As the Starfinders advance cautiously on the obelisk, the few remaining stingbats retreat to the high canopies, their shrieks filling the air. One by one, the Starfinders feel their minds tugged towards the brilliantly violet flowers dominating the south face of the stone tower, but they succeed in isolating the urge.
Diedre , Entiren , Irhok'zath , Johnny, Lauren, Miraj
???
Irhok'zath drinks another serum.
"Aaaah, Irhok'zath is feeling much better now! Wait for her!" she puts away the empty vial and will join the party in the next round.
Entiren will watch the last of the stingbats flee away into the trees, making sure that the animals aren't trying to trick them to lower their guard. He then returns his attention to the group's immediate surrounds, moving up towards the tree that Miraj's gun was stashed in. He first looks down at the object that fell out of the tree, before glancing up at the hole the gun is in. "Do you think you can get up there Miraj?"
"Wait! What's the deal with those flowers?" Diedre calls out. "Does anyone know what they are?"
Entiren is mildly surprised to find a mk 1 serum of healing on the ground - same as any he's seen in a hundred shops before.
Miraj gets to the tree.
"Do you think you can get up there Miraj?"
Miraj shrugs and starts climbing the tree, finding plenty of branches to use as ladders to get to his gun.
"Sorry about that Alice. Did you miss me? I missed you." He holds the gun close to his chest for a moment, and then prepares to holster it.
Seeing Miraj looking at the serum, Miraj adds, "There should not be this much gear in a place like this, unless something is killing the adventurers who pass this way."
Irhok'zath observes the tree-climbing and gun recovering. "Irhok'zath got it! This must be the stingbats nest, where they hide all the treasure they steal from explorers! That's why they ran here!" She starts looking around for the tree most likely to hold treasure, though she has no idea what it would actually look like.
As a member of a species that didn't evolve from climbing creatures, Lauren watches all the climbing with some fascination, but otherwise waits for the other shoe to drop. "I haves bad feelings about this."
"No one? No one knows what these things are?" Diedre exclaims in frustration. "Should have brought a freakin' botanist," she mutters to herself as she slowly approaches the plants, pulling her sidearm in the process.
From his higher vantage point, Miraj does a double take at the tower or obelisk. He points and calls out, "Something is hiding in bushes at the base of that tower, the south side."
"Sorry about that Alice. Did you miss me? I missed you." He holds the gun close to his chest for a moment, and then prepares to holster it.
Seeing Miraj looking at the serum, Miraj adds, "There should not be this much gear in a place like this, unless something is killing the adventurers who pass this way."
Alice isn't the only odd treasure Miraj finds - in addition to the one on the ground, there are two more healing serums of similar potency sitting in the hollow of the tree.
From his higher vantage point, Miraj does a double take at the tower or obelisk. He points and calls out, "Something is hiding in bushes at the base of that tower, the south side."
Miraj's warning comes a moment too late - as Diedre and Johnny approach the obelisk, a massive section of the flora... stands up. A heady cloud of pollen engulfs Diedre, and the half-elf reflexively tries to cover her nose and mouth, but the toxic plant matter stops an inch away from her skin, held at bay by her mystical protections! In full control of her wits, Diedre finds herself staring down a fibrous gullet full of thorny teeth and pungent secretions.
Diedre , Entiren , Irhok'zath , Johnny, Miraj
Vracinea
Lauren
"This isn't one of those kinds of movies Captain." says Johnny as he moves between her and the plant.
He then summons his shield, an aura of darkness that fit around his right hand like a gauntlet. His shadow also begins to writhe, clearly in reaction to another threat.
Miraj recognizes the plant as a Vracinea, once it moves into better view. But there is no time to communicate a botany lesson at the moment, so he does what he can to aid the fight from his perch in the tree.
Miraj gets his sniper rifle ready and squeezes off a shot. His first shot is preparatory, getting a sense of the action of the rifle and the targeting scope.
Range = 70 (250 with aim during move action)
"Don't accept its fruits!" Irhok'zath warns the party, as she double moves around the fallen tree.
Diedre takes a half-step back and waves her side-arm in the arm. "Don't look at him, look at me!" she shouts out at the plant.
"It could be one of those kinds of movies, but I'm not taking off a stitch until I see its test results," Diedre says without a trace of humor.
"Don't plan on doing anything of the sort Irkok'zath!" Entiren calls out as he aims his rifle at the creature that he recognizes as a vracinea. Hoping that damage from high heat sources may be more effective against it, he quickly takes a pair of shots at the plant creature.
"I don't even know what that means!" shouts Johnny at Irhok'zath.
As Johnny and Diedre bait the predatory plant into trying to go two ways at once, Miraj and Entiren unload from a distance. The ryphorian, despite having a clear vantage point from up in a tree, misses just high, but the nuar unloads a pair of laser bolts into the vracinea, setting it on fire!
Sporting multiple mouth-like orifices, the overgrown houseplant lunges at Diedre and Johnny at the same time, missing the latter but striking the former, apparently oblivious to the flames licking up its branches.
Lauren
Diedre , Entiren , Irhok'zath , Johnny, Miraj
Vracinea
Diedre stumbles back and raises her pistol to unload on the distracted ficus.
target
target
Johnny waited for the plant creature to lash out again at Diedre and attempted to sever it's tendrils.
Lauren moves to get a better angle on the plant monster and fires her rifle. She yells a warning to the crew close to the monster as she fires, "Shot is behind!"
Irhok'zath double moves again, listening to the sounds of battle from the other side of the log.
Miraj loads another round into the single shot sniper rifle and fires again at the carnivorous plant threatening his team mates. He doesn't take time to position the target in the cross hairs of the scope, but at relatively close range, this does not hurt his aim. He takes note of the pattern of the waving vines and times his shot to take advantage of the pattern. He manages a solid hit on one of the tentacles. The sound of the shot echoes faintly.
Range = 70 (250 with aim during move action)
If the vracinea is still alive after the attacks from the others, Entiren will fire off a single shot at it.
Under a barrage of bullets, lasers, and whatever Johnny's doing, the enormous plant collapses inward on itself, unmoving save for a few smoldering branches.
“Oh, looks like Irhok’zath didn’t need to run, after all! She’ll rest while you explore all these stones”. The formian sits down and starts grabbing foliage to wipe away the stingbat poison she’s covered with.
“Oops, this one is also poison. Now her leg and hand are also numb…” she swats away the thorny plant, and starts scrubbing herself with dried leaves and bugs.
She’ll take a 10 minutes rest and spend a resolve point to recover stamina.
"You said you're poisoned?"
Resting sounds good to Diedre who takes a moment to lean back against one of the trees (after checking it for creepy-crawlies). She pulls up her precious comm-unit and takes some photos and a bit of video of the obelisk and still-smoking plant of doom.
Miraj loads another round in his rifle and aims at the plant, ready to fire if he sees any more signs of life. Satisfied it is killed, he slings the rifle back in its holster on his backpack and carefully climbs back down.
He loses his grip at one point and falls from the tree, but manages to tumble to break his fall without taking any damage.
Miraj first checks to see if he can use his medic skills to treat any wounds.
"Diedre, let me treat zhat wound from zee vine. Ve cannot risk infection out here."
DC 25
"Zhat is all I can do. But here is a serum of healing I found in zee tree. Zee stingbats must be collectors of shiny things."
Miraj gives Diedre one serum of healing and the other to Irhok'zath.
That done, Miraj seeks out the rifle he saw sticking out of the brush at the base of the obelisk and looks for other objects of value before focusing on the structure itself.
As the combat ends, Johnny dismisses the black gauntlet that sat on his right hand and his shadow returns to normal. He then proceeds to start climbing the obelisk again, but at the mention of a rest, he will instead sit and wait for the others.
The half-elf looks a the serum suspiciously. "It's not, like, expired or anything?" she asks before downing the substance. She grimaces. "Blah. Tastes like armpits."
Once she's taken a few minutes to get her wind back and deal with other biological needs, Diedre walks over to the obelisk. She brushes away some of the plant matter to get a better look at it.
That done, Miraj seeks out the rifle he saw sticking out of the brush at the base of the obelisk and looks for other objects of value before focusing on the structure itself.
Miraj discovers that the weapon is a frostbite-class zero rifle, although the battery has been damaged beyond repair - it seems to have been chewed thoroughly by a large plant.
A short distance away, Miraj also notices a silvery credstick on the ground. As he picks it up, he discovers it wrapped in a fragment of thread leading to a crumpled estex suit under a nearby bush. Only small fragments of the original owner remain; it is clear than first the vracinea and then the kaukarikis have picked it over extensively - the armor is far to damaged to be of use.
Finding elven letters, Diedre clears away the rest of the vines and whispers to herself as she reads. "'Loskialua, monastère du chant des étoiles, ambassade des sphères et Temple des Douze.'"
"It warns that we're approaching 'Loskialua, monastery of starsong, embassy of the spheres, and Temple of the Twelve.' It also says something about 'paying respect', 'messengers from beyond', an acadamy, and 'interpreters of the beacon' - whatever that means."
She looks around at the others hoping someone will have some idea what that means.
“That sounds very interesting, captain! Lots of complicated words! Do you want Irhok’zath to climb the stone and see if there is anything up there? She’s really good at climbing when she takes off her armor! Otherwise she’ll look into the trees for more of the stingbats treasure...”
"I have a feeling that there's not anything up there, but it never hurts to be sure," Diedre replies, nodding her head towards the top of the monolith.
Irhok’zath starts taking off her amor (it takes 16 rounds) “Irhok’zath has a rope with 100 feet if anyone wants to climb after her!”
"I'll go with you. I want to get a look at the surrounding area."
"Races you to the top!"
Miraj retrieves the credstick and the long rifle. "I think this rifle may still work if zee battery is replaced. Also, I found a credstick near a long dead corpse in Estex armor."
Miraj watches the climbers and studies the structure, circling the base. "I think this is not a monument but zee remnants of what vas once an observation tower. Notice zee stone extending near zee top. It would have supported a platform, probably decayed by now."
"Well, whatever it is, as soon as they get back down we need to head out to the next landmark," the half-elf replies. She glances back down at her comm-unit. "The 'Plague Warden'."
She looks back up and Miraj and smiles at him. "Good job back there, by the way." She leans in and gives him a quick hug before turning and holding up her comm-unit. "Smile," she says before snapping a quick photo.
Taking their time, Johnny and Irhok'zath are able to climb the rough stone of the tower with little difficulty. At the top, they're some 15 feet above the top of the treeline, and the sun blazes fierce and unbroken. Back the way they came, the half-elf and the formian can see the jungle gradually breaking into plains, with groups of yaruks still moving to and fro. In the other direction, however, the jungle continues unabated as it slowly marches up the foothills of the Singing Range.
"Man this is a great view!" comments Johnny as he sweeps his eyes across the vista.
While the others investigate the obelisk, Entiren will move to find a place to sit and rest. Leaning against a nearby tree, he allows himself to relax for the first time since the sniper shot that had startled the Yaruks earlier.
"Well, whatever it is, as soon as they get back down we need to head out to the next landmark," the half-elf replies. She glances back down at her comm-unit. "The 'Plague Warden'."
She looks back up and Miraj and smiles at him. "Good job back there, by the way." She leans in and gives him a quick hug before turning and holding up her comm-unit. "Smile," she says before snapping a quick photo.
Miraj smiles, although it makes him look baffled rather than happy. "Thank you. You did well yourself."
Then Miraj remembers something he did not understand way back when this all started. "What 'work' files?" he asks Diedre without a transitional remark.
"'Work' files," Diedre repeats as if that should mean something to him. When he still doesn't demonstrate any comprehension she rolls her eyes. She fiddles with the controls on her unit and begins to flip through thumbnails of captured video snippets. She doesn't dwell on any particular one, but it's clear that they're all of an intimate and adult nature. In her cabin. In the ship's shower. One is even taken on the bridge. She closes them out and turns back to him.
"'Work' files," she repeats, looking back at him with a grin. "I haven't had a chance to edit or do any post-production work on them yet. And until I do that, I'm not going to just leave them lying around on the ship's server for anyone with computer skills to find." Her grin widens. "If they want to see them, they have to pay for a membership. Just like everyone else."
Miraj gradually understands. First he laughs, saying "I was supposed to get all zhat from 'work' files? ... after nearly getting trampled by brontosauruses and zhen while we were threatened by a mob of creatures who combine zee worst features of monkeys, bats, and scorpions?" He shakes his head. "I thought I was just dense."
Then he got serious and added, "You vanted us to risk our lives against poisonous flying beasts, for something you can easily recreate and zhat you only need to make some credits on zee side? Und zhat is something I would have to pay you to see? You are gorgeous, but I'm not going to risk my neck just for the possibility of paying for pictures of you in zee all together."
He strolls off chuckling and checks out how the monument climbers are doing.
Diedre stands stunned as the sting of Miraj's words sinks in. Not for long, though. She stomps after him, narrowly avoiding tripping after getting tangled in some of the undergrowth.
The half-elf stands with her arms crossed. Her face set in a rigid mask.
As the Starfinders leave the ruined observation tower behind them, they plunge into a word unlike the one they woke up in this morning. Towering trees form a thick canopy, leaving the forest floor in a muggy twilight. Fungi and flowering plants loom overhead, exuding pungent aromas. The air is filled with a cacophony of sights and sounds as animals, plants, and other creatures all vie for attention. The only persistent feature is a sorry contingent of stingbats, who follow the Starfinders from high above and pelt the travelers with shrieks, howls, and the occasional overripe fruit.
"Man, what a great view." Johnny said after climbing back down. "You guys should have gone up. It was worth a few minutes of exercise."