As Aldroxis moves away, Pangea takes a swing at him, but it misses, and Aldroxis cleanly gets away to cast his spell of mirroring.
Goose leaps nimbly up onto the console and quite sneakily fires directly at Aldroxis - but he was aiming at one of the magical figments, which poofs away.
Gear pauses to stop her bleeding, and Boytoy continues the barrage, but his shot goes wide. Buzz then lets loose with another pair of shots.
The mighty blast lands, and all three of the images bend over in pain. He hit the man himself! He takes the full burn of an incredibly well-aimed disintegrator rifle.
Mordack's ray gun lands a hit, but there's no reaction. However, another one of the images poofs away. There are now only two copies of Aldroxis moving in parallel.
Round 4
Buzz
Goose
Pangea
Mordack
Aldroxis -65, one mirror image
Gear
Pangea steps in to be closer--
--and lunges at the double enemy!
Pangea's attack looks like it's going to miss, but it comes close enough that the last of Aldroxis's magical figments disappears, and he's left standing on his own, face to face with the android. With his defenses downed so quickly, he again frowns and then reaches out to touch Pangea.
He still can't grab onto a useful surface, and the spell is not discharged.
Round 5
Buzz
Goose
Pangea
Mordack
Aldroxis -65
Gear
Pangea remains close up, and does not try to deal more damage, but swings twice.
Mordack's magic missiles lock on to Aldroxis and land right on his chest. Pangea's first attack misses but the second lands and does a very unhealthy dose of acidic damage. While Gear and Boytoy fill the room with the sound of laser fire, Buzz fires out in the open and lands another spray of acidic disintegration. Aldroxis looks like he is barely holding onto life, though he still glowers defiantly at all of you.
Round 5
Buzz
Goose
Pangea
Mordack
Aldroxis -113
Gear
And he succeeds! Aldroxis's armor again absorbs some of the blast, but even so the damage is enough. With all the Azlanti in the helm slain, you can look around at the equipment to diagnose what is wrong with the ship.
You read the conflicting code between the cube and the mainframe, and analyze the rising power meters, to determine that Aldroxis’s effort to activate the Drift engine is causing the destructive feedback loop of planar energies, which risks obliterating the King Xeros in short order.
Disengaging all Azlanti modifications can reset the system and avert the disaster, but the ship will then default back to its base programming: sailing back into the Ethereal Plane.
You can attempt a second Computers or Mysticism check to set a timer on the transition to the Ethereal Plane, buying yourselves time to explore the rooms of the ship before you leave.
You get all the same information, but first you set off a logic bomb that was planted in the computer. Take 6d6 cold damage and then read the spoiler above.
This only happens once, even if multiple people fail the check.
Pangea looks around: "Anyone left hiding?"
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Buzz plugs himself into the terminal.
He then opens his eyes, and confers with the others:
"It would appear that attempts to engage the Drift engine are causing a destructive feedback loop between the ancient and modern systems; the ship is in danger of self-annihilation, if this is allowed to continue. Disengaging the Azlanti systems would reset this, but then the ship would just default to its original programming, and disappear into the Ethereal..."
Buzz then closes his eyes again, and tries to disengage the Azlanti modifications.
Pangea knows nothing about mysticism, nor about computers.
Everyone puts their heads together and swiftly works out what is happening with the ship's systems and how to slow its progress. No matter how deep your understanding you can't find a way to prevent the ship from sliding back to the Ethereal Plane. However, you do think you've managed to delay the process by 30 minutes.
***
You now have 30 minutes to retrieve what you can from the ship. Each of the following activities will involve a skill check of some sort, and will take 10 minutes whether you succeed or fail.
Magazine: Extract the equipment that is locked in the storage racks. (Engineering)
Cargo Hold: Search the crates for useful gear. (Medicine)
Crew Quarters: Search the room for possessions abandoned by the Azlanti crew. (Perception)
Helm: If you have a digital storage device, such as a computer or datajack, attempt to decrypt and download data from the cube in this room. (Computers)
You can also continue exploring. There is a pair of doors in the helm across from the stairs that you haven’t yet opened, and there is a stairway leading down to the lowest deck of the ship.
You may split up if you want to take on separate tasks.
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"I'll stay here, and download the ship's computer. After that, I can head up to the Magazine, I suppose? We should also probably see what else is around this ship... Who wants to explore the area behind the Helm, and the lower level?"
So saying, Buzz jacks into the main computer, and tries to download it into his exocortex.
Pangea shrugs, and rushes over across from the stairs to open the pair of doors in the helm .
With the countdown clock ticking (metaphorically) you split off in every direction to retrieve what you can.
Buzz easily continues poking around in the computer, and finds ancient Azlanti code that appears to be not from the Azlanti Star Empire, but from lost Golarion itself. This data will be invaluable for Starfinder data analysts. As he is extracting the data, the mystical code manifests as peculiar jet-black, egg-shaped items that are similar to spell gems. They'll have to be brought back to the Lorespire Complex for analysis.
Mordack pokes around in the magazine and spots a collection of aeon guard armor and weapons. However, his engineering skills aren't strong enough to undo the locks to get them out.
Pangea crosses the helm to investigate the small fore room. The room is furnished with a memory foam mattress and three holographic images of Aldroxis with what appear to be his teenage son and daughter before picturesque planet-side landscapes. The opposite wall holds a framed diploma from a magitech institute on New Thespera, alongside a holograph photo of Aldroxis shaking hands with another human dressed in formal Azlanti clothing.
Gear and Boytoy find a lot of junk and random personal items in the crew quarters, but tucked securely far under one of the beds she spots a mark 2 null-space chamber containing an elite deckhand drone, along with the other possessions of the crew member who must have owned it.
Goose checks out the cargo hold, but he only sees some slightly spoiled food and a bunch of random containers whose labels he can't make sense of.
Mordack walks into the crew quarters but he passes Gear on her way out clutching the null-space chamber. She feels confident that she has thoroughly searched the place.
Magazine (Engineering): not yet completed
Cargo Hold (Medicine): not yet completed
Crew Quarters (Perception): completely searched
Helm (Computers): searched, can try again for more data
Helmsman's Cabin (Culture): not yet completed
Lower deck: not yet explored
Gear and Boytoy follow the stairs below-decks and come into a large, two-tiered room containing easily accessible crates filled with mechanical supplies. On the upper level you see a modern power core installed. Its wiring looks almost organic, following vein-like crevasses in the crystalline floor before straightening into more conventional electrical patterns along the walls. The crates of equipment look very heavy, and will need extra effort to move. (Athletics check)
The far end of the hold is tightly packed with thousands of crystal cocoons containing varieties of blurred shapes. (Studying them further will require a Mysticism check.)
You encounter no creatures down here, so you're confident the entire Azlanti crew has either fled the ship or been slain.
Pangea checks out the picture of the kids... how old are they?
Pangea examines the personal photos more closely. The children look to be both teenagers, the boy probably the younger of the two. As it gazes at the image, Pangea realizes that the planet they were taken on must be in the Aristia system, and images taken within that system are quite rare among non-Azlanti. The other holographic photo albums contain pictures with major Imperial landmarks in the backgrounds. These would be not only of cultural interest, but would aid in the Pact Worlds' surveillance of the Star Empire.
Mordack is determined to retrieve the equipment and he sets down to go at the locking mechanism seriously. After ten more minutes of work, he succeeds and the racks click open. Moving all of the equipment would be too bulky to be practical, so he takes the most valuable of the gear to haul back to the ship: two suits of AG SpecOps armor and two AG accelerator rifles.
Goose also continues to poke around in the room he was in, but he still doesn't find anything particularly valuable or important among the supplies in the cargo hold.
Buzz delves deeper and deeper into the ship's magical computer code. He continues to find more secured ancient Azlanti data, though its specifics are indecipherable without more detailed study. He gets the sense that there is much more stored on this ship than anyone will have time to retrieve here today, though what he has already collected is quite valuable indeed.
Gear and Boytoy tug and pull at some of the crates, but they refuse to budge, even with them working together.
Magazine (Engineering): completely searched
Cargo Hold (Medicine): not yet completed
Crew Quarters (Perception): completely searched
Helm (Computers): searched, can try again for more data
Helmsman's Cabin (Culture): completely searched
Main Hold (Athletics): not yet completed
Main Hold part 2 (Mysticism): not yet completed
On his way to the Cargo Hold Pangea passes "Goose" as the Ysoki is going towards the Main Hold.
Pangea still tries to look around the Cargo, and looks through the crates--
--before doubling back to help "Goose" lift things in the Main Hold.
"Better get out of here..."
Pangea joins Goose in the cargo hold, but there really doesn't seem to be anything useful in there.
Gear, Boytoy, and Pangea team up to try to haul some of the crates out of the main hold, but they prove to be too much and they're forced to give up.
Goose and Mordack investigate the crystal cocoons, and they discover that the shapes within them are actually creatures, seemingly held in stasis. But they can't figure out a way to extract any of them safely, so their purpose and form will have to remain a mystery.
Buzz continues his deep dive and extracts more data. He's in so deep that he almost misses the timer notification that the ship is about to slip out of this plane. Luckily the other crew members pass through on their way back to the escape pod bays, and he disconnects to join them.
Magazine: success
Crew quarters: success
Helm: three successes
Helmsman's Cabin: success
***
You hustle back to the ship and swiftly un-dock from the escape pod. Shortly after you separate, the King Xeros sheds several more of its external Azlanti modifications and then floats slowly forward, fading into nothingness as it passes into the Ethereal Plane.
Venture-Captain Naiaj's voice returns to your comm units. "We've shaken the last of the vanguard. All teams, enter the Drift and return home before the Azlanti can regroup. We've done all we can here."
The Starfinder vessels jump one by one into the Drift, and you follow suit. Once everyone is underway, Naiaj contacts your team privately to receive a report of everything that happened on board the King Xeros. "I am disappointed that we failed to secure the King Xeros for the Society to study, but from what I understand -- the Azlanti messed that ship up too badly for us to salvage it. Under the circumstances, I'm grateful that you kept the Azlanti from claiming the ether ship either. That would have been a disaster of epic proportions."
"I'm heartened by the knowledge and treasures you recovered from the King Xeros, be they equipment or intelligence the Society can use to better oppose the Star Empire, remnants of the ether ship the Society can use to analyze it via conjecture, or just valuable resources to help the Society financially. Good job, Strike Team!"
Pangea Beta starts to reflect on what it feels: "Well, dearest companions"--
But an incoming transmission suddenly terminates the android's prototype cortex.
PANGEA is recalling the vanguard model. Reconfiguring Beta model until further notice.
flatlining