Piggy and Lucky examine the northern door , unscrew the front panel and do a quick bit of creative rewiring. With an affirmative beep, the door slides open, revealing a long metal hallway beyond and two mounds of dirt and rocks sitting right up next to the door. Before you can take a closer look, the piles shudder and extend pseudopod-like masses, swinging them towards the two door-openers!
----
One of the two rocky creatures is surprisingly quick to act. It draws back its packed-gravel pseudopod and swings it at Piggy! Thankfully, Porker pulls the ysoki out of harm's way and the limb smashes into the ground instead.
|||||ROUND 1|||||
Green Rockbro
0689: 0/18 SP
Gear: 20/20 SP 19/22 HP
Boytoy: 20/30 HP
Keskodai: 28/28 SP 27/30 HP
Lucky: 21/21 SP
Sparky: 30/30 HP
Altronus: 29/32 SP
Piggy: 18/18 SP
Porker: 27/30 HP
Blue Rockbro
Bold may go!
Special Defenses please?
Keskodai will cast mind thrust II at the blue Rockbro. He will also tell people whatever he learns from his Mysticism check.
”These two mounds are non-humanoid earth elementals! They're a type of outsider from the plane of earth that doesn't bleed, isn't subject to critical hits, and can't be paralyzed, poisoned, put to sleep, or stunned.”
Will DC 17 half
Altronus runs towards the nearest rockbro snatching his mote as he goes. It transforms into a golden blade just as he thrusts his arm at the creature.
Porker takes a guarded step back, and wiggles his ears. "OINK. " It drops It's jaw and discharges a large blast of laser at the elemental.
Keskodai knows that these don't have too many unusual defenses beyond what he picked up earlier. The only additional thing he recalls is that their mental defenses tend to be poor... He follows up with a blast of psychic energy that assaults the mind of one of the two earth elementals! The elemental shakes for a moment before it appears to lose cohesion. The larger rocks simply dissolve as the smaller gravel pieces spill out onto the ground. At the center of the elemental, a small metal tag inscribed with an arcane rune drops to the ground and snaps in half.
Lucky, Sparky and Altronus follow up with a pair of laser blasts and a quick slash of solar energy. All three attacks land in quick succession against the remaining earth elemental. As the second elemental starts dissolving, 0689's supercharged shot strikes it and obliterates the remains! Once again, a small metal tag drops out and breaks in two.
The intercom crackles to life, a growling crackle emitting from the speaker "You... You won't fffind the rest of my forces so easy to defffeat! Turrn bakhhhh now. Whhile you still khhhan!" But despite the voice's words, you don't see any other elementals approaching.
”So that went well!”
|
Piggy smiles. "Wow! They were like toys! Nicely done, all! " He goes over and picks up a tag, curious. While examining it, he mentions, "The alien leader, he didn't mention two exiles, did he? I wonder who our new friend was, and how he got here. "
After the group is ready, he hops back onto Porker and hops down the hall. He checks the next door for traps.
Piggy and Porker cruise ahead through the scattered gravel remains of their foes. At the door at the end of the hall, Piggy doesn't spot any traps. The door itself also isn't secured in any way. With a pull of the handle on the door, it slides open and reveals a small circular chamber dominated by a long L-shaped plastic table. Foldable chairs sit at their positions next to the table, while a stack of plastic plates and cutlery rests at one end. All of the plastic looks like its color is badly faded from a once-rich burgandy.
Piggy doesn't spot any more of the elementals. At least, not yet.
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Piggy shrugs. "Perhaps. Though this stuff appears old. Maybe he's the last one from a colony or outpost. " More interested in the table, Piggy slowly. Slowly. Moves his way along the table, looking for food. If none is to be found, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the last candy bar. Ooh... with nuts! Then, he takes his hands over to the next door and checks it out.
Altronus considers the table for a moment but makes no comment. He follows along with his weapon ready as well.
Piggy and 0689 check the door forward and find it to be both unlocked and untrapped. It opens up to another hallway and another door that proves to be similarly accessible. They slide it open without any trouble.
In the room beyond, short supply lockers line the walls of a thirty foot wide circular room. Varied pieces of equipment are visible within some of the open lockers, while other equipment lies piled on the floor in front of hastily cleared storage units. The equipment appears to be a mix of ancient weapons, armor, and mining and prospecting equipment. Some of the metal lockers here remain closed, though none sport any kind of lock. Another door leaves this chamber to the southwest.
As you begin investigating the room, the intercom crackles to life once again. "I was supposed to khhhill the Skkhhy Warrden. It was my destiny to use the tekkhhhnology hhere to do it! And now, you've stolen that destiny fffrom me! You'll pay ffffor thhhhat! Khhome any khhloser and you approach your deathhh!" The voice grinds and crackles with bitterness.
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Piggy looks at the equipment curiously. This looks like it would be at home on Akiton. Perhaps the residents of Tasch would appreciate a care package. He turns to the speakers, irritated. "Kill the Sky Warden? Why would you want to do that?" He then shrugs, not really caring if he garners a reply.
He then moves to the door and checks it out.
Lucky searches through the lockers and the pile of ancient, discarded gear and surprisingly manages to scavenge a few interesting items. She finds a functional, but bulky, set of armor sized for a squat humanoid but quickly resizable to most Pact Worlds races . Tucked into the back of one locker is a pair of unconventional blasting charges, designed to discharge electricity into conductive materials .
Meanwhile Piggy checks the door and finds no obvious traps or locks on it. The voice crackles and rumbles over the intercom "To lead the Khh'tekh bakhhh to the stars! I would hhhave bekhhhhome the greatest in many generatttions! You skkkhhhy travelers would never understand."
"They can take the credit as far as I'm concerned."
Altronus nods to lucky and does just that.
Keskodai dutifully follows the group.
Piggy slides one door open, and then Altronus steps up to open the door immediately afterward. As the slightly rusty door slides aside, you see an immense circular room with a domed ceiling. Computer screens and databanks line the inner walls, with wheeled plastic chairs providing access to their associated terminals. The room's walls and ceiling have been carefully textured and shaped to resemble a vast underground cavern, while the faux-stone archways around each of the doors leaving the chamber suggest an ancient dwarven architectural style.
Before you have much time to dwell on any of these things, you notice that the chamber is occupied. Two of the elementals you encountered earlier rise menacingly in front of the door, while a lone Khh'tekh stands behind them. The Khh'tekh is heavily kitted out in ancient Pact Worlds gear, with light armor covering its torso, a bulky rifle in its claws, and a keen edged blade strapped to its chest. The moment you open the door, it raises the rifle and bellows out "ATTAAAAAKHHH!!!"
---
Despite its attempt to spur them to action, the elementals are slow to respond and the party has a chance to strike first!
||||Round 1||||
0689: 0/18 SP
Keskodai: 28/28 SP 27/30 HP
Lucky: 21/21 SP
Sparky: 30/30 HP
Altronus: 29/32 SP
Piggy: 18/18 SP
Porker: 27/30 HP
Red Rockbro
Blue Rockbro
Mysterious Khh'tekh
Gear: 20/20 SP 19/22 HP
Boytoy: 20/30 HP
Bold May Go!
Meanwhile, Porker needs no instruction. He drops his jaw and lets out a mighty "OINK " to accompany his laser blast.
Believing that what worked once, should work again, Keskodai casts mind thrust II on the blue elemental.
Will DC 17 half
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Gear grins and turns to boytoy.
Boytoy? Annhilate.
Boytoy's chest opens up, and a blast of laser fire shoots forth from his chest cavity!
(Through Cover, penetrating (Ignoress 1 hardness) )
Boytoy's cannon sparks a few times and then.. doesn't do anything. Gear glares at him.
[b]Now is NOT the time to be having performance anxiety![/dice]
Gear meanwhile, pulls out her own laser pistol and takes a shot.
Altronus can't really say that he was surprised to open the door and immediately see enemies. Fortunately they put themselves right where he wanted them.
The party unleashes a deadly wave of fire on their opponents! Piggy's laser blast lands squarely in the front-most elemental's amorphous torso, though Porker has some difficulty firing through all other the allied targets in the way. Keskodai's mental blast sends the back elemental reeling as it's mind takes in the psychic energy, nevertheless, it manages to break the psychic link before it can be totally overwhelmed .
Lucky and Sparky send a rain of well aimed lasers (and projectile) straight at the Khh'tekh! Their whole volley lands, scorching and puncturing the alien's exposed claws and abdomen. Altronus follows up with a sweep of his solar weapon, slashing a deep, burning gouge into the elemental next to him, eliminating it!
The blue elemental steps in to take its fallen ally's place and swings around bludgeoning swirl of rock, trying to disable Altronus. It just barely manages to connect, delivering a mass of stone that strikes the solarian's arm.
The Khh'tekh advances forwards, ignoring its severe wounds. With a crackling scream of anger the air around it briefly flashes with patterns of light before a wave of force blasts forward towards almost the whole party! The blast tries to push you all back, and it seems like it might do so for the drones, but with how densely packed you all are, you simply brace yourselves and weather the blast!
Right after recovering from the blast, Gear and Boytoy unleash their attacks, aiming for the Khh'tekh! While Boytoy's laser burns the ceiling, Gear's well aimed shot scorches the Khh'tekh's neck!
||||Round 2||||
0689: 0/18 SP
Keskodai: 28/28 SP 27/30 HP
Lucky: 21/21 SP
Sparky: 30/30 HP
Altronus: 23/32 SP
Piggy: 18/18 SP
Porker: 27/30 HP
Blue Rockbro - 15 damage
Angry Khh'tekh - 31 damage
Gear: 20/20 SP 19/22 HP
Boytoy: 20/30 HP
Bold are up!
With a terrible KKKKRAKKOW!!!! from his overcharged laser rifle, 0689 blasts a fist sized hole through the armor the Khh'tekh was wearing! The force of the blast throws it back and onto the floor of the control room. It doesn't get up.
Lucky and Sparky light up the sole remaining elemental and easily obliterate it with a deadly wave of lasers and rifle fire. Another metal tag falls to the floor and snaps as the elemental evaporates.
With the body of the Khh'tekh smoldering and the siren still wailing in the background, the room ahead appears to be clear of threats.
Advancing into the room, you notice that the screens that line the edges of the room have a wide variety of images. Some seem completely inoperable, worn down by the passage of years. Others display some menus and database folders. And one shows a set of security camera outputs, giving you a view of the chambers you just walked through. Some rooms you don't recognize are also visible: crew quarters, a medical room, some kind of security room, and a hydroponic farm that still seems to be functional.
Additionally, the terminals around this room appear to be unsecured.
Porker takes the onslaught, processors working overtime on targeting commands.
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Despite his excellent reflexes, Piggy is unable to dodge the blast of force. He is blown back, bruises appearing on his soft skin. "Hey, crazy-face! That was rude! " Even after the alien falls, Piggy goes over to his body to stare at his rudeness. "Man, what was wrong with this guy? Rude. "
After getting over himself, Piggy waddles over to the keyboards and plops into a chair. "What can we see here? First, let's check for any more rock-buddies in the rooms we haven't been too. Second, let's check for that super death laser meant to kill the... " Piggy scrunches up his face and sticks out his tongue. "Shhhhhkkyy Warrrddennnnn. Ha! "
”Are you all having survived without injury?”
Lucky, Piggy and Gear begin working on the computers, easily bypassing the pathetic password protection. Within the computers' databanks, you find a wealth of information on the outpost.
Digging into the databanks, you find that the Clanholdings representatives manning the outpost had located a wide variety of high-value mineral deposits in the near vicinity. Their data covers an area of about 50 miles radius around the outpost and about a mile deep through the planet's rocky crust. Beyond the rocky outer layer, they found solid shells of skymetals: Noqual, Siccatite, Adamantine and finally Orichalcum. Believing this to be the find of the century (or millennium) they made a pact to keep the data secret. A few entries describe their exploratory forays into the first layer of Noqual, close to the surface. Anticipated sale prices on just their initial haul rack up to more than a million credits.
The exuberant entries cut off abruptly, leaving about a week's gap, and then a single message:
"Our scans were wrong. Unknown entities sealed below Noqual layer. We restored the seal as well as we could, but something escaped. Doc is sure that the madness affecting everyone in the Clan outpost is being spread by that thing. Our scans show that the Besmaran Whelp we saw on the the way in is mobilizing. Captain Hazvra is sure it intends to obliterate the thing and us at the same time. Can't tell if that's the madness talking."
"Not likely we'll be able to get past the Whelp in our shuttle. We've agreed to do our best to prevent any more of these things escaping. That's all we can do in the time we have left.
- Pavril Steelfathom"
Accompanying the message is a large datafile covering the locations that they breached the Noqual layer and the structural integrity of their new seals.
----
From what Lucky and Piggy can tell from the available security camera feeds, there should be no other elementals (or any other threats) remaining in the complex. There's no evidence on the computers of any way to kill the Sky Warden. In fact, it seems the Ulrikka Clanholdings members had no way to deal with it once it was active.