Sammad follows Flint to the door, keeping his pistol ready as he tries to listen in.
|
Sammad and Flint set to searching the room. The cabinets in the room are largely already open and surprisingly messily organized inside. A quick look through them reveals an assortment of foodstuffs, some familiar and some rather odd. In fact, one cabinet seems entirely dedicated to a plethora of opaque plastic baggies labeled 'Ash Curls' in Ignan. The text on the back of the bag describes them as a "hit snack", but offers no clue to their flavor.
Integrated into the cabinets is a compact machine with dozens of slots, funnels, switches, levers and a rugged display.
Belmarniss moves along and examines the kitchen's environment.
She grimaces at the name "Ash Curls." Probably tasted nasty. She IS puzzled by how many of the things in this kitchen don't appear to be anything like food.
"I suspect we're ready to move on?"
”Indeed,” says Flint simply once the others are done investigating the room. He nods at Ordyt and opens the door.
Neither Flint nor Sammad hear anything more from the door towards the fore of the ship. With nothing more to go on, Flint touches the door and it irises open with a smooth swish.
This elegant stateroom is appointed in brass and white marble, with a huge window taking up half of the room's curved exterior wall. The ceiling forms a clear dome above, giving the room an impression of standing on a balcony looking out into open space. A large bed and desk match elegant cabinets, several of which hang open. The floor is inlaid with a large blazing sun.
Sitting at the desk as the door opens is a squat muscular humanoid whose hair and beard appear composed of crackling waves of fire. He wears heavy armor composed of a series of overlapping metal plates inlaid with brass. At his hip are a large hammer-like weapon and a rifle. He sits with hands extended over the desk's inlaid terminal. Those hands freeze as he hears the door open. He utters a few sharp words in Ignan.
----
---
|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (1 hpdmg, 5spdmg)
Flint (3 spdmg, 6 hpdmg)
Belmarniss (3 hpdmg, 5 spdmg)
Marisol
Sammad
Squat Fire Humanoid
Bold are up!
Flint draws his solar dueling sword and strides confidently into the room, taking care to stay out of the reach of that wicked-looking hammer. He addresses the creature of fire, trying to gain some information to make sense of this strange situation.
"I wish information, not battle, though I will defend myself vigorously. We saved this ship from the inferno whale and came aboard looking for survivors. Who are you that would seek to continue damaging this ship and attack your rescuers? What are you doing here?"
Ordyt follows Flint into the room, limping just a hair from his burns in the previous room. "Did my translator short out, or did this being just say something about damaging the Radiant?"
The pike's tip is angled down but Ordyt's posture could bring it sweeping up in an instant.
The squat hammer wielding fellow narrows his eyes as Flint speaks. While he seems inclined to simply fight, Flint's diplomatic ways have him spitting out a response.
|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (1 hpdmg, 5spdmg) - readied
Flint (3 spdmg, 6 hpdmg)
Belmarniss (3 hpdmg, 5 spdmg)
Marisol
Sammad
Squat Fire Humanoid
Bold are up!
Sammad strides in after Ordyt and Flint, making it just inside the door as he hears the alien insult the others in Ignan. A frown breaks on his face, and he aims his weapon at the aggressor.
"The only one at risk of an icy death is you. Lower the weapon, and tell us what we want to know."
Seeing the cautious approach of her allies, Marisol advances until she sees the fiery dwarf and starts her exocortex analyzing him.
----
The fiery dwarf spins his hammer in a tight, powerful arc and catches Flint clear in the chest. The weapon's head bursts with ice and the blow flings the Captain into the wall! As Flint slumps to the ground, the fiery dwarf turns to regard the rest of you with a baleful glare.
----
|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (1 hpdmg, 5spdmg)
Flint (0/0 HP/SP - unconscious, prone)
Belmarniss (3 hpdmg, 5 spdmg)
Marisol
Sammad
Fiery Dwarf (5 dmg, shaken)
Bold are up!
Sammad's jaw drops as he watches Flint slam into the wall. He turns to the fiery attacker, barely holding back a snarl as he aims his weapon. "Well, Feronia knows we tried. Icy death it is, then."
And with that, he fires at the dwarf!
Unless someone acts to heal Flint before it is his turn. He will use a resolve point to stabilize.
Though loathe to leave Flint sprawled on the floor, Ordyt falls back from the fiery warrior before suddenly reversing direction and lunging with his pike. "So be it. You chose this, stranger."
Marisol has no clear shot on the fiery dwarf, but also few ways to help get Flint back on his feet quickly. She aims her rifle and fires once.
But with the cover granted by her allies, the shot merely glances off the enemy's armor.
----
The fiery dwarf twirls his icy hammer in an arc that catches the drow in the side of the head. Belmarniss slams hard into the floor, trailing frost and blood as she falls. The foe wastes no time and advances towards Ordyt with a roar of triumph!
----
|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (1 hpdmg, 5spdmg)
Flint (0/0 HP/SP - unconscious, prone, stable)
Belmarniss (0/0 HP/SP - unconscious, prone)
Marisol
Sammad
Fiery Dwarf (10 dmg)
Bold are up!
Scorched by flame and frozen by ice, the battered figure of Captain Flint rises unsteadily to his feet, the glint of his eyes flaring (photon attunement) as he stabs forward with his blade at the back of the implacable enemy!
Sammad growls as he sees Belmarniss fall. He rushes to her side, pistol up to ward off their attacker, and almost pleads to her crumpled form. "Bel, you have to get up. We can't do this without you...Please get up!"
Forced to give ground against the fiery opponent's assault, Ordyt stumbles and his thrust is badly off the mark.
Despite the dense cover between her and her target, Marisol lines up a careful shot and fires. The bullet grazes the fiery dwarf, getting his attention, but little more beyond that.
-----
Ordyt's stumble costs him a few precious moments as his pike stabs into the air, and the fiery dwarf seizes this opportunity to strike! The deadly hammer sweeps in and slams into Ordyt's side, crushing rocky ribs. The oread has plenty more fight left in him and stays on his feet.
Belmarniss clings just barely to life.
----
|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (4 hpdmg, 9spdmg)
Flint (10 hpdmg, 7 spdmg)
Belmarniss (9 hpdmg, 1spdmg - unconscious, prone, stable, 0RP)
Marisol
Sammad
Fiery Dwarf (11 dmg)
Bold are up!
"My crew, they need me..." thinks Flint through the haze of pain, the glint in his eyes growing stronger even as his body rebels at the thought of continued movement (photon attunement 2).
Flint raises his solar blade once again, attacking from behind while the flaming dwarf makes the (hopefully fatal) mistake of underestimating him...
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"Hey, creep, didn't anyone teach you not to hit people?" yells the sylph, finding a gap in the melee and sending another round flying through it.
Sammad takes a quick stock of the battlefield. Flint barely conscious, Bel slipping away, Ordyt just a blow away from disaster... He inhales deeply, then sharply exhales as he brings his pistol up. He murmurs a quick prayer in Ignan.
"Mother of Flames, guide my hand and my fire again. Please..."
And then he fires...
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Confident in his victory, the fiery dwarf leaves the tiniest of openings... but one that proves his undoing.
Flint's solar blade plunges into his foe's back! As the fiery dwarf contorts in pain, Marisol fires a shot right into his chest.
The fiery dwarf thrashes for a moment, trying to free himself from the sword impaling him. He coughs, steaming hot blood rains onto the floor. As Flint pulls the blade free, the fiery dwarf sinks to his knees. He mumbles in Ignan in between coughs.
Suddenly, an ornamental collar around his neck lights up with violent red traces of energy. It flashes white hot for a single moment, and in that moment the fiery dwarf is instantly vaporized. Most of his gear drops to the ground with clinks and clatters, as does the slagged brass remains of the collar.
Combat Over!
A set of basic iridshell armor
An aufeis frost maul
An autotarget rifle w/ 30 longarm rounds
2x frag grenade I
A pile of carbon dust which was once the creature's clothing and personal effects
Flint staggers backwards, dismissing his sword as he sinks down on the bed behind him, breathing heavily and barely maintaining a seated position. Wearily, he asks, ”How is Belmarniss? Do we have any healing serum left?”
Just as Ordyt recovers his poise as he staggers away from the fiery foe, Flint strikes it down from behind. "Well struck, Captain."
Going to Belmarniss' side, he fishes through pockets until he finds the serum in her backpack and gently tilts its contents down her throat. "After that beating I don't think we've got another fight in us, Captain. This supposed 'rescue mission' has turned out to be a bizarre deathtrap. I think we should fall back to the shuttle and tend to our wounds."
|
|
The serum does its work almost immediately, yanking Belmarniss back towards the light.
"GAH!"
As she recovers, she claps her mask back on and looks around.
"Holy Spirit of Golarion...that...doesn't look like something OUR weapons did," she says, noting the dust their foe seems to have been reduced to, along with the useless electronics scrap that used to be her junksword.
"You speak truly, Ordyt, though perhaps Mari can take a look at that terminal before we leave and at least get us pointed back towards the station," says Flint, slowly and deliberately through the pain.
Turning to Mari, he says, "What do you think, Mari, can you hack into the Radiance's systems from here? Maybe with Belmarniss' help once she gets back on her feet?"
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Mari looks at Flint and Belmarniss with an obvious look of concern, saying, "I think the two of you ought to just take a breather. We're not in a rush, and the last thing anyone needs is for one of you to push yourself too much and bash your head open on the way to the ground." As she moves toward the terminal to examine it, she gently pats both of them on the shoulder. "Good job, really."
Mari pauses for a moment to gaze upon the autotarget rifle, before shaking her head and heading for the terminal. Priorities, Mari.
Flint nods at Mari's gesture as he remains firmly planted on the side of the bed, slowly scooting over to rest his back gingerly against the far wall. Marshaling his depleted resolve, he wills himself to regain the energy necessary to get back to the transport ship once Mari has worked her magic with the computer.
Marisol carefully examines the remains of the collar, but finds it difficult to draw many conclusions about it now that its entirely destroyed. At the very least, she recognizes that it was a piece of magitech in the style of much of the rest of the tech integrated into this ship. It very clearly was involved in the rapid disintegration of the fiery dwarf, though the mechanism is unclear as well. The remaining pile of slagged metal and components is worth 20 credits.
The terminal on the other hand is a bit of a puzzle. Marisol wakes it from its sleep state only to be greeted by the hologram of a shirren ifrit waving at her and a prompt in Ignan.
She easily bypasses this prompt and enters the user interface only to find it surprisingly bare. Her hacking instincts tell her that someone has gone through here recently and hard-wiped all the databanks, but left the remaining interface alone. This terminal appears to have basic functions in line with an office computer, along with the ability monitor portions of the ship, operate doors, and activate a security lockdown.
Based on the recently used programs list, the fiery dwarf attempted to deactivate a lockdown, monitor the starboard front of the ship (labeled 'Radiant's cabin' in Ignan) and the bridge, and open the doors to the bridge and the Radiant's cabin. But the system failed at all three tasks thanks to the extensive damage the ship has sustained.
Mari pushes her chair away from the terminal in disgust. "Practically the whole thing's been wiped, except for the word processor and some security software that doesn't work. Well, the software probably works, but the ship is too busted up for it to function. This guy," she says, gesturing at the remains of the dwarf with her chin, "tried using it to look around the ship and open some doors, but, like I said, it's all broken. He seemed pretty interested in one of the rooms we haven't checked, which appears to be the cabin of something called 'Radiant.'"
"Based on how everything else on this ship has gone, I expect the Radiant is a big fiery monster that will try to kill us," she finishes, sighing.
Looking out this window, can we see into a similar window on the mirror image side of the ship--into this cabin we haven't been in yet?
"Shall we head back to the shuttle for now and see what medical supplies we can find?" suggests Flint, adding, "and then we can explore the rest of the ship and try to figure out how to access the main systems."
"Mari," he remarks, "Do you think we'll have to do a spacewalk into the vented bridge to be able to access the main controls, or did you learn anything about a possible secondary bridge or backup system?"
Odyt, who has been making practice swings with the fallen dwarf's hammer, looks up at Mari's report. "Can you lock that computer while we're recuperating? I'd hate to have to deal with a security lockdown or reactivated point-defense weapons while we're resting."
Mari shakes her head at Flint's question. "No dice on a secondary bridge. There very well might be one but I can't turn up anything on it from this thing. Spacewalk is probably the only way onto the bridge."
Turning her head to look at Ordyt, she shrugs. "Probably, though we don't have to worry about a security lockdown, seeing how one of the things our friend tried was to lift the one that's already in place. My guess is that was what armed the device we ran into when we first breached the airlock on our way in, but it doesn't seem to have done much else."
When you look out the clear windows toward the starboard side of the ship, the other "wing" on that end appears to be completely opaque. Upon further reflection, you realize that the port-side wing that you're currently standing in also looked opaque from the outside. Either the windows only allow light in one direction, or this is a very impressive viewscreen showing a live view outside the ship.
It does seem like the only flight controls for the ship where in the destroyed bridge. As far as Marisol can tell, the security lockdown for the ship is currently frozen in the 'on' position, though considering the ease with which you opened the various doors in the ship, it doesn't seem that has had much effect.
Sammad looks at the pile of dust that was once their foe, shaking his head slightly. "Pity we couldn't learn more from him...but I'm very curious as to who this 'General' was that he spoke of, and what army he leads..."