The moment Antares' force bolts arc out over the heads of the crowd and impact upon Bogdin's chest, the crowd erupts into outright panic. Screaming, they rush both towards the fire exit and the doors of the club, pushing past each of you in the process. Bogdin clutches at his chest for a moment, then spits black oil on the ground.
"Now- you've done it!" His shrill scream is barely audible over the crowd. He snarls inaudibly at the two vesk, then points at his most hated member of the Starfinder team, Antares! Bogdin and both of the vesk raise pistols and deliver a rain of laser fire and electric blasts through the crowd. From the way they fire, they have little regard for the lives of any of the visitors.
While some of the bolts catch fleeing patrons, two of the laser blasts catch the technomancer instead.
Hearing Savoy's pleas, the two android bartenders throw glass bottles at the nearest of Bogdin's two cronies.
... with one of the bottles striking the vesk cleanly in the head! Both androids duck behind the bar, hoping to avoid any retaliatory fire.
|||| ROUND 2 ||||
Xenal
Antares-1 (concealed, 7 damage)
Breq (concealed)
Master Filament
Weoren
Bogdin (12 dmg)
Orange Vesk
Red Vesk (3 dmg)
Savoy
Bold are up!
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Seeing Antares get hit by some stray laser fire Savoy telepathically sends some encouraging words to make the technomancer feel better as he moves forward pushing his way through the crowd, shoving them aside as he looses valuable time to deal with the people bumping into him
" ..it's not so bad, you'll feel better soon..just keep moving to prevent your muscles from tensing up too much.."
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I might have miscalculated their response, I have endangered these civilians. The android thinks with a tinge of regret, even as she is struck by one of the laser blasts. Then she is moving, weaving through the crowd to take cover near the bar as her allies close in on the bad guys blocking their way out. She sends a quick mental response to Savoy, thanking the mystic for his assistance if he is able to keep the mental channel open.
Breq, Savoy and Master Filament approach through the crowd. Antares, thanks to Savoy's calming words, manages to take cover and refocus herself.
As much of the party weaves its way through the crowd, approaching Bogdin and his cronies carefully, Xenal charges out of the fog and lands a glancing blow with her pike. Weoren springs at the enemy group from an angle they definitely weren't expecting, landing his own deadly blow.
Bogdin spins around in confusion and rage. Black spittle flies from his mouth as he shouts "Kill them already! What do I pay you for, you louts!?" He takes a step away from Weoren, pointing his pistol at the nuar. In his rage, he momentarily forgets the presence of other party members coming up from the other side.
The injured vesk draws out a knife from a slot on her armor and thrusts it back at Xenal. The knife sneaks in past Xenal's guard and scores a shallow gash.
Meanwhile, the other vesk follows his employers orders and spins around to fire at the nuar newcomer. While one of this two shots flies wide, the second is cunningly aimed, taking Weoren in the face.
---
|||| ROUND 3 ||||
Xenal (7 damage)
Antares-1 (concealed, 2 damage)
Breq (concealed)
Master Filament
Weoren (7 damage, burning)
Bogdin (12 dmg)
Orange Vesk
Red Vesk (14 dmg)
Savoy
Bold are up!
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Seeing Weoren catch fire Savoy moves closer as he pulls out a fire extinguisher and telepathically let's Weoren know
" ..don't worry..if the fire won't stop on it's own in the next few second I'll put it out..relief is on it's way, you won't even scare..don't worry about it..but it might help if you could get a bit closer to me.."
In rapid succession, the party springs into position to deliver one attack after another. Xenal's pike easily strikes through the red vesk's light armor, and as she pulls it out, the red vesk staggers unsteadily on her feet. Weoren takes the opportunity to finish her off with a quick strike with his starknife.
Master Filament's twin attacks against Bogdin not only miss, but fail to draw the verthani's attention. But Breq gets in immediately afterward and lands a sneaky stab to his back! He takes only a single sharp intake of breath before his eyes roll back in their sockets and he collapses to the ground.
With only a single vesk left, Antares sends her rain of magic missiles at orange. The bodyguard cowers under the blows, and as soon as they're done, he tosses his pistol to the ground and raises his hands in the air.
"I give up. I don't want to die over this shithead." He nudges Bogdin's unconscious body with his foot.
The crowd streams past all of you as they rush madly for the exits.
----
|||| ROUND 4 ||||
Xenal (7 damage)
Antares-1 (concealed, 2 damage)
Breq (concealed)
Master Filament
Weoren (7 damage, burning)
Bogdin (21 dmg, unconscious)
Orange Vesk (11 dmg, surrendering)
Red Vesk (23 dmg)
Savoy
Still in initiative in case you want to try to finish the vesk and/or help Weoren
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Breq grabs Bogdin and trusses him up. "I say we tied him to the pods he was so willing to sell. We'll see who arrives first, the police or his freed androids. " That said, she turns to the bar. Approaching, she pulls two business cards from her pocket. They say:
ANDY'S FISH AND FARM EMPORIUM! BEST IN THE WEST! ABSALOM STATION'S PREMIER FISH AND FARM OUTLET!
She nods to each of them, seriously. "Call this number. Ask for Andrew Anderson, three times. They'll get you somewhere safe. " she looks around disdainfully. "And civilized. "
At Master Filament's show of mercy, the remaining vesk immediately turns and joins the crowd fleeing the establishment. Shortly afterwards, Weoren finds the flames licking at his armor extinguished by a cloud of quickly-vaporizing foam from Savoy's extinguisher.
The two androids cautiously get up from where they took cover behind the bar. They survey the rapidly emptying room and lock impassive stares on Bogdin's unconscious body. One of them takes a spare bottle at hurls it with all her strength, shattering it against his torso, while the other clenches and unclenches her fists.
At Breq's approach, both give small bows "There are some others Bogdin sealed up for sale. Ex-employees. We'll gather them and get out of here." Kosmos-13 shakes Breq's hand, murmuring "Thank you, we'll remember this." before both of them head towards the back room. Within a minute or two, a whole dozen freed androids emerge from the fire escape and stream towards the front entrance of the club.
You leave the bound and dying Bogdin tied to one of the transportation pods in the back and make your own escape. Surprisingly, despite the chaos, there seems little to no police response in the streets, giving you plenty of time to get back to the spaceport.
----
Upon arriving back to Absalom Station, Arvin is waiting at the docks, a few assistants with him. He pulls your group aside with a "You're back not a moment too soon! There was a forth dream-tale from the Dreamer the moment you got your hands on the final fragment, as if it was waiting for us. Listen to this!" He gestures to one of his assistants, who recites:
"The Herdsman sails on,
The Prize you seek inside,
A Shadow awaits."
As the assistant speaks, Arvin takes the three fragments and lays them out on a fold-out table, fitting them together to form the original tablet they came from. As he works, he says "It took us some investigation, but we believe the first line refers to Preahan, a moon of Liavara. Other Dreamers once built a mausoleum to house their ascended kin there, deep within. What we're looking for must be inside. Based on context from the other dreams, I believe the 'prize' refers to a tool to augment a Dreamer's natural capabilities. It may even be a Somnium Bubble... in which case..." Arvin loses himself for a moment in excited thought over the impact of such a find.
"Well, if it is a Somnium Bubble, you'll need this." He passes you a small, thermos-looking device. "You can use this to draw it in and contain it. You'll recognize the bubble immediately; it induces dreams even in those completely awake. As for the last line- the Shadow- it might refer to the Prize itself, or something else. I'm not sure. You'll have to be prepared for anything."
Turning his attention back to the tablet, he quickly exclaims "Aha!" as he manages to slot the three fragments together so they sit tightly against one another. "The fourth dream told us where to go, so this completed tablet must do more than just show the way. I think it probably also serves as a key of some sort." He passes the completed tablet back to your group.
"Take the Loreseeker and make your way to Preahan, I'll brief you on some specifics once you're there."
As the gas giant Liavara comes into view, the Loreseeker’s communications station activates and a pre-recorded hologram of Venture-Captain Arvin blips into existence. "By the time you get this, Preahan should be right nearby. Most of Preahan’s atmosphere is comprised of methane, but don’t worry, the atmosphere doesn’t contain enough oxygen for combustion. Still, each of you should take precautions and wear protective gear at all times. The methane creates harsh conditions on the surface as well. There is currently a storm raging, but there’s no time to wait it out. These storms can last for months. It's going to be a rough landing and rough on the surface, but I know you can tough it out."
"Our goal is inside. The core of the moon is hollow and filled with liquid methane. The repository is likely suspended somewhere near the core. I have coordinates for a landing spot close to a tunnel that reaches all the way to the core. Good luck on this mission, Starfinders."
As the message ceases, you see Preahan fill your ship's viewscreen. As Arvin's message said, the surface is badly obscured by a riot of methane-ice storms. Despite your possible apprehension, the Loreseeker enters into a careful automated approach, following navigation data that Arvin's assistants provided. The entire ship rattles as you descend into the storm, shields pummeled from all sides, but you manages to make it down to the surface.
According to scans from the ship, you've landed a mere 300ft from the tunnel opening, at the closest open landing spot. Nevertheless, the approach from here is likely to be dangerous until you can get to the relatively protected interior. The external cameras show an opaque blue-white whirling hurricane of ice, while temperature indicators show temperatures below -250 F.
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Antares takes Arvin's word on the likely translation of the dream-tale. "What can you tell us of this moon named Preahan? And this Somnium Bubble?" She asks curiously.
As they approach their destination, the technomancer checks her armor reflexively, though as an android, she is not susceptible to dangerous atmosphere as are other life forms.
"The moon? We don't know too much about it beyond what I've mentioned already. It's one of Liavara's shepherd moons, meaning it both contains and influences the ring of ice and dust that surrounds the ice giant. And the interior should include large pockets of liquid methane."
"As for Somnium Bubbles? Rumor has it that they're the psychic remnant left behind when a Dreamer ascends. I'm not sure I believe that. But what we do know if that they can make a living Dreamer's powers of prediction far stronger. If Whisperer of Solar Winds were to obtain one, who knows what fascinating new leads it might be able to provide?"
----
You notice that Arvin has stashed away a set of exosuits on the Loreseeker to protect you against the incredible cold. They can be worn over your armor to increase its environmental protections. Once you all get them on, you survey the readouts regarding the environment outside.
Extreme cold, hurricane strength winds, unsteady terrain, and low gravity. All combined, it makes for an exceptionally hazardous trek to the tunnel into the moon's interior. You'll need to use teamwork to make your journey in one piece.
---
Emerging from the ship, the wind and ice-hail lash at you with incredible force, almost bowling over the lighter members of your party on the first gust. Breq, Xenal and Antares lead the way, with the two androids showing how best to stay stable against the gusts while Xenal keeps the worst ones from bowling the whole group over.
Master Filament and Savoy step up after that, with the ysoki grabbing a quick hold of Antares when she loses her balance, and Savoy scouting out outcropping to duck under to get some measure of protection.
Expecting the entrance to the tunnel right ahead, everyone grabs a hold of Weoren and Savoy, who were lagging slightly behind, and makes a mad dash for safety. Before long you find yourselves in a shaft winding down into the interior of the moon.
---
A short search of the tunnel reveals that it ends in a vertical shaft descending into a liquid methane pool. It quickly becomes clear that going down into the pool is your only way inwards. Your suits are strong enough to resist the icy liquid, but between the low gravity and low density of the fluid, swimming through it is going to be slow going.
You dive down into the liquid. Illumination from your suits shows two narrow passageways under-"water", each one seemingly descending deeper into the interior of the moon. It's hard at a glance to determine which one to take, and if you pick the wrong one, you'll lose valuable time and energy backtracking.
Breq notices a few tiny bubbles of ice drifting out of one of the two tunnels and leads the party through that tunnel. You continue swimming along, pulling yourselves manually through tighter sections and navigating around forest-like aggregations of stalactites. You make excellent progress until you spot a section up ahead where the tunnel is partially collapsed. While there are enough gaps between the rocks to see that the tunnel continues, there isn't enough space to squeeze through.
Savoy and Breq take the lead on this obstacle, with Breq identifying the right pieces of rubble to move to most quickly clear the obstruction and Savoy providing the critical elbow-grease. Soon enough each of you is able to wriggle through the gap formed and continue swimming through the tunnel.
Barely a few minutes after you pass the collapsed section of the tunnel, the passage begins to branch, this time into half a dozen twisty little passages, all alike. All along the walls in this section are masses of strange glowing runes inscribed into the stone. Maybe some of them can help to point the right way?
Breq proves a resourceful guide (for both legal matters and liquid-methane-filled tunnels) yet again as she decodes the runes. Savoy backs up her conclusions with absolute confidence and directs your group from one twisty little passage to another. As you follow her, the tunnel you've been taking slowly widens as side passages join it. Strange, twisted outcroppings become more and more numerous, formed into oddly organic looking shapes that alarm you as you spot them with the light from your suits.
Suddenly, you're all caught by an intense sideways current, dragging you off from your intended path and into a set of narrow channels!