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Arcalinte is surprised when Ted grants him invisibility.
"Thank you, Ted," he says as they make their way to the Plague Warden's entrance.
Once they're in safety, he rests against the wall to center himself . He listens to the words of the others and nods.
"Spectre's right. The elves DO bar everyone but half-elves and gnomes from Sovyrian, but Ukulam is home to no one but wild animals now. I don't think our sniper is a native."
He looks at the murals and nods at Ted's assessment.
"You're right. It does seem that this is a depiction of a ritual performed here. Knowing ancient places like this, performing the rite, while it most likely won't mollify the sniper, will let us pass other wards the builders of this place may have put in place. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get more in touch with my elven side."
He checks the mural to see if there's any Elven writing he might be able to read, like there was on the Rune Obelisk.
Solaria, Spectre and Isu keep vigilant watch over the stairs but don't see or hear anyone approaching. With the steepness of the stairs, its hard to tell what might lie beyond.
Meanwhile, Arc checks over the murals, but the only ancient elven text he finds are tiny markings next to the various constellations on the ceiling. Taken alone, they don't seem to mean anything, however...
The operative crosses her arms firmly over her chest, "a bath, Ted? Really?" She huffs are stares hard at the mural while her companion strips. She wasn't a prude, but she respected her companion enough to not look down.
Sydney leans against a wall and begins to clean her gun. "The sniper's still out there, huh?"
Solaria, always wanting to learn the way different cultures work, Thanks Ted for his explanation of the murals and bathes in the water.
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Ted's top flits along the ceiling, stopping to snoop at each constellation. It comes back to Ted and swoops around his head. Ted glances up at the ceiling, "Those are some far out constellations. This statue's probably a rocket ship and our sniper a poor lost interstellar soul. Ha!" He finishes his awkward bathing, "Spec, the factory make you water proof?"
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Arcalinte dismisses his solar armor, the curved "wings" sliding down in a circle and disappearing into the back, the limbs sliding into the chestplate, which in turn slides up into the helmet, which lifts off Arcalinte's head and shifts back into a mote.
After this, he removes his physical armor and disrobes, and uses the water to bathe himself, attempting to follow the mural's instructions to ensure he's performing the ritual in a respectful way.
“Shed light, act true, embody good, give charitably, shun intolerance, know patience, expose lies, and redeem evil,” he chants reverently.
The mote rotates around his head as he bathes, illuminating his form from different angles, revealing his physique and his new scars.
When he finishes, he puts his clothes back on and dons his armor.
"I'm ready, I think. And I think Isu's right. Most likely this sniper is one of Tahomen's associates, left behind to stop us or at least slow us down."
Then he raises an eyebrow at Ted's statement.
"Care to elaborate on that hypothesis?" he says, sarcasm evident in his voice.
Just as Spectre suggests that the group should advance up the stairs, you all hear an audible hissing sound- more steam escaping than a snake- coming from the room at the top of the staircase. Before you can head up to investigate, a pair of grenades come bouncing down the stairs at you. With a final bounce over your heads and into the room proper, they explode with a blast of shrapnel!
While Sydney ducks and dodges and comes through unscathed, the rest of you endure the hail of shrapnel tearing open shallow cuts and scoring gouges in your armor. Considering there might be more coming, it's time to move!
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Four humans in ragged heavy armor adorned in bones kneel behind the stone benches, using them for cover. They're holding large, snub-nosed rifles and have jagged longswords affixed to their hips.
|||| ROUND 1 ||||
Spectre (9 dmg)
Isu (15 dmg)
Ted (13 dmg)
Solaria (9 dmg)
Sydney
Arc (9 dmg)
??? Enemies
Arcalinte dismisses his solar armor, the curved "wings" sliding down in a circle and disappearing into the back, the limbs sliding into the chestplate, which in turn slides up into the helmet, which lifts off Arcalinte's head and shifts back into a mote.
Sydney wishes she could somehow harness the compact ingenuity of Arc's armor and apply the same tech into a hover bike. That would be f^@%!#& sweet, she thinks to herself nodding. She could see herself tossing down a pad and watching it unfold into a vehicle amid an active gun fight.
Round 1:
Sydney dashes up the stairs and darts right to the wall. She aims at the enemy in front of her.
Solaria calls out to Isu, "Get them Isu, you have the strength of your forefathers and the wisdom of the universe to guide you." as she starts up the stairs.
SPs 15/24
HPs 28/28
The party prepares and begins advancing up the stairs. As Solaria helps Isu recover, Sydney sends a laser bolt directly into one of the stone benches.
|||| ROUND 1 ||||
Spectre (9 dmg, 7 shield)
Isu (4 dmg)
Ted (13 dmg)
Solaria (9 dmg)
Sydney
Arc (9 dmg)
Cultists x4
Bold still up
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The cultists in the back draw and toss grenades into the center of your group. These two grenades spin for a moment between Ted and Arc, and then explode with a blast of electrical energy! While Sydney, Isu and Spectre have some cover from the blast, only Solaria is completely clear.
Spectre auto-succeeds at both saves.
Sydney auto-succeeds both saves, and has evasion.
Sydney acrobatically shields herself from the blast, coming through unscathed, while the others manage to partially protect themselves from the electrical surge emitting from the grenades.
The two cultists up front drop their heavy rifles and instead step forward, drawing their longswords. One delivers a heavy overhand slash at Sydney, which she easily side-steps. The second thrusts his blade at Isu and finds a chink in the kasatha's armor.
|||| ROUND 2 ||||
Spectre (9 dmg, 2 shield)
Isu (22 dmg)
Ted (20 dmg)
Solaria (9 dmg)
Sydney
Arc (16 dmg)
Cultists x4
Solaria runs up the rest of the stairs, hearing and seeing the injuries and blood of her friends, calls out, "Ted, your knowledge is as great as a mountain, no-one can bring down a mountain."
Round 2:
Sydney shoots at the same enemy as last round, spinning around once, then firing her pistol over the crook of her arm. She had been pleased with her mobility but frowns at her sloppy shot.
Ted sends a wave of magic missiles out at the cultist to the south-west:
After some quick inspiration from Solaria, Isu steps in and lands a pair of solid blows on the exposed cultist. The fellow has a surprisingly ecstatic grin as he collapses to the ground.
Spectre lands a frosty beam on the cultist to the south-east, and Sydney fries the cultist right in front of her with a quick shot from her arc pistol.
The cultist next to Isu swings twice with his longsword, striking once against Isu's armor, and then landing a deadly swing. His longsword cuts deep into one of Isu's arms The jagged longsword tears loose and leaves a horrible bleeding wound.
The cultist screams out "Devourer consumes!" and holds his bloody longsword aloft.
The two remaining cultists approach the group and deliver shotgun blasts from their rifles. While they aim at Isu and Sydney, Isu's armor protects him from the blast of shrapnel, leaving only Sydney to suffer from the hail of fire.
|||| ROUND 3 ||||
Spectre (9 dmg, 2 shield)
Isu (41 dmg, will bleed for another 1d4 at the start of his next turn)
Ted (9 dmg)
Solaria (9 dmg)
Sydney (7 dmg)
Arc (16 dmg, gimme two turns of actions)
Yellow Cultist (19 dmg)
Pink Cultist (11 dmg)
Purple Cultist
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Arcalinte, seeing the man he was about to attack fall and Isu get nearly killed, steps out of cover and holds up his curve blade. With a hissing pop, it becomes sheathed in roiling plasma.
Then his armor begins streaming fire too as he blasts forward through the gap between Isu and Sydney and into the cultist beyond.
The pink cultist holds his ground against the burning tackle, and even manages to shield himself a little from the flames.
Round 3:
Sydney takes a shotgun blast to her shoulder and yells out a stream of profanity as "encouragement" to companion: "Gods f^@%!#& &@#% it, Ted! Get your pansy-@$$ in there and cut those mother-f^@%!#&$ down!" She tosses her pistol skyward and the weapon flips seven times in the air before she catches it in her outstretched hand, five feet behind where she initially started. Sydney squeezes the trigger, aiming at the yellow cultist.
The operative stomps her foot and voices an emphatic "f^@%" when she realizes her shot is only a hair less sloppy than her previous one.
Solaria targets the cultist (pink) fighting Arc, using her telepathy to get into his mind with the message, "Look at my gun, it will eat your soul as you die." and holds her pistol high.
Isu delivers a terrible blow of his sparking hammer, almost knocking out the cultist to his south in a single blow. Thankfully, Sarenrae's mercy seals up his bleeding wounds. Sydney's flipping trick shot ends with her firing a laser bolt into the yellow cultist's face, sending him tumbling to the ground. And the pink cultist looks up with anger at Solaria's pistol as she raises it into the air.
|||| ROUND 3 ||||
Spectre (9 dmg, 2 shield)
Isu (35 dmg)
Ted (9 dmg)
Solaria (9 dmg)
Sydney (7 dmg)
Arc (16 dmg)
Pink Cultist (15 dmg, flatfooted vs. all)
Purple Cultist (17 dmg)
Bold still up
Ted and Spectre unleash a wave of force and frost attacks that overwhelm the last two cultists. The two collapse, bleeding and covered in ice. Both sport insane grins frozen on their faces as they die.
The walls in this long gallery depict elves using needles to tattoo one another with constellations, geometric designs, and strange runic patterns. Rows of tall stone benches line either side of the hall. Carved along the ceiling are twelve stylized elven figures, heavily tattooed, adorned in different ways, and marked with starbursts on their foreheads.
With all four cultists dealt with, you're able to slowly catch your breath. And as you do, Isu, Sydney and Spectre begin to feel a strange sense of vertigo - as though the walls, ceiling and floor of the room are constantly shifting in and out. The sensation even manifests as error-laden environmental analysis in Spectre's circuits. You're able to steady yourselves against objects and people in your vicinity, and eventually the vertigo largely abates.
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Arcalinte gets a curious look on his face at Isu and Spectre's discussion.
"Strange that I didn't feel that...maybe it's this sacred space recognizing those who performed the bathing rite downstairs and those who didn't."
He takes the time waiting to recover to examine the carvings and statuary of the chamber, using his comm unit to snap pictures of them.
"I'm starting to seriously consider visiting a tattooist when we get back to Qabarat..." he idly muses.
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Less than a minute after you settle in to rest, you're interrupted by the retort of a suppressed rifle! A bullet pierces through Arc's shoulder armor, delivering a shallow wound and continuing on to strike the wall behind him.
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You all turn to look for the source of the shot, and spot an iridescent green shirren just around the corner of the hall up ahead. They raise the smoking barrel of their sniper rifle and make a quick hand signal to someone out of sight. This slight delay gives your team the moment they needed to jump into action!
With the sudden surge of adrenaline as combat starts again, a new wave of vertigo washes over Isu, Sydney and Spectre.
|||| ROUND 1 ||||
Spectre (9 dmg, 2 shield, flatfooted)
Isu (35 dmg, flatfooted)
Ted (9 dmg)
Solaria (9 dmg)
Sydney (7 dmg, flatfooted)
Arc (22 dmg)
??? Sniper
Other foes?
Bold up
And as you do, Isu, Sydney and Spectre begin to feel a strange sense of vertigo - as though the walls, ceiling and floor of the room are constantly shifting in and out.
"Woah, man. This place is weird." Sydney doesn't have anything intellectual or profound to offer.
Round 1:
Still feeling a bit dizzy from the environment, Sydney half-walks, half-staggers down the long room and against the opposite wall. She leans her left arm against the wall for support. "Hey!" She calls out, "you that bastard shooting at us earlier?"
Though dizzy, Sydney spots the legs of another cultist up the stairs at the far end of the hall. Or is that two sets of legs? This are a little wobbly right now. The sniper doesn't respond, simply readying to attack once more.
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Solaria shouts out "Arc, remember, Sarenrae always believes in your soul, you've got the power to know, you're indestructible always believe in Sarenrae!" Before she dives for cover.
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"Arc, ever notice everyone attacks you first?" Ted snatches his top from where it is was hiding behind his head and blows on it like a balloon. It grows in size and takes on a floating characteristic. He lobs it out towards the bug creature. It floats past and detonates blowing out a bank of blinding fog.
"Anyone for a grenade party?"
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Ted's top creates a dense fog, hiding both sides of this fight from each other. Isu's grenade sails through the air and bursts inside the fog to the surprised grunts of a pair of cultists and an irritated clicking from the shirren. None of the three emerge from the fog however.
After a moment's pause, a suppressed rifle shot echoes out from inside the fog and a bullet streaks out - striking Sydney squarely in the chest! The two cultists follow by throwing their own grenades back at your team. One grenade sails through the air and lands between Arc, Isu and Sydney. The second is terribly fumbled and doesn't even escape the fog, though the blast still catches Sydney.
Another wave of vertigo washes over Spectre, Isu and Sydney. They're flatfooted again this round as the room spins.
|||| ROUND 2 ||||
Spectre (9 dmg, 2 shield, flatfooted)
Isu (36 dmg, flatfooted)
Ted (9 dmg)
Solaria (9 dmg)
Sydney (23 dmg, flatfooted)
Arc (12 dmg)
Shirren Sniper (1 dmg)
Cultist blue (2 dmg)
Cultist red (2 dmg)
Bold up
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"Arc, ever notice everyone attacks you first?"
"Oh! I wonder why! Could it be the BRIGHT, SHINY SPIRITUAL ARMOR CREATED FROM PURE SUNLIGHT AND FORCE OF WILL?!" Arcalinte replies, exasperated. He punctuates the statement by another hissing pop as his sword becomes wreathed in fire again.
Then he sees Sydney take a sniper shot to the chest and gapes in panic.
"SYDNEY! HOLD ON!"
He rushes out of cover and into the fray.
"FOR THE SUN AND THE FURY!"
Arcalinte Soter
Ted Under
Jelico Kent
Sigurd Jarlson