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Inix watches Saeron closely. "I suppose you are a loyal member of the tribe. And if you somehow got us food from the weaklings, that is a wonderful answer!" The yeti stands tall, hands above his head. "FOOD FOREVER!" He then turns to Rora and stares. Just, stares... "You are a true yeti. I see that. As I have always known. And stronger than the swamp ghost. Still impressive..."
He nods. "Alright. We will join you. We will stay away from the swamp and the highlands, if we get food from the weaklings and the ghost leaves us alone." The crowd cheers. "YETIS YETIS YETIS!"
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You head back across the vault, your feet beginning to hurt as you trek more miles. You notice that, though you've been in the vault for over 12 hours, the light levels have stayed the same the entire time. If it weren't for your technological time pieces, you would be wondering if any time had passed at all.
But, after a few hours of hiking, you make it back over the rise and see the small idyllic farming village. As you approach, gnoll children run ahead of you, calling out to the homes, "They're back! They outsiders are back!" With such a preceding committee, it is no wonder that Corev is waiting for you in the town square. She plants hands on her hips and smiles. "Welcome back, friends. The council has met, and made a decision. But before we speak, we must know. Did they yetis bend to your will?" She looks at your curiously, a little anxious. You know what she needs to hear, though a little extra assurances won't hurt.
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You can trust us on this.
...probably. I mean, I know you can trust us, but you don't know that a priori, but your previous interactions with us were honest, and you have no reason to assume that would change, but...
Tamon goes on for quite a while, second-guessing himself.
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Corev looks at you and nods. ”Good. That was all the council needed to hear. We bow before your superior diplomacy. Thank you for keeping our younglings safe.” She bends a knee to you, in humility.
At that moment, a loud sound, almost like a cannon, echoes throughout the vault! You look around in surprise, but it seems no one is hurt. After a few more seconds, all is silent. Corev looks at each of you curiously. ”I’ve never heard a sound like that before. I hope that is something in your plan…” She shakes the doubt away, clapping her hands. ”Little ones, bring our friends the gifts!” Three little gnoll children run up, bearing boxes! The mayor picks them up and explains. ”We stumbled across some unfamiliar technologies while preparing our fields. A few we have found uses for, but the rest we just
piled up in a storage room.” She holds out the first box. ”I offer you these in thanks.” Among the piles of useless items in the boxes - like broken data storage drives, electric forks, and hair straighteners - are some truly valuable treasures: a mk 1 null-space chamber and 300 credits worth of gemstone!
It seems like that booming noise came from the center of the vault. Perhaps the temple?
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Rora accepts the tribute with a grin and a stylish flip of her hair. "Thank you, thank you." She waves at her fans. "And now we must be off! We'll be back soon."
She waves at her companions, gesturing for them to follow her. "Come on. Let's check out that temple. Then we can see if the door is open."
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The group leaves the village, heading towards the central temple. It takes some time, but eventually you finish you trek, laying eyes on the temple. It appears the same as before, but this time there is a single door, cleanly cut from the impenetrable stone. You all take a deep breath and enter.
Right away you see that the temple holds a single circular room 30 feet in diameter. Compared to the dim light outside, the interior of this circular room is quite bright. The source of the illumination is a clear central pillar approximately 10 feet in diameter, which pulses with a continuous series of bright bursts of blue light that travel up and down the interior. Around the perimeter of the chamber, numerous terminals and instruments are embedded in the white walls that provide readouts on a range of information, both biological and technological.
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The group looks around the room while Zak tries to find out how to close that darn door! Saeron and Rora do their best, but they are unable to decipher anything from the terminals! OP-1 is busy looking at it but then... When Tamon goes to touch the terminal, to look deeper at the data, there is a loud THUNK from behind you! You turn as the door to the room vanishes, replaced by solid, featureless concrete as a cool, mechanical voice speaks. “Greetings, interlopers. Your behavior thus far has been noted. Final adjustments to the study have been made, and the building has been sealed for your personal safety. Commencing Duskmire sterilization protocols. Thank you!” With that, a deep and ominous hum fills the room!
Medrick
Tamon
Zak
OP-1
Rora
Saeron
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Tamon and OP-1 work together to access one of the terminals. Within, they begin scouring the log of active programs. Oddly enough, neither finds any "sterilization" protocols currently operating. However, they do find a record of previous experiments with the following note: Gnolls: 2, Yetis: 3, Unicorn: 3.
Medrick looks around and finds a sliding panel in the wall! Opening it, he finds 750 UPBs!
The hum begins to rise in pitch, continuing over several seconds. At the same time, the light in the center of the room grows very bright! The voice returns, this time louder! "YOU HAVE DOMINATED THE LESSER BEINGS. CONGRATULATIONS. YOU ARE THE SUPERIOR GROUP. YOUR AGGRESSION HAS BEEN NOTED. STERILIZATION PROTOCOLS UNDERWAY."
Medrick
Tamon
Zak
OP-1
Rora
Saeron
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Saeron listens closely and realizes that the hum is not coming from the central power source, but speakers in the walls! The rest of the group fumbles around for a few moments. Then, there is a loud, bass rumble and the lights go dark for a moment before returning to normal! Saeron is quick to point out that the rumble has also come from the wall speakers. This doesn't stop the voice from coming out just as strong, "STERILIZATION PROTOCOLS NEARING COMPLETION."
"YETIS...STERILIZED."
"UNICORN...STERILIZED."
"GNOLLS...STERILIZED."
Then, with a hiss, the concrete slab moves and sunlight pours into the chamber! You are freed. Freed to go back into the world, whatever that may look like.
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Saeron looks around, taking in the size of the structure. "I don't have anything that'd help, that's for sure," she responds to Zak and Tamon.
"Let's find out what this... sterilisation was all about," she announces, looking concerned, as she heads for the door.
She gives an angry shake of her head as she make her way outside, muttering "Do all the chambers of this moon house such cruel simulations?"
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You all head back out the doors, and all seems… the same. The more thorough among you go back into the temple to run a few more tests. Now, with time to fully scan the room, you confirm that the pillar in the center is a sensor node with massive energy usage and output. You further learn that the information gathered by the equipment in the room is being sent somewhere else, but exactly where remains unknown! Continued scanning and skill checks reveal that penetrating the security features and understanding the nature of the high-tech equipment in the room likely requires several months of dedicated effort from Starfinder technicians. Despite several attempts to reach out, the disembodied voice controlling the vault doesn’t respond or connect to you at all.
With the simulation seemingly finished, your first thoughts are escape. You return to the door of the vault and find it to be unlocked and open! The group rushes out, away from the heat and the eternal dusk, into the halls of the station. It seems like it’s been an eternity, even though it’s been barely more than a day. But you walked many miles in that time and are looking forward to a good night’s sleep! But first, time to report! You are ushered to Venture-Captain Vex. The senior Starfinder is immensely relieved to see you, and congratulates the group on a job well done. ”Starfinders! Welcome back! We were very frightened for you when the force field closed off the vault! I feared you would be difficult to rescue.” He listens to your whole tale in rapture, then calls out to an assistant. ”Solus! Call of opening vault 210! No more further investigations for the time being.” He turns back to you all, smiling. ”We should be focusing instead on studying the temple’s technology and extracting any survivors from the vault. You did well saving all of them. It would seem that was not in the original plan!”
Despite the controlling intelligence’s initial claim that only one group would be allowed to leave, it does not prevent the Starfinders from removing all of the resident groups from the experiment chamber. None of the simulation’s inhabitants wish to stay within their artificial habitat, but they are poorly equipped for the world that they have been thrust into. Even the best of the yetis are addicted to the endemic narcotics, while the worst of the tribe soon sets about trashing the Starfinder Society’s holdings on Salvation’s End with destructive parties. Sparklemane is deeply alienated by the technological surroundings of the Starfinder’s current operations and still feels invested in protecting “her” swamp even if she chooses to depart from it. She only had to be knocked out once, when a team of scientists tried to enter the swamp. The members of Corev’s tribe are the most likely to adapt to a new life in the Pact Worlds, but the jarring shift in technology and the threatening stereotypes about gnolls commonplace among most Pact Worlds species ensures that even these cooperative creatures will have a difficult time adjusting. All in all, a successful mission, and many lives saved!