|
"Nice shooting! Jellico shouts as the enemy ship goes down. He touches the butterfly tattoo on his wrist as he says a quick prayer to Desna before flying the ship out and back on course in the Drift.
Once the computer locks in the course, Jellico finds the others . "That went quite well. I'm happy the upgrades to the Maiden proved useful. Now, shall we talk about how we exited the Drift for that little battle? Where were we? A hellscape in space?"
|
Isu whoops over the intercom. "Yeeeeee-hooooooo! This one and you, Spectre, employing weapons of mass destruction! We sent those halfling cultists to the Abyss!"
Spectre turns toward Isu. "Indeed, we seem to have been a proficient combination. Perhaps I will take more turns with the weaponry, which I am quite skilled at operating. My only regret is that there is nothing of the ship left to salvage. However, the wanton destruction was also pleasing to my circuits."
It takes another two weeks of travel, but the rest of the trip through the Drift is uneventful. As you emerge finally from the Drift, the transition from blinding color and light to the dark of space is blinding and disorienting. You take a moment to get to grips with ordinary space once more.
In the distance, a dim yellow dwarf sun hovers, silouetting a single large planet. Spectre runs a scan of the system and you quickly confirm your location - this is the Nejeor system, as described in the data cache. A nine-planet system, the first two planets actually share a single orbit, though one is always on the opposite side of the sun from the other; both are hot, rocky wastelands. The third, sixth, and eighth planets are gas giants, each swirling with a different color of gas. The fourth planet is dotted with petrified forests, and the fifth planet has a multitude of active volcanoes constantly spewing ash into the air. The seventh and ninth planets are both cold and lifeless rocks. The third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh planets are the only ones with moons, which have varied compositions.
With such a plethora of planets, but a total lack of Devourer Cult ships shooting at you to point you in the right direction, its not clear where to begin your search. Spectre focuses his scans on each of the planets in turn, and eventually yields a lead - only the sixth planet shows any life signs. Jelico takes you on a path into orbit around the planet and you're able to refine your scan to narrow down the search.
Spectre pinpoints the signs of life on the massive gas giant to a single floating rocky island high up in the planet's atmosphere. An island that appears to house a floating metropolis, sitting just above the churning pink and blue clouds of Nejeor VI. The city appears to be a crumbled ruin, with sections overgrown by exotic alien trees and other plant-like. Interestingly, despite its ruined nature, a few weak and erratic energy signatures appear to be emitting from sections of the city. None seem strong enough to be coming from a starship's engines.
Nevertheless, some energy and life suggests that the Cult could be below, so you look for a potential landing spot. The ruins and riotous plant life make for poor landing locations, but you find a single large open space - an emerald green field that appears it may have once functioned as a landing pad.
You descend through the thin outer clouds, wisps of pink swirling past your ship's viewscreens as you make a controlled descent through the outer atmosphere. Jelico eases the ship's speed, and you touch down safely on the single large circular pad - noting that all of the other pads have long single crumbled away... presumably into the clouds below. Thankfully this one holds the ship's weight. The pad and surrounding structures appear to be made of a thick, barely translucent crystal. A vibrant green lichen grows lightly on the surface of the pad, but in thick ropy waves off the underside. The impression it gives off is that the whole pad is a thick slab of jade, glimmering in the light of the day.
Down below in the thick clouds, arcs of electricity briefly illuminate pink and blue swirls.
You run checks with your ship's computers and determine that the gravity at the level of the floating city is 0.95x Pact Standard and the atmosphere is lightly enriched with oxygen but generally breathable for life. Oddly though, right below the level of the floating island, the atmosphere becomes completely different - rich in gaseous metals, hydrogen and helium - and definitely not breathable.
|
|
Ted's top bounces between the crew members, encasing them in glimmering bubbles of life... unless shooed away. Ted clasps on his gear, "Spec, what are the odds we blow this whole city up?" He guffaws loudly and heads to the hatch.
LIFE BUBBLE M1 T1
School abjuration
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Targets up to one creature/level, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration 1 day/level
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
You surround the target creatures with a constant and movable 1-inch shell of tolerable living conditions customized for each creature. This shell enables the targets to breathe freely in a variety of atmospheric conditions (including in corrosive, thick, thin, and toxic atmospheres), as well as underwater or in a vacuum. It also makes the targets immune to harmful gases and vapors, including inhaled diseases and poisons as well as spells with a harmful gaseous effect. In addition, the shell protects targets (and their equipment) from extreme temperatures (between –50° and 140° F) without having to attempt Fortitude saving throws, as well as extreme pressures.
Life bubble doesn’t provide protection from energy damage, negative or positive energy (such as found on the Negative and Positive Energy Planes), or radiation; it also doesn’t provide the ability to see in conditions of poor visibility (such as in smoke or fog) or the ability to move or act normally in conditions that impede movement (such as underwater).
|
|
Isu is giddy as he climbs into his power armor and seals the opening behind him. Whoosh! goes the suit as it seals shut and starts circulating internal air.
Isu's voice is hollow and mechanical as he says, "A ruined city, hmmmm....? A perfect place for a cult of halflings to hide out. This one wonders if the Corpse Fleet is here as well. A triangle of enemies; the time is ripe for the glory of Sarenrae!"
Pushing the button for the outer door, Isu is first out of the ship. He steps down and stands on the landing pad, looking this way and that.
|
|
Spectre shares what he's discovered about the atmosphere of this place, then debates Ted for quite some time about odds where so much information is lacking to properly perform the calculation.
Once Isu opens the door, Spectre prepares his weapon and follows after him.
"Your new armor seems perfectly equipped for handling the halflings, Isu."
|
Arcalinte is initially surprised at the life-form readings on Nejeor VI.
"A civilization in a gas-giant? Do you think they'll be like the barathu or something? We should have invested in jetpacks or something..."
When the magnificent city comes into view, his eyes widen in awe.
"Magnificent! A city suspended in the air, still functional even after centuries and in a ruined state! What I wouldn't give to see this city in its original state!"
Then Ted makes his joke and Arcalinte immediately whips around and glares at him.
"Ted, I should slap you for even suggesting that!"
As they land the Maiden and exit it, he gives a small "hmm".
"For one of these pads to be in good enough condition to support the Maiden's weight, and for the city to stay afloat given its condition...I can't imagine that occurring without regular maintenance, especially in a gas-giant's stormy upper atmosphere...Do you think there are still people here?"
You step out onto the surface of the landing pad and look out across the bridge towards main mass of the floating island. The ruins of the city are now in profile - you can make out the jagged edges of tall buildings that must have once had dozens if not hundreds of stories. Before you can reach any of those massive crumbling structures, the bridge connects to a building overgrown with foliage that appears to have been some kind of travel terminal or something similar. A faded sign hangs on the side of the building, its text a mass of circles and hooks.
As you're busy taking in the scenery and examining the landing platform, you all suddenly hear a strange crackling cry, which is immediately answered by a chorus of responses. At first, its not clear where the cry is coming from. But then a humanoid figure clambers up from the underside of the platform! It's followed by another, and another, and one more.
The humanoids are almost eight feet tall and bear three blue eyes and long, powerful looking limbs. Their strangely skull-like heads bear sharp-toothed mandibles and lack any hair. All four wear what is unmistakably clothing, an outfit of natural hides and hard pieces of carapace. All four also carry elegant weapons that look straight out of a historic-fantasy vid serial - axes and longbows!
The one that first climbed up shouts out something in their crackling language and all four aim bows at your group!
----
-----------------------
|||| INIT ||||
Arc
Spectre
Ted
Isu
??? Aliens
Jelico
Bold are up
---
Ted fires at the red alien and scorches its chest with his laser pistol.
The aliens all let out a keening cry as their ally falls. The green alien pulls itself to its feet and takes on a careful, defensive stance. The other three aliens fire volleys of arrows at your party. The arrows are sharp, tipped with steel with some kind of dense shaft... but they're also nowhere near the level of technological sophistication inherent to all modern weaponry and armor. Arrows glance off your armor like drops of rain.
|||| INIT ||||
Jelico
Arc
Spectre
Ted
Isu
??? Alien Green (48 dmg)
??? Alien Red (9 dmg)
??? Alien Blue
??? Alien Pink
Bold are up
|
|
"We sure we want to be killing these guys?" Ted pulls his pistol up and takes a dodgeball stance.
Total Defense
You can defend yourself as a standard action. Starting at the beginning of this action, you get a +4 bonus to your Armor Class until the start of your next turn. You can’t combine total defense with other actions that increase your AC, nor can you make attacks of opportunity while benefiting from total defense.
|
|
[ooc]totally forgot! Also, updated my specialization to +7[/dice]
As Spectre is able to get in position to attack more than one target, he drops his streetsweeper rifle and draws his plasma rifle.
Lining up the two enemies on the north side, he unleashes a devastatingly accurate attack, striking both of them.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Arcalinte takes a closer look at the landing pad as they disembark.
"Ted, Spectre, take a look at this. Those scorch-marks don't look as old as the surrounding decay..."
Then they're interrupted by the arrival of these seemingly hostile locals, his solar armor instinctively forming around him.
"People! Clearly civilized...We need to handle this--WAIT!" he cries as Isu dives into the fray. He winces as Isu's and the others' prowess makes their opening negotiations that much harder.
"NO, we do NOT!" he replies to Ted's question. "This is a potential first contact situation!"
He sets himself between Isu and the attackers, his new sword raised defensively.
"Hold your flaring fire! We don't know if they're actively hostile or just being cautious of a bunch of strangers who just came out of the flaring sky!"
Once he has assurances the fighting's stopped, he turns back to their "welcoming party" confident in his solar armor's protection to keep any arrows from harming him while he tries to talk them down.
He listens for what they're saying, hoping to figure out enough of it to try and repeat it back to them, to get them to try to talk.
-
Ted hesitates, but other than Arc, the rest of his allies certainly don't. Spectre's plasma beam lances through the prone alien and towards its friend behind. The green alien is reduced to a smoldering husk, but the beam doesn't extend far enough to catch the second one . Isu's hammer slams with terrible weight into red, sparks running across its skin. Jelico's pistol fire toasts a spot on the platform rather than its intended target.
The red alien crackles something angrily as it throws its bow aside and draws an axe from its back. It swings in, aiming for a joint in Isu's power armor. Miraculously, it connects and the archaic blade finds a weak point to exploit! It cries out in a crackling rage, and the other two still standing respond in kind.
The other two aliens send a rain of arrows at Jelico, but his armor easily deflects the projectiles.
---
|||| INIT ||||
Jelico
Arc
Spectre
Ted
Isu (7 dmg)
??? Alien Red (34 dmg)
??? Alien Blue
??? Alien Pink
Bold are up
|
|
"Murder isn't our gig! Stop shooting!" Ted holsters his pistol and rushes to stand with Arc.
Total Defense
You can defend yourself as a standard action. Starting at the beginning of this action, you get a +4 bonus to your Armor Class until the start of your next turn. You can’t combine total defense with other actions that increase your AC, nor can you make attacks of opportunity while benefiting from total defense.
Isu's first blow sends red flying off the landing platform and into the atmosphere of the gas giant below. Only blue and pink are left as you consider if there may still be a way to halt hostilities. Neither of them look particularly happy that you've slain two of their kinspeople. Though it's hard to tell with their skull-like faces.
|||| INIT ||||
Jelico
Arc (total defense)
Spectre
Ted (total defense)
Isu (7 dmg)
??? Alien Blue
??? Alien Pink
Bold are up
|
|
"STOP!" Arcalinte cries when he sees Isu send one of their attackers apparently tumbling to their doom.
He turns to the remaining ones and, desperate for something, anything to stop the fight, throws his sword aside and prostrates himself before them, hoping this gesture of deference is universal and understandable enough to communicate his intentions.
Both aim at Spectre, and both arrows they fire prove useless against the droid's armor. They lope backwards and away from your group, trying to retreat toward the city.
|||| INIT ||||
Jelico
Arc
Spectre
Ted
Isu (7 dmg)
??? Alien Blue
??? Alien Pink
Bold are up
|
|
Since they seem to be leaving, Isu won't pursue them. [total defense to weather the last of their attacks]
"Not our fault. They approached us with clear intent to do us harm; drew weapons on us and threatened us. Stand up, Arcalinte Soter. This one is embarrassed about you. Would a warrior throw himself on the ground in front of those doing him harm?"
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Arcalinte stands up and picks up his sword.
"It IS our fault!" he snaps. "I am a STUDENT and an AMBASSADOR first, and a fighter SECOND! Would YOU have pointed a weapon at some heavily armed stranger approached you out of nowhere? They didn't open fire on us until AFTER you decided to rush in and swing that flaring hammer at them! Those natives will return to their people and tell them that we killed two of their friends for no clear reason, and when WE approach them later, assuming we even FIND them, they'll be unwilling to speak with us because of what we've done. We don't even know what we're LOOKING for on this world! Without help from the locals we'll be wandering around this city for weeks, maybe even months, time we CAN'T afford to lose as we're racing the Corpse Fleet AND the Devourers, who are already here! WE'RE STARFINDERS, WE SHOULD BE ACTING LIKE IT! EXPLORE! REPORT!! COOPERATE!!!"
His rising tone betrays anger he's trying to keep restrained.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Arcalinte Soter, they appeared without warning and did not make any attempt to speak to us. Their intentions were clear to this one; and this one's primary job is to keep YOU safe. Your life matters more than the life of these primitives. You probably disagree with this one and think that their lives are more important which is why you embarrassed this one and yourself by prostrating in front of the enemies. But you are wrong. This one knows his duty and will protect you. This one will protect you from yourself, it seems."
Isu keeps a very close eye on the enemy as they back away. If they fire again...
|
|
"They DID attempt to speak to us! But we didn't understand their language and YOU didn't give me time to try and establish some shared understanding! And don't flaring call people primitive! Just because they utilized weaponry unable to bypass our armors' protections does NOT make them lesser than us! I appreciate your concern, but you have NO respect for First Contact protocols! This was our chance, and you blew it, Isu!" Arcalinte says.
The strange aliens continue to retreat, firing their bows as they do so - though its clear that the shots are more a show of wariness than any attempt to seriously harm you. All their arrows fall short, striking the platform.
Combat Over
The aliens retreat towards the ruined city, heading straight for the single main entrance into the floating island - the building that seems may have once been some kind of travel terminal, spaceport or airport. You follow along after them, though by the time you reach the building they've either made themselves scarce or you eradicated them.
The cavernous travel terminal is an ancient structure of pale white and green material that has somehow endured the passage of ages. The interior of the building has not been so lucky. Little remains of the original interior except for vague suggestions of platforms of different levels and mounds of furniture. However, there's clear evidence of more recent inhabitation. The interior walls are covered with murals worked in crude paint and charcoal. The images seem to depict the sun in various positions in relation to the Landing Pad; each of these pictures is accompanied by a number of what seem to be tally marks.
Furthermore, a few woven baskets lie around the sides of this large chamber, each one large enough that it'd need to be carried with both hands. These baskets are currently largely empty, though a greenish-brown sludge lines the bottom of them.