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The screech of the feather stalker echoes around the room as Titus-33 tries to pull himself on top of the nearest crate to get a better shot.
Unable to get a good grip as the crate rocks slightly beneath him, he tries again.
This time he hauls himself onto the crate with ease, pulling his rifle to his shoulder as he rises into a firing stance.
Titus moves into firing position whilst Dyukela fires at the stalker, the bullet firing wide and ploughing into a wooden crate sending plumes of splinters into the air, enraging the animal.
It draws back its wings, razor sharp feathers revealed and swipes at Kiylee twice, once with each wing
Craaawwwghhhhhh!!!
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The Nuar grunts as she's tagged with the left wing but her defensive posture with the pike prevents the right wing from getting through, thankfully.
"Wings infected! Take it DOWN!" she announces as she starts to feel a faint tinge of wooziness before shaking it off and standing tall once more.
Since the party hasn't been able to bring any other fire to bear on the creature yet, Kiylee abandons her defensive stance to try and land at least some sort of blow on the thing.
The creature cries out in pain as Kiylee's pike spears its side, blood dripping and matting with its feathers. Sarangari brings a hammer down on its back with a satisfying thud and the feather stalker stumbles but remains upright, anger boiling in its veins.
Titus's aim is true, and his laser beam just catches the outside feathers of the stalker's right wing Craaagghhhww! it screams in pain, the sound drowning out the noise of Reynmal's marble.
The creature hisses at Dyukela as it's primitive, animalistic nature fails to acknowledge Dyukela's efforts to overcome it.
Whilst Gorject moves closer, the creature lashes out at Sarangari in response to the hammer blow, blood dripping through the metal grate from it's wings as the rain lashes at the window. Lightning flashes and in that split second Sarangari sees the creature rise to full height and swipe at him with both wings.
If hit, DC 11 Fort Save or sickened for 1d4=1 rounds
If hit, DC 11 Fort Save or sickened for 1d4=1 rounds
The creature is seriously wounded and stomps it feet on the metal grate in anger
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Sarangari is struck by one wing and quickly feels the effect of sickness wash over him.
He still has a job to do however and no amount of tail dragging or belly aching will prevent him from fighting on. The stars guide him as his synchronization with them grows and he lines up his hammer for another blow.
The stalker roars in anger as Sarangari's hammer once again finds its mark, crashing down on the leg of the stalker, bending it to an impossible angle. The stalker faces Sarangari and sees Kiylee's Pike too late as it pierces between two ribs, and the stalker cries out, now more in anguish than anger, as thunder booms in the distance.
Gorjhect's mind thrust finds it's mark and the stalker cries out one final time before crumpling to a bloody heap on the grate, as blood mats with its feathers and starts to drip to the warehouse floor far below....
After a few tense minutes whilst Kiylee prods the creature from a distance, it's clear that it is dead. You are disturbed by the sound of Exo-Guardian agents entering the warehouse, spanning wide in cover formation and followed shortly after by Zigvigix. You all climb down to the floor of the warehouse
My my, that was quite the battle it seems he says, surveying the splinters of wood and the smell of blood and discarded marbles A job well done - your reputations do you justice and the society needs people true to their word. You have my gratitude and that of my colleagues. How did you get on with the Strawberry Machine Cake album? he enquires
Well Zigvigix says, thank you for your efforts. Here, please accept these as a small token of my appreciation, on behalf of the Exo-Guardians. Sorry there isn't much in the way of monetary reward - we're saving credits to renovate this warehouse, but I hope the grenades are fun. Just don't blow yourselves up...I like you!
You make your way back to Absalom, where you can rest up ahead of the Wayfinders mission which starts imminently....
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Kiylee takes a few moments to catch her breath and talk things over with the other arriving Exo-Guardians, and then offers Zig the choice of which version of SMC they want, keeping the other for themselves.
Oh... hey.. SMC... Strawberry Machine Cake... SilverMoon City.... Naaahhhhhh
She looks at the armor and then to the Vesk. "Not going to argue, it's almost a side-grade for me, do you want the armor... can you use it? If not, it'd be a shame to let it go to waste."
If there's no one else that can use it effectively, Kiylee will be gone for a bit longer than expected, then return, with the insignia that were on the previous set of armor transferred over.
"So, what do folks think? Does it make me look fat?" she inquires with a bit of a smirk.
The Wayfinders’ transitory nature precludes them from having a single stationary headquarters on Absalom Station. Instead, the Wayfinders operate out of the Master of Stars, an enormous starship that is part of the Armada orbiting Absalom Station.
The station’s Armada can be seen from the shuttle’s view screen as it takes off, gleaming figures standing out against the emptiness of space. The Master of Stars immediately stands out from the rest, as layers and layers of scaffolding obscure its hull. Tiny lights flicker among the metal beams as distant figures weld plates and heat shields to the ship’s exterior. The shuttle smoothly glides closer until it reaches the starship’s docking bay, slipping through the magic field that keeps the hold pressurized with breathable atmosphere. As the shuttle doors open, a small drone flies in and pops up a holoscreen, displaying a harried-looking ratfolk.
Finally, fresh meat! the ysoki exclaims over the screen, sounding pleased. Name’s Fitch—pleasantries over, time to get to work. I had some trouble earlier with the lights flickering on the ship, and now both the lights and computers have suddenly gone out on E-Deck. No idea what’s causing it, but you work this job long enough and— Fitch’s attention flicks to something offscreen, and she shouts Kirkath! The welding torch is not a toy! You wanna go in the toddler’s pen with the other kids? She snorts dismissively before continuing, Sorry, some of these little ones would cut off their own heads if I let them. Anyway, it could be some lunkhead screwed up the wiring, but that’s a pretty big system failure for a simple electrical short. I’d prefer to send in some people with combat training to scout it out, just in case someone or something is sabotaging the ship. If it’s nothing, great, get the power back on if you can. If there’s something suspicious, use your comm units to report in to me. I’ll give you the access codes, so— Selicha! If you touch that panel I will staple you to the hull!
The screen on the drone cuts out, then flashes to display the ship’s schematics and the passwords for the computers on E-Deck.
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"Hello Fitch. Do you need us to come and spank some children when we're done with this?" Kiylee inquires dryly as she looks over the ship's schematics for any immediately obvious faults. It's more a hobby for her, of course. I've done far STRANGER quests...
The Nuar turns to Titus. "I'm seeing three different blueprints here, can you make better sense of it BEFORE we get on-site?"
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Titus-33 appreciates Fitch's no-nonsense, straightforward briefing. He downloads the ship's schematics and the computer access codes to his exocortex.
"I will review the data now," Titus-33 replies to Kiylee as they make their way to E deck. He reviews the blueprints via his AR display, checking for obvious weaknesses in the power distribution network that might explain the issues.
You make your way down to E-deck but it is in total darkness when arrive, and the air smells stale, as if it hasn't been used in some time. You need to restore power to the lights and the CCTV cameras that oversee the area prior to entering the area and may attempt an or check to do so. The DC is 15.
If you fail, you might want to ask Fitch to send down a mechanic but he's busy and will require convincing via a DC14 Diplomacy check.
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"Oh, hey, it's like ancient Titan ruins. All we're missing is a crazy explorer dwarf to activate all the defenses and force us to fight them off in waves!" Kiylee is giddy with the memory.
"See this power run here? This is the main. Let's test the integrity first before we power it up, then give it a whirl."
"Everyone stay sharp. Either something wanted the power off for a reason, or more than likely something is using the power. Either way, we're probably going to get jumped when we go live."
Once the Nuar is satisfied that things are set, she gives the nearest console a gentle hip-tap to get it running again.
Kiylee manages to reconnect the power to the cameras. On the cameras a small storage room appears. The door is now open.
Scattered barrels and boxes line the lowered floor of this storage chamber. A thick bulkhead to the port side leads farther onto the deck, while a similar bulkhead to the aft connects to an arterial hallway that runs the length of the deck.
Huddled in the far north east corner are two small children, a boy and a girl, panic and worry across their faces as you all walk into the chamber. The older child, a boy, whispers to the girl Shush...remember what I said, don't say a thing
The room is in a somewhat haphazard state—as if something has rushed through it. All the boxes and barrels in the chamber are empty....
The young girl looks at Dyukela then snuggles into her brother's arms Daddy said not to go with strangers Korfa, I don't trust them and besides...we can't leave Snoodles, they'll probably eat him
The boy, clearly panicking and out of his depth faced by six of you says, with a quivering voice err...We..we'll just stay here
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The Nuar looks over at the party flailing through talking to kids and places a hand over her face, shaking her head and muttering to herself for a bit before looking to the kids.
"If Snoodles is your pet, we aren't going to eat them, okay? Did Snoodles eat some of the wiring, which is why it was dark in here?"
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Titus-33 is readying to reroute the power on E deck when Kiylee gets things sorted. "Very efficient," he remarks.
The presence of the children surprises Titus-33. With little confidence in his ability to calm or reassure them he stands back with Kiylee and lets the others try to coax the small people out of the room.
Yes! But he didn't mean it! cries the little girl It was an accident! says the little boy. We thought we could keep him, if our Daddy let's us. We've put him in the next room and he's safe in there, protected by our secret weapon!
Shush! says the girl Don't tell them you idiot!
The room leads to a western doorway. You make your way toward the door
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"You know power is important, right?" Kiylee begins gently, trying NOT to yell at the two -- they're just kids, even if they are delinquents.
"The power going off was noticed by a lot of people, who are going to be coming down here trying to find out why. And then not only are you, Snoodles, but even your Daddy are going to be in a Whole Lot Of Trouble. How did you make your 'secret weapon'?"