemies here. Worst comes to worst, we don't want them rushing to Unity's aid if it's got its hooks in them too."
Holg nods at everyone considering all are better ideas than his "Yup, we probably want to end doing all of that. But we need to start with something. I guess I can wait a bit to destroy more robots and go talking to the half-elf. But destroying the robot factory sounds booming in my head too"
Meyanda points to the card that Holg asked about and says, "I think that can get us into just about any locked room."
"I agree that we can deal with the robot deck first."
Fireday nods.
"The less robots there are around, the fewer options Unity will have to inhabit...Hellion was in a robot after all, I wouldn't be surprised if its creator could pull the same trick."
Fifteen nods her agreement, it is a sensible plan.
Before you leave the surveillance center, you check out the adjacent records room. The walls of this long room are covered with hundreds of small glowing and flashing panels. A single podium stands in the southern portion of the room, atop which sits a strange device that appears to be some sort of box adorned with several tubes fitted with lenses.
Studying it closer, those skilled in technology recognize the device as a specialized hologram generator. Unlike portable versions of this device, this hologram generator can be used only to replay surveillance records recorded by Divinity. When a record is replayed, the generator causes the images to manifest in a three-dimensional scene in the northern portion of the room. Unfortunately, damage to the records has severely limited the number of scenes available for viewing.
You are able to playback the following scenes, riddled with static and other video artifacts:
• Footage of a human teaching Isuma, the kasatha you met in the Scar of the Spider, how to fire a zero rifle.
• A particularly nasty battle with the Dominion of the Black, including a Dominion boarding attempt.
• Fragments of a message home from Security Chief Hevrendall to one of her sisters about how Divinity fled through a wormhole into uncharted space. The chief is wearing the same uniform as the winterwight you just destroyed.
• Chaotic images of Divinity’s crash.
After the fourth scene plays out, the hologram generator short-circuits, rendering it nonfunctional.
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Molly sighs. "I almost wished we hadn't looked at that," she says, wistfully. "It's so much easier to fight things rather than real people that have come through something so catastrophic."
She shakes her head before taking a new grip on her musket.
"But we have a job to do. A job that must be done."
Fireday makes the sign of the sword.
"You're right, Molly. But we've at least ended the suffering they endured lingering on in this state, sending them to Pharasma, who can grant them the peace denied them for so long."
He takes up his swordstaff and begins scouting ahead.
Fireday scouts towards the monorail station to the northwest. It appears exactly as it did in the monitors, including the three undead guards keeping an eye out here. The warpriest falls back before they can spot him.
Having previously decided to take out the robot factory, you head east, past the large station where you arrived on this deck, and take the first door to the north. (C7) Four large work bays fill much of this industrial space, with exposed cables and metal arms dangling from the thirty-foot ceilings. Massive, heavy doors stand at the north and south ends of the long room, while a smaller door leads east and three humanoid-sized doors line one wall of the largest workspace. The air is thick with ozone and smoke.
The large workspace taking up the northern end of the factory is filled with two dozen gearsmen in varying states of completion. Two strange-looking robots work on assembling and repairing the gearsmen. With their numerous tentacles and bulbous bodies, they resemble bizarre, mechanical octopuses. The robots ignore you, focusing on their work.
Fireday skulks back to the party and reports what he's seen.
"I recommend we end the undeath of these poor souls," he says after finishing his explanation.
"The gearsmen will not be a threat if we can deal with Unity quickly enough." Fifteen agrees.
Deciding to put the robot factory out of commission, you prepare to attack the "clocktopuses!"
"I'm going left!" shouts Meyanda as she picks her target.
Fifteen goes with Meyanda, moving to strike the creature from its opposite side.
Holg observes silently about Divinity's sad story and explores forward with the others.
When the group decides to put down the factory, he is happy to join in a rush to fight the other cloctopus "Good! I will take this one by the front then!"
He moves forward delivering a vital strike "Yiaaaa!"
Molly takes deadly aim at Holg's target and lets loose a rain of fire.
Holg and Meyanda land powerful blows on the first of the repair drones. Fifteen's attack can't slice through its armor. Molly shoots it several times, and while it is sparking and badly damaged, it remains active.
The robot lashes out at Holg and Meyanda with its metallic tentacles. Meanwhile, the other robot opens fire on Molly with its integrated laser pistols!
Fifteen sets to work on the robot, hoping to free Holg and Meyanda up to go and dispose of the other one.
Fireday rushes up alongside Fifteen and unleashes his own fury!
The halfing continues to fire at her target, only switching to another when it falls.