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Talc looks down at Harrac's "Spy". "Uhm Harrac, you're holding a chain in your hand. I think you meant that guy?" he says pointing to the dead foe.
Talc is so disinterested in searching or looking at the dead creatures that he instead activates his personal jetpack and begins to maneuever around the tunnels looking for useful information. Or just have fun flying around, whichever happens first.
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before departing Rei focuses on the chained burning corpse.
"All science and no magic makes Rei a sad android." She casts detect magic on the corpse and takes note of any magical aura's for further inspection.
Following along with the party, she inspects the twisted gate
"I agree with Jena. These gates were unlocked, but before I am positive they were not. This means we are not alone. Be on your guard. More of these creatures too, but I am not sure what to make of them that we don't already know. Let me see if I can detect anything further before we proceed. "
She again, casts detect magic on the corpses, looking for any remaining auras to investigate, before proceeding along.
Rei finds another corpse in the eastern tunnels, buried completely under rubble. It was only through the magic detection spell she was using that she knew anything was there at all. This creature, looking similar to the others, still had streaks of paint on its head and chest. Around its neck was the amulet that had grabbed Rei's arcane attention, with a charging boar on one side and a shirren’s head crowned with stars on the other.
It didn't take nearly as long to work your way out of the asteroid as it did to survey your way through it. Within a half hour, you were outside the signal-dampening rock and were able to make contact with the Sledgehammer. Venture-Captain Thromendal was on the line immediately.
"Starfinders! It is good to hear from you. We were getting concerned that you may have run into something dangerous in there that you couldn't handle. Damn these comm-disrupting precious ores! What you got to report? Wait...hold on a moment."
You could hear the sounds of muffled conversation going on, and then Thromendal was back on the comms.
"Change of plans. Some of the Ulrikka bigwigs want a formal debriefing. While you were exploring, the Sledgehammer continued running geological surveys and other missions in the area, and I assumed we’d just submit a report and be done. I didn’t expect a formal meeting like this, much less with elite personnel like this."
“They’re going to ask you for a summary of what you found, and if this is anything like the few meetings I’ve attended, they might also want your professional recommendation about how to proceed. Whether you recommend they destroy the asteroid, leave it alone in perpetuity, or something in between, you’re now the experts and the best-informed people to make the case. If I were you I’d figure out what your recommendation will be, tailor your presentation to it, and take a moment to clean up.”
Once aboard the Sledgehammer Thromendal meets you and tell you how there are a handful of Ulrikka officers that arrived shortly after you entered the asteroid. These are Captain Kreazvig Thar, executive officer Eom, master of coin Dolma Szarik III, chief engineer Remol Crystalthrone , and chairwoman Gwalei Korversal. They are eagerly awaiting your presence in one of the executive boardrooms. Once you are introduced and seated, Chairwoman Korversal said, "Please tell us everything you learned about the duergar lair. Is it so foul that we should destroy it out of hand, as some have suggested? Or is there something to be gleaned beyond the raw materials alone?"
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Harrac glances around at the room, completely out of his depth. He waits for Rei and Jena to discuss all of the pertinent sciencey things and then jumps in when Korversal points at him"well ma'ams, sirs, this was quiet an experience. I first wanted to thank you for the opportunity.
As you've heard, we think there are no more entities living in the asteroid, but considering one rose out of the forge itself, another sweep is probably in order. Talc and I have talked a bit about what should be done with AA-126D and I wanted to share my opinion." He looks at the others, nervous, "As a Solarian, witnessing how a Solarian stone can be used that efficiently and, frankly, beautifully, was a sight to see. I believe there is a benefit in keeping the facility intact so that it can be used to train Solarian Starfinders - instruct them on the potential they carry as well as the responsibility. It would also serve to teach the dangers of hubris displayed by the duergers. They thought they could control it - they were wrong."
Harrac holds out his hand and makes the mote race up and down his arm, "I have a tiny speck of the power we witnessed, and I'm constantly learning. I can only imagine what it would take to effectively use a stone that size." He trails off, realizing that he's gone off on another tangent and probably not provided anything useful. He opens his mouth to continue before deciding to sit back down and defer to the others.
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Rei stands up and formally addresses the executives. She pulls out her datapad, flicks her hair back, and takes a deep breath before she begins her statements. She holds the datapad just below her face, eyes down as she starts to describe everything that was encountered during this mission, without the slightest bit of emotion in her words.
"One of the first objects we encountered during this mission would be what is identified as a Solarian Stone. This seems to be the heart of this facility, in that everything that was done here was powered by this stone.
I was able to easily bypass the inferior security system in their infrastructure." She pauses briefly to look up for any sort of response before her eyes veered back down to her datapad. "This provided access to years worth of research data that suggests the duergar were using this facility to manufacture weapons, powered by this stone. I have uploaded all this data to Star-One*. I will provide you the access code after this debriefing.
During our analysis of this facility, we did run into local inhabitants who seemed to be unhappy with our presence. Some bug type, others undead type. we had to... address... the situation.
On that note, I would like to personally acknowledge Talc's performance in this manner. Without his guidance, and instruction, we may have not made it out alive. Please Starfinder leaders - you must talk with Talc after this debriefing about his 'screaming in agony' technique he used. It was impressive, and is likely the only reason we are here talking with you today."
She again pauses to assure everyone is still paying attention.
"The rest of our exploration only revealed more information to back our suspicions. The druegar were using this facility to manufacture weapons using both technology and magic. They would have been more successful had they not used bug slave labor, who rioted against them causing quite the fiasco.
A particular dwarf, called out specifically within their systems was housed here. He wore a boar-headed pendant, and was associated with the slave uprising. He was supposed to be burned alive. Fortunately, it appears he died during the uprising before he could succumb to the fate of his allies. I also have a photo of the dwarf who crawled out of the pit of fire. He was... interesting. I have also uploaded it to Star-One*"
Rei puts her datapad back in her bag and addresses the committee.
"My personal recommendation is that there is much that can be learned from this data and this facility. This asteroid should be classified as a historical landmark, and protected from destruction. Thank you for your time"
She then walks over and takes a seat with the others in her party just staring at her.
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Talc watches Rei give her brief, happy he doesn't need to go up and try to remember all the stuff that went down. When she acknowledges his leadership and everyone's eyes move to him, he straightens his posture an waits for Rei to continue. Unfortunately however, the technomancer chooses that moment to pause and so Talc feels the need to end the silence and speak up. He takes two steps forward to stand next to REi and adds "I uh, like to call it the A.R.G.H. methodology. More on that later." before backing up to his original spot.
Gwalei Korversal listened patiently to your report and proposals. Finally, after she was certain that you had nothing more to add, she said, "I appreciate your candor. It seems that this Solarian Stone is likely to important to destroy out of hand. But it also sounds as if Droskar's influence extends too deeply for me to be able to trust a standard Ulrikka breaking crew to the task of safely dismantling the traps and other surprises left here. It seems that the only thing to do, then, is to hand the site over to another party - perhaps one that already has had people on scene - to cleanse this place and study it, before rendering it suitable for ore extraction. After all, Clan Ulrikka has spent a lot of money and time on this asteroid, and we'd hate to lose that investment completely. What do you say, Venture-Captain Thromendal? Would the Starfinder Society be amenable to paying a small research fee in return for free access to this Solarian Stone and the facility it is housed in?"
The dwarven Venture-Captain chewed on her lip for a moment before responding. "You know, I think we can make that work, providing the fee isn't too steep, of course. Why don't you and I come to an agreement, and I'll forward it on to the Council for immediate approval?"
She turned to your side of the table and said, "Thank you, Starfinders. You have been of great service to both Ulrikka and the Society today. I am sure there will be suitable rewards for you, not the least is my gratitude."
The chief engineer broke in to the end of the conversation. "That's all well and good. Big picture things are great. What I want to circle back on is the dwarf remains they found. Did you see that armor he was wearing? And the design of that pendant? I'd bet half my beard that they found Avaldur Rhols!"
When no one seemed to know what he was talking about, Remol Crystalthrone went on to explain. "Seriously? None of you know about possibly the most famous investigator and peacekeeper this side of the Gap? His work led directly to the creation of the Stewards? Really? I can't believe...fine. Anyways, he disappeared a few centuries ago, on a mission to disrupt some Duergar. This is him, I'm sure. The computer virus, the slave uprising, the sabotaged equipment. It sounds just like him. Chairwoman, we have to retrieve him! His descendants would be forever grateful to the Ulrikka Corporation."
The Chairwoman thought about this for a moment, then replied. "Very well. Before we hand the facility over to the Starfinders, we will send an honor party in to collect the remains and bring them back to the Sledgehammer with all due respect and honor."
"If there is nothing else, then I want to once again thank the Starfinders for their efforts on our behalf. It looks like I have a lot of things to attend to. Venture-Captain, if you would stay, the rest of you are released for the time being."
The meeting broke up, and you left to spend some much-earned down time before your next mission.