The rusting shell of a skyvan Ganlan Skreeg uses to get around the vast canyon-city of Maro may have seen better days, but it's hard not to wonder if those days were in fact somewhere in the lost years known as the Gap, centuries or more back. The five of you are crowded into the skyvan's cargo compartment while Skreeg himself pilots the ancient machine through the midday traffic of Maro's Lower City. More that a thousand feet above you, the sun's light has turned the canyon walls a flaming red, but in the Lower City dawn is still an hour or more away. Only on the equinoxes does the Burning Mother actually manage to shine her light all the way to the canyon floor, even at high noon. The rest of the time, shadows wrap themselves around the depths of the Edaio Rift, hiding all kinds of skullduggery from the harsh light of day.
Access to light is one of the clearest marks of class in Maro, and it's hardly a surprise that Ganlan's office in a crumbling motel room is only a few hundred feet from the bottom of the Rift. Indeed, although the cybernetically-augmented dwarf referred to the two long platforms in the skyvan's cargo compartment as "benches" when he invited you all in to take seats on them, both the presence of a lumpy pillow on one and the general stench of unwashed dwarf suggests that the skyvan has served Ganlan as residence as well as transportation at various points.
Still, the skyvan's altitude continues to climb, and it's clear that your eventual destination is somewhere on the Rift's rim or near to it. This is to be expected; the elites who run the People's Entertainment Consortium of Akiton don't generally rub shoulders with those of Ganlan's ilk. It's enough to raise the question of how Ganlan came into contact with the Consortium at all, but he insists that he's arranged a berth in the next Crawl for your team. You are meeting with the Consortium rep now to officially sign up for the Canyon City Crawl, scheduled to start in three days' time.
That is, if you can make it to the meeting without this ancient rattletrap falling out of the sky.
Ko sits crosslegged, his slanted reptilian eyes lightly closed. He holds a pair of finely crafted temple swords with his two bottom arms, and performs strange and repetitive hand gestures with his upper pair of arms, almost like a monk repeating mantras. Upon close observation, one notices his chest does not move like a normal being, nor do his nostrils give any indication of breath.
A thin smile creases Otto's face. The tapping of his foot on the metal floor is powered by a mixture of glee and fear. Occasionally, small jolts of static arc from his body to the hull.
Otto chuckles quietly, then looks nervously around the skyvan at his fellow passengers. "I'm sure we'll make it to the end of the Crawl still breathing."
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Okian sat quietly on the bench of the skyvan's cargo compartment. He could tell this was more than just mere transport for its owner, but he did not judge, he had lived a life similar to this man once upon a time, but faith had brought him to a better place now. Perhaps he could use the chance to talk Ganlan into attending services sometime. It would be a step in the right direction for the dwarf, that was sure.
Okian looked about at the rest of his fellow crawlers, smiling and nodding politely to each one. He says nothing for now, opting instead to offers prayers to Iomedae for her favor in keeping the skyvan in one piece.
Mira sits quietly, hands on her legs and a small smile on her face. She's wearing her maid outfit, of all things, her Crawl-appropriate gear tucked safely away in a large duffel bag placed to her right.
At Otto's comment she perks up, her tattoos glowing slightly as she processes information. "Actually, I believe our Kasatha companion does not breathe at all. Likely cause: 'No Breath' supernatural ability, a trait common among psychics with a specialization in void energies." She pauses a moment before continues, "As common as a trait among such rare individuals can be, at least."
Ko's eyes open upon hearing the android speak. He raises his wrist to reveal a small kmhologram projector, and types out a message upon it, blue text appearing in the air,"I indeed do not breathe, nor do I need to. My monastery has taught me thetechniques of becoming one with the void, to be silent and unreliant on the conventional necessities of life. As a result, I do not speak."
Oster has been watching the others intently. Prying into the minds of others is something he rarely does these days. He's not a cop anymore, and not in any position to follow up on what he might learn, which can make the knowing even harder to deal with. The thing that surprises him most about them is that none of them seem like the criminals and degenerates that he'd been led to believe made up the majority of the Crawl's usual fare.
But, then again, his years of sifting for the truth in the slums have taught him that the truth is rarely so obvious and categorical. He's glad for the difference from expectation, though his expression doesn't show it much. He peers at the message the Kasatha types out, and strokes his mustache in surprise.
"I can't tell you the number of times that would have come in handy in the circles where I used to travel," he says, with a light chuckle that almost sounds forced. "You'd be surprised just how many folks don't understand their right to keep their mouths shut. Not that it would have helped any, see. They'd have just brought me in to listen to you. I don't always need to use my ears to hear people." He stops stroking his mustache and taps his temple. "Sounds like we make a matched pair, you and I. But it makes me curious what someone with talents like that is doing in a situation like this. Most monastic types I've heard of aren't exactly fame and glory hounds."
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Okian looked up at that comment, finished with his prayers at long last, and he smiled. "Ah, but fame and glory may not always be what our monastic friend seeks, but merely tools that can achieve other goals."
Okian was dressed in his cassock over top the armor that he would normally wear on a crawl. The gear was heavy and unwieldy to carry without being worn, and it did lend an imposing look to the paladin. The imposing look, however, did not extend to his eyes. the rest of his gear was arrayed across his body beneath the cassock, or in the backpack that lay on the floor of the skyvan by his feet.
Sunlight breaks through the skyvan's windows, allowing you to finally get a good look outside. The dizzying depths of the Edaio Rift - well over two miles straight down from your current position, and the Rift edge still a few hundred feet above you - are suddenly visible, and you see the thousands of other shuttles and cars filling the air between the two canyon walls, miles apart at this altitude. The canyon itself, the longest and deepest in the solar system, is a breathtaking view in its own right, the red-brown Akitonian soil turned flame-gold in the sunlight.
The skyvan keeps climbing, until about a mile later when it finally tops the Rift rim and you can see the glittering skyscrapers of the economic elite, huddled together behind force fields and razorwire fencing from the rest of Maro's populace. Hovering islands dot the air between this side of the Rim and the distant edge, each linked by graceful arches of steel and ceramic to the next - but if you squint, it's not hard to see the graffiti and arcane marks that cover the undersides of each bridge. Once there would have been bound elementals and sanitation drones cleaning the marks off the bridges... but Akiton's troubles have begun to reach even these elegant heights.
AbadarCorp security guards watch suspiciously as the immigration computers check Ganlan's ID at the entrance to the Maro Safe Zone. The dwarf puts on a good face, but its clear the presence of the armed guards makes him nervous; the twitching of his cybernetic arm picks up its pace, and sparks pop and crackle around the wrist and elbow. The tension is for naught, though, as the computer clears the skyvan for passage without incident.
A few minutes later, Ganlan guides the van down into a landing area behind a tall, mirror-steel building emblazoned with the PECA emblem: a silhouette of a sword-wielding warrior in front of a red circle. After a couple of seconds, the cargo door of the van creaks open - there is an intense wave of ozone smell from the ancient hoverdrive - and Ganlan waves for you all to exit the van. "Don't forget your gear," the dwarf grunts, scratching his organic armpit. On the other side of the landing pad, there is a large set of doors labeled "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" in several languages.
Oster steps out of the skyvan and slings his magic backpack over his shoulder. The ride has been rather cramped and smelly, and the sunlight feels amazing once he's in it. Taking a moment for himself, he stretches out, cracking his vertebrae by rolling his head around his neck. And that's when his police instincts take over and his senses point out the thing which is out of place in the otherwise innocuous tableau. He points to the plummeting vehicle and shouts.
"We've got an incoming van! I don't think it's stopping! Take cover, quick!"
Following his own advice, Oster starts sprinting to put some distance between himself and where it looks like the van is going to impact, making for the door marked "Authorized Personnel."
Otto steps out of the skyvan with his mouth agape, his attention constantly juggled between new sights. Sun bathes Otto's skin like he's never experienced. Eyes filled with wonder, a thought escapes his mind in the form of a whisper, "So much sky..."
A subtle change contorts the man's face in an instant. Awe gives way to terror. Oster shouts next to him, but Otto hardly recognizes the voice. He simply points, shouting a quick arcane verse as electricity erupts from his hand toward the quickly approaching vehicle.
Ko is momentarily distracted by the air and skies above. He hears Oster's shout and runs toward him, graceful as an Aballonian mech-snake.
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Okian stood up, the imposing Paladin bent down and hefted up his pack with one hand, and in the other lifted the long haft of a ranseur in the other. With a shrug, the pack fell into place on his back and he shifted hands with which he held onto the polearm, slipping the other into the other strap. It always paid to be prepared, after all, and Okian was no exception, it seemed, having brought his adventuring gear with him to the meeting.
Shielding his eyes with one hand, Okian stepped out into the bright light, looking up into the sky. He was awestruck, and it showed on his face. Suddenly, it seemed like everyone was screaming for cover, and Oster yelled for everyone to get out of the way. Okian was not about to go diving for cover normally, and now was no exception, even despite the fact that he could not see the van in question.
"What? I cannot see anything." He said as he stared up in the sky for the skyvan in question.
Mira heaves the large duffel bag over her shoulder and exists the skyvan. She was no stranger to the sun, having spent most of her life among the oligarchy above ground; as such, her eyes were perfectly adjusted to see the skyvan hurtling towards them, as well as the human man staring dumbly right at it.
"Please seek cover in a calm and orderly fashion," she says, taking his hand and pulling him away at a brisk pace. She could tell just by looking at him she would get nowhere if he chose to resist her command, but it would be terrible if a teammate were to die prior to even stepping foot into the Crawl. She had to at least try.
With a curse, the dwarf dives behind his skyvan, bracing against the coming impact.
In response to Otto's invocation, curls of lightning appear from nowhere and wrap themselves around the diving skyvan, but whoever is driving it twists the vehicle in such a way that the ceramic plating of the hoverdrive takes the brunt of the blow, and other than a few scorchmarks, the van remains unhindered. Still accelerating, the van dives down, slamming into and through the front wall of the PECA building. An instant later, the van - and much of the building around it - disappears in a massive fireball, hammering all of you with a force like a giant's maul.
Ganlan's hp: 50/56
As you pick yourselves up off the ground, three more vehicles barrel down onto the landing platform: two sedan-sized shuttles and a ridiculously oversized hoverbike, piloted by what is unmistakably a shobhad. The massive four-armed humanoid steers his bike with two hands and levels a ridiculously large rifle at you with the other two, while the doors of the shuttles spill open and a variety of humanoids - a couple of Golarion humans, a red-skinned Akitonian human, a half-elf, a half-orc, and a lashunta male - begin to clamber out, regular rifles in hand. Only the shobhad is wearing armor, but all, you notice, are sporting jackets or vests with the same emblem: the decapitated head of an Akitonian winter wolf, blood dripping from the severed neck.
Otto seems to have survived the explosion incredibly well, all things considered. He pulls a buckler out of his haversack and affixes it to his left arm before loosing another blast of energy at the new combatants.
Move action: Equip mithral buckler
Standard action: (Electric) Fireball, aimed at the center of the group.
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With a grunt, Okian feels the heat of the blast and the force slam into him, ringing his bells rather hard. He takes a moment and gathers himself, barely able to hold on to his weapon. He's laying on the ground, his ears ringing, when he sees the weapons levelled at them, and he smiles. He's not one for needless violence, but they did strike first, and Okian is in the mood to stretch his legs a bit. He draws his ranseur, the greatsword still strapped to his backpack with rope. He looks over at the men arrayed against the group and then back to the group as a whole.
Okian grins and charges at the nearest enemy that he has a clear path towards, levelling his ranseur to pierce the man through.
Rifleman #1 = 5/30
Rifleman #2 = 18/30
Rifleman #3 = 5/30
Rifleman #4 = 18/30
Rifleman #5 = 5/30, rifle has broken condition
Rifleman #6 = 5/30
Vaarsh = 50/75
Otto summons another storm of lightning in the middle of the arriving vehicles, and although it might seem like the shuttles would provide their occupants with some protection against the blast, this doesn't appear to be the case, with all but two of the six humanoids within them writhing in agony and pain. You even hear a few rounds from one of their rifles cook off, causing more shouts of pain. The lightning does not spare the shobhad either, although the massive tribesman seems to weather its effects better than his smaller associates.
Okian's charge is more enthusiastic than effective, with the ringing of the explosion still pounding in his ears, and his ranseur hammers the top of the shuttle without coming anywhere near the occupants.
Ko easily dodges the explosive blast. He tries to manipulate gravity to injure a rifleman, but is unable to concentrate because of the explosion.
With a roar, the shobhad leaps from his hovercycle, longrifle at the ready. "Run away, little sheep!" he calls out in thickly-accented Common. "We are here for the wolves today, not the sacrificial lambs!" Despite that claim, though, the bullet he fires at Otto looks quite serious and not at all merciful.
Still, the bullet is only a glancing blow, and with another shout, the shobhad snatches up a pair of longswords sized for a giant from sheathes on the side of the vehicle. He flourishes them menacingly.
Ganlan grunts from the pavement next to the skyvan, getting to his feet and reaching into the open van door and withdrawing an arc rifle. Unlike the skyvan, the rifle looks surprisingly well maintained. "Droskar-loving Shepherds," the dwarf grunts as he takes cover at the van's corner, rifle at the ready. "Keep a man from his daily bread, will you?"
Round 1, Initiative Count 5
Despite his running, Oster still manages to get pretty cooked by the explosion on the pad. Probably because there isn't much to get behind and he couldn't make it far enough to get through the door. As he turns around to see how bad it was, he recognizes the symbols that their attackers are using.
"Bunch of frakking terrorists," he grumbles to himself, hurt and angry. "Why'd the Shepherds have to pick today, of all days? Any other day and I wouldn't have a reason to give a damn."
Bloody, but still holding together, Oster limps his way back toward the enemies, eyes on the big Shobhad, just until he's close enough to be able to touch his mind. He draws his rapier as he goes, to be ready for later, but for now he reaches out with his mind with the intention of taking the big guy down from within.
The big shobhad howls in pain, his mind ripped and shredded by Oster's mental powers, and grey-green blood begins to drop from one slitted nostril.
On the far side of the pad, the humanoids begin to scramble out of the shuttles, running to take cover behind them, rifles leveled across the hood or roof of the vehicles. One shakes his rifle a few times angrily, then tosses it aside with an oath and draws a long knife instead. Most look badly scorched by Otto's lightning burst, and none seem unscathed.
The half-elf woman Okian is stabbing tries to duck back into the car to avoid the paladin's strike, but with his focus recovered at last, she cannot dodge it. Although she does slip past him and around to the shuttle's far side as he withdraws his ranseur and prepares for his next strike, it's still clear she's much the worse for the blow, as blood drips from a deep wound to her shoulder and stains her tunic and vest red.
Mira winces, managing to get out of the way of the fireball for the most part but her outfit still badly singed. "I see the shepherds have a flair for the dramatic. I am sure we will be able to deal with this situation most thoroughly."
Mira's tattoos glow as she analyzes the mannerisms of their attackers, and she begins chattering off advice on how to strike and how to avoid their attacks.
Mira's words command Otto's attention for a moment, focusing his mind. He launches a pulse of energy at the large, multi-limbed alien.
Standard Action: (Electric) Snowball (DC 16 Fort save or be staggered for 1 round)
Otto's ball lightning slams into the shobhad warrior, and the tribesman's muscles twitch and strain under the onslaught of charged particles.
Across the lot, Okian hefts his ranseur and stabs out twice, using the reach of his polearm to attack over the top of the air shuttle that his foes are crouched behind. Despite their cover, Okian's aim remains unavoidable, and two quick thrusts leave a pair of Shepherds crumpled to the pavement, spilling their life's blood out of their throats.
Ko runs at one of the riflemen, trying to slash at him with his finely crafted temple sword.
Ko leaps into the air, describing an elegant arc in the low Akitonian gravity to land with astonishing grace atop one of the shuttles. The three Shepherds below him stare upward in shock and amazement, clearly not having expected this move from their foe.
The shibhad warrior, still flickering with occasional discharges of electricity, lets out a warrior's shout and sets into a lumbering charge toward Otto. He tosses his longrifle aside and grips his longswords with two hands each, ready to bring one down viciously atop the sorcerer's head.
Although the sword doesn't actually cleave Otto in two as the warrior no doubt hoped, it is a still a grievous wound. "You do not touch my talent outside the Crawl!" Ganlan shouts, seeing the bloodied Otto stagger under the weight of the sword blow. He leans around the skyvan corner and fires a pair of blasts with his arc rifle toward the shobhad.
The dwarf's aim isn't great, but with the shobhad's size and single-minded focus on Otto it doesn't have to be. Both electrical bolts strike home, and yet more lightning crackles around the shobhad. His wounds are terrible, yet the gigantic tribesman refuses to fall.
Round 2, Initiative Count 5
Oster winces as he watches the big Shobhad charge Otto, although he can't help being more than a little glad that it wasn't him. Still, it would be very bad if the tribal warrior had the time to use both of his swords on the electro-jockey. He limps a few feet closer and calls out to the big guy in his own language. As he speaks he feels for that mind once again and assaults it a second time.
Although the shobhad is able to fight off the worst of Oster's mental assault, blood nonetheless starts dripping from his eyes as well, and it's no longer clear how or why he's still on his feet.
With Ko standing directly over them, the three Shepherds crouched at the landing pad's edge all roll out of range of his glinting temple swords and fire their rifles up at him.
One bullet comes dangerously close to the kasatha's lung, missing just too high - but Ko knocks the bullet aside his his bare hand, earning a dropped jaw of amazement from the rifleman. The monk ducks a second shot, but then another round comes in right afterward, hitting Ko directly in the chest and almost sending him to his knees. Behind the other shuttle, the last of Okian's opponents fires at the paladin as well, but the shot is wild.
Inside the PECA building, somewhere beyond the smoke of the exploded skyvan, alarms begin to sound, and you can hear distant shouting.
Otto gazes up at the towering creature above him and momentarily considers utilizing defensive magic. He reconsiders, deciding instead to put some distance between himself and the Shobhad before releasing yet another energy pulse. I won't need to defend myself if I kill 'em first.
No Action: 5ft step
Standard Action: (Electric) Snowball (DC 16 Fort save or be staggered for 1 round) (Point Blank, vs Touch AC)
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Striking with a flourish of the ranseur, spinning the weapon about in a showy style that clearly was developed to help win approval by the fans of the crawl, Okian thrusts at the rifleman who just shot at him.
Thrusting out and finding the polearm strike true, Okian then moves over to the other van to assist Ko.
Ko narrows his eyes and jumps at the rifleman, slashing him with his temple sword.
Otto's blast strikes home, but the shobhad still refuses to drop - though at this point, cooked muscles are beginning to peel back from blackened bones here and there. Okian and Ko have fewer issues, as each lands a telling strike with their weapons and puts another Shepherd on the ground.
Mira waves her hand in the air and a patch of Grease appears beneath the shobhad. She also takes the time to analyze her data banks on shobhad traits.
The magical grease that suddenly appears below the shobhad warrior does not seem to impede it much - but that may be the simple bloody-minded stubbornness that seems to have overtaken him.
The four-armed giant takes a single, lumbering step closer to Otto and swings his massive blade again.
At last, however, it seems the tireless warrior is beginning to weaken from its wounds, as the strike is slow and awkward, and Otto has no difficulty avoiding the attack. Ganlan leans around the van corner and fires twice more, hoping to bring the shobhad down once and for all...
...and succeeds. The tribesman stumbles, his massive swords dropping from four hands that can no longer find the strength to grip them, and then he crumples to the ground, thoroughly and irrevocably dead.
Round 3, Initiative Count 5
Oster started holding his breath when the big Shobhad refused to succumb to the combined onslaughts, but then began breathing again with a sigh of relief when it couldn't muster the strength to hit Otto again. When their Dwarven contact finally puts him down for good he instead turns his attention to the remaining riflemen. He continues moving closer and mentally reaches out to whatever enemy target's mind comes into range first.
Oster's mental strength easily overwhelms the mind of his half-orc target, and the half-orc's eyes roll up into his head as his body forgets how to operate lungs and heart and simply collapses. The final remaining Shepherd, seeing the writing on the wall, throws down her rifle and kneels, putting her hands behind her head. "I.. I surrender," she gasps out.
The noises from within the PECA building are growing louder, and it's likely that AbadarCorp security guards are going to flood the landing pad in just a few moments.
Oster puts his rapier away, still un-bloodied, as he walks toward the surrendered Shepherd. That was how he'd prefer to keep it until he was at least inside the Crawl. He stops himself just short as he realizes that he was about to start interrogating her.
"Not your job anymore, idiot," he thinks to himself. "Let the actual cops handle that."
"Was it worth it?" he asks, instead. "What could have been your end game here? Take the whole place down with just seven of you, and then what? Go home and have a pint?" He sighs. Now that the adrenaline of the attack is over he rather wishes there had been time to try talking them down instead.
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With a flourish, Okian slides the ransuer into a loop of leather on his backpack and steps towards the surrendered prisoner. He kneels to look the woman in the eye.
"While I cannot condone your actions as they may have harmed innocents such as ourselves, you have surrendered, and no harm will befall you while you are in my charge, but if you take any action that puts myself or my companions at risk, I will be forced to stop you, by force, if it comes to it. Are you willing to comply with any directions given to you?"
Okian rises to his feet then and looks at Oster, then back to their prisoner.
The woman - an Akitonian native, her skin the color of rich red clay - looks weakened and in pain, but there is still clearly a spark of defiance in her as she glares at Oster's mockery. She responds somewhat better to Okian's approach, offering a short nod and "I am," in a quiet, tense voice.