Zerisi stops at Will's insistance, a bit annoyed.
"Oh, where's the fun in that, Will?" he sighs. Despite his outward annoyance and his words, it's obvious that Zerisi respects Will's opinion. He rarely holds back impulses such as this.
When Will's face doesn't soften, he offers instead,
"How about we let the cards decide, then?"
Without waiting for a response, Zerisi sits down, carefully handling his Harrow deck, and begins to perform a reading.
Bookshelves line the walls of this room, although the majority of the books now lie scattered across the floor.
The group proceeds to the final room.
What appears to have been some sort of lounge is now in ruins. Several fine pieces of furniture that seem to once have been attached to the floor now lie broken and tumbled against the walls, while cracks run up and down along all surfaces. Shattered fragments of crystal lie in heaps along the edges of the room, while grime-caked windows mostly buried under the earth offer filthy, sooty slits to the outside. One object of note that seems to have survived the crash sits at the easternmost end of the room-a large orrery made of bronze. Four of the orrery's planets seem to be missing.
Standing in front of a shambled red cushioned chair in the centre of the room is some form of man with his back to you. Long white hair, a black cape and rich red robes. Long ears point through his hair, their skin green and mottled.
"Ah, Mister Artholn." His voice is wet yet imperious. "I asked you to bring your security team to the bridge immediately, this is inexcusable; we will discuss this after the mission."
"As you know, we have crash landed on a world I have temporarily named Lirgen Alpha. Its atmosphere appears non-toxic, though we will be providing breathers for your sally..." he continues for some time in this vein.
Will pats Zerisi on the back a little forcefully, pushing him forward. He then waves the bard forward on a roll with it gesture. This man didn't seem dangerous as much as crazy. SO if anyone could bluff his way through this is likely the talkative one. Will then stands at attention like a good security team member. He motions for the others to follow suit.
Steps back out the room, she Gets her sword ready and has it bring up Shield, then summon-infernal-host
Zerisi struts forward confidently, waiting for a small opening in the conversation, before inserting himself in.
Aye-Aye, Sir. I'll take full responsibility for any and all delays. We'd had some problems that I won't bore you with, but fear not! All will be right from here on out. Now, what's next? What are our orders, sir? Zerisi starts...
The man nods. "I approve of your enthusiasm, Mister Artholn." He begins pacing in circles in front of you; when his face turns for you to see it, you find it bulbous, green and froglike.
"You will proceed to the rock-cropping three hundred feet to the north- noting that on this planet the magnetic north is at the south pole, meaning you will be heading to the reverse of true-north, which is south of course..." he goes on with several similar instructions for a minute, before pausing; his face becomes somber and contemplative. "As you know, our worst fear is that the creature, this 'emissary' has followed us. It is my belief that we have evaded its grasp, but if it is indeed on our trail... it is our duty as sky-sailors to destroy the accursed thing at all costs, and right my mistake." He shoots a nervous glance at the orrery. "...as long as the orrery is missing its components, it cannot be contacted. Now..."
What in the world, that's some Lirgen copies! The place isn't even called that anymore What are they doing here, pricey stuff...
Dragash attention is drawn to the conversation and Zerisi's attempts at acting.
Wait, so this man or.. creature, is actually an adversary of the emissary. Wait sky-sailors? There are more of these groups in teams enough to have a name?
Dragash waits to hear what Zerisi has planned for this conversation and what he is attempting to do.
"Aye sir, the orrey. And what should I tell the men sir, if they were to come across the missing pieces? How should we handle them? And how can we kill it?
At the start of the conversation Rosa stalls her summoning
What in the world...
She ranks her mind
"So they where trying to stop what?"
She was tempted to rush back in but waited, they needed to know more so her being there would not help. She looked around for a space to hid in out the way.
"If they discover them? I'd suggest they throw them down the deepest well or bury them in the darkest forest; anything them from being re-attached to the orrery. Though if used for a moment we might learn much about its intentions, the temptation to use it for hours longer could drive us into madness and betrayal. I will not make that mistake again..."
"Kill it? I... I do not know. It survived the vacuum of space to cling to our hull and drive us mad, to send us back to..." he frowns and blinks as he presses his hands against his temples. "I mean... no.... we..." He shakes his head then snaps back to his previous speaking cadence. "We flung it off our ship to allow us to continue on our course and find this alien world; clearly its strength is limited. If your team encounters the emissary, I encourage you to wear it out... and I must encourage you to let youself be killed rather than captured. So grave is the danger that creature poses, to us and to what it might do with us... and our dreams."
Will was having a hard time following. Everything in this ship tried to kill them without question. Seemed mad beyond help. This one seemed the only lucid though just barely. And the thing that caused everything was...where? Flung off in space? What was the connection to the others?
"Does the emissary have a means of finding the other pieces? We may have a lead on one. Some locals on this...planet have shown signs of the emissary's corruption."
Will stumbled a little on the terminology being thrown around. He also wasn't quite sure what was going on but he assumed this emissary was to blame for the transformations going on. He hoped his confidence hide his confusion.
"...what? What? The pieces should not cause any corruption... they are mere fragments of this device, that provides the connection to the emissary's tainted mind. Do you mean... the emissary is HERE?"
"We haven't seen it yet, but the corruption has started to spread. What should we do, sir?"
Zerisi gives Will a quick wink and a thumbs-up.
He collapses to a chair, staring at his hands for a moment. "...my mistake has come full circle..." Forlorn, he stares until finally standing up. "We have no choice; we must find and destroy the emissary before he recovers his strength from landing." He crosses to the orrery and studies it. "...we must repair the orrery. I will risk my mind and use it to track down the emissary. If I am still able, I will personally command a team to find and destroy the creature. If I am unable... The duty will fall to you, Mister Artholn." He turns. "Find the missing pieces at once!"
"I will accept the responsibility in your stead if need be, Sir... and we'll do our best to make sure it doesn't come to that. In the mean time we'll focus on the pieces. We'll be back when we find them- hold tight." Zerisi says in a comforting voice, hoping to give the weary man some measure of peace.
He salutes the man, and backs out of the room, to discuss with the others.
"Well, let's fix the thing!" he says in an excited whisper.
"This emissary thing sounds like something else, that's for sure!"
"So the orrery, that device with planets on it over there? We give him the planets we have and let him track the emissary? That your plan?" Dragash asks Zerisi.
Zerisi shrugs with an honest smile.
"Can't think of a good reason NOT to, can you?"
"Can't think of another way to find a space beast," Will adds. "Just be ready." He nods in the direction of the captain. He had mentioned that finding the emissary might do something to his mind. So if he went crazy, they'd need to handle it. Most likely violently.
The four missing planets are passed to the captain. He gesture to you. "Step back; no closer than seventy feet!"
Gingerly he replaces them upon the orrery, and mutters a spell to fix them in place. As soon as the last one is fixed, a burst of air explodes out of the orrery, washing over you and the captain. He falls to his knees and raises his head to the roof, eyes fixed on something high above. "I feel it... I feel it! I see the future, his plan... oh, oh no. Innocents... transformed into beasts; mutants, enormous monsters! Death and destruction and then... silence, as the night itself falls above." He shudders and shakes. "It... it comes... it comes at dawn tomorrow! His form and vessel will descend upon a place to the north... a... a town? I... this planet is... inhabited? People? Alien- no. No. No, no, no no no no..." He tears at his wrists as he stares with an expression of utmost horror. "...Golarion. We landed on... Golarion. We... came home. And we've doomed them all..." A burst of black air suddenly coalesces around the captain's head. Within it, a large eye with a green pupil slowly blinks open and focuses on you. The captain goes limp, then rises, turning to face you; ripples of yellow energy pulse in his hand, and when he opens his mouth to scream, it is an alien, mindless cry.
Rosa had gone back 70' as asked and found cover,
As the think took over his body, she went under full cover and held.
Oh no, this is bad
Dragash takes a swig of a prepared double extract, containing two of his defensive extracts.
Then he moves against the wall to break line of sight, hoping that the creature that is inhabiting the captain has to close in on them to fight.
The possessed captain slides out of sight, and you hear the muttering of a spell; suddenly, a wave of repulsive force washes out.
Zerisi is hit by the invisible wall, and despite his desire to run towards the excitement - and the danger - he finds himself unable to.
'Damned Monster! I want to SEE you!'
Resigned to bolster his companions in his stead, Zerisi starts singing a song to Will's fauchard, jokingly reminding it of the time it valiantly split a possessed sky-captain in two.
As he sings, a subtle glow surrounds the weapon, hinting at it's power.
Zerisi throws Will a wink, imploring him to fight with it.
Will knows better than to block mental intrusions by pushing back. Instead he cycles his Ki around his mind to deflect the force to the side. Once the blast is over, he crouches down, then springs forward with blinding speed, charging at the captain. His blade thrusts forth at full extension.
The wave comes Rosa's way, she braces and it passes.
She hefts her sword and starts her casting to summon help from the Hell's.
Dragash not deterred by the wave of repulsion rushes into the room throwing a bomb to try to blind the possessed captain. Dragash arcs the bomb so it won't hit Will or the surrounding furnishings (precise bomb).
Dragash's bomb lands, blinding dreadfully the captain. Little of its fire penetrates his damp green hide.
A black aura still surrounding him, the captain waves a hand and vanishes from sight.
Since he didn't see the captain in the immediate vicinity, Will jogs down the hall, looking in each room they had already been in. If he sees nothing he keeps going all the way to the breach. As he passes the others he speaks quickly. "Teleported. Short range. Be careful." He walks past Zerisi then has an idea. "Which direction can you not walk?"
5 Mean little Devils come to Rosa's aid,
"There is a Chaotic posses human some where close, split up and find him. Call when you do"
Rosa says to he hoard of devils.
"Hector stay hidden, go help find the ^£^*&("
She says.
Then helps the other look.
"get outside and take to the air, He will be on foot, find him"
Dragash shrugs "Well it clearly was not trying to stop us despite the possession likely knowing that we have info about the emissary now. Anyone know how to track something through teleportation?"
Rosa summons her imps and in a swift movement they fly out of the ship and scatter in all directions. One of them manages to spot the wizard being carried bodily by a creature with some strange mix of insect and reptile, with four arms and twitching mandibles; the two are slowly fading away as the imps watch.
At the signal the captain had been spotted Rosa called other to her,
"Get ready you may only one shot to stop him"
She held them and cast teleport Images of the Hell's and the smell of brimstone Then they came back into being close to here the strange captain was riding some kind of insect some 60' away.
Zerisi quickly takes in his new surroundings, then lets out a surprisingly-loud and wholly unexpected laugh. Torn for a moment, he reaches for the sword on his hip before changing his mind and pulling a a single card from his deck.