"U" crashes to the ground...
Del steps over, to box the enemy in, and, using Lors presence to help him, he slashes out with his overcharged welder-
Lors narrows her eyes as the Azlanti champion turns aside to speak to her underling. "Do you think we're finished? The sands of Akiton are stained with fools like you!"
Pistol in one hand and hatchet in the other Steve turns and fires at the red-haired cadet near the back of the room.
+ 1d4 Burn
Steve giggles with laughter as he helps translate. "He called you primitive."
AC: 15 KAC: 17 CM: 25
Stamina: 9/14; HP: 14/14; Resolve: 3/4
Repair Drone = 0/1 (25% / 5 hp)
Used: Smoke Grenade
Azimuth Laser Pistol 14/20
Oonopidae
EAC: 12 KAC: 14 CM: 22
HP: 15/20
Weapon Equipped (Flame Pistol)
Petrol 0/20
Rril comes back to his senses and grabs and reaches for his weapons on the ground. The Aeon Guard seems too preoccupied with the ring of combatants to worry about striking the bounty hunter back down.
Steve turns toward the back and fires at the cadet, striking him with two solid laser bolts and setting the poor soldier's armor on fire.
The tide gives a glimpse of turning as Lors slams two blows past the Guard's swift, parrying blade to crack her armor and then punch through and draw blood.
Del fumbles with his welding torch.
Having missed the shobhad's strikes, the Aeon Guard's blade is free to knock aside Haro's strike, although just barely. And then she flinches away again from Antenor's harrying fire. She twists around and cuts across Lor's abdomen, spilling a concerning amount of blood. The shohbad crashes to the ground. "Long live the Empire!" the Guard shouts in Azlanti.
The flames die down, leaving the soldier's face badly burned. Sheer Azlanti fortitude or fear of what his commander might do to him keeps him in the fight. Not that it does much good, his poorly aimed shots are deflected by Steve's armor.
Combat! Round 5. Bold may act.
Sharu (-25 hp) (Get'em) (47/48 rds) (+2 to hit from Harrying Fire for first attack vs. Sharu)
Red Cadet (-11; burn d4) (3/12 rds)
Blue Cadet (dead) (10/12 rds)
Rril (0|1)
Steve (14|14)<
Oonipidae (20)
Lors (0|0)< (unconscious, dying) (may spend RP to stabilize)
Del (max)
U (inoperable)
Haro (12|9)
Antenor (max)
Del tries to weld the armor shut...
Steve continues to tag the cadet with his laser. "I am a wonder!" Steve closes his eyes, swaying back and forth on Oonopidae's empty frame.
AC: 15 KAC: 17 CM: 25
Stamina: 9/14; HP: 14/14; Resolve: 3/4
Repair Drone = 0/1 (25% / 5 hp)
Used: Smoke Grenade
Azimuth Laser Pistol 10/20
Oonopidae
EAC: 12 KAC: 14 CM: 22
HP: 15/20
Weapon Equipped (Flame Pistol)
Petrol 0/20
Watching the flow of battle turn and turn again, Antenor's steely resolve begins to rust. "#@$@#$^% KILL HIM! NOW!"
[spoiler=GM Screen]
Del makes a better show of using his welding torch as a weapon, but the armor seems to resist his efforts.
The Aeon Guard parries Haro's pike with her blade. Meanwhile, Steve closes his eyes--relying upon ancient goblin techniques--and zaps the cadet twice in a row. The poor youth falls to the ground, his armor and flesh slowly being overtaken by the fire.
Rril fails to distract, and his shot was shaky to begin with. Antenor decides to be more direct and marks the Aeon Guard with a solid hit.
The Guard turns on Del and delivers a savage cut across his trunk. She uses the momentary distraction of the pain to take a guarded step around him.
Combat! Round 6. Bold may act.
Sharu (-29 hp) (Get'em) (47/48 rds)
Red Cadet (dead) (3/12 rds)
Blue Cadet (dead) (10/12 rds)
Rril (0|1)
Steve (14|14)<
Oonipidae (20)
Lors (0|0)< (unconscious, stable)
Del (0|7)
U (inoperable)
Haro (12|9) (Bot spent 1 RP)
Antenor (max)
Turning Steve fires right into the crowd, mainly his own crew. He sticks his tongue out, closes one eye, likely the wrong one, and fires at Sharu.
[spoiler=Status]
AC: 15 KAC: 17 CM: 25
Stamina: 9/14; HP: 14/14; Resolve: 3/4
Repair Drone = 0/1 (25% / 5 hp)
Used: Smoke Grenade
Azimuth Laser Pistol 10/20
Oonopidae
EAC: 12 KAC: 14 CM: 22
HP: 15/20
Weapon Equipped (Flame Pistol)
Petrol 0/20
The stars still burn, the world still turns,
Lors blinks awake, one eye gummed shut by her scalp wound.
I still breathe, the hunt continues.
With a wordless bellow, the Shobhad rejoins the fray!
Del tries to step, carefully, to be on the other side of the blade wielding officer--
--and slashes away with his overcharged welder, the flame burning incredibly hot!
Rril pushes himself off of the floor and stands at guard.
Steve's one-eyed shot starts the tempweave cushioning of the Aeon Guard's armor smoldering. Lors rouses herself from the dark unconsciousness and powerfully thrusts the trident into the Guard's thigh.
Del keeps trying to fend off the Azlanti with his welding torch. Haro takes advantage of the distraction and thrusts his pike into a weak point in the Guard's armor.
Wary of the flank, the Azlanti takes a guarded step out from between the mechanic and the bounty hunter only to be struck down by Rril's readied blade.
Bloodied you may be but still victorious.
Beyond their weapons and armor, the Aeon Guard, who is revealed to be a woman once her helmet is removed, bears two datapads: one modern and one antique. Both of them are currently password secured.
Out of Combat
Sharu (dead) (47/48 longarm rounds, carbon steel curveblade)
Red Cadet (dead) (3/12 longarm rounds)
Blue Cadet (dead) (10/12 longarm rounds)
Rril (0|1)
Steve (14|14)<
Oonipidae (20)
Lors (0|1)<
Del (0|7)
U (inoperable)
Haro (12|9)
Antenor (max)
Del picks up "U"'s broken and powered down chassis, and stuffs it away for later repairs, looking around the floor for all the bits and pieces.
"Oh, sorry... whose finger is this?"
He then sits down and rests.
|
Rril looks at the fallen Azlanti at his feet, then begins to smile at the others.
"Guess, now, you'll all give a little more respect to Captain Rril." he auggests as he wipes his blade against the upholstery on one of the chairs nearby.
He does not answer Del, but does give a quick glance at both his hands in an effort to account for each of his digits.
Lors spends quite a bit of time supergluing her wounds back together, a weary smile on her face.
"Would that more Azlanti were like her."
called dispelling carbon steel curveblade ("Inevitable Downfall" inscribed in Azlanti along the blade)
aeon guard trooper battle dress
clear spindle aeon stone
aeon guard assault rifle
motion detection badge
60 longarm rounds
2 x hunting rifle
2 x survival knife
...and the two datapads
"Bloody hell. Seriously." Antenor counts all his fingers. "Some of that stuff had BETTER be worth it. Seriously."
Steve reaches out and grabs two things. First the finger, which he shoves deep in his pockets. "Dibs. Need that for later." Grabbing ahold of the second computer he pushes it against the woman's face to try and get a facial scan to unlock it. Next he swipes the finger across the pad. "Not this one."
All in all somehow the space goblin came out nearly unscathed in the mess.
Rril accidentally strikes a key that he did not intend and will need to start all over. Steve makes good progress hacking into the antique datapad--after he finishes trying get the face of a thirty year old Azlanti to open a centuries old datapad--but is stymied in the end.
Steve tries a few passwords that someone he knew long ago passed down to him.
"Lemme look, I might be able to offer some unsolicited advice."
As Steve is tapping away on the antique datapad, a gaunt, ghostly face begins to manifest upon the screen. The goblin swiftly swipes left and continues on with his hack until he finally unlocks the datapad.
Skimming through the documents in Azlanti, you glean the following information:
Prior to the Gap, before the discovery of the Drift and the advent of interstellar travel, the Azlanti Star Empire was confined to a single solar system. The Azlanti had spent thousands of years painstakingly clawing their way across their home system from their original colony world, New Thespera, until they had conquered all the planets orbiting the star Aristia. But without interstellar travel or the magical portals of their ancestors, the Azlanti could go no further. That didn’t prevent the Azlanti from trying, however. Over the centuries, Azlanti engineers launched dozens of ships into the void, testing out various experimental starship drives that, if functional, could carry the Azlanti to distant stars. None ever returned.
An Azlanti noble named Ameondria had installed in her personal vessel, the Royal Venture, a unique engine that the ancient documents called a rune drive. An experimental technomagical interstellar drive, the rune drive incorporated as part of its power source an aeon stone from the Aeon Throne itself.
Rril--even with Antenor's help--fails to access the more modern datapad. Taking a deep breath and calming himself, he takes a more measured approach to hacking the pad and manages to finally unlock it before Steve has too much time to gloat.
The documents are largely copies of those you found in the Azlanti commander's office back in Madelon's Landing. However, you gain two more details previously unknown: the initiator of the Azlanti expedition was an noble named Sardat Zolan Ulivestra, and that Cedona and the rune drive were both to be taken to a prison moon called Gulta in the Azlanti Star Empire. There is also a flight plan on the datapad. This reveals a checkpoint along the path where an Azlanti transponder code would be required.
"Sooo.... we could actually go there if we really wanted. Yes?"
Antenor looks around to gauge the reactions on everyone's face as the information sinks in.
Steve continues to tap away at the antique datapad as he shares the information on it with everyone else in the room. "Where did that ghost face go?" He shakes the datapad and listens to them wanting to chase after Cedona. "You want friend, you need Azlanti transponder." Steve taps the datapad.
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Lors's mouth twists in wry amusement. "Someone's ship at least..."
The transponder would be in the bridge where you are and with no hurry, is easy enough to find.
Steve gets in a hurry and tears the wires on the transponder, likely breaking a circuit card assembly in the process. The large box let's free as Steve falls backwards on his butt, the large finned box nearly crushing his smaller frame as he rolls it off of him with a thunk.
Looking over Steve notices that the antique datapad lying on the floor beside him. The gaunt faced man returns laughing silently, taunting him. He picks up the datapad and shakes it, yelling at the picture. "Stop mocking me SWAN!"
Transponder collected, Steve looks to the antique datapad and, seeing something only he can see, starts yelling at it. He seems to shake something loose as an impression of a bite mark suddenly appears on his wrist.
You collect what valuables you desire from the foes you've defeated and begin your return journey to Madelon's Landing. By the time you arrive, Steve feels like he has not eaten for an entire day.
Repairs and upgrades are well underway on your ship. Aibretta leads the operation.
Steve's stomach rumbles loudly as he clutches at it. "Anyone have anything to eat?" He scrounges through the bins looking for anything that he might take. In fact while they are waiting for the ship to get ready Steve scampers off from building to building, pilfering and eating any food he can find. He eats as much as his little stomach can handle, shoving the rest int his pack for later.
"We ready to go?" Small bits of food spittle out of his mouth.
Several people offer to prepare Steve, one of the rescuing heroes, a meal, although he wanders off to scrounge while they are cooking.
The Drift coordinates to the prison moon of Gulta in the Azlanti Star Empire where both Cedona and the rune drive are headed are in your possession.
Aibretta hops down off of a ladder and flips the welding visor up as she approaches you. "Find the last of those Azlanti?" she asks.
Lors gives a broad, tired grin. "Indeed. They put up an excellent fight, but we were their betters. It seems though that we may need this ship operational sooner rather than later. Cedona wasn't there, and we'll probably have to fight more to get her back."