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Alton crouches over and weaves in-between his allies who are returning fire to the goblins. He looks at the glowing creature, and waves his hands to get its attention.
As a standard action, you can fake out an enemy within 60 feet, making that enemy open to your attacks. Attempt a Bluff check with the same DC as a check to feint against that enemy (though this isn’t a standard check to feint, so Improved Feint and Greater Feint don’t apply). Even if you fail, that enemy is flat-footed against your attacks (see page 276) until the end of your next turn. If you succeed, the enemy is also flat-footed against your allies’ attacks until the end of your next turn. You can’t use clever feint against a creature that lacks an Intelligence score.
Markar recognises the glowing creature as a Spicodranth. These creature bask in sunlight and have learned to absorb bright light and use it for their defense. Their armor increases as light levels increase (those bright camera lights don't help!), and if they are attacked by fire or energy, there's a chance they turn it back on the wielder!
That's enough information for Markar to hesitate ()
The balls of force by Id-Sinitis create a mesmerizing lightshow, and slam into the enemies.
Jim and OP-1 each take out a goblin, in the loudest, flashiest way possible. Blasto drops flaming death onto the last goblin, leaving only the reptoid creature, which is thoroughly confused by Alton's antics.
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OP-1
Jim
Blasto
Alton
Markar
Id-Sinitis
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Strange glowing creature (13)
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Markar finds that it also has sharp claws. Fortunately, he manages to dodge them.
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OP-1
Jim
Blasto
Alton
Markar
Id-Sinitis
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Strange glowing creature (13)
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Alton gets his knife out, while Jim closes in, filling the corridor with loud engine noise. OP-1 joins the knife fight, but it is Markar who steals the show by ending the glowing menace.
...and we'll be right back after a short commercial break. a voice-over can be heard. The camera crew relaxes a bit, and Wazasha comes forward Splendid! I see you're going for a take-no-prisoners kind of style. Do you plan to rush in like this every time?
The support crew sets up the booth again, and takes Alton aside
Alton, how did you feel about being commanded by Markar like that?
...and we're back! Our adventurers have found an open place - it looks like these goblins did a great job blasting a hole in the moon! The next corridor is hard to reach, though. Look at that! It's at least twenty feet off the ground, looks like they'll have to climb up!
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Alton exits the booth, then ponders for a moment. Did I ramble too much there? Do I really have a problem taking orders from a kasatha? Some of my best friends are kasathan, after all...
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Alton brushes some dust and debris from his hands and knees, then looks down below for the vid-cast crew. Not seeing a camera drone within sight, he speaks to Markar in a hushed tone. "These guys.... they're trying their damnedest to drum up a bunch of drama for this show of theirs."
He looks over his shoulder, then back to the kasathan soldier. "Real talk? You and me? We're golden. I've zero problems. But...." Alton looks once more, hoping he's out of any microphone's range. "... maybe we should play this rivalry up for the trivid cast. What d'ya say?"
OP manages to clamber up, and the height difference is not an issue for Blasto. Markar lends Alton a hand, though there is tension in the air.
Id-Sinitis take a moment to get some screen time.
The camera crew films the struggle of the adeventurers, then follows up by firing several grappler, climbing up and hoisting up the equipment. All while the screens show a montage of the best moments of the fight, and a commercial break.
The region beyond is a large cavern that sparkles with phosphorescent fungi whose caps span as much as 10 feet in diameter. The goblins’ explosion from below has buckled the cavern floor here, leaving a concentric impression in the ground where there appears to have just been unaffected stone before.
Just as the undead camera crew has set up filming equipment again, a short, stocky humanoid woman appears. She looks at the undead crew warily
The woman speaks in a strange language
She looks around and seems alarmed by the undead trailing the party
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Id looks quizzically at the stocky woman, then fishes through his pack for his spell gem of share language. He casts the spell and politely extends his hand to her, welcoming her to touch it and trigger the spell. ”We are Starfinders sent to explore this false moon for noteworthy treasures or inhabitants. Do you reside here? Do not mind the undead, they are here documenting our voyage.”
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Under his mask Markar grimaces. This whole thing felt like a dishonorable sham. Still when the cameras catch up with them Markar silently gives Alton a small shove (NOT in the direction of the wall they just scaled) and strides off.
Seeing the newcomer Markar gives her a short bow trying to ease her concerns.
Markar shoves Alton, who feigns annoyance. When he looks toward the monitors near the camera crew, he sees himself in replay, with a brightly-coloured Ooph being overlaid.
Id converses with the dwarf in dwarven, and she fluently answers I speak for my clan. The Marbleheart clan is large, but we split into smaller groups to seek the surface more than a century ago, from a time before my memories. I now lead a band of 43 dwarves, though we are down to 29 after the orcs and earthquakes returned.
When Jim makes his remark, she changes her intonation. While her dwarven was curt but fluent, she suddenly answers in common, with an accent that is really strange: almost flat pronounciation, and very robotic, almost as if a machine is speaking. Yes. This is our root. Will you initialize to travel back with me?
Follow me to my clan. The orcs fought us for centuries, but they fled upward long ago. I heard stories of their towering forms, green skin, and rage as a child, but we only saw them for the rst time a few hundred forge-days ago. They are shorter than I imagined, but just as cruel. Also, they jabber in a language unknown to us, even though I learned the orc language as part of my warrior training. We have always lived below ground, but a generation ago my ancestors answered Torag’s summons—a tremor that called on our people to seek what lies above in the Quest for Sky. There we shall do our god’s will on Golarion’s surface.”
Golarion disappeared during the gap, 318 years ago, leaving only Absalom station
Torag is a major dwarven deity, who disappeared during the Gap.
The dwarf invites the party to visit her clan home.
What do you mean? the dwarfs says to Big Jim We're right here.
You should talk to our priest, Holsin the dwarf responds to Markar, he will be able to answer that question.
As Ylga guides the party toward her clan, she is very wary of the skeleton crew. Wazasha tries to convince Ylga to enter the booth, but fails at the attempts, so instead draws Jim and OP-1 in
What is your theory on the dwarf? Don't you think she acts strange?
Do you trust the dwarf? What will you do if she tries to kill you?
The dwarven camp is located in a large cavern, and seems to be in complete disarray. A dozen dwarves is frantically working around a large boulder, that seems to have come down from a fissure.
Some frantics shouts in dwarven later, Ylga explains This large rocks has come down, and now blocks the entrance to our temple. High priest Holsin is trapped inside.
The program goes into a commercial break, and Wazashi steps up [b]What a great storyline! A trapped dwarf, and you can be the heroes to the rescue. I will set up an audience vote for what to do next!
The program returns, and the audience gets to vote for two options: remove the boulder, or climb through the fissure to enter the back of the temple.
The dwarves explain the difficulties: Removing that rock is going to be very hard, a dwarf explains (promptly causing votes for 'remove the rock' to go up), we'll have to break it to pieces or move it away. Explosives would help (many more votes stream in).
That fissure, see how narrow it is?[ That is never going to work Another dwarf explains, and the votes absolutely stream in. Even if you fit through, there some kind of black ooze in that fissure (more votes) it's very slippery, and I don't trust what it is
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Id nods at the barathu. "Our friend Blasto might be able to help with navigating the fissure. The path seems dangerous, though, probably best that Blasto not go alone."
While surveying the situation, Id checks his comm unit for the online voting and tries to get a read on what would win the most favor with the audience. He also looks around for other clues to help get to the trapped dwarves.
Alton resists the urge to put on sunglasses, even though the camera light in quite bright. There's a dwarf crushed under the rock, and one of the ghoulish camera crewmembers moves toward to pick on the crushed snack, but gets quickly told off by Wazasha.
The votes are in! Wazasha says, You are free to do as you please, of course, but the audience votes "fissure"! Yes, they want you to crawl through that narrow space filled with black goop. Good luck!
Blasto has a close look at the black liquid, and it looks like some kind of synthetic lubricant. It's quite oily, and anyone moving through the fissure will have a hard time not falling over.
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Alton takes in the miserable place he and the rest of his crew find themselves in. A cold, dead rock, accompanied by cold dead tri-vid casting crew, and some loopy dwarves to top it off.
He mutters under his breath to himself. "... guess we're picking the hard place."
He starts pressing his way through the fissure, trying his damnedest to avoid the black goo.
Blasto and Alton make it through the fissure without dirtying themselves too much.
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Moving through the fissure
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OP-1
Jim
Blasto (27)
Alton (19)
Markar
Id-Sinitis
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Hearing the goo is some sort of slick oil OP-1 thinks to himself
"..wouldn't that help with getting through a narrow space?...
But not knowing how long it would take to get rid of the stuff and realizing it might not look good on camera to be covered in goo - unless he goes for the pity/humor approach - OP-1 tries to avoid touching the stuff.
The ghoulish crew make their way through the fissure as well, slathering themselves in the black goop, and making the camera work all the more shaky. The infosphere lights up with messages
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Pfft. Camerawork not as steady as explorer's climbing. #LEE #Stopshaking
Pity we didn't see OP-1 covered in grease #LEE #OP1FTW
Woo! 133t climbing skillz! #LEE #OJBAMI #ZO! #Alreadycantwaitforthesequel
My money was on Big Jim falling in #LEE #BigJim
Surprised that Alton didn't dump Markar in #LEE #AltonVsMarkar
LEE is a sad unfunny so-called show. Utter failure. #LEE
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The fissure end up at a collapsed storage room in the temple, which leads further down into several side rooms that seemed to have been used for various purposes - preparations, small prayers.
The place is tranquil, except for the black oozes that seem to have taken up a life of their own.
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The black creatures announce their presence by spitting globs of acid at Alton and OP-1
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Jim
Blasto
OP
Markar
Id-Sinitis
Alton
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Black mess
Black mess
Black mess
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Oh no! #LEE #Dontmelttheandroid
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"Can someone tell our viewers what these globs are?"
OP-1 then takes a few quick steps forward and does a quick turn hurking down on one knee, his weapon hand going faster then the rest of his body and he shoots before he lines up looking at one of the black messes extending his arm heroically straight out.
(dc 20+target's CR)
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Alton reels in pain from the acid, then scrambles to put a wall between him and his assailant. As he heads to the corner, he can see two separate globs of black goop shambling around in the room down the stairs.
"Two up here to the north! A little... help?" he grunts, blindly firing his laser pistol around the corner at the northern-most blob.
Jim and Blasto fire at the black glob, and the two hits cause the glob to splatter all over the room. It's a big mess, but fortunately not very harmful.
OP-1 steathily tricks out the next glob, but doesn't manage to score a hit. Alton fares better, and causes a pseudopod to shrivel as he hits it with blaster fire.
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Jim
Blasto
OP
Markar
Id-Sinitis
Alton
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Black mess (2)
Black mess
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