Dead Suns AP by GM Cellion (Inactive)

Game Master GM Cellion

"This one shall bind her. Can someone get the sick woman? Perhaps we can all now have a talk."

Isu ties up the prisoner with some rope, after searching her for useful gear and examining her weapon.

"This one can bring her conscious when desired."

With the battle over, Spectre complains about the damage he sustained.

"That is the first battle we have fought in which the enemy was able to bypass my defenses so significantly. For mentally-unhinged cultists, they fought well."

That is actually the first combat we've had so far that I've had more than just a point or two of damage. They almost made it past my Stamina! XD

Still thinking that taking the sick woman with them was a mistake, Spectre does not volunteer to bring her, instead thinking it might be better if they left her behind. He does not convey that opinion to his allies.

He runs a diagnostic on his injuries and repairs the damage with an application.

I'll do a short rest and recover stamina.

Solaria looks down at the unconscious shirren, her eyes cold and steely, "We can find out more about this one if we ask Ralkawi, before we bring her round. And we need to rest, Just search this place, before we think of returning this one to hear her insults and cultish drivel." She removes all the shirren's possessions and armour before she moves out to find Ralkawi.

Arcalinte glowers at the enemy as well as she falls unconscious, then he looks up at Isu, and his expression softens a bit.

"Good work, Isu. Sarenrae smiles on those who show mercy like you've done today."

He sheathes his sword and takes out his backpack.

"I have titanium alloy cable in my pack. We'll tie them up."

Is there a check to tie people up with cable?

Ted investigates the inside of the statue, "What a weird place."

Ted takes a 20 searching = 21

A few things happening here in parallel! If anyone else wants to spend an RP and heal up while Spectre is doing so, please go ahead. Btw Arc, no checks to tie people up, instead the DC to escape is simply 20+1.5*Your Level. So DC26 for you guys right now.

Arc and Isu work together to bind the unconscious shirren with a sturdy length of cable. With how badly Isu smashed her head, she won't be waking up on her own any time soon. When you check her over for gear, you find the following:

A suit of basic lashunta tempweave armor
A tactical dueling sword
A tactical shirren-eye rifle
A Datapad
Two weeks of field rations
2x Mk1 serum of healing
1x Tier 1 Antitoxin
A collection of credsticks totaling 1200 creds

When you go back and check the other cultists, you're able to retrieve:
6x Lashunta ringwear I
8x Shock Grenade Mk 1
4x longswords with the defiant fusion
2x longswords
2x defiant fusion seals (Item Level 6) (which means it can be attached to any weapon of IL6 or lower)
6x Utility Scatterguns
A collection of credsticks totaling 900 creds
Enough field rations to feed one person for 10 weeks

Solaria heads out and finds Ralkawi resting against the hollow of a tree at the outskirts of the massive clearing. When the envoy approaches, she grins weakly at her "HEH, I heard a hell of a lot of shooting. Figured the lot of you found yourselves some trouble. Bunch a wildlife?" She readily joins Solaria and heads into the statue to rejoin the rest of the team. When she sees the cultist's bodies strewn around the room, she turns a little more solemn. But not solemn enough to fail to mutter "Pah, idiots..." as she passes them.

In the statue's head, she whistles "Salask? You got her? You guys are a real crack team. The bug's not one to leave herself without any outs. You must've really overwhelmed her."

----

While Solaria picks up Ralkawi, Ted focuses on exploring the rest of the statue now that the fog has dissipated. In the 'head', the domed room has numerous open skylights and windows, creating a steady flow of outside air. Unfortunately, this exposure to the elements has not been kind to the carvings and adornment that must have once filled this room. All that's left is a ring of slime mold forming a misshapen circular pattern on the floor.

Intent on being thorough, Ted cleans off some of the muck and finds a circular inscription still surviving in the floor. The pattern shows a weathered yet perfectly symmetrical circle of 12 carved stars - each one carved with unique artistry. Set into each of the stars is a surprisingly fine opal bead, which could be removed with a little work (Total value of these twelve opal beads if you want to take them, is 960 credits). While the ancient elven script surrounding this diagram is worn beyond recognition, you do notice another script adorning the diagram - with symbols matching those you found in the Drift Rock!

Finally, Ted inspects the branching staircase heading to the north. This staircase gets rapidly steeper and opens up to an observation deck on the outstretched palm of the massive elf. Sitting on the palm is a 80ft coil of titanium cable line.

Isu takes a 10 minute rest, getting back to full SP (and already healed to full SP).

"You speak of mercy, Arcalinte Soter, but whether she helps us or not, we must kill this shirren before leaving. We cannot leave her in this place tied up, as that will also be cruel, and we can't take another with us and risk her escaping."

mystic cure on prisoner: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

If that isn't enough Isu will use the advanced medkit.

medicine check dc20 to restore 1 HP per level of target: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

I copy/pasted all the gear into the loot spreadsheet. Take what you will. Who else can use a grenade? I like the idea of everyone proficient in grenades to take a couple, and we throw them all in the same round because that damage adds up. If anyone does't have a fusion seal on your weapon, you might as well take the defiant seal. Prevents your weapon from being knocked out of your hand when you go unconcious or stunned etc.

Ted leaves the opal beads in the floor, "Keep your greedy gears off these jewels, Spec." Ted wasn't about to pick up a religion, but he didn't want a religion picking a fight with him either.

After a rest, Ted takes a crack at hacking the datapad.
computers: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

Ted loves grenades!

I would take the Lashunta Tempweave Armor, a Tactical Dueling Sword, and two defiance fusions if there are no other takers.

Spectre looks at the opal beads, to Ted, back to the opal beads, and then back to Ted.

"Your reluctance to take these valuables does not compute. If we do not take them, the next person to walk through here will. Furthermore, it is against my primary function not to take them. Finally, we have an important mission to complete, and we will handicap ourselves by not utilizing all the valuables we encounter."

Ted works at the datapad, but isn't able to crack the encryption. Thankfully, no lockouts or countermeasures activate, so he can give it another try. (You have two more attempts)

Spectre looks at Ted. "I will teach you some advanced techniques to crack the computer. Why don't you get a chisel and start working on the opals while I finish this up? I'll teach you how to do this later."

computers check: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20

Spectre takes a few minutes and bypasses the security on the archive. Inside, he finds a collection of archived comms logs that primarily consist of Salask checking in and giving status updates to Tahomen. The tendency for the two of them to use vague language leaves you unable to make heads or tails of the older messages at first glance, but the latest few are far more obvious.

Tahomen leaves Salask behind to deal with 'annoying gnats' that have been tailing the cult cell.

Salask's plan to catch the 'gnats' in a stampede of frightened Yarulks fails when the 'gnats' decide to give the herd a wide berth.

Salask agitates a ksarik, losing a 'useless little b@%%%' in the process, but manages to get the ksarik on the trail of the 'gnats'

Salask leaves behind a pair of cultists to trap a renkroda for long enough to get it exposed to the mold storm, in hopes of driving it into the path of the 'gnats'.

Salask holes up in an elven statue, expecting to use its status as a landmark and as a defensible location to get some easy kills on the 'gnats' from a distance. During this last communication, Tahomen mentions he is a day away from Loskialua itself - and that he'll catch up with Salask on the return trip.

----

Arcalinte seats himself close to the center of the room and meditates as Ted cleans the mold off.

Ten minute rest!

When he finishes, he rises.

"Thank you, Ted. This is the most respect this place has seen in centuries."

He begins using his comm unit to snap pictures of the carvings again. When Spectre and Ted start arguing about the opals on the walls, he gives an aggravated sigh.

"Spectre, please don't desecrate my people's sacred spaces. We're trying to better than Halkueem Zan, remember?"

After he's done taking pictures, he follows after Spectre and reads the datapad over their shoulder. When he reads the entry about the ksarik, he gives Ralkawi a knowing look.

"Well, now we know how they actually felt about you. I'm sorry."

He stands back up and strokes his beard.

"Seems we're gaining on Tahomen, given it seems most of the...ordeals...we've endured going through the jungle were engineered by this psycho to slow us down."

Isu addresses Ralkawi, "So what can you tell us about this Shirren? Minion? Henchman? Confidant? Left hand woman? Right hand?"

"Before you meet your fate, whatever that maybe Salask, tell me is Doctor Solstarni still alive? Do you know what Tahomen intends to do with Doctor Solstarni?" Solaria asks in a stern, demanding manner. She takes out a gun and points it at the shirren's thorax. However in the back of her mind she is fearful of what the shirren has just threatened with her laughter and nervously waits for an answer.

Her mind reaches out to Ralkawi's mind, "You know this Salask, that thinks of you as nothing to her, so please help us here. What can this one do to harm others, even without her weapons, do you know?"

Intimidate 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 + 3 + 1 + 0 + 1d6 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 3 + 1 + 0 + (3) = 30

If Solaria feels that the threat is real, (includes escape), from the bound shirren, read the spoiler.

Solaria has a 10-minute rest period, spends 1 RP and regains Stamina points.

I'm out of spells, anyone else out of "daily" powers? Are we spending the night here? Would that give us enough time to convert the bug?

"Spec, the slavery of programming enthralls you. The opals are better left where we found them." Ted sees Spec's binary algorithms looking for loop holes and adds, "In the floor." He squints at Spectre annoyedly, "And we're not taking the floor with us."

Spectre seems about to say something in response, looks at the opals one last time.

"It is a shame that your kind fails to recognize things of true value," he laments.

He leaves the questioning up to the rest of the group, though he listens intently.

"Thank you, Spectre," Arcalinte replies when he relents. "Some things hold more value than credits...even more than an Abadar Black."

He returns to the floor below to finish taking pictures of the carvings and murals. He figured while Ralkawi was decent person caught in bad circumstances and taken advantage of by bad people, this Salask was clearly one of those bad people. Whether her belief in the Devourer was genuine or just a rationalization for her gleeful sadism was irrelevant, and he didn't think his kind of rhetoric would sway her. And if one of the others felt it was safer to kill her now, he didn't want to be around to protest when they did.

I'm doing what we paladins call "wandering off to examine the fine yet rustic architecture." :P

Ralkawi looks down at Salask and then spits on the floor next to her. For a moment, she looks like she's about to follow that up with a kick to the shirren's head, but her weak body causes her to lose her balance the moment she starts winding her leg back. Instead, she just leans against the wall. "Yeah Salask. She's been with Tahomen the longest, but I wouldn't call her a left-hand woman or whatever. She's the one he'd send out when he needed people killed and didn't much care how much noise it'd cause. She's f#%&ed up in the head, more than most of us at least."

"Without her guns and weapons, she's just blowing hot air... I think." Ralkawi looks over the shirren skeptically. "Though I did hear a rumor about a grenade she implanted into herself. None of us figured she'd bother. What she likes is watching the carnage happen. Can't quite do that if you blow yourself up, huh."

Meanwhile, Salask herself is unmoved by Solaria's threat. She halts her rolling mental laughter to send "The doctor's already a rich rich red corpse, hanging, swinging from the trees.~ Tahomen doesn't need her anymore. You've failed. And soon you'll all be devoured! AHAHAHAAHAHAA!"

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 + 3 + 1 + 0 + 1d6 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 3 + 1 + 0 + (1) = 24

Solaria looks at the shirren, disgust in her eyes, "And you expect us to believe a lying piece of s**t like you. Your antennae quiver in my sight, you dribble untruths and fear engulfs your heart, the fear that we will keep you from your Devourer. You will meet him soon enough, though I hope the spirits of those you murdered can welcome you first." she almost spits out the words, before turning to Arc, "See if you get any sense out of her, Arc. I see no remorse from her, only continued hatred for the good and the noble."

Arc's not in the room, he's downstairs snapping photos, remember? Besides, I've only got ranks in Diplomacy. I doubt that will get through to her...

Spectre speaks up.

"Are we able to continue onward, or do we need a place to rest? If so, this would be an ideal place. We could position our watch above the stairwell with grenades. We saw that tactic worked particularly well."

He leaves the questioning to those who care about it.

"This one should have known better; known that we would only get cultist driven from this shirren sniper. Clear the room and this one will do what needs to be done."

When everyone has left the upper room (and assuming everyone is ready to move on), Isu hoists his massive hammer and prepares the final blow.

"You wanted to face the void? You are welcome to go there."

He swings and slams her in the chest, trying to crush her heart.

Meanwhile, Isu revives the KO'd shirren, Salask. As soon she regains consciousness, she begins straining against the cable line. When that proves ineffective, she turns her antennae from side to side and mentally whispers out "So soft, so sweet, to leave me alive. Hehehehehe..."

Ralkawi looks down at Salask and then spits on the floor next to her. For a moment, she looks like she's about to follow that up with a kick to the shirren's head, but her weak body causes her to lose her balance the moment she starts winding her leg back. Instead, she just leans against the wall. "Yeah Salask. She's been with Tahomen the longest, but I wouldn't call her a left-hand woman or whatever. She's the one he'd send out when he needed people killed and didn't much care how much noise it'd cause. She's f!+~ed up in the head, more than most of us at least."

Sydney leans against a wall, arms crossed over her chest, and stares at the crazed cultist. "She's missing a few marbles, huh. We should kill her... Want me to do it?" Sydney makes a move for her holstered gun. Sydney didn't like senseless killing but she sensed that this being was crazy and evil. The world wouldn't miss this sniper. Sydney waits for her companions' opinions before making any kind of move. "...Besides, this telepathic crazy has probably already broadcasted to her leader where we are. No sense in keeping their informant alive," the operative reasons.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Sydney narrows her eyes. "Or... maybe we should keep her alive. For whatever sick reason, she seems to want to be killed. F^@% MAN! I'm conflicted now!" Sydney throws her hands up into the air.

She addresses the sniper: "Why do you want us to kill you?"

Salask simply continues on the same track when she's confronted by Sydney "The Devourer will consume us all. Unmake us all! Death and ruin is coming - and it'll be so so GLORIOUS!" If it wasn't already, it becomes ever more clear that Salask is a true zealot. Her telepathic laughter and ranting echo through your heads.

After clearing the rest of you out, Isu takes his hammer to Salask's chest and crushes her with a single powerful blow. Her telepathic projections momentarily turn into an agonized shriek before being completely silenced. What remains of her body falls limp.

------
In the adjacent room, Ralkawi looks visibly uncomfortable. "S#~+, I was working with her? I mean, I guess I kinda knew, but... hell."
------

I think almost everyone got a 10 min rest in. Anything else you want to do here before heading out?

When Ralkawi expresses her feelings, Arcalinte approaches her.

"That may be true, Ralkawi, but I imagine that Tahomen kept her quiet while you were around so she didn't scare you off. I think the fact that Salask unnerves you so much says a lot about who you really are as a person, and I think that you're a braver and better person than you might think yourself. Salask was completely cracked and completely corrupted, but you aren't either of those things."

Then he turns to the others.

"Do you want to take sanctuary here for the night? That was a close fight, and if what we've learned from Salask is accurate, we're quickly closing the gap between us and Tahomen. We'll want to be as strong as we can when that confrontation happens. And I...kinda wanted to watch the sun rise from atop this place's hand."

"Let us rest here, Arcaline Soter. We need to recover, and this is a fine defensible place. Gather round,everyone."

With bursts of lights Isu heals the wounds of all around him.

Maybe only Arc is down on HP? Channeling a couple of times.

channel twice: 4d8 ⇒ (8, 7, 8, 7) = 30

Arcalinte smiles as Isu finishes healing him.

"Thank the Everlight and thank you," he says. Then he takes the suit of tempweave they've recovered over to Ted.

"Ted, do you think you could help me refit this suit, please? It'd be more protective than what I've currently go."

I figure Ted's Engineering modifier would be sufficient and that Spectre would probably demand money for the favor. ;)

"I concur that we ought to rest, then strike out early tomorrow," Spectre says.

"If you have some credits handy, I would be happy to modify the suit for you," Spectre says to Arc.

As you settle down to rest for the night inside the statue, some of your party finds restful sleep impossible. Intermittent waves of nausea and vertigo wrack Isu, Spectre, Sydney and Ralkawi as it seems the structure itself is beaming down its disapproval over their presence inside. Whenever it seems like a few minutes pass without issue, a fresh wave of disorientation crashes over them.

(If you stay inside overnight, those four will be fatigued the following day, in case that changes your resting plans.)

"I concur that we ought to rest, then strike out early tomorrow," Spectre says.

"If you have some credits handy, I would be happy to modify the suit for you," Spectre says to Arc.

Arcalinte rolls his eyes when Spectre offers to help in exchange for money.

"I know, and that's why I didn't ask."

As they settle in for the night, Arcalinte notices the nausea some of the others are feeling and wonders why he doesn't seem to be feeling the same way. Then he gets an idea.

"Ted? Solaria? Have you been feeling the same vertigo the others have been here? I know I haven't, and I think I might know the reason."

”Let’s hear it, Arcalinte Soter. “

"Well, I haven't been feeling the same vertigo, and I'm not sure if it's because I've got elven ancestry and the temple is 'recognizing' me as one of its builders' people, or if it's because I performed that bathing ritual in the entrance and it's "recognizing" me as one of the faithful. Either way, I'm wondering if the reason you're feeling this vertigo is because the temple can "sense" our presence, and is treating yours as an intrusion. If Ted and Solaria aren't feeling the vertigo either, it may be that the bathing ritual did this, and if you perform the ritual yourself, the vertigo will stop."

Can Sydney sleep on the lookout area under the sky? Or does that platform have the same effect?

"Shet, man. I can't sleep here. We gotta get outta this trip-inducing hell-hole." Sydney unceremoniously picks up her pack and makes a move to either the platform or right outside of the temple.

She scoffs at the idea of performing a ritual like Arc suggests. "Fairytale mumbo-jumbo," she comments.

Before resting, I think it's important that we decide what becomes of the sniper. I vote the party executes her before bed. She might be able to telepathically communicate what the party is doing to the others

The open palm lookout area still has the vertigo effect - and is particularly dangerous because it has no railings and is 80ft above the ground. Also, Sydney, Isu finished off the shirren sniper a few posts ago.

Can Sydney sleep on the lookout area under the sky? Or does that platform have the same effect?

"Shet, man. I can't sleep here. We gotta get outta this trip-inducing hell-hole." Sydney unceremoniously picks up her pack and makes a move to either the platform or right outside of the temple.

She scoffs at the idea of performing a ritual like Arc suggests. "Fairytale mumbo-jumbo," she comments.

Arcalinte raises an eyebrow.

"Sydney, if "fairytale mumbo-jumbo" is anyone in this galaxy's stock and trade, it's the elves. What harm could giving it a try be? Three of us did the ritual and we're fine."

Upon hearing Arc's deduction, she acknowledges his assertion that she took part in the cleansing ritual. Solaria encourages Ralwaki to take a bath in the waters, so see if it changes her reaction to being in the statue. Whilst Ralwaki bathes, Solaria cleans the area which had taken damage from the grenade blasts. Wanting to make the area welcoming and new again.

Ted fiddles with the suit, using his top for sewing and welding as needed.

engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11
Can take a 20 instead of rolling? And casting mend "repairs damaged objects and constructs". Not sure what checks/abilities are needed to pull off refitting.

"Can't be worse off than it was..." Ted grimaces and hands back the weave to Arc.

Spectre can't figure out why his sensors continue to malfunction.

Diagnostics show nothing problematic," he says.

"I care not whether I sleep inside. Perhaps I will join Sydney outside. This structure itself seems to be causing the sensor malfunction, and I do not understand how immersing my circuits in water could possibly ameliorate the situation."

Ralkawi wearily nods at Solaria's suggestion and cups her hands into the pool in the entrance room. She douses her face and arms for a short bit and then straightens. "Hell, that actually did something!" She slaps her own cheeks. "Fairy-tale magic water is right." After taking a full minute to splash herself, she ends up looking a lot more energetic.

Meanwhile, Ted works at adjusting the armor (I'd say take 10 is fine for this) and manages to get the suit in good shape by the end of the evening. Solaria manages to clean soot and some of the charring off the walls of the statue's interior. Unfortunately, some of the shrapnel and bullet chips and dents would take more serious restoration.

Rather than hold us up for too long, if I don't hear otherwise by this evening, I'll assume Sydney, Isu and Spectre will rest right outside the statue (around the feet) for the night.

Sydney squints, watching Ralkawi. After observing the woman, she begrudgingly washes herself in the magic water as well. I swear if I get something from this water I'm going straight for Arc's face... A sour expression crosses Sydney's face as she dries off. She doesn't like being told what to do even if it's just a recommendation or beneficial to her health.

Arcalinte smiles.

"Glad you're feeling better!"

Then he returns to Ted and checks out the armor. Next he goes and dons it. After he's got it on, he shows it off to the others.

"Thank you, Ted! It fits great! How do I look, everyone?"

sorry, just one of those days!

Isu is happy to ritually bathe and sleep indoors.

It's Monday, I understand. I needed a nap before I could post!

OK!

After Sydney and Isu take a dip in the magical fairytale water, they similarly find the oppressive nature of the statue interior lifts and they're able to settle down to sleep. Only Spectre stays outside in the open to enter a low-power mode and run error debugging (or whatever Spectre may need to do to recover his energy :>). Its in the pre-dawn hours that Spectre is startled awake by the sound of something approaching across the courtyard. By the time he rights himself and checks his visual readouts, a pair of ksariks have snuck relatively close!

Map updated. This is prior to normal wake up time, so everyone is sleeping. Spectre made the perception check despite the penalty for sleeping! Note that while everyone was likely sleeping in armor, you will be waking up prone and unarmed (though I assume with weapons in reach)

|||| INIT ||||
Spectre (Awake, not prone)
Everyone else (Sleeping, prone)
Ksarik A
Ksarik B

Bold are up!

"zzzz.....snore.... do not judge this one, Arcalinte Soter...zzzz...snore..."

Spectre's sensors alert him to the presence of the creeping enemies.

Raising his longarm, he fires a shot before retreating to his allies.

"I should have spent the night chiseling the opals for all the help you are! Incoming Ksariks!" he broadcasts loudly.

Zero Rifle (frostbite-class) (weapon focus): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 101d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

"Wha-huh??" Isu jumps up and grabs his hammer.

Spectre's call wakes the rest of the team up from their slumber, though the enemy's location is not immediately obvious from inside the statue. Though you may be able to spot them through the tiny windows that dot the walls of the gallery you're in.

(Since I didn't mention it, the moonlight outside provides dim-level light. Spectre sees perfectly with his android senses, as does anyone else with low-light vision. Those without will take a 20% miss chance unless the enemies are better illuminated.)

|||| INIT ||||
Spectre
Isu
Everyone else (Awake, prone)
Ksarik A
Ksarik B

Bold are up!