"I guess we can't annihilate the bad guys from the ship this time. Too bad. Any sign of any other ships or recent activity?" Maxim asks to no one in particular. Then he realizes he is the science office, and lazily melts out of the captain's chair and slides behind the scanning console.
"I got nothing. Let's set down close and you guys can do your thing."
On the surface of the planet is nothing. Not even breathable air. And a little bit of scouting around shows, that the tunnel seems to be the only entrance int the complex.
Entering the tunnel by foot takes some time. At the end of the tunnel are three huge closed doors. The middle one has a red light above it, two others a green one.
Maxim is not having a good day with his eyes. Must have got misty with all the death of ancient civilizations. As if. For lack of a better idea, he steps up to the red door and knocks.
The knock is less impressive than thought. Especially without any air, nothing is heard where Maxim is. The 300 feet wide and high door makes no move.
You notice some sensors though below the red light.
The sensors look like the usual kishaleen stuff you've seen plenty til now. Old, but in good condition.
"If only we had a smaller ship," Maxim grumbles. He makes the short jog over to one of the green lit doors and searches for any other way to get through.
Failing that, Maxim stands within arm's reach of the door and detonates his Supernova ability.
The sensor misinterprets the energy signature of the supernova and the door slowly opens. Slowly in relation to the size of the door. But still at 10' per second.
You can enter this cavernous hangar bay. Its walls are made of a smooth, unknown metal without a trace of rivets or seams. Opposite of the set of ship-sized doors stands a smaller pair of convex doors.
"I forget, what is this place again? No, nevermind. Let's find those robots and blow this place."
Maxim makes tracks for the far side of the hangar and the smaller doors.
A lengthy walk across the hangar, you find that the door is locked. That is not surprising, as the hangar doors are still open. From what you know, you'd guess the doors are locking each other from opening.
"Right, an airlock. Ok, no problem."
Maxim finds himself confounded by the simple device. He's completely off his game.
"Gorn, have a crack at this."
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I live to serve," Gorn rumbles. In anyone else this would be marked as easy sarcasm. In Gorn's eternal rocks-grinding bass, it's hard to tell.
He addresses the door mechanism and gets out his tools.
"You really should invest in a Verterium cortenide resonator. It makes these partial polarity locks a breeze."
Voxx leans against the ancient metal wall of the airlock, waiting for the smarter ones to get the door open, thinking I really should have paid more attention in Uncle Jrex's Archaeo-Engineering lectures...
Gorn fixes the issue. The hangar doors close - very slowly - and once they're closed air fills the hangar and the door further into the complex is unlocked and open automatically. You are greeted with elevator music. There are only two buttons to choose from.
Entering the lift and pressing the not highlighted button makes the doors close and starts the 90s long travel downwards. As the door opens you are greeted by the grim looks of another pair of cultists and a shadow.
Smooth, gray walls and bright lighting accentuate the lack of corners in this entryway with a thirty-foot-high ceiling. The chamber opens onto a larger area just opposite a set of convex elevator doors.
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"Is that a Muzak version of Come As You Are?" Gorn questions as they begin the decent downward from the 90s.
As the door opens Gorn rejoices as he joins GLORIOUS COMBAT!
"I'm on a cultist. Maxim, since you're best at dealing with shadows you...deal with the shadow."
Then there's no time left for any non-punching related activities.
He jazzes his Haste circuit and starts punching with punches.
Voxx launches himself at the Shadow, his plasma sword leaving a bright streak in the air...
The cultist leaves the fighting scene in northern direction. Slipping through some technical equipment and furniture that seperate the room there it disappears.
Gorn and Voxx do dry fighting excercises, leaving the opponenents unharmed. The cultist counters Gorn's attack.
Maxim energizes The Morning Star and takes a couple swings at the nearest cultist.
The rewarding feeling of making a truly devastating strike never gets old.
The cultist takes two bad hits. Even though she tries to pay Maxim back it's clear she is no match.
Voxx grins, sure that his display with his sword intimidated the shadow into leaving.
He focuses his intent on one of the remaining cultists...
Gorn beats the cultist almost to death, and Voxx delivers whatis missing.
With another mighty swing, Maxim again connects solidly with the cultist he hit the first time.
"We should be getting this on video," says Maxim as his cultist is turned into mush. "Then we can just show the next group what we do to crazy types and save everyone the trouble of getting killed."
Maxim makes short work of the remaining cultist.
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"That would be rational," Gorn rumbles as he bends and begins stoically looting the bodies. "But I have found presenting reason to those that are already cleaving to insane notions is but tossing chaff to the wind.
If they choose to riot at us, only brute force will stop such a riot. Presentation of good reason would only be translated as weakness."
golemforged plating III, liquidator disintegrator pistol with 2 batteries (20 charges each), incendiary grenades II (2), sintered longsword
Maxim keeps his weapon and haste circuit activated and goes to kick in the double doors to the room at the south end of the complex (D11).
As Maxim leads the way around the corner he comes to a wide junction at the bottom of the stairs. Hallways lead off to the east and west, while a large gray double door leads to the south. Sections of the floor have long gouges in them.
But also here someone keeps watch. Encased within a suit of battered powered armor, a scarred and gnarled dwarf stands in the center of the junction. He grinds his teeth on a frayed cigar, and bits of tobacco roll down his unkempt beard. An advanced X-gen gun is mounted on his shoulder, ready to unload a spray of death.
"You ready to dance?" The dwarf’s voice grumbles, a hint of dark humor dripping from the question. "Ain’t seen nothing but hunks of metal, weird plants, and people made of light since we came to this system, and I’ve been just aching for a dance."
The dwarf opens fire.
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As the dwarf seems to intentionally be firing at the floor, Gorn rumbles to the group, "He does not appear to be a crazy insane destroy all cultist.
No offense, Imagine.
Perhaps we could explain our motivations and so spare his life?
Also, there is only one of him. It is hardly a fair fight.
Well, if there were three of them, and me all alone, it would still hardly be a fair fight.
But we must work with what we have.
Maxim? How say you?"
Maxim sighs, knowing Gorn is right, and this little fellow is going to have his head turned inside out in the next minute. What a shame.
Haste circuit to move into melee and full attack. Graviton attuned x1.
Maxim joins the dwarf in the fighting simulation, by slashing impressively right and left past the dwarf.
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"Hmm. Well when you put it that way, the foregone conclusion of combat -does- have a nice ring to it.
But don't say I never just gave peace a chance."
With that Gorn follows Maxim's suit and jazzes his own Haste chips, following up with one sub-rage, almost languid punch while his internal rhythm gets up to speed.
Gorn lands a punch against the dwarf. It's like hittign a child. A very sturdy and well armored child, but in the comparison of size...
The dwarf steps back and fires the gun again. This time in automatic mode.
"Well that's new, scowls maxim as he takes a shot against his armor. "Reminds me of the old days when these jerks used to know how to fight. Or maybe we didn't know how to fight."
Graviton Attuned X2
"Gal-f@!~itall! I can't hit s$$*!
Moving like Maxim's big Vesk shaped shadow, Voxx keeps in contact with the dwarf...
Voxx smiles at Maxim's comment, and attempts to cut into the dwarf again...
Voxx digs deep into the dwarf leaving him heavily wounded. Gorn tries to follow suit, but the good armor of the enemy prevents that. Only one hit finds its target.
The dwarf then joins the melee fight and punches Voxx.
Maxim moves to flank the dwarf and takes a two-handed swing. "Your mother was a hamster!"
Graviton Attuned X3.
The dwarf's feelings are deeply hurt.
Voxx takes the dwarf's blows like a champ, shouting at the diminutive foe, "Much better! You put those other cultists to shame! "
Then he returns the favor...
Between Maxim and Gorn the dwarf is taken down.
"Alright!" shouts Maxim, stalking around the corpse of the dwarf and turning his attention toward the rest of the complex.
"Who's next? Who wants a little? Come on out and get some while it's hot! Let's finish this right now, so you can all get killed and we don't have to come lookin' for ya! Ha? Anyone?"
No one answers Maxim's request.
Onward to room D11.
This room buzzes with activity. Three control panels stand at the far end of the room opposite a double door to the north. The panels flash with multicolored lights and occasionally beep. The southern wall contains a large window, with some kind of shimmering containment field in place of glass. The vast bore that pierces the heart of the planetoid can be seen through the window. The walls of that massive cylinder are veined with strange conduits and studded with peculiar technology; countless maintenance robots, many so far away as to seem like mere insects, crawl over the various sections of the machinery, occasionally lit by a random spark of electricity. Monitors line the walls inside the room, showing close-ups of the robots working within the bore. One video stream tracks the progress of four such constructs, one of which is carrying a grayish rectangular object; these robots seem to be flying at all possible speed
toward some point.
An android paces between the control panels and the containment field. Though her eyes are cold and her movements regimented, she is almost trembling with anticipation. When the PCs enter the room, she addresses them with a flat voice that has a hint of metallic rattling. "You are too late, meddlers. The end is nigh. I will prevail. I am the chosen of the Devourer, and you are just insects — insignificantly scrambling about ignorant of utter certainty."
The maintenance bots in the room turn to attack. The first flies to Maxim.
Maxim swings The Morning Star at the flying robot, lamenting that these little bastards wouldn't just come out and play when he asked.
Photon Attunes X1.