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With Savoy's encouraging words, Ivan collects himself sufficiently to ignore his flesh wounds. Disregarding the undeads' attacks, the Starfinders advance in formation, firing shots from their weapons en masse. Except for Ivan who is still recovering from his injury, all the shots find their target and the two undeads are blasted into smithereens!
As silence descends once again upon the Gardens. Therseis peeks up from behind the gravestone and looks in amazement. "That... that was amazing. You destroyed those abominations in no time at all. The Starfinders are indeed impressive." They move up to the dead bodies very gingerly, and check that the copaxi shells are no longer animate. Then, Therseis starts crushing them under their feet. He looks up momentarily to explain, "This is our burial custom. You see, our bodies are made of countless genetically identical coral-like polyps that excrete the material that forms our exoskeletons and while reshaping themselves into organs that support our life. When we die, while the internal polyps will eventually pass away and decompose, the exoskeleton remains. We exhume and crush them so that we can return back as minerals for future polyps." Just as Therseis turns back to their tasks, they freeze as they look around. You turn your gaze to see what they are looking at and you see what they are seeing, countless exoskeletons of long dead copaxis lie scattered in various states of destruction across the garden grounds. Realising the futility of it, Therseis stops.
Cautiously, you search the grounds but you do not encounter further danger as no more dead copaxis are animated. Your initial assessment seems correct. Although this was once a pristine public park, at some point it had turned into a massive urban war zone. Various war equipment and vehicles, most corroded beyond use, dot the landscape. Together with the empty exoskeletons.
Near the cemetery, the Starfinders discover a few tiny, multicolored flowers growing among the weeds near the cemetery.
The graves are unmarked, but an inscription covers the remains of a nearby monument, which is marred by a very prominent graffitti.
Examining the the long abandoned soldiers’ equipment and vehicles, you find that the technology, though inferior to that of the Pact Worlds, is far beyond that found in the surrounding areas, such as the rifles wielded by two of the undeads. An examination of the battlefield shows that one force had this technology, while the opposing force fought with devastating magical attacks.
Both sides took heavy casualties. The last standing wall of a nearby building is riddled with bullet holes and faint stains.
Despite the passage of time, you do manage to salvage some equipment. You find two hunting rifles (each with 10 rounds), 2 tactical batons, a tactical spear, an incendiary grenade II, four mk 1 serums of healing, two nyfiber nets, and two tactical pikes.
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"That ish what we are trained for," he replies to the praise.
Chk'tarlsh joins Therseis, gently placing a gloved hand on the copaxi's shoulder. "It ish a beautiful cusstom. Takinhk the sseedsh of that which wash losst and toilinhk to prepare the way for what ish to come," his antennae waving ever so slowly, as he nods his head.
"We won't get to them all today, but each bit makesh a difference," the shirren says before joining the copaxi researcher in returning a few of the nearby exoskeletons to minerals.
Unable to make any sense of the engraving or graffiti, Chk'tarlsh turns his attention to picking through the discarded equipment, hoping to find something of interest.
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Ivan is quick to dismount as the threat passes. "That's a nice way to do th' sad deed. But have any idea how they got like that?" The dwarf isn't looking at Therseis as he asks, instead examining the plant life. He doesn't wait for a response. "These're some interestin' plants. Probably couldn't stay alive many other places, if they ever were outside'a here."
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"Oh, dear...." Zez'ka remarks as she examines the tombstone and graffiti. "Oh, dear, oh dear." With a twitch of her antennae and a few moments of hesitation she continues, "This tombstone inscription reads, "…those who died of the Message of Madness are forever a part of this great city, their contributions forever a part of our memories."" She waits to make sure everyone heard, the adds, "The graffiti scrawled over it reads, "Your lies cannot silence the Signal! Long live the First to Listen!" The signal is, of course, Triune's revelation of Drift technology in 3 AG." She nods. "Sad! This is troubling, of course, because this means that the flying cities received this signal around... Oh, 300 years ago or so, judging by the vehicles at this site. It appears that some of the copaxi adopted technology and others, the magic using rulers I imagine, did not. This battle between them was some kind of civil war. Or a rebellion, perhaps. Either way, this points to the fact that the mages were not toppled by divine retribution, as we have been told, but by rebellion and violence. Finally, the government insisted on their applications that the copaxi people only translated the Signal in the last few years. False claims, obviously. Sad!"
Zez'ka thinks for a few moments more.... "Is this why the other sites were doctored? Why the false magical texts were added to the library, and the coins with the oppressive motto were added to the market? To make it look like the mages were not killed by the hand of other copaxi, but by the gods? ...OH! And if the mages were killed and brought low by other copaxi, were those the same copaxi that founded the settlements on the ground? Friend Therseis' ancestors, as it were? History is written by the victors, after all..."
Another pause. "But, why bother with such a ruse if the rebels -- or whatever we should call them -- won and founded a surface government? Uprisings occur on all planets, even today. Particularly in relation to the Gap and the Drift Message! The copaxi are not alone in this. Surely such a history would not prevent their petition for Protectorate status? My people are related to the dreaded Swarm, for goodness sakes! ...Could the rebels founders have done something so heinous that they feared it being discovered..? Whatever could that have been? Curious!"
"And on the off chance the government truly has no record of the Signal in their history... Well, then who else would bother to interfere in the archaeological survey? Who would alter the sites? And why? Curious!"
"Curious! Confused!" she concludes.
"Friend Therseis, have you any insight to offer in these matters?"
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"That ish what we are trained for," he replies to the praise.
Chk'tarlsh joins Therseis, gently placing a gloved hand on the copaxi's shoulder. "It ish a beautiful cusstom. ..."
"We won't get to them all today, but each bit makesh a difference," the shirren says before joining the copaxi researcher in returning a few of the nearby exoskeletons to minerals.
...
Burns nods. "Crushing the remains is a good practical way to restore them to the eco-system. If we got one of those vehicles running, maybe we could speed up the process?"
Oh, dear...." Zez'ka remarks as she examines the tombstone and graffiti. "Oh, dear, oh dear." With a twitch of her antennae and a few moments of hesitation she continues, "This tombstone inscription reads, "…those who died of the Message of Madness are forever a part of this great city, …"
"And on the off chance the government truly has no record of the Signal in their history... Well, then who else would bother to interfere in the archaeological survey? Who would alter the sites? And why? Curious!"
"Curious! Confused!" she concludes.
"That sounds like a good theory. The Signal triggers a tech uprising against the magic users. The war is brutal enough to knock the copaxi back a few hundred years worth of tech progress. Maybe they even lost their records of the signal until recently. "
"The current government thinks the uprising makes them look bad on their petition and tries to frame their way out of it."
"Can't say I'd blame them. Looks like they could use a hand. "
"Or maybe some of you smart science types, thinks I should shut up and not theorize before all the data is in because I'll skew my interpretation of the data."
He looks hesitantly around the group. "I'll shut up now."
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Therseis bares their neck and chest, in the process leaning their antlers away at those who help in crushing the exoskeletons, even if it does not make a significant difference. You quickly realise that this is their way of expressing thanks, for as they mentioned earlier, bowing would be treated an aggressive move, and this would be complete oppposite.
"These're some interestin' plants. Probably couldn't stay alive many other places, if they ever were outside'a here."
Therseis walks over to examine the flowers. "Yes, most interesting. I have never seen these before. Bryanisis would want to see this." They start collecting some samples.
"Friend Therseis, have you any insight to offer in these matters?"
"I... I admit I am confused." And indeed, Therseis looks lost, confused and conflicted. "That is what any copaxi would tell you, what we were told since from our first molting, that the ancient divergent magical aristocracy were destroyed by the divines. Perhaps the warfare arose from the chaos? That the destruction was a drawn out affair? But how does that relate to the Signal? Yes, we only deciphered it recently, even though we received it I believe the same time as the rest of the universe. This is not widely known but When the message arrived, we the copaxis lacked the technological framework to understand it. Those who heard it suffered psychological trauma and ultimately took their lives. Only recently did these records resurface which subsequently inspire our recent ventures into space." Therseis stands unmoving for some time, seemingly trying to piece all these new information together.
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Archaius nods as the theories are shared, though to be honest he cares little for what he deems to be 'political intrigue'. However, he does take samples and readings of the stains to test and catalog later.
He then takes a moment to invoke magic that will allow him to see arcane auras and looks around the area.
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"My mind's definitely open, Zez'ka. My thoughts just fly away. Here's another? How did the undead form? Hey, Archaius! How or why were there undead at all? Are they three hundred years old, or did they rise just because we showed up?"
Seeing Ch'tarlsh take the net, Burn has to ask, "Why the net? Is it easy to use?"
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"My mind's definitely open, Zez'ka. My thoughts just fly away. Here's another? How did the undead form? Hey, Archaius! How or why were there undead at all? Are they three hundred years old, or did they rise just because we showed up?"
Therseis glances repeatedly at Archaius doing his magic, looking uncomfortable but does not comment. In a bid to ignore him, they reply to Burn. "My only conjecture is that whatever remnants pockets of divergent magic used during the great war here must have reanimated some of the dead left behind."
Indeed, Archaius detects very faint random pockets of magic that wanes and waxes seemingly without pattern, and look like they would fade in time. They are too weak to have animated those three undead copaxis, but it is possible they were animated hundreds of years ago. In fact, it might even be possible they were animated during the war itself and have remained forgotten here since. Too much time has passed to determine exactly what happened...
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Back on the shuttle, Therseis refuses to accept any arms from Burn. "I would not even know which end to hold and which end to point. I am more likely to shoot off my antlers."
Therseis directs the Starfinders to the residential neighborhood in which the research team had found a gaping hole. "There were clearly excavation done here hundreds of years ago, but the area around is simply a residential area. So why was there this sudden excavation?" When you land, you see indeed what Therseis has described. Again, although the area is very much in ruins, the low rise buildings each with their own yards (badly overgrown by now), marks this area as a residential suburbs. Yet, a large tunnel is cut in the ground through where one residence use to stand. The silence from the tunnel is deafening.
The Starfinders follow the tunnel down a short distance before it opens into a massive cavern. There is no light and you turn on the flashlights on your armor to look around the place. Carts, tools, and digging machines lie dormant here and the the walls are covered in impressive coral-like organisms. Several of the carts are partly filled with decayed chunks of coral.
"This is strange. Why would they be excavating copis?" Therseis mutters in confusion.
You eventually find another very short tunnel leading away in an out-of-the-way part of the cavern. A pile of rusted metal and debris lies just at its entrance.
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"Well, at least it'd keep someone away from messin' with you," Ivan replies to Therseis' protests. "But tha's your decision, I guess."
At the next site, the dwarf is left scratching his head just the same as their escort. "Dunno. And why would they do it in a residential area? I thought this stuff was important to keepin' cities afloat."
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The diagnostician takes a closer look at the equipment. "Whomever put this together was in a hurry. See the weld marks here and here? These should run contiguously down the length of this piece. It was just spot welded to hold it together, and not very well. Whatever was attached was torn off. Hard to say what, as accidents happen all the time. But...if someTHING did this, it was pretty strong."
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Seeing Ch'tarlsh take the net, Burn has to ask, "Why the net? Is it easy to use?"
Chk'tarlsh pauses in the process of fastening the net to his backpack to regard Burn with his compound eyes, head cocked to one side. "All my weaponsh deliver rather fatal conssequencesh. I've not had a lot of practice with them before but it sseemsh useful to have an alternative," he explains with a shrug.
As they enter the tunnel beneath the residential area, the shirren soldier activates the infrared red sensors within his armour and cautiously takes the lead, laser rifle at the ready.
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Seeing Ch'tarlsh take the net, Burn has to ask, "Why the net? Is it easy to use?"
Chk'tarlsh pauses in the process of fastening the net to his backpack to regard Burn with his compound eyes, head cocked to one side. "All my weaponsh deliver rather fatal conssequencesh. I've not had a lot of practice with them before but it sseemsh useful to have an alternative," he explains with a shrug.
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"Makes sense. I'd want to practice before trying one myself. "
"How old do you reckon the machinery is?" Burn asks the question in the general direction of Ivan and Archaius. He keeps his own eyes moving around the cavern, holding his reaction cannon in his hands and leaving the spear strapped across his back.
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"How strange! Can anyone tell how old this metal an debris is? If mining the copaxi from the flying cities was common practise in the time the city was lived in, that could be part of why the magic and technology factions fought each other. Also, it could be part of why the flying cities are in such poor shape. But, if the metal is new... Well, that tells another story altogether... Curious!"
She approaches the tunnel and peeks inside. "Hello?" she calls down the tunnel. "Are there any terrifying beasts down here that want to devour us? Or perhaps some new soon-to-be-Friends? Anticipation!!"
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With more questions than answers, the Starfinders carefully make their way through the short tunnel. You enter a small room whose rooms are formed of worked stone. Stone-carved stairs rise to a room further north. After making sure that the room is empty except for piles of rubble and debris, the Starfinders climb up the stairs carefully to enter a much larger room. This large room is precisely carved from the surrounding stone and those in front can see another exit that leads east.
Before most of the team have entered the room, however, Ivan suddenly spots what everyone thought was a big pile of rubble move!
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Ivan fearlessly ride into the room astride the his drone, heading for the moving pile of rubble that only he spotted. Unfortunately, that brought him right within reach of beast. As it rears up, you can see that this large creature resembles a cross between a crab and a turtle, with coral-like growths on its claws and a shell shaped like a boulder. One of his claws burst forth, clamping down hard upon Ivan's thigh, almost crushing the bones and holds him fast!
"That's a corchaaz! Few people have encountered one but it is a top predator in our ecosystem!" Therseis calls out in warning. Then, you hear them muttering to themselves, "This is not its natural habitat. I've read references of using them as guard animals. Is it guarding something?"
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"Mighty bold of ya - OW!" Ivan bellows upon being grabbed. "-To come so close to a dwarf! Help me kill this hunk'a junk, Roll-4!" He swings his hammer, the horse doing the same with its own built-in bludgeon.
[dice=Ivan Hammer]1d20+3-2
[dice=Damage]1d6+2[dice=Roll-4 Hammer]1d20+5
[dice=Damage]1d6+2
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Desperate to free his new friend, Savoy moves in to fire on the corchaaz but the shot is deflected by its tough exoskeleton. Chk'tarlsh also fires two rapid shots, and manages to land one on a vulnerable spot at its shoulder joint.
The corchaaz only has eyes for Ivan though. It slices at him with its other claw. Despite being held, Ivan manages to dodge the first strike, but the other clamps tightly on his waist, cutting deeply in.
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Seeing the corchaaz continue its attack on Ivan, Chk'tarlsh decides a different strategy might be in order.
Dropping his laser rifle to the ground, the shirren soldier charges toward the beast, drawing his hammer as he moves. Closing within striking distance, he sends the hammer crashing into the massive creature.
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Zez'ka hurries into the room to see what all the commotion is about. "Oh, dear! Hello large and terrifying creature. Could you please put down my friend? I would rather not murder you! Hopeful!"
Deciding it's best at the moment not to wait for a response, Zez'ka twitches around wildly and fires her tactical pistol at the creature from a very unexpected angle!
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Despite the very awkward angle from down the stairs and round the corner of the passage, Archaius manages to land a laser shot. Burn fires a damaging shot with his weapon, then quickly closes in. The corchaaz slashes at him with its other claw but Burn manages to brush it aside with his cannon. Ivan struggles to free himself but in vain. However, his drone moves forward and slams its hammer across the carapace, cracking it badly. Chk'tarlsh follows closely behind and similarly assaults the alien crab, cracking its shell further. Zez'ka attempts to confuse the creature, but being rather mindless, that attempt fails but she still lands a good shot that punches into its flesh.
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Savoy moves to circle the alien and fires, clipping off part of its exoskeleton.
The badly injured corchaaz turns its orb-like eyes back on Ivan within its grasp. It slashes at him with twice with its other claw, tearing deep gashes across his chest and waist. The loss of blood is too massive and Ivan falls unconscious. The crab-monster drops the lifeless dwarf from its claw...
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Chk'tarlsh keeps up his relentless attack on the crab but both attacks bounced off the corchaaz' hard carapace. Savoy instead moves over to bring the dwarf back to consciousness, carefully keeping out of the reach of the giant crab. Burn holds up his spear and drives it right through a crack in the shell. The spear pierces in deep and must have punctured some critical organs. The corchaaz starts threshing about violently before it suddenly collapses and lays still unmoving...
When the sounds of combat is over, Therseis finally steps into the room cautiously. He looks back and forth between the team and the corchaaz, clearly impressed. "These are apex predators, but you just put it down just like that. That was most impressive!"
"Crazy Ivan" Tulgarst
Archaius Maelstrom
GM kuey
Savoy
Smek Skytower