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Stiehle's mouth quirks into a grin as Raatchet starts droning into Razor's ear. At least Grinds should be happy he's not going on about the latest sugar pop recording of that... whatever musical group it is that he likes. Stiehle thinks to himself as he sets up his fleet of four ships to take on the remnants of the Ysoki's squadrons. Luck and skill have seen him this far, he hopes to capitalize on the same for just a few minutes more...
vs Opposed Check
The operative frowns as the most heavily damaged squadron puts his entire formation at risk. If Razor is half as good as she thinks she is, it's likely she'll take advantage. Though Stiehle hopes that maybe with Raatchet in her ear, maybe she'll miss the opportunity.
Razor howls in frustration and rounds on Raatchet. "WILL YOU SHUT UP ABOUT TPS REPORTS!?!"
vs DC 18 (+2 from Raatchet's aid)
Despite his l33t skillz, Razor surges back and manages to destroy one of his armada!
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Stiehle's mentally curses, for a moment there he'd thought that Razor hadn't noticed the weakness, but alas... Taking a breath, he presses forward with a particularly aggressive gambit using his remaining three squadrons, hoping to reduce the ysoki's armada down to a single one.
vs Opposed Check
But too late he realizes that the clever Razor had lured him into a trap. Stiehle tries to circumvent the ambush, but he's going to need for his opponent to make a major mistake to get through this one with all three of his squadrons still intact...
vs DC 18 (+2 from Delea!)
Razor seems heartened from her first blood and she presses the attack, destroying one of Stiehle's armada!
Razor leans forward, totally focused on the game!
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Stiehle tries to center his calm, having been in tight spots before while gaming. He wasn't behind, not yet anyway, he just need to exploit Razor's weaknesses as he did at the beginning of the game...
vs DC 18 Opposed Check
He breathes a sigh of relief as he squeaks out the win by the skin of teeth.
Stiehle takes the round! Now he has two armadas left and Razor has only one!
Stiehle is up first!
Razor leans in to destroy the armada, but maybe it's Delea's loud denunciations of random objects in the room, maybe it's Raatchet's advice on piloting, or maybe it's Grinds' really awkward attempts at shoulder massage on Stiehle, but the shock causes him to twitch at the right moment and he takes the point! Razor has only 1 armada left, while Stiehle has 2!
Razor goes first!
Razor lets out a loud groan and drops the controller. She stares hard at the screen as Stiehle's forces crush her last ships. Finally she sighs. "You got me, kid, fair and square. I'll give Envar a week to pay. Though I'd advise you, he's not a good bet. Kid's more trouble than he's worth. Anyway, you got skills, Malcolm. You ever want a job, you give me a call. I deal fair with those who deal me fair." She pulls out a small packet of brightly colored powder. "Anyway, have a sample. Stuff's legit. First dose is always free." She nods to the bodyguards and they head toward the exit.
Envar suddenly sits bolt upright as if waking from a dream. "WHOA, intense moments there, baby! We need a break!" He jumps to his feet and heads toward the exit.
Envar freezes. "Whoa, baby!" He grabs the pesh and before anyone stop him, has snorted the entirety of the pouch up his nose. His eyes dilate to nearly his entire face as the chems hit his system. He looks at the lights in the bar and lets out a low whistle.
"SO MUCH LIGHT. Baby baby baby, I gotta show you the Observatory. Baby you can see the universe from there, baby. YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING." He speaks in a breathless rush of words, never stopping and not even really focusing on you. He suddenly runs straight at the door without slowing and the android maire d' hits the button to open it just before he runs headlong into it. You can hear him running toward the nearest elevator at top speed, pausing only to take a selfie.
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"Sure was a pleasure, ma'am. I'm damn good at that game, but you sure showed me a trick or two. Might be I'll take you up on that offer, when there's crime to be done. And thanks for the deal, we'll see if we can get our new friend to make things square with you - if only so's he can continue breathing." When Razor is gone, Stiehle has just managed to notice that Raatchet is tempting their stoned patron with the packet of pesh that the ysoki gave them when suddenly Envar grabs it and snorts the entire lot up in a flash! A second later, he's howling about lights and something about an observatory, dashing away toward the elevator.
"Good grief, a man could get old fast chasing after this kid. I'm starting to have serious sympathy for his mother, if she weren't to blame for his upbringing." Then he's moving after Raatchet as they give chase.
The troublesome young man leads you to an elevator, which takes you to a large domed section of the station. "BABY! This place is totally lush I mean totally great it's always so bright so bright so bright baby I mean it's gorgeous to the GORGE a real plum, baby baby, absolutely top shelf nothing fooling..." he drones on as the elevator climbs.
The elevator doors slide open to reveal a chamber with goldenhued metal floor and walls. Plasma screens on the south wall stretch from floor to ceiling and display crisp, breathtaking images of space. A fluorescent mural on the floor depicts the stages of a solar eclipse. Two silver doors to the east and west lead farther into the observatory.
Immediately Envar stumbles forward out of the door and stares intently at the screens on the south wall and murmurs, “I can see, like, the whole universe from here.”
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Raatchet looks at the screens and says, "Yah man you're right! You CAN see the WHOLE... Uhhhh... 'Gorge' universe from here! Uhhhh.. BABY!" Raatchet then turns and while looking over his shoulder at Delea, Raatchet rolls his eyes.
"Hey can we view your infosphere feed on these screens? You must have something AWESOME to say right? C'mon, show your new best friends!"
Envar snaps out of his strange fugue with a muttered "Huh." He wanders over to the western door and leans into a retinal scanner mounted there. It beeps with recognition and the door opens, Envar rushing once more inside!
The sun blazes above the transparent, domed ceiling of this gold metal room. An enormous gray-and-silver telescope is mounted near the western wall and points up toward the ceiling. A halfcircle desk and associated chairs rest near the northwestern wall. A dark-silver control station in front of the northern wall houses twin computer terminals. A set of silver shelves juts out from the northeastern wall, displaying various scientific instruments and tools.
Envar wanders immediately over to the telescope, his eyes unfocused. A holo-projection of Ilia Tamm appears near the telescope and announces, “Guest safety is important to Arch Energy. Only authorized personnel may enter this restricted area.” Envar saunters over to the control panel and lounges in one of the hovering chairs within the console area, spinning it and giggling. “Mother,” he addresses the projection of Ilia, “you never let me play this game when I was a kid. Finally, I’ll get my high score! Check this out!” Envar mashes the buttons on the control panel. A loud droning sound fills the room, and the floor vibrates. The sun above appears brighter as a shield lowers.
No sooner is the shield down than two beings made of solar fire explode into being in the room!
Round 1:
Fiery Guys
Heroes!
The sun-fire guys attack!
for half fire and half bludgeoning damage!
for half fire and half bludgeoning damage!
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Move Action: Tumble away from the fiery guy to avoid an AoO moving to the left while pulling out a laser rifle (illustrated with a green arrow)
Standard Action: Take an overcharged shot at the red fiery guy
"Woah woah!! These guys are on FIRE!! Why do I get the feeling my laser isn't gonna do much damage to these things??? Anyone know what they are? And uh... Envar? What game is this?!?!?!"
True enough the laser does nothing to the fiery people, who Raatchet cannot ID.
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Raatchet says very loudly so that Envar hears, "I think you hit your head a bit too hard in the arena Basher! You're not making any sense about data and missions and ratchets. Just focus on these fiery things so that one, we don't die! And two, so that we can get the high score!!!" Raatchet glances briefly at Envar hoping that he's too stoned to put two and two together.
Raatchet then says quietly to Grinds so that Envar can't hear, "Don't blow our cover yet... I'm still Blaster!" Raatchet then adds, "I'm a bit worried... The only real weapon I have is this laser and those fire things seem immune! Shoulda picked up that cryo pistol I saw on sale the other day..."
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"Gorram it, that burns!" Stiehle blurts out while mentally agreeing with Raatchet's observation and draws his tactical pistol as he feints in one direction, then darts away from the glowing humanoid - though unfortunately his injury causes him to move too slow, allowing it to take another swipe at him. Once he gets clear, the operative steadies himself against the wall and takes a shot!
vs DC 15 + 1.5*CR
vs KAC
Piercing
Grinds' pummeling fists hit the squishy solar elemental and it explodes into burning goo as it falls! Stiehle's shot plugs the other solar elemental, who leaks burning goo, but doesn't fall yet!
The elemental seems single-minded and resists most of the damage, though it still staggers slightly!
ROUND 2:
The elemental takes a guarded step toward Delea and swings again! for half bludgeoning and half fire damage!
Between Grinds' fist and the bullets from Stiehle, the elemental collapses into molten goo. Envar lets out a whoop of excitement as the shields rise back up to cover the windows.
"BRILLIANT! I mean, space age, baby! You guys are just the best!" He hops up to take a selfie with the downed elementals and it pops up in your feed with the caption 'Envar and Friends 1, Sun 0!'
"Oh man, that was golden, but we should totally leave pretty soon - security will definitely be coming up to investigate that!" He walks over to the eastern door and opens it, revealing a storage room.
Two silver doors to the northwest and southwest admit entrance into this chamber with gold metal flooring. Metal shelving covers the eastern walls, while four mounted telescopes fill the center of the room.
"Feel free to take anything you need. I mean, I own the company so it's not stealing." Envar makes a grand 'help yourself' gesture.
A locked storage unit contains 3 sets of casual stationwear, a standard hideaway limb (arm), a radiation buffer armor upgrade, two sprayflesh cans, and a least graviton crystal.
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"So not real gold? Rats!"
Raatchet will take a peek through one of the telescopes while saying, "Security is on the way? Don't suppose they'll be more than, say, 10 minutes you think? Would be nice to take a breather. Of course we can always take a breather back at the gas bar... Get it? Breather? Gas bar?"
Raatchet looks up from the telescope and at the party hoping...waiting... for a laugh...
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Delea swallows a bit of bile and then moves over near Envar, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Envar, dear, could you show us your mother's office? I've always wondered what a truly high class office like that looks like." Her friends are surprised by the change to her voice. The difference is subtle, but it's less motherly and more feminine.
"Mother's office? Yeah, baby, I can take you there. It's groovy, beyond space-age. I’m the only other employee who has access. Mother’s office is really plush. I go there sometimes to get away from it all... I mean, when she’s not around." He leads you back to the elevator and keys in the third floor. As the door opens, two Vesk security officers are standing on either side of an ornate door.
They both nod to Envar and step to the side to allow you to pass. Envar pulls out a security key card and runs it through the reader. The door opens with a hiss.
This rectangular room is starkly different from the typical gold and-silver metal decor found throughout the rest of Brilliance. Darkwood credenzas and bookcases complement the wood paneled walls and tan wooden floor here. A model of the Pact Worlds system, sculpted in gold and silver metal, hangs from the ceiling near the center of the room. Framed parchment maps from some ancient era adorn the walls. The lone visible piece of modern technology is a silver computer console affixed to a darkwood desk on the eastern side of the room. A private climate-controlled and air-sealed balcony overlooks open space to the north. Racks lined with dusty bottles stand along the western wall of the office, watched over by an oil painting of a graceful lashunta woman reaching up toward a radiant sun.
"Voila, baby. Mother's den, where she weaves her webs, baby."