Shabad pulls up some details on the enemy ship:
Velstrac Tormentor
Medium transport
Complement 5
Speed 8; Maneuverability average (turn 2); Drift 1
AC 27; TL 26 HP 100; DT —; CT 20
Shields medium 120 (forward 30, port 30, starboard 30, aft 30)
Power Core Arcus Maximum (200 PCU)
The enemy ship diverts power to its weapons as well as the pilot performs evasive maneuvers, closing in on your ship.
"Stay right where you are, you big ugly trash scow," Stefani declares before firing off energy into the black of space.
Father Gloom speaks softly. “I’m grateful for your help, and I’m sure you have suffered somewhat on this journey. I understand you are afraid of the corruption within you—sleeping in some, raging in others—but there are ways to master this power without giving into it. If you wish, I can perform a ritual and grant you the Midnight Lord’s blessing to allow you to overcome some of the drawbacks of the shadow living inside of you. Beware, though, this will not cure your corruption—it might even tempt you closer to allowing the shadow to swallow your soul. In addition, the ritual requires you to endure the smallest taste of pain—merely a gift to take with you as a reminder of your time here with us."
Damon eyes the kayal priest warily, but eventually he shrugs, muttering, "I ain't afraid o' pain," before accompanying Gloom to the dark chapel.
The old vesk returns in a foul mood, surrounded by tempestuous solar winds and massaging his left forearm.
Damon growls as the klaxons go off, making his way to the new gunner station. Running his hands over the mystical crystals embedded in the targeting controls, he says, "Let's see what these damned pain-lovers cooked up for us!" Summoning his solar mote, Damon wraps his hands around the angry red star and plunges it directly into the center of the console. The ship shudders, and a burst of red plasma erupts on the outside of the hull, tethered to an empty weapon mount in the forward arc.
Damon projects the energy forward with a roar, and a beam of plasma streaks towards the Tormentor, bending towards the enemy ship's shielding.
Buster: A weapon with this special property fires blasts of disruptive energy that devastate shields but have difficulty penetrating physical armor. A buster weapon deals the indicated damage to a starship’s shields. If the shields in the quadrant are reduced to 0, split any remaining damage between the two adjacent quadrants’ shields. If the targeted quadrant’s shields and the shields of any adjacent quadrants are reduced to 0, halve any remaining damage before applying it to the starship’s Hull Points.
During a starship’s next engineering phase after being hit by a buster weapon (whether or not its shields were depleted), the DC of Engineering checks to divert power to the starship’s shields increases by 5.
Shabad watches the consoles to see what Damon's new toy can do, but calls out over the com, "Captain, I can bring some technomagic to bear here, if you like or just work the science or engineering console. I can magically enhance the range of one weapon or I can attempt to get a premonition of what the enemy will do next, or I can try to fog up their sensors. That last one is hard, but the other two are pretty easy."
The velstrac ship evades Stefani's blast, but Damon strikes its shields with his buster cannon, nearly depleting those in the front quadrant. The enemy fires back, lighting up your shields with lasers and plasma!
"Looks like they are going to be able to out-maneuver us again this time. I'll try and find a position where they hopefully won't be able to target us with weapons as easily. I'll also try and make sure that you can get a shot on them with your new gun Damon." That said, she angles the ship to fly directly past the enemy ship in a flyby maneuver, before then bringing the ship around in a tight loop to fly back the other direction. Her route has her end up near to where the enemy ship has been previously.
"Doc! Get me some info on the enemy guns - I want to make them regret every shot."
Shabad brings up the ships targeting systems and begins to program them to lock onto the enemy ship in order to give Damon the advantage he asked for.
Once engaged the weapons begin to turn and aim, adjusting fine parameters to anticipate the movement of the enemy ship to allow maximum chance to hit.
"Let 'em rip!" Shabad calls out as the programs engage.
While Shabad assists with the targeting of the weapons, Rain will interface with the ship's computers once again. Using the sensors, he attempts does his best to assist Shabad by giving semi-constant range updates between the two ships, so that any information that she relays to the gunners is that much more accurate.
Recorva sends your ship on a daring flyby of the enemy while Shabad successfully locks on. The velstrac ship's engines surge as it peforms a flip and burn, turning around to come back at you head-on!
"Damn! They were supposed to ..." The rest of Stefani's complaint is muttered under her breath. The enemy ship is clearly not following her plan.
Both your shots narrowly miss the enemy ship, which blasts your shields with plasma.
The enemy ship backs off, keeping you in its forward arc.
Shabad continues to hustle the computer systems to keep the lock on the enemy ship. "Only minor damage on our front shields. Keep at it!"
DC = 15 + Target starship tier + defensive countermeasures.
Success means all gunners get +2 on gunnery checks for the round.
RETCON: Damon's buster cannon burns through the remaining shields in the enemy ship's front arc, then Stefani tears through its hull with her masers! The enemy's life support systems, engines, and power core begin to leak plasma into space!
Revorva takes the ship on evasive maneuvers, aiming to get the Lady out of the enenmies front weapons arc in the hope of evading one or more of their weapons. She turns at the end of the movement to place the other ship in the Lady's port arc, moving in a curving flight path to do so. "You can target them with the missiles this time."
.
The enemy ship’s weapons power up!
Rain once again interfaces with the ship's sensors to provide real-time distance information between the two ships, although this time he sends the information to the piloting station instead.
"I can't believe I hit them last time," Stefani says as she watches the indicators for the large turret show it finally recharged. "Let's see if I can be so lucky twice in a row." She stabs the control. A cheer follows when she the sparkling energy caused by a direct hit.
Stefani lands another devastating hit on the enemy ship. You watch with satisfaction as a series of explosions rock the vessel, leaving it floating dead in space! Without a means to pursue you, you quickly make your escape from the velstrac ship.
Shabad feels a quiet surge of pride at being part of a team that works so well together. "Good work everyone! Now let's end this. Get your heads on straight in what time we have left. No telling what we'll find in that shadow asteroid."
She wonders how Xio is doing, suddenly sensing the hole in the group left by her departure.
You continue on through the dark space of the Shadow Plane. Occasionally, your sensors pick up on unusual vessels just out of range that appear to be tracking your movements, though no other ships attack you.
As you sleep while your vessel approaches the Disapora, you are tormented by horrible nightmares. In these nightmares, you are strapped to an altar of solid shadow while a winged humanoid figure stands over you. The fell ritual reaches a climax of high-pitched cries and shrieks, and the winged figure plunges a wicked-looking dagger into your chest, causing you to suddenly awaken with a sharp pain in that same area.
When you are only a few hours away from New Elyisum, your ship's sensors pick up unusual readings: the shadow signal that caused your corruption can be heard loud and clear on your receivers, as if a normal wireless broadcast were somehow stretching out into space. The shadow signal is a jumble of screams, whispering voices promising untold pleasures, bursts of static, and sounds of the grinding of rusty gears and churning of pistons. If you listen long enough, an intelligible female voice begins to cut through the clamor.
"You hold such uncompromising adherence to your sense of self when I can shred your consciousness and reveal vistas unimaginable to your sleeping eyes! Why do you get in the way of your own liberation? Let me purify you from the slavery stitched in your flesh. Let us give you ultimate freedom!"
Soon enough, you reach the coordinates of the Shadow Plane reflection of New Elyisum. However, where the resort asteroid should be is a titanic human heart, floating incongruously in space! Scanning the heart, you are able to determine that New Elysium's asteroid (as well as the source of the shadow signal) is at the cneter of the heart. It is impossible to get specifics about anything that has changed about the resort or if there are any life-forms on it, as the heart seems to be giving off massive amounts of strange energy. The sensors also reveal an opening on the surface that leads into the heart, near a relatively flat space where a starship can land...
"Hmph. Gross." Damon blandly passes his opinion on the overt aesthetic before suiting up for battle.
"I'm tired of creepy people telling me what's best for me. Let's go blow this place to the Abyss."
"So you're saying that we should blow shit up?" Stefani says to Damonkayo with a growing grin. "I think I could get behind that plan."
Shabad keeps her expression calm and neutral as a defense against the signals coming from their destination. "I like my pleasures simple," she mutters loudly enough for those around her to understand.
"Orchards, moonbeams, chocolate truffles on ice cream, the laughter of infants, corny action-adventure TriDs, massages, and the smell of freshly baked bread!"
When a landing site is spotted, she begins to check her pack, loads her pistols, places recharged batteries in her devices, and checks that her newly constructed miniature sun lamp.
"It feels like we're in our own corny Action Adventure Tri-D. Shall we head into the ... " she pauses like a bad actor, milking her part for all it's worth, "heart ... of darkness?"
She cracks a wry smile, switches off the miniature sun and attaches it to a loop on her pack she constructed to hold the lamp away from her body and free her hands to do other things while the light casts all around her.
As you land your starship near the sole passage into the heart and step out onto the surface, you can feel the warmth radiating from the heart tissue. It is slightly elastic (like real flesh) and moves slightly in a rhythmic pattern, as if the heart were beating.
The passage into the heart slopes downward for several hundred feet. The atmosphere within the tunnels and chambers is breathable, but the air is warm and humid. Gravity is normal. The interior surfaces glow with a dim light from unknown sources.
Ahead, the tunnels stretch off in three different directions: north, east, and south. Recorva and Shabad can hear a series of droning chants coming from the southern passage--the other two are silent.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Did you know that they're making another 'Night of the Killing Stars?'" Stefani can't help but ask when Shabad brings up bad TriDees. "Yeah, 'Night of the Killing Stars IV: Ship of Red Dreams'. But it's not going to have Rak Maelstrom in it. They're bringing in some unknown Lashunta as the protagonist to try to reboot the franchise. I heard that Diamaante's actually going to be in it. She's trying to move her career mainstream."
~~~~
"Let's start at the top of the clock," Stefani says, pointing north.
The north hall ends in a large chamber. Two ten-foot-tall, free-standing, L-shaped walls stand in the center of this room, each lined with hundreds of shards of mirrors—some larger than others—that face inward. The mirrors reflect one another in a dizzying display of infinity. The other sides of these structures appear to be made from rusting and bloodstained steel that pierces the red flesh of the floor.
The dim light reflected by the mirror shards has been magically amplified to form an area of bright light between the two walls. Anybody who steps into this bright light can clearly see images of themself in the many shards, though many of them are subtly wrong: showing a slightly different hair color or a scar where there is none, for instance. Shabad realizes that this is part of a magical trap, and looking into the wrong reflections for more than a few moments may be hazardous!
Shabad, for some reason, finds the mirrors very disturbing. "I should be able to figure this out and maybe disrupt the magic here, but ..." Her voice trails off. "I can't do it." She finally admits.
"This must have something of value. It's too elborate to set up for no purpose. Let me be the first to see what happens if we go into the area. Be read to pull me out."
Shabad takes some deep steadying breathes and walks into the bright area and studies the mirrors.
Stefani gives a nod, but she's not quite sure what she'd do to help other than ... well ... blowing up the mirrors.
Recorva waits to see how well Shabad will handle the hall of mirrors.
Shabad focuses her mind on reality and slowly steps into the bright area, keeping close to the edge so others can shake her without endangering themselves. She finds the effect intriguing, but does not let herself get caught up in the false images.
When nothing bad happens she walks through the space to the far side and out of the light to see if anything unusual happens.
Shabad suggests, "Tie a rope to each one who goes through and throw one end of the rope through to me. I don't know what might happen but best if we can pull anyone out if they can't move through on their own will power. I think it is supposed to cause a feedback loop in one's mind, which might cause damage or impair your free will."
Avoiding the fascination effect, Shabad can see that the mirror shards now offer normal reflections. However, she notices one of her reflections hold up a glowing crystal and then place it in one of her pockets. Shabad then realizes that she has a mk 3 ability crystal in her possession. The memories held in this crystal seem to be of alternate-reality versions of the doctor.
A few moments later, a small white stone appears on the ground in the center of the chamber. This stone has a magic aura and seems to be part of a larger mystical mechanism.
Shabad opens her hand to reveal a small clear crystal glowing white. She then notices the crystal on the floor. She walks around the mirror area to inspect the other crystal. "I saw strange things in the reflections, but I guess I'm stable enough that it did not draw me in. It appears we've been rewarded with two crystals."
After inspecting the two crystals more, Shabad declares, "This one appears to be a reward for keeping focus on reality while in the mirrors' zone of reflection. It appears to be an ability crystal, the most potent kind, which we technomancers refer to as a Mark 3. To use it, you have to spend about an hour focused on it. It contains memories that can magically boost your abilities. For example, it could make me even smarter than I already am." She pauses and then adds, "Is the world ready for that? Actually, I have a synaptic accelerator that is currently helping me in this area, so I don't think I can boost it any further. Probably a good thing."
She smiles and continues, "Or it could make me wiser or it could give me the charisma of a ... well a fairly normal person, or it could make me the strongest person here, or tough as adamantine. I'm not sure I need it so if someone wants it, we can delay our exploration enough to let one of us study it. This is a great opportunity for one of us to really improve our ability to complete our mission."
Then she holds up the other and says, "I'm not sure what this does, but it does appear to have a magical aura that is attuned to some aspect of this strange structure. We should keep it safe."
Shabad hands the ability crystal to Stefani and instructs her in how to attune the crystal to herself to boost the ability she wants to improve. She leaves her to do this and joins the others in keeping watch for danger from the other parts of the heart until the necessary hour goes by and Stefani is new and improved (or at least improved).
Then she suggests the group follows the left wall and head along the east corridor.
A gaping wound in the flesh of the floor occupies the center of the room at the end of the east corridor. It is ringed by a circle of dark metal and electronics that seem to keep the bloody tear open and project a nearly invisible field of force over it. The rest of this chamber is dotted with slowly spinning columns of obsidian embedded with nails, spikes, and other sharp objects and draped with rusting chains. A low moan—it is impossible to whether it is one of pain or pleasure—echoes throughout the area, its source indeterminable.
Two verthani stand guard here, along with a female strix. They quickly raise their pistols as you enter the room, but the strix seems to hesitate when she sees Recorva, a fellow member of her species. "Halt! None are allowed to pass!" she declares.
"Halt! None are allowed to pass!" she declares.
"Aight. I'll stay over here, then." Damon cools his heels for a moment, surprised by the lack of immediate violence. Projecting a sense of nonchalance incongruous with their macabre surroundings, he leaves an opening for the strix to continue talking.
"We have no wish to harm you but if you stand in our way, we will use force," Shabad calls out. She calls her semi-automatic pistol to her hand while holding it behind her back.
"We have no wish to harm you but if you stand in our way, we will use force,"
"She's right, ya know," Damon interjects, gesturing to Doc. "We ain't here to rip you to pieces, but that is the sorta mood we're in, t' be honest. If you've got a way off this rock, go take it."
The old vesk unspools his shadow chain, allowing the super-chilled links of spiked metal to fall to the organic floor, causing it to crack and bleed. "I get that you might be anticipatin' a bit of pain, but consider this - you leave now and you've got the rest of your weird little lives to stab yourselves with rusty tweezers. You stay, and the last thing you ever feel will be this." Damon clenches a fist, and angry red plasma erupts all across the vesk's armor.
The strix clicks her tongue. "Dammit, we don't really have a choice here. I fear the one that brought us here more than you. Open fire!"
Shabad takes what cover she can from the firefight to come behind one of the rotating pillars, keeping clear of the spikes and chains. Before firing, she calls out, "If you are referfing to Kaeon Rhyse, we killed him before we were transported to this plane. He can't threaten you now."
"Target the Strix last, in case she has a change of heart."
Recorva will also hesitate upon seeing the other Strix, it having been so long since she had seen another of them. Not much of a talker in general, she lets the others lead the conversation, eyeing the Strix woman the whole time. She still reacts fairly quickly once combat begins though, responding to what Shabad says with a quick "Sounds like a good idea Shabad. Maybe go for non-lethal hits too." She then fires off a pair of shots at the nearest of the two Verthani.
Rain will move up to be adjacent to the same Verthani that Recorva had shot this round, but is unable to do much else. He does activate and ready his hammer though, preparing to use it in the immediate future.
"Non-lethal?" Stefani says with a laugh. She blasts away at one of the verthani. "That's about as non-lethal as I get!" She grips the bipod on her weapon to steady her aim.
"No, not Kaeon Rhyse. Somebody far worse," the strix says with a shudder.
Stefani and Recorva blast one of the verthani, badly wounding him. Shabad's shot goes wide.
The verthani move to more advantageous positions, heedless of Rain nearby. They fire on Recorva with their plasma pistols, but don't hit!
The strix takes flight above the combat and concentrates on Stefani, trying to overload her mind with a glut of psychic information!